Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 38.
CHARACTER, NOT FLESHLY DESCENTPage 1
Earlier text: SATAN'S FAVORITE MEDIUMFrance and Turkey; Conditions in China
The rupture of friendly relations between France and Turkey seems to have assumed a serious phase. September 1 was the anniversary of the sultan’s accession to the throne, and the Turkish minister to France returned to Paris and openly celebrated the occasion. Thereupon the French Government sent him a request to leave the country immediately. The minister departed for Switzerland that evening. Paris papers are publishing the report that Turkey is relying upon the support of some great power, and that assurances have been given the sultan by one of the powers that France would not be permitted to take extreme measures. A report from Paris dated September 2 states that a French naval division has been ordered to Turkish waters. The government of France seems determined to compel Turkey to yield to her demands, and Turkey, relying upon the inharmon[y] of the powers, refuses to make any concessions. A report has been circulated that Turkey is now buying heavy guns from Germany. The British consul-general at Shanghai, who has just returned to England, states that from the standpoint of foreign interests the position in China is far worse to-day than before the international occupation of Peking. Formerly the Chinese believed that foreign interests were identical; but they are now better able than ever to play off one power against the other. He states that there is a very hostile feeling in many parts of Northern China, and that local disturbances may be expected. China has now learned what the sultan of Turkey learned some time ago, that the concert of the powers is weak on the point of harmony. The imperial edict forbidding the importation of arms into China is unsatisfactory to the foreign representatives in China, as it does not prohibit the importation of arms and ammunition by the Chinese Government; and it is known that such importations continue. Fifty-five hundred native Filipino scouts have been hired by the American Government for six months. They are now being drilled, and at the end of that time they will be enlisted as troops and placed on patrol duty throughout the Philippines to preserve peace and prevent further insurrections. The Manila Times has started an agitation to stop the slave trade, which it alleges is being carried on regularly in several Manila slave markets. It prints facts and details which leave little room to doubt that an active business is carried on in the islands in the buying and selling of men, women, and children. There are again rumors of trouble in the Balkans. Austria is dissatisfied with the agreement entered into with Russia and also with Russia’s manner of keeping the agreement, and threatens that unless Russia shall live up to the articles of that document, Austria will “resume her liberty of action.” One Berlin paper describes the agreement as “an instrument to keep Austria quiet while Russia is engaged ‘in Manchuria.’” With this feeling between the two nations, and the attitude recently assumed by France and Turkey, the peace of Europe is far from a certainty. The army transport Hancock arrived in San Francisco harbor on August 28, with the Fourth United States Cavalry on board, also 117 discharged soldiers, and a number of military prisoners. The brother of the emperor of China, Prince Chun, who has been selected to go to Germany and express regret for the murder of the German minister in Peking, went as far as Switzerland, and refused to proceed farther on his mission. Trouble arose over the exact manner in which he should express China’s regrets. He was prepared to say, “The Chinese Government regrets that ‘Baron von Ketteler was killed.’” Emperor William desired that Prince Chun should say, “The Chinese Government begs pardon for the murder of the German minister, Baron von Ketteler.” The German emperor desired also that the Chinese prince should bow before him three times, and that the prince’s attendants should bow nine times to the floor. This the Chinese regarded as something they could do only before their own emperor, and would be a humiliation worse than death to them. It is now reported that Emperor William has compromised with the prince, and a less humiliating ceremony will be performed. The great strike has not yet been settled. It has rather resolved itself into a test of endurance. The great steel trust refuses now to deal further with the representatives of the strikers, unless they will incorporate so that action for damages can be taken against them in case of broken agreements. Some of the tin-plate mills have announced that they would conduct their business in the future with non-union help. More mills seem to be running than during the previous week, and those operating have been able to secure additional men. Efforts that have been made during the week to settle the strike have proved fruitless, the labor leaders still demanding recognition of their unions, and the employers asserting that the strike can be settled only by the surrender of the unions. In the meantime the animosity between the contending parties is increasing, and many assaults are being committed by union men upon those who have taken their places, or who are suspected of a desire to do so. Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, chief of the Bureau of Naval Intelligence, has given to the public the bureau’s annual publication, known as “Notes on Naval Progress.” In this publication a table is given showing the total tonnage of war vessels building and built by the stronger nations, as follows: England, 1,766,855; France, 781,065; Russia, 552,545; United States, 507,494; Germany, 458,482; Italy, 322,707; Japan, 251,498; or a total for these countries alone of 4,640,646 tons of fighting machinery. This represents for construction alone, to say nothing of the operating expenses of the vessels or cost of ammunition, the immense outlay of more than $1,500,000,000. Add to this the great amount annually expended in other military preparations, and one can get a little idea of the military tendencies of the times. Thirty-six persons perished in a train wreck on the Great Northern Railroad, forty miles east of Kalispell, Montana, on August 31. Many who were pinned under the wrecked cars were literally burned to death, despite the frantic efforts of the rescuers. A long train of freight cars, which were left standing on a grade, broke away and pursued a passenger train, overtaking it after a seventeen-mile run, and utterly demolishing both trains. The German nation is again discussing the tariff question, and the possibility of a tariff war with the United States. The press and people are not united, some clamoring for a high tariff against American goods, and others advising friendly tariff relations until all Europe can combine against the American danger. It is thus evident that the idea of a European combination against America is still a live question on the continent. The Kurds are reported to be again massacring the Armenians; and this, according to a Turkish writer, is part of a well-laid plan of Turkey for the final extermination of that people. He says: “The number of Armenians killed will depend upon the ‘outcry’ raised in Europe, and the pressure brought to ‘bear upon the sultan. The same horrible process ‘will be repeated year by year until all are killed.’” Famine is reported to exist in Zapata County, Texas, caused by a long-continued drought. Cattle are dying in great numbers, and men and women also are succumbing to starvation. Attempts are being made to relieve the suffering by popular contributions through the State, but lack of railroad facilities in that county makes the relief-work slow. During the past week the French have been evacuating the Chinese city of Pao-ting-fu. As fast as the Chinese officers take their places, all the improvements made by the French are being removed, and the city restored to its former condition. Among these improvements which the Chinese have abolished is the lighting of the streets at night. Colombia is reported to have an army of 17,000 men on the border to repel the threatened invasion from Venezuela, and though no invasion may take place, the situation is regarded as critical. The government of Venezuela has withdrawn from the Colombian consuls its permission for them to exercise the functions of their office in that State. Bishop Rowe, who has been making a tour of Alaska, has returned to Sitka, and reports terrible conditions among the natives. He visited many Indian villages, distributing food and medicines. In some villages almost the entire population had been carried off by an aggravated form of the grip. According to the figures of naval experts, the race between Germany and the United States in the matter of increasing their navies is a very close one, with the United States a little in the lead, which would place America fourth in the big navies of the world. Germany, however, has planned for a great addition to her navy within the next few years, and evidently does not intend to be left behind in the naval race. For some time these two powers have shown a disposition to match each other on the seas, as tho each were expecting at some time in the future to challenge or be challenged to a conflict. War rumors seem to indicate that South America will be the bone of contention. A Chicago inventor claims to have perfected a light which will shine day and night for years without replenishing or losing in brightness. The light is produced by a combination of chemicals inside a sealed glass globe. The inventor claims that the test shows the light to be of 36-candle power. The Ministerial Association of San Diego, Cal., composed of all the Protestant ministers of that place, has adopted and signed a resolution declaring that they will not in the future marry any divorced persons, except in the cases of the innocent parties to divorces granted on the ground of adultery. Hudson Bay Indians of the far north have brought down to a trading post on the bay a story of having found the bodies of two white men in a broken basket. These are regarded by some as the remains of Professor Andree and his companion, the basket referred to being the car of his balloon. A despatch from Teheran states that a widespread revolutionary movement is now in progress in Persia, fostered by discontent with the government on account of the new loan negotiations with Russia. Martial law has been proclaimed in the capital and environs. A report from Havana, Cuba, states that the condition of Havana harbor has been so improved since American occupation that fish are now able to live in the waters of the bay, “something that did not happen during the last century of Spanish dominion over it.” A boiler explosion occurred on the steamer City of Trenton, on the Delaware River, on August 28, in which 28 persons are believed to have lost their lives. Eleven bodies have been recovered, and 17 persons who were known to have been on the vessel are missing. Another New York physician, Dr. W. G. Fralick, announces the discovery of a germicide fluid that will destroy the germs of consumption and other diseases in the early stages. He is reported to have made successful demonstrations on charity patients. Dr. Walter Hough, of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, has been exploring the petrified forests of Arizona, and claims to have found unmistakable evidence that at least four distinct tribes of Indians have inhabited that region. England is making a number of submarine boats of the Holland pattern, and will soon have them ready for launching; but is experiencing difficulty in finding men to man the boats, as few care to take chances in the dangerous craft. A serious flood burst through the eastern part of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the night of August 31, tearing up tracks and ruining elegant residences. No lives were lost, but the damage to property is placed at about $1,000,000. Venezuela has prepared and sent out to all friendly nations a statement of her side of the trouble that is now going on between that State and Colombia. In this the blame for the disturbance is laid upon Colombia. A cable from Trebizond, Turkey, states that the entire crew of the Belgian steamer Noranmore, with the exception of one man, was lost by the sinking of that vessel near Athina. The crew numbered 40. It is reported that the South African war has brought practical ruin to the occupation of some 20,000 diamond-cutters of Europe. This large body of toilers has decided to strike for better pay. France is now making great preparations for the reception of the czar of Russia, and the cable states that she will do nothing to cause a break in the peace with Turkey while the czar is in France. China’s minister to Washington, Wu Ting Fang, has been transferred to London, and the Chinese minister there, Sir Chih Chen Lo Feng Luh, will be transferred to the St. Petersburg post. Lieutenant-Commander Marix, who was judge-advocate of the court of inquiry investigating the destruction of the Maine, has been appointed commander of the port of Manila. The skeleton of a monster mastodon has been unearthed in a coal mine near Petaluma, Cal. Many petrified fish have been discovered in the same locality. Managers of Washington shingle mills have declared their intention to shut down the first week in September on account of the lowering of prices. Ecuador’s new president, General Leonidas Plaza, was inaugurated at the capital on September 1. Italy has begun to add to her navy vessels of the submarine type. A NEW law takes effect in Mexico the present month. Gambling-houses are to be suppressed; that is, they are not to be licensed, and every other possible means is to be used for their suppression. Army officers and public officials will be liable to dismissal for entering such establishments. If in the United States the licensing of drinking and gambling dens were abolished, the liquor traffic could no longer boast of the people's obligation for its tribute to the public treasury. It would be far cheaper for the people at large to pay the amount of these licenses by direct taxation, than to pay the enormous police, and prison, and police-court, and charity expenses entailed by the maintenance of these dens of crime. It is this implied obligation to the satellites of the liquor traffic on account of their license money, that gives them such a powerful influence in politics. And it is this influence that places corrupt men in office, who for gain make merchandise of public interests. COUSIN PATTY'S RAINBOW.
By Mrs. F. M. Howard
It was a blue day in the Dent home. An unusual condition, for the Dents were by nature a sunny and hopeful family, but the circumstances were unusual. The shadow of the day had been gathering for some time, and this was the culmination; for the big factory where the father and breadwinner of the family had labored for years was closed, and the father—a circumstance so unusual that of itself it seemed to cast a shade of awe over the house—was lying on the lounge in the mother's room, Mrs. Dent, beside him, smoothing the hair off his aching brow, trying to smile and keep up her own courage and his. Stella was at the window when the postman came, and she ran into the hall for the letters. There were three—one from a patent-medicine firm, extolling the virtue of pills in season and out of season as a preventive of ill; another from a jewelers' house advertising unset diamonds, a timely article. “I think we are in need of diamonds,” groaned Kate, with a doleful pucker. “A quart or two would just about supply us.” “Order a gallon, Kit, while you are about it,” Stella added, with a rueful smile. The third was directed to Mr. Dent in a cramped hand, evidently unused to much letter writing. “It is from Cousin Patty Bean, and she is coming to make us a visit,” he said at length. “O, dear, could anything be more inopportune?” sighed Kate. “Well, I like cousin Pat. She's no end of fun,” commented Horace, whose capacity for extracting amusement from the most unpromising material was proverbial. Even the spectacle of his father lying so still and worn, with the harassed look on his face as he thought of harder times and no pay day in sight, could not quite subdue him, though there was all the time a secret pain tugging at his boyish heartstrings. “I think you will have her to entertain, then,” observed Stella, gloomily; “for I am sure none of the rest of us have any heart to welcome a visitor.” “But Cousin Patty must be welcomed,” said Mrs. Dent, gently. “Whatever our own worries may be, we have no right to make our guest uncomfortable. We must put ourselves and our cares in the background.” “And turn the red light on Cousin Patty,” added the irrepressible. “Tableau vivant, with Horace Dent master of ceremonies, the family as audience,” observed Kate, dryly. “Enchanting program!” “Patty was a good friend of mine in the old days when we were young people together,” said Mr. Dent, wearily, “and however untimely her visit may seem, we must not allow her to be disappointed in us.” “If she was a rich relation now, you girls would be tickled out of your shoes,” commented Horace, saucily, “and lay plans—” but Kate took the young man by the coat collar, ejecting him from the room before he had time to finish his audacious remark. Cousin Patty came the next day, and if her welcome was a trifle strained she did not appear to notice it. She had bright eyes and quick, alert ways, and was dressed in rather shabby black, quite out of style as to cut and material, and her manners and speech were thoroughly unconventional. Cousin Patty would never nurse a fad or set a fashion, but she had a warm and tender heart, and in her Christian life she, like Mary, nestled very close to the feet of the Master. She was not long in arriving at the condition of affairs in the Dent home, and though her kind face clouded over as she expressed her sympathy and her confident hope that something better would soon develop, she gave no evidence of an intention of shortening her visit, nor did she express a regret that she had arrived at a season so manifestly inconvenient. “She's got two grips and four baskets, besides the trunk that's coming,” whispered Horace, after his third trip to the spare chamber. “Looks like she thought of staying all winter.” “Yes,” replied Stella, dolefully, “and if she had brought her house and lot to set out in the back yard, father would keep on smiling and saying, ‘We're very glad you've come, Patty,’ in that nice way of his.” “Father is all right,” Horace maintained, stoutly. “Say, Sis, you're a Christian, and so is Kit, but I am not. Why is it that you two are all in the dumps whenever there's any trouble going, and I have to do the cheering up for both of you? Seems to me, if you believed and trusted as you say you do in testimony meeting, that now is the time for it to help a little. It's pretty hard on father to see gloomy faces all around him.” Stella flushed deeply at the home thrust, so true, yet so cutting. “You are right, Horry. I'll smile henceforth if I have to invent a patent smiler. Indeed, I do trust; but the flesh is so much weaker than the willing spirit that I can't help thinking, If father shouldn't get work this winter, what should we do?” “You'd better plant that ‘if’ where it will grow into a ‘he will,’” retorted Horace. “Just as if there wasn't anything in life for father but that factory. I'm ashamed of you, Stell.” “Not more than I am of myself,” replied Stella, more brightly than she had before spoken. “It is indeed shabby of us to leave the consolation for the family in the hands of a boy—” “Who doesn't know any better than to look cheerful when there is nothing whatever to look cheerful about,” added Kate, who had just come in, with a teasing twinkle in her eye. “That name of yours is a great mistake, Horace; you should have been christened Mark Tapley Dent instead, but how could we know what possibilities were hidden under your infant disguise? You screamed steadily the better part of a year.” “I never,” protested Horace, throwing the sofa pillow at his accuser; and with a lively tilt with pillows and slippers care slipped away for the time, and the young people were merry and happy as if no dark cloud hovered over the household. Cousin Patty settled herself very contentedly in the pleasant spare chamber, asking little in the way of entertainment. Horace amused her greatly with his breezy, boyish ways, and they were great chums. The girls learned to know and love their father's cousin as they had never supposed they could, and Mrs. Dent found Cousin Patty's cheerful society a relief in the general strain of the family circumstances. Mr. Dent went in and out in a vain search for employment, his face becoming more worn and drawn with every disappointment. The family lived on hope (and little else) for a whole week, on the possibility of an engagement with a prosperous firm, where the work would be suitable and the pay good; but the preference was given to a younger man, and Mr. Dent went home heart-sick and discouraged. “Elderly men are not wanted, mother,” he said to his wife, sadly. “Experience and trustworthiness aren't in it beside the spring and vigor of young life.” “Such a shame!” cried Kate, indignantly. None of them had realized how confidently they were secretly counting on this desirable situation, and Stella rushed away to her room, Mrs. Dent to her secret place, and even Horace went off alone behind the woodshed, and whistled a few strains of a melancholy ballad concerning a certain Aunt Nabby and her defunct goose, with a doleful expression on his usually bright face, his hands deep in his pockets. “It's mean, that's what it is!” he exclaimed, with a reproachful stare at an innocent mullein stalk. “When I get to be a business man, I'll hire the old men every time. The idea, and the father not fifty yet.” Cousin Patty had been taking mysterious little journeys of late, going out alone and coming in, quite silent as to where she had been. There was a very happy, satisfied expression upon her face on this day when the family were feeling the burdens of life bearing down so heavily; and as there was no one to welcome her as she came in, she went upstairs, stopping at Stella's room, knocking softly. Stella's eyes were red with weeping as she opened the door. “What is it, dear? Has some new trial come?”11 and then Stella broke down, and with her arms around Cousin Patty's neck the trouble all came out in fuller detail than she had spoken of it before, even to Kate—the bitterness of seeing the dear father so burdened, and how Kate had been typewriter in the office with her father, so both incomes had been cut off at once, and she herself had an application in for a teacher's position, with dozens of older teachers before her on the list. It was all so trying, so depressing, and yet they must all look cheerful for the sake of each other. Cousin Patty had seated herself in Stella's low chair, drawing the young girl down beside her, listening in silence as she smoothed the brown hair gently. Stella's head dropped on her knee when the story was done, her troubled eyes looking out toward the silent factory in the distance, which silence meant so much to them all. “I remember my first sight of Niagara Falls when I was a young girl,” said Cousin Patty, gently, and Stella wondered that she had never before noticed how very sweet her voice was when softened by sympathy. “We were taking a trip around the lakes, father and I, and at Buffalo quite a party of us left the boat and drove to the falls in carriages. To my great disappointment, it began to rain very soon, and poured steadily nearly the whole distance, and I thought our day was spoiled as we crawled back in the dripping carriages and tried to keep our spirits up and the rain out. I was a young thing then, and did not like to be disappointed. I had not learned how much the raindrops are needed in life, to freshen and bring out in clearer view its brighter colorings. When about a mile from our destination, the rain ceased as suddenly as it began; and as we came in sight of the wonderful falls on the Canada side, the sun came out, warm and brilliant. My dear, I never saw or dreamed of anything so beautiful.” “Every leaf and spear of grass had its raindrops, glistening in the sunlight like tiny diamonds, and the conditions of the atmosphere were such that the water of the falls was of the deepest, clearest emerald green, with a white mist rising from it, and the most beautiful rainbow you can conceive of outlined against the sparkling waters.” “I have seen the falls many times since, but never have I caught such an exquisite view as on that rainy morning when I was so bitterly disappointed.” “It must have been lovely,” Stella said, won from her grief to interest in the description, and wondering a little what bearing the incident could have on present conditions. “I think God sends the rain into our lives sometimes so as to give us the rainbow—the sign of His promise and His presence,” added Cousin Patty, a tender gleam in her eyes. “I have not been unmindful of your burdens here, my dear Stella, unobservant as I may have seemed; and you must have thought me a very selfish woman to plant myself uninvited in your home, and remain here under the circumstances. Nay, you could not have thought otherwise,” laying her hand across Stella's lips as she opened them to disclaim; “but I have had an object in it all. I have been touched, very much touched, by your own heroic determination to be nice to an old woman who was willing to share your last crust with you, and so I came to your room to give you the first peep at my rainbow.” “At your rainbow, Cousin Patty!” exclaimed Stella, in a mystified tone. “You thought I was poor Cousin Patty, didn't you, my dear?” “Why, yes—we—supposed so,” stammered Stella. “It wouldn't have made any difference, anyway.” “Only that your good father and his dear family would try a little harder to make a poor, lonely old relative happy in his home, than if she had money and lands. Well, my child, here is the rainbow. Cousin Patty has had a legacy fall to her, and she has been investing some of her funds in business. Do you know of any safe, reliable man whom I could get to carry on that business for me at a reasonable salary?” Stella looked up bewildered into the kind eyes, twinkling with tears of benevolent joy. What could it mean? Then she sprang to her feet and clasped the little woman in a bearlike embrace. The rainbow was so very bright that it almost dazzled the eyes of the family at first with its brilliancy. To think that the father was going to conduct affairs in that elegant bookstore where they had so often looked in through the great plate window upon the rows and rows of fine books, so far beyond their reach. Kate's typewriting would be available, and Stella's application for a school might be withdrawn if she wished; for there would be ample room for all of them in the flourishing trade the place commanded. “I have never had books to read as I wanted them,” said Cousin Patty, “and that store fascinated me. I spent hours there before I decided to take it after I knew that it could be bought, and I should never have done that if I had not known just where to find the right man to carry it on for me.” “I am so dazed yet with the wonder of it all, Patty, that I expect to awake presently and find that it is all a dream,” Mr. Dent replied with a smile. “It beats any fairy tale I ever read.” “That is what I thought three months ago, when I awoke in the morning plain Patty Bean, to find myself an heiress before night. Uncle Jerry Bean sent for me to nurse him through a long illness some years ago, and he said then he would pay me some time, and I must confess I've harbored a grudge against him because he had never redeemed his promise.” “Guess you're sorry now, aren't you, Cousin Patty?” interrupted Horace. Cousin Patty gave his ear a good-natured tweak as she resumed her story. “I did not even suspect that he was a man of wealth, and I think he deceived me purposely as a test. Dear, dear, what a dance he did lead me as he became convalescent, the crossest bear I ever saw, without exception. The will read, ‘To my dear niece, Patty Bean, whose patience is only equaled by her toast and beef tea’; so I am sure that the fortune is a souvenir of that sick-bed, and a token, possibly, that he did love me a little, in that queer, grumpy way of his. And now, dear people, may I keep my place in your home and hearts as your permanent guest?” Her tone was wistful, and she held out her hands appealingly. “I am so alone, and I love you all.”—Mrs. F. M. Howard. “AND WENT AND TOLD JESUS.”
By Mrs. M. C. DuBois
Dear Mothers, do you fully realize the blessed privilege of telling Jesus all about the daily trials and perplexities you meet? If you do not, you miss many rich and precious blessings. Ofttimes, perhaps, you think of those sorrowing disciples, who “went and told Jesus,” and it may be you have wished at times that Jesus was here in person, so that you too could go and tell Him your heart sorrow. You can go and tell Him. You can tell Him just as surely as if He were here in person, and you could really see Him. He is just as real to-day as He was when those sorrowing ones went to Him; and it is our privilege to go and tell Him our sorrows. I know this from experience. Reader, have you a sorrow of any description? Go and tell it to Jesus. He may not always take away the sorrow, nor remove the hard trial; but He will comfort and stand by your side. In the little daily perplexities that a mother meets in the home, no one knows as well as Jesus. “There are so many trivial cares,
That no one knows and no one shares—
Too small for me to tell,—
The failure of some household scheme,
The ending of some pleasant dream,
Deep hidden in my breast;
The weariness of children's noise,
The yearning for that subtle poise
That turneth duties into joys,
And giveth inner rest.” Some may say, “Why take such little things to ‘Jesus?’” Because— “These little things, however small,
Are known to Jesus, each and all.” And then, too, He has invited us to cast all our cares upon Him, with the assurance that He cares for us. And He means just what He says. He loves you, tired, discouraged mother; let this fact comfort you. There are days when everything goes wrong. Husband is cross, children fretful, the housework drags, “the help” is saucy, and everything about the house seems inclined to turn bottomside up, and tangle into snarls. How such days try the mother! Just drop everything and fly to the place of secret prayer, and have a little talk with Jesus. It will help wonderfully. We can tell Jesus all our heart. As a good old lady once said to me, “You can trust Jesus with ‘your secret trials; He will never tell any one.” Our dearest earthly friends sometimes betray our confidence; but Jesus never. Weary wife and mother, get more into the habit of going to Jesus in the cares of daily life,—those, I mean, that you can not with a little perseverance and well-directed energy remove yourself. Talk with or to Christ as to the dearest earthly friend. O, we miss so much by not taking Jesus at His word. ’Tis so sweet to trust Him in the little as well as the large trials of daily life. Mrs. M. C. DuBois. I woke, and the night was passing,
And over the hills there shone
A star all alone in its beauty.
When the other stars were gone. For a glory was filling the heavens
That came before the day.
And the gloom and the stars together
Faded and passed away. Only the star of the morning
Glowed in the crimson sky;
It was like a clear voice singing,
“Rejoice, for the sun is nigh!” O children! a Star is shining
Into the hearts of men;
It is Christ with a voice of singing,
“Rejoice, for I come again!” THE EVILS OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
Among many interesting incidents connected with the closing of the saloons in Kittanning, Pa., a leading merchant tells the following:— A woman came into his store very timidly. She was evidently unaccustomed to trading. “What can I do for you?” inquired the merchant. “I want a pair of shoes for a little girl.” “She is twelve years old.” “But what number does she wear?” “But what number did you buy when you bought the last pair for her?” “She never had a pair in her life. You see, sir, her father used to drink when we had saloons; but now they are closed he doesn’t drink any more; and this morning he said to me, ‘Mother, I want you to go up town to-day and get sissy a pair of shoes, for she never had a pair in her life.’ I thought, sir, if I told you how old she was, you would know just what size to give me.” Oh, it is pitiful that the children of this republic must be robbed of shoes and bread that a few idlers may be supported. The man who gives his influence in favor of the saloons gives his sanction to this cruel robbery. He says, “This idler may have the privilege legally to take the hard earnings of this toiler, and debase him, tho his children go with bare feet.” A Sober Young Man’s Testimony.
“Let liquor alone, and it won’t hurt you,” was the advice given by a gentleman to a young friend—a wide-awake, bright-eyed young business man—who sat beside him on a railroad train. “But it has hurt me,” answered the young man. “How is that?” inquired his friend, who saw no token on his manly countenance of the blight that so soon makes its mark on the “human face divine.” “Well, six months ago my employer went off his balance, signed some notes which he should not have indorsed; and yesterday the firm (a heavy iron firm) went under. So here I am, and nearly two thousand others, in the dead of winter, thrown out of employment.” That gentleman’s act because of drink, has touched the comfort, and possibly the subsistence, of not less than ten thousand human beings. Senator Rusk, of Texas was once at an Indian “talk” when a man drove up with a barrel of whisky. An old Indian, after looking earnestly for some time at it, asked Mr. Rusk if he knew what was in that barrel. He said he presumed it was whisky. “No,” said the Indian, “there are about a thousand songs and fifty fights in that barrel.” During a temperance campaign in a Missouri county a lawyer was discussing learnedly the constitutionality of the proposed temperance law. An old farmer, who had been listening attentively, shut his jack-knife with a snap and said, “I don’t know nuthin’ about the constitutionality or the unconstitutionality of the law, but I’ve got seven good reasons for votin’ fur it.” “What are they?” asked the lawyer. And the grim old farmer responded, “Four sons and three daughters.”—Sabbath-School Visitor. THE LARGEST FLOWER IN THE WORLD.
Can you imagine a blossom as large as a carriage wheel? On the island of Mindanao, one of the Philippine group, was found by some explorers such a flower. Far up on the mountain Parag, 2,500 feet above the sea level, some explorers were wandering, when they came across some buds larger than gigantic cabbage heads. Greatly astonished, they searched further, and presently discovered a full-blown blossom, five-petaled, and three feet in diameter. It was carried on low-lying, luxuriant vines. The natives call it bolo. It was found impossible to preserve it fresh, so they photographed it, and kept some dried petals to press, and by improvised scales found that a single flower weighed twenty-two pounds. It was afterward found to be a species of Rafflesia, first found in Sumatra, and named after Sir Stamford Raffles. The new flower was called Rafflesia Schadenbergia, in honor of its discoverer, Dr. Schadenburg.—Los Angeles Times. Via UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD Less Than Three Days to Chicago
Four Days to New York
Leaves Oakland Daily at 10:36 A. M. Three and One-half Days to Chicago
Both Pullman and Tourist Sleepers through to
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EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR PERSONALLY-CONDUCTED TOURIST EXCURSIONS TO
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1160 Broadway, Oakland, Cal. A Baby’s First Wardrobe
By Mrs. F. M. Kellogg
Is the most trying proposition a young mother can meet. Often everything she makes is wrong. For 30c in stamps you can get twenty-two guaranteed patterns, drawn on anatomical and hygienic lines, with full directions for making. Also an illustrated booklet on care of the body, free. All in plain envelope. Everything essential to know. For information on garments for other ages, send stamp. 205 Hubbard St. Battle Creek, Mich. You learn all about Virginia lands, soil, water, climate, resources, products, fruits, berries, mode of cultivation, prices, etc., by reading the Virginia Farmer. Send 10 cents, for three months’ subscription, to Farmer Co., Emporia, Va. Healdsburg Cottage for Sale
FOR SALE.—Good modern cottage of four rooms, pantry and bath, in Healdsburg, Cal. A bargain. Write Henry Scott, Healdsburg, Cal.