Earlier text: Dr. Clarke and the First Written DocumentThe Commentary.
By Frank Hope
NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.
GoD is light; James calls him the Father of lights. James 1:17. Light is the best symbol we have to represent Deity, for even as the existence of any life without light is impossible, so it is impossible for the existence of life without God. Light was the beginning of creation (Gen. 1:3) and will exist throughout eternity. Rev. 22:5. God is the center of all light, and so intense is that light that no man can look on it and live. Christ being made in the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person (Heb. 1:3), and being one with his Father, also partakes of this light. He is the "true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Says David, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" Ps. 27:1. It is not possible for man in his fallen condition to behold the glory of God, so in his mercy God has given us his word to guide us to that glory. Says the psalmist, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105. Says Christ, "Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you." John 12:35. Light will not always be granted us. If we reject the light that is shown us, it will depart from us. After every rejection it becomes harder to see, and will require a greater effort to gain that which it was our privilege to have; "for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth," and the farther he goes683from the light the darker it gets. "Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall therein." Jer. 23:12. If we are in the light and walking toward it, it follows that the more we walk the greater the light will be. It is so with the word of God; the more it is studied and searched the greater will be the light given. Truth is ever progressive. There is more light in the church of Christ to-day than there was a century ago. This is expressed by the prophet Daniel; speaking of the time of the end, he says, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4. Great light is now shining on this earth; new and important truths are being brought to view. Are we searching for light? Are we running to and fro? or are we among those who love darkness and hate the light, lest our deeds should be discovered? John 3:20, 21. THE blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. Man transgressed the law, and it became necessary that he should die, for "the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. But "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Christ shed his blood for man and so gave his life, for the "blood is the life thereof." To stand before God we must be free from sin; our robes must be washed in the blood of the Lamb, and with Paul we must be clad in the righteousness of Christ. Christ's is the only name under heaven whereby men must be saved. Acts 4:12. Salvation is only through Christ. Says John: "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:11, 12. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves;" and the most disastrous self-deception it is, for unless a man sees and realizes that he is a sinner he cannot be saved. Christ came to this world to save sinners and not those who are without sin, for those that are whole need not a physician. Says he, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:32. It is folly also for a man to hide his sin, "for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:14. And we are told that "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Prov. 28:13. To obtain remission of sins confession is absolutely necessary. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If we say we have no sin we make God a liar, for the word of God declares that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. But God cannot lie, for with him there "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17. Nor is it possible for the word of God to fail. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:35. Says David, "Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever." And that word says, "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. 3:10-12. And again, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3:19. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." An advocate is one who pleads or makes intercession for another. Christ is pleading in our behalf in Heaven. In the Jewish dispensation a day of atonement was observed, and "on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord" Lev. 16:30. Now this "was a figure for the time then present." Heb. 9:9. Christ is the reality. "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8:1, 2. "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:14-16. WE know that we know God if we keep his commandments. And John again says, "He that doeth righteousness is righteous." What is righteousness? "All thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. The law is the righteousness of God; it is a representation of his will, a likeness of his character. Then if we say we know God and yet ignore this only representation of his character we have, we must be liars. Said David, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." "The law of the Lord is perfect." Ps. 19:7. If so, then if we keep it we shall be perfect—the love of God is perfected in us. This is illustrated by the last church on this earth. Of this church which Christ is to take to himself it is said: "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." In Rev. 14 we see that the third angel, who gives his message just before the coming of Christ on the white cloud, says of this remnant people: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. And for this reason it is that they are "holy and without blemish." "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." Deut. 6:25. "HE that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." Says Christ, "Abide in me, and I in you; . . . for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:4, 5. To abide in Christ implies the closest possible connection with him, and to do this we must follow him, walking as he walked. Christ is the great pattern of holiness to his people; he is the only example set forth in the Scriptures. Good "apostolic example" is such only as the apostles followed Christ. "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." 1 Cor. 11:1. We are to walk as Christ walked, in meekness, in lowliness and brokenness of heart, through sorrow and persecution and it may be through the grave. Yet in all Christ comforts us: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Jesus has gone this way before me, and he knows the way. Let me follow him, and through him I too shall have victory over death and the grave. Upper Columbia T. and M. Society.
By Carrie E. Mills
REPORT FOR QUARTER ENDING SEPT. 30, 1886.
No. of members................................ 135
“ “ dismissed................................ 1
“ “ added.................................. 2
“ reports returned............................ 95
“ missionary visits........................... 163
“ letters written............................. 159
“ pages of tracts and pamphlets, distributed
and sold.................................... 41,189
“ periodicals distributed..................... 1,634
“ Signs taken in clubs....................... 49
“ Sentinels taken in clubs.................... 31
“ Gospel Sickles taken in clubs............. 100
“ new subscribers obtained.................... 55
“ short-term subscribers...................... 45
“ Bible-readings held......................... 223
Received on donations and membership........ $ 50 40
“ “ sales................................. 62 65
“ “ periodicals........................... 101 98
“ “ missions.............................. 42 00
Total receipts.............................. $257 03 San Jose.
By William M. Healey
LAST Sabbath and first day I spent with the church in San Jose. Held two meetings and two Bible-readings; baptized three persons; received four new members into the church; and administered the sacrament. Church officers were elected, and I think the church is in better condition than it has been in for a long time. W. M. HEALEY. THE PARABLES OF JESUS.
By John Nevins Andrews
Lesson IX.—The Rich Man and Lazarus.
1. HOW DOES OUR SAVIOUR introduce the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?
"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." Luke 16 : 19. 2. How does he bring in the second character of the parable?
"And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores." Verse 20. 3. What did Lazarus desire in his destitute condition?
"And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores." Verse 21. 4. How did even the animals have compassion on him? Same verse. 5. What change came to both these men?
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried." Verse 22. 6. What is the meaning of the word "hell" as found in verse 23?—It means the grave. 7. Repeat a passage of Scripture in which the same original word is translated "grave."
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15 : 55. 8. Could it be true that a dead man could literally cry out in the grave? 9. What must we conclude, then, with reference to the language of this passage?—That it is a figure of personification, or prosopopœia. 10. What is Dr. Webster's definition of the last-named figure?—"A figure by which things are represented as persons, or by which things inanimate are spoken of as animated beings, or by which an absent person is introduced as speaking, or a deceased person is represented as alive and present. It includes personification but is more extensive in its signification." 11. What is the rich man represented by this figure as seeing?
"And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Luke 16 : 23. 12. How is he represented as addressing Abraham?
"And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." Verse 24. 13. What favor did he ask? Same verse. 14. What did Abraham ask him to remember?
"But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." Verse 25. 15. What great change had taken place? Last part of same verse. 16. How did it show that it was impossible to grant the favor which the rich man desired?
"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Verse 26. 17. On what errand did the rich man want to have Lazarus sent?
"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house." Verse 27. 18. Why did he make this petition?
"For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." Verse 28. 19. How is Abraham represented as answering him?684(Continued from page 628.)
"Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." Verse 29. 20. How did the rich man continue to urge his request?
"And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." Verse 30. 21. What did Abraham then say to him?
"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Verse 31. 22. What important truths are illustrated by this parable? 23. How may we be sure that those who are represented as conversing in this parable are not disembodied spirits, but personified dead men?—Because Lazarus could not return to warn the rich man's brethren without being first raised from the dead. See verses 30, 31. 24. How does God sometimes speak of things?
"And calleth those things which be not as though they were." Rom. 4 : 17, last part. 25. How can it be said, as in Luke 20 : 38, of Abraham and other dead saints, that they all live unto God?—For the reason that in his purpose they are all to live again. WHAT THE PARABLE TEACHES.—By this parable our Lord illustrates several great truths: 1. The folly and vanity of riches. 2. The worth of true piety, though attended by the deepest poverty. 3. The importance of that great lesson inculcated in the previous parable,—to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Luke 16 : 9; 1 Tim. 6 : 17-19. The rich man had neglected this, wasting all on himself, although wretched, suffering Lazarus lay at his gate. The folly of this criminal neglect is shown in that part of the parable in which the rich man, in his distress, as if remembering the past, is represented as asking of Lazarus the water that could be brought on the tip of his finger, and even this is denied. 4. The certainty of future recompense, and the great contrast that it will make with the present state of things. 5. The sufficiency of the Scriptures to instruct and warn mankind.—John Nevins Andrews. "PRAISE the Lord; for the Lord is good." The Great Lick Telescope.
WHEN America proudly mounts her "Lick telescope" upon the California mountain, what, it will be asked, will this new and costly armament of astronomy effect? The best way to answer is by taking the case of the moon. Cynthia, the pale sister and companion of this globe, is distant from us about 240,000 miles, not much more than nine times the circumference of the earth. If all goes well with the great glasses; if the Lick telescope comes up to expectation in definition and magnifying force, the moon will be brought as near to the observer's eye as if it floated only 100 miles away from us in space. Already we can discern upon her surface with existing "opticks" any object not smaller than St. Paul's Cathedral, but this would make manifest every item upon the face of the silvery sphere, down to the size of the dome of the cathedral. We should still be far short of seeing the people of the moon, if any exist; but were the orb really inhabited, and did its population traverse the peaks and craters of the sphere in large bodies, or by some contrivances resembling our ships or railway trains, their movements ought to become observable. Too much, indeed, must not be expected even from so wonderful an addition to the powers of the astronomer; and it is astonishing to note how very much more has been done for the science of the heavens by the naked eye than with optical instruments. Heis accomplished all his admirable researches, his celestial atlasses and catalogues, his charts of the shooting stars and of the zodiacal light, without once setting his eye to a telescope. All the discoveries of ancient astronomers were of course effected without the aid of glasses, and Pliny, in his Ninth Book of the "Almagest," quotes fourteen observations of Mercury, dating two or three hundred years before our era, and still to be relied on. They had, no doubt, good eyes in those days, when everybody except the astrologers went to bed with the sun, and rose as soon as he appeared. In the tail of Ursa Major, the middle star has near it a small companion styled on the celestial charts "Alcor." The Arab observers knew this by the name of "Saidak," which means "touchstone" or "trial;" for, if a man could perceive that tiny point with the unassisted eye, he could easily see the smaller stars of the Pleiades and the satellites of Jupiter. We must, however, also remember the purity and transparency of the Eastern sky, especially in dry, desert regions, where all heavenly orbs shine with a brilliancy quite unknown to western astronomers. Copernicus, it is related, lamented in the hour of his death that he had never so much as seen the planet Mercury, which the happier Greek observers called "Stilbon," the "splendidly shining;" and one of the most promising points in connection with this great new telescope in America is that it will be perched upon a mountain peak, far above the dust and mists of the lower world—lifted into that stainlessly dark-blue atmosphere which Professor Tyndall has celebrated upon his high Alps. Accordingly when we call to mind the considerable additions made to the heavenly science by such comparatively inferior instruments as even those of Lord Rosse, Mr. Lassell, and the elder Herschel, we may be full of hope that the Californian astronomers will astonish and delight the Old World with new discoveries, "when some new planet swims into their ken." There are unresolved nebulae at which the great glass will no sooner be pointed than we may expect to have those distant mysteries instantly "come down" into galaxies of stars and systems; and outside Uranus and Neptune, the latter being distant from us 2,743,000,000 miles, the new telescope may cast a glance into the border-world between our farthest planet and our nearest star, and perhaps find a sister for the single moon of Neptune, and tell us why the four moons of Uranus—Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon—dance backward in the eternal minuet of the skies, and have planes perpendicular to the ecliptic of the mother-body. There are, indeed, endless points upon which astronomers seek such information as improved command of the heavens might supply, especially if the enhanced powers of this telescope can be wedded to the faithful eyesight of the photographic camera. Wonderful things have been achieved of late in such a way; spaces of the midnight sky, blank to the ordinary lens or mirror, have revealed to the sensitive film of the plate myriads of starry bodies. The crimson cressets on the sun's ridge have depicted themselves; his spots have registered their periodic passage, and the time approaches apparently when an automatic astronomer will be invented which will chronicle every event of the spheres with sleepless accuracy. We want to know much more of comets, of nebulae, and of those curious little members of our system, the planetoids, which perpetually increase in number with closer observation, until they have grown up during the present century to more than 250 known and named bodies. They wander as obedient to law as the very largest planets, between Mars and Jupiter, tiny islets of the sapphire ocean, small children of the cosmos, the biggest not much more than 300 miles in diameter, few of them so bulky as to be visible without a telescope. Are these little silver bees of the system mere broken fragments of some intermediate planet, or have they been seriously created, and have they taken up with revolution and gravitation, and all the rest of it, on their own account and for special purposes? To answer that and many another question of the kind may doubtless, in American phrase, "lick the Lick glass."—London Telegraph. Teach Children to Speak Correctly.
NO CHILD should be allowed to speak incorrectly. If you do not teach your little one to enunciate clearly at first, it may be impossible later on; but not only be careful as to enunciation, but as to use of words. Take pains to explain why one word is correct, another incorrect. Teach your child how to open the lips well; do not allow him to talk altogether in one key, and take care that any nasal twang is carefully corrected. If a boy talks in a high, effeminate voice, cultivate his chest tones patiently but firmly—he will bless you in later years for what at present sorely tries his patience. Be careful that your girl has that "most excellent thing in woman"—a soft voice. Any inclination to stammering should be watched; the child should be trained to read aloud very slowly and deliberately. As it may prove helpful to some one, I will quote a set of rules given by Charles Kingsley to cure stammering, only premising that a child could be taught to hold the upper lip down with his finger during his half hour of practice. Open your mouth. Take full breaths and plenty of them, and mind your stops. Keep your tongue quiet. Keep your upper lip down. Use your lower lip. Read to yourself out loud. Read and speak slow, slow, slow.—Brooklyn Magazine. ANGRY words are lightly spoken
In a rash and thoughtless hour;
Brightest links of life are broken
By their deep, insidious power.
Hearts inspired by warmest feeling,
Ne'er before by anger stirred,
Oft are rent past human healing
By a single angry word. Poison-drops of care and sorrow,
Bitter poison-drops are they,
Weaving for the coming morrow
Saddest memories of to-day.
Angry words, O let them never
From the tongue unbridled slip;
May the heart's best impulse ever
Check them, ere they soil the lip. Love is much too pure and holy,
Friendship is too sacred far
For a moment's reckless folly,
Thus to desolate and mar.
Angry words are lightly spoken,
Bitterest thoughts are rashly stirred,
Brightest links in life are broken
By a single angry word.
—Sel. IN the Elmira penitentiary, a newspaper is published, called The Summary, which excludes all records of crime, and epitomizes public news without scandal or sensationalism. The daily papers are excluded from the prison lest they incite to crime by their criminal records. Here is food for thought. The directors of this prison evidently recognize the fact that the surest way to stop a fire is to withdraw the fuel from it. Who can question the wisdom of their action? To cure the disease it is necessary to remove the cause. It is safe to say that the frightful increase of crime is due in a large measure to the current literature of the times. Not satisfied with the records of crime and sensations recorded in our daily newspapers, papers devoted exclusively to such literature are circulated, and read by hundreds of thousands. The danger from this source has become so alarming that some of our States are legislating against the introduction and sale within their borders of papers devoted to the records of crime. Kansas City and other of our large cities have taken similar steps. The proprietors of these papers do not willingly submit to have their business destroyed in this way, but have brought suits in the courts to test the legality of these enactments. What the result will be we cannot easily foretell. Men are controlled by appetite, and, as long as they can obtain it, they will feed their depraved minds on the putrid filth of our social life. It is to be hoped however that the moral sentiment of our country may become so aroused to the evil, that these efforts to check it may be warmly applauded and heartily sustained. We are living in "perilous times." Dangers are thickening all around us. Youth is the critical period of life—the formative period. The weal or woe of the individual depends largely on the bent the mind receives at this time. What a responsibility rests upon parents and teachers to see that those young people placed under their care receive the right mould. Tastes for criminal literature are often acquired by children of professedly Christian parents. A son or daughter has but little taste for reading. To arouse in the child a love of literature a sensational novel or a paper containing a sensational love story is placed in his hands. The effect is magical. It is like the first drink to one born with an appetite for liquor, the appetite becomes aroused, not for good reading, but for more of the same kind. It continues to indulge until the mind is debauched and the soul ruined. Many parents have caused the downfall of their own children, by suffering them to read and hear of sensations and crimes. What is not good enough for a prison is certainly unfit for the family circle. Guard your children's reading with jealous care. Until their tastes are fully established suffer them not to indulge in promiscuous reading, but direct their minds in the channel of thought you would have them pursue. Select books and papers for them that are free from suspicion, and carefully guard the associations of your children, if you would have them develop into pure and noble men and women.—Students' Workshop. Cause and Prevention of Scarlet Fever.
A REPORT has been issued by the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, the importance of which, as regards the etiology and prevention of a wide-spread infectious disease, deserves the most careful attention of sanitary officers and the general public alike. Hitherto the general assumption prevailed that infection with scarlet fever has always had its origin from the human subject, that is to say, that scarlet fever is always transmitted to the human subject from a human being affected with the malady, either by direct contagion in its wider sense or through milk, cream, etc., previously contaminated with the contagium derived from a human source. In the present report we have an account of an extensive outbreak of scarlet fever in the north of London at the end of last and the beginning of the present year among the consumers of milk derived from a particular farm at Hendon. The first part of the report of the medical officer contains an account by W. H. Power, Inspector to the Medical Department of the Local Government Board, of an investigation into this outbreak, and the evidence brought forward by Mr. Power is absolute and conclusive; it proves, by a chain of circumstantial evidence as complete as can be wished, that this particular outbreak of scarlatina was transmitted by milk which could not have been previously contaminated from a human source. Moreover, Mr. Power proves that certain milch cows, recently added to the dairy and affected with a particular malady, were the source from which the contagium had been derived; further, that as this malady once introduced by a few cows into the dairy spread to other milch cows, so the amount of milk containing the contagium, and also the number of cases of scarlatina among the consumers, increased, and as the milk supply was discontinued so the spread of scarlet fever abated. The malady with which the cows were affected consisted chiefly in a particular kind of ulceration of the teats and udder, and perhaps some slight cutaneous disorder. As regards the general health, the feeding and milking capacity, the cows seemed to present very little alteration. The second part of the report contains an account by Dr. Klein of the minute pathology and etiology of this cow disease. In the first place, Dr. Klein ascertained that the local disease on the teats and udder is inoculable in its specific characters into healthy calves; secondly, that the cows affected by the local disease of the udder and teats were at the same time affected with a disease of the viscera, as proved by the post-mortem examination, in many respects similar to a mild form of scarlet fever in the human subject. From the ulcers of the cow Dr. Klein isolated by cultivation a streptococcus or chain-micrococcus, possessed of distinct and special characters, both as to morphology and mode of growth in various nutritive media, particularly in milk; in this latter it grows in a peculiar manner, and very luxuriantly. With artificial cultures of this streptococcus a disease was produced in calves by subcutaneous inoculation, which bears a striking resemblance to scarlet fever in man. The conclusion is thus forced on us that this streptococcus is identical with the materies morbi; further, that the scarlatina produced in the human subject by the consumption of milk from the Hendon farm, was an experiment carried out on a large scale, of infection with a cultivation in milk of the above streptococcus; and lastly, that the milk of the cows affected with the specific ulcers of the teats and udders, became charged with the contagium by the hands of the milker during the act of milking. Although there are many details still wanting to complete the research, particularly those regarding the transmissibility of scarlatina from the human subject to the cow, there is sufficient evidence at hand already to warrant the hope that by a proper and effectual mode of superintending milk farms, it will be possible to considerably limit this dire scourge. A suggestion that at once presents itself is this: Granted that the above-mentioned streptococcus is the real cause of the malady, there is no reason to doubt that boiling the milk would effectually destroy its life and infective power just as is the case with all micrococci. True, the danger to contract scarlatina would hereby not be altogether annihilated, since cream cannot thus be disinfected, and since scarlet fever can unquestionably be contracted from a human source, but it must be obvious from this conclusive report that milk of itself coming from an infected cow plays a considerable rôle in conveying scarlatina from the cow to the human subject.—Nature. THE banana plant is bulbous. The sprout starts up from the ground and grows somewhat after the manner of the sugar-cane. Generally in one year after it begins to grow its fruit is ready to cut. Each tree bears one bunch of fruit, which grows at the top. The stalk is really composed of successive layers of leaves, formed by the top leaf coming off and those around it also, which die and dry up around the tree, thus making the stalk. There are generally four or five leaves always at the top, new ones springing forth as the old ones die. The leaves are of a red color. The end of the stalk blossoms in a manner somewhat similar to that of the calla lily. This blossom is inclosed in a pod almost the size of a cocoanut, which is composed of a succession of leaves. As the pod expands the leaves drop off and under each of the leaves is a "hand" of bananas, or what we recognize as one of the clusters on a bunch of bananas. The developing of these successive "hands" or layers of bananas constitutes the bunch. As these successive layers are developed, the bunch increases in weight and bends over. When the bananas are fit to be taken off the tree is cut partly in two about half way down the stalk, and the tree bent over and the fruit gathered. The tree is then bent back again into its regular position. The tree is not completely cut off, but is thus bent back into its former position for the purpose of preventing the water in the rainy season from going down into the roots and decaying them. After the rainy season, sprouts begin to shoot up from around the bottom of the old stalk, and then the latter is cut off close to the butt. These shoots grow into new trees. Sometimes there will be four or five shoots, but ordinarily only one or two are left to grow.—Providence Journal. How a Soldier Ran Away to Sea.
By Eugenia M. Hodge
ONE hundred and nine years ago, in the month of February, 1777, a young French guardsman ran away to sea. And a most singular running away it was. He did not wish to be a sailor, but he was so anxious to go that he bought a ship to run away in—for he was a very wealthy young man; and though he was only nineteen, he held a commission as major-general in the armies of a land 3,000 miles away—a land he had never seen and the language of which he could not speak. The King of France commanded him to remain at home; his friends and relatives tried to restrain him; and even the representatives, or agents, of the country in defense of which he desired to fight would not encourage his purpose. And when the young man, while dining at the house of the British ambassador to France, openly avowed his sympathy with a downtrodden people, and his determination to help them gain their freedom, the ambassador acted quickly. At his request the rash young enthusiast was arrested by the French Government, and orders were given to seize his ship, which was awaiting him at Bordeaux. But ship and owner both slipped away, and, sailing from the port of Pasajes in Spain, the runaway, with eleven chosen companions, was soon on the sea bound for America, and beyond the reach of both friends and foes. On April 25, 1777, he landed at the little port of Georgetown, at the mouth of the Great Pee Dee River in South Carolina; and from that day forward the career of Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, has held a place in the history of America, and in the interest and affection of the American people.—Eugenia M. Hodge, in St. Nicholas. How They Allure.
By Temperance Advocate
The New York Sun recently gave a description of some of the leading bar-rooms of New York City, showing some of them to contain from $60,000 to $100,000 each in paintings, statuary, etc., to make the path to perdition attractive and fascinating. These saloons are the product and legitimate outgrowth of the license system. The plea that license "restricts" is utterly false and fallacious. The young men who frequent these gilded pathways to hell are first assured that these places are licensed, legalized, and protected by the strong right arm of the law, and hence are legitimate and necessary to the public good and welfare. One of these gilded saloons will do more to lure souls down to eternal ruin than a hundred "low dives," that only take the cast-off victims when so debauched of character as not to be fit to associate with the new "customers" which these more "respectable" saloons are constantly receiving. The gilded "saloon must go" in order that the young men may be saved. God and truth and right are stronger than all the world combined. PROPER WAY OF CARING FOR YOUR EYES.—
Keep a shade on your lamp or gas burner. Avoid all sudden changes between light and darkness. Never begin to read, write, or sew, for several minutes after coming from darkness to a bright light. Never read by twilight, or moonlight. Never read or sew directly in front of the light, window, or door. It is best to let the light fall from above, obliquely, over the left shoulder. Never sleep so that, on first awakening, the eyes shall open on the light of a window. Do not use the eyesight by light so scant that it requires an effort to discriminate. The moment you are instinctively prompted to rub your eyes, that moment stop using them. If the eyelids are glued together on waking up, do not forcibly open them, but apply saliva with the finger—it is the speediest dilutant in the world—then wash your eyes and face in warm water.—Sel. The Meaning of Strong Drink
An excellent authority says wines, ales, and beer should be spelled, whines, ails, and bier. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of this. The same friend reminds me that gin means a snare. The whole matter is referred to those who know most about it.—Sel. —It is said that the Methodist million for missions is all pledged but about $50,000. —It is stated that the evangelists Jones and Small will visit San Francisco in February. —Mr. D. L. Moody, the evangelist, will open another campaign in the South sometime this month. —It is stated that 10,000 Christian converts in Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, Africa, have raised a jubilee fund of $75,000. —The native Christians of Madagascar have given in the last ten years more than $400,000 for the spread of the gospel. —It is estimated that the Charleston earthquake damaged the Southern Methodist churches in that city to the amount of $60,000. —The leaders of the Methodist denomination are discussing the proposition to hold a convention of Methodists from all parts of the world in 1891. —The Congregational Council recently in session in Chicago was the largest meeting of the kind ever held by that denomination. Over 300 delegates were present. —The Catholic population of the archdiocese of Chicago is estimated at 430,000. There are 284 priests, 82 of whom are members of religious orders. There are 34,000 children enrolled in the parochial schools. —The General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America has just completed its nineteenth annual session in Chicago. This body represented some 250,000 members, nearly one-half of whom are of the Swedish Augustana Synod. —Dr. Pentecost is credited with saying in the late Congregational Council: "There are more unconverted idolaters in New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, or St. Louis, to-day, than there were in Athens when Paul felt his spirit stirred within him at what he saw in that city." —An edition of the gospel by Mark in the Mandarin language has been published in England in raised Chinese characters for the use of the blind in China. This is the 250th language in which portions of the Scriptures have been printed for the blind after the "Moon system."