Earlier text: PROBLEMSINCREASE OF DISEASE AMONG ANIMALS.
By C. M. S.
The following extract from an article under the above title, in Good Health, is a confirmation of the statement frequently made in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES that disease is continually increasing in both the human family and the brute creation. It has its lesson both as a warning to those who are making the flesh of animals a part of their diet, and as another evidence that the old world is waning rapidly and that the close of its history is near at hand. “That disease is rapidly increasing among animals is a clearly recognized fact. It is only comparatively recently that hog cholera, swine plague, and other epidemic diseases have come to be recognized as of sufficient importance to require governmental attention and the co-operation of different communities in stamping out these maladies. The rapid spread of tuberculosis among cattle is also a recently recognized fact. Within late years it is not uncommon to hear of the destruction of entire herds of extremely valuable cattle by this disease. The occurrence of hog cholera has come to be so common, and the extended epidemics so frequent, that it has been sought to combat the disease by vaccination, just the same as smallpox in human beings is combated.” “Numerous other diseases from which animals suffer have been likewise increasing. This is the natural result of the association of animals with man, and the herding together of enormous numbers of animals under unnatural conditions. In numerous instances human beings and the lower animals co-operate in the development of parasites, as in the case of the trichina and the tapeworm. Animals which become infected by the eggs from the tape-worm are in turn consumed by human beings, and so the parasite is passed around. One single measly ox or pig may be the means of lodging tapeworms in the alimentary canal of many scores of human beings. The frequency of disease in lower animals at the present time is such that it is no exaggeration to say that no person can safely make use of flesh as an article of food without first requiring a careful medical examination of the animal, while it is still alive, and a careful expert examination, including microscopical investigation of the flesh, after the death of the animal. The flesh must then be eaten at once, before decomposition has begun, in order that it may be free from ptomains.” “Few will care to go to the pains, trouble, and expense thus to insure themselves against the danger of contracting disease thru the eating of the flesh of diseased animals. Evidently the proper remedy is to discard the use of flesh food altogether, and instead to use the pure, heaven-given food upon which man and animals together were by nature intended to subsist.” “The notion that thoro cooking is a complete protection against injury thru the use of the flesh of diseased animals, tho widely prevalent, is wholly erroneous, and has doubtless often led to grave injury and great suffering, if not fatal sickness. Cooking will destroy both animal and vegetable parasites which are dangerous to human life; but the most thoro cooking will not destroy bacterial poisons. Cooking destroys the germs, but not the poisons which the germs have previously produced, and which are stored in the tissues. Having a fixed chemical composition, the same as common salt or sugar, they do not undergo any chemical change in the ordinary process of cooking. The only way to avoid the dangers from the use of flesh food is to avoid flesh food.”—J. H. Kellogg, M. D. Thus has been perfected, the endless chain of disease transmission, which, in addition to the immediate destruction which it causes, is rapidly bringing the race into a condition where it will be ripe for the harvest of death. In proportion as disease increases, the human system loses its power to resist it, and thus the rate of the increase is augmented. The Planters, Bankers, and Merchants' Association of Porto Rico sometime ago appointed a delegation to visit the United States and lay before the people and the officials the condition of that island. A member of that commission makes the following statement in regard to conditions there: “Our people are starving and the island is in a worse condition under the rule of Governor Allen than it ever was before, even when Spain held sway. So hopeless is the state of affairs that fathers sell their daughters into slavery to keep them from dying of hunger. Those people who say the country is flourishing are the office-holders and professional politicians.” The New York Herald states that Italy is making the United States a kind of dumping-ground for her brigands and paupers. Robbers who have been preying upon Italian merchants have been furnished with a liberal supply of money and induced to leave the country. Some of this class are now under police surveillance in the United States. Commissioner Murphy, of New York, states that Italian criminals are pouring into New York on every ship that brings immigrants. According to a report from Little Rock, Arkansas, the State Senate has passed a bill making it unlawful for any person to drink any intoxicating liquor as a beverage, unless he shall have first obtained a license as a dram-drinker. This license fee is fixed at $5 per annum, and the penalty attached to its violation is $15 fine, or imprisonment for 30 days. The German emperor recently issued a new code of regulations for Prussian schools, which requires that every pupil must learn by heart 291 verses of the Bible and 193 verses of hymns in addition to the catechism. The Vossische Zeitung says that this is the first step in carrying out the emperor’s recent warning regarding the demoralization of the youth of the country and the lack of religious training. The Converted Catholic, in commenting favorably upon this act of the emperor, says, “The pope does not like the decree, but the emperor will have his way.” But there is no real Protestantism in such a decree, even tho the emperor of Germany claims to be a Protestant. The spirit of the papacy is in it, even tho it is designed to promote Protestantism. The civil government has no right to compel men to be religious or act religiously or study religion. Its province is to see that men keep the peace. Christ commissioned His disciples to teach Him and His Gospel, and to baptize believers. To no government on earth was this commission given. The pope does not like the decree, and the emperor does; but neither is right in the matter. Governmental compulsion in matters of religion is always and everywhere wrong. The principle is papal, whatever the object in employing it. It is an invasion of the natural rights of man, whatever the motive that prompted it. It is contrary to the teachings of Christ, even tho the emperor who promulgated it claims to be a Christian. “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22:21. The representatives of the powers in China are reported to have agreed upon the amount of the war indemnity which they will demand of China; that is to say, $325,000,000. In case China signs an agreement to pay this amount, it is reported that the powers will at once begin to withdraw their troops, with the exception of legation guards and garrisons of troops between Taku and Peking. The legation guard which America will retain at Peking will not be under the orders of the German field marshal, but will act independently. The remainder of the American troops have begun to move toward the point of departure for Manila. A despatch from Tien-tsin states that everywhere among the Chinese there is a feeling of unrest; that petty attacks upon foreigners continue; that bodies of well-armed Chinese are secretly drilling; and that the situation demands the retention of foreign troops for the present. On May 3 a terrible fire swept thru the city of Jacksonville, Florida, burning a section of the city thirteen blocks wide and two miles long. Altho it is known that lives were lost in the conflagration, it has not been possible to give anything like an accurate statement of the number of the dead. Several thousand persons are homeless and destitute, many, or most of whom have lost their all. The property loss is placed at $11,000,000. Calls for assistance have been made, and the response seems to have been quite liberal. A number of carloads of provisions have been shipped in for the destitute, and up to May 7 $50,000 had been received by the committee on distribution. The British War Office announces that the number of officers and men who have lost their lives in the South African war is 14,978. In addition to this 318 men have been invalided home and subsequently died, while 2,493 noncommissioned officers and men have left the service unfit for duty. Notwithstanding this great sacrifice of men, British correspondents in the field report that there is urgent need of fresh troops to take the places of the soldiers who have become practically worn out with the hard campaign. General Delarey, the Boer commander, now has with him about 5,000 men near Hartbeestfontein, and three English generals are planning his capture. A battle appears imminent. Sweden is proposing greatly to increase her army and navy expenditures. The proposals of the Riksdag Committee are to the effect that the army expenditures shall be increased to $10,500,000, and the navy expenditures to $3,270,000. This means a tax of nearly $3 for each man, woman, and child in the little kingdom for these expenses alone; or comparing it with the United States on a basis of population, it would be equivalent to an appropriation by the latter country of about $225,000,000 for war preparation alone. It can be seen from this that the spirit of preparation for war is permeating the smaller countries as well as the larger. A report from the Philippines states that the liberation of 1,000 Filipino prisoners which was to signalize the issuance of Aguinaldo’s peace proclamation, is nearly complete, and the liberation of an equal number to celebrate General Tino’s surrender will begin this week. General Sumner has struck the force of General Cailles three times. It is reported that he has burned the Filipino general’s outfit and scattered his forces to the mountains. Justice Jerome, one of the members of the New York Anti-Vice Committee of fifteen, has given notice of the intention of that committee to pursue vigorously the work of stamping out vice in that city. He declares that the committee is able to raise $1,000,000 if necessary, and that the war on vice is to be unrelenting. Plans are now being perfected for the organization of a great American watch trust by the combination of the principal American watch-makers. It is also reported from Chicago that on May 6 plans were completed for the formation of a music publishing trust. A report from St. Petersburg, Russia, bearing date of May 5, states that wholesale arrests and seizures were then being carried on by the government in connection with the alleged revolutionary movement. It is reported that persons of high position and reputation are involved. Several hundred persons, including men of considerable prominence, had been arrested on that date. On May 6, by a majority of 106 votes, the House of Commons passed the coal tax resolution, which places an export tax of one shilling on coal. The measure was vigorously opposed all the way thru. It was prophesied by some of the members that there would follow a general strike of the coal operators, while others feared that American competition would cut out the English coal. A movement is said to be now on foot for the consolidation of all the labor unions in this country. If this plan is carried out as proposed, it will mean the placing of all labor unions in one great society, which will be able to bring the entire force of union labor against any proposition that may arise. The power and danger of such a consolidation is not hard to realize. Serious disturbances are reported from Southern Italy and the island of Sicily. The peasants in several provinces are in open revolt, and conflicts with the police are of daily occurrence. In some sections gardens and fields are lying waste. The municipality of Pioulles has suspended payment, strikes are extending thruout Southern Italy, and general misery prevails. War rumors are again coming from Afghanistan. An agent of the Ameer has gone to Germany to purchase six batteries of guns for Cabul, and the Ameer is organizing an army of 100,000 which is to be equipped with modern weapons. It is feared that this war preparation is aimed at India, or that it is at least a plan of Russia’s to stir up trouble for England. A report from Washington states that the administration has decided to reduce the army in the Philippines to 40,000. It is the plan of the War Department to have all the volunteers out of the Philippines by the end of June, and following their departure to bring home all the regulars in excess of 40,000. There has been a brisk contention during the week in Wall Street between the Vanderbilts and Goulds for the control of the Union Pacific Railroad. The road is under the control now of the Gould syndicate; and according to last reports the efforts of the Vanderbilts to secure it had been unavailing. According to reports from New York, plans are on foot for the consolidation of the various express companies of the United States into one great express trust. It requires but little reasoning to discover the outcome of such a scheme, which would control the entire carrying business of the country. A report from Brazil states that the Roman Catholic mission established a few years ago by the Capuchins in Maragnone has been completely destroyed by a band of hostile Indians. Four priests, seven sisters, and more than 100 children, living in their orphan asylum, were killed. Two cotton press establishments were burned in India on May 1, one at Amreeli and the other at Khamgaon. At the first-named place thirty-five of the forty-two employees were burned to death, and the others fatally burned. At Khamgaon eleven were burned to death. A report from Russia states that a ferry boat carrying nearly 100 women, was overturned while crossing the Dnieper River, near Katchkarovka, and nearly all were drowned. The passengers were milk-women, and most of them had babes with them. Reports from the Klondike indicate that this season’s clean-up will amount to about $30,000,000. It is stated that since the opening of the Cripple Creek mining region, more than $100,000,000 in gold have been taken out. A report from New York states that five of the great ship-building concerns of this country have made arrangements for consolidating their interests, and forming a ship-building trust with a capitalization of $70,000,000. Within the past one hundred years the national debts of the chief nations of the world have increased from $3,500,000,000 to $31,000,000,000, which is the aggregate of the national debts of the world at the present time. Three hundred troops have been despatched to Sialkat, India, to suppress the plague riots. Twenty-five villages are in revolt in that district, and several hospital assistants have been killed or injured. A report from Kansas City, Mo., states that as a direct result of the agitation created by Mrs. Carrie Nation, Mayor Reed has issued a positive order that all saloons must be closed on Sunday. The city of San Jose, California, is now lighted with electricity produced in Amador County, 184 miles away. It is reported that the Pennsylvania Legislature has decided to tax the cigarette out of existence in that State. The population of Greenland at the present time is 10,974. TOO HIGHLY SPECIALIZED.
By C. M. S.
In justifying himself, or attempting to do so, for using profane language at a club dinner, a New York clergyman recently declared that the clergy were “too highly specialized nowadays—so highly that a glass of wine or a cigar is denied them.” It is difficult to imagine the true ambassador of Christ bemoaning the fact that he must leave the world and the things of it in his following of the Master. It is hard to understand how that one who had been crucified with Christ could still be commiserating himself over the loss of those things which minister to the carnal nature. Paul declares, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Gal 5:24. And again, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. How different from the attitude of such a clergyman is the attitude of the true child of God as expressed in Rom. 8:35-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors thru Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Alongside of this manly, straight-forward Christian character, how weak, how purposeless, how worthless, is the character of one who whimpers when he can not indulge a depraved appetite, who bemoans the temperance which a Christian must practise, and who thinks the clergy are “too highly specialized” when required to be ensamples to the flock. The trouble is that many have adopted the “profession of the pulpit” as they would any other profession or business, and desire the pleasures of the world while carrying it on. It is a thing with which to get a living. The parish is their plot of ground, and shekels are the harvest; while temperance, abstemiousness, godliness, are the “drawbacks” of their occupation. “Verily, they have their reward.” It is their salary. God has no use for such a shepherd. He who would rather lay down his life than be separated from the love of Christ will not be found weeping over the loss of liquor and cigars. It was things of much greater consequence than these that Paul declared he would call less than nothing in order that he “might win Christ.” Phil. 3:8. He would forget those things which were behind and eagerly “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” O, for Christian manliness in this warfare against sin—and for Christians in the pulpit! God has them still in the earth, not as many as there should be, but He has them; and they loom up over the loiterers like sturdy oaks over a field of stubble. THE MISTRESS OF A HOUSEHOLD.
By Mrs. M. H. Tuxford
If the mistress of the house has a clear idea of the work she wishes to be done, she can easily arrange the details with the different workers, and the time for each thing to be accomplished. Household work should always be done in a woman's head before the hands meddle with it. Valuable, however, as a plan may be, it must be borne in mind that it is only a means to an end—that end being the happiness, well-being, and comfort of all the members of the household. If, therefore, circumstances should arise which make adherence to this plan a hindrance rather than a help, it should be temporarily abandoned. Persons are more than things; yet some mistresses are so wedded to their methods and plans that they make them a perfect burden to those about them. It is the duty of the mistress to see that every part of the house is kept clean. Dirt is degrading, besides leading to disease. Every part of the house must receive her attention; and she should not limit her inspection to the show-rooms of the house. In fact, a model housewife will have no show-room. Not only should she inspect the bedrooms and living rooms, but she should acquaint herself with the condition of the kitchen, the servant's bedroom, the pantry, scullery, etc., and lastly, but by no means the least, the scrap-tin and dust bin. The eye of the mistress is worth two pairs of hands, and she who understands what ought to be will be able to discover waste from the beginning, and to put an end to it before it becomes serious. Everything must be investigated, and she should make sure that her rules are obeyed. It is her duty to spend wisely, as well as to save; buying what is best suited to the needs and tastes of the household, and ordering nothing beyond her means. At night she must see that the house is securely shut in, both front and back; all low windows and doors of unused rooms must be locked up, and fires made safe for the night. Nor is the work of the mistress finished when the plan is arranged, and cleanliness and order have been secured; the little finishing touches, the tasteful arrangements, the provisions for comfort and pleasure must all come from the mistress herself, or be absent altogether. She must endeavor to make the rooms comfortable, and as attractive as possible to her children. All the cosiness, the home-feeling, and the soothing influences would be gone, if these little things were not attended to, and only bare utility remained. There is the greatest difference between a room that is merely clean and kept in order by a servant, and one in which the lady of the home takes a special interest. Provision Must Be Made for the Meals.
It is the duty of the mistress to order meals with a11 careful forethought for the tastes of others, and for the necessities of their health, and to see that every one has what he desires, making him feel that his tastes have been remembered. It is her duty also to do all that in her lies, by example, by influence, by encouragement, and by sympathy, to make those around her virtuous and happy; to permit no injustice, wrong, or unkindness to be done even to the lowliest. Let the tone of the house be as happy as possible; good spirits are among the most blessed of possessions. To maintain a correct spirit in the home is not only to add to its happiness, but to make all duties comparatively light and easy. Cheerfulness is a distinct duty, and however naturally depressed a mistress may be, she ought to struggle against it in order not to crush the spirits of those around her. These are some of the little things which make the difference between a home and a lodging, and for a woman to fail to make a home comfortable and happy is a failure indeed.—Mrs. M. H. Tuxford. PROSPECTS BEFORE THE CHRONIC INVALID.
By David Paulson
Different Ways of Getting Well.
THERE are many who are so despondent and depressed that they are virtually carrying funerals around in their brains; yet there is no reason for it other than that their nerve-centers are overcharged with poisons. Many of these would have new windows broken into their souls, as it were, letting in rays of sunlight, if they could be induced to take out-door exercise and such tonic applications of water as have been mentioned in a previous article. Others will never be translated into the realm of physical health until they have reformed their methods of cooking. Others have plenty of reserve force left within them; and they only require to have the stirring inspiration resulting from a disposition and experience in doing good for others, and their languid physical forces will be aroused, and their “health will spring forth speedily.” Still others need to brace up their wills, and deliberately rise above their little ills and pains and aches and the ghosts of imaginary diseases that are roosting in their brains, and they will soon find that they can actually stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of humanity. There are others whose spiritual condition casts such a shadow over their entire physical mechanism, that they will never regain their health until the sweet message is borne to them by some tender and sympathetic tongue, “Thy sins be forgiven thee;” and then they will speedily arise, take up their bed, and walk. We may always be sure that the blessings that God can consistently bestow upon us to-morrow, will, to a certain extent, be measured by the use we make of our God-given opportunities to-day. No one can measure the heights to which the adoption of right principles in our lives may elevate us; but we may be certain that if we have the truth it will make us free, and then we “shall be free indeed.” John 8: 32, 36. If we use our hands to the very utmost to-day in carrying out right principles, no one can measure what God may entrust our hands to accomplish to-morrow. There is an apparently arbitrary law of heredity, “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” Num. 14: 18. Likewise there is a law which says to every leaf on a tree that it shall fall to the earth; yet the tree proudly raises its head a little higher day by day in apparent defiance of the law of gravitation, because it is dominated by a force that is greater than the force which is pulling it down. So every chronic invalid who is carrying an inherited load of disease upon his shoulders may still look up with hope; for the same God that declared that the sins of the fathers were to be visited upon the children, declared also that when He should have an opportunity to write His law fully in the heart of humanity, physically and spiritually, then this proverb would no longer apply: “The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Jer. 31: 33, 29. There is a divine power implanted in every human being that can assist Him in unloading the curse of a miserable heredity, provided he will become sufficiently inspired to cultivate health vigorously. When We Shall be Satisfied.
There will probably never be a time here on earth when a human being will feel able to declare that he is perfect either spiritually or physically. There will never be a time here below when it will fully appear what we shall be. 1 John 3: 2. We shall never be fully satisfied with our own attainments, either physical or spiritual, until we awake in His likeness. Ps. 17: 15. We are never to become proud or boastful of the degree of physical or spiritual righteousness that God may impart to us. We should ever remember that we have this “treasure in earthen vessels,” and bear in mind that it is God that makes us to differ. 2 Cor. 4: 7; 1 Cor. 4: 7. At the same time we may be satisfied that God is doing that which is for our best good, and so learn the precious lesson in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content; for “godliness with contentment is great gain.” Phil. 4: 11; 1 Tim. 6: 6. If the vision of health seems to tarry, it is well for us to know that if we are doing our part, there is some reason for the delay. When God makes our bed in sickness (Ps. 41: 3), it is not the worst thing that can happen to be ill. There is many a boy or girl who to-day is breaking a mother’s heart by a life of sin and dissipation, who would certainly have found a great blessing in being compelled to spend several months at the critical point of his or her experience at home, nursing a broken limb or some other affliction, with only the Bible for a close companion. God instructs us that if we are afflicted, we are to pray. James 5: 13. There are some who are never driven to prayer until they are afflicted, and there are some whom God, in His infinite wisdom, undoubtedly knows would cease praying as soon as their afflictions were removed; so He allows the affliction to remain long enough for the habit of praying to become thoroughly established. David learned some of his best lessons in his deepest experiences; for he declares, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes.” Ps. 119: 71. The sweetest part of the orange lies just beneath the bitterness in its rind, so some of the grandest inspirations of our lives may be born in the darkest hour of bitterness and adversity. When the tottering infant falls, God puts an instinct in it to rise; and so He is continually bidding the sick man to arise, to look up, to have faith, courage, and hope. It may be that in eternity many who have wandered far away into by and forbidden paths will still, as a result of thorough-going repentance, stand nearest to the throne, and breathe in throughout all eternity the air of health in that place that is to be all health, even tho Infinite Wisdom allowed so many scars to remain that it was impossible to enjoy much of the comfort of life here below. Let every storm-tossed soul remember that God “hath His way in the whirlwind” (Nahum 1: 3), and so they may calmly rest upon Him in the darkest hour, knowing that darkness and light are both alike to Him. Ps. 139: 12. DAVID PAULSON, M. D. THE AVERAGE MAN.
By Margaret E. Sangster
When it comes to a question of trusting
Yourself to the risks of the road,
When the thing is the sharing of burdens,
The lifting the heft of a load,
In the hour of peril or trial,
In the hour you meet as you can,
You may safely depend on the wisdom
And skill of the average man. 'Tis the average man and no other
Who does his plain duty each day,
The small thing his wage is for doing,
On the commonplace bit of the way;
'Tis the average man, may God bless him,
Who pilots us, still in the van,
Over land, over sea, as we travel,
Just the plain, hardy, average man. So on thru the days of existence,
All mingling in shadow and shine,
We may count on the every-day hero,
Whom haply the gods may divine,
But who wears the swarth grime of his calling,
And labors and earns as he can,
And stands at the last with the noblest,
The commonplace average man.
—Margaret E. Sangster. A HORSE RESCUES ITS MATE.
HARRY RILEY, a young farmer living near Woodstown, pastures his horses in a field thru which runs a muddy creek. The other day one of the horses came up in a gallop to the fence surrounding the house and whinnied loudly. Then it wheeled about and ran toward the creek, but no especial attention was then paid to it by the family. Again the beast appeared, dashing up over the hill, and neighed frantically at the fence. Farmer Riley went to the horse and patted it soothingly on the nose, whereupon the animal seized him by the coat sleeve and pulled him up against the fence, as if to haul him over it. The horse soon released Riley and then ran a few feet toward the creek, wheeled about, and again came back, whinnying excitedly. The strange actions of the horse finally convinced Riley that something unusual was the matter, and when he started to follow it the delight of the horse was manifest. The intelligent animal led Riley to the bank of its stream, at a spot nearly concealed by bushes, and there in the quickmire, with only half its head visible, was the other horse, buried and slowly sinking out of sight. Riley quickly summoned the help of neighboring farmers with shovels and ropes, and, after several hours of hard work, succeeded in extricating the horse from what would certainly have been its grave, had it not been for the intelligence and faithfulness of its mate.—Philadelphia Record. THE DUTY OF SELF-DEPENDENCE.
Some people never learn to walk alone. They always lean on some one. They will never come to a decision until they have asked the advice of a friend. They do not trust their own judgment. Then they depend upon others to do things for them. They lack self-confidence, and the courage to meet life's responsibilities for themselves. Such persons never reach their best possibilities of character or achievement. The only way to grow strong is in the use of one's powers. An arm kept always in a sling would soon shrivel and wither. The blacksmith's arm has withe-like muscles because he uses it. In mental and moral development the same law prevails; only by use can strength be obtained. No doubt one will make mistakes. Many copy-book pages are spoiled in learning to write. No doubt the young man's father could do certain things better than the son can do them; but then the son would not be learning how to do them. It is better that he should begin to do these things for himself, even tho he does blunder and make mistakes, for thus he will learn to do them well by and by, and thus, too, he will be making ready to live without his father, as some day he must do. One of the common mistakes of parents is in doing too much for their children. In the helplessness of infancy it is necessary that everything should be done for them. They can not care for themselves. They can do nothing whatever toward providing for themselves. Parental love must think for them, plan for them, toil for them, must supply all their wants, must carry all their burdens. The danger is, however, that it shall continue to do all these things for them long after it is necessary to do so. Soon the child's powers begin to develop, and then the parents should begin to teach the child to do things for itself. Each month more should be put upon it, and it should be taught to take up and bear its own burden as fast as its ability and strength increase. It is real unkindness to children for parents to continue to do everything for them year after year, as if they were still infants. It is robbing them of a most important part of their education, and of the opportunity of becoming strong. A wise teacher says, addressing young people, "Insist upon yourself." The counsel is golden. No matter how much help a young man might receive, he should insist upon himself. He should learn to think for himself. He should not reject wise counsel, nor refuse to profit by the experience of others—he is a fool who turns his back upon lessons that have been learned in long years of good life; yet he should train himself to bear the burden of his own responsibility. In school he should study for himself, and resolutely refuse to accept any of the crutches for the indolent which so many students use. No one can give him knowledge—he must dig it out of the mines for himself. No one can impart mental power to him. Whatever intellectual gifts he has are folded up in his brain, and no mere process of education, and nothing any other can do for him, will bring them out. This is something he must do for himself. In all departments of life this lesson of self-dependence should be learned and practised. We must always receive help from others. We can not live independently. Thousands of people are continually doing things for us, and we can not get away from the necessity of brotherly help. But there are burdens which we should be ashamed to have others carry for us. We should train ourselves to self-reliance. Tho a young man be rich, so that in a sense he has no need to work, he should insist on doing his share of the world's work. There are two reasons why he should do this. One is that only in work can any one ever grow into strong, manly character. God has ordained that all true development, whether of body, mind, or spirit, must come thru exertion. Only by work can we grow. Another reason is, that we are not in this world for ourselves alone. We are debtor to every fellow-being. No bread is really ours till we have earned it; and, besides, we must help to earn bread for others who can not do it for themselves. The strong are set in this world to help the weak, the rich to share their abundance with the poor. Every one should do something for the world to make it happier and more beautiful—should add in some way to the forces of good and blessing in it. Those who have been richly endowed in any way may not use their gifts for themselves alone; they must use them for the good of all.—Selected. Do you know how they are made? I think I can enlighten you. An Italian boy only eight years old, was brought before a justice in New York City as a vagrant, or, in other words, a young tramp. But with what did the officer charge him?—Only with picking up cigar stumps from the streets and gutters. To prove this he showed the boy’s basket half full of stumps, water-soaked, and covered with mud. “What do you do with these?” asked the justice. “I sell them to a man for ten cents a pound, to be used in making cigarets.” Boys and girls scour the streets in search of half-burned cigars and stumps, which are dried and then sold to be used in making cigarets. But this is not all, nor even the worst of it. These cigarets have been analyzed, and physicians and chemists were surprised to find how much opium is put into them. A tobacconist himself says that “the extent to which drugs are used in cigarets is appalling.” “Havana flavoring” for this same purpose is sold by the thousand barrels. This flavoring is made from a bean that contains a deadly poison. The wrappers, warranted to be rice-paper, are sometimes made of common paper, and sometimes of filthy scrapings of rag-pickers, bleached with arsenic.—Selected. The Daily Mail of March 19 published an article concerning the secrets of the sausage trade, which was calculated to cause profound misgiving in the minds of those who have been in the habit of courting physical disaster by eating these highly-flavored bags of mystery. It appears that, in order to keep the contents from going bad, preservatives—the use of which is described as “legitimate and necessary”—are employed, such as borax, boric acid, salicylic acid, formaldehyde, and other drugs. From one-half to one ounce of boric acid is used for each ten pounds of sausage, and the writer of the article remarks:— “Every time you eat a half pound of sausages, therefore, perhaps you will take a medicinal dose of boric acid, and if you are a regular sausage-eater, your stomach will be in a nice state at the end of the year.” Amongst the ingredients used, according to the standard work on “Sausages,” from which the writer quotes, are “cheap meats,” snouts, ears, hearts, sinewy and tough meat, calves’ lungs, etc. These are flavored and disguised by pepper, sage, thyme, mace, nutmeg, allspice, and coloring matters. One has only to let one’s imagination suggest all that may lie behind the words “cheap meat” in order to conjure up the vision of the “carrion butcher,” and certain forms of flesh, which shall be nameless, but which are hastily chopped up to prevent recognition if a possible visit from the inspector should take place. How is it that any intelligent person can resist the temptation to forswear these questionable delicacies forevermore?—Selected. THE sorrow that nobody mentions,
The sorrow no one may share,
Is the sorrow the dear Lord giveth
His sweetest, tenderest care.
—Alice G. Howard.