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REV. DR. TALMA(iE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE’S SUN
DAY SERMON
Snbject: “Plasters That Will-Not
Stick." (Preached '' *
• Hampton. N. Y.)
Text: “Miserable comforters arc ye all .*'
—Job xri., 2.
The mar of Uz had a great many trials—
the loss of his family, the loss of his prop
arty, the loss of his health; but. the most, ex
asperating thing that came upon him was
the tantalizing talk of those who ought to
have sympathized with him. Looking
around upon them, and weighing what they
had said, he utters the words of my text.
Why did God let sin come into the world!
It is a question I. often hear discussed, but
never satisfactorily answered. God made
the world fair and beautiful at the start, if
our first parent had not sinned in Eden,
they might have gone out of that garden
and found fifty paradises all around.the
earth—Europe, Asia, Africa, North and
South America—so many flower gardens, or
orchards of fruit, redolent and luscious. I
suppose that when God poured out the Gihon
and the Hiddekel he poured out at the same
lime the Hudson and the Susquehanna, the
whole earth was very fair and beautiful to
look upon. Why .did it not stay so? God.
hr.d the power to keep back sin and woe.
Why did he not keep them back? Why not
every cloud roseate, and every step a ioy,
and every sound music, and agqs a
long jubliee of sinless men and sinless wo
men? God can make a rose as easily as he can
make a thorn. Why, then, the predominance
of thorns? He can make good, fair, ripe
fruit as well as gnarled and sour Jrujt. Why
so much, then, that is gnarted and sour? He
can make men robust in health. Wily, then,
are th -re so many invalids' Why not have
for our whole race perpetual leisure, instead
of this tug and toil and tu-sle for a li veil h'ood ?,
I will tell you why God let sin come into the
world—when I get on the other side of the
River of Death. That is the ploce where such
questions will be answered and such myster
ies solved. He who this side that river at
tempts to answer the question only illustrates
his own ignorance and incompetency. All I
know is one great fact, and that is, that a
herd of woes have come in upon us, tram
pling down everything fair and 'beauti
ful. A sword at the gate of Eden, and a
sword at every gate. More people un
der the ground than on it. The grave
yards in vast majority. The six thousand
winters have made more scars than the six
thousand summers can cover up Trouble
has taken the tender heart of this world in
its two rough hands, and pinched it until the
nations wail with the agony. If ail the
mounds of graveyards that have been lifted
were put side by side, you might step ox
them and on nothing else, goihg all around
the world, and around again, an 1 around
again. These are the facts. And now I have
to say that, in a world like this, the grandest
occupation is that of giving condolence.
This holy science of imparting comfort to
the troubled we ought, all of ,us to study.
There are many of you whfi could lhok
around upon some of your very best friends
who " well and are .very intelligent,
and yet be able truthfully to say to them in
your days of trouble, “Miserable comforters
are ye all. ” ■_
I remark, in the first place, that very volu
ble people are incompetent fra- the work of
giving comfort. Rildad and Eliphaz had the
gift of language, and with their words almost
bothered Job’s life out. Alas for these volu
ble people that go among the houses of the
afflicted and talk-, an 1 talk, and talk, and
talk! They rehearse their own sorrows, and
then they tell the poor sufferers that they
feel had now, but they will fee! worse after
a while. Silence! I)o you expect with a
tniii court pl.isUir of words to heal a wound
deep as the soul? Step very gently round
about a broken heart. Talk very softly
around those whom God has l>ereft. Then
go your way. Deep sympathy has not much
to say. A firm grasp of the hand, a compas
onate look, just one word that means as
much as a wdiole dictionary, and you have
given, perhaps, all the comfort that a soul
needs. A man haste terrible wound in his
arm. The surgeon comes and binds it up.
“Now,’ he says, “carry that arm in a sling and
be very carefu 1 of it. let no one touch it.”
But the neigh! qrsh ive heard of the accident,
an l they come in, and they say: “Let ns see
it And tin- bandit;e is pul e 1 off, an 1 this
one and that one must feel it, and see how
much it is swollen; and there is irritation,
and inflammation, and exasperation, where
thvr - ought to be hoaling and cooling. The
surge n comes in, an I says: ' What does all
this mean: You' age nq business to touch
those ban lages. That wound will never heal
unless you let it.alone.” °o there are souls
broken down in sorrow. What theymost want
is rest, or very careful and gentte treatm nt;
but the neighbors have heard of the bereave
ment or of the ioss, and they come in ta
sympathize,and they say: “Show us now the
wound. A\ hat were his last words! Re
heat st- now the whole scene. How did you
feel w hen you found you were an orphan?”
Tearmg of the bandages here, and pulling
them off there, lea\ ing a ghastly wound that
the balm of God s g ace had already begun
to heal. Oh, let no loquacious people, with
ever rattling tongu >s, go into the homes of
the distressed!
Again 1 remark, that all those persons are
in -our etent to give any kind of comfort who
act merely as worldly pliilo ophers. They
com - in and say: “Why. this is w hat you
ought to have expected. The laws of nature
must have their way;” and then they get elo
quent over something they have seen in post
mortem exam nations. Now, away with all
hum in philosophy at such a time? What dif
ference does it make to that father and
nu ttier what disease their son died of? He ie
dead, and it makes no difference whether thfl
trouble was in the epigastric or hypogastric
reg.on. If the philosopher be of the stoical
school he will come and say. “ You ought to
control your feelings. You must not cry so.*
\ou must cultivate a cooler Temperament.
You must have self reliance, self govern
ment, self control;’’ an iceberg reproving a
hyacinth for having a drop of dew in its eye.
A violinist has his instrument, and he
sweeps his fingers across the. strings, now
ev king strains of joy, and now strains
of sadness. He cannot play all the tunes on
one string. Tae human soul is an, instrument
of a thousand strings, and all sorts of emo
tions were made to play on it Now an
antiiem, now a dirge. It is no evidence of
wei cness when one is overcome of sorrow.
1-dfnnna Burke was found in the pasture
lien with his arms around a horse’s neck,
caressing him an i some-one said: -“Why, the
gr -atman has Inst his mind!” No,' that
horse belonged to his son who had recently
<li“d, and his great heart broke over the
gnet. it is no sign of witness that men are
overcome of their sorrows. 'Thank God for
the relief of tears. Have you never been in
tro ib.e when you could not weep, and vou
would have given anything for a good cry?
David did well when lie mourned ter Ab
sa.om. Abraham dill Well when he bemoaued
oarab, Llirist did well when he wept for
Lazarus, and the last man I want to see come
anywnere near me when I have any kind of
troub'e is a wordiy philosopher.
Again I remark thattiose.persons are in
mpeu-nt for the work of comfort bearing
wao have nothing but cant to offer. There
. e tho.se who have the idea that you must
groan over the distressed and afflicted.
T lere are times iu grief when on 9 cheerful
face dawning on a manV; , »>ul is worth a
’ Liousand dollars to him. Do not whine over
the afflicted. Take the pro nises of the Gos
pel, and utter them in a manly tone. Do not
■e afraid to smile if you feel like it. Do not
'drive any more hearses through that poor
soul. Do not tell hin the trouble was tore* 1
ordained; it will not be any comfort to know
it wa.a million year:*coming. If you want
to find splints for a broken bone, do not take
c is‘ iron. Do not tell them ,t is'Gd l’s jus
tice that weighs out grief, dhey want now
to bear of God's tender mercy. In other
words, do not give them a jua fortis when
they need va’erian
Again, I remai k th it those persons are poor
comforters who have never had' any trouble
themselves. A larkspur cannot lecture on
the nature of a suowttake—it never saw a
snowflake; and those people who have al
ways lived in the sumflM&of prosperity can
not talk to those iJtio.are frozen in disaster.
God keeps aged people in the world, 1 think,
for this very work of sympathy. They have
been through all those trials. They know all
that which irritates and all that which
soothes.
I’eopje whq have not had trials themselves
talk very beaAitffully, and they may give yoq
a great deal of poetic sentiment; but while
poetry is a perfume that smells sweet,it makes
a very poor salve.' If you have a grave in
your pathway, and somebody comes and
covers it all over with flowers, it is a grave
yet. ' Those who have not had grief them
selves know not the mystery of a broken
heart. They know not the meaning of
childlessnes.s( and the having no onh to put
to bed at night, or the standing in a room
where every bo6k and picture and door is
full of memories—the door mat where shft'
sat, the cup out of which she drank—the
place where she stood at the door
and clapped her hands—the odd figures
that she scribbled—the blocks she built into
a house. Ah, no; you must have trouble
yourself before you can comfort troublo in
others. But come all ye who have been be
reft and ,y.e who have ;been comforted in
yoursofrows, and stand Around these afflicted
souls, and say to them: “I had that very
sorrow myself. God comforted me, and He
will comfort you,” and that, will go right to
the spot.. In otbeV words, to fcefijfprt others
we must have faith in God, practical experi
ence and good, aound common sense.
Again, I remark, there is comfort in the
thought that God, by all process, is going
to make you useful. Do you know that those
who accomplish the most for God and heaven
have all been under the harrow! Show me a
man that has .done anything for Christ in
this dav, in a public or private place, who
has had no trouble and whose path has been
smooth. Ah, no.
I once went through an ax factory, and I
saw them take the bars of iron and thrust
them into the terrible furnaces. Then
besweated workmen with long tongs stirred
the blaze. Then they brought out a bar of iron
and put it into a crushing machine, and then*
they put it between jaws that bit it in twain.
Then they put it on an anvil, and there were
great hammers swung by machinery—eacli
one a half ton in weight—that went thump!
thump! thump! If that iron could have
spoken, it would have Said: “Why all this
beating! Why must Ibe pounded any more
ttian any other iron!” The workmen would
have said: “We want to make axes out of
you, keen, sharp axes—axes with which to
hiw down'the forest, an 1 build the,ship, qin
erect houses, and carry on a thousand enter
prises of Civilization. That’s the reason wo
pound you.” Now, God puts a soul into the
furiiaceof trial, and them'it is (brought out
and run through the crushing'machine, and
then it comes down on the anvil, and upon it
blow after blow, blow after blow, and the
soul cries out: “Oh. Lord, what doqs all this
mean?” God say’s: “1 wanlf to make Sbjpn-.,i
tiling very useful out of you You #h all lira -
something to hew with and something to build I
with. It is a practical process through |
which 1 am putting you.” Yes. my Christ- I
tian friends, we want mpre tools in the j
church of God. Not more wedges to split i
with; we have enough of these. Not more *
bores with which to drill; we have too many 1
bores. What w%really want is iteen, sharp
well tempered axes, and if there be unyother |
way of making them than in the hot furnakds
and on the hard anvil, and under the»heavy
hammer, Ido not know what it is. Remenis
her that if God'brings any kind of chastise
ment upon you, it is only to make you use -
ful. Do not sit down discouraged and say:
“I have no more reason for living. I wish
I were dead.*! -Oh, there never was so much
reason for your living as now! By this or
deal you have been consecrated a priest of
the Most High God. Go out and do yo,ur
whole work for the. Master.
There is also a great deal of comfort in the
fact there will be a family reconstruction
in a better .place. From, Scotland, or Eng
land, or Ireland, a child-emigrates to this
country. It is very hard parting, but -he
comes, after a while writing home as to what i
a good land it is. Another brother comes, a
sister comes, and anothgr, and after a while
the mother comes, and after a while iihe
father comes, and now they are all here, and I
they .have a time of great and i
a very pleasant reunibii Wcllfft Is* just so
with our familios; they are eirtigrarting to a
better land. Now one goes ouv Oh, how
hard it is to pirt with him! Another goes.
.Oh, how hard it is to part with her! And
another,'and another, and we ourselves will
after a while go over, will be
together. Oh, what a reunion” Do you be-'
lieve that? “Yos,” you say. You do not!
A'ou do not believe it as you believe other
things. If you did, and with the same
emphasis, why, it would take nine-tenths
of your trouble off y our heart. The fapt
is, heaven to many of us is a great fog. It is
awav off somewhere, filled with an uncertain
and indefinite population. That is the kind
of heaven that many of us dream about; but
it is the most tremendous fact in all the
universe—this heaven of the Gospel. Our
departed frien Is are not afloat. The resi
dence in which you live is not so real as the
residehee in which they stay. Y r ou are afloat,
you who do not know iii the morning what
will happen before night. They are housed
and safe forever. Do not,therefore, pity your
departed friends who have died in Christ.
They do not need any of your pity. You might
as well send a letter of condolence to Queen
victoria on her obscurity, or to the Roths
childs on their poverty, as to pity those who
have won the palm. Do not say of those
who are departed; “Poor child! “Poor
father!” Poor mother® They are not
poor. You are j>oor—you whose homes
nave been shattered—not they. You do
not dwell much with your families in this
world. All day long you are off to business.
Will it not be pleasaht when you can be to
gether all the while! If you have had four
children and one is gone, and anybody asks
how many children you h ive, do not be so
, infidel as to say three. Say four—one in
heaven. Do not think that the grave is un
friendly. You go into ypur room and dress
for some grand"e:itertay«nont. and you come
forth beautifully ajSparSled; and the grave
is only the place where you go to dress for
the glorious resurrection, and we will come
out radiant, radiant mortality'having be
come immortality. Oh, how much condol
ence there is in this thought! I expect to
see my kindred in heaven: 1 expect to see
them as certainly as I expect to go borne to
day. Ay, I shall more certainly see them.
Eight or ten w ill Come up from the graveyard
back of Somerville; and one will come up
from the mountains back of Amoy, China;
and another will come up from the sea off
Gape Hatteras; and thirty will come up from
Green wool; and I shall know them better
than I ever, knew them here. And your
jriends—they may lie across the sea, but the
-trumpet that sounds here will sound there.
You will come up on just the same day.
Some morning you have overslept yourself,
and you open your eyes and s-e that the suu
is high in thebeavens and you say, “I have
overslept and I must be up and off.” So you
will o)>gn your eyes on the morning of the res
urrection-in-the full blaze ot' God’s light, and
you wjll -av: “I must be up and away.” Oh
yes, you will come up and there will R- a re
union. a reconstruction of your family. I
like wh it Halburton, I think it was —good
old Mr. Halburton—said iu his last moments:
“I thank God that I ever lived, and that I
have a father in.hcaypn, and a mother in
heaven, and brothers in heaven, and sisters
in heaven, and I am noiv going up to see
them.”
I remark once m*ore: Our troubles in this
world arq| preparative for glory. What a
transition it was for Paul—from th»slippery
dock of a foundering i-hip to the cTtiy pres
ence of .lesus! What'a transition it was for
Latimer —from stake to a throne! What
a transition it wis for Robert Hal!—from
insanity to glory! What a transition ii was
for Ri hard Baxter—from the droysy to the
1 “saint’s everlasting re-t!" And' what a
transition it will be for you—from avorld
of sorrow toa world of joy! John Ho'lnnd,
when he was dying, said: “What means this
brightness in the room? Have you lighted
the candles?” “No,” they replied, “we have
not lighted any candles.” Then sail he:
“Welcome heaven!' the light already learn
ing iqion his pillow. O ye who are perse
cuted iii this world! your enemies will get
off the track after a while, and all
will speak well of you among the thrones.
Ho! ye who are sick now, no medicine to take
tli-re. One IJeatlT of the eternal hills will
thrill you with immortal vigor. And ye
who are lonesome now, there will be a thou
sand spirits to welcome you into their com
panionship. O ye bereft souls! there will-be
no grave digger’s spade that, will cleave the
side of that hill, and there will be no dirge
wailing from that temple. The river of God,
deep as the joy of heaven, will roll on be
tween banks odorous with balm, and over
depths bright with jewels, and under skies
roseate with gladness, argosies of light going
j down the stream to the stroke of glittering
j oar and the song of angels! Not one sigh in
the wind; notone tear mingling witli the
I waters.
There shall I bathe my weary soul
.• In scan of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Acrhss my Peaceful breast.
j*' The Spider and the Wasp.''
| Many years ago the writer, who was
then residing at Durham, heard a re
markable buzzing in an outhouse attach
ed to his dwelling. On going to ascer
tain the cause, he saw a wasp attached
by the foot of a hind leg to a single thread
. of a spider’s web, which hung dowu con
siderably below the geometrical network.
The buzzing was occasioned by the rap
id action of the insect’s wings, in its ef
forts to free itself from the above encum
brance, and it was marvellous how such
an attenuated'thread could withstand
. the strain of compaiatively heavy, a
weight, combined with the twisting to
w hioh it must have been subjected by
all these innumerable The
spider, quite a small one, .was patiently
watching these struggles from above,*
far out of reach. But presently, observ
ing that the wasp was endeavoring with I
the fellow leg of the opposite side to j
free the one which was enthralled, the \
cunning little spider ran down its rope, j
and, rapidly attaching a fresh nooze to
the foot of this leg also, coiled it close
to the other, and in such a way that the
legs were drawn tpgether behind the
wasp’s back, the scales of which, mov--
ing only inwards and sideways, pre
vented it from darting its sting in that
direction. Ttyen - the spider' retreated
again to its former secure position and 1
watched the results of tips last man- j
ceuvre. In vain did the wasp continue
its severe exertions' till it became ex
hausted and comparatively still, when
the spider slipped down again upon the
body of his captive find inserted into it
some poison of liis own; ak.itke same
time neutralizing any remaining force
in the wings by swathing them with,
fresh threads close to the body. The
poison seemed to act rapidly: the wasp
was soon bereft of all motion and life, ■
anjl,was with apparent ease dragged up |
by the victorious little spider to a con- !
venient spot for being feasted upon.— j
London Field.
His Nerve Did Not Save Him.
’ . x • ’ - . *
Early last week a young farmer,
JSskph-.Silva, While .'cutting a
field near Ceutreville, eucounlerW a
large rattlesnake, w’liicli be struck with
his scythe and stunned. Silva supposed,
he had killed the reptile, and picked it
up by the tail to cut off the' rattles, -j
Holding the snake almost at ifrm’s leng
th, he backed at the cartilage connect- :
ing the rattle with the tail* several times
without severing it' He'then gripped
the snake by the body, and as the knife
penetrated it, as a last effort the ven
omous creature doMbled and struck him
on the little finger-burying its fangs deep
in the flesh. The boy* shook the snake
off, and without an instant’s hesitation
cut the finger off at- the middle joint
above the place where the reptile’s teeth
had entereiflfc Even then his nerve did
not desert mm, and he made way
homeward, a considerable distance.
Here he drank a large quantity of whis
key, and had his bleeding finger bandag
ed.
He felt no ill effects from the bite and
three days later his curiosity led him to
search for the piece of his finger which
he had left iu the field. He found the
finger black with the poison it had
absorbed, and without consideration of
the consequences, handled it. The virul
ent poison came iu contact with his
wound, and that night he died in ter
rible agony.— Portland Oregonian.
Railroad Building.
The Raihcay Ayr says: “Contrary to
the expectation at tlio commencement of
the year, and in spite of the uncertainty
and danger in regard to railway invest
ments winch action of the national
and State authorities have caused, tlie_
work of ndding-to the railway mileage of
the country has go on at a
rapid rate, and the aggregate of track
laid during the past six months now
proves to be actually greater than Ims
ever been reported in the same period,
with the’ exception of last year, when
our record for the first half showed 3,754
miles laid, the total for the year reach
ing almost 13,000 miles. Our detailed
record shows that between Jan. 1 and
July 1 of the pr< sent year, 3,320 m'iles
of main liues —not including sidings—
were laid in the United States. This
mileage is divided among 168 lines, and
indicates what it is to be a characteristic
of railway construction this year; that
it will be made up by the building of a
• great number of comparatively short
roads instead of being composed, to a
large degree, of long lines built by a few
companies.”
Lesson in E iquette.
-
- j
* T '
; Traveling Texas —“ Pass that thar
salt, young feller 1”
Sm all Thnuf.ia.'olt—"lf what?”
Traveling Texas (promptly)—“lf
you please, sir. ” Time.
THE SANDWICH . ISLANDS.
WHAT A TRAVELER SAW IN KING
KALAKAUAS DOMINIONS
A Stronjr Race Mixture —Scenes in
Honolulu—The King's Palace—
Chief Fooil Supply.
Charles H. Wetmore, pf Detroit, de
scribing a visit to the Sandwich Islands
in the Free. Press, says: “We were first
surprised by the strong mixture of colors
among, the inhabitants. Pure white
residents are comparatively rare. Thh
total population of all the islands is
about *O.OOO, of which more than one
half are natives. There are but 2000
Americans in all the islands. There are
about 20,000 inhabitants in Honolulu.
The residence portions of the city are
very beautiful, the houses being largely
after the style of our summer resort cot
tages in point of style. The business
portions of the city are very ordinary.
The streets are narrow and none of the
blocks is over two stories in hight.
The tropical beauties of the city are hard
to describe. It is like traveling through
one perpetual conservatory. Back of
Honolulu lies a beautiful valley. It is
called the Nuuano Valley. At its upper
end, about six miles from the city, is a
magnificent view called the Pall, the
Hawaiian term for clitf. From that point
ohe gazes off-over the Pacific ocean and
the long beach which lies 1200 feet be
low-.,* The plain below is called Kanaoh.
Through the Nuuano Valley flow the
Btreams from the mountains which fur
nish the wafer works and run the dyna
mos for the electric lighting.'
“Another beautiful valley in the neigh
hood of Honolulu is the Manoa. About
three miles from the city is the beauti
ful suburb of Waikiki. For a mile or
more at this point the beach is lined
with handsome cottages and affords
splendid bathing facilities. The old
coooanut trees—over 21)0 years old—here
furnish a prominent feature of the land
scape. ' Honolulu is the center of the
business of all. the islands. There are
the agents.of the sugar plantations, the
chief industry. It is the only place on
any' of the'islands where steamers can
come to the docks. At all other points
the boats are forced to anchor outside
the surf and land, passengers in small
boats.
, The royal palace—called “Isata'ni”—
occupies a’square of about 500 feet in the
centre of the city and is, surrounded by
a. high wail formed of stone and cement.
Just outside of the palace' wall are the
barracks, for the handful of native troops
of his Royal Highness can boast.
The place itself is a large and imposing
structure, two stories high. It is a very
handsome - building. The throne foom
is a large and beautifully finished apart
ment. The throne for his .Majesty and
the queen is on a raised dais at one end
ef the apartment. The woodwork is of
koa, or native wood. The hangings are
of red damasK. The state dining-room
is also very large and elegant. It is hung
with portraits of foreign'sovereigus, nota
bly. one of Louis Phillippe. The state
reception room is hung with blue, gaudy
colors* predominating throughout the
palace. Opposite, one of the gates in the
palace wall is located the government
building. This is a handsome stone
structure. In front of this stands a
bronze statue of Kamehameha 1., founder
of the kidgdom. He was king of one
of the islands and conquered all the
other kings and gathered the Hawaiian
group into one dominion.
The present King, Kalakaua—mean
ing Day of Battle—is not of Kamehame
ha descent, but was elected to the
throne in defaults of tHe heir apparent,
none having been named by the sover
eign. He is not a man who commands
the respect of the better classes of peo
ple on his islands. He is much more at
home with his native singers and dan
cers at Kailua than in managing and con
ducting governmental affairs at Hono
lulu. In .June last his actions became so
intolerable that the leading citizens of
of Honolulu inaugurated a bloodless
revolution, forc-ing the king to dismiss
his en\ire Cabinet and appoint citizens
who they named, and also to sign a new
constitution virtually modeled upon that
of the United Stales. The Queen is of
good demeanor and possesses more or
less dignity. They have no children,
and the heir apparent is Mrs. J. O.
Dominis, wife of the Governor of the
island. She is the Krng’s sister. Her
hus and is white, color not counting for
much in that country. The royal
Hawaiian Hand, in the employ of the
government, is one of the attractions.
It is composed of thirty-three members,
all natives. They play as well as any
I first-class band in this country. They
! perform every Monday morning in the
palace square and in the public squares
! three times a week. Their singing of
native songs is a notable feature of their
; performances.
I “The distances in Honolulu being
great, many livery carriages are in use.
I They are two-seated and are all alike,one
horse beihg used in drawing them. I
I think Honolulu uses fully as many livery
! carriages as does Detroit. The Chinese
problem is coming to the front in the
| Sandwich Islands as well as elsewhere.
I In Honolulu whole streets are occupied
by the Chinese. They work at the
laundry business in part and are also
waiters and servants. Many small shops
in all the islands are run by Chinese.
Almost all the poi is made by them, and
the white poi Hag is seen 'everywhere.
Poi? .Oh, the taro is a vegetable, gray
in color and about the size of our beet.
Raw, it is unfit for food, but baked it
forms a large uroportion of the food of
the islands. ft is cooked and pounded
with iron mallets. It is then mixed with
water until it assumes a’nout the con
sistency of starch, when it is put into
barrels and allowed to fermant for about
twenty-four hoars, it has then acquired
an a id taste, and is then to the native
Islander what rice is to the Chinaman.
The Government of the Sandwich
Islands now may be said to be in the
! hands of the missionary party. The
• descendants of the old missionaries form
a very importafit part of the financial
and intellectual strength of the islands.
The native Congregational Church, a
| very old building, is well filled with
natives every Sunday. Episcopal, Con
gregational, Homan c atholic and 1 resby
terian churches are well attended. A
new native church is now being finished.
“The Sandwich Islands may well be
termed the land of flowers. The natives
and all other residents use blossoms
profusely in decorating themselves. It
is a common spectacle to see a bare
j footed Kanaka with an old straw hat
’ literally buried in wreaths of rareflowers
and lines of the same adornment about
her neck. Wher. a steamer sails the
band plays mendy upon the dock, and
crowds of natives with garlands of
flowers and native maille wreaths wave
I adieus. Departing friends are always
i profusely decorated with flowers and
! wreaths. Kanakas are almost nmphibi
i ous. The bay is dotted with colored
lads ready to dive for coin like fish. The
holoku—or Mother Hubbard, is the uni
versal dress for women on the islands.
The women have fine figures and are
generally barefooted. The men are,
physically, fine specimens of mankind.
They arc not large, but are well formed
and exceedingly muscular.
“The morals of the island are still
tinged with the license of the old days
of savagery. Many of the most infiu
i ential and wealthiest white men on the
island have native wives. The natives,
however, are rapidly dying out by ab
sorption. There are not to exceed one
half as many of them now as forty years
ago. They are a good-natured, kindly
race, and their friendly ‘Aloha!’ is al
ways accompanied by a pleasant smile.”
SCIENTIFIC ANI) INDUSTRIAL.
A window glass works is the latest
enterprise in Salt Lake City, Utah.
One pound of mercury converted into
fulminate is sufficient to charge fifty
thousand percussion caps.
Nashville, Tenn., has a canning fac
tory that is turning out ten thousand
.pans of fruit and vegetables every day in
the week.
Well-supported is said to be the theory
that many deaths were caused by suffoca
tion in last winter’s blizzard in the
Northwest.
The fabric known as Chinese grass
cloth is made from the fiber of nettles.
The cloth i- peculiarly glossy and trans
parent, and, a; belting for machinery,
has doable the strength of leather.
Two German experimenters find that
the illuminating power of naphtha gas
is reduced one-half by twenty per cent,
of air. The mixture becomes explosive
when it contains from about five to
eighteen volumes of air to one of gas.
A. Milltown (Me.) mechanic has in
vented a log-sawing apparatus which has
an upward as well as a downward mo
tion. The scheme has not been fully
tested yet, but, if succ ssful, will be a
great time-saving • invention to lumber
dealers.
Portable 'electric lights, arranged to
hang on a button of one’s coat, and with
a - parabolic reflector to concentrate the
light, with storage batteries weighing
one and a half pounds each, are made to
enable persons to read in railroad cars
by night.
An excellent new use for the telephone
is proposed in the infectious wards "of
the French hespitab, so as to enable the
sick people isolated in their sufferings to
have the comfort of hearing their rela
tives’ voices without any risk of convey
ing infection by an interview.
While the most rapid cannon shots
scarcely attain a velocity of (100 yards a
second, over 1500 knots per hour, mete
orites are known to penetrare the air
with a velocity of 40,000 or even 00,000
yards per second, a velocity which raises
the air at once to a temperature of 4000
to 6000 centrigrade.
The new mill of the Holyoke (Mass.)
Envelope Company is nearly completed.
The boilers have a capacity of 200 horse
power. There are sixty-four envelope
machines, with a producing capacity of
about r.,000,000 envelopes a day, where
the greatest amount of work turned out
| in one day was 1,860,000 envelopes. The
i building has 1)00 water sprinklers and
eighteen stands of pipe, together with a
huge water tank holding 6000 gallons.
The force equivalent to the working
steam engines represents in the United
States 7,500,000 horse power, in Eng
land 7,000,000 horse power, in Germany
, 4,500,000, in France 0,000,000, in
Austria 1,500,000. In these the mo
tive power of the locomotives is not in
cluded, whose number in all the world
amounts to 105,000, and represents a
total of 3,000,000 horse power. Adding
this amount to the other figures we ob
tain the total of 46,000,000 horse power.
The British consul at Ningpo, China,
calls the attention of British manufactur
ers to spinning machines used in his
district that were imported from .'apan,
and which he thinks will eventually be
adopted in cotton producing countries.
The advantages claimed for them, as
compared with lhe method of spinning
u=ed in America, are that the staple is
less injured and that the seeds are better
cleaned. This is attained by drawing
the cotton between straight steel edges
or knives, instead of using saws.
Instead of using solid iron plates or
massive walls of wood and iron for war
ships, it is proposed to use a new mate
rial known as woodite. Tlys is an
elastic material not unlike iudia rubber,
but unlike that material, it is not sticky,
and resists oils and heat. It is a com
pound caoutchouc, and was patented a
few years ago. Experiments at Hartford
in 18-10 gave promise of great things, for
the hole made in the woodite by the
passage of a shot closed up at once, not
even allowing a drop of water to go in.
Two torpedo catchers are now building
at Elbing, and the inner skin of these
vessels is formed of a layer of wooditf
two and a half inches thick.
A Curious Instrument.
It is a curious thing that the Italian
ocarina, or earth-flute, has not r ceived
more attention from music lovers in this
country. Of course it is sold in the stores
here, and you occasionally hear it in a
minstrel show, but not one man iu*a hun
dred knows anything about it. I have
heard it played in Italy, and the music
from a quartette of the instruments is ex
quisite. Its range is limited, but iho
quality of its tone when skillfully played
is pure and queer. It has a pastoral
flavor, reminding one of piping shep
herds, and a classical environment. The
ocarina is very simple. Iu shape it is
something like a pear or a small gourd.
It is made of baked clay. Its range is
about twelve notes. No instrument can
be more easily learned, for it always plays
itself when one has mastered the scale,
and there are no keys nor any elaborate
fingering to embarrass one. Tne North
Italian peasants use it constantly in the
field, and when you hear one of their
peculiar melodics from a practiced quar
tette you wonder such simple means can
produce so beautiful a result. Chicago
Fetes.
A GREAT CATTLE MARKET.
THE LARGEST RESORT OE ITS KIND
IN THE WORLD.
The Deptford Market in Enjrtaml,
and Its Rules —Thousands of Live
Stock Sold There Daily.
A Uondon letter to Wilk s'Spirit of
the T tries thus describes a visit to what
the writer calls “the largest covered cat
tle market iu the world”: Deptford is a
town of a most interesting character, an
cient and full of historical interest. It
is about seven miles from London. The
place was of little importance, till the
time of Henry \ 111., who for the better
preservation of the Loyal Navy estab
lished a dockyard, and incorporated the
Society of the Trinity House by the title
of the ".Master, Wardens, and Assist
ants of the Gu.ld or Fraternity of the
Most Glorious and U ndivided Trinity
and of St. Clement in the county of
Kent.” This royal dockyard included a
space of thirty-one acres, and is now the
site of the great cattle market. The
most interesting feature of the old Dept
ford ship docks is that it -was here that
Peter the Great lived and worked and
learned his trade as a shipwright.
This market has the most stringent by
laws that regulate every part of the ex
tensive business. For instance, a dog is
not allowed on the premises, and the
cleanliness of the market enclosure can
well be called perfect. I suppose that
there are nearly 150 different buildings
in this area, and of every size and adapta
bility. The wharfage is superb, and the
largest vessels from all countries come
up the Thames and disembark their huge
cargo of cattle without the slightest
di acuity. The morning that I was at
Deptford one of the Monarch line was
discharging a thousand American beeves.
They looked lank and miserable. lam
not often ashamed of anything I see
emanating from my own dear country,
but I must confess when I saw this long
troop of tired, long-ho.ned, faint steers
walk across the gang-plank and up the
walk to the American stalls, 1 felt
a little chagrined. The American agent,
however, said: “Don’t fear, there are no
bee ves that will be sold this or any other
day like the American. It is the meat
that is favorably taking with all
classes more and more.” 1 was glad to
hear this, and yet, as I looked at the
splendidly built Spanish beeves, the
beautiful black and white Dutch cattle,
the Portuguese short, thick and well
lived animals, I could not believe what
my guide and friend told me. Yet,
when the sale came off later in the day,
his prediction was positively verified.
The corporation of London makes a
good thing in this business. Fifteen
pence on every beef and lOd. on every
sheep that is landed must be at once
paid, and then not one of these animals
ever go out of the enclosure alive. .Most
of the animals are sent on commission,
and the commission agents are always
on hand to take every advantage of
their position. There is little responsi
bility on their part, and the remunera
tion received ought to be most satisfy
ing. But it is not every one who can ob
tain a place of this character. Each
agent has his own stalls, pens and folds.
There is no auctioneering; everything »
is of the most quiet nature. The day
tfcnt I was at the markeff here were over
0000 sheep and lambs sohl and ovei
5000 beeves, and yet everything was
conducted in as quiet a manner as at tha
most quiet of art sales. 4he butcher, or *
the in meats, will go from stall to
stall and pen to pen,asking “how much?' 1
If the price is satisfactory the number is
mentioned and they ate driven to one of
the many slaughtering establishments,
and in a few hours the clean-dressed car
cases are on their way to London. Not
a hoof of any kind goes out of Deptford
alive, except those of a carrier's work.
There is a fine imposed upon em
ployes using vulgar or profane language.
At the conclusion of each day’s sale
there must be made a square settlement
between buyer and seller. Yet there is
a great deal of honesty between theia
two parties. I was with one of
my Geaman friends who deals
very largely in German sheep. A
buyer came up and pointed to a pen in
which were 160 fine sheep. “How
much?” “Thirty-two shillings,” was
the reply (of course this was for each).
“Will give you thirty shillings,” said I
the customer. “All rignt,” said the
seller, and the bargain was sealed by a
shake of the hand—no writing, no other
agreement but the word of honor.
The slaughtering houses are a wonder
in themselves. I have seen the same I
kind of work performed in Armour’s J
tablishment in Chicago, but that was' I
with swine. Here a huge bullock is I
slaughtered and made ready for sale iu a I
few minutes. Nothing is wasted. One I
large firm in London, ka3 the contract I
for ail the guts. The skins are sent to I
Germany for sausage skins, or to London I
to manufacture into lawn tennis bats. I
Another firm receives all the hides of I
the beeves, and another of the sheejfl
skins, while the perquisite to a drover is I
the long hair on the tails of these ani-1
mals. The drover sells this to the manu- II
facturer, who converts it into fine II
brushes, etc. » «
At 4 o’clock the sales of the day are I
suspended. Everything must go, and I
then the cleaning of the entire buildings I
begin, and before midnight they are as I
clean as if nothing of the brute creation I
had been present. The dung is removed I
by a contractor, and not a vestige of I
this immense trartic is seen on the follow-1
ing morn. I doubt if there is another I
institution of its kind in the world. I
Chinese Banking Profits. [
Manchooria, China, appears to be the I
paradise of bankers. Wealthy mandarins I
and merchants, desirous of concealing I
their wealth from their Government, I
make deposits with bankers without!
taking receipts, and rather tliau risk!
the loss of capital so deposited by its■
becoming known to the paternal
ernment, to whom probably such capita* l
rightly belongs, no interest is derived!
from such deposits, except of course *url
the banker’s own investments. At the!
death of a depositor his heir may
know that 100,00)) taels, more or less,!
are, deposited in some bank or other.!
From such causes-as these native bankers!
become very rich. Graphic. I
The reports of the officers of
Afghan boundary .say that the India®
soldiers are so much larger than t ®
Russian Cossacks that it would ta ®
100,000 of the latter to contend with •>*>»■
000 Indians. ,L