Newspaper Page Text
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE’S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: “ Slanders Against Religion
Answered.”
Text: “ And I took the little book out of
the angel's hand , and ate it up; and it was
in my mouth sweet as honey ; and as soon
as I had eaten it my belly was bitter. And
He said unto me: Thou must prophesy
again before many peoples, and nations,
anddongues, and kings.”—Rev. x., 10-11.
Domitian, tho Roman Empjror. had in his
realm a troublesome evangelist who would
keep preaching, and so he 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 one day the evangelist of whom I
speak, sitting at the mouth of a cavern on
the hill-side, and perhaps half asleep under
the drone of tho 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 asked 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 ato it up. The angel told him before
hand that it would be very sweet in the
mouth, but afterward he would be 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 tbe angel was and what the book 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
government. Social creeds—that Is, theories
about manners and customs and good neigh
borhood. Aiisthetical 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 groat future. The only being
who has no creed about anything is the
Idiot. This scoffing against creeds is always
a sign of profound Ignorance on tne
part of the scoffer, for he has
nimsalf a hundred creeds in regard to other
things. In our time the beliefs of evangelis
tic churches are under a fusilade of carica
ture and misrepresentation. Men set Up
what they call 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, aDd
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, symetri
es!, well-jointed, roseate, bounding life, and
tho scalpel and tho 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 farmer puts in the
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 be
lieves no such thing. The Presbyterian
Church believes that God is a loving and just
Sovereign, and that we are free agents.
“No, no; 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, Do Witt Tal
mage, am a free citizen of Brooklyn. Igo
when I please and I come when Iplease, but
I have at least four sovereigns. Tne Church
court of our denomination; that is my
ecclesiastical sovereign. The mayor of this
city; he is my municipal sovereign. The
Governor of Sew York; he is my State
sovereign. The President of tbe United
States; he is my national sovereign. Four
sovereigns have I, and yet in every faculty
of body, mind and soul I am a free man. So,
you see, it is possible that the two doctrines
go side by side, and there is a common-sense
way of presenting it, and there is a wav that
is repulsive. If you have the two doctrines in
■a worldly direction, why not in a religious di
rection ? If I chcose to-morrow morning to
walk into the Mercantile Library and im
prove my mind, or to go through
the conservatory of my friend at Ja
maica, who has flowers from all lands
growing under the arches cf glass, and who
has an aquarium all asquirm 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, it I want to jump from tbe
platform of the Philadelphia express train,
if 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 what kind of a
country would this bet all the inmates
turned out of those prisons and penitentiar
ies. Suppose all the reprobates, the bad
spirits, the outrageous spirits, should be
turned into the New Jerusalem. Why, the
next morning the gates of pearl would be
found off hinge, the linohpin would be gone
out of the ebarot wheels, the “house
of many mansions” would be burg
larized. Assault and battery, arson,
libertinism and assassination would
reside in the capita! of the 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 thoy leave this world
go right into glory—l wonder if in the
temple of the skies Charles Guiteau and
John Wilkes Booth occupy the same pew!
Your common sense demands two destinies!
And then as to tho Presbyterian Church be
lieving there are infants in perdition, if you
will bring me a Presbyterian of good morals
and sound min i who will say that he believes
there ever was a baby in the lost world, or
ever will be, I will make hun a deed to the
house Hive in and he can take possession
to-morrow.
So the Episcopalian Church is misrepre
sented by the enemies of evangelism. They
say that church substitutes forms and cere
monies for heart religon, and It is all a mat
ter for liturgv and genuflexion. False
again. All Episcopalians will tell vou that
the forms and creeds of their church are
worse than nothing unless the heart go with
them. _ . . .
So also the Baptist Cbnroh has been mis
represented. The enemies of evangelism say
the Baptist Church believes that unless a
man is Immersed he will never got into
heaven. False again. All the Baptists,
close communion and open communion, be
lieve that U a maw accept the Lord Jesus
( hrist ho will be saved, whether he bj bap-
Uzed by one drop of water on tho forehead,
or be plunged into the Ohio or Susquehanna,
although immersion is the only gate by
one enters their earthly communion.
Ihe enemies of evangelism also misrepre
sent the Methodist Church. They say the
Methodist Church believes that a man can
convert himself, and that conversion ia that
eiiurch is a temporary emotion, and that all
a man has to do is to kneel down at the altar
and feel bad and then the minister pats him
on the back and says: “It is all right," and
t.uat is all there is of it. Raise again. The
Methodist Church believes that the Holv
Ghost alone can convert a heart, and in tha't
church conversion is an earthquake of con
viction and a sunburst of pardon. And as to
mere “temporary emotion,” 1 wish we alj
had more or tho “temporary emotion” which
lasted Bishop Janes and Matthew Simmon
tbr a half century, keeping them on fire for
God until their holy enthusiasm consumed
their bodies.
Bo all the evangelical denominations are
misrepresented. And then these enemies of
evangelism go on and hold up the great doc
trines of Christian churches as absurd, dry
and inexplicable technicalities. “There fs
your doctrine of the Trinity,” they say.
“Absurd beyond all bounds. The idea that
there is a (rod in three persons. Impossible.
If it is 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 all around us. Trinity in our own
make-up—body, mind. soul. Body with
which we move, mind with which wo
think, soul with which we love. Three,
yet one man. Trinity in the air—
bght, heat, moisture—yet one atmosphere.
1 rinity m the court room—three judges on
the bench, but one court. Trinities all around
about us, in earthly government and in
nature. Of course, all the illustrations aro
defective, for the reason that the natural
cannot fully illustrate 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 are
not made of different parts. The air is
one; I breathe 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 the air and the water." The
chomist would say: “You come up into my
laboratory and I will demonstrate this whole
thing to you.” The ignorant man goes into
the chemist’s laboratory and sees for him
self. He learns that the water is one and
the air is one, but they are made up of
different parts. So here is a man who
says: “J can’t understand tho doctrine of
the Trinity.” God says: “You come up here
Into tho laboratpry after your death, and
you will seo—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 the Trinity, dpes 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 takes the Lord Jesus
Christ as his Saviour from sin, God lets the
offender off. Just as you have a difference
with someone; he has injured you. he apolo
gizes, or he makos reparation, you say:
“Now that’s all right, that’s all right” Jus
tification by faith is this: A man takes Josui
Christ as his Saviour, and God says to th«
man: “Now, it was aU 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 peoplo
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. The old Constellation was fitted
up, and though it had been carrying gun
powder and oullets 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 J 3
regeneration. A man loaded up with sin
nud death loaded up with life. Refitted.
Your observation has been very small in
ieed 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 utterance
of the pulpit he said in a subdued tone:
“That’s a lie.” An officer of the church
tapped him on tho 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 him. He began to love that
which he hated. I baptized him by immer
sion in the 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 home; you are always
welcome home.” Ho told of his conversion
to a dissolute companion. Toe dissolute
companion said: “Well, if you have become
a Christian, you had better go over and talk
to that dying giri. 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. “Oh,” said
she, “that can't be, that can’t be! What
makes you think so?” “I have it here in a
book in ray pocket,” he replied. He pulled
out a New Testament. She said: “Show it
to me; if I can be saved. 6how it to me in
that book.” He said: -“I have neglected this
book as you have neglected it for many
years, and I don’t know where to find it, but
j 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
thea; go and sin no more.” She said: “It
isn’t possible that is there!” “Yes,”
he said, "that is there.” He held it up
before ner dying eyes, and she said:
“Oh, yes, I see it for myself; 1
accept the promise: ‘Neither do I condemn
thee; go and sin no more.’” In a few hours
her spirit sped away to the Lord that gave
it, an 1 the new convert preached the funeral
armon. The man who a few days before
pad been a blasphemer and a drunkard and
A hater of all that was good, he preached th«
sermon. That is regeneration, that is re
generation! If there are any dry husks ol
technicality in that, where are they? All
made over again by the power of tho grace
of God.
A few years ago a ship captain came in here
and sat yonder under the gallery. He came
1b with a contempt for the Church of God
and with an especial dislike for Talmage.
When an opportunity was given he arose
for prayer, and as bs was more than six feet
high, when he arose for prayer no one
doubted that be arose! That hour he be
came a Christian. He went out and told tho
Bhlp owners and the ship commanders what a
great change had been wrought in him. end
score* and scores have been brought to God
through his instrumentality.
A little while after his conversion he was
on ship off Cape Hatteras in a thick and pro
longed fog. and they were at their wits’ ends
and knew not what to do, the ship drifting
about hither and thither, and they lost their
bearings; and the 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 knees that at a cer
tain hour, only a little way off, the fog would
lift; and the converted sea captain came
out on the deck and told how God heard his
prayers. He said: “It is all right, boys, very
loon now the fog will lift,” mentioning the
hour. A man who stood there laughed
sloud in derision at the idea that God would
ins ner prayer; bus at jus; the hour when
God had assured the captain the fog would
lift there came a Hash of lightning through
the fog, and the man who had jeered and
.aughed was stunned and fell to the deck.
The fog lifted. Yonder was Capa Hatteras
lighthouse. The ship was put on the right
course, and sailed on to the harbor of 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
lied for many months, and the next day she
walks forth in the streets well. He kneels
heside one who has long been decrepit, and
he resigns the crutches. He kneels beside
Dne who had not seen enough to lie able to
read for ten years,and she reads the Bible that
day. Consumptions go away, and those who
had diseases that were appalling to behold
come up to rapid convalescence and to com
plete health. lam not telling j’ou anything
second-handed. I have had the story* from
the lips of the patients in this very house,
those who were brought to health of body
while at the same time brought to
God. No second-hand story this. I have
hcaiil tlia 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 wuat 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 he can spare from other occupations.
That is regeneration, that is regeneration.
Man all made over again.
“ Thera 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 stouiaoh. “Vicari
ous tarn rice I Ret every man suffer for him
self. Why do I want Christ to suffer for me ?
I’ll suffer for myself and 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
dentes 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 she
occupied, and her dress was very plain—
sometimes it was very shabby. After a
while she was discharged from the place for
that reason, but no reason was given. In
onswrar to the letter dischaßghlS ha? from
tho position, ehe said: “Well, if I have
failed to please, I suppose it is my own
fault” Bile 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 tbe way for her brother in Yale College
on his way to the ministry. It
was found that she had no blanket on
the bad that winter, and she had 110 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 bad scoffed came and looked
upon the pale face of the martyr, and all
honor was done her; but it was too late.
Vicarious sacrifice. All 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 the sharp
edges of humiliation that we might climt>
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 evi
edgeofGod! How unsearchable is His wis
dom. and His ways are post fiuding out! Oh
tho height, tbe depth, the length, the breadtit;
the Infinity, tho immensity, the eternity of
that love! Let our earnest prayers go oqt
In behalf of all those who scoff at these doc
trine* of grace. When the London plague was
ragtng in the year ltst>s, there was a hotel
noar the chief burial-p’ace that exoited much
comment. England was in fright and be
reavement. The dead carts wont through
the 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 wore put twenty
or thirty in a cart, and the wagons went
on to the cemetery; and these dead were
not buried in graves, but m great trenches,
in great pits; in one pit eleven hundred and
fourteen burials! The carts would come up
with their great burden of twenty cr thirty
to the mouth of the pit, and the front of the
mrt was lifted and the dead shot into the pit.
All the churches in London were open for
prayer day and night, and England was in
great anguish. At that very time at a
note!, at a wayside inn near the cuter
burial-p’aces, there was a group of
hardened men. who sat day ' after
day and night after night blasphoming God
and imitating the grief-struck who went by
to the burial-place. These mors rat there day
after day and night alter night, and they
scoff«d lit men, an I they scoffed at women,
and they scoffed at God. But after a whilo
one of them was struck with the plague, and
In two weeks all of the group were down in
the trench from the margin of which they had
uttered thair ribaldry. My friends, a greater
plague is abroad in the world. Millions have
died of it. Millions are smitten with it now.
Plague of sin, plague of Rorrow, plague of
wretchedness, plague of wop. And conse
crated women and men from all Christendom
are going out trying to stay tne plague and
alleviate the anguish, and there Is a
group of men in this country case
enough to sit and deride the wore.
They scoff at the Bible, and they scoff
at 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 while the
plague spreads its two black wings over the
doomed oity of London. Oh, instead of be
ing scoffors let us be disciples! “Blessed is
the man that walketh not in the aounsel oi
the ungodly, nor standeth In tho way oi
sinners, nor sitted in the seat of the scorn
ful.'
Japanese Railroad Building.
Railroad making is not equally easy in
every country. We have had some
rough experience on this continent and
iu our own section of it. We can tne
better sympathize with the Japanese,
who seem to have to go through some
tough work in building their roads.
Tho report of the Japanese Railroad
Bureau* for tho last year, just publish
ed, reveals some striking facts. Of
course, every one, even with a limited
knowledge of geography, knows that
tho 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 tho
bridging of eleven rivers. One of these
rivers has a velocity iu timo of flood of
27 feet per second; in another, such is
the character of the bottom, the hriok
piers Lave to bo sunk to a depth of
eighty feet. A range of mountains is
crossed at a height of 1,468 feet. Part
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.—J fail and Ex
press.
Support in the work of improving and
cheapening* the food of the people ia
asked by tho Swiss Society for the Pro
motion of Public Good. An extension
of the use of milk and cheese is urged
by the society a* an important advance;
while Dr. Wolt*ring, of Munster, rec
ommends a greater use as an article ol
diet of the inexpensive and extreme 1 }
j uutritive gluten.
EDUCATING FIRE HORSES.
HOW THEY ARE TAUGHT IN THE
NEW YORK DEPARTMENT.
Marvelous Speed Drought, Out and
Great Things Accomplished in a
Few Seconds.
There are many interesting things in
New York, writes l- oater Coates, in the
Brooklyn Citizen, but there are few
things more interesting than the school
from 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 is practically principal of
the school.
This New York horse school has been
in operation since 1882, and in that
length of time has graduated some four
hundred horses. There are employed in
the fire service in New York nearly five
hundred herses. These supply the fifty
five engine houses of the city, the seven
teen hook and ladder companies, beside
the various water towers and wagons of
the chiefs of battalions, with motive
power. It is hard work, too. Horses,
no matter how strong and hardy, sutler
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 cxpeits from among the best horses
that are to be found at the Bulls Head
horse market, the chief horse market of
the United State*. 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 1450 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 traiu.
As soon as the horse is bought he is
sent to school, and l)r. Shea, who is in
charge of this institution, says that, in
his opinion, horses and boys are very
much alike, and must be managed iu
very much the same manner. But Dr.
Shea believes in kindness as a means to
get control of his pupils and teach
them.
It is marvelous how quickly these
young horses learn what is necessary for
them to know befote they can be put to
work. The men who handle them know
their business thoroughly, and 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 iu 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 clang of the
gong. When he becomes expert at this
his education is complete and he is ready
for serious work, aiul«ft week later can
run to a fire as welt wffe moit thorough
going veteran, Am
There are always a dozerihorses j- 1 mg
put through their paces
which is constantly becom -1
more of a
about S3OO each, inW after five
years they are disposed of street
peddlers and cartmeu for any from
SSO to $l5O. These horses are so well
taught that they never forget their train
ing, It is not an uncommon thing wheu
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 Y r ork 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 roau, 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
2(5 feet (5 inches. They made three tests,
one at 10 iu the morning, another at 2
in the afternoon, and yet an
other at 8 o’clock in the evening.
The time for the first dash was 1 5-6 sec
onds, for the second 2i 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 way to a lire 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 his 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
weighiug but seven pounds that is quite
as stiong 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.
nawarden, Gladstone’s country scat,
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 iu New
Y'ork.
A horse at Waynesboro, Ya., kicked
a pumpkin with such furce that it few
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.
A hen which is said to have hatched
and raised sixteen chickens from fifteen
eggs, is one of the curiosities of With
lacoehe, 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, 1826, 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 his eventful life.
The king of robbers (Robin Hood)
was, tradition says, ultimately captured
by a wily enemy, wno disabled him by
throwing a hand full of flo :r in his
face.
The football team at Durham, N. C.,
has had powerful electric lights suspend
ed over its grounds, and proposes to
play the game during the evenings here
after.
There are fourteen different towns and
cities in the 1 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
“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 unccriain 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, and
escort the bride to the church.
Turnpike roads were first established
in the reign of Queen Anne. Till 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. IT. Nutt, of Bor
dentown, N. J. It is qf solid mahog
any, set in chased brass, with two col
umns, at the head between which ap
pear mirrors of the very finest plate
glas3.
City of Panama.
The City of Panama, tho principal
seaport of the Colombian Republic ou
the Pacific side, presents an imposing
aspect from the sea. It stands ut the
head of the bay, on the southern shore
of the isthmus, occupying a rocky
peninsula, which extends some distance
out into tbe shallow waters. Though
tbe 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 c-oasts of America. From
that date, however, it began to decline,
and since 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 ’49,
Panama recuperated to a considerable
extent, 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 Record.
Tite Eastern Shore of Maryland.
it is the oldest section of Talbot
(’ounty, and many would say the least
progressive. As yet the locomotive has
Lot penetrated there, the steamboat
conies 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, Wrightsons and Caulks
still live down there, and grow up and
marry their cousins and their neighbors’
daughters, as their fathers and 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 and to
enjoy themselves. —Baltimore American,
NEWS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN.
In England there are 347 female black
smiths..
The very latest thing is the plaited
muslin bodice.
Cornell has 1174 students, 132 of whom
are young women.
Pale shades of blue are second in favor
to the all prevailing greens.
The Presbyterians have decided to
have an order of deaconesses.
Long, fingerless mitts are a novelty.
They are worn with dinner gowns.
Mme. 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 green, blue or
brown dresses is an embroidery of silver
threads on bands of scarlet cloth.
A new collar for the corsage is of tho
high military style, over which falls two
broken points, usually in a contrasting
color.
Black costumes are meeting with so
much favor just now that they may bo
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
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
and Mrs. Cleveland.
A new make of hosiery is double
faced, being of spun silk on the outside
and Balbriggan 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.
Ex-Queen Isabella, of Spain, lias 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
peicrine, square and short at back, with
its fringe of tails just reaching to tho
waist, and square and so long as to come
near the knee, and 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 when women would be
allowed to vote.
In collars and cuffs a pretty novelty is
to have a double collar and cuff, the up
per one narrow and encircled with a
Gaud 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 General of Barcelona has
bequeated $-00,000 to found a refuge for
the orphan daughters of poor officers, a
proviso being that each must be beautl
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
Y’ork says that Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt
lrequently 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
drink. 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 late
Franco-German war and passed un
harmed among the wounded in the two
hostile camps. She is a Knight of the
I egion of Honor and has been elected
President of that patriotic body, the
Association des Dames Francaises.