will be vanquished, and we shall be enabled to pass with the speed of the lightning flash from place to place, and from planet to planet, even to the uttermost depths of the star world. And even as the risen Saviour passed through closed doors by virtue of a power that overcame the inpenetrability of the barriers, so will the Just be enabled to pass through the hardest rock and the strongest metal.

In that fair life corruption shall never lay hands upon the vigor and splendor of the glorified body, nor shall death ever lay claim to it. For the world of change shall have passed away, and the new era, the era of the abiding and the changeless, shall have been ushered in for everlasting.

And to add to the measure of our

accidental joy, we shall there meet and recognize those we have loved upon earth. Heaven will not be an assemblage of strangers, but of friends. Our identity will not be destroyed, nor our memory effaced. The change wrought in the body will render it perfect, but the removal of defects does not destroy identity, just as it does not destroy our nature. Thus we shall once more take up the gladsome features of social life, only in a far higher sense. For then the days of misunderstandings, of partings, of heart-burnings, shall have ceased and the circle of joy shall not be broken, because of the vision of God.

This is but a passing glimpse at some of the rich promises writ upon the golden dawn that ushers in the Resurrection feast.

THE present war-like spirit of the nation and the patriotism which has been stirred up in every breast by the news of the disaster to the battleship

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Maine"; the anxiety with which many a wife or mother is waiting the dreaded word which to her will bring sorrow, and the fervor with which prayers are offered daily that the word may never be spoken declaring war, brings back to many memories of another time such as this one - no, even worse, for then brother stood up to fight brother for the cause championed by the north.

At this time and season a visit to the Central Branch National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers and a glimpse at the manner in which Uncle Sam takes care of his defenders will certainly prove interesting to the reader. It may not be generally known, or the fact may be forgotten, that the conception of a National Sol

diers' Home originated with the American poets, William Cullen Bryant and Henry W. Longfellow; Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune; John A. Dix, General U. S. Grant and others, who embodied their idea in a petition to Congress, the same having been presented to the Senate on December the 8th, 1864.

The United States has seven National homes for her disabled soldiers in different parts of the country, and the Central Branch is the largest, and in fact the largest soldiers' home in the world. It is an ideal home in many ways, yet with all its beauties, there is room for improvement.

Beautifully situated on an elevation just west of the city of Dayton, Ohio, it commands a splendid view of the picturesque Miami Valley, whose natural beauties, with its fine farms, win the admiration and praise of every traveller through these parts. As the

visitor stands at the east gate of the Soldiers' Home with his back to the setting sun he beholds a scene which he cannot easily forget. Before him to his left in the valley lies the handsome city, with its magnificent churches, its wide streets and comfortable homes; while to his right the valley stretches from beneath his feet. for miles and miles until it seems to end in the distance where a row of hills or bluffs joins the blue of the sky. Well known as it is and so easy of access from the city, yet there are many hundreds who visit Dayton often who do not see the home, perhaps because the beauty of it has never been impressed upon their minds and they do not appreciate the magnificent proportions of this institution. This home now embraces 578 23-100 acres of land which originally cost the United States $87,445.30. There are cared for at this home over 5,500 veterans and, with the officers, nurses, etc., there are some 6,000 inhabitants living within the precincts of the home. In fact, it is a government in itself, with its governor and staff, its police and fire departments, its post-office, chapels and theatre, its own gas plant and electric works, besides the many other buildings, including the hospital and the barracks, the homes of the officers, etc., etc. To the visitor it presents an interesting study indeed. As he enters the Home he is confronted by a picturesquely laid out park with beds of rarest flowers, winding walks, and lakes in whose clear water fish are sporting, playing hide and seek among the lilies which stud their bosoms, while here and there the soft music of playing fountains, and the swish-swish of softly dipping oars of the boatmen add music to a scene which is truly beautiful. Selecting a path which winds in and out along the shores of a pretty lake the visitor soon finds himself amid a scene of tropical beauty as he follows the path which leads between gardens of rarest flow

ers to the grotto, and after quenching. his thirst at a natural spring of iron water, and resting perhaps beneath the cool shade of overhanging vines and flowers, he ascends a romantic staircase of stone beneath an arch of overhanging rock, and passing another spring and, with another ascent of several steps, he finds himself right in the heart of the institution. Before him is the headquarters, a commodious building for the officers of: the home; to his left is stretched the campus, with its velvet covering of nature's production, only the quaint pavilion for the band, with its roof of blue and gold, breaking the stretch of green. Beyond the campus to the south are the homes of the governor and his officers, and to the west is a long line of barracks, stretching back for several squares, in which the soldiers are housed. To the north of the headquarters building is the Memorial hall, and beyond that the chapels, the hospital buildings, the club house and many other buildings, making a veritable city of commodious structures.

For the entertainment of guests a neat and well conducted hotel is situated near the entrance. This little hostelry boasts of taking care of many distinguished persons. Among the list of the most august visitors to the home are found such names as Mrs. Putnam, General General Hooker, better known as "fighting Joe"; General Sherman, who visited the home on Memorial Day in 1870; General Grant, while President of the United States, with Mrs. Grant and their daughter. "our Nellie"; Governor Allen of Ohio, and many other noted persons, among them many prominent acto:s and actresses; Bayard Taylor, the poet, Horace Greeley, Wendell Phillips and others. It is a favorite spot for Mme. Rhea, the actress, who, with her company, has spent many summer seasons at the home.

It would cover many pages to even attempt to describe in detail all the interesting points in this magnificent