Earlier text: The Foundation of God's GovernmentReport from Indiana.
By William Covert
SINCE the beginning of the present year I have held two meetings at Kokomo, two at New London, nine at Hartford City, seven at Pleasant Lake, nine at Corunna, seven at Ligonier, nine at Marion, one at Bunker Hill, three at Rochester, six at Akron, four at Forest Chapel, four at Noblesville, eleven at Patricksburg, and eighteen at Farmersburg. This has been the busiest part of my ministerial experience. The aggregate number of members received into fellowship at these meetings, counting thirteen who gave in their names to constitute a church at Pleasant Lake, is thirty-three. Thirty-four joined the tract and missionary society. We raised $256, cash and pledges, on tent fund. At Akron $61 was raised toward meeting the remaining debt upon their meeting-house, and at Farmersburg the sum of $308 was raised for the purpose of relieving the church property from debt. We find many who are preparing in earnest to give financial aid to the cause. The missionary spirit is aroused very much in some of the churches. The number of canvassers in the State has nearly doubled in the last three months. There is a perceptible increase in means paid to the State treasurer. In nearly every church that I have visited I find persons hopefully interested in the truth. There is an increased attendance, except in a few places. I cannot remember a time in the past when there were so many calls for labor as at the present time. WM. COVERT. California Tract Society.
By Anna L. Ingels
REPORT FOR QUARTER ENDING DEC. 31, 1885. No of members.......................... 1,000
" " added............................ 31
" " dismissed.......................... 19
" reports returned...................... 97
" missionary visits......................
" letters written...................... 2,870
" pages of reading matter distributed... 662,103
" periodicals distributed.............. 58,717
" SIGNS taken in clubs................. 2,689
" new subscriptions obtained............. 357 Cash received on membership and donations, $677.98; on sales, $223.05; on SIGNS and other periodicals, $1016.57.
ANNA L. INGELS, Sec'y. The Commentary.
By A. T. J.
NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.
FROM the day that man sinned to the days of Malachi, there had been promises of the coming of the Deliverer. And now as the last prophetic voice of the Old Testament is heard, it announces the coming of the messenger to prepare the way of the promised One, and to make ready a people prepared to meet him. This messenger came accordingly, calling the people to repentance, and to belief on him that was to come. Those who received the message of the messenger, were by that prepared to receive Him whom the messenger announced. Those who rejected the words and testimony of the messenger, likewise rejected the Messiah when he came. John the Baptist was the messenger here announced. He knew that he was that messenger. He knew the message that he had to bear to the people, and he delivered his message faithfully and fearlessly. He, like the prophet Haggai before him, was "the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people." Hag. 1:13. JOHN the Baptist came "preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. . . . And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:1-12. And when they sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was, "he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." John 1:23. He knew the work that he had to do. He knew that the time was come for the fulfillment of these prophecies. And he knew that his work was the fulfillment of them. He was the one of whom Malachi had spoken in the lesson for today; he was the one of whom Isaiah had spoken; and he and his message were the living evidence that God gave to the people that the Messiah was at hand. And while he was preaching, Messiah came and was baptized of him. BUT it was not alone the first coming of Christ that was announced by John the Baptist, nor by Malachi, nor by any of the prophets. John the Baptist announced the gathering of the wheat into the garner—the harvest—and the burning up of the chaff. This is what Malachi had prophesied in the verses chosen for the present lesson. He not only spoke to the coming of the Lord to his temple as at his first advent, but he also spoke of the coming of the same Lord "to judgment" (verse 5), which will be at his second advent; as says Paul, "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word." This is the coming which is referred to in the questions, "Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?" Verse 2. See also Joel 2:11. It is then especially that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, and whosoever reflects his image will be accepted with him. And this is especially so of those who shall be alive on the earth to behold him when he appeareth. They are to endure a "fiery trial" (1 Pet. 4:12, 13); they are to be "baptized with the baptism;" they are to have every vestige of this world's dross purged out of them. The test will be severe so that none is like it; but those who endure it shall come forth as gold, and "be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. 1:7. THEN after that comes the burning up of the chaff. "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Here is the declaration of the word of God, as plain as language can make it, that all that do wickedly shall be burned up, root and branch. And the force of these words cannot be evaded except by making the language figurative, and then it may be made to mean just what any one pleases. But as long as plain language conveys any real meaning, so long will it be the truth that these words mean that the wicked shall be burned up as chaff is burned in the fire. This is made even stronger, if such a thing were possible, by the third verse, which says to the righteous, "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." The wicked are to be punished upon this earth (Prov. 11:31; Isa. 24:21; Rev. 20:8, 9); they are to be punished by fire, and that fire is to be the fire that is to melt the earth. 2 Pet. 3:7, 10. The earth will in that day burn as an oven, and all the wicked, being upon it, will be, according to the words of the prophet, burned up upon the earth. Then the earth is to be made over new, and the righteous shall dwell therein forever (Rev. 21:5, 7), according to the word of Christ, "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5); and according to the words of Malachi in the lesson. After saying that the wicked shall be burned up, then he says: "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall." And the wicked, having been consumed on the earth, and returned to dust and ashes, shall be ashes under the soles of the feet of those who inherit and inhabit the earth. The doctrine of eternal torment is contrary to the word of God. More than a hundred times the Lord speaks of the fate of the wicked in terms that denote nothing but utter destruction and cessation of existence. AS THERE was a message of his coming carried to the people to whom Christ was to appear in his first advent, so likewise there will be a message announcing his coming to the people who will see him in his second advent. It will be a message such as was that of Elijah to the people of his day, "Ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord. . . . How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal [the sun] then follow him." (1 Kings 18:21.) The world in these last days have forsaken the commandment of the Lord and have followed Rome, and now God sends a message of warning and of duty to this, the generation of those who shall see the appearing of the Lord in glory. He says: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. . . . Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:9-12. Then the next thing that is seen is a white cloud, and upon the cloud, one like the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle, and coming to reap the harvest of the earth; to gather the wheat into his garner, and to gather the chaff to burn it. Rev. 14:14-19. As those who accepted the message of God by John the Baptist were thereby prepared to accept the Messiah whom he announced, so those now who accept this message of God will be thereby prepared to meet the Messiah in his second advent to this world. God's message and his messengers are now in the world announcing the second coming of Christ, as really as was his messenger in the world proclaiming his first coming. Will you accept the message and meet him in peace, bear his image, and be gathered as the precious wheat into his garner? or will you reject his warning and be found among the chaff? Harry's Missionary Board.
"I CAN'T afford it," John Hale, the rich farmer, answered, when asked to give to the cause of missions. Harry, his wide-awake grandson, was grieved and indignant. "But the poor heathen," he replied; "is it not too bad that they cannot have churches and school-houses and books?" "What do you know about the heathen?" exclaimed the old man, testily. "Would you wish me to give away my hard earnings? I tell you I cannot afford it." "Grandfather, if you do not feel able to give money to the Missionary Board, will you give a potato?" "A potato!" ejaculated Mr. Hale, looking up from his paper. "Yes, sir; and land enough to plant it in, and what it produces for four years." "Oh, yes!" said the unsuspecting grandparent, setting his glasses on his calculating nose in a way that showed he was glad to escape from the lad's persecution on such cheap terms. Harry planted the potato, and it rewarded him the first year by producing thirteen; these the following season became a peck; the next season, seven and a half bushels; and when the fourth harvest came, lo! the potato had increased to seventy bushels; and when sold the amount realized was with a glad heart put into the treasury of the Lord. Even the aged farmer exclaimed, "Why, I did not feel that donation in the least! And, Harry, I've been thinking that if there was a little missionary like you in every house, and each one got a potato, or something else as productive, for the cause, there would be quite a large sum gathered." Little reader, will you be that missionary at home?—Gospel in All Lands. Noble Aspiration Guards Against Temptation
HERE is a valuable hint to all teachers of youth and reformers of the erring. The best way to lift a soul above the temptations of a depraved physical nature is to fill it with a worthy aspiration—to fix it upon some noble aim with high and firm resolve. The Master's parable of the swept and garnished house is most true: An empty soul is a standing invitation to roving spirits of evil. One who would save man must not only cast out possessing devils, but set in an absorbing spirit of good. The music of Orpheus within the soul is a surer guard against temptation than the wax of Ulysses in the ears.—Sel. "LET thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord," Ps. 119:41. The Sabbath Dinner Table.
"Didn’t we have a good sermon?" inquired the eldest son, with all the zest of his satisfaction in his tone. "Good!" echoed the father scornfully, bristling up as usual when the word "sermon" was uttered. "He took ten minutes to prove something that we knew as well as he does, ten more—" A shade of distress flitted across Sophy’s eyes; the minister had made her feel that she was a sinner. Was not that worth ten minutes? "And as for the prayer," continued the head of the family, with a gesture of impatience, "it was the dryest prayer I ever listened to." "Perhaps he was not praying to you," suggested the privileged member of the family. "I think it was the loveliest prayer I ever heard," exclaimed the visitor, with rising color. The visitor, by the way, did not enjoy the prayers of the head of this family. In her own young opinion, addressing God in long, hard phrases, made him seem high up and away from her. "Such length! Such diffusiveness and minuteness! Such rambling! It was a talk, not a prayer. He brought in everybody under the sun." The impulsive young visitor kept her lips shut; but she could not keep the indignant flash out of her eyes. The prayer in church that morning had touched her as a prayer had rarely touched her before. At that instant she hotly wished that she might never have to hear the head of the family pray again. "Prayer is not a thing to be criticised," suggested the eldest son, gently. "I never felt so clearly as I did this morning, how Christ is our only hope. Our minister made it so strong and clear." "After rambling on ten minutes about nature!" commented the argumentative voice of the father. By this time conscientious Sophy had a finger-tip pressed into each ear. That sermon was one of the marked periods in her spiritual growth. "And then the idea of saying—" The sensitive boy of fourteen, whose mercury rises and falls with every change in the home atmosphere, dropped his eyes and looked troubled. All his delight in the plain, strong sermon had been marred, even while listening to it, by the dread that somebody at home would pick flaws in it at the dinner table. If he might have listened with an untroubled heart, into what ready soil the seed would have been dropped that day! Sometimes I think that Satan takes more delight in the Sabbath dinner-table than in any other home gathering during the week. He knows what little winds carry the good seed away. Somebody, anxious to interrupt the flow of unkind criticism, now made a hurried remark,— "Did you see that lady in front of us? Wasn’t her bonnet grotesque? Just the shape and colors to make her look hideous." A relieved laugh went around the table. Surely this was better than finding fault with the minister. But Sophy’s laugh had a touch of uneasiness in it. For several Sabbaths she had been trying to school herself not to look at bonnets at church; and this morning, under the impressive sermon, she had not even noticed157 the offending bonnet almost within the range of her eyes. The boy of fourteen looked up brightly. "We have such a good lesson for Sabbath-school today." "I’m glad there’s one good one," grumbled his next older brother. "I had come to the conclusion that they had picked out the hardest and dryest parts of the Bible for the lessons. Your teacher is such a poke, with his melancholy voice and solemn face, I don’t see how you ever like the lessons." Public opinion again quenched the boy of fourteen. Coming home from church, he had resolved to hurry through dinner that he might give the extra minutes to the study of the lesson; but if it was the dryest part of the Bible, and his teacher a "poke," why should he care for the Sabbath-school? Perhaps he ought to be ashamed for staying after Sabbath-school last Sabbath to talk to the "poke" about something in the lesson. Of course the big boys knew! "He has no sense about asking questions," continued the big boy. "Your superintendent is a superior man," observed the head of the family. "I noticed in prayer-meeting this morning how uneasy he was under that long prayer. He could not keep his head down through three sentences." The visitor flushed again. By this time she had almost resolved to be busy elsewhere when the time for family worship should come that night. The listener, who was not a Christian, and who had spent her Sabbath morning in reading "George Elliot," pushed her napkin into her ring with considerable energy. "I didn’t go to church this morning, and I do not intend to go to Sabbath-school! A sermon that does no good, a prayer that irritates, dry parts of the Bible to study, and a poke to teach it, have no attractions for me." The others, who were Christians, looked blank. A blessing had been asked upon the dinner. What about a blessing upon the dinner-table talk?—Sel. Everybody in town liked him, and was proud of him. "A smart young fellow, the world will hear from him yet," said one to another, nodding approvingly, as they met him. "He will make his mark in the world, you see if he don't." "There's only just one thing to hinder," said Joe Graham, his chum and best friend. "Phil is a little too smart for his own good, according to my way of thinking; and if he doesn't look out pretty sharp, he will find a shoal or two ahead of him in the end." But Phil only laughed when Joe intimated anything of the kind to him; he felt sure of himself and his capabilities. Why, there wasn't a boy in the academy that could make such brilliant recitations as he, and he never spent half the time preparing them that the rest did! To be sure, upon close examination some of the boys whom Phil secretly rather looked down upon as "pokey," had really come out ahead of him, because they had gone to the root of the matter and thoroughly mastered the subject, while he had only skimmed on the surface of it. Joe's warnings had come to him at such times, and he had been troubled with faint misgivings, lest after all there was some truth in them. But as such thoughts were uncomfortable, he always shook them off as quickly as possible, resolving, however, to be more thorough himself in the future. But there was always so much to attend to, and, after all, one did not get caught very often; and before Phil knew it, he had forgotten all about his resolve. But when he was sixteen he gave himself to Christ. He was thoroughly sincere in the consecration, and made many an earnest resolve to be faithful in working for the Master. But he forgot that he could glorify God just as truly in doing his every-day work and duties faithfully as in attending church services; so it came to pass that while his place was never vacant in church, and he never failed to take part in the young people's meeting, his lessons were but poorly prepared. Joe Graham watched him in silent disapproval. "Phil's either making a mistake, or else there ain't anything to it. I don't believe in a religion that approves of wasting talents like his," he said to himself. "Going to meeting and making prayers are all well enough; but somehow I'd have more faith in and respect for it if it made Phil get his lessons thoroughly and do his work faithfully. His father sent him to mend a piece of fence the other day, and he actually didn't half do it, he was in such a hurry to get off to the meeting. It would hardly stand alone; but he said it would do well enough. As for school, he is just wasting his time there; it's a shame, I say." In the meantime, Phil was longing to have Joe with him in this, as he had been for years in everything else. It was so hard not to be able to appeal to him for sympathy and counsel; and many an earnest prayer went up from his heart for his friend. He tried time and again to plead with Joe; but somehow, do his best, he could never get a chance to say a word on the subject. He felt a little hurt over it, and one night as they were going home together, he resolved that he would speak anyway. Perhaps Joe guessed his purpose; for he talked incessantly of the most nonsensical things. Phil could not help laughing, but he would not be bluffed in that manner. "I say, Joe," he said, interrupting him finally, "just save your nonsense awhile. I want a little talk with you. I—want you with me, Joe. Won't you give yourself to Christ? Can't we try to serve him together?" Joe walked on a few steps in silence; then he whistled a bar or two of "Sweet Home." "You say that you have given yourself to Christ, do you?" he said presently. "I'd always supposed that when we gave away anything, we took special pains with it. I remember when you made that bracket for Miss Gardner you fussed over it more than a little to have it perfectly true. I don't exactly understand you now, Phil." "And I am sure that I do not understand you," responded Phil, rather stiffly. He was quite sure that Joe was finding fault with him, though he really did not see how; and he had a chronic dislike to being found fault with in anything. "Why, you say that you have given yourself to Christ. Now if you were going to make a gift to the President, for instance, you wouldn't give anything but the very best that you could get—you would be ashamed to, you know; but it strikes me you are making a poor article of your gift to the Lord. I am not very well versed in the Bible, but if I remember aright, it was a command that only that which was perfect should be offered in sacrifice. It seems to me if I gave myself to him, I would try to make my offering as nearly perfect as possible; for, as I look at it, it would honor and praise him more if I was all that I possibly could be in that direction. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, Phil; but it seems almost insulting for one to complacently offer the Lord what one would never think of offering an earthly friend. Good night," and Joe bounced in at his own door, giving Phil no chance to say anything either way. He felt very uncomfortable; it had seemed to him that the gift of himself was a great deal. Could it be possible that Joe was right? He remembered how much pains he had taken with that bracket for Miss Gardner; he could never have offered her anything that was not done the very best that he could do it; and yet he was taking no particular pains with the self he had given to God. He knew very well that he was not making half what he might of himself. It came over him as never before how little he was really making of himself. It was a new idea to him, and not a very comfortable one; for he liked to feel that he and whatever he did, was about right; but before he went to bed at night, he knelt down by the bedside and humbly prayed for help to make his offering as perfect in all ways as possible. Joe nodded approvingly several times to himself during the next two or three days as he watched Phil closely, and one night when Phil came to him, he met him with outstretched hands. "O Joe, I am so glad that you spoke to me so; and, God helping me, I will make the most of myself after this, though the best is poor enough; but somehow I never looked at it so before." "All right, old fellow," responded Joe. "I knew that you would be if you only thought of it, and—I guess—we'll try together after this."—Zion's Herald. The Home Circle.
By Susan Coolidge
Of all the words that grown folks say,
The saddest are these, “Some other day.”
So easily, carelessly, often said;
But to childish ears they are words of dread,
To hope a knell, and to wish a doom,
A frost on expectancy's tender bloom;
For even the baby who scarce can crawl,
Knows a promise like that is no promise at all,
And that out of sight and of mind alway
Is that mocking mirage, “Some other day.” The years flit by, and wishes fade,
And youth in the grave of age is laid,
And the child who bent his youthful will
Is a child no more, but is waiting still.
For the pleasure deferred, the left-out game,
Though it come at last, is never the same;
The bubble has died on the mantling cup,
The draught is dull as we drink it up;
And old hopes laugh at us as we say,
“At last it has come, that ‘other day.’” Ah! little hearts which beat and fret
Against the bounds by patience set,
Yours is but universal fate,
And the old, as the young, all have to wait.
You will learn like us to be stout in pain,
And not to cry when your wishes prove vain,
And the strength that grows from a thwarted will,
And that service is done by standing still,
And to bravely look up into heaven and say,
“I shall find it all there ‘some other day.’”
—Susan Coolidge. Tobacco and Theological Seminaries.
AMONG the happiest omens for the future well being of our country is the growing movement against tobacco. The sentiment which a few have always held, that the tobacco habit is not only the source of an enormous waste, but that it is directly and exceedingly injurious to the physical, mental, and moral nature of man, is becoming more general and confessed. I know that in France and Germany the matter has been duly considered, and various laws regulating the use of tobacco have been enacted. But from time to time I am agreeably surprised to find how rapidly public sentiment in this country is rising to a just view of the habit. On one side I hear of numerous associations which refuse to approve ministers who use tobacco. On another side I hear of churches pleased with candidates, but which refuse to accept them because of their tobacco habits. Again, I learn of young men in my parish applying for positions of trust, and letters of inquiry come to parties who know them, and among other questions is this: 'Does he use tobacco in any form?' It is generally admitted that a tobacco-user will be less capable and less trustworthy than one who is not. I do not propose in this article to discuss at length the effects of the habit under consideration, but to speak of the growing sentiment of the times, and of some considerations to be deduced from it. I will, however, give one illustration of its deadening influence on the moral nature. It is the confession of a smoker:— 'I was in church when fidelity to my idol would allow, and often was moved by thoughts of the wrath to come; but I hurried home to drown the striving of God's Spirit in tobacco fumes, and many times has my meerschaum relieved every twinge of fear or pain. Sometimes I took the anxious seat. I have gone home feeling poor and miserable, and have smoked one pipe, and in ten minutes I was in a state of hallucination, having need of nothing.' Observing men are coming to recognize the fact that tobacco is hurtful to body, mind, and soul, and particularly of the young. I have letters from a number of New England college presidents, from the president of Oberlin and from the Pacific Theological Seminary, strongly condemning the habit of using tobacco, especially by students. It is clear that a teacher of morals and religion should be free from the habit, and that the influence of a young minister for good will be greatly and injuriously affected if it is known that he is a smoker or chewer. This being so, we appeal to all young men in course of training for the ministry, for their own sake and for the sake of the cause, to hold themselves free from this evil habit. But we go further, and ask whether the time has not come for all our theological seminaries to take a stand with Oberlin, where students are required to abstain entirely from its use. The position of many ministerial associations, that they will not license a tobacco-user, and of the Education Society not to assist such, I believe to be right. But I think the reform should begin further back in our colleges and seminaries. Why carry a smoker through college and the seminary only to tell him, when he seeks the sanction of his brethren to use his acquirements and gifts, what he should have been told long before—that the church does not want men in the pulpit who smoke and chew? I am happy to say that by personal correspondence with Bangor, Andover, and New Haven theological seminaries I learn that the use of tobacco by the students is strongly discountenanced. Is it not time, however, that our seminaries should be entirely free from the habit? It is time, certainly, that theological teachers should be clean.—Congregationalist. Destruction of Disease Germs.
Too MUCH stress is laid upon the scientific definition of the term "disinfection." Its use should be limited to the destruction of specific infectious material which causes specific infectious contagious disease; for example, Asiatic cholera, small-pox, typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, etc. It has been proved for several kinds of infectious material that its specific infecting power is due to the presence of living micro-organisms, known in a general way as "disease germs;" and practical sanitation is now based upon the belief that the infecting agents in all kinds of infectious material are of this nature. "Disinfection," therefore, consists essentially in the destruction of disease germs. "There can be no partial disinfection of such material; either its infecting power is destroyed or it is not. In the latter case there is a failure to disinfect. Nor can there be any disinfection in the absence of infectious material." For practical purposes this distinction is entirely unnecessary. The best disinfectants are "deodorizers" as well; they will prevent or arrest putrefactive decomposition, therefore they are also "antiseptics." A large number of the proprietary "disinfectants," so called, which are in the market, are simply deodorizers, or antiseptics, of greater or less value, but are entirely untrustworthy for disinfecting purposes. Premising that neither deodorizers, antiseptics, nor disinfectants can be relied upon as substitutes for cleanliness, the following is recommended as an efficient and cheap disinfectant: Dissolve chloride of lime of the best quality in soft water, in the proportion of four ounces to the gallon. As the value of this solution depends upon the amount of chloride it contains, it is essential that the chloride of lime be fresh. Such lime may be bought by the quantity for five cents per pound; the cost of the solution is therefore less than two cents a gallon. It is available for free and general use in privy-vaults, sewers, sink-drains, refuse heaps, stables, and wherever else the odor of the disinfectant is not objectionable. A quart or more a day may be used in an offensive vault, and such quantities as may be necessary in other places. It may be used in a sprinkler in stables and elsewhere. In the sick-room it may be used in vessels, cuspidors, etc. Use one pint of this solution for the disinfection of each discharge in cholera, typhoid fever, etc. Mix well, and leave in vessel for at least ten minutes before throwing into privy-vault or water-closet. The same directions apply for the disinfection of vomited matters. Infected sputum should be discharged directly into a cup half full of the solution. The surface of the body of a sick person or of his attendants, when soiled with infectious discharges, should be at once cleansed with a suitable disinfecting agent. In diseases like small-pox and scarlet fever, in which the infectious agent is given off from the entire surface of the body, occasional ablutions with Labarraque's solution (liquid soda chlorinatæ), diluted with twenty parts of water, will be more suitable than the stronger solution above recommended. In all infectious diseases the surface of the body of the dead should be thoroughly washed with one of the solutions above recommended, and then enveloped in a sheet saturated with the same.—Sel. Live in Peace.
By Mrs. E. H. Leland
FRETTING, worrying, fault-finding, borrowing trouble, giving way to temper, and holding long, bitter grudges—all these things affect the liver, poison the blood, enlarge the spleen, carve ugly lines on the face, and shorten life! Try to be half as wise as that little creature, the bee, who takes all the honey she can find, and leaves the poisons to themselves.—Mrs. E. H. Leland. Occupation a Blessing.
By Talmage
THE most unhappy women in our communities to-day are those who have no engagements to call them up in the morning; who, once having risen and breakfasted, lounge through the dull forenoon in slippers down at the heel, and with disheveled hair, reading Ouida's last novel; who, having dragged through a wretched forenoon and taken their afternoon sleep, and having passed an hour and a half at their toilet, pick up their card-case and go out to make calls; and who pass their evenings waiting for somebody to come in and break up the monotony. Arabella Stuart never was imprisoned in so dark a dungeon as that. There is no happiness in an idle woman. It may be with hand, it may be with brain, it may be with foot; but work she must, or be wretched forever. The little girls of our families must be started with that idea. The curse of our American society is that our young women are taught that the first thing in their life is to get somebody to take care of them. Instead of that, their first lesson should be how, under God, they may take care of themselves. We now and here declare the inhumanity, cruelty, and outrage of that father and mother who pass their daughters into womanhood having given them no faculty for earning their livelihood. Madame De Stael said: "It is not these writings that I am proud of, but the fact that I have faculty in ten occupations, in any one of which I could make a livelihood."—Talmage. Teaching Children to Save and Spend
It is an essential element in all thrift that children be taught how to save, but it is quite as important that they should learn how to spend.—Christian Register. —The estimated value of the diamonds in America is $1,000,000,000. —The treaty of peace between Servia and Bulgaria was signed March 2. —On the 1st inst., there was a heavy fall of snow in Maine and New Brunswick, seriously blockading trains. —Prince Bismarck's bill for expelling the Poles from Germany has been presented to the Cabinet Council. The bill was unanimously opposed by his colleagues, and Bismarck yielded. —A Washington letter, as quoted in the San Francisco Bulletin, says that the most industrious lobby in Washington is that devoted to the interests of the Mormons. They are doing everything possible to secure the removal of obnoxious Territorial officers in Utah; and Governor Murray and Judge Zane are special objects of their wrath. Rumor says that the gentleman who has charge of the matter has received $30,000 in one sum, as a retainer for his service during the Forty-ninth Congress. —There was an extensive fire in Akron, Ohio, on the morning of March 6. Loss about $1,000,000. —Mount Etna is in a state of eruption; slight earthquake shocks have been felt at the base of the mountain. —It is stated that the jockey clubs in this country last year contributed $973,000 to "stimulate the noble industry of horse-racing!" —Eight of the leaders in the recent London riots have been tried, and sentenced to penal servitude for terms ranging from one to five years. —There was a severe snow storm in the northern part of Great Britain, March 1-4. Some trains were imbedded in the drifts for forty-eight hours. —In beginning its career as a State, Dakota is considering the educational interests of its children. It has 3,279 public schools, 4,145 teachers, and 69,475 enrolled pupils. Its permanent school property is valued at $2,187,850; the receipts for school purposes last year were $2,141,757, and the expenditures $1,214,212. —A local-option bill has just passed the lower house of the Virginia Legislature. A similar law has been enacted by the Legislature of Washington Territory; and a bill having in view the same object is before the New Jersey Legislature. The principle of local option has worked wonders in Georgia, and is steadily growing in popular favor. —According to the New York World, a cotton-picking machine which promises to revolutionize the South, and take a place among the greatest inventions of the age, has been exhibited at the Cotton Exchange. It cost $67,000,000 to harvest the crop of 1884-85; and by substituting these machines for manual labor, it is claimed that a saving of $50,000,000 can be effected. —Governor Martin, of Kansas, says that in that State there is a general and popular readiness to comply with the terms of the amended prohibitory law, and organized opposition is fast disappearing. "He asserts that through the concurrence of all agencies in behalf of law, order, and practical temperance, Kansas last year made greater moral progress than in any other period of its history." —The California State Horticultural Society has passed a series of resolutions on the Chinese question, in which they vigorously protest against boycotting. While declaring themselves opposed to further Chinese immigration, and expressing their determination to give the preference to white men as laborers, they assert that any man has a right to employ a Chinaman or an Indian to do any work that he may have. "We pledge ourselves," they say, "not to be controlled in the management of our own business." —According to a London dispatch, there is good authority for the statement that England is treating with China respecting the claims of the Chinese Government to the suzerainty over Burmah. The British Government is also trying to secure a monopoly of the right to build and operate railways in China and Burmah for the transportation of troops, war material, etc. The result of the negotiations is of obvious importance to American manufacturing States, and particularly to those near the Pacific Coast. —Lieutenant Graydon, of the United States navy, has invented a new system of cable torpedoes for harbor defense. The merit of his invention lies in the fact that the torpedoes can easily be withdrawn to allow the passage of friendly craft, and speedily replaced, ready to deal death and destruction to an enemy's fleet. Lieutenant Graydon is also the inventor of a dynamite cartridge, which is sure death to every man hit by it. The Lieutenant says that when 54 pounds of dynamite are used in a 2,100-pound projectile from a 110-ton gun, there is nothing on sea or land that can sustain the shock. —The latest scheme of the Mormon church is said to be a plan to gain control of a State; and their choice seems to have fallen upon Nevada. They hope to secure their object by a Mormon immigration into the State in sufficient numbers to command a majority at the polls. Such colonization can be effected without weakening their hold on Utah or any of the outlying Territories. The Mormons would then be free from the interference of Congress. In dealing with them under a State organization, constitutional questions will arise as grave as those settled by the civil war of 1861-65, "with the perpetual difficulty that in dealing with this particular case, precedents may be established which in after time could be quoted in justification of the repression of civil and religious liberty, and the impairment of the integrity of duly invested Statehood."