GOSSIPS. These are the spiders of society; A word, a look have power to wring the heart, A THRILLING SNAKE STORY. TOLD BY A CONSCIENTIOUS YOUNG MAN. "Beware of pickpockets!" repeated a benevolent old gentleman, as he g`anced at a placard posted in the car in which he was riding. "Dear me, how sad that such a warning should be necessary in a Christian land!' 66 five minutes only, and I haven't any ticket,' "The other man looked at the basket a "I'd made up my mind that it was something very valuable, but what it could be I could'nt guess. I took off the cord first, and then I took the key that hung beside the padlock and unlocked that, and lifted up the cover a little. Just then there was a noise, and I turned my head. "When I found it was nothing to be afraid of I turned back. I opened the cover wider and peeped in, but there was nothing there; the basket was empty-not a thing in it. "Why, gracious me!' says I; only not in them words-I was a wicked sinner then'what does this mean? An empty basket! And what did he mean by talking of its being valuable? And there I was running a Yes, sir" said a young man next him; "but it's best to be careful, for there may be pickpockets in this very car. I know all about that, sir. I've been rescued from the lowest depths. I was a pickpocket once, sir." "Dear me!" said the old gentleman, start-risk for nothing. ing. I'm a respectable person now. Yes, sir; I'm very respectable Ask anybody about Jim Tilks, and they'll tell you that; but I was brought up a thief. I was born among thieves, and took to the trade naturally, and I used to pick pockets when I was ten years old. You needn't look at yours. If you please, sir, I've been converted, sure, and go to meeting regular. You could trust me with untold gold now. "A risk. I was done for, for nothing; for here were the police after me; at least, a big arm went round my waist. all of a sudden like, and when I jerked it only heid me closer; and what was that-another arm? Well, sir, I thought I should give up that minute, for then and there I knew that what was twisting about me was something worse than even a policeman's arm to such as I was then. basket with a snake in it, and it had slipped "But as I said, I was a thief, and I might "It was a snake-a great snake-the have been one yet if it had not been for kind they have in menageries. Boa Conwhat happened at Rickady station, where I strictors-yes, sir; that was the kind-a was sitting waiting for any old lady's reti- boa constrictor; and now I remembered the cule, or any forgetful person's parcel or face of the gentleman who had the basket even an umbrella or a pocket handkerchief-he was the menagerie man. I'd stolen a that might be dropped by chance. For folks that's anxious about getting on the right trains at the right time, and nobody to do anything but snub 'em, which is what the officials are apparently paid to do, ain't as careful of their portable property as they would be otherwise. When I was a wicked sinner I used to take advantage of that, you know. You couldn't bribe me to do it now, -oh, no. "But, as I said, I was lounging about there, and in came a gentleman with a long basket. It was the curiousest basket I ever saw. Had two handles and a padlock Never saw such a basket. There was a cord about it, too. He put it down in the corner as he looked for his pocketbook, and he spoke to a gentleman who was standing near, and seemed to know him. "Got it,' he said, and it cost me enough, I can tell you. But I wanted it for the collection-couldn't do without it. So proud of it I brought it along myself. Whew! "Tight, sir, was the word for it. It was twisted around me until I had very little breath left, but with what I did have, I set up a yell Would you believe it, sir, the person that heard it was that menagerie man. He was looking for his snake, I sup pose. "Bless my heart!' says he, when he saw me, bless my heart! Well, the biter's bit, if it ever happened. You stole the basket, my friend, and out of it came the thiefcatcher. No, keep still; don't move for your life. There's just one chance for you.' "Says I, 'Hurry, please, for I'm chokin'.' He did hurry. He took a bottle out of his pocket, and out of another he took a kind of a folding cup and opened it. Then he poured something from the bottle into the cup "Milk,' says he, it may tempt him away; if not, say your prayers, friend;' and I tell you that was an anxious moment for me. "At first I thought he had done for me, for the snake only seemed to twist tighter; but in a minute the head poked out toward the cup, and I felt him drop off, and saw him coiled about the milk cup. I didn't want to see him fed. I went. "But it was a lesson for me. It put an end to my course of wickedness. This is my station, sir; good afternoon. There isn't a more respectable or more honest young man than I am living now; good afternoon." "A very curious story," said the old gentleman; very. But he is evidently a very conscientious young man now." He put his hand in his pocket for his handkerchief. It was gone; so was his purse. They had gone with the conscientious young man. this supposition, we shall find innumerable things that are calculated to destroy all faith in God. We see the wrong often prevailing over the right; that falsehood and low cunning are often successful, while goodness and virtue go unrewarded and unacknowledged. How often do we see the highest honor given to what we know is not the highest desert? Even David's faith in God was greatly shaken in view of "the prosperity of the wicked;" insomuch that he says, "my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped." It was not until he went into the sanctuary of God and "understood their end," that he was able to say, "truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of clean heart." So if we would maintain our confidence in the goodness of God, it is necessary for us to always bear in mind that men alone are responsible for the wrongs and injustice we see in the world, that, in spite of the appearance to the contrary, the absolutely good and holy God is ruling the world in righteousness and equity, and that all the attributes of his character are pledged to secure the ultimate triumph of right over wrong. "HAVE FAITH IN GOD." The importance of an unwavering faith in God is manifest from the fact that he is the only Being in the universe who is absolutely trustworthy. Not anything nor everything else can be relied on to support the soul in those hours when it most needs support. Not riches, for they "shall certainly make to themselves wings and fly away," and "he that trusteth in his riches shall fall." Not personal power, for our sufficiency is of God." Not our own right eousness, for the woes denounced against such as trusted in themselves that they were righteous proves that it is untrustworthy. Not our knowledge, for it is exceedingly limited; and we are commanded, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding." Nor are earthly friends and relatives any more trustworthy, for it is written, "Take ye heed everyone of his friend, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will mock with slanders." God, and God alone, is worthy of our constant. entire, and unwavering confidence. He alone is able to support the soul amid the trials of life. Happy for us if, in spite of an experience of the untrustworthiness and fickleness of men and of fortune, and in spite of the disappointments, discouragements, and attritions of life, we are still able to maintain an unwavering faith in God, in his goodness, and in his fatherly care and love for us. But in order to derive the highest comfort and support from our faith in God, it must be something more than an intellectual conviction of his goodness and the justice of his administration; we need to have a personal experience of his approbation and care for us as individuals. It is one thing to be convinced that God is good, that he loves and cares for all men, and grants special comfort and support to those who serve and trust him; but quite another thing to know that we do trust him effectually, and are in such personal relations to him that we can and do claim and receive this support, and the ministrations of his Spirit. Very many whose lives are wicked and who, therefore, never exercise faith in the promises of God, have, nevertheless, a perfect theoretical faith in the Divine goodness and justice; and we often hear such men say, "I have confidence in God." But what advantage can it be to them that God is good, if they persist in abusing his goodness? Their faith, instead of being a source of comfort by leading to actual trust in God, can only be a rebuke and a source of fear to them, since they know that God can only look with condemnation upon their conduct. Wherefore, along with our confidence in God, we need to have confidence in the recThe life of that man must be hopeless- titude of our purposes and efforts-a conly dark and dreary, who, by frequent re-sciousness that we are in harmony with the verses and disasters through the treachery of men, and personal inability to cope successfully with the difficulties that environ him, not only proves the untrustworthiness of men and of earthly hopes, but also loses confidence in God. Yet this is sure to be the case with us all, if we allow ourselves to interpret God by the contradictions of evil we see in the world, or think of him as in any way responsible for them. For, in laws and will of God-in order to derive any strength and comfort from our confidence in him. For, after all, the enemy which is hardest for us to conquer is not the sight of this world's injustice It is not the temporary triumph of evil or the martyrdom of the good that puts the stumbling block in the way of faith. It is our own sins, which come between us and God and hide from us the light of his countenance BY DEAN STANLEY. The Dean of Westminster delivered a lecture the other day before the Workingmen's Club and Institute Union in London on the "Art of Questioning." that keep from a personal trust in him. We THE INQUISITIVE BORE DEFENDED The great hindrance to a personal availing faith in God, is therefore, not any constitutional inability to believe under proper conditions, but a failure to comply with the conditions on which God promises his blessing and help. If a man knows that the purposes and course of his life are contrary to the principles and precepts of the Gospel, his thought of God will bring no inspiration or comfort to his soul, since he cannot hope that God will prosper or help him in that which is not good; "for if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things," and the natural inference is that he will condemn us also; "but if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." That which is absolutely indispensable to a comforting, saving faith in God is faith in the reality of our compliance, to the extent of our ability, with the conditions of salvation. Such a confidence in God, and in our own integrity, will bring peace and hope and strength to the soul amid the severest vicissitudes of life; so that, whatever may be the nature of our trial, we shall still be able to rest in the everlasting arms of Him who careth for us. ECONOMY. Perhaps there is no word in the English language that has been so foolishly narrowed in its meaning as the word economy. Most people think of it as a saving of money, as though to be economical was, in a certain sense, to be stingy or mean. Now, economy in its true interpretation, is the art of management is the wise adaptation by which we arrange time, health, and strength so as to produce the best results It is human labor and opportunity wisely and well applied; not a mere saving or hoarding, but rather a wise investment and expenditure of what we have. The young man who saves the same amount of money which his friend, who has equivalent means, spends in attending a French or German class, or in learning the rudiments of science, is in no sense economical. The day will come when a knowledge of French or German will be of far more value to him than all the money he saved by not paying for the learning of these languages. He will lose a higher appointment, into which his more cultured friend will step, and will be obliged to drone on in the position he at first occupied, because he is not fitted for a better. Time and opportunity are now gone forever, and were wasted while he hoarded his gold. man and Dean Stanley observed that, with reference to Socrates, the greatest of the Greek philosophers, if it were sought to describe his career in one word, he would be described as a great questioner. He went about Athens catechizing one then another, and cross-examining him. That was such a thing as had never been seen before, and it was not likely to be seen again, for times had changed. Still something of the same sort might be done by men in these days, by men who wished to educate themselves. Bacon said that a good kind of questioning made the art of knowledge. Persons might obtain knowledge in later life on such subjects as the Hebrew language or the science of astronmy. That might be useful, but it was not easy. for, under such circumstances, the knowledge was likely to be pursued in a desultory way, inasmuch as those engaged in the active pursuits of life could hardly devote the necessary time for such purposes, though they might do a great deal in the odds and ends of time. In the course of a day a man might hear something that he did not know, and it was well for him to hunt up information in such ways as he could. This opened up a mode of acquiring knowledge, which might lead to an inmense increase of the man's stock of knowledge. That was the way in which Sydney Smith, a wise and witty man, picked up his knowledge in later life. No one would think of reading through a dictionary or an encyclopædia, but every one might obtain advantage from them by going to see what they said about the particular matter on which a man was inquiring and found himself ignorant. Good results might follow. One was, that in inquiring about one subject, the inquirer would be almost necessarily led to several other subjects more or less akin to it. This was very important as a matter of education, because it made a was of man feel how very much there which he knew nothing at all. To a very conceited man, who, on hearing a certain thing mentioned, said, "I did not know that." Sydney Smith replied, ⚫ Sir, the things that you do not know would fill a very large volume." Again, it showed us how very difficult some subjects are, because we saw how the authors of a dictionary_floundered before getting to the truth. Take such a wellknown book as Dr. W. Smith's on the Bible. If they looked at the word ark, they would find a reference first to the article on the Deluge, then to that on the Flood, and at last to that on Noah, where the whole subject was treated; but they revealed how the author of the dictionary endeavored to avoid it till the very last moment. In going that did not belong to any particular set of opinions, and struck home to every heart. Of histories, that by Macaulay, as far as it went, was the most popular. There were many objections to it, but by an extraordinary combination of memory and imagintion, and power of writing, he was able to give a vivid description of events, as might be seen in comparing his account with that of Hume of the acquittal of the seven Bishops. Many questions might be suggested by words, and this kind of investigation was highly interesting. On this subject two works written by his predecessor at the Abbey (Dean Trench) would prove very useful--one on the "Study of Words," and the other" English, Past and Present." He might also point to a valuable work of Muller. Then, again, as to the days in which we live. It was very agreeable, as each day passed, for us to remember what had taken place on such and such a day. Take that 17th day of November. Any one who had been in the neighborhood of Westminster Abbey on that day might have heard the merry music of the bells. It was the only day on which the bells of Westminster Abbey were rung. Why? It was the anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth, who was a second founder of the Abbey. Why was the event of such importance? Because Elizabeth had come to the throne in succession to Mary, though when the messenger arrived she did not know whether she was going to execution, or what event awaited her. Then with respect to animals. We were accustomed to call the living animal a sheep, but when dead we call it mutton; so the flesh of the ox, when killed, was called beef; and so of the calf-veal. The ne set of epithets was Saxon and the other Norman; and the reason for using such words was that we were compounded of two nations. Take the word "daughter." It might be traced through various languages back to the times when our ancestors were wandering over the plains of Asia. The word "daughter" meant milkmaid, because the little girl of the family was the milkmaid of the family. Then with respect to books. They were oppressed by the multitude of books. But what made some books so much more read and important than others? He would take two religious books. One was very much read by Churchmen, but not very much by non-conformists - Keble's "Christian Year." Another book was read very much by non-conformists, and also by Churchmen- - Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress." Why were they so popular? The reason was that both of them were beautifully written, so that the language appealed to everybody, and truths were brought out One of the questions of Socrates was: "What are you-yourself?" Such a question might take different forms. He had been told an anecdote of a German philosopher who was being driven to the museum, and when he got out of the vehicle the driver said: "There is a great deal of talk about religion in our time; will you tell me what you think?" The philosopher replied: "Take your fare, and mind your own business. He (Dean Stanley) thought it was the duty of the philosopher to have given the man the best answer he could. If he had been the philosopher, he should have said: "Before I answer your question, I must know what your ideas of religion are, or else I cannot give a very satisfactory answer." With reference to practical questions, every one should ask himself what he would do under some particular emergency, such, for instance. as that of fire. They might bear in mind the maxim of the missionary who enjoined doing what was natural under the circumstances. When the circumstances arose, they must do the best they could. Every one had a sort of peculiar self. Among men every face was different, and the question was what their faculties would best enable them to accomplish, and each should try to find out what was that particular thing he was sent into the world to do, and to do it in the best way he could. [From the New York Times.] THE WORST SMALL BOY. For a long time it has been the boast of the First Congregational Society of Birchville, Ohio, that they possessed a minister who, in point of lungs and legs, was fully equal, and in some respects superior, to Mr. Talmage. There is no doubt that this boast is, to a certain extent, justifiable. While Rev. Mr. Sunbright is admittedly inferior to Mr. Talmage in the management of his left leg, and never attempts the eloquent feat of throwing both legs simultaneously over the front of the pulpit, he can pound the desk or stamp his light foot with a violence which the Brooklyn athlete has never yet approached. His voice is simply unequaled in power, and on calm Sundays has more than once reached the next village, distant nearly three miles from the meeting house, and created a temporary alarm of fire Of course, these great qualities have made him exceedingly popular with the thoughtful members of his congregation, but they have not secured for him that respect and admiration of the small boys. His invariable habit of rumpling a small boy's hair the wrong way while pointing out to him the general sinfulness of his ways, is unquestionably adapted to awaken the baser passions of fallen juvenile human nature. To this objectionable habit he also adds the practice of insisting upon an unusual amount of catechism, and a total prohibition of circus, and the result is that he is hated by the small boys of his congregation with great unanimity and bitterness. bish. The boys first carefully cut an open- It was about the middle of the next Sunday morning's sermon when Rev. Mr. Sunbright was eloquently denouncing the corruption of the Church of Rome, that he executed one of his ablest and most convincing stamps, and disappeared from view with startling celerity. The audience looked upon his disappearance as a new rhetorical figure, and were filled with admiration. One young man, who had visited New York, whispered quite audibly that Among the small boys in question is one he had seen both T. De Witt Talmage and of exceptionally studious habits and me- George L. Fox, and that neither of them chanical ingenuity. When, one day early had ever executed so neat and agile a trick. in the winter, this small boy approached The minutes came and went, but the pastor his pastor and begged for the loan of a book did not reappear. Doubtless, so thought that would fully explain to him the elemen- his people, he was waiting to give full tary principles of natural philosophy, in- effect to his eloquence; but, after a time, cluding the mechanical powers and the they became somewhat surprised at the strength of the materials, Mr. Sunbright unusual pause in the services. Presently rumpled his hair with real enthusiasm, and an elder arose and remarked that their remarking that he loved to see a boy with a beloved pastor evidently intended that his mind above marbles and circuses, promptly hearers should spend a little season in medlent him the desired book. For some weeks itation, whereupon every one meditated that ingenious boy devoted his whole time with great assiduity for five minutes longer. to study and to experiments with carpen-At the expiration of this time it was feared ters' tools and heavy weights in the wood shed, and his father and Mr. Sunbright congratulated one another upon the extraordinary goodness and intelligence of the studious youth. It was on Saturday afternoon preceding the fifth Sunday in January that the ingenious small boy, together with several of his juvenile companions, gained secret access to the Congregational meeting house. The pulpit was an old fashioned affair, placed upon a high platform. Underneath this platform was a dark space, to which access was gained by a movable panel, and in which the sexton was accustomed to store broken benches and other ecclesiastical rub that Mr. Sunbright might have fallen down 1 1 1 |