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your doorsill ;/»u made shoes out of it for
your Ilanz. You must open his coffin,
cake off the shoes made of bread from
this child’s feet and bum them in fire,
which purifies all.”
Accompanied by the grave digger and
by the mother, the priest went to the
cemetery. With four blows of the spade
the coffin war. uncovered. They opened
it. Ilanz was lying within just as bia
mother lmd placed him, but his face bore
an expression of gmef. The holy priest
tender\ly took off the shoes made of bread
from tho feet of the dead baby and him
self burned them in the flame of a wax
taper while ho recited a prayer.
When the night came on Ilanz ap¬
peared before his mother for the last time,
but joyous, rosy, contented, with two
Jittle olierul;:; v/iih whom ho had already
made friends; he wore a wreath of dia¬
monds and his wings were made of light.
“Oh. my mother! what happiness,
wliat felicity, and how beautiful. They
are the gardens of paradise! There we
play forever, and the good God never
scolds us. ’ ’
Tho next day the mother saw her boy
again, but in heaven, for she died before
evening, with her head bent over th«
empty cradle.—Translated by Anne C.
Milford Barton from tho French of The
ophile Gautier for Home Journal.
A Young Ventriloquist.
A little Boston boy who was taken to
the entertainment of a ventriloquist some
time ago, and who was a close observer
of the performer’s modus operandi, ac¬
companied his parents last week to hit
father’s native town, and among the
places visited during their rural sojourn
was the country cemetery, where sleep
the progenitors of his paternal parent.
The latter pointed out to the child a cer¬
tain mound, saying: “There, dear, is the
grave of your grandfather.” The little
fellow gazed curiously at the place of
sepulture for a moment, and then, seized
by a sudden idea, stooi>ed down.mnd rap¬
ping on tho tombstone, said: “Grandpa,
are you down there?” following it up
with a self supplied “Yes” in as deep and
guttural a tone as his little throat could
make vocal, i i Does you want to come
up?” he resumed in his natural pitch of
voice, and again dropping to the lower
tone answered his own query with a bass
and hollow “No.” The parents, greatly
shocked, cut riiort further ventriloquial
efforts on the part of the too precocious
child.—Boston Budget.
t acts About London.
About twenty-eight miles of new streets
are laid out t •ch year; about 9,000 houses
are erected yearly; about 500,000 bouses
are already erected; about 10,000 strang¬
ers enter the city each day; about 125
persons are added daily to the popula¬
tion; about 120,000 foreigners live in the
city; about 129,000 paupers and beggars
infest the city; about 10,000 police keep
order; about 2,000 clergymen hold forth
every Sunday; about 3,000 horse's die
every week: and, it is said, about 700,000
cats enliven the moonlight nights.—Pub¬
lic Opinion.
The Colored Twine.
A colored woman called her twins
Truth and Falsehood. When asked why
she did so she answered: “Well, sail,
Truf never needs no quietin'. He jes’
lavs down whar yo’ put him an’goes
right ter sleep. <lat dar Fauwfliud’a
aliens a-.ti.rt in' up jes’ when vo’ tho’t
VO’ hail * g, ,t him ter cr deep. weep. ’'-Tim ini rqxicii. Epoch.
Fair for All.
The Now York World suggests that all
governments agree tv> go lirck to tho old
wooden rnen-of-war, which would be as
fair for one as tne other. Why not
abolish all navies, which would also 1 oas
fair for one as the other.—Detroit Free
Frees.
JUDGMENT AND MERCY.
EXPLANATORY NOTES BY REV. GEO.
P. HAYS, D. D •i LL. D.
Leason VIII of the International Series
(Fourth Quarter) for Nov. 20—Text of
the Lesson, Matt, xi, 20-30; Golden Text,
Matt, xi, 28.
'Some lessons are so familiar and so easy
and so precious to the heart of the Christian
world as to make them exceedingly hard to
^explain. This lesson is one of these. Verses
22-20, and especially 28,20 and 30, have come
to be like proverbs in the mind of the church;
and 26 to 30 ought to be in the memory of
every Christian. Of course, a landlord will
expect larger rent from the tenant of his
largo and fruitful farm than from the tenant
of the little cabin, with only its potato patch
in addition. So also, of course, increased op¬
portunities increase responsibilities. This is
simply the common sense of business and
daily life applied to religion.
Mighty works.—With these verses before
us our curiosity is excited to ask wbat mighty
works were done in Chorazin, Bethsaida and
Capernaum. As to Chorazin there is no
record whatsoever of any works done there,
The same is true of Bethsaida. As is stated
in John xxi, 25, all Christ’s miracles are
not reported in the New Testament. Of
Chorazin scarcely anything is known. Beth¬
saida was possibly the birthplace of Peter,
Andrew and Philip, Capernaum was the
home of Christ, and at the time of the public
ministry the residence of Peter. Many things
are recorded as having been (lone or spoken
in Capernaum. Of Capernaum, however,
this is to be noted, that it is not once men
tioned in the Old Testament, nor anywhere
outside of the four Gospels in the New Testa¬
ment
Degrees of punishment.—Verses 22 and 24
explicitly teach the doctrine of comparative
punishment. God’s system of penalties is not
like a prison wall or furnace of fire, where
every one suffers precisely the same. Accord¬
ing to each one’s desert, so will be the severity
of each one’s suffering. The Revised Version
translates the word hell of v. 23 by the word
hades. Two Greek words are translated
in the Authorized Version of the New Testa¬
ment by the English word hell. In the Re¬
vised Version the distinction between these
two Greek words is maintained by translat¬
ing the one of them hades. This word, like
tho sheol of the Old Testament, means the
condition of the dead, without necessarily in¬
volving the idea of suffering. Christ entered
into hades by his becoming dead, but did not
enter into hell. Hades, as here applied to
Capernaum, means its disappearance from
the face of the earth as buried people disap¬
pear. Tyre and Sidon and Sodom had not
as much light and opportunity as Chorazin
and Bethsaida and Capernaum, but they had
enough to leave them without excuse. The
enormousness of the punishment of Chorazin,
Bethsaida and Capernaum is shown in the
fact that their locality’ is a matter of dispute
among traveler of the present day. But the
sites of Tyre and Sidon are known and inhab¬
ited towns still exist in both places.
This doctrine of the resulting obligations
arising from providential mercies underlies
verse 25. Wisdom often works itself out into
an egotism which destroys the simple Gospel.
Verse 26 is tho only’ explanation which we
.. _
are able to give of the unrevealed reasons for
God’s distinguishing providences. A deaf
and dumb boy was once asked why he was so
afflicted while his questioner had both speech
and hearing. Going to the blackboard, he
wrote as his answer this twenty-sixth verse.
Happy is the Christian, old or young "presence who
is able to rest content in the of
God’s mysterious dealings, in the faith in
volved in that verse.
God manifested.—God manifest in the flesh
to the highest and clearest revelation God
hasmode. The indwelling of the Saviour,
88 “ nla,ter ot «perien<*, to the beet inter
prefcer of the description of Christ aud of
God given in the word. The external revela
tion and the internal experience are thus
mutuallv explanatory. A blind man has
great difficulty in understanding much about
the science of optics. So unconverted per
sons mav study the Bible, but they caunot
understand it as those do whose inward ex
perience answers to and explains the mean
ing of God's threatenings and promises.
What is rest?— That is really work that
works out only into disappointment and fail
heavy r ^-^activesideofsufforin^and laden is its passive side. Lifting when
we are well is not necessarily very painful,
especially if the burden is not disproportion- dislocated
ately heavy; but if we have a
shoulder and a broken arm and an inflamed m"de
muscle, any lifting is torture. We were
to work in harmony with God. When then
we come to resist Mm, we are wrenching and
twisting ourselves. To do God’s will was the
work for which man was made. When there
fore Christ says, “I will give you rest,” he
does not mean that thereafter you shall have
nothing whatevertodo. Spiritual inactivity,
which is neither good nor bad, is an impossi
bility to any human being. What we need
therefore is not idleness, but work which
shall not be weariness.
Christ’s rest.—So Christ’s exhortation,
“learn of me,” is in the line of this perfect
adaptation of the worker to his work. The
yoke he bore was the will of his Father, and
in his meekness and his lowliness of heart it
was his meat to do this will and to finish the
work which he was sent to do. That yoke
was easy to him and that burden light to
him. It goes therefore to the heart of the
question of our likeness to Christ when he
says to us, “my yoke is easy and my burden
is light.” He does not merely mean the yoke
and the burden which he will give to hi*
people and require them to take; he includes
t
order, however, to find these easy it is neees
sary that we should take on his nature, his
love for God and his hatred for sin. This
burden will be heavy to tho unrenewed
heart, but it will be light to the unregenerate
nature. In him, therefore, alone can that
adaptation to the task we have to do be se
cured which will make these tasks easy of
performance.
REMEMBER.
1. Willfulness, not lack of evidence, is the
cause of unbelief.
2. The day of judgment will come.
3. Many who are exalted will be brought
low.
4. God reveals spiritual truth to those
ready to receive it.
5. We know God through Christ.
6. In Christ is rest.
H1NTS FOR PRIMARY CLASSES.
BY ALICE W. KNOX.
Verses 28-30 are enough for the little folks.
The lesson can be divided into three parts:
1. An invitation.
2. From whom?
3. To whom?
An invitation implies something pleasant.
A group of children living in a crowded
part of a great city, where every tenement
was full to overflowing, were invited by their
teachers and friends to go into the wide,
beautiful eountry^r a couple of weeks. This
Invitation was so charming that not one re
*used it, but every one gladly accepted it.
A little poor girl living in the great city
of Paris had been very ill; a nice young
peasant girl from the country near by in¬
vited her to come and stay a while at her lit
tie cottage. She was delighted, and went to
enjoy tho trees, the flowers and the ani¬
mals. Although she had only black bread,
milk, berries and broth to eat she gained
bealtb > strength and happiness by accepting
kb * s k * nd invitation,
There are many kinds of invitations, but
the greatest, the best and most wonderful of
ab is this one in 0ur lesson. It says, come to
me. Write it on the board, or prepare be¬
forehand little notes or cards with the invi
tation printed on them, and give to the chil¬
dren.
Who gives this wonderful invitation, and
what makes it wonderful? Is it from some
loving friend to go to the sea shore in the hot
suinmer weather? Is it from some kind ac
quaintance to visit her in the beautiful coun
tr F ; M ho says, Come to me?
To whom is tt given! Every one must say,
am I invited! Iwanttogo. AadyinPans
*“??* to ‘J™ hundred working women
about this invitation. She said, You will
1 am not good enou S h go > 1 ain mck “
<**• But be wbo invites F ou wil1 make vou
-
good lf >’ ou wiU let him - Peo P le invited to
kings ’ bouses mllst 1)0 finel F Messed, as they
were at ^ ueen Victoria’s dinner. Perhaps
you say I have no suitable clothes to wear,
This Kmg ’ who s& y s 001116 nie > ^ clothe
y° u wbb robes righteousness that will
make you fit to enter in among the royal
guests.
After tne a ,* ,“‘5^
■*? My*jaiTOsbc^«r^y . u lo*mg rf „ ad ; lv
r
** * nto “J* hel J f *^’ WaS ^ lt wle
toi J 011 and for ev ,ry . 7m q
acce P “^11 t f glad tl^7’she ^' ' ,t§
eept >’ ou ««<* the invitation. be "°" ld Z^^I Thi* Z wa* ie “y fiZZ
- -
kbi * poor old woman had ^
mgs and when she heard the wonderful
> accepted ^ How
station she immediately
man y who hear it today will accept it ?-«un
dav kebool Vv orld
Railrondlng In Florida.
Ben Rex is a native cowboy living tb • e
miles from Auburndale. He bio ■
some sweet milk in bottles to
Wednesday, and Ben was a pleasing type
of the cracker as a milkman. Holding a
bottle in one hand and an old fashioned
cowbell swinging loose on a rawhide
belt in the other, Ben let the “town
folks” know what a kind of a boy he is.
Ben Rex has learned a great many little
things since the South Florida railroad
was comp i e tecl through these seated
£ ine hms thm) rg ag0 He Wils
Wednesday indstone in fvont of Patterson’s
store. morning, when with
kwmk hng e) es he 1 elated how, .,oon aft©
Hie railroad came, he stole a ude pait of
kb e way home.
He said: “I got on the car step and the
train lit out. There is a big crook in the
road about a mile from town, and I
’lowed they would check up goin’ round
that and I could jump off easy enough,
Instead o’ that they got faster and faster.
A little furder on there's a trussel and I
was certain they would sorter stop,
they kept gittin’ faster and faster, I had
a pickle dish in one hand and says I, I
must go home to my wife and children,
shore. I steadys myself and jumps square
out from that car. I didn’t know much
for two hours. I got up 100 feet from
where I first lit. I was all tore up. It
was a rainin’ some white sand and oak
leaves when I left there. I lost my
pickle dish and it never has been found
yit. I will always be bow legged, and
I’ve got a mind ter sue the railroad for it.
—Savannah News.
Henry Ward Beecher's Sayings.
The Literary’ News offered prizes for
the best approved quotations from the
writings of Henry Ward Beecher.
enty-three lists were sent in, and the fol¬
lowing six selections received the highest
number of votes, viz:
Of all the battles there are none like
the unrecorded battles of the soul.
Flowers are the sweetest tilings
God ever made and forgot to put a soul
into.
If a man is fit to go higher, he will
show it by being faithful where he is.
Books outlive empires. They fly with
out wings, walk without feet; houses of
supply are they that without money or
price feed men suffering from soul
ger, loaves that increase as they are
broken, and after feeding thousands are
ready for thousands more.
He who is false to present duty breaks
a thread in the loom, and will find
flaw when he may have forgotten the
cause.
God did not make men perfect. He
made them pilgrims after perfection.
A Good Old Age.
Long lived heredity is not simply a
physical tendency to live. It is also a
tendency to the habits of life, conduct
and thought that preserve constitutional
vigor, and hold in check or eradicate
whatever might hamper nature’s recup; J
ative power.
This suggests the practical lesson '■g
would enforce. By the voluntary cuB§ h^B
ration of good habits those who
reached, say the age of 80, in sowi ^H
health, may hope to live to a gcxxi -
happy old age.—Youth's Companion
