Newspaper Page Text
iHo nt jo in cvn JHcmitor.
D. C. SUTTON, Editor and Prop'r.
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN D1 VINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
A Strong 1 Discourse I;i favor of Life
Insurance An (M<l Institution.
Text: “PW him appoint officers over the
land, and take up the fifth part of the land
of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.”
—Genesis xli., 31.
These were the words of Joseph, the Presi
dent of the first insurance company that
t lie world ever saw. Fliurnoii had a d ream that
distracted him. He thought he stood on the
Kinks of the River Nile, and saw coming up
out of the river seven fat, sleek, glossy cows,
and they began to browse in the thick grass.
Nothing frightful about that. But after
them, coming out of the same river, he saw
sev en cows that were guant and starved, and
the worst looking cows that had ever been
seen in the land, and in the ferocity of hutigor
they devoured their seven fat predecessors.
Pharaoh, the King, sent for Joseph to de
cipher these midnight hieroglyphics. Joseph
made short work of it, and intimated the
seven fat cows that came out of the river
are seven years with plenty to eat, the
seven emaciated cows that followed them
are seven years with nothing to eat.
“Now," said Joeph, “Lot us take one
fifth of the corn crop of the seven
prosperous years and keep it as a provision
for the seven years in which there shall lie no
corn crop.” The King took the counsel
and appointed Joseph, because of his integ
rity and public spiritetluess, as the President
of the undertaking. The farmers paid
one-fifth of their income os a premium. In
all the towns and cities of the land there
were I ran h houses. This great Egyptian
life insurance company had millions ot dol
lars as as ots. After awhile the dark days
came and the whole nation would have
starved if it hail not been for the provision
they had made for the future. But now
these sutFeriug families had nothing to do
but go up and collect the amount of their
life policies. The Bible puts it in one short
fihrase: “In all the land of Egypt there was
iread.” I say this was the first life insurance
company. It was divinely organized. Jt
had in it all the advantages of the “whole
life plan,” of the “tontine plan,” of the “re
served endowment plan,” and all the other
good plans. We are told that Rev. Dr. An
hate, of Lincolnshire, England, originated
the first life insurance company in Kills. No!
it is as old as the corn cribs of Egypt; and
God himself was the author and originator.
If that were not so I would not take your
time and mine in Sabbath discussion of this
subject. I feel it is a theme, vital, religious
and of infinite import, the morals of life and
firo insurance.
About ten or twelve yoars ago there was a
g; eat panic in life insurance which did good.
Under the storm the untrustworthy and bo
gus institutions were scatters i, while the
genuine were tested and firmly established,
and where do"S the life insurance institution
stand to-day i What amount of comfort, of
education, of moral and spiritual advantage
is represented 111 the simple statistic that in
this country the life insurant® compan.es in
one year paid $7,0.M,0<j0 to the families of the
bereft; and in five years they paid $300,000,-
(XH) to the families of the nereft; and are
promising to pay—and hold themselves in
readiness to pay—s3,ool,ooo,QJO to the fami
lies of the bereft!
They have actually paid out more by divi
dends and death claims than they have ever
received in premiums. 1 know of what I
speak. The life insurance companies of this
country paid more than s7,no yHi) of taxes to
the government in five years. So, instead of
tbeie companies being indebted to the land,
the land is indebted to them. To cry out
against life insurance because hero and there
one company has behaved badly is ns absurd
as it would be for a man to burn down 1,000
acres of harvest field in order to kill the moles
and potato bugs—ns preposterous as a man
who should blowup a crowded steamer in
mid-Atlantic for the purjioso of destroying
Uni barnacles on the bottom of tho hulk.
But what does the Bible suy in regard to
this subject .< if the Bible favors the institu
tion, I will favor it; if the Bible denounces it,
1 will denounce it. In addition to the fore
cast of Joseph in the text, I call your atten
tion to Pauls comparison. Here is one man
who, through neglect, lads to support his
family while he lives, or after he dies. Here
is another man, who abhors the Scriptures
and rejects God. Which of those men is the
worse? Well, you say, the latter. Paul says
the former. 1 aul says I hat a man who neg
lects to care for his Household is more obnox
ious than a man who rejects tho Scriptures:
“He that piovideth not lor his own, and espe
cially those ot his own household, is worse
than an infidel.” Life insurance coinpauies
help mo-t of us to provide for our families
after we are poll": but, if we have tho money
to pay the premiums and do not pay them,
we have no right to expect mercy at the hand
of God in the judgment. We are worse
than Tom Paine, worse than Voltaire,
and worse than Shaftesbury. The Bible de
clares it we are worse thin an infidel.
After the ies tim ate of death has been made
out, an l flinty or sixty days have passed,and
the officer ol the hie insurance company
i omes into the hi rest ho is.-hold and pays
down the hard rush on a a insurance policy,
that odic- r of the co npauy is performing a
]w si lively r-ii-ic :11 rte according to the
Apostle James, who says: “True religion
and undefiled before God and the Father is
this: To (l it the fatherless an I the widow
in their affliction,” and so on. The religion
of t hiist [ roj«si sto tain care of the tem
poral wants o. iue pe > ( ile as well as tho spirit
ual. V. hen Me e i.h was Ilyins' the injunc
tion came to him: “bet thy house in
order, for thou shalt die an l not live.”
That injunction in our day would
mean A “.Mnk • your will , s -ttle up your
aeconms; make tuio- s plain: don t de
ceive your lie is with iols of worthless
min ng slo’k; non t deerive them with
deeds for wc.-t rn lands tiiat will never
yield any- crop lull chills and fever; don’t
leave for them notes that have Ixien out
lawed, and seven! inoi gig s oil property
that will not pa v the fits'.. "Set thy house
in ord t. v Ti n is, fix up tilings, so your
going out of t ie wor'd inn.' inak * as little
(or.stcrual.cn a » no- -b I-. He - the Ban cattle
devouii g the >at cattle, and in the timed
plenty prepare :or the tune of want. The
difficulty is. when men think of their death,
they are afraid to think of it only in connec
tion with their .-jciu i al welfare, and not. of
the devastation m the household which will
come Is-au.-c o l-hcir en.igt ntion fi om it. It
i, iicatily sell is.! i tor you to b-* so absorKd in
tiip heaven to v. i i -h you are going that you
target what i- 1 o liecome of your wife and
children after y n are dead. Vou can get
out of th s wo ■ d without i* a- i -g a rlollarand
yet die happy it you m f'l not provide for
Jkui; v ill < ~in iru t them ui the hands of the
God wo i owns . 1 the harvest . and the herds,
and tlm ffo-ki tut it vsi couid j>ay the
I r--nruius on a t ol,<-v :n> i n-gl* '*t th*-m it is a
in -in thing for > »'■ to ,o up to heaven while
tl-.ev g s - info th- oerliotlii -. A on, at death,
mmeinioa n on, r.ver front, and they
con into two ... o th- fourth story of a
tenement, hot..- aaba k stre. t. VV'h-n they
an-on• at ile - » '. - cud k: ss. th-- thought
of your II I Imbs ui is- .i. n will not keep
them Harm. Tbc- mi. id '• mar prea-h a
ipemlid si nr- n *>v« r ■> r mucus. and th
quartet may tin.; like lour angels in tl«
organ loft, but your death will lie a swindle.
You had the moans to provide for the com
fort of your household when you left it and
you wickedly neglected it. “ Oh,” says som i
one, “1 have more faith than you; l believe
when I go out of this world the 1 su'd
will provide for them.” Go to Black
woll’s Island, go through all the poorliouses
of the country, and I will show you how
often God provides for the neglected children
of neglectful parents. That is. he provides
for tTieni through public charity. As for
myself, I would rather have the Lord provide
for my family- in a private home, and through
my own industry, and paternal and conjugal
faithfulness. But says some man: “1 mean
in the next ten or twenty ye irs to make a
great fortune, and so 1 shall leave my family,
when I go out of this word very comfort
able.” How do you know vou are going to
live ten or twenty years? ts we could look
up the highway of the future, wo could see it
crossed by prf'iimonia, and pleurisies, and
consumptions, and colliding rail trains, and
runaway horses, and breaking bridges, and
funeral processions. Are you so certain you
are going to live ton or twenty years, you can
warrant vour household any comfort after you
go away from them? Beside that, the vast
majority of men die jioor! Two onlv out of
a hundred succeed in business. Are
you very certain you are going
to bo one of the two? Rich one
dav, poor the next. A man in New York
got $2,000,000, and the money turned his
brain and he died in a lunatic asylum. All
his property was left with the business firm,
and they swamped it: and then the family of
the insane man were left without adollnr. In
eighteen months the prosperity, the insanity,
the insolveuey, and tho complete domestic
ruin. Beside that, there are men who die
solvent, who are solvent Kifore they get
under the ground, or before their estate is
settled up. How soon the au -tioneer's mallet
can knock the life out of an estate. A man
thinks the property is worth $1.Y000; under
a forced sale it brines s7.('o>. The business
man takes advantage of the crisis and ho
compels the widow of his deceased part
ner to sell out to him at a ruinous
price, or lose all. The stock was sup
oosihl to he very valuable, but it lias
been so “watercl” that when the executor
tries to sell it lie is laughed out of Wall street,
or the administrator is ordered by the surro
gate to wind up the whole affair. The estate
was supposed at the man’s death to he worth
$60,000; hut after the indebtedness had been
met, and the bills of the doctor and the un
dertaker, and the tombstone cutter have be-n
paid, there is nothing left. That meant the
childre i are to come homo from schoil aid
go to work. That means the compl-'te hard
ship of the wife, turned out with nothing lint
n needle to fight the great batt'e of tho wor d.
Tear down the lambrequins, close the piano,
rip tip the Axminster. sell out. the wardrobe,
and let tho mother take a child in each hand
and trudge out into the desert of tho world.
A life insurance would have hindered all
that.
But, says somo one. “I am a min of small
means, and I can’t afford to pay the premi
um.” That is sometimes a lawful and a genu
ine excuse, and there is no answer to it ; but
in nine cases out of ton when a man says that
he smokes up in cigars, and drinks down in
wine, and exp-aids in luxuries enough money
to have paid tho premium on a life insurance
policy which would have kept hisfamily from
Ixiggarv when lie is dead. A man ought to
put ntmseir down on the strictest e -onomy
until he can meet this Christian necessity.
You have no right to the luxuries of life un
til you have made such provision. I altnire
what was said by ltov. Dr, Guthrie, tho great
Scottish preacher. A few years before his
death he stood in a public meeting and de
clared: "When I came to E linburgh the peo
ple sometimes laughed at my black stockings
and at my cotton umbrella, and they said I
loooked like a common plowman, and they de
rided me because I livel in a house for which
I paid £25 a year rent, and oftentimes I
walked when t would have been very glad to
have a cab; but, gentlemen, I did all that be
cause I wanted to pav the premium on a life
insurance that would keep my family com
fortable if I should die.” That I take to lie
tho right expression of an honest, intelli
gent, Christian man.
The utter indifference of many people on
this important subject accounts for much of
the crime and the pauperism of the day.
Win) are these children sweeping the cross
ings with broken broom and begging of you
a penny as you go by? Who are these lost
souls gliding under the gaslight, i i thin
shawls? Ah, they are the victims of want;
in many of the eases the forecast of parents
and grandparents might have prohibit).! 1 it.
God only knows how they struggled to do
right. They prayed until th i tears froze on
theirchoeks, they sowed on the sack until the
breaking of the dav; but they could not get,
enough money to pay the rent; tli-y
could not get enough money t> de
cently clothe themselves; aul ood ly
in that wretched horn i the air; l of
parity and th i angel of crime fought
a great fight between the empty bread tray
and the tireless h-artli, and tho black win ;n I
angel shrieked: “Aha! I have won 1 1 1 - day.”
Says some man: “f believe what you say;
it is right, and Christian, and 1 mean some
time to attend to this matter.'’ My friend,
you are going to 1 <-e the comfort o?' your
household in the same wav the sinner los-s
heaven, by procrastination. I see all
around ine idle destitute and su.lVring fa iiilios
of parents who nuant som > day to attend
to this Christian duty. During toe process
of adjournment the man geti liis feet wet,
then comes a chill and de iriam mil the
doleful shake of the doctor's hea I, and the ob
sequies. If there lie any tiling more pitiable
than a woman deli "ately brought up, auil on
her mafriage day by an indulgent father
given to a man to whom she is the chief joy
and pride of fife until the moment of hi (death,
and then that same woman going out with
helpless chil Iren at her back to struggle for
bread in a world where brawny muscle and
rugged soul are necessary—l say, if there tie
anything more pitiable than that, 1 do not
know what it is. And yet there ate good
women who arc indifferent in regard to their
husband's duty in this respect: and there are
those positively hostile, as though a life
insurance subjected a man to some
fatality. There i.s in Brooklyn to-day a
very poor woman keeping a candy shop,
who vehemently opposed the insurin'®
of her husband's life, and when application
had l<een made for o policy of SIO,OOI she
frustrated it. She would never have a doc
ument in the hous i that implied it was pos
sible for h'-r hu baud ever to die. One day,in
quick revolution of ma-hinery. his life was
instantly dashed out. What is the sequel?
She is. with annoying tug, making the half
of a miserable living. Her twochildrcn have
been taken away from her in order that they
may he cln'.h -d and schooled, arid her life is
to lie a prolonged hardship. <) man, before
forty eight hours have pL-s-1 away, aiqiertr
at th: desk of som: of our great life in
surance i-o:iipani> s. have the -tethosco m ot
the physician put to your heart and lungs,
end by the seal of some hones', company d -
cree that your children shall not lx- u ijccted
to the humiliation of financial struggle in the
•lay of vour dears ■.
But I must ask 1 1<» :n ne ig iged i i life i i
snrance business whether they fe d til i n
portarr® of their trust, an 1 efiargi thin f
must that they n - d divine gra -e to h -I >
them in their worx. in this da/, wr: i t ier >
are ao many rivalries in your line o bus -
ness, you will bs timpt l to 0.-. u stite tn»
amount of ass-ts aul the extent of tin
surplus, and you will tie tempt >1 to
abuse the fran -hise of the c imp iny,
and make up the deficits of one y vir by
adding some of the re -eiyts ot another year;
and you will bo tempted to send out moan,
MT . vhknon, MONTGOMERY CO., GA„ WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 11, I**7.
anonymous circulars derogatory to other
companies, forgetful of the fact that anony
mous communication means only two things
—the cowardice of the author and the ineffi
ciency of the police i i nllowing such a thing
to be dated anywhere save insi lo of a peni
tentiary. Under tho mighty pressure many
have gone down, and you will follow t hem if
you have too much continence in yourself,
anddonotappe.nl to tho Lord .’or positive
help. But if any of you belong to that mis
creant class of people who,wit hml any finan
cial ability, organize themselves into wlwt
they call a life insurance company, with a
pretended capital of $.‘00,000 or $>00,030,
then vote yourself into the lucrative position,
and thou take all tho premiums for
yourself, and then, at tan npnroac i
of the State Superintendent, drop all into tho
hands of those life insurance undertakers
whose business it is to gather up the remains
of defunct organizations and bury them in
their own fault —then, I say, you liad bettor
get out of the business, and disgorge the
widow’s houses you have swallowe 1. But my
word is to all those who are legitimately en
gaged in the business. You ought to be bet
ter than other men, not only because of the
responsibilities that rest upon you, but be
cause the truth is ever confronting you tint
your stay on earth is un 'ortain, and your life
a matter of a few days or years. l)o not those
black edged letters that come into your office
make you think? Does not the do’tor's cer
tificate on the death claim give yon a thrill?
Your periodicals, your advertisements,
and even the lithography of your policies
warn you that you are mortal. According
to your own showing the chati '"S that you
will die this year are at, least 3 per cent. Are
you prepared for the tremendous exigency?
The most condemned man in the judgment
day will lie the unprepared life iusuran -o
man, for tho simple reason that Ills whole
business was connects! 1 with human exit, an l
lie cannot say: "I did not thhik.” His whole
business was to think on that one
thing. O, my brother, get insured for eter
nity. In consideration of whit Christ hai
done in your behalf, have the indenture this
day made out, signed and sealed with tin red
seal of the cross.
But I have words of encourag ■nvMit an 1
comfort for those of my hearers who are en
gaged in the fire insurance lmsinois. You
are ordained by God to stand between us an 1
the most raging element of nature. Wo are
indebted to you for what the national board
of underwriters and the convention of chiefs
of the fire department have effect 'd through
your suggest ons and through your encour
agement. VVe are indebted to you for what
yon have effected in the construction of
buildings, and in the change in tho habits of
our cities; so that by scientific principles
orderly companies extinguish tho fire, instead
of the old time riots which used toexthi push
the citizens. And wo are in-Mite It > you for
the successful demands you have ma le for
the repeal of unjust laws—for the battle you
have waged against iiv'endiarism ail 1 arson
—for the fatal blow you have given totho
theory that corporations have no souls, by
the cheerfulness ami prompt find > with which
you have met losses from which vou might
have escaped through technicality of the
law. Ido not know any class of moil in qnr
midst more high toned and worthy of confi
dence than these men. and yet I have som '-
times feared that while your chief bushiest
is to calculate about loss-s oi eirthl.tr
property, you might without i.uffl dent
thought go in o that which, in regard to
your soul, in vour own parkin -e might
1® called “bazar Is,” “extra lianr Is,” “spi
cial hazards.” An unfo given sin in the so il
is more Inflammable and explosive tin i cam
phene or nitre glycerine. However the rats**
may he—yea, though tho whole earth war#
paid down to you in one solid preminm—y >u
cannot afford to lose your souk Do not t-|k i
that risk lest it Iks said herenf er that while
in this world you had keen business fa -nlty,
when you went out of the world you went
out everlastingly insolvent. The scientific
Hitchcocks and Killiinans and Mitchells of
the world have unit id with thesa- r id writers
to make us helievo (.lint, there it coming a
conflagration to sweep across tho earth, co n
pared with which that, of ('liieago in I SSI. an 1
that of Boston in 1872. and that of New York
in 1835, were mere nothing. Bro iklyuon fire I
New York on fire! Charleston on lire! Hin
Francisco on fire 1 Canton on fire! St. Peters
burg on file! Paris on fire! London on fire!
the Andes on fire! tho Apponin ■( on lire! the
Himalaya on fire! What will hi p-mliar
about the day will bn that the witer with
which wo out out great fires will itself take
flame; and the Miisissuipi, and tho Ohio, an 1
tho St. Lawrence, and Lake Erie, and the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and tumbling
Niagara, shall with re I tongues lie't the
leavens. The geological heats of the cent *r
ot the world will burn out toward th» eir
oumfereneo, and the heats of the outside will
burn down from the circumferencj to the
renter, and this world will become not only
according to the Bible, but according 1 1 s-i
enre, aliving coal, the living coal afei'w ir l
whitening int i ashes, the ashes scattii'el by
the breath of the last hurri 'ana, and all that
will lie left of this glorious pan ff, will be the
flakes of ashes fallen on other worlds Oh! oil
that day will you be fireproof, or will you in
a total loss? Will you be res -tie 1, or will you
b: consumed? Whe i this great cat’ielrnl of
the world, with its pillars of ro :ks, an l its
pinnacles of mountain!, and its cellar of
gohUn mine, and its upholstery of morning
cloud, and its baptism il font, of the sia, shall
blaze, will you get out on the fire es .-afie of
the Lord’s deliverance? Oh! on that day
for which all other days were made, may
it lie found that tiles i life ins irance in in ha l
a paid up |>oliey, arid these fire insurance inen
ha 1 given them, instead of tie debris of a
consumed worldly estate, a house nut ma la
with hands, eternal in tin heavens.
IVhose Was the Fault?
A losing father sslio, at a summer re
sort last season, luvl left, behind him
four beautiful children, dead of diph
theria, suid to me: “That hotel pro
prietor sshk as much a murderer as if lie
had shot, my little ones.” Yes, dear sir,
but you, their guard inn, ought to liavo
been armed and equipped against such
foes. An hour's intelligent examination
of water supply and drainage at a pro
posed country home would in a large
majority of eases prevent the risk of
speji catastrophe, and might bo made
before a landlord could object. Take in
the dressing hag an ounce vial of satur
ated solution of permanganate of pot
ash, which any druggist will prepare
for a few cents, and put half a dozen
drops into a tumbler of the drinking
water that is supplied. If it turns
brown in an hour, it is, broadly speak
ing, unlit to drink; if not, it is not, es
pecially harmful. If a country hotel’s
sewage system is confined to cesspools
within a hundred feet of the house, and
near the water supply, take the next train
to a jsiint farther on. These matters
should force themselves on one’s per
sonal attention, quite as much ns the
undertaker's hills that occasionally fol
low their neglect. —American Magazine.
Temperance News and Notes,
Floyd County, Gn., recently voted lor pro
hilution by 500 majority.
“SUB DEO FACIO FORTITER.”
STORIES OF THE LATE WAR.
YARNS SPUN BY A SPY.
How Thomas N. S«|niro, of Virginia,
Sorreil ihe Confederacy.
[From the Philadelphia Times.]
I luul booomo so emboldened by fre
quent ami successful scouts into Wash
ington City; my nerves luul become so
trained by frequent contact, with Federal
otliccrs and soldiers ; my manner made
imperturbable by sudden shocks and
unexpected surprises; my soldier life so
habituated to this environment, that I
had well-nigh concluded that, I was not
Ixirn to Ihi hung or shot, and was ready
to shake hands with Stanton or dine with
Grant. Meeting a friend who was a
clerk in the War Department, 1 was in
formed that an important paper would
be in his office in a few days a tabulated
statement which would Ih> an interesting
document to the Confederate War De
partment. He would make a copy of it
and leave it upon his desk at “lunch
hour,” if 1 could devise any way to
secure it. I told him I would walk into
his office myself and get it if ho would
guarantee it to be on his desk at a spec
ified hrtur. This was done, and as the
crowd of clerks were passing in and out
during “lunch hour” I walked into the
War Department of Washington to the
room of my friend, winked at him as I
passed him in the throng, got the paper
and walked out as composedly as Stan
ton’s private secretary could have done,
and before “ lunch hour” of next day
that tabulated statement was in the War
Department of Richmond.
Finding that, 1 would bo constantly
detailed upon these trips, I called upon
the Confederate Secretary of War and
advised establishing a reliable line of
communication between Richmond and
Washington. He indorsed the proposi
tion ami requested me to establish it at
once. A signal station, under the charge
of a lieutenant, luul been in successful
operation upon the Potomac for some
time and had proven very useful. Hut
the War Department needed a direct
line of its own, subject to its c ider and
reliableat. all times. To establish this [
rode from the front door of the War De
partment of Richmond to the Potomac
river, crossed the river and rode to the
front door of the War Department of
Washington and established the linn
throughout. Having selected a high
cliIV near Boyd's Hole on the Potomac
as the site for my shanty and men, I
w te to the Secretary of War for an
outfit.
Upon receiving boat and equipment I
selected two Irishmen who were expert
oarsmen, and a courier, and had them
detailed for the post. The negro man,
who had been with my regiment since
’<ll and had been the body servant of
the Lieutenant-Colonel and after his
death served me, made the live who
composed the detail. Ho with four men,
three horses, a good boat, a tine Hold
glass, a pocket, compass and “quarters”
upon a high cliff of the Potomac, I was
ready for operations. I crossed the
river and selected three practising phy
sicians, who could ride at any hour of
the night, without being suspected or
arrested by Federal troops, being known
as neighborhood doctors, anil who were
heart and soul in sympathy with us.
Whenever I was in Washington and
wished to send a despatch to Richmond
I called upon the physician living near
the Navy Yard and gave him the des
patch. He would ride over the Navy
Yard bridge, which was always under
guard, in his doctor’s buggy and give
the despatch to physician No. 2. He
would mount his horse and ride to the
house of physician No. il and deliver it,
and lie would ride to a certain point on
flic river and place the despatch limlora
ledge of l ocßs. That night a bout would
come over from iny camp, get the des
patch, take it to camp, give it to the
courier, who would at once ride to the
telegraph office and have it telegraphed
to Richmond. Tims in less than twelve
hours I could send a despatch from
Washington City to Richmond. This
line existed until Lee surrendered at
Appfttonmx, and rendered invaluable
service to the Confederacy.
On one of my visits to Washington,
and while staying with a Southern sym
pathizer, I was informed that Col.
Raker, the head of the Detective Jiureail,
had information of my presence in the
city, and that the sooner f got out of
the city the better it would be for me.
I at once saw a friend who was acquaint
ed with captains of schooners and trad
ed with them, and requested him to ac
company mo that night to the wharf
and introduce me to a reliable owner of
one of these crafts, lie did so, and I
paid flic captain .3150 in greenbacks to
take rile at san d at once and on tho mor
row sail down the river and drop me
opposite Maryland Point, on the Vir
ginia shore. I slept in the dirty hunk
as lx-st I could, played cook while the
Federal inspecting officer of Alexandria
hoarded us, and the following morning
was in my “Kaglo Nest Camp” relating
my adventure. Col. Raker’s men
searched the house of my Washington
friend within less than an hour after I
left it, examined every room, wardrobe,
attic, cellar, wine-cellar and out build
ing, and seemi d indignant that they
did not catch me.
On another occasion I was approach
ing the Navy Yard bridge, which is the
great entrance into the city from South
ern Maryland, on horseback, and no
ticed Unit the cavalry picket, stationed
at the bridge, was scanning me very
critically. I knew arrest would lx- fatal,
and unities lie could lx: at once disarm
ed of all suspicion I would lx: arrested.
My horse Ix.-earnc affrighted at the noise
and commotion usually around the
Navy Yard and Ix'gan to snort and jump,
and f instantly seized this as a pretext,
and calling to the cavalryman, said;
“Please to strike my horse with your
sabre and drive him on the. bridge for
me.” The cavalryman laughed, entered
upon the work with a great deal of zest,
called to his comrades to assist and soon
the “rebi‘l scout” was driven into Wash
ington City hv tho sabres of loyal coun
trymen.
After my post on the l’otomac became
known to the “Potomac flotilla" cross
ing became quite hazardous. The gun
boats were very vigilant, and effective.
To elude them required caution and
strategy. Whenever I contemplated
crossing before nightfall I would take
my Hold-glass, go out upon a head and
watch the movements of the gunboats
for hours to ascertain their patrol.
These gunboats are ns formidable as In
fantry and more lo bo dreaded by par
ties crossing the river than pickets up
on the shore. They can shut off every
light and drift noiselessly upon tho
water, and before you are awareof their
presence your little keel-bottomed boat
would be riding tlm waves caused by
their approach. Then suddenly they
can tlasii out their re fleeted lights far
out upon the darkened waters, and let
ting on a full head of steam, with the
flash and rapidity of sheet lightning,
seize the object, of their search before
you can recover from the paralyzing
shock. Many n dark night , wit h a calm
upon the waters that inspired a unholy
dreml, with muffled stars and baled
breath and steady stroke, our little craft
moved out from its shadowy conceal
ment and started upon its mission of
consecrated devotion to a “cause” not
tin'll “lost,” knowing full well that cap
ture meant an ignominious death.
KIDNAPPID ( IIIN .SF, GIRLS.
A Sail Cass* Ilroiiglif. to the Atten
tion of the Authorities.
Vandvok, the New York correspon
dent of The Aligns writes: Among the
children who have been brought to the
attention of the (Society for the Preven
tion of (Irueltyiire two Chinese girls.
It was claimed that they hud beetv kid
napped in Han Franc,is,eo two years ago,
and were held here for the purpose of
selling them us wives to resident eeles
tints. The itlutrge was not, proven, and
for the present, at least, the ease has
been abandoned. Thegivls nre a novel
tv here. As in other places the t'lii
nose do not permit their wivesor ihiuc;h
ters to be seen oil the street. Tliorciiie
several ('hitiese .women in this eily, mid
when it happened that they have been
brought into court, or into the presence
of people with a missionary spirit, they
have said that, they have not lieen out of
the house liefore for months, sometimes
for more than a year, and in one well
authenticated case it wits a little over
two years since a female resident of
Mott street hud set her foot outside her
tenement. It was not quite so bad in
the case of the girls, but for weeks at a
time it has been tho habit of thoir guar
dians to keep them shut up at, home.
The “home” is near the head of Mott
street, in a four-story building devoted
partly to trade and manufacture. (ligsrs
nre made on tho first flour and there is a
store there also. Up stairs is another
commercial establishment, and in tho
top stories are tenements. The rooms
nre of coursesmidl and ill fitted for hab
itation. 11l that respect the heathen
girls are as well oil' as thousands of their
(ffiristinn fellow beings of the east side.
One of them is dressed in the Ameri
can fashion, and but for tlieodd waddle,
that passes for her gait, would not be
taken for a Chinese at a distance. The
other wears a native costume. It con
sists first in a blouse that hangs from
tlm neck to the knees, not belted or
caught in any way at, the waist. Loose
trousers are over tile the legs and bound
at the bottom closely around the ankles.
The shoes are thick soled wooden ufTitirs
familiar as the footeoverings of common
lanndrymen’s, but they are excessively
small anil bear witness to the crumping
of the feet customary with the Chinese.
Roth blouse mid trousers are of a pale
blue unadorned with figures. It. is the
ordinary eostume of the Chinese of the
poorer class. The shiny black hair of
the girl dressed like an American was
brushed straight buck from the brow
and wound into a greutknot at the buck
of the head. The other dressed her
hair in the native style. Over eueli ear
was a flat, thin circular disk of hair that,
looked as it might have been made vis
artificial hairnnd stuck to the bend. All
Chinese women leum early how to do
this. A gummy pomade is essential to
the task, bnt, it takes considerable skill
to weave and wind this hair into its thin
and circular position. Ho little hair is
used in these disks that enough is left
for a large coil which is fastened at the
top and back of the head. Neither of
these girls, one ten and the other twelve
years old, could speak a word of English.
American Drinks In London.
The London (J-.vrt and Sorieljf says:—
When you visit, the Wild West show
lieware of too many cocktails. These,
indeed are not “piseii, ’ but they arc n
sinuating and fatal. There is one in
particular which must lie approaches!
cautiously, and then only by men wbo
have been under tire; it is called the
“Manhattan cocktail,” its eomjKinent
parts are, I lielieve, rye whiskey, Ver
mouth, Angostura bitters, ice, lemon
and crushed sugar. I’rolsibl y there are
several other ingredients. Those I have
mentioned, however, indicate the
“pisen” as one which will work almost
irrqicrceptibly on the human animal,
reducing him eventually to the consis
tency of pulp. In any match lietween a
man anil a Manhattan cocktail you must
recollect always that it is about ten to
one on the cocktail.
Api’J.ioation is the price to bp paid
for mental acquisition. I'o have the
bat vest wc must sow the seed.
VOL. 11. NO. 28.
A PLEASANT STORY.
Klnanidal Integrity Probably With
out a Parallel in History.
Considerable interest lias been felt in
a story told of mercantile integrity. It
seems that the story was not a romance,
but is detailed as follows:
The names of the parties to the won
derful story about the mercantile integ
rity of a Southern gentleman who re
cently paid in New Haven the last in
stalment of a debt amounting, principal
and interest, to S<MH,(XK) arc now re
vealed. Daniel Hand, who now resides
in Guilford with his niece, Mrs. William
Skinner, was the Northerner who went
to Atlanta, Ga., thirty-live or forty years
ago, established a grocery business and
associated with him a bright young man
named George W. Williams, who lias
proved himself the soul of honor and
integrity.
When the Rebellion broke out Mr.
Hand had S4<X),<XX) worth of real estato
which he could not dispose of, so ho
turned over every dollar’s worth of land
to Williams. He thought the Confed
eracy would confiscate his property if
he did not, and if he had to give it up
he preferred to see Williams get it.
When he was ready to leave the South
erners were on the alert and clapped
him into jail. There a magistrate wait
ed on him, and to him Hand made oath
that lie didn't own an inch of real estate,
hut that his partner owned it. Then
they arrested Williams, and ho swore
that he was the true and rightful owner,
and he intended to remain South, so
they could not interfere with Williams’
property. There was a suspicion of col
lusion, and both men had to remain in
prison for several weeks. Finally Hand
was released ami he managed to get
North. A year or so after the partner
ship was dissolved Williams lost every
cent of his property, and ho went into
the brokerage business, and to-day ho is
worth, after paying the debt of honor of
S<iIH,(XX) I over SMM),<MX). He made his
money in Savannah, where ho now re
sit!.*«. Mr. Hand is about 75 years of
*'!?«’•
A letter from Charleston, S. C., says
Mr. Williams was asked by a correspon
dent to tell the story of his transactions
with Mr. Hand. He said:
“Our firm had been dissolved at the
outbreak of the war, but Mr. Hand
could not withdraw his capital. The
war found him in the North, with all
his means in the South. I made an ef
fort to remit SUX),tXX) to him, but it was
stopped at Atlanta by the vigilance com
mittee, who sent it hack to me, inform
ing me that no money could Ire sent
across the lines to aliens. Subsequent
ly, however, this amount was sent to
England anil deposited in the Rank of
Liverpool. Mr. Hand’s assets were next
attached by the Confederate govern
ment. I managed to get a message to
him in Kentucky, telling him that it
was necessary for him to come South.
He agreed to do so and started South.
When I next heard of him ho was in
prison in New Orleans on suspicion of
tioing a spy. lat once telegraphed to
the Governor of Louisiana explaining
matters and vouching for Mr. Hand’s
integrity. I asked that lie l>o sent to
Richmond, where he could he identified
by Vice-President Htephensund General
Toombs, both of whom knew him. I
then, at a cost of alxmt $250,000 to my
self, re-established tho old firm, restor
ing him to copartnership in it. The
next time I heard of Mr. Hand he was
in Augusta Jail, where he had been
locked up to save him from Ixurig mob
bed on suspicion of being a Federal spy.
I went to Augusta, remained with him
in jail for twenty-four hours and finally,
after considerable cost and trouble, got
him to Richmond, Va., where he was
incarcerated for two weeks or more in
the Libby Prison, after which I pro
cured liis release.
“Then came the suit to sequestrate
his property, which we won. I then
sent Mr. Hand to Asheville, N. C.,
where he remained until the close of the
war. Os course, most of his fortune
went into Confederate securities or cur
rency, and when the war ended there
was very little of it left. He went North
after the cessation of hostilities with
hardly enough money in his pocket to
pay traveling expenses, and, convinced
that all his means hiul lx-en swallowed
up in the general ruin and wreck that
overwhelmed the South, he left his af
fairs in my charge to get what I could,
if anything, out of the wreck. Well,
the years rolled on and the South lregan
gradually to recuperate. I had invested
some portion of the funds of tho firm
Judiciously. When the Burney crash
came, in 1871), I visited Mr. Hand at his
home and told him that I felt bound to
make grxxl his losses, as he was not a
partner in that concern. There was no
talk of lawyers at all. I had my own
time to pay Mr. Hand his money, and
alxmt a year ago I made him the last re
mittance of the total amount of his for
tune, about S7OO,(XX). That is the story,
and that is alrout all there is of it.”
An East Indian Joke.
It is not generally known that the
downfall of Dhuleep Singh, in a social
sense, was due to a monstrous trick he
played some fourteen years ago. It was
in a country house where the Prince and
Princess of Wales were staying, and a
certain noble lord was in the act of ofter
ing a candlestick to the Princess as she
was retiring up the stairs. The Mahar
ajah, at this moment, stuck his foot in
the way of the noble lord, tripped him
up, and sent him and the candle tiyiug.
Such a gross pier* of misbehavior was
probably never before known, and the
justly-incensed nobleman “went for”
Dhuleep Singh like a bulldog, as soon
as he got him into the billiard-room. It
was with difficulty that Dhuleep Hingh
was rescued from his nssailant.