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About Dade County weekly times. (Rising Fawn, Dade County, Ga.) 1884-1888 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1886)
T. A. HAVRON, Publisher. TALMAGE’fc! SERMON. Twelfth Discourse of the Series on “The Marriage Ring." - •* The Value o. Good Mother* iu a Com* ■nnnlty—The Story oi Hannah and the Child Samuel By Way of Illustra tion—The Price of a Soul- Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage’s twelfth ser mon gn “The Marriage Ring” takes up the subject of “Motherhood,” the text being the words: . # .1 Moreover Ills mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to .year, when she came up with her husband to After tlie yearly sacrifice.—l. Samuel, 11., 19 The stories of Deborah and Abigail are very apt to discourage a woman’s soul. She say* within herself: “It is impossible tlla't I ever can achieve any such grandeur of character, and I don’t mean to try," as though a child should refuse to play the eight, notes because he can not execute a “William Tell.” This Hannah of the text' dlffe/s from the persons I just now named. Slfe* was an ordinary woman, with ordi nary intellectual capacity, placed in the ordinary circumstances, and yet, by ex traordinary piety, standing out before all *tl(je” ages to come, the model Christian mother. Hannah was the wife of Elkannah, who was a person very much like herself —un- romantic and plain, never having fought a battle or been the subject of a marvelous escape. Neither of them would have been called a genius. Just what you and I might be, that was Elkannah and Han nah. The brightest time in all the history of that family was the birth of Samuel. Ai» though no star ran along the Heavens pointing down to his birthplace, I think the angels of God stooped at the coming of so wonderful a prophet. As Samuel had been given in answer to prayer, Elkannah and all Ins family, save Hannah, started up to Sliiloh to offer sac rifices of thanksgiving. The cradle where the child slept was altar enough for Han nah’s grateful heart, but when the boy was old enough she took him to Shiloh and took three bullocks, and an epkah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and made offering of sacrifice unto the Lord, and there, accord ing to a previous vow, she left him; for there he was to stay all the days of his life, and minister in the Temple. Years rolled on, and every year Hannah made with her own hands a garment for Samuel, and took it over to him. The lad would have got along well without that 1 garment, for I suppose he was well clad by the ministry of the Temple; but Hannah could not be contented unless she was all the time doing something for her darling boy. “Moreover, his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came np with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.” 1. Hannah stands before you, then, in the first place, as au industrious mother. There was no need for her to work. El kannah, her husband, was far from poor. He belonged to a distinguished family, for the Bible tells us that he was the son of Jeroboam, the son of Elibu, the son of John, the son of Zuph. “Who were they?” you say. I do not know, but they were distinguished people, no doubt, or their names would not have been mentioned. Hannah might have seated herself with her family, and with folded arms and di sheveled hair, read novels from year to year, if there had been any to read; but when I see her making that garment, and taking it over to Samuel, I know she is industrious from principle as well as from pleasure. God would not have a mother become a drudge or a slave; he would have her employ all the helps pos sible in this day in the rearing of her chil dren. But Hannah ought never to be ashamed to be found making a coat for Samuel. Most mothers need no counsel in this di rection. The wrinkles on their brow, the pallor on their cheek, the thiinble-inark on their linger attest that they are faith ful in their maternal duties. The blocrn, and the brightness, and the vivacity of girlhood have given place for the grander dignity, and usefulness, and industry of motherhood. But there is a heathenish idea getting abroad in some of the fami lies of Americans; there are mothers who banish themselves from 'the home circle. For three-fourths of their maternal duties they prove themselves incompetent. They are ignorant of what their children wear, and what their children eat, and what their children read. They intrust to ir responsible persons these young immor tals, and allow them to be under .influences which may cripple their bodies, t>Y taint their purity, or spoil their mahn'ers, or de stroy their souls. . .> From the awkward cut of Samuel’s coat you know his mother Hannah difl notmake it. Out from under flaming chandeliers, tand uff from imported carpets, and down *the granite stairs, there has come a great crowd of children in this day, untrained, saucy, incompetent for all practical duties of life, ready to be caught in the first whirl of crime and sensuality. Indolent and unfaithful mothers will make indolent and unfaithful children. You can'•not expect neatness and order in any house where the •laughters see nothing bat. . slatternliness and upside-downativeness in th'eir parents. Let Hannah be idle, and most certainly Samuel will grow up idle. IVho are the industrious men in all our occupations and professions’’ Who are they managing the merchandise of the world, building the walls, tinning the roofs, weaving the carpets, making the laws, governing the nations, making the earth to quake and heave and roar and rattle with the tread of gigantic enter prises? Who are they? For the most part they descended from industrious mothers, who, in the old homestead, used to spin their own yarn, and weave their own carpets, and plait their own doormats, and flag their own chairs and do their own work. The stalwart men and the in fluential women of this (lay, ninety-nine out of a hundred of them, came from an illustrious ancestry of hard knuckles and homespuu. And who are these people in society, light as froth, blown every whither of temptation and fashion—the peddlers of filthy stories, the dancing-jacks of political parties, the scum of society, the tavern lounging, the store-infesting, the men of low wink and filthy chuckle, and brass breastpins, and rotten associa tions? For the most part they came from jggtbers idle* and disgusting— the scandal-monger of society, going from house to house, attending to everybody’s business but their own, believing in witches, and ghosts, and horseshoes to keep the devil out of the churn, and by a godless life setting their children on the verge of hell. The mothers of Samuel Johnson, and of Alfred the Great, and of Isa'ac New ton, and of St. Augustine, and of Richard Cecil, and of President Edwards for the most part, were industrious, hard-working mothers. Now, while I congratulate all Christian mothers upon the wealth and the modern science which may afford them all kinds of help, let me say that every mother ought to be observant of her children’s walk, her children’s behavior, he children’s food, her children’s books, her children’s com panionships. However much help Hannah may have, I think she ought every year, at least, make one garment for Samuel. The Lord have mercy on a man who is so unfortunate as to have a lazy mother. 2. Again. Hannah stands before you as an intelligent mother. From the way in which she talked in this chapter, and from the way she managed this boy, you know she was intelligent. There are no persons in a community who need to be so wise and well informed as mothers. Oh ! this work of culture in children for this wosld and the next. This child is timid, and it must be roused up and pushed out into activity. This child is forward, and he must be held back and tamed down into modesty and politeness. Rewards for one: punishment for another. That Which will make George will ruin John. The rod is necessary in one case, while a frown of displeasure is more than enough in another. Whipping and a dnrk closet do not exhaust all the rounds of do mestic discipline. There have been chil dren who have grown up and gone to glory without ever having had their ears boxed. (Jh ! how much care and intelligence are necessary in the rearing of children! But in this day, when there are so many books '-■«n t,he subject, no parent is excusable in being ignorant of the best mode of bring ing up a child. If parents knew more of electics there would not be so many dys pectic stomachs and weak nerves and in competent livers among children. If par ents knew more of physiology there would not be so many curved spines, and cramped chests, and inflamed throats, and diseased lungs as there are among children. If parents knew more of art, and were in sympathy with all that is beautiful, there would not be so many children coming out in the world with boorish proclivities. If parents knew more of Christ, and prac ticed more of his religion, there would not be so many little feet already starting on the wrong road, and all around us voices of riot and blasphemy would not come up with such ecstasy of infernal triumph. - The eaglets in the eyrie have no advan tage over the eaglets of a thousand years ago; the kids have no superior way of climbing up the rocks than the old goats taught hundreds of years ago; the whelps •know no more now than did the whelps of ages age—they are taught no more by the lions of the desert; but it is a shame that in this day, when there are so many op portunities of improving ourselves in the best manner of cultivating children, that so often there is no more advancement in this respect than there has been among the kids and the eaglets and the whelps. 3. Again Hannah stands before you as a Chrjgtian mother. From her prayers and fr<\u the way she consecrated her hoy to God, 1 know that she was goon. A mother mav have the finest culture, the most bril liant surroundings; but she is not fit for her duties unless she be a Christian mother. There may be well-read libraries in the house; and exquisite music in the parlor; and the canvas of the best artists adorn ing the walls; and the wardrobe be crowded with tasteful apparel: and the ■ children be wonderful for their attain ments, and make the house ring with laughter and innocent mirth, but there is something woeful-looking in that house, if it be not also the residence of a Chris tian mother. l bless God that there are not many prayerless mothers—not many of them. The weight of responsibility is so great that they feel the need of a Divine hand to help, and a Divine voice to com fort. and a Divine heart to sympathize. Thousands of mothers have been led into the kingdom of God by the hands of their little children. There were hundreds of mothers who would not have been Chris tians had it not been for the prattle of their little ones. Standing some day in the nursery they bethought themselves, “This child God was given me to raise for eternity. What is my influence upon it? Not lseing a Christian myself, how can I ever expect him to become a Chris tian? Lord, help me!” Are there anxious mothers who know nothing of the infinite help of religion? Then I commend them to Hannah, the pious mother of Sannel. Do not think it is absolutely impossible that your children come up iniquitous. Out of just such fair brows, and bright eyes, and soft bands, and innocent hearts, crime gets its victims —extirpating purity from the heart, and rubbing out the smoothness from the brow, and quenching the luster of the eye, and shriveling up, and poisoning, and putrify ing, and scathing, and scalding, and blast ing. and burning with shame and woe. Every child is a bundle of tremendous possibilities; and whether that child shall cone forth to life, its heart attuned to the TRENTON. DADE COUNTY. GA.. FRIDAY. APRIL 2. !88(i. eternal harmonies, and after a life of usefulness on earth go to a life of joy in Heaven, or whether across it shall jar eternal discords, and after a life of wrong-doing on earth it shall go to a home of impenetrable darkness and an abyss of immeasurable plunge, is being decided by nursery song and Sabbath les son, and evening prayer, and walk, and ride, and look, and frown and sicUa, Ob' how many children in giory, crowding all the battlements, and lifting a million voiced hosanna,brought to God through Christian parentage! One hundred and twenty clergymen were together, and they were tilling their experience and their ancestry ; and of the 120 clergymen, how many of them, do you suppose, assigned as the means of their conversion the influence of a Christian mother! One hundred out of the 120! Phillip Doddridge was brought to God by the Scripture lesson on the Dutch tiles of a chimney fire-place. The mother thinks she is only rocking a child, but at the same time she may be rocking the fate of na tions, rocking the glories of Heaven. The same maternal power that may lift tha child up may press a child down. A daughter came to a wordly mother and said she was anxious about her sii*9, and she had been praying ail night, file mother said: “Oh, stop praying? I don’t believe in praying. Get over all these re ligious notions and I will give you a dress that will cost SSOO, and 1 you may wear it next week to that party.” The daughter took the dress, and she moved in the gav circles, and the gayest of the gay, that night; and, sure enough, all religious im pressions were gone, and she stopped praying. A few months after she came to die, and in her closing moments said: “Mother, I wish you would bring me'that dress that costssoo.” The mother thought it a very strange request, lint she brought it to please the dying child. “Now,” said the daughter, “mother, bang that dress on the foot of my bed,” and the dress was hung there, on the foot of the bed. Then the dying girl got up on one elbow and looked at her mother, and then pointed to the dress and said: “Mother, that dress is the price of my soul!” Oh, what a mo mentous thing it is to be afnother? 4. Again, and lastly, Hannah stands before you the rewarded mother. For all the coats she made for Samuel, for all the prayers she offered for hint, for the dis cipline exerted over him, she got abund ance compensation in the piety and the usefulness and the popularity of her son Samuel, and that is true in all ages. Every mother get* full pay for all the prayers and tears in behalf of her children. That man useful in commercial life; that man prominent in a profession; that master mechanic —why, every step he takes in life has au echo of gladness in the old heart that long ago taught him to be a Christian, and heroic and earnest. The story of what you have done, or what you have written, or the influence you have exerted, has gone back to the old homestead —for there is some one always ready to carry good tidings, and that story makes the needle in the old mother’s tremulous hand fly quicker, and the fla.j in the father’s hand comes down upon the barn floor with a more vigorous thump. Parents love to hear good news from then children. Do you send them good news always? Look out for the young man who speaks of his father as “the Governor,” “the ’Squire” or the “old chap.” Look out for the young woman who calls her maternal ancestor the “old woman.” “The eye that mocketh at his father, and refuseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the. valley shall pick it out, aud the young eagles shall eat it.” Gpd grant that all these parents may have the great satisfaction of seeing their children grow up Christians. But oh ! the pang of that mother who, after a life of street-gadding and gossip-retailing, hang ing on the children the fripperies and fol lies of this world, sees those children tossed out on the sea of life like f<pam on the wave, or nonentities in a world where only bravery aud stalwart character cau stand the shock! But blessed be the mother who looks upon her children as sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Oh! the satisfaction of Hannah in seeing Samuel serving at the altar; of Mother Eunice in seeing her Timothy learned iu the Scriptures. That is the mother’s recom pense, to see children coming up useful in the world, reclaiming the lost, healing the >dck, pitying the ignorant, earnest and Useful in every sphere. That throws a new light back on the old family Bible when ever she reads it, and that will be oint ment to the the aching limbs of decrep itude, and light up the closing hours of life’s day with the glories of an autumnal sunset. There she sits, the old Christian mother, ripe for heaven. Her eyesight is almost gone, but the splendors of the Celestial City kindles up her vision. The gray light of Heaven’s morn has struck through the gray locks which she folded back over the wrinkled temples. She stoops very much now under the burden of care she used to carry for her children. She sits at home, too old to find her way to the house of God; but while she sits there, all the past comes back, and the children that forty years ago tripped around her arm-chair with their griefs, and joys and sorrows—those children are gone now. Some caught up into a better realm, where they shall never die, and others out in the broad world, testing tbw excellency of a Christian mother’s disc; pline. Her last days are full of peace, and calmer and sweeter will her spirit be come, until the gates of life shall lift and let in the worn out pilgrim into eternal springtide and youth, where the limbs never ache and the eyes never grow dim, and the staff of the exhausted and decrepit pilgrim shall become the palm of the im mortal athlete. -■ ■ —— l '«*-> -- Mr. Gladstone’s announcement in the House of Commons that his statement, to be made April 8 would take the form of an introduction to a bill for the future govern ment of Ireland, created a sensation, RATLRCAD STRIKE ENDED. Goulil and Powderly Have a Conferen-e The Men Will go to Work at Once — The Knights of Labor llcc • ognized. New Yoke, March 28. —Conferences be tween Jay Gould and T. Y, Powderly to day and this evening have resulted in or ders from each of them to the parties to tlje Southwestern strike, ordering imme diate resumption of work and traffic pend ing arbitration, to which Mr. Gould con seuts. This mox-ning at 11 o’clock Mr. Powderly and W. B. McDowell called on Jay Gould at the latter’s residence. There they met Messrs. Gould, Hopkins and George Gould. There was a general dis cussion of the situation in the Southwest on both sides, and a better understand ing was arrived at than bad been had by either party hitherto. After talking until 1 o’clock p. m., the conference was ad journed until evening. At < o'clock to night they met again. At 8:30 p. m. Mr. Powderly had leave to keen an engage ment with Congressman John O'Neil, of St. Louis, Chairman of the House Commit tee on Labor, who came from Washington to fender assistance, if possible, in settling the strike. Mi-. MeDoweil, however, re mained with Mr. Gould and his party, and Mr. Gould finally handed to McDowell the following communication: T. V. Powderly, G. M. W.— Dear Sir: Re plying to your letter of the 27th instant 1 write to say that 1 will, to-morrow morning, send the following telegraphic instructions to Mr. Hoxie, General Manager ol the Mis souri Pacific railroad at St. Louis: In resuming the movement of trains on the Missouri Pacific and in the employing of laborers in the several departments of this company give preference to our late em ployes, whether they are Knights of Labor or not, except that you will not employ any person who has injured the company's prop erty during the late strike. Nor will we dis charge any person who has taken sendee with the company during said strike. We see no objection to arbitrating any differ ences between the employes and the com pany, past or future. Hoping the above w.ll bo satisfactory, 1 re main, yours truly, Jay Gould, President. The Executive Board of the Knights of Labor have sent out the following tele gram : Martin Irons, Chairman Executive Board, St. Louis: President Jay Gould has consented to oui- proposition for arbitration, and so tele graphs Vice-President Hoxie. Order the men to resume work at once. By order Executive Board. T. V. Powderly, G. M. W. The Executive Board also sent out the following- telegram: To the Knights of Labor now on stvike in the Southwest: President Jay Gould has con sented to our proposition for arbitration, and so telegraphs Vice-President Hoxie. Pursuant to telegraphic instructions sent to the Chair man Executive Board D. A. 101, you are di rected to resume work at once. Per order Executive Board. T. V. Powderly, G. M. W. O'NEILL’S ARBITRATION BILL. A Measure Intended for the Amicable Set tlement of Labor Dispute*. Washington, March 28.— 1 n the House to-morrow Mr. O'Neill’s long promised bill on the arbitration question will be intro duced. He asserts that the bill is rational, operative and constitutional. It is entitled “a bill creating boards for arbitration for the speedy of cenreoversies and differences beijreen conilWiP carriers en gaged in interstate and territoifcl com merce or business and employes.” The premable recites that by Section 8, of Article 1, of the Constitution of the United States. Congress is invested with full frfwer and authority to provide for the general welfare of the people of the United States; to regulate commerce among the several States; to constitute tribunals inferior to tbe Supreme Court of the United States, and to make all laws be necessary aud proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers. It provides for the formation Within the law of a tribunal consisting of (|e qn each side of the controversy, the tjo to select a third. If they do not select afprovided within three days the United States Court of the jurisdiction in which the trouble exists shall do so. The tribunal shall have the standing of a United States Commission with all its powers, and shall be paid in like manner. . Alms-house Burned. Peoria, 111., March 28.— There was great excitement in this city this morning when a mounted messenger came riding furious ly with the information that the Peoria Alms-house, six miles distant, was in flames. A new wing had been added to the building last year. Iu this were forty-five insane people. Engines were immediately dis patched to the spot, but did not arrive in time to save tbe main building, a large two-story brick, erected seventeen years ago, at a cost of *4O,(XXI. Of this nothing but the walls remain standing. Fortu nately the wind blew away from the In sane Hospital and by hard work it was saved. One hundred' and fifty inmate* oc cupied the burned structure, who Will be temporarily lodged in the new wing. Twelve Hundred Arrests. Pnii.ADEU’UiA. March 28.—At a late hour last night the police made a raid on sa loons and concert halls. It was at first estimated that six hundred people were ar rested, hut when the different squads of officers reported to-day it was found that between one thousand and twelve hundred persons had been taken into custody. All of the girls, with the exception of three, after being held to keep the peace, were re leased upon payment of costs amounting to $1.65 each. The three girls not released were given six months in the House of Cor rection. it having been learned that tliey were of the worst type of street-walkers. The proprietors were- held under bail on the charges of keeping disorderly houses, sell ing liquors to minors, and harboring minors. Young But Plucky. Lafayette, I\r> , March 28.—John Mc- Cutoheon, the fifteen-year-old son of the sheriff, was yesterday left temporally in charge of the jail, when one of the prison ers, Doug Kramer, secreted himself and threw McCutcheon against the wall. In stead of sitting down to cry about it, Johnny seized a revolver and gave chase. Down the street, across lots and down alleys they went. Kramer running as fast as he could and McCutcheon shooting and celling “stop thief.” After a long chase Kramer was captured by John A. Rice and returned to jail. Young McCutcheon is Vue lion of the hour. County Treasurer Bound Over. I sot as a Ports, March 28. Hol lingsworth, of Knox County, lnd., has been bound over to the grand jury to answer the charge of embezzling about $50,000 of county fuuds. NOT ENDED. Gould Say 9 That Powderly Jump ed to a Conclusion. Fruitless Conference Between Gould and the Executive Board. New York, March 29. —The spirit of exul tation which filled the hearts of the Execu tive Board of the Knights of Labor this morning soon changed to grave anxiety. When Wm. O. McDowell called at Gould’s office at 9:30 o’clock this morning he was not so favorably impressed with his reception as he was with the reception accorded him at Mr. Gould’s house Sun day. Mr. Gould gave McDowell to under stand that there had been a misconception of his telegram to Mr. Hoxie, which was sent Sunday night. Mr. MeDoweil at once returned to the Astor House and Con ferred with the General Executive Board, and two of the members at once returned with McDowell to Mr. Gould's office. The conference then was short, and an adjourn ment was had until 3 o’clock this after noon. the hope being entertained that at that hour Mr. Powderly might be well enough to attend. At 3;20 o'clock, how ever, Messrs. Turner and McDowell en tered Jay Gould's office without Mr. Pow derly. About 4 o’clock the conference ended. Subsequent inquiry at Mr. Gould’s office was answered by* the following statement, of which Mi\ Gould was the author: Mr. Powderly has evidently mis understood the meaning of the telegram that was sent on Sunday night to Mr. Hoxie. “Our position ’ is that this strike has been in a condition for arbi tration all the time. We have had an agreement with the workmen for some time that all differences were to have been submitted for arbitration before any strike should be resorted to. Manager Hoxie has this matter in hand. He has full control, and the matter must be settled with him. We are just where we were before Sunday’s conference.” Gould and Powderly will have another conference to-morrow. St. Louis, March 29.— The strikers have received no specific instructions as yet in regard to resuming work, but they say that it will be impossible for them to re turn before Wednesday morning. While the executive board was in session to-night a telegram was received from Powderly saying that complications as to the methods of arbitration had arisen and that another conference would be held to-morrow. The board adjourned without ordering the men to work, ami they will not be until further instructions are received from New York. . ESCAPED A FRIGHTFUL FATE. A Woman Rises From Her Coffin After Being Apparently Dead for Hours. Allendale, NAJ.. March 29.—Martha Da vene, a maiden lady, has been an invalid for several years. On Friday night her rel atives were called to her bedside to bid her farewell, as she was evidently dying. Shortly after ten o’clock she closed her eyes and ceased to breathe. A looking-glass was held overdier mouth, but no indication of respiration appeared upon it. She was accordingly prepared for burial. Under taker Mitchell noticed that although the dead woman's form was rigid, with the ex ception of her extremities, her body re mained warm. Without notifying the friends he placed her in a coffin with out putting her on ice. For twenty hours she lay in the box and was viewed by several neighbors and mourned by her friends. Her relatives even opened and read her will, thinking that she might make some request regard ing her funeral. Shortly after 6 o’clock last evening, while the family were at sup per, Mr. Cook heard a noise in the parlor where his aunt’s renlain.s were lying. He was horrorstricken to find her sitting up with her heud and shoulders partly out of the glass covering over the coffin. She had been in a trance. After getting out of the box sbe walked and appeared perfectly well. She relates many curious things that she saw while in the trance. Export Whisky. Washington, March 29.—Attorney Gen eral Garland has given an opinion favora ble to granting warehouse privileges to re imported domestic goods. This opinion is held to apply to whisky exportations, and under it much of the ten million gallons of spirits withdrawn last year from bond for exportation will probably now be brought back and warehoused for a year with out being compelled to pav the in ternal revenue tax on lauding. But it is left with the Collector of Customs at New York to decide whether importations of whisky had been preceded by an exportation in good faitb. On the question of granting an abatement of over due taxes where w-hisky has been burned in warehouses, Attorney-General Garland gives it as bm opinion that where taxes have not bc^J collected on goods in bond at the exuirfjWmi of the bonded period the HecrclW-y of the Treasury has the right, in case they are destroyed, to grunt an abate ment. Alaskan Fever Attacks Michiganders. Ishpeming, Mich., March 29. —Governor Swineford's glowing accounts of Alaska's enjoyable climate and great wealth of minerals have caused an Alaskan fever in parts of the upper peninsula. The Govern or took with him, when he went, several Michigan men, who have all secured prom ising gold ounrtz claims, and estimate their future wealth at many millions each. Cap tain P. D. Tracy, a mining man of large experience, Endelman, a jeweler, and Mar low H. Crocker, a prominent lawyer of Ish peming. left the city last week for Alaska. Secretary Bayard’s Trials. Washington, March 29.—Secretary Bay ard, since the lstof January, has four times been called to attend funeral ceremonies in the little Swedish Church at Wilmington, Del. Last week he was there, accompanied by his daughter, to attend the funeral of his relative, Dr. Kane, a brother of the Arctic explorer. But a few weeks ago he was there, to be present at the funeral of an aunt, and the previous occasions which took him there are fresh in the memory of the public. The Secretary is much sympathized with in his troubles. « ♦ ♦ Strikes in Belgium. Brcssei.ls. March 29. —The miners at Antoing, three miles southeast of Tournai, 6ti‘uck to day and went rioting. They formed in a body and marched towards Tournai for the purpose of looting the place. Troops sallied out from that place to meet them, and a conflict followed, in vhich many persons were injured. The strikes are spreading in the coal mining district of Sorinage and the authorities there fear trouble. The miners in that dis trict receive but $3 a week. VOL IIL-NO. (). HEARTRENDING SCENE. A Kentucky Minister While in the Pnlpit Receives the Tidings t*f the Lynch ing of His Son. Lopisvjlle, Kv., March 30.—A pitiable sight was seen bv a large congregation in a church near Smyrna jxtst-oftice, in this county, when the Rev. Downey Blair, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was engaged in preaching his Sunday sermon. A few days ago the telegpraph bore a dis patch front some point in Kansas to the newspapers over the country con taining an account of the slaughter of his family by John Biair, and the subsequent hanging of Blair by the infuriated citizens. The particulars'were briefly told at the time, but Mr. Blair lives in a secluded quarter and had never heard of the occurrence. It appears that he had a son John in Kansas whom he supposed was living quietly with his family and prospering fine.y. While engaged on his sermon Sunday a messenger boy arrived at the church, anrl rushing up to the pulpit at tracted the minister’s attention by waving a sealed envelop at him. The minister stopped short in his discourse, read the message, and then fell to the floor as if he had shot- Tite wildest excitement prevailed in the congregation. Members carried the minister to fresh air, and when he was revived it was learned that the mis sive contained news that the John Blair mentioned in the dispatches from Kansas* was the Rev. Mr. Blair's son. SLICK PRISONERS. Convicts Caught Counterfeiting Within the Very Prison Walls. Leavenworth, Kas., March 30.— There was considerable excitement in the neigh borhood of the Kansas State Penitentiary last evening, when it was discovered that a number of counterfeiters’ molds had been iu use for some time by a couple of convicts, the latter having successfully made a number of bogus coins. A quantity of the latter, representing, per haps, $6, was found in the cell of one of the convicts. The molds were ac cidentally discovered in the drying room of the laundry, where the two convict® were employed. When examined they said that they had been assisted by some of the guards, who procured materials for them ani got rid Of the spurious coins. They named two of the guards, who have been suspended from duty, pending an investi gation, but it is generally thought the guards are innocent. The counterfeiting hail gone on for several weeks. A LONG TALK. Au Ohio Man Claims)* Wonderful Improve ment In the Telephone. Youngstown, 0., March 30.—A test was made yesterday of a r.er,v.. long distance telephone transmitter, the invention of Dr. Rose, of Palmyra, O. A telegraph wire was used running t 6 Freeport, 111., with a return loop on other polls, making the distance 878 miles. One transmitter was placed in the office of the Rose Electric Company and the other in the laboratory, two blocks away. The faintest whisper was heard distinctly over the long line. It is entirely unlike the Blake' transmitter in action and principle, ami Dr. Rose claims that with his device conversation can be clearly carried on by persons 2,000 miles apart. The test was made in the presence of prominent capitalists who have organized a 'company here to manufacture it. Next Sunday it will be given a severe test over a wire running to New York, then .to Chicago and back here. Fruit Prospects. Sr. Lons, March 30.—The llural World will publish to-morrow 150 reports in reply to circulars sent out to the principal fruit shipping points in Illinois, Missouri, Ken tucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Georgia, from which it is clear that Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky will have no peaches. Tennessee may have half a crop, Arkansas' about the same, whilst Mississippi and Northern Texas report very slight in jury. Alabama and Louisiana will have the usual peach and small fruit supply, while Arkansas and Tennessee will not have one-half a crop of strawberries, owing to the drouth of last summer. Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky will have an average of small fruits. The season is reported backward at ail points. The vegetable supply and general pros pects are equal to those of any former year in the territory heard from. Late spring fro-ts may further reduce the peach supply in the South. April frosts generally in flict less injury. Fatal Flames. Bronson, Mich., March 3Q,—A lire this morning destroyed a tine block of stores built last summer. One of the terrible features of the fire is the death of Mrs. Timothy Hurley and her daughter Mav, aged fifteen years, who were burned. Mr. Hurley and three children, a boy aged six teen, another ten, and a baby about two and a half years old are terribly burned. Charles Straehly, a baker employed by Mr. Hurley, is badly cut about the face and head. The fire company did effective work, saving the business portion of the village. Four stores were burned. Loss, SI6,(XX). The bodies of Mrs. Hurley and her daugh ter were recovered, but burned beyond recognition. Sheriff Whittaker had one of his legs cut very badly by the falling of a heavy plate glass. Salvation Army Barracks Blown Up. Detroit, Mich., March 80.—About ten o’clock last night a terrific report startled ■the people of Charlotte, Mich., and investi gation showed that an attempt had been made to blow up the Salvation Army barracks with dynamite. The floor of the building was com pletely demolished. Large pieces of tim ber were forced through the sides of the building, benches and chairs were broken in slivers, and the glass in the adjoining buildings was shattered. The meeting bail closed about fifteen minutes before the ex plosion, consequently no lives were lost. This morning a note’was found in the bar racks stating that similar depredations would follow. Death of a War Hero. Portsmouth, N. H.. March 30.—Thos. 3. Gay, a sail-maker, died here yesterday aged fifty years. As naval ensign during the war, he wiys one of the volunteers who, in a steam launch, ascended the Cape Fear river to Plymouth, N. C., twenty miles within the Confederate lines, and in the face of a hot tire blew up the ironclad Al bemarle. Gay was captured and confined in Libby Prison until the end of the war. His share of the Albemarle prize money was $23,600.
