What power is it? If it is Rome, as some say, when did Macedonia conquer Rome? F. G. B.
See “Thoughts on Daniel,” or “Sure Word of Prophecy,” for a full exposition. The former costs from $1.00 to $4.50; the latter (pamphlet) 10 cents. Briefly, the “great” ram represents Medo-Persia, the “very great” goat, Grecia. Dan. 8:20, 21. The little horn—“exceeding great”—represents the only exceedingly great power which followed Grecia, namely Rome. Macedonia did not conquer Rome; Rome conquered Macedonia 168 B.C., by which conquest great power and prestige were given to Rome, hence the little horn is represented in the prophecy as coming out of that Macedonian horn.
1331.—Hardening Pharaoh’s Heart.
Did the Lord harden Pharaoh’s heart that he might serve him the purpose of showing the people His wondrous works? T.
See question 1316, SIGNS of Feb. 4, 1903. God would have shown His great power in Pharaoh’s conversion, even as in Nebuchadnezzar’s; but Pharaoh would not submit. God then showed it despite the king’s will to the utter undoing of Egypt.
DENNETT'S RESTAURANT BOYCOTT
By A. W. Dennett; S. R. Break
STATEMENT BY THE COMPANY
To the people of Oakland: We beg to make public our position with regard to the boycotting of our place of business at 1071 Broadway.
One week ago this day we took over the restaurant business on Broadway near Twelfth street, formerly known as The Surpassing Coffee Parlors. On the same day we were presented with an agreement from the Cooks and Waiters' Union for signature, which among other things provided that the company should identify itself with the union by accepting an identification card reading as follows:
"HOTEL AND RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES' INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE AND BAR TENDERS' NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR."
The acceptance of which card of identification or membership would bind the company to employ only union help to the exclusion of all others, no matter how competent or worthy of work. On Thursday, February 19th, the Board of Directors met and passed the following resolution:
"Resolved, that, while this company recognizes the right of its employees to join labor unions if they so desire, it also desires to give equal freedom to those who, for reasons of conscience or for other reasons, cannot join a labor union;
"And Whereas, the agreement as submitted provides that none but union help shall be employed;
"And Whereas, the signing of such an agreement would deprive a number of its employees of their means of livelihood;
"And Whereas, the signing of the proposed agreement would be an endorsation by the company of principles and practice the very opposite of that laid down in the Word of God by the Great Teacher, Jesus Christ;
"And Whereas, this company has already committed itself to the carrying out of these principles by adorning the walls of its place of business with the same Word of God, and by the daily meetings held for the benefit of all employees, for prayer, praise and reading of the Word of Him who commands us to do good unto all men and render evil to none;
"Therefore, be it Resolved, in view of the foregoing facts, that this company most respectfully declines to sign the agreement as presented, and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the secretary of the union."
A copy of this resolution was sent to the union the same day, and the result was a boycott against the house the day following.
THE QUESTION OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR IS NOT AN ISSUE IN THIS BOYCOTT.
In addition to paying regular wages, the company has by resolution of its Board of Directors set aside one-tenth of all net profits arising from the operation of its business for distribution among its employees at regular intervals, over and above their regular wages, thus making it a CO-OPERATIVE company, having taken all our employees into partnership for profits with no liabilities for losses, besides which all employees of one year's standing or over receive one week's holiday each year on full pay—and further plans for their good are proposed at the company's expense which space forbids mentioning.
Mr. A. W. Dennett, the originator of the Dennett system of restaurants in the East, is Vice-President and General Manager of the Western company, and plans the establishing of a chain of restaurants on the foregoing co-operative basis for the Pacific Coast, of which the present business is one branch.
The Dennett Company is a friend of labor. It has always refused to join associations to fight labor unions. Its employees are happy and contented. We only ask for the freedom of conscience for ourselves and employees accorded us by the Constitution of the United States and immortalized in our national anthem.
My country! 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
Our fathers' God! to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.
As being very applicable at this time, we would like to add the following:
Our fathers' God, we pray
Grant us the liberty
We sing about.
Turn back oppression's hand
Now threatening our fair land,
And may we boldly stand
For God and right.
Born in a foreign land
Was ruthless oppression's hand
Now pressing us.
What would our fathers say,
If here in mortal clay,
To celebrate this day,
George Washington's?
IN CONCLUSION, we beg to submit that the present boycott is un-Christian, un-American and inhuman, and unworthy of the support of the law-abiding, liberty-loving people of Oakland, irrespective of affiliation with any organization, be it church, fraternal society, labor union or political party, and whether we receive the necessary support to enable us to continue in business in Oakland or not, we shall by the help of God stand true to our principles.
A. W. DENNETT, General Manager.
S. R. BREAK, Secretary.
CHRISTIANITY NOT POLITICAL.
By G.
Day unto day uttereth testimony that Christianity is not the inspiration behind many of the so-called reforms presented to the public for consideration. Christianity is not in politics, nor can it be advanced by political methods. Christianity never advocates retaliation. One of the “reforms” that has been long advocated by some women and some men is woman-suffrage. Now it is not the province of this paper to discuss the merits or demerits of woman-suffrage as a State policy. Suffice it to say that politics could hardly be made any more corrupt by its introduction, and in some respects there might be a temporary improvement in certain localities. How long the improved condition would last, time only could demonstrate. Some very good improvements in politics have been of short duration, and “reform” politicians, who have rode into office on very high professional steeds, have in a short time proved anything but reformers. So that in politics only one thing is certain,—political ambition can not be implicitly trusted. In noting the defeat of the Woman-suffrage Bill in the Kansas Legislature, the Woman’s Tribune says:—
This bill has done as well as any to get a test vote upon, and now the Kansas woman-suffragists have something to work on. They should at once organize to defeat every man who voted against the bill, no matter to what office he aspires.
According to this sentiment no man is fit for any office whatever, and should be politically boycotted and ostracized, if he be not favorable to woman-suffrage. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union advocates woman-suffrage, and includes a franchise department in its work; but it could not very consistently take up such a line of battle. Christianity emphasizes the doctrine, “See that none render evil for evil unto any man,” and no Christian can consistently do so. The politics that requires such methods is antagonistic to Christianity.
Where party lines are closely drawn, the old political parties work on that principle, but even they make exceptions sometimes. And the W. C. T. U. has all along decried the political methods of the old parties. Yet it seems that politics is politics, and no one can enter the political arena with any prospect of success unless he adopt the current political methods. This is the logic of the woman-suffragists, as enunciated by the organ of the movement from which we have quoted. And they seem to believe that the more forcefully these methods are applied the brighter the prospect of success. But this resort to retaliation on individuals as a means of success certainly dissociates the cause from Christianity. That politics seems ever to rely on such principles for success, is still further evidence that Christians can not consistently engage in political warfare.
G.
“THE FRAILE MOVEMENT.”
By G. W. Anglebarger
This is the name of a new movement being set on foot here. The leaders advertise that they are doing a great work of a philanthropic character, and members of all religious denominations are invited to join them, each one to pay $10.00 for membership. Then, in turn, each member who will bring in another will be given the sum of $5.00 as a reward. This scheme is to continue until “one hundred and forty-four thousand” people have joined the organization. Then cities are to be built on some such plan as Dr. Dowie’s Zion, and small children, who may be orphans or outcasts, will be taken in and cared for by the society. The leaders plan to colonize in various places for their work, the whole device to be under the direct supervision of the spirits of the dead. Such a work as this is not of God. It is but another of Satan’s last-day deceptions, and let every soul beware of the snares which he is setting. The dead have nothing to do with affairs on this earth now. Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; Job 14:21, 14, 15. The so-called “spirits of the dead” are spirits of demons bent on the ruin of souls.
Denver, Colo. G. W. ANGLEBARGER.
The Trusts
The Trusts.—It is stated by press correspondents that a group of English, Italian, and Brazilian capitalists is forming a trust to control the Brazilian coffee trade. Under the Federal Salt Company trust, which was recently enjoined by Judge Morrow of the United States District Court in San Francisco, the price of salt had been raised from $3.00 to $30 per ton. The trust controlled about all the salt produced west of the Mississippi River. A criminal indictment has also been issued against the officials doing business within the jurisdiction of the court. This is the second trust that has been successfully prosecuted, which implies that others might have been prosecuted had there been the official inclination to do so. But of course there remains the question of conviction. Sherman Law and Elkins Law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Washington Post says that the beef trust is pushing ahead, and unless something unforeseen arises, April 1 will see the official announcement of the incorporation of a company which may eventually control the meat trade of the world. Further railroad combinations are also announced. The Rock Island system has secured control of what is known as the Frisco system, making altogether a single control of 13,000 miles, in the West, Southwest, and far South. There is also a close connection between the new combine and the Santa Fé by an exchange of representation on the respective boards. It is also stated that the Central of Georgia and the Mexican Central are contemplated in the combine. Still another deal is the purchase by the Northwestern Railway of the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley company's lines in the States of Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, which will hereafter be operated as a division of the Northwestern.
Flood and Storm.—The closing days of February were made memorable by disastrous gales adjacent to the British Isles, doing great damage to shipping. Along the south of Ireland the storm was exceedingly fierce. In this country, also, flood and storm have been doing disastrous work. At Pittsburg hundreds of families were driven from their homes near the river. Many of the mills in the low-lying region were flooded, and over 38,000 workmen were temporarily thrown out of employment. Many of the railroad tracks were under water, and had to be abandoned. Far up the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, as also along the whole length of the Ohio, was marked by more or less destruction of property and some loss of life. A Louisville despatch of February 28 says that the annual spring freshet, which yearly does damage to railroads and crops, and at times inflicts loss of life, has left this season's impression on many parts of the South, after tremendous two-day rains, with an accompaniment of high winds. Accidents last night and this morning, directly attributable to the elements, have resulted in the death of nine persons and injury to twenty-nine. The damage to railroad property is large, and the inconvenience to the public considerable. Cloud-bursts are reported in Kentucky and Tennessee, and it is feared there has been some loss of life in the affected regions. In Middlesboro, Ky., every house in the lower section of the place was flooded, and every merchant suffered damage to stock. The valley of Yellow Creek was flooded for several hours from mountain to mountain. Landslides occurred in two tunnels on the City Southern Railway near Harriman, Tenn. All streams are bank full, the Alabama River rising nineteen feet at Millstead, near Montgomery, during the night. Flood warnings were sent out by the Montgomery Weather Bureau. At the same time reports from points on the lower Mississippi record the water above the danger line. In the Northwestern States blizzards and snowstorms were the order during the same period. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Western Kansas and Nebraska were the scenes of extreme cold and disastrous storms, resulting in great loss of stock and disaster to railroad traffic. From Newfoundland, also, we have news of severe snowstorms. A train out from St. Johns seventeen days only succeeded in getting half-way across the island. The passengers told thrilling tales of their experiences. Another express train came to a standstill, and the passengers walked over thirty miles of snow-fields to an open section of the line.
Among the Laborers.—A battle occurred at Staniford City, W. Va., on February 25, between officers and 100 men on one side and about 200 miners on the other. An attempt had been made to arrest some of the miners for violation of an injunction, and the miners drove the peace officers from the town. The officers were reinforced, and the battle followed, resulting in the death of four miners and the wounding of several others on both sides. Seventy-three were arrested. A lawless condition of affairs had continued there since the beginning of the strike in June. President John Mitchell, having failed to unionize the miners in Maryland and West Virginia, has decided to take strong measures to bring about his object. He proposes to make the operators of the mines in those States unionize their own plants for fear of the boycott which he proposes to bring to bear upon the products of their mines. He has therefore started a movement in Chicago against the use of any coal coming from the mines of Maryland or West Virginia, and will seek to extend this boycott until the mines are forced to unionize in self defense—and this, too, when the miners in those mines are not in favor of joining the union. All the quartz mills of Colorado City, Colo., are now tied up or threatened with a tie-up by a strike of the hands. The recent railroad strike in Belgium has caused the introduction of a number of bills in the Second Chamber of the States General for the prevention of the recurrence of such a condition as recently existed there. Imprisonment of from six months to four years is to be the penalty for striking or inducing others to strike who are in the public service. The strike of coal miners at Fernie, B. C., is to be settled by a commission appointed and paid by the government, as was the Pennsylvania strike.
In the Balkans.—During the week the outlook in the Balkan States has appeared a little less dangerous, altho the situation is not considered a peaceful one by any means. Bulgaria and Servia have both officially declared that they will not stir up any strife, but the official representatives of both governments have expressed sympathy with their oppressed countrymen in Macedonia; but it is a question how far the people themselves will allow the declaration of their officials to bind them when their friends across the border are suffering under the hand of the Turk. The people of Albania are now growing restless and threatening trouble. They object to the Russian consulate in their territory, and it is feared they will attack the consulate and thus provoke international trouble. Turkey has promised the reforms which Russia and Austria have demanded, but at the same time she is buying more guns and munitions of war. In Bulgaria popular meetings are being held to protest against the suppression of the Macedonian committee by the Bulgarian Government. The revolutionists are still active, and the leaders are traveling from one band to another to increase the agitation. Reports from Moscow indicate that Russia is actively preparing for a possible conflict; that all absent officers have been recalled to the regiments, and that arrangements have been completed for calling 260,000 men to the colors within two weeks of the time when the call is made. The Russians fear that the Turks will pursue bands of revolutionists across the Bulgarian frontier and thus precipitate a conflict.
Stormy Legislatures.—In the legislative assemblies of the United States, England, and Italy, stormy sessions have occurred during the week. The Italian Chamber of Deputies was compelled to suspend temporarily on February 24 because of disorderly scenes, and it is expected that a number of duels will result. The trouble in the British parliament was over the adoption of the war secretary's military program; and in the House of Representatives the trouble was occasioned by the unseating of a Democratic representative from Missouri. It was a case of contested election, and the House by a strict party vote decided in favor of the Republican contestant. The other party had given warning that if this were done, they would delay legislation in every possible way, and they have done so, very little being accomplished. Every block to legislation that could be used has been employed, and in consequence much bitter feeling has been engendered. In the Senate, Senator Morgan has prevented the ratification of the canal treaty by practically talking it out and refusing to agree to the setting of a time to vote. The admission of new States in the Southwest has also been found impossible, as was the ratification of the Cuban treaty. An extra session of the Senate has been called by the President, to convene March 5. This is for the purpose of taking action on the Cuban treaty and the canal treaty.
Accomplished by Congress.—The session of the 57th Congress is near an end, and some legislation of importance has been accomplished, tho more was expected by the country in general than has been done. The following is a partial summary of the legislation of this session: Creating the department of commerce and labor and adding another cabinet officer to the President's official family; the anti-rebate act to curtail the powers of railroads in the work of aiding trusts; a bill to expedite actions against trusts under the Sherman anti-trust law; the removal of the tariff on coal coming from all foreign countries; a staff corps has been provided for the army to plan for the defense of the country; the naval appropriation bill providing for an increase in the personnel of the navy, the appropriation of $3,000,000 to relieve distress in the Philippines; the provision of a currency system for the Philippines; a law authorizing the building of an isthmian canal; providing civil government for the Philippines; extending the Chinese exclusion laws; repealing the war taxes; extending the charters of national banks; creating a permanent census bureau; providing a system for the irrigation of the arid lands of the West; and providing a consular and diplomatic service for Cuba.
The Chinese Situation.—The revolutionary movement in South China is growing more serious. The Kwang-si rebels have defeated the imperial troops sent to subdue them, and are pillaging villages. The movement is spreading, and the government seems unable to hinder its advance. In Hong Kong the offices of the leading rebels were discovered and raided, and some arrests made. Hundreds of rifles have been captured by government officials; but so many arms are being imported, and the rebels are being so rapidly armed through the smuggling of war munitions, that the Russian Government has protested to the other powers. The United States has been asked to co-operate in suppressing the importation of arms into China. Belgium, Germany, England, and the United States are sending the largest quantities of such merchandise to the Chinese rebels. Russia fears the outbreak of a movement that will involve all China and result in an unsurpassed reign of terror. The plan of the rebels is to kill officials, burn and pillage, and overthrow the present government.
Rumors of war continue to come from the uneasy States in Central America, and some battles are said to have been fought. The dictator of Honduras has met with defeat at the hands of the newly elected president, who is being assisted by Salvador to secure control of the government. The revolution is spreading on the Pacific side of the isthmus, and all but the foreign element is being pressed into the military service. The Venezuela dispute is progressing slowly toward its destination at The Hague. Minister Bowen is signing protocols with the other interested nations who have claims against the government of Venezuela. He has proposed the czar of Russia as the one to select the judges for the arbitration court to decide this special case; but the allies have not definitely accepted the proposal, tho the belief seems general that they will.
The volcano of Colima, in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, about 80 miles south of Guadalajara, has been in violent activity since February 21. Streams of lava are pouring down the sides of the mountain, and heated rocks and ashes are falling over a large portion of that part of the State. A thick pall of smoke hangs over the country within a radius of fifty miles from the crater, so that the people are compelled to use lights in the daytime. Violent earthquake shocks accompanying the volcanic eruptions continue day and night. The inhabitants are camping in the open, and villages near the mountain have been deserted by their inhabitants. There is probably some connection between this disturbance and the earthquake reported in the island of Dominica, B. W. I., on February 27.
The Alaska Boundary.—The Senate has ratified the treaty with Canada for the settlement of the Alaska boundary dispute through a commission chosen by the two countries. The President has appointed as commissioners for the United States, Henry Cabot Lodge, Elihu Root, and George Turner. It is not seriously expected by the majority of people that this commission will be able to settle the question. The President's appointees are known to be men who have very decided opinions against yielding anything in the matter of this boundary, and there is little expectation of the Canadian commissioners coming to the conference with the idea of yielding Canada's demands.
Railroad Valuation.—The report of the Interstate Commerce Commission says that for the United States the total par value of railway securities is $11,724,035,829 and their market value $8,351,103,523. The capital stock is stated to be, par value, $6,021,364,502 and market value $3,250,144,596. The par value of the funded debt is stated to be $5,702,671,327 and the market value $5,100,958,927.
THIS IS DEPLORABLE.
The following article, under the above caption, we take from Word and Work. It is a striking setting forth of a sad condition prevalent to-day:—
From a most reliable source there has come to our knowledge some sad facts concerning one of our theological seminaries. Recently, a student from this school was invited to give a course of Bible lessons to a class of ladies. The young man, instead of leaping with joy at the thought of bearing witness to the glories of his Lord, excused himself for want of time to make due preparation. Upon this the good ladies said they would be satisfied with any course of study that he was taking in the seminary, thus releasing him, as they supposed, from any special need of time for preparation. But the young “sprig of divinity” took the breath of the godly women away from them by answering: “We really do not have time to study the Bible, we have so many other studies that we must complete.” Horror of horrors! No time for Bible study—no time to listen to what God says—all time to listen to what man says! The guesses, the thoughts, the assumptions, the conclusions of depraved and beclouded men, studied, discussed and praised or blamed, but the inerrant Word of God, the eternal truth of God, and the holy will of God, ignored, avoided, and relegated to seclusion and silence! We are not surprised to learn that another student in this same seminary, not 100 miles from Boston, should say: “I wonder these professors do not make infidels of us all; some of them quote the writings of the destructive critics, but give us nothing to refute them.”
Is it any wonder that Romish priests and papers are boasting that Protestantism is going to pieces? “The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants,” can be quoted no longer as true. “The speculations of men and these speculations only” are assuming the place once occupied by the Bible, and then what? Protestantism prostrate, Romanism rampant, liberty lost, the Inquisition inaugurated, Revolution, anarchy, antichrist! Stand firm, ye servants of God!
PURPOSE OF VENTILATION.
By A. J. Sanderson, M.D.
UPON the atmosphere above and the earth beneath all living matter depends. One is as essential as the other. The air furnishes the gaseous material for the sustenance of life, and the earth furnishes the solid, which is first organized into tissue by plant life. No living organism can exist without air, with perhaps one exception, a class of germs known as the anaerobic form of bacteria.
To expose properly a living organism to air in its natural and perfect state is the purpose of ventilation. With life in the vegetable kingdom there is no hindrance to obtaining these conditions, unless it may be in the case of flowers grown in the house, or other plants that have been thus transplanted from their natural environment. In the animal world there are also perfect conditions, except in the case of man and those animals which he has domesticated and compelled to live in such unnatural atmospheric conditions as those in which he often abides.
Houses, and all buildings where man or beast lives, should be so ventilated that there will be free communication between the air without and that within. Air should be changed in an apartment in order to remove impurities with which it has been impregnated, and pure air should be admitted in equal volume, that the occupants may be supplied with fresh oxygen. A house, in order to have such a circulation of air, needs to be so constructed and arranged that the physical properties of the air within and without will create proper currents. Unhealthful drafts should be avoided, and in cold weather the principles of economy and equity in heating the air should be considered. These conditions for free ventilation of a room are essential, in order to make any room habitable.
A proper flow of pure air to the lungs is a prerequisite to health, as in this way only can the oxygen be conveyed to the blood. This necessitates natural and perfect breathing, also a reasonable amount of muscular work. For not only do the lungs breathe, but every cell in the body breathes, as truly in the foot and brain as in the chest. Thus a perfect circulation of the blood is required.
The organs which aerate the body are the lungs, the blood, and the circulatory system. The respiratory organs transfer oxygen to the body; and the individual cells eat it. To understand the requirements and methods of ventilation, one must consider mathematically how much oxygen the person or persons occupying the room need, the laws of physics which govern the circulation of air through the house, and the individual modes of breathing and exercise. The clothing for the body also needs consideration, as the poisonous vapors given off by the skin need the influence of air for evaporation and removal. It is only when all these conditions are perfect that air can have its proper effect on the body. Nature's supply is inexhaustible; yet man, with his unnatural and artificial habits, often shuts himself away from it, to the starvation or deterioration of his own life.
We would shrink with abhorrence from putting on a garment another has worn, or using a tooth-brush that belongs to a friend, or tasting food some one else has masticated; and yet we often thoughtlessly, repeatedly, reinhale the atmosphere that many others have several times used. Perhaps no law of hygiene is more frequently violated.
A. J. SANDERSON, M.D.
TAMING A CITY GAMIN.
By Susan H. Wixson
[Susan H. Wixson, in the Leader.]
JACK RUGGLES was a native of the slum district. He was a bad boy, whose school days were few, his play days many. He was the terror of teachers, the horror of schoolfellows.
Nobody believed in him, nobody cared for him.
One day he was thrust into the Bleecker Street School, Miss Brown’s room. This was a third grade room, tho Jack was old enough in years to be in a much higher grade. The truant officer told Miss Brown she wouldn’t be able to make anything out of that boy, because he was totally depraved; but Miss Brown did not believe in total depravity, and said she would try and see what might be in the boy. There was a pet rabbit belonging to the Bleecker Street School, and the first day Jack was there the rabbit was found dead. All eyes were fastened upon Jack as the probable murderer. Jack neither admitted nor denied the silent, and afterward direct, accusation. The next afternoon he declined to read his lesson, and threw a piece of chalk at the teacher, striking her right eye. He dislodged the inkwell, and emptied its contents into the lap of Matilda, his next neighbor, and further aggravated her by tearing her blue skirt from its binding.
“What shall I do to you, Jack,” inquired the teacher.
“Lick me! That’s what the other teachers do,” answered Jack defiantly. “I never whipped a scholar in my life,” said Miss Brown.
One day Jack came to school armed with a revolver. Miss Brown relieved him of the weapon before he had time to fire a shot. At close of school he went to her desk and demanded his property. The teacher declined to comply with his request.
“I say, gimme my pistol!”
“It is a dangerous weapon, Jack, and I shall not return it to you,” replied Miss Brown calmly.
“Then you’re a thief,” said Jack, “an’ I’ll send a cop after you. You ought to be in the lockup. Stealin’! An’ you a teacher. Shame on ye!”
A long conference was not productive of any result, and Jack marched out and lodged a complaint against Miss Brown.
The “cop” came and advised the Reformatory as the best place for such a boy. “I’ll try him a while longer,” said the patient teacher. “I believe there is good in the boy, if we can find the way to his heart.”
It would take a long while to enumerate all the bad things Jack was guilty of, or to tell of the tender thoughtfulness and kind consideration of his teacher. One thing he did which he had not done before—he came regularly to school. This was one point gained.
When he entered the school he seemed to be subject to fits. He would fall helplessly to the floor, writhing in apparent spasms of agony. Miss Brown dashed a bucket of water upon his face while he was passing through one of these convulsions. He recovered consciousness immediately and screamed out: “What the d— did you douse me like that for? Didn’t ye know I was shamming?”
Thenceforward he was cured of “fits.” This was another point secured.
One morning Jack came to school to find another teacher at Miss Brown’s desk. “Where’s Miss Brown?” he inquired. “She is very sick, and I am here in her place,” replied the substitute, at which Jack seized his hat and walked deliberately out of the building and straight to Miss Brown’s residence.
“I want to see my teacher—where is she,” said he, as the door opened in response to his ring of the door-bell. Without waiting for a reply, he rushed up the stairs, and in a moment, was kneeling at the bed side of the sick teacher.
“I don’t want ye to die,” sobbed the boy. “I want ye to live, an’—an’—if there’s anything on the face of God’s earth that you want, tell me, an’ I’ll scour the land an’ the sea to git it for ye.”
Miss Brown smiled through her tears, as she whispered faintly, “I thank you, Jack. Your coming will help me to get well.”
Jack went out of the sick room, and earned forty cents, with which he bought four lovely, white chrysanthemums.
When he presented them to Miss Brown he said: “They’re white like you is. I don’t s’pose I’ll ever git to heaven, but anyhow I’ve seed a n’angel right here, wid my own two lookin’ eyes. Don’t cry, teacher—don’t. I’ve been awful aggravatin’ to ye, an’ I’m sorry—aggravatin’ to a n’angel! I’ll make it up tho, some day—I will.”
This happened ten or twelve years ago. Miss Brown recovered from her illness and resumed her duties in the Bleecker Street School.
Jack disappeared about the same time, and no one knew where he went.
Miss Brown thought of him oftener than any one else in the world. She was thinking of him on New Year’s morning, when the letter-carrier handed her a letter, addressed in a scrawling, but strangely familiar handwriting. The letter read thus:—
“My Dear Teacher: When I left you I went West, and have traveled over the Rockies. I was in the mines several years, two years prospecting in Smoky Gulch until I discovered the Alice Brown mine. Enclosed is a check for five hundred dollars, the first gold taken from the mine. Take it. It is yours. You earned it getting the bad out of me. I have been offered fifty thousand dollars for the mine. When it is sold, I am coming to see the woman who made a man out of a bad boy. I remain, as ever,
Yours,
“JACK RUGGLES.”
Who shall say that the teacher has not her compensations, or that the spark of goodness is not worth searching for, even in the slums?
THE ONE WHO HAS A SONG.
By Nixon Waterman
The cloud-maker says it is going to storm,
And we're sure to have awful weather,—
Just terribly wet, or cold, or warm,
Or, maybe, all three together;
But, while his spirit is overcast
With the gloom of his dull repining,
The one with a song comes smiling past,
And, lo! the sun is shining.
The cloud-maker tells us the world is wrong,
And is bound in an evil fetter,
But the blue-sky man comes bringing a song
Of hope that shall make it better;
And the toilers, hearing his voice, behold
The sign of a glad to-morrow,
Whose hands are heaped with the purest gold
Of which each heart may borrow.
—Nixon Waterman.
HOW TO DRINK WATER.
WATER-DRINKING in summer may be either a source of health or illness. Huge drafts of ice-cold fluids check digestion often, if one is overheated, in a dangerous way. As reaction is sure to follow, a rise of temperature after a brief spell is inevitable. Yet there is a way to drink water cooled by standing in the immediate neighborhood of ice, so that it will be most wholesome. A distinguished scientist declares that sipping a liquid is a powerful stimulation to the circulation, which ordinary drinking is not. He continues: “During the action of sipping, the action of the nerve that slows the beating of the heart is much lessened. As a consequence, that organ contracts much more rapidly, the pulse beats more quickly, and the circulation is increased. In addition, the pressure under which the bile is secreted is raised by the sipping of fluid.”
It follows that the slow sipping of a glass of cold water not only serves as a stimulant to pulse action, it enters into the general circulation without depressing the digestion, and allays thirst much more effectually than the gulping down of double the quantity at one draft. Try it, fathers and mothers, and induce your children to drink slowly. When they come, heated and weary, from the street or from play, show them how to sip a tumbler of cool—not ice-cold—water, as rational beings ought,—not like animals. Otherwise the tone of the stomach, in time, will be permanently lowered.—Good Housekeeping.
Fall in Love With Your Work
“The first thing to do, if you have not done it, is to fall in love with your work.”
WOMEN SMOKERS.
In a letter addressed to a lady in San Francisco, Prof. David Starr Jordan, of the Stanford University, says:—
I should say in regard to the smoking of women that those women who do not recognize the innate vulgarity of it would hardly be reached by argument. There is no question as to the injury to the nervous system produced by smoking, and this injury is, of course, greatest on persons of fine organization; but outside of that, the fact that a woman is tempted to smoke is evidence enough of her essential coarseness of nature, and those of us who admire fine and noble women are simply satisfied to pass her by on the other side. The average man, even tho a smoker himself, has this view of the case, whether he expresses it or not. Surely nothing is more repulsive to the majority of men than the breath of a woman tainted with nicotine or alcohol.
The above sentiment is surely worthy of consideration by the women; but if the “majority of men” are so sensitive to the unpleasant taint on the breath of a woman smoker, what about the effect of the breath of men smokers on the more delicate organs of the women? The manner in which the “majority of men” will sit or walk enveloped in smoke of their own puffing would seem to indicate that they would rather enjoy the company of a lady with a tobacco breath. But being so sensitive to a lady’s tobacco-tainted breath, they themselves ought to have more consideration for ladies and others who do not use the weed.