Chapter 97

Years ago a young man in Providence, R. I., took up a loose leaf of a Bible to use for a wrapping. “Don’t use that,” said a friend, “it contains the words of life.” The young man put the leaf in his pocket. Later, taking it out again, he said, “I will see what kind of life it is that that leaf tells about.” The words in Daniel 12:13 caught his eye, and he read, “But go thou thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” “I wonder what my way is and where it will end?” he asked himself, and the reflection at length led him to a new life.

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Way, Knowing The—SeeFamiliarity.

WAY OF GOD

Could I but know each step that IMust tread unto the end;Were I to have life’s devious chart,Complete, placed in my hand,With every burden there portrayed,And every task well planned,The joys to know, the griefs to bear,The causes to defend,How automatic life would be!Thy way is best, hold thou the chart,Permit me but to knowEach day, the duties to perform,Each hour, the way to go;And I, thy will, shall strive to do,As faith e’er stronger grows,And knowledge into wisdom blends,As stream to river flows,Until at last I meet with thee.—Frank L. Connor,The Progress Magazine.

Could I but know each step that I

Must tread unto the end;

Were I to have life’s devious chart,

Complete, placed in my hand,

With every burden there portrayed,

And every task well planned,

The joys to know, the griefs to bear,

The causes to defend,

How automatic life would be!

Thy way is best, hold thou the chart,Permit me but to knowEach day, the duties to perform,Each hour, the way to go;And I, thy will, shall strive to do,As faith e’er stronger grows,And knowledge into wisdom blends,As stream to river flows,Until at last I meet with thee.—Frank L. Connor,The Progress Magazine.

Thy way is best, hold thou the chart,

Permit me but to know

Each day, the duties to perform,

Each hour, the way to go;

And I, thy will, shall strive to do,

As faith e’er stronger grows,

And knowledge into wisdom blends,

As stream to river flows,

Until at last I meet with thee.

—Frank L. Connor,The Progress Magazine.

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WAY, THE RIGHT

Wakutemani, a Sioux warrior, was an acknowledged leader among the young Indians of his tribe. He heard a woman missionary tell the gospel story, but tho he felt strangely drawn to Christianity, he threw himself more ardently into the heathen dances and practises. One day he said to the missionary, “I will try your way without leaving the old way for a year, and at the end of that time I will follow the way that has satisfied me.” She taught him to pray and gave him directions for living a clean, straight life. At the end of the year Wakutemani appeared painted and be-feathered to lead the young braves in the old war-dance. The dance was wild and calculated to awaken all the savage instincts; but during a pause in drum-beating, Wakutemani stept into the center of the circle and motioned for silence. “I said I would try both ways. This way does not satisfy me. If any others feel as I do, let them follow me.” Two young warriors, Many Bulls and White Sitting Buffalo, rose silently and followed him out of the ring. They went to the mission house and said to the missionary, “We wish to follow your way. Ours does not satisfy.” All three have now many years of consistent Christian life to their credit, and one has passed to his reward. (Text.)

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Way We Look at Things, The—SeeMoods Determining Desires.

Wayfarer, The—SeePilgrims, The.

Wayside Ministry—SeeControl, Divine.

WAYWARD, SEEKING THE

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman tells this story:

On one of the last Sundays that I spent in Philadelphia an Englishman gave an address to our Sunday-school. He told how a young girl had gone away to live a life of sin. He said, “Her mother came to my minister and asked him to find her daughter. The minister said, ‘Bring me every picture that you have of yourself!’ She brought him every picture and the minister dipt his pen in the red ink and wrote underneath the sweet face these words: ‘Come back.’ These pictures were placed in mission stations and halls. One night the girl, on entering one of these halls, found herself face to face with the picture. As she saw that sweet face that had looked down into hers with love, her eyes were blinded with tears, and when she brushed the tears away she read the two words, ‘Come back.’ She made her way out to the edge of the city, waited till night had fallen and, going up to her old home she put her hand upon the latch of the door and, behold, it yielded! She had no sooner crossed the threshold than she was in her mother’s arms. The first greeting she had from her mother was this: ‘My dear, this door has never been fastened since you went away.’” (Text.)

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Weak Will and Whisky—SeeLast Resort.

WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH

Storms may rend the giant oakYet may pass the floweret by;Feeble lives may long be spared,Strongest men may soonest die.—Pastor Clark.

Storms may rend the giant oak

Yet may pass the floweret by;

Feeble lives may long be spared,

Strongest men may soonest die.

—Pastor Clark.

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WEAKNESS, CONSIDERATION FOR

The dialog below indicates a good way of practising the Pauline injunction in Phil. 2:4:

“Here, boy, let me have a paper.” “Can’t.” “Why not? I heard you crying them loud enough to be heard at the city hall.” “Yes, but that was down t’other block, ye know, where I hollered.” “What does that matter? Come, now, no fooling; I’m in a hurry.” “Couldn’t sell you a paper on this here block, mister, ’cause it b’longs to Limpy. He’s just up at the furdest end now. You’ll meet him.” “And who is Limpy? And why does he have this block?” “Cos us other kids agreed to let him have it. Ye see, it’s a good run, ’count of the offices all along, and the poor chap is that lame he can’t git around lively like the rest of us, so we agreed that the first one caught sellin’ on his beat should be thrashed. See?” “Yes, I see. You havea sort of brotherhood among yourselves?” “Well, we’re goin’ to look out for a little cove what’s lame, anyhow.” “There comes Limpy now. He’s a fortunate boy to have such friends.” The gentleman bought two papers of him, and went on his way down town, wondering how many men in business would refuse to sell their wares in order to give a weak, halting brother a chance in the field. (Text.)

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WEAKNESS, HIDDEN

A tiny worm may pierce the heart of a young tree, and the bark may hide the secret gash. But as the days go on the rain will cut one fiber and the heat another, and when years have passed, some time when a soft zephyr goes sighing through the forest, the great tree will come crashing down. For at last nature will hunt out every hidden weakness.—Newell Dwight Hillis.

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WEALTH

Harold S. Symmes, inPearson’s Magazine, writes:

Give of thyself. Man’s wealth depends,Not on the pence he holds and hoards,Not on the gift he well affords,But on the spirit-gold he spends.

Give of thyself. Man’s wealth depends,

Not on the pence he holds and hoards,

Not on the gift he well affords,

But on the spirit-gold he spends.

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The danger of wealth lies in its tendency to smother sympathy and exalt selfishness.

Dr. W. B. Wright says that Henry Heine, the Jew, one of the most sparkling talkers in Europe, sat silent at a banquet until his Christian hostess asked, with some anxiety, “Why are you so dumb?” He answered, “I am studying a problem which I can not solve. I have been looking at these gold dishes, this fine linen, these splendid waiters, your great diamonds, and wondering what you Christians are going to do with the camel question.” (Text.)

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WEALTH AND WORK

The following account, indicating great motherly wisdom, is from a despatch from Chicago to the daily papers:

If Leonard Loeffler, six years old, has fallen heir to a fortune of $1,000,000 his mother will be sorry. It has been reported among the relatives of the late William Loeffler that his will, which will be probated this week, bequeaths his entire fortune, amounting to $1,000,000, to his grandson, Leonard, who is the son of Mr and Mrs. Frank Loeffler, and this intimation moved Mrs. Loeffler to express the hope that her son might not inherit riches.“I do not want any son of mine to inherit a million dollars,” declared Mrs. Loeffler.“Why?” she was asked.“Because I do not think it does a child any good to have riches which he has not earned. If Leonard can get a fortune by working for it the way his grandfather had to do I shall be the proudest mother in the world, but there is no reason why he should have wealth unless he does earn it. I want my boy to earn what he gets. I don’t want him to get $1,000,000 for nothing. That is how much I think of money. It spoils children and removes the incentive for work, and it is work that shapes a career.”

“I do not want any son of mine to inherit a million dollars,” declared Mrs. Loeffler.

“Why?” she was asked.

“Because I do not think it does a child any good to have riches which he has not earned. If Leonard can get a fortune by working for it the way his grandfather had to do I shall be the proudest mother in the world, but there is no reason why he should have wealth unless he does earn it. I want my boy to earn what he gets. I don’t want him to get $1,000,000 for nothing. That is how much I think of money. It spoils children and removes the incentive for work, and it is work that shapes a career.”

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WEALTH, COMPARATIVE

A man who gets a million wants another million. If he gets ten millions then he wants to be as rich as Rockefeller. And then he wants the whole world fenced in and fixt up for him. What if a man is as rich as Rockefeller? What is that compared with the State of New York? And suppose a man owned the whole State of New York, what is that compared with the balance of America? And suppose one man owned the whole United States, what is that compared with the balance of the world? And suppose a man owned this whole world? Why, you could put two such worlds in your pocket, and go out to the dog star and stay all night, and you wouldn’t have enough to pay your hotel bill. This whole thing is comparative.—“Popular Lectures of Sam P. Jones.”

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Wealth Diminishing the Smiles—SeePoverty.

WEALTH, RIGHT USE OF

Some years ago an American gentleman was driving past one of the beautiful old homes in rural England, standing in its stately park. He asked the driver who lived there. “Oh,” said the man, “we used to have lots of aristocratic company there. They had plenty of money and they spent it freely. We poor folks were well off then. But now the place belongs to a woman, and she is a Methodist, and everything is going to the bad.” So spoke the countryman, and from his little view this loss of luxury and extravagance was all wrong, even for the poor man. But meanwhile there was another sideto the picture. That estate also included a large tenement district in one of the worst portions of London. In wretched hovels, surrounded by saloons and low resorts, the miserable people paid their rents, exorbitant for such quarters, and these rents supplied the funds for the luxury and extravagance of the former owner. But now what has happened? The lady who owns the estate to-day is using her revenues, not for her own luxuries, but in bettering these homes, in driving out these saloons, and in creating a new spirit of love between her and her tenants. A few country yokels get less to spend for drink, but a great city population has more joy in living, and the bitter class distinction between riches and poverty is lessened.—Donald Sage Mackay, “The Threshold of Religion.”

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Wealth Statistics—SeeMoney-power in Canada;Money-power in the United States.

Weapons Displaced—SeeWarfare, Antiquated.

Weather Forecast—SeePrognostication of Weather.

Weather Influencing Crime—SeeCrime, Epidemics of.

Weather, The, and the Spider—SeeIndicator, An Insect.

Weaving—SeeWeb of Life.

WEB OF LIFE

Sit down by the side of an Old World lace-maker for a few moments. Fifty or a hundred bobbins, or spools, hang around a cushion in which there is a forest of upright pins. Every bobbin hangs by a thread that runs toward and among the pins. The onlooker sees the worker throw one bobbin over another, as tho she were playing with them. But how she knows which bobbin to pick up, and where to toss it, is a mystery. Out of the great complex of pins and threads comes a beautiful lace pattern, regular and beautiful. So the divine Weaver takes one and another of us, ordering us here and there, but keeping us always attached, like the lace-maker’s thread, to a definite purpose. As we look back over the past, we can see the wonderful pattern and perfect work of the weaver. Just what he is working out, for us and with us, now, we can not discern. But the lesson of the past is that the future will be good, and we can trust the Weaver of the indefinite to do all things well.

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WEALTH, INCREASE OF

The great increase of wealth in the United States through a period of eight years (1900–1908) is shown in the tables below. Does it not mean a corresponding increase of national responsibility?

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Wedding Incident—SeeRenunciation.

Wedge, The Entering—SeeSabbath Desecration Gradual.

WEED DESTROYER

Man’s enemies are not by any means confined to those he meets in his daily work. He has soul enemies which he has to reckon with constantly. Just as sure as the farmer can depend on a certain preparation to kill weeds, so can man depend upon a higher power to keep down and destroy our open and secret sins.

There is no dispute that we must meet the weed question with a certainty of success and at the same time it must be done in a very economical manner. In addition to what we may do with our cultivators and weeders and the growing of such crops as rye and winter wheat, by which we can destroy a certain class of weeds before they mature seed, we can also add that there is a system of weed destruction which is found in spraying. This is a matter which has come to the knowledge of men during the past few years. I learn from my reading that the first step in this direction was taken by a party in France. From that beginning it was taken up by men here in America, and it has now assumed a very practical form. The first spray was copper sulfate, or blue-stone, but this would be somewhat difficult to obtain. The present material which is largely used is a by-product turned out by the steel-mills. This is called sulfate of iron. This by product has been thrown away, but now it can be used for the destruction of weeds by making a solution of it and spraying fields that are infested with a certain class of weeds.—O. C. Gregg,The Northwestern Agriculturist.

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WEEDS, WARFARE AGAINST

Charles H. Spurgeon once said:

An old wall is so interpenetrated—every nook, crack and crevice—by the notorious ivy that, tho you may cut the vine at the roots, you can never thoroughly destroy it, till the wall itself is leveled.Most weeds spread chiefly from their seeds, hence care should be taken to prevent the formation of weed-seeds. The more thorough we are in keeping out weeds, the easier our work. While we may not hope to get rid of all weeds, we may greatly lessen their numbers by keeping up a continual warfare against them.

Most weeds spread chiefly from their seeds, hence care should be taken to prevent the formation of weed-seeds. The more thorough we are in keeping out weeds, the easier our work. While we may not hope to get rid of all weeds, we may greatly lessen their numbers by keeping up a continual warfare against them.

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Weighing Effects—SeeProbation.

WEIGHT DIMINISHED BY ASCENT

A writer, speaking of variation to be seen in the column of mercury in a barometer, says:

If you prop up the tube, and watch it carefully from day to day, you will find that the height of the column of mercury will continually vary. If you live at the sea-level, or thereabouts, it will sometimes rise more than thirty inches above the level of the mercury in the cup, and frequently fall below that height. If you live on the top of a high mountain, or on any high ground, it will never reach thirty inches, will still be variable, its average height less than if you lived on lower ground; and the higher you get the less will be this average height of the mercury.The reason of this is easily understood. When we ascend a mountain we leave some portion of the atmosphere below us, and of course less remains above; this smaller quantity must have less weight and press the mercury less forcibly. If the barometer tells the truth, it must show this difference; and it does so with such accuracy that by means of a barometer, or rather of two barometers—one at the foot of the mountain and one on its summit—we may, by their difference, measure the height of the mountain provided we know the rules for making the requisite calculations.

The reason of this is easily understood. When we ascend a mountain we leave some portion of the atmosphere below us, and of course less remains above; this smaller quantity must have less weight and press the mercury less forcibly. If the barometer tells the truth, it must show this difference; and it does so with such accuracy that by means of a barometer, or rather of two barometers—one at the foot of the mountain and one on its summit—we may, by their difference, measure the height of the mountain provided we know the rules for making the requisite calculations.

The higher one ascends, the less weight oppresses the climber. This is a truth also of the moral life. The higher one ascends, the less obstacles and weights he encounters. In the valley the demoniac writhes; on the mountain top Christ appears in His glory.

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Weight Yielding to Persistency—SeePerseverance.

Welcome Home—SeeSong as a Welcome Home.

Well-digging—SeeMiracles, Evidential Value of.

Well Done—SeeEarly Religion.

Well Known, The, Unknown—SeeLocal Pride.

White Plague—SeeTuberculosis.

White Robes—SeeBible Customs To-day.

“White Slaves”—SeeGirls, Traffic in.

WHOLE, SEEING THINGS

Our lives should be so organized and ordered as to move on at God’s pace so that they will produce a whole effect, a unitary total. Some men live by jerks, showing no conviction between to-day and yesterday.

If a spark or point of flame be rapidly swung around in a circular path it is no longer seen as a spark or point, but as a continuous circle. Drops of falling rain appear to the eye as continuous slanted lines or streams. This is due to the fact that the motion is too rapid to enable the eye to compass the diameter of the rain-drop, or the spark, before it has moved the distance of its diameter to a new position.

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WHOLENESS

A Chicago tailor displays a sign which announces that he makes trousers at “$1.75 per leg.” Inquiry reveals the fact that altho he uses a goose he is not foolish enough to furnish trousers with only one leg. One can not get trousers at his shop except their two legs be properly sewed together and one pays $3.50 for them. But the tailor compels editors to read his sign.

This fable teaches that two things even apparently complete when separate ought to be brought together if they are to be made practical.

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WHOLENESS OF CHARACTER

Foster, the distinguished essayist, said to a friend one day, “There is a want of continuity in your social character. You seem broken into fragments.” To this plain dealing the gentleman replied good-naturedly, “Well, I sparkle in fragments.” “But,” rejoined Foster, “how much better to shine whole, like a mirror.”

As the glory of gems is realized best when shown in a splendid necklace, so virtues impress most when many are combined in unity in the one character.

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WILFULNESS

Young America in feathers is almost as bumptious and self-assertive and needs almost as much guidance as Young America in flannels and lawns. Tho the parents may be as wise as Solomon, the youngster will be foolish and headstrong; he will call and shout when enemies are near; he will leave the nest before his wings are ready for service, and so place himself at the mercy of cats and other prowlers. As soon as he has even partial use of his wings he will wander into a thousand dangers and draw his devoted parents after him, for they can not desert him, and he will not heed their coaxing. In such cases the distracted parents have been known to attack and beat off their great enemy, the cat, and even to fly at man himself, sometimes with success.—Olive Thorne Miller, “The Bird Our Brother.”

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Will, Doing God’s—SeeTemperature.

WILL OF GOD

The following verses are by John Hay:

Not in dumb resignation, we lift our hands on high;Not like the nerveless fatalist, content to do and die.Our faith springs like the eagle’s, who soars to meet the sun,And cries exulting unto thee, “O Lord, Thy will be done.”When tyrant feet are trampling upon the common weal,Thou dost not bid us bend and writhe beneath the iron heel.In thy name we assert our right by sword or tongue or pen,And even the headsman’s ax may flash thy message unto men.Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust.Whenever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sunO Lord, be there! Thine arm made bare, thy righteous will be done. (Text.)

Not in dumb resignation, we lift our hands on high;

Not like the nerveless fatalist, content to do and die.

Our faith springs like the eagle’s, who soars to meet the sun,

And cries exulting unto thee, “O Lord, Thy will be done.”

When tyrant feet are trampling upon the common weal,Thou dost not bid us bend and writhe beneath the iron heel.In thy name we assert our right by sword or tongue or pen,And even the headsman’s ax may flash thy message unto men.

When tyrant feet are trampling upon the common weal,

Thou dost not bid us bend and writhe beneath the iron heel.

In thy name we assert our right by sword or tongue or pen,

And even the headsman’s ax may flash thy message unto men.

Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust.Whenever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sunO Lord, be there! Thine arm made bare, thy righteous will be done. (Text.)

Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;

No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust.

Whenever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sun

O Lord, be there! Thine arm made bare, thy righteous will be done. (Text.)

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Will, Our, and God’s—SeeTemperature.

WILL POWER

In “Louis Lambert” Balzac describes certain forces, when they take possession of strong personalities, as “rivers of will.” There is an impetus in these potential men which sweeps away all obstacles and rolls on with the momentum of a great stream. In men of genius the same tireless activity, the same forceful habit, are often found; nothing daunts them; nothing subdues them.—Christian Union.

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The late Lord Beaconsfield, in an address before the Literary and Scientific Institute of London, in 1844, on his early life, gave utterance to these impressive words:“Man can be what he pleases. Every one of you can be exactly what he designs to be. I have resolved to hold a certain position, and if I live, I will.”We do not know what that position was that Disraeli refers to, but we do know that he attained to the highest position possible to any man in England. He had much to contend with. He was of a Jewish family, but by the remarkable power of his will he ejected the Jew blood from his veins and pumped the blue blood of England in. He climbed into the seat next to the throne of the queen herself.

The late Lord Beaconsfield, in an address before the Literary and Scientific Institute of London, in 1844, on his early life, gave utterance to these impressive words:

“Man can be what he pleases. Every one of you can be exactly what he designs to be. I have resolved to hold a certain position, and if I live, I will.”

We do not know what that position was that Disraeli refers to, but we do know that he attained to the highest position possible to any man in England. He had much to contend with. He was of a Jewish family, but by the remarkable power of his will he ejected the Jew blood from his veins and pumped the blue blood of England in. He climbed into the seat next to the throne of the queen herself.

In contrast what a small conception some men have of their opportunities and privileges.

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People will insist on living, sometimes, tho manifestly moribund. In Dr. Elder’s life of Kane, you will find a case of this sort, told by Dr. Kane himself. The captain of a ship was dying of scurvy, but the crew mutinied, and he gave up dying for the present to take care of them. An old lady in this city, near her end, got a little vexed about a proposed change in her will; made up her mind not to die just then; ordered a coach; was driven twenty miles to the house of a relative, and lived four years longer.—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

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SeeGreatness;Mind, the Human.

WILL, THE

God will not force the door of the human heart. The faculty of volition is a divinely-given prerogative, and our free will is not violated by any forcible means.

While the painting by William Holman-Hunt, known as “The Light of the World,” was yet in the studio of the painter a visitor stood admiring it. Suddenly he asked the artist, “Where is the key? I do not see one in the door.” Said Mr. Holman-Hunt, “Ah, no; the key is inside, and the door is locked not from without but from within. It can only be opened to admit the Savior who stands there and knocks if the tenant within chooses to turn the key.” The visitor understood the parable. (Text.)

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SeeMastery.

Winds as Benefactors—SeeNature’s Recuperative Powers.

WINNING

Young man,What is your planOf progress? Are youGoing to pull through?Or will you lie down in the roadAnd let your loadSink you out of sight in the mud?Have you white blood and pale,That curdles at the hard word “Fail,”And dares not faceThe chances of the race?Or, have you red, clear red,The good strong colorAll the great have shedIn deed or thought,For every triumph wroughtOut of what seemed fullOf the impossible?Have you the nerveTo serveUntil you can master? To waitAnd work outside the gateUntil you winThe strength to open it and enter in?Have you the heart to meetDefeatDay after day,And yet hold to the wayThat upward leads,And must needsBe hard and roughTo make man toughOf sinew and of soul,Before he sees the goal?Young man,Think on these things,What each one bringsIs as you choose it;You make takeThe stake,Or you may lose it.Start inTo winAnd keep straight in the wayUnflagging to the end;Whatever it may beIs victory.—William J. Lampton,Success.

Young man,

What is your plan

Of progress? Are you

Going to pull through?

Or will you lie down in the road

And let your load

Sink you out of sight in the mud?

Have you white blood and pale,

That curdles at the hard word “Fail,”

And dares not face

The chances of the race?

Or, have you red, clear red,

The good strong color

All the great have shed

In deed or thought,

For every triumph wrought

Out of what seemed full

Of the impossible?

Have you the nerve

To serve

Until you can master? To wait

And work outside the gate

Until you win

The strength to open it and enter in?

Have you the heart to meet

Defeat

Day after day,

And yet hold to the way

That upward leads,

And must needs

Be hard and rough

To make man tough

Of sinew and of soul,

Before he sees the goal?

Young man,

Think on these things,

What each one brings

Is as you choose it;

You make take

The stake,

Or you may lose it.

Start in

To win

And keep straight in the way

Unflagging to the end;

Whatever it may be

Is victory.

—William J. Lampton,Success.

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WISDOM OF THE IGNORANT

It is related of the celebrated astronomer, Tycho Brahe, that one night, on leaving his observatory, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a tumultuous crowd which filled the public square. Upon inquiring the cause of so great a concourse, they pointed out to him, in the constellation of Cygnus, a brilliant star, which he, aided by the best telescopes, had never perceived. (Text.)

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Wisdom Rejected—SeeIntolerance.

Wish, A Boy’s—SeeRetrieved Situation, A.

Wishes—SeeRetrieved Situation, A.

Wishes Fulfilled—SeeEarly Religion.

Wit and Business—SeeAbbreviation.

Wit, Ready—SeeEccentricity.

WITCHCRAFT

In two hundred years thirty thousand witches are said to have been destroyed in England; and as recently as 1716, when the town was enjoying the wit and satire of the “Queen Anne men,” a woman and her child nine years of age were hanged at Huntingdon. Addison, with a mind that wavered between superstition and good sense, said he could not forbear believing “in such a commerce with evil spirits as that which we express by the name of witchcraft,” while, at the same time, he could “give no credit to any particular modern instance of it.” Scotland, which is regarded as an enlightened part of the empire, held with the utmost tenacity its faith in witchcraft. The Scotch, a vigorous people, put their hands to the work heartily. It was easy to find victims, since, as we have said already, they tortured until they confest. It is calculated that two thousand persons were burned in Scotland in the last forty years of the sixteenth century. A century later a witch epidemic broke out in the village of Mohra, in Sweden. A number of children were said to be bewitched, and familiar with the devil, who was described as wearing a gray coat, red and blue stockings, a red beard, and a high-crowned hat. The witches kept this exacting person supplied with children, and if they did not procure him a good many, “they had no peace or quiet for him.” The poor wretches were doomed to have no more peace or quiet in this world. Seventy were condemned to death, and twenty-three were burnt in a single fire at Mohra. It is noteworthy that a belief in this frightful superstition which destroyed more innocent persons than the so-called holy office was held by men of great intellectual power—by Erasmus, Bacon, and the judicious Hooker; by Sir Edward Coke, Sir Thomas Browne, Baxter, and Sir Matthew Hale. And the old belief is not yet extinct in country districts. Only recently a man at Totnes accused his father of bewitching, or, as a “white witch” called it, “overlooking” his daughter, so that she suffered for months from a disease in the arms; and the people who live in remote villages may often hear of similar cases.—LondonIllustrated News.

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WITCHES, BELIEF IN

Dr. James B. McCord writes inMedical Missions:

The Zulu baby is born into the fear of witchcraft; in the fear of witchcraft he grows up, and when he sickens and is about to die, his one thought is that a spell has been cast upon him for which the charm can not be discovered. All his life long he dreads in lonely places to meet theinswelabova—an inhuman man, lacking only hair or fur to make him altogether a beast—a sort of beast in human form who rides backward on a baboon, ready to pounce upon and make medicine of the unwary traveler. In mature manhood he suspects his neighbor, his friend, his brother, and even his wife of having dealings with makers of charms and poisons. He walks with an uneasy feeling that an enemy may have put medicine in his path to harm him. From every possible source, from earth and from sky, from river and from forest, from friend and from foe, he is continually apprehensive of evil influence coming upon him and searching for a talisman to wear against it.

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WITNESS OF SERVICE

On one of the battle-fields of South Africa a young chaplain found a Highlander sorely wounded and with life ebbing quickly away. He asked him to allow him to pray, but the soldier said gruffly, “No, I don’t want prayers. I want water.” The chaplain secured, with great difficulty, some water, and then asked the refreshed man if he might read a psalm. “No,” said the soldier again. “I am too cold to listen to a psalm.” The chaplain instantly stript off his coat and wrapt it tenderly round the wounded soldier. And then, touched by the chaplain’s sympathy, the man turned and said, “Chaplain, if religion makes men like you, let’s have that psalm.” When Christians prove themselves loving and considerate for the sick and suffering, even the hardest heart melts.

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WIVES OF GREAT MEN

It is an oft-quoted saying of Dr. Johnson that “a man in general is better pleased when he has a good dinner on the table than when his wife talks Greek.” Racine had an illiterate wife and was accustomed to boastfully declare that she could not read any of his tragedies. Dufresny married his washerwoman. Goethe’s wife was a woman of mediocre capacity. Heine said of the woman he loved, “She has never read a line of my writings and does not even know what a poet is.” Therese Lavasseur, the last flame of Rousseau, could not tell the time of day. “How many of the wise and learned,” says Thackeray, “have married their cooks! Did not Lord Eldon, himself the most prudent of men, make a runaway match? Were not Achilles and Ajax both in love with their servant-maids?” Seven hundred people sat up all night to see the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton get in her carriage, but would one in a thousand lose a wink of sleep to get a glimpse of the learned wife of the pundit Yainavalka, who discoursed with the Indian in Sanskrit on the vexed problems of life?—The Interior.

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Woman Suffrage—SeeRetort, a.

WOMANLY WIT

Foster, the State news paragrapher of the ClevelandPress, published a paragraph to this effect: “A Marion girl started her graduating essay as follows: ‘I am fairly worried out with the incessant pratings of the lords of creation on the duties and sphere of woman.’” The paragraph closed with the somewhat dangerous assertion that the editor would bet a new spring hat that the author of that discourse on woman’s sphere could not bake a loaf of bread. Two days later Mr. Foster received from Marion a large box. It contained sundry light loaves of bread and cake marvelously toothsome. An accompanying affidavit bore the solemn oath of the sweet girl graduate (who possesses the pretty name of May Williams) that she had, unaided, made the wheat-bread marked “Exhibit A,” the two specimens of cornbread marked “Exhibit B,” and the chocolate, “Exhibit C.” The notary’s seal of office was affixt to the affidavit, and it was settled beyond a doubt in Mr. Foster’s mind that his wager had been accepted. He therefore went out and lavished his week’s salary on a new spring hat.

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WOMAN’S SPHERE

She’s a woman with a mission; ’tis her heaven-born ambition to reform the world’s condition, you will please to understand. She’s a model of propriety, a leader in society, and has a great variety of remedies at hand. Each a sovereign specific, with a title scientific, for the cure of things morbific that vex the people sore; For the swift alleviation of the evils of the nation is her foreordained vocation on this sublunary shore. And while thus she’s up and coming, always hurrying and humming, and occasionally slumming, this reformer of renown, Her neglected little Dicky, ragged, dirty, tough, and tricky, with his fingers soiled and sticky, is the terror of the town. (Text.)—Tit-Bits.

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WOMAN’S STRENGTH

There is no physical reason why a woman should be more feeble or diseased than a man. Stanley was furnished with two hundred negro women to carry his stuff into the interior of Africa, and he found them the best porters he had employed, altho he felt very doubtful about accepting their services when first proposed. The Mexican Indian woman is able to carry her household goods on her back with two or three babies on top when a change of location is desirable. Meanwhile her husband trudges bravely along carrying his gun. On the continent of Europe most of the heavy work is done by women. In Vienna women and dogs arefrequently hitched together, and sometimes a woman is yoked with a cow to draw a load of produce to the city. Many of these peasant women will carry upon their heads a load of vegetables that few American men could easily lift. These women have the muscles of the waist and trunk thoroughly developed. Despite their hardships, they do not suffer from the backache or displacements, or other ailments which the women who dress fashionably are constantly afflicted with.—Phrenological Journal.

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Women, Courage of—SeeBravery of Women.

Women Fighting Disease—SeeTuberculosis.

Women Graduates—SeeAlumnæ Occupations.

WOMEN IN BONDAGE

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