Earlier text: Current MentionThe Essential Education
By Ida Fischer Carnahan
EVER since God told Adam that he must earn his living by the sweat of his face, man has looked upon labor not in its true sense as a blessing, but as a curse. He has schemed in every way to avoid obeying the divine command. When it came to the development of an educational system, the prime idea seems to have been so to equip the pupil that he would not have to work. How common it is for a father to say, “I want to give my boy an education so that he will not have to work all his life as I have done.” This thought has been impressed upon the youth until to-day by far the large majority of our young people consider that it would be a great blessing indeed to be able to do something that would not require hard work. It is a just maxim that “demand produces the supply.” As the youth everywhere have been demanding an education that would release them from the necessity of work, the educators have attempted to supply this, and have made education largely the training of the intellect. Now the main fault is in the fundamental principle. Work is a blessing, not a curse. The divine command that man should earn his living by the sweat of his face was not a punishment for his sin, but a divine provision that would enable him to continue living in spite of his sin. The poisons of the body have to be eliminated, and work is the best known thing to eliminate them. The youth should be taught that education is not to free them from the disagreeable duties of hard work, but rather to enable them to become masters rather than slaves of these duties; in other words, it is to enable them to perform these duties with more skill and dispatch,—to become masters rather than slaves. Taking this view of the situation, our educational problem changes quite materially. It is no longer a training simply of the intellect to be shrewd so that they can see at a glance how to take advantage of their neighbors and of circumstances, and drive a shrewd bargain. It is a training also to fit them to do skilled labor, better labor in any department of human industry than they could do otherwise. Our youth need to be led to see the real dignity of labor; without which man can not be happy, in the true sense of the word. While the home influences the individual character more perhaps than any other agency, it is the system of education employed in our schools that determines the general sentiment of the school community; for it is the agency that binds together and unifies. Hence, if we desire to have our young people become a sturdy class of good workers, we need so to modify our school curriculum that manual training will become one of its important branches. It will require a great deal of courage on the part of all who have to do with education, both parents and teachers. Like all other reforms, it will meet with much opposition, and it will be difficult to give it sufficient trial to demonstrate its worth, but it is the proper and only right education. Practical Missionary Work in Church-Schools
By Ada Mae Phillips
IT is needless to write on the advisability of connecting missionary work with our schools; others have discussed this subject, and doubtless all who are teaching in our church-schools are convinced that the most successful way of training workers and missionaries for the cause of God is by beginning with the plastic minds in our primary grades, and have them “learn to do by doing.” The question that confronts teachers is, What kind of missionary work shall I take up, and how shall I go about it? The first requisite for practical missionary work in connection with the school is for the teacher himself to become thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit. Children are not slow in catching the spirit of the teacher, as the following incident will show:— “Missionary day” had come. A very interesting story had been read to the children on China and her needs, and of the great desire manifested by some to know more of Jesus. After the reading the children were quiet and thoughtful, and some of their little eyes were moist; their hearts had been touched, and they were ready to co-operate with the teacher in any plans which might be laid whereby the message might be sent to China. One little boy, all aglow with missionary zeal, hurried home to tell his mama of the story read and the plans to help the poor Chinese, and, “Mama,” he said, “I believe Miss —— is getting the missionary spirit.” Teachers, it will work a transformation in our schools if we will “get the missionary spirit.” The past four years my work has been confined to primary grades, and each week one day was set apart as “missionary day.” We spent only from a half to three quarters of an hour in our meetings, but the children were always delighted to see that day come. The children saved their copies of the Little Friend, and got clean copies of the Instructor and Signs of the Times from their parents, and these were folded, wrapped, and sent off. Those who brought pennies were allowed to mail the papers, thus encouraging them to save their pennies for the work. I always save interesting incidents from the lives of missionaries, points of interest concerning the countries to which they were sent, and these I would read to the children. I think it a good idea to decide, at the beginning of the school year, on some country to which all your missionary efforts will be directed during the year. In the industrial classes teach them to make articles to sell, the proceeds to be applied on the fund for the country chosen; and by the close of the year you will be surprised to see that the pennies, nickels, and dimes have grown into several dollars. One year I taught the children to make raffia hand-bags, picture-frames, etc. These were so nicely made that the parents of the children paid them the price, and took the articles, as keepsakes, because of their children’s work thereon. Another year I taught them the different stitches used in sewing, and these, worked out on canvas with colored zephyr, made very pretty lamp mats and sewing bags, which were disposed of much the same as the raffia articles. One spring I gave the children a penny apiece to invest as missionary money. Some bought garden seeds, some eggs; and at the close of school—the day of reckoning—we found that each penny had gained others, some ten, some twenty, and others had increased a hundredfold. Only those who have entered into such missionary enterprises can fully appreciate the zeal and earnestness with which the children pursue them, and how refreshing it is to the soul of the teacher. Last year a little sack of shells was given to the children to be sold for our mission work in India. I would put a few of the shells in an envelope, and write on the outside that the shells had been picked up by Brother and Sister Shaw on the island of Ceylon, and the money realized from the sales would be sent to help forward our work in India. The children sold five dollars’ worth of these shells in a few weeks. I must tell you of one thing which impressed me deeply while they were engaged in this work: they would talk to one another and to me of the work, and would say, “I am going to Brother —— or Sister ——. I know they will buy shells.” The ones mentioned were generally leaders in the church, Sabbath-school, missionary meeting, or children’s meetings; and if they refused to buy, the little ones returned to the schoolroom with their missionary zeal dampened, and it took quite a little encouraging to get them to try again. Always encourage a child, in a substantial way, in any missionary enterprise in which he may be enlisting your sympathy and support. I like to teach the children to write missionary letters in the writing class, not every day, but once in a while; and when one has been written correctly and neatly, allow the one who has written it to mail it to some child to whom I have been sending the Little Friend. I do not always get an answer, but I have known the children to receive a letter in reply. When I was teaching a mixed school where there were older pupils, one year we made a quilt in our sewing class, and on Thanksgiving day the mothers were invited to the schoolroom to quilt, and the fathers were invited to take dinner with us, which we spread all together. In the afternoon the children gave a thanksgiving program which they had prepared, after which a thank-offering was taken up, and this, together with the quilt, was sent to the Orphans’ Home. To the teachers who are seeking for ways and means to train workers for God, whether they be in the primary, intermediate, academic grades, or in the college, the Lord will not turn a deaf ear when they seek him for wisdom and judgment to guide them in their work. Numerous plans for practical missionary work will open before them; and before they are fully aware of it, the “missionary idea” will be the center around which their school work will rotate. Spiritual Lessons from Common Duties
By Ethel Voorheis
We call ourselves teachers. Well, Christ was a teacher; and we should study his methods of teaching. When the Saviour saw the farmer sowing seed, he explained to those gathered around him the comparison to spiritual seed sowing. We find that all through his life of teaching, his lessons were drawn from the common duties performed on every side. This was Christ's method. Are we as teachers following his example? It is true that we can not give to others what we do not possess ourselves. We can not teach the children to draw the spiritual from the natural unless we have formed the habit of doing it for ourselves. Neither can we form this habit in a day, or a week, or a month. We haven't been trained that way, and it will take a will to do, and a perseverance that succeeds, to gain the desired result. A friend of mine has learned to draw spiritual lessons from common, and even distasteful experiences. We had been talking about finding the good and pleasant in the things that really seem to be bad, and he told me of a journey he had taken a short time before. He said: “I was returning home after quite a long absence. I had only twelve miles farther to go, but I found that I must wait until the next day for a train, or walk the distance across the country through the woods. Although the day was a showery one, I chose to walk. Everything was wet, and all around was gloomy and dismal. But I happened to think how very like our journey to the heavenly Canaan. “I began drawing comparisons. The road I was on was an old railroad bed, straight and narrow (the one spoken of in Matt. 7:14, I imagined). While following it, I was safe, even from the boughs of the trees which held great showers of moisture. “At times the sky was covered with clouds, and perhaps a shower would wet me through and through. But was I disheartened?—O, no! the thoughts of reaching my home and receiving my wife's hearty welcome, renewed my courage. And I thought of how we have started for the heavenly home, and how gladly Jesus will welcome us when we reach it. “Soon the clouds passed away, and there came a beautiful burst of sunshine. There was a striking example of the alternating gloomy and bright places in our lives. “As I walked on, I came to where a very pretty and inviting road branched off, and after wondering which way to go, I chose the pleasant-looking road that turned off from the straight and narrow way. It was very pleasant for a time, but suddenly I came to a fence. You see, I had strayed from the right road, and this was the result. I could go on no farther, and there were no short cuts back to the right road. The only thing to do was to retrace my steps to the place where I had turned off, and then proceed again in the straight and narrow way. This I did, and soon reached my home in safety. How glad I was to see my wife and enjoy home comforts once more; but how much more shall I enjoy seeing the face of my Saviour and the beautiful home he has prepared, if I walk faithfully in the path of righteousness.” ETHEL VOORHEIS. The Entire Object of True Education
“THE entire object of true education is to make people not only do the right thing, but enjoy the right thing.” Water-Color Painting in the First Five Grades
By Faith Burch
WITH the hope of giving some suggestion that may benefit some one else, I will briefly outline the work we have attempted this year in water-color painting in the first five grades. Friday afternoon, after recess, is the period allotted for this work. Each child is provided with a box of Prang’s water-color paints, 3 a, containing four dishes of paint—ultramarine or blue, carmine or red, mineral yellow, and charcoal gray. (This costs here twenty-five cents. The Milton Bradley Company offer a color outfit for fifteen cents which is recommended, though I have not tried it, being fully satisfied with the other.) He has also a white water-color pad (costing fifteen cents here; in some places this can be obtained for ten cents), a cup for water, some old, soft cloths, and two or more brushes. Two brushes are supplied with the color box. Additional ones may be purchased for from thirty to seventy-five cents a dozen, or for five cents apiece when bought singly. The first lesson distinguished between shades and tints, the principal fact brought out being that everything lighter than the pure color was a tint, and everything darker a shade; that water used more or less freely produced the various tints, while the admixture of charcoal gray with the pure color in greater or less degree gave shades. They also learned in this lesson not to scrub with their brushes, but to use a smooth, steady stroke instead; to change the water in their little cups as soon as colored; to wash their brushes carefully after using, drying them on a clean, soft cloth. The next lesson taught the combination of colors (primary colors: red, blue, yellow. Secondary colors: green, orange, violet, indigo), and that the secondary colors were mixed from the primary ones as follows: Yellow and blue make green; blue and red make purple; red and yellow make orange. By experiment we learned that light green required more yellow than blue, while dark green was just the opposite. This lesson may be correlated with one on light very well, and a prism will prove useful in explanation. It is well in the smaller grades to introduce this lesson by having a language lesson on the rainbow story to precede it. In lesson three each pupil was given a cluster of cherries which he was required to paint, the teacher first painting from a similar model, but not permitting the pupils to copy her work. (Leaves, yellow and blue; cherries, red and yellow.) Lesson four was to paint a few spears of mesquite grass, with one or two Chinese lettuce stems. This flower is much like the dandelion, but has a grasslike stem. In lesson five the thistle was painted (leaves as before, but painted with a finer brush than the cherries), the purple flowers being produced by mixing red and blue. In lesson six the model was the plum, the twig, leaves, and fruit being painted. This was somewhat harder, the curved stroke not being so easy to attain. In lesson seven the apple was painted, the yellow being put on before the red; in lesson eight the wild Oregon grape; in lesson nine the golden-rod; in lesson ten, barley stalks; in lesson eleven a corn plant—root, ears, and stalk; in lesson twelve a group of potatoes. A robin’s nest with eggs, and fruits and vegetables not already used, would furnish good models for further lessons. We have not yet attempted anything except fruits and flowers. We shall probably follow these with familiar trees—fir, cedar, maple, apple, etc. The best of the work adorns the wall. In the first grade the pupils are permitted the colored crayons instead of the paint, but the paint is the nicest. The principal value in these lessons I believe is the training of the powers of observation, the training of the hand, and the cultivation of a love for the beautiful. If these three objects are furthered, we may rest content, even though there be no wonderful or striking specimens of art produced. Education and Manual Training
By Jennie M. Snow
MORE and more are worldly educators beginning to realize the importance of combining industrial labor with educational work. In so doing, they are but following out the instruction that for years has been coming to us through the spirit of prophecy. “Let the teachers wake up to the importance of this subject, and teach agriculture and other industries that it is essential for students to understand. Seek in every department of labor to reach the very best results.” By the side of the above quotation I wish to place the one following:— “Children should be educated to read, write, to understand figures, to keep their own accounts when very young. They may go forward, advancing step by step in this knowledge.” The introduction into our primary schools of the study of agriculture, which in many of them is being made practical by the school garden, is opening the way for a strong line of correlated work in the teaching of accounts to the younger children. These subjects, combined with reading, writing, spelling, and language study, make a pleasant and profitable line of work for the summer season, while geography and physiology can as well be taught during the cooler months. The school garden furnishes ample material for the work in keeping simple accounts. The interest of the child knows no bounds as he watches the development of nature in his garden, and faithfully keeps the record of it in his account-book. While the garden is growing, the theory of keeping accounts can be thoroughly taught. The child should first be shown a neatly ruled practise sheet, then be asked to rule one for himself. When this is done, he should, by careful questioning, be led to see the necessity for the various columns on his paper. Next he should be required to enter on his sheet several well-chosen transactions to test his ability to apply the newly learned principles. The daily lessons may now be neatly written on the blackboard, and should consist of six or more carefully selected transactions, which the children enter on their practise sheets. When this work is readily performed by all, it is time to lead the child, by a series of clear-cut questions, to discover how to “balance” his account. The pupil now feels that he has really entered the joys of keeping accounts, and takes pride in placing the “red word” in the proper place. In assigning lessons care should be taken that the work furnishes a practical illustration of all new principles. Pupils should be required to compute the cost or selling price of all articles bought or sold, also to determine in which money column the amount should be placed.28 Spelling, writing, punctuation, and abbreviations should all receive due attention. When as teachers we fully appreciate the need of instruction in these matters, and realize the blessing attending the giving of it, we shall feel amply repaid for diligent and faithful service. Teaching Physiology
By Lillian Fulton
“FROM the first dawn of reason, the human mind should become intelligent in regard to the physical structure. We may behold and admire the work of God in the natural world, but the human habitation is the most wonderful.” “A practical knowledge of the science of human life is necessary in order to glorify God in our bodies. It is therefore of the highest importance that among studies selected for childhood, physiology should occupy the first place.” Last winter I taught a family school. Only two of the pupils had ever studied physiology, and these had not been interested in it. I believe that our public schools are weaker in physiology than in almost any other line of study. The majority of pupils either do not like the study or study it as a mere theory, with no thought of its relation to their everyday lives. The increase in cigarette smoking and the use of alcoholic drinks shows this to be true. I resolved to strive, first, to make our study of physiology interesting; second, to make it practical. I illustrated the lessons, when possible, by our own bodies, by pictures or charts from medical books, and by experiments. I did not attempt to teach much of technique or many hard names, but tried to lead them to see that we are indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and tried to impress the practical lessons. I formed an extra class of the first, third, and fifth grades, and read with them “The House We Live In,” letting each child read portions of the dialogue suitable to his ability. In a short time the children were talking physiology outside of school hours. Their parents encouraged them and helped them to put into practise what they learned. At recess time we opened the door and took a few minutes free-hand exercises. We had two sets of exercises which the children soon memorized. Five or ten minutes a day spent in this way will, if the right exercises are taken and persisted in, have an almost miraculous effect on round-shouldered pupils, and will be beneficial in many ways. As teachers of this great threefold education we are in a degree responsible for the physical as well as the mental and spiritual development of the children. Before school closed, I was rewarded by seeing my pupils weaving into their life habits some of the principles of hygiene which we had studied together, and by hearing them all say that they liked physiology next best to the Bible study. First-Year Reading
By Lesta F. Seaward
Aside from the learning of spiritual truths, there is nothing so important in first-year work as learning to read. If number work is carried no further than eight or nine the first year, and much of the time usually devoted to numbers be given to reading, more may be accomplished in both numbers and reading before the close of the third year. First-year reading must not be merely naming words, but just as truly as in advanced reading, the principal thing from the first lesson must be thought getting and thought giving. There is no reason why a child who knows only twelve words should not read the sentences given him composed of those words just as beautifully as an adult could read them. The pupil must not be allowed to stumble in his reading. If he does, he either does not know the words, or, though knowing the words, does not have the thought. If the former is true, he is not ready to read until he has been taught the words. But if the words are familiar, and only an understanding of the author's idea is lacking, the teacher must, by talking and skilful questioning, assist the little reader to get the meaning. Having the meaning, he is ready to read, or, in other words, to tell what the book says. When a pupil does not read understandingly, he can usually be helped by being asked, “Now, what does it say?” Do not tell him to use a certain inflection, nor let him hear such expressions as “emphasize” or “read louder.” Such instructions destroy naturalness in reading. I hope the day is past when a child is told to keep his voice up at a comma, and to let it fall at a period. Besides being faulty advice, such teaching makes reading mechanical and unnatural. The same rule applies to emphasis. Instead of telling a pupil to emphasize a word, use a more natural method. In the sentence, “Lou’s doll is small,” if Lou’s is the word to be made emphatic, ask whose doll is small. If small is the important word, ask what is said of Lou’s doll. In the same way, force may be spoken of. It is seldom, if ever, that a child should be asked to read louder. If you ask him to read louder, nine times out of ten he will get an unnatural tone, which, if used day after day, is disastrous to the voice. When you wish a timid child to read louder, go to the opposite side of the room, and, with the room quiet, the child will know that he is to make you hear, and will, as a rule, read loud enough. To get stillness in the class while the timid one is reading, it is sometimes a good plan to tell the children that you are going to call on those who are sitting very quiet. As little tots like to be called on, all noise is likely to cease immediately. By the way, the admonition, “Be quiet,” is generally as useless as telling a child to read louder or to emphasize a certain word. Confidence and natural expression may be promoted by the frequent recitation of Bible verses and other literary gems. It is well to have each recite a Bible verse every day, and some other lines once a week. A few minutes before recess every afternoon may be profitably spent in repeating verses of Scripture. The older pupils should learn a new verse each day, while the tiny ones may give verses which they have learned in the Bible lessons, or any other verses they know. The value of this memory work is too well known to be enlarged upon here. Among many interesting devices helpful in first-year reading, the following has been used with success by many teachers: The teacher writes on the board a sentence, as, “Come to me,” “Take George a book.” As each sentence is written, some one is asked to “do what the chalk says.” Simple pictures may be sketched to take the place of difficult words, as, in “Go to the window” a window may be outlined. This game may be used as a physical recreation by having the children in concert “do what the chalk says.” In using the exercise this way, use such directions as, “Stand up,” “Be seated,” “Hold up one hand,” “Hold up two hands.” Opening of the Foreign Mission Seminary
By Frederick Griggs
THE fourth annual opening of the Washington Training College, now known as the Washington Foreign Mission Seminary, was held in the dining hall at the College, Wednesday, September 25, at nine o'clock. The Seminary opens with an attendance of from sixty to seventy-five students, and more are expected in a short time. Representatives of the different branches of our work and resident friends interested in the work of the institution were present. In view of the fact that the exercises were of a nature which clearly revealed the purpose of the school, and also that our people everywhere are deeply interested in the new line of work to which it has been dedicated, we thought they might be interested in a brief report of the opening exercises. After a few remarks by the president, H. R. Salisbury, in which he spoke of his courage in the work and his pleasure in having present so many representative brethren, Elder A. G. Daniells addressed the students and visitors, in part as follows:— “There are some movements that we enter upon which we feel quite sure about by our reasoning from cause to effect. There are other enterprises that we know positively and absolutely are right, and there is no question or uncertainty about them. This Foreign Mission Seminary is such an enterprise. The suggestion to establish this school did not come from man, but the messages from the spirit of prophecy clearly indicate beyond all doubt or uncertainty that such a school as this is to be conducted here at the headquarters of our work. The call for fifty missionaries at the meeting of the General Conference Committee in Gland, Switzerland, brought great perplexity upon the brethren. While discussing this matter, light came into the council, and a suggestion was made that the Washington Training College be turned into an institution for the special training of volunteers for the mission field. Since then, we have worked to this end, and we are here this morning to open this Seminary. This plan has met with the most hearty approval of our people everywhere. Some have shown their approval by their willingness to support some students who may be unable to pay their way through the school. It should never be forgotten that the one great purpose of this school is to train workers for the foreign fields. In the beginning of our foreign mission work our missionaries went to lands with whose languages they were already familiar, but now these fields are self-supporting and self-directing, and are raising up workers for the different demands that are made upon them; and we are obliged to send representatives to the fields where difficult languages have to be learned, and where our missionaries have to adapt themselves to the hard, unusual customs and environments. We thank God that our cause has so progressed and developed that it has reached this point, and also that we have this school as a place of special preparation for this line of work.” Professor Salisbury next called upon Elder W. A. Spicer, who spoke in part as follows: “Not only are our people in this land deeply interested in the work of this school, but we are beginning to receive word from the foreign fields; from India, from the Levant, from Japan, and from a dozen lands in which the workers, a little band, are waiting for reinforcements. From these lands comes the word that they thank God for the establishment of the Foreign Mission Seminary to do a distinctive work in passing on workers to these lands. It is not so much the technical things that will be learned in the Seminary as the spirit that shall take possession of the hearts of those who are here. It must be settled once for all that we are in this work to see the finish of it. Out in the needy fields our comrades and workers are waiting, holding the forts until help comes. In this Seminary we see the signal that is to be given to the ends of the earth29 that help is coming. I like the words of Cohen, the apostle to the Hawaiian Islands. In his prayer he said: ‘Lord, send me where thou wilt, only go with me; lay upon me what thou wilt, only sustain me; cut any cord but the one that binds me to thy cause and to thy heart.’ That is a good motto for us in this school.” PROF. F. GRIGGS: “This is one of the most inspiring moments of my connection with our educational work. God has in all times given great importance to the cause of education in carrying forward his work in the earth. Among the very first instructions given to this people through the spirit of prophecy were those concerning the education of the children. Up to the time of the General Conference held at Minneapolis in 1888, we had established three schools. At that time the Spirit of God was poured out upon his people in large measure. This is clearly stated by the spirit of prophecy. With the outpouring of this Spirit there came very great activity all over this country and in other countries in the establishment of schools. This was followed by the strong church-school movement, and now we seem to have entered upon another definite line of advancement in our work; namely, the preparation here in the home land for workers in the most distant and remote portions of the world. In education comes the strong movement of our young people as witnessed by the young people’s convention recently held at Mount Vernon, and by our overfilled schools. We can see in all this the leading of God, and we can see the finishing of the work given to this people.” ELDER I. H. EVANS: “At the ecumenical council held in New York City eight years ago, there were reported eighty-nine schools in Europe and America whose object was the preparation of missionaries for the foreign mission work. Twenty million dollars a year is contributed by the people of other denominations for the support of missionaries. There are forty thousand persons engaged in teaching the life that will save from ruin and sin. In the twenty-four thousand schools established out in heathen countries are 1,350,000 children in attendance week by week. In these schools they are taught to read the Bible and learn the way of God. So we can see that we are only a little speck, as it were, in the great mission movement, but God is using all these other agencies as a means of preparing all peoples for the reception of this message.” From the remarks of Elder G. A. Irwin we take the following: “Nothing has occurred in this denomination since I have been connected with it that has given me more pleasure and encouragement than the action taken at Gland to revamp this school and put it on its present basis. The founders of this great advent movement did not realize the great work that is to be done in carrying it forward. This school has a place in this movement different from that occupied by any other school in the denomination, not but that every other school has its own great and specific work, but here a special preparation is to be given for the darkest lands in the world. The graves of our faithful workers in the fields appeal to us to take up the work which they have laid down and to carry it forward. All the members of the faculty of this school are men who have been out in these different lands, and whose hearts burn with the needs of perishing humanity.” Elder E. W. Farnsworth said that the Lord had set before us an open door in many of the foreign countries, and that we should take advantage of this opportunity. In remarks made by Elder Thompson he stated that the finishing of this work will depend upon the consecrated service of those who go to the field. Other speakers were Drs. H. W. Miller and D. H. Kress, Prof. C. H. Hayton, J. L. Prescott, and J. R. Scott. At the conclusion of the remarks, Elder W. A. Spicer offered prayer, and the exercises were closed. We feel that this school is one of the crowning features of our educational system, and we bespeak for it the hearty co-operation not only of our school workers, but of our people everywhere. South Lancaster (Mass.) Academy
By B. F. Machlan
SOUTH LANCASTER ACADEMY opened Wednesday, September 18, with the largest attendance in the history of the school. On Tuesday evening, the night before school opened, all the rooms in our ladies’ dormitory were full, and there were fifteen young ladies who were unaccommodated, even though we had used the fourth floor and the reception-room. We hardly knew what to do. It seemed that the Lord had poured us out a blessing that we did not have room to receive; however, he helped us to receive it, for we rented a cottage in the village, which will accommodate about twenty young ladies. We feel that the Lord’s hand is in this. The same crowded condition prevails for our young men. We had a very enthusiastic meeting at our opening exercises. Many of the students had returned from their canvassing work during the summer, full of zeal and courage. We look forward to a splendid school year. Our Aim
By J. Russell Mitchell
YOUNG friend, have you paused long enough to consider whether you have an aim in life, and what it is? God is not pleased to have us drift upon life's ocean with no haven in view. Can we hope to land safely? If we could but realize the agony of our Saviour as he hung upon the cross, the wounds he bore on our behalf, and fully sense the cost of man's salvation, we would go to Jesus in earnest prayer and cry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Earth is rushing on to its doom; as the pen of Inspiration describes it, the earth is “waxing old as a garment,” and with it, millions of precious souls are daily perishing. When God has entrusted to us such a glorious truth, one which is able to make “wise unto salvation,” should we not feel that their blood will be upon us unless we faithfully show to them the Way of Life? Yea, verily, this will be true, for we read in God's own Word: “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” Eze. 33:8. What an awful doom awaits the unfaithful stewards! No one who knows, or has had opportunity to know, the precious truths of the third angel's message can be free before God unless he has faithfully done his duty. “Said the angel, ‘If light come, and that light is set aside or rejected, then comes condemnation and the frown of God.’”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 116. But in order to do the most effectual service for the Master, we need a preparation—a Christian education. None but those who are at the battle's front can fully appreciate this need. Satan is a vigilant foe, and all the powers of darkness are arrayed against the truth. Says the apostle, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places.” Eph. 6:12, margin. God has given to this people excellent institutions of learning, and every young man and woman who has determination and faith in God can receive the necessary preparation. The writer can testify to the excellence of our schools. Many, many lessons there learned will serve as bulwarks against the encroachments of the evil one. God has entrusted us with talents; shall we develop and devote these to him, and be the means of saving some soul? or shall we be as the wicked and slothful servant who hid his Lord's talent? God's words to us through the testimony of his Spirit are these: “I saw that Satan is a vigilant foe. . . . He well knows that there is no other class that can do as much good as young men and young women who are consecrated to God. The youth, if right, could sway a mighty influence. Preachers, or laymen advanced in years, can not have one half the influence upon the young that the youth, devoted to God, can have upon their associates. They ought to feel that a responsibility rests upon them to do all they can to save their fellow mortals, even at a sacrifice of their pleasure and natural desires. . . . O that they might make known to them the path of holiness, and by prayer and entreaty win even one soul to Christ! What a noble enterprise! One soul to praise God through eternity! One soul to enjoy happiness and everlasting life! One gem in their crown to shine as a star forever and ever!” Some young people will yield to God and fully realize this bliss. Let us ask ourselves the question, Will such be my blessed experience? Mount Ellis Academy
By W. A. Yarnell
Mt. Ellis Academy, at Bozeman, Mont., opened September 11, with an enrollment of twenty-one students, taking work ranging from the seventh to the eleventh grades inclusive. The good character of the students more than compensates for the small number. I believe that I have never met a group of students more energetic, consecrated, and determined to make their school year better than any former one. The tuition, nineteen dollars, covers the student's entire expense. Each student is given work to do, and is paid for it according to the value of the service rendered. The amount earned reduces the tuition. We believe in self-government, and are introducing it. We believe also and primarily in the “power of His might,” and are praying for it. Stuart (Iowa) Academy
By Floyd Bralliar
STUART ACADEMY opened for the year’s work one week ago, and every seat in the chapel but three is filled. Several students are planning to enter within the next few days, so we shall have to make some arrangement for more room, or refuse to take more pupils for this year. Several of our students were in the canvassing field last summer, almost all of whom were successful in placing books, and all had a good experience. There will be a larger number in the field next year, as a result, we are sure. Further than this, the influence of those who have had an active experience in the field can not but be good. The outlook is good for the best school year we have ever had.