Earlier text: THE BURNT-OFFERINGVIOLENCE IN THE LAND.
By L. A. P.
Not infrequently do Northern papers enlarge upon the regrettable conditions of race hatred in the South, taking for their text some blood-curdling account of lynching and mob rule. But unless a due spirit of meekness and appreciation of human weakness in general characterize these sermons, the judgment is liable to return on the head of the one judging. The time has quite fully come when sectional lines have little to do in determining where mobs shall suddenly rise and riot bear sway. Human hearts are awfully bad wherever human passions gain the ascendancy. On Wednesday, August 22, a mob numbering thousands spread death and destruction in the city of Akron, Ohio, in an attempt to lynch a negro charged with attacking a white girl. The prisoner had been quietly sent away, but the mob would not believe the word of the officers, and forced its way into the jail and courthouse, searching them again and again. The frightened officers fired over the crowd, but the fire was returned, and hundreds of shots were exchanged. Stores were forcibly entered after guns and ammunition, and dynamite and fire were used by the lawless and excited crowd. The city building was greatly injured, a large hall near by was burned, and the fire department hindered in its endeavors to subdue the flames. Worst of all, several persons, among them children, were killed, and no one knows how many were injured by the shooting. Help was asked from neighboring cities, and later a body of the State militia was sent to the place to bring matters to rights. If this had occurred in South America, or Germany, or China, how unstable governments and anarchism and savagery would have been castigated in all other places! But it happened at home, in a locality considered law-abiding, and what shall be said? The next day a negro killed a white man in a restaurant in Brooklyn, N. Y. As the murderer was conducted to jail, a rapidly-growing crowd followed, until hundreds gathered about the police station, shouting, "Kill the nigger." A day or two later a negro shot a white boy in New York City, and following these affairs some of the baser white element has set out to hunt negroes, injuring several, and committing depredations here and there. "Race riots" the papers call the disturbances. But it is not simply because the participants are of color black and white that these horrible things occur. Recent riots in other places have involved those not of the black race. It is because the spirit of lawlessness is rapidly spreading, and violence is in the land. What may be said is that such affairs tell louder than do words that the end of the age and of the world is at hand. "As it was in the days of Noah," said the Master, so shall it be also just before the coming of the Son of man. In the days of Noah, the Inspired Record tells us, the earth was "filled with violence." No one can truly fail to see, who believes the Word of God, that the day of the Son of man hasteth greatly. L. A. P. "CRAZE FOR DOCTORING."
By T.
AN editorial in a recent issue of a New York paper said: "Dr. Jacobi, writing in the Medical Record, says that in the United States there is one physician to every 600 people—proportionately twice as many as in Great Britain, four times as many as in France, five times as many as in Germany, and six times as many as in Italy. And Dr. Jacobi might have gone on to show that we take an interest in patent or proprietary medicines, and in various other forms of extra-professional treatment which is almost non-existent in Europe." "There must be some explanation of this American craze for doctoring. Certainly it is not that we are a sickly and an ailing race. On the contrary, we are exceptionally hardy and enduring. It may be that our backwardness in the art of cooking has a great deal to do with it. Outside of a few highly-favored centers the efforts of cooks are directed chiefly to the concocting of sundry fried messes that are pleasing to the palate, but productive of that lumpy feeling in the pit of the stomach, and afterward of all manner of disorders, from a general sense of gloom and dissatisfaction and need of some sort of medicine, to complete collapse and a fierce struggle with death. A good cook can come pretty near to keeping the doctor out of the house." The foregoing is among the many strong evidences that we are rapidly drifting away from good sense methods of living. We are in too big a hurry to take the time to either properly prepare or eat our food, or to take care of ourselves when feeling ill, and under this strain men are constantly grasping for some kind of nostrum that will quickly make them feel exhilarated, so that they can drive on in their pursuit for money or pleasure. In the very nature of things this condition, even if there were no other deteriorating elements entering into the problem, would soon transform society into a state that would prefigure anything else rather than the millennium. At the pace the world is going to-day it would soon destroy itself if the Lord did not come, to put an end to the degradations and degenerating influences that are working so intensely at the present time. T. A LUMBER raft 618 feet long, 56 feet in width at the widest part, 36 feet deep, and drawing 25 feet of water has just been started from Seattle for San Francisco, in charge of two tugs. The raft tapers at the ends, and is bound together by chains made of one and a half inch iron, placed 12 feet apart. It is estimated that there are 800,000 feet of piling in it. This is the second raft of this description sent down the coast. Nearly eight months were occupied in its construction. IT is now announced that a treaty has been arranged between the United States and Spain restoring former relations of amity, and paving the way for closer trade connections. While the relations between Spain and the United States have been cordial since the signing of the treaty of Paris, the amity and commercial relations have not been reduced to treaty form. A CAUSE for added worry and excitement in official circles is the landing, the past week, of several hundred Japanese marines at Amoy, China. The immediate pretext for this move was the burning of a Japanese temple, which, it was claimed, was done accidentally. A further reason given by the Japanese is that the move is made necessary because this has been the organizing place of numerous bands of depredators on Formosa, which is close by. The larger reason, in the eyes of the powers, is Japan's desire to gain a foothold on Chinese soil. This move is in violation of the agreement between the powers during the present trouble in China, but not much can be said, as Japan is only following in the footsteps of England in her claims in the Yang-tse Valley. The United States is specially disabled from seriously protesting, inasmuch as no protest was entered against England's advance moves. Protests were made, however, by the consuls of other powers at Amoy. Much excitement prevails at Amoy, and many Chinese are leaving the place. The Japanese, under General Goto, have planted Nordenfeldt guns commanding the city. The United States gunboat Castine has been ordered to Amoy, from Shanghai. THE British arms in South Africa, according to Lord Roberts' reports, are advancing slowly. A heavy engagement occurred on Sunday, August 26, between Botha's commandos and General Buller, resulting in the occupancy of Bergendal, a station on the railroad, by the British. Fighting was resumed Monday. A despatch from Lourenzo Marquez, dated August 28, states that the British had driven the Boers from Machadodorp, where 8,000 of the latter were believed to be intrenched, but the report is not yet confirmed. At last advices, General DeWet, with a few hundred men as body-guard, was on his way to the mountains, his force having been badly cut up and scattered. In the recent engagements the Boers are credited with great activity and determination. General Roberts has confirmed the sentence of death on Lieutenant Cordua, formerly of the Staats artillery, who was convicted as a ringleader in a plot to abduct Roberts and kill other British officers. A REPORT from Rome states that the Vatican has issued a public edict forbidding Catholics using former Queen Margherita's rosary and prayer either in churches or in private. These were composed by the queen after King Humbert's death, and Bishop of Cremona was asked to authorize their use by Italians who shared her grief. The new king, it is said, deeply resents the action of the Vatican. It is claimed that the pope is not personally responsible for the edict. The circumstance, if true, will not tend to heal the rupture between the Vatican and the Quirinal. AND now Gilman, Ill., is the scene of much shooting, resulting in two deaths outright, and two or three perhaps fatally wounded, the result of an all-night endeavor to take—first by arrest, and afterwards by mob power—Mrs. Dr. Wright, accused of murder. The doctor's house was burned, and only after a desperate fight was she arrested, badly wounded. A blacksmith in her employ to help defend her against arrest was killed. The deputy endeavoring to make the arrest was also killed. ITALY's premier bemoans the fact that Italy's navy has descended from third place in 1890 to seventh place at the present time, and has strongly recommended that the government provide a navy adequate to the needs of the country; this, too, at a time when the tax rate of the country is so great as to absorb a large portion of the income of the people. THE new U. S. battle-ship Alabama recently made the trip from New York to Boston, breaking the record for fast long-distance steaming for vessels of her class. The builders' trial trip developed a speed of 17.2 knots, while the specifications called for a speed of 16 knots. At the official test on Tuesday, August 28, the speed developed was 17.1 knots. THE officials of Sing Sing Prison have decided to abolish the lock-step except in the case of prisoners who are serving time for second offenses. It is thought that similar action will be taken by other prison officials in various parts of the country. A STRIKE of 2,000 employees of the Taff Vale Railway, in Wales, followed by 30,000 miners leaving their work in the great Cardiff mines, has threatened England with a coal famine. The miners had no special grievance, so far as is known, and have quit work out of sympathy for the railroad men, who ask a raise of a half penny an hour on wages. The strike is supported by the railroad labor unions all over England, and can be prolonged almost indefinitely, as it is stated the union has in its treasury 25,000 pounds, with a strike income of 3,000 pounds a week. Already the price of Welsh steam coal has increased enormously in price, and factories and vessels not supplied are threatened with a tie-up. This is due also to a general diminution of the coal supply in the United Kingdom. This matter has already claimed the serious attention of the government, and it is believed by good authorities that some steps will have to be taken to encourage the importation of coal from other countries, chiefly America. AT the last session of Congress an appropriation of $10,000 was made for a general investigation of the cost of construction and utility of the pneumatic tube system for the transmission of mails. This investigation will be made in the cities of New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, New Orleans, and possibly other leading cities later. STATISTICS of the Pasteur Institute in Paris recently issued show that there is a continual increase in the number of mad dogs in that city, 294 persons having been bitten by rabid dogs between the first of the year and June 8. The tendency to the increase of disease is seen on every hand. The earth and all that it contains are wearing out. THE Russian Minister of Finance has announced an increase of taxation, due to the Chinese campaign. This is the third increase in a month. It is declared to be unnecessary for the object stated, but is believed to be only an item in Russia's plans for a great campaign in Eastern and Southern Asia. A LETTER published in a German paper states that in the battles at Tien-tsin the Germans killed Chinese prisoners, but that the Russians killed not only the soldiers that fell into their hands, but women and children also. It will be remembered that the kaiser instructed his troops to take no prisoners. THE Grand Prix, or first prize in the natural philosophy exhibit at the Paris Exposition, has been awarded Dr. A. A. Michelson, head of the department of physics, Chicago University. The prize is for the echelon spectroscope invented by Professor Michelson about a year ago. THE rapid increase in the death rate in the Hawaiian Islands, due to the increase of consumption, is causing an agitation of the question of quarantining consumptive patients. The native Hawaiians and the Japanese seem to fall easiest victims to this dread disease. AN order has been placed by the Russian Government with a Chicago firm for 6,000,000 pounds of "beef on the hoof" to feed the czar's soldiers in China. This means 5,000 fatted cattle. They will be sent via San Francisco, westward. AT last advices, the friction between Roumania and Bulgaria grows more serious. The general feeling throughout Roumania is in favor of chastising her Southern neighbor, and Bulgarians are being sent across the border. IT is reported that a serious insurrection has broken out in Persia, having for its object the dethroning of the present shah. This may curtail the visit of the shah in Europe, where he is holding forth in lavish style. A UNITED STATES war ship has called at Tangier, Morocco, to support a claim for the murder of a naturalized American citizen, last June. Thus the big nations politely whip the small refractory ones into line. A CABLE has been received by the Foreign Missionary Board of the Methodist Church stating that the native Christians in Northern China have survived the attacks upon them, but are homeless and destitute. A REPORT from Apia indicates that many of the Samoans are dissatisfied with German rule, and are leaving the islands for Tutuila and Fiji. Germany has not been as indulgent as many had been led to expect. DURING the twelve months ended July 31 Germany produced 1,580,000 tons of raw sugar, a considerable increase over the past year. THE steamship Ohio arrived at Seattle on August 12 from Alaska. She carried 332 passengers, and about $2,000,000 in gold. THE German Government has forbidden the importation of American canned meats and sausages after the 1st of October. THE CHINESE ENIGMA.
By L. A. P.
VERY little news of a reliable nature has been received of the progress of affairs in China the past week, tho rumors are abundant. Following the occupation of Peking by the allied powers on August 15, the Boxers were driven out, and a despatch dated August 21 states that the Japanese, who were guarding the "forbidden city," were in possession of the Summer Palace, and were protecting the Winter Palace, which the Russians wished to destroy. At that date, also, detachments of Russian, Japanese, British, and American troops were scouring the Imperial Park, south of Peking, in search of hidden Boxers. None were found, but it is believed there is a large force of Chinese between Peking and Tien-tsin. A report that the allied forces had suffered defeat at the hands of the Boxers within the capital limits, with a loss of 1,800 men, is discredited at Washington. On August 19 a force of 1,000 allied troops defeated the Chinese at a village six miles southwest of Tien-tsin, killing 300 and taking 64 prisoners. Large numbers of villagers are said to be fleeing to Tien-tsin. The report that Prince Tuan had been captured is an error. The one captured was Prince Tum. It has been variously reported, also, that the emperor was in the hands of the Japanese. But last advices state that the emperor and dowager, with the imperial court, are in the interior somewhere. The dowager is believed to be at Sian Fu, the ancient capital. It is believed at Washington that messages from the seat of war are systematically held up by the Chinese director of telegraphs, Sheng, as they are mostly without date, and those that are dated are several days arriving. It has been decided to have messages sent hereafter by steamer from Shanghai to Che-Foo, thence by cable to Taku, and by carrier, if necessary, from that port to Peking. On August 23 an order was issued at Washington to divert all troops now afloat and under orders for China to Manila, as the United States Government has decided not to send any more forces into China at present. Strenuous efforts are just now being made by this government to learn what is the future policy of the powers relative to China. But answers are slow forthcoming. Russian advices declare that the czar does not favor partition. In view of Russia's general moves, this may be true enough. The outlook is that she wants China for herself. In the event of the other powers declaring war against China, the United States has decided to withdraw entirely, after presenting claims for indemnity, which will amount to $300,000,000, it is asserted. Peace proposals are still under advisement. Properly accredited, Li Hung Chang will be acceptable to this government to treat with the powers for a final settlement, but the whereabouts of the earl are now unknown. He is keeping well in the background. The diplomatic struggle is now well on between the powers, and in this conflict Uncle Sam may be worsted. He is young in that field. L. A. P. "BUT GOD." A BIBLE READING FOR MISSIONARIES.
By W. Percy Knight
[By W. Percy Knight, Missionary of the China Inland Mission.] THE little word "but," when used with regard to God in His gracious dealings with His people, is full of glorious meaning. It puts His grace over against man's sin, His strength for human weakness, and brings God into the inner circle of life, with all its circumstances of trial and difficulty. Eph. 2:1-4: "Dead in trespasses and sins; . . . in the lusts of our flesh; . . . by nature children of wrath, even as others. BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy," etc. Here we have a full-length and lifelike portrait of the sinner, and God, in His wondrous love and grace, coming into relation with Him in His mercy in Christ Jesus. It is God in relation to new life. 1 Cor. 1:26-29, R.V.: "Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. . . . BUT GOD chose the foolish," etc. In this passage we see God in relation to Christian service, and three times in verses 27, 28, find the word "chosen." It is God's purpose and plan to use the weak, the despised things of this world, to bring to naught the things that are mighty. Compare Ps. 8:2, R.V.: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou established strength, because of Thine adversaries, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." In view of the hoary systems of idolatry the missionary has to meet, the deep-seated prejudice and superstition to be overthrown in heathen lands, and his deep realization of inability to do the work, this thought of God's choice of the weak and despised to do His mightiest works should fill all hearts with joy and encouragement. 1 Cor. 2:9, 10, R.V.: "Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not. . . . BUT unto us GOD revealed them through the Spirit." Here we have God in relation to teaching. Above and beyond all other teachers, however learned and able to impart knowledge, is the Spirit of God, who alone can enlighten the heart to divine truth. He alone is able to take of the things of Christ and make them real and actual to the inner life. Verse 11: As the spirit of man alone knows the things of man, so the things of God none knoweth save the Spirit of God. With all the dullness of the native convert how wonderful his progress when taught by the Spirit! Let us thank God for the revealing power and light of the Holy Ghost. Of these mysteries of divine grace we are told, "BUT GOD hath revealed them unto us by the Spirit." In the following three passages we see God in relation to circumstances:— Gen. 45:8. Joseph, speaking to his brethren, says, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, BUT GOD." Gen. 50:20, R.V.: "Ye meant evil against me; BUT GOD meant it for good." Acts 7:9: "The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; BUT GOD was with him." This is one of the hardest lessons to learn, and yet fraught with infinite blessing, to place God in the inner circle of life, all circumstances alike of difficulty and trial, or sorrow caused us by others on the outside, and say, with Joseph, "BUT GOD meant it for good." In spite of all the machinations of his brethren, the anguish of soul, the carrying into Egypt, false accusation and imprisonment, Joseph did not lose sight of the working and loving purpose of his God; and, bringing that loving Lord in between himself and all his untoward circumstances, he could say, as in Rom. 8:28, that all things were working together for his good. We have a very striking illustration of this truth in Numbers 13 and 14. The spies had returned to Moses and the people of Israel from spying out the promised land. The report of the ten caused the heart of the people to melt. Forgetting their covenant-keeping and wonder-working Jehovah, and all that He had done for them in the past, these spies told only of the sons of Anak and strongly-fenced cities. Caleb and Joshua, the two faithful spies, would not allow the Anakim and the great cities to blot out their sight of the Lord; putting obstacles and difficulties without, they said, "The Lord is with us," and, looking into His face, remained calm and restful in spite of the foe. As we know, the counsel of the ten prevailed, and, putting circumstances before the Lord, the carcasses of those who murmured fell in the wilderness. Ex. 13:17, 18, R.V.: "God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, altho that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war; . . . BUT GOD led the people about." Lastly, we see in this passage God in relation to guidance. Israel did not as yet know God sufficiently; they were untrained and unorganized, and, knowing that the experience in the land of the Philistines would be too hard for them, we read that "God led them about." Our God deals very tenderly with us, and is never in a hurry. How often do we want to take what seems the most direct way to Christian work or experience, yet the Lord "leads us about"! He knows that that work would involve responsibility for which we are not yet prepared, would bring burdens that would crush us, and so we are kept, as Moses was kept forty years, for training in the wilderness, and further fitted by the Lord for future service. It may be we cry out, "Lord, give me the blessing such a man has," yet the Lord, knowing that his spiritual experience would bring to us fierce temptations and deep trial, of which we are all unaware, withholds the coveted experience, and gently leads us by a longer road. Let us trust our Jehovah more simply and implicitly. He makes no mistakes, and with tender individual guidance suited to our several needs, will lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.—Missionary Review. DIFFICULTIES OF MISSION WORK IN CHINA.
THE religious beliefs, the customs and prejudices of the Chinese, are entrenched behind centuries upon centuries of superstition. It must be remembered that China is the most ancient empire in the world. . . . Her ethics, her laws and administration of government, have come down almost unchanged through all those thousands of years. As far back as history goes, the Chinese were governed by almost the same form of paternal or patriarchal government that has stood unshaken amid the rise and fall of Western empires, and is still as influential in its strength and vigor. It is this antiquity which the Chinese fall back upon with so much pride that stands in the way of their accepting anything so modern as Christianity. But in the consideration of the difficulties the missionary has to encounter, there is not only the antiquity, but also the enormous size of the nation and the extent of country. Out of a total of 5,000,000 square miles the eighteen provinces, or China proper, contain 1,500,000 square miles. In the middle of China is one of the greatest and most densely populated plains in the world, through which flow the Yellow River and the Yang-tse. This one plain supports a population of 175,000,000, or nearly three times as many people as inhabit the United States. The emperor of China rules over one-tenth of the surface of the habitable globe, and nearly half of the population of our planet. Both the land and the people are not only immense and overwhelming, but strange, unique, and without analogy. The methods used for preaching the Gospel in our own lands or among uncivilized races have to be modified greatly, if not entirely changed, when applied to the civilization of China. The mass to be moved is enormous, and the power applied must be great in proportion. Added to this difficulty of the size of the nation there is the complexity of the language. The old saying that "the devil invented the Chinese characters to keep Christianity out of China," appears to have some show of reason when we find that in place of a Chinese alphabet there are tens of thousands of formidable hieroglyphics of pictorial characters, and that each constitutes a separate monosyllabic word. Furthermore, this written language is to be seen and not heard, to be read and not spoken. Then there is the official or court language, used in the Northern and central provinces, with hundreds of different dialects spoken south of the Yang-tse. The missionary there has therefore to learn the local dialect, the court language, and the written or classical11 language, before he can preach, read the translations of the Scriptures, and carry on oral and written intercourse with all the different classes of natives he meets. This alone is the work almost of a lifetime. But when the missionary has overcome these difficulties, which few succeed in doing beyond a certain limited extent, his task is only just begun. He has to learn all that the ordinary Chinese know from their classical and other books and teachers, in order to meet them on their own ground. Then he must begin to attack the sentiments the Chinaman holds most dear, and which are hallowed by the earliest associations and parental love. These ancestral teachings and examples, with his methods of religious worship, are deeply imbedded in his inmost heart. Yet the missionary has to ask him to give up many or most of them, and accept untried foreign dogmas and methods in their place. Is it any wonder that the conservative principle in Chinese human nature rebels, and that the Chinaman naturally is opposed to all missionary propagandism? It is almost impossible to realize the immense sacrifice a Chinese, even of the lower class, has to make when, in the face of the opposition and the contempt of his family, his kinsmen, his whole clan, and his friends, he determines to become a sincere Christian, and to follow the teachings of uncouth-looking strangers from far-off lands who are popularly known as "foreign devils!"—Prof. John Fryer, in Ainslee's Magazine. Tho you haven't gold or silver,
Tho you've neither lands nor fame,
Never dream you are not wanted;
You are needed "in His name."
In this world of change and sorrow
You may take the valiant part,
Needy souls will love and bless you
If you have a cheery heart. Do not look at clouds and shadows;
Watch for sunshine day by day;
Let your tones be full of courage;
Scatter gladness on the way.
Up and down the teeming present,
Learn the dear and precious art
Of meeting both haps and mishaps
With ever a cheery heart. All forecasting of to-morrow
In a mood of bleak despair,
All distrust of God's sure promise,
All faint shrinking anywhere,
From a lack of faith and patience,
Marks the coward's foolish start.
Trust ye God, with head uplifted;
Bear about a cheery heart. God forget you? Never! never!
He will keep you to the end.
If He send a sudden tempest,
Still His rainbow He will send;
Trust in Heaven; make earth brighter
For the trust, and let no dart
Of transient pain e'er rob you
Of a God-given cheery heart. MR. BRAU, a Puerto Rican historian, who is himself a Catholic, is quoted by the Missionary Review as follows:— “Education, both primary and secondary, needs to be provided. At first I thought the government would be able, in a short time, to provide all that is necessary, but I have changed my mind on that point. It will take years, with immense sums of money, to supply the needed accommodations. Meantime the churches might do a vast amount of good by opening both primary and secondary schools in certain localities. The high schools already opened under missionary auspices are crowded. Parents are very anxious for their children to learn English, and there are many who can afford to pay for advanced instruction for boys and girls who have already a fair primary education. “Medical work ought also to be begun. There is a great deal of suffering among the poor for lack of medical attendance. All the municipalities pay 'titular doctors' for service of the poor, but the poor get, for various reasons, little attention. If the municipal doctor shows reluctance to respond to a call, the people hesitate to go to him again. They are sensitive, and never demand as a right what the law provides for them. I questioned many of them in the poor quarter of Arecibo, Yauco, and other cities. Some said that the titular doctors were unwilling to come to their homes but would give them medicine if they asked for it. They seemed to have a horror of going to the hospital. They would shake their heads, and say, 'People who go in there come out dead.' Forbidding-looking places they were, some of them. One of the best physicians in the island told me that hardly one person out of a hundred among the peasant class has a doctor at death. These common people are full of sympathy for one another, and a kindness done to them would win their hearts. When one of them is sick, the neighbors will unite in care of him, and furnish him food out of their own scant store. “Something ought also to be done for homeless children. There is a Catholic orphanage in San Juan, but in many parts of the island no public provision is made for bereaved or forsaken little ones. Small homes are needed in many places for the care of these unfortunates, who will otherwise grow up vagabonds, if they grow up at all. “There is a loud call for immediate Christian and charitable work in Puerto Rico, particularly among the peasant class. Much could be accomplished for humanity and the Master. There are masses of people who are practically without religious instruction and wholesome religious influence. They can be won, if taken in time.” OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
Six heads of families have accepted the truth as presented by Brethren W. A. Westworth and J. A. Traugh, at Martinsburg, W. Va. BROTHER O. O. FARNSWORTH, who was recently elected president of Chesapeake Conference, has located at 904 Appleton Street, Baltimore, Md. THE camp-meetings at Ottumwa and Exira, Iowa, have each been postponed one week—the former till September 17-23, and the latter till October 9-14. AUGUST was the leading camp-meeting month this year, eighteen having been held, wholly or in part, during that month by our people in various parts of the United States. A TEACHERS' institute follows the camp-meeting at Paris, Tenn. The brethren there are giving earnest attention to the matter of Christian education and church schools. WE have received a copy of Rarama, our new Fiji paper, published monthly at Souva Vou, in the Fiji language. It is "printed and published" by Brother J. E. Fulton. A LITTLE Sabbath-school is held in a schoolhouse near Spencer, W. Va., and it has become so well known that persons not of our faith come eleven miles to study the Word. A CHURCH-SCHOOL institute is being held at Des Moines, Iowa. It is conducted by Prof. B. G. Wilkinson, of Union College, other leading educators assisting part of the time by turns. A NOTE from Brother W. A. Spicer, editor of the Oriental Watchman, Calcutta, India, states that he had been suffering from "a run of fever;" but he had sufficiently recovered to be at work again. BROTHER E. H. GATES, who has charge of the South Sea island work, left Sydney in July to visit the stations in Raratonga and Tahiti. A new church building was to be dedicated at Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. The work in Tahiti is being assisted by the Sabbath-school donations from Union Conference for August. A new house of worship is also being erected at Paia, eighteen miles from the capital. IN the Record for August we see mention of the organization of a church of sixteen members at Linsmore, N. S. W., by Brethren C. H. Parker and J. Hindson. Brother Parker is now laboring in Tasmania. AT the recent session of South Australia Conference, Brother J. H. Woods was chosen president; A. W. Semmens, vice-president; J. Higgins, secretary; Mrs. J. Higgins, tract society secretary; Mrs. A. W. Semmens, Sabbath-school secretary. THE Southern Industrial School at Graysville, Tenn., has issued a very neat calendar for 1900-1901. It contains all the information that interested persons may need. The school year is divided into four terms of three months each, thus furnishing a summer course for those working on the farm. Prof. C. Walter Irwin is principal of the school. THE Southern Missionary Society is planning for a strong advance movement at Nashville, Tenn. If you want to know what is being done, and help in what is proposed, send twenty-five cents to No. 1908 Grand Avenue, Nashville, and get the Gospel Herald every month for one year. Be sure to ask for the June and July numbers, as they contain much that any interested person will want to know. The June issue is rich in illustrations. THE printing plant of Avondale School, Cooran-bong, N. S. W., is growing in efficiency and importance. In addition to the regular monthly issue of the Union Conference Record, the August number of Herald of Health was printed there; and now it is proposed to issue a monthly paper for missionary use in country districts, and at sheep-shearing stations. It will also be carried about and given away by book canvassers. This paper is to be devoted mainly to temperance reform and the coming of the Lord. A recent publication from this press is a four-pence pamphlet dealing with the eleventh chapter of Daniel, being a series of studies in the Bible class of the school. CANVASSING not for wealth or fame,
Canvassing not for ease or gain,
Canvassing neither for a name;
We're canvassing for Jesus. "How can you afford it?" some do say;
"Times are so hard, it does not pay;
And then you've no certain place to stay;"
'Tis "easy," this "yoke" of Jesus. Courage! Workers, be of good cheer,
Our Saviour's coming draweth near;
Signs are fulfilling, He'll soon be here,
And then with Him we'll reign.
—Selected. PERIODICALS WANTED.
By Editor
The following named persons request clean copies of the SIGNS, Review, and other of our papers for missionary work:—
George B. Cox, 1308 Margaret Street, Key West, Fla.
Mrs. Susan Strickland, Lake Helen, Fla.
Henry Irving and W. C. Yergin, Box 352, Ocala, Fla.
Joseph Weimer, East Mineral, Kansas.
Also Florida Tract Society, Box 508, Orlando, Fla. That on and after October 1, 1900, the subscription price of the Signs of the Times will be $1.50 a year instead of $1.00 as heretofore. The unavoidable necessity for making this change in price has already been fully set before our readers. Until October 1, subscriptions will be received at the old price of $1.00 a year
Many of the old subscribers to the paper are sending in their subscriptions for two or three years in advance. There are advantages in receiving these long-term subscriptions that make it profitable to the Signs, and we would encourage as many as are situated so they can do so, to place their subscriptions ahead several years between now and the first of October. We have tried to advertise this change in price as extensively as possible and we hope that all of our readers are made fully aware of it, so that no one can say that due notice of the change has not been fully given. The striking events which are so remarkably fulfilling prophecy in these times, and which are commented on from week to week in the Signs, will make it all the more indispensable as the days go by. Every subscriber should continue to take it, and should do all in his power to extend it to others. Address all orders and communications to the