The Pacific Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association.
IN accordance with notice in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES and the Oakland Evening Tribune, the shareholders of the above institution met in their tenth annual meeting at the office of the Pacific Press at 9:30 A. M., on Monday, April 27, 1885.
The meeting being opened with prayer, Elder S. N. Haskell, the president, named as a Committee on Nominations, Elder William Ings, W. A. Pratt, and William Butcher; and as a Committee on Resolutions, Elders J. H. Waggoner, W. C. White, and W. M. Healey.
The meeting then adjourned to meet at the church, corner Clay and Thirteenth Streets.
On re-assembling it was found that 1,132 shares were represented by person, 1,182 shares by proxy, or 507 shares more than was required to constitute a quorum.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
Interesting remarks from the president were then listened to, on the working of the Association for the past year, and what we may expect in the future.
The secretary submitted the Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet for the year ending March 31, 1885, certified by the certificate of the auditor, which was also approved.
Vice-president, C. H. Jones, presented a diagram of the buildings and grounds owned by the Association, showing the improvements which have been made during the past year, and others which have been in contemplation. Those contemplated consist of the moving of the boarding-house, now situated on the corner of Twelfth and Castro Streets, to the new lot on Eleventh Street, and erecting in its place a larger three-story building, to contain a job room, type room, and press room, with the office in front. Favorable remarks were made by Elders J. H. Waggoner, W. C. White, J. N. Loughborough, and others, but no action was taken.
Elder Waggoner then offered the following resolution:—
WHEREAS, At the last General Conference it was decided to suspend the publication of the Sabbath Sentinel, and it was also recommended that a monthly shall be published at the office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, the name and contents to be determined by the Pacific Publishing Board; therefore
Resolved, That we hereby instruct our Board of Directors to act upon the said recommendation, and, as soon as practicable, commence the publication of a monthly to meet the requirements of the cause, to counteract as far as possible the efforts which are now being made to change the form of our Government, by a religious amendment to the constitution of the United States.
The meeting then adjourned to 2 P. M.
AFTERNOON MEETING.
The meeting was opened with prayer. There was a call for remarks on the resolution offered just before adjournment, to which a number responded, and the resolution was carried.
The Committee on Nominations reported, recommending the following as directors for the coming year: S. N. Haskell, W. C. White, J. N. Loughborough, C. H. Jones, and William Saunders. They were accordingly balloted for and duly elected. The vote was then made unanimous.
The Committee on Resolutions submitted the following, which were considered separately and adopted:—
Resolved, That we express our gratitude to God that his blessing has attended our publishing work during the year, in the increased circulation of our papers, the larger sale of our books, and in its general financial prosperity.
WHEREAS, We believe that such works as “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,”“Great Controversy,” volumes 1-4, and others, will, through the efforts of faithful agents, act as an important part in giving the warning message to the world; therefore
Resolved, That we approve of the efforts being made to extend and increase the subscription book business, and that we invite energetic persons to engage in the sale of our books.
WHEREAS, There are several important denominational works, including the bound volumes of the Testimonies and “Great Controversy,” Vol. 4, which are offered to the Pacific Press, the publication of which will require an investment of not less than ten thousand dollars; therefore
Resolved, That we invite our brethren in all parts of the world, who are interested in the circulation of these works, to take one or more shares of stock in the Association.
WHEREAS, The Pacific Press has rightfully gained the confidence of business men, not only as an institution of fair dealing, but also for its financial strength; therefore
Resolved, That we again call the attention of our friends to it as a safe place of deposit.
Elder J. H. Waggoner was elected editor, Elder E. J. Waggoner and Elder A. T. Jones, assistant editors, Elder U. Smith and Elder S. N. Haskell, corresponding editors of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for the coming year.
Elders. S. N. Haskell, W. C. White, and J. H. Waggoner were elected to act as a Publishing Committee.
Adjourned.
S. C. STICKNEY, Sec’y.
ORGANIZATION OF BOARD.
President, S. N. Haskell; vice-president, C. H. Jones; secretary, S. C. Stickney; treasurer, E. A. Chapman; auditor, B. R. Nordyke.
Tulare and Fresno Counties, Cal.
By H. A. St. John
LEMOORE.—From April 9-12 I held meetings with the Lemoore church, in Tulare County. These meetings were all quite well attended by the believers.
BURROUGH VALLEY.—Held meetings with this church in their mountain-girt valley from April 18-23. Nearly all the inhabitants of this beautiful little valley are Sabbath-keepers. Six names were added to a covenant to keep the truth as far as understood. I enjoyed my stay and meetings here very much. It was indeed a green spot in my pilgrimage.
FRESNO.—Closed meetings in Fresno, eve after the Sabbath, April 26. Had only four meetings with this church. A longer stay might have been more profitable. Each meeting was well attended, and the Sabbath meetings were deeply interesting.
I am now homeward bound, after an absence of about three months and a half. I have had the privilege of forming acquaintance with churches and many believers all through southern California. And, although it has not always been pleasant, nor have I always been well, yet to me it has been a very interesting tour. And I thank God that upon returning I can report as good health, at least, if not better, than when the journey was entered upon. To be fitted to do the work of the Lord, by an unction from the Holy One, is the absorbing desire of my soul.
H. A. St. John.
Oakland, Cal., April 27, 1885.
North Pacific Conference.
By Charles L. Boyd
A COMBINATION of influences has checked the circulation of money to such an extent as to interfere with our canvassing work during the past few months; but, by the grace of God, the labors of ministers and colporters are being crowned with marked success. A year ago a series of meetings was held at West Chehalem Valley and some embraced the faith. This winter Brother Ward held meetings in an adjoining neighborhood. We have organized a church of ten members and a tract and missionary society at this place.
A year ago I held a series of meetings near Carrollton, W. T., which resulted in several embracing the truth. Since then they have had short visits from Brother Reed and myself, and our hearts have been cheered by the progress they were making in the divine life, and in the additions to their number. I have been holding meetings there during the past few days, and have had the privilege of organizing a church of fifteen members. A deep interest is felt by them for the salvation of others, some of whom, we trust, will turn their feet to walk in the way of righteousness.
Brother Reed has been laboring for some weeks past near Currensville, where he has a good interest. Brother Ward has now gone to an adjoining neighborhood. An interest has been awakened, which we hope will be closely followed up. Brethren, we ask your prayers for the work here. CHAS. L. BOYD.
St. Clair, Nevada.
By E. A. Briggs
I HAVE now delivered thirty-six discourses at this place, and the fruits thereof have begun to be manifested. Thirteen persons have just signed the covenant to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and I expect to baptize several next Sabbath.
The special object during these meetings, however, has been to bring those who are already in the church more thoroughly up to the standard of the gospel. Evil habits and neglect of Christian duties have been corrected, and a determination to live near the Lord has been developed.
E. A. BRIGGS.
April 30, 1885.
Self-Control.
THERE was a pretty full meeting at the house of Mrs. Randolph one afternoon toward the middle of January, in spite of the fact that the absence of sidewalks in the Abingdon streets makes walking in the muddy season not the most pleasant exercise in the world. Mrs. Sharpe read a paper on “Self-Control,” which held the attention of the members from beginning to end.
“Any quality which we admire, and yet in which we feel ourselves specially deficient,” so she humbly began, “is likely to seem of the greatest importance in our sight. That may be one reason why I have chosen ‘Self-Control’ for my subject this afternoon; but it is not the only one, for the more I have thought about it, the more it has seemed impossible to overstate its importance to us all. A character without it is like an army without a commanding officer; and without it there can be but one result in any campaign—defeat. It is so strictly fundamental in the building up of a noble character that even truthfulness is dependent on it; for under the influence of uncontrollable fear, for example, even the most truthful are in danger of descending to the use of falsehood. Self-control in diet means health and strength; in expenditure it means honesty and peace of mind; in sickness it is sometimes so important a factor that it is reckoned by one’s friends as adding much to the chances of recovery. This is true in consumption as well as in nervous diseases. A judge in Boston, who had fought for many years against inherited consumption, was wont to say that he had prolonged his life for many years by controlling his desire to cough. If I may adopt and change the bearing of the hackneyed quotation from Douglass Jerrold, my advice to those about to cough is, ‘Don’t!’
“It is a truism that the very essence of good-breeding is self-control. It is the distinguishing mark of the higher classes the world over. The lower one descends in the social scale, the more the absence of it is noted. Who that has seen the ‘Shaughraun’ played has not laughed at the utter abandonment to her feelings of Conn’s mother, when she discovers that her son is determined to expose himself to the risk of being seized by the officers? What a ludicrous picture she makes—the fat old Irishwoman, jumping up and down with rage, her big mob-cap flapping wildly to and fro, while she screeches at the top of her voice! We laugh because the delineation is true to her ignorant, ungoverned nature.
“Self-restraint is not difficult for most women in the presence of a great occasion which calls out all the heroic in the character. It is in the wear and tear of our daily lives that we oftenest need and lose it. Rare is the mother who can keep her equanimity when her child playfully throws down its cup of milk on her new rug; and before the Abingdon woman who can lose her train—the one she ‘must’ take—and still maintain a noble calm, I bow in hopeless admiration!
“For mothers, above all others, this virtue is of vital importance. Jean Paul says, ‘A mother’s scream may echo through a daughter’s life.’ One yielding to a storm of angry passion, or to a violent, unreasonable desire during the three first and most impressionable months, may stamp itself forever on the unborn child. Once it seemed to be the popular notion that a woman’s fancies at that time must all be gratified, at whatever cost; now it is rather the teaching that the woman should control herself, and by the force of her own will divert her mind from unreasonable longings. We all know how dangerous to the nursing child is the nurse’s fit of unrestrained excitement. Convulsions and death itself are recorded among the known results. Self-control at these most important periods is, however, not a virtue that can be suddenly assumed. It must be the habit of the soul. As Jane Eyre forcibly said, when parting from Rochester, ‘Laws and principles are not for the time of no temptation. With my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs, preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all that I have at this hour to hold by.’ The value of self-command is not less for ourselves and our children as they grow in years, and I know no better way of teaching them than by our daily example.
“One day, when I was a very little girl, I was watching my mother make strawberry preserves. I can see the great kettle of boiling liquid now, clear as rubies. Beside the stove stood a large milk-pan containing some squash, for ‘company’ pies, with a plenty of milk and eggs in it. ‘Now Bridget,’ said my mother, at last, in a satisfied tone, ‘it is done; take the kettle off.’ This was accomplished, and then, with almost incredible stupidity, the ‘help’ actually emptied the strawberries into the squash! My mother turned her head just too late. She was quick and impulsive, but there escaped from her mouth only a despairing ‘O Bridget!’ Then, as she saw the girl’s instantly regretful face, she uttered no angry reproaches, no useless lamentations. No doubt, when my tired mother, who was not strong (I lost her at fifteen), went upstairs to rest, she felt disheartened, and thought that her preserves and squash, her time and labor, had all been wasted; but probably she never did for me a more valuable morning’s work than when she gave me that unconscious lesson in sweet self-control.
“Insanity is said to be increasing to an appalling extent. In some of its forms it is said to be defined as ‘an uncontrollable desire’—as for stimulants, dipsomania; for acquisition, kleptomania. In how many instances this uncontrollable desire might have been checked by a wise, strong mother in early life! The switch-tender moves the rail on a curve but an inch, and turns the crowded train easily from right to left; but if he allow the locomotive to pass that point, not all the strength of man can make the train swerve from the wrong track. The superintendent of one of our largest lunatic asylums has said that the insanity of his patients, in a far larger number of cases than most people dream, is directly traceable to a want of the habit of self-control. Not only does the unrestrained indulgence in stimulants, and the gratification of the baser animal passions, stimulate it, but to yield day after day to fits of anger at slight causes, or to allow any idea to gain the mastery over one by continual, unchecked brooding upon it, has the same terrible tendency. Mothers little realize, he says, the paramount importance of teaching self-control to children if they would save them from ending their days in a hospital for the insane.
“One of the experts in the frightful Guiteau trial stated, under the sanctity of his oath, that he had never known a case where insanity was directly transmitted, but that people were sometimes born strongly predisposed to it. If this be true, as it probably is, it behooves all to raise every safe-guard against the terrible tendency by teaching self-government in early youth. Is not the trend of our time toward parental indulgence, in its rebound from the undue severity of earlier days, in a measure responsible for the increase of insanity? Is it not as important, however, that our children’s characters should be strong as that their childhood should be entirely pleasant? May it not be feared that when we too carefully avoid denying them a gratification—even when in our hearts we doubt the harmlessness of it—we are far from helping them to practice that self-government upon which their future usefulness and happiness, perhaps even the continuance of their reason, may depend?
“If, then, this virtue is so nearly all-important, the great question is, How shall we acquire it? It seems to me that one way to accomplish the desired end is to gain the knowledge of what should be done in some one great and sudden emergency. To know such a simple fact as that a mustard-bath for the feet is always safe, and will sometimes save life in case of a violent congestion, will prevent us from ignominiously standing and wringing our hands when the emergency occurs.
“Another simple but efficient help is to have command at least of the voice. In a discussion, he who preserves the outward semblance of calmness is sure to come off best. Whatever else you do or fail to do when excited, keep your voice down. When you reprove a servant or a child for an offense which makes you inwardly boil with indignation, if you will only pitch your voice on a low key, and resolutely keep it there, you will be mistress of the situation—and yourself. I have read of a mother who said that for her it was the only safe course to reprove her children in a whisper, so much reason had she to distrust her naturally violent temper.
“Will you pardon me if I draw another illustration from my own experience? On the night of the Portland fire, one of the family to which I belong was dangerously ill with disease of the heart. All realized that any exhibition of fear by us might be fatal to him, and we resolved that no loud, excited voice should be heard in the house. It was wonderful how the necessity for outward self-control steadied and helped the household during that night of terror. Even our servants caught the contagion of calmness and quiet, and worked with a coolness that was amazing as the household goods were hurriedly packed amid the lurid glare of the rapidly approaching flames and the falling of cinders. We thought at the time, as we calmly spoke to one another in low tones, that a single loud cry would have broken the spell and ruined all our plans.
“I think you will agree with me that the one great help of helps (for I cannot extend the discussion farther) is the habit of looking up for strength to One who is mightier than we—who is unmoved among all the changes and upturnings of time, and who has promised to all who feel the need of something firm to set their feet upon, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’ If only every day in our often too hurried and worried lives, we would take but fifteen minutes for retirement, for quiet self-recollection and prayer, strength and calmness would surely come to us. Things around us would assume their due proportions; the trifles and worries that seem at the moment supreme would grow less important in our eyes, as our life gained in perspective,285and we came to see more clearly the outlines of that vast and unknown future, which, whether we ignore it or not, lies yet before each of us. Faber unlocks the true secret of self-control when he sings,—
“‘Keep quietly to God, and think
Upon the eternal years!’”
“Is there, then, no limit to the mother’s responsibility?” asked Mrs. Hollins, as the reading closed. “The words we have just heard are calculated to make us tremble, and stand in awe before our children. We must thank the essayist for the last words, for, truly, but for the strength that lies outside of us, we mothers with weak nerves, overburdened and frail bodies, would sink under the cares that accumulate with the sacred duties of motherhood.”
“The suggestion that the voice should be kept down, that we should ‘speak small, like a woman,’ as Shakespeare has it, is a good one,” said Mrs. Berkeley, “and yet I have seen the time when I have felt almost indignant with the gentle mother who seemed to lack the fire and force that would have stopped the teasing of a child pleading for a forbidden pleasure.”
“By all means let us not fail to be firm and decided,” said Mrs. Follen, “and not too weak to express righteous indignation when a child’s act calls for it. At the same time we must avoid the bane of our life and the destroyer of home comfort—the habit of scolding.”
“If we accept the testimony of experts,” said Mrs. Emery, “and believe that the fearful scourge of insanity is on the increase, we shall indeed do well to begin to teach ourselves and our children the power of self-control, which, in other words, amounts to doing on all occasions the right thing because it is right. Keeping back the harsh word, uttering the tender one, when every impulse of our nature tends to force us to do otherwise, is indeed hard, but it can be done. Keeping close to the sinless One is the only way for human nature to gain and retain self-control, for with His help all things are possible.”—Mothers in Council.
The Home Circle.
AN OLD PROVERB.
Pouting, my darling, because it rains,
And flowers droop and the rain is falling,
And drops are blurring the window panes,
And a moaning wind through the lane is calling!
Crying and wishing the sky was clear,
And roses again on the lattice twining!
Ah, well, remember, my foolish dear,
" 'Tis easy to laugh when the sun is shining."
When the world is bright and fair and gay,
And glad birds sing in the fair June weather,
And summer is gathering, night and day,
Her golden chalice of sweets together;
When blue seas answer the sky above,
And bright stars follow the day's declining,
Why, then 'tis no merit to smile, my love;
" 'Tis easy to laugh when the sun is shining."
But this is the time the heart to test,
When winter is near and storms are howling,
And the earth from under her frozen vest
Looks up at the sad sky mute and scowling;
The brave little spirit should rise to meet
The season's gloom and the day's repining;
And this is the time to be glad, for, sweet,
" 'Tis easy to laugh when the sun is shining."
The Dynamite Peril.
By National Temperance Advocate
COMMENTING upon the destructive dynamite explosions which have lately startled the civilized world, an exchange says: “As if to prove the futility of mere force as an agent for the regulation of society, and to throw the world back on the necessity for spiritual influences as the controlling power in human affairs, science has armed the dangerous classes with a weapon so terrible, so easily concealed, and so easily procured that the strongest government is helpless before it.” Upon the same subject a professor of John Hopkins University is reported as declaring: “I must say frankly that I believe we are just beginning to enter on a terrible era in the world’s history,—an era of internal and domestic warfare such as has never been seen, and the end of which only the Almighty can foretell.” In connection with forebodings so gloomy and ominous it becomes a question of first importance how most certainly and effectively to reach and convert to a better type of life, and thus to disarm, the “dangerous” classes. Why are they “dangerous”? And where do they most abound? It is safe to assume that chief among the causes which result in disorder, violence, and crime, producing the type of men and women who constitute what have come to be generally designated as the “dangerous classes,” is strong drink and the saloon system. Ex-Governor Long, of Massachusetts, when in Congress the bonded whisky bill was under discussion, gave expression to more than a mere figure of speech when he declared whisky to be the “dynamite of civilization.” It prepares the minds of many
of those who drink it to employ as conspirators the real explosive chemical for destructive and murderous ends. All dynamiters may not be whisky-drinkers, but there can be no doubt that the so-called dangerous classes, in whose hands dynamite becomes so great a public peril, are directly or indirectly the fruition of alcohol and the grog-shop. In this light, therefore, the temperance reform, which inculcates total abstinence for the individual and prohibition as the true policy for the State, is worthy of all consideration as one of the available safeguards for the community and the commonwealth against the possible dangers of dynamite.—National Temperance Advocate.
The Law of the Household.
By John Bascom
LAW, strength, beauty, holiness, are only expanding expressions of one thing; the root of them all is law. The nursery of law among men, whence all its tender plants are transferred to society, to the State, to personal life, and to spiritual activity, is the household. What our households are, that shall we be, and such also will be society, the State, and the church.
Our fathers, worthy of all honor and love, laid much emphasis on law in the household. Implicit and immediate obedience was expected. This sentiment was just and wholesome, but was not always supported by the gentle concessions and tender affections which should accompany it. Our attention, in contrast with theirs, and in consequence of this partial failure on their part, is turned strongly to the household as the seat of enjoyment and social concord. These two ideas, law and love, which should never be separated, which can never be separated without endangering both, have been won by us piecemeal and in succession—our gains in each instance being accompanied by corresponding losses. Law came first, and was, more or less, severe and forbidding; then came love, often concessive to the point of moral imbecility and weakness.
That which we need in the household is law and love; law that uses all its strength and sets up all its safeguards in the service of love; and love that, in all its indulgence, and in all its tenderness and watchfulness, feels the ever-present need of law, and finds in obedience to law the only divine assurance of safety and happiness. The moist rock lies hidden beneath the deeply bedded mosses and ferns and flowers.—Dr. John Bascom.
Health and Temperance.
An Early Temperance Society.
“A WRITER to the Connecticut Courant, in 1811, says: I find in the Panoplist and Missionary Magazine of October, 1810, a letter from Rev. Mr. Badger, a missionary, to Rev. Dr. Holmes, stating the following facts. Mr. Badger began his missionary services with the tribe of which he speaks, in the summer of 1805. In his letter aforementioned he says: ‘Shortly after my arrival among the Wyandots, I had opportunity to see all the principal chiefs of the nation together. I determined not to let this opportunity slip without trying some arguments to dissuade them from the use of spirituous liquors. I stated to them the evils they had suffered, both in health and property, by their intemperance. After hearing me they consulted among themselves about an answer. At length the principal chief of the nation addressed me thus: “Father, listen. You have now told me the truth. We thank you for your advice. We have agreed to drink no more whisky.”’
“Mr. Badger adds: ‘From that time they have universally abstained from the use of spirituous liquors.’
“Viewing this account as unquestionably true, I must consider it as one of the most remarkable things I ever met with in the history of man. The letter was written April 20, 1810, so that it appears those drunken Indians, having agreed together to abstain from the use of spirituous liquors, had already kept this agreement universally for the term of nearly five years.”
As the drink known to these Indians which could intoxicate went under the general name of whisky, and as they abstained from spirituous liquor for five years under a pledge to that effect, we may safely believe that the Wyandot Indians formed one of the first temperance societies on record. How long they continued their temperate habits we are unable to say, but it is a great pleasure after the lapse of ninety years since they took the pledge to bear this testimony to their honor.—N. Y. Observer.
The Danger of Cigarette Smoking
THE danger of cigarette smoking had a practical illustration the other day in Washington, where a boy died almost instantly and without premonition, from aortic regurgitation caused by depression of the heart’s action—all due to cigarette smoking. Probably, if the average young man were offered $1,000 a year for ten years of his life—$10,000 in all—he would refuse the offer on economic reasons alone, apart from moral considerations, deeming a year of life worth more than $1,000. Yet what the young man would refuse to sell to another he voluntarily throws away, and not only without securing an equivalent, but he pays a big price for the privilege of squandering. In plain English this means that in very many cases cigarette smokers shorten their lives, dying from ten to fifteen years sooner than they would if they did not absorb the deadly empyreumatical oil of the cigarette. Not only so, but the intellectual powers become weakened—this is found to be the case with the will power and the imagination—till, ten or fifteen years before his time, it may be even earlier, the young man goes where there is no cigarette smoking, his life work not half done. This may be considered a strong way of putting the matter, but it is the truth, and we are advised some of the life insurance companies are recasting their tables, and that they recognize the evil as forming an important factor in the problem of life insurance. This all being so, it would seem as if the matter should have the attention of the small boy who smokes, and not his attention alone, but that of the feeble-minded parent, too, who so far disregards his duty as to allow the small boy to do exactly according to his sweet, we mean his nicotinized, will.—Sel.
What Constitutes a Gambling Device
In a court on the Pacific Coast, not long since, it was decided that the Chinese game of “tam-tam” was gambling and consequently prohibited. In the course of the opinion rendered, the Court spoke in the following strain:—
“The coin of the realm, when used to play the game of ‘match,’ ‘heads and tails,’ ‘odd or even,’ for money or anything of value—a long and short straw when used to play the game of ‘draw straws’ for the same purpose—a ‘wheel of fortune’ or a ‘grab bag’ when used at church fairs or festivals or elsewhere to dispose of articles of value upon the chance of getting something for comparatively nothing, are each and all of them, so far just as much gambling devices as cards or dice can be. In short, anything which is used as a means of playing for money or other things of value, so that the result depends more largely on chance than skill, is so far a gambling device.”
And the same we duly commend to the notice of any church fair committee contemplating a device for winning money at a grab, the throw of the dice, or the result of a guess.—Christian at Work.
True Happiness and Contentment
By Zimmerman
HAPPINESS consists, not in possessing much, but in being content with what we possess. He who wants little always has enough.—Zimmerman.
SECULAR.
—The estimated deficit in the British budget for 1885-86 is £14,923,000.
—The pay of sailors in the Russian navy has been raised to war rates.
—Fierce forest fires have been raging in the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania.
—Twenty-four persons were recently killed by an avalanche at Seydisford, Iceland.
—It is estimated that 350,000,000 bricks will be used in Chicago the present year.
—Seventy riotous strikers were captured by the militia near Joliet, Ill., on the 2d.
—Five steamers have been purchased in America for cruisers in the Russian service.
—Eleven miners were buried alive by a snow-slide near Tennessee Pass, Col., a few days ago.
—The sanitary inspectors say that the disease which has been raging in Spain is not Asiatic cholera.
—The public debt statement shows the reduction of the debt during the month of April to be $5,465,000.
—The N. Y. Mail and Express says that the best asparagus in market comes all the way from California.
—The Journal of Commerce says that there is the poorest prospect for winter wheat the country ever saw.
—A harpoon of the pattern of forty years ago was taken from a whale, recently captured near Coos Bay, Oregon.
—The immigration into Oregon and Washington Territory, averaged about 170 a day, for the month of April.
—Passengers on the Bermuda steamers report that the British are putting Bermuda in a complete state of defense.
—A fire in a tenement house in New York, May 2, resulted in the death of seven persons, and the injury of fourteen others.
—By order of the Government, the English troops are evacuating the Soudan. Hostile Arabs are again becoming troublesome to the British.
—Much damage has been done to crops and stock, especially in the vicinity of Felton, Ark., by the great overflow of the Arkansas River.
—The cyclone season has begun. Sterling, Kansas, was struck by one, April 21, wrecking several houses and barns, but fortunately killing nobody.
—The low lands near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, were deluged on the 21st ult., by a cloud-burst. Many families are known to have perished.
—Farmers in San Joaquin, Amador, Merced, and Stanislaus Counties (Cal.), are troubled over the appearance of immense swarms of grasshoppers.
—General Grant still continues to improve in health, and has resumed work on his book. One day last week he dictated to a stenographer for nearly an hour.
—Grundy, the county seat of Buchanan County, Va., was almost entirely destroyed by fire the morning of the 25th ult. The Court House and the county records were burned.
—Angus M. Cannon, "President of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion," and father of Geo. Q. Cannon, the Mormon apostle, has been found guilty of polygamy, under the Edmunds law.
—The Russian Government has ordered the South-western Railroad Company to have several hundred railway carriages ready as soon as possible, for the transportation of troops.
—A fire in Vicksburg, Miss., on the 22d ult., destroyed property to the amount of $250,000. It is thought that more than twenty lives were lost. Six bodies have been recovered.
—The Rio Grande rose twelve feet in a few hours, on the 19th ult., and then as rapidly subsided. The cause of the rise was a water-spout a few miles above Laredo, Texas. There was much damage to property.
—Panama dispatches of the 30th ult., state that the rebels are completely subdued, and that Azipurin has given up his arms. Business is everywhere resumed, and the difficulties are believed to be at an end.
—It is reported that Reil is attempting to influence the Indians of the northwest territory in his favor, by representing himself as a prophet. He says that his mission is similar to that of El Mahdi in the Soudan.
—Dispatches received in London on the 22d ult. report a terrible volcanic eruption at Passowoc, a province in the eastern part of the island of Java. A number of plantations have been devastated, and many people were killed.
—There was a cyclone at Prairie Grove, near Mexia, Texas, last week, which did much damage. A two-story school-house, in which there were many children, was torn to pieces. One child was killed and many severely injured.
—Twenty inches of snow fell at Denver, Col., on the 23d ult. At the same time, rain fell in south-eastern Kansas to a depth of over twelve inches. All the level country was submerged, fields were devastated, and very many cattle were drowned.
—The English Government has ordered the immediate construction of forty gunboats. These gunboats are to be, according to Admiralty specifications, of new type of naval architecture. They will carry light shell-guns for the purpose of destroying torpedo-boats.
—An express train on the Louisville, Nashville, and Chicago Railroad was stopped by masked men, near Harrodsburg, Ind., on the morning of the 30th ult. The engineer and fireman were compelled to leave their engines; the express messenger, who refused to unlock the safe, was shot dead; and the safe was broken open by the robbers. Only $4 was secured.
—It is said that peanut flour is becoming an important product of the South.
—The English and German Governments have recently been informed by their agents in the South Pacific Islands that the slave trade, with all its horrors, has been revived.
News and Notes.
By Editor
RELIGIOUS.
—The Bible is circulated in Pennsylvania in twenty-two languages.
—In his twenty-five years' pastorate, Dr. Cuyler has received 3,610 persons into the membership of the church.
—Thursday, May 21, has finally been fixed as the first day for the revised Old Testament to be exposed for sale.
—At the recent meeting of the Presbytery of San Francisco, the Committee on Foreign Missions reported that the average attendance upon the services in the Chinese church in San Francisco is about 500.
—Ground has been purchased in Sacramento, Cal., as a site for a grand Catholic cathedral. John Mackay has given $100,000 towards founding the church.
—Chaplain McCabe, the indefatigable money-raiser and church-builder of the Methodist Church, has undertaken to collect this year a missionary fund of $1,000,000.
—The Greek Church is engaged in missionary work in Japan. Their missionaries report 7,000 converts, 90 churches, 277 chapels, 13 priests, 93 traveling preachers, and 1 seminary, with 41 pupils.
—The Roman Catholics of Germany have organized a "Palestine Union" for the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith among the natives of the Holy Land, and the amelioration of the country by the erection of churches, schools and hospitals, and the establishment of Roman Catholic colonies.
—Masses for the dead are now celebrated in some of the congregations of the Church of England, but they call this rite "Celebration of the Blessed Sacrament on behalf of the faithful departed." The "Guild of All Souls" is an association formed for the purpose of extending this particular rite in the English Church.
—A writer in the Methodist Recorder, in speaking of Bishop Morris, gets mixed up as follows: "At an advanced period of his ministry he fell from the shining walls of Zion with the trump of God in his hand, and has gone to his peaceful rest in Heaven." Can the Recorder tell us what person has been commissioned to blow the trump of God since the death of the bishop?
—Bishop McQuade, of Rochester, has ordered that hereafter in his diocese none but Roman Catholics and actual communicants shall sing in the choirs. He says: "How revolting it is for the congregation to hear the voice of one who does not believe in what he or she is singing. It is mockery instead of worship." The bishop is certainly consistent, and his statement is true. There is altogether too much mockery in modern worship.
—An Eastern paper says: "In the police court of a Missouri town, the other day, several 'young ladies and gentlemen of the highest social standing' were tried and fined for disturbing public worship. The offense consisted in writing notes and talking in church." It would be a matter of interest to know just how low one may fall before losing his position among those of the "highest social standing."