Earlier text: PROPHETIC PROSPECT FOR 1881HOW A GOOD LESSON WAS SPOILED.
By Marion Harland
A DARKENED room, spacious and handsomely furnished—being, in fact, the chamber of Mrs. Wilcox, the mother of the little fellow who occupied the wide bed. He lay there in lugubrious state, the rosy face stained with much crying, just showing above the edge of the counterpane; his tangle of yellow curls crushed upon the bolster. Below these was a white mound, stretched along the middle of the bed, just the length of Robby Boy, aged seven-and-a-half, the youngling of the Wilcox family. Two big blue eyes, glazed with tears, wandered from one to another of the two faces gazing at him from opposite sides of the horizontal pillory. Both were kindly, both loving, both sad. They belonged to the parents of Robby Boy, and he had been convicted, sentenced, and punished for telling a lie. His mother had sent him to a fruit-store with twenty-five cents and an order for two lemons. The tempter, in the form of a "street-boy," waylaid him at a corner with a challenge to a competitive show of tops. The silver "quarter" was in the same pocket with Robby Boy's new air-top and card, the pride of his soul. Or, he may have drawn it out with his handkerchief when he wiped his face after the game. The tempter may have known more about it than the tempted suspected. At any rate, the money was not to be found, and he was close by and ready with his proposition when Robby Boy discovered the loss. "Mamma will certainly scold me this time," he subjoined, turning every pocket inside out, and staring distractedly up and down the street. "I lost ten cents last week, and she told me to be more careful." "Don't tell her! And don't pay for the lemons. When the bill comes in, your mamma will have forgotten all about sending you for them, or she'll think the lemon-feller made a mistake. I know lots of real gamey fellers who get out of scrapes that way. It's only milk-sops who run to mammy with every little bother." The experiment, thus suggested and urged, was a success until mamma demanded the change. "He said there wasn't any!" faltered the errand-boy. "No change! out of twenty-five cents!" Then, with a searching look at the scarlet face painfully averted—"Robby Boy!" The "milk-sop" bethought him of the "gamey fellers." "Honest-true, mamma!" he plucked up courage to say. Put on your hat, my son, and go with me to the store where you bought the lemons. There is something wrong when my boy cannot look me in the eyes!" Thus came about the tragedy that darkened the June day for the whole Wilcox household. It was at nine o'clock on Saturday morning that the falsehood was detected. At two P. M. Mrs. Wilcox brought up the prisoner's dinner. Only bread and water! He had smelled savory soup and roast lamb, and the cook had hinted at strawberry short-cake when he passed, whistling, through the kitchen, turning the silver quarter over in his pocket. That was an eternity of suffering ago. Almost five hours, and he was to lie here until supper-time, alone! When he had eaten the bread of affliction, seasoned with tears of self-pity and remorse, mamma reappeared with papa. "My son!" said the latter, "I would rather have you die in your innocent boyhood than grow up a liar! Tell the straight, simple truth always and everywhere. No brave man will lie. Papa does not want his boy to be a coward. No honest man will deceive or tell a falsehood. Papa does not want his boy to be a cheat!" Mrs. Wilcox sat down on the bed when her husband had gone. All the mother-heart in her was crying out and tearing itself with longing and pity ineffable. Arms and heart ached to enfold the precious little sinner so grievously worsted in the battle with temptation. "Mamma is very sorry that her darling has been so naughty!" she said, bowing her head upon the pillow beside the mat of curls dampened by the rain from the culprit's eyes. "Mamma! Indeed, I will never tell another lie—not the leastest fib!" he sobbed. "God help you to keep your word, my son. Every falsehood is like a drop of ink upon snow to your soul!" She stroked back his hair and comforted herself with him by giving him, one after another, the passionate kisses withheld through all these miserable hours. Holding the chubby fingers in hers, she talked to him a few minutes longer of his sin, and to whom he should look for forgiveness; then bending over him, she prayed in simple words and few for the little one who had stumbled to his own hurt. "Lie still and think it all over, dear!" was her parting injunction. When Netta, his grown-up sister, came at six o'clock to dress him for tea, he was sleeping as peacefully as if falsehood and tempters had never been heard of, and the world were peopled by mothers as lovingly-compassionate as his own. The touch of lips upon his awoke him. He laughed out suddenly and merrily in the face he thought so pretty—then his glance fell—his lips trembled. "I was awfully naughty, sister. Did you know it?" "Yes, dear. But you will never do it again. Sister could not kiss a little boy who soils his lips with untruths." When dressed he put a question,— "Sister, when you were little and foolish—a long time ago—did you ever tell a wee bit of a —lie?" "Grown people don't ever, I know," pursued the penitent; "but I thought maybe—it came so easy, you see. Why, it slipped out almost before I knew it, after I opened my mouth. I just wondered if the same thing had ever happened to you. When you were very small of course. I's'pose though, you have always been a great deal gooder than me." Netta smiled in patting the round face so droll —to her apprehension—in its melancholy thoughtfulness. "You need not sigh so dolefully over it. You are going to be always good now. There is the tea-bell." Hungry Robby Boy was not disposed to talk at table. He noted and understood the grave gentleness of his father's countenance and demeanor; the chastened loveliness of his mother's look; the quiet tone caught by the other children from Netta, who sat next to him. His transgression had affected the spirits of the whole party. The very avoidance of all direct reference to it was significant and impressive. It was something too disgraceful for table-talk. A blackened soul! Soiled lips! These were the figures most distinct to his imagination as he crept after supper into the library, and sat down at the alcoved window looking upon a side street. The boys were playing noisily in the warm twilight. Robby Boy watched them, curled up on the window-bench, one foot tucked under him his face more sober each minute. He was sure his mother would shake her head sadly were he to request permission to join the joyous group of his fellows. Nor did he care—very much—to go out. The recollection of sin and consequent suffering was too fresh. He had a fancy, also, that there was something salutary—because bitter—in meditation at eventide, when one grew more low-spirited each second. Netta had a visitor and mamma had joined the girls, and was chatting cheerfully with them—not at all as she looked at the cowering little liar under the counterpane upstairs. "Mamma," suddenly exclaimed the daughter, "there are old Mr. and Mrs. Bartol! I do believe you are to be honored by a call from them." "I sincerely hope not," was the answer. "Papa and I had planned a walk on this lovely evening, and our friends the Bartols are given to long sittings." "Besides being insufferably prosy," interpolated plain-spoken Netta. "They are coming in. Milly, you and I can run away!" and they fluttered through the back-parlor door. Mamma's face was overcast with genuine vexation. Her sigh, "How provoking!" reached the alcoved auditor. Then she advanced to meet a fat old lady and a fatter, bald old gentleman. "Is this really yourself, Mr. Bartol? It is an age since I have met you. I am happy to see you both. Pray be seated." "Oh, good gracious!" said Robby Boy, under his breath, sinking back into his corner, actually sick and trembling. When he could listen and think again, papa had been sent for, and Mr. Bartol was apologizing for mingling business with a friendly visit. He wanted to buy a house owned by Mr. Wilcox, situated near his—Mr. Bartol's—home. The play of negotiation, of parry and thrust, was courteous, as befitted actors and scene, but Mr. Bartol's intention to buy cheap, and his host's desire to sell dear, were palpable to the unworldly eavesdropper. "I am sorry you hold the property at so high a figure!" finally remarked Mr. Bartol, rising to take leave. "I must consult the friend who commissioned me to make inquiries, before I can say anything definite." Mr. Wilcox was the impersonation of smiling indifference. "The truth is, my dear sir, I do not care to sell at all. The property is rising in value, and I may remove to that part of the city myself next year. I should lose on it were I to take less than the price I have named." When the guests had gone, Mr. Wilcox turned laughingly to his wife:— "Well, my love, you have lost your walk, but your husband has made four thousand dollars—clear!" "You think he will buy the place, then?" "I know he will! He wants to settle his daughter there. She is to be married next month. I had a hint to that effect some days since. I had the game in my hands from the first. I bought the property, three years ago, at a low figure. The rent has covered interest, taxes, etc. I shall never live there myself. It would not be convenient for my business. I have been anxious this great while to sell. I am already carrying more real estate than I ought to hold." "I am afraid Robby Boy is less impressed by the lessons of to-day than we could desire," observed Mrs. Wilcox sorrowfully to her husband at bed-time. "He stole off to bed without saying 'Good night' to any one, and pretended to be asleep when I looked into his room just now, answering gruffly after I told him I knew he was awake. What shall I do if my child becomes an habitual deceiver?" "We must watch his associations narrowly," replied the judicious father. "Everything depends upon the examples and impressions of early life."—Marion Harland. ONE of the best articles we have seen on the subject of dancing is the following, by the Rev. S. J. Tomlinson, in the Indianapolis Journal:— “The Chief of Police of New York says that three-fourths of the abandoned girls in that city were ruined by dancing. Young ladies allow gentlemen privileges in dancing which, if taken under any other circumstances, these gentlemen would be reported as improper persons. It requires neither brains, good morals, nor religion to be a good dancer. It leads to bad society. I never saw such a vicious crowd of young men at our college as on a night when there was to be a ball. It won’t mix with religion any more than oil and water will mix. As the love of one increases, the love of the other decreases. How many eminent Christians are distinguished dancers? As certain as the atmosphere around the thermometer at zero will freeze things, as certain as the wind that is bellying the sail will drive the boat, so certain will dancing freeze the religious sentiments out of the soul; it will drive its devotee47away from the church; it is a wind that blows in that direction. No dancing is spoken of in the Bible that was done by divine authority. In ancient times, the sexes danced separately. “Alcohol is the ‘spirit’ of beverages. Take it out and the young men of the land would as soon seek a beverage in the swill-tub as in the saloon. So sex is the spirit of the dance. Take it away, and let the sexes dance separately, and dancing would shortly be out of fashion. Parlor dancing is dangerous. Tippling leads to drunkenness, and parlor dancing leads to ungodly balls. Tippling and parlor dancing sow to the wind, and both reap the whirlwind. Put dancing in the crucible, apply the acids, weigh it, and the verdict of reason, morality and religion is: ‘Weighed in the balance and found wanting.’” The Home Circle.
By Dean Alford
SPEAK thou the truth. Let others fence
And trim their words for pay;
In pleasant sunshine of pretence
Let others bask their day.
Guard thou the fact. Tho' clouds of night
Down on thy watch tower stoop;
Tho' thou shouldst see thine heart's delight,
Borne from thee by their swoop!
Be true to every inmost thought;
And as thy thought, thy speech,
What thou hast not by suffering bought,
Presume not thou to teach.
Hold on, hold on! Thou hast the rock,
Thy foes are on the sand;
The first world-tempest's ruthless shock
Scatters their shifting strand;
While each wild gust the mist shall clear,
We now see darkly through,
And justified at last appear
The true, in Him that's true. —Montana sheep are being smothered by snow. —Utah produced $6,450,953 of bullion last year. —Oregon is to have a new academy, to be located at The Dalles. —Gambetta has been re-elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. —There are one hundred and seventy-five undertakers in New York City. —An ironclad is reported on the coast of Ireland to prevent the landing of arms. —The Baptist missions in India report 1,875 conversions during the last year. —Moving ice in the Ohio river, recently cut down two steamers, valued at $60,000. —Nearly eleven million pounds of salmon were taken from California waters last year. —Three slight earthquake shocks were experienced in Oakland, Monday evening last. —Los Angeles has at least one Chinese leper, and it is feared that there are others there. —The total receipts for Sara Bernhardt's twelve performances in Chicago were $41,478. —During the last fiscal year the total value of our exports of all kinds was $1,613,770,330. —From the vicinity of Healdsburg, Cal., comes a complaint that eagles are carrying off kids. —Utah is to have a fine University building erected in a park near the center of Salt Lake City. —The work of laying the foundation walls of the Hall of Records in Sacramento has commenced. —The father of Charlie Ross has spent $60,000 in searching for his stolen boy, and is still at work. —The California Northern Railroad, uniting Marysville and Oroville, has been sold under decree of foreclosure. —In the United States and Canada the recorded losses by fire for the past year, aggregated about $330,000,000. —Three hundred hands were thrown out of employment by the burning of a morocco factory in Linn, Mass., Jan. 19. —Nearly ten thousand people assembled to witness the placing of the obelisk upon the pedestal in Central Park, New York, January 22. —The police statistics of New York show the arrest of 52,820 men, and 18,879 women in 1880, an increase of 4,675 men over 1879, and 321 women. —The Erie train No. 12 from Buffalo to New York, was thrown off the track last Sunday night. The postal and smoking cars were burned, also five mail agents. —Ten years ago the United States had fourteen cities of 100,000 inhabitants each. Now it has twenty, a greater number than any other country in the world contains. —Commissioner Le Duc has purchased a farm in South Carolina, to try experiments in tea cultivation. He says the soil is wonderfully similar to that on which the best teas are raised in China. —The highest bid for pews for 1881 in Plymouth church, Brooklyn, was $700 against $500 for 1880. The total revenue for the year, with the rentals of pews and aisle seats, will be $41,362. —It is stated upon the authority of the Lutheran Observer, that ninety editors are in prison in Germany for publishing wild Socialistic sentiments, or for insulting the government authorities. —Says a New York exchange, "If you want in your house a death angel who never sleeps, and is always ready to do his work, get gasoline, and bide your time. Ten lives lost in this city Tuesday by its use." —The Chilians are still victorious over their Peruvian neighbors. Callao and Lima have, according to latest advices, surrendered unconditionally. It is said the slaughter in the battle of Lima was frightful. —The Western Union, American Union and Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Companies are preparing to consolidate. This step is considered but preliminary to a rapid and systematic developement of the grand telegraphic net-work extending around the world, and having its center not at London, but at New York. —"Greece seems determined on war. Turkey will thrash her. Then some of the Powers will interfere, and either a peace will be patched up or Europe will be ablaze with war." So says a San Francisco daily. —The Pacific Coast Steamship Company have authorized their president to contract for a new and fast steam-ship to ply between San Francisco and San Diego where it will connect with the new transcontinental railroad whose terminus will be at that port. —The Oakland Guards will probably represent the National Guard of California at the inauguration of President Garfield, having gained the honors in the competitive drill held in San Francisco, on Thursday last, to ascertain which of the various companies was the best drilled. —Oregon, also, has had a cold spell. A letter from Wasco county says that even should the weather moderate at once, $100,000 will not cover the loss of stock in that region. Cattle and sheep are dying by wholesale, but few ranchers, comparatively, being prepared with feed. —Says the daily Alta, "Now they are talking about tunnelling Niagara Falls. Nothing daunts modern enterprise. Some day Yankee engineers will be at work on a tunnel under the Atlantic, and in time passengers will be automatically 'fired' from New York to Liverpool." —For a long time China and Japan have both claimed sovereignty over the Lin Chin Islands; and to avoid a crisis, the natives have paid double taxes. The dispute has finally been adjusted according to General Grant's plan, made when traveling in Japan. Japan retains those on her coast, and China those on hers. —A special dispatch from Madrid, of the 24th says: "The floods and gales which have ravaged the entire peninsula for ten days are the severest on record. Inundations have caused the destruction of half the crop of oranges and lemons, and an immense loss, estimated at over $40,000,000, to the agricultural interests. There is a foot of snow here." —The Christian Union says that "Kernyism has broken out in Brooklyn in an ordinance passed by the Board of Aldermen, providing that laundry licenses shall only be given to citizens of the United States, and imposing a special tax on Chinamen. Of course, neither ordinance will stand before the courts, as all such special legislation is contrary to the constitution of the United States. —Advices from London state that the Chinese treaties with the United States excite alarm in some English quarters, on account of the opium clause. The English fear that China intends to renew her attempt to prohibit the importation of opium altogether, and will rely on the American precedent when negotiations are begun with England. The result, if successful, would be disastrous to Indian finances. —Some of the members of the California Legislature, thinking that the new Chinese treaties are not radical enough, have proposed sending them back for amendment, upon which a leading daily thus sensibly comments: "Californians would do well to make no factious opposition to the new Chinese treaties. If we do not want them, certainly the rest of the country does not. If we do not accept the present offer, it may be long before we get as good a one again." —The London Times, commenting on the increase in the population of the United States, as shown by the recent census, says: "These eleven and a half millions of people are not a poor, indigent, and untaught mass, such as would be produced in any European State by so great and rapid an accession to the population. They are well-fed, clothed, well-to-do, and, as a rule, well educated. There is room and to spare for them all, and for as many more during the next ten years. We cannot but look with some envy on a Nation whose easy lot it is to gather up the good things which fortune casts to it." HARLIN.—Died of abscess on the brain at Santa Ana, Los Angeles Co., Cal., Libba Harlin, aged 35 years. Sister Harlin professed religion in early life, and embraced present truth and was baptized in July, 1879. She leaves a husband and four children to mourn her loss; but it seems particularly sad for the children, as their father was in Colorado, preparing a home, expecting them to join him in the spring. The funeral services were conducted by the Methodist minister, Mr. Tar, who spoke words of comfort from 2 Corinthians 5:1. She was sick ten days, and suffered great pain. She realized that she would not live, and was reconciled, for she put all her trust in Jesus. Our prayer is that we may be faithful, so as to meet her on the morn of the first resurrection. COOLIDGE.—Died of diphtheria, in Poy Sippi, Wis., Dec. 1, 1880, Laura May Coolidge, in the twelfth year of her age. Also of the same disease, Dec. 18, Edith U. Coolidge, in the fourteenth year of her age. These sisters united with the Seventh-day Adventist church a little more than a year ago, and died in bright hope of meeting Jesus on the morning of the first resurrection. ALBEE.—Died of diphtheria, in Poy Sippi, Wis., Nov. 24, 1880, Royal E., son of Perry and Ursula Albee, aged 5 years, 5 months, and 7 days. E. U. ALBEE. HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE PUBLICATIONS,
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Wine and the Bible.—A candid consideration of the Bible view of the wine question, in which it is shown conclusively that the Bible affords no support to the use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage. 24 pp. 3 cts. Principles of Health Reform.—A brief resume of the principles which underlie the teaching of health reform. 16 pp. 2 cts. Pork.—This tract exposes the filthy scavenger in all his uncleanness. It destroys all appetite for ham and sausage. 16 pp. 2 cts. The Drunkard's Arguments Answered.—Leaves no excuse for tipplers, either moderate drinkers or habitual drunkards. 16 pp. 2 cts. Alcoholic Medication.—A protest against the wholesale employment of alcoholic-compounds in the form of bitters, tonics, blood-purifiers, etc. 16 pp. 2 cts. Causes and Cure of Intemperance. 8 pp. 1 ct. Moral and Social Effects of Alcohol.—A forcible statement of facts and statistics. 8 pp. 1 ct. Alcoholic Poison. 8 pp. 1 ct. Evil Effects of Tea and Coffee.—A clear and forcible statement of the evil effects of using tea and coffee. 8 pp 1 ct. Ten Arguments Answered.—A brief review of ten principal arguments for the use of tea and coffee. 8pp. 1 ct. Tobacco Poisoning.—In this attention is called to startling facts about the poisonous effects of tobacco. 8pp. 1 ct. Tobacco Using a Cause of Disease.—Seven principal diseases are traced to tobacco as a principal cause. 8 pp. 1 ct. A Relic of Barbarism.—Tobacco using proved to be a relic of barbarism. 4 pp. ¼ ct. True Temperance.—This tract views intemperance as a far-reaching evil which includes every form of artificial stimulation, as well as alcoholic intoxication. 4 pp. ¼ ct. Alcohol: What Is It?—An explanation of the nature of alcohol and its mode of production. 4 pp. ¼ ct. Any of the above books will be furnished post-paid at the prices named.
Address,
PACIFIC PRESS, OAKLAND, CAL. Corrections to Postal Rates
By Editor
LAST week we published an article in the missionary department on “Postal Rates.” Much pains was taken in its preparation, but by some inadvertence two lines became misplaced on the press, making nonsense in most of the edition of the last two paragraphs. Below, we give the paragraphs corrected, so that all who wish to preserve the article for future reference, as suggested, can insert them in the place of those given last week. Aden in India, should also have been Aden in Arabia. Here are the paragraphs referred to:— It will be noticed that to all the countries mentioned—except Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia—the postage is the same for other printed matter as for papers. Where this is the case, it will be admissible to inclose tracts, etc., with our periodicals. The SIGNS, with a sixteen-page tract or an Instructor or a four-page College Record, weighs less than two ounces. The Tidende or Harolden with a thirty-two page tract also weighs less than two ounces. Sixty-eight pages tracts or the Review will not exceed two ounces. Good Health weighs more than two ounces, but with the SIGNS and a sixteen-page tract, or with the Review, it weighs but four ounces. In making this estimate an ordinary wrapper has been used THE six Chinese companies of San Francisco seem to be getting rather bold in their determination to govern their own affairs and their countrymen in their own way, regardless of the law of the land. It was supposed the steamship companies collegued with the six companies in refusing to allow a Chinaman to leave the State without permission of his company, and the last Legislature enacted a law prohibiting a refusal to sell tickets to any one just because he had no permit from his company. The Chief of Police of San Francisco had posters placed in Chinese quarters of the city explaining the law, and the managers of the six companies had them torn down and others of their own invention put up instead. The offenders have been arrested, and will probably be prosecuted. If they were Americans they would no doubt be severely punished. As the matter stands, however, it proves that the Chinese in our midst are more governed by their own traditions than by our laws. As a last resort to detain those whom they do not desire to have go away, the companies, by means of agents, are bringing petty suits against them to have them arrested when the steamers are about to leave. Considerable excitement is the result. OF what use is it to the man who has to struggle six days in the week to keep the wolf from the door, to go to church on Sunday and hear a panegyric on Moses or John the Baptist? He wants something to help him over the hard places in his lot, to help him bear his burdens and be faithful in his daily duties. He wants encouragement, sympathy, inspiration. He asks for bread, but receives a stone, and goes away disappointed, if not disgusted. “And thus the preacher who should have come down upon human life as an angel charged with a message from the secret places of the Most High, becomes a mere chatterer of words, talking in an unknown tongue” to men who long for the living gospel.—Pittsburg Christian Advocate. Divorces are now more numerous in New England than they were in France in the worst time of the French Revolution. Taking the period of the last twenty years, the divorces of Massachusetts have averaged one to every thirty-six marriages, while for the last three years the ratio has been one divorce to every twenty-three marriages. The average ratio in Vermont for the last eight or ten years has been one divorce to seven-teen marriages, and in New Hampshire and Maine it has been about the same, while in Rhode Island the proportion is one divorce to fourteen marriages, and in Connecticut one to eleven marriages. One divorce to every twenty-three, seventeen, fourteen or eleven marriages all over New England, Connecticut being the loosest and lowest in the scale! To the foregoing humiliating figures add the hard fact, that while in New England the actual number of marriages has very much decreased within the last twenty years, notwithstanding the increase of population, the divorce rate has considerably more than doubled within the same period. The nearer to the present date we bring the figures the more startling they appear. In 1860 there was in this State but one divorce to fifty-one marriages; in 1878 there was one divorce to 21.4 marriages. At this rate of demoralized [legislation], it would not be difficult to predict the time when marriages and divorces will be about equal.—New York Evangelist. The California Christian Advocate expresses the opinion that “Sara Bernhardt and her illegitimate children are a fair representation of the moral condition of the theater. She is and has been in open revolt against morality and decency, and yet is the most popular actress in the world. Her abandoned character adds to the enthusiasm of patrons on the stage. They like all her acting on and off the stage.” The Maine Christian Mirror calls attention to the small number of additions to some of the stronger churches in that State, which had able pastors during the past year. Ten churches are named, with a membership of from 100 to 400 each, which, altogether, have received only twelve additional members during the year, several having received none and others but one. These churches, it says, represent about 1200 families and about 1500 Sunday-school children, so that there has been but one addition out of 100 families and out of the 125 Sunday-school children. At that rate religion would become extinct in those communities in two generations. Their only resource is “periodic revivals.” THE STATE QUARTERLY MEETING.
THIS important meeting, to be held at Napa next Sabbath and first-day, should be largely attended by our brethren and sisters in this part of the State. The new year is fast passing with its opportunities and blessings, and we do well to meet together and consult how best to improve them. The tract and missionary work, the temperance movement and our Sabbath-schools, will each receive their share of attention, and we hope Sabbath-school superintendents, temperance club officers and librarians will make a successful effort to attend. OUR PREMIUM OFFER.
By Editor
THE liberality of our premium offer is attracting considerable attention, and the names of new subscribers are coming in quite rapidly. We have received a number of encouraging letters from those who are successfully canvassing for the SIGNS with Geikie's Life of Christ as a premium. Under date of Jan. 18, Bro. Hemstreet writes: "Your clubbing offer for our papers is good, and ought to find favor with every Sabbath-keeper. We took advantage of it at sight. I received your letter and Geikie's Life of Christ yesterday. . . . My wife called on seven of our neighbors to-day; four subscribed and two more partly promised to soon. You may send me twenty-five copies of the premium, to Tehama, so that when I get a subscriber I can deliver the book." Are there not one hundred workers who can do as well as this brother? We have prepared a canvasser's outfit comprising sample copies, circulars for distribution, a receipt book, and a copy of Geikie's Life of Christ. Price, post-paid, $1.00. Any one having bought an outfit, can deduct its cost from their payments to us when they have obtained eight new subscribers. HEALTH ANNUALS FOR 1881.
By Barbara C. Stickney
THE Review and Herald, of January 18, gives the following extremely low rates on the Health and Temperance Annual for 1881, to be sent by mail, postage paid:— Single copy,............................................. 5 cts.
Ten copies,............................................. 25 “
Twenty-five copies, ................................... 60 “
Fifty copies,............................................. $1.00
One hundred copies, .................................. 1.50 Our friends in California who want Annuals, can order through the tract society, or they can be ordered directly from Review and Herald Office, Battle Creek, Mich. The latter will be attended with less delay, but such orders will need to be accompanied with cash. Public Opinion Against Polygamy
SOMETHING OF THE power of “public opinion,” according to the Advance, is seen in the fact that the famous Oneida Community has at last dissolved. John R. Noyes, the founder of the concern, has withdrawn from it, and the large business which the community had successfully built up has been transferred to a joint stock company, with a paid capital of $600,000. Marriage was introduced several months ago, and the members of the old “community,” while retaining some of the principles of their co-operative plan, have begun to live after the ways of Christian civilization. Now, if “public opinion” has accomplished such worthy results in this case, let it be turned with such vigor against that moral cancer, polygamy, now gradually eating its way to the heart of American citizenship, that every fiber of it may be extracted from the land. One of the first questions demanding a solution will be, “What will become of the women who voluntarily renounce polygamy? This question has just been laid before the Woman’s National Anti-Polygamy Society, by women who have expressed an earnest wish to renounce polygamy and Mormonism together, but they say, “We have little children who will starve. We will be turned out of doors, the pittance allowed for our support will be withdrawn, and every avenue of employment will be closed against us.” These polygamous wives know what they are talking about. They see on every side of them examples of the punishment visited upon those who rebel against the “divine order” of polygamy. Who can wonder then that they shrink from bringing the same punishment upon themselves and their children?