‘no one was watching.
Brunia.
Belletonte, Pa., March 23, 1917.
NEW NATIONAL HYMN.
My country ‘twas in thee,
Land where we used to see
Things cheap, we sing;
Land where we once could buy
Things that are now sky high,
To thee our children cry
And memories cling.
Most of thy people swear
That what they eat and wear
Takes every cent;
Some declare that they
Eat only twice a day,
For which they cannot pay,
And meet the rent.
Thy people wish to go,
Land where the taters grow;
For that we beg;
We do not ask to dine
On turkey, beef and wine
But give we pray of thine,
Just one fresh egg.
Our fathers used to see
Some little poverty—
Our story stops.
Long may our hopes be bright
That we pull through all right,
We sure will hit the pike
If things don’t drop.
—Dr. N. H. Myers.
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.
Each month the Gray Eagle Mining
Company makes an award to that
one of its employees who best distin-
guishes himself for bravery, courage
and undaunted valor. The prize for
the month of April was a miner’s
golden candlestick, made especially
for the purpose. Every part of it,
from the loop to the beak, was the
pure yellow metal of the Gray Eagle
mine.
Westguard, the foreman, held the
stick over the mess table where the
light from the incandescent lamps
made it glitter like a jewel. “The one
who gets this will be well paid,” the
mine boss said. “The reward will go
to the one whose courage and honor
are unquestioned, and who wins the
majority vote of the crew.”
Among the number who heard the
foreman’s announcement and got a
glimpse of the prize, was Bob Stevens,
the “camp rustler,” And among all
the crew Bob would have been con-
sidered the least likely to win it. Not
that the boy was a coward, but be-
cause of his nondescript habits and
apparent lack of ambition. He was
retained in camp mainly because he
was a handy fellow to send on er-
rands, go for the mail, deliver dis-
patches and do any and all of the odd
jobs that the forman and superinten-
dent found for him. Most of these
tasks were trival, and the lad was
never given an opportunity to prove
himself, not till that April day, almost
a full month after Westguard made
the announcement of the golden can-
dlestick. On this day, bright and
early, when the chinook wind came
down the canon as warm and balmy
as a baby’s breath against the cheek.
Bob was ordered by the superinten-
dent to saddle the best horse in the
stable and come round to the office.
When he reined up before the little
building, Jason came out, cdrrying a
brown leather bag that hung heavily
from his hand.
“I want you to take this down to
Grant’s Pass and have it shipped by
Wells Fargo express to the mint,”
the superintendent spoke in low tones,
first gazing round to make sure that
“It’s our clean-
up for the month,” he added, handing
up the bag five bricks—about fifty
thousand. Be sure that you get
through with it; and hit the trail at
once, going as fast as Jupiter can take
you. Better follow the old Govern-
ment trail, but go mighty easy across
the Deep Hollow Bridge. It’s unsafe,
even for a footman. -
The superintendent looked Bob in
the face while he spoke, as if fully
to determine the boy’s worth for such
a trust. When the youth had taken
over the bag, Jason reached up and
pinched his knee, speaking in tones
tense with meaning: “Remember, lad,
I'm going to depend on you!”
Bob Stevens, looking down into
Jason’s eyes felt for the first time
the genuine thrill of responsibility.
“Yes,” he replied firmly. “T’ll get
through.” He fastened the bag se-
copay to the pommel and bounded
off. >
There were special reasons, of
course, why Jason sent out the clean-
up by Bob Stevens. It might have
been a ruse, pure and simple, and
done to outwit certain ones whom the
boss feared might attempt robbery
were the precious metal taken over
the road in some other way. Just
how and when the bricks were taken
out belonged entirely with the man-
agement. Sometimes the superinten-
dent himself carried it, at other times
the foreman; and now and then it was
shipped by the stage. :
Bob believed the trust was imposed
upon him because there was a man
who had faith in him: and this belief,
new-born and pulsing, warmed his
blood and made his heart beat faster.
He decided at the beginning, that he
would make good—that he would get
through—that he would prove himself
worthy of the confidence shown. Here
was where he would make a change,
he told himself, from indifference and
carelessness to a life of energy and
real purpose. He was not thinking
of the golden candlestick when this
decision came. He made it because
he was convinced there was at least
one person in the world who believed
in him.
The boy soon left the main road
and pulled into the Government trail,
an old and practically abandoned
shortcut that would allow him to reach
Grant’s Pass by noon. An hour pass-
ed. Jupiter maintained an unbroken
pace over the sod-muffled path. Ashe
sped along through the grim moun-
tain silences, Bob, for some reason be-
camé uneasy. At other times he
would not have cared. But he began
to feel the weight of responsibility.
If there had been other sounds than
the pound of Jupiter’s hoofs on the |b:
trail, or the squeak of his saddle, he
would have been more at ease. It was
the absolute stillness of the moun-
tains that troubled him.
Six miles of the trail were flung be-
hind. Then he dropped deeper into
the canon, and struck the approach to
Deep Hollow bridge. This ancient
crossway, hung by slender poles, had
been used during the Indian fighting
days by scouts and soldiers. It was
just wide enough for one horse. Bob
pulled his mount to a walk, and even
at this pace the structure wabbled
unsteadily.
When less than a third of the way
over, the bridge reeled frightfully.
The horse stopped, stiffened his legs,
and snorted in terror. Bob urged him
forward with a light touch of the
spurs: Seized with a mad desire to
reach solid ground in the least possi-
ble time, Jupiter leaped unexpectedly.
The bridge tottered and began to set-
tle. The boy realized that it would
certainly go down. He took his feet
from the stirrups, hastily unstrapped
the bag, and slipped quickly to the
bridge floor.
Given its freedom, the horse dash-
ed off the bridge, leaving the boy
scrambling and clawing over the
swaying, sinking wreckage. Then
Bob realized his mistake—he should
have stayed on his horse—and it was
now too late. He grasped the railing
to keep his feet, and clutched his fin-
gers around the bag of gold.
The railing gave way. Down, down
he went, into the depths of Deep Hol-
low Canon! It was a sheer drop of
sixty feet, broken only by the boughs
and branches of firs and laurels. Into
this growth crashed the falling bridge,
Bob Stevens and the bag of gold.
The ycuth lost consciousness when
he fell. Some time later his senses
returned. He found himself bruised,
torn and bleeding, with a mass of
broken boughs and planks. When he
turned over he felt a keen pain in
both his ankles, and looking down,
saw that both feet were twisted gro-
tesquely. He was unable to stand, un-
able to do anything but drag his body
off the pile.
“Both ankles are sprained,” Bob re-
marked grimly. “But I'm going to
get out. I promised Jason I'd take
the gold through.”
“How ?” the taunting voice of cow-
ardice seemed to speak out of the for-
est silence.’
“Crawl!” Bob declared with genu-
ine determination.
wr ou can’t do it,” the taunting voice
said.
“Yes I can” Bob returned firm-
ly. I'm good for three miles even
with both feet out of business. That
will take me down to the stage road.”
He started to move, dragging the
bag of gold. For the first time he re-
alized the fact that the bag was heavy
as lead; also he found that his tatter-
ed coat was in the way. He removed
the coat and strapped the bag around
his neck, so that the weight of it rest-
ed on his back. This was better, but
he had gone only a short distance
when the pain of the twisted ankles
‘became almost unbearable. He turn-
ed sick and dizzy, and lay a long
while, dazed and half conscious.
When he finally revived he found
himself almost too weak to move. His
courage failed him. “What's the
use?” he asked himself. “I can’t
make "*™ . And when he would have
stretched at ease on the cool, sweet
grass, he recalled the promise made
the superintendent. For the moment
he seemed to be looking down into Ja-
son’s dark eyes, and could hear the
mining man say. “Remember, lud,
I’m going to depend on you!”
“Yes,” Bob declared, rising up, “I
must get through. I must make
good.” So he crawled on again. There
was a chance, he believed, of his horse
returning to camp; thus Jason would
know that something had gone wrong,
and send someone to the rescue. Then
he remembered that Jupiter had dash-
ed off the bridge on the side opposite
camp; with the structure gone the an-
imal could not return; so this hope
died in his heart. No, there was but
one way; this was to crawl, crawl,
crawl!
He moved through the quiet hours
of the morning, a few yards at a time,
lifting his head every little while to
keep his bearings. Once, a coyote
crossed before him, pausing and look-
ing at him in savage wonder, as if
curious to know what creature this
was.
Noon came, and the April sun,
pouring into the canon, turned like
an orb of molten metal. It seemed to
Bob that he was dying for water. His
tongue became swollen with the “cot-
ton thirst.” In the midst of a big,
barren field of broken shale, he came
upon a clump of rabbit grass. It was
not a big patch, but he drew his tired,
pain-racked body into it, and buried
his face in the cool, moist earth. This
did not quench his thirst, but it took
the fire out of his throat, and reduced
his swollen tongue.
By lifting his head he could glimpse
a splotch of green, far down at the
lower border of the shale field. There
was water down there, he believed,
and with renewed hope, he moved for-
ward, halting frequently to catch his
breath. He pulled himself at length
into the refreshing coolness of the
clump. He heard the soft tinkle of
water. This was music to his ears.
He crawled on down and found a
spring. Burying his face in the cold
water he drank and drank. His whole
body semed to absorb the refreshing
draught.
He could not resist stretching him-
self at comfortable ease for a time,
and before he knew it, sleep came up-
on him. He awoke with a start, con-
fident that he had heard some animal
approaching. He listened intently,
and was sure there came to his ear the
muffled tread of hoofs. He raised up
and called, feebly. A moment later
there was a crash of growth near at
hand, and when he lifted his head he
saw a horse approaching. It was sad-
dled, but riderless, and the reins hung
loose on the pommel. It was Jupiter!
The boy called to him and the ani-
mal drew nearer. Again and again
he called, holding forth the appealing
hands. Jupiter circled round and
round, snorting. Yet, as Bob kept
calling, the horse drew nearer, and fi-
nally came close enough to sniff Bob's
hand. Finally, the lad reached the
reins, and by a desperate effort man-
aged to pull himself up and fasten the
ag to the saddle horn. Then he
threw a foot over the animal’s neck.
Jupiter tossed his head and lifted the
RUSSIAN DYNASTY OVERTHROWN
: : : | :
Czar Nicholas Abdicates the Throne of Russia and a new | WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH, PH.D. EDITOR.
Form of Government is
ists. Country Will
Set Up by Revolution-
Take More Active
Part in War.
The entire world was electrified
last Thursday by the news that
the Emperor of Russia had abdicat-
ed and Grand Duke Michael Alexan-
drovitch, his younger brother, had
been named as regent. The Russian
ministry, charged with corruption and
incompetence, has been swept out of
office. One minister, Alexander Pro-
topopoff, head of the interior depart-
ment, is reported to have been killed
and the other ministers, as well as
the president of the Imperial Coun-
cil, are under arrest.
For several days Petrograd had
been the scene of one of the most
remarkable risings in history. Be-
ginning with minor food riots and
labor strikes, the ery for food reached
the hearts of the soldiers, and one by
one the regiments rebelled. Finally
those troops that had for a time stood
loyal to the government took up their
arms and maiched in the ranks of the
revolutionists.
The president of the duma, Michzel
V. Rodzianko, was the leading figure
among the deputies who unanimously
decided to oppose the imperial order
for a dissolution of the house. They
continued their session and M. Rod-
zinako informed the Emperor, then at
the front, that the hour had struck
when the will of the people must pre-
vail. Even the imperial council real-
ized the gravity of the situation and
added its appeal to that of the duma,
that the Emperor should take steps to
give the people a policy and govern-
ment in accordance with their desires
and in order that there should be no
interference with carrying on the war
to a victorious ending.
The Emperor hastened back from
the front, only to find that the revolu-
tion had been successful and that a
new government was in control. The
Empress, who, 1t is alleged, has been
influential in, the councils opposed to
the wishes of the people, is reported
to have fled or to be in hiding.
Although considerable fighting took
place, it is not believed that the
casualties are large.
NEW FORM OF GOVERNMEN.
Following the tumultuous events of
the final day of the revolution the
Grand Duke Michael abdicated as
regent and thus the Romanoff dynasty
was brought to an end.
Within twenty-four hours Russia
was in a fair way toward solving the
greatest problem with which, perhaps,
any nation was ever confronted.
Order is growing with incredible
rapidity out of the chaos of the last
week and the new government, gath-
ering up the broken threads of na-
tional and municipal life, is striving
to set the organization of the coun-
try in motion so that the conduct of
the war will suffer as little as pos-
sible from the revolution.
The members of the new ministry
already have assumed their posts and
the government buildings, empty and
deserted for four days, are again
open for official business. The banks,
all the commercial and financial
houses and some of the factories have
responded to the new govern-
ment’s appeal, opened their doors and
expressed a willingness to do every-
thing in their power to effect as quick
a recovery as possible from the par-
alysis of the last week. The soldier
policemen are guarding the streets in
places of the old gendarmes.
According to the latest information
the executive committee of the duma
and the committees of soldiers and
workingmen’s deputies have reached
a full agreement, or at least have
decided temporarily to waive all mi-
nor differences until the meeting of
the constitutional assembly, which
will decide just what form the new
government of Russia will take.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the
government of the country will rest
for three months in the hands of a
committee of twelve, and it is stated
that the monarchy, for the time be-
ing, will be abolished.
WILL FIGHT TO A FINISH.
With the final cementing of the ele-
ments concerned in the construction
of the new government upon the ruins
of the old, the new cabinet ministers,
relieved of the heavy grind of the
endless conference of the last few
days in which they suffered many
anxious hours, have assumed the posts
to which they were assigned.
Professor Paul N. Milukoff spent
Sunday at the foreign office. In the
representatives of the entente allies,
after which he entered upon a long
cabinet conference.
One of the first acts of the minister
was to send a series of cable messages
to the Russian diplomats abroad to
the effect that Russia was united in
the desire to fight out the war with
the allies, the determination to con-
tinue the conflict until the victory is
achieved being stronger than ever.
The armies in the field have advised
that the abdication of the Emperor
has been enthusiastically acquiesced
in, according to a foreign office official.
Telegrams from virtually all the com-
manders have been received assuring
the support of the government guar-
anteed in advance by General Michael
Alexieff, chief of staff.
WILL INCREASE MILITARY EFFORTS.
Confidence is everywhere expressed
that, under the direction of the new
| government, the military and indus-
; trial forces of the country will be en-
| abled to carry on operations upon a
{ much larger scale than before, and
considerably magnify their efforts
toward a speedy termination of the
war.
! Endless friction between depart-
i ments and the continual fear on the
I part of the old government that too
complete organization might result in
i the sudden growth of popular power
! have left a great part of the resources
‘of the country inert and useless.
| Every effort at the mobilization of
| these resources, each plan to organize
and expedite the transportation of
supplies, met with the most stubborn
| opposition.
| Meetings of the committee of town
i unions in Moscow that assembled to
. discuss means of remedying the in-
| dustrial disorganizations of the coun-
‘try were broken up by the police
i under the instructions of the ministry
'of the interior, which feared that
' such meetings might provide oppor-
| tunity for the dissemination of pro-
paganda against the government,
| altho it was chiefly due to these meet-
ings that Prince Lvoff, president of
all the Russian Union of Counties,
| whose activities were so bitterly op-
posed by the old government, is head
| of the new cabinet.
| GOOD TASK WELL PERFORMED.
| Probably no event of similar magni-
!tude ever had a less colorful after-
math, or was accepted by the people
so vitally affected with less of a de-
monstration. With the exception of a
few parades, chiefly in the district of
the duma, people went soberly about
their business as if satisfied with a
good task well performed. Apparent-
ly the excess of enthusiasm had been
in the stirring days preceding the
final denouement.
Grand Duke Nicholas has ordered
the release of the political prisoners
who have been incarcerated at Baku,
in the Trans-Caucasus, Reuter’s Tiflis
correspondent telegraphs.
The Grand Duke enjoined senior
and junior officers to advise the sol-
diers and sailors, now that the throne
has been renounced by Emperor Nich-
olas, that they should quietly await
an expression of will from the Rus-
sian people. It is their sacred duty,
the Grand Duke said, to continue to
obey the lawful chiefs, to defend the
country from the enemies and from
their exploits to support their allies.
There has been some uncertainty
as to the whereabouts of Grand Duke
Nicholas, who is reported to have been
selected for chief command of the
Russian armies.
boy up. It cost a lot of pain, but Bob
got into the saddle. Then he pulled
the horse out of the tangled growth
in the canon bottom, and found the
trail.
Darkness had dropped its dark
mantle over the mountains and the
lights of Grant’s Pass twinkled
through the gloom, when a horse came
down from the old Government trail
and entered the little valley. A blood-
stained, tattered youth clung to the
saddle. With drooping head and
dragging feet, the leg-weary animal
came to a halt in front of the Wells
Fargo office. The boy was unable to
dismount, and uttering a cry of min-
gled pain and alarm, fell exhausted
into the agent’s arms, muttering
aloud: “Here’s the Gray Eagle clean-
up. Send it through at once. Make
out a receipt for Jason.”
On the evening of April thirtieth,
when “chuck” was over, and just be-
fore the night shift went down into
the mine, the Gray Eagle crew as-
sembled in the mess room to witness
the awarding of the golden candle-
stick. Westguard called to order and
a dozen or more experiences were told.
Many of the fearless men had accred-
ited themselves nobly. Just when a
vote of decision was called, the crowd
parted at the door to admit four men
bearing a stretcher. Jason, the super-
intendent, was among the four; and
in the white pain-racked face of the
one who lay on. the cot, the miners
recognized the features of Bob Ste-
vens.
Modesty, as well as physical weak-
ness prevented the youth from telling
his story, so Jason told it for him.
Then the vote was taken. The deci-
sion was unanimous. Acting upon the
verdict, the big boss placed the glit-
tering prize in Bob’s trembling hand.
The boy could not speak, for his voice
was choked with emotion; but when
Jason stooped over him and looked
close into his face, he read in the
glowing eyes the story of a boy’s
courage and a boy’s faith.—The
Boy’s World.
Special Notice Regarding Federal
Road Aid.
The Secretary of Agriculture gave
out a statement a short time ago to
refute the report that States desiring
to obtain money for roads under the
Federal aid road act, which appropri-
ates $85,000,000, must build only ex-
pensive roads, and to make it clear
that no particular kind of material
will be required or favored by the De-
partment of Agriculture to the detri-
ment of other materials.
“There is not the slightest truth in
Sach a report,” said Secretary Hous-
on.
charged with the administration of
the Federal aid road act, has placed
absolutely no restrictions, either di-
rect or implied, upon the kinds of
highways to be constructed. States
may submit for approval any kind of
road, even an earth road, and ap-
proval will be given if the construc-
tion be substantial in character, suit-
able for traffic needs, and meets the
terms of the Federal act. To give
State Legislators and highway offi-
cials the impression that this depart-
ment favors only costly types of road,
or discriminates in favor of any par-
ticular material, results not only in
spreading misinformation, but in
‘placing barriers in the way of States
which wish to avail themselves of
Federal aid in road construction.”
Justified Himself.
He—The love I have declared for
you is a perfect love.
She—And will you swear that you
have never loved another?
He—Ah, darling, you forget that it
is practice that makes perfect.—Bos-
ton Transcript.
afternoon he received the diplomatic !
“This department, which is
OUR CHILDREN’S POSTURE.
’
!
1
The Chautauqua Reading Hour
Did you know that good posture is
{ one of the requirements for promotion
{in the Brooklyn schools ?
i Did you know that not 40 per cent
iof our children have the habit of
| standing correctly ?
i Did you know that incorrect posi-
| ture is often an evidence of eye-strain
{or defective hearing, that it often
leads to spinal curvature, and that it
is possible through displacement from
poor posture to put the stomach in
such a position that the food cannot
pass out of it?
Did you realize that by habits of
poor posture created in childhood,
literally, “as the twig (child) is bent,
the tree (man) is inclined,” and are
almost impossible to cure in the
adult ?
Incorrect posture is often due to
insufficient nourishment, to carrying
books or newspapers or hundies upon
one hip, and to sitting in chairs that
fairly mold the children into wrong
attitudes. It is during the years of
life when there is the greatest in-
crease in weight and in the size of
the vital organs that children slouch
the most.
CERTAIN POPULAR FALLACIES.
Most of us who try to ‘help chil-
dren to most graceful attitudes hold
certain popular notions about what to
do that are utterly mischievous. Let
me enumerate some of them.
1. We think it is good posture when
a child’s chest puffs out and upward.
As a matter of fact this barrel-shape
belongs only to babies. The mature
chest should be wide and nearly flat.
2. We tell the children, “Throw
back your shoulder blades.” They
should not be thrown back, but simply
drawn together. If they throw them
back they generally throw out thc
stomach.
3. We think children should toe out.
As a matter of fact their feet should
be parallel. To toe out makes falling
arches and flat feet.
4. We tell them to walk touching
the toes to the ground first. This is
not right. It is a step that 1s encour-
aged by high heels, but it is awkward
and causes an unnatural straighten-
ing back of the whole body.
WHAT OUR HOMES CAN DO.
There are some very important
things the Posture League people
would like to have us do for the chil-
dren in our homes.
They want us to supply them with
comfortable chairs... A properly ad-
justed chair has the seat at the height
of the bent knee when the foot resis
flat on the floor. The back shouid
have a straight, not a bending lateral
Jine and a backward slope. The bot-
tom of the seat should curve to hold
the body in rather than slope to spill
it out. To get the good of a good
chair we should encourage the chil-
dren whenever they sit to push far
back in the chair before leaning back-
ward, and not attempt to sit on their
backbones.
We are especially cautioned as to
dining-room chairs and piano-stools.
Such seats are seldom. comfortable
for children and ought to be supple-
mented by footstools.
We ought to exclaim carefully the
fit of our children’s clothes, particu-
larly the boy’s suspenders. Some gar-
ments throw the shoulders forward
so forcibly that if the child should
try to put them correctly there would
be a tension across the breast and a
big wrinkle in the back. The only
good suspenders are those which can-
not be felt when they are worn. We
are advised to correct the tendency
of the boy to wear his hands in his
pockets, which he does because of
their weight, by slipping his fingers
into his belt.
HOW TO INSPECT POSTURE.
Miss Jessie Bancroft makes the at-
tractive suggestion that we should es-
tablish the family custom of having
“morning inspection” of the children
daily as to the way they stand, before
they go to school.
There are two simple, instantaneous
tests for correctness. It seems the
bones of the body are like a lot of ir-
regular-shaped blocks piled on top of
each other and held in their places by
muscles. If the pile is erect it is
easier to hold and control. So the test
for erectness is this: If a line drop-
ped from the front of the ear to the
forward part of the foot is vertical,
then the posture is perfect, except for
the shoulders. Now if the round of
the shoulder comes under or back of
the ear, the shoulders are in place.
Isn’t that easy? ih
If you wish to test sitting posture
you mark first if the child is touching
the whole back of a correct chair, and
if, in' leaning forward, he leans from
the hips and not from the waist.
HOW TO ESTABLISH GOOD POSTURE.
Miss Bancroft told me that the way
to encourage correct standing posture
in the home consists principally in
getting the child frequently to feel
how it is to be correct. And to this
end she suggests this simple exercise:
Have the child, standing, stretch the
arms directly sidewise at shoulder
level, with the palms turned down-
ward, and, holding the arms there,
sway forward from the ankles so that
the weight of the body is nearly or
quite over the balls of the feet, not
however, rising on the toes, but keep-
ing the heels on the ground. It may
be necessary also to draw the chin in-
ward to bring the neck into an up-
right position. This is much better
than the old-fashioned “head up, chin
in,” ete., directions, because it treats
the body as a whole, instead of con-
fusing the child by calling his atten-
tion to different parts in turn. Under
these comprehensive directions there
is no temptation to assume the “ban-
tam” attitude that is often taken by
the conscientious child yhen he is told
to “straighten up.” If as a final re-
minder we command, “feet together,”
and not “heels together,” so that the
feet are parallel, we may safely dis-
miss our little company, to march to
school.
THE MORAL VALUE OF GOOD “STAND-
ING.”
Miss Bancroft convinced me so
thoroughly that she has taken hold
of a matter of utmost importance in
the development of our children that
I know you will like to read the clos-
-
ing sentence in her book on this sub-
ject. “The song and gladness of the
human heart, its love and faith and
prayer, its loftiest vision and noblest
aspiration, are depicted in a figure of
perfect pose—and all these qualities
Sdncation should achieve for the chil-
ren.’
IDEAS AND PROSPERITY.
BY JULIA CATHERINE GRAY.
“Ideas are the pure gold of the
spirit. They are the treasure in
Heaven, the gift of Divine Mind to its
offspring. Through ideas we recog-
nize our real nature as creators, and
bring forth abundance for ourselves,
and enrich the consciousness of the
race.”
Ideas are bringing high prices. The
man or woman with an idea has some-
thing which fills a need. But how to
get the idea? It is no wonder we ask
ourselves that question, for thought
power is at a low plane of vibration.
We move along the line of least re-
sistance. We do not know that there
is more real satisfaction in overcom-
ing inanimate obstacles than there is
in taking an army or a city. We do
not know the irresistible power of
ideas, nor the joy of digging to dis-
cover our own hidden talent. In a
vague way, we wish for them, and it
is’at the moment of wishing that they
may be on the road to us, but we pro-
ceed to turn them in another direction
by giving them a cold reception. We
do not respect them properly simply
because they are ours.
. The active principle of the universe
is spiritual energy. Thought is its
motive power, the power that sets it
vibrating in our lives. Desire calls
it into action. After we have named
our need, there is the further requi-
site of faith—faith in our own idea,
and in the ever-present supply of the
Divine Spirit that is the underlying
substance of all life. Spirit is active.
We may call upon it and let it work
for us.
We grow into the likeness which
we set for ourselves by our thought
power. The human being molds his
form and his environment by his
ideas, and their grotesqueness is
easily apparent. In the same way he
breeds the lower animals according to
the type which he desires. The man
of wealth has held his ideal positively
and incessantly and followed his im-
pressions. The hopelessly poor man
has dwelt positively on his desire to
escape his enyironment, but has stead-
fastly believed in his inability to do
so, and has thus become solidified
within it.
Now we are not to get our supply
simply by a transference of a portion
from our neighbor's store, nor by
skimping, hoarding and drudging
until soul and body shrivel. There is
no record that the increase in the
loaves and fishes, which fed the multi-
tude and left a large surplus, came by
sending a messenger into the village.
A blessing was pronounced and
abundance was manifest.
There is no more virtue in povert
than there is in sickness. God-like
Affluence is a factor in our spiritual
inheritance. Divine Abundance is a
real substance, a faith-substance. The
measure of it within our reach de-
pends upon our ability to assimilate
it by belief in it. If we could believe
this. as absolutely as we know that
our daily food is a real, tangible sub-
stance, we should have no more cause
for worry, and why not believe it?
“Prove me now and see if I will not
pour out a blessing upon you so great
that there shall not be room to receive
it.” Why not test this spiritual sub-
stance by our own experimenting?
We have tried hard scrabbling, grind-
ing, deadening labor, becoming men-
tally befogged over our financial con-
dition. We have even ioafed on the
job and waited for something to turn
up.
“Freely ye receive, freely give.”
It goes back to the old law of sowing
and reaping. Opening the mind and
letting our ideas come out for an air-
ing is one way. Not by foisting them
upon others, but submitting them to
our own higher, spiritual understand-
ing. Give ideas a chance to grow,
bring them out to the light. Accord
them proper respect. Give freely of
them whenever you give your services.
Suppose we do not succeed in invent-
ing an aeroplane. If we give the sug-
gestion to some one else, we shall
have done just as much, and the pro-
ceeds will come back to us. “With
what measure ye mete, it shall be
meted out to you.”
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
and all these things shall be added
unto you.” By getting into a condi-
tion of mental harmony, a good soil
is provided for the growth of ideas.
Right-use-ness, then, of our inherent
ability is the stepping stone to pros-
perity. No burying of our talents in
a napkin; no still-born ideas; but a
ten-fold increase by making constant
use of them. We are to bless them
by right usage, to develop them lest
they lie buried within that immeasur-
able inner darkness of our minds
which is so full of undiscovered treas-
ure. By putting into circulation that
which we have, to us shall be given
that which we have not. By hoarding
even that which we have shall be
taken away.
It is possible to charge our ideas
with a spiritual magic which shall in
turn communicate itself to our deeds
and possessions. Spiritual abundance
will give us only so much as we are
able to vitalize. It will protect us
from the tyranny of “things,” from
the bitterness and crudity of want.
Let us not continue, then, to go
about like babes in toyland, at the
mercy of our personal whims and de-
sires. Smiting the rock of personal
possession and accepting the idea of
universal ownership will bring to us
the living waters of abundance. Tem-
poral abundance is the natural con-
sequence of spiritual riches.—Advanc-
ed Thought, March.
The Old Lady Again.
Mrs. Kawler—I hear that the boy
next door took his father’s pipe to
blow bubbles with and is quite sick.
Mrs. Blunderby—Yes, poor little
man. The doctor says its a case of
nugatine poisoning.—Boston Trans-
cript.
—The “Watchman” has all the news
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