Newspaper Page Text
She JJlonf§owetg Jttomtor.
D. 0. SUTTON, Editor and Tfop’r.
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE GENUINE HARDSHIPS OP
THE WORKING CLASSES.
; "So the carpenter encouraged th:
p:»usraitli, and lie that smootheth with the
hammer him that smote the anvil.-»lsaiah
xii, 7.
You have reen m a factory r mere ot
mechanism pass from hand to hand and froir
room to room, and one mechanic smites it,
and another flattens it, and another chiscli
it, aud another polish s it until the work is
done. Smithery comes in, carpentry comet
m, four or five different occupations em
ployed. Thus was that of the making: of th«
idols in older, time, nnd that is what the text
refers to. "The carpenter encouraged the
goldsmith, nnd he that smootheth
with the hammer him that smote the
anvil.” They came together and they con
sulted about their work, and they p anned
for each other's welfare, and they were in
full sympathy. They were in a bad business,
for the making of idols is an insult to the
Lord Almighty. But 1 have thought that if
men engaged in bod work may cheer nnd help
each other, most certainly all trades, all oc
cupations that, are doing honest work ought
to cheer and help each other on the way.
The Bible goes to the very last minutia. It
tells us how many dollars Solomon paid
for his horses. It tell us in Deu
teronomy what kind of a roof wo
ought to have on our house. It ap
plauds the Israclitish spinsters for their
Industry and ingenuity. It gives us speci
mens of ancient needle-work, leather making,
tanning establishment, pottery, brick kiln,
city water works, ship building, and proves
itself iu sympathy with them all. But very
few men realize the hardships outside of their
own trade or profession. Every nmu's bur
den is the heaviest, and every woman’s task
is the hardest. So I find people every dav
who think they have got into the wrong
trade'or o cupation, and the artist says: “Oh,
if I were only a lawyer;” aud tho lawyer
Rays; “Oh, if I were only an artist.” And
the banker or merchant comes home at
night, his head hot with commercial
agitations, and he says; “Oh, if 1 were
only a mechanic, then I could lie down and
sleep, a healthy mind in a healthy body.
Here I can’t sleep.” At tho very time the
mechanic is saying: “Oh, if I were only a
merchant. I could bo beautifully appareled
every day ..and I could give my children bril
liant opportunities, and I could move in an
other sphere.” Each man understanding the
annoyances and the hardships of his own oc
cupation and having no full appreciation of
those in other trades or businesses. Now, Iho
beauty of our religion is that it teaches us
'.hat Clod is sympathy with all tradesmen,
with all mechanics, with all toilers, whether
with brain, or hand, or foot. I pro
pose this morning in this series of
sermons which I am preaching and
shall continue on following Sabbath morn
ings to preach on the great labor agitation,
to speak about tho genuine hardships of tho
working classes. You may not belong to
these classes, and yet you are bound as Chris
tian men and women to be sympathetic with
them, and you are bound as political econo
mists to come to tho rescue. There was noth
ing more beautiful in tho life of Lord Shaftes
bury than when, an old man, he said in the
presence of an audience, liis eyes full of tears:
“Ladies and gentlemen, as I feel old age
creeping on me and I know I must soon die,
I do not want to die, because I cannot bear to
leave this world while yet there is so much
misery unalleviated.”
So said t hat man, the master of large estates,
Lord Shaftesbury, and no wonder that when
a presentation was made to him in a public
hall a sow years before his death, the work
ing classes of London shouted until they were
hoarse with enthusiasm for Lord Shaftes
bury. There is great danger that tho pros
perous classes of America, because of some of
the bad things that have been said by the
false friends of labor during tho last two
or three months, shall come to tho con
clusion that all this agitation is a
hullabaloo about nothing. Do not
go off on that tangent. You would
not submit, nor would 1 submit without sol-
Bmn and tremendous protest to some of the
oppressions which are being practiced upon
the working classes of America to-day. You
may do your duty with your employes, but I
here declare that the mightiestand the largest
business firm in America to-day is Grip,
Gouge, Grind & Co. Look, for instance, at
the wrongs practiced upon the womanlv toil
ers of this country. They have made no
strike. They have not lifted their voices.
Men have cried aloud for their rights, but
women are dying by thousands, dying by
Inches. The last labor report just out con
tains a few sentences that I wish to r/ad,
showing what female employes endure:
“Poisoned hands and cannot work. Had
to sue the man for fifty cents.”
Another: “About four months of the year
can by hard work earn a little more than
three dollars per week.”
Another: “She now makes wrappers atone
dollar per dozen. Can make eight wrappers
per day.”
Another: “Wo girls in our establishment
have the following fines imposed: For wash
ing your hands, twenty-five cents. Eating
a piece of bread at your loom, one dollar.
Also, for taking a drink of water, and many
other trifling things too numerous to men
tion, twenty-five cents.”
Some of the worst villains of New York
and Brooklyn have theso women in their em
ploy. They beat them down to the last cent,
and then try to cheat them out of that The
woman must deposit one dollar before she
gets the fabric on which to work, and in some
rases when the work is brought back it is re- i
jeeted, an insignificant fault exaggerated, !
the wages refused and tho one dollar deposit !
not returned. The Women’s Protective
Union of New York exposed this fact: A !
young woman who ha t been living on starva
tion wages found a bett r place to work, sc
she resolved to change, and she went to get j
her wages that were due. She entered the office
of her employer, and he greeted her by say- i
ing: “You are going to leave, are you?”
She said: “Yes: I can get better wages, and j
I have my invalid father and mother to sup
port, and I ha -e to go, and I have come for (
my wage-.” The man looked down and said I
nothing for a long while. Then she said:
“Are vou not going to pay me”’ “Yes,” said
he, “I’ll nay you,” and lie kicked her down
stairs. I never swore a word in my life, but
when I read that incident I felt in tny soul a
stirring that was far from devotional!
Women getting two-thirds, or getting only
half as much pay as men get for doing the
fame work—doing it just as well, perhaps
doing it better, yet getting less compensation.
Beginning with the government at. Washing
ton. women in the national employ, in the
government offices getting #9OO for doing
work for which men get 11.800. The wheel
of oppression rolling over the necks of a vast
multitude of women. Some of the largest
commercial e-tabli-hments pushing off into
death and darkness scores of women because
of unrighteous wages. Large commercial j
establishments accessory to these evils, j
Th“V know it. Is there a God? Will
there lie a Day of Judgment? Some
of the largest commercial establishments —if
God rise- up to avenge the wrongs of work
ing women—will be swallowed down
quicker than ever South American earth
quake took down a city. God will take those
•ppressors between the in' stones of llis
wrath aud grind them to powder. By what
law of fairness or justice do female princi
i pals of s bools in some of the cities get $835
hlld tnal» pn'ivipa'c. for ildiiig the fanis kind
of ttoi'k, get #1,05(1. (>li. the greandf woman;
[ hood comes through this (lay's sunlight, riot a
j cry like that of those who are suddenly
i hurled out of life, but a slow, grinding,
i awful wasting away. Sixty-five thousand
| sewing girls in New York and Brooklyn.
Look at the blanched cheek: Look at the
pin bed fa e. Look at that lmngor-struok
countenance. Hear that hard, dry, hacking,
merciless cough. I At ok dt the premature
stoop in tl»c shoulders. I once presided at a
meeting of sowing women in the city of
Philadelphia while l was pastor in that city.
There wits a groat audience. There were
gentlemen there who made grand speeches,
but the mightiest, addro: s made that niglit
Was male by a sowing woman,
who, unin "it d, came up the steps
of the platform, and throwing aside her
failed shawl, with a shrivel d arm hurled
a thunderbolt of eloquent! i into that audience
until their souls t cmble I tts she spoke ofit of
the horrors of her owtt experience. YOU
take ymte si and at six- or seven o’c'Ock in
the monvug in New York at the corner of
the street and see Iho wc.rkingxvoirt n go to
theirwrrk. Sonic of thorn with no break
fast, some of them with only a few era ml is
left from the niglit before, and chewing llioso
crumbs as they go along the street. Why
do they not ride? Thev cannot afford tho
five cents for the car. You want to know how
Latimer and Itidley looked iu the fire? Look
at that Woman’s face,in a worse martyrdom,
dying a more agonizing death. Ask how
much she gets for making a course shirt,
nnd she will tell you six cents nnd find her own
thread? Mv Lord and my God, have mercy
upon the workingwomen of New York an I
Brooklyn, I speak thus fully of the wrongs,
tho sufferings of the foma’e employes of
these cities bocaii-o no oilo else speaks, or if
they do speak I have not heard their voice
for some time. Ah! We understand tho suf
ferings of masculine employes better. Last.
March, iu Missouri, a colored man came into
my room to made the fire. I said:
“Sam, how much do tho people get
here for wages.” He said, “they get ton dol
lars a month.” “Hare yon a family?”
“Yes,” said lie, “a wife and • hildren.” Ten
dollars a month! One hundred and twenty
dollars a year to support a family on! It is
only a little door open, that,to an awful scone
all over this land, north, south, east and
west. It is not a hullabaloo about nothing.
There are awful outrages being enacted, and
you are not, because of some unwise things
that have been said and done, to overlook
these thing- and forget these things.
First of all, there is the hardship of phys
ical exhaustion. There are athletes who
start forth in the morning at six or seven
o’clock, do their work and return at night
fall, and they are as fresh ns when they
started. There are men so constructed that
they can turn their back on tho shuttle, or on
the rising wall, or on the forgo after a day’s
work, ami go whistling all the way home.
But they are the exception. I have noticed
that when the factory boll taps for six o'clock
the most of the workiwn wearily put tho arm
in the coat sleeve, and they go home resolved
thev will bo cheery anil make their homo
bright and entertain their children, and yet
they sit down and in five minutes are
sound asleep because fagged out, body,
mind and soul, and they riso
in tho morning only half rested,
and there will lie no rest for that mail’s body,
no real, good rest—until ho gets in that nar
row spot which is tho only complete rest fur
the human body. I think they call it the grave.
Oh, workingmen and women of America,
whether you hear my voice, or in some other
way the discourse shall come to you, let mo
say, if toil has frosle l tho color from your
cheek, if the spontaneity has gone out of
your laughter, if hard work lias subtracted
the spring from your step and the lustre fr m
your eye, lot me say it will all
soon be over. There is coming a
great holiday. Oh that homo, nnd
no long walk to get to it. Oh, that bread
and no besweatiug toil to earn it. Oh, that
deep well of rapture,and no heavy buckets to
draw up. To-morrow, above the hiss of tho
furnaces and above the groan of the foundry,
and above the rattle of the shuttles, hear a
x oice, not tho voice of a taskmaster, not the
voice of a master, but the voice of au all
sympathetic God. 1 wish the weary men and
women of America would put their heads
down on tho pillow stuffed with tho down
from the wings of all God’s promises. There
remaineth rest for all the jieople of God.
How many tired peopleare there here to-day?
A thousand? More than that. Two thou
sand tired people? More than that. Though
all of you were the children of luxurious j
ease, more than that There is a woman with .
her head bowed. Why? Ask her. “Oh,” j
she says, “it has been hard work forme,” j
and as she bows her head, or puts her face in :
her handkerchief, she says: “Oh, Lord, will 1
I ever get rested—will lever get rested?” Ho i
tired are you, sister, mother? Ho very tired? ■
“Oh,” says someone, “all this is gone j
through with; with tho invention of the j
sewing machine all tho hard work of tho j
needle disappeared.” No, no. Thousands |
of people are dying amid sewing machines, i
Tho needlo has killed more than tho sword, ■
But who enu tako tho statistics of women I
crushed under the sewing machine—being I
crushed now? A Christian man passing ;
through tho streets of New York saw a house j
of a good deal of destitution. He went in, j
and there was a woman with a sick child,
and he was telling her what a good woman
she ought to be, and how she ought to have
faith In God. “Oh, sir,” she said, “I have no
God. I work from Monday morning to .Sat
urday night, and I find no rest. I never bear
anything that does my soul any good. I
haven’t any bonnet to wear to church on
Sunday. I sometimes kneel down to pray,
but I get up very quickly, and I say to
my husband: 'My dear, there's no
need of my trying to pray, it don’t do any I
good. And I a m so distracted I can’t pray, I :
can’t pray.’ And then, sir, to go right, on
from year to year and know there is nothing !
brighter ahead, and to see this little one .
getting thinner and thinner, and my poor I
man almost broken down, and to feel that wo
are not getting any nearer God, but all the
time getting further and further away from
Him. Oh, sir, I wish I was ready to die!” 1
May God have mercy on the working classes
of America. The awful groan comes this
dav through American society.
Then they are the hardships that come from
privation of taste and sentiment. There are
working people ivho have beautiful homes, '
but you know they are the exception. Tho
most of the working classes live in crampsd
apartments, and they live where they do not
want to live, but where they have to live. I
can think of but few things more distressing
than for a woman to have a fondness forort,,
for pictures, for sculpture, for music, for
beautiful skies, for glorious sunsets, and yet j
never be able to raise a dollar for an oratorio,
and never be able to buy her way to the
country where she can see the blue expanse
of the heavens and hear the birds sing, and !
never have a picture, while sometimes ,
men of affluence have works of art for which :
they have no appreciation, and they buy )
their libraries by the square yard, and the ;
pictures they have on their walls are miser -
able daubs that the artists are glad to get out
of their studios. Yet I know men arid women
xvho will reign in the Kingdom of Heaven
finally as artists who cannot have a good .
picture, and they cannot hear a sweet sound,
and they cannot play upon a beautiful musi
cal instrument. Oh, ye who are so hindered
in your taste and your sentiment, let rne
tell you to look up. The King of ,
MT. VERNON. MONTGOMERY GO., OA.. THURSDAY. J FLY s. 1 SHti.
Babylon had a hanging garden that, has
j excited the admiration of the continues.
| You have a better hanging-garden than that,
j All tho heavens are to tie yours, for they be
long to your father, aud’ what belongs to
j your (fit her belong* to you. All these ap
jirehorisiotis dud these dppressnn?? surround
i lugs (if tlio working classes ate povterfulty
I described by one of the English writers When
: ho says •
“To boa poor man's child and look through
the rails of the playground anil envy richer
I boys for tho sake of their niariy books, arid
! yet. to be doomed to ignorance; to be appren
i tico Ito some harsh stranger aud feel forever
) banished from a mother’s tenderness and a
sisters love; to work when very wearr and
work when tho heart is sick and the head is
sore; to see a Wife or a darling child wasting
away and not lie liMo to get tlio best advice;
to hope that better fool Or purer riif
might set her up again, and tlirtt food you
cauuot buy, that air you must never
hope to breathe; to lie obliged to let her die;
to come home from the daily task some even
ing and sco her sinking; to sit up all night in
hope to catch again those precious words you
might have heard could you have afforded to
Stay at Homo till day, but never hear them; to
Have Ho mbit filers nl the funeral mill even have
to carry oil your shoulder through the! merry
streets the light deal coffin; to see huddled
into a promiscuous hole tho dust which is
so dear to you and not venture to mark the
spot by planted flowers Or lowliest stone;
some bitter winter or sonte costly spring to
barter for food the cloak or the curious cup
board. or tho llrtury’s Commentaries on
which you pride yourself ns the heirloom of
n frugal family, arid never lie able to redeem
it; to fed that you are getting old, itotutmf
laid aside and present earnings scarce suffi
cient: to change the parlor floor for the top
story, and the top story for a singleattic, and
Wonder what change will lie next.”
I have had a groat many beautiful flowers
given 1 1 mo, but the most beautiful bouquet
1 ever had given was lust week—-three flow
ers and threo or four leaves—around this
bouquet tho words: “Thank you, front it
Workingman. ” If you are here to-day, I thank
you.
Now, I cannot spend any more time this
morning in talking about the hardships ol'
the working cias.se i, for 1 have two or three
words of grand and glorious good cheer,
tine is, that, all tlieio sorrows are going to be
alleviate I and extirpated. How. I cannot
now sav, but jilst as certainly as there is a
God in Heaven, a God of justice and loveand
mercy, all these wrongs are going to bn
righted. Politicians cannot do it, worldly
organizations cannot accomplish it, but the
Lord God Almighty will do it. In sonio way
t believe Ho will soon do it.
I want to encourage you also bythe thought
that the greatest liiudranci against all temp
tation and against all evil is plenty to do-
When n man commits a crime wheredocn tile
police detective go to find him? Not, amid
the dust of factories, not amid the men who
have on their overalls, blit among tho people
who stand with their lmn ls in their pockets
in front of the saloons, or the taverns, or tint
restaurants. I saw a pool of water in tho
country and 1 said to it: “Thou fetid
filthy, slimy tiling, what does all this mean?”
“Oil,” says the pool of water, “I liavastoppetl
hero, lam going ta stay here.” But I say to
the water: “Did I not see you dance in tho
summer shower?” “I >li, yes,” says the water,
“I i-nme down from God shining like nil an
gel.” 1 say to the water: “Did
1 not see you drop like a gem
into a casket of gems nnd tumble
over tho rock?” “Oh, yes. I went over cliff
and through meadow.” Did 1 not see ynt
busy with the shuttles and tho grist mills?”
“Oh, yes. I used to work for my living, but
I have stopped, and I am going to stay here.
I am disgusted with the shuttles and the grist
mills, lam going to st,o i. Accursed of God
am I and shunned of man, and 1 am going to
stop.” Thank God every day if you hnvo
hard work, it is the mightiest preventive
against all evil. Sin, the old pirate, b -ar
doecu?on those vowels that have sails idly
flapping in the wind. The arrow of sin has
tough work to got through the leather of a
working apron. Make the anvil, make tho
rising wall the fortress in which you can hides
and from which you shall fight down the
temptations of this life. Thank God morn
ing, noon and night, Sunday and weekday,
if you have plenty to do.
Another encouraging fa-t. is that your
children are probably to have bettor oppor
tunities than those brought up in luxury.
People brought up in luxury find by twelve
years of age they are going to be wealthy
and there is no struggle and sometimes they
go out into dissipations and they are many of
them useless to society. There are business
men to-day grasping, grasping, grasping,
what for? To get onough money
to spoil their children. Fifty veins gather
ing up. Tho hoys scattered it in five years.
Tho lord of prosperity aud luxury, lie may
pass out of the gate and go into dissipation
and die. The son of the porter at the gate
learns his trade, g C s a good physical consti
tution, starts out and wins great success.
Who is that man to-dav standing in some
mighty place for God and tho truth?
His mother laid him under the shadow
of a tree while she spread tho
hay. Tho mightiest men to-day, in Htate
and National legislatures, are those who ate
out of iron spoons and drank out of coarsest
earthenware, and every stop in life has been
a forced march. Thank God that you have
plenty to do. It is going to be a great thing
for you and a great thing for your children.
Trouble is not going to damage you if you
put your trust in God. The clip
per likes a stiff breeze. The sledge
hammer does not hurt the iron it pounds
into shape. Trouble is the host hone for
sharpening keen razors. Boliert Burns was
a shepherd. Pridean swept out at Exeter
College. Gifford was a shoemaker, and for
the son of the toiling man and woman there
is largo moral and worldly success if he trusts
God and keeps busy.
I cheer all workingmen alto by the fa-t
that they have so many more opoortuniUes
for information than were afforded to their
predecessors. Why, Plato paid $1,300 for
one book. Countess of An iou paid 300 fiieep
for ono book. Gerome ruined himself finan
cially by buying one copy of Origan.
But hear now the printing presses go,
the cylinders of the Appietons, the
Harpers, the Lippincotts, the Peter
sons, tho Ticknors, and you can Imv for
fifty cents more thau Beniamin Franklin
knew. Every workingman in Brooklyn has
a newspaper ora book. Passing nlougat night
fall the workingman sees a book in the window
an 1 it, is five dollars, s > exquisite is the bind
ing. “Oh,” be says, “I wish f could have that
book.” Just wait for a few months aud you
will getall the value of that book,all the read
ing of thatbook in pamnh'eti for ten cent,i.
Put ten boys of f he common selio >le of Brook
lyn on one bench ami ton of the ol I philoso
phers on another bench right opposite, nnd
the boys could examine tho old plidosophe-s,
and the old philosophers could not examine
the boys. Here comes no an old philosopher
and ho says to a lad of seven years:
‘What is that?” “That is a railroad.”
“What is that?” “That is the telegraph.”
“What is that?” “That is tho telephone.”
And nfter it is nil explained to him, in- says:
“Well, I guess I'll go back to rnv pillow of
dust. I am bewildere !, my In-a/l is tone i.”
Oh, thank God, working men and women of
America, that veil have so maav opportuni
ties of information. Toank God. And it Is
no more true for you thau it is for those in
other profession-, other occupations, other
business men—thank God that all these
trials are preparative for Heaven. “Boh Id.
I bring you glad tidings of great, joy,’ that
Christ, the carpenter of Nazareth, is the
“SUB DEO EACH) FOItTITER
workingman's ,(. vou’ get His loVo
into your lionrb an i y\»»» siu jj o'i
thn wait amid tho hailing of tln> st >r*n,
in the shop amid tho of th ' piano*
iiinl in tho mine amid th' tduncpni;
of tho orowhar, and on tho .ship’s do *k just
before you climb tho ratlin-; Christ counts
fill your drons of swivit. lit' who counts tin
lylirs « f f tho bond • omits tin* drops of sweat.
Are you u\ f Ho ill give you rost, Are
you siokV lE' will pjivu yu’u.tvulth Art' you
rold ' Ho will writy around yo\\ flirt Warm
man,tlo of His IbVo. And
then it is all introductory atfd ptwfa
tory. Soo those bright ones heforo
tho throne. “Sec.” you sti’y, “they
must be tho royal family of Hen veil.” Th»*y
dross like princes, they walk like princes,
they are princes. None of tho common peo
ple among thorn. Ah! vou make a mistake,
you pinko it mistake. That bright spirit be
fore the t hrodd foilcil ns hard ns she could on
earth dud carried only two shillings a d »y.
That bright spirit before t.lb* t.Hrduo \Vhy,h«
toiled, amid tho Egyptian l/rick kilns.
That bright spirit before til'd throne —•
why, her drunken father turned
j her »>.;t into the midnight cold aud
she froze into heaven. Tint great array be
fore tho throne, who are they/ Why, some of
them came up from tho Hirtningluru mill*,
sbntd from L >woll carpet factories, and they
tiro so radiant now. f wish vou could hear
their noiig. Thev sin:; in su h porfe* t accord
ns thiaiirli flirty 1m l been all eternity prac
ticin.. If you could only hear theirs »njr,w hv,
it Would make tho burden so light,
It. would make thopilgriin'a journey so short.
I ask what is that sweet song, find th *y tell
mo it is the song of tho ransomed working
peoplo. And tin'll rtn angel comes up and
points to t hem find says: “Who are they?
who are they?” a ltd a voice answers: ‘Those
are they who <■nine out of great, t ribulation
and had their robes washed and made white
iu the blood of tho Lamb. Hallelujah!
Amen!”
THE BOGUS BUTTER BILL.
.Im Pas.age ltv lit.- 11.. ii m(- Some ol' li*
liojt.oi loot leal ore*.
On a final vote in the lowor branch of
Congress t lie bill defining nnd taxing oleo
margarine lias been passed by 177 yoai to 101
nays. The bill,as it passed the House,contains
the following features: Butter is doflnod to
be n food product made exclusively from
uiilk or cream or both, with or without cotn-
I mon salt, and with or without additional col
oring iiiat! or. Oleomargarine is defined a*
“nil substances made of oleomargarine,
oleo, oleomargarine oil, buttorino, Inrd
iue, suiin- nnd neutral: all mixtures
and compounds of oleomargarine, oleo,
oleomargarine oil, buttorino, suino and
neutral: all lut’d extracts and tal
low extracts; and nil mixtures and com
pounds of tallow, beef fat, suet, lard, lard
: oil, vegetable oil, aiinotto, and other coloring
matter, intestinal fat and offal fat made in
Imitation or semblance of biittor, or when so
made, calculated or intended to lie sold nr
butler or for butter.”
SjwM'inl taxes are imposed as follows: On
manufacturers, $('.00; on wholesale dealers,
$■180; on retail dealers, SIH. The existing in
tertill revenue laws, so far us applicable,
ace made to apply to these special taxes.
Penalties mo imposed on any person
xvho shall deal in oleomargarine without
j paying the special tax. Provision is made for
th«- proper stamping and labelling of every
pa'-kage of oleomargarine. A tax of five
cents a pound is imposed on all oleomar
garine manufactured and sold, and a penalty
is prescribed for the purchase or reception
for sale of oleomargarine not branded or
stamped according to law. A number of
sections of tho bill are devoted to providing
machinery to carry the law into effect.
His Wonderful Memory.
“You hail better put them do wn on a
piece of paper,” said Mrs. H. on giving
her lirst order. “Ob, no,” said Mr. 8.,
“my memory is good.” “Well, then, a
spool of sixty ( outes’ black thread.-”
“Yes.” “Ayard of not too light arid
not too dark ( alico.” “Yes.” “A small j
hammer, u can of peaches of the I’assa
dena brand, a dozen small pearl button , !
two yards of cardinal ribbon, sillc on one j
side, satin on the .fiber.” “Yes,” said j
Mr. K., thoughtfully. “A pair of slip
pars for baby, a dozen lemons, a good \
tooth brush, a pineapple, two ounces of
sky-blue German yarn, an ounce vial of
bomuopathic nux vomica pellets, a
“Wait a second,” said Air. S., counting !
on his fingers. “And a bottle of vanilla !
extract, and a yard of t riple box-plaited j
crepe lis-e melting and three yards of
small-checked nainsook and -” Hut
Mr. B. laid seized his hat and was run- i
ning for the station. What the poor man
brought home was a yard of bedlicking,
three yards of black crepe, a bottle of
vinegar, eight yards of nankeen, a scrub
brush, a pound of green yarn,sixty spools
of coat thread, a yard of very black ( al
ico, and a pint bottle of homo op .thic
pills. “There, my dear,” throwing
down Ins package triumphantly, “I don't
thiuk you’ll find a thing missing. Who
says a mart can’t do shopping?”
Revenge is Sweet,
jlpif
“That’s the sixth rnan that has ignored
me this evening. Nevermind! Heaven
help the man that, gets mol— Flic'jtwle
Blaetter.
Wanted—The rnan who can address a
. c unday school without beginning bis
speech with “When J was a little boy.” I
The Evolution of Slates.
The ettfiotis process of evolution by
which Bfafcs iri the American Union arc
made 3' 'V» ,t t\ v tflvrst: rated in the case of
Dakota. It xvil.s Mn-stWlly ft port of the
territory claimed by I’Vilritc, iWrd styled ♦
New France, including wlmt is fltrifr fW 4 i
»da, tho entire Northwest, and all flic
territory west of the Mississippi River, j
throughout ils entire extent from the ■
frozen North to tho Gulf of Mexico. As
li (•oiisoqi'fcrfce of tho European wars
from lTitfi to and the defeat of
France, that part of Nett franco now
known as Canada was coded to Great
Britain, and all west of tho Mississippi
was ceded to Spain. In 1800, during
( he Napoleonic wars, and ns a result ol :
the. French victories everywhere on the ,
Continent of Eufbpty all of the territory
that had been ceded to Spttin was reced
ed to France. In 1803, during !lm ad
ministration of Jefferson, tho “Louislartsv
purchase,” as it was called, was effected,
and the United States became tho owner
of the territory. At tho time when tho
purchase of the territory was effected it
included Louisiana, Arkansas, lowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska,
Iho Indian territory, Colorado, Idaho,
Wyoming, Montana and Dakota, with
lliadowy claims to what is now Oregon
and Washington. Tho claim of tho Un
ited States to the territory west of the
Rocky Mountains was subsequently rati
fied by treaties with Great Britain,
which had prcviotisly claimed the entire
western slope and coast to the north lino
of Mexico, now tho north lino of Califor
nia. Congress divided the territory into
Orleans and Louisiana in 1801. In IRIS
Orleans was admitted into tho Union as
Hie Slate of Louisiana, and the name of
Louisiana Territory was changed L> Mis
souri Territory. In IHSI tho State of
Missouri was admitted to tho Union, and
Arkansas followed. After that time the
almost boundless tract remaining wan
loosely styled the Northwest Territory.
In 1831 ell east of the Missouri River was
organized into the Territory of Michigan,
in IH3ti tho present Slate of Michigan
came into the Union, leaving the balance
of the country as Wisconsin Territory, or
“Ouiskonsan,” es it was then called. In
1840 and 1848 lowa and Wisconsin were
made into States, anti then the balance
of the outlying acres was called Minneso
ta Territory. In 1858 Minnesota, with
its present limits, caino into the Union,
and the balance of the tract was in law
nameless, but was called Minnesota Ter
ritory, to distinguish it from the State of
the same name. In 1801 the Territory of
■Dakota, with its present boundaries, was
[established by act of Congress. Such is
the long process by which, through tho
occupation of tho country for settlement,
by pushing tho frontiers farther away
into tho mountains and tho wilderness,
and by the progress of civilization, Amer
ican States arc made. It is a system of
evolution and growth possessing great
interest for the student of politics and
history.
Silenced.
The Scotch often use humor to settle a
question which, otherwise, might give
rise to an excited argument., involving
much hair splitting logic. Tho follow
ing anecdote of Norman McLeod, tho
eloquent preaener, illustrates this happy
use of the wit which transfixes a man as
an entomologist does a bug. He was on
iiis way to church, to open a new place
of worship. As he passed slowly and
gravely through the crowd gathered
about the doors, an elderly man, with
the peculiar kind of a wig known in that
district —bright, smooth, and of a red.
dish brown—accosted him.
“Doctor, if you please, I wish to speak
to you.”
“Well, Duncan,” said tho venerable
doctor, “can not you wait till after wor
ship?"
“No, doctor, I must speak to you now,
for it is a matter upon rny conscience.”
“Oh, since it is a matter of conscience,
( tell me what it is; but be brief, Duncan,
for time passes.”
“The matter is this, doctor. Ye see
the clock yonder, on the face of this new
church? Well, there is no clock really
there; nothing but the face of a clock.
There is no truth in it but only once in
the twelve hours. Now, it is in my mind
very wrong, and quite against my con
science, that there should be a lie on the
face of the house of tiic Lord.”
“Duncan, I will consider the point.
But I am glad to see you looking so well.
You are not young now; I remember
you for many years; and what a lino
head of hair you have still.”
“Eh, doctor, you are joking now; it
is long since I have had any hair.”
“O Duncan! Duncan! are you going
, into the house of the Lord witli a lie
upon your head?"
This, says the story, settled the ques
tion ; and the doctor heard no more of
the Lie on the face of the clock.
VOL. I. NO. 18.
My Own Country.
Tlio tts'e'-wlml blows, tlio milled rose - 1
la drooj.’ttitn vmtlio vale;
Tlio fragrant ?k*"’rs of woodland Iww'n'
Mnko sweet the Spring gale.
Earth’s flow’rs may h.'wia u-whilo for some,
lint nevermore for me!
The sun is low, and I must go'
Home to my own country.
Ob: sweet and fair the flowers there.
Yen, sweeter far than here:
One spring 4 'r aye; one emlloss day:
Fields never fining servt
Oh, sweet are all titwstreant* that roll
Along each heavenly fw»'l
No pain nor gloom can ever soon*
Into my own country.
1 would not live: I could not grieve-
Isingjr >t> this strange land,
Since 1 may trend the streets o’ersproaa
With gold by Owl's i«ire hand!
Ah! tlion adieu, sweet friends, to you;
Would you could go with mo;
To walk the streets, and taste Uvn sweets.
Which bless my own countryf
Oh, stay not long svhen I am gono;
Cnroo over soon to mo:
Yon'ro wclcomo where the blest ones nre.
Conic to my own country!
Earth’s flow’rs may bloom awhile for somt,,.
ltut never more for mo!
The sail is low, and I nut* go
Homo to my own country.
—(/. 11". Kettoman in tli.n Cnrr-nt.
HUMOROUS.
A foot rule—Don’t wear tight shoes.
Another washout On the clothes line.
Desirable quarters -Twenty-fivo cent
pieces.
The century plant.-- Burial of Wash
ington’s body servant.
A button on the coat is worth two in
the church contribution box.
Singers are the only people who wish
to hold a note for a long time.
It, is not considered necessary in nocicty
to return n bill collector’s calls.
Urukenien will Is: sorry to learn that
“trains” are to be made unusually long.
The Boston girl never says “it is rain
ing pitchforks." Win: says “it is raining
agricultural implements.”
It used to bn “Bee that my grave’*
kept green." The new and popular ver
sion is: “Oh," keep my*ashes bottled,
love.”
“What does boycott mean?” inquired
the teacher of a frisky youngster. The
little fellow, remembering an unfortunate
excursion to the pantry, replied: “A had
licking.”
A Chicago landlord shot one of his
boarders for joking about his butter.
His interference was unnecessary. It in
said the butter was strong enough to take
its own part.
“And now, my dear brethren, what
shall I say more?” thundered the long
winded minister. “Amen!” came in
sepulchral tones from tlio absent-minded
deacon in the back of the church.
“What’s your business?” asked the
judge of a prisoner at the bar. “Well,
s’pose you might call me a locksmith.”
“When did you work last at your trade?”
“Last night; when I heard a call for the
police I made a bolt for the door.
Little Willio refused to put on his
shoes the other morning, and when his
mother urged him to do so, li« said with
an eager expression on his childish face,
“Mamma, did you not tell me that God
was everywhere?” “YYs!” “Well, if
he is everywhere, ho must lie in my shoo
and I don’t want to step on him.”
Wife -Leave me sonic money, please.
I mil going to make a loaf of cake, and I
shall want a little change to buy some of
the ingredients. Husband- Half a dol
lar enough? Wife—l don’t know. I
am going to make it according to the re
ceipt in the cook book. Husband —
Il’in! Well, that makes a dillereucc.
Here’s aton-dollar bill!
There was a young lady in Gingham
Who knew lots of songs and could sing ’em,
But couldn’t mend hose
And wouldn’t wash clothes,
Nor help her old mother to wring ’em.
The Wolf and the Kid.
A kid was one day browsing in a val
ley, while a shepherd reclined on a hank
hard by. Suddenly a wolf, with a hand
organ, came up and said:
“Let mo play a merry air while you
dance.”
“All right,” replied the kid. “Fire
away.”
The music began, and the shepherd,
with his lingers in his ears, disappeared;
and as soon as he was out of his sight, the
wolf seized the kid and devoured it.
Moral; This fable teaches the varied
powers of music.— Life.
Sealed.
Father—You and Kate Carter have
come to an understanding, have you,
Fred ?
Fred —Yes, sir.
Father—Sealed it with a kiss—eh, my
boy?
Fred—No, sir; with wax, sho wrote her
refusal.— Tid Bite.