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THE SUNNY SOUTH.
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TO CONTRIBUTORS.
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Atlanta, Ga., Saturday, May 6, 1899.
A Word to American Fathers.
Julian Hawthorne submits to the North
American Review some wholesome
thoughts to the fathers of the coun
try. You may fancy, says fce, that it
Is a privilege to your boy to have you for
a father; but It is at least as much a
privilege to you to have him for a son— r
provided you are a father to him, and not
a mere idle and vicious appendage. And
that sort of appendage is precisely what
a large percentage of American fathers
are. It does not mend matters to say
that you are fond of your children, and
In proof of It to paw them and kiss them,
give them toys and candy, picture books,
circus tickets, skates and bicycles; or to
scold them violently and unjustly when
they happen to grate upon your nerves or
In your way. An ape can slobber over
its offsjrlng anr give it nuts or cull It,
as whim may dictate. Selfishness is at
the bottom of our failure to give proper
attention to our children; it Is selfishness
all the way through. We want the fun of
having children without incurring the lia
bilities. We want to have them around
us when we are In the humor, and to
have them look nice and display all suita
ble merits and accomplishments, but we
do not wish to be bothered with the task
of Inculcating the same; that we devolve
upon the public school. We would not al
low our most confidential clerk to engin
eer a pritlcal deal for us in the market
or on ’change; but we have no hesitation
In permitting a school teacher, to us un
known, underpaid, tired to death, averse
from her or his occupation probably, and
sometimes incompetent, to determine *the
lines upon which ouf own flesh and blood,
with his immortal soul, is to take his de
parture In life; lines whose direction anti
grading will practically settle his future.
Ingersoll on Shakespeare.
The great agnostic Bob Ingersoll is
probably the most eloquent man in Amer
ica. Here is a sample taken from The
Cincinnati Commercial of his wonderful
word-painting:
If Shakespeare knew one fact, he knew
its kindred and its neighbors. Looking
at a coat of mall he instantly imagined
the society, the conditions that produced
It, and what In turn It produced. He saw
the castle, the moat, the drawbridge, the
lady In the tower and the knightly lover
spurring across the plain. He saw the
bold baron and the rude retainer, the
trampled serf and all the glory and grief
of feudal life. He was a man of Imagina
tion.
He lived the life of all.
He was a citizen of Athens in the days
of Pericles. He listened to the eager elo
quence of the great orators and sat upon
the cliffs, and with the tragic poet heard
“the multitudinous laughter of the sea.”
He saw Socrates thrust the sffear of ques
tion through the shield and heart of false
hood. He was present when the great man
drank hemlock and met the night of
death tranquil as a star meets morning.
He listened to the peripatetic philoso
phers, and was unpuzzled by the sophists.
He watched Phidias as he chiseled shape
less stone to forms of love and awe.
He lived by the mysterious Nile, amid
the vast and monstrous. He knew the
very thought that wrought the form and
features of the Sphinx. He heard great
Memnon's morning song when marble
lips were smitten by the sun. He laid him
down with the embalmed and waiting
dead, and felt within their dust the ex
pectation of another life, mingled with
cold and suffocating doubts—the children
born of long delay.
He walked the’ ways of mighty Rome
and saw great Caesar with his legions In
the field. He stood with vast and motley
throngs and watched the triumphs given
to victorious men, followed by uncrowned
kings, the captured hosts, and all the
spoils of ruthless war. He heard the
shout that shook the Coliseum's roofless
walls, when from the reeling gladiator's
hand the short sword fell, while from his
bosom gushed the stream of wasted life.
Tie lived the life of savage men. He
trod the forest's silent depths, and in the
desperate game of life or death he
matched his thought against the instinct
of the beast.
He knew all crimes and all regrets, al
virtues and their rewards. He was vic
tim and victor, pursuer and pursued, out-
cast and king. He heard the applause anc
curses of the world, and on his heart hac
fallen all the nights and noons of failure
and success.
He knew the unspoken thoughts, the
dumb desires, the wants and ways of
beasts. He felt the crouching tiger's thrill.
the terror of the ambushed prey, and with
the eagles he had shared the ecstacy of
flight and polae and swoop, and he had
lain with sluggish serpents on the barren
rocks uncoiling slowly in the heat of
noon.
He sat beneath the bo-tree’s contem
plative shade, wrapped in Buddha's
mighty thought, and dreamed all dreamt
that light, the alohemlst, has wrought
from dust and dew, and stored within
the slumbrous poppy’s subtle blood.
He knelt with awe and dread at every
shrine—he offered every sacrifice and ev
ery prayer—felt the consolation and the
shuddering fear—mocked and worshiped
all the gods—enjoyed all heavens, and felt
the pangs of every hell.
He lived all lives, and through his blood
and brain there crept the shadow and the
chill of every death, and his soul, like
Maseppa, was lashed naked to the wild
horse of every fear and love and hate.
The Imagination; had a stage In
Shakespeare's brain, whereon were set all
scenes that lie between the morn of
laughter and the night of tear, and where
his players bodied forth the false and true
the joys and griefs, the careless shallows
and the tragic deeps of universal life.
From Shakespeare's brain there poured
a Niagara of gems, spanned by fancy's
seven-hued arch. He was as many-sided
as clouds are many-formed. To him giv
ing was boarding—sowing was harvest—
and waste Itself the source of wealth.
Within his marvelous mind were the
frulta of all thought past, the seeds of
all to be. As a drop of dew oontalns the
Image of the earth and sky, so all there
Is of life was mirrored forth In Shake
speare's brain.
Shakespeare was an Intellectual ocean,
where waves touched all the shores of
thought; within which were all the tides
and waves of destiny and will; over which
swept all the storms of fate, ambition and
revenge; upon which fell the gloom and
darkness of despair and death, and all the
sunlight of content and love, and within
was the inverted sky, lit with the eternal
stars. Shakespeare was an intellectual
ocean toward which all rivers ran, and
from which now the Isles and continents
of thought receive their dew and rain,
WILD FLQWERS.
They grow where none but God,
Life's Gardener,
Upon the sterile sod
Bestows His care.
Their morn and evening dew—
The sacrament
That m&keth all things new—
From heaven is sent;
And thither, ne'er In vain.
They look for aid,
To find the punctual rain
Or sun or shade.
Appointed hour by hour
To every need.
Alike of parent flower
Or nursling seed;
TUI, blossom-duty done,
With parting smile
They vanish, one by one,
To sleep awhile.
-JOHN B. TABB.
— That Nameless Charm.
“The first essential to pleasing Is not,
as it has often been said to be, a desire
to please, but a desire ot make your
companion pleased with himself,” is the
position taken by Florence Hull Win-
terburn when discussing “The Gift of
Personal Charm,” in The Woman's Home
Companion.
“What pleases us gains an ascendancy
over us, and nothing really pleases that
has not some relation with ourselves,
something in common with us, and draw
ing us on to a better opinion of our own
merits than we had before. For one of
of the supreme desires of human nature
is to see itself graciously reflected. A
man endears himself in proportion as he
shows that he is guided by the motive*
and opinions we understand and like, on
ly carrying them out more agreeably and
successfully than we are competent to do.
So it appears that the secret of the per
sonal charm that makes some men and
women delightful is not marked superior,
ity, but flattered likeness to ourselves
Whether we imagine the likeriess or whe
ther It really exists is no matter, so that
the illusion is brought about. And the
ability to bring It about belongs to the
nature that is gifted with power to divine
the feelings of others and sympathize
with them. To be 'sympatlca' is better
than to be beautiful or talented. A cer
tain apparent subordination of self is In
volved. '
Japan’s Poetess Laureate.
According to the Lady’s Pictorial the
“crowned poet” to the court of the mika
do Is a woman. The post is equlvalet to
that of the poet laureate, but is a much
more difficult one to fill, for the modern
Japanese are the most merciless critics
in all that concerns literary matters.
In spite of these disadvantages the ac
complished poetess contrives to hold her
own successfully against all rivals, and
the annual poem which she has ready
with commendable punctuality for the
new year, is always eagerly looked for
ward to by ,11 those subjects of the mi
kado who make the smallest claim to cul
ture, and is often far more eagerly dis
cussed than a serious . political crisis
would be in another country.
“Seisko,” for that is the poletess lau
reate's name, is no longer a young wo
man, having In fact reached the age of
seventy-three. She is, however. In spite
of the fact of her being herself a little
bit of a new woman, no friend to the
new-tangled Ideas and fashions, especial
ly In all that concerns dress, which have
recently been Imported Into Japan from
Europe, and her own costume is decldely
old-fashioned, not to say antiquated In
cut.
It Invariably consists of three under
garments of white silk, over which Is
worn a dress of the same material, but
violet in color, richly embroidered In a
design of landscape and flowers and va
rious bright shades.
Occupations for Women.
The announcement is made that Har
per's Bazar will shortly begin a series of
articles on the best occupations for wo
men, The subject Is an all-important one
at present and It Is certain that The Ba
zar's discussion will be valuable and full
of useful information. Another feature of
The Bazar for the spring and summer of
1S99 will be an unusual number of short
stories of great variety and interest. The
Bazar, since it established its department
of club women and club work, is becom
ing more and more the popular periodical
for women in America.
Do Bachelors Die Young?
It is stated by a contemporary, on
good evidence, that If you are a bachelor,
your chance for*long life is only half as
good as that of your married neighbor.
Twice as many bachelors die every
year as married men. Statistics prove
this, and science is vastly Interested,
Last year there were 5,901 deaths of
married men In New York city. Of un
married men men there were 12,830 deaths.
The records of the New York bureau of
vital statistics prove that this ratio has
been the same for many years,
Herbert Spencer observed that more
bachelors than married men among his
acquaintances died early In life, He said
this was owing to their Irregular habits.
Irregular meals, Irregular hours of sleep;
in short, the absence of woman’s direct
ing, systematizing care.
Pneumonia is one of the deadliest foes
of bachelor health. Dyspepsia Is of equal
severity. There Is no fair woman to look
regularly after the bachelor's well-being.
There Is no one to see that he wears
overshoes or at least thick-soled shoes on
damp days, or, If he comes home with a
cold, to see that he has a hot footbath or
a hot toddy, and. If need be, a mustard
plaster and heaps of bedclothes to Insure
a good sweat. And ao the bachelor de
velops pneumonia.
There is no one to Insist that If he does
not come home to dinner every evening at
the same hour he will upset the domestic
machinery and perhaps precipitate the
cook's departure. So the bachelor dines
downtown at a restaurant or uptown at a
club, whenever be chooses, and he seldom
chooses the same hour two successive
evenings.
The result Is dyspepsia, There is no
question that bachelors die from lack of
the tender care of women, as the children
of “institutions” die through lack of
mother love. No institution, however
excellent, can take the place of a mother,
6.5
7.1
10.3
18.3
35.4
and no valet, be he ever so faithful, is as
solicitous or thoughtful as a wife.
William Farr, M. D., Fellow of the Roy
al Society and state superintendent of the
registrar’s general office of England, was
at great pains to compile statistics on the
subject. He proved that the annual
death rate of bachelors in France was
eleven of every thousand, while the death
rate of married men was six of every
thousand.
Here is the table, prepared with great
care by Dr. Farr, to prove that bachelor
hood should be abolished:
ANNUAL DEATH RATE PER THOUS
AND MALES.
Ages, Unmarried. Married,
20-30 years,,,,,,,,,,,,.., 1L3
30-40 years,17.4
40-50 years,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 17.7
50-60 years.,,,,,,,..,,,,, 29-5
60-70 years.,,,.,,,,,,,,,, 49.9
He places the ratio of bachelors who
live to a good old age as compared with
their married brothers are at one to two.
He says in his work on “Vital Statistics”
that widowers are more prone to death
than either their married or bachelor
brothers. The mean average death rate
of widowers Is twenty-nine In every
thousand,
Mr. Fatr does not coniine his statistical
investigations to men. The rate of mor
tality Is higher among spinsters than
amon married women, and higher among
widows than among either of the other
two, he says. From his compilations he
draws this deduction;
“General result: Marriage Is a healthy
estate. The single Individual is more
likely to be wrecked on his voyage than
are the lives joined together In matri
mony.”
It has been held by many authorities
that the very necessity for living longer is
what adds to one’s longevity. A large
percentage of marriages are productive of
children, and the parents are very largely
controlled In their daily life by the obli
gations created through the existence of
offspring.
A man of family has better habits, as a
rule, than a bachelor, and the consequent
result Is a better mental and physical
condition. Statistics show that most of
the patriarchs of the country are fathers
and husbands.
The executive work done by Major Gen
eral Leonard Wood at Santiago Is consid
ered one of the great achievements of the
army. General Wood has written for the
May Scribner’s a stnJghtforward and
modest account of what he has accom
plished as practical dictator In making
over the whole state of Santiago on the
lines of modern civilization. This is the
only article of any kind written by Gen
eral Wood. It Is an account of our gov
ernment from the highest authority—the
chief executive of the province.
The lynching of Sam Hose Is over.. The
press and *he preachers have expressed
their horror or their approval and the
world moves on—not a stay nor a stop
nor a jolt is felt either socially, religious
ly, financially or commercially. The ful-
minations of the northern press nor the
apprehensions of editors nearer home
amount to nothing. History Is just re
peating Itself. Every few years some
thing like this happens and the press and
the preachers explode In about the same
language until they get tired and then
subside and wait quietly for some other
harrowing thing to happen. We remember
well what the press said about the burn
ing of the brute at Dallas a few years
ago and the same adjectives were used
and the same anathemas hurled upon our
people. The brute who ravished a child
of six years and then killed her and threw
her mutilated body In the bufthes actual
ly found friends among out enemies.
They said it was brutal to burn him. We
remember when the negro assaulted a
little girl near Madison as she was go
ing home from school alone and then cut
her throat and threw her body in a gully
and covered it with brush. When ven
geance overtook him the northern press
howled as usual. .
It Is their business to howl. They like
It, and no doubt are glad this thing has
happened. It feeds their appetite and
nurses their wrath and will last them a
week, perhaps longer. In the language of
Governor Oates, I would rise to a p’int of
order and ask, ‘What are you going to do
about It?’ ” Nothing, of course, nothing.
Such things will happen sometimes ev
erywhere at long Intervals, but they do
not affect a single Item of civilization.
Who is afraid to move to Georgia or
Texas because of lyncklngs? Nobody,
save, perhaps, a few bad men Who think
of coming because they are in bad repute
at home. Fitzgerald was not afraid to
come, nor afraid to stay, and the north
ern people In that growing city are cele
brating their content with picnics and
other hilarities while I write. The wick
ed flee when no man pursueth. No good
man is in danger of the lynchers. Na
law-abiding citizen has any fear for him
self or his household.
It takes a terrible crime to arouse a
whole community into such a remedy,'
and so I feel no personal alarm. ,
Reader, do you?
The truth Is that lynchings are not as
frequent in the south as they have been,
but are getting quite common over the
line. We read that they tried to lynch a
man In New York the other day for steal
ing a horse. Why, they have long since
quit that In Texas. Mr. Inman is right
or nearly so. He says in his answer to
the symposium of opinions that "there
is no just cause for alarm among tbe
country people—no greater cause than
there has been. That 95 per cent, o.f the
people, both white and black, are harm
less and law-abiding and we will have to
watch and punish the other 5 per cent,
just as we have been doing for many
years.” The per cent, of bad negroes is
greater than he thinks. The .number in
the chaingangs prove this, but their,
crimes are generally misdemeanors, lar
ceny and burglary, and education does
not correct this. Booker Washington says
It does, hut observatipn and the statistics
of the prison commission prove the re
verse.
We old men who owned slaves before
the war are established in our opinions
that education does not lessen crime, •
neither among whites nor blacks. Mr.
Stetson, the chairman of the school com
mission of Massachusetts, declared this
z pamphlet several years ago. and
proved tnat education increased crime not
little, but to an alarming extent. I
have great respect for Booker Washing
ton, and believe that the kind of educa
tion he Is giving will lessen crime among
the pupils he is educating. Our slaves
were educated by fear of the lash or the
whipping post, and you can pick them
• out today. It is their children, born since
the war, or their grandchildren who are
in the chalngang.
Why should there be 4.000 negroes in
these state and county chaingangs of
Georgia when there are only 240 white
convicts? It anil not do to say the negro
is punished and the white man escapes.
That is a lie, and every observing white
man knows it. My own observation is
that the courts leafh to the negro rather
than against him. No small per cent, of
the colored convicts are now serving a
second term and some a third term, which
proves that imprisonment does not re
form a negro. When he comes out his
last condition is worse than the first. But
the whipping post would so thoroughly
reform a young negro that he would not
repeat the offense. Confinement in jail
nearly crushes the soul out of a white
man, but a negro Is perfectly contented
there. Ask the sheriffs or the jailers if ,
this is not so. Now it will take perhaps
ten years to do it, but my candid opinion
Is that the number of convicts would in
that time be reduced from 4,000 to 400 were
the whipping post used instead of the
chalngang. Delaware has experimented
with this fox. half a century and will not
abolish it. It is used for all colors—white,
black and mulatto. If that little state
was south of the line wouldn't she catch
it from the northern press and northern
preachers!
But how can we make the change, for
as long as the negro has a vote he will
vote against a candidate who favors It
and the candidates are generally dema
gogues and dare not displease the negro.
No, they won’t even pass a dog law for
fear of offending their colored constitu
ents. Every now and then my wife asks
me to buy some mutton and says we used
to have mutton. But the negroes own the'
dogs and the dogs have exterminated the
sheep in .Bartow county. We ought to
change the constitution and elect law
makers for four or six years and after
that they should be Ineligible. Then they
wouldn't talk and vote for buncombe.
Borne of the symposium writers thought
that the law’s delay and the lawyers were ■
to blame for these lynchings. Not so. A
lynching for that crime is but the out
burst of human indignation. The law's
delay is not in their minds. If I know my
self I am as good a man as any horror-
stricken editor or preacher. I am kind in
heart and love my fellow men and fellow
women. I respect the supremacy of the
law just as much as Governor Atkinson
or any other governor, but I rejoiced
when the brute was caught and’burned.
How much he suffered Is of no conse
quence to me. nor am I afraid of the
crowd that did it or that will do it again.
It was the unanimous verdict of a very
large jury, a jury of men and women, and
I am not chicken-hearted about such sus
pects as Lige Strickland, nor would I take
very much sympathetic talk from other
negro leaders who raise their bristles I
know and feel that the white people of
the south have been kind; yes, overkind
to the negro since the war and that Yan
kee emissaries have alienated him from
us and we have got no thanks for all we
have done. Sooner or later we will have
to take away his vote and establish the
whipping pose and then, and not till then, •
will we have peace betweeen the races.
If these remedies affected a few bad
white men, let them share it or leave the
country. Some of us remember when the
kuklux was our only protection, and it
raised a howl that was heard across the
ocean, but it saved our wives and our
daughters when the world, the flesh and
the devil were against us.
And so, let the procession proceed.
BILL ARP
A PILGRIM BIRD.
“God opened the windows of heaven
And sent out a beautiful bird;
A sigh and a gleam, like tbe Joy In a
dream.
It leaped into life at a word.
God fashioned Its pinions and plumage,
He painted Us beautiful Wing;
He placed in Its throat a glorious note.
And said, 'Go forth and sing.’
Not ‘for the ears that listen;
Not ‘for the shouts that ring;’
Not ’for men's praise of thy glorious
lays;’
But merely, oh bird, Go sing.’
Did It doubt? Did It pine and falterT
Did It furl Its beautiful wing?
Because nobody beard, did that wonder
bird.
Lose heart and refuse to sing?
Nay, over the wide world speeding, -
Far over the mountain’s crest.
Away and away to the ends ot tbe day.
To sing In God’s wilderness.
And over tbe lone world watching.
Where never a step Is stirred;
In the midnight’s flow, God's ear bends
low,
For the song of this pilgrim bird."
—WILL ALLEN DROOMGOOLB.
John Wanamaker’s Business.
The most successful merchant In Ameri
ca is John Wanamaker of New York and
Philadelphia. As is well known, he has
added Stewart's Immense retail store tn
New York to his Philadelphia house and
ts running both successfully. The two
stores give him floor space equal to a
flfy acr farm. He has 9,000 employes tn
his service, 492 horses and 177 wagons.
Under, the two roofs there 65 complete
stores, all combined In one.
The following are some of the fixed
principles which have been adopted and
adhered to by the entire management,
and gives the key to his wonderful suc
cess:
Every caller ts regarded as a vtsftor.
and secured from importunity to buy.
The quality of the merchandise we pro
vide is of the first consideration, and all
prices are moderated by the advantages
of large orders and cash payments.
Bmall profits remove the discomfort of
taking good* back when once sold, to say
nothing of the immense satisfaction there
Is to a merchant In knowing that his pat
rons keep only what pleases them. We
take back anything and everything if re
turned In a reasonable time unused.
One price for all alike is strictly ad
hered to.
Orders by mall are not left to the
chance and convenience of clerks at the
counters, but are filled by experts at
shopping, with Instructions to represent
the customer rather than the store.
always rscalllng all tha bad things a man
did In his life and none of the good ones,
and I must say.” addsd the old gentle
man. thoughtfully, “that Bill was One of
the steadiest smokers I ever saw In my
life."
A Special Coinage.
Harper's Weekly says: Congress has au
thorlzed the coinage of 50,000 silver dollars
of new design, which are to represent
Uncle Sam's subscription to the monu
ment to Lafayette which Is to be erected
In Paris. On one side of the coin will
probably appear Lafayette's praysr for
the Lmlted States (about forty words),
and on the other, probably tbe faces of
Washington and Lafayette, and perhaps
those of Lincoln and Grant also. Presi
dent McKln.ey was Invited to appear on
the coin with his four eminent predeces
sors, but resolutely declined. P%ul Bart
lett and Karl Bitter are expected to offer
competitive designs for tne sculptural
part of the monument, and it Is expected
that there will be something ready, either
In permanent material or in staff, which
can be unveiled on July 4, 1900. Perhaps
the architectural part may be completed
by that time in its true material, with the
statue in staff in its place.
Hunt for the Bright Side.
It 1^ a platitude, observes some one, to
say that we cause ourselves much unnec
essary trouble and tribulation by always
looking on the dark side of things Instead
of the bright. We grumble at our luck If
we lose money, instead of rejoicing that
we were fortunate to have some to lose.
We howl and make other people weary
recounting our aches and pains when we
are 111; but we never think of being grate
ful and cheerful when we are well. We
bemoan ourselves over the hardship of
having to work, when we ought to be
giving thanks that we are able to hold
down a good job. We can tell to a nicety
every shortcoming and fault of our
friends; but we have a short and hazy
memory for their virtues. Any one can
see that we could add enormously to the
cheer, and make life much better worth
living for ourselves and others If we
would persue a different policy, and hunt
for the bright things, as a dog Instinctive
ly, It Is said, always seeks the sunny side
of a street. Not long ago an example of
this was given by an optimistic old gen
tleman who was one of the few who at
tended the funeral of a notoriously worth
less and shiftless neighbor. "Well,” said
the old gentleman, “Bill Is gone at last.
I can't say that he will be any particular
loss to his family, for he never supported
them, and his wife must have found It
a burden at times to have to take care
of him. Then he would drink, and he
was always ugly in liquor. Why, I have
known him time and again to chase his
wife and children out of the house in the
night, frightening them to death almost.
Ar.d I don’t suppose he ever did a day's
right solid work In his life. His mother
took care of him at first, and then his
wife, and after she died that poor little
daughter of his, who took In sewing. He
wasn't, either, what you might call re
liable. When he told you % thing, that
was pretty good evidence, unless support
ed by other testimony, that It was a lie.
Seemed like he couldn't tell a truth to
save himself. He never was any benefit
to the community that I can recollect. He
never fixed up his own yard or swept off
the pavement, or even served on the Jury.
But somehow it doesn't seem fair to be
Thackeray on Death.
The following la taken from a letter ot
condolence written by Thackeray to Mrs,
Proctor on tbe death of her mother,
shortly before Thackeray** The let
ter la found tn the biographical introduc
tion to "Denis Duval,” the twelfth in the
valuable biographical edition of Tbaefce-
'tar'a complete works. pabtUbed fa tbe
United States by Harper A Bra*, and
•hows tbe great novelist ae he was at
heart earnest cad mMtme; as* the eynfc.
the satirist that so msmy have caofafacsd
him. The tetrodnetJoas to the IMnsm
volumes of this asw edition eoosKteaS* the
only biography fa existence of Thacke
ray.
' Thinking off death,'” says Thackeray,
*1* tbtahtng ot God fasssutahOa. iaaeas-
arable, eadisse, lteghMzfagJiega. supreme,
swtnltj- eofftary, UtoSe ohahfcen. step- off
this earth Into the taflatte and we tear
«®r hearts out over their- sweet, cold
karate sad emflteg faces, that drop indlf-
ter * tu when you cease bottling them, and
smile ae tbe fid ts closing ewer them. I
don’t think we deplore tbe dd„ who have
had enough at Bring and striving „ and
have buried so many others and must
he weary of living—ft seems flsne for
them to go—for where’s the pleasure of
staying when the feast is over,, and tie
flowers withered, and the guests gone?
Isn't ft better to blow the light cut than,
stt on among tbe broken meats, and col
lapsed jellies and vapid hesita-pa? I go—
to what I don’t know—hut to- God's next
world, which Is His and He made ft. One
paces ap and down tbe shore set awhile,
and looks toward the unknown ocean, and
thinks of the traveler whose boat sailed
yesterday. Those we lave can but walk
down the pier wtth us—the voyage we
must make alone. Except for- the young
or very happy, I can’t say t am sorry tor
any one who dies,”
Do Yon Know?
One of the brightest publications of the
day Is the St, Louis Humorist. Here are
some samples of its weekly humor:.
Do you know that the belle In the choir
brings more people to church than the
bell In the steeple?
That baseball would be more popular If
there were not so many base men In ft?
That only stupid people complain of
hard work? Smart people never work
overtime!
That any girl can get a man Into the
church, but getting btm to the altar ts a
different thing?
That a man cannot possess anything
that Is better than, a good wtfe, or worse
than a bad one?
That when a man puts on a new suit
of clothes he. thinks tbe whole world
takes notice of It?
That many kinds of patent medicines
are getting so cheap that any one can
afford to get sick?
That engaged young people should be
warned to save something to tAiir about
after they are married?
THOUGHTS 0W MATURE.
One of these facts, aa Impressed by-
natural laws. Is depicted in the forma
tion of rocks. The matter comprising
them, however Incomprehensible It may
seem, probably existed originally tn a
gaseous state; and a series of ages most
have elapsed and many changes occurred
before Its consolidation into Its present
state of solidification. The prttno-pri-
mary rocks show no ‘signs of the exis
tence of either vegetable or ..-rfmai Ufa
at the dates of their formation. They
disclose the effects of fire and water in
their crystallization and are unstratified
and solid. Granite, which is found
higher up In the series, is composed of
quartz, feldspar and mica, each of which
seems, at one time to have been a dis
tinct formation, but by some rude con
vulsion of nature was ground into mall
particles and mixed and solidified by
enormous pressure and chemical action.
Hence, as said before, many ages must
have elapsed before these series qf for
mations (otherwise strata*) were com
pleted.
Next in order Is tbe metaphoric forma
tion, which seems to have been composed
in part of primary rocks and others at a
later date. This formation is broken up
and upheaved, so that In some sections
It occupies the surface of the country,
as in the Klondike, and contains gold
and many valuable ores and gems for
man’s use and support. Nor could, they
have been secured by him but tor the
occasion of their upheaval.
In the next series we discover the low
er coal formation, in which is distinc
tively written the history of animal life,
beginning with those species which be
long to the ocean.
The great variety of aaurlans and other
species found sllictfled and embedded tn
tbe rocks differ from those of the same
name now in existence.
Still higher up are to be found coal
seams, which are the result of the up
heaval and covering by drift of tbe 'first
vegetable growth of the earth. This lat
ter, by compression and the heat gener
ated therefrom, has been converted Into
ooal.
Next in order come tbe remains of land
animals, which could not have lived
prior to vegetable growth, on account of
the absence of food. These animals were
all of a very low order, and such only as
oould have lived In an atmosphere which
must necessarily have contained a large
quantity of carbonic acid gas and other
impurities.
As occurred the growth of trees, forma
tion of coal and the Increase of shell
fish, from whose shells our limestone is
formed, animals of a higher order came
into existence; and thus, as successive
developments took place, the atmosphere
became adapted to tbe existence of still
higher types of animals, which In turn
almost displaced those ot preceding ages;
until now has come forth, fearfully and
wonderfully made man In the Image ot
his Creator. Being blessed with soul
and mentality, tn addition to traits pe
culiar to the lower animals. It now re
mains tor hlfn to use hts endowments
not only for hts protection and suste
nance, but to control his wrongful pro
clivities and to regulate them by the
light of his reason. The order, system .
and wisdom exhibited tn all the works
of the Creator stand as examples to
man, and an observation ot them will
rapidly, develop his powers' ot compre
hension'and guide him. aright, and finally
secure for him. In the higher life of the
soul, a concentration of the best elements
of his being, when, according to natural
and spiritual laws, its connection with
the body shall de dissolved and a type
of mental versus physical perfection at
tained.