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REV. DR. TA IMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE’S
SUNDAY SERMON.
SuDjeet: “Satan on Ilis Travels.”
Text; “And the Lord said unto Satan:
Whence contest thou t Then Satan answered
the Lord , and said: From M>ing to and
fro in the earth , and from walking up und
down in it. 1 ' —Job i., 7.
In 1672 was printed, the largest book eve T
published, namely, two huge volumes ot nea r 1
five thousand pages in small type, the autho r
Joseph Caryl. It was a commentary on thi s
Book of .lob. When it took a year for th®
journey from England to India, the son
the author of this commentary started
for India, leaving his father writ
ing on his book, and was gone
for years, and when he came back to
England still found liis father writing
on it. I never saw the commentary, Lut Iflo
not wonder at its size because there is no end
to the interest of the Book of Job. I am not
surprised that Goethe, the unbeliever, took
from this wonderful book the opening of hi
drama “Faust,” and the Mephistopheles of !
the great German was only the Satan of j
Job. It seems that one day in heaven God '
was on His throne and angels and mes- |
sengers came to report their different j
missions. I suppose one p.ngel said: “I was out j
among the stars and I saw one of them burn ;
down.” Another angel, I imagine, said: “I
was off on a stellar excursion and was pres- j
ent at the birth of a new world.” At/other
angel, 1 think, said: “I was journeying five j
hundred million miles in the wilderness of
immensity and I saw a meteor run down a !
planet.” Another angel: “I was off and *
helped at the inauguration of a new race of
beings amid the mountains and valleys of
that mighty world in the southeast part of
the heavens.” But while these good and
great spirits were making their reports a
ghastly, grizzly, hideous monster from some
miry, sulphurous, filthy world, came into
the palace without wiping his feet,
and Cod asked him where and how
he had been occupying himself, and this
greatest scoundrel of the universe made re
ply with blazing effontery, and instead of
acknowledging any of the mischief he had
been doing sai 1 he had been an earthly pe
destrian and had-lived a sortof cireumam
bulatory, peripatetic life. And the Lord
said unto Satan: “Whence comest thou:”
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said:
“From going to and fro iu the earth and I
from walking up And down in it.”
This monster of my text has a great varie
ty of names. You know that notorious
villains are apt to take a variety of names.
Arraigned in Paris for burglary a man will
give one name, arrested iu San Francisco for
arson be will give another name, imprisoned
in Montreal for burglary he will give another
name.- So this creature of my text lias many
names. Ke is called in sacred and pro ane
literature Abaddon, Apollyon. Ahrananes,
Zaniel, Asmodeus the revenging devil,
Beelzebub the sovereign of devils. Lucifer
the brilliant devil, Diabolus the despairing i
devil, Mammon the money devil, Pluto the
fiery devil, jbaal the military devil, Moresin
the plaguing devil. He is called the father
of lies, and has for his children and grand
children and great-grandchildren all false
hoods, deceptions, frauds, swindles, |
slanders, back-bitmgs and subter
fuges. All men of good sense,
whether enlightened by the Bible or in heath
endom. have noticed that there are baleful
and maleficent influences abroad that have
not their origin it) the human race, and de
monology is as certain as angelology. The
sword of Paracelus was thought to have had
a demon in the hilt and there is now a demon
in every sword hilt. The ancients supposed
the air was filled with sylphs
and satyrs and sirens and gnomes and
vampires and salamanders and undines and
hobgoblins. The Talmud says that Adam’s
first wife was Lillis and that their children
were all devils. Two or three hundred years
ago a demonographer gave the names of
ambassadors of evil which he thought
Satan sent to different countries:
Mammon, ambassador to England;
Belphegor, ambassador to France: Martinet,
ambassador to Switzerland; Rimmon, am
bassador to Russia; Thannia, ambassador to
Spain; Hutgin, ambassador to Italy, and
that there was a Princess of devils by the
name of Proserpine. But what was mere
guess work of mythology or superstition
has been mads clear ’oy divine revela
tion. We find that there is somewhere
a monarch of all wickedness. He has a
throne of power, and courtiers and armies
and navies and machinery of evil vast as the
round world. He is the supervisor of all
mischief, and what he cannot do himself he
dolegates others to do. and as each one of our
race is supposed to have a guardian good
angel. I have no doubt that every human be
ing has a besieging malignant spirit nagging
his footsteps and trying to make him
think wrong and act wrong, an especial
devil, a devil of fraud or a devil of avarice
or a devil of uncleanness or a devil of poor
health, and as in my text the spirits are rep
resented as reporting to the Lord so I have
no doubt the evil spirits report to Satan, who
is the enemy of the whole human race, arrd
who has a celerity that makes flight
around the world a matter of a
second, an l who marshals on his side the
forces volcanic, atmospheric, epidemic, geo
logic, oceanic and cyclonic. “And the Lord
said unto Satan: Whence comest thou? Then
Satan answered the Lord and said; From
going to and fro in the earth and from walk
ing up and down in it.”
Satan began his attack on this world long
before Adam and Eve were created. While I
believe the Bible record that the world was
fitted up for man’s residence in one week. I
believe also the geological record that the
world was previously for hundreds of thou
sands of years going through great
changes. The lumber f6r the house that was
to be built in a week for our first parents
may have been hauled to the spot a million
years before. This Prince of the Power of
the Air has been trying for all that million
years to demolish and use up this world.
The record is on the rocks. He tried to drown
it with universal waters. He tried to burn
it up with universal fires. Then
he tried to freeze it into ruin, and covered it
with universal glaciers. And for ages he
kept this world,before our first parents occu
pied it, in paroxysms and convulsions, and
the remains of those struggles I have seen
and you have seen in museums, or if with
geologist's hammer you have gone down
into the stone libraries of the mountains.
Yea. after the famous Bible week the
world had been fitted into a Paradise for the
home of our sinless ancestors. Satan comes
into the Garden of Eden, not through the
gate of foiiage and upright in posture, but
crawls in under the busbes a snake, and hav
ing despoiled our first parents goes to
work to ruin Paradise, and does
the work so thoroughly that one
who recently visite 1 the site of the ancient
farden between the rivers Tigris and
Euphrates, says the place is a desert; not a
flower, and the ground so poor that nothing
but some dale trees grow there, and
the miserable villagers from near by
are not so well covered up with their
rags as Adam and Eve were covered up with
tbeir innocence. So you see the Father of
lies for once told the truth when the Lord
said unto him: “Whence comest thou?” and
Satan answered the Lord and said: “From
going to and fro in the earth,' and from
walking up and down in it.”
Tn my text we have Satan on his travels,
and I am going to tell you some of the routes
he is apt to take. On his journey down from
the palace where he reported himself in
answer to the question: Whence comest
thou? the first range of mischief
he may be expected to take is
the air. It was not a witticism or a slip of
the pen when Paul, in his letter to the
Ephesians, called Satan the “Prince of the
Power of the Air.” I think it means that
Satan works through conditions of the at
mosphere. The West wind is fun °t
angels, the East wind is full of devils.
Satan spreads abroad his black wings and
hurricanes and eurociydons and Caribbean
whirlwinds and equinoctials are hatched out.
He takes the miasmas that float “P _* r ° a *
swamps and batches them into typhoid fe
vers. Ho takes the cold b’asts and hatches
them in to pneumonias and rheumatisms and
consumptions. Mot only lias he power in the
upper air where highest clouds float, but
power over the air which we breathe,
and as we breathe nineteen times a minute
and take in tlireo hundred and fifty cubic
feet of air in every twenty-four hou#s
and much of this air affects the
arterial circulation, vou see what
opportunities the Prince of the Air has of
contaminating and despoiling and demoral
izing a man. Through atmospheric influence
he e’ojjds the disposition and the nerves
and covers the best of people \v ith religious
despondency, as in the case of Edward Pay
son nnd \\ illiam Cowper and That heloved
apostle of Evangelism, James W. Alexander,
fbs great delight is to have the air of
churches vitiated and in that. way .dulls the
preacher and stupifies the people and sees to
It that the atmospharepf not more than one
cut of a hundred churches is fit to breathe,
ami whole congregations Sabbath hy Sab
bath are asphyxiated. Yes, he : s worthy of
the title St. Paul gave him: “Prince of the
Power of the Air.”
Another route he is apt to take is through
domestic life. There is no greater sport for
him than conjugal quarrel. It does not
make any difference how long the marriage
ring lias been on the finger of the right hand,
he will try to pull off the signet. Ho savs
to the husband: “What a plain, wife
you have compared with what she once was?
Don’t you see that the co’or has gone out of
her cheek and there are several wrinkles
about her temples and a sprinkling of frost
on her locks? Besides that, you have
advanced in intelligence while she'has stood
still or gone back. How hard it is that you
should be chained to Such dullness and
imbecility!” Then he turns and says to the
wife: “That man neglects you, you have a
right to be jealous, He likes his cigar and
his club and anything and everything better
than you. Why not get a divorce? Marriage
is only a civil contract, anyhow,
and not a divine alliance. Let me have that
ring. It means nothing and you might
as well give it to me.” The ring is handed
over to Satan and he tosses it up and down
like a plaything over the mouth of perdition
and says: “I will hand it hack, only
let me have it a little while," And he
keeps tossing that ring with all its sacred
memories higher up and further out
tossing and catching, tossing and catching it
until one dav you clutch for it, saying:
“Give me hack my ring!” but 10, it has
dropped into the yawning gulf and you sud
den'y find who has been pitching and catch
ing the ring, and you cry out: “From
whence comest thou?” and he answers:
“From going to and fro in the
domestic life of the city and from
walking up and down in it; that is all.”
There are thousands of marriage relations
strained almost to the breaking, and I com
mend to all men and women who aro rest
less in the present marriage state that they
resume the old time courtship, and take
as much pains to make themselves agreeable
as they did five, or ten. or twenty
years ago, before the wedding march
announced to the flushed and fluttering
crowd that the hride and groom were coming.
According to the statistics of Professor
Dikes, in one year in moral New Hampshire
there were 241 divorces; in temperate Maine,
478 divorces; in good old Massachu
setts, GOO divorces, and in the New
England of “steady habits,” 2113. In one
county of Illinois 830 divorce suits were
begun In one year, and in many places it
seems as if a new arrangement had beea
made of the Commandment®, and instead of
ten there were only nine, the seventh com
mandment having been left out. When you
see how many husbands and wives are
parted by law, and know of so many who
would like to dissolve conjugal partnership,
do you not come to the conclusion that Satan
is engaged in mighty industries?
Another route that Satan is apt to take in
his active travels is the factories and other
establishments where capital sits in the office
or counting room and a good many hands’of
laborers are busy among wheels and spin
dles and fabrics. On this visit he will first
step into the manufacturer’s office and
finding the owner and proprietor of
the great establishment all alone with
his correspondence and his account books,
says to him: “You are not making as much
money as you ought. You furnish all the
brains. Were it not for your enterprise this
establishment would not be in ex
istence. These men and women
in your employ are of very com
mon "mold. Their .appetite is coarser
and they do not need the luxuries you
require. " Their comfort happiness are
of very little importance. Put tnem down
on the very verge of starvation and take all
the profits into your own possession, and if
they do not like it tell them to go where they
can do better.” Having done his work in
the counting room Satan steps right
out among the workmen. Hi says: “You
work too many hours and you do your work
better than it needs to be dona You are
serving a bloated bondholder anyhow. He
has no right to have any more than you
have. Why should he ride and you walk?
Why should he have tenderloin steak and
you salt pork? Capital is the enemy of labor.
Let labor be the sworn foe of capital.
Why don’t you strike and bring him to
terms? Wait until he has a large order to
fill by contract and then he cannot help him
self. Go ail together, without a moment’s
warning, and tell him you are going to stop.
If he has more resources than you know of and
persists in going on and getting new men,
give them a i volley of brickbats or put a
little dynamite in his office and blow him and
his factory all up with the same explosion.”
Look out there on the night sky! Great fire
somewhere. What is it? The night is cold
and Satan has made a big bonfire of that
factory to warm himself by. The
capitalist has lost heavily and the
workmen and their families are without
bread ami clothing. “Whence comest thou,
Satan?” “From going to and fro among
employers and employes, and from walking
up and down among them. Ha! ha! I was
the only one who made anything out of that
strike. What a splendid fire and lots of
smoke. Ha! ha! I like smoke.”
Another route Satan is apt to take in his
active travels is through the mercantile es
tablishments: He steps in and says to the
clerks, “How much salary do yon get? Is
that all? Why, you can’t live on that! You
have a right to enough for a livelihood,
A few quarters out of the money drawer will
never be missed, or here and there is
a remnant of goods you could take home
without being found out. Or you could
change those account books a little and you
could make that figure eight a naught and
that figure five a three, and if you do not
feel exactly right about doing that you can
some day pay it back, which you can do
perfectly easy. Don’t feel like running the
risk? Well then you can’t go to the theater
and you can’t go on that round with the
boys and you will have to wear that plain
foat, whereas you could have your overcoat
fur lined, and take boar 1 at a tip top place
md walk amid nlush and tapestries positive
ly Oriental. While you are making up your
mind I will just go through the different parts
Df this great commercial establishment
and try every one from the wealthy firm
down to the errand boys.” The result of
that Satanic visit is that one of the partners
has drawn so much out of the concern that
the whole business is crippled and a bright
and promising boy is sent home to his mother
in disgrace and a young m m is in jail for
embezzlement. Three lives ruined and three -
eternities. Whence comest thou, Satan?
“From going to and fro among mercantile
houses, and from walking uo and down
among them. I like to ruin splendid fellows
and blast parent’s hopes,and of all the liquors
that I ever tasted fill my glass with a
brewing of agonizing tears. Come! let us
click together the rims of our glasses and
drink to the overthrow of the fifty thousand
young men I ruined last year. Huzza.
Satan would rather have one young man
than twenty old ones. If he would win t..e
septuagenarians and the octogenarians
he could do but little harm with
them. But he says: “Give me a
young man, especially if he be bright and
generous and social.” He sees that, young;
men have for good or bad been the mightiest
influence in tnis world. Hernando Cortes
conquered Mexico at thirty-two. Gustavus
Adolphus became immortal in history so
early that he djed at thirty-eight. Raphael,
the most famous of painters, died at
thirty-seven. William Pitt was Prime Min
ister of England at twenty four. Jesus Christ
completed bis earthly life at thirty-three.
Five years in a young man s life are of more
power for good or evil than the last fifteen
of an old man’s life. So Satan is especially
greedy for young men, and in go ng to and
fro in the earth he has especial temptation
for them.
Another route that Satan on his active
travels is apt to take is for the despoilimr of
the people’s souls: It does not pay him
merely to destroy the bodies of men and
women. Those bodies would soon be
gone anyhow; but great treasures are
involved in this Satanic excursion.
On this route he meets a man
who is aroused bv something he has
seen in the Bib e and Satan says: “Now I
can settle all that; the Bible, is an imposi
tion; it has been deluding the world for
centuries: do not let it delude you. It has
no more authority than the Eoran of the
Mohammedan or the Shaster of the
Hindoo, or the Zenda-Vesta of the
Persian 1 ” He meets another man
who is hastening towards the kingdom
of God and says: “Why all this precipita
tion? Religion is right, but any time
within the next ten years will be soon
enough for you. A man with a stout
chest like yours and such -muscular
development need not be bothering him
mself about the next world.” But Satan
says nothing to him about the fact that the
professor who gave his wl*>le life to the
study of health and could lift more pounds
than any American died at about forty,
and that another learned man who proved
conclusively that if we observed all
the laws of health we need never die,
expired before he got his book on that
sub ject published. Satan meets another man
who has gone through a long course or prof
ligacy and is beginning to pray God for
forgiveness, and Satan says to the man: “You
are too late; the Lord will not help such a
wretch as you; you might as well brace
up and fight vour own way through.”
And so with a spite and an acuteness and a
velocity that have been gaining for six thou
sand years, he ranges up and down baffling,
disappointing, defeating, afflicting, de
stroying the human race. Through his .
own hand or delegated infernalism he has pur
sued and hurt us all, and cursed every heart
and cursed every home and cursed every na
tion and cursed every continent. He has in
stiga'ed every war. Ha has rejoiced in
every pestilence. He has started every groan.
He has pressed out every sigh. He has hurled
every shipwreck. Lazarettos, insane asylums,
commercial panics, plagues, destroying
angels, continental earthquakes, and world
wide disasters are to him a perfect glee. Can
tou look upon the Communism and the
Mormonism and the Mohammedanism and
the wide sweep <->f drunkenness and fraud and
libertinism, the Franco-German war and Cri
mean war,the North and South United States
war and rivers of blood flowing across con
tinents of miserv into oceans of wretch»d
ness without realizing the power of the Evil
One, who reported to the Lord Almighty,
and when asked: Whence comest thou? an
swered: “From going to an i fro in the earth
and from going up and down in it.”
But. blessed be God! f may substitute
anthem for requiem and Hallelujah Chorus
for the Dead March in Saul. The New
Testament says: “The Son of God was mani
fested that he might destroy the works of t he
devil.” It prophes’ed that an angel
would come down from heaven with
key and chain and incarcerate and
shut up the old dragon. It says that
Christ came to “destroy him that had the
power of death—that is the devil.” And
from the way Christ drove the devil out of
those possessed by him until he was glad to
hide under the bristles of the swine of Ga
dara, and from other violent ejectments we
know that there is in existence a power
a million-fold mightier than the diabolic.
The old lion of death shall go down under the
stroke and roar of the “Lion of Judah’s
tribe.” Yea, my text shows that Satan was
compelled to report to the Almighiv and give
account of himself. When God said to him:
“Whence comest thou?” he was forced to
answer. What means that srioture
which says that Christ shall bruis“ the
serpent’s head? If you have ever killed a
snake the passage ought to be plain to you.
You see this old serpent, the devil, " has
crawled across the nations, poisoning whole
generations and leaving his trail on
everything: but after a while it’will be cor
nered, and hissing and writhing in rage and
with crest lifted and forked tongue shot out
it will make final attack on Christ, and
Christ will advance upon it, and lifting his
omnipotent foot, that loot strong enough to
crush a world, lifting that foot right
over the head of the reptile, will put
down his heel with a crushing power
that shall leave the monster bleeding and
mashed, never to hiss or bite or shake
his <dd rattle again. Thank God he has al
ready received a stunn.ng blow. Hear you
not the rumbling of the Christian printing
presses and the whirling of the Gospel
chariot wheel? As many souls have
been added to the Christian Church in the
last eighty years as in the previous eighteen
centuries and that is a ratio of increase
acclamatory with gladness. The liigdom is
coming, and I am so sure of it that 1 do not
propose to fret and »or’ry because it has
not a4ready come. I may jump to get
on a boat that is going off, but I do not pro
pose to jump for a boat that is coming in.
The sharp attacks of infidelity and sin are a
good sign that especial blessing is coining in
showers over all the earth. Flies bite sharp
just before rain.
If we do not see the full consummation our
children will see it. in the time of the French
Revolution a great procession of boys carried
through the streets a banner with the in
scription: “Tremble, tyrants; we shall grow
up!” Though we may fail to do our duty there
is a rising generation being gospelized
and coming by hundreds of thousands from
our Sabbath-schools and Christian homes
who might properly have on their banners:
“Tremble, ye powers of darkness and sin; for
we are growing up!” We may not amount
bo much in ourselves, but if we put our
selves in the right place we can tio great
exploits. Two put under two only make
four; but plated beside two make twenty
two. Yet what you and 1 most need -s
power to drive back this Apollyon, this As
tnodeus, this Ahrimanes from our hearts and
lives. And we can do it not by our own strength
butby divinepower afforded.ior here is apas
sage emblazoned with encouragemet which
says: “Resist the devil and he will flee from
you.” Remember it is no sin at all to be
tempted, the best and the mightiest have
been tempted. Milton describes a toad
squat at the ear of eve. The sin is in sur
rendering. Do not feel so secure in yourself
ns to think you cannot be overthrown.
How do you account for the fact that there
are so many o!d men in Sing Sing and
Auburn and the other penitentiaries, serving
Out their protracted sentences for frauds
committed in mid-life or advanced ages, al
though their early life had been good, and
nothing had been suspected of them until at
fiftv or sixty years* of age the land was
struck dumb at their forgery or embezzle
ment? The clock in the steeple of old Trinity
Church striking the hours did not remind
the recreant Wall-streeter of the passage
of time that would soon bring to him
exposure and doom. The explanation is
that Mephistopheles, Apollvon, Satan got in
his work at that time. The man was not
naturally bad. He was as good as any of
you are, but Satan with whole battalions of
infernals swooped upon him unawares. Look
out for the wiles of the devil, not only
those of you who are young but the middle
aged and the old. Outside of God you are
not safe a moment. But yield not to dis
heartenment. If we put our trust in God
our best days are yet to come—days of vic
tory, days of song, *lays of heaven, and
the best days of the cause of
righteousness in all the earth are yet
to come. As the ten thousand men of
Xenophon’s army when they came to the top
of Mount Theches and saw the waters on
which they were to sail to their homes, the
soidiers with clapping hands and waving
banners altogether shouted: “The sea: the
sea!” So we to-day in our march toward
our heavenly home come up to the top of the
mountain of holy anticipation and look off
upon oceans of light and oceans of glory and
oceans of joy; and thrilled as we have never
been thrilled before we clap our hands and
wave our gospel ensigns and cry one to an
other and shout up to the responding and
echoing heavens: “The sea: the sea!”
SILK CULTURE.
AN INDUSTRY BEING INTRO
DUCED IN THIS COUNTRY.
Something About the Silk Fields
of Europe—Experimental Sta
tions In the United States —
Hints Upon Sericulture.
Silk raising and silk reeling, says
.Mrs. C. E. Bamford in the Independent,
are being gradually introduced into the
United States, and both east and west of
the Rocky Mountains farmers’ wives and
daughters are here and there experiment
ing in silk culture. American women
nave long dressed in garments of silk,
but they have taken little interest in the
queer little worm which can so neatly
manufacture silk from the mulberry
tree.
The women of France and Italy have
brought many comforts to their homes,
and have contributed many millions of
dollars tovyard the prosperity of their
respective countries because ot their
perseverance in silk raising. Iu the
milder portions of our own country the
mulberry readily grows, and in two or
three years it is suitable food for the
silkworm. The worm is an interesting
study from tne time it leaves its tiny
egg until it spins its silken cradle and
lies down to a peaceful sleep. On awak
ing it finds a way out of its cradle and
lies forth as a yellowish moth.
It lias been estimated that between
twenty and thirty million dollars are re
quired each year to supply the United
States manufacturers with raw silk, and
this silk is almost wholly produced by
foreign countries. But perhaps a change
in this respect is not far distant.
In the “Report of the Department of
Agriculture for 183?” it is stated that
“Altogether the interest m the industry
(silk cu ture) seems to be much more
active throughout the country than it
was a year ago, and we may safely say
that a very material progress has been
made during the past y ear toward the
establishment of silk culture in the
United States.” In the “Report” there
is also an interesting account of some
of the silk fields of Europe which have
been visited the past year, with the com
missioners’ authority, by Mr. P. Walker.
Among other establishments he visited
some of the egg-producing stations in
Italy and France. The station of Signor
Susani at Milan, Italy, employs UOOO
hands during the busiest season, 750 of
them being employed in making micro
scopical examination of silk-worm eggs
after the method discovered by Pasteur.
The building is described as 120 feet in
height by 100 feet in width, the center
being occupied by the hibernating room,
where 60,000 ounces of eggs Susani can
hibernate yearly. The rooms on either
side are occupied by the miscroscopists
and their helpers, who destroy all eggs
which show any vestige of pebrine or
other disease to which silkworms are
subjected.
The examination seems to be very
thorough, as the eggs pass through the
hands of three operatives before reaching
the microscopist. Twenty small boxes
are placed upon a tray, each box having
two compartments, one with crushed
moths aud the other containing the cor
responding cells of eggs; then the
microscopist examines the twenty moths
one by one, and placing tin tags on the
boxes bearing his name, he passes the |
eggs and moths along to the first and
second “comptroller” for further ex
amination. When the second comp
troller has carefully inspected the eggs,
they are sent to a person who separates
the pure from the impure; then the dis
eased eggs are destroyed by fire, while
the healthy ones ai for hatch
ing.
The French silkworm eggs from 31.
Deydier’s station have been largely used
by silk-growers in the United States
with satislactory*results. At this station
Mr. Walker reports the production of
eggs as about 15,000 ounces per year.
The microscopists are divided into small
groups, one operative being employed in
supervising the accuracy of the work of
the others. 31. Deydier informed 3lr.
Walker that coccoons raised in the
United States from eggs from his estab
lishment were larger and a,so better
than those originally produced in France,
this being no unusual result of trans
planting to a new climate.
Experimental stations have been estab
lished iu other European countries, the
Austrian Government first opening a
station for this purpose at Goritz. These
stations are all in charge of scientific
men. The Italian Government has also
established over sixty observatories in
different portions of the country, which
co-operate with the central station and
gather statistics, disseminate informa
tion and make microscopical examination
of eggs. All these stations, attended
with so much expense, could not remain
open if silk-growers did not furnish the
eggs and moths, and did not get pay for
tneir labor. The worms are seldom
grown in very large numbers; but, as in
the raising of fowls, many agricultural
families raise as many worms as possible
each season without interfering with
other labor.
There are several experimental stations
in the United States, where eggs may be |
purchased, cocoons sold, and general in- j
formation upon the subject gained, j
Washington, D. C\, Philadelphia, Pea- I
body in Kansas, and San Francisco have j
each one such station, and filatures for '
reeling silk are found in each of these j
stations. The purchases of dry cocoons
east of the Rocky Mountains for the year
so far as reported have been 6174 pounds,
while for the same area in lssb only
5115 pounds were purchased. One of
the best lots of cocoons received at AVash
ington were from Missouri, lhe lady
who raised them with the help of her
mother and her four children, said that
the expense of her two years’ raising
was about S2O (excluding labon, for
which the Department had paid her
$77. 90. This result may seem small, but
if every agricultural family in Missouri
and other States were doing as much
this couutry could soon supply its own
raw silk.
The first step in sericulture is to select
the kind of mulberry desired, and plant
it near the home. It is easily propa
gated from the seed or from cuttings.
Instruction books giving all necessary
information in regard to planting, prun
ing and also for the care of silkworms,
may be purchased cheaply; and although
no fortune is to be gained by silk culture,
vet another new source of income, al
though small, should never be despised
by those who have lime for greater labotf
than they are already performing. In
three months from the hatching from the
egg the silkworm grower has no more to
do until the following year.
Near Oakland, in California, there is a
plantation containing 6000 mulberry
trees, from one to three years old, and
as. many cuttings. The station-is located
upon fifteen acres of land,'and a build
ing has been erected for experimental
purposes, called a cocoonery. Many
people have experimented with the
worms, and the cocoons and the silk
woven from them have proved equal to
that produced elsewhere. Through ex
periments it has been found that the
Multicaulis mulberry is best for feeding
to the young worms, and the Alba Rozea
Nagasaki for the older ones. Silkworms
can be raised in all portions of the State,
and with sufficient encouragement from
Government and the State, silk culture
bids fair to prove a success.
Growing Rocks.
The American Analyst says it is tru»
that many rocks actually do grow. The
limestones have beeu formed by living
organisms, like the coral polypes, and
it may even be said of many limestone
deposits that every particle has at some
time formed a part of a living animal.
Sandstones, slates, and probably some
varieties of granite have all been de
posited underneath large bodies of water,
and in this sense have grown to their
present dimensions. Only the igneous
or volcanic rocks enpnot strictly be said
to have “grown,” and those of this class
which are highly crystaline may be in
directly so considered, as the formation
of a crystal, either from fusion or so
lution, presents in many xvays a wonder
ful resemblance to the growth of a liv
ing organism.
It is, however, the decay of the rocks
that is of the most importance, and with
which we have most to do. The “eternal
hills” are not only often “shaken,” but
are very far from being eternal. They
arc constantly decreasing in size and
being washed down into the valleys.
Even the lofty Alps are considered to be
but the “stubs” or remains of a much
loftier range existing in past geological
epochs. It is to this constant degra
dation and decay that the farmer owes
his fertile fields, as the soil from which
he raises his crops was at one time in
the condition ot hard and barren rock.
The agencies which cause the decay of
the rocks are very numerous and varied.
Cold, heat, frost, rain, wind, vegetation,
running streams and standing water all
do their part; and chemical decom
position is an important factor, espe
cially with granites and other rocks con
taining felspar.
Ext.ernes of heat and cold cause th«
surface of the rock to crack, and the
cracks become filled with water, which
freezes and expands, breaking it up still
further. Every stream of water, from
the trickling raindrops to the rushing
torrent, does its part in wearing away
and pulverizing the rocks in its course:
and the finely divided material is carried
along by them, and deposited along iti
banks or in the sea at the mouth.
Human Voices in the Phonograph
Now that the phonograph has becomi
an assured commercial success, observes
the Detroit Free Press, it may be well to
point out one great advantage it pos
sesses and that has heretofore escaped
the notice of newspaper men. It is a
curious fact that no person recognizes
his own voice when it is given back by
the phonograph. His friends recognize
it *®Lmt it sounds strange and weird to
the speaker. The new machine, there
fore, establishes this curious and hitherto
unknown triith, that no man has yet
heard his own voice as others hear it.
there is in this and all other coun
tries a cla-s of individuals who persist,
every time they get a chance, in speak
ing iu public, or in reciting or singing,
n 3 the case may be. No one has the
courage to tell a person of this kind that
his efforts are atrocious, and even if a
man bold enough to do so existed, the
chances are that the amateur performer
would not believe him. He would
i merely get angry and say that it was the
other fellow’s jealousy. Now this can
all be remedied, to the great relief of a
suffering public. Let every amateur
speaker, reciter or singer be persuaded
to speak, recite or sing to the phono
graph and then listen to the result. It
# will be a frightful disillusion to him, but
he will never offend again.
The Curious Manistee Fish.
One of the leading restaurants had a
novelty on its bdl of fare last week, it
being the first time that Manistee beef
was ever placed before Aie C hicago
' public. Though called beef, it is in fact
the fiesh of a fish extremely rare in these
parts. The Manistee is a fish of the size
!of the sturgeon, found only in the
; Manistee River, in Florida. It is sight
less, but acute of hearing, so that it can
discern the approach of an enemv at a
| distance of a mile or more and seek
! safety in the reeds or shoals along the
j banks. It is speared by the negroes, by
! whom it is highly prized as food, and
’ occasionally is to be found in the markets
of New Orleans and Mobile, but is seldom
I found in this locality. The fiesh is
' coarse and much resembles beef, though
i retaining the fishy flavor. Scientists
have never been able to discover the
origin of the fish, but incline to the
belief that it rises from some subterranean
stream or lake and has increased and
| multiplied m the Manistee River, but,
owiDg to its lack of sight, it has not
1 been able to make it 3 way into other
j bodies of water, where it might be prop
agated.— Chicago Journal.
How a “Mob” Robs Banks .
“A ‘mob”' said a New York detective
to a World reporter, “consists usually of
two men. One of them is known as the
‘stall’ and the other the ‘sneak.’ The
cashier of the bank who usually faces
the inclosure behind whidi the clerks
are at work, can be made to turn in his
chair by the ‘stall,’ who will pretend to
be deaf, and while talking about open
ing an account will lean over so as to
get the cashier’s eyes away from the
front of the building. In an instant the
‘sneak,’ with a pen behind his ear and
ink on his fingers, perhaps wearing an
inky office coat, is behind the railing,
having entered through the cashier’s
room. He is skilful in turning rapidly
so that his face is not seen, and know
ing exactly where the money is located
that he covets, he has it under his coat
and is out of the inclosure and out of
the building before any one knows even
that he was there.”
A BURIED FOREST.
MINING FOR LOGS IN A NEW
JERSEY SWAMP.
Novel Industry at Dennisville in
for Valuable Trees
Covered up Many
Ages Ago.
A letter from Dennisville, N. J., to
the New York Times says: An industry
the like of which docs not exist any
where else in the world furnishes scores
of people in this part of .New Jersey
with remunerative employment, and has
made comfortable fortunes for many
citizens. It is the novel business of min
ing cedar trees—digging from far be
neath tine surface immense logs of sound
and aromatic cedar. The fallen and
mbmerged cedar forests of Southern
New Jersey were discovered first beneath
the Dennisville swarjips 75 years ago, and
have been a source of constant interest
to geologists and scientists generally
ever since. There are standing at the
present day no such enormous specimens
of the cedar anywhere on the face of the
globe m are found imbedded in the deep
muck of the Dennisville swamps. Some
of the trees have been uncovered measur
ing six feet in diameter, and trees four
feet through are common.
Although ages must have passed since
these great forests fell and became cov
ered many feet beneath the surface, such
trees as fell, according to the scientific
theory, while they were yet living trees
are as sound to-day as they were the day
of their uprooting. Such trees are
called “windfalls” in the nomenclature
of the cedar mines, as it is thought they
were torn up by the roots during some
terrible gale of an unknown past. Others
are found in the wreck that were evi
dently dead trees when they fell, and to
these the miners have given the name
of “break-downs.” The peculiar action
of the wind and water m the swamp has
kept these break-downs in the same
stage of decay they were in when they
fell,as the same agency has preserved in
taetthe soundness of the living trees.
The buried forest lies at various
depths in the swamp, and the uncovering
of the trees or working the. “cedar
mine” is done in a very simple and easy
maimer. The log miner enters the swamp
and prods in the soft soil with a long,
sharp iron rod. The trees lie so thickiy
beneath the surface that the rod cannot
be pushed down amiss on its testing er
rand, for the prodding is not so mtich in
search of a tree as it is to test whether
the tree is a “windfall” or a “break
down.” When the prod strikes the iog
the miner chips off a piece with the
sharp point of the tool, which brings
the chip or splinter to the surface when
draw n out of the muck. By the appear
ance and odor of this chip the miner
can tell at once whether the tree he has
tested is a sound or a dead one. If the
former, he quickly ascertains the length
of the trunk by prodding along from one
end of it to the other.
That ascertained, he proceeds at once
to raise the log from its hidden bed. He
works down through the mud a saw
similar to. those used in sawing out ice
in filling an icehouse. With this he
saws the log in two as near the roots as
he cares to. The top of the tree is next
sawed off in the same way, and then the
big cedar stick is ready to be released
from its resting place. A ditch is dug down
to the log, the ti>nk is loosened by cant
hooks, and it rises with the water to the
surface of the ditch. A curious thing
is noticed about these logs when they
come to the surface, and that is that
they invariably turn over with their
bottom sides up. After mining the log
is easily “snaked out” of the swamp and
is ready for the mill or factory. *
These ancient trees are of a white
variety of cedar, and when cut have the
same aromatic flavor, intensified many
degree-, that the common red cedar of
the present day has. The wood is of a
delicate flesh color. One of the mys
terious characteristics of these long
suukeu trees is that not one has ever
been found to be waterlogged in the
slightest, it is impossible to tell how
many layers deep these cedars lie in the
swamps, but it is certain that there are
several layers, and that with all the
work that has been done in constantly
mining them during three quarters of a
century the first layer has not yet been
removed from the depths. At some
places in the Dennisville swamp the soil
lias sunk in for several feet and become
dry, and there the fallen cedars may be
seen lying in great heaps, one upon the
other. No tree has ever been removed
from the Dennisville swamp from a
greater depth than five feet, but outside
the limits of the swamp they have been
found at a great depth, which shows the
correctness of the deep-layer theory.
The uses to which the cedar logs are
put are many. The principal use is the
making of shingles and staves. The
longevity of articles made from the wood
in shingles, tubs, pails and
casks made from it over seventy years
ago, and which have yet to show the
slightest indication of decay. The
shingles and staves are worked into
shape entirely by hand, the only machine
work that is permitted in manipulating
the cedar logs being the sawing of
them into proper lengths for the uses
to which the lumber is to be put. The
Dennisville cedar shingles command a®
price much higher than the best pine or
chestnut shingles.
Egyptian Temples.
Neither the boldest imagination nor
the most exact study can enable us to
learn an adequate conception of the
splendor of an Egyptian temple in its
perfect state. The vast space is oc
cupied; its lofty.gateways; the long
avenues of sphinxes; the glittering
obelisks and the lifelike expression of
the monstrous statues, form a combina
tion of most imposing architectural
grandeur. The icsthetic qualities of
these structures cannot be brie 'y
summed up. As we ponder them we shall
be willing to acknowledge, for we shall
discover, the exceptional constructive
power of the ancient architects; we shall
see how closely they followed Nature,
and at times drew as well upon foreign
art, though always preserving their own
principles of form. We shall also ob
serve how fancy and “feeling” are dis
played in their temple-decorations.
Besides, there is always one grand im
aginative vein running through all their
work —which expresses the principal
idea of their faith im< erishability.
—Scribner's Magazine.
