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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."