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Signs of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 30.

PEACE ON EARTH
Earlier text: LESSON VII.—SABBATH, AUGUST 13, 1938

News and Notes

International.— Five French war ships have been ordered to Tangier to safeguard French interests in case of a bombardment by American war ships......The Belgian Government has offered a prize of 50,000 francs for the invention of a match paste containing no phosphorus......Russia has begun a trade war on German imports, because of Germany’s failure to fulfil the terms of a commercial treaty which was to have allowed exceptionally favorable rates on Russian grain. The action is taken on orders from the Russian minister of finance......The authorities of Dawson and the Klondike mining regions are enforcing a Sunday law, by the terms of which work and business of all kinds except restaurants, is suspended on Sunday. For each violation of the law a fine of $15 is imposed......A wealthy Japanese sulphur mine owner left twenty-six of his workmen on an uninhabited island, where one of his mines was located, making no provision for their sustenance. There being no chance for them to make their escape, the whole company perished of starvation......M. Emil Zola, the French novelist who was imprisoned last year for his connection with the Dreyfus trial, has been again sentenced to imprisonment and to pay a heavy fine. He has fled to Switzerland to avoid serving his sentence......The Bundesrath of Switzerland has prohibited the importation of fresh and unpealed American fruit, with the view of keeping out what is known as the San Jose scale. This government has also filed a protest with the government of the United States against the advantages given to France by the reciprocity treaty with the United States, and demands that these advantages be accorded Switzerland......Australian farmers are losing thousands of their cattle by what is known as the “tick” plague. This plague is spreading alarmingly, and is said to be more widespread and ruinous than will ever be known to the outside world. The report from there states that all the cattle attacked by the plague die. No meat can be sold from the districts where the plague is raging, which is bringing much hardship to the ranchers......In view of the fact that Japanese capitalists are contemplating purchasing large tracts of land in Australia to be settled by Japanese immigrants, the law-making bodies of that continent are preparing legislation which will be prohibitive of Japanese immigration to Australia......The financial crisis in Chile is continuing to grow more acute. Congress has passed a law authorizing the president of Chile to issue paper money to the extent of $50,000,000, and to borrow money to the extent of $20,000,000 more......A French gunboat attempted to enter the harbor of Guantanamo, Cuba, on July 14, without securing permission from the Americans blockading that bay. The cruiser Marblehead was compelled to fire two shots across the bow of the French boat before the latter would yield to the rules of the blockade......The rebellion in Woo Chow, China, is still progressing. It is reported that 1,500 of the Chinese imperial troops were killed recently in an engagement with the rebels near the city of Woo Chow. The uprising is a protest against the introduction of certain reforms, and is fostered by anti-foreign emissaries......The Italian fleet has now reached the waters of Colombia, whither it had been ordered to enforce the payment of the claim which Italy holds against the government of Colombia, amounting to $250,000; but it is reported that the demand will not be enforced until the election of the new president of Colombia.
Progress of the War.— The fourth Manila expedition left San Francisco on July 15, carrying 1,700 regular troops. The vessels comprising the expedition were the Peru and City of Puebla. On July 18 the U. S. transport Pennsylvania sailed for the same destination, with 1,300 volunteers......The steamer Culgoa, which has been plying between London and Australia, has been purchased by the United States, and will be fitted up as an auxiliary cruiser. The English and Australian crew on board the steamer refused to be sent home at the expense of the company, preferring to come to America with the vessel and enlist with her......The U. S. cruiser New Orleans sunk the Spanish gunboat Antonio Lopez, on July 16. She had previously been run aground while attempting to run the blockade......It has been decided to raise and repair the sunken Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon, and add her to the American navy......The Spanish fleet under Admiral Camara has returned to Spain, having turned about after passing through the Suez Canal...... The U. S. cruiser Harvard, having on board 1,008 Spanish prisoners, arrived at Portsmouth, N. H., on July 15. Before the Harvard left Cuba the prisoners revolted, and eight were shot down by the guards on the vessel......On Sunday, July 17, the American flag was raised over the city of Santiago, Cuba, and the forts about the harbor. The number of troops surrendered to General Shafter is nearly 23,000. Already over 10,000 Mauser rifles have been turned over to the Americans, with 10,000,000 rounds of ammunition, and the government has entered into contracts for the manufacture of Mauser bullets to fit these arms. The city of Caimanera, Cuba, was surrendered to the Americans on July 18. The garrison at that place had not learned of the surrender of Santiago, but were included in the terms of capitulation made by General Toral......A corrected report of the American losses in Cuba places the total number of casualties thus far in the campaign at 1,914 killed and wounded......The second expedition to Manila arrived there on the 16th and 17th of July. The expedition comprises the steamers China, Zealandia, Colon, and Senator. Four deaths occurred during the voyage......There have been many rumors of peace proposals on the part of the Spanish Government during the week; but officials at Washington affirm that no peace negotiations between Spain and the United States are in progress. Plans for the invasion of Porto Rico are going forward with more or less celerity, and a part of the transports are already on their way to that island. Commodore Watson is reported to be still preparing his squadron for the contemplated raid on the Spanish coast, and a squadron is being selected from Sampson’s fleet to convoy the expedition to Porto Rico. In Manila the general situation still remains unchanged. The presence and attitude of the German war ships there cause considerable irritation, altho the German Government has disclaimed responsibility for anything which Admiral Von Diedrichs has done either in Manila or Subig Bay, stating that if he has interfered with American affairs there, he will be held to strict personal account.
Domestic Miscellany.— The State presidents of the W. C. T. U. in session at Chicago, have decided to give up the task of paying for the Frances E. Willard Temple in that city. The temple was erected at a cost of $1,265,000, and the various State organizations have labored earnestly to clear the building of debt......The President has appointed a commission, to meet a similar commission on the part of England and Canada, for the purpose of adjusting the relations between Canada and the United States, and settling all questions now in dispute between the two countries......Before the close of the Hawaiian Congress, President Dole signed a contract with the Scrymser Company for a cable between Hawaii and San Diego, Cal......The cutting in overland rates has so disturbed passenger traffic that the Interstate Commerce Commission has called a meeting of representatives of railroads interested to settle the difficulty and establish permanent rates......The United States Government has chartered the British ship Lucelina to carry water to Cuba. The Lucelina is built of iron and steel, and has a capacity of 1,000,000 gallons......A violent windstorm passed over Wisconsin and Iowa on July 19, doing much damage to property and grain......The Baptist Young People’s Union Convention is now in session at Buffalo, N. Y., with about ten thousand delegates and visitors in attendance. The executive committee has decided to hold the next annual convention at Richmond, Va., and that of 1,900 at Cincinnati, Ohio......“Soapy” Smith, the notorious gambler and gun-fighter, was killed recently at Skaguay, Alaska, where for months his gang had been terrorizing the town. Vigilantes are now in control there, and all of Smith’s followers have either been arrested or forced to leave the place......The President has signed the war tariff for Santiago, and it went into effect on July 19. It adopts in general the privileged rates now given Spain, and makes it uniform for all countries, including the United States......Several steamers have arrived at Pacific Coast ports during the week from Alaska, bringing many returning miners from the Klondike regions. According to closest estimates available, these vessels brought down about $5,650,000 in nuggets, dust, and drafts. Many of the miners returned with scarcely enough gold to pay their expenses, and all bring terrible tales of hardship......A telegram from the captain of the U. S. revenue cutter Bear states that the party which started overland through northern Alaska to the relief of the ice-imprisoned whalers reached its destination in safety on March 29, with the herd of reindeer in good condition. The expedition has provisions enough to last the whalers till August......The Treasury Department has issued a ruling by the provisions of which all Chinese except officials, teachers, students, merchants, or travelers for curiosity or pleasure, are to be excluded from the United States.
Casualties and Calamities.— The Chinese cruiser Fu-ching was wrecked on the shore near Port Arthur on June 9, and all but four of her crew of 130 men were drowned. Rockets carrying life-lines were fired over the ship, but the Chinese sailors were unable to comprehend the use of the lines......The Australian bark Fido was wrecked off the Australian coast in a recent storm, and it is believed that her entire crew of twelve men have perished......Four young women were drowned on July 19, while bathing in Utah Lake, Utah......An official despatch from Porto Rico states that 150 cases of ammunition exploded there on July 17, killing fourteen persons and wounding many others......A despatch from Gleiwitz, Prussian Silesia, says that twenty-four persons have been killed by a cage accident at the Paulus Colliery, near Morgorna......On July 19 the powder magazine and factory of the Western Fuse Company, near Oakland, Cal., was blown up by a Chinese murderer who had sought refuge there from the officers who were trying to capture him. Every building in the vicinity of the factory was completely demolished, and five officers, one woman, and the Chinaman were killed. Residents in the vicinity had been warned away by the officers on account of the threats of the murderer. About two tons of explosive were set off, and the shock was felt within a radius of fifty miles.
Conditions in Cuba.— Considerable anxiety has been occasioned by the prevalence of yellow fever among the American troops in Cuba. As many as 300 have been suffering with this disease at one time, but late reports state that the number of cases is on the decrease. The malady has not assumed its more virulent forms. The city of Santiago is reported to be ripe for an epidemic. The town lacks every sanitary feature, and is especially dirty and repellant now, owing to the siege. Admiral Sampson’s last bombardment of the city wrecked fifty-seven houses. Refugees are returning to Santiago in great numbers. The Red Cross steamer State of Texas, with two other vessels loaded with provisions, arrived in the harbor on July 18, and began at once dispensing food to the hungry inhabitants......The large iron mines near Santiago will be opened immediately, furnishing employment to many of the Cubans, and other industries stopped by the war will also be resumed as speedily as possible.

Praying to God, Not to Mother.

The Argonaut tells of a society woman in Washington who stopped in the midst of a fashionable dinner, went to a telephone, and called up the nurse of her children. The nurse brought her boys to the phone, and they said their prayers to the mother over the phone. But it would have been better if the children had been taught to pray to God, not to mother. It is all right for the mother to teach her children to pray, to pray with them, but teach the children to pray to God, and to express in their own words the things they wish to thank God for, or desire Him to grant, as early in life as possible.

The Power of a God-Centered Life

By Rev. Dr. Fishburn

It is vain to tell any one to be unselfish without giving him the power to be unselfish. It is mockery to advise any man to be cheerful without giving him the power to be cheerful. It is only the man who lives a God-centered life, the man who has faith in God, who believes that all God does is done for the best, that all God’s ways with men are right, whether men understand them or not—it is only that man who can look out upon life with a smile.—Rev. Dr. Fishburn.

Unconditional Surrender and Coronation

By F. T. Bayley

There is no discipleship without unconditional surrender. This is God’s own test. But self-surrender leads to coronation. Self-pleasing ends in death.— Rev. F. T. Bayley.

BIBLE ELECTION.

By M. C. Wilcox

By M. C. Wilcox. A brief presentation of God's plan and purpose concerning man, showing that the doctrine of election, or predestination, according to the Bible, is full of comfort and instruction. It throws new light on old controversies. Bible Students' Library, No. 67; 24 pp.; price 3 cents. Address Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.

THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD.

By M. C. Wilcox

By M. C. Wilcox. This tract of 40 pages sets forth in brief some of the more important events of the Great Day of God Almighty. It discusses the character of that day, shows when it begins, the coming of the Lord, the events in connection with that coming, the Millennium, the Saints in Judgment, when the Day of the Lord Ends, and the Eternal Home of the Redeemed. Bible Students’ Library No. 65. Price, 5 cents.

The Coming King

Takes up the connection of our Saviour with the earth from creation to its final restoration and the redemption of man. It presents Christ as Creator, the Leader of Israel, the Man of sorrows, the Redeemer of His people, and King of the earth made new. Contains 290 pages, fully illustrated.
Cloth, ink title .................................................. $1 00 Cloth embossed in gold, gold top .................................. 1 50 Prospectus ................................................................ 60
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THE STORY OF REDEMPTION

Contains 237 large octavo pages and 68 engravings, many of which are full page. The great truths connected with the mediatorial system, and righteousness through Christ, are told in a manner calculated to arouse intense interest, and remove prejudice.
The appearance of the book attracts attention wherever presented, and agents are finding it an easy seller.
A complete canvassing outfit sent on receipt of 60 cents.
Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.
39 Bond St., 18 West Fifth St., New York City. Kansas City, Mo.

THE WAR SPIRIT

Is not dying. It is growing stronger every day. Especially is this so in our own country. Let us therefore redouble our efforts to circulate the truth concerning this spirit. Such tracts as—
Christian Demand for War ... $1 00 per 100 Alarm of War ... 2 00 per 100 Arming of the Nations ... 10 cents each, or 5 00 per 100
will help do this. If you can't afford to give them away, sell them. Says Lewis Hilliard in Workers' Bulletin:—
“Please send me fifty more copies of ‘The Alarm of War.’ All the workers should have this tract. There is no trouble in selling it, for it almost sells itself.”
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THE NEW LESSON PAMPHLET

Is a great help to the lesson student. The questions show careful thought, the notes are brief and to the point, the suggestive questions excellent. Contains 40 pages. Price, 5 cents each.
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APPLES OF GOLD LIBRARY.

Reduced Net Price List.

No. Cents
1 Looking unto Jesus ½
2 The Christian’s Privilege ½
3 The Sure Promises of God ½
4 How to Get Knowledge ¼
5 The Church and the World (poetry) ½
6 The Elect of God ½
7 How Esther Read Her Bible ½
8 The Thief on the Cross ½
9 The Eleventh Hour ½
10 Benefits of Bible Study ½
11 Righteousness—Where Is It to Be Found? ½
12 Power of Forgiveness ½
13 Responsibility of Parents ½
14 Choose Ye This Day ½
15 The Cross of Christ ½
16 The New Birth 1
17 “What Must I Do to Be Saved?” ½
18 The Literal Week ½
19 The Christian Life 1
20 Your Life-work—Is It of Men or of God? ½
21 Acceptable Service ½
22 Have Faith in God ½
23 The Riches of His Grace ½
24 He Saves to the Utmost ⅛
25 Bible Authority for Sunday Observance ½
26 I Will Come Again ¼
27 Religious Liberty ¼
28 Law of Liberty ¼
29 Law of Love ½
30 Knowing and Obeying the Lord ¼
31 Why the Earth Was Made ½
32 Trine Immersion ½
33 Scriptural Answers to Worldly Objections ¼
34 Seventh-day Adventists and Their Work 1
35 The Hope Set before Us ½
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37 Letter and Spirit ½
38 Who Are the Saints ½
39 The Seventh, or One-Seventh ½
40 Coming of the Lord ½
41 Foreknowledge and Foreordination ½
42 Jesus and the Resurrection ¾
43 An Appeal to Christian Endeavorers ¼
44 Back to the “Old Paths” 1
45 Historical Facts and Incidents 2
46 True “Christian Citizenship ½
47 The Great Threefold Message 1
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50 The Day of the Sabbath 1
51 The Heralds of His Coming 1½
52 Prayer 1
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PRAYER

We notice the following editorial in the Oklahoma Gleaner:—
“One of the best little tracts that has been published of late is A. G. L. No. 52, on ‘Prayer.’ The price is one cent. Send for a number and hand them around to the members of the church. They will all be benefited by reading it. We need to commune more with Christ, and know Him as our dearest Friend.”
This tract is by Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., editor Missionary Review of the World. The first sentence, “The pivot of piety is prayer,” is an earnest of that which follows.
Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal. 39 Bond St.,                     18 West Fifth St., New York City.                  Kansas City, Mo.

The Heralds of His Coming

Apples of Gold Library, No. 51; price, $1.50 per 100. Second edition, 20th thousand.
Presents in a brief, yet clear and convincing way, the fact that our Lord is coming again, the manner of His coming, and many of the chief signs which conclusively show that His coming is near. It is illustrated with a helpful diagram. The coming of Christ is the greatest event before the world to-day, and this little tract is sent out with a prayer that it may, under the blessing of the Lord, convince men that this is really so.
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY,
39 Bond St., Oakland, Cal. 18 West 5th St., New York City. Kansas City, Mo.

Alarm of War Available in Four Languages

NOTICE.—The “Alarm of War” is now published in English, German, Swedish, and Danish. Price, $2.00 per hundred.

What May Be Expected.

The Catholic Mirror of July 2, in referring to the report that a noted Englishman, Mr. John Morley, had become a Catholic (a report now denied by Mr. Morley), says that this “should be nothing surprising, for many other Englishmen and English women, of all spheres and degrees, are going over, and among the latest to do so not very long ago was Chief Justice Hawkins. Indeed, there have been reports about the queen herself.” The Mirror remarks that “it is men of intellect, such as Mr. Morley, whom the Catholic Church may be expected to win at last, if they can be brought to listen.” And this is true on the part of unconverted men. The Roman Catholic religion is the most natural religion for the natural man that ever existed. In the acceptance of the true religion, “intellect” is not a safe guide. It is the humble heart and the simple faith which discerns truth which the haughty, intellectual, natural man never will see. Many men of intellect, ignorant of God’s Word, busy in the world, will accept of Roman Catholicism, because it presents the natural, easy way of the unregenerate heart.

THE LAST SEA HORROR.

The loss of the French passenger steamer, the Bourgogne, bound from New York to Havre, which was sunk July 4, off Sable Island, shows blacker and more terrible as viewed more in detail. While 104 of officers and crew were saved, only 61 passengers were rescued, and only one woman. Every first-cabin passenger was drowned, or killed by brutal passengers or sailors.
One Eastern paper tells us that while other transatlantic liners avoid the northern fog belt at this time of year, the owners of La Bourgogne use that route because it is a few hours shorter. It is also said that speed is kept up in a fog, under the theory that the ship which is going at full speed has the advantage in a collision. It will sink the ship it collides with, instead of being sunk. How much better it would have been to have sailed at the very slowest rate in such a dense fog! The iron Cromartyshire would not in such case have sent the life-laden steamer to the bottom. But what a disregard of human life this shows on the part of the company owning the ship; and the same selfish spirit seems to have possessed the crew as well! It is fearfully criminal. The New York Christian Advocate thus speaks of those who went down:—
“One might almost say the whole civilized world was represented among her passengers. Wealth, fashion, learning, and piety went down with poverty, ignorance, filth, and vice. There were artists and actors, merchants, mechanics, scientists, and clergymen. ‘The Terrible Turk,’ who had thrown every person in the world who dared to risk his grapple, was thrown by the king of terrors, and went down with the Greeks. The Armenians and the Syrians were there; of the latter there were 75, of whom all but 8 perished; music teacher and musicians, 15 of them, 3 of whom, belonging to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, were lost. Among them were sculptors, professors of Johns Hopkins University and of the University of Michigan, a patent lawyer and his wife, the wife of one of the greatest New York lawyers and her daughter, a score of teachers, the publication agent of the Courrier des États-Unis of this city, and Father Kessler, who was on his way to enjoy the first vacation he had had for thirty-five years.”
Other sad horrors of the deep may be mentioned as follows: March 11, 1841, the President put to sea with 136 persons on board, but never was heard from again. March 1, 1854, the City of Glasgow disappeared with 373 passengers and 74 officers and crew. September 27, the same year, the Arctic, only a little way from where the French liner met her fate, collided with the Vesta, and 322 lives were lost. She also was running in a fog 13 knots an hour. Sept. 13, 1858, the Austin, of the Hamburg American line, burned, and 470 were lost. April 1, 1873, the British steamer Atlantic was wrecked, and 585 were drowned. The same year, we believe, the Ville du Havre, of the same line as La Bourgogne, was struck by a sailing vessel, and 226 perished. In 1875 the German steamer Schiller was lost with 312 persons. In 1883, on the Hamburg steamer Cimbria, 403 lives were lost. The Utopia, of the anchor line, was, March 17, 1891, lost by a collision in Gibraltar Bay, and 563 were drowned. But a short time ago the North German Lloyd Company’s Elbe went down, with 334 souls lost. And yet in the way of duty the sea is as safe as the land. “The sea is His, and He made it.”

Copies Sent Without Orders

By Editor

☞ We send no papers from this office to individuals without pay in advance.
☞ When persons receive copies without ordering them, they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving copies of the “Signs” are not indebted to the office, and will not be called upon to pay for them. Please read the papers you may receive, and hand them to your Friends to read.

An Object Lesson to America

By Editor

We publish in our next issue a striking article, entitled “An Object Lesson to America.”

Knowing Our Spiritual Bearings

These are days when men should wish to know their bearings in spiritual life above all things else, and can not afford to be ignorant when God has so clearly revealed the way in His Word.

The Way of the Cross

O friend, there is but one way of salvation, that of the cross. There is but one Saviour, Jesus Christ. He has been over the way for you; He will go over it with you. He will make the way of the cross more blessed every moment than any way of earth, and its end will issue into “pleasures forevermore” at His right hand.

Knowing God Through Faith

There is probably no religion but what reveals something about God. It is not this that the dying soul wishes to know. He desires to know God, what Christianity alone reveals. But Christianity does not do this as a system or creed, but only as a life. And only by faith is it possible to thus know Christianity. We can know God only by trusting Him.

Southern California Camp-Meeting at San Diego

The southern California camp-meeting will be held August 5 to 14, at San Diego. This change was made in order to get the excursion rates from Los Angeles August 5. The morning train should be taken, which leaves Los Angeles, Santa Fe depot, at 8:45, arriving at San Diego at 1:15 P.M. Those going from “north of Los Angeles should purchase tickets only to Los Angeles, or to the nearest point on the California Southern Railroad, and then obtain the low rates.” So writes Elder Wm. Healey, who urges those in Southern California to attend this meeting, and we join also in the urgent invitation.

Plain Food for Soldiers of Christ

There are always some lessons of usefulness to be learned in every calamity which comes upon nations. One of the notable things demonstrated in this war is the worth of plain food. The War Department of the government has forbidden the sending of delicacies to the soldiers in the field. Many of the soldiers have been made ill and useless for duty by the “goodies” sent them by kind friends at home. Plain, simple food makes the best soldiers as well as the best men. Rich pastry, salads, and other indigestibles are counted in the army as among the enemy. In the same category should be counted all intoxicating and malt liquors. Now, if a plain diet is good for the soldiers of earth, why not for the soldier of Christ? “They do it to obtain” earthly victory, but the Christian, to obtain eternal victory. See I Cor. 9:24–27.

Commendation of Steps to Christ

A minister of the United Presbyterian Church, having carefully read “Steps to Christ,” by Mrs. E. G. White, says: “I cordially commend it as an instructive work, safe and spiritually quickening. No false coloring is given the Word; but the Scripture light is let in upon the pathway of both the Christian and the inquirer.” 163 pp.; cloth, 60 cents.

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Another Prophet Ascended

“Another Prophet Ascended.”—Such is the superlatively erroneous heading in a recent issue of the Union Signal of an article on the death of ex-Congressman Elijah A. Morse. Of course the reference is to the ascension of the prophet Elijah, who was translated without seeing death. See 2 Kings 2:1–11. But Mr. Morse was not a prophet, neither did he ascend. He may have been a good man and an earnest reformer, but he is now dead, awaiting, with myriads of others, the resurrection day. By such logic as the Signal indulges in, are the most important truths of the Word of God set aside. Death is not death; sin is not sin; and all the Bible says about the resurrection and second coming of Christ is made meaningless. But according to the Bible the child of God will be raised from the dead and rewarded when Christ comes. Matt. 6:27; 1 Cor. 15:51–55; Rev. 22:11, 12. Until that time “the dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5. “For David is not ascended into the heavens.” Acts 2:34.

Make That “Military Sunday.”—

The Christian Work has the following suggestive note:—
“Still another special Sunday,—a temperance Sunday,—has been set aside by the General Assembly. With fifty-one special Sundays, we shall still have one Sunday left for the stated preaching of the Word. We hope it will be a clear, bright, radiant Sunday, where the blue of the sky and emerald of the grass greet each other in ecstatic joy.”
Why not make that Sunday a special day for patriotic services? Do not our Sunday friends know that all the telling events of the war thus far have occurred on Sunday? May 1, Sunday, Commodore Dewey won his victory at Manila; July 3, Sunday, Commodore Schley won his victory at the mouth of Santiago harbor; July 10, Sunday, the joint bombardment of Santiago by army and navy began; on July 17, Sunday, Santiago surrendered to General Shafter; and on the same date, Sunday, the Cabinet met and laid their plans for the invasion and capture of Porto Rico. Surely, why not have in the “church calendar” a military Sunday? Providence does not seem to be against the Sunday fighting of Americans. Why should there not be a military Sunday set apart for a memorial of these victories? The idea is absurd, of course, but not more absurd than many other things in this military-religious-political régime which so many enthusiastic “reformers” are endeavoring to have the country adopt.

O, the Cruelty of Fashion!

The traffic in destruction of bird-life has become tremendous and infamous. A consignment of goods to a London firm recently, according to an English paper, had the following items: Osprey plumes, 11,352 ounces; vulture plumes, 186 pounds; peacock feathers, 215,051 bundles; birds of paradise, 2,362 bundles; Indian parrots, 228,289 bundles; bronze pigeons, including the goura, 1,677 bundles; tanagers and sundry birds, 38,198 bundles; humming-birds, 116,490 bundles; jays and kingfishers, 48,759 bundles; impeyan and other jungle fowl, 4,952 bundles; owls and hawks, 7,163 bundles. Read this, and think of the millions of sweet songs hushed forever, of the living, moving, resplendent forest bouquets plucked to adorn “Christian” women’s hats. In a fashionable English paper an item of news from Paris reads: “Birds are worn more than ever, and blouses made entirely of feathers are coming into fashion.” O sisters in Christ, are not your hearts touched by this wanton, wicked slaughter of God’s songsters? Will you not forego decoration which must be purchased at such a price of pain and sacrifice of the most harmless and beautiful of God’s creatures?

What’s in a Name?

Djoziakarta-Hamangkol-Boewono-Senopati-ing-ngalogo-ngabdser-Rahman-Sajidin-Panoto-gomo-Lafakatollat VII., an “independent sovereign” of the island of Java, has been authorized by Queen Wilhelmina, of the Netherlands, to accept the insignia of a grand officer of the royal crown of Siam from King Chulalongkorn.—N. Y. Sun.
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