Earlier text: THE RIVER OF LIFETHE BATTLE OF THAT GREAT DAY.
By T.
A WAR that will involve the whole world is one of the things that is most clearly pointed out in the Word of God to take place in the last days. One of the scriptures that speaks of it is as follows:— “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16: 13, 14. That scripture plainly says that the “kings of the earth and of the whole world” will be led onto the battle-field in that great day. Who has not been impressed with the virulent spirit of war in these times? These are the times in which men had fondly hoped that our great civilization would keep the world from war any more. And how glorious it would be if such were really the case! But instead of anything in this line of much-to-be-desired peace we find the whole world at the present time involved in a war with China. It can not be possible that this is the real battle of the great day of God that the foregoing scripture points out; for that battle is to come under the pouring out of the sixth plague, as any one will see who attentively reads the entire sixteenth chapter of Revelation. But how vividly is the fact illustrated that the world is in such a condition that the slightest provocation will, in just a few weeks, throw it into all the horrors of a universal war! And who can predict where this war with China may end? It is quite possible that peace will never return to this earth again. If it does it will be but for a very brief moment. Several of the powers are determined to overthrow China and divide up her territory. And when the Chinese are overthrown, if that should come as a result of the present war, then what will be the fightings among the powers themselves! Already they can hardly keep peace among them, even while they face an enemy that is filled with vengeance and seeking their destruction. What will they do should this enemy be put out of the way and they be left free to assert their own selfish interests? Should China be overthrown in this present war, it will only be the beginning of the trouble, rather than the end. Have you considered the fact that every military power of any considerable consequence on the face of the whole earth has its forces in China at the present time, and is a party to the present struggle? And have you considered how suddenly this strife has sprung to the front? All this shows the condition of the times, and most strikingly portrays how soon these prophecies that speak of the great and final world-wide war may be fulfilled. The climax of this earth’s history is at our doors. Are we prepared to meet it? There is still a little calm before the bursting of the universal storm. This is the time to seek the eternal shelter. Have you done it? HEAPING TOGETHER TREASURE.
By C. M. S.
THE Standard Oil Company has declared another dividend on its capital stock of $100,000,000, this time a dividend of eight per cent. This is the third dividend declared during the year. The first was of twenty per cent., and the second ten, making a total of thirty-eight per cent. during seven months, or an earning of $38,000,000 on a capital of $100,000,000 in little more than half a year; and of this enormous amount one man receives $11,780,000. This one man owns forty-nine per cent. of all the stock of the subsidiary companies, whose earnings net him thus far during the year $36,510,000, making a total for seven months of $48,290,000. His income for the entire year is conservatively estimated at $60,000,000. Such heaping together of wealth the world has never seen before. The mind can scarce comprehend it. And this is but one of the thousands who are piling million upon million, and thus giving evidence to the world that the time of man's probation is drawing to a close. It is time to awake out of sleep, to "arise and shine," that our light may lead others to the light of God. "Behold, the Judge standeth at the door."
C. M. S. Chinese Government and Foreign Ministers
According to a cipher despatch from the French minister at Peking, it seems that the Chinese Government has represented to the ministers that their governments had ordered them to leave Peking under Chinese escort. The ministers replied that they would not leave their posts without instructions from their governments. THE ROOT AND THE TREE.
By Charles M. Stone
THE census returns are now being published, and some of our large cities are disappointed because their increase of population has been no larger than the figures show. But this is not surprising, as many of them had expected to show an increase of as much as fifty per cent. during the last ten years. However, some of them have very nearly done so. The city of Buffalo, for instance, shows a gain of nearly thirty-eight per cent., having added to her population 96,555 since 1890. That city is now credited with 352,219. The gain in many of our other large cities has been marvelous. There seems to have been an exodus from the country; for the population of the nation has not increased in any such ratio as the population of the cities. This movement from the country to the cities seems to be in harmony with the prevailing spirit of these days. The men who make large fortunes live in the cities. The countryman who would be wealthy must do as the wealthy do, and he seeks his fortune in the city, content in cases to live for years on a very small income if only he may learn the secret of the accumulation of wealth. Country girls and boys flock to the cities by thousands to find employment as apprentices at various trades, clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, etc., because parents "do not want their children to have to work as hard as they have had to work." Therefore they are educated for "positions," that they may have a better prospect of "getting on in the world," a better prospect of learning the ways of winning wealth, of "securing a competency." And there is direct connection between the increased population of the cities, and the increased want and misery of the populations; a direct connection between the rapid increase of the social evil, and the overcrowding of centers of population. This migration downward is forcing downward the wage scale of thousands who were already struggling bitterly with poverty. As thousands crowd in, other thousands are crowded down, until the clerkship gives place to the sewing needle, and the working hours are stretched over to midnight, if by any possible exertion the cries of the hungry may be stopped; and to many there seems to be no opening but the wide-swinging door of evil, no employer but sin; and sin is there in every phase and shape and color. The tree of iniquity gains a prodigious growth by this abnormal and ever-increasing migration—and its root is "the love of money," the desire for wealth and luxury. It is a terrible object lesson, this misery that grows out of "the love of money." Man can not pander to the love of money, and be laying up treasure in heaven at the same time; for "where your treasure is there will your heart be also." In such times as this, when the love of money seems to be the ruling passion of the world, the Christian needs to "set his face as a flint," to "stablish" his "heart," yielding all to God, and trusting Him, while seeking to save others from the ruin of the world. Worldly Confederacies.—No wonder the Lord has warned His people to avoid the "confederacies" of the world. They lead only to strife and bitterness between man and man. In this city the mill-workers demanded an eight-hour day, giving five months' notice, and in reply they were locked out. The president of the union says, "We are in this fight to stay." He also claims the support of the Building Trades Council, and this describes the complication:— "As to the importation of men to take our places, I do not think that will work well. Even if the millmen have finished supplies on hand it will do them no good. They can not use the stuff. The carpenters will not handle it; the bricklayers will not have anything to do with it; the plasterers will not touch it; the lather will not touch it; so there will be no use in trying to place it on the market." The prospect from the employers' side of the controversy is given by a representative man in this way:— "I think this will be a long strike. In Chicago a union man can not get a job, and 20,000 men, in consequence, have left the city. There the material men have notified contractors who employ union men that they will be expected to pay cash for whatever they get in the way of supplies, without the customary discount for cash. It will be the same way here." Time is too short (if there were no other reason) to justify the followers of the Prince of Peace in connecting with any confederacy or controversy that can only engender strife. IT is reported from South Africa that the Boers have captured the Elands River garrison. A plot to shoot all the British officers in Pretoria and carry off Lord Roberts was discovered on August 9, just before it was to have been carried out. The leaders in the plot were at once arrested. General Methuen is following the Boers under General Dewet, whom several British generals have been trying to entrap, but has only succeeded in bringing about rear-guard actions. On the other hand, General Delarey has given considerable heart to the Boer cause by repulsing and closely pursuing General Carrington. These two generals, Dewet and Delarey, are the principal obstacles to the British in the Transvaal just now. A British press correspondent, who declares that he is telling the truth, sends out a harrowing tale of the hunger and privation forced upon the British soldiers in South Africa through incompetency in the commissary department in transporting food to the men. He says: "The men are absolutely starving. Many of the infantry men are so weak that they can barely stagger along under the weight of their equipment. They are worn to shadows, and move with weary, listless footsteps." IT has recently been brought to light that in 1896 the Russian Government proposed to the United States that they "corner" the world's crop of wheat, in order that the price which the farmer received for his wheat might not drop below $1.00 a bushel. Secretary Olney refused to consider the proposition, but the Russians still hope to carry their plan to a consummation. Such a price, it is estimated, would have increased the American farmer's returns by about $350,000,000. At the same time, the increased cost of bread would have added to the misery of the poor throughout the whole world. It may not be generally known that Russia and the United States together produce about ninety per cent. of the surplus wheat of the world. SINCE Spain has relieved herself of the government of islands which cost her in the neighborhood of $100,000,000 a year, she has shown a strong disposition toward getting on her feet again. The people had been taxed to the limit of endurance, and internal improvements were not thought of. Now the government's application for a popular loan of $200,000,000 has been subscribed by the people three times over. Internal improvements are multiplying, factories are being built, electric traction is being introduced in the more important cities, and business is said to be reviving. A CABLE from London states that the British War Office has been engaged for several months investigating the preparedness of the Australian and Canadian colonies for war. The investigation has been completed, and the scheme of defense is being prepared. This is to consist largely in the establishment of a large, consolidated militia organization, partly by volunteer methods and partly by conscription. A scheme is also to be devised by which war ships can be taken into the Great Lakes. THE Chinese question grows more and more complicated with each passing day. While the allied forces are pushing on toward Peking, and are, at this writing, reported to be within sixteen miles of that city, the clashing of international interests increases. The British, in spite of the protests of France and Germany, have landed marines at Shanghai, the ultimate design being to control the Yang-tse Valley; and each of these countries is threatening to land as many marines as England does in this locality. But England has for a long time considered this her particular "sphere of influence," and will no doubt press and defend her claim. A despatch from Shanghai states that Li Hung Chang has been appointed to negotiate peace with the foreign powers, but the governments approached either ignore the peace propositions, or insist upon the safe delivery of the ministers as a condition precedent to any negotiations. America's answer to China is particularly emphatic in this regard. The Russians have captured Newchwang and evacuated it again, and the allies have driven the Chinese from their positions along the Pei Ho River. The losses of the allies up to the present time in killed and wounded is placed at 5,000. It is stated that, according to the present plans of the powers, there will be in China within six weeks a foreign force of 230,000 men. The latest despatch from Minister Conger states that the legations are again under fire from the Chinese troops. America has suggested to China that a foreign escort be allowed to enter Peking and conduct the foreigners to the coast; but China shows no disposition of acting upon the suggestion. THERE is a strong movement in English cities toward the operation of all street railways by the city government. According to the latest government returns, 46 per cent. of the street railways in England are now owned and operated by the city corporations. In Glasgow, where the street-car service was taken over by the city six years ago, these net results are officially reported:— "Fares reduced 25 per cent., and now the lowest in the country; still lower rates given to working people, mornings and evenings; employees' hours of labor reduced from twelve to ten hours per day and their wages increased 15 per cent., with a sick fund and pension system attached; traffic increased 100 per cent. in six years; and at the same time an increase of 150 per cent. in the gross profits." THE Boxer movement has spread to the vicinity of Swatow, and the viceroy remains deaf to the appeals of the Christians for aid. All the missions at Yung Chun have been destroyed, and the native Christians stoned to death. A report from the province of Pechili states that 10 foreign missionaries there have been murdered, and that 3,000 native converts have suffered the same fate. A despatch from Shanghai states that at the city of Pao Ting, east of Peking, 7,000 Chinese Christians have been massacred. The French naval commander in Chinese waters reports that the Christians on the line to Hankow are in great danger, that point being entirely outside the sphere of the allied operations. REPORTS from Porto Rico show that great distress exists in many parts of the island; that in some places the people are starving to death. The inhabitants have not recovered from the effects of the great tornado, and the destruction of their sugar and coffee crops has left them destitute. They do not understand general cultivation of the soil, but depend on the returns from their sugar and coffee to purchase food. A deputation of one hundred laborers, with their families, marched into San Juan on August 13, begging for employment. The government has decided to open a road between Caguas and San Lorenzo, as a sort of relief work to give employment to the inhabitants of that district. THE ameer of Afghanistan is reported to be mobilizing forces of infantry and artillery for an advance on the Russian frontier. The English Government seems apprehensive that this action may be directed against the Indian frontier, and Indian Government officials have been watching the ameer closely. There is a very troublesome situation in this part of Asia, as it is expected that at some time the Jehad, or holy war of Mohammedanism against the rest of the world, will be proclaimed in this part of Asia or in India. The Mohammedans are expecting it, and any such movement as this of the ameer's is always looked upon with dread. AN appeal is being made to the English public, through the daily press of London, for £20,000, which is to be used in paying the expenses of organizing the electorate "so as to influence the general election" to prevent the Episcopal Church reverting to the principles and practises of the Church of Rome. "Mass and auricular confession," says the advertisement, "are openly advocated and forced on Protestant children in churches under the shelter of the Episcopal vote." Canvassing is going on in nearly every constituency in England, and already half the amount desired is said to have been secured. THE Boston Journal gives the following interesting item in reference to the strength-producing qualities of a vegetarian diet: "In India, China, Japan, and adjacent countries are about 400,000,000 people, strong, active, and long-lived, who eat no meat. The Turkish porter, on a daily ration of rice and dates, will jog along with back bent under a load that would crush a Western man. Darwin tells us that the Andean natives do a day's work of 500 foot tons, nearly twice the work of an ordinary laborer, on a diet of bananas." THE heat wave which has prevailed through the Eastern and middle States began to be dispelled on August 12; but many heat prostrations and deaths occurred on that day. The persistent high temperature has greatly increased the death rate all over the Eastern and middle States. Children under five years of age have suffered most, and the city hospitals have been filled with heat sufferers of all ages. The heat was so great in Washington on August 12 that an egg was fried on the asphalt sidewalk in ten minutes. THE bishop of Havana is seeking restitution of the income from church property in Cuba; but the committee appointed by General Wood to investigate the merits of the matter has refused to act. The Spaniards in 1842 seized all the church property, but allowed the church $400,000 annually. This revenue was stopped at the time of the American occupation of the island, and now goes into the island fund. THE summary of the appropriations made by the last Congress has been published by the committees on appropriations. The total amounts to $710,150,862.88, showing an increase over that of last year of $35,169,841. The appropriation for the army amounted to $114,222,000; for the navy, $65,140,000; for pensions, $145,245,000. THAT Nicaragua canal company which is known as the Eyre-Cragin Syndicate has been informed by the Nicaragua Government that its concession has been forfeited by its failure to deposit with that government $400,000 in gold. This leaves Nicaragua free to act independently with the United States in canal matters. HUNDREDS have been rendered homeless in New South Wales, Australia, by the recent heavy floods, while the loss of property in the flooded districts has been enormous. This being the winter season in Australia, the cold has added to the hardships of the flood. THE British troops in the country of the Ashantis, Africa, are continuing the work of punishing the natives who have taken part in the rebellion. Several camps of the black men have been captured, and their losses have been heavy. DURING maneuvers of the French fleet off Cape St. Vincent, on August 11, the battle-ship Brennus collided with and sank the torpedo-boat destroyer Framee. The latter carried a crew of fifty-six men, of whom only fourteen were saved. MOUNT AZUMA YAMA, in Japan, was the scene of a subterranean explosion late in July, which destroyed a sulphur factory, with most of its occupants, and covered the ground for miles around to a depth of several feet with débris. THE director of the United States Mint places the amount of gold coin and bullion in the United States at substantially one billion dollars. This is considered to be by far the largest stock of gold ever held by any one nation at one time. A BUS loaded with persons returning from a funeral was struck by an engine at a railroad crossing near Slantington, Penn., on August 12, and fifteen of the occupants were instantly killed, and nine seriously injured. A SIEGE battery of the Seventh Artillery has arrived at San Francisco for service in China. These guns are of formidable type, and are designed for use in battering down heavy walls and fortifications. A FEDERAL judge of New York has issued an injunction against the governor-general of Cuba carrying out certain contracts entered into by the city of Havana. THE burial of King Humbert, of Italy, took place on August 9. On the 11th his son, Victor Emmanuel III., took the formal constitutional oath before Parliament. THE heat wave which has dominated the central and Eastern States for many days is now hovering over England, and the heat is oppressive there. BARON RUSSELL, of Killowen, lord chief justice of England, died in London on August 10. A CARNIVAL IN BUENOS AYRES.
By Jean Vuilleumier
IT is interesting to study the molding influence for good or bad which religions have upon the heart and lives of men. Paganism, with its best maxims, its heroism, its culture, its arts, leaves society at the mercy of revolting customs and base corruption. Yea, more, its very religious rites at times encourage and sanction all sorts of abominations. Roman Catholicism brings with it some rays of divine light, which would lead humanity toward purity and true love of man, were it not that these rays are thickly intercepted by silly superstitions, gross errors, and cruel dogmas. As it is, Roman Catholicism, even in an age of civilization and enlightenment like ours, can but leave society as a whole a paganized mass. These thoughts are brought to my mind while glancing over a Buenos Ayres daily, La Prensa, about the festivities of the late carnival, whose sickening scenes I was quite fortunate in escaping, owing to a trip into the country. Buenos Ayres, like every other Catholic metropolis, teems with gorgeous churches, sanctuaries, and convents, with prelates and priests, high and low, and monks and nuns of all orders. The avowed purpose of all these agencies is purported to be to permeate the mass of society with the sanctifying influences of the Gospel. This permeating process has been going on here ever since the first Spanish vessel landed the first Catholic priests on these shores, and began their conquest in the name of the "holy faith," with the sanction and the benedictions of the pope and the king of Spain. How far said process has succeeded can be properly estimated on carnival week. Months before the event, scores or rather hundreds of committees and tens of thousands of individuals are at work collecting money, appointing programs, and devising decorations and masquerades. All important streets organize their processions, or corsos, to be accompanied by bands of music. At the same time, the city council and chief of police hold grave meetings, in which are discussed at length the measures to be taken to hold within proper bounds(!) the expected outburst of pleasure and dissipation. Said measures, prohibiting strictly(!) all indecent or immoral words, songs, attitudes, or vestures, are printed and posted all over the city a week or two ahead. Then come instructions stating that all street-cars and other business vehicles shall stop running on the streets which the corsos are to follow. Days in advance, all cabs are engaged to run all night, at handsome prices. And now everything is ready, and as the shades of night settle upon the city, the pent-up stream of human buffoonery, clownishness, and concupiscence, held in check for a whole year, bursts out in all its fury. The masquerades begin their long processions along the streets and avenues. Thousands of people are seen capering, gamboling, squeaking, pantomiming, according to their roles and disguise. Some wear national or historical costumes; there are the grave, the eccentric, the grotesque, some simple, some gorgeous; some represent animals, and others an infinite variety of objects or classes of people. An important feature in the processions are the decorated carriages, in which appear disguised people who do not care to walk. In one part of the city, the Boca, it is estimated that 50 per cent. of the entire population wore masks. The Admiral Brown Street procession contained no less than 10,000 members. The above-named paper, which is a most enthusiastic supporter of the carnival, says:— "Sobriety has hidden itself, and all the wrinkles of the gravest thinkers are giving way under the atmosphere of joy which is pouring out from all the pores of the carnival. . . . It is the spontaneous and living expression of the state of mind of the people." Then it goes on speaking of the "pure, serene, resplendent atmosphere" of these three days of mirth, which are a "movement of the people toward the ideal of art," and tend toward "purifying popular customs and elevating them to the highest possible degree of perfection"(!). According to the writer of said article, far more judgment is shown by the Southern nations in seeking to forget and soothe human woe in these noisy but hygienic and moral manifestations, than by the Northern nations who seek the same benefits in whisky(!). These proceedings go on simultaneously in all the cities of the country three or four solid days, the same as in the cities of Spain, Italy, and France, and they have been going on for 1,500 years throughout all Christendom. In the middle ages, the pope and the cardinals took themselves an active part in the revelries of the carnival. Some pious prelates and fathers of the church, like St. Ambrose of Milan, endeavored in vain to stamp out this heathenism from the so-called Christian nations. Society as a whole has remained heathen under the undisputed sway of the Roman pontiff. Nothing but the pure Gospel can change the life by purifying the heart. And as the Gospel acts only where it is freely received, we may not wonder at the failure of Romanism. May the revival of true Christianity go on in many hearts, and may God's people be soon prepared for a better world. MEDICAL MISSIONARY EDUCATIONAL WORK.
By David Paulson
THE primitive Christianity of which Paul was an exponent, attached special importance to the sacredness of the human body; but, unfortunately, the middle ages became the graveyard in which some of the best mental, moral, and physical truths were buried. It was during the reign of perverted ideas that the public bath-houses were closed, as well as the public libraries; and instead of its being considered a moral duty to care for the body, it became a virtue successfully to debase it. The man who most thoroughly acquired the art of clothing his body with filthy rags, and submitting it to the most wretched conditions, was frequently considered the greatest saint; and such conduct was actually thought to be conducive to holiness. Any one who imagines that we have entirely outgrown the baneful influence of this terrible perversion of truth, need only take an inventory of his own conception of what constitutes the religion of the body. Does he regard a violation of physical law as sin in the same sense that a violation of moral law is sin? Does he believe that it is as wicked to place impure food in his stomach as it is to put impure literature in his mind? If he does not, there is still lurking around him some remnant of the baneful traditions that were fostered during the Dark Ages, when the religion of the body, if considered at all, was looked upon as infinitely inferior to that of the soul. Paul places the body in its true dignity when he speaks of it as the temple of God, and emphasizes the importance of glorifying God in the body as well as in the soul. On account of the prevalence of these superstitions of the Dark Ages, that still tincture religious teachings, medical missionary work is, in a special sense, uphill work. The faithful physician who insists upon devoting time and attention to relieving the wants of the body, is generally considered, from a theological standpoint, to be in small business; while in reality, from the standpoint of Christ's own example, the ideal missionary is he who is prepared to minister to the wants of the body as well as those of the soul. Yet the missionary boards of nearly all denominations have assigned a more or less subordinate place to medical missionary work. Its only recognized value has been as a stepping-stone to something supposedly greater or better. Consequently it is not surprising that some medical missionaries have ceased to make advancement spiritually or even in medical science, they had so little incentive to keep pace with the onward march of medical progress. There are, however, to-day, medical missionaries who have become bright lights from the standing which they have attained as thorough-going medical men, and at the same time they take as keen an interest in the welfare of the soul as do their brother evangelists, who have not had the opportunities of a medical training. For many years medical missionaries especially have desired to see a medical school devoted to training medical men for the mission field, and at the same time they wished it to maintain a scientific standing that should be fully equal to that of the best medical schools in the land. It was to meet this growing demand that half a dozen years ago the International Medical Missionary Board organized the American Medical Missionary College. The literary requirements for entrance were placed as high as those adopted by the best medical colleges, and in addition, the applicant was required to furnish satisfactory evidence that he not only possessed a good character11 in the ordinary acceptance of the term, but that he also possessed, and was cultivating, a real missionary spirit. The curriculum provided for four years of study, consisting of nine months each, and included all those branches of medical science which the best medical schools consider essential in order properly to prepare men and women to enter the medical profession. In addition to these subjects, Bible and missionary topics are taught. Special attention is given to such practical subjects as dietetics, hydrotherapy, and other rational remedies, as a thorough knowledge of their use is often absolutely essential to secure the recovery of chronic patients. Two classes have already completed their four years' course in this school, and have begun to do valiant work for the souls and bodies of men. Several students in each class completed their last year in other medical schools, and secured medical prizes or were otherwise honored for proficiency in their work. The American Medical Missionary College has been accepted into the American Colleges Association by a unanimous vote. It is thoroughly equipped with laboratory advantages, and all that is really necessary to provide a thorough-going medical training. Last year there were twice as many applicants as could be admitted into the freshman class. Those who feel impressed that Providence is leading them to take up medical missionary work should begin to correspond at once, so that their cases can be carefully looked into; and thus avoid any needless and disappointing delays. The school year opens September 26. Catalogs may be obtained by addressing the American Medical Missionary College, Battle Creek, Mich. DAVID PAULSON. Chicago Medical Missionary Training School. WHEN on the fragrant sandal tree
The woodman's ax descends,
And she who bloomed so beauteously,
Beneath the weapon bends,
E'en on the edge that wrought her death,
Dying, she breathes her sweetest breath,
As if to token in her fall
Peace to her foes, and love to all. How hardly man this lesson learns,
To smile and bless the hand that spurns;
To see the blow, to feel the pain,
And render only love again! ONE had it—but He came from heaven;
Reviled, rejected, and betrayed,
No curse He breathed, no plaint He made,
But when in death's dark pang He sighed,
Prayed for His murderers, and died.
—Edmonston. Pray and Go to Work
By Anon.
SOME people pray and then sit down to wait for God to send an answer, ready-made, before they do anything. That is not the best way. Pray; then, without waiting, go to work, that you may be ready to meet the answer. When you pray for rain, hasten to get your rain-water barrel out, even tho no cloud is in sight. God controls the clouds. You control the barrel. Answers to prayer seldom come to idle men.—Anon. RIGHT IN OUR OWN COUNTRY.
By Editor
THOSE who are deeply interested in helping foreign missions, or who have a burden to engage in the foreign work, need not stop to read this. It is not designed to in anywise turn their attention from that interest or to remove that burden. We would that hundreds more were likewise interested and burdened. But to those who always want to talk of home mission work when foreign work is under consideration, and are doing little or nothing in either line, we command a thoughtful reading of the following report. It is from a missionary named J. B. Mitchell, and appears in the Gospel Message:— "I am engaged in home missionary work among the mountain whites in Tennessee and North Carolina. My principal work is supplying the people with Scripture and Gospel reading matter. Most of the people living in the mountains are very poor, their land not being very productive, and they can hardly raise sufficient food to supply their necessary wants. Their surroundings are such that most of them will never be able to make their condition any better. The destitution of all kinds of literature is very great. There is scarcely one family in ten that have any reading matter in their homes, unless it is a copy of the Bible, and about one-half the families do not even have a Bible. "In some settlements back in the mountains they really have no reading matter of any kind. In one community, five miles from the main road, and only a foot-path to get there, only one New Testament and a few other books were found among thirty-eight families. They had not heard a Gospel sermon for six years, and some families were so poor they had nothing to sleep on except a little straw in one corner of their house, and had a few old quilts to cover them. "In another settlement, six miles further on, out of fifty-three families visited, there were found three Bibles, one Testament, and a few old school-books. They had no regular preaching, but were trying to keep up a small Sabbath-school. They all hailed us with joy and gladness, and you can not conceive how grateful those people were to receive the Word of God and other good literature which was given to them. "Many of the Sabbath-schools have no reading matter of any kind. I found two schools, the average attendance being forty and fifty scholars respectively, that had only one copy of the Bible to read in each school. Some other schools had from three to six Testaments. "There is a large number of children in these mountains, the numeration in the school districts running from one to two hundred. In addition to supplying the people with Gospel reading, we have established a school in connection with this work. We take children under our care and supervision, when their parents are not able to help them, and feed, clothe, and educate them, depending on the people for clothing and provision. In many school districts we find that one-half of the children can not go to school, for the want of books and clothing, their parents being so poor they are not able to supply them. We hope all who read this will send us clothing or bedding to help in this part of the work. "Many of their boys and girls are bright and intelligent, some being great readers. I have found some that were making great sacrifices trying to educate themselves. "I am not only supplying all the destitute homes with a copy of the Bible, but I am making a great effort to supply every child that can read with a copy of the New Testament. There are at least seventy-five thousand children in these mountains that can read, but few of them have any reading matter in their homes. What better gift can we give them than the Word of God? Most of them are eager to get it. One boy walked fifteen miles to get a school-book and a Testament. Two boys walked eight miles to get some school-books and a Bible. One little boy came three miles, and brought with him three heads of cabbage to purchase a Testament. Seven little girls, hearing of me in the mountains, came quite a long distance, each one bringing one cent with her to purchase a New Testament."