Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3377, 18 October 1879, Page 4

but the" man in tile pulpit talks so unlike a man, as,though he had never known what human joys or sorrows^ are— so carefully avoids every subject of interest save one, and paints that in colours at once so misty and so more, tricious—that I say to myself, I will jiever sit under him again." This may, of course, be only an ingenious excuse of his for not going to church ; but there is really something in it. The angels, with their harps, on clouds, are vow presented to the eyes, even of faith, in vain ; they are still appreciated on canvas, by an old master, but to become one of them is no longer the common aspiration. There is a suspicion, partly owing, doubtleis, to the modern tillc about the dignity, and even the divinity of Labour, that they ought to be doing something else than (as the American poet puts it with characteristic irreverence) " loafing about the throne " ; that we ourselves, with no ear for music, and with little voice (Alas!) for praise, should take no pleasure in such avocations; It is not the sceptics —though . their influence is getting to be considerable—who have wrought this change, but the conditions of modern life. Notwithstanding the cheerful "returns" as to pauperism, and the glowing speeches of Chancellors of the Exchequer, these conditions are far harder, among J;be thinking classes, than they were. The question of "Is life worth living P " is one that concerns philosophers and metaphysicians, and not.the. persons I have in my mind at all; but the question "Do I wish to be out of it ?" is one that is getting answered very widely—and in the affirmative. This was certainly not the case in the days of our grandsires. This may not have been the best of all possible worlds to theni, but none of them wished to exchange it, save at the proper time and for the proper place. t Thanks to over-work, and still more over-worry, it is not so now. .... A modern philosopher says that, bur memories m old age are always grateful to us. Our pleasures are remembered, hut our pains are forgotten; "if we try to recall a physical pain we find it impossible." From which I gather that thatwriter never had the gout. The folks . who come my way, indeed,, seem, to remember their physical ailments very distinctly, to judge by the way they talk of them; and are exceedingly apprehensive of their recurrence. Nay, it is curious to see how some old* men -will resent the compliments of their juniors on their state of health or appearance. " Stuff and nonsense! I tell you there is no such thing as a fine old man. 1' Iv a humbler walk of life I remember a similar, but more touching reply. An old woman in a workhouse, said to be a hundred years old, was sent for by the Board of Guardians, to decide the point by her personal testimony. One can imagine the half-dozen portly prosperous figures, and the contrast their appearance offered to that of the bent and withered crone. " Now Betty," said the Chairman} with unctuous patronage, "you look hale aud hearty enough, yet they tell me you are a hundred years old; is this really true P" " God Almighty knows, sir," was her reply, " but I feel a thousand." And there ai'e many people nowadays who "feel a thousand.' It is for this reason that the gift of old age is unwished for, and the prospect of future life without encouragement. It is the modern conviction that there will be some kind of work in it; and even though what we shall be set to do may be " wrought' with tumult of acclaim," we have had enongh of work. What follows, almost as a matter of course, is that the thought of possible extinction has lost its terrors. Heaven and its glories have still their charms for those who are not wearied out with toil in this life ; but the slave draws for himseif a far other picture of home. His is no passionate cry to be admitted, into the eternal city : he murmurs sullenly "Let me rest." There is one pleasure only that takes more and more root amongst us, and never seems to fail, and that is making money. To hear the passenger at the Midway Inn discourse upon this topic, you would think they were all commercial travellers. The reverence that used to belong to Death is now only paid to it in the case of immensely rich persons, whose wealth is spoken of with bated breath. "He died, sir, worth two millions; a very warm man." If you happen to say, though with all reasonable probability and even with Holy Writ to back you, "He is probable warmer by this time," you are looked upon as a Communist. What the man was is nothing, what he made is everything. It is the gold alone that we now value ; the temple that might have sanctified the gold is of.no account . This worship of mere wealth has, it is true, this advantage over the old adoration of birth, that something may be possibly, got out of it; to cringe and fawn upon people that hare blue blood is manifestly futile, since the peculiarity is not communicable, but it ia hoped that, by being shaken up in the same social bag with millidnaires.tsomething may be attained by what is technically called the sweating process. So' far as I have observed, however, the results are small, while the operation is to the last degree digagrceable. These people live abhorrei and die respected ; leaving all their heaped up wealth to some charitable institution, the secretary of which levants with it eventually to the United States. This lost catastrophe, however is not mentioned in their biographies, the subjects of which, are held up as patterns of wisdom and prudence for the rising generation. I shall have left the Midway Inn, thank Heaven, for a residence of smaller dimensions, before it has grown up. Conceive England inhabited by self-made men. James Payn. —Nineteenth Century.

" Mamma, I don't think the people who make dolls ore very pious people," Raid a little girl to her mother one day. " Why not, my child ? " " Because you can never make them kneel. I always have to lay my doll on her stomach to say her prayers. 1' Hovwwa.y'B Pills.—Mind and bodj arc bo closely entertwinod that for the former to bo vigorous the latter must be healthful. The first step towards the maintenance of health is to secure perfect digestion, which is readily obtained by this noted medicine, the moat competent effectually to restrain every adverse influence can mar, impair, or vesafciously modify this all-itnporlanfc process, The student, merchant, man of plensure, and humblest laborer may each in turn derive vigor, ease, and strength from occasional doses, or a longer courao of Holloway's purifying Pills. However wavering the mind, or anstruug the nerres, this fine medicine will track the derangement to its source, where ifc will overthrow ifc,^ and establish order and purity in its place* t