p. 20 | Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 5. (1/28/1915)

The General Meeting at Albany, N. Y.

By D. H. KRESS

WE have just closed a general meeting for our people living in the vicinity of Albany. The attendance was very good. From the beginning of the meetings, great blessings attended the ministry of the word. This meeting was certainly a foretaste of the great Pentecostal blessing that we are all looking forward to with expectancy and soul longing.

We had with us some of our Syrian brethren from North Creek. Some of these have but recently embraced the truth. The Spirit of God rested upon them. It is marvelous how much God can teach men in a short time if they are wholly consecrated to him. To hear them speak, one would think they had been in the truth for years, and yet they are but babes in Christ. New springs and living streams are gushing forth in places least expected. Husbands who have held themselves aloof are now uniting with their wives in the acceptance of the message, and liberty is being proclaimed to captives. The results of this meeting will be far-reaching, for all felt a return of their first love, which will be accompanied by their first works, when men and women, filled with love and sympathy, will again go to their neighbors and friends, with literature in their hands, to tell them they have found the pearl of great price.

The sum of $2,519 was pledged for foreign missions. About $400 in cash was raised, and in addition our Syrian brethren raised about $500 among themselves, to carry the truth in pamphlet form to their brethren. One brother desires to place in the work a $6,000 property. Some brought jewelry which had been carried for display. No urging was needed. We are living in the day of God's power, and his people are willing.

Over two thousand copies of the new book, “The World's Crisis,” were taken by those present. This is but the beginning of a great movement which will ultimately take in every Seventh-day Adventist. This book is to be placed in every home. This work of seed sowing will speedily be followed by the reapers, and results will be witnessed similar to those seen on Pentecost, when thousands were converted in a day, and those possessing houses and lands sold them “and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished.” Soon, very soon, there will be a fulfillment of these words.

The speakers present were Elder K. C. Russell, president of the conference; Elder F. W. Stray, president of the Northern New England Conference; Elder R. J. Bryant, of the Greater New York Conference; and the writer.

D. H. KRESS.

Detroit (Colored) Church

By WM. H. GREEN.

It is fitting and proper that we should render a brief report as to the progress of the work among the colored people of Detroit, Mich., during the past year. This church, through its leaders and members, has, by readings, preaching, selling and giving away literature, given many a chance to learn of and to walk in the way of truth. Some have heeded the call of salvation and have taken their stand on the side of the truth. Aside from some who are yet taking the readings and instruction, and who are carefully weighing the truth, there are those who are awaiting baptism.

We have a good Sabbath school, which is quite well attended by most of the members of the church. Missionary activity is being kept up by the Missionary Volunteer Society. The Ladies' Aid Society is in a healthy condition, and is attempting to widen the scope of its usefulness in advancing the message.

The following is a financial showing of the church for the past year, based upon the rating of twenty-three members:— Tithes .......................... $431.42 Harvest Ingathering ............ 120.05 Sabbath school donations ...... 94.21 Miscellaneous .................. 51.14 Sundry missions ............... 23.55 LOCAL Church expense ................ 143.30 Several funds .................. 19.51 Total .......................... $883.18

While only about half the members did anything in the Harvest Ingathering effort, yet the few who worked were able to get an average of a little more than $5 a member. The total contributions amount to a little more than $38 a member.

We are far from being pleased with the little that has been accomplished by our people in this great city. So by the grace and good hand of our God much more must be done this year to extend the message here, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

We are still greatly in need of a suitable place in which to worship; but to secure such a place seems to be beyond our reach, requiring a great outlay of means.

WM. H. GREEN.

Middletown (Conn.) Seventh-Day Adventist Church

By C. H. REIMERS

MIDDLETOWN is the city where Elder James White mailed the first copies of the REVIEW, then called Present Truth. About ten years ago Sister E. G. White, when attending a camp meeting in this place, said that as Middletown held a prominent place in the early history of our denomination, it should have a memorial for this truth — a church building. Because of faith in this statement I believed that although there were only about eight members, and all were poor, with the Lord’s blessing we could do it. Three years ago I was invited to hold some meetings for a company of Methodists who met in a home. They took up a collection, and wanted me to take it for myself, but I refused it. Then they insisted that I take it and use it as I wished. I asked the Lord to guide me to use it aright, and he impressed me to make it the basis of a fund with which to purchase a lot and build a church, that we might have a respectable place to invite the people to come to hear the truth. This we did. Much of the work on the church has been done by the members, therefore progress has been slow. Satan has done all possible to hinder the work, but the dear Lord has continually prospered us. I could tell of many experiences where he wonderfully blessed in the work of building, bringing us help, just what we needed, and just when we needed it most.

The chapel is of red brick, trimmed with yellow brick. It has cement block foundation. It is twenty by forty feet, and contains a baptistery. Many who are not Seventh-day Adventists have worked free of charge on the building. Even an infidel artist painted a beautiful open Bible on the front wall, with "Thy word is truth" over it.

We hope soon to finish and dedicate the building. While it will be a memorial for the truth and a comfortable church home for our members, my prayer is that the Lord will grant it to be the place where many in this vicinity will find Jesus and accept him and his truth, and thereby be saved with all the redeemed.

C. H. REIMERS.

Work for the Colored Population of Los Angeles, Cal.

By Lewis C. Sheafe

It is now one year since I began work in Los Angeles, Cal., where I have been trying to preach the truth in season and out of season. Some time ago I reported in part the results of my first public effort in a down-town hall. Since that time I have organized a church at Watts, Cal., six miles from Los Angeles, with seventeen members, all being Sabbath keepers before my arrival here. They are erecting a very neat house of worship, making the cement blocks themselves. The building is thirty by sixty feet, and they hope soon to have it ready for occupancy. A splendid spiritual interest has been maintained, and we are looking forward to a good public effort at Watts later.

The last day of May I began tent meetings in Los Angeles, on West Thirty-sixth Street, with Brother Frank Peterson to assist with the singing and act as tent master. He rendered good service. The meetings continued for two months, and the interest was very encouraging.

The Lord gave to his word power and effectiveness, and the hearts of many were reached. About twenty took their stand for the truth. At the height of the interest, we had to close on account of the annual camp meeting of the Southern California Conference, August 3. Efforts were afterwards made to revive the interest, and this was attended with some degree of success. The result is a company of thirty-five ready to be organized into a church. They have purchased a lot, and are making ready a neat chapel, which will seat two hundred.

My last tent effort closed December 13, at Ninth and Hemlock Streets, Los Angeles. This was somewhat in the neighborhood of my first public effort at the hall, and some were eager for the message. The attendance was good until the heavy rains came. Some saw the claims of the Sabbath and joyfully obeyed. Fifteen joined the church.

These services opened the way for me into several of the churches, and into the city and county prisons. Miss Mildred Anderson and Brother John King, two trained nurses, assisted very acceptably in this last tent effort. Brother King aided splendidly with the singing also.

At the close of both tent efforts very helpful and encouraging exercises were given by the children of the church and neighborhood. An entire evening was set apart each time for these occasions, to the delight of the many who packed the tent.

I feel to “praise God, from whom all blessings flow.” He is our rock, our strong tower. I am wonderfully encouraged to “go forward,” believing fully that the coming King is at the door, and that very soon the “faithful unto death” shall receive the overcomer’s reward. I beg at least an occasional thought in prayer from those who are interested in the work here. LEWIS C. SHEAFE.

An Ingathering Experience

By T. E. BOWEN

ONE of the very best letters of experiences gained during the recent campaign with the Harvest Ingathering REVIEW was received recently from Brother Lynn H. Wood, in charge of the Southern Training School, at Graysville, Tenn. Although it is a personal letter, it contains so much that is of general interest that I am sure Brother Wood will pardon me for giving it almost entire. The spirit of loyalty breathed in this experience, the lesson it contains in the intimate relation of prayer and service, and the demonstration as to how those at home may enter into the spiritual experiences of those whom they send out to labor, certainly make it replete with valuable suggestions:—

“Inclosed is a photograph of four of our girls whom we sent to Knoxville with Harvest Ingathering papers, during the week of prayer. They went Friday morning and returned the following Friday morning. They came up in the office the afternoon before they left, and we laid before them the solemnity of their undertaking, and had a study with them concerning the conduct of our young ladies in large cities, and asked them to name a goal for themselves. They replied that they thought it would not be too much to ask the Lord to give them $100. We bowed in prayer and asked the Lord for this sum. That evening we had the homes together for evening worship, and set before the entire school the object of the trip and the goal that the girls had set for themselves. We had a remarkable season of prayer, dedicating the girls to their work, and sent them off in an enthusiastic way the following morning. Night and morning the school held them up before the throne of grace, and entered with them into their labors.

“When the girls got to Knoxville, it was cold and windy, but they found a room, and made preparations for work on Saturday night. It was cold that night, the wind blew severely, no one seemed interested in papers, and the girls came back to their room much discouraged. But after a season of prayer they were cheered, and went to sleep with high hopes of the work the next day. Sunday morning they awoke to find the snow several inches deep and the wind blowing a gale, but they would not be daunted. Day after day they plowed through snow and mud, in and out of offices, factories, railroad yards, gathering a dime here and a quarter there, praying as they went that God would plant a desire in the hearts of the people to help them.

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND MORE HARVESTED BY THESE FOUR GRAYSVILLE STUDENTS. DURING WEEK OF PRAYER

“Upon their return all listened eagerly to the reports the girls gave, and the wonderful experiences they had had in answer to prayer. After each had reported, the one selected to name the amount, took from her purse a roll of bills, which had been pinned together into a rope, and flung it out over the snow, our audience, and two others lifted the sheet you see in the picture, with the word ‘Prayer’ made by dollar bills. The total amount collected for foreign missions by these girls was $110.25. Considering that the times are so hard, and that the weather was so bitterly cold, we realize that their success was due to the prayers offered in their behalf, which God so signally answered. Never before had the school seen such a remarkable answer to prayer, and many wonderful coincidences between the work in the city and the praying students here at home were related. As an example: Saturday evening was the only evening that they really felt discouraged and disheartened, and things seemed to go so hard, and Saturday evening was the evening that our students were engaged in a social affair in the school home, forgetting the mission that they had in a near-by city. It was a wonderful aid to the consecration services that followed, and I think that no one here will ever forget that meeting.

“On the blackboard behind the girls you will see a map of the world, with Graysville at each end of the board. The Sabbath school planned to send a missionary to East Africa from Graysville this last quarter, at the rate of two cents a mile. The Harvest Ingatherers planned to send another missionary west, from Graysville toward the Pacific, to meet the Sabbath school missionary in East Africa on January 1. At the present time, including pledges, the Sabbath school has more than made its part,—$150,—and we are looking forward to the finishing of the Harvest Ingathering work, the aim being the gathering of $350; thus making a total of $500 for missions from Graysville school during the last quarter of 1914. We have until the tenth of January to clear our accounts, and I am hoping that we shall make good. It has been a big incentive to the students, and it would make your heart full to see the way they have co-operated in getting this fund.”

T. E. BOWEN.

Hawaii

By Robert J. McKeague

HILO.—Elder Daniells reported the opening of our new mission here, and I am glad to tell you that there is a splendid outlook for the work that we have undertaken, though we have been here only since the last of September.

Hawaii is the largest island of the group, having an area of over four thousand square miles. Mauna Kea (the snow mountain), rising about fourteen thousand feet above the level of the island, is known as the highest mountain in Oceanica. Hawaii boasts the largest active volcano in the world, Kilauea, which attracts thousands of tourists, who brave every danger to see its bed of red-hot lava boiling at a depth of six hundred feet. The top of the pit is a mile in circumference. There are many other reminders of the wonderful handiwork of God on the island. The chief industries are the cultivation of sugar cane and coffee. The population numbers at the present time 55,382, but the Hawaiian race comprises a very small percentage of this number, for they are rapidly falling prey to diseases, caused principally by intermarriage.

Our work here was started by Brother Brand. A Chinese school was opened, and carried on with small results. The Hawaiian people have been sadly neglected, and that is the reason the message has made so little headway in this territory. Everywhere we find honest hearts eager for the truth of God, and I am thankful to be able to speak to them in their own language, for we have but one small booklet to offer them in the way of literature.

In harmony with the plans laid when Elder Daniells was here, we have settled in Hilo, and equipped a part of our house for treatment rooms. From the first, God guided us and opened the way before us. We have every evidence that he is ready to do a quick work here if we are ready to cooperate with him. Our medical work breaks down prejudice and helps us to come in touch with an influential class of people. The treatment rooms are well equipped, and as we work to help our patrons physically we also try to meet their spiritual needs by giving talks on health and temperance, pointing them to the Great Physician, who can heal every ill. Gradually the way is opening to lend books and distribute papers.

Every Sabbath a little company of from four to eight persons meets in our home for Sabbath school and church services. There are five believers in Hilo, and three others who live about fifteen miles out in the country. I try to visit the country on Sunday and hold two cottage meetings with those whom our brethren have interested in the truth. The way has opened to hold meetings with the native Hawaiians on Sunday evening at a settlement conducted by the Protestant missionaries, and I could make good use of a stereopticon. We are also conducting regular Bible readings and distributing clubs of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English papers. One woman has accepted the truth through our efforts. She is a nurse employed by a neighbor, and in a dream was directed to come to Hilo, where some one would teach her. The verses we read in our Bible studies with her were the same scriptures which the dream impressed upon her mind. She is now anxious to do all she can for the salvation of others, and before she left gave me ten dollars, her first tithe.

We are praying that in a short time we may be able to report the organization of a strong church in Hilo. We ask an interest in your prayers that God may richly bless our efforts in this portion of his great harvest field.

ROBERT J. McKEAGUE.

Thorough Preparation Necessary to Success

By V. O. Cole

OUR leading brethren have seen the necessity of raising the standard of attainment in the ministerial ranks. The requirements of our school-teachers, medical missionaries, and physicians are also being raised to a higher standard in efficiency; then why should it not be so with our colporteurs? Surely the times demand it, and success will largely depend upon it.

We should not think of asking our brethren to take up ministerial, Bible, medical missionary, or educational work without some preparation for it; then is it fair to ask them to engage in the colporteur work without a preparation, and expect them to have great success?

In view of the fact that “if there is one work more important than another, it is that of getting our publications before the people, thus leading them to search the Scriptures;” and also taking into consideration what it means to our people to make failures in their endeavors after sacrificing to enter the work, should we not make greater effort to assist them in securing the preparation necessary to succeed?

IN 2 Samuel 18 we have the example of one who ran, but was not able to deliver his message. Ahimaaz volunteered his services, and was very zealous in pursuing his work. It was said of him that he was a good man, and that he had good tidings to bear to the king; but when it came time to deliver the message, he could only say, “I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.” As a result, the king said to him, “Turn aside, and stand here.” The record says, “He turned aside, and stood still.”

Cushi then came with the same message, to be delivered to the same king. See how thoughtful, considerate, and tactful he was in delivering it. When the king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” his answer was, “The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.”

Here we have two characters brought to view. As far as we know, they were both good men. They both had zeal and ambition to do service for their master. They both had a message to deliver. One, however, was a failure, the other a success. One was told to stand aside, and he stood still; the other delivered a message that moved the king to tears. What made the difference? One had his tidings ready (“convenient,” margin), the other did not.

We are living too close to the end now to make shipwreck in our work by not having our tidings ready. Just how many who have entered the work and have made failures which caused them to “stand aside” for a season, we do not know; but we are anxious that others may not have to travel this discouraging road.

The annual colporteurs’ institutes, rightly conducted, have proved to be great blessings to those engaged in this line of work. The experienced colporteurs, as well as those who are just beginning, should attend. Of course this will not take the place of house-to-house training given by the field agent; for both are very essential, and no colporteur should be asked to take up the work without this help. The field agent should give those who enter the work between the annual institutes, a few days’ instruction in their homes before starting out, and should be with them several days in the field to help them in getting started. In this way we shall be able to save many of our people to the work. It is far better to have a few successful colporteurs than to have a great number with many failures. Let us endeavor to select good material, and then give sufficient help in the preparation.

V. O. COLE.

Without Excuse

By F. W. PAAP

IN carrying forward the work of God on the earth many and various agencies must necessarily be employed. We should not discount any one of these, for each has its part and place; but I desire to speak particularly regarding one of the most effective agencies. “If there is one work more important than another, it is that of getting our publications before the public, thus leading them to search the Scriptures.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 389. “It is an eternal law of Jehovah that he who accepts the truth that the world needs is to make it his first work to proclaim this truth.”—Id., Vol. VII, page 13. “We are held accountable by the Lord for making the most of our opportunities to enlighten those in need of present truth; and one of the principal agencies he has ordained for our use is the printed page.”—Id., Vol. IX, pages 86, 87.

Never in all the history of the world were the opportunities to work for God more plentiful than now. Events of the most startling character are taking place every day. People are eager to read; they want to know what these things mean. God has given to us the light. He bids us go forth into the whitened harvest field and gather precious sheaves for the heavenly garner. In his providence God has gone before us. He has led in the establishment of our great publishing houses. Today they are meeting every demand of the field. We appeal to our dear people everywhere to wake up and join in scattering the truth-laden printed page like the leaves of autumn.

Have you a set of the Berean Library? You surely will want this to lend to your neighbors. Thousands have this most excellent set. If you have not as yet procured it, let me urge upon you the necessity of doing so now. You can use these books to lend to those who have been receiving the Signs weekly.

The latest addition to our great soul-winning campaign equipment is the Present Truth Series. This most excellent four-page document is to be issued monthly as an extra to the REVIEW, Signs, and Watchman. We cannot speak too highly of it, and it surely will meet a long-felt want. Here is an opportunity for every believer in this great message to give the light of truth to both friends and neighbors. Just think of it,—15 copies for 10 cents, 25 for 15 cents, 50 for 30 cents. 100 copies for 50 cents,

and 1,000 for $4. It will sell readily. People will read it, every line. Surely we have reached the time in this great reformatory movement, with everything to hand, when those who refuse to act will be without excuse. Let every soul take hold as never before, and use this wonderful agency that God in his providence has provided, that the light of present truth may come to those still in darkness.

Don’t wait for openings. Step in and make them. Opportunities are with us every day; embrace them, and God will abundantly bless every effort put forth in his name.

F. W. PAAP.

British Central Africa

By S. M. KONGMACHER

MALAMULO MISSION.—This is a land where things grow by simply sticking them in the ground. Fence posts grow where they are placed, and the most beautiful roses grow in our yard, and blossom nearly all the year. The poinsettia adds its color to the scene, and the text, “The desert . . . shall blossom as the rose,” is literally fulfilled before our eyes. We have one tree here with sap as red as blood. The natives tell how in olden times they would steal a live goat and then cut down one of these trees and sprinkle the red sap on the ground to make it appear that a wild beast had killed the animal which they had carried off to their village.

We have just enjoyed a visit from Elder W. B. White and Dr. Dunscombe, who came to help us plan for future work in this part of the field. We were called from our station to Cholo to meet with the brethren in council.

The edges of this paper on which I am writing have been eaten by white ants. They are like little sins. They do their work in the dark, under earthen covers, which they erect over the object they wish to eat.

We recently had ten thousand tracts printed,—“Who Changed the Sabbath?”—and have had some interesting times scattering them among the people. One of the best ways is to give them to the schoolboys when they go to their homes, as many come from districts where we cannot place outschools. Then our native evangelists take a supply when they go to visit the teachers in our outschools; if they pass a friend on the way, they give him one as a present, and in this way the truth finds many dark places which we cannot reach.

As I was traveling not long since from Matandani to Cholo, I passed a government police station where the natives were drilling, and as soon as the exercise was over they came running to me to get tracts. At first I gave them to only the larger boys, thinking the smaller ones could not read, but these ran after me a long way and looked so very wistful that at last I gave them copies also. Not long ago I left a tract in a native store. The proprietor must have read it and been impressed, for he wrote a message of thanks on the back and sent it to me by one of my carriers.

Surely the field is ripe for the harvest, and we believe that these little tracts, printed in the language of the common people, will play an important part in proclaiming the truth for these times. God is blessing the work, and the Bible classes are helping to develop Christians who come to the main station school for preparation for service. Pray for the work in Central Africa.

S. M. KONGMACHER.

The Day Is Short

The day is short, and the task is great, and the workmen are sluggish, and the reward is much, and the Master of the house is urgent.—Rabbi Tarphon.

Publishing Department

N. Z. TOWN 7 7 7 General Secretary,

W. W. EASTMAN 7 7 7 N. Am. Div. Secretary

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Secretary Houston, of the Department of Agriculture, has announced that the American farms during 1914 eclipsed all records for combined value of their products, with a total of nearly $10,000,000,000. Crops were valued at $6,044,480,000, and the total value of the farm animals sold and slaughtered was $3,828,456,000.

— On December 29 a new election law for the Republic of China was promulgated in Peking. The most notable clause of the amended law is that which fixes the term of office of the president of China to ten years. This term may continue indefinitely if the senate, by a two-thirds vote, considers that the actual political situation makes such extension desirable.

— A great gale and snowstorm swept over the larger part of the United Kingdom on Dec. 28, 1914, causing considerable loss of life and much property damage. The telegraphic service on the Continent was disorganized, and communication with France was almost severed. Two feet of snow fell in many parts of the country, causing serious flooding of the rivers. Dublin was visited by the heaviest snowfall in many years.

— Notices have been posted calling on approximately 2,500 families of striking miners in Jefferson County, Ohio, to pay to the coal companies by January 15 ten months' house rent that they owe, under penalty of eviction. The families concerned reside in Warren, Mount Pleasant, Smithfield, and Springfield, and constitute the bulk of the population directly affected by the coal strike, which has continued without interruption since April, 1914.

— The Hoster-Columbus Breweries Company, of Columbus, Ohio, a $12,000,000 corporation, went into the hands of receivers on Dec. 23, 1914, on order of the United States District Court. “Decreased demand for beer, adverse legislation, and the voting ‘dry’ of many States and counties in the last eight years,” were given as the causes. Commenting upon the causes of the failure of the brewery to conduct a paying business, officials of the company gave out this statement: “The present situation was due solely to the loss of sales beyond any one's control.”

— The last appeal against Russia's prohibition decree failed on Dec. 31, 1914, when the councils of Petrograd and Moscow rejected a petition to authorize the recommencement of the sale of beer and light wines. The recent final order to discontinue the sale of all alcoholic drinks was issued with the reservation that the city councils should have the right to appeal for an authorization of the recommencement of the sale of three-per-cent beer and light wines. The extreme measures to enforce prohibition even extend to the sale of denatured alcohol, varnish, and every conceivable alcoholic compound, which are not salable without a permit.

Plainview Academy

By G. C. GEORGE

PLAINVIEW ACADEMY, in Redfield, S. Dak., opened September 16 with an enrollment a little better than last year, and the enrollment has continued to be better, comparing month with corresponding month. Our students are a fine class of young people, generally speaking, and are here for earnest work. At present the enrollment is ninety-two, and others are planning to attend.

Some improvements have been made in our facilities for caring for our stock. A silo fourteen by thirty-four feet has been erected, the students doing the work. This, with our old silo, gives us abundant storage for feed for our stock. We have at present thirty-five cows and young stock, also six horses. The products of the farm are sufficient to supply the stock, and the garden has provided the kitchen with vegetables. We also had four hundred bushels of potatoes more than the kitchen would use, and have disposed of them.

We are installing a bake oven, and plan to make our own bread. A room has been fitted up as a bakery. We also are planning to remodel our carpenter shop, and expect, before long, to have a very convenient place in which to carry on that industry.

The spiritual atmosphere of the school is excellent, and the teachers are working together in harmony. A day was set apart for the Harvest Ingathering campaign. Many students took part, and $107 was gathered.

G. C. GEORGE, Principal.

Teaching Public Speaking by Correspondence

By C. C. LEWIS

At first some said, “I do not see how it can be done,” and so we have been keeping still for more than a year to see if it really could be done successfully. A number of persons have been pursuing the course, and three or four have completed it. The results are beginning to appear. One minister in a foreign land says:—

“It would be hard to tell all the benefits I have received from this course. Many times I have remarked to my wife, ‘I shall never be sorry for the time and money I spent in taking this course.’ In some respects it has made me think of preaching in an entirely new way. It has made me see why so much of our preaching is merely talking to the wind. I determined to make my sermons not only to be something, but to do something. I have often get my book and read over again the instruction. In my own notebook I have made an outline of ‘Effective Speaking,’ so that I shall always have the main points with me, and can work out in my speaking the advice given.”

Another minister, who has recently completed the twenty lessons, speaks enthusiastically and at length of the benefits he has received. There is room for only a few sentences:—

“I am simply delighted with the ‘Tone Drill’ work. The instructions given in ‘Effective Speaking’ are splendid, and I have derived much benefit from the study; but I want to say that the ‘Tone Drills’ have helped me just as much, only in a different way. They have helped me to overcome self-consciousness in a very marked degree; they stimulate individuality; they have helped me to be myself in public, and to speak with more ease, better expression, and greater vividness. They have also helped me just as much in reading; in fact, I find that I use them unconsciously right along every day. I propose to keep up the practice of the drills indefinitely.

“I know that I have derived much benefit from this course of studies with you. I have done a great deal of studying, and tried to become more efficient in my line of work. I have been amply recompensed for my efforts, and feel that it has indeed been worth while. What I have accomplished has been at odd times, time that could easily have been wasted, a few minutes here and there, until you see it is just like finding that much. I regret that I did not take up something of this sort before, and I know that I am the loser for not having done so. It is surprising how much time one has that he could devote to studying, when really he thinks he hasn’t any time to spare at all. I am well pleased with the program as outlined; and, in fact, I don’t know how you could improve the course.”

C. C. LEWIS.

Educational Department

By J. L. Shaw; F. Griggs; W. E. Howell

J. L. Shaw - - - - - General Secretary

F. Griggs, - - - - - N. Am. Div. Secretary

W. E. Howell - - - - - N. Am. Div. Asst. Secretary

A Word to Conference Presidents

SOME of our conference presidents are taking a strong initiative in the encouragement of their workers to take up the Ministerial Reading Course. A letter this morning from the secretary of the Jamaica Conference incloses four names for registration, and says, “We have presented this matter to each of the workers in our field, and trust we may soon send the full list of names to be placed on the roll for 1915.”

Elder A. R. Ogden is working to the same end in the Iowa Conference, and Elder A. J. Clark in the Southern Illinois Conference. This course is open to all classes of gospel workers, and we should be glad to see our conference officers take a strong lead in encouraging all conference laborers to register for the valuable reading of the course. The cost of the books has been made lower than they can be procured anywhere else.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

News of the Week

— Two-cent postage between the United States and the Bahamas went into effect January 1. This marks another step in the movement for a two-cent rate throughout the Western Hemisphere.

— On January 9, General Villa gave Brigadier General Scott, chief of staff of the United States Army, his word that he would prevent further border fighting, which, since the Madero revolution in 1911, has been a menace to residents of American border towns.

— San Diego's unique exposition, recalling the early days of the Spanish occupation of Southern California and the primitive Indian period of that interesting section of the country, was formally opened last Friday by President Wilson by wire. Secretary McAdoo attended the exercises in person, giving the event national recognition. The exposition, which will remain open until January 1, 1916, is intended to be cultural in its effect in picturing vividly the various stages through which Southern California has passed.

— Retaining the literacy test, to which Roman Catholics have solidly and vehemently objected, the Senate on January 2 passed the immigration bill by the extraordinary vote of fifty to seven. The paragraph which has been so strongly opposed is as follows: “That after four months from the approval of this act, in addition to aliens who are by law excluded from admission to the United States, the following persons shall also be excluded from admission thereto; namely, All aliens over sixteen years of age physically capable of reading who cannot read the English language or some other language or dialect, including Hebrew or Yiddish.”

— If any confirmation were needed of the numerous assertions that Pres. Charles M. Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company had landed huge war contracts in England, it was supplied by the arrival, January 11, of eighteen British army officers, who will act as inspectors for the proper fulfillment of the orders. The force is in charge of Col. C. E. Phipps, lately with the forces at the front under command of General French. Each member of the party was supplied with passes, which will admit him into the plant at any time, day or night, and with credentials which authorize him to have all necessary voice in the process of manufacture of the war munitions.

— The rulers of the sturdy little kingdoms of northern Europe have been not a little perplexed and embarrassed by the great war. The commerce of their kingdoms has been very seriously interrupted by blockades and by submarine mines in the open seas and harbors. A large number of their ships have been lost through striking mines. There have been phases of the struggle which make the observance of neutrality difficult. They are determined, however, to keep out of the great struggle. There has been a recent conference between the kings of the three nations and their foreign ministers, at which a program of close cooperation was agreed upon. The alliance formed, it is intimated, is one which is expected to be perpetuated after the war is over. The full details are not given to the public. It is understood to practically provide for “a strong nation with three independent families.”

Continue reading: NOTICES AND APPOINTMENTS