p. 19 | Review and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 13. (3/27/1913)

Choosing Books for Boys and Girls

By Edmund C. Jaeger

Few persons except those who as teachers or social workers are constantly with children realize the quantity of trivial, enervating, inane, and even noxious literature that is being constantly circulated by libraries and read by the children of every community; nor do they sense what an amount of frivolity, crime, and godlessness may be traced to the influence of this effervescent, soul-rotting plague of yellow literature that is everywhere entering homes. True books for children are not easier to find than true and wholesome companions, and it behooves every parent and teacher to look carefully into the nature of the books selected for their children's reading.

The following paragraphs, somewhat abridged, are taken from a paper recently read before the American Booksellers' Association, by Mr. Edward W. Mumford, of the Penn Publishing Company, Philadelphia, and are well calculated to show the seriousness of this problem of selecting children's books, as viewed by the booksellers themselves:—

“Every educated man and woman knows that story-books are powerful influences in the molding of character. How many parents study their purchases of children's books from this angle?

“Every story cheap in quality, whether high or low in price, helps to make a cheap boy or girl, to lower the moral tone, to coarsen the character fiber, and to turn the child away from what is fine, true, honest, and worth while. Before he knows it, he has been cheated out of his noblest heritage.

Bad Books Are Wide-Spread

“With the demand for lower prices has come an enormous output of juveniles sold within the limit of the child's own pocket-money. They are bought by teachers to present to their classes. They are purchased for Sunday-school libraries, although many of them are grotesquely out of keeping with the teachings of the school. Many a parent who would promptly take John out to the wood-shed if he learned that the boy was collecting dime novels, himself frequently adds to John's library a book quite as bad.

Characteristics of Trashy Stories

“This book—the commonest purchase for a child of ten to fifteen today—is usually one of a series (several pages in the body of the story advertise the other books of the set). Its infallible hero and his friends are invariably opposed by a despicable villain and an assistant, who, although a little worse than the villain, is often reformed. The villain seldom reforms, as he is needed for the plot of the next book. The forces of vice and virtue invariably clash in the first chapter, and thereafter the villain stops at nothing that will injure the hero. If they are rival candidates for the position of pitcher on the school nine, the hero may expect to be assaulted by thugs at night. If it is a girl's book, the heroine (blonde) has a ‘dangerous enemy’ (brunette) in the person of a rich schoolmate. The youthful villain, by the way, is almost invariably rich.

“Do we wish our boys and girls to think straight?”

“These poor juveniles distort facts, make impossible feats possible. The young hero of one series builds and runs an air-ship with sleeping berths and automatic control, has miraculous escapes from earthquake, hurricane, and shipwreck, thwarts gangs of desperate men, captures bank robbers, rescues beauty in distress, and presents to his sweetheart diamonds worth thousands of dollars. In another, boy aviators reach the south pole. In another ‘our hero’ on a motorcycle jumps a fifteen-foot gap in a broken bridge. In another, two poor girls of fourteen and sixteen attend balls and yacht parties given by the exclusive set of Newport. In another a girl says she has ‘a perfectly crazy desire to excite love.’ Do such books help or hinder the development of a love for fact and the habit of straight thinking?”

“Shall we teach children that honesty is the best policy?”

“The hero in these juveniles often wins his point by lying, evasion, or smart trickery.

Respect for Elders

“Should children learn to respect their elders?”

“The hero or heroine in low-grade juveniles almost without exception is in opposition to some older person. The hero is always proved right. The parent or guardian, or other person in authority, is as invariably wrong. Does the constant repetition of this make for discipline among young people, or the reverse?”

Good Language and Manners

“Should children be taught to speak correctly?”

“Will they learn the habit from books written in bad English, with much objectionable slang and many coarse expressions?”

“Is it desirable that our children should grow up well mannered?”

“What is the influence of books which show boys employed in coarse practical jokes, and girls in holdenish midnight pranks? A noisy frolic of boys and girls on the street at night is expressly condoned in one of these volumes. ‘What they were doing,’ says the author, ‘might be considered exceedingly out of place by a few strait-laced persons; but boys and girls will have their fun, even if it must sometimes be at the expense of other people.’

“Should our children's companions be carefully chosen?”

“Would you have your young people associate with a girl who would deliberately try to maim a companion by running into her while coasting? or a girl who would yell fire in a theater to stampede the audience? or a boy who, seeing another about to do a mean trick in a race, does it himself and does it first? Too many modern juveniles have such characters.

“Is thoughtless, cruel mischief to be encouraged among children?”

“In one book of the sort we are discussing, ‘our hero’ turns on the grocer's molasses barrel spigot, puts a ‘tick-tack’ on a poor widow's window (the author commends the tick-tack and tells how to make it), frightens a woman teacher with a live mouse, puts glue on the minister's chair, and pulls over a ladder, injuring a man and a woman. How would you feel about the influence of such a book if you were the grocer?

Judge Lindsey's Warning

“Judge Lindsey, whose work among boys has made him a national figure, says, in a recent letter: ‘I recall a gang of boys in my court. In the trunk of one, in an attic, were found hundreds of “cheap juveniles,” and I think they had much to do with the misdirected energy and spirit of adventure in these boys, which, instead of taking the wholesome channels, took really to serious crime. The coarse, cheap appeal of some of this literature is certainly dangerous.’”

Read What You Buy

“These are some of the characteristics by which the false and dangerous story may be detected. If every buyer of children's stories will read what he buys before putting it into the hands of children, or into libraries for their use, such stories will be easily avoided. No parent nor child-lover will long remain contented with the position, ‘It may be poison, but the boy likes it, and it's cheap.’”

EDMUND C. JAEGER.

The Victory in Utah.

By J. F. Blunt

Proposed Sunday Legislation

“THE Cardon Sunday-closing measure went down to defeat in the house yesterday after two hours of fervid and at times acrimonious debate,” began the report of the utter overthrow of the proposed enactment in Utah, published next day in the Deseret Evening News, the Mormon newspaper of Salt Lake City. The climax came February 18, after a vigorous campaign lasting about two weeks, in the course of which wide publicity was given to the controversy by the public press, the final vote standing twenty-one to fifteen, eight absent and one not voting.

A despatch from Elder W. M. Adams, president of the Utah Conference, conveyed the information of the filing of the bill February 5, by means of which it was sought to make the drastic Sunday-closing laws of Utah still more oppressive. That night Elder W. M. Healey came up from San Diego to join me in the journey to Salt Lake City, and together we arrived at the Mormon capital within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the telegram. Elder Adams was at the station to greet us.

Two days before, on the day the bill was introduced in the legislature, the News had printed an editorial entitled “Now For a Sunday Law,” and not a breath had been raised in opposition to the measure, with the exception of the formal objections filed by our representatives in Utah. At Sacramento last

spring, I had visited the State library, where I had looked up the laws of Utah and Nevada, those States being within the jurisdiction of the Pacific Union Conference. I discovered that constitutional guaranties had been violated in the adoption of the existing statutes, and while at Sacramento in January I had prepared a memorial for introduction in the legislature of Utah, protesting against this invasion of civil rights, and demanding the repeal of the Sunday law.

So happily was this memorial ordained by Providence that it was there and was introduced in the legislature on the very day the new Sunday bill made its appearance. I had also prepared personal letters to every senator and member of the house of representatives of the Utah Legislature, setting forth at length the salient reasons why the Sunday law was unconstitutional and opposed to natural rights of the individual, and these multigraphed letters arrived and were read by the legislators whose votes were to decide the issue, at the very onset of the fight. I was not surprised to learn from Elder Adams, therefore, that he had discovered friends for religious liberty in both houses of the legislature, whose aid we could secure for the defeat of the proposed enactment.

Two hearings in committee were accorded to us by the Utah Legislature. Elders Healey and Adams, with myself, constituted the representatives opposed to Sunday legislation from the ranks of our own denomination, but the spirited warfare waged had encouraged others to rally to our side. One of the hearings was held in the court-room of the Utah District Court and the other in the senate chamber of the legislature, where the newspaper men listened to the debate, and almost unopposed we brought before the committeemen the telling arguments in opposition to interference by the state with the religious views and sectarian practices of citizens equally entitled to consideration and protection in the enjoyment of their conscientious systems of worship, so long as they do not meddle with the equal rights of their fellows, nor commit acts in themselves opposed to good government.

The best report of our first hearing was given by the Mormon News, the paper which had been calling for a Sunday law through its editorial columns. This eminently fair and brilliant defense of the principles of religious liberty occupied about two columns of the paper; and while not directly framed to lend journalistic support to our contentions, it stultified completely what had been printed before in the same paper. Thus the Mormon vote was divided, some standing for the passage of the law, on the grounds common to those who favor Sunday observance, and others siding distinctly with us.

The first hearing came on Lincoln’s birthday, and the portrait of the great emancipator, hanging in the folds of the stars and stripes, emblem of our national freedom, gave an excellent opportunity for the suggestion of the remarkable fact that we were there on the birthday of the man who freed 3,000,000 slaves, to plead for the natural rights and constitutional freedom of 100,000,000 free-born American citizens.

Discerning the fact that the main fight would revolve on the contention of the advocates of the bill that Sunday legislation is not religious in character, Elder Healey devoted nearly all his time to the demonstration that it is wholly religious, sectarian in origin, fanatical in its enforcement, and despotic in its very nature. Elder Adams pressed these facts home with telling arguments. In the closing argument for the observance of constitutional guaranties, the writer called upon the legislature to stand for the principles advocated by Abraham Lincoln and symbolized by the old flag. For two weeks the Sunday issue was the foremost subject of comment, and the newspapers printed much concerning it. There was a fervid interest in the matter up to the date of final settlement.

Notwithstanding the handwriting on the wall, the Mormon newspaper came out with a column editorial, still favoring the Sunday measure, and criticizing Seventh-day Adventists for their hostility to the existing law, which the News itself, eight days before, had characterized as both unjust and unfair, when asking for its amendment, on the ground that its evident discrimination between classes made it inoperative as it stood. Silly arguments concerning the round earth, and the inability of men to keep the same time throughout the world, whatever day was kept, and demanding the revision of the law so as to make it more drastic, gave us an admirable opportunity to respond in print. The Salt Lake Tribune printed in its editorial columns a long letter which the writer prepared, with accompanying comments indorsing our position, the whole matter making an article nearly a column in length. The editor pertinently called attention to the fact that if the Mormon newspaper’s argument for the control of the minority by the majority in respect to Sunday-keeping were carried to its logical sequence, it would lead to the sweeping of Mormonism from the earth. And there the matter stood when the legislators lined up for the fray on the day of battle.

The bill had been made a special order for 3 P. M., at which time the interested public thronged the halls of legislation. The debate was sharp and hot, beginning with the attempt to add still more drastic provisions to the bill itself, and leading to absurd propositions from the opponents of the measure, calculated to reveal its sectarian nature and lack of sincerity when offered as a labor measure.

Three days before the combat, we circulated among the legislators an “open letter,” setting forth afresh the objections to the proposed law, outlining the authoritative expressions favorable to religious liberty in the doctrinal books of the various denominations, including Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Mormons, and Catholics, ample material for reflection being imparted in this way, which would influence both Mormons and Gentiles. The constitutional pledges of State and nation were also made strikingly manifest. This letter had been read and digested by the legislators, as was evidenced by their remarks on the floor of the house. The battle raged fiercely, but the bill went down in a storm of disapproval, and the spectators rushed in to congratulate the members of the house, who immediately adjourned at the close of the engagement. That night Elder Healey and I left for home, again to take up the fight in California. J. F. BLUNT.

Young People's Work

Conducted by the Young People's Missionary Volunteer Department of the General Conference

M. E. KERN 3 3 3 3 3 3 Secretary

MEADE MAC GUIRE 3 3 3 3 3 Field Secretary

MATILDA ERICKSON 3 3 3 3 Corresponding Secretary

State and Church

By William Warren Prescott

Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of Religious Freedom, and the Campaign “to Make America Catholic.”

Conducted by the Religious Liberty Association

W. W. PRESCOTT SECRETARY

Opposing Sunday Legislation

THERE appeared in the Hartford Courant of February 26, a column and a half report of a hearing before the judiciary committee on various Sunday bills which have been introduced into the Connecticut Legislature. The time of this hearing was occupied by those who were opposed to the existing Sunday laws, and who either desired their repeal or their modification. Among the speakers was Dr. Willard C. Fisher, formerly professor in Wesleyan University of Middletown, Conn., who was recently requested to resign by the president of the university because of his utterances concerning a more liberal Sunday.

Two of our brethren spoke at this hearing, and we quote from the report the paragraphs relating to their remarks:—

“Rev. C. H. Edwards, appearing for the Seventh-day Adventists of the State, protested against the present law rather than in favor of the proposed changes, contending that it is against the bill of rights to enact Sunday laws, which, he said, are simply religious legislation. The present act, he said, is a survival of the old church and state times, and its whole idea is to make people observe Sunday as a religious day who really do not want to. He said he did not think ‘Brother MacIntyre’ (of the Lord’s Day League) really believed in the whole act himself. The pending bills, he said, would make matters more of a muddle than they are.”

“J. E. Jayne, appearing for the Religious Liberty Association, said he favored House Bill 331, which would permit the sale of anything, except liquor, which is lawfully sold on other days of the week. His opinion was that the churches ought to keep out of politics and stick to the business of saving souls.”

A Ridiculous Law

AN effort to enforce the drastic Sunday laws of Connecticut upon players of Sunday golf called forth an editorial in the Hartford Times of February 10, from which we take the following paragraph:—

“It will be noticed that those who sign their names to the protest against Sunday golf in West Hartford base their objections upon grounds as strong as they are reasonable. They point to the existing law—narrow, ridiculous, and impossible of strict enforcement as it is—and ask if representative citizens consider it advisable that the organization with which they are connected should go on record as encouraging the violation of that law. They make other points, too, and there is, of course, every probability that their true objection is inspired by a personal distaste for Sunday golf in just the place where it is proposed to play Sunday golf, rather than upon any respect for an archaic Connecticut statute; but their argument holds good just the same. The law is there, and one can not get away from it; at least one can not get away from the fact that it is there. Everybody knows that for practical purposes it is honored only in the breach.”

A law which is “narrow, ridiculous, and impossible of strict enforcement,” and which is “honored, only in the breach,” might well be repealed.

Record Breaking in Cuba

We are glad to pass on this cheering item from Cuba. Since Brother Geo. A. Sandborn was obliged to leave the island on account of malaria, Brother H. A. Robinson has been acting as field agent there. He and the two Shidler brothers and Brother Spicer, the son of Elder W. A. Spicer, are now working together in the eastern part of Cuba. Brother Robinson sends the following encouraging report of recent experiences which they have had together. It surely does please us, as he suggests:—

“I am writing this now as I am sure you will be glad to know that Cuba has broken all former records. Albert Shidler took $104 worth of orders last Thursday in 7 hours. In 28 hours for the week he got $311 worth.

“This is really the best place we have found yet in Cuba for selling books. We have lost very few exhibitions. And the best part of it all is that we four have all done well. The report at the end of the first week we were here was as follows:—

	HOURS	VALUE
W. H. Spicer	14	$ 73
A. L. Shidler	16	85
Earl Shidler	10	30
H. A. Robinson	16	113

This past week was the best of all in the history of Cuba. Following are the figures:—

	HRS.	ORDERS	VALUE
A. L. Shidler	28	88	$311.00
Earl Shidler	27	48	147.50
W. H. Spicer	27	86	259.50
H. A. Robinson	24	64	209.50
Total			(gold) $927.50

When I get the reports of Roman and Avila, the two natives, it may pass the $1,000 mark. I feel thankful to God for this manifestation of his goodness, and I trust that we may each realize our indebtedness to him who gives to them that ask in his Son’s name. Of course the boys feel much encouraged over this, and expect good deliveries, as the orders are mostly from a good class of men.

“As the Cuban office has run out of books lately, we came here so as to be able to continue working while the books are on their way from California. As there are several sugar-mills outside of the city, I thought it would be a good idea to see what could be done among them; so on Tuesday, Brother Spicer and I worked one of them. The number of orders we took surprised us. We got about $76 worth between us. In the afternoon Brethren Spicer and Earl Shidler visited another mill. That day Brother Spicer took $74 worth of orders. On Thursday, Albert Shidler and I worked two mills. He got 26 orders, or $104 worth, and I got $60 worth. Thus he passed my former day’s record by $13. The second mill was about six miles from town, so we went on bicycles. We left there at about 6 p. m., and after riding some 15 minutes the rain overtook us. We had to carry our wheels to the next mill, about half a mile away, and then walk in the mud from there home. I did not enjoy the experience much at the start, but later thought that it was not much to suffer after all, if we were doing other people good, as Jesus did when he was here on earth. Maybe if we had to suffer a little more like this, we should love him more and appreciate his help more than we do now. I trust that experiences and successes like these will make us more faithful to him, and also help others to have more courage to press the battle on to victory.

“We had a hot bath when we got home, and the next day Albert and his brother visited another mill farther on, while Brother Spicer and I worked the railroad. Albert got 27 orders, or $96 worth, and Brother Spicer took 31 orders, or $96 worth,—the best he has ever done in a day, he says. We secured most of the best men and jefes (leaders) for cueros (moroccos) or mediocueros (half morocco), Brother Shidler having 34 of these.

“I am sure this report will please you, and I trust we shall be able to send you another as good or better soon.”

H. A. ROBINSON.

Opportunities of the Nurse

By L. A. H.

ONE of the Washington Sanitarium nurses was asked to respond to a call on an outside case. Understanding that the family had just dismissed a professional nurse, and might be rather hard to please, some hesitation was shown in answering the call, but she consented, entering upon her duties with some timidity.

The attending physician prescribed massage, and gave his consent to the use of other sanitarium treatments. While the patient had been pronounced incurable, favorable progress was made, and the doctor, the patient, and her friends were much pleased. A message of thanks was given the sanitarium for sending such a good nurse, and the doctor stated that he wished to “keep tab” on our nurses hereafter.

Interest was awakened in other places of our work, and many questions were asked about the truth, with the result that when the nurse returned to the sanitarium for fomentation cloths and other supplies, she also asked for some tracts on various points of truth.

Another nurse from the sanitarium was called to care for a woman of means and influence, a writer of some note. A favorable impression was created, and the attending physician told the nurse to use such of our treatments as she thought best, saying that while he had himself taken treatment in one of our sanitariums, he was not well acquainted with their application. As the nurse prepared the patient’s food, she was asked if she would prepare a special dinner for some guests. She consented, and with such things as were available provided a menu as follows:—

Creamed rice soup, with zwieback; mashed potatoes and gravy; spinach, with lemon points; vegetable roast, made of beans; apple and date salad; prune fluff, with whipped cream.

It was not an elaborate dinner, but the guests, a prominent city pastor and his daughter, were much pleased with it, expressing their appreciation many times, and saying they had never enjoyed a dinner more.

Another duty of the nurse was to read to the patient. She made as good a selection as possible from the library, and also read from “Ministry of Healing.” On Sabbaths only religious books were read, which was perfectly agreeable to the patient. A chapter from the Bible was read in the morning. One morning the patient asked the nurse if she would pray after reading. Later the patient said she was improving, and she felt sure it was due to the prayers of her nurse and her Christian influence. She expressed her purpose to give up certain hurtful articles of diet.

These are simple experiences, but they represent real, true-hearted service. Both these nurses have recently had a spiritual revival for themselves, and believe it is a special privilege that they can now

help some one else. They know they could not have done this before they had an experience of their own. It is in just such work that our nurses can fulfil their mission of service to the cause and to souls.

L. A. H.

Turkey's Most Successful Year

IN view of the terrible war which has been raging between Turkey and the Balkan States during a portion of the past year, we are glad to be able to present such a good report as the one that follows, recently received from the secretary of the Levant Union Mission, Brother C. Voigt:—

“We are very glad of the success of our canvassers during the past year. It was the most successful year that we have ever had in our canvassing work; but we think also that it was the most difficult year which our canvassers have had. Wars, revolutions, epidemics, famine, earthquakes, and difficulties in communication do not serve to make canvassing an easy task. It took all the faith and courage of our canvassers to continue their work. There were about twelve who devoted their whole time to this work. They sold 27,350 piasters' worth of books and tracts, about 2,000 piasters' worth more than in 1911. They worked 8,046 hours. On an average each canvasser sold every hour 3½ piasters' worth. This is much better than in 1911, when each canvasser sold 2 piasters' worth per hour.”

“Since 1909 our canvassers have sold in the Levant 70,835 piasters' worth of our books and tracts. Praise the Lord for this, and never cease to pray for our canvassing brethren and sisters.”

During 1910 our brethren in the Levant published literature in four languages. In 1911 they added one more language, while during 1912 they published in seven languages. The number of pages published during 1912 amounted to 4,415,500, more than double the number of pages printed in 1911. Let us not forget Brother Voigt's request to pray for the canvassers in that difficult field.

Action Versus Inaction

THE human race is divided into two classes: those who go ahead and do something, and those who sit still and inquire why it was not done the other way.—O. W. Holmes.

The Publishing Work

By N. Z. Town

Conducted by the Publishing Department of the General Conference

N. Z. Town - - - - - Secretary

Medical Missionary Department

By L. A. Hansen

Conducted by the Medical Department of the General Conference

L. A. HANSEN - - - - Assistant Secretary

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— A recent earthquake in the vicinity of Guatemala City, Central America, destroyed several villages. One hundred children are reported to have been killed when a school building collapsed.

— Hollow Horn Bear, the noted chief of the Sioux Indians, contracted a severe cold on inauguration day. Pneumonia resulted, and his death occurred at Washington, D. C., on March 15. The remains were taken to the South Dakota reservation of the tribe for burial.

— Eleven men are missing, all believed to have been drowned, as the result of a New York harbor collision on the night of March 12, in which a steam lighter, the “Wyckoff,” was run down off Governors Island and cut in twain by an unidentified vessel, thought to be a laden tugboat.

— French engineering has triumphed in a task attended by tremendous difficulties—a railroad over the Alps. The last rail of the Loetschberg Railroad, joining Berne with Brieg, was laid February 28. The new road opens an international highway to north and south Europe by way of the Loetschberg and Simplon tunnels across the Central Alps. Immediately express-train service will be started over the new line.

— The Italian government is waging war against such moving-picture shows as are contributing to the perversion of morals and encouraging brutal instincts and criminality. A strict police censorship has been established. Films dealing with immoral subjects are absolutely forbidden, as are antinational subjects. Other things prohibited are representations of crimes, suicides, or sensational trials, especially if they lessen the prestige of the police; scenes of cruelty, involving men or animals, surgical operations, vivisection, and the like. This film campaign is due to the recent increase in crimes and suicides, which is attributed to the extension of the moving-picture business, the low prices of admission resulting in heavy patronage from the most ignorant part of the population.

— A recent number of McClure’s states that Jews are the greatest owners of real estate in New York, after the hereditary proprietors, like the Astors; that they control the clothing business, the theaters, most of the department stores, many great banking houses, and some branches of the city government; that the school-teachers are largely Jewish, the police force is becoming Jewish, and most of the prize-fighters are Jews with Irish names! The Jews are extremely influential in the railways of the country; they control the whisky business, eighty per cent of the members of the National Liquor Dealers’ Association being Jews; they make eighty-five per cent of the cigars, leaving the great American Tobacco Company only fifteen per cent; while 90,000,000 Americans look to them for their amusements. In a hundred years, a writer suggests, the Semitic influence may be the preponderating one in this country.

— Of girls in India who have not completed their fifth year more than 300,000 are wives and nearly 18,000 are widows, while approximately 9,500,000 girls fifteen years of age and under have entered the married state.

— Train service on the railroads in Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, and South Dakota was tied up for several days last week as the result of a severe blizzard which swept over the Central West. Many trains were stalled out on the snow-covered prairies.

— The number of suicides in Germany is distressingly large. In 1909 there were 14,225 cases, about the same number of lives that Germany lost in the war with France. It is attributed by some writers to the growth of infidelity in Germany, and the consequent loss of hopefulness.

— Postage-stamps in mile lengths soon will be printed by the government, as the result of the invention of a machine by Benjamin R. Stickney, of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which will print, gum, dry, and either cut into sheets or coil in mile lengths the product of the press.

— British suffragettes have suffered a serious loss in the physical breakdown of Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the militant leader. Mrs. Flora Drummond has taken her place. Suffrage meetings held in Hyde Park have been broken up by the London mob, the situation at times assuming alarming aspects. The best endeavors of the police were all that saved the women from bodily harm.

— As the result of a destructive windstorm which swept over portions of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee last week, thirteen persons were killed and many injured. Two days later, March 15, the worst rainstorm that has visited the South in twenty-five years swept through the same district, exacting a toll of more than one hundred human lives, and causing property damage running far into the millions.

— A London cablegram to the New York American says: “The exploration of the inside of the Sphinx has had interesting results, according to advices from Egypt. Professor Reisner succeeded in removing the accumulated sand of sixty centuries from the interior of the head, and gained entrance through the neck to a temple that runs the whole length of the gigantic body, measuring one hundred twenty feet. In the temple is a pyramid forming the tomb of Menes I, king of Egypt. It is supposed to contain his mummified body. Sloping passages from the temple lead to other chambers yet unexplored.”

— Four prominent army and navy officers appointed by the French government to cooperate with the United States in determining, by means of wireless tests from the station at Arlington, the exact longitude between Washington and Paris, arrived in the capital March 18, ready for preliminary work. These visitors will be the guests of the nation during their stay. All the nations of the world are cooperating in this effort to establish the longitude between the various countries and principal cities, and when the series of tests are concluded between all nations, the true map of the world will be completed for the first time.

Refuse to Drown

DON'T give up hoping when the ship goes down; Grab a spar or something, just refuse to drown; Don't think you are dying just because you're hit; Smile in the face of danger, and hang to your grit. — Selected.

A Canvassing Experience

By Walter Harper

I am now at this place [Miami, Gila Co., Ariz.] on a new canvassing trip. In two weeks and one day here the Lord gave me over four hundred dollars’ worth of orders for books, helps, etc. A lot of these were for “Daniel and the Revelation.” I am glad to place this timely book. In addition to all this, I was blessed in getting over fifty orders for “Ministry of Healing.” I rejoice to sell this jewel casket of Heaven-sent truth.

Yesterday I secured an order for “Ministry of Healing” in each of the first three homes at which I called. I spent a good part of the day canvassing for this book, and the Master granted me ten orders for it. Up to about 4 P. M., I had not a single large-book order. An observer might say: “Well, you have just lost some thirty or forty dollars’ worth of your usual orders by devoting nearly this whole day to selling ‘Ministry of Healing.’ You have spoiled your day’s work.” It might appear so, but it does not necessarily follow that it is so. I felt that somehow the Lord would work for me even at that late hour. I had had such experiences many times before. I was interested to see how it would come out, or how the Lord would bring it about. A little before 8 P. M. I was favored with over forty-two dollars in orders for large books, helps, etc. This was in addition to the ten orders for “Ministry of Healing.” In one cabin in a few minutes, or almost as fast as I could write them down, I took six orders for “Home and Health” (“Salud y Hogar”) in Spanish, or eighteen dollars’ worth.

A devoted servant of God, an old tried soldier in the cause, has aptly said, “When we make God’s interests our interests, God makes our interests his interests.” I see many tokens of God’s love and care, and remarkable answers to prayer.

Recently a young Japanese, a head cook at a big mine boarding-house, bought a “Ministry of Healing.” Some days afterward he met me on the street, and in a rather grave, sober way he said he wanted another book. At first I feared he did not like it and wished to exchange it for something else; but, O, no! he wanted to get another copy of the same book, which I gladly supplied him.

On this trip, God willing, I plan to deliver over two hundred dollars’ worth of “Ministry of Healing” for Loma Linda College.

WALTER HARPER.

Business Notices!

WANTED.—An all-round, competent painter and decorator at the Hinsdale Sanitarium. Steady employment for at least a year to the right man. Hinsdale Sanitarium, Hinsdale, Ill.

WANTED.—Engineer on the Pacific Coast. Must be practical mechanic, competent to handle large central heating and electric-lighting plant and men. A knowledge of plumbing and general mechanical and engineering work an advantage. Address “Engineer,” care of Review and Herald, Takoma Park, D. C.

We supply Stereopticon Song Slides, words and music, from our church song-books. Can be distinctly seen by audience. Also Songs illustrated by beautifully colored slides with the words accompanying slide. Effective combination never before produced. Send for lists and prices, also catalogue of 2,500 Biblical views, stereopticons, and supplies. Address Nashville Book Company, Marshall, Mich.

Publications Wanted

The following-named persons desire late, clean copies of our publications sent post-paid, for missionary purposes:—

Mrs. D. A. Briggs, Madera, Cal.

Mrs. Kate Taylor, 6503 Cedar St., Cleveland, Ohio.

C. E. Lowry, Box 517, Alvin, Tex., for use of the Young People’s Society.

Mattie H. Welch, 58 Forty-sixth St., Chicago, Ill., for use of the Young People’s Society.

J. J. Jobe, General Delivery, Waco, Tex., periodicals, except REVIEW and conference papers, and tracts.

H. C. Chilson, Royston, Ga., a continuous supply of Signs of the Times, Instructor, and Christian Education especially requested.

Adrian E. Clark, Melrose, Mass., Liberty,—First Quarter 1906, Second Quarter 1907, Third Quarter 1909, Third Quarter 1911.

Edw. Quinn, 4 Hickory Ave., Takoma Park, D. C., a continuous supply of weekly and monthly Signs of the Times and Watchman.

Mrs. W. F. Nall, Luthersville, Ga., a continuous supply of Watchman, Signs of the Times, Our Little Friend, and REVIEW AND HERALD.

Mrs. Hugh McDonald, 1006 Seventh Ave., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., a continuous supply of weekly and monthly Signs of the Times, Watchman, Life and Health, Protestant Magazine, Liberty, and tracts.

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