Huss left Prague about October 18, 1414, to attend the council of Constance. He prepared himself with all necessary papers for his safety. Before leaving the Bohemian capital he took occasion to make a full confession of his faith and doctrinal views. He openly declared his purpose to render at Constance, before the assembled representatives of the Christian world, a testimony of his faith. A few days before his departure he caused to be affixed to the gates of the palace, and other public places, a notice that he was about to depart for Constance to justify himself before the council; "so that," said he, "if any one suspects me of heresy let him proceed hither and prove, in presence of the pope and the doctors, if I ever entertained or taught any false or mistaken doctrine. If any man can convict me of having taught any doctrine contrary to the Christian faith, I will consent to undergo all the penalties to which heretics are liable. But I trust that God will not grant the victory to the unbelievers—to men who outrage the truth." He also received a certificate from the bishop of Nazareth, grand inquisitor of the diocese of Prague. This certificate was remarkable, considering from whom it came. "We have always considered him to be a faithful and good Catholic, not finding in him, up to this day, any evil or error." He also received a safe-conduct from the emperor. As this was an important document, and as we shall have occasion to refer to it again, we give it entire. It was addressed to "all the secular princes," etc., and to "all our subjects:"—
"We recommend to you with a full affection, to all in general, and to each in particular, the Honorable Master John Huss, Bachelor in Divinity and Master of Arts, the bearer of these presents, journeying from Bohemia to the council of Constance, whom we have taken under our protection and safeguard, and under that of the empire, enjoining you to receive him and treat him kindly, furnishing him with all that shall be necessary to speed and assure his journey, as well by water as by land, without taking anything from him or his, at coming in or going out, for any sort of duties whatever; and calling on you to allow him to pass, sojourn, stop, and return freely and securely; providing him even, if necessary, with good passports for the honor and respect of the Imperial Majesty. Given at Spires, this 18th day of October of the year 1414, the third of our reign in Hungary, and the fifth of that of the Romans."
Huss, however, trusted in One who was mightier than man. At this time he wrote to one of his friends: "I confide altogether in the all-powerful God my Saviour; he will accord me his Holy Spirit to fortify me in his truth, so that I may with courage face temptations, prisons, and, if necessary, a cruel death." King Wenceslaus also took the precaution to appoint two faithful and valiant knights, the lords of Chlum and Duha, as special companions and protectors of John Huss. No distinguished personage ever went forth to any council with better security as far as promises and earthly protection were concerned. No person ever had greater assurance of divine acceptance than did this man of God. But notwithstanding all these precautions, he wrote to his congregation, "Probably you will never behold my face in Prague." His friends felt the same forebodings. They cautioned him against the emperor's treachery, and expressed their fears that he would never return. He was welcomed in the cities through which he passed, and he posted up public notices in Bohemia, in Latin and in German, offering to give to any one an account of his religious convictions, and to prove that he was far from cherishing anything like315heresy. At Nuremburg the magistrates formed a guard of honor, and escorted him through the streets thronged with spectators eager to catch a glimpse of the man who had begun a movement which was stirring Christendom. At every step new adherents were enlisted in his cause. At Nuremburg he also had the privilege of speaking before his opponents, and the mayor, counselors, and magistrates. The people were captivated by his preaching, and overwhelmed him with applause. At the village of Biberach, about fifty miles from Constance, he had a similar disputation with the priests and learned men of the place. So great was the enthusiasm that the people bore him in triumph through the streets. Huss wrote after reaching Constance that he had not found a single enemy on the road. His entry into Constance was far different from that of Luther into Worms a century later. His bitterest enemies from Prague came to Constance with a fixed determination that his triumph, so far as liberty was concerned, should end whenever he entered Constance. Pope John was equally bitter, and was ready for any measure against him. It was the practice of Huss, knowing the ignorance of the people on account of the negligence of their religious instructors, to leave behind him at his lodging, and wherever he stopped, a copy of the ten commandments. Once at the house of a widow, finding no better facilities, he traced them in the meal. He had written them upon the walls of his Bethlehem Chapel.
The pope with his escort was just one week in advance of Huss. Pope John also entered the city with fearful forebodings, but of a far different character. His dread arose from a guilty conscience, and a fear that he might receive some of his just deserts. The city received him with all the pomp and splendor that was customary on such occasions. He received, as presents, "a silver cup weighing five marks, four small casks of Italian wine, four great vessels of the wine of Alsace, eight great vessels of the country wine, and forty measures of oats," all of which were given with great ceremony. The pope on his part ordered a robe of black silk, glittering with gold, silver, and diamonds, to be presented to the consul. The pope, as he entered Constance, presented quite a contrast with our Saviour when he rode into Jerusalem. One circumstance, worthy of remark, occurred as the pope was making his journey. When he was on the way, he was thrown from his carriage and rolled over on the highway. His attendants came around to inquire if he was hurt, and he replied, "By the devil, I am down; I had better stayed at Bologna," and then, taking a glance at the city, he exclaimed, "I see how it is; that is the pit where the foxes are snared."
The Emperor Sigismund did not arrive until Christmas. Huss was then in prison, having been arrested a month before. During the imposing ceremonies which followed his arrival, the pope presented the emperor with a sword, with an exhortation to him to make vigorous use of it against the enemies of the church. The pope evidently had John Huss in mind when he said this, but he little thought that its first stroke would be upon himself.
During the first few weeks, Huss enjoyed freedom in Constance. Upon his arrival, word was carried to the pope, and he was asked if Huss would be safe in Constance. The pope replied, "Had he killed my own brother, not a hair of his head should be touched while he was in the city." This, however, does not sound as well as it would had he not instructed one of his cardinals to treat Huss with the utmost severity, and added to the excommunication a special bull of condemnation. S. N. H.
Truthful Speech and the Wise Tongue
"HE that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness; but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword; but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established forever." Prov. 12:17-19.
The Vaudois in Time of Peace.
FROM this time (1561) for nearly a century no new crusade was preached against the Vaudois. Their native sovereigns were satisfied with lesser persecutions. The barbes, as usual, were often burned; the valleys were oppressed with a cruel taxation; the earnings of the honest people were torn from them to maintain dissolute princes and indolent priests. In 1596, Charles Emanuel ordered all the Vaudois, under pain of death or exile, to attend the preaching of the Jesuits, and the valleys were filled with the disciples of Loyola, who strove to corrupt or terrify the youth of the early church. To every convert was offered an exemption from taxation, and various favors and emoluments were heaped upon him who would attend mass. Yet the restless Jesuits were altogether unsuccessful. Their preaching and their bribes were equally contemned by the happy mountaineers; the church still lived unspotted from the world.
During this period of tolerable suffering, the valleys once more glowed with the products of a careful industry; they were the homes of purity and thrift. Singular among their race, the inheritors of a long succession of elevated thought, the Vaudois have ever practiced an ideal virtue loftier than that of Plato. When feudalism taught that labor was dishonorable, the people of the valleys held every family disgraced that did not maintain itself by its own useful toil. When the learned Jesuits had proved that deceit was often lawful, the Vaudois declared that falsehood was the corruption of the soul. In the happy valleys no one desired to be rich, no one strove to rise in rank above his fellows. While in the gifted circles of the European capitals the purity of woman was scoffed at by philosophers and courtiers, in Lucerna and Perouse every maiden was a Lucretia.
Crime had seldom been known in the peaceful valleys; it was only in barbarous lands where the Jesuits ruled that the assassin aimed his dagger or the robber plied his trade. To harm no one, to be at peace with all men, to forgive, to pity, were the natural impulses of every Vaudois; to heal the sick, to raise the low, to relieve the suffering stranger, formed the modest joys of the children of the valleys. In every age they remained the same; in every age they were Christians. The seventeenth century of their faith, perhaps of their existence, found them still an uncorrupted church, teaching to the world unlimited freedom of conscience. For this they were willing to peril their lives and fortunes; for this they had contended with popes and kings; and on every cliff and mountain peak of their native land was inscribed in immortal deeds the independence of the soul.
Meantime, while no change had taken place in the Alpine church, its doctrines and rites had been accepted by all Northern Europe. In the seventeenth century the papacy had lost its most powerful and warlike adherents. England in 1650, ruled by Cromwell, instructed by Milton, stood in the front rank of the progressive nations. Holland and Northern Germany maintained their free schools and their liberal press in defiance of the Jesuits and the pope. France had been forced to tolerate the Huguenots. It was only over Italy and Spain that the inquisition of Loyola, founded in 1541, held its terrible sway.
There the papal power had been erected upon a relentless despotism, and the unhappy people were rapidly sinking to a low rank among civilized nations. The rule of the Jesuits was followed by a total decay of morals, a general decline of the intellect. Once Italy had been the center of classic elegance, of the reviving arts, of the splendors of a new civilization. It was now the home of gross superstitions, a degraded priesthood, a hopeless people. Spain and Portugal, once the leaders in discovery, the rulers of the seas, had fallen into a new barbarism. The Jesuits, the inquisition, alone flourished in their fallen capitals and deserted ports; the manly vigor of the countrymen of the Cid had been corrupted by centuries of papal tyranny.
In the seventeenth century the Vaudois were the only progressive portion of the Italian race. Every inhabitant of the valleys was educated; the barbes were excellent teachers, their people eager to learn; the laborers instructed each other as they toiled side by side on their mountains; their industry was the parent of active minds. If they produced no eminent poet to sing of dreadful war, no astute philosopher, no vigorous critic, they could at least point to several native historians of considerable merit; to their "Noble Lesson," the finest of mediæval poems; to their stirring hymns and versions of the psalms; to a long succession of intelligent barbes; to their missionaries of the Middle Ages; to their colleges and schools in Alpine caves. They might claim that the ideas of the valleys had promoted the civilization of Europe, and that their perpetual protest in favor of liberty of thought had been of more value to the world than Tasso's epic or Raphael's Madonnas.—Historical Studies.
Switzerland.
By Daniel T. Bourdeau
BALE, CHAUX-DE-FOUDS, AND GENEVA.
SINCE my last report, I have visited Bâle and Chaux-de-Fouds, and have moved to Geneva. At Bâle I spoke once in English and once in French, and enjoyed a refreshing season in celebrating the ordinances. God graciously drew near by his good Spirit. We were cheered by the presence and good words of our dear brethren Kellogg and Coggeshall from America, which called to remembrance many interesting scenes and events in the history of this cause for more than a quarter of a century. Such interviews are truly encouraging, and make us long for the grand reunion of saints at Christ's coming.
At Chaux-de-Fouds seventeen persons decided to be immersed at their earliest opportunity. There are over twenty new converts at that point. Brethren Albert and Ademar Vuilleumier kindly aided us in moving to Geneva. Brother Albert Vuilleumier has now gone to Piedmont, Italy, to lead out in the work of colportage; and Brother Ademar Vuilleumier engages in the same kind of work in this city.
This is an important point. Here all the nationalities of Europe are represented. Great wisdom, patience, and persevering effort, and the blessing of God, will be required to make the enterprise a success. Pray for us.
D. T. BOURDEAU.
Chantepaulet 12, Geneva, April 21.
North Pacific T. and M. Society.
By Mrs. C. L. Boyd
REPORT FOR QUARTER ENDING MARCH 31, 1885.
No. of members,.............................. 164
“ reports returned,....................... 87
“ members added,.......................... 11
“ visits made,................................ 319
“ letters written,........................... 419
“ pp. tracts and pamphlets loaned,...... 20,206
“ “ “ “ “ given away,.... 28,563
“ “ “ “ “ sold,.................. 9,045
“ periodicals distributed,.................. 12,506
“ SIGNS taken in clubs,.................... 763
“ new subscribers obtained: for SIGNS (trial), 64; Review, 10; Instructor, 6; Good Health, 33; Harold, 1; Stimme, 6,.... 120
Received, on memberships and donations,......$ 13 00
“ “ sales,....................................... 185 17
“ “ periodicals,................................ 91 80
“ “ $5,000 fund,........................... 1,225 01
Total receipts,..................................$1,514 98
Mrs. C. L. Boyd, Sec'y.
Kindness Toward One’s Enemy
"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink." Prov. 25: 21.
The Wages of Sin and Gift of God
“BEING made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6: 22, 23.
False Witness.
"What a shame! How can any one be so deceitful?"
"Well, it's true, anyhow. I passed by her house and saw her at her window. She put her head out and said, 'I'm writing my composition for examination,' and then she went on copying out of a book."
The speakers were two young girls. The first was named Jennie Gray, the second, Tillie Andrews.
They were on their way home from school, and were talking over the examination just passed.
Bessie Terry had won the prize for composition, and it was she whom Tillie was accusing of having stolen the successful essay.
"It certainly is too bad," Jennie replied. "Such things ought not to be allowed. I wonder what Dr. Matthews and Miss Prim would say if they knew about it. I rather think they'd give the prize to an honest person, anyhow."
Dr. Matthews was the examining committee, and Miss Prim was the teacher.
"I'll tell you what, Jennie, we'll just go to my house and write a note to Miss Prim and tell her all about it. I guess she'll open her eyes."
This plan was decided upon, and the note, when finished, read thus:—
"DEAR TEACHER:—We are very sorry to inform you that the young lady who won the prize this afternoon did not deserve it. She copied her composition out of a book.
"Yours respectfully, TRUTH AND JUSTICE."
This communication, having been sealed and directed, was put in the post-office, and there Miss Prim found it next morning.
She read it on her way to school, and having arrived there, threw it into the waste-basket. Far too sensible was she to pay any attention to a charge whose authors were unwilling to make known their real names.
It would have been better if she had torn the note to pieces, for it was found by Jimmy Leader when he was searching in the basket for something with which to wipe his pen.
As he had less good sense than his teacher, he read it aloud at recess to a number of his school-mates who were assembled in the playground.
Then there was an excitement indeed. Some blamed Bessie; others pitied her. Some didn't believe the story; others wanted to know who had written the note.
Jennie Gray, who was in the crowd, couldn't resist the temptation to bring herself into notice.
"We did," she exclaimed, "Tillie and I. She is Truth and I am Justice. Tillie knows all about it. Just ask her. Here she comes."
Tillie was less ready to confess to her authorship, but was finally persuaded to give an animated account of what she knew about the matter.
She was just saying, "I wouldn't wear a medal unless I had earned it," when Bessie herself appeared upon the scene. She heard these last unkind words, saw the glances cast upon her, and understood at once that it was of her that they were talking.
"What have I done?" she asked, pleasantly. "I think I earned the medal by hard work, if I didn't by good writing."
"Oh, yes, it's very hard work to copy," sneered one. "We know all about it, Miss Perfection. You needn't hold your head so high after this. Tillie saw you writing that wonderful composition."
Bessie looked from one to the other in amazement. Then she blushed crimson and burst into tears. She was entirely innocent of the cruel charge, but how could she prove her innocence? That was the question.
Fortunately, Miss Prim, who had been in another part of the grounds, just then approached the group.
"O Miss Prim!" Bessie exclaimed in her grief, "they say that I stole my composition, and you know better, don't you? I only copied that one verse that I put in quotation marks. Tillie must have seen me doing that."
Instantly it flashed through Tillie's mind that this was the truth. She remembered the verse very well. It was a pretty one and quite appropriate. Four short lines had been the cause of all this ado.
She ought to have been ashamed of herself, and perhaps she was.
At all events, it was her turn to shed tears when Miss Prim, having come to a full understanding of the case, said, quietly: "I would like to have Tillie Andrews and Jennie Gray remain after school." Through her sobs Tillie stammered out: "I thought it was true, anyway." But that didn't seem to excuse her in Miss Prim's opinion, for the gentle reply was: "I hope you didn't want it to be true."
For a long two hours after school that day, the girls who had been detained copied and copied and copied these words, which are found in the 28th verse of the 24th chapter of Proverbs: "Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause."
Tillie learned them so well that she repeated them in her dreams through the night, and whenever afterward she was tempted to give information against any of her companions, the same words rushing into her mind would check the unkind speech.
"Judge not," said Jesus. "Speak not evil one of another," said the apostle James. If we obey these commands, we shall do well.
"Do It Well."
"Do it well, James." It was Grandpa Clark's voice. James knew that, and he didn't look up from his work of raking the weeds out of the garden path. He raked them carelessly, leaving a weed here and a weed there, and not stopping to remove the long root of knot-grass that had caught on the corner of the onion bed.
"The sky is clouded," said Grandpa Clark, "and if it rains to-morrow, those scattering weeds will take root and be as thrifty as ever. Whatever you do, my boy, do it well. The slighting of any piece of work, however unimportant, leads to neglect of more important things, and soon everything the hand touches is passed over carelessly. Habitual neglect makes a bad workman. Let me tell you a story. You are warm and tired; come here and cool off in the shade of this tree, and you will work the better for the rest and for the little lesson you will find in my story."
James dropped his rake and hastened to accept the invitation of his employer. The old gentleman scowled as the long handle of the rake fell across the row of early peas, but he said nothing about it, and as the lad seated himself on a rustic seat, and fanned himself with his broad-brimmed straw hat, Grandpa Clark went on:—
"Several years ago a well-to-do farmer, in a prosperous Connecticut River town, divided his property, consisting of real estate, stock, and farming tools, equally between his two sons, while he and his wife went to another county to live with a married daughter. The boys were twins, but were utterly unlike in character. While they worked under their father's instructions this difference was not particularly noticeable; but when each went to work for himself, it cropped out immediately. While Henry cultivated a little land in the nicest possible manner, Harvey worked a good deal and slighted it all. Each was ambitious in his way,—Henry to become a good farmer, as the surest way to make farming, in the long run, profitable; Harvey to make money, whatever the consequences to the farm. The first year he did very well. The next year the weeds which had been left around the borders of his fields to go to seed, were multiplied four-fold; the next, forty-fold. Indeed, his crops were swamped with weeds. The people in the town began to look upon the farm as a seed-bed which was doing great damage to the whole township of fine, highly-cultivated farms, and a few of the most prominent men got together to talk it over.
"I have great regard for the family," said one, "and Harvey is a good fellow, but a man who will allow a plot of Canada thistles, and other noxious plants and weeds to go to seed on his farm year after year, can be called nothing but a bad citizen, who not only harms himself but his neighbors also."
"It is a shame for him to go on so," said another, "after we have waged a war of extermination upon these troublesome plants to have him invite them back. He has undone the work of years already."
"He ought not to be tolerated in town," said a third; "we must buy him out."
"So they set a value upon the farm; each one told what he would pay toward it, and one was chosen to make the offer to Harvey. He caught at it very readily, as it was a liberal one, and he supposed he could purchase another farm in the vicinity; but, to his surprise, there was not a farm for sale in the township; the people were all leagued against him. When he found out the truth of the matter, he was very indignant, and said he had a right to seed his whole farm to ox-eyed daisies, wild parsnip, and butter and eggs, if he chose, and that he would get the better of them yet. He bought a farm in the next town, but the succeeding session of the State Legislature prohibited the sowing of the seeds of noxious weeds.
"So poor Harvey was not able to revenge himself in that way. It seemed for a time that he made an effort to correct the shiftless habits, but he found it a hard matter. All his life he was hampered by that early contracted habit of slighting everything he undertook to do. Bad luck followed him, of course; and while his brother Henry became a wealthy man, a good citizen, and an active Christian, poor Harvey lost all his property, and to-day would be a public charge were it not for the kindness of his brother, who provides for him and his wife."
"Thank you, sir," said James, heartily. "I think I shall get an old broom and sweep out the walk; then I shall be sure to get every weed. After this I will try to make your lesson, 'Do it well,' my motto. I shouldn't like to be turned out of town." And James picked up his rake and hung it upon the bough of an apple tree, while he hastened away after his wheel-barrow and broom.—Sel.
The Home Circle.
By Lottie Leigh
ONLY A SONG.
ONLY an old, old-fashioned hymn,
Sung in the twilight gray and dim,
By mother's side, or on father's knee,
Yet time cannot blot it from memory.
Only a song from the lips of one
Whose mission is past, whose brief life is done;
A simple song, and yet, after all,
I can never sing it but tears will fall.
Only a song from a feeble pen,
And a faltering hand and heart—but then
Who knows? perhaps some life, once sad
In sin, was made to rejoice and be glad.
Brief as a song is this life of ours,
Fleeting as sunshine, and frail as the flowers;
Then sing, my heart! O sing and be strong!
Thou shalt one day join in the "New, New Song."
—Lottie Leigh.
Benevolence and Selfishness
By Downey
WHEN the noble soul bends to benevolence, it adds luster to its brilliancy; so does the selfish soul add to its own gloom by turning aside to sordid principles.—Downey.
Disinfection and Disinfectants.
By California State Board of Health
DISINFECTION is the destruction of the poisons of infectious or contagious diseases. Deodorizers, or substances which destroy smells, are not necessarily disinfectants, and disinfectants do not necessarily have an odor. Disinfection cannot compensate for want of cleanliness or of ventilation.
DISINFECTANTS TO BE EMPLOYED.
Roll sulphur (brimstone), for fumigation; this is a cheap and efficient substance for fumigating rooms; it is positively destructive to disease germs, when efficiently used.
Sulphate of iron (copperas), dissolved in the proportion of one and a half pounds to the gallon of water, is a cheap and reliable deodorizer and antiseptic for privies, cesspools, sewers, etc.
Sulphate of zinc, in the proportion of four ounces of sulphate and two ounces of common salt to the gallon of water, is efficient and harmless for clothing, bed linen, blankets, etc. It should be used boiling hot, and the articles to be disinfected plunged into it and thoroughly boiled.
Corrosive sublimate, in the proportion of a quarter of an ounce to the gallon, is an unsurpassed germicide and disinfectant, but has the disadvantage of being excessively poisonous and therefore dangerous for general use.
Carbolic acid is of uncertain strength, is expensive, and experience has shown that it must be employed in comparatively large quantities to be of any use. It is also liable, by its strong odor, to give a false sense of security.
HOW TO USE DISINFECTANTS.
1. In the sick room. The most available agents are fresh air and cleanliness. The clothing, towels, bed linen, etc., should, on removal from the patient, be placed in a tub of the zinc solution, boiling hot if possible. All discharges from the patient should either be received in vessels containing the copperas or corrosive sublimate solution, or if this is impracticable, should be covered with the solution. Unnecessary furniture, especially that which is stuffed, carpets, and hangings, should be removed from the room at the outset, if possible, otherwise they should remain for fumigation and treatment.
2. Fumigation with sulphur is the only practicable method of disinfecting the house. For this purpose the rooms to be disinfected must be vacated. Heavy clothing, blankets, bedding, and other articles which cannot be treated with the zinc solution, should be opened and exposed during fumigation, as directed below: Close the rooms as tightly as possible, stopping up every crevice and keyhole; place the sulphur in iron pans supported upon bricks placed in wash-tubs containing a little water, set it on fire with alcohol or kerosene sprinkled upon it, and allow the rooms to remain closed twenty-four hours. For a room ten feet square at least two pounds of sulphur will be required; for larger rooms proportionately larger quantities will be necessary.
3. Premises, cellars, yards, stables, gutters, privies, cesspools, water-closets, sewers, drains, should be liberally treated with the copperas solution; it is cheap and effective, and may save your life. The copperas solution may be easily prepared by hanging a basket containing about sixty pounds of copperas in a barrel of water.
4. Body and bed clothing. It is best to burn all articles which have been in contact with persons sick of infectious or contagious diseases. Articles too valuable to be destroyed should be treated as follows: Cotton, linen, flannels, blankets, etc., should be treated with the boiling hot zinc solution; introduce piece by piece; secure thorough wetting, and boil for half an hour. Furs, silks, heavy woolen clothing, bed covers, and beds, which cannot be thus treated with the zinc solution, should be hung in the room during fumigation, their surfaces fully exposed and their pockets turned inside out; afterwards they should be hung in the open air—beaten and shaken. Pillows, beds, stuffed mattresses, upholstered furniture, etc., should be cut open, the contents spread out, and thoroughly fumigated. Carpets are best fumigated on the floor, but should afterwards be removed to the open air and thoroughly shaken and beaten.
5. Corpses should be washed thoroughly with the zinc or corrosive sublimate solution, then wrapped in a sheet wet with the solution, and buried at once. Metallic or metal-lined coffins should be used when possible, and always when the body is to be transported for any considerable distance.
If these notes of warning and guides to action are heeded, and fear does not usurp the place of common sense, we have little to dread from cholera personally. It is the unthinking multitude, the selfish egotist, the "wait until it comes" people, that we have to fear. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and there is no disease to which this aphorism so aptly applies as cholera.—California State Board of Health.
Necessity of Learning Submission to Discipline.
By Editor
THE following from the San Francisco Chronicle is worthy of being read by boys (and girls too) in other cities than San Francisco. We are glad to assist in placing it before them:—
"School circles are agitated over a mutiny in the High School. It seems that some of the boys in that institution have for some time evinced a disposition to be insubordinate. They have held meetings and denounced certain rules adopted by the teachers as calculated to crush out American manhood, and having started out on this high key they fetched up by stealing two books in which were kept the records of demerits. The case is under examination by a committee of the board of education, and may possibly lead to the suspension of some of the young culprits.
"It is well that a few plain truths and a little common sense should reach the boys of San Francisco from a source outside of their regular teachers. A great many of them have imbibed and are growing up with utterly false views of life. They are careless about their manners, foul in their language, lacking in proper respect for their parents and their superiors. There have been occasions where young school-boys in this city have helped to commit outrages on defenseless people which would have disgraced a Feejean. All this grows out of a false conception of life. Books are very little in life in comparison with behavior. A boy may be able to recite the 'Young Lochinvar' to perfection, but if he goes out in the street afterward and begins to swear like a ruffian, his elocution will not help in the struggle for a living. He will not get on. Nor will it avail him to understand Cicero if he don't understand how to treat his father and his sisters, and ladies and gentlemen generally. It is gentle manners and kindness of heart and respectful demeanor which push a boy forward in the world far better than book-learning or arithmetic. A wise boy will try first to grow up to be a man and a gentleman; scholarship may come afterward.
"This idea, which has sometimes been put forth in Eastern colleges as well as in the San Francisco High School, that severe discipline degrades American manhood, is the sheerest nonsense. The truest American citizen is he who obeys the law without question. What the law is to men, school regulations are to boys. A boy who is insubordinate because he does not like the regulations framed for the government of his school, will rebel against the laws when he grows to be a man, and will fetch up where other law-breakers do, or ought to do. There is no degradation in obedience. There is no sacrifice of American manhood in submission to authority. School-boys will find, when they grow up, that life is one long term of obedience to some authority or other, and they will also find that men who cannot obey are never fitted to command. It happens to all of us to have, at times, to obey orders which we disapprove, and to submit to rules which are irksome; but only those who are equally destitute of common sense and experience think of following South American example and starting a revolution whenever things do not go exactly to suit."
A Floor Made of Paper
A FLOOR of paper has been made in Indianapolis. Straw boards are pasted and pressed together by a hydraulic press, and when seasoned they are sawed up into flooring, the edge of the paper forming the floor, which is without joints. When sand-papered, it becomes smooth as ice, and is noiseless.
The Hidden Torment of Sensual Pleasure
As a grim skull lies covered beneath the fairest face; so does an abyss of torment lie beneath the surface of the glittering sea of sensual pleasure and dissipation.—Sel.
A Prevailing Malady.
HUNDREDS of women all over the country are sufferers from neuralgia to such an extent, in many cases, as to find life a burden. The following extract from the British Medical Review gives one solution as to the cause: "There is no recognized reason why, of late years, neuralgia of the face and scalp should have increased so much in the female sex as compared with our own. There is no doubt that it is one of the most common of female maladies—one of the most painful and difficult of treatment. It is also a cause of much mental depression, and leads more often to habits of intemperance than any other.
"This growing prevalence of neuralgia may, to some extent, be referred to the effects of cold upon the terminal branches of the nerves distributed to the skin; and the reason why men are less subject to it than women may, to a great extent, I think, be explained by the much greater protection afforded by the mode in which the former cover their heads when they are in the open air. It may be observed that the surface of the head which is actually covered in man is at least three times that which fashion allows to a woman; indeed, the points of contact between the hat or bonnet and the head in the latter are so irregular as practically to destroy any protection which might otherwise be afforded.
"If I were to report to the journals a case of facial neuralgia cured on the principle of protecting the lateral and frontal surface of the face, as well as the superior part of the scalp, it might excite a certain amount of ridicule. I can assure you, however, that my patient considers that her case ought to be reported; for she says that, if we cannot do much for neuralgia with our prescriptions, we ought to oppose fashion when we find it prejudicial to health and productive of suffering."—Christian Union.
Housekeeping and the Quality of Homes
Good housekeeping makes good homes, speaking after the manner of men. Tolerably good housekeeping makes tolerably—and never more than tolerably—good homes. Poor housekeeping produces only poor homes. Grapes are never gathered from thorns, nor figs from thistles, along the highways and byways of mankind's domestic heritage.—Sel.
Stimulants in Washington Society
One young lady who is in the swim of gay society in Washington, says she has braced herself up to get through the winter on an average of eighteen cups of tea daily. Another one doses with quinine to carry her through dinner and ball. Others rely on strong coffee, beef tea with brandy in it, and the massage treatment.