A PREACHING TOURNEY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1180, 16 September 1885, Page 6

A PREACHING TOURNEY.

Old, but good, is the story told of the young preachers who were discussing the subject of off-hand sermonising, when an old gentleman declared he always preached extempore and trusted to the occasion for inspiration. A young man declared he never did, but preferred carefully preparing his sermons andjeommitting them to memory. " Phsaw," said the old man, " the reason you don't preach extempore is because you can't." " Well," replied the young one, " I'll tell you what I'll do. " Next Sunday we'll both preach extempore. I'll preach in the morning from any text you give me, and you preach in the afternoon from a text I'll give you, and we'll see who does the best." " Agreed." The affair got noisedabroad, and a crowded house greeted the young preacher as he went into the pulpit, and the old man passed up the text from a verse in Numbers :—": — " And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass."

The young preacher pitched in and graphically described the kinds of breeds of asses, their usefulness, good and bad traits, and drew a moral and adorned a tale from , all he knew of asseology. The sermon was a success. Evening came, and the old preacher ascended the pulpit, and the young one sent up the text from the next verse in Numbers — " Am not I thine ass ?" The old gentleman. rubbed bis spectacles and adjusted them, and read the text aloud. Then he coughed and looked around at the audience, for the meetinghouse was packed, readjusted his glasses, coughed and repeated the text, and, bending over the pulpit, said, " Tes, brother, I guess I am."

It has been discovered by a French writer that General Gordon belonged to France. The writer in question, M. Gary, of Cahors has published in the last number of that magazine a summary of his researches on the subject, and he proves entirely to his own satisfaction that " the family of Gordon, the hero of Khartoum, established several centuries in Scotland, came originally from Quercy." This is no new kind of claim in France. There are many people in France who insist that Byron and Milton must have been of French extraction, and even the name of Shakespeare becomes in their mouths Jaiques Pierre. . Jerusalem has lately been the prey to a severe water famine. In consequence of the great heat, which has set in this yeav earlier than usual, and in a more acute form than has been known for a long

period, the cisterns within the city were exhausted, and even the springs in the environs yielded but little water. A correspondent (says the "Jewish World ") describes the heartrending scenes witnessed day after day as the water dealers brought fcheir precious cargoes into the city at a price beyond the means of the thirsting poor. Tlie demands of tlie dealers rose saiJy, aflcl it became a common tiling ho ace the poor bartering necessary articles of clothing for &■ drink of water.