Newspaper Page Text
VOL. LXXXIV. RICHMO
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qTUDENTS will soon be leaving home for
schools and colleges. In the Presbyterian
colleges and collegiate institutes of the South
there will be about 5,000 of them. One of the
unfortunate things about young people's leaving
home is that their church connection is to a
large extent broken up. Effort has often been
made to induce them to transfer their membership
to the church in the college town. But
the objection has usually been made that they
did 1101 want to leave the church of their family,
as they would only be at college a part of
the time for a few years. And yet these young
people need the help and care of the church
which comes only from vital connection with
it. A very wise and satisfactory plan has been
devised in what is known as " Affiliate Membership."
The young man receives from the session
of his church a certificate of his good
standing in the home church and of commendation
to the college church. In presenting it
lie agrees to identify himself with that church
so long as he remains in its bounds. But he
still remains a member of the home church.
Parents, pastors and sessions cannot do better
than to encourage their young people to take
advantage of this arrangement, and see that
they have the necessary certificates. Blanks for
this purpose will be furnished free of charge by
Kev. II. H. Sweets, D. D., of Louisville, Ky.,
Write at once for as many as you can use.
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O KILL t,n ftvppcnmc tllP infirm it ine nf liiimon
nature has been wonderfully developed.
One of the latest evidences of this is the invention
and development of the Phonopticon. This
is an instrument, which we cannot undertake to
describe, by which a person entirely blind can
read ordinary print. It is an electrical device
by which a delicate and ingenious modification
of the telephone is made to produce sounds by
means of light reflected from the printed page,
and influenced differently by each letter. The
wonderful thing about it is that the blind can
read, without the necessity of having specially
prepared type. What a comfort it will be
to those who are so sadly afflicted to be able to
read easily the word of God, books and newsna
pers of all kinds. It may well be said with the
l'salmist: "His works are wonderful to the
children of men," even when they are performed
through human instrumentality.
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PROHIBITION of legalized liquor traffic is
making steady progress. Evidence of this
iu oaa? ~ 11 il- ' ^ ? - *
occh uii over uie country, uur attention Has
just been called to conditions in Illinois. Of
the 1,430 townships in the State all have banished
the saloon, except 215. Of the incorporated
cities and villages 768 have no saloons,
while they are still found in 295. Over 3,000
saloons by the votes of the people have been
closed in that State in the last eight years.
ND. NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, SEPTEMB1
irtal jgotcsi anb Com
FEW deaths in our Church could cause more
grief or be a more serious loss than that of
Dr. Horatio N. Spencer, of St. Louis, who
passed away on Saturday, August 14th. Dr.
Spencer was a most active, efficient, and liberal
ruling elder of the Westminster church. lie
was a native of Mississippi, having been born
and reared near Port Gibson. After active
service in the Confederate army he settled,
when the war closed, in St. Louis, where he entered
upon a career of great usefulness and sue
cess as a specialist in the treatment of troubles
of the nose, ear and throat. His intelligence
and scientific ability secured for him a great
clientele. Ilis splendid income was not held
for himself, however. With almost unparalleled
liberality he supported Church and educational
work, yet in a modest and unassuming
way, which prevented any large heralding of
it. Himself a man of fine literary taste and
ability lie leit great interest in the higher education,
and especially in the classics. For many
years he contributed handsomely to the expenses
of the Southwestern Presbyterian University,
and never turned a deaf or unwilling
ear to the calls of its officers for aid in special
eases. lie made provision in his will for the
maintenance of one of his most active beneficiaries
in that institution. Truly "a prince
and a great man has fallen."
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TI 71IEN the European war began great fear
W was expressed in many quarters that the
missionary work being done in heathen lands
would be seriously interferred with. The suggestion
was made that the Christian people of
this country should undertake to finance this
work for the warring nations. It is gratifying
to see the reports coming from the missionary
societies of these countries. Instead of a
serious falling off, there has been in most cases
an actual increase in contributions for this
work. And there has also been a large increase
in the number of volunteers for the foreign
field.
4. 4. 4.
IT was felt by many Christians that the
knowledge that the Christian nations of
the world were enaaced 111 sneli fonrfnl
fare, as is now crimsoning the soil of Europe
with the blood of its brave men, would make
heathen people say that the Christian religion
is a failure, and so turn them away from it
more than ever. But it seems that God is ruling
in this, as in all things, and is making the
wrath cf man to serve Him. Everywhere the
work is prospering in a wonderful way, and
more interest is shown in the teachings of the
missionaries than ever before. A missionary
writes that the feeling among the Chinese seems
to be that if the nations that have the knowledge
of God are so far from being what they
ought to be, those who are without this knowledge
must be in a far worse condition. And
so they are seeking to learn more of God.
jjjj
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>al Presbyter/an e
rheffn Presbyter/a n
3R 1, 1915. No. 34
Ultlll
WTM1E high cost of living" might in many
X cases be changed into "the cost of high
living." The cost of many of the staples of
living has indeed increased much in recent
years, but the increase has been far from equal
to that developed by the higher kind of living
in which many indulge. Houses are better furnished
and supplied with vastly more conveniences
than formerly, travel is more frequent
and costly, clothing is more changeable and
complex, food is of more delicate, varied, and
oostly kinds, telephones, bath facilities, sanitary
provisions, laundries, automobiles, and numer
ous other accessories of modern life, needful
and comfortable as they are and nowadays almost
regarded as necessities, have been introduced.
They are all to be estimated in the cost
of living. It is more a type of high living than
of high cost that concerns the majority of those
who complain.
4* + +
ADULT Bible Classes in China are said to
be very common now. Men are anxious
to study the Bible, and in many places it is said
to be very easy to find enough such men to
form a class. The great trouble being experienced
is the finding of men who are qualified
to be leaders or teachers. This great and growing
need of leaders confirms the wisdom of
many of the missionaries of our church. They
have for a long time maintained that the missionaries'
great work is not the evangelizing of
the Chinese, but the training of leaders, who,
when properly trained can do more in carrying
the gospel to their people than can the foreigner.
+ + +
OUR correspondents sometimes fail to send
their names with their communications.
Within a week we have received several news
items, a marriage notice, and two longer articles,
with nothing to indicate from whom they
came. It is our rule, as it is the invariable
rule of most newspapers, not to publish anything,
unless we know who has sent it. We
must do this to safeguard ourselves. When we
assume the responsibility of publishing anything,
it must be upon the authority of some
one whom we know. We do not ask that the
name be given for publication, unless the writer
wishes it. But we must have it for our own
information.
+ + 4*
COURTS are beginning to take hold of the
question of Sunday observance in a sen
sible way. Some pork packers near Now York
City were found slaughtering hogs on Sunday.
They claimed that it was a work of necessity, as
their customers wanted meat freshly butchered.
The Supreme Court of the State decided that
such a mere whim of taste could not make such
work a necessity, and ordered the verdict of the
lower court to stand, which had found the
packers guilty of a violation of the law. May
the good work go on.