THE FIRESIDE.-NOTES AND QUERIES. The Fireside. TO BRUSH VELVET.-The art of removing lint, dust and light matters adhering to velvet consists in the proper mode of managing the brush. Take a hat-brush (not too soft, but having the bristles elastic, and returning at once to their original state after being pressed aside), hold it firmly under the palm of the hand, in the direction of the arm, and with the bristles downward, and pressing them first gently into the substance of the velvet, then twist around the arm, hand and brush all together, as on an axis, without moving them forward or backward. The foreign matters will thus be drawn up, and flirted out of the flock without injury to the substance of the velvet, and the brush must be lifted up and placed in a similar manner over every part required to be brushed. By this means velvet will be improved instead of deteriorated, and will last for years. TYPHUS.-It is worth while for common people to learn that 50,000 typhus germs will thrive in the circumference of a pin head, or a visible globule. It is worth while for them to note that these germs may be desiccated and borne, like thistle seeds, everywhere, and like demoniacal possessions, may jump noiselessly down any throat. But there are certain things spores cannot stand, according to the latest ascertained results of science. Soap chemically poisons them. For redemption fly to hot water and soap, ye who live in danger of malarial poisoning. Hot water is sanitary. Soap is more sanitary. Fight typhus, small-pox, yellow fever and ague, with soap. Soap is a Board of Health. Notes and Queries W. S. B.-Your interpretation is correct. The special point of the prophecy is that all kinds of hurtful things will cease under the potent influence of the Good News of God. J. P. C.-It is well to observe the testimony of our Lord to the character of His death. He accepted John the Baptist's description of Himself, as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world?" He spoke of His death as "a ransom," and His blood as "shed for the remission of sins." The apostles, therefore, only repeated what they had learned from Christ. C. C. M.-When our Lord spoke of "laying down His life for the sheep," He uses an expression in harmony with the picture of Himself as the true Shepherd. He does not contradict the apostle John, who speaks of Christ as "the propitiation for the sin of the whole world." A theology of shreds and fragments of Scripture is always doubtful. Take the whole teaching, and not a mere bit of it broken out from its context. F. H. S. P.-The "rich" who are "sent empty away" are clearly those who deem themselves "rich," not those who are so regarded by God Himself. It is their own self-righteous or selfsufficient opinion, and they suffer accordingly. W. P. Not exactly. If you look at the whole passage, you will come to a different conclusion. The apostle does not undervalue either religious training, or religious rites: he only puts them in their true place. S. M. O.-Yes: but collect the whole of the references to "the gospel," and you will see how various are the phrases used to describe it. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. Venezuela produces 85,500,000 lbs. of coffee annually. The Jewish Times computes the number of Jews all over the world to be 6,500,000. One thousand dollars have been raised in one of the older districts of China within twelve months, from converted Chinese, whose wages amounted to no more than fivepence a day. The distance of the stars is proved by the startling fact that we cannot in the least degree magnify them, even with our largest telescopes. If, for instance, we point a large instrument to a planet, which appears like a star, that planet is magnified to the size of the moon; but if we point the same telescope to a star we find its brilliancy only is increased, while its magnitude remains precisely the same. Hatred is murder in the will; contempt is murder in the intellect.George Macdonald. As we must render an account of every idle word, so must we likewise of our idle silence.-Ambrose. Conscience and self-love, if we understand our true happiness, always lead us the same way.-Bishop Butler. Whatever below God is the object of our love, will, at some time or other, be the matter of our sorrow.-Cecil. The greatest evils in life have had their rise from somewhat which was thought of too little importance to be attended to.-Bishop Butler. If you would relish food, labour for it before you take it; if enjoy clothing, pay for it before you wear it; if you would sleep soundly, take a clear conscience to bed with you.-Franklin. If you light upon an impertinent talker, that sticks to you like a burr, to the disappointment of your important occasions, deal freely with him; break off the discourse, and pursue your business.-Plutarch. The largest cultivated wheat farm on the globe is said to be the Grondin farm, not far from the town of Fargo, Dakota. It embraces some 40,000 acres both government and railway I know nothing that life has to offer land, and lies close to the Red River. so satisfying as the profound good unDivided into four parts, it has dwell-derstanding which can subsist, after ings, granaries, machine shops, eleva- much exchange of good offices, between tors, stables for 200 horses, and room two virtuous men, each of whom is for storing 1,000,000 bushels of grain. sure of himself and sure of his friend. Besides the wheat farm, there is a -R. W. Emerson. stock farm of 20,000 acres. In seeding time seventy to eighty men are employed, and during harvest 250 to 300 men. Hints. We should praise what we can, and blame what we must. Take short views, hope for the best, and trust in God.-Sidney Smith. It often seems more difficult to preserve a blessing than to obtain it.— Demosthenes. Gems. There is nothing terrible in death but that our life hath made it so.Matthew Henry. The only amaranthine flower on earth is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth.-Cowper. If the way to heaven is narrow, it is not long; and if the gate be straight, it opens into endless life.-Bishop Beveridge. It is extraordinary how long a man may look among the crowd without FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. discovering the face of a friend.— Dickens. He who spends all his life in sport is like one who wears nothing but fringes, and eats nothing but sauces.Richard Fuller. The Scriptures impart to the soul a holy and marvellous delight. It is, indeed, the heavenly ambrosia.-Melancthon. Dearly I love a friend; yet a foe I may turn to my profit; friends show me that which I can, foes teach me that which I should do.-Schiller. Nothing can be more painful to the feelings of a minister when he comes to water his flock than to find that many of them are not at the well. William Jay. - What a ridiculous thing would all that ado appear to be if a beast's blood were powerful enough to cleanse from sin-if the transgression of any part of it might be washed away by so cheap an offering! "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."—Charnock. Poetic Selections. MEA CULPA. FORGIVE, O Lord, the doubts that break Thy pardon full and free. "I will have mercy," thou hast said; "My ways are not your ways;" Yet from Thy presence I have fled, I dared not trust Thy grace. I sought to put my sins away, I thought that Thou with jealous eye My deeds to mark, my steps to spy I hoped that when, by days and years I had besought Thy grace with tears, Thy mercy I might share. THE FISHERMAN'S WIDOW. THE tears are standing upon her cheeks, And her eyes are weary and dimShe has sat at the window for weeks and weeks, For a sight of his boat and him. She takes the youngest child on her knee, The boats come sailing in over the bay, His boat will come in no more. -Temple Bar. ВАСН. IN one of the narrow crooked streets of the sleepy little town of Eisenach, Upper Saxony, a queer old house, stuck over with windows of all shapes and sizes, is pointed out to travellers as that in which the great organist first saw the light, and the red-tiled roof and great beams showing through the plaster tell of the ravages of time since little John Sebastian played under them. At ten years of age, in 1695, we find him an orphan, penniless, going to live with his uncle, a stern, hard man, with one redeeming trait-a love for music-and soon the boy learned to finger the harpsichord marvellously. The child had mastered all his uncle's music with the exception of one book, a collection by celebrated composers that he was never allowed to touch. In vain he begged to use it, but no, whenever the uncle had done with it, he carefully wrapped it up and put it away on a high shelf behind the glass doors of his book-case. Here the boy sat and watched it and longed for it until the desire of possesion grew too strong to be withstood. One moonlight night he crept out of bed and stole it. To play the music would not do; but, happy thought, he might copy it. So night after night when the sky was clear and there was a moon-for he dare not use a candle-the little fellow sat at his window slowly and painfully tracing note by note. At the end of six months of sleepless nights, aching fingers, and with his eyes almost ruined, the whole was copied. As he was writing the very last notes of the great book, his uncle came upon him at his work, and, stern and angry, took both copies from the child. Soon after the uncle dies, leaving all the music to the boy, though he is once more without money or friends. But bravely he set forth on foot for Lüneburg, where he sang in the boys' choir in St. Michael's school, until trouble came in the change of his voice; after this was over and his voice had settled into bass or tenor, which ever it was, it was found to be good for nothing. What he did to keep from starvation from that time until 1703, when he became court musician at Weimar, is unknown, but he must have been a hard student with the rest, for at Weimar he was violinist, a position of which he soon tired, and left for that of organist in Arnstadt. Dissatisfied with his knowledge and acquirements, he is soon BACH. tramping from city to city, listening, sometimes by permission, often by stealth, to the greatest musician. Too poor to pay for lessons, he snatched them here and there in some old church or beneath the window of a concert hall or palace. As a result of this work and study in 1707 he was offered the position of court organist at Weimar. There he laboured almost unceasingly. His great talent becoming more and more widely known, in a few years he became court director, an office requiring the greatest musical ability. Six years after this he was made director of the St. Thomas School of Music in Leipsic, which position he held at the time of his death. Various honorary distinctions, such as Kapel-meister to the Duke of Weissenfels, and court composer to the king of Poland, were also conferred upon him. In appearance, Bach was a very plain, stout, full-faced man, extremely timid and retiring in society, though a most rigid teacher. His second son was organist in the service of Frederick the Great, at Potsdam. The King was very curious to see the father of his organist, and sent more than one invitation to the musician all to no purpose; vexed, Frederick the Great sent a message which could not be refused. After long delay, Bach gave his promise to visit Potsdam. One evening as the King was dressing for his concert-for he imagined he could play the flute and had concerts at his palace in which he performed an officer brought him a paper containing the list of arrivals in the city. Frederick took the paper and then exclaimed, "Old Bach has come, Bach has come." A messenger was sent, and the modest man was dragged at once into the royal presence; nor did the King release him until he had heard him play upon every piano in his palace and every organ in Potsdam. There was great discussion as to the comparative merits of Bach and Marchand, a brilliant but superficial organist of Dresden, and to settle the dispute a trial of skill between the two was agreed upon. The time came, but Marchand was very late. A servant was sent to bring him. The man returned without the valiant musician, who had very discreetly run away. Bach has been called the father of organ music. He was the first to play keyed instruments in all twenty-four minor keys. Before his day only the four fingers were used in playing. Bach's only rival is Handel. But as works of science and study, the compositions of the school-master Bach excel all others in the world. Το copy all Bach's existing music, it is said, would require forty years of daily labour. For many years he composed |