THE day before the destruction of Chinatown, San Francisco, Jessie Juliet Knox, favorably known for her book, "Little Almond Blossoms," completed the interesting paper on the "Shut-in Women of Chinatown," from which the following extract is taken. The article appears in the August Housekeeper. This writer is probably better acquainted with the life of the women of Chinatown than any other American. She says:
"A stranger would be frightened here, for one must pass through a large gambling house in order to meet the dear little woman above. At the street door sits the 'look-out man,' somber and stolid as a wooden Indian. Like Poe's raven he sits there day and night. If the police are seen approaching to make a raid on the place, he will press a button to warn the gamblers inside. When the officers enter all will be as serene as a Sunday-school, and no paraphernalia in sight—nothing to be seen save a few sleepy-looking Chinamen, smoking opium, and the altar where the incense burns always for the gods.
"The gods are never left out of anything, you know. Sometimes when I pass through this gambling house it is simply packed with men of different nations. Sometimes I fear the white men, but the Chinese—never. I never stop to stare at them, but, giving them a kindly greeting in their own tongue, pass on, through a dark and hellish-looking place called the kitchen, which is always full of smoke and unsavory Chinese smells, and where the oil is ever burning before the 'kitchen god,' and on, into the dark passageway, and up the worst flight of stairs I have ever seen. The rooms are small, dark, and stuffy. A malodorous aroma comes from acres of fish drying on the roofs, and from chickens and ducks in pens.
"At the top of the steps is a door, and here I give a cheery 'hoo-hoo,' which is echoed inside the barred door. Here I never have to stand long outside, for the lady inside is my dearest Chinese friend. It is Mrs. Wing.
"She has an artist's soul and a poet's heart. There is so much that could be said about her that one could devote whole volumes to it: of the many close years of friendship which have existed between us; of the happy time when her baby boy was born, and the joy she felt at being the proud mother of a son; of all the pretty American things I had taught her to make, and how she had trembled and cried for joy when I showed her the simplest things; how we read aloud to each other in English and Chinese, and cried, and laughed, and prayed, and sang together; how a dear little baby girl was born to her, and they let it lie on the cold, bare floor till it was dead, because—it was a girl, and the father thought it a disgrace.
"After that weary time I spent weeks with her, of afternoons. Her life was despaired of, and to me alone did she pour out her innocent heathen heart. It made one cry one minute and laugh the next to hear her talk. 'My baby girl he die; I no got baby now; my little girl he so pletty—nice little hand—nice head—pletty eye—pletty nose—O, my baby so pletty! just like me!'
"So she would go on in this way, tearing one's heart out as he listened, and putting her hand on her heart, would say: 'In here I all time go like this (heaving a big sigh). I no can sleep—I no can eat—I want my baby.'"—Christian Advocate.
OUR INDIA MISSION.
By Editor
NOTWITHSTANDING the earthquakes and the fires and all the rest of the various calamities and occurrences, our friends have not forgotten India—stricken, suffering India, always poor in purse and poorer in soul.
India needs help; and her missionaries need help in the mission for which this paper is pleading, a mission in the hill country, among the hardier tribes, where the suffering missionaries can go from the lowlands and recruit while they are doing missionary work.
Reported to June 1 ........................$2,344.30
Grace Kruger .............................. .50
Thomas Warpster ........................... .50
Mrs. H. Buesing ........................... 5.00
W. G. Steeves ............................. 5.00
Mrs. J. T. Rhy ............................ .25
Mrs. M. S. C. ............................. 100.00
Martha Whitney ............................ 2.50
Mrs. H. J. Parr ........................... 1.00
Jas. Green ................................ .75
O. Benoit ................................. 2.00
Al. Lovgreen .............................. 5.00
F. A. Allen ............................... 43.00
Jas. Ellis ................................ 1.00
Mrs. L. M. Wheeler ........................ 1.00
Colo. Conference .......................... 293.55
Mrs. E. A. Green .......................... 2.50
Foell & Co. ............................... 10.00
Alex Hunckley ............................. 25.00
Mrs. Daniells ............................. 1.05
E. W. Whitney ............................. 4.20
To Aug. 31 ................................$2,848.10
Sale of Bible Training School, Boulder,
Colo. ..................................... 33.75
Mrs. Standish ............................. 40.00
Montana Camp-meeting ...................... 8.95
N. Yakima Church .......................... 11.00
Mary Wagner ............................... 1.00
E. R. Hartman ............................. 5.00
Miscellaneous (J. L. Shaw) ................ 5.00
John Reid, Tacoma ......................... 39.42
Mt. Tabor Church .......................... 43.90
To Sept. 14 ...............................$3,036.12
In addition to this Southern California Conference has given $2,500, and, not understanding the plan, has reported direct to the Foreign Mission Board, Washington, D. C. This brings the total to date, so far as reported to us, to......$5,536.12
May God bless the donors and make hearts in India glad.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
AT Humboldt, Iowa, where Brother J. C. Clemens has been laboring, six converts to the truth are reported.
THE donations of our Sabbath-schools to foreign mission work now aggregate about a thousand dollars a week.
THE fifth annual session of the New Jersey Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will be held in Trenton, October 17-21.
BROTHER D. E. LINDSEY, a minister of long experience in Ohio Conference, has been called to the presidency of Quebec Conference.
A LITTLE Baltimore girl, fourteen years of age, working to pay her way in South Lancaster (Mass.) College, made $60 during the month of July selling Life and Health.
IN reporting progress of meetings held at Mount Carroll, Ill., in the Recorder, Brethren J. C. and F. J. Harris note that two have begun to observe the Sabbath of the Lord.
AT a recent camp-meeting at Kingfisher, O. T., twenty-four candidates were baptized, and some others were to be baptized later. Services were conducted in both German and English.
ON Sabbath, the 1st inst., two members were added to the church in Newark, N. J. Brother E. E. Franke has been laboring there, and these two are in addition to others recently received into the church.
FOX RIVER ACADEMY, at Sheridan, Ill., was opened on the 12th inst. The Recorder says: "Perhaps never have our young people been so interested in securing an education and training for Christian work as at the present time, . . . and we are looking for marked results during the coming year." A new dormitory has been added to the premises, which affords a comfortable home for the young men.
BROTHER F. C. GILBERT, in noting that the Hebrews in various places are beginning to study the New Testament, mentions one company of about three hundred in Boston who meet regularly to study with regard to Christ and His mission. The Jews are more easily reached by Seventh-day Adventists than by any other body of Christians, being already in harmony on two prominent points—the seventh-day Sabbath and the discarding of swine's flesh as food.
THE Southern Illinois Conference has elected the following officers: President, W. D. Parkhurst; secretary, Nettie Eaton; treasurer, Southern Illinois Tract Society; missionary secretary and treasurer, S. J. Quantock; educational secretary and Sabbath-school superintendent, Cora Hicks; medical and young people's secretary, Edith E. Bruce; field secretary, James Rodney; religious liberty secretary, W. D. Parkhurst; conference committee—W. D. Parkhurst, P. G. Stanley, M. G. Huffman, J. E. Locken, and G. M. Hicks.
THE fall term of Union College, at College View, Neb., began on the 12th inst. President C. C. Lewis writes that good crops and general prosperity, together with other favorable conditions, indicate a large attendance. In setting forth the advantages of the institution, he adds: "Thousands regret their neglect to obtain a good education. Nobody is sorry for a single month spent in school." The school offers preparatory, academic, and college courses; also ministerial, normal, commercial, medical preparatory, and stenographic courses. There are German, Danish, and Swedish departments, and a conservatory of music. Address the president for information in detail.
Editorial Notes
By Editor
In another column will be found a list of the donors to our India mission. The fund is still open.
We postpone the publication of the articles, "The Papacy in Prophecy" for two or three weeks.
How many times the Bible gets upset. It has been well likened to the overturning of a cube, it is, after every "upsetting," just as big and just as solid as ever.
The article on the Restoration of the Temporal Power and the present policy of the Papacy relating thereto, by C. E. Milton, our Rome correspondent, was in type at the time of the fire. Since that we have been able to secure another copy from Rome. It shows the various methods which the Papacy is using to-day. This will be followed by another on the possibility of the Roman See's being removed from the city by the Tiber. These articles are of interest.
Consequent upon our great fire a special stockholder's meeting was called for September 10. The meeting held for two days.
The representation was not large, only three of our constituency being present from east of the Rockies, namely: E. T. Russell, president of the Central Union Conference; A. T. Robinson, president of the Nebraska Conference; and L. F. Starr, president of the Iowa Conference. The North Pacific Conference was represented by W. B. White, president; and by W. F. Martin, president of the Montana Conference. The Pacific Union Conference was represented by its president, H. W. Cottrell, also president of the Pacific Press Publishing Company; by W. T. Knox, president of the California Conference; F. I. Richardson, president of the Arizona Conference; and G. W. Reaser, president of the Southern California Conference. There was also present a goodly number of local stockholders and members of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, stockholders by virtue of transfer of stock from the company to the association. The General Conference was represented by vice-president G. A. Irwin and by W. C. White.
Very full and earnest consideration was given the question by most of those present. There was a desire on the part of some to remove the plant to some other locality; but this was early disposed of, altho some excellent offers had been made by other towns. Another query was raised as to whether the greater part of the printing could not be done in outside shops, the company merely doing a publishing business. The general principles and sad experiences in these matters made it very clear that this was impractical.
These questions settled, the next was the size and cost of the building. The loss upon the company has been very great. Its board of directors feels that its debt must not be increased, that its splendid credit must be kept good, nor must its work be crippled. The board felt that the friends of the cause would help this institution, set as it is for the one purpose of heralding "the everlasting Gospel," the "Gospel of the kingdom." They desired a gift of $100,000. But the representatives from east of the Rockies thought this was too much. There is now before this people a call for $150,000 for institutions in Washington and the South, besides the burden of the foreign and local work; and $200,000 is a large sum to ask of a small self-sacrificing people. And yet, there are wealthy and well-to-do persons enough among this people to raise a quarter million dollars for these institutions, and not feel it. We mean that they could afford to do this. They would not suffer from it. Nay, more, they would be greatly blessed by so doing. It would identify them more closely with God's cause. It would bring them into closer and more blessed relationship to Christ; they would know better "the fellowship of His suffering," and thereby experience "the power of His resurrection." They would have in their own lives the practical demonstration of Christ's own words: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give unto your bosom. For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." But the final vote cut the request for the appropriation down to $50,000 for the Pacific Press.
Of course, that action must limit the company in its building. They have therefore decided to build smaller than before by over 10,000 square feet of floor space and a less expensive building. The most rigid economy will be used throughout. This will be equipped by excellent machinery, and operated by skilled and devoted men and women. It will be confined solely to the work for which the printing plant was established, doing no outside printing; and will hope to do better and more work than ever before. Nobly and faithfully its best employees are standing by it in its affliction. Generously and leniently, with Christian brotherliness, the creditors of the company are dealing with it. From many of our fellow townsmen come warm expressions of sympathy, and from some, of practical help. One gentleman, a mechanic, told us yesterday, that while he had nothing in this institution and was not one of us, he had assessed himself two weeks' work in the rebuilding of the plant. The town officials are doing all they can to secure for us fire protection and whatever other advantages are possible within the pale of their legal limitations. Above all these, God is good, mighty, wise; and therefore, trusting in His "holy trinity of knowledge, Goodness, and Almighty Power," we are of good courage to press tirelessly on in our work, His work, until the end. "Brethren, pray for us."
Boast Not.
It was, evidently, even then an old proverb which the king of Israel threw at the haughty monarch of Syria who boastfully demanded his abject and slavish submission: "Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off." The haughty king replied, with an order for instant battle; the result was utter and disastrous defeat. Let not him beginning his work with seeming success boast over him who is moving with more difficulty. Let not him in the midst of a work which seems prosperous boast as tho the work were successfully accomplished. Let not him who thinks he is making a great success cease his work to intermeddle with his neighbor whose work he may not understand; nor boast himself over those who are bearing burdens in God's work. The principle of the old proverb is very broad, and its length is the age of probation. There are different kinds of success, and "there is many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip." Man at the best has but little to boast of, and in the words of "Andrew Rykeman,
"Whatsoe'er I fain would boast
Needs Thy pitying pardon most."
We have received from time to time from the International Policyholders' Committee, 30 Broad St., New York, sheets on the insurance election to take place from October 18 to December 18, in which the policy holders themselves have the power of electing the officers of the companies. Each one of the sheets contains a special warning to policy holders not to give proxies. Various ones are endeavoring to secure the proxies of the policy holders, but they are warned in all cases to give "no proxies to anybody." The life insurance matter is that which does not concern us personally at all. We believe that the best life insurance policy under the sun is the church of God, the officials of which are beyond all human bribery and graft, for "He is our life, and the length of our days," and He assures us that if we will seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness all the necessary things of this world shall be added; yet we feel sorry for those who have thought to secure safety for their wives and children by becoming connected with companies in which there has been so much fraud and corruption. It certainly will be a blessing if they can be purified. The address of the committee is given above if any wish information.
Prohibition has again won the day in Maine. As prohibition is a constitutional provision, the question was resubmitted to a vote of the people at the recent state election. As was to be expected in the cities, where the selling of liquors against the law has not been entirely prohibited, the majority were against prohibition; but in the country the vote was in favor of the system. So the whole majority in favor of prohibition was about in the ratio of the total vote of the country to that of the cities. The Republican Party of Maine has always sustained the prohibition cause in its platforms, and the labor-union element, headed by the national president of the Federation of Labor, made a special effort to defeat Mr. Littlefield, one of the Republican candidates for Congress, because of his opposition to class legislation in Congress; yet with this additional opposition to him, he was chosen by even an increased majority. So he gives the opposition of the Federation of Labor credit for increasing his popularity. This is another case of co-operation of unionism with the liquor traffic in politics.
The latest news from Russia is that of constant disturbance, of plot and counterplot, in various parts of the empire. A terrible massacre took place September 9, in Siedloe. An attack of soldiers was made on the Jews and Christians who were robbed and murdered indiscriminately. Martial law was proclaimed, and the Jews were panic-stricken. In the morning the mob attacked the soldiery, throwing bombs and using fire-arms, but in their madness their rage was short-lived, and the soldiers broke loose from all authority and as brutally attacked the rabble in the street. This massacre, we are told, ranks among the very bloodiest of the Russian annals. Hundreds were mowed down, and the mob was routed and scattered. Officers of the soldiers were swept aside, quarter was shown to none. Houses were looted and pillaged, dynamited and wrecked. Surely if there is a sick man in the East now, Russia is the one.
It was thought that the break of France from the Vatican would result in more liberty, but a despatch from Paris, of August 20, tells us that President Fallieres signed a decree bringing the compulsory weekly rest-day law into operation September 1. It has been put forth largely as a labor movement, but it will be soon seen that it will be used by bigoted religiousists to oppress those who may differ from the law that has no right to be on the statute-books of any country on earth.
The earthquake is said to have saved $20,000 to a railroad company. The Ocean Shore Railroad, being constructed between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, was damaged to the extent of $16,000 at Point San Pedro; but at Mussel Rock, where blasting and drilling was planned which would cost $36,000, the effect of the earthquake was such as to save that work.
"The joy of the Lord" is not joy in what we do, but in what He does; not in the souls that we save, but that He saves.