THE years pass, and Marguerite is again in the city for a short time.
Madge, who is now a well-known artist, had insisted upon the visit, telling her she would not take no for an answer, and begging her not to delay the visit, as there is to be an Art Exhibit in the city the first of the month, and she so much wished her friend to see two pictures which she had dreamed of and labored on for many months.
It has been a glad time for both, for their love has stood the test of years, and they have not, as many friends do, grown apart with the flight of time.
Marguerite’s happiness is mingled with a certain sadness, for she remembers her girlhood’s plans for the future, and, as she looks into the coming years, she knows they must remain unfulfilled. Still she is conscious that the success her friend is achieving is not bringing her the happiness she had expected. She has read this in the restless movements and the unsatisfied expression in the bright eyes. She rejoices in Madge’s success, but can not but feel sympathy for her.
After Madge’s refusal to go to her home, she went to the masters, and told them she must give up her studies unless she could in some way earn her tuition, but that she was willing to do the hardest of work rather than give up her art. The masters were much interested in her, because of her talent and strict application to her studies, and they made arrangements for her to work about the school as long as she cared to stay.
There had been a great deal of drudgery, unbroken by recreation or rest; her only pleasure being found in her work. She had at times been ready to fail from weariness, but was prevented by her indomitable will-power.
Now her life is changing, for she is recognized as an artist of great ability, and is earning a competence.
As the day of the exhibit approaches, Madge is in a state of suppressed excitement, which increases until the day arrives, when she can scarcely return intelligible replies to her friend’s questions.
They go early, for Marguerite wishes to see Madge’s pictures before the crowd arrives. Madge has resolutely refused to talk of them, telling her friend “to wait and see.”
When they reached the place, Madge takes Marguerite to her pictures, and hastens away to another part of the building.
Marguerite utters an exclamation of surprise and delight, and then stands as if spellbound, with her eyes riveted, as it were, upon the picture before her. A lofty mountain rears itself in proud grandeur above the lesser mountains about it, while far in the background may be seen the deep, beautiful blue of the distant hills. There is a narrow, winding path up the rugged mountainside, and numerous cascades fall from the cliffs among the quiet pines beneath. It is a grand old mountain which nature has beautified in her own way, sculpturing and coloring it until it stands, massive and grand, magnificent in strength and beauty.
As Marguerite observes closely the path up the mountainside, she sees that there are straggling streamlets to cross; that the path is, at places, almost overgrown with briers, and there are cruel, jagged rocks all along the path which the weary traveler must traverse. The path ends abruptly on a narrow ledge, a short distance from the highest point of the mountain,11and here is a beautiful laurel tree. ’Neath the laurel, seated upon a rocky bench, is a young woman clad in a flowing robe of purple, and with abundant dark hair falling about her face and down over her shoulders. A few bunches of the laurel have fallen from her hands to the rock at her feet, and she retains a few leaves in the hands which have dropped so listlessly upon her lap. Her attitude suggests extreme weariness, and a brief pause from activity, but not repose.
So various are the emotions revealed in her expressive face that one is at first bewildered in the attempt to conjecture which are predominant. There is pride, a certain triumphant joy, and a careless observer might say even rapture, upon the beautiful face as she sits alone upon that desolate mountain peak, and realizes that she has passed through hardships bravely, and has reached the heights of her ambition. But to the one studying the face so intently, it is apparent that, at the moment of victory, her courage has failed. She is lonely, and her eyes are turned longingly toward the far-away valley, while her heart cries out for the clasp of a warm, friendly hand, the opportunity to love and be loved, and share the simple little pleasures of those in the valley. Marguerite remembers the wild anguish of the letter her friend had written to her after the death of her father, who had suddenly taken ill, and died after a brief illness.
Madge had watched by his side with a heart filled with sorrow and remorse as she heard him talk in delirium of his dead wife, and again and again call for his little girl. Then it was that she knew how she had misunderstood her lonely, broken-hearted father, and she knelt by his bedside hour after hour, praying and vainly watching for a sign of recognition from him. O, that he might be spared to her until she could in some degree atone for the time of neglect. Her desire was not given her, and she returned to her work with a sad heart, wondering if it were possible to achieve success that should bring peace to her soul.
As Marguerite gazed at the pictured face upon the canvas, and read the message there revealed, quick tears filled her eyes, and she turned away from it with a feeling of pain, to look upon the companion picture.
Such a contrast as it presented! It is a quiet, sunny valley. Sunbeams play among the graceful foliage of the beautiful trees, and stoop to brighten the verdant meadows where dear little blossoms raise their sweet faces to greet them. The clearest streamlet seems to laugh with quiet joy from its mossy bank among the fern and heather, and a gleam of sunshine lightens the calm waters of the lake where the lilies grow. There are foot-paths through the meadows, and in yonder glen nestle the humble cottages of the peaceful village, and the little church rises among the trees with its steeple pointing heavenward. There is life, and light throughout the picture; yet, over all a quiet calm and peaceful repose.
Standing in the meadow, her bare feet well-nigh hidden by the clover, is a young woman robed in a simple, white linen gown unrelieved by color or ornament. The shining waves of hair, so faithfully representing Marguerite’s own, are loosely caught away from her earnest face. Her hands are clasped in an attitude of prayer, and the honest eyes are gazing upward with an expression of trust and love. There is a peaceful smile upon the gentle face, and one feels that, altho she may have failed to overcome the difficulties that stood in the way of her success, she has done better still, for she has conquered self. There is not a shadow of discontent upon the pure face, but there is strong love, immaculate purity, unlimitable faith, here revealed.
As Marguerite stands with clasped hands, gazing up at the beautiful face before her, Madge approaches, and, pausing a moment to observe her, sees the rapt expression of love and joy upon her friend’s face, and can not resist clapping her hands as she softly murmurs, “I did it! How like it is!” At the sound Marguerite turns with a little start, and exclaims, “O Madge, I am so glad, so happy! They are very, very beautiful. I knew you would succeed, dear.” But Madge comes nearer, and whispers, “Marguerite, I have tried to answer the question which you asked me long ago. Do you remember? You asked me if I did not think you had done right. That question has echoed in my ears very often since that day, and I have tried to answer it. You have indeed chosen the better part, Marguerite. ‘Succeeded,’ you say; it is you who have succeeded, not I. I have succeeded in the eyes of the world. I suppose many a girl here to-day will almost envy me my success. But have I succeeded? You are the only person in the world whom I truly love. I have worked almost ceaselessly, and have not thought that I had time to make friends. I have acquaintances, but not friends. I have shut myself away from the world, closed my ears to its cries of sorrow and suffering; blinded my eyes, lest I should see that the human creatures about me were brothers and sisters for whom Christ died; sealed my lips from speaking words of cheer and sympathy to the saddened, discouraged ones; ever toiling onward, possessed by a half-insane desire to succeed in the life I had chosen. ‘Believe in a loving God?’ I see the question in your eyes, my Marguerite. Yes; I believed, and thought that I had loved Him, too. I loved the pure and good, and tried to keep my own soul free from sin. I was grateful to Him for the beauty which He had created, and I believed that He must be pleased because of my love for the beautiful, and my feeble attempts at portraying it.”
“There is a joy which comes to one who overcomes difficulties, and succeeds in the work she loves, but I would gladly give all to know the peace which is yours. You have brightened the lives of not only your father and mother, but of many others. A lady from Valley View, whom I met a short time ago, called you the ‘Sunbeam of Valley View,’ and she told me something of the way you have spent your time, and how you were beloved by all.”
“You will be a blessing in the home to which you go as you have been in your girlhood’s home. You have friends, love, a home, and need never for an instant think your life a failure, because you have given up your musical career. Your life has been one grand, sweet song which angels might well rejoice to sing.”
“You have the happiness you deserve, and I am glad. You have succeeded. I have failed. I have no home in the true sense of the word, no friend but you, my good, true friend.”
“Listen, Madge,” said Marguerite, “I have been thinking of something I heard long ago.”
Then in her sweet, low tones she repeated these words:—
“Better the valley with peace and love
Than the desolate heights some souls attain;
Lonely is life on the hills above
The valley lands and the sunny plain.
What is fame to love? Can it satisfy
The longing and lonely hearts of men?
On the heights they must hunger and starve and die,
Come back to the valley of peace again!”
THE OLD FIREPLACE.
The blessed old fireplace! how bright it appears!
As back to my boyhood I gaze,
O’er the desolate waste of the vanishing years
From the gloom of these lone latter days;
Its lips are as ruddy, its heart is as warm
To my fancy to-night as of yore,
When we cuddled around it and smiled at the storm
As it showed its white teeth at the door.
I remember the apple that wooed the red flame,
Till the blood bubbled out of its cheek,
And the passionate pop-corn that smothered its shame
Till its heart split apart with a shriek;
I remember the Greeks and the Trojans who fought
In the shadowy shapes on the wall,
And the yarn in thick tangles my fingers held taut,
While my mother was winding the ball.
I remember the cat that lay cosy and curled
By the jam where the flames flickered high,
And the sparks—the fireflies of winter—that whirled
Up the flue as the wind whistled by;
I remember the steam from the kettle that breathed
As soft as the flight of a soul,
The long-handled skillet that sputtered and seethed
With the batter that burdened its bowl.
But the fire has died on the old cabin hearth,
The wind clatters loud through the pane,
The dwellers, they’ve flown to the end of the earth,
And will gaze on it never again;
A forget-me-not grows in the mouldering wall,
The last, as it were, of its race,
And the shadows of night settled down like a pall
On the stones of the old fireplace.
—Selected.
HOW OLD ARE YOU?
ONE day there came to the court of a king a gray-haired professor who amused the king greatly. He told the monarch a number of things he never knew before, and the king was delighted. But finally it came to a point where the ruler wanted to know the age of the professor; so he thought of a mathematical problem.
“Ahem!” said the king, “I have an interesting sum for you; it is a trial in mental arithmetic. Think of the number of the month of your birth.”
Now, the professor was sixty years old, and had been born two days before Christmas, so he thought of twelve, December being the twelfth month.
“Yes,” said the professor.
“Multiply it by two,” said the king.
“Yes.”
“Add five.”
“Yes,” answered the professor, doing so.
“Now multiply by fifty.”
“Yes.”
“Add your age.”
“Yes.”
“Subtract three hundred and sixty-five.”
“Yes.”
“Add one hundred and fifteen.”
“Yes.”
“And now,” said the king, “might I ask what the result is?”
“Twelve hundred and sixty,” replied the professor, wonderingly.
“Thank you,” said the king. “So you were born in December, sixty years ago, eh?”
“Why, how in the world do you know?” cried the professor.
“Why,” retorted the king, “from your answer—twelve hundred and sixty. The month of your birth was the twelfth, and the last two figures give your age.”
“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the professor. “Capital idea! I’ll try it on the next person. It’s a polite way of finding out people’s ages.”—Watchman.
A CLERGYMAN WHO FINDS SPORT IN HUNTING.
A FRIEND calls our attention to an article appearing in a Boston religious paper, and written by a Massachusetts Protestant clergyman, in which he describes to others the desirability of their going out hunting, which, of course, means the wounding and killing of the various harmless live creatures that live in the woods. Perhaps we can not better answer the article than by reprinting the following poem, which has already had a wide circulation in eastern and western newspapers:—
Not Christlike.
[By A. B. S., Chadron, Nebraska.]
A minister of Omaha, while out in central Nebraska holding fast Lenten services, was arrested for shooting twenty-one meadow-larks. He spent the night in jail, and was fined one hundred and ten dollars.
He stole a summer song, dear,
This godly man of mark,
He made the spring day silent,
He killed a meadow-lark.
The plowman in the morn, dear,
Will miss the dawn-tipped wings
That, soaring upward, taught him
To think of nobler things.
And the children off to school, dear,
Across the fresh-turned sod,
Will seek in vain the songster
That kept them close to God.
And all the summer long, dear,
Each day, when it is done,
We'll wonder who, to-morrow,
Will welcome up the sun.
For he is dead and cold, dear,
Our little meadow-lark,
And he sang a song of love to—
That godly man of mark.
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Sundown or Midnight, Which?
Does the Sabbath begin at sun down or at midnight? This question with many others is answered in the little work entitled, “Scripture References.”
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ADDRESS PUBLISHERS OF THIS PAPER.
GERMAN EAST AFRICA.
THIS important colony, which our missionaries have recently entered, lies on the Indian Ocean, extending inland from 250 to 300 miles. The estimated area is 345,000 square miles, about the size of Texas and Indian Territory. The population is estimated at 1,700,000. The government of the country is in the hands of the East Africa Company, and an imperial commissioner. The development of the trade resources of the country, much of which has never been visited by Europeans, has also been entrusted to this company. The company is gradually establishing trading-posts, and opening up new routes to the Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tanganyika. Important articles of export are ivory, gum, copal, caoutchouc, and sesame seed.
On the north, and just within the boundary, is Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the highest peaks in Africa. It rises 19,700 feet above sea-level, almost four miles in perpendicular height. Tho it is in the Torrid Zone, and only 180 miles south of the Equator, it is capped with perpetual snow.
The Usambara Railroad, now being constructed by the government from the port of Tanga inland, has been completed about fifty miles. It is being pushed on through the cotton plantations as rapidly as possible toward the great mountain, 170 miles from the ocean. It is expected that cotton fields will be planted in this section to such an extent as to supply all the home mills. This promising region, as also the British territory just north of it, known in ancient times as Ethiopia, bids fair to be a fruitful field for the Master's kingdom.
Referring to Ethiopia reminds us of Abyssinia, which is a somewhat progressive “empire” within that region of ancient note. It is a country in which the Sabbath of the Lord never has been entirely lost sight of, and where (shall we not say for that reason?) the natives never have descended to the low level of moral and civil character that has marked the fall of other African peoples. We hope to see this particular field entered soon with the last message of the Gospel of the kingdom.
ENCOURAGING QUALITIES IN THE AFRICAN NATIVES.
Rev. Melvin Fraser, from whose report we quoted last week, tells, through the Assembly Herald, of special reasons for expecting favorable results from the African people:—
“The native has a broad, susceptible, religious nature, ready to respond to the ideals within his reach. He interprets whatsoever comes to pass in life as the expression of an invisible something. To him, nothing either good or bad occurs but by the intervention of a mysterious, unseen power. He is constructively religious, and knowing nothing else, worships fetish, with all its inconsistencies and hideous cruelties. When the ideals of the Gospel are plainly presented, they appeal to his understanding and judgment, and take hold of his heart, and begin to command his obedience.
“Since the opening up of the Kamerun interior work ten years ago, hundreds of people have come to tell of their desire to be Christians. By no means have all these proved steadfast, or realized what they were doing. There has been a deal of chaff in the wheat. But out of these numbers, two churches have been organized, one at Efulan, one at Elat, and material is in sight for organizing at Lolodorf. Hundreds of others are in classes on probation, and in course of instruction for membership.
An Arab Village in Abyssinia.
“What kind of Christians do the natives make? The act of making a public profession of faith in Christ, and of entering upon the new life, involves a heroic break. A tremendous tide is to be stemmed of temptation—often of persecution and ostracism, Not a little of these has been endured for Christ’s sake. Women have been flogged by their male masters for attending meetings, and confined days without food for guarding virtue, and charged with murder by the occult power of a Christian witch. A young man recently put away two of his three wives, and received a brutal beating by his tribesmen because he would not add his little sister to the other’s plurality of wives. Many a Bulu house is to-day divided against itself, rent asunder on the Rock, Christ Jesus. There are those who have in them the stuff martyrs are made of, who know whom they have believed, and would die rather than yield under coercion, and forsake their new-found Lord.
“There are boys and young men and women whose records of years show that they will not lie or steal or break the seventh commandment, and this is saying not a little in recognition of the power of God’s grace to keep that which is committed to Him in the slums of Africa. With the rising generation the groundwork of polygamy, with all its litter of vices, and which gives occasion to the tenths of Bulu troubles and sorrows, is beginning to crumble, and many a young fellow, tired of sin and its wages, is stepping right out of the ranks of heathen society, marrying one wife, and walking honestly in the marvelous light and liberty of the truth that has made him free indeed and happy.
“How any one, while counting the cost, yet seeing the output, the quantity and the quality of it, can say that missions to Africa do not pay, is past understanding. If coming to Africa and being used for the production of such sturdy, intelligent, useful Christian lives as so many of them are, if this is being buried alive, then blessed be the burial.”
“We have not said that Africa is not dark; she is dark, and for the natives her unwritten history has been one long, black night. But much of the darkness is of a kind that light will drive away, and the servant of God who brings that light can live here with all the comfort and safety he needs, and discovers a kingdom to live for. Come over and help us. The missionary who comes with his lamp trimmed and burning in faith, hope, and love, meets not a dismal task. Bearers of the torch of divine truth find that, in personal experience and actual outlook, even in Darkest Africa there is not more night than day.”
LOUP CITY, NEB., CAMP-MEETING.
By A. T. Robinson
LOUP CITY is situated on the Middle Loup River, and has a population of a little over 1,000. We have a small company of faithful brethren and sisters at this place, whose lives are a testimony to the saving power of the message for our time. They have a neat house of worship in which Sabbath services are regularly held.
The camp-meeting was located on a beautiful plot of ground in the eastern edge of the town. The meeting opened Wednesday evening, June 1, and continued until Sunday evening, June 12. During the first days of the meeting it rained a good deal of the time. This prevented a great number of our brethren and sisters, who would have come with teams, from doing so, and the number of those encamped on the ground was not large. The attendance of the people of the town was fairly good every night, and a good impression is left on their minds. Elders Daniel Nettleton and L. E. Johnson, Prof. C. C. Lewis, Dr. W. A. George, and the writer, were the speakers in attendance. The preaching13which was made exceedingly practical, dealt largely with the great living issues of the message which makes us a distinct and separate denomination. Several revival services were held, when the deep movings of God's Holy Spirit rested down upon the people. Several persons gave their hearts to the Lord, and fully embraced the truth as presented. On the closing day of the meeting, a large concourse of people assembled on the banks of the river, where eight persons followed the example of the Saviour in the rite of baptism. It was a beautiful and impressive ceremony.
Altho the number of our people present was small, they responded nobly to the call to defray the expenses of the meeting. $101.64 was pledged to different conference funds.
One feature of this camp-meeting is worthy of special mention. Twice during the week the whole camp was organized into a missionary band, and, led by the president of the conference and the superintendent of the district, went out visiting the people. Thus every family in the town were twice visited, and invited to the meetings, and had reading matter left in their homes. If we should adopt the plan of holding many such small, comparatively inexpensive camp-meetings, organizing them into a corps of workers' meetings to reach the people, we could thus stir these smaller towns with the message in a few days' time. A. T. ROBINSON.
TWO QUESTIONS.
By L. D. Santee
BY L. D. SANTEE.
Shall we recognize our friends in heaven?
“Then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Cor. 13:12.
Shall we grieve for those that are not there?
“The former shall not be remembered, nor come upon the heart.” Isa. 65:17, margin.
In the change that shall make us immortal,
We shall lose not the dear ones we love.
With them we shall enter the portal
Of the beautiful mansion above.
This thought dispels all of my sadness,
Tho I walk down life’s valley alone;
For full of unspeakable gladness,
Is the thought, “I shall know as I’m known.”
The things whose remembrance brings sorrow,
The ones that were, and are not,
They come not to sadden the spirit.
They are lost to the mind, and forgot.
In all of the ages of heaven,
The thought of them comes not again.
To the ransomed, no memory is given
That will sadden the heart, and give pain.
That life will be free from all sorrow
Through heaven’s inexhaustible years;
No shadows to darken the morrow,
No sadness, no pain, and no tears.
In that region where sickness comes never,
All the joys of the blest we shall find;
There gladness will linger forever,
And sorrows ne’er come into mind.
CHRISTIAN WORK.
The first newspaper in the Tibetan language has appeared. It is a quarto sheet of four pages in double columns. The title, Ladak Newspaper, stands at the head in bold Tibetan characters, the same which are used in both Buddhist and Christian religious books. The first number contains four articles—political, news, literary, and religious—the latter being a discussion of a Tibetan proverb relating to the imperfection of the Lama, and pointing out that Jesus Christ is the perfect priest between God and man. It is printed at the Moravian mission press of Leh, in Tibetan script. Altho Tibet is shut against the missionary, Tibetan Bibles and tracts are continually being carried into the closed land.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
Four candidates were recently baptized at Elgin, Ohio, by Brother W. W. Miller.
The baptism of two candidates at Birnamwood, Wis., by Brother C. J. Hermann, is noted in the Reporter.
On the night of June 7 the Piedmont Sanitarium, at Hildebran, N. C., was totally destroyed by fire. Loss, $3,000.
In the Montana Bivouac, Brother J. C. Foster reports the organization of a church at Rockvale with a membership of eighteen.
Of the work at Mount Forest, Mich., by Brethren D. P. Wood and E. R. Landa, the Banner reports sixteen candidates awaiting baptism.
A new conference organ has been started at Lansing, Mich., to record the doings of East Michigan Conference. Bi-weekly, 25 cents a year.
The school at Edenville, Mich., taught by Miss Celian Nowlin, recently closed with five pupils awaiting baptism. A new school building has been erected there.
Referring to the recent session of Minnesota Conference, the Worker says that thirty-seven churches were represented by eighty delegates. Four new churches were added, aggregating sixty-nine members. During the session twenty-six persons were baptized.
From Washington, D. C., Brother Lewis C. Sheafe writes that he has pitched his tent for a third season’s effort, and asks prayers for success. The visible fruits of his personal labors in the past two years is eighty persons baptized; total number received into the church, 125, and one church organized; for which he gives God the glory.
The following opportune resolution was adopted by the Lake Union Conference, at its late session: “That the religious liberty work be made a department in each local conference, and this union conference, and that some suitable person be chosen in each local conference, and this union conference, as secretary of said department.”
The Sixth Annual Announcement of Bethel Industrial Academy, 1904, is a neat, illustrated pamphlet of twenty-four pages, which gives information concerning our institution at Bethel, Wis., of interest to its friends and prospective patrons. To us the most interesting illustration is that of a two-story dwelling, built by students. The second term of this year began June 29, to close September 27. A note accompanying the pamphlet says: “Professor Washburn, having been called to the Emmanuel Missionary College, Prof. A. W. Hallock has been elected principal to fill the vacancy.”
The editor of the little monthly journal, entitled Save the Boys (the name indicates the object) is contemplating a special issue in the near future, to be devoted to the dangerous character of beer, and the evils of beer-drinking. There is surely enough involved in the subject to make a valuable paper, and, no doubt that number will be well worth circulating. Prices: single copy, 5 cents; five or more copies sent direct to your friends, 4 cents each, if names are all sent at once; in clubs of ten or over to one address, 3 cents each; fifty or over, 2½ cents each. Address, 118 W. Minnehaha Boulevard, Minneapolis, Minn.
Brother W. H. Hyatt and wife have joined the mission workers in Matabeleland, Rhodesia, South Central Africa. Writing to the Missionary, at Cape Town, of their trip, Brother Hyatt says: “At Mafeking we met Brother Tickton, whom we found hard at work selling ‘Christ’s Object Lessons.’ The Lord has greatly blessed his efforts in that direction as he has labored to place this precious book in the hands of the people.” They were met at Bulawayo by brethren from the mission station, and the next evening arrived at the farm. There he found the workers well, and busily engaged in gathering in the crops, and conducting the school. They were greatly in need of the additional help.
Brother L. E. Sufficool sends this encouraging word from Three Lakes, Wis.: “Words can not express the good work the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has done in our field. We have endeavored to place it in every home available, and the results have far exceeded all expectation. With the SIGNS, through God’s help, together with ‘Christ’s Object Lessons,’ we have succeeded in the establishment of a commandment-keeping church at Eagle River, and the paper is esteemed more highly to-day by the new members than ever before. In company with Brother N. P. Neilson, we are now holding tent-meetings in this place, and expect in the same manner to establish the truth here. Our attendance is good. One family has commenced the keeping of God’s commandments, and others are deeply interested.”
In the Pacific Union Recorder we find the following interesting note from Brother Alfred Whitehead, concerning a recent visit to Richfield, Utah: “On coming down here, I have met with a result of the faithful work of a canvasser. No Seventh-day Adventist minister has ever been here before, but the canvasser has, and, as a result, I found an elderly lady, who has been keeping the Sabbath since 1891, practically alone. She was never inside a Seventh-day Adventist church. She is of Danish nationality, and was a Mormon, then a Josephite Mormon, but now she is a Seventh-day Adventist as far as I can see. She has a copy of ‘Bible Readings,’ and ‘Great Controversy,’ in Danish, and is also a subscriber to the ‘Sendebud.’ She says that next to the Bible, ‘Great Controversy’ was the book that brought her into the truth. She seems to be sound on most, if not all, points of our faith. She is a vegetarian, and drinks neither tea nor coffee, and last, but not least, she has not put her light under a bushel, but the good old lady is well and favorably known in her neighborhood, and has done what she could to let people know what she has learned. She seems to be a spiritually-minded woman, and her great desire is to see the coming of the Lord. Truly the faithful canvasser often does a work that he little dreams of. Let this experience revive the hearts of those who might become discouraged in the canvassing work.”
THE SPIRIT STILL STRIVING.
PUBLISHERS SIGNS OF THE TIMES: I was for ten years a believer in the present truth, and a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but I became discouraged, gave up the truth, and went back to the world. I joined the United States army, and am now in the Philippine Islands, located at Manila. God's Spirit is still striving with me; but I can not now obey the truth as I should. I need the prayers of all the Seventh-day Adventist people, that God may open the way for me to obey more perfectly.
[This brother also states that he could distribute many pages of reading matter on present truth, if sent to his address.]
MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITY.
In addressing the late Presbyterian General Assembly at Buffalo, N. Y., Mr. De Velte, of Lahore, India, said: “The Punjab Mission is opportunity. The situation there is a new one, for now it is not the missionary who seeks the people, but the people who seek the missionary. The Governor-General has lately said that missionary Christianity is the most powerful influence in the Punjab, greater than that of the greatest Christian statesmen that have been given to that country.”
At the same assembly a letter was read from a Mrs. Larabee, of Madras, in which she told how sixty-nine children, under twelve years of age, had been sent home from church for lack of room, and after two hours of service she found them in a house holding a meeting by themselves.
Is it not time that Christians in this highly-favored land should come to look upon mission work, both at home and abroad, as a golden opportunity, a precious privilege, rather than as a burden, a cold duty, a stooping toward inferior creatures? Is it not an opportunity to be eagerly grasped, to be laborers together with God in the work of building up an everlasting kingdom?
ADDRESS WANTED.
Mrs. Oscar Van Wormer, Alton, I. T. desires to learn the address of Atlas Jones, or any of his family. When she last heard from them they were at St. Charles, Mich., and were members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Any one furnishing the desired address will confer a favor.
WANTED FOR MISSIONARY WORK.
(Always prepay postage.)
SIGNS, Life Boat, Instructor, Good Health, Little Friend, Medical Missionary, and tracts. Address, H. Crippen, Almagord, N. M., L. Box 240.
REVISION OF THE CHURCH SCHOOL MANUAL.
At the Educational Council of the General Conference, held at College View last summer, it was recommended that the “Church School Manual” be revised to correspond with the conclusions reached by that council. For good reasons the revision has been delayed. The author now sees opportunity to perform this work during the month of July, and, as the plates of the first edition were destroyed in the Review and Herald fire, he desires to embrace this opportunity to make the revision as thorough as possible. Accordingly he would invite all, especially teachers who have used the book, to send him their suggestions and criticisms at once. What should be omitted? What should be added? What should be changed? These are the questions he would like to have answered. Especially and cordially would he invite adverse criticism; from such criticism the revision will receive most benefit. If any would feel more free in making their suggestions anonymously, let them be assured their suggestions will be welcomed and carefully considered. Address all such communications by July 1, if possible, to Prof. C. C. Lewis, Box 6, College View, Neb.
THE UNION COLLEGE YEAR BOOK.
The Union College Year Book will soon be ready. It will contain the usual information concerning facilities, plan of work, courses of study, expenses, etc., which will be of interest to those who think of attending school the coming year. Our German, Swedish, and Danish-Norwegian people will be especially interested in the description and courses of study of the Bible School, conducted in each of these languages, for the training of Gospel workers; because these are the only schools of the kind in the United States. All who are watching the working out of the educational problems of the denomination will want to study the announcement of new plans—(a) for industrial classes, (b) for promoting self-government among students, (c) for adapting the courses of study to the training of laborers for the missionary departments of the Third Angel's Message, (d) for the conduct of the college homes, etc.
Union College is the only school in the denomination which still offers courses leading to degrees. Many will want to see what these courses are. Let all who wish copies of the new Year Book address at once the president of Union College, College View, Neb.
