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Banks County Gazette. VOL 2.—NO. 5. Homeless Poor of Berlin. One of the most note-worthy insti tutions of Berlin is known as the “City Shelter,” the like of which is to be found in no other capital in the world. It stands just outside Berlin, was opened in October, 1887, and is intended for the accommodation not only of homeless individuals, but of homeless families as well. It con sists (as we learn from an account of it given in the Illustriate Zeitung) of one largo three-story building, and in the rear twenty one-story barracks, each of which is capable of accommo dating from sixty to eighty persons. The main building is intended chictly for poor families. Rents are excess ively high in Berlin, and it often hap pens that an artisan or a laborer gets into arrears with his payments, and finds himself ejected with his family into the street, having no money in his pocket with which to hire fresh rooms. His recourse on such an oc casion is the “City Shelter,” whither he goes with his wife and children told whatsoever household effects he still possesses. On their arrival the clothing they wear and the furniture they have brought with them is thor oughly disinfected, and the members of the family are sent to different parts of the establishment, according to sex or age. The husband is located in the men’s department; the wife, the oldest daughters, and the small est children are sent to that for wo men, while the boys over six years of age are cared for in rooms specially set apart for them. The entire family are allowed to remain in the shelter for eight days, and are not only lodged, but are pro vided also with good, wholesome food by the city, not a penny being asked for from them in return. The women, however, are expected to assist in the laundry and in keeping the estublishment scrupulously clean; the men arc allowed certain hours of absence, dining which they may go in search of work, should they be out of employment, while the boys get regular instruction in the school rooms. Should it be fouud that the husband or father has honestly striven to obtain work during the eight days, but has failed, the family are allowed to remain for 'till another such period. Even then, if he should have obtained an engagement that is not sufficiently remunerative to enable him to set up a fresh home at once, the wife and children may remain still longer in the shelter, and he may go there to sleep at night. Even with all this the kindness of the city does not end, for when at last the family leave they may lie presented with from 15 to 20 shillings toward their preliminary household expenses. The barracks in the rear are for men and women who are accommo dated for the night only. The same individual is not allowed to go there oftener than five times a month, ex clusive of Saturday, which is a “free” night, when questions as to prdvious visits are not asked. There is a strict exclusion of persons who are not so ber, and the bringing in of intoxica ting drinks is prohibited, as also loud talking, singing, and smoking. The doors arc open at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and remain open for later comers until 2 o’clock in the morning, though during the severe frosts of winter they are not closed all night. On arriving at the shelter the name, age, etc.,'of the visitors are inscribed in a book, and an invitation to the bath-rooms follows, the clothing being disinfected in the meanwhile. Then the visitors are sent to the barracks, where they are to remain for the night, each being furnished with a sail-cloth, which is to serve for cover ing when they stretch themselves on the broad bench that runs all round each building. Artificial heating is kept up, and excellent ventillation is maintained. At eight o’clock each visitor is supplied with warm soup and a piece of bread, and they re ceive a similar meal when they leave in the morning, which they are al lowed to do at six m the summer and seven in the winter—or still earlier in the winter if there is a chance of their getting work at removing snow. Altogether, it is no unusual thing for as ruaDy as 1,600 persons to sleep in the shelter the same night as guests of the city of Berlin. Since the 21st of January last there has been a provision ot sick rooms with 100 beds on the first floor of the main building. If any of the inmates should have sore feet, be feverish, exhausted from fatigue, or be other wise not in a fit condition to start again on their traveles, they may see the doctor, who, if he thinks fit, or ders them into the sick-rooms. There they will be looked after for several days, at the end of which time, should they still be unable to leave’ owing to the gravity of their ailment, they are sent to the hospital. The staff engaged in the management of the shelter comprises a chief inspetor, a “l ouse father,” twelve wardens, and two clerks. Beilin is proud of this institution, and may well think it superior either to the English casual ward or to the English alternative of allowing the homeless poor to sleep under railway arches or on door-steps.—Pall Mall Gazette. When there is darkness beforo and around us, there is light above us. In U e deepest gloom of earth’s shadows it is possible for us to have tight for our cheer and guidance if we will look upward. And here is one of the gains of dark hours, in their prompiiv to the upward look.— S. S. Times. ° Political Garden Seed. The seeds sent out l>y th e depart ment are mostly given to members of congress. According to the tabular statement, senators, representatives and delegates in congress were given 3,832,112 packages, leaving only a little over a million to be sent to in dividual, experiment station and agricultural societies. And this ex plains why the seed division has grown as it has, and congress is wil ling to make appropriations for it. Politicians own it and use it for their own purposes, while the original pur pose for which it was established lias vanished from sight. The agricul tural department, on the whole, we regard as admirable, and it is di ing excellent work for the country; but the seed division has been degraded to low political uses at the expense of the people, and the better informed portion of the community demand its improvement or its abolishment. One tenth part of the money now appropriated for the seed division would be entirely sufficient for all good uses. The rest of it is worse than wasted, and the officers of the agricultural department know it, and the people know it!—Vick’s Maga zine for April. Learn to entwine with your prayers the small cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants of daily life. What ever affects you—bo it a changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a sorrow' you cannot disclose—turn it into prayer and send it up to God. Disclosures you may not make to man, you can make to the Lord. Men may be too little for your great matters; Cod is not too great for your small ones. Only give yourself to prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls for it.—Anon. “For Thy Sake.” There is something very peaceful and helpful in this inscription : “For thy sake.” We can use it in our family circles fcometimes when the father looks upon son, or upon his circle of loving children, and says: “For thy sakes, for your sakes.” So the wife, in the midst of endurance, says to the husband: “For thy sake.’’ For agony and pain only in any case become endurable as they become ideal, as they are related to sovereign and purifying affections, as we are able to say: “For thy sake.” Then may a toil become sweet, and many a pain possible to bear, many a sharp trial easy to undergo, and many a sharp suffering a rosy garland and a crown. “For thy sake.” This is the divine theology of pain, this is the HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1801. relation of means and ends in benevo lent purposes. Sir Charles 801 l and others have talked eloquently of de sign in pain, but the comfort of the Christian will be found in spirings deeper still and in motives higher far than those of mere socalled natural theology. “For thy sake.” That implies more than by arrangement; it has a tender tone, and reveals to us our being as related to him. This is, then, the meaning of th mystery of pain.—E. Paxton Hood. Hold a mouthful of spirits—whis ky for instance—in your mouth for five minutes, and you will find it burns severely; inspect your mouth and you will find it inflamed. Hold it for ten or fifteen minutes, and you will find the various parts of the in terior of your mouth have become blistered; then tie a h mdkercliief over the eyes, and taste' for instance water, vinegar, milk or senna, and you will find you are incapable of distinguishing one from another. This experiment proves to a certainty that alcohol is not only a violent irritant, but also n narcotic. Canyon believe that the still more tender and important internal organs of the body can be less injuriously affected than the mouth ?—Dr McCulloch. To pun who makes it so, any sphere is a high sphere. Fulness of sendee is the supreme test. One reason why so many persons are in efficient is that they are spending their energies in some other direction than that which is theirs at the time. They are afraid of being undervalued if they do net show themselves above the service that is expected of them. They neglect their part in the round of life duties because they want to exhibit their superiority to their own present calling. But a man who will not do his best in what he is set to do is not the man to do hotter any. whore else Of course, one may be bettor fitted for one calling than an other. But the best evidence of fitness for any calling is the living up to one’s possibilities in that situation where lie is, without regard to where he might better like to be.—Sunday School Times. From the Canada Presbyterian the Christian Advocate copies this: “A young man of intellectual pretentions, who had been reading Mr. Herbert Spencer, found himself one day in the company of Mr. Spurgeon. ‘But I do not belong to your school, Mr. Spurgeon,’ said he, with a touch of pride; ‘I should inform you, sir, that lam an Agnostic.’ ‘An Agnostic?’ replied the preacher; ‘that is Greek, is it not?’ ‘I believe so,’ said the youth. ‘Of which,’ continued the preacher, ‘the Latin equivalent is Ignoramus, is it not?’ A question which reduced, as Or. Samuel Johnson might have said, the ambitious aspi rant for fame from a perpendicular to a horizontal form.” Tlic Blessings of Forgetfulness. The blessings of a good memory and the importance of, cultivating such a power are too evident to call for notice; the annoyance caw ed _bv forgetfulness emphasizes itself \,y daily repetition. The possibility of losing any thing out of the mind is altogether too familiar a thought to cause any surprise, and is one of the last things iri the world that we should think of being thankful for. Yet, when we reflect on it, is it more strange that wc can remember at all than that any thing that has once been a tenant of the blind can leave its home and become lost ? The power to forget is perhaps not less a blessing than the power to remember. There is good ground for thankful ness that we are not obliged to go through life loaded with the accumu lated burdens of other days, that the dread of evil that made some days wretched without cause need not haunt us in after years, that the dis appointment that proved so bitter at the time does not remain a perpetual possession, that the failure that caused such mortification as for the moment to cast a gloom over every thing fades away as it grows more distant. The principle that “sufil cient unto the day is the evil there of” has its application to the evil that is past as well as to what is antici pated; and it is by the goodness of the Creator that, while the past teaches its lessons, wo cannot keep it at all if we would, any more than we can pry into the future. The power of forgetting as well as that of remembering can be culti vated, and sometimes needs to be cultivated. It is often important to cast aside so far as possible the mem ory of personal experiences; of still more importance is what wo harbor in our thoughts as to the deeds of others, for over such exercise of menipry the will has much control. It is something besides a desire for alliteration that makes us speak of forgiving and forgetting: and in this direction there is- occasion for us to imitate Him who says: “I will re member their sin no more.”—Anony moss. Make men see and feel that a sa loon is a more positive evil to a neigh borhood than a shanty filled with smallpox patients, and a fire will be kindled which will purge the country of its greatest crime and misery breed er whoso colossal shadow envelops Christendom ar.d carries a thrill of misery, a pulsation of vice, a throb of degradation wherever it falls.—The Arena. The Chicago Evening Post, speak ing from the vantage of a Chicago experience, portrays as .follows the saloon keeper in politics: “That the saloon appears to Vie one of the prin cipal stepping stones to political pre ferment cannot be denied. The saloon keeper figures largely in cau cuses and conventions, and there seems to be a belief, especially in <argv!.i citioH like Chicago, that the man who can mix a cocktail can leg islate for his fellow men. There is money in politics for the saloon keeper. His till overflows during a canvass. The ‘boys’ caucus in bis back room, and keep the electric but ton busy all the while. His opportu nities are large. A man in any other line could not embrace them. No druggist could afford to drive his trade away by making his place ot business a rendezvous tor political heelers, and no small tradesman wouid consent to jeopardize his busi ness in like manner. So the in m who sells rum for a living has it all his own war. In bis bottles is tho potent ar ticle that mellows the workers, and before his mahogany they are /el come. That is why he has such a pull.” At three or four of the Scotch iron works, the Furnace Cases company are paying yearly rental for the right of collecting the smoke and gases from the blast-furnaces. These are passed through several miles of wrought iron tubing, gradually dimin isliing in size from six feet to about eighteen inches, and as the gases cool there is deposited a considerable yield of oil. At one establishment in Glasgow they pump and collect about sixty million feet of furnace-gas per day, and recover, on an average, twenty-five thousand gallons of fur nace oils per week, using the residua] gases, consisting chiefly of ca/oon monoxide, as fuel for distilling and other purposes, while a considerable yield of sulphate of ammonia is also obtained.—New York Ledger. A Future of Hope. Look where we may the future seems full of hope. The great world, slowly and reluctantly it may be, is still opening its eyes to the appalling spectacle of wretchedness, degrada tion, and sin that lies to us so close on every band. The cry of the afflicted and down trodden is heard at last. We refuse to acquiesce in what selfishness and cowardice assure us to be inevitable. The few who have taken upon their shoulders the burden of suffering humanity are be ginning to find not only sympathy but help iu their efforts to do battle with the evil power which now deso lates so vast a portion of mankind. The struggle must bo long. No schemes, however glorious; no devo tion, however generous, can win a sudden triumph; for, at the best, human progress cannot be measured from year to year; its movements, though sure, are imperceptible; only by generations can loss or gain be reckoned. But when anew spirit enters into the world; when the ideal of the few becomes the enthusiasm of the many, and the vision once seen only by lone watchers on mountain heights is revealed in its glory to the toilers on the plain; when a faith, once dim and faint, begins to stir with anew fire and anew life, wo cannot for long be unconscious of such a change. And such a change is surely coming on. The long night, with its darkness and silence, is passing away, and through the awakening world rings the trumpet sound: “Let the King reign!” The Journal of Inebriety calls at tention to the fact that alcohol and tobacco used by railway engineers and other railway employees, especial ly when used together, are liable to produce color-blindness, even uncon sciously to themselves and after they may have passed a satisfactory test examination upon entering the ser vices as to their ability to distinguish readily the color signals. The country is fairly jingling with the silver question, and a very pleas ant sound it makes, indeed. The people have taken hold of it, and they will see it safely through.—At lanta Constitution. A few years ago no one dreamed that in so short a time the. electric light would become a regular part of the equipment of mills and factories. It was only when the dynamo found its place in the engineroom and the incandescent light sparkled in the shops and work rooms , that tUo engineer found any thing of special interest to him in the study of elec, tricily. Now he must study it wheth er he will or no, and though the knowledge he most requires must be of a practical nature, he must have a goodly amount of theoretical or “book” iuformation in order to under stand what he is doing.—Stationary Engineer. A Dream and Yet Not a Dream. A laborer at the Dundee harbor lately told bis wife, on awakening, a curious dream which he had during the night. He dreamed that he saw coining toward him, in order, four rats. The first one was very fat, and was followed by two lean rats, the rear.rat being blind. The dreamer was greatly perplexed as to what might follow, as it has been under stood that to dream of rats denotes coming calamity. He appealed to his wife concerning this, but she, poor woman, could not help him. His son, a sharp lad, volunteered to be the interpreter. “The fat rat,” he said, “is the man who keeps the public house that ye gang till sae often; and the two lean anes are me and my mither, and the blind anc is yerseli, father.”—Exchange. It was said by the conductor of an , American theater that t,/e Sundayj evening concert made the Sunday theaters a possibility. There is a movement in England to establish a Sunday theater. It is charged that this movement has grown out of the tastes cultivated by the church and stage guild. When the church is turned into an entertainment, it creates and cultivates a taste that will without question "and by a fixed law find its gratification in the theater. It is bid a step or two from the Sun day night church concert to the Sun day night theater.—Christian Advo cate. It is so little we can really do for one another in me march of life. W e are all under marching orders and have burdens to carry. There is no halt for nook-day dreams nor twilight rest. It is step, step, step—right onward through dust and common place, without music, or banners, or SINGLE COPY THREE CENTS, present glory, and yet to each soldier has been given a canteen full of never failing water, a cup of which he may proffer with no fear of a diminished store, all the way through to the end of the long march to the sea. Is onr comrade discouraged ? Does bis feet fail and his hands grow' heavy? A cheering word, a loving service, a friendly suggestion, born of the de sire to help and encourage, will re vive him like sparkling water in the desei t heat. Such things cost nothing, but not all the gold and diamonds you could pack in your bundle would match them for solace on tho long and dus ty march that stretches for each one of us between the cradle and tho grave.—Amber. How Little to Give. How little it is to give! It is in appearance only a little tenderness in the voice that the spirit that needs it recognizes, though it could hardly tell how it recognized it. It is stttftj: ■ ply t. at the soul shows herself fo£jsp moment at her window, and the way* farer looks, and by a sudden rocogni- tion sees her there, ar.d knows that it is her care for him that brought her there. It is only a something, we hardly know what, in the grasp of the hand, an electric thrill that shows that is no mere formality, but that it is a touch of life—Jhat the hand is warm from the heart. This is all it is to give. But what is it to receive? It is often nothing less than anew life. Here is a poor, suffering soul that feels itself cut off from the com mon joys and the necessaries of com mon life seem not for it. It seems to itself like one shivering apart, while the merry groups of happier ones rejoice in the warm sunlight and in the play of free and kindly inter course. But when this solitary soul meets the touch or the look of sym pathy, its isolation is over;' yt is by tills drawn into the common eir -ie of humanity. The common broth" hood reaches it also. Perhaps this lonely soul had felt itself forgotten even by God. Per haps it saw no signs that he still re membered it. But by this greeting of hearty interest—by this touch of feeling, of compassion, of fellowship —it is as if Cod himself spoke to it. It is as if he had sent one of his angels to speak to it good cheer; for if ono of his children cares for it and loves it, it feels that the Father himself cannot have forgotten it.—lndepend ent. It pays to do every thing well, because any thing well done is a part doing of the next thing that we would not do otherwise than well. “Play always as if a master were listening,” said Schumann, himself a musical master who knew whereof he advised. If the doing of one thing is, in effect, the preparation for and part doing of another, then it wero well to perform any part always as if the Master were listening, because, if the Master is ever to listen, he is, in effect, listening always. Dr. Cuyler tells this story ><i a littl, boy, the sou of good ! rian parents, who w;.>. '■■■iA' question in the ‘What is i Act cad?” mid lie answered j it, “Man’s chief end is tb glorify God | and annoy him forever.” There are too many men, says Dr. Cuyler, who act as if that were their chief end. The great high road of human wel fare lies along the old highway of steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful. Success treads on the heels of every right effort Smiles. To pray with all our heart and strength, with the reason and the will, to believe vividly that God will listen to our voice through Christ and verily do the thing that lie pleaseth there upon, this is the last, the greatest achievement of the Christian’s war fare upon earth.—Coleridge. In the day of prosperity we have many refuges to resort to; in the day of adversity, only one.—Bonar.