Earlier text: Prophecy of Great UseHealdsburg Academy.
By Sidney Brownsberger
THE outlook for a successful school at Healdsburg is excellent. A week's visit in Healdsburg and vicinity in company with Bro. White, during the past two weeks, has enabled me to judge more definitely of the prospects. The school building is in the center of the beautiful village of Healdsburg, and its capacity is ample to accommodate an attendance of 200 students. It is in excellent condition and needs only equipment of students and teachers to commence the work. Healdsburg is a quiet town in the fertile valley of the Russian River, and surrounded by a rich and well-settled agricultural country. The healthfulness of the climate, the beauty and sublimity of the scenery, and all the surroundings, combine to render this locality one of the finest in the State for an educational institution.139Our brethren and sisters at this post appear to be awake to the responsibilities that they must bear in the care of the youth that shall come among them. They stand ready to labor and to make sacrifices for the success of the school. Certainly God has great blessings in store for that church if its members prove faithful to the sacred trust that he has committed to their charge. These must be suited to our circumstances and necessities on the Pacific Coast. Separated as we are, over 2,000 miles, from Eastern schools by a long stretch of desert and mountain country, it is not expected that many of our youth, not even those most advanced in their studies, can possibly attend Battle Creek College. The large majority would attend the public schools and colleges on this coast. We feel warranted, therefore, in promising as wide a range of studies as is usually pursued in any first-class academy. Some are beginners; others already somewhat advanced in the elements of the common branches. There are still others who are still further advanced in the common branches, and are desirous of completing them. A much smaller number, having completed the common branches, are prepared to study the natural sciences, advanced mathematics, and languages. Some of our older brethren and sisters, who expect to labor in the cause, wish to pursue special branches, best adapted to the wants of the minister. The interests of our children and young people demand that the scope of instruction in the proposed academy be such as to meet the educational wants of all these classes. This is just what the trustees are designing to provide in the Healdsburg school. But while these young people and youth are pursuing the various branches of secular studies according to their attainments, they will devote a part of each day to the study of the Bible. From this great text-book of morality and religion, these youth should receive such nourishment daily, as will, by the blessing of God, sanctify their lives, and make them fit subjects for the coming kingdom. This is of far more value to them than the knowledge of all science, philosophy, and language. The Bible must be assigned the place in our school which its importance renders it worthy. There is, moreover, a wonderful expanding power in the influence of the Bible upon the intellect which is experienced in its fullness only by those who love and practice its precepts. What can be better calculated to elevate the mind and give breadth and loftiness of thought than the beauty, sublimity, and grandeur of the truths of the Bible? Many a man has become distinguished for learning as well as for piety by devoting himself to the study of the Bible and giving its truths their full force upon his life. In view, then, of the shortness of time, our youth ought to have the benefits of daily Bible study in acquiring an education, to develop their minds in the channel of religious truth. There may be many somewhat advanced in years, but of limited attainments in education, whose circumstances would admit of their spending some time in self-culture. These imagine it would be embarrassing for them to attend the school on account of their age. This objection would, however, soon disappear after entering their classes, in finding that there are associated with them others in like circumstances. In Battle Creek College there were quite a number who were over thirty-five and a few over forty-five years of age. In two or three instances father and children were in the same classes. In other instances husbands and wives were attending at the same time. There is no good reason why false pride should debar any person from the advantages of the school. If the friends of this enterprise who are in the field, and the parents of those who might attend, will properly appreciate the value and importance of the school, and will interest themselves to encourage those with whom they have an influence, to attend, we are assured that we shall have a successful opening. S. BROWNSBERGER. Excellent Advice Concerning Giving.
By John Nevins Andrews
The following is from the Apocrypha: "If thou hast abundance, give alms accordingly; if thou have but little, be not afraid to give accordingly to that little; for thou layest up a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity." Tobit 4:8, 9. This seems to me to be admirable instruction. If you have abundance, give according to that abundance. But how often do we hear men who have much means at their command excuse themselves for giving a trifling sum, by saying that this time, only the widow's mite must be expected from them. They forget that small as was the sum which the widow gave, it was her earthly all. The widow's mite is the greatest offering of earthly substance that can be made. Perhaps there has not been since the days of Christ, on an average, one rich man in a hundred years who has come up to the poor widow's standard of giving. We cannot insist that they should; but we do say that if they have abundance, they should give abundantly, and we enter solemn protest when such persons give in the cause of Christ some trifling amount, and call it the widow's mite. There is sound advice also to the poor. Be not afraid to give of thy little. Many think that poverty excuses them from giving at all. Give something. Keep the spirit of sacrifice alive. God measures the gift according to the ability and the heart. 2 Cor. 8:12. The poor may lay up treasure in Heaven, as well as the rich. Do what you can. The day of God will show what every one could have done, and what they have done. The Coming Fight.
By Editor
THE following article, headed as above, is an editorial in the Oakland Evening Tribune. It is an excellent presentation of the case. A correspondent of that paper goes into statistics to show that the denomination regarding the seventh day as the Sabbath is not large compared with the membership of the other churches. In this he is excelled by a writer in another paper who shows that those who regard the Sunday as the Christian Sabbath are but a small number compared with those who have no regard for it in that light. But ours is a religious interest, and may not be regulated by counting majorities, seeing that, on religious matters, majorities are always wrong. But see Eccl. 4:1:— FROM present appearances the election of members of the next legislature will turn principally upon the question of repeal of the Sunday Law. This will bring into the fight on the one side all the believers in the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath to sustain the present law and prevent its repeal; while on the other hand there will be marshalled, first, the League of Freedom, composed of men who do not observe any day as sacred, and secondly, all those who keep the seventh day as Sabbath. While it is admitted by all reasonable, thinking men that the law of nature demands that one day in seven should be set apart as a day of rest, a large portion of the people of this State hold that there is nothing in the first day of the week of a more sacred nature than that which pertains to any other day of the week. While the majority of the Christian churches have adopted the first day of the week as a Sabbath of rest, it was held by others that this does not give the day a sacredness over any other day of the week; while a large sect of Christian believers hold that the first day of the week is not the Sabbath, but that the seventh day is, and, therefore, they keep the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, according to the decalogue, and on that day do no manner of work; but the first day of the week, Sunday, they follow their usual avocations in life. With this class of Christians may be added the orthodox Jews, who keep the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, and, as the Sabbath of their fathers, and follow their usual avocations upon Sunday. Now, the question arises, is it right that one class of citizens should, by statute law, control the religious principles of another class of citizens? Shall the State Legislature prescribe how Sunday shall be observed by the people? If so, is it not so far legislating upon conscience and religious belief? These are questions which will enter into the next contest for members of the Legislature of this State, and aspirants for legislative position may as well prepare themselves for the discussion which is sure to come. There ought to be some uniform day upon which there should be a cessation of business. But if a man religiously believes that the seventh day is the Sabbath, holy unto the Lord, on which day it would be a violation of the commandment to do any work, can the State, by penal laws, force him to observe the first day of the week as the Sabbath, without violating his religious freedom? On the other hand, should not the Christian churches, who believe in the first day of the week, have some protection against disturbance of their worship on what is termed the Christian Sabbath? And if they are entitled to such protection, are not those who worship on the seventh day entitled to the same protection? We see at once the complications which will arise in the discussion of this question, and it will be a smart politician who can sail between this Charybdis on the one hand and Scylla on the other, without foundering upon the rocks or being engulfed in the whirlpool. The Pattern.
By R. F. Cottrell
CHRIST is the Christian's pattern. He says, "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." "As I have loved you, that ye also should love one another." "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done." The apostles teach the same: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." "And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again." If those who profess faith in Christ would conform to the pattern, and fashion themselves by it, in spirit, in life, in labor, and in suffering, all would be well. But instead of this, the professed followers of Christ have been, and are, in the habit of "measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves," and those who do so, an apostle has said, "are not wise." This is the germ of apostasy from the faith and purity of the gospel. Following the example and teachings of men, instead of Christ and the inspired word, is the cause of confusion and corruption in faith and practice now existing among professed Christians. Hegesippus, of the second century, writes:— "When the apostles were dead, then the church was gradually spotted and corrupted, as in her doctrine, so also in her worship, an infinity of ceremonies by degrees insensibly sliding in, very many of which were introduced within my limited time." (B. 3, chap. 32). "Some came in through custom and tradition; one eminent man invented and practised a certain action, which he used himself, as judging it fit and proper to stir up his devotion and affection; others, being led by example, performed the same; and others, again, imitated them; and so followed another, till at length the action became tradition and a custom."—Tertullian, in Lord King's Inquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity, and Worship, of the Primitive Church, printed 1791. If instead of following such a course, patterning after men, they had kept to the only true Pattern, truth and righteousness would have been the result, instead of error and iniquity. To illustrate this, suppose a person is employed to make a great number of garments of the same size and shape, and an accurate pattern is put into his hands by which to cut them all. Now if he cuts every garment by that pattern, there will be great uniformity in the garments. But suppose he cuts one by the given pattern, then lays the pattern aside, and cuts the second by the first, the third by the second, and so on; what will be the result? There will be a gradual varying from the pattern, though almost imperceptible at first, and after a few thousands have been made up they will be almost as far from the original pattern, as professed Christians of our times are from Christ. A few days since, a seemingly very humble and pious minister, on returning the Sermons on the Sabbath and the Law, which I had lent him, remarked that he must fall back upon such men as Wesley, and Whitefield; that they were evidently very good men, and thousands were converted under their ministry, and they kept Sunday for the Sabbath. This was all the argument brought against the Bible truth contained in the Sermons. Now if we go back to the time of the Wesleys, and other pious men of their times, and ask them why they kept Sunday, they would doubtless tell us that Luther, and Melancthon, and the other reformers of the sixteenth century kept Sunday, and they certainly were good men, and did a noble work for God in their times. Then if we could go back to Luther and others of his day, and ask them the same question, they could tell you that the governors of the Romish Church, and the popish councils were agreed in that practice, and still go back with them to the early fathers, who lived during the centuries preceding the full development of the Man of Sin, and find some of them calling the first day of the week, Lord's day. Instead of appealing to Christ and the apostles, and their inspired words, they refer to the pious fathers who lived in the days of the development of the Man of Sin. Why not go to the true Pattern? Why cut our garments by those of men that have never thought of looking up the original one, but have measured by their predecessors, and they by theirs, and so on, so long that scarcely a semblance of what a garment ought to be is seen remaining? Let us look to the Pattern, and purify ourselves as he is pure, walk as he walked; and live up to the gracious teachings which he has given by the Holy Spirit. Let us not be so unwise as to measure ourselves by ourselves, and compare ourselves among ourselves; but let us exalt the great Pattern, and hasten to conform ourselves in all things to his lovely image. The Cost of Ministerial Devotion
THE Southern Baptist contains the obituary of a minister who, in a ministry of fifteen years, served as pastor of eight churches, for which he received $1,903.25. In addition to this he acted as Missionary for an Association for which he received $276.50, making his entire pay for the fifteen years, $2,179.75—an average of $145.31 per year. He was pastor of one church two years, receiving $25.20. Yet the paper gives him high praise for untiring devotion to his ministry. Such a record is a shame to any church. The Esthetic in Christian Churches
"The Portland (Or.) Christian Advocate regards with great apprehension the drift toward the esthetic which is displayed in many Christian churches and pulpits at the present day, where the minister 'competes with the actor' and 'the choir with the opera,' and 'where the 'people of taste' in the church affect the silliness of the 'esthetic,' and publicly prate of the 'too utterly nice' music of the theater. * We hasten to say—for fear we may not long have the privilege of saying it—that no minister has yet appeared in the pulpit with a big sunflower in his hand nor a lily in his buttonhole." The Way That Seemeth Right
"THERE is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Appeal—District No. 1.
By R. A. Morton
EVERY duty, however small, left undone by any one, is a discouragement to the people of God. It is a fact, too little regarded, that the little duties of life are those that form character. The Christian cannot gather strength without exercise, and this must be in the line of little duties. Our heavenly Father takes notice of little things. He knows when a sparrow falls. He numbers the hairs of our heads. "His eye is upon his children, and his ear is open unto their cry." He knows every pulsation of the heart and is well acquainted with its structure. He knows every intention of man, and is he not, therefore, pleased with the performance of every little duty that tends to develope the character of his children and encourage his cause? It is the duty of every one to make a quarterly report. It is a duty because God's servants have so ordered. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief." Heb. 13 : 17. It is a duty because it tends to awaken a missionary interest. It is a duty because it tends to encourage our brother, and make the work move on in order. "Every one [not a few], said to his brother, Be of good courage." Then let every one who would encourage this work, and move in harmony with it, not omit this duty. Brethren and sisters of District No. 1, let us each report at the next meeting if nothing more than to sign the blank and return it. This would show respect to the cause of truth, and might awaken some thought, or desire that would lead to a life of greater usefulness. It is written, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." R. A. Morton, Sec. Dist. No. 1. "How Much Owest Thou unto My Lord?"
By Emily L. Canright
SHOULD we take all things into consideration, it would be impossible for us to set the bounds of our indebtedness to God; and yet were we called to give an account of our stewardship, I am afraid that some of us would be found wanting. As a general thing, we are apt to be very delinquent in discharging this great debt. Reason teaches us that we owe everything to God, and inspiration tells us that "we are not our own," we "are bought with a price," and that price is the blood of Christ. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. "For ye are not your own." What weighty words are these! With what power they go home to our hearts! God help us that we may fully realize them. It is a great thing to make a full consecration, to lay all upon the altar, to be in the world, and yet not be of the world, and to dedicate ourselves, our time, and talents, and all that we have and are, to God and to his service. And why should we not do this? Where could we make a more profitable investment? It is an old and trite saying, concerning the pleasures of this world, and it is none the less true because trite, that "you cannot pluck a rose, and not be pricked by the thorn imbedded in its leaves." But here is a blessing from the Lord "which maketh rich and addeth no sorrow therewith," and that blessing is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Perhaps of all the sacrifices that God claims at our hands, money is given by some the most grudgingly. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." "Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" "Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him?" "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward." "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here am I." How very near is God to those who willingly divide their substance, and how severe his denunciations against those who are hoarding their gold. "Go to now, ye rich men; weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days." How many of us are laying up treasures in Heaven, and making sacrifices here for that priceless boon that shall be ours hereafter? In generations past when parents felt it to be a sacred duty to lay up for their children, it was more excusable; but what a lame apology have we to offer, "on whom the ends of the world are come." There will be no lots in the celestial city that we can buy to speculate on; no mill-power on that stream of water that floweth clear as crystal, from the throne of God. And when we are called to give up our account, it will not be asked whether we are rich or poor, but, Is the world any better for our having lived in it? THERE lately died in New Haven, Conn., a man whose benefactions cheered his last years and will keep his memory green through many generations. This was Mr. Sheffield, who did more than any other man to make scientific education a practical success at Yale College. He gave the movement toward the new education a powerful impulse long before it had gained any general recognition, and for nearly forty years he furnished a large part of the means to carry on the work. To this college and to other institutions the amount of his gifts was over $650,000. He enjoyed, in common with Peter Cooper and a small number of our practical philanthropists, the spectacle of the good results of his liberality. The great trouble with most of the wealthy men in this country is that they cling to their coin until death comes. Then they leave provisions in their wills for many charitable purposes. The result generally is that the larger the fund the smaller the amount of actual benefit derived from it. It passes into the hands of a board of trustees, who draw fat salaries and seem to be mainly exercised about prolonging their term of office. Stephen Girard left a great estate, with very minute instructions for its disposition; but there is no question that had he begun the construction of his college while still alive he would have seen the absurdity of attempting to adapt classical architecture to a modern educational institution in as inclement a latitude as Philadelphia. Ezra Cornell founded a college at his home in Ithaca, N. Y., looked after the carrying out of his plans, and lived to see the institution recognized as the equal of those which had been started a half-century before. It may be that his design would have been executed as well by other hands; but he believed in personal influence, and the result showed the wisdom of his choice. Many Girards have lived in our day, and a conspicuous example flourished on this coast. His will revealed many noble bequests to education and charity, but not one-half of its provisions have yet been carried out, and he has been in his141grave nearly ten years. It may be that the dead man would have approved of the manner in which his bequests have been allowed to remain unapplied, but the chances are that a little personal supervision would have had a stimulating effect. Every year that a bequest languishes in the meshes of the law is a dead loss to the public, although profitable to those who have it in charge. --S. F. Chronicle. THE STARLESS CROWN
By S. S. Treasury
"THEY that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars, for ever and ever." Daniel 12:3. Wearied and worn with earthly cares, I yielded to repose,
And soon before my raptured sight a glorious vision rose:—
I thought, whilst slumbering on my couch, in midnight's solemn gloom,
I heard an angel's silvery voice, and radiance filled my room.
A gentle touch awakened me;—a gentle whisper said,
"Arise, O sleeper, follow me;" and through the air we fled. We left the earth so far away that like a speck it seemed,
And heavenly glory, calm and pure, across our pathway streamed.
Still on we went,—my soul was wrapped in silent ecstasy;
I wondered what the end would be,—what next should meet mine eye. I knew not how we journeyed through the pathless fields of light,
When suddenly a change was wrought, and I was clothed in white.
We stood before a city's walls most glorious to behold;
We passed through gates of glistening pearl, o'er streets of purest gold;
It needed not the sun by day, the silver moon by night;
The glory of the Lord was there, the Lamb Himself its light. Bright angels paced the shining streets, sweet music filled the air,
And white-robed saints, with glittering crowns, from every clime, were there;
And some that I had loved on earth, stood with them 'round the throne,
"All worthy is the Lamb," they sang, "the glory his alone."
But fairer yet than all beside, I saw my Saviour's face;
And as I gazed he smiled on me with wondrous love and grace. Lowly I bowed before his throne, o'erjoyed that I at last
Had gained the object of my hopes: that earth at length was past.
And then in solemn tones he said, "Where is the diadem
That ought to sparkle on thy brow—adorned with many a gem?
I know thou hast believed on me, and life through me is thine,
But where are all those radiant stars that in thy crown should shine? Yonder thou see'st a glorious throng, and stars on every brow;
For every soul they led to me, they wear a jewel now!
And such thy bright reward had been, if such had been thy deed,
If thou hadst sought some wand'ring feet in paths of peace to lead.
I did not mean that thou should'st tread the way of life alone,
But that the clear and shining light, which 'round thy footsteps shone,
Should guide some other weary feet to my bright home of rest.
And thus, in blessing those around, thou had'st thyself been blest." The vision faded from my sight, the voice no longer spake,
A spell seemed brooding o'er my soul, which long I feared to break.
And when at last I gazed around in morning's glimmering light,
My spirit fell o'erwhelmed beneath that vision's awful might.
I rose and wept with chastened joy, that yet I dwelt below.
That yet another hour was mine my faith by works to show;
That yet some sinner I might tell of Jesus' dying love,
And help to lead some weary soul to seek a home above.
And now, while on the earth I stay, my motto this shall be,
"To live no longer to myself, but him who died for me!"
And graven on my inmost soul this word of truth divine,
"They that turn many to the Lord, bright as the stars shall shine!" Good News from a Far Country.
By S. N. Haskell
In a letter just received from Eld. Loughborough, the following encouraging words are contained; they will be of interest to our California brethren, therefore we forward them. "I have just returned from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where I have been making some arrangements for Elder John to hold meetings, and for Bro. Drew to enter upon ship work at Grimsby and Hull. Bro. Drew is now in London. Has sold several pounds' worth of our books there." "Our business through the mails is becoming more and more encouraging. One sea captain who had obtained one copy of the Signs from a San Francisco ship, sent for our catalogue, and then sent a postal order for one pound and seven shillings' worth of books and tracts. He sails to-day for Valparaiso, South America." Pay What Thou Owest.
By Bishop Potter
UNTIL the tenth part is separated and set apart for a sacred use, we have no right to touch any part of our substance for our own private use. I do not say that the benefactions of a Christian are to be absolutely limited to one-tenth part of his income. That was the measure prescribed by the Mosaic law. The children of Israel had not seen what we have seen—the eternal Son of God becoming man, and suffering on the cross for our redemption; “He who was rich making himself poor, that we might be eternally rich.” No wonder that that ever blessed Saviour said to his hearers before he went forth to suffer for us, “If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon [the perishable riches], who will commit to your trust the true riches?” I do not pretend—I do not dare to suggest what ought to be the extent of a Christian's benefactions; but this I do say, under all the responsibilities of my sacred office, that we have no purely personal rights over the substance which God's gracious providence has cast into our lap until we have first separated and set apart at least one-tenth part for sacred uses. Surely it is not a hard or severe apportionment: one-tenth for God the Giver, his poor, and his church; nine-tenths for our own personal use!—Bishop Potter. MAJOR FRANK BAIRD delivered his famous lecture “The City of Hell” in Whitney’s opera house on Sunday last, at 3 P. M. The speaker said by way of introduction, “It is impossible to appreciate the greatness of an army by seeing it in detail, a company here, a regiment there, and a battalion yonder. The same is true of the liquor traffic. We cannot judge it by seeing it in detail.” The speaker then proceeded to take his audience to an imaginary height and show them this traffic concentrated. He first showed them a vast country devoted to the growing of grain and fruit which is rotted in the production of strong drink. He then pictured “The City of Hell” in the center of this vast country with its long streets lined with distilleries, breweries, and grog-shops, a city which is emphatically a manufacturing city. He pictured the army of moderate drinkers, closely followed through the streets of the city by the army of confirmed drunkards; also the army of tramps made so by strong drink; the army of 75,000 fallen women, the legitimate outgrowth of the liquor traffic; and the army of 200,000 starving and almost naked children made so by the traffic. He described a Sunday morning with no church bell or churches but with 10,000 beer gardens all in full blast; a court-house ten stories high, with 500 court rooms in which cases growing out of the liquor traffic are constantly being tried, a poor-house containing 150,000 inmates all of whom were comfortable and happy until strong drink had made them otherwise; an insane asylum with 80,000 insane and idiots, made so through this same traffic; a hospital with 160,000 sick and maimed, a penitentiary twenty stories high, near which were 200 raised platforms for the execution of rum criminals. He conducted his hearers through the valley of suicide; showed them a great cave two miles long where innumerable victims were suffering with delirium tremens, and took them down by the river of death where 60,000 of the victims of the cup die every year. We are sure that we do no injustice to the facts in the case when we say that Major Baird’s address was one of the very best of the course. It was compact, forcible, well delivered and well received.—The Lever. SAM came out of the corner grocery looking very unlike his usual self. He generally held up his head straight and walked along with a firm lively step, probably whistling as he went. Just now he looked around as if he was afraid of any one seeing him—as if he was ashamed of himself—in short, he wore, in face and figure, what you might call a decidedly sneaky look. He felt sneaky. He wanted to get out of the way. He began walking faster and faster, not towards his home, where he knew his mother would have a warm welcome for him, with perhaps something else warm in the oven; and his little sisters would be glad to have him play croquet with them. Neither did he go to see the Carter boys, although he knew they would be looking for him to play a good game of ball. He went by the quietest road towards the woods. Most boys like to have company when they go to the woods, but Sam seemed to prefer his own company. He struck into the deepest shade he could find—where the yellow sunshine of the bright October afternoon could hardly manage to get in a few long rays to touch up the dark green. At last he came to a place where a great wild grape vine drooped, a tough branch from the boughs of a tree far above him, and, climbing to the trunk below, formed a sort of half-swing, half-seat. Sam threw himself on this branch and took something out of his pocket. What was it? What could this boy have come out here all alone for. He held in his hand and looked at—a dirty-looking, bad-smelling piece of plug tobacco! He had made up his mind to try it, but he did not want any one to see him. It did not look very nice, and he began to wonder why he had wanted it. In the quiet shade and pure air about him it seemed to grow uglier and uglier. A great many good reasons he had heard against the use of tobacco crowded themselves upon his mind, but he could not recall one in its favor. Some of the boys thought it very smart to chew or smoke, but he could not help remembering that these were boys he cared least for. He was cutting off a piece of the stuff when he heard a voice somewhere near quietly asking,— He stared around in great wonder. No one was to be seen; could anybody have followed him? There was a rustling in the branches above him; he had heard it ever since he had shaken them to the very top as he threw himself on the grape stem. "Chew! Chew! Chew!" came again, and he peered anxiously into the foliage above his head. There was a face looking out at him, sure enough, a face—more grave and solemn than a preacher's. Sam laughed aloud as the old hoot-owl again croaked at him. It sounded differently now that his own imagination did not help to turn the sound into an accusing word. But just then there broke on the quiet so sharp a twitter close beside him that he fairly jumped from his seat. "Quit it! Quit it! Quit-Quit-Quit!" "Why, I haven't begun yet!" cried Sam, half startled, half in fun. "Quit it! Quit it! Quit it!" "I will!" He flung the nasty brown lump as far as he could into the bushes. A chipmunk gave a frightened chirp and ran up a tree. "There, I'll leave it to you," said Sam, as he turned homeward. "If even the birds won't give a fellow any peace with his tobacco, I think he'd better 'quit it' and stay quit." "I am glad enough, though," he said in a softer voice, as he neared home, and saw his mother looking out for him, "that I don't know the taste of it yet." Boys, how many of you don't know it? Keep on saying it, and be proud of being able to.—Youth's Companion. A worker in Michigan wrote to Gov. St. John, of Kansas, concerning the report that the prohibitory law of that State was ineffectual to prevent the traffic in liquors and drunkenness. We find a report of the Governor's reply in The Lever, of Detroit, from which we take the following extracts:— “If Gov. Robinson, before stating that ‘drinking is more common now in Kansas than ever before’ had examined the records of the police courts in the city of Lawrence, near which he resides, he would have found that the last five months under the old license system furnished 214 cases to that tribunal, against only 109 the first five months under prohibition. The city of Newton, in Harvey County, containing about 3,000 population, had not a single case of drunkenness in the police court from the first of May (being the date that the prohibitory law took effect) until the first day of October; and the district court that convened there about that time, for the first time in the history of the county, found not a single criminal case upon the docket. * I have before me a statement signed by all the city officers of the city of Platte in Johnson County, setting forth that under prohibition (which has really been in force there since January 1, 1878) the financial and moral condition of the city has greatly improved; the streets and sidewalks are in much better condition; trade has greatly increased, and that, with a population of at least 2,500, the city has no policemen and needs none; the city marshall alone performing all the police duty, which does not require half his time; that there is rarely a case in the police court, and that the calaboose is without inmates. Any proposition looking to a return to the old system of licensing dram-shops would be defeated by a vote of at least two to one. This statement of the city officers is endorsed by all the ministers and a large majority of the business men of this city, and the county attorney adds that ‘What is said of the success of prohibition in the city of Platte holds good throughout the county of Johnson.’ At Salina a rum-seller was convicted in the district court on thirty-three charges, the fines amounting in the aggregate to $3,500 and costs, and thirty days' imprisonment in the county jail. Do you think that man considers prohibition a failure? He says they are receiving an excellent immigration and the State was never more prosperous than it is to-day. For every saloon-keeper that has left Kansas on account of prohibition, we have received a sufficient number of sober, industrious, law-abiding citizens to build a school-house, and Kansas can afford to exchange saloons for school-houses.” THE following is part of an argument said to have been made in a mining camp, in a trial in a court before "Judge Lynch," against a man who shot another, and plead in defence that he was in liquor when the crime was committed. The argument is good—much better than most of those made in real "courts of justice," so-called:— "Now, I'll allow that Billy, the deceased, hadn't no cause to speak as he did, an' I'll allow that what he said was calculated to make Jim mad, 'specially as Jim was drunk at the time. Still, it seems to me that nobody but Jim made Jim drunk. Suppose he had gone out while drunk, an' fell into a shaft and broke his leg? Do you s'pose the company would have paid him anything for his leg? Not a cent. Why? Because he would not have fallen into the shaft if sober, for Jim has got too much sense to do anything of the sort. Similarly, if he shoots a man when he's drunk, he aint going to get off. His drunk don't excuse him in one case any more'n in another. An' you've got to take the drink Jim put into himself, as being in its effects a part of Jim. If Billy, the deceased, had made Jim drunk, then Billy would have had to stand the racket an' get shot. But being as it's different, it's different. I ain't got anything to say against Jim personally, but I think men ought to see that they can't get drunk in this camp, and plead licker as an excuse for what they do. 'Cause it aint no excuse."