"NEVER!" and he brought his right hand down heavily on the table. "Never!" He almost shouted it.
"But, Elmore,—" said his wife kindly but firmly.
"Never speak her name again," he interrupted, "let her be as tho she were dead."
"But, Elmore," again said his wife, not noticing the interruption, "I must, and will speak."
He bowed his head and looked vacantly at the flames in the stove as they rose and fell like an ocean's tide. In all their married life of forty years had his wife before acted so decidedly. He knew what was coming, and he gathered up all his resources for the battle of words.
"Elmore, I fully know that I am opening an old wound, yet I wish the difficulty settled between us and our daughter to-night, so far as we are concerned. God will help us do it."
She waited a moment for a reply, but as he did not speak, she went on:—
"To-day I was thinking how long ago it was since Inez left our home. It is just thirteen years ago to-night since Inez and her lover, Harry Balingtyne, stole away from our home unknown to us, and were married. Neither of us wanted them to be married, but they did it in spite of our protests. I know he was only a common laborer, and he had quite a name as a drinker and a gam10bler; but Inez would not believe us, and believed his story."
She stopped a moment, and looked out of the window at the dreary and black night. The pause gave her strength to go on:—
"Seven years passed by and then we received a letter from a friend of hers, saying that Inez had lately become the mother of a little boy; that her husband had left her for good, never to return; and that she was in a dying condition, with nothing hardly to eat or wear; that the home that they once owned had gone to satisfy a gambler's demands, and that she asked us to forgive her and wished to return. I was willing to forgive and forget, and I sent her money, but you said, 'Let her die, she disobeyed; let her reap what she has sown.' Elmore, do you wish those words to remain?"
He groaned, and rising from his chair paced the floor. He clinched his fists, and he looked like a wild animal as he hissed the words through his teeth: "Alice, if I were not a Christian now, I would say so again."
His actions and words did not surprise his wife, and she answered:—
"Is it not as wrong to think them? But let us settle this to-night. Too long it has been a bone of contention, and we have not lived as happily as we should. My heart has always longed for my child. Only last month she wrote you, that she would doubtless soon die of consumption, and that if she did not have rest and help she must soon give up the struggle of life. Will you not for my happiness, your happiness, for her sake, and for the Lord's sake, relent and let her return?"
He had by this time sat down by the table. The Bible was before him. He involuntarily took it, opening the book at random, for his wife's question had cut him to the quick; his eye fell on this verse: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land." This was too direct, so over went the leaves: "Forgive, and thou shalt be forgiven." The book closed and opened again, and there was that well-known verse: "And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
Looking up, he said rather unwillingly, yet half submissively, "If I must, I must," and again his head fell.
"Elmore, no. I do not wish you to take it in that way. I want you to be willing to receive her with an open heart as well as open arms. So when I write she will know that we both have fully forgiven, and that she need have no doubts about how you will receive her. She does not fear me. It is you only that keeps her away. I am, as I always have been, ready to receive our daughter back! Shall I write it so?"
The wound of the past had been opened to its fullest extent, and as Mr. Burnham sat there thinking deeply, pleasant memories of the past and of God's mercy to him, arose before him, and tears began to course down his cheeks. At this his wife looked surprised; because such a thing was very rare. With a choking voice, he feebly said, "Alice, let us ask God." So the two knelt. It was a pathetic scene. The prayer was a series of sobs and broken sentences. After having asked his wife to forgive him, which she promptly and willingly did, he said:—
"Alice, please get the writing material, I will write a letter to Inez myself—but no, that would hardly do. I want her to get here by Thanksgiving day. Why, it is only a week more. I will send her a telegram, and send some money by telegraph; for she may not have sufficient to come with."
Despite the fact that it was already nine o'clock, he put on his overcoat, and soon was at the Union Depot. This was the message he sent:—
"Come at once. All is forgotten, forgiven. Forgive me. I send money for expenses.
R. E. BURNHAM."
The telegraph operator, as he ticked off the message, thought it a rather strange message. He was right. It was very strange to a stranger. Burnham, as he walked homeward, felt that there flowed in and over his soul such a peace that he could not be mistaken as to its source. He had done what he thought God would have him do, and he was happy.
That very same evening a messenger boy rapped at the door of a tumble-down tenement house. A boy of six opened the door.
"Does Mrs. Balingtyne live here?"
"Yes sir, but mother is not in."
"Will she be in soon, Ralph?"
"My name is not Ralph; it is Wilber."
"Well, Wilber, where is your mother?"
"Over to a friend's, she will be in shortly."
The messenger boy did not let anything escape his eyes. He saw that the mother was a widow, worked in a factory and was extremely poor. To make sure he asked the boy a question,
"Have you a father?"
"No, never had one."
"O, yes, you must be mistaken, Wilber; everyone has a father."
"I haven't anyway," and Wilber's eyes flashed fire.
At that moment the door opened, and a slender and rather delicate woman entered the room.
"Mrs. Harry Balingtyne, I presume," said messenger boy 27, touching his hat.
"Yes, sir, my young man."
"Well, here is a message for you," and with that remark 27 again touched his hat, and returned to the Union Telegraph Office.
"A telegram! from whom? who is dead? from husband, father, or mother?" said Mrs. Balingtyne in a breath. With trembling hands, and her heart fluttering, she tore open the envelope, and commenced to read:—
"Come at once;"—that truly was welcome, for her father's name graced the paper. "All is forgotten, forgiven;"—ah! what a burden flew off from her heart. "Forgive me;"—that was more than she could stand, and she sat down and had a good cry. Wilber did not know what to make of it, and going up to his mother, said:—
"Mother, what's the matter? what makes you cry?"
"O, good things, we're going home to grandpa's soon."
"I send money for expenses." "How thoughtful of father, I have enough for the trip, but this extra money will get Wilber and me some decent clothes. Father, I forgive you twice over, and O heavenly Father, I thank thee!"
Mrs. Balingtyne's household goods were few, and these she gave to her neighbors, and the next evening Wilber and she stepped aboard the west bound passenger train for home. They little knew what was in store for them. The night passed, then the next day, and night came again. In the morning they would be home, but that night the passenger train ran into a wild freight train, and what a terrible scene! Steam and smoke escaping, groans and cries from the wounded and dying, and the cars one grand pile. Soon helpers arrived, and the bruised, dead, and dying were tenderly cared for. An extra took all to the next station. Mrs. Balingtyne was only slightly injured, but it so affected her that she could not go home until the day before Thanksgiving. Wilber, the boy, escaped unscathed.
The next day after the accident, Mr. Burnham picked up the morning paper. His eyes caught sight of accident news. Running his eye down the column, he came to the name, "Balingtyne, Mrs. Inez." That was enough. Mrs. Burnham had gone down town to see some friends. So he wrote a note and left it on the dresser, and left for the station, just in time for the morning train, which was coming in.
The train made a brief stop, and then hurried on to the scene of the accident. As Mr. Burnham stepped off the train, he asked a bystander where his daughter was, and was told that she was in a house near by. Soon he was rapping at the door of that house. Mrs. Henderson, the lady of the house, took him into the parlor where his daughter was lying on the sofa.
"Mrs. Balingtyne, here is your father," said the lady.
"Inez!"
"Father, O father!"
And each rushed into the other's outstretched arms.
Mrs. Henderson left the room quickly, and drew the curtains across the open space. The scene was too holy for the eyes of strangers. What passed between the two we shall never know, save that the father forgave the daughter, and the daughter the father.
That afternoon Mrs. Balingtyne, Wilber, and her father left for home. The mother's welcome was none the less welcome than the father's. "Home," "Peace," were said, the former by the daughter, and the latter by the mother. What a day of gladness it was in the desolate household! Hearts were united; the lost one had returned. It was truly a day of thanksgiving.
Pale and weary was Inez as the evening of that day was reached, and yet how happy was she! She was resting in her home—in the love of father, mother, and God. She was ill and extremely weak, but with good care and skilful nursing she became, after several months, a strong, healthy woman again. The way Mr. Burnham watched over his daughter was good to see. The love of God had renewed the love of the father. Wilber, the boy, is growing every day more like his mother, and Mr. and Mrs. Burnham are growing older in years, but younger in heart. Inez bears the heavier burdens of household duties; for she wishes to return their kindness to her.
Two years afterwards came the announcement through the daily press that Harry Balingtyne had passed the "Great Divide." When Inez read it, a tear coursed down her cheek, and she said:—
Primarily to the return from the Babylonian captivity, which was a type of the complete and final victory of God's people over all opposing forces. Then, instead of being triumphed over, God's people will triumph over their enemies.
PROGRESS IN THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS.
By W. N. G.
Not only is the effort of the church to control political affairs becoming more and more conspicuous, but the disposition of secular officials to regulate the morals of the country and to dip into religious matters in an official way is also looming into prominence. From a mere recommendation that the people observe a certain day for thanksgiving, etc. (which never was the legitimate province of either President or governor, as some of them have recognized), we have arrived at a time when the President arbitrarily designates and sets apart a day for thanksgiving and prayer throughout the land. The next thing will probably be a law forbidding any work on that day. In the President's proclamation setting apart Thursday, the 26th inst., he not only makes an arbitrary appointment, but he enjoins upon the people what they shall do. He says: "On that day let all our people forego their usual work and occupation, and, assembled in their accustomed places of worship, let them, with one accord, render thanks," etc. Why on that day more than on any other day? Is it just because the President says so? By what authority does the President "set apart" a day of worship? People who worship "in spirit and in truth" do so voluntarily; they give thanks every day. If they do not do so, of what avail are the thanks rendered at the behest of the President once a year. Experience has shown that such days are occasions more of gluttony and drunkenness than of thanksgiving and prayer.
Of course the President's proclamation has no legal force, but it is given with all the formality of executive authority, sealed with the seal of the United States and attested by the Secretary of State. The language is strikingly similar to the first Sunday law of Constantine, emperor of Rome, in which by way of command he used the formula, "Let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the venerable day of the sun," etc. The National Reformers, who are seeking the enforcement of religious observances by the government, are especially elated over the progress evinced by the language of this latest proclamation. And that they expect still further advancements in this respect, is shown by the following expression by the Christian Statesman: "Let us hope that President McKinley's Thanksgiving proclamations, in more senses than one, will begin where President Cleveland's Thanksgiving proclamations end."
W. N. G.
Famine in Japan
"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines," said Christ, speaking of the increase of calamities as the end drew near. The earthquake and tidal wave in Japan, which caused such enormous loss of life, is being followed by the first serious famine that country has ever experienced. "The horrors of it," says a report, "can not be told in language lurid enough to furnish an adequate portrayal." "The Japanese Government is issuing wholesale legal permits to destitute parents to sell their daughters." This abominable traffic is resorted to in the nation which, first of all in the far east, has proudly taken its place as a military power alongside western nations.—Present Truth (London).
Russian Law Against the Stundists
A LONDON paper states that the Russian law against the Stundists provides that, when thought advisable, "the children of Stundists are to be taken from their parents and are to be confided to the care of such relatives as belong to the Orthodox Church; and if such are not to be found, then the children are to be given into the care of the Orthodox clergy of the place."
JESUS OUR BURDEN BEARER.
Hast thou a care that weighs thee down,
Pressing on heart and brain?
Bring it to Jesus, tell him all,
Each trouble, grief and pain;
Then cast on him thy every care,
And he will all thy burden bear.
We need not have a single care
With such a faithful Friend,
Who loves with more than mother-love,
And will unto the end;
He knows each secret doubt and fear,
And treasures up each falling tear.
He knows the way, it may be rough—
The path marked out for thee;
But it is hallowed by his feet—
He trod it once for thee;
So every feeling of unrest
Should drive thee closer to his breast.
Leaning on him, we need not dread
The trials of the way,
For grace and strength he'll surely give
According to our day.
Why should we unbelieving sigh,
With such a Saviour always nigh?
And when at home we there retrace
The path he led us here,
Things that we can not now explain
Will then be all made clear.
And in his own bright home above
Fully will he reveal his love.
—Selected.
Strong Heads, Weak Ideas
MANY a strong-headed man has weak ideas.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH, ACCORDING TO THE BOERS.
THE South African Boers have their own ideas as to the origin of the English language. According to the Westminster Gazette, they say that when Dame Nature was employed in giving tongues to the various nations she stood at a large table on which lay a piece of meat. She had a knife in her hand, and a pair of scissors lay on the table. With the one she cut the tongue out of the meat, and with the scissors she gave to each tongue its peculiarities. To her came all the nations. "De Fransman," "de Duitcher," and even "de Boesman," were provided for, but "de Engelsman" was not there. He had turned into a canteen on the roadside, it seems, for a drink, and when he arrived the meat was done. "Never mind," said Dame Nature, "there are plenty of snips on the floor; take half a dozen of these, join them together, and make a tongue for yourself."—Selected.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
UNDER the labors of Brother John S. and Sister Lulu Wightman, at Gas Springs, N. Y., twenty persons have accepted the truth, and a Sabbath school of twenty-two members has been organized.
AT Fruitland, Wash., after a discourse by Elder W. W. Steward on the subject of "The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast," eight persons arose and took their stand in behalf of the commandments of God.12PROF. W. W. PRESCOTT was expected to arrive in London, from South Africa, about the 23d inst.
THE work is about to be opened in Bristol, England, Elder Francis Hope to follow the work of Bible readers with public meetings.
AT the quarterly meeting held at Modale, Iowa, October 17 and 18, five members were added to the church, making a total of fifty-one.
TWO sisters who had been recently baptized by Elder H. G. Thurston in Tuolumne County, Cal., were admitted to membership in the church at Stockton, on the 14th inst.
ELEVEN persons were recently baptized in Plymouth, England. Laborers report that many are convinced of the truth who are held back by business, friends, and other worldly things.
ELDER C. P. BOLLMAN, who has been connected with the American Sentinel for many years, has been transferred to the Southern field, where he will engage in the religious liberty work, filling the position heretofore occupied by Bro. D. W. Reavis. Elder Alonzo T. Jones now has charge of the Sentinel.
ELDER WM. HUTCHINSON has erected a portable tabernacle at Portadown, Ireland. There are three towns within a distance of three miles of Portadown, and the tabernacle, which will seat 300 people, can be taken to these or any other places as may be desired. There are many places where it is difficult to secure halls for continuous meetings.
AFTER attending the N. S. W. Conference at Sydney, Elder and Mrs. E. W. Farnsworth are to go, about the last of this month, to New Zealand. After holding a couple of general meetings, they expect to start a series of tent meetings at Christ Church. When last heard from it was expected that Elder S. N. Haskell would also go to New Zealand for a while.
ELDER E. J. WAGGONER has returned to his post in London, after attending meetings and institutes on the continent for about seven months. He reports an excellent institute in Constantinople, tho, owing to the troubles there, the brethren from the provincial districts could not attend. He says that God has wonderfully wrought to protect the work and workers in Turkey.
WITH reference to the position of the Signs in our work, Elder A. O. Tait, secretary of the International Tract Society, makes this significant statement: "By statistics that we have carefully gathered, we find that the Signs of the Times is bringing more people into the truth than any other publication that we are circulating; and in view of this important fact, it is incumbent upon each one to do everything he can to increase the circulation of this paper."
ELDER L. R. CONRADI writes as follows to the Review, from Hamburg: "Our publishing house is busy preparing the truth in thirteen different tongues, and lately a call has been made to provide Turkish tracts for the Balkan states, as they can not be printed or circulated where the sultan holds sway; but there are good opportunities to carry on this work in Rumania and Bulgaria, where there are still many Turks. Several of our brethren in Germany have been fined and imprisoned for not sending their children to school on the Sabbath. One case has even gone to the higher court at Berlin. Others have secured release, in one case even in a state college, the boy, however, being the first in his class."
TIME AND ETERNITY.
By A. R. Wilcox
BY A. R. WILCOX.
Days are golden, time is fleeting,
Ever, ever it doth glide;
When will cease the onward sweeping
Of the restless, rolling tide?
Praise eternal! blest Redeemer,
Thou wilt give immortal bloom,
Rob this earth of all its sadness,
Casting radiance o'er the tomb.
Blessed thought! the saints in glory
Will behold the silv'ry gleam,
As they float through countless ages,
Down Life's peaceful, shining stream.
Athens, Vt.
JAPAN.
JAPAN consists of four large and many small islands on the eastern coast of Asia, with an area of 148,456 square miles (not including Formosa), and a population of over forty millions.
The national flag is a red ball on a white background. The red ball represents the sun rising out of the sea. Japan is "The Empire of the Rising Sun."
The reigning emperor is Mutsuhito, who was born in 1852, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, in 1867. The system of government was that of an absolute monarchy until the present emperor established a Parliament in 1890, thus sharing his authority with representatives chosen by the people.
Japan claims a written history of over twenty-five hundred years, and the present emperor is said to be a lineal descendant of the dynasty that was established six hundred and sixty years before Christ.
The women of Japan have more liberty than other Asiatic women, and their position under the rapid development of the country is growing constantly better.
The Japanese babies are not carried in their mothers' arms, as in the United States, but as soon as they are a few weeks old they are placed on the back of an elder child and thus carried from place to place. They are said seldom to cry. Mrs. Chaplin Ayrton has tried to explain the goodness of Japanese children on the theory that the furnitureless condition of Japanese houses leaves nothing for them to break, and they are not always being told not to touch this or that. The boys are fond of playing soldier, and the girls enjoy playing housekeeping and taking care of their dolls.
The adoption of children is quite general in Japan. No family name is ever allowed to run out. If a married man finds himself without children he looks about for a fine male child, and if he can give the promise of bettering its condition he has no trouble in adopting it and giving it his name. The same affection and the same care go out to adopted children, apparently, as to those of consanguinity. The emperor has an adopted brother. The artist may adopt his best pupil, to the end that his work and name may go down to posterity. To permit a family to become extinct would be a grave offense to the deceased ancestors, and it is not permitted in Japan.
In appearance the Japanese are short in stature, the men five feet and three to five inches, the women about five feet. The men will weigh from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and thirty pounds, and the women from ninety to one hundred and ten pounds. The face is round, with full cheekbones and prominent brow. The eyes slope, but not with the degree of obliquity common to the Chinese.
During the last thirty years the Japanese have made remarkable progress in civilization, and their system of education, their literature, their manufactures, and their many railroads testify to their marvelous ability in appropriating that which is giving power and strength to other nations. But their civilization greatly needs the strength of Christianity. Nearly all the people are adherents of the Shinto and Buddhist faith. The Shintoists worship spirits. They have no images in their temples, only wooden boxes which the spirit is supposed to inhabit. Prayers are written on paper and hung up in the temple, hoping they may be answered. The spirits of dead relatives, ancestors, and emperors are worshiped. The Buddhists have many gods. The god of money is the favorite.
A STREET SCENE IN YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.
Christianity was first introduced in Japan in 1549 by the Roman Catholics, but in 1587 a decree banished the missionaries and ordered that all Christians be put to death.
In 1859 Protestant Christianity entered Japan in the person of missionaries from the United States. The work then commenced has grown until now there are in Japan 654 Protestant missionaries, 426 organized churches, with 38,710 adult members.
These Christian missionaries have had much to do in stimulating and developing New Japan, and the time can not be far distant when Christianity will be the controlling religion of Japan.
"Over twenty-five thousand public schools in all grades, from kindergarten to the Imperial University, having under it many colleges, are uprooting superstition and broadening the minds of the rising generation."
In Japan the Greek Church reports 22,576 adherents; the Roman Catholics, 50,302 adherents.
The Japan Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church was commenced in 1872. It now reports 18 male and 44 female missionaries, 3,369 members, and 1,018 probationers, with 6,310 Sunday school scholars.—Gospel in All Lands.
RUSSIA.
By A. B. Leonard, D.D.
BY A. B. LEONARD, D.D.
ONE of the greatest problems of the twentieth century will be the evangelization of Russia. At present no country on earth is farther removed from toleration. But her hermit exclusiveness can not long withstand the progressive spirit of the age. The pressure is becoming very great, and the obstructions must give way. When once open to the free proclamation of the Gospel, it will be one of the most fruitful in spiritual results of any country on earth. Already the Bible is being widely distributed among the people, through the agency of the British Bible Society, which spends one-seventh of its income for that purpose. The peasantry of the country read the New Testament with great interest, and even embrace and kiss it, as tho it were a living personality. The people have great reverence for sacred things, and are readily led into a true spiritual experience.
A few years ago Lord Radstock, of England, visited Russia and led Count Korff and Colonel Pashkoff into a rich religious experience. They in turn led others into the light, but were soon arrested and banished. Many of their converts still hold out, and the good work goes on in a quiet way.
Then there are the Stundists, numbering about 250,000, who, sorely persecuted, are not only continuing to exist, but growing in numbers and influence. They are sometimes called the Methodists of Russia, altho they are Baptists and are a very spiritual people. Here is a description given by an eye-witness of a religious service: "They salute each other with hand-shakes and embraces, the men kissing the men and the women the women. Then they sit down, the men on one side, the women on the other. The elder takes his place at the table and gives out a chant. He then reads and explains a chapter in the Bible, and gives an opportunity for any one else to add a word of explanation. Women are not permitted to teach, but following 1 Cor. 11:5, they are permitted to pray in meeting. After several hymns and prayers the elder closes the service with a sermon."
