Newspaper Page Text
Netos of Interest Gathered Here and There
A devotee approached a Sage and asked: 1 ‘Mas
ter, should a man pray aloud or not'?’’ “My
child,” replied the Sage, “pray however you will,
for God hears even the footfall of an ant.”
»!
Thank God every morning when you get up that
you have something to do which must be done
whether you like it or not. Being forced to work
and forced to do your best will breed in you tem
perance, self-control, diligence, strength of will,
content and a hundred virtues which the idle will
never know. —Charles Kingsley.
»5 *
The world has small need of a religion which con
sists solely or chiefly of emotions and raptures.
But the religion that follows Jesus Christ, alike
when he goes up into the high mountain to pray and
when he comes down into the dark valley to work;
the religion that listens to him alike when he tells
us of the peace and joy of the Father’s house and
when he calls us to feed his lambs; the religion
that is willing to suffer as well as to enjoy, to labor
as well as to triumph; the religion that has a soul
to worship God, and a heart to love man, and a
hand to help in every good cause —is pure and un
defiled. —H. van Dyke.
* n
The famines in Russia and China constitute the
most widespread and terrible disaster which has
afflicted mankind since the scouige of Asia and
Europe by the plague called Black Death in the
fourteenth century. By that terrible scourge 25,-
000,000 are estimated to have perished in Europe,
24,000,000 in Asia and an unknown number in Af
rica. Until now no widespread disaster has come
to the people of the world which could be compared
with that appalling infliction. Today 30,000,000
people in Russia are said to be starving and nearly
as many in China. Hundreds are dying every day,
men, women and children. Language is inadequate
to exaggerate the suffering, the peril and the need,
and the call upon those who love their fellowmen
is urgent and imperative. There are several agen
cies engaged in the work of relief. All contribu
tions sent to The Watchman will be promptly for
warded and acknowledged in its columns. —The
Watchman.
*5
7he 'Romance of a Rose.
Many flowers owe their names to famous people,
writes Katherine Scott Kelso. Among the number
are the dahlia, named for Dahl, a Swedish florist;
the magnolia, for Magnol, a celebrated French bot
anist; the fuchsia, for Fuchs, a distinguished Ger
man savant; but there is only one instance known
when a man and a flower received a title at the
same moment. This is how it happened.
When Niel, a brave French general, was return
ing from the scene of his victories in the war be
tween France and Austria, he received from a peas
ant, who wished to honor the hero, a basket of
beautiful pale yellow roses. One of the stems,
which happened to have roots clinging to it, the
general took to a florist in Paris, in whose care it
remained until it became a thriving bush covered
with blossoms. Niel then took the plant as a gift
to Empress Eugenie. She expressed great admira
tion for the exquisite flowers, and, on learning that
the roses were nameless, said, significantly, “Then
I will name it; it shall be the Marechai Niel,” and
at the same moment she bestowed upon the aston
ished general the jeweled baton that betokened his
promotion to the high office of Marechal of France.
-—The Southland.
W It
The Northen Plan.
From the reading of the grand jury present
ments, it will be observed that that body has given
its endorsement to the crusade of ex-Governor
Northen for law and order leagues throughout the
rural districts. While his plan is not mentioned
by name, the suggestion of the grand jury is the
game as he has been recently advocating in his
campaign through the state.
The Golden Age for May 9, 1907.
As we have heretofore declared, this subject is
worthy of approval of law abiding citizens.
Regard for the law is too lax among our white
and colored people almost alike, and nothing can
inspire a strict observance of it except good citi
zenship. It has been pointed out that the time of
our courts is more largely taken up with the trial
of colored criminals than of whites, and this is
true. Not solely, however, because the colored vio
lators of the law are in the majority; but largely
because white men are allowed to escape for crimes
for which a negro would be made to suffer. This
is no new assertion, and it cannot be denied.
The crusade of education is not out of place, and
the recommendation of the grand jury should be
heeded by both white and black citizens. —The
Bulloch Times.
Chinese Approve Secular Mission Work.
The secular benefits conferred by the work of
Christian missionaries in China are among those
most prized by the native, says Mr. William T. El
lis in his latest letter from the mission fields.
Moreover, the later work of the missionaries, since
more emphasis has been laid upon secular mat
ters, is regarded as “wiser and better than that of
former days.” Despite the fame and unquestioned
service of many veteran missionaries to the Chinese ,
people, one native told Mr. Ellis that “the last
ten years have accomplished more than the previous
ninety.” Since 1900 many of the better class of
natives have been reached; before that time work
was “almost wholly carried on among the poorer
classes,” whose sincerity the writer found ques
tioned by most Chinese officials. “I think very
few of them are honest,” said one; “they are after
the missionaries’ money, protection, or prestige.”
Even among the missionaries there was confirma
tion of this charge to be found. Says Mr. Ellis:
“On the subject of ‘Rice Christians’ —i. e., per
sons professing conversion for personal gain—sev
eral of the best informed Chinese agreed that not
more than 60 per cent of the converts are honest.
One of the most successful of independent native
pastors disagreed with this, saying that the per
centage is now fully 80; probably 20 per cent are
deceiving the missionary. This statement was made
in the presence of a veteran missionary, who as
sented. In the independent churches, he added,
the proportion of these pretenders is practically
negligible, for there is nothing to be gained by
trying to deceive a strictly Chinese church, even if
it could be accomplished.
“Remember that this nation of 400,000,000 per
sons has no modern medical science, outside of the
missions, and that there is no end of sickness, much
of it due to ignorance and filth. The ordinary med
ical missionary treats from 5,000 to 15,000 dis
pensary cases a year.
“So this humanitarian work, which writes its
own good record in the healed bodies of the peo
ple, comes in for nothing but praise. Some of
the officials manifested sincere gratitude in speak
ing of what the missionaries had done in this di
rection for China.
“Similarly, concerning the educational work of
missions, I could elicit only one opinion. Until
within five years China has had nothing of what
the West could call education, except as the mis
sions gave it. Chinese statesmen and philosophers
were ignorant of the simplest facts of geography,
history, and nature, such as any ten-year-old boy
in America understood. The leaders of new China
freely credit the mission schools with having awak
ened the educational impulse in the nation and with
having pioneered the way.
“Curiously enough, some of the educated Chi
nese, avowedly non-Christian, displayed such a
knowledge of the genius of Christianity as to re
proach it for having done so little for China!
‘Yes,’ said one, ‘I grant that missions have done
a great deal in an educational way for China, but
nothing like what they should have done.’ In pass
ing judgment upon the missions and missionaries,
most of these Chinese assume the Christian point of
view. Thus, the Chinese constantly treat their own
people with greater cruelty and heartlessness than
do the foreigners, yet they declare that even an
air of superiority toward the poorest natives is rep
rehensible on the part of the missionary.”—The
Literary Digest.
I? I?
'Family Bible Missed.
“The family Bible, with its genealogical record,
served a useful puipose in its day,” said the li
brarian, “and I don’t see that, with all our boasted
advance in civilization, we have developed anything
quite to tialke its place. • Os course, nowadays,
cities and towns pride themselves on the accuracy
of their vital statistics, and we have whole libra
ries of genealogical works —-dry enough most of them
are, too. But the individual family record, such
as was kept a few generations ago, is very decid
edly missing, and it’s a pity that such is the
case.
“For one thing, the lists of births, marriages
and deaths that were kept in the ponderous volume
of holy writ operated to keep the members of the
family close to one another; it was, in away, a
central point, valuable for sentimental reasons as
well as for reasons more distinctly utilitarian. As
scribe succeeded scribe, the family continually was
emphasized and the entries were significant of
the growth of a clannish feeling, which is too lit
tle in evidence at the present time. There are not,
I venture to say, very many people in this year of
grace who know anything or care anything about
their relatives farther removed than the degree of
first cousinship, and even first cousins are fre
quently out of mind. Os course, our tendencies are
largely responsible for this state of affairs, but I
often wish that we had reminders of our kin, such
as were furnished by the family Bibles of pas*,
days with their direct personal testimony, amount
ing to messages from parents to children. When
ever I see one of these pages filled with careful
entries —entries made in joy and in sorrow, in
the confidence of pride of life or by the trembling
fingers of old age, it seems to me that we have
lost something in our hurried existence that is to
be regretted. We can go to the city or town clerk
or, perhaps, to the public library, for information
as to our ancestry, or our relatives, but this is a
rather cold and formal method of procedure. Cer
tainly, we do not find in official records and in
books the handwriting of our forebears.” —New
York Press.
•5 *
Appreciation as a Force.
A good deal of despair springs out of nothing
else than pure loneliness. There are stern-faceti,
sad-eyed men and women walking our streets every
day who might be likened to a noble organ locked
up and a little out of tune; and they wait for some
one who knows how to coax forth the silent music.
And though at times this desire may assume mor
bid or even self-debasing forms —a tyranny of the
weak which is almost as much to be resented as
the tyranny of the strong —yet it must never be
thought that the contents of any life are exhausted
until more or less distinct traces appear upon it of
that original charm which marks God’s handiwork.
In spite of many faults, there is always some at
traction about the real self, and social intercourse
is a poor thing if it does not help to develop it.
No one will ever show what he is or what he can
be if hemmed in by constant disparagement; for
souls are like sensitive plants that close up quick
ly in an uncongenial atmosphere. But it is a
chivalrous ambition to revive their hope, to bring
out their strength and loveliness, to expand the
wings of Psyche that she may soar above earth’s
dust and turmoil. And this task begins, not in
some distant region, but among those whom, though
we think we know them best of all, may yet possess
an unexplored remainder, full of fine surprises,
rich in varied treasure. —Wm. T. Herridge, in The
Orbit of Life.
3