Not long since, Andrew H. Green, "the father of Greater New York," said through the New York World, "We are tending, in my judgment, toward a surplusage of militarism and the halo of glory—a danger to be guarded against."
What Mr. Green says about this country is true of every country in the world. Militarism is standing out most prominently everywhere to-day. And it is also true that this militarism will continue to be stronger and stronger as the days go by. We are living in the time when the prophecy is fulfilling which tells of the anger of the nations, and of the marshaling of the legions that are rapidly preparing to be gathered by the spirit of demons to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. How impressive is the thought that we are living in such thrilling times!
In the same article Mr. Green says: "The tendency all over the country is to an increase of office-holders, and an increase in their compensation. The paternal system is increasing constantly, so that one can not keep a cow in the country without some inspector being appointed to look after her health. We are in many ways shifting the obligations and duties of private citizens upon our army of public officials."
There can be no doubt but that not merely this country but the whole world is driving rapidly toward the extreme of paternalism, because such a condition is incident to the great wars that the Bible so strikingly predicts for these last days. And while this tendency toward paternalism will be marked everywhere, it yet remains that the world has some object lessons and teaching in the ways of freedom that will make it hard for the people to endure the grinding of paternal despots. Hence, there will follow rioting and furious revolutions that will outdo the bloodiest days of France's Reign of Terror. The Word of God tells of a time of trouble just ahead of us such as has never been since there was a nation. Dan. 12: 1.
But let it ever be borne in mind that this dark picture is for those only who refuse to awaken enough to see the gleamings of the morning of eternal day. The second coming of Christ is right at hand. His glorious eternal reign is about to begin, at which time sin and all of its dreadful consequences will be forever destroyed. These evils that we see filling the world are but the malignant efforts of Satan to destroy all that he can in his last supreme effort against the Prince of Peace. The most soul-inspiring hour of all the ages is right at hand, and this threatening evil that is filling the world is not a subject for despair, except to those who see fit to cling to their sins. He who has accepted the robes of Christ's righteousness, places the true estimate upon that which is filling the minds of so many with dreadful forebodings of overhanging evil. He sees it simply as the cloud that the Lord has told us Satan would seek to cast as a mantle of gloom across the bursting glories of the resurrection morning that is even now at hand. T.
SEVEN American missionaries, with their families, from Peking, China, arrived at a Russian outpost in Siberia on August 2, after having been chased 400 miles by the Chinese. They were rescued by Russian soldiers, after suffering fearful torture from the hot sand of the desert, exposure, and lack of food and water. They report that thousands of native Christians have been massacred, and that thousands more are doomed to die at the hands of the Boxers, unless powerful reinforcements are sent to China. They state that the Chinese troops have been ordered to kill all Christians and destroy their property. A local rebellion has broken out in the Ning Po district, and the worst is feared for all the workers there, comprising two married couples and four single ladies. The German mission at Namon has been destroyed. The governor of Moukden has issued a proclamation urging the people of Manchuria to massacre all Christians. Nearly all the missions in this district are said to be destroyed, and it is reported that the Chinese converts have organized for resistance. A report from Shanghai states that four more missionaries have been murdered near Hankow. The Catholic director of missions in the province of Chi-Li reports the devastation of forty-five Christian communities, but does not give the number put to death in these various mission stations.
STEERING WITHOUT A COMPASS.
REPUBLICANISM in government stands for the recognition of a people's right to rule themselves as they shall elect to do. That principle must stand also for the right of a nation to choose its own form of government. In short, the spirit of Republicanism is simply the recognition of the equality of man, and consequently the natural rights of man. An invasion of these rights means monarchism, imperialism, in civil affairs, and popism in religious affairs.
While we have perfect right to come under a Republican form of government, we have no right to force another people to do so—no right to enter another nation and overturn its form of government and establish another in conformity to our views. As soon as we attempt an act of that kind, we forsake the spirit of Republicanism, and make of ourselves dictators to another people, denying to them the right which we claim for ourselves of choosing our own form of government. Such an act is just as much an apostasy from Republicanism as a national religion, and the hunting and harrying of heretics is an apostasy from true Christianity. The one denies to our neighbor the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; the other denies to our neighbor the right of choosing his own form of government.
A government may be bad, but it is not the province of Republicanism to reform it with the sword, any more than it is the province of Christianity to reform Confucianism with the weapons of war. And yet, plain and righteous as is the principle, it is jeered by the rabble, frowned upon by the military, and abandoned by professed Christians. The following quotation from the New York Observer of July 19, speaks for itself:—
"American interests demand that China shall be so governed as to be orderly and prosperous, and so long as the Manchu conservatives hold power it will not be so governed. That party, which includes the present empress, must, then, be deprived of authority, and a new native government set up. In this work, which will mean war with China, the United States must again act in concert, rather than concurrently, with the other powers, if its interests are to be adequately protected. It is wise, no doubt, to say that we are not at war with China, and to outline an independent policy, but we shall have to unite with the other powers in occupying Peking and establishing a rational government there just the same."
It is because the Chinese have seen some of the kind of Christianity portrayed in this quotation that they have learned to hate "the religion of the foreigner." It is because some "missionaries" to China have misrepresented Christ and Christianity that they have brought suffering upon themselves and others. This is not true of all or of many, but many true Christian men and women have foreseen what must follow the course of some who were laboring there. The calamity has come, and God may even permit China to be completely closed to mission work until His people will learn that they are entitled to no other protection than that of His arm. Mauser rifles are neither an adequate nor proper protection for missionaries or mission buildings in China or anywhere else; and yet we learn of the defense of mission compounds by these weapons in the hands of "converts." Neither native governments nor home governments are the Christian's true refuge in time of trouble; but many missionaries in China have continually pressed their petitions at these earthly thrones. Christ everywhere and always sought heaven in place of the arm of flesh.
While this work which the Observer says America must do "will mean war with China," yet "it is wise, no doubt, to say we are not at war with China." This is certainly not the wisdom of Christ. The leaders of the people are drifting away from Christianity as the nation is drifting away from Republicanism. C. M. S.
"MEN'S HEARTS FAILING THEM FOR FEAR."
IN presenting the signs that would immediately precede His coming, the Master tells us that "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21: 25, 26.
You may talk with men where you will to-day and you will find that their minds are filled with fear because of what they see coming on the earth. How wonderful is it that the Lord could tell these conditions so accurately, and so many hundreds of years before they would come to pass! And when we see them so literally fulfilled before us, we should understand where we are in the world's history. We should know that we are living in the very dawnings of the day of the coming of the Son of man. The conditions may look dark as we see them in the world to-day; but if they do, it is all because we do not look at them in the clear light that God's Word casts upon them. The Word of the Lord clearly shows that the resurrection day is at hand. It shows us that the second coming of Christ is immediately before us. The Lord's glorious reign of eternal righteousness is about to be ushered in. All of these things should fill us with inexpressible joy.
It is sad to think of the great number who will not receive the light of the Word of the Lord, and who will go down in the destruction that is breaking in upon the world. But it is glorious to think that all this evil is soon to be brought to an end by the coming of Christ, and that every one who desires it may be prepared to meet Him, and go with Him into the pleasures and occupations of eternity. And the day is at hand. If you are not ready, hasten. T.
THE CREED OF CAIN.
THE recent assassination of the king of Italy and the attempted murder of the shah of Persia at Paris, have turned the attention of the world again to Anarchism, as both were the work of Anarchists. This society, which numbers its adherents in every country, is holding services of exultation over the death of Humbert, and is planning an Anarchist congress for the furtherance of its secret designs.
The boldness and audacity of the members of this organization were well illustrated on the occasion of the recent visit of the new king and queen to the city in which Humbert met his death, when shouts of, "Long live Anarchy," were given by Anarchists in the presence of the king. At a meeting of Pennsylvania Anarchists, held on August 1, the following message was drafted and sent to the prime minister of Italy: "We are exultant over the death of the king, who massacred the people. Hurrah for our comrade, Bresci! The Anarchist Group, Yohoghany, Penn."
The zeal of these blind, misguided men and women is worthy of a better cause. The Anarchist who attempts the murder of a ruler, well knows that his chances of escape are insignificant; but such is his mad devotion to his impossible plan for the lessening of human woe, that no personal fear deters him from the commission of the terrible crime. So firm a control does Satan secure over the souls of men who refuse to yield to God, that to them sin and righteousness have changed places, and evil is done that good may come. Thus is illustrated the deep design of Satan for the subversion of truth and the destruction of souls. God tells us that in the last days Satan would work "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess. 2: 10. Having refused to receive "the love of the truth," the "strong delusion" has come to them, and they have believed "a lie." Verses 11, 12.
The building up of this massive organization, with its creed of blood, is but one of the manifestations of Satan's power over those who will not receive the "love of the truth." It is a fearful thing to refuse to yield to the plain precepts of the Word; it is a fearful9thing to have such a love for our own way that the requirements of God's truth are distasteful to us. It blinds our perception of truth, and makes it impossible for us to distinguish and resist the deceptions of these last days. The Gospel of peace to this world can not be carried by the hand of Cain; and yet the doctrine of Anarchy is the drowning of human misery in the blood of men. With such a will-o'-the-wisp are men rushing on to their own eternal ruin, while even religious teachers seek to explain away the requirements of God that are distasteful to them.
The only safety in these times is in a glad submission to the will of God, and a cultivation of the "love of the truth." Then may we share in the triumph of the truth. Otherwise we shall go down to destruction with those who "had pleasure in unrighteousness." The lesson in the creed of Cain is one that each should take to heart, that we may not be overwhelmed in the destruction of those who will fill the earth with violence. C. M. S.
War, Famine, and Poverty
By Editor
THE transport Meade sailed from San Francisco on August 1, with over 1,000 soldiers who are destined to join the forces of the other powers in China.
THE London Standard's India correspondent states that there is no improvement in the famine situation there. Cholera still rages in the stricken district. The number at the relief camps is increasing in spite of the terrible death rate. The water famine becomes more acute each week. Springs and small streams have long ago dried up. Wells have been sunk deeper, but they can not reach water, and large rivers have diminished to trickling rills, and the scant rain has sunk into the ground with no appreciable effect. News has just reached the railway stations that in the country of the Bhils, about which we have previously heard nothing, the people have been dying by thousands of starvation since last Christmas. They are practically without help, being far removed from the larger centers. So great has been the drought that plow cattle have died by the hundred thousand; and should the rains come now, the people have neither oxen to plow the ground nor seed to put into it. The shadow of death hangs heavy over stricken India.
THE poor of England are doomed to feel the pinch of poverty more than ever during the coming year, and people of moderate means are looking forward to an exceptionally hard winter. There is a tightening of the money market on account of war expenses. The price of coal is rising rapidly, and no one is able to tell when the rise will stop. Gas bills have already risen twenty-five per cent., and the prices of provisions of all kinds are going up, owing to a shortage in the food supply. Scarcity of vessels, owing to the use of so many in transporting soldiers and war munitions, has increased the cost of freight, and the rise in the price of coal has already increased the cost of manufactured articles. The prospect is certainly anything but reassuring for the poor.
WHILE the greed for gold is piling up millions upon millions of dollars in the hands of single individuals, and while the poverty of the poor grows more desperate in consequence, we hear of magnificent banquets in the great cities costing a thousand or more dollars a plate. This extravagance, in addition to being a sign of the last days, is a direct factor in bringing about the perilous times into which the world is about to plunge. The growing discontent of the masses is heightened by the knowledge of such prodigality in the very face of poverty and destitution.
THERE has been much activity among Filipino bands during the week, and several skirmishes or ambushes of American troops have occurred. Fifteen Americans were captured in the province of Ecija, and other small companies in other places. On September 1 the civil commission, headed by Judge Taft, will become the legislative body of the Philippines, with power to appropriate moneys, establish judicial and educational systems, and make laws.
IT is a fact worthy of note that in the reciprocity treaty recently concluded between Italy and the United States, as also in the more recent treaty concluded between Germany and the United States, the first thing considered, and the one to which, apparently, the most importance was attached, was the tariff on the importation of spirituous liquors. Thus we have an incidental indication of the volume and power of the liquor business.
ON August 1 over 3,000 Boers surrendered to Generals Bruce and Hunter, with their horses and three guns, and other commands are expected to lay down their arms within a few days. Commandant Oliver has escaped to the hills, determined to continue the war. A train bearing United States Consul Stowe, and flying the Stars and Stripes, was derailed and burned by a Boer patrol near Honingspruit, on August 4.
AN air ship 407 feet long and 39 feet in diameter was recently started from a float in Lake Constance, Switzerland. The ship went two miles against the wind, turned about and went five miles with the wind, turned again and after sailing one mile descended safely to the surface of the lake, tho an accident to its steering gear made it necessary for the ship to descend sooner than the aeronaut had intended.
FIFTY-TWO suspected Anarchists have been arrested in Italy since the killing of King Humbert. These include the brother and brother-in-law of the assassin.
IN view of the massacres of Christians now going on in China, the Vatican has issued an authoritative statement of the Roman Catholic missions in China. According to this statement, there are in China 759 European priests, 409 Chinese priests, and 532,448 native converts, 3,930 churches and chapels, 49 seminaries, and 2,913 schools.
THE British forces in the Ashantee country, Africa, encountered several thousand warriors on July 27, and defeated them after a stubborn resistance. The English had thirty wounded, including the commander. The Ashantees are not conquered, and the commander is calling for more troops to enable him to finish the campaign.
AN Anarchist riot occurred at Chicago on the afternoon of August 5. The riot followed an attempt of the Anarchists to hold a jubilee service over the killing of the king of Italy. Forty-five policemen were necessary to disperse the rioters, and in the struggle twenty-five persons were injured, and five arrests made.
A SUDDEN rise in temperature has been experienced throughout the central States during the week. For several days the heat has been unbearable, especially in the crowded tenements of large cities, and many have died, some have been driven insane, and hundreds have been prostrated.
A FURIOUS anti-Jewish riot occurred at Odessa, Russia, on August 1. A soldier accused a Jew of picking his pocket, whereupon an attack was at once begun by the soldiers upon every Jew in sight. Five of the latter were killed, and 120 had to be taken to the hospitals.
THE total amount of fire losses in the United States during the year 1899 was $153,000,000, while the loss for the first half of the present year is placed at $103,000,000. The enormous increase is said to be due to the rapid spread of electrical appliances improperly protected.
MUZAFFER-ED-DIN, shah of Persia, a visitor at the Paris Exposition, narrowly escaped assassination on the morning of August 2, at the hand of an Anarchist. The shah's companion caught the wrist of the would-be murderer in time to prevent the discharge of the revolver.
THE Russian Government is seeking to restrict the almost universal use of liquor among the peasantry. The average peasant, not content with remaining in a saloon until he has spent all his money, often pawns his clothes, furniture, and future crops.
THE United States Charge d'Affairs at Constantinople continues to press the sultan for settlement of America's demand for indemnity for property destroyed during the Armenian massacres. The Porte has given no reply to the Charge's last demand.
SEVERAL thousand men and women at Cape Nome are reported to have petitioned the government for transportation back to civilization, having no means for paying their own transportation or maintaining themselves during the coming winter.
ON August 2, North Carolina held its State election, and by 30,000 majority adopted an amendment to the State constitution which practically eliminates the negro vote in that State, by disfranchising the majority of colored inhabitants.
THE native Samoan chiefs of the islands which have been assimilated by the United States in the Samoan group, have signed an instrument of cession, by which they transfer all their lands to the United States Government.
THE cost to England of the South African war is piling up at a fearful rate. From present estimates, the total cost will not be under $400,000,000, or about $15,000 for the subjugation of each Boer in South Africa.
THE British Government has declared its intention of making the South African republics crown colonies, whose government will be supported by military force, ultimately extending into representative self-government.
THE last public school in Hawaii in which the native language was taught, has now been closed, and all court proceedings and legal documents and notices must be printed in the English language.
FIERCE fighting is reported to have been going on for several days between Mexican troops and the Yucatan Indians, with considerable losses on both sides, and no decided advantage for either.
THE grand staff of the Russian army at St. Petersburg estimates the total number of Chinese troops, on the strength of information from their military agents in China, at 1,752,000 men.
A NEW telegram cable has just been completed between Portugal and the United States, opening direct communication for the first time between these two countries.
FOUR cases of the bubonic plague have been discovered in London, England, two of which have proved fatal.
THE WAR IN CHINA.
THE news from China, like that from all other fields of military operation, is uncertain and much of it contradictory. It seems quite certain, however, that up to August 1 the foreigners were still holding out in the British legation. The demand of Secretary Hay that Minister Conger be put in communication with his government has been refused by the Chinese, altho the demand was a virtual ultimatum. The de facto Chinese Government has ordered the foreign ministers and other foreigners in Peking to leave the city for the coast under escort of a Chinese general. The ministers have refused to do this, fearing death at the hands of the Chinese troops. Li Hung Chang, however, declares that the ministers have left for the coast under escort. According to letters received from those imprisoned in Peking, the Chinese Government is directly responsible for the attacks on the foreign legations. Two members of the Chinese Foreign Office were cut in twain on August 3, for urging the preservation of the foreign ministers. Their execution was brought about by the new Chinese general, Li Ping Heng, who has recently been placed in authority in Peking, and who is known to be most bitter in his anti-foreign sentiments.
Several good-sized Chinese armies are reported to be within short distances of Tien-tsin, ready to attack the city when the foreign troops are sent forward, or to cut off the communications of the advancing foreigners. A Japanese and Russian reconnoitering party attempted to drive the Chinese from their position at Pei-tsang on July 30, but were unable to do so. On August 1 a strong force of Chinese attempted to recapture the city of Tien-tsin, but were repulsed with considerable loss. On August 5 the Japanese and Russians again attacked the Chinese at Pei-tsang, and drove them from their position. The allied forces numbered 16,000, and in the attack on the Chinese position, sustained a loss of 1,200 in killed and wounded. The advance of the allied forces on Peking is believed to have begun, and the reports indicate that they will meet with heavy opposition the entire distance.
Several Chinese towns along the Siberian frontier have been taken by Russian troops during the week.
STRAINED THROUGH LIQUOR FUMES AND TOBACCO SMOKE.
By T. E. Bowen
IN an interview with G. Bernard Shaw, in London, he spoke of the way most of the literature of the day is produced, so eagerly perused on boat, and train, and everywhere, by the young and others. He says:—
"They write in town at night. First they poison themselves with alcohol and tobacco, drinking and smoking at their dinner; then they go into their studies, draw the blinds, turn on the light, and work. The consequence is that almost all of modern literature is drunken. The taint of tobacco, of wine, of meat-eating runs right through it."
Is it any wonder we have such a low class of literature, when thoughts are strained through liquor, tobacco, and meat-beclouded minds? Who desires to feed upon such mind products? Let those especially who select reading for the youth, cut out with strict censorship such soul-and-mind destroying products. T. E. BOWEN.
Effect of Modern Education. Promoter of Skepticism
By W. S. Sadler
DEMORALIZATION OF THE YOUNG MAN. No. 7.
[All rights reserved.]
Effect of Modern Education. Promoter of Skepticism.
THOUSANDS of young men are in attendance at the various schools, colleges, and other educational institutions throughout the land. They are in these institutions of learning to receive a training and preparation for their life-work.
The institution that undertakes the solemn responsibility of training the minds and characters of the rising generation should be an institution permeated throughout by the principles of eternal truth and the everlasting Gospel. Our much boasted higher and modern education is from day to day demonstrating its inability to inculcate either Christian principles or purposes into the minds and characters of the youth whose future usefulness and character development have been intrusted to the watchcare of American schools and colleges. A tendency to infidelity, a spirit of skepticism, and an inclination to doubt both the truth and authenticity of the Bible, have all kept pace with the development of the modern educational idea.
The popular education of to-day is one essentially antagonistic to the principles of Christianity, and hence must indirectly contribute to the demoralization of the young man, notwithstanding its boasted high or classic nature. Christian education alone provides the way of escape for the young man of to-day who would save his mind from the sowing of the tares of doubt and infidelity.
The Theater, Amusements, etc.
Real happiness will come to the young man of to-day only as a result of his unselfish and disinterested efforts to make others happy. True happiness and real pleasure are never found by seeking for them. They come only as the result of that unselfishness and self-denial which lead us to spend and be spent for the good of others. The youth of to-day are engaged in sowing but little of this kind of seed, and hence they reap but little of genuine happiness, joy of heart, and real peace of mind. And so to those who are unwilling to pay the cost of true happiness, Satan comes with the demoralizing influences of the theater, drama, vaudeville, and various other amusements, which he promises will divert their unsettled minds, and calm their unsatisfied hearts.
There are often urged in this connection the great educational advantages of the stage and its environments; but we very seriously question the value of these public amusements and performances as promoters either of purity of thought or righteousness of deportment. While it is true that there are some things on the stage which the worldly-minded might accept as good, yet it can not be denied that there are others so evil that the English language does not afford terms of criticism too severe with which to denounce them. Ruination lurks all about them, and moral devastation is found in their wake. In the cities are to be found the dance-hall, together with other resorts, provided with every possible attraction calculated to entice the youth within their bounds, to enjoy what the devil would make it appear are the "pleasures of sin for a season." Afterward is the rude awakening to a realization of the sad reality that they have been disappointed, and deceived, and have secured but the counterfeit of true happiness,—artificial pleasure.
The Ballroom, Dancing, etc.
Society of to-day, and even many churches and professed Christians, have come to look upon the ballroom and its associations with a favorable eye. All parents, all Christians, can but regard the ballroom, with its modern dances and waltzes, as one of the devil's direct and special creations, calculated to demoralize, ruin, and destroy the youth who participate in them. Physicians and ministers unite in their testimony of condemnation against these things, which are in every way calculated to violate the principles of modesty, morality, and propriety. Did the English language afford suitable terms, we might relate incidents that would clearly show that the ballroom is responsible for the destruction and downfall of many youth.
Regarded as a Man when Only a Boy.
A tendency greatly to be regretted is that which makes it possible for the boy of to-day to enter, at such an early age, upon his career as a young man. Is it to be wondered at that the grandparents of to-day are led to remark, with sorrow and regret, as they view the actions of the modern young man: "It was not so when I was a child. Boys and girls were young until they were eighteen or twenty years of age, but now they must be regarded and addressed as young men and young women at the age of fourteen or fifteen years."
But this is a fast age, and the young man of to-day becomes, in the estimation of both himself and society, a man at a time when, for the sake of the development of character and morals, he should be regarded by both parents and society as a boy only. Nowadays things are done in a hurry. Education is largely superficial; moral training is almost wholly left out of many a young man's experience. All these things conspire together to form a great deficiency in the general character and usefulness of the average young man.
Sowing Wild Oats.
It is often said of a young man that he is a very nice fellow, with the exception that he is sowing his "wild oats." From nature, experience, revelation, and society, we learn that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. 6:7. If the seeds of vice, dissipation, idleness, and skepticism are sown, they will surely bring forth their harvest in the after life and character of the individual, as well as in the eternity which is to follow. That the young man of to-day may sow for vice and reap virtue, is one of the saddest delusions which the enemy of the soul has ever succeeded in fastening upon the youth of this generation.
Let no Christian young woman regard the waywardness of the young man of to-day as a matter of small consequence, and pass it by with but little thought. Let the Christian girl of to-day demand of the young man, in point of character and morals, all that he expects of her. Let the principles of modesty, Christianity, and loyalty to true principles, characterize her every attitude. If the bulwark of woman's natural modesty be broken down in the eyes of the young man, the resultant gap will stand as an open gateway to the field of his demoralization. Let the young woman of to-day arise, awake, discern her duty in these respects, and recognize the great possibilities she has for doing good, and the sad consequences of their neglect? Small as the influences of neglect in this matter are, they empty into the channel that flows over the Niagara of self-destruction into the whirlpool of physical, mental, and moral ruin.
THE SLAUGHTER OF BIRDS.
MUCH has been said (and truthfully) about killing birds for millinery purposes. Of course it is wrong to kill the pretty, innocent creatures just to ornament ladies' hats. But why is the ruthless destruction for this purpose made the leading theme? Is it not true that many more birds are killed to gratify appetite? During the game season, what an army of sportsmen "go gunning" for birds to eat, and to sell in the market! We hear of ladies' societies declaring against wearing birds and wings and feathers on their hats (and their protest is all right, yea, commendable); but why do those same ladies encourage the slaughter by eating the birds? Are not the lives of the birds they eat just as precious as the lives of the birds whose plumage adorns the milliner's goods?
Think of the thousands of quail, pigeons, doves, plovers, kildees, snipes, robins, and the "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie," the ducks, the chickens, the grouse, the pheasants, etc., that are slain to gratify appetite. These rival in number the birds killed to adorn11the ladies' hats. While we indorse proper effort to stop the killing of birds for millinery purposes, why will not the same agitators be consistent, and use their influence, by precept and practise, to spare the birds that are killed for culinary use? The plea of necessity is barred by the fact that the indulgence of such food can only be afforded by those who are able to buy food of a proper kind. There is no such necessity. The eating of these birds is as much of a luxury, and as unnecessary, as the wearing of the plumage of birds as ornaments. The birds were made for God's pleasure and for man's enjoyment; but it never was designed that the lives of the birds should be sacrificed to gratify pride or lust. G.
THE GOLDEN CITY.
By Christian Burke
[Christian Burke, in the Argosy.]
FROM the days of St. John's Revelation
The marvelous story is told,
And down thro' the ages has come the song,
The song of the city of gold.
To the innocent hearts of the children,
To the toilers who faint 'neath earth's sun,
To the old who have fought out its problems,
To the dying whose journey is done,
Comes the dream of the mystical city,
With color and loveliness rife,
Iridescent its jeweled foundations,
Flower-bordered its River of Life;
And the streets of the city are golden,
And the sea as of crystal appears,
And the sound of the harpers is in it,
And it knows not of sorrow or tears.
Like a mirage far out in the desert,
Like the fabric that fashions our dreams,
Like some many-hued mirrored reflection,
The heavenly Jerusalem seems.
We grope 'mid the types and the shadows,
We fret at its vailing disguise;
But our hearts can not grasp nor conceive it—
Its glory is hid from our eyes.
We catch but a note of the music,
A glimpse swiftly passing and faint,
A hint of its wondrous perfection,
Low whispered to seer and to saint.
Yet the glow of it shortens the journey,
And our feet tread more bravely the road
Which leads to the sorrowless city
Whose Builder and Maker is God.
And thus, as a gift to the ages,
The marvelous story flows on,
And the heart of man rests on the vision
That illumined the eyes of St. John.
HOME CRITICISM.
By Mary R. Baldwin
FREEDOM has always its attendant perils, and even the home, where it might be supposed that perfect liberty should be claimed without fear of disastrous consequences, is not exempt from them. The right to speak the mind in the place where we are best understood, without the necessity of careful explanation, or the haunting possibility of misrepresentation of our words, is a great privilege; yet it is often abused, and becomes a curse, when it might be a blessing. When pride and passion and jealousy enter into the spirit and conversation of the home, it becomes a center from which spiteful, unjust, and even cruel influences are sent forth into the world, and these in turn create new forces for evil that can not be computed.
No child grows to manhood or womanhood, and goes forth from the home into the world, without carrying impressions of people and things gained in the family. One has only to use personal experience to prove this fact. A sentence with reference to a person, caught even in childhood, may bias the mind so that no after influence will be able to change the early effect.
Home criticism is a forceful thing, and it becomes baneful when used in its worst form—that of picking a character to pieces, and laying it out, piece by piece, for the ridicule or contempt of others. There are homes where criticism is a ruling practise, one of the family at least being addicted to it, through a peculiar make-up, or through something that has come in to embitter the spirit or to stir up jealousy. Some are born with a critical nature. Self-conceit, and personal dissatisfaction with things as they are, will breed fault-finding; there is a sort of smartness that finds criticism as the most appropriate way to prove itself. The great I is responsible for most of the burning, harsh, unjust words that are spoken of others. When a parent indulges in this form of egotism, the children are very apt to follow his example.
Sometimes a trifling incident not only puts one awry with general conditions, but creates family feuds that may last through long years, and be repeated in a succeeding generation.
Sometimes even in the small circle of the one spot where each should be linked to the others in a strong, loyal way, there are exclusive preferences that divide the interests and engender coldness and criticism. The little mistakes and faults are subject to the remarks of the two who by nature are drawn to each other. There have been cases where an unlike member of the family has become almost a subject of persecution; has suffered loneliness, and when of a sensitive nature has lost heart and purpose, all on account of the criticisms of his own brothers and sisters.
There have also been instances of family separations, married sisters growing apart, and their children becoming like strangers, because this early habit of harsh and unsympathetic judgment developed the worst feelings, and held the gentler from expression. They carried the habit into their own homes, and talked freely of the things that did not please them in their early experience.
"Aunt Marian always thought herself a little better than her sisters," said the daughter of one of these critical women, who had acquired the habit of cold, heartless fault-finding in her youth. The listener knew that the lady so severely judged was a sweet, gentle woman, whose high ideals had placed her above the plane of the sister who could not understand, and therefore disliked her. She knew, too, that the lady had tried, in a loving, wise way, to influence the children of the sister whom she loved, in spite of her unkindness, but had failed—and why?—Simply because these young people had been prejudiced by the criticisms offered by their mother, from their childhood.
"But if I think things, and have a sound sense of fitness, and see the ridiculous, and all that, can I not have the privilege of speaking to my own about what impresses me so forcibly?" asks one. Another question might be asked right here in reply: Are you sure that you would notice as quickly, and express as readily, what pleases you in a character? Unless you are, you may be sure that the demon of cruel criticism has you even now in its clutches.
We can not afford to go through the world looking for the worst, and drawing attention to it; for we can not afford to kill our kindness, hope, and trust.—Mary R. Baldwin.