Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.