p. 208 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 26. (5/6/1875)

News and Miscellany.

By Editor

-Mr. Williams has resigned the office of Attorney-General of the United States, and Judge Edward Pierrepont has been appointed in his stead.

-The Ventura was recently wrecked on the lower California coast, as is alleged by the carelessness of her officers. The passengers were all saved.

-A fire in Detroit, Michigan, April 29, burned the factory of the Weber Furniture Company, together with ten or twelve houses. The loss is $150,000.

-The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was nearly destroyed by fire, April 28. A Chicago dispatch says:-

"Over two hundred residences, one hundred stores, hotels, banks, and the Opera House—the valuable structure costing nearly $100,000—a score of saw and shingle mills, besides the incalculable quantity of lumber destroyed. The loss upon the whole cannot fall short of $2,000,000, while it may reach double that amount. The scenes in the city baffle description. Everything is confusion worse confounded. Hundreds of families are homeless, and women and children are lying about the streets or roaming around in search of a place of shelter from the chilly night air. The heavens are lit up with the lurid glare of the fire which is yet burning fiercely within the limits to which it has been confined.

"The fire began at the corner of Pine and Marion streets and spread east and northeast through Hancock, Pearl, Marion, and High streets, destroying the depot of the St. Paul Railroad, and proceeding to main street, where the principal business houses are located, and extending on the north line of the above limits southeast across Fifth, Wangoon, and Otter street to Cape street south."

A further report, says: "In addition to the buildings heretofore mentioned as having been destroyed are all the newspaper offices, all the bank buildings in the city, every dry goods house on the north side, the First Congregational and the Universalist churches, the Postoffice block and the Revere House; about 250 buildings of all kinds. It is now believed that the total loss will not exceed $2,000,000. The insurance will not cover half the losses. There is much destitution among the burnt-out people, who are in pressing need of assistance from the public at large, as many of them have lost everything, homes, business, and capital.

-A terrible explosion of gasoline took place in Baltimore, Md., April 11. A candle was accidentally dropped into a quart of gasoline which flamed up without doing immediate injury. Firemen were summoned, and seven men went into the cellar when an explosion of a barrel took place which landed the men outside on the pavement. They were all seriously injured.

CHICAGO, April 28.—A special dispatch says the principal subject of discussion at the Cabinet meeting to-day was the situation on the Mexican border. The official reports as to the raiding parties, were formally presented and considered. They consisted of report received by the Postmaster-General from the Postmasters who have been molested, and the reports of army officers. These documents substantiated most of the dispatches from the Mexican border. The Postmaster-General showed that several of his officers had been killed. The Secretary of State manifested some restiveness at these raids. It is understood that the Mexican Government has disclaimed all responsibility for these incursions. It is evident that if these raids are to continue, the border mail services will of necessity be discontinued.

CALIFORNIA—Hundreds of the cherry trees of Napa county are dying.

-There are 20,000 peach, and 40,000 almond trees in San Benito county.

-The grasshoppers have invaded the fields of San Antonio, Monterey county.

-A village has been started in Los Angelos Co., under favorable auspices called Lompoc. It was started on the plan of the Greely, Col., settlement. No liquor is permitted to be sold within its limits. Lompoc, as a name, does not sound very pleasant, but it will sound better by and by if the corporation maintains its principles.

-And now the papers say, that a company of gentlemen from Detroit, representing 100 families, are on their way to examine the San Julian rancho, adjoining Lompoc on the south, with a view to purchasing and colonizing the same with families from Michigan.

-Silk ribbon in large quantities are now being manufactured at the Union Pacific Silk mills in South San Francisco.

-A grand-daughter of Thomas Jefferson has been seeking employment, for herself and son, in Washington.

-A severe shock of earthquake, fortunately of short duration, was experienced in Yokohama, Japan, April 1.

LONDON, May 1.—Forty-one bodies have been taken from the mine at North Staffordshire, killed by the explosion yesterday. Most of them have large families.

FREEPORT (Ill.), May 1.—A snow storm accompanied by high wind, has been prevailing since an early hour this morning, over the northeastern portion of the State. At 6 o'clock the mercury stood below the freezing point.

JANESVILLE (Wis.), May 1.—A heavy snow storm prevailed here from dawn to noon to-day, and five inches of snow have fallen.

-A May pole was raised at Woodward's Gardens, San Francisco, where flowers are not lacking. The gardens were visited by 10,000 persons, May 1.

MONTPELIER (Vt.), May 1.—At 12 o'clock last night a fire broke out in Bruce's block and raged four hours, destroying about thirty stores and dwellings. A strong wind prevailed, and the fire threatened the business portion of the town, but fortunately a change in the wind drove the flames in a different direction. The dwellings on both sides of the street for nearly a quarter of a mile were burned. Loss, $150,000.

EMIGRATION FROM NEW YORK TO EUROPE. NEW YORK, May 1.—Eight steamships left this port for Europe to-day, carrying in the aggregate 679 cabin and 1180 steerage passengers. This is a great increase over the number sailing on the previous Saturday. The indications are that the spring exodus has fully commenced.

-Emigrants are returning to Europe from Utah and California.

-The immigration to California this Spring is very great, and the problem seems to be, judging from the San Francisco and Sacramento papers, what shall be done with them? Nearly all of them go direct to San Francisco; many remain there; others go to other places; many go to Los Angelos Co. The prospect is that all cannot find employment during the season. The crop prospects are unfavorable in California. The Spring has been very dry. Complaints come in from almost every direction.

The California Tent.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THE Lord has given us much encouragement here the last few days. The audience and the interest have steadily increased, till now we have the tent quite well filled. All pay the deepest attention. No disturbance. Books go off quite freely. An intelligent man from New Zealand, on his way to England, came in and heard, bought a package of books, and took them with him. Another man from Southern California came in one evening, became interested, and bought some books to take home. Another man from Missouri has already sent off a package of our books to his friends East. An intelligent Dane has attended, subscribed for the Tidende, and thinks he must keep the Sabbath. So we thank God and take courage.

As usual, the ministers are doing their utmost to keep the people away. Some have been influenced by them to quit coming; but others come in to take their places.

We have made what we regard an improvement in the construction of our stand or pulpit. We raise the platform about to the level of the seats. Then we board up in front only twenty inches high. From this we raise a small pulpit large enough for the Bible and one lamp. Thus the books are brought down where the people can readily see them, and it is much more pleasant every way.

Health good, and we are hopeful in God. D. M. CANRIGHT. Stockton, Cal., May 2.

Popular Errors.

To THINK that the more a man eats the fatter and stronger he will become. To believe that the more children study the faster they will learn. To conclude that, if exercise is good, the more violent it is the more good is done. To imagine that every hour taken from sleep is an hour gained. To act on the presumption that the smallest room in the house is large enough to sleep in. To argue that whatever remedy causes one to feel immediately better is good for the system, without regard to its more ulterior effects. To eat without an appetite, or to continue to eat after it has been satisfied, merely to gratify the taste. To eat a hearty supper for the pleasure experienced during the brief time it is passing down the throat, at the expense of a whole night of disturbed sleep and weary waking in the morning.—Washington Press.

Health Department.

By Editor

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 2.

Burn Kerosene the Right Way.

A CORRESPONDENT calls attention of all consumers of kerosene oil to the pernicious and unhealthy practice of using lamps filled with that article with the wicks turned down. The gas which should be consumed by the flames is by this means left heavily in the air, while the cost of the oil thus saved at present prices would scarce be one dollar a year for the lamps of a household. His attention was called particularly to this custom by boarding in the country where kerosene was the only available light. A large family of children living in the same house were taken ill one night and on going to the nursery the mother found the room nearly suffocating, with a lamp turned down, whereupon the physician forbade the use of a lamp at night, unless turned at full head. He says he could quote many cases, one of a young lady subject to fits of faintness, which if not induced, were greatly increased by sleeping in a room with the lamp almost turned out. Besides the damage to health, it spoils the paper and curtains, soils the mirror and windows, and gives the whole house an untidy air and an unwholesome odor.—Sel.

We are pleased to see the above in print. We have often had occasion to speak of this, and hope every reader will remember it. Several times persons have come into our meetings with lanterns and turning them down, set them near the speaker's stand, to have them ready for immediate use at the close of the meeting. In such cases we have invariably requested them to change the position of the lantern and explained the danger of the practice. The above article does not magnify the danger of kerosene lamps turned down in sleeping rooms. We advise all to banish lights from sleeping apartments entirely, unless circumstances make them necessary. John Harvey Kellogg

Sunshine in Dwellings.

THE time will very likely come when sunshine, or sunlight will be so utilized as to be the entire remedy for many diseases. That it is a wonderful vitalizer none can doubt who knows anything about it. But how many houses are constructed with a view of getting all the sunshine possible, especially when so much is needed in winter and spring? The living or sitting room, at these seasons of the year at least, should have a full southern exposure, with large windows to let in sunshine. Sleeping rooms, wardrobes, closets, and passage ways should receive the cleansing, vivifying influence of the sun. Sickly persons should court the sunshine as much as possible—sit in it, lie in it, luxuriate in it. It does not cost anything only appreciation. A room warmed neither by the sun nor by fire is unhealthy, and not fit for human habitation. It is a poor theory that sends men, women, and children off into a cold room to sleep, on health principles, when warmth has been excluded for a day, or a week, or perhaps months. The change in the temperature of a room, having both fire and sunshine, after the sun goes down is exceedingly marked. A perceptible chill is felt.

Clothe the Babies.

A Distinguished Paris physician says: "I believe that during the twenty years I have practiced my profession, 20,000 children have been carried to the cemeteries, a sacrifice to the absurd custom of exposing their arms. Put the bulb of a thermometer in a baby's mouth and the mercury rises to 90 degrees. Now carry the same to its little hand; if the arm be bare and the evening cool, the mercury will sink to 50 degrees. Of course all the blood that flows through these arms must fall from 10 to 40 degrees below the temperature of the heart. Need I say, when these currents of the blood flow back to the chest, the child's vitality is more or less compromised? And need I add that we ought not to be surprised at its frequent recurring affections of the tongue, throat, or stomach? I have seen more than one child, with habitual cough or hoarseness, entirely relieved by simply keeping the hands and arms warm."

Disappointed Time-Setters.

By James White

The following item we copy from a Michigan secular paper :—

"The Adventists of Chicago confidently looked for the second coming of Christ on Monday evening last at about eight o’clock, the hour when spectacular performances usually begin, and had made all their arrangements accordingly. These people seemed to be sincere in the expectation that the end of all things was to be reached on the 19th instant."

It should be known that not all "the Adventists of Chicago" were guilty of this folly. W. C. Thurman professed to prove by the Bible, mathematics, astronomy, and corrected chronology that the Lord would certainly come on the 19th of April, 1875, and among professed Adventists who reject the true theory of the termination of the prophetic periods and the advent message as given in Rev. 14, he found some as fanatical as himself who were sure the end would be April 19. If they would learn wisdom by their experience we would rejoice at their late discomfiture; but the past course of Thurman and his deluded followers leaves little room to hope that their future course will not bring reproach to the Advent cause. We are glad, however, that the position of Seventh-day Adventists has become now so well known that the vagaries of the time-setters do not greatly injure the cause of the great and important truths they hold. J. H. W.

Two Great Errors.

By James White

1. It is an error to suppose that change is identical with progress. There is no progress without change, it is true, but yet change is not necessarily progress. Many make a mistake here. They point to the changes which have taken place in their lives, and call them the evidences of their progress. Were retrogression impossible they would be correct in their conclusion. But there is as clear a possibility of changing from bad to worse, as from good to better. Indeed, close observation will show that the changes from bad to worse are far more frequent than from bad to good. Let every one see to it that he makes no changes in a wrong direction; that he does not sink with the world, or suffer himself to be drawn away with the error of the wicked; for the enemy has blinded many so as to make them believe they were progressing when they were sinking lower and lower.

As the consumptive has the highest hope of recovery when death draws near, and as a patient ceases to feel pain when mortification sets in, so in case of spiritual blindness, the deceived one is more self-complacent as his darkness and danger increases. This shows the great danger of mistakes in religion or morals. Sin both blinds and hardens. He who cannot tell the difference between downward change and progress, will soon be unable to discover a difference between pardon and license, or to discern between gospel liberty and licentiousness. He is greatly to be pitied.

2. It is a mistake to think that all noise is music. It is true, there can be no music without some noise, but noise is not necessarily music. Many seem to labor under this mistake, and as they think noise must be music, they take for granted that where there is most noise there is most music. But discord is quite as possible as concord or harmony; and where there is discord, an increase of volume only makes the discord more apparent and disagreeable. Even harmonious sounds become disagreeable when they are too loud to be borne by the sensitive nerve; much more so, harsh and discordant sounds.

Singing is a part of the worship of God, and we should hold ourselves under obligations to sing right, and, as far as possible, to make melody in our hearts and on our tongues. If we could not read we should of necessity have to take our texts of Scripture from some one who could read. Then if we undertook to quote them we should expect to make many mistakes; sometimes, perhaps, serious ones. And then the proper course to pursue would be to learn to read, and thus give Scripture correctly. And as singing is worship we should endeavor to read the tunes we sing, otherwise we must trust to memory, and thus be liable to make discord instead of melody.

Some men have been so opposed to educated ministers that they would try to preach without being able to read their Bibles. And some, in like manner, have been prejudiced against singing by note, not knowing that it is impossible to sing a tune correctly without the notes. As no one is qualified to teach who has not first been taught, even so no one can properly lead who has not been led; and the most teachable spirit becomes the best teacher.

Elijah heard a great and strong wind; and beheld an earthquake, and a fire; but the Lord was not in these. Afterward he heard a still small voice, and the Lord was in this. So it often is in worship.

Let us all endeavor to correct the mistakes of the past, and be circumspect in all things that pertain to the worship of God. J. H. W.

Business Department.

By Editor

"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully," (margin, negligently). Jer. 48:10.

Received for the Signs.

$1.00 EACH. Ellery C Waggoner, A M Abbott, H Meacham, A Hornback, W G White, J Martin, Isaac Hibler.

MISCELLANEOUS. Nathaniel G Smith 25c, J Clark 60c, James Stephens 25c, Lucinda Luckey 25c, Isaac Smith 20c, Stansbury Bowers 20c, Solomon Buckley 20c, J B Hope 25c, Dr. Roberts 25c, Mary F Wright 25c, E B Carpenter 25c, Mrs Eliza Bliss $2.30, George Vickery 24c, Amos Austin $2.25, D C Little 10c, Wm Lorrell 10c, John W Uglow 10c, Wm Ede 50c, Hugh Armstrong 25c, E D Boyd 25c, J N Maxwell 50c.

Donations to the Signs.

M Wood $10, F Austin $1.74, H B Stratton $100, M Wood per S. N. Haskell $25, Sally Chase $25, Annie Bradford $10, Nancy Collins $5, Mary Mace $3, Geo. Murphy $1, Cady Mace 16c, Joseph Mace 10c.

California Publishing Fund.

Alonzo Papworth $50, Isabella Moore $10, Margaret Snook $10.

Appointments.

PROVIDENCE permitting, I will speak in Vallejo, Sabbath and Sunday, May 8 and 9. If arrangements are so made I will speak five times in Vallejo, commencing Sabbath evening. Social meeting after preaching Sabbath morning.

J. H. WAGGONER.

Quarterly Meetings.

THE Quarterly Meetings for the third quarter will be held as follows:—

The State Quarterly Meeting will be held at Oakland, Cal., July 3 and 4.

District Quarterly Meetings will be held as follows:—

District No. 1, at Bloomfield, June 19 and 20. District No. 2, at Healdsburg, June 19 and 20. District No. 3, at St. Helena, June 19 and 20. District No. 4, at Vallejo, June 19 and 20. District No. 5, at Woodland, June 19 and 20. District No. 6, at Red Banks School House, Tehama Co., May 8 and 9. District No. 7, in connection with the State Quarterly Meeting at Oakland, July 3 and 4. District No. 8, at San Jose, June 19 and 20. District No. 9, at San Francisco, June 19 and 20.

We will try to furnish ministerial labor for the State Quarterly Meeting at Oakland, and at the Red Banks meeting. The other Quarterly Meetings will be presided over by the directors of the respective districts, except No. 3, which, in the absence of the director, will be presided over by the Vice President of the Cal. T. and M. Society.

The requisite number of blanks for each district should be sent by our State T. and M. Secretary to the directors of the respective districts immediately, so that the directors can furnish to each church librarian their respective number—four or five more than the number of T. and M. members in each church. These blanks should be passed out by the librarians of the churches June 5, and then filled out and returned to the librarians June 12, so as to give the librarians ample time to make up their reports for their district Quarterly Meeting. The report of each church should be sent, or carried, to the district secretary at the Quarterly Meeting, so that the district secretary can make a report of the workings of the district for the quarter.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, Pres. Cal. State T. and M. Society.

OUR publications are offered in Coin at the same prices at which they are sold in Michigan in Legal Tender. The difference between hard money and U. S. currency will simply pay freight from Michigan. Our friends will please pay for books and the SIGNS OF THE TIMES in coin value.

Acknowledgment.

By J. N. Ayers

I RECEIVED by yesterday’s mail a draft from Battle Creek for $33.35, being money given by friends in California for Kansas sufferers. Please return the thanks of the brethren and sisters of Kansas for the same, and may the blessing of the Lord attend those friends that are contributing of their means for our relief in this, our time of need. May they feel that it is more blessed to give than receive, and may it be the happy lot of both giver and receiver to meet in that beautiful country where suffering will never be known. Oh! what a blessed hope! I long to be there.

J. N. AYERS, Tr. M. and K. Conf. Farlinville, Linn Co., Kan., April 23, 1875.

Books! Books!! Books!!!

By Editor

☞ Our Book List.—Any persons on the Pacific Coast wishing any of the publications named in our book list can obtain them by mail or express by writing to the Signs of the Times, Oakland, California, enclosing the published price of the same. When sent by mail, books will be post paid; when by express, at the expense of the one ordering the books; but in this case a liberal discount will be made when ten dollars worth or more are paid for with any one order.

PUBLICATIONS.

By Editor

Books, Pamphlets, Tracts, etc., etc.

For Sale at this Office.

Cruden's Complete Concordance. In this any passage in the Scriptures can readily be found. $1.50 per copy, post. paid.

Bible Dictionary of Bible names, customs and countries, and maps of Bible lands. $1.50 per copy, post. paid.

The History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week, by J. N. Andrews. 528 pp. $1 25.

Thoughts on Daniel. By U. Smith. $1.00. Condensed paper edition, 35 cts.

Thoughts on the Revelation. By U. Smith. $1.00.

Life of Win. Miller, with likeness. $1.00.

The Nature and Destiny of Man. By U. Smith. 384 pp. $1.00. Paper, 40 cts.

The Constitutional Amendment : or The Sunday, the Sabbath, The Change, and The Restitution. A discussion between W. H. Littlejohn and the Editor of the “Christian Statesman.” Bound, $1.00. Paper, 40 cts. First part, 10 cts.

The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. I. By Ellen G. White; 416 pp. $1.00.

Autobiography of Eld. Jos. Bates. 318 pp. $1..

Hygienic Family Physician. $1.00.

The Game of Life (illustrated). Satan playing with man for his soul. In board, 50 cts.; in paper, 30 cts.

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Camp Meetings and other Religious Gatherings. Compiled by Elder James White. 196 pp. Bound 50 cts. Paper 25.

The United States in Prophecy. By U. Smith. Bound, 40 cts. Paper, 20 cts.

The Advent Keepsake. Muslin, 25 cts. Gilt, 40 cts.

Sermons on the Sabbath and Law, embracing an outline of the Biblical and Secular History of the Sabbath for 6,000 years. By J. N. Andrews, 30 cts.

Facts for the Times, revised and enlarged, 30c.

History of the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. By D. M. Canright, 25 cts.

The State of the Dead. By U. Smith. 224 pp. 25 cts.

Our Faith and Hope, No. 1. Sermons on the Millennium, Second Advent, the Kingdom, the Judgment, the Time, the Sanctuary and Saving Faith. 20 cts each.

Refutation of the Age to Come. By J. H. Waggoner. 20 cts.

The Atonement. By J. H. Waggoner. 20 cts.

The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism. By J. H. Waggoner. 20 cts.

The Bible from Heaven; a Dissertation. 20 cts.

Miraculous Powers. Evidences, Scriptural and historical of the perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts. 20c.

The Complete Testimony of the Fathers concerning the Sabbath and First Day. By J. N. Andrews. 15 cts.

The Ministration of Angels; and the Origin, History, and Destiny of Satan. By D. M. Canright. 20 cts.

The Three Messages of Rev. 14, and the Two-Horned Beast. By J. N. Andrews. 15 cts.

The Resurrection of the Unjust; a Vindication of the Doctrine. By J. H. Waggoner. 15 cts.

Life of Christ, No. 2, by Mrs. E. G. White, 15c.

The Saint's Inheritance, or the Earth made New. By J. N. Loughborough. 10 cts.

The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

Sunday Seventh-day. A Refutation of Mede, Jennings, Akers and Fuller. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

The Truth Found; The Sabbath. By J. H. Waggoner. 10 cts.

Brown's Review of Gilfillan on the Sabbath. 10 cts.

Vindication of the True Sabbath. Morton 10 cts.

The Date of the Seventy Weeks of Dan. 9, established. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

The Seven Trumpets of Rev. 8 and 9. 10 cts.

Matthew Twenty-four. By James White. 10c.

Position and Work of the True People of God under the Third Angel's Message. Littlejohn. 10 cts.

The Hope of the Gospel: What it is, and when it will be consummated. By J. N. Loughborough, 80 pp. 10 cts.

An Appeal to the Baptists, from the Seventh-day Baptists, for the restoration of the Bible Sabbath 10 cts.

Four-cent Tracts: The Two Covenants.—The Second Advent—The Seventh Part of Time—Who Changed the Sabbath?—Celestial Railroad—Samuel and the Witch of Endor—The Ten Commandments not Abolished—Address to the Baptists—The Present Truth—The Sufferings of Christ.

Three-cent Tracts: Much in Little—The Lost Time Question—Spiritualism a Satanic Delusion—Infidel Cavils Considered—The End of the Wicked—Scripture References.

Two-cent Tracts: Definite Seventh Day—Seven Reasons for Sunday-Keeping Examined—Sabbath by Elihu—The Rich Man and Lazarus—Argument on Sabbaton—The Millennium—Departing and Being with Christ—Fundamental Principles of S. D. Adventists.

Address, Signs of the Times.

The Signs of the Times.

By James White

We have published twenty-three numbers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES on our individual responsibility. The cost of editing, publishing, and mailing the SIGNS at $150 per number of 3400 copies, was submitted to a committee at the California Conference last September, who, after consulting with Bro. Wm. Saunders, editor and publisher of the Yolo Democrat, decided that the estimate was reasonable. Twenty-three numbers at this rate cost $3,450. Add to this the increase of 475 on Nos. 17-23 at $4.00 a hundred copies, and the postage since Jan. 1, 1875, and the entire sum reaches $3,614. But the sum including expense of getting up lists of subscribers, and getting the material for the office together, and all the expenses attendant on starting a paper, is now figured down to $3189.50

The receipts for the SIGNS, which were given in the first twenty-three numbers, amount to $1614.03. There is, therefore, due on the first twenty-three numbers the sum of $1575.47 for which we are individually responsible. We leave no debt whatever on the SIGNS Office, and make over to the youthful Publishing Association the entire material and lists which are worth at least $1500, for the sum of our individual subscription of stock. It is a pleasure to make these statements as we leave the financial management of the SIGNS Office.

Our labors have been hard, and our sacrifices for the cause in California have been small. We have not found time to visit popular places of resort, and have not taken a single hour to call on friends, or to go out of our way to attend to matters of personal interest. We now earnestly invite the friends of the cause in California to show their interest in the cause by making sacrifices similar to those we have made. Do not let the work, which has been well begun, falter for want of your care and means. And we wish here to state to all those who read the SIGNS that somebody has to pay for your paper. If you are interested in the reading matter of the SIGNS, and are able to pay for it, you should show your interest by forwarding to the Office a donation not less than $2.00, and as much more as your good will and means will allow.

Those who have gathered up names for the SIGNS and have forwarded them to the Office without pay, should not feel that their work is done. They should see these persons or should in some way ascertain whether they are interested readers, or whether our precious paper is cast, unread, into the waste-paper basket. Those who do not wish longer to receive the SIGNS should notify their postmaster, whose duty it is to notify the publishers.

It is expressly stated in the Articles of Incorporation of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association that no profits whatever are to arise from stock taken in the Association. Its object is the dissemination of religious truth, and the youthful Association should not be burdened with unworthy, non-paying subscribers. We commenced the SIGNS on a liberal plan, and ventured much. Not that we had money to expend in such an enterprise, but in the expectation that our liberalities would inspire the same in the numerous readers, we ventured out in faith that the interested readers in all quarters would send in liberal donations. But judge of our surprise as we open hundreds of letters and find all the way from a dime to a quarter for postage. Instead of those sums the readers are invited to send in all the way from $2 to $25 to pay arrears, and to continue the paper. Those who wish to pay one years' subscription, and donate for the future support of the SIGNS, will please forward to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. But those who wish to help make up the sum due on the first twenty-three numbers, will please address Eld. James White, Battle Creek, Michigan. All receipts will be acknowledged in the SIGNS.

J. W.