VOL. I.
SUNDAY’S‘ SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DR. TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject; “ The Brilliancy of Religion. ”
, TEXT: “The crystal cannot equal it.”—
Job xxviii.. 7.
Many of the precious stones of the. Bible
have come to prompt recognition. But for
tee present I take up the less valuable crys-
tal. Job, in my text, compares saving wis-
dom with aspecimen of topaz. An infidel
chemist or mineralogist would pronounce
the latter worth more than the former, but
Job makes an intelligent comparison, looks
at religion and t hen looks at the crystal and.
pronounces the former as of superior value
to the latter, exclaiming, in the words of my
text, “The crystal cannot; equal it."
Now, it is not a part of my ‘ sermonic de—
sign to depreciate the crystal, whether it be
found in Cornish mine or Hartz mountain or
Mam moth Cave or tinkling among the pen-
dants of the chandeliers of a. palace. The
crystal is the star of the mountain; it is the
queen of the cave; it is the eardrop of the
hills; it finds its heaven in the diamond.
Among all the pages of natural history there
is no page more interesting to me than the
page crystallographic. But I want to show
you that Job w as right when, taking religion
in one hand and the crystal in the other, he
declared that the former is of far more value
and beauty than the latter, recommending it
to all the people and to all the ages, declar—
ing, ”The crystal cannot equal it.”
In the first place, I remark that religion is
superior to the crystal in exactness. That
sbupeless mass of crystal against which you
accidentally dashed your foot is laid out
with more exactness than any earthly city.
There are six styles of crystallization, and all
of them divinely, ordained. Every crystal,
has mathematical precision. God’s geometry
reaches through it, and it is a square, or it is
isa rectangle, or it is a rhomboid, or in some
way it bath a mathematical figure. Now,
religion beats that in the simple fact that
spiritual accuracy is more beautiful than
material accuracy. God’s attributes are
exact God’s law exact. God’s decrees exact
God’s management of the world'exac t—never
counting wrong. though He céunts the grass
blades. and the stars, and the sands, and the
cycles. His providences never dealing with us
perpendicularly when those rovidencesought
to be oblique. nor lateral w en they ought to
be vertical. Everything in our life arranged
without any possibility of mistake. Each.
life a six sided prism. Born at the right time,
dying at the right time. There are no “hap-
pen so’s” in our theology. If I thought this
was aslipshod universe I would go crazy.
God is not an anarchist. Law, order, sym-
metry, precision, a perfect square, 9. perfect
rectangle, a perfect rhomboid, a perfect cir-
cle. The edge of God’s robe of government
never frays out. There are no loose screws
in the world’s machinery. It did not just ,
happen that Napoleon was attacked with in-
digestion at Borodiiio so that he became in-
competent for the day. It did not just hap-
.en that John Thomas, the missionary, on a
eathen island, waiting for an out t and
orders for another misSionary tour, received
that outfit and those’orders in a box that
floated ashore, while the ship andxthe crew
that carried the box were never heard- of.
The barking of F. IV. Robertson’s dog, he'
tells us, led to a line of events which brought
him from the army into the Christian min-
istry, where he served God with world re~
nowned usefulness. It did not merely hap«
en so. I believe in a particular providence.
believe God’s geometry may be seen in all
our life more beautifully than in crystallog-
raph . Job was right. “The crystal cannot
equaIit.” _'
' Again I remark that religion is superior
to the crystal in transparency. “To know
not when or by whom glass was first. dis‘
covered. Beads of it have been found in the
tomb of Alexander Severus. Vases of it. are
brought up from the ruins of Herculaneum.
There were female 'adornments made out
of it three thousand years ago—those adorm
ments found now attached to the 'mum-
mies of Egypt. A great many commen-
tators believes that my text means glass.
What would we do without the crystal?
The crystal in the window to keep out the
storm and let in the day; the crystal over
the watch defending its delicate machinery,
'yet allowing us to see the hour; the crystal
of. the telescope, by which the astronomer
brings distant worlds so near he can inspect '
them. Oh, the trium hs of the crystals \
in the celebrated win ows of Ronen and
Salisbury! ,
- But there is nothing so trans rent in a
crystal as in our holy religion. tis a trans-
parent religion. You put it to your eye and
on see man—his sin. his soul, his destiny.
_ on look at God and you see something of
‘the grandeur of His character. It is a trans-
arent religion. Infidels tell us it IS opaque?
Ilo you know why they tell us it is opaque?
It is because they are blind. The natural
man receiveth not the things of God because
they are s iritually discerned. There is no
trouble With the crystal; the trouble is with
the eyes which try to look through it. We
ray for wisdom, Lord, that our eyes might
He opened. When'the eye salve cures our
blindness then we find that religion is trans-
parent.
t It is a transparent Bible. All the moun-
tains of the Bible comeout—Sinai, the moun-
tain of the law; Pisgah, the mountain of
prospect; Olivet, the mountain of instruc-
tion; Calvary, the mountain of sacrifice. All
the rivers of the Bible come out—Hidekel, or
the river of paradisaical beauty; Jordan, or
,the river of holy chrism; Cherith‘, or the
river of prophetic supply; Nile, or the river
of palaces, and the pure river of life from
under the throne, clear as crystal. While
reading this Bible after our eyes have been
touched by grace we finzl it all transparent,
and the earth rocks, now with crucifixion
agony and now with judgment terror, and
Christ appears in some of His two hundred
and fifty-six titles, as far as I can count them
—the bread, the rock, the captain. the com-
mander, the conqueror. the star, and on and
beyond any capacity of mine to rehearse
them. Transparent religion!
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find Gozl is not
trying to put you down. Now you under-
stand why you lost that child. and why you
lostyour property; it was to prepare you
for eternal treasures. And why sickness
came, it being the precursor of immortal
juvenescence. .. _
why they lied about you and tried ’tp ._ drive
on hither and thither. It was to put ~you‘
Jn the glorious company of such men as
Ignatius, who. when he went out to be, cle-
su'oyed by the lions, said: "I am the Wheat,
and the teeth of the wild beasts must first
grind me before I can becomepure bread for
Jesus Christ;” or the company of such men as
Polycarp, who. when standing in the midst
of the amphitheatre waiting for the lions to
come out of their cave and destroy him, and
the poo la in the galleries jeering and shout-
ing: “ he lions for Polycarp,” replied: "Let
them come on," and then stoo ed down to-
ward the cave where the wil beasts were
roaring _ ,
Ah. yes, it is persecution to put you in gloo
rious company; and while there are many
things that you will have to postpone to the
future world for explanation, I tell on that
it is-the'whole tendency of your re igion to
unravel and explain and interpret and il-
é,
And now you underspand,
to get out. “Let them come (my,
‘ and l'lppw.
r“ETTE SUPP EM
NORWALK, CQNN., SATURDAY, APRIL 25. 1891.
lumine andirradiate. Job was right. It is a
glorious transparency. “The crystal cannot
equal it.”
I remark again that religion surpasses the
crystal in its beauty. That lump of crystal
is put under the magnifying glass of the
crystallographer, and he sees in it indescrib-
able beauty—snowdrift and splinter of hear
frost and corals and wreaths and stars and
crowns and castellations of conspicuous
beauty. The fact is that crystal is so beau-
tiful that 1 can think of but one thing in all
the universe' that is so beautiful, and that is
the religion of the Bible. No wonder this
Bible represents that religion as the day:
break, as the apple blossoms, as the glitter
of a king’s banquet. It is the joy of the
whole earth.
People talk too much about their cross and
not enough about their crown. Do you know
the Bible mentions a cross but twenty-seven
times, while it mentions a crown eighty
times? Ask that old man what he thinks of
religion. He has been a. close observer. He
has been culturing an aesthetic taste. He has
seenthe sunrises of half a century. He has
.been'an early riser. He has been an ad-
mirerof cameos and corals and all kinds of
beautiful things. Ask him what he thinks of
religion, and he will tell you. “It is the most
beautiful thing I ever saw.” “The crystal
cannot equal it. " -
Beautiful in its symmetry. When it pre-
sents God’s character it does not present Him
as having love like a great protuberance
on one side of His, nature, but makes that
love in harmony with His justice—a love
that will accept all those who come to Him,
and a justice that will by no means clear
the guilty. Beautiful religion in the senti-
ment it implants? Beautiful religion in the
hope it kindlesl Beautiful religion in the
fact that it proposes to garland and enthrone
and imparadise an immortal spirit. Solomon
says it is a lily, Paul says it is a crown.
The Apocalypse says it is a fountain kissed
of the sun. Ezekiel says it is a foliaged
cedar. Christ says it is a bridegroom come
to fetch home a bride. While Job in the
text takes up a whole vase of precious stones
—the topaz, and the sapphire, and the
chi'ysopi'asus-—and he takes out of this beau-
tiful vase just one crystal, and holds it up
until it gleams in the warm light of the east-
ern sky, and he exclaims, “The crystal can-
not equal it.”
Oh, it is note. stale religion, it is not a
stupid religion, it is not a toothless hag, as
some seem to have represented it; it is not :1
Meg Merriles with shriveled arm come to
scare the world. It is the fairest daughter
of God, heiress of all His wealth. Her check
the morning sky; her voice the music of the
south wind; her step the dance of the sea.
Come and woo her. The Spirit and the bride
say come, and whosoever will, let him come.
Doyou agree with Solomon and say it is a
lily? Then pluck it and wear it over your
heart. Do you agree with Paul and say it is
a crown? Then let this hour be your coro-
nation. Do you agree with the Apocalypse
and say it is a springing fountain? Then
come and slack the thirst of your soul. Do
you believe with Ezekiel and say it is a.
foliaged cedar? Then come under its shadow.
Do you' believe with Christ and say it is a
bridegroom come to fetch home. a bride?
Then strike hands with your Lord the King
while I pronounce you everlastingly one. Or
if you think with Job that it is a jewel, then
put it on your hénd like a ring, on your neck
like a bead, on your forehead like a star,
while looking into the mirror of God’s lVord
yqu acknowledge “the crystal cannot equal
it. ’
Again, religion is superior to the crystal
in its transformations. The diamond is only
a crystallization of coal. Carbonate of lime
rises till it becomes calcite or aragonite. Red
oxide of copper crystallizes into cubes and
octohedrons. Those crystals which adorn
our persons and our home; and our museums
have only been resurrected from forms that
were far from lustrous. . Scientists for ages
have been examining these wonderful trans-
formations. But Itell you in the gospel of
the Son of God there is a more wonderful
transformation. Over souls by reason of sin
black as coal and hard as iron God by His
comforting grace stoops and says, “They
shall be Mine in the day when I make up My
jewels.” .
“What,” say you, “will God wear jewel-
ry?”.- If He wanted He could make the
stars of heaven His belt and have the even~
iiig cloud for the sandals of His feet, but He
does not want that adornment. He will not
have that jewelry. When God wants jewel—
ry He comes dewn and digs -it out of the
depths and darkness of sin: These souls are
all crystallizationsof mercy. He puts them
on, and He wears them in the presence of the
holy universe. He wears them on the hand
that was nailed, over the heart that was
ierced, on the temples that were stung.
‘They shall be Mine,” saith the Lord, “in
the day when I make up fMy jewels.” \Von-
derful transformation! “The crystal cannot
equal it.” There she is, a. waif of the
street, but she shall be a sister of charity.
There he is, a sot in the ditch, but he shall
preach the gospel., There, behind the bars
of aprison, but he shall reign with Christ
forever.
much more abound. The carbon becomes
the solitaire. “The crystal cannot equal it.”
Now, I have no liking for those people
who are always enlarging in Christian meet-
ings about their early dissipation. Do
not go into the particulars, my brothers.
Simply .say you were sick, but make
no display of your ulcers. The chief
stock in trade of some ministers and Chris-
tian workers seems to be their early crimes
and dissipations. The number of pockets you
picked and the number of chickens you stole
make very poor prayer meeting rhetoric.
Besides that, it discourages other Christian
people who never got drunk or stole anything.
But it is pleasant to know that those who
were farthest down have been brought high-
est up. Out of infernal serfdom into eternal
liberty. Out of darkness into light. From
coal tothe solitaire. “The crystal cannot
cqualit.”
But, my friends. the chief transforming
' power of the gospel will not be seen in this
world, and not until heaven breaks u on the
soul. When that light falls upon tie soul
then you will see the crystals. Oh, what a
magnificent setting for these jewels of etern-
ity! I sometimes hear people representing
heaven in a way that is far from attractive
to me. It seems almost a vulgar heaven as
they represent it. with great blotches of
color and bands of music making a deafening
racket. John represents heaven as exquisite-
ly beautiful. Three crystals. In one place
he says. “Her light was like a precious stone,
clearas crystal.” In another place he says,
'.‘I saw a pm‘e. river from under the throne,
clear as crystal.”
‘2 In another place he says.
throne there Was a sea of glass clear as crys-
tal ” Three crystals! John sa scrystal at-
mosphere. That means -healt l . Balm of
eternal J unc. What weather after the
world's east wind! No rack of storm clouds.
One breath of that air will cure the worst
tubercle. Crystal light on all the leaves.
Crystal light shimmering on the topaz of the
temples. Crystal light tossing in the plumes
of the equestrians of heaven on white horses.
But “the crystal cannot equal it." John
says crystal river. That means joy. Deep
and ever rolling. Not one drop of the
Thames or the Hudson or the Rhine to soil
it, Not one tear of human SOl'l‘OW to imbit-
“an in, Crystal, the rain out of which it was
“nvstal, the had over which it shall roll
“Walpitajnfinite surface. But
“the crystal cannon equal it." . J Olin says
crystal sea. That means multitudinously
yest. Vast in rapture. Rapture vast asthe
When sin abounded' grace shall;
“Before the I
‘that it was a long time ago.
sea, deepas the sea, strong as thesea, ever
changing as the sea. Billows of light. Bil-
lows of beauty, blue with skies that were
never clouded and green with depths that
were never fathomed. Arctics and Antarc-
tics and Mediterraneuns and Atlantics and
Pacifics in crystalline magnificence. Three
crystals—crystal light falling on a crystal .
river; crystal river rolling into a crystal
sea. But “the crystal cannot equal it.”
' “Oh.” says some one. putting his hand
over his eyes. “can it be that 1 who have
been in so much sin and trouble will ever
come to those crystals?” Yes, it may be—
it will be. Heaven we must have, whatever
else we have or have not, and we come here
to get it. “How much'must I pay for it?"
you say. You will pay for it just as much
as the coal 'pays to become the diamond.
In other words, nothing. The same Almighty
power that makes the crystals in the mount»-
ains will change your heart which is harder
than stone, for the promise is, “1 will take
away your stony heart and I will give you a
heart of flesh.”
“Uh," says some one. “it is just the doc-
trine I want. God is to do everything, and
I am to do nothing.” My brother, it is not
the doctrine you want. The coal makes no
resistance. It bears the resurrection voice
in the mountain. and it comes from crystal-
lization, but your heart resists. The trouble
with you, my brother, is the coal wants to
stay coal. I do not want you to throw
open the door and let Christ in. I only ask
that you stOp bolting it and baring it. Oh,
my friends, we will have to get rid of our
sins. ‘ What will we do with our sins among
the three crystals? The crystal atmosphere
would display our pollution. The crystal
river would be befouled by our touch. The
crystal sea. would whehn us with its glisten-
ing surge. Transformation now or no trans-
formation at all.
Give sin a full chance in your heart and
the transformation will be downward in-
stead of upward. Instead of a crystal it
will be a cinder. In the days of Carthage a
Christian girl was condemned to die for her
faith, and a boat was bedaubed with tar and
pitch and filled with combustibles and set on
fire, and the Christian girl was placed in the
boat, and the wind was off shore and the
boat floated away with its precious treasure.
No one can doubt that boat- ’landed at the
shore of heaven.
Sin wants to put you in a fiery boat and
shove you off in an opposite direction—off
from peace, off from God, off from heaven,
everlastingly off; and the port toward which
you would sail would be a port of darkness,
and the guns that would greet you would be
the guns of despair, and the flags that would
wave at your arrival would be the black flags‘
of death. 0, my brother, you must either
kill sin or sin will kill ‘you. It is no wild
exaggeration when I say that any man or
woman that wants to be saved may besaved.
Tremendous choice! A thousand people are
choosing this moment between salvation and
destruction, between light and darkness, be-
tween heaven and hell, between charred ruin
and glorious crystallization.
Know His Own Character.
' A man whose purpose it was to pub-
lish an extended history of Chicago,
advertised for writers. Among the
number of applicants was a man wh0se
letters of recommendation were par-
ticularly flattering.
“These letters are 'very fine,” said
the publisher.
“Yes, sir," the applicant answered,
“and I hope they may serve to secure
me employment.”
“This one, (taking up a letter) says
that you are honorable to the very
verge of idealism, and it is signed by a
prominent man.”
“Yes, sir, and it is genuine.”
“No doubt of that. for I know the
signature.” After remaining Silent for
a few moments, the publisher said:
“As strange as it may seem, I purpose
to publish a truthful history, and I can
not feel satisfied that my book is true
unless I have full confidence in the men
who write it. .But this is not all. I
want it written with scholarly finish.
This (taking up another letter) says
that you are not only a. writer ofvast
information, but that you have a style
of Atlic smoothness. Now, I hope that
you will not be offended when I tell
you that I attach no importance What-
ever to a letter of recommendation. I
have had friends to recommend to me
men who I knew, and who they knew,
were scoundrols. I would give almost
anything for a true estimate of charac-
ter. All men are under or over drawn.
I’ll test you right here. It is gen-
erally, and with a. reasonable amount of
assurance, supposed that a well bal-
anced man knows himself. Turn to that
desk and write me a true size-up—if I
may use such an expression—of your-
self.”
The applicant obeyed; and, after
writing for a time, submitted to the
publisher the followtng statement:
f‘I have been pretty much of a failure
all my life, not on account of laziness,
but, I think, from a lack of judgment;
and yet I am shrewd in making people
believe that I shine in qualities that I
do not really possess. A hasty survey
of myself compels the admission that I
am a liar. 1 am also win. I have
sown the Wild oats of conviviality and
have reaped the harvest of drunkenness.
In a trade, if a man should, by mis-
take, give too much money, I would not
return it. It must have been on the
rarest of occasions that I ever spoke the
truth to' a woman. There is something
about a woman that compels me to lie.
I regard myself as one of the most bit-
terly envious mortals. The success of
a. companion galls me quite as much as
does my own failure. Though I pre-
tend to dispise gossip, yet my ear is
hungry for scandal, and the closer
the acquaintance that is con-
earned, the keener is my enjoynient. I
profess to have read many books that I
have never opened. but always remark
These are
the main features of my character.”
The publisher, after carefully read-
ing the delineation, thus addressed the
applicant:
“This acknowledgement is, to me,
worth more than a thousand letters of
recommendation. You shall be the
leading writer on my history. Go, now,
and write up the character of our
present mayor.”—Arkansaw Trav-
eler.
CANADIAN women have petitioned the
Dominion Parliament for the privilege
of voting. Won’t this hasten annexa-
tion'l
HORRIBLE TORTURE.
A BARBAROUS CUSTOM THAT
IS NOT YET ABOLISHED.
A Recent Instance of Examination
in Russia—The Methods of Tor-
ture in .Turkey‘King Bombals
Cruelty—The Bow-Stringlin Mex-
ico.
The examination of accused persons
by torture is permitted to-day in only
two European states, Turkey and Russia.
The method in Russia is illustrated in
the experience of the 4G prisoners recent-
ly condemned on political charges at
Warsaw. The details may seem incred-
ible, but they are circnnislantially given
by a delegate from Poland to Western
Europe, the accuracy of whose statement
there is no reason to doubt. The use of
torture in Russia in the examination of
accused persons has often been ’sus-
pccted and was openly alleged
concerning the assassins of the Em-
peror Alexander. It was made the subject
at the time of an inquiry in the British
Parliament, which Russia strongly resent
ed. In the present case, however, there
can be no doubt, as the information comes
from the victims themselves. The charge
against the forty-Six Poles was that of
“belonging to a-sccret society which had
for its object to alter, sooner or later, the
existing form of government." Thisihey
were told verbally, no written doc unent
whatsoever being shown to them. Politi-
cal suspects the not allowed to seek any
legal advice in self-defence. The investi-
gation is managed not by judges or law--
yers, but by oflicers of the gendarmcric.
In the present case the “judges of instruc-
tion,” as the French call them, were Col-
,oucl BielanOWski and Lieutenant \Vonsi-
otski. They were assisted by a special
substitute of the public prosecutor—an
oflicial whose sole mission is to attend to
political charges. As this is considered
the dirty work of the legal profession, .it
is not easy to find one willing to take it,
and, the office once. assumed, such a func-
tionary is debarrcd from any other sort
of legal employment. The gendarmes are
paid double salary while engaged in polit-
ical investigation, and it is therefore to
their interest to protract the process as
much as possible. ’
Among the accused was one Ladislas
Gnisbert. He was a private tutor of
good reputation. While in prison he
fell ill with a fever and. became delirious.
Little or no cure was taken of him; but,
on the contrary, attempts were made to
profit by the disturbed condition of his
mind to extort confessions from him.
The gendarmes hit upon an ingenious
deviceto weaken his mind by breaking
his rest. Every half hour or so during
the night they would enter his cell under
the pretext of attending to a small oil
lamp. They made such a noise and
clatter that the prisoner awoke, and then
the gendarmes would question him,
thinking that in his half-sleepy condition
he might make some imprudent answers.
Sometimes Col. Belanowski caused this
unfortunate man to be brought out of
his cell after midnight so that he might
sign the minutes or protocol of questions
that had been put to him while he was in
bed. Such treatment, inflicted at a mo-
ment when the patient was sulfcring
from fever, so aggravated the delirium
that ultimately liudislas Guisbert com‘
pletely lost his reason. After a time he
became a raving lunatic and was re-
moved to a madhonsc.
Another prisoner, named Ferdinand
Zaleski, was asked to give information
about the propaganda carried on in the
factories of Warsaw and neighborhood.
He refund to turn informer. Thereiipon
the authorities gave orders that Zalcski
should be conveyed to another part of
the prison building and severely flogged.
Colonel Bielanowski accompanied the
prisoner and took his seat at a little table
well provided with writing materials
and directed that the prisoner should be
questioned while being flogged. The
Colonel was ready to take down his
answers, and,doubtlcss, had those proved
satisfactory the severity of the flogging
would have been mitigated. Zuleski
bravely endured the torture. He did not
answer aquestion nor utter a word. This
man had been cruelly. tortured because
he would not say only what the gend-
armes supposed or guessed he might
know. The authorities now fearing that
this modern revival of the old and bar-
baric custom of questioning under tor—
ture might, if known, cause the outbreak
of serious disturbances in the town, de-
termined to prevent all further commu-
nication between the prisoners and their
friends and relatives. All permissions
for interviews were withdrawn and it
was only at the moment the prisoners
were about to leave Warsaw that the
authorities allowed them to see their
friends. At this interview the truth be—
came known.
In Turkey torture is a. regular part of
the criminal process, and not, as in
Russia, comparatively exceptional. For—
eigners, of course, are subject to the
jurisdiction ‘ ‘of the diplomatic
representatives of their respective
countries, but the natives, whether
Christian or Turk, are at the mercy of
the Sultan and his agents. Western
forms of trialare unknown, and while
imprisonment is the nominal penalty for
many crimes, Turkish imprisonment is a
lingering death. The methods of ex—
tracting information from accused per—
sons in Turkey would be almost incred-
ible in a civilized country. The bastinado
is freely applied on suspicion of the most
trifling ofi'ences. It is true that the beat-
ing often includes the penalty of convic-
tion. The magistrate causes the prisoner
to be thrashed until he has confessed and
then lets him go as sufficiently punished.
But suspected political offenders, who
in Turkey as well as in all despotic
countries are considered among the grav-
est, are dealt with in ways that make the
bustinado seem a pleasant pastime. Dur-
name.
ing the recent panic in Constantinop.e
on the subject of ah Armenian insurrec—
tion hundreds of Armenians were arrested
and thrown in prison. It has been openly
charged that several of them died under
tortures applied with a. view of obtainingr
evidence of a conspiracy that had no
existence. One man was laid in the
courtyard of the prison 111th glare of
the sun, bound hand and foot, and his
f ace bcsmcarcd with some sweet substance
to attract flies. Another was hung,r up
by hands and feet, and still another was
compelled to walk up and down pulled
along by soldiers who iclicvcd each other
in detail never permitting their victim
to rest a moment. A number of the Ar—
meninns perished in this way before the
Turks came to the conclusion that no in-
surrectiou was thought of. Then the Sul-
tan ordered the wholesale release of all
that remained.
In Italy there has been no tortuie since
the present regime was established. But
men not yet old can remember the horri—
ble crueltics of Boniba, as Ferdinand II.
of Naples was called. A thrill of horror
ran through Europe in the ’503. when a
poor wretch who had attempted to get
rid of the despot by assassination was
”publicly tortured in the most horrible
manner at Naples—burned by a slow tire
and otherwise tormented before being
put to death. That thrill of horror had
a good deal to do with the eager assist-
ance and sympathy which the Italian
revolution of 1660 received from Great
Britain.
And yet British skirts are not entirely
clear on the torture question. It is true
that torture never was lawful, and has
long been abolished in England. But it
has been practised in British colonies
within this century. When the colony
of Jamaica was in dread of a. slave insur-
rection about (50 years ago the torinents
of the Middle Ages were revived to ex-
tort confessions from the negrocs. They
were burned alive in many instances, by
a 310 w method that gave them a chance
to obtain freedom from misery by re-
vcaling what they knew. Of course, the
tormentors got what they expected—ac-
knowledgments of a very startling
Character.
Torture is probably not infrequent in
Mexico today. It is known to have
been used in some instances within com-
paratively recent years to extract the
details of suspected political crime. The
Mexican method is the bow-string or
cord drawn around the victim’s neck,
and slowly tightened until the sufferer is
ready to tell the story. This is done in
the dungeons With which Mexican pris-
ons abound, and which are relics of the
days of Spanish occupation. Mexicans
would no doubt indignantly deny that
torture is a part of their judicial pro-
cedure. But as reliable Americans state
that they have seen the victims before
and after the infliction, the denial
amounts to very little. During the days
of the Tudors, when the rack was in con-
stant operation, its use was contrary to
English law. So it is in the Spanish-
American countries where despots are a
law unto themselves. The Middle Ages
are not as much the pest ages as they
might be in a good part both of Europe
and America, letting alone the barbar-
ous regions of the world—[St Louis
Republic. 4
A Queer Experience.
The Charlotte-bound passenger train,
Captain George Welsh conductor, pulled
out of the depot at Wilmington at the
usual time Tuesday evening, made the
regular stop at Cape Fear and Yadkin
valley crossing, and was just getting un-
der way for Meares Bluff when Engineer
Lewis saw a dark object ahead on the
track. He at first thought it was amen,
but as it did not move he seized the
whistle cord and gave the cattle alarm.
The object grew bigger, but remained
motionless, and the engineer threw on
the brakes. The train slowed up abrupt-
ly, and as it drew near the object the
engineer saw something that astonished
him. ' .
There, just in front of him, was a. big
buck deer with a fine spread of antlers.
Thc buck was standing in the centre of
the track, staring directly into the head-
light, and just behind him, standing
across the track and looking at the eu—
gine overthe buck‘s shoulders, was a
beautiful doc. The engine get within
ten feet of them, when its nearness threw
the rays of the headlight over them, and
the moment that occurred they bounded
from the track and disappeared in the
darkness. The engineer was almost un-
strung by the novel experience and he
and the fireman talked (leer all the way
to Charlotte. Had he known what the
objects ahead of him were he could have
put on steam and bagged a big mess of
venison—[Charlotte (N. C.) News.
Changes in Names.
Kapp, in his “History of the Germans
in New York,” tells a story illustrating
the way names get changed in this
country. A family named Fcuerstein
came to America in the early part of the
last century, and settled in the Scho-
harie Valley, in New York, with other
Germans. After a time they moved
away from their own people and took
up land among the English settlers.
These latter could make nothing of the
name, and after trying for some time to
explain to his new neighbors how his
name should be pronounced, Fcucrstein
gave up and called himself Flint, that
being the English equivalent of the
German Feucrstein (Firestone). All
went well for a time, till one of the sons
setting out to seek his fortune, settled
in Pennsylvania, in a district entirely'
populated by Germans. Here his name
got him into trouble. The good Ger-
mans conld not understand how a man
could be named Flint, and insisted it
must be Flinte (musket). Well, any-
thing for a quiet life, says Flint, and
submitted to have an e tacked on to his
You foresee the rest—how a
l - . .
young Flinle again strays among neigh-
N O. 13.
v
box-s of English speech; how they strug-
gle with the queer, mime, and how he,
knowing little and caring less about this
family history, but knowing the English
signification of his name, translates it
into Gun. Kapp adds that by the time
:1 future generation of this accommodat-
ing family shall by successive migrations
reach thc‘l’ucilic, we may expect to find
them rejoicing in the name of Howitzer.
—[Boston Transcript.
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.
The First Great Ocean Steamship
Race. ‘
There are, undoubtedly, many men
and women in New York to-day who
went down to the Battery and cheered
and waved their hands in greeting to the
first steamship that entered this port
from Europe. This important event
took place on April 23, 1838, and it was
doubly interesting and significant be-
cause not only the first transatlantic
steam-ship came to anchor in the harbor
on that day, but the second also; steam
travel across the sea thus beginning with
a race that was earnestly contested and
brilliantly won. Furthermore, it was a
race that atttr‘acted infinitely more at-
tention than any of the con-
tests iliat have succeeded it. Two
steam-vessels had crossed the Atlantic in
years previous, both having started from
this side; the Savannah, from Savannah,
in 1819; and the Royal William, from
Quebec, in 1831; but neither of these
voyages had demonstrated the feasibility
of abandoning the fine sailing packets
and clippers for steamers when it came
to along voyage. The Savannah need
both steam and sail during eighteen of
tWenty-five days required for a passage
to Liverpool, and more than one clipper
overtook and passed her during the voy-
age. The Royal William had to utilize :1
all her hold for coal in order to carry
sufiicient fuel to insure a completion of
the voyage. Public interest, accordingly,
was deeply stirred on both sides of the
ocean when, in 1837, it was learned that
two steam vessels were on the stocks,
building for the American service. These
were the Sirius, at London, and the
Great Western, at Bristol. It was these
vessels that made the first race; the
Sirius making the trip, measured from
Queenstown, in eighteen and ahalf days,
and the Great Western in fourteen and a
half days. The Sirius, having had near-
ly four days’ start, came in a few hours
ahead of the winner. She‘brougbt seven
passengers, and whether the Great Wes-
tern had others than her crew on board,
cannot now be ascertained.—-[Scribner.
The Doctor’s Secret.
A San Francisco lady applied to her
physician in that city for advice and "a
prescription. He had attended her and
her family, and on this occasion he rec-
ommended that she go to a popular
watering place in that part of the
country, giving her a letter of introduc-
tion to a physician who resided at the
springs. On the way there the lady re«
marked to her daughter that as long as
her doctor had been treating her he had
never stated just what was her ailment.
“I’ve agood mind to open this letter
and see what he says of my case to the
other doctor.” Acting on the impulse
she tore open the envelope and, taking
out the letter, read: “Dear Doctor—
Keep the old lady four weeks and then“ -
send her back to me.”—[Dctroit Free
Press.
An Exhumed Bible.
A family Bible, which was buried un-
der the head of Susanna Randall, who
died in 1866, has been dug up and re- ,
moved, the Eastern town authorities“
granting a license. It was not seriously
decayed. The family records in it es-
tablished the right of ‘Lewis Randall to
the property of Isaac Phillips, who died
in 1834, leaving a. large fortune, most of
which is still on deposit in the Manhat-
tan Bank, New York city. Phillips has
no immediate family, and Randall and
other relatives now lay claim to his prop— ' ‘
erty in the Manhattan Bank and St.
Stephens, Ala.‘ The latter property is ;
held by a man whose title to it is very i
imperfect, it is said. -—[ Boston Transcript. , '
{J
The American Mother Abroad.
On their return to America,'a lady
who was calling on Mrs. X. began to ask...
about the different ports which the ship
had visited, but soon found that she
could elicit little information.
“I can’t say that I noticed much,”
Mrs. K. would reply. “I don’t seem to
remember much about all those places.”
“But at least you must remember St.
Pctersburg,” the caller said. “You were
there a week, your husband told me.”
“Oh, yes, I remember St. Petersburg,”
was the reply. “It was there that S c “. .
and I finished our satin quilt. We just
worked like beavers all the time we
were in port, so that we could .begin a
new one when we started for home.”..
[Boston Courier.
An Electrical Brain-Tester.
An apparatus for measuring brain _
effort has been made by J. L. Balbi,’W‘h’3
suggests that the arrangement might be
made to point out the proper studies for
children—or those which can be pursued
with the least work and greatest profit.
In the ,centre of a head-gear of some
light heat—conducting material, he places
a thermo- electric pile, which is connected
by flexible wires to a sensitiive galvano—m I
meter. The slightest rise in temperature
due to rush of blood to the head is indi-
cated by the galvanometer, the effect, of
course, increasing with the intensity of
the mental work.-—[Tre’nton (N. J.)
American. .
Norwalk Chronicler