Earlier text: The Law is PerfectMiss Berry's New Year's Calls.
It was New Year's morning, and Miss Berry hung up the shears, put away her lap-board, and folded up an unfinished dress, preparatory to taking a holiday. For Miss Berry was a dressmaker, and though her eyes had grown too faded to master all the intricate details of fashion, and her fingers too tremulous for the multitudinous complications, there was a circle of ladies whose gowns she had fashioned for years, who had grown gray and wrinkled with her, and, like their dressmaker, clung lovingly to old-time ways and modes. But this being New Year's, little Miss Berry, as I have said, laid aside her needle and well-worn thimble for the day, and proceeded to "redd up" her room. A cramped little place, but Miss Berry went bustling about, sweeping and cleaning, redropping the white muslin curtains, and turning the few plants in the windows, singing to herself as cheerily as though it had been one of the most extensive of mansions, for Miss Berry was always looking on the bright side of life, and though poor and old, and alone in the world, was given to regarding herself as one of the most favored of mortals. She was "so fortunate" in finding a room just the right size for her, with an east window for summer, and a south one for winter, and a glimpse of the old cemetery, whose waving trees brought visions of the old country home and her long-vanished girlhood. "So fortunate" that Mrs. Murray and Smythe, and the others of her little coterie of patrons, should prefer her work to that of her more fashionable competitors, and "so fortunate" that she was always well, and her eyes held out so wonderfully. Miss Berry's views of life were mainly drawn from her library, and her library consisted of two books, on a little stand by the south window. One the "Pilgrim's Progress," that wonderful book, delight of the old and the young, the simple and the sage. And the other book was a volume still more worn, that opened almost of itself to such words as, "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me;" and, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father; fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows;" and that grandly tender promise—rest to the weary, hope to the desolate, joy to the comfortless, in every age and clime—"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." These words she read till from them a tender light shone in her faded face, and a restful quiet threaded her thin and sometimes cracked voice. Out on the broad avenues this New Year's morning stately homes were thrown wide, elegant ladies were fluttering, and tables of choicest refreshments spread in expectations of the New Year's callers, the music of whose swift, sweet bells was already sounding through the clear, crisp air. Miss Berry's name had not appeared in the list of those who would be "at home." She had neither silks for herself nor silver for her table. Still, she had laid in a store of nut-cakes, and red cheeked apples for the day, and when the stove had been polished, the oil-cloth washed, and the last speck of dust rubbed from the furniture, she brushed her thin gray hair, and exchanging her every-day black alpaca for her cashmere, sat down in readiness to "receive." She had not long to wait for the first one. To be sure, it was only the milk-boy, but she wished him a "Happy New Year" so cheerily, and pressed upon him a cake and apple so cordially, that the stolid face brightened, and he went on his round with a light-heartedness he hardly himself understood. Then, as by favor to her rheumatism, Miss Berry roomed on the second floor, she set her door ajar, as a gentle hint of invitation to any who might pass from the floor above, and by and by lounging footsteps sounded on the stairs. They were those of a young man, hardly more than a boy, lately come from the simple, innocent atmosphere of a loving country home, as clerk in the city of hurrying strangers. In all that throng, no friendly face smiled, no friendly face greeted, no door among those miles of homes opened to him. But the saloons stood wide with welcome, and the fellowship of vice was warm and ready, and in the ignorance of thoughtless self-confidence, it was little wonder that the home-sick, friendless boy listened and entered in. His employer was a Christian man, who, while he held his employes responsible to him during working hours, never thought that he had any responsibility for them during their leisure hours. One, however, had a thought of the boy, the lonely little dressmaker, who had so few interests of her own, that her heart was constantly overflowing on all around her. She knew when he began to be late in, and the night when his footsteps on the stairs had been unsteady. And now, as he strolled idly down, only thinking to escape from his dull attic, though it be to seek companions from which a few months before he would have shrunk, a "Good-morning" sounded from the open door, and Miss Berry's cheery voice invited him, "as a neighbor," to come in and make her a "New Year's call." The tone was so cordial, the sunny room, of which he caught a glimpse, so pleasant, that he could not refuse, and before he knew it he found himself seated in the wide-armed rocker, with Dusky, the black cat, purring on his knee, telling Miss Berry of the old home out in the country, of the widowed mother and younger brother who were "running the farm," and the little blue-eyed sister, who had clung to him with tearful entreaties to "not stay long," and of the pang it had cost to leave them all, and drift into this great unknown current of humanity. And Miss Berry gave him that sympathy that only they who have known the heart of a stranger can, and pressed him with nut-cakes, made after the receipt her mother had used in the old brown farm-house among the Vermont hills, from which she had so widely strayed; and the red apples, that her guest told her were Baldwins, exactly like a tree in his home orchard. And when he went out from the sunny room, the boon companions hanging in waiting wondered what had made him so "spoony" as to refuse their offered "fun." It was not that Miss Berry had preached. She was little given to exhort and rebuke. She had not told him that he was standing on slippery places, or besought him not to look on the wine when it is red. But she had been so full of suggestions of pleasant and profitable ways for his leisure, had talked of home and home love, till it seemed close and warm round him; had led him to talk of the hopes and purposes that were to crown his life, and made him feel that his young manhood was something infinitely grand and full of glorious possibilities; and, more than all, perhaps, she had cheered him with the assurance that one home (tiny though it be) was open to him in welcome, and one friend was watching him with tender interest. Soon steps were again heard in the hall. Miss Berry knew the half-listless drag to be those of a widow who, with her little boy, occupied the room directly above, and who went out doing fine ironing. A young woman still, but all trace of freshness and grace had vanished from the sharp face, the tumbled hair, and the untidy dress, that answered her chirping call. "Yes, I will come in, though you always look so nice and pleasant, it makes me home-sick, too." And she dropped into the big rocker and looked half-wistfully around. "Why, I guess your room is as pleasant as mine," said Miss Berry; "it's just like it." "Yes, I s'pose it is; but then it ain't fixed up so. You don't have anybody but yourself to do for, or to put things out of place. I tell you, it's pretty hard to be left as I am, an', to tell the truth, I don't have much head for anything." "I know it's hard," chirped little Miss Berry, "but then, you know, there's the promise to the widow and fatherless. I've rested on the promises a good many years, and they haven't failed me yet. Besides, I should feel rich with such a boy as your Freddy. Why, in a few years he will be a grown man, caring for you." "O, yes,"—and the worn face brightened—"I shouldn't know how to get along without Freddy, though he's getting so he isn't contented at home, and it worries me 'most to death. He'll stay with you longer than he will with me, and the other day he asked, 'Ma, is Miss Berry rich? She has things so nice and dresses so pretty.'" Miss Berry could not wonder that the child found his bare, untidy home anything but attractive, but she only laughed, and said, "Freddy is very fond of pretty things. He will amuse himself with the flowers and pictures an hour. Those and a few yards of muslin for curtains, and a bit of second hand carpet, is about all I have more than you, and I'm sure your stove is prettier than mine." "Well, perhaps it is, if 'twas blacked. I used to be a nice housekeeper when my husband was alive an' we had a little house to ourselves, but somehow I've got out of the way of it now. I will get some polish, though, for that stove." "Why, now," said Miss Berry, "that is so fortunate. I mixed more than I wanted this morning, and here is a rose I have rooted for Freddy, that is budded to blossom." "Now," said Mrs. Baker, as she took the plant, "I shall have to wash my windows, too, and perhaps, while I am about it, I might as well clean up generally. By night, come and see how tidy I will be." But Miss Berry's callers were not confined to the house. A couple of sooty faces peeped in at the door, and two boys, whose blacking-boxes strapped over their shoulders told their handicraft, came in—veritable street Arabs, especially the leader, Teddy McSwin, who, with his mother dead, and his drunken father in the workhouse most of the time, turned out into the streets to shift for himself as best he might, knocked and bullied by the larger boys of his own class, hustled out of the way by respectable people, and regarded with suspicion by the police, was rapidly developing into one of that great class whose hand is against every man and every man's hand against them. When one evening, as he sat on a curbstone, sobbing and bleeding from an encounter in which he had come off with signal defeat, his Good Samaritan, in the person of tender-hearted Miss Berry, chanced that way. She comforted, took him home with her, and bound up his wounds, if not with oil and wine, with arnica, which answered equally as well, and made him up a bed on her own lounge, that she might nurse him. Not that Miss Berry regarded herself as a Good Samaritan. She was one of those humble souls who in that great day when the "Son of man shall come in his glory," hearing amid the gathered nations the commendation, "Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you," shall answer in surprise, "Lord, when saw we thee a stranger, or sick, or in prison? When did we ever do any such wonderful work? How can we have merited such a recompense?" To Teddy, however, this was an era in his life: the touch of a pure woman's hand, her tender sympathy, and gentle counsel, woke all the affection of his warm Irish nature. Looking in that sweet and quiet face, a desire that had hitherto lain dormant woke within him—the desire to be something better than the wild and ignorant vagrant, the purpose to be a man. It was a tender germ, but Miss Berry carefully nourished it. She put a little box on her clock shelf, and there Teddy daily brought his earnings, and gloated over the store that was, he felt, his first step toward respectability. Urged by her into a night school, to her he came with slate and book for aid to surmount the difficulties that seemed to his ignorance so stupendous. And the little dressmaker laid down her sewing to help him through the mysteries of multiplication and long division, telling him meanwhile, of the old red school-house, of her school days, and the boys who had gone out from it, and how some were farmers with broad acres, and one a minister, and another a merchant, and still another one of the rich men of the great West, and of the one brightest, noblest of all, whose bright promise knew no earthly fulfilment, with a sigh for the love and hopes that had been buried so long the bitter sorrow had become but a tender memory. And Teddy, listening unconscious of the heart page open before him, resolved that he would be a farmer, and roll in wealth, and have Miss Berry live with him. This was the greatest felicity he could conceive, as his greatest honor now was to walk beside her and carry her hymn-book to the mission church. And so to-day, in the spirit of generosity, he had brought his "pard" to share his good things11and Miss Berry's heart, which was boundless, received him at once, and said that another box for Jimmie should be added to the clock shelf, and told the old stories that Teddy never tired of hearing or she of repeating, of her child life in the old homestead, of berrying, and haying, and nutting, in the Summer, and coasting, and skating, and merry-making, in the Winter days and evenings. Then, as there were no evening papers to sell, the boys must stay to supper; and she turned back her sleeves and put on a wide apron, to protect the cashmere dress, and proceeded to bake apples and potatoes, and fry steak, on the little stove, and Jimmie looked on with wonder as, when gathered around the tiny round table, Miss Berry bent her head and softly repeated the grace she had learned of the long-dead father: "For these, the fruit of thy bounty, Lord, may we be truly thankful." And both the boys agreed that it was the "best supper that ever was." And after the boys had gone, there were a few calls she must make herself. A cup of tea, with an accompaniment of toast and steak, to be carried to bed-ridden old Mrs. King, across the hall; and she must take the biggest red apple to Johnny, the shoemaker's little lame boy, and look in at Mrs. Baker's room with a word of praise for its improvement, and the "nice clean smell." And later, when the shadows gathered, and the New Year's day, so freighted with joyful gayety, went softly down into the night, and the darkness gathered over the hearts that were glad and the hearts that were sorrowful, Miss Berry sat down before the open stove, whose warm glow filled the room with yellow light, and stroking the black cat as he purred sleepily on her knee, said to her mute companion: "Well, Dusky, after all, I don't believe that many people have had a happier New Year's than you and I." GRAPES AND THORNS.
By Alice Cary
We must not hope to be mowers,
And to gather the ripe, gold ears,
Until we have first been sowers,
And watered the furrows with tears. Is it not just as we take it—
This mystical world of ours?
Life's field will yield as we make it,
A harvest of thorns or flowers.
—Alice Cary. —An English M. P. advises English farmers to emigrate to the United States. —The village of Durand, Wis., was almost totally destroyed by fire December 27. —An English syndicate has invested in fifty thousand acres of coal land in Ohio. —About $15,000,000 worth of musical instruments are made and sold in this country every year. —The cashier of a bank in Florence, Italy, recently absconded with over $400,000 of bank funds. —December 25, a bonded warehouse on South Street New York was destroyed by fire. Loss $2,000,000. —The day-schools of New Zealand have an enrollment of 1,623 pupils, and an average attendance of 1,277. —The office of the Imperial Receiver at Sebastapol, was recently entered by means of a tunnel, and 47,000 rubles were stolen. —The steamer Braunschwíg of the North German Lloyds line has sunk at Bremen. The water entered the ports while she was coaling. —Severe storms on the Atlantic still continue, and much damage has been done to shipping. The loss of life has also been considerable. —A London firm has recently purchased 1,300,000 acres of land in Mississippi. It is their intention to improve and colonize these lands. —Small-pox has broken out among the students of the medical college at Keokuk, Iowa. There are about forty cases. One student has died. —That excellent paper formerly known as the Examiner and Chronicle has dropped the last half of its name, and is simply The Examiner. —Reports from Warsaw show that the damage done to property during the recent riot there is enormous. A portion of the city was virtually destroyed. —On the 27th ult. a quantity of kerosene on the steamer plying between Baltimore and West Point, Va., exploded, killing nineteen persons and destroying the steamer. —During the year just closed, the courts of San Francisco have granted 364 divorces—one for each day in the year. This is an increase of thirty-one over the preceding year. —Another plot to assassinate the Czar has been discovered. The plot was perfectly arranged, and failed only because the Czar did not pass along the street when he was expected to. —It is stated that 14,000 tickets have already been taken for transportation by vessels leaving Bremen for America in the spring, and that an equal number of emigrants will go from Hamburg. —Mr. Jacob Lorillard, of New York, proposes to establish an American passenger steamship line to England which shall make the trip in six days. All the capital for the enterprise has been subscribed. —A Paris tradesman has an ingenious advertising device. He daily sends up a number of tiny balloons with his name and address attached. One recently sent up was found at a distance of 290 miles from Paris. —Three Russian officers who were charged with not having taken proper precautions for the murdered Czar's safety, have been considerably let off with three years exile, and the loss of title and civil rights. Justice means more in Russia than in America. —New Jersey has furnished more than her quota of defaulters. The Auditor of Accounts of Newark has been imprisoned on his own confession that he has embezzled $125,000 of the city funds within the past three years, and lost it in Wall Street speculations. —The question of abandoning the old German alphabet is quite extensively advocated in Germany. Scholars and historians are using the Latin type, and it will probably soon be used altogether. The extraordinary prevalence of short sight in Germany is largely ascribed to the old type. —A correspondent reviewing the events of 1881 in Ireland, says: The year closed in confusion, contention, and a war of races and classes. Commercial credit is broken. The spirit of the country is sunk in deep depression. The result of the year's trade shows a decrease of 30 per cent in imports. —During a festival at Shanesville, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio, Dec. 31, the floor gave way, precipitating the whole company, about 200, to the floor below. The building immediately took fire and a panic ensued. Many were crushed. The number of killed and wounded is thought to be not less than 100. —In a case where a man was injured by a railroad train, while walking on a trestle bridge, the Supreme Court of California has decided that persons using the railroad track for travel, except at crossings, are trespassers, and that the company is not liable for accidents happening to them in such instances. —While the steamer Catalonia was on her way out of Queenstown harbor Dec. 25, she ran into the bark Helen Lee, Captain Barry, bound from San Francisco to Queenstown. The bark sank and nine of her crew were drowned the remaining sixteen being saved by the Catalonia. The latter had her bows stove in. —During the celebration of a high mass in a church in London on Christmas day, a man was seized while picking pockets. In order to escape, he raised the cry of "fire." In the panic which ensued twenty-five persons were killed; and others injured. The man was a Jew, and four shops kept by Jews were destroyed by the enraged mob. —The destitution caused by the Michigan fire has been alleviated but not entirely overcome. The provision on hand will last only through January. Sickness is on the increase, owing to poor shelter. Fifteen hundred families will be utterly destitute by the 1st of February, and it will require $200,000 more to provide for their absolute necessaries. —A body of masked men recently broke into all the drinking saloons in Cedarville, Green County, O., in the night, and destroyed all the liquor on hand. Some buildings were nearly torn down. It was an unwarrantable act, and yet those same saloons have doubtless destroyed dozens of houses and homes in the prosecution of their legitimate (?) business. —The Pope gave the customary Christmas reception to the Cardinals, and, as usual nowadays, got off his whine in regard to persecution. He said that his position was becoming more and more intolerable in Rome, and he expected far more severe persecution in the future. He considers it an extreme grievance that he is not allowed to claim temporal power in order to secure spiritual independence. Since he calls his present condition "persecution," what would he call the condition of the poor Christians at the time when he had his coveted temporal power? —The steamer Jeanette which started on an Arctic exploring expedition two years ago, and in search of which the Rodgers was sent out last summer, has been heard from. She was crushed in the ice in September last about 500 miles north of the mouth of the Lena River. The party put to sea in three boats. Two of the companies arrived at a station in Siberia, after spending three months in open boats, and suffering the severest hardships on account of cold and hunger. The remaining boat has not been heard from. This expedition was fitted out with the utmost care, and the result, together with former experiences, should be sufficient to convince any one that hunting for the North Pole is a foolish expenditure of life and property. Even if it could be found, it has been sufficiently demonstrated that navigation in the Polar seas is impracticable. —The Tribune says: The discovery of a deserted city cut out of the rocky face of a winding cliff, has rewarded the efforts of the Stevenson-Smithsonian Institute exploring party during its researches in New Mexico and Arizona in the past season. This is by far the most important find yet made among the ancient haunts of the cliff dwellers. Some of the houses contain four or five dwellings, one on top of the other, and on the plateau above the cliff were found many ruins of temples of worship, built of well-cut, square stones. A comparison of the collections of pottery and implements gathered in the cliff houses by the exploring party, with those obtained in the Pueblo villages, strengthens the theory that the Pueblo Indians are the degenerate descendants of the once powerful race that built the ruined cities of the plains, and then retreating before some more warlike race, carved out these singular dwellings on the sheer walls of dizzy precipices, and found in them, it may be for centuries, both fortresses and homes. —The German Baptists, or Tunkers, have 710 churches, 1,665 ministers, and 90,000 communicants. —There are said to be 110 theological seminaries in this country belonging to the evangelical denominations. —In 1877 the pilgrims to the Vatican numbered 34,508; in 1878, 13,625; in 1879, 10,171; and last year 10,827. —The Methodist Episcopal Church proposes to raise a fund of $25,000 for building chapels in Sweden and Norway. —One of the Jewish congregations in New York has decided that hereafter men shall remove their hats in public worship. —Dr. Delitzsch, the eminent German scholar, thinks that the site of the garden of Eden was the same as the site of the ancient city of Babylon. —Messrs. Moody and Sankey are less successful in drawing large audiences in England than on their former visit, and have less assistance from the local clergy. —The stipend of Protestant ministers in Germany is so small that they are obliged to raise additional sums by charging fees for baptisms and marriages whenever celebrated at a private house or with special ceremony. —The negotiations between the Vatican and Russia, says a Catholic letter from Rome, though proceeding slowly, promise to be successful. The Pope is gratified with the spirit of concession shown by the Russian Government. —The Reformed Episcopal Church has been in existence eight years, beginning with nine clergymen, including bishop Cummins, and twenty laymen. It now has 110 clergymen, and about 7,000 communicants. It has church property valued at $915,000, exclusive of incumbrances. —The statistics of the Baptist churches of Maine show the number of baptisms for the year to be 291, or less than for any year since 1849, when there were 231. Five churches numbering 84 members, have been dropped from the list. There are 317 less members than were reported last year. YOAKUM.—Jennie Yoakum, wife of John E. Yoakum, died Dec. 24, 1881, aged 28 years, after a short illness of three days, in which she suffered greatly. She leaves a husband, and one child, too young to realize its loss, a father, mother, and three sisters. She died trusting in the Lord, which is a great consolation to those who are left to mourn the loss of one who had endeared herself to all with whom she associated by a pure and exemplary Christian life. She has been a member of the S. D. A. Church for nearly four years, in which time she has ever shown an ardent zeal to do the work of the Master, ever being ready to do her duty in whatever form it came, and as a church we deeply feel the loss of Sister Yoakum. Words fail to describe the anguish that fills the heart of her stricken husband; and though life's path seems dark and gloomy, and the clouds of affliction seem to envelope him like the dull mist of a winter day, yet the memory of her who has gone will be as a beckoning hand to lead him and those who loved her most and best, to a higher life in Christ; and the thought of the bright hereafter, when they shall be reunited, will cheer them through the hours of gloom and sadness. Soon the Master will be coming,
She has only gone before;
Then you'll meet the loved and lost one
Over on the golden shore.
Meet her where life's tree is blooming,
Where all tears are wiped away,
Where no farewells for the dying,
Ever mar Heaven's cloudless day.
Where the angels' harps are tuning,
And the loud hosannah's ring
Death, oh death, where now thy victory?
Grave, oh grave, where now thy sting? Funeral services were conducted by Bro. W. G. Buckner. MARY M. CODY. A MINE OF INFORMATION.
By John Nevins Andrews
History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week
THE Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made; and the work of restoration, are given in detail. Concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS
In regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious index enables the reader to find the comments on any text, or the statement of any historian. Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. Most of the papers seem disposed to accept the explanation of Judge Cox, that he allowed Guiteau to act so indecorously in order to bring out the evidence in regard to his mental condition. We indorse the view taken of it by the English press. They are far enough removed, both by distance and nationality, to take a calm view of it, and they "point out that Justice Cox's excuse for not interfering with Guiteau's Constitutional rights do not cover what they think are among the most scandalous incidents of the trial." The Spectator observes that Justice Cox's idea of Constitutional rights includes the right to discredit the administration of law by weeks of brutal buffoonery." The Times remarks that the impressions made by Garfield's dying scenes, the pathos and dignity of which fixed the attention of the civilized world, is weakened by the protracted wrangle into which the trial has been allowed to degenerate. American acknowledgements for this humiliation may be divided between Cox and Guiteau. The N. Y. World London correspondent says: "Some Americans have written to the papers here, saying that the scandal arises through the trial being held in the District of Columbia, but this is a poor excuse. Guiteau's blasphemy, unchecked by the Court, shocks everybody, while the entire proceedings cast great and undeserved reproach upon the American courts of law. Americans here say it would have been better not to have had the murderer tried at all than to have had this lamentable exhibition." The murderer has shown that he can be restrained by fear, as he is an arrant coward. This fact, long ago established, would justify the Judge in treating him as a common criminal, and restraining his abuse of the Court and of eminent and honorable witnesses. It remains a disgrace to the nation. General Conference and the Tract Societies.
AT the late General Conference the following resolution was adopted:— “Resolved, That we recognize the importance and usefulness of the Tract and Missionary Societies; that we appreciate their past labors in the circulation of our periodicals and books; and that we request them to continue to act as our agents for the sale of books, and in obtaining subscribers for our periodicals.” We are much pleased with this action of the body possessing the highest earthly authority recognized by Seventh-day Adventists. It is due to the societies which are doing so much to send the present truth to the ends of the earth; and we hope it may prove to be of great encouragement to those engaged in the good work. A new year has commenced, and many resolutions have been made to renew consecration, and to labor more zealously in the cause of God. We look for the Tract and Missionary Societies to occupy a prominent place in this work, and “the night is [so] far spent” that all must “redeem the time” who hope to do all their duty in sounding the notes of warning to a world sleeping on the brink of ruin. We look for rapid advances to be made in 1882 toward the consummation pointed out in Rev. 13 and 14. A great work is before us, and the time in which we may work is fast drawing to a close. May God help us all to double our diligence this year, and to look for a great harvest of souls to the truth of the Third Angel’s Message. WE had the pleasure of attending the annual re-union of the Sabbath-schools in San Francisco and Oakland. The school in San Francisco is comparatively small, and the exercises were mainly for the benefit and interest of the little ones. The children acted well their part. Prizes and gifts were distributed. It was truly an enjoyable occasion. The school in Oakland is large, considering the size of the church. Too much cannot be said for the management of this school. The re-union was for the benefit of the school and church. Giving, not receiving, was the order of the evening. The gifts in money amounted to $135.00, besides a few donations of other articles. We are happy to say that nothing inconsistent with the proprieties which belong to a house of worship was seen in either of these happy meetings. Good order and good feeling prevailed. San Francisco Quarterly Meeting
By M. C. Israel
The church quarterly meeting for San Francisco will be held on Sabbath, Jan. 7. The T. and M. meeting for district No. 8, will be held at seven o'clock the same evening. M. C. ISRAEL. Napa Church Quarterly Meeting
By Isaac D. Van Horn
The quarterly meeting of the Napa Church will be held on Sabbath and Sunday Jan. 7, 8, 1882. The first service will be on Friday evening at seven o'clock. On the Sabbath there will be opportunity for baptism. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper will be celebrated in the afternoon. Preaching in the evening. The regular quarterly business-meeting will be held on Sunday at 9 A. M. Preaching at 11, and again in the evening. I will be at this meeting and every member should attend. Those living at Vallejo are especially requested to be present. I. D. Van Horn. The quarterly meeting for district No 1, will be held at Healdsburg, Sabbath, Jan. 8. Oakland Church Quarterly Meeting
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
The T. & M. quarterly meeting of the Oakland Church will be held Sabbath evening, Jan. 8, at 7:30 o'clock. The district quarterly meeting will immediately follow. Let every member be present, as matters of special importance will be considered. E. J. WAGGONER, Director. Meetings in Santa Rosa.
By Editor
Elder I. D. Van Horn will commence a series of meetings in the Santa Rosa Church, commencing Jan. 11, at 7 o'clock in the evening, and continuing as the interest may demand. Appointments.
By M. C. Israel
THE California State quarterly meeting of the Tract and Missionary Society will be held at Healdsburg on Sabbath and Sunday Jan. 28, 29. This will be an important meeting, and it will be necessary that as many of the directors be present as can, and also others of our brethren. The recent Sunday movement in this State, has caused a general interest in the Sabbath question; and we should consider ways and means of bringing before the minds of the people the claims of the Lord's Sabbath, so that they may act understandingly in the coming conflict. The Committee elected at the camp-meeting to locate and start a school in this State, will meet at this time. SELF-EASE is pain; thy only rest
Is labor for a worthy end,
A toil that gains with what it yields,
And scatters to its own increase,
And hears, while sowing outward fields,
The harvest-song of inward peace. Mr. Frothingham’s Religious Tendencies
MUCH ado has been made over the supposed conversion of Mr. Frothingham, the well-known "liberal" preacher, to the orthodox faith. But now it is reported that he has "decided Catholic tendencies." Liberalism is a poor training-school to lead restless spirits to genuine Christianity. "A scoundrelly wine merchant of Besancon, France, has found it expedient to run away from the town because of the detection of one of his tricks—the manufacture and sale to the church, for use at the altar, of an article which pretended to be pure wine, but in which, as discovered by a chemist, there was not a single drop of grape juice. He may consider himself lucky that he did not live a hundred years ago when sacrilege was a hanging matter." Two interesting points are made in this item: 1. That wine is made which passes for "pure wine," without a particle of grape juice in it. 2. That they who so strongly advocate the use of pure fermented wine, cannot have any assurance that they are using the "fruit of the vine" at all. It is a well-known fact that there is more fraud practiced in the manufacture and sale of liquors than in all other traffics combined; and it appears that wine is no more pure than other liquors. It may be claimed that California wines are an exception. But if so, why is it that certain members of the Association of wine growers have made such efforts, and in some cases vain efforts, to have all its members come to an agreement to make wine of grapes, to the exclusion of other materials? "Wine is a mocker." He is deceived who trusts it. VALUABLE BOOKS FOR BIBLE STUDENTS.
SACRED GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES.
WITH maps and illustrations, by Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. The investigations of missionaries and explorers during the last century have thrown a flood of light on many points once involved in obscurity, and it is the aim of this book to condense and put into methodical form what has thus been collected. 685 pp. $2.25. BIBLE GEOGRAPHY. HAND-BOOK OF
Containing the name, pronunciation and meaning of every place, nation, and tribe mentioned in both the Canonical and Apocryphal Scriptures. By Rev. Geo. H. Whitney, A. M. Illustrated by one hundred engravings and forty maps and plans. 12 mo. 400 pp. $2.50. BIBLE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. HAND-BOOK OF
Containing descriptions of the ancient manners and customs mentioned in the Bible, and explaining over three thousand Scripture Texts. By Jas. M. Freeman, D. D. Illustrated by 168 engravings, and accompanied by an Analytical Index, a Textual Index, and a Topical Index. 12 mo. 515 pp. $2.50. SMITH'S NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY.
This work gives the connection between the Old and New Testament History, the relation of the Holy Land to the surrounding nations, a full account of the political and religious life of each separate section of the Jewish nation, and a clear and harmonized account of the Gospel and Apostolic History. 12 mo. 780 pp. $1.75. THE WORLD'S PROGRESS, A DICTIONARY OF DATES.
Being a Chronological and Alphabetical Record of all essential facts in the progress of society, from the creation of the world to the present time, with chart. By T. B. Perkins. Octavo size. 1,020 pp. $3.00. LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL,
By Conybeare and Howson, giving a living picture of St. Paul and the circumstances by which he was surrounded. Illustrated with maps and engravings. 764 pp. $1.50. THE LIFE AND WORDS OF CHRIST.
By Cunningham Geikie, D. D., with marginal references to the Scriptures, notes and index. Two volumes complete in one book. Printed in pica type, octavo size. 1,260 pp. $1.75. We have just received the following commendation of this work from an earnest Christian worker in Maine:— HAVING read Dr. Geikie's life and works of Christ, I find it more interesting the farther I read; and when he introduces us to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, one can almost imagine himself present to witness the cruel mockery, and the terrible scenes of Calvary. Although I am not prepared to indorse all that is said in the book, yet I think it the best I ever read of the kind. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. The Religious Amendment to the Constitution:
THE SABBATH, THE SUNDAY, THE CHANGE
THE object of the proposed Constitutional Amendment, together with the authority for it, is fully canvassed.
The views of the leaders of the parties both for and against the Amendment are fairly given in this book.
☞ The present agitation of the Sunday Law makes this book especially interesting and instructive at this time.
Bound in cloth, 380 pp. Price, $1.00.
Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. A CONTRAST OF TRUE AND FALSE THEORIES.
THIS is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indicates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price 10 cts. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. REVISED EDITION—JUST ISSUED.
Being an examination of its ACTIONS, SUBJECTS AND RELATIONS. Also, a brief consideration of the Historical Evidences of Trine Immersion. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Price, postpaid, Paper Covers, 25c.; Flexible Cloth, 35c. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.