Earlier text: PREPARING FOR WAR—WHAT IT MEANSWhen the young man begins the open use of tobacco, the fond mother begins a series of too often futile expostulations. Countless mothers are daily perplexed and mortified that all their efforts to prevent the formation of the tobacco habit by the one they hold most dear, are in vain. Why do their expostulations go for so little? Most mothers, after sadly pondering the question for a few months, decide that the example of all mankind is more potent than the precepts of one mother, and retire from the field, disheartened and disappointed. May it not be that her expostulations have not taken the right form? It is not enough to tell the boy that the tobacco habit is wicked and uncleanly and expensive; he thinks you are overly squeamish and that you overestimate its evils. To be convincing you must give him personal reasons. The use of tobacco cannot be so dreadfully wicked, he argues, when the majority of men respected by the world and his mother, are given over to the habit. And if it is wicked—just a little wicked—what of it? Who wants to be a Miss Nancy or a “sissy”? And it cannot be so very expensive; he hates that mean spirit that counts every penny and looks long and hard at a coin before relinquishing it. Shall he begrudge the few cents spent on a pleasure in which the greater number of his fellows indulge? So the mother's pleadings are ignored, and naturally; for the boy has the best of the argument. But it is an expensive habit, more expensive than most young men can afford. There are so many things in the world for which money may be spent, so many pleasures that money will buy, that it seems a shame to spend pennies in smoke. Many a boy spends for tobacco while at college, more than enough to take him to Europe the summer of his graduation. Can he afford to miss the pleasure and profit of such a trip? Is it a mean spirit that suggests a few weeks abroad in place of innumerable smokes? To get the most out of life is the end of all education; surely the reasoning youth can find a better investment for his coins, one that will give greater returns in real pleasure, to say nothing of profit, than cigars and tobacco. So much for the prudential side of the question. As to the morality of smoking, it may be set down that so long as the young man thinks that a set of old-womanish men and short-haired women have united to banish the cigar because they cannot appreciate the good fellowship of a smoke, he cares little for your proclaiming that the tobacco habit is wicked. In fact, so long as he thinks any law is the result of the capricious whim or blind prejudice of any being or set of beings, human or divine, he is going to transgress and trample upon the law, if he has the spirit we expect to find in the young man of to-day. But when you show him that law is not caprice but nature, that law is not an arbitrary invention but the record of a fact, he begins to respect the law and willingly to obey it. If you show him that the use of tobacco is not wicked because you or any one else have so pronounced it, but because it is a perversion of nature, he will begin to respect what you say. It is wicked because it is injurious. Undoubtedly, more men are injured by the use of tobacco than by the use of intoxicating liquors—more men, because more men use tobacco and use it with greater persistence, and physicians are agreed that few people can habitually use tobacco without physical injury. Convince the boys of this fact, and not many of them will be so foolish as to contract the habit.—Womankind. JUDAS AND PETER.
By J. G. Woolley
THE main difference between those two was that Judas fell and stayed. He could not rise, because he could not deny himself, his opinions about expediency, his disgrace in the event, and so he hanged himself—always himself! No man can stand straight under that load. On the other hand, Satan never got Peter down on his back. He often fell, but always on his hands and knees, with his backbone arched toward God; and finally, by repeated falls, he stopped saying “I,” and, standing straight, in heroic humility before his Lord, said, “*Thou138 art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus beamed upon him and said, “Upon that rock I will build my church.” What rock? Bed-rock loyalty.—J. G. Woolley.* EVIDENCES OF SPIRITUAL DEARTH IN THE CHURCH.
By W. N. G.
The spiritual declension of the church is always a signal for efforts to enforce religion by civil law. The past decade has been noted for efforts of this kind, and the tendency is fast increasing. Many people refuse to acknowledge that these efforts are evidence of such declension, but there is no denying the fact that the appeals of religious people to the civil law are coincident with many other marked evidences of spiritual dearth in the church. These evidences are particularly noticeable in ways and means for raising money for church purposes. Here is an instance cited by the New York Journal of the 9th inst:— “Fifty bare feet of young women protruding under a curtain were auctioned off in pairs Friday night for the benefit of the Bath Beach M. E. Church. The auction took place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peter C. Moore, on Benson Avenue and Bay Twenty-second Street.
“It was called a Trilby party.
“The bidders and buyers were young men of the church. The first bid for a pair of feet was 50 cents, but these were ‘homely.’ In the center of the row was one pair that the young men went into ecstasies over, and the bidding was lively. This particular pair was the property of one of the most active of the church workers, tho no one in front of the curtain, except Mr. Moore, who acted as auctioneer, knew who the fair owner was.
“Each toe on this young woman's feet was encircled with a ring or piece of ribbon. The offer was something fabulous, considering that the purchaser could not take away the feet nor the decorations upon them. But every purchaser of feet was privileged to take the young woman owner out to supper, which he had also the pleasure of paying for.”
The man at whose house the “entertainment” was held is a deacon of the church. The pastor, be it said to his credit, was much opposed to the innovation, and, as might have been expected, there is a warm discussion of the affair, with some prospect of a division of the congregation. This church entertainment mania has been run to such an extreme degree of folly that it is causing alarm even in some of the churches that have been freely indulging it. But a real cause of further alarm lies in the fact that many who see the falling off of deep spiritual interest in the churches, and its consequent effect upon the world, are prone to seek a remedy in various “reform” schemes at the hands of Congress, State Legislatures, and municipal councils. There is but one true means of reform in the church, and that is to turn to the Lord, and seek the counsel of his Word. The “saints” that are recognized in the Scriptures are those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. And these must do so voluntarily, not under the compulsion or restraint of any human authority. W. N. G. Rome’s Mexican Policy and Worldly Pleasure
THE Western Catholic says: “Mgr. Averardi was sent to Mexico as apostolic delegate, principally for the purpose of endeavoring to establish better relations between Church and State, and indications have not been lacking that he has met with success in that undertaking. One of such indications is the delegate’s recent instruction to the Mexican Catholics, that they give the Diaz administration their loyal support.” Rome claims that it “never changes,” but that does not say that she never “tacks.” It is not uncommon to see a ship sailing in a direction opposite to that which leads to her intended port. This is simply taking advantage of adverse winds. Rome has for a long time been contending for power in the Mexican Government against the influence of the Freemasons, of which President Diaz is the head, and has so far been defeated. The present tack is probably for the purpose of gaining some new advantage. SAYS the New York Observer: “The great and growing power of pleasure must be admitted by every careful student of the tendencies of the times. The increased and constantly increasing supply of the means of excitement, self-indulgence, and social dissipation is a distinguishing feature of our generation. In modern society amusement is more and more coming to be regarded as one of the supreme ends for which men live.” Against this tendency the Lord gives us this warning: “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT.
A GOOD-BY kiss is a little thing,
With your hand on the door to go,
But it takes the venom out of the sting
Of a thoughtless word or a cruel fling
That you made an hour ago. A kiss of greeting is sweet and rare
After the toil of day,
And it smooths the furrows plowed by care,
The lines on the forehead you once called fair,
In the years that have flown away. ’Tis a little thing to say, “You are kind;
I love you, my dear,” each night,
But it sends a thrill through your heart, I find,
For love is tender, love is blind,
As we climb life’s rugged height. We starve each other for love’s caress,
We take, but we do not give;
It seems so easy some soul to bless,
But we dole the love grudgingly less and less,
Till ’tis bitter and hard to live. “Papa, I am walking right in your footsteps,” shouted a child in high glee. The father turned with alarm, for he was traveling over a dangerous bog in order to shorten his journey. Unconsciously he had led his own boy into a place of danger. He caught the little fellow in his arms, and hastened back to take a roundabout path, but one in which the child would be safe if it again followed him. It is often the undesigned examples that leave the most lasting influences. The moods and manners that lead us when we know it not; the stinging words that spring to the lips without forethought; the angry looks that grow upon the face unbidden; the unkind deeds that were not planned—these make impressions that eternity can not efface. I stood in the cell of a murderer, who on the next day was to suffer the penalty of his crime. Speaking of his reckless career, he said:— “How could it be otherwise when I had such bad training? I was taught these things from my youth. When only four years old my mother poured whisky down my throat to see how I would act.” On the morning of his execution I saw the wretched mother bid good-by to the son whom her influence had helped to that shameful end. On the other hand, kind words and holy deeds dropped casually by the way leave a holy fragrance that can never be lost. One of the grandest women I have ever known, now nearing threescore years and ten, said to me, not long ago:— “My mother once blamed me for a thing which I did not do. I went to my room, and had a good cry over the matter, and, while I was there, mother came in and said, ‘Perhaps I was wrong; I hope you will forgive me.’ That made me love my mother twenty times more than before, and I often think to this day how sweet she was to me.” That good mother’s influence is still bearing holy fruit, and the daughter’s life is helped by sweet memories of the childhood days. Children have a way of finding out what father and mother are. Outsiders may be deceived, but not the children in the home. Parental influence is remembered in after years, and the children are better or worse for the memories.—The Pacific. One of the happiest little boys I ever saw, says the Washington Star, is a cripple, and he will never walk. His lower limbs are paralyzed, and the little fellow is wheeled around in a chair made for his especial use. When I first saw him, I thought how awful it must be for a seven-year-old boy not to be able to run and play like other children, and without thinking, I asked:— “Isn't it lovely here? Don't you wish you could run and jump?” “Yes,” said the little fellow, “I might like it, but I'm happy where I am, and perhaps I'd get hurt. Little boys do.” Then I felt rebuked, and the little boy, whistling and singing in the chair, playing with whatever is given to him, the minutes of the hours by which the days are told like sunbeams lighting and gladdening life's pathway, has been a lesson to me ever since I first saw him.—Ram's Horn. “ACCORDING to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed.” There lived forty years ago in Berlin a shoemaker, who had a habit of speaking harshly of all his neighbors who did not think quite as he did about religion. The old pastor of the parish in which the shoemaker lived, heard of this, and felt that he must give him a lesson. He did it this way: He sent for the shoemaker one morning, and, when he came in, said to him, “Master, take my measure for a pair of boots.” “With pleasure, your Reverence,” answered the shoemaker. “Please take off your boot.” The clergyman did so, and the shoemaker measured his foot from toe to heel, and over the instep, noted all down in his pocketbook, and then prepared to leave the room. But as he was putting up the measure, the pastor said to him, “Master, my son also requires a pair of boots.” “I will make them with pleasure, your Reverence. Can I take the young man's measure?” “It is not necessary,” said the pastor, “the lad is fourteen, but you can make my boots and his from the same last.” “Your Reverence, that will never do,” said the shoemaker, with a smile of surprise. “I tell you, sir, to make my son's on the same last.” “No, your Reverence, I can not do it.” “It must be—on the same last.” “But, your Reverence, it is not possible, if the boots are to fit,” said the shoemaker, thinking to himself that the old pastor's wits were leaving him. “Ah, then, master shoemaker,” said the clergyman, “every pair of boots must be made on their own last, if they are to fit, and yet you think that God is to form all Christians according to your own last, of the same measure and growth in religion as yourself! That will not do, either.” The shoemaker was abashed. Then he said, “I thank your Reverence for this sermon, and I will try to remember it, and to judge my neighbors less harshly in the future.”—Ex. THE STERILIZATION OF MILK.
The domestic sterilization of milk by boiling, says the Public Health Journal, is now much practiced in private houses. It is apt to be ineffective on account of the difference of temperature of the fluid in the upper and the lower portion of the vessel in which it is boiled. In the usual method of sterilizing milk by cooking it in a receptacle placed in boiling water, a “bain-marie,” in fact, it is found that the temperature of the milk in the upper portion of the vessel rises much more rapidly than that at the bottom. In experiments recorded in the British Medical Journal in one instance it was found that after the milk had been on the fire for fourteen minutes the temperature at the top was 160° Fahr. while at the bottom it was only 133° Fahr. In another experiment with a stronger flame these differences were less marked. These tests prove that the mere scalding of milk by bringing the outside water to the boiling point is quite inadequate to sterilize tuberculous milk. To insure effective results, it is necessary that the heating process shall be continued until a uniform temperature throughout the entire body of milk has arisen from 190° Fahr. to 198° Fahr. This will require an exposure to a brisk fire of at least twenty-five minutes. In order to be perfectly safe, however, it is recommended that every part of milk treated in this fashion be heated for half an hour, that is, for about twenty minutes after the water in the outer pan has begun to boil. WESTON, the pedestrian, is about fifty-eight years old, says the Christian Advocate. Why is he worthy of note in a religious paper? Because he is one of the most magnificent illustrations of the results of a temperate life that can be produced. On Christmas eve he made an attempt to walk one hundred and twelve miles in twenty-four hours. He did walk one hundred and three in less than twenty-four hours. A number of distinguished men requested him to show what he could do at his present age; the result has been that he has performed a most extraordinary feat without artificial stimulus. One of the leading papers devotes an editorial to him, entitled “The Grand Old Man.” He walked eighty-eight miles without much rest, but was soon afterward overcome by vertigo, and rested for fifty minutes. He came back with renewed energy, and completed ninety miles in less than twenty hours. In less than twenty-four hours he completed one hundred miles, walking the last mile in eleven minutes and twenty-two seconds. The distance he covered was one hundred and three miles four hundred and twenty-six yards and one foot. He had been off the track altogether for periods aggregating one hour and forty-five minutes. He attributed his partial collapse to vertigo induced by loss of sleep, but added that such was no excuse for a man who had walked over seventy-two miles, without a rest, in fifteen hours. The last two miles were walked like a triumphal march between ranks of cheering admirers. When he lay down to rest, he went off to sleep like a healthy baby. Neither tobacco nor alcohol nor kola, nor any other stimulant, is entitled to any credit. Hence he was calling on his friends the next day as active as a hart or a roe. Don't over or under-dress. Don't believe all the evil you hear. Don't jeer at anybody's religious belief. Don't be rude to your inferiors in social position. Don't repeat gossip even if it does interest a crowd. Don't underrate anything because you don't possess it. Don't go untidy on the plea that everybody knows you. Don't contradict people even if you are sure you are right. Don't conclude that you have never had any opportunities in life. Don't believe that everybody else in the world is happier than you. Don't be inquisitive about the affairs of even your most intimate friend. Don't get in the habit of vulgarizing life by making light of the sentiment of it. Don't express a positive opinion unless you perfectly understand what you are talking about. Don't try to be anything else but a gentlewoman—and that means a woman who has consideration for the whole world, and whose life is governed by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would be done by.”—Ladies' Home Journal. THE MOST POWERFUL LIGHTHOUSE.
The lighthouse now in course of erection at Penmark Point, Department of Finisterre, France, will be, according to the Electrical Age (November 21), the most powerful in the world. It is already more than half finished, and will probably be in working order by the end of next summer. “The tower is about 200 feet high and the light at night will be visible over a radius of 80 miles, that is, cover a circle 160 miles in diameter, or an area of more than 20,000 square miles. . . . The great illuminating power of the light is provided by a similar apparatus to the first used in France in 1829, at the Heve lighthouse. The principle is based on the fact that a flash of lightning lasting no more than one-tenth of a second suffices to produce on the retina its complete effect. The new lighthouse will send flashes of concentrated light over the ocean every five seconds, each flash lasting one-tenth of a second. The St. Katharine’s light, on the Isle of Wight, has an intensity of 600 Carcel lamps. The new lighthouse at Penmark Point, which is to be named after the Marshal Prince d’Eckmuhl, will be provided with a light of 3,800,000 Carcel lamps, or 36,000,000 candle-power; and that illuminating strength will, it is said, be obtained by means of electrical apparatus having but one-third of the intensity of those used at St. Katharine’s lighthouse. The Penmark light will have cost, when completed, £24,000 ($120,000), the half of which is provided by the state, and the other half by a legacy from the Marchioness de Blocqueville, a daughter of Prince d’Eckmuhl.”—Literary Digest. A WEDDING ring in India is an immense nose ring which often hangs below the girl's chin. A beautiful little girl of twelve years was presented with an elegant ring. Her father informed her that it was the gift of the husband, who was coming next week to the wedding feast. There is little or no ceremony, merely a grand feast and an exchange of presents. Upon the day appointed the little one, bedecked with jewels, arrayed in handsome clothing, in all her beauty, stepped forward to meet the bridegroom, whom she had never seen. Behold, he was white with leprosy! Turning an appealing glance toward her father, who frowningly motioned her to advance, she approached the leper. A priest mumbled a few words, threw a sash over their heads, and they were man and wife.—Housekeeper. MULLEIN OIL IN DEAFNESS AND ENURESIS.
Two schoolgirls, who had been excluded from the public schools on account of deafness, were again admitted after about three weeks' use of the mullein oil, two or three drops in each ear twice a day. I have found it helpful in many cases of deafness in older people. For enuresis also I have found it, so far, a specific. I place it at the head of the list for that condition, both for its certainty and pleasantness. A boy of sixteen had from childhood been troubled with enuresis, which nothing would cure until he received fifteen drops of mullein oil three times a day. This soon afforded permanent relief.—Dr. Laws, in California Medical Journal. IN the case of India there are peculiar conditions to be met. The confusion of religions in that country is to be accounted for principally by its political history. India has never been organized, as a whole, into one great State, and it has been dilapidated by incessant wars. The population is distributed, not into great governments, or nationalities, or religious denominations, but into many various denominations of tribes, clans, septs, castes and sub-castes, religious orders and devotional brotherhoods. The essential characteristics which decide a man's state of life and position among the people are two, namely, his kinship and his religion. The religion of India is not a national one. As the country has been under the empire of different nations, its worship has received an influence from the conquering power, consequently there is a confusion of religions, which dates back of the partial conquest by the Mohammedans. But the Mohammedans, while they disorganized Hinduism, failed to establish a strong, religious faith of their own in India, and Brahmanism and Buddhism still held their devotees. Thus in the introduction of Christianity into India there are several distinct forces to combat beside the original superstition and polytheism. The mere decay of Hinduism is not the advance of Christianity, and there must be persistent activity of the church to obtain evangelization. It must battle against a restoration of pure Vedic Hinduism, against Agnosticism, which is gaining tremendous force, and against Christian reform which accepts the ethics of Jesus but ignores the divinity of Christ. The conflict must be against Hinduism with its schools of philosophy rivaling the learning and lofty pride of the ancient Greeks, and looking with contempt upon the religion and civilization of the west. It must be against Buddhism, with its ethics and atheism and self-righteous millions, and against Mohammedanism, the old enemy of Christianity. When the East India Company received its charter from Queen Elizabeth in 1600, it was formed for purposes of trade, but while only a commercial body, it seems to have taken considerable interest in the religious instruction of the natives. A few missionaries were allowed to go to India in its ships and were even encouraged in their labors, but the policy of the company on the whole was non-interference with the religion of the natives. However, in the toleration of British rule the Indians saw the superiority of Christian mercy to heathen selfishness, and the way began to be prepared for the Christian missionaries who came later. It would take volumes to even touch upon the work of the different missions, and of the missionaries, like Carey and Scudder, who have given their lives to the cause of the evangelization of India's millions. But let us look at some of the results in the condition of the people of India to-day, where a beginning, at least, has been made for the conquest of the country for Christ. There is an army of hundreds of Christian workers in the land, and thousands of converts are gathered into the fold every year. But what are these among the hundreds of millions of heathen that fill this great empire! We have heard much in the last few years about the mild and gentle Hindu, especially those who belong to the Brahmo-Somaj, respectful toward Christianity and admirers of Jesus. But while they are gentle, there is combined with this gentleness a cunning which makes use of gross deception in opposing the truth which does not harmonize with their forms of religion. The Gospel of Christ is the only thing that will work the reformation needed. The enlightening influences of the schools contribute much to the breaking down of idolatry and the caste system; and these are not only the mission schools but also those of the government. One great Christian influence in India is the school of Pundita Ramabai. Ramabai is a Christian widow who was converted from Hinduism, and possessing great gifts of mind and heart, and a strong desire to help her downtrodden sisters, came to this country in 1887 and spent more than a year in traveling about to interest American people in the sad condition of the women of India, especially the widows. She was very successful in her mission; the Ramabai Association was formed, with headquarters in Boston, and she was assisted to found a school at Poona for the benefit of high-caste child widows. She is herself principal of this school. A recent visitor to the school says that of the 57 pupils, 43 are widows and 39 are Brahmins. About one-half of the pupils attend daily prayers in Ramabai's own room, to which the door is always open and where any one may come in, and the shyness are not noticed until familiarity has done away with the shyness. The teacher does not put the new pupils at books for some time, but turns them into the beautiful garden in connection with the school, to learn of God's wonderful works. Next they are told about themselves and their Creator, and then come the books. A missionary in India writes that the outlook for Protestant missions there was never so favorable as now, because "caste is breaking down; the poor are coming up; the people are broadening out; Christ is honored more; Christian missions are succeeding; the native hold; all feel it is worth the effort." A great assistance to the work of the missionaries is the Calcutta Press. From the report of translation and literary work, prepared by Dr. Rouse, we learn that the revision and printing of the Bengali Bible is now far advanced. A tentative edition of the Psalms has been issued, and the printing of a commentary on Genesis is just completed. The Cattuck Press has issued during the year over 35,000 tracts and 6,000 Scripture portions.—Union Gospel News. MISSIONS IN TIBET.
By F. B. Shaw
The north of Tibet is a vast uninhabited region, where the missionary would find no work to do. Coming round to the west, the Moravians hold Tibetan districts in the higher valleys of the Indus, Sutlej, and tributary rivers. Lower down the Indus and west of the Moravians, the Scandinavians are commencing work in Baltistan. This is an important step, for it means the occupation of a district with 100,000 souls as yet untouched by regular work; Mohammedans by religion, but speaking Tibetan, and members of the Tibetan family. Toward the south, Almora is occupied by the London Society, who have devoted what time they could spare to Tibetans, and where an independent worker, Mr. Agnew, has settled. Nepal is as yet unoccupied, being closed to missionaries. The Scotch mission has long held Sikkim and devoted much time to the Tibetans; but this branch of their work is now presumably taken off their hands by the members of the various societies destined for Tibet. Bhotan is unoccupied by Protestants, but the Catholics have a work in that country. In 1854 they had obtained a footing in Tibet, were ejected four years later, and retired to Bhotan. We finally come to the east, or Chinese side, where the Catholics have several stations, but where no Protestants are working at present.—F. B. Shaw. THE WOMEN OF CHINA.
By Mrs. George S. Hays
To understand a woman—Chinese or American—one must have some knowledge of her home, her family cares, and her habits of thought. A typical Chinese family consists of the father and mother-in-law, two or three sons and their wives and several grandchildren, all living in rooms opening upon the same high-walled courtyard, and sharing the same kitchen. The father and sons work for and contribute to the common purse, and so strict are their ideas of impartiality, or rather so jealous is each member of the family of the others, that a husband may not take even of the money he himself has earned to buy a present for his own wife, without buying one equally valuable for each of his sisters-in-law. The Chinaman has ways and means, however, of evading almost every law or custom, and the fond husband buys a handsome gown and sends it and his wife for a few days to her maternal home. From there she will return triumphantly displaying her gown as a present from her mother. In the home the mother-in-law is usually—but not always—the head. Sometimes a daughter-in-law of unusually bright mind or vicious temper rules the whole household. The quickest way a daughter-in-law possesses by which to bring her mother-in-law to subjection is threatening suicide. If a woman kills herself her spirit is supposed to return to haunt the mother-in-law, but worse than this to the practical mind of the Chinaman, her living relatives will gather and by demanding a costly funeral, will plunge the whole family into heavy debt that they will be unable to pay for years. Imagine the situation in a Chinese home, and it becomes at once apparent that peace and happiness can not reign continually. On the one hand is the daughter-in-law, a young girl, perhaps indulged and spoiled from her babyhood in her mother's home, and untrained in housework and sewing. She is suddenly introduced by marriage into a new home. Her husband, her mother-in-law, her neighbors are all total strangers. She is miserably homesick; she gets wretchedly tired doing all sorts of unaccustomed work; she is criticised, laughed at, or reviled for her stupidity or her indolence. On the other hand is the mother-in-law. She has perhaps suffered for years under the hard reign of her mother-in-law; she is now ready for her turn to sit on the throne. She expects to be treated with obedient consideration by her son's wife; she expects to take life easily in her old age. Instead of this she discovers that her new daughter-in-law is saucy, careless and wasteful, if not actually thievish; she is above all taking the place in her beloved son's affections which the mother has always held. Remember, they are two heathen women with hot and hasty tempers which have never been controlled: each with a stock of vile words and insulting epithets at her tongue's end, and it is easy to imagine the result. When there are several daughters-in-law in the same house, and children of different mothers ready to quarrel at a moment's notice, and each mother ready to take her own child's part to the bitter end, it is often “confusion worse confounded.” It is well in such a household if there be one at the head who can command obedience12 and at least a semblance of peace. As the daughters-in-law grow older and wiser, as they bear sons to add luster to the family name, and as the various elements of the family become accustomed to each other, terrific outbursts of temper and violent chastisements by the mother-in-law become less frequent. There are, of course, some cases where the mother-in-law and her son's wife live together in loving harmony, but these are, unfortunately, rare exceptions. The saddest and most hopeless lot in China is that of the “nourished daughter-in-law,” the girl who, yet too young to marry, is sent to her betrothed husband's home because of her parents' death or extreme poverty. Her mother-in-law resents this most vehemently. Why should she be called upon to feed and clothe for years the unfortunate child? As there is no one to take the girl's part, she is usually overworked, reviled, beaten and sometimes half-starved and driven to sleep with the dogs in her new home. If the mother-in-law goes too far, however, resource may be had to a curious mob-law, as far as I know only practiced by the women of China. Not long ago an orphan girl was sent to live with her mother-in-law, who had already one daughter-in-law living with her. The child's betrothed husband was an industrious business man a good many years older than herself. He was seldom at home, and even when there, as it was not good form for him to take any notice of his little bride before marriage, he knew nothing of how she was treated. Altho the girl was a gentle, modest child, afraid to say or do anything contrary to her mother-in-law's wishes, she was most cruelly treated. When she was thirteen years old, she inadvertently did something to offend her mother and sister-in-law, and the two women, working themselves into a fiendish rage, killed her with scissors, cutting her flesh horribly and slitting her tongue, but leaving no mark upon her face. When she was dead they carefully dressed her in her best garments, and, according to custom, were obliged to send word of her death to her aunt, her only living relative. This aunt was a desperate character, a beggar woman who could hope or fear nothing from the magistrates, as she had not enough money to make it worth an official's while to pay any attention to her case. She obeyed the summons at once, and after carefully examining the body of the dead child, returned home, and gathering together thirty or forty women, each armed with an awl or sharp pointed instrument, came to execute vengeance on the murderers. The two women, however, managed to hide themselves, and the infuriated mob were obliged to disperse after being assured by the bridegroom, who was horrified at the dreadful death of his bride, that a grand and costly funeral should be given in her honor.—Mrs. George S. Hays, in Missionary Review. ALL SINGERS.
By A. T. Schuman
ALL singers do not sing their songs in words;
The brook's low ripple is unwritten rhyme;
The melodies we hear in summer's prime
From leaf-dimmed coverts are the songs of birds;
Unlanguaged music to his listening herds
The shepherd pipes, prone lying ’neath the lime;
The star-march, grandest symphony of time,
In silent splendor walks the sky that girds. Save those invisible letters of the ground,
The sinless Man who dwelt in Galilee,
Our perfect poet wrote nor verse nor line;
The story that He voiced is angel-crowned,
And to earth's ultimate children it will shine
And be their light through kind eternity.
—A. T. Schuman. We now have this most excellent book in the following languages:— English, German, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Holland. The foreign editions are well illustrated, and attractively bound. The English book is too well known to make a description of it necessary. Prices are now 60 cents on all editions except the Italian, on which it is 75 cents. Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal. New York City. Kansas City, Mo.