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2 THE PRESBYTERIAN THE ASSEMBLY'S HOME AND SCHOOL. The collection in our churches on the last Sunday in .December is to he given, if the Assembly's schedule he followed, to the most useful and beautiful work, that of the Assembly's Home and School. It is to he feared that when the Assembly first took ..K-uiuuuii liiiu us Keeping, it aia it very carelessly and with little thought. It was in 1894, and we remember with what little concern or interest the matter Avas taken hold of. It did not really take in the importance of the work it was doing. Each passing year has quickened that interest, however, and the actual 1 -1 TT ' " * * vguus n<i.\c siiuwn max tne nome ana School tills a most unique and important place in our benevolent system. It is not an orphanage merely. It is a home. It cares primarily for the children of our missionaries, and for the children of deceased ministers. In caring for the latter it combines its benefactions in such a way that the widows of ministers find it a training place for their fatherless little ones. Thus it reaches out and touches the relief work of the Church and supplements it in such a practical way that many a poor mother who could not educate and feed her children on the little sum given by the Church through its relief fund, can here combine the two and find a home for her helpless flock. The Home and School is the right hand of the Ministerial Relief Fund. There were during the last fiscal year eighty-four children in the Home and School, of these twentyeight were the children of missionaries out in the foreign field, who must needs send these children back to this country, or leave them here, that they might be educated. What better or more fitting than that the Church take these children, separated thousands of miles from their beloved parents, who are our representatives to her vpry heart and give them a home and a training back here in the home land? 'I'l,u .cr^ ? ... ^ ..v jvillaining iniy-six were orpnans ot ministers. Arkansas and Kentucky Synods furnished one each; Alabama and Mississippi, four each; South Carolina, seven; Georgia, nine; North Carolina, twelve, and Virginia, eighteen. Of the funds contributed to the support of the institution by the churches, a total of $10,133, the Virginia Synod contributed $4,386, which was more than two-fifths of the whole. North Carolina gave $1,141, and South Carolina $802.' The other Synods contributed from $604 down to $111 each. The administration of this great charity, of our Church has been eYrppdinorlv 1 '?1 1 " vwiiuuuvai. x~ 11iccii nunureu aonars covers all that was paid for salaries, although the most capable hands were in charge. These hands had great hearts behind them, else the work could never have been done. In a recent interview, on the Ferrer case, King Alphonso, of Spain, is represented as expressing himself very bitterly on the Ferrer demonstrations abroad. He is quoted as saying, "To listen to certain Frenchmen. one would think we were savages and live in the time of the Inquisition, instead of a constitutional monarchy." It is refreshing to know that a Spanish king, and a great supporter of the Romanist Church at that, is willing to acknowledge the savagery of that age in Spanish history and of the church to which he belongs. f* OF THE SOUTH. December aa, 1909. WHEN MEN DO ATTEND CHURCH. One of the popular monthlies of the day has raised the question: "Why men do not attend church?" And a symposium of answers from a variety of standpoints has been published. The implication that it a fact that men do not attend church has been vigorously ucincu dv xne sunaay :>cnooi limes and other papers; and from our point of view, correctly. In the conservative Southland we believe that the number of men found in the sanctuary has increased, and not decreased. as may be true in other sections. Worldliness, commercialism, absorption in business cares, some degree of unbelief begotten by certain claims of popular literature, have their influence, producing in difference. Physical and mental weariness on the Rest Day lead to self-indulgence. And at the heart of all these things is the national unbelief and "the offense of the Cross." Put it is true we believe that outspoken hostility to religion and the Church is not found to the extent to which it once prevailed in many communities. It is rare that a fewer are now found who are outspoken in their denial of the Truth and the claims of Christianitv. W'e helipvp that aninnof tli? J-, "I HI moral classes of society, respect for the Church is almost universal and is growing. The increase of loyalty and faithfulness to Christian obligations on the part of men within the Church is having its effect upon men without. The Men's Movement in the churches, in Bible classes, in Brotherhoods, in missions, in civic reform and in charities has been an impressive witness for the truth. The public men in America who confess Christ before the world, presidents, governors, senators, mayors, are many, able and outspoken, and their testimony has been heard by multitudes and is bearing fruit, in silencing opposition and increasing respect and confidence for religion, its churches and its ministers. Undoubtedly the type of man demanded in the pulpit and pastorate in our day is the manly man, masculine, with a robust Christian manhood, honest, candid, brave, self mastered and self-devoted; not the effeminate and weak and self-indulgent, aesthetic'and emotional. Men are not convinced or attracted by the man whose mind is on his clerical dress, the flowers on his pulpit or the success of social function. Out of the pulpit, on the street, the minister who is human otirl nofiteol ' ' ? ? ? - 1 nuiuiui, vyiiiic iic ia gcuuc ctiui a gentleman, wno pays his debts, lives within his means and asks no privileges or discounts, and while cordial and friendly, has self-respect and modesty; this is the minister who wins the respect of men without the Church, and this is the man whom they are willing to hear on the great claims of God and his word. in the pulpit, the minister who attracts men, is honest in dealing with all truth and the facts of life. And Iw n A moono /loop oi?.<K " -?-?? ? a- 1~ ? A p ,,J . .v. mvana uui.i) ouv.ll a Iliail 1USC II1C CSICCIH OI WOmen and the love of children. Me has convictions of the great realities, and faith, strong and courageous, in the message he is sent to deliver. He is seen evidently to fear God and not man. He is absorbed and controlled by the solemnity and authority of divine truth. He is unaffected, direct and fearless, The preaching which affects and draws men is intel