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iC>4 THE PRESBYTER!
A FINE HEALTH REPORT.
A most interesting statement, and one which should
entirely remove the erroneous impression which many
people outside of Xew Orleans have that the famous
old city is a hot bed of fevers and malaria and all kinds
of unhealthinesses. is the report of the Health Board
for 1909, showing officially that the death rate of New
Orleans for that year was only 18.15 I)er thousand, or if
the negro population and mortality he eliminated, only
15.52 per thousand. This is a lower rate than that of
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Cincinnati,
San Francisco, Baltimore, or Pittsburg. Only two
cities of equal or larger population, Buffalo and Milwaukee.
make a better showing. And all this is despite
the enlarged rate in the city due to its being, as the
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exchange fur the entire Southwest," the fatalities of
which, introduced from a great area outside of the city,
are written in the city's death rate. The condition of
the city has constantly improved within the past few
years. The scientific sanitation, the fine water and
sewerage, the screening of cisterns and the gradual abolition
of cistern water for drinking, are regarded as
among the causes contributory to the happy result.
These improvements are continuing and enlarging all
the time, and no expense is spared to perfect them.
REFORM IMPOSSIBLE.
The Model License League, which is declaring so
plausibly its purpose to reform the saloon, either forgets
or purposely hides the first and fundamental fact.
This is that the saloon is essentially a lawless business,
that it never has been and in the very nature of
things is not and can not be subject to law. Where
it can not do otherwise, it yields to the strong arm of
the law. It boldly and arrogantly declares that prohibition
will not prohibit, meaning and announcing thereby
that it shall not prohibit. It sets at defiance every
law. that would restrict it. It sells to minors, women,
students, drunkards, on prohibited days, anywhere, everywhere,
to every one, just so it puts the money into
its till. It willingly pays for official blindness to its
violations of law Tt niatoc itcolf nn"-- *"
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tions and in ward politics especially determines who
shall he in power, its determination being always, of
course, to its own interest. There is but one sure way
of correcting its evils, and that is to get rid of it
entirely.
We remember Paul's words concerning Ppaphroditus
"Me was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy
on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I
should have sorrow upon sorrow." Here are three
thoughts. First. God can and does spare the lives of
uis servants by a distinct, direct, personal exercise of
His power. Second. It i? a K1??ccinor t/-.
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spared and continued in our earthly service, according
to His will. "God had mercy on him." The desire to
discontinue our earthly existence is justified only in
exceptional cases. Third. God is considerate of our
strength and of the severity of the trials that he permits
us to endure. Paul had sorrow already, and God spared
the life of his dear friend and helper "lest he should
have sorrow upon sorrow."
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AN OF THE SOUTH February 9, i9I0.
MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT WE HAVE.
By Rev. LeRoy G. Henderson.
"What hast thou in the house?" II Kings 4 :2.
A servant nf (^nr1 Hies nnrl leaves his widow nnt nnlu
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without support, but so encumbered by debt that according
to law her two sons must each serve the creditors
seven years in her failure to pay. In her distress she
goes to the prophet Elisha for help. He undertakes to
assist her by first asking the question, "Tell me what
hast thou in the house." To which she replies, "Not
anything,"?and then remembering herself continues?
"except a pot of oil." Then lie tells her to borrow empty
vessels not a few from her neighbors, to shut the
door upon herself, and her sons, and to begin
to pour. This she does until one after another
of the empty vessels are filled. Then the prophet tells
her to cancel the debt with a part of the oil and her
seit and tamilv to live on the rest?a remarkable instance
of how God helps his children in their time of
need, and there comes to us for all times the powerful
lesson of being thankful for what we have by making
the best possible use of it, even counting upon the increase
which comes from God.
What hast thou in the house??a harsh question,
seemingly, when put to the poor widow, whose house
doubtless had been ransacked from garret to cellar in
the effort to meet the demands of the creditors. Still
God is constantly putting this same question to us, as
he would help us solve the problems of life. Not that he
does not stand ready to help us, for our God will ever
supply our need and in our extremity will do for us what
we can not do for ourselves; but first of all he thrusts
us back upon ourselves, making us grateful for what we
have by bringing it up, looking at it, realizing it, and
making full use of it. So when he asks, "What hast
tnou in the house?" let us be careful and not answer too
quickly, "Not anything," but say also, "except a pot of
oil."
We are all liable to the temptation, "all or none"?if
I can't have all, then I'll have none. If I can't have
what I want, then I'll not take what I can get. We are
on dangerous ground, when we allow ourselves to feel,
if we only had another's money, another's influence,
physical strength or spiritual power, how much we
could do, as if we believed the Lord had dealt unfairly
with us. This blunder is vividly illustrated in the case
of the man with one talent, who took his Lord's money
and hid it in the earth, and gave as his reason to his
Lord for so doing, that he knew him, that he was a
hard master, reaping where he had not sown, and gath
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A double blunder?for, first, if he was the hard master
he declared him to be, for that very reason he should
have been diligent in the use of His money; but, secondly,
he was not a hard master, but a loving Father,
who shows his love by giving him for use only what he
was able to handle. A gracious act of providence that
God gives the opportunities of life in just such proportion
as we can use them. He never nut* a kitcV.~u.ii
a peck measure, and never a peckful in a bushel. So
in commending each of his faithful servants, however
varied their talents, he says, 'over a few things thou
hast been faithful." So at every stage of progress in our
earthly career, it matters not how much to others we
might seem to have, it is always a few things, and few