Earlier text: Visit to New OrleansProgress of the Work.
By William Ings
THE Lord has wonderfully opened up ways for the spread of his truth, both by land and sea, and his blessing attends the efforts put forth. There have been over two hundred distributors manufactured, and nearly all are in use. Thirty-one of them are doing their work on steamers running from Portland, Oregon; and over forty on those leaving San Francisco. Just before a vessel leaves port, its distributors are filled, and on every voyage eager readers supply themselves from the contents. Generally the cases are emptied during the trip, and often before the vessel gets fairly out to sea. The ship's officers often obtain their papers from the missionary himself, saying that if they wait to take them from the distributor they will not be able to get any. The SIGNS is a general favorite, and is usually the first to be taken. Files of the SIGNS are placed on the tables in these steamers, where passengers can have access to them during the voyage. All sailing vessels also arriving at San Francisco are furnished with a good supply of our tracts and periodicals, and considerable reading matter is sold to the sailors. No pains is spared to bring the light before those who travel on the sea. Real missionary labor is performed. In the port of San Francisco, Brother Robbins devotes all his time to this work, and he finds plenty to do. Considerable interest is awakened; the result will be known in the kingdom of God. Many vessels are visited that have received reading matter either at home or at some foreign port. Thus the influence of our work is making itself felt, and we are becoming widely known. May this branch of the cause extend until every ship that traverses the sea shall have heard the proclamation of the last warning message. Our work upon land is increasing in interest. The distributors have awakened new zeal in the hearts of our people. These silent missionaries are dispersing the precious truth to thousands of interested readers. The Lord has gone before us, and given us the hearts of those who control the prominent centers for the traveling public. No favor has been asked that has not been cheerfully granted. In the two great cities of California, Oakland and San Francisco, distributors are placed in depots, employment offices, restaurants, hotels, and other public places. Many of them are supplied daily. The reading matter is taken by men and women of candor, and they are often seen perusing the pages with interest. At one depot there are six distributors, and they are emptied every day. From this point people are journeying in every direction. Much matter is taken by persons going overland, who thus have ample time to read and ponder the subjects presented. Files of the SIGNS are placed in the most prominent hotels in the city, and they are well read. Persons whose attention was first called to the truth by this means are now active workers in spreading the Third Angel's Message. All the public libraries of the city are supplied with our leading books and periodicals. Missionaries are going from house to house, obtaining subscribers for our different periodicals, selling books, loaning tracts, etc., and yet there is work for many more. A mission has been opened at Los Angeles; it is in charge of a resident missionary, who is watching the openings, and placing our periodicals in the hands of the people. We expect to see much accomplished for that beautiful city among the orange groves. This place, like others, has its railroad center, from which the truth can be scattered far and near. Stockton, with its eighteen thousand inhabitants, has been entered, distributors have been placed in depots, hotels, and factories, and sixteen volumes of the SIGNS have been placed in half as many hotels. One who loves the truth will attend to the interest there, and canvassers will immediately enter upon the work of obtaining subscribers for the SIGNS with “Sunshine at Home.” The prospect is encouraging for a good work there. Distributors have been placed at Deming, New Mexico; and at Arcata, Eureka, Lemoore, Fresno, Modesto, San Jose, St. Helena, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Woodland, and other places in California, and there are favorable reports from them all. In the small places they are supplied by the Tract and Missionary Societies, while those in larger towns are sustained from funds contributed for the city missions. The work could be extended with good results, but at present this is prevented by lack of means. Brethren and sisters, do not forget this branch of the work. Let your prayers and your means be offered for its prosperity. By the mailing of SIGNS, by correspondence, etc., a good work is being done in New Zealand. Reading matter sent to Australia is awakening an interest in that distant land, preparatory to the arrival of our missionaries. Good news is heard from the Sandwich Islands. Souls are embracing the truths we love. Many subscribers for the SIGNS have been obtained. The distributors are dealing out their contents by land and sea, and the reading room at Honolulu is patronized. We look for an increase of work for the coming year. Our people are catching the missionary spirit, and, I trust, are seeing the necessity of a forward movement. Individuals are volunteering to give themselves wholly to the work. All this should inspire hope and courage in our hearts. What we need is an entire consecration of ourselves and our means to God; then we can expect his aid; then power will attend our labors. The Lord through the prophet Malachi commands us, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” If we fulfill this injunction by the gift of our means to sustain his work, we may expect so much of the spirit of the Third Angel's Message that we shall be constantly studying plans and devising means by which to reach the people with a truth that, if received, will prepare them for the coming of our Saviour. May the Lord strengthen us to do faithfully the part he has given each of us to do, and then at his coming we shall hear the blessed words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” San Diego, Cal.
By H. A. St. John
LEFT San Francisco, by the steamer Santa Rosa, Jan. 20, and arrived at San Diego on the evening of the 22d; distance, 480 miles. The trip was an exceedingly pleasant one. I had not the slightest symptom of sea-sickness on the voyage. Brother C. Maynard met me at San Diego wharf, and took me to his home. The next day, Friday, arrangements were made for public meetings in Monument Hall, and advertised in the daily papers. There are nine adult Sabbath-keepers in San Diego, and three in National City, five miles south; but about one-half of this number are transient, and are likely to be elsewhere in a few weeks. They have regular Sabbath meetings and a Sabbath-school. Sister Howard is very faithful, and quite successful in uniting the strength of believers in worship, Bible study, and missionary work. A club of twenty SIGNS is taken, and three distributors are in use. I spent two Sabbaths and Sundays in this vicinity, preaching ten times,—eight times in San Diego and twice in a hall in National City. There being so little outside interest, it was not deemed judicious to pay two dollars a night for a hall in which to continue meetings. A gentleman from Humboldt County attended a few meetings, and became much interested. Another gentleman showed a little interest by voluntarily proffering me a home at his mansion in Cordova, State of Santa Cruz, Mexico, if I would go there and preach. Some aged and feeble persons have become much interested by reading, but were unable to attend night meetings. H. A. ST. JOHN. If Thine Enemy Hunger, Give Him Bread
“If thine enemy hunger, give him bread.” BROTHER L. A. SCOTT writes from Honolulu as follows, under date of Jan. 14: “We trust the message is making some progress here, though not much evidence of it appears on the surface. Four others have acknowledged the Sabbath. The portfolios and distributors seem to be quite well patronized, and are doing a good work. We have the privilege of putting two distributors in the hospital, and the gentleman in charge subscribed for Good Health. We have fifteen subscribers for it, and thirty for the SIGNS. Money is scarce here just now, especially among the laboring people; business men are complaining of hard times, and the Government is perplexed about its financial affairs. But we don't know as these things hinder the spread of the truth; they rather help it, for when people are in trouble, then they seek the Lord with all their heart. “We think a preacher could accomplish much. It seems to us to be a good field for a course of sermons on the prophecies and all the features of the message. There is a very good place here for meetings, and we have no doubt it can be obtained. “We are greatly encouraged by the reports of the General Conference, especially in the steps taken to establish the work in new fields. We hope the workers going to Australia may be able to spend some time with us, and give the work an impetus here.” The laborers going to Australia will not, probably, be able to spend much time in Honolulu. But if the way shall open to send a preacher to the Sandwich Island Mission, we shall greatly rejoice. In Due Time Ye Shall Reap
It is our duty to work and leave the result with God. We are apt to grow impatient if we see no immediate results of our labor, but the promise is, “In due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not.” We shall reap in the Lord’s own time, if we faint not by the way. There is no promise to those who grow weary, but there is to those who endure to the end. Taking My Boy's Advice.
By Mrs. Harriet A. Cheever
Just after tea I was standing in the middle of the room with arms folded, and eyes cast down, thinking intently. “A penny for your thoughts, mamma!” said Willie, my youngest. “Oh! Willie, boy, I’m trying to decide what to do first this evening. There is a pile of mending, the stockings and socks to be darned. Joe’s new books to be covered, and Aunt Jennie is coming, and the muslin curtains for her room should be hemmed to-night.” “I know what I’d do?” queried rogue Willie, with a smile. “Well, what would you do, my boy?” “I’d let the stocks, and socks, and other old rags take care of themselves till to-morrow. Joe might cover his books himself; do ’im good, and keep the cove out o’ mischief, and ’spose the lar-dy curtains warn’t put up till after Aunt Jennie got here, ’spect anybody’d die? Besides, there’s a story in the paper I’m a-sufferin’ to hear read. Come on, Mumpsy! read the paper to-night, and not do anythin’ else; just rest your face and hands. Guess I wouldn’t crowd myself into a work basket and thimble all the time!” My first thought was, ah! how little the dear child knows of the cares and duties devolving upon the mother of a family. The next moment an impulse seized me, which ordinarily would have seemed to indicate lack of reason on my part. I would take Willie’s advice, and see what the result would be. “Well, get the paper, Willie, and in a moment I will be ready to read.” Then going to the closet, I found some nice brown paper, and the bottle of mucilage. I had no idea it would rest me so. In the first place it was real pleasure to watch Willie’s face, as the cleverly written story unfolded itself, and I was interested myself in finding how it all came out. Pretty soon Joe came in with his new school books. He was delighted at the thought of covering them himself, and it astonished me to see how nicely he set to work. At eight o’clock Willie went to bed with a satisfied little face, and I sat reading, the entire evening, and it is a fact, my sleep that night was more refreshing than it had been for a long time; nor was that all, it often occurred that during the morning hours, overcome with unconquerable drowsiness, I would drop asleep in my chair, but that morning I felt bright enough to equal any exertion. It is true, when Aunt Jennie came the pretty muslin curtains were not up at the windows, but to my simple explanation she replied just as I expected:— “You know I would a thousand times rather never see muslin curtains up, tasteful as they are, than to know you had overworked to get them there. Mortal woman, my dear, can do just so much, and no more. Nature will have her due, first or last!” So I fell to reflecting as to whether, after all, it was good judgment on the part of the housekeeper and mother being so ambitious to accomplish as much in a given time as we naturally are. I well know the satisfaction afforded by having everything in apple-pie order when Saturday night comes around, but would it not be wise for us in the prime of life to pause for a moment, and ask seriously, Is it necessary, is it best, all this wearying round of toil and anxiety? I know many a faithful wife and mother will say the theory and arguments in favor of occasional relaxation from a certain round of duties is all proper and well enough for those who can control their time to suit their own convenience, but my work would never be done if I failed to employ every wakeful moment, and I should hardly dare declare her mistaken. But need all the work be done that is? Is there not too often an unwholesome ambition urging us on rather than a real necessity? One day, soon after my evening of rest, Mrs. Harmon called to see what I would make for the church fair. I replied with a feeling of discouragement, that I would do what I could, mentally resolving not to worry or tax myself too severely even if I did nothing, for with my crowded hands how could I make fancy articles for the fair? and a growing nervousness warned me of the danger should I attempt too much. But I was dumb with astonishment and admiration for my neighbor, when she went on and told what she had done within the preceding twenty-four hours. The evening before she had worked till eleven o’clock on an exquisite sofa-pillow for the fair; at five that morning she was up, had swept and dusted, and had a batch of pies well under way before breakfast; at dinner-time she had baked pies, mixed a great plum cake, repaired a coat for Mr. Harmon, and put away the week’s washing. Since dinner she had put down a carpet, cut and basted a dress for Josie, and had written a long letter, and now at five o’clock she was all dressed up, sitting in my parlor making a call. “And I expect to do just as much within the next twenty-four hours,” she added with a triumphant smile. After she had gone, I actually shed tears, thinking how much more energetic she was than I, with all my untiring perseverance and diligence, for what day ever saw such an amount of work accomplished at my hands as she described. It was time for the spring cleaning, and do my best there was no time for making a single article for the fair, which I dreaded to attend, and meet Mrs. Harmon’s reproachful glances, for of course she would know nothing of my having denied myself a much coveted piece of furniture in order to give all I could towards the church object; but I bought a season ticket, and was present the opening night. One of the first objects to attract my attention was the beautiful sofa-pillow Mrs. Harmon had made, but I did not see her during the evening, and concluded she was conducting one of the side shows. As no one could call for me that evening, I started for home early, but had gone only a short distance when I almost ran against Mr. Harmon. “I did not see Mrs. Harmon at the fair,” I remarked, “although she must have been there.”
“Hump! Confound the fair!” he blurted out. “Mrs. Harmon isn’t there, she’s flat on her back, where she is likely to stay all summer. The doctor says one of the worst cases of nervous prostration he ever saw.” I expressed sincere sympathy and regret, but Mr. Harmon was not to be comforted. “I told my poor wife over and over again,” he went on, “that no good would come of her driving about as she did, but she was ambitious, and very saving of time and money, and a pretty sum it’s going to cost getting her up again, though goodness knows, I don’t begrudge doing all I can for poor wife.” Mr. Harmon was a kind-hearted man, but in moderate circumstances, and his wife’s illness was a serious drawback to him in many ways. Other assistance would be necessary beside the young girl they kept as help. There was a family of young children with their numberless requirements, and a doctor’s bill of no inconsiderable amount was inevitable, and it was both painful and ludicrous to hear Mr. Harmon deplore the unfortunate persistence with which his wife would push things, in one breath, and with the next, loyally declare his willingness to do all in his power for “poor wife,” now she was sick. But I have made a new rule to be strictly adhered to. One evening of every week, beside Sabbath, is to be devoted to reading, conversation, or any other diversion or respite, and the change is a most welcome one, and, come to read my papers a little more leisurely, I am surprised to meet with so many useful hints as to different and profitable methods of housekeeping, domestic management, and all such matters both helpful and entertaining. We are naturally a pushing, enterprising people, but a rank growth is never a wholesome one, and with our hurried lives, hurried in eating, drinking, and hastening from one duty to another, we prove, it seems to me, the truth of an old proverb, although the application is perhaps a new one. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” Aunt Jennie was right. Nature will have her due sooner or later; an exacting mistress she, and attempting to withhold her rights will only provoke towards foreclosure on her part the mortgage she holds on our estates both temporal and physical. Have you noticed how old people, those whose earlier ambitions are dead, whose life-work is almost done, regretfully reflect on having allowed their former zeal to run away with their discretion? “If I only hadn’t worked so hard that cold spring to finish the cleaning quite so soon, I shouldn’t have had this cough fastened on me for all these years.” “If I could only have been contented with doing a full day’s work in twenty-four hours, I shouldn’t have been burdened all my declining days with this poor lame back.” “Don’t tear about so, dear. You won’t be any the stronger for it a little while hence, depend upon it you won’t.” And let me add, my reader, dear grandma knows.—Mrs. Harriet A. Cheever, in Christian at Work. The Way of the World.
By Ella Wheeler
Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Weep and you weep alone;
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
It has troubles enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer,
Sigh—it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care. Rejoice, and men will seek you,
Grieve, and they will turn and go;
They want full measure of your pleasure,
But they do not want your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many,
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall. Feast, and your halls are crowded,
Fast, and the world goes by;
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train;
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
—Ella Wheeler. Lieutenant Schwatka on Alaska’s Future
LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA, in a lecture in New York on Alaska a few evenings since, said that the Yukon River is so long that if its source were at Salt Lake, its waters might empty into New York Bay; and its mouth is so wide that New York would be on one bank and Philadelphia on the other. “Alaska,” he said, “has a great future before her. In the southern part is timber enough to build great commercial cities, and the Aleutian Islands can furnish beef for a score of San Franciscos.”—Ex. Curing Despondency by Helping Others
THE best way to cure despondency and grief is to forget self in working for others. Let acts of love abound, and the rays of sunshine caused by them will be reflected back on your own life, dispelling its sadness and gloom. It is surprising how everybody rushes at a fainting person and strives to raise him up, and especially to keep his head erect. There must be an instinctive apprehension that if a person seized with a fainting or other fit falls into the recumbent position, death is more imminent. I must have driven a mile to-day while a lady fainting was held upright. I found her pulseless, white, and apparently dying, and I believe that if I had delayed ten minutes longer she really would have died. I laid her head down on a lower level than her body, and immediately color returned to her lips and cheeks, and she became conscious. To the excited group of friends I said: Always remember this fact; namely, fainting is caused by want of blood in the brain; the heart ceases to act with sufficient force to send the usual amount of blood to the brain, and hence the person loses consciousness because the function of the brain ceases. Restore the blood to the brain, and instantly the person recovers. Now, though the blood is propelled to all parts of the body by the action of the heart, yet it is still under the influence of the laws of gravitation. In the erect position the blood ascends to the head against gravitation, and the supply to the brain is diminished, as compared with the recumbent position, the heart's pulsation being equal. If, then, you place a person sitting whose heart has nearly ceased to beat, his brain will fail to receive blood, while if you lay him down, with the head lower than the heart, blood will run into the brain by the mere force of gravity, and in fainting, in sufficient quantity to restore consciousness. Indeed, nature teaches us how to manage the fainting persons, for they always fall, and frequently are at once restored by the recumbent position into which they are thrown.—Sel. Washington’s Personal Appearance.
The following personal description of the “Father of his country” was written in 1811 by David Ackerson, of South Carolina, to his son William. It has lately been published for the first time:— “In the first place you should know that Washington was not what the ladies call a pretty man. It seems that fate has destined handsome men for other purposes than heroic endeavor. But in military costume he was a splendid figure, such as would impress the memory ever afterward. The first time I was ever brought in contact with the great hero, was three days before the crossing of the Delaware, as I have related to you before. It was under most unfavorable circumstances, as the weather was bitterly cold and a fierce wind was blowing. Washington had a large, thick nose, and it was very red on that day, giving the impression that he was not as moderate in the use of liquors as he was supposed to be. I found afterward that this was a peculiarity. His nose was apt to turn scarlet in a cold wind.” “He was standing near a small camp fire, evidently lost in thought, and making no effort to keep warm. He seemed six feet and a half in height, and was as erect as an Indian, and did not for a moment relax from a military attitude. Washington’s exact height was six feet two inches in his boots. He was then a little lame from striking his knee against a tree. His eye was so gray that it looked almost white, and he had a troubled look on his colorless face. He had a piece of woolen tied around his throat, and was quite hoarse. Perhaps the throat disease from which he finally died had its origin about then. Washington’s boots were enormous. They were No. 13. His ordinary walking shoes were No. 11. His hands were large in proportion, and he could not buy a glove to fit him, and he had to have his gloves made to order. His mouth was his strong feature, his lips being always tightly compressed. On that day they were compressed so closely as to be painful to look at. At that time he weighed 200 pounds, and there was no surplus flesh about him. He was tremendously muscled, and the fame of his great strength was everywhere.” It was a curious experiment, made by the late Dr. Draper, and used by him as an illustration of the possible permanence of all mental impressions, that if a wafer be placed upon a piece of cold burnished steel, breathed upon, and the wafer then removed, when the steel is again breathed upon, even after a lapse of several days, there will appear upon it a spectral image of the vanished wafer. If so slight a contact between insensible materials produces such lasting results, reasons the Doctor, what must be the effect of visual impressions made upon the sensitive ganglia of the brain? May we not believe that everything which the eye beholds is photographed indelibly upon the mind, to be reproduced if we but look for the talismanic number of the negative? It is a startling suggestion, when we think of it, that our brains must receive unerasable pictures of all that our eyes behold, whether we wish to receive them or not; and one that enjoins us to cast our lines in pleasant places. But whether it be true or not that a single impression makes an indelible mental mark, there is no doubt that a repetition of impressions does; and if we want to keep our soul's picture gallery free from unworthy images we must not go where these are seen.—Christian Union. “You can’t keep boys quite straight, you know. They must have a chance to sow their wild oats.” Must? A word from Satan’s vocabulary! Look ahead a few years. There he goes—your boy—swearing, swaggering, coarse, obscene! You hope he will marry and sober down! Yes, if some pure girl will pour the fullness of her sweet life into the turbid stream of his, there is a bare chance that he may be saved. How much better to have trained him to the right, when you had him under your hands! In the outset, he was not unlike his sister in morals. You held her to the proprieties and decencies, while you let him run at his own will in paths of misdeed. Now, in purity of life, they are leagues apart. There are as many boys as there are girls in the infant class of our Sunday-schools, but not one-half as many boys as girls in the Bible-classes. Women outnumber men in the church two to one. In the State prison men outnumber women fifty to one. This sad proportion tells its own story.—Gospel Teacher. A WRITER in a London journal says that snow rarely falls in Palestine. Now and then the highlands of the country are the scene of a snow-storm, but this is not a frequent occurrence. There have, of course, been occasional visitations of winter when the weather has been exceptionally severe. Thus in 1854 there were heavy falls of snow at Galilee, and, in the neighborhood of Nazareth, twenty-five people were frozen to death. In the same year so much snow fell during one night at Jerusalem that it was impossible to gather together a “Minyan” the next morning, although it was one of the festivals. There is an inscription on an old and half-ruined house in Galilee which runs as follows: “Wonder not at snow in Nisan; we have seen it in Sivan.” Hail is much more common in the Holy Land than snow, but it is not of a serious kind, and rarely does any damage even to fruit, which is more easily injured than any other crop.