Earlier text: Sunday Law ArgumentThe Christian Intelligencer says: It is said that a child became a smoker under two years of age, beginning with very mild cigarettes, which his mother taught him to use in order to keep him quiet, and soon taking to strong cigars with great enjoyment. But at four he is in a hospital, undergoing treatment for spinal troubles, brought on by the effect of tobacco on his nerves. A minister applied to Dr. Gray for relief. "I can cure you if you will give up tobacco." Said the man of God, "Do the best you can for me, Doctor, save me if you can, but I can't stop smoking." Every day we meet smokers and chewers with the mark of death upon their faces. The late Siro Delmonico was warned by the physicians of New York that he must die or quit smoking. He quit when he died. Do not condemn the mother overmuch. Those who use soothing syrups, or feed children on confectionery and rich pastry, are little wiser. When we see how much tobacco, patent medicines, and alcoholic drinks are used, we cannot but think of Carlyle's remark about most of the population being of the sort that Solomon says may be brayed in a mortar with a pestle without undergoing any change.—Golden Censer. Smoking in the Presence of Women.
THE woman who does not require of a man the form of respect, invites him to discard its substance; and there is one violation of the form which is recent and gross, and might well be cited as a striking illustration in the decay of manners. It is the practice of smoking in the society of ladies in public and in private places, whether driving, walking, sailing, or sitting. There are preux chevaliers who would be honestly amazed if they were told they did not behave like gentlemen who, sitting with a lady on a hotel piazza, or strolling in a public park, take out a cigar, light it, and puff as tranquilly as if they were alone in their rooms. Or a young man comes upon the deck of a steamer and blows clouds of tobacco smoke in their faces without even remarking tobacco is disagreeable to some people. A man when he unconcernedly sings false, betrays that he has no ear for music; and a man who smokes in this way shows that he is not a gentleman.—Harper's Magazine. Maine’s Low Crime Statistics
IN Lewiston and Auburn—two contiguous Maine cities of twenty-eight thousand population—there were last year only three arrests for drunkenness to every thousand of the population, against thirty arrests to every thousand in Lowell, a Massachusetts city of similar pursuits and population: and in the three Maine counties of Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford, only one and a half arrests for drunkenness to every thousand of population. Statistics show less crime to-day in Maine than in any other State in the Union. The number of State prison convicts in Maine is one to every thirty-two thousand of population—in New Hampshire, one to nineteen hundred—in Vermont, one to eight hundred—in Massachusetts, one to twenty-two hundred—in Connecticut, one to twenty-one hundred—in New York, one to fourteen hundred.—Christian Statesman. Of all the poor excuses for using tobacco, is that of the man who says that he left it off once or twice, but his wife urged him to take it up again, because it made him “so nervous” to be without it; and the wife's added comment is that her husband was “really so ill-natured without his tobacco that there was no living in the house with him.” It is bad enough for a poor working woman to be compelled to give soothing syrup to her crying baby, so that she can have a quiet time at her washing or sewing; but when a husband is beyond all hope of decency unless his ill nature is kept within bounds by his being half stupified by the fumes of tobacco, why—well, that tobacco fills its place a great deal better than that husband does his.—S. S. Times. The Presbyterian Witness, of Halifax, N. S., says that the drink bill of Ireland is larger than the entire rental of the country and that it is the drinking habits rather than the landlords which oppress and hold in chains the Irish people. Habits make the troubles of other people besides those of little Ireland. "There is no danger for our girls. Even if assailed by temptation, their honor as women would be like a coat of mail to them." This was the answer of a Christian mother when urged to give her influence against social drinking among the young, in what is called "society." Has, then, the enemy of all good signed a quit-claim to the characters and souls of our girls any more than to those of our boys? In a fine, brown-stone mansion in one of New York's most fashionable avenues, there lived, a few years ago, a gay and wealthy family, surrounded by everything their taste demanded of the beautiful in art and the luxuriant in style. They were the center of a fashionable circle, and life was one round of amusements with them. The head of the family drank a great deal of wine; but he "drank as a gentleman," taking his glass before breakfast, at dinner, and in the evening—and as much oftener as he desired it. But no one had ever seen him stagger, so he felt perfectly safe, and said he was "man enough to take care of himself." It was a hard fight to do it, however. His father, he said, had used the same freedom, and his grandfather before him; but he forgot to tell that both of them over-stepped the bounds of "a gentleman's freedom," and went down to drunkard's graves. Wine was always on his dinner table, and was pressed upon his guests, especially on New Year's day, when it flowed as freely as water. His golden-haired little daughter, with a brow like the lily and cheeks like roses, always took her glass at table, and often called for more. Indeed, the proud father boasted more than once to guests that she was as good a judge of wine as he himself. But she was a girl, so he saw no danger. Alas, poor man, he forgot the dreadful inheritance she had received from her ancestors—the viper that kept him continually fighting to keep up his honor "as a gentleman" before the world. But for him it might never have sprung to life in her breast. When this hoyden pet of the household was seventeen years old, she was in a fashionable and yet admirable boarding-school, from which there came occasional complaints of her disregard of rules, and her great willfulness. The last and most serious one was of her gathering a company of young girls in her room while the teachers were sleeping, and feasting them on confectionery and champagne which made them all ill the next day. When reproved she had braved the matter out, saying that she could drink three times as much as he gave them without feeling it. This sad story closed with a request that she might be removed from the school, as those in charge dreaded her influence over her fellow-pupils. The father only laughed, and said: "Blanche will have a good time wherever she is." The mother was deeply mortified lest their friends might talk about it; but she was not terror-stricken at either the danger, or the sin of her child. On her return home the young girl announced that she was now old enough to leave school altogether, and that she intended to do so. Her parents yielded to her importunity, and she was now ready for "society." Then began a course of gaiety such as few girls so young ever ran. Exciting company, late hours, and improper dress soon told on her system. The roses faded from her cheeks, she lost her appetite, and her nervous system became thoroughly unstrung. She would mingle her sobs and her laughter together, till it was evident that she was a victim of that most unpitied of all diseases—hysteria. Then came that fashionable ailment, a name applied to almost any form of weakness, "nervous prostration;" and the physician ordered, what was already in constant use, wines and champagne. It was not long before they found that their prescriptions were not the limit, but that she took wine when and where and in just such quantities as she chose. The parents soon found that in her walks she took lunches with wine at fashionable restaurants. A maid was thenceforth sent out with her, but she was soon bribed into deceiving the now anxious parents. Her place was filled with one more faithful; but she was maligned and charged with theft; and such was still the influence of this erring daughter, that she secured the girl's dismissal without a recommendation. For the honest discharge of her duty this good woman was sent forth into the world to earn her bread with a shadow on her name. Before Blanche W. was twenty years old, she had more than once openly disgraced her parents and brought shame on her own womanhood. The passion for wine soon became a passion for strong drink of any kind, and grew upon her so, that, tender as her parents were, they were often obliged to confine her for days in her own room under lock and key. During one of these attacks—which seemed like the assaults of a demon—when not even a servant was allowed access to her, her mother found her, one morning, perfectly insensible from strong drink. Where the spirits had come from was a mystery soon solved, for by her pillow lay a half-pint cologne bottle with a long cord tied around the neck, and on it an apothecary's label—"Brandy." She had doubtless watched from her window for some suspicious looking passer-by, lowered the bottle with money for brandy and the commission for getting it, and asked to have it fastened to the cord again, in the darkness, so that she could draw it up. Home restraint was an utter failure, and we next heard of the poor girl in a country parsonage under the care of an early friend of her mother. But although every possible entertainment was provided for her—books, magazines, music, and embroidery within doors, and saddle-horse, pony and phaeton without, she grew very restless and unhappy; and one day called for her bonnet and shawl, as she was going home. These articles had been, according to her mother's order, kept under lock and key. After gently entertaining her in every way, but in vain, the lady said: "Wait till to-morrow, and I will go home with you, Blanche." "I don't want you," was the rude reply of the poor, half-distracted girl, as she flew to her room and threw herself upon her bed in a flood of angry tears. She cried herself to sleep, and her friend, hoping much from the soothing effects of rest, turned the key softly in her door, and sat up all night, dozing in a chair, to attend to her when she should awaken. What was the surprise of Blanche's friends in the morning to find her bed empty, all her clothes left, and only her money and valuables gone. On her table lay a scrap of paper on which was written:— I go by the midnight train. I thank you for your kindness, and beg you to forgive me. I would do right if I could. You are a good and just woman: let me ask you this question: Is it not cruel as the grave to entail a passion on a child, and then restrain her—like a criminal—for indulging it? Pity me. I have no control over myself, but am dragged down by some power too strong to resist. Ruin lies right before me. Blanche. Alas, who knows the strength of the fetters with which that unfortunate girl was bound. We can imagine the anguish of her parents at the sorry plight in which she presented herself at the door of that proud mansion the morning after her flight. A year after this, a lady, visiting an insane asylum in another State, met Blanche there in a luxurious room, surrounded with everything that love and money could supply. She had been admitted as "a subject of melancholy in danger of injuring herself"—oh, how true—and was undergoing medical treatment there. She assured the visitors—to whom she was most courteous—that she was not insane, and never had been; but being the victim of a nervous disease, her friends had cruelly sent her away from her home to be taken care of by strangers. The restraint was too strong to be broken, and with occasional attacks of hysteria and melancholy, she remained a year, when her parents took her home with strong hope that her trouble was all over. Again in the world she looked about for her old friends and associates. But where were her friends? Where was "society"? Who of all the butterflies—belles and beaux who fluttered about her before public scandal had darkened her fame—cared to be seen with her now? Not one of these hollow-hearted children of fashion took her by the hand to lead her away from sin; very few of them knew her when they met her in the street. Neither her nor her parents were in either health or spirits to gather a fresh circle around them. They had no resources within themselves, and the house soon assumed the gloom of a sepulcher. The father drowned his sorrow and disappointment in more wine; the mother was tearful and gloomy, and both were crushed by the constant tantalizing remarks of their faded and wretched child: "It is all your own doings; you gave me wine from my cradle and laughed when I called for more. I wish you had killed me instead." A few wretched months went by, and the pallid girl of twenty-five years, with threads of white among the golden curls, was missing, and these parents, weary of life, were seeking her, and, as far as we ever knew, in vain. Is there no danger for our girls? Only a few years ago, the mistress of one of the finest mansions in a suburban town, after ruining herself, and breaking the heart of her husband, and scattering her fortune, was lost to her family for years; and was finally restored to them—a poor comfort—from the Boston Police Court, whither she had been taken as a vagrant and a common drunkard. Within a year a granddaughter of one of our presidents—once a beauty and a belle in Washington—long estranged from and finally lost by her family—died in the garret of a wretched tenement house in Sullivan Street, New York. Is there no danger for our girls, as well as for our boys?—Congregationalist. “DARLING,” said a mother one night, to her boy, “you will never remember mamma as she was when well and strong. You’ll always think of her as tired and sick, and not able to do anything for you, won’t you?” “I’ll remember her as always good,” was the beautiful reply, as the loving blue eyes turned to hers, and the arms were thrown around her neck. How shall we be remembered? One toils to gather wealth, another rears great blocks of granite or iron, another founds a hospital or endows a college, and still another makes provision for a costly monument to stand above his grave. But the best way to be sure of being held in sweet remembrance is to write “Forget-me-not,” in love letters, on warm throbbing hearts; to scatter smiles like sunbeams, to speak tender words. Some years ago, in one of our cities, a lady coming down to breakfast, heard the fire bells tolling, and saw a lurid light flaming up to the sky. “What is the matter?” she said to the servant who waited on her table. “The old Academy is on fire, madame,” was the reply. “What! the Academy where all these bright young girls go?” She mused over her coffee, and as the confusion outside increased, and the walls of the old hall crumbled at the touch of the fire fiend, she rose, went to her desk, made out a check for a princely sum, and inclosed it in a note to the trustees, while the conflagration was in progress. “Set about rebuilding at once,” she said, “and if this is not enough, I will give more.” This was consecrating wealth gloriously.179 One such deed is enough to embalm the doer in the grateful thought of thousands, in kind, if not in degree. It is in the power of every one to perform such self-forgetting acts. God, who regards the widow’s mite with as favorable a look as the gold that the rich cast into the treasury, will give his blessing to all who, from right motives, spend their substance for any cause that he approves.—Margaret E. Sangster. Into all lives some rain must fall,
Into all eyes some tear-drops start,
Whether they fall as a gentle shower,
Or fall like fire from an aching heart.
Into all hearts must sorrow creep.
Into all souls some doubting come,
Lashing the waves of life's great deep,
From dimpling waters to seething foam. Over all paths some clouds must lower,
Under all feet some sharp thorns spring,
Tearing the flesh to cruel wounds,
Or piercing the heart with bitter sting.
Upon all brows rough winds must blow,
Over all shoulders a cross be lain,
Bowing the form in its lofty height,
Down to the dust in bitter pain. Into all hands some duty's thrust,
Unto all arms some burden's given,
Crushing the heart with its dreary weight,
Or lifting the soul from earth to heaven.
Into all hearts and homes and lives
God's dear sunlight comes streaming down.
Gilding the ruins of life's great plain—
Weaving for all a golden crown.
—Youth's Instructor. -A Chinese lawyer is successfully practicing law in Paris. -Work on the English Channel tunnel has been stopped. -Over 10,000 immigrants arrived in New York, the 8th and 9th inst. -Another dynamite mine has been discovered near Moscow, in time to prevent any injury. -Eighteen feet and eight inches of snow fell at Emigrant Gap, on the C. P. R. R., last month. -Senator Teller, of Colorado, has been confirmed as Secretary of State, in the place of Kirkwood. -The Massachusetts Legislature has passed the bill permitting women to practice as attorneys-at-law. -It is stated that forty per cent. of the cattle in Elko County, Nev., perished during the past winter. -Judge Wylie has denied the motion to quash the Star route indictments, holding that they are good and sufficient. -A murder at Park City, Utah, a few days ago, was said to be the seventeenth that has occurred in that town within four years. -By the burning of a large jewelry establishment at North Attleboro, Mass., on the 5th, 250 jewelers were thrown out of work. -A silver cup was recently presented by the citizens of El Paso, Texas, to a woman of that place, as a reward for having shot a Chinaman. -The boiler of the river steamer, Belle A. Mac, exploded on the morning of the 8th, near La Crosse, Wis., killing four men, and seriously injuring several others. -It is reported that the Peruvians lost 2,000 men in a recent engagement at Abacucho. The Peruvian commanders were taken prisoners, and it is expected that they will be shot. -The Trinity (Cal.) Journal says that the Sunday Law is a dead letter in that county, as no one even made a pretense of observing it, and no steps have been taken to prosecute offenders. -The school population of the State of Illinois is 1,010,851, and the amount expended upon the schools of that State last year, was $7,531,941, of which sum the teachers received $4,587,015. -Attacks upon the Jews in southern Russia have commenced again. In one city, recently, the Jewish shops were set on fire with petroleum, and thirty shops and eighty houses were destroyed. -The mail and passenger trains between Walla Walla and The Dalles were blockaded near Alkali, Or., for several days last week, by a heavy sandstorm, which covered the rails to a depth of six feet. -The official returns of persons apprehended by the police in England and Wales during the official year, as confirmed drunkards, give the number at 37,940. Of these, 27,878 were males, and 10,062 females. -An incendiary fire at Hopkinton, Mass., April 4th, destroyed property to the amount of $350,000. Thirteen dwellings, a Congregational Church, and a boot and shoe factory, employing 600 hands, were burned. -Southern Michigan was visited by a severe storm, last week. Kalamazoo, Barry, and Eaton Counties, seem to have suffered the most severely. The damage to property is great, and some loss of life is reported. -Reports of outrages and murders by the Land League in Ireland, are about as numerous as usual. It is stated that assassinations now always take place by daylight, the police patrols at night having made it dangerous for assassins to be abroad. -Some papers are mourning the death of Jesse James, because he was a brave man, in that he took his life in his hand whenever he committed a murder. Their regrets would not be out of place had he not taken other people's lives in his hands also. -The American Board of Foreign Missions at Bouter has been advised, by cable from Constantinople, that in a region of Turkey three times as large as Massachusetts, the people are starving by reason of the ravages of locusts. An urgent appeal for succor is made. -In an article in the last number of the Century, a Russian lady claims that the recent outrages against the Jews were not caused by race or religious prejudice, but by the fact that the wealth of the country into their own hands. But the disgrace of the acts is not lessened, whatever cause be assigned. -A swindle amounting to about $5,000,000 has been discovered in shipping silk and hemp from the firm of Vogel & Co., Hongkong. The sufferers are merchants in Paris, London, and Boston. Goods worth about $10 per bale were invoiced for $300 per bale. The offender has not yet been found, but is supposed to have fled to Italy. -The President's veto of the Bill restricting Chinese immigration, has given general dissatisfaction on the Pacific Coast. In many places, the people have hung and burned the President in effigy, and done and said many unseemly things. Whatever the merits of the question may be, it certainly will not be helped by such childish demonstrations. -In 1778, the manufacture of "six complete stoves" in Philadelphia during the previous year, was considered of sufficient interest to merit notice among the important events of the year. Statistics show that the stove industry in that city, last year, was valued at over $4,000,000, and that between 12,000 and 14,000 people were employed in it. -The insanity dodge, by which many villains have cheated justice, has received a check by the Supreme Court of California. A fellow convicted of a murderous assault on his wife, and sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment, appealed, on the ground that the Court refused to instruct the jury on certain points touching his sanity. The Supreme Court sustained the judgment of the lower Court, holding that it would have been a mockery of justice if the jury had acquitted on the ground of insanity, and said that such pleas should not be encouraged. A few decisions of this kind cannot fail to have a wholesome effect. -Jesse James, the notorious brigand of Missouri, has been killed by one of his associates in crime, in order to receive the reward offered for his body. His death will doubtless lead to the breaking up of the entire gang of thieves, of which he was chief. A letter has been written by the brother of the dead outlaw, which will serve to explain why they have been able to per-petrate their crimes so long with impunity. He says: "We never robbed a Southern man in our lives if we knew it. If we did, we would give it back to him, for there is one of your citizens here that remembers the time we robbed a stage near Hot Springs. We gave him his money back, but the blue coats never got their money back." Cheerfulness and a Pure Heart
GENUINE cheerfulness is an almost certain index of a happy mind and a pure, good heart. -St. Xavier's Church (Catholic), at Cincinnati, O., was burned, April 7th. Loss, about $200,000. -Dr. Hamilton, pastor of the Independent Church, Oakland, dropped dead in the pulpit while delivering his sermon, last Sunday. -The first trial in Alameda, under the Sunday Law, resulted in a disagreement of the jury. The Encinal expresses a doubt of there being any more arrests. -A "Christian Convention," to be attended by delegates from all parts of California, has been appointed to be held in Oakland, April 18th, 19th, and 20th. -Since the beginning of the Indepenednt Catholic movement in New York, sixty or seventy priests or priestly students have left the Church of Rome and joined the movement. -A writer in a religious journal says: "One thing is certain. A continually increasing class are coming to regard attendance on public worship as perfunctory—less a religious duty than the satisfying of a social necessity." -According to the account of the Methodist, there have been, since the beginning of the present year, more than 50,000 conversions, in 1,709 churches; and five-sixths of this number, over 40,000, has been in the M. E. churches of the country. -Dean Bradley, the successor of the late Dean Stanley of Westminster, said in a recent sermon that he was deeply interested in war, because it had done so much to develop human character! So has whisky, but a higher development is to be desired. Rev. Dr. Max Lilienthal, Rabbi of the chief Jewish congregation of Cincinnati, died April 5th, from a paralytic stroke. He was one of the oldest of the Rabbis in this country, and was highly respected both in this country and in Europe, for his upright character, and his intellectual attainments. -The Christian at Work says, "The 'comings' of Christ are as various as many [numerous]." Possibly the C. at W. has received some information later and more reliable than Paul's statement in Heb. 9:28: "And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." -We are occasionally treated to some rare bits of information in the progress of the Sunday movement. For instance, a lawyer, in pleading a case recently, stated that Sunday laws have been in force since the days of Moses! It is not, however, much to be wondered at that a lawyer should make such a statement, when ministers continually assert the same thing. -A new plan for swindling worldlings for the benefit of the gospel, has been devised by a San Francisco church. It is what is called a "Package Party." Each individual brings an article of some trifling value, so wrapped as to entirely conceal its nature. The articles are then put up at auction and sold to the highest bidder. The proceeds are for the benefit of the mission school. Compare with this, Micah 7:2, 3. -Dr. McDonald stated at the last meeting of the San Francisco Home Protection Association, that they still intend and expect to enforce the Sunday Law. He says: "We do not think the law is perfect. Laws are never made perfect at first, but we expect at the next session of the Legislature to make some changes by way of amendment, so as to make it just what a Sunday law, ought to be." He does not think the law will be repealed. He certainly is very hopeful, for the outlook at present is not very favorable for the law. -Rev. Mr. Kimball, the famous raiser of church debts, is at work in Oakland. The debt on the First Presbyterian Church, amounting to about $25,000, has been raised, and last Sunday, $32,000 of the $40,000 debt of the First Congregationalist Church was raised. He is a vigorous worker, and goes about his work in a common-sense manner. He requested that the names of those who subscribed should not be published. "A church debt," said he, "is a sin and a disgrace, and should be got rid of as quickly and quietly as possible." -Speaking of the supposed scarcity of ministers, a writer in the Sabbath Recorder says: In a First-day Baptist Church that I am intimately acquainted with, notice was given that they wished to obtain a minister. In a few days fourteen letters were received from as many ministers, many of them accompanied with long recommendations and certificates of standing. A wealthy Presbyterian Church near New York City, desiring to settle a pastor, invited different ministers to visit them and preach to them, till no less than thirty-six had been tried, and were then unable to decide which would suit them best. The Religious Amendment to the Constitution: OR THE SABBATH, THE SUNDAY, THE CHANGE AND THE RESTITUTION.
THE object of the proposed Constitutional Amendment, together with the authority for it, is fully canvassed. The views of the leaders of the parties both for and against the Amendment are fairly given in this book. The present agitation of the Sunday Law makes this book especially interesting and instructive at this time. Bound in cloth, 380 pp. Price, $1.00. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. A MINE OF INFORMATION.
By John Nevins Andrews
History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week
THE Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made; and the work of restoration, are given in detail. Concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS
In regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious index enables the reader to find the comments on any text, or the statement of any historian. Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. YOUNG'S ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE
THE latest and most complete work of the kind ever published is now offered at a price within the reach of
EVERY BIBLE STUDENT. This book places in the hands of every earnest student, knowledge heretofore limited to a very few. IT CONTAINS ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN THOUSAND MORE
WORDS
Than Cruden's Unabridged Concordance. It gives every English word, also the Hebrew and Greek original words, with their pronunciation and literal meaning. The Greek and Hebrew words are transliterated so that they are intelligible to any English reader. ☞ A complete index of the original words is added, referring them to the English words under which they are found.
Price, postpaid, $3.25.
Address,
PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. A CONTRAST OF TRUE AND FALSE THEORIES.
THIS is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indicates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price 10 cts Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. THE excitement over the Sunday Law seems to be on the wane. Dr. McDonald, who has stood at the head of the movement in San Francisco, in a recent meeting in that city repudiated the trials which had taken place there. He said the cases tried had been thrown into Court by the opposers of the law, to bring it into contempt, and to obstruct the courts. He said no real trial or true test of the law had yet been held, and there were doubts whether one ever will be held. The Alta of Monday, April 10, said:— "The number of saloons in this city yesterday which strictly obeyed the provisions of the Sunday Law were, like the proverbial visits of angels, few and far between. In many cases the doors were closed, but the "string of the latch," so to speak, hung on the outside, and business was progressing within. As there are about twelve hundred cases of violation of the Sunday law now on the docket, it is not likely that any further arrests will be made for the present. No officers were detailed to note infractions of the law, as the police officials say it will take months to clear the docket of the cases with which it is already encumbered, and besides, it is almost impossible to find prosecuting witnesses to swear to the complaints. But little respect was shown the Sunday Law in Oakland yesterday." The Chronicle of the same date said:— "No detail was made by Chief Crowley yesterday for Sunday Law violators, the Police Judges having refused to sign any more warrants until some of the cases now on the dockets have been disposed of. These now number nearly 1,600, and so far but one has been definitely disposed of, the jury in the single instance returning a verdict of not guilty. All other attempts to impanel juries have signally failed on account of strong prejudice entertained either against or for the law. The Judges' action is taken on account of the Courts being already clogged by the cases on hand. The majority of the warrants issued for last Sunday's violation were booked at the city prison yesterday, the bonds having been furnished for the members of the League of Freedom last Saturday. These number about 250, and warrants for the arrest of nearly fifty non-members are still out." Our Sunday Law tract continues to be in good demand, the canvassers everywhere giving good reports of its reception. The Oakland Daily Times, speaking of the position of Seventh-day Adventists in relation to the law said:— "A pamphlet has been published in which the arguments against the enforcement of the present Sunday Law are very tersely and forcibly stated. The church is in favor of a prohibitory liquor law, and cannot be accused, therefore, of any sympathy with the saloon interest." Other papers in this State have given favorable notices of the tract, which has been the means of placing the truth before thousands who never before had had any interest to read on the subject. President Arthur
By Editor
It seems doubtful whether President Arthur will ever rise to great popularity; his course in various matters does not indicate such a result. Yet the course pursued toward him by some of the papers in California is not likely to redound to their credit, or benefit their cause before the whole country. There is more than one side to the Chinese question, and our country is very large, making it difficult for one section to control all the rest. We have always believed that the presence of the Chinese, at an early day, was a blessing to this State, aiding very materially in the development of its resources. And they appear to be, to some extent, a necessity still. We are acquainted with men who, as politicians, joined in the cry, “The Chinese must go,” but as householders, were anxious to retain their Chinese house-servants. Farmers have told us that they were a curse to the country, and yet confessed that they were the most reliable hands they could get. Having traveled over the State considerably, and tried to observe closely, we are constrained to believe that considerable of the opposition to them is for other reasons than are openly avowed. On the other hand, we incline to the belief that it would prove detrimental to the best interests of the country to have them continue to come in very large numbers. Our customs and our laws are too loose on the subject of immigration and naturalization. After centuries of exclusiveness, the Mongols must of necessity be very slow to adopt our customs. And yet, in some respects, this is to their credit. But President Arthur has not gone beyond his constitutional rights and prerogatives in his veto of the Chinese Bill. To denounce him in terms so unmeasured as has been done, to burn him in effigy, etc., will not affect his popularity in other States, but will prejudice very many people against the citizens of this State. General Jackson was assailed for his veto of the National Bank Bill with even greater bitterness than President Arthur is now. But it only drew his friends more closely to him, and he outlived the odium put upon them. We have been sorry to see able, conscientious, and highly-respected men in the East, denounced as unprincipled demagogues, by papers in California, because they opposed this bill. Such intemperate language will not cause their friends to withdraw their respect from them, but it will cause them to withhold their respect from the papers using it. A more mild and conciliatory course would have a far better effect. We are a traveling people, and California is yearly visited by thousands of intelligent men, not one of whom visits the typical “Chinatown” with the desire that it should be duplicated in his own eastern city. Public opinion is turning in the direction of restricting Chinese immigration. The vote in both Houses of Congress proves this. But hints of violent dealing with the question, to obtain our “rights” outside of legal forms, will do more to hinder than to help the cause. “Let us have peace,” if possible. Yet we have no high hopes of peace for our land, for the order in James 3:17 is too extensively ignored.