The greatest progress the world has made in these last days is in the line of discovery, modern invention, and chemistry. There have also come to this generation many blessings in the wider diffusion of knowledge, in new activities of Christianity. And yet the religion of the day is far below that of Jesus Christ. Its philosophy is largely borrowed from the pagans. Its politics falls below that of other times, and nearly parallels ancient Rome’s at its worst. Even its invention of labor-saving machinery proves, in many respects, a curse to the laboring class, instead of a blessing. In a recent sermon in Grace Episcopal Church, San Francisco, Bishop Henry C. Potter spoke as follows:
We, who are citizens of the United States of America, are in the habit of pluming ourselves on the fact that a great deal that was vicious and narrow and intolerant in the civilization of earlier ages has been dismissed. We speak of feudalism, for instance, with a great scorn. There were fixed social orders and classes in those days; there was a construction of human society which set a man in one place at his birth, and kept him there until his death. And as we remember and remind ourselves of the enormous social contrasts in these particulars which distinguish our modern civilization primarily in this land from that in other countries, we rejoice because we are free from the servitudes of this older civilization, and that the order of feudal society has ceased and perished forever.
But the order of feudal society, whether you and I choose to recognize that fact, was the order in which the rich and poor sat at the same table and ate from the same board. Whether the serf or the servant was below or above, he ate with his master in the same room, of the same viands, under the same roof, in the same presences.
When you come to reflect upon the enormous changes in our modern life, have you ever realized the vast change which has come to pass in human society under the old and what we call the new system? We have dismissed out of our own lives the responsibilities of the old system; we have lost out of them their gracious benignity. We have come to a condition, especially under democratic forms of government, when because there is no fixed order; when because the ignorant man of to-day may be the ruler of to-morrow; when, because in all the organization of human society as we know it in the great centers, we have thrown overboard, so to speak, every tradition that belonged whether to absolutism or feudalism—we reckon ourselves to have achieved the highest triumph, not only in the formation of human government, but in the constitution of human society.
It is worth while for our Christian people to stop and ask themselves occasionally what this modern progress of ours has lost, as well as what is the gain for us. We remember with constantly increasing complacency the triumphs of our vast industrial institutions. At no public meeting do public orators come together without the exaltation of that genius for invention which has governed the world with these modern contrivances of mechanism, which has cheapened so many productions and multiplied so many comforts and luxuries. I would not disparage gains of that sort, but I wonder if you and I have realized at what price they are purchased.
The Price Paid for Modern Invention.
One hundred years ago, in England the weaver who wove the cloth that his master wore, wore it in his own house, on his own property, and with wool which was his own purchase. But when invention and science had given the world these things, domestic industrial life was banished thereafter. That would have been a serious consideration enough, but there came in upon it the modern mills, treating and dealing with the great masses of work people as only so many animated machines.
If the modern manager of a mill were asked to-morrow whether he knew the hands that worked in his mill, he would look at the person who proposed such an inquiry with something of curiosity, and a good deal more of contempt. Know four or five hundred or a thousand men? How could he know them? How could he know anything about them? How could he touch their hands, eat and drink with them in their own homes? The idea is too grotesque to be conceived!
Modern invention, which men exalt, glorify, and worship, is, in unconsecrated hands, divisive and ignobling in its tendency. It might be different if the purpose of its use was to help the needy. It is used, however, to the profit of the few. No mere knowledge of invention, nor science, nor art, nor discovery, will regenerate the world. Only the Gospel of God can do this. Without righteousness, all else, however brilliant, is failure—utter failure.
SUNDAY LAWS AGAIN.
By S.
A PROMINENT New York clergyman, in a recent Sunday sermon, declared the logic of the Sunday-law question to be that “every law now existing that ‘rests on religious grounds should be abrogated.’”
A writer in Harper’s Weekly, commenting on this statement, says: “that seems to be a sound conclusion. It would leave plenty of Sunday laws based, ‘not on religion, but on reasons of economic expediency and public interest.’”
But all laws which enforce a religious ordinance are based on religion, no matter what the pretended basis may be. We may claim that the law is based “on reasons of economic expediency;” but the claim itself is a mere expedient for keeping alive the pagan and medieval idea that religion and religious ordinances must be upheld and fostered and enforced by civil law. We may make the claim that the Sunday law is based upon reasons of public interest; but the fact remains that it is based simply and solely on such portion of the public interest as is of particular interest to us personally—such portion of the public interest as is surrounded by our own conception of the public interest.
To one man the “public interest” would demand that all men everywhere should attend divine worship whether it was in accordance with their own desire or not; and just such a thing as that has been made compulsory right here in America. In years gone by there were those (and they exist at heart to-day) who considered that the public interest demanded that the general public should not read the Bible nor hold opinions of their own concerning its teachings. The public interest, to their minds, demanded that they who did so should die—and they did die, millions of them. In certain countries of the world the “public interest” is thought to demand that no Bibles shall be sold; and thousands of those that are sold are gathered and burned by the supposed guardians of the “public interest.”
The public interest in various parts of the world has been interpreted to demand the whipping, burning, and hanging of “witches.” In other places it has been interpreted to demand that they who rest on “the Sabbath day according to the commandment,” must also rest on the first day of the week, commandment or no commandment. And for the9“public interest,” Christ’s most loyal and humble followers have been whipped at the cart’s tail from town to town by those who professed to be able to interpret public interest.
What are we taught by these sad and contradictory occurrences?—This: that public interest can be interpreted to demand anything that our individual feelings may urge us personally to demand. Our interpretation of public interest is not an impartial or infallible judge in matters where private prejudice, private interests, or individual feelings and cherished dogmas are concerned. No fallible man has a right to sit in judgment on religious interests of other men, and compel them to live according to the decision which he hands down. But that is exactly what is done when men are compelled by law to observe religious ordinances, even tho they are professedly based on reasons of “public interest” or “economic expediency.”
The public interest does demand certain things. It demands civility on the part of all men everywhere, in order that none may trample upon the rights of others. It does not demand that the rights of any shall be violated in order that any ordinance, religious or otherwise, may be glorified before men and perpetuated in oppression.
S.
Census Report on Population
The final census report on the population by sex, general nativity, and color, of the several States and Territories was issued at Washington on October 12. According to this report, the males exceed the females by 1,815,097, the per cent. of males being 51.2, and of females 48.8. The census further shows that the population consisted of 65,843,300 native-born persons and 10,450,085 of foreign birth. The total number of colored persons in the States and Territories amounted to 9,312,585. There has not been as great an increase proportionately among the colored population as among the white.
Following closely on the heels of the total destruction of the British torpedo-boat destroyer Cobra, and the loss of the greater part of her crew, comes the report that another vessel of the same type, the Crane, narrowly escaped the same fate. The Cobra broke in two in the middle and went down. The Crane began to buckle amidships, and only by a prompt return to the harbor was a second disaster of this kind avoided. The occurrence is of interest as showing the frail construction of these dangerous craft, in which men's lives are put in jeopardy in the great race for military supremacy.
A cable to the New York Sun from Vienna states that despite the czar's visit to France recently, the Russian Government has been unable to secure a loan in France. It states further that Russia is urgently in need of $125,000,000 for immediate requirements. Russia will try to obtain the loan either of British or American financiers. It is supposed that Russia needs the funds to complete the Siberian railroad, and that she is desirous of finishing this road at the earliest possible moment in view of possible developments in the Orient.
A Turkish officer was captured in Algeria a few days ago who had papers in his possession showing that he had been commissioned by the Turkish minister of war to foment an uprising in Southern Algeria against the French, in case of hostilities between France and Turkey. Further investigations showed that this officer was only one of several who were to make trouble for the French in Algeria in case of war. As the Algerians are Mohammedans, this would not have been a difficult task for the Turkish officers to accomplish.
A cable to the New York World from Berlin states that the open-air treatment for consumption is astonishingly successful in Germany. Out of 142 attested cases in Hanover, 121 are pronounced cured; in Saxony out of 98 patients 60 are cured; while in Baden, where the treatment is given in what is called the Black Forest, 205 cases have been cured out of 240 patients. Leaflets describing the best method of treating this disease are distributed wholesale by the government.
War has been declared between the beet sugar and cane sugar interests of the United States. The great sugar trust intends making common cause with the Cuban sugar-raisers against the beet-sugar interests of the Western States, and the trust will declare a reduction in the price of sugar in order to force the beet-sugar interests out of the market. It is understood that the battle is to be carried into Congress.
Prince Ching has protested to the representatives of the powers in China against the presence of foreign merchants in Peking, as Peking is not a treaty port, and asks the foreign ministers to remove these merchants to the treaty ports. The ministers have called a meeting to consider this demand.
There bids fair to be a heated controversy, if not a war, between the States of Bolivia and Peru over the possession of rich mining property near the border line of the two states. The mines are on territory previously considered as belonging to Peru. The issue is now in the diplomatic stage.
Judge Morris of the United States Circuit Court, at Baltimore, has handed down his decision in the Russian sugar bounty case, in which he upholds the action of the collector in levying a bounty of 70 cents per 100 pounds on sugar imported into this country from Russia.
For the purpose of combating German influence in Asiatic Turkey, Russia is backing a wealthy syndicate of Russian and Belgian financiers who are demanding from Turkey important concessions in Asiatic Turkey, the Holy Land, and Arabia.
Three French aeronauts and a lieutenant started on a balloon voyage across the Mediterranean on October 13 for the purpose of testing the practicability of the balloon in crossing that sea in time of war. They expect to land in Algeria.
A large quantity of school books designed for the Philippine Island schools have been seized by government inspectors because they contain pictures of American coins. The matter is to be referred to Secretary Gage for final decision.
The British steamer Quito was fired upon by Colombian rebels at Tumaco, on September 28, and some damage was done by the shots. The British war-ship Icarus has sailed for the scene of the trouble.
On October 13 the Chinese plenipotentiaries performed their last official act, and forwarded to the foreign diplomatic corps a bond for the indemnity of 450,000,000 taels.
On the night of October 7 a submarine earthquake caused a tidal wave eight feet high all along the west coast of Nicaragua.
The new ameer of Afghanistan has declared his friendship for England. Reports from Russia state that there is sure to be an uprising in Afghanistan, due to the claims of the fourth son of the late ameer. These reports also state that Russia has ordered large reinforcements along the frontier to be in readiness, if necessary, to seize Herat. Such an act as this would be likely to lead at once to hostilities with England. In order to maintain his standing with European nations, the new ameer has appointed a special guard for each European in Kabul, directing that the guards shall answer with their lives for the safety of their charges.
Miss Ellen M. Stone, the captured missionary, is still in the hands of the brigands who kidnapped her. The sum demanded as her ransom has not yet been raised, tho a considerable portion of it has been made up. The American minister to Turkey requested that the troops who had surrounded the bandits should be withdrawn, fearing that Miss Stone's life would be taken by the brigands if the pursuit were pressed further. An attempt is being made to enter into negotiations with the abductors to reduce the sum demanded for her release.
A clash has occurred between Germans and Venezuelans at Port Cabella, Venezuela. The Germans from the cruiser Vineta were compelled to take refuge on a German vessel lying at the wharf, and were reinforced by a boatload of marines from the Vineta. Venezuela regards this as an invasion of her territory and has demanded an apology. Germany refuses to apologize, and indicates that she may call upon Venezuela to apologize for the attack on the Germans.
Lorenzo Snow, fifth president of the Mormon Church, died at his home in Salt Lake City, on October 10, at the age of 87 years. During his life president Snow was the husband of nine wives and the father of forty-three children. The office of president of the Mormon Church now falls to Joseph F. Smith, whose office hitherto has been president of the twelve apostles. The new president was a polygamist, with three wives.
Commandant Scheeper, a prominent Boer leader, has been captured by the British; but the net which had been thrown around General Botha was not strong enough to hold him. His force is supposed to have broken up into small companies in order to avoid the British. All Cape Colony has now been declared under martial law.
Johann Most, the Anarchist editor and lecturer, has been sentenced to one year's imprisonment in New York penitentiary, for publishing in his paper, the Freiheit, an alleged seditious article on the day following the shooting of President McKinley. The article was entitled “Murder against Murder.”
The American Federation of Labor, the International Typographical Union, and Typographical Union No. 6, of New York declared, some time ago, a boycott against the New York Sun. The Illinois State Federation of Labor has now joined the boycott against that paper.
The plan of the large railroad companies of the country to abolish all passes after December 31 has been brought to naught by the stand taken by the smaller roads. When the vote was taken on the matter, the majority against abolishing the passes was decisive.
A report from London states that a new advance has been achieved in wireless telegraphy. According to the report, Professor Marconi has succeeded in transmitting messages 350 miles, which is much farther than the greatest distance hitherto reported.
It is reported that the question of the right of the government to give permission to land a cable in the Philippine Islands is more complicated than was at first supposed, and that the whole matter will be left to Congress to decide.
Reports from Nome, Alaska, state that a veritable reign of terror is now going on there. Men and women are beaten and robbed in daylight, and the robbing of sluice boxes and business houses is going on continually.
The United States transport Kilpatrick arrived in San Francisco harbor on October 12, bringing 908 men of the Eighteenth Regular Infantry, and a number of military prisoners and soldiers from other regiments.
One of the great guns of the new battle-ship Alabama was practically destroyed during a powder test recently. The expense to the government of repairing this one gun is estimated at $100,000.
The Post Office Department has decided to place the late President McKinley's head on the new issue of postal cards which will appear shortly after December 1 next.
The Turkish Government has at last granted the American consul at Harpoot the necessary official papers, which she had so long withheld.
It is announced that the government of Kongo Free State, Africa, has decided to build 800 miles of railway in that part of Africa.
It is reported that the crops of wheat and corn in the Middle States will be larger this year than ever before.
The final estimate of the French budget shows a deficit of $10,000,000.
AN EVIL WORK.
THERE is nothing surprising nor unaccountable in the published statement that some liquor dealers in a Western city have been discovered in a deliberate attempt to awaken an appetite for strong drink among young boys in their neighborhood by dealing out confectionery doctored with alcohol. Such a scheme is in perfect harmony with the spirit and character of the liquor business always and everywhere. Considerations of right, justice, decency, purity, are not to be found in the program of the saloon. To sell drink, at whatever cost to individuals or to communities in misery, suffering, and sorrow, is the one object of the rumseller’s existence. It is for the right to do this that he pays his license, and why should he not have the worth of his money? He is authorized by law to scatter poison and death, and why should he be blamed for doing that which the people through their government have told him that he may do?—Christian Work.
INCREASE OF CRIME.
THE city of New York, during the year 1899, raised in revenue, the sum of $90,000,000. Of this vast sum, $20,000,000 was spent as the result of crime—its detection and punishment. In a recent year, according to the figures of Mr. Eugene Smith, an expert statistician and penologist, there was spent in the United States the enormous sum of $200,000,000 for the same purpose for which New York City spent her $20,000,000. The records of the criminal courts show that more is being spent for that purpose now than in the years when these statistics were compiled. This record of the fearful increase of crime is a terribly emphatic contradiction of the theory that the world is growing better, and is fast forging on to a glorious temporal future. We are not laying bare these dark conditions because of a desire to make the world appear as bad as possible in order to support a theory; but the Lord has Himself declared that when these conditions should exist, His glorious coming would be near at hand. There will be those who will refuse to recognize these conditions, and will not be prepared to meet their Lord when He comes. It is to help men to see and be saved, that the record is kept before them as it is.
s.
In the State of Indiana the number of divorces has doubled in less than ten years, in spite of the fact that some years ago Indiana’s divorce laws were remodeled and improved. The divorce record for Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, shows that during 1900 there was one divorce to less than four marriages. Taking the State as a whole, there was an average of one divorce for every six marriages.
WHILE a company of Anarchists were holding a meeting in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on October 13, they were attacked by a mob, who handled the Anarchists very roughly, and completely demolished the interior of the house in which the meeting was being held. The leader of the mob and several of the Anarchists were placed under arrest. This is simply Anarchy against Anarchy, and nothing good can come out of such lawless affairs.
A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF ANIMALS.
By Frederick Griggs
Get lessons in any of the various fields of nature-study are not the most profitable means by which to learn. Neither is the value of nature-study determined by the number of objects we may study. That value is determined by the intimate acquaintance which we make with a few objects.
The story of how Agassiz taught one young man applies well here. When the young man presented himself to the great scientist as a student, he was given a fish and told to study it. He was not told what or how he was to study, but he was kept at this fish for days, until he finally discovered the points which the master wished him to discover. It was hard work, but in the process he acquired such an intimate knowledge of the one small creature that the foundation was well laid for a broad study of nature.
I have already suggested in a previous article that in the study of animals we should pay particular attention to changes which they undergo owing to the seasons and their environments. In addition to this suggestion let me repeat one which I have already made in this article, namely, that of selecting a few animals, and making a close and critical study of them. Thus, if the larva of a butterfly be observed through the changes which it undergoes until it emerges a full-grown butterfly—a truly wonderful transformation, which should be seen by every one—an interest will be aroused in regard to that butterfly which can not be felt for others. Often an insect can be marked so that it can be observed for a whole season. A large knowledge of other animals will thus be acquired, as we naturally contrast them with the particular one under study.
It is in the fall of the year that insect life most manifests itself. Notice the great variety—nothing is more wonderful and interesting. Some one has remarked that no region on the globe has proved so inhospitable but that some form of insect life has been found to adapt itself to that environment. These little insects succeed in imitating, at least, the work of all other animals. I have spoken of butterflies. Notice how and where they get their food. Do they visit all kinds of flowers? How do they cling to a plant, and when clinging, what do they do with their wings? How do their wings differ from that of a bird? Notice the color of the flower which the butterflies visit as compared with their own color. In each one of the points see how they imitate different larger animals. Hundreds of questions might be asked similar to these upon insects alone. It is the work of the student to answer from his own observation some of these questions.
Birds are best studied in relation to their habits. Notice as to whether they are sociable or solitary; how they build their nests; and how they help one another. A noted scientist was once observing two swallows build their nest of mud. They had it quite completed, and while both were away, after laying the final bricks for their house, two English sparrows took possession. When the swallows returned, the saucy bills of the sparrows prevented their entrance into their newly-constructed house. They tried first one plan and then another to eject the marauders. Nothing succeeded. Finally they flew away, and after a time returned with many more swallows, and another nest was rapidly built on top of the first one, hermetically locking the sparrows in their stolen home. This may seem to be a rather large story, but I do not doubt it in the least. The reason we are so incredulous when the close observers of nature tell us of the wonderful doings of animals, is because we observe them so little that we are not at all acquainted with them.
All animals play much more than we imagine, unless we have observed them closely. This is very true of birds. It is very evident that they often try to outdo each other; and they appear to believe that all work and no play makes the thrush a dull bird. For of work—hard work—they have plenty in the course of the year. What with their long journey to the north; the taking up of their homestead claim; the building of the house; the keeping of the eggs warm, at which father and mother must take turns; the feeding of the young, and training them in the way they should go—work? Isn’t this work? If it were not for the courtship and love which come into these little homes, together with their sports, it would be a hard, grinding life that the little bird lives.
I may mention several points to be observed in the habits of birds. First, perhaps, is their migration, the coming in the spring and the going in the fall. This is done under leaders; and by study it will be found that they are organized better than some armies. They have a language all their own. Different sounds have different meanings, and we may learn them. To illustrate this. Every one has observed and learned the different words of a mother hen as she talks to her baby chicks, telling them to follow her, or calling them to eat, or warning them of danger and urging them to run and hide, or the lullaby song that she sings as she cradles them to sleep under her wings. Among birds that live in community life, as the crow, there is always to be found a leader who has often many words of command.
The best place to study animal life is in its natural haunts. But the winter life of animals may often be studied within doors to great profit. Two or three suggestions with reference to this winter study may be of value, and one who is interested will discover others. Take the larvae (large brown and green worms) of several different species of moths, and place them in boxes covered with mosquito-netting. They should be fed upon the same leaves—fresh—as that upon which they were found. It is very interesting to watch them eat. They will soon spin a cocoon, and pass into a sleep, from whence, in the spring—if they have been preserved throughout the winter from extremes of cold and heat—they will break their shell-like house, and come forth to the pleasures of a butterfly life. These metamorphoses through which the butterfly passes in order to come into being, will delight a small child, as well as one who is older.
Ants may be kept for observation throughout a whole year. They can be placed in glass jars or in a glass case, and, if necessary, set in water to prevent their escaping in the house. They should be fed sugar, bread-crumbs, bits of meat, etc. The changes made from day to day in the earth, and the manner in which the larvae are handled, being visible through the glass, are sources of unfailing interest.
Hibernation also may be studied by taking a common snapping turtle, and placing him in a box of wet sand with a lid over it. In a little time he will disappear from sight, and remain until spring. What should the turtle be fed upon before he burrows in the fall, and after he comes out in the spring? How could you find out?
There is practically no end to the suggestions which might be offered for the study of animal life, but one must learn from experience largely. And if one plan of study does not succeed, try another. To-day there are a large number of readable and intensely interesting books which can be purchased at almost any book-store, or from the majority of school-book publishers, which offer suggestive thoughts. However, books are not what are most needed, but eyes and a heart.
“Thou who hast given me eyes to see,
And love for what is fair,
Give me a heart to find out Thee,
And read Thee everywhere.”
FREDERICK GRIGGS.
South Lancaster, Mass.
OFF TO THE HILLS.
By Myra E. Burns-Howell
Art seeking health? It is not found
In flowing bowl nor brimming cup;
Off to the hills with leap and bound,
And quaff ozone with chest well up.
MYRA E. BURNS-HOWELL.
Proper Lighting for Reading
It is poor economy to read by a dim, unsteady light. Have a good light with a porcelain shade, and sit with your back toward the light. Eyesight is too precious to trifle with.
