davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
SERMONS IN CANDLES.
The Experiment Made by Mr.. Sturgeon
Aot Very Long Ago.


Not Very Long Ago.
Mr.. Sturgeon had occasion, some
time ago, to speak to company OF
theological students on the inpor-
tance of using illustrations in their
preaching. A student observed that
they found difficulty in getting Illus
trations, whereupon Mr.. Sturgeon re-
marked, in his bluff way, that illustra-
lions enough might be found in tai
low candle. This was regarded as an
extravaganza of speech, whereupon
the great preacher prepared lecture
to show what might be illustrated by
candles. In delivering his lecture he
used candles of various sizes and
colors, together with lanterns and
other, suitable apparatus. Some OF
his points were characteristlcally
witty and keen. A nicely japanned
but shut up box. filled with fine I'M
used candles, illustrated an idle and
spiritless church. Several colossal
and highly colored but unlit candles
were shown, and with them a tiny
rush-light shining as best it could.
The : big, handsome, unlit candles
might be Archbishops Or doctors OF
divinity, or other persons OF culture
without piety, and the bright rush
light might be some poor boy in
work shop whose life is beautiful.
Mr.. Spurgeon showed an unligbted
candle in splendid silver candlestick,
and then brightly burning one
stuck in a ginger-beer bottle. He
showed what a few people might do
by combining their good efforts by ex-
hibiting the combined light Of twelve
candles. The folly of trying to light
candle with the extinguisher still on
was shown, and the dark lantern Illus
trated the case of the people who make
no effort to let their light shine before
mersFThe lecturer then placed candle
under bushel and atterward placed the
bushel measure under the candle
the point of which was obvious. In
shutting a candle he extinguished 1t
and remarked that Christians often did
b ike tulSClllci ny uu lSO tScoNS' S~AAA
criticisms. The folly of burning the
candle at both ends was illustrated.
| The last illustration was number OF
lighted candles of various hues placed
together on one stand, representing
the Church's true diversity in unity,
all the different branches burning from
one stem and for one purpose, Some
one in the audience asked if the "dips'
did not give the best light, whereupon
MIR. Spurgeon said he was not sure OF
that and thought many ofthe dips"
would be the better for another dip
ping. The lecture was received with
great amusement and showed MIR.
Sturgeon at his best, but 1t still re-
mains true that only the man OF genius
can find illustrations in common things
sermons in stones OR in candles.
The preachers are few who can work
the mines OF natural analogies. Hart
| ford CourQnt.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
THE GIRL OF TO-DAY.
An Ugly Picture Drawn by a Disgruntled
and Tilted ScribEler.

An Ugly Picture Drawn by a Disgruntied
and Tilted ScribDler.
The girl of to-day is raised up in the
parlor to be an ornament. and nothing
more. She knows nothing of the kitch-
en-; the place is a death-trap to her.
She knows nothing of the art OF COOK
cry, and never proposes to learn the
art, except circumstances force her to
it; as, for instance, she marries some
young blood who turns out to be poor
er than a church mouse, and therefore
she has to do without a cook; then she
goes into the kitchen, and with good
deal of granting and finger-burning,
manages to scrape up a meal barely lit
for dog. Our girl belongs to the par
lor. You can always find her there
when she is not lying abed or shooting
through the principal streets, flirting
with drummers or flashy-dressed
clerks, who live miserably on salary
of $500 a year. Her education consists
of few lessons in grammar, Latin.
music and drawing. She contempiates
nothing. A year after she graduates
she remembers nothing but her school
fliEations. AS a musician s3he is q
nuisance. She studies music not as an
art, but as an accomplishment. The
result is that she not only succeeds in
numbering music. but the poor victims
who are often compelled to listen to
her are made sufferers too. She can
dance, she can fiirt, she can make love
as no other girl in the wide world can;
but when l have said that have said
all that can be said in her favor. She
is beautiful, charming and always in
teresting; but she is an ornament. and
you can make no more of her. If you
can afford to build fine house, fur
nish it with rich and costly furniture,
keep horses and carriages and groom
to keep them in order, by all means
marry our girl. She can spend your
money as the girl of no other country
can. She can play Queen to perfec-
ton, and will not only master your
household affairs. but master you. But
if you are poor, don't do it. You can
not help falling in love with our girl,
but study the expense you will be
forced into in case you make her your
wife; if you see you can't well make
the race, can't keep her and the hired
| girl too, then take my advice and mar
ry the hired girl.-M T. Graphic.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
SCHOOL AND CHURCH.

The Anti-Sunday Travelling Union
has existed in this country for about
four wears, and it has now about 5000
enrolled members.
-Twenty-eight thousand of the 81
900 new members added to the New
York Baptist churches in the past
eight years came from the Sunday
schools.
The "union' formed among the
'evangelical' population of Holland
for the establishment of what are
known as Bible schools has now AL
such schools, with 1900 scholars,
representing a capital of $4,000, 900.
Before Christianity entered India
lepers were treated with shocking in
humanity. Many of them were buried
alive. The English rulers have put
stop to this custom, and for fourteen
years there has been a special Chris
tian mission to the $4,000 lepers in
India.
The Old Testament Student says
Franz Delitzsch's Hebrew translation
OF the New Testament is having a
wonderful circulation among the
Jews. In less than ten years over
60, 600 copies have been sold, mainly
among the Jews of Austria and South
Russia. The emigrant missionaries in
Liverpool and New York have found
readers among the emigrating Jews
for hundreds of copies.
Here are two young men who are
practical Christians, and apparently
worthy of their high calling. One is
Perry S. Grant, rector of an Episcopal
church at Fall River. He has many
mill people in his parish, and is so
much interested in his work among
them that he has declined fattering
offers from this city and from Boston
and Providence. The other is Rector
Perkins, of little Episcopal parish
| near Salem, N j. He gives his serv-
ices without pay, and recently when
his people made up a nice purse for
him he refused it, saying that he had
all the money that he needed, and that
| it should be used for the improvement
of the church.
Eight text books have been pub
lished by the State of California for
use in her public schools, and it is de-
signed in few years to supplant all
the books published by private con-
Germs. The best talent among the
local educators is employed in writing
these books and there are no middle
men. The State grammar is sold for
so cents, reduction of rs cents on the
grammars formerly in use. The price
of the general history is 80 cents, in,
stead of 81. 25 under the old system.
The other books are proportionately re-
duced. A small per cent. OF the money
received for these books is invested in
sinking fund and it is estimated that
in twelve years the publication de-
partment will have paid for its plant
and will then be self-supporting. The
books thus far issued are highly
spoken OF by most of the teachers.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09

AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH A SWARM OF
merely intercepts an express train' ana
there is a sudden rise and fall IN the local
pork market. He has joined the anger
menaeerie before he knows 1t.
Then the exasperated owner requests Tue
railroad company to follow the example OF
Zaccheus when he was up the sycamore
tree VIZ. to '.come down" at once. Inc
railroad company is expected to pay 1or tne
obsolete pig, which, according 10 Ihe o"he,'
was a full-blooded Berkshire, ana worth
s175. How it is that crossing the razor,
hack with a locomotive improves the ore 80
SO much is what puzzles the railroad ON
Gals. As a rule the company COMPROMISES
IN the dollars and an annual pass, DuU II 1he
antonsies become monotonous, the local
freight and passenger rate IS raised 70
cover the deficit, 50 the general agent Oh
Texas road told me confdentially.. Paying
for hogs that have become extinct by COMO
mo with trains has done much to popular
,ze railroads in frontier States, and thus
the much despised razor-back becomes an
;n,nortant factor in the problem OF human
nropress and civilization.
pio5 o'' ALEX E. SWEET.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09

ribs, and he wears them, apparently, on the
outside, like one of these new-fashloned
Sarah Bernhardt parasols
There is a venerable chestnut about a
Texas hog being so thin that when he wants
to gain admission to field of corn, in order
to assist in harvesting the crop, he would
crawl through a knot-h0lc in the fence, but
the astute farmer vetoed this little bogus
pension bill by tying knot in the emacia-
ted pigs ultimatum. The thnnes5 Of the
Texas razor back makes this frontier legend
seem probable, but the subsequent addition
to it that the willy razor-bach thwarted the
farmer by biting off lis own tail, lacks some
of the elements Of probability.
The razor-bacll is gifted with an appetite
that is calculated to make the cheek of a
patent corn-sheller turn pale with envy,
but you might as well try to fatten stick
by rubbing grease on it as to fatten razor
back by feeding. He would not get fat If
he were in a Government position.
The razor-back is not Slow and stolld like
the porker of the North. On the contrary,
he is quick and nervous in his movements,
and is always on the run. His movements
are not unlike those Of a man who has just
heard that his uninsured house is on fire.
He seems to be in Il hurry all over. There
tivitv but the most probable one is that he
is harboring the deusion that he can
| escape from the feas that cause
him considerable cutaneous irritation.
In regard to his food, he is not at all
captious. He can be seen in the streets of
the small Texas town turning over the
watermelon rnds, very much after the
manner of a belated reveler turning over
| the few surviving cubes of pallid cheese
that linger in the free-lunch plate. The
razor-bacl is also provided with long
steel-tipped snont, with flexible, self-adJust-
ing nostrls with which he eXcavates the
surface of the planet in pursuit OF the long
wasted angle-Worm and the aldermanlc
| grub.
| The flesh of the razor back makes the
| hest railroad lunch-counter ham sandwich
in the world Men who have crunched the
adamantine lemon-pie and the cast-lron
| cruller have wrecked their teeth, and ned
bowling on trying to bite the razor-hack
| ham sandwich 1t has even been asserted
nv boastful Texans that the razor back nam
sandwich is quite as tough as the lndestruc-
tible hermit clam of the Coney Island plate
of chowder.
Now that I come to think of it, my asser-
ton that nobody ever saw fat razor-back
requires an amendment. particularly
thin razor-back, carried away by spirit OF
curiosity, overturned a beehive. The bees
were at home to receive company Next
dav that razor-bacll was 50 swollen up that
his owner sold him to the president of the
Austin Stock Raising Association for three
hundred dollars as a -blooded Poland
China See portrait of the hog.
The death of the razor-bacl1 is usually
caused by accident. He does not look the
gift-horse pistol in the mouth, nor does ne
become a victim of the ofT-hand way the
buzzsaw has with new acquaintance. be
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
GROWTH OF CITIES.
An Indication of the Present Population
of Leading American Municipalities.

An Indication of the Present Population
OF Leading American Municipalities.
Presidential elections always call out
a full vote, and the vote cast in the
leading cities Of the country recently
can be taken as an indication of the
relative growth of these cities. New
York, with its 27O, 1874 votes for Presi-
dent, leads all her sister cities, with
Philadelphia and her 205, TAT votes 9
good second. These figures indicate a
population of over one and half mill
ion people for New York, and show
that Philadelphia has passed the 1,O0O,-
900 mark. Brooklyn and Chicago are
pressing this city, but they are nearly
quarter of a million behind us. Bos-
ton shows the smallest percentage of
increase of any of the cities. The fol-
lowing table gives the total number of
votes cast in each of eleven leading
cities for President at the recent cleo
ton:
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
UNCLE SANS WHiTE.WASH.

The Mixture Used to Shine Up the Light
Houses on the Coast.
Excursiouists who travel along the
sea-coast in summer are often attract
ed by the remarkable whiteness OF the
lighthouses, beacons and keepers
dwellings, and they wonder how these
guides to the mariner are kept in such
ashining condition during the winter
as well as summer. The material
used is simply white-wash, and here is
the United States Government formula
for mixing a white-wash that when
properly made and applied gives a
white that does not easily wash or rub
off:
1To ten parts of freshly-slacked lime
add one part of the best hydraulic ce-
ment. Mix well with salt water and
apply quite thin"
Sylvester's process for excluding
moisture from external walls consists
in using two washes or solutions for
covering the surface of brick walls,
one composed Of soap and water
and one of alum and water. The
proportions are three-quarters OF a
pound of soap to one gallon OF water
and half pound OF alum to four gal
Ions of water. Both substances must
be perfectly dissolved in water before
using. The walls should be perfectly
clean and dry, and the temperature OF
the air should not be below fifty de-
grees Fahrenheit when the compost
tions are applied. The first, or soap
wash, should be laid on when at boil
ing heat with q fat brush, taking
care not to form froth on the brick
work. This wash should remain
twenty -four hours, so as to become
dry and hard before the second, or
alum wash, is applied, which should
be done in the same manner as the
frst.
The temperature OF this wash when
applied may be sixty degrees or seven
ty degrees, and it should also remain
twenty-four hours before a second coat
OF the soap-wash is put on, and these
coats are to be repeated alternately
until the walls are made impervious
to water. The alum and soap thus
combined form an insoluble COM
pound, filing the pores OF the mason
~, and entirely preventing the water
from penetrating the walls. Four
coatings will render bricks impene-
trable. IN n Sun.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
A CHANCE 10 SEE H1s BAAY.

l ride great deal on the South side cars,
and often feel like praising the gripmen.
They are conservative, trustworthy, bright
eyed citizens, and / am in favor of reform
ing the Council and Legislature by sending
some of them to those bodies. They don
have much to say, these gripmen, but they
saw good deal Of wood. They are human,
too, and if you have been inclined to regard
themas part of the big machine which Mr..
Holmes keeps In such good order, watch a
gripman some day when his children come
to pay him visit.
He left home so early in the morning that
he had no opportunity to see and play with
them. He will not yet back till they have
been tucked away in their little beds. OF
course he loves his children and likes to see
them once in q month or two, even if he is a
street-car man. So when dlnner-time comes
the young daughter takes baby and the din
ner bucket and waits by the side OF the
track for .his" car. Then they are taken
on board and sit in seat by the drivers
side. They ride ont to the end OF the line
with him, and help him eat his luncheon,
and give him few Of their smiles for des-
sert tits q picnic for them, and in this
way the driver gets TO see his. own more
often than once q week, rs is the case II
cold weather, and baby Is taught not TO foE
get the facs of her papa
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
DANCING IN THE BARN

Along the sky sweet airs are still.
Across the grass the mooabeams fan:
Upon The rie!I. stree, sweet the 1rll
OF nI@ntmEat" a.d w:urpoorwll,
AID down the vale hear the call
10 "Dancns IN the Barn"
All me,
So long ago it seems to be
That Dancing IN the Barn"
The torchitght falls on each young face.
AS, WhcellnE II the country dance
Now il, now oui, onr shadows chase
About the dear, Old-faohlOacd place,
Can aught in lite so much entrance
AS Dancing IN the Barn:'
All, no!
For youth is fair, but It must 20
Like Dancing IN the Barn"
But ali, that nigh: when rs OF wore
heard the haunting old refrain
When Love IS done, 1t comes no more
And ali, my heart, how you were sore!
And yet my feet kept time again
With Dancing in the Barn"
Too late;
The hour had struck of life and fate
To dancing in the Barn.'
Log aftcr IN 4 crowded street,
\ poor, old. blind man fccbly played
Just where tic town md RIVER meet.
Mv heart STOOD SIln my steps delayed,
For th1t Oh tur~ wh.ch stopped and stayed
Was - D:lnclE-E iii the Barn"
And OH
What tales are told of long ago.
That Dancing in the Barn"
Ah. roor Young love, Tthoughtyou dead!
And yet e:.' 1 In 81 sudden tears
After 50 many ~HGEt wears;
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
PERSONAL AND LITERARY.

james Payn, the present well
known novelist, it is said, has turned
out as the product of his pen in thirty
years over 100 volumes, mainly fiction,
but embracing some other topics.
George Stovin Venables, dis
tinguished London lawyer, died recent
ly. He was the original of Thackeray's
Warrington in "Pendennis. )" He leaves
an estate of $3.50, ZOO, and among the be-
quests is legacy of $3.50 annually to
his washerwoman. <.
Margaret Dolan, the author OF
"John Ward, Preacher" is an Ameri-
can lady about thirty years OF age
She was born in Pittsburgh, and is the
wife of a Boston gentleman. Her first
appearance as an author was in 1854
when she contributed few poems to
the leading magazines.
Countess Tolstoi. wife of the Rus
sian novelist and reformer, does not
sympathize with her husbands ex-
IRENE religious views; and it Is SAID
threatens, if he attempts to carry out
his plans of selling all that he has
and giving the money to the poor to
ask for an official investigation OF his
sanity.
1t seems that the poets are fond OF
making fine speeches to Mary Anderson.
When Oscar Wilde was in this country
he presented Miss Anderson with
volume of poems in which he had
written: From a Poet to Poem. .
And now Tennyson has written several
new pieces for her and calls her q
perfect poem"
Miss J. E. Harrison is reckoned
one of the most profound archaolo-
gists in England. Miss Harrison has
made speciality Of the Interpretation
of the pictorial record of the Greek
vase, and has lectured to large audi
ences at the South Kensington Museum
on this subject. The proceeds OF these
lectures she has given to the Britisf
school at Athens. ~ W W
Mrs. Humphrey Wa: ii ss''
"Robert Elsmere," the III ,,ts : WV'ar
book of the day, lives ~ tisl2 sell
square, London, near .ct,S1.1tish
Museum, in house full OF books and
flowers. She is described as "a won
derfully charming person, slight and
most graceful in figure and movement
and with suggestion in her brilliant
face of her uncle. Mr.. Matthew Arnold.
In his volume of professional rem
iniscences Colonel Mapleson, speak
ing of lima di Murska, says that she
travelled with monkey. two parrots,
an Aneora cat and a Newfoundland
dog. The last always dined at the
table with her off a plate laid for
him, and he never dropped morsel
on the floor or even on the table-cloth.
Such excellent manners might be OBJ
served with profit by many who have
had better opportunities for learning
the etiquette of the table.
Mrs. o. G. Converse, of Water.
bury, Conn.,, is an old lady of seventy,
eight, who had hand in the educ:
ton of two Presidents of the Unite
States. While teaching school
South Bend, Ind, Benjamin Harrisot-
President-elect, was one of her pupils,
and she taught him his alphabet
When teaching in Ohio, James A. Gar
field, then fourteen years of age, was
.I.1e of her scholars. He had beer
driving horse on the tow-path, and
his boat being frozen IN, he devoted
few weeks to her instruction.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
done in less than a fourth of the time

done in less than a fourth Of the time
required when movable types are used,
the ordinary speed being from twenty
to twenty-five words a minute. The
cost of transferring to the stone is
said to be much less than that of max
ing up forms for the press in ordinary
printing, and as movable types are not
used there is no distribution.
The machine has also been tested
with reference to its use for making
matrices for the casting of stereotype
plates, and the result shows that, with
certain notifications which are now
being made, it may be successfully en-
ployed for; that purpose. - Chicago
Globe,
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09
which Man Felt the Worse7

..You look depressed. " said one club
member to another. 81 am depressed. /"
was the reply. 81 went home last
night slightly under the influence and
nv dear little wife would not say a
word to me this morning. ] feel pref
" badly, ! can tell you. : 4a<4.4--.-a.
"Crickety!'' commented the other,
II wish my wife would do likewise.
But when / 60 homo tired and
troubled you bet / catch It. Why.
she'll almost talk my head on and
She'll follow me all over the house
occurring. Not talk TO me! Why,
thatis just what want her 20 90. lou
arethe luckiest chap ! know. = = De'svsr
Nesss.