Literature and the Cape Nome Gold Rush
There was a deep significance in the act of Martin Luther in throwing his inkstand at the devil. Perhaps he did not realize the full force of it. An anonymous writer says that "the inkstand stands for literature, either good or bad." So, inasmuch as Satan is throwing his inkstand at the cause of God, in every conceivable shape, the Lord's people should be using theirs in the circulation of truth. The great moral contest of to-day, and of the future, is to be fought with the pen, the typewriter, and the printing-press, as auxiliaries of the human voice, through which the Spirit by the Word is to reach the masses with the good news of salvation. God's people need to be diligent in circulating a sound, wholesome literature. Some of the difficulties encountered in the desperate struggle for earthly treasure may be seen in the following late items from the Cape Nome gold region:— "A great storm occurred at Nome. Everything in the shape of barges, lighters, and small craft is on the beach. The steamer Merwin sank." "Smallpox is raging. The town is full of hungry and desperate men, who have attempted to burn the town." "There is no work here, and the diggings are a failure. A million dollars' worth of machinery and mining oddities are abandoned." "Food is scarce, and men offer to work for a dollar a day. The whole thing is a speculation for merchants and shippers." "Many men have no blankets, having sold them for food. Numbers bunk together like hogs, keeping themselves warm by driftwood and brush." Yet people are still going to Nome, each one expecting to be, in some mysterious way, the exception to the rule. How many would risk as much in quest of the heavenly treasure, or of souls for the Master's kingdom?