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| CURRENT TOPICS. 8% somelimes happens that a funeral gerqwn will contain some such Ttefer- "nce 16" the deceased as this: "Our bro- ther 'was never known in the whole aurse of his life to utter an unkind 'word concerning any = liviag being." Whis 4% regarded by some not only as a * wiktie but as the rarest and most beau- Rtul of Christian virtues. In like man- mer (here are people' who consider it 'the supreme duly of a good citizen to keep a shut mouth and never to make any adverse comment on public mea- sures or public men. Their idea of civ- ic morality is the paying of taxes and serving on jury without complaint, and a charitable belief that politicians and oflice-hclders, one and all, are doing the best they can for the public weal. Now, it may safely be admitted that if € man is incapable of discrimination he will do more harm by wholesale praise {han by wholesale abuse. Either of these habits will leave him without a particle of influence, one way or the other, and reduce him to a political cipher. And, of course, no man who in this way commits civic suicide should he considered a good citizen. But, next to voting, the most indis- pensable duty of a good citizen is talk- ing. He should not talk without reflec- tion. He should not blame everybody, nor praise everybody. He should think it over well and then express himself freely, fearlessly and vigorously con- rerning every public measure and every public man. He is not a good &itizen unless, to the best of his ability, he does this. Pierpont's little poem in which he compares the ballot to a snowflake and @ popular election to the avalanche is <cqually applicable to a casual expres- sion of opinion by a privale citizen and the resistless force of public sentiment. It muy sometimes happen that a single unpremeditated remark made by a good citizen and overheard by a politician snay produce a worldwide effect. But certain it is that when every gcod man in the community utters the same com- mendation or condemnation a greater fcrce is exerted than by any other po- litical agency whatever. This is the "higher law," which has been known fo submerge and supersede senates and constitutions without serious injury io the state. In a country like this, especially, public sentiment is every- thing, and public sentiment is only the aggregate of what "they say." Let every good citizen, therefore, resolve to have his "say." --e In our alert and curious age the news which goes abroad concerning the ex- periments of the Wright" brothers with the aeroplane is not likely to fail of re- sponse from the imagination. Rather, under the spur of the sensational jour- malist, we are likely to overestimate its dmportance. The pendulum has swung far from the wonderless days which watched so dully the earlier triumphs of applied science. Now-a-days we are disposed to see too much rather than too little in the cloudland of the future. Yet the facts credibly reported are re- markably encouraging. The flight was only a mile and a half, but control was reasonably satisfactory, and after some further changes in stecring gear a long- er flight will be tried. The layman 's wholly unequipped to understand the technical 'progress made, but what is even to him impressive is the fact that invention is now actually sucges:ful in svhat may be cailed the bird's myslery. Men are flying at last. No invention springs from the brain «of man as Minerva from the head of Jove, and the time which is to separate 'ms from prackical 'aerial 'navigation doubtless will be longer than our en- . 4husiasm disposes us to-day to expect, Excluding from consideration. the heat ¢ engines of Hero of Alexandria, and even "the mechanisms of Giovanni della Porta, Solomon de Caus, and 'Giovanni Branca dn the early parl of'the seventeenth cen- "Aury, we find that Edward Somerset, marquis. of Worcester, made a really. practical steam pump, reported in 1663. 'And it was not {ill exiiclly a century | i , in 1763, when James. Watt invent- ihe hedted cylinder, fhe condenser, This Life Has No Real Short 'Triumph Spiritual And King David said to Ornan, nay; but 1 will buy it of thee for the full price.~I1. Chronicles xxi. 24. : Thus did one man decline to take ad- vantage of what the world would call a "bargain." Such refusal, however, might be litile better than Quixotic. One needs a good reason when he persists in making things costly to himsell. David evidently thought he had such reason. : He had gone up to Ornaun's thrash- ing floor for the purpose of there erect- ing an allar at his own expense. 'the shame of his recent crime was so keen that he was willing to pay any reason- able price for expiation. Judge then his surprise to be offered the properly without cost to himself. What a chance tc cconomizel But David knew a thing that we sometimes forget. The soul's processes can never be cheapened. To shave the cost of one altar is fo cheat one's self. Life has no real short cuts to triumph. God appoints no bargain days on which the shrewd trader may enrich himself at the expense of the Almighty. To altempt the payment of one's spiritual debts in the property of another, to of fer the sacrifices of a conlrite heart without personal drain, is A SPECIOUS FRAUD. What is the "spoiling' of a child? What but the payment by parents of the price which the child ought to pay? "My child does not know the meaning of self-denial," sald a mother overfond. Pity such a child! Missing the meaning of self-denial, ho will miss all the real prizes of life. 1 knew a young man who made a "hil" at his first public ven- ture. But that first hit was his last; THE SUNDAY SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON, MAY 31. Lesson IX. Jesus Risen From the Dead. Golden Text, Rev. 1. 18. THE LESSON WORD STUDIES. Verse 1.The first day of the week -- Following the Jewish Sabbath, and cor- responding lo our Sunday, ¥ Mary Magdalene--From whom. Jesus had cast out seven demons (Mark 16. 9), She is mentioned among other women as one of those who "ministered to Jesus of their substance" (Luke 8. 2). Her devotion and loyalty to Jesus are at- tested by the part she played in the scene at the cross and subsequently, That Jesus first appeared unto her after his resurrection (Mark 16. 9) cannot have teen an accident Early--Thal is, early in the morning, though not carly in the Jewish day which had begun at sunset on the even- ing preceding. 2. Cometh--Into the city. They--An infinite reference to the ene- mies of Jesus. Mary for one was clear- ly not expecting the miracle of the re- surrection. 4. The other disciple outran Peter -- Jchn was much younger than the sturdy leader of the apostolic group. - 5. Stooping--This was made necessary by the fact that the opening in the ver- tical wall of the limestone cliff was low cl the tomb itself. The linen cloths--In which the body of Jesus had been carefully wrapped (com- pare John 19. 40). Yet entored he ndt in--Overcome prob- ably by a feeling of reverence; or, as some have suggesled, for fear of incur, ring ceremonial pollution, 6. Bntered--With impulsive boldness so characlerist'c of Peler. 8. Saw and believed---Someé have su gested that what John saw in the tom convinced hind that the 'body of Jesus had not been carried off either by friend | ar foe; and that in this passage the au- Lhor records the conviction; first made upon: his own mind that the Master had risen {rom the dead, Perhaps, however, this is reading too much into the narra: tive at this pression to mean that John was now ecnvinced that Mary - Magdalene's ms sage was not idle talk, but, that of Jesus had actually ben rem the tomb by his enemies. verse, moreover, lends | point. We may lake the ex-| ed from |' in lo 3 3 Cuts. tol } he has never found = the range since.|cupacity, in coi Soudan Easy success rul ined him. The short cut] in' the pi blind alley. - The sorriest thing | January 26, 1885, that othe rd Coleridge was when | fuithful followers his friends guaranteed him absence of bracing airs. Hi kept his soul awake, but ease drugged | Lord Cromer, culminating Bir Rei ALD iny day. His muse s Wik] piel view © Wax rainy day ardship hed | cism will a series of ¢ ha him. Oh, the cheats we practice against | ation that he "aspersed the character 0 ourselves by our economies! « The last place for a man to save money is on his gifts. Let him wear the old overcoat another season: if noed a dead hero." g UNWISE TO STAY. ~ In the book Lord: Cromer writesi-- be; Jeb him reduce the length of & bill| iypy "tryth is, "that General Gordon of fare, but let him not shave the cost of those altars which love builds, The was so eager-'to smash the Malidi,' and &0 Rossessed with .the idea thal it was the dearest coonomies we ever practice are hounden duty of the Government to those which touch our benefactions. Our extricate all the garrisons, that he tried loss is greater than that of the cause "ry. the hand of the Government, we refuse to help. Charity can better], "\, oblige them to: send 'an expedi- stand my withholding of help than can stand withholding it. To let an- other do my giving is to let him have my blessing. If Ornan builds my alta for me 2: HE ALSO TAKES MY JOY. That man who asks how 'much he must give up in order to be a good man I tion<t» the Soudan. , . . Obviously, the best thing General Gordon could have done, after communication 'with Cairo was cut off, would have been {o retreat te Berber with the Kharloum garrison, and such of the civil population as wished fo leave the place. "But he does not appear to have made any serious attempt to do so, because r has gotten hold of the wrong end of he thought that, if he relrealed, there the matter. The question rather i how ood he wants to be. A disciple w! finds that his path includes no crosses | Government sendin may well pause to ask which master he 1s following. Life's real altars repre sent the shadding of blood. To repeat then, David's great renunci- would Le less probability of the British C g an expedition for the relief of the outlying garrisons. . . . UNFORTUNATE CHOICE. "I do not think that it can be held ation at Ornan's thrashing floor, to hold | that General Gordon made any serious bravely to the sacrificial quality of hu-| effort to carry out the main ends of man life at its best, to refuse all ig-| British and Egyptian policy in the Sou- noble lighlening of loads, to bleed that| dan. He thought mere of his personal wa may bless--in spile of all complac- | opinions than of the interests of the ent voices lo the contrary--this is one| Slate... He was left a wide discretion- of the rich truths of life. GEORGE CLARKE PECK. have inquired. Note that Mary herse! ary power, and he used il in a manner opposed to the spirit, if not to the ac- tual text, of his instructions. How- sme | over much we may admive his personal {| heroism, the facts narraled above are, i i Jusive proof thal never refers to tho body of Jesus as|:M MY opinion, a conc oo such; with her it is only 'the Lordane a mo:e unfortunate choice could scarceiy he yet more personal, "my Lord." § have been made than that of General not yet brought herself to think of him Gordon to cafry out the policy of eva as dead, and to her the lifeless form is| CUding the Soudan. 7 © He was ex- slill himself. This slate of mind on her | \Temely pugnacious. He fos Tok todd. part is the pont of contact from which |: LMPUISIVE, Ana SAYER WAC Core Jesus gently leads her back to a recog- tions. If is a true saying nition of himself, her living Lord. would govern others must first be mas- ter of h'mself. One of the leadng fea- "The gardener--The tomb" with others | {ures of Gordon's strange character was was in a garden, just as a cemelery is a garden spot. ca: tended and cared for. The gi was 'the one person whom she : i expect 10 meel there at that early hpur. hi. total absence of self-control." 2 £oo . MR. STEAD S' INDICTMENT. Mr. Stead replies to thesd and other 16. Mary--How much of tenderness, criticisms by charging Lord Cromer love, gentle reproach, authority': and | Wilh: comfort may not the Master have put into this one word! 1 Ignoring what he himself. laid down as" tho "first essential and preliminary She turned herself--Not having waited oondition of success," the "elementary fcr the gardeners (as she supposed) an- swer, she had turned again toward the tomb, lost once more in grief, without having caught the decper significance of thé question, "Whom seckest tho?" But at the speaking of her name she turns again in sudden recognition to him who tad addressed her. Rabboni--In the Hebrew literally, "My Master," a form of -address used by pu- pils in speaking to their teacher. lesson" of "trusting cordially" the man who is vested with supreme command; 2, Having failed to do that which "most of all was required," 3 ring the alarm-bell loud enough "to rouse the British Government from its lethargy", 3. Having shown himself incapable of d'splaying the statesmanship 'which "grasps. in an instant the true. situa tion of affairs," and of not realizing "the favorable moment' until. after it assed by. Which is to say, Teacher--The fact hed Jon ] iy that Lord Cromer that Mary at this moment used just this 'as British agent in Egypt, failed lo rea- expression and spoke in Hebrew throws lize the magnitude of the disaster until a flood.of light on the whole. scene. For | {he rising in the Soudan became gen- just one moment. iL is Jesus, her beloved | grat in November, 1883, and failed up teacher and friend, whom she has found |'y, December 22 to- take effective steps again. | (o carry out the policy of abandonment 17. Touch me not--Jesus had not re-{1ic had forced on the Government. turned to life to renew the old familiar fellowship with his disciples on earth, | Gpo stands conyi and much smaller than the dimensions | dt "1 claim that it is proved that Lord of having de- lis ascension was to inaugurate a new Jayed three weeks &fter rejecting the fellowship, a spiritual union, between | Gordon proposal before he made up his himself and his ' disciples, hence this mind thal it was necessary to send any warning command fo Mary. The verb one, Moslem or Christian, lo Khartoum here used implies in the Greek a "cling-{ to bring away the ing to." rrisons, and of not| having even tried My brethren--Emphasizing the fellow | of any officer as an alternative to Gor ship and oneness of Christ with his dis- dort unt January. 11; 1884, and then he ciples which is to continue, My Father and your Father--A like 5 ness with a difference, Jesus nowhere} identifies the sonship of believers with -- -- ois ~sald he, - addressin, friends alterwards, "that had 1 b an upright | 1 b Fave ong (0 in 'such a hurry?? Eoin: hae Tommy «A certain fudge, while passin through the scene of an etion rob {had a large stone thrown at his head, but as he happened to be in a stoopng : t the time il passed over him nominated a pasha who refused fo go. suggest the name Scplem | CHOICE OF GORDON. . "when Lord Granville proposed: Gor-| | don on December 1, and again 'on Ja : 1 10; Lord Cromer would have n miy--"Hallon, Jimmy, whers are at ps pris with his white assis ais and Jueje Black cat. riers, settled | disputes with nati a n kingdoms he Ras wthesed ainy unfamilia® sights and encountered not a few adventures. In describing his éxperiences Major | bos Guggisberg gave an interesting glimpse of a surveyor's life'in the great tropical] furests of West Africa. ~The country 's very rough and: the climate abominable, ke declared. In the great forest, which extends for some 300° miles from east to west, and varies in width from 100 miles on the cast to 300 mil¢s on the west, the work was exceedingly trying. IL is only some five degrees north of -the line and one appears to feel the ef] fects of the sun more here than in coun- Aries cven nearer to the equator.: There ts_an' intense dampness about the at- mosphere; with the result thak ONES CLOTHES ARE NEVER DRY. In the forest itself the surveyors had literally to cut their way through it foot by foot: The trees run up to a height of snhme 180 fect, and from their upper portions branch off huge umbrellalike Limbs stretching out horizontally for distances of from iwenty to fifty. feet. From tree to tree stretch ropelike creep- crs as thick as large hawsers. Then comes the undergrowth, so thick as to be impenetrable to any one unarmed with axe and machete. The sun is practically blotted out. This under growth consists. of all kinds of small tres, bushes, shrubs, creepers, thorns and 'prickly plants, running up to « Relfht in some cases of more than sixty eel. The whole forest teems with insect life. Snakes, scorpions, wentipedes and almost every 'creeping thing one could | name are - found in it, while in the branches of the {rees may bé seen par- rols, greon pigeons and a host of smal- tér tropical birds, many of the laller possessing: the most beautiful plumage. The noise is simply dedfening, parti- ularly in the carly morning and late alterndon. Except for the native sheep and cows in the village clearings there "is praclically no animal lifa in the for- ©¢1s, and horses cannot live there ow: ing to the presence of the tseisz fly. At one per.ol of the work Major Gug- gisberg had eighty white men and one thousand natives under control, and ihe immense 'amount of work required wn organizing an expedition of this size can readily be-imagined when it is re membered that practically no stores of any kind could be obtained inland. The expedition was divided into twelve par- ties, each carrying an ry : EIGHT MONTHS' SUPPLY OF FOOD and various necessities of life on the heads of carriers. Everyihing from a|™ ted to a frying pan, from tinned meal to: the last .ounce -of per, from a medicine chest to a pipe of lobacco, had 4a be 'foreseen; 'purchased and packed in 'suitable loads eight months ahead, and in addition to this arrangements 'made for {he execution of work, carry: ing out of postal 'services and supply of money for the whole period. All this organization fell to the lob of ihe director and one or two assistanls during June {0 August every year, which being the rdiny season~on' the coast, were spent by the st land, and the fortnight voyage out m ber 'was ulilized for drawing up {hn "programme of work and 'issuing the neccsary orders for ifs execution. Work in the bush, as the great forest is called, was no. light employment. At 44. the 1 "his" breu tent was ck. The head then "ooks atfer-4hé black' curri- sent on in advance wilh their hearts" conlent, mitted the publi¢ to the park in. and then gave it {to his people. in Eng-| noouragement to gre rr" Ly te, n Park has 1 specialty of primreses, and Ken. Park has united all these arpe 'Hyde Park "has ifs" usua blossoms in which flaunt'ng Mow tulips predominate, bul ror of lovers ol this largest and fashionable of London's parks amid flowers and grassy lawns is rapid and. frequented walks, ~As a ma Tact history is only repealing. itself and this new little tea place is to be on the very site of the 3 where for many generations fashionable ladies and gentlemen came lo walk, drive and regale themselves dainties of their times. It was Henry VIII, that royal De ty 'grabber, who "acquired" the chu lands of the Manor of Hyde in 1536 "a converted them into a deer park, whi it became a regular resort for fas! able men and women every. after through thé spring 2 the King and Qu as "it was called; and sometimes: ed there to watch-the games and In the very middle of the en were nine pools or springs or Jin 0 a 00 "drink cooling draughts and where care tal mothers dipped. their newly wear babies for lek and, health. 'A wooden house was erected : Ring called Prices Lodge, where |i refreshments were served' and wh Pepys and his amiable spouse of frequented. - He says "after going a fine foot race three times. around Ring we retired to the lodge lo : ¢h cheesecakes and tankards of wi IN-QUEEN ANNES TIME: - the gayelles in Hyde Park - ! canied poles were set up and dancers & 10 the rasp and: 4 strings' and: bows. grown 'grass Sollstions 2 3 vom Price's Lodge. ~ With William Mary's reign came a diminution of al prestige for the Ring, but the and frolic evidently continued, as chronicler,. Tom Browne *Scores_ of galla screech of t Upon nt ladies in '®ome sing.ng; same lay, tickling one another, con BIL your. - cheesecakes, man