Earlier text: QUESTIONS ANSWEREDQueen Victoria’s Daily Routine
Queen Victoria rises at seven, both in winter and summer. The occupations of each hour of the day are arranged with a due appreciation of the value of time; hence she is able to undertake the heavy task of reading over all papers and documents submitted for her signature, which she never appends without careful perusal of each, besides which she personally enters into a wide correspondence, and, in addition to the hours devoted to official duties and to the hours given to walking, driving, paying and receiving visits, a portion of each day is set apart for reading of a varied character. Choose Neither Moral Evil
By John Hall
If I am between two moral evils, I will not have either. "There is small choice in rotten apples." I am to reject both. A man is not to lie, to save from the necessity to steal; nor to break the Sabbath, lest he should not be able to pay his debts. Never choose to do wrong.—John Hall. Drunkards and God’s Kingdom
“No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God.” ONE WOMAN'S REASON.
By Mrs. G. A. Sylvester
"It's all nonsense, Sister Mary; for my part I'm free to confess that I'm sick and tired of temperance." The speaker was a woman, young and fair and elegantly dressed. The frown upon her lovely face, and the scornful curve of the rosy lips showed her hearers how angry she was getting. "I am surprised," replied a soft voice playfully. "Now for my part I am sick of intemperance. I rather wonder at your taste, Margaret." The speaker had a tender, serene face, and looking at it you would know that some great sorrow had come into her life. But if you looked long enough you would decide that, although the face was thin and pale and the lovely hair streaked with gray, it was a much more beautiful face than that of the younger woman beside her. "You know very well what I mean," replied Margaret Preston. "I mean the word temperance disgusts me. You can't even open a paper, that is, a religious paper, but the word stares at you from every page." "It is a good word, I'm sure, Auntie," spoke a little maiden who was cuddled up on the broad window-seat, with the shadow of the crimson curtain flushing her pale face. "What do you know about it, Midget?" asked the lady, a smile chasing away the frowns from the fair forehead, as her eyes rested on the child. "I know lots," laughed Minnie, gleefully. "Temperance means simply freedom from excess in drinking or in eating." "Yes, I know," replied the lady gravely, "but that is just what I am particularly disgusted with, this matter of mixing up the children with all this talk about drunkards and drinking, before they are out of their pinafores; it is bad enough to fill up the boys' heads—" "Oh, Auntie! not bad enough. Good enough, I think!" replied Minnie, springing from her perch and nestling down on a low seat by her aunt's side. "Only think, if all the ten millions of children in this country should take the pledge and keep it, there wouldn't be a single drunkard in the next generation." "I was going to say," added the lady severely, "that when it comes to the girls, poor things, I think it is simply absurd. Now hear that child! I should think she was about seventy-five years old! The idea! I don't wonder your face is so pale and pinched. I am going, right off, to get you a glass of my nice wine. That will bring back your roses, dear. What would you say to that?" "Oh, Auntie," replied Minnie, rising, "I should say, 'No Sir! I can't, you see! I'm a Band of Hope girl, and I'm pledged not to touch or taste or handle.' My Doctor doesn't order me to take wines, either. If he did I should hate to. I'm glad he doesn't." "Well, well, child," replied Aunt Margaret, coldly, "don't look at me as if I was a common highwayman. Your temperance people do not teach you very good grammar, or politeness, to say 'No Sir' to a lady!" "Oh, Auntie," laughed Minnie, "I beg your pardon! that is a little speech I learned to say by and by, when young men ask me to take wine. I never thought my first temptation would come from a woman." The laugh was as clear as a silver bell, and Aunt Margaret could not resist it, and said directly:— "You are pardoned, dear! but I think it is absurd all the same; and, Sister Mary, I should like to know if really and truly you are afraid that your daughter will grow up a drunkard too! I was angry at you for bringing up your boys to be teetotalers before they were fairly into their long trousers, but for a girl! I think it is outrageous!" "Oh, Auntie!" began Minnie with a grieved lip. But a soft hand was laid upon the child's head and a sweet mother-kiss fell upon the pure up-lifted brow. "Mamma will have to give Auntie the reasons for her conduct, dear. The sun is warm in the orchard, now run out and play, dear; kiss mamma and Auntie good by, and go." The child did as she was bidden, her usually smiling face a little troubled. Mrs. Leslie's voice trembled a little as she asked gently, "You don't think I was over-strict with my boys, Margaret? You don't think they regret their early temperance training?" "Oh, dear, no!" replied Margaret Preston; "if I had any boys, I'd send them all to you to train up in the way they should go. Such splendid fellows as they are! Only yesterday Fred told me that everything he is, he owes, under God, to his mother's training, especially the teetotalism." The tender face was lighted up now, with an expression that made it fairly radiant. "I thought I'd tell you," her sister added a moment afterwards. "But I wish I hadn't. You are too strict by half, and when it comes to girls, I have not the least patience with you." Mrs. Leslie was evidently disturbed by her sister's words. But she only said gently, "Why should not a temperance education, which, according to your own showing, makes splendid men of boys, work equally well for girls?" "For girls! What do girls need to meddle with temperance for?" "Where would my boys have been, I wonder," replied her sister, "if I had not known how to teach them temperance?" "Oh, well, when she is a woman—" "You don't suppose I can bear to think of my darling being taught in the same school that I have been, Margaret?" The voice was very low now, and the quivering lip and pallid face showed how deeply she was moved. "Forgive me, Mary!" said Margaret, kneeling beside her sister and encircling the slender form with her graceful arms, and kissing over and over the cheeks and brow and lovely hair. "I am cruel to bring that all back to you." "Ah, my sister, it is always present. Do you think I can ever forget? I vowed a solemn vow over my dead husband—gone to his death, young, talented, beloved, through his passion for drink—I vowed to my God that never a child of mine should know the taste of wine or any other strong drink, or beer or cider. I have so far kept my vow. My boys know their father's history. Some day I shall tell Minnie." "But for a girl—what do girls need the pledge for, and all that? They are not in public life. They are not exposed to temptation." "Ah, my sister, are you sure of that? I should think in your city you might sometimes see a drunken woman." "Drunken women! Yes, indeed! miserable, low creatures, a disgrace to their sex and the world!" and Margaret Preston's fair face showed only too plainly the disgust she felt for the poor degraded sister-woman who once was "pure as the beautiful snow." But her sister's face was full of pity as she gently said:— "Somewhere, sometime there was a beginning, Margaret. Did it never occur to you that these degraded creatures were once pure, innocent little girls, like our own Minnie?" "No, I believe they were to the manor born degenerate daughters of sinful Magdalens, perhaps. No pure womanly nature would fall so low." "Ah, my sister," gravely replied Mrs. Leslie, "you must pardon me for saying that you are wrong, all wrong. I know of more than one case myself where the foundation for a life of sin and shame was laid early, in pleasant homes, where brandied peaches formed a part of the dessert at table, or where wine, harmless (so called) domestic wine was used as a beverage."* "Very improbable, it seems to me, and at least you must own such cases are rare among women. Even then I dare say the love of drink was inherited." "Granted," replied Mrs. Leslie with paling cheek again, "my daughter might inherit it. Who can tell what is behind us? 'Unto the children of the third and fourth generation,' you know. And how many of us know anything about even our great grandfathers, to say nothing of any still farther back? Or of what appetites or passions, as well as brains they may have left us as an inheritance?" "Well, of one thing I am very sure," replied Margaret, "it is not very complimentary to your daughter, to think she is in danger of becoming a drunkard if she ever chances to taste wine. It vexes me, and I am angry, every time I think of it." "Ah! my sister," replied Mrs. Leslie, "you can never know what my darling is to me. But she is not above the common lot of humanity. I cannot, if I would, blind myself to the fact that she is subject to like passions with the poor wayfarer who has fallen a victim to the tempter's wiles." "I don't believe a word of such improbable stuff!" replied her sister angrily. "Let us change the subject." For a few moments there was silence between them, and the two ladies went on with their work, one with color heightened by anger, the other with compressed lips and sorrowful face. At length Mrs. Leslie said, softly, "Do you remember Evelyn Maynard, Margaret?" "Sweet little Evelyn! Could I ever forget her? I believe she was the nearest perfection of any human being I ever knew, and lovelier than anything earthly. She married young, you know, and after her parents died she never came home, and so I lost sight of her. How glad I should be to hear from her once more. They say she has an elegant home in Boston." "I can tell you something about her," replied Mrs. Leslie, "but I thought I would not. It will not make you glad I am sure. I saw her when I was in Boston, last week." "Saw her! And didn't she send some word to me? Can Evelyn have forgotten me?" Mrs. Leslie shook her head. "It was on Sunday," she said hurriedly. "The streets were full of people going home from church. Everybody turned round and stared at an elegantly dressed lady who was leaning against a stone pillar. Her jewels flashed in the sun, and her beautiful hair hung in shining waves below her waist." "Such lovely hair Evelyn had! I never saw the like! such golden, glossy ripples like little waves all over her head! Well—" "Well, after awhile she arose, staggered a few steps, and would have fallen but that I took her arm, stopped a carriage, and rode with her to her luxurious home. They say truly, her husband is wealthy, occupies a high social position, yet his wife, our dear little school-girl friend, was drunk in the streets of Boston." Mrs. Preston covered her face and wept silently. "If you could have gone with me to her elegant home! Two lovely children, and the noble man who calls her wife, were nearly heart-broken. He had not forgotten me, and I stayed till the evening, when having slept off her brandy, she woke with bloodshot eyes and haggard face, to call for 'more brandy.' She raved like a mad woman, and when, under the influence of a powerful opiate, she slept again, her husband came to me with a face like death, and said, 'O Mrs. Leslie, what shall I do?' What could I say? 'Again and again she has tried to reform, but failed.' 'How did it ever happen?' I asked, with tears in my eyes. "'It began before she was six years old, in her father's house,' was his reply. 'Brandied peaches, brandy in mince-pies and cake, wines at table, and last but not least, a little whisky for every little ailment.'" "But this must be an uncommon case," replied her sister, her tears falling like rain, upon her white hands. "Possibly, but not probably," replied Mrs. Leslie, gravely. "But I mean to leave my daughter the ability to take care of herself. Her tastes are pure now. I will never, so far as I can help it, allow them to become vitiated. That was why I allowed her to take the pledge so young. I want her always to be able to say, 'I've signed the pledge, and I couldn't, you see.'" May the dear Lord help us who are mothers to "go and do likewise."—Mrs. G. A. Sylvester. All day, all night, I can hear the jar
Of the loom of life, and near and far
It thrills with its deep and muffled sound,
As, tireless, the wheels go always round.
Busily, ceaselessly, goes the loom,
In the light of day and the midnight's gloom;
And the wheels are turning early and late,
And the woof is wound in the warp of fate.
Click, click!—there's a thread of love woven in;
Click, click!—another of wrong and sin;
What a checkered thing this life will be
When we see it unrolled in eternity.
Ah, sad-eyed weavers! the years are slow,
But each one is nearer the end, I know;
And soon the last thread shall be woven in—
God grant it be love instead of sin.
Are we spinners of good in this life-web—say?
Do we furnish the weaver a thread each day?
It were better, then, O my friends, to spin
A beautiful thread than a thread of sin. —Dean Stanley died in London, of erysipelas, July 18. —Small-pox is raging in San Domingo to a fearful extent. —A salmon weighing eighty-four pounds was recently caught in the Columbia river. —Joseph Young, brother of the late Brigham Young, a leader among the Mormons, is dead. —A treaty is proposed between Italy, Austria, and Germany, for the protection of singing birds. —The Sultan has decided to allow the children of Abdul Aziz to decide the fate of Midhat Pasha. —The Brooklyn bridge has so far cost about thirteen million dollars, and another million is called for. —Sixty-five liquor dealers in Wilkesbarre, Penn., were arrested July 20, for keeping open bars on Sunday. —About $300,000 worth of property was destroyed, and a dozen persons killed by the cyclone at New Ulm, Minn. —A portable boiler exploded near Marietta, Ohio, July 20, killing three persons and fatally injuring two others. —Owing to heavy rains in southern Arizona, the trains on the southern Pacific road have been much delayed. —The Albany struggle is at last ended. Elbridge G. Lapham was elected to the U. S. Senate, in place of Conkling. —On the morning of the 23d, quite a shock of earthquake was felt in the eastern part of France and Switzerland. —Seventeen cases of lock-jaw occurred in Baltimore, as the result of wounds received on the Fourth of July from toy pistols. —It is reported that the grasshoppers have made their appearance on the Dakota prairies, and the wheat crop is threatened. —A French company with $10,000,000 capital has been formed for the purpose of developing the mining resources of Canada. —A fire at Syracuse, N. Y., July 19, resulted in the loss of some of the finest buildings in the city, worth half a million dollars. —A State Prohibition Convention has been called at Jackson, Miss., for the purpose of getting the Legislature to pass prohibitory laws. —Spain is quite jealous of France's hold in Africa, and it is reported that a war feeling is developing. Evidently the end is not yet. —July 20, the north-bound stage was stopped by highwaymen, near San Louis Obispo, Cal., and the express box robbed of its contents. —July 19, the town of Wallace, Menominee Co., Mich., consisting of a saw-mill and twenty-five buildings, was totally destroyed by fire. —The State debt of Pennsylvania is $20,882,092; the aggregate of the county, township, city, borough, and school-district debts is $93,191,250. —The propeller Winnepeg was burned to the water's edge at Duluth, Minn., July 19. Four persons are supposed to have perished in the flames. —Dr. Cumming of London, the eminent preacher and writer on the prophecies, died July 6. He was a firm believer in the nearness of Christ's coming. —In the last thirty-three years the debt of Europe has nearly trebled, while in the last fifteen years the United States debt has been reduced nearly one-half. —A Justice of the Peace in Antonio, Col., has been hung by a vigilance committee for complicity with a band of robbers, and shielding them from punishment. —The Catholic Colonization Society recently purchased 60,000 acres of land on the line of the Fort Smith and Little Rock railroad, for colonization purposes. —Paris is suffering from the heat, and the supply of water is short. The city authorities have devoted 2,000,000 francs to the improvement of the water-works. —The Colonial Governments of New Zealand, New South Wales, and Victoria have agreed to enter into a convention for the exchange of money orders with the United States. —Two hundred and forty-one thousand immigrants have been landed at New York during the past six months. This is the largest number on record for the same length of time. —Owing to scarcity of provisions, Sitting Bull has decided to be a good Indian until ammunition and provision become plenty. He surrendered July 20, but is reported as still very sullen and insolent. —A Berlin dispatch says the Nihilists are holding a Congress in St. Petersburg under the very eyes of the Government, which, although fully warned of the fact, is unable to discover the place of meeting. —There are standing in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin 81,650,000,000 feet of pine timber, and yet at the present rate of destruction it is calculated the supply will not last more than twelve years. —There are about 40,000 brewers in Europe, who produce annually 2,244,000,000 gallons of beer. The largest consumption of beer is in Bavaria, where the annual average is seventy-one gallons for each individual. —The army worm is ravaging the grain fields in Illinois. It is said that a field of forty acres of oats was destroyed in forty-eight hours. The loss in Will county alone, it is believed, will not be less than 1,000,000 bushels of grain. —The President has undergone a surgical operation, which materially relieves his condition. The alarming symptoms were due to the formation of an abscess. A new opening has been made which allows a free discharge from the wound. —A London dispatch says that a steamer has just arrived in the Thames from the Clyde, which was steered by an electric apparatus. The steering gear worked well, but the compasses were so affected by the electricity as to be useless. —A notorious outlaw, known as “Billy the Kid,” was shot through the heart by a sheriff at Fort Sumner, N. M., July 18. He had killed fifteen or eighteen men. The citizens of many towns in New Mexico are raising a purse to reward the sheriff. —Gen. Tom. Browne, of Indiana, of the Committee of Visitors of Annapolis, says that “when the Board unanimously voted the use of tobacco an injurious habit which ought not to be tolerated among cadets, every member of it had a cigar in his mouth.” —Much of the German emigration is due to the desire of the men to escape military duty. According to official tables, no fewer than 11,454 young men liable to military duty left Germany in 1880; and it is probable that the number this year will reach 20,000. —A dispatch from Louisville says the constructors of the Big Sandy Railroad are generally obstructed by an organization of outlaws calling themselves “Natives,” who tear up the track and shoot the workmen. The local authorities seem powerless to afford any remedy. —A singular case of piracy has been discovered in Saigon, French Cochin China. A native vessel, driven ashore in a stress of weather, was searched for contraband opium, and concealed in the hold were about fifty female children, whom investigation proved to be intended for sale. —We commend the action of Geo. Smith of Wisconsin, to all whose duty it is to repress crime. Two desperadoes are in the Eau Galle woods, a dense forest of pine and tamarack swamps, and the Governor has ordered out the Ludington Guards to assist a posse of 200 men who are now on their track. —Prof. Kwong Ki Chin, of Hartford, Ct., has just completed what he calls “A Dictionary of English Phrases.” It is really a complete list of Americanisms, such as “to cut stick,” “to save one's bacon,” “to go to the dogs,” etc., with their definitions, for the benefit of his countrymen who are trying to master the intricacies of modern English. —It is reported that there is quite a traffic in explosives between this country and England. Recently a barrel purporting to be cement from the steamer Malta was opened by the Custom officials, and six zinc boxes were found, containing clock-work infernal machines, prepared with dynamite. One machine was forwarded to Sir William Harcourt a few days afterward, and a barrel containing six more machines was found on board the Bavaria. Our Publications in England.
By Editor
ANY of the books, pamphlets and tracts issued at this Office may be obtained of Eld. J. N. Loughborough, Ravenswood, Shirley Road, Southampton, England, who will furnish catalogues and prices in English money, and receive subscriptions for all our periodicals. REVISED EDITION—JUST ISSUED
By J. H. Waggoner
Thoughts on Christian Baptism.
Being an examination of its ACTIONS, SUBJECTS AND RELATIONS. Also, a brief consideration of the Historical Evidences of Trine Immersion. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Price, postpaid, Paper Covers, 25c.; Flexible Cloth, 35c. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. BUSSEY—Fell asleep, near Fairview, Fresno Co., Cal., July 17, Myrtle W., daughter of Bro. B. F. and Sr. Viola Bussey, aged 2 years, 5 months and 14 days. Funeral services were conducted by Eld. W. R. Smith. Subject, Matt. 19:14. The services were attended by a large number of friends and relatives, who, with her parents, mourn the loss of the dear one, but not as those that have no hope. For we are sure we shall meet her when the Life-giver comes, if we are faithful. Though nature weeps when lovely ties
So strongly bound are riven,
Yet faith the Saviour's words applies,
Of such the realms of Heaven.
GOOD HEALTH WITH THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
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The publishers have arranged to furnish GOOD HEALTH and the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for 1881 to persons who are now taking but one of these papers, for $2.50 a year. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
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This long-expected work is just published. It is the result of ten years of faithful labor by the most eminent Biblical scholars of England and America. It is published in four sizes, any of which can be obtained, post-paid, at the prices named below, from 1059 Castro Street, OAKLAND, Cal. NONPAREIL, 32mo.—Paper Cover.................. $ .20
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Revised and the Old or King James Versions, on Opposite and Corresponding Pages. 8 Vo. Long Primer, Price $1.50. 16 mo. Brevier. Price 75 cts. AS THE CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE in the revision of the New Testament are now exciting a great deal of interest, and comparision between the New and Old Versions will be constantly made, we have secured a comparative edition containing the two versions arranged on opposite pages, so that the alterations can be seen at a glance. This arrang ment makes the work one of great popular value, as it does away with the necessity of using two books, and saves the time that would be occupied in seeking corresponding passages. ADDRESS, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. COMPANION TO THE REVISED NEW TESTAMENT,
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