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REV. DR. TALMAGE.
THTj BROOKLYN DIVINE’S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: *The Gospel of Health.”
hi * ■••
Tb©re is a fashion in \
paratively small part of &S£u£t£!*
lor texts. Mott of the passages of Scnot'iire*
when announced at the opeS of "r
immediately divide themselvtS
(•uwions that we have heanfT,,m °4 d,t Y
and the effect on us is soiwrifte *’
irtißSsos nt. ti]a Ahe auditor
tort Jun the preacher
and
from. Much of mvlifpt,™! i n lj
to unlocking these gold cheste and hKnl
open these quarries. We talk about thS
heart, and sing about the heart hnMf ,
r^^thephysica l organ that we cafitoe
heart, it has not half so much
spiritual health or disease moral Y lth
or spiritual
consideration of which Solomon S in
* he /\ hp descrilies sin progressing
sfcrjke through his liver.”
diSvTrSVr^ 1 and P h ysiological
hfcdav ®*S?® ° f the B(, ienti.sts of
■nwday. He, more than 1.000 years before
)£LS e wh t i ( .h , H W about the circulation
vanß S’ S'i discovered 1,1
L^i° g r the “hu rrsr
speak, of the pitcher at the foun total
(tently means the three canals leading from
the heart that receive the biood like pftchera
void h of aks lu of the silver
™}°l be ®Ygently means the spinal
marrow, about which m our day Drs Mayo
and Carpenter, and Dalton, and Flint 3
Brown-Sequard have experimented And
th , e b,e of
veare before scientists discovered it, that in
his time the spinal cord relaxed in old age
-rv !f C th S m 1 *® trem ,° l rs of hand and held;
Or if the silver cord be loosed.”
* he revea,s the fa ct that he had
studied that largest gland of the human sys
tem; the J, ,ver ’ ? lot by the electric light of the
modern dissecting room, but by the dim light
ot a comparatively dark age, and yet had
seen its important function in the God-built
castle of the human body, its selecting and
secreting power, its curious cells, its elon
gated, branching tubes, a divine workman
ship m central, and right, and left lobe, and
the hepatic artery through which God con
ducts the crimson tides. Oh, this vital organ
like the eye of God in that it never sleeps
Solomon knew of it and had noticed either
in vivisection or post mortem what awful at
tacks s;n and dissipation make upon it, until
with the flat of Almighty God it bids the
body and soul separate, and the one it com
mands to the grave and the other it sends to
judgment—a javelin of retribution, not
glancing off or making a slight wound, but
piercing it from side to side “till the dart
strike through the liver.” Galen and Hippo
crates ascribe to the liver the most of the
worlds moral depression, and the word
melancholy means black bile.
I preach to you this morning the gospel of
health. In taking diagnosis of the cLseases
of the soul you must also take the diagnoses
of the diseases of the body. As if to recog
-1 nize this, one whole book of the New Testa
ment was written by a physician. Luke was
a doctor, aud ho dlscources much of physical
effects, and he tells of the good Samaritan’s
medication of the wounds by pouring in oil
and wine, and recognizes hunger as a hin
drance to hearing the Gospel, so that the
5,0 )0 were fed; and records the spare diet of
the prodigal away from home, and the extin
guished eyesight of the beggar by the way
side, and lets us know of the hemorrhage of
the wounds of the dying Christ and the
miraculous post-mortem resuscitation. And
any estimate of the spiritual condition that
does not include also an estimate of the
physical condition is incomplete.
First, let Christian people avoid the mis
take that they are all wrong with God be
cause they suffer from depression of spirits.
Many a consecrated man has found his spir
itual sky befogged, and his hope and heaven
blotted out, and himself plunged chin deep in
the Hlough of Despond, and hss said: “My
heart is not right with God,and I think I ftiust
have made a mistake, and instead of being a
child of light I am a child of darkness. No
one can feel as gloomy as I feel and be a
Christian.” And ho has gone to his minister
for consolation, and he has collected Fiavel’s
books, and Cecil’s books, and Baxter's books,
and read and read and read, and prayed and
prayed and prayed, and wept and wept and
wept, and groaned aud groaned and groaned.
My brother, your trouble is not with
the heart; it is a gastric disorder or a re
bellion of the liver. You need a physi
cian more than you do a clergyman. It is
not sin that blots out your hop3 of he iven,
but bile. It not only yellows your eyeball,
and furs your tongue, and makes your head
ache, but swoops upon your soul in dejections
and forebodings. The devil is after you. He
| has failed to despoil your character, and he
“ does the next best thing for him —he ruffles
your peace of mind. When he says that you
are not a. forgiven soul, when ho says that
you are not right with God, when ho says
that you will never get to heaven, he lies.
You are just as sure of heaven as though you
were there already. But Satin, finding that
he cannoi keep you out of the promised land
of Canaan, has determined that the spies
shall not bring you any of the Eschol grapes
beforehand, and that you shall have nothing
but prickly pear and crab apple. You are just
as good now under the cloud as you were when
you were accustomed to rise in the morning
to pray and sing “Hallelujah, ’tis done.”
Edward Pay son, sometimes so far up
on the mount that it seemed as if the
centripetal force of earth could no longer
V.old him, sometimes through a physical dis
order was so far down that it seemed as if the
nether world would clutch him. Glorious
William Cowper was a? good as good could
be, and will be loved in the Christian church
as long as it sings his hymn beginning:
“There is a fountain filled with hlood,” and
his hymn beginning: “Oh, for a closer walk
with God,” and his hymn beginning: “What
various hindrances we meet,” and his hymn
beginning: “God moves in a mysterious
way.” Yet so was he overcome of melan
choly, or black bile, that it was only through
the mistake of the cab driver, who took him
to a wrong place, instead of the river bank,
that he did not commit suicide.
Spiritual condition so mightily affected by
the physical state! What a great oppor
tunity this gives the Christian physician, for
he caii feel at the same time both the pulse of
)the body and the pulse of the soul, aud he
lan administer to both at once, and if medi
cine is needed he can give that, and if spirit
ual counsel is needed he can give that —an
earthly and a divine prescription at the same
time—and call not only the apothecary of
earth but the pharmacy of heaven. Ah,
this is the kind of doctor I want at my bed
side when I get sick, one that can not only
pour out the right number of drops, but oue
who can also pray. That is the kind of doc
tor I have had in my house when sickness or
death came. Ido not want any of your prof
ligate or atheistic doctors around my loved
ones when the balances of life are trem
bling. A doctor who has gone through the
medical college, and in dissecting room
has traversed the wonders of the human
mechanism, and found no God in any of the
labyrinths, is a fool, and cannot doctor me or
mine. But, oh, the Christian doctors! What
a comfort they have beeu in many of our
households. And they ought to have a warm
place in our prayers, as well as praise on om*
tongues. Dear old Dr. Skillman! My father's
doctor, my mother's doctor, in the village
home. He carried all the confidences of
all the families fourteen miles around.
We all felt better as soon as we saw him en
ter the house. His face pronounced a beati
tude before he said a word. He welcomed
all of us children into life, and he closed the
old people’s eyes when they entered the last
slumber. I think I know what Christ said
to him when the old doctor got through his
work. I think he was greeted with the
words: “Come in, doctor. I was sick and
ye visited me.” I bless God that the number
of Christian physicians is multiplying, and
Aome of the students of the medical colleges
you, hc ?„n a * 1 ** ibw
der, beautiful i JOU , to the ten
of :r k
you take ‘ i; i n ’ auc * "hen
i£>ng |land J&dioal f JSS Ju° r
the perishable tody, be sure
I“ ;Ur
unite with ministers of the Game!
>ng good people that it is not
against them that thev sometimes feel tie
pressed, but because of their dSe£2l Wv
the ?ou H ne P TheS 1186 ° f thLs subject* for
toast “ttalTwl,'cLuS’afe'rwarJ
and they can never be nulled t\ ’
preoccupy that that there is ™
tor the liup.antation of a righteous cron
Yon see aged men about us at 80 erect
agile, splendid, grand old men. How mSI
W 1 and oats did they sow between 18 years and
very o to’n "£)°"' ts T* <* *** 23
very olten honor with old age those who
£ *?y life .sacrificed the
altai of tiie bodily temple. Remember O
vear g Jt^U tha * wliile ia afte r life and after
vZr l: ;*n tIOU y , OU may P*w have
your heart changed, religion does nrr
change the liver. 6 Trembling auT sto£
genng along these streets to-day are
men. all bent and decayed pre!
maturely old for the reason that tbey !£e
paymg for liens they put upon their physical
estate before they were 30. By early diLira
tion they put on their body a first mortgage
S^ e a T° n 2 ra l ort^ e - and a third mol t
tn® devil, and these mortgages are
now being foreclosed, and all that remains of
JJjJJT 6! ! tate the undertaker will
soon put out of sight. Many years
th fu^r at ,.of m y text, a dart struck
through their liver, and it is there yet. God
forgives, but outraged physical law never,
never, never. That has a Sinai, but no Cai
vary Solomon in my text knew what he
was talking about He had in early life
been a profligate, and he rises up on his
throne of worldly splendor to shriek out a
warning to all the centuries. David, bad in
early life, but good in later life, cries out
with an agony of earnestness: “Remember
not the sins of my youth.”
Stephen A. Doug as gave the name of
squatter sovereignty to those who went out
vv est and took possession of lands and held
them bjr right of preoccupation. Let a
flock of sins settle on your heart before you
get to 25 years of age, and they will in all
probability keep possession of it bv an in
formal squatter sovereignty. “I prom
ise to pay at the bank SSOO six months
from date,” says the promissory note. “I
promise to pay my life thirty years from
(late at the hank of the grave.” says every
infraction of the laws of your physical
being.
What? Will a man's holy never com
pletely recover from an early dissipation in
this world? Never. How about the world
to come? Perhaps God will fix it up in the
resurrection body so that it will not have to
go limping through all eternity, but get the
liver thoroughly damaged and it will stay
damaged. Physicians call it cancer of the
liver, or hardening of the liver, or cirrhosis
of the liver, or inflammation of the liver, or
fatty degeneration of the Jiver, but Solomon
puts all these pangs into one figure anrl says:
“Till the dart strikethrough his liver.”
That young man smoking cigarettes and
smoking cigars has no idea that he is getting
for himself a smoked liver. That young man
has no idea that he has by early dissipation
so depleted his energies that he will go into
the battle only half armed. Napoleon lost
Waterloo days before it was fought- Had he
attacked the English army before it was re
enforced, and taken it division by division,
he might have won the day, but he waited
until he had only 100,000 men against 20 ),000.
And here is a young man who, if he put all
his forces against the regiment of youthful
temptations in the strength of God he might
drive them back, but he is allowing them to
be reinforced by the whole army of mid.ife
temptations, and when all these combined
forces are massed against him and no Grouchy
comes to help him, and Bluncher has come to
help his foes, what but immortal defeat can
await him?
Some years ago a scientific lecturer went
through the country exhibiting on great
canvas different parts of the human body
when healthy and different parts when dis
eased. And what the world wants now is
some eloquent scientist to go through the
country showing to our young people on
blazing cauvas the drunkard's liver, the
idler’s liver, the libertine's liver, the gam
bler's liver,. Perhaps the spectacle might
stop some young man before he comes to the
same catastrophe, and the dart strike through
his own liver.
My hearer, this is the first sermon you have
heard on the gospel of health, and it may be
the last you will ever hear on that subject; and
I charge you, in the God and Christ,
and usefulness and eternal destiny, take bet
ter care of your health. When some of you
die, if your friends put on your tombstone a
truthful epitaph, it will read: “Here lies the
victim of late suppers,” or it will be: ••Be
hold what chicken salad at midnight will do
for a mau;” or it will be: “Ten cigars a
day closed my earthly existence;” or it
will be: “Sat down in a cold draught
and this is the result;” or it will
be: “I died of thin shoes last winter:” or it
will be: “ Went out without an overcoat and
took this last chill;” or it will be: “Thought
I could do at 70 what 1 did at 20. and I am
here;” or it will ba: “Here is the conse
quence of sitting a half day with wet feet;’
or it will be: “This is where I have stacked
my harvest of wild oats;” or. instead of
words the stone cutter will chisel for an
epitaph on the tombstone two figures, name
ly, a dart and a liver.
“ There is a kind of sickness that is beautiful
when it comes from overwork for God, or
one’s country, or one's own family. I have
seen wounds that were glorious. After the
battle of Antietam, in the hospital a soldier
in reply to my question: “Where are yon
hurt?” uncovered his bosom and showed me a
gash that looked like a badge of eternal no
bility. I have seen an empty sleeve that was
more beautiful than the most muscular fore
arm. I have seen a green shade over the eye
shot out in battle that was more beautiful
than any two eyes that had passed without
injury. I havesoen an old missionary worn
out with the malaria of African jungles who
looked to me more radiant than a rubicund
gymnast. I have seen a mother after six
weeks’ watching over a family of children
down with scarlet fever with a glory round
her pale and wan face that surpassed the an
gelic. It all depends on how you got your
sickness and in what battle your wounds.
My Lord and my God! if we must get sick
and worn out let it be in thy service, and in
the effort to make the world good and happy.
Not in the service of sin. No! No’
one of the most pathethic scenes that
I ever witnessed, and I often see it, is
that of men or women converted in the
fifties or sixties or seventies wanting to be
useful, but they so served the world and
Satan in the earlier part of their life that
they have no physical energy left for the ser
vice of God. They sacrificed nerves, muscles,
lungs, heart and liver on the wrong a’tar.
They fought ou the wrong side, and now.
when their sword is all hacked up and
their ammunition all gone, they enlist
for Emmanuel. When their high met
tled cavalry horse, which they spurred
into many a cavalry charge with
ehampiug bit and flaming eye and neck
clothed with thunder, is worn out, and spav
ined, aud ring-boned, and, springhalt, he rides
up to the Captain of our salvation on
the white horse and offers his services. When
such persous might have been, through the
good habits of a lifetime, crashing the battle
ax through helmeted iniquities, they are
spending their days and nights in discussing
the host way of breaking up their indi
gestion, and quieting their jangling nerves,
and rousing their laggard appetite, and try
ing to extract the dart from their outraged
liver. Better converted l&te than never!
Oh, yes; for they will get to Heaven. But
they will go afoot, when they might have
wheeled up the steep hills of the sky in
Elijah’s chariot. There is an old hymn that
we used to sing in the country meeting
house when I was a boy, and I remember
how the old folks’ voices trembled with emo
tion while they saug it. I have forgotten all
but two lines, but those lines are the perora
tion of my sermon:
’Twill save as from a thousand snares
To miod religion jonnst.
HYDERABAD.
A Glance at the Most Interest
ing City in India.
A Place Given Over to Medie
val Pageantry and Weapons.
Ail agree in calling Hyderabad the
most interesting city in India. It is the
people themselves, the street !ife, the
medieval pageants and pomp, which
fascinate. Everything seems to have
stood still for centuries. One is plunged
suddenly into the age of the cavaliers.
The town is battlemented and ditched
and jealously guarded. In fact, a per
mit from the residents is necessary for
Europeans who wish to enter the vralls.
Once over the bridge spanning the
half-dried stream, where elephants arc
splashing in the deep pools s.nd hun
dreds of “dhobics’’ are pounding and
scrubbing the linen of the Hyderabadee
households, and what a kaleidoscopic
jumble meets the eye in the densely
crowded streets. There are long rows
of low, whitewashed buildings, with
facades of Saracenic arches, under
which the merchants squat among
piles of cotton goods, silks, car
pets, brass-ware, grain, etc., sucking
meditatively the amber mouthpiece of
the inevitable “hubble-bubble;” money
changers chewing betel-leaf and rattling
their bags of “hallisicker” rupees, or
lumps of rough-cut silver and copper.
On the fiat, terraced roofs veiled women
are curiously peering at the yelling
throng below through latticed screens,
reminding one of Stamboul or Cairo.
Elephants, gorgeously caparisoned, sad
dled with silver “howdali,” in which
“nawabs,”clad in brilliantly embroidered
silks and velvets, recline on cushions;
camels, on which are perched the Arab
soliders of the Nizam, armed with
lance and shield; prancing lit
tle horses from the Persian Gulf, mount
ed by sharp-featured, mitered Parsecs,
bankers, or great merchants, are seen,
while the multi-colored throug of pe
destrians, fantastically arrayed, or scarce
arrayed at all as the cas: may be, rolls
unceasingly to and fro.
To the uninitiated stranger it would
seem that the whole population is about
to rush forth to do battle with some in
visible enemy, fer all are fiercely, alarm
ingly hung about with murderous weap
ons, from the great noble, with his be-
jeweled rapier, dashing by, followed by
his escort of Arab cavalry, with swords
drawn or lances bent, to the peaceful
“ryot,” who has brought in his little
harvest of fruit for grain, a spear and
shield in his hand, and wearing a girdle
full of gleaming knives and ancient pis
tols, and from the Nizam, with sword
liiit scintillating with the gems of yonder
Golconda treasure-house, to the “Sais,”
who runs before your elephant, a dag
ger between his teeth. A poor chap may
have no cloak, no turban, but he is sure
to hive a couple of long-bladed knives
thrust into his loin-cloth or a long-bar
reled Arab gun slung over his bare
shoulder. Fastened on the persons of
the Hyderabadces one sees every variety
of death-dealing weapon —the curved
cimeter, the jagged “tulwar,” double
edged crusader, undulating blades of
bluish steel, perfidious, slim stillettos
and battle axes, with every conceivable
form of modern and ancient gun and
pistol, blunderbus aud matchlock. Many
carry round shields of transparent rhi
noceros hide, gilded and painted, or of
steel, elaborately incrusted with grace
ful designs in gold and silver. —[Mail and
Express.
My Hundredth Case.
“Doctor, do you think that I sha 11 re
cover?”
“I don’t think anything about it, I
know it.”
And pulling a paper out of his pocket
he hands it to the patient.
“Here are the statistics relative to
your case. You see that one out of every
hundred is cured.”
“Well?” asks the sick man, nearly
frightened to death at the announce
ment.
“Well! you're the hundredth I've
treated; the other ninety-nine I lost.
—[Judge.
Origin of Massage.
It is not generally known that we owe
the movement cure or massage to a Chi
nese book translated in 1779 by the
Jesuits. A Swede, named Ling, intro
duced the movement cure, which has
now grown important because anatomical
science has come to its aid. In China it
remains very much as it was, having a
semi-religious sanction in the old form
of religion called Taoism, and entering
into the curriculum prescribed for stu -
dents at the great Chinese medical col -
lege. [Argonaut.
Mature Molly.
“What’s the matter, Molly?” asked
Col. Percy Yerger of his little six-year
old daughter.
“Pa, my mocking bird is dead.’’
“Well, never mind, Molly; I’ll buy
you another one,” replied Col. Yerger.
**l am calm enough now, but when I
saw that poor little dead bird, I could
have cried like a child,” said Molly.—
I The Meal-Worm Industry.
T|e raising of meal-worms for dealers
in age-birds in the large cities is
mos y carried on by Germans, who
mak! considerable profit by it. The *
met iod of raising them is very simple.
Bot| the beetle and the larva, which is
the peal-worm, can as a rule be obtained
in f< ed stores, feed stables, bakeries and
mill . A dozen of each are sufficient;
thesj are placed in an old fruit can into
the ddes of which numerous small per
forations have been made. On the bot
tom of the can is placed an inch layer of
bran and meal mixed. Ia this first layer
a few meal-worms are placed, next
comes a layer of two thicknesses of flan
nel or wcjlen cloth, then a layer of old
biscuit or stale bread broken into very
small pieces, in which more meal-worms
and a few of the beetles are placed. And
so layer after layer is built up till the
top of the can is reached, which is
covered over with mosquito netting or
old muslin, to prevent the perfect
beetles from making their escape. The
can is then placed in a dark, warm,
slightly damp location. When sup
plying the meal-worms with fluid
food, which they will require once a
month, sheets of straw paper soaked in
new ale or sweetened tea are introduced
between the layers of cloth; these sheets
of paper they will eagerly devour, so
fond are the worms of the taste of malt
liquor, tea and sugar.
The price paid for meal-worms in New
York ranges from ten to twelve cents
per hundred, and the price asked by
bird dealers is twenty cents per hun
dred. This may seem exorbitant, but
the trouble of feeding them, hunting
them up between the layers of flannel,
and of counting these nimble and slip
pery creatures is, after all, considerable.
The meal-worm is fed to all soft-billed
or insect-eating cage-birds. When a
mocking bird or robin ceases to sing,
acts mopish, and ruffs up its feathers,
the first medicine prescribed by a bird
dealer is a liberal diet of meal-worms.
With seed-eating birds the only kind I
know that meal-worms are fed to occa
sionally are the cardinals and canaries;
for soft-billed birds the usual number
given is from six to eight a day.—[New
York Post.
Birds Killed by Liberty’s Light.
The torch-bearing goddess of Bedloe’s
Island does not trim her hat with hum
ming-birds. nor adorn her robes with
the bright plumage of feathered crea
tures. She is, nevertheless, an innocent
cause of death to a great many birds, of
all sizes and colors, and representing
numerous species, without discrimina
tion. The fatal instrument of decoy
and destruction is the vast cluster of
electric lights which she holds aloft in
her right, hand. JOO feet above the
waters of the sea, and whose powerful
rays are visible to the human eye
at a distance of nearly forty miles.
This is the season of migration;
and the number of winged wanderers of
the air that dash themselves against
the deceptive beacon, and fall back
stunned or dead is almost incredible.
One morning recently, after the first
cold wave had set the birds flying
southward, the officers on the island
picked up no less than 1,375 downy lit
tle dead bodies. Many of them were
beautiful creatures, aud the sight was
pitiful. There were among them speci
mens of more than one hundred distinct
species. The largest bird was a Cana
dian woodpecker, measuring thirteen
inches irom wing to wing. The smallest
was an exquisite little humming-bird,
one inch long.
An examination proved that the heat
of the light had blinded the unfortunate
creatures. In some cases their brains
were actually roasted. Comparatively
few of them were dashed to death, but
nearly all were fatally burned and
blinded.—[Frank Leslie’s.
Colored People’s Associations.
Negroes are exceedingly partial to
societies, and are never so happy as when
making a speech or when marching in a
parade. The names of the offices in these
associations are noted for their bigness.
They have supreme royal kings and
other verbose titles that even when
abbreviated into initials sadly fatigue
the alphabet. Not long ago the subjects
in one of these societies rebelled against
the king and deposed him. One of the
proudest moments in a colored man’s life
is when he can arise in the progress of a
discussion and say “Mister Churman!’ 5
The negroes generally are very grega
rious. They like to come together in
open meeting. They are good church
goers, especially when they are “pro
tracted” meetings—that is, revivals, on
hand. Of course, they are devoted to
camp meetings. This year they have
been especially so. There have been
camps in all parts of the state, of all
sizes and extent. The one near Balti
more is really a very large affair, with
excellent tents and a big attendance.
At some of the smaller ones in the lower
part of the peninsula the tents are either
squatty structures or covered wagons
with their wheels sunk into the ground.
A special exhorter of large local reputa
tion down that way goes by the name of
“The Swamp Angel.” If you have nev
er attended one of these backwoods
camps you have missed a treat. —[Mary
land Cor. New York Times.
THE SAMOAN ISLANDERS.
PECULIAR FACTS ABOUT THE KA
NAKAS OF THE SOUTH SEA.
Clothing anti Tattooing—Fitnl Hair
Fashionable —How “Ava/Hhe Na
tional Beverage, is Made.
The inhabitants of the Samoan Islands,
usually called Kanakas, are very intelli
gent people, and by far the best look
ing of any of the South Sea Islanders.
The men, says Gus C. Roeder, in the
New York World , average about 5 feet
10 inches in height, are erect and proud
in bearing, and have straight and well
rounded iiaibs. The meu all wear a
clout, or short cloth, around their waists,
which does not extend any farther in
length than down to the knees; this
clout in most cases is manufactured from
the bark of cocoanut trees, and called
“Lahpaldahpah,” but since calico and
other light linen materials have been
introduced many of the men prefer to
wear those, but always choose among
the most picturesque colors. Tattooing
is oue of the Samoan's greatest prides,
and everv man is ornamented in a most
artistic style, and furnished by his
parents with a pair of tattooed knee
breeches. Many of the men wear ear
rings. The color of the Samoans is of
an olive yellow brown. The nose is usu
ally straight, and not flattened like that
of the Malay, and the mouth is large,
with thick lips. The hair is black and
straight. Among the men it is consid
ered a great honor to have red hair, and
the redder a person's hair the more influ
ence he can command. But as nature
has furnished the inhabitants of Samoa
with jet black hair the natives have to
look for some other source in order to
be enabled to wear their choicest red.
Upon my first visit to Apia, the capi
tal of the Samoan Islands, in 1878, I was
surprised to see so many men walking
about with what I at first believed to be
snow-white hair, but upon closer exam
ination I learned that the natives apply a
whitish clay similar to our whitewash to
their hair. This they use instead of
pomade or hair oil and apply it iu a
thick mass until the hair becomes thor
oughly hardened and white. The men
continue this process of bleaching their
hair UDtil it loses its former black color,
and with time turns to a brownish red.
A rather peculiar taste, but they feel proud
of their success in coloring their hair.
Quite often women go through the same
performance, but they are compelled to
wear their hair short, as long hair cannot
so easily be discolored. Natives of
Samoa, as a rule, regard work as some
thing unnecessary, and all the work
done on the plantations owned by Euro
peans is performed by Kanakas imported
from other islands.
The Samoans are very friendly, and in
passing always greet a stranger with a
hearty “Kalioffah,” which, translated
into our language, means “Good day.”
You stop to speak to one of these chaps,
and after having concluded your con
versation he wiLl never forget upon de
parting to hail you with a “Koli'ah” of
good-by.”
The mode of living of Samoans is very
simple, and days pass sometimes without
a Samoan partaking of any hot food.
Cocoanuts, bananas, pineapples, yam,
and more particularly the bread fruit,
once in a while some fish and a piece of
hog. especially when it happens to be
one of your white neighbor’s hogs, con
clude the simple bill of fare. One of
the greatest beverages among the Samo
ans is “ava.” The ava which grows in
clusters from six to ten feet in height, is
a species of pepper. From its dried root
is made an intoxicating beverage which
when taken in small does is a delightful
soporific. To drink ava is all very well
if you do not see how it is munfactured.
But if you witness the process, as I did
on one occasion, when I first sampled
this native drink, I feel assured that
your taste for aaa will be somewhat
changed. While taking a stroll over
Samoa one tine afternoon 1 came across a
large number of Apians, men ami women,
who were sitting on the ground around
one of the native huts, apparently en
gaged in some very interesting work.
Having lost my way and being anxious
to see all there was to be seen, I ap
proached the crowd, greeted my friends
with a “Kalioffah,” and, with all the
Samoan at my command, explained my
errand. The natives treated me very
kindly, and at once invited me to take a
seat in their family circle, offering me
the best place between two charming
young girls. I noticed that all the women
and young girls were engaged in chewing
at a root, while on their laps rested small
cocoanut bowls, which I took to be spit
toons, as they allowed the juice of the
roots to drop into the bowels. In the
centre of the circle stood a larger bowl,
and whenever one of the women had
chewed enough on the root she would
empty the contents of her bowl into the
larger one.' I watched these proceedings
with great astonishment, and could not
imagine to what end these women exer
cised their jaws on those gray roots.
After the bowl in the centre had been
about half filled with this brownish fluid,
some limes and oranges were produced
and mixed with the rest, and the milk of
a number of cocoanuts added to the
whole, completed the Samoans’ famous
drink called “ava.” To see its inanu
ture was hard enough, but now came the
hardest part. I was supposed to drink
this stuff. I was at a loss what to do. I
knew that if I refused to partake I would
be insulting my host. I tried to make
believe that I was not thirsty, but this
did not seem to work at all*, and to my
great horror 1 was offered the first drink
after the mixture had been pronounced
by the oldest chief present to be all right.
My fair neighbor to the right offered me
quite a large bowl filled to the brim with
ava, and I had to partake. I took a sip
and tried to return the balance because I
did not like its peppery taste, but it was
no go. I had to finish. It was all that
my life was worth. I managed to get
through as best I could, and washed
the whole down with some cocoanut
milk. I afterward learned that had I
refused to drink with my Samoan friends
I certainly would have been compelled
to quit their presence in disgrace.
Infinite toil would not enable you to
sweep away a mist, but by ascending a
little you may often look over it alto
gether. So it is with our moral improve
ment. We wrestle fiercely with a vicious
habit, which could have no hold upon
us if we ascended into a higher atmo
sphere.
CHILDREN'S COLUMN.
Don’t Give In.
Boys, when troubles crowd about yo*
(You’ll find plenty in this life.)
And when fortune seems to flout you,
And your weary with the strife;
Then’s the time to show your metal.
Keep your heads up; don't give in;
Face the trouble, grasp the nettle,
And determine you will win.
What’s the good of turning craven?
That will never gain the fight,
That will bring you to no haven
Of success and calm delight.
No, boys, no, be up and doing,
Put your shoulders to the task.
Fortune's shy aud needs pursuing
If within her smile you'd basic.
The Music That Woke the Princes*.
Once upon a time a beautiful princess
lay dangerously ill. For days aud days
she had been lying on her couch without
a sign of life, looking like some exquis
ite statue wrought in marble. The
greatest physicians in tLu land were scut
for, but not one of them could succeed
in rousing the princess from the strange
and baffling tranca into which she had
fallen.
At last there entered the chamber of
the sleeping girl an old physician who
had known her when she was a merry,
thoughtless child, living in the country,
and playing about among the flowers and
woods, free and unfettered as a bird.
The old man leaned over the eoueh of
the princess, and looked at her long and
earnestly. The silence which reigned
in that royal chamber avs broken by
the voice of the physician, raised in ac
cents of command:
“Draw back the curtains, and blow
out the tapers.'’
At a sign from the queen the attend
ants noiselessly obeyed, and the bright
rays of a glorious sun streamed into the
room.
“Open all the windows, and let in the
air from heaven.”
“She will die,” whispered thn attend
ants, horrified; but the queen only
nodded, and soon a fresh, pure breeze,
laden with the scent of myriads of
flowers, was stealing into the heated
chamber.
“Can you not revive her? she is my
only one!” said the queen, in tones of
piteous entreaty.
“Madam,” replied the old physician
gravely, “the soul of your daughter has
quitted its abode and is wandering in
the Land of Dreams. Naught can avail
to call it back save music, for music is
divine, and hath a wondrous and all
penetrating power. Let'but some chord
of memory in the heart of the princess
be touched, and straightway she will
awake.”
Overjoyed, the queen sent for all the
best singers in the kingdom, and one
after another they sang in the chamber
of the princess grand Italian airs, with
wonderful shakes and frills, sparkling
French canzonettes, and stately German
songs; now a quaint little modern ditty,
and now a pathetic ballad of olden
times.
But they sang in vain, for the sleeper
lay without movement, and the queen,
amidst her grief, began to look doubt -
ingly at the old physician.
Presently there slipped into the room
a little peasant girl with bright, eager
eyes and sunburnt face; and, before any
one could stop her, she was kneeling by
the couch, crooning out the quaintest of
quaint ditties.
There was nothing grand or powerful
about it, but it was like the twitter of
the birds on a spring morning, so fresh
and clear, and full of soft little cooing
notes, and odd turns and phrases.
It was the lullaby that the princess’s
nurse had sung to her when she was a
little child, and it found its way where
loftier music had failed to enter—straight
into the royal maiden's heart.
Slowly the princess opened her blue
eyes, and fixed them in bewilderment
upon the peasant girl at her feet.
“Sing on, sing on, my little forest
nightingale,” said she ; “this is the
music of my childhood—this is the music
that I so love.”—[Little Folks.
Powerful Magnetic Ore.
A Georgia paper tells of a man wh
got lost in a cornfield, and after a day’s
search his friends found him sitting on
an ear near the top of the stalk. That
rather lays it over our corn but it doesn’t
compare w ith the simple virtues of our
magnetic iron mines. They ]>ossess an
ore that draws just a little. The work
men all wear moccasins because it
draws the tacks out of shoes. Houses
in the vicinity of our mines have to be
bolted together, as nails would all pull
out over night. A wild duck that had
in a thoughtless moment swallowed a
few domestic hairpins tried in vain to
fly over the mines, but was drawn to
earth by the remorseless power of mag
netic attraction. Iron-clad vessels are
often attracted shoreward and left help
leas upon the beach, while people with
too much iron in their blood are over
come as in a trance and sleep on in the
perpetual delights of an earthly nirvana.
Such are a fewr of the wonders of this
power, but perhaps its greatest achieve
ment was in attracting the irony of the
Twin Cities. Georgia may have the
corn, but when it comes to a harvest of
earthly greatness Minnesota takes the
Johnnyeake. —Duluth Paragrapher.