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REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BHOOKLYH DIVINE’S SUN DAY SERMON. Subject: “Slanders Against Religion Answered.” Text: “Anti I took the little booh out of the an gel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey ; and as soon 08 I had eaten it my belly teas bitter. And He said unto me: Thou must prophesy again before many peonies, and nations, •anddongues, and kings.’' —Rev. x., 10-IJ. Domitian, tho Roman Empiror, had in his realm a troublesome evangelist who would keep preaching, and so ho exiled him to a barren island, as now the Russians exile con victs to Siberia, or as sometimes the English Government used to send prisoners to Aus - tralia. The island I speak of is now called Patmos, and is so barren and unproductive that its inhabitants live by fishing* But oue day tho evangelist of whom I speak, sitting at the mouth of a cavern on the hill-side, and perhaps half asleep under the droue of the sea, has a supernatural dream, and before him pass as in panorama, time and eternity. Among the strange things that he saw was an angel with a little book in his hand, and in his dream the evangelist esked for this little book, and the angel gave it to him, and told him to eat it up. As in a dream things are sometimes in congruous, the evangelist took the little book and ate it up. The angel told him before hand that it would be very swoet ir. the mouth, but afterward ho would bo troubled with indigestion. True enough, the evangel ist devours the book, and it becomes to him a sweetness during the mastication, but after ward a physical bitterness. Who the angel was and what the boob was no one can tell. The commentators do not agree, and I shall take no responsibility of interpretation, but will tell you that it suggests to me the little book of creeds which skeptics take and chew up and find a very luscious morsel to their witticism, but after a while it is to them a great distress. The angel of the church hands out this little book of evangel ism, and tho antagonists of the Christian Church take it and eat it up, and it makes them smile at first, but afterward it is to them a dire dyspepsia. All intelligent people have creeds—that is, favorite theories which they have adopted. Political creeds—that is theories about tariff, about finance, about civil service, about govern ment. Social creeds—that is, theories about manners and customs and good neigh borhood. .Esthetical creeds—that is theories about tapestry, about bric-a-brac, about styles of ornamentation. Religious creeds — that is, theories about the Deity, about the soul, about the great future. The only being who has no creed about anything is the idiot. This scoffing against creeds is always a sign of profound ignorancu on the part of the scoffer, for he has himself a hundred creeds in regard to other things. In our time the beliefs of evangelis tic churches are under a fusilad® of carica ture and misrepresentation. Mm set up what they cal) orthodox faith, and they rake it with the musketry of their denunciation. They falsify what the Christian churches be lieve. They take evangelical doctrines and set them in a harsh and repulsive way, and put them out of the association with other truths. They are like a mad anatomist, who, desiring to tell what a man is, dissects a hu man body and hangs up in one place the heart, and in another place the two lungs, and in another place an ankle bone, and says that is a man. They are only fragments of a man wrenched out of their God-appointed places. Evangelical religion is a healthy, symetrt cal, well-jointed, roseate, bounding life, and the scalpel and the dissecting knife of the in fidel or the atheist cannot tell you what it is. Evangelical religion is as different from what it is represented to be by these enemies as the scarecrow which a fai-mer puts in tho cornfield to keep off the ravens is different from the farmer himself. * For instance, these enemies of evangelism say that the Presbyterian Church believes that God is a savage Sovereign, and that He made some men just to damn them, and that there are infants in hell a span long. These old slanders come down from generation to generation. The Presbyterian Church ba lieves no such thing. The Presbyterian Church believes that God is a loving and just Sovereign, and that we are free agents. “No, uo; that cannot be,” say these men who have chewed up the creed and have the con sequent embittered stomach. “That is impos sible; if God is a Sovereign, we can’t be free agents.” Why, my friends, we admit this in every other direction. I, De Witt Tal mage, am a free citizen of Brooklyn. Igo when I please and I come when Ipiease, but I have at least four sovereigns. The Church court of our denomination; that is my ecclesiastical sovereign. The mayor of this city; he is my municipal sovereign. Tho Governor of New York; he is my State sovereign. Tho President of the United States; he is my national sovereign. Four sovereigns have I, and yet in every faculty of body, mind and soul lam a free man. So, you see. it is possible that the two doctrines go side by side, and there is a common-sanse way of presenting it, and there is a way that is repulsive. If you have the two doctrines in a worldly direction, why not in a religious di rection ? If I choose to-morrow morning to walk into the Mercantile Library and im prove my mind, or to go through the conservatory of niv friend at Ja maica, who has flowers from all lauds growing under tho arches cf glass, and who nas an aquarium ail asouirm with trout and gold fish, and there * are trees bearing Oranges and bananas—if I want to go there, I could. lam free to go. If I want to go over to Hoboken and leap into a furnace of an oil factory, if I wane to jump from the platform of the Philadelphia 'express train, af I want to leap from the Brooklyn Bridge, I may. But suppose I should go to-morrow and leap into the furnace at Hoboken, who would be to blame ? That is all there is about sovereignity and free agency. God rules and reigns, and He has conservatories and He has blast furnaces. If you want to walk in the gardens, walk there. If you want to leap in the furnaces, you may. Suppose now a man had a charmed key with which he could open all the jails, and he should open Raymond Street Jail and the New York Tombs and all the prisons on the continent. In three weeks wiiat kind of a country would this be? all the inmates turned out of those prisons and penitentiar ies. Suppose all tne reprobates, the bad spirits, the outrageous spirits, should turned into tho New Jerusalem. Why, the next morning the gates of pearl would DO found off hinge, the linchpin would be gone out of the chur ot wheels, the “house of many mansions” would be burg larized. Assault and battery, arson, libertinism and assassination would reside in the capita! of tho skies. Angels of God would be insulted on the streets. Heaven would be a dead failure if there were no great lock-up. If all people without regard to their character when they leave this world go right into glory—l wonder if in the temple of tho skies Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Booth occupy the same pew! Your common -tense demands two destinies! And then as to the Presbyterian Church be lieving there are infants in perdition, if you will bring me a Presbyterian of good morals and sound mini who will say that he believes there ever wts a baby In tho lost world, or ever will be, I will make him a deed to the house I live in and he can take possession to-morrow. So the Episcopalian Church is misrepre sented by the enemies of evangelism. They sav that church substitutes forms and cere monies for heart raligon, and it is all a mat ter for liturgy and genuflexion. False again. All Episcopalians will tell you that the forms and creeds of their church are worse than nothing unless the heart go with them. So also the Baptist Church has been mis represented. The enemies of evangelism sa tho Baptist Church believes that unless j man is immersed he will never get into heaven. False again. All the Baptists, close communion and open communion, be llev 5 that if a man accept tho Lord Jesus f ’hrist he will be saved, whether he bs bap tised bv one drop of water on the forehead, or be plunged into the Ohio or Susquehanna, although immersion is the only gate by which one enters their earthly communion. The enemies of evangelism also misrepre sent the Methodist Church. They say the Methodist Church believes that a man can convert himself, and that conversion in that church is a tempo-ary emotion, and that all a man has to do is to kneel down at the altar and feel bod and then the minister pats him on the back and says: “It is all right," and tunt is aii there is of it Falsa again. The Methodist Church believes that the Holy Ghost alone can convert a heart, and in that church conversion is an earthquake of con - viction and a sunburst of pardon. And as to mere “temporary omotion,” 1 wish we all had more of the “temporary emotion” which lasted Bishop Janas and Matthew Simpson for a half century, keeping them on fire for God until their holy enthusiasm consumed their bodies. So all the evangelical denominations are misrepresented. And then these enemies of evangelism go on and hold up the great doc trines cf Christian churches as absurd, dry and inexplicable technicalities. “There is your doctrine of the Trinity," they say. “Absurd beyond all bounds. The idea that there is a Gpd in three persons. Impossible. If it i 3 one God He can’t be three,and if there are three, there can’t be one.” At the same time all of us—they with us—acknowledge trinities ail around us. Trinity in our own make-up—body, mind, soul Body with which we move, mind with which we think, soul with which we love. Three, yet one man. Trinity in the air— light, heat, moisture—yet one atmosphere. Trinity in the court room —three judges od tho bench, but onecourt. Trinities all around about us, in earthly government and in ! nature. Of course, all the illustrations are defective, for the reason that tho natural cannot fully illustrato the spiritual. But suppose an ignorant man should come up to the chemist and say: “I deny what you say about the water and about the air; they avo not made of different parts. The air is hue; I broathe it every" day. The water is one; I drink it every day. You can’t deceive me about the elements that go to make up tho air and the water.” The chemist would say: “You come up into my laboratory and I will demonstrate this whole thing to you.” The ignorant man goes into tho chemist’s laboratory and sees for him self. He learns that tho water is one and the air is one, but they are made up of different parts. So here is a man "who says: “f can’t understand the doctrine of the Trinity.” God says: “You come up here into the laboratory after your death, and you will see—you will see it explained, you will see it demonstrated.” The ignorant man cannot understand the chemistry of the water and the air until he goes into the la boratory, and we will never understand the Trinity until we go into heaven. The igno rance of the man who cannot understand the chemistry of the air and water does not change the fact in regard to the composition of air and water. Because we cannot under stand tho Trinity, does that change the fact? “And there is your absurd doctrine about justification by faith,” say these antagonists who have chewed up the little book of evan gelism, and have the consequent embittered stomach— “justification by faith; you can’t explain it” I can explain it It is simply this: When a man taxes the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour from sin, God lets the offender off. Just as you have a difference with some one; he has injured you, he apolo gizes, or he makes reparation, you say: “Now, that’s all right, that’s all right” Jus tification by faith is this: A man takes Jesui Christ as his Saviour, and God says to the man: “Now, it was all wrong before, tut it is all right now; it is all right” That was what made Martin Luther what he was. Justification by faith, it is going to conquer all nations. “ There is your absurd doctrine about re generation,” these antagonists of evangelism say. What is regeneration ? Why, regener ation is reconstruction. Anybody can under stand that. Have you not seen people who are all made over again by some wonderful influence ? In other words, they are just as different now from what they used to be as possible. The old Constellation, man-of-war, lay down here at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Famine came to Ireland. Tne old Constellation was fitted up, and though it had been carrying gun powder and bullets it took bread to Ireland. You remember the enthusiasm as the old Constellation went out of our harbor, and with what joy it Whs greeted by the famish ing nation on the other side the sea. That is regeneration. A man loaded up with sin and death loaded up with life. Refitted. Your observation has been very small in deed if you have not seen changes in charac ter as radical as that. A man came into this church one night, and he was intoxicated, and at an utteruuco of tho pulpit he said in a subdued tone: “That’s a lie.” An officer of the church tapped him on the shoulder and said: “You must be silent, or ycu must go out.” The next night that stranger came and he was converted to God. He was in the liquor business. He resigned the business. The next day he sent back the samples that had just been sent to hiru. He began to love that which he hated. I baptized him by immer sion in tho baptistry under this platform. A large salary was offered him if he would return to his former busi ness. He declined it. He would rather suffer with Jesus Christ than be pros pered in the world. He wrote home a letter to his Christian mother. The Christian mother wrote back congratulating him, and said: "If in the change of your business you have lack of means, come homo; you are always welcome home.” He told of his conversion to a dissolute companion. The dissolute companion said: “ Vvell, if you have become a Christiau, you had better go over and talk to that dying givL She is dying with quick consumption in that house.” The new con vert went there. All the surroundings were dissolute. He told the dying girl that Jesus would save her. “Oil,” said she, “that can't be, that can’t be! What makes you think so?” “I have it here in a book in my pocket,” he replied. He milled out a New Testament. She said: “Show it to me; if I can be saved, show it to me in that book.” He said: “I have neglected this book os you have neglected it for many years, ana I don't know where to find it, but T know it is somewhere between the lids.” Then he began to turn over the leaves, and strange and beautiful to say, his eye struck upon this passage: “Neither do I condemn then; go and sin no more." She said: “It isn't possiblo that is there!” “Yes,” he said, "that is there.” He held it up before her dying eyes, and she said: “Oh, yes, I see it for myself; I accept the promise: ‘Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin uo more. In a few hours her spirit sped away to the Lord that gave it, and tho new convert preached the funeral ermon. The man vrho a few days before had been a blasphemer and a drunkard and A hater of all that was good, he preached tha Sermon. That is regeneration, that is re generation I If there are any drv husks oi technicality in that, where are they? All made, over again by the power of the grace of God. A few years ago a ship captain came in here and sat yonder under the gallery. He came in with a contempt for the Church of God and with an especial dislike for Talmage. When an opportunity was given he arose tor prayer, and as he was more than six feet high, when he arose for prayer no one doubted that he arose! That hour ha bo came a Christian. He went out and told tho ship owners and the ship commanders what a great change had lean wrought in him. end scores and scores havo teen brought to God through his instrumentality. A little while after his convorsion he was on ship off Cape Hatteras in a thick and pro longed fog, and the\- were at their wits’ ends and knew not what"to do, tha ship drifting about hither and thither, and they lost their bearings; and tha converted sea captain went to his room and asked God for the" sal vation of his ship, and God revealed it to him while he was on his knee.: that at a cer tain hour, only a little way off, the fog would lift; and tho converted sea captain came out on the deck and told how God heard his prayers. He said: “It is all right, fcovs vw-v »ooti now the fog will lift," mentioning toe tour. A man who stood there laughed sloud in derision at the idea that God would snswer prayer; but at just the hour vm-m God had assure! the captain the fog would lift there came a .lash of lightning through she fog, and the man who had jeered and augned was stunned and fell to the deck. The fog lifted. Yonder wns Caps Hatteras 'lighthouse. The ship was put on the right course, and sailed o:i to tire harbor cf safety. When in seaport the captain spends most of his time in evangelical work He kneels down by one who has been helpless in the ued for many months, and the next day she walks forth in the streets well. He kneels besido one who has long been decrepit, and he resigns tho crutches. Fie kneels beside one who had not, seen enough to be able to read for ten years, and she reads tho Bible that day. Consumptions go away, and those wljo had diseases that were appalling to behold come up to rapid convalescence and to com plete health. lam not telling you anything tecond-handed. I have had the story from »he lips of the patients in this vary hous\ who were brought to health of ho ly while at tha same time brought to Cod. No second-hand story this. 1 have beaiKl tha testimony from men and women who have been cured. You may call it faith-cure, or you may call it the power of God coming down in answer to prayer; I do not care w.iat you call it; it is a fact. The scoffing sea captain, his heart full of hatred for Christianity, now becomes a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus, giv ing all the time to evangelical labors, or all the time ha can snare from other occupat ons. That is regeneration, that is regeneration. Man all made over again. “ There is your absurd doctrine of vicari ous sacrifice,” say these men who have chewed up the little book of creeds and have the consequent embittered stomach. “Vicari ous sacrifice 1 Bet every man saitef for Inin self. Why do I want Christ to suffer for mo ? I’ll suffer for myself ail carry my own bur dens.” They scoff at the Idea of vicarious sacrifice, while they admire it everywhere else except in Christ. People see its beauty when a mother suffers for her child. People see its beauty when a patriot suffers for his country. People see its beauty when a man denies himself for a friend. They can see the beauty of vicarious sacrifice in every one ■ but Christ. A young lady in one of the literary insti tutions was a teacher. She was very reti cent and retired in her habits, and she formed no companionships in the new position sho occupied, and her dress was very plain— Bometimes it was very shabby. After a while she was discharged from the nlace for that reason, but no reason was given. In answer to the letter discharging bar from the position, she said: “Well, if I have failed to please; I suppose it is my own fault” She went here and there for employ ment, and found none, and in desperation and in dementia she ended her life by suicide. Investigation was made and it was found that out of her small means she had supported her father, eighty years of age,and was pay ing the way for her brother in Yale College on his way to the ministry. It was found that she bad uo blanket on the bod that winter, aud sho had no fire on the very coldest day of all the season. People found it out, and there was a large gathering at the funeral, the largest ever at any funeral in that place, and the very people who had scoffed came and looked upon the pale face of the martyr, and all honor was done her; but it was too late. Vicarious sacrifice. Aii are thrilled with such instances as that. But many are not moved by the fact that Christ paid His pov erty for our riches, His self-abnegation for our enthronement, and knelt on tho sharp edges of humiliation that we might climb over His lacerated shoulder into peace and heaven. Be it ours to admire and adore these doc trines at which others jeer. Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and kno evl edge of God! How unsearchable is His wis dom, and His ways are past finding out! Oh the height, the depth, the length, the breadt'i/ the infinity, the immensity, the eternity of that love! Let our earnest prayers go out in behalf of all those who scoff at these doc trines of grace. When the Loudon plague was ragtng in the year 1(565, there was a hotel near the chief burial-place that excitod much roinmeDt England was in fright and be reavement. The dead carts went through tho streets day and night, and the cry: "Bring out your dead, was answered by the bringing out of the forms of the loved ones, and they w-ro put twenty or thirty in a cart, and the wagons went on to the cemetery; and these dead were not buried in graves, but in great trenches, in great pits; in one pit eleven hundred and fourteen burials I The carts would come up with their great burden of twenty or thirty to tho mouth of the pit, and the front of tha ;art was liftod and the dead shot into the pit. Ail the churches in London were open for prayor day and night, and England was in great anguish. At that very time at a hotel, at a wayside inn near the chief burial-places, there was a group of hardened men. who sat day after day and night after night blaspheming God and imitating tho grief-struck who went in to the burial-place. These men sat thereday after day aud night after night, and they scoffed at men, an i they scoffed at women, and they scoffed at God. But after a whiio one of them was struck with the p.ague, ami in two weeks ail of tho group were down in the trench from the margin of which they had uttered their ribaldry. My friends, a. greater plague is Rbro.id in the world. Millions have died of it. Millions arc smitten with it now. Plague of sin, plague of sorrow, plague of wretchedness, plogqe of woe. And conse crated women and men from all Christendom are going cut trying to stay the plague and alleviate the anguish, aud there .s a group of men in this country cast enough to sit and deride the work. They s:off at tho Bible, and they scoff nt evangelism, and they scoff at Jesus Christ, and they scoff at God. If these words shall reach them, either while they are sitting here to-day, or through the printing press, let me tell them to remember the fate of that group in the wayside inn whits the p:ague spreads its two black wings over the doomed oity of London. Oh, instead of be ing scoffers let us bo disciples! "Blessed is the man that walketh not in tho counsel of the tmgodly, nor standeth in the wav- oi sinners, nor sitted in the seat of tho scorn fuL” ___________ Japanese Railroad Building'. Railroad making is not equally easy in every country. We have had some rough experience on this continent and in our own section of it. We can the better sympathize with the Japanese, who seem to have to go through some tough work in building their roads. The report of tlie Japanese Railroad Bureau lor the last year, just publish ed, reveals some striking facts. Of course, every one, even with a limited knowledge of geography, knows that the topographical features of the count ry are peculiar. Hills and valleys and rivers abound. One line of 205 miles in length involves the construction of 16 tunnels, 16,000 feet long, and the bridging of eleven rivers. Ono of these rivers has a velocity in time of flood of 27 feet per second; in another, sucli is the character of the bottom, the brick piers have to be sunk to a depth of eighty feet. A range of mountains is crossed nt a height of 1,468 feet. I’nrt of another line ascends to a height of 3,144 feet, and during five months of the year is completely blocked by tho mow-. Picturesque traveling!—such railroads should afford. —flail and Ex press. Support in the work of improving and cheapening the food of the people is asked by the {Swiss Society for tho Pro motion of Pubiie Good. An extension of the use of milk and cheese is urged by the society as an important advance; while Dr. Woitaring, of Munster, rec ommends a greater use as an article ol diet “f the inexpensive und extremely nutritive gluten. EDUCATING FIRE HORSES, HOW THEY ARE TAUGHT IN THE NEW YOltK DEPARTMENT. Marvelous Speed Brought Out and Great Things Accomplished in a Pew Seconds. There are many interesting things in New York, writes Foster Coates, in the Brooklyn Citizen , but there are few things more interesting than the school f r om which fire horses are graduated. It is situated in the upper part of New York, and is under the management of several veterans of the Fire Department, commanded by a well known veterinary surgeon, who rs practically principal of the school. This New York horse school has been in operation since 1882, aud in that length of time has graduated some four hundred horses. T here are employed in the fire service in New York nearly live hundred herses. These supply the fifty five engine houses of the city, the seven teen hook and ladder companies, beside the various water towers aud wagons of the chiefs of battalions, with mbtive power. It is hard work, too. Horses, no matter how strong and hardy, suiler from it, despite the care that is taken of them. The horses are all picked, but they are seldom of auy use for fire work after five years of service. They are selected by experts from among the best horses that are to be found at the Bulls Head horse market, the chief horse market of the United States. The horses selected come mainly from the West. It requires some skill to pick out horses for use in the Fire Department. Big and clumsy horses are of no use. But the horse must be speedy and strong. The horses selected are usually about sixteen hands high, weighing from 1200 to 145 U pounds, and their ages range from four to six years. Younger horses are not strong enough to drag heavy tire engines, and older ones are too old to train. As soon as the horse is bought he is sent to school, aud Dr. Shea, who is in charge of this institution, says that, in his opinion, horses and boys are very much alike, and must be managed in very much the same manner. But l)r. Shea believes in kindness as a means to get control of his pupils aud teach them. It is marvelous how quickly these young horses learn what is necessary for them to know before they can be put to work. The men who handle them know their business thoroughly, aud are in love with it. Under their careful hand ling the green horse understands his duties in little more than a month. No whip is used in this school. The first test is that which establishes the sound ness of the animal's wind. Then he is put in his stall. He is led backward and forward to where the harness hangs until he becomes used to the engine, and until he also becomes accustomed to ducking or lowering his head to get it into the collar. When he accomplishes his task well he is given apples or candy or lumps of sugar, and is petted and made much of. He is next taught to rush to his place in front of the engine at the clan" of the gong. When lie becomes expert at this his education is complete and he is ready for serious a week later can run to a fire as wemisthe moit thorough going veteran. There are always a dozen horses being put through their pace 3 at this school, which is constantly becoming more and more of a These horses cost about S3OO after Mheir five years they are disposed street peddlers and cartmen for from SSO to $l5O. These horses are so well taught that they never forget their train ing, It is not an uncommon thing when a fire engine dashes through the streets of New York to see some dilapidated looking nag attached to some huckster’s wagon prick up his ears and join in the race to the scene of the tire, it is an old and broken-down fire horse, who cannot forget the stirring days when he helped draw an engine. It is the same spirit that led broken-down hunters to join in the hunt at the sound of the cry of the hounds. There are some wonderful horses in the New- York Fire Departments, but the champions are “Joe” and “Charley,” the splendid team that are attached to Engine Company 17, at Chambers street. These were the prize winners at the Word’s Fair, at the American Institute in 1885, and they are still the champions. They are the two most famous scholars ever turned out from New York's school. Joe is the champion of champions, and he entertains many visitors who come daily to admire his intelligence. Joe is a roan, and a hand some one, too. His mate, Charley, is a bay, and this team can drag a heavy fire engine over the ground faster than any team in the United States, and probably in the world. At the World’s Fair, when they won the medal which they still hold, they were tried on a dash of 26 feet 6 inches. They made three tests, one at 10 in the morning, another at 2 in the afternoon, and yet an- j other at 8 o’clock in the evening. The time for the first dash was 1 5-6 sec onds, for the second 24 seconds and for the last 2 seconds. The intelligence of these horses is simply remarkable. Chief Shaw, of London, could scarcely believe that they could do what was said of them until it was done before his own eyes. Even then it was hard to believe. On three ordinary trials the other night ! Joe and Charley got into their harness and had their engine on the street and on their w-ay to a fire in an average time of 11 seconds. And there was no special effort to make extraordinary speed, either. But these are not the only speed horses in the department. There are scores more of them. Dr. Shea, who is also Captain Shea, pays great attention to the making up of the teams in the department- He buys all the horses for the department himself and he studies his pupils very closely before making them up into pairs. It is to bis system that is due the wonder ful intelligence of the horses and the smoothness with which they work to gether. Captain Shea is careful to mate his horses in size and color as well as in temper and the effect is good. He is also an enthusiast in the matter of im proving the harnesses in use The col lar formerly worn, by the fire horses was a clumsy affair, weighing some thirty five pounds. Captain Shea has had in troduced a light weight steel collar weighing but seven pounds that is quite as strong as the old one. This training school is also a hospital for horses. All the sick or disabled horses used in the department are tended here by the same men who taught them all they know. SELECT SIFTINGS. Hawarden, Gladstone’s country seat, is pronounced Harden, In France a seventh son in direct suc cession is called a marcou. Edward Schmiedemann has made a fortune as a professional beggar in New York. A horse at Waynesboro, Va., kicked a pumpkin with such l'tirce that it flew and broke a man’s leg. A single gold dollar can be made into a sheet that will carpet two rooms six teen and a half feet square. Adam’s needle is so-called, because the leaf has a needle-like point, and the sides of the leaves are frayed out like cotton. Alien which is said to have hatched and raised sixteen chickens from fifteen eggs, is one of the curiosities of With lacoche, Fla. At his own request, Spurgeon Perry, aged eighty-nine years, at one time worth $1,000,000, lias been sent to the Brooklyn poor house. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams ■were the two Presidents who died on the same day. July 4, 1526, is the date of the death of each. Captain John Miller, who recently died in the Indian Territory, aged seventy years, had taken thirty scalps during h.s eventful life. The king of robbers (Robin Hood) was, tradition says, ultimately captured by a wily enemy, who disabled him by throwing a hand full of Hour in his face. The football team at Durham, N. C., has had powerful electric lights suspend ed over its grounds, aud proposes to play the game during the evenings here after. There are fourteen different towns and cities in the l nited States named Au gusta, and there is never a day that freight and mail matter is not going wrong. A Cincinnati man advertises for sale l “a business paying slo,Out) a year and no capital needed to run it. Reasons for selling; Police are becoming suspicious of me.” There are only two ways to get out of India. One is by the most miserably constructed and uncertain railway on the face of the earth, and the other is by English vessel. In Russia ancient usage prevents the presence of the parents of the bride at the ceremony. In their place two of their oldest friends represent them, aud escort the bride to the church. Turnpike roads were first established in the reign of (queen Anne, 'lill then all roads were repaired by the parishes. Turnpikes were so called from poles or bars swung on a staple, and turned either way when dues were paid. Joseph Bonaparte’s bedstead is now in possession of Miss M. H. Nutt, of Bor dentown, N. J. It is of solid mahog any, set in chased brass, wilh two col umns, at the head between which ap pear mirrors of the very finest plate glass. _______ _____ City of Panama. The City of Panama, the principal seaport of the Colombian Republic on the Pacific side, presents an imposing aspect from the sea. It stands at the head of the hay, on the southern shore of the isthmus, occupying a rocky peninsula, which extends some distance out into the shallow waters. Though the famous Panama harbor is one of the safest and most commodious in the world, vessels of more than eighty tons burden cannot approach the shore, but must anchor at Perico Island, three miles distant. This old fortified town, whose wide, clean streets extend across the tongue of land from sea to sea. is quaint enough to interest the most blase tourist. Though now crumbling to de cay, its impressive buildings show traces of former grandeur, being constructed in the ancient Spanish style, of solid stone, with inside patios, or courtyards. Previous to 1746 (when the trade to the Pacific first began to be carried around Cape Horn), Panama City was the principal entrepot between Europe and the western coasts of America. From that date, however, it began to decline, and siuce the independence of the Spanish American States and the open ing of other Pacific ports, its down-hill progress has been very rapid. Immedia tely after the discovery of the California gold mines, in the historic days of ’4‘J, Panama recuperated to a considerable ex-tent, though to nothing of its former consequence, population is now about 20,000, and it is chiefly important as being the terminus of the Panama railway. It has some trade of its own, principally with Europe, in pearls, pearl shells and mother of pearl and gold dust (all found in the vicinity), besides fruits, nuts, dye stuffs, hides and other products of Colombia and the isthmus.— Philadelphia Ilecord. The Eastern Shore of Maryland. It is the oldest section of Talbot County, and many would say the least progressive. As yet tne locomotive has not penetrated there, the steamboat comes but three times a week, and the farmer looks to the slow returns-of wheat and corn for his income, but it is a land of beautiful situations, of comfortable, well-kept homes and generous living. Many of the people still live in the houses which their fathers or grand fathers built, and a race of fine old-time country gentlemen they were, whose abundant life and generous hospitality made the bayside of their day famous. As yet there has been but little immigra tion. The people arc most of them de - scended from ancestors who established themselves there when they came from England in the early days of the colony; the Lowes and the Lambdens, the Kemps and McDaniels, Weightsons and Caulks still live down there, and grow up and marry their cousins and their neighbors’ daughters, as their fathers aud grand fathers and great-grandfathers before did. The ruddy complexions, the ro tund, compact figures, still bespeak the English blood. A people nourished on oysters and terrapin, who have known how to entertain their friends aud to enjoy themselves. —Baltimore America ■. NEWS AND NOTES FDR WOMEN. In England there are 347 female black smiths. The very latest thing is- the plaited muslin bodice. Cornell has 1174 students,l32 of whom are young women. Pale shades of blue are second in favoi to the all prevailing greens. Tho Presbyterians have decided to have an order of deaconesses. Long, fingerless mitts are a novelty. They are worn with dinner gowns. Dime. Hess, of Paris,has refused SIOOO for her hair, which is six feet long. Cloth gowns are made up in combina tions of cream white, brown and green. A Brighton (Mich.) woman digs forty five bushels of potatoes a day and comes up smiling. Mink-tail trimmings are used on gar ments of mink or sealskin, furnishing an effective contrast. Ex-Empress Frederick has bought a site at Steglitz for 100,000 marks to build a hospital for orphan girls. A new trimming of dark greqn, blue or brown dresses is an embroidery of silver threads on bands of scarlet cloth. A new collar for the corsage is of the high military style, over which falls two broken points, usually iA. a, contrasting color. _ Black costumes are meeting with so much favor just now that they may be said to be restored to their old time popu larity. Buttons in the form of a good-sized padlock fitted with a key were very con spicuous upon a recently imported cos tume. Gray and fawn color was the color combination recently noted in a cloth costume. Although odd, it was very effective. Most of the new sleeves have trans verse or longitudinal puffs, or are gathered into a deeply pointed cuff of velvet or embroidery. The authorities of Vanderbilt Uni versity are considering the propriety of admitting women to the privileges of the University. Novel earrings are in the form of oyster shells, held together by a dia mond or pearl, and having slender gold wires attached. Bonnet strings are now attached to the lower middle portion of the crown, from whence they are brought around and tied under the chin. There are still living six wives of Presidents, viz.; Mrs. Tyler, Mrs. Polk, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. Garfield aud Mrs. Cleveland. A new make of hosiery is double faced, being of spun silk on the outside and Balbriggau underneath. They are said to be very durable. Whistling girls are springing up all over the country with a promptness and spontaneity that indicate an appalling and altogether unsuspected amount of previous practice. It is said that women have discharged the greatest part in the commercial busi ness of France. Parisian trade in parti cular owes much of its reputation to the enterprise of business women. Fx-Queen Isabella, of Spain, has be come fascinated with the American game of poker. At her house in Paris she holds poker parties which are exciting enough to satisfy even an Arizona cowboy. Something new in furs is the sealskin pelerine, square and short at back, with its fringe of tails just reaching to the waist, aud square and so long as to come near the knee, aud give the effect of a stole. /, The cause of women's rights in France has progressed to the point of the intro duction of a bill to grant to trades women paying licenses the right to vote at election of Judges of the Tribunal of Commerce. In his speech at Edinburgh recently, Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister, de clared himself in favor of woman suf frage, and said he hoped the day was not far distant whea women would be allowed to vote. In collars and cuffs a pretty no velty is to have a double collar and cuff, the up per one narrow aud encircled with a hand of satin-stitched embroidery. They are sometimes in colors, pink turning over blue and so on. A new foreign fancy is the wearing of black neck fichus in place of veils. The widest part is draped over head and face, the ends cross the back, and then come under the chin, and the effect is wonderfully soft and pretty. A Spanish Genersl of Barcelona has bequeated $200,000 to found a refuge for the orphan daughters of poor officers, a proviso being that each must be beauti tiful in face and form, “because the more lovely a woman is the more she is ex posed to danger in this world.” Philadelphia has a large training school for colored teachers, and its head is Miss Fanny J. Coffin, one of the most notable colored women in the country. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island State Normal School and Oberlin Col lege, and has taught since 1865. Mme. Le Ray contemplates another voyage of exploration. This intrepid French woman, who have traveled all over Asia Minor, is about to start for Teheran, from whence she intends mak ing excursions into the least accessible portions of the Persian dominions. A correspondent writing from New York says that Mrs. Cornelias Vanderbilt irequently prepares the dessert for her family, and that Mrs. Sloane is said to have no rival as a salad maker. Mrs. Colonel Ingersoll is noted for her choco late puddings, and Mrs. Sherwood can cook a tenderloin steak to perfection. A good many influential women are considering whether it would not be well to start some sort of a ribbon society for temperance in dress, just as there is a blue ribbon society for temperance in driuk. Every year the amount of money the average women spends for dress in creases, until extravagance seems to have reached nigh water mark. Coralie Cohen is claimed by the European Jews as a second Florence Nightingale. She is a Jewish lady, who was an angel of mercy during the kte Franco-German war and passed un harmed among the wounded in the two hostile camps. She is a Knight of the 1 egion of Honor and has been elected President of that patriotic body, the Association des Dames Francaises.