Earlier text: A Check on AdventismLiquor-Drinkers Unfit for Office.
WHILE the Civil Service Reform Bill was in discussion in the United States Senate, Senator Blair, of New Hampshire, introduced the following section as a condition of appointment under it: "That no person habitually using intoxicating beverages shall be appointed to, or retained in, any office, appointment, or employment to which the provisions of this act are applicable." Senator Brown, of Georgia, proposed an amendment to this, inserting the words "to excess" after the word "beverages," so as to read: "That no person habitually using intoxicating beverages to excess shall be appointed to, or retained in, any office," etc. Before the question was taken up, Mr. Blair made a speech on the subject, of which the following is a part:— Of course the original language of the amendment itself implies all that is contained in the proposition of the Senator from Georgia. It is a prohibition of the employment or appointment in the service of the United States of any one to whose case the provisions of this act, if it should become a law, would be applicable. The habitual use of intoxicating liquors would probably be conceded to be the use of such liquors to excess, so that I hardly think the Senator's proposition improves or increases the force of the amendment as it now is. It must be conceded that if the primary purpose of the bill is the improvement of the civil service, and we are to incorporate a variety of provisions in the bill looking to that end, the suggestion which I make in this proposition is as important to the country, is as well calculated to improve the civil service as a whole, as any provision whatever contained in the bill. There has been much discussion of the principles of Jefferson from time to time, and they have been alluded to in this debate; and he has been quoted as saying that capacity and integrity form the ground criterion for appointment to office and not political sentiment or affiliations. That is true; but later in Jefferson's life, at the close of his administration, Mr. Jefferson announced another principle as still more important. I have his language here. I am not able to refer to the precise place in his works where it may be found, but I know it has been common stock in the temperance literature of the country for many years. At the close of his administration Mr. Jefferson wrote:— "The habit of indulging in ardent spirits by men in office has occasioned more injury to the public than all other causes; and were I to commence my administration again with the experience I now have, the first question I would ask respecting a candidate would be, Does he use ardent spirits?" That would be the first question propounded by Mr. Jefferson to-day, were he the President of the United States, or the head of one of the departments, or in any position of authority making appointments in the civil service. Of course in the limited time allowed me it is impossible to present this subject as it ought to be presented. I would say further that the Congress of the United States having, as I understand it, without any amendment of the Constitution, little power to legislate on the general subject of the use or abuse of intoxicating liquors throughout the land, I think it is the duty of Congress when there comes an opportunity for us to say and establish in the statutes of the country anything which is for the encouragement of the cause of temperance, as it is called, and for the discouragement, the denationalization, the delegualization, and the destruction of the evils of intemperance, it should be so established. Here is an opportunity to say in an enactment of the United States a word which it is for the benefit of the civil service of the United States to say, and I think we shall fail in a high duty, however trivial the amendment may seem to some, if we fail affirmatively to put in this bill the provision which I offer in the amendment. It is a matter of statistical truth that in this country the grand amount of production in the last year was about $7,000,000,000. Of that amount about $1,100,000,000 has been expended in wages of laboring men. During the same period there has been consumed in this country the amount of $1,483,000,000 in what is neither more nor less than the patronage of the tippling shop. To that extent have the wages and the productions of the American nation been absorbed and destroyed by this unnecessary and accursed habit. We only expend about $80,000,000 in this whole country in the cause of education, common school and all others combined, the higher and lower forms of education. We pay annually about $100,000,000 for the support of all religious institutions, churches, clergymen, and all manner of expenditure for the cause of religion, whether Catholic or Protestant. We pay about $750,000,000 directly over the counter for intoxicating drinks. The other amount, nearly $750,000,000, which makes up the $1,538,000,000 which I have specified, is chargeable to the extra expenditure made necessary in the administration of the criminal law for the protection of society, for the support of the idiotic, the insane, and other forms of direct expenditure resulting from the use of ardent spirits. For the American people to keep sober three years, or, two years and a half, would pay the national debt. Really the destruction of human life every year in this country as a result of the improper and unnecessary use of intoxicating liquors is as great as it was in any one year of the war. Year after year in the unnecessary use of intoxicating liquors in this country we are carrying a burden as great as that of the War of the Rebellion itself. I think that I am justified in offering this proposition, and that the Congress will not be justified in its rejection. I do not think that in the departments at Washington there is a larger proportion of men addicted to intoxication, nor so large, perhaps, as in the community generally; and yet heads of departments and others not quite so high in official station have frequently assured me that one of the most serious difficulties which they had to contend with is this habit on the part of many of their best employees; that while to be sure they have the right of dismissal and they sometimes exercise it, it is an ungracious and unpleasant thing to do; that if there was something in the statutes of the land which was in itself a serious admonition to this class of Government employees, it would have a very powerful tendency to restrain the habit on the part of those who are addicted to it. Outside of Washington, in the custom-houses and in the largest post-offices, it is a difficulty frequently complained of by those who have to administer the civil service that many of their employees are addicted to this bad habit, not always so far as the person himself is concerned immorally very bad habit; sometimes it is a disease, sometimes a thing for which the man is to be pitied rather than censured; it is a misfortune. Very often they say on account of the prevalence of this habit among that class of employees the civil service is very seriously injured. It has seemed to me that it would not only be wrong but impolitic, even if we were to appeal to the lower class of motives, for us, now that we have this opportunity, to fail to speak one word showing that the Congress of the United States, irrespective of party, I hope, at least sympathize with those who would destroy the destroyer of the American people. Following these remarks Mr. Sherman said:— "Mr. President, the evil of intemperance in a man holding a public office is so common and so great that I was disposed, and am disposed, to vote for the proposition of the Senator from New Hampshire." "The vice of intemperance in this country is one so prevalent, not only in private life but in public life, that I should be glad to vote for a general proposition and place it upon the statute-book, that any man who is habitually intoxicated, or drinks to excess, shall be excluded from appointment; and, still more, that all the officers of the Government should distinctly understand that when a man is habitually intoxicated in the discharge of a public duty he should be promptly discharged by the head of the department." "As an executive officer I was myself often placed in that position where with extreme reluctance I was compelled by sense of public duty to remove a man for intemperance, sometimes men of the highest qualifications, of the keenest wit and ability, and intelligence, who were guilty of this offense, there being no statutory provision pointing out the necessity of removing, and it resting simply upon the inconvenience to the public service. Now, especially in the departments, it seems to me that the initiation ought to be made by laws to the heads of the departments to justify them promptly in removing a man habitually intoxicated. Many cases of this kind occur, especially in the army and navy." In closing the report, which appeared in the Lever, the writer said:— "And there is authority for this position far above that of Jefferson. The Almighty declares that it is not for rulers to drink wine nor strong drink; therefore it is not for voters to elect them. Positive law!" Missouri Camp-Meeting.
By Isaac D. Van Horn
THIS meeting was held as appointed, at Higginsville, Oct. 10-16. The fair-ground in the immediate vicinity of the town was used for the meeting, and the citizens of the place came forward and paid the sum charged for its use. There were no shade-trees on the ground, and we did not need any, for the weather from Tuesday night till Sunday morning was cold, cloudy, and rainy. But Sunday morning the clouds passed away and the welcome sunshine brought good cheer into the camp. About two hundred of our people were camped on the ground, some of whom came long distances through the storm and mud, and showed commendable zeal at least in coming to the meeting. This spirit pervaded the whole camp, for there was good freedom in all the services, and there was unmistakable evidence of the presence of the Spirit of God moving on the hearts of the people. The outside attendance was very small, occasioned in some degree, no doubt, by the inclemency of the weather. Higginsville is a town of about one thousand inhabitants, and yet not over seventy-five or one hundred were out at any one time. A tent-meeting had been held here previous to the camp-meeting, during which a few embraced the truth. The efforts put forth to reclaim backsliders and turn sinners to the Lord were crowned with some success. The Spirit of the Lord gave witness to some, which showed they were making genuine work. On Monday nineteen candidates were baptized by Eld. Farnsworth. It was a quiet, solemn, and impressive scene. The preaching was done by Elders Butler, Farnsworth, and myself; and such subjects were chosen as would give a broader view of the work, and the purity and devotion required to meet our soon-coming Lord. This Conference is evidently improving in many particulars, under the supervision of its young President, Elder D. T. Jones. The tithes paid in the past year were sufficient to adjust all claims. Bro. Butler presented the wants of the cause in the foreign missions and the International Tract and Missionary Society, and in a few minutes pledges were taken to the amount of nearly $1,000. On Monday evening two licentiates, brethren Watt and D. T. Jones, were set apart by ordination to the Christian ministry. The Lord came very near and approved of this step. At the close of this meeting I returned home, having attended fifteen camp-meetings during the season. I can report a deeper experience in the things of God, a more extended view of our great work of warning the world, and realize in a greater degree, how pure and holy in heart we must be in order to hear the "Well done." I. D. VAN HORN.
Charlotte, Mich., Oct. 18, 1883. An inquirer, at a temperance meeting, interrupted the speaker by exclaiming, "I say, mister, do you think a gin sling does a fellow any harm?" To which the lecturer replied, "Not if the man slings it far enough; but when the gin slings him, ever so little, then it does harm." Brewers Mix Politics and Business
The Ohio brewers resolved that they deprecated mixing politics with business, and in the same breath recommended every brewer to vote and work against all candidates not in harmony with their interests. Too much beer does get things mixed sometimes. Harry's Motto.
By Lillian Payson
"HURRAH, boys! we're former graduates now, and I can't say I'm sorry, for one, to be free from the hateful old books. I never did like to go to school anyhow." "I'll shake hands with you on that, Sam," said Ned Lee. "My father wants me to go to college, but I'd about as soon go to jail and be done with it. I go in for a good long vacation now, to begin with." "You're welcome to your vacation, Ned. As for me, the world owes me a living, and I'm bound to get it. Uncle Sam has sent for me to go out to California with him, and if I don't get my living there, and a little bit over, then my name isn't Sam Jackson. How would it sound,—'The Hon. Samuel Jackson, millionaire'?" "So that's what you're going to do with your surplus energy,—is it, Sam?" asked Harry Hanson; while Ned shouted, "Three cheers for the Honorable Sam, boys! Now,—give it to him! hip! hip! hip!" "I wish you joy of all your digging and delving, Sam," continued Ned; "but I say the world owes me a living, and I mean to have it without working for it, too." "You think the world is a pretty sure paymaster, my boy," said a pleasant voice behind them, which the boys at once recognized as their teacher's. "I'm afraid you haven't chosen a very good principle to begin life with. Think it over, Lee, and choose a better now at the outset, if you would not run the risk of making a failure of your life." And Mr. Bartlett passed on down the street. "May I have a word with you, sir?" asked Harry, respectfully, as he ran to overtake his teacher. "Father wished me to ask whether you can spare time this summer to prepare me to enter college in the fall." "With pleasure, certainly," was the reply; "and the more so because I feel sure that you will choose a far different motto from those which Lee and Jackson seem to have adopted. I accidentally overheard the whole conversation, and I involuntarily thought of St. Paul's words, 'I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.'" "Have you any special motto to recommend, Mr. Bartlett?" asked Harry. "I know of nothing better, my boy, than this very text which I have quoted. You will find it in the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Romans, and perhaps the following verses will speak to you also, if you have any thought of entering the ministry, as I hope you have." "Thank you, sir. I will study them carefully," and he touched his hat respectfully, and ran on, as Mr. Bartlett entered his own gate, which they had now reached. "Paul's idea is a trifle different from Sam's and Ned's, that's a fact," thought Harry, as he read over the passage in his own room that night; and, kneeling there alone, he renewed the vows he had so recently taken upon himself in the presence of the congregation in the village church. He asked the Holy Spirit, also, to keep him always in mind of the fact that he was debtor to the world to do all the good that he could for Jesus' sake. Many years had passed since that afternoon, and the Rev. Henry Hanson, one of the most useful of our missionaries in foreign lands, was making a visit to his native village. "By the way, Helen," he said to his sister, as they were recalling their school-days, "do you know anything of Sam Jackson? I haven't heard from him since we graduated, and he went to San Francisco." "Oh! I hear of him frequently through his sister," was the reply. "He has no time to write himself, but his wife writes, and last spring he was here for a flying visit, while making a business tour through the Eastern cities. I saw him for a few minutes at that time, but found that he could converse upon one topic only—business. The firm with which he is connected have a monopoly of manufacture in their line, for the whole country. He told me he spends sixteen hours a day at his factory, and as he has a country-seat a little distance out of town, it takes some time to go and come, so that he literally has time for nothing but eating, sleeping, and business, year in and year out. He seemed to know absolutely nothing about the churches or any institutions of the city,—attends the play once in a great while,—gives his wife and daughter all the money they wish for dress and amusement, but is himself almost a stranger to their society; so engrossed is he in money-making. The last words he said to me were, 'So, you see, the world owes me a living,—and I'm getting it, too.'" Just then the mail arrived, and when the evening paper was opened, the brother and sister were pained to read the announcement among the deaths,—"In San Francisco, suddenly, of apoplexy, Samuel Jackson, one of the most active and enterprising business men in our community." This was all; and what more could have been added? "The world owes me a living," was his motto, and he had got it, and now the end had come. "And what of Ned Lee, Helen?" asked the missionary, as he roused from his sad reverie, a few minutes later. "Poor Ned! O Harry! do you not know that he is in prison now? Having succeeded in squandering all the property his father left him, he seemed to owe the world a grudge because he had no more to spend. He was like the steward in the Bible; he could not dig, to beg he was ashamed,—and so he was tempted. It was so easy to forge a name, but he did not count the cost." The missionary's pillow was wet with tears that night,—tears of sadness as he thought of the wasted lives of his two school-mates, yet he asked the dear Saviour to reach out a helping hand, even now, to him who was shut up in prison for so dark a crime. But when he thought of that other soul ushered instantly into eternity from the hurry and bustle of a hot pursuit after Mammon, the god of this world, his cry was, "Lord, who maketh me to differ?" And his whole heart went out in gratitude and thankfulness to Him whose grace alone had led him to choose and to follow that precious motto from his word,—"As much as in me lies, I am ready to preach the gospel," for "I am debtor."—Lillian Payson. Girls Learn Carpenter’s Tools
A NOVEL innovation has been made in the Dwight School, of Boston, Mass., and the girls are now taught the use of carpenter's tools. The Salem Normal School, where the pupils are all girls, is teaching the new branch also. The object is health, strength, and a command of nerves and muscles. Prof. Hagar of the latter school, recently said: "I am glad they are learning to hammer. For any considerable number of women to know how to handle a hammer so as to strike a nail squarely on the head is a phenomenon seldom witnessed."—Christian Statesman. A SMART REJOINDER.—London Baptist Deacon—Did you ever think what you would do if you had the Duke of Westminster's income? Village Pastor—Well, no; but I have sometimes wondered what the Duke would do if he had mine. You will? Well, that's a good resolve,
Now keep it, little man;
In everything you undertake,
Just do the best you can.
One never knows what he can do
Until he sets to work;
If you should try and sometimes fail,
'Tis better than to shirk. All honor to the earnest boy
Who tries to do his best;
A heart of principle may beat
Beneath a time-worn vest.
Not always does the outward man
Reveal the hidden worth
That goes to make up character,
And forms the brave of earth. The world has need of heroes who
Will struggle for the truth,
And you, my boy, may find a place—
There's room for age and youth.
Yes, always room for those who try
To speed the glorious day
When evil, overcome by good,
Shall yield to right, the sway. "I'll try" has conquered many a time,
And conquer yet it will;
Though hard the task and slow the work,
The brave will struggle still.
For God, whose word is ever sure,
Directs the power of right,
And those who look to him for aid,
Shall conquer through his might.
—Selected. An Untidy Girl.
By Emily P. Collins
"O dear, Aunt Patty, I am perfectly discouraged in trying to make Mary a neat, orderly girl. A month ago I told her that she must take care of her own room, and wished her to keep it in nice order. 'Yes, mamma, I will do so,' said she; and now, I just went into her room, and such a looking place! Her bed, just as she crept out of it this morning; every chair loaded with shawls, wraps, dresses, and skirts, all wrinkled and tumbled together; her toilet-table strewed with dirty combs fill'd with hair; also hair-pins, nail-brushes, caramel papers, cologne, face powder, partly eaten pears and peaches; and on the stand was her best bonnet, gloves, and parasol, with her ink-stand and paint brushes; and everything was in confusion and covered with dust. In her shoe-bag, mixed with slippers and dirty stockings, were several cambric handkerchiefs, point-lace collars, and this elegant embroidered sacque, that I believe she has worn while working at her painting lessons, and has wiped her brushes on it. It is entirely ruined. She begins a dozen pieces of work and never finishes anything. Just so with her studies. She has a little smattering of everything, and is proficient in nothing. To think that a daughter of mine should be such a careless, wasteful, inefficient slattern. And I have talked and talked to Mary, and it does no good; I am utterly discouraged." This was all addressed by Mrs. Smith, a notably energetic wife and excellent housekeeper, to her old aunt Patty, who sat quietly knitting, arrayed in a high, starched cap and spotless white neck-handkerchief and apron; and when she had adjusted her spectacles and carefully taken up a dropped stitch, she looked up and remarked: "Do you think it is all Mary's fault? Have you always done your whole duty by the child?" "Have I done my whole duty by her? what an idea! Was there ever a mother who slaved herself for a child as I have done for her? and I have never denied her anything in the world that she wanted." "And right there lies your fault," said aunt Patty; "you always waited upon her when she was a child, and did everything for her, when she should have done it for herself. You let her go to your bureau drawers and put everything in disorder, and to your work-basket, and scatter its contents about the room, throw nutshells on the floor, and leave partly munched fruit and apple-cores on the window-sills; and, instead of making her replace the articles that she had disordered, though she was quite old enough to have done so, and to have cleaned the room that she had littered, which would have been the best reproof you could have given her, you merely said, 'Mary, you shouldn't have done so,' and let her then go off to her play, while you went to work and put things to rights again. When she came in from school you permitted her to throw her books, bonnet, and cloak on a chair, or anywhere, and never made her put them in the proper place, but did it yourself. You have never made her repair a rent in her clothes, darn a stocking, or take a stitch for herself, though she is now sixteen. When she complained, as children will, that the teachers in the public school were 'cross and hateful,' you withdrew her and sent her to Miss Brown's school, and from that to another, and so you let her change according to her own fancy or caprice, and how could she become proficient in any study? When she went into the kitchen to try her hand at some kind of cookery, instead of encouraging her to persevere, you said, 'Mary, you are so awkward, let me finish it.' And why should she be saving and careful of her clothes, so long as she is not made to realize their cost, and has nothing to do but to express her wish, and it is granted? In short, you, yourself, are responsible for Mary's careless and untidy habits." Mrs. Smith winced under the severe lecture; her face flushed, but she held her peace to the end, for she feared a revision of Aunt Patty's 'last will and testament,' and only remarked, though a little sarcastically, as she left the room, 'It is very singular that folks who never had any children are the only people that could train them exactly right.'—Emily P. Collins, in Pacific States Watchman. Because the Cur Has Bitten Me
It doesn't follow that you must do a mean thing to a man who has done a mean thing to you. The old proverb runs: "Because the cur has bitten me, shall I bite the cur?" —A plowman recently turned up $30,000 on the old Bender farm in Kansas. —The printers of New York have made a successful strike for uniform rates. —The recent rain-storm is reported as quite general from Shasta to Monterey. —Provincetown, Mass., has taken in about 10,000,000 pounds of codfish this year. —Port Antonio, Jamaica, was nearly annihilated by fire Oct. 18. Loss, over $1,000,000. —A Chinaman in the Oroville jail, under sentence of death, died last week of consumption. —The Naval Advisory Board has recommended the construction of seven new naval vessels. —The fire losses in the United States during the month of August amounted to $10,000,000. —Belva Lockwood, a female pension attorney, has been debarred from practice in Washington on account of irregularities. —An explosion in a squib factory at Kingston, Pa., last week, caused the death of five children, and the severe injury of three others. —On Tuesday of last week Albert Fitzer, at Newcomerstown, Ohio, cut the throats of his wife and three children, and then committed suicide. —The battalion guarding the Ministerial building at Madrid, has been suddenly replaced, and subsequently disarmed. The battalion is suspected of being infected with revolutionary principles. —The Czar has decided to grant Russia more freedom, and such reforms as are suited to the spirit of the people. He has intrusted to Count Tolstoi and Count Kajoff the task of preparing a constitution. —Cholera has reappeared at Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt, causing a panic. At the former place passengers are returned without landing. —By the upsetting of a circus car at Bridgeport, Conn., two elephants were injured, a panther escaped and killed a horse and four bloodhounds. —A single highwayman robbed two stages almost in sight of each other, as they successively passed up a hill, near Meahama, Oregon, on the 23d ult. —It is now reported that Chiefs Juh and Geronimo, of the marauding Apaches, have outwitted the Mexican military, and escaped from a supposed trap. —Canada is rejoicing in the acquisition of a new Governor-General, the Marquis of Lansdowne, who recently arrived and was sworn in amid great pomp. —A broken rail caused a disaster on the Louisville Railroad, six miles from East St. Louis, a few days ago. Thirty-seven persons were injured, but only one killed. —The Central Pacific has joined the overland freight cutting move, and announces a reduction of forty-three cents a hundred between Salt Lake and San Francisco. —David Rich, son of the Mormon apostle of that name, has been convicted of robbing Zion's Savings Bank, and sentenced to eighteen months in the penitentiary. —The large medicine factory of Dr. J. H. McLean, St. Louis, Mo., was burned on the night of Oct. 23. The loss on this and adjoining buildings amounts to $100,000. —A Paris dispatch says the general impression is that all negotiations for the peace of France and China are exhausted. War, unless mediation intervenes, is inevitable. —During a fire which broke out in a Japanese prison not long since, no less than sixty-one prisoners were burnt to death, while 150 others were more or less severely injured. —Thirteen business houses were burned at Mills City, M. T., Oct. 23. The remainder of the town was saved by blowing up buildings in the range of the fire, with blasting powder. —The steamer Rio Janeiro, which sailed from San Francisco for China on the 24th ult., took 605 Chinese passengers who had procured return certificates from the Custom House. —A man named John S. Murray, of Port Costa, endeavoured to board a moving train at Oakland, last week, but, being somewhat intoxicated, he missed his footing and fell under the wheels of the car, and was instantly killed. —At Carmi, Ill., Oct. 23, a young negro lad killed himself with a "didn't-know-it-was-loaded." He had snapped it at other members of the family and laughed at their protests. He then placed it to his own head, when it went off, killing him instantly. —The new Atlantic and Pacific route across the continent runs through sleepers from San Francisco to St. Louis. Representatives of other routes, however, claim that it is better for passengers to have a change on the way, with freshly dusted and aired bunks. —Duke Johann Albrecht, of Mechlenberg-Schwerin, grandson of the Emperor of Germany, and two other German noblemen, were passengers on the China steamer Tokio, which arrived in San Francisco last week. These notables are on a trip around the world. —As the result of gambling speculations, two notable failures are reported—that of John L. Gliddon, Secretary of the Republican Iron Company, Cleveland, O., for $111,000; and that of Wm. Young, President of the Commercial Bank, Redding, Pa., for $72,000. —Morton G. Clark, and Charles W. Stone have been arrested at Jamaica, Vt., on a charge of counterfeiting. They belonged to an organization of twenty-three young persons, with a complete counterfeiting outfit, which was seized, with a quantity of spurious coins. —A band of six embryo bank and train robbers was broken up in Kansas, recently, by taking into their confidence a seventh party from Missouri, who proved to be one of Governor Crittenden's detectives. He spoiled their plans before they had accomplished any depredations. —The Banks County, Ga., kuklux trials began Oct. 23. Calvin Bush testified that the mob stripped him and gave him 175 lashes. The witness undressed and showed the scars. Ben Sanders testified that he was shot three times and left for dead. Eight persons have been convicted. —Two boys, each eleven years old, were convicted, Oct. 24, by an Oakland Justice, of trying to fire a car that was standing on a side-track at the Sixteenth-street depot. They were sentenced, respectively, to four and two days in the county jail. The sentence was rather disciplinary than punitive. —Early on the morning of Oct. 23, an earthquake threw down a section of the bluff on the Merced River, just below the falls. The mass entirely filled the river bed, and turned the current into an adjacent slough. Large quantities of fish were collected from the deserted channel, below the newly-made dam. —The latest nihilist proclamation is being extensively circulated. It demands of the Czar to summon representatives of the Russian people, and asks for full amnesty, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the right to hold public meetings as the only means of preventing revolution. Pitiless vengeance is threatened if the demands of the nihilists are disregarded. —Henry Ward Beecher advices young men to go to the Northwest. He says "there will be great cities built on Puget Sound, and large towns, depots and trade centers in Oregon, Washington Territory, Idaho, Montana and Dakota—an expanse of country which in agriculture, mineral and grazing resources scarcely yet feels the effect of emigration." All of which is no doubt true. —Many inhabitants of Smyrna are fleeing from the city on account of fear of further earthquakes. The Government has sent a sufficient quantity of lumber to construct 3,000 sheds for the shelter of those rendered homeless by the catastrophe. The editors of the local papers here have formed a committee for aiding the sufferers. Slight shocks are still occurring at long intervals, but are doing no damage. —A Mexican implicated in the murder of four men at Deane, near Gardner, Col., a few nights ago, was overtaken by a band of armed citizens soon after. A rope was placed around his neck, and the other end made fast to the horn of a saddle. The horse was then frightened into a run, dragging the poor culprit over rocks and stumps until life was extinct. When captured he stated that he, with his companions, had been hired to commit the murder. —The Railroad Commission of this State has decided to reduce freight rates on the Central and Southern Pacific Railroads, by transferring certain kinds of material and goods from one class to another, thus giving present first-class goods the benefit of second-class rates, and so on. Such a process, it is claimed, would reduce rates of freight charges on the two railroads to which the order applies, from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent on the present schedule tariff. —A colonization company has been organized in San Francisco for operations in Honduras. They have obtained a conditional grant of 500,000 acres of land. President Soto, of Honduras, has been visiting California and showing up the advantages of his country for all kinds of industry. Great public enterprises in process and in contemplation, it is thought, will create permanent markets for all manner of productions. Our advice to friends is, don't all go at once. —The country of Corea is virtually a revivified fossil. But a few years ago it would have nothing whatever to do with foreigners, now it is getting up an industrial exhibition, and invites the United States to participate and send samples of machinery, agricultural implements, etc. Our Government was the first to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce with that exclusive people, as it was also with Japan, and the Coreans are manifesting a readiness to acknowledge an intimate relationship. —In the German Reichstag, Bismarck has introduced a bill prohibiting the emigration to foreign countries of persons whose obligations to country, families, creditors, and employers, are unsettled. The bill is especially directed against a class of men who have hitherto found in emigration easy and effectual methods of severing onerous or disagreeable family ties, breaking contracts with employers, and evading the payment of debts, etc. It is believed that, should the bill become a law, which it undoubtedly will, there will be a very perceptible decrease in the number of Germans who seek homes in foreign lands. —The European style of preparing for peace is illustrated on the part of Russia in this way. Official reports show that 150 regiments of Cossacks of the Don are being placed on a war footing. It is certain that orders have been given to restore Sebastopol immediately as a first-class fortress, and that a standing garrison of 5,000 men is to be stationed there. Dock-yards capable of floating the largest iron-clads are to be built. Six new gun-boats and twelve sea-going torpedo vessels are in course of construction for the Black Sea fleet. Forty Russian naval officers have been drafted to form a Bulgarian flotilla and more officers will join the contingent. —The Mount Hermon School for boys, at Gill, Mass., was opened by Mr. Moody just previous to his departure for Europe. These schools have been opened without any trumpet-blowing or newspaper notoriety. They cost, including land, $200,000. Several individuals gave $5,000 each for the new buildings for the boys, and it was proposed at first to name each after the donor; but Mr. Moody did not approve of it, as is shown by the following characteristic note: "Brother Lee, I don't believe it will be for the glory of God to name the buildings after any man. D. L. Moody." So it was decided to call the school Mount Hermon. The buildings are erected away from villages, and are enclosed by hills. This was done according to a theory of Mr. Moody's that it was better to keep children away from temptation until their minds were fully matured. Religious Notes.
By Editor
—The Baptists are about to invest from $75,000 to $100,000 in the erection of a denominational college in North Dakota. —The Methodists have purchased at Chin King, in West China, a piece of land on which to erect a mission chapel and school for boys. The title deed is stamped with the Mandarin's great seal. —In the village of Lakeville, Conn., a life-sized figure of Christ is fastened upon a crucifix at a street corner. Merchants who petitioned for its removal have been boycotted by the Catholics, and now the Protestant ladies propose to retaliate by securing colored servants from the South. —Senator Edmunds was at the Episcopal General Convention in Philadelphia last week, and was named among the candidates for President of that body. He declined the nomination, saying, according to the reporters, that he was not "a candidate for President for this or any other place, at this or any other time." —Under the head, "A Sign of the Times," an English journal says that in a place of worship in London the following notice was given: "The members of the cricket club connected with this congregation will meet for the transaction of business to-morrow evening at 7 o'clock. The usual prayer-meeting on Friday at half-past 7 o'clock." —The Spiritualists of the South, recently in session at Chattanooga, Tenn., adopted resolutions to organize an encampment for their annual meeting, and for that purpose subscribed a cash capital of $50,000. The city was alive with Spiritualists from all the States, and subscriptions in cash to the amount of $8,000 were secured in twenty minutes. —Dr. Levy, the Jewish rabbi of Oakland, has taken exception to the position of Dr. Sprecher (Presbyterian), that the persecution of the Jews in Europe is in fulfillment of prophecy. He argues that if the doctrine asserted by Dr. Sprecher is accepted as being the criterion of truth, then the outburst of sympathy and the principles of humanity so beautifully portrayed by the heads of the Christian Church in England and America is inconsistent with the doctrine. —The Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times has been investigating the work of the Mormons in Tennessee. An interview with a Mormon elder states that they have been very successful. They have been more successful in northern Mississippi than elsewhere. In northern Georgia and lower Virginia they are doing equally as well. There were about 700 in the Chattanooga party who left last fall for Utah, but this year the number will be nearly 1,000. The converts will meet in Chattanooga about the 10th or 15th of November, and will then proceed to Utah. —Some of the people in England, who are vexing themselves about looking up the lost tribes of Israel, are now much concerned in regard to certain excavations made in Tara Mount, County Meath, Ireland. The excavators are in search of deeds said to have been given to the prophet Jeremiah for the purchase of the land of Palestine. A considerable sum of money has been subscribed in order to pay for these excavations. The diggers have dug some distance into the bowels of the earth, but as yet in vain. Strange to say, the deeds have not yet been brought to light, though the expenditure thus far amounts to about $5,000. The promoters of the search want more money, which they are not likely to get.