Young Men Need the Uplift of Strong Young Women—Young Women Should Refuse to Associate with Young Men Who Smoke and Drink—If They Did, It Would Rapidly Abate These Evils
By Mary Alice Hare Loper, M. S.
Wives and mothers of our country have long been taking an active part in the war against the monstrous evil of intemperance, but the young woman’s part in bringing to its close this prolonged tragedy has not yet received the support which it deserves.
It is the young women, perhaps more than any other one class of people, who have it in their power to check effectually the traffic in both liquor and tobacco, and at the same time raise the downtrodden standard of morality. Had young women always preached before marriage what they sought to have practiced after marriage, their “sermons” would have resulted in many converts to temperance among the flower of our nation, and the standard of physical endurance would be far superior to what it is to-day. Also much of the blight of ruined homes, untold misery, and premature death would have been avoided. But, alas! young women have looked on while young men have gone down, down the way of destruction, and have failed to raise the warning cry.
YOUNG MEN NEED THEIR HELP
There have been exceptions to this rule. All honor to these brave heroines in the mighty struggle for freedom from the curse of intemperance. Young men are in dire need of just such help as young women ought to give; for alcohol and cigarettes are robbing them mentally, morally, physically, and spiritually. Many a young woman who is temperate herself, tolerates on the part of her young men friends the occasional glass, the deadly cigarette, and the nauseating pipe, for fear they may become offended if she objects; but after marriage she is likely to experience heartbreaking realities suggestive of the familiar couplet —
“Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: It might have been.”
POISONOUS FOR MINORS, WHY NOT FOR ADULTS?
If an article is so deadly as to be prohibited by law from being sold to minors, surely it is not wholesome when one has reached his majority. Science and observation have proved beyond question the degenerating, disease-breeding effects of alcohol and tobacco. But while these deadly poisons are indulged in so generally by full-grown men, and cigarettes prey upon the boyhood of America, our almshouses, our jails, and our penitentiaries are teeming with poor unfortunates, many of whom attest to the truthfulness of the divine law of heredity, “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”
There is no reason why a young man should not lead just as pure a life as he expects the young woman to lead whose favor he seeks. Liquor and tobacco are just as harmful to the one as to the other. Whoever heard of a temperate young man associating with an intemperate young woman? I fancy I hear the echo, “Nobody.” Then why should a pure young woman associate with a young man who practices these health-impairing, soul-destroying habits? “O,” says one, “that is different; it is the universal custom.”
SHE WOULD NOT ENTER A SALOON
Young women who would consider it an everlasting disgrace to enter a saloon themselves, or to associate with other young women who would thus disgrace womanhood, should deem it a serious matter that their young men friends frequent these dens of evil. It is the right of every pure young woman to require purity on the part of her associates. If a young man thinks more of his intemperate habits than he does of her who kindly requests him to abandon them, far better leave him wedded to his evil habits than ever permit him in such a state of unworthiness to lead her to the marriage altar. It is infinitely better to follow the example of our lamented Frances Willard—never marry—than to become the heartbroken wife of a man who drinks, swears, and uses tobacco.
Usually that is most prized which is most difficult of attainment; and this is especially true in choosing a companion for life. When young women place a higher estimate upon virtuous young womanhood, young men will have greater respect for the true standard of moral uprightness. When young women cease to associate with intemperate young men, young men will cease to be the slaves to evil habits that they are to-day. Worthy young men are not slow to recognize intrinsic worth when they see it. Sensible young men are impressible, and may be easily influenced by the young women whose society they seek. But let this season of opportunity pass by unimproved, it need not be surprising if reformation never comes. The young woman who saves all her needed temperance advice until after the honeymoon, deliberately enters the spider’s web, and must abide the consequences.
SHOULD GIVE UP THE SALOON OR ELSE GOOD SOCIETY
As long as young men can participate in the revelry of the saloon and at the same time retain their wonted place in society, we need not wonder that the saloon still exists, and that “society” is not always a synonym for good morals. The silence of young women during the lengthened period of the liquor traffic, has proved a substantial help to the business; for “silence gives consent,” in spite of the poverty, wretchedness, tears, and entreaties of heartbroken wives, mothers, widows, and children all along the way. Annihilate intemperance, and you place reason upon the throne of human life.
Girls who indulge in after-theater drives and midnight suppers with the accompaniment of wines and cocktails, cannot afford to act such a questionable part in the great tragedy of intemperance. They pass by evils one by one, instead of rowing against the stream of wickedness, and thus they drift down, down into the mighty whirlpool of death. Young women who go hand in hand with young men in their downward career, are headed for the same destination as the young men.
Let young women elevate the social standard, which to-day trails in the dust, making prohibition mean to themselves not only refraining from intoxicants and cigarettes, but nonassociation with intemperate young men. Let them by persuading young men to abandon their evil habits, strike a telling blow to the saloon and tobacco, that these enemies of health and happiness may become as far as possible but a matter of history.
Does God Answer Our Prayers?
By David Paulson, M. D.
By David Paulson, M. D.
I ASKED a group of Nebraska children to whom I was talking, how many of them prayed; and nearly all held up their hands. Then I asked them how many expected their prayers to be answered; and only about half of them held up their hands.
I fear that illustrates the attitude of many good people toward answers to prayer. And yet one thing is certain; nothing is taught more clearly in the Bible than that there is such a thing as answer to prayer.
ARE THE LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE REVERSED?
Some folks say that if prayers are answered, the laws of the universe have to be reversed. That is what they told Langley, in Washington, D. C., when he was building his flying machine and insisted that soon men would have power to fly. They laughed at him, and said the law of gravitation forbade it. Langley died before he was able to overcome the law of gravitation. But the Wright brothers discovered how to adjust themselves to both the law of flying and the law of gravitation; and now men do fly, and the law of gravitation is not smashed.
Likewise when one discovers the law of prayer, none of God's great laws have to be smashed in order to enable Him to answer.
In the Smithsonian Institution in Washington382there is a marvelous instrument that can measure the heat of a candle five miles away. If it is within the power of man to construct such an instrument, who can doubt that there is an instrument up in heaven that can correctly register the desires of my heart?
TELEGRAPHING MAY ILLUSTRATE IT
But you may say, “How can God hear me?” A few weeks ago, I was over in San Francisco, on the very day that Alexander Graham Bell, the man who a generation ago invented the telephone, and Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, in Washington, D. C., talked over the first long distance line across the continent. And yet I can remember when men laughed because some lunatic had actually predicted that people miles away would be able to carry on conversation.
Recently, while in San Diego, California, I saw the great government wireless station from which are sent across the Pacific Ocean messages.
Do you mean to say that although Alexander Graham Bell could accomplish this feat, yet God, who made Alexander Graham Bell, could not do a thing as much more wonderful as to hear my prayers?
Only recently, while in San Diego, California, I saw the great government wireless station from which are sent across the Pacific Ocean messages that can be distinctly registered in Japan. If a man can send a wave of sound across the Pacific Ocean, is it not within the power of God, who made man, to hear the sound of my voice?
I believe in prayer, not because of all these illustrations, but because my Bible says, “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and . . . pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matt. 6: 6.
And what is more, I have tried it out; and when the good Lord does not give me what I ask for, I know that it would not be best for me to have it. I know I can trust Him, because “like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Ps. 103: 13.
MOTTOES, MOTTOES, MOTTOES
By Editor
BIBLE Mottoes are selling as they once did. One agent who has sent in for another 1,000 to-day, says to rush his order. We would like to see many more agents in the field. 200 for $7.50, 1,000 for $25.00, express prepaid.
Vegetable Cooking Oil
1,000 for $5.00, express prepaid. We are headquarters for fine Vegetable Cooking Oil. Two 5-gallon cans, $7.50. The more you buy, the less the price will be. Hampton Art Co., Nevada, Iowa.
Missionary Publications Wanted
Wanted for missionary purposes: free copies of Signs OF THE Times, weekly and monthly, Watchman, Youth's Instructor, and up-to-date tracts. Prepay carriage charges to Mrs. Nellie M. Gifford, R. F. D. 2, Wapato, Washington.
New German Book
Evening Bible Studies
In an easy conversational style carries the reader through an entire series of Bible studies. It is as if the family were gathered about the study table with one member leading in a Bible lesson for the evening.
These thirty-five studies have recently been published in serial form in the German Christlicher Hausfreund. They have proved so popular that many have asked for them in book form.
Some of the subjects are:
Signs of the Nearness of Christ’s Second Coming
The Divinity of the Scriptures
The Sure Prophetic Word
Capital and Labor
The Millennium
Daniel 7
The Sanctuary
The Sabbath and Sunday in the New Testament
Nature and Destiny of Man
The Threefold Message
Baptism
The book contains over 300 pages, has a number of full page illustrations, and is bound in cloth at 50 cents; paper binding, 25 cents. Just the thing to hand to your German friend or neighbor. Ready June 15. Order of your tract society, or
Pacific Press Publishing Assn.
College View, Nebraska
Why Don't You Quit
Eating meat? Doctors tell us that it is the chief cause of cancer; of rheumatism, too. There are ever so many better, cleaner, even more nutritious things to eat.
Vegetarian Cook Book
Written by a chef who has prepared and served healthful, palatable vegetarian dishes to the public for years.
Get a copy, and learn to live right and well.
$1.00 postpaid to any place in the United States; $1.10 in Canada. Our depository in your state (see list on page 15) will fill orders promptly.
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“In Touch with God”
This deeply spiritual and intensely interesting volume by William P. Carter, author of “Lover’s Love,” “Stepping Stones to Manhood,” etc., is published this week. Its one great burden and message is PRAYER—its simplicity, its conditions, its privileges, its advantages, and its effectiveness. One cannot read a single page at random without experiencing a longing for a prayer-filled life and a closer walk with God. It is so fully illustrated with incidents and experiences, that after reading a paragraph or two, one can hardly lay it down. It will be especially appreciated by young people, as it is both readable and inspiring. Here are a few sentences taken from the various sections in the second chapter, on “The Advantages of Prayer,” which give an idea of its style:
“MENTAL ADVANTAGE”
“The first advantage to the one who prays is mental. Thought is the forerunner of action. As one ‘thinketh in his heart,’ said Solomon, ‘so is he.’ . . . To such God said through Isaiah, ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.’”
“AN AFFECTIONAL ADVANTAGE”
“We are what we love. . . . Love of God and love of sin are bitterly hostile to each other. They are sworn enemies and their motto is the same,—‘A fight to the death.’ In proportion as one loves God, he hates and battles sin. As one hates and battles sin, he loves and courts the pure, the sublime, and the divine.”
“A PHYSICAL ADVANTAGE”
“Prayer calms the mind, quiets the fears, subdues the passions, conquers habits, mollifies feelings, and is a general tonic for health and happiness. . . . Too many have made and still make the body a veritable temple of Diana—a kind of jungle in which passions like wild beasts and serpents lurk. But he who believes in a pure God, a holy God, a sinless God, . . . will purify himself, . . . even as God is pure. . . . Prayer reacts on the body, cleansing, purifying, and keeping it fit for the Master’s use.”
“A SPIRITUAL ADVANTAGE”
“The last and greatest advantage to the one who prays is a spiritual advantage. This is the chief end in prayer. Every form of religion is lifeless without it. . . . In touch with God, we get glimpses of Jesus all the time, and our experience can be like that of Phillips Brooks. He was crossing the Atlantic. An obscure young minister in whom he had become interested, went to his stateroom and knocked. Receiving no answer, he opened the door, and there saw the great preacher lying prostrate on the floor. Thinking the bishop was ill, the young minister stood motionless for a moment, when he heard him say: ‘O Lord Jesus, Thou hast filled my life with peace and gladness! To look into Thy face is earth’s most exquisite joy.’”
“‘Face to face with Christ my Savior!
Face to face, what will it be,
When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ, who died for me?’”
Following are the chapter titles:
PrayerAdvantages of PrayerCauses for Negligence in PrayerLearning to PrayUnanswered PrayerConditions to the AnswerAnswered PrayerThe Wooing PrayerThe Circle PrayerThe Intercessory PrayerSpecial PrayersThe World-Wide PrayerThe Curative Power of PrayerThe Prayers of JesusThe Prayer Life
The book contains nearly 300 pages, has a frontispiece printed in double tone ink, and engraved chapter titles. Cloth, $1.00. Ten per cent higher in Canada. Order through your tract society.
Pacific Press Publishing Association
Mountain View, California
Kansas City, Mo. Portland, Ore. Calgary, Alberta, Can.
College View, Neb.
