Earlier text: Justified by FaithTHE following new reports of progress we clip from the Review and Herald of March 9:—
Ohio: Springfield.—"The interest here is still good. Up to this time, nine have commenced the observance of the Lord's Sabbath, and five have united with the church, all heads of families but one. Others are deeply interested, for whom we have strong hopes. I find that the effects of our camp-meeting held here last fall are still felt throughout the city, and many are quite anxious that the next one should be held here. I believe much good would result from another camp-meeting at this place, if it could be held about six weeks earlier than the one last year. Persons of intelligence and influence are attending our meetings, and are deeply affected. The Lord gives good freedom in presenting his truth, for which we praise his name.
"GEO. W. ANGLEBARGER." MISSOURI: Gunn City.—"In company with Brother Jones, I came to this place February 4. Began meetings Friday evening. This church numbers only twelve or fourteen; but they are in good working condition. Twenty-seven dollars was pledged to the tent and camp-meeting fund. Sunday morning Brother Jones left for Northern Missouri, while I remained to continue the meeting. A good portion of the time the roads were quite muddy, but the meetings were well attended. Two families, six in all, covenanted to keep the 'commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.' Closed last Sunday night with a crowded house.
"R. S. DONNELL." ILLINOIS: Chicago.—"February 1 we started a Scandinavian mission house, or school, as a help to educate young men and women who have some gift, and a burden for the salvation of their fellow-men. Instructions are given in grammar, arithmetic, writing, Bible-readings, and the present truth. This takes up three to four hours a day, and the rest of the day is spent in canvassing, visiting, and holding Bible-readings. There are already ten of us in the family here and we have room for three or four more of such as have a good recommendation. The Lord is opening the way before us much more than we expected. We have just begun to hold Bible-readings, but not less than forty souls are reached by these efforts. We have sold several dollars' worth of books, and taken twenty-five subscriptions for our papers; and we hope for success in this work. Will the American friends remember the Scandinavian work here in their prayers? Our address is 390 W. Erie St., Chicago, Ill.
J. F. HANSON." Fresno and Tulare Counties.
By G. D. Ballou
FROM Jan. 16 to March 4 I was with churches and scattered brethren in the vicinity of Burrough Valley, Fresno, Lemoore, Selma, and Temperance. I labored at all these places to impress upon the people the importance of giving their time and thought more fully to the work of the Third Angel's Message. I found many of the brethren given to making great plans for worldly business and leaving the cause of God almost entirely out of their plans. I labored to correct this and other evils and to instruct and encourage all whom I met. I tried to impress upon all that their own eternal welfare depends to a great extent upon the efforts put forth for the salvation of others. At every place I found something encouraging and something to commend. But there is great danger to the youth and children unless, by example and precept, they are led to forsake and despise the foolish fashions and customs of society. At Selma I organized a Tract and Missionary Society of ten members. Nearly all of this company have recently come from the East, and they will become earnest workers in the cause here. I took 16 subscriptions for the SIGNS and nearly 500 for the American Sentinel during this trip. S. N. HASKELL
By S. N. Haskell
As far as we have heard, the Sabbath-school reports are not coming in as promptly as they have in former years. It must be remembered that upon the correctness and promptness of our Sabbath-school reports the denominational reports to the General Conference will be chiefly based. Unless we have these reports of the work in the several States, we shall be unable to report to the Conference the actual condition of our Sabbath-schools. It is certainly very important that the secretaries of our State associations, and also of our local Sabbath-schools, should see that the blanks for quarterly reports are properly filled out, and forwarded to the proper officers of the State associations in season for them to be forwarded to the General Sabbath-school secretary in season for his report at the annual Conference. We notice in our last Youth's Instructor that Bro. Haskell has a communication upon the Sabbath-school, in which he sets forth some important facts in regard to its present condition. We hope that all our Sabbath-school secretaries will carefully read this article, and act upon the suggestions presented. At the time of the General Conference, the Sabbath-school interests will be presented in a clear and distinct manner, and thus the whole field can be benefited by a knowledge of what is doing in other departments. But this cannot be done unless the reports come in promptly and correctly. Let our secretaries remember this, and act accordingly. Humboldt County, Cal.
By John Norton Loughborough
FROM February 18 to March 11 I was with the four companies of Sabbath-keepers in Humboldt County. These are located in Ferndale, Eureka, Arcata, and Dow's Prairie. At each of these points our people have a house of worship. The size of these is in proportion to the places in which they are located. The one at Ferndale was erected about two years since. It is 30x50, well finished, and free from debt. The one in Arcata is 26x40, finished, and no outside debt upon it. Dow's Prairie is in the country. They have a house 18x30. This is in good condition for meetings, though not entirely completed. They went about as far as they could this year, but hope to be able by fall to complete it with no debt upon it. Eureka is the county seat, and the company there is the youngest in the county. Their meeting-house is 32x60, and is neatly finished on the outside, and has temporary seats. It is quite comfortable for meetings. It has been quite an effort for this young company to erect this house of worship. They most gratefully acknowledge the aid received from the citizens of Eureka. The architect, though not of our faith, donated his plans, drawings, and services on the house. Lumber mills, hardware men, merchants, carpenters, painters, and citizens have donated liberally. If these donations had not been made, it would not have been possible for a company so poor as the Eureka church to do what has already been done on their church building. While there is a debt upon the house, we doubt not that our people in other parts of the county, as well as citizens of Eureka, will gladly assist them as they shall make lifts from time to time on their church debt. While in the county, I gave eighteen discourses, and held one Bible-reading. Of these, I gave six discourses in Ferndale, three in Arcata, three in Dow's Prairie, and six discourses and a Bible-reading at Eureka. Aside from hindrance in a few instances from storm, these meetings were quite well attended, and seemed to be a source of encouragement and strength. Our people are all anxious for a camp-meeting to be held in the county this year, and they desire it to be held about the same time as last year; i. e., in the fore part of August. As I stated to some while there, "if all make up their minds that they must attend the camp-meeting, and now begin to plan and pray for it, they may expect to see the Lord open the way before them. May the Lord bless his cause in Humboldt County. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. Running from God
By John Bunyan
He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day.—John Bunyan. Captain Ball's Experience, or Thieves in the Church.
“I HAVE had a strange experience,” said Captain Ball, speaking with much emotion. “It began about three weeks ago. I had lately been making some very good trades, and one night I was riding home, reckoning up my gains, and feeling a pride and triumph in the start I had got in the world by my own shrewdness and exertions. It was starlight, and very still; I could scarcely hear a noise but the field crickets and the tramp of my horse on the dark road, when suddenly a voice said, ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ “Was it actually a voice? I questioned, as I hesitated.” “No; I knew it wasn't all the time. But the impression was just as distinct and as unexpected as if it had been spoken by some person in my ear. I went to talk with my minister; I wanted to get into the church, where I thought I would be safe. I had no conception of repentance and a change of heart. I supposed our pastor would commence questioning me about doctrines, and so forth, to let me know what I would have to believe before I could become a church member. But he didn't take any such course. He made me go into the house and sit down in his study, where he talked about the blessedness of this world, independently of its rewards hereafter. Then he said:— “‘Captain Ball, do you know the first thing required to be done if you would be a Christian?’ “‘The Christian life of a faithful follower of Jesus Christ,’ said he, ‘can be founded only upon repentance. Now it is easy to say we repent, but the only repentance that is worth anything is an active repentance—by which I mean, not only sorrow for sin and an earnest desire to avoid it in the future, but one that goes to work, and seeks, so far as is in its power, to make amends for everything wrong that we have done. Is there a person in the world, Captain Ball, who can look you in the face and say you have wronged him?’ “He knew my weak point,” added the Captain. “Every one has his weak point, and I suppose the lancet must be applied there first. That question was like a sharp steel driven into my soul. I writhed and groaned inwardly, and struggled, and perspired a long time before I could answer. I saw it was going to be dreadful hard for me to be a Christian. I meant, however, to get off as easy as I could. So I determined to confess something which I supposed was known to everybody who knows me—my horse trade with Peter Simmons last spring. “‘Did you wrong Peter?’ said the minister. “I shaved a little, said I. “‘How much?’ said he. ‘Tell me honestly what you think.’ “I let him have a ringboned and windbroken nag that I had physicked up to look pretty gay—worth, for actual service, not over ten dollars—and got in return a sound and steady beast worth sixty dollars, and twenty-five dollars to boot. So I honestly think, said I, that I shaved him out of about seventy-five dollars. “‘And with seventy-five dollars in your possession belonging to poor Peter Simmons, do you think you can commence a life of Christian purity? Do you think that Christ will bear your prayers for pardon, with stolen money in your pocket?’ said the minister. “I said something about a trade, and men must look out for themselves when they swap horses—but he cut me short. “‘Your own soul,’ said he, ‘will not admit the excuses which your selfishness invents.’ “But the rule you applied, said I, will cut off the heads of church members as well as mine. There's Deacon Rich, he trades horses, and shaves when he can. “‘No matter,’ said he, ‘whose head it cuts off; no matter what Deacon Rich does. You have to deal with your own soul and with your Lord. And I tell you, whether you are out of the church or in it, a single dollar which you have unjustly and knowingly taken from any man without rendering him its full value of your ability—a single dollar, I say, will be like a millstone hung upon your neck, to sink your soul into the sea of spiritual death.’ “I couldn't stand that. The Spirit of God used those words with terrible effect upon my heart. I was greatly agitated. The truth spoken by the pastor appealed to my understanding with irresistible power. I went away, but I couldn't rest. So I took seventy-five dollars and went to Peter and paid him, making him promise not to tell anybody, for I was ashamed to have it known that I was conscience-stricken, and paid back money. Then I went to the minister again and told him what I had done. He didn't praise me as I thought he would. He took it as a matter of course, and no more merit in it than to wash my hands before sitting down to supper. On the contrary he suspected that my hands were not quite clear yet. He wanted to know if I had wronged anybody besides Peter; I tried to say no, but my conscience wouldn't let me. I could have told a plumper lie once without flinching—yes, and flattered my own heart to believe the lie. I was discouraged; I felt bitterly disheartened. It was indeed so much harder to be a Christian than I supposed, that I regretted going to talk with the minister at all. Like the young man who had great possessions, I was on the eve of going away sorrowful. But my heart burned within me, and I was forced to speak. “In the way of business, said I, no doubt I have taken advantage here and there, as everybody does; as church members themselves do, when they can. “‘What everybody does is no rule for you and me, Captain Ball,’ said the minister. ‘It is to be a Christian in the fullest sense—not simply to be church members—that we must strive for with all our heart. The fact of being in the fold does not make the lamb; there are wolves in the fold, alas! but we are by no means justified in doing as the wolves do, even when they appear in sheep's clothing.’ “I felt the rebuke. Well, said I, there is Deacon Rich, I think he paid me a note twice. The first time he paid it, we were transacting some other business, and by some mistake the note wasn't destroyed. I found it among my papers afterward. I was a good deal excited, and lay awake more than one night thinking what I ought to do about it. The deacon was a hard man, I considered, and took advantage of a man when he could. He had driven more than one hard bargain with me.” The deacon, who was present, and heard these allusions made to himself, winced and coughed uneasily. Captain Ball went on without appearing to mind him. “So, said I to the minister, I concluded I would serve the deacon as he would serve me under similar circumstances. I kept the note by me a good while, and when I thought the particulars of our settlement had slipped his mind, I said to him one day, May be you would like to take up that note, which had been due then a considerable time. He was surprised, looked excited and angry, said he had paid it, and held out stoutly for a while; but there was the note. There was no proof that it had been paid, and finally he took out his pocket-book, and with some pretty hard words, paid it over again with interest. “‘And now,’ said the minister, ‘what are you going to do about it?’ “I suppose, said I, the money must be paid back. “So I went to the deacon the next day, and told him that on reflection I was convinced that he was right and I was wrong about the first payment of the note, and returned the money—one hundred and thirteen dollars—a good deal to his astonishment.” The deacon coughed and wiped his forehead. “I hoped then all was right,” continued Captain Ball. “I tried to satisfy my conscience that it was; but I was afraid to go back to the minister, he has such a way of stirring up the conscience and finding mud at the bottom, when we flatter ourselves that because it is out of sight there is no impurity there. “And I knew that as long as I dreaded to see the minister, something must be wrong; and on looking into my heart, I found the matter of a mortgage which I had foreclosed on a poor man and got away his farm, when he had no suspicion but that I would give him time to redeem it. By that means I had got into my possession property worth two thousand dollars, for which I did not actually pay, and for which Isaac Dorr never actually realized more than half that amount. But the proceedings were entirely legal, and so I tried to excuse myself. But my awakened conscience kept saying, ‘You have taken a poor man's land without giving him a just return. The law of God condemns you although the law of man sanctions the wrong. You shall have no peace of soul, your heart will burn you until, with justice, you wipe out your injustice to him and to all others whom you have wronged.’ “Against the decree of my conscience I rebelled a long time. It was hard for me to raise a thousand dollars together with the interest due from the time the mortgage was foreclosed; it was like taking a portion of my life to be obliged to subtract so much from my gains and give it to a man who had no legal claim upon me, and I groaned and mourned over it in secret, and tried to pray; but that mortgage came right up between my prayer and God, and Heaven looked dark and frowning through it. At last I could not resist the appeals of my conscience any longer, and I went again to the minister, told him my trouble, and asked him what I should do. “‘There is a simple test,’ said he. ‘Do you love your neighbor as yourself? If you do, you will be just to him if it takes from you the last dollar you have in the world.’ “That was a terrible sentence. I went out staggering from it as if I had received a blow. O God! I said, how can I be a Christian? But I had help beyond myself; otherwise I could never have endured that struggle. I knelt before God and solemnly vowed for his sake, for the sake of his pardon and love, I would not only do justice to the poor man I had wronged, but would give up all if need be, all that I had in the world, so that I might find peace in him. 189A strange, soothing influence came over my soul, and a voice seemed to say: ‘Though you lose all you have, God, Christ, and the blessing of a heart pure and peaceful shall be left—the best and only true source of happiness and life.’ And in the solemn night-time, after I gave up the struggle, that comfort seemed to me so great and precious, that I felt willing, if it would only stay with me, to accept poverty, and to go into the world poor and despised, hugging that priceless blessing in my heart. The next day I was as light as if I had wings. Nothing could keep me from going to see Isaac Dorr, with a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket, and a note for the remainder of what I owed him. “Well,” said the narrator, with tears running down his cheeks, “I only wish that every person could have seen the Dorr family when I visited them, and made known my errand. Poor Isaac had grown discouraged, and had just made up his mind to quit his wife and children and go to California. His children were crying, and his wife in an extremity of distress and despair. She received me a great deal better than I anticipated; I had acted according to law, she said, and Isaac, careless and improvident, was greatly to blame. “‘Yes,’ said Isaac, with the firmness of a desperate man, ‘it was a savage game you played on me, but I was a fool ever to get in debt as I did, and then fancy that any man would not take an advantage when the law permits it. I am ruined in consequence, and here you see this woman and these babies’— “The poor fellow broke down as he looked at them, and cried like a child. “Isaac, said I, as soon as I could, I have come to show you that a man can be honest even when the law does not compel him to be. I want to do right, Isaac, because God commands it, and I have come to tell you that you needn't leave your wife and baby yet, unless you prefer to. “‘Prefer to—go off to a strange country and leave them here to suffer?’ he cried, and he caught the children in his arms and wrung his wife's hand, and sobbed as if his heart would break. “Then I counted the money I had brought, and explained what I intended to do, and gave him the note, and such surprise and happiness I never saw. They would have kissed my feet if I would have let them. It seemed to me as if Heaven was opened then and there, and it was opened in my heart with such a flood of light and joy as I had never experienced or thought possible before. “My friends,” added the captain, his once hard voice now almost as mellow as a woman's, his cheek still moist with tears, “I have been constrained to make this confession; I thank you for listening to it. The minister tells me a man may be a church member without being a Christian. I mean to be a Christian first, and if I fail”— He could proceed no further, but sat down with an emotion more effective than any words. I have nothing to add to this narrative except that he became a church member, and that the example of thorough repentance, of childlike faith in Christ, and of rigorous, practical, everyday righteousness elevated many degrees the standard of Christianity among my people.—Watchman and Reflector. LIFE affords but few opportunities of doing great services for others; but there is scarcely an hour of the day that does not afford us an opportunity of performing some little, it may be unnoticed, kindness.—Bowes. THE due admixture of Christian worship and Christian work makes the true Christian life. Are these elements properly balanced in your life?—Nashville Advocate. Be not afraid
To give expression to a noble thought,
Because the world may sneer and cry, "Tis naught,"
And may upbraid. Be not afraid
To do the thing that conscience tells is right.
The way is hard, but 'tis not always night;
Thou'lt be repaid. Be not afraid
To battle, sometimes, on the losing side;
The victory of truth o'er wrong and pride
Is but delayed. Be not afraid
To disapprove of what the world may prize,
Of senseless laws that fashion's votaries
Have ever made. Be not afraid
To recognize the greeting of a friend,
Whose poverty and poor attire offend
The well-arrayed. —Sel. TOBACCO serves to scare away moths, carpet-bugs and other vermin. It affords absolute security against being devoured by wolves, buzzards and cannibals, of which advantage its defenders are at liberty to make the most. By excluding ladies from many a breakfast and dinner party, it withdraws from gentlemen a disagreeable restraint. An advantage is suggested on the score of economy, in that it impairs the appetite so that less food is required. This reminds one of Mr. Squeers' custom, in Dotheboys Hall, of dosing his boys every morning with sulphur and treacle, that they might have less capacity for eating. As for the cost of tobacco in money, time, health, and doctors, in comparison with that of nourishing food, judge ye! Still another benefit, according to a Doctor of Divinity whose experience entitles him to implicit credit, is that the habit gives to a man "a sense of deep self-humiliation, of which his unpartaking brethren can know very little." It is pleaded that it is a safeguard against malarial diseases. But Doctor Solly makes answer: "I dispute the alleged benefits of even moderate tobacco-smoking as a preventive of damp or malaria." There are some who claim that it is an aid to digestion. Says Dr. Alcott:— "The reverse would be more true. Indeed I have never known a dozen tobacco-users—and my acquaintance has been extended to thousands—whose digestive energies were not, in the end, more or less impaired by it." "Tobacco is injurious by depressing the nervous power, by injuring the salivary glands, and by creating an undue secretion of saliva." To the same effect is the testimony of Dr. Harris, of New York Dispensary:— "The functions of digestion and nutrition are impaired; and though, in some cases, tobacco may for a time appear to relieve irritability of the stomach, it eventually cripples and almost destroys the digestive powers." The sum and substance of this argument, medically interpreted, seems to be that this drug acts like a whip to an overburdened beast, forcing the stomach to efforts which exhaust and enfeeble it, till at last it gives out and dyspepsia ensues. It is urged that tobacco stimulates the mental powers. On this point Dr. Harris writes:— "A moderate indulgence may, for a brief period, enliven the imagination, accelerate the thoughts, and give a pleasing sense of intellectual vigor; but under such unnatural stimulus the intellect works neither reliably nor safely; and the reaction and stupor which necessarily succeed more than counterbalance the largest measure even of apparent gain. And he who resorts to such expedients will soon find that not only has he been fascinated and deceived, but that he has literally sold himself into a physical and mental bondage from which escape is almost impossible." In regard to the arguments of those who have raised the lance in defense of tobacco as a helpful stimulant, quoting Dr. Anstie and his followers, I have taken pains to consult many wise ones, and may venture to report from high authority a brief reply to this defense:— "Physiologists, and the medical profession generally, accept as axioms the principles that, in small doses, all the narcotics represented by opium, tobacco, the deadly nightshade, strychnine, and other similar drugs, are stimulants, not tonics; that is, in these small doses, they increase the rate of action or living, without adding to the strength or means of living; that the degree of stimulation varies in different members of the group of narcotics, it being very slight and transient in tobacco, the 'soothing,' that is, the narcotic effect being the result usually sought and speedily reached; that the assertion that 'food and stimulus are equally indispensable' is an utter fallacy; that any drug stimulation in health is unnecessary and mischievous; that all such stimulation is followed by a gradual loss of healthful vigor in the tissues and the organs involved; and that, while these effects may accumulate slowly, the aggregate result of many years of even moderate indulgence is almost inevitably seen in broken health and lessened efficiency, as well as in the presence of positive disease." "I have never known a habitual consumer of tobacco to have the typhoid fever." So, by way of consolation, says one of the doctors. But what say others of the fraternity? A Bay State doctor reports the case of a "habitual" smoker, "who has had typhoid fever every summer for five years." And a physician from the State of New York knows a confirmed user of tobacco who, "for a series of years, has had an annual attack of this fever." Another physician living in a mining country, where all use the weed, affirms that he could report hundreds of similar cases. Indeed, so far from tobacco's being a protection against typhoid fever, it is the opinion of eminent doctors that, by enfeebling the system, it renders men more susceptible to this as well as to other diseases. "Tobacco smoke is not a vile, noxious exhalation," declares some one. "It does not contaminate the air, but tends to purify it. It is an antiseptic principle, taking up and destroying poisons in the air." As to the remarkable negative assertion in the above passage, let it be referred to those whose senses have not been impaired by the use of the weed. Just what the writer means by terming tobacco smoke "a principle," we can only guess. But what of the benefit he claims? There is abundant evidence to prove that tobacco in all its forms—snuffing, chewing, and smoking—is itself one of the most fatal of poisons. If this evidence is not convincing, let it be challenged. I might ask, if "tobacco smoke tends to purify the air," how does it happen to destroy animal life? But I choose to make my appeal to Cæsar. To the assertion made above, Dr. Cate, of Poughkeepsie, replies:— "I have never heard the claim presented even by the most inveterate smoker, among medical students or physicians, that tobacco smoke has antiseptic or protective properties. No authority on sanitation or disinfection, whether medical or non-medical, classes tobacco among disinfectants or antiseptics or protectives, in any mode or degree; and those who have written most, and most vigorously, against the use of tobacco, are physicians."—Meta Lander. Disinfection of the Sick-Room.
By Sel.
In the sick-room no disinfectant can take the place of free ventilation and cleanliness. It is an axiom in sanitary science that it is impracticable to disinfect an occupied apartment, for the reason that disease germs are not destroyed by the presence in the atmosphere of any known disinfectant in respirable quantity. Bad odors may be neutralized; but this does not constitute disinfection in the sense in which the term is here used. These bad odors are, for the most part, an indication of want of cleanliness or of proper ventilation; and it is better to turn contaminated air out of the window, or up the chimney, than to attempt to purify it by the use of volatile chemical agents, such as carbolic acid, chlorine, etc., which are all more or less offensive to the sick, and are useless so far as disinfection—properly so called—is concerned. —Ex-Governor James Irwin, of California, died in San Francisco on the 15th inst. —Major-General John Pope was placed on the retired list of the army, March 17. —March 17 President Cleveland requested the immediate resignation of Governor Murray, of Utah. —Forty-six men were arrested in Philadelphia the other day for participation in a prize-fight. They were each fined $450. —The steam-ship City of Sidney, which arrived at San Francisco recently, brought $582,000 worth of raw silk from China and Japan. —An engine was wrecked and two men killed and several others injured at Ioni Station, fourteen miles from Fort Worth, Texas, March 19. —The strike on the Missouri Pacific Railroad still continues, and the officers of the road have invoked the powers of the United States Courts to restrain the strikers from obstructing traffic. —The House Ways and Means Committee has reported in favor of abrogating the Hawaiian reciprocity treaty. There is but little doubt that such a measure will pass both houses of Congress. —Immense snow-falls are reported in Silesia, Prussia. Several villages were completely buried, and the inhabitants obliged to dig their way out. Five children were frozen to death while going to school. —Two bales of cotton raised by slave labor in 1862 were sold, a few days since, in one of the Southern States, for eight and three-fourth cents per pound, the lowest price touched by cotton since the beginning of the war. The cotton was in excellent condition. —Advices from Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, say that there is great excitement in Arispe and Magdalena, caused by the discovery of rich placer diggings in the mountains, three leagues from Cananea, on the northeastern tributaries of the Sonora River, in the Magdalena mountains. —On the 16th inst. the House Committee on Foreign Affairs reported adversely on the Morrow bill. This is looked upon as a decided victory for the Chinese. The committee will, it is thought, report favorably upon the bill for the payment of damages to the sufferers of the Rock Springs' riot. The amount claimed is $160,000. —There are rumors of another war between France and Germany. The Berlin Post says: "France confesses that she is waiting to attack Germany. This is serious. Germans who desired to conciliate France will now recognize the uselessness of conciliation, and will wish that Frenchmen may soon find the opportunity they desire." —On the 17th inst. a party of about fifty armed men entered the court house at Carrollton, Mississippi, where a trial was in progress in which several negroes were interested, and at once commenced firing on the negroes, killing ten and mortally wounding three. The latter have since died. —Nearly 8,000 men are said to be out of employment in Vienna, Austria, and as the weather has been phenomenally cold for over three months, there is much suffering among the poorer classes. A dispatch dated March 16, says: "Starvation is staring many of them in the face. The same condition of affairs prevails in every large town in Austria." —Geo. Q. Cannon, the noted Mormon apostle and ex-delegate to Congress, who was arrested some weeks ago in Nevada and returned to Salt Lake City for trial on the charge of polygamy, failed to appear on the 17th inst. when his case was called in the Third District Court, and his bail, $25,000, was declared forfeited. Cannon is, therefore, again a fugitive from justice. —March 14 the British steam-ship Oregon ran into a deeply-laden three-masted schooner off the eastern coast of Long Island, and both vessels sunk. The schooner went down immediately, with all on board, but the steamer floated about eight hours, and both the crew and passengers, 665 persons in all, were safely transferred to other vessels. The loss on the steamer and cargo alone is estimated at $1,775,000. —Geronimo, the noted Apache leader, and his band surrendered to Lieutenant Maus on the 19th inst. The Apache camp was attacked by the Mexican forces, and a hot skirmish ensued. During the skirmish two Apaches were killed, and the forces of Geronimo were completely routed. Geronimo and his band fled in utter dismay in the direction of Lieutenant Maus' camp, for safety, and immediately gave up their arms and surrendered unconditionally. —In view of important military measures adopted by Russia, Count Bylundt Rhegdt, the Austro-Hungarian Minister of War, has resolved to mass large forces of troops on the southern frontiers.191 —One of the New York aldermen who were bribed to vote for Jacob Sharp's Broadway franchise, was arrested on the 18th inst. Before his arrest he not only confessed to a detective that he had received $20,000 for his vote, but also implicated others. His bond was fixed at $15,000. Other arrests are expected to follow soon, and it is probable that the whole secret history of the granting of the franchise will come out. It is said that but two members of the board are free from taint. —Last week Delegate Voorhees presented a petition to the House from the Chamber of Commerce of Tacoma. The petition asks that the duty on coal and wood be retained. It says that if these articles be put on the free list, every coal mine in Washington Territory will have to shut down, and that nearly every saw-mill will have to stop. The petition concludes by predicting that 10,000 men in Washington Territory will be thrown out of employment if coal or lumber is placed on the free list. —The fact has recently come to light that artificial milk is being manufactured and sold in San Francisco. This bogus milk so closely resembles the genuine as to readily deceive almost any one. Its ingredients are sugar, nitrate of potash, glycerine, bicarbonate of soda, protoxide of soda, chloride of sodium, water, and milk, combined in proportions which have not yet been made public. It costs less than five cents per gallon to manufacture the stuff, which is, of course, sold at the regular price to unsuspecting customers as genuine milk. —Mr. Thomas A. Edison in a recent article in the North American Review explains an invention whereby he can throw an electric current from a rapidly-moving railway train to a telegraph wire more than five hundred feet distant. This discovery promises to be of immense importance, as "a circuit can now be established between any train, either moving or at a stand-still on a railroad, and the terminus of the road, or between the trains and any station on the route. A circuit is also established between any one train and all other trains on the same road." Mr. Edison says that he expects to so perfect his invention that ships at sea can exchange messages while many miles apart. Probably few ever heard of horses and other animals going to church. Of course, horses are driven with carriages to the churches, and occasionally some well-behaved, intelligent dog is allowed to enter and remain through the service. But in Spain they have a day set apart and a special service for animals. January 17 is San Antonio's day, and he is the patron saint of all four-footed animals, and one would think also of many who have two feet, if one might judge from the number who bear his name. In Madrid there is a church named after him, and on the morning of the 17th of January I joined the crowds of people who were making their way to this church. It was nearly noon when the procession of animals made their appearance,—horses, mules, donkeys, and oxen, gayly decorated with ribbons, or having braided worsted rosettes and tassels fastened to their manes and tails. Sometimes the latter were so braided and tied as to assume the shape of the cross. Their owners or drivers rode on the horses, many of which were beautiful creatures, especially those belonging to the bull-fighters, who kept them prancing and dancing through the crowd. But the horses were more careful than their riders, and not infrequently one would step over instead of upon some little urchin who ran under his feet. These were followed by such lovely ponies, with little boys dressed in the gay costume of the bull-fighters. I was sorry to hear that these boys were being trained for that cruel sport. Then came the mules. We rarely see such fine specimens of these animals in this country. They were of all colors; some, being perfectly white, looked very fine with their red and yellow streamers. After them followed the cunning little donkeys. For this day, at least, they were clean, and some of them quite deserved the epithet "sweet," which an enthusiastic admirer of the little beasts always gave them. Last came the immense oxen, which in Spain draw all the heavy burdens. They wore frontlets over their eyes, and made me think of passages in the Bible referring to frontlets. Every rider carried a bag of barley, larger or smaller, according to his means. When the procession reached the church, where numerous priests were in attendance, each animal was marched up to the door or a window; a prayer was muttered over him, the bag of barley was given to the priest, who, taking out a handful, blessed this and gave it to the owner, keeping the lion's share as his own. The pious Spaniard puts a grain or two of this blessed barley into his beast's daily food to keep him from all disease during the year. The priests sell their share, which, if five hundred animals come for the blessing, amounts to five hundred bags, and sometimes there are many more. No one seemed to regard this festival as a religious ceremony, but rather as an occasion for a holiday frolic. And the next day the poor mules and donkeys were beaten and cursed as hard as ever, even while they still wore their gay trimmings as mementos of the day they went to church, or, as these Catholics would say, "went to mass."—Cor. of Little Helper.