Earlier text: HOW THE PAPACY WAS FORMEDTHE BILLIONAIRE.
By George B. Thompson
THE Boston Herald, speaking of the immense fortunes of the rich men of this country, says:— "It is not easy to fix definitely the amount of the wealth of the very rich men of this country; but one of our Western contemporaries has undertaken to approximate it in the case of Mr. John D. Rockefeller. It pronounces him the first capitalist who has arrived at the distinction of owning a billion dollars in money values. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reaches this conclusion by estimating that Mr. Rockefeller has an income which is 5 per cent. of a capital of $1,500,000,000. It is rather dizzying to contemplate this fortune in the hands of one man, and still more so to speculate on the additions which it is possible, in Mr. Rockefeller's life, to make to it. The advocates of an income tax find arguments in spectacles of this character, and those who favor an inheritance tax also are not without ammunition for their project. These great fortunes are naturally divided at death, in most instances, even if those who hold them do not distribute their wealth in public benefactions." The time was, in the recollection of men now living, when a man who had an income of a few thousands was considered rich. Now a millionaire is nothing uncommon; and we are told that the billionaire is as good as here. In the New York World, some weeks ago, the following estimate of the annual incomes of America's richest men was given:— John D. Rockefeller . . . . . $56,000,000
Andrew Carnegie . . . . . 26,367,500
Senator W. D. Clark, Montana . . . . . 10,000,000
William Waldorf Astor . . . . . 6,750,000
Cornelius Vanderbilt Estate . . . . . 6,625,000
William Rockefeller . . . . . 5,000,000
Marshal Fields . . . . . 5,000,000
John Jacob Astor . . . . . 4,500,000
J. B. Haggin, Montana . . . . . 4,500,000
P. D. Armour . . . . . 3,000,000
Claus Spreckels . . . . . 3,000,000
John H. Flagler . . . . . 3,000,000
J. Pierpont Morgan . . . . . 3,000,000
H. M. Flagler . . . . . 2,500,000
James J. Hill . . . . . 2,000,000
C. P. Huntington . . . . . 1,750,000
George Gould . . . . . 1,500,000
John D. Archbold . . . . . 1,250,000
W. D. Sloane . . . . . 1,200,000
Russel Sage . . . . . 1,000,000
D. O. Mills . . . . . 1,000,000 In the same issue the World gave the following itemized estimate of Andrew Carnegie's income:— Carnegie's wealth . . . . . $166,250,000
His income, estimated by Frick, in profits of Steel Company . . . . . $24,500,000
Income from other sources . . . . . 1,500,000
Total income . . . . . $26,000,000
Carnegie's income per month . . . . . $2,166,666
Income per week . . . . . 500,000
Income per day (including Sunday) . . . . . 71,428
Income per hour (day and night) . . . . . 2,976
Income per minute . . . . . 50
Nearly one dollar for every clock tick! We have reached a time when men are piling up treasure to an extent which is certainly phenomenal. And they go further. They take their millions, and heap them together in a trust, a union, a combine, to control some certain commodity; and having gained control of it, they raise the price, and thus wring from the pockets of the poor a few more millions, to "rust," because taken from circulation among the people. This massing of wealth constitutes a marked fulfilment of the words of James: "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 treasure together for the last days" (James 5:3); or, as the Revised Version renders it, "in the last days." So the Lord tells us that this heaping up of treasure is a sign that the end is near. It is, in fact, one of the clearest evidences about us that the day of God is at the door. Are we ready for the issue? Rome, N. Y.
G. B. THOMPSON. LIKE every other product of sin, war is disappointing. A large majority of men who enter the army are disappointed as to the individual results. This was especially demonstrated in the Philippines, when, within six months of their arrival in the untried field, the men of nearly every volunteer regiment were clamoring to be sent home. The disappointing character of the service has also been shown by the list of suicides in the army, the latest record showing seven officers and seventy-seven enlisted men. Like reports of the disappointment of British soldiers in South Africa are being made prominent. A correspondent of the London Morning Post says frankly that there are very few in the army there who are not "heartily sick of the whole concern." Of course they mean to go through with it, but the official class (which are largely of the wealthy circles) "reckon daily with a sigh what they are missing in England—the racing and the yachting and the cricket, the little meetings and the little matches and the shooting, it may be, to follow. The big thing they are in does not appeal to them; the taking of two countries, each of which might make a kingdom; the drawing of the scarlet line of empire round this rich corner of the world." Then so very few have made the personal record of heroism of which they dreamed when starting out from home. The correspondent adds that "their heart is not in the9enterprise, but in the little ways and plays at home." Truly it may be said this whole war business is "vanity and vexation of spirit." IT is always unwise to contend with an enemy after the conflict is manifestly lost. It is folly for a sinner to contend with Satan in his own strength. Without Christ any battle with the enemy of souls is lost at the outset. What the Boers expect to gain by continuing the war with Britain is hard to see. Apparently it is only the empty honor of being what the world calls heroic. There was a time when they expected that the sympathy of other nations would take practical shape, and that Britain's natural enemies would make the occasion their opportunity. But those nations that would fain have done so were in perplexity; none of them dare trust the other, notwithstanding the Peace Congress. Then when the Boer cause became hopeless of itself, the world's sympathy, such as it is at best, vanished away. Just at this moment the kaleidoscope takes another turn, and the scene of general interest and anxiety is centered far away from Africa. It is China now, and Britain's erstwhile enemies are at least nominally her confreres in trouble. So the Boers must make the most of their perplexity. Fortunately, tho, they have some good promises on the part of their conquerors; and Britain's promises are as good as those of any other world-power. Britain has promised that after pacification the Boers shall have the same freedom and equality as Canada, Australia, and the other self-governing colonies of the empire. Mr. Chamberlain said in the House of Commons, some five months ago, "Whatever may be the results of the war, does any one imagine that we shall fail to do for others what we claimed for ourselves, or refuse equal rights to the Dutch in the Transvaal?" Whatever the justice of the Boer cause at the beginning, having failed, such a concession from a conqueror is better than fighting for naught. The Boers claim to be Christians; therefore the advice of the Master is pertinent to their present situation: "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." Matt. 5: 41. It would have been more profitable to have heeded this advice: "Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Matt. 26: 52. "It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in man." CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION.
By G.
A ROMAN priest, named Dalton, of Kansas City, upholds the course of the Catholic missionaries in China, who have organized the "Christianized" natives into armies and intrenched themselves against attacks by the Boxers. He says:— "The day of martyrdom is past, and I have no respect for a man who will bow his head and let another fellow hit him. A few hundred years ago that was the proper thing, but now the only way to cope with men so narrow in religious belief as the Boxers is with a club or a bullet. I am fully in accord with the Catholic missionaries in China." Mr. Dalton also approves of the plan of Bishop McFaul, of Trenton, N. J., to secure a federation of all the Catholic societies in the United States. On this point he says:— "I agree with the bishop in the sense that I believe these societies ought to unite to create a public sentiment that would make any anti-Catholic movement impossible. . . . We are numerically strong, but morally weak. I don't believe in political organization of the Catholic societies; that would be nonsensical and would hurt rather than help us, but there is such a thing as making the politicians understand that public sentiment is more strongly in favor of than against the Catholic." Of course this is all consistent from the standpoint of Catholic polity, but when we reflect that many professed Protestants are organizing for work on the same lines, and practically to the same end—church power in politics—the inconsistency is most flagrant. When we take into consideration the fact that much that now passes for Protestantism is really based on Catholic principle, we see considerable force in the remark that "public sentiment is more strongly in favor of than against the Catholics." The statement is still more forcible in the light of the "more sure word of prophecy." When the apostle John was shown in the Revelation the history of the world, he saw near the end of time the restoration of power to Rome, and that "all the world wondered after the beast." And he saw the government of the United States (represented by a beast having two horns like a lamb) making an "image to the beast" whose power was restored. This is all set forth in Revelation 13, and the warning against the work is given in chapter 14:6-12. To the student and believer of God's Word, such utterances as this of Mr. Dalton are not surprising. The question is, Will the people be admonished by such signs of the times? MISSIONARIES AS MAGISTRATES.
By L. A. P.
Under the above head the Independent gives in brief the history of a question recently decided as to the attitude of the Church of England concerning its missionaries in China. It says:— “The correct principle has been very admirably laid down within a few weeks by Lord Salisbury and the Archbishop of Canterbury in reference to the proper relation of missionaries to a semi-civilized government. The French Catholic missionaries in China, bishops and priests, claim and are allowed the authority of a magistrate or mandarin. If of a higher rank than the mandarin they sit in judgment in the case of a convert who is accused or who is a party to a suit with a heathen; or if of equal rank the ecclesiastic sits with the magistrate and practically controls the decision. It is generally believed that the favoritism thus allowed is the cause of very much of the prejudice among the Chinese against Christians and especially against Catholic Christians, and even of the Boxer outbreak. The bishops assume the state of a high officer and travel with all the splendor of mandarins of high rank. An English missionary wrote to the British Legation at Peking asking whether it would be well for Protestant missionaries to claim the rights and privileges extended to their Roman Catholic colleagues. He referred it to the Foreign Office in London, and Lord Salisbury referred it for advice to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop decided that as a matter of principle and of policy it is undesirable that Protestant missionaries in China should claim the privileges allowed by imperial edict to members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and this is approved by the Anglican bishops in China; and Lord Salisbury replies that Her Majesty's Government concurs in this opinion, and that no further action should be taken with a view to obtaining for British Protestant missionaries the privileges conferred on the Roman Catholic clergy.” The principle referred to is correct, whether the government be semi-civilized or wholly civilized. Of course, with the question of the Anglican missionaries there is the matter of policy, as connected with the British Government. But were the missionaries sent out by any other than a State-established church, the question of policy,—which carries with it politics in this relation,—enters whenever the missionary, as such, accepts office under the government. And with politics the Christian missionary should have nothing to do. L. A. P. Chicago Saloons and Starving Pimas
At a recent meeting of the Congregational Club of Chicago the general secretary gave some startling facts about Chicago saloons. Among other things, he said: "Thirty-one thousand inhabitants of Chicago—saloon proprietors, saloon porters, and bartenders—are making it their special business to ruin young men. The figures do not include gamblers nor any others who might be put in the same class. The daily receipts of the saloons alone were $316,000. In one saloon on Madison Street, connected with a theater, at 7 P. M. one Sunday there were counted 485 young men, and between 7 P. M. and 9 P. M. 524 more young men were seen to enter. Some of these were standing in a row six deep about a gambling table." THE aborigines of Arizona are in straitened circumstances; that is, many of them are starving. A despatch from Phoenix, dated June 28, says:— "Railroad men have been looking into the Pima Indian situation here, with a view of transporting a number of the starving Pimas to the vineyards about Fresno, Cal., where there is a scarcity of labor. S. M. McCowan, superintendent of the Phoenix Indian Industrial School, sent for the chiefs of the Maricopa and Pima tribes, who agreed to-day to permit as many as 400 or 500 Indians to leave the Gila reservation, and a still greater number might be induced to leave if employment and transportation were furnished and the experiment proves successful. H. P. Anewalt, of the Santa Fe Prescott and Phoenix Railroad, said to-night that the matter is practically settled here, and the scheme of putting Indians in the vineyards is up to the fruit-growers. They will be expected to provide transportation. It is not believed that there will be much danger of the Indians losing any part of the $30,000 appropriation made by Congress for their relief, as that sum could not permanently improve the condition of the Indians, and there would be an urgent call on the appropriation soon after the Indians' return from grape picking. Grape picking is not new to the Pimas, as a few of them have been employed in the vineyards here annually. They ask only small wages. They camp near their place of work, and it costs them little to live. They stand the heat well, and, it is said, can be depended upon to work almost as well as regular pickers." Now wait for the protest from "workingmen" who think it more honorable to lie idle than to work for small wages. THERE are now engaged in an incipient war with China, the governments of Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Japan, and the United States. The war is supposed to be an uprising of an extensive secret society known as the Boxers, against all foreigners, whom they deem entirely too aggressive for the material interests of the natives. It is as yet uncertain whether the Chinese Government is covertly encouraging the movement or is simply unable to quell it. At all events the flags of all the nations mentioned have been planted on Chinese soil, and all of them are believers in the doctrine that where the flag is once planted it must remain. If they all maintain this theory, the foundation is already laid for a worse "perplexity" when China shall have been conquered than that which at present exists. A despatch from Consul Goodnow at Shanghai says of the situation at Pekin: "On the 27th there were two legations standing. The emperor and empress were prisoners in the palace. The city gates were closed. Prince Tuan and his force of 'Boxers' were in control of everything. Conditions of anarchy exist." As SHOWING the retrogression of Protestantism and the activity of Roman Catholicism, take the following from the Literary Digest: "The Old First Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue and Eleventh Street, New York, which for some time has been struggling to raise an endowment fund that would enable it to maintain itself down-town, has just reported that this fund has now reached nearly $76,000. The same problem has confronted all the Protestant down-town churches, owing to the up-town trend of population. The Roman Catholic Church of the Transfiguration, where Dr. De Costa lately lectured on the subject, 'From Canterbury to Rome,' was once an Episcopal Church, and Dr. De Costa called attention to the fact that since the Roman Catholics moved in, no less than twelve Protestant churches had abandoned the densely populated district comprised within a radius of five blocks. The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, which is doing a widely useful institutional work in the region below Washington Square, is also making a strenuous effort to raise an endowment fund in order to maintain itself in its present location for all time." LADY CURZON, wife of the Viceroy of India, writes to the Chicago Relief Committee as follows: "The famine is greater in its intensity over the areas afflicted than at any previously recorded visitation. Fewer persons will die, yet incomparably more persons are suffering. The absolute failure of the two last autumn and spring harvests and the unprecedented loss of cattle in western and central India, make the task of recuperation more arduous than on any previous occasion. The government has reduced the rate of mortality, and even in the worst districts the figures show only a slight excess over the normal rate. The government has spent $26,000,000 upon direct relief, $10,000,000 upon suspensions and remissions of land revenue, $6,000,000 upon advances for the purchase of seed and cattle, and $5,000,000 upon loans to the distressed States. The relief committee has distributed $2,500,000 through various channels." A LATE despatch from Moscow indicates a financial pressure in Russia. It says: "The Boxer troubles in China and the death of Count Muravieff have greatly accentuated the difficulties of the financial situation in Russia, which is in such a critical state as to arouse the gravest anxiety. The black list of good firms failing, lengthens, and the sense of insecurity and fear that something worse is to come has caused vast sums to be temporarily withdrawn from the market. In Moscow alone, within two months, it is stated on good authority, 820,000,000 roubles, most of which was previously in currency, have been lodged in the Imperial Bank, without interest, for safety." THE news from China is very indefinite, especially as to affairs in the capital. June 18, Baron von Ketteler, the German minister, was shot by a mob while going to the rooms of the Tsung Li Yamen, and died soon afterward. All the legations, except the German, British, and Italian, had been destroyed at that date. The diplomats and missionaries were at the British legation, covered by cannon. It was estimated that at least fifty thousand troops would be necessary in order to relieve them. Germany will demand "full satisfaction," which will probably mean a large bit of territory—all that the other powers will permit. The emperor is preparing to send 20,000 troops and five battle-ships to the Orient. The United States force in China is to be 14,000 men. The transport Grant, with reinforcements, is now on the way with 32 officers and 1,347 men, under command of General Chaffee. Other powers will send armies and navies in proportion to their interests or ambitions. The outlook indicates complications such as few, if any, people yet comprehend. BEFORE rushing off to Cape Nome, it might be well to consider this from a correspondent: "Five vessels lost in the rush for gold is the history of disaster thus far at Nome. Thousands of dollars' worth of property has been destroyed, and hundreds of prospectors are without means of pursuing fortune. The gold diggings are in a state of anarchy, and property in and about Nome is held only at the muzzle of a gun. Three steamers—the Roanoke, Santa Ana, and Ohio—have reached the diggings from Seattle with smallpox on board, and two are quarantined with their passengers at Egg Island. . . . Dishonest men may thrive, and the lawless will make money. Everything within 100 miles of Nome has been taken up, and claims are being sold and resold by the so-called real estate agents. If a man has a house, he must stay home and take care of it; otherwise he will lose it. There may be lots of gold there, but I fail to see how the newcomer is going to get it." Two MEN of Los Angeles, Cal., have succeeded in going into Yosemite Valley in an automobile. The San Francisco Chronicle says: "The distance from Raymond to the valley via Wawona is seventy miles, and an elevation of 5,000 feet must be overcome. At some portions of the road there is a grade of nearly 20 per cent. The better part of two days is consumed by the regular stages, on the trip. This automobile, which was driven by steam generated by the use of gasoline as fuel, made the entire distance in eight hours and eighteen minutes actual running time, and with a total consumption of only eight gallons of liquid. Grades which the four-horse stages can not traverse at a gait exceeding three miles an hour, were covered by the automobile at eight miles an hour, with considerable reserve power left." A SEATTLE, Wash., despatch of the 1st inst. says that three tons of gold arrived that day from Alaska, on two steamers. Of this $600,000 was consigned to the United States assay office by the Canadian Bank of Commerce at Dawson, and $500,000 represented the clean-up of the T. S. Lippy mines. Lest people become over-impressed by the glowing accounts of gold coming out of these northern mines, it would be well for them to consider the enormous sums carried in by the gold-seekers, and spent for passage and outfits to make the trip. A good proportion of the comparatively few fortunes made there are from the money carried in and spent by people who come out with less than they took in. EARLY in the morning of June 30 a terrible fire broke out on the Hoboken, N. J., docks. The fire originated in a pile of cotton, then communicated with a lot of whisky, which exploded, sending the flames in all directions. Three large North German Lloyd Company steamers were burned to the water's edge. Docks, warehouses, and great stores of merchandise were destroyed; also twelve canal boats and six barges. Estimates of losses run as high as $10,000,000. But the worst was the loss of life, the latest estimate we have being 326. Probably the exact number never will be known. A GREAT storm in the northeastern part of Nebraska, June 27, swept over a region one hundred miles square, and immense damage was done in the aggregate. At Wakefield two residences and several barns were wrecked. All through the storm-swept section windmills and outbuildings were destroyed. ESTIMATING from vessels arrived and on the way June 15, there were 30,000 miners at Cape Nome July 1. When the Zealandia (which arrived at San Francisco June 29) left the cape, newcomers were all in a quandary because of the wholesale jumping of claims, and serious trouble was expected. THE through passenger service of the Santa Fe Railroad system, over its own tracks, between Chicago and San Francisco, was inaugurated on the first inst. The western land terminal is at Point Richmond, on the east side of San Francisco Bay, connecting with the city by ferry. A FIRE in Colusa Co., Cal., on the 1st inst. swept over a track of land eight by twelve miles in extent. About fifteen thousand acres of grain and several buildings on the Evans tract were destroyed. THE World's Woman's Temperance Union Congress, in session at Edinburgh, June 26, re-elected Lady Henry Somerset as president. THE PASSING OF FAMILY PRAYERS.
THERE are probably few of our readers of mature years who were not accustomed in their youth to the observance of family prayers in their homes, and, altho as children they may sometimes have found the custom irksome and have failed to derive much good from it, yet in later years they have recognized its great significance and the fitness of the act in which the head of the household commended himself and his family to the divine protection each day, with grateful acknowledgment of the mercies already received. The recollection of those devotions is often one of the sweetest memories of our youth and of the home that no longer exists. Since so many persons feel this and are fully convinced of the propriety of having family prayers, it may well be asked how it is that the custom is so rapidly falling into disuse. And one of the true reasons, if people would but confess it, is found in the fact that the children object to it, and that parents have grown so weak and have so little authority in their homes that they yield to these objections against their better impulses and convictions.—Charleston (S. C.) News and Courier. The Right and Wrong Beginnings
By William S. Sadler
DEMORALIZATION OF THE YOUNG MAN. NO. 2.
The Right and Wrong Beginnings.
IN considering the young man, let us begin by inquiring concerning the surroundings of his boyhood. Who are his associates? With whom does he keep company? His future life and character will be largely determined by the nature of his associates. It would be much safer for parents to send their children to the pest-house, or the leper's abode, than to permit them to associate with vicious companions, whose influence will, in the end, prove more ruinous and disastrous than the smallpox or the plague itself. Home Education vs. Community Education.
Children should be taught at home. The boy, perhaps a mere lad, should not be allowed to get his education on the street, or from older companions well informed in regard to vice. The only teacher of the young boy should be his parents. Many an innocent lad, who has scarcely learned to read and write, has become old, hardened, and familiar with many forms of vice. It is far easier, by restriction of the associations, to prevent the acquiring of this pernicious information, than it is to undertake to rescue the lad from the meshes of iniquity when he has once become entangled. Let the home itself be the most delightful place on earth to the boy. Let memories of home and home-folk be so pleasant and agreeable to his youthful mind that he will recognize no enticement in the temptations by which the enemy of his soul seeks to lead him on to the streets, there to sow in his young breast the seeds of demoralization, which will by and by effect his utter ruin. I wish I were able so to emphasize the importance of surrounding the boy with proper association that every parent in the land would, from this time forth, place first in mind the question of their children's associations. The Wrong Place to Begin.
If you wait until the boy has reached the age of fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen years, you will find it a difficult matter to influence him concerning his associates. He has then acquired a liking for a particular kind of society, and it will then be well-nigh too late to undertake the work of undoing the mischief resulting from years of association with vicious companions. When the heart and mind were pure, soft, and tender, they were easily molded. As noted before, there is little hope of rescuing the majority of wayward youth when they have approached too near the fatal falls. If it were ever true that an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," it is certainly true in this connection. A prominent religious teacher once said: "Give me a child until he is seven or eight years of age, and he will always be what I have made him." I once asked a young man, who was serving a life sentence in a prison, where all his trouble began. He said: "The work of ruination was completed before I was eight years of age. Altho my parents were well-to-do, and I was associated only with the neighbors' children, yet it was the influence exerted by these children that has proved to be the seed of my destruction." When a boy (or a girl for that matter) is found to have more confidence in any living soul than he has in his parents, it may be regarded as a danger signal of the most serious sort. The parent is the one who stands between God and the child, and he should look well to it that no influence is allowed to intrude itself between himself and the childlike confidence of "his boy." The early confidence which a boy has in his father is so full of respect and trust that it almost partakes of the nature of reverence. Let the parent lose the confidence of the boy or girl, and he has met with a loss that is irreparable. That confidence which will lead the boy to unfold to the father all his plans, all his doings, to open up his very heart, constitutes the most powerful safeguard against vice and impurity with which the character of every boy or young man may be fortified. Great care should be exercised in reprimanding or chastising the boy. Let the virtues of love and mercy be mingled with what many parents term firmness or justice. Let the same spirit be present when correcting the boy of his mistakes, committed either through ignorance or forgetfulness, that you would have present when you would pray with him or otherwise seek to influence him for a high and holy purpose. The administration of arbitrary punishment is one of the easiest ways of divorcing the confidence that a boy should have in his parents. When he has done wrong, or made a mistake, and makes known the facts to his parents, they should mingle with the counsel and admonition subsequently administered, a spirit of love and compassion that will lead the young mind to recognize in them that sympathy and interest that are so necessary to inspire a boy or girl with courage, confidence, and perseverance. Too much can not be said in this connection against the practise of indirectly deceiving the child. False statements are generally made, altho well-meant, by the sincere parent, concerning the origin of life and other vital questions, which the parent considers the young mind of the child unable to understand. This unintended deception has a direct bearing upon the terrible consequences that are sure to follow when the child's confidence is weakened, broken, or lost. Let the parent make such a thorough-going study of the divine order of teaching truth as portrayed in both revelation and nature, and let his life be such a beautiful presentation of the truths of virtue, purity, and righteousness, that the child will be captivated with what he thus learns from the life and teachings of the parent. Then when these vital subjects are subsequently presented to him by the emissaries of Satan, clothed with all the vileness of the street, it will prove to be a thing so repulsive, compared with the high teaching with which his young mind has been fortified, that the evil will be powerless either to interest or entice him. ORIGIN OF THE MONTHS' NAMES.
"JANUARY was named after the Roman god Janus, the deity with two faces, one looking into the past and the other gazing forward to the future," writes Clifford Howard in the Ladies' Home Journal. "February comes from the Latin word februo, to purify. It was customary for the Romans to observe festivals of purification during that month. March owes its name to the old god of war. Among the Saxons this month was known as 'Lenct,' meaning spring; and this is the origin of our11word 'Lent.' April was named from the Latin aperio, to open, in signification of the opening of flowers. The Saxons called the month Easter, in honor of their goddess of spring, from which comes our word Easter. May was named after the Roman goddess Maia, and June was so-called in honor of Juno. July was named in honor of Julius Cæsar, and August gets its name from Augustus Cæsar, September is from the Latin septem, seven, this being the seventh month according to the old Roman calendar, October, November and December also retain the names by which they were known under the old calendar, when there were but ten months in the year—octo, novem, decem, meaning eight, nine and ten." OUR CHILDREN.
By T. R. Williamson
"That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth." Ps. 144:12. That is, grown to man's reason and strength of mind while they are still young. How does a plant grow up in its youth?
Comely, and straight, and tall, and fair,
Swaying in every breeze with grace;
It looks e'en the dazzling sun in the face
As with conscious nobleness born of truth,
And a fine independent, guileless air. 'Tis Bible growth that I write about—
Not noxious weeds by miry roads—
Young palms that grow toward the stars,
Upright and lithe and courageous as Mars,
That can firmly stand amid strife and roat,
Who can strongly lift at another's loads. Bright, generous boys, and young, true men,
Steady and faithful, honest too,
Who are not seen where black sins dwell,
Whose hearts are not stained, and whose breaths ne'er smell
Of the liquor that's brewed in Satan's den,
Or the filth and poison of smoke and chew. A boy or a man on whose strong arm
A mother leans with loving trust;
Life soldier in the church of Christ,
Ready either for work or sacrifice;
Who will side with the weak 'gainst pain and harm
If that side be true and the cause be just. These are the plants that grow tall and strong,
Firm rooted, sprung from Gospel seed;
And when the hosts of Zion come
With song and with trump to their sunlit home,
Their hands shall wave in the breezes of song,
And eternity's favors shall be their meed. O glorious planting of God's own hand,
Comely and pleasant, true and fair!
Grow up to stand like monarch trees,
Like hearts of oak that in tempest or breeze
Reach sheltering arms o'er the needy land,
And crowns of usefulness royally wear. No BRILLIANCY or force will prevent the incessant talker from being a bore. The weariness of their hearers has come down to posterity with the story of the wit and wisdom of many a great converser. "O, that Macaulay would give us a brilliant flash of silence!" sighed an exhausted listener. "Coleridge," we are told, "talked with the eloquence of a divine being; but a divine patience was needed to listen to him." "Margaret Fuller," said an old Quaker who knew her, "had the wisdom of a dozen men—and their tongues, too. Ordinary mortals fled before her unending flood of speech." A young woman entering the world should remember that, tho her wit and sentiment seem to her of the choicest vintage, no man wishes to be drowned, even in costly wine. Any intelligent person can be a good listener; and while the brilliant talker gains the applause of the world, the good listener wins their hearts.—Anon. THE INTELLIGENCE OF WASPS.
THE greatest display of wasp intelligence I ever saw manifested was by a queen in early spring. A little earthen bird-house was fastened under the eaves in the rear of the house, and she selected this snug retreat as a fitting place to rear the future colony. She had commenced work when a pair of bluebirds disputed her right to the house. The queen is necessarily absent much of the time scraping weather-beaten boards or posts to get material to make her paper cells, and during her absence the birds were busily at work carrying in material for their nest. But soon I heard them making a plaintive noise. They stood on the edge of the roof, the female with her mouth full of straw, and whenever she attempted to go to the house the wasp would dart toward her and drive her back. But this state of affairs could not last long. The queen must go on with her work, and no sooner was she gone than the birds recommenced the building, and were fast filling up the house. And now this wise queen went to other queens—who probably had not yet commenced to work, as it was April—and made them understand the dilemma she was in, and five sisters came to her aid, and remained on the outside of the little house while she went to and fro on her journeys, and each time the birds came near they would dart at them. This continued until the birds were driven from the field and obliged to take another house. And now the five queens disappeared, leaving their sister in peaceful possession of the property.—Wide Awake. "The berries of the yew have killed many persons," says the Scientific American, "and it is pretty well known nowadays that it is not safe to eat many peach pits or cherry kernels at once. "Among the garden plants commonly in vogue which possess a poisonous nature, botanists mention the jonquil, white hyacinth, and snowdrop, the narcissus being also particularly deadly—so much so, indeed, that to chew a small scrap of one of the bulbs may result fatally, while the juice of the leaves is an emetic. There is enough opium in red poppies to do mischief, and the autumn crocus, if the blossoms are chewed, causes illness. The lobelias are all dangerous, their juice, if swallowed, producing giddiness, with pains in the head. Lady's-slipper poisons in the same way as does poison ivy. The bulbs seem to be the most harmful. Lilies-of-the-valley are also as poisonous. The leaves and flowers of the oleander are deadly, and the bark of the catalpa-tree is very mischievous. The water dropwort, when not in flower, resembles celery, and is virulent." HOW TO HELP HORSES ENDURE THE HEAT.
By Geo. T. Angell
ON a very hot day keep a sponge, a towel, or your handkerchief, soaked with pure cold water, on the top of your horse's head. If your horse's back is sore, use pure cold water on it freely every time the saddle is removed. In hot weather, tell the driver of your herdic, cab, or carriage, to drive slowly, especially up hills, and give him five or ten cents extra for doing it. In hot weather be sure your check-rein is loose and your horse frequently watered. In hot weather a mouthful of grass, or a piece of bread, or a cracker even, will help your horse wonderfully.—Geo. T. Angell. I dropped a stitch in my knitting
As I sat at work one day,
And it seemed such a little matter
I sang as I worked away.
But, lo, when my work was finished,
I saw with infinite pain
The stitch I had missed in the morning
Had rendered it all in vain!
That all of my perfect stitches
Were useless because of one;
That one little flaw had cost me
The loss of my heart’s “well done!” Just so it is in our lives, dear;
But the stitches dropped, ah me!
Are part of the soul’s own garment
We weave for eternity.
The stitch of unbridled passions,
Of an evil, bitter thought,
The stitch of neglected duties,
Are into the pattern wrought!
The stitch of the first cigar, lad,
The stitch of your first strong drink,
And the work of your life is ruined—
Does it pay, dear, do you think? Alas, for the stitch unheeded!
Ah me, for the mischief done!
For the glad hopes of the morning,
For heartache at set of sun!
—Selected.