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i j, Serious Books vs. Fiction * «• e> By E. S. Martin. A v~m*****+*flrXi I 0 HE habit of reading the more substantial books seems to have taken hold of a much larger proportion of the people of the British Isles than of us Americans. And even that is not all. We seem not to be gaining the habit, tor the proportion of light reading in the current mass of new literature seems to be increasing. Why that is, and whether it is a temporary condition or something more serious, is matter for discussion. I suspect it is one of the habitual complaints of literate mankind that the readers of the generation just passed read better books than those of the generations in being, it, is no fault of the publishers, for there are plenty of publishers who : ire eager to print the best hooks they can hope to sell. They wont print many books that-no one will buy, because such a practice as that, if it became habitual, would be incompatible with continuance in the publish¬ ing business. But they have au interest, which is more than a mere pecuni¬ ary interest, in what they publish, and would much rather find their necessary profit in a book tliat they can be proud of than in one which never do credil to their name, however much it may help their pocket. To be sure, the more substantial books are in competition wtih all the great books that ever were printed. If readers neglected the good new books in order to read the good old ones, we might regret it as something detri mental to the book publishing business and the interests of living authors, but we would not find in it a sign of decaying culture or degenerating taste. But it is not the competition of the old books that limits attention to new ones, for whoever has learned to read the one is by so much the likelier to read the other. Who has the habit of good reading and the appetite for it will read what suits his appetite if he can get it. The trouble is th*at the appetite is not oftener formed. If you are to make a silk purse, you must have the silk. You qannot make a reader of good books out of any human material that comes along. You must catch a mind proper for the job. Not all good minds are adapted to much reading. You find very able people who read few books, mostly trash, and people of less ability who read more, and much better ones. You find also interesting differences in the facility with which different people take in the sense of printed words. Some people from childhood read very much fas¬ ter and with less effort than others. Their eyes seem to connect quicker with their brains, and their perception of words and rows of words is almost instan¬ taneous. Other people never entirely get past the need of pronouncing, men¬ tally, each word.—Harper’s Magazine. * * * The 400 is Now u The 1100 99 By F. Townsend Martin. HAVE been interested in society ever since I was eighteen u £ years old. New York society has gone .through its forma¬ tive stage. Its society now resembles that of London, the oldest and most absorbing society in the world. People say, casually, “The great balls of the past have been discontinued because the city is too large.” That is ♦ not the point. Society is too large—not the city. Society * grows with the city. I should say there are 1,100 persons , in society. I daresay this figure is staggering, revolution¬ ary, but. I believe this number is accurate. Yet I know some women who would say that 100 covers completely the number of persons they would care to know. New York society is beset by a new idea, which is as unsatisfactory as it is perilous. It develops a narrowness of thought and t^ie most extrqme boredom. Society is set-ridden. There are the Meadowbrook set, the Tuxedo set, the Southhampton set, the Winchester set, the Lenox set, the Aiken set, the set that meets in Palm Beach, in Aiken, and in Paris. Mrs. William Astor’s retirement as the leader of society marked a new epoch. There has been chaos since her influence and her annual entertain¬ ment have been discontinued. There is no social leader in New York today. Perhaps there will never be another, because the requisite qualifications are rare. Each little set has its leader, who rules arbitrarily and is looked up to, even idolized. But it is manifestly difficult to think of a woman who can unite the little sets. Leadership, like monarchy, carries with it. endless work and endless responsibility. All of the important women in society would na¬ turally like to succeed to the popularity and prestige of Mrs. Astor, yet there are limitations to each, which cannot be denied. & & & /J/W There's a Good Time n* Coming k ' By United States Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts. y 0 HE of a country ergy stitution march independence, business small Republic of along the are things of or government people, of greater the the in the to old any the road United if than roads present it other of for is they individual States battle which not individual way. days ever paraylzed of is it of followed in The life—will were enterprise, greatness—the effort, no resources by danger before. too from if it of much of Is the determi¬ The of ruin road left days sub¬ the en¬ of to in nation to succeed in the assert itself. Let those old American habits continue to dominate in the United States and tread the doctrines of socialism under foot. The wealth of the world is here in our soil, in our mines, in our factories. This decline of values is but a passing ripple on the surface of the great sea of American life and action, and all we need to do is first to try to prevent a recurrence of that alarm which so paralyzed business last autumn, then to aid in the restoration of pub¬ lic confidence, and lastly to perfect a banking system worthk of our time and country. I believe that the Aldrich currency bill will tend strongly in this direction and serve our initial and immediate purpose. I believe it will bring back in a large measure the confidence which has been impaired, and help to set the great car of American business moving once more upon the pathway of triumphal progress which it has followed for more than a century. A Diet of Apparel. A southern congressman tells of a darky in a Georgia town whose best quality is his devotion to his aged par¬ ent. Once the congressman asked Pete why he mad never married. “Why, boss,” explained Pete, “Ise got an ole mudder. I had t’ do for her, suh. Ef I doan’ buy her shoes an’ stockin's she doan’ git none. Now. boss, you see ef I was t’ gu. married I’d have t’ buy ’em fo’ mah wife, an’ dat’d be takin’ de shoes an’ stockin’s right outer my ole mudder’s mouf. ff Harper's Weekly. A Naval Voice. * * What do you think of my voice?” she asked after trying a selection from “II Trovatore.” “It makes me think of sailors,” he replied. “Of sailors? Why should it do that?” “It has a tendency to die at C.”— Chicago Record-Herald. The Two Seasons. Teacher—Johnny, can you tell me how many seasons we have? Johnny—Yes, ma’am, two. Baseball and football.—Chicago News. THE PULPIT. AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY THE REV. MERLE A. BREED. uic: Realizing the Pattern, Lincoln, Neb.—The Rev. Merle A. Breed, who recently entered upon the fifth year of his pastorate of the Con¬ gregational Church at Mont.icello, Iowa, occupied the pulpit of the First Congregational Church of this city Suiday morning. He spoke from He¬ brews S:5: “See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pat¬ tern that was shewed thee in the mount,” taking the subject, The Pattern in the Mount, the Building on the Plain.” Mr. Breed said in the course of his sermon: Our text, which is a quotation from Exodus 25:40, sets before us a pic¬ ture as interesting as it is suggestive. The hosts eft Israel have been waiting long before Mount Sinai. Their lead¬ er, Moses, is hidden in the cloud capped, fire-riven summit in com¬ munion with Jehovah. While the people are waiting in the plain, he has gone forth to the mountain’s tow¬ ering peak to be with God, to hear His will for them and for himself, and to bring down a divine pattern of a tabernacle for God’s worship and the uplifting of men’s hearts and lives to heavenly things. The people in gen¬ eral had but earthly ambitions. While Moses was hidden in the clouds and darkness of the mount, they were occupied with dancing and feasting, with eating and drinking, and mak ing golden calves to worship, Moses is beholding the pattern of that taber nacle about which the religious life of the nation was to arise, and which was to stamp its impress upon the world. Moses is filling his soul with the vision which he is to endeavor to lga ° raat ’ Siof 41 ? f’th L f ' Wll ^ l8rafhteS m the plain beneath him. To one man came hea Ven !r ThS ® to recel f ve it tbl ° ugb kim- , oj ijc L*™*™* L . 0 . be that + ofbnng - nf u ^ reaCh aud mak ' th 7 hJX, ft f FT I P ea Sll r cn ' 2 ‘ ™ont g un§ ®atenals, i lab , °r ' f f S r be wrought nut nr. wi n^ ran T hfe U1 ! 011 11 f as ^ imagine Svfni that trihoi nhiiiro a n U nt f + n lsrael gre a f ?, ly d f ft 0I ? P tabe r nacla - with £.« , ark’aifd n SflteiS: stick and cherubim, its pillars and table, its canopies and courts, its holy place and holy of holies, its laver, mercy-seat and mysterious separating vail. But there was one who had seen something better, who knew that, beautiful and costly as it was, the tent of meeting but dimly fore shadowed forth the glory of that pat tern shown him in the mount. The people saw only the tabernacle in the plain, but the eyes of Moses looked beyond and through that and saw the pattern he had beheld in the mount with God. And that is our thought together this morning, the pattern in the mount, the building in the plain, for life still has its Sinais, where we behold ideals, and it has its plain, where these are to be real ized. Surely he is a sorry builder who has seen no pattern in the mount. For the success of our building. much will depend upon our choice of a pattern. The costliest building is manhood and womanhood, that something we call seif, a life, character. Y r et there is much haphazard building. With the greatest variety of plans there is little attention to standards, and an infinite variety of results, because the pattern is not selected with the care an architect draws his designs upon his trestle board. What shall we build our lives— hovel, or palace, or temple? It is an exliilarating reflection that every act or thqught is building them into something. What an infinite variety of patterns. We can not build after them all—which shall we choose? There must be unity in the design, The eclectic method, pure and simple, will hardly avail for this. What one age approved fails to win the appro bation of the next. There must be permanence and real worth in the pattern, if it is to satisfy ourselves or others as the years pass. As we read history and the great names of past er^s move before us, we often feel hovvl howtranslqnt they were. How like n is Midas, the Phrygian king of legend and story. How like a mold ering trireme upon the shores of time is Pompey the Great. How like a dust covered ruin in the Roman forum is Caesar. Now we may all be tabernacle builders, like Moses, if we will. For this method Moses followed is not to be thought of by us as excep tional. It is a type for us each in our building. We, too, are building, “building every day, building for eternity,” and our Scripture lesson told us that our building must stand God's test. We have like opportuui ties with the great Jewish lawgiver, If he had eyes to see God, and ears to hear God, so have we. Will we choose the tabernacle pattern for our lives? “Every human soul,” wrote Hartford's greatest divine, “has a complete and perfect plan, cherished for it in the heart of God—a divine biography marked out, which it en ters into life to live. This life, right ly unfolded, will be a complete and beautiful whole, an experience led on by God, and unfolded by His se cret nurture, great in its conception, great in the divine skill by which it is shaped; above all, great in the mo mentous and glorious issues it pre¬ pares.” Life may be used for other purposes, no doubt, but do they sat- ’ isfy? 1.' not life insipid, unsatisfying, lost, till P is all wrought out a temple, a dwelling place for God most high? Here some will say, “But my life is cast on other levels. It deals with common things, with the doing of momentous acts and routine service,, What opportunity dan there bo fot me to achieve such large or worthy results? If conditions were different, or my calling other than it is, all this might be of interest to me. I long to put just this into my living, but it is all too remote from life as I have to live it.” Here lies the value of the scene before us. Through Moses the humblest of the people became part ners with him in building the taber nacle. Moses did not rear it upon the cloud-encircled mount, but iu the plain, that you and I might be enc’our aged to realize the purpose of God | for us in the field of common daily re lations and amid what will otherwise be the drudgery of daily living. He leaves us the same task. Merchant and teacher, sailor and soldier, farm er and workman, author and editor, housewife and clerk, mistress and maid, lawyer and preacher, however humble and obscure our lives seem, we are to be fellow workmen with God in bringing things divine into these seemingly common and un meaning activities and relations, After the clouds and glory had with drawn from Sinai, the humblest Is raelite could point to the tabernacle and say: “The glory of God still fol lows us all through our wilderness wanderings in that tabernacle yonder, and without me it would never have been complete. tour life, where it is, is needed for the rearing of some¬ j thing greater and better than the tabernacle in the world of to-day, and without it the kingdom of God will never come in its fullness. Before this all other needs of our time sink into insignificance; for the truest tabernacie for the showing forth of God to the world is not a pattern hidden in the majesty of unapproaeh able heig hts, nor is it .temple or cathedral, helpful as these may be, bllt a life simple outwardly, though with i uxuriant and divine furnishings levels within; a life spent on the where our fellow men live theirs, filled not with such consecrated fur nishings as adorned the tabernacle Moses fashi.oned, but with the graces and kindl - v deeds men need to see and feel near at hand - This is OU1* Work > as divinely appointed to us as it was t0 Moses . It is the great er building, in which all our common tasks and humblest efforts may have an honored P^ce as truly as did the altar and laver in the ancient tabernacle. But for this successful building of Go T S .»"™T 8 " e : *'“• ^ d w^ Se J f a „!Tn!1 i. f te M j S n arcord , the ^. *“ ount g : p , an F T 5 n a ,i aS T al Siance a. His 5 , v,a7° r + IS no ! g 1 ’ DI W1 dlsdos ® tbat - pr Purpose and a plan are ! ® s vei a y^ a v ere u uto - itselt. ° negiain No. one °L mwer SSDd ' b !°°Pp!j’ , aTlbldden- ^ ot °ue leaf f diops beimie its time. ., Not T a bird “ ot ® 18 unrelated; its music is conditions and yake L s own ecb ?. All things fall * ato tbe ., * r pl ace and carry out the di lr T P UI P°» e - 13 the method of the divine . bui wliethei hu ,™ an ( ‘J P', Dg 28 ’ And ^ m may natuie b ® so oi_ 111 in yoar - ^ P al ,P se „fT ™ r . ne us - and ^, e 10llow may know U as God tia y s tbe s ‘ am of sand, the flower, , the . b md of the air. ‘ If any man willeth 1° do His will, said the Master, “he' shall know.” God does not withhold Pus plan from any man. The mount is ever ready for the revealing of the pattern, but men must take the time to learn, to withdraw to its retreat, T be pattern came not to Moses till he bac ^ twice spent forty days and forty rights in the mount alone with God. After many years' tuition in the wilderness came John the Baptist, herald of Christ. The wilderness rvas his mount of vision. Handel had a spiritual ear. and gave the world the oratorio of the Messiah, and when we hear it we must not forget the long period of preparation. Michael An S e l° had the spiritual eye and hand an< l painted the frescoes of the Paul * ne Chapel with the representations °f the martyrdom of St. Peter and the conversion of St. Paul, and carved the statues of “David” and “Moses.” ft Paul spent three years in Arabia to meditate upon the vision he had had of the Christ, who had met him oa his way to Damascus; if Christ Himself retired to solitary places for Quiet and prayer, you and I need time f° r suc h a disclosure of God’s will for us as R e 3 s waiting to give. Before we can rightly rear the tabernacle vice °f our lives must in seek the the plain pattern of daily in ser we the mount, not Sinai, but the heaven reaching life of Christ. The divine pattern has come near men in Jesus Christ. We have not to seek it amid the perils, darkness and difficulties of Sinai; it is here with us, built in all its divine perfection on the levels of our daily needs; supplying us with all desirable inspirations, helps and satisfying fellowship, opening the very vail by which we enter into the most holy place itself. It is not a mount distant and removed, but a presence near at hand, familiar with our needs, to which we may with draw in moments of discouragement or temptation, full of divine comfort an( l solace for the hours of sorrow, °f divine strength and vitality in our days of weakness when all other be lP seems far away, full of gracious warning when we are careless and wayward. We need ever to be with drawing into this mount, Jesus Christ, if we are to realize the pattern m tbe plain of our earthly living. Be cause it is so accessible, so complete m its ministry. “See, therefore, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was shewed thee in the mount.” You won’t improve your chances by too many. Tht cbunbaq-Scfioof i | ! | INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM¬ j MENTS FOR NOVEMBER 15. i ; Subject: The Lord Our Shepherd, ; j Psalm 23—Golden Text, Ps.23:I i —Commit the Entire Psalm— I Read John 10:1-18. I ] TIME.—-Uncertain. PLACE.—Un¬ j certain. j Met, EXPOSITION.—I. twenr,y-third Every Want 1-3. The Psalm is I a great depth, an unfathomable ocean 0 f truth. The foundation thought of j the Shepherd.” first four verses, figure “Jehovah is my | The stands for C are, protection and provision on : God’s part; trust and obedience and I following on man’s part (Jno. 10:1, ; 18> 26-29; Gen. 33:13; Lu. 2:8; 5:4 j 6; Acts 20:29; Isa. 53:6; Matt 9 : 36). It is a shepherd’s business to feed the sheep and iambs, and by making Himself my Shepherd Jeho V ah has undertaken to make it His business to provide me with pasture, to meet every need So David con _ tinues, “I shall not want.” This any one who is sure that he ig OI}e of Je _ hovah’s sheep can confidently say. Who Jehovah’s sheep are Jesus plain¬ ly tells us (Jno. 1C:3, 4, 5, 27). Je¬ hovah’s sheep will never lack any¬ thing that it is for his real good to have (Ps. 84:11; 34:9, 10; Phil. 4:19; Matt. 6:33; Ro. 8:32; He. 13:5, 6). The Psalm leads on from the general statement to specific wants supplied. In verse 2 we have four wants supplied: rest, food, drink, leading. Literally translated, “He maketh me to lie down in pastures of tender grass, He leadeth me beside | the waters of rest.” There is a two¬ fold rest in this verse: the passive rest of sheep lying down on the soft, young spring grass; the active rest of walking beside the waters of rest. Is there any other grass, food, so easy for a true sheep of Christ to eat, so juicy, so delicious, so nutritious, as that which we find in the Word of God? There is drink as well as food. Jehovah leads His sheep right beside “the waters of rest.’ What “the waters of rest” are Jesus tells us (Jno. 4:14; 7:37-39). The Holy Spirit is the water we drink (for the appropriateness of “waters of rest cf. Gal. 5:22). There is guidanr also “He leadeth me.” Not only a there still waters there, hut it is Jt hovah Himself who leads along the hank. This leading is continuous and constant. He “leadeth,” not driveth. In this and the following verses there are four experiences into which, and in which, He leads; “waters of rest; ft “paths of righteousness” (a holy walk); into and through darkness, peril and testing; into His own house forever. In verse 3 we have a fifth want supplied: healing, or revir r ing, invigorating, “He restoreth (or, re viveth) my soul.” II. Every Fear Banished, 4. The Lord’s sheep is now taken into entire¬ ly new experiences. No longer pas¬ tures of tender grass and waters of rest, but “the valley of the deepest darkness” (that is the force of the Hebvew phrase “shadow of death”). The Psalmist has not merely the ex perience of literal death in mind, but all experiences where the darkness is thick and profound, God’s sheep do not always walk in bright paths, In the darkest valley Jehovah’s sheep have no fears, “I will fear no evil. ft A true trust in God banishes all fear, under all circumstances, for all time (Isa. 12:2; 26:3; Ps. 3:5, 6; 27:1; 46:1-3; Phil. 4:6, 7; Ro. 8:28-32). And why not fear? “For Thou art with me.” Not because there is no danger, but because there is One with us stronger than any possible enemy. III. Every Longing Satisfied, 5, 6. Here the figure changes: Jehovah no longer appears as a shepherd, but as a bountiful host. “Thou preparest a table before me”—think out all that He has spread before us on this table. No banquet on earth like that. As to the general character of the feast read Ps. 63:5; 81:6. Note where we are feasted, “in the presence of mine enemies.” Christ’s own have enemies. (Jno. 15:19; 2 Ti. 3:12), hut our wonderful Host will spread us a ban¬ quet in their very presence. That is one of the things that make the world so angry with the church; they see what a banquet we have, while they are feeding on husks. • There is not only a feast; but also an anointing. The oil with which He anoints our heads is “the oil of gladness,” the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38; He. 1:9; 1 Jno. 2:20, 27, R. V.). He anoints our heads with this oil, it flows down over our whole person (cf. Ps. 133:2„ R. V.). In ancient times an anoint* ing was a necessary preparation for a feast, and the anointing with the Holy Spirit is a necessary preparation for the Lord's feast. The next step fol¬ lows naturally, yea, inevitably *» my cup runneth over” (jjpr, is “an abun¬ dant drink”). Do you know the over flowing cup? Now we leave the feast for our earthly pilgrimage (v. 6). But we are not unguarded, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, ft I wish no better rear-guards, or foot¬ men than those. God’s goodness and mercy (loving-kindness) follow our every step. There is no doubt about it, “surely.” How well-protected and perfectly secure we are. The Shep¬ herd picking out the path before us, and again close beside us in the dark valley, and His own goodness and mercy following us all the way. Note how long this will continue. Now we come to the end of our pilgrimage and pass out of time into Eternity, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. ■ >