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T6 , THE
AN ACCUMULATION OF SORROWS.
The startling news has reached me
concerning the condition of one of the
Lord's own. The case is one so extreme
that 1 have permission to mention his
name. Rev. Geo. E. Thompson, of High
Springs, Fla., pastor of our church there.
Brother Thompson has been sick for
twenty-seven weeks and is stil! sick.
"Three week3 ago his good wife had her
arm broken. Two weeks ago their home
was burned and they lost about all they
had. In addition to the other losses,
Brother Thompson lost the whole of his
ivtnij ami sci imius. rns aaUglliei'S 11USband
was murdered and robbed last
November, and the mother with four
small children was compelled to seek
shelter in her father's home.
Surely this picture will touch the
hearts of God's people. It would be difficult
to find a better man, or a more faituful
minister of the Word than Brothe?
Thompson. All who know him will endorse
this statement.
Brother Thompson only asks "for tlje
prayers of God's people that he may be
submissive under this affliction, but I
am making a most earnest apneal for
more than this. Substantial help must
be forthcoming, and I know that such
will be the case so soon as this notice
is read.
Bet us come to the help of this dear
family at once, and we will receive their
deepest gratitude, and the commendation
of the Master.
They must have money, clothing, bod
ing, books, and other things necessary to
live on this side of heaven. Churches,
Sunday schools, Ladies' Societies, and individuals
will take a substantial interest
in this most pathetic and deserving ca^e.
All contributions should.be sent to Rev.
Geo. E. Thompson. High Springs. Fla.
May the Ix>rd give us His Spirit and
thus make us a blessing to this greatly
afflicted family.
Yours in a common sympathy and in
His name,
J. G. Patton.
A QUESTION.
At the Northern General Assembly.
"Mr. .Moderator, I am a new commissioner
without experience in General Assembly
methods, and there <are many
more here like me. I supposed we came
* ~ J ~ *11 *1.-* * *
I1CI C IU UU uuamc&s. -Mil l Ilcll IlllS UvJtfil
going on is very interesting, but when
are we going to do any business?"
This is in effect what a young man
said at the close of the hour given to
the Hoard of Mission for Freed men. The
resolutions reported by the committee
were pending and the motion to adopt
was about to be put. The Moderator answered:
"We are doing business. Th9
present business is to adopt this report.
All who favor will say aye." And the
young man as he sat down said, "Im glad
to lrnnw \t "
The incident was suggestive. The young
man had bedh sitting Ihrough a typical
"cut and dried'' hour. "Cut and dried"
is a "cart before the horse" expression.
Dried and cut. it should be. Dried and
sliced; that is belter. The system has
developed slowly, fastening itself little
by little on the Assembly, as one after
another they have followed through the
yeara. A Board prepares and prints its
report and brings it printed and with
y
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUT
documents to the Assembly. The Standing
Committee is appointed and receives
the reports and documents. Only a limited
time is given to the Standing Committee
for the consideration of reports
that represent the work of a year. Thu
chairman of the Standing Committee
writes a report. His committee endorses
it. At the appointed hour the chairman
reads his report to the Assembly. Then
the secretary speaks. Three or four
previously selected men make "spontaneous"
remarks. The Moderator puts
the question on the ailnnttnn nf tn<?
resolutions offered by the chairman, the
Assembly votes aye, and tae business
is done. An hour or an hour and a half
has been consumed in the rendering of a
carefully prepared programme. Not lifty
persons of the one thousand delegates
have had a word to say about the matter.
The secretary of the Board breathes
freer. He is safe and happy for another
year.
The question of the young commissioner
was out of order. It was as
Lad as that which so frightened the
"Hon. Tite Barnacle," who expressed
the cause of his agitation by saying, as
lie pointed at his questioner, "Whv, he
wants to know, you know." So with the
young commissioner. He wanted to know,
you know, when the Assembly was to
begin doing business. The answer, "It
is doing business," must have seemed to
the young commissioner like a fine piece
of satire.
vv.ny summon a thousand men at an
expense say cf fifty thousand dollars, to
spend eight or ten or twelve hours
listening to that in the preparation of
which the bulk of them have had no part,
and at the end to be asked pro forma to
say aye. A moderator, stated clerk and
eight chairman of standing committees
are really all that are necessary for the
transaction of what is called the business
of the Assembly in connection with
the eight Boards of our Church, 'me
young commissioner had not learned that
the function of a deliberative Assembly
is to be calmly, quietly and sleepily
deliberate. We have seen a commis
oiuiici in an miciuuuu session, aner a
hearty lunch, nodding assent to every
sentence from the platform for an hour
and a half, and then out of some chamber
of his sleepy personality saying in
drowsy nonintelligejice, "Aye." Such
things are the logical results of the
dried-beef methods.
Does the General Assembly know what
it is doing as it votes "aye" on resolutions
which they have heard read once,
have never read a line of, and of whose
meaning large numbers have not the
slightest comprehension?
Consider a single illustration. A Board
of vast Importance (we do not name it,
but it is one of four which have secretaries
and also assistant secretaries) was
given one nour ana a nan or a nair day's
session. Ninety minutes were given to
five speakers. The chairman of the
Standing Committee read his report;
four prepared speeches followed. The
Moderator attempted to put the motion
to adopt. We were about to write the vote
was taken and the matter was
over. Hut some commissioner who
wanted to do business blocked the game
by moving and securing a ten-minute
extension of the time. The floor had ten'
H. June 16, 1909.
minutes for deliberation on a matter of
great interest to the Church. Think of.
it?ten minutes for one thousand men to
have an opportunity to say their say.
The young commissioner was right. It
it time that the business of the General
Assembly was transacted by the Assembly.
I.et us have done with the prearranged
method of procedure that has
grown with the years.?R. S. H. in the
Philadelphia "Westminster."
LOST PUNCTUATION MARKS.
Who can read this problem so mat
every word will be tri^e?
A funny old man told tbis to me
('Tis a puzzle in punctuation, you see):
"I fell in a snowdrift in June," said he,
"I went to a ball game out in the sea;
1 saw a jellyfish float on a tree;
1 found some gum in a cup of tea;
I stirred the milk with a big brass key;
i opened the door on my bended knee;
"I ask your pardon for this," said he,
"But 'tis true?when told as it ought to
be." ?Sel.
The great dangers lie within ourselves.
What matters it what threatens our head
cr our purse? Let us think only of that
which threatens our soul!?Victor Hugo.
BRAIN BUILDING.
How to Feed Nervous Cases.
Hysteria sometimes leads to insanity
and should be treated through feeding
the brain and nerves upon scientifically
selected food that restores the lost delicate
gray matter. Proof of the power of
the brain food, Grape-Nuts, is remarkably
strong.
"About eight years ago when working
very hard as a court stenographer I collapsed
physically, then nervously, and
was taken to the State Hospital for the
insane at Lincoln, Neb., a raving maniac.
"They had to keep me in a straightjacket
and I was kept in the worst ward
for three months. I was finally dismissed
in the following May but did no brain
work for years, until last fall when I was
persuaded to take the testimony in
two cases.
"One of these was a murder case and
the strain upon my nervous system was
so great that I would have broken down
again except for the strength I had built
1111 hv <ho iioa n *
...v. uoc in u-rape-rsuts. When I
began to feel the pressure of the work on
my brain and nerves I simply Increased
the amount of Grape-Nuts and used the
food more regularly.
"I now feel like my old self again and
am healthy and happy. I am sure that
if I had known of Grape-Nuts w'hen I had
my trouble 8 years ago I would never
have collapsed, and this dark experience
in my life would never have happened.
"The power of Grape-Nuts as a brain
food is simply wonderful and 1 do not
believe any stomach is so weak that it
can not digest this wonderful food."
* tnrsu ^ "" ~
* Here? u i'jason." L<ook for the
littte book, "The Road 'to Wellville,"
in pkga.
Ever read the above letter? A New
one appears from time to time. They
are genuine, true, and full of human
interest.