Earlier text: NOT EVANGELICAL"ALBERT, I wish you would let me have seventy-five cents." Kate Landman spoke carefully, for she knew that her husband had not much money to spare; yet she spoke earnestly, and there was a world of entreaty in her look. "What do you want seventy-five cents for?" asked Albert. "I want to get some braid for my new dress." "I thought you had all the material on hand for that." "So I thought I had; but Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Thompson both have a trimming of braid upon theirs, and it looks very pretty. It is very fashionable, and adds much to the beauty of a dress." "Plague take these women's fashions! Your endless trimmings and thing-a-ma-jigs cost more than the dress is worth. It's nothing but shell out money when a woman once thinks of a new dress." "I don't have many new dresses. I do certainly try to be as economical as I can." "It is a funny kind of economy, at all events. But if you must have it, I suppose you must." And Albert Landman took out his wallet and counted out the seventy-five cents; but he gave it grudgingly, and when he put the wallet back into his pocket he did it with an emphasis which seemed to say that he would not take it out again for a week. When Albert reached the outer door, on his way to work, he found the weather so threatening that he concluded to go back and get his umbrella, and upon re-entering the sitting-room he found his wife in tears. She tried to hide the fact that she had been weeping, but he caught her in the act, and asked her what it meant. "Good gracious!" remarked the husband, "I should like to know if you are crying at what I said about the dress?" "I was not crying at what you said, Albert," replied Kate, tremulously; "but you were so reluctant to grant me the favor. I was thinking how hard I have to work. I am tied to the house, and have many little things to perplex me; then, to think—" "Pshaw! What do you want to be foolish for?" And away started Albert Landman a second time, but he was not to escape so easily. In the hall he was met by his daughter Lizzie, a bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked girl of ten years. "Oh, papa, give me fifteen cents." "Oh, I want fifteen cents. Do please give it to me." "What in the world do you want with it? Are they changing school books again?" "No, I want to buy a hoop. Ellen Smith has got one, and so has Mary Ruck and Sarah Allen. Mr. Grant has got some real pretty ones to sell. Can't I have one?" "Nonsense! If you want a hoop go and get one off some old barrel. I can't afford to buy hoops for you to trundle about the streets." The bright, blue eyes filled with tears, and the child began to sob. Albert Landman hurried from the house with some very impatient words upon his lips. This was in the morning. At noon, when he came home to his dinner, there was a cloud over the household. His wife was quiet, and even little Lizzie, usually gay and blithesome, was sad and silent. But these things could not last long in that household, for the husband and wife loved each other devotedly, and were at heart kind and forbearing. When Albert came home to his supper Kate greeted him with a kiss, and in a moment sunshine came back; and had the lesson ended there the husband might have fancied that he had done nothing wrong, and that the cloud had been nothing but the exhalation of domestic ferment, for which no one was particularly responsible, and he might likewise have cherished the conviction that woman's fashions were a nuisance and a humbug, as well as a frightful draft upon a husband's pocket. After tea Albert did a few chores around the house, and then he lighted a cigar and walked out. He had gone but a short distance when he met Lizzie. In her right hand she dragged an old hoop, which she had taken from a dilapidated flour barrel, while with her left she was rubbing her red swollen eyes. She was in deep grief, and was sobbing painfully. He stopped her and asked what was the matter. She answered, as well as her sobs would let her, that the other girls had laughed at her, and made fun of her old hoop. They had nice, pretty hoops, while hers was ugly and homely. "Never mind," said Albert, patting the little one upon the head (for the child's grief touched him), "perhaps we'll have a new one some time." "Mayn't I have one now? Mr. Grant's got one left—oh! such a pretty one." The sobbing had ceased, as the child caught her father's hand eagerly. "Not now, Lizzie—not now. I'll think of it." Sobbing again, the child moved on toward home, dragging her old hoop after her. At one of the stores Albert Landman met some of his friends. "Hello, Albert! What's up?" "What do you say to a game of billiards?" And away Albert went to the billiard hall, where he had a glorious time with his friends. He liked billiards. It is a healthy, pretty game, and the keeper of the hall allowed no roughs on his premises. They had played four games. Albert had won two and his opponent two. "That's two and two," cried Tom Pike. "What do you say to playing them off, Albert?" "All right; go ahead," said Albert, full of animation. And so they played the fifth game, and he who lost was to pay for the five games. It was an exciting contest. Both made capital runs, but in the end Albert was defeated by three points, and, with a little laugh, he went up to settle the bill. Five games, at twenty cents a game, just one dollar. Not much for such sport; and he paid out the money with a grace, never once seeming to think that he could not afford it. They lighted their cigars, and then sauntered down the hall to watch the others play. Albert soon found himself seated over against a table at which some of his friends were playing, and close by stood two gentlemen, strangers to him, one of whom was explaining to the other the mysteries of the game. "It is a healthy pastime," said he who had been making the explanation; "and certainly it is one which has no evil tendency." Albert heard the remark very plainly, and he had a curiosity to hear what the other, who seemed unacquainted with billiards, would say. "I cannot, of course, assert that any game which calls for skill and judgment, and which is free from the attendant curse of gaming, is of itself an evil," remarked the second gentleman. "Such things are only evil so far as they excite and stimulate men beyond the bonds of healthy recreation." "That result can scarcely follow such a game," said the first speaker. But the other shook his head. "You are wrong there. The result can follow in two ways: It can lead men away from their business; it can lead men to spend money when they have not got it to spare. Whenever I visit a place of this kind I am led to reflect upon the most strange and prominent weakness of humanity as developed in our sex. For instance, observe that young man who is just settling his bill at the desk. He looks like a mechanic, and I should say from his manner, and from the fact that he feels it his duty to go home at this hour, that he has a wife and children. I see by his face that he is kind-hearted and generous, and I should judge that he means to do as near right as he can. He has been beaten, and he pays one dollar and forty cents for a recreation of some two hours' duration. If you will observe you will see that he pays it freely, and pockets the loss with a smile. Happy faculty! But how do you suppose it is in that young man's home? Suppose his wife had come to him this morning and asked him for a dollar to buy some trifling thing, some household ornament, and suppose his little girl put in a plea for forty cents to buy a paper and picture-book with, what do you think he would have answered? Of fifty men just like him, would not forty and five declared that they had not the money to spare for any such purpose? And moreover, they would have said no, feeling that they were telling the truth. Am I not right?" "Upon my word," said the man who understood billiards, "you speak to the point. I know that young man who has paid his bill, and you have not misjudged him in a single particular. And what is more, I happen to have a fact at hand to illustrate your charge. We have a club for an excellent literary paper in our village, and last year that man was one of our subscribers. This year he felt obliged to discontinue it. His wife was very anxious to take it, for it had become a genial companion in leisure moments, but he could not afford it. The club rate was one dollar and fifty cents a year." "Aye, and so it goes," said the other gentleman. "Well, that man's wife may be wishing this very moment that she had her paper to read, while he is paying almost its full price for a year, for what? And yet, how smilingly he does it. Ah! those poor, sympathizing wives! How many clouds often darken upon them from the brows of their husbands when they ask for trifling sums of money, and how grudgingly the mite is handed over when it is given. What perfect floods of joy that dollar and forty cents might have poured upon the household of that unsuccessful billiard player. Ah! it is well for such wives and children that they do not know where the money all goes." They had finished at the nearest table. The two gentlemen moved on, and Albert Landman arose from his seat, and left the house. Never before had he had such thoughts as now possessed him—he had never dwelt upon the same grouping of ideas. That very morning his own true, faithful, loving wife, had been sad and heart-sick,227 because he had harshly and unkindly met her request for a small sum of money. And his sweet Lizzie had crept away home almost broken-hearted for the want of a simple toy, such as her playmates possessed. And yet the sum of both their wants did not amount to as much as he had paid away that evening for billiard playing. Albert Landman wanted to be an honest husband and father, and the lesson was not lost upon him. On his way home he stopped at Mr. Grant's and purchased the best and prettiest hoop to be found, with a red, white, and blue driving-stick, and in the morning, when he beheld his child's delight, and had received her grateful, happy kisses, the question came to his mind: Which was the best and happiest result; this, or the five games of billiards? The hoop cost thirty cents. He could play two games of billiards less, and be the absolute gainer of ten cents by the pleasant operation. A few mornings after this, as Albert arose from the breakfast table, he detected an uneasy, wistful look upon his wife's face. "Albert, could you spare me half a dollar this morning?" Out came the wallet and the money was handed over with a warm, genial smile. What! tears at that? Was it possible that she had been so little used to such scenes on his part, that so simple an act of loving-kindness thus affected her? How many games of billiards would be required to secure such satisfaction as Albert carried with him that morning to the shop! A very simple lesson, is it not? But how many may gain lasting profit by giving heed to it? OUR LITTLE FOLKS.
By Charles Dickens
WHEN the lessons and tasks are all ended,
And the school for the day is dismissed,
And the little ones gather around me
To bid me good-night, and be kissed;
Oh! the little white arms that encircle
My neck in a tender embrace!
Oh! the smiles that are halos of Heaven,
Shedding sunshine of love on my face! And when they are gone, I sit dreaming
Of my childhood, too lovely to last;
Of love that my heart will remember,
When it wakes to the pulse of the past,
Ere the world and its wickedness made me
A partner of sorrow and sin;
When the glory of God was about me,
And the glory of gladness within. Oh, my heart grows weak as a woman's,
And the fountains of feeling will flow,
When I think of the paths steep and stony
Where the feet of the dear ones must go;
Of the mountains of sin hanging o'er them,
Of the tempest of fate blowing wild—
Oh! there is nothing on earth half so holy
As the innocent face of a child. They are idols of hearts and of households;
They are angels of God in disguise;
His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses,
His glory still gleams in their eyes.
Oh, those truants from home and from Heaven,
They have made me more manly and mild!
And I know how Jesus could liken
The kingdom of God to a child. I ask not a life for the dear ones
All radiant—as others have done,
But that life may have just enough shadow
To temper the glare of the sun.
I would pray God to guard them from evil,
But my prayer would bound back to myself;
Ah! a seraph may pray for a sinner,
But a sinner must pray for himself. The twig is so easily bended,
I have banished the rule and the rod;
I have taught them the goodness of knowledge—
They have taught me the goodness of God.
My heart is a dungeon of darkness
Where I shut them from breaking a rule;
My frown is sufficient correction,
My love is the law of the school. I shall leave the old house in the autumn
To traverse its threshold no more;
Ah, how shall I sigh for the dear ones
That meet me each morn at the door!
I shall miss the good-nights and the kisses,
And the gush of their innocent glee;
The group on the green, and the flowers
That are brought every morning to me. I shall miss them at morn and at even,
Their songs in the school and the street;
I shall miss the low hum of their voices,
And the tramp of their delicate feet.
When the lessons and tasks are all ended,
And death says "The school is dismissed,"
May the little ones gather around me
To bid me good-night, and be kissed. —Mrs. Garfield is seriously ill of a low, typhoid fever. —Good Friday is now a legal holiday in Maryland. —The population of Berlin, according to the last census, is 1,122,385. —Prof. Swift, of Rochester, N. Y., discovered a new comet on the 1st inst. —The mobs in South Russia are attacking the students as well as the Jews. —Cincinnati, following the example of Chicago, is going to adopt the cable system of railroads. —Large tracts of forest in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have been destroyed by fire. —The Nevada City stage was robbed near Smartsville, Cal., May 9. None of the passengers were molested. —The Chinese of New York city subscribed $2,000 to aid in the prosecution of a murderer of one of their countrymen. —In a fight with road agents near Nieburn, Neb., May 14, Lieutenant Samuel A. Cherry, of the 5th Cavalry, was killed. —At Astroff, Russia, 6,000 railway workmen are homeless and starving, owing to incompetency and disorganization of the railway authorities. —A petition to Congress for the abolition of advance payments of wages to seamen is being numerously signed in New York, and other seaports. —Over 4,000 immigrants arrived in Chicago, May 12, and most of them will go to Western towns and farms. This is the largest day's arrival on record. —A London dispatch states that a letter from Rome says the police discovered a plot to assassinate the king. The members of the International Society are suspected. —The Baldwin Locomotive Company, of Philadelphia, has just contracted for the building of 200 locomotives for the Mexican National Narrow-gauge railroad. The total value of the contract is $1,500,000. —A Chicago dispatch says four car loads of Los Angeles oranges reached there Wednesday, May 11. They were in good condition, and sold readily at from $5.00 to $6.00 a box. The trade promises to be good. —In La Plata county, Colorado, a ranch was attacked, May 5, and 150 head of cattle driven off, and three ranchmen, named Thumb, Smith, and May, were killed. It is not known who were the attacking party. —The American Tract Society's annual report for 1880, shows donations and legacies of $105,000, and book sales of $256,000. The gross receipts are $397,000. Two million pages of printed matter were issued during the year. —The Norwegian and Swedish Consul at New York confirms the cable dispatch, that a contract has been closed with a steamship line in Hull, England, to bring 80,000 emigrants from those countries to the United States, principally settlers for the farming lands in the West. —A dispatch from Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 13, says: “A break has occurred in the levee at Alsatia, Louisiana, about 200 yards wide, and is spreading rapidly. The water is running through with great velocity, and there is but little prospect of closing the break. The damage will be heavy.” —A very rich strike has been made at Willow Springs, in Eastern Oregon, in the discovery of a narrow vein of quartz. About 300 pounds yielded $160, and one piece of quartz, weighing twenty-five pounds, is said to be nearly half gold. Three pans of decomposed matter from the ledge yielded $165. —At Brownsburg, Ind., a Catholic priest named Donovan, was excommunicated by Bishop Chatard for refusing to raise money to pay a church debt. He closed the church for two months, and resumed services, saying, “We will report directly to the heavenly throne, without asking for the mediation of that fellow at Vincennes.” —The terms of the ukase lessening the peasants' rents are now finally settled. The ukase will apply to 3,700,000 peasants, who will be relieved of a considerable portion of their annual payments on account of land, while all accumulated arrears will be remitted. All proprietors who have not yet arranged the selling of holdings to the peasants will be compelled to do so by the 3d of June. —Gen. Melikoff, commanding at St. Petersburg; Dabaza, Minister of Finances; Nicolai, Minister of Public Instruction, and Giers, Minister of Foreign Affairs, all tendered their resignations to the Emperor, May 12. The Czar, after a short consideration, accepted Gen. Melikoff's resignation. This seems to indicate absolutism, and a fresh Nihilist outbreak will probably be the next thing in order. —A new cattle-car has been constructed, so that each animal has an apartment to itself. By a mechanical contrivance, which is operated from the end of the car, the cattle can be fed and watered in their stalls, all at the same time, and as often as necessary, the feed being stored in the top of the car. The use of such cars as these, will be for the interest of cattle dealers, and serve the ends of humanity. —For some time there has been an “unpleasantness” in the U. S. Senate, mainly to determine, as the Times has it, “whether Conkling or Garfield would be president.” And it appearing that the latter is likely to hold the office, Conkling and his colleague, Platt, have resigned. People are fast becoming disgusted with the ways of politicians who endeavor to lead the nation for their own personal benefit. The notoriety which the Ex-Senators are making for themselves is very cheap. —The work of eviction among the settlers in Tulare Co., Cal., still continues. Up to May 10, Deputy Sheriff Dunlap had dispossessed seven settlers of their homes. O. C. Jackson, of Sacramento, was placed in possession of these places, as representative of the Southern Pacific railroad. The settlers, however, seem to be of the disposition that if they cannot live on their places, nobody else shall. Accordingly, Mr. Jackson does not enjoy his new possessions very much. It is reported that he did not remain on any of his newly acquired ranches, but invariably left in company with the Marshal's party, never allowing the settlers to become acquainted with their new neighbor. —Governor Overton, of the Chickasaw Nation, has gathered together an army of 300 men, and has issued an order that Texas cattle-raisers and white men generally must leave the country before June 1st, or force will be used. A similar situation prevails in the Choctaw Nation. The trouble in the Chickasaw Nation is said to have grown out of the refusal of the Texans to pay more than 12½ cents per head for grazing cattle therein, Governor Overton demanding 25 cents per head. In the Choctaw Nation the trouble is chiefly in regard to the law allowing white men to live in that country, the Indians holding that nearly all the white population are there without proper authority. —After several fights, France has succeeded in convincing Tunis that it needs protection, and the Bey has generously accepted of France as his protector. The treaty of peace assures to France the right to occupy positions which the French military authorities may deem necessary for the maintenance of order and security of the frontier and the coast. France has granted the Bey security of person and dynasty, and the maintenance of actually existing treaties between the Regency and European Powers. The Bey is not to conclude any new International Convention without a previous understanding with France. The other powers seem to feel a little dissatisfaction at the course France has taken. —In the Baptist Conference at Dixon, Cal., May 11, the question was asked whether or not the Association has the power to refuse fellowship with a church false to its profession and unsound in its faith. Dr. Kalloch replied that there was no clause in the Constitution of the Convention authorizing it to do so, and if any Convention had such a clause, it would cease to be a Baptist organization. In consequence of this, a paper was presented at the next session, by several delegates, stating that their convictions of what constitutes purity and efficiency of Christian life and work, were so radically opposed to those entertained by a large element composing that body, that, as it was impossible for them to harmonize, they wished all who sympathized with them to withdraw and form a separate Convention. Accordingly, delegates representing 12 churches assembled across the street, and effected a new organization. RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS,
By Editor
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In paper covers. 10 cts. TRACTS. - 32 pages, 4 cents each. Redemption—The Second Advent—The Sufferings of Christ—The Present Truth—Origin and Progress of S. D. Adventists—The Celestial Railroad—The Seventh Part of Time—Ten Commandments not Abolished—The Two Covenants—Address to the Baptists—The Two Thrones—Spiritualism a Satanic Delusion—Samuel and the Witch of Endor—The Third Message of Rev. 14. TRACTS. - 24 pages, 3 cents each. The Second Message of Rev. 14—Who Changed the Sabbath?—The Lost-Time Question—Scripture References—The End of the Wicked—Infidel Cavils Considered—The Pocasset Tragedy—Sabbaton. TRACTS. - 16 pages, 2 cents each. Christ in the Old Testament—The Sabbath in the New Testament—The Spirit of Prophecy—The Old Moral Code not Revised—The Sanctuary of the Bible—The Judgment—Much in Little—The Millennium—the Two Laws—Seven Reasons—The Definite Seventh Day—Departing and Being with Christ—The Rich Man and Lazarus—Elihu on the Sabbath—First Message of Rev. 14—The Law and the Gospel. MR. SENEY, of New York, has lately given to various benevolent and educational institutions sums amounting to considerably over a half million dollars. From an exchange we clip the following conversation held with Mr. Seney, and we hope the stewards of God's treasures will weigh and consider it carefully. Wills are uncertain things, and to leave wealth of money to heirs to quarrel over brings no honor to a man's memory. There is a genuine satisfaction in knowing that your gifts are applied just as you want to have them:— "Mr. Seney was asked recently, 'Why is it that you give all this money in your life-time? Most of such gifts are made in the form of bequests.' " 'The fact is,' Mr. Seney replied, 'that I have seen so many instances of men's apparent wishes, as expressed in their wills, becoming of no avail, that I wanted to make sure that the money would go exactly where I wanted it to go. By making these gifts in my lifetime I am sure that the precise object I desire is accomplished.' " 'Most men who have been able to accumulate that amount of money are disposed to keep it to make more of it,' was suggested. " 'I have observed that,' Mr. Seney said. 'I think that one motive I had was to prevent myself from getting a disposition to hoard money for the sake of hoarding, as men who accumulate money are apt to do. I do not see why it is not better to make these gifts in my lifetime, and to enjoy the pleasure of seeing them appropriated to their several objects. When a man gets to hoarding money it tends to make him closefisted and mean. I want to avoid that disposition, if I can.'" REV. DR. HARRISON, Congressional Chaplain, states in the Wesleyan Christian Advocate that the Methodist Episcopal church, during the twenty-seven years from 1852 to 1879, has failed to keep pace with the growth of population in the Middle States by 27 per cent., and in the “Border States,” so-called, viz., Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, the falling behind has been 40 per cent. In the New England States he says the showing is better; but taking the nineteen Northern States together the M. E. church, which in 1852 had one member out of 22 population, in 1879 had but one in 25—a relative decrease of over 11 per cent. The Advocate says: “There is in the whole field a manifest failure to keep pace with the growth of population, a fact which is profoundly suggestive of waning influence.” Rev. Dr. Fuller, of the Atlantic Methodist Advocate says that it is no better in the Southern States. In thirty-five years the M. E. Church South has not doubled, while the population has nearly tripled. He adds that, owing to the laxity of the conditions and the pressure for new members, irreligious persons have been brought in with damaging effect. CAMP-MEETINGS FOR 1881
By Editor
NOTICE the appointment of a day of fasting and prayer. MICHIGAN, Spring Arbor, June 2-5
IOWA, “ 2-7
WISCONSIN, Neenah, “ 9-14
MINNESOTA, “ 16-21
DAKOTA, “ 23-28
UPPER COLUMBIA, Dayton, W. T., “ 1-7
NORTH PACIFIC, Cornelius, “ 21-28 THE article on the fourth page of this paper, entitled "Where is the Promise of His Coming?" copied from the Sabbath Recorder, is well worthy of a careful reading. It is a heart-cheering testimony on a glorious theme. "His coming" is, indeed, the "blessed hope," which his people love and look for. WE are surprised to learn that so large a number of S. D. Adventists in California pay no tithes to the churches, and through them to the State Conference. But we think we understand the reason. Our old method, called "Systematic Benevolence," was dropped, and the tithing system adopted in its place. But the misfortune of California has been that it had no one to lead out and bring up this branch of the work. The remarks of Elder Haskell at the camp-meeting, which were both instructive and stirring, were well received, but for lack of labor in the churches, not much has been done to bring the Bible plan into use. We were in hope that Elder Haskell would be able to visit most of the churches in this State before he had to return East, but he could not. Elder Corliss has gone to Los Angeles to join Elder Healey in tent labor in that city. And thus he is prevented visiting and laboring with the churches, as it seemed likely, at one time, that he would. Under these circumstances, a duty seems to devolve upon the local elders to do more in this matter than they have done in the past. Let them pray over it until they deeply feel over it, and then talk it to the churches. Not only the welfare of the cause in this State, but the health and prosperity of the churches themselves require it. "To give is to live," and to withhold is to die—or seriously to decline. CALIFORNIA STATE S. S. CONVENTION.
It was our privilege to attend the recent session of the Annual Convention of the State Sunday-school Association, at Sacramento. We made some pleasant acquaintances. The interest of the meetings was somewhat lessened by the absence of several who had been assigned to open the discussion of specified subjects. Yet many good things were produced, and the cause of this branch of education cannot fail to be advanced by this meeting. We were somewhat surprised to learn that so little has been done toward thorough organization in the State. But hitherto they have depended upon some prominent worker from the East to take charge of their Conventions. Not depending on their own efforts, their efforts have been comparatively feeble. A change in this respect will doubtless bring satisfactory results. From carefully listening to all that was said, we feel assured that our Sabbath-schools are as well conducted as any S. S. in the State; that no schools have methods and appliances superior to those in use by us. In this we are far from intimating that our churches should be satisfied with the present position of their schools. Continual improvement should be our aim. Dr. M. C. Briggs, of the M. E. Church, was re-elected to the presidency of the Association. A better presiding officer could scarcely be found. The next Convention is appointed to meet at Stockton.