Earlier text: THE PRODIGAL SON“A CHRISTIAN THEATER.”
By G.
The theater, as devised by men, has but one purpose, namely, the gratification of the lusts of the flesh. Its origin is heathen; nowhere in the Scriptures is it associated with the true worship of God. For centuries professed Christians have patronized the theater, on the theory that people must have some light diversion of a worldly nature, something in the nature of amusing or thrilling entertainment. They have been tempted with one bait or another to incorporate the institutions of men into the service of God. They adopted the Church-and-State theories of the heathen; they made a sabbath of the Sunday—the “solar holiday” of paganism; they “baptized” pagan idols and named them after the apostles, thus making so-called “Christian” images. And they transmogrified heathen temples, with much of their paraphernalia, into so-called “Christian” churches. In later years the tendency has been to utilize the theater and the novel (the theater begat the novel) in the furtherance of nominal Christianity. The novel has been adopted to an alarming extent, and the theater is mimicked quite extensively, in the human effort to draw people to the church. In the New York Independent of March 14, Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, author of “In His Steps,” comes out squarely in favor of the “Christian theater.” This is what many people have been wanting some noted churchman to do, and there is no doubt that the idea will meet favor in many church circles. Upon the question, “Is a Christian Theater Possible?” he says:— “By Christian theater I mean an institution distinctively and of set purpose organized to represent only those plays which would be regarded as Christian in the best sense of the word—not necessarily what would be called ‘religious’ plays, but plays as clean and sweet and wholesome as anything to be found in the clean, sweet, and wholesome lives of the best Christian men and women in the world. And by Christian theater I would mean also a theater owned and controlled entirely by Christian people, as much so as any church organization. In addition to all that, I would mean also, by Christian theater, an institution in which all the actors and actresses were decidedly and positively Christian men and women.” That the purpose is to cater to the light side of humanity, to cultivate the innate folly of the young especially, and do it in a way that it may pass for Christianity, is shown in the following further quotation:— “The whole question of the theater, however, has raised in my mind the possibility of a school for Christian actors, and for Christian playwrights and Christian managers—in other words, a distinctively Christian theater, where men and women of consecrated, devout, earnest Christian character would act only good plays. Humor that is sweet and wholesome is as much a part of life as tragedy; and if it is true, as most theaters confess, that the majority of theater-goers, especially among the young people, go to the play to be entertained and amused, then it would be true in a Christian theater that plays written for the purpose of making people laugh, in sending them away with sweet and wholesome images of what they had seen and heard among things that were funny, would be a distinctively9Christian thing to do for large numbers of people who often grow very tired and weary in the great struggle for existence in the great cities, and need the rest and refreshment that come from wholesome fun.” To complete the idea from Mr. Sheldon’s standpoint that an institution which is in itself bad, because it is fictitious and lustful, can be made Christian by the efforts of fallible beings who have a longing for mere humor, we give one more expression:— “I am not able to avoid the conclusion that at least half the plays which are at present put upon the stage in the great cities are not helpful to the Christian life of those who attend them. I do not see any prospect of a change for the better until we have established a school for Christian acting, or even founded a theater which shall be as distinctively Christian in its purpose, in its financial management, and in its entire life, as the most Christian home or church that we now possess. That this is within the reach of possibility I believe, because I believe in the elevating power of Christianity over all things that belong to humanity.” Our apology, if there need be an apology, for giving so much space to a statement of this proposition, is that the idea will meet with extended favor. It is a delusion that will carry many unwary souls into the vortex of worldly pleasure. The inclination is already so much that way that a strong current can easily be created by the encouragement of a few influential spirits. Now the church of God—the true church—is already a theater. It is the only true Christian theater in the world. “We are made a spectacle [margin, ‘theater’] unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” 1 Cor. 4:9. “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:10. The earth is the stage; true Christians are the actors; angels and men are spectators; and the subject presented from day to day is the life of Jesus Christ. All the acting, in the only real Christian theater that is possible, is real life, and each one’s part is a life-long act. Only by the crucifixion of the lusts of the flesh, by “bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,” by keeping “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” can any one “manifest” the life of Christ in “mortal flesh.” Under no circumstances can Christ be represented on a fictitious stage, by individuals in fictitious character, in “plays written for the purpose of making people laugh.” The only “school for Christian acting” is the school of Christ; the text-book is the Word of God, and the instructor is the Holy Spirit. Every principle thus taught is to be wrought out in the daily life. The Word of Christ thus worked in and worked out becomes the life of Christ manifested in the individual. It can not be dramatized on an improvised stage. The very suggestion is blasphemy, and the attempt hypocrisy. Every Christian has his own part to act in life; he can not take up the work of portraying the lives of fictitious persons or of real persons, for that matter, on an imitation stage of life. We have no such example or teaching in the Word of God. The Lord established all the essentials for the perfecting of His people. “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Eph. 4:8-13. There is nothing here, or elsewhere in the Scriptures about “Christian playwrights,” or “Christian managers” of theaters, or Christian “actors and actresses” upon any stage of human conception and construction. Whatever may come of such a suggestion will be merely a work of the flesh, a delusion and a snare to all who will be deceived thereby. “The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” It is no time for Christians to be devising and acting fictitious tragedies and comedies for the mere amusement of each other and doing it in the name of Christ. G. International Affairs and Diplomacy
The sultan of Turkey is reported to have demanded of Bulgaria the immediate suppression of the Macedonian committee and the prohibition of the proposed Macedonian Congress. The Russian marine guard has been withdrawn from Masampho, Korea, in deference to the wish of Japan. This is regarded as an effort to placate Japan and remove some of the causes of her opposition to Russia’s movements. The Japanese Government has suggested to the emperor of China that he return at once to Peking with a force of at least 20,000 men, and that these be used to restore order in the province of Manchuria, thus removing any excuse for Russia’s continued occupation of that province. This is regarded as a bold diplomatic stroke for Japan, as she has suggested to China that in case these troops were insufficient for the work of restoring order in that province, the allied armies would be loaned her for that purpose, thus bringing the troops of the other powers into the province now occupied by Russia alone. The United States has suggested to the powers that the total of the indemnities of the powers be kept inside of $200,000,000; but the other powers do not take kindly to so low an indemnity, tho Germany admits the desirableness of keeping the indemnity within China’s power to pay. The annual convention of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, which was held at Philadelphia, closed on April 13. At the closing session Mr. Herbert, former Secretary of the Navy, took the position that the granting of the franchise to the negro was one of the great mistakes of the century. Many are now contending that the declaration of Congress, that the Cuban people are and of right ought to be free and independent, was one of the great mistakes of the century. Nearly every State in the Union, by refusing to follow the precepts of the Constitution in reference to the matter of the separation of Church and State, has declared that provision of the national government a mistake. In fact, all the great principles of the equality of man and freedom of conscience, for which the national government stood, all the great principles which made the nation once a worthy example to the rest of the world, are being repudiated and abandoned one by one. Instead of setting an example for the world, we are now aping monarchy and force. The Boer war drags its weary length over the oft-contested fields of South Africa, with now and then a small engagement, a few men killed, a few guns captured, but no decisive results, altho England now has in the field a fighting force of 250,000 men, including 60,000 cavalry. It is reported that no more re-enforcements will be sent to South Africa, but General Kitchener is planning to bring his freshest troops to the front in place of those worn out by the hard campaign. The English War Office has issued an order to the effect that no English soldier or officer must show the white flag when engaged with the enemy. Those who do are to be courtmartialed. The British have captured a few more towns previously held by the Boers, but in spite of the loss of several heavy guns, the Boers show little indication of yielding. In the recent “rapproachment” between Italy and France, signalized by the exchange of extraordinary courtesies between the French and Italian fleets in French waters, and by feasts and toasts between the officials of the two realms, many persons see the beginning of a new triple alliance, this time between France, Russia, and Italy. The latter country has tired of her part in the old triple alliance comprising Germany, Austria, and Italy, on account of the excessive taxation of her people necessary to keep up the great navy which she was required to maintain. If this indication is based on reality (and it seems to be), Russia has gained strong support for the completion of her designs in China. Reports from Germany indicate that about one-fourth of the working population is now idle, owing to the cutting down of the force of laborers in nearly all factories. Foreign competition, disastrous tariff wars, and an uncertain financial policy of the government are given as the causes for the increasing idleness. One of the chief items of foreign competition is in the line of iron and steel products from the United States. American competitors have been seriously cutting into the fields of both the German and the English manufacturers, and America’s success in this is causing a feeling of bitterness throughout the working population of all European countries. Tales of distress continue to come from Porto Rico. The excise tax which was expected to produce the necessary revenue is reported to be a practical failure in that regard because of the stagnation in business. The island government has, therefore, ordered the assessors to increase the valuation, in order to wring a little more revenue out of a people already poverty-stricken. A cablegram from the island states that there is general discontent, owing to the unsatisfactory conditions. A petition signed by 6,000 Porto Ricans, praying for relief, has been presented to the President. Trouble is coming to the smaller nations as well as to the greater powers. Persia is disturbed over serious politico-religious disorders in the north. Rioting is occurring at different places in Bulgaria over the arrest of members of the Macedonian revolutionary committee, following the demands of Turkey for the complete suppression of that committee. The sultan of Tripoli, finding himself helpless against the rebellion now in progress there, has appealed to France for assistance, which France has promised to give; and even dark Arabia has its civil war. The anti-vice committee of New York has made its preliminary report to the city, showing that vice of all kinds is protected in that city by those whose duty it is to suppress it. One of the deplorable conditions brought to light by the investigation of this committee was the alarming prevalence of the practise of the social evil in tenement houses. An examination of 125 tenement houses in which this evil is carried on, revealed the fact that there was an average of 24 children under 18 years of age in each such house. The new five-inch naval guns for the cruisers of the Denver class were given a trial at the Indian Head proving-grounds on April 5. These guns developed the remarkable muzzle velocity of 2990 feet a second and a muzzle energy of 3472 foot-tons. This is said to be 65 per cent. more muzzle energy than guns of this size have made heretofore. It is sufficient to pierce seven inches of Krupp armor at the muzzle, or five inches at a distance of 2,000 yards. The first battle between organized labor and the great United States Steel Corporation occurred on April 15, when 400 men employed in the Dewees Wood Company’s sheet steel plant went on strike because of the discharge of fellow-employees who belonged to the labor union. A strike of much greater proportions is threatened in case the company persists in its present attitude toward the union. A mob of Mohammedans attacked the Jewish inhabitants of Teheran, Persia, on April 5. The fanatics indulged in indiscriminate plunder, wrecking, and slaughtering. Many Jews had been killed and wounded when soldiers arrived and dispersed the mob. The Shah ordered the execution of the leader of the mob. The Cuban Constitutional Convention has named its five delegates who will visit Washington to confer with President McKinley and the Secretary of War in reference to the relations which should exist between Cuba and the United States. It is expected that this committee will leave for Washington within a few days. Korea is building coast fortifications to resist a possible Japanese invasion. This seems to be another of Russia’s diplomatic moves. Desiring Korea herself, she would instil into the minds of the Koreans a fear of the Japanese, and cause Korea to do a work which will really help Russia in the end. The frauds in connection with the commissary department of the army in Manila seem to be greater than at first reported. Some of the officers concerned in the fraud have had their trials, and the trials of others will follow. The results of the trials thus far have not been announced. The Cuban Constitutional Convention has declared itself opposed to the Platt Amendment; that is, the legislation recently passed in Washington defining the relations which must exist between Cuba and the United States, believing that the same is prejudicial to the independence of Cuba. A great battle has been fought in Central Arabia for the possession of the kingdom of Nejd. The successful leader, Ibu Rashid, lured the army of his enemy into a gorge and overwhelmed his forces. Fugitives declare that 5,000 men were killed in the engagement. Until after the Russian Easter, six of Russia’s largest cities are to continue under military rule, being held virtually in a state of siege by the general government. These conditions result from a fear of a renewal of the student and laborer riots. Baron Fava, the Italian ambassador at Washington, is to be superseded in that office by Italy’s present minister to Argentina. Baron Fava has completed twenty years’ continuous service for his government at the American capital. On April 15, Mrs. Carrie Nation was fined $500 by a Kansas City, Missouri, judge, and warned to leave the city. Mrs. Nation was charged with obstructing the street. She was addressing a crowd while waiting for a street car. Great mass meetings are being held in Bulgaria, at which resolutions are passed protesting to the powers of Europe against the present action of Turkey with reference to the Macedonian revolutionary committee. All teachers and children in the Denver schools who are suffering with tuberculosis are to be excluded from the general school rooms, and other provisions will be made for the education of children thus afflicted. The feeling against the Jesuits in Portugal shows no sign of abating. An attempt was made on April 14 to burn a Jesuit convent at Aviero, Portugal; but the police arrived in time to extinguish the flames. The Methodist denomination is planning a vigorous campaign in the Philippines. Bishop Warren of that church has arrived at Manila, and the native converts are reported to be enthusiastic. The anti-canteen law is held not to apply to the canteens in the homes of the old soldiers, and reports indicate that such canteens are running as usual. The plague in Cape Town, South Africa, continues its slow but persistent progress. About the same number of victims are reported each week. THE PROCESS OF PUTTING ON THE “NEW MAN” PHYSICALLY.
By David Paulson
THE human agent has some responsibility in the matter of putting off the “old man” and putting on the “new man.” It is left, to a certain extent, with him to determine whether he shall have a more healthy body or a weaker one in the place of the one which he now has. Just as it is essential for the spiritual invalid to cultivate faith in order to secure spiritual transformation, so it is essential for the physical invalid to secure pure food, pure air, proper exercise, and various tonic hydrotherapeutic applications to secure the right kind of physical transformation. There are some who will never be better physically until they either change their cooks or get their cooks to change their minds on the preparation of food. There are others who will never secure a good degree of physical health unless they forever renounce their sedentary life; and instead of cultivating an “abundance of idleness” (Eze. 16:49), begin to recognize that labor and vigorous exercise are a blessing, not a curse,—that it is a blessing to work enough to sweat. There are others who, instead of hovering over stoves and hot-air registers on the first approach of winter, will have to begin to provide their bodies with winter on the instalment plan by systematically taking cold baths, before they can escape from their annual attacks of bronchitis, grippe, colds in the head, and the long train of evils that these difficulties annually introduce. The man who would secure the blessing of sound physical health will have to do some things that, viewed from a distance, seem unpleasant, and to a certain extent disagreeable and often possibly annoying. The Scripture speaks of crucifying the “old man.” Rom. 6:6. There is a physical counterpart of this process. Again, we are exhorted to “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.” Col. 3:5. If we wish to have a long lease of life instead of a premature death, we must be willing to go thru a few death struggles in order to secure it. It may at times seem trying to refuse to tickle four square inches of taste-surface in order that the body may be built up by sound, natural, and nutritious food. It may sometimes seem more pleasant in unfavorable weather to hover around the home than to be out of doors taking vigorous exercise, thus “working out” our physical salvation. It may often be annoying to take cold baths, which would arouse a perfect tempest of healing impulses in every organ of the body. But crucifixion and mortification are essential; for the golden crown of health will never adorn the head of the man or woman who fails earnestly, enthusiastically, and perseveringly to practise them. Pure Blood Required to Build up a Sound Body.
“The blood is the life.” Deut. 12:23; Lev. 17:14. It visits every part of the human organism; and when it has an opportunity, it carries a healing, restoring message to every cell in the body; but in order to do this it must be clean, and God promises to cleanse the blood. Joel 3:21. But if man deliberately sows for unclean blood, he will reap a harvest of the same; “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. And contaminated blood, instead of being a messenger of life to every part of the body, becomes an agent of death. Good Food Required in Order to Secure Pure Blood.
If we put into our stomachs the scavengers of earth, sea, and sky, blistering, burning substances, and doughy and pasty food, at either regular or irregular hours, we need not expect that God will transform this into pure blood that can build up a sound physical organism; for “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job 14:4. The same God that inspired the words, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” is operating the mechanism of the human body, and will not allow physical law to be transgressed without exacting the corresponding penalty. The prophet was given a glimpse of a time thousands of years in advance, and he saw tables loaded with something which was supposed to be food, but which he could only describe adequately in the following words: “For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” Isa. 28:8. Take a glance at the average hotel table, and observe how little there is upon it that a man could consistently ask God to transform into pure blood. How little of it a careful man would venture to feed to a valuable animal! The few representatives of the natural products of the earth, that God first recommended man to eat, have had almost all their natural flavors obliterated by such artificial coarse flavors as mustard, pepper, etc. The starchy foods have not been sufficiently transformed by stove heat to render them in a fit condition for the digestive juices to act upon properly. When a portion of the center of a loaf of bread can be rolled between the fingers, and then tossed to the floor, and it will bound back like a tennis-ball, it is not fit to be eaten, and should stay in a well-heated oven for half an hour or more until it is thoroly browned. When a portion of the ordinarily kettle-cooked grains is rubbed between the hands, they will stick together almost as tenaciously as two sheets of fly-paper. When a portion of this paste is eaten, what an unusual and unnatural task is laid upon the stomach in trying to transform it into pure, healthy, and wholesome blood. Unless the individual is endowed with remarkably strong digestive powers, it is more than likely that the microbes will cause it to ferment faster than the tired, over-worked stomach can digest it; and so various unpleasant and annoying symptoms must necessarily result, tending to still further weaken the system. Such grains should be spread out in a bread tin, and subjected to oven heat until a nice brown crust is formed; it is then as readily digested as toasted bread. It requires extra trouble and exertion to do these things; but it is likewise troublesome to sit up nights with invalids; it is the very climax of troubles to have funerals; it is trouble to have a vacant chair at the table, to be a daily reminder to us that eating just such things, in just such conditions, is largely responsible for the sad vacancy. There is as good reason for the employment of scientific principles and talent in the preparation of food in the kitchen as there is for the adoption of labor-saving machinery on the farm, or cash registers on the salesman’s counter. Why should we keep on eating pasty mush because our forefathers ate it, or doughy bread because they lived (or did not succeed in living) upon it, when science has shown that there is a better way? For sad experience has certainly demonstrated that “died from the miseries of mush” might consistently be inscribed on many a tombstone. The only part of grains, as ordinarily cooked in the kettle, which is fit to be eaten, is the part which clings to the kettle, and which is afterwards scraped off for the chickens. Baked potatoes, all other things being equal, are much more digestible than the watery, soggy, kettle-cooked ones. After potatoes are cooked, they should be mashed, and then spread in a bread tin and baked until a nice brown crust forms. Potatoes prepared in this way are much more toothsome, much more readily digested, and their natural flavors become much more marked. God has put an individual flavor into every food, just as He has put an individual odor into every flower; and when we leave off the artificial coarse flavors a sufficient length of time, we will begin to detect and relish the natural ones. Fruit is another of God’s great gifts to man, and everyone who desires to sow for clean blood should make as liberal a use of fruit as his circumstances will permit. Peas, beans, and lentils may be cooked, then put thru a colander, and baked on the same principle as potatoes. Cook-stove energy is cheaper than nerve energy. We can not consistently carry out the injunction to “eat for strength,” when we are eating poorly cooked and improperly prepared foods. And while it may be true that we can not eat ourselves into the kingdom of health, a little observation at least ought to teach us that there are multitudes who are succeeding beyond all their expectations in eating themselves out of the kingdom of health. We are not only bidden to “eat for strength,” but also to “eat in due season.” Eccl. 10:17. Nature persists in a certain amount of regularity in all her functions; and when this rhythm is interfered with and broken up, she exacts the penalty. Chicago, Ill. DAVID PAULSON, M. D. JOE'S “BURNING HEART”
By Frances B. Callaway
From his father, Joe Berwick inherited a blacksmith shop, his trade, and a love for drink. The smithy, a weather-beaten old brick building with bleared, cob-webby windows and crumbling foundations, stood in an open lot near the center of the village. This lot was covered with a bed of black cinders, the accumulation of twenty years, and on top of the cinders all manner of rusty wheels, tires, plows, farm implements, and broken-down carts which had been collecting there for about the same length of time. Joe, a great swarthy, stalwart fellow, was a splendid workman, and when the ring of his hammer made the sparks fly cheerily from the anvil, how his mother in that little cottage next to the smithy listened to the music of it! And all the neighbors could tell you how she used to sing. But the days and days when Joe was off on a drunk, and the old smithy was dark and silent—only the Lord knew how his mother used to pray! Joe had been away to a Keeley cure for months, and when he returned he was cured, as they all hoped. But poor Joe! he no sooner entered the smithy than the old temptation, which seemed still lurking about the smoky walls and the blear-eyed windows, all leaped upon him whichever way he11turned, and no man ever began a braver fight with the powers of darkness than did Joe Berwick that day. Just a month Joe had been home, and the old thirst was on him that morning with something like madness. To resist it was like trying to stand in the way of a lightning express train. Joe found himself trembling and giving way. He threw down his hammer and went to the open window, feeling faint and sick. The strip of doorway by his mother's cottage lay fresh and green in the April sunshine, and a robin lighting on an apple bough bursting with buds, was whistling joyously. Joe's mother in her sunbonnet, with her skirts carefully pinned back, was weeding out her bed of grass pinks in the garden. Joe could hear her singing:— “The Prince is ever in them,
The daylight is serene,
The pastures of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen.” Joe loved flowers and sunshine; he loved this peaceful little home; more than all, he loved his mother. He leaned his face heavily in his hands—O, how the battle was raging! There was a strange look in his eyes when a few moments later he put on his hat in a shamed way and walked out of the shop. “I'm afraid Joe's goin' to give in,” muttered the foreman with a troubled look on his face. “Goin' to give in?” laughed the customer who chanced to be waiting. “Nobody ever expected him to hold out mor'n a week.” The old foreman turned back to his work with something like a groan. He had known and loved Joe since he was a little lad. Thru the open window still came the mother's voice clear, almost shrill, in its sweetness:— “The Prince is ever in them,
The daylight is serene,
The pastures of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen.” The customer had paid for his work and gone away before Joe's familiar step was heard returning, and then he went straight past the shop into his mother's flower garden. He had something in a pot which he was carrying, and the foreman, glancing out of the window, heaved a sigh of relief; for he knew that Joe was all right when he heard the lad say in his hearty voice,— “I brought you a posy, mother. It's a primrose.” “Why, Joe! whatever made you do it?” cried the little mother, putting down her trowel with such a look of surprise and delight, and her hands trembled so she almost let the pot fall as Joe handed it to her. From time to time all summer, Joe kept bringing home flowers until the tiny garden spot was crammed full, the borders of the walks were filled, and even the porch was overflowing with them. Mrs. Berwick, no longer surprised or delighted, began to think that her son had gone out of his senses. “Never mind,” she said, soberly, as she put up the last hanging-basket; “he'll get over it when cold weather comes.” But cold weather came, and Joe still kept up his mania for buying flowers. One night when he came in with a great burly chrysanthemum, his mother lost all patience. “Why, Joe, this house is so cluttered up with plants now I can hardly find room to set my foot down, and the windows are so filled up we can't see out of 'em—and what do you keep on buying more for?” “Mother!” said Joe, taken aback, for she was a woman who never scolded, “I hadn't noticed the house was filled up so, and I thought you liked flowers—and the truth is, when the old cravin' came back drivin' me most mad, I just took to spendin' that money for flowers I might have spent in drink, and the Lord knows how it helped me. Do you mind now, mother?” “Joe, my lad!” and the tears were streaming down his mother's cheeks, “you can buy flowers until we have to move out on the sidewalk if you'll only keep sober and steady. Of course I don't mind,” and then Joe's mother was fast in Joe's arms, and they were crying together. While Joe slept that night, Joe's mother was praying—praying as no mother ever prayed for a son on a battle-field before—that her son might not give in. After this, Joe gave his mother a little purse to keep, and whenever he felt the old passion coming back, he put in it the money he would have spent for drink. The purse was filled over and over, and his mother saved it all until such a time as it could be spent for “Joe's flowers.” The garden being full, another summer the waste ground around the smithy was cleared up, soil was put there in place of cinders, and all neatly sodded, with a great heart of flowers in the center. This heart Joe kept filled with blazing red flowers, and the old foreman, who knew the story now, could not help telling the neighbors, he was so proud of Joe. The neighbors, who were all fond of Joe, could not help speaking of it to one another as they passed and repassed many times a day, and so it came that even the children knew every one of these flowers meant a battle and a victory, and they used to speak of this bed reverently as “Joe's Burning Heart.” The old smithy hardly knows itself any more since its foundations have been rebuilt so square and true, its windows cleaned and brightened, and its weather-worn walls covered with shining ivies. On the south side facing the cottage, a greenhouse has been built; and here Joe spends every spare moment, busying himself in the care of his flowers, or reading and studying about them, for it is his ambition to become not only a florist, but a botanist. Nor does Joe forget his old comrades; and when he meets one in the street, out of work it may be, or down-hearted, or bound for the saloon to have it all out in a spree, Joe will ask him in the greenhouse to see the flowers or to offer him some odd bit of work, or just to give him some little potted plant to take home to the children, and what with Joe's kindness and friendliness and the sweetness and the brightness of the flowers and the encouragement of it all, the poor fellow will be tided over that hard place and saved from the spree. “An' that's the way Joe works it,” says the old foreman to a neighboring gossip. “That's the way he lends a helpin' hand. An' the boys are willin' to take a word of advice from Joe—they know what he's been thru.” It was one summer morning that I first saw Joe's flower garden, and this story was told to me. Fine blush roses and tall madonna lilies were filling all the June air with fragrance; and as Joe's mother walked between them, she was singing softly but with confidence:— “The Prince is ever in them,
The daylight is serene.” It was a busy morning with the sound of Joe's anvil ringing out lustily and cheerily; and as I stood looking and listening, it seemed to me I had never heard such eloquent preachers of temperance as these lovely, innocent flowers opening in the sunshine—“Joe's flowers.”—Frances B. Callaway. “I LEAVE IT ALL WITH THEE.”
O God, I leave it all with Thee:
Thou leadest me;
And tho the way at times seems drear,
I will not fear. Do not I know that I am Thine,
And Thou art mine?
Why, then, should I be filled with care,
Or why despair? There is an eye, a loving eye,
That from the sky
Is watching o’er me when I dread
My path to tread. There is a voice, a gentle voice,
Bids me rejoice,
E’en in the very gloomiest hour
When storm-clouds lower. There is a hand omnipotent;
I am content
While I can trust that hand divine
Is holding mine. There is a heart of tenderness;
And it’s caress
Is balm to my poor troubled breast,
And gives me rest. That eye, that voice, that hand, that heart,
Sweet peace impart;
And in them all by faith I see
One who loves me; One whom I ever trust and love
All friends above;
One on whom to all eternity
I will rely. Then, Lord, I leave it all with Thee;
Thou strengthenest me;
And if the way seem dark and drear,
I will not fear. THE ART OF LIVING TOGETHER.
The art of living together is one which lies at the root of domestic happiness. Here are a few suggestions which, having found useful, I pass on to my readers. In order to live happily with others, “we must not insist that there is only one way of doing things; we must avoid unnecessary criticism of others’ methods, and we must freely allow large liberty in all personal details of management. How foolish to have some stock subject of disputation, about which there is always friction and irritation, amounting, perhaps, in the course of years, to positive alienation. Equally unwise is it to forget that it is the little pebbles that hurt the feet, and that a sufficiently sharp tack, however small, may make a shoe quite unendurable. It is not well to expect too much of others, being mindful of the fact that we ourselves make large demands upon their patience or toleration. There is always the danger that familiarity will swallow up courtesy, that the sweet attentions before marriage will cease after marriage. We need constant reminders to keep watch for little opportunities to praise, to show sympathy, to rejoice with the glad and weep with the sorrowful.”—Selected. A FATHER said to me, “The anchorage of my children has always been a bright, happy home.” That man has not had one of his sons wrecked on the rocks of ruin.—Dr. Cuyler. Faithful Work with the Little Ones
A MOMENT'S work on clay tells more than an hour spent on brick. Be faithful to the little ones now, while the key of their hearts is still in your hands.— Night and Day. Everybody wants it who hasn't it, but it is not always easy to get it *_GOOD HEALTH_* is the leading health journal of the world, and no household should be without it. It is the purpose of this magazine to give scientific instruction to those who are well whereby they can keep well; to the sick whereby they may be able to get well. Subscribers are at liberty to ask questions, which are answered in the correspondence department by the editor. A special offer is made to subscribers for the next sixty days. Send us a year's subscription to Good Health, $1.00, and the names of five persons who ought to be interested in the question of diet, and we will send you Good Health for one year, postage prepaid, and our Just think of it! $1.50 worth of Battle Creek Sanitarium Food Co.'s and Sanitas Nut Food Co.'s cereal and nut foods, and other household necessities, and a year's subscription to Good Health, a 64-page magazine, 800 pages a year, all for $1.00. We could not do this only that the manufacturers have made us a present of their articles to use for this purpose, well knowing that the merits of the foods will secure for them sufficient trade to pay their expense. Cut out this clipping and send to us with $1.00 and we will do the rest. N. B.—We do not pay freight or express charges. Have the goods go by freight. One Family Box weighs 14 pounds. Get six persons to join with you, which will make 100 pounds. Have all shipped to one address, and the expense will be but a few cents each. GOOD HEALTH PUBLISHING COMPANY