we learn the lessons of life by repetition. We have spiritual appetites requiring food as well as physical; this food we need daily, even though it may be a repetition of old truths. The eye of faith sees our benign Father watching over the needs of his children, who is just as ready to give us spiritual nourishment as he is to give us material things.

On Fourth-day afternoon the First-day School Association held its second meeting, the first having been devoted mostly to routine business. The time was given to the consideration of two of the Conference papers, "The First-day School a Missionary of Our Society," and "Modern Progress in Biblical Knowledge Among Friends." Each of these elicited Each of these elicited discussion and earnest thought. It was queried how may we make our First-day schools missionaries? One thought the traveling libraries, with a wise selection of books, might be a valuable adjunct, another that our Lesson Leaves sent into the homes of those children attending our schools would also aid, especially those containing the Testimony Series. Quite a talk was given to the consideration of the kind of Lesson Leaves desired. No one expressed any wish to return to the International Topics, but many testified to the appreciation of our own.

On Fourth-day evening a meeting intended for the young people was well attended and many testimonies borne to the Truth. Much of the time on Fifth-day was devoted to committee work and reports. The subject of Education being again presented, its consideration resulted in the following minute being adopted and in the appointment of a committee who are to labor in the cause:

"As attention has been called to the importance of encouraging a higher education among our members and to the necessity of Friends giving generous financial support to Swarthmore College, its founding being dependent upon the several yearly meetings combined, it is thought best that a committee be appointed whose duty it shall be to increase interest in our only college and in establishing what may be known as the Indiana Yearly Meeting Educational Fund, which if secured may be placed in the hands of suitable trustees appointed by this body.'

After the close of the business, time was given for parting thoughts and the expressions of those feelings which well up from the heart after a series of harmonious meetings. One voiced the wish that we might return to our homes with an added feeling of personal responsibility and a prayerful desire to fulfill the duties devolving upon us.

May the visiting Friends whose labors of love have been so acceptable to us, return in safety to their homes bearing the blessings of joy and peace. M. J. W.

more satisfied with our homes and the old friends whose loyalty and friendship last not only through the sunny summer days, but through the long, hard winter.

There really seems to be a direct relation between physical and spiritual calm; the eternal steadfastness. of the mountains seems to breathe a spirit of rest, and there is something in the air that lifts head and heart above the lowlands and the valleys.

Something of all this we felt when we spent many happy days in the heart of the Adirondacks. Not only were the mountains all about us, but spread before us was a lake whose various phases of calm and storm, sunshine and shadow, were always beautiful.

We followed the trails through the woods for miles, passing under the grand old forest trees, white birch, hemlock, balsam pine, fir, and maple; we followed the rocky brooks, we climbed some of the mountains and saw the lakes, valleys, and distant peaks all around us.

We spent the afternoons rowing on the lake, or at anchor along the shady shore, with books and work and thoughts. Sometimes it was too much even to read, and we would lie there in the boat and gaze at the far-away blue sky, with its fleeting clouds and the distant mountains, purple and hazy on the horizon. There was a deep happiness in all these things; we could not express what they meant to us, we could only feel and enjoy.

Though we rested, we did not pass the time carelessly nor thoughtlessly; there was too much grandeur close at hand to allow us to forget the serious things of life, and so we worshipped day by day as fresh revelations came to us of our Heavenly Father's love and care.

There on the heights where there was só much of gladness in the sunshine, it seemed at times that sorrow could not come, and yet it was brought home to us. Once, while walking through the village, we saw them bringing home a sad burden; I was glad that only two of us had gone far enough to see it, for it clouded the bright day. It was such a story as we often hear, an overturned boat, the going down, down into the clear, cold water, and then the great silence.

It happened, that night, we waited for friends who came by a late train, so we were about the Inn after it was silent and deserted. Some of the attendants were waiting, too, and as I passed the group I heard a few words that made me know that, though in the dark, they were talking of that accident, as people exposed to danger often do, with subdued voices and deep sympathy and interest in their hearts. I could not but wonder what their thoughts of it might be, and how many other tragedies were being lived through in the midst of all the beauty, there on the heights, in the valleys, and by sea and shore.

On First-day mornings "God's first temples" had for us more attraction than those "made with hands,” so on the water under the arch of the sky we had our meeting, and while the boats bumped against the shore and the waves splashed around us, we read and

thought while the mystery of life and light went on above and below us.

In the evenings we gathered in the parlor of the Inn, and heard from Dr. Griffin, of Johns Hopkins University, some beautiful thoughts, which made us realize that if Friends as a body are not growing in numbers, their ideas and beliefs are not stunted and dying out, but are growing and bearing fruit in other fields. I remember a helpful talk he gave us "Patience." He said there are three kinds, patience with evils which ought not to exist, which is cowardice; patience with things that must be borne, as they cannot be altered, which is courage; and patience with trials that we can avoid but do not, because they tend to the development and deepening of character, which is heroism.

Another evening he reminded us how in the saddest, most trying times, in all great decisions and affairs of life, man is alone and must struggle and fight the battle with himself unaided. In times of deepest grief no one can fully understand or help, those nearest and dearest to us cannot reach us, we stand alone in life, we are alone in death. There is but one help, one strength, that of our Heavenly Father, which never leaves us or foresakes us, which is with us from the beginning to the end and even beyond the close of this earthly life.

Then we passed out into the ministry of silence and into the ministry of the night.

This was to me a strong sermon, not only in thought but in the manner of expression, and I felt that Friends may do wrong to count so lightly the means by which lessons are told so well. The picture was beautifully drawn, the desolation, the loneliness of sorrow and despair seemed so hopeless, until at the close he told of God, the ever present help in time of trouble.

It seems sometimes as if the spiritual things are the only real things, after all. That the least seen forces are the strongest, that the lives that are most free from material influences are, to a certain extent, more able to glean from the richer more enduring things of life. It matters so much how we go through the world; new instances of this come before us every now and then; some people seem to miss so much, for by looking out for the great things, they cannot see the smaller beauties which are just at hand.

I think we may have all learned lessons during the summer. We cannot put them in words, but we can feel them and realize their influence in our lives.

In the winter many duties claim our thoughts; there is little time for self-acquaintance, we are living, under more or less excitement, an external life; in the quiet restful hours of summer we may turn inward and realize our own needs and how we have starved ourselves.

We long to begin the winter work with heart and ear and eye quickened to do a few things well, and to have time through it all for the proper rest that will enable us to gain from life all that is possible, so that as Dr. Griffin said, we may hand on our inheritance of good increased and not diminished by being in our

keeping. For as everything physical has its limitations we can remember and make our own, only so much as our varied capacities are capable of receiving.

So in all the toiling and striving of our daily lives, I would plead for more time for rest and recreation, for a less hurried journeying along life's highway so that we may not miss the flowers growing at our feet.

Would that we had amongst us more of the poet's eyes to see, and ears to hear, even if we may not have their hands to write : would that we all could say with Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"God is so good, He wears a fold

Of heaven and earth across his face
Like secrets kept for love untold,

But still I feel that His embrace
Slides down by thrills through all things made
Through sight and sound of every place."

Friends' Intelligencer and Journal.

EDITORS: HOWARD M. JENKINS. LYDIA H. HALL. RACHEL W. HILLBORN. PHILADELPHIA, TENTH MONTH 29, 1898.

TREES AND FRUITS.

An evil tree will not bring forth good fruit. This is a truth long recognized, and which hardly any one would dare deny. Yet some seem to admit the truth, but to expect, none the less, to gather good fruits from a tree which is obviously evil.

We apply this to the recent war. It has been said, with a cheerful optimism which is unexplainable except as an evidence of want of thought, that though war is as a rule a bad thing, and much to be deplored, this particular war would we found in the end to have many excellent results. Even if, as a tree, we considered it bad, we should rejoice to see the splendid fruit which our own nation, particularly, and all mankind generally-Spain perhaps excepted -would pluck from its branches, when the season of the fruitage should arrive.

That the fruit is fully ripe we do not presume. It is however ripening, and so far as can now be seen it is like the war,-just as we must have anticipated, if we believed the saying which the Master employed in the teaching that gave the clew to all applied Christianity.

The fruit, in fact, is bad. We are not at peace, at all. We are in troubled waters. The Commission at Paris is laboring over the complicated questions which came from the war. The ships and soldiers at Manila are menaced by troubles greater than those which they are supposed to have overcome. The Cuban problem is not yet even taken up for solution. Meantime, in our own country, the collision between employers and laborers in Illinois illustrates how little we have outgrown the menacing and disturbing conditions from which economic troubles arise, while in the South once more we have word of revivals of "race wars,” and of the forcible suppression of the colored people's right to vote.

All these things point to an unsettled and troubled time, not to peace, and good order, and kindly feeling. They point to great expenditure, heavy and annoying taxes, growth of militarism, increase of the classes who live upon office, and in the army and navy, added loads upon the backs of the industrious and honest classes. They are evil fruitage hanging on the war tree. The President, kindly, patriotic, amiable rather than resolute, can hardly look at them with more satisfaction than do the plain people. Doubtless he must feel, as they do, that "Peace Jubilees” are

mockeries, at present, tribute rendered to those who make war, not to those who keep peace, and tending to make more war rather than discourage it.

We left untouched, last week, in our editorial article on the Chippewa troubles, one of the causes of the Indians' resistance to the United States officers. It ought not, however,

to be left without explicit and full statement. It brings down to the present day the old story of the injury done the Indians -like the injury done to white men-by intoxicating drink. Stated briefly, (1) the law is that rum shall not be furnished to the Indians; (2) there are white men who make a business of getting it to them; (3) there are others who make it a business to have them arrested and taken long distances for trial, for being "in possession" of it. The whole business is very profitable to the white men engaged, but it is destructive, body and soul, of the Indians, and costly to the United States, which must pay the cost of the legal proceedings. There is, in fact, all the appearance of the business being carried on in "collusion"; in many cases it seemed that the Indians were furnished with liquor and made drunk, in order that they might be arrested, and fees and costs made for

United States officials. It was against this that some of the Indians made violent resistance.

OUR friend Edward M. Wistar, of Philadelphia, who spent the summer of 1896 in Armenia, helping distribute the Red Cross aid, has kept in touch with the work since. In a letter, 22d inst., he adds a postscriptum: "My mail to-day brings. me a letter from Harpoot, Turkey, dated 28th ult.; it reports improved conditions and better attitude of the local government towards the American missionaries at that place."

WE call attention to the notice elsewhere of the annual meeting of Friends' Association, to be held at West Chester, Pa. The Friends there desire to extend a general invitation to all who may be interested to attend the Conference, and they especially invite those who may find it convenient, to remain over First-day with them in their homes, thus giving an opportunity to attend the First-day school and meeting.

IN the contributed article in the INTELLIGENCER of Tenth month 8, (p. 723), under the caption Mind Indestructible Also," the sense is destroyed in the last sentence but one, by the printing of "writers" instead of "mites." It should read, "what mites we are!''

THE address of Edgar Haight, one of the Committee on Isolated Members, appointed at the Richmond Conference, is Sparta, Ontario,—not Norwich. The address of Ella Sutton is 1725 Linden avenue, Baltimore.

MARRIAGES.

HALLOWELL-MACFARLAN,-At the residence of the bride's mother, East Marlboro', Chester county, Pa., Tenth month 20, 1898, under the care of London Grove Monthly Meeting, Alfred Hallowell, of Abington, Montgomery county, Pa., son of Penrose and Elizabeth W. Hallowell, and Anna M., daughter of Mary H. and the late Morris C. Macfarlan.

WILSON-TRUEBLOOD.-At the home of the bride, at the home of her uncle, Edward Roberts, with the approbation of Fall Creek Monthly Meeting, Madison county, Ind., by Friends' ceremony, Ninth month 20, 1898, Ralph Wilson and Victoria B., daughter of Warner and Narcissa Trueblood, deceased; in the presence of 35 guests.

DEATHS.

BRIGGS.—At Newtown, Bucks county, Pa., Tenth month 17, 1898, Letitia Briggs, daughter of the late Joseph and Martha Briggs, in her 86th year; an elder of Makefield Monthly Meeting.

CARR.-At Amherst, Mass., Eighth month 9, 1898, Caroline, widow of the late William Carr, and daughter of the late William and Jane Minkler.

Since early youth she has been a member of the Society of Friends, and for many years an attendant at the meeting on Stuyvesant Square, New York City.

GILKYSON.-At the residence of her son-in-law, John A. Field, Philadelphia, Tenth month 13, 1898, Amy S., widow of Courtland Gilkyson, aged 71 years.

Interment at Muscatine, Iowa.

HOLMES.-In Philadelphia, Tenth month 17, 1898, Rachel R., wife of Samuel Holmes, in the 64th year of her age. She had been visiting her relatives, and returned home in the evening, apparently as well as usual, and retired with a bright and cheerful heart, but before midnight that heart ceased to act, and she passed on to the bright shores of eternity, without any suffering. Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for their works do follow them. She was a faithful and devoted wife, mother, and friend, a friend indeed to all, willing to do any one a favor at any time. She was of a cheerful and lively spirit, always looking on the bright side of all cares and trials. She had lived with her husband for more

than forty years, where all seemed to move along in peace and harmony, and with that love that never fails those that put their trust in their Heavenly Father.

Dear as thou wert and justly dear,
We would not weep for thee;
One thought shall check the starting tear,
It is that thou art free."

E. B. H. JOHNSON.-At Ivy Cottage, Germantown, Philadelphia, Tenth month 12, 1898, Mary W. widow of Jos. Warner Johnson, and daughter of the late Peter and Mary A. Wright; a member of the Monthly Meeting of Friends held at Green Street, Philadelphia.

KINNARD.-In West Chester, on Fifth-day, Tenth month 13, 1898, Eliza Ann Kinnard, wife of Caleb H. Kinnard, in the 80th year of her age; a member of Birmingham Monthly Meeting.

POTTS.-At Trenton, N. J., Tenth month 21, 1898, George Sherman Potts, in his 54th year; a valued member of Trenton Friends' Meeting.

SOMERS.—In Philadelphia, Tenth month 15, 1898, Evoline F., widow of Larner Somers, late of Atlantic City, N. J., aged 77 years, 2 months.

Interment at Pleasantville, N. J.

TALCOTT.—At Bloomfield, Ontario, Tenth month 5, 1898, with only two days' illness, Sarah, wife of the late E. W. Talcott, aged 73 years.

She was a lifelong member and many years an elder in the Society of Friends, making no great demonstration of religious zeal, but discharging her duties as wife, mother, neighbor, and friend in a most exemplary manner, and according to the religion that she professed. When health permitted, the attendance of meetings was practically carried out in her daily life of simplicity and patient toil in the home.

She only survived her husband about five months, and leaves a family of seven children, matured in man- and womanhood, to call her blessed.

*

WORTHINGTON.-At the residence of her brother, Moses Paxson, Radnor, Pa., Tenth month 22, 1898, Hannah J., widow of Andrew C. Worthington; a member of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia.

CORRECTION.—In a notice of death printed on the 15th inst., the name should have been Phebe B. Shuit, not Shint. The copy sent was not quite plain enough for the printers. She was a member of Smith's Clove Preparative Meeting, New York.

PRINCIPLES AND TESTIMONIES OF FRIENDS.

Eleventh MONTH 6, 1898. No. 45.

TRUTH.

GOLDEN TEXT.

Righteous art thou, O Lord,

And upright are thy judgments.

Thou hast commanded thy testimonies in righteousness
And very faithfulness.

Thy righteousness is an everlasting rightecusness
And thy law is truth.

—Psalm 119: 137, 138, 142. "WHAT is truth?" Question old, yet forever new. What are the fundamental principles by which we may guide our actions, and fear no test that can be brought to bear? Jesus said he came to bear witness to the truth, and that every one that "is of the truth" (that is, who earnestly desires to know the truth and obey its requirements), would "hear his voice," would patiently listen and render just judgment as to the value of his testimony. Once convinced, a true-hearted follower becomes a co-worker.

All who have reached the years of maturity are able to recognize the witness for truth within themselves, and it is remarkable at what an early period in the life of a child it may become the governing principle to give heed to this Witness, when parents and teachers make an intelligent appeal to it.

To this Witness within themselves, Jesus directed his disciples, and bore testimony to the fact that he was himself guided by it, saying, "It is my meat to do the will of Him that sent me. "I do always those things that are pleasing to my Father in Heaven." "The words that I speak, I speak not of myself. The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works."

The words of approval spoken at his baptism were these: "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him."

This is the basis of Friends' silent meeting, that circumstances may be made favorable for holding true heart-communion with God, under the stimulus of a community of interest, human sympathy, and encouragement, with no outwaad ceremony to draw the attention from what we feel to be the closest form of communion the heart can know. There are many avenues which lead up to this condition in which we listen to God's voice speaking to us, and make covenant with him to be faithfully obedient in the performance of his requirements, but Friends feel that it is more speedily and surely attained by "gathering into the silence," as only they who are grown accustomed to it know how to enjoy in the fullest measure.

The only sacrifice Friends find to be needful is the sacrifice of our own selfish thoughts and wills; and this sacrifice is not to appease an offended God, but to remove obstacles from our pathway as we endeavor to keep in close touch with our loving Father and to do his will.

Our relationship to Him is determined by our own choice. We may be disobedient children, or we may permit ourselves to be careless, thoughtless, lukewarm, or ignorant, and these conditions lead to the commission of sin or the making of grievous mistakes,

the consequences of which we will have to bear until we "learn wisdom," repent, and turn from our mistaken or evil ways.

We may be the "servants" of God, doing his will without knowledge of what he wishes to accomplish, or why. Jesus said to his disciples, "I will not call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his master doeth ; but I have called you friends, for what'; soever I have received of the Father, I have made known unto you."

Again, it is our privilege to be the faithful sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ of his kingdom, ascertaining his wishes and his will by the strength of our love reaching out towards him. It must find expression in loving service. We think not of reward or happiness, but forget self in the good that we can do.

Day by day, year by year, life by life, knowledge and wisdom multiply, and each generation makes progress over what has gone before. Jesus, "though a son, learned obedience by the things which he suffered," that is, which he experienced and observed. It is thus that we must learn.

The idea of the universal fatherhood of God and

the consequent brotherhood of man, were comparatively unknown until recent years. Only as men, individually and collectively, lived their highest ideals of right conduct, were these fundamental truths brought to light, and as the leaven has permeated every avenue of life, old strongholds have crumbled. Yet many more barriers must fall before "peace and good-will shall cover the earth as the water covers the sea."

Many "Bands of Mercy" bear silent evidence of the higher interpretation man has placed upon his relationship to the dumb creation. Absolute truth reAbsolute truth remains the same, but man grows in his ability to understand and interpret it. No people, no age, has all of truth. Each adds its varied contribution to the common wealth of intellect and spirit. Upon this well-known fact Friends have based their principle of maintaining liberty of conscience" and of "holding themselves open to conviction." These are essential to growth and must exist, either openly avowed or secretly cherished, in every heart that makes progress in Christian sentiment or civilization. No human being may give answer to the question, "What is truth?" for it cannot be bound by limitations, but all the "Law and the Prophets," all that has been reduced to law and recorded, and all that can be conceived as possible of development in the future, is the result of wise and conscientious obedience to the two commandments which Jesus pronounced, the greatest "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God; and thy neighbor as thyself." For "love is the fulfilling of all the commandments."

NEWS OF FRIENDS.

A YOUNG Woman who is deeply interested in our smaller meetings,-where Friends are located in districts remote from the larger centres of Friends,-in a private letter to one of the editors of the INTELLIGENCER says:

When I sat in their little meetings and visited in Friends' homes, I realized as never before that the conditions are critical. conditions are critical. It was pathetic to hear their expressions of appreciation of the interest which I could assure them that Eastern Friends felt in these remote and struggling little meetings. One dear old Friend said: "We get so discouraged when we see our meetings dwindling, and when we read of visiting ministers and active work so far away, it seems as if we were left to struggle alone, for no one comes to visit us and we can't get to the Conferences."

The reading of the discussion of isolated Friends at Richmond was of especial interest to me. I wish there might have been more practical suggestions relative to the best methods of bringing small meetings and scattered Friends' families in touch with Friendly movements.

There is room for a great deal of missionary work among our own people. We need more of the spirit of Fenelon's prayer,

"Take thou my thoughts and think through them ; Take thou my lips and speak through them ;

Take thou my heart and fire it with zeal in thy service." There seem to me, however, everywhere manifest. signs of promise. Our young people recognize the possibilities, and are fitting themselves for service.

Friends' meeting at San Francisco has decided to remove from its present location in the Y. M. C. A. · building to Swarthmore Hall, in Harrison street, near Second. The first meeting in the new place will probably be held on the first First-day in the next month.

THE DOUKHOBORTSI MOVEMENT. WE have, at this writing, no further word of the removal of the large party of 2,200 from Batoum to Canada, but suppose it probable they have sailed, as was expected. At last advices, it was not certain that they would settle in the Edmonton district, as proposed, a different location being suggested by the Canadian government.

A suggestion has been made to us that a good location for some of the immigrants might be in Idaho, in company with the proposed colony of Friends.

It would appear that there must be a large body of the Doukhobortsi remaining in Russia, many of whom cannot get away before spring of next year. A correspondent well informed on the subject writes to the INTELLIGENCER, as follows:

"There were, I understand, some 12,000 Doukhobortsi who withstood the persecution until the spring of 1898. It is difficult to get exact figures, as the people are scattered, the facts are changing month by month, and communication with them is constantly interrupted. Some of them have given way, and made their submission to the Government, some are in Siberia, and some are beyond reach or knowledge, but in August last there were about 7,500 who desired to emigrate, under the permission granted by the Government. These might be classified as follows: 3,300 who had been scattered and ruined; 1,100 in the Elizavetpol district, not quite ruined; 3,100 in Kars district, also not quite destitute. Of this total 1,126 have gone to Cyprus, 2,200 are starting to Canada