Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 97. No. 50.
RICHMOND, VA.
DECEMBER 13, 1922
YOUNG PEOPLE must have some diversion,
no matter what their usual employment
is. This accounts for the large daily attend
ance at moving picture shows. It also accounts
for the fact that so many young people do not
stay at home at night. One of the best ways to
supply this need is to provide them with good
books. A normal boy or girl will not lay down
an interesting book which tells of the doings
of other live boys and girls and go off with
questionable companions. If a boy or girl is
not fond of reading the taste can be cultivated.
If the parent will get a good book, read it first
and show some interest in the reading, talk
about it enough to awaken interest in it, with
out telling anything of the story, and just lay
it on the table, it is almost certain that the boy
or girl will pick it up and begin to read it. If
they are told to read it, probably they will not
do so. When the taste has been cultivated, it
will simply be a question of supplying the
need. Unless a public library is convenient, of
course it will cost something to supply the
books, but we believe that it can be shown that
the purchase of a reasonable number of good
will be an economical saving. Many other ex
penses will be eliminated when the young peo
ple are reading, and besides their minds and
hearts will be developed, so that they will be
better fitted for life's work.
CHILDREN need books. Children will have
books. Every normal child wants to
read and will read It is just a question as to
what they will read. Their fondness for the
comic sheets of the Sunday papers is due
largely to the fact that they are not provided
with something better. Parents should see
that their children are provided with books
and papers suitable to their age, and that they
are instructive and uplifting. Teachers of
day schools and of Sunday Schools should use
their influence to see that they are provided
with suitable reading. Pastors can be of great
help in impressing this subject upon the minds
and hearts of parents, and making suggestions
as to the books that are useful. To this end
parents, teochers and preachers might well
make a study of books for children.
LAYMEN, for some years past, have been
coming to the front in their interest in
church work. This is due, in large part, to the
results of the great conventions they have h^ld
in various parts of the church. For some time
a single great convention was held each two
years. But it was found that the number who
wished to attend was so great, and the cost of
going long distances to one central point was
so large, that it seemed best to divide up the
Church into a number of districts and hold a
convention in each of these. Two years ago
this was done, and the registered attendance at
these conventions was 5,621 . It is proposed by
the Laymen's oMvement to hold this winter a
convention in each of six regional centers. They
will be at Houston, Tex., February 13-14; Lit
tle Rock, Ark., February 15-16; Jacksonville,
Fla., February 20-21 ; Charlotte, N. C., Febru
ary 22-23; Richmond, Va., February 27-28;
Huntington, "W. Va., March 1-2. Interesting,
instructive and inspirational programs are be
ing arranged on "World Evangelization,"
which will be the general theme of these con
ventions. Arrangements ought to be made at
once to see that a good group of men shall go
from each church to the most convenient con
week in the Laymen's Department of this
paper.
Oklahoma Presbyterian college
at Durant, Oklahoma, is an excellent in
stitution, doing fine work in educating both
American and Indian girls. It has always been
prevented from doing its full work, because of
MADE WILLING.
By Mrs. J. P. Lawson.
'Twas the tale of a Norwegian mother,
That came to my tars one day.
Of the wise and tender shpherd
And the Iamb that had wandered away.
She told how the shepherd In Norway,
With his eye on ?ach one of his flock,
Sees the lamb in its search for new pasture
Spring away to some outstanding dock;
And you'd think in an instant he'd follow,
And snatching It quick to his breast,
Would climb with the lamb back to Bafety
Where 'twould follow along with the rest.
But no: the Bhepherd is wiser.
Should he spring, but a signal 'twould be
To the lamb to jump farther and farther
And faster and faster to flee.
So he waits ? Just waits and watches!
Sends some one along with the flock
While he waits ? just waits and watches,
The lamb on the rocks.
Then the night falls ? the dark shadows gather.
And, all worn by its wanderings so long.
The poor little lamb lets the shepherd
Take it into his arms, warm and strong.
And this tale of the Norwegian mother
Tells us much of the Good Shepherd's heart
Toward the poor straying lambs of His pas-'
ture
Wandering farther and farther apart.
For we know the Good Shepherd stands wait
ing
So patiently, day after day.
Just till you and I are "made willing,"
Like the lamb that had wandered away.
Little Rock, Ark.
lack of money. It belongs to the General As
sembly and is under the management of the
Assembly's Home Mission Committee. For a
long time the College has been unable 1o ac
commodate all the girls who wanted to get an
education there, so a short time ago a new dor
mitory was added to the equipment. Thre,
" however, involved the making of a debt. And
this debt is a burden upon the institution which
is making it impossible for it to do its best
work. A friend in the eastern part of the
country has offered to give the College $10,000,
if it will raise a like amount. This will pay it
out of debt and put it in a position to do bet
ter work. This is a fine opportunity to invest,
money that will bring in perpetual dividends
in the lives and characters of the young women
of Oklahoma, which is still largely mission ter
ritory for our Church. Under the wise and
Christian leadership of President W. B. Mor
rison and his excellent wife, many of the girls
of Oklahoma have been given a good .Christian
education, and all who need it should have it.
EPISCOPALIANS are making much of the
action of the Church of England and a
similar action of the Episcopal Church in this
country, by which the Bishops of these churches
are enabled to give to ordained ministers of
other churches an Episcopal commission. Just
what such a commission will amount to to a
minister of another church it is hard to see.
He will not have any more authority in his own
church than he had before. He will not have
any authority in the Episcopal Church, because
he is not a member of that church. So far as
we can see, it simply means that the Episco
pal Church will say to such a minister, that he
"has the right to preach the gospel, and it may
mean that upon special invitation he may
preach in an Episcopal church. This is really
not as much as almost every other Protestant
church grants to all ministers of all evangelical
churches, and they require no special form
about it. The ordained minister who goes to
any other church for its approval of his ordi
nation, confesses at once that he thinks the
other church is better and more Scriptural
than his own. If this is true, he should leave
his own church and join the one that is better.
If he believes, as he should, that his church is
the best and most Scriptural, he does not need
the approval of any other church. The broad,
Christian policy of the Presbyterian Church is
to recognize ordination by any other evan
gelical church, and to welcome its ministers
into its pulpits, whenever occasion arises; and
to receive them into its ministry, whenever they
wish to become Presbyterians, without any
further ordination.
PAPERS in this country and in other coun
tries unite in showing the greatness and
horror of the massacres of the Turks in recent
days in Smyrna and other places in Near East
The Presbyterian Witness of Toronto, Canada,
has this to say on the subject: "While we
should receive with caution and a measure of
reserve the reports which come to us of Turkish
atrocities, there seems to be only too much evi
dence of the usual wholesale slaughter and out
rages which mark the progress of Turkish con
quest. Fire, sword and a more terrible fate are
the lot of thousands upon thousands who fall
into the hands of the incarnate devils who fight
under the crescent of the false prophet Re
ports place the assassinations in Smyrna and
vicinity at more than 100,000. Old and young,
men and -maidens, are alike the victims of the
soldiers of Islam drunk with human blood.
Fortunate are the women who find death quickly
lief ore they are carried off to Turkish harems.
The expulsion of the Greeks from Asia Minor
now seems to have sealed the fate of the rem
nant of the Armenian nation. Turkey will not
he satisfied until the last Christion is put to the
sword or landed in a Moslem harem. And the
lack of unanimity makes the nations powerless
to prevent such a tragedy."