THE following description is from the Union Signal. If it is not Church and State, what is it? In lieu of comments, we italicize the phrases that show the mingling of the Church and the State functions to a degree which marks the practise as far removed from the fundamental principles of the United States Government:—
'Sunday on board a United States man-of-war is in many respects similar to any other day in the week, save that the men are more quiet, the occasional games and recreations are suspended, there are no drills, and the morning 'church' is the feature of the day.
'On board the New York, the flag-ship of the North Atlantic Squadron, the Rev. A. L. Royce is chaplain. The services on this ship last about an hour, and a deep interest is taken in the responses from the book of prayer, as well as in the sermon and singing, music for which is furnished by the Admiral's band.
'This quarter of the gun deck during religious services presents an interesting scene. At one end the chaplain stands at his pulpit—a solid oak piece of furniture draped with the Stars and Stripes—on which rests the open Bible. To the right the officers of the ship are seated, and facing the chaplain are the marines, in uniforms of white duck, with blue sailor collars. To the left the rear of a powerful gun is visible, the muzzle projecting through a porthole, while to the right, and back of the officers, a rack of rifles may be seen. Here, amid the deadly weapons of modern warfare, this body of men assemble to lift up their hearts and voices to their Maker.
'Sunday on board ship is resting-day for nearly all hands, and those who are inclined to attend divine worship do so of their own free-will. It is to the credit of our seamen that very few of them neglect this privilege. The government provides a chaplain, and designates the hour for service, but does not compel the men to attend, so that it is very encouraging to find a large proportion of the ship's men at the Sunday-morning service.
'A beautiful custom in the navy in this connection is that when the ship's bell tolls for church, the national colors are hauled down from the peak, and the church pennant, consisting of a blue cross on a white field, is displayed instead. The colors are then hauled back to a position immediately underneath the pennant. Thus the sacred symbol of Christianity alone is permitted to take precedence of the Stars and Stripes; and this, the only flag that is ever hoisted above the national colors, remains flying during the hour of Sunday worship, from half past ten until half past eleven. It is then hauled down and the Stars and Stripes are again hoisted. Every flag-ship in the navy carries a chaplain, and most of the first-raters, such as the Columbia and Minneapolis. Some of the second-raters, like the Texas and Maine, also have chaplains. Every prominent naval station and navy-yard are also provided with chaplains, so that in the navy the government provides in all for twenty-four chaplains, who at the time of their appointment must not be over thirty-five nor less than twenty-one years of age.
'To those chaplains on the active list, the moral and religious work of our churches in the navy is intrusted, and each is required to do the work of his church without a shadow of sectarianism. Christian unity is aimed at and largely realized in the navy, and to the building up of character the chaplains are at work with might and main. They are appointed and commissioned, like any other naval officer, by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate. As in the case of other staff officers, they hold relative rank with the line, their rank terminating with that of captain, so that theirs is the privilege of the ship. Their uniform is not military, neither is it unmilitary, since it consists of the ordinary clerical dress, which is especially becoming on board ship.'
THE LORD'S MONEY.
"BERTIE! Bertie! isn't this a shame?" cried little Casper Hall, as he held up a silver quarter for his elder brother to look at.
It was a bright quarter, and at first sight there was nothing the matter with it, but closer inspection showed that it had been bored and the hole afterward carefully filled up.
"They wouldn't take it where I bought my slate," said Casper ruefully; "and I tried to pass it at the candy shop, and the old lady shook her head; and when I offered it to the conductor of the car, he was quite cross, and asked me if I didn't know how to read. When I said, 'Yes, I do,' he pointed to the notice in big letters, 'No mutilated coin received here.' What shall I do with it?" finished the little fellow with a sigh.
"You have no idea who gave it to you, have you, Casper?" said Bertie.
"Not in the least. It is part of the change I had from Uncle John's Christmas gift to me."
"Well, you must be sharper next time. Now, if I were you, I would put it in the missionary box. The society will work it off somehow."
"But I don't want to put a whole quarter in the box."
"It is not a whole quarter, Casper; it is a quarter that's had a hole in it. Nobody'll take it from you. You may just as well get rid of it in that way as any other."
Bertie and Casper Hall were in their father's library when this conversation took place. They thought themselves alone, but just on the other side of a curtain which divided the room from the parlor, their cousin Ethel was sitting. As Casper moved toward the mantel, where the family missionary box stood in plain sight, Ethel drew the curtain aside and spoke to him.
"Boys," she said, "I did not mean to listen to your conversation, but I could not help overhearing you. Casper, dear, don't drop that quarter into the box, please."
"Why not, Ethel?"
"The Lord's money goes into that box."
Bertie looked up from his Latin grammar to meet the glowing face of the little girl. Her eyes were shining, and her lips quivered a little, but she spoke gravely: "It was the lamb without blemish, don't you know, that the Hebrews were to offer to the Lord? If you saw Jesus here in this room, you would not like to say, 'I give this to thee because nobody else will have it.' It was gold, frankincense, and myrrh the wise men offered the infant Jesus."
The boys drew near Ethel. She went on: "It isn't much we can give to him who gave himself for us, but I believe we ought to give him our best, that which costs us something. Excuse me, but it seems you mean to drop a battered coin into God's treasury just to get it out of sight."
Casper and Bertie agreed with Ethel. They were about to do wrong for want of thought.10Are there not older people who should remember that the Lord's money ought to be perfect and of the best?
Increase of Wickedness.
By Editor
One of the signs of the end which Inspiration gives us is the increase of wickedness among the people of God. "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." The following, relating to ministers, is from the Christian Advocate of April 29:—
"At all times and in all parts of the world some men have found their way into the ministry of the Christian Church who were destitute of common sense; others, destitute of moral sense; others, basely wicked; and others, both weak and wicked. There is reason to fear that all these classes are increasing in numbers. Within the last year there have been more charges of immorality against the ministry in this country than at any previous time within half a century, and, what is worse, many of them have been proved beyond reasonable doubt; so that all natural sympathy has been overcome, and they have been expelled from the church. A considerable number have withdrawn under charges, an infallible proof of guilt, or so nearly so that they should not be readmitted, even to membership in the church, except upon specific confession."
The Advocate well says in closing: "When such guilt is proved, the first step toward diminishing the 'occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme' is for the church to obey the inspired command, 'Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.'"
The True Minister
Rev. Thomas Dixon, of New York, is credited with the statement that "the ministry is one of the most overcrowded of all professions, and hundreds of men engaged in it are mere tramps, hunting for work." This is putting the ministry on a common level with the ordinary work of the world. As a matter of fact, every true minister is a "tramp" hunting work; but there is a distinction between him and the ordinary tramp, in that the true minister always finds the work. He finds it in "going about doing good." He never is out of a job, for the reason that he has entered the service of the Master for life. He does not go about seeking a salary, for he knows that his Master is cognizant of his necessities. "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing." There is a vast difference between the minister of Christ and the "preacher" who follows "preaching" as a mere business. The latter "profession" is undoubtedly "overcrowded," but in the Lord's missionary field it is as true to-day as ever it was that "the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."
W. C. T. U. Legislative Plans
The W. C. T. U. State reporter of California says: "Our executive board has already appointed a committee to prepare the bills for which we are not only to work at the next Legislature, two years hence, but upon whose lines we are to educate a constituency in the interval. So much we have learned—to cut and dry plans."
High Hats and Gin Mills
COMMENTING on the law passed by the Colorado Legislature imposing a penalty of ten dollars for the first offense of wearing a high hat in a theater, the New York Voice remarks: "It is strange how wise legislators will strain at a hat and swallow a gin-mill."
THE LENGTH OF A LIFE.
By Ada D. Wellman
A MERE flash of light, like a midwinter day in the Arctic,
It may be that life's day has ended ere fully begun;
Been vailed in the brightness of morning, as when Christ hung dying;
Or gone out at noon, as when God placed a sign in the sun;
Or, as by the swift-coming night of a northern December,
Its course is cut short in mid-afternoon; or its light,
For the work of a father or mother in Israel, has tarried,
As when, at the mandate of Joshua, day o'er-lapped night.
ADA D. WELLMAN.
"TEMPERANCE" AND "CHRISTIAN."
By W. N. G.
Evangelist Sam. Small says:—
"Once it was honorable to be called a temperance man, but since the distillers, brewers, and doggery-keepers of the nation, in solemn conventions, have resolved that they are temperance men, I repudiate the name and declare myself a prohibitionist."
To this the Union Signal adds:—
"Many are the foes of the liquor traffic who feel the same way, and the number is growing larger every day. We should not feel satisfied with the word 'temperance' in the name of our white-ribbon organization, if it were not preceded by the word 'Christian.' We hardly think any liquor-men's convention . . . is likely to pledge official sympathy with 'Christian temperance.'"
We ask, Why not? Hundreds of them are pillars in popular churches recognized as Christian; they are nearly all citizens, and many of them officials in what the Signal calls a "Christian nation." If they claim to be Christians, and are recognized as such in a general way by Christian temperance people; if they claim to be temperance men, and temperance men allow them the appellation by abandoning it themselves, why may they not claim to be "Christian temperance" men?
It is impossible to keep the name of any good thing from being used by the evil one and his emissaries. "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light," therefore it is not surprising to see his satellites assuming the name and pretense of all that is good. And if Christian men and temperance men are going to retreat and abandon every name and position that may be assumed by fraudulent impostors, they will eventually be driven into a corner. The worst men in the world have been recognized as Christians, and the wickedest of deeds have been done in the name of Christianity; should Christians, therefore, abandon the name of Him by whom alone they may be saved? W. N. G.
SOPHY—BAKER'S SECOND COUSIN.
By PRISCILLA ANN BAKER
(Concluded.)
By PRISCILLA ANN BAKER.
WELL, I got supper that night while Sophy was tendin' on Baker. How I done it is more'n I can tell; for my head swum so it seemed like the cook stove an' cupboard an' table wus a-swingin' back an' forth like penjulums. When Sophy come out an' see me, she looked scared, an' made me go right to bed in the front bedroom agin. What happened after that I don't know much about, only every time I spoke, an' lots when I didn't, Sophy wus right there in a minute; an' sometimes I know she bathed me awful careful, an' kep' coolin' my head, an' puttin' somethin' warm to one of my limbs that felt so cold an' little. Agin, I'd ben raised right straight up, an' come down jest as easy onto a nice, cool bed. She said when I asked her about it afterward, that one of them stood on each side of the bed, an' lifted me, an' another one rolled away that bed, an' put a fresh one in its place, an' then they laid me down agin.
They give me some medicine, an' milk, an' her kind of eggnog, an' sich coolin', nourishin' things till after the fever wus gone. That went on till one day I got to know what wus goin' on; an' a little at a time Sophy an' her mother (who she'd sent fur as soon as I was took, an' I hadn't knowed frum her) an' Baker an' Ben told me all about it. Baker's fever had broke two or three days after I got down, an' he wus purty well, tho weak, when I come to. It had ben four weeks sense I'd got supper that night, with the things a-swingin' so; an' Hannah had ben there all the time a-workin', her an' Sophy an' Ben.
Hannah's ben a widder ten year, an' she jest got Sophy an' another one, Belle, who wus goin' to school. She jest put her to a neighbor's to board, an' come. I'll never forgit it of her an' Sophy till I'm laid where I would ben if they hadn't done fur me.
While I wus sick, Sophy found out how it all happened; an' I thank the Lord he sent her to us, fur if we'd got up agin without her—which I'm mighty doubtful of—we'd a-kep' gettin' sick, time an' agin, like the other folks that lived here. We'd never thought nothin' of havin' garden stuff an' meat in the cellar right under where 'we lived, an' moved, an' had our bein's,' as it were; only to the old place 'twas under the part we didn't use much, so 'twa'n't quite so bad as the old one here. Why, there wus great cracks in that kitchen floor here, an' I'd kep' at Baker about 'em off an' on a long time, they looked so starey, an' let the water through so when I wus scrubbin'. But land! we never knowed that poison wus a-risin' off them things down there up through, an' makin' us sick, till Sophy told us. They hadn't kep' overly well neither, bein' shet up so tight. As soon as Sophy found out about 'em, she had Ben open the outside door an' tote every last thing outen there, an' they scraped an' swep' an' burnt disinfectin' stuff down there. There wus no walls or they'd a-whitewashed 'em, she said. Me a-stayin' in the house all the time over them things, wus why I wus sicker'n Baker.
Then agin the place the well wus, wus bad. The house is on a hill that slopes to the east towards the road, an' to the north towards the barn, which is on another knoll that slopes right over towards the house. Well, right between them hills is a holler, an' the fence between the two yards runs along in it, an' right by the fence wus the well, so as to water man an' beast, as it were. Ben says Sophy come mighty nigh a-faintin' when she learnt where he wus a-bringin' her water frum. As soon as she got breath agin, she asked, kind of pleadin'-like, if there wa'n't any to be got where 'twouldn't be percylated full of poison frum the barn-yard. Her color come back a little when he told her of the good spring of soft water on the fur side of the house hill, but she hardly took a good breath till she'd follered him away out there, clean across the stump patch to it, an' wus sure nothin' could poison it; an' he'd promised as solemn as an owl to tote it all frum there till we got some other way fixed.
THE HOUSE WHERE BAKER LIVED.
Well, the upshot of the hull thing wus that Sophy stayed all summer, an' helped us build an' fix so, as to keep well. Baker wouldn't hear to her goin' away, nor me neither, fur we didn't want to run no resks; an' we knowed she could tend to havin' things fixed right. She wrote to a big doctor, where she'd ben—Sammy Terryum, I guess—an' got a picture an' printin' of how to make a cistern with a filter into it, so we'd have good, pure water; an' another paper that read about cellars. If we had one under the house, to have a powerful tight floor over it, an' ventilate it right up the kitchen chimbly; but 'twas safest not to have one in under the house at all.
After all we'd ben through, Baker an' me, we thought we'd fix as safe as we could. So Ben dug a cellar northwest of the house a ways, an' we had it walled an' floored an' petitioned with brick an' cement, an' moved the old kitchen part onto it. I have what wus the kitchen fur a wood-shed an' milk-house too in the summer, when there's nothin' in the cellar, an' Baker has what wus our bedroom fur a bin.
Sophy took the carpet up in the front room, an' we lived in there while we wus buildin' an' fixin'. After they got the wall built fur the new house, they took an' filled the old cellar up with rocks, dry dirt, an' sand, as tight as if they'd growed there, an' made a mighty nice cistern jest like that picture, with a filter of sand an' gravel an' charcoal into it. It's on the back porch, an' s fixed so it kin easy be cleaned onct or twict a year. An' then they dug a good clean well fur the stock.
We built a nice big kitchen, an' a bedroom fur Baker an' me, an' a pantry that's big enough to have the stove in in the summer, an' let us have a cool kitchen to eat in, an' set. The bedroom an' pantry's north of the kitchen, which jines the front room; an' we put a long porch on the west, an' wus a-goin' to on the east too, but Sophy said Baker an' me'd look like purtaters growin' in a cellar if we didn't let the sunshine in; so we jest put a portico over the east door. There wus to be a east winder to the kitchen too, an' Sophy took a powerful notion fur it to be a bay-winder. 'Good land!' says I, 'a bay-winder onto a kitchen! You must be takin' the fever, you talk so wild.'
'But,' says she, 'you'll jest have one the sun shines in at, an' a bay-winder would let in so much more, an' make it so cheerful an' pleasant for you. I think kitchens, where housekeepers spend nearly all their lives, ought to be made as bright as any room in the house.' Well, I didn't see but what she wus right, so bay-winder it wus; fur we'd sold some woods over by Uncle Dan'ses along the crick, an' had a plenty to build an' fix as we wanted to, an' pay Sophy mighty handsome too, as fur as money kin pay sich as her.
It made a heap of difference on Baker an' me, her bein' here that summer. He give up smokin', an' we both quit tea an' coffee, because she made it so plain they wus hurtin' us; an' pork an' most kinds of pie an' pickles we don't eat neither no more. I wus a mighty good cook, if I do say it, tho I'm fur frum bein' the first one as has. I'd got the premiums on spice-cake, an' rusks, an' compone, an' jam, an' pickles, time an' agin at the Brush County fair; but I never paid no attention to whether they wus healthy or not. But that summer I buckled to, an' learned how to cook wholesome, healthy victuals without so much sweetenin' an' shortenin' an' stuff into 'em, outen a mighty nice cook-book Sophy'd brung with her. She says she's 'proud of her pupil,' but I never let on I wus. Baker goes round with his lip a-hangin' fur mince pie an' doughnuts yit sometimes, but I look at him powerful cold, an' say, 'Whenever I find a thing's a-hurtin' me or anybody else, I don't have nothin' to do with it.' An' then he gives a sigh clean frum down where he wants the pie, an' goes to readin' the Bean Blossom Globe. I feel mighty sorry fur him tho, an' alwus cook somethin' else that he's extra fond of, an' doesn't hurt him none. I do want coffee powerful bad when I think of it, but I never let on to Baker nor Priscilla Ann neither, no more'n I kin help; an' when I fall to eatin' things outen that book, I furgit all about it.
Baker's bile don't never take spells no more, an' my rheumatiz don't bother me much neither like it used to; an' Sophy says it won't as long as I eat what I ought to, an' wear them soft flannels cut by her pattern (only lots bigger), clean down to my heels.
We take a heap of comfort with that good cellar, an' pure soft water, an' the bay-winder. It's a mighty nice big one, an' I keep Goldie, the bird, hangin' up in it, an' he jest sings like he'd split his little yaller throat. I have some flower-pots, too, in it, on each side. Sophy said not to keep too many, an' cheat ourselves of the sunshine. I set there right smart, an' knit, an' cut apples fur dryin'; an' I've never ben sorry we had it made, nor neither has Baker, fur he sets there a heap too, readin' an' noddin'. Well, that's about all of it; anyway, I've got to take after that old hen turkey, fur I'll warrant she's got them young ones of hers trailed plum over to the rye field by this time.—Good Health.
WATCHING.
A LITTLE four-year-old in my congregation inquired of her widowed mother one moon-light night:—
“Mama, is the moon God’s light?”
The light had just been put out, and the timid little girl, as well as her mother, was afraid of the dark; but presently she saw the bright moon out of her window, and it suggested the question:—
“Is the moon God’s light?”
“Yes, Ethel,” the mother replied; “the moon and stars are all God’s lights.” Then came the next question from the little girl:—
“Will God blow out his light and go to sleep, too?”
“No, my child,” replied the mother, “his lights are always burning.”
Then the timid little girl gave utterance to a sentiment that thrilled the mother’s heart, and led her to a more complete trust in her God:—
“Well, mama, while God’s awake, I am not afraid.”—Selected.
Never Trouble Trouble
"NEVER trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you."
MISSIONARY WORK AT JAMMU, CASHMERE.
A MISSIONARY of the Church of England writes to the Mission Field concerning the work in this far-away section of heathen darkness:—
"Our work is especially among the Mohammedans in the city and villages, but the Hindus are also not neglected. As a rule, both Hindus and Mohammedans are very prejudiced against Christians, tho there are now already many exceptions from the rule, both of Hindus and Mohammedans. No one is allowed to preach openly in the bazaar, and it is only about ten years since when even the Mohammedans were not allowed to call their people for prayer from the mosques in a loud voice. But after the death of Rajah Ranbur Singh, permission was given that every sect and religion might worship according to their usages and customs, but not openly in the bazaar.
"There were then already a few Christians in the Jammu State, hidden of course and known only to God. But when religious liberty was thus given, and the Christians also availed themselves of it, they were persecuted and driven out of the State, and they sought refuge in India, where the British rule prevailed.
"The present Maharaja, tho he is a staunch Hindu, yet suffers Mohammedans and also Christians to live in his State, but he does not want anybody to change his religion; all must remain what they are! He has, as a fact, allowed Mr. Höppner to preach in the bazaar of Jammu, and has said that everybody should listen, but they must not mind what Mr. Höppner has to say. Nevertheless, he (the Maharaja) has to see that over fifty Mohammedans have become Christians already during the last three years, and a sprinkling of Hindus among them. Still it is difficult for the Christians, who are harassed and annoyed always, and watched night and day by both Hindus and Mohammedans; and, as the obnoxious law still exists that anybody changing his religion has to forfeit all his property, they are kept back from coming forward and confessing the name of Christ.
"One day in August when I went to an inquirer's house, as I had done already for some time, a number of Mohammedans followed me, thinking that this, our brother, will no doubt become a Christian. They sat down and said:—
" 'We have come to hear what you have to say.'
"Then the inquirer said, 'The Padri Sahib teaches me the way to heaven, and, if any of you has to say something against it, he will be glad to answer you.'
" 'Yes,' I said, 'I shall be very happy to converse with you if you will do so with an upright heart.'
"Then a Mohammedan moulvi stood up and said, 'Padri Sahib, what is your special work here?'
"I answered, 'To spread the Word of God among sinners.'
"He said again, 'What is the Word of God?' 'Answer, 'The Bible.'
" 'No,' he rejoined; 'the Bible is not worthy to be accepted, because it has been canceled by the Koran.'
"Then I said again, 'Can you bring me any proof from the Koran that the Bible has been canceled?' This he could not.
"Then I found a good opportunity to say, 'Brethren, it is impossible that the Word of God should be canceled as your Koran also testifies in several places.'
"Then some Mohammedans said, 'It is true what the Padri Sahib says.' But some were against it.
"Then I said, 'You must make it up first between yourselves before you come to me again.' So I returned home unmolested that day.
"A week after, the moulvi wrote a long epistle against missionaries, and read it on Friday in the mosque before all the Mohammedans who had assembled for prayer. I then was told that he wanted to defeat me, but until now they are quiet.
"Likewise, when I go into the villages to see our Christians, the Hindus and Mohammedans ask, 'Are our gods and saints and our prophet not able to save us?'
"I of course answer them: 'No, because they were sinners, and died in sin. But Jesus Christ was holy, and without sin, and righteous in all his ways, and at last he gave his own life for us, rose again, and ascended into heaven, etc. So let us accept this God-Man, who is able to save us. If we believe in him, we shall obtain everlasting life; otherwise we can not be saved.' I am glad to say that, altho there is such opposition, nevertheless, about twenty men and women are now under our instruction, and I trust that they will all become earnest and sincere Christians.
"May the Lord bless our work which is done among these people, and bring all those who are still wandering in darkness into the light of his glorious Gospel. Amen."
VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS IN INDIA.
By E. P. Holton
THE school building is generally built of mud, that becomes dry and hard. The roof is covered with palmyra palm leaves upon rafters tied together with cactus leaf fiber. Teacher and scholars sit upon palmyra-leaf mats. The blackboard is usually a smoothed portion of the mud wall, covered with tar.
On the floor are heaps of sand, which are made smooth, and in which the teachers and younger scholars write letters and words. Some of the older pupils have books and slates. When the boys come trooping out of school, they will frequently be on the run, with their slates and books on their heads.
The first time I saw the little girls running, I wondered why they ran with both hands up to their ears—a most awkward and inconvenient sort of gait, as any one can readily find out by trying it, or even by watching it a moment. When they stopped running, I at once guessed the reason of their so holding onto their ears.
At an early age the little girl babies' ears are pierced, and rolls of cloth or rings of palmyra leaf are put in to distend the lower, pendant portion of the ear until it has grown into a large loop, the flesh being in no place more than an eighth of an inch in thickness. Large lead rings of half or three-quarters of an ounce weight are bent on, sometimes three or four into one loop, until they drag down to and rest on her collar-bone. Now, were the small girl to run free-handed like her brother, her flying earrings would give her a "tunk" in the eye but little short of a slung shot in effectiveness. The ears are the one sure way to tell the girls from the boys in a village school.
The boys are almost always shaven as to their heads, all save a little tuft of varying extent and shape on top. But sometimes you will notice a small boy with long hair parted in the middle, and combed like his sister's. You will be told on inquiry that, all his little brothers having died, his parents are trying to disguise his sex from the avenging family deity. For the same reason, pet or pretty names are discarded at times, and mean, poor names are used, so as not to attract the jealousy of the "swamies."
The village school, like the old New England "district school," does not flourish in harvest time, or whenever there is the least hope of gaining anything from the child's time. Indeed, after a boy has become old enough to herd goats and cattle, the chances of getting him out of a Hindu home and into the village school are very small. The same is much more true of the girls, as there is usually great prejudice against their learning to read, especially in the little villages, which make up about eighty-five per cent. of the population of India.
Of the children's raiment but little need be said—a very dark skin, often a very soiled one too, with a single garment of (once) white cloth tied around the waist, in the case of boys; a much longer one, very prettily and gracefully draped over one shoulder and around the waist, in the case of the girls. Of course no head or foot gear is worn.—E. P. Holton.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
A CAMP-MEETING is to be held at Jamestown, N. Dakota, June 8-14.
THE Minnesota State camp-meeting will be held at Merriam Park, Minneapolis, June 1-7.
SUCCESSFUL street meetings in Minneapolis, conducted by Elders O. O. Bernstein and D. Nettleton, are reported in the Minnesota Worker.
ELDER F. JOHNSON reports from Stony Brook, Minn., that four persons were recently baptized and added to the little company at that place.
THERE are to be three general meetings in Maine during the month of June. At North Deering, 4-7; at Norridgewock (State meeting), 11-14; at East Washburn, 18-21.
ELDER W. W. PRESCOTT, who recently connected with the work in Great Britain, says in Field Tidings: "It is with much satisfaction that I join the workers in Britain in their efforts to extend the knowledge of the blessed truth of the Gospel, and I come with the confidence that as the Lord has guided me to this field, so he will prosper his work in my hands to his12own glory. 'For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.'"
Ar Woodhull, N. Y., nine persons have accepted the Sabbath truth as presented by Sister Lulu Wightman and her husband. They also report a Sabbath-school of sixteen members.
A GOOD interest was awakened in S. Parkersburg, W. Va., recently by a single sermon preached in a Baptist Church by Elder G. B. Thompson, president of West Virginia Conference.
BROTHER T. E. BOWEN, secretary of the West Virginia Tract Society, has begun the work of sending the SIGNS to county jails for the use of prisoners. He believes that the Lord wants the Gospel to go to the criminals in the jails as well as to the sinners outside of them.
As a result of meetings held at Jefferson City, Mont., by Brother C. T. Shaffer, fourteen souls were converted, and, on the 9th inst., a church of eleven adult members was organized. A commodious house of worship is well advanced in course of construction, and an excellent interest is reported among the people of the town.
REPORTING the work in Birkenhead, England, Brother R. Borrowdale says: "We have a Sunday-school at half past ten in the morning, and again at three in the afternoon, numbering about thirty-five children, most of them coming from the lowest class. These little ones need clothing badly, some of them coming in rags and shoeless."
THE report of Dr. Riley, in the Review of the 11th inst., says: "At the present writing every helper in the Colorado Sanitarium, from call-boy to physician, is kept busy caring for the household of guests and patients. . . . There is no spot on earth where all forms of diseases of the lungs and the digestive system can be so well treated as at the Colorado Sanitarium, at Boulder, Colo."
SOWING AND REAPING.
By Bonar
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. 6:7.
Sow TRUTH, if thou the truth wouldst reap;
Who sows the false shall reap the vain.
Erect and sound thy conscience keep;
From hollow words and deeds refrain.
Fill up each hour with what will last;
Buy up the moments as they go.
The life above, when this is past,
Is the ripe fruit of life below.
—Bonar.
OUTLOOK IN BURMA.
"WHEN I left Burma last March," says the Rev. David Gilmore, "the prospects for missionary work—at least for the work of the American Baptist—were generally regarded as brighter than ever before. The most significant feature is the changed attitude of the Burmans toward the Gospel. The Baptist mission has in the past been blest with great success in Burma; but this success has been principally among the Karens, a non-Buddhistic race. The work among the Burmans (who are Buddhists), while equally faithfully done, has, until recently, had comparatively meager results. But now all over Lower Burma it is noticed that the Burmans are much more ready to listen to the Gospel. The number of those desirous, or at least willing, to embrace Christianity is steadily increasing, and many more Burmans are being baptized now than was the case five years ago.
"Other important signs are the great increase of Bible reading among the Christian Karens, due to the introduction of a cheap and portable photo-engraved Bible; the extension of work among Telegus and Tamils by the Baptists, who for the past two years have had a missionary devoting his whole time to this work, and the organization of a conference by the American Methodist Episcopal mission in Lower Burma. The Methodists are evidently determined to take up work for the natives with the same energy they have shown in their Eurasian work in Rangoon."
LITERARY NOTICE.
By Editor
THE SELF-PRONOUNCING S. S. TEACHER'S COMBINATION BIBLE, Showing in Simple Form all Changes, Additions, and Omissions made by the Revisers in the King James Version. National Publishing Company, 239 Levant Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
We gladly welcome all helps to Bible study, and everything which will stimulate interest in the Word of God. We welcome the above gladly. The copy before us is bourgeois type, is self-pronouncing in all proper names, has all the changes, additions, and omissions in the Revised Versions in foot-notes, easily caught by the eye, showing in an instant the difference between the two versions. It also has the excellent helps, conformable to that of the Oxford Bible. The maps are excellent. The plan of combination is the best we have seen. But why do the publishers call it the "S. S. Teacher's" Bible? Ministers want it, and all Bible students want it, whether "S. S. teachers" or not. Why not call it simply "Combination Bible," or "Bible Student's Combination Bible"? Particulars of price, etc., may be obtained by addressing as above.
"SUGAR: A New and Profitable Industry in the United States for Agriculture, Capital, and Labor, to supply the Home Market yearly with $100,000,000 of Its Product." By Herbert Myrick, editor American Agriculturist, assisted by Prof. W. C. Stubbs, director of the Louisiana Experiment Station, and by numerous experts in the culture of beets and manufacture of sugar, with illustrations of cultural and factory processes and maps showing the beet and cane sugar belts, location of existing factories, and localities that want sugar enterprises. Pages, 168; size of page, 6x9 inches; illustrations 78. Price, 50 cents. Orange Judd Company, publishers, New York, Chicago, and Springfield, Mass.
This book will be of interest and value to those who are interested in the manufacture of sugar.
A BEAUTIFUL Album Souvenir comes to us from the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition, at Nashville, Tenn. It contains fine portraits in colors of old pioneers, colored lithograph pictures of the principal buildings, with descriptive text. It is a thing of beauty, and speaks well for the exposition. It is sent out by Mr. Herman Justi, Chief of Bureau of Promotion and Publicity, Nashville, Tenn.
"BAPTIST PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY," No. 46, International Religious Liberty Library, 25 cents a year. This April number is worth the year's subscription. It is a lucid and interesting setting forth of the true principles of religious liberty, by Rev. Geo. B. Wheeler. Rev. Edward Judson, D.D., pastor Memorial Baptist Church, New York, writes to the author: "Please accept my thanks for your pamphlet, entitled 'Baptist Principles of Religious Liberty,' which I have perused with much interest and profit." Such publications ought to be circulated everywhere, by lovers of religious liberty.
MODERN MEDICINE LIBRARY is a monthly publication, devoted to advancement of medical science and rational hygiene. $1.00 a year. Modern Medicine Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich.
No. 1, by J. H. Kellogg, M.D., superintendent of the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium and Hospital, Battle Creek, Mich., is entitled, "What Is the Matter with the American Stomach?" It is the reprint of a paper read before the annual meeting of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, held at Detroit, Mich., Sept. 4-6, 1896. Illustrated by colored charts, diagrams, and by tables.
No. 2, by the same author, is entitled, "The Value of Strength Tests in the Prescription of Exercise." It contains an account of interesting experiments with the author's universal mercurial dynamometer.
