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The Methodist Advocate IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, FOB THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, a* no. 105 - lrg BighopThomsoi TERMS: Two Dollars a year, invariably in advance. AH traveling preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church are authorized agents. All subscriptions must close with the end of each year. LETTER FROM CHINA. Twelfth Session of the Annual Meeting Foo ohow M. E. Mission. The above meeting was held in our Hok-Ing (happy sound) church, in the city of Foochow, November 20th-27th, and was, in a spiritual point of view, probably the most remarkable and successful meeting of the kind ever held in China. For a few weeks prior to the meeting, some anxiety was felt by the mis sionaries as to the course matters might take at our annual reunion. Members, as well as preachers, had been brought to feel the press ure which the mission has gradually laid upon them in order that they may become a self supporting church. Plans any thing but methodistic or disciplinary had been dis cussed by them, and recommended to the mission for consideration. There was also occasion to fear that, in the examination of the preachers’ characters, it would be found that not all had walked blamelessly during the last year. The session was opened with prayer and a few appropriate remarks by Rev. S. L. Baldwin (just returned from the United States,) after which the examination of the different classes wa3 taken up and continued for two days. The examining committees were mostly composed of our ordained men, and did thorough work. The annual sermon, by Rev. N. Sites, on the subject of Sanctification, made a good impression and greatly augmented the spirit of devotion. After a discourse on the necessity of receiving the power of the Spirit in order to hear witness for Christ, by Rev. N. J. Plumb, the enemy’s main strongholds fell, and our leading men said, We now resign all our own plans, and will joyfully support such as the mission may, in the fear of God, adopt. The anti-opium anniversary was held with open doors, and consequently with more than usual interest, on Friday p.m. Large crowds of heathen here heard our views and learned our position with regard to this great enemy of their people. Saturday, the regular business of the meet ing was taken up and continued until Wednes day of the following week. The anniversary of the W. F. Mission Society, the first ever held in connection with this mission, occupied the afternoon and had a good attendance. Elders Hu Po Mi and Sia Sek Ong delivered able addresses, maintaining that until by some means the women of China are reached with the Gospel, we can not expect to have a com plete church in this land. They both dwelt most eloquently on the important part woman has been honored with in the redemption scheme. Ling Cha Cha (just returned from the United States, where he spent almost three years) spoke of the spirituality of the Christians, especially of the Christian ladies, in America. Giving his personal observations, he was listened to with intense interest. A number of native Christian ladies were pres ent, and we trust to their great benefit. Sun day, November 24th, will eyer remain a mem orable day in the annals of Chinese Method ism. The love-feast at 9 a.m. was not as good as some of the past, owing to several lengthy speeches iiiaoe by cuaaffeot-eu members of u.e meeting. At 10:30, Elder Hu Yong Mi gave us a heart-talk on the unjust steward; I in close a copy for the benefit of your readers. The circumstances were peculiar; and owing to his illness at the time, and during a few weeks previous, nothing but a deep sense of duty to God and the church could have per suaded him to enter the pulpit that morning. His physical weakness, as well as his natural modesty, seemed wholly overcome by the in tense interest in the subject of his discourse. All disaffection was driven from the field. In the afternoon the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, in which 118 partici pated. Rev. Messrs. Hartwell and Walker (of the A. B. F. M., Foochow,) Rev. Mr. Sadler (of the London Mission, Amoy,) and Rev. Mr. Scarborough (of the Wesleyan Mission, Hankow,) assisted in the distribution of the elements. It was a season of great refresh ing. The evening was set apart for the Bible anniversary, on which occasion Rev. Si Yu Mi (deacon) delivered a most eloquent and telling address. Dwelling on the manner in which Ezra preached to Israel, the whole audience was moved by his eloquence. He is mentally probably the strongest man in connection with the meeting, though not of the literary class, and physically the weakest. On Monday P.M. the meeting took final action in the case of Elder Ling Ching Ting; being found guilty of improper words and temper, he was deprived of his parchments for one year. During the progress of the trial he had manifested but little penitence, and for a few moments after the sentence had been pronounced seemed un willing to submit. Grace finally bore off the victory; his heart melted, and, with tearful eyes, he thanked the meeting for the adminis tered reproof. When he gave his papers into the hands of the chairman, he was quite over come by his emotions. “ These papers,*’ he said, “ Bishop Kingsley gave me with his own hands. What is all the gold and silver in the world, compared with these testimonials of confidence from the holiest men in the church ? Will you all pray for me, that I may truly repent and be considered worthy to receive back these documents at our next annual meeting?” All sympathized with him and rejoiced in the hope that he is saved. In the evening, brother Sia Sek Ong (elder) preached a powerful sermon on Full Consecration. Those who were ready to make this offering were invited around the altar. Solemnly the whole audience came forward and knelt in prayer to God. There was heard the hitter cry of penitence, the pleadings of faith, and then a shout of victory. It was the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Then our ever-ready brother Si Yu Mi spoke, as it were for all, the words of consecration. “This right hand,’’ said he, “is henceforth the Lord’s; this left hand is henceforth the Lord’s; these eyes, ears, this cap [holding out his skull-cap,] these clothes—all, all! shall henceforth and forever be the Lord’s! ” Heaven now seemed to be in our midst. Our devotions had reached their Tabor, and for a few moments silently lingered in the blessed atmosphere. Our native brethren said, We have never experi enced the like of this; this is decidedly the best annual meeting we have ever had. We are happy to say that this Spirit continued to the close of the meeting, and, with but few exceptions, our native brethren went to their appointments filled with it. May a glorious revival follow among the membership! is our daily prayer. I here add a few statistics: Preachers, 72; members, 1,095; probationers, 710; adults VOL. V. baptized during the year, 261 —children, 75. Our increase in the number of members in full connection does not amount to one hun dred, showing a healthy exercise of discipline, F. Ohlinger. Foochow, Dec. 6, 1872. A CHINESE SERMON. [Preached in East-street Church, Fooohow, Norem ber 24th, 1872, by Hu Yong Mi, a native Elder. Text: Luke xvi: 1, 2.] A steward has charge of a great variety of business, and holds a very responsible posi tion. No doubt the one here referred to was at first good and faithful; for if this had not been his character, would his lord have put him in so responsible a place? Certainly not. But after he became steward, he allowed the devil to tempt him to covetousness. He thought, “Now I have a great many things in my hands; I had better steal, and make myself rich.” If he had only been content to serve faithfully, his lord would have done well by him; but he thought, “A wide mouth can eat much rice,” and determined to get rich quickly while he had the chance. By and by, his lord found him out, and knew liis unrighteous conduct. Many a man would have called in the officers and sent him right off to the pun ishment he deserved_; but this lord was mer ciful, and he only said, “Thou mayest be no longer steward.” He probably thought, “How lamentable! how lamentable! that this poor man failed to appreciate his mercies, and has lost this good place!” Now the steward gives way to another unrighteous impulse. He thinks, “I’m about to lose my place; I can’t dig; I’m ashamed to beg. What road is there for me to travel? I must get rich somehow.” But how is it that he is not rich? Hasn’t he been stealing ever so long to get rich? How is it he is still poor? Ah, it’s a true proverb, “Unrighteous come, unrighteous go!” Money got in unrighteous ways soon is squandered on unrighteous pleasures; and this stealing steward is still poor. He thinks, “If this lord dismisses me, other rich men won’t have me; for not only my place, but my character will be gone. I must go and make friends of my lord’s debtors by reducing their bills. I will tell the man who owes a hundred dollars to put it down eighty or fifty dollars.” Now, besides coveting his lord’s money himself, you see he is going to set all these debtors to coveting it. He thinks, “Now, when my place is gone, all these houses will be open to me — all these men will be under obligation to me; they will feed and clothe and help me.” Was it ingenious? Certainly; the Savior says it was. The world’s man plans better for his body than the children of light plan for their souls. To-day I bring this parable before you to arouse my soul and yours to duty. I will not reprove any body, if there is reproof in this for any one, it is the Savior’s reproof. If any say, “This is not my case,” then I say, “ Put it in your hearts and have it ready; you may need it some time.” The Savior has made us stewards of an exceedingly great trust. Are any of us unrighteous stewards? We ought all to examine our hearts and see. We have faults, and we think the church ought to have much grace and forbearance for us; but if the church reproves us, we ought not to go and transgress the doctrine. We ought not to head a company of men, and take them off to serve another lord. If this kind of business is unrighteous and unfaith ful in the world, can it be accounted right eous and faithful in the church? If the mission tries to establish self-support in the native church, and preachers say to the members, “No, don’t do it; the mission ought not to require it”—is this being faithful? The mission, in doing this, is using means for cwt gcod if .no ate n«<l ) there, never can be a native church. Some feel it to be a heavy burden. Now, either it is God’s will, or it is qot. If it is, I wouldn’t dare to say a word or do a thing against it. If it is not, then it will soon come to naught. If Goa calls men out to preach, will he not open the way before them? If he brings them where the mountains are behind ana the sea before, will he not cleave a way through the sea for them? Who got bitten by the ser pents? Only unbelievers; not the men who believed and trusted. We men are weak; but if our hearts are willing, will not God help us? God is with you; will he not lead you? Have Sia Sek Ong, and the others who have gone entirely on native support, starved to death? No. I thank God, and we ought all to thank God, on their behalf and for their example. We all ought to ask, “How shall we establish the Methodist Episcopal Church, and hand it down to future generations?” I do not weep here. I have wept before God. Here I will try to speak plainly, and refrain from tears. If the members do not do their duty, and the preachers will'not teach, exhort, reprove, they are unfaithful stewards. If men come into the church only to be baptized, and to eat the Lord’s Supper, and sing hymns, what good is there in it? Some members in the Hokchiang district have gone off by them selves, set up a church, and called a preacher of their own. If any of the preachers in that district have encouraged them in this, it will be recorded of them that they were unright eous and unfaithful stewards. Brethren, we ought not to consider the transient, the per ishing, but the enduring, the eternal. This steward planned for thirty or forty years of this life. We must plan for eternity. How will you escape God to-morrow, when he comes in judgment and asks, “ What have you done with my money that I intrusted to the church members to support the church with?” Let us reflect on this, and not suffer men to tempt us to leave the right road-, and go this way or that way. Do you go after a name among men? To have a name with God in the judg ment day is better. Sorrow for Jesus; joy for Jesus; live for Jesus; die for Jesus. This is the way. Don’t trust your strength. Trust Jesus’ strength. Follow the teachings of the Bible. This is to be wise, to have the right kind of ingenuity. The things that we have, whose are they? House, food, raiment, ability, eloquence, power to exhort, persuasion, fame —whose are they? Are they ours? Men say, Yes. They are proud of their ability, and boast of their possessions. But to know that we have noth ing makes us humble. Every thing is God’s; there is not a thing that belongs, to you. God intrusts them to you to use for him. Shall we steal them for our own use, as this unjust steward did? If we do, before God we are unrighteous and unfaithful. God knows all. Why is it that some who were at first warm hearted and unceasing in preaching, now have no heart, no earnestness? There is no foun tain of living water in the earth; only God has it. Why is it you go for joy to the world and wordly things? They can not satisfy. If you go on and try it, the devil will tempt and deceive you more and more. You may feel a kind of peace at times, but it will be like that of Saul after God’s Spirit had left him: while David played he had peace, but as soon as David stopped his peace was gone. Finally he went and sought the dead Samuel. Why? I have thought much about this for two or three years past. I think that while Samuel was living, Saul had always felt when trouble came: “ I can go to him and tell him, and he will pray with me, and help me, because the Holy Spirit is with him.” Now that God’s Spirit had left Saulj there was no true, per manent peace for him. So, if you go away from the duty to which God calls you, and pursue plans of your own, though I can not tell what business you will go into, I can give you the general tenor of your history. It will be trouble! trouble! trouble! and, like Saul, you will only go on a little while before you come to destruction. As the lord in the parable dismissed his servant, so will God dismiss you. When he dismisses you, where will you go? The steward, when dismissed from his place, could make plans for the future. But when God sends you out of this world, what plans can you make? There is a way for you to make ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1873. sure of everlasting habitations. Though every earthly thing goes to destruction, and your body is eaten by worms, your soul can nave an eternal habitation. How? By going and getting other men to help you cheat your Lord? No. But by getting grace to change, and become again faithful stewards. Then you can go to your Lord’s debtors and say, not merely, “Pay 50 per cent.,” but you can say, “You needn’t pay a cash; Jesus has paid it all for you. Come and believe him. He has assumed your whole debt.” Our bodies and our souls are God’s prop erty. Let us all pray God to help us to give them entirely to him! REST. “Arise! sad soul, depart! Flee to the shelter of thy Savior’s breast; Earth hath no solace for the weary heart, For this is not thy rest.” It is the Spirit’s voice. The tender warning oft I’ve heard before; Instead of rest have made some meaner choice, And barred my heart’s hard door. For many a toilsome year I wandered on, all sin-sick and distressed, O’er mountains wild and burning deserts drear; Yet nowhere found my rest. Where worldly pleasures called For eager followers, thither hasted I; Love died, false friendship failed, and beauty palled; All passed me vainly by. To learning’s fields I fled, To seek in knowledge ease for soul oppressed. Fair science through vast, glorious regions led, But led me not to rest. Weary and worn and sad, No cheer or comfort for my woe is given; No single joy to make one moment glad; No hope in earth or heaven. A voice again I hear. ’Tis Jesus! bidding me to be his guest: “ Come, weary, heavy laden, to me near, And I will give thee rest.” Savior, I come, and lo! How bright the lowly path to gain thy feet! Thy gentle words more glad than music flow, Than honey-comb more sweet. Thanks for the wondrous love That takes the sinful wanderer to thy breast; Praise to thy name, all other names above; I find in Christ my Rest! —Susan O. Curtis, in The Christian Ban tler. LOUISIANA ANNUAL CONFERENCE. The late session of this conference opened in the Marias-street Methodist Church, in this city, January Bth and closed Jan. 14th. Rev. J. C. Cole was elected Secretary, and Rev. J. Woodward Assistant Secretary. The session was one of unusual interest not only from a business stand-point, but also > religiously. The usual religious services were held in the different Methodist churches with great profit to both ministers and people. We were also favored with the presence of Dr. E. 0. Haven (Corresponding Secretary of the Educational Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,) and Rev. J. M. Freeman, of New York, a live Sunday-school worker. These* brethren, Together with othefs who visited our city just previous to the session of the conference, will ever he welcomed here by warm hearts. It is also with pleasure that I mention the name of our presiding officer, Bishop Janes, who was present at every session of the con ference, and presided with his usual ease and dignity. Long experience in the episcopacy has made him master of the situation, even when the most perplexing questions present themselves. The usual disciplinary questions were taken up and various changes made, but few of which, perhaps, are of general interest. The following persons Were received into full con nection: Washington Brooks, C. W. Bigan, Isaac Hayward, Reason Ennis, George Wash ington, F. Reeves, C. Hunt, H. P. Taylor, and Joseph Dutcher. The following were elected to orders and ordained by Bishop Janes, on Sunday, January 12th: Deacons — John Hays, George Winfrey, Alick Primus, Willis Carr, A. Jackson, C. Thompson, T. Brown, J. L. J. Barth, and H. W. Conry. Elders —F. Lunder, J W. Wesley, John Sparks, M. C. Cole, I. S. Leavitt, A. Jones, F. Reeves, Geo. Washington, Joseph Wood ward, and Alfred Legardy. This conference had evidently reached a point in its history when advance steps must be taken and seemingly radical measures adopted, or be exposed to serious embarrass ment in future. The former measures in outline were soon agreed to, and though dif ference of opinion drew out spirited discus sions, yet courtesy and brotherly feeling per vaded all the deliberations. Among this class were the reports of the Committee on Education and Periodicals—which indicate great changes in those departments, yet we trust not more so than the condition of our work demands. The Committee on Period icals earnestly recommended the publication of a religious paper in this city for our people, to he known as the Southwestern Methodist Advocate. A committee was appointed by the conference to co-operate with any asso ciation having for its object the publication of such a paper. The matter was ably dis-- cussed in conference, and, without an excep tion, was considered an indispensable agent in the furtherance of our work in the great Southwest. Rev. J. C. Hartzell and others have the matter in hand, and propose to make the paper a success. Already a charter has been secured for a Publishing Society, and just as soon as the necessary finances are realized, by the sale of stock or otherwise, to insure its permanency, the paper will be issued. It is earnestly hoped that the min isters and friends of Methodism in the South west will take a deep interest in, and, as far as possible, aid financially in this noble enter prise. The Committee on Education, after review ing the work of the past year and the present condition of the three educational institutions within the bounds of this conference, recom mended that they become departments of one institution, to he known as the New Orleans University, which should be located in the city of New Orleans. They also recommended the trustees of the Union Normal School, of Thomson Biblical Institute, and of Thomson University, to transfer the property held by them for their respective institutions to the trustees of. the University, as soon as they shall be a body corporate. Arrangements have already been made for a charter, and it is hoped that in a few weeks the organization may be consummated. This plan was previously submitted to Bish ops Haven, Wiley and Janes, and Drs. E. 0. Haven, Rust, and others, and received their hearty sanction. This step toward centrali zation will not weaken, but make more effi cient and permanent our educational inter ests. No difference of Opinion existed as to its location. New Orleans is a great business center for the Southwest, and it is our priv ilege to make it a great educational center. Our church will do it, > ud to her and her many sons of wealth for support and aid. The report was adopted unanimously, and the conference pledged its fidelity and sup port to the University. Rev. I. S. Levitt has been transferred from West Wisconsin Con ference to oup conference, and placed at the head of our educational work. His work thus far has been eminently successful. Union Normal School, of which he has charge now, has the largest number of advanced scholars of any colored school in the State. As to appointments made by Bishop Janes for the coming year, but little or no dissatisfaction has arisen. In the larger colored churches of the city no changes were made. One new district was formed, and Rev. H. T. Abbott added to the number of presiding elders. This was done in view of extending'the work over the State. Heretofore we have only occupied the field in part. Rev. J. C. Hartzell takes the place of L. C. Matlock as presiding elder of the New Or leans District. This we consider a good change. Never, perhaps, has such a man been more needed for this work than at the present time. Most of our institutions are but partially organized, hence we want men of broad views as well as good judgment to direct the work of organization. We are not planting simply for the year, but for future generations. Foundations must be laid broad aud sure. Such were the be ginnings under the direction of Dr. J. P. Newman, and had his plans been carried out we should have been far in advanoe of what we are to-day. We feel that in J. C. Hart zell we have just the elements of strength needed in this work. Great credit is due to Rev. George Dardis, pastor of Union Chapel, and to his people for their generous hospitality and provision for the comfort of the conference. S T ew Orleans, Jan. 24 th. A REQUEST. Some time last conference year, headed by and propelled onward by their presiding elder, the Church South at Wesleyania, McMinn county, Tennessee, invited our people to leave the church that had been built in common by the whole neighborhood. Thus were forty nine members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, children and grand-children of the men who had helped to build the church, rudely thrown into the woods, without a house or shelter to worship God in. One of the coldest mornings that came this winter I went to my appointment in that neighborhood, and found the women and children un der some forest trees, waiting for the preacher. He got off of his horse, and tried to pray for them, though his mouth and face were stiff with cold, and exhorted them to trust in God, that he would send deliverance some way, while hard by stood the neat little church, locked up. The help I propose for those dear people is to build a little chapel to be called “ Clark Chapel,” in honor of the bishop that organ ized our church in this country. Dear brethren and sisters, those of you who are so anxious to help those that are in need, here is a worthy object on which to bestow your prayers, and some little material aid. The request is, all that feel disposed to help me in the erection of the above named chapel, send whatever sums you feel inclined to donate to this purpose to my address, Athens, Tennessee. Do not fiil to send because you can not send large sums. Very small ones will be thankfully received, and acknowl edged through whatever paper you wish. Send by post-office order, or any way you think safe. J.'A. Hyden, P. C. Athens Circuit. P. 8. —As to my correctness and character, I refer you to any of the ministers of the Holston Conference, to N. E. Cobleigh, D.D., or any of the bishops that have attended our conference. J. A. H. COOKING AS AN ART. We publish the following extract from the Nation to let our lady readers know what the editor of that periodical thinks of cookery coming from their side of the house. Our experience, very limited of course, would lead us to a somewhat different conclusion. We know of several excellent female cooks, their name is not Bridget, that can not, how ever, be surpassed by any specimen of the masculine gender within the circle of our ac quaintance. But listen, ladies, while the gen tleman of the Nation rises to speak : Asa cook, Bridget is an admitted failure. But cooking is, it is now very generally ac knowledged, very much an affair of instinct, and this instinct seems to be very strong in some races and very weak in others: though why the French should have it highly devel oped, and the Irish be almost altogether de prived of it, is a question which would re quire an essay to itself. No amount of teach ing will make a person a good cook who is not himself fond of good food and has not a delicate palate, for it is the palate which must test the value of rules. We may deduce from this the conclusion, which experience justifies, that women are not naturally good cooks. They have had the cookery of the world in their hands for several thousand years, but all the marked advances in the art, and, indeed, all that can be called the cultiva tion of it, have been the work of men. What ever zeal women have displayed in it, and whatever excellence they have achieved in it, have been the result of influences in no way gastronomic, and which We might perhaps call emotional, such as devotion to male rela- tives or a desire to minister to the pleasure of men in general. Few or no women cook a dinner in an artistic spirit, and their success in doing it is nearly always the result of affection or loy alty —which is of course tantamount to say ing that female cookery, as a whole, is, and al ways has been, comparatively poor. Asa proof of this, we may mention the sact —for fact we think it is—that the art of cooking among women has declined at any given time or place—in the Northern States of the Union, for instance —pari passu with the growth of female independence. That is as the habit or love of ministering to men’s tastes has be come weaker, the interest in cookery has fallen off. There are no such cooks among native Amer ; can women now as there were fifty years ago; and passages in foreign cook ery books which assume the existence among women of strong interest in their husbands’ and brothers’ likings, and strong desire to grat ify them, furnish food for merriment in Ameri can households. Bridget, therefore, can plead, first of all, the general incapacity of women as cooks; and, secondly, the general falling off in the art under the influence of the new ideas. It may be that she ought to cultivate assiduously, or with enthusiasm, a calling which all the other women of the country os tentatiously despise, but she would be more than human if she did so. She imitates American women as closely as she can, aud can not live on the same soil without imbibing their ideas; and unhappily, as in all cases of imitation, vices are more easily and earlier caught than virtues. THE NEGLECT*OF THE RICH. If any of the millionaires of the city of New York have felt grieved because we have uot called upon them, or because we do not even know their faces when we happen to meet them, we beg their pardon. We have had no intention to slight them, or to count them out of the circle of humanity by reason of their comparative independence of it. We do not blame them for being rich, unless they have procured their wealth by oppression of the poor. Some of them have become rich because they were brighter and more indus trious than the rest of us, and recognized quicker than we the elusive faces of golden opportunities. We can find no fault with them for this, but rather with ourselves. Some of them inherited wealth, and have no responsibilities concerning it, save those con nected with the spending of it. Some of them acquired it by accident —by the rise of real estate that they had held, perhaps, un willingly, or by an unlooked-for appreciation of the value of stocks. However their wealth may have been acquired—always excepting that which has been won by immoral prac tices —we wish to have them understand that we think none the worse of them for their pleasant fortune. We regard them still as men and brothers, who delight in the sympa thy of their fellows, and whose hearts are warmed by the popular confidence and good will. We confess that we have never been quite able to understand why it is that those who have been fortunate in life should be com pelled, in consequence, to sacrifice their early friendships and their old friends. Two boys begin life together. They may, or may not, be relatives; but they are bosom-friends. They confide to one another their plans tions, and start out on the race for fortune, neck-and-neck. One outstrips the other, and reaches his goal gladly and gratefully. He has thrown no hindrances in the path of his friend. He has, on the contrary, encouraged him; and, so far as it was proper for him to do so, given him assistance. Finding at last that he is hopelessly floundering in the way, or that he has tripped and fallen, he goes hack to him to exchange a friendly word, but he is met by cold looks and averted eyes. The successful man has committed no sin except that of becoming successful. He has lost none of his affection for his friend, but he has lost his friend. Thenceforward there is between the two a great gulf fixed, an’d that gulf is fixed by the unsuccessful man. He has taken to himself the fancy that the successful man must hold the unsuccessful man in dis honor, and that he can not possibly meet him again on the even terms which existed when their lives were untried plans. There are few successful men we imagine, who have not been vexed and wounded by the persistent misapprehensions and distrust of those whom they loved when they were young, and whom they would still gladly love -if ■ co-aid-ht’ permitted, ta.de zo.- is not an hour, on any day, in this city, in which thriving men do not cross the street to meet old friends who, because they are not thriving, strive to avoid them —uot an hour in which they do not try by acts of courtesy and hearty good-will to hold the friendship of those whom they have left behind in the strife for fortune. Excepting a few churls and coxcombs, they all do this until they get thoroughly tired of it, and finally give it up as a bad job. They know that they have done their duty. They know that they have uot entertained a thought or performed an act of wrong toward those who shun them. Their conciences are clear, and, at last, half in sorrow, half in anger, they consent that the knot that once united two harmonious lives shall be severed forever. There are many men who can not bear prosperity when it comes to them, but their number is small compared to those who can not bear the prosperity of others. There is no finer test ot true nobility of character than that furnished by the effect of the good for tune of friends. The poor man who rejoices in the prosperity of his neighbor, and meets him always without distrust and with un shaken self-respect, betrays, unconsciously, a nature and character which a king might envy. To such a man every rich man bows with cordial recognition, while he can not fail to regard with contempt the insolent churl who meets him with bravado and the offensive assertion of an equality which he does not feel, as well as the cowardly sneak who avoids and distrusts him. A great deal is said about the insolence of riches, and the neglect or disregard of the poor on the part of those who possess them, but, in sober truth, there is a neglect of the rich on the part of the poor that is quite as unjust, and quite as hard to bear. If there is a gulf between the rich man and the poor man, the latter does quite as much to dig it and keep it open as the former. There are multi tudes of rich men whose wealth has the ten dency to enlarge their sympathies, and to fill them with good-will, particularly toward all those whom they have known in their less prosperous years. To these men of generous natures the loss of sympathy and friendship is a grievous deprivation. Money does not make the man. The poor man will tell us this as if he believed it, but either he does not believe it, or he believes that the rich man does not believe it; cer tainly, in his intercourse with the rich man, he doeß not manifest his faith in this univer sally accepted maxim. He merely accepts the rich man’s courtesies as condescension and patronage, and is offended by them. No; let no poor man talk of the pride and super ciliousness of riches until his self-respectful poverty is ready to meet those riches half way, and to have faith in the good-will and common human sympathy of those who bear them. — J. 0. Holland; Scribner's for Feb. CHURCH EXTENSION ITEMS.. The work among the Germans in Texas is of great importance and promise. - Just be fore the death of the lamented J. J. Brunow, who was transferred from Philadelphia to Austin, Texas, a lot was purchased in Austin worth $3,500 in gold. With the aid of sljooo from the Board of Church Extension, this lot has been paid for. The death of brother Brunow prevented further work at present; but a good church will be completed as early as practicable. Rev. E. F. Streeter now has charge of both Austin and Industry, though the places are over a hundred miles apart. In a letter recently received, he states that the German immigration into Texas is assuming vast proportions, being from Janu ary Ist to July Ist, 1872, not less than 50,000. We have now but a handful of men to work among so many. The force and the means to carry forward the work should be largely in creased. WHAT THE FREEDMEN ARE DOING. An application comes from a country con gregation in Darlington county, S.C., asking a small donation and loan, to aid in building a frame church, estimated to cost there SSOO. The people are very poor, many of them with large families to support, working for five dollars a week, and one bushel of meal, and three pounds of bacon. Notwithstanding their poverty, they have secured one acre of ground, and have raised by subscription S2OO, with which they have commenced work, and from the Society, the amount of S2OO is de sired. THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS. A donation of SSO was made to Dunlap’s Chapel, near Gadsden, Tenn. One of the trustees reports concerning it: “The chapel is not quite iinished. Your donation fell short oi the amount needed about $10; but we have good assurance that the amount will be raised. One term of school has been taught in the new building, and another will com mence soou. The teacher has furnished the house with a stove. We shall get along well.” Jhis indicates how hundreds of people in the southern States use the small amount of aid received, and the results really likely to fol low. THE INFLUENCE OF OUR CHURCH IN GEORGIA. One of our presiding elders of the Georgia Conference, writes us as follows: “ Where our church is well represented, and we have churches and schools, the people are doing well; but in the Southwestern part of the State, where we have neither, the people are leaving in large crowds daily, for Mississippi and Arkansas; and unless something shall be done soon, that part of the State wHI be al most without a laboring population.” This is very suggestive. OLD AGE. A songless bird, a garden without flowers, A river-bed dried up in thirsty hours, A sterile field, untutored by the plow, A withered blossom on a withered bough, A flickering light that fails when needed moßt To warn the sailor from the treacherous coast, A thought that dies ere yet 'tis fully born, A hope that gleams like poppies ’mid the corn, Fair idle weeds that Haunter in the sun, Fair morning hopes that fail ere day be done, Fair Life, so seeming fair, so coldly bright, Fair Life, beloved of Love, and youth’s delight— At early dawn, how fresh thy face appears!— The twilight sees it furrowed o’er with tears. Spring flowers are sweet, but autumn’s woods are dry, Spring birds are silent ’neath a wintry sky; Spring thoughts that wake to deeds, inspire no more When the dull daylight fades along the shore; The ice-blocked stream can bear no precious freight— The stripped and sapless oak stands desolate, And the hill fortress that defied the foe In crumbling fragments fills the vale below. Yet is there golden beauty in decay, As autumn leaves outshine the leaves of May, The calm of evening with its roseate light, The starry silence of the wintry night; The stillness of repose when storms are o’er, And the sea murmurs on a peaceful shore; The brooding memories of the past that make The old man young again for Beauty’s sake; The hope sublime that cheers the lonely road W T hich leads him gently to the hills of God. BITTER COLD. The past winter has been the coldest ever known, and the most fatally cold. As an instance, the icy cyclone in Minne sota forms an episode of terrible deadliness. A snow-storm raged two days. The air was so filled with snow flakes that objects ten feet distant could not be seen. Every body "•caught, out doors ami' unafcl*.'-to get immedi ately to shelter perished. "Whole herds of cat tle died. Seventy persons in a small range were frozen to death. A man was found standing near his barn-door dead and frozen. Scattered all over the country teamsters, sleigh-riders, horses, etc., were found frozen. A station agent was frozen passing from the depot to the tank-house. A gentleman from Blue Earth county tells of an instance where, in driving along after the storm, a team of horses was noticed a little off" the beaten track, and on examina tion, the horses were found frozen stiff, stand-: ing on their feet, and looking perfectly life like. Sitting on the seat in an erect position, with the reins in his hand, was the driver, dead, and in the bottom of the sleigh, cov ered up with blankets and straw, were the bodies of seven persons, all dead. On Tuesday afternoon, a man living some three miles from New Ulm came into that place after a doctor for his wife, who was about being confined, leaving her alone at home. The storm was so terrible that no doctor would venture out, but one promised to go the next morning. Efforts were made to induce the man to remain in town, but he said that his wife was alone, and he must go back. Poor man! He never saw his home again, his frozen body being found about half way there. The next day the doctor man aged to reach the house, where he found that the poor woman had given birth to a child, and that both were frozen dead. The instances recorded are frightful. It is impossible to tell how many perished. Among those saved is a curious case. A jarty of section men were at work four and a lalf miles from St. James when the storm struck them. With one exception, they man aged to reach [the village alive. They sup posed their comrade had perished, and on Thursday afternoon they started out to find his body. After a lengthy search, they found him asleep in a snow bank, where he had laid forty-four hours. On being aroused, the first question he asked was whether breakfast was ready. The second request was for a “chew of tobacco.” He had his shovel with him, and had dug out in the bank of snow a perfect set of rooms, which exercise undoubt edly saved his life. Bits of Wisdom. The friend who pardons a great wrong ac quires a superiority that wounds the self Jove of the pardoned man. The mind that is never occupied is ever restless and dissatisfied with itself, and the hands that have nothing useful to do, will nat urally do something that they ought not to do. On earth we have nothing to do with suc cess or with its results, but only being true to God and for God; for it is sincerity, and not success, which is the sweet savor before God. The blossom can not tell what becomes of its odor, and no man can tell what becomes of his influence and example, that roll away from him and go beyond his ken on their mission. Whenever a merchant measures a bushel of wheat or salt or corn, God weighs it imme diately after him. The merchant’s measure may be wrong, hut God’s measure is just right. I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all the mischief of the world comes from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower, and spent no more labor on the founda tion than would be necessary to erect a hut.— Goethe. Some people are as careful of their troubles as mothers are of their babies. They cuddle them, and rock them, and hug them, and cry over them, and fly into a passion with you if you try to take them away from them. They want you to fret with them, and to help them to believe that they have been worse treated than anybody else. If they could, they would have a picture of their griefs in a gold frame, hung over the mantel-shelf for every body to look at. And their griefs ordinarily make them selfish—they think more of their dear trouble in the basket and in the cradle than they do of all the world besides. THE . Methodist Advocate. Terns of Advertising': Single insertion 18 cent* per line Any number of lines, 3 mo’*, each Insertion, 10 cent* per line Any number of line*, 6 month* or longer, each in50rt10n............. 8 cent* per line. On advertisement* of fifty line* or more, 10 per cent, discount. Special Notice* 15 cents per line. Business Items 25 cent* per line. Marriage Notices 60 cent*. We Intend to iusert no questionable advertisements. Brevities Miscellaneous. NO. 6. In England and Wales are 1,600 Catholic clergymen. A. T. Stewart’s residence, in New York city, cost only $1,500,000. Boston has finally concluded to open its public library Sunday afternoons. The aggregate hay crop in the United States for 1872 was 24,000,000 tons. 35,000 tons of wheat are stored in Stockton, Cal., waiting for shipment to Liverpool. It is estimated that half a million of buffaloes are killed annually on the plains in Kansas. The mint in San Francisco, in 1872, coined $16,000,000 in gold, and $380,000 in silver. Russia has already completed 9,300 miles of railroad, with 1,460 miles more in process of construction. The deaths in Boston in 1872 exceeded those in 1871 by three per cent., exclusive of deaths from small-pox. In California thirty-two mining companies, representing $92,250,000 in capital, were recently formed in one day. The total loss at the Boston fire in leather, hides, shoes, boots, findings, machinery, etc., is stated at $11,250,000. The National Screw Company, of Hartford, Conn., on a capital of $500,000, made a profit last year of $384,000. It is estimated that 30,000 people attended the funeral of Louis Napoleon. 25,000 visited his remains while lying in state. The claim which the Erie directory are about to press against Commodore Vanderbilt amounts with interest to over $5,000,000. The value of manufactured products in New Hampshire, in 1862, was $37,000,000; in 1872, $71,000,000. The Granite State moves steadily forward. It is said the Prussian Government has defi nitely decided to banish from Germany the la dies of the Sacred Heart, regarding the order as akin to Jesuitism. Germans rarely commit suicide in their Fath erland, yet 40 per cent, of suicidists in New York city last year were Germans. Bad moral climate that of the Gothamites. The number of alien emigrants landed at the port of New York during the year 1871 was 229,619, and the number landed during the year 1872, 293,603, making an excess during the latter year of 63,964. The city of Milwaukie, Wia., in 1872, realized for its own manufactures $20,000,000, as follows: Iron, $4,000,000; tanners, $2,500,000; clothing, $2,000,000; tobacco and cigars, $2,500,000; lager beer, $3,000,000. A French 9avant has demonstrated that a fly during its life costs somebody twenty cents. Thi9 demonstration was exhibited by confining three thousand flies and a loaf of sugar in a close room for four days. A writer of distinction says: Guinea pigs are not pigs. They are harmless, timid, vegetable feeders. Their flesh is nutritious and delicate. If once received into our markets, being easily raised, they would soon be prized for their many desirable dietetic properties. A German, after several years’ experiment, lias succeeded in manufacturing sugar from corn, which is said to grade with “coffee A.” and can be made at a cost of four cents a pound. A com pany with $20,000 capital is being formed at Davenport to establish a factory. The London Standard, says the annexation of the Sandwich Islands to the United States will be no menace to England, but to Australia, and urges, as a means of restoring equilibrium in the event of such transfer of territory taking place, the annexation of the Fiji Islands to Aus tralia. It cost last year to run the principal govern ments of the world —27 in number —$3,376,800,- ooO ; $i,8227roo;ooo~ more- iMirnv 1562: ■' gfcsl.- total indebtedness in 1862 was $10,000,000,000; now it is $17,000,000,000. While most other na tions are increasing their debt, we are rapidly diminishing ours. Boston’s criminal record for the past year shows a decided increase in crime over previous vears. The whole number of arrests was 14,537, against 12,862 in 1871, and 11,911 for 1869; 11,248 were males, and 3,289 females 8,478 being foreigners; 9,307 were for drunkenness, against 7,986 for 1871. Plato was not a facile writer, but the finished diction of his dialogues was the fruit of pro tracted labor. Up to the age of eighty he con tinued to correct and new mold the language of his writings, and a note-book was found after his death in which he had written the opening sen tences of the “Republic” several times over in a different order. The Norfolk Journal says of Washington and Lee University: “The fund of the Missouri chair of applied chemistry amounts to nearly $50,000; the Kentucky chair of history and po litical economy, to $25,000: Louisiana chair of modern languages, to $27,000; Texas chair of applied mathematics, to $25,000. The fund for the Virginia chair has reached $12,000 and will be applied to one of the most useful schools of the University. The plan is to have a chair from each State endowed with $50,000, to bear the State name.” Mr. Ruskin now writes: “I was obliged to write too young, when I knew only half truths, and was eager to set them forth by what I thought fine words. People used to call me a good writer then; now they say I can’t write at all; because, for instance, if I think anybody’s house is on fire, I only say, ‘Sir, your house is on firewhereas formerly I used to say, ‘Sir, the abode where you probably passed the delightful days of youth is in a state of inflammation,’ and every body used to like the effect of the two p’s in ‘probably passed,’ and of the two d’s in ‘delightful days.’ ” Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst College, is a letter from abroad, to the Springfield Bepubliean, says if any one has a wish to see a set of villain ously human rascals, let him take Suez and Al exandria for patterns; and if he then don’t be lieve in Darwinianism or something worse, he will be hard to convince of anything within the capacity of human reason. And yet, right in their midst stand those superb granite obelisks, Cleopatra’s Needle and Pompey’s Pillar, the like of which art and science of the nineteenth cen tury could not produce. The Isthmus of Suez is interesting, as it is the separating line between the tropics and the tem perate zone for nearly all steam navigation. At Suez the crews are changed. If the sailors are Chinamen up to this point, and the ship is to go through the canal to England, or even to Alex andria, English sailors take their place; and in stead of the simple boatswain’s whistle of the Malay or Chinaman, we have the loud shouts of the English boatswain in ehanging sail, and other movements on deck. A dragon fly balanced on its wings at the side of a car speeding its way over the rails, at the rate of forty miles an hour, appears to be almost motionless.’ But to keep up with the car, its wings must vibrate many thousand times a sec ond. The eye can not detect their up and down action, so exceedingly rapid are the contractions and relaxations of the muscles acting upon them. All at once they dart off at a right angle so quickly that the retina can not have an impres sion remaining long enough to retrace their course. Therefore, those same muscles, too small to be seen but by powerful microscopic assistance, must be urged to still more rapid action. Such intense activity far exceeds the vibration of mu sical chords, and therefore exceedingly per plexes entomologists, because the nervous sys tem of insects is so extremely minute. It has been assumed by those competent to form an opinion that there are twenty-five thou sand muscles in a silkworm. There are eight thousand in the trunk of an elephant, and in most of the serpents perhaps more than a mil lion. Through the instrumentality of those or gans the flexibility of the boa constrictor de pends. By an act of will —that is, instantly charging the muscles with an extra force the great python of Africa crushes a living lion into a shapeless mass for swallowing. Every bone is ground into fragments, so that no opposing ob stacles in the form of splinters or projecting points can injure' the throat on the way to the snake’s immensely large elastic stomach. Nei ther art nor science has yet discovered a method for generating suoh power by apparently such a simple device.