Topics of
the Times
It la dtftlcult to convince a confirmed
KnoholT that abuse of Mm Is not in
spired ly envy.
Women's shoos nro to be larger thl
year than formerly. Feet will remain
the saute elite, however.
The hand that rocks the cradle may
ml the world, hut the foot that walk
the floor with a colicky baby is also
entitled to some credit
Japanese oilleials say that It Is -not
to be expected that Russia will sue for
peace yet with a good deal of em
phasis ou the word "yet."
David Wark, though KX years of
age, is serving as a member of Wio
Canadian senate. Mr. Wark thinks Dr.
sler may know more wheu he gets
older.
"There are many persons In Jail wh
should not be there." says the lUsto;i
iilobe. Isihly, but tliere are more
outside who should be iu jail; so hon
ors are easy.
The United State Senate is com
posed of tluee classes of members-
'those who have been Indicted, those
who have not and those who may be
Indicted later on.
Surgeons have succeeded in sarins
a human eye by grafting upon It a
piece of a rabbit's eyeball. The owner
of the eye will be lucky if he Isn't
troubled with wild harts In It
There is a lady In Ohio who has be
come a grandmother at the age of
Sti. But that's nothing. Grandmothers
who are not over 22 or 23 can be fouud
In almost every chorus on the road.
Miss Jehnle Crocker of San Francis
co has reached the as of IS and come
Into possession of $,".000,000. Titled
foreigners will please Hie photographs
of themselves with their applications.
Professor Loeb Is able now to hatch
eea urchins from unfertilized eggs, but
If he wants to cause read excitement
let him drop the sea urchins and find
out how to get gold without a gold
mine.
Misguided philanthropists are trying
to secure a pardon for Jesse Pomeroy,
the "boy fiend," who Is serving a life
sentence for murder. Some people are
never satisfied with letting well
enough alone.
la view of the decision by the Inter
national commission In the North sea
case, the least the czar can do will ba
to give England an order on Japan for
a few of those sunken warships to
make good the damage done to that
fleet of trawlers.
In a case at Pittsburg the other day
in which a young lady claimed dam
ages from a young man for kissing
ber, the Judge, after carefully scrutin
izing the fair plaintiff, dismissed the
uit on tbe ground that the defendant
was Justifiable. This would appear a
clear Instance of a gay old bird come
to Judgment
There are so many men past 40 who
are at work and doing tilings that Dr.
William Osier has met an extremely
rough house. Some men beyond CO,
at which age the doctor drew the limit,
have proven themselves so good In a
rough and tumble that the university
man has come out of his bouts with
them in rumpled and disfigured form.
Popular actors and actresses take
warning! Sir Henry Irving's recent
close call was the inevitable conse
quence of crowding social affairs into
a profession which taxes the nervous
forces more, pirhaps, than any other
in our complex modern life. It Is suf
ficient to undergo the strain of the
theater without adding to it that wear
and tear which is inseparable from
dining out and speech-making, the
highly exciting arid, it will be con
f wised, also, fatiguing pastime for
brilliant men of mark. The world de
mands too much and the favorite gives
too much.
The seriousness of fire losses in the
United States ltecomes conspicuous as
one gets down to details. Here Is an
interesting comparison: The revenue
of the State of Maine In 1003 was, In
round numbers, two million five hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars; the
damage done by fires in the State dur
ing that year is estimated at five thou
sand dollars more than that sum, with
out taking into account the destruc
tion by forest fires, which would have
added more than a million dollars on
the wrong side. Doubtless almost any
other State would make quite as bad a
ehowlng; but such figures, whereso
ever found, are full of suggestion.
Dishonesty in politics is so generally
the rule that men who are honeat in
j their private business do not hesitate
to falsify, cheat ami steal In the mat-
tor of political nominations and elec
tions If they can do ao with any pros
pect of escaping punishment, Thre
can be no honest politic expressing
the choice and voice of the people uu
j loss. In tun first place, the people are
i enabled to take personal part by mem
ot primaries In nominating candidates,
and. In the second place, unless they
perform their public duty of qualify
lug themselves to rote iu all elections.
primary and final, and then go to the
h11s and cast their votes, F.ternal
vigilance Is the price of liberty.
A Pittsburg 'steel magnate" now re
siding in ,ev York has recently cre
ated a fund of a million dollar for the
puriKso of erecting mod 1 tenement in
New York. Apparently he desires to
duplicate snlstnnt!ally the splendid
building devised and eonmdbd by the
City and Suburban Home Company)
clean, light, airy atructures, fitted with
many modern conveniences, where de
cent people en live In comfort a
cheaply as In an equal number of un
wholesome rooms In a slum. In prac
tice the nt'Hlel tenement heretofore.
constructed are a philanthropic enter
prise. The tenants pay for what they
get, but they get a great deal more
than other landlord glva for tin
money. The tenements are a business
enterprise also, and yield a profit of 4
per cent ou the money Investe I. Ltou ba
les the new one will pay as well, and.
forty thousand dollar will become
available every year to build more ten
ements. Evidently this is the feature
of the good housing Question that ap
peals most forcibly to the man who
gives the million dollars. He does not
tietxi or want the 4 per cent but h.t
doe Intend that bis benefaction shall
endure and benefit an ever Increasing
number. As a business man and as a
philanthropist he might Justifiably an
ticipate a day when, by tbe natural
law of growth, model tenements shall
displace the other kind. We speak of
business and philanthropy In the same
breath. That the association no longer
seems absurd marks a distinct gain for
both. It la entirely proper that char
ity, even, should be administered on
business principles, and it la right that
a man who Is helped to a more com
fortable way of living should aid to ex
tend the benefit to his neighbor. The
strength of the model-tenement plan is
that it recognizes these principle.
Thereby It appeals to many who, like
the Pittsburg man, are able and will
ing to do generous deeds when Judg
ment apprve what generosity sug
gests. No nvn reaches the age of triumph
but by the steps of trial. He make
no particular progress by patting
himself on the back. Virtue may be
It own reward, but It la not its own
advertising agent The most success
ful men are not the ones noisily de
manding public attention. The best
and most useful women In the world
are not the bright butter flea of the
stage, whose press agents Incessant
ly flaunt their pictures and their lit
tle nothings before the public. The
nnlauded men and women who are
quietly attending to their own little
tasks, every day contributing some
thing substantial to industry and pros
perity, rearing children in habits of
honest labor and right living and sup
plying example that elevates the mor
al and Intellectual level of their
little communities these are the men
and women of real influence and pow
er. Success is theirs In the fullest
measure. The power of the locomo
tive lies not in the tremendously puff
ing smokestack or In the shrill scream
of the waste steam of the safety
valve, but in the unheard, tin wen, but
silently working steam In the cylin
der. The swift flying piston seems
to be doing wonders, but It Is only be-
Ing forced back and forth by a force'
it knows nothing alsmt, but must i
obey. Just so the men we call great,
because tliey seem to perform mar
vels, are but the expression of the
thought and Impulse of the united
mass of unknown common people.
No great man ever yet sprang up ex
cept from a great people. It Is not
given us all to have success as gor
geous as the rainbow. But it need not
matter. Success consists In doing
your best at whatever Is at hand
or In at leant trying your best. In
deed the real success is more in the
trying than in the achievement. We, wax unwilling to burn even though
niay achieve by chance help of others set In a golden stand. There Is no
or of force that are not ours. But brilliance without burning; no cnllght
otir efforts are all our own. It Is ening without much loss, and the
the efforts that are a part of our ,
very stives.
Tbe Chance He Lost.
"Why are you so sad.Allce?" her
mother asked.
"I've decided not to keep company
with Mr. Jonesby any more."
"Dear me! Have you heard any
thing about him?"
"No. But last night when I said I
wished that I was a man he merely
asked me why, instead of getting ex- vvnicn or tne iweive aposues was con
cited and saying that life would be verted by the preaching of Jemis?
hateful to him if I had not been born And which of Jesus' sermons was tn
a girl." Chicago Itecord-IIerald. I tended for the specific purpose of con-
I version? Of his recorded discourse,
Many a man has accidentally lot the sermon on the mount was for in
hia best umbrella by an unexpected etruetion; tbe discourse in the upper
meeting with the owner. room waa tor comfort; the discourse
LAMPS AMI LIUtllH.
"Ye are the light of the world."
Matt, v., 14.
The utterance of the beatitude I
ended; their application must begin.
The danger Is that they shall be no
more than beautiful attitudes. These
ibiquent words are to issue In actual
deed, they are the outline of the
characteristics that produce light giv
ing lives. Jesus did not speak these
words so that preacher might have
so many suitable text on which to
hang their thought, but that people
might have plain paths for the prac
tice of virtue. One of the mtt com
mou mistakes is that of supposing
that all required of man I that T
ahall Indorse these doctrine. Jesus
little cures whether we Indorse them
r not, so long as we I -ani to do them
Then were already plenty who could
analyze his teaching; he wanted men
ami women to demonstrate them
Therefore, lie called, not for lamp t
carry the light of his truth, but for
lights, lives burning with and living
that truth.
He leoauie the light of the world by
giving a life to the world; so must all
they w!k follow him. Light is i!f,
and every life Is a lightgiver. The life,
of the world depends not upon the
number or the beauty of its lamps;
it depends on the clear shining of it
lights. The salvation of the world tie
peuds not en our orthodox thinking,
nor upon our effective organizing, but
npon our enlightening living. Men are
anxious and distressed because the
fashion in candlesticks change; some
have sjwtit their whole live trying to
show how much U tter is a bras can
dlestick than a glass one; they would
redeem humanity by the shape of the
lamp or the logic of the Inscription
thereon.
The hope of the world 1 In larger
things. It is neither In pulpit nor l.i
press; it I In tbe people; it Is not in
the church, but In character. There
is no preaching that begins to be as
powerful as personality, no logic like
that of a life. There was a life Out
led men with It clear light before
ever a creed was formally stated, and
it will still In? a life that shall lead
them whether they remember their
creed or forget them.
The many little, apparently Insig
nificant, lights consisting of all these
Christllke lives, shining together have
turned their darkness Into day. We
speak of the dark ages" and we be
lieve Unit these are now the ages of
light The enlightening of the world,
the end of those days of the darkne
of sin, superstition, slavery, and sor
row, has come about because men
have learned to lift up their heads to
the great light of all lives; they then
have learned of him the duty of giving
light. Under the Inspiration of his life
they could not Ik content to enjoy
selfishly the light of learning for them
selves; he gave them the light of love
as well as that of learning, nnd love
taught men U give out their light, not
for their own adorning or glory but
for the leading and enlightening of all.
Whether great or small, hero Is
something no man' can cweape; if he
ha a life he Is some kind of light.
And they who profess to follow the
Hf-'ht of nil lives must, be his kind of
a light. He semis them into the world
even as he came himself, to live a life.
That Is every mini's work. He cannot
pay another to do his living, his shin
ing for him. There Is nothing that
can be accepted ns a substitute for
this. It Is simple, so simple that men
ever seek 'more Involved ways; the
way to do the sublime work of saving
the world is the simple way of living
out always the best you know.
Better Is It to be a glowing tallow
dip In a tin candlestick than a ciwtly
world Is lifted bv those lives that, liko
his, have never stopped to count their
1ossih.
PJIKACHLNG DOES NOT CON V RUT.
By Dr. W. t. Barton.
" Preaching Is of minor importance in
converting men. I am tired of that
vapid old thrust at the modern pulpit
that in the .apostles' day one sermon
converted 3,000 people, and that now
lf 181108 3-000 sermons to convert one.
on last things wa for thu establish
ment of rlghteonnnea. other agtvielos
mostly wore fruitful in conversions.
The very first man we know who fob
lowed Jesus was converted through
the MronaJ testlmouy of John the
Baptist 1
m:ki ok a NAVioit,
. K ft, WHf,
What men want and what meu need
are not always one and the same
thing. A Savior 1 the tremendous
need of the world. It want philan
thropists, but It needs a Savior to
make it alms and dole unnecessary;
It want reformers to abolish It
slums, but it meds a Savior to abolish
the alum from It' featerlug place, th
human heart. Time out of number
the alum I iu the man before the man
Is In the alum.
The world want hospitals and asy
lums (and may their number Increas
uum no nurortunatw cries In vain),
but It need first of all a Savior t)
rid It of the sin and vice that till hos
pital and asylum with the victim of
pain, Insanity and want
It want ami it must bare Its
prophet of the l!ter social order, but
it needs, its It t'.eods nothing else, a
Savior to create the new man, with
out which no higher scheme of things
i workable.
The church may have often carica
tured It Leader In it live and
wronged him In its dogmas and phil
osophies, but Its heart has been true,
as through all age It has worshiped
"Jesus llomluum Salvator," Jeans, th
Savior of the world.
REVIVALS (MINING 1'AVOlt
By Bmhop frltow.
"O Ixrd, revive thy work." wa the
prayer of an old testament prophet.
The word rwlval la, therefore, good
scriptural word. It mean recovery
from spiritual deaduess ami an ag
gresslve movement upou sin and nu
righteoumifM In every form. It la In
harmony with the teaching of nature
and with the nocomdtie of business.
social and political life.
The sign of a great spiritual awak
ening throughout the country are of
an encouraging nature. Chicago sent
to the old world .Moody and San key,
who stints! profoundly both Kngland
and Scotland. She has recently sent
across the water Torrey and Alexan
der, who are achieving signal religious
success, WahM has enjoyed a revival
unprecedented In modern time.
Kev. W. J. Dawson, of Kngland, and
or. mill, of Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn, are soon to begin pvlaj
meetings In Chicago and the West
under the auspice of the Congrega
tional Church. The season of Lent Is
titling time for a union of effort of
all the churches to arouse the people
to the lmMirtance of a deep religious
life. May the year lOofi be a memor
able one for the spiritual progre of
the nation.
SOME NAGGING PHOBLKMS.
Bf Hey. Pear ftneft,
We have a thousand nagging prob
ems. How shall we feed the poor?
low shall we reform the world? I low
shall we manage with our struggling
hurches?
The problem of the poor,' while n
problem of food, Is more a problem of
hnracter. Regeneration Is the only
mastery of It. The only way to reform
the world Is to have more people wiio
lire rltrlit at heart. Wo shall lift the
truggllng churches when the life and
tower of Christ, fhall find n place In
hem, for they will be no loner
struggling, but victorious.
From the nagging problems nil neel
o turn to that divine love nnd mastery
that goes In compassion upon the real
needs of men nnd feeds the great soul
uinger which is the basis of all dis
order.
Short Meter Sermons.
VIrtuo Is victory.
Hot heads make eofd hearts.
There Is no lift In a long face.
Faith cannot feed on fireworks.
Big clocks do not kei) the tiest time.
Aspiration proves Itself by perspira
tion.
Faith In God will at least show fair-
liens to men.
Some sermons gllslen because they
are frozen.
Consideration and kill-Joy are not
even on speaking terms.
One of the first fruit of the clean
heart will be clean bands.
Where the Bible does not get worn
the heart soon get weary.
A man does not grow himself by
grunting at every one else.
It takes sunshine In tbe soul to ripon
the fruits of tho spirit
Tbe Christian life is more than curi
osity about the next life.
No amount of proficiency in the
quotation of scripture can atone foi
deficiency In tbe practice of it
WHEN THE SMOKER FAILED,
M Ch n not Httinkv Cigar Wltliont
Kviuovltitf II froiu tU Llia.
"Men are proud of their ability to
consume a number of strong tigur,"
said a. cigar di aler tho other day. Ac
cording to the Newark (N. J.) News,
'"Ibey glory In It, even while they are
wishing they could break off the prac
tice. And that remind me of a story.
Did you ever stop to think what a
hard thing It would be to smoke a
cigar continuously, without rumovlng
It from the mouth, until It waa all
gone, or so short that It could not be
smoked conveniently?"
Tbe reporter said ho never had.
"Well, there was a iiihii Iu here one
who was making all sort of crack
about w hat a smoker he was, Klghteen
cigar a day wa his limit. There waa
a quiet chap In here at the same tlmo
one of tho who will smoke three
cigars a day, no more, no less, ono
after each meal, and enjoy every inch
of the weed. Well, be sort of sl.ed
the boatful one up and made the re.
mark that be had a ten smt that wa
ready for the talkative one If ha could
smoke a cigar down to within one Inch
of the end without taking it from hi
Hi.
"That waa easy for the Issister. He
said so, at any rate, and be prodticvd
bis money, 1 held the stakes, and
the contest was on. The great smoker
llghtisl bis weed, sat down ami began
pulling, a smile of confidence ou bU
face. He did very well, too, rolling
out great clouds of stiioke, mid soon
there was half an Inch of ash on tho
tip of his perfecto. But from then on
the smoker was a tittle uneasy. Ho
hort of rolled Ids cigar a round between
his Hps and bis putting came slower.
When he hud burned nu hxii of It ho
began to walk up and down the room.
Some one gave him the laugh, and be
started In putting again, but It was
such an effort that I felt sorry for
him. He begun to have trouble with
bis loin thing.
"The sweat come out on bis fore
bead, and when the cigar wa half
gone he wa Iu positive agony. I
don't know whether It was from ner
vonsncM, In not following the usual
custom of removing the cigar from tho
Hps at stated Intervals, or because he
was sickened by the constant volume
of smoke be hnd to puff in and blow
out At any rate be wa getting In a
bad way, and a few minutes later, a
white as a sheet, he gave it up. He
tossed the clgnr away, iioddisl that I
might pny the stakes over to the quiet
man, and went out. That was the last
boasting he ever did.
"it's an oild fact, but It's true, and
be proved it, that a man can't smoke
a clgnr and not take It from hi Hp
until It'a all gone. No smoker doc it.
He can't He's simply got hi take It
from his mouth occasionally, I, of
course, have heard of men who lighted
cigars and never let them go out and
never took them from between their
lips until the weisls were smoked rlht
down to the end. but I never saw a
chap who could do the stunt In fact
I don't think liny one can do It If
you think It can be done well, try
It some time, ami see bow you ge
along."
WEEDS USED AS MEDICINE.
Far Better than Chcnilrnl Componitd
for Common Kan of llrman Ilia.
Tho United States Department ef
Agriculture is publishing a great many
valuable bulletin for the Information
of the farmers, says Medical Talk for
the Home.
Bulletin No. 1S8 Is entitled: "Weed
L'sed in Medicine." It goes on to enu
merate the weeds, which grow, to tho
great annoyance of the fanner, that
have been fouud by experience io bo
useful as medicine. We will give tlioiu
as a matter of information.
They are: Burdock, dandelion, yel
low dock, couch grass, poke wcisl,
lox glove, miil elii, lobelia, tansy, gum
plant, scaly grlndcliu boneset catnip,
hoaiiiound, thistle, yarrow, Henbane,
jlinsoii weed, mIsoii hemlock, worm
seed and mustard. These are very f i
mlllar to the average fanner, who
dally uproots them, and makes it hi
biiHlneti to exterminate them.
We believe that when the medical
fraternity get over their microbe cm so.
and are willing to leave their chemical
In lxra tones long enough to get out
Into the woods and fields, thev will
discover remedies a great ileal less
harmful nnd a great ileal more potent
among the weed than they will ever
find in it chemical lalsirn-tory. Wo have
fiillh in nature, We believe Hint na
ture has provided what remedies aro
necessary for disease. Should the doc
tors tiike to the woods and fields fo?
thelr remedies, not only . would their
patients be benefited, but tho doctors
themselves. The air nnd sun to wblh
they would expose themsolve, leaving
for a while tho stench and poisonous
odors of the laboratories behind, wonl.i
do them lots of good.
We will undertake the easv task of
showing that the weeds which the
farmers throw away have done more
good in the world as medicines than
all the compounds devised by tho
chemists witn unpronounceable Latin
names.
We are always willing to delight a
mother by holding her baby, but we
don't want to dollght hor too long.
t