THIS city is one of the out-stations of the Smyrna mission field in Asia Minor. It is located about 250 miles east of Smyrna, at an altitude of more than 3,000 feet above sea level, and is an important center for the opium trade, the soil of the surrounding district being peculiarly adapted to the growth of the poppy from which the opium comes, and which is cultivated in great abundance. Hence the name of the city, Afion (opium) Kara Hissar (black castle), to distinguish it from several other cities called Kara Hissar, each with some designating prefix.
It is very compactly built in a valley, on one side of which an immense perpendicular rock rises 500 feet above the city, and is surmounted by the ruins of a very ancient castle, built for the defense of the town. Its streets are very narrow and generally without sidewalks, paved with rough stones. The population is estimated at 30,000, of which probably 7,000 are Armenians. The Gospel has been preached and a school maintained in this place for many years, and with a fair degree of success, considering the difficulties to be overcome, for almost all who have accepted the truth have been called to suffer severe persecution. People in America do not know what it costs to be a Christian in countries where there is but little freedom of conscience. A few years ago this small band of Armenian believers passed through a long siege of persecution, not from the Turkish Government, but from their own people, encouraged by a bigoted priesthood.
The collection of the taxes imposed by the Turkish Government furnishes an opportunity for the practice of great injustice. As the apportionment of these taxes to individuals is always left to the leading men of the different nationalities, obnoxious persons, like those who have declared themselves Protestants, are liable to have their taxes doubled on the slightest provocation, and these poor brethren found themselves obliged to pay two and three times as much as could justly be required of them, and were plainly told that if they would return to the mother church their burdens would be lightened.
One of the brethren had an infant child whom he wished to have baptized by a Protestant pastor, but as their preacher was not ordained there was necessarily some delay. Taking advantage of this delay, the relatives one day seized the child from the arms of its grandmother and hastened it away to the Gregorian Church, where it was baptized by a priest against the will of the father. The child's mother, who was not a Protestant, was taken to the house of her brother and kept, with the child, for two and a half months, even against her will, her husband being obliged to pay a certain sum each month to meet their expenses, and because he had not the money to pay he was imprisoned until the preacher came forward and paid it for him. He finally appealed to the government, claiming his wife and child, but before action was taken a mutual friend interposed and brought them back.
There were two excellent women who frequented the Protestant worship, but they were bitterly opposed by their husbands. They were slandered, they were beaten, they were sometimes shut out of their houses and sometimes locked into them, and were forbidden to go near the Protestants. A son of one of these Christian sisters, about sixteen years old, began to attend the worship and to show sympathy with his mother in her trials, and was ordered by his father never to enter his house again till he would take an oath not to attend the Protestant service. He accordingly left his father's house and apprenticed himself to a Protestant brother to learn shoemaking. During my last visit to the place these two persecuted sisters, with the rejected son just mentioned, became members of the church, but I have never heard that the father had become reconciled.
During the summer of 1892 I visited the place with my daughter at a time when the persecution was at its height, and during our stay of three weeks the house we occupied, which was the home of the preacher, was stoned every night but one. The front windows, being protected by wire netting, were uninjured; but the back rooms, whose windows were exposed, could not be used for a time, and the windows were taken out to save them from destruction. The brethren were almost daily stoned by the boys in the streets, and one Sabbath during our stay a crowd gathered about the door, railing at those who dared to enter, and stoning the door after we had assembled for worship, till finally we were obliged to call on the Turkish police to protect us from the violence of the mob. For a long time most active measures were employed to prevent people coming to the worship, both slander and threats being freely used, and the preacher was most shamefully maligned.
At one time a document was presented to the governor accusing him of having, in a public place, shamefully slandered the Virgin Mary, and this document was emphasized by 200 signatures, mostly Armenians. The governor informed me of this foul accusation, but declared that he should not submit it to the court, as it could be nothing but slander. Yet, after we had gone, it was served in due form, and the good man was summoned before the Turkish court for trial. He had no one to plead his cause, and his accusers were many, but being allowed to speak in his own defence, he easily convinced the court and all who heard him, of his entire innocence and of the perfidy of his accusers. The case was dropped without further trial. In this affair he rejoiced in the fulfilment of our Lord's promise: "It shall12be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak."
But now all is changed. Enemies have become friends, and those who have slandered the preacher now speak his praise. The patience and forbearance of the persecuted brethren during all their trials have put to silence their opposers and won the confidence of all. The number of those who come to listen to the truth has much increased, and a Sabbath school of 150 children has been gathered. A faithful and devoted Bible-woman finds ready access to the homes of the rich and of the poor, who gladly listen to her earnest words and gather in large numbers at her weekly meetings for Bible study and prayer.
The Armenians of Afion Kara Hissar are very ambitious in the matter of education, and large sums of money are expended annually for the support of their boys in the best schools in Smyrna and Constantinople, while at home a large public school is supported by the people, and several private schools of different grades have long been sustained. Thus far advanced education has been sought mainly for boys, yet a few girls from this place have been connected with our Girls' School in Smyrna, and at present the preacher's daughter is a promising pupil there.
The importance of this place has been much advanced during the last year by the building of a new railroad, by which it is now put in direct communication with Constantinople at Scutari, and another road is being built which will connect it with Smyrna, so that we shall soon be able to go by rail from Smyrna to Constantinople, via Afion Kara Hissar, and this will tend to make our relations with that place more intimate and effective.—Missionary Herald.
ENCOURAGEMENT.
By D. E. Henry
BY D. E. HENRY.
THERE are thorns among life's roses,
Yet they do us wondrous good
Did our mortal minds but know it;
If we only understood,
We would count the pain but pleasure,
Never shrinking from the wound,
For with thorns, we must remember,
Our dear Saviour's head was crowned.
It was thorns unmixed with flowers,
Wore them there that we might live;
Yet among the last words uttered
Was that one grand word, "Forgive."
Shall we shrink from dark days coming?
Shall we fail to firmly stand,
When the black-robed persecution
Lays on us her heavy hand?
Nay! we'll trust our loving Father,
They are blessings in disguise,
Only veiled by dusky shadows;
Hid from our unseeing eyes.
And we'll but rejoice more for it,
Since permitted by God's hand,
It will make us nearer, dearer,
In that longed-for heavenly land.
Welcome wound that brings a healing
Greater far than pain we've borne;
'Tis our Father who is leading,
Courage, faint ones, do not mourn!
Charlotte, Mich.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
IN connection with the recent Maine camp-meeting, held at Augusta, fifteen persons were baptized.
Two more of our laborers in England, Brother Ellery Robinson and wife, have gone to India to augment the force in that far-away mission field.
The local camp-meeting at Sacramento, Cal., is in progress this week, and will close Sunday evening, the 11th inst. The ministers present are Elders A. J. Breed, N. C. McClure, E. E. Andross, and A. J. Osborne.
ELDER A. J. HAYSMER reports the baptism of five persons at Lucea, Jamaica. Arrangements are being made for securing property for church and school purposes at Kingston, the capital. A chapel has been erected at Spanish Town.
By a new law, which will be in operation January 1, in Germany, all our religious workers in that field under twenty-five years of age will be excluded. This will be a temporary disadvantage to the canvassing work, and to the selling of periodicals.
At the recent session of the New York Conference, held at Oswego Falls, three new churches were admitted: Albany, with nineteen members; Binghamton, with nineteen members, and Middletown, with twenty-two members. All the conference officers were reëlected.
At the publishing house in Hamburg, the message is being issued in thirteen different languages. Our ship missionary there was recently forbidden to continue his work, but through the mediation of influential friends a special permit was secured for carrying on the work.
ELDER A. J. BREED, superintendent of the Pacific Coast District, and Brother C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press Publishing Company, started this week for Battle Creek, Mich., to attend a session of the General Conference Association. They expect to be absent some four or five weeks.
ELDER H. E. ROBINSON says that steps are being taken to prepare laborers in the Welsh language, and to enlarge our force in Ireland. Elder Washburn is to open the work in Cardiff, Wales, this autumn, and Elder Hope in Bristol, England. These are important points, in which but little has been done.
Reports from the Brazilian mission state that we now have four organized churches and nine Sabbath schools. At Curitiba, state of Parana, a brother named Guilherme Stein, a Brazilian German, has a private school of thirty-five pupils, which is giving good satisfaction. He is conversant with both the German and Portuguese languages. Many of his pupils, with their parents, also attend Sabbath school.
ELDER H. E. ROBINSON, who has charge of the work in Great Britain, notes the reception of a letter from a minister in an English town, stating that he and his company transferred their usual Sunday services to the Sabbath of the Lord, beginning September 12. They were anxious to become better acquainted with our people and work. They were convinced on the Sabbath question by reading our London paper, the Present Truth.
Brother Baharian reports to the Review the baptism of two converts in the Black Sea at Samsoun. The occasion greatly enraged the people of the Greek Church, to which the two candidates had formerly been united, but the enemy was unable to do any more at the time than to rave. Afterward, however, they succeeded in having Brother Jordan imprisoned. In order to please the Greeks, the pasha commanded our brother not to preach any more there, and to leave the city soon. Brother Jordan answered that he could not but preach the Gospel, and that he would not leave the city excepting by force. Then he was imprisoned. Brother Baharian, on hearing of the affair, called on the minister of police at Constantinople, who immediately sent an order to the pasha at Samsoun to release Brother Jordan, and also to allow the "Sabbatarians" to preach and to hold meetings freely. As heretofore noted, the minister of police at Constantinople is favorable to the "Sabbatarians," as our people are called, because they do not meddle with the political affairs of the country, as other Christians do.
60 “MANY therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, 61 said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, 62 said unto them, Doth this cause you to stumble? What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where 63 he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you 64 are Spirit, and are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray 65 him. And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father. 66 “Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked 67 no more with him. Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, 68 Would ye also go away? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy 70 One of God. Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you 71 the twelve, and one of you is a devil? Now he spake of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.”
QUESTIONS.
What effect had this teaching of Jesus upon his disciples?
Did they need to give expression to their unbelief? What question did Jesus ask them?
What further spiritual truth does he present to their minds?
How does he compare spirit and flesh?
What key does he give to the explanation of his previous teaching?
What does he say is the experience of some of his disciples? Was this revelation of their unbelief a surprise to Jesus?
What previous statement had been based upon this knowledge?
What separation resulted from this presentation of deep spiritual truth?
What inquiry did Jesus make?
With what question did Peter introduce his reply. What reason did he give for remaining with Jesus?
What confession of faith did he make?
With what question did Jesus reveal his knowledge of the individual character of his followers?
Whose case was then in his mind? What was he to do to Jesus?
NOTES.
1. MANY of the same company which was fed with “the meat which perisheth” have now been fed with “that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,” but the very ones who were then ready to “take him by force to make him king,” now pronounce his discourse in the synagogue a hard one. His teaching had the evidently intended effect of making a separation among his followers, and of revealing their own motives to those who were seeking him because of the loaves. The man in the parable regarded his lord as a “hard man” (Matt. 25: 24), and did not make a right use of the talents delivered to him; so these selfish followers regard his saying as a hard one, and will not remain with him longer. “Great crowds are following him to be healed and to be fed, while the politically inclined have at last made a distinct effort to make him king, to force him into a collision with the authorities. His proper work is in danger of being lost sight of. He finds it necessary to sift the crowds who follow him. And he does so by addressing them in terms which can be acceptable only to truly spiritual men—by plainly assuring them that he was among them, not to give them political privileges and the bread that perisheth, but the bread that endureth. . . . They seek earth, and heaven is thrust upon them. They13turn away disappointed, and many walk no more with him.”
2. SOME may question the wisdom of Jesus in introducing a subject so easily misunderstood as that which turned so many from him on this occasion. But he had a purpose in view. He saw that a most trying ordeal awaited his disciples in his betrayal, his agony in Gethsemane, and his crucifixion. He knew who among his followers were unbelieving and who were of weak faith. Had no test been given them, Jesus would have had many among his followers who were weak in character, and undecided. When the great trial came, and their Lord was betrayed and condemned in the judgment hall; when he was humiliated, and the multitude, who had hailed him as their king, hissed at him and reviled him; when the cruel, jeering crowd cried, ‘Crucify him!’ then these faint-hearted ones would have sunk beneath their fear and disappointment. The apostasy of these professed followers of Christ at such a time would have been more than the twelve could have endured, in addition to their great grief and the ruin of their fondest hopes. . . . But Jesus brought about this crisis while he was still present to comfort and strengthen his chosen, and prepare them for what was to follow.”
3. “‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth;’ in these words and the corresponding ones of Paul, ‘The Spirit giveth life,’ we have the nearest approach to what may be called a definition of the Spirit . . . as a life-giving principle. [“The Spirit is what gives life.”] In contrast to the Spirit our Lord places the flesh. . . . It is the power in which the natural man, or even the believer who does not fully yield to the Spirit, seeks to serve God, or to know and possess divine things. . . . His words are spirit and life; they are not meant for the understanding, but for the life. . . . They have themselves a divine life, working out effectually with a divine energy the truth they express into the experience of those who receive them. . . . Not into the mind only, nor into the feelings, nor even into the will alone, must the word be taken, but through them into the life. . . . It is the Spirit that comes from God, the Spirit that Christ came to bring, becoming our life, that will make them become the truth and power in us. . . . The Holy Spirit has for all ages embodied the thoughts of God in the written word, and lives now for this very purpose in our hearts; there to reveal the power and meaning of that word. . . . The Scriptures, which were spoken by holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, can only be understood by holy men as they are taught by the same Spirit.”
4. ENOCH walked with God (Gen. 5: 22) when God was the invisible One, but when he was manifested in the flesh, those who listened to his gracious words refused to walk with him, but went “away behind.” When, under special tests, many are turned away from Christ and are showing that their professions are an empty form, and “the question comes to us, as in providence it does, ‘Will ye also go away?’ we must have our answer ready.”
5. “AND we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God.” Verse 69, R. V. Knowledge of Christ as the Holy One is the result of faith in him.
HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.
By F. W. Howe
WE are glad to report that the College at Healdsburg opens this year with more encouraging prospects than it has enjoyed for several years. Notwithstanding the postponement of the beginning of the school year from September 9 to September 23, the withholding of the printed Fall Announcement, and a somewhat general feeling of uncertainty as to what the exact character of the year's work would be, upwards of eighty young people assembled in the chapel on the opening day, and twenty-five presented themselves at the Primary Department. Since then a number of others have arrived, and now students are coming in daily.
A specially encouraging feature is that a large proportion of the students are quite mature, and of a class that give evidence of more than average ability. With this quality of students, who come with a distinct purpose to fit themselves for the highest usefulness, the prospects are very favorable for doing more satisfactory work than ever before.
A large number who have been in correspondence with the school, are still waiting to receive the Fall Announcement; but it has been thought best to prepare the Announcement in a new form, including a statement of such modifications of the course of study as were determined at the recent institute of the Trustees and Faculty. In the meantime we urge all who have been waiting for the Announcement to start at once for the College. The courses of study already arranged are sufficiently extensive to meet the needs of all who come; and whenever it is necessary to form new classes for the requirements of those who ought to take certain lines of study, provision will be made to the full extent of the available teaching force. Students may rest assured, therefore, that their needs are amply provided for, and it is a great disadvantage to delay entering upon school work at the beginning of the year. What the students really need, who are yet to come, will largely determine the character of the work that will be provided. The quality of the work will, if possible, be superior to what the school has done in the past. All are urged to come as soon as possible. Our accommodations are being rapidly taken up, and the school work organized in a form that can not be easily modified later. We expect the blessing of God on our labors, and the support of those who believe in the agency of Healdsburg College as an important means in educating laborers for his cause.
THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel;
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother;
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head; and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit;
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil;
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse;
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path;
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Golden Text: "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." Prov. 1:10.
NOTE.—The book of Proverbs is a compilation of sayings, or statements of familiar truths, the principal portion of which is accredited to Solomon. The book may be divided into three parts: The proverbs of Solomon, probably brought together by him, or in his time, chapters 1 to 24; Hezekiah's collection of Solomonic proverbs, chapters 25 to 29 (Hezekiah lived three hundred years after Solomon); the words of Agur, chapter 30, and the words of Lemuel, chapter 31, believed to be of later date. Three different words in the introduction, verses 1 to 6, are used to indicate the character of the sayings: (1) Proverb; (2) interpretation; (3) dark saying. The first primarily means a maxim, a comparison, a brief, sententious saying. The second is a superior, or wise remark, a figure, an enigma. The third is a riddle, or puzzle, literally a "knot" to be untied. Read with the lesson scripture the invitations of Wisdom in chapters 8:1-11, and 9:1-12.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What is to be known and perceived by the study of these proverbs? Verse 2. (2) What ought one to receive? Verse 3. (3) What will a knowledge of them impart? Verse 4. (4) What will characterize a wise man? Verse 5. (5) To what will a man of understanding attain? Same verse. (6) What is the threefold design of the proverbs of Solomon? Verse 6. (7) What is the fear of the Lord? Who will have it? Verse 7. (8) What is said of an opposite class? (9) What admonition is given to a young man? Verse 8. (10) What will a hearkening to such instruction and law be to him? Verse 9. (11) How should he regard the invitations of sinners? Verse 10. (12) How many different "enticings" are mentioned in verses 11 to 14, and what are they? (13) What wise advice is again given to his son? Verse 15. (14) What is the work of sinners declared to be? Verse 16. (15) In the instruction already given, who is likened to the bird that sees the net (verse 17)? What is the net? What is the seeing? (16) What is really the end of the sinners' devices? Verse 18. (17) What general conclusion is drawn in regard to sinners, and under what propensity of human nature are all their works classed? Verse 19.
NOTES.
The Introduction.
VERSES 1-6 include the introduction. Wisdom, instruction, justice, judgment, and equity are personified, and are to be known as one is acquainted with a friend. "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding" (Prov. 4:7), is a saying which shows that a possession of wisdom and understanding suffices for all else,—the giving of subtlety (activity of mind), knowledge and discretion to those who need them, and to the making a man wise to hear and learn. In other words, the man that is willing to hear and recognizes the fact that he needs to learn, is a wise man, one who is directly in the line of progress to the full attainment of all these desirable qualities.
The Beginning of Knowledge.
But the recognition of need must be present before knowledge can be acquired, or instruction received. This itself is the beginning of knowledge, and such beginning is declared to be the "fear of the Lord." The man in this frame of mind is a hopeful case; he is already a wise man. As it is said, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28. This means far more than an intellectual desire for a knowledge of the sciences, or languages, or an understanding of finances and statecraft, and a prior recognition of one's ignorance of those things. Of course to become skilled in such, one must first feel his lack of learning in these directions. But with the true definition of wisdom and understanding before us, it is evident that a longing for such knowledge for mere worldly honor or advancement, or even for self-gratification, is not the beginning nor any stage of true wisdom. The simple mention of the "Lord" in the condition, reveals the spiritual nature of the true wisdom. A putting away of evil, of sins, and possessing the mind of Christ, which means unselfishness and a desire to do good as he did, are in the "fear," and in the "beginning," and in the attaining. With such motives controlling the mind, the pursuit of knowledge in science and art and in other laudable directions will be eminently proper. Those that reject this "beginning" are mentioned in the latter part of verse 7.
Parental Honor.
THE child learns first from the parents. How important then that the instruction of the father, and the law of the mother, should be in reality the teaching of the Lord. They are to the young child who knows not to discern between good and evil, in the place of God, and so their instruction will be largely charged or credited the course pursued by the child in after years. If wise, and wisely followed, they are likened to the adornings of grace, and have in their obedience the promise of long life "upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,"—which is the earth made new.
The Enticement of Sinners.
THE one object of sinners is shown from verse 19 to be the greed of gain. Their one thought is self, and the only incentive offered to those whom they ask to join them is profit to self. This was what led to the fall of Lucifer, and the gain which that being as Satan the adversary offered to Adam and Eve. The exaltation of self always leads to the contemning of the Lord, for his ways are eternally in the opposite direction. The devil and the world means all of self, Christ and heaven means none of self. The gain of the wicked is their own destruction; "it taketh away the life of the owners thereof." Prov. 1:19, R. V. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. 16:26.
The Value of Instruction.
It is not necessary to gain an experience in evil in order to recognize it and be able to shun it. A modern proverb is, "Experience is a dear teacher," and under a false system of education one is sometimes led to believe the only way to learn to discriminate between the good and the bad is actual contact, with the ensuing, usually, bitter results. Sow the "wild oats" and reap the crop, and thereafter sow good oats! It is all the wrong way. The allurements of the world constitute the "net" spread by the evil one; but the Lord in infinite love and wisdom offers instruction to all who will receive it, revealing the safe path, showing another way, the way of life. "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Isa. 30:21. The net is everywhere else. The Lord's teaching is concerning the good, positive. The evil is revealed by contrast, negatively. How entirely without excuse, then, is he who falls into the net of evil, having a knowledge of the right. The Lord has the power and the will to lead you. Will you let him?
Suggestions for Further Study.
1. What kind of hearing is referred to in verse 60? Compare Rev. 2:7, etc.
2. Observe that the preexistence of Christ is taught in verse 62.
3. Christ says, "The words that I speak unto you," rather than "my words." What is the difference? Compare Deut. 18:18; John 17:8, etc.
4. Study the opposite effect of the same teaching and privileges upon Judas and the other disciples. What lesson in this?
5. Since Christ's words are life, may we not expect them to perform the functions of life? Compare Heb. 4:12; Acts 12:24; 19:20, etc.
6. Observe the progress of the change in the feeling of the people toward Christ as shown in this chapter. Verses 15, 41, 52, 60, 66.
7. The word translated "a devil" in verse 70 is translated "slanderers" in 1 Tim. 3:11, and "false accusers" in 2 Tim. 3:3 and Titus 2:3. Satan was the great original slanderer, who slandered both God and Christ. Judas followed in his track. He "misrepresented Christ in telling the priests falsehoods about his teaching."
8. In what ways is "life only in Christ" taught in this lesson?
FOREIGN.
—Peru has decided to legalize civil marriages.
—A Vienna despatch says 6,000 miners have joined the strike which is in progress through the coal regions of North Bohemia.
—A Turkish official journal says that France and Russia are resolved to maintain the integrity of Turkey, and that Austria concurs in this line of policy.
—Baroness Hirsch has given £20,000,000 for the continuance of her late husband's labors for the emigration of poverty-stricken Jews from Russia to the Argentine Republic.
—Official despatches from Salisbury, Mashonaland, Africa, report serious fighting, lasting three days, near Mazoe. The British were hemmed in by the natives for ten hours.
—A Madrid despatch of the 30th ult. says that the Spanish Government has decided to send 40,000 more troops to Cuba; also to send 2,000 to Porto Rico, and 3,000 to the Philippine Islands.
—A late Bombay despatch says: "The drought continues in northern and central India. Crops in these sections have utterly failed. Grain riots have occurred in many places as a result of the scarcity."
—The Paris Gaulois says that in view of the disturbed state of affairs in Madagascar, 12,000 troops will be sent there after the fêtes to be held in honor of the visit of the czar and czarina to the French capital.
—Storms and rainfall in Egypt of an extent and violence heretofore unknown occurred during the first few days of September. The tempest did great damage to the railway being constructed by the Egyptians.
—A recent letter from the sultan to the German emperor says: "Upon my imperial honor, no Christian lives are threatened now or will be in the future. All of my subjects, except anarchists, are equally safe."
—A Berlin despatch of the 1st inst. says that Turkish officials propose to introduce the old German laws against Socialists and anarchists into that country. They regard this move as a compliment to the German emperor.
—Matthew Izmirlian, the Armenian patriarch who was banished to Jerusalem from Constantinople, has arrived at his destination, and is said to be a source of menace to the peace of that city. There is constant dread of outbreak among the Mussulmans on his account.
—Advices from Belgrade say that the brother of the Austrian consul at Cerces, Macedonia, who was carried off by a band of Bulgarian brigands some weeks ago, has been murdered, with four of his companions, because a ransom of $50,000 was not forthcoming as demanded.
—Coal miners at Brux and Occeg, in Bohemia, to the number of 2,500, went on a strike September 30. In the ensuing riots, the offices of the mining company and the buildings surrounding the entrances to the mines were wrecked. Several officers of the mines were assaulted and severely injured. Troops were sent to quell the disturbance.
—A Tangier despatch of September 30 says: "The Jewish quarter of Fez, the principal city of the empire of Morocco, has been burned, and several persons have perished and many were fatally injured. Five hundred of the residents of the burning quarter were compelled to fly to the country until the flames were quenched. It is estimated that there are 10,000 Jews in Fez out of a total population of 100,000.
—During the march of the English expedition up the Nile this season, it is said that the cholera broke out among the troops several times, but was overcome by means of isolation, disinfection, and sanitation. It was generally stamped out in about ten days. It was difficult to keep the men from drinking the contaminated water of the Nile, or otherwise taking the cholera germs into their systems, but vigorous measures prevailed.
—Additional news by steamer from Japan states that the villages of Hiraka, Okachi, and Sempoko were almost totally destroyed by the recent earthquakes. The number of persons killed in the district was 196; seriously injured, 262; residences totally wrecked, 4,050, and partly destroyed, 855; buildings other than residences destroyed, 1,368, and rendered unsafe, 808. A steamer on the western coast was capsized by a typhoon, and 100 passengers were drowned. A tidal wave on the coast of Ise at the same time swept away several small villages. The sufferers are many, altho most of the people escaped with their lives. However, at Fukuchiyama over 1,000 lives were lost by floods, and the survivors are destitute.
—U. S. Consul Mills, of Honolulu, will send the remains of Kate Field, the noted American woman journalist, to the United States for cremation, as her request can not be carried out there for lack of facilities for that purpose.
—It is said the sultan has promised the German ambassador that if any fresh disorders arise in Constantinople, only the police and military will be employed to suppress them. The engagement of men armed with cudgels to disperse rioters will not be allowed.
—The czar and czarina have concluded their much-talked-of visit to grandmother Victoria, of England, and departed without being Nihilized; but it is said that the chief inspector of police has materially aged through worry over his contract to see that no harm befall the royal visitors to the queen. The responsibility of the czar's safety anywhere is a weighty charge. Such is this world's honors.
—Late advices from Nicaragua state that a plot was recently discovered which involved the overturning of the government, and the assassination of President Zelaya. The discovery was on the very eve of the proposed execution of the plot. One of the leading conspirators was Cardenas, the former president. The Conservatives, who aided Zelaya to quell the last revolution, are now against him, because of alleged failure to grant promised favors.
—The strike of telegraphers and train despatchers on the Canadian Pacific Railroad has seriously disarranged the running of trains. The strikers attempted to take advantage of a very busy time, inasmuch as the grain rush is on. There has been a disagreement between the company and the telegraphers for some time, because of the latter's membership in the Order of Railway Telegraphers. Three months ago, it is said, discharge was threatened if they did not withdraw from the order.
