Such is the subject of an article in the Springfield Republican of August 29, from which we take the following:—
This is distinctively the reign or the era of J. P. Morgan. He is the first personage and first power in the United States to-day, and is so recognized abroad quite as much as at home; and the people down East who are crowding about to see, and hear, and applaud the President of the United States are following a secondary attraction. Let Morgan start out on a talking journey, and see if this would not be so. But Morgan is quiet, and this gives the President his chance. Nevertheless, there seems to be no popular question as to where the real chief-executive power of the nation is to be found. The place is Wall Street, corner Broad.
We find proof of this abundantly in the news of the day. There goes up from the helpless people of the country a frantic appeal for the ending of the coal strike, so that we may not all freeze the coming winter, and it is now addressed, in every case, to Morgan. It is generally conceded that he can end the strike, if he will, by a single word or a nod of the hand, and to him all prayers and petitions for relief are being directed. Duly constituted authority counts for nothing. The delegated might of millions of citizens is something laughed at by citizens themselves no less than by the coal monopolists. The governor of Pennsylvania is a nonentity in the matter, altho the coal roads are violating their charters every day. The President of the United States is a cipher in the case, altho the anthracite combination exists in open defiance of federal law. And all recognize the fact, and so the appeal lies to Wall Street, corner Broad. Great is Morgan, and who is big enough to be his prophet?
But after all, this is not the worship of man, but of the gold he represents. If Mr. Morgan were a poor man, if his talents and energy were used as an artist, a poet, a philanthropist, he would receive no more recognition than millions of his fellows are receiving. It is the call of gold which the people are worshiping. The age is intensely in love with gold; it worships gold; and the man who controls and manipulates the movements of the gold is the acknowledged king.
It would be amusing and ridiculous from some view points, were it not for the tragedies involved in it. The control of money means monopoly, and monopoly of the worst sort. It is felt, for instance, that Mr. Morgan could settle the anthracite coal strike. He probably could; but he does not wish to offend his wealthy friends, the coal barons. He therefore holds aloof. But his action and the action of the coal capitalists engenders bitter hatred in the hearts of striking miners, a suffering public, and the millions of sympathizers with these suffering classes. The disregard of their rights, the ability of men of wealth to control legislatures and courts in these mammon-worshiping days, are sowing seeds of class hatred which will bear abundant crop in disorder, lawlessness, rapine, plunder, and blood-red anarchy. Note what the prophet says of the great monopolist (the term is used in a generic sense), and of the results of his work:—
“He is a haughty man that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and can not be satisfied, but gathereth unto himself all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples.” Hab. 2:5.
On account of this predatory covetousness, this exploiting of the world, this swallowing up of “the man more righteous than he” (see last of previous chapters), this making of “men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them,” this merchandise of men as things, this devising of schemes as nets to take them, this sparing not even the very nations (for the monopolist loves big game),—on account of all this and more, note the results predicted when the poor and oppressed are made to believe they can endure no longer:—
“Shall not all these take up a . . . taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges? Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them? Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee.”
Another prophet speaks thus:—
“And the songs of the palace shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah; the dead bodies shall be many; in every place shall they cast them forth with silence. Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail.” Amos 8:3, 4.
Similarly also speaks a New Testament writer:—
“Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.” See James 5:1–8.
There is more than we have quoted, merciful warnings to the men who are heaping up their millions with little thought of the masses.
And the men of wealth—at least some of them—see the danger. Russell Sage, whose estimated wealth is $100,000,000, while in a measure defending the great industrial combinations, especially in the establishing of industries, on August 21, said:—
Combinations of all great industries are a menace to the government. Such combinations are not only a menace, but are the oppressors of the people.
Should an era of combinations ensue, the American people will certainly revolt against them, and if they do, there will be financial ruin such as people have never dreamed of in the history of the world.
If a combination is continued after the industry is well established, it becomes a monopoly and a menace to its own commercial life as well as to the government.
The American people will most certainly revolt at no very distant time against the enormous combines of the various industries. If continued, the combines will some day result in financial ruin, not only to those interested, but to the country.
The success attending the combination of some industries has led to the belief that the same success will mark the organization of other great combinations. They will not prove so, and before many years every one will realize it.
Seven days afterward, Bishop Potter, who is in intimate touch with the great kings of commerce, said in speaking of the coal strike:—
The situation is plain to every one. The operators realize that they have a handful of trumps, and they are determined to play their game, and crush these poor people. They may win, but their victory will carry with it a bitter sting. If I should take you into the next car, and pummel you, and kick you, and crush you to the floor, because I was the heavier man and could do so, that might subdue you, and I would win in our dispute; but if you were also a savage, you would lay for me, and at the first chance you would avenge yourself.
And conditions are rapidly reaching that climax where the desire for revenge is rapidly supplanting the desire for justice. There is no use disguising the dangers; they are both imminent and manifest to him who will see, and hear, and feel. They can be seen in the rapidly organizing forces of discontent, from law-abiding but revolutionary Socialism to the most intense Anarchism. They can be seen in the mad-mob spirit which sweeps into its death-dealing vortex whole communities of professionally law-abiding and “Christian” men and women. Such a cyclone of mob-rule may sweep down upon the rich. These dangers can be heard in every passing political breeze, in laborers’ camps, in the mutterings of discontent fast growing into growls of horrid hate. They can be felt everywhere. And when the culminating forces break, woe will then be upon the rich, woe upon the world.
We sympathize with the poor and the oppressed. We know there is much injustice and inequality. But all the rich are not responsible, and some of them, we doubt not, are endeavoring to be faithful stewards of God. It is many times true that the hatred on the part of the poor is a resultant of the worship of the golden calf, the envy born of covetousness. On the other hand, there is unthinking, heartless oppression on the part of the great, soulless combinations to which men are mere parts of a machine,9usable only for profit. And there are many poor who are looking only for a sufficiency for themselves and family, and to whom the almshouse in old age looms ominously.
The better way for the rich is to recognize the rights of the poor, to put themselves in the place of the poor, to live the Golden Rule in respect to the poor. But if not, God would not have the poor or oppressed rise up in rebellion, and destroy the rich and with them many good. Politics can not cure the evil. Rebellion can not cure it. Violence can not cure it. It would accomplish little good at the best, and bring untold evil. There is another world, a better time, coming. But it will come neither through politics nor violence; “the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Christ is coming, and He will right all things that are wrong. He says to the poor and oppressed: “Be patient, therefore, brethren, to the coming of the Lord.” James 5:8. Jesus Christ alone can extirpate sin. First of all, from the heart, if the human wills; if not, in His own good time, from the world. Not till then will oppression cease. Wait His time.
We Hope It Is Not So
By Editor
We hope it is not so. A cablegram from Rome, Italy, dated September 11, has the following:—
It is rumored here that the Vatican has received from President Roosevelt an intimation that he would be personally pleased to see Archbishop Ireland created a cardinal as a reward for the service the archbishop has rendered the church and the United States.
It is believed that the President’s note was called out by an inquiry from the Vatican as to whom he would favor for cardinal. We sincerely hope this is not so. It is no business of the President of the United States as to what priest or prelate is made cardinal. If such a preference on the part of the President has grown out of the Philippine imbroglio, it is another chapter in evidence of the long step in the papal maze which this government has been led to make.
Trash
Trash.—A writer in the Homiletic Review tells a story of how a city pastor went one week to help a struggling rural congregation, greatly to his own blessing and that of the rural congregation. He left to fill his own pulpit, a prominent educator who seized the opportunity to characterize the Bible as “myth,” “legend,” and “superstition.” The city brother heard of it before he returned home, and remarked to his rural brother that this professor had, “with a certain class, undone the work of ten years.” And it was true. The writer asks, “Is it any wonder that the ‘Spirit-life’ of our churches ebbs low? Is not the low spiritual life of our churches due in a measure to this kind of scholarship(?) that some of the would-be critics are putting forth?” The writer candidly calls that kind of scholarship “trash.” The judgment will call it worse than that.
Rumanian Jews and Babylonian Discoveries
Secretary Hay has made a strong appeal to the powers of Europe in behalf of the oppressed Jews of Rumania. He does this on the ground that the oppression which is visited upon the Rumanian Jews is throwing upon America a class of undesirable immigrants—not that he objects to them as a race, but the oppression which they suffer there renders it impossible for them to become the best class of citizens. The law of Rumania prohibits the Jews living in the country or tilling the soil; it limits the number of Jews that any one may employ to a ratio of one Jew to two Rumanians; there are occupations in which Jews are not allowed to engage. There is much comment throughout the European press regarding this protest from the United States to the powers concerning one of their protégés. Some resent it and others hold that America is within her rights.
Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in Babylon, which is being unearthed by the German archeologist Koldenberg, is said to be proving the richest storehouse of ancient art ever discovered. The encaustic tiling with which the great court of the palace was decorated surpasses in the fineness of its glaze and the luster and beauty of its coloring anything that modern art ever attained. The explorers are finding many carved figures of real or mythical beasts revealing such an advanced stage of art that Dr. Koldenberg is convinced he will find other specimens proving that even in the time of Abraham art had achieved a high point of development on the plains of Mesopotamia.
In a battle recently between Boxers and Chinese soldiers near Chengtu 400 of the Boxers are reported to have been killed. They attacked the troops with spears in the frenzied belief that they were immune from the bullets of the soldiers. The account states that the Boxers fight absolutely without fear, marching straight up to the troops who are armed with rifles, endeavoring to kill them with the most primitive weapons. In northern Siam the Shans are reported to have rebelled, captured the city of Muang Pre, and slaughtered the government officials. A number of Americans and other foreigners were in the city, but were left unharmed.
How the rising generation is imbibing the education of strife as taught in the national school of our strikes and boycotts is well illustrated in the recent strike at Hanover, Penn. It was not a strike for higher wages; for the strikers were not laboring men. It was not a strike for less hours; for the time served by the strikers was but six hours a day. It was not a strike to have a grievance redressed; for the strikers had no grievance. They were a company of 200 school boys, and they struck against attending school, because four of their schoolmates were children of non-union men. In China, which many Americans consider a land of darkness and heathenism, it is customary to punish the relatives of a criminal if the real criminal cannot be found. He may have committed an offense in America or some other country against some other Chinaman. His relatives in China must suffer for it. But China’s course is a reasonable one when compared with that above referred to. In the case of the Chinaman a real wrong has been done, and the law gets as close to the original perpetrator as it can. In this case no crime has been committed either by the children against whom the strike is aimed or by their parents, and yet they are subjected to a most vicious punishment. There is no need to draw the comparison further. America has nothing to brag of as long as these things continue. That the children are but following the example and influence of their elders is shown in the fact that in other districts previously teachers related to non-union men have been dismissed, simply because of that relationship; strikers have refused to attend church if non-union men were received within its doors; they have refused to employ physicians who have attended non-union men; they have refused to employ undertakers who have been employed to bury non-union men. Such a course is unchristian and malicious, and there are millions in the country who will denounce it as the acme of cruelty, a persecution of a bitter and malignant type. They are persecuted because they demand the liberty which the Constitution guarantees to every citizen of this republic. But the ones who have done this have had examples in high places. They have been taught in this very country by so-called Christian men, who have persecuted other Christian men who would not yield principle to the dictates of the majority. If it is right to throw men into prison for a difference in religious belief, it is right to persecute and browbeat other men because they will not join the union. The responsibility does not rest wholly upon these blinded persecutors of their fellow workmen. It must be shared by the pulpits, the press, the courts, and the State Legislatures that have sanctioned such things in the persecution of Christians for matters of conscience. That is the seed sown, and this is some of the fruit which it bears.
The famous Arctic exploring ship Fram, Captain Sverdrup, has returned from a voyage of exploration in the Arctic regions. From his winter quarters at Ellesmere Land scientific expeditions were sent out over the surrounding country, mapping out regions hitherto unmapped. The leader of the Baldwin-Zeigler expedition from New York has reached London on his way back to the United States. He reports that the existence of an open Polar sea is a myth, and asserts that the pole can be reached only by a quick trip over the ice. His parties have established stores of food in a line toward the pole, and another attempt will be made to reach that destination.
On that island of the Samoan group which is now under the jurisdiction of the United States the American commandant has issued an order proclaiming the free right of every citizen to adopt his own form of religious worship and belief, and prohibiting any chief or missionary from punishing or molesting any native for exercising that right. In former years when the London Missionary Society in Tutuila and Manua had induced all the inhabitants of a town to adopt their religion, the natives enacted a local law making it a penal offense for any person to introduce any new form of worship in that town. Many of the natives were punished for the infraction of this law.
The Navy department has decided to rearrange entirely the disposition of the various war vessels making up the American navy. One squadron of considerable proportions will be assigned to the duty of looking after American interests in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. The European station is to be filled with a highly efficient squadron of cruisers, and a number of powerful battle-ships are to be placed on the Asiatic station. The rôle which America is now playing in the affairs of the world has made this step seem necessary to those having the arrangements in charge. America is forcing herself into recognition as a world power.
For two years the University of Chicago has been seeking permission of the Sultan of Turkey to excavate historic ruins in the district of Bagdad. After promises that the concession would be granted, the sultan has given the concession to a company of German archeologists, and the American minister at Constantinople has shown his displeasure by taking his departure from the city. It is claimed that German influence was brought to bear upon the sultan in opposition to the requests of the American university.
England is engaged in strengthening her fortifications on the island of Jamaica in anticipation of the opening of the Panama canal, putting in new batteries in commanding locations.
During the year ending June 30, 1902, 22,000 Americans have migrated to the Canadian Northwest to take up land. The Canadian Government is giving 160 acres of land to each immigrant and to each of his sons over eighteen years of age. It is said that much valuable land remains to be portioned out to incoming settlers. The government is giving the land to settlers, but does not allow corporations or syndicates to take up large tracts.
A severe earthquake shock was experienced over South Australia on September 20, causing a panic in Adelaide, where many buildings, including churches, were more or less damaged, and a number of narrow escapes from death are reported. Many of the northern towns of Australia also experienced earthquake shocks on the same day. No portion of this old earth is immune from these increasing phenomena.
Stanley Spencer, an English aeronaut, who has been at work for some time on an airship, made an ascension in London on September 19, and sailed his ship over London, a distance of nearly thirty miles. He claims that during all this time his airship was under the most perfect control. This flight, or voyage in the air, exceeds the distance covered by Santos Dumont in his airship by about twenty miles.
On September 19, at the African M. E. Conference at Birmingham, Alabama, a panic occurred in which 116 persons lost their lives. A disturbance arose in the rear of the church in which the convention was being held. Someone shouted a word which was misunderstood for “fire,” and the entire audience arose and rushed for the doors. The victims were crushed and trampled to death.
A dispatch from Colombia states that that government is protesting against the use of American marines on the isthmus, who are now engaged in keeping the road open to the passenger and freight traffic. The Navy Department, however, is planning to add to the number of marines who are now engaged in this work.
Robert E. Peary, the Arctic explorer, has returned from a four years’ expedition in the Arctic. He did not reach the pole, but he went nearly a degree higher than on his former expedition, having reached 84 degrees, 17 minutes north latitude. His record is still surpassed by both Nansen and the Duke of Abruzzi.
The submarine cable to connect San Francisco and the Hawaiian islands is now completed, and the vessel which is to lay the cable has sailed with it from London for San Francisco. A London firm has the contract for manufacturing the whole of the cable which is to connect America with the Philippines.
Great quantities of fish are taken every year by the fishermen of Norway. One way in which they are utilized is through an invention by which the flesh of the fresh fish is quickly dried and ground into flour. This is called fish flour, can readily be transported any distance, and is said to be of great nutritive value.
Reports from Washington indicate a strong sentiment in official circles toward the abandonment of the entire subtreasury system and the substitution of the national banks as government depositories, with discretion vested in the Secretary of the Treasury to determine the kind of securities to be accepted.
Through fear that America might intervene in Hayti to quell the disturbance there, the provisional government is taking more active measures to stop the insurrection. The rebels also appear to be more active, and have defeated the government troops in one engagement.
Venezuela and Great Britain are both claiming sovereignty over the island of Patos. England has raised her flag over the island, and unless Venezuela presents a very strong claim, it will probably remain there. The island lies in the vicinity of Trinidad, W. I.
A dispatch from Philadelphia states that the work of replacing Spanish friars in the Philippines with American Catholic priests has already begun. American Catholic priests will no doubt go to the islands; but it is not so certain that the friars will leave.
Because of the continued interruptions of the submarine cable to the island of Martinique, the French Government has decided to install a wireless telegraph apparatus on that island to communicate with a station on Guadeloupe.
An attempt is now being made to combine the American and English tobacco trusts, in order to stop the war which has been going on between them since the invasion of England by the American trust.
The Viceroy of India telegraphs that the agricultural prospects in that country have been improved by general rains, and that the gratuitous relief is less now than at any time since last February.
The anniversary of the entry of the Roman soldiers into Rome, Sept. 20, 1870, was celebrated throughout Italy with much enthusiasm. That event terminated the temporal power of the pope.
The new outbreak of Boxerism in certain parts of China is looked upon as a very serious matter by those who have given attention to Chinese affairs.
During the 100 years beginning July 31, 1790, the patent office of the United States has issued 428,621 patents.
WHAT THE MINER REALLY MAKES.
By John McDowell
[Rev. John McDowell, in The Pilgrim for July.]
THERE is a wide difference of opinion regarding the actual wages of the striking anthracite miner. The nominal wages as figured by the operator vary from $50 to $75 a month. The actual wages as figured by the miner vary from $30 to $38 a month. This difference is due to the fact that the operator figures on the basis of full time, while the fact is that the miner rarely makes full time, and is compelled to figure according to the actual number of days he has worked, which in the past ten years have averaged little over fifteen days to the month. The Report of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mines and Mining for 1899 shows that the average wages of the miner for that year would not exceed $285, an average of $23.71 per month. Peter Roberts, in his recent publication on the Anthracite Coal Industry, gives the average monthly earnings of the miner for the years 1898 as $34.10, and that of the day laborer is $22.40—an average of $1.37 per day for the miner and 90 cents for the laborer. I take from my notebook the following statement made by an old miner whose word can not be questioned:—
Family of six: Average monthly wages for twelve months—Nov. 1900 to Nov. 1901—$36.00. Rent $4.50; clothes and shoes, $6.00; doctor and medicine, $1.50; coal, $2.00; lodge and church, $1.50; household goods, $2.00; total, $17.50. There is left a balance of $18.50 for food for six during the month!
CHARLEY AND HIS SHILLING.
CHARLEY showed the shilling he had got to some of his companions. It was a bad one. They asked him why he didn't pass it. He said he wouldn't do that, because it wasn't right. The boys laughed at this, and asked him to come to old Dame Jones's little shop at the corner of the lane, and spend the shilling on nuts and candy. “You may be sure the dame will never notice it,” said Harry Morgan, the biggest boy in the company, “for she can't see very well; and then you can treat us all round, and that will be jolly.”
Charley's conscience told him that this would be very wrong, and he said he couldn't do it. But the boys got round him, and coaxed him so much, that at last he yielded to the temptation. His conscience gave the alarm when he reached the shop. He drew back; but the boys urged him on. So he went in and passed the counterfeit for a good shilling. The boys thought it was real fun. They enjoyed the treat. But it was no fun to Charley. He could think of nothing but the mean, wicked thing he had done. When he went to bed at night, he could not sleep. Conscience put a thorn in his pillow, and there was no sleep for Charley.
The next day, in going to school, he met Harry Morgan, who asked him to do his sums for him. “I can't stop now,” said Charley.
“But you've got to,” cried Harry. “If you don't I'll tell on you for passing counterfeit money, and you'll have to go to jail.”
Poor Charley was terribly frightened. How he wished he had never seen that counterfeit shilling! He felt that it was very hard, for the boys, who had tempted him to do wrong, now to turn against him in this way. But he saw he was in their power, because he had done wrong.
During recess, there was a quarrel among the boys. One of them was angry with Charley, and said, “Pooh! a fellow that would cheat a poor old woman, would do anything.” This was too much for Charley to bear. But what could he do?
On his way home, in the afternoon he met his cousin, Thomas Downs, who had given him the shilling. “Hallo, Charley,” said Thomas, “let's see that shilling I gave you.”
“Haven't got it,” said Charley, turning quickly away.
“Stop; did you lose it, or give it away?”
“No,” said Charley.
“Well, where is it? You haven't passed it, have you?”
It was on the end of his tongue to say “No;” but conscience had thus far kept him from lying; and, great as the temptation was, he would not begin now.
“O!” he cried, overcome with grief and shame, “why did you give me that counterfeit piece? It has been a dreadful temptation to me. I have passed it, and what shall I do?” The boy looked as wretched as he felt. His cousin was surprised and sorry. He took him gently by the hand, and they walked down the lane where they could talk by themselves. Charley told his cousin all about it, and asked what he was to do. Thomas answered that there was but one thing to do; and that was to carry a real shilling to the old woman in place of the counterfeit one, and confess what he had done.
“Couldn't I go and put it under the shop door?” said Charley. “It would be just the same to her; she would get it, and not lose by the counterfeit.”
“Just as well for her,” said the cousin; “but not so well for you, Charley. You know you have done wrong. If you are really sorry, confess your fault, not only to Mrs. Jones, but to God. Here, go like a man; be honest about it. You have injured your conscience by doing wrong; you must heal it by doing right. Now, take this shilling. I give it to you for my share in your trouble. It will teach me a lesson about putting temptations in the way of the young. Go to the woman, and own your fault. Ask her to forgive you, and give her the good shilling in place of the bad one.”11
Charley did so. When he got the counterfeit shilling, he went down to the shore, and threw it into the sea. Then he felt a great load lifted from his conscience, and said, “Thank God, I'm free again. I am not afraid of anybody now.”
“THE HIDDEN WORKS.”
By M. C. DuBois
IN the manufacture of the Gobelins tapestries, in Paris, the weavers sit behind the beautiful fabric on which they are engaged, working from a pattern designed by some great artist, and, perhaps, only taking occasional peeps at the fair exterior and the marvelous effects which their patient labors are producing. Passing along the room in front of the brilliant patterns the visitor’s attention is concentrated on their loveliness. He knows that they are in process of manufacture by men whose persons are partially or wholly hidden behind the massive drapery; he may see the work grow, thread by thread, under the weaver’s busy fingers, but he gives scarce a thought to the humble workman, so thrilled is he with the beauty of the design, the richness of coloring and the unique texture of those renowned productions.” Thus relates a writer.
Dear reader, we too are vailed and hidden workers. The designs we work upon may not be so rich in texture, or brilliant in coloring, as those above mentioned, but nevertheless, each pattern is designed by a Master Artist who puts the threads into our trembling fingers, and bids us weave; so, day by day we are adding, a few touches to our work, weaving in the daily mercies, trials, and experiences, which our loving heavenly Father puts as threads into our hands, trusting Him to make the pattern show gloriously on the other side.
We often become discouraged with our work and forget to look, to trust to Him who gave us the Pattern from which we weave. “Looking unto Jesus” is the secret of success. It is not for us to murmur, whether our hands be filled with golden threads to weave into bright and beautiful fabrics, or, whether we are set to work upon coarse material with somber, black-bordered colors, where the strands are laid in tears; either will be right. Our mission is faithfully to weave, as the hidden workers.
When our finished work shall be displayed, it will not be as a triumph of our skill; ah! no, but as a trophy of goodness and loving kindness and tender mercy of the Master Designer. We are to labor diligently at the knotty, scarred side of our fabric, content to be hidden and unknown, if the Master wills it so: and we can rest certain that if we are doing what He has given us to do, the results may be safely left with Him. He will bring out all the harmony and beauty of His own design upon the fabric of our lives, which is, to reflect the character of Christ in all we say or do. O to be willing to be a hidden one, our work all hidden with Christ! Let, “Not I but Christ,” be the cry of every heart.
Not all, however, are willing to work unseen behind the tapestry. Too many strive to bring themselves into view, and point with pride, to my work, saying, “See what I have done.” Do not so, but work on unwearyingly; the Master hath his eye upon the faithful ones. Weave carefully, patiently, faithfully, and thy reward is sure.
“Weaving into a work-a-day life,
Beautiful threads of gold;
A thread of joy, with a strand of strife,
And yet, the hands that hold
May fashion them out into patterns rare,
Designs of beauty, new and fair,
Till the Master Weaver finds them there,
In beautiful threads of gold.
“Weaving in with a patient hand,
Beautiful threads of gold;
Filling them in as the Artist planned
When He laid life’s somber fold.
Weaving them in with the homeliest cares,
Over some burden another bears,
Glad that the Master Weaver spares
Some beautiful threads of gold.”
M. C. DuBois.
Grand Ledge, Mich.
A Quadrennial Hymn. Air, Bethany
By Eliza L. Brown
BY THE SEA.
A Quadrennial Hymn. Air, Bethany
LORD, as Thy people meet
Down by the sea,
And at the mercy seat
Offer their plea,
Hear Thou the prayers we raise,
Hear Thou our songs of praise;
Lead us in all our ways
Nearer to Thee.
As the great billows roll
At Thy decree,
Held by Thy sure control,
Yet flowing free,
So may we own Thy power,
Thought, word, and action o'er;
Draw, as our souls adore,
Nearer to Thee.
Forth in the bloom of youth,
Through love to Thee,
Bearing Thy Word of truth
Over the sea,
Hence have our loved ones gone
That light divine shall dawn
In souls that shall be drawn
Nearer to Thee.
As the blue waters bright
Fill all the sea,
Breaking in waves of light,
Unceasingly,
Shall knowledge of Thee fill
Each waiting land, until
All learn to do Thy will,
All trust in Thee.
—Eliza L. Brown.
A WISE LAW ABOUT CORSETS.
In Rumania a wise Minister of Public Instruction has issued an order forbidding girls in the higher and secondary schools to wear corsets. If the girls insist on wearing corsets the law says that these garments shall be removed by force.
It is sad, but not astounding, to learn that Rumanian girls are fighting against the law, and that their poor foolish mothers encourage them in opposing a sensible regulation. If any female needs to wear a corset it is certainly not the young, vigorous schoolgirl. As a matter of fact, the corset is based on purely barbarous ideas of good looks. It is the sister of the nose ring and other female abominations.
The Rumanian Minister of Public Instruction shows good judgment in trying to apply the anti-corset law to YOUNG girls. For young girls better than older girls can give up the corset nuisance. When a woman has worn a corset ten or twenty or more years, it is difficult for her to give up the habit, because the wearing of corsets has caused some of her muscles to become atrophied and useless. If she gives up the corset she can hardly stand straight. Young girls, however, have no such excuse to offer for lacing. If they will let their natural muscles do the work of whalebone, steel and heavy canvas, they will be more comfortable, more healthy, and far better looking.
We realize the fact that whoever argues with women about their dress must present for consideration some statements to show that the advice given involves additional beauty.
The strongest argument against corsets for women, and we offer it now for the first time, is this: The corset really spoils a woman's figure, and even when she is comparatively young destroys much of her beauty. The most attractive thing about the human body is strength, compactness; lines clearly defined. The corset-wearing woman becomes inevitably flabby; there are no muscles to keep the flesh in place. Shapeless shoulders and stomachs, and general dilapidatedness are due to the wearing of corsets.
If young women would of their own accord adopt the regulation of the Rumanian official, the human race would be infinitely better off one or two generations from now—and incidentally individual woman, as well as her descendants, would be more pleasing to look at and would enjoy life infinitely more.—S. F. Examiner.
BOUND TO SUCCEED
Here is a letter from a Tuskegee pupil in the Southern Letter—Booker Washington’s paper—of August. It reveals a splendid spirit of energy and sacrifice, and if coupled with humility and wisdom is bound to succeed.
“Louisville, Ala., May 15, 1902.
Dear Teacher: I began teaching here October 14 of last year. The attendance at my school has surpassed that of any school hereabouts. I have 160 pupils in attendance and am assisted in my teaching by my wife and by a young woman, an ex-student of Tuskegee. My greatest need here is a schoolhouse with plenty of room. I am working in that direction. I have purchased a location for the building and want to begin the erection as soon as I can get something ahead. My salary is about fifteen dollars a month. This is very little, but I want to build up the school, and so I am going to stick to it. I hold local Negro conferences, and do all I can to help the farmers of this section. You may not have time to write, but if you will sometimes remember that I am doing all I can to exemplify the Tuskegee spirit, it will be some consolation. G. W. McRae.”
Such a spirit is worth upholding. May God bless the work of Booker Washington and all others working for the elevation of the colored people; and for the matter of that, of any people.
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