The Columbia sentinel. (Harlem, Ga.) 1882-1924, March 11, 1886, Image 3

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DB. TALMAGE’S SERMON. DUTIES OF WIVES TO HUS BANDS. The seventh in the series of Dr. Talmage’s sermons on the “Marriage Ring’’ was preached upon the subject of the “Duties of Wives to Husbands.” The text was: “The name of his wife was Abigail, and she was a woman of good un <ier-tmiding and of a beautiful countenance.” 1. Samuel, xxv., 3. The ground in Carmel is white—not with fallen snow, but the wool from the backs of three thousand sheep, for they are being sheared. And I hear the grinding of the iron blades together and the bleating of the flocks, held between the knees of the shearers while the clipping ■'oes < n. and the rustic laughter of the work men. Nalal and hi.s wife Abigail preside over this hoint stead. David, the warrior, sends a delegation to apply lor aid at this prosperous time of s’ueep-sheai ing, and Nabal jiereniptotily declines his request. Revenge is the cry. "1 under over the rocks come David and four hundred angry men with one stroke to demolish Nabal,.anil his sheep-folds and vineyards. The regiment march in double quick and the stones of the mountain loosen and roll down as the soldiers strike them with ih ir swift feet, and the cry of the commander is Forward! Forward! Abigail, to save her husband and bis prop erty. hastens to the foot of the bills, She is armed not with sword or spear, but with her own beauty and self-sacrifice, and when David sees her kneeling at the base of the crag he cries to his storm of men. “Halt! Halt!” and the caveous echo it, “Halt! Halt!” Abigail is the conqueress! One woman in the right mightier than 400 men in the wrong. A hurricane stopped at the sight of a water-lily. A dew-drop dashed back Niagara. By her prowess and tact she has ,-aved her husband and saved her home, and put before all ages an illustrious specimen of what a wife can do if she be godly and pru dent and self-sacrificing and vigilant aud de voted to the interests of her husband,and at tractive. As Sabbath before last I took the responsi bility of telling husbands how they ought to treat their wives, and though I noticed that some of them squirmed a little in their pew, they endured it well, I now take the re sponsibility of telling how wives ought to treat their husbands. I hope your domestic alliance was so happily formed that while married life may’ have revealed in him some frailties that you did not sus l>ect, it has also displayed excellencies that more than overbalanced them. I suppose I hat if I could look into the hearts of a hun dred wives here present and ask them where is the kindest and best man they know of, and they dared speak out, ninety-nine out of a hundred of them would say “at the other end of this pew.” Though sometimes you may have snapped each other up a little quick, I think the most of you are as well paired as a couple of whom I have read. The wife said to her husband: “I have made up my mind to be submissive notwithstanding all the mis fortunes that have come upon us.” They had lost their children, he had lost his health, and hence the income of his profession, and the wife had temporarily lost her eyesight “Yes,” said the husband, “we ought to be submissive. Let me see what we have to submit to: First,we have a home; we can submit to that. Then we have each other; we can submit to that. Then we have food and raiment; we can submit to that Then we have a great many friends: we can submit to that. We have a heavenly Father to provide for us—” “Stop! Stop!’"said the wife, “I will talk no more about submis sion.” I hope, my sister, you have married a man as Christian and as well balanced as that. But even if you were worsted in conjugal bargain, you cannot be worse off than this Abigail in my text. Her husband was coarse and ungrateful and inebriate, for on the very evening after her heroic achievement at the foot of the hill where she captured a whole regiment with her genial and strategic be havior, she returned home and found her husband so drunk that she could not tell him the story, but had to postponed it until the next day; so, my sister, Ido not want you to keep"saying within yourself as I proceed. “That is the way to treat a perfect husband,” for you are to re member that no wife was ever worse swindled than this Abigail of my text. At the other end of her table sat a mean, selfish, snarling, contemptible Sot, and if she could do so well for a dastard how ought you to do with that princely and splendid man with whom you are to walk the path of life. First I counsel the wife to remember in what a severe and terrific battle of life her husband is engaged. Whether in professional or commercial or artistic or mechanical life your husband from morning to night is in a Solferino if not a .Sedan. It is a wonder that your husband has any nerves or patience or suavity left. To get a living in this next to the last decade of the Nineteenth Century is a struggle. If he come home and sit down pre occupied you ought to excuse him. If he do not feel like going out that night for a walk or entertainment remember he has been out all day. You say he ought to leave at his place of business his annoyances and come home cheery. But if a man has been betrayed by a business partner or a customer has jock eyed him out of a large bill of goods,or a pro tested note has been flung on his desk or somebody has called him a liar and every thing has gone wrong from morning till night, he must have great genius at forget fulness if he do not bring some of the perplex ity home with him. When you tell me he ought to leave it all at the store or bank or shop, you might as well tell a storm on the Atlantic to stay out there and not touch the coast or ripple the harbor. Remember he is not overworking so much for himself as he is overworking for you and the children. It is the effect of his " success or defeat on the homestead that causes him the agitation. The most of men after forty-five years of age live not for themselves but for their families. They begin to ask themselves anxiously the question- “How if I should give out, what would become of the folks at home' Would my children ever get their education? Would my wife have to go out into the world to earn bread for herself and our little ones? My eyesight troubles me, how it my eyes should fail? My head gets dizzy, how if I should drop under apoplexy?” The high pressure of business life and mechanical life and agricul tural life is home pressure. .. & oni ® time ago a large London firm decided that if any of their clerks mar ried on a salary less than pounds, that is $750 a year, he should be discharged, the supposition being that the tern; tation might be too great for misappro priation. The large majority of families in America live by the utmost dint of economy, and to be honest and yet meet one’s family expenses is the appalling question that turns the life of tens of th msands of men into a martyrdom. Let the wife of the overbourne and exhauste ! husband remember this, and do not nag him al-out this and nag him about that, and say you might as well have no hus laiid. when the fact is be is dying by inches that the home may' be kept up. I charge also the wife to keep- herself as at tractive after marriage as she was before marriage. The reason that so often a man ceases to love his wife is because the wife 2*® fes to be lovely. In many cases what elabo r-jll toilet before marriage, and what “ klesmess of appearance after. The most thing on earth is a slatternly I mean a woman who never combs fr . i?' r she goes out or looks like a ri2a , nt *' somebody calls. Thataman mar these creatures stays at home _s“»aa Possible is no wonder. It is a t ° at su,) h a man does not go on a shir vo y a ge of three years and in a leaky I 1 - costly wardrobe Is not required, but, if you are n °t Willing, by all that T toi.'jy °f refinement can effect to make attractive to your husband, you c , ' ‘ 1 ”°t to complain if he seek in other so deny P^ ea3ant surroundings which you ♦„ Ag . a ’°. 1 charge you, never talk others about the frailties of your husband. Some people have away in banter of elaborately describing to others the short--omin rsor imhnnpv oxeenfrieities of a husband or wife. Ah. the world will find out so n enough nil the defects of vour com panion: no need of your advertising them. Better imitate th >se women who.having made mistake in affiance, always have a veil to hide imperfections and alleviations of eon duettomenton. We must admit that there are rare cas ~ where a wife cannot live longer with her husband, aud his cruelties aud out rages are the precursor of divorcement or separation. But until that day comes keep the awful secret to yourself. Keep it from every l-e'n r in the univers? except the God tn whom vou do well to tell your trouble. Trouble only a few years at most,and then you go up on the other side of the grave and say: Oh Lord. I kept the marital secret. Thou Knowest how well I kept it. ami I thank the- that the release has come at last. Give me some place where I can sit down and rest awhile from the horrors of atsembruted earthly alliance 1-efore I be gin the full raptures of Heaven. And orders will he s >nt out to the-usher angels saying; “Take this Abigail right up to the softest seat; in the best room of the palace, and let twenty of the brightest angels wait on her for the next thousand years!*’ Further, I charge yon let there be no out side interference with the conjugal relation. Neither neighlior, nor confidential friend, nor brother, nor sister, nor father, nor mother have a right to come in here. The married gossip will come around and by the hour tell you how she manages her husband. You tell her plainly’ that if she will attend to the affairs of her household you will attend to yours. What damage some people do with tbeir tongue! Harare indicates that the tongue is a dangerous thing by the fai t that it is shut iu, first by a barricade of teeth aud then by the door of the lips. One insidious talker can keep a whole neighl-orhood badly stirred up. The apostle Peter excoriated these busy bodies in other people’s matters and St. Paul, in his letter to the Thessa lonians and to Timothy, gives them a sharp dig, and the good housewife will I® on the ookout for them and never return their calls la id treat them with coldest frigidity. For this reason better keep house as soon as possi ble. Some people are opposed to them, out I thank God for what are called flats in these cities. They put a separate home within the means of nearly all the population. In your married relations you do not need any advice. If you and your husband have hot skill enough to get Uong well alone, with all the advice you can import you will get along worse. What you want for your craft on this voyage is plenty of sea room. I charge you also make yourself the intel ligent companion of your husband. What with these floods of newspapers and books there is no excuse for the wife's ignorance either about the present or the past. If you have no more than a half hour every day to yourself you may fill your mind with enter taining and useful knowledge. Let the mer chant's wife read up on all mercantile questions and mechanic’s wife on all that pertains to his style of work, and the professional man’s wife on all the legal or medical or theological or political discussions of the day. It is very stupid for a man, after having been amid active minds all day, to find his wife without information or opinions on anything. If the wife knows nothing about what is going on in the world, after the tea hour has passed or the husband has read the newspaper he will have an en gagement and must go and see a man. In nine cases out of ten when a man does not stay at home in the evening unless positive duty calls him away it is because there is nothing to stay for. He would rather talk with his wife than any one else if she could talk as well. I charge you, my sister, in everv way to make your home attractive. I have not enough of practical knowledge about house adornment to know just what makes the difference, but here is an opulent house containing all wealth of bric-a-brac, and of musical instrument, and of painting, and of upholstery, and yet there is in it a chill like Nova Zembla. Another house with one-twentieth part of the outlay and small supply of art and cheapest piano purchasable, and yet as you enter it there comes upon body, mind and soul a glow of welcome and satisfied and happy domesticity. The holy art of making the most comfort and bright ness out of the means afforded, every wife should study. At the siege of Argos Pyerhus was killed by the tile of a roof thrown by a woman, and Abimelech was slain by a stone that a woman threw from the tower of Thebez, and Earl Montfort was destroyed by a rock discharged at him by a woman from the walls of Toulouse. But without any weapon save that of her cold, cheerless household arrangements, any wife may slay the attractions of a home circle. [A wife and mother in prospered circum stances and greatly admired, was giving her chief time to social life. The husband spent his evenings away. The son, fifteen years of age, got the same habit, and there was a prospect that the other children, as they got old enough, would take the same turn. ()ne day the wife aroused to the consideration that she had better save her husban 1 and her boy. Interesting and stirring games were intro duced into the house. The mother studied up interesting things to tell her children. One morning the son said: “Father, you ought to have been home last night. We had a grand time. Such jolly games and such interesting stories.” This went on from night to night, and after a while the husband stayed in to sea what was going on, aud ho finally got attracted and added something of his own to the evening entertainment, and the result was that the wife and mother saved her husband and saved her boy ami saved herself. Was not that an enterprise worth the attention of the greatest woman that ever lived since Abigail, at the foot of the rock, arrested the hundred armed warriors? Do not, my sister, be dizzied and disturbed by the talk of thos3 who think the home cir cle too insignificant for a woman’s career, and who want to get you out on plat forms and in conspicuous enterprises. There are women who have a spec ial outside mission and do not dare to in terpret me as derisive of their important mis sion. But my opinion is that the woman who can reinforce her husband in the woi k of life and rear her children for positions of us 4ill ness is doing more for God aud the race aud her own happiness than if she spoke on every great platform and headed a hundred great enterprises. My mother never made a mis sionary speech in her life and at a missionary meeting 1 doubt whether she could have got enough courage to vote aye or no, but she raised her son John, who has b • *n preaching the gospel and translating religious literature in Amoy, China, for about forty years. Was not that a better thing to do.' Compare such an one with one of thcr.c die away, attitudinizing, frivolous, married co quettes of the modern drawing room, her heaven an opera Injx on the night of Meyer beer’s “Robert le Diable,” the ten command ments an inconvenience, taking arsenic to improves her comnlexion and her appear ance, confused result of belladonna, bleached hair, antimony and mineral acids, until one is compelled to discuss her character and win der whether the line between a decent and indecent life is, like the equator, an imagi nary line. What the world wants now is about 50,000 old-fashioned mothers, women who shall realize that the highest, grandest, mightiest institution on earth is the home. It is not neces-ary that they should have the same old-time manners of the country farm house or wear the old-fashioned cap and spectacles and apron that her glorifie 1 ancestry wore, but I mean the old spirit which began with the Hannahs and the mother Lois and the Abi gails of scripture days and was demonstrated on the homestead where some of us were reared, though the old house long ago was pulled down and its occupants scattered never to meet until in the higher home that awaits the familes of the righteous. While there are more good and fa.thful wives and mothers now than there ever were, society has got a wrong twist on this subject and there are influences abroad that would make women believe that their chief sphere is outside instead of inside the home. Hence irrmany households children instead of a blessing are a nuisance. It is card case versus child’s primer, carriage versus cradle, social popularity versus domestic fidelity. Hence infanticide and ante-natal murder so common that all the physicians, alloftathic, hydropathic, homeopathic and eclectic are crying out in horror and it is t'm> that the pulpits joined with the medical profession in echoing and re-echoing the thunder of Mount Hinai which says “Thou shalt not kill,” and the Book of Revelations which says “All mur derers shall have their places iu the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” And the man or the woman who takes life a minute old will as certainly go straight to hell as the man or woman who destroys life forty years old. And the wildest, loudest shriek of the judgment day will be given at the overthrow of those who moved in the high and respected I circles of earthly society vet decreed by their i own act as far as they could privately affect it,.the extermination of the advancing gener- 1 atious. Mighty G<xl! Arrest the evil that is j overshadowing this century. I charge you, my sister, that you take your husband along with you to heaven. Os course this implies that you yourself are a Christian. I must take that for granted. It cannot be possible that after what Christiani ty has done for woman and after taking the infinitely responsible position you have as sumed at the head of the household that you ! should lie in a position antagonistic to Christ. It was not a slip of the tongue when I spoke ; of you as lieing at the heal of the household. | We men rather pride ourselves as being at the head of the household, but it is only a pleas- ! ant delusion. To whom do the children go when they have trouble? When there is a sore finger to be bound up or one of the first teeth that needs t< > be removed to make wav for the one that is crowding it out, to whom does the child go. For whom do children cry out in the night when they get fright ened at a bad dream ? Aye. to whom does the husband go, when he lias a business trouble too great or too delicate for outside ears? We, the men, are heads of the household in name, but you; oh, wives I are the heads of the household in fact, and it is your businfess to take your husband with you into the kingdom of God and see that house pre pared for Heaven. You can do it! Os course God’s almighty grace alone can convert him, but you are to I be the instrument. Some wives keep their husbands out of heaven and others garner them for it. If your religion, oh,- wife, is simply the joke of the household, if you would rather go tc the theatre than the prayer meeting, if you can beat all the neighborhood in progressive euenre, ir your nusoand never sees you kneei at the bedside in prayer before retiring, if the only thing that reminds the family of your church relations is, that on communion day you you get home late to dinner, you will not be able to take your husband to heaven, for the simple reason that vou will not get there yourself. But I suppose that your religion is genuine, and that the husband realizes there is in vour soul a divine principle, and that though you may be naturally quicker tem ]>ered than he is, and have many imperfec tions that distress you more than they can any one else, still you are destined for the skies when the brief scenes of this life are over. How will you take him along with you? There are two oars to that boat—prayer and holy example. “But,**yb« d-y. oetongs to a worldly club, or he does not l>elieve a word of the Bible, or he is an inebriate and very loose in ! his habits.” What you tell me me shows 1 that you don’t understand that while you are at the one end of a prayer the omnipotent God is at the other end. and it is simply a ques tion whether Almightiness is strong enough and keeps his word. [I have no doubt there will be great conventions in Heaven called r cel brative purposes, and when, in some I'-'t’al ’ussembl ige the saints shall be telling hat brought th‘in to God, I believe | that ten thousand times ten thousand will say, “My wife.’’ I put beside each other two testimonies ol | men concerning their wives and let you see the contrast. An aged man was asked the I reason of his salvation. With tearful emo tion he said: “My wife was brought to God some years before myself. I per secuted and abused her because of her religion. She, however, returned nothing but kindness, constantly manifesting anxiety to promote my comfort and happi ness, and it was her amiable conduct when suffering ill-treatment from me that first the arrows of conviction to my soul.” The other testimony was from a dying man: “Harriet, lam a lost man. You opposed our family worship and my secret prayer. You drew me away into temptation and to neglect every religious duty. I believe my fate is sealed. Harriet, you are the cause of my everlasting ruin.” As you stood in the village or city church, or in your father’s house, perhaps under n wedding bell of flowers, to-day stand up, Sisband and wife, lieneath the cross jf a pardoning Redeemer, while I i proclaim the banns of an eternal marriage. Join your right hands. I pro | nounce you one forever. What God hath joined together let neither life, nor death, nor time, nor eternity put asunder. Witness men and angels, all worlds, aliages! The circle if. an emblem of eternity, and that is the shap? of the rn%rriajxe ring. A New Denomination. ft? 1 >» 'W. 'wi r\ A little girl, a regular attendant at one of the Presbyterian Sunday-schools of St. Paul, went out with her mother to spend the day. A young lady, a visitor like wise, asked her what church she at tended. “I don’t know exactly,” the little girl replied, “Pm not a Methodist and lam not a Baptist. I guess I must be an advertisement.— Pioneer Preu. Saved His War Record. A strapping big fellow was pulled cut of the Ohio river after a steamboat ■ x le sion. “Lost much?” asked a sympathizing bystander. “I should say so,” said the dripping pilgrim; “lost all my baggage.” “Much of it?” “Well” (hesitatingly), “there was a nair of stockings and a shirt.” Then, brightening up, he added, “But, thank God! I have saved my war record.” With this he pulled out of his breast pocket a very wet provost marshal’s cer tificate—that he had furnished a substi tute.— Chicago Ledger. The Key That Fitted. “Badgely, what curious thing is this?” “That’s a scalp-lock, old boy.” “Ugh! What a sharp knife must have b““n used!” “Oh, I don’t know. That one was lifted by a key.” “A key! What kind of a key?” “A Chero-kee.’’— Ctll. Beyond. limited with bln. moonUini Oft, when ■ little lad, Dreamed I of aomething g Hidden beyond; Ships and shining sea, Towns and towers haunted Dreams made me glad—anc Life lay beyond! Ringed with blue welkin, Olt now, as when a lad, Dream I of something glad Hidden beyond; Something I cannot see Haunts and entices me; Dreams make me glad—and sa What liea beyond I -Wdliam Canton in Good IVordi. SCARRED FOR LIFE. Some classes of men, like rival can didates, seem to be born enemies, just ag it is with some animals—cats and dogs, for instance. When troops are stationed in a German university city, the officers and students are certain to quarrel. The same cordial relations ex ist between them that might be expect ed to prevail if a few Texas centipedes and tarantulas were placed in a bottle and shaken up well. In the year 1861 the students at the Polytechnic School of Carlsruhe, Baden, Germany, and the army officers stationed at that city were in perpetual session, »>to speak. They were fighting almost every day. There were several students’ societies at the Polytechnic School; the Saxonia. the Franconia and Bavaria, and when the members were not fighting duels among themselves or drinking beer, they were having “personal difficulties,’ as David Crockett used to call such joint discussions, with the officers of the army of the Grand Duke of Baden. During one of these street exhibi tions a. corps bursch of the Saxonia came very near being made aeorpse by an officer, who made use of his sword on the street and on the person of his antagonist. As it was, the student’s coat, a borrowed one, was' cut and slashed in several places. Whenever the students and officers met in the beer saloons, if they were sober enough to converse at all, they used language towards each other that would not be tolerated in this country outside of the halls of congress. The bad feeling finally culminated in a duel between Lieut. Von Holz and a student named Baum, a member of the Bavarian society, which unpleas ant affair is the subject of this sketch, the wrjfer being an eye witness. The quarrel started at a masquerade ball. They called each other bad names, and slung diatribes and beer bottles, mak ing good line shots across the table at each other. Next morning Baum sent a challenge to the lieutenant, who re plied that it would afford him pleasure to murder Baum, but it was below the dignity of an army officer, who was also a baron, to fight with a plebeian; he, therefore, was compelled promptly and defiantly to refuse the challenge. Several more street fights occurred, all of which failed to calm the excite ment. When the dueling societies heard that Lieut. Von Holz would not fight there was a wild yearning on the part of the students to challenge him and all his friends. A secret caucus was held, and the students sent a com munication to the colonel of the regi ment, begging him as a special favor to pick out seven of his officers who needed exercise anil excitement, and the students would pick seven of their number who were suffering from the same cause, the idea being to have seven duels with sabres. The dueling sabre is not a safe thing io fool with, as it never misses fire, and in the hands of inen who are not careful, accidents are certain to occur. The officers appreciated this fact and refused to go into joint session at all, with sabres, but they offered a com promise. There was In Carlsruhe at "that time an army officer who besides enjoying the high reputation of being a blackleg and a blackguard, generally, was also remarkable for being nearly seven feet tall. Now, in a sabre duel the man with the long arm has all the advantage over the man with the i short arm. The former can carve up I the latter at his ease, while the othsr candidate cannot reach far enough with his sabre to make the connection, j The army officers were so kind and considerate, and so utterly opposed to anything savoring of unfairness, that they relaxed their dignity to the extent of proposing that their blackleg, Count Leiningen—that was his name- should with his long arm, fight the whole seven scholastic gladiators. This offer was about equivalent to a man with a long range rifle requesting an antagonist with an Indian club to tackle him at a thousand yards. The students met again in secret conclave and sent back a very sarcastic commu nication, suggesting that when Count Leiningen’s friends had sawed him in tern the proposition would be taken up from the table on which it had been laid. Then some more street fights ' followed as a matter of course. One afternoon a few days after the proposition for Count Leiningen to offer up the short-armed students in succession I happened to be strolling down the principal street of Carls ruhe when a carriage stopped in front of me and a head was stuck out through the window. I recognized the head as being the porsonal proper ty of the senior of the Bavaria. “Come in here.” he called motioning with his hand. I obeyed without hesitation. The carriage door was closed, and the vehicle rolled on. There was in the carriage, besides the senior of the Bavaria, Herr Giesen, another mem ber of that dueling club, and Herr Baum, the student who had the row with Lieut. Von Holz. In the bottom of the vehicle were three or four bask et-handled dueling sabres. “We want you as a witness to the duel that is coming off right away. You are the first corps bursch I’ve seen on the street, and as there is no time to lose I’ve just picked you up,” said the senior. “So Baron Lieut. Von Holz has changed his mind about fighting with plebeians,” I replied. “No, he hasn’t changed his views, bnt Prince William, the brother of the grand duke, changed them for him. Prince William gave our little lieuten ant to understand that if he did not . fight he would be kicked out of the army. That’s what brought him to his milk. So he went over as soon as possible. He is waiting for us now, with his seconds and an army doctor, in the gasthaus zum adler. It is going to be a very serious matter and I want a witness to see that they don’t crowd us or lie about us afterwards. These military men are grsat strategists.” In a few minutes we drove into the court-yard of the hotel and carried the weapons up stairs. On the large danc ing seal, where the dispute was to be arranged, where three gentlemen, Lieut. Von Holz, his second, and a doctor. The latter was unconcernedly threading a curved needle to sew up wounds. On the table was a basin of water and a sponge, also an open case of instruments. The Germans are very business-like in all their under takings. Lieut. Von Holz, the cause of this prospective trouble, did not impress me very favorably. He talked through his nose, which he held up in the air, possibly to facilitate his flow of elo quence. It was a very large nose, with large nostrils that looked as If they were looped up at the sides. He was rather short and stout, and looked far from enjoying himself. On the other hand, the lieutenant’s second presented an interesting appearance. He was a fierce-looking, little old man with shaggy eyebrows, a hooked nose that gave him tne appearance of being a cross between a rat terrier and a bird of prey. He was a venerable surgeon relic of the Napoleonic era. Os our party Baum supplied the good looks. He was a dark-haired, blue-eyed young fellow, and as strong as a lion. Giesen, the senior of the Bavaria, was a big, broad-should ered, red-whiskered giant, whose face was adorned with various and sundry scars that he had acquired at different universities. Giesen approached the Napoleonic veteran and informed him that Bauin would be ready in a few moments. There was a brief consul tation in a corner of the large dancing room. “Now, my dear boy,” said Giesen, laying his hand on his principal’s shoulder. “If I had known about this before, I would have taken it off your hands; but It is too late now. You have never practiced with a sabre, and unless you do precisely as I tell you, you will be cut all to pieces, for your opponent knows how to fence. You must not fence him at all. You are stronger and quicker than he is, and if you climb right on him, and cut away at him as hard as you can, you will throw him off his guard. Don’t give him time to cut back at you. As soon as I give the word, run right up to him, and make use of your natural advantages.” Baum nodded his head. There was a look of determination in his knit brow and set mouth. The opponents t iok their places in silence opposite each other about fifteen feet apart. The program was that at the word of command they should advance on each other. It was agreed that Giesen should give the word. “Fertig-los," said Giesen In a loud voice. The words seemed scarcely uttered before Baum was upon his antagonist, dealing out a succession of terrific blows that could not be parried. Lieut Von Holz began to move backwards, but Baum followed him more furious ly than ever, until the lieutenant had reached the opposite side of the room. •■Halt,” called out the Napoleonic veteran, interposing his sabre. The combatants paused and took their for mer places. “I had supposed this duel was to be carried on according to the code, but I see I am mistaken. Your man should keep his proper distance,” said the old veteran. "And I," retorted Giesen, with a magnificent sneer, “supposed that this room, which is nearly fifty feet square, was big enough for these gymnastic exercises, but I see lam mistaken. If Lieut. Von Holz cannot find room to maneuver, 1 expect he will have to go out in the open air, where there is more scope for his strategic ability. As it is I have no objection to the door being opened, if it will make him feel more comfortable." The old veteran snapped his eyes at the audacious Giesen, and then whis pered a few words to his principal, probably suggesting that he use his sabre more and his legs less. The lat ter nodded assent and said he was ready. "That was splendid,” whispered Giesen to his man, who was eager for the second round. “Just hit a little quicker, if you can. He will stick this time. The next round will settle it.” Once more the word was given. Once more the student rushed at his adversary. This time the lieutenant did stick. There was a fierce clashing of blades. The lieutenant uttered an exclamation of pain and reeled back wards. His white shirt was covered with blood, which gushed from his head in streams. One of the sledge hammer blows of the student, had caught him-fair and square on the left temple, the wound extending around the outside corner of the left eye, through the cheek across the nose, which was laid open the breadth of a finger, and into the right cheek. The cut was at least an inch wide, and probably much deeper, several large arteries being cut. The doctor, assist ed by the old veteran, had his hands full to stop the flow of blood. ‘•1 presume,” said Giesen, leaning over to look at the wounded man, ; “that there will be no more military exercise today,” and leaving Lieut Von Holz in the hands of his friends we retired from the room. That night there was a “commers,” or general jollification, at the club room of the Bavaria, at which, there is reason to fear, more wine was drank than was good for the health of those who participated. It was six weeks before Lieut. Von Holz shewed his aristocratic face in public places, and if he is still In ths land of the living he can be readily identified at long range by the scar across his face, which Is convincing proof, if any is needed, that occasion ally main strength and awkwardness, when backed up by pluck, triumph over skill. Dyes from Cemmon Plants. The great variety of colors and dyes obtained from common plants, grow ing so abundantly almost everywhere, Is apparently known to but few per sons except chemists. The well-known huckleberry or blueberry, when boiled down, with an addition of a little alum and a solution of copperas, will develop an excellent blue color; the same treatment, with a solution of nut galls, produces a clban dark brown tint, while with alum, verdigris and sal ammoniac various shades of purple and red can be obtained. The fruit of the elder, so frequently used for color ing spirits, will also produce a blue color when .treated with alum. The pri vet, boiled in asolution of salt, furnish es a serviceable color, and the overripe berries yield a scarlet red. The seeds of the common burning bush, “euony. mous,” when treated with sal ammoni ac, produce a beautiful purple red. The bark of the currant bush, treated with a solution of alum, produces a brown. Yellow is obtainable from the bark of the apple tree, the box, the ash, the buckthorn, the poplar, elm, etc., when boiled in water and treated with alum. A lively green is fur nished by the broom corn. A Duck Hunter’s Odd Craft. A man in South Bend, Ind., goes duck shooting in an odd craft, which he calls an “invisible boat.” He has cut one-third of an entire boat’s length down to the waterline. The remain der is made water-tight, and in the stern a mirror (twenty-eight inches high and forty-eight long) Is placed so that the glass reflects the water in front and the decoys. Behind the mir ror the hunter sits and paddles his boat toward the ducks, making his ob servations through a small spot in the mirror, from which the amalgam has been removed. As the boat moves up to the ducks they can see their own reflections in the mirror, and in some instances swim toward the boat. When the hunter is near enough to shoot he drops the mirror forward by loosening a string and gets two effect ive shots—one at the ducks on the water and one as they rise.