Earlier text: Remarks upon Zech. 5:5-11Drink as a Factor in Pauperism and Crime.
Soon after the publication of an article on the "Sources of Crime," the Herald received a note from a prominent citizen, in which he says, in regard to the sale of liquor: "It would be interesting to know, further, what it costs the city to sustain the various courts of justice and places of correction and punishment; to meet the crimes caused by this traffic; and, in contradistinction to this cost, what revenue the city receives from licenses, so that the public might be able to judge whether the license system is a profitable one to the city." With regard to the proportion of crime and pauperism properly chargeable to the abuse of liquor, opinions vary. Some good judges say that 90 per cent. of all crimes are instigated directly or remotely by drink. Others say 80 per cent., and none will go lower than 70 per cent. With respect to pauperism it is safe to say that 75 per cent. is directly or indirectly chargeable to the use of liquors. In a recent report of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, the chief of the medical staff of the Homeopathic Hospital says:— "The cause of pauperism and consequent disease and crime have received careful and thorough investigation by those long enjoying favorable advantages of observation. Many reasons for this painful and rapidly increasing pauperism among the people have been assigned, but that which takes precedence above and beyond all others is the curse of intemperance. It is this which robs the pockets of the poor man; it is this which benumbs his brain and destroys his faculties, and this which predisposes himself and his children to fatal disease. It is this which breeds sensuality in all its protean and disgusting forms; this which induces shiftlessness and irresponsibility among the masses, and it is this which saps the life from those who would otherwise be healthy and vigorous. The statistics of alms-houses, work-houses, penitentiaries, asylums, and hospitals all attest this dark and gloomy fact. A sure remedy for this sweeping scourge, so devastating in its deadly influence is beyond human ken. Yet if the malignant character of this enemy of the people's health, and its far-reaching tendencies toward disease and death, were more thoroughly understood, a revolution in sentiment on the question might the more speedily be inaugurated. If the masses of intelligent citizens will examine carefully the records of the case books at your hospitals, they will find in them most convincing evidence that a large proportion of pauperism and life-destroying disease is caused by the excessive use of intoxicating liquors. The creation of an almost popular sentiment that shall not only uphold the passage but insure the enforcement of restricting laws is the most hopeful remedy." In another report the Commissioners say, referring to a large number of persons committed for simple acts of intoxication unaccompanied by disorderly conduct or breach of peace:— "The law imposes a penalty of $10.00 upon every person found intoxicated in the public streets, and in default of payment they are committed to the work-house for ten days. A large proportion of the inmates of the work-house are common drunkards. They are sent up by the magistrates, clothed in rags, covered with vermin, and broken down in health by their debauchery. They must be clothed at the expense of the city, and by the time they are discharged from the care of the physician, and are capable of labor, their term of imprisonment expires and they are released, to be in a few days sent back, their clothing destroyed, again to be re-clothed, and assigned to the hospital. It would be difficult to devise a more expensive or ineffectual means of reformation than is by law established." In their report of 1875, the Commissioners of Charities and Correction say of the Inebriate Asylum:— "This establishment has been given a fair trial, and no means have been spared to make, if possible, one successful Inebriate Asylum. The conclusion the experiment has led to is that habitual drunkenness is not to be regarded as a disease, but as a habit practically within the control of each individual case. The majority of those admitted during the year were so demoralized by excessive drinking that their discontent was only appeased by the knowledge that their time of commitment would soon expire and they would again be at liberty to return to their former imbibitions. There is little need of asylums for the cure of this infirmity, for the very small number who desire reformation can attain the object at home with their families. The Commissioners, from past experience, are of the opinion that the public funds can be put to a much better use than in equipping and maintaining an inebriate asylum." Out of 51,566 persons committed to the city prisons in a single year, 34,316 were of foreign birth, and 17,250 natives; of 19,324 females, 14,077 were foreign born, and 5,265 natives. Of all the males, 19,937 were intemperate, and 12,187 temperate; of all the females, 12,770 were intemperate, and 6,572 temperate. In the same year, 31,491 were sent to the First District Prison—the Tombs. These were from the lower part of the city, where the foreign element largely predominates. The arrests directly or indirectly caused by the use of liquor were:— |
Males. |
Females. |
Total. |
|---|
| Assaults. |
2,058 |
295 |
2,353 |
| Delirium tremens. |
14 |
— |
14 |
| Disorderly conduct. |
4,679 |
4,159 |
8,838 |
| Intoxication. |
5,462 |
7,593 |
13,051 |
| Vagrancy. |
1,007 |
645 |
1,652 |
| Total. |
13,220 |
12,692 |
25,912 |
Of the 254 persons admitted to the Asylum for the Insane in a single year, 127 were intemperate, 69 moderate drinkers, 55 unknown, and only 3 abstainants. Another year's record shows 280 intemperate, 90 moderate drinkers, 17 abstainants, and 11 unknown. If we assume, and we believe it to be much within bounds, that 70 per cent. of the crime and pauperism of the city is chargeable to the use and abuse of intoxicating liquors, we shall have to charge to liquor that percentage of the cost of the police department, of the department of charities and correction, of the criminal courts, and properly a considerable fraction of the health and fire departments. In 1880 the following appropriations, excluding the money for street cleaning, were made:— For Police Department. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,459,917
Police Courts and General Sessions, about. . . . . . . 350,000
Charities and Correction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,618,680
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,428,597 Awarding 70 per cent. of these items to liquor, we find the figures to be $3,800,015. With various items that cannot be precisely classified, we may put the round sum at $400,000,000, or $3.30 for each man, woman, and child of our population. What does rum pay back? In plain terms, hardly one cent on a dollar. The Excise Board do not seem to know how many places they have licensed, nor to have any definite idea of how many rum shops there are in the city. But in 1877, the year of the smallest receipts for licenses, a census was made by police precincts. This showed in the whole city 7,874 liquor shops, of which 2,177 had licenses. There were at that time in the Fourth Precinct 440 liquor shops to a population of 20,000, and in the Fourteenth, 387 to a population of 30,000. Here was a "gin mill" for every sixty inhabitants. The Ninth Precinct had just about as many inhabitants, with twice as much territory, and 250 liquor shops—one to every two hundred inhabitants. Now, the records of police arrests for the last six months of 1880 show this comparison:— | Liquor Arrests. |
Shops. |
Men. |
Women. |
Total. |
|---|
| Fourteenth Precinct. |
387 |
2,153 |
1,361 |
3,514 |
| Fourth Precinct. |
440 |
2,072 |
1,259 |
3,331 |
| Ninth Precinct. |
250 |
889 |
182 |
1,071 |
The precincts named correspond almost exactly to the wards of the same numbers. The two rum-ridden precincts (the 4th and 14th) furnish almost 20 per cent. of all the arrests in the city. It is needless to say that more than seven-eighths of the arrests were chargeable to drink. It only remains to say that the present system of excise has not reduced the expense of the city for the support of pauperism or the punishment of crime to the amount of one dollar. It was never intended or expected to do so.—N. Y. Herald. It is a pity that boys were not taught in their earliest years that the highest success belongs only to the man, be he carpenter, farmer, author, or artist, whose work is most sincerely and thoroughly done. West Virginia.
By John Orr Corliss
JERRY'S RUN.—After a two days' drive over exceedingly rough roads and meeting with some delays, we reached our appointment at this place. We found the brethren here much in need of help, having had little or no labor for two years. Our meetings were all held, with one exception, in a private house, which proved altogether too small to accommodate those who wished to attend. Good attention was paid by those not of our faith to the word spoken, and we are persuaded that favorable impressions were left upon their minds. A church of eleven members was organized with a full set of officers. A Tract and Missionary Society was also formed. We hope to see some good work for the Lord done at this point. The truth was introduced at this place by reading matter sent by a brother in the Oakland, Cal., church, to a man who then lived on the west side of the Ohio River. Returning to his native State and neighborhood, he secured the services of a minister, and a small company of Sabbath-keepers were raised up. Now this man who first received the reading matter, expects to soon start out in the field to labor publicly in behalf of the truth. What the small amount of reading matter furnished by the Oakland church on that occasion may result in, will only be known by the startling revelations of the judgment. Who will now assist in putting in the sickle of truth, that sheaves of souls may be garnered for the master? WHEN advertising a piece of residence property for sale, a shrewd real estate agent will mention among other advantages of location that "good schools are within easy reach," that "churches of different denominations are within easy distances," that "though in a quiet and retired part of the city, two minutes' walk takes you to a street-car line leading into the heart of the city," etc. But did you ever notice, in this enumeration of inducements to buy, the fact that a first-class saloon was located on the opposite corner, or that on the next block was a "free lunch counter," where "the best beer in the city " was always on draught, or a pool-room which would be so handy and pleasant for the boys? No, indeed. While the church, the school, and the easy access to business are essential to the well-being and maintenance of the home, the others are in every sense antagonistic and inimical to everything that is reckoned dearest and most valued in that sacred place.—The Saloon Curse. The liquor laws of Copenhagen, Denmark, provide that no showly-decked girls should be permitted to serve behind the bar, to tempt by their blandishments the youth of the opposite sex. The landlords are not to furnish intoxicating drink to any person under eighteen years of age, nor to any one under the influence of liquor. A drunken person is to be conveyed to his dwelling in a cab, at the expense of the landlord at whose house he took his last glass. The Copenhagen law should be amended in the following particulars only, and then we will vote for it heartily: First, Abolish the girls from the bar entirely; second, Abolish all the liquors; third, Require the landlord to keep a pitcher of ice-water on hand, to supply every thirsty caller; fourth, Insist that every one who wants to ride home in a cab shall pay for the privilege. Such a model hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, we are sure would be well patronized by all sane and sober men.—Independent. Only A Geranium Slip.
By Mrs. C. H. Addicks
LITTLE Mag Shivers, with her soiled dress, bare feet, and tangled, chestnut curls, crouched under a wall, munching some bread which a kind hand had thrown her. Now and then she looked at the gate wistfully, wishing it might open and give her just another peep at the splendid flower-beds inside. The day before, the gardener had thrown it wide upon its hinges while his wheelbarrow passed out, and the sight remained in her memory like a glimpse of fairyland. If she could only see it again! While the child sat longing, something dropped from the wall above, struck her shoulder softly, and fell to the ground. It was only a small green sprig without a blossom, and it looked so forlorn after the vision upon which she had been feasting, that she was about to throw it away. Just then a good-natured looking woman with a basket on her arm, came out from the gate opposite, and she smiled so kindly, Mag was emboldened to run across the street and show it to her. "Plant it, you'll have a nice red flower by-and-by. That's a slip from the geranium over there," and the woman nodded her head at the garden Mag admired. Geranium was a big word to ignorant little Mag. It gave her no idea of the flower, but it flashed through her mind, it was just possible it might grow into one of the grand red flowers she had seen; and she forgot all about her bread, and ran up the street with her treasure. The day was warm and she was a long way from home, so the little green stalk grew very dry, and the pretty leaves began to curl. Mag was just ready to cry, it looked so wilted. "Hallo! what's up?" asked a little boy, seeing the tears gather in her great brown eyes, but Mag only ran away. She was used to very rough boys, and he might snatch it from her hands. By-and-by she reached a gutter where the water was running freely. She sat down on the curb, and let the water cool her burning feet. She laid the thirsty little sprig beside them. It seemed so glad, it threatened to float away with the current, till she caught and held it a prisoner between her feet. Presently the leaves stiffened and looked so refreshed that Mag ran home with it quite encouraged. She found an old tin can on her way, and a bit of broken glass with which she scooped it full of dirt. A rusty cup half full of water lay by the straw that served her for a bed. She poured it over the slip as she thrust it into the can. It would be sure to grow now, because her Sunday-school teacher had told her God made the flowers for everybody. Her heart was full of faith as she poured the grateful little stream over the dry earth. There was no sunshine able to penetrate the soiled panes in Mag's miserable little room. Mag was used to dirt, and the landlord had been so cross when he replaced the broken panes that Mag never touched them. The slip, being constantly watered, did not suffer for the sunshine for a few days, but by-and-by it drooped again for lack of it. Then God did not mean to let it grow, after all! And Mag, who was an orphan with no one at home to explain away her perplexities but a harsh old grandmother, was sorely troubled. "Don't bother me with your old weed; or I'll pitch it out!" was all the satisfaction Mag received when she ventured to appeal to her. Then it occurred to Mag to ask her Sunday-school teacher. "Do you give it plenty of sunshine?" asked Miss Sweetzer, as the child told her trouble. A light broke in upon Mag. She gathered some papers from the ash heap, filled her tin cup with water, and scoured her window panes till her pale cheeks were all aglow. Her heart leaped when the first warm, golden ray streamed in across her plant. And how much more cheerful the little room seemed, now the windows were clean! Mag could see the house opposite, and the trees, and the church tower, with its blue-faced clock and gilt hands. Even the sour old grandmother noticed the improvement, and set her to cleaning up the windows down stairs. But this was not all. Now that the light came in clear and strong, it lit up the dirty corners, and that brought the old broom into brisker use. The grateful plant seemed growing daily. There were hints of a scarlet bloom that Mag had seen before. She remembered the garden, and she felt so hopeful and happy that she helped grandmother with all her might. Between them things commenced to mend. Mag began to see grandmother's good points, and she to recognize Mag's. As the old woman grew cleaner, she became better tempered. She showed more interest in Mag, and seemed almost as pleased as the child when the geranium buds burst forth in their first gorgeous flowers. But the change for the better did not stop here. The neighbors began to notice how much better grandmother's house looked than theirs, so they undertook to clean up also. The benevolent society, visiting the district, inquired who had started the improvement, and rewarded grandmother with a nice, bright carpet on her best room and a neat paper on her walls. One lady, who had a little daughter about Mag's age, made up a nice bundle for her of old dresses and a stout pair of shoes. In these better clothes Mag was pronounced fit for the public school. And now what started this good work? Only a neglected little slip of geranium. Tossed out to die, it yet had its use in the world, for the wise God wastes nothing.—Mrs. C. H. Addicks. "I HAVE dun at length with dreeming;
Henceforth, oh, thou sole of mine,
Thou must take up sord and gantlet
In the warfare most divine." That was what a little girl eleven years old had written in a fair, round hand in a diary, on that pleasant summer morning out under the trees. "Why, Hattie Jordan, what dreadful spelling!" exclaimed her sister's voice behind her. "You had better stop dreaming, at all events till you learn how to spell the word, and go to studying your spelling-book instead. Why, there are six words wrong there." "I wouldn't peek, anyway," answered Hattie, springing up, flushed and angry. "I really didn't, dearie," replied wise Agnes, drawing her down to her side. "I called you twice, but you did not answer. But now tell me, Hattie, what are you going to do in the place of dreaming, for you know you've spent a great deal of time in that?" "Oh, sister, I want to do everything that's strong and good. Sometimes I think I'll be a great scholar, as Margaret Fuller was, or a writer, or a lecturer, or something. Oh, Agnes, what would you do first?" "Well, dear, I think the first thing I would go to the dictionary, and study until I could spell every word in that pretty verse of yours correctly: and every day of this vacation I would write out one page of something, and then study it out in the same way, until I could do better. What do you say? for I must go now." But Hattie only shrugged her shoulders, and left alone, leaned back against the tree and watched the birds flitting about, and thought of doing great things by-and-by, until the dinner-bell called her in to more practical things. After dinner Hattie's father, who was a minister, came out on the piazza and asked the little girl to write a note for him, as his right hand was bound up from a bad cut, and every one else was busy. "Ask Deacon Conners if he will please send the choir up here," her father said; for they often practiced with his organ. So Hattie wrote, "Please send the quire up here." And about an hour later who should come up the steps but Deacon Conners—who was a bookseller—with several packages in his arms. "I didn't know which kind you wanted, sir, I brought several," he said, wiping his hot face. Mr Jordan looked in surprise at the various styles of paper displayed, and finally said, "but I was not needing any paper just now." The deacon took out Hattie's note, and the laugh they had over it sent the poor child in tears to Agnes. "You will believe me now, dear," said her sister, "that if you want to be of any use or help in the world, you must be willing to begin improving just where you see you need it. Thinking of doing isn't working. Now you know you are a poor speller; just begin there, and that will be one step." Then Hattie took her pretty diary and the dictionary, and made those six words right that she had spelled so poorly that morning, but that seemed such a little step toward becoming a woman. "I believe I could do better if I had a verse to go by," she said to Agnes that night. "Then here is one for you: 'By patient continuance in well-doing.' Six words made right does not seem much to you to-night; but six words every one of the more than three hundred working-days in the year make how many?" "'Most two thousand," answered Hattie quickly. "Yes, and if every one of them means, in God's sight, something done so as to make you a wiser and more helpful woman to others, and taking care of the talent he has given you, isn't that worth while too, darling?" And Hattie answered very softly, "Yes," for she saw then how her life might be like a ladder reaching up to what God called her to be, and the steps of the ladder would be the patient doing of each little duty or work she found in her way. And right there at the beginning she placed an earnest prayer asking the dear Christ's help. Of course he helped her; and if any of you will look at a true life in just the same way, he will help you; for even the little steps, if there be many of them, take you a long way in time.—Sel. Commenting on a recent burning casualty in Philadelphia by which a young lady lost her life, the Public Ledger makes these pertinent observations:— "The first thing to teach a girl in this matter is that fire makes headway more rapidly in burning clothes when the endangered person is standing up. The difference in progress between a burning lamplighter of twisted paper, held in the hand perpendicularly, flame down, and the same paper laid flat on a marble hearth, can be seen in a moment. The first thing to do when clothing catches fire is to lie flat and cover up the flames, if there is nothing within reach to smother it. If, as it is probable, there was a bed in the room where Miss Manship was standing, getting into the bed, between the blankets, and rolling up in them would have been a sure way of putting out the fire in a burning skirt or sleeve. The worst, the very worst thing to do was to run down stairs. Opening the door made one draught, the flight down stairs another, and rushing out into the street, in the last frenzied moment, the worst of all. The impulse to get out of doors is very strange in all such cases, because within the house there are always means for putting out a fire, and outside there are none—rugs, rag carpet torn off the kitchen floor, a heavy overcoat, blankets from the beds, even pieces of bedside carpet, put round the person in the twinkling of an eye, while water pails and pitchers are there to hand, ready to be emptied. In every case let the person whose clothes or hair has caught fire throw herself flat on the floor and roll upon the flame. If there is anything in the room, of thick woolens239 or carpets to smother it, even a gossamer waterproof cloak, snatch these and smother the fire while calling for help. If the fire has caught the hair, bury the head in bedclothes. Fire cannot burn without air, and by shutting out all air from the flames, they must go out. But an open door fans the flames, and a standing position gives them headway. Girls are much more liable, from their long floating hair, their cotton aprons, and altogether thinner and more loosely bouffant, dress to be set on fire than boys, whose stout cloth jackets are not easily ignited. The rules for putting out fire in burning clothing may not be taught in the Normal School, but every teacher ought to know them, and so thoroughly that even the fright of mounting flames will not drive them out of mind." This world with all its beauty, its sunshine and its showers,
Was made for highest duty, and not for idle hours. Each leaflet has its mission, each blade of grass its place;
Each life, spite of position, bears fruitage for the race. Only one spring is sent us, to sow the golden grain;
Only one summer lent us, to reap in joy or pain. And autumn dawns not slowly; white hair too soon has come.
We lay us with the lowly, and all life's work is done. What matter if life's measure be long or short on earth,
So we fulfill His pleasure, for which the soul had birth? So we keep sunny ever, though clouds may dim our way,
Making the darkest weather a bright, perpetual day. A smile has Heaven within it, if hearts be warm and true,
A sweet voice is akin it, and both are but His due. Who spoke us into being, blest immortality?
Where hoping turns to seeing, and faith to things that be. No life but has its sorrow; tell it to God alone;
Looking for golden morrow, keep ever near the throne.
—Selected. —California's gold product last year was $17,000,000. —Of the population of India but one-nineteenth are able to read and write. —A second canal is proposed across the Isthmus of Suez, by the old company. —This year's wheat crop in Dakota Territory is expected to reach 20,000,000 bushels. —The number of immigrants arriving from the East, during the week ending May 19, was 1,737. —It is expected that the Northern Pacific Railroad will connect with the Pacific Coast in August. —Official reports indicate that in several States of Russia crops are a total failure and famine expected. —The great bridge over East River, between New York and Brooklyn, has been completed, and is now open for travel. —A party of excursionists, numbering about sixty, from Eastern States, are expected to arrive in California about June 1st. —The new wheat crop of New Zealand is reported to be very heavy. One field of 380 acres yielded 102 bushels per acre. —J. Proctor Knott, the humorous Kentucky Congressman, has been nominated by the Democrats for Governor of that State. —There is great excitement in Guaymas and other Mexican ports over the reported discovery of rich mines in Lower California. —Of the 180 graduates of the Maine State Agricultural College, only twelve are entered as farmers in the catalogue just issued. —At a recent bull-fight in Guaymas, Mexico, Fernando Lopez, one of the torreros, was trampled to death by the infuriated beast. —A snow-storm passed over Milwaukee, Wis., the afternoon of May 20. On the same day, two inches of snow fell in northern Michigan. —A company of Mormon converts from Australia and the Pacific Islands passed through San Francisco last week, en route to Salt Lake. —A heavy storm at Deadwood, D. T., May 20, destroyed property to the amount of $700,000. Five persons are known to have been killed. —An official statement reports that the farmers of Kansas hold over from last year 5,000,000 bushels of wheat and 37,000,000 bushels of corn. —In Lincoln County, Arkansas, a peculiar caterpillar is destroying the pineries. The worms appear in great numbers and strip the trees of foliage. —A man named Smith sold a golden brick in Prescott, Arizona, for $1,000, which proved to be gilded lead. He has been arrested at Los Angeles. —Residents in the vicinity of the Chinese quarters in New York City have become indignant at some of the revolting practices of their heathen neighbors. —A decree from the Chinese throne has ordered several high officials to cease opium-smoking or forfeit their positions. A good example for "Christian" nations. —The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad has been completed to Ogden, and connection made with the Central Pacific. This opens another transcontinental line. —The leader of the "Salvation Army" in Melbourne was recently fined $25 and costs for marching his followers through the streets, to the great annoyance of citizens. —On the 17th inst., a cyclone passed through the eastern part of Nebraska, touching the suburbs of Omaha. Houses were demolished at different points, and some lives lost. —A white man named Streeter has been captured by the Mexican authorities, at the head of a band of Apache marauders. Some years ago he was a clerk at one of the Arizona agencies. —A bill has passed the Illinois House of Representatives requiring railroad companies to build station houses at all points along their lines where the United States mail is delivered. —Lydia Pinkham, of proprietary medicine fame, died in Lynn, Mass., last week, aged sixty-four. She spent $180,000 a year in advertising, and secured a trade netting her $300,000 a year profit. —Governor Cleveland has signed the Campbell Penal Code amendments, which practically repeal what are known as the Sunday "blue laws," which have been so obnoxious to a large class of citizens of New York and Brooklyn. —Another of the cherished traditions of early American history has gone by the board. The New England Historical-Genealogical Society has exploded Longfellow's beautiful story of Paul Revere, which is now declared to be principally fiction. —The vicinity of Racine, Wis., was the scene of a terrible storm on the 18th inst. Many houses were destroyed, and about a score of people killed and a great many injured and left homeless. Also, from various parts of Illinois, cyclone reports are of a most exciting character. And Missouri has had another visitation, farm-houses and even villages being entirely demolished. The great prairie country of the West is being terribly shaken. —At Jersey City, on the night of May 19, the cabinet, upholstering, and paint shops of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, in one building, 400x175 feet, located on the meadows between that place and Newark, were totally burned. The loss is estimated at $412,000. Nearly 500 men are thrown out of work. The company will rebuild at once. —Police Judge Webb, of San Francisco, is coming down a little harder on the opium-smoking nuisance. Heretofore the penalty has been $20 fine; but a few days ago he sent Ah Lung, Daniel Mahoney, and Jessie Wilson to the House of Correction for three months—the Chinaman for keeping a smoking den, and the other two for patronizing the pipe. —The Princess Winnemucca is reported by the telegraph as having addressed a select audience in Boston recently. She opposed the present system of Indian agencies, and claims that agents from the army are far preferable. She also deprecated the advent among them of certain missionaries, whose practices were far from being in accordance with their preaching. —A new Republican daily is to be issued in Los Angeles. It is claimed that the prohibition proclivities of the Times, the present organ, "antagonizes the wine interest of the county and does not fully represent Republican sentiment." "Republican sentiment" seems to have undergone a change since the Sunday-law campaign. Then the opposition was classed with the "wine interest," etc. —Governor Blackburn, of Kentucky, has pardoned James Sizemore, sent to the penitentiary from Clay County in 1880 for six years on a charge of murder. Sizemore made no defense on the trial. His brother, a man with a large family, was the real criminal, but Sizemore voluntarily took the odium and penalty on himself for the sake of his brother and family. The brother dying the other day confessed his guilt. —A count of the money in the United States Treasury is now going on. So far, over half a billion dollars have been counted and an excess of three cents has been placed to the credit of the Treasurer. A prominent daily says, "It is gratifying to know, in these times when robbery is so common among public officers and men having charge of responsible trusts, that none of our United States Treasurers have been of this number." —A law passed by the last Congress provides for a postal note by which smaller sums than $5.00 can be transmitted by mail for a fee of three cents. On money orders for larger sums the same law fixes fees as follows: For orders not exceeding $10.00, eight cents; exceeding $10.00 and not exceeding $15.00, ten cents; exceeding $15.00 and not exceeding $30.00, fifteen cents; exceeding $30.00 and not exceeding $40.00, twenty cents; exceeding $40.00 and not exceeding $50.00, twenty-five cents; exceeding $50.00 and not exceeding $60.00, thirty cents; exceeding $60.00 and not exceeding $70.00, thirty-five cents; exceeding $70.00 and not exceeding $80.00, forty cents; exceeding $80.00 and not exceeding $100.00, forty-five cents. Religious Notes.
By Editor
—It is said that the gods of the Hindoos number 330,000,000. —There are 2,000 Indians in Dakota that belong to the Catholic Church. —The Congregationalists of Utah have six preachers and twenty-two teachers. —Mr. Gladstone, it is said, is writing a book on the "Evidences of Christianity." —It is now proposed to establish a regular National Evangelical Church in Egypt. —Bishop Jesse T. Peck, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died May 18, at Syracuse, N. Y., of pneumonia. —E. S. Todd, pastor of the First M. E. Church, Oakland, is soon to assume the pastorate of the 61st Street M. E. Church, New York City. —King Humburt, of Italy, recently received a deputation of Protestants, inquired about their doctrines, and in dismissing them, wished them "God speed." —Atafu, one of the islands of the Samoa group, reports that its adult population are either members of the church or candidates for membership. The missionary in charge thinks that it ought to be called the "Millennial Isle." —A St. Louis clergyman has the credit of stating an old truth in the following striking manner: "If a man is thoroughly a Christian, the nerve that runs from his brain to his wallet will be just as much Christianized as the one that runs from his brain to his tongue." —In a recent country trip in Japan, Miss Clara A. Sands, with her helpers, made the largest sale of Scriptures that was ever made in that country in the same length of time. Three hundred and fifty copies of the Gospel were sold in an hour and a half, in the interval between addresses. The people present numbered more than five hundred. —The Christian Union speaks of an infidel town "where there has been practically no Christian Sabbath." That's nothing; we can mention scores of places where there is no Christian Sabbath; in fact, we don't know of any place where it does exist. The "Sabbath of the Lord," however, exists everywhere, a weekly witness against those who trample it under foot. —From 1865 to 1880 the population of Brooklyn, N. Y., doubled, but the number of Presbyterian churches was increased by but one. The present seating capacity of the churches of Brooklyn is one hundred and sixty thousand. This, with a population of over half a million, hardly entitles it to be called "The city of churches." Only one-fourth of its inhabitants could attend church at one time, if they wished to do so. —The secular journals quite frequently assume the censorship in religious matters, and are wont to speak contemptuously of religious journals. Here is an illustration of their ability to guide in matters of religion: A correspondent of one of the largest New York dailies inquired: "Will you be kind enough to tell me where in the New Testament I will find the passage, 'She hath done what she could'?" To which, after due search with concordance, the great paper replied: "We cannot find it, and doubt the accuracy of the quotation, if it is meant as a Scriptural sentence." —The Congregationalist gives the following item: "At the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Jesuitism in this country at the church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston recently, Bishop O'Reilly said: 'No one outside of the church of Jesus Christ can be saved, and it is needless to prove that this church is the only church of Jesus. One might as well have tried to be saved outside of the ark in the days of Noah.' After this there followed a banquet, and on the bill of fare were five different kinds of alcoholic drinks." "By their fruits ye shall know them." —Joseph Cook says: "President McCosh is a philosopher of most eminent rank, abreast of modern science, and almost monthly publishing something that leads thought in most learned circles, here and abroad. What does he do? In spite of his learning, in spite of the dignity of his office, in spite of the majesty of his character—or, rather, on account of it—he is accustomed to take young men to his study for personal conversation on religion and for prayer. Very few skeptical and dissipated young men leave Princeton without knowing what the president's private intercourse is, and its relations to these high matters." Obituary.
By H. and M. P. Veysey
VEYSEY.—Fell asleep at Eld. S. N. Haskell's house, So. Lancaster, Mass., our fifth darling child, Elsie Ruth Elizabeth. When we arrived from England last March, and heard that scarlatina was in the neighborhood, but that all attacks had yielded to treatment, we did not realize that one of our little ones would fall a victim. One after another took the infection. Elsie was quite bright on Monday morning, and on the next Thursday, the 10th inst., at 20 minutes before noon, she fell asleep, aged 8 years, 3 months, and 22 days. We can truly say, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21; Ps. 115:17, 18. She loved the Lord and his Sabbath. The kindness we have received has been remarkable. Eld. Robinson spoke with much interest, from Jer. 31:15-17, at the funeral the next day. May we live entirely to his glory, honor, and service. H. AND M. P. VEYSEY. "She sleeps! the voyage of life is o'er,
Outrode each stormy billow,
Her aching head will throb no more,
Upon death's quiet pillow.
"Yes, she sleeps! no sound of earth's turmoil,
No startling dreams shall her awaken.
Blest sleeper! freed from earthly toil,
By slumber deep o'ertaken.
"She sleeps! hark! o'er the blessed dead,
The word of promise spoken,
Oh death! the Mighty One hath said,
Thy fetters shall be broken.
"Yes, she sleeps! we've laid her gently down,
To brief and peaceful slumber,
Till God shall all his ransomed crown,
And all his sleepers number."
EARLY WRITINGS OF MRS. WHITE.
Comprising "Experience and Views" and "Spiritual Gifts Volume One," bound in one volume. This makes a neat and attractive book of nearly 200 pages, and should be read by old and young. The matter and the style in which it is presented are so interesting that no one who has read one chapter will forego the pleasure and profit of reading the remainder. Price, 75 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Who Reads?
By G. D. Ballou
My brother: I am almost sure your eyes will light on this little article over here on the last page. I know it because I remember that you have a habit of scanning the last page about the first thing when the paper arrives. I have observed that you have formed quite a habit of glancing rapidly over all the small items, and entirely passing by almost every one of the lengthy articles. Let me tell you that this habit is a most pernicious one. You are gradually losing your power to think deeply on a close, connected line of thought. You are, I fear, losing your taste for earnest, mental application to the most important themes that ever stirred the world. If on reflection you observe any tendency toward such a state of things as I have here suggested, let me say that you will be sure to find some most excellent articles in every number of your paper, and it will do you great good to carefully digest some, if not all of these articles. They will furnish food for solid thought, and promptly arrest the malady which has begun to prey upon you. You will begin to like the SIGNS better, and will feel like recommending it to your friends. Don't you think it would be well to take more solid food along with the spice and condiments?