INTERNATIONAL LESSON, _-- Lesson XIE, Ezra teaches the law, Nek. 8. Golden text, " Psa. 19. 7. Verse 1. The broad place--This was a popular meeting place, be- tween the temple and-the water gate, £0 called because the water- carriers' path leading from the spring of Gihon, the Virgin spring, entered the city at this point. it was at the east end of the city. spake untoeEzra--It was a request of all the people. It was an unusual step. ple were in- spired with a fresh sense of a com- pact life, and a new hope, now that the work of Nehemiah was com- pleted. Now, oo more than a dozen years of indifference to their sacred law, they were ready to fall in with Ezra's measures, py. which he sought to make Judah arate nation on the basis o their religious life. The book of the law of Moses--A study of the references to the law, in the of Nehemiah, will dis- cover elements of every part ofthe Pentateuch. The entire system of priestly and sacrificial regulations, | , with the many enactments concern- ing cleanliness and consecration, made up this document. It was the book of instruction, the Torah, "the old covenunt.' 2. Ezra the priest--He is called both priest and scribe, and in verse 9 and elsewhere is given the two- fold appellation., His priestly line- age is traced back to Aaron in Ezra % 1-5. His response to the request the popwace is no less remark- gine than the request itself. All that could hear with under- standing--A comparison with Nel. 10. 28 indicates that children as well as men and women were in- cluded. "The law is for the simp- lest minds, the religion of Israel is to be popular and domestic. e first day of the seventh month--Thie gives us our line upon the year also. e wall was com- pleted on the 25th day of the sixth month. That was in the year B. C. 444, and there can be no doubt the writer meant to convey the impres- sion that the reading of the law followed immediately after, It was an especially appropriate time, for on this day the people had gather- ed in ""holy convocation" to cele brate the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23. 23-25). 3. From early morning until] mid- day, when the hot autumn noon would compel a cessation of the; reading, would be seven hours, and | of course the process would not be | consecutive. hers were standing | by to relieve the great scribe, an interruptions would occur for ex- position. 4. A pulpit of wood--The first mention of a pulpit. This erection of a temporary wooden platform gives an indication of the import- , ance of the event. Ezra could in way seen by ail in the. vast assembly. Beside him--The high priest and his party are not mentioned in this list of those who supported Ezra. The reason is obvions. These thir- teen men were laymen and Levites, as was fitting in a movement which meant the overthrow of priestly monopoly and the deliverance of the law into the hands of the peo- ple. The Levites were no longer a part of the priesthood, but were ra- ther concerned with the instruction of the people. It is likely that one name has dropped out of those on the right hand, as there ought to be an equal number on both sides, probably seven. 5. All the people stood up--As an evidence of their reverence for the book of the law. Prebably they did not remain standi.g during the en- tire reading. Standing as a pos-! ture for prayer was a token of hu-| mility. It became the custom to | stand during the reading of the law in the later services of the syna- gogue. 6. Amen, amen--The response of the people to the prayer of Ezra, ratifying his sentiment. Lifting up the hands was an expression of de- sire to receive and to embrace the divine blessing, the hands being open and the palms turned upward as if to accept, Bowing with faces) to the ground was an attitude of ney worship. : Ard the Levites--Better, omit the "and," or translate 'even. The phrase defines the function of the thirteen men just mentioned. are mentioned as same four, with three of the others, arc: called Levites in Neh. 10. 9-14. They are all probably representatives of Levitical families Caused the. peonis to understand --Gave popular expositions of what Ezra read, interrupting at -fre- quent intervals. This work of in- struction in the "Levitical law was intrusted to the priests alone. &. They read--Perhaps there were groups wf people, and the Levites were reading to them at the same time. with Ezra. But it is more probable that it refers to the Le- vites who, one by one, relieved Ezra. They read distinctly that is, with clearness a precision. Also they gave the sense, by way of interpretation. There are but two clauses, not three, in the Au- rized Version. ®. All the people wept--Probably from hearing the threatening rtions of the Deuteronomic law. sense pee all the past should aive-owaysorc0¥- | 'DECEMBER 17. x s 14., "they ini written --Thete are va! passages in the Pen- tateuch relating a the Feast of the Tabernacles, but the ae aes Megan: ly reforred to here Vv; 23. where the only eatin is made 0 east took) vest home of the year, thé merry, but simple, celebration of the in- gathering of the fruit of the field. 15. The mount--The entire hill country of Judah, and especially | the Mount, of Olives on the o other side of the Kedron. 16. Upon the rodf--The roofs of Oriental houses were The courts were formed by the houses being built in the form of & qu rangle. 17. Jeshua--Joshua. It is not meant that the feast"had a a al] that time been celebrated, never 60, with such gladness te ceremony. eS HARDER THAN THE ROCK. More Difficult to Tear Down Con- erete Than to Build. Concrete buildings are permanent an extent never before realized by architects. Office-buildings have & life of twenty, thirty, forty years, as the caso may be, and tnen, if they are built of brick or stona or terra-cotta, Le? fall into the wrecker's han and are remov with little difficulty but much dust, to let other ch greater buildings rise in their s But with plese buildings, says the Construction News, the case is different. To induce the concrete to release its hold on the re-enforc- ing rods of steel] ia no easy matter. The steel rods are wound in and out of the mass, crossing and re- crossing and lapp yet each oth- er until thorougbly tangled, like the hairs in my'lady's coiffure, and much harder to separate. It is infinitely more trouble to "ARE DOING. Progress of the Great West Told In a Few Fetated : Items. _ oe? has formed an Overseas tion as a city. ary -is to have a-home-- for convalescents. ae supply of potatoes is short m Vancouver Island: 'our cases of smallpox were found in Edmonton recently. The a Armstrong is $17 a A new bridge is being built across the Slocan river at Slocan City. Cache robbing is becoming epide- mic in the Portland, Can., ae yo Ripe straw berries' were picked o Oct. 26 at Oyama, in the O ahalnen, Saskatoon, the largest town of ee, has 12,002 popula | © "is the Okanagan, B. C., Valley $750 per acre seems is the' average price. During October 107 carloads. of lumber ware shippéd from the saw- mill at we eing were recently' x of} ss Victoria for $1.75 per sack o unds. _An increase in aldermanic indem- nity to $1,200 per annum is pro- po at Vancouver. Vancouver shipping men favor the city's taking over of the floating dry dock scheme. . Ferguson, of Savona, one of the best known pioneers of the Kamloops District, 1s dead. Pag at one day at Tete Jeune ache $900 in fines were collected frown whiskey peddlers, A grizzly bear weighing 1,500 pounds was recently shot at Ramsey: om by a hunter from Vancouver. Calgary has lately open¢ "bunk house' to meet the wants of the tired and stranded individual. South Vancopver residents are agitating for awigorous enforce- ment there of the federal Lord's Day Act. tear down a house of re-enforced conerete than it is to build one, and | although less skill is required, it} wi e found that the cost will | not be far different. The removal ,of a smal] concrete building in| New York recently cost twenty-two | thousand five hundred dollars. The use of the modern re-enforced concrete for building camirastiog | goes back hardly twenty years, and | there are few buildings of the most | approved type that are ten years | old. For this reason knowledge of | the lasting qualities of cement can- | |from what is known it is believed | | that the ordinary house of brick or | stone is at the peak of its efficiency | 'the moment it is completed. From) not be said to be complete, but | that time it begins to deteriorate. The peak of efficiency in the case of a concrete house has not yet been determined. As concrete gets older, it becomes harder and more durable, that is, of course, if the concrete is properly made. The usual means of wrecking a house have not the slightest effect on concrete. The sledge-hammer, the drill and dynamite must be used. Acids might be used to disinteg- rate the concrete, but the expense would be enormous. Muriatic acid will dissolve the binder in the cem- | ent. but the trouble is that as soon as it has soaked in a little the cem- | ent counteracts the acid, and it is | necessary to wash away the soluble | material with a hose before further | progress can be made. The orly thing to do it to loosen | materia! with explosives and then | break it free from the stee] re-en- foreement with sledge-hammers, and that isa long, tedious job. A concrete house, "re-enforced, be- i comes what is called monilithic. It' is as if some one had chiseled the house out of a single piece of stane. with the added strengtu furnished by the stecl. WIL L MOULI L DED L ED LAW. Fact hahah by Death of Gan n of Its Author. The death of Lord Rendleshan, | who was agrandson of Peter Thel- lusson, has recalled the eccentric ; | will which helped to mould the Eng- ; lish law as to testamentary disposi- | tions. Peter Thellusson, who set- | 'tled in London in the middle of the: "| eighteenth century as a merchart, | |and amassed an enormous fortune, | 'left £100,000 to his family and | j directed that the rest of his prop- jerty should be invested and | 'cumulated during the lives of the | ithree sons and the lives of their sons, and should then be divided among his elder fineal male descen- dants, or if there was none, should | go toward the reduction of the na- tional debt. As the law then stood | there was nothing at ali unlawful | about this singular will. as a matter of a upheld by the House of Lords. But the protract- ed accumulgtion of so much wealth was plainly against policy, and resulted in an Act being passed in 1800 confining the power of be- queathing property for the pur- ose of accumulation to twenty-one -- "mn tne testator's death. t by which the locking- -up of caintes is prohibited 'is still rey to lawyers as "Thellusson' 8 ct | | --_----_--kr--____ ----t----_ There's no excuse for failure un- less you yearn for the unattainable- If you would have your own wa: y | may . you must be willing to travel alone at times. r. Masterman, of Black Moun- tain, nezr Pincher Creck, reports having killed 45 coyotes this year. Fully six inches of snow fell in 'the Cowichan Va ley, B.C., the second week in 'November. Forty doctors were successful in the recent examination for regular practitioners in British Columbia. The four natural gas wells at Bow Island, Alberta, are giving a flow | of 56,000,000 cubic feet per day The school trustees' ocnvenkon at Vancouver has gone on record as etrong'y favoring compulsory at- senanee ' orley shot a mountain goat a month that weighed 400 pounds while hunting in the Skeena | district. Two weeks go eggs were selling at ~ sc r dozen in Victoria, B. np mox butter had dropped fe 45 pty Some ee was caused re- cently in Edmonton, when the tracks of a huge ody had been seen in Irvington, a suburb. ee IN PLACE oF HANDSHAKE. Aomeee Flse_ Required to Avoid ger of Contagion. The bend is the sole organ at the disposal of man for placing himself in communication with everything | surrounding him, whether it be to | guard against threatening dangers or to make uses of objects within \its reach. This organ, by its external an- atomical structure, is eminently h- able to retain the most minute par- | elon of anything that comes in con- tact with it, in fact, as every one knows, the 'palmar surface is com- posed 'of lines and eminences cover- ing the fibrous. alveolar, mucous and glandular tissues, and this epidermic surface is always moist- ened by the profuse perspiration is- | suing from the openings of the sud- orific glands. The hand is constantly touching gloves, hats, sometimes boots, the | noes the mouth ap e hair--and all thes are the habiteal egret ong of bu- mors excreted by th ¢ body as us se. less and often aagetou Fre this one may judge of the senile ® chances of contagion due to the habit of shaking hands which no doubt politeness demands, but which hygiene should forbid. A table might be drawn up giving a classified list of the professions in which the hand is particularly liable to become an instrument o contagion. Such a list would show first of all doctors and surgeons, hairdressers, a cela pork butch- ers, tri ellers, tanners and leather nian Who can oe sure that the hand is not the predommant cause of almost all contagions and of al' epidemics, | spreading from individual to in- dividual residing at great distances apart by means, for instance, of letters or other objects of corres- pondence transmitted by post, and also by exchange of coins, bark notes and chequas | Why not odmit that if some means net too inconvenient and therefore practical could be found of assuring the asepsis of the hand, -- majority of contagious diseas: would disappear and the average of human life would be considerably xtended ? o The ideal sanitary ~_ which -- be the result. of the preced- conditions would not Nonefit tie doctor or pharmacist. But what would that matter, since the | Judging from the obituaries' most | - of the really good people must be dead. Tact ii is ning the art of getting Bbeh yon Wem: Salmon Arm is secking incorpora- 1 average price Fol potatoes at | Informat during 2 of this paper have in connection with "ais m those of the' reader. -- (By a The relative popularity of investments in Canada differs very materially from that in the United States. Here, for ex- out seeing any railway bonds offered for salo. In the States, on the contrary, they 'stand first in tho estimation of conser- vative investora. And after railroad mortgage bonds come railway equipment bonds. In Canada, fovestor$ often have opportunities to invest in railroad equip- ment bonds, but as a ruje these are eagerly taken in large amounts else- where, and so Canadians cannot give these the position in their scheme of in- vesting that they deserve. As a result, they must fall well down im rank of re- lative popularity, coming after indus- trials, and even real estate mortgages and investment stocks, not in security, of course, but only in popularity. And so, as we are treating these se- curities in accordance with their rela- a | tive popularity and-not according to their relative merits, we come now to the study of industrial bonds, "Industrial" bonds are bonds secured by mortgage of some manufacturing, mercantile or miscellane- ous company of a private character. The consideration of an industrial bond as an investment from the point of view of safety involves a more thorongh Iinvesti- gation than that of a municipal. The safety depends, of course, on the success security on which the mortgage is based, over the amount of the out- standing obligations. But this margin is by no means easy to determine. "Even when determined," says 2 writer on thiz subject, "the rale is difficult of applica- tion, because a margin which may seem insufficient from the point of view of phy- sical valuation may be satisfactory when considered as the equity of a work.ng concern." That is to say, t "good- will" of an active business, while it should not be reckoned as a proper security for a mortgage, may be of sufficient value to render the bonds amply sale when the good-will stands as a marginal security. Then, too, ony where' it is being used. A pegative ex- ample of this may be seen \n the un- fortunate position of the bondholders cf the Amalgamated Asbestos Corporation. This company--primarily a mining con- cern, but with many points in common with the ordinary industrizl--has valu- able properties and ¢ machinery; but ile business is one in which "gnod-will" business connection, satisfied cus counts for little. Conse- quently, when the demand for -asbestos products fe'l off the corporation was un- able to sell its output in the face of competition, most of its customers pre ferring, apparently, to buy from any other company than the so-called "trash." Had it had a "good-will" worthy the name it might have tided over the dull times tn the asbestos trade. It must be borne in mind, however, that good-will is not a proper security for a bond, but is valunble only as an "equity." In estimating the safety of industrial bends the most easily estimated asset is its real estate. The first point, therefore, to be determined is the value of the com- pany's real estate holdings, on which, of bond is a first mortgage. . as is sometimes the case, value of the real estate--cxrclusive buildings--equal or cxceed the amount of the mortgage the security is ample, and the bord has all the good features of a real estate mortgage, with none of its drawbacks. Of course, any first-class banking house handling an industria' issue will not base this determination on the cost of the land or the value at which it stands in the company's bdoks. It is only the appraised value which is of ans importance. For example, the property and plant of the Amalgamated Asbestos Corporation stood on the books last year at $17,000,000. Let us say that the plant took up 87,000,000--an excessive figure, of course. We have §10,000.000 for the pro- perty to stand behind a bond issue of $7,500,000. Bunt the $10,000,000 may repre sent the PAR VALUE of securities paid for the property at the time of the amalgamation, of of the whereas the real\worth of the property as determined by/ appraised value may be much loss than even this amount. If, then, the appraised value ef real estate is less than the mortgage the Investor must consider several other factors. | THE SPEED OF BIRDS. Many naturalists are of the opin- ion that the speed of birds in flight is often gr 7 overessimaled. he -- sor instance, ae it- pe hundred he fits aes an peer, "2a Po i ti compares the ae vith that of acan- ° used for distributing water at bags ee yee a ee See ee ee THE McNAMARAS BEHIND BARS FOR KEEPS On the right is James two brothers, John J., the Preside Union, being & large 'figure in the B. McNamara, the less prominent of the nt of the Structural Iron Workers' labor wor FIREMAN'S AWFUL TORTURE| SNATCHED FROM DEATH THE LAST MOMENT. AT Prisoner Behind Furanece Grating When Fires Were Started. The incident I am about to relate took E yiace just seven years ago, was in Jersey City working ig "i Ellerts Smelting Works as a} furnace cleaner, says a-writer in London Answers. There were four furnaces in the! furnace-house where I was at work. The furnaces were constructed on much the same principle as they are in any modern gasworks. y wero built of brick, and were four yards in depth, one in height, and about four feet broad At the end of each furnace was an iron grating, and behind the grat- ing a "draught" passage a couple of feet wide and three in height. In the centre of the passage was the deep circular base of the fur'nace- house chimney. + The furnaces were ot ey air wh ich ae place directly. "fir rough the passage were ed" to the Stoney A PRISONER! At midnight the furnaces h be raked out by the cleaners. and after that had been done the clean- er had to get into the furnace and examine st t sce if there were any flaws in the brick work. Then he had to raise the iron grating, which was lifted by a lever in the stone- work above it, and go into the pas- sage and thoroughly clean the back of the grating and the vent-holes above it. Well, one night after I had finish- ed this part of my job the grating slipped, and I fo ornenek in the draught passage. pulled and hauled at the grating for about a quarter of an hour, but failed even to stir it. The lever which moved it was on the other agi ariig I was, of course, unable to reac Then gradually the full horror of the awful position I was in began to dawn on me n about two hours' time--a couple of hours after midnight--the furnace would be "fired." What would then happen would be this; A huge iron barrel- shaped contrivance, filled with red- hot fuel, would be drawn into the furnace- hose by an electrically- worked moto It would te stopped opposite the mouth of -- furnace, which would e 'fed y the stokers with three or four a sof blazing fuel from the barrel, and the air passage would, ere all the furnaces were filled, loa become so hot that no living thing : could exist a minute in it Unless I could make myself heard by the stokers when they entered the furnace-house, it was inevitable that I must die an awful death in a few hours. But the chagces that I could make myself heard were re- mote. LAST DESPAIRING EFFORT. At qpe end of the furnace-house two immense pumping-machines, pressure to dificrent parts works, tvere at work all through the night, and amid the clangor of the machinery it was very doubtful if I would be able to make the stokers hear me from the pos: ition I was in. I roared and shouted for help as it was, but no one came near me. There was therefore nothing to be done but to wait until the ones arrived to fire the furnaccs. f a last chance I walked down the shaft-passage a and tried each grat- ing to see if I cag move it, but of course I cculd n The waiting an cerita, _ the mental agony I suffered the couple of hours was awful. At ge ME eeasd the stohers enter the fur- nace-house a. came to standstill ° pposite No. 1 furnace, pig tl the grating of which I was procaey. roared and yelled to the; top of my voice, but the = teal My. voice, raised to ite hi itch, was lost in fod te i iofesl gh ny of the pumping- machines. I saw ¢ hw =< glow of blazing coal on the di , beafled faces of the takers as the mouth = the giant fuel by was open saw ; ike --- diva iteunedl into the barrel. Then I roared again and yelled like a madman. In mad desperation I drove my clench- ed fists against the ironwork of the | grating, smashing my knuckles into | apulp. THE BLAZING FUEL began to come in avalanches into! the furnace, asin fiery sparks | and stifling fume With a wild cry of desperation I retreated down the draught passage to the next grating. In a few min- utes I heard the newly-fired furnace begin to roar, and the hot air seem- ed to strike me 2s it rushed through | the passage, and away to the great semokc-stac The stokers passed to the second more I made a) furnace. ce desperate effort to make myself) beard, but my voice was hoarse, | and my strength was failing me. he second furnace was filled-in Tess than ten minutes, and roared as it began to draught. The atmosphere | in the air-passage now became un-| bearable. I was literally being, roasted alive ne perspiration was running off me in streams, and great | difficulty in breathing. I crawled | to the eratne at the third furnace. r was much too weak to stand or call-out I aa ring agonies, and my one hope was that they would soon be over, most prob- ably before 'they finished filling the third furnac t that moment! I felt. something hard in my pocket | pressing against my' hand, and like a flash Iremembered what it was, eat in an instant the desire to live return wild hope seized me that I might yet save my life, and my energies came me. e back to BY A WHISTLE. SAVED The thing I felt in my pocket was a policeman's whistle, given me the day before by a fellow-work- er as security for a smal] loan. I summoned up all my strength, and ressing my moyth between the ars of the gehting, I blew the whistle as hard as I could. I saw a hnge shovelful of fuel a the mouth of the furnace, which suddenly seemed to grow blurred and indistinct, ana then I remem- 7 no more. When I came to I was in bed in a hospital. The stokers had heard my whistle in the very nick of time, as I vas at my last gasp, and in a a ooeaiie of minutes had got me out of the furnace "Another half minute would have finished cooking you, my lad!" was the doctor's comment. PERSIA'S BOY SHAH ig? is only 13 years old. Recently his father, who was deposed, at- power, but without success. gent oow directs affairs. _ --__ CAUSE FOR OBJECTION. Mother--After all, the boy is only sowing his wild oats. Father--I wouldn't mind if he didn't mix in so much rye. . meee iain A woman drifts into religion as naturally as a' man drifts into poli- Nearly every man thinks he is an inspiration to some woman. with her gleam- 'Don' t in neste envy the women you know who have all the luxuries of life ae never have a un- gratifi "No a aren with Ruskin, when he sai is happier to live in a smal ave arwick aan castle to wonder at, than to live in. Warwick castle -- have = to be astonished at. And reaching to the basket at her side, she too sar rN a who can afford but one servant bemoans the fact that she must spend part of the i in the kitchen, and starts how lovely it would be to ve a whole staff of ee and a housekeeper to manage t Bhar acne d she begins to on herself because she cannot spend hours in poe "pleasures, as do her more fortunate neighbors. '*About this time all the ordinary ilittle worries and annoyances as- }sume huge proportions, and she rows fussy, ill-tempered and says Rite j is not worth living if it must |b e spent in drudgery. "Life is always worth living. | "Even if it is not free from sor- | row and disappointment, it is a glorious gift if we will let | flooded with the rosy hues of cheer- | fulness and love | "Tt is a great mistake to compare | our existence with some other one' 8 who is richer than we. If we must compare, then let it be with some one whose life is cueoenes with sorrow, losses and unha ; "Banish the ugly, anvioeh 'little thoughts that spring up like weeds, and break up our selfish discontent and make room for the beautiful | flowers of the soul to flourish. le '"'Never Bay, "T cannot be con- | tented ; it isn't my nature.' The 'thing to do is to cultivate content- ment and make the best of what material you have to work with. "In all peg pd you would do no better, even > Fe nae all ia bors. @ it could buy "« 'Make the best of 'what is and | never worry over what might have been,' is my motto I be- | come dissatisfied I strive as hard as I can to improve matters, and I al- ways succe "There, there, Babbie darling, = t ery; mother en get the baby er dinner right aw ner Rock the cradle ails a minute, will you, dear, while I warm Bab- bie's milk for her?' As she left the room I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving for t valuable lesson in contentment that had just been i ught. PURSES IN OTHER LANDS. Ilow Money Is Carried in Different Countries. It is marvellous, when one con- siders the number and variety of things in which national character- istics manifest themselves. . In the eare of money, for instance, the average Englishman his old, silver, and coppers all loose in his trousers- -pocket. When he Pig to pay any given amount, "ee out @ handful of mixed i "The American carries his "wad of bills' in a long, narrow pocket- book, in which the greenbacks lie flat. The American business man soon becomes an expert in the mani- pulation of this bo ok, The Frenchman generally males use of a plain leather purse with no particular distinguishing character- istics. German, on the other hand, usually pol a fancy purse, embroidered in The half- civilised "capitalist from America generally carries his dollars in a belt with cunningly- i ts. The a =, seas oorer class ties up his little twee in a gaily-colored hand- kerchief, which Ae hides about his thes. ilar ton with the 'Spaniard ; while the ssian exhibits 3 tho lining ing-place for his savings. sk ---_-- FISHING WITH AN OBJECT. | Uncle Jethro sat fishing on the bank of a tiny rivulet when & 'stranger stopped beside him and gai Ts i it possible that there are any fishing in such a small stream as at?' "No, there ain't none," Uncle "What. then, is your "My object," ssaid Uncle Jeth, 'Ss to show my wife I ain't got no time to sift the ashes." FACT AND FANCY. The French are ea packing wine from bananas. he banana hadn't already peter enough downfalls i Korea has pager raincoats. There are few classes of men that go to the as 0 as paper- hangers.