THE growing boy has been under the searchlight of investigation in a remarkable way, especially within the last ten years. As far as he is concerned, we may frankly say that he is no longer the formidable problem that he was once supposed to be.
One of the most significant things that has been brought home to us with emphasis is the fact that the problems of boyhood are intricately involved with other relationships, and not the least of these is the relationship of the boy and the girl.
It is my privilege to do my thinking in terms of thirty thousand boys in the teen age, the entire boyhood of a great city. Not that I have relationships with any such number; but along with definitely constructive duties I am set as a watchman upon the wall to sound the alarm when any danger seems to menace the boyhood life of the community. This charge makes me of necessity a student of boyhood life in large cities, and I have in mind to write with earnest frankness concerning a phase of this girl element that appears to be a new menace, impossible as it has been proved to be for anything to be really new.
I refer to the prevailing manner of dress among women, more especially as seen upon our city streets. I have no hesitation in saying that it is not alone immodest, but is as well immoral; and I greatly fear that we shall soon see an overwhelming torrent of moral laxity engulf our youth. Indeed it is here.
I have never known a time in any of our cities when the young man intent upon picking up acquaintance with a girl on the street might not be reasonably sure of accomplishing this with a small amount of effort in certain fairly well-defined sections; but never in all my observation, until lately, have I known a time when, by day or night, in thoroughfares devoted to shopping or business, a procession of girls sweep past a young man, in dress so vulgar that he might fairly — even though mistakenly — assume that they are on a parade to invite his advances. The dress of the girl of today causes her to be thrust upon him, perhaps at times when his own thoughts are far from the realm of ungentlemanly conduct, and perhaps with no desire on her part to arouse such interest.
A man of considerable experience recently designated a certain country hotel as a “low resort.” He was promptly challenged by another, who happened to be a circuit court judge. The first man stated his criticism by citing the women who were seen at this hotel; whereupon the judge remarked: “You are wrong. The women who go there go with their husbands, and are the respectable patrons of the community. You fail to make allowance for the present immodesty in women’s dress, an immodesty which causes me to be ashamed to meet some of my most respected women acquaintances on the streets of our city.”
Unhappily, the judge was right. And right here is the crux of the difficulty. If only immodest women and girls dressed in vulgar fashion, the line would be sharply drawn. But this immodest dress prevails among all classes.
Those of us who give our lives to boys find no harder task than to help the boy in his battle to keep pure. Imagine such a boy, fighting such a terrific battle as only a man can appreciate, confronted not once but a hundred times with indecencies in dress as he walks a few blocks in the heart of a city! Will he win or lose?
I do not write as a fashion critic; I write as a man who daily faces the moral issues raised by these things. But I want to be specific. There are prevailing styles of dress which are offensively immodest. Among these are the tight-fitting waist; the “peek-a-boo” waist, in its really offensive forms (a common object of jest, while it goes on sowing seed for its unhallowed harvest); some styles of low neck and short sleeves which many girls affect; many forms of tight-fitting skirts; skirts offensively short; and certain types of hosiery. The list might easily be made longer, it is merely used by way of illustration.
Women are crying out because of the libertines among our men. I believe their cries rise to Heaven, and that Heaven weeps over the shame of it. But I say without hesitation that these prevailing styles of dress are loosing the passions of countless thousands of growing boys whose physical fight is already severe.
When will women understand? I make no charge of indecent design against thousands of women whose thoughts and lives are far above such a thing. Granted that they are far above such thoughts, will they not listen to those who know these things?
Two girls of irreproachable character passed me on the street but a day or two since; they were dressed conspicuously12and, I should say, immodestly. The crossing policeman caught the eye of a teamster and winked, and the teamster replied with a sneering smile. The girls never knew of the estimate those two men placed upon them.
Just ahead of me the other day walked a young woman whose face apart from her costume, betokened refinement; but her dress was of the extreme close-fitting type, with low neck and short sleeves. Young men behind me spoke in the coarsest terms of her; others stopped and stared; still others turned about and walked away in her direction to get a better look. Apparently she was unconscious of the fact that with her appearance on the street the ideals of womanhood were lowered in the minds of many men.
But it does not stop there. These women of better circumstances set the pace absolutely for the girl of small wages. The girl may have no home to which her friends may be invited; her social effort is expended in her dress. She follows the prevailing fashions of immodesty, she inflames the passion of the young men she meets, she may not be sheltered and safeguarded, and she is swept under.
Is there a cure for it all? It is a woman’s problem. If going to the extreme in dress is more important in the eyes of womankind than safeguarding the paths of sons and brothers and husbands, then it will continue. But those who see it as it is must raise their voices in protest.—Eugene C. Foster, in Sunday School Times.
We Thank Thee
By Ura Spring
URA SPRING
(May be sung to tune of No. 192, “Christ in Song”)
We thank thee, we thank thee, our Father above,
For life and its bounties, for Christ and his love.
Each day thy rich blessings are fresh from thy hand,
Each morn thy great mercies are new in the land.
We thank thee, we thank thee, for sunshine and showers,
For hillside and valley, for brooklets and flowers.
We thank thee for springtime, for summer so dear,
For autumn and winter with seasons of cheer.
We thank thee, we thank thee, for earth’s glorious yield,
For fruits rich and golden in garden and field.
For food and for raiment we thank thee today;
Accept our thanksgiving and bless us we pray.
We thank thee, we thank thee, Redeemer and King;
For hope and salvation thy praises we sing.
We laud and extol thee, our Saviour and Friend;
We love and adore thee. Amen and amen.
Conducted by Mrs. C. C. Lewis, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C
By Mrs. C. C. Lewis
Through the columns of this department, hints will be given on all matters pertaining to the home life. Short articles and letters are solicited from home makers, telling of their everyday experiences,—their joys and sorrows, their failures and successes.
NOTICES AND APPOINTMENTS
Four Leaders
“Shall Peace Follow This War?” It will; the Bible says so. The January Signs Magazine cites the texts and elucidates upon them. During that short period of time when God will be doing a mighty finishing work, the world will say, Wars are forever ended, and the millennium is about to be realized. If the masses could only have access to the message which this article contains, what a blessed thing it would be!
“Satan Has Been Truly Converted” (?). The Signs Magazine for January quotes from a leading Spiritualist, who says so. This writer suggests that people pray for Satan that he remain steadfast. In the light of such statements, it requires no stretching of the imagination to understand how Satan can impersonate an angel of light and captivate great crowds. The truth presented in the Signs Magazine article referred to deserves a wide circulation.
“How Do the Beasts Groan!” The epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease among live stock, which caused our government recently to place a quarantine on so many States, reminds one very forcibly of the graphic words of the prophet Joel. There are two main points in this book. One is the destruction of crops by insects, droughts, etc., resulting in suffering among men and beasts. Through the study of such clear prophecies as these, many students of the Bible have reached the conclusion that it is not safe to continue the use of meat, and thousands of them are adopting the vegetarian diet in consequence. These thoughts are developed in the January Signs Magazine under the above title.
“The Nations Are Angry.” Some new thoughts under a very old title. In this the growing bitterness of the nations toward one another is vividly set forth. Has Rev. 11:18 ever been more true than at present? In this, as in all the other articles, Scripture is freely quoted; for after all, it is not so much what the editor of the Signs Magazine says as “What saith the Lord” about these things.
The four articles thus briefly referred to are but a part of this excellent number. The following titles of seven others will suggest their importance and timeliness: “Luxury, Profligacy, Then War;” “Satan’s Arrest and Imprisonment;” “Human Suffering;” “None of the Wicked Shall Understand;” “A Poetic Outbreak of Hate;” “The Lapsed Brotherhood of Man;” “Our Lives Recorded in the Books of Heaven.”
New Year’s Suggestions
That you order some of this January issue for circulation among your neighbors. Five to 40 copies, 5 cents each: 50 or more, 4 cents each.
That you make holiday gifts of subscriptions to relatives and friends. Five or more cost but 60 cents each.
Your tract society will supply your wants promptly.
Notice
By W. L. Hyatt
BROTHER J. F. BAUMANN and Sister J. F. Baumann (Sister Mary Jacquess), formerly of Caterham Sanitarium, Caterham Valley, Surrey, England, desire to send Christian greetings to their old associates in England or wherever now residing, and will be pleased to receive a letter from any one, which will be gladly exchanged. Address J. F. Baumann. “Kintore,” 136 Umbelo Road, Durban, Natal, South Africa.
W. L. HYATT,Secretary International Tract Society, Natal.
Executive Board of the Province of Nova Scotia
By CHARLES COVEY
THE second annual meeting of the Executive Board of the Province of Nova Scotia in connection with the Seventh-day Adventist Church of the Maritime Provinces will be held in the Seventh-day Adventist church at Tantallon, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia, at 4:30 P. M., Dec. 12, 1914.
CHARLES COVEY, Secretary
“Empires of Prophecy”
The Alberta Industrial Academy needs a copy of “Empires of Prophecy” for its library. Any one having one and desiring to sell it or donate it to the academy, will kindly address Miss Hattie Beardsley, Lacombe, Alberta.
Publications Wanted
THE following-named persons desire late, clean copies of our periodicals, sent postpaid, for missionary purposes:—
James Harvey, 1729 Grove St., Oakland, Cal.
Ed. Searles, Gen. Del., Bucyrus, Ohio. Continuous supply.
Miss Harriett Keate, Summerdale, Ala. Continuous supply.
Mrs. Stella Wise, 150 Elizabeth St., Shelbyville, Ind. Continuous supply.
R. J. Christiansen, Howell Mountain, St. Helena, Cal. Little Friend, Instructor, Life and Health, Signs, and Watchman.
Sing Always
By Henry Ward Beecher
WE can sing away our cares easier than we can reason them away. The birds are the earliest to sing in the morning; the birds are more without care than anything else I know of. Sing in the evening. Singing is the last thing that robins do. When they have done their daily work, when they have flown their last flight, and picked up their last morsel of food, and cleaned their bills on a napkin of a bough, then on a top twig they sing one song of praise. I know they sleep sweeter for it.
O that we might sing evening and morning, and let song touch song all the way through! O that we could put songs under our burden! O that we could extract the sense of sorrow by song! Then sad things would not poison so much. Sing in the house; teach your children to sing. When troubles come, go at them with song. When griefs arise, sing them down. Lift the voice of praise against cares. Praise God by singing; that will lift you above trials of every sort. Attempt it. They sing in heaven, and among God’s people on earth song is the appropriate language of Christian feeling.—Henry Ward Beecher.
Rejoice in the Lord
“BE glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”
Courtesy of the Religious Telescope
THE BLACK HAND IN THE EDITORIAL ROOM
So, too, the liberty of thinking and of publishing whatsoever one likes, without any hindrance, is not in itself an advantage over which society can wisely rejoice. On the contrary, it is the fountainhead and origin of many evils. . . .
*Gregory XVI, in his encyclical letter Mirari vos, of date Aug. 15, 1832, inveighed with weighty words against the sophisms, which even at his time were being publicly inculcated; namely, . . . that it is lawful for every one to publish his own views, whatever they may be. . . .*
We must now consider briefly liberty of speech and liberty of the press. It is hardly necessary to say that there can be no such right as this, if it be not used in moderation, and if it pass beyond the bounds and end of all true liberty. . . . If unbridled license of speech and of writing be granted to all, nothing will remain sacred and inviolate. . . . Wherefore this liberty [of teaching] also, in order that it may deserve the name, must be kept within certain limits, lest the office of teaching be turned with impunity into an instrument of corruption. . . . From what has been said, it follows that it is quite unlawful, to demand, to defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, of speech, of writing, or of worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man.—Extracts from the Encyclical Letter Immortale Dei, “The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII,” New York, Benziger Brothers, 1903, pages 123-161.**
One of Five Illustrations in “Picture Section” of December “Protestant Magazine”
This epoch-making number contains fourteen pages of unanswerable facts concerning “Papal Infallibility.” It also treats of the “Religious Issue in Politics,” “Cardinal Farley, the Pope, and the War;” “The Roman Hierarchy and Mexico;” and “Vigorous Reformation Resolutions by the Presbyterian General Assembly.” READ IT, and ACQUAINT YOUR NEIGHBORS WITH IT. Remember that UNTIL FEB. 1, 1915, all subscriptions for the year 1915 will include THREE EXTRA NUMBERS—the October, November, and December issues—FREE. Send in your subscription TODAY. Send $1.00 for 20 or $2.00 for 50 copies of this December number. Sell or give them away.
THE WORK AND THE WORKERS
By Editor
THE positive side of Protestantism will be a strong feature of the Protestant Magazine during the year 1915.
Life and Health and the Protestant Magazine, one year, only $1.70. Why not save the 30 cents? With Liberty, one year, only $1.90.
The “Lincoln,” “Armageddon,” and “American Liberties” number of Liberty is exhausted. Agents will please order the First Quarter, 1915, issue hereafter.
The Nebraska Sanitarium, College View, Nebr., recently wired for 1,200 December Life and Health. These are being used in a special health and temperance campaign.
The Life and Health Index for the year 1914 (Vol. XXIX) will be found in the January, 1915, issue. It is so arranged that it can be taken out without disarranging the pages.
Send $1.70 for any two, $2.40 for any three, or $3.00 for any four of the following monthly magazines for one year: Life and Health, Protestant Magazine, Signs Magazine, Watchman. Regular price of each, $1.00 a year. Add 25 cents to any club for Liberty, a quarterly magazine, for one year.
The cover design of the new First Quarter, 1915, number of Liberty is very striking. It shows a company of “Turkish Cavalry” on the march. This “War” number contains, among others, an article by Prof. C. S. Longacre, entitled “Turkey Committing Suicide.” Order your supply today.
“There will be a large meeting of the—court of the Guardians of Liberty, Chicago, November 30,” writes one of the officers. “I should like very much to secure a large supply of the Protestant Magazine for distribution at that meeting, in order to increase its circulation. Kindly advise at what price you could send me sample copies.”
“The Dread of Becoming Old”—who is not afflicted with that terrible disease? It should disappear, however, after you have read the December or “How to Keep Young” number of Life and Health. Send 25 cents for 5 copies to distribute among your neighbors. Or 50 cents will pay for 10, or $1.00 for 20, or $2.00 for 50. Scatter the sunshine and good cheer found in this number.
Replying to a letter outlining the good work being accomplished by the Protestant Magazine, Mr. J. A. Kensit, secretary of the Protestant Truth Society, London, England, writes thus to Brother A. J. S. Bourdeau, manager of the Protestant: “Undoubtedly the forces of Romanism are making a determined fight for both America and England, and I am glad to hear of your own labors in defense of our great Protestant cause. If God be for us, who can be against us? Yours for God’s truth.” Have you read the December Protestant, just out?
Rev. Wallace Radcliffe, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., wrote: “Your Protestant Magazine is fine. More power to your elbow.”
Rev. C. C. Cline, pastor of the Church of Christ, Pine Bluff, Ark., writes: “I am ashamed to confess that the November number of your most excellent Protestant Magazine is the first I have ever seen. Its contents and character suit me exactly. I inclose my check for $1.00 for 15 months. Wishing you great success in arresting the attention of the uninformed masses to our perils from Romanism.”
Preceding his lecture “Why I left the Roman Catholic Priesthood,” Dr. Joseph Slattery, now a Boston physician, advised his Washington (D. C.) audience to purchase the November Protestant Magazine and the “Lincoln” number of Liberty, which had been placed in each seat some time before the lecture began. Our magazine agents will find this an excellent method that will not be objected to by patriotic lecturers generally. The people have opportunity to examine the magazines before the lecturer appears, and those desiring to purchase take them, and pay as they go out.
THE STATISTICAL REPORT FOR 1913
By H. E. Rogers
H. E. Rogers, Statistical Secretary
The following pages contain the fifty-first annual statistical report of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. This report is arranged under the three divisions comprising this organization, namely, the North American, European, and Asiatic Divisions, and one grouping of miscellaneous union conferences. In these four divisions the percentage of membership stands thus: North America, 58.72 per cent; Europe, 25.96 per cent; Asia, 2.21 per cent; miscellaneous unions, 13.11 per cent. The number of Union Conferences is 25, local conferences 126, and organized mission fields 101.
Laborers
This work is today carried on in 85 different countries, by a force of laborers comprised as follows: 958 ordained ministers, 572 licensed ministers, 1,508 licensed missionaries, 2,060 colporteurs, 1,511 teachers in mission, primary, and advanced schools, 734 laborers in denominational publishing houses, 1,727 physicians, nurses, and other employees in sanitariums and treatment rooms, and 252 other persons not included in above classes, thus making a total force of 9,322 laborers engaged in all lines of work, or an average of one laborer for every thirteen members.
Membership
At the close of 1913 the total number of communicants was 122,386, a gain of 8,180 for the year, the per cent of gain being 7.16. This is the largest gain ever recorded in any year since this work was begun. In North America there were 71,863 members; in Europe, 31,772; in Asia, 2,713; in other countries, 16,038. The total baptisms during the year were 12,794. The difference between the number added by baptism and the net gain is 4,614. Deducting the number of deaths, there is left a relatively small number of apostasies from the faith. It is a cause of great satisfaction to note the large number of baptisms during 1913, the number being the largest ever accounted for in any year.
The number of churches at the close of 1913 was 3,589. This is a gain of 715, or 24.87 per cent. The number of new church members added in 1913 was 16,513. This number is greater than the entire membership of the denomination eighteen years after its organization. It may be explained that the number of members which were transferred during 1913 from companies to churches was 8,333. Deducting this number from 16,513, the new church members added during the year, there is left the net gain in communicants (members of churches, companies, and other Sabbath-keepers) noted above, namely, 8,180.
Funds
The total funds for evangelistic work contributed by members of the organization during 1913 were $2,866,727.40, a per capita of $23.42 for each communicant. The net increase over the amount received for the preceding year was $164,528.38, the per cent of increase being 6.10. Of the total amount contributed, $2,079,238.07 (72.53 per cent) was raised in North America; $495,419.70 (17.28 per cent) in Europe; $12,272.70 (.43 per cent) in Asia; and $279,796.93 (9.76 per cent) in all other countries. There was raised in tithes, $1,771,989.60, or 61.81 per cent; in offerings, $640,373.29, or 22.34 per cent; by Sabbath-schools in contributions to foreign missions, $291,711.76, or 10.18 per cent; by church schools for their maintenance, $138,272.55, or 4.82 per cent; by Missionary Volunteer Societies, $24,380.20, or .85 per cent. The per capita for the 71,863 communicants in North America was $28.93; for the 50,523 communicants outside North America, $15.58; an average of $23.42.
Since this work was organized fifty-one years ago there has been contributed for evangelistic work alone a total of $28,585,409.96. Of this amount, $19,720,499.66 (68.99 per cent) has been tithe; $2,009,206.65 (7.03 per cent) has been Sabbath-school offerings (of which 80.09 per cent has been contributed for foreign missions); $3,731,154.65 (13.05 per cent) has been foreign mission offerings; and $3,124,549.00 (10.93 per cent) has been home mission offerings. Of the total amount, $22,279,943.29 (77.94 per cent) was contributed in North America, and $6,305,466.67 (22.06 per cent) was raised outside this country.
At the close of 1913 the total value of the 1,350 church buildings and of the 166 institutions belonging to the denomination was15$12,812,783.61. This was an increase of $728,345.48 in assets during the year. The general net increase in liabilities was $56,625.01, thus making a net increase in present worth of $671,720.47 during 1913.
A brief summary of the work for the year 1913 may be stated thus: The net increase in communicants was 8,180, making the total number now 122,386; the total contributions for evangelistic work were $2,866,727.40, making the total of such funds since the organization of the denomination in 1863, $28,585,409.96; and the investment and donations made during 1913 increased the present worth of the churches and institutions belonging to the denomination by $671,720.47, making the total investment by the denomination in all its schools, printing houses, sanitariums, and church buildings, $12,812,783.61.
A further expenditure of $411,050.47 (tuition and gifts) was made during 1913 in maintaining the 70 advanced schools, and $52,643.18 in charity work in connection with sanitariums, thus making the total contributions, investment, and expenditure for all purposes within the denomination, for the year 1913, $4,002,141.52, an average of $32.70 for each communicant.
Educational Work
The following general classes of schools are conducted by the denomination: Primary schools (grades 1–8), of which there are 510, taught by 592 teachers, and having an enrolment of 10,206; and advanced schools (grades 8–16), of which there are 70, taught by 557 teachers, and having an enrolment of 7,563. In addition to these two general classes, there are certain mission schools conducted in non-Christian and non-Protestant countries (a separate report of work in which is prepared), the present number comprising 206 training-schools, head schools and outschools, with a teaching force of 362, and an enrolment of 9,610. Thus the total number of schools conducted by the denomination is 786, taught by 1,511 teachers, and having a total enrolment of 27,379. The total investment in these schools is $2,338,328.14. A total of 828 students were trained in all these schools sufficiently to enter some line of denominational work at the close of the last school year.
Publishing Work
At the close of 1913 there were 37 publishing houses and branches, having assets amounting to $1,488,388.46, employing 734 persons, and the total denominational literature sales for the year were $1,869,714.48. This literature is issued in the form of approximately 360 bound books, 325 pamphlets, 1,200 tracts, 128 periodicals, in 80 different languages. The total literature sales from the time this work was organized approximate $19,556,590.02. As previously noted, this literature is distributed by 2,060 colporteurs, 805 of whom are in North America, and 1,255 in other countries. Work is being conducted orally in all the 85 countries covered by this cause in 107 languages and dialects.
Sabbath-School Department
The present number of Sabbath-schools is 4,732, consisting of 123,068 members. This membership is greater than the membership of churches. The per capita contributions have reached the highest amount annually ever reported, being $2.37 per member, the total amount being $291,711.76. This is 10.18 per cent of all funds raised by the denomination during 1913. Since the beginning of this line of work, the total contributions have been $2,009,206.65, or 7.03 per cent of all funds raised by the denomination for all lines of work.
Young People's Work
The total number of young people's Missionary Volunteer Societies stands at 964, with a membership of 19,428, an annual increase of 5,400, or 38.50 per cent. The per cent of members belonging to these societies as related to the entire number of communicants is the highest yet attained, being 15.88. The total contributions for the year were $24,380.20, being $1.25 for each member of these societies. Of this amount, $13,432.49 was contributed for foreign missions.
