Newspaper Page Text
U?V. 1)H. TALMAGE.
BROOKLYN DIVINE’S
SUNDAY SERMON.
blect; “Our Departed Still With
11J Us."
text: "And it'hvn he saw the wagons
.inch Joseph had sent to carry him , the
irit of Jacob their father revived. And
Lnelsaid: 'lt is enough: Joseph, my son,
pyet alive.’ "-Genesis xlv., 27-28.
1 1 |, e Egvptian capital was the focus of the
-Id’s wealth. In ships and barges there
hail teen brought to it from India frankin-
L,‘ n se cinnamon, and ivory, and diamonds;
L n ,’ ilie North, marble and iron; from
Syria, j urple.aiul silk; from Greece some of
lb, finest horses of the world, and some of
lie most i ri 11 iaut chariots; and from all the
.»rta that which could best please the eye,
n d charm the ear, and gratify the taste.
T h e ro were temples aflame with red sand
stene.entered by gateways that were guarded
hv pillars bewildering with hieroglyphics,
„ n ,; wound with brazoipserpents.and adorned
w il,h winged creatures—their eyes, and beaks,
B „ r i pinions glittering with precious stones.
There w ere marbl' columns blooming into
w hite I’owi r-buds; there were pillars, at the
top bursting into the shape of the lotus when
fn ,'all bloom. Along the avenues, lined with
bhinT. fane and obelisk, there were
orinivs w'Jlo , ame in gorgeously upholstered
Lanquin, carrieJ b .V B( T™ nts in scarlet, or
fewhere drawn by V<W les - the snow-white
horse*.golden-bitted, and (-“reust dashing
at full run. There w?re /ountH.'USK'om stone
wreathod vases climbing the Ot tbe
light. \ o\: would hear a bolt shove,anh? a flouT
of brass > cull open like a flash of thesiui.
The surrounding gardens were saturated
Vithodors that mounted the terrace, and
dripped from the arbors, and burned their
incense in the Egyptian noon. On floors of
mosaic the giories of Pharaoh were spelled
tfyi in letters of porphyry, and beryl, and
feme. T here were ornaments twisted from
ithe wood of the tamarisk, embossed with
silver breaking into foam. There were foot
stools made out of a sinsle precious stone.
There were beds fashioned out of a
crouched lion in bronze. There were chairs
spotted with the sleek hide of leop
ards. There were sofas footed with the
claws of wild beasts, and armed with the
beaks of birds. As you stand on the level
beach of the sea on a summer day, and look
either way, and there are miles of breakers,
white wdh the ocean foam, dashing shore
ward: so it seemed as if the sea of the world's
■pomp and wealth in the Egyptian capital for
miles and miles flung itself up into white
breakers of marble temple, mausoleum, and
obelisk.
This was the place w here Joseph, the shep
herd bov. was called to stand next to Pharaoh
inkonrr. What a contrast between this
scene and his humble starting, and the pit
into which his brothers threw him. Yet he
was not forgetful of his early home; he was
not ashamed of where he came from. The
Bishop of Mentz, descended from
a wheelwright, covered his house
with spokes, and hammers, and
wheels and the King of Sicily, in honor of
his father, who was a potter, refused to
4nnk out of anything hut an earthen vessel.
Ro Joseph was not ashamed of his early sur
roundings, or of his old-time father, or of
his hr .thers. When they came up from the
famine-stricken land to get corn from
the Ring's corn crib, Joseph, instead
of chiding them for the way they
had maltreated and abused him, sent them
hack with wagons, which Pharaoh furnished,
laden with corn; and old Jacob, the father,
in the very same w agons, was brought back,
that Joseph, the son, might see him, and
give him a comforatable home all the rest of
his days.
Well, I hear the wagons.the King’s wagons,
k rambling down in front of the palace. On
‘ the outside of the palace, to see the wagons
jo off. stands Pharonb in royal robes; and
beside him Prime Minister Joseph, with
• chain of gold around his neck, and on his
hand a ring given by Pharaoh to him, so
that any time he wanted to stamp the
i royal seal upon a document he could do
so. Wagon after wage# rolls on down
from the palace, laden with corn
»nd meat, and changes of raiment, and
every thing that could help a famine-struck
people, l die day 1 see aged Jacob seated in
front oi 1 1 ;s house. He is possibly thinking
of his absent hoys (sons, however old they
jet, are never to a father any more than
boys); an I while he is seated there, he sees
dust arising, and he hears wagons rumbling,
«nd he wonders what is coming now, for
the whole land had been smitten with the
famine, ana was in silence. But after a
while the wagons have come near enough,
and he sees his sons on the wagons,
*nd before they come quite up, they shout:
“Joseph is yet alive!” The old man faints
Head a way. Ido not wonder at it. The
boys tell the story how that the boy, the
long-absent Joseph, has got to be the first
man in the Egyptian palace. While they
unload the wagons, the wan and wasted
creatures in the neighborhood come up and
ask for a handful of corn, and they are satis
fied.
One day the wagons are brought up, for
Jacob, the old father, is about to go to see
Joseph in the Egyptian palace. You know it
is not a very easy thing to transplant an old
tree, and Jacob has bard work to get bwoj
from the place where he has lived so long.
He bids good-bye to the old place,
and leaves his blessing with th*
neighbors, and then his sons steady
him, while he, determined to help himself,
gets into the wagon, stiff, old and de
crepit. Yonder they go, Jacob and his sons,
and their wives, and their children, eighty
two in all, followed by herds and flocks,
which the herdsmen drive along. They are
going out from famine to luxuriance; they
•re going from a plain country home to the
finest palace under the sun. Joseph, the
Prime Minister, gets in his chariot,
and drives down to meet the old
roan. j oseph’s charioteer holds up
the horses on one side —the dust-coverea
wagons of the emigrants stop on the other.
Joseph, instead of waiting for his father to
come, leaps out of the chariot and jumps
into the emigrants’ wagon, throws his arms
around the old man, and weeps aloud for
Past memories and present joy. The father,
Jacob, can hardly think it is his boy. Why,
the smooth brow of childhood has
become a wrinkled brow, wrinkled
with the cares of state, and the
garb of the shephord-boy has become a robe
royally bedizened! But as the old man finds
°ut it ig actually Joseph, I see the thin lip
quiver against the toothless gum as he cries
out: “.Now let me die, since I have seen
thy face: behold Joseph is yet alive!" The
wagons roli up in front of the palace. Help
out the grandcmldren, and take them in out
°f the hot Egyptian sun. Hein old Jacob
out of the wagon. Send word to Pharaoh
biat the old shepherd has come. In th j royal
a Partment Pharaoh and Jacob meet —dig-
nity and rusticity—the gracefulness of the
court and the plain manners of the
held. The King, wanting to make the
old countryman at ease, and seeing how
his beard is, and how feeble his step,
looks familiarly into his face, and says to
the aged man: “How old art thou?” Hive
the old man a seat. Unload the wagons;
drive out the cattle toward the pastures of
Goshen. Let the slaves in scarlet kneel and
the feet of the newly-arrived, wip
ihg them on the finest linen of the palace.
. crom vases of perfume let the newly arrived
** sprinkled and refreshed; let minstrels
come iu v\ ith sandals of crimson, and thrum
the harps, and clap the cymbals, and jingle
the tambourines, while we sit down, at this
geeat distance of time and space, and learn
the lesson of the King’s wagons.
My friends, we are in a world by sin
‘•mine-struck: but the King is in constant
communication with us, his wagons coming
®nd going perpetually: and in the rest of my
discourse I will show you what the wagons
bring and what they take back.
In the first place, like those that came from
the Egyptian palace, the King’s wagons now
bring us corn and meat, and many changes
W raiment. W e are apt to think of the
fields and the orchards as feeding us; but
Who makes the flax grow tor the linen, and
the wheat for the bread, and the wool on the
snoop's liacli? Oh, I wish we could see through
every grain Held, by every sheep told, under
the trees of every orchard, the King's
wagons. T hey drive up three times a day
morn.ng, noon, and night. They bring furs
trom tue Arctic, they bring fruits from the
tropic, they bring bread from the
temperate zone. The King looks out,
and he savs: “There are twelve
hn-v'r;’ millions of people (o p, e fec j
aud cioihed. Ho many pounds of meat, so
many barrels of flour, so many yards of
cloth, and linen and flannel, so many hats,
so many socks, sd many shoes;” enough for
all, save that we who are greedy get more
shoes than belong to us, and others go
barefooted. None but a God qpuld feed and
clothe the world. ‘None hut a Ring's eern
crib could appease the w orld's famine. None
but a King could tell how many wagons to
send,and how heavily to load them.and when*
they are to start. They %are coming
over the frozen ground to-daj r . Do you not
hear their rumbling? They will stop at noon
at your table. Oh, if for a little while they
should cease, hunger would come into the
nations, as to Utica when’Hamilcar besieged
it, and as in Jerusalem when Vespasian cur
rounded it; and the nations would be hollow
eyed, and fall upon each other in universal
cannibalism; and skeleton would drop upon
skeleton; and there would be no one to
bury the dead; and the earth would be a
field of bleached skeletons; and the birds of
prey would fall dead, flock after flock, with
out carcasses to devour; and the earth
in silence would wheel around, ono great
black hear e! All life stopped because the
King’s w agons are stopped. Oh, thank God
for bread—for bread I
I remark again, that like those that came
from tha Egyptian palace,the King’s wagons
bring us good ne ws. Jacob had not heard
from his boy for a great many years. He
never thought ot' him but with a heart ache.
There was in Jacob’s heart a room where lay
the corpse of his unburied Joseph; and when
tile wagons came,the King's told
him tnjt Joseph was yc? alive, he faints
llead away. iKod news for Jacob! Hood
news for us! The King’s wagons come down
and tt’l] us that our Joseph-Jesus is yet
alive; that He has forgiven us because We
threw Him into the pit of suffering and the
dungeon of shame. He has risen from thence to
stand in a palace. The Bethlehem shepherds
were awakened at midnight by the rattling of
the wagons that brought Ihe tidings. Our
Joseph-Jesus sends us a message of pardon,
of life, of heaven; corn for our hunger, rai
ment for our nakedness. Joseph-Jesus is yet
alive!
Igo to hunt up Jesus. Igo to the village
of Bethany, and say: “Where does Wary
live?” They say: “Yonder Mary lives.” I
go in. I see where she sat in the sitting
room. I go out where Martha worked in
the kitchen, but I find no Jesus. 1 go into
Pilate s court-room, and I find the judges
and the p lice and the prisoner’s box,
but no Jesus. I go into the Arimathean
cemetery: but the door is gone, and
the shroud is gone, and Jesus is gone.
By faith 1 look upto the King’s palace; and
behold 1 have lound him! Joseph-Jesus is
still alive! Glorious religion,a religion made
not out of death’s heads, and cross-bones,
and undertakers screw-driver, but one
bounding with life, and sympathy and glad -
ness. Joseph is yet alive!
“ I know that my Redeemer lives.
What eomfort this sweet sentence gives!
lie lives, He iivos, who once was dead,
He lives, iny ever-living Head!
“ He lives to grant me daily breath.
He lives, and I shall conquer death.
Jle lives my mansion to prepare,
He lives to bring me safely there.
“ He lives, all glory to His name;
He lives, my Jesus, still the same. ■ *
Oh. the sweet joy this sentence "ives,
] know that my Redeemer lives!’’
Tbo King’s wagons will after a while un
load, and they will turn around, and they
will go back to the palace, and I really think
that you and I will go with them. The King
will not leave, us in this famine-stricken
world. The King has ordered that
we be lifted into the wagons, and that we
go over into Goshen where there shall be pas
turage for our largest flock of joy, and then
we will drive up to the palace, where there
are glories awaiting us which will melt all
the snow of Egyptian marble into forgetful
ness.
I think that the King’s wagons will take
us up to see our lost friends. Jacob’s chief
anticipation was not seeing tho Nile, nor of
seeing the long colonnades of architectural
beauty, nor of seeing the throne-room. There
was a locus to all his journeying*, to all his
anticipations; and that was Joseph. Well,my
friends, I do not think heaven would be
worth much if our brother Jesus was not
there. If there were two heavens, the one
with all tho pomp and paraphernaba of an
eternal monarchy, but uo Christ, and the
other were a plain heaven, humbly thatched,
with a few daisies in the yard, and Christ
were there 1 would say: “Let the King’s
wagons take me up to the old farm-house.”
If Jesus were not in heaven, there would
be no music there; there would be but few
people there; they would be off looking for
the lost Christ, crying through the universe:
“Where is Jesus? where is Jesus?” anil
after they had found him, with loving
violence they would take him and bear him
through the gates: and it would be the great
est day known in heaven within the memory
of the oldest inhab tant. Jesus never went
off from heaven but once, and He was so
badly treated on that excursion they will
never let Him go again.
Oh. the joy of meeting our brother. Jo
seph-Jesus! After we have talked about Him
for ten, or fifty, or seventy years, to talk
with Him, and to clasp hands 'with the hero
of the ages; not crouching as underlings in
His presence, but, as Jacob and Joseph, hug
each other. We will want some new term by
which to address Him. On earth we call Him
Saviour, or Kedeemer, or friend; but when
we throw our arms around Him in everlast
ing embrace, we will want some new name of
endearment. I can think of what we shall do
through the long ages of eternity; ' but
what we shall do the first minute I cannot
guess. In the first flash of His countenance,
in the first rush of our emotions, what we
shall do I cannot imagine. Oh, the over
whelming glory of the first sixty seconds in
heaven! Methinks we will just stand, and
look, and look, and look.
The King’s wagons took Jaeob up to see his
lost hoy, and so 1 really think that the King’s
wagons will take us up to see our lost kin
dred. How long Is it since Joseph went out
of your household? How many years is it
now last Christmas, or the fourteenth of
next month? It was a dark night when he
died, and a stormy day it was at the
burial: and the clouds wept with you, and
the winds sighed for the dead. The bell at
Greonwooi’s gate rang only a few moments,
but your heart ha* been tolling, tolling, ever
since. You have been under a de
lusion, like Jacob of old. You have
‘bought that Joseph was dead. You
p U t his name first in the birth-record
pf the family Bible, and then you put
it in the death-record of the family Bible,
and y° u have been deceived. Joseph is yet
a li v -e! He is more alive than you are. Of all
the sixteen thousand millions of children that
Btati st *cians say have gone into the future
world, there is not one of them dead, and the
King’s wagons will take you up to see
them- You often think how glad you will be
to SO e them. Have you never thought, my
brother, my sister, how glad they will be to
see’you? Jacob was no more glad to see
Joseph than Joseph was to see Jacob.
Evcrv time the door in Heaven opens, the-'
look to see if it is you coming in. Joseph,
once standing in the palace, burst out crying
when he thought of Jacob—afar off- Ano
the heaven of your little ones will not be
fairly begun until you get there. All the
kindnesses shown them by immortals will not
make them forget you. There they are,
the raidiant throngs that went out
from your homes! 1 throw a kiss to the
sweet darlings. They are all well now
in the palace. The crippled child
has a sound foot now. A little
lame child says: “Ma, will I be lame in
heaven!’” “No, my darling, you wont be
lame in heaven.” A little sick child says:
“Ma, will I be sick in heaven." “No, my
dear, you won't be sick in heaven?" A
little blimhchild says: “Ma. will I be blind in
heaven?” “No, my dear, you won't be blind
in heaven.” They are all well there.
In my boyhood, for some time we lived
three miles from church, and on stormy dajrs
the children staid at home, but father and
mother always went to church; that was a
habit they had. On tho-ie stormy Sabbaths
when we staid at home, the absence of our
parents seemed very much protracted,
for the roads were very bad, and they
could not get on very fast. So we
would go to the window at twelve
o’clock to see if they were coming,
and then we would go at half-past twelve to
see if they were coming, and at quarter to
one, and then at one o’clock. After a while,
Mary, or David, or DeWitt would shout
“ The wagon’s coming!” and then we would
see it winding out of the woods,
and over the lirook, and through
the lane, /ind up in front of
the old farm-house; and then we would
rush out, leaving the doors wide open, with
many things to tell them, asking them
many questions. Well, my d?ar breth
ren, I think we are many of us in the Ring's
wagons, aud we are on the way home. The
road is very bad, and we get on slowly: but
after a while we will come winding out of
the woods, and through the brook of death,
and up in front of the old heavenly home
stead; and onr departed kindred, who have
been waiting and watching for us, will rush
out through the doors and over the lawn,
crying: “The wagons are coining! the King’s
wagons are coming!" Hark! the bell of the
City Hall strikes twelve. Twelve o'clock on
earth, and likewise it is high noon in heaven.
Does not the subject of to-day take the
gloom out of the thoughts tha.t would other
wise oo Truck through with W e
\re 1 to think that trhen we died wo would
have to go afoot, sagging down in the mire,
and too hounds of terror%night get after us
we got through into Heaven at all, we
would com.- iigiorrl, and wounded,and bleed
in£. I remember whem my teeth chattered
and my knees knocked together when I heard
anybody talk about death; but I have come
to think that the grave will be the softest
bed I ever slept in, and the bottom of my
feet will not be wet with the passage of the
Jordan. “Them that sleep in Jesus will God
bring with Him.”
i was reading of Robert Southey, who said
he wished he could Hie far away from his
friends—like a dog, crawline into .a corner
and dying unobserved. These were his
words. Be it ours to die on a couch sur
rounded by loved ones, so that they with us
may hear the glad, sweet, jubilant announce
ment: “The King’s wagons are coming. ”
Hark! 1 bear them now. Are they coming
for yon or me?
Coal Mines in Japan.
The principal coal mines in Japan are
situated on the island of Takashima,out
side of the harbor of Nagasaki. They
form one of the principal centers of
coal supply in tho East, and have now
been worked by a lessee of the govern
ment, with all the more recent and im
proved appliances, for about 1G years
past. According to a recent official re
port 2,500 miners are engaged, the total
population of the island being 10,000.
The remainder is composed of fisher
men, officers, mechanics, surface labor
ers and a floating population of hangers
on to the miners. The la, ter have daily
rations sold at fixed prices. These con
sist of rice, vegetables, pickles, tea fish,
beef soup and occasionally beef, the total
daily cost being under 4d. The daily
earnings are ll ,d. to 12id , and the to
tal reductions for necessrry expenses
are altogether 7jd., leaving between 4d.
and sd. clear, while the scale of dietry
is far above the average of the same
class elsewhere in Japan. Married and
unmarried men live apart. The latter
live in buildings containing living
rooms, dormitories, and eating rooms.
The kitchens and offices are all apart
from the dwellings, with special drain
age into main conduits. The rooms are
warmed by large fireplaces, and venti
lated and lighted by windows fitted with
sliding Venetian shutters. The area al
lotted to each man in the living rooms
is about 500 cubic feet of ait- space. Tho
married people live in separate apart
ments giving about 2,000 cubic feet of
air space. From July to October the
island is put into a state of semi-quaran
tine against all outside communication,
partly with a view to prevent the impor
tation of epidemics, but also to prevent
the sale of deleterous food brought from
the mainland. All such food as sea
weed, unripe fruit, uncooked vegetables,
shell fish, etc., are strictly forbidden, as
is also the drinking to excess of intoxi
cating liquors. —London Times.
Danish Dairy Farming.
Denmark appears to be the great dairy
farming country, the number of cows on
Danish soil bt-ing, according to the sta
tistics about 900,000, or not much short
of one cow for every two heads of popu
lation. That the number is still rapidly
increasing may be inferred from the fact
that, whereas in the live ’ ears ending in
188‘2 the annual export of butter aver
aged only 19,000.000 pounds it reached
last year 45,000,0 )0 pounds. Most of
the dairies are stated to be furnished
with cream separators and organized on
the new system; but the most striking
feature of the case is the greatest nsion
of the co oper five system in Denmark,
to this particular industry. There are
now in this little country 200 co-opera
tive dairies, they have been established
by the aid of loans, for which the mem
bers one and all are responsible in pro
portion to the number of cows they sign
for. Arrangements are made under
which these loans are repaid in 12 years,
after which each deliverer of milk will
possess a share. A system introduced
only two years ago, under which paying
for the milk is legulated by the quanti
ty of cream contained in it, is said to
have been found in practice to be an ex
cellent means of awakening interest in
the quality and thus making the farm
ers careful. Even in this country of
dairies, however, there is often a practi
cal difficulty iu getting first rate hands.
Many of the younger hands, we learn,
endeavor to improve themselves by at
attending the five months’ course of in
struction at Ladalund Farm, where they
are taught writing, book-keeping, me
chanics, physics, chemistry, and anato
my of domestic animals together with
the practical testing of milk. —London
Daily News.
On March 24, 1878, T. W. Moore
was mysteriously killed at Ventura,Cal.,
and F. A. Sprague was arrested for the
murder. Cn the testimony of a weak
minded young man he was convicted
and sentenced to be hanged; but the
young man soon said that lie had borne
false witness, and Sprague was spared.
Four times thereafter he was sentenced
to be hanged, until at length Gov.
Stoneman commuted the sentence to
life imprisonment. The California
press argued that Sprague was inno
cent, and Gov. Waterman took the
same view, for he has just pardoned
Sprague, whose eleven years of suspense
have changed him from the rugged
man he was to one prematurely old,
with hair and beard as white as snow.
A BAND OF CUTTHROATS.
OPERATIONS OF THE SECRET SO
CIETY, THE.MAFIA-’
A Guild of Sicilian Murderers and
Counterfeiters Who Have Many
Members in This Country.
says the New York World,
is the favor!*' crime of the two foreign
assassination soeiet .es, (he Mafia and the
Highbinders, which have transferred to
the United States from Sicily and China
the most spirited of their operation.
Thcyrcmain assassination societies, how
ever, and the United States secret Ser
vice knows them to be primarily respon
sible for many of the most hideous and
mysterious murders of recent years u
this country. At the intangible door of
the Mafia was laid the neat taking olf of
Antonio Flaceonio recently in the glare
of the electric light of Cooper Union.
With both Mafia and Highbinders mur
der is a fine art and the protection of
murderers an exact science.
Palermo is the home and head quarters
of the Sicilian cutthroats wlfo have made
the name af that boauiiful i«i««irf
a synonym for secret and bloody crime.
In Palermo the famous massacre called
in history “The Sicilian Vespers,” be
gan at the ringing of the vesper bells,
Easter, A. D., 1282. Eight thousand
French men, women and children were
slaughtered by the Sicilian Band at that
time, the reign of Charles of Anjou in
the Two Sicilies having become too
obnoxious to be longer borne. The
massacre was meant aud taken as a hint
to the French that it would be just
as well for them to leave Sicily
alone. The assassins banded them
selves together two years before. In I
Palermo they held their secret meetings j
and contrived the most effective system I
of passwords, oaths and midnight mur
der signals thfft has ever been known.
For two years they kept their secret, and
at the expiration of that time they re
deemed their bloody pledges. Thus
Palermo dipped her hands in human
blood GOG years ago, and liked the taste i
of it so wed that she has never since been j
without her League of Assassins.
The Mafia, which has to-day become
so powerful in this country and which
still owes its allegiance to the parent city
in Sicily, is believed by the best author
ities to owe its existence and to trace
back its organization to the Sicilian
Vesper.?. If this is a contribution to
history, it is time history recognized it
as such.
“Matia,” is a man’s Dame. It means
nothing in particular. Mafia was a
Sicilian murderer w T ho escaped from
prison in Palermo several hundred years
ago. It is not wholesome to bear wit
ness against him and his cutthroat cult,
hut here is what one of the most eulti
vatedand best informed Sicilians in New
York says of him:
“Mafia,’’said he, “organized the society
which bears his name primarily for his
own protection. He was one of the
most influential of the Sicilian banditti,
and to avoid a recapture and return to
prison he enlisted in his new league the
ma oritv of his fellow-bandits. This
was its nucleus. When he found his
ranks sufficiently powerful he forced the
outstanding bandits to come and join.
Those who still refused were stillettoed
or beaten to dea’th with canes.
“The cane and the stiletto have been
ever since the favorite weapons of the
Mafia. Now by a stiletto I mean a dag
ger or knife. The popular idea in this
country, that a stiletto is a dirk of some
peculiar shape or particularly terrible
appearance is a mistake. Stile is a blade,
‘steel.’ Stiletto, the dirin"\itive, simp
ly means a little knife.’ It may be single
edged- or three cornered or what you
like. When Mafia got his cut-throats
pretty w ell organized he made his head
quarters in Palermo. Here, to his amaze
ment, he found traces of the existence of
the old League of Assassination which
had been formed at the time of the Ves
pers, in 1282. He succeeded in welding
the two bands together, and from this
union of organized bandits and cut
throats sprang the famous or infamous
Matia of which we read to day, with its
secret ritual, its strange and horrible
oaths and bloody ceremonies.
“The mutinous Italian sailors who are
constantly landed at American ports are
as apt a-, not to be members ot the Mafia.
For this reason the murder society ac
quiredat an early period such strength
in New Y'ork, New Orleans and Boston.
Its discipline is superb. Though com
posed of the lower classes, there are in
its ranks, and high in authority, always
a lew men of the nobility or upper
classes, who aic either naturally de raved
or have been convicted of a crime, or
have joined the Matia to escape its black
mail, or who have been forced to ally
themselves with it under pain of
instant death. These men have a
representative in the United States
from time to time, but their
Council is believed to be held in 1 al
ermo. The penalty of divulging the
pass-words is instant death. I have
known positively of but one Italian in
New York who 1 was certain belonged
to the Mafia. He never seemed to have
anything mueh to do, hut always had
money. One day he came into my office
with a ray of plaster 'Statuettes on-his
head. I bought one, and gave him |S
in payment. In the change he gave me
was a counterfeit half dollar,a very good
counterfeit, too. I suspected at once that
he was a Mafia counterfeiter—that's
their favorite occupation in Now York
—and taxed bin with it. ‘l’ll venture
to say,’ said I, ‘you’ve got a stiletto up
your sleeve now.’”
“Putting down his tray with much
solemnity Battista (that was the name he
gave) crossed his two forefingers, raised
them fervently to his lips, raised his eyes
to heaven and swore on that impromptu
crucifix that my suspicions were unjust.
I was convinced of his truthfulness until
my eye caught at the edge of his upraised
sleeve the gleam of metal and ivory. The
scoundrel not only hail a stiletto up his
sleeve, but he had a stiletto up each of
his sleeves; for as I glanced quickly to
the other wrist I saw the same glimmer
of metal aud could plainly distinguish
the butt of the dagger as it lay under his
red flannel shir:. But 1 didn’t let him
know_my discovery and he gave me an
other naif dollar for his ‘image’and went
his way in peace, protesting his sorrow
at having been taken in by the wicked
man who passed it on him.
“The f laecom o murder at Cooper
Union, to my mind, bore the Mafia ear
marks. A knife is generally dropped by
them near their victim to give the
impression that he was the aggressor.
Sometimes this is done to convey
the idea of suicide. The knife found
near Flaccomio was bright and bloo.l
less. The Mafia may have been hurried
away before there was time to dip it into
his blood. Everybody knows now that
Flaccomio didn’t kill himself, and no
one believes he was the aggressor, lie
met the fate usually met by those on
whose head the Mafia fixes the death
penalty and for whom it chooses in secret
an inexorable executioner.
“The victim is nearly always advised
in some way of his doom. No traitor to
the Mafia expects anything but a sudden
and violent death. * From the time when
he has reason to believe he has forfeited
his rights as a member of the Order
existence becomes to the doomed man s
race between him and fate. Fate gets
him ninety-nine times out of a hundred,
too; for there is no lack of money in the
Mafia treasury. The proceeds of theii
enormous counterfeiting operations alon«
amount to very large sums every year.
Their funds are banked in Palermo,
Naplqp, New York or wherever it be, in
the name of some chief—some man hi"’;,
up IB th(] Order whose con“- uon w itfc
** *- ■■•*-■ - - *-R«idtothc
is noi ureameu ot. tie is
most rigid accountability for every dolrai
of his blood-money, which is the price
of human life, as well as the proceeds ol
blackmail and counterfeiting.”
, WISE WORDS.
Hold fast by the present.
All were given eyes for their own use,
Dangers are light, if they once seen
light.
Praise undeserved is satire in dis
guise.
Patience and perseverance conquer al
things.
Indulgence is a mark of ’ the highes
culture.
Never trouble trouble till trouble t r ou
bles you.
After missing one opportunity we ar«
shy embracing another.
The most grateful man is the one foi
whom you.have done the least.
It is one thing to notice a wink and
another to know what it means.
The ignorance of one man may bt
higher than the intelligence of another.
One thing at a time and that done
well, is a very good rule, as many can
tell.
He never will be better than he is.
that doth fear to bo woije than he,
was.
He never was as good as he should be,
who doth not strive to be better than
he is.
Value for value, is the principle that
would bring the greatest amount of hap
piness to mankind.
If a man would register all his opin
ions upon love, politics, religion and
learning, what a bundle of inconsisten
cies and contradictions would appear at
last. *
Though years bring with them wis
dom, yec there is one lesson the aged
seldom learn, namely, the management
of youthful feelings. Age is all head,
youth all heart; age reasons, youth is un
der the dominion of hope.
Agriculture’s Effect Upon Climates
The effect of the cultivation of the soil
upon the climate has been practically ex
hibited in the far Southwest, where the
hot winds which prevail burn up the
vegetation and prevent the growth of
crops. This obstacle to agricultural
progress hJI been gradually pushed back
to the borders of Colorado from Central
Kansas by the breaking of tho ground
and the growth of crops. It is a fatal
warfare to the pioneers, who are swept
away in the strife with the het winds
just as a charging line disappears before
the fire of an intrenched enemy, but the
supporting line succeeds in dislodging
the enemy and holds the fort. 8o the
second line plauts itself firmly upon the
ground from which the pioneers have
been driven, and thus the line advances.
The cause of the dirliculty aud the means
of its removal are simple. The hard
beaten surface is heated by the sun’s
rays to*a very high degree, the winds
absorb this heat, and, blowing over the
ad acent cultivated land, take all the
moisture from it and destroy the grow
ing crops. By this absorption of moisture
the winds are cooled, aud, passing on
with their load of vapor as they cool,
they precipitate it in showers. As the
line.of cuitivation advances, the process
goes on, changing the climate and
permitting the growth of crops on a
gradually advancing line. —New York
Times.
Soundings 40i)!> Fathoms Dsep.
According to Captain Bandissin, of the
German Navy, an improved sounding
apparatus of his own invention proved a
maximum of depth at a point some eighty
nvles southeast of St. Helena. In
eighteen different soundings a weight of
nearly three hundred pounds was lowered
to a depth varying from 41190 to 4950
fathoms (more than 29,000 feet); but
the explorer admits that the buoying
tendency of deep water modifies the
reality of any sounding exceeding 4000
fathoms; and it would perhaps be some
thing more than a curious coincidence
if a revision of the above results should
prove the depth of the deepest sea to
correspond almost exactly to the altitude
of the highest land, the estimated height
of Mt. Gunganoor and the east peak of
Mt. Everett in the nothern Himalayas
being a little more than 28,000 feet.—
Yankee Blade.
Dining With the Siamese King.
Miss Fleeson, of Pittsburg, now mis
sionary out in Siam, had the honor late
ly to dine with the King aud Queen ol
that country, in their new and splendid
summer palace. The ceremony began
with the washing df all hands in per
fumed waters, held in silver bow.s, after
which a golden chest of betel, the Siam
ese equivalent for tobacco and chewing
gum, was passed around —but the use of
it was not de riguer, and ihe foreigners
were given tea "in place of the fiery flu.d.
The dinner, which was served in the
most exquisite oi *0 '.ua, glass and silver
catne on in twenty courses, and after it
his majesty, who was garbed in pure
white, with gold and purple trimm ngs,
had his prize acrobats an I jugglers per
form upon a platform be ow the” dining
hall for the amusement of his guestsi
Commercial Advertiser.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
The doctors are said to have a nevr
heart torn# oxvpropylendiisoamyla
mine.
The scientific theory that some men
have two brains possesses some elements
of plausibility.
Don’t burn a lamp in the children’s
bedroom, as the flame soon vitiates th®
air, and renders its unfit to breathe.
Asphalt, the article of prominent com
mercial importance of the present day,
was used in the building of the Tower of
Babel and other ancient structures.
Carbolic acid as a deodorizer and dis
infectant, in fact, as a general purifier,
stands unrivaled. Until its virtues were
discovered, we were often at a loss to
know what to use for this purpose.
Professor Auschutz has succeeded in
getting a photograph of a rifle bullet
traveling at the rate of 1300 feet a sec
ond, the plate which he used for the
purpose being exposed for only 0.000076
°f a , eefiond. J
Carpenters and builders frequently
find it necessary to bore holes in glass,
but are at a loss how to do it without the
aid of a diamond or a drill. It mw be
easily with the use of
a little sealing wax fluoric acid.
Blood stains can be removed from an
article that you do not care to was b
applying a thick paste, made of staren
and cold water. Place in the sun, and
rub off in a couple of hours. If the
stain is not entirely removed, repeat the
process, and soon it disappears.
Cod liver oil is a nutritive and an
alterative. It has been advantageously
employed in ail chronic cases, in which
the disease appeared to consist mainly in
impaired digestion, assimilation and
nutrition. It penetrates dry or moist
animal membrances much more readily
than any other fatty oil.
A rather inconvenient disability which
affects a well-known naturalist is color
blindness. It is difficult for him to
distinguish inseqts from leaves, yet he
keeps up his pursuit with enthusiasm.
“Is that a butterfly?” he asks of a friend
as a great red and brown creature settles
on a green leaf. “It looks like a leaf to
me.” * •
Yellow or orange stain for wood is one
of the most sought-for in ornamental or
cabinet work. A beautiful result is
reached by digesting 2.1 ounces of finely
powdered turmeric for several days ia
17.5 ounces of eighty per cent, alcohol,
and then straining through a cloth. The
solution is applied to the articles to be
stained.
Steel that is too hard to cut or file may
be drilled with a mixture of one ounce
sulphate of copper, quartet of an ounce
alum, half a teaspoonful of powdered
salt, a gill of vinegar and twenty drops
of nitric acid. This will eat a hole ia
the hardest steel, or, if washed off
quickly, will give a frosted appearance
to the metal.
The Odessa physician, Dr. Gamaleia,
has gone to Paris to make practical
demonstrations of his method of inocu
lating against Asiatic cholera before the
eyes of his master, Pasteur. Since the
French scientist communicated the dis
covery to the Academy of Sciences, Dr.
Gamaleia has made further experiments,
which, he claims, have been very suc
cessful.
A successful cat trainer says that next
to the goat, which is the most obstinate
animal in the world to instil an idea in
to, the cat is the most difficult animal to
train. They never take any interest or
pride in their work, like the horse or
dog, and they have not a particle of
affection. Old tabbies who are the pets
of the soeial corner would probably ob
ject to this criticism.
The benefits derived from the use of
ripe fruit as an article of diet are gener
ally understood, but an English medical
journal calls renewed attention to the
matter. Apples, pears, plums, apricots,
peaches, gooseberries and grapes are
spoken of as being as the very summit of
excellence as human food, for they pos
sess the essential conditions of pleasant
ness, digestibility, nutriency and inedi
cinality. Apples are particularly com
mended.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.
The skin contains more than two mill
ion openings, which are the outlets of an
equal number of sweat glands. The
human skeleton consists of more than
two hundred distinct bones.
An amount of blood equal to the
whole quantity in the body passe#
through the heart once every minute.
The full capacity of the lungs is about
three hundred and twenty cubic inches.
About two-thirds of a pint of air is in
haled and exhaled at each breath in or
dinary respiration.
The stomach daily produces nine
pounds of gastric juice for digestion of
food. I# capacity is about five pints.
There are more than five hundred sepa
rate muscles in the body, with au equal
number of nerves and blood-vessels.
The weight of the heart is from eight
to twelve ounces. It beats 100,000 times
in twenty-four hours. Each perspiratory
duct is one fourth of an inch in length,
of the whole about nine miles.
The average man takes five and one
half pounds of food each day, which
amounts to one ton of solid and liquid
nourishment annually.
A man breathes eighteen times a min
ute, and 3000 cubic feet, or about 375
hogsheads, of air every hour of his ex
istence. —New York Journal.
Anatomy of the Snake.
A large majority of the different
species of snakes lay eggs with a rather
flexible, calcareous shell, but many of the
venomous species, like the common rattle
snake, are said by the New York Nun
to be oviparous; that is, the eggs are
hatched while still in the body of the
parent. But no rattlesnake nor other
species of serpents ever sucked blood
from a “chicken’s gills.” There are no
doubt persons who believe they do, and
others who believe that snakes are fond
of milk and suck cows to obtain it. But
such beliefs never originate among those
who know anything of the structure and
habits of serpents. The mouth parts of a
snake prevent any such process as is
usually called sucking. Snakes do not
masticate their food, for their teeth are
only adapted for seizing and holding
their prey, and are according) sharp,
smooth and arched toward the throat;
consequently, when food is once taken
into the stomach it cannot be ejected.