Earlier text: THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTEThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
In the efforts of the tract societies to circulate the Signs and the Reformer, the Advent Review should not be neglected. As a pioneer paper to introduce the present truth the Signs of the Times has, and does accomplish more than any other periodical. It has many advantages over tracts; the reading matter being both doctrinal, practical and miscellaneous. In first directing the attention of a prejudiced public nothing is so well calculated as the Health Reformer, and health publications. But it is not designed that the Signs of the Times, or the Health Reformer will in any case take the place of the Review. This is our church paper, and no other can take its place. The tract society officers should see that all of our brethren and sisters have the Review and Herald. There are many poor among us who are unable to pay for the paper, and many who are able are not taking it. Their subscription has run out, and they borrow of their neighbors, and so from one cause or another neglect to renew their subscription. Every family of our brethren and sisters should take it. There are but few families that cannot pay two dollars in twelve months. When I find the paper missing in a family, I also find a waning interest in the truth. They are not as particular on the Sabbath as formerly, they have lost the sweetness of the holy rest day. In short, imperceptibly to themselves they are drifting downward, and unless they realize their situation sooner or later, they will leave the present truth. Each church should look after its own members. The Vigilant Missionary Societies should make this one branch of its work. Every family should not only take the Review, but read it. Read it through each week. Watch the progress department. Notice the editorial, the sermon. It is just what is needed to make you intelligent upon the present condition of the cause. You meet with a loss without it that nothing else can make up, and our missionary workers are in a degree responsible. The same may be said of the Reformer. The enemy is watching in every possible way to come in upon us, and to wound one here, and another there, and to destroy the third, and so on. God’s providence has furnished us many helps, and the Review is one, and all should avail themselves of every such means, lest they be found wanting in the day of God. When a course of lectures are given and people embrace the Sabbath, the Review is the paper wanted. It is well for us brethren to take both that and the Signs, but in no case let the Signs take the place of the Review, and some of our brethren fail of its weekly visits. HUMPHREY. In San Francisco, January 8, 1878, Omar D. C., only child of G. and E. Humphrey, aged one year, two months and twenty-four days. Reports from the Field.
By Editor
(Condensed from Review and Herald.) Morges.—Elder Bourdeau gives encouraging reports of the work here. In his discourses he has reached the subject of the “third message.” The people follow strictly with their Bibles, taking notes. Several have called to ask questions on points not clear to them. He has obtained permission to sell tracts. December 17 he writes: “Last Saturday night I offered our tracts for sale to a company of about sixty persons. I had them prepared in one franc packages. I had twenty of these, which were taken in two minutes, and I had to immediately prepare several others for the occasion. Some took four. I then lent some to the poor. Several have come to my residence after tracts to send to their friends in other places. Among my most interested hearers is a Roman Catholic who has studied two years with the intention of being a priest. He is an intelligent and sensible man. He visits me regularly, and has not lost one meeting. The first time he called on me he said: ‘The first time I went to the hall, I went from curiosity, but the second time I went from conviction, and I believe all I have heard.’ Last night I showed how we become and continue to be the children of God. To-day this man has called on me, and on leaving me he said feelingly, ‘I mean to be thoroughly converted to God.’ Very encouraging news just received from France has greatly revived us.” Chautauqua County.—Elder C. Reynolds writes: “The cause in this county is onward. The little company at Jamestown are humbly confiding in the blessed promises and pressing forward. At Blockville, the M. E. minister, took advantage of the opportunity afforded by a funeral service to berate us, and denounce the doctrine of the unconscious state of the dead. He declared it was impossible for us to love our dead; to do so would be to love a negation. Death was not a cessation of existence, or extinction of being; if it was, the omnipotent God himself never could raise any one. At the resurrection he might raise something else, but it could not be the person that died. Death was not the penalty of sin; for good, pretty little birds and innocent little children died, but, thank God, they did not cease to exist. He became so excited that he forgot to address the mourners until some minutes after he had concluded his sermon, when he seemed suddenly to remember it was a funeral occasion. This has aroused a furor of excitement, and a discussion of the question, ‘Mortal or immortal, which?’ for the elder has a reputation for scholarly acquirements. We reviewed his discourse on the following Tuesday. It was generally conceded that the Bible is on our side. The minister announced that he would preach on first-day, December 23, on ‘Sunday the Holy Sabbath.’ As he had postponed this discourse, and we expected if we remained he might again, we reviewed it before it was delivered, to an immense crowd, very many being unable to get into the building. The afternoon preceding the review of the undelivered sermon, three earnest, happy souls followed their Lord into the watery grave, and arose to walk in newness of life.” Kentucky and Tennessee.—Elder Haskell writes: “Our meetings in both these States were characterized with much of the good Spirit. The brethren and sisters generally, manifested more than a willingness to come up in the work. We never saw brethren more earnest to take hold in the missionary work in such a manner that God could bless their efforts. When this work was set before them, and they began to see what might be done, their talk had the right ring in it. They were anxious to commence their work immediately. Over fifty copies of the SIGNS were taken at our meetings.” Neosho County.—Brother C. F. Stevens writes that he has held meetings near Flat Rock and at another place east of Chanute. Twelve or fourteen have decided to obey all the commandments of God. ONE dreary morning, while Mary Reed was making her customary visits among the poor, she passed a little shanty close by the roadside, whence issued the sound of a child crying loudly, but apparently from grief rather than physical pain. Mary paused; suddenly the cries ceased for a moment, and a low, broken voice was heard, and then from the child again suppressed sobs. Mary knocked at the door; it was opened by a child of some seven years old. The traces of tears were visible on the child's damp cheeks and swollen eyes; her long golden curls fell disordered about her shoulders, and her voice trembled so that she could scarcely speak. "What is the matter, dear child?" asked Mary. "Oh, my mother is going to die!" sobbed the child. Mary entered a small bed-room, where lay a woman in the last stages of consumption. On her bed was a German Bible. "He keepeth them in perfect peace who put their trust in Him," said Mary in German, taking, as she spoke, the invalid's hand. "God has surely sent you here, as you can speak to me in my own tongue, before I die," said the woman. "Are you dying?" asked Mary. "Yes; only a few days more remain for me on earth." "Are you afraid to die?" inquired Mary. "No, not afraid. I trust in the Lamb of God; but, oh, my faith is weak! my poor little child, my Henrietta, penniless and friendless; where will she find a home?" Mary soon gathered from the woman that she had come four years before to America. After remaining a year in New York they came to Chicago, where her husband died shortly after. The widow had toiled bravely for herself and only child, but grief and hard labor had thrown her into a consumption, in which she had lingered five months. Her money had been spent, her clothing and furniture pawned, and but for the kindness of a neighbor, a poor Irish washerwoman, she and her child might have starved. Mary, having learned these particulars, took her leave, promising to return in an hour or two, and encouraging the little girl to hope for the best. She went to the benevolent washerwoman and made some inquiries. The woman was loud in her eulogies of her afflicted neighbors, enlarging on their goodness and poverty, but modestly abstaining from mentioning her charities towards them. "Indeed," she said, in conclusion, "often, have I thought that I'd change places with the dear creature, sick as she is, for the sake of being such a good, holy woman—so well prepared to die." Mary was not one of those who, having discovered a case of great necessity, go home and spend a day or two considering what course they had better take for relieving the misery they compassionate, leaving the sufferers meanwhile to suffer or die of despair. Mary decided quickly, and was careful not to overstep what in any case might be the bounds of prudence. She now hastened to the market and procured a basket of provisions and returned to the widow. Her busy hands soon made a fire and prepared some broth ready for the mother, and half-famished child. Mary was a most skillful nurse, and she arranged the sick woman's bed in so comfortable a way, that for the time a visible change for the better appeared. The pain that had racked the poor woman's worn-out frame was alleviated for a few hours and she lay refreshed and strengthened, in whispered words thanking and blessing Mary. The little room now called for Mary's attention. She restored it to unwonted order, and placed a little stand by the bed, the sole relic, besides the Bible, of former and happier days, and upon it the Bible, a few flowers in a glass, and the oranges she had brought. It was the middle of the afternoon before Mary departed, having promised to call the next day on her return from the mission school. She continued her visits to her new proteges for several days. The mother grew feebler, and it was evident she had not many days to live. Mary saw that the thoughts of leaving her child alone and friendless in the world, were filling her last hours with grief. She said to her, "Would you be willing to have me find a home for your little Henrietta? Can you trust me to find one, where she will be happy and under good influences?" "Oh, my kind friend," said the widow, "if you will but promise to do this, I will die in peace. I can trust you with all I have—my child." Mary went to a friend of hers, Mrs. Captain Carroll. "Mrs. Carroll," she said, "I want you to adopt a little girl." "Oh, Mary Reed, are you crazy?" cried Mrs. Carroll, lifting up her hands. "Not at all, Mrs. Carroll, but there is a little girl—a widow's only child; the mother is dying, and I wish to make her last hours happy by finding another mother for her little girl." "Oh, I can't think of such a thing, Mary," said Mrs. Carroll. "Why, madam, who has a better opportunity? You are rich and childless. I have never seen any one better fitted to train up a child for happiness and usefulness than you. I really think it is your duty to take a child to adopt," said Mary. "Oh, what would the Captain say. I'm sure he would never consent. Then, grandfather and grandmother, you know, I feel just as if they were my own parents, as I have always lived with them, and they wouldn't fancy the idea at all. Really, Mary you must find some one else." Mary departed, but in a day or two called again. "Come, Mrs. Carroll," she said, "I am going to visit a sick friend, a poor person, and I wish you would come with me, and take one of your glasses of currant jelly for her." Mrs. Carroll, who was very benevolent, at once consented. "Have you found any one to adopt that child yet?" asked Mrs. Carroll. "No; every one has some good excuse," replied Mary. "Every one?" said Mrs. Carroll. "Every one except one lady, Mrs. Captain Carroll," answered Mary smiling. "Oh, you are too bad to say that," said her friend. Mary walked on silently until her companion resumed, "Well, Mary, what are you thinking about now? You have been in a brown study for ten minutes." "I was thinking of this, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.' If we feed, clothe, love, and shelter one poor child, Christ graciously receives it as done unto Himself." Before Mrs. Carroll could reply, they entered the German widow's little dwelling. Mrs. Carroll was so absorbed in thoughts, called up by Mary's last remark, that she did not think of its being the house of the child she desired her to take. After a while she began to notice the extreme beauty of little Henrietta, and the refinement and Christian humility, and patience under suffering, of the mother. She was finally startled by hearing the woman say, "And does the the lady you spoke of still refuse to take my little girl?" "Yes, she thinks she cannot," replied Mary. "And have you found any other place?" she inquired. "None; I have done my best," replied Mary. "Oh, this is very hard! God help me to bear it. I have only a few days or hours to live, and I had hoped to see my little one provided for. God help thee, poor little Henrietta!" and as she said this, she turned away her face to hide her grief from those about her. Mrs. Carroll could no longer refuse; coming up to the bed, she said, "Take courage; I will help you. I am the lady asked to adopt your child; I cannot refuse it now. I will take her for my own, and love her as my own." The woman clasped her thin hands, and whispered a prayer before she spoke, "With all my heart; I thank you, let the blessings of a dying mother follow you. Oh, you have made me happy indeed! Come here, my Henrietta, see how good God is. He is taking me from you, but He gives you another mother in this good lady. Love her, Henrietta, and obey her, and try all your life to be a blessing to her." Mrs. Carroll took the child in her arms. The little creature bent over and kissed her mother, and then overcome by her excited feelings, turned away and hid her face on Mrs. Carroll's shoulder. A few days after, the sick mother died, and Henrietta was taken from the grave to her new mother's home. The pure, the bright, the beautiful,
That stirred our hearts in youth,
The impulse of a wordless prayer,
The dream of love and truth,
The longing after something lost,
The spirit's yearning cry;
The striving after better hopes—
Those things shall never die. The timid hand stretched forth to aid
A brother in his need;
The kindly word in grief's dark hour,
That proves the friend indeed;
The plea for mercy softly breathed
When justice threatens nigh,
The sorrows of a contrite heart—
These things can never die. The memory of a clasping hand,
The pressure of a kiss,
The kindly work of grief's dark hour,
That makes up love's first bliss;
If with a firm, unchanging faith,
And holy trust on high,
These hands have clasped, these lips have met,
These things shall never die. The cruel and the bitter word,
That wounded as it fell,
The chilling want of sympathy
We feel, but cannot tell,
The hard repulse that chills the heart,
Whose hopes are bounding high
In an unfading record kept—
These things shall never die. Let nothing pass, for every hand
Must find some work to do;
Lose not a chance to waken love,
Be firm, and just, and true;
So shall a light that cannot fade,
Beam on thee from on high,
And angel voices say to thee,
These things shall never die. The Missionary Orange Girl.
Not long since a little girl peddling oranges entered a down town place of business in New York, and offered her fruit for sale. “How much apiece for oranges, sis?” asked a person standing near. “Five cents for the largest and four cents for the smallest ones,” answered the child. The man who accosted her uttered an oath, as he exclaimed, “Why, you don’t ask so much as that for those dried up little things, do you?” “What did you say, sir?” questioned the little merchant, as she turned half away from her customer, and took some fancy colored tickets from her pocket. Instead of repeating his oath the man watched the child, and for some reason was impelled to say to her “Well, I’ll tell you what I will do now. I will give you five cents for a four cent orange if you will throw in one of your tickets in the bargain.” “Done!” said the little orange-seller, joyfully. So the purchaser passed over five cents, and received in exchange a four-cent orange and one of the tickets from the little girl’s pocket. When this man, who had been guilty of swearing in the presence of a child, examined the card he had bought and paid for at his own suggestion, he read upon the one side the word—eternity, and upon the other, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Does not this incident give us an instance of real missionary work from an unexpected quarter, and does it not seem that the Lord arranged for paying the little missionary on the spot?—Christian at Work. Every Temptation an Opportunity
EVERY temptation is an opportunity of getting nearer to God. The Peaceful Fruits of Pain
There are lessons of patience and submission, yea, and of gratitude, which are best learned when the head is low. There is a mellowing of the man which is the cloudy autumn weather of weakness or decline—a softening of the spirit, an enlargement of experience, a meeker waiting on God, a weaning from the world, and a ripening of faith; in short, the whole of that maturing process which, in believing men, constitutes the meetness for glory. If you cannot be thankful for the pain, the sickness, the restraint, be thankful for the peaceful fruits. Ingratitude and Mental Weakness
INGRATITUDE is a kind of mental weakness—able men are never ungrateful. AARON'S consecration must have been very solemn and impressive. The people gathered in dense silent masses before the tabernacle, how eagerly they look on the scene! After the purification with water, Moses arrayed Aaron in all the beautiful and elaborate garments of priesthood. The anointing oil and the sprinkling blood completes the work, and Aaron, the consecrated priest was presented to the people as one evermore set apart to God's service. It is significantly added that not only was he to be hallowed, but his garments: "And he shall be hallowed and his garments," it is written. These were to be consecrated. Upon these fell the sprinkled blood. They were set apart to God's service. The person of the priest and the very garments he wore that day were hallowed, consecrated. In all this is set forth Christian consecration. It is made distinct and prominent in the colors about Aaron's person. If Christians, we are all priests. Every man, every woman, every little child, every soul loving God, is in this solemn priesthood. "And he hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father," says John. "Ye also as lively stones," says Peter, "are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Consecrated to God's service, that is the impressive thought the apostles ring out in the hearing of Christians. They are set apart from the world. A separating line, a high wall, runs between the two parties. In invitations and warnings; in praise and rebuke; in admonitions and injunctions; by implication and statement, is this consecrated life enforced. Cut off from sin, set apart to God we must be. The thoroughness of this consecration is all anticipated in the Aaronic investiture of the priesthood. "He shall be hallowed, and his garments." I am very glad that the words "and his garments," were added. It places everything in the shadow of the act of consecration. It suggests to the Christian that not only he himself, but that which clothes him, appertains to him, belongs to him, should be regarded as consecrated. What are houses and lands, personal property, stocks, goods in traffic or materials in our trades, but the garments we carry about? They shift in value as our garments do in pattern. They may shrink in a panic and prove valueless as does our clothing after long wear. They are transient as the coats or dresses we may put on, and must ultimately perish. They cannot go with us into the next life. We leave them at the door, as we would an overcoat on entering a house. They are transient garments, and while worn they are to be held as consecrated. The blood of sprinkling is on them. "Everything on the altar!" is the injunction. It was this spirit that urged Edwards to say of his memorable consecration. "I have given myself clean away." As I recall then the scene in Exodus, the gathered congregation and the solemn investiture of Aaron with the beautiful insignia of his office, it is a significant cry that I hear, "And he shall be hallowed, and his garments."—Sel. THE RUMSELLER'S PROPOSAL TO THE DEVIL.
DEAR SIR : I have opened apartments, fitted up with all the enticements of luxury, for the sale of rum, brandy, gin, wine, beer, and all their compounds. Our objects, though different, can be best obtained by united action. I therefore, propose a co-partnership. All I want of men is their money. All else shall be yours. Bring me the industrious, the sober, the respectable and I will return them to you drunkards, paupers and beggars. Bring me the child, and I will dash to the earth the dearest hopes of the father and the mother and I will plant discord between them and make them a curse and a reproach to their children. Bring me the young man, and I will ruin his character, destroy his health, shorten his life, and blot out the highest and purest hopes of youth. Bring me the mechanic or the laborer and his own money—the hard-earned fruits of his toil shall be made to plant poverty, vice and ignorance in his once happy home. Bring me the warm-hearted sailor, and I will send him on a lee-shore, and make shipwreck of all fond hopes forevermore. Bring me the professed followers of Christ, and I will blight and wither every devotional feeling of the heart. I will corrupt the ministers of religion, and defile the purity of the church. Bring me the patronage of the city, and of the courts of justice—let the magistrates of the State and the Union become my patrons—let the law-makers themselves meet at my table and participate in violation of law, and the name of the law shall become a hissing and a by-word in the streets. Bring me, above all, the moral, respectable man—if possible bring the moderate temperance man, though he may not drink, yet his presence will countenance the pretexts under which our business must be masked. Bring him to our stores, oyster saloons, eating houses and hotels, and the more timid of our victims will then enter without alarm. Yours faithfully, RUMSELLER. MY DEAR BROTHER : I address you by this endearing appellation because of the congeniality of our spirits, and of the great work we are both engaged in—the work of DESTRUCTION. I most cordially accept your proposals. For five thousand years I sought in vain for a man so fully after my own heart, to do my work among men. I even ransacked the lowest depths of hell for a devil who could and would do for me the whole work of destruction. But little success attended their efforts. My minions always made some mistake, or too soon showed the cloven foot. I sent out the demon Murder, and slew a few thousands, most generally the helpless and innocent. Men turned away with loathing from him, and his mission was comparatively a failure. I bade my servant Lust go forth. He led innocent youths and beautiful maidens in chains—destroying virtue, wrecking happiness, blasting characters, and causing untimely deaths and dishonored graves. But even then many of his victims escaped through the power of God, my enemy. I sent out Avarice, and in his golden chains some were bound, but men learned to hate him for his meanness, and comparatively few fell by him. The twin brothers Pestilence and War went forth, and Famine stole behind them; but these three indiscriminately slew the old and the young—men, women and children; the good as well as the bad, and heaven received as many accessions as hell. In sadness my satanic heart mourned over the probable loss of my crown and kingdom, as I contemplated the tremendous strides which the gospel of Jesus was making in saving men from my clutches. But when I received your kind letter, I shouted till the welkin of hell echoed the shout, "Eureka! Eureka!"—"I have found it! I have found it!" Yes, my dear friend, I could have embraced you a thousand times, and I have given orders to reserve for you a place nearest my person the most honorable seat in my kingdom. In you are combined all the qualifications of just such a friend and partner as I have long wished for, and in your business are all the elements of success. Now shall my throne be forever established. Only carry out your designs and you shall have money, though it be wrung from the broken hearts of helpless women, and from the mouths of innocent, perishing children. Though you fill the jails, work-houses and poor-houses, though you crowd the insane asylums, though you make murder, incest and arson to abound, and erect scaffolds and gallows in every village, town and city, you shall have money. I will also harden your heart so that your conscience will never trouble you. You shall look upon blood and even shed it, without shame or anguish. You shall think yourself a gentleman, though men and women, your victims, shall call you demon. You shall be devoid of the fear of God, the horrors of the grave, and the solemnities of eternity, and when you come to me your works shall produce a reward forever. All I claim is the souls of the victims. Yours to the very last, DIABOLUS. -The Marquis of Aylesbury is dead, aged seventy-four years. -The arrivals of immigrants in New York last year numbered 54,536, a decrease of 16,129 as compared with the previous year. -During the last ten years the Italian government has confiscated and sold at auction $106,000,000 worth of church property. -Switzerland has passed a law prohibiting children under the age of fourteen from being employed in manufactories after the first of next May. -Paris covers an area of thirty square miles, has 530 miles of streets, 63,000 houses, twenty-seven bridges, seventy-five churches, thirteen palaces, thirty-five theatres, eighteen hospitals, eight large libraries, 2000 schools and nearly 2,000,000 inhabitants. -Another fire occurred, December 29, at St. Johns, N. B., destroying $60,000 worth of property and throwing two hundred men out of employment. -It is reported that the workingmen of San Francisco will erect a large building for meeting purposes. It will be called Workingmen's Temple. -There were 208 violent deaths in San Francisco last year, 83 of which were suicides, 26 murders, 71 accidents, 7 manslaughter and 17 doubtful. -King Victor Emanuel died at Rome on the 9th of January. Prince Humbert was proclaimed king of Italy. He confirmed the present ministers in their posts. -January 9, the Oakland city council held a brief meeting, and awarded the contract for building the new city hall on the foundation to the lowest bidder for $20,850. -January 10, a serious railroad accident occurred on the Northwestern road in Tennessee, near Waverly station. The entire train—one sleeper, two coaches, and a smoking car—was thrown off the track and every passenger considerably bruised and otherwise injured, but no one killed. -One hundred failures and assignments were reported in New York city in December, with aggregate liabilities of nearly eight million dollars. Eighty-nine failures, in which the assets and liabilities have been ascertained, show liabilities at $7,704,391, and assets at $4,118,777. This is the heaviest record for any month of the year, and is an increase of 25 per cent in number, and 300 per cent in amount, over the record for the month of November. -According to the Federal census of 1850 the population of California in midsummer of that year numbered 92,597. This, however, was not a complete account. Some of the returns were lost or destroyed by fire before they reached Washington, and others were incomplete. For these reasons it was estimated that about 72,500 souls were omitted and that the total population in 1850 was in reality about 165,000. By the State census of 1852 the total population was 255,122; of whom about 210,000 were males, chiefly of the working ages, or, say, between 18 and 45. The Federal census of 1860 gave for the total figure 379,994; of whom 273,588 were males, seven-tenths being of the working ages. In 1866 a census of the State was taken by the United States Bureau of Statistics, then under the direction of Alexander Del Mar. This was done through the Internal Revenue officials, who were directed to make domiciliary visits for the purpose They returned a total population of 476,409, of whom about two-thirds, or 317,606 were males, and 200,000 of these of the working ages. This was the first census attempted to be taken by these means, and the returns were regarded as coming within 3000 or 4000 of completeness; a result so excellent as to encourage a similar effort in the following year. A census of the same character was taken in 1867, giving 500,039 as the total population, of whom 325,025 were males—of these 195,000 of the working ages. This was the first indication of advancement in the number of males of working ages. The result is attributable to the decease of many of the early pioneers, who by this time had been nearly a score of years on the coast. Others had returned to their native countries. Meanwhile the rising generation had more than replaced the lost members, so that the total number of males showed a continual increase. In 1870 the total population, according to the Federal census of that year, was 560,247. Of this number 349,479, or almost 62 per cent. were males, and of these 194,935, or about 56 per cent, were of the working ages. The general rate of increment shown between the years 1860 and 1870 was on the average about four per cent, compounded. If this rate be applied to the numbers returned in 1870, the total population of the State in midsummer of the present year will be upwards of three-quarters of a million, or about 766,500, of whom about 59 per cent, or 450,000 are estimated will be males, and one-half of these of about 225,000, males of the working ages. These various results may be reduced to tabular form, as follows, giving the population of California at various dates:—| Year... |
Males 18 to 45. |
Total Males. |
Total Females |
Total Grand |
Authority. |
|---|
| 1850 |
119,000 |
140,000 |
25,000 |
165,000 |
Estimate. |
| 1852 |
175,000 |
210,000 |
45,122 |
255,122 |
State Census. |
| 1860 |
191,500 |
273,588 |
106,406 |
379,994 |
U. S. Census. |
| 1866 |
200,000 |
317,606 |
158,803 |
476,409 |
Bu. Statistics. |
| 1867 |
195,000 |
325,025 |
175,014 |
500,039 |
Bu. Statistics. |
| 1870 |
194,935 |
349,479 |
210,768 |
560,247 |
U. S. Census. |
| 1873 |
225,000 |
450,000 |
316,500 |
766,500 |
Estimate. |
It might seem almost incredible that so many of the young persist in wearing boots at least one size too short, and still more faulty in reference to the width. It is strange that an idea should prevail that a small foot is any more creditable to a young lady than a small brain, a small heart, or a small amount of common sense, and yet it is true that very few are willing to wear an easy and comfortable boot, one resembling the form and width of the foot. When the Chinese, as a punishment for the treachery of woman, condemned them to wear from infancy, a small, unyielding shoe, that they might be so crippled as never to be able again to betray them, it certainly had the look of malice and savage revenge, such as we might expect from the "heathen Chinee" of centuries in the dim past. But why young ladies in the nineteenth century, or young fops, should subject themselves to this self-imposed punishment, the tortures of corns, bunions enlarged and gouty joints, and general deformity, is difficult to see, save on the supposition that Dame Fashion is not only very unreasonable and senseless in her demands, but very exacting in her requirements. If small and beautiful feet are really ornamental, let such remember that the wearing of too small boots will certainly deform them, destroy their symmetry, as all may learn by an examination of feet thus compressed, crowded in too small a space, cramped and changed in their form by narrow boots. These errors, and with the small and high heel added, have much to do in the production of the many deformities of the feet, while it must be admitted that a natural foot though large and differing somewhat from the more usual form, is more comely than one pinched and abused till it assumes an unnatural shape. In the natural foot, a straight line from the center of the heel will extend to the end of the large toe, parallel to the line of that toe, but in far too many instances, when a tight boot is worn especially with a high heel, pressing the foot, forward, that toe turns inward of necessity, since it strikes the end of the boot, and, from its length, must turn to one side or the other, usually inward. When too narrow, also, with insufficient room for all, one or more of the toes must be pressed up, overlapping another. It is possible, therefore, to buy a small and genteel boot, but one cannot, in consequence of such a purchase, have a small and genteel foot, if to be small is genteel. The foot will increase in size and deformity by such a course of cruel treatment.—Sel. THE statistics of lunatic asylums show that want of sleep is the most frequent and immediate cause of insanity. As you look over the history of the inmates, and note the peculiar trials which have shattered their poor heads or hearts, you see that nothing has happened to them save what is common in the varied experiences of this life. Many a one has passed under the same rod, or a heavier one, and come out unharmed, even steadier and stronger for the chastisement. But these sad subjects, from bad habits or bad inheritance, seem to possess some peculiarity of nervous irritability; so when sleep, like a loving mother, would soothe and save them, she cannot. No doubt many might have been saved by judicious care at the right time. Needful work is an excellent solace for earthly sorrow. Hence we note that those burdened by labor and care bear grief best; not that their sensibilities are less acute, not from lack of enduring love, but because weary muscles lead to sleep, nature's balmy bath, which soothes aching hearts as well as bodily pain. As the head which aches with thinking can only be cured by sleep, so the heart which thrills with agony needs to be soothed in the same way. —Boston has a car conductor's religious meeting. —As many joined the churches in China last year, as in all previous years. —Sweden and Switzerland contribute the largest number of new members to the Mormon church. —For the first time in history a Protestant Theological Seminary has been established in Paris. —Winthrop church, in Holbrook, Mass., was destroyed by fire on Christmas morning. It was insured for $20,000. —A Chinese Young Men's Christian Association, with a Chinese president, is in full and successful operation in Honolulu. —The Roman Catholics are building a new church in Boston, which is to cost upward of $200,000. It is nearly completed. —New Haven, with 60,000 inhabitants, has 55 churches. The Congregationalists have 15, Methodists 13, and Episcopalians 10. —Philadelphia has about 250 organizations for the relief of the suffering poor, not counting the churches which number about 600. —There are in all Africa about 130,000 church members of various denominations. They have been gathered in as the fruits of mission work. —Several of the old Catholic priests of Germany have married recently. This will probably compel the Synod next year to decide the celibacy question. —The Pope has authorized Cardinal Manning to open negotiations with Great Britain for the removal of certain difficulties which delay the re-establishment of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in Scotland. —An exchange says: "The colored Baptists of Alabama held their State Convention recently at Eufaula. It represented 24 associations, with a membership of about 75,000. The greatest need of these people is schools, an effort to supply which is being made." —The Universalists, according to their Year Book for 1878, are now 35,395 strong; against 32,947 in 1876 and 31,071 in 1875. They have 691 church organizations, 765 church edifices, and 722 ministers. Their parish property is estimated to be worth $6,978,110. —It is reported that the Free church of Scotland has determined to take prompt measures to prevent the spread of Roman Catholicism in Scotland, as threatened by the re-establishment of the Roman hierarchy. The ministers intend to instruct the people in the true nature of the Roman system, as well as the present movement by the Vatican. —Whittaker's Protestant Episcopal Almanac for 1878 reports the following statistics: Bishops, 61—increase 2; ministers, 3,216—increase, 45; parishes, 2,900; baptisms, 46,787—increase 4,756; confirmations, 29,179—increase 2,418; communicants, 281,977—increase, 13,443; contributions, $6,734,268—increase $95,331. —More than three and a quarter centuries ago many refugees arrived in London who had been driven from their own lands by the spirit of religious persecution. A company of these refugees who were Frenchmen were allowed the use of the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral for worship. Their descendants still enjoy this privilege, and the little congregation has just celebrated the 32th anniversary of its existence.