Ministering Angels

hile perbaps tul! justioo üas been dono to the great advantages of modern iinprovementsin rapid transportation and coiniüuiiicatioh, so iar is regards the productiou of wealth and the sa vinga of la bor, the attention oí' tlie wuiid has hnrdly been called to their eflicacy in relieving distress. The lust two vut of modern times - the American civil war and tlio Franco-Prussian - should, howcvor, h:ive made na aeqnainted with thia equality. - da and 'telegraphs, in faoiH the transportación of supplies to the wounded and of the woundod to hospitals and homes, have very greatly limitcd the suffering and the fatulity iimong tho wounded and th aak ia aimies. But it is in the time of a great Citlamity like tbat which has just belallen Chicatro tliut the power of relief trivtn by ra.ilroads and telegraphs beoomea uilniistakabli Wlnlu (he ftre %a; still rag n ; which was tómale a hundred thousand people rss and hoiueless, deprived of food ai.l in large pari, of olothing, ;h r telegraph had whitpsrod y in evory town umi city betwcün the tivo ocuans and beyond tne o"ö.in, like one of God's angels - as it tUcn n:o.-i sureljl was had edthohearts of all wlio lovo their fellow men -of all mankind it uesuied - and set huudreda of thout.auds at work, Ijreparing food, colleeting clothing, iiving money, contriving hundreds of plans 'lief. And when these charitable Tiiillions, standing at ddstanoet of :i hundred, a thousand, two thousand miles and more, In 11 out their hands witli git! . railrOad tfains, serving thera at least as divine messengeraof mercy, bore the gifts to the needy and supplied their wan. most bifore tiiey were feltj they since taUi'n ]lcniy to the destitute. What would have been the condition of the city but for these instrumentalitiés one cannot considcr without a shuddor. Death bj expO3tire and famine must liave been the lot of thousands, and the calaraity whieh has beeoine eminent in the world's annals for the destruction of property, inight have bc n almost equally eminent for the destxaction of lifo. The work wliich ilie railioad compaiiies have done, in the relief of thia eilauity, without fee or reward, is a yet but p.irtiallyknown; b transpoH uf train -loads of suppliee, they have curried from tho city many thousands of men women, and ehildien, ui'i in many cases to the most distunt parta of the country, that they inight ttnd frienda or einploymeiit. Sholl we conimend theni for pharitablenean, pencrosity and large sympathy r a v.ill simply record their deeds and let these Bpeak for thtin, only remarkiug that thia great disaster haa proven that in thia age wha( we have been accuatotned to cali " goulless corporations," have beau reaohed and touehed by the true spirit of ChiisHanity, and that the vast powers devoloped by modern science, whicb we have boen accustomed to regard only asenginea for selfish aggrandizement and material wc.ilth are jnst as availablc and just as powetfu] in the tenderest missionaof charity and lovc. In this great calamity of the age, the railroads nul tbc; lefegraph; havo been the most helpful of ministering angels. - Raüroad Oatttte,