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THE NATIONAL SABBATH SCHOOL 
MEETING. 
MKS. W. C. G. 
Dear Rural Yoono Folks I want to tell you 
something about Chautauqua Lake, and Its great 
Sunday school Assembly. But first let me tell 
you where Chautauqua Lake is. Most or the 
Geography scholars m the states of New York, 
Pennsylvania and Ohio, can point to It readily on 
their maps, for It has become so famous, that It Is 
a familiar household word; but we must not forget 
that the dear old Rural visits children In the far 
West, In the sunny South, In Canada, and even 
finds Its way to the Isles of the ocean. Chau- 
tauqua Lake Is a lovely sheet of water eighteen 
miles In lengt h, and from one half to two nfilea In 
width. In the western part of the great State or 
New York, it 13 the highest water la the world, 
navigated by steam, (?) being 1300 feet above the 
level of the sea, and more than 700 feet above Lake 
Erie, from which It Is distant about eight miles. 
On account of Its cool, bracing, and healthy air, It 
has become a famous summer resort for the tired 
and heated pleasure seeker from the city. On Its 
shore near the head of the Lake, are located the 
grounds of the National Sunday School Assembly, 
and It Is of tills Assembly I wish to tell my little 
friends. Happy Is the child, whose parents own a 
■cottage, or strike a tent on this delightful camping 
ground during the three weeks In August, which 
Include the meetings. There are so many things 
to please t he eye, and lender the long summer 
•days a constant round of enjoyment aside from 
the Instruction one receives, that It seems almost 
a fit representation of Paradise. Besides the 
boating and bathing, there are the rambles In the 
woods to gather ferns and wild flowers, rustic 
seats and rustic bridges over ravines, fountains, 
statuary, and flowers. In addition to fixe Audito¬ 
rium, which consists of seats In the open air, where 
the audiences gather In pleasant weather, and the 
vast Amphitheatre whose root covers seats for six 
thousand people, the good men who love children, 
and are trying to do all they can to induce them 
to grow up In the good way, have built a Children's 
Temple, which Is dedicated entirely to the service 
•of the little folks. Here they gather every morn¬ 
ing for sabbath School which Is made so enter¬ 
taining and instructive, that It Is always a pleas¬ 
ure for the children to assemble. On the last day 
but one of the Assembly of 1S79, the children 
marched to the music of the band to the Amphi¬ 
theater to listen to Dr. Vincent’s story about 
THE MAOIC BOOK. 
I must tell you that Dr. Vincent was the origina¬ 
tor of this great Sabbath School enterprise, and Is 
such a wonderful man, that lie at once wins the 
hearts of all the children and, I may add, the 
hearts of the grown people likewise. I wish I 
could make you realize with what breathless ex¬ 
pectation he held the attention of every child, for 
his manner was so winning, and his story so fasci¬ 
nating, that I am sure no one of the vast audience 
either young or old, will ever forget it. X must 
needs tell you In a few words his story of an hours 
length, which of course must lack a great deal in 
interest, but I hope you may glean a useful lesson 
from it. Dr. Vincent said: "1 am going to picture 
to yon this magic book, of which If I had sufficient 
money I would have a copy printed and presented 
to every boy and girl in the land. On the first page, 
beautifully Illustrated and surrounded by lovely 
flowers and vines, is an N., nothing more. On the 
next page still more beautiful, If possible, than the 
first, Is a C., nothing more. On the third page—In 
letters of gold beautifully embossed and decorated 
is another N. nothing more. On the fourth page 
transeendently bright and lively, is another C, 
nothing more. Turn the page, and lo! glittering 
In glory again, appear the magic letters 
N. C.—N. C. 
Now who can tell me what these magic letters 
signify ?” A few, ouly of those who had been held 
spell-bound and mystified, had divined the mean¬ 
ing, and a few voices answered triumphantly, 
**iYo Cross, No Crown /” “No Cross, no Crown ” 
repeated the Dr. “ you have guessed rightly my 
dear children. These words are the key-note to 
success all through life, and he or she who is not 
willing to work, and wait long and patiently, need 
not expect to win. I will tell you of two girls, 
Anna and Mary, we will call them. Each had 
a present of a fine piano from her kind papa, 
with which of course she was much delighted. 
Anna, not satisfied with the lesson, and the regu¬ 
lar hours of practice assigned by her teacher, 
begged permission to practice six hours. She was 
sure she would never tire. Well, the first day she 
practised four hours, the next three and a half, 
the next three, the next two, and before a 
week was gone her mother had to urge her to 
practice the one hour. Before the end of a month 
a piano was the * meanest old thing' she ever saw, 
and she wished she had never had one. Her teacher 
wished her to practice only exercises that she 
might, as It were, become familiar with the alpha¬ 
bet of music, but she Boon tired of this and began 
to tease her mother to let her take a piece, 4 Just 
one piece,’ and her foolish mother consented, and 
her teacher much against her will was obliged to 
comply. 
The consequence was she learned to play Just 
four pieces, passably well, which she played on 
all occasions, whenever asked. The other little 
girl, Mary, took her lessons and her practice dally, 
and though sometimes tired, and discouraged with 
the monotony of the exercises, and In her heart 
longing to ‘ take a piece, • yet encouraged by the 
kind words, and good counsel of her mother, per¬ 
severed under the Instruction of her teacher, till at 
last the day arrived when a quite difficult piece of 
music was placed before her—* May, can you play 
hat.’ After looking at It a moment, • on, yes that 
easy enough,’ a still more difficult piece was 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
brought, and still another, she played them 
readily. And now she reaped the reward of per¬ 
severance for the most difficult pieces of muslo 
were easily mastered by her, and all who 
heard her play praised her proficiency. One even¬ 
ing at a party, a group of young people were 
gathered In the back parlor when the sounds of 
a piano were heard. * Who Is that,’ asked a 
young man who was a stranger In the place, ’Oh’ 
replied another, that Is Anna she can play just 
four pieces, and those are,—naming them. Surely 
enough the four pieces were played In the order 
named, and she arose from the piano, ' 1 told you 
so,’ said the young man ‘she always plays those 
four pieces, and nothing more.’ Then Mary sat 
down, her skilled fingers ran over the keys, now 
In tones low, and sweet, as an .Rohan harp now 
in wild bursts of melody like the joyous song or 
the lark, as he mounts up to meet the sun then 
In plaintive trills, or merry waltzes, till she showed 
herself complete mistress of the instrument, and 
Bounds of enthusiastic applause went up from the 
company. And now she found her crown for her 
long working and waiting.” 
Young people, does not fids story teach an Im¬ 
portant lesson ? Dr. Vincent also told a story 
about two boys, which was quite as good, but I 
must not attempt to repeat It here, or Uncle Mark, 
will surely throw this In the waste basket, and 
then you wlU know nothing about the National 
Sabbath School Assembly. 
- 
A COUSIN IN THE BACK-WOODS. 
Dear Uncle Mark lam a little girl ten years 
old to-day. I have a little garden planted with 
Bowers. I have one flowering pea. I live In the 
back-woods twelve miles from any town. There 
are very few people here but there are plenty of 
bears and congers. Uncle Mark, would you please 
let a Utile back-woods girl jol u your club ? Now I 
will close. I hope my letter will not find its way 
to the waste basket. Laura McGee, 
Washington Ter., King Co., Sept. 23. 
[It gives me much pleasure to hear from this 
little cousin, and to think that the Influence of the 
Horticultural Club reaches to the very boarders of 
civilization. It Is a very gratifying thought, that 
even in the back-woods of Washington Territory 
where the sound of the wood-man's axe la heralding 
the advauce of the white man, where bears and 
wolves sneak aboul In search of prey, and where 
the log cabin Is a palace for comfort, that even 
there I have & little niece who each week eagerly 
reads the letters from her many Rural Cousins, 
who has her little gulden, tends her flowers, en¬ 
joys their beauty and is happy. You, of my nieces 
and nephews who are much more favorably placed, 
and who are perhaps at times discontented with 
what you have, should at such moments think or 
this your cousin and be thaukrul lor the advan¬ 
tages you enjoy.— Uncle Makk.j 
•--- 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. ‘ 
Dear Uncle Mare:— I would like to join the 
Horticultural Club, and write you a letter occa¬ 
sionally. We have taken the Rural for several 
years, aud I am the first to read It. I am the only 
child and 13 years old. I was born in Galveston, 
and now five two miles from the city, on the 
beach, about a hundred yards irom the Gulf of 
Mexico. I have a small garden of my own, and 
have now growing cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, 
beans, mustard, etc. My father has a large gar¬ 
den, and I help to set the plants. We have out 
9,000 cabbages, 4,000 cauliflowers and other vege¬ 
tables. We often grow cauliflower heads measur¬ 
ing 20 Inches across, which is very large, consldex- 
lng that we live on an Island of sand. I wish the 
cousins could see our hedges of red and white 
Oleanders, and our beautiful orange trees loaded 
with fruit. We have Roses and flowers both win¬ 
ter and summer. 1 am afraid this letter Is too 
long, but you will hear from me again, as I have 
many interesting things to tell you of. Yours 
truly, Leslie Stkxnofellow. 
Galveston Co., Texas. 
Uncle Mark : I hope you will give me a welcome 
to the Horticultural Club. 1 have read the letters, 
with much Interest, for some time; and finding 
among the writers some as old as myself, 1 have 
concluded to become one of the cousins. I think 
there is much knowledge to be gained from such 
a club; and flowers are something In which nearly 
every one must take an Interest. 1 see, too, that 
the members do not confine themselves strictly 
to this subject but discuss books, music, and any¬ 
thing that may prove interesting and profitable. 
1 will make my letter only enough longer this 
tune, to ask one question.; how does Gynerlum 
argenteum, Pampas Grass, look when It first comes 
up ? Does It bear any resemblance to grass ? 
Carnation. 
New Bedford, Mass. 
[Howcan a “ Carnation” be otherwise than wel¬ 
come to any Horticultural Club, particularly when 
she Is In full bloom? Gynerlum argenteum la a 
grass, and looks like one.—U. M.j 
Dear Uncle Mark: I thought I would write 
and ask you to accept me as a member of Lhe 
Hortlcltural Club. I am much Interested in the 
letters from the cousins. 1 have a tew house 
plants. Papa took the Rural before l can re¬ 
member. I, too, Ukc It very much. He has prom¬ 
ised to give me a garden next year. 1 am ten 
years old. Your friend. Grace S. Green. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
[I will enroll you, Grace, when you send me 
your post office address.—U. M.J 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I would like to Join the 
Horticultural club. I have flowers and like to 
tend them. We have Zinnias, Phlox, Balsams, 
Asters, Cockscombs, California Poppy, Nastur¬ 
tium, Pansies, Gladioli, Tuberoses, Four-o’clocks, 
and various other kinds; they are all doing well. 
We like the Rural, and also lhe letters. I am 13 
years old. If I see this In print I may write again. 
Y'our friend, Susie A. Shisler. 
Erie Co., N. Y. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I have a nice patch of 
Strawberries and Raspberries, also a number of 
choice house plants. The seeds we received from 
the Rural did nicely. The Bronze Riclnus was 
quite a curiosity. I would like very much to join 
the Horticultural Club. Yours truly, 
Broome Co., N. Y. Frankie Wedoe. 
HIDDEN FEMALE TITLES. 
l. Did you count Es3le’s rings? 
2.1 pity the lad you saw. 
3 . He said, “ I am Adam.” 
4 . He missed his lesson. 
5 . At the bar one's spirits raise. 
6. I can dip It In cesspools. 
7. Last March ion essayed to study. 
8. There Is “Ledu,” chess champion. 
9. To get at the gem, press the string. 
CSf Answer in two weeks. Little One. 
ANAGRAM. 
llontlg, iljcngero, rrooslwng, 
Wonard hhtrugo file eh soge; 
Hace romgfnn eess rnose kast gebln, 
Chae eennlgv eess stl coles. 
Answer In two weeks. M. Schaeffer. 
DIAGONAL PUZZLE. 
1. A consonant; 2. Duplicate vowels; 3. God’s 
noblest work; 4. The cry of an ass; 5. A city of 
Nebraska; 6. Choice. Prlmals and diagonals form 
two trees of India. 
Answer In two weeks. l. o. 
HALF SQUARE. 
A liquor; something we find in the papers; a 
cave; a girl’s nickname; a consonant, 
tsr Answer in two weeks. Uncle Will. 
« ♦ »- 
DROP LETTER PUZZLE. 
“Th-- sh-lt n-t st—1.” Fill with vowels and 
find one of the Commandments. l. 0. 
V3P ~Answer in two weeks. 
-- 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.-Oct. 25. 
Hidden Grains — L "Wheat;2. Rye; 3. Oats; 4. Corn* 
5. Buckwheat; 6 Rice ; 7. Barley; 8. Maize; 9. l'lax: 
10 . Hemp; II. Hominy; 12. Broom-corn; 13. Millet; 
14. Hay; 15. Clover. 
1 Illustrated Rebus.— POTATOE. 
Miscellaneous Enigma .— 1 ’* Very prekosbus chil¬ 
dren are like very urokoahua fruit,—apt to drop off 
before they tret ripe.” 
THE INFLUENCE OF JESUS.* 
“The influence of Jesus” Is the last book sent 
to us out of the life of Phillips Brooks. We say 
life, because In his words, more than In any words 
one Is almost ever asked to read about religion, 
there seems to speak and glow the file of the man 
who writes them. The very atmosphere of life Is 
In bis sentences, because It Is in his thought. The 
present work Is remarkable. It Is tho beat study 
of Christ’s character and work we have ever read. 
Without aiming to write a file, he has done so, If a 
life may be written not so much by the orderly 
I treatment of events, as by a disclosure of the 
heart which made events possible. 
There are four lectures In the volume. They 
were delivered on the Foundation of John Bohlen 
of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. 
They discuss the Influence of Jesus (1) on the 
Moral, ( 2 ) on the Social, (3) on the Emotional, ( 4 ) 
ou lhe Intellectual Life of Man. The great ques¬ 
tion la, “ What Is the power of Christianity over 
man—Its source, its character, Its Issue?" 
The underlying Idea which runs through all the 
lectures Is, “The Fatherhood or God and the 
childhood or every man to Him.” This is the idea 
of Jesus. The aim or ni8 whole life is to redeem 
men into this Fatherhood or God. “ His power Is 
Ills Idea multiplied by aud projected through His 
personality.” 
With tiffs conception of tho life of Jesus, It Is 
easy to see how these lectures become a familiar 
and loving study of Christ and Ills work. This is 
one or tne cnarms of Phillips Brooks*. Very many 
men take the incidents of the Iuavnate life and 
treat them so that you feel them to belong fore¬ 
most to a great theological being. Here, the first 
impression Is of a man moving In and out among 
Ills neighbors. Coming Into this man’s life first, 
you then feel Ills power. The order is natural- 
first the man, and then, by acquaintance, the Son 
of God. 
(l). His influence on man’s Moral life Is to lift It 
up Into the atmosphere of a Sonlmod passing In 
aud out before the Fatherhood. That relation Is 
one of love, aud so of obedience, and Is therefore 
constantly deepening the Father's nature In the 
Son. 
This makes Christian morality different from all 
other. “First, In the complete ■combination of 
pattern aud power In the source from which the 
morality proceeds; second. In the combination of 
reason and authority in the basts 'upon which the 
morality Is constantly recognized ms rfstlng." 
The Father Is the nndem—“Even as your Father 
which la In heaven is perfect”—and .power—“that 
ye may glorify your Father which Is in heaven.” 
The motive 13 love, which consists of admiration 
and affection. Admiration for what Christ Is 
doing, and then love because ne Is doing that for 
us, this Is the way we come into the fullness of His 
moral life. Thus we realize In our sonshlp the 
Sonshlp of the Son of God. “ Tlie model and Im¬ 
pulse of all duty He carried In His own filial heart, 
which was forever bearing witness to Him of Ills 
Father’s perfectness." “ Duty must have been Its 
ownrevealer and Its own reward.” “Thedoing 
right and the being right must have been like the 
sunshine and the sun.” 
(2) . His Influence on the Social life is founded on 
the same great Idea. In the family, In social rela¬ 
tions, In friendship, as teacher and citizen, always 
He and all men are foremost the sons of God. it Is 
the power of all Uls relations with men, to redeem 
Into this consciousness of sonshlp. It, underlies the 
church wlilohisa family of God’s Sons; It gives 
meaning to Reform and Education. As this Idea Is 
realized in each man, his life becomes exalted and 
Inspired. “It makes all history divine.” 
(3) . His Influeneeon the Emotional life Is a study 
of Christ living In Ills great idea and finding how 
“ His life was over coming out through ills evident 
suffering or happiness, and entering Into other 
men through the happiness and suffering that He 
awoke in them.” Not because He was sudor happy 
but because of what He did. life first, and then 
what that life brought Him. That life Is the Idea 
of sonshlp which lie Is living out dally that He 
may make these men know that they are also the 
eons of God. “ When that Is touched behold the 
intrude I See how the dry roots of obedience fill 
themselves with love; see how the hard stalk of 
experience grows sort, aud pliable with purpose; and 
then see how the llower of pain utters a life pro¬ 
foundly deeper than Itself, and tolls the world that 
story which It Is the struggle Of all pain and pleas¬ 
ure In the career of Christ to tell, which all healthy 
pain or pleasure In the career of man Is tempting 
him to learn, of man’s unbroken sonshlp to Ills 
Father, of thebelonging of his snul to the soul of 
God.” So there are two questions. 1 . What Is the 
position and meaning of enjoyment and sorrow In 
the life of Jesus? 2. In the life of His disciples? 
The discussion of these questions runs through (l) 
Physical Joy and pain, to show Ills complete human 
life, to register the disorder of the world, and to 
develop Uls spiritual consciousness. 
(2). Through His social fife to show how perfect¬ 
ly He entered Into men’s relationships, (3). 
Through Uls moral life to show how acute was Ills 
perception of right and wrong. Moral emotions, 
enthusiasms, pains must be In hla life. But they 
are always connected with the actual personal fife 
of men. Whatever la right or wrong is viewed In 
Its relation to men's honor or degradation. So also 
It is the Father who Is lusulted or honored. 
Enthusiasms arc not with Him abstract, but living, 
real. 
( 4 ) . ms influence on the Intellectual life of man 
seen in the use Jesus makes of the word Truth. 
It is a word not of the InteUecf alone, but Of the 
IntVUect together with the affections aud the 
will. This comes out In the use He makes of It. 
“ A man of the truth, Is a man into aff whose fife 
the truth has been pressed until he is full of It.” 
He Is “ always a complete being whose unity Is In 
that total of moral, Intellectual and spiritual 
life which makes what we call character.” “ lie 
never simply knows, but loves and resolves always 
at the same rime, with the same action.” 
We see constantly knowledge divorced from life, 
but in Him knowledge passes Into life, and thus 
He speaks of His life aa truth. 80 “ the greatest 
men that have ever lived are those In whom you 
cannot separate the mental and the moral lives." 
“ What God knows is the same with the love with 
which He loves, and the resolve with which He 
wills.” 
Here, then, comes into play the Idea of Jesus. 
He is the Son of God, and the Son of God is the 
repetition and manifestation of the life of God, and 
hence all the methods of that life must be found 
an the son. Now to develop this lu Him we see 
the deep significance or the Temptation and the 
•Garden, where tho question is not one of lotelll- 
rgonce, but of wtlL This profound harmony In 
which He lived with the Father is seen in the 
many words strewn through St. John’s Gospel 
ilke “ As my Father hath taught me, I speak these 
things.” 
This completeness of His Inspiration la the secret 
•of Ills Influence on men. “Not from simple brain 
to simple brain, as the reasoning of Euclid comes 
to the students; but from total character to total 
•character." 
In one word tho eternal distinction between 
SocRit.es ana Christ is found In this, that Socrates 
reasons and argues, e. 0 ., when he talked with his 
toUowera thou lu the prison before ills death; 
while on the other hand Jesus Is divinely certain. 
There is no shadow, because He Is In the very 
sun-center of light. The Disciples gained certain 
characteristics of Intellectual Ufc from Jesus: “A 
poetic conception of the world combined with a 
willing acceptance of mystery; an expectation of 
progress by development; an absence of fastidious¬ 
ness that comes from the sense of tho possibilities 
of all humanity; and the enlargement of thought 
from the arbitrary Into the essential.” 
Or, lu other words. He the Son reproducing the 
Father s life; all men the sons to reproduce that 
same life. The world la sacred and full of God, pro¬ 
gress is coming by natural development, sympa¬ 
thies are broadened to embrace all men, and 
special laws arc doors which open Into universal 
principles. 
Everywhere the Fatherhood is over the earth 
like the heavens, and we are to move beneath It 
as the sons of God, doing Uls will and rejoicing in 
His life. 
This Is the brief outline of a most suggestive and 
noble book, it Is the natural conclusion of 
premise. Accept the idea, and every page is Its 
reiteration and every event of His life Its disclosure 
* The Influence of Jesus, By Phillips Brooks. New 
York ; E, P, Dutton & Co, 
