Earlier text: WILL THE WORLD BE CONVERTED?DISCARDING AGRICULTURE, AND THE RESULT OF IT.
By T.
EVERYTHING that man eats must come from the soil. The one who lives on a flesh diet must look to the fields to supply the grass for the ox or sheep that is slaughtered and brought to his table. And he who lives on the more humane, the more scientific, and the more highly civilized plane of a vegetarian diet, will go directly to the products of the soil for his living, rather than to take it second-hand thru the animal creation. These facts in regard to the source of man’s food-supply being true, it should be apparent to any one that agriculture is the most necessary, the most useful, and the most important of the occupations of mankind. By far the greater part of the people should be engaged in the tilling of the soil. Seventy-seven per cent. of the population of England are in the cities, while only 23 per cent. remain in the country to till the soil and produce the food on which the entire population must subsist. As a consequence, England must depend very largely upon foreign imports for the necessaries of life. This flocking to the cities, that is so marked in England, is also a striking characteristic of this country. Men are striving to get work in shops and stores, and on street car and railroad lines, and places of that kind. And while they have plenty of work, they seem to be getting on all right. But if the factory can not dispose of its goods, and so must shut down for a time, or possibly discharge a large part of its hands altogether, those who are thus thrown out of work are placed in a pitiable plight. They live in crowded city quarters with not a foot of land on which to raise food to eat; and when the shop is closed, their income is wholly stopped. In times of great commercial and manufacturing prosperity they have a plenty, but as soon as the “hard “times” come, they are thrown into the untold sufferings of want. Some men may live and prosper in the cities; but the great majority of mankind should be in the country, and enjoying the solid benefits of country life. And even those who work in the shops or in the stores, should not content themselves until they have a small piece of land to till, even if it is no more than a quarter or an eighth of an acre. At first they may think they can not attend to it; but if they will keep a close record of their doings, they will discover that enough time is wasted mornings and evenings, and oftentimes on holidays, to till quite a garden. And, then, there are the children, who are far better off when engaged in some useful employment than when running the streets and learning mischief, and vice, and crime. It is a short-sighted policy that amounts to gross carelessness (if it is not outright sin against one’s family as well as himself) that leads a man wholly to depend upon his position in the store or factory. The trade, or the position in the mercantile establishment, and even the professions, should be supplemented by the delights of tilling the soil. It is not only the safe plan that cuts off the terrors of hard times, but it also affords a change of occupation that is the most conducive to health and happiness. If we shape our affairs so as to take a little vacation every day in the garden or field, we will not need to spend a month away from home every summer for our health. And then, if we desire and can afford the month’s trip to the country, its joys will be heightened by the buoyancy of health and not weighed down by the heaviness of wasting disease. This is a subject that is worthy of your most thoughtful consideration. Think of it carefully. T. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LYNCHING.
By T.
THAT was both a horrible and a shameful crime that was committed at McKeesport, Pa., a few days since. Words fail in their power to describe the depth of degradation that is bound up in the heart of a man who indecently assaults and abuses a little girl of three years. That such a man should be severely punished, all good people will unhesitatingly affirm. But punishment should be dealt out by properly constituted and lawful authority, and not by a mob. When mobbing gets to be the order of the day, no man's life or property is safe. The mob does not wait to inquire carefully and calmly into the merits of a case; but wildly, and often furiously, spurred on by superheated feeling and drifting sentiment, the suspected culprit is charged upon and inhumanly tortured and killed. Not all who lend their influence to support mobbing have a realizing sense of what they are doing. He who takes the law into his own hands and assists in mobbing a man to-day, is helping to give an education to the people that may cause them to turn upon him to-morrow. Mobbing is, indeed, very risky business. It is the school that inculcates the breaking down of law and order, and enthrones anarchy and rioting of the worst kind. A strong sentiment of outraged justice may be the inspiration that is actuating the leaders of a mob. But because we are justly sensitive to the outrageous deed that some criminal has committed, that will not excuse us in turning criminal ourselves and violating the principles of law, order, and justice. For it is only just that any man should have a fair trial before he is punished. And if you assist a mob in punishing men without trial, you are helping to manufacture anarchy of the most violent order. This mobbing that we see here and there over the land is but the prelude to the reign of terror that is before the world. The very questions that are agitating this country now are the same questions that gave France her Revolution and Reign of Terror. And there is an unseen master-hand behind this mobbing that is training to scenes and acts of violence, and the time can not be long delayed when there will be such violence as the world has never known anything about in all its history. If ever there was a time when men needed sanctified and immovable calmness it is right now. T. SLAVERY AND CESSPOOLS OF SIN.
We condense and quote the following from an article by Jessie Ackerman, a world missionary, in the Ram's Horn:— “Having spent some time here [Honolulu] twelve years ago, when a debauched despot was at the head of the monarchy, I was, naturally, deeply interested in studying the changed conditions, fully expecting to find, at the least, the moral tone of the place much higher, since these islands had become a part of the United States of America. Before I had been here a week, my attention was directed to the investigation of a form of human slavery with which the condition of the black man forty years ago in the South is not to be compared. . . .” “Men appointed by the chief executive of our republic, and heads of departments paid by the taxation of citizens to guard the best interests of the community, devised [to deal with the outcast women] the most complete diabolical system of human slavery ever recorded in history. “This was done, and was backed up, controlled, legalized, and incorporated into a company under the protection of the territory, tho the laws declare the entire system unlawful and provide punishment for all, both men and women, who are found guilty. A company of business men were allowed to launch an enterprise from which they would receive a larger revenue, that for— Downright Vileness has no Parallel in all the Heathen World—
a business that brands them with a degree of depravity hitherto unknown among men of any race, and proves them to be utterly lost to the last sense of decency. . . . “A section of the city, about a mile from the post-office, and within a hundred feet of one of the native churches, was given up for the fostering of a legalized industry in common prostitution. That the industry should be, as it is, under territorial protection, and that the heads of the health and police departments should assume the management of it, was sufficient guaranty of success. The most important matter was to select the grounds, and provide suitable premises; that is, to open— A Great Department-Store of Lust,
where a high carnival of debauches could be held nightly. Two and a half acres of ground were enclosed by a wall or fence about fifteen feet high, forming a large stockade, a number of gates providing access to the enclosure. Within these walls were erected large sheds, lettered A, B, C, etc., and divided off into pens scarcely fit for cattle stalls. These were called rooms, each being clearly marked with a number, and ranging up to about two hundred and fifty, and of sufficient size to afford necessary equipment for plying the legalized 'trade,' and for the occupancy of which slave women pay a monthly rental of fifteen dollars. The rooms are always full, and just now there is an increased demand for larger quarters. This place is not intended for homes for the women, but only a bazar in which to conduct their business, and barter their bodies. “A set of regulations was formulated by the board of health and police departments. These have been sent to the 'masters' of these women, to the women themselves, and several copies are framed, and hanging on the gates to serve as advertisements for the 'industry.'” “In reading the following, please remember that these rules have been made by the very departments paid to preserve the health and decency of the city. [These rules, which would do for a stock-yard, we will not print. Ed. S. of T.] . . . .” “Last year the grand jury made an investigation of the club, and gave the following report: ‘We find ‘the condition of the premises, and general management, which is conducted under the supervision of the board of health and police department, to be as satisfactory as could be expected, provided the shameless vocation is a necessary evil.’” “Not long since the members of the legislature made a trip to the quarters to learn if any improvements were necessary. After the general rounds, talking to the women, examining some of the stalls, and learning all there was to know, they visited the managing authorities, where, after a full and lengthy discussion of the matter, it was the opinion of all that the departments had ‘done themselves proud’ in the great amount of intelligence manifested in conducting the institution, and these foster-parents of the industry of prostitution returned with the consciousness of having well discharged a very important duty. How the Slaves are Secured.
“The most infamous part of this outrage upon the moral sentiment of all mankind is the manner in which the women, many of them innocent of what they are going to, are secured. A company of Japanese, recognized by the authorities in charge as ‘masters of the women,’ have full management of them, and also the securing of them. They have in their regular employ thirty procurers. Some of these make regular trips to Japan to reinforce the stockade with younger women with fresher charms. Others go about this group of islands, visiting the large plantations where numbers of women are employed, and surrounded by a full degree of comfort, for the plantations have made every provision for the well-being of their employees. Here the procurer gains the confidence of the women by expressions of sympathy for their hard lot in manual labor. This ends by offering them easy employment in the city, with fewer hours and more pay. “Thus, scores of innocent women are trapped, and brought to the city, where they become hopelessly involved in debt while waiting for the promised situation. Threatened by law, in fear and trembling, they are fairly driven to the stockades to barter their bodies in sin that they may meet the demands of a supposed indebtedness that is enlarged upon from time to time in order to retain them, that these human vermin may prey upon debauched womanhood. The women are divided into gangs, so many to each ‘master,’ and are conducted to and from the stockade under the supervision of a woman employed for that purpose, just as criminals are driven to and from their daily employment. At 2 o'clock in the morning, when ‘business’ must cease under territorial regulation, the ‘masters’ go to the rooms of the women to gather the blood-money made in this market-house of lust. Ofttimes, when the amount is very small, the women are subjected to all sorts of cruelty at the hands of these fiends, so lost to every sense of decency as to live and thrive upon the ill-gotten gains of bartered virtue. Under the regulations, a child must be sixteen years old before entering the stockade. It almost passes human belief that a child, who could not legally sell her doll or toys, may become the victim of hell-hound vampires, and, unwilling, make merchandise of her virtue. Here! right here! under the American flag, in the face and eyes of law set at defiance by the authorities, innocence and virtue are placed among the marketable products, and their sale fostered as a home industry. “In the name of heaven, let the voice of the American people be heard concerning this crime against helpless women! Let a wave of public sentiment sweep the land from shore to shore, until the last offender against human liberty shall meet a just fate, that will make him a hissing by-word wherever the wrath of outraged people may drive him. “It has been positively ascertained that there are girls there—children—twelve and thirteen years old. When women lose their charms, the ‘masters’ take them out to the plantations, where they find a ready market for them to men who desire wives. They receive for them from fifty to a hundred dollars, and add this sum to what they have ‘realized’ upon them in the ‘business.’” “The government gives a guarantee to all patrons of the stockades that they run no risk of infection in the pursuit of aiding this ‘industry’ by their support and presence in ‘business’ hours; for regulations provide that the officials will undertake to see that no diseased woman is permitted in the place. This probably accounts for the variety of men I saw there. The hour was early, for it was still less than ten o’clock, and the ‘rush’ had not yet set in; but even at that time I counted fifty-seven white young men, none of whom could have been more than twenty-five. I did not attempt to count the older white men. These lads apparently come from the student and clerk classes; they were by no means from the lower walks of life. It was simply revolting to behold their shameful boldness toward these half-nude, painted, flower-bedecked women, the very scum of this moral cesspool, but, after all, vastly superior to the sin-sodden, lust-eaten human vipers, whose fortunate condition of birth and larger degree of enlightenment should lead them to protect the creatures they have so criminally debased.” Many things have been recorded in the Scripture for the purpose of enabling men to identify the last days of this world. When the disciples asked Christ for a sign which would identify the last days, He gave them many, and among them was this one, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24:12. Some have limited this to Christian love in the church, and love for God and His worship. It means more than that. It includes natural affection, which Paul declares (2 Tim. 3:3) shall be lacking in the last days, and whose lack would be one of the signs of the last days. The rapid increase in the number of divorces is an unmistakable evidence that this scripture is fulfilling before our eyes. Note the following from Christian Work, of May 23: “All records were “broken in the divorce division of the Supreme “Court, this city [New York], one day last week, “when one hundred and nineteen undefended cases “confronted the presiding judge. The highest “number on the calendar previously was eighty-“six. A decline of religion indicated by the disin-“tegration of one hundred and nineteen families “means something, if we but think of it.” The fact that these were undefended cases shows that the desire for separation was, to a greater or less extent, mutual with the parties to the divorce proceeding. If guilt was charged as a reason for the separation and the defendant did not choose to defend the case, the inference is that the defendant was guilty. In most of the other cases each of the parties must have been desirous of having the marriage tie sundered. But these facts are simply an indication of the condition of the world-to-day. It is the condition that makes the facts possible; and this is the condition which the Saviour declared to His disciples would be one of the signs of the last days and of His soon coming. How literally are the words of the Saviour being fulfilled. Love, natural affection, is waxing colder and colder; the ties which have bound families together are becoming more and more slender; the other signs which the Saviour gave have either been fulfilled or are fulfilling; everything is focusing to the climax of the9 world's history. At the same time, it is the purpose of the enemy to blind the eyes of the whole world, lest they should see what is coming and flee from the destruction which is hastening on. It is possible, however, to escape the deception; for the Saviour says, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24:13. CHRISTIANITY AND DRUNKENNESS.
England is often called the most Christian country on the earth, and we presume that there are as many Christians proportionately there as anywhere else. But England is not Christian, nor are a majority of the people, measured by the amount spent not only for a wholly needless luxury, but that which is a curse, and only a curse. For instance, according to the London Times, the total liquor-consumption bill for the year 1900 amounted to $780,324,832; or $19.07 for each person. For an average family of five persons the expense would be $95.35. In England the cost for each person is placed at $20.17; in Scotland, at $16.08; in Ireland, at $14.06. The liquor bill is more than the cost of all the clothing, more than the rents of all the houses and farms of the country, more than seven times as much as for the collections for charity in all the churches, and more than the cost of the South African war. Who would not believe in annihilating the entire business from our world? Flood Legends and Jury Bribery
THERE has been discovered in China a curious picture, evidently of great antiquity, which is supposed to represent Noah’s ark resting on the top of Mount Ararat. As is well known, the people of almost every nation have a legend or a literature giving an account of the deluge; but a Chinese manuscript recently unearthed follows very closely the story recorded in the Bible. This shows simply that the people of this world had a common origin; that their progenitors passed thru the flood; and when scattered over the face of the earth, took the story of the deluge with them. A REPORT from Kansas City, Mo., of June 22, states that the special grand jury of that city, which had just concluded its sittings, had indicted certain employees of the street railway company for jury bribing. Their names were not made public, but warrants were issued for their arrest. But the report which the grand jury made to the public is of interest to all, as indicating the corrupting influences of the present time. It says in part: “The crime of jury bribing as practised has been carried on in the courts of this county to an extent never dreamed of by the public. It is of necessity an exceedingly secret crime. . . . Jury bribing by the — Street Railway Company has been reduced to a regular system.” Kansas City is not an exception in this regard. There are many cases decided in our courts to-day which disinterested persons practically know to have been decided, not by evidence, but by the persuasiveness of money. Yet so carefully is the work done that it is almost impossible to lay hands upon the offending party or parties. The relation of these things furnishes its own comments upon the conditions of the times in which we live. THERE are still many thousands of workmen on strike throughout the country, coal miners, machinists, butchers, waiters, and persons in various occupations. Clashes have occurred during the week in a number of places where non-union help had been employed to take the place of the strikers. In some places strikers have been enjoined; but there is growing up in their ranks a spirit of defiance to the courts which issue the injunctions. As the struggle becomes more fierce, this spirit will show itself more and more. The present situation is a school of discord, and the pupils are numerous and apt to learn. The time of trouble is rapidly drawing on, and the preparation for it is seen on every hand. A SWEEPING injunction has been issued by the circuit court of Milwaukee against the striking machinists of the Vitter Manufacturing Company. The injunction prohibits the strikers from in any way interfering with the workmen who are employed at the Vitter works, from gathering about the works in any numbers, from posting pickets, or for combining against the company in any way that would tend to injure the interests of the company. This injunction is one of the most sweeping yet issued in the struggle between labor and capital, and will arouse strenuous opposition all over the country, tending to increase the hatred of the workmen for the wealthy corporations. THE partiality of public officials toward the liquor interests has been well illustrated during the recent imprisonment of Mrs. Carrie Nation in Wichita, Kansas. Mrs. Nation had been arrested for raiding saloons and destroying saloon property, which the laws of the State have declared to be nuisances, and during her incarceration everything that could be done to make her imprisonment harsh was done by those having charge of the jail. It was openly charged that this course was taken for the purpose of driving Mrs. Nation insane. What a commentary on the boasted civilization of these days! And what a witness to the fact that the world is ripening for its punishment! THE ministers of the foreign powers in China have refused to permit the Chinese troops to return to Peking until after the foreign troops have left China. There is a disposition on the part of some of the powers to increase their indemnity demands on China. Germany wishes hers increased by about $10,000,000; Japan by about $3,000,000; and it seems probable now that China will be compelled to pay the expenses of the various legation guards. It is reported that France has secured concessions which enable her to use troops along the Tonquin-Yunnan Railway for its protection in the same way that Russia operates in Manchuria. ALTHO civil government is to be established in the Philippines on July 4, it is to present the anomaly of being under the supervision of the war department. Judge Taft is to be the civil governor of the islands. General Chaffee will have charge of those districts not yet pacified. Both will be subject to the orders of the President thru the Secretary of War. This unique arrangement is believed to have been made to obviate some of the difficulties arising on account of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court in the Porto Rico cases. TORRID weather is reported throughout the Middle East during the week. In Chicago the heat killed men and animals. Drivers tumbled from their seats; pedestrians fainted in the streets; the tenements sweltered, and horses sank down in their harness. At the stock-yards the heat was stifling, and over 300 animals were killed by it. Cars coming into the city crowded with livestock, carried many dead animals, killed by the heat. While all the Middle States suffered, Chicago had the largest number of sunstrokes. JOHN WANAMAKER recently offered to the city of Philadelphia, thru its mayor, $2,500,000 for certain franchises which the city government was about to give away to influential corporations. The mayor refused to consider Mr. Wanamaker’s offer, although the latter had deposited 10 per cent. of the amount with a responsible firm as evidence of good faith. The deal with the corporations was closed by the Mayor signing the ordinances. THE United States transport Ohio arrived in San Francisco harbor on June 20, bringing the forty-second Volunteer Regiment from the Philippines. A FRENCH engineer named Mercadier has perfected a system by which 24 messages can be sent over one wire at the same time. Twelve currents enter the wire, each impressed with a distinct vibration rate. They are then discharged into receivers, each of which responds only to vibrations of a certain rate. Thus each receiver selects its own current and its own message, and can not receive any other. EARLY on the morning of June 22 an attempt was made to blow up the First Methodist Church of Manhattan, Kansas. The pastor of this church, as mayor of the city, had carried on a vigorous campaign against the illegal sale of liquor, and had caused the arrest, fining, and imprisonment of several liquor dealers. The dynamiting of the church is believed to be the result of the pastor’s vigorous work in this line. ON June 23 tornadoes struck the towns of Lincoln, Illinois, and Middleport, Ohio, destroying many thousands of dollars’ worth of property. At about the same time severe storms occurred in other parts of the country. The increasing frequency of tornadoes, cyclones, and severe lightning storms is another proof of the fact that the old earth is wearing out and preparing for its dissolution. A CLOUD-BURST in the Tug-River section of West Virginia, on June 22, has caused a serious flood in that region. Reports are conflicting, but all agree that great damage has been done. Many miles of railroad track have been completely destroyed. The loss of life is now placed at about 75, tho definite figures can not yet be given. REPORTS from South Africa indicate that the Boer invasion of Cape Colony is serious; that the Boers have from 7,000 to 10,000 fighting men; and that they are swarming all over the eastern and middle districts of the colony. In an engagement on June 20 the British lost 10 killed and 66 captured. AS THE result of an explosion of fireworks in a store on the ground floor of a tenement building in Paterson, N. J., on June 21, 17 persons lost their lives. The fire following the explosion quickly consumed the entire building, giving little opportunity for the occupants to escape. HOSHI TORU, a member of the Japanese cabinet, and ex-minister to the United States, was assassinated at a meeting of the Yokohama City Assembly, on June 21. The assassin, who holds a high social and public position, claims to have struck the blow in the interests of his country. THE question of a European combination against the United States is still being agitated all over Europe. Of course, the result of such an agitation is more war preparation on the part of all, more jealousy, more rumors of war, more “distress of nations with perplexity.” THE United States transport Grant arrived in San Francisco harbor on June 24 with the Forty-eighth and part of the Forty-ninth regiments (colored). These commands have seen trying service in the Philippines, and have left many of their number there. ON June 24 the striking West Virginia coal miners opened fire upon a force of United States deputy marshals, and the latter were compelled to flee for their lives. The marshals were attempting to serve injunction notices upon the strikers when the trouble occurred. SAFE steamer lanes have been established across the Pacific Ocean under the plans proposed by the Navy Department a year ago. These lanes are 30 miles wide, and insure measurably safe navigation, for no obstructions have been discovered. SEVEN persons lost their lives in a tornado at Napier, Nebraska, on June 20, and several others were more or less seriously injured. During the storm the report states that hailstones fell measuring 10 inches in circumference. GENERAL CAILLES, one of the principal generals of the Filipinos, has surrendered with 650 men in northern Luzon. The surrender of this general was the signal for the release of 500 prisoners held by the Americans. THE city of Johannesburg, in the Transvaal, is reported to be nearly deserted of its white inhabitants, on account of the ravages of the war, and many of those who remain are obliged to stay on account of poverty. ADELBERT H. HAY, son of the present Secretary of State and late consul to the Transvaal, fell from the window of the New Haven House at New Haven, Conn., on the night of June 22, and was instantly killed. THERE seems to be a strong undercurrent of feeling thruout the Southern States for the disfranchisement of the negro, and prominent men of the South are laboring zealously to that end. THE halibut fishing schooner White Wings is reported lost, with all of her crew of 30 men. She is believed to have foundered off Vancouver Island in a recent storm. A PECULIAR epidemic is sweeping off thousands of horses in New York. The disease is puzzling the veterinarians, and they are unable to combat it. ONE million dollars’ worth of gold dust has arrived at Seattle, from the Alaskan mining country, and $3,000,000 more are on the way. THE PHILOSOPHY OF REJECTING TRUTH.
By T.
When an error is presented to us, if we reject it we are made stronger and more manly by it. But when truth is presented, if we reject that we are breaking down the barriers that would protect us from destruction. When the truth is presented to us, we may know it; we may know for sure that it is the truth. For the Lord has said, “If ye continue in My Word, then are “ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, “and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32. “Ye shall know the truth.” Such is the assuring promise the Lord has given. When the Lord presents truth to us, He sends His Spirit at the same time to impress that truth upon our minds and hearts. There is a solid, clear conviction that comes along with the presentation of truth, and this conviction can not be shaken off until the individual wholly abandons the Lord and positively refuses to have anything to do with His truth. The individual who thus rejects truth binds himself under the power of error. For all there is in the world may be classed under the head of truth or error. And when truth is rejected, when truth is thrown overboard, all that is left for the individual is error, and consequently he becomes the toy of every delusion that error can bring into the world. In this connection read the following forceful scripture:— “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of His coming; even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that are perishing; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thess. 2:7-12, R. V.
By the foregoing scripture it will be seen that Satan’s masterful working of unrighteousness and deception is in “them that are perishing.” And these individuals are in this perishing condition “because they received not the love of the truth, “that they might be saved.” Then the Lord not only sends the truth to each individual, but He also sends with that truth the power and the disposition to love it. The Lord makes it manifest that truth is the most lovely of anything that can be presented. But, as is shown in these verses quoted from Thessalonians, there are men who insist upon finding their “pleasure in unrighteousness,” and that bars the truth out. We can not hold truth and unrighteousness both at the same time. We must reject the pleasure of unrighteousness before we can receive and enjoy “the love of the truth.” We must decide that we will have none of the delusive pleasures of sin before we can enter into the substantial joy and everlasting satisfaction of loving and receiving truth. Then, since we can not hold “the love of the truth” and “pleasure in unrighteousness” at the same time, it is plain that our choice must be for one or the other. And just so surely as we reject truth and the love of it, just that surely will we be deluged by all the evils and deceptions of unrighteousness. We will become the sporting toys of Satan’s malice, and the instruments of his evil ways. We can not afford to stand in any such position. T. RESPECT FOR THE AGED.
By M. C. DuBois
Not long since I read the following beautiful little story, which I wish to repeat. A private letter from a lady who was spending some time among the peasants of Tyrol said:— “The morning after our arrival we were awakened by the sound of violin and flutes under the window, and hurrying down, found the little house adorned as for a feast—garlands over the door and wreathing a high chair which was set in state. “The table was already covered with gifts brought by the young people whose music we had heard. “The whole neighborhood were kinsfolks, and these gifts came from uncles, aunts, and cousins in every far-off degree. They were very simple, for the donors are poor—knitted gloves, a shawl, baskets of flowers, jars of fruit, loaves of bread, but upon all some little message of love was pinned. ‘Is there a bride in this house?’ I asked my landlady. “‘Ach nein!’ she said. ‘We do not make such doings for our young people. It is the grandmother’s birthday.’ “The grandmother, in her spectacles, white apron, and high velvet cap, was a queen all day, sitting in state to receive visits, and deal out slices from a loaf of sweet bread to each who came. I could not but remember certain grandmothers at home, just as much loved as she, probably, but whose dull sad lives were never brightened by such tokens as these, and I thought we could learn much from these poor mountaineers.” Yes, indeed. Let us each learn a lesson from this peasant custom. In this age of rush and hurry, we are apt to forget these delicate tender attentions to the aged. If their general wants are supplied, we feel our duty is done. We leave the old folks to entertain themselves. We may think because grandpa and grandma are old, they care for naught outside their room. This, I think, is a mistake. True, the great, busy, outside world is fast fading from their view. They are, in a certain sense, no longer a part of it. They no longer stand upon life’s busy highway. They can not take their place in life’s hardest battles. No, they are now on the retired list, as it were; but do not for a moment think they have lost all interest in the great outside world. This is a thoughtless age, too. The old people are often crowded and pushed aside. Too often they are neglected and treated with cold indifference, and made to feel they are a burden in the home, the church, the community. This ought not so to be. The aged should command our heartfelt sympathy, our tenderest care. We should treat them with kindness and love, and see that every want is supplied, so far as in us lies, not only physical but intellectual and spiritual also. I once knew a man who made no profession of religion, who opened his fine home to prayer-meetings, that his aged father, nearly one hundred years old, might enjoy the society of the praying people in that community. Old people often experience a loneliness the young are strangers to. Especially is this the case if the partner of early life is gone, and the aged husband or wife is left alone. Perhaps not one friend of their early life is left with whom they may speak of events which transpired in their younger days; and a feeling of loneliness comes over them which can be realized only by those who have experienced it. Their eyes may have become dim, so that it is hard for them to read; their hands palsied, so that they can no longer work; their feet feeble, so they can not walk. True, such may sit in an easy chair in a warm corner; but unless something is also done to interest their mind, or their social wants are met, they will experience many lonely hours, much heart-hunger and yearning for companionship. Right here is where so many fail in their care of old people, having provided for their physical wants, some feel their whole duty is done. Such provisions are right, and should be made to the extent of one’s means; but their temporal comforts are not all they need. If the aged ones are under your own roof, or in the home of your childhood, visit them as often as possible. Tell them of victories won for the truth of the Master. Tell bits of cheery news; speak of God’s loving-kindness over all; carry some little token of love to lay in their hands. Bring all the sunshine you can into their lives. If you are out, away from the dear old folks, write to them often, bright, cheering letters. Let them know you do not forget them. It will help to brighten their life wonderfully. Treat the aged, wherever you meet them, with tenderness and respect, whether they are your kin or not. I know full well that all old people are not saints. Some are hard to get along with, are unreasonable and selfish, the same as are younger people. Nevertheless treat them with kind consideration. Love is more effectual than coldness and neglect. Treat them as you will wish you had, when called to render an account unto God. Grand Ledge, Mich. MRS. M. C. DuBois.