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Signs of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 32.

A LESSON FOR THE AGES
Earlier text: WHAT DAY IS THE SABBATH?

Where and How Educated.—The Public Schools

By W. S. Sadler

DEMORALIZATION OF THE YOUNG MAN. No. 5.

[All rights reserved.]

Where and How Educated.—The Public Schools.

SOON the boy reaches the age when it is expected that he will start to school. While it is true that we have a most wonderful school system in this country, it can not be denied that there exists to-day in the public schools of this fair land an ulcer which is eating at the very life—morality—of the American youth. You have only to investigate, if you are skeptical, to be convinced that this is a fact. Were the true conditions generally known concerning the prevalence of vice, and its spread in connection with our public schools, the reader would be appalled. While the mind of the boy is being stored with facts and book learning, his young soul is being filled with vicious knowledge and information of the most pernicious sort. Seeds of vice are sown in the breast of the lad at this tender age, afterwards to germinate and bring forth a terrible harvest. Let the parent who would seek to forestall the enemy's plans for the ruin of his boy, not only look well into the lad's associations, but make careful inquiry concerning the school of immorality which is so often carried on contemporaneously with his training in the public school.

Bad Literature in Schools.

The emissary of Satan does not hesitate to enter both schools and colleges. He often comes in the person of one of the students. In this way whole schools and colleges have been thoroughly saturated with literature of the vilest sort. Again, there are those who are professionals at this work, those who make the pollution and destruction of youth their source of gaining a livelihood. Nowhere to-day are the youth safe from the enemy's assaults. Only by fortifying their minds with the eternal principles of purity, righteousness, and truth can they be saved from the fiery darts of the enemy.
Many will no doubt say, Why are not these things suppressed? Why does not the law act? Strenuous efforts have been put forth along this line by those interested in the suppression of vice; but they are merely treating symptoms—effects, instead of causes. Has not the time arrived when we should begin to look back into the cause of these evils which are effecting the ruin of so many youth? Shall we not seek to prevent, rather than suppress? Remove the cause, and we shall see fruits from our labor. Give the boy the Bible, together with plenty of good books, varied in their scope and subject matter, and in so doing you will set in operation influences of the greatest preventive value.

Detective Stories, Fiction, Dime Novels, etc.

"By beholding we become changed." The young mind that is allowed to feed upon the exciting incidents and the unnatural imaginations of so-called "detective stories," "Indian fighting," and other similar episodes, found in the cheap books, pamphlets, and periodicals of the day, is sure to become seriously diseased. The young imagination will become so excited and distorted as to cause the lad to fall an easy victim to a desire for adventure and excitement, which is but a natural consequence of this sort of brain food.
Recently, in this city, a lad of twelve years organized what he was pleased to call a "gang of robbers," and, with revolvers and other necessary paraphernalia, set out one night to hold up pedestrians and commit various other depredations. His arrest by the police disclosed the fact that he had been reading the very kind of literature above mentioned. This is not an isolated case. If the mind of a youth is once poisoned with this pernicious reading matter, it will require years to counteract the evil done. Fiction, whether cheap or costly, whether bound with a yellow paper cover or bound in leather, portraying an unreal life, is certainly not desirable brain food out of which to build up great minds, noble purposes, and exemplary characters.
The Chicago Tribune of Feb. 20, 1900, in an editorial devoted to the question of "Novels in the Public Library," makes the statement that seventy-five per cent. of the books drawn out of public city libraries is novels. This virtually means that seventy-five per cent. of the material consumed as brain food for the rising generation is composed of fiction. As to the result of this abnormal popularity of novels we leave the reader to judge. The cheap dime novels—and, for that matter, a higher price would make them no better—are surely contributing their share to the evil influences which are conspiring together for the demoralization of American young men.

"Abundance of Idleness."

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Eze. 16:49. No doubt there were to be seen in wicked Sodom many things of a highly demoralizing character, but these the prophet does not mention. "Abundance of idleness" is pointed out by the pen of inspiration as one of the first great influences directly responsible for the presence of vice and iniquity in Sodom of old. Idleness, physical, mental, and moral, is no less responsible for the ravages of vice and intemperance at the present day. "Satan still finds work for idle hands to do." What is needed now is not so much gymnasiums and other apparatus designed for indoor exercise, but wholesome occupations, whether indoor or outdoor, that shall give to both mind and body abundant opportunity for healthy application and exertion.
In brief, the young man of to-day should work. The indolence and inactivity resulting from the creation of a social aristocracy is one of the blighting curses of the present day. The training and education that leads a young man (and young woman as well) to shun the tasks of honest toil, is one of the curses of modern social life. Inactivity of mind or body on the part of the youth, is one of the most powerful weapons which the enemy of truth and righteousness has ever wielded in his warfare against purity and virtue. That energy of mind and body which should have been consumed in active mental and physical exercise—exercise which would have strengthened the body, invigorated the mind, and ennobled the character—is, by the devil's deceptive delusion of idleness, converted into an energy whose well-springs are from beneath, and whose power for the accomplishment of evil seems almost unlimited. To the idler, the result is dissipation, disease, and decay.
Physical exercise and mental exertion are among the most powerful and effective weapons against impurity, vice, and intemperance with which the young man of to-day may arm himself. It matters little to what class of society he may belong, whether he is rich or poor, there is one thing we would highly recommend for every young man, and that is work, real work, work that is real enough to induce perspiration each day. The Creator made no mistake when, in view of man's fallen condition, He gave this all-wise prescription, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." If some of the poisons manufactured in the human body could be eliminated by the sweat glands, a smaller quantity would be forced into the circulation, and thence on its mission of mischief-making—irritating the nerves and poisoning the mind.
Let none make the mistake of construing what has been said above concerning physical work into meaning that the constitution of a young lad is to be loaded with work till it is injured. Besides injuring him physically, overwork would in all probability dishearten his ambitious mind. Provide him with steady employment that will tire him out with the approach of night, and which will make sleep, "nature's sweet restorer," both acceptable and refreshing. W. S. SADLER.

A HAPPY LIFE.

By Isaac Deeley

I WOULD not change my happy life For all that gold could ever buy; Free as the sleeping babe from strife, Treasures untold laid up on high.
No thief can e'er break through nor steal No cankering rust can e'er destroy; Securely stamped with Jesus' seal, No moth corrupts my endless joy.
O, that the friends I love so well Could know the bliss which fills my soul! It passes all my powers to tell, Unspoken till I reach the goal.
No pastures green, no murmuring streams, No shady groves, no glade nor glen, No pictures real, no fancied dreams, Can give such peace to sinful men.
The earth with age may pass away, The stars may leave their orbs and fall, The sun may fail to bring the day, His promise shall survive them all. Sylvan Beach, N. Y. ISAAC DEELEY.

A YOUNG MAN AND HIS "WILD OATS."

By Edward Bok

[By Edward Bok, in S. S. Times.]
THERE is a popular notion abroad in the world that every man must at some time in his life "sow his wild oats," as it is called, and the usual time is generally understood to be during his young-manhood days. To use a more popular phrase, he must then "have his fling." He must "see the world," the reasoning goes on, in order that he may have "a broader view of life." In other words, to take the veneer off these phrases and put them into perfectly plain English, a young man is expected to soil his character; for that is, after all, what "sowing one's wild oats" really means; it is nothing more nor less than the self-degradation of a young man. He must be false to the teachings of his mother, false to his self-respect, false to himself.
No man has ever passed through a period of indiscreet living during his early manhood without regretting the memory of it in after years. Nor has any man, by reason of "sowing his wild oats," known one iota more of "life," except that particular phase of it which, if it had a glitter for him in youth, became a repellant remembrance to him in his more mature years. The reputation that comes of right living and good character is what the man of forty to seventy desires, and nothing but the well-spent years of early life can secure this. There is no such thing as an investigation period in a man's moral living; at one period it is as important to him to be honorable and true to his own conscience as it is at another. The young man who reaches manhood without a knowledge of the dark and vicious side of human nature is far better off than he who has seen it. . . . There is no discounting the fruits which come of a well-spent life. A young man is always known by his true color. Of that he never need fear. An adherence to high principles always shows itself in a young man's life, and the instance has never been known where it failed to count for much. And as a young man progresses in life, and a clearer understanding of the right kind of living comes to him, he will see for himself that the men who hold the true respect of the world are the men whose lives are so pure that they can fearlessly and honestly look every man and woman in the eye.

WAR.

By Herbert Cadett

[Herbert Cadett, in the "Toronto Daily Chronicle."]
PRIVATE SMITH of the Royals; the veldt and a slate-black sky; Hillocks of mud, brick-red with blood, and a prayer—half curse —to die; A lung and a Mauser bullet; pink froth and a half-choked cry.
Private Smith of the Royals; a torrent of freezing rain; A hail of frost on a life half lost; despair and a grinding pain; And the drip, drip, drip of the heavens to wash out the brand of Cain.
Private Smith of the Royals, self-sounding his funeral knell; A burning throat that each gasping note scrapes raw like a broken shell; A thirst like a red-hot iron and a tongue like a patch of hell.
Private Smith of the Royals; the blush of a dawning day; The fading mist that the sun has kissed—and over the hills away The blessed Red Cross, like an angel, in the trail of the men who slay.
Private Smith of the Royals gazed up at the soft blue sky— The rose-tinged morn, like a babe new born, and the sweet-songed birds on high— With the fleck of red on his pallid lip and a film of white on his eye.

KID GLOVES.

BAREFOOTED boys and hens form a curious partnership in the making of a pair of fine gloves. Thousands of dozens of hens' eggs are used in curing the hides, and thousands of boys are employed to work the skins in clear water by treading on them for several hours.
When a woman buys a pair of gloves she speaks of her purchase as "kids." If the clerk who sold her the "kid" gloves knew the secrets of the glove-making business, he might surprise his fair customer by telling her that those beautiful, soft, smooth-fitting "kid" gloves came from the shoulders and belly of a three-weeks-old colt, whose neck was slit on the plains of Russia, and whose tender hide was shipped with huge bundles of other colts' hides to France, where they were made up into "kid" gloves. Or he might, with equal regard to the truth, tell her that those gloves in the other compartment once darted from tree to tree in South America on the back of a ring-tailed monkey. And, if he made the rounds of the store and could distinguish one skin from another, he could point out "kid" gloves made from the skins of kangaroos from Australia, lambs or sheep from Ohio or Spain or England, calves from India, muskrats from anywhere, musk oxen from China and other parts of Asia, rats, cats, and Newfoundland puppies.
But the Russian colt, the four-footed baby from the plains where the Cossacks live, the colt from the steppes of Siberia, where horses are raised by the thousand, supplies the skins which are the favorites at present with the glove makers. Experts say that the colt skin makes a better, stronger, finer glove than real kid skin.
But, after all, the real kid, the lively infant of the goats which live in France, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy, furnishes the choicest and most expensive gloves, and nearly 10,000,000 kids are sacrificed every year that women and men may cramp their hands in smooth, delicate-hued gloves.—Chicago Record.

QUESTION CORNER

By Editor

1072. "A Sister." Sin against the Holy Ghost.—There is but one unpardonable sin—that against the Holy Ghost. Matt. 12:31. (2) Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was on the part of those Jews attributing the working of the Spirit, or Holy Ghost, in Jesus to the power of Satan. Compare with Mark 3:28-30. (3) We do not believe that those who commit that sin generally or rarely ever know it. If they did, they would not commit it. We may know that we have not committed it. But Satan takes delight in making some poor discouraged soul believe that he has committed the unpardonable sin when he has not. The Spirit's power is the means by which God cleanses the sinner. Heb. 10:29; 1 Peter 1:2. There is no other means, no other power. If man utterly rejects that power and utterly turns from its wooing, God has no other means of working. The soul cuts itself off from God. That is the only reason why it is unpardonable—the soul will not be pardoned or cleansed in God's way.
1073. A. G. Asking and Giving. Matt. 5:22.—Our correspondent wishes to know the meaning, and says that we can not give everything that is asked, or lend to every one that asks. The Saviour is not giving arbitrary rules. He did not teach in that way. He lays down principles. His followers must make the application in their individual lives. Read on to the twelfth verse of chapter 7, and there is the summing up of the whole matter in the Golden Rule, the working out of God's law. The text does not say, "Give to every one that asketh everything that is asked," nor even, "Give to every one that which is asked." Perhaps a man asks you for a dollar, when you can plainly see he simply wants it to spend for liquor. Instead of giving him money, you take him in, wash him, feed him, and give him good brotherly kindness and advice. Have you not given "to him that asketh," and thus fulfilled in principle and in all fact Christ's command? The text teaches that we should be courteous, kind, and attentive to any appeal for aid that may come to us; and we should act as we believe Christ would act under the same circumstances, in other words, live the Golden Rule.
1074. E. O. Matt. 9:16, 17.—The "old garment" and "old bottles" represented human creeds and those bound by them. The "new cloth" and "new wine," the living teachings of the Gospel. The worn-out creed can not be patched up by the living truth of God. The hardened wine skins, representing men hardened by dead creeds and forms, could not hold the new expansive wine of the Gospel. The new wine must be put into new bottles, lives regenerated by Christ Jesus, which will grow with the ever-disclosing truth.
1075. M. E. S. The Sealing Work.—The expression, "ascending from the east," in Rev. 7:2 refers to the manner of the rise of the message, ascending like the sun, rather than to any particular source or point of compass.
1076. A Reader. Plowshares into Swords.—The prophecy of Joel 3:9-12 is now being fulfilled in all the nations of earth. There was never such a time of preparation for war. And it is all a sign of the great battle of Armageddon and the nearness of Christ's coming. The binding of Satan (Revelation 20) refers to a different period. When Christ comes, all the wicked will be destroyed (2 Thess. 1:7-9); all the righteous will be taken to the mansions above (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17), and Satan will be confined for one thousand years to this desolate earth, to meditate on the ruin he has wrought.
1077. Matt. 24:21, 22.—The days of tribulation here referred to are the days of papal persecution, foretold in Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:7, and elsewhere. They began in A.D. 538 and ended in 1798. The days of tribulation of the people of God, of Matt. 24:21, must not be confounded with the "time of trouble" upon the wicked mentioned in Daniel 12:1. The latter takes place in connection with the close of probation, and includes the seven last plagues. Revelation 16. In the "tribulation," God's people suffer at the hands of the wicked. In the "trouble," God's people are delivered, while the wicked suffer. Matt. 24:6, 7 refers to the various troubles which take place all through the Christian era, gradually increasing toward the end.
1078. B. Babylon's Destruction.—Babylon's destruction was predicted by both Isaiah and Jeremiah. See Isaiah 13, and Jeremiah, chapters 50 and 51. The prophecy does not imply that the utter destruction should come when Babylon was overthrown by the Persians, but that it would ultimately be destroyed. When Isaiah uttered his prophecy, Babylon had not yet reached the height of her glory. Alexander died there. After that the city gradually fell into decay, and for many centuries has been utterly desolate. For a time even its size was disputed. The prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Smith's Bible Dictionary says: "The natives regard the whole site as haunted, and neither will the 'Arab pitch tent, nor the shepherd fold sheep there."'

THE GOSPEL AND WOMAN.

By MRS. SUSAN BIRDSALL ROBERTS.

"Will the Coming Woman Attend Church?"

THE above question was raised by women at a freethinkers' convention, and decided in the negative,—"for since the Gospel has done nothing for woman, of course she will not!"
So now, O ye devoted Christian mothers, you who nightly clasp the tiny hands of the little daughter at your knee, as you try to lead the impressible heart to God, while she lisps out her evening prayer, go to, weep and lament, since the seed you sow is to bear no fruit! The impressions you make are to be like the footprints in the sand, that the rising tide shall erase. The God to whom you have given her in everlasting covenant, is ignored; for the coming woman, who is to mature under your prayerful care, is to lose her chief characteristics of reverence and devotion, and, falling from her present elevated position, is to become irreverent and defiant. With no reverence for sacred scenes and associations, it is easy to see what her future will become. Indeed, we have seen what is the end of such a course in life. Examples are not wanting in our police courts in all large cities.
But how much do these free-talkers know about what shall be? They do not seem to know much about what has been. They tell us that the Gospel has done nothing for woman. Is it not amazing that any one should thus parade her ignorance? One would think these women were Rip Van Winkles, and, having slept during the last half century, had never heard that there are heathen countries, where the condition of woman is not as desirable as that of the beasts of burden with us; where they are burden-bearers and slaves of the most abject kind, bought and sold, married in infancy to old men for whom they have no feeling but horror, and at the close of their miserable lives, burned on funeral piles.
"Did you not tell me it was a little girl?" said a native to a missionary, who insisted upon picking up a little unfortunate which had been left by the wayside to die like a snail or a worm. What a contrast to the way they are treated with us, where, in every well-regulated family, woe to the boy who treats rudely his little sister, and where the wife, instead of standing behind her lord and master, to eat what he leaves, sits, the honored mistress at the board, to whom all do reverence; the first to be cared for at home or abroad, in street or railway car, at the opera, the church—everywhere! And why?—Because of the Christianizing and civilizing influence of the Gospel, as all know who will admit the truth. And just as fast and as surely as the Gospel makes its way among the heathen, just so fast and truly is the elevation of woman assured. Man, the stronger, is taught to give honor to the weaker and defenseless, to become her protector and guide, to acknowledge her right to self-control, to assist her to make the most of all her powers, to cultivate her intellectual and spiritual nature (for the Gospel teaches her she has a soul to save and a mind susceptible of large attainments), in order to fit her for the noblest duties of this life and the highest enjoyment in the life to come.
Is this nothing, O ye women scoffers? Then go to the islands of the sea—to Africa, India—any of the dark places of which the earth is full, and live with females there in filth, vermin, and nudity, with nothing to raise you above their condition of degradation, and methinks the pure pleasures of the Christian home and of the sanctuary will seem lovely in your eyes. And then tell us, if you can, what the Gospel has not done for woman.
We wish we could think it ignorance alone that prompts this railing and these unwarranted attacks upon the Christian church, of whose blessed mission they know so little. But we think we see the same deadly hatred of our adorable Lord and Saviour that drove the nails and thrust the spear into that precious body when He cried, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." But, alas, that woman, "last at the cross, and first at the grave," should have fallen so low as to raise her impotent voice against the holy and just One, to whom she is indebted for all that makes life worth possessing, and for that Sacrifice which offers to her the bliss of heaven!
"O, what is woman, what her smile, Her look of love, her eye of light, What is she if her lips revile The lowly Jesus? Love may write His name upon her marble brow, And linger in her curls of jet; The bright spring flower may scarcely bow Beneath her tread; and yet, and yet, Without that meeker grace she'll be A lighter thing than vanity."

MARCH OF THE MISSIONARIES.

By Fred T. Elkin

WHERE life is wild, and ways are rude, Where men know not the Name, With palm and prayer, a multitude The works of Love proclaim; Where lands are shrouded in a mist, Love's frontiers they extend, And bid all nations to the tryst— Yea, lead the lame and blind to Christ, The Saviour and the Friend.
"The world for Christ!" their slogan rings, "For Christ the meek, the good; The world for Christ, the King of kings, The Soul of brotherhood!"
The fever and ferment of sin Subside to their appeal; They bring a joy to enter in Where dread had domicile. Nor heathen rage avails to move Their humble hardihood,— Content, they tell the tale of Love E'en tho the Master's wage should prove The price of pain and blood.
"The world for Christ—Love's own High Priest— Peace and good-will to men." A western star relights the east And leads to Bethlehem.
The chant bursts through earth's atmosphere And swells from star to star, And rolls its glorious gladness where The Triune Watchers are; Then angels shout the song delayed Of dawning brotherhood, And God, in majesty arrayed, Looks on the work of man He made, And smiles "to find it good."
"The world for Christ, for Christ who brought The boon of brotherhood; Make progress for the Christ who bought Progression with His blood!" Denver, Colo. FRED T. ELKIN.

THAT PALE WOMAN.

By Dr. Bates

AT one of the villages on our coast there are a good many rough fishermen. There are a good number of churches and ministers there, and they have tried to do something for these men in their way; but finding they could not, they have given it up. The church said, "We have rung our bell, engaged our quartet choir, and if you do not come, we can not help it."
There is no command for the people to go and get the Gospel; the command is to carry the Gospel to the people.—"Go ye into all the world;" that means everywhere. Miss Phelps was given up to die, but her physicians said, "If you go to such a village on our coast, perhaps the sea air may prolong your life; but it is an awfully wicked place." That pale woman arrived there, and took a room. She slept but little the first night, and toward morning was sleeping quietly, with her windows open for sea air, when she was awakened by the rough swearing of men under her window. She could not bear it, and hastily dressing, went down to the door, and said: "O men, I am a poor, sick, dying woman. I have come from the hills to prolong my life, but you are going to drive me away."
One wicked man said, "Who is going to drive you away, you pale woman?" "You are; you have been swearing about my Saviour." The man trembled, and said: "I will knock down the man that swears. Nobody shall swear while you are here." A man came along swearing. Said he, "You stop that; there is an angel here."
In a few days she took a little cabinet organ, hired a hall, opened the doors and windows, and the rough men gathered around. She touched the keys, and began to sing, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Before she had finished, tears were in eyes unaccustomed to weep. In a little while she had a church, and had need for a minister, and they are doing great things there that never would have been done but for that pale woman.—Dr. Bates, in Service for Jesus.

Good Breeding and Ill Manners

“A MAN’s own good breeding is the best security against other people’s ill manners.”

HE FOUND HEAVEN ON EARTH.

By Medical Missionary Record

IT is related that a minister one day preached on heaven. Next morning he was going down town, and met one of his old, wealthy members. The brother stopped the preacher and said:—
"Pastor, you preached a good sermon about heaven, but you never told me where heaven is."
"Ah," said the pastor, "I am glad of an opportunity this morning. I have just come from the hilltop yonder. In that cottage is a member of our church. She is in bed with fever, her two little children are sick in the other bed, and she hasn't a bit of coal or a stick of wood, nor flour, nor sugar, nor any bread. If you will go down town and buy five dollars' worth of things—nice provisions—and send them up to her, and then go up there and say, 'My sister, I have brought you these nice provisions in the name of our Lord and Saviour,' and then ask for a Bible and read the twenty-third psalm, and then get down on your knees and pray; if you don't see heaven before you get all through, I'll pay the bill."

Salvation of the Sinner Nearest You

By Western Recorder

Instead of wringing your hands over the unsaved masses, suppose you turn your energies to the salvation of the sinner nearest to you! You will find that a task which will call for all your strength, your energy, your power with God.—Western Recorder.

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

By Editor

THE Minnesota Worker reports a Sabbath-school of 24 organized at Milaca, July 14.
THE annual camp-meeting and conference of the Tennessee River District will be held at Paris, Tenn., September 6 to 16.
JULY 8 a fine church building was dedicated at Bowling Green, Ky. At the time of its dedication but $350 debt remained on the building.
A CHURCH building dedicated with a debt upon it means an unfinished building; and it is always so much more difficult to raise a debt on a church building than it is to raise the money previous to its dedication.
THE new sanitarium recently opened in Spokane, Wash., has had such an increase of patronage that they have had to pitch four tents and rent a cottage of eight rooms in order to accommodate all.
BROTHER GEO. H. SMITH writes from Tilden, Neb., to this office that sixty converts have accepted the truth during this year under his labors, forty-three of whom have been baptized. A new church has been organized at Morrisville, and six joined the Oakdale church June 30.
THE papers and addresses on the subject of Christian Education delivered at the Teachers' Conference recently held in Battle Creek are to be published in booklet form, the price of which is 40 cents per copy. This will be of both interest and profit to all who are interested in the subject of Christian Education.
THREE hundred persons have been baptized in Wisconsin during the year, one hundred at the camp-meetings held during the season and two hundred by conference laborers in different parts of the state. Two church buildings have been dedicated, and eighteen church schools, with an aggregate enrolment of four hundred pupils, have been organized.
THE Review and Herald notes that some time before her death Sister S. M. I. Henry had written an autobiography covering the greater part of her life. This has now been finished by her daughter. The title of the work is "My Mother's Life, The Evolution of a Recluse." The book will contain about 360 pages, with several illustrations. The price of it is $1.50. All who wish to obtain a copy of the first edition will send their orders to Miss Inez C. White, Battle Creek, Mich.
THE Review and Herald of July 10 gives an interesting report of the first camp-meeting held on Pitcairn Island. Inasmuch as the time of the camp-meeting was wholly given up to the spiritual interests of those who attended, this was both profitable and interesting throughout. This does not mean that business meetings ought not to be interesting, but it is frequently the case that they are not. And yet all of God's work ought to be of interest, and all the business connected with His work should be understood by those who are His.
"TRUE EDUCATION," a journal for the home and school, is the name of a little magazine conducted by the faculty of Healdsburg College, Healdsburg, Cal. Its first issue is creditable, and the press work well done. True Education is designed to form a connecting link between Healdsburg College and its patrons, and to give instruction and helpful suggestions in the establishment and conduct of church schools. That it may do this, it needs circulation. We hope that it may receive liberal support in California, and that God may greatly bless its work. Price, 50 cents a year.
The Reaper, published at College Place, Wash., prints a letter from Sister Cornwell, who recently went to Australia. It says: "I am real well. Seven of my readers have accepted the Sabbath this month, beside other truths. Those who have come out have experienced a great change, for which I praise God. I endeavor in my all labor to make conversion, true sanctification, the power of the Holy Spirit, a part of every doctrinal reading that I give. I have no burden to get the theoretical facts into the reader's mind without the power of the Holy Spirit." And this is what every Christian worker ought to do.
WE have received the nineteenth annual announcement of South Lancaster, Mass., Academy. It contains statistics and particulars of the school, such as one would wish to know who is interested in the school. It has also some fine illustrations of South Lancaster and vicinity. This is a most excellent school, and has added to its good reputation from year to year. If there are any readers of the SIGNS in the vicinity who wish a good, moral school for the education of their children, one in which righteousness is made of first importance, they would do well to send for the catalog of South Lancaster Academy. Address Prof. Frederick Griggs, South Lancaster, Mass.
THE Midsummer number of the Gospel Herald comes to us with a cover printed in colors. The object of this little paper is to awaken an interest in the great Southern field. It is published by the Southern Missionary Society at Battle Creek, Mich. It certainly is a worthy paper and has a worthy field. It is published for the small price of 25 cents a year. It will shortly be moved to its new office, the Southern Missionary Society, Nashville, Tenn. Surely it would seem as tho it ought to have very many more subscribers than it has at the present time. Inclose 25 cents and send by mail to the above address. You will be interested to know how the work in the South is going, and will help the cause there just so much.
THE Battle Creek College is using its students who are studying for missionaries in various parts of the field, in practical work. The Jackson Mission was started about two years ago. It has various lines of work, such as canvassing for religious and health books, Bible work, visiting, nursing, and conducting meetings. The students have been blessed; and, as a result of the last year's work, twenty persons have accepted the truth. This work has always been largely self-supporting. At the present time the mission is disposing of one hundred copies of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES and ten copies of the Review every week, all profits being turned into the mission. The work is certainly a good one.
THE Industrial Educator, a journal of Christian education, published at Keene, Texas, in the interests of Keene Industrial Academy, prints as its May issue a calendar number of its seventh year. It certainly presents a good report and very interesting reading in regard to its industrial department. The only store in the village is the academy store, the clerks of which are students. Broom-making is one of the industries of the school, furnishing employment to a number of students and enabling them to work their way through school, the school having all the business it can do in this line. In fact, it furnishes one of the great railway systems of the country to the extent of two thousand dozen per year. Beside this is taught blacksmithing, carpentry, gardening, dairy, poultry, horticultural work, and otherwise. The calendar may be obtained by addressing the principal, Prof. C. C. Lewis, Keene, Texas.
THE following camp-meetings will be held during the month of August:
Virginia, Richmond, Aug. 9-20
Vermont, St. Johnsbury, Aug. 16-27
Maine, Brunswick, Aug. 23 to Sept. 3
New York, Lyons, Aug. 30 to Sept. 10
Alabama, Fruithurst, Aug. 2-12
Georgia, Norcross, Aug. 10-19
Carolinas, Asheville, N. C., Aug. 23 to Sept. 2
Michigan, Ionia, Aug. 30 to Sept. 10
Ohio, Dayton, Aug. 15-27
Illinois, Kankakee, Aug. 23 to Sept. 2
Nebraska, Oxford, Aug. 28 to Sept. 2
Texas, Dallas, Aug. 2-12
Kansas, Clay Center, Aug. 9-19
Arkansas, Boonville, Aug. 9-20
California, Long Beach, Aug. 23 to Sept. 2
Utah, Salt Lake City, Aug. 15-22
Up. Columbia, N. Yakima, Wash. Aug. 9-19
Montana, Red Lodge, Aug. 16-26
We have SIGNS readers in the vicinity of all these meetings, and we earnestly hope that they may attend.

BE RIVERS OF BLESSINGS.

By Parrie L. H. Roberson

Weary and thirsty from our hard day's journey, we had camped for the night on the western bank of the McCloud River, in Shasta County, California; and as I stood watching the deep crystal waters flowing down through the great canyons in the grand old mountains, quenching the thirst of all plant and animal life with which it came in contact, my soul cried out: "O God, make me like this beautiful river! Make my life deep and pure, that I may cause the human shrubs along my pathway to breathe forth praises to Thee as sweet as the fragrance from these lovely flowering shrubs on the banks of this life-giving river. And make my heart as free as this river, that weary, thirsty travelers may be refreshed by me and bless Thy name."
Reader, did you ever stop to think of how much better it is to be like a clear, flowing river than to be like a stagnant pool?
The river is kept clean and pure by continually giving, giving, and God is continually giving it more water to give.
He wants the blessings which He has so freely poured out upon us to flow on and bless others; and He will keep pouring out more blessings; for He is the Living Fountain at the head of the "river of blessings."
MRS. PARRIE L. H. ROBERSON. St. Helena, Cal.

OUR INDIA FAMINE FUND.

By Editor

DURING the past two weeks India and its suffering have been eclipsed by the Chinese war; but the suffering is not less intense, and the need is equally as great, as before the Chinese cloud obscured the horizon.
We are glad to be able to report still further names and gifts for the famine sufferers. Up to the present time the SIGNS has had the privilege of forwarding two drafts to W. A. Spicer, editor of the Oriental Watchman, at Calcutta, India. These were respectively for the sums of $1,000 and $700. We have not yet had time to obtain a receipt from Mr. Spicer, but it will doubtless come in due course of mail, and we will present it to our readers. The money has been forwarded through the Committee of One Hundred in New York, and by them cabled to India without expense.
Previously acknowledged, $1,611.45.
Miss Dora Brown . . . $ 1 00 Mrs. Mollie Cochran . . . 1 00 W. J. Felt . . . . . . 5 00 Sullivan Woreham . . . 5 00 L. N. Whisby . . . . . 20 00 Mrs. Geo. Cotton . . . 2 00 J. H. Fields . . . . . 1 00 Mrs. P. McNamara & friends . . . 2 75 P. H. Meeker . . . . . 5 00 M. E. Sanford . . . . . 2 00 Mrs. Laura B. Hyatt . . . 5 25 Rocky Ford S. D. A. S. S. 3 75 C. A. & P. E. Tiffany . . . 2 00 Nebraska Tract Society . 10 00 Chas. E. Means . . . . 1 15 Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Sanborn . . . 2 50 Mrs. F. W. Casman . . . 2 00 A. P. Daniels . . . . . 1 00 H. C. Dolsbaugh . . . 1 00 W. C. & Dr. Wallis . . . 2 00 M. L. McCormick . . . 2 00 Luther J. Burgess . . . 6 00 Mrs. Bell Kinch . . . . $2 05 Marion & Genie Covert . 1 00 Judge C. C. Holbrook . 1 00 Mrs. G. S. Sharp . . . 50 Mrs. Lena Warren . . . 30 Mrs. Frances Hare . . . 25 Mrs. C. Stotts . . . . 50 Miss Costell . . . . . 1 00 Mrs. Jennie Gordon . . 1 00 Mr. Victor . . . . . . 50 G. W. Anglebarger and wife . . . 1 90 La Grande S. D. A. S. S. and young people . . . 5 73 Mrs. S. H. Elder, Coleville . . . 5 00 F. G. Thomas . . . . . 1 00 Two sisters, Chista, Penn. 4 00 Neenah S. D. A. Church per J. C. Neilsen . . . 7 75 Mrs. Mary Forester . . 40 Mrs. H. B. Cheney . . 1 00 J. R. R. Cornish . . . 1 00 Grand total . . . . . . . . . . . $1,730 73

PERIODICALS WANTED.

By Editor

CLEAN copies of the SIGNS, Sentinel, and other periodicals for free distribution. Postage should be prepaid.
T. W. Lewis, Duenweg, Jasper Co., Mo.
Box 57, Seward, Neb.
Mrs. Ernest Allen, Palm Beach, Florida.

BABY'S FIRST WARDROBE.

By Mrs. F. M. Kellogg

Hygienic patterns for complete outfit, based on healthful principles. Twenty-two patterns, together with a beautiful booklet on the proper care of infants, sent post-paid, for 50 cents. Full directions for making, showing necessary material, etc.
Mrs. F. M. Kellogg, Battle Creek, Mich. 38 Washington Avenue.

Wood Cutting Contract Wanted

Wanted.—To let contract for cutting, or cutting and delivering, five hundred cords of wood.
St. Helena Sanitarium, St. Helena, Cal.
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