"WELL, Abby, the Wilmot cottage has a tenant at last, and I am sure you will be rejoiced to have new neighbors," said honest John Mathews as he plunged the carving knife into the nicely-browned turkey that his wife had just brought dripping from the oven.
"Humph!" exclaimed Mrs. Mathews a little out of temper, "that is altogether owing to what kind of neighbors they are. What do you know of them?"
"Very little, indeed," answered John between his sips of coffee. "The most I can tell is that the man is an invalid, and that their name is Hamilton. They hail from the South—North Carolina, I think."
"Rebels, I'll warrant. The very name of the South fills me with horror, and I wash my hands of them even before setting eyes upon them," retorted Mrs. Mathews with an angry flush tingling her cheeks.
"That is jumping at conclusions, Abby," said John. "You are by no means certain that they are disloyal."
"What else could you expect from Carolinians? I'll have nothing whatever to do with them, as I said before," said the little woman with a decided toss of her head that told her husband that further remonstrance was useless.
By noon the next day hot-headed Mrs. Mathews could read the titles of the new neighbors to slow-going John in such a way as to make him open his eyes in astonishment.
"They are out and out rebels," she declared. Mrs. Browning told her all about them, and she had it from good authority. Mrs. Hamilton's brother was a colonel or general in the Southern army, and Mr. Hamilton had left an arm on Antietam's bloody field.
"You see how it is, John; that gate between their lot and our own must be nailed up at once. I'll have no rebels drinking out of the well that my children are compelled to use. I have not forgotten that a rebel bullet pierced the heart of my twin brother."
"Is this right, Abby? You know Wilmot's tenants have always had water privilege. He sold me this property with that understanding, and it is unfair to go back on him after this fashion; besides, you are aware that the more water taken out, the better it becomes," persuaded John.
"No matter about that, John; the boys can pump it out if necessary; but right or wrong, not a foot of these aliens shall cross our yard," declared Mrs. Mathews emphatically.
"These unkind feelings should not be harbored, Abby, now that the war is over. It is like bringing up old scores that have been settled. We should learn to forgive and forget," said Mr. Mathews soothingly.
"I do not wish to learn any such absurd lessons," quickly responded Mrs. Mathews. "How do I know but that some of these people killed my precious brother? No, I'll have nothing to do with them."
And so John nailed the gate tightly before he slept that night, and Abby herself fastened an iron bar across it.
The gossipers were not slow in repeating the new order of things to the strangers. The invalid husband smiled patiently, but the black eyes of his wife flashed indignantly at being thus prejudged, and she requested her informer to politely assure Mrs. Mathews that she should not be molested.
"Better send no message, my dear; you may be very fond of your new neighbor when you know her," suggested Mr. Hamilton.
As the winter passed away, the gulf between the two families widened, until without knowing each other they became bitter enemies.
Frank Mathews and Elliot Hamilton formed a slight acquaintance at school, but Elliot's politeness and gentle disposition made him too much of a favorite to gain the love of a boisterous lad like Frank.
One warm morning in spring Elliot carried his dead rabbit into the kitchen, and with tears in his dark eyes told his mother how Frank Mathews had killed it. "I saw the children setting a trap, but thought it was for rats instead of for my poor white pet. Frank cut the hole through the fence for the rabbit to crawl through, and I overheard the woman telling him to aim low. I'll poison that dog the very next time it comes into our yard," he said in an excited tone.
"I would not blame you much," his mother replied hastily. But the next day when she saw it writhing in its death agony, she was sorely grieved that her passion had caused her to utter such ill-advised words. And so she assured Frank when he hopped over the fence and came storming to the fatal spot where the dead dog lay.
"No one but a rebel would have the heart to kill an innocent dog," he cried wrathfully.
"And no one but a tyrant would shoot a harmless rabbit," returned Elliot in grieving tones.
"Why didn't you keep it away then?" retorted Frank sharply.
"You know you coaxed it into the yard on purpose to kill it," Elliot replied, watching his enemy closely.
"Never mind, Elliot. I am sorry about the poor dog, and I will pay Frank for his loss," said Mrs. Hamilton quietly.
Just then Mrs. Mathews appeared at the gate, and commanded Frank to come home, adding in a loud, angry tone, "Your life is not safe among such lawless ruffians."
"People who live in glass houses should not throw stones," began Elliot, but his mother stopped him promptly, just as a bucket of dirty suds came dashing over the fence, bespattering him from head to foot.
"Take that for your impudence, you young rascal," cried Mrs. Mathews in an angry voice.
"Are you a woman?" said Mrs. Hamilton, trembling in every fiber; but a sight of her suffering husband at the window stopped the angry words which she was about to utter. Hurrying Elliot into the house, she closed the door upon her adversary. Though his clothes were changed for dry ones almost immediately, the boy took a severe cold, which was followed by a fever that kept him indoors for several weeks.
After his recovery there was no communication whatever between them, and the grass over the path was suffered to grow rank, shutting out all the evidence that had existed of the good will between the Mathews and their former neighbors.
The summer waned, and bright autumn had changed her many-hued dress for the snows of winter, when a malignant type of scarlet fever broke out among the children in the village. So fatal did it prove that it was almost impossible to secure nurses for those attacked.
John Mathews' children were among the first to be seized, and the neighbors, unwilling to expose their own little ones, left the family to suffer for want of assistance.
It was a dark, stormy evening, that Mrs. Hamilton, looking from her own window across to her neighbor's smitten home, determined to conquer her own feelings and go to her enemy's assistance.
There was nothing to hinder, for Elliot had gone to the city to escape contagion, and good, faithful Margaret could be trusted with the invalid, who really required very little attention. I am sure that she would not have ventured even after she was ready had not the little white coffin she had seen carried out of the house that day reminded her painfully of the time when the death angel had called for two of her own birdlings in the same night.
Knocking timidly at the door, a faint voice bade her "come in."
"I have come to see if I can be of any service to you," she explained in a low voice.
"Have I not trouble enough without your coming to taunt me?" cried Mrs. Mathews in amazement.
"Hush, Abby, hush," said John kindly.
"I come only as a friend," began Mrs. Hamilton in faltering tones.
"After all the evil I have done you?" but Mrs. Hamilton stopped the piteous wail, holding her arms out for the little limp form the tortured mother was carrying.
"Give me the baby and do try to get a little rest. I know just how you feel;" and then she went on to tell the stricken woman how she had closed the eyes of her own two little girls in the same hour, and how her mother heart had bled when she saw the little coffin carried away from the smitten home that morning.
The two women mingled their tears together over the memories of their precious dead; then the poor, worn-out mother, yielding to her new friend's entreaty, left the sick children in her care, and, throwing herself across the bed, took the first sound sleep that had come to her since her loved ones had fallen ill.
Though another little grave was dug in the churchyard before the plague was stayed,10Mrs. Mathews had a friend to help her bear her trials, and she fully agreed with the physician that the recovery of her other children was due in a great measure to the good nursing they had received at the hands of her new neighbor; and long before the cloud was lifted from the shadowed home the offensive nails were drawn from the long closed gate, and all the barriers between the two families, North and South, had been broken down. When the time came that they could talk of the old war troubles, they were charitable toward each other's beliefs, and their tears mingled together over the Blue and the Gray of their kin who were sleeping far away on the battle field.—Christian Work.
A MOTHER'S ANSWER.
By Lillie E. Barr
[A true incident.]
BY LILLIE E. BARR.
Over the lofty Ben-Lomond
The charm of the sunset fell,
And sweet in the purple twilight
The chime of the old kirk bell.
And, lo! in the grassy kirkyard
Was the white-haired dominie,
Men and women on either hand,
And the children at his knee.
And there, in the still, warm evening,
Low sitting among the dead,
The good man took the sacred Book,
And the trial of Abraham read,
Until in the solemn shadows
The sorrow grew wondrous near—
Fathers looked at their own bright sons,
And the mothers dropped a tear.
Thoughtful all sat a little space,
And then the dominie said,
"David, couldst thou have done this thing?"
And the old man bowed his head,
And, standing up with lifted face,
Answered, "I think I could,
For I have found through eighty years
That the Lord our God is good."
"Janet, you've been a mother oft,
Could your faith have stood the test?"
She raised her grandchild in her arms,
And she held it to her breast.
"God knows a mother's love," she said,
While the tears dropped from her eyes,
"And never from a mother's heart
Would have asked such sacrifice."
"O mother wise!" the preacher said,
"O mother wise and good!
A deeper depth than man can reach
Thy heart hath understood.
Take Janet's sermon with you, friends,
And, as your years go by,
Believe your Father no poor soul
Beyond its strength will try."
—Christian Union.
RELIEF FOR SEASICKNESS.
DR. IVAN A. MITROPOLSKY, of Moscow, warmly recommends, on the ground of his personal experience, the following simple method for preventing or aborting all symptoms of seasickness. As soon as giddiness, nausea, etc., appear, the author shuts his eyes and begins to make deep and slow inspirations and expirations. In a few moments (sometimes after three or four respiratory cycles) the symptoms disappear, to yield to a comfortable subjective sensation. On their reappearance the same procedure is repeated again and again. If the recurrence be rather frequent, it is better to perform the procedure in a recumbent posture (with closed eyes). Since the time the author has begun to practice the method, he never yet suffered from vomiting on board.
In referring to this case in the London Medical Recorder, Dr. Idelson says that Dr. Mitropolsky seems to think that the means proposed by him are novel. Meanwhile, in the British Medical Journal, March 24, 1888, p. 676, he will find a very interesting note by Dr. J. J. Leiser, in which the writer says: (1) That seasickness is caused by irregular and imperfect respiration, leading, necessarily, to an inadequate aeration of the patient's blood, which consequently becomes poisonous to his brain and gives rise to sympathetic sickness; (2) that a system of regular free breathing prevents sickness or rapidly relieves it; and (3) that his experiments were successfully repeated by Drs. G. C. Stockman and C. W. C. Prentice, who, having selected ten suffering passengers, each seated himself with five of them and "timed the breathing in the following manner: They [the doctors] raised the hand from the knee, indicating an inspiration, and down again for an expiration, thus timing the respirations to exactly twenty per minute. At the expiration of one hour, the active symptoms in each case had entirely subsided." By this time the doctors had thoroughly educated their patients in the modus operandi of the cure. The cases continued to be permanent "cures" during the remainder of the voyage from Queenstown to the United States. The writers conclude by asserting that "the cure is infallible in all cases that persist in carrying it out."—Medical Record.
HAVANA, CUBA.
By Rev. J. V. Cova
BY REV. J. V. COVA.
It is five years since I came to this island, pronounced as a Catholic land from the time of its discovery, but in reality a country of sad religious indifference. Columbus brought to it the first Spanish priest, and from that time old Catholic Spain has not failed to send its supply of such almost at every steam mail. Properly the Cuban religion might be called the Spanish Romanism, with all its haughtiness and spirit of persecution.
That is the official religion, and it has always been imposed upon the people by the priests as well as by the government. Almost for every civil step the certificate of Catholic baptism is required.
All cities and villages have their peculiar patron or favorite saint, and at their anniversaries the images are worshiped and shown in the streets at processions, together with other fanatical ceremonies. But they are such only for the priests and a small proportion of the people; the great majority remain quite indifferent to these religious performances, or accept them as a means of pleasure during the holidays.
Many of my friends advised me not to attempt a gospel work among this people; but I was in earnest for it, and, trusting in Him whose servant I am, I began preaching the word of salvation in this city; and He has been on my side. At the beginning the hall was crowded to its utmost capacity; but the majority were mere curious people who came to see a Baptist minister and hear what he had to say. One year elapsed and the number was reduced to 200 baptized believers.
The actual number, with the losses I have had and some expelled for unchristian behavior, is 280 members. The Sunday school has an attendance of 200 children, and I11have besides a daily missionary school with 170 boys and girls, who are taught reading, writing, grammar, geography, arithmetic, etc., and the Bible. The Scriptures are read by teachers and pupils every day, and the daily portion read is explained. This school has proved to be a great blessing, as parents and relatives who are not with us are invited by the children to come to our services and hear our message.
I have a rented hall with a capacity of nearly 300 seats, but it is not so conveniently located as I would desire. We have Sunday services at 12:30 P.M., and at 8 in the evening. The Sunday school is assembled at 11:30 A.M. Wednesday night at 7:30 P.M. we hold a prayer meeting, practice hymns, and have other religious exercises. Some American brethren who have occasionally visited this city have assured me they felt at home in our meetings and found them about the same as their own church meetings in the States.
Bad words and persecutions from the priests have not been lacking, but the Lord has never deserted me, as I always trust him and put everything at his feet. Our mission in these five years has obtained some credit among the people, and in many respects it has the recognition of the government as an official body. I have three helpers and hope great things from the Lord in this island.
October 5, 1894.
CLAY-EATERS.
It seems that the singular race of people known as the "Clay-Eaters" is not yet extinct in the mountains of Kentucky, but that victims of the habit can be found at this day, even upon the very verges of civilization. At Manchester, in Clay County, Taylor Henson and his wife have just been arraigned in court for the brutal and inhuman treatment of their only child, a girl six years of age. In their defense they pleaded that the cause of the unmerciful beating of their offspring was that she was a clay-eater, and that they were endeavoring to cure her of the habit. They explained that she inherited the taste from her father's family, which had contained many clay-eaters, and that the habit had so fastened itself upon her that it appeared to be as difficult for her to resist the temptation to eat clay as it is for an inebriate to quit drinking intoxicants. They said that unless they could conquer the child's appetite now she would be completely ruined in a few years. The court dismissed the case, the parents promising to employ more humane methods in the future.
The clay-eaters are a singular people. They are stupid and morose, and their complexions assume the color of the clay they eat. They do not live to be very old. The substance used is a soft, yellowish clay that is found in abundance in many of the mountain counties, and while it is almost tasteless, the appetite for it is easily acquired, and, once contracted, is almost as hard to relinquish as is the opium habit. A number of families of wealth and prominence in the neighborhood of Manchester are said to be clay-eaters, and E. Y. McKeehan, the wealthiest man in Corbin, who died a short time ago, was a clay-eater in his youth, and was cured only after the most strenuous efforts on the part of his physicians.—Press Dispatch.
THE GOSPEL OF CLEANLINESS.
By Dr. C. W. Lyman
BY DR. C. W. LYMAN.
SCIENCE continues to pile up evidence of the need of a more universal adoption of what is known as Dutch cleanliness.
The recent advances in our knowledge of the noxious microorganisms that swarm in all dirty things and places, have thrown a singular illumination upon the obligatory washings which the more enlightened races of olden times made incumbent on the people. An unusual and scientific dignity now invests the religious codes of various ancient nations—Jews, Mohammedans, and Brahmans—in view of the solemnly enacted requirements they contained as to bathing, purification, and the cleanliness or uncleanness of garments and food. Greeks, Romans, Dutch, and New Englanders arrived at the same conclusions, not religiously, but from the dictates of a supreme common sense. Now the nineteenth century takes the same platform, represented by trained men from the little world of the microscope and from the biological laboratories.
It would be well for the present era if all agencies for instilling the gospel of cleanliness were kept going simultaneously, and if dirtiness were denounced from pulpits as a sin, punished as a social disgrace, and treated by educators as an outrage to modern intelligence.—The Voice.
FROM Scripture's sacred page I draw my theme;
It speaks to all who bear the Christian name,
To all to whom rich promises are given,
And who are walking in the path to heaven.
To those who would in heavenly graces shine,
Who share the character of the Divine,
Having escaped corruptions of the earth,
O'er whom has passed a new, celestial birth,
These the apostle calls to give all heed
To that which makes the Christian blest indeed;
He bids to add together graces true
Which shed around their fragrance ever new.
Giving all diligence, add to your faith
Virtue, that moral excellence, he saith,
Virtue, that only from a heavenly source
Its perfect character and likeness draws.
And add to virtue, knowledge; that can give
The best instructions how men ought to live—
Knowledge of God, his patience, love, and care,
And of ourselves, all that we were and are.
Then temperance add to these, and patience too,
And heaven-born goodness, lasting, pure, and true,
Brotherly kindness, in which all may share,
And love, that grace which is beyond compare.
Now add all these, and the result will be
A nature Christlike, and from blemish free,
Not barren nor unfruitful, but bringing forth
Fruits rich indeed, and of eternal worth.
Pitcairn Island.
Philanthropy and Family Character
By Maurice
A MAN may pass good muster as a philanthropist who makes but a poor master to his servants or father to his children.—Maurice.
POWER OF A HORSE'S SCENT.
By Tait
THERE is one perception which a horse possesses to which little attention has been paid, and that is the power of scent. With some horses it is as acute as with the dog; and for the benefit of those who drive at night, such as physicians and others, this knowledge is invaluable. I never knew it to fail, and I have ridden hundreds of miles on dark nights; and in consideration of this power of scent this is my simple advice: Never check your horse at night, but give him a free head, and you may rest assured that he will never get off the road, and will carry you safely and expeditiously. In regard to the power of scent in a horse, I once knew one of a pair that was stolen and recovered mainly by the track being made out by his mate, and that after he had been absent six or eight hours.—Tait.
A SUNDAY SERVICE IN GREENLAND.
By Prof. G. Frederick Wright
BY PROF. G. FREDERICK WRIGHT.
IN the month of August last I set out with a party of eight from Sukkertoppen, near the 65th parallel in Greenland, to spend a week in camping near the projection of the inland ice which there comes down in close proximity to the shore. A hard pull at the oars for twenty miles brought us, late Friday night, to Ikamiut, a little settlement of Eskimos, consisting of three igloos, sheltering about twenty-five inhabitants, young and old. Here we pitched our tent and made our headquarters. Besides our own party there were seven natives who accompanied us, two with kayaks, and five to aid in rowing. On our arrival we were greeted by the whole settlement, who shouted their welcome in language totally unintelligible to any but themselves and those of their race who were with us. Their actions, however, were easily interpreted. They all assisted us in landing our boats and in transferring our luggage to a position of safety, and in selecting for us a favorable place for pitching our tent. This having been done in the bright daylight, that at this season never forsook us, we retired, to rest as well as we could amid these novel circumstances.
On Saturday the weather was unpropitious. The wind blew hard, and the air was full of fog and drizzly rain. We were able to do little but sit in our tent and cultivate the acquaintance of our strange but kindly and well-disposed neighbors. They were curious to see everything we had, and to know both what it was and what it was for. We were equally curious to learn everything about them and their condition. In recognition of their good will they brought us an abundant supply of moss to carpet our tent and to disguise the hardness of our rocky floor.
Sunday morning came, and it was still cold and rainy. While we were eating our breakfast and shivering over our coal oil stove in the tent, a man of mild appearance and diminutive stature came to the door with a hymn book and a Bible in his hands, and pointed to them, to indicate, as we surmised, that there was to be religious service somewhere in the settlement. But he did not linger long, and suddenly disappeared, and we were at a loss to know where the service was to be held; for the settlement was squalid in the extreme. A flood in the spring had destroyed nearly every igloo, and their present abodes were but partial resurrections of what were originally miserable enough. But on going down to our boats we heard singing in one of the igloos. Stooping before the low door and pushing it open on our hands and knees, we were welcomed by motions into the most interesting church service I ever expect to attend. The room in itself was dreary beyond description. The low walls of stone and turf were reeking with moisture, while water distilled freely from the sod roof in various places, and squirted up from the crevices between the loose stones with which a part of the floor was covered, as one walked over them. The only dry place was the shelf, elevated about a foot on the east side of the room, and which was the sleeping place of the inmates at night and their lounging place by day. A cylindrical sheet-iron stove near the door was now cold and lifeless, because the moss was so wet that it was impossible to make it burn. A lamp of seal oil freshly distilled from the raw blubber was burning in the other end of the room, being the special property and care of the oldest woman of the household. In no place could one stand erect.
Yet here was gathered the whole community for worship. Of course I could not understand the words of their hymn, but the tune was a grand German choral, in which all united perfectly in the slow, dignified, and effective movement. Then followed a sermon from the little man, who proved to be the catechist. This was delivered in the native language, and with much unction, though from necessity the speaker remained in a sitting posture. The only words intelligible to me, in either the sermons or the prayers, were the "amens," in which all joined. Finally the service was closed with another hymn, sung to an equally impressive German choral.
Not to be excelled, . . . we arranged an English service in our tent after the midday meal, and circulated the notice among the Eskimos in the same manner as that employed by the catechist in the morning. We should have been glad to ask them into the tent, but as they have not yet learned that cleanliness is next to godliness, prudence suggested that they be excluded; so I stood in the door with our own company massed near the entrance, while the Eskimos, notwithstanding the inclement weather, gathered in front of the tabernacle. They were all there, listening with the utmost devotion to the singing and the service, of which they understood not a word.—N. Y. Independent.
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This is a little book of consolation for those who are "afflicted in mind, body, or estate." The selections are brief, and as the compiler says, quoting from George Herbert, "a verse may finde him who a sermon flies."
The book contains 150 pages, including a complete Topical Index and an Index of Authors. It is neatly bound in morocco, has round corners and red under gold edges. Size, 4x6 inches.
PRICE, POSTPAID, $1.75. Address,
PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO.,
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Rising Through Humility
By Ivan Patin
By falling before God we rise towards him.
—Ivan Patin.
Armenian Sacrifice Against Cholera
By Methodist Herald
It hardly seems credible that at the close of the nineteenth century priests and teachers of a Christian church should call the people together to witness a bloody sacrifice to propitiate the wrath of God. And yet this is what took place in the town of Talas on Friday, June 29, 1894, in the Armenian Church. It was the culmination of a series of exercises, all designed to propitiate the wrath of God and induce him to release the town from the curse of scourge. A few days previous a great crowd of priests and choir boys, followed by the people, marched about the place singing and praying, laying, as it were, a cordon of prayer about the district, inside of which they hoped that God would not allow the cholera to enter. This was unsuccessful, and the idea took root and grew apace that God was angry; that he had sent the disease as a punishment, and that he must be propitiated. Money, cattle, and sheep were forthwith secured by donation in preparation for the event.
A BOLD-FACED FALSEHOOD.
By Editor
OUR excuse for publishing the following is that the item noted as appearing in the San Jose Gazette of October 10 was syndicate, or plate matter (the credit to which was illegible), and therefore it may have appeared in other journals. The Gazette promptly published our correction, as we expected a fair-minded paper would. If any of our other exchanges have published unwittingly the same report, will they please correct in harmony with the facts set forth below from the San Jose Daily Gazette of October 18:—
The following communication has been received by the Gazette from M. C. Wilcox, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, a religious journal of Oakland:—
“I notice in your issue of October 10 the following item: ‘The Pitcairn Islands are having bad times nowadays. Eighteen months ago a party of American Seventh-day Adventists exploited the Society and Paumutu groups, and, in their schooner, the Pitcairn, visited the lonely little island, and converted the people from “hard-cased Christianity” into Seventh-day Adventism. ‘The mission schooner brought dysentery, diphtheria-measles, and influenza, and now comes the news that many of the miserable survivors (about 70) have been attacked with malignant typhoid, to which twelve persons have already succumbed.’
“Kindly give publicity to the following correction of some statements that are found therein: In the sickness alluded to, which occurred more than one year ago, the malady was typhus fever. From this sickness there were twelve deaths in all, the first one occurring on the 26th of August, the last on the 19th of October.
“The sickness was not taken to the island by the Adventist schooner, Pitcairn, for the latest call of the Pitcairn previous to this was the middle of February last year. All her passengers and crew at that time were in good health, and the missionary and wife and the teacher which she at that time left at Pitcairn Island were also in good health and did not have the fever at all. In fact, had it not been for them the islanders would have fared badly indeed, because they knew nothing of how to treat such formidable diseases.
“The fever was brought there by the crew of the British bark Bowdon, wrecked in the month of April of last year on Oeno reef, some seventy miles from Pitcairn Island. The crew of the Bowdon went to Pitcairn Island, carrying the disease with them to the island. In the month of June of the same year H. M. S. Hyacinth made a short stop at Pitcairn Island. The physician pronounced the cases, at that time, a form of la grippe, but as this was in the beginning of the disease, it was difficult to make a diagnosis. Shortly after that the various cases which were ill took on an aggravated form, and the result, as previously stated, was that twelve died. The diseases mentioned in the item above, with the exception of influenza, have not been on the island so far as I have known, and I have had frequent communication with the islanders in various ways; and the Pitcairn has never taken any of those diseases there.
“Instead of being seventy persons on the island, there are one hundred and thirty, all of whom were, when last heard from, within less than a month, in quite good health indeed. One of the natives, a remarkably intelligent lady, writes that the disease would not have been so serious had it not been for the ignorance of the people, and their wrong habits of eating. Although the islanders were much more rugged than the missionaries were naturally, the latter were not attacked with the disease, while the former were, and yet through the whole time of the dread scourge the missionaries were laboring night and day to relieve the sufferers.”
FIELD NOTES.
By Editor
A COMPANY of five canvassers recently began work in Augusta, Ga.
Our denominational school at Keene, Texas, will open on the 14th inst.
ELDER E. G. OLSEN, president of Iowa Conference, officiated at the dedication of a new house of worship at Blencoe on the 14th ult.
THE Workers’ Bulletin of October 23 gave notice that new houses of worship would be dedicated at Tyner and Urbana, Iowa, on the 4th of this month.
A SERIES of meetings recently held in Ogden, Utah, by Elder J. M. Willoughby, resulted in ten persons covenanting to keep the Sabbath of the Lord.
FIVE members were added to the church at Sandyville, Iowa, after an eight days’ meeting, conducted by Elder J. S. Hart, which closed on the 14th ult.
THE Workers’ Record of the 17th ult. announced that Elder W. S. Hyatt, president of Missouri Conference, was holding a series of meetings in Kansas City.
EIGHTEEN persons keeping the Sabbath is the report of Elder J. P. Henderson and Brother R. H. Habinecht, after a series of tent meetings at Hawkeye, Iowa.
AT Bowling Green, Ky., where meetings were continued by Elder C. L. Boyd after the local camp meeting, ten have been baptized and others are seeking further light.
ELDER O. A. OLSEN has returned to America from his European tour, and, together with Elder A. T. Jones, was to be at the general meeting of Iowa Conference at Moravia.
ELDER C. L. BOYD, of the Tennessee field, says of the canvassing work: “Cheering reports come in from different parts of the field. Those of but little experience are doing well.”
THREE more persons were baptized at Wichita, Kansas, on the 19th inst. Elder S. B. Whitney and C. A. Hall have been conducting tent meetings there, and report a deep interest.
WE have received notice that the new church building in Chicago was to have been dedicated October 28. Elders J. N. Loughborough and A. T. Jones were announced to officiate on the occasion.
THE Bible Echo says that the questions of the Sabbath and religious liberty have been quite fully discussed in the papers of Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia. It also has news of a good work among the Germans of that place.
AT Hawthorne, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, September 8, a church organization was effected which included thirty-eight members. Eleven of these had formerly been connected with the church at North Fitzroy, and the remainder accepted the faith under tent labors of Elders J. O. Corliss and R. Hare.
ON the 8th of September Brother and Sister Masters and son, of New Zealand, sailed from Melbourne, Australia, for India, where they will engage in missionary work. Young Fairly Masters has been a student at the Bible school at Melbourne for three years, and Sister Masters had resided in that colony about a year. These are the first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to a foreign country from the Australasian field.
LAST week we published an account of a riotous attack on a Seventh-day Adventist church at Shady Side, not far from the capital of Maryland, while the service was progressing. The attack was renewed the next evening (Sunday), some of the mob going right into the house and insulting the minister. Several of the rioters were members of churches calling themselves Protestant, and13this seems to be their idea of proper Sunday observance. That seems to be the idea of the authorities also, judging from their action in the matter. Complaints were filed and fifteen of the rioters were arraigned in court, only to be released. But the minister of that church, for picking up a few tent stakes on Sunday, is put under bonds to appear for trial on the 22d inst.
AT Prospect, N. S. W., September 16, a church building was formally dedicated, Sister E. G. White preaching the dedicatory sermon. Part of the discourse appears in the Bible Echo of October 1, to be continued in the issue of the 8th. Dr. M. G. Kellogg preached in the morning, and Elder S. McCullagh had general charge of the organization of the church, having had supervision of the work in that place. The house was dedicated free of debt.
ELDER WM. INGS arrived in this city from the Southern California camp meeting on the 23d ult., and went on to the Health Retreat at Crystal Springs. He reports a very profitable meeting; thirty-one were received for baptism, some of whom deferred the ordinance until arriving at their homes. Elder McClure decided to remain in the South for a time. Elder E. H. Gates went from the meeting to Riverside, with a view to securing a place of residence.
FROM DAY TO DAY.
By Dora Read Goodale
God has assigned to every man
Some part in the eternal plan—
Some part that all his powers of will,
Working in faith, by faith fulfill.
To every man a door is shown
Whose key is his, and his alone,
Though ruin to our ignorant eyes
Has fallen upon his paradise.
Step after step unfolds the way
To those who search, believe, obey;
Day after day its lesson brings
Of earthly joined to heavenly things;
By countless cares, unpraised, unknown,
They make their far ideals their own,
And still in the world's mirrors trace
Reflections of the Father's face.
With God there is no great nor small
Save as we yield him part or all.
All that we are his claim demands—
Spirit and brain and heart and hands.
Then be our lot however poor,
Each dawn is as a welcome door,
Each humblest act the wondrous key
Of infinite opportunity.
The Lord of love with love requite,
Honor his service with delight.
His is the power—be his the praise
Of peaceful nights and virtuous days.
Let not thy noon of labor borrow
Dark portents from a threatening morrow;
Thus, though a thousand ills befall,
Strength shall be given to conquer all.
—Dora Read Goodale.
Consolation After Pain
By Mme. Swetchine
God puts consolation only where he has first put pain.—Mme. Swetchine.