Earlier text: THEORIES OF GENESISGEORGE AUG. DITTLEHURST, a native of Pennsylvania, aged about 28 years, a carpenter by trade, died suddenly on the sidewalk in front of the American House on Friday afternoon of last week, between the hours of 4 and 5 : 15. Deceased had been drinking excessively for some days before his death. Three weeks before he died he was in the county jail and had an attack of delirium tremens. After coming out of the jail he promised to reform and for several days kept sober, but the demon drink had the best of him and he returned to his bad habits. Friday afternoon he was seen to take a quart of whisky, and drink a pint of it; then he went to the Benicia Brewery and drank some beer which he helped himself to while the barkeeper was out. At a quarter to four o'clock, or thereabouts, he was "fired out" from the American House saloon, and lay on the sidewalk. His death took place while asleep it is supposed. Dr. Newmark made a post-mortem examination which revealed the fact that death had resulted from heart disease. The right ventricle of the heart had burst laying that vital organ open. The liver was considerably diseased, caused no doubt, by chronic alcoholic indulgence. The jury at the Coroner's inquest brought in a verdict of death from heart disease.—New Era of Benicia. Anybody but a Coroner's jury would have said that he died from whisky. If he had run a knife into his heart it would doubtless have caused severe disease of that organ, yet a jury would scarcely render a verdict of heart disease in such a case. Prohibition Improves Business
REPORTS come from the towns and cities of the State where the saloons are closed, that all other branches of trade have materially improved since the first of May. Men buy supplies instead of liquor for their families, and pay cash instead of begging for credit in the stores. It is to the interest of every dry goods and grocery merchant, as well as all other men in business, to stand by the laws and aid their enforcement.—Junction City (Kansas) Tribune. Adulterated Whisky Seized
SOME whisky seized a few days ago in Newton, Mass., was found to be thus compounded: Ten gallons of kerosene, three pounds of potash, one ounce of strychnine, mixed in soft water.—Mirror. "LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON."
By T. S. Arthur
My friend had spoken an impatient word to his little son, and I saw the child's face stained by the hot blood of anger. My friend saw the stain, also. What did he do? repent of his impatience, and heal the hurt in his child by a gentle word? No; but he grew more impatient, and calling sharply to the boy, said in a warning tone:— Take care of what? Why, lest punishment follow. You ask as to the child's fault that punishment should be threatened. There was no fault. He had, in passing near a table in the room where I sat talking with his father, accidentally touched a book lying on the edge, causing it to fall. The noise jarred on the father's sensitive nerves. Naturally irritable, he smote the child, as I have said, with an impatient word; and the child's spirit answered to the harsh rebuke in a hot face and flashing eyes. "Take care, sir!" repeated my friend, seeing that his warning admonition had produced no effect on the boy's roused spirit, smarting under an undeserved blow. The stain grew redder on cheeks and brow; the eyes more intense; the lips more firmly shut. I saw defiance in the child's face. "Why don't you pick up that book, sir?" There was no sign of obedience. "Did you hear me?" almost fiercely demanded the father. I shuddered, inwardly, but dared not interfere between my hot-tempered friend, and his equally hot-tempered child. He might as well have spoken to deaf ears. "Pick up that book, I say!" "I shall not speak again," said my friend, in a suppressed voice. One minute passed in dumb silence; then rising, with deliberation, he approached the boy, whose face had become pale, but not weak or fearful, and grasped one of his arms tightly. Time was still given for him to lift the book: but he was too angry to yield. I held my breath painfully, taking a long inspiration as my friend swept from the room, dragging the boy after him. He was gone for nearly five minutes, and then came back, flushed, nervous, and excited, saying, as he sat down opposite me, "I'm out of all heart with that boy." He looked sadly discouraged. I did not answer. After sitting for a few moments, he added, "Such a temper—such a will! I never saw anything like it!" But I answered nothing. What could I say in approval of my friend's conduct? My silence was on the side of his own uneasy convictions, and he felt it to be so. "What am I to do with the child?" he asked, interrogating my unspoken thought. "To give up to him—to let will and passion have their sway—can only end in moral ruin. He must come under the yoke. Is it not so?" "Obedience is essential," I answered. "So I think—obedience at all hazards." I did not assent to this extreme proposition. "At all hazards," he repeated, with increasing force. "It may be well," said I, "to look at the conditions of obedience before exacting the full measure of obligation." "I am not sure that I understand you," answered my friend, with a slightly puzzled air. "Obedience may be impossible." "Was it impossible for John to lift that book from the floor?" "Perhaps!" My friend looked astonished. "Morally impossible, I mean." He shook his head doubtfully. "A condition may render the easiest act so difficult of performance that a man will look death in the face and yet not lift a hand in attempted execution. The act, in this case, becomes morally impossible." "I do not see how you will apply that to my boy's case." "Suppose," said I, "you were riding in one of our street cars, and a passenger, on entering, and before you had time to make room for him, were to order you in a rough, imperative manner to move; what would be the result." "I would sit still in my place," answered my friend. "And yet it would be the wiser course to give way, and not be disturbed by ungentlemanly rudeness." "Perhaps it would; but I have that in me which will not submit to unjust encroachment. And I am quick in my resentment, as you know. To a gentlemanly demeanor I yield everything that is right; to rude exaction, nothing." "Therefore it is that the condition of a demand may render obedience a moral impossibility." "It is so," answered my friend. "Has it not often happened," I continued, "that under a momentary, blind excitement, you have said or done things for which you were sorry, and yet, having done or said them, would not recede—growing more persistent in the degree that you were assailed by angry efforts to drive you from the position taken, although, in your heart, you knew that you were wrong?" I understood my friend's character, and knew its weak side. "It is as you say," was his answer. "I can be led easily; but all the world cannot drive me—no, not even to do what is right." "Has it never occurred to you," I asked, after a pause, "that your son is like you in this respect?" I saw a quick change in my friend's countenance. The question had taken him unawares. A sudden light had streamed into an obscure corner of his mind. "Like me?" His tone was that of a man just awaking, and in surprise at some unexpected sight. "Is it strange that he should be like you?" I queried. "Perhaps not. I am his father." The surprise had already gone out of his voice, which had in it a shade of depression. "'Like father, like son.' The adage is as much founded on immutable law as upon observation. In homelier phrase, you have, 'chip of the old block.' John's disposition is very much like your own, my friend. He is quick-tempered, strong-willed, independent, and instinctively opposed to coercion—easily led—hard to be driven. Have you never thought of this? never looked down into the clear mirror of his unsullied character, and seen a perfect image of yourself?" My friend dropped his head upon his bosom, and sat a long time silent. "The father," I said, as he sat musing, "reproduces himself in his children, with such modifications as the mother's life may give. I need not offer arguments to prove the fact; every man of rational perception sees that it must be so under the unvarying law of like producing like." "I have no doubt of its being so," he replied. "Does not the fact instruct us?" I went on. "Does it not throw light upon that most difficult, yet most important, of all our duties, the government of our children? First, we must know the quality, condition, and capability of any material upon which we are to work. The plumber would fail in his effort to produce a useful result if he wrought with wood in place of lead; and so of the gold-beater, if, instead of the most ductile of all metals, he subjected iron to his hammer-strokes. As in the lower world of nature, different forms require different modes of treatment in order to eliminate their proper use, so in the higher world of mind, all objective differences are but images of mental differences. Mind is the true world, nature the representative and effect, and, as such, our instructor, if we will open our hearts to her teachings." "I do not gainsay this," returned my friend. "I believe it is so. I comprehend the important truth you have stated, that my child bears a likeness to his father. But what I do not see clearly is, the way in which I am to deal with him. How am I to correct, in my boy, the perversities which he has, by inheritance, from his father?" "The first thing," I answered, "is for you to pity him—to think compassionately of him, burdened as he is, for life, with a hasty temper and a stubborn will." I saw moisture come into my friend's eyes; the firm mouth gave way a little. "May I refer to the scene that passed here a little while ago?" I asked. "Speak freely," returned my friend. "John committed no fault." There was a slight motion of surprise in my friend's face. "Accidentally he touched a book, and it fell upon the floor—this, and only this." "He was careless," said my friend, with a slight effort at self-justification. "You, or I, or any one, might have done the same thing. Nay, every day of our lives, we do just as careless things. When the mind is absorbed, we cannot always guard our movements. Now put yourself in John's place. Imagine the book touched without intention, and it falls upon the floor, and imagine as sharp a word spoken to you as you spoke to him—what state of mind would have resulted?" I paused for his answer but he did not reply. "Could you have helped the rush of angry waves? Hurt pride—a sense of wrong—blind impulse—would have made you as stubborn as you saw him." "Perhaps it would." My friend's eyes were on the floor. He spoke in a subdued voice. "You cannot overcome the mind's defects by external force," I added. "There must be a wise appliance of moral means. Deal by him as you would yourself be dealt by in like circumstances. Cure his disease by the remedies that reason tells you would heal your own. Weaken his angry willfulness by removing excitement. Control yourself in his presence—hold back your quick-springing impulses—never let him see you angry, nor find you unjust or unreasonable. Always speak mildly and kindly, except when in grave rebuke or remonstrance for unmistakable faults, self-acknowledged. Help him with his load of hereditary evil tendencies, instead of adding a part of your own burden to the weak shoulders of a child. If you cannot control yourself, with reason, judgment, years, and experience, on your side, what can you expect from him?" I stopped, lest I were pressing home upon him too closely. Just at this moment the door opened, and the child came in. The book still lay where it had fallen from the table. I turned and saw the little fellow's questioning eyes upon his father's face. There was a look of grief about his lips. Nothing was said to him; in fact, no notice, apparently, taken of him. My friend changed the conversation to a new theme. John stole softly across the room, and sat down noiselessly, taking, as he did so, a long, sighing breath. Presently he slipped from his chair, and moving quietly to where the book lay on the floor, lifted and placed it on the table, pushing it to some distance from the edge; in this very act, showing his recognition of the fault for which he had been harshly blamed as only an accident, against the recurrence of which he would guard by placing the book where it would be in no danger of falling. I noticed another deep breath as the child's burdened heart sought to relieve the pressure that still lay heavily upon it. Then he began, by slow approaches, to draw near his father, and at last stood by his knee. My friend placed his arm around him, as he still talked with me, and tightened it with a loving pressure, made stronger by pity and repentance. John looked up into his face; and then his father bent down and kissed him. Reconciled: yet, as there had been wrong and suffering, and the graver of memory cuts deepest when feeling is most intense, was not something lost in that brief struggle between father and child which would never be restored? something hurt, the pain of which would endure through natural life? These are questions for sober thought. My friend, with all his infirmities of temper, had a strong love for his children, a quick moral sense, a love of right and justice. These were all on the side of a truer self-discipline as affecting the little ones given to him of God, that they might be trained for Heaven. I saw him afterward, under stronger provocation; and he did not forget himself. My presence may have revived in his memory the scene just described, and so put him on his guard. Even if that were so, much was gained; for all right efforts give a measure of strength, and erect barriers against evil. We overcome what is wrong in our natural tempers by resisting the impulse to act in the moment of provocation; not by repenting and resolving only. The repentance and the resolution are all well enough, and give strength for resistance against the hour of temptation; but only in the degree that we resist and refrain in the hour of trial, do we overcome and rise superior to our enemies.—T. S. Arthur. GREAT events, we often find,
On little things depend,
And very small beginnings
Have oft a mighty end. Letters joined make words,
And words to books may grow,
As flake to flake descending,
Forms an avalanche of snow. A single utterance may good
Or evil thoughts inspire;
One little spark enkindled,
Will set a town on fire. Little words are often
Full of weal or woe,
Joy or grief depending
On saying "Yes" or "No." What volumes may be written
With little drops of ink!
How small a leak unnoticed
A mighty ship may sink! A tiny insect's labor
Makes the coral strand,
And mighty seas are girdled
With grains of golden sand. Our life is made entirely
Of moments multiplied,
As little streamlets joining
Form the ocean's tide. Our hours and days, our months and years,
Are in small moments given;
They constitute our time below,—
Eternity in Heaven! - Seventeen counties in the southern part of Illinois have not a single saloon within their bounds.
- The steamer Altemania sailed from Havre on the 24th ult., with 1,000,000 francs in specie for New York.
- A land-slide recently occurred at Tataram, Moldavia, carrying away sixty-five houses. No lives were lost.
- The steamer City of Peking arrived in San Francisco from Hongkong, Aug. 27, with 835 Chinese steerage passengers.
- An earthquake has occurred at Tchesme, Asia Minor, opposite the island of Scio, causing great damage to property.
- The benevolent gifts of Mr. Seney, the Christian banker, have averaged $1,000 a day for the past two and a half years.
- Cattle are dying off rapidly from some unknown disease in the vicinity of the mouth of the Little Humboldt river, Nevada.
- Seth Green has this season superintended the distribution of more than a million small California trout in New York ponds and streams.
- It is reported from Tunis that the French camp at Hammamet was attacked by several thousand Arabs, who were repulsed, with heavy loss.
- The proposition to open the London city library and museum on Sundays, has been refused by the Common Council, by a vote of 97 to 26.
- Several Scotch landlords have recently made important rent reductions, and now it is learned that reductions have taken place on three of the best-known estates in England.
- Out of four and one-half millions of people in London, not more than 200,000 are regular attendants at any place of worship, and not more than 60,000 are regular communicants.
- Brodt, principal of the Durant school, Oakland, has been arrested on two charges of cruelty to children. He has been suspended from his position, to await the result of the trial.
- The ministers of San Francisco, and some of Oakland, met last week to consult in regard to making a united action in favor of the enforcement of the Sunday law. No definite plan was laid.
The recent election in France resulted in a complete victory for the Republicans. They gain 68 members and lose 10, the Monarchists gain 11 and lose 18, and the Bonapartists gain 3 and lose 40. - The police are making vigorous raids on the Chinese opium and gambling dens. By and by somebody will begin to wonder why it is so much worse for Chinese to gamble than it is for Americans.
- A rich vein has been struck in the silver mine at Iron Mountain, near Shasta, Cal. The mineral belt is said to be at least thirty feet thick. Some ore taken from the mine assayed $5,000 to the ton.
- A telegram from Galveston, Texas, August 27, says: The city of Plano is in ashes. Fifty-one buildings have been burned in two hours. Nearly every business house has been destroyed. Total loss, $100,000.
- August 27, the house of Mr. Kimball, near Stockton, Utah, was destroyed by fire, and five children perished in the flames. The fire was caused by a kerosene lamp falling to the floor and exploding.
- A fire in a Chicago pork-packing establishment, August 27, resulted in the roasting of several thousand pounds of bacon, the destruction of the buildings and machinery, and a loss to the owners of a million dollars.
- A letter from Bangkok, Siam, says: Asiatic cholera is raging here. It is variously estimated that from 100 to 300 natives are dying daily. Very few foreigners have died, but several have fled to Singapore and Hongkong.
- The people of Alaska recently met at Sitka and have drawn up a memorial to Congress, praying for a Territorial Government. At the meeting it was resolved to call an election on September 5 for the election of a delegate.
- A terrible accident occurred in Oakland last week, which ought to serve as a warning to boys, and men too. A boy fourteen years old jumped off from a moving train on Seventh street, and fell under the wheels. Both legs were crushed and had to be amputated.
- In a hot, dry valley in New South Wales, the bees suffered last year from a long-continued drought. It is said that this year they have made provision against another like trouble by filling a large number of external cells in each hive with pure water instead of honey.
- Four white boys in Fresno county threw a Chinese boy into a slough and drowned him. The boys were arrested but were soon discharged and the matter was dropped. Shortly after, however, a Chinese boy near Stockton set fire to a hay-stack, and narrowly escaped lynching.
- Since 1834, according to the Belfast Witness, the Roman Catholic population in Ireland has declined nearly two and a half millions; Episcopalians have lost 216,394; whilst Presbyterians are only 156,853 less numerous than they were 47 years ago. This decrease is doubtless due solely to emigration
- Private advices to the City of Mexico from Mazatlan give the following details of the explosion there. The first day thirty corpses were removed, and the following days four or five daily, until the authorities interdicted further removals, considering the work dangerous. All the windows in town were demolished.
The annual product of gold and silver in the world varies from $200,000,000 to $300,000,000. In 1853 the total was $285,000,000; in 1863, $271,000,000, with a decline from that time until 1877, when the tide turned. The product last year was $118,000,000 in gold, $94,000,000 in silver. Nearly one-half of the gold and about three-fourths of the silver was mined on the continent of America. - The first consignment of petroleum (twenty-six barrels) from the Tunitas Creek oil wells in San Mateo county was received in San Francisco, August 23. The well from which this shipment of oil was taken is 300 feet in depth, and readily yields fifty barrels a day, although its full capacity has not been tested. A company has incorporated for the purpose of sinking wells, building refineries, etc.
- A remarkable financial phenomenon has attracted attention in Egypt. There is a surplus in the national treasury equivalent to five million dollars. It is unusual for any country under Turkish control to show anything but a deficit that the event is worth recording. Egypt has for a long time been upon the verge of bankruptcy, the Viceroy being extravagant in his expenses, spending large sums on the erection of new palaces, and on his harem. Since his deposition these expenses have been cut down, and his successor has followed the advice of England and France, to which nations his creditors chiefly belong. The result has been that the national income has more than sufficed to cover the expenditure, and the army and civil servants have been punctually paid. Another gratifying result of foreign intervention has been the partial suppression of the slave-trade with the interior. It is still carried on to a grievous extent, but it is done with difficulty, and only by purchasing the connivance of corrupt pashas.—Christian Herald.
Garfield’s Testament and Prayer
A CLASSMATE of the President said at a prayer-meeting lately : "Twenty-six years ago to-night, and at this very hour, our class was on the top of Graylock to spend the night of the Fourth of July. As we were about to lie down for sleep, Garfield took out his pocket Testament and said: ‘I am in the habit of reading a chapter every night at this time with my mother. Shall I read aloud?’ All assented, and when he had read he asked the oldest member of the class to pray. And there in the night, on the mountain-top, we prayed with him for whom we have now assembled to pray." TEN CENTS will secure a select package of stirring Temperance Tracts, containing one hundred pages of facts, figures and pointed arguments against intemperance in all its forms. The following constitute the package:— Alcohol, What is it?—True Temperance.—Tobacco-Poisoning.—Tobacco-Using a Cause of Disease.—Tobacco-Using a Relic of Barbarism.—Evil Effects of Tea and Coffee.—Ten Arguments for Tea and Coffee Answered.—The Cause and Cure of Intemperance.—The Drunkard's Arguments Answered.—Alcoholic Medication.—Principles of Health Reform. TWENTY-FIVE CENT PACKAGE.
A larger package, costing 25 cents, contains 248 pages in eighteen tracts. In addition to the above eleven, it has the following Health and Temperance Tracts, which are larger:— Wine and the Bible.—Alcoholic Poison.—Moral and Social Effects of Alcohol.—Pork; the Dangers of its Use.—Tea and Coffee.—Healthful Clothing.—Dyspepsia. ONE DOLLAR PACKAGE.—HEALTH BOOKS.
In addition to the above, we will send the following valuable Health Books for one dollar:— Diphtheria (new edition illustrated), price 30 cents.—Healthful Cookery, 25 cents.—Proper Diet for Man, 15 cents. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. Issued by the S. D. A. Publishing Association, and for Sale at this Office. History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week for the period of 6,000 years. By Eld. J. N. Andrews. 528 pp. $1.25 The Sanctuary and the 2300 Days of Dan. 8:14. By Eld U. Smith. This work explains the past Advent movement, and makes plain the present position of those who wait for the Lord. 352 pp. $1.00 Thoughts on Daniel, critical and practical. By Eld. U. Smith. An exposition of the book of Daniel, verse by verse. 416 pp. $1.25 Thoughts on Revelation. By Eld. U. Smith. This work presents every verse in the book of Revelation with such remarks as serve to illustrate or explain the meaning of the text. 420 pp. $1.25 Life of Wm. Miller, with portrait. This book gives interesting sketches of the Christian life and public labors of this pioneer in the Advent movement in this country. 416 pp. $1.00 Life of Elder Joseph Bates, relating his experience of twenty-five years on ship-board, with incidents of his rise from cabin-boy up to master and owner. The closing chapters relate to his labors in the ministry and in the cause of temperance and other moral reforms. Fine tint paper, 352 pp. $1.00 Life Sketches of Elder James, and Mrs. E. G. White. The early lives and Christian experiences of both are given in this volume. Their subsequent history is so connected with the cause, that this book gives an outline of the rise and progress of our people and our cause. With fine steel portraits of both. $1.25 Thrilling Incidents in the political life of Francesco Urgos, while a soldier with Garibaldi, including his perilous escape from the tyrants of Rome, and his subsequent travels in Africa and Syria. 328 pp. $1.00 The Biblical Institute. This work contains a synopsis of the lectures given at the Battle Creek College by Eld. U. Smith, and at Biblical Institutes. 352 pp. $1.00 The Nature and Destiny of Man. By Eld. U. Smith. This work treats on the great questions of the condition of man in death, and his destiny beyond the resurrection. 356 pp. $1.00 The Spirit of Prophecy: or, the Great Controversy between Christ and his angels, and Satan and his angels, in four volumes. By Mrs. E. G. White. These volumes cover the time from the fall of Satan to the destruction of sin and sinners at the close of the one thousand years of Rev. 20. Each, 400 pp. $1.00
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