THEY CALLED ON GOD. DR. TALMAGE FINDS MANY LESSONS IN ONE TEXT OF JONAH. The Attempt to Get Away From Obedience to God Always Leads One Into a Storm. The Kind Hearted Sailors--God's Way of Giving Help.

BROOKLYN, Oct. 14.--Rev. Dr. Talmage, who is still absent on his round the world tour, has selected as the subject of today's sermon through the press "The Oarsman Defeated," the text choson being Jonah i, 13, 14, "The men rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, wherefore they cried

unto the Lord."

Navigation in the Mediterranean sea always was perilous, especially so in early times. Vessels were propelled partly by sail and partly by oar. When, by reason of great stress of weather, it was necessary to reef the canvas or haul it in, then the vessel was entirely dependent upon the oars, sometimes 20 or 30 of them on either side the vessel. You would not venture outside your harbor with such a craft as my text finds Jonah sailing in, but he had not much choice of vessels. He was running away from the Lord, and when a man is running away from the Lord he has

to run very fast.

The Disobedient Prophet. God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach about the destruction of that city. Jonah disobeyed. That always makes rough water, whether in the Mediterranean, or the Atlantic, or the Pa-

cific, or the Caspian sea. It is a very hard thing to scare sailors. I have seen them, when the brow of the vessel was almost under water, and they were walking the deck knee deep in the surf, and the small boats by the side of the

and the small boats by the side of the vessel had been crushed as small as kindling wood, whistling as though nothing had happened, but the Bible says that these mariners of whom I speak

were frightened.

That which sailors call "a lump of a sea" has become a blinding, deafening, swamping fury. How mad the wind can get at the water, and the water can get at the wind, you do not know unless you have been spectators. I have in my house a piece of the sail of a ship, no larger than the palm of my hand. That piece of canvas was all that was left of the largest sail of the ship Greece, that went into the storm 200 miles off Newfoundland. Oh, what a night that was! I suppose it was in some such storm as this that Jonah

was caught.

He knew that the tempest was on his account, and he asked the sailors to throw him overboard. Sailors are a generous hearted race, and they resolved to make their escape, if possible, without resorting to such extreme measures.

The sails are of no use, and so they lay hold on their oars. I see the long bank of shining blades on either side the vessel. Oh, how they did pull, the bronzed seamen, as they lay back into the oars! But rowing on the sea is very different from rowing upon a river, and as the vessel hoists the oars skip the wave and miss the stroke, and the tempest laughs to scorn the flying paddles. It is of no use, no use. There comes a wave that crashes the last mast and sweeps the oarsmen from their places and tumbles everything in the confusion of impending shipwreck, or, as my text has it, "The men rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, wherefore they cried unto the Lord."

Converted by Reading of It.

This scene is very suggestive to me, and I pray God I may have grace and strength enough to represent it intelligently to you. Years ago I preached a sermon on another phase of this very subject, and I got a letter from Houston, Tex., the writer saying that the reading of that sermon in London had led him to God. And I received another letter from South Australia, saying that the reading of that sermon in Australia had brought several souls to Christ. And then, I thought, why not now take another phase of the same subject, for perhaps that God who can raise in power that which is sown in weakness may now, through another phase of the same subject, bring salvation to the people who shall hear and salvation to the people who shall read. Men and women who know how to pray, lay hold of the Lord God Almighty, and wrestle

for the blessing.

Bishop Latimer would stop sometimes in his sermon, in the midst of his argument, and say, "Now, I will tell you a fable," and today I would like to bring the scene of the text as an illustration of a most important religious truth. As those Mediterranean oarsmen trying to bring Jonah ashore were discomfited, I have to tell you that they were not the only men who have broken down on their paddles and have been obliged to call on the Lord for help. I want to say that the unavailing efforts of those Mediterranean oarsmen have a counterpart in the efforts we are making to bring souls to the shore of safety and set their feet on the Rock of Ages. You

have a father or mother or husband or wife or child or near friend who is not a Christian. There have been times when you have been in agony about their salvation.

Agony of Uncertainty. A minister of Christ, whose wife was dying without any hope in Jesus, walked the floor, wrung his hands, cried bitterly and said, "I believe I shall go insane, for I know she is not prepared to meet God." And there may have been days of sickness in your household, when you feared it would be a fatal sickness, and how closely you examined the face of the doctor as he came in and scrutinised the patient and felt the pulse, and you followed him into the next room and said, "There isn't any danger, is there, doctor?" And the hesitation and the uncertainty of the reply made two eternities flash before your vision. And then you went and talked to the sick one about the great future. Oh, there are those here who have tried to bring their friends to God! They have been unable to bring them to the shore of safety. They are no nearer that point than they were 20 years ago. You think you have got them almost to the shore, when you are swept back again. What shall you do? Put down the oar?

Oh, no, I do not advise that, but I do advise that you appeal to that God to whom the Mediterranean oarsmen appealed--the God who could silence the tempest and bring the ship in safety to the port! I tell you, my friends, that there has got to be a good deal of praying before our families are brought to Christ. Ah, it is an awful thing to have half a household on one side of the line and the other part of the household on the other side of the line! Two vessels part on the ocean of eternity, one going to the right and the other to the left--farther apart and farther apart--until the signals cease to be recognized and there are only two specks on the horizon, and then they are lost to sight forever!

Dangers to the Young.

I have to tell you that the unavailing efforts of these Mediterranean oarsmen have a counterpart in the efforts some of us are making to bring our children to the shore of safety. There never were so many temptations for young people as there are now. The literary and the social influences seem to be against their spiritual interests. Christ seems to be driven almost entirely from the school and the pleasurable concourse, yet God knows how anxious we are for our chil-

dren. We cannot think of going into heaven without them. We do not want

to leave this life while they are tossing on the waves of temptation and away from God. From which of them could we consent to be eternally separated? Would it be the son? Would it be the daughter? Would it be the eldest? Would it be the youngest? Would it be the one that is well and stout or the one that is sick? Oh, I hear some parent saying tonight: "I have tried my best to bring my children to Christ. I have laid hold of the oars until they bent in my grasp, and I have braced myself against the ribs of the boat, and I have pulled for their eternal rescue, but I can't get them to Christ." Then I ask you to imitate the men of the text and cry mightily unto God. We want more importune praying for children, such as the father indulged in when he had tried to bring his six sons to Christ and they had wandered off into dissipation. Then he got down in his prayers and said, "O God, take away my life, if through that means my sons may repent and be brought to Christ," and the Lord startlingly answered the prayer, and in a few weeks the father was taken away, and through the solemnity the

six sons fled unto God. Oh, that father

could afford to die for the eternal welfare of his children! He rowed hard to bring them to the land, but could not, and then he cried unto the Lord. Prodigal Sons. There are parents who are almost discouraged about their children. Where is your son tonight? He has wandered off perhaps to the ends of the earth. It seems as if he cannot get far enough away from your Christian counsel. What does he care about the furrows that come to your brow, about the quick whitening of the hair, about the fact that your back begins to stoop with the burdens? Why, he would not care much if he heard you were dead! The black edged letter that brought the tidings he would put in the same package

with other letters telling the story of his shame. What are you going to do?

Both paddles broken at the middle of the blade, how can you pull him ashore? I throw you one oar now with which I believe you can bring him into harbor. It is the glorious promise, "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee." Oh, broken hearted father and mother, you have tried everything else; now make an appeal for the help and omnipotence of the covenant keeping God, and perhaps at your next family gathering--perhaps on Thanksgiving day, perhaps next Christmas day--the prodigal may be home, and if you crowd on his plate more luxuries than on any other plate at the table I am sure the brothers will not be jealous, but they will wake up all the music in the house, "because the dead is alive again and because the lost is found." Perhaps your prayers have been answered already. The vessel may be coming homeward, and by the light of this night's stars that absent son may be pacing the deck of the ship, anxious for the time to come when he can throw his arm around your neck and ask for forgiveness for that he has been wringing your old heart so long. Glorious reunion that will be too sacred for outsiders to look upon, but I would just like to look through the window when you have all got together again and are seated at the banquet.

Though parents may in covenant be And have their heaven in view,

They are not happy till they see Their children happy too.

Toiling For Souls.

Again, I remark that the unavailing effort of the Mediterranean oarsmen has a counterpart in the effort which we are making to bring this world back to God, his pardon and safety. If this world could have been saved by human effort, it would have been done long ago. John Howard took hold of one oar, and Carey took hold of another oar, and Adoniram Judson took hold of another oar, and Luther took hold of another oar, and John Knox took hold of another oar, and they pulled until they fell back dead from the exhaustion. Some drop-

ped in the ashes of martyrdom, some on

the scalping knives of savages and some into the plague struck room of the lazaretto, and still the chains are not broken, and still the despotisms are not demolished, and still the world is unsaved. What then? Put down the oars and make no effort? I do not advise that. But I want you, Christian brethren, to understand that the church, and the school, and the college, and the missionary society are only the instrumentalities, and if this work is ever done at all God must do it, and he will do it in answer to our prayer. "They rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, wherefore they cried unto the Lord."

No Self Salvation.

Again, the unavailing effort of those Mediterranean oarsmen has a counterpart in every man that is trying to row his own soul into safety. When the eternal spirit flashes upon us our condition, we try to save ourselves. We say, "Give me a stout oar for my right hand, give me a stout oar for my left hand, and I will pull myself into safety." No. A wave of sin comes and dashes you one way, and a wave of temptation comes and dashes you in another way, and there are plenty of rocks on which to founder, but seemingly no harbor into which to sail. Sin must be thrown overboard, or we must perish. There are men who have tried for years to become Christians. They believe all I say in regard to a future world. They believe that religion is the first, the last, the infinite necessity. They do every thing but trust in Christ. They make 60 strokes in a minute. They bend forward with all earnestness, and they lie back until the muscles are distended, and yet they have not made one inch in ten years toward heaven. What is the reason? That is not the way to go to

work. You might as well take a frail

skiff and put it down at the foot of Ni-

agara and then head it up toward the churning thunderbolt of waters and ex-

pect to work your way up through the lightning of the foam into calm Lake Erie as for you to try to pull yourself through the surf of your sin into the hope and pardon and placidity of the gospel. You cannot do it in that way. Sin is a rough sea, and longboat, yawl, pinnace and gondola go down unless the Lord deliver, but if you will cry to

Christ and lay hold of divine mercy

you are as safe from eternal condemnation as though you had been 20 years in heaven. I wish I could put before my unpardoned readers their own helplessness. No human arm was ever strong enough tot unlock the door of heaven. No foot was ever mighty enough to break the shackle of sin, no oarsmen swarthy enough to row himself into God's harbor.

The wind is against you. The tide is

against you. The law is against you. Ten thousand corrupting influences are against you. Helpless and undone. Not so helpless a sailor on a plank, mid-At-lantic. Not so helpless a traveler girded by 20 miles of prairie on fire. Prove it,

you say. I will prove it. John vi, 44,

"No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him."

The Willingness of Christ.

But while I have shown your helplessness I want to put by the side of it the power and willingness of Christ to save you. I think it was in 1686 a ves-

sel bound for Portugal, but it was driven to pieces on an unfriendly ocean.

The captain had his son with him, and with the crew they wandered up the beach and started on a long journey to find relief. After awhile the son faint-

ed by reason of hunger and the length of the way. The captain said to the crew, "Carry my boy for me on your shoulders." They carried him on, but the journey was so long that after awhile the crew fainted from hunger and from weariness and could carry him no longer. Then the father rallied his almost wasted energy and took up his own boy and put him on his shoulder and carried him on mile after mile, mile after mile, until, overcome himself by hunger and weariness, he, too, fainted by the way. The boy lay down and died, and the father, just at the time rescue came to him, also perished, living only long enough to tell the story--

sad story indeed!

But glory be to God that Jesus Christ is able to take us up out of our shipwrecked and dying condition and put us on the shoulder of his strength, and by the omnipotence of his gospel bear us on through all the journey of this life and at last through the opening gates of heaven! He is mighty to save. Though your sin be long and black and inexcusable and outrageous, the very moment you believe I will proclaim pardon--quick, full, grand, unconditional, uncompromising, illimitable, infinite. Oh, the grace of God! I am overwhelmed when I come to think of it. Give me a thousand ladders, lashed fast to each other, that I may scale the height. Let the line run out with the anchor until all the cables of earth are exhausted, that we may touch the depth. Let the archangel fly in circuit of eternal ages in trying to sweep around this theme. Oh, the grace of God! It is so high. It is so broad. It is so deep. Glory be to my God, that where man's oar gives out God's arm begins! Why will ye carry your sins and your sorrows any longer when Christ offers to take them? Why will you wrestle down your fears when this moment you might give up and be saved? Do you not know that ev-

erything is ready?

Room For All.

Plenty of room at the feast. Jesus has the ring of his love all ready to put upon your hand. Come now and sit down, ye hungry ones, at the banquet. Ye who are in rags of sin, take the robe of Christ. Ye who are swamped by the breakers around you, cry to Christ to pilot you into smooth, still waters. On account of the peculiar phase of the subject I have drawn my present illustrations, you see chiefly from the water. I remember that a vessel went to pieces on the Bermudas a great many years ago. It had a vast treasure on board. But the vessel being sunk, no effort was made to raise it. After many years had passed a company of adventurers went out from England, and after a long voyage they reached the place where the vessel was said to have sunk. They got into a small boat and hovered over the place. Then the divers went down, and they broke through what looked like a limestone covering, and the treasure rolled out--what was found afterward to be, in American money, worth $1,500,000, and the foundation of a great business house. At the time the whole world rejoiced over what was called the luck of these adventurers. O ye who have been rowing toward the shore and have not been able to reach it, I want to tell you tonight that your

boat hovers over infinite treasure! All

the riches of God are at your feet--treasures that never fail and crowns that never grow dim. Who will go down now and seek them? Who will dive for the pearl of great price? Who will be prepared for life, for death, for judgment,

for the long eternity? See two hands of blood stretched out toward thy soul as

Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will

give you rest."

MUD MERMAIDS. Strange Humanlike Creatures That Live In the Ohio River. On the sand bar in the Ohio river near Vevay, Ind., reside two nondescript creatures horrible in appearance and habit. They are amphibious in nature and resemble in appearance huge lizards with human features. When partly submerged in the yellow waters of the Ohio, they are strangely like human beings. Of what species of animal they are no one knows, for it is impossible to get near enough to them to judge correctly. The sand bar in question at low tide is covered with huge logs and stumps of trees, known in the river vernacular as snags. They have been deposited by the government snag boats engaged in keeping the channel clear. When the water is high enough to cover these snags, the creatures make their home among them. When the water recedes, they disappear into some unknown lair and wait for a rise. From indications they appear to be carnivorous. Among the snags are to be found wagon loads of mussel shells, fish bones and other debris of animals. When the river goes down, these shells and other articles disappear only to be succeeded by a fresh lot. This is evidence to those who have watched the coming and going of the strange things that they live upon such food. It has been about four years since they were first noticed about Vevay. The fisherman who saw the strange heads protruding from the stream had never heard of a mermaid, and his description was such as to cause the belief in the minds of the better educated that, after all, the old myth might be true in some degree. Some days since, Captain J. M. Ozler of Covington, Ky., who is in charge of a traveling art exhibition, came to this place to make arrangements for an entertainment. He heard of the strange mermaids and paid their haunts several visits in the hope of being able to get a glimpse of them. In this he was successful, going so far as to get a pen-

cil sketch of the male amphibian. Seated on the bank, he watched it swimming

within 20 feet of the spot where he observed its movements.

From notes taken on the ground the description as furnished by Mr. Ozier states that the beast is about 5 feet in length and should weigh about 150 pounds. Its general color is yellowish. The body between the fore legs resembles that of a human being. Back of the hind legs it tapers to a point. This point in no way resembles a tail. The legs, four in number, resemble the arms and legs of a human. The fore legs are shorter than the hind pair and are used in the same manner as arms. The

extremities resemble hands and are

webbed and furnished with sharp claws. On the back and one-third of the way around the body appears a mass of straggling, coarse hair. The skin below the fore legs is thick and resembles elephant hide. On the arms and about the face and neck it is of a finer texture and brighter yellow color than the rest of

the body.

The head of the nondescript beast is the most remarkable part of its makeup. It is devoid of hair and is strangely like that of a human being. Its ears are sharp pointed and stand up like those of a dog. There is no intelligence in the face, which in contour is like that of an idiot. Mr. Ozier declares that it resembles to a great extent the freak known as Zip, or the What-is-it, which

was exhibited first by P. T. Barnum. In swimming it seems to move without an

effort and does not cause much commotion in the water. Only its head and a part of the slightly arched back are shown while swimming. When frightened, instead of diving like a duck or making a quick flop, the strange beast sinks from view like a stone. It is exceedingly timid in nature, fleeing at the first approach of a human being.--Cin-cinnati Enquirer.

AN EMBARRASSING RIDE. The Awkward Position In Which Two Fashionable Ladies Found Themselves.

Two very pretty and fashionable young women set out from Montclair to Bloomfield, N. J., one day recently on foot, and, as they were going to a luncheon, had on most "fetching" toi-

lets. The road was hot and dusty, and after a little one young woman's Louis Quinze heel and Piccadilly toe began to give her bother, so that the walk ahead grew to assume fairly insurmountable proportions. Just as she limped and hobbled at her worst along came a great high wagon with a wide driver's seat over the top.

The whistling driver's cheery consent to their request for a ride solved their difficulty. He chuckled a bit as he handed them up beside him, but he was

mighty genial about it, and they felt no other sensation than that of relief, with an idea that they were perhaps conspicuously high.

As they rode along everybody stared at them. Some folk actually stopped by the roadside and shielded their eyes with their rural palms to watch the young women. By and by the gazing grew embarrassing, and as they neared the town they felt that surely something strange must be the matter with either one beyond the fact of being a modish young woman taking a free ride away up where women are not wont to climb.

They pulled down their skirts and drew in their feet, adjusted their hats, assured each other that they looked all right and did everything else that nervous young women may do. As they en-

rered the town things assumed awful proportions. Everybody stood and stared. Shopkeepers ran to their doors, heads were thrust out of windows, there were whispering and pointing and following until the young women in grim agony held down their parasols and felt creeping upon them an incipient paralysis which would prevent their ever be-

ing able to step down from this dread-

ful pinnacle.

At last the driver began to see it. "Guess," he said, "they think it sort o' queer me carryin a load like this. Never seen one like it afore on this wagon, sure 'nough, but they don't need to be such durn idiots, makin such fuss about it. It's only the prison wagon." And straight in the face of the crowd those young women stepped down. A few feet more, and they might have been landed in front of the prison, and they

would show the public, whatever it cost, that they were completely free women.

But they were shaken women, and never will they take a free ride again without an advance account of the nature of the

The Child In the Basket.

The vigilance of an old time customs official, it may be said, came perhaps within an ace of changing the course of French history. One day a mother who

had been to a country house near Marseilles returned with her son to Marseilles. It was twilight. The child, [?]

years old, had been put in a peach basket borne by a donkey, and the mother, fearing the child might take cold--it was in November--had covered the boy with a thick brown shawl. Tired with running around the country all day, cozy and warm under the thick shawl, the child was soon asleep and hidden by

the sides of the basket. When the city gates were neared, the mother, forgetting all about the child, walked a distance behind the donkey and did not make him stop at the custom house to be searched. The customs officer, seeing the donkey jog on without stopping,

suspected that he was laden with smuggled goods and ran after him to thrust his sharp steel probe through the basket. Luckily the mother observed him, ran forward and screamed: "Don't use your probe. My child is in the basket." The child was Adolphe Thiers.--New York World.

A Bit of "Bleak House."

By the demolition of some old houses in Catherine street, Straud, and in Drury lane, what may be regarded as a classic spot has been exposed to view. This is the old churchyard which Charles Dickens graphically described in "Bleak House," and which is approached by a narrow passage leading from Russell court. The churchyard on the left hand side of Drury lane higher up has frequently been talked of as "Joe's churchyard," but the miserable burial ground which received the remains of poor Nemo is that on which the sunlight is now allowed to shine through the clearing away of the rookeries which previously hemmed it in on east and west. At the end of the Russell court passage the gate, with its iron bars, through which Joe pointed out to Lady Dedlock the grave of his benefactor, still hangs on its rusty hinges, although the graveyard itself has been asphalted over and turned into a play ground. Some thousands of the admirers of Dickens' works, including a large number of Americans, have visited the spot within the last few weeks.--Westminster Review.

Suffrage in North Dakota.

Judging from the attitude of two great political parties in North Dakota woman suffrage promises to soon become an issue that will stir up all the latent enthusiasm which womankind is capable of exercising upon so important a topic. The state constitution provides that the legislature may at any time submit this question to the electors, to be decided by a majority vote, and it is

not unlikely that such action will be taken at the next session of the lawmaking body.--Western Womanhood.

Blarney. The Boston Transcript quotes one of those inimitable compliments for which Hibernians are famous. Patrick was in the drawing room on some errand and caught sight of his mistress' photograph on the mantel. "Yes, Patrick," said the lady in response to some exclamation of his, "that is my picture, but it flatters me a little." "And sure, mum, it would have to flatted you a great deal," said Patrick, "to look as well as you do in my eyes, mum."

No Gallant Was He. Ancient Coquetto--What, you are a major already? How time flies! Do you remember how often you used to play with me when I was a little girl? Major--That was my father. A. C.--Oh, no, major! Major--Then, 'twas my grandfather.--Fliegende Blatter.

SOLD HIS BODY. The Party of the Second Part Did Not Have a Cinch After All.

In the month of March, 1882, the following agreement was drawn up in the city of Boston:

"This agreement witnesseth: That Henry Grahame, being of sound mind and understanding, doth hereby covenant and agree as party of the first part to permit Robert J. Bedwin, party of the second part, to receive and hold within 24 hours after the death of the first part the body of the said Henry Bayles Grahame, the party of the first part, and to make such disposition of the said body of the party of the first part as he, the said Robert J. Bedwin, the party of the second part, may see fit and proper, and the said Henry Bayles Grahame, the party of the first part, hereby invests the party of the second part, the aforesaid Robert J. Bedwin, with full and absolute authority in the receiving and disposal of the body of the first part, the said Henry Bayles Grahame, for and in consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), the receipt of which the said Henry Bayles Grahame herewith acknowledges this 19th day of March, A. D. 1882."

Lawyers and conveyancers may not admire the form of the contract and doubtless could detect many flaws by which the party of the first part might get the better of the party of the second part, or vice versa, but the document was drawn up in good faith, and the parties to it fully intended to live up to its provisions.

Henry Boyles Grahame was a dry goods clerk in Boston 12 years ago. He received a meager compensation for his service and lived in a little attic room in Cambridge. Bedwin was a medical student. He had wealthy parents and was able to gratify any whim or fancy that might seize him. He became acquainted with Grahame and took great fancy to him for two reasons--first, because of his intellectuality, and second, because he appeared to be approaching the last stages of consumption. The second reason for the liking was rather a grewsome one, but Bedwin was what might be called a crank, as to the subject of dissection, and as well as he liked and admired his friend he was anxious to secure his body after death, which he honestly believed was not far off. There was a great deal of discussion over it, and eventually Bedwin made the proposition which resulted in the drawing up of this agreement with out the aid of a lawyer. There was no stipulation as to what the sick and apparently dying man should do with the money, so he immediately expended part of it in paying six months' board in advance in the Adirondacks.

Henry Bayles Grahame showed his copy of this agreement to the writer yesterday. He looked like a man in fairly good health--not ragged, to be sure, but far from a dying man. "My recovery was simply a miracle," said he. "At the time I accepted that money I was so poor that I hadn't money enough to buy medicine, even if I got medical attendance for nothing. I was glad to take it just to have a little comfort in what I supposed were my last days. I got well enough to leave the mountains in eight months and went to St. Paul, where I got a place in a real estate office, and was lucky enough to assist my employer in saving several thousand dollars by the discovery of some forged deeds. He gave me a tip on western lands and loaned me some money to speculate with. To make a long story short, I went from

one good thing to another until I made a

lot of money. I could sell out today at $150,000. Curiously enough, the tables

are turned now. Bedwin is as poor or almost as poor as I was 12 years ago, but he is a queer fellow and will not accept any help at my hands. He wrote me a letter and told me frankly that he had worried himself sick waiting for me to die, and he insists on holding me to the terms of the contract. As a matter of fact, I think he will die before I do. This waiting for a living man to become a subject for the dissecting table is a monomania with him, and from mutual friends of ours I know he is dwelling on it night and day. I am now on my way to Boston, and if I can't get him to tear up the agreement, which couldn't be enforced anyhow, I'll make a will and leave my body to a crematory. I don't like this thing hanging over me." This is an experience that does not come to many men in a lifetime.--New York Mail and Express.

Adoption Among Birds.

Modern scientific research undoubtedly tends to place the ethics of bird life on a higher and higher level. Even the cuckoo, against whom so much has been written, is now acknowledged to have been maligned when it was universally affirmed by ornithologists that it displays in its tenderest stage of development the odious faculty of ejecting its lawful occupants from the stolen nest in which it has been placed. The bishop of Newcastle has now made himself responsible for a touching little anecdote. Not long ago, says Dr. Wilberforce, there was a Frenchman who had a large family and who was haunted by the idea that when he died there would be no one to look after his children. While thinking of this one spring day he noticed two nests in a hedge close by each other. Each contained half fledged birds, whose parents were lying dead. He went away sad, thinking that the young birds must die. What was his surprise, however, a few days after to see them quiet happy and apparently well fed. He stood apart and watched, and presently he saw the parent birds of other nests come to the young birds and feed them. They had adopted the little orphans, a fact which the Frenchman naturally took as a good omen with regard to his own little ones.--London News.

Difficult to Translate. It was the Duchess of Gordon, a clever and beautiful Scotchwoman, who successfully dumfounded a pretentious dandy. He was beside her at a supper party, and in order to gain her good graces affected a liking for the Scottish tongue, declaring there was not a Scottish phrase he did not understand. "Rax me a sprawl o' that hubbly jock," replied the duchess without changing a muscle of her face. The exquisite looked appalled and then slunk away in confusion, while the commissioner was [?] by a cavalier hailing from the North of the Tweed. She wanted a turkey wing.--Youth's Companion.

The Origin of China's Flag. The flag of China is one of the gayest among ensigns. The body of the flag is a pale yellow. In the upper left hand corner is a small red sun. Looking intently at the sun is a fierce Chinese dragon.

The dragon's belly is a brilliant red and white. His green back is covered with stiff knobs. He is standing on his two hind paws and the left fore foot. The feet are five toed and slightly hooked. His long five forked tail stretches away in the rear. The dragon's neck

is arched back. His mouth is wide open, and he looks as if he were about

to try to swallow the red sun.

The Japanese flag has a white body, and in the center is a large red sun, with rays radiating in all directions. About 1,000 years ago the Chinese made war on Japan and prepared a grand invasion. To symbolize their anticipated victory they adopted the flag of today. They took the sun of Japan and made it small and put it in front of the dragon's mouth to express the idea that the Chinese dragon would devour the Japanese. It happened, however, that the Chinese fleet, conveying an army of 100,000 men, was wrecked on its way to Japan by a great storm, and all but three of the 100,000 perished. Despite that un-

lucky beginning in the use of the flag the Chinese retained it.

The Game of Dominos. The inventors of the game of dominos were two monks at Monte Cassino. One day the inmates of the convent were on the lookout for a method of beguiling their leisure moments without transgressing the rule of silence to which they were subject. Two of their number hit upon the device of playing with square stones covered with dots, which they showed to each other and combined in a certain order agreed upon. The winner communicated the result to his partner by pronouncing in a low voice the lines of the vespers, which commence as follows: "Dixit Dominus domino meo." The new game soon sprang into favor and was admitted to the rank of lawful recreations. It became popular outside the monastery walls, but the people, with their scanty knowledge of Latin, simplified the monastic formula, only retaining the word domino, by which the game was afterward entitled.--Monde Pittoresque.

English Wedding Cakes.

"I wondered much how the enormous English wedding cakes, weighing into the hundreds of pounds, were baked," comments a woman, "and when I was in England I asked about it. They are baked in sections, it seems, each section weighing sometimes 40 or 50 pounds. These sections are perfect parts of the whole design and fit into their places as beautifully as pieces of cabinet work. Each section is cut open to see that it is properly baked, and the incisions are afterward covered with thick sugar and almond icing.--New York Times.

JOHN BROWER, Painter and Glazier. DEALER IN Lewis Bros. Pure White Lead, Linseed Oil and Colors. First Quality Hard Oil and Varnishes. Roberts' Fire and Water Proof Paints. Pure Metallic Paints for Tin and Shingle Roofs (and no other should be used where rain water is caught for family use). All brands of Ready Mixed Paints. Window Glass of all kinds and patterns. Reference given. STORE ON ASBURY AVE OCEAN CITY N. J. GILBERT & LAKE, House and Sign Painters. RESIDENCE: 450 West Avenue, OCEAN CITY, N. J. Jobbing promptly attended to. Estimates cheerfully given. Guarantee to do first-class work and use the best material. Orders left at Wm. Lake's office, corner Sixth and Asbury avenue, will receive prompt attention.

C. THOMAS, NO. 108 MARKET STREET, PHILADELPHIA. HEADQUARTERS OF SOUTH JERSEY FOR FINE FAMILY GROCERIES. ALWAYS THE FRESHEST AND BEST TO BE FOUND IN THE MARKET.

Full Flavored Teas, Choice Brands of Coffee, Sugars of all Grades,

Canned Fruits,

Pickles, Spices, Raisins, Dried Beef, Butter and Lard. Hams of Best Quality, Weighed when Purchased by

Customers. No Loss in Weighed Charged to Purchasers.

Stop in and make selections from the best, largest and freshest stock in Philadelphia.

Orders by mail promptly attended to and goods delivered free of charge at any railroad or steamboat in the city.

LOW PRICES. Satisfaction Gauranteed. [sic]

OCEAN CITY.

A Moral Seaside Resort. Not Excelled as a Health Restorer.

Finest facilities for FISHING, Sailing, gunning, etc. The Liquor Traffic and its kindred evils are forever prohibited by deed. Every lover of Temperance and Morals should combine to help us. Water Supply, Railroad, Steamboats And all other Modern Conveniences.

W. L. DOUGLAS

$3 SHOE

IS THE BEST. NO SQUEAKING.

$5 CORDOVAN, FRENCH & ENAMELLED CALF. $4. $3.50 FINE CALF & KANGAROO. $3.50 POLICE, 3 SOLES. $2.50, $2. WORKINGMENS EXTRA FINE. $2. $1.75 BOYS' SCHOOL SHOES. LADIES $3. $2.50 $2. $1.75 BEST DONGOLA. SEND FOR CATALOGUE W. L. DOUGLAS, BROCKTON, MASS.

You can save money by purchasing W. L. Douglas Shoes,

Because, we are the largest manufacturers of advertised shoes in the world, and guarantee the value by stamping the name and price on the bottom, which protects you against high prices and the middleman's profits. Our shoes equal custom work in style, easy fitting and wearing qualities. We have sold them everywhere at lower prices for the value given than any other make. Take no substitute. If your dealer cannot supply you, we can. Sold by Dealer, whose name will shortly appear. Agent wanted, apply at once.

Thousands of lots for sale at various prices, located in all parts of the city. For information apply to E. B. LAKE, Secretary, Ocean City Asso'n, SIXTH ST. & ASBURY AVE.