ONE of the effective ways of evangelizing the Chinese is by means of religious tracts and portions of the New Testament. Many a Christian Chinese dates his interest in divine things to the simple tract that was put into his hands by a colporteur. No human tongue can tell how much good has been done by some of these simple stories which compare the heathen faith with that of the simple Gospel narrative. How often have I heard a convert say, "My first interest in Christianity was aroused through reading the 'Temple Keeper,'" a story of a dialogue between a Christian preacher and an idol-temple keeper.
I want to tell of one of our colporteurs, Chün Yee, who was converted to Christ in the year 1899. So strong was the opposition near his home to his becoming a Christian, that he went nearly eighteen miles to be baptized. Chün Yee, or "Preaching Righteousness," as the name signifies, like nearly all his countrymen, was married, and his wife was most bitterly opposed to anything that savored of the "foreign devils' religion," while the mother could not tolerate the idea of having her son become one of those hated Christians whom every one despised, and who never worshiped at the tombs of their ancestors. But none of these things moved our earnest and devoted "Preacher of Righteousness." He had set his face heavenward and away from China's idolatry and superstition. One of his children sickened and died, and then both his mother and his wife pointed the finger of scorn at him, saying, "This is the result of your worshiping the foreign devils' God." But this only led our young convert still closer to the heart of the Gospel.
On one occasion the doting mother heard how another Chinese mother prevented her son from going to our mission chapel, and she determined to try the same experiment. She had been told by a neighboring woman that, when her own boy visited the hated Jesus chapel, she threatened to cut off his cue with the scissors, and this frightened the young man so much that he never ventured near the chapel again. Chün Yee's mother determined to see what effect such a threat would have upon her boy, secretly hoping that this might convince him of his errors, and bring him back to the fold of China's gods. So she got her scissors, and approached her wayward son with these words, "Now, if you do not stop going to that foreign devils' chapel, I am going to cut off your cue." But she had not considered what power possessed the soul of her son as he smilingly turned toward her, holding his cue in one hand, and saying, "Cut it off!" She thought to frighten him, and here he was ready to have his cue cut off! Horror upon horrors! She was not going to disgrace herself by making her boy any more a foreigner than he already was. And so she put away the scissors, saying: "It is no use; he has swallowed some of that Jesus medicine, and nothing can cure him now. He is lost to me, and when I die he will not come and bring me food nor worship at my grave!"
Then she burst into tears, and cursed the foreigner for ever coming into their midst, and leading her son away from China's faith. In her frenzy she even cursed her son to the lowest hell, and declared that he was no longer her offspring. During all this storm of rage, which Chinese women know so well how to express, Chün Yee was very quiet, and bore all the abuse heaped upon him with patience. Day by day he grew more gentle, until even his mother and wife came to the conclusion that perhaps the religion of Jesus was not so bad as some had said, for Chün Yee was more kind, never cursed, did not smoke opium, nor did he ever visit the gaming table.
About this time he was employed as a colporteur, and went here and there to distribute the Word of God. Wherever he went he preached Jesus, for was not his name "Preaching Righteousness?" Jesus had now become his righteousness, in whom he believed and trusted. "How bold he is," said a Christian of long standing. "He is not afraid to tell men of their sins." On one occasion I heard him say to a graduate of the first degree who had recently become a Christian: "You must study the Bible more, and then you will be able to instruct others. Your knowledge of the classics is not sufficient to help you to lead others to Christ, but the Bible will teach you what to say." He never had the advantages of even a good Chinese education, but he was prepared to teach even the literati as to their duty toward God.
In this way Chün Yee has been serving God for five years, and often walks thirty miles a day. He visits all the stations of the South China Mission, distributing his books during the day, and preaching the Gospel at night on the roadside, in mountain fastnesses, or in wayside inns; everywhere he has only one story and one message, and that is Jesus and His love. On one occasion I was so wearied in crossing a high mountain that I lay down exhausted, when he came to my side with his fan to cool my temples, and fan back to life my fainting energies. When I uttered a note of discouragement that I could not endure this strenuous life any longer, he replied, "The Lord will give you strength, and enable you to complete your journey." So the missionary was taught by his convert, and found once more that Christianity bears the same fruit in China as it does in the more favored Christian lands. Whenever a difficult journey is to be made, Chün Yee is selected, and no murmur ever crossed his lips because of the mountains to be crossed and the rivers to be forded, and the missionaries always find in him an earnest, faithful helper. He is an inspiration to the preachers and Christians; and if he finds that some Christians are not leading an upright, Christian life, he is sure to plead with them to mend their evil ways. In this way he is spending his strength for the Master, an earnest worker and a faithful supporter of the Christian church. Surely, missions are not a failure, as some would have us believe, but the Gospel is able to save even the heathen Chinese, and to bring that great multitude of people to the feet of Jesus. May God hasten the time when the reverence now paid to Confucius shall be transferred to Jesus, and the Chinese will sing of Jesus as they did once of Confucius:
Jesus, O Jesus, how great is our Jesus!
Before Jesus, there never was a Jesus;
After Jesus, there will be none like Him;
Jesus, O Jesus, how great is our Jesus!
— Missionary Herald.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR MISSIONARY SERVICE.
[Condensed from Missionary Review of the World, by a Missionary.]
1. A MISSIONARY should have a vivid sense of the power of Satan over men. In undertaking aggressive work we must know the power of the enemy. To underrate our foe is to invite disaster.
A missionary to Mohammedans should know that Islam is not a decrepit and tottering system, but an organized force in the Eastern World, united, fanatical, aggressive, and hostile to Christianity. A missionary to China or Japan should understand that Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Shintoism have preoccupied the moral fortresses of those empires, and will not surrender in a day.
2. A missionary, above all other men, should believe in the supreme power, the omnipotent sway, of Jesus Christ, the great Head of the church; that He who gave the great command, 'Go teach all nations,' has all power in heaven and in earth.
Christ has all power, and He is ready to use it. 'According to your faith be it unto you.' Every Christian missionary should believe with all his soul and mind and heart, that Omnipotence is armed on the side of the Gospel, and that Satan's empire is to be overthrown. He will not be deceived by the subtle philosophies of Oriental religions or their hoary antiquity, or overawed by the countless millions of Asiatic and African populations.
3. A missionary should be able to speak from the experience of the love of Christ for him personally. There is no eloquence like that inspired by the experience of divine love.
Let no man, at home or abroad, enter upon the work of saving men, unless he has known by experience the power of divine love.
If a missionary has felt in his own soul the power of Christ over Satan in giving the victory over self and sin, he can confidently preach the Gospel as the 'power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,' high or low, rich or poor, civilized or savage.
4. A missionary must have a sense of men's lost estate without Christ. If we would sincerely preach Christ as the only Saviour, we must believe that men need Him, and are lost without Him; not simply unfortunate, but lost.
5. A missionary should be familiar with the language and the people. A knowledge of the language is the first need of the missionary. Without it he is helpless. Diversity of language is an immense barrier between races of men. But the missionary must break down this barrier. To preach through an interpreter is to rob the message of a great part of its power, to say nothing of the danger of perversion and misrepresentation of truth. The missionary must identify himself with the people,—use their idioms, their common speech, their proverbs, know their national prejudices, so as not to offend and alienate them, and without a knowledge of their language, this will be impossible.
6. A missionary should have sympathy with the people. He should live near their life. As soon as possible he should train native teachers, who ought to be by far the most effective laborers for their people. An Arab proverb says: 'The handle of the ax which cuts down the tree is made from a limb of the tree.'
An American missionary, while proud of his native land, must remember that he is first a Christian, and that the commonwealth of Christian love is wider than any nationality. His foreign habits and ways are more an obstacle than a help to his work, and any assumption of his superiority will repel those whom he came to win to the truth.
7. A missionary should have a personal call to the work. Can we now be sure of such a call? A call by Christ to follow Him is a call to service. The foreign missionary work is a part of Christ's13work. If you are fitted for it, and there are no providential obstacles in the way of your going, then Christ calls you to it. We need not wait for an audible voice. The cry of a nation for help is an indication as to what Christ wants us to do. All the providential openings among the nations are echoes of the voice of Christ. We are called to take the message or send it by a substitute.
WORRY AND FRET.
Worry and Fret were two little men
That knocked at my door again and again.
“O, pray let us in, but to tarry a night,
And we will be off with the dawning of light.”
At last, moved to pity, I opened the door
To shelter these travelers, hungry and poor;
But when on the morrow I bade them “Adieu,”
They said, quite unmoved, “We’ll tarry with you.”
And, deaf to intreaty and callous to threat,
These troublesome guests abide with me yet.
—Anon.
Honey from the Rock
By Ram's Horn
A MAN is not likely to get honey from the rock when he is pounding it with his head.—Ram's Horn.
The Rock Behind Every Man
“THERE is a Rock back of every man, if he will only lean on it.”
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
THREE converts to the truth at Stoughton, Wis., are noted in the Reporter, by Brother H. R. Johnson.
THREE candidates were recently baptized near Placerville, Cal., by Brother Isaac Morrison. He also reports two new converts to the faith at Auburn.
A SABBATH-SCHOOL recently organized at Viborg, Dak., with twenty members, was increased to thirty in two weeks. Brother J. W. Christian and wife are laboring there.
WRITING from Acampo, Cal., under date of the 10th inst., Sister Laura Bowman says: "We have organized a church of twenty-three members, with a Sabbath-school of thirty-two."
THE recent dedication of a new church building at Greenbush, Mich., is noted in the Banner. The sermon was preached by Brother E. K. Slade, president of East Michigan Conference; and Brother O. Soule also took part in the services.
THE Kansas City (Mo.) branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Company is now located at 1109 East 12th Street, near the corner of Troost Avenue. This is a fine residence neighborhood, and within five blocks of the new Seventh-day Adventist church.
THE North Carolina Messenger says: "Brother R. H. Mathe and family, from Almond, Wis., have come to connect with the work in Haywood County, and are thinking of starting another school a few miles from Cove Creek, where there seems to be an opening."
IN the Pacific Union Recorder Brother H. Shultz reports the organization of a church of two dozen members at Lodi, Cal. The membership is mostly of brethren who have come to that vicinity during the past year from the Western States. Brother T. H. Watson has been laboring in Lodi.
THE April number of the Life Boat is to be a temperance number. The patent-medicine delusion, the morphine and cocaine evil, the liquor traffic, tobacco curse, tea and coffee, and the causes underlying all, will be considered; and also deliverance from the same through the Gospel. Names and addresses can be sent to the Life Boat, Hinsdale, Ill., or they will be furnished in quantities at two cents each.
A REPORT from Brethren S. A. Jordan and W. H. Sebastian includes the following items: Five persons covenanted to keep the Sabbath of the Lord at Greenwood, Miss. Three had accepted the truth in Brookhaven, one in McCombs City, one in Magnolia, and a school teacher at Bentonia, whose home is at Port Gibson. A Sabbath-school was organized at Logtown with seven members. Four decided to be baptized; and a Baptist deacon and his wife acknowledged that we hold the truth. This was the result of a short tour out from Vicksburg, from which place the report comes. The address of these brethren is 209 Fayette Street, Vicksburg, Miss.
THE Supreme Court of Canada has rendered judgment with reference to Sunday observance, confirming the decision of the judicial committee of the Privy Council, that the province has no power to enact laws for the regulation of Sunday labor; but this judgment of the Supreme Court has no bearing upon the Dominion's right in the matter. "It is expected," says an Ottawa paper, "that in view of the above judgment, the Lord's Day Alliance will renew its application to the Dominion Parliament for a bill embodying its suggestions as to the limitation of Sabbath work." Our brethren in that field have been active in circulating petitions to the Parliament to the end that religious liberty may be upheld, and freedom of conscience may be regarded throughout the dominion as a fundamental principle.
FROM the Journal of Hanford, Cal., we take this friendly notice: "Considerable interest is being taken by the residents of the east side of town, in the fine garden which is being cultivated by the pupils of the Seventh-day Adventist school. The fifty pupils have each been allotted a small piece of ground, 4x30 feet, and, acting under the instruction of their teacher, Mrs. Mina Mann, they have planted a variety of vegetable seeds, which are now growing in a flourishing condition, not excelled even by the Chinese gardens. In addition to this course of manual training, the pupils are to be given a course of instruction in the manufacture of rustic furniture, and putting cane seats in chairs. The school is constantly growing, and lately a class in oil painting has been started. Mrs. Mann is assisted in teaching by Miss Edith Bond."
WRITING to the Welcome Visitor from Shan Tsai Hsien, China, Dr. H. W. Miller says: "While the Chinese have been a very conservative people, still we can see an awakening and a willingness to change from the views of their ancestors. While we have but begun work here, still we have a number of interested inquirers. Last Sabbath the mandarin of the place sent for one of these inquirers, and had his soldiers beat him one hundred strokes, giving as his reason that the man had been a Catholic, and now was about to be a Seventh-day Adventist. After learning of the circumstance and knowing what a disgrace it is in China for a teacher to be beaten at the mandarin's command, we were anxious to see the outcome, for it is hard for a Chinaman to bear opposition and stand for principle. To-night this man came back to our meeting, and, while he had not previously expressed himself as to what he thought of our Gospel, the persecution has served to plant these truths firmer in his mind. We trust he will make a man that will proclaim this message of warning to this people."
WHILE the spirit of intolerance is on the increase, the sentiment of religious liberty is not dead yet by any means. The danger lies in the fact that the latter is lodged in so many minds that may, sooner or later, be swayed by an apparent temporal advantage—from a political or business standpoint. However, that intolerance has not yet gained full control is instanced by the manner in which many people will throw their influence for religious liberty when squarely confronted with the issue. Writing to the Wisconsin Reporter from Barron, in that state, Brother J. B. Locken says:
Our experience in securing names for the petitions against Sunday legislation, both at Washington, D. C., and in our own state, has created quite a stir in this place. The church people made a great fight for Sunday legislation, which only added to the interest. We were subjected to many abuses and hard speeches from them, but in spite of all their opposition I secured the names of nearly all the business men and county officials, from the judge down. Many became really interested in the principles underlying Sunday legislation, and men congregated in stores and followed me from place to place to discuss the question. In the post-office there were about thirty men present. Many of them took part as we read and discussed the Sunday bills for the District of Columbia. While church members railed on us, non-professors took the arguments out of my mouth and defended the true principles of religious liberty. An evangelist who is here said I would get a few fools to sign it, whereupon a member of the M. E. Church, who has for some time been interested in the truth, said, "I will sign it, whatever they call me." . . . One of the city papers has offered its columns for whatever we wish to write on the subject.
CANADIAN MISSION WORK.
By William Guthrie
FOR some time it has been seen by those in the field that, if we can train up laborers in Canada to work at home, the results will be better than to continually send men from the states. Definite action has now been taken in this matter, and the General Conference has recommended the raising of $2,000 to start a small school in the eastern provinces. Some work has been done at the school, and a teacher has been secured.
To make the school a success we need a building 26 x 38 feet, providing room for twenty students. This we will have this fall, if we can secure sufficient means to erect it free of debt.
The friends in Iowa have helped the work to the amount of $573.03, and those in Missouri have come forward with $370.94. Are there not those in the other strong conferences who will come to our help at once and send in enough to make up the $2,000 that we must have by July in order to start the school this fall?
What a delight it will be when you shall see those in the kingdom who have been saved in this field, to know that you had a special part in their salvation. They will be your crown of rejoicing in the truth.
Send your offerings to the Pacific Press Publishing Co., Mountain View, Cal., stating that it is for the Nova Scotia school work, and it will reach us safely.
Your fellow worker in the Master's service.
WM. GUTHRIE.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
By Clarence Santee
This conference will be held at Fernando, Cal., April 11-16, 1905. Fernando is a small town twenty-one miles north of Los Angeles, on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
This is not a camp-meeting, but a conference for the election of officers and the transaction of all conference business.
Delegates will be elected as follows: One delegate for each church, without regard to numbers, and an additional delegate for every twenty-five members.
Officers of churches will please see that the delegates are elected, and the names sent to Edward Treganza, Fernando, Cal. CLARENCE SANTEE, Pres. So. Cal. Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
NOTICE OF ADJOURNMENT.
Owing to the meeting of the Healdsburg College and Pacific Educational Association having been set for March 20, 1905, the annual meeting of the Sanitarium Food Co. will be postponed to March 27, 1905, at Sanitarium, Cal. Let all interested kindly bear this change in mind. E. E. PARLIN, Secretary.
BACK NUMBERS OF "SIGNS" WANTED.
C. R. BASSETT, 31 South Kentucky Ave., desires to secure the following back numbers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, to complete files for public library in Atlanta City, N. J.
January 1 to June 17, December 2 and 16, 1903.
January 1 to April 20; August 17 and 24; all of September; October 5 and 19; November 9, 1904.
Those having these numbers to give will please communicate with the above.
WANTED.
A MOTHERLY, Christian woman to keep house, and care for two children for a home and $5.00 or more a month. She can keep the Sabbath. Mother works out. Address, Mrs. C. A. Knight, 316 Alameda Street, Vallejo, Cal.
NOTICE.
WANTED, "Spanish Patriarchs and Prophets." State number, style binding, prices, etc. Also Spanish "Steps to Christ" and "Christ Our Saviour." Any one knowing where any can be had, give particulars as above, and write at once to WALTER HARPER, Bisbee, Arizona.
EASY WASHING FREE.
To ENCOURAGE every lady reader of the SIGNS to give E-Z (Easy) Washing Tablets a trial, I will send sufficient for two washings, free, for two-cent stamp to pay postage. E-Z Washing Tablets is A WOMAN'S INVENTION to take away the hard work. Guaranteed to do your washing in half the time, without injury to the finest fabric. It will pay you well to give it a trial. Address, Alfred Mallett, Elkridge, Baltimore, Md.
HOME AND MOTHER.
O, it is the real mothers and the real homes that are keeping this old world from utter shipwreck; and yet there is a class of people who tell us that the home is a decaying institution, that our mothers are a great mistake, that the co-operative home, the co-operative kitchen, and co-operative mother are the coming institutions; that the children will be bunched together, and a trained nurse, or "little mother," will care for the whole in a scientific way; and the old-fashioned home and old-fashioned mother will be relegated to the past.
It is true that many of the homes of this country are not what they ought to be. In many of them strife and marital infidelity, conjugal infidelity, greed, intemperance, heartlessness, have eaten as cankers into the home life. The homes of many Christians are as prayerless and cheerless as a Greenland iceberg; and the youth who go out from such homes are left to drift on life’s sea, having no home chart or compass or haven to guide or shelter the weary wanderers.
As to the plans of these new reformers to do away with the home, on the basis of reason, "Annie Laurie" has the following forceful words to say in the Sunday Examiner of not long ago:
All of which shows what an absolutely false and foolish guide the pure human reason is, without the pure human heart. Rule your life by the light of reason alone, and you will live and die an absolutely miserable, and, because miserable, an absolutely useless, human being.
What in the world do you hang over the cradle of that puny, wailing infant for? Let it die. The world will be better off without it. Why should you be fool enough to care more for one wisp of its soft hair than you do for all the friendship of all the wise ones of the earth?
Why do you keep up the old superstition of the comfort of a grate fire? The furnace is much warmer, more economical, and less mussy. Gather your friends around the register, and be sensible.
What makes you keep on calling your sweetheart the foolish names that have been handed down to sweethearts since the cave men learned to talk? Call her Mary Jane, and be done with it.
It is all absurd nonsense, that fad of yours that the little Sunday night supper that the woman you love prepares with her own hands, is the coziest meal in the week.
Bring some health food home with you in a paper bag, and don’t bother about setting the table. That’s a waste of energy. As soon as you can afford to do it, move to a big hotel, and eat mutton that tastes like beef, and beef that you can’t tell from lamb. That’s progressive.
Why send the mother who held you on her breast when the world was young, a pretty knit shawl, just because it looks like the one you remember she wore when you were getting up from the scarlet fever, when she used to sit in the twilight and tell you foolish, tender little stories?
What folly! Buy her a good, warm coat, and let her button that about her, and be sensible for once.
She was a poor, ignorant thing anyway. She didn’t know a thing about hygienic food. She took the white out of her soft hands making things that boys like, so that you might always find some doughnuts in the crock, or some cookies in the big yellow bowl, when you came in, red-cheeked and hungry, from the sharp December air.
She ought to have fed you health food at stated times, in stated quantities. You would probably have been like most of the hygienic devotees I have had the agony of knowing—a poor, dyspeptic-looking mortal—but what of that? You would have been "advanced," and that’s the main thing.
When the new-fashioned mother gets into working order—ah, but that’s the hope of the whole foolish business—the new-fashioned mother will never really come in at all. The grace of simple human nature will save us from her at the last moment, in spite of a dozen Mrs. Gilmans, and a million followers.
SABBATH EVE.
By E. L. Maxwell
BY E. L. MAXWELL.
As sinks the setting sun
Adown the glowing west,
Another week of toil is done,
Begins the day of rest.
We bow before the throne,
O hour of hours most blest,
And lift our prayers to Him alone
Who gives us Sabbath rest.
No earthly thoughts or cares
Shall mar this hallowed day;
Our thoughts shall be of Him who bore
Our sins and griefs away.
Blest Sabbath of our King,
May this our portion be
Each Sabbath day His praise to sing
To all eternity.
Oklahoma, Okla.
DO IT NOW.
By Anonymous
WHEN I have time, the friend I love so well
Shall know no more these weary, toiling days.
I'll lead her feet in pleasant paths always,
And cheer her heart with words of sweetest praise,
When I have time.
When you have time! The friend you hold so dear
May be beyond the reach of your sweet intent,
May never know that you so kindly meant
To fill her life with sweet content,
When you have time.
—Anon.
LONDON’S POLICE FORCE.
LONDON, with 7,000,000 inhabitants, has 14,610 police of all grades. Besides these, the city of London has its own police force of 1,000 men.
In the great English city last year 124,554 arrests were made, nearly one-tenth more than in 1902; and there were 154 fatal street accidents, 21 less than in the preceding year.
Only 17 murders were committed by persons in London last year; the police got nine of the murderers, and the other eight committed suicide. There were 22 homicides.
The London police look after the cabs, omnibuses, and teams of the city, and last year issued 16,760 licenses. They keep a sharp lookout on them, too, inspect them continually, and compel the owners to keep them in good condition. Last year they condemned 6,907 hacks and cabs, 1,289 omnibuses, 2,549 horses, and 716 sets of harness.
Besides the vehicles, the drivers themselves are licensed, and they have to pass a strict examination as to their knowledge of the city before they get their badges.
There is nothing a London cabby hates worse than to have to ask the way to some out-of-the-way street—and it is seldom that he has to do it, too.
London police look after the property left in cabs and public vehicles, and compel the owners, when found, to pay to the drivers one-tenth of the value of the property. Honesty is the best policy for the London cabman.
And the individual London “bobby”—the name is given to him because Sir Robert Peel first organized the police force—must pass a civil service and a physical examination before he gets his place.
When on duty he is a general traffic manager, and handles the street traffic wherever he may be stationed.
And when he holds up his hand, the drivers pull up. They know that what he says “goes.” They are not arrested, but “summoned,” and not only are they liable to be fined, but their licenses may be withdrawn, and those, once taken away, are hard to get back again.
A London “bobby” knows a lot about his city—he is expected to be a walking encyclopedia on all matters pertaining to Greater London, and his knowledge of localities, streets, and places is wonderful.
One remarkable thing about the London police is, that the citizen has some rights that an officer is bound to respect. No Londoner is ever arrested for “talking back” to a policeman. If the policeman and the citizen disagree the latter is summoned, and the magistrate decides between them.
There are bad men among the London police, just as there are here. But, as a whole, the force has a very high reputation, and it seems to deserve it.
—Selected.
THE TRIBUTE OF SUFFERING.
It is those whom we love most upon whom we lay the heaviest burdens. We do not turn to strangers or untried acquaintances when we would lean hard on some one in a crisis of life. We tax most those whom we trust most. And what is true of our relations with each other is true of the Father’s relations with his children. He does not send stress and burdens to weaklings. “God must love you very much to trust you with such suffering,” said one to a friend whose burden seemed unbearable. But God does for us what we can not do for each other; with the suffering he sends the strength to bear it. Every fresh burden is proof of His love, of His confidence in us, of His plans for our refining. Every new test brings with it more than enough of His strength to meet it triumphantly. And as we look back at our past experiences we see now the reason for rejoicing in every such experience. Could we order our lives better?
Nearness to Christ
"It is only when we are near Christ that the greatness of love outshines the love of greatness."
BLIND CARPET WEAVERS.
THERE is a curious carpet, broom, and chair bottom factory in Philadelphia, which, if you entered at 5:30 on a winter evening, you would find running full blast in total darkness. You would hear men running about, shouting orders, carrying goods, or singing and laughing to the rattle and whir of fast looms and other machinery, yet you might not be able to see your hand held a foot from your face.
The explanation is this: No light is needed, for only blind men are employed. The owner is blind, the superintendent is blind, and so are the bookkeeper, machinists, clerks and the 125 workmen. Six of these have neither sight, hearing, nor speech. Only two or three men with sight are employed to look after the choosing of colors and do other occasional overseeing work. Here is a remarkable condition of affairs, yet this factory does a business of over $100,000 a year. The building stands at the corner of Thirty-sixth Street and Lancaster Avenue. In the operating rooms upstairs men are working dexterously at the looms, weaving unerringly the colored patterns of the carpets.
Others are handling sharp knives or dodging swift and dangerous machines, and running up and down stairs and among the machinery without any hesitancy.
These men come to work at 7 o'clock in the morning. They approach the factory quickly from a half dozen directions, with a sharp tapping of their iron sticks upon the pavement. The moment they are within they lay their sticks, with their hats and coats, aside, and they set briskly and cheerily to work, blind men no longer; for training, habit in the task that they perform, takes the place of sight quite accurately.—U. S. Trade Reports.