THE lesson drawn by Jeremiah from the obedience of the faithful Rechabites, was unheeded by the king and people of Judah and Jerusalem. Jehoiakim died, after a reign of eleven years, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead; but his reign continued only three months, and Nebuchadnezzar came again to Jerusalem and besieged it. "And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers." The king of Babylon, at that time, took the treasures of the house of the Lord, and all the golden vessels of the temple; and all, with king Jehoiachin, and all his family, and all the mighty of the land, and the craftsmen and smiths, carried he captive to Babylon, leaving only the "poorest sort of people" in the land. Jehoiachin was kept in prison at Babylon till the death of Nebuchadnezzar, a period of thirty-seven years. Then Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, and took Jehoiachin out of prison, and "spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;" thus he remained all the days of his life. See 2 Kings 24: 8-16; 25: 27-30.
WHEN Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin prisoner, he chose Mattaniah, another son of Josiah, and made him king, and changed his name to Zedekiah. The reason that the name was changed was this: When Nebuchadnezzar chose Mattaniah to be king, Mattaniah entered into a solemn covenant, gave his hand, and took an oath before God that he would be a faithful subject, in all things, to the king of Babylon. Then it was, and upon this covenant and this oath, that Nebuchadnezzar changed the name, and gave him that of Zedekiah, that is, "The judgment of Jehovah;" thus placing upon him a constant reminder of his obligation before God, and that, if he violated his oath, he would incur the judgment of God. If Zedekiah had kept this covenant, the kingdom would even then have stood; for the Lord had said to Zedekiah, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live." But the sin of Judah was "written with a pen of iron and with a point of a diamond;" it was graven upon the tablets of their hearts and upon the horns of their altars; and Zedekiah only "helped forward the affliction."
HE broke his covenant; he violated his oath; he rebelled against his king; and he sent "ambassadors into Egypt that they might give him horses and much people." Then came upon him the judgment that was implied in his oath, and in his acceptance of the name Zedekiah—the judgment of Jehovah. For said the Lord: "Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant and be delivered? As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die."
"Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head." Eze. 17: 11-20.
FROM that day forward there was but one message for Zedekiah, and that was, This city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. Jeremiah was in the city all the time with his message from the Lord. Always, he was telling the people that the city would be given up; and when Nebuchadnezzar came and laid siege to the city, the prophet declared that he that remained in the city should die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; "but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey." Jer. 21: 8-10. Yet the people refused to believe the prophet of God, and steadily resisted the siege. Then at Zedekiah's request Pharaoh sent an army out of Egypt to draw away the king of Babylon. This gave Zedekiah renewed confidence, and he sent to ask Jeremiah for a word from the Lord, and he got it. The Lord said: "Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and turn this city with fire." Jer. 37: 9, 10.
THE Chaldean army suspended the siege to go and meet the Egyptian army, and then Jeremiah started out of the city to go into the land of Benjamin; and when he was passing the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the ward arrested him, and accused him of going over to the Chaldeans; for which "the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison" in a dungeon in the house of Jonathan the scribe. While he was there Zedekiah again sent and had him brought secretly to the king's house, and asked if there was any word from the Lord. "And Jeremiah said, There is; for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon." Then Jeremiah asked the king not to allow him to be committed again to the dungeon, which was granted, and orders were given that he should remain in the court of the prison, and have a piece of bread daily as long as there was any in the city. Jer. 37: 11-21.
NEXT, the princes came to Zedekiah and said: "We beseech thee, let this man be put to death; for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt." Then Zedekiah the king said: Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you. Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison; and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; so Jeremiah sank in the mire." Jer. 38.27
THE Babylonian army soon returned and renewed the siege of Jerusalem, and in the eleventh year of "Zedekiah, and on the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden (now the Chaldees were against the city round about); and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon."
THEN the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, "came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem; and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire." And he broke down the walls of Jerusalem; and all the remnant of the people did Nebuzar-adan carry away to Babylon; and all the vessels of gold, of silver, and of brass; and the two great pillars of brass which Solomon had made; and the brazen sea and the bases, "the brass of all these vessels was without weight." (See 2 Kings 25: 8-17.) And so was completed the captivity of Judah. A few of the very poor of the land were left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, and over these the king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, governor, but he was murdered soon afterward, and then all the remainder arose and fled to Egypt for fear of the king of the Chaldees; and thus the land was left desolate, "to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill three-score and ten years." 2 Kings 25: 22-26; 2 Chron. 36: 21.
THE SANCTUARY, ITS SERVICE, ETC.
Services of the Earthly Sanctuary.
(Lesson for Sabbath, Jan. 23.)
1. GIVE a brief description of the sanctuary built by Moses.
2. Name the furniture of the holy place, and give its arrangement.
3. Describe the furniture of the most holy place.
4. Where was the altar of burnt offering located?
"And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation." Ex. 40 : 6.
5. What was its use?
"And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering, as the Lord commanded Moses." Ex. 40 : 29.
6. What stood between this altar and the sanctuary?
"Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal; and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein." Ex. 30 : 18.
7. By what general name were the people of God designated at this time?—The children of Israel.
8. What was the origin of this title?
"And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Gen. 32 : 28.
9. Into how many tribes was Israel divided?
"All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is it that their father spoke unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them." Gen. 49 : 28. See also Ex. 1 : 1-5.
11. What tribe was selected to do the service of the tabernacle? Num. 3 : 5-7.
12. What particular family of this tribe was chosen to fill the sacred office of the priesthood? Num. 3 : 10.
13. Describe the regular daily offering and service of the sanctuary.
"Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: and with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of a bin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a bin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord." "And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning; when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord, throughout your generations." Ex. 29 : 38-41; 30 : 7, 8.
14. How did the offerings on the Sabbath differ from those of other days?
"And on the Sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof; this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering." Num. 28 : 9, 10.
15. When an individual sinned, what was he required to do?
"And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge, then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned." Lev. 4 : 27, 28.
16. What disposition was made of the blood?
"And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar." Lev. 4 : 30.
17. Where did this altar stand?
18. When a priest sinned, what was required of him?
"If a priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people, then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord." Lev. 4 : 3, 4.
19. What was done with the blood of his offering?
"And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation; and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the vail of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Lev. 4 : 5-7.
20. State the chief difference between these two offerings.
21. When the priest or the whole congregation sinned, how were their sins transferred to the sanctuary?
"And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the vail of the sanctuary." "And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the vail." Lev. 4 : 6, 17.
22. When one of the common people sinned, was the blood of his offering taken into the sanctuary?
"And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar." Lev. 4 : 30.
23. Then how were his sins transferred to the sanctuary?
"Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place; ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded." Lev. 10 : 17, 18.
24. Were the priests to partake of all the sin offerings?
"And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burnt in the fire." Lev. 6 : 30.
25. Where were all these services performed?
"This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee." Ex. 29 : 42.
"Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God." Heb. 9 : 6. See also Lev. 4 : 17, 18.
26. What change was made in the continual round of service which we have described?
"But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people." Heb. 9 : 7.
The Religion of Childhood
WHATEVER else the teacher of a primary class believes or disbelieves, he ought surely to believe, through and through, in childhood religion, and not for a moment entertain the idea that a child must get along into his teens before becoming a Christian. Multitudes of children have been lost to the church because of false ideas in this matter. The statement is made, and we believe it to be true, that those who are converted in childhood are quite as generally likely to hold out in their Christian life as those who become Christians in later years.—Sel.
Clear Thinking and Clear Speaking
THERE is only one way to attain the power of clear writing or of clear speaking, and that way is through clear thinking. When a Sunday-school teacher comes before his class and talks for twenty minutes, without making a single clear statement of truth in that time, the trouble is not so much with his inability to say what he wants to say, as with the mental sloth which has prevented him from forming a clear conception of the truth to be taught. There is really, after all, no better rule for clear speaking than the epigrammatic one: Know exactly what you want to say, and then—say it.—S. S. Times.
In the Wheel House.
By Eleanor Kirk
"You might as well come inside here, Johnny," said the pilot of one of our large steamboats to a boy who stood shivering on the hurricane deck. The lad turned a pale, anxious face, and with a pitiful attempt at a smile, said,
"Thank you, sir, but I thought there was no admittance here."
"Oh, once in a while we let a friend in," said the pilot, kindly, and with a sweeping glance that took his companion in from top to toe, and seemed to penetrate to his inmost soul.
"Where're you bound?" he continued, with a hearty brusqueness from which no offense could be taken.
"I don't know exactly," the lad answered. "I'm going to Boston first, that is—"
"Yes, that's about what I thought," the pilot interrupted, "if you can manage to get there. Let me tell you something, my boy. A man in my position has every opportunity in the world to study character; and as quick as my eyes lit upon your face, I knew that you were running away from home."
The only response to this was a hasty turning away of the head, and a quick, gasping sigh which sounded forlorn from one so young.
"And I wouldn't be afraid to wager this steamboat that you have got a mother living, and more than that, as kind and loving a mother as ever drew breath. You wonder how I know all this," the man continued, his eyes fixed on the waste of water before him, and his steady hands guiding the great craft with perfect ease and precision; "but you carry your mother about in your face, my lad, and your eyes are a bad give-away," he added with a smile. "Now I am going to tell you a story. You are about sixteen, I take it? Yes, I thought so. Well I was a year older when I concluded I knew more than my mother and all the rest of my relations, and skipped, just as you have. You feel that you have been the victim of injustice, and all the right in the universe is on your side. That was my case, but I was a fool, and so are you. There is no necessity of entering into particulars; but I was jealous of my older brothers, and made myself believe that they were in collusion to keep me out of money that honestly belonged to me. I wanted some of the property that was eventually coming to me, to travel with. I was wild to see the world, and the ridicule of my brothers, and my mother's apparent sympathy with them, made me desperate. Well, one rumpus followed another, my mother all the time trying to show me how unjust and ridiculous my demands were, until one day I threw all affection and decency to the winds, and ran away."
"Now the point that I particularly want to make in this yarn, my lad, and which I would give a great many dollars to impress upon others, is, that any fellow with a grain of honest love in his heart for his mother, is pretty sure to have something to regret as long as he lives if he hurts that mother by doing what you and I have done. In a moment of anger we say to ourselves that no one cares for us, and we care for nobody; and then some trouble comes along, and we find too late that we have only deceived ourselves. Now I tramped up and down the earth for six months without sending a line home, or hearing a word from home; but at last there came a day when sickness from exposure and labor beyond my years and my strength drove me back. Not to stay or to make myself known to any one, but to take—or, I would rather say, steal—some money, or some valuables which I could convert into money, to bridge over the present emergency. You had no idea that you were talking with a man that had been tempted like that, eh? Well, I said to myself that I was simply taking a small share of what was mine by right. There was $10,000 held in trust for me, and it was a great pity if I could not have enough of it to purchase food and medicine. I will do myself the credit to say that there did not appear to be any flaws in that argument then, and that in every other respect I was an honest lad."
"It required no skill to let myself into my mother's house. To slip the catch from one of the back-parlor windows was the work of a moment. My mother always kept her money in a desk in the sitting-room adjoining her bedroom. I had written a note to leave there, telling her my reasons for appropriating the money. It makes my blood run cold as my thought goes back to the horrors of that night. As I softly raised the window and crept into the room, I was struck, it seemed to me, with the chill of death. I had no fear of being caught—I knew the ways of the house too well for that—and I was never in my life very much afraid of anything or anybody. It was a chill that seemed to strike clear through me, causing my teeth to chatter and my heart to feel like a lump of ice in my bosom. These were novel sensations, and I tried to analyze them; but it was of no use. I found that I literally did not dare to move hand or foot in this awful blackness. I knew where the matches were formerly kept, and could have reached them by a couple of steps, but how to take those steps was the question. At last, by a supreme effort of the will, I groped my way to the mantelpiece. There were two matches in the box. I struck one, and my hand shook so that I was afraid it would go out before I could look about me. But it lasted long enough, my lad, to show me a sight which nearly killed me on the spot. Just in front of me, by the folding doors, was a coffin, and I knew then that it was the presence of death in the room that had sent such a chill through every fiber of my being. At this crisis, my boy, I realized the criminality of my conduct to the fullest extent. In some form or other it always comes home to everybody but the most hardened and depraved; and it is my opinion that somewhere, sometime, even these are brought to an understanding of the torture they have inflicted upon others."
"I must look and see what face it was shut away from sight in this narrow bed; but how could I? They tell us that in great crises people sometimes have a quick and awful glimpse of all they have done in their lives. I seemed to remember everything my mother had ever said to me, all her kisses, her tears, the prayers I had said at her knee, all my own heartlessness, every mean and cruel word I had ever spoken, every single act of disobedience. I had come to-night to rob her, and had found her in her coffin. But perhaps it might not be. It was not impossible that some one else in the house could have died, I told myself. But no! Some agonizing intuition seemed to tell me that it was my mother, and I had killed her. God forbid that I should not be able to do some good with this terrible experience! I have faced some dangers since, been in some tight places; but there is nothing seen or unseen that would ever be to me what it was to strike that one remaining match and open that coffin lid. With a desperation which no pen or tongue can describe, I forced myself toward the folding doors, and then, after a pause in which the beating of the heart sounded in my ears like the roar of artillery, I ignited the match and raised the lid; but the little blaze only flashed out for a second, leaving me in total darkness again. Then the lid fell from my hand with a sharp click, and a moment afterwards my eldest brother and a friend rushed in and discovered me."
"Mother?" I gasped, pointing in my unutterable agony to the coffin.
"Alive and well," was the joyful answer; and that was the last I knew for several days.
"The poor lifeless body that had shown me where I stood in reference to my mother, as well as in the category of crime, was that of a distant relative who had fallen ill and died at our house."
"I made a clean breast to my mother, and she forgave me, and loved me and petted me as only mothers know how to do. And now, my boy, I want to ask you to go home with me to-morrow and see my mother, the loveliest old lady on the continent; and let me telegraph to your mother in the morning, and then you can go back with me on the next trip. What do you say?"
"I'll do it, sir, and may God bless you for your kindness!" the boy answered, wiping away the tears that had rolled down his face like rain during the telling of this true and tragic story.—Eleanor Kirk, in Boston Budget.
The Home Circle.
THE LOOM OF LIFE.
All day, all night, I can hear the jar
Of the loom of life, and near and far
It thrills with its deep and muffled sound,
As the tireless wheels go round and round.
Busily, ceaselessly, goes the loom
In the light of day and the midnight's gloom;
The wheels are turning early and late,
And the woof is wound in the warp of fate.
Click, click! there's a thread of love woven in;
Click, click! and another of wrong and sin;
What a checkered thing will this life be
When we see it unrolled in eternity.
Time, with a face like mystery,
And hands as busy as hands can be,
Sits at the loom with warp outspread,
To catch in its meshes each glancing thread.
When shall this wonderful web be done?
In a thousand years, perhaps, or one,
Or to-morrow. Who knoweth? Not you nor I;
But the wheels turn on, and the shuttles fly.
Ah, sad-eyed weaver, the years are slow;
But each one is nearer the end, I know,
And some day the last thread shall be woven in,—
God grant it be love instead of sin.
Are we spinners of woof for this life-web, say?
Do we furnish the weaver a thread each day?
It were better, then, O my friend, to spin
A beautiful thread than a thread of sin.
—Sel.
Home, Sweet Home.
WHERE? Where the dear old mother runs from her arm-chair with a smile to greet you. Where the true-hearted father clasps you in a warm, hearty grasp. Where the bright faces that cluster around you are full of happy remembrances, and every heart throbs in unison with your life and labor. Where, when the bustle and hurry and strife of living are over, the weary hands and aching heart can lie down awhile, lie down and wait a little and look into the far-off celestial city, just beyond the billows that touch our feet. God pity the poor wanderer who can never know the joy of this earthly resting-place. This little glimpse of Heaven, to the heart so long a stranger to the tender accents which fall from loving lips, or the gentle touch of father's, mother's, or sister's hand with the warmest solicitude, smooths our way into the valley of the shadow of death. Poor stranger, who, in far-off lands, amid sickness, poverty, and want can only dream of the home he may never reach!—Pretzel's Weekly.
Treasures of Wickedness Profit Nothing
"TREASURES of wickedness profit nothing."
Protestant Homes in Turkey
The Turkish tax-gatherer at Bansko, European Turkey, says that he can tell a Protestant house from any other, because it is cleaner and better kept, and that when his hour for prayer comes he seeks a Protestant house to pray in because of its superior neatness. He also says that when he enters such a house he does not search for hidden goods, since "the Protestants do not lie."
Health and Temperance.
A Lively Tilt in the Senate.
THE following reported debate in the United States Senate ought to make every true American a positive and determined prohibitionist. It occurred Dec. 15. 'The matter under consideration was the new joint rules, and the question was rule 13, providing that no intoxicating liquors be sold in the Capitol. Mr. Frye explained that the committee thought it dealt with a subject that ought to be left to each house separately, and the committee had therefore recommended that the rule be struck out. Mr. Ingalls thought that if it was intended to legislate on prohibition, the Senate, the House, and the President should all be called upon to do their share. He thought the matter of excluding liquor from the Capitol, one of legislation rather than of action by the Senate in its individual capacity. On the committee's proposition to strike out the rule, the yeas and nays were demanded, and resulted: yeas, 29; nays, 36. The yeas were, Messrs. Beck, Brown, Call, Cockrell, Coke, Eustis, Gray, Hampton, Harris, Ingalls, Jackson, Kenna, Manderson, Maxey, Morgan, Ransom, Riddleberger, Vest, Walthal and Voorhees. Mr. Riddleberger rose and insisted that if there was to be prohibition in the Capitol, it should begin with the committee rooms, and a senator should be made liable to fine and imprisonment for keeping whisky in his committee-room.
'Mr. Vest said he had no committee, but was opposed to the rule as setting up a system of espionage. Every one knew that if a senator wanted liquor in his committee-room he would have it, and would visit the severest punishment in his power on any clerk who would 'inform' on him. The whole thing was simply an attempt to meet a fanatical spirit in the country on this question, to which Mr. Vest would not give countenance.
'Mr. Cockrell offered an amendment to the effect that any senator or member of Congress violating the rule should be liable to expulsion. It looked very small, he said, for senators to be passing rules for the purpose of inflicting punishment on committee clerks for 'conniving' at the use of whisky in the Capitol, when it was notorious that distinguished senators, who voted to keep this rule in, kept intoxicating liquors in their committee-rooms. He (Mr. Cockrell) had never had any liquor in the Capitol, but it was useless to deny that it had been kept there by senators.
'Mr. Ingalls sent to the desk a copy of the bill of fare of the Senate Cafe, at which he supposed the senators took lunch. The clerk, at Mr. Ingalls's request, read aloud the wine list with the prices of the different brands, much to the amusement of the senators. Under the head of 'Madeira wines' he found 'Blackburn's Reserve,' the reading of which was greeted with shouts of laughter, and some one was heard to say, sotto voce, 'Good for Joe.' When another brand was announced as 'bottled expressly for the United States Senate Cafe,' the laughter was renewed, and on the conclusion of the reading Mr. Butler expressed his surprise that the clerk had not found 'cold tea' on the list.
'Mr. Cockrell said he disliked drunkenness anywhere, but had seen more of it among the employes of the Senate. Senators kept whisky in their rooms, and invited their friends to go there. If the Senate was not fit to stop that, it was not fit for self-government. He had known an appropriation bill to be occasionally delayed because of intoxication among subordinates, and he had known the Senate to be adjourned because of the condition of some of its members. He would not say that the Senate had to adjourn in consequence of it; but certain senators had been in such condition that the public business could not have been carried on, as discussion would have been indefinitely prolonged. Senators knew, Mr. Cockrell added, that his point was well taken.
'Mr. Frye said he had been told by ex-Senator Simon Cameron and ex-Senator Hamlin, that twenty or thirty years ago the Senate had been found time and again without a quorum because more than a quorum were drunk; that they had seen a distinguished senator, after several attempts to rise in his place, fall because of drunkenness. Mr. Frye himself remembered when the night sessions of the House of Representatives were broken up by drunken members. Things had very much improved since then. Mr. Frye regretted the remarks of the Missouri senator (Mr. Cockrell) as conveying to the country the impression that so many senators were drunk during the ordinary business of the Senate, that the Senate had to be adjourned on account of drunkenness.
'Mr. Cockrell said he had not so stated; he had never seen so many senators under the influence of liquor that the public business could not be transacted—had never seen anything even approaching that; but he had seen two or three or more senators—a mere minority—so completely under the influence of whisky in the discussions that the Senate, for the sake of decency, had adjourned. He did not think he had ever seen more than half a dozen at one time in that condition, and he could give the names if senators desired them.
'Mr. Maxey regretted that an impression should be conveyed to the country that the Senate was a band of drunkards and debauchees. He had served in many deliberative bodies, and had never seen a more sober or well-ordered body of men than the United States Senate.
'Mr. Logan did not know that the sale of wines merely would be obnoxious to the rule; but the word 'vinous' did not appear in the rule, and a distinction existed in law between vinous and spiritous liquors.
'Mr. Teller, as one who had never tasted liquor of any kind in his life, thought that the Senate ought to set a good example in this matter, but could not favor Mr. Cockrell's amendment, because of the severity of the punishment. He did not think the Senate merited all that had been said of it; yet there was much truth in it.
'Mr. Ingalls thought the vote on this rule a declaration that the Senate was in favor of temperance, and the inference might be drawn that those voting to strike out the rule were in favor of inebriety. He happened to represent, in part, a State that had declared very affirmatively for prohibition, but he had felt called upon to vote against the rule. He thought it his duty to show the country that those who voted for the rule were entirely cognizant of the practices that had prevailed, in violation of it.
'Mr. Cockrell's amendment was disagreed to—yeas 29, nays 38. On motion of Mr. Edmunds, the clause providing for the dismissal of clerks who should 'connive' at the use of liquors was stricken out, in order to make the rule harmonize with the sense of the Senate on Mr. Cockrell's amendment. With that clause out, the rule was adopted by a viva voce vote.'
Protect the Home.
WHEN two young people love each other and marry, they restore the picture of the apostolic church. They are of one heart and soul. Neither do they say that anything they possess is their own, but they have all things in common. Their mutual trust in each other draws out all that is best in both. Love is the angel who rolls the stone from the grave in which we bury our better nature, and it comes forth. Love makes all things new; makes all cares light, all pain easy. It is the one enchantment in human life which realizes Fortunio's purse and Aladdin's palace, and turns the "Arabian Nights" into mere prose by comparison. Before real society can come, true homes must come.
As in a sheltered nook in the midst of a great sea of ice which rolls down from the summit of Mont Blanc is found a little green spot full of tender flowers, so in the shelter of home, in the warm atmosphere of household love, spring up the pure affections of parent and child, brothers and sisters; of father, mother, son, and daughter. Whatever makes this insecure and divorce frequent, makes of marriage, not a union for life, but an experiment which may be tried as often as we may choose, and abandoned when we like. And this cuts up by the roots all the dear affections of home, leaves children orphaned, destroys fatherly and motherly love, and is a virtual dissolution of society. I know the great difficulties of this question, and how much is required to solve them. But whatever weakens the permanence of marriage tends to dissolve society; for permanent homes are to the social state what the little cells are to the body.—
Conversation at the Table.
A CHEERFUL temper charms the stomach. Pleasant, social companions will help us to digest what might otherwise prove unmanageable. An Englishman, without observing the laws of exercise or sleep, will digest an enormous dinner and preserve his stomach. It is his two hours of chatting and good fellowship. Let him eat the same quantity in the rapid restaurant fashion, sitting alone, and he would soon be a wretched dyspeptic. The influence of a quiet, social temper upon the stomach is one of the curious facts about digestion.—Sel.
Neatness Indispensable.
A woman may be handsome or remarkably attractive in various ways; but if she is not personally neat, she cannot hope to win admiration. Fine clothes cannot conceal the slattern. A young woman with her hair always in disorder, and her clothes hanging about her as if suspended from a prop, is always repulsive. "Slattern" is written on her person from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet; and if she wins a husband, he will in all probability turn out an idler or a drunkard. The bringing up of daughters to be able to work, act, and talk like honest, sensible young women, is the especial task of all mothers; and in the industrial ranks there is imposed also the prime obligation of learning how to respect household work for its own sake, and the comfort and happiness it will bring in the future. Housework must be done by somebody, and it might better be well than ill done.—Sel.
Cultivate Family Conversation
"EDUCATION commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within hearing of little children tends toward the formation of character." Endeavor always to talk your best before your children. They hunger perpetually for new ideas. They will learn with pleasure from the lips of parents what they deem it drudgery to study in books; and even if they have the misfortune to be deprived of many educational advantages, they will grow up intelligent if they enjoy in childhood the privilege of listening daily to the conversation of intelligent people. We sometimes see people who are the life of every community which they enter, dull, silent, and uninteresting at home among their children. If they have not mental activity and mental stores sufficient for both, let them first use what they have for their own households. A silent home is a dull place for young people,—a place from which they will escape if they can. How much useful information, on the other hand, is often given in a pleasant family conversation, and what unconscious, but excellent mental training in lively, social argument. Cultivate to the utmost the grace of conversation.—Boston Budget.