THERE is no doubt that the armies of so-called Christian nations, even from a merely "civilized" standpoint, have a damaging effect upon the morals of the heathen wherever the soldiers have been stationed in heathen countries. It is true that the United States soldiers in China have been accorded credit for good behavior as compared with those of Europe and Japan; but the standard of comparison is too low for the credit to be of much value. In Manila, where there has been nothing worse with which to compare conditions, the moral reputation of the American soldier is far below par in reports from every unbiased source.
There is now a call for many thousands of new recruits for the army in the Philippines. In view of past experiences and past scandalous reports, the government calls for men of "high moral standing." But from those very experiences it must be confessed that the inducement for men of "high moral standing" to enter the army is not very flattering. This fact can be attested by the testimony of every soldier who is not in some way personally interested in a more favorable report.
It should not be forgotten that the men who were sent out there two or more years ago were rated as the flower of their respective States and communities. They were feted by "society" when they left home, and as they nearly all spent some time in and about San Francisco before embarking, the people vied with one another in showing them polite attentions. The ladies were especially forward in bestowing marks of esteem, and in strewing advance laurels in anticipation of the honors that would certainly prove the due of such a promising class of young men. (Of course there were individual exceptions to the generally accredited high grade of manhood that was sent away with such manifestations of pride and appreciation.) The press, too, was especially prolific of high encomiums for "our boys;" and many of them were literally boys in their teens and the minor twenties.
But when these same specimens of the flower of the country began to return, after a year or more in the Philippine service, there was soon a reversal of sentiment. The first two or three arrivals of returned regiments were received with open arms; but their conduct, after a few days of encampment on home soil, showed such a marked change for the worse, that later arrivals failed to call out any general enthusiasm. The mere curiosity seekers gathered to see them land, but public and society functions were limited to noted officials or personal acquaintances. One of the daily papers, which had been most profuse in its laudations when the "brave boys" went out, and called for their return home after a brief service that they might be congratulated by grateful admirers, was constrained to suggest that returned soldiers be limited in their privileges to go away from camp until they were discharged from the service. The once noble specimens of manhood were now a menace to the peace and good order of the communities adjacent to their camps.
This is simple history but a few months old, and unmistakably points to the results of inducing young men of "high moral standing" to enter upon life in the army. At the best, the business of killing, wounding, and destroying has a demoralizing effect upon the human heart and conscience. The entire surroundings, from beginning to end, have a tendency to vitiate rather than to maintain a high degree of morality; and even the heights of success that may loom up in prospect are only attainable thru the downfall and suffering of others. Verily the "high moral standing" of any young man who seeks honor and fame, or even a mediocrity of success, thru military methods, has a precarious foundation. It rarely withstands the temptations and allurements that beset it upon every side. And any young man who has any ambition or any expectation of gaining a place in the heavenly kingdom, would better keep out of the army. It is a position in which he will find no help in that direction, but a continual hindrance. Better let the vicious have such positions; they are already prepared for the debasing duties.
G.
A Child Three Years Old
A child three years old, in New York City, is a regular cigarette fiend. His parents have tried to break him of it, but the passion is so strong with him that he will collect cigarette stubs from the street and smoke them at every opportunity. Not long since he shut himself in the bedroom to take a smoke, and soon set the bed on fire. When he was rescued from the flames, he had twenty cigarette stubs in his pockets ready for smoking. The tobacco habit is taking a stronger and stronger hold upon humanity, and because of the fact that it is not only very injurious in itself, but also is one of the greatest causes of the drink habit, the outlook is not very auspicious. Parents should do everything in their power to keep their children from using tobacco. And if they will set them the proper example in this respect, and keep them in good company where tobacco-using is frowned upon, there is but very little danger of their taking up the use of this vile weed.
How to Understand Christ’s Teaching
By Count Leo Tolstoi
To UNDERSTAND Christ’s real teaching the chief thing is, not to interpret the Gospels, but to understand them as they are written. And therefore to the question how Christ’s teaching should be understood, I reply: If you wish to understand it, read the Gospels. Read them, putting aside all foregone conclusions; read with the sole desire to understand what is there said.—Count Leo Tolstoi.
STATE RIGHTS AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
By G.
HOW DOES this sound as a legal proceeding in a country posing before the world as “the land of the free”? It is from the Times of Chattanooga, Tenn., dated February 19—not 1701, as might be supposed, but 1901:—
“Charles Hope is the name of an industrious white man of this city, who was arrested yesterday by Constable Newman on a warrant and indictment from the court at Lafayette, Ga., charging him with having worked on Sunday during the period of his sojourn at that point, to the sorrow of the righteous and truly good. Hope leaves for Lafayette to-day to face the dismal charge. Under the Sunday law of Georgia, Mr. Hope is liable to a fine of $1,000 and a year in the chain-gang.”
The people of the United States, in the early sixties, spent billions of money, destroyed property of incalculable value, and shed untold streams of blood in order to secure to the negro the privileges of political liberty. The States that held him in civil slavery were compelled at the point of the bayonet and at the cannon’s mouth to set him free. But any State in the Union may deprive any person, black or white, of the boon of religious liberty—of liberty of conscience in the matter of Sunday observance—and the general government declines to interfere with the State laws.
In the matter of civil liberty, the doctrine of State rights was overwhelmed by the general government in the blood of her manhood; but when it comes to religious liberty, State rights are upheld without limit. Yet there is not even a reasonable question as to whether civil or religious liberty is paramount among the essentials of a free government; all history attests that in the absence of religious liberty, civil liberty is at best but nominal, being at the mercy of religious bigotry.
When the Pilgrims fled from the Old World to the wilderness of America, it was not primarily to seek civil liberty. True, they were deprived of that in their former homes, but it was thru religious persecution. They embarked on their perilous voyage in quest of religious liberty. The question and the answer are in the following familiar lines:—
“What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas? the spoils of war?—
They sought a faith’s pure shrine.”
And there was no trouble about civil liberty in the New World until the Pilgrims themselves set up a system of religious intolerance—fines, imprisonment, banishment, and death for conscience’ sake.
G.
Rising Tensions Over Manchuria
Definite news concerning the real situation in China is difficult if not impossible to obtain. There has been a wild whirl of speculation in the air during the week, rumors of preparation for war, of marching troops, of diplomatic intrigues, of secret conventions signed or unsigned; and among all the chaff the kernel of truth has been hard to discover. This much is known; the powers are not a unit in regard to settling with China, and the nations are jealous, and their anger is increasing, with a strong possibility of war. In all the moves of Russia there is no other indication but that she is determined to hold Manchuria, while Japan seems willing to risk a war to keep her out of that territory. The latest rumors are to the effect that Russia is about to break off diplomatic relations with China because of China’s refusal to sign the agreement concerning Manchuria. China, by invading Russian territory last year, made a move which Russia can use to her own advantage. She can now declare war against China, and obtain as the spoils of war what China, by the advice of the other powers, has refused to give her. In case Russia makes this move, Japan is to be reckoned with. According to a report from Yokohama, Japan has ordered Japanese shipping companies to hold their vessels in readiness for transport service, and cruisers on the reserve list have been put in commission. Japan feels that she will never have a more favorable opportunity than now of attacking Russia, while the great Siberian railroad is still uncompleted. The situation is certainly not promising for the peace of the world.
The capital of the great steel trust recently formed now stands at $1,404,000,000, and is rapidly absorbing other great steel interests. At its present rate of growth and absorption of other interests, this mammoth organization will soon be in absolute control of the steel industry of this continent, and in partial control of many other industries connected with the production of steel. The Pennsylvania Steel Company, for the purpose of opposing the great steel trust, has purchased the entire stock of the Spanish-American Iron Company, of Cuba; but according to the unerring course of trust tactics, this is only another step toward the absorption of the whole by the larger corporation. It may not be, and probably is not, the design of the Pennsylvania Company that this should be so; but it will eventually be forced into the greater combination for the protection of its own interests. There has also, during the week, been another great combination, by which the copper and silver interests of the country come under one management, whose directors are the directors of the Standard Oil Company.
A recent report at the State Department at Washington tells a dreadful story of the wholesale suicide of women in China. When a Chinese matron is abused by a white man, she notifies her own family and that of her husband that on a certain date she will take her own life. No remonstrance is made, and invariably the woman carries out her plan. If she did not commit suicide, she would be ostracized by her people and be compelled to change her mode of life completely. The fate of an unmarried woman is the same, only that instead of her committing suicide, her relatives are permitted to put her to death. So extensive have been the crimes of white soldiers that in many villages and small towns the women have practically disappeared. What a terrible record so-called civilization is leaving of its doings in the land of the heathen.
The liquor-paid press of the country is attempting in every possible way to make it appear that by the removal of canteens from the army, the number of saloons is increased, the temptations to the soldiers to drink bad whisky increased, intemperance in the army increased, and the cause of temperance sadly hindered. In order to make this appear, false reports have been circulated concerning rioting and drunkenness in places where the canteens have been abolished. The New Voice, in its issue of March 28, takes up the challenge of the liquor organs, and shows in a forceful way the falsity and true animus of these charges. A concerted effort is to be made by the liquor element to disparage the anti-canteen law for the purpose of securing its repeal.
Large English firms which have been unsuccessful in competition with similar American firms have formed a combination, or trust, for the purpose of holding their own against the American corporations. Austrian manufacturers have held a representative meeting at Vienna to discuss the question of American competition, and arrange the commercial relations of the two countries on a reciprocity and equality basis. The spirit of combination against the rapid advancement of American influence and competition is permeating both Great Britain and Europe.
A crisis seems to be approaching in European industries. A great many and very serious strikes have occurred in France since the close of the great exposition. The strike at Calais caused considerable loss of life, and the loss of a vast amount of money to local industry and to the laborers themselves. The strike at Marseilles, which is nearly ended now, cost the city in the neighborhood of $8,000,000 a week. The coal miners of the great Northumberland district, England, have had to submit to a reduction in their wages amounting to 21 per cent., and one of England’s great iron companies has reduced the pay of its employees 13 per cent., while the number of the unemployed is increasing.
The largest vessel ever built was launched at Belfast, Ireland, on April 4. The name of this great vessel is the Celtic. She has a displacement of 33,000 tons. She has nine decks, and capacity for 2859 passengers besides her crew of 335 men. Her tonnage is 3,600 greater than that of the Oceanic, and 12,500 greater than that of the Wilhelm der Grosse.
Aguinaldo has taken the oath of fealty to the United States; but what disposition the government will make of him has not yet been determined, and it is declared that there is considerable embarrassment in official circles over the matter. Reports from the islands indicate that the natives are surrendering in considerable numbers.
A report from New York City states that the sum annually paid by gamblers and the promoters of other kinds of vice for protection from police raids in that city is $3,600,000; and this vast sum of money goes into the hands of men who are paid by the city for the very purpose of protecting its inhabitants against law-breaking and every kind of vice.
The anxiety in Russia over the domestic troubles of the past few weeks has not abated. The great numbers of idle men who have joined the discontented students, is giving the government much uneasiness, as it is known that the army, upon which Russia puts her chief dependence, is honey-combed with nihilism.
In the village of Grosswarde, Hungary, while a sect known as the Nazarines were gathered for worship in their church, a mob locked the doors and set fire to the building. A frightful scene ensued. Ten of the Nazarines were burned to death, and 45 more or less seriously burned.
The last census of Mexico shows such great numbers of persons in rural districts who are living together without regard to marriage laws that the government is planning to take steps to remedy the evil and bring about better moral conditions in these districts.
One of the attractions of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo is to be a series of bull fights, “with the cruelty and blood-letting left out.” The imagination is supposed to furnish what the anti-cruelty laws of the State will not permit in the performance.
On account of the anti-Jesuit riots in Spain and the fear that others will follow if religious processions are allowed during “holy week,” the officials of Madrid have prohibited such processions, and other Spanish cities are expected to do likewise.
During the month of March the British army in South Africa lost 112 men killed and had 296 wounded, tho the press reports did not indicate that engagements of any particular importance occurred during that time.
An examination of the accounts of the Russian Imperial Controller-General shows what are believed to be systematic defalcations for a period of five years, ending in 1898. The sums not accounted for amount to $33,000,000.
A typographical union of New York has maintained a boycott against the New York Sun during the last two years. This did not seem to prevent the Sun’s daily appearance, and the boycott has been declared off.
Famine and typhus are reported to be raging throughout the governments of Kherson and Bessarabia and portions of the government of Kief and Taurida. The mortality is 30 per cent. of the entire population.
It is reported that the difficulty between Russia and England over the dismissal of an English official from the financial service of Korea has been adjusted, and that the Englishman keeps his place.
Private advices received from Colombia state that the revolution is far from ended, and that the rebels are steadily gaining strength. Fighting is reported to be going on all over the country.
According to a Washington despatch, the President has appointed P. C. Knox to the post of Attorney-General, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Attorney-General Griggs.
An attempt was recently made to get a bill thru the Massachusetts Legislature permitting the playing of golf on Sunday. The attempt was a failure, and the Massachusetts “blue law” holds.
The first trial under the new Kansas law, which was passed during the Nation anti-saloon excitement, resulted in “no verdict,” the jury failing to agree.
The sultan of Turkey has sent 3,000 troops to Tripoli because of what he regards as Italy’s threatening attitude.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOME.
By C. M. S.
The Homiletic Review for April, in an article upon the question, “Is the Home Losing Its Social Place and Its Social Functions?” presents an earnest and thoughtful article upon the influence of the family circle. After presenting briefly the sacredness and sanctity of the home, and deprecating the disintegrating influence of the lodge, the club, and the saloon, the Review says:—
“The notorious lack of discipline is among the saddest features in American families. Parents with the wisdom and experience of many years abdicate their authority in order to give a loose rein to the dominion of inexperienced and wilful children. These have their own way, which usually means the rule of arbitrariness and personal gratification. As at present trained, the American boy or girl form some of the most serious problems of our life. The boys in the United States between the ages of ten and seventeen are said to number 5,500,000. For what they become to the school, to business, politics, society, and the nation, the chief responsibility rests with the home. The brutal hazing in colleges and at West Point is most of all a reflection on the families from which the boys came. This lack of discipline in the home is the source of the gravest dangers to society and the country. The family has become the school for the training of Anarchists.”
“To strangers has been consigned the education which the family should give, or at least supervise. The father has no time for it; the mother has other interests which are more absorbing; and in many cases neither has inclination nor fitness for the task. Perhaps the home does not even furnish the dearest friends and most trusted companions at a time when friendship and companionship are most needed. Even in families called Christian the lessons constantly inculcated are luxury, mammonistic greed, mental and moral libertinism, and vulgar display. The mother caresses and dotes about a pet dog, while her offspring is committed to the mercy of a foreign nurse. When old enough the child is sent to a kindergarten, a day-school, or a Sunday-school,11sometimes as much to get rid of the child as to have it educated. Many parents pay no attention to the education of their children, not even inquiring about their schools and teachers. It is lamentable, but true, that multitudes of children would be fortunate if at home they received half the attention for their welfare which is given to cattle on a good stock farm.
“What a problem the home thus presents to pastors and churches! It ought to be made the most beautiful and most cheerful place on earth—a social paradise, a type of the heavenly home. The home needs Christianization and socialization, making it a human and divine community. The school, the church, and social institutions can not be its substitutes, but they ought to second and supplement its holy mission. No friend or teacher can be so near the child as the mother and the father, and none can assume their responsibility.
“Pastors are studying the problems of the home, and find them the most urgent and most fruitful in their ministry. The revival of the Christian home is in order. If it comes, it will be the earnest of the deepest, broadest, and most permanent revival in the Christian church.”
The condition of the home and its needs are not overdrawn in the above. Indeed, they are conservatively stated; for the influences which are at work to undermine the Christian home are legion, and the legions of darkness are concocting and spurring them on. The great growth of saloons, lodges, secret societies, clubs male and clubs female, the gilded gambling den, the theaters, and the races,—all are conspiring against the nursery of childhood, the sanctity of the home, assaulting it from every side, from above and beneath; and while the onslaught is in progress, thousands of parents are fondly dreaming that all is well with their children; or, regardless of their influence, allow themselves to fret and scold and fume, and make home anything but a haven of love. It is time for a reformation, that the tender, guiding, restraining influence of the home may not be lost to the children of to-day.
C. M. S.
PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION THE HOPE OF THE CHRONIC INVALID.
By David Paulson
Body of Death.
Often God's wish (3 John 2) that we might be in health, is not carried out. Instead a large number have to cry out in reference to their physical condition, even as Paul did with regard to his spiritual state, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Rom. 7:24, margin. Thousands of invalids are carrying around decrepit, miserable, and practically useless bodies, and are looking forward, many of them, with a spirit of resignation to the time when they may drop into the grave, where the weary are at rest, and the wicked cease from troubling. Job 3:17. They never dream that it is possible for them to secure a better body on the instalment plan; in other words, to experience physically a large degree of “the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Ps. 27:13.
Putting off the Body of Death.
The scriptural advice to “put off” “the old man” and to “put on the new” (Eph. 4:22, 24), has as great a physical as spiritual possibility and significance. Nature offers to all the wonderful possibility of securing better brains, better nerves, better muscles, and, above all things, better blood, than they now possess; for the body, instead of changing once in seven years, as tradition has it, changes its most important tissues every few months. The blood, which is the source of so much of either the comfort or the discomfort of the human race, changes every few weeks. Other of the soft tissues change more slowly, while the changes in the bones and other solid tissues take place much more slowly; but fortunately these are not the parts of the body that are the source of the ordinary invalid's trouble. The same power that is continually changing a man is the power that heals him when it has an opportunity.
There are some who continually trade off their property for something very inferior, until finally they have none at all; and so there are thousands who every few months trade off their bodies, as it were, for others a little more inferior, and thus they finally secure one so weak and decrepit that it falls a ready prey to almost any disease germ; when, with a little exertion on their part, they might be securing such an advantage from this change that in a few years they would possess strong, robust physical constitutions and a good store of nerve power.
Sowing for Health.
There are many who have not the patience to wait for this slow process of nature, altho they have been taught from childhood to recognize the element of time in all the operations of nature around them; and so they say, “Why can't God make me well at once?” There can be no question in reference to God's ability to do anything that is right, but the question is, Would it be best? God could make a boy grow into a man in a day; but He has some lessons to teach the boy that it is better for him to secure by a gradual process. God does not love the patient that He intrusts with an instantaneous recovery a particle more than the one who has to secure health by a gradual process. Perhaps in the former case the invalid had learned more fully to co-operate with restorative power, or perhaps he had fewer lessons to learn. We may be sure that God will require us to learn all the lessons He had to teach us in the particular grade of health we are in before He will promote us to the next grade; for while it is true that God is willing to keep us as the apple of His eye, yet it is also a foregone conclusion that He will have no opportunity to manifest this willingness unless we keep His commandments, which include physical law, as the apple of our eye. Ps. 17:8; Prov. 7:2.
Before Lazarus could be called back to life, human agents had to roll away the stone (John 11:39); so there are physical obstructions that the human agent must take hold of and remove before healing power can manifest itself. The work involves trouble and effort on the part of the invalid and his friends, and this is the real reason why so often the sick one is constantly looking around for some panacea by which he may be saved the pain of sowing for health. Nature will grow a crop of potatoes in the ground, and it will digest them in the human stomach; but it will not dig them up so as to spare the farmer boy the work of doing it. Likewise there are certain efforts that the invalid must put forth; this many refuse to do, and therefore it is not consistent for God to do that which He stands ready to do. God blesses every seed that is sown for health.
The Significance of the Interval between Sowing and Reaping.
The wicked man is sowing for death, and yet in most cases there is at least a short interval between the sowing and the reaping. God evidently allows this delay so that the wicked may have an opportunity to repent if they desire; but instead of using this time of probation in this way, it generally emboldens them to sow more evil seed. We often see people using tobacco, tea, coffee, flesh-foods, etc., and boasting that it does not hurt them. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Eccl. 8:11.
Likewise there is often an interval between the sowing for health and the realization of the results. This affords an opportunity to develop patience. “Tho it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.” Hab. 2:3. “Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Gal. 6:9. But how often we see individuals who bitterly complain that they have afflicted their souls in vain, as they regard it; they have tried to carry out health principles so long, etc., and yet they are not entirely well! To such God is simply saying, “Be not weary in well-doing.” God is giving us every moment as much of His blessings, both physical and spiritual, as He can intrust us with. We need have no anxiety but that He will carry out His part without any special urging from the human agent. All we need to do is continually to ask Him for more and more wisdom and more and more willingness to perform the part we have to act. Just to the extent that any function of the body is used simply for the selfish pleasure it can bring to the individual, just to that extent he will have an opportunity to “ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your pleasures.” James 4:3, margin. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” Prov. 28:9. And this certainly includes a disregard for health principles.
DAVID PAULSON, M.D.
Chicago, Ill.
AS HE PASSES BY.
By Fred T Elkin
Jesus of Nazareth passeth by!
And thousands wait on the gentle Lord;
And the sick and the sad raise a joyful cry,
For healing lies in His lightest word;
And hearts have never a need to sigh
When Jesus, the Son of man, goes by.
Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God,
Still passes on earth before our sight;
And the smile that He sheds on His old abode
Is the beauty of day and the peace of night;
And to whoso welcomes His whisperings
He showeth many and wonderful things.
Jesus of Nazareth passeth by
And knocks at each temple leased to sin;
And with grief He seeketh to purify,
That the Holy Presence may dwell therein.
And from souls thus cleansed the shadows fly,
And a song bursts forth as He passes by.
Would'st thou see Jesus of Nazareth?
Would'st have thy sight and thy faith restored?
Then lift thy gaze from the ways of death,
For it's only to look to see the Lord;
And the love that was proven on Calvary
Shall touch thy heart as it passes by.
Alamosa, Colo. FRED T ELKIN.
HELPING PEOPLE.
TWENTY years ago a discouraged young doctor in one of our large cities was visited by his old father, who came up from a rural district to look after his boy.
“Well, son,” he said, “how are you getting along?”
“I’m not getting along at all,” was the disheartened answer. “I’m not doing a thing.”
The old man’s countenance fell, but he spoke of courage and patience and perseverance. Later in the day he went with his son to the “Free Dispensary,” where the young doctor had an unsalaried position, and where he spent an hour or more every day.
The father sat by, a silent but intensely interested spectator, while twenty-five poor unfortunates received help. The doctor forgot his visitor, while he bent his skilled energies to this task; but hardly had the door closed on the last patient when the old man burst forth:—
“I thought you told me that you were not doing anything! Why, if I had helped twenty-five people in a month as you have in one morning, I would thank God that my life counted for something.”
“There isn’t any money in it, tho,” explained the son, somewhat abashed.
“Money!” the old man shouted, still scornfully. “Money! What is money in comparison with being of use to your fellow-men? Never mind about money; you go right along at this work every day. I’ll go back to the farm, and gladly earn money enough to support you as long as I live—yes, and sleep sound every night with the thought that I have helped you to help your fellow-men.”—Exchange.
ALCOHOL
The French Anti-Alcohol Society, in pursuance of its campaign against strong drink, is displaying on walls and other suitable places in Paris small bills, on which are printed short sentences calculated to give pause to bibulous persons, such as the following:—
“Alcohol nowadays is responsible for more ravages than pestilence, famine, or war.”—Gladstone.
“Alcohol is no more a digestive than an appetizer. In whatever shape it presents itself, it is a poison.”—Francisque Sarcey.
“Do you know what that man is drinking from the glass which shakes in his trembling hand? He is drinking the tears and the blood and the life of his wife and children.”—Lamennais.
“Alcohol gives neither health nor strength nor warmth nor happiness. It does nothing but harm.”—Tolstoi Alliance News, London.
THE BEGINNING AND THE END.
“What harm can there be in a moderate social glass of wine?” This is a question young men often ask.
Remember that “at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”
If the sting came at the beginning of the indulgence, few would be led astray. But the pleasure comes at the first, and the sting at the last, and herein lies the danger of drinking wine or strong drink.
At first, it sparkles and cheers.
At last, it poisons and maddens.
At first, it excites to mirth and song.
At last, it produces sorrow and curses.
At first, it may appear to quicken the intellect to unwonted activity, and impart a captivating brilliancy to the conversation.
*At last, it emasculates the mind of every element of strength, and degrades the conversation to the merest stammering or idiotic gibbering.
At first, it may stimulate the body to unnatural vigor.
At last, it breaks down the strongest frame, and sends weakness into the limbs and trembling into the flesh.
At first, there may be health enough to resist the pernicious tendency of intoxication, so that with all the pleasures there are few of the pains of indulgence.
At last, drinkers become victims of manifold, loathsome, and distressing diseases.
At first, it is a cup of exhilaration in the hands of thoughtless youth.
At last, it is a “cup of fearful trembling in the hand of an offended Deity.”—Temperance Record.
PROHIBITION VERSUS THE OHIO DOW LAW.
MAINE is a State poor in those native resources in which Ohio is rich; yet Maine is rich and Ohio is poor. In 1890 Governor Burleigh said: “No State has so little property under mortgage, according to valuation, as the State of Maine. There are whole counties in which there is not a farm under mortgage, and Maine loans more money than any farming State outside of her borders.” Governor Foraker said that the Ohio people were suffering dreadfully from their heavy mortgages, and that thousands of their farms were mortgaged for more than they would ever bring. Maine had, in 1891, $44,000,000 in her savings banks, or $66 per head of the population, while Ohio had but $6.00 to each person in these institutions. Maine forty years ago put her ban upon the rum-shops; Ohio, in spite of her constitution, has fostered and nurtured them.—Portland (Maine) Herald.
IN GOOD STANDING.
The meaningless nature of the term “in good standing” in church life is aptly described thus:—
The ice-cold Christian may be a member of the church “in good and regular standing.” Yes, and a contributing member, too. He attends church quite regularly, and sings in the choir. When he gets his “Sunday best” on, he looks quite like a Christian; but how does he live?
No daily Bible reading.
No blessing asked at the table.
No family prayer.
No Bible instruction for the children.
No religious conversation in his home.
No private prayer.
No attendance at the week-day services.
No attendance at the Sabbath-school.
No Christ in his choice of reading matter.
No Christ in his favorite amusement.
And only a little of Christ in his head.
Well, what has he, then, which the commonest sinner has not?
1. He has his name on the church roll.
2. He has his name on the list of contributing members.
3. He has a pew or an occasional sitting in church.
These three things, and nothing more to entitle him to the glorious name of Christian.
If he should suddenly die, he would be given a Christian burial, and these three things about him would be sure to be mentioned in the funeral sermon, and held out to the bereaved family as reasons for a blessed assurance that he had gone straight to glory, with an abundant entrance.—Christian Life.
DEMAND FOR FAMILY BIBLES.
“People who deal in Bibles,” says the December Chautauquan, “say that the demand for family Bibles, having the family records between the two Testaments, has almost wholly ceased. They do not know whether this is because family prayers have almost ceased, or are said to have done so, or whether their place is being taken by teachers’ Bibles, the sales of which are rapidly increasing. Some years since Bibles bore the Oxford imprint. Now almost all of the best Bibles are manufactured in this country. Some plates are brought from England, but for the most part these are reserved to print the cheaper Bibles, for the use of the Bible societies. One can buy Bibles at $400 a copy, but the Bible trade says the average price paid nowadays for Bibles is about $1.00. Apart from the American Bible Society and its auxiliaries, the public absorbs about 2,000,000 copies a year. Hence the general public of the United States spends $2,000,000 a year for Bibles at this end of this century. It is not so great a sum as it spends for tobacco or some other things, but Bible-sellers say it is a greater amount than ever before, and one that is steadily increasing.” And, sad to say, so also is the sum paid for tobacco and rum.
WAS IT ANY WONDER?
“I AM so distressed,” said a mother to her boy’s teacher, “that Freddie could deceive you so. I can’t imagine why he is so untruthful; his father is truth itself, and I am sure no one ever heard me tell a lie. Call him in,” she added, turning to her little daughter.
“He won’t come if he knows Miss — is here,” said the child.
“Say it’s grandma wants him,” suggested her mother; “that will fetch him.”
And yet she wondered at her boy’s untruthfulness. —Anon.
CORN BREAD.
CORN bread contains more nutriment than wheat bread, and is a better diet for persons suffering from liver and kidney disease. It is likewise more stimulating to the bowels, and aids in controlling the constipation so common in these diseases. While the addition of sugar makes it more palatable, it does not agree so well with the digestive organs, as a rule, the sugar causing fermentation.
Except in the South, the use of corn bread in the form of dodgers and hoecake is almost unknown. In ante-bellum days corn bread was the staff of life with the Southern darkies, and their well-nourished bodies, white and regular teeth, general freedom from disorders of nutrition, spoke with silent eloquence of its nourishing qualities.
Doctors will do well to advocate a more extensive use of corn bread. It is cheaper than wheat bread, is readily prepared, and requires little knowledge or experience to cook it.
Good pastry cooks are rare, and badly-cooked wheat bread is a most prolific source of indigestion. Corn bread is not open to the faults so common with wheat bread. It is not soggy, heavy, or tough and prone to fermentation, nor does it require such quantities to satisfy the appetite. Those who suffer from acid indigestion, sour eructations, flatulence, etc., will be helped by substituting corn for wheat bread.—Medical Brief.