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fe Sle ETE SE SE Sp He BR ERE -- e the ye tock War ly, and ,. "Ifyou Teme Ein my black horse as well as T know him, you wouldn't worry about +That horse has carried me through thick and thin."' with a farewell wave of his hand he was off. X30 The black horse of which the gal- lant captain was so proud was in- 'deed a beautiful animal. He had a well-shaped, 'erect head, a deep chest, and slender, well-formed legs. But there was something very extraordinary about his tail. It was long and bushy, but it never moved or twitched, except with the movement of the animal's body. Close observation showed -also that it had a slightly reddish hue; al- though the difference in color was not great enough to be noticed un- der ordinary conditions. When Prebois arrived in the dis- turbed section of the city. he fear- lessly delivered his messages. He met with no resistance from the crowds in the streets until he reached the Place Vendome, one of the principal squares in the heart of the city. Here a great crowd of revolutionists had gathered, and as the officer rode through the square, some one seized the bridle and cried, in a' fierce voice, 'Hold! What message are you carrying 1' The captain refused to answer. "Put a bullet through him and get that message !"' bawled out the man in a commanding voice. He was evi- dently a leader of the mob. At this point, the captain deter- mined that quick action alone would save him from violence at the hands of the crowd. Quick as a flash, he wheeled his horse, and dashed off. Several bullets flew after him, but they went wild--and then suddenly ceased altogether. He looked round, and saw the mob crowding round one of their num- ber, who held something in his hand. And then his eyes fell on the back of his horse, and his heart sank in dismay. It seems that, as he whirled his horse about, several men seized hold of the animal. But the power- ful creature threw them all except one, a lad of fourteen, who had seized the horse's tail. That tail was the object of interest that had caused the shooting to stop--for it had come off. There stood the boy, |. in the middle of the road, with his °F" I'feet spread apart and an expression shy [LY of grim determination on his face, as he tightly clutched the fleeing creature's tail. The mob saw the humor of the situation, and burst into a roar of laughter. The explanation came out later. It seems that Oaptain Prebois's horse, while perfect in every other particular, did not have a very good tail, and so his master had had an artificial one made for him, No doubt that artificial tail, and that alone, saved Captain Prebois's life. iene THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY. There is in man a higher than a love of happiness. We can do with- out happiness and find instead thereof blessedness.--Carlyle. The most gladsome thing in the whole world is that few of us fall very low, the saddest that with such capabilities we seldom rise high.--J. M. Barrie. : Life is short. Let us not throw any of it away in useless resent- ment. It is best not to be angry. It is next best to be quickly recon- ciled.--Samuel Johnson. People do not go to church as a matter of course, as they used to, nor are they as willing as their forebears to identify themselves with the church and make it the centre of their life.--Rev. R. J. P . . It is not work that kills man; it is 'worry. « Work is healthy; you could hardly put more upon a man n he can bear. orry is; rust upon the blade. It is not the revo- lution that destroys the machinery ; it is the friction.--Beecher, . The finest. thing in the world is undoubtedly a beautiful character, Land one of the most wonderfu things about character and the ele- nénts of the mind is that the more © eipended upon others the 5 | more the giver becomes enriched. -- Jones ged. Je to stu enough to refuse, He would vr as he' was full pos. t #7 A Dug lie omary to give a stupifying drink to those about to be crucified. 3 24. They . . . part his garments among them, casting lots upon them--The executioners were privi- leged to take the garments, and sometimes other personal belong- lings, of the executed as a sort of recompente for their services. ~ 25. And it was the third hour-- Nine o'clock in the morning of our time. In John 19. 14 we read that it was "about the sixth hour."' The hour was called the third until the 'sixth' was sounded. On careful reading 'the accounts essentially agree, 26. And the superscription--It was customary to put a sign above the crucified to indicate who or what he was. The Jews would ne- ver have had Jesus indicated as their king. But so had they ac- cused him to Pilate and so he was described on the eross, To see the "King of the Jews" hanged must have given occasion for coarse jok- ing among the Romans. Pilate, it will be remembered, was interceded with to change the superscription, so as to indicate that Jesus called himself King of the Jews. 20. And they that passed by railed--A large crowd, mostly Jews, of course, would be attracted to Golgotha, and many were there who took this SPPOFtuty of letting the levity of their natures have full play. But we may well believe that many, even some who had not been drawn to him in his lifetime, look- ed on with serious and solemn as- pect, and perhaps were struck with awe and astonishment, on the one hand, that so innocent a man could have been wantonly hurried to the cross, and with surprise and 'ad- miration on the other that he could bear the ignominy and pain so nobly. 30. Save thyself, and come down from the 'cross--He could not save himself because he would 'tave the souls of others. What was thrown at him as a taunt was his real glori-- fication. 31. In like manner also the chief priests . . . with the scribes--The priests led in the unhallowed merri- ment. They stood around and saw to it that, when the mocking and raillery began to lag, new material for jesting was brought forth. 32. They that we:e Srucified with him reproached h'm--This &sesms3, hard. It is surely difficult to com-| prehend. We read in the other Gospels that one was repentant and rebuked the other for his blas- phemy, 34. And at the ninth hour Jesus' cried--He had now been hanging on the cross in the most excruciating pain for six hours. Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. The words occur i: (Psa. 22. 1. Eli and Eloi are t forms of the word Ged, one of which Jesus naturally would use. Why hast thou forsaken .me?-- Probably in the sense, "Why dost thou withhold thy help?' 35. And some cf them that stood by, when they heard it, 'that is, Eloi, Eloi, perhaps did not hear distinctly, or they turned the word into Elian, making a pun on God's name, and changed it into Elijah. 36. And one ran, a friend'y per- son in disregard of the mockeys,. and filling a sponge full of vinegar, posca, or sour wins, put it on a reed. The Roman soldiers would have such articles to assist in mois-i tening the lips and mouths of the poor dying criminals as they gasped, out their lives. Let us see whether Elijah cometh to take him down-- This was mockery. No sane p2rson! among Jesus's enemies at the cross would seriously have expected such a thing. : 87. Uttered a loud viice--Ths physical exerted and asserted its-If at the moment of dis-olution. Could any of those who stood by ever have forgotten this ery of Je- sus as his 'tired and tortured body" gave up the-ghost? J BR Decorated. 'What do you mean, Rofferty, by saying your wife gave you the de- coration of the iron cross?' asked Me Dolan. "You're talking fools ish. bis "I'm not. She hit'me over the eyebrow wid a pair of tongs." x