THE question whether the sun may not be losing its heat is receiving some attention just now in scientific circles. An instrument for measuring heat, devised by Professor Langley and alleged to be capable of detecting the smallest changes in temperature, shows, says a writer in The Academy and Literature (London), that the sun's heat has recently fallen off in a marked degree. This writer says:—
He [Langley] believes that at the end of March, 1903, contemporaneously with a marked increase in sun-spots, something happened in the sun that caused a rapid fall in the solar radiation, which subsequently has continued to be about ten per cent less than before! What the cause of this fall may have been we can not conjecture; but it is interesting to inquire what consequences it had for the earth. According to Professor Langley such a change in the sun would reduce the temperature of the earth's surface by something less than 13.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Now when attention is directed to the exact observations made at eighty-nine stations in the north temperate zone, and when these are compared with the results of many previous years, it is found that a definite fall of more than two degrees did actually occur; nor is it possible to conceive “what influence, not solar, could have produced this rapid and simultaneous reduction of temperatures over the whole north temperate zone, and continued operative for so long a period.” While we remain ignorant of the cause of this solar change, we can not make any predictions as to its persistence or possible accentuation. All we can conclude is that our tenure of this “lukewarm bullet” is perhaps not so certain as some of us have thought.
A MOVEMENT for closer relations between church organizations and labor unions has been started in Omaha, Neb. The following facts relative to the situation are stated in the Omaha Bee of February 21:—
For the first time members of the Central Labor Union sat as fraternal delegates in the weekly meeting of the ministers' association yesterday. They were President Louis V. Guye, Edward M. Birch, and C. L. Burkett. In return the preachers elected their president, J. E. Hummon, Rev. E. Combie Smith, and B. F. Fellman as delegates to the labor council. This condition was brought about by Rev. Charles Stelzle, workingman's secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, who is concerned in bringing the churches and the unionist closer together. . . . Rev. Stelzle congratulated the ministers on deciding to send delegates to the Central Labor Union. “The possibilities in the exchange of relations and sympathetic co-operation between the men in labor unions and the churches are big with hope,” said he. “They are tremendous. Scarcely any great, broad movement along social lines in the cities can not be accomplished by such a force.”
The great world-wide movements with which human history is to be brought to a close are to have a distinctly religious character, which will necessarily involve federation between religious and secular organizations.
THE agitation which centers around the subject of the alleged discrimination in railway rates and the use of the vast wealth and power of corporations to foster monopoly, against the interests of the people, is driving the country toward governmental control of corporate affairs. In a recent speech in Philadelphia, President Roosevelt said on this point:—
Neither this people nor any other free people will permanently tolerate the use of the vast power conferred by vast wealth, and especially by wealth in its corporate form, without lodging somewhere in the government the still higher power of seeing that this power, in addition to being used in the interest of the individual or individuals possessing it, is also used for, and not against, the interests of the people as a whole.
The people, if they seek this remedy against the misuse of corporate power, will centralize power in the federal government. The movement toward centralization of power in the government is already marked, and is exciting apprehension in many quarters; yet it seems necessary, as a remedy for monopolistic tyranny, to come still nearer to a paternal form of government. Individual freedom, which was secured under this government, has been abused, and the remedy sought will necessarily restrict that freedom. Whether or not a strong central government would prove to be in the interests of the people, whether it would deliver them from the clutches of selfishness and greed, or whether the latter would find means of working through the government as formerly through the trust, is a question to be carefully considered in the light of reason and experience. But it remains a fact to be noted, as a sign of the times, that the nation is rapidly moving along the pathway of centralization of power, and toward a paternal, if not a monarchical, form of government.
THE papal “apostolic” delegate to this country, Mgr. Falconio, recently issued a financial appeal to the hierarchy in the United States in behalf of the pope, in which he said:—
I regret to state that, notwithstanding the generous response of the American people, the financial condition of the holy see is far from being prosperous or satisfactory. The present sad state of some of the most prosperous nations of Europe and the increased demands on the funds of the church are the principal causes of the actual financial situation of the holy see, a situation upon which our holy father looks with alarm, because, unless his children come forward more liberally to his assistance, notwithstanding the utmost economy practised in every direction, he can hardly meet the exigencies of the vast administration of the church, which extends throughout the whole world. Consequently, his eminence, the cardinal secretary of state, requests me to make known to all the ordinaries of the United States the said financial difficulties, in the hope that by their zeal those sources of revenue which have heretofore been forthcoming from France and Italy, and of which at present in a very large measure the holy see is deprived, may be adequately compensated. . . . Hence, besides the general yearly collection, which is to remain as heretofore and to be more earnestly encouraged, other means are suggested which may prove here in America as productive as they have been in some countries of Europe.
The cause of this “sad state of some of the most prosperous nations of Europe,” on which, because of their devotion to Rome, the Vatican has depended in the past, is their union of church and state. Rome has made them what they are, and now is obliged to turn for help to a non-Catholic country, which, if Rome were allowed her way here, would ere long be brought into the same sad state at which all the devoted Catholic nations of the past in due time arrived. Even Catholics ought to see the point in this situation. L. A. S.
God’s Purpose for Us
“AFTER this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Those whom the Lamb shall lead by the fountains of living waters, and from whose eyes he shall wipe away all tears, will be those now receiving the knowledge and understanding revealed in the Bible, the Word of God. To us has been given the privilege of receiving the wisdom that cometh from God, of seeing the beauty and the glories of that Word which lies at the foundation of all true knowledge. The Bible teaches us what a Christian ought to be, and what he ought to do.
We are to copy no human being. There is no human being wise enough to be our criterion. We are to look to the man Christ Jesus, who is complete in the perfection of righteousness and holiness. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the pattern Man. His experience is the measure of the experience that we are to gain. His character is our model. Let us, then, take our minds off the perplexities and the difficulties of this life, and fix them on him, that by beholding we may be changed into his likeness. We may behold Christ to good purpose. We may safely look to him; for he is all-wise. As we look to him and think of him, he will be formed within, the hope of glory.
Let us strive with all the power that God has given us to be among the hundred and forty-four thousand. And let us do all that we can to help others to gain heaven. We are to have an intense interest in Christ Jesus; for he is our Saviour. He came to this world to be tempted in all points as we are, to prove to the universe that in this world of sin human beings can live lives that God will approve.
Think of how much it cost Christ to leave the heavenly courts, and take his position at the head of humanity. Why did he do this?—Because he was the only one who could redeem the fallen race. There was not a human being in the world who was without sin. The Son of God stepped down from his heavenly throne, laid off his royal robe and kingly crown, and clothed his divinity with humanity. He came to die for us, to lie in the tomb as human beings must, and to be raised for our justification. He came to become acquainted with all the temptations wherewith man is beset. He rose from the grave, and proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life.” One equal with God passed through death in our behalf. He tasted death for every man, that through him every man might be a partaker of eternal life.
Christ ascended to heaven, bearing a sanctified, holy humanity. He took this humanity with him into the heavenly courts, and through the eternal ages he will bear it, as the One who has redeemed every human being in the city of God, the One who has pleaded before the Father, “I have graven them upon the palms of my hands.” The palms of his hands bear the marks of the wounds that he received. If we are wounded and bruised, if we meet with difficulties that are hard to manage, let us remember how much Christ suffered for us. Let us sit together with our brethren in heavenly places in Christ. Let us bring heaven’s blessing into our hearts.
Our Saviour bore all that we are called upon to bear, so that no human being could say, “He does not know my suffering and my trials.” In all our afflictions he was afflicted, and because of this, the Father has committed to him all judgment.
Satan declared that human beings could not live without sin. Christ passed over the ground where Adam stumbled and fell, and by a sinless life placed the human race on vantage-ground, that every one might stand before the Father accepted in the Beloved.
The Saviour ascended to heaven to plead before the throne of God in our behalf. Just before his ascension he gave to his disciples the commission, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” To us as well as to the disciples this commission is given. We are to speak the things that Christ has commanded us. Let us not talk of the mistakes and defects of others. Let us speak the words that Christ has given us to speak. Let us seek for the blessings that Christ has placed within our reach, that we may be made capable of receiving more and still more of his grace, and that we may be filled with a living, active, growing faith,—a faith that believes the promise, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
The Ten-Cent-a-Week Plan
By Wm. Covert
WM. COVERT
This question has been carefully considered by a number of persons appointed by the General Conference to give advice about regular offerings for the foreign work, and the decision has been rendered that ten cents a week could be paid on the average by our people. This was to be apart from the tithe and the Sabbath-school offerings. It was thought that while there are some who can not easily pay ten cents a week, there are many who can and do pay much more than that amount.
It is believed that the member in average circumstances, with average ability to acquire money, can pay ten cents a week, if he keeps the subject in mind, and makes an effort throughout the entire year to do it. The whole sum for twelve months would amount to only $5.20, and many persons find themselves able to do many times this amount by making the proper effort. Indeed, the amount paid will, in the majority of cases, depend very much upon the will of the individual and the attention given to the question.
The present membership of our denomination is about eighty thousand. If the plan of giving ten cents a week for9the foreign work were adopted and fully carried out by this whole denomination, the aggregate amount for one year would be $416,000. This sum, with the Sabbath-school offerings and the legacies that would fall to the treasury of the Foreign Mission Board, would give a total of nearly half a million dollars annually for aggressive work. These figures do not represent something that would be impossible for this people to do. In fact, it could easily be accomplished if entire co-operation could be secured. When all make the united effort, the burden will be much more easily lifted than in any other way.
Should our people arise as one person and adopt the ten-cent-a-week plan, there would be provided a regular fund to the Foreign Mission Board with which to pay our missionaries. In this case they would know just how to plan in regard to sending laborers abroad, and uncertainties and perplexities could be dismissed forever, as far as the financial burden of the foreign work is concerned.
Of course the time will come when thousands and tens of thousands of dollars will be offered for the Lord's work, but with many it will be too late to be used. There are many purchases being made and business transactions negotiated, representing means which should go to provide evangelistic labor for the saving of sinners. But O! so many have allowed the cares of this life to blind their minds to such an extent that they can not see the fatal mistake they are making! The terrors of the last days will arouse some, but many poor souls will perish in their blindness.
Triumph Through Christ
By Joseph Griffith
PREPARE me, Lord, my foes to meet,
I tarry at thy mercy-seat;
Thy presence there I wait.
I wait, and seek with earnest prayer
A rescue from temptation’s snare,
Before it is too late.
When in temptation’s trying hour,
Wilt thou not give thy servant power
To triumph in thy name?
Yea, Lord, I verily believe
My soul shall ever help receive,
Since thou endurest the same.
Then let me always trust in thee;
When tempted, O, deliver me!
When want and hunger press,
And pomp’s ambition haunts me sore,
O may I trust in thee the more,
And love vain world the less!
The gift of help, dear Lord, I need;
I therefore come, and anxious plead;
Withhold it not from me.
I know ’tis mine, since thou hast died
In triumph on the cross, and cried,
“’Tis finished;” all for thee.
— Joseph Griffith.
The Tithing System Is a Part of the Gospel Plan
By R. A. Underwood
R. A. UNDERWOOD
FROM an article in the REVIEW of Sept. 10, 1889, on the subject of tithing, by Mrs. E. G. White, I quote these words:—
“The tithing system did not originate with the Hebrews. From the earliest times the Lord claimed a tithe as his, and this claim was recognized and honored. Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, the priest of the most high God. Jacob, when at Bethel, an exile and wanderer, promised the Lord, ‘Of all that thou shalt give I will surely give the tenth unto thee.’ As the Israelites were about to be established as a nation, the law of tithing was reaffirmed as one of the divinely ordained statutes, upon obedience to which their prosperity depended.”
Then follows the statement of the object of the tithing system in these words: “The system of tithes and offerings was intended to impress the minds of men with a great truth,—that God is the source of every blessing to his creatures, and that to him man’s gratitude is due for the good gifts of his providence. . . .
“Thus the people were constantly reminded that God was the true Proprietor of their fields, their flocks, and their herds; that he sent them sunshine and rain for their seed-time and harvest, and that everything they possessed was of his creation, and he had made them stewards of his goods.”
The gospel of Christ is that wonderfully far-reaching purpose of the Creator which is based upon principles as enduring as the plan for the creation and the continuance of the universe of God.
In Heb. 5: 6 Christ is said to be “a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” That order of priesthood existed from the fall of man till the introduction of the Levitical order of priesthood; and then, contemporaneously with the latter, and since the Levitical order ceased (at the cross), the Saviour has been a priest according to the Melchisedec order, ministering in behalf of mankind, and offering his own blood before the Father to make reconciliation for all who accept him as their substitute, regardless of the age when they lived on the earth.
The tithing system was contemporaneous with the Melchisedec priesthood, prior to the Levitical priesthood (See Gen. 14: 16-20; 28: 11-22); it continued during the Levitical order of priesthood (Lev. 27: 28-33; Num. 18: 21); and will ever remain binding as long as the present order of Melchisedec priesthood exists. Heb. 5: 6; 7: 1-9; Matt. 23: 23; 1 Cor. 9: 11-14. Therefore, as the Melchisedec priesthood is contemporaneous with the gospel, and the tithing system is contemporaneous with the Melchisedec priesthood, the tithing system is contemporaneous with the gospel, founded upon moral principles, and is coexistent with the gospel, and inseparable from the gospel.
Another consideration showing how ancient and general the custom of tithing was, is the fact that it was well known among the heathen. Cruden says: “The most barbarous nations, and the heathen Greeks and Romans, out of a principle of religion common to all men, have often dedicated their tithes to their gods. Some have made it a standing obligation: others have done it upon particular occasions, and by the impulse of a transient devotion. Laertius says that when Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, wrote to Solon to persuade him to return to Athens, he tells him ‘that every one there pays the tithe of his goods for the offering of sacrifices to the gods.’—Laert., lib. 1. Pliny says that the Arabian merchants who traded in spices, durst not sell any till they had paid the tithe to their god Sabis. And Plutarch, in more places than one, mentions a custom of the Romans of offering to Hercules the tithe of what they took from their enemies.”
It is evident that the heathen nations retained this much of the form of the gospel and the true worship of God, although their worship had been turned from the true God to false gods. Their devotion should be a standing rebuke to professed Christians who refuse to honor Christ in the payment of the tithe. We talk of the precious gift of Christ, the costly purchase he made for man, of our faith, of our hope of heaven, and yet, to the shame and confusion of many, the heathen will rise up in the judgment to condemn them.
It is worthy of remark that new institutions, originating from Abraham’s time onward through the Bible history, have their origin plainly brought to view, the command requiring observance, and the circumstances and rites connected with them. For example, take circumcision. In Gen. 17: 10-14 the practise is commanded, and instruction is given as to who should receive the ordinance, the age when it was to be practised, its intent, and the consequences of not obeying God’s command. This was a new institution.
So of the passover. In Exodus 12 we have all the particulars concerning it,—the command of God, how it should be celebrated, when and by whom, and its purpose. So of Pentecost (Lev. 23: 15-21), the ceremonial sabbaths (Lev. 23: 24, 39), etc. We find the same concerning the feast of unleavened bread (Ex. 12: 18), the feast of tabernacles (Lev. 23: 34), the feast of trumpets (Lev. 23: 24), the atonement. Leviticus 16.
In the New Testament we find baptism commanded (Matt. 28: 19), the Lord’s supper (Matt. 26: 26-28), and the ordinance of humility. John 13: 4-17. Every one of these was plainly brought to view as a new institution, and commanded as such.
But the origin of the tithing system reaches back to the beginning, when its necessity had been made by the fall of man, and the promise of hope was offered to a lost world.
Trying Times in South America
By J. W. Westphal
J. W. WESTPHAL
During the three years I have been in South America, there have been abundant evidences that this continent is sharing in the general restlessness characterizing the world to-day.
Within this time there has been war between Venezuela and Colombia, and trouble between Venezuela and some of the European powers, and between Colombia and the United States, both of which verged onto a war. War was threatened between Colombia and Panama, between Argentina and Chile, between Brazil and Bolivia, and between Brazil and Peru. There have been serious revolutions in Uruguay and Paraguay, the latter of which is at this writing still continuing. There are serious disturbances which border onto a revolution in Brazil, over compulsory vaccination. Besides the usual quarantines against yellow fever and smallpox, Argentina, Paraguay, northern Chile, and Ecuador have been quarantined against the bubonic plague, while there have also been many local quarantines for the same reason. There have been labor strikes here in Buenos Ayres and other places.
Chief among the things that are agitating10the public mind is compulsory Sunday rest. What seemed an impossibility in these countries three years ago, is now an accomplished fact. Both national and local Sunday laws are being made and enforced. Even in the smaller villages, business has entirely ceased on Sunday, or is carried on only in the forenoon. The ministers and the workmen are especially agitating this question. The latest developments have been a general strike in the city of Buenos Ayres in behalf of a national Sunday-rest law. Other issues, as shorter hours and a better wage, have been added, but the original and principal issue is Sunday rest. The government has been willing to grant a weekly rest law, and let the employer and employee mutually arrange the day. But this is not sufficient; it must be Sunday, the token of papal authority and power. The general disturbances, the destruction of property, the effort to get the employee to break his word and contract with his employer, the resulting losses, and the general stagnation of business—all this is even quite laudable in a Christian (?) enterprise.
When all these and other elements already strained to intensity break loose, as they surely will, what a rushing stream there will be to meet! Truly we have only a short time in which to work.
Buenos Ayres, Argentina.
Returning to the Work
By R. L. Pierce
R. L. PIERCE
It is evident that the time has come when books containing the third angel’s message should be circulated as never before. Recent Testimonies are very emphatic on this point. The Lord is calling for workers to go forth in his vineyard with the printed page of truth,—those who have been successful in other lines, and who have tact, “push,” ability, together with consecration and a love for perishing souls.
“In all parts of the field, colporteurs and canvassers should be chosen, not from the floating element of society, not from men and women who are good for nothing else, and who have made a success of nothing, but from among those who have good address, tact, keen foresight, and ability. . . . Men and women are wanted who are as true to duty as the needle is to the pole,—men and women who will work without having their way smoothed and every obstacle removed. . . . A great and important work is before us. The enemy of souls realizes this, and he is using every means in his power to lead the canvassers to take up some other line of work. This order of things should be changed. God calls the canvassers back to their work.”—Manual for Canvassers.
It is certainly a cause for great rejoicing to see some of the pioneers responding to this call, while others are now closing up the lines of work in which they have been engaged in recent years, preparatory to again entering the field with their prospectuses. Some who are now on farms are disposing of them in order to give all their time to the canvassing work; thus the way is being prepared not only for a revival of this branch of the work, but for this message to go with greater strides than it did even in the earlier days of its history.
God, through his faithful and tried servants, has already given us the books containing the third angel’s message, and just now while conditions are so favorable, he calls upon his people to push their sale with sanctified determination and untiring perseverance. The canvassing work is steadily coming to the front again, and is now being recognized by many as accomplishing more in the advancement of this cause than perhaps any other one department of our denominational work. We think there are most excellent reasons for this, aside from the plain and forcible instruction given in the Testimonies regarding it. Note the following:—
1. Through the consecrated canvasser the truth is effectually carried to more people than by any other means.
2. He produces his own wages, and is therefore not dependent upon any of our institutions or conferences for his support. Instead of taking money out of the cause, which is so greatly in need of funds, he is bringing money into it.
3. He is co-operating with our publishing houses and tract societies in the production and distribution of literature.
4. He carries the truth into homes where prejudice or a love of the world forbid our ministers and Bible workers to enter.
5. He comes into the closest touch with the people and their needs. This is especially true of that form known as “resident canvassing.”
6. His own heart is kept warm and glowing with the love of Christ and his soon appearing, as he goes about his work of carrying the message to those in the “highways and hedges.”
There are many who can not devote all their time to this work, but there are very few, if any, who could not find some time in which to help place our publications in the hands of the people if they would but put forth a zealous and determined effort. Some can work certain days or hours each week, or perhaps evenings, while others may only be able to sell a book or a paper as they go on some errand, or while attending to other duties. We have seen many illustrations of this. One brother, occupying quite an important business position, sold several hundred copies of “Christ’s Object Lessons” while sitting at his desk. An aged sister, who was not able to go out to canvass, sold twelve books in two weeks at her home. Her grocery boy, the woman that supplied her with produce from the country, and the woodman each bought a book; and neighbors who called were given an opportunity to buy. A minister going to a general meeting took with him two hundred copies of the smaller books for the children to sell. These were sold in two days, and one little girl, after selling all she had, came back, and with the love of true service beaming from her childish eyes, said:
“Brother —, you didn’t have faith enough, did you?” He could only answer “No,” and ask God to give him more faith in the promise, “Angels will be sent out before our workers to prepare the hearts of the people for the truth as contained in our books.”
If one and all—ministers, physicians, farmers, carpenters, housewives, Bible workers, employees, students, etc., as well as the children—will take hold of this work prayerfully and earnestly, we shall see this message go as it has never gone in the past. Let no one think that the Lord is actually dependent upon any of us to carry these important truths to the world; but were this privilege denied us, we should be deprived of one of Heaven’s richest blessings,—the joy that comes from saving others. Let us, therefore, “put on the whole armor of God,” and in his fear, sound the warning message, while conditions for the sale of our literature are so favorable; for soon “the night cometh, in the which no man can work.”
Scatter Good Books and Tracts
By W. M. Adams
W. M. ADAMS
THERE is no work that excels that of distributing the books, tracts, and papers containing the truths for this time. All can to a greater or lesser extent have part in this important work. For the encouragement of every effort put forth in this direction, I quote a part of a letter written by a brother who has kept the Sabbath for several months as the result of a faithful canvasser's work. The brother says: “A member of our German colony has a book entitled ‘Bible Readings for the Home Circle,’ and another got ‘Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation’ from a man who is going from house to house. These two books made their way through the colony, so we learned the right way of God and his Word. . . . It is eight months since eight of our families began to keep the Sabbath.” One of this number is a Lutheran minister. “Can we not thank God, who is watering the seeds of truth sown, and take new courage?” Dr. Gamble, who is so bitterly opposed to our work and our literature, makes this statement in his book: “More than half of the Christian homes in the West, so far as I have been able to learn in fourteen thousand three hundred miles of travel, have from one to five of these books in their libraries.”
So let us continue to sow the good seed beside all waters. Let every one of God's children do something, and do it now. With our literature “humble, faithful men are to go forth as colporteur evangelists, bearing the truth to many who otherwise would never be enlightened.”
The Dairyman's Duty
Dr. Edward F. Brush, of Mount Vernon, N. Y., whose special knowledge of dairy products and practise is exceptionally thorough, read a paper on “Milk for Infant Feeding” before the American Medical Association, from which we select a few paragraphs:—
“It is easier to control cows than women. Human mothers are often emotional, excitable, indiscreet, sometimes hysterical, and not always able to control themselves. A dairyman, understanding that these conditions can affect milk, must also understand the necessity of controlling his cows. When a cow gets disturbed or hurt, the milk can be thrown away, and the excited cow can be kept from influencing the other members of the herd. From years of experience and observation I feel safe in affirming that the accountable party to the individual in the cradle is the man who is responsible for the production of the milk when the foot that rocks the cradle is not the mater who furnishes the nourishment for the baby. And, therefore, dairymen who are supplying milk for infants’ food are assuming a terrible responsibility. There are thousands of infants dying yearly from stomach and intestinal troubles who are fed on the milk sent to the cities and villages by dairymen surrounding the urban and interurban communities, and I am sure that the milkmen supplying these artificially fed infants are responsible for a large percentage of the deaths, and that these infants are killed by carelessness on the part of the dairymen supplying them with their daily food.”
“A baby is a good milk analyzer, and when there is nothing added to the milk it gets, its method of analysis is sure and simple. If the baby dies from intestinal disturbance when it has no other food than milk and sterilized water, the man furnishing the milk should be held responsible; but when physicians imagine that they can take milk fresh from the milk train, and, by some novel method of modifying, make it equal to mother’s milk, then no one can tell whether the trouble originated in the laboratory or from milk-sugar, or any of the other causes that may arise with old milk and other old things.”
“While physicians are trying to construct plans to make bad milk good, and to persuade parents that sterilizing, peptonizing, pancreatizing, modifying with cream from equally bad milk and indefinite milk-sugar, or making gruel either from barley or other cereals with the idea that this is the best that can be done, they will still have the problem unsolved of how to nourish the baby who can not get good milk from his own mother’s breast.”
“A few weeks ago a physician telephoned me that the milk I was sending to him went wrong. On inquiry I ascertained that he was adding milk-sugar and lime-water. I told him to stop the addition, and he was surprised to hear me say that milk could be fed without modifying. After three weeks his wife telephoned me, asking if she could not add sugar. She said the baby was thriving, bowels normal, but she still had the idea that something must be added. No man living to-day can prepare good food for infants from bad milk. He may modify it as he pleases, but the baby will not receive it kindly. Still, on insistence, he often takes it, and dies. I know that milk can not be improved, even by the most learned chemists that ever lived.”
“Good cow’s milk will nourish an infant without intervention of the chemist, while bad milk will kill in spite of the man who knows how to modify milk according to the most approved method.”
Walking for Health
WHILE there is no organic weakness which is aggravated by the exertion, it is the easiest and pleasantest thing to walk right into health. Of course there is no virtue in a dawdling saunter. The slow, languid dragging one foot after the other, which some people call walking, would tire an athlete; it utterly exhausts a weak person, and that is the reason why many delicate persons think they can not walk. To derive any benefit from the exercise it is necessary to walk with a light, elastic step, which swings the weight of the body so easily from one leg to the other that its weight is not felt, and which produces a healthy glow, showing that the sluggish blood is stirred to action in the most remote veins. This sort of walking exhilarates the whole body, gives tone to the nerves, and produces just that sort of healthful fatigue which encourages sound, restful sleep.—Selected.
House and Farm
By Frederic Lawrence Knowles
A Song of Content
How many million stars must shine
Which only God can see!—
Yet in the sky his hand has hung
Ten thousand stars for me.
How many blossoms bloom and fade
Which only God can know!—
Yet here's my field of buttercups,
And here my daisies blow.
How many wing-paths through the blue
Lure swallows up and down!—
Yet here's my little garden walk,
And yon's the road to town.
How many a treacherous voice has
wooed
Unhappy feet to roam!—
Yet God has taught my willing ear
The sounds of love and home.
— Frederic Lawrence Knowles.
A Mother’s Due
You owe it to your mother—
To do your best to keep her youthful in appearance, as well as in spirit, by taking pains with her dress and the little accessories and details of her toilet.
Not to shock or pain her by making fun of her religious prejudices if they happen to be at variance with yours, or if they seem narrow to your advanced views.
To introduce all your young friends to her, and to enlist her sympathies in youthful projects, hopes, and plans, so that she may carry her own youth into old age.
To talk to her about your work, your studies, your friends, your amusements, the books you read, the places you visit; for everything that concerns you is of interest to her.
If she is no longer able to take her accustomed part in the household duties, not to let her feel that she is superannuated or has lost any of her importance as the central factor in the family.—Success.
Some Useful Hints
WHEN it is necessary to pour boiling water into a tumbler or glass cup, put in a teaspoon first, and there will be no danger of the glass cracking.
Borax in the water will make fine flannels look like new, and will not shrink them.
A paste of common baking-soda and water spread on a burn will stop the pain and inflammation almost immediately.
Salt in the oven under baking tins will prevent pastry from scorching on the bottom.
The water in which onions have been boiled is excellent for cleaning gilt frames.
A little alum added to the stove polish helps to keep the stove bright and shining.
The most soiled kitchen towels will become white and sweet with this treatment: Cover with cold water, put them at the back of the stove, add one tablespoonful of white soap shaved and the juice of half a lemon; let come to a boil gradually; rinse, first in tepid water, then in cold.
To give a pie a brown, flaky appearance: When the pie is ready to bake, put about one and a half teaspoonfuls of sweet milk on the top, and spread it over all the surface. No more white crusts if this is done.—Selected.