THE enemy knows that to a great degree the mind is affected by that upon which it feeds. He is seeking to lead both the youth and those of mature age to read story books, tales, and other literature. Those who yield to this temptation soon lose their relish for solid reading. They have no interest in Bible study. Their moral powers become enfeebled. Sin appears less and less repulsive. There is manifest an increasing unfaithfulness, a growing distaste for life's practical duties. As the mind becomes perverted, it is ready to grasp any reading of a stimulating character. Thus the way is open for Satan to bring the soul fully under his domination.
Works that do not so decidedly mislead and corrupt are yet to be shunned, if they impart a disrelish for the study of the Bible. This Word is the true manna. Let all repress the desire for reading matter that is not food for the mind. You can not possibly do the work of God with clear perceptions while the mind is occupied with this class of reading. Those who are in God's service should spend neither time nor money for light reading. What is the chaff to the wheat?
Question your own experience as to the influence of light reading. Can you, after spending time in such reading, open the Bible, and read with interest the words of life? Do you not find the book of God uninteresting? The charm of that love-story is upon the mind, destroying its healthy tone, and making it impossible for you to fix the attention upon the important, solemn truths that concern your eternal welfare.
In order to have a healthy tone of mind, and sound religious principles, we must live in communion with God through His Word. Pointing out the way of salvation, the Bible is our guide to a higher, better life. It contains the most interesting and most instructive history and biography that was ever written. Those whose imaginations have not been perverted by the reading of fiction will find the Bible the most interesting of all books.
Resolutely discard all worthless reading. Such reading will not strengthen your spirituality, but will introduce into the mind sentiments that will pervert the imagination, causing you to think less of Jesus, and to dwell less upon His precious lessons. Keep the mind free from everything that would lead it in a wrong direction. Do not encumber it with trashy stories, which impart no strength to the mental powers. The thoughts will be of the same character as the food provided for the mind.
The Bible is the book of books. If you love the Word of God, searching it as you have opportunity, that you may come into the possession of the rich treasure that it contains, and be thoroughly furnished unto all good works, then you may be assured that Jesus is drawing you to Himself. But to read the Scriptures in a casual way, without seeking to comprehend Christ's lessons or to comply with His requirements, is not enough. There are treasures in the Word of God that can be discovered only by sinking the shaft deep into the mines of truth.
The carnal mind rejects the truth; but the soul that is converted undergoes a marvelous change. The books that before were unattractive, because they revealed truths that testify against the sinner, now become the food of the soul, the joy and consolation of the life. The Sun of Righteousness illuminates the sacred pages, the Holy Spirit speaks through them to the soul. To those who love Christ, the Bible is as the garden of God. Its promises are as grateful to the heart as the fragrance of flowers is to the senses.
Let those who have acquired a love for light reading now turn their attention to the Word of God. Let them begin to study with fresh interest the sacred records of the Old and New Testaments. The oftener and more diligently the Bible is studied, the more beautiful it will appear, and the less relish will there be for light reading.
THE GREATEST EARTHQUAKE.
By H. A. St. John
APRIL 18, 1906 has been rendered memorable by the great earthquake on that day on the Pacific Coast. Millions upon millions of property have been destroyed, and hundreds of precious lives lost, and the end of sufferings and deaths is not yet.
If this is the voice of God speaking to this hitherto fortunate and prosperous people of this American Gold Coast, how many will rightly interpret the voice, and profit by this great lesson of bitter experience? Will there be a turning to the Lord by embracing with all the heart the everlasting Gospel, and thus preparing for the greatest earthquake, as also the last, that this earth will ever know, which, by the way, is not far distant, or will there be a maddening rush to build for time, instead of eternity?
The Ten Words of the first great sermon on the mount were made most terribly emphatic by an earthquake. In speaking the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai to more than six millions of souls at the foot of the mountain, God's voice shook the earth, and the mountain quaked greatly. Ex. 19: 18; Heb. 12: 26. Could that people who had been delivered from abject slavery and made a free and independent nation only about three months before, ever forget the presence, majesty, and power of the living God, or the importance and holiness of the living oracles thus revealed to them on that memorable day? God was about to establish a true theocracy among that people, and hence the wonderful phenomena and great glory manifested in the proclamation of the constitution of that theocracy. But that people did thereafter become backslidden and rebellious, and hence the Lord at times visited them "with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." Isa. 29: 6.
Now sin, all sin, is the transgression of that holy law of Ten Commandments uttered by the Lord from the summit of Sinai. But all have sinned, and thus come short of the glory of God. But God so loved the world that He gave His beloved Son to die for us, that we, through His death, might obtain everlasting life, becoming, through Christ, loyal subjects of the government of God.
When Christ cried with a loud voice, bowed His head, and died on Calvary's cross, there was a great earthquake. The solid rocks were rent, and graves were opened. Thus the event of the Lamb of God presenting Himself as the great sin-offering to take away the sin of the world, was made emphatic by an earthquake.
And this same Jesus said of the period between His going away and coming again, There shall be "earthquakes in divers places." Matt. 24: 7. These prophetic words of Jesus have been most fully demonstrated many times, "Earthquakes in divers places." It is now frequently observed by those who know best that no country on the earth is exempt from earthquakes. They may occur in any place at any time. Twelve or thirteen earthquakes every year for centuries past, in different parts of the world, with varying degrees of intensity, loss of life and property, demonstrate the certainty of the fulfilment of all the prophecies of Jesus. It is estimated that not less than 13,000,000 people have lost their lives by earthquakes alone. The Lisbon earthquake of Nov. 1, 1755, came at about the right time to meet the requirement of Rev. 6: 12. That was indeed a great earthquake, extending over a very large part of the earth and destroying the lives of more than 60,000 human beings in the city of Lisbon alone.
Dynamiting the Great Central Lodging-house, Third and Mission Streets, San Francisco.
But earth's mightiest earthquake is the last. It begins at a point of time immediately preceding the coming of Christ in all His glory, with all the holy angels, to raise the sleeping saints, to transform all the blessed and holy, in a moment, from mortality to immortality, and to change their vile bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body. They will then be withdrawn from the earth, caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Breaking Open of 17th Street, San Francisco, by the Earthquake, April 18, 1906.
This innumerable host of redeemed and glorified ones will be the only refugees of a doomed world that will be saved from the awful wreck and ruin of that great earthquake, earth's mightiest and last. Not a soul of all the inhabitants of the earth will escape alive in that fearful time except those who are accounted worthy of eternal life, and are, by the power of God, taken from the earth, evermore to live with the King of saints. So terrible will that day be to the unprepared everywhere, that the involuntary cry will go up from all over the earth, from kings, captains, mighty men, rich men, and all classes, "Mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6: 16, 17.
Now the reader will be interested to read the prophecy of Jesus relating to this last great earthquake yet to come, and that, too, in the near future. Here are the portentous words: "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. . . . And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Rev. 16: 17-20.
Thus, when Jesus and the redeemed leave the earth, it will be completely broken down, made empty, turned upside down, utterly destitute of all its living inhabitants (Isa. 24: 1-6), and will thus remain, dark, moving, trembling, shaking, empty, and void (Jer. 4: 23-27), till Jesus comes at the end of the millennial reign of the saints in heaven. Then Jesus will plant His feet upon the Mount of Olives; it will part asunder, become a great plain (Zech. 14: 4, 8, 9), the place for the location of the holy city, the Paradise of God that comes down from God out of heaven. Rev. 21: 2. The wicked raised from the dead will go into perdition in the earth when it shall burn as an oven. Mal. 4: 1. When the great controversy is ended, God will make a new heaven and a new earth. 2 Peter 3: 7-13.
A Scene in Santa Rosa after the Earthquake and Fire April 18. At the right of the street in which the men are standing stood "The White House," the first store in Sonoma County. All the business part of the city was ruined by the earthquake. The fire completed the work.
No more sin, suffering, or death, no more curse, no more earthquakes. The saints, with Jesus as their King, will take possession of the kingdom of glory, to dwell therein in perfect bliss forevermore. They receive "A KINGDOM WHICH CAN NOT BE MOVED." Heb. 12: 27, 28. H. A. ST. JOHN.
Miracles Prove Christ’s Birth and Religion
By T. H. Nelson
The miracles of Christ’s life prove the genuineness of the miracle of His birth; and the miracles of Christ’s religion as contrasted with all other religions prove the genuineness of the miracles in the life of its founder.—T. H. Nelson.
The Bible Finds Me
By Coleridge
In the Bible there is more that finds me than I have experienced in all other books put together. The words of the Bible find me at greater depths of my being.—Coleridge.
The ROYAL LAW
By F. C. Gilbert
(A Hebrew Christian.)
IV. WHAT THE JEWISH CHURCH DID WITH THE LAW.
AFTER the Lord had delivered to Israel His law and they were now organized into a people (Ex. 19:3-6), and into a church (Acts 7:38), Moses received command to take the law of Jehovah and to place it in the ark of the testimony. Deut. 10:2; Ex. 25:16. This instruction Moses carried out. 1 Kings 8:9; Ex. 40:20, 21. But God did not intend to leave them without any further instruction upon the subject, as He well knew how easily and how quickly the people would depart from His divine precepts. Yet there was ever to be kept before the minds of the people the immutable, eternal, and unchangeable character of God's law.
Laws of Ceremonies, or By-Laws.
Consequently, the Lord gave to Moses added instructions from time to time which he was commanded to write in a book (Ex. 24:4-8) and to frequently rehearse them to the people; and the people in turn were to instruct their children. Deut. 6:6, 7. As a result we have almost the entire matter of the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy comprising instructions. Deut. 31:22-24. But all these laws, rites, services, and ceremonies, were to explain the real meaning of the law which was given to them on Sinai, how they were to be kept from transgressing, and what they were to do should this law be violated. Deut. 4:9-13. This Decalogue was the basis of their natural as well as individual life. In other words, the law of Jehovah was the Constitution of the government of Israel.
But Israel was the chosen people of God, the people through whom the knowledge of God was to extend throughout the earth. Deut. 4:6-8. They were to be as a light to the other nations surrounding them; and the course they pursued was to reveal to all other people what it meant to be a member of God's government, and of God's people. The same law that was for them was for every other person of whatever race or nationality. Ex. 12:19-49; Num. 15:15, 16. While, therefore, the Ten Commandments constituted the Constitution of the government of Israel, there were given to them also a great many by-laws in the form of ceremonies and instructions, to make plain to them the meaning of the greatness and depth of the organic law.
Leaders Raised Up.
To make it as plain as He could for them, the Lord did not even give these laws to be administered by the people themselves. He chose special men—Moses, then Joshua, then judges, then prophets—and these special persons were given the endowment of the Holy Spirit. Num. 27:18-20. They were to be to the people the instructors of the commands of God. Everything possible that could be done for the people was furnished; and the Lord did all in His power to make Israel a special people, to preserve the knowledge of His truth through them, for all the inhabitants of the earth. Isa. 5:4. Yet, again and again they left God, they became idolaters, they turned from the truth, they became almost like the heathen. 2 Kings 17:8-11. If they were left to themselves for the very shortest time possible, they forsook God, and became sun-worshippers and idolaters. Eze. 8:16. This they did when Moses left them for but forty days. The same thing was repeated soon after the death of Joshua; so that a good share of the time for four hundred years they suffered afflictions and punishments at the hands of the Philistines and other nations for engaging in their idolatrous worship.
God raised them up seers and prophets, the first of whom was Samuel. 1 Sam. 9:9. Israel for a time had respect for the law of God. 1 Sam. 7:3, 4. Then, to assist them still further, God ordained all over the land schools, which became known as the "schools of the prophets." Samuel was the general superintendent, and he made tours to all these places every year, to see that the people were following the teachings of God. 1 Sam. 7:15-17. Other prophets were raised up, and Israel went along fairly well till the time of Solomon, when, as a result of his leaving the ways of God and turning to idolatry, he sowed the seeds of evil which were not effaced for centuries. The result finally was that the division came; then there were the ten tribes and the two tribes. In a very short time the ten tribes went into the deepest idolatry, and the battle was finally fought on the summit of Mount Carmel over the second commandment. God sent fire down from heaven and showed that He was the true God, and all the images and teraphim and ashera were nothing. 1 Kings 17:18. They finally were carried away captives. 2 Kings 17.
The two tribes continued for a time longer, till they refused to receive the instruction God sent them; they turned their backs on God's law, became gross idolaters, committed all the abominations of the heathen, until there was no healing for them, and for seventy years they were in the land of Babylon. 2 Chron. 36:14-18. While here God did not entirely forsake them, but occasionally manifested His power in His own behalf, and for His own name's sake. Still Israel kept forgetting His law and His truth, so that when the people returned from captivity their domestic and social conditions were of such a character that much9of the priesthood even was corrupted. See Ezra 2:61, 62; Nehemiah 13.
The People in Bondage to Tradition.
God raised up several men such as Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai, and others, to instruct the people in the way of the Lord; and Ezra in turn associated with him a number of men, and these men became the teachers of the people. The great burden of these teachers, however, was to instruct the people in the law of God, and to show them the right way, that they might nevermore become idolaters or ever forsake God's law again. But a very short time elapsed until there had arisen a great system of ecclesiasticism which developed into a great despotism, with the result that instead of the masses getting a true knowledge of God's law, and the meaning of those by-laws which were to make plain the original law of Jehovah, they had again almost entirely lost the knowledge of the law of Jehovah. Tradition had been put in the place of the truth. Man had been put in the place of God. The synagogue had been put in the place of true worship. The sayings of men had been substituted for the Word of God; and the true God and the knowledge of His truth was again lost to the church and the world. See "Practical Lessons," chapter 2.
This is what the Jewish church had done to the law; this was the condition of the church when the blessed Lord Jesus had appeared in person in this world. Men had for centuries again been in bondage to man, not in the bondage of a physical servitude as were their ancestors in the days of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, but in the bondage of spiritual slavery, while their masters, the rabbis, stood over them with the lash of anathema and excommunication, until the whole people were again crying unto God for deliverance from spiritual slavery. God again heard their cry, and sent them a Deliverer. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people." Luke 1:68. Jesus Christ came to deliver the people; for if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:32-36.
KINDNESS BROKE HIS HEART.
By G. E. B.
[G. E. B., in Herald of Light.]
A FEW years ago a poor, dirty, ragged, dissipated tramp found his way into the Bowery Mission in New York. On that particular morning the pianist was absent and the singing done by that motley crowd was anything but good. After several failures, Mrs. Bird, the leader, asked for a volunteer to play the piano. The young "hobo" in the back seat heard the request and volunteered. Amid the jeers of those assembled, he rose, slouched along the aisle, ascended the platform with bleary eyes and tousled hair, and seated himself at the piano. Every breath was held, every eye strained.
Then a new light suddenly came into his eyes, the hopeless look passed away. As the dirty fingers fell upon the keys his entire being was changed, his whole frame quivered with emotion. The piano itself seemed to undergo a subtle transformation. When it was all over, Mother Bird spoke such kind words to the poor tramp, that they broke his heart. He became a Christian, and was presently appointed organist of the mission. His fame spread far and wide. Many churches offered him splendid positions, but he remained true to his Bowery friends. Some of the most beautiful Gospel songs of recent years are from his pen. He was one of the mission's most successful speakers. He died a martyr to his incessant toil for his suffering fellow men. A beautiful tablet erected in the mission to his memory reads, "Victor H. Benke, died July 15, 1904. The men of the Bowery loved him."
"A word spoken in due season, how good is it!" Out of Mrs. Bird's heart, which was warmed by the love of God, came the words that rescued this poor, hopeless man, and gave the world one of the most beautiful characters of these last days. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
EARTHQUAKE NOTES.
By E. J. Hibbard
THE fire is supposed to have caused almost infinitely more damage to property in San Francisco than the earthquake. Why is it, I wonder, that not one in a thousand, in rehearsing the experiences of April 18 and 19, mentions the fire at all? All, all, speak of the earthquake, "the dreadful earthquake."
"Well, doctor," said one man to another on a Fillmore Street car May 14, "Are you here and alive?" The "doctor" was surprised to meet his friend. (He looked more like a rough-and-ready base-ball player than he did like a doctor.) Sport tho he was in every appearance, he spoke timidly, almost reverentially: "I survived the shock; am here as you see; tho I lost everything—diplomas and all. I surely thought the end of the world had come." (And then in a tone that suggested a fear that it might come in the not-distant future,) "But it hadn't, I'm glad of that."
Two days later, on the same car-line, three ladies were talking. It was the earthquake, only the earthquake. Each was impressed that the end of all things terrestrial had come. One—the leader in the conversation—had read a prophecy from the pen of a French seeress. She (the clairvoyant) had predicted this cataclysm, and still prophesied of future troubles. "There are to come," said she, "other earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, tidal waves—destruction upon destruction. I learned that a continent is to rise out of the Pacific Ocean, and that the American continent will, or may, become submerged. Then, after that things will go smoothly for a time."
ALLOW me a comment: Here is some truth and much falsehood. There is a Book tested and true. Why not turn to that? Am I interested to learn the future of this planet? Hear John the disciple of Christ:
"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. . . . And the cities of the nations fell. . . . And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Rev. 16:17-20.
"And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of what? the dragon?—No," the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand." Rev. 6:14-17.
PETER, your testimony is also wanted. Men are saying, "Calamities are not increasing." "Nothing new is happening." "All these things have been before." "There is no evidence to us of an approaching end."
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His [Christ's] coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water, perished. [Surely all wise (?) men are ignorant of the fact of a flood of waters such as God describes in the Book.]"
"But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. . . . The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
"But [solemnly, brother], "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up. . . . Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:3-13.
This is the way, and not the manner predicted by a sorceress or a scientist. "Prepare to meet thy God." E. J. HIBBARD.
THE CITY OF LOVE.
By L. D. Santee
"Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God."Ps. 87:3.
In the bright heavens above, in the sunland,
Lieth the city by mortals unseen,
Home of the soul, 'tis the only, the one land
Where pain enters never, or clouds intervene.
Wrought without sound of the hammer of labor,
None of its dwellers e'er languish or moan,
Lovely as Christ the Redeemer has made her,
Glory-gilt walls built on rainbows of stone.
Light, as a nimbus of glory shall cover
Heavens bright fountains, where streets are of gold;
Fragrant the arbors where angels shall hover,
Thrilling with gladness that never was told.
Lips so long silent, now wake into smiling,
Waking to life that is endless and sweet,
Harpings and song are the bright hours beguiling,
And welcome the rest to the journey-worn feet.
Sweet is that life with an exquisite gladness
With the redeemed on fair Eden's bright shore,
No falling tears, and no echo of sadness,
While the bright years roll in joy evermore
Brighter than brightest of all earthly stories,
Purer than joys ever known by the world,
Is the glad vision of heavenly glories,
Where banners of love are forever unfurled.
Dixon, Ill. L. D. SANTEE.
RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
By Editor
THE Baltimore American of March 18 contained an editorial on this subject, from which we take the following in advocacy of principles of a total separation of church and state, upon which this government was founded:
The home is the place for the inculcation of religion, and the church must co-operate with the parents or bring its beneficent influence to bear upon them. It is useless to ask the state to do what it should itself do. There is no wiser provision in the Constitution than the absolute separation of church and state. It is scarcely too much to say that it has been the salvation of the nation. Anything which tends to confuse the issue, no matter on what specious ground it may be urged, is vicious and may become dangerous. The church has its sphere, and within that sphere it is most gladly welcomed by all good men, whether they be church members or not; but the political institutions of America are by definite provision of law and by tradition and custom, exempt from religious interference, not because of any prejudice against the church, but largely out of consideration for its interests. Experience has shown, and experience is showing, that both the church and the state are better off when they move along parallel lines and do not come in contact with each other.
Strange Fish After the Earthquake
At Moss Landing, near Monterey, after the recent earthquake, it was noticed that a large sand dune near the bay shore had sunk sixty feet below the sea level. This phenomenon was reported to Governor Pardee by Rev. R. M. Mestress, of Monterey. It is also stated that thousands of strange fish, unknown to the fisherman of that locality, had appeared in the bay.
SLAVERY.
By Eliza H. Morton
Who is a slave, but he that's bound
By habits strong that he has found
Hold him in chains
While discord reigns?
'Tis sin that makes a man a slave
And leads him on into the grave,
No light to cheer,
Darkness and fear.
But there is One who'll freedom give
And make the soul despondent live.
His love complete,
His service sweet.
Then rise, O soul by sin oppressed,
Arise and find the blessed rest.
Seek Christ to-day,
Put sin away.
Be free in God as bird on wing
And with the feathery songsters sing,
Christ is the Door,
Be slaves no more.
ELIZA H. MORTON.
SUNSHINE
By John Harvey Kellogg
TALKS TO YOUNG MEN. No. 4.
SUNSHINE.
HOW the earthquake broke things up, not only out in California where men and things in the dreadful power of its clutch felt the strength of its mighty thews; but it gathered the attention of the whole country and beyond the country, and focused it almost wholly on one city on the Pacific Coast. It aroused sympathy, touched hearts, opened pockets, loosed purse strings, and sent money and means flowing to the city by the Golden Gate. It demoralized railway transportation, affected telegraphic communication, and depressed the financial and commercial markets.
The earthquake did this and more. It wrecked hopes and families, it took life and reason, and has left many a mourner throughout the entire land. It clutched the office in which this paper is printed and its walls crumbled. That is why, I suppose, these talks have not appeared more regularly. But what a lesson has it been to us of the puny strength of man matched with the mighty forces of a perverted nature.
But this week we were to talk a little about sunshine, a thing which we ought to let talk for itself.
There is life in light. The strongest, hardest things which grow, grow in the sunlight.
We will not take time to attempt to analyze this potent agency of health. We do not need to know it in detail scientifically to realize its benefits. Demonstrations of its blessings are on every hand.
How frail and sickly are the plants which grow beneath a floor in the dark? This is measurably true when grown where it is light, but having no direct rays of the sun. But how hardy and strong they are when grown in direct sunlight!
The fiber of a tree which grows in the dense forest is much softer and less coherent than that of a tree which grows where the full sunshine bathes it from the topmost twig to root. Men are much like trees. Take the young people who are working in mines and factories and compare them with those who spend their days out-of-doors. What a contrast in complexion, in brightness of eye, in clearness of skin! The one lives in physical gloom; the other in sunlight.
Let the sunlight into your rooms. Sit in it; bathe in it. It is the mightiest germicide in the world. "It fades carpets and pictures and furniture." Let them fade. They are of little worth compared to the growing youth. Get just as much of sunshine as possible in the fresh open air. It is utterly impossible for some of the worst germs to live in it any great length of time. But men thrive on it.
Dr. Sunshine is among the best of physicians. Employ him; use him, constantly.
Sunlight is beautiful. In its fulness it is pure white. But that pure white is broken by the spectrum into seven different colors,—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Let it shine into your physical being till its beauty shall be as manifest in brightness of eye, clearness of skin, rosiness of cheek, as in flower and tree. There is no tariff or duty on it; there is no monopoly of it. The poor can have it as well as the rich. It treats unionist and non-unionist alike.
"Blest power of sunshine—genial day,
What balm, what life, is in thy ray!"
ABDIEL.
