Connecticut western news., 1893-02-23

the interrogation point is presented up
 side down, and at the close of the ques- tion right side up. When infidelity puts
 a question about the Scriptures, as it always indicates ignorance, the question
 ought to be printed with two interroga- tion points, one at the beginning and
 one at the close, but both upside down. THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF NATURE. Thank God for the wealth of mollusks
 all up and down the earth, whether feed ing the Israelites on their way to the
 land flowing with milk and honey, or, as
 we are better acquainted with the mol
 lusks, when flung to the beach of lake
 or sea- There are three great families of
 them. If 1 should ask you to name three
 of the great royal families of the earth,
 perhaps you would respond, the house of Stuart, the house of Hapsburg, the
 house of Bourbon, but the three royal families of mollusks are the univalve, or
 shell in one part: the bivalve, or shell of two parts, and the multivalve, or shell in many parts, and see God in their ev-
 cry hinge, in their every tooth, in their
 every cartilage, in their every hgament,
 in their every spiral ridge, and in their every color, prism on prism, and their adaptation of thin shell for still ponds
 and thick coatings for boisterous seas. They all dash upon me the thought of the
 providential care of God.
 What is the use of all this architecture of the shell, and why is it pictured from the outside lip clear down into its laby rinths of construction? Why the infinitv of skill and radiance in a shell? What is the use of the color and exquisite curve of thing so insignificant as a shellfishf Why, when the conchologist by dredge or rake fetehes the crustaceous speci- mems to the shore, does he find at his feet whole alhambras and coliseums and parthenons and crystal palaces of beauty in miniature, and these bring to light only an infnitesimal part of the opu- lence in the great subaqueous world.
 Linn@us counted 2,500 species of shells,
 but conchology had then only begun its achievements.
 While exploring the bed of the Allan tic ocean in preparation for laying the cable shelled animals were brought up from depths of 1900 fathoms. When lifting the telegraph wire from the Med iterranean and Red seas, shelled crea- lures were brought up from depths of 2,OO0 fathoms The English admiralty, exploring il behalf of science, found mollusks at depth of 3, ,435 fathoms, or 14,210 feet deep. What 8 realm awful for vastness!
 As the shell is only the house and the wardrobe of insignificant animals of the deep, why all that wonder and beauty of construction? Gods care for them is the only reason. And if God provide so munifcently for them, will he net see that you have wardrobe and shelterP Wardrobe and shelter for a periwinkle! Shall there not be wardrobe and shelter for a man? Would God give coat of mail for the defense of nautilus and leave you no defense against the storm? Does he build,a stone house for crea- ture that lasts season and leave with out home soul that takes hold on cen turies and cons?
 Hugh Miller found ''the Footprints of the Creator in the old red sand stone," and hear the harmonies of God in the tinkle of the sea shells when the tides come in. The same Christ who
 drew lesson of providential care from the fac, that God clothes with grass the field lnstructs me to draw the same lesson from the shells.
 THE CORAL INSECT TEACHES FAITH. In almost every mans life, however well born and prosperous for years, and in almost every woman's life, there comes . very dark time, at least once. A con- junction of circumstances will threaten bankruptcy and homelessness and starva- tion. It may be that these words will meet the ear or will meet the eye of those who are in such state of foreboding. Come, then, and see how God gives an ivory palace to water animal that you could cover with 10-cent piece and clothes in armor against all attack . coral no bigger than a snowflake. I do not think that God will take better care of bivalve than of one of his own chil- dren.
 I rake to your feet with the gospel rake the most thorough evidences of Gods care for his creatures. Ipile around you great mounds of shells that they may teach you most comforting theol- ogy. Oh, ye of little faith. walk among these arbors of coraline and look at these bouquets of shell fit to be handed a queen on her coronation day, and see these fallen rainbows of color, and ex- anime these lilies in stone, these prim- roses in stone, these heliotropes in stone, these cowslips in stone, these geraniums in stone, these japonicas in stone.
 O ye who have your telescopes ready loo Ac +<> what is transpiring in Mars, Jupiter and Mercury, know that within few hours
 walk or ride of where you now are there
 are whole worlds that you might explore, but of which you are unconscious, and among the most beautiful and suggest l i've of these worlds is the conchological world. Take this lesson of 8 providen- | tial care. How does that old hymn go? | We may, like ships, by tempest be tossed On perilous deeps, but cannot be lost.
 r Though satan enrages the wind and the tide, | The promise assures us the Lord will provide. GODS CARE AND MANS FREEDOM. | But while you get this pointed lesson of providential care from the shelled | creatures of the deep, notice in their | construction that God helps them to help
 themselves. This house of stone in which they live is not dropped on them and is
 not built around them. The material
 for it exudes from their own bodies and is adorned with a colored fluid from the pores of their own neck. It is most
 interesting thing to see these crustacean
 animals fashion their own homes out of carbonate of lime and membrane.
 | And all of this is a mighty lesson to
 those who are waiting for others to build
 their fortunes when they ought to go to
 work and, like the mollusks, build their
 own fortunes out of their own brain,
 out of their own sweat, out of their own | industries Not mollusk on all the
 beaches of all the seas would have a
 house of shell if it had not itself built | one. Do not wait for others to shelter