Albert Moore, at the age of twenty-five, took Alice Warren for his wife. He had been in the army—had gone in at the age of twenty—fought through from Bull’s Bluff to Richmond—had come out with a captain’s commission. He had come from the army with but little money; but he had a good trade, a stout pair of hands, and had borrowed no trouble for the future. Alice had saved up a few hundred dollars from her wages as a teacher, and when the twain had become husband and wife they found, upon a careful inventory, that they had enough to furnish a small house comfortably. Albert proposed that they should hire a tenement in the city; but Alice thought they had better secure a pretty cottage in the suburbs—a cottage which they might, perhaps, in time, make their own.
Albert had no disposition to argue the question, so the cottage was found and secured. It was a pleasant, rural location, and so connected with the city by rail, that Albert found no difficulty in going to and from his work-shop.
During her five years’ experience in school teaching Alice had learned many things, and having been an orphan from an early age, she had made the problems of real life one of her chief studies; and what she had learned in this latter department served her well in her new station. After marriage she found Albert to be just the man she had known him to be in other years. He was kind to a fault; free-hearted and generous; ready always to answer the call of friendship; and prone to pluck the flowers that bloom to-day, regardless of what might be nurtured to bloom to-morrow.
They had been married but a few months when Alice found he was cutting his garments according to his daily supply of cloth. Not a shred was he likely to save up from the cuttings of an extra garment for a rainy day to come.
“Albert,” she said to him one evening, “do you know we ought to be laying up a little something?”
Albert looked up from his paper and waited for his wife to elucidate.
“I think I heard you tell Mr. Greenough that you had no money—that you had paid out your last dollar this very afternoon?”
“Exactly, my dear; but you know to-morrow is pay-day.”
“And you have spent your last month’s earnings?”
“Yes.”
A brief silence ensued, which Albert broke.
“Come, Alice, you’ve got something on your mind. Out with it—I’ll listen.”
And then Alice, in a smiling, pleasant way, went on to tell her husband that they ought to be laying up something.
Albert smiled in turn, and asked how such a thing could be done when it cost all he earned to live.
“You earn three dollars and a half a day,” said Alice.
“Yes.”
“George Summers only earns three dollars a day.”
“You are right.”
“And yet he lives, and does not run in debt.”
“But he is forced to deny himself many little comforts which we enjoy.”
“And the one great comfort which we might enjoy we are throwing away.”
“How is that, Alice?”
“The comfort of a little sum in the bank, which we would see growing toward the answering of future wants.”
Albert could not see how it was to be done; and Alice feared that a lesson of empty words might be wasted. She knew that his ambition needed a substantial prop. Never, of his own accord, would he commence to save by littles. He did not estimate money in that way. Had some kind fairy dropped into his hand a five-twenty bond for five hundred dollars, he would have put it away gladly; and with such a nest egg in the start, he might have sought to add to the store. But he could see no hope in a dollar bill, and much less could he discover the nucleus of a grand saving in a fifty-cent scrip.
With Alice it was different. From her meager earnings as school teacher she had in less than five years, saved up three hundred dollars; and the first saving she had put by was a silver dime. She knew what little by little could do, and she was determined to show it to her husband. She must be patient and persevering, and these qualities she possessed in an eminent degree. It was to be the grand undertaking of the first years of her married life, and to do it she would bend every available energy. She planned that if possible she would get hold of that fifty cents every day; or, if she could not do that, she would do the best she could.
Generous, frank, loyal, and loving, Albert was an easy prey to the wiles of a wife loyal and loving as himself. He gave her money when she asked for it; and she asked for it when she thought he had any to give.
And here let me say that Alice knew her husband would not run in debt. That was an evil they both arrayed themselves against in the outset. When Albert’s purse was empty he bought nothing; but when it was full he was apt to buy more than he needed. Alice knew all this and governed herself accordingly.
“I think,” said Alice, one evening, “that I must fix over my old brown cashmere for winter, I should like a new one but I don’t suppose you can afford it.”
Albert looked grieved. The idea that he could not afford his wife a new dress!
But for such a one as she wanted it would cost twenty-five or thirty dollars.
“If you want it, get it,” said Albert emphatically. “I will let you have twenty dollars from this month’s pay, and the balance you shall have next month.”
Alice got the thirty dollars, but she did not get the new dress. By the outlay of five dollars for new trimmings she contrived to fix over the brown cashmere so that it looked every bit as good as new.
And so Alice worked. Sometimes she asked her husband for ten cents, sometimes for fifty cents, sometimes for a dollar, and sometimes for more, and at the end of a year, upon careful reckoning up, she found that she had managed to get hold of rather more than fifty cents a day; but she had done it by denying herself of many things, some of which seemed really needful.
The result of the first year’s effort inspired Alice with new life and vigor. She had saved up one hundred and fifty dollars, and had invested it in government funds. Through the influence of a dear friend who was in a banking establishment, and to whom she had confided her secret, she was enabled to get the bonds at their face value.
It was only a little at a time—sometimes a very little—but even a penny dropped into the strong box was so much gained. Only a little—but those littles multiplied by other littles, grew amazingly. The husbandman who would sit himself down by a hill of corn, and wait to see the tender blades put forth, would be disheartened; but he knows if he plants the tiny seed, and cultivates it as he ought, that the harvest of golden grain will come at length.
Albert and Alice were married in the spring of 1865. It was on an evening of August, 1870, that Albert came home. He had been notified that he must leave the cottage. They must give up the pleasant home, and lose the little garden they had cultivated with so much fondness and care.
“The owner wishes to sell,” he exclaimed; “and he has an offer. He asks two thousand dollars, and must have five hundred down.”
Alice’s eyes gleamed with radiant delight. She had been thinking for some time that she must let her husband into her secret. It had begun to wear upon her. And now the time had come as though by providential interposition.
She got up and went away to her cabinet, and when she came back she brought a little book in her hand.
“Albert!” said she, “let’s you and I buy the cottage.”
Albert looked at her in amazement; and directly it flashed upon him that there was too much solemnity in her look and tone for badinage. Something that he had noticed during the past months came back to him, and he trembled with the weight of suspense that fell upon him.
Alice then showed her book—that she had more than eight hundred dollars in the bank. The ice was broken—she told her story in glowing words. She told how she had saved up little by little, and how she had at length found herself able to purchase a fifty dollar bond. And then she told how her uncle in the banking house had taken charge of her investment; and how, under his management, the interest had accrued in amazing volume.
But the grand result was not the chief thing. The chief thing was the beginning—was the very little which had been religiously saved until the second little could be added to it.
And now, as a result of his wife’s careful and tireless working, Albert, found something upon which his ambition could take a fair start. He never could himself, from so small a commencement, have reared the pile; but with the structure started, and its proportions all blocked out, he could help on the work. He could see how it was done— and not only that, but the demonstration was before him that the thing could be done.
One year has elapsed since Albert Moore received the lesson from his wife, and joining hands with her, and bending his energies in the same direction, he has accomplished during the twelve months what would have seemed to him a marvel in the earlier time.
He has laid by more than fifty cents a day; and the cigars, and the beer, and the other condiments of life which he has surrendered to the work, are not missed—rather, he holds they are so many enemies conquered. And Albert can improve his home with cheerful heart, and he can set out new trees and vines in his garden with bright promises, because he sees, day by day, the pretty cottage growing more and more his own. The end approaches a little at a time—little by little it approaches, but surely, nevertheless; and there is a great and satisfying joy even in the labor and in the anticipation.—Household.
Drunkard's Arguments Answered.
1. ALCOHOL IS FOOD.
The aristocratic toper, who wishes to give an air of respectability to his vice, will claim that alcohol is a food. He will cite in proof instances in which persons have lived for weeks by the aid of no other nutriment, taking nothing but alcohol and water. This semblance of argument scarcely needs exposure; for the most that can be claimed is that it proves merely that persons have lived several weeks while taking only alcohol and water. The fact that individuals have in several instances been known to live from thirty to sixty days while taking only water, shows conclusively that those persons who lived a shorter time, on brandy and water lived in spite of the alcohol instead of by the aid of it. A conclusive evidence that alcohol is not a food is found in the fact that when taken into the system it undergoes no change. It is alcohol in287the stomach, alcohol in the blood, alcohol in the brain, in the liver, in all the tissues and alcohol in the breath, in the perspiration, and in all the excretions. In short, alcohol is not used in the body, but leaves it as it enters, a rank poison.
2. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES PRESERVE THE BODY.
Alcohol is a powerful antiseptic. An apple or the body of an animal placed in the fluid, cannot undergo decomposition. From this, some lovers of the article are very ready to infer that the use of alcohol will prevent decomposition of the tissues of the body, and thus tend to its preservation. A greater fallacy could not be conceived. Corrosive sublimate, blue vitriol, copperas, and carbolic acid are excellent antiseptics; but who would think of taking either of these articles for the purpose of prolonging life?
But if alcohol did really hinder the destruction of the tissues, so as to prevent the natural process of disintegration, it would still be very injurious; for all the processes of life are dependent upon destructive changes of tissue; and hence, anything which would hinder this process would hinder vital action, would interfere with the life processes which are essential to the manifestation of life.
But it can be shown that the evidence upon which the scientific advocates of the use of alcohol base their arguments is quite unsatisfactory. They claim to find that the body wastes less while a person is using alcohol than when abstaining, the other conditions being the same. Hence, they tell us alcohol prevents vital changes, and so saves the body from wearing out. With this view they recommend the use of liquor to those who are obliged to undergo any hardship, or to perform any severe physical labor.
Let us examine this argument. It is found that the urine and other excretions contain less of the worn-out material of the tissues when a person is using alcohol, than when he is abstaining. From this alone it is concluded that alcohol prevents the wearing out or disintegration of tissue—a most astonishing conclusion. No one but a man stoutly prejudiced in favor of alcohol would think of forming such a conclusion. A far more rational deduction from the premises would be that the presence of alcohol in the system prevents the excretory organs from eliminating from the body the dead and poisonous products which result from the wearing out of the tissues. This conclusion would seem to be far more reasonable, since alcohol itself is a poison, which is thrown out by the same organs whose proper function it is to remove the debris of the tissues. These organs cannot perform more than a certain amount of labor. If most of their activity is expended in eliminating alcohol, of course they can perform less of their proper labor, and so the dead products of disorganization will be left to accumulate in the body and produce a deceptive increase of weight. It is by this means that the drunkard often acquires a bloated appearance. Every one knows that such an accumulation of tissue is not healthy flesh; yet it is of the same character as that which leads some prejudiced scientists to pronounce in favor of alcoholic beverages as a preventive of waste.
Surely, such science must be of the kind referred to by the apostle Paul when he spoke of “science falsely so-called.”
3. ALCOHOL STRENGTHENS THE MUSCLES.
The laborer, the traveler, and the soldier use alcohol under the delusion that it strengthens. When fatigued, the laborer takes a glass of grog and feels better, or thinks he does. He imagines himself stronger. His increased strength, however, is wholly a matter of the imagination. Alcohol cannot strengthen the muscles; it simply paralyzes a man's nerves so he does not know he is tired, just as chloroform paralyzes the nerves so that a limb may be severed from the body without the patient's knowledge.
Numerous experiments have shown that alcohol decreases muscular strength. Says Dr. Brinton, “The smallest quantity takes somewhat from the strength of the muscles.” Says Dr. Edmunds, of London, “A stimulant is that which gets strength out of a man instead of putting it into him.”
4. ALCOHOL WARMS THE BODY.
The sensation of warmth produced by taking a glass of wine or brandy is delusive. The circulation is unbalanced, and for a few moments there is a seeming increase of heat; but the thermometer shows that the temperature is lessened. Says Dr. Parkes, the eminent English sanitarian, “All observers condemn the use of spirits, and even of wine or beer, as a preventive against cold.” The names of D. King, Dr. Kane, Captain Kennedy, and Dr. Hayes, may be cited as holding to this opinion. In the last expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, the whole crew were teetotalers. In the Russian army no soldier who has taken spirits is allowed to march in cold weather.—Health Tract, No. 12.
Oh Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?
By Sel.
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
Man passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around and together be laid;
And the young and the old and the low and the high
Shall molder to dust and together shall lie.
The infant and mother attended and loved;
That mother that infant’s affection who proved;
The husband that mother and infant who blessed,
Each, all, are away to their dwelling of rest.
The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
Shone beauty and pleasure—her triumphs are by,
And the mem’ry of those who loved her and praised,
Are alike from the minds of the living erased.
The hand of the king that the scepter hath borne;
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn;
The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave,
Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave.
The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap;
The herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep;
The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread.
The saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven;
The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven;
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.
So the multitude goes, like the flowers or the weed
That wither away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes, even those we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.
For we are the same our fathers have been;
We see the same sights our fathers have seen—
We drink the same stream and view the same sun,
And run the same course our fathers have run.
The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think;
From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink;
To the life we are clinging they also would cling;
But it speeds for us all like a bird on the wing.
They loved, but the story we cannot unfold;
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold;
They grieved, but no wail from the slumbers would come;
They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.
They died, aye! they died; and we things that are now,
Who walk on the turf that lies over the brow,
Who make in their dwelling a transient abode,
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.
Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
We mingle together in sunshine and rain;
And the smiles and the tears, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.
’Tis the wink of an eye, ’tis the draught of a breath,
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud—
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
—Sel.
A Picture of Intemperance.
By C. B.
PORTRAY the evils of intemperance if you can! He does not live who can tell the whole story of its woes. Exaggeration here is impossible. The fatigued fancy falters in its flight before it comes up to the fact. The mind’s eye cannot take in the countless miseries of its motley train. No art can put into that picture shades darker than the truth. Put into such a picture every conceivable thing that is terrible or revolting; paint health in ruins, hope destroyed, affections crushed, prayer silenced; paint the chosen seats of parental cares, of filial piety, of brotherly love, of maternal devotion—all, all vacant; paint all the crimes of every stature and of every hue, from murder standing aghast over a grave which has no means to cover, down to the mean deception, still confident of success; paint home a desert, and shame a tyrant, and poverty the legitimate child of vice in the community, and not its prolific mother; paint the dark valley of the shadow of death peopled with living slaves; paint a landscape with trees whose fruit is poison and whose shade is death, with mountain torrents tributary to the ocean whose very waves are fire; put in the most distant background the vanishing vision of a blessed past, and in the foreground the terrible certainty of an accursed future; paint prisons with doors that open inward; people the scene with men whose shattered forms are tenanted with tormented souls, with children upon whose lips no smile can ever play, and with women into whose cheeks furrows have been burnt by tears wrung by anguish from breaking hearts; paint such a picture, and when you are ready to show it, do not let in the rays of the heavenly sun, but illumine it with glares from the infernal fires, and still you will be bound to say that your terrible picture falls short of the truth!—C. B., in Golden Censer.
Ventilation.
By M. G. K.
How shall I ventilate a room in winter that is warmed by an air tight stove? We are often asked the above question. As simple as this question may seem, it is one for which it is difficult to find an answer that is free from all objections.
It is very important that every room in a dwelling-house be thoroughly ventilated night and day throughout the entire year, if the inmates would have health. The habit that many people are in, of calking every crack and crevice through which air can enter a room, is suicidal, if the room contains an air-tight stove, and has no other means of ventilation, for most of the oxygen is soon used up in consuming the fuel within the stove, and the air within the room is speedily rendered unfit for respiration. We will give several plans for ventilating rooms in winter.
1. Houses that are already built, and in which no special provision has been made for ventilation, can be ventilated by lowering the upper window sash and raising the lower sash. There is an objection to this mode of ventilation, however, as the heated air all rises to the top of the room and passes out of the upper opening, while the cold air, which is denser than warm air, passes in at the lower opening and settles at the lower part of the room. This plan makes the air that surrounds the feet colder than that which surrounds the head, and has a tendency to induce headache or brain congestion; yet this mode of ventilation is far better than none.
Where open fireplaces, grates, or stoves with open fronts, are used, this difficulty is obviated, as the outward draft takes place through the fire at the lower part of the room; therefore it is unnecessary to raise the lower sash for the outward draft. The upper sash should be lowered, however, to let fresh air into the room. By this means, the air in the upper part of the room is kept equally cool with that in the lower part of the room.
2. Cast-iron ventilators, suitable for insertion into the walls of buildings between studding, can be obtained of most hardware dealers. Two of these should be placed in each room, in which case the windows and doors may be tightly closed.
These ventilators should be placed in opposite walls, near the ceiling. They should always be placed between studding that runs to the cornice, and the chamber or flue formed by the studding, siding and plastering, should have a communication with the outside atmosphere by an opening through the frieze or flancier. When ventilation is secured by this method, the cool air coming in at the cornice becomes somewhat warmed as it passes down the wall, and as it enters the room near the ceiling, it becomes well mingled with the warm air of the room. This method of ventilation is less objectionable than the plan of ventilating through the windows, yet it is far from perfect, as the warm air passes out at the upper part of the room, causing the lower air to be always cooler than the upper, as in the first case.
3. A system of perfect ventilation is one that causes a constant change of the air in the room, and by means of which the upper stratum of air is never warmer than the lower stratum. This may be accomplished very cheaply, while the house is building, in the following manner: Make a flue with a capacity of twenty-four square inches, say two by twelve inches. Place this flue between the studding. It should be the same length as the hight of the story. The lower end of the flue must open externally through the water table or base board of the outside sheathing, while the upper end opens internally at the ceiling. Through this flue a constant draft occurs, which carries fresh air into the upper part of the room.
Another flue of the same size must be provided, the lower end of which will open into the room through the base, or mop-board, while the upper end extends to the cornice, or, better still, to the ridge of the roof. The upper end must open externally. Through the last flue there is also a constant draft which carries the air from the lower part of the room, while fresh air enters at the upper part. The last plan is the most perfect of any with which we are acquainted, as by this method the temperature is equalized in all parts of the room.—M. G. K., in Health Reformer.
Avoid Drafts When Perspiring
WHEN you are perspiring freely, keep in motion until you get to a good fire, or to some place where you are perfectly sheltered from any draught of air whatever.
RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
—Upward of 33,000 Hindus have renounced heathenism and accepted Christianity this year.
—A publishing house in Paris is preparing an edition of the Lord’s prayer in more than twelve hundred languages and dialects.
—The church missionary society of England asks this year for $1,050,000, or $30,000 more than it has had in any previous year.
—At a late meeting of a Western Presbytery, this fact was stated: “Out of 7,000 children within the bounds of the Presbytery only 1,000 are regular attendants at church.”
—In Pennsylvania there are Lutheran pastors who serve five, six and seven congregations, and there are two who serve eight. One charge has a reported membership of 1,726.
—The Alumni Record of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., shows nearly six hundred men in the Methodist ministry, and over twelve hundred instructors in the colleges of this country.
—Mr. Sankey, now in England, having failed to induce Mr. Moody to join him there, will begin a revival himself, with the assistance of English preachers, and intends to make a tour of the whole of England.
—The First Baptist church, at Brooklyn, are constructing a new building. The lecture room will be ready for occupation in a few weeks. When completed, it will be one of the largest and most beautiful churches in Brooklyn.
—The church missionary society, the largest in the world, reports 123,724 native Christians connected with its missions, found on every continent. It employs 205 European and 179 native clergy, and 56 European and 2,705 native lay agents.
—The Portuguese colonists at Springfield and Jacksonville, Ill., who in 1846 fled from the Madeira Islands, to escape religious persecution, celebrated their thirty-second anniversary, in a grove near Springfield, August 23. They number about 1,000.
—A company of scientific, literary and artistic men, under the direction of Profs. Panchich and Valtrovich, and Milutinovich, an engineer, will start this month from Belgrade on a tour through the newly acquired districts of Old Servia for the purpose of examining the old churches and monasteries there, taking sketches of the historic remains and collecting manuscript, and what other literary curiosities are to be found.
—The present year is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the first pastor of a Reformed (Dutch) church in this country. The Rev. Jonas Michaelius assumed the pastorate of the Dutch church in New Amsterdam in April, 1628. He found here fifty members present at the first communion. From that small beginning this branch of the Reformed church has become a body consisting of nearly 79,000 communicants, belonging to over 43,000 families.
—The Methodist Mission in Mexico reports twenty missionaries, of whom thirteen are women, two Bible women, ten native and two local preachers, six theological students, twelve teachers making in all ninety-seven agents employed. It has 273 members, 394 probationers, 329 day scholars, 560 Sunday scholars, three regular churches, and sixteen preaching halls. The average attendance on worship is 1242. The mission press has issued 701,261 pages, and is valued at $9211.
—The third annual distribution of the 4,000 Bibles and Testaments given as prizes for proficiency in the Scriptures to the children of the London Schools Board school was made at the Crystal Palace, London, on July 13. The books are the gift of Mr. Francis Peek and the religious tract society. Sir Charles Reed, in the course of a short address, said that 188,000 children attended the religious instruction, which was entirely voluntary, in the Board schools, and of these 105,000 competed for the prizes. No complaints had ever been received from the parents of the children on account of the religious teaching. This was entirely unsectarian. In the opinion of the board the conduct of the scholars had greatly improved since the study of the Bible had been introduced. In 1876, the first year the prizes were distributed, there were 12,000 competitors; in 1877, 84,000, and this year, as above stated, 105,000.
SECULAR NEWS.
—Washington Territory contains 60,000 people.
—The school population of this country is placed at 14,309,000.
—The Vanderbilt family is reputed to be worth $100,000,000.
—The United States pay about $100,000,000 annually for foreign sugar.
—About 78,000,000 lead pencils, costing $4,000,000, are annually used in this country.
—Subscriptions to the yellow fever relief fund in the State amounts to about $50,000.
—The public debt statement for August shows a decrease during the month of $6,475,504.78.
—Commerce between Mexico and the United States is reported to be steadily increasing.
—The Great Western Railway, of Canada, has purchased the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway for $3,500,000.
—According to the new directory there are 1507 saloons in Cincinnati, 400 more than there are groceries.
—During the year 1877, 1175 persons were killed and 3705 injured by railroad accidents in Great Britain.
—Twenty-eight million a year have been saved in interest on our public debt by funding operations since 1871.
—September 19, a quarter of a mile of frame sheds in the horse department at the State Fair grounds at Columbus, Ohio, was destroyed by fire. The fire is supposed to have originated with children playing with some matches in one of the stalls.
—Last month the mint in San Francisco coined 191,000 double eagles, 50,000 quarter eagles, and 1,640,000 standard dollars, making a total of 1,609,000 pieces of the value of $5,609,000. The total coinage of standard dollars thus far is $4,916,000. During August, 1877, the coinage was $6,662,000, of which $5,060,000 was gold.
—September 19, Sherman City, a small village in Isabella county, Michigan, was annihilated by a terrific tornado. Every store, dwelling-house and shed in the village was swept clean except one frame dwelling, which was partially destroyed. The air was thick with timbers, boards, brick and stones. The inhabitants took refuge in the cellars.
—The cattle in a large part of Bengal are dying at the rate of hundreds a day, and the streams are filled with dead bodies. The decreases in the number and the deterioration in the quality of the agricultural cattle all over British India is one of the greatest features to be noted in connection with the general condition of the peasantry. In Madras and Bombay the destruction of cattle has been appalling, while in Burmah there has also been a plague. The general condition of the agricultural population throughout India is such as to occasion the gravest uneasiness. Continuous impoverishment bids fair to be followed by continuous famine. There is scarcity amounting almost to famine even at the present time in Madras, Bombay, the northwestern province, and Bengal. Yet the only remedy proposed is increased taxation.
—News has been received to the effect that the Island of Hayti was visited by a terrible tornado the first week of this month. The greatest damage occurred at Jacmel and Aux Cayes. At Jaemel the hurricane continued from the 3d to the 5th. The destruction of property was great. Several houses and public halls on the quay and two wharves were destroyed. Five vessels riding at anchor were hurled against the shore. At Aux Cayes, in less than three hours, 434 houses were utterly destroyed, leaving a large number homeless. At Torbich and Port Salut several houses were swept away. In St. Louis and Cavillon the sea rushed into the towns, and the entire market place in the latter was inundated, hurrying men, women and children, without a moment’s warning to watery graves. At Cavillon only four houses remain. At Aquin only forty houses are standing. Very little remains of La Grande Anse, and in Jeremie twenty houses were swept into the sea. At Corail forty houses were destroyed. The Warrell, an American vessel, was wrecked. The crew were saved under the superintendence of the Commandant of Fort Guerriere. The island of Trinidad suffered terribly from a tornado on the 1st instant. Spanish shipping in port suffered terrible havoc.
The Coming General Conference.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
The General Conference to be held in connection with the camp-meeting at Battle Creek, beginning Oct. 2, 1878, will be the most important one which has been held by our people for many years. Matters of the greatest interest will come up to be acted upon, matters which will affect the cause throughout the wide harvest-field. Elder J. N. Loughborough, from the Pacific coast, who has been absent ten years, will be at this meeting. Elder J. N. Andrews, our missionary to Europe, is expected to be here. Important steps will be taken with regard to the European mission, the mission to Great Britain, and other missionary fields. Our mammoth Dime Tabernacle, which is, in some respects, so important an enterprise, will be considered. The school, the Sanitarium, the publishing houses, the tract and missionary work, and other matters of great interest, will receive attention.
All our leading ministers will probably be in attendance. Brother and Sister White will be there. We are glad to be able to say that Brother White is still improving in health. He will be able, we hope, to speak at this meeting, and to counsel with the brethren as he has in former years.
After the camp-meeting is over, it is expected that the delegates will remain a week, during which time all matters of importance to our work will be thoroughly discussed. The secretary of each State Conference should give a full and reliable report of the standing of his Conference.
Our brethren in Michigan should make a general rally to this feast of tabernacles. As far as possible, the presidents of the different Conferences, the presidents of the tract and missionary societies, our ministers and leading brethren throughout the field, should attend this meeting and remain over two Sabbaths. The camp-meeting proper will break up Wednesday morning, October 9. None who attend the meeting should calculate to leave before that time.
Pray God to signally bless this important Conference of his servants.
D. M. Canright.
Northern Cal. Camp-Meeting.
By James White
We have this day, September 13, received a communication from Elder J. N. Loughborough written the 5th, giving an account of their glorious camp-meeting at Yountville, California. We rejoice in God that union of action and brotherly love inspired the entire brotherhood in camp. The amount pledged at this one meeting to relieve the Pacific Press from embarrassment is $10,675. Pledges at the Southern meeting will swell the sum to near $20,000. Add to this the pledges from Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and from those in California who may not attend the camp-meetings, and the sum of $30,000 will be reached.
The report will, as far as pledges shall progress up to the first of October, will be brought before the General Conference, and measures will be taken to encourage the liberal donors to the Pacific Press, and patrons of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, and to guard the managers of that institution against rash measures, involving injudicious outlay of means. Our Eastern brethren have cheerfully and liberally helped build up this now prosperous Publishing House at a time when help was much needed. And they have never regretted for a moment their action in the matter. But now the brethren on the Pacific coast are coming up to the help of the Lord and his work so nobly, that double gratitude will fill their hearts that they were induced to put their hands to a work so faithfully continued and perfected by their brethren on the Pacific coast. “Let brotherly love continue.”
The General Conference is placed under new responsibilities to do all in its power to guard and nourish this young and growing institution. Its efficiency and wants, as well as the dangers to which it is exposed, will be laid before that body at its session the first of October next, and it will doubtless be recommended that its managers act under the general supervision of the General Conference Committee.
We are also much gratified to learn by the same communication from Elder Loughborough that very nearly $4,000 was pledged for the mission to Great Britain on the Yountville campground alone. We may safely count on $25,000, of the $100,000, from the Pacific coast States and Territories alone. As the time of payment covers two years, they will find no difficulty in raising the amount. We expect at no distant day the mail sack with copies of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES from the Office of the Pacific Press to Australia will be full.
And more, we learn from the same source that the Dime Tabernacle to be erected at Battle Creek received attention after a godly sort at the Yountville meeting. According to present prospect, not far from $2,000 will be donated to the Tabernacle by the dear friends of the cause on the Pacific slope.
God bless our dear brethren and sisters whose lot is cast in the western borders of the American continent. May brotherly love continue among the brethren from the rising to the setting of the sun, and may they be held as one united body in the strongest bonds of sympathy until the war for truth be ended, and the crown of eternal life be given. J. W.
Christiania, Norway.
By JOHN G. MATTESON
LAST Sabbath we held meetings with the church at Alstrup, and administered the ordinances. On Sunday one brother was baptized. Monday I left for this city. Norway is truly a country of mountains and rocks. Christiania is the capital of Norway and has 105,000 inhabitants. It is a healthy and very cleanly town, and offers good facilities for publishing. It is the most central place in the three Scandinavian kingdoms. I have rented rooms for meeting, and housekeeping, and this will be our main home for the coming year, the Lord willing.
We pray that God may direct all things for his glory, and bless our feeble efforts to the conversion of precious souls in Norway also. In the course of a couple of weeks I return to Denmark to help our dear Brethren Brorsen to get started in the work there, and then we shall move to this place. JOHN G. MATTESON.
August 23, 1878.
Portersville, Cal.
By J. L. Wood
We moved the tent directly from the southern camp-ground, a distance of fifty miles, and pitched it in this place. Last evening was our first meeting; about seventy-five were present. It is hoped the Lord has a people here.
September 20, 1878. J. L. Wood.