The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1900-01-04

as we may, the Bonded heavens spread
their canopy above us; around us Is the
the tender watchfulness of our Heavenly
Father.
I'VE know we cannot drift
Beyond His love aud care"
These shining orbs of the starlit sky. In
finite In number, filling all space, above.
around, beneath, while they witness
Rrandly to their Creators skill and pow
-r, witness no less grandly in their orderly
movements, beneficent and statutory, to
His goodness and love.
In these infi, lite realms of light on which
we gazA with admiration, the friends W.
have loved aud lost, the bright compap-
eager to welcome US to higher, better.
grander life, to infinitely more joyous ac-
tivities than earthborn souls ever dreamed
OF. For the great hunger and hope of
humanity is voiced in the cry:
Il will believe. must believe,
That natures sacred ties
Survive and to the spirit cleave,
Immortal In the SKIES"
Believing that our loved ones who have
passed from earth are not lost but gone
before, we have only hearts Of pity for
the hopeless and unhelieving, and with
the poet can only exclaim
"Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through his cypress trees
Who hopeless lays his dead away,
Nor 10 ks to SEE the light of day
Across the mournful marbles play;
W hO hath not learned in hours Of faith
The truth to f1-sh a. d sense unknown,
That Life Is ever Lord of Death,
And Love can never lose its own"
We go to bed with hearts full Of praise
and alteration to Him who, In infinite
wisdom and goodness, orders all things
both great and small. and " no cares for
the infinitely small as for the infinitely
great.
The starllt night, so beautiful and
bright, Is followed by a damp, dreary
morning, the distant hills just lifting their
heads, like islands, above sea OF fog,
which two hours later the sun dispells.
We are astir early, hoping to make up
| for yesterdays detentions and delays by
lorg run. As we step out of our hotel
after break fast, ready to mount, police
man salutes US and asks to see our 'pa.
pers."
We show our passports, our certificates
Of membership In the Touring Club d.
France, and our touring permits from the
customs officer. These, after due inspnc-
ton by the policeman and "confrere" at
his elbow, are duly returned with pleas
ant nod and tires bien!" We mount
and are off for Mortz. Some of the party
are vexed at this seemingly needless de-
lay, and complain bitterly of the espion.
age OF the local government in France
upon travellers, as seen in the many items
of record in hotel register and the daily
scanning Of such records by the police,
At every hotel at which we lodge, even
for a night, we must register, not only
our names, but when and where we were
born, to What country we now owe ale.
glance, when and whence we came, when
and whittier we go, and what our occupa-
tions. A needless prying into ones pri
vate affairs, an American would naturally
think, for in his own free country he
comes and goes at will. the government
taking little heed of him so long as his
much pr'z-d liberty does not degenerat.
into license. This Is we'll enough II
America, no doubt, but France is MOI
America. This young republic is among
old world monarchies-is the assignee, 1
not the heir, of bourbanism and imperial
ism and co,nmunism-is beset by enemies
within and without. Plots against thu
republic must be discovered In their yer!
beginning and suppressed. Hence thi'
espionage. 1t is fair to state. further
that we were never afterwards molested
or ever made conscious of governmental
watchfulness. Our touring permits
: were not called for again, and We still
have them as souvenirs of the journey.
At Mortz a wicked, malicious" tact
Il lies in wait for one of our wheels, and {
bad puncture is the inevitable result. Thu
: puncture, however. is soon patched OF
, the public square Of the interesting ole
town. A crowd Of curious spectators
boys and men-gather about US during
the process. We crafty their curiosit,
, by telling them who we are and what W
} are doing. In Germany often, and some
times In Swi,z' rland, we were surrounded
by crowds in town or village whenever W
dismountrd In public streets or squares
The discovery that we we're American
r always awakened friendly interest ant
r eager inquiries as to the purpose Of on
l iourn-y awheel. Few, II any, Of the In
r quirers had ever crossed the boundarie
of their native land; some had neve
, trav. led twenty miles from the place O
their birth That We had crossed thre
3 thousand miles of ocean and were wheel
, ing hundreds OF miles through one coun
try after another seemed marvellous t
these stay at homes. We were to then
the Marco Polos of the nineteenth century
Z To III b chance crowds we sometime
talked little In English and German o
French, Juggling In now and then Latil
sentence. and ending the 'miscellany
with quotations from some English poe
l or orator gen. rally with happy effect
, the listeners taking our effort as it wa
m ant to be-a substitute for the NOR
interesting conversation we might hav
: had with them had we been familiar witt
i their tongue. After such farcical or hu
3 morous talks we generally mounted AM
rode away, amid huzz - and the swinging
of hats and a general chorus Of goo
wishes for safe and happy journey.
Paris, Nov. LIST, 1899. A. U. THREsHER.
HIS LIFE WAS SAvED.-Mr. j. E. Lilly
prominent citizen OF Hannibal. Mo.
lately had wonderful deliverance from
frightful death. In telling of it he says
, II was taken with Typhoid Fever, tina
ran into Pneumonia. My lungs BEGAN