1. By what parable did our Lord represent the growth of grace in the heart?
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field.” Matt. 13: 31.
2. How does he describe the growth of this plant?
3. What may be said of this plant as grown in the East?—It attains in Palestine a height of ten feet, and the linnets and finches settle on it in great flocks for the sake of its seeds.
4. What other parable seems to be given to illustrate the same thing as that of the mustard?
“Another parable spake he unto them: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” Matt. 13: 33.
5. How does our Lord illustrate the development of Christian character in a parable recorded in St. Mark?
“And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Mark. 4: 26-29.
6. What is here given again as the first step in the work? Verse 26.
7. What is said of our inability to trace spiritual growth? Verse 27.
8. How are its successive stages illustrated? Verse 28.
9. What follows as soon as the fruit reaches perfect maturity? Verse 29.
10. What warning does Jesus give against despising the little ones of his kingdom?603
“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven.” Matt. 18: 10.
11. What does Christ say of his mission upon earth?
“For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” Verse 11.
12. By what parable does he illustrate his love and care for those who stray from the path of duty?
“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Verses 12-14.
13. In giving this parable, what question does he ask concerning the course of a shepherd toward a sheep that had gone astray? Verse 12.
14. What are a shepherd’s feelings when he has recovered a lost sheep? Verse 13.
15. What conclusion is then drawn? Verse 14.
16. In harmony with the principle of love and forbearance taught in this parable, what course should one Christian take toward another that has injured him?
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” Verse 15.
17. What course must be pursued when the offender will not be thus conciliated?
“But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” Verse 16.
18. What must be done if this means fail?
“And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” Verse 17.
19. What question did Peter ask?
“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Verse 21.
20. How did Jesus answer the question?
“Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.” Verse 22.
21. By what further parable did Jesus illustrate the spirit of love and forbearance which prevails in the kingdom of Heaven?
“Therefore is the kingdom of Heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.” Verse 23.
22. Who was brought to the king as he was reckoning with his servants?
“And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.” Verse 24.
23. What command did the king give with regard to him?
“But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.” Verse 25.
24. How did the servant humble himself before his master?
“The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” Verse 26.
25. How was the king affected by the poor man’s condition?
“Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.” Verse 27.
26. What kindness did the king show him? Same verse.
27. Describe the course pursued by this servant toward one of his fellow-servants who owed him only an hundred pence.
“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence; and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.” Verses 28-30.
28. How did the other servants feel when they saw such cruelty practiced by one who had been so kindly treated by the king?
“So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.” Verse 31.
29. What did they do? Same verse.
30. When the king had called the wicked servant to him, what did he say to him?
“Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me; shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?” Verses 32, 33.
31. What just retribution was inflicted upon this wicked servant?
“And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.” Verse 34.
32. How did Jesus apply this parable?
“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Verse 35.
ONE would naturally suppose that if a poor man had received a present of ten million dollars he would not hesitate to give a poor fellow-servant a few shillings. In the parable, the servant whose debt was forgiven had virtually received that sum, yet he refused to do a kindness to his fellow-servant. We see the same thing acted over and over again in spiritual things. People who have received the free gift of the grace of God often refuse to forgive a brother for some slight offense. Says one, “All I want is my rights; I simply want justice done me.” That is all the man in the parable wanted. The hundred pence belonged to him; he had a right to demand it; if he had received it, he would have received only his due. But people who are so strenuous for their “rights” should stop to consider whether or not they are willing and anxious to grant other people all their rights. When the Lord of that wicked servant demanded his rights, the poor man was in a pitiable condition. We are commanded to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” and the Lord has said that he will do so. Therefore when we are unyielding with our brethren, and insist on their rendering to us our just due in everything, let us remember that we are virtually saying that we wish to have God deal so with us.
THE apostle says: “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Eph. 4: 32. How does God forgive sinners? “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5: 8. He prepared the way for man’s repentance. Although he had been despised, rejected, and insulted, he took the first steps toward reconciliation. Then if we would obey the divine injunction we must not say, when a brother trespasses against us, “Well, if he makes matters all right, and shows that he is really sorry, I will forgive him.” If God had dealt so with man the world would have been hopelessly ruined. We must be anxious
to forgive; we must not harbor any resentment, but must desire only the good of the offending one.
MORE than this, God doesn’t hold a grudge against those who have sinned against him, and have repented. He never taunts the contrite one by recounting his past errors or present weakness. He “giveth liberally, and upbraideth not.” He says of his people, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer. 31:34. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18, 19.
BEHOLD in this parable a faint representation of man’s utter helplessness and God’s infinite grace. The servant owed his lord ten thousand talents, but he had nothing. A cipher is a very poor sum from which to take ten thousand. What could he do? Nothing, but say, Have patience with me. So the sinner can only say, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” But suppose the man will not receive pardon, or, having received it, shows himself unappreciative, and unworthy of it, by cherishing hard, resentful, and unforgiving feelings towards his fellows. In the parable the man was delivered to the executioners (or cast into jail, see Matt. 5:25, 26) till he should pay the whole. Now if the man had nothing wherewith to pay an immense debt, and was then cast into prison, when could he pay it. Never; he would eternally be a debtor. So the unrepentant sinner who dies a debtor to the law of God, will never be able to discharge that debt. Only Christ could discharge it, and Christ’s sacrifice avails only in this present life. The expression “it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come,” does not mean that some sin that is not forgiven here may be forgiven in the world to come, but that it never has forgiveness. But there is scarcely any end to the lessons that might be learned from the parable in Matt. 18: 23-35. The one, however, on which we ought to meditate much is the forgiveness of God, and the condition of heart and soul that his love and mercy ought to beget in us. “O give thanks unto the God of Heaven; for his mercy endureth forever.”
The Spirit and the Word.
By Rev. George C. Harvard
BUT remember, the Spirit is never against the word. At various periods of the church, men and women, good but not wise, have made a great bustle about impressions, but these are no rules to go by. We must keep to Scripture, and not live upon impressions. “Yes; but my impression is in the words of Scripture.” It may be so; but it is all nothing unless it agrees with the sense of Scripture. God often does send his word in the day of trouble, with a power of comfort; but when God gives the impression of a scripture, it is always according to the true sense and scope of the scripture. God never applies his word against its real meaning.
If you have taken up an impression which makes nonsense of the Scripture, you may depend it is either from your own brain, or else from Satan. Some people are very ready to go by chance impressions, but this is very dangerous. Those who do this are by little and little led away from the knowledge of God’s word, and nurse themselves up in ignorance; and by and by they put their own impressions in the place of Christ’s ordinances. They grow to say that they are “led by the inward light,” led of the Spirit. But the Spirit of God is never against the word,—Rev. George C. Harvard.
Soda Engines.
THERE are being constructed at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, four locomotives which are to be run by soda, which takes the place of fire. Soda has much the same power as coal without any of the offensive gases. The engines are nearly finished, and are to be shipped to Minneapolis, Minn., and run in the streets of that city where steam engines are forbidden. The engines look like ordinary passenger cars. Inside the boiler is placed five tons of soda, which upon being dampened by steam produces an intense heat. When the soda is thoroughly saturated, the action ceases, and then it is necessary to restore it by driving the moisture from it, when it is again ready for use. These engines are the first of their kind built in this country. They have about the same power as those of the New York Elevated roads, and will readily draw four light cars. Soda engines are used in Berlin and other European cities successfully, and traverse the St. Gothard tunnel under the Alps, where steam engines cannot be used, because the length of the tunnel renders it impossible to devise a system of ventilation which will carry off the foul gases generated by a locomotive.—Christian at Work.
Our Northern Possession.
ALASKA, when purchased from Russia in 1867, for the sum of $7,200,000, through the influence of Secretary Seward, was called “Seward’s Folly,” from the supposition that the country was comparatively worthless. But as the country has been explored, and our knowledge of its resources has increased, it is evident that the purchase, on the part of Mr. Seward and the Government, was an act of wisdom and real statesmanship. The country is of vast extent and rich in its resources beyond anything which was anticipated by any one when the purchase was made.
This fact is made very apparent in the report of Mr. Sheldon Jackson, General Agent of Education in Alaska, which has just been submitted to the Secretary of the Interior. From this report it appears that Alaska, from the extreme north to the extreme south, is 1,400 miles in an air line, or as far as from Maine to Florida; and from its eastern boundary to the end of the Aleutian Islands it is 2,200 miles in an air line, or as far as from Washington to California. The island of Attu, at the end of the Aleutian chain, is as far west of San Francisco as Maine is east, so that between the extreme eastern and western sections of the United States, San Francisco is the great central city. In brief, it is as large as all the New England and Middle States, together with Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. It is about one-sixth the area of the whole United States, and it has a coast line twice as long as that of our Atlantic and Pacific shores.
In Alaska are the highest mountain peaks in the United States; Mount St. Elias, 19,500 feet high; Mount Cook, 16,000 feet; Mount Crillon, 15,900 feet; Mount Fairweather, 15,500 feet. In one of the gulches of Mount Fairweather is a glacier that extends fifty miles to the sea, where it ends abruptly in a perpendicular ice wall three hundred feet high and eight miles broad.
Alaska has an arctic winter and a tropical summer. At Fort Yukon the thermometer often rises above 100° in the summer, and falls as low as 70° below zero in the winter. Along the immense southern coast and in the islands the climate is moist and warm, being in some of the islands much like that of Northwestern Scotland. At Sitka, where a record of the thermometer has been kept for forty-five years, the mean temperature per year has been 43° the year round, or 41° in the spring, 54° in the summer, 44° in the fall, and 32° in the winter. The greatest degree of heat recorded in these forty-five years was 87° above, and of cold 4° below zero.
Alaska has a population of 35,843, and 2,000 of these are whites. About one-half of the rest are Eskimos, and 1,756 are called Creoles, and are descendants of natives and Russians. The Eskimo part of the population of Alaska is of a far different nature than is generally supposed by Americans. They are not small, like the inhabitants of Greenland and Labrador, but are tall and muscular, many of them being over six feet in height. The Creoles of Alaska are mixed up somewhat in their living with the Aleuts. There are about two thousand of these last in Alaska, and they occupy the Aleutian chain of islands. These men are smaller than the Eskimos, and they have black hair instead of brown. They look a great deal like the Japanese, and have many civilized instincts. They are fast becoming Americanized. They dress in American garments, and their women study the fashion plates and try to imitate the latest styles. Many of them can read, and most of them are members of the Russo-Greek Church. They ask a blessing at their meals, and when they bid good-by to their friends it is with a “God bless you.” These people live in the great seal islands of Alaska.
The Alaska Commercial Company pays the United States Government $55,000 a year as an annual rental of these islands, and it is allowed to take 100,000 seal skins every year, upon which they pay the Government a royalty of $262,500. The revenues of these islands during the past sixteen years have returned to the Government more than half of the sum paid to Russia for the whole country.
The rivers of Alaska are among the finest of America. The Yukon is seventy miles wide across its five mouths, and at some points along its lower course one bank cannot be seen from the other. For the first thousand miles it is from one to five miles wide, and in some places it is twenty miles from bank to bank. It is navigable for 2,000 miles, and is computed to be 3,000 miles long.
In June, 1885, the Secretary of the Interior directed the establishment of the office of “General Agent of Education” in Alaska, and Mr. Jackson was appointed to the office. In his report he reports the establishment of nine schools during the past year, with an average attendance of above five hundred scholars, embracing all classes of the population, the number of boys in attendance being slightly greater than the number of girls. Considering the difficulties connected with the work of organizing schools and procuring teachers, the report presents an encouraging state of things.—Methodist Recorder.
The Home Circle.
By A. A. Proctor
ONE BY ONE.
One by one the sands are flowing,
One by one the moments fall;
Some are coming, some are going,
Do not strive to grasp them all.
One by one thy duties wait thee,
Let thy whole strength go to each,
Let no future dreams elate thee,
Learn thou first what these can teach.
One by one—bright gifts from Heaven—
Joys are sent thee here below;
Take them readily when given,
Ready, too, to let them go.
One by one thy griefs shall meet thee,
Do not fear an armed band;
One will fade as others greet thee;
Shadows passing through the land.
Do not look at life's long sorrow;
See how small each moment's pain,
God will help thee for to-morrow,
So each day begin again.
Every hour that fleets so slowly
Has its task to do or bear;
Luminous the crown, and holy,
When each gem is set with care.
Do not linger with regretting,
Or for passing hours despond;
Nor, the daily toil forgetting,
Look too eagerly beyond.
Hours are golden links, God's token,
Reaching heaven but one by one;
Take them, lest the chain be broken
Ere the pilgrimage be done.
—A. A. Proctor.
The Great Spider.
The little humming-bird that glitters in the sun has a very frightful enemy. This enemy will set a trap for him, and the poor little bird will flutter in. Once in, there is no chance of getting out again. The trap is a strong, thick web, woven by a spider. Can a spider catch a bird? Yes; there is a kind of spider that can. Indeed, it is called “the bird-catching spider.” It makes a little tunnel for itself to live in, and lines it with a white substance like muslin. Here it lies in wait for its prey, and is ready to pounce out upon any poor little bird that gets entangled in its net. The spider is quite a monster to look at. Its legs are as thick as quills, and it is covered all over with coarse hairs. If you touched the hairs they would run into your fingers and make them smart and tingle for several days. There is one kind of bird-catching spider that is not content to wait at home for its prey. It goes out hunting. It will climb the trees and hide itself under the leaves. If it can find the nest of the humming-bird, it will soon devour the little ones. And if it sees the mother bird coming, it will dart upon her and seize her with its great claws. The poor little humming-bird can never get away if she is once caught. Where do these great spiders live? In India and South America. A traveler in South America wanted to bring one of these spiders home with him. He asked some Indian children to catch one for him. The next day he saw them bringing the spider to him. How do you think they brought it? They had tied a string round its body, and were leading it along as if it had been a dog.—World at Home.
Children Who Ask.
By Sel.
MRS. MARY C. HUNGERFORD has some wise words in Our Country Home, about answering the boys. Children, both boys and girls, ask all manner of questions just because they are curious and want to know. The child that does not ask questions must be lacking in intelligence, and the gist of Mrs. Hungerford's advice is, that the mothers should not be ashamed to candidly own their ignorance when unable to answer some puzzling query. Evasive answers are denounced on the ground that "a child's clear eyes soon see through its mother's thinly-veiled pretenses of being too busy or too sick, and then he has to learn that she not only is not able to give the information he seeks, but stoops to deceit to cover her inability. The boy who finds out that his mother's lips can utter a word that is not strictly true, is to be pitied, but his mother is more to be pitied." A suggestion follows to the effect that mothers might get their children to help them more at the household work, and in turn study a little with the children, and thus all would learn something, and an era of mutual helpfulness would set in. I cordially commend the idea. Mothers, and fathers, too, are far too much addicted to the habit of checking the wholesome spirit of inquiry and investigation in their children which is a mark of a healthy mind. If possible, let the child look it up with you. Then talk over the subject in the household, so that it may be permanently impressed on the minds of all. All lawful questions should be encouraged.—Sel.
The “Times” in Alaska.
By Editor
THE New York Times has manned an exploration party, at the head of which is Lieutenant Schwatka. The goal is Alaska, and if the expedition is conducted with anything like the inherent enterprise of the Times, the record of results achieved will be eagerly received by men of science, and we dare say, that from a commercial point of view also these results will be important. We quote two paragraphs from an article in the Times on the subject:—
“Lieutenant Schwatka is an experienced and well-seasoned explorer, who has already won deserved renown in arctic travel and research. In 1879 he led an expedition over the route of Sir John Franklin’s party and brought to the world its fullest and final knowledge of the fate of the Erebus and Terror. Again, in 1883, he explored from its source to its mouth Alaska’s great river, the Yukon. It was in returning from this trip, that Lieutenant Schwatka conceived the desire to visit the mountainous and forbidding southern coast of Alaska and tell the world something of its Indian races, of its forests, its soil, and its glaciers. The Times has given him an opportunity to undertake this voyage of discovery and description, and it hopes in due time to lay before its readers such additions to the world’s present slight knowledge of this region, as will amply justify the effort and the expense involved.
“The most interesting of the numerous objects coming within the scope of the expedition will be the ascent of the altogether unexplored St. Elias range of mountains; and as its most tempting and perilous feat the expedition will, if practicable, try to reach the lofty top of St. Elias itself. This great peak, the highest on the North American Continent, reaching the altitude of 19,500 feet above the sea level, has been an object of fascination and of wonder to the seafarers of the Northwest from the days of the earliest navigators; but no white man has ever yet set foot upon its slopes. The snow line begins some 3,000 feet from the foot of St. Elias, leaving upward of 16,000 feet of eternal frost. But its summit is believed to be above the limit where snow falls. Of the nature and covering of the upper reaches of the mountain’s sides nothing can be known until Lieutenant Schwatka has set out to reach its summit, and it may be that an icy coating on its precipitous paths or some other natural barrier to the curiosity of man will prove to be an insurmountable defense against the invading party. If Nature intended St. Elias to be climbed, and has made suitable provision for the task, it will be accomplished by Lieutenant Schwatka and his party. If it shall appear that she was of quite the contrary mind, and took effective measures to make her will be respected of mountain climbers, the Times’ expedition will contentedly betake itself to the other and really more practical and profitable fields it has determined to explore.”—N. Y. Observer.
Duties of Young Men.
By Sel.
Once more, said the Bishop of Carlisle, the young man's supreme duty of keeping his body in soberness, temperance and chastity may be rightly regarded in the light of honor paid to father and mother. The keenest wound which can be inflicted on a father's heart comes from this side. A son honors his parents when he keeps himself pure, when he strives against temptation, when he prays for help against sensual sin. But specially I would ask you to regard the blessedness of purity in the light of honor due to a mother. He must truly and completely honor his mother who honors womanhood; he honors womanhood who shrinks from profaning a sister by an impure look, or word, or deed; he alone honors his mother who avoids like poison anything which might bring a blush to her cheek or cause a pang to her heart.—Sel.
Ninety Barrels a Day.
By Standard
THERE is a distillery in Massachusetts, the largest rum distillery in the world, and the amount manufactured averages ninety barrels a day, some for home consumption, but the greater part for export to the coast of Africa. The barrels contain forty-three gallons, and the internal revenue tax is ninety cents a gallon—thirty-eight dollars and seventy cents a barrel. For ninety barrels, a day's work, the treasury of the United States is enriched $3,483, minus the cost of the services of the revenue watchmen. That the Government shall not be defrauded a farthing of the ungodly gain, and that one drop of the fire-water may not be lost, Government padlocks are placed upon the rum reservoirs which are guarded and opened daily for measurement by internal revenue officers. Ninety barrels a day! Can any one follow one day's proceeds of this infamous business, and trace its awful curse trailing over the homes of men? Go where it will it goes as a curse. And the Nation's revenue stamp is but the stain of blood money.—Standard.
Red Noses.
WHY is a dram-drinker's nose red? The question is answered by Dr. J. B. Johnson, a Washington physician, who says that the dram-drinker's heart beats about thirteen times oftener in a minute than the heart of one who does not drink alcohol. The arteries, in consequence of this increased heart action, carry the blood to the nose quicker than the veins carry it back. The blood, therefore, remains congested in the overfilled vessels, and the nose and the face as well thus becomes habitually red. So stagnant is this blood that when the dram-drinker's nose meets a current of cold air it immediately turns purple and so remains until warm air restores the red color. So the red nose is caused by congestion. Every organ of the body is in a similar state—a warning of an impending fate not to be avoided.—Temperance Reform.
Prohibition and Prosperity.
THE Millville (N. J.) Bulletin, in a very significant sketch of the results of prohibition in Millville, says that “after the lapse of a dozen years of practically applied local prohibition the measure is to-day so popular as to scarcely possess an opponent, and there is not a man in the city who would have the temerity to run for any office as a license candidate.” It adds that “prohibition in this city prohibits, and, what is more, it is a moral, intellectual, and financial blessing to the laboring man, whose best life and prosperity began when the rum-shops left the town.” The blessing which Millville enjoys in the absence of liquor saloons, every community may share, whose citizens, like those of Millville, will make the necessary effort to establish and maintain the no-license policy.—National Temperance Advocate.
THE Roman soldiers, who built such wonderful roads and carried a weight of armor and luggage that would crush the average farm hand, lived on coarse brown bread. They were temperate in diet, regular and constant in exercise. The Spanish peasant works every day and dances half the night, yet eats only his black bread, onions and watermelon. The Smyrna porter eats only a little fruit and some olives. He eats no beef, pork or mutton, yet he walks off with his load of 800 pounds. The coolie, fed on rice, is more active and can endure more than the negro fed on fat meat. The heavy work of the world is not done by men who eat the greatest quantity. The fastest or longest-winded horse is not the biggest eater. Moderation in diet seems to be the prerequisite for endurance.—Alameda Encinal.
The Cost of Tobacco
The people in the United States alone consume no less than $600,000,000 worth of tobacco every year. It is an evil gain to those who reap the profits, and a terrible loss to those who consume it. And all for what? That it may literally go out in whiffs of smoke and floods of filth!—Sel.
Health and Temperance.
Tobacco and the Young.
PREVENTION is easier, better, safer, more probable, and less expensive than cure. There is but little hope of a human being who has so far perverted, revolutionized his natural constitution and moral tastes as to endure tobacco, then to relish its taste, and then to be so wedded to it that it seems one of the necessities of life, who will not emancipate himself from his “filthy habit,”—as the intelligent and honest user acknowledges it to be—and still clings to it with a pertinacity worthy of a better cause. When the young men have been pampered by the use of stimulants—the contents of the castor, irritating spices, strong acids—have been accustomed to luxurious food, rich dishes, such as destroy normal tastes and appetites, it is not a difficult matter to acquire a taste for intoxicants and tobacco—twins in the ruin of the young! When they are encouraged by certain great men (really small) it seems to them that a dissipation of this kind is a passport to greatness, to manhood, a graver blunder than which cannot be made. It is a fortunate fact that one of this class, whose high position gave him prominence, who did much to corrupt the young, by his pernicious example, before his death admitted his error, expressing regret that he ever formed the baneful habit.
The use of tobacco by growing boys is so generally recognized as pernicious that it is extraordinary that more energetic measures are not urged upon those having the care of youth to prevent the habit. Already it has been prohibited in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis; in the United States Military Academy at West Point; in the Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, and in various other enlightened educational institutions.
This was not the result of prejudice or hobbyism. If any set of men are free from these vices of learning, it is the naval surgeons, and it was especially from them, and particularly from Dr. A. L. Gihon, United States Navy, that this attack on the weed began. The indictment laid against it charged: That it leads to impaired nutrition of the nerve centers; that it is a fertile cause of neuralgia, vertigo, and indigestion; that it irritates the mouth and throat, and thus destroys the purity of the voice; that by excitation of the optic nerve, it produces amaurosis and other defects of vision; that it causes a tremulous hand and an intermittent pulse; that one of its conspicuous effects is to develop irritability of the heart; that it retards the cell change on which the development of the adolescence depends.
This is a formidable bill of particulars, and yet each of these charges is preferred by the best modern authority, and what is more, each is substantiated by an abundance of clinical evidence. Testimony is also adduced from the class records of schools and colleges, which indicate very positively that the effect of tobacco on the mental faculties is deteriorating. The best scholars are not tobacco-users; non-smokers take the highest rank in every grade; and whether we look at the exceptionally brilliant students, or compare the average of those who use and those who refrain from tobacco, the result shows the same.—Medical and Surgical Reporter.
California State Sabbath-School Association.
By C. H. Jones
THE ninth annual session of the California State Sabbath-school Association, for the election of officers and the transaction of other business, will be held in connection with the camp-meeting, at Woodland, October 6–19, 1886. Aside from the regular routine business, special instruction will be given in the different branches of S. S. work, and we hope that every school in the Conference will be represented. Come prepared to take an active part, and not only to get good but to do good. Advance steps ought to be taken and we trust that at this meeting plans may be devised which will make this branch of the work much more efficient and profitable.
If you are in doubt or perplexity in regard to any607point in the lessons or in the management of your school, bring your questions and help will be given.
Special lessons have been prepared for those studying books Nos. 1 to 7, and they will be given out on the camp-ground. Those studying the lessons found in the Instructor will recite the regular lesson for October 9 and 16. Copies can be obtained on the ground.
The State Secretary will be present from the beginning to the close of the meeting, and will be pleased to answer questions, or give instruction in regard to keeping the records, and in other branches of the work. All who can should bring their record books with them for examination. We want to become intelligent workers.
We hope that all will come up to this important meeting praying for a blessing, and with a desire and determination to gain all the instruction possible, so as to be better qualified to engage in the work in the future.
C. H. JONES, President.