SEMPTEMBEB 15, 1912 



605 



will drop local option in a minute, any 

 where, and vote for State-wide prohibition 

 with the Proliibition party just as soon as 

 there is a reasonable prospect of success. 

 Well, now at just this very minute is the 

 "golden opportunity." The Anti-saloon 

 League will gladly unite with the Prohibi- 

 tion party and put in Chatin or Bryan as 

 President, and thus unite the different 

 forces, the Christian people, and the 

 churches of the ivhole United States if the 

 Prohibition jiarty will consent. But in- 

 stead of that they keep on hurling clubs at 

 the Anti-saloon League, and promulgating 

 statements at their great conventions, such 

 as the one I have recently mentioned, held 

 at Atlantic City. May God help us in this 

 crisis; and may we who love righteousness 

 and hate iniquity take greater care than 

 ever before that the arch prince of dark- 

 ness does not any longer get into our con- 

 ventions, into our temperance periodicals, 

 nor into our churches, and stir up strife 

 where there is certainly no occasion nor 

 need of strife and disagreement. Let us 

 remember the beautiful sentiment expressed 

 by the patriarch Abram when he said to 

 Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, 

 between thee and me. . . for we be 

 brethren." 



YE ARE OF MORE VALUE THAN MANY 

 SPARROWS. 



A good friend away off in Colorado 

 sends us a little story clipped from a pam- 

 phlet sent out by the Y. M. C. A. of Mesa 

 Co., Col. On some accounts the story be- 

 longs to "high-pressure gardening;" but in 

 reality it should have a place in the high- 

 est kind of gardening — even the gardening 

 that was taught by the hand and voice of 

 God in the garden of Eden, away back in 

 the beginning — a gardening and garnering 

 of the souls belonging to the boys and girls 

 in our homes. Here is the story. Read 

 it and see what you think of it. 



STORY OP A MESA COUNTY BOY AND A BIG RED 

 APPLE. 



John Average Mann was a successful fruit-grower 

 in Mesa County, Colo., and Prank was his son. 

 Prank was a bright boy and full of promise. At 

 twelve years of age he dropped out of Sunday-school 

 (but this was unnoticed, for in that county only 46 

 per cent of the boys attend Sunday-school). Shortly 

 after this he began to smoke cigarettes which he 

 bought at the corner grocery, contrary to the laws 

 of that State. A few of the neighbors who chanced 

 to know about it said something ought to be done, 

 but nothing was. When he was fourteen he drop- 

 ped out of school and folks all remarked it was "too 

 bad." And then he began to find evil companions 

 who led him gradually into places of ill repute, for, 

 as the boys said, there was no other place to go. 

 Many were sympathetic, and said something ought 

 to be done for the boy. At seventeen Prank got in 

 a "scrape" in Grand Junction, and it cost John 

 several hundred dollars to save him from prison. 

 A wise old man remarked that if John had half as 

 much knowledge about the rearing of children as 



about the growing of apples Frank would be dif- 

 ferent. Frank has since gone out into the world 

 unprepared physically, educationally, socially, or 

 morally to do a man's work in the world. John 

 seldom hears from him ; but last report said he was 

 in Denver "workin' round at whatever he kin find 

 to do." John and his lonely wife continue to work 

 in the fruit, and dream of the happy days when 

 Frank was a boy. 



One day there was a knock at the door. It was 

 the county horticulturist, who said he had discover- 

 ed a strange blight in one of John's trees. A big 

 red apple was withered and disfigured by some un- 

 known disease. The field horticulturist must be 

 called at once. In less than two hours he arrived 

 on a motorcycle. The apple was treated, and the 

 tree sprayed,but without avail. A "bugologist" was 

 called from the agricultural college by telephone; 

 the neighbors gathered, and there was a consulta- 

 tion, spraying, and pruning. The apple, once red 

 and plump, now faded and withered, fell to the 

 ground with a dead, sickening thud. The experts 

 could not understand it, and the neighbors were 

 frightened lest the disease might spread. A tele- 

 gram was sent collect to the Department of Agri- 

 culture at Washington. In three days a great na- 

 tional entomologist arrived, and there was more 

 consultation, spraying, and pruning. The disease 

 was checked. John was grateful, and willing to 

 pay the expense; but the county horticulturist said, 

 "No, the people of the county are interested in the 

 fruit crop, and they pay the bill." The field horti- 

 culturist said, "You owe me nothing. The State 

 pays for such work." The Washington expert said, 

 "That is what the Department of Agriculture is for. 

 Feel free to call on us." One evening, after ,a few 

 months, as John sat in his easy chair, thinking of 

 Prank, his good wife handed h'im a book that had 

 come in the day's mail. It was a bulletin of the 

 Department of Agriculture entitled "Fighting the 

 Heterocerous Lepidoper Bark Louse in Mesa Coun- 

 ty, Colorado." The old man sighed and said, "It is 

 strange so many were interested in saving my ap- 

 ples and no one interested in saving my bov." 



The above may be slightly exaggerated, 

 especially some of the closing sentences; 

 but I am afraid it is a fact that the dif- 

 ferent departments at Washingion, es- 

 pecially the Department of Agriculture, 

 seem to think this matter of preventing 

 the dissemination of noxious insects is of 

 more importance than looking after the 

 morals of the cliildren of our great land. 

 Somebody said not long ago that the De- 

 partment at Wasliington would send a 

 learned professor across the continent to 

 doctor a sick pig; but a sick waw_, woman, 

 or child seemed to be outside of their 

 jurisdiction. Let us thank God, however, 

 that at least something is being done in 

 caring for the spiritual health of our peo- 

 ple. Now let us all work and pray that 

 not only the Dei^artment of Agriculture 

 (at the head of our nation) may give more 

 time and attention to the spiritual life as 

 well as the physical, but that Uncle Samuel 

 may very soon also give us a couple of 

 bulletins to which I should like to furnish 

 the headings. The first would be, "A Bul- 

 letin Considering the Effect of Intoxicating 

 Liquors on the Financial, Physical, and 

 Spiritual Well-being of Our People." The 

 other bulletin would be just like the above, 

 substituting the word "tobacco" for spirit- 

 uous liquors. Will you not work and pray, 

 with me, that the above may be brought 

 about? 



