Earlier text: Restoration of the PapacyColorado Conference.
By C. P. Haskell
After the close of the camp-meeting in Denver, Brother Ostrander, with one of the tents and a corps of workers, went to Cañon City, an enterprising place of some four or five thousand inhabitants. The State prison, which now contains over three hundred convicts, is located here. The brethren were well received at this place, and Brother Ostrander, by invitation, filled the desk in the penitentiary, and said that he never had a more attentive congregation. The warden purchased “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,” “Man’s Nature and Destiny,” and “Marvel of Nations,” and told Brother Ostrander to have his men come down and feel perfectly free to leave any reading matter they chose, and to do all the missionary labor they felt like doing. At last accounts several in the city had commenced to keep the Sabbath according to the commandment. The meetings, which, under the direction of Brother Pegg, were continued in Denver after the camp-meeting closed, resulted in enabling several to fully make up their minds to obey God; so that five were baptized in addition to those who went forward at the camp-meeting. A notice of this service was pleasingly made in one of the daily papers. About the 20th of June, Brother Pegg and his associates took the tent and started for Fort Collins, in the northern part of the State. A communication from Brother Pegg to-day, states that they have a good interest. People are very friendly, and the invitations to visit are numerous. All connected with the tent are of good courage. We believe if our brethren are fully consecrated to the work, the prayers which are ascending all over the State, that souls may be gathered, will not be in vain. The Denver mission is just beginning to get down to work. The change in location, camp-meeting, etc., unsettled us for a time, but now again we are trying to work in earnest. Our morning school is particularly interesting. We have reason to be thankful for the success our workers are having, considering they have been but a few weeks engaged in the work. May God help the mission workers to be faithful. C. P. Haskell. The Cause in New Zealand.
By Edward Hare
THE following letter to the SIGNS from one of the first Sabbath-keepers in New Zealand speaks for itself:— It is with the deepest pleasure we learn through the columns of the SIGNS of the progress of your work in America. We on New Zealand's shores are not privileged in every way as you are; nevertheless we can truly say that the truth of God is breaking in upon us, or has already shone forth, and now we feel like children adopted into the family of the King. For those in America who wish to know respecting the work in Auckland, I submit the following. As the result of Brother Haskell's visit to our island, our Bible-class, held on Tuesday and Friday evenings, we have reason to believe, has been greatly blessed of the Lord, as have also our Sabbath-school and afternoon service. It is not necessary to state minutely every particular; but, although we have fierce opposition from those who call themselves Christians, we are fully convinced that the time is not far distant when many will take their stand on the side of truth. This brief statement may serve to show the position of things at present in the city of Auckland. It is with pleasure we make allusion to the success of our brethren and sisters in Kaeo and Whangaroa. Weekly reports from them give satisfactory proof that the work is taking deeper root in the hearts of all those who embraced the truth, and were baptized by Elder Haskell. They have organized a system of tract distribution, and have purchased some thousands of tracts for gratuitous circulation. These tracts are sent by post, or otherwise, from one to one hundred miles distant. Their Bible-readings are also full of interest, and occupy in different places every evening in the week. The Sabbath-school is in a promising condition. The Sabbath service, conducted by Brother Hare, Senior, is attended with much spiritual life. In this field there is much opportunity for labor, and we offer up our prayer, as taught by the Master, that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers in his vineyard. Lincoln, Nebraska.
By A. J. Cudney
OUR tent-meetings have been going on in this city five weeks. This, with three weeks of tent-meetings held last October, including camp-meeting week, constitutes all the public services we have been able to hold in the place. As a result of these meetings, and the Bible readings conducted in private families last winter, there are now about thirty-five adults here who are keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. These, with some others who were keeping the Sabbath before coming here, swell the number of Sabbath-keepers now in the city to about forty-five. We hope to see others start soon. About two-thirds of those who have embraced the truth have been members of other denominations, while the remainder have had their hearts quickened by the Spirit of God for the first time, under the preaching of the Third Angel's Message. Several different trades and professions are represented by those who have identified themselves with us. Although some have greatly feared that keeping the Sabbath would throw them out of employment, yet those who have tried it find but little difficulty in that direction. "Where there is a will, there is a way," and "God will always help him who helps himself." We trust that our people will pray that the truth may gain a firm foothold here in our capital city. 1817 M Street. A. J. CUDNEY. Peculiar Means.
By Guthrie
NOTHING is more remarkable in the Bible than to see how God, as if to teach us to trust in nothing and in none but himself, selects means that seem the worst fitted to accomplish his ends. Does he choose an ambassador to Pharaoh?—it is a man of stammering tongue. Are the streams of Jericho to be sweetened?—salt is cast into the spring. Are the eyes of the blind to be opened?—they are rubbed with clay. Are the battlements of a city to be thrown down?—the means employed is, not the blast of a mine, but the breath of a trumpet. Is a rock to be riven?—the lightning is left to sleep above and the earthquake with its throes to sleep below, while a rod is used which is more likely to be shivered on the rock than to shiver it. Are men to be converted by preaching and won from sensual delights to a faith whose symbol is the cross and whose crown is to be won among the fires of martyrdom?—leaving schools and halls and colleges, God summons his preachers from the shores of Galilee; the helm of church is intrusted to hands that had never steered aught but a fishing-boat; and by the mouth of one who had been its bitterest persecutor, Christ pleaded his cause before the philosophers of Athens and in the palaces of Rome. —Guthrie. “WE never know through what divine mysteries of compensation the great Father of the universe may be carrying out his sublime plan; but the words, ‘God is love,’ ought to contain to every doubting soul the solution of all things.” (Lesson 17.—Sabbath, August 14.) 1. In how many days were the heavens and the earth completed? “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:11. 2. What can you say of the seventh day?—On the seventh day God rested from all his work? 3. After God had rested on the seventh day, what did he do?—“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” Gen. 2:3. 4. Why did he hallow, or sanctify the seventh day?—“Because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:3. 5. When Moses, according to the Lord's instruction (Ex. 19:12) had set bounds about Mount Sinai, what did he say had been done to it? “And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.” Ex. 19:23. 6. What did the children of Israel do with certain cities? “And they appointed [sanctified, margin] Kedesh in Galilee in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.” Josh. 20:7. 7. In what words did the Lord, through one of his prophets, command that a fast should be appointed? “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” Joel 2:15. 8. From these instances, what must be the meaning of “sanctify”?—To appoint; to set apart for a special use; to make sacred or holy. 9. Then what is really meant by the expression, “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it”?—That God appointed or set apart the seventh day for a special use; in short, that he commanded that the seventh day should be kept holy. 10. Was any one living to whom such a command could have been given? “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen. 1:26, 27. 11. For whom did Jesus say the Sabbath was made? “And he said unto them, The Sabbath was The Sabbath and Its Divine Purpose
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2 : 27. 12. In what sense is the word “man” here used?—In the sense of “the human race; mankind; the totality of men.”—Webster. 13. Did the Saviour mean that the Sabbath belongs to man?
“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” Ex. 20 : 10. 14. Then is it proper to speak of the seventh day as the Sabbath of any particular class of people?—Certainly not; it is God’s own property. 15. Did God bless the Sabbath institution or the Sabbath day?
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20 : 11. 16. What is the great design of the Sabbath?
“Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20 : 12, 20. 17. How is the true God distinguished from false gods?
“For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens.” Ps. 96 : 4, 5.
“But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” Jer. 10 : 10-12. 18. From what may we learn the power and glory of God?
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Ps. 19 : 1.
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Rom. 1 : 19, 20. 19. Then how does the Sabbath serve as a sign to remind people of the true God?
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2 : 1-3. 20. Does the Lord wish to be remembered by only a few?
“Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Ps. 33 : 8. 21. Then how extensively should the Sabbath be kept?—By “all the inhabitants of the world.” Surrendering the Heart to Christ
By A. Mueller
He who lets Christ dwell in his heart, only that he may have from him a household blessing or a joyful consolation, sells him his heart; but he who surrenders himself to Christ out of pure love, at the same time thinking himself unworthy the least look of his grace, gives him his heart.—A. Mueller. The Truthful Pioneer's Boy.
Nearly sixty years ago a gaunt, awkward boy of sixteen looked in at the open door of a small log cabin on the outer edge of one of our Western frontiers, and pleasantly inquired, “Any chores you wish done, mother? I came home early on purpose this evening; for I want to begin that job of chopping to-morrow, and I shall want to take an early start.” “You are a good son, Abra'm, to think of me,” replied the woman proudly, turning at the sound of his voice. “I am sure I know of no one who has a better right to be in my thoughts,” the boy returned. The woman smiled upon him pleasantly, and then handed him a couple of buckets, saying, “If you are a-mind to give me a lift, you may fill the tubs with water from the spring, as to-morrow will be washing day; and then, if you would just see where the cow has strayed, and bring her in and milk her, I am sure I would be greatly obliged.” “I'll have her pulled in good time, mother, never fear. Come, Sallie, and ride down to the spring,” he continued, perching his little seven-year-old step-sister on his broad shoulders. I am persuaded that very few of my young friends ever looked upon such an ungainly specimen of humanity as was this tall, awkward prairie boy, who went striding to the spring, chatting merrily with his little sister, who declared that he was far better than real brothers, who were always teasing their sisters. I am sure the tired woman who watched him from the cabin door thought him very beautiful in spite of his homely features and uncouth ways. “Come, Sallie,” called her mother, just as the little girl mounted her brother's shoulders for a fine race through the tall grass in search of the cow. The child, not wishing to be cheated out of the sport, showed no disposition to obey, until her brother placed her on the ground, saying, “Mother called, Sallie; run and see what she wants.” The little girl hung her head, but obeyed her brother without questioning. “God bless the boy! He could not be any better to me if he were my own. I do not know how I could get along without him.” “‘Without him!’ I don't know as you need worry about that, mother,” replied her husband. “Abra'm will not leave us for many a day.” “I hope he will think it best to make his home with us; but, take my word for it, that boy will not be shut in by hewn logs much longer. You will be proud of him yet, father.” “I am in no way ashamed of him now,” the old man returned. “Mayhap he will make a place for himself in the world yet, for he takes to book larnin' like a fish to water.” “You will hear from him if you live long enough, father; never fear,” the woman responded, with an emphatic nod of her head. Long before the sun was up, the boy had completed his work in and around the cabin. Sallie was anxious to go with him to the woods, but her mother objected, and he set out alone. With his ax slung over his shoulder, he made long strides over the trodden path, whistling merrily as he went. When over a mile from home, he was startled by a little figure springing from a way-side thicket, with, “I beat you, Abra'm;” but the laugh changed into a piteous cry, for the little girl struck the ax and cut a deep gash just above her ankle. “Sallie, how came you here when mother told you to remain at home?” inquired her brother, as he tried to stop the flow of blood by applying broad plantain leaves. After he had partially succeeded, he tore half the sleeve from the coarse white shirt he wore, and bandaged the injured limb as gently as her mother would have done. “There now, Sis! Tell me how you got here?” And the girl told how she had cut across lots in order to frighten him. “You frightened yourself much worse than you did me,” he said with a smile; “but the saddest thing about it is, you disobeyed mother.” “You won't tell, Abra'm?” sobbed the child. “No; you must tell her all about it yourself, Sallie. First, tell the truth, no matter what happens,” he said, as he lifted her in his great, strong arms and walked rapidly home. Placing her on the door-step, he whispered: “Now hop in and tell her the truth. Better be whipped than to tell a lie. Now good-by; I must be off, for the morning is running to waste.” Sallie did tell the truth, and received her mother's forgiveness; nor did she ever forget the two lessons—those of obedience and truthfulness—that her brother tried to teach her that bright autumn morning. I need not tell that honest Abraham Lincoln preserved his truthfulness and integrity even in the most trying hours of our country's existence, for a boy with his sterling principles may always be relied upon. Always tell the truth, no matter what may happen.—Christian Standard. THE Simplon Tunnel, which will very shortly be completed, is another, and the most formidable, of the gigantic railway connections undertaken of late years to facilitate the communications between Italy and the rest of Europe; and the project suggests a comparative note on the existing Alpine tunnels. At the present time the Alps are pierced by three remarkably long tunnels, entering Italy from France, Switzerland, and the Austrian Tyrol, respectively, and called, according to the mountain chains that are traversed, the Mont Cenis, St. Gothard, and Arlberg Tunnels. Of these, the Mont Cenis, which connects Chambéry with Turin, is seven and three-quarter miles in length, and between 3,000 and 4,000 feet above the sea. Its cost was 75,000,000 francs. The St. Gothard Tunnel, which connects Lucerne directly with lakes Maggiore and Como, and so to Milan, is nine miles and a quarter in length, and cost 57,000,000 francs, the diminution in expense being owing partly to the softer strata, but principally to the more rapid progress of the work by improvements in the drilling machines. The Arlberg is shorter than either Mont Cenis or St. Gothard, being only six miles and a half, although its summit level is nearly one thousand feet higher. By this tunnel a communication is given between Innsbruck, in the Austrian Tyrol, and Zurich. The last and most formidable rival will be the Simplon Tunnel, by which the existing line from Geneva to Martigni and Brieg will be carried through the mountain to Domo d’Ossola, and so on to Pallanza or Stresa on the Lake Maggiore. As this tunnel will be commenced at a much lower level than any of the others, it will necessarily be longer, the rough estimate being twenty kilometers, or twelve miles and a half, and the estimated cost somewhere about 100,000,000 francs. The difficulties of ventilating so long a tunnel, which were once thought insuperable, have been pretty well disposed of by the experiences of St. Gothard, which is lighted by lamps placed at intervals of 1,150 yards; and although the temperature is certainly somewhat high (about seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit), the traveler feels no discomfort, while the freedom from smoke is far greater than in the shorter tunnels. There are thirty-six of these latter, extending over an aggregate of twenty-five miles, and some of them are so peculiarly spiral that the traveler performs an unconscious corkscrew course under ground, emerging in an entirely opposite part of the defile to that at which he entered.—Christian at Work. The Home Circle.
By Eben E. Rexford
LOVING words will cost but little,
Journeying up the hill of life,
But they make the weak and weary
Stronger, braver for the strife.
Do you count them only trifles?
What to earth are sun and rain.
Never was a kind word wasted,
Never one was said in vain. When the cares of life are many,
And its burdens heavy grow
For the ones who walk beside you,
If you love them, tell them so.
What you count of little value
Has an almost magic power,
And beneath their cheering sunshine
Hearts will blossom like a flower. So as up life's hill we journey,
Let us scatter all the way,
Kindly words to be as sunshine
In the dark and cloudy day.
Grudge no loving word, my brother,
As along through life you go,
To the ones who journey with you;
If you love them, tell them so.
—Eben E. Rexford. Peasant Proprietorship in Norway.
NORWAY presents us with the grandest picture of the effects of peasant proprietorship. There the land has, from time immemorial, been the property of the laborers who till it—it has never been poisoned by the foul curse of feudalism. The title deeds of many of these peasant holdings are in a dead language, and the names of the peasants are those of the district. The results are marvelous. Land which no English farmer would or could cultivate under our agricultural system, even if receiving a liberal bounty per acre instead of paying rent, is there made to support whole families, and that by the same race as ourselves, and in latitudes hundreds of miles farther north than John o' Groat's House, some of it even within the Arctic Circle. Sailing along the Arctic coast of Norway, the tourist passes here and there little oases called “stations,” where the steam omnibus halts to land and embark a passenger or two. If a careful observer, he may learn that in the midst of the rocky desolation there is a deposit of rock fragments and gravel left by an ancient glacier in a hollow formerly filled by the ice. This is cultivated, is a dairy, farm, and fishing station, farmers and fishers being all freeholders and capitalists, no such class of laborers without property existing there. One of the grandest of the Norwegian fjords is the Geiranger. It is walled by perpendicular precipices from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high. Sailing along the fjord, a boat-house is seen here and there at the foot of the dark wall. Looking skyward directly above it, may be seen what appear to be toy houses on a green patch. Closer observation reveals moving objects; a field glass shows that they are cattle, goats, and children, tethered to boulders to prevent them from straying over the edge of the precipice. A family resides up there, cultivating this bit of ancient glacier ground, backed by craggy mountain tops, with a foreground of precipice above the fjord. The only communication between these eagle-nest farms and the outer world is by the boat below. How that boat is reached, where is the staircase of ledges on the face of the precipice, is incomprehensible to the passing tourist. In most cases no indication of a track is visible. Nothing but absolute proprietorship by the cultivator could bring such land into cultivation. Latitude 62°, altitude 2,000 to 3,000 feet, summer three to four months long; the ground covered with snow during six or eight months of every year.—The Gentleman's Magazine. “Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge.” A Queer Genoese Fashion.
By Frank R. Stockton
WE soon pass an immense house which was once a palace, but is now used for other purposes. Looking up, we see that one of the great windows in the second story is open, and a lady is sitting at it. She is dressed in very bright, though somewhat old-fashioned, attire. Flowers and vines cluster inside the window, and there is a hanging cage with a bird. As we stop and look at her, the lady does not move, and in a few minutes we perceive that the window, the lady, the open shutters, the sash, the flowers, and the cage are all painted on the wall in a space where you would naturally expect to find a window. This used to be a favorite way of decorating houses in Italy, and in Genoa we shall frequently see these painted windows—some closed and some partly open, some with one person looking out, some with two, and some with none. The lady at this window has sat and looked out on the street for hundreds of years. Under her window, into the great entrance of the palace, used to pass nobles and princes. Now there are shops in the lower part of the palace, and you can have your shoes mended by a cobbler in the court-yard. —From “Personally Conducted,” by Frank R. Stockton. A CORRESPONDENT of the Philadelphia Press says: “Last year I noticed inquiries innumerable for protection against the buffalo moth, or carpet worm. Although my neighbors have all suffered from its invasion to the extent of ruined carpets, clothing, etc., I have never, during my twenty years of housekeeping, had a moth of any description, and I attribute my immunity entirely to the use of turpentine. After each of my carpets is well swept it is at once gone over with the following mixture: To three quarts of pure, cold water add three tablespoons of turpentine. In this thoroughly saturate a sponge, squeeze about two-thirds dry, and go over each breadth separately and in all the corners. As often as the water becomes soiled take a fresh supply. You will be surprised to see how beautifully it will cleanse your carpets, besides being one of the best of disinfectants. My father, an eminent physician, had this always practiced in his family, and we were never troubled with fevers any more than moths.” Many a person has had cause to regret using hair dyes and invigorators. Many of those advertised as such are positively injurious. If one is anxious to improve the growth of the hair, the best way to do it is to assist nature by keeping the scalp in a healthy, vigorous condition by frequent brushings with a bristle, not a wire, brush, and an occasional bathing of the head in castile soap and water. An acquaintance of the writer had the following peculiar experience from trying a hair wash in her youth. The young girl had an abundant growth of light brownish hair; but, to her regret, it lacked luster. She one day chanced to call on a friend who had fine, glossy hair. “What beautiful hair you have!” she exclaimed, looking admiringly at her friend’s shining tresses. “Yes, it’s pretty good, what there is of it,” was the reply, “but I wish it were thick like yours.” “Oh dear, I have hair enough, but it’s dead-looking! I’d give anything if it were only dark and glossy like yours. Do you put anything on your hair to make it so nice?” “Not often,” said the friend. “Once in a while I put on Dashe’s ‘Invigorator.’ It’s very nice, I think.” Soon after the young woman took her leave. On her way home she purchased a bottle of Dashe’s “Invigorator.” That night, just before going to bed, she made an application of the new remedy, and for a week she kept up this nightly application, wetting her hair and brushing it in. To her delight, her hair began to grow darker and, she thought, more glossy. She also observed that her brush and comb gathered more hair than formerly when she used them. Feeling of her hair one day, she discovered a bald spot, about the size of a silver quarter of a dollar, on the back of her head. This was the beginning of trouble. Her hair fell out of itself, or with a touch, after this. Bald places came here and there, and in less than six weeks the top of her head was quite bare. This was a sorrowful time for the unfortunate girl. Her father laughed, and indulged in a good deal of bantering at her expense; and for a time insisted on her going to school daily. He considered it a just punishment for her not letting well enough alone. But when she became quite bald, save for the fringe of hair around her head, she left off going to school, and would not see any one who called. She was filled with grief and chagrin. A lace cap was made, and in this, for two months, the poor girl appeared before her family. Her father thought her hair would soon grow out again, but it didn’t. He at length bought her a wig, which she was obliged to wear for two years. By that time a short growth of perfectly white hair covered her head. Sixteen years later there was no change. Her hair is still white and about an inch in length. It has never grown longer. It was a hard experience; and naturally she is a bitter enemy of all hair dyes and invigorators.—Youth’s Companion. Better Sanitary Arrangements Prevent Disease
BETTER sanitary arrangements would do much toward preventing the death of thousands of children under one year of age in our large cities from preventable diseases in one summer. In a tenement house in Boston, where diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and measles ravaged, traps were put under the sinks in December, and there has not been a case of sickness since. THE brain, when healthy, is so soft that it would not retain its shape but for the skull. The sharpest knife is required to cut it without mangling its structure. It is necessary to immerse the organ in alcohol for weeks or months in order to harden it, when a careful examination is essential. A drunkard’s brain presents a contrast. It is already hardened, pickled almost. In the dissecting room, it affords rare pleasure to a medical student to secure the desiccated brain of an old toper. A celebrated anatomist declared that he could tell a drunkard’s brain in the dark, by the sense of touch alone. A London physician reported a case in which he found, upon making a post-mortem examination, so strong an odor of alcohol emanating from the brain that he applied a match to it, when it burst into a flame. The quantity of alcohol in the brain is sometimes so great that it can be collected by distillation after death. It must not be supposed that every drunkard’s brain is as hard as a pickled one; but it may be fairly supposed that the hardening effect of alcohol has no little influence in the production of degenerations of the brain, such as result in various forms of progressive paralysis. Numerous functional disorders of the brain are also traced directly to the habitual use of alcoholic liquors. Locomotor ataxia, an almost hopeless malady, involving the brain and spinal cord, is very often the result of intemperance.—Temperance Reformer. A CURE for the evil habit of stooping shoulders, all too prevalent among American children, is suggested by Dr. Dio. Lewis, as follows: “Unless you rid yourself of this crook while at school, you will probably go bent to your grave. There is one good way to cure it. Shoulder-braces will not help. One needs not an artificial substitute, but some means to develop the muscles whose duty it is to hold the head and shoulders erect. I know of but one bull’s-eye shot. It is to carry a weight on the head. A sheepskin or other strong bag filled with twenty to eighty pounds of sand is a good weight. When engaged in your morning studies, either before or after breakfast, put this bag of sand on your head, hold your head erect, draw your chin close to your neck, and walk slowly about the room coming back, if you please, every minute or two to your book, or carrying the book as you walk. The muscles whose duty it is to hold your head and shoulders erect are hit, not with scattering shot, but with a rifle-ball.” Don’t Worry the Birds, Boys!
DON'T worry the birds, boys! It's mean. “There he goes!” shouted a crowd of youth running past us on election day, and we caught sight of our first robin. High up in an elm we thought him safe, but not to rest; for from a half-dozen slings, pebbles and shot were hurled at him. Away he went, and we were sad. He was out house hunting. We think he might have engaged a “sky parlor” in that very tree if he hadn't discovered the character of those rude neighbors, the boys. His bride would just love to have set up house keeping there, and while she was attending to her maternal duties he would have waked you up every morning with his golden notes of joy and gladness. The dear fellow! He would have sung away for dear life every evening to that pretty wife of his, and you could have had the benefit of it all free, with no one to pass around the hat. Sweetest of all street concerts. Boys, don't frighten the birds.—Work at Home. Trees That Produced Amber
PRUSSIAN botanists claim to have discovered the different species of trees from which the various kinds of amber once oozed. From their researches it would appear that once upon a time the land which is now the Baltic Sea was a superb forest of conifers, some of them those giant trees that are to-day the pride of California, others the cedars which tower supreme in the East, together with the firs, spruce, and cypress of England and other countries. Alcohol as the Deadliest Poison
We have a great horror of arsenic, and fifty other things; the fact is, all these things are a mere bagatelle in relation to the most direct, absolute, immediate, and certain poisonings which are caused by alcohol. There are more men killed—so far as I know English statistics—more men poisoned by alcohol, than are poisoned by all other poisons put together.—James Edmunds, M. D., London, England. El Anciano Opens Its Columns to Temperance
The only Protestant Spanish newspaper in America, El Anciano, published at Alamosa, Colorado, has thrown open its columns to temperance. This has great significance, when it is remembered that there are 25,000 Mexicans in Colorado, and many more in New Mexico, and through this means a temperance gospel can reach these needy ones. One of the old exploded notions is that plants in living rooms are unhealthful. Strong-scented flowers may be so, but a single lamp burning in a sleeping room vitiates the air more than a window full of plants.—Sel.