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THE SEMI-WEEKLY SUMTER REPUBLICAN. ESTABLISHED IN 1834, By CHAS. w. HANCOCK. VOL. 18. The Sumter Republican. Semi-Weekly, One Year - - -$4 00 VVeely, One Year - - - - - 2.00 HTPayable in Advance.® All advertisements emulating from public offices will be charged for in accordance with an act passed by the late General Assembly of Georgia—73 cents per hundred words for each of the first four insertions, and 35 cents for each subsequent insertion. Fractional parts of one hundred are considered one hundred words; each figure and initial, with date and signature,-is counted as a word. The cash must accompany the copy of each advertisement, unless different arrange ments have been made. Advertising Kates. One Square first insertion, - - - - §I.OO Each subsequent insertion, - - - - 50 Ten Lines of Minion, type solid con stitute a square. Ail advertisements not contracted for will be charged above rates. Advertisements not specifying the length of time for which they are to be inserte will be continued until ordered out and charged for accordingly. Advertisements to occupy fixed places wil be charged 25 per cent, above regular rates Notices in local column inserted for ten cent per line each insertion. Charles F. Crisp, •i Hornet/ m Law, AMERICUS, GA. deciCtf B. P HOLLIS •Ittornei/ at Law, AMERICUS, GA. Office, Forsyth Street, in National Bank building. dec2otf E7G SIMMONS, •I tt or new at Law* AMERICUS GA., Office in Hawkins’ building, south side of Lamar Street, in the old office of Fort & Simmons. janfitf > U HOLLOWAY, DewtisT, Anaeriflus - - Georgia Treatssuccessfully all diseases of the Den tal organs. Fills teetli by the improved method, and inserts artificial teetli on the best material known to the profession.' SSF"OFFICE over Davenport and Son’s Drug Store. marllt J. A. A.NBI KY, ATTORNEY AT LAW *Nl> SOLICITOR IX EQTITY. Office on Public Square, 0-*ek Gyles’ Clothing Stoke, Ameiucus, Ga. After a brief respite I return again to the practice of law. As in the past it will be my earnest purpose to represent my clients faithfully and look to their interests. The commercial practice will receive close atten tion and remittances promptly made. The Equity practice, and cases involvingtitlesof land and real estate are my favorites.. Will practice in the Courts of Southwest Georgia, the Supreme Court and the United States Courts. Thankful to my friends for their patronage. Fees moderate. novlltf Change of Firm. THE FORMER FIRM OF CROCKER & TULLIS, ON COTTON AVENUE, has heen dissolved by the purchase of Mr. C. E. CROCKER’S interest by Mr. 15. H. JOSSEY, and the new firm of TULLIS & JOSSEY, will assume the responsibilities of the for mer firm, and will be pleased to have their friends call and examine their new and low priced stock of goods. TULLIS & JOSSEY, declotf Americus, Ga. THE OELIBRATED EX TUPLE SPRING BED. To breathe, eat and sleep well is the first requirement of physical organization. S. FLEIS. MAN’S SEXTUPLE BED SPRING. [Patented Aug. 22, 1882.1 Is the first and foremost to accomplish this end, as it facilitates the first, accelerates the second, and perfects the last of these grand purposes. It is a “thing of beauty and a foy forever.” Last with life, perfect in its adaptation for cointort, being disconnect ed In the center prevents sagging. Made by S. M- LESTER, who will put them on, and is from long experience able to guarantee satisfaction. AGENTS WANTED to sell these Springs. Territory and Spring outfit furnished and large commissions paid. S. FLEISCHMAN, Patentee and Manufacturer, octll-6m Cotton Ave., Amoricus.Ga. PapeivEnvelopes, Box Paper, Bl’k Books, Pens, Inks, Pencils, etc., at W. T. Davenport & Son’s. DARBYS PROPHYLACTIC FLUID. A Household Article for Universal Family Use. IMBNBBBHHHHHH For Scarlet and Eradicates B Typhold * ev ® rß .Eiracucaies g Diphtheria, Sali- MALARIA. i vation ’ Ulcarated *n*m*i*M**i. | Sore :Throatf small Fox, Measles, and all Contagious Diseases. Persons waiting on the Sick should use it freely. Scarlet Fever lias never been known to spread where the Fluid was used. Yellow Fever has been cured with it after black vomit had taken place. The worst cases of Diphtheria yield to it. Fevered and Sick Per-1 SMLLLL-FOX sons refreshed and j and Bed Sores prevent- i PITTING of Small ed -by bathing with Pox PREVENTED Darbys Fluid. . , e r Impure Air made A member of my fam harrmlcss and purified. i! y ta £ en For Sore Throat it is a Small-por I used the sure cure. Fluid ; the patient was Contagion destroyed. IK:t delirious, was noc For Frosted Fiet, and r a Y a £° ut Chilblains, Flies, ‘he house again in three Chafing*, etc. j and ° th ' Rheumatism cured. : lad ’ I- ' d ,' Park- Soft White Complex- MNSONjPhdadclphia. ions secured by its use. ffifcftWThi iWIffWBHWIM Ship Fever prevented. H i Diphtheria it can’t be surpassed. H ** , - I Catarrh relieved and B 3VSHtSCL B cured. Erysipelas cured. BHBBBHB ?“™ Srcli " e ? i ? stant, 5 r - The physicians here Dy a cured. j Wounds healed rapidly. I ““ofDiphtheria Scurvy cured. A. Stollbnwerck. An Antidote for Animal Greensboro, Ala. or Vegetable Foisons, Stings, etc. Tetter dried up. I used the Fluid during Cholera prevented, our present affliction with Ulcers purified and Scarlet Fever with de- healed, citied advantage. It is jln cases of Death it indispensable to the sick- ! should be used about room. —Wrt. F. Sand-! the corpse —it will roitD, Eyrie Ala. J unpleas* s' ~ tTWrifrfannm j em | nen t ; pi l y.. I Scarlet Fever I SBS'i’KfSSI H Bj I York, says: “I am ■ Cured I ' conv i nce d Prof. Darbys B ’ B j Prophylactic Fluid is a Bgggßgyggggggg I valuable disinfectant." JPanderbiit University, Nashville, Tenn. I testify to the most excellent qualities of Prof. Darbys Prophylactic Fluid. Asa disinfectant and detergent it is both theoretically and practically superior to any preparation with which I am ac quainted.—N. T. Lupton, Prof. Chemistry. Darbys Fluid is Recommended by Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia •% Rev. Chas. F. Deems, D.D., Church of the Strangers, N. Y.; ios. LeConte,Columbia, Prof.,University S C Lev. A. J. Battle, Prof., Mercer University: Key. Geo. F. Pierce, Bishop M. E. Church. INDISPENSABLE TO EVERY HOME. Perfectly harmless. Used internally or externally for Man or Beast. The Fluid has been thoroughly tested, and we have abundant evidence that it has done everything here claimed. For fuller information get of your Druggist a pamphlet or send to the proprietors, J. H. ZEIEIN & CO.. Manufacturing Chemists, PHILADELPHIA. fUTT’S EXPEGTOIIHT Is composed of Herbal and Mucilaginous prod ucts, which permeate tlic substance of the Lungs, expectorates the acrid matter that collects in the Biouchinl Tubes, nnd forms a. soothing.coaling, .tali relieves tb.fe- , citation that causes the cough. It cleanses the lungs of all impurities, strengthens them when enfeebled by disease, invigor ates the circulation of the blood, and Unices the nervous system. Slight colds often end in consumption. It is dangerovsto neglect -heirs. Apply the remedy promptly. A test of twenty years warrants tho assert ior that no remedy hasever been found that Is as prompt, in its effects as TUTT’S EXPECTORANT. A single dose raises the phlegm, subdues infl iramation.a.id its use speedily cures the most obstinate cough. A pleasant cordial, chil dren take it readily. For Croup it is invaluable nod should bo in every family. TUTT’S TpTlls ACT DIRgCTLY ON THE^LSVEff? Cures Chills and Fever, Dyspepsia, Sick Headache, Dilious Colic,Constipa tion, Rheumatism, Files, Palpitation of the Heart, Dizziness, Torpid Fiver, and Female Irregularities. If you do not‘‘feel very well,” a amide pill stimulates the stomach, restored the nppotitc,impnrts vigor to the system. A HOTEB DiVHE SAYS: Dn. Tutt:— Dear Sin l or ten years I have been a martyr to Dv Constipation and Tiles. Last Epring your pills wore recommended tomo; I used them (but with little faith). lam now a well man, have good appetite, digestion perfect, regular b'.oois, pihs gone, and I Imre gained forty pounds solid flesh. They are worth their weight in gold. REV. 11. L. SIMPSON, Louisville, Ky. Office. Murray St., Kcw York. ( . Jut. TUTT’S MANUAL of Vecfuls ' Receipt a TREE on application. J Hostetler's Stomach Bitters gives steadiness to the nerves, induces a healthy, natural ffow of bile, prevents constipation without unduly purqinK the bowels, gently stimulates tho circulation, and by promoting a vigorous condition of the physical system, promotes, also, that cheerfulness which is the truest indication of a well-balanced condition of all the animal powers. For sale by all Druggists and Dealers generally. DAVENPORT’S Belle of Americus. Davenport. & Son Are Sole Agents for BELLE OF AMKRI-. GUS. It Is made of the best Havanna, long fillers, is not flavored or doctored and the only 5c Cigar la the market that is as good as an Imported oigar. oct6-5m BRICK. BRICK. BRICK I have THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND good new brick, which I will sell cheap. Apply at once. decOlm R. E. COBB. A fine lot of Christmas Goods cheap for cash, at W. T. Davenport & Son’s. INDEPENDENT IN POLITICS, AND DEVOTED TO NEWS, LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND GENERAL PROGRESS. AMERICUS, GEORGIA; SATURDAY J,ANUARY 13, 1883. VO'E/VRY. THE LEVEL A-IVD THE SQUARE* The following well known stanzas by Bro. Robert Morris, is one of a few so-called Masonic poems worth reading and preserv ing: We meet upon the Level and we part upon the Square; What words of precious meaning these words Masonic are! Come, let us contemplate them, they are worthy of a thought; With the highest, and the lowest, and the rarest they are fraught. We meet upon the Level, though from every station come; The rich man from ills mansion, and the poor man from his home! For the one must leave his wealth and state outside the Mason’s door, And the other find his true respect upon the checkered floor. We part upon the Square lor the world must have its due, Wc mingle with the multitude, a cold, un friendly erew, But the influence of our gatherings in mem ory is green, And we long upon the Level to renew the happy scene. There’s a world where all are equal—we are hurrying to it fast; We shall meet upon the Level—there where the gates of death are past; We shall stand before the Orient, and our Master will he there, To try the blocks we offer, by his own un erring Square, Wc shall meet upon the Level there, hut never thence to part; There’s a mansion, ’tis all ready for the trusting, faithful heart; There’s a mansion and a welcome—and a multitude is there, Who have met upon the Level and been tried upon the Square. Let us meet upon the Level, then, while laboring patienthere; Let us meet and let ns labor, though the labor be severe; Already in the Western sky the signs hid us prepare To gather up our working tools, and part upon the Square. Hands round, ye brother Masons, form the bright eternal chain. We part upon the Square, below, to meet in hea ren again; Oh, what words of precious meaning, these words Masonic are— We meet upon the Level and we part upon the Square. SIMPLE REMEDIES. Hiccough can be immediately reliev ed by administering a lump of sugar wet with vinegar. Hemorrhage of lungs or stomach is promptly cheeked by small doses of salt. The patient should be kept as quiet as possible. Hoarseness and tickling in the throat are best relieved by the gargle of the white of an egg, beaten to a froth, in half a glass of warm, sweetened water. If persons suffering from a severe headache would tie a handkerchief Tightly arrtniul tho temples, they woui'd find relief by so doing in a very short time. A teaspoonful of charcoal in half a glass of warm water often relieves a sick headache. It absorbs the gases and relieves the distended stomach, pressing against the nerves that extend from the stomach to the head. A simple and harmless remedy and preventative for persons suffering from car sickness, is a sheet of writing pa per worn next to the person and direct ly over the chest. It is highly recom mened and seldom fails! When one has bad cold and the nose is closed up so that he cannot breathe through it, relief may be found instantly by putting a little camphor and water in the center of the hand and snuffing it up the nose. It is a great releif. A good remedy warts an corns: Drop a little vinegar on the wart or corn, cover it immediately with cook ing soda or saleratus, and let it remain ten minutes. Repeat several times a day for three days, and the warts and corns will be gone. Charcoal forms an unrivaled poultice for wounds and old sores. It is also invaluable for what is called proud flesh. It is a great disinfectant. It sweetens the air if placed in shallow dishes around the apartment, and foul water is also purified by its use. Beautiful Answers. A Persian pupil of the Abbe Sicord gave thp following extraordinary an swers. “What is gratitude?” “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” “What is hopfi?” “Hope is the blossom of happiness ” “What is the difference between hope and desire?” “Desire is a tree in leaf; hope is a tree in flower, and enjoyment is a tree in fruit.” “What is eternity?” “A day without yesterday or to mor row; a line that has no end.’’ “What is time?” “A line that has two ends; a path which begins in the cradle and ends in the tomb.” “What is God?” “The necessary Being, the Sun of eternity, the Merchant of nature, the Eye of Justice, the Watchmaker of the universe, the Soul of the world.” On Thirty Day’s Trial. The Voltaic Belt Cos., Marshall, Mich, will send Dr. Dye’s CElehuatkd Electro- Voltaic Belts and Electric Appliances on trial for thirty days to men (young or old) who are afflicted with Nervous Debility, Lost Vitality and Manhood, and kindred troubles, guaranteeing speedy and complete restoration of health and manly vigor. Ad dress as above. N. B.— No risk is incurred, as thirt y days’ trial is allowed. dee2l-ly Teethina (Teething Powders) is fast taking the place of all other rem edies for the irritations of Teething Children. TABERMCLE SERMONS. BV REV. T. DeWITT TALMAGE BLESSINGS OF SHORT LIFE. “The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.”—lsaiah, Ivii, 1. Wo all spend much time in panegy rics of longevity. We consider it a great thing io live to be an an octoge narian. If anyone dies in youth we say, “What a pity!” Dr Muhlenberg, in old age, said that the hymn written in early life by his own hand uo more expressed his sentiment wheu ii said, “I would not live ahvay.” If one he pleasantly eiicuiiisruueed he never wants to go. William Onllen Bryant, the great poet, at 82 years ol age, standing in my house, in a festal group, reading Thanatopsis wit boat spectacles, was just as anxious to live as when at 18 years ot age he wrote that immortal threnody. Cato feared at 80 years of age that he would not live to learn Greek. Monahlesco, at 115 years, writing the history of his time, feared a collapse. Theophrastus, writing a book at 90 years of age, was anxious to live to complete it. Thttr low Weed at about 86 years of age found life as great a desirability as when he snuffed out his first politician. Albert Barnes, so well prepared for the next world at 70, said he would rather stay here. So it is all the way down. I suppose that the last time that Methuselah was out of doors in a storm he was afraid of getting his feet wet lest it shorten his days. Indeed, some time ago I preached a sermon on the blessings of longevity, but on this, the last day of 1882, and when many are filled with sadness at the thought that another chapter of their life is closing, and that they have 3G5 days less to live, I propose to preach to yon about the blessings of an abbreviated earthly existence. If I were an agnostic I would say a man is blessed in propor tion to the number f years he can stay on terra firma, because after that he falls off the docks, and if he is ever picked out ot the depths it is only to he set up in some morgue of the uni verse to see if anybody will claim him. If I thought God made man only to last forty, or fifty, or one hundred years, and then he was to go into anni hilation, I would say his chief business ought to be to keep alive, and even in good weather to he very cautious, and to carry an umbrella, and take over shoes and life preservers, and bronze armor and weapons of defence, lest he fall off into nothingness and oblitera tion. But, <my friend, you are not agnostics. You believe in immortality and the eternal residence of the right eous in heaven, aud therefore I first re mark that an abbreviated earthly exis tence is a blessing, because it makes one’s life work very compact, home men go to business at 7 o’clock in the morning, and return at 7 in the even ing. Olliers go at 8 o’clock and return at 12. Others go at 10 and return at 4. I have friends who are ten hours a day in business; others who are five hours; others who are one horn. They all do their work well. They do their entire work, and then they return. Which portion do you think the more desira ble? You say, other things being equal, the man who is the shortest time de tained in business and who can return home the quickest is the most blessed. Now, my lrieud, why not carry that good sense into the subject of transfere nce from this world? It a person die in childhood, he gets through his work at 9 o’clock in the morning. If he die at 45 years of age, he gets through his work at 12 o’clock noon. If he die at 70 years of age, he ge s through his work at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. If he die at 90, he has to toil all the way on up to 11 o’clock at night. The soon er we get through our work the better. The harvest all in barrack or barn, the farmer does not sit down in the stubble field, hut shouldering his sythe and taking his pitcher from tinder the tree he makes a straight line for the old homestead. All we want to be anx ious about is to get our work done, and well done, aud the quicker the bet ter. Again There is a blessing in an ab breviated earthly existence in the fact that moral disaster might come upon the man if he tarried longer. Last week a man who had been prominent in churches and who had been admired for his generosity and kindness every where, for forgery was sent to State prison for fifteen years. Twenty years ago there was no more probability of that man’s committing a commercial dishonesty than that you will commit commercial dishonesty. The number oi men who tall into ruin between fifty and seventy years of age is simply ap paling. If they had died thirty years before it would have been better for them and better for their families. The shorter the voyage tho less chance for a cyclone. There is a wrong theory abroad that, if one’s youth is right his old age will be right. You might as \tell say there is nothing wanting for a ship’s saftey except to get it fully launched on the Atlantic ocean. I have sometimes asked those who were schoolmates or college mates of some great defaulter, “What kind of a boy was he? what kind of a man was ho?” aqd they said, “Why, he was a splen did fehow; 1 had no idea he could ever go into such an outrage.” The fact is the great temptation of life sometimes comes far on in mid-life or in old age. The first time I crossed the Atlantic ocean it was as smooth as a mill pond, and I thought the sea captains and the voyagers had slandered the old ocean, aud I wrote home an essay for a maga zine, on “1 ho Smile of the Sea,” but I never afterward could have written that thing, for before we got home we got a terrible shaking up. The first voy age of life may be very smooth; the last may be a euroclydou. Many whostart life in great prosperity do not end in prosperity. The great pressure of temptation comes sometimes in this di rection: At about 45 years of age a mai’s nervous system changes, and someone tells him he must take stimu lants to keep himself up, aud he takes stimulants to keep himself up until the .stimulants keep him down. Ora man nas been going along for thirty or forty years in unsuccessful and here is an opening where by one dis. honorable action he can lift himself and lift his latnily -from all financial embarrassment. He attempts to leap ihe chasm and he lulls into it. Then it is in after life that the great tempta tion of success comes. It a man make a fortune before 30 years of age, he generally loses it before 40. The solid and the permanent fortunes for the most part do not come to their climax until iu mid-life or old age. The most of the hank presidents have white hair. Many of those who have been largely successful have been flung of arrogance, or world li ness, or dissipation in old age. They may not have lost their in tegrity, but they have become so world ly aud so selfish under the influence o! large success that it is evident to every body that their success has been a tem poral calamity and an eternal damage. Concerning many people it may be said it seems as if it would have been better if they could have embarked from this life at 20 or 30 years of age. Do you know tho reason why the ma jority of people die before 30? It is be cause they have not the moral endur ance for that which is beyond the 30 years, and a merciful God will not al low them to be put to the fearful strain. Again there is a blessing in an ab breviated earthly existence in the fact that one is the sooner taken off of the defensive. As soon as one is old enough to take care of himself he is put on his guard, bolts on the door to keep out the robbeis, fire-proof safe to keep off the flames, life insurance and fire insurance against accident, receipts lest you have to pay a debt twice. Life boat against shipwreck, and Westing house air break against railroad collis sion, and hundreds of hands ready to overreach you and take all you have. Defence against cold, defence against heat, defence against sickness, defence against the world’s abuse, defence all the ivaf down to the grave, and even a tombstone is not a sufficient barri cade. If a soldier who has been on guard, shivering and stung with the cold, pacing up and down the parapet with shouldered musket, is glad when someone comes to relieve guard and he can go inside the fortress, ought not that man shout for joy who can put down his weapon of earthly defence and go into the. King’s castle? Who is the more fortunate, the soldier who has to stand guard twelve hours, or the man who has to stand guard six hours? We have common sense about everything but religion; common sense about everything but transference from this world Again: There is a blessing in an ab breviated earthly existence iu the fact that one escapes so many bereavements. The longer we live tho more attach ments and the more kindred, the more chords to be wounded or rasped or sun dered. If a man live on to 70 or 80 years of age, how many graves are cleft at his feet! In that long reach of time father and mother go, brothers and sis ter go, children go, grandchildren go, persons outside, personal friends outside the family circle whom they had loved with a love like that of David aud Jonathan. Beside that, some men have a natural trepidation about dissolution, aud ever and anon duting 40 or 50 or GO years this horror of their dissolution shudders through soul and body. Now, suppose the lad goes at 10 years of age? He escapes fifty funerals, fifty caskets, fifty obsequies, fifty awful wrenchings of the heart. It-is hard enough for us to bear their departure, but is it not easier for us to bear their departure than for them to stay and bear fifty de partures? Shall we not by the grace of God rouse ourselves into a generosity of bereavement which will practically say, “It is hard enough for me to go through this bereavement, but how glad 1 am that he will never have to go through it.” So I reason with my self, and so you will find it helpful to reason with yourselves. David lost his son. Though David was king, he lay on the earth moaning and inconsol able for some time. At this distance of time which do you really think was the one to bo congratulated, the short lived child or the long-lived father? Had David died as early as that child died he would, in the first place, have escaped that particular bereavement, and the worse bereavement of Absalom, his recreant son, and the pursuit of the Philistines, ami tho fatigues of his mil itary campaign, and the jealousy of Saul, and the perfidy of Ahithophel, and the qurse of Shimei, and the de struction of his family at Ziklag, and abovo all he would have escaped the two great calamities of his life, the great sins of nneleanness and murder. David lived to be of vast use to the church and the world, but so far as his oivn happiness was concerned, does it not seem to yon that it would have been better for him to have gone early? Now this, my friends, explains some things that to you have been inexplic able. This shows you why, when God takes little children from a household. He is very apt to take the brightest, tho most genial, the most sympathetic, the most talented. Why? It is because that kind of nature suffers the most when it does suffer, aud is most liable to temptation. God saw the tempest sweeping up from the Caribbean, and He put the delicate craft into the first harbor. “Taken away from the evil to come.” Again, my friends, there is a bless ing iu an abbreviated earthly existence, in the fact that it puts one sooner in the centre of things. All astronomers, infidel as well as Christian, agree iu believing that the universe swings around some great centie. Any one who has studied the earth and studied the heavens knows that Clod’s favorite figure in ‘geometry is a circle. When God put forth His hand to create the universe, He did not strike that, hand at right angles, but Ho waved it in a circle and kept on waving it in a circle until systems and constellations aud galaxies and all worlds took that mo tion. Our planet swinging around the sun. other planets swinging around other suns, but somewhere a great hub around which the great wheel of the universe turns. Now, the centre is heaven. That is the capitol of the uni verse. That is the great metropolis of immensity. Does not our common sense teach us that in matters of study it is better for us to move out from tiie centre toward the circumference, rather than to be on the circumference, where our world now is? We are like those who study the American continent while standing on the Atlantic beach. The way to study the continent is to cross it, or go to tho heart of it. Our ■standpoint in this world is defective. We are at the wrong end ot the tele scope. The best way to study a piece of machinery is not to stand on the doorstep and try to look in, but to go in with the engineeer and take our ulaee right amid the saws and the cylinders. We wear our eyer out and fret from the fact that we are studying under such great disadvantages. Millions of dol lars for observatories to study things about the moon, about the sun, about the rings of Saturn, about transits.and occupations, and eclipses, simply be cause our studio, our observatory is poorly situated. We are down in.the cellar trying to study the palace of the universe, while our departed Christian friends have gone upstairs amid the skylights to study. Now, when one can sooner get to the centre of things is he not to be congratulated? Who wants to he always in the freshman class? We study God in this world by the Biblical photograph of Him; but we all know we can in live minutes of interview with a friend get more ac curate idea of him than we can by studying him fifty years through pic tures or words. The little child that died at six months of age, and at whose funeral I officiated last Thursday, to day knows more of God than all An dover, and all Princeton, and all Ne v Brunswick, and ali Edinburgh, and all tho theological institutions in Christen dom. Is it not better to go up to the very headquarters of knowledge? Does not our common sense teach us that it is better to be at the centre than to *be clear out on the rim of the wheel, hold ing nervously fast to the tire lest we be suddenly hurled into light and eternal felicity? Through all kinds of optical instruments trying to peer in through the cracks and the keyholes ot heaven —afraid that both doors of the celestial mansion will be swung open before our entranced vision—rushing about among the apothecary shops of this world, wondering if this is good for rheuma tism, and that is good for neuralgia, and something else is good for a bad cough, lest we suddenly he ushered into a land oi everlasting health where the inhabitant never says, “I jtn sick.” What fools we all are to prefer the cir cumference to the centre. What a dreadful thing it would be if we should be suddenly ushered from this wintry world into the May time orchards of heaven, and if our pauperism of sin and sorrow should he suddenlj hroken up by a presentation of an emperor’s castle surrounded by parks with spring ing fountains, and paths up and down which angels of God walk two and two. Wc are like persons standing on the cold steps of the national picture gal lery in London, under umbrella in the rain, afraid to go iu amid the Turners aud ghe Titans and the Raphaels. I come to them and say, “Why don’t you go inside the gallery?” “O!” they say, “we don’t know whether we can got in.” I say “Don’t yon see the door is open?” “Yes,” they say; “hut we have been so long on these cold steps, we are so attached to them, we don’t like to leave.’ “But,” I say, ‘‘it is so much brighter and more beautiful in the gallery, you had better go in.” “No,” they say, “we know exactly how it is out here, but we don’t know exactly how it is inside.” So wo stick to this world as* though we preferred cold drizzle to warm habitation, dis cord to cantatta, sackcloth to royal purdle—as though we preferred a piano with four or five of the keys out of tune to an instrument fully attuned—as though earth and heaven had exchang ed apparel, and earth had taken on bripal array, and heaven had gone into deep mourning, all its waters stagnant, all its harps broken, all its chalices cracked at the dry wells, all the lawns sloping to the river ploughed with graves, with dead angels under the furrow. O! I want to break up my | FOUR DOLLARS PER ANNUM. m. 32. own infatuation, and I want to break up your infatuation with this world. I tell you if we are ready, and if our work is done, the sooner we go the better, and if there are blessings in longevity, I want you to know right well that there are also blessings in an abbreviat ed earthly existence. If the spirit of this sermon is true, how consoled yon ought to feel about members of your family that went early. “Taken from the evil to come,” this book says. What a fortunate escape they had! How glad we ought to feel that they will never have to go through the strug gles which wo have had to go through. They had just time enough to get out of the etadle and run up on the spring time hills of this world and see how it looked, and then they started for a bet tor stopping place. They were like ships that put in at St. Helena, staying there long enough to let passengers go up and see the barracks of Napoleon’s captiv ity, and then hoist sail for the port of their own native land. They only took this world in transitu. It is hard for us, but it is blessed for them. And if the spirit of this sermon is true, then we ought not to go around sighing and groaning because another year has gone, but we ought to go down on one knee by the milestone and see the letters, thanking God that we are 3G5 miles nearer home. We ought not to go around with morbid feelings about our health or about anticipated demise. We ought to be living, not according to that old maxim which I used to hear iu my boy ho -d that you must live as though every day were the last; you must live as though you were to live forever—for you will. Do not be nerv ous lost you have to move out of a shanty into an alhambra. You remem ber that last Monday was Christmas Day, and I witnessed something very thrilling. We had just distributed the family presents that morning when I heard a cry of distress in the hallway. A child from a neighbor’s house came in to say her father was dead. He was only three doors off, and I think in two minutes we were there. There lay the old Christian sea captain, his face up turned toward the window as though he had suddenly seen the headlands, and with an illuminated face as though he were just going into harbor. The fact was, he had already got through the “Narrows.” In the adjoining room were the Christmas presents waiting for his distribution. Long ago, one night when he had narrowly escaped with his ship from being run down by a great ocean steamer, he had made his peace with God, and a kinder neigh bor or a better man than Capt. Pen dleton you would not find this side of heaven. Without a moment’s warning the pilot of the heavenly harbor had met him just off the lightship. He had often talked to me of the goodness of God, and especially of a time when he was just about to go into New Y’ork harbor with his ship from Liverpool, aud lie was suddenly impressed that he ought to put back to sea. Under the protest of the crew and under their every threat he put back to sea, fearing at the same time he was losing his mind, for it did seem so unreasonable that when they could get into harbor that night they should put back to sea. But they put hack to sea; and Capt. Pen dleton said to his mate: “You call me at 10 o’clock at night.” At 12 o’clock at night the captain was aroused .and said, “What does this mean? I thought 1 told you to call me at 10 o’clock, and here it is 12.” “Why,” said the mate, “I did call you at 10 o’clock, and you got up, looked around and told me to keep right on this same course for two hours and then to call you at 12 o’clock.” Said the captain, “Is it pos sible? I have no remembrance of that.” At 12 o’clock the captain went on deck and through the rift of the cloud the moonlight fell upon, the sea and showed him a shipwreck with one hundred strug gling passengers. lie helped them all off. Had he been earlier or any later at that point of the sea he would have been of no service to those drowning people. On board the captain’s vessel they began to bind together as to what they should pay for the rescue, and what they should pay for the provisions. “Ah!” says the captain, “my lads., yon can’t pay anything; all I have on board is yours; I feel too greatly honored of God in having saved you to take any pay.” Just like him. He never got any pay except that, of his own applaud ing conscience. O! that the old sea captain’s God might be my God and yours. Amid the stormy seas of this life may we have always someone as tenderly to take care of us as the cap tain took care of the drowning crew and the passengers. And may we come into the harbor with as little physical pain and with as bright a hope as he had; and if it should happen to he a Christ mas morning, when the present fare be ing distributed and we are celebrating the birth of Him who came to save our shipwrecked world, all tho better—-for what grander, brighter Christmas pres ent could we have than heaven? Women and lier Diseases is the title of alarge illustrated treatise by Dr. R. V. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y., sent to any address for three stamps. It teaches successful self-treatment. Mr. W. H. Barrett, Augusta, Ga., Dear Sir—l can cheerfully recom mend your GILDER PILLS as the best Blood Purifier I have ever used. Giving to the system a healthy tone, improving the appetite and clearing the complexion. They have also re lieved me of headaches resulting from billiousness. They stand pre eminent as the best pill made. Very respectfully, I E. Von K amp.