The Little Gleaner Part 68

E noch Genesis iv. 17.

R ehoboam 1 Kings xi. 43.

S apphire Ezekiel i. 26.

E bal Joshua viii. 30.

C andace Acts viii. 27.

U r Genesis xi. 28.

T hyatira Revelation i. 11.

I ram Genesis x.x.xvi. 43.

O thniel Judges iii. 9.

N oah Numbers xxvii. 1.

MINNIE LEGG (Aged 12 years).

_Edinburgh._

AN OLD CLOCK'S ADVICE.

A correspondent says that in his great-grandfather's house, as he has heard his mother tell, there was a clock on which was the following inscription--

"Here I stand both day and night, To tell the time with all my might; Do thou example take by me, And serve thy G.o.d as I serve thee."

The old clock remained in the family for many years, but the time of which it told so faithfully at last conquered it, as it conquers all things on earth.

Interesting Items.

THE National Sunday League lament a deficit of 110 as a result of the band performances in the three parks.

THE oldest and biggest tree in the world is at Mascoli, near Mount Etna.

The trunk is seventy yards round, and a flock of sheep can take refuge in it.

JERUSALEM is rapidly becoming again a veritable city of the Jews. In 1880 there were probably not more than 5,000 Jews there; now there are more than 30,000.

THE "threepenny-bit" may well be regarded as the "church coin." At the collection at Dr. Parker's Sunday evening meeting in Queen Anne Street Church, Dunfermline, there were no fewer than 1,400 threepenny pieces.

PHONOGRAPHY, as a system of shorthand, is the best, simplest, soundest, and most scientific of any in existence. Ninety-nine out of every hundred shorthand writers use it, and none other should be learned.

THE b.u.t.tercup blooms in unwonted places. A horse belonging to a farmer near Belford was having an old shoe removed, when a b.u.t.tercup was found to have taken root between the hoof and the shoe, near the toe. It was in full bloom.

THIS is the day of rapid travelling. A through railway service has been organised to run from Charing Cross to Constantinople in seventy-six hours. Thus, in three days and a half, one will pa.s.s from the city of the Queen to the city of the Sultan.

IN England and Wales the receipts for first-cla.s.s railway season tickets last year amounted to 720,862, for second-cla.s.s season tickets the receipts amounted to 665,203, and for those of the third-cla.s.s (including workmen's weekly tickets) the amount was 358,142.

AMONG the rarities in Dr. Williams' library in Grafton Street, London, is a tiny shorthand Bible, exquisitely written, which is said to have belonged to an apprentice, who, suspicious of James II.'s intentions regarding Protestantism, wrote the whole for himself, fearing that he might be deprived of his printed copy.

DRS. CHAUVEL and Nimier now announce that, in future warfare with the Lebel rifle, the surgeons will not be perplexed by having to extract b.a.l.l.s from wounded soldiers. These projectiles pa.s.s through the body, bones, and all, even when fired at a distance of from 1,800 to 2,000 metres (1,980 to 2,200 yards).

A FORTUNATE COBBLER.--It is announced that a Blackburn cobbler has just come in for a windfall in the shape of property valued at 40,000. He saw an advertis.e.m.e.nt some time ago with regard to some property in America, to which he has proved himself sole heir. He has left for the New World to take possession of his unexpected wealth.

ONE day last August a boy, nine years old, went to a school treat, and ran in several races. On returning home he complained of headache, and next morning was seized with pains and became insensible, dying an hour afterwards. The post-mortem examination showed that death was the result of syncope, brought on by fatigue and excitement.

A STATEMENT was made at the Spanish Armada Convention at Exeter Hall, recently, to the effect that, during 1878, "in the poor country of Ireland there had been bequeathed to the Roman Catholic Church no less than 750,000 for ma.s.ses for the souls of the departed." Doubtless Mr.

Isaacs had proof of this, for he referred to it as "an ascertained fact."

A PAPYRUS of extraordinary beauty and completeness, of the fourteenth century before our era, has been added to the British Museum. It contains certain chapters of the "Book of Death," carefully copied out by a scribe of Thebes. Its remarkable feature are the ill.u.s.trations. The colouring of these is as vivid as if the work had been done yesterday, instead of more than thirty centuries ago.

AN interesting discovery has just been made by Dr. Tschakort, Professor of Church History in the University of Konigsberg, who has found in the library there numerous ma.n.u.script sermons and commentaries by Luther, hitherto absolutely unknown. They were written in the years 1519 to 1521--that is, at the very culminating period of Luther's work as a Church Reformer, after the burning of the Papal bull, and before the Diet of Worms.

STRANGE stories occasionally come from the Black Country, but few are stranger than that which is related of a man living at Bilston. A collier lost his eyesight in December through the explosion of a blasting cartridge, and the other week, as he was being led home from a neighbouring village by a brother, a terrific thunderstorm commenced.

Simultaneously with a flash of lightning, he experienced a piercing sensation from the eye to the back of the head and his sight was instantly restored.

MILDEWED linen may be restored by soaping the spots, and while wet covering them with powdered chalk.

THE Dead Sea, at its northern end, is but thirteen feet in depth, but at the southern end it is thirteen hundred.

CHISWICK CEMETERY.--The Home Secretary has ordered that a large tract of ground which has been recently acquired and added to the Chiswick Cemetery should be set aside for the use of the Roman Catholics of the district.

A CATHOLIC total abstinence society has been brought into court in Philadelphia under the laws against gambling. They pleaded that a benevolent enterprise such as theirs, though using lotteries, could not be regarded as a swindling speculation. "If such things are allowed to be carried on by professedly good people," said Judge Biddle, "it is inconsistent to call upon us to convict other people." The relation between the grab-bag and the gaming-table is not inconceivable.

ON June 8th last, a correspondent at Shepherd's Bush despatched a post-card from London, _via_ the Brindisi and Suez Ca.n.a.l route, to Hong Kong, with the request that it might be forwarded to the addressee _via_ San Francisco and New York. The card was duly received by the original sender a short time ago, the time taken in its transit round the world being exactly seventy days, which is about forty days less than the time taken ten years ago. The card was franked for 3d.

A THANKSGIVING DAY.--Dr. Franklin says that, in a time of great despondency among the first settlers of New England, it was proposed in one of their public a.s.semblies to proclaim a fast. An old farmer arose, spoke of their provoking Heaven with their complaints, reviewed their mercies, showed that they had much to be thankful for, and moved that, instead of appointing a day of fasting, they should appoint a day of thanksgiving. This was accordingly done, and the custom has continued ever since.