FROM a letter from Brother B. L. Whitney to Sister White, we are permitted to make the following extracts:—
"Believing it would be a privilege and a pleasure to our brethren to join with our friends in America in celebrating Christmas after the manner you proposed, I immediately communicated with each of our churches, making known to them your suggestion. Although the Review containing your article came only three days before Christmas, every church in Suisse took part in the good work, and their contributions, so far as I have heard from them, amount to 1,730 francs, or nearly $350. Of course this is not a large sum, but when it is considered that our brethren are none of them wealthy, that, on the other hand, the most of them are poor, and that skilled workmen have to work from early morning till late at night to earn from three to four francs (sixty to eighty cents) per day, I think it shows they are willing to do what they can. I know brethren, skilled workmen, who are not able by their best endeavors to earn more than two francs (forty cents) per day, and yet these brethren give freely of their scanty means, and, according to their understanding of the work, are trying to do the best they can to help carry it forward. The brethren139pledged liberally for the new publishing house when Brother Butler was here last spring. He said they did more than he expected, and still they did it cheerfully, and are still willing to do in any direction where they are asked to help. In three churches recently the brethren have subscribed for more than three hundred copies of the Herold and Les Signes for the missionary work. I speak of these things, not to boast of what they have done, but to show the great change for the better which has taken place during the last two or three years. And no one thing has had more to do in effecting this change than your words of admonition and warning. I fully believe, Sister White, that nowhere in the entire field do the brethren respect your words and your work more than in Suisse, and, under the blessing of God, the light which God has graciously given them through you, has proved of great good to them, and to the work here. Realizing this, we have already commenced the publication of a small volume of your writings especially designed for the instruction of the church. It is to be made up of a variety of practical articles selected from the 'Testimonies' and 'Early Writings,' and is being printed on our small hand press, for lack of type, etc., for having it done otherwise."
"I am here [Solingev, Prussia] for a few days with Brother Ertzenberger, visiting our German brethren in Prussia. My very soul is stirred as I see the extent of this field and realize how little is being done. I verily believe no field in Europe suffers to-day like Germany, and yet what can be done to help them? The prospect of the ultimate success of the message among the Germans is tenfold that of the French, and yet there has hardly been a beginning made. There is much moral worth and stability among the Germans, and many more Protestants among them than among any other nation in Europe except England, and yet comparatively nothing is being done to warn these millions of people. There are good, earnest souls among them, men who prove as steadfast and faithful to the truth as any to be found among our brethren anywhere. Such have already been found, and thousands of others must be waiting for the truth. One brother here has been in prison several times because he would not send his children to school on the Sabbath, the last time only a few weeks ago, and yet he stands firm, and it is really affecting to hear him tell how the Lord inclines the jailer and officers of the law to favor him. The friends here are poor, living in small and uncomfortable compartments, and living on the plainest, coarsest food, and yet they give freely for the support of the work. They have on the occasion of this visit donated 1,000 francs, or $200, for the new building, beside subscribing for clubs of the Herold to be used in the missionary work. They do not know as much as our Suisse brethren of your work, and yet they have confidence in it as far as they are informed of it."
"I very much wish a good laborer in this tongue could come from America to labor with Brother Ertzenberger for a time. I think this would be of great benefit to him."
"The work on the new building progresses well. The contract for nearly the entire work is already made, and we have the permission to occupy it July 1. Though we have had some difficulties, the hand of God has been over the work for good and it has prospered well. Not a day's work has been done on the lot or in the building on the Sabbath, and yet we have had the work done very cheaply, so that the insurance officials say there is not another so cheap a building in the city. Sincerely yours,
"B. L. WHITNEY."
North Pacific Conference.
By John Norton Loughborough
SINCE my last report I have spent one week in this Conference, counseling with Brother Boyd in reference to the work, and holding meetings at East Portland. The providence of God has thus far favored Brother Boyd's plans to secure laborers for the season in this field. He has a number of canvassers and colporters engaged, and sufficient ministerial help under promise, to manage three tents during the coming summer. To carry out this plan it will be necessary to secure two new tents. Means have already been pledged for this purpose. It will be remembered that of the $5,000 fund pledged at the last camp-meeting, $500 was to be used for tent and camp-meeting purposes. If our brethren and sisters in this Conference redeem their pledges made at that meeting, the two new tents can be paid for without any difficulty. We trust every possible effort will be made to pay these pledges before the next camp-meeting.
Another point should be considered: while there is an increase of laborers there is a great decrease in the tithes of the Conference, in consequence of the prevailing hard times. The question arises, How is this additional force of laborers to be sustained? Though hard times prevail, this should not be an excuse for doing less to extend the truth. The prophet has said, "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." We should expect that hard times would make the people more thoughtful, and better prepare their minds for the reception of present truth; so, instead of decreasing our efforts to save men because it is hard times, we should rather double our diligence. If our tithes are not sufficient to meet the demands, let us each, according to our ability, determine to supplement the lack by donating to the Conference treasury.
In this Conference the sum paid into the treasury for the Conference year ending with our last camp-meeting, held the last of June, was $1,407. How is it this year? Eight months have passed and the tithes paid into the treasury amount to only $610.90. Of this sum $160 was used to settle an indebtedness of the last year, so that there is only $450.10 to be applied to this year's work. With these facts before us, we can all see that something must be done to replenish the Conference treasury, in order that even present laborers may be settled with, and that the work may be pushed forward with the three tents. Instead of settling down with the thought that it is hard times, let all join in praying to God to open the way financially for the spread of the truth. Then let each one seek to do all he can to secure means for the treasury of the Lord. I doubt not if all thus lay the matter to heart that the Lord will be pleased to open up ways that we may lawfully secure means for his treasury. Has he not said, if we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, that all these things shall be added? and will he not prosper our efforts to build up his kingdom? Who will try it? and who will share in the rejoicing that shall accompany the results of more extended efforts to get these truths before those who have not as yet heard them?
In the three days' meeting just closed at East Portland, Brother Boyd gave two discourses and I delivered five. We also enjoyed a good spirited social meeting. In this meeting a Swedish brother took his stand to obey the truth. He says he first had his attention called to the message while he was boarding at a hotel in Seattle, Washington Territory. There was in the hotel a volume of the Swedish Herold for 1874. He read it and compared its teachings on the nature of man with the Bible, and became satisfied that we have no immortality out of Christ. Then he examined the Sabbath question, and decided that Saturday is the day the fourth commandment requires us to observe.
Now he has taken his stand to follow the truths of the Third Angel's Message. On first-day two who have recently commenced to keep the Sabbath, were baptized and united with the East Portland church. Thus the cause seems steadily to advance at this point, as one after another takes his stand to obey the truth. From small beginnings, within the last eighteen months, this church has increased until it has become an absolute necessity to enlarge the place of worship.
When the meeting-house was built, the brethren wisely looked forward to an increased membership, and built larger than their immediate necessities demanded. While their number was small, a part of the house was partitioned into living rooms. Now that it has increased, they have taken out the partitions, thus enlarging their meeting-room to double its former capacity. Comfortable seats and a neat pulpit are to take the place of the more rudely constructed ones formerly used. It is interesting to witness the zeal, earnestness and sacrifice of this financially poor church. God blesses them, and will add to their numbers as they thus humbly seek to have their work wrought in him. Our brethren and sisters in other parts of the Conference must certainly be encouraged to see the growth of the cause at this central point.
I am glad also to learn from Brother Boyd and others of the spirit of unity and harmony that prevails throughout the Conference. It is in such marked contrast with the state of things that existed one year ago that we can only say, "What hath God wrought!" In unity of purpose and action there is strength. As our people now seek to move in harmony with the advance efforts to be made, and thus extend the influence of the cause, their hearts will be filled with cheer as they see the work advancing all along the line. So may it be.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Home Missionary Fields.
By B. R. Nordyke
THERE has been a State Tract and Missionary Society organized in Florida; Elder Nahum Orcutt, president, and Mrs. Ella Frost, secretary, Moultrie, St. Johns County, Florida.
Sabbath-keepers and others in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, who desire SIGNS and tracts for missionary use, will please communicate with Elder G. G. Rupert, Silas, Choctaw County, Alabama.
N. H. Druillard, Euclid Hall, Denver, Colorado, would be pleased to hear from those living in New Mexico.
Sabbath-keepers and others in Montana and Idaho who desire papers and tracts for missionary use, will please communicate with Elder J. N. Loughborough, Walla Walla, W. T., and state whether there is an interest to hear on Bible subjects, etc.
Those living in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Mexico will please write to Anna L. Ingels, assistant secretary International Missionary Society, 1059 Castro Street, Oakland, Cal.
Arkansas is now a part of the Missouri Conference, with Clara E. Low, Sedalia, Missouri, as State Secretary. But it is hoped soon to organize a State Tract Society in Arkansas. Elder J. G. Wood, Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas, is authorized to receive subscriptions for the SIGNS. He would like to hear from all the scattered brethren and sisters and friends in the State, concerning the wants of the cause and the prospects of doing good in presenting the present truth.
Reuben Wright, 334 Eighth Street N. E., Washington, D. C., is an authorized general agent for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, and will spend a portion of his time in visiting the scattered brethren in North and South Carolina.
B. R. NORDYKE.
Missionary Department
By Editor
[Missionary Department continued on page 143.]
Reward Follows Every Act
By F. W. Robertson
THERE is a peculiar and appropriate reward for every act, only remember that the reward is not given for the merit of the act, but follows on it as inevitably in the spiritual kingdom, as wheat springs from the grain.—F. W. Robertson.
Nellie's Missionary.
By Margaret Hammond Eckerson
THE sounding of the dinner-horn called Farmer Saunders, his hired hands, and his half dozen children to dinner, and they all entered the kitchen with more or less dispatch and sat down to eat. Things about were decidedly barren and comfortless, and a large cooking-stove that stood out far from the fire-place heated the sultry noon air to a degree almost unbearable. Mrs. Saunders, overworked, overheated, and cross, dished out the meat and vegetables on the coarse blue plates; and all fell to eating, acting on the principle "every one for himself." Courtesy and charm had not the slightest hold there. There were no pleasant amenities, no words spoken beyond what were absolutely necessary. As Farmer Saunders delighted to say, he was "an independent man; if folks didn't like his gate they needn't swing onto it; he didn't believe in airs and nonsense." But, unfortunately for the betterment of his family, decent politeness came under his category of "airs and nonsense."
Mahaly (or Haly, as they called her), the oldest girl, homely, freckled, and thirteen, proved herself endowed with a certain instinctive womanly helpfulness. She it was who saw that the often-emptied bread plates were refilled; that two-year-old Paul had his potatoes mashed; that impatient Mary had her meat cut; that the apple pie was divided into generous pieces and set around; and, in the intervals, she ate with as hearty a zest and as great a lack of table manners as the rest.
"Haly," said Mrs. Saunders, when dinner was about through with, speaking with the acerbity of tone that, poor woman, had become almost second nature with her, "I want you to take Ted and Jack, and go right off and pick them blackberries for jam. Father hain't seen about gittin' me any peaches to do up, and if I don't begin to look after things myself, we won't have no preserves this year, far as I can see. Why we couldn't never have no pears and peaches of our own, I can't see. There's other things in the world besides corn and hay, though some men-folks don't think so."
Father looked up quite oblivious; a bee might as well have buzzed in his hearing. He had an exasperating way of quite ignoring his wife's sayings.
"Come, boys," he said, "its time to git to work."
Haly was glad to obey her mother's mandate, and go to pick berries. The air and sunshine were better than the stuffy kitchen, the greasy dishes, and her mother's perpetual drip of complaint.
About a mile from Farmer Saunders' unshaded, stoopless house was a pretty villa, surrounded by large, beautifully kept grounds. There was plenty of shade, plenty of rustic seats, plenty of flowers; and there were also plenty of handsome, healthy children grouped on a wide veranda, listening eagerly to something papa, a tall man of gentlemanly exterior, was saying.
"Well, dears, all play and no work is not the best thing for Jack. We have had a delightful summer. I am completely rested, and mamma has grown absolutely young. You, Charley, are as round as a dumpling, and John has cheeks like a Spitzenburg apple; so we will all go back to the city next week, for I want you to be at your schools promptly. I expect my Nellie here to take hold and study as I want her to, this fall. To please me she is going to try hard with algebra and composition." Here a tumult of voices drowned his words: "O papa, it's too bad;" "I want to see the colt broken;" "And the cunning little Bantams won't hatch out in two weeks;" "I want to go trouting;" "Mightn't we wait till frost comes?"
"And I don't want to go back to school at all," cried Nellie, the oldest and fairest of the six. "I'd as leave be in jail as that horrid school-room; I hate study, and I wish there never had been such things as composition and algebra. I don't think you ought to make me do things I hate so, papa. It's cruel!"
"Nellie!" said her father gravely. She tried to look bravely at him, but failed; and darted away from them all, her cheeks crimson and a great lump in her throat. She did not care where she wandered, she wanted to go away by herself to have an uninterrupted grumble and cry. She had been dreading this change lately, this edict to say good-bye to the idle, happy summer life she had so thoroughly enjoyed. Naturally disinclined to mental exertion, she wanted to prolong these hours.
There was a dreamy, sensuous enjoyment for her in this pleasant summering. She could swing in an airy hammock for a whole morning, watching the flitting clouds, the lights and shadows on the landscape, the waving of the tree branches; or, at ease in her pony-phaeton, could slowly ride through quiet road—her satisfaction in the warmth and indolence akin, probably, to the feelings of the cow she passed placidly ruminating by the roadside, bovinely conscious that clover was luscious and tender, and the green world capital for grazing purposes. The very thought of fagging again over horrid lessons was sickening. She knew enough for ordinary purposes; nobody wanted to be a walking cyclopedia; as for mathematics and composition, she hated them cordially. Papa was cruel to want to shut her up with dry books. The thought of it made her head ache. The tears began to brim in her pretty eyes. The cry on account of having to learn something, was close at hand.
Just then, in the near-by lot, she caught sight of the pink sun-bonnet of Haly Saunders, picking berries with energy, while Ted and Jack, not so industrious, were speculating as to the whereabouts of a rabbit-burrow. Nellie postponed her weep for a short time. She felt disposed to be friendly with this awkward, poorly-dressed girl, who had often brought butter and vegetables to the house. So she climbed over the fence, and bade her, "Good-afternoon." Haly was unaffectedly glad to see this dainty little maiden, who seemed to move in a sphere so far apart from hers, and she received with real regret the announcement that she was going away next week. "It's too bad," she said.
"Yes, it is too bad," cried Nellie, "and just to think, it all comes from having to go back to that horrid, hateful school. It's abominable, and papa's bound that I shall kill myself studying things I hate. I can't bear to learn. There, now."
Haly stopped picking, her large freckled hand unconsciously crushing a berry. "You don't like to learn? You don't mean it, for fair?" There was an unspoken reproach in her eyes. Her astonishment had an odd effect on Nellie. She hesitated a little about re-asserting her words.
"Yes, but you don't know anything about the awful grind study is, Haly," she said; "you are as free as the birds from such things!"
"O, if I only wasn't," cried Haly with an energy quite at variance with her usual phlegmatic manner. "I'm fair hungry to go to school, and know somethin'. I don't know nothin', and there's such an ache inside me when I think about it, that I can't bear it. I'd just crawl on my hands and knees to go somewhere and learn somethin'. I'd be so happy, if I were you. And yet you don't want to learn?"
"Well, why don't you go to school then, and read lots, or something. I would if I were you!"
"I can't; I've got to stay home and work. There's heaps to do, always. There's the milkin' and butter-makin', a churnin' every other day, and washin', ironin', scrubbin' and mendin' and patchin', and the baby to be tended, and the garden weedin', and sometimes Pop wants me in the fields, and then there's cleanin' times, and killin' times, and patchwork, and—always somethin'," she added with an unconscious sigh. "And, besides, we haunt no books. Yes, there's a Bible and—such a nice book—the Pilgrim's Progress [her face lighting up]; I've read that considerable, only mother is afraid I'll muss it, and the Bible is too big. It lays on the stand in the best room, you know. Now, I'll just tell you. I never was so happy as when I went to the district. It's only a couple of miles off, and the walk ain't nothin'. Miss Lane, she was the teacher—and I bet you, she was smart; she knew everything. And she had such nice ways—never jawed or hollered at you, like mad. I just like to stand by her, and touch her clothes. I got way along in the fourth reader, and jography, and clean through arithmetic, and I wrote compositions. I never was so happy! And we had a exhibition once, and I spoke a piece; and Miss Lane kissed me, and said I did it nice."
"Well?" said Nellie as Haly stopped, her lips quivering, and bent to pick grasses.
"That's all; there never was anything more."
"Where's Miss Lane?"
"Buried," cried poor Haly in a paroxysm of grief; "and I never went to school again. I was eleven years old, big enough to help mother, father said. And I haunt no school books any more. I had to give 'em to Ted and Jack. There'll never be anything more for me."
"Haly Saunders, you poor thing!" cried Nellie excitedly; "and here I am, having so much! Now look here; you come to the house and I'll give you books and papers and magazines to-morrow. I wonder what you'd say to St. Nicholas, and Wide Awake? Mamma brought plenty of books along, and there are histories and story-books; and oh, you'll be just delighted!"
"O," cried Haly, "O dear!" and Nellie left her with her homely face all aglow and her heart in a flutter of glad anticipation.
As for Nellie she never had the cry she had determined to indulge in; but such a new current of thought had been touched to living issues, that she cried out impulsively when she met papa: "O papa, do forgive me for my senseless words. I know I have never appreciated141my advantages. And I will study better than ever. Indeed I will, papa."
"That is spoken like my own little daughter," he said with undisguised pleasure. "I knew you would come to a better mind."
"But it was a missionary who brought me to a better mind," said Nellie archly; "she opened my benighted eyes, and her name was Haly."
—Margaret Hammond Eckerson.
The Home Circle.
By Lucy Larcom
THERE IS BLACK IN THE BLUE OF THE SKY.
An artist one day at his easel stood,
And sketched with a pencil free,
The gold of the meadow, the green of the wood,
And the purple and gray of the sea.
A child looked over, a little way back,
And questioned the artist, "Why
Do you mix with your color a touch of black,
When you paint the blue in the sky?"
"Only because I see it, my child;
I am painting the sky as it is;"
And he softly said to himself, and smiled:
"It is one of earth's mysteries;
Not the lily itself wears a perfect white;
Nor the red rose an unmixed dye;
There is light in shadows, and shadow in light,
And black in the blue of the sky."
There are films over nature everywhere,
To soothe and refresh our sight,
For mortal eyes were not made to bear
The dazzle of shadeless light.
Our consolation and our complaint,
Awaking both smile and sigh,
There are human faults in the holiest saint;
There is black in the blue of the sky.
But we've read from the leaves of an old-fashioned Book,
Of one in the glory unseen,
Whose gaze the poor seraphim dare not brook,
Before whom the heavens are unclean.
And the hope of the Christian is in the thought
Of a truth and a love so high
That possible evil sullies them not;
No black in the blue of their sky.
—Lucy Larcom, in Youth's Companion.
Keeping a Secret.
RUGGLES, an old cabinetmaker of Boston, told me that he used to make the artist Stuart's panels for him. They were made of mahogany, and as Stuart complained that he missed the rough surface of canvas that was favorable to the sparkle of his color, Ruggles invented the way of producing that sort of surface by cutting teeth in the plane-iron and dragging it backward, that proving the best way of indenting without tearing the wood. Ruggles said that at the time he used to work for Stuart his shop was on Winter Street, on the ground floor, and one day, sitting at his shop door, he saw Stuart coming down the street, in earnest conversation with a gentleman. Stuart came down into the shop followed by his friend; and, said Ruggles, "I saw that the gentleman was urging him to tell him something that he was unwilling to trust him with." Stuart said:—
"Mr. Ruggles, have you got a piece of chalk?"
I gave him a piece; he then turned to the other and said:—
"I know a secret; that stands for me," and made a mark thus, 1. "Now, you are my friend and would like to know my secret; you are a man of honor, and if I tell you it will do no harm, and, at any rate, it will gratify you as a mark of confidence, so I'll tell you;" and, making another mark, 1, "that stands for you, so there are two that know it. But you are a married man, and, as your wife is a discreet woman, and you never have any secrets between you, some day, when you are alone together and have nothing to talk about, you tell her you know something curious, but are afraid she will speak of it. She will be indignant at not being trusted, and insist that she ought to know; she promises that she never will whisper it to any one, and perhaps cries a little; so you tell her, and that stands for her;" he made another mark, 1. "Now how many people know it?"
"Three," said his friend.
"You are wrong. There are one hundred and eleven that know it—111," said Stuart.—Sel.
Queen Elizabeth’s Toothache
Queen Elizabeth's temper was none of the sweetest at any time, but once, when afflicted with the toothache, she was more than commonly cross-grained. She would transact no business, receive no messengers, read no letters, but abuse everybody who came into her presence. The court physicians held anxious consultation, and finally recommended that a celebrated foreign surgeon, John Anthony Fenatus, be called in to advise. He had to give his opinion in an elaborate Latin essay, and recommended that if the tooth be hollow it should be extracted. The queen was furious, and utterly refused to endure any such operation. At length the good bishop of London offered to have one of his few remaining teeth drawn, to illustrate how simple the remedy and how quick the relief. Elizabeth was touched by an act so generous and loyal, and after seeing the bishop submit himself to the forceps, placed herself in the chair. When relieved of the aching member, the queen became quite gracious, and thanked Fenatus heartily, besides giving him a handsome reward. But history does not record whether she treated the faithful old bishop as well or not.—Sel.
Righteousness Delivers from Death
"TREASURES of wickedness profit nothing; but righteousness delivereth from death."
The Value of Civility.
THERE would be fewer broken friendships, fewer unhappy unions and family quarrels, were it not so much the custom among intimate friends and relations to neglect the small courtesies of life, to show less and less mutual deference as they grow more and more familiar. It is the foundation of misery in marriage, and many a serious and life-long estrangement has begun, not from want of affection so much as from lack of that delicate and instinctive appreciation of the feelings of others which makes a person shrink from saying unpleasant things or finding fault, unless absolutely obliged, and in any case to avoid wounding the offender's sense of dignity or stirring up within him feelings of opposition and animosity; for although many persons profess to be above taking offense at honest censure, and even seem to court criticism, yet it must be very carefully administered not to be unpalatable. Even kind and generous actions are often so uncouthly performed as to cause the recipient more pain than pleasure, while a reproof or denial may be so sweetened by courtesy as almost to do away with any sense of mortification or disappointment. Good breeding is always inclined to form a favorable judgment, and to give others the credit of being actuated by worthy motives. It does not wish or seem to know more about people than they themselves desire should be known, but it is always prepared, when necessary, to take an interest in the affairs of others, while self is not suffered to obtrude unduly.—Sel.
A Burning Oil Well
A BURNING oil well is a most beautiful sight. A writer thus describes the burning of the great 25,000 barrel well at Thorn Creek: "So great is the force with which the oil leaves the well that the flame cannot get nearer than ten feet from the ground. From the mouth of the well to the point where the flame begins, the amber-colored fluid forms a solid straight column, six inches in diameter, and shining like burnished gold. At the height of 100 feet the column is probably not over five feet in diameter, but at 200 feet it spreads out into a cloud of overhanging flame, from which fiery streamers extend earthward like the drooping branches of a willow. The effect is indescribably grand. Imagine the greatest of the geysers of the Yellowstone on fire, and you can form some conception of this burning well."—Sel.
Officious People
Officious people are to be found everywhere; people who are always putting themselves forward, and who are more anxious to attend to other people's business than their own. They like to be prominent, to assume an air of importance, and to make the impression that almost everything depends on them. Real kindness, which is always ready to render needed assistance, is never obtrusive, and is highly commendable; but officiousness, which can hardly be classed among the virtues, manifests a spirit of self-seeking rather than a spirit of real kindness to others, and instead of winning favor with sensible people, always repels. Christ says something about chief seats in the synagogues, and uppermost places at feasts, which officious people would do well to read and ponder.—Sel.
The Japanese Postman
THE Japanese postman is dressed in a suit of blue cloth with a wide hat and straw shoes. He carries the mail bag under his arm or in a little two-wheeled cart. He is always trotting or running. He carries the mail from station to station, never stopping till he meets another postman, who, in his turn, receives the mail and runs on. In this way the mail is carried to all parts of the empire and it is getting larger and larger as the people understand more and more the work that is being done for them.—Gospel in all Lands.
THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR.
By Editor
AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY PAPER FOR YOUTH AND CHILDREN, DEVOTED TO MORAL, MENTAL, AND RELIGIOUS CULTURE.
THIS paper is not devoted to insipid stories and religious fiction, but is filled with a great variety of that kind of reading which tends to the healthful development of the youthful mind. Its pages are made bright by the choicest illustrative pictures, and its columns are always full of useful information.
As a Sabbath-school and Lesson paper, it is suited to the wants of scholars and teachers, and is calculated to increase the interest of all who read it, in thorough Bible study.
TERMS, ALWAYS IN ADVANCE.—Single copy, 75 cents a year; Five copies to one address, 60 cents each; Ten or more copies to one address, 50 cents each.
NEW PREMIUM OFFER—"GOLDEN GRAINS" SERIES.
For every new subscription, accompanied with 85 cents, we will give "Golden Grains" series, consisting of a package of ten beautiful pamphlets of 32 pages each. These comprise a choice collection of sketches, stories, poems, etc., adapted to the wants of children, and contain more reading matter than can be found in many dollar books. Remember, the whole series, 320 pages, and the INSTRUCTOR for a year, for 85 cents.
We have put up in packages three different assortments of our health and temperance works which we will furnish, post-paid, at the prices named.
Ten Cent Package.
The smallest package contains 100 pages in thirteen tracts, as follows:—
True Temperance—Alcohol, What is it?—Our Nation's Curse—Cause and Cure of Intemperance—Effects of Intemperance—The Drunkard's Arguments Answered—Alcoholic Medication—Alcoholic Poison—Tobacco Poisoning—Tobacco-Using a Cause of Disease—Tobacco-Using a Relic of Barbarism—Evil Effects of Tea and Coffee—Ten Arguments on Tea and Coffee.
Forty Cent Package.
The second package, costing forty cents, post-paid, contains the above list and the following in addition:—
Pork, the Dangers of its Use—Diphtheria, its Causes, Prevention, and Proper Treatment. By J. H. Kellogg, M. D. This book should be in every household. Its instructions, if faithfully carried out, will save many a precious life.
One Dollar Package.
The third package, costing $1.00, post-paid, contains in addition to the above:—
Proper Diet for Man, price 15c—The Uses of Water, price 25c—Dyspepsia, its Cause and Cure, price 25c.
The object in arranging these packages is to get them in a convenient form for sale and for selection.
Address SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
By J. H. Waggoner
BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.
This is a thorough expose of the system of Spiritualism. The author has carefully studied the subject, and has given such copious extracts from a large library of Spiritualist publications, as to fully condemn them in their teachings and in their practices, by their own testimony.
It is also shown from the prophetic scriptures that Spiritualism is one of the most impressive signs of the times.
184 pp. Price, 20 cents.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
SOUTH LANCASTER ACADEMY.
This school is located in the village of South Lancaster, Mass., on the Worcester and Nashua Railroad, about sixteen miles from Worcester and thirty from Boston.
It is conducted upon the most approved method of teaching, the aim of the managers being to combine the practical with the theological in such a manner that each student in going to the school shall be prepared for some position of usefulness.
Successful preachers, colporters, teachers, and canvassers have already entered the field from this school and, at the present time are laboring in at least eight of the Eastern States.
Students are instructed in four useful trades, and preparation are making to connect still other industries with the school.
Those wishing to attend this school or to place their children here, can depend upon their physical, mental, and spiritual interests being well cared for.
A specialty is made of the Bible, Language, and missionary work; the instruction in these branches being adapted to men and women of mature years.
Eld. S. N. Haskell, President,
Eld. D. A. Robinson, Secretary.
Persons desiring to attend the school will please address,
SOUTH LANCASTER ACADEMY.