ALCOHOL is a colorless, intoxicating liquid produced by fermentation. It looks so much like water that it might be readily mistaken for it at first sight. But it is so much unlike it in its real nature, that you can easily make some striking experiments.
Water will put out fire. Alcohol will feed a fire. It will also burn by itself.
Suppose, then, you have two clear glass vials filled, one with alcohol, one with water.
You may fold a slip of paper, and dip one end into the alcohol, and the other into the water. Touch the latter with a lighted match; it will not burn. Touch the light to the other end; it will flame up at once. Let it burn till it reaches the part wet with water, when it will go out.
Alcohol is made by art and man's device. You may look for it in vain in nature. You may hunt through all the forests, and examine all the springs, and the caves, and the rivers, and the ponds, the dew of grass, the honey of flowers, the sap of trees, the juices of fruits, and the milk of animals, and you will find no alcohol in any of them. So far as we know, the Creator has never made alcohol.
Men make alcohol by letting sweet liquids stand and decay. The sweet juices of apples, berries, grapes, and other fruits are often used for this purpose.
In Asia they make an alcoholic drink from rice. In all countries where fruits and grains are grown, men can make some of them into alcoholic drinks, if they wish to do so, but these alcoholic drinks are never found ready made.
There is no alcohol in the fruits and grains. The sugar in the fruit juice is changed into alcohol, by fermentation. Or, if grain is used, the starch is first changed to sugar, and then the sugar is changed into alcohol, by fermentation.
This fermentation is nothing but the decay of a sweet liquid. You may have seen apples, or pumpkins, or tomatoes decay and go to pieces.
Some of the juice runs away, some of the solid matter turns into gas, and goes off into the air, till in some way all is gone. When the sweet fruit juices are pressed out and put into a dish, they too decay and go to pieces, new substances are formed, and one of these new substances is alcohol. This decay is a filthy process.
When it takes place in our stewed fruits we do not eat them, but quickly send them away from the table. All alcoholic drinks are decayed drinks, for they are made by the decay of sweet liquids, or distilling out the alcohol which has been produced by decay.—Julia Coleman.
Beer and Railroad Building.
By E. V. Smalley
The consumption of beer in the camps of the railway builders is enormous. At Bismarck I saw an entire freight train of thirty cars laden with bottled beer from a Chicago brewery, bound for the town nearest the end of the track. The chief engineer of the construction force said that an average of one bottle for every tie laid was consumed, and that the tie and the beer cost the same—fifty cents. Thus the workmen pay as much for their drink as the company for one of the important elements of railway construction.—E. V. Smalley, in the Century.
Temperance and the Tobacco Pledge
At the annual conference of the Anti-Tobacco Society, held at Manchester, Eng., the following resolution was passed: "That as careful investigation has shown that teetotalers who smoke are five times more liable to fall away than those who do not, this meeting would earnestly appeal to Blue Ribbon, Band of Hope, and all other temperance organizations who pledge their followers to discountenance the causes and practices of intemperance, to offer them an additional safeguard of a pledge against tobacco.—Cynosure.
Beer-Drinking
BEER-DRINKING.—A boy in a bed in a hospital, motherless and friendless, had received a slight wound which pure blood would have thrown off, but he was a beer-drinker, and his hurt, with his poisoned blood, produced erysipelas. Dr. Edwards says: "The diseases of beer-drinkers are always of a dangerous character, and in case of an accident they can never undergo the most trifling operation with the security of the temperate. They almost invariably die under it."
On Duty.
I WAS in the W. N. and R. Railroad office on a little matter of business, when a man came in and asked for a situation as engineer. His papers were satisfactory; he was a good-looking man, and the clerk might, perhaps, have given him some encouragement had not the superintendent been present. He looked up from his conversation with me, and asked pleasantly:—
“Do you smoke?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you drink?”
“Not on duty, sir.”
“Do you play cards?”
“Sometimes, sir.”
“On duty?”
“I have done such a thing, but not often. It is not my habit.”
“You won’t do for the W. N. and R. I am sorry,” he said, as the man’s face clouded with disappointment, “but I am trying to ennoble the calling of a locomotive engineer by having only good, reliable, safe men in the business; men to whom we may trust our property, our lives, and the lives of our loved ones with impunity. I like your looks, my man, and will give you a job when you can say honestly that you belong to that class.”
“You are quite right, sir,” said the man, touching his cap as he went out, “but you will find it easier to bring up your new men in the right way than to reform your old ones.”
“I feel deeply upon this subject,” said the superintendent, turning again to me; “all the more deeply for the reason that I once was a locomotive engineer myself, and fully realize all the pressure they are under which tempts them to fall into the smoking, drinking, card-playing habits that are too often the primary causes of the dreadful accidents that so often shock the community. I was a poor orphan boy, only a child, indeed, when I began helping old ‘Pat,’ the watchman, about wiping the freight engines up at the Woolwich terminus. I was a natural machinist, and the railroad men all amused themselves by teaching me the principles of mechanics, which I caught at so quickly, and grew so self-sufficient over, that I soon received the nickname of the ‘Old Man,’ as the master mechanic on nearly every railroad is dubbed by the help. As soon as I was strong enough I was given a situation as fireman, and not very long afterwards the company, for some reason, running short of engineers, I was sent out with a local freight. I did so well that they kept me right along on that train for some months, changing me then to an express freight, with a new first-class engine. I was delighted at my promotion, and supposed I was just as good an engineer as there was in the business, not realizing that I lacked judgment, or that I had no idea of the responsibility of my position, and fully enjoying the reputation which I soon earned of being the most reckless engineer on the road. It was my great delight to cut all sorts of capers to raise a laugh. I talked to my engine as if it were a horse, and the boys used to say, ‘The Star knows Fred, and does whatever he tells her, whether he touches the lever or not.’ At a certain point on our road there was a long, heavy grade, over which we were obliged to labor along at a pace that was a great trial to me, until I took up the plan of calling the train men into the cab, and playing euchre to while away the time. One day we had been drinking considerable before we started out, and I had been boasting of my power over the ‘Star.’ We were loaded unusually heavy with pig iron, and as I put the steam on I said:—
“This, with a little encouragement in the way of coal from Jake, the fireman, will carry us to the top of the hill, and when we pitch over the summit I shall not have to shut off. I have trained her so now she will obey my voice without raising a puff of objection. ‘It is your deal, Tommy,’ I went on to my conductor, who was my partner; ‘play your best now;’ and I talked to him and encouraged the Star, in an absurd way, that kept the men in a continual roar of laughter.
“We stood about the cab holding our cards slipped between our fingers, as I have only seen railroad men hold them, and instead of playing by throwing them upon a flat surface, we reached up and tucked the edges under a spring bracket that was screwed to the side of the cab to hold the running cord, thus preventing any probability of their being jostled out of place. Jake, the fireman, had the counters tucked under the band of his greasy felt hat, and not being in the game kept tally for both sides. Playing euchre under difficulties, you will say, but all the difficulties only increased the excitement of the game. I was playing a lone hand when we reached the top of the grade. The men were all engaged in the game, and none of us realized where we were until the last card was played. Then after a shout of merriment over my pretended discomfiture at being euchered, we came to a realizing sense that the momentum of the train had considerably increased.
“We are over the summit,” shouted the conductor.
“And one of the brakemen cried:—
“‘Speak to the Star, Fred; just sing out to her and she will slow up.’
“And I was just reckless enough to keep the fun, by striking an attitude and shouting, ‘Whoa! whoa!’ in a way that made the men, for the moment helpless with laughter. It was only for a moment, however, and then they all took in the situation. Fun was forgotten, and they rushed to their places like true men, as they were in reality, only having got in the way of thinking that all the fun and merriment they could crowd into each trip was clear gain, they went beyond bounds sometimes.
“The grade that we had just started upon was a very heavy one; we never used any steam in going down it, and had to hold the train by the brakes.
“As the conductor seized the forward brake I saw that it was broken. Not until I had whistled for brakes, shut off the steam, and satisfied myself that every brake was set, did I admit even to myself that the train was out from under my control. It was a long grade, but it seemed to me now that it was endless. The rate of speed at which we were going was simply frightful, and increasing every moment. I looked back at the men and saw them lying flat on top of the cars, clinging to the running board for safety.
“‘I am going to jump,’ shouted my fireman in my ear, and looking into his face, I saw it as white as a dead man’s, through the grim.
“‘Stick to the ship,’ I shouted back; and although he was twice my size, seized him by the shoulders and set him down upon his box. He said afterwards there was such a look in my eyes he dared not move.
“I pulled open the whistle, fastened it back, and on we plunged through forests, over bridges, the engine whistling like a mad creature. The iron with which the platform cars were loaded was hurled in every direction.
“Once or twice as we rounded the curves, the velocity with which the great locomotive ran upon one rail for some distance, and it seemed that it must lose its equilibrium; but it righted itself again, and went bowling on.
“It appeared to me that I lived hours in those few minutes. The responsibility of my course as an engineer, came up to me with overwhelming force. In imagination I looked back at the brakemen and saw them crushed, mangled, and dead. I saw their weeping wives and children, and felt that I was alone to blame for their misery. I saw that life was something besides the burlesque I made of it, and for the first time realized that I made my own position in it.
“We were going into the Roaring River Junction ahead of time. I knew we always made a close connection there, and it was ten chances to one if we found the main track clear and the switches all right. But they heard us coming quite a long distance off. It was one of those days when the density of the atmosphere is such that every sound can be heard much further than usual.
“The yard men at once divined the situation. They said afterwards that my alarm whistle sounded like a cry of despair, and the roar of the car wheels was like the noise made by a buzz saw. We flew through the yard past the station, and out upon the straight track, right side up, after having faced death fair and square for seven miles.
“I never expect to see a whiter-faced group of men than came forward into the cab when we reached the terminus, which was six miles further on. I did not wait to be discharged, but went directly to the office, told my story, and asked for what money was due me.
“‘No one was to blame but me,’ I said, ‘and this would not have happened but for the cards, and,’ I paused a moment, ‘we should not have been playing euchre on duty had we not been drinking first;’ and I remember now we were about to fill and light our pipes all around when some one noticed that we were over the hill. So I see, tobacco came to mind before duty; and I will never drink, nor smoke, nor play at cards again, nor run another locomotive until I have the stability of character that makes me fit for it.
“I went out of the shop, and, getting into a mail stage that stood by the depot, rode away off to the hills, where I hired out to a farmer.
“The natural love for machinery kept my mind employed, and I soon got up a cut-off, which I had patented. In riding to see how it worked I got to running again. The patent brought me some money, and in time I was promoted to be assistant master mechanic, then to master mechanic, where I took my old title of ‘Old Man’ by good right; and now I am general superintendent. I keep my eye upon my men, especially upon the engineers. We have very few accidents, and I attribute the fact mainly to the steady, reliable men that we have upon the foot-board.”—Church and Home.
The Home Circle.
By Francis L. Keeler
SOME MOTHER'S CHILD.
At home or away, in the alley or street,
Wherever I chance in the wide world to meet
A girl that is thoughtless, or boy that is wild,
My heart echoes softly, "Tis some mother's child."
And when I see those o'er whom long years have rolled,
Whose hearts have grown hardened, whose spirits are cold,
Be it woman all fallen, or man all defiled,
A voice whispers sadly, "Ah, some mother's child."
No matter how far from the right she had strayed;
No matter what inroads dishonor had made;
No matter what elements cankered the pearl;
Though tarnished and sullied, she's somebody's girl.
No matter how wayward his footsteps have been;
No matter how deep he has sunken in sin;
No matter how low is his standard of joy—
Though guilty and loathsome, he's somebody's boy.
That head hath been pillowed on some tender breast;
That form hath been wept o'er, those lips have been pressed.
That soul hath been prayed for, in tones sweet and mild;
For her sake, deal gently with "some mother's child."
—Francis L. Keeler.
The Value of Work.
"What is your secret of success?" asked a lady of Turner, the distinguished painter. He replied, "I have no secret, madam, but hard work." Says Dr. Arnold, "The difference between one boy and another is not so much in talent as in energy." "Nothing," says Reynolds, "is denied well-directed labor, and nothing is to be attained without it." "Excellence in any department," says Johnson, "can now be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price." "There is but one method," says Sydney Smith, "and that is hard labor, and a man who will not pay that price for distinction, had better at once dedicate himself to the pursuit of the fox." "Step by step," reads the French proverb, "one goes very far." "Nothing," says Mirabeau, "is impossible to the man who can will. 'Is that necessary?' 'That shall be.' This is the only law of success." "Have you ever entered a cottage, ever traveled in a coach, ever talked with a peasant in the field, or loitered with a mechanic at the loom," says Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, "and not found that each of those men had a talent you had not, knew something that you knew not?" The most useless creature that ever yawned at a club, or counted the vermin on his rags under the suns of Calabria, has no excuse for want of intellect. What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labor. I am no believer in genius, but I believe that labor, judiciously and continually applied, becomes genius.
The Infidel Without Shelter
The infidel, who boasts that he is not confined by the narrow faith of the Bible, is like the man on the bleak wintry moor, who boasts that he is not hampered by the petty limitations of a house to shelter him.
News and Notes.
By Editor
-Ex-Governor E. D. Morgan, of New York, died on the 14th inst.
-The Governor of New Jersey has signed the bill legalizing labor strikes.
-San Francisco is to have a daily journal printed in both Chinese and English.
-The business portion of Knight’s Landing, Cal., was destroyed by fire, on the 16th inst.
-Richard Wagner, the eminent musical composer, died at Venice, Feb. 13, aged 70 years.
-Another ministerial crisis exists in France, all the members of the new cabinet having resigned.
-The population of the highlands of Scotland has decreased nearly one-half within the last fifty years.
-The New York Board of Education have voted to discontinue the separate schools for colored children, after May 1.
-A steel wire rope 20,440 feet long, and weighing 51,000 pounds has just been made in Trenton, N. J., for a San Francisco street railroad.
-It is stated that Count Corti, Italian Ambassador to Turkey, has been instructed to ask satisfaction for renewed insults to Italian vessels in Tripoli.
-The first Jewish marriage which has taken place in Madrid since the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, two centuries ago, was celebrated a few days ago.
-The Mexican Government has authorized a French merchant to organize a company with the object of bringing to the republic twenty French colonies, of 5,000 families each.
-The Chicago Board of Trade recently unanimously adopted a resolution favoring $500 as the minimum sum at which licenses should be fixed for the sale of spirituous and malt liquors.
-A rain-storm accompanied by a severe gale, prevailed over the whole of England and Scotland last week. Much damage was done by floods, and the loss of life and property along the coast was very great.
-A model cotton gin is to be established at Hogansville, Ga., with machinery so arranged that when the cotton starts at one point it will not stop until it comes out a packed bale. It will run thirty-five bales per day.
-The furniture of the High School building and Court House at Red Bluff, Cal., were covered with coal oil and fired on the night of the 18th. The fires were extinguished with but little loss. All suspicious characters have been ordered to leave town.
-Feb. 16, a coal mine at Braidwood, Ill., about twenty miles from Joliet, caved in, burying seventy-four men, none of whom have yet been recovered. As nearly all the men had families depending on them, the distress occasioned by the calamity will be very great.
-The London Times says in regard to farming prospects in England, "A crisis in field work exists. It is water everywhere, and good sowing time is being wasted." It is thought that most of the autumn sowing is rotten, and that a similar condition exists throughout Europe.
-Dr. Nagle, Registrar of Vital Statistics, publishes the results of eleven years record and observation of suicide in New York. The number of persons committing suicide during that period is 1,521. In 1864 the proportion of suicides was one to every 23,827 inhabitants; in 1874 it was one to 5,515.
-The greatest destitution exists in Europe on account of the almost universal floods, and this suffering will increase rather than diminish, but little sowing has been done. Foreign merchants who have extensive correspondence estimate that the acreage of grain has decreased at least 90 per cent.
-As showing the breaking up of old prejudices in India, the Independent states that a Mahratli lady of good position, not a Christian, is coming to this country with the full approval of her husband, to pursue a thorough medical course, with the intention of returning to practice medicine among her country women.
-Dr. Hugh J. Glenn, of Jacinto, Cal., was shot and killed on the 17th inst., by a man whom he had discharged from his employ on account of drunkenness. Dr. Glenn was quite generally known as the owner of the largest ranch in California, having 60,000 acres in one ranch. He also owned land in Oregon and Nevada.
-The Faculty of Amherst College have taken a strong stand against intercollegiate sports. At a recent meeting resolutions were passed expressing the conviction that their cost in time, money, and energy expended brings no compensating advantage, and decreeing that the college shall take no part in them after the close of the present collegiate year.
-The Monitor claims that it is not a political paper; but a sentence in its last issue, in an article complaining of Governor Stoneman’s appointments, shows what kind of politics it would advocate if it were a political paper. It says: "We are pained, therefore, to see worthy representatives of the Irish race in this State thrust aside in order to give places of profit to men who cannot command a corporal’s guard of voting influence."
-In the case of the suits brought against the railroad companies of New York, for their failure to carry the freight offered to them during the strike for higher wages last summer, the court has decided that the railroad is a public highway, not a piece of private property; that it is only on this ground that the peculiar privileges granted to railroad corporations could be sustained; and that the railway company can be compelled by mandamus to perform its public duties when it fails or neglects so to do; and that inability to get work done at the wages it would choose to pay is no excuse for non-performance. In the words of the decision, "the duties must be performed at whatever cost; the companies cannot abandon their public duties without the express consent of the State."
-The illness of Prince Bismarck, although he is said to be better now, naturally has excited apprehension. His death is a possibility which diplomats and European statesmen are beginning to take into serious consideration. It would be likely to kill the old emperor. But aside from this, it is impossible to predict the consequences of it. The forces in Germany hostile to him are lying in wait for his death, ready to do their utmost when it comes to weaken the union he has brought about between the German States; while his foes from without stand ready at the first favorable movement to push forward their schemes of national aggrandizement which the great German has held in check. A serious feature of the situation is that Bismarck has trained no successor in his principles, or, what is more important, in his methods. No man has been allowed to blossom into greatness by his side, and much as Prussia may admire the prince, the Empire may some day bitterly regret that he educated no one to take his place.—N. Y. Tribune.
Religious Notes.
By Editor
-The Chinese Province of Hunan has 15,000,000 inhabitants, and not a single resident missionary.
-The United Brethren Church in Eureka, Cal., has seceded from the body and set up an independent church. The itineracy is one point on which they strongly dissent from the policy of the U. B. Church.
-Morocco, in North Africa, which has a population of eight or nine millions, still presents a stern and relentless appearance to the Christian faith. The emperor will not permit a Christian to live in the interior of his country.
-The Herald of Truth gives an account of a "Jug Concert" in Los Angeles-not a saloon affair of whisky jugs, but a church affair where money jugs are broken to get their contents for the benefit of the church,-and labels the account, "Juggernaut in Los Angeles." Very expressive.
-Dr. Edward Judson, of New York, is soon to publish a book which will contain a complete history of the life of his father, Adoniram Judson. Many letters hitherto unpublished will appear; and the brief prospectus indicates that it will be a very valuable and interesting work.
-A late number of a popular religious journal says: "The theological assumption that the first chapters of Genesis are a revelation from God, is pure assumption." Why stop at the "first chapters of Genesis"? Those who have read the fable of the camel and the Arab's tent, have the answer already. The devil is content to have religious teachers deny the account of the creation and the fall of man, since the truth of all the rest of the Bible depends on that portion.
-A. W. W. Dale, writing from Cambridge, Eng., says that the election of Dr. Benson, Bishop of Truro, as Archbishop of Canterbury, is a victory for High Church principles, and that from his accession the Ritualists have everything to hope. He says: "The new Archbishop may curb the vagaries of fanatics, but the doctrines and practices of the High Church party will be recognized as conforming to the canons and creeds of Anglicanism. For the time being, Protestantism in the Church has suffered not a defeat but a collapse."
-General Booth, of the Salvation Army, has just issued a year book, which contains the following: "During the year 1882, 609 of our soldiers, to our knowledge, have been knocked down, kicked, or otherwise brutally assaulted, 251 being women, and 23 children under fifteen. No less than 56 of the buildings used by us have been attacked, nearly all of the windows being broken in many cases, and in many others even more serious damage being done. Meetings have sometimes been broken up by stones crashing through window or roof."
-As examples of Christian liberality among Chinese converts, an English paper mentions two men who gave $10.00 each last year to a preaching fund, out of an annual income of between $70.00 and $80.00. Another gave $6.00 out of $48.00 a year. A third gave $7.00 out of $54.00; two others, $5.00 each out of $60.00; and one, $6.00 out of $36.00. If Americans, some of whom claim to be Christians, would refrain from abusing the Chinese until they outdid them in liberality, it would be many years before we would again hear the cry, "The Chinese must go."
-Mr. Newton gives as his reason for his recent sermons on the Bible, in which he denies its infallibility as a guide, and its correctness as a history, that he considered that "a congregation composed, to a considerable proportion, of independent-minded Protestants of all orthodox denominations-of Unitarians, Swedenborgians, Free Religionists and Agnostics-might naturally need a pabulum which to the more conservative would be noxious indeed." This is in keeping with the modern idea that in religious matters people should be taught, not the things that they need to know and practice, but those things that will agree with the tastes and habits that they already have.
-The Christian Union, in regard to the probable trial of Rev. Heber Newton by the authorities of the Episcopal Church, says: "From the published interviews, we judge that the gentlemen who propose to conduct this prosecution, regard Mr. Newton as denying the inspiration of the Bible; we judge that he denies its infallibility and its plenary authority, but not the inspiration of its writers." This is certainly a distinction without any difference. If the Bible is not infallible, of what value is its inspiration? Any uninspired person can say unreliable things, and make mistakes; but the strength of inspiration is that it can be depended upon. "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven."
LIFE OF ELDER JOSEPH BATES, WITH PORTRAIT.
By Editor
This is a reprint of his autobiography, with lengthy introduction, and closing chapters on his public ministry, last sickness, and death, by his fellow-laborer, ELDER JAMES WHITE.
This is a book that will be read with the deepest interest by both old and young. The first portion of the book pertains to his sea-faring life of over twenty years. Here will be found the record of his adventures in his passage from cabin-boy to master and owner. Then follows the account of his conversion, which took place while on the ocean, and the reforms with which he was connected. He was the organizer of the first temperance society in New England, and was identified with the advent message from its start. Every family should have a copy.
352 pages. On fine tinted paper, $1.25; Plain white paper, 85 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Life and Labors of James and Ellen White
By Editor
LIFE SKETCHES. THE EARLY LIFE, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, AND EXTENSIVE LABORS OF ELDER JAMES WHITE, AND HIS WIFE, MRS. ELLEN G. WHITE.
The production of this book was the last literary labor performed by Elder White. As nearly the whole of his active labor was performed in connection with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, which he was largely instrumental in founding, the work is necessarily quite a complete history of that people.
The book abounds in interesting incidents, personal sketches, and religious experiences, some of which are quite remarkable, and altogether it forms a volume at once instructive and interesting. 416 pp. Price, $1.25. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
A MINE OF INFORMATION.
By John Nevins Andrews
HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK.
BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.
THE Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the work of restoration, are given in detail.
EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious Index enables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian.
Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
M. C. ISRAEL
By M. C. Israel
PHILLIPS.—Died of consumption, at Los Angeles, February 11, 1883, Charlotte Phillips, wife of Bro. J. J. Phillips, aged 40 years, and 9 months. Sr. Phillips leaves a husband and three children, and many friends to mourn her loss. But they do not sorrow as those who have no hope, for she gave her heart to the Saviour when only eleven years old, and has lived consistently all her life. She was among the first, with her husband, to embrace the present truth under the tent labors of Eld. Healey two years ago, and died rejoicing in the hope that Jesus is soon coming to wake those who sleep in him, and give them life and immortality. Words of comfort from 1 Thess. 4 : 13–18.
M. C. ISRAEL
Obituary.
By S. H. Bond
BOND.—Died, after nearly three weeks' illness, near Lemoore, Tulare County, Cal., February 13, 1883, Dora Irene, infant daughter of Ebenezer and Anna Bond, aged 2 years, 4 months, and 2 days. W. G. Buckner, Elder of the Lemoore church, conducted the funeral services.
Not as the grief of those who weep,
And look at death as endless sleep,
Was ours, when this sweet opening bud
Was taken by the hand of God.
O, no! we wait for that blest spring
When holy ones shall vict'ry sing,
And Christ shall rescue from the grave
The jewels that he came to save.
S. H. BOND.
About Business.
By Editor
SEVERAL complaints have been received of the slowness of business transactions at this office. We will give a sample. A letter has just been received from Eureka, Humboldt Co., Cal., complaining that periodicals have not been received as ordered. Turning to the records we find that the order was dated December 28. Whether it was mailed that day we cannot say. It was received here January 5, which was Friday; it was forwarded to the office of publication the first of the week. As far as our part of the business was concerned it could not have been done more expeditiously.
We always make an allowance for about as much time from post-offices in this State off the railroads, as we do from post-offices on the railroads east of the mountains. Thus, as in the case above noticed, one week is taken to receive the order here; one week must be allowed to reach its destination East, and one week for the return. In such cases if no return is made in three weeks we think there is unnecessary delay somewhere. It is true that a week is not always taken to reach this office, but we speak of the time we allow without imputing error to the parties through whose hands the business passes.
It has now been determined in our office that, when orders are sent here for any of the periodicals printed in Battle Creek, Mich., to immediately send a number from this office, so that there may be no delay in receiving the first number. This must prove satisfactory to all parties.
We have several times received business letters from the East, and in ten days or less the writer would send a letter inquiring why the business was not attended to. Now it takes a week to transport the mail from ocean to ocean, without any transfers from the direct line; therefore it is impossible to make return in ten days.
The editor of the Signs has nothing to do with the business of the office; business letters never go into his hands. But if any one has complaint to make which, on consideration of the circumstances he thinks is reasonable, if he will state the case to us we will inquire into the matter and report the result. We are very anxious to have our patrons well and promptly served.
Quarterly Meetings.
By Editor
The late General Conference fixed the times of holding the quarterly meetings of the churches, the first Sabbath and first day in March, June, September, and December. The members of the church of Oakland will please notice that the election of church officers will take place at the next quarterly meeting, which will be held Sabbath and Sunday, March 3 and 4, at which time a full attendance is requested.
S. D. A. Year Book.
By Editor
A COPY of the Year Book for 1883 has been received. It was unavoidably delayed a little, being the first of the kind, and it being near the commencement of the year when it was resolved to have it published. It is invaluable to every Seventh-day Adventist, containing a complete directory of all the Conferences and all the Associations of the denomination, the full proceedings of the late General Conference, of the Tract and Missionary Society, and of the various Associations, the Constitution of the General Conference as amended to January 1, 1883, and the Constitution of State Conferences, brief catalogue of publications, and a monthly calendar. It contains seventy two pages, neatly printed and in flexible covers. Price, 25 cents.
A Good Recommendation.
THE pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church of San Francisco, has visited the "Rural Health Retreat," Crystal Springs, St. Helena, Cal., and thus speaks of it:—
"There is no place on this Coast so perfectly free from mosquitoes, fleas, snakes and centipedes, whisky and profanity, and none which in all its appointments so well accords with my idea of a Sanitarium. I hope and intend, Deo Volente, to spend another vacation there, and shall take with me as many of my friends as possible."
Sabbath Memorial.
By Editor
THE January number of the Sabbath Memorial has just been received at this office. Of this paper we cannot speak too highly. The present number is an excellent one. It contains a biographical notice of Rev. Joseph Stennett, pastor of the “Pinner's Hall Seventh-day Baptist Church” from 1690 to 1713; author of the well-know hymn, “Another six-days work is done.” The Memorial is published quarterly at the low price of thirty cents. With great pleasure we will forward subscriptions; and we would be pleased to have copies of it taken in every church in California. Bro. Jones, the editor and publisher, is a man of thorough education, and many of the articles are of rare value.
Liquor and the Price of Crime
By Editor
It is impossible to give expression to our feelings of abhorrence of the dastardly crime recently committed in this State,—the murder of Dr. H. J. Glenn, of Colusa County. As usual, liquor is at the bottom of it, and what but the liquor habit could cause a man to deliberately murder one who had always been only a friend to him? But it will not do to say anything, for that liquor paid a revenue to the State, and the “temperance fanatics” must not be permitted to deprive the Government of such a valuable source of revenue. We believe, however, that the balance of loss and gain in this case has not yet been struck. Who shall audit the account?
Agricultural Fairs and Horse Racing
FOR its clever hit at the folly of the so-called Agricultural Societies and agricultural fairs, the following from the San Francisco Alta is worth preserving:—
“Our esteemed contemporary, the Sacramento Record-Union, which claims to be ‘the only paper in the State that is doing anything for the advancement of agriculture,’ says a man in Susanville, Lassen County, has a fig-tree in full bloom, which, it adds, is quite a curiosity in the mountains. As fig-trees never bloom, our contemporary’s story has been received with a titter. However, as understood in Sacramento, agriculture relates exclusively to horse races, and it is not strange that the Record-Union should make such a mistake as the above. It comes from living too near the headquarters of a State Agricultural Society that spends all its funds trying to get the trotting record down to 2:16.”
"The People are too Many."
By Editor
SOME time since, in noticing the closing of the College in Battle Creek, we spoke of unfortunate influences there, which might appear to cast an unjust reflection upon that church. It was not so intended. We have no hesitation in saying that the church in Battle Creek is too large—about 500 members. Many of these have moved from small churches which have been left to suffer for want of their help, while in Battle Creek they are only ciphers, with nothing there for them to do to benefit the church. This is an unfortunate state of things, for all our people ought to be workers. True, all might do something in Battle Creek; but that many of these here spoken of did not go there to take a burden of labor, is proved by the fact that less than one-third of the entire membership belong to the missionary society. But the workers there are workers; the missionary society is very efficient.
But the worst feature in the circumstances of that church is this: beside the members there are nearly three hundred professed Sabbath-keepers who have drifted into the city without advice, and contrary to the expressed will of the church, and of the General Conference, who have never connected themselves with the church. Feeling responsible to nobody, they are generally independent in their action, yet they pass before the community as Seventh-day Adventists, and give character to the church and the work there in the eyes of the public. This is a most unfortunate state of things. It was the "mixed multitude" that went up with Israel that lusted for flesh and spread disaffection through all the camp. Ex. 12 : 38; Num. 11 : 4.
When we were questioned, we advised that the church in Battle Creek refuse to receive as members those who move to that place without advice or counsel, only to be a burden where all ought to be helpers. And all churches should refuse to give letters to those who wish to move to that place without a clear duty. We sympathize greatly with that church. It has had trouble brought upon it by those who have gone there contrary to duty from which it will take it a long time to clear itself.