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'-.'A,,**
THE SUNNY SOUTH.
heels of it. and we never have been as good
or as happy in the mountains since.
It was the same way about health. We
had no sickness while we had no doctors,
There never was a healthier country than
Pack Mountain. (Folks had tojgo away from
there to die. The water was clear as crystal.
You could drop a button or a dime down in
one of them freestone springs and you could
see it as plain on the bottom ten feet down as
if it was in the palm of your hand. One day
a fellow named John Kinney dropped a dime
accidentally down in Brasstown Creek where
the water was fifteen feet deep and he could
not tear him-elf away from it while it looked
so bright on the bottom; so what must he do
but go I Kick to Joshua Hanshaw’s and get a
pint or two of tar and put it on a swab that
he made at the end of a long pole. He
reached down with his tarred pole and
brought up the dime, but old Josh made him
pay a quarter for the tar.
Well with such water and such air. you
may know we didn’t need a doctor, and wo
never thought to import one let alone to grow
one right in our midst; but so it did happen.
Poor as Pack Mountain was, it sprouted a
Doctor, and what’s more, he grew and pros
pered. An old farmer among us—a mighty
hard-working, shrewd old fellow, had a son
that wouldn’t take to the plow handles nohow,
and as for hauling, he couldn’t do a thing
with oxen. The old man said he must be
good for something though, and one of the
preachers said maybe if the boy had learn
ing he’d he a genius and get his living with
out work—off of other folks. So the old man
told the neighbors liis boy was a genius—
that was what was the matter with him—the
reason he wouldn’t work, and lie said he was
going to educate hint. S > he raked up some
scraps of I looks and lietween him and one of
the neighliors, they learned the lioy his let
ters and how to read without stopping to
spell any but the long wonls.
Then one day the old man went to Puck-
town, and lie brought home a Jaynea*almanac
you please, and I uiul he spelled out all it. had to say about
listened to the sermon as grave as a judge. 1 | liver complaints anJ dyspopsy and all man-
went the same way next Sunday, and. after j ner of ailments that I)r. Jayne’s physic would
awhile, the boys quit hooting; and a well to- I cure. Anil the old man took the notion to
make his son a doctor. He made him read
the almanac through and then he went and
THE MOONSHINERS.
Story of tho “C!aged Wilds,*’ as
Written i»y One of Them
in I'nlfon County
Jail.
(Continued.)
My father had sold all we had upon credit
and we had very little cash, and with that
little we bought corn and pork, and the wea
ther being warm the pork spoiled. So we
had to stop ou our route and settle down and
go to work to get something to eat. We
stopped in Monroe county, Tennessee, one
mile east|of Stearson’s ford on Tilico river, and
there we stayed fora year. The country was
pretty well settled up here, and there was a
good deal of style. Everyliody went to
church and most of them rode either in bug
gies or on horseback. Now we had not a
horse to our names, but plenty of oxen, and
we used to ride them where we came from.
I was anxious to go to church, and I thought
it would not be good style to walk; so I rode
on ox as I had been used to do. But I didn’t
calculate ou what a commotion it wovdd
make. My father was an odd kind of man
and had his own queer notions about things.
He had lived so much among the Indians that
he liked the r garb and held out that it was
the most convenient and natural. He had a
buckskin suit made for himself and he would
have us dress in like fashion. So when 1 rode
my ox to the meeting 1 wore a full Indian
dress almost, and I reckon l looked comical.
A crowd of boys escorted me to the church
door, a laughing and poking fun, and l felt
one time like jumping off and running i i the
woods, but I said to myself, no 1 won’t. I
have as much right to ride an ox as they
have to ride a horse, and my dress suits me,
so I won’t be bluffed. And 1 rode my ox up
to church, hitched him, and went in among j
the fine folks as dignified as
do farmer said he liked my looks and hired
me to work on his place. After awhile I got
acquainted with tiie young people, and went
hunting with the boys at night, and got a
peep at some of the girls. L thought them
amazin’pretty, and one particularly drove
the image of Mamie Donato out of mind; but
when the year was up, my dad broke into my
little arrangements again, for he pulled up
stakes and moved us all into North Carolina,
up in Pack Mountain, Cherokee county.
And heri^if work could kill people it ought
to have killed us. The ground was rough and
very heavy timbered, and we worked char
ing laud, might and main, and often until
the chickens crowed for midnight, and then
up and at it again with the first stnak of
day. When plowing time come 1 would-plow
one yoke of oxen while another yoke was
eai ing and resting. Well, work always tells,
and next fall we had a good crop, and dad
wasn’t worsted much, and L was sound as a
dollar. My sisters• and mother had helped
us like clever fellows, and had plowed and
hoisl with their long sun-bonnets over their
faces and their homespun dresses tucked up.
The country was wild and thinly settled; but
some good people put up a church and we all
went to it, though some didn't know what it
meant. The dogs all followed their masters
into the meeting-house; and when the folks
began to sing they set up a howl, and when
they knelt down to pray, the dogs took it for
a game and would jump on their backs. One
of them caught Deacon Kiiputrick by the
back of his neck and scared him so lie jumped
up and said some words that wasn't in the
Bible, and set us all laughing, which made
him mad. so that he pitched at the dog, and
then there was a regular fight and a confusion,
and the deacon threw the dog in the fire at
last and that broke up the services for that
time.
The preachers were the big bugs. We
did’nt raise them in our parts—the country
was too ]Kior—but they come among us s >me-
f-.i.i-. uni then oar ma ai.is would put the
little pot in the big one and the chickens
heads would lie wrung off, and such a Hying
round to have things fit for brother so anil
so. They would boil the chickens and put
in pieces of bread liy way of dumplings, and
sometimes we’d bake a ]Kissum whole—tail
and legs and all—and stand him up in a dish
with baked sweet potatoes around him.
AVlien she had a standing up possum and a
plenty of potatoes for the preachers, our
ma’am thought she was fine, and the women
folks would stand round and wait on the
preachers and keep the children in the hack
ground. The children dreaded tiie preachers
visit, for then they hud to wait and often
had to pick the bones for their share, for
them good brothers had their appetites
mightily sharpened by the mountain air.
and the way they would wipe out the boded
chicken and dumpling and get away with
the standing possum was a caution. The
children, peeping through the crack-, would
see one brother take half tiie possum at a
swipe, and the other brother take the other
half and leave only the tail for manners,
and they would begin to sniffle anil cry nut
“mammy the preachers are eaten all the
possum!” and then ym
ot a box on their
thought the preachers were next thing to the
Lord.
We got along better with feeding the
preachers though, than we did with sleeping
them. It’s well known they like good feather
beds, as well as they do good eliiekei . Well,
the beds in these parts were made of
shucks or broom sedge, or wild indigo-
got him some of Dr. Jaynes’ pills anil mix
tures and the youth set up for a doctor. He
had hits of brass and he went around among
the people rending his almanac and talking
about iiis medicines and looking at folks'
tongu s anil sheaking liis head, until the peo
ple began to believe in him strong, especially
as be was pious and gave 'em pit's and prayers
both. He was a good looking fellow and it
wasn't long before one of the young women got
sick, and l ben another an 1 another. Hecured
them, or rather, they got well, for as I said,
they couldn’t die no how on Pack Mountain.
As transgressions come into the country after
the law, so sickness come after the doctor.
Folks, especially the women, came to be
mighty unhealthy, and one nice girl was
pow erful sickly and kept, sending for the doc
tor, till at last the doctor married her,
anil that stopped the bill, and the sickness
too, 1 reckon. Well, to do the doctor justice,
lie was a smart fellow and a clever one mid
the people liked him and sent for him, all
but my old dad, who didn’t have any more
Use for doctors than he had for school teach
ers. Hi* said doctors were among the false
prophets anil anti-Christs that the Bible told
us to beware of. He was so afraid of a doc
tor that if one crossed his fence he would take
out the pannel and burn ever}' rail. He
would then strew leaves and grass along
where the doctor walked or rode amt burn
them off. That was to take off the witchery
and conjuring from his family. The doctor
got him n buggy after awhile, and l tell you
that made a commotion in the neighborhood.
It was the first buggy that had ever been in
that part of Pack Mountain, and I think some
of tiie good women, when they saw him come
riding up in it to church, feit as though he
was somehow kin to the angels that ride in
the chariots as the Bible speaks of. You may
know a real shiny, painted buggy would
make a sensation among people that came
for (aides around to look at the first mid only
glnss window in them parts. It was put in by
old John Bell, and was only an eight by nine
pane stuck into a log cabin, but the people
stared at it as if it had lieen a miracle.
Well, we hail good luck ami bail luck too,
on Pack Mountain. Wt* were such a hard
working family and made all we eat and
wore, even to our shoes, that we made money
uiul saved it. We had a small fortune stored
up in old stockings at the bottom of ma’am’s
red chest, when wliat should get into my
father's head but the notion that he would
get rich faster if lie went into the machinery
business. There was mi getting him out of a
notion if once he took it, ami so into the ma
chinery he went and snmsli went the most of
our hard earnings.
He bought ami built and rebuilt saw anil
grist mills and forges until lie sunk all our
savings which hail amounted to several
thousand dollars. If he had only spent some
of that in educating us children; but as I told
you, the old man had no opinion of books,
and believed they were an invention of old
Satan. Hard work and Baptist doctrine was
wluit my good dad believed in, especially the
lir t n inied, He said that was his cure for
nay depend they j puppy love anil he practiced it on me almn-
for the women j ilantly. I reckon no boy ever graduated in
which was my great weakness. I might have
learned a great deal more if I hail kept on
doing only the mill work, but as the poet
(whoever he was) says:
“If a boy would excel in his art, art, art,
He must keep the girls away front his heart,
heart.”
Well, I kept them away from my heart till
one day who should come to mill, but those j
two Farrow girls—the daughter of the good
old lady that had lieen so kind at drape
Creek meeting. They were grown up now.
and pretty as red shoes with green strings.
One was dark complected with cheeks like
red poppies and eyes black anil bright as
beads; and the other was fair with reddish
brown hair and eyes that looked gray some
times and sometimes blue as the skies after a
rain.
I could hardly tell which I thought was
the prettiest, as they sat there waiting for
their milling, and told me how it was they
had had to come themselves so far—fifteen
miles and over that rough mountain trail.
There was nobody else to go. Bad luck
had come to the good old Christian lady on
Grape Creek. Her husband had been struck
down helpless with paralysis, one son hml
gone to California, and the other was too lit
tle to help any to speak of. So here it was:
the girls bail everything to do, and awful
hard it was on them, but they were he*dthy
and strong and cheerful-hearted as birds, and
they never complained. I tell you I was spry
with their milling, ami I didn’t take a bit of
toll, and I helped them up on their horses—
they rode nice strong nags—and put tip their
sacks of meal, and watched them ride off,
and then 1 went back to my siielling bonk,
but my head was turnin’ round, .and instead
of reading about the boy in the applesiree,
there I sat a-thinking about them two girls
with cheeks like apples aud lips like woodbine
berries, and a wondering how twenty dollars
a year, which was my profits in tee mill.
thing, though it were filling the swine’s
trough, rather than to go liack home again
“All we, iike sheep, have gone astray.” “Anil
the youngest son gathered all together and
took his journey into a far country.” May
God this morning overwhelm our souls with
the solemn lesson!
First, I remark that a man goes away
from early religious influences. That
was so with this fast young man of the text.
You know that lie must have good influences
around about him, yet he travels off. And
you now often find a man entirely thought
less, who had a go oil father of a good mother
or both. It was not the amount of positive
religious talk in the household, but the.Christ-
ian atmosphere that pervaded it. That scene
often conies very graphically liefore your
soul. Perhaps you lire walking across tiie
corn fields in time of husking, or you smell
the ripe apples of the orchards as you are
rilling past, or you come upon a family relic,
or a profile cut in old style, and you find
yourself musing over the past, iimil you think
how, barefooted, you pattered along through
the furrows your father turned up, and of
the hay rack loaded with golden sheaves, and
of the brook that you wailed for pebbles, anil
of your mother seated at the evening stand,
and he pubs the other hand on His bleeding
brow; ttien he stretches forth His hand blood-
tippeil anil says; “C mie unto me, all ye who
are weary and heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.” The Holy Spirit has moved upon
your heart, and if He should ask those this
morning who would like to return to their
Father’s house by repentance and faith, there
would lie many hands lifted, I think. You
would be willing to start now, but you know
not which way to take. Goil help me to
show you the way. Throw yourself on God;
say to Him, “I am a sinner, save me; I am a
prodigal, give me rest; I make no apology
for my crimes; I plead the sacrific.al blood of
the Sou of G >d.” God will not shut the door
against that poor soul. Famishing and
dearth and death in the wilderness but
rest, perfect anil everlasting rest in Gml
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as snow.”
There is a fable which savs that Mahomet
rode on a steed called Albarak from Jerusa
lem to Mecca in one night. The steed had
eyes like jacinth, anil the fable says at every
step it went as far as the eye could reach.
But oh! with what swifter step eouieth the
rider on the Whitehorse, cometh to pardon,
„„ ... „ , , cometh to bless, and cometh to save. There
•ooking at von through her spectacles. Yes. I may lie those here who, as 1 have said, have
you remember the Sabbath morning when i wandered off from early religious influences,
they took you to church, fitted out in gar- and I would Itke to charm them back by
meats knit or woven, or fashioned by her some beloved memory. Oh. it your parents
own hand. You remember just how the would come an! sit by your side to day how
hand looked, the roughness at the end of the they would urge you to God. If 1 could sing
finger from the use of the needle, the color of I I would sing one of the old songs with which
the blue veins on the hack of the hand. Alas. 1 they blessed your youthful life. Mount to
that hand is stilled forever. And you remem
ber Ji.e -house of God. You remember just
how the tombstones looked around the old
meeting-house as you went in, and the hum
of the bees amid the clover tops about the
graves. You remember the man of God in
the pulpit. Those jisalms and hymns are
floating in your memory to-day. You re
member the family altar where your parent:
would keep up me and one of them pretty Retimes with their sorrows amlanx-
girls. And the end of it was, 1 got disgusted r ,-mg longer than you could have
hard work any higher than I did. I got to
lie noted as a manager of oxen, and could do
more hauling than anybody for fifty miles
around. Night and day I worked hauling
the heavy timbers for them mills and forges,
When one ox team was worked out, I had to
irn i break another. D id would buy up wild
the | stock for me to break, and 1 got so I could
last lieing preferred, lieitau-e the smeli of the break the wildest bulls in no time. So that
indigo, keeps off the chinch bugs. As for j they sent for me far and wide to break their
bedsteads, where the floor was of natural steel's, and if they put a good hand in ray
earth, as it was in m at eases, . * bedstead
was just two Judes with forks at the top
drove down into the ground not far from the
side of the house anil pieces laid in the forks
of the poles, at each end, read ing to the
walls and fastening in the cracks. Then an
other piece was laid across from fork to fork
on the front side and boards laid along from
this piece to a crack in the wall for slats to
hold the shuck or broom sedge mattress. .So
that was our usual style of lie*Is, and it ain’t
much wonder the preachers didn’t fancy
them, especially when the chinches nail made
their homes in the cracks of the logs, and
raised big families there. We had one or
two camp-meetings that l remember—one
particularly, way over on Grape Vine Creek;
but far as it was, we all went, and a time we
had. It was a rousing meeting: and there
was a heap of young converts. Some
Isiiv said they were mighty good now, but
the} would fall from grace when they went
back home, and one good, simple sister, she
said if that was ths case, there would’nt be
any harm in chopping off their IieaiLs and
letting them go to heaven right now. Sin*
was the wife of old Jouny Farrow that lived
close to Grape Vine Creek, and a 1 letter
woman never lived. She fed any number of
the camp-meeting jieople, and concerned her
self mightily about their souls, end was so
good and kind, that I said to myself, I'd like
to have that woman for a mother-in-law.
She had two girls, so I found out, nice look
ing ones too, but they were not quite grow n
vet.
Weil, you see our mountain folks hail a
great respect for the preachers and they
went to meeting whenever there was any
though I am bound to tell you they some
times hunted oil the w ay. and if the dogs
jumped ail} good game, they would forget
about tiie preaching and away they'd go in
pursu t. 1 f no big game was jumped, they’d
bide their guns out. and go into the meeting
house. They were never afraid anybody
would steal tiie guns, for everybody was
honest up in the mountains then, and is so
still in a degree. If they do anything dis
honorable. they are disgraced and nobody
will have anything to do with them.
\Ve hail a good, healthy country to live in
—a pleasant and happy country. We had
no law for we needed none: and it was any
thing lint a blessing to my thinking when
two men—Squire Kilpatrick and Squire Nel-
sou moved in among us, and stirred up some
law and got people to suspicion ing their te -
lows anil to falling out with them, and took
Ui arresting folks for little mischief-mak
ing pranks and small things that a kind or a
reasonable word would have settled. As
sism as these men fe'ched the law, why it
seems to me transgression came right on the
place, the old man w *n] 1 let me go. I would
tackle the savage old shaggy (leasts, rope
them and tire them down some, then I would
mount their backs and they couldn’t get me
off, let them pitch and snort as they might.
Like as not I’d ride that same animal to
church next Sunday. They called me bull-
tamer and I was proud of the name. Why
shouldn't i l»e ? That and hauling were my
with my mill trade, and concluded I mqst
take more work on my hands.
I’ll tell you the up-shot of that, anil my
courting and marriage, and my war experi
ences in my next, if so lie that you ure not
tired out with following of me through my
ups and downs; and if you are, kind madam,
or the readers of your good paper, just say
so, and you won’t hear a word more from the
Caged Wilds.
Tom Jones
Avers X Jones.
Tabernacle Sermons.
A DISCOURSE OF
REV. T. DeWITT TALMAGE.
The Fast Young Man.
Brooklyn, Feb. 2$).
“The younger son gathered all together, and
took his’journey into a tar country,”—St. Luke
xv., 13.
“Do you remember that sermon on the
father’s kiss ?” said a man as he thrust his arm
into the carriage-window at the close of one of
my meetings in England. “Do you remember
that sermon of tiie father’s kiss ?” I said.
“Yes, I remember it,” said he; “that sermon
saved my soul. God bless you. Gootl-by.”
I thought then, as I think now, that a man
might preaeli a hundred sermons of the para
ble of the prodigal son, never repeat himself,
have conversions under every sermon, and
yet not exhaust the theme. God help us
while this morning we turn our attention to
one part of this great subject.
My text sets us down in a home of Orient
al luxuriance. The proprietor of this estate
is a lordly mail. How he got his property,
whether by agriculture, or merchandise, or
by inheritance, I cannot tell: but there was
nothing lacking to make the father and his
two sons comfortable. Across the broad.
wished. Yon remember the evening prayer
that was taught, you. Cm it lie you have
forgotten it? You remember the morning
when you left home to seek your own fortune.
You remember as you came to the last turn
of the road and looked back at the old farm
house, just how it looked, and wished you
could cry and have noonekr o v it. Oh! that
old scene, that home scene; you will never
forget, it* You may have been out in the
world forty years, fiftv years; you can never
f.iget it. Gist was in that 1 o ne. Your pa
rents loved him. They consecrated you to
him at the altar in baptism. They remem
bered you in their dying proper. It was
tlieir greatest desire that you should be good
andi.ciri .t ian and useful. When I hey bowed
their heads in ilie grave, it was in f**e li< pe
of lifting them up again in the resurrection of
the righteous, and joining you in the great
home circle of the saved. I)o you think you
God that tiie family altar might speak, and
the family Bible that comforted them in
their old days. I plead by those anxious
teal's and by those dying supplications. \ ea,
if they can "hear my voice, 1 would that they
might come out oil the battlements of heaven. I
anil give emphasis and weight to the plea l j
now make from the door of their sepulchres.
If with such a Christian ancestry you reject
God, how can you escape? But there are ]
others perhaps who have no such blessed :
memory of early days. You came into life |
without any benediction, and you have j
trudged along under all these disadvantages, j
I want to tell you this morning that though
you may be a.stranger in church, though you j
may lie a grievous wanderer, God is ready ,
this moment to give salvation to your bruised j
spirit. Oh! prodigal, come home. In the .
next hundred years you can not find an hour j
this, it is such a
so tenderly to your
warm to greet you,
L give you the chil-
so fit for your cornin'
blessed hour. God calls
soul, our hearts are so
everything is so calm,
dren’s hymn:
“Come to Jesus, come to Jtsus, just row:
He will save you, He will save you, just now:
Oh, believe him; oh, lielieve Him. just now,
Don't reject Him, don’t reject Him, just now.”
“Oh!” says some one, “it is only a question
of time.” But when? 1 tell you now is th •
will meet.them there? I)o vou pray as much j time. I have stood in this place and present-
now, at this time, as you did when you were j ed these truths to men of whom it was said
five years of age, six years of age. seven j aftei ward that it was their last mercy. I
year’s of age? Have you walked in the path have stood in the pulpit and looked in the
that they marked out for you? Sometimes i face of a young man and invited him to
when you cannot sleep, do you think of an Christ, and'before the following Sabbath we
early example and the prayers offered for j had to put him away to his last sleep. Eve-
lalvation? Oh Lord! God of a Christian ry time the clock ticks a soul rushes inti
your salv
ancestry, have mercy on us.
But I remark again, that when a mangoes
av.vv from God he is very apt to go away
front Christian associations. It was so with
the text—it is so with many. There was a
ry
eternity. I have prayed God that this truth
might go straight to the mark, and
make you think, and make you feel.
You see your duty as plainly as you
see me. You want to be saved. No man can
time when you regularly attended the house | come as near the gate of the kingdom as you
of God. You were surprised at the words of | ar e anil give up without awful risk. God
the chapter this morning, they were so fa- only knows which one of this an litory shall
iniliar to you. There was some Presbyterian, ! this morning fatally and forever quench the
or Methodist, or Baptist, or Episcopal church ! spirit.
where the faces were all familiar to you. But I was reading of a ship that was coming
somehow you have been wandering away I from California during the time of the gold
from Christian associations. Your friends , excitement. The cry of “fire! fire!” was
are not perhaps those who love God and keep j heard on ship-board, ami the captain headed
his commandments. You are not as much j the vessel for the shore, but it was found that
shocked at profanity as you used to be. Per- | tiie ship would lie consumed before it reached
haps you occasionally indulge in it. Perhaps | the beach. There was a man on deck fasten-
you have lieen to places where you once I j n g his gold around him in a belt, just ready
could not have been persuaded to go, or you I to spring overboard, when a little girl came
been floating away—you squarely face U p to him and said, “Sir, can you swim:”
seres the flocks grazed, the sheep ami goat.**'. >t'Dict this!morning, my brother, that you i H,. saw it was a question whether he should
followed Icy ‘their bleating young. fAs.ting tinny f-ran Uod and I save, bis gold or save that little child, and
ranted some one to pray for | said, “Yes, my darling, t can swim;” and be
old on the deck
den occasion of joy could tome but j
would lie ready for it, fur there was always
t .e fatted calf ready to be roasted and carved
for the banquet. The table on ordinary
days, and when there were no visitors, had a
surplus, enough and to spare. The wardrobe
was filled so that there must have been a
good deal of unrolling and unpacking, and
taking down of garments liefore they decide
which was the liest rube. There were plenty
of jewels in that household, and rings fit for
the hand of a princess. Fleet-footed hired
people served in house and barn and field-
some to prepare the food, some to tend the
wardrobe, some to butcher the flocks, some
to harvest the grain. Amid the luxuriance
of park and orchard and castle, the year
rolled around, and if any ueople in all the
land ought to lie happy, then the lord of the
estate and his two sons ought to have been
happy. But, as now you sometimes find in
the same family great variety of tempera
ment, and two sons rocked in tiie same cra
dle developing opposite histories, so there was
a great difference tetwtea tiie two young
men of this manor. The older was settled in
his habits, fund of fanning, incurious about
the world phlegmatic, with ali splenetic, self
ish, jealous, wanting everything to himself.
The younger son was of an ardent tempera
ment. wanted to see the world, enthusiastic,
inquisitive, ungovernable. That he was
frank, 1 know from the confessions he after
ward made: that he was social, 1 know from
the way he went into society. He was not
ashamed to work, for when reduced in cir
cumstances, rather than write home for
money, in* put himself in the office of a swine
herd. But lie was a bail boy. He was im
patient of restraint. He wanted to get away
from the olil homestead. He wanted to tie
liis o«i n master. He could not wait for his
father’s death to get liis property. In Eng
land the property goes to the oldest son; in
this country the property is generally equal
ly divided among the children. But in this
Oriental country two-thirds went to the old
s' son and one-third to the younger son. Oh!
ITSt#lie. II you Women some one iu JI1.11 n.*r 1
you, you would hardly know whom to ask.
If you were sick and dying, and you wanted
some one to implore mercy on vour soul, you
could not ask your friends—they do not know
how to pray. If your little child were dying,
ar.il you must fold its little hands over the
silent heart, ami clo e the long lashes over
the bright eyes, and you wanted some one
to talk of Jesus anil the resurrection, and
they could not do it. They have no hope of
resurrection. Rather than all their wit and
their brilliancy, you would send fo r some
jil 1 in Christian man who, knowing nothing
•Ise, knows how to talk with God. They
lashed liis gold on the deck. “Now,” lie
says, “put your arm around my neck; hold
011 very hard; put your arms around my
neck.” And then the man plunged into the
sea and put out for the beach, and a great
wave lifted him high upon the shore, and
when the man was being brought to conscious
ness he looked up: the little child, with anx
ious face, was bending over him. It was a
beautiful rescue. But between 11s and the
shore of safety there is a deep flood. We
cannot swim it. Christ, the Lord, comes to
the rescue. He takes us upon His shoulder.
He plunges into the wave of blood and tears,
laugh with you, they can sing with you, they | and a billow of human hate and infernal
can drink with you, but they cannot weep : wrath hurls Him dead upon the beach, but
with 3 ou, and they 1 annot comfort you. Oh! j we go forth safe and free. Oh! the match-
liave you not lieen floating away from the I ] es s sacrifice of the Son of God. This is a
lamily altar, floating away from the altar of j faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance,
baptism, floating away from Christian asso- tb
only accomplishnn nts, for I didn’t know A j how impatient to get that one-third was the
from apple pie, and jlidiit care much if I j younger son. So there is an inventory' made
didn’t at that time, for 1 hail lieen taught to j of the estate. The value of the land so much;
look down on learniii:
But the time came when a different notion
crept into my knowledge liox. 1 came of
age—twenty-one years—according to daddy’s
count, hut some of my uncles declared it
was twenty-three. Anyhow, my father said,
“Tom, you’re your own master now,” and
that was the end of it. But lieing as I had
worked so hard for him. he did giye me a
chance, and it was this. He had a grist-mill
that wasn’t paying him much—not panning
out more than forty dollars a year—anil as he
hadn't time to tend it, he told me 1 might do
the work and the management there, and
have half I made for pay. I thought that
was bully, and stepped high, I can tell you.
I think Ellis was governor of Carolina that
year, but I don’t cure who was governor, he
the value of the wardi'olie so much, the value
of the sheep and cattle so much, the value of
the notes and bonds so much—added up, ag
gregated, divided into three parts. “Now,”
says the father to the younger son, “here is
your one-third: I am sorry you go. You
turn your back on a beautiful home' I fear
you may fall into perils by the way. I had
hoped you would be my stay in decliuiug
years, but I can’t keep you if you are not
happy.”. The morning comes for the young
mau’s departure. The servants do not go to
the fields as early as usual, for they want to
see the last of the young adventurer. 1 think
they each one have some gift to present, how- _
ever humble pertiaps a cluster of grapes, or , j am immortal!” Theimpnrdoned soul, from
an apple, or a flower perhaps some nice all its midnight caverns, eehoes. “Immortal!
cialions, away from God and away from
heaven?
Blit, I remark again, when a man goes j
away from God he goes away from his hap- I
piness. Now, my friends, what 1 have al- i
reay said maybe inappropriate to some of !
you, for tiie reason that you hail 110 early !
Christian surroundings: but this remark is j
true of every one in the house. Going away '
from Gml you go away from happiness. There j
is no peace in a life of impiety. Now, my broth
er. be frank and just—confess that when you j
compare your life as it once was you are not j
happy. ' i
l)o you have any calm contemplation of ;
the grave, in which your body must soon 1
moulder, and of the eternity into which your |
spirit must soon fiy? As intelligent men, as
common sense men, you know what a short,
uncurtain thing life is. Your business part
ner fell suddenly and fatally sick. Your
friend dropped under an apopleptic stroke.
Walking as you ilo on the edge of perils,
without one item of preparation for the
great eternity, are you happy? No. No.
No. This world cannot make a man happy.
Tamerlane conquered half of it, and yet he
could not conquer his own spirit. Hainan is
stretched because Mordeeai will not bow to
dfciiii. Herod is in agony because a child is
born in Bethlehem. Ahab goes to lied sick
because Nalioth will not sell his vineyard.
Felix trembles because a plain minister of tiie
gospel will preach righteousness, temperance
and judgment to come. Henry VIII is in
a rage at Thomas A. Becket. Alexander,
wanting more worlds to conquer, is drowned
in liis own bottle. From the time of Louis
XIII, there was not a straw-bottomed chair
in France that did not stand more firmly than
the throne on which they reigned. The friv
olities of this life cannot silence a disturbed
conscience, its voice crying, “I am immortal;
the stars shall die, but I am immortal: the
earth shall flee at the glance of the Lord, but
morsel prepared by the house servants and
didn’t feel any bigge- than I did, tendin’ dad- put away in liis sack. Right in the doorway
ly’s mill and getting half I made. Well, the
mill was pretty well patronized. I-ots of
people brought their corn there and 1 give
good measure, ami they seemed to like me
pretty well, especially some young fellows
that come from a little distance and iiad some
learning. They brought along one of Sut
Lovengood’s books in their pockets, and was
reading out of it, and I took a notion I’d
learn how to read too. The first money I
made I sent and got me a blue-liacked spell
ing book, and I got the boys that tame with
their milling to tell me the letters, and every
ciiance-minute I go’, I was hard at it, learning
my spelling book, till I could spell pretty well,
and learned the easy reading in my speller,
and then borrowed Sut Lovengood’s book
and read it through. 1 was proud then, I tell
you. I thought 1 might turn into a doctor,
too. ora judge, maylie.
But 1 wasn’t satisfied: I wanted to know
how to write. So 1 took to making the let
ters like they were in the A B C’s, and after
awhile one of the boys showed me how to
make writing lettei-s, and I made them with
chalk all over the walls of the mill, till I got
me a copy-liook, and then I just put my muid
to it every m*nute I could spare, and I actu
ally learned to write so that folks could tell
what it meant. I was os proud as if I’d a
found a gold mine, and I hankered mightily
after I looks, and was always scribbling some
nonsense or other, especially about ..love,
stands the father. He thinks of much coun
sel that he would like to give, but lie does not
say much. The fact is, he does not want ut
terly to break down. Ohl it is hard when
you have planned for a child, and educated
a child, and caressed hi 111, and [icfctei him,
and fondled him, and denied yourself many
comforts for him, to have him go away lie-
cause he is not satisfied with his home. No
wonder the old man did not say much; but
his lip quivered, and the tears rolled down
his cheek, and he said: “Farewell, my son;
God briuv you liack again, that with these
old eyes I may see you before I die. Fare
well, farewell, my sou,” and he kissed him.
80 God would set forth by parable the fact
that we have ail gone away from home and
ont into n far country. Our first parents bad
a magnificent residence. Harvests without
any plowing, fruit without any inseetto sting
the rind, ail the beauties of spring and sum
mer and autumn concentrated in one day of
brightness and joy and love; but they did not
like it, and they went off into a far country.
We have repeated tbeir folly. God is our
home. Charles Kingsley, when he was dy
ing, in rapture cried out: “Oh! how beauti
ful God is!” God is our heavenly home, but
we do not like him. All the paternal kind
nesses cannot keep us back. We take our
portion of blessings, and we trudge on, anil
we wander far away, bruised and chased and
hungrod and sick of sin, willing to do any-
Immortal!” Yet a man will take up the cup
of sin anil think he has found happiness in it,
and while it glit’ers ami foams in his grasp,
he will say, “Aha! I have found it, I have
found it!” and the words of Moore break from
his lips:
“Fill tiie bumper fair,
Every drop we sprinkle
O.i the brow of care
Smoothes away a wrinkle.”
And then ha quaffs the bowl to the dregs
but the never-dying worm wound up at the
bottom strikes him, and in its dreadful coils
throttles his soul forever. Oh! my friends,
there is no peace away from uod. The
sweetness of sin, like the honey gathered
from the rhododendron, makes that man
mad who eats it. As the Persians planted a
red flag wherever a tiger had slain a man, so
I lift a warning this moruing against all sin
in the places where men have been destroyed.
The fact is that the soul is too large a craft
to sail up the shallow strea nof sinful pleas
ure. Going away from God you go away
from happiness. Now, my invitation is to
all those who have wandered away to come
back, I do not invite the righteous; I invite
the prodigals, I have seen your disquietude.
You may think that the Lord does not want
you back. He does. He sends me but this
morning to say so. He wants you to come
that Christ Jesus came into the water to
siimers-
‘‘For sinners, Lord, Thou earnest to bleed,
And I’m a sinner vile indeed;
Lord, I believe Thy grace Is free,
Oh! magnify that grace in me.”
A BOUT "WOMEN.
GOSSIP, FASHIONS, llTC’. i
The Boston newspapers tell of a stage- j
struck woman who got a divorce from her j
husband in order to become an actress, failed
dismally behind the footlights, returned to
her home, and begged to be made a wife
again, which was done by a re-marriage.
The joint committee on the Library in
Washington City agreed to recommend the
purchase of a painting of Martha Washing
ton at a cost of 3,000, to be placed in the
East room of the Executive Mansion as a
companion piece of Stuart’s 'Washington.
A young man at Omaha did not wish to
marry the girl to whom he was engaged, but
she would not release him until he gave her
his grocery business as a recompense. She
now runs the store, whil** he works elsewhere
on small wages, aud the bargain pleases both.
Rosa Bonheur lias received from the King
of Spain a Commander’s Cross of the Royal
Order of Isabella the Catholic. This is the
first instance of such a distinction being con
ferred upon a woman in Spain.
By previous agreement, the keepers anil
frequenters of saloons of Alliia, Iowa, pre
tended to be unconscious of the presence of
the women who made a recent raid, but con
tinued their diversions as though nothing un
usual was going going on. The women held
several prayer meetings, but at last got angry
and went home.
Cetewayo’s three daughters are now on ex
hibition in London. Their names are Uuolala,
Unomadloza and Unozemdaba. The London
News says that these names are musical.
The dusky maids are described as decently
attired and possessing a taste for personal
adornment. Although passing much of their
time seated on a divan they come down from
time to time to welcome tneir visitors, shak
ing hands with friendliness and addressing
to each a Zulu salutation. Their manners
are gentle and prejiossessing, and their de-
meanor is in marked contrast with that of
the exuberantly gay and noisy masculine
members of the troupe.
At the state ball given at the Elysee, Paris,
last Thursday, Madame Grevy and her
charming daughter were distinguished by
the simplicity of their costumes. The former
wore, a black lace robe over a black and
orange Skirt, with a wreath of reseda blos
soms as Ahead-dress. Mile Grevy was dress
ed in White satin, with a single diamond as a
pendant, and red roses in her hair. A fash
ion originated at last year’s Elysee ball by a
very pretty young Franeo-Ainerican lauy,
Madame Gautherau of New Orleans, was im
itated at the present ball by over one hun
dred tallies, wtio all affe 'ted her Diana cos
tume, with diamond crescents in the hair.
The Scientific Review says that a Notting-
j ham firm has brought out a new glove with
back. I come on the bended knees of my j a pocket ou the inside of the palm, to suit the
soul, aud I beg you to quit that wilderness, habit indulged in by the fair sex or carrying
Christ puts one hand on His bleeding side, 1 money in that position.
Wit aucl Siuet&ote.
The following lines were written by one of
our brilliant little female friends of Atlanta,
and her mother and father were astonished
when they saw it in print and learned who
the author was.—[Ed. Sunny South.
I am dying, mother, dyeing;
I am dying my moustache,
For to-morrow brings the new year,
And I aim to cut a dash.
With my black moustache and goatee,
Anil my stove-pipe beaver on,
I will cut a noble figure,
Just as sure as you are bom.
I will call to see Miss Susie,
She that kicked me once you, know;
And she’ll sigh: “That nobby fellow
M'ight this day have been my lieau. ”
Then I'll stop awhile at Mabel’s,
Where I’m sure to find Jim Waile,
Whom, with all my pretty speeches,
1 will lay quite in the shade.
Next I'll peep in at Miss Fanny’s:
She’s the beauty of the town,
But she cannot clink tiie silver
Like my friend, Miss Sallie Brown.
At the latter' ' te I’ll linger,
Anil ileclar. . tones of love,
That her crossed eyes are brighter
Than the stars that shine above.
Then I’ll squeeze her hand and kiss her,
As I “tear myself away,”
’Mid her earnest invitations
That I call another day.
Yes, I'm dyeing mother, dyeing;
I am dying my moustache,
For to-morrow I go calling,
And I’m sure to make a "mash.”
Ailam ami Eve had a hard time on their
bridal tour. They never got home again.
What is the difference lietween half a glass
of water and a broken engagement? One is
not filled full, and the other is not fulfilled.
“Apothecary: “You want this prescription
filled, sir: 1 understand.” Patrick: “Divil a
bit af it, surr! It’s the bottle I would have
filled.”
We knew we should discover it. The mid
night cat tries to scale the fence and “run
the scale” at the san a time. Hence the dis
cord.”
Selling kisses to swell the Irish relief threa-
t l ns to 1m* inaugurated by the girls. H’m;
if complimentary tickets are Issued to editors,
we favor the plan.
At the matinee. [The curtain has just fall
en on the last act of the “Grand Pantomime.”]
Mamma: “Now, darling, it's all over, anil
we must be going.” Effie (with lingering
impressions of church): "Ob, no, ma, dear,
not yet. Can't we stay for evening service?”
Could conjugal affection lie more strictly
displayed than it is in the subjoined? “And
so, doctor, you think my wife will get well!"
“I am sure of it, if you can persuade her to
take this dose.” ‘‘Take it she shall, doctor,
if I have to break every bone in her body.”
“I do not approve of shades in painting,”
said Queen Elizabeth to a noted painter of
her reign: "‘you must strike off my likeness
without shadows.” Her majesty when she
thus spoke, was near sixty, and her ‘shadows’
were wrinkles large enough to contain
straws.
Cornwall, Connecticut, it is said, is a town
in which there have been no marriages time
out of mind. The numerous old maids aud
bachelors of this paradise are anxious to see
before their death a newly-wedded pair in
tbeir midst.
A two-dollar note was taken to one of the
Lebanon hanks for redemption last week,
which had been taken from the intestines of
a cat, in Montgomery county. The cat had
stolen the note and swallowed it, was caught
and shot, and the note tnus recovered.
Wlien Bishop Wilberforee was a simple
rector of Brighstone, in the Isle of Wight, he
was waited on by an old farmer, whose one
desire in life was to rent the glebe acres.
“Why?” asked the bishop. “Well,” said the
old fellow' with a look of business shrewd
ness, “when t'other parson was here he used
to farm it hisself. and there being so little of
it he always got in his hay before anybody
else. Then he clapped on the prayer for
rain!”
“Pay or die!” would seem to be the motto
of a Boston physician who was visited on a
recent Sunday evening by a man who had
just been severely cut in a quarrel. After
dressing the wound and naming his fee, he
was told bv his patient that he could not pay
him until Monday, whereupon the physician
cut the stitches he had taken and sent the
young man away with wound open and
bleeding.
A Chinaman presented himself at the coun
ty clerk’s office in Red Bluff'. Cal., recently,
and asked for a marriage license. “Who’s
the happy maiden?” asked the clerk. “Ingee
squaw," said John, explaining that he had
fallen in love with a Stony Creek red-skin—
the Pocahontas of his tribe. An interested
town was present at the ceremony—the first
marriage of the kind that has tiken place in
the history of the world.
A little girl had been playing in the street
until she had become pretty well-covered
with dust. In trying to. wash it off, she
didn't use water enough to prevent the dust
rolling up In little balls upon her arms. In
her trouble she applied to her brother, a little
older than herself, for a solution of the mrt-
ter}\ It was explained at once, to his satis
faction, at least. “Why, sis, you’re are made
of dust, and if you don’t stop you’ll wash
yourself away!" This opinion, coming from
im elder brother was decisive, and the wash
ing was discontinued.
Jules Janin, in the collection of his fen Me
lons published under the title of “ Historie
de la Litterature Dramatique” tells liow in
the ultra-tragic tragedy of "Tragadallias,”
an actor in the midst of a solemn tirade let a
set of false teeth fall from his mouth. This
was nothing more nor less than an accident
which might happen to any one. Lord Broug
ham is said to have suffered the same mis
fortune while speaking in the Ho ise of Lords.
But the great trage iian showed great pres
ence of mind, and also a certain indifference
to the serious nature of the work in which he
was engaged, when he coolly stooped down,
picked up the teeth, replace! them between
his jaws, and continued his speech.
Texas is sai 1 to be the most disorderly
State, but they do give prompt punishment
to some criminals. Tne following incident
took place in Washington, Texas. The jury
of the circuit court, before whom miserable
wretch had been tried, recently returned a
verdict of guilty, and suggested the whipping
post. The court then adjourned for dinner.
The defendant’s counsel, without consulting
his client moved for a new trial, and com
menced reading the motion.
“Hold on,” whispered the client, pulling at
the counsel’s coat tails! “Don’t read that!”
‘*Let me alone!” muttered the lawyer irri
tably, “ I’ll tend to you when I’ve read the
motion.”
“But I don’t want you to read the motion,”
whined the agitated culprit.
“Don’t want me to read it? Why not?
11 hat’s the matter? I’m going to get yon a
new trial!”
“But I don't want a new trial!” exclaimed
the wretch.
“Don’t want one? Why not?’ returned the
other, heatedly, frowning from under his
eye-glasses.
“’Cause it's too late,” urged the client,
“While you were out to dinner the sheriff
took me out and whipped the hide off of me.”
The motion was summarily witT ~