YOUNG PEOPLE'S DEPARTMENT.

again, and at twilight every member of the large family is quiet for the night. Do you not think they are pretty well behaved for motherless babies?

[All communications referring to this department should be sent to the editor, Miss Anna W. Pierson, Box 115, East Northfield, Mass.]

Some Queer Little Housekeepers.

It is only a short walk to the apple orchard where hundreds of little baby housekeepers live, but for fear farmer Jones should burn up the home-babies and all-let us hurry. Farmer Jones doesn't like these little tenants, because instead of paying rent for their home in the apple tree, they eat the leaves off his trees and spoil many which they do not eat. Now look up among the branches of the trees, where the tiny new leaves have recently uncurled, and where the branch forks, and you will find a little three-cornered tent made of a fine silky web. We do not need any windows to look through for the whole house is transparent. Do you see the little wriggling occupants? They are a colony of babies, a nursery of little orphans. What a pity the mother is not alive to teach them to keep a more tidy house. Yes, these babies, like most other babies, do not have much care about neatness, for dust and dried leaves and twigs are clinging everywhere to the outside and inside there are thousands of brown specks like sawdust. But the happy little babies do not mind this any more than they do the great long name which science has given them-the Lasiocampida family! They cannot, perhaps, teach us any lesson of neatness, but there is at least one lesson we can learn from them,-to be prompt at our meals.

When their breakfast time comes, if you happen to be up so early and standing by the tree, you may see them file out of the tent door, one by one, and march in solemn procession to the branch which the leader selects for the morning meal. Then each of the little ones finds a tender leaf and eats round and round the edge until his hunger is satisfied. They straggle home by ones and twos and we wonder if there is no danger of the greedy little one who breakfasts so long getting lost? Let us look very closely. Do you see that tiny white thread which is spun along the branch? That is what tells baby the way home-it is a trail she marked herself, and even if the whole family desert, she is not helpless. When the next meal time comes, all are on hand

In a month or so-if farmer Jones doesn't burn them up--each larva (for that is what these babies are called) will change and become a caterpillar with colors and bristles on its back, and will leave its home and its brothers and sisters, and go off to hide. Then if you want to find it you must search in the cracks of the fence or on the underside of almost anything stationary in the orchard, and there you may discover pretty silken cradles, each containing a sleepy caterpillar. Be careful not to squeeze or tear them open, but take them carefully home and keep them awhile.

You all know what will come out of that cocoon. I am sure yes, a moth-a fuzzy moth with two stripes on each wing and a funny little body cut off square at the end. This is the 'grown up” form of the baby caterpillar in the apple tree tent. And now let us fly with her out of the window. See, she alights on one of the orchard trees. I wonder if she remembers when she was a baby and lived there? Perhaps she does, for she is preparing to lay her eggs there, so that when her babies come out, they shall fare as well as she did. Round and round the branch she lays a circle of eggs -far too many for us to count, and over them she spreads a waterproof gum to protect them from the winter storms. end of her life and work. into a window at night and flame of a lamp or candle, or perhaps a kitten sees her fluttering in the grass and plays with her so roughly that she never flies again, or she may live her short life to its natural end. Early in the spring you will find her babies living in their white tent and going through life just as their mother did who passed away before they ever saw her.-E. B. D. Pierson.

This is almost the Perhaps she flies gets burned in the

Dorothy's Missionary Offering.

BY CHAPLAIN GEORGE SANDERSON.

They had been given to Dorothy by her uncle Reuben when they were tiny little fellows, and she had named them Lion and Lamb, because, as she explained, each of the twins so much resembled, in its nature and acts, the animal for which it was named. Lion would

bark fiercely and make a dreadful time if a stranger came nigh him, while Lamb, on the contrary, was friendly and would wag his little tail and lick your hand in the most neighborly sort of a way. Then, too, didn't Lion and Lamb always lie down together, and didn't a little child lead them? So, of course, they were appropriately named.

Dorothy had come to love her little pets, and her attachment was so great that to give them up would amount to an act of real sacrifice on her part.

But the minister had said in his sermon that the Missionary Board needed money, and that if the people had the true missionary spirit they would make real sacrifices to supply the need.

Now Dorothy had the true missionary spirit, but no money, and therefore was unable to give.

What could she do? She thought over the matter as she sat on the verandah after Sunday school. Just then Lion and Lamb came running up the steps.

Both doggies were delighted to see their young mistress. Suddenly, as Dorothy patted their heads and stroked their fleecy coats, the impulse came to her-why not donate Lion and Lamb to the missionary cause? She had heard her papa say that the doggies were valuable, and that Elder Brown had offered to give forty dollars for them. But could she part with them?-and Dorothy paused at the thought of separation, for it gave her pain to think of giving up her pets. But then that would be a real sacrifice, and if she helped at all, it must be through giving up something.

The next morning a little girl might have been seen sallying forth from a shed door with a comical-looking little puppy under each

arm.

Fifteen minutes later the same little girl stood in Elder Brown's parlor telling the story of her desire to get money to help the missionary cause by selling her little pets to him. As the good man listened his eyes were filled with a suspicious looking moisture.

"Bless the little dear," said he, as he took the little girl, dogs and all, up into his arms and kissed her.

Then he sat her down, and taking out his pocket-book he counted out the money, and then the little girl and the bank-bills disappeared, but the dogs remained.

Not long after this, Dorothy, with the bankbills, appeared in the home of the faithful minister and recited to the astonished servant of God her effort and result in behalf of the missionary cause. The good man had scarcely recovered from his amazement before the story had been told, the money left on his table and the little girl had disappeared.

That night, just as Dorothy was about to go to bed, a man came to the street door and handed in a large basket, and when the cover was removed it revealed Lion and Lamb nestling up close to each other.

On the basket was a card, and written thereon Dorothy's papa read:

Little Miss Dorothy-The dogs are lonesome and want to visit you. Please keep them until I call for them. J. BROWN.

BIBLICAL NOTES AND QUERIES.

BY REV. C. I. SCOFIELD, D. D.

T. B., Vermont.

1. Does the word "first" in 1 Thess. iv. 16, mean that the dead in Christ will rise before the other dead, or that they arise before the living saints are caught up?

Both. The dead in Christ rise one thousand years before the impenitent dead (Rev. xx. 5) and immediately before the living saints.

2. The premillennial view does not require, as your question seems to imply, that our Lord must again be subjected to the limitations of the mortal body. He will be in the kingdom precisely what He is now, the Son of God in a glorified human body. The distinctions between the mortal body and the body of glory in resurrection are given in 1 Cor. xv. 42-44. The contrasts are:

upon them in Heb. xi. 19: "Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Or, as Young renders it: "Reasoning that God is able to raise even out of the dead, whence also He Himself brought Himin a parable."

F. F. P., Vineyard Haven, Mass.

When God is said to "repent," as in Gen. vi. 6, it is "after the manner of men." We can know the greater only by illustrations drawn from the less, the unknown by illustrations drawn from the known. We teach children about things naturally outside their capacity, by drawing analogies from things within their capacity; hence the Bible, in revealing God to us, is filled with representations of His person, character and works drawn from those of men. Half educated minds draw back from this because it offends the intellectual pride born of smattering knowledge; but the more we try to conceive of God apart from the Biblical method of teaching, the more we lose the sense of His personality, and descend through pantheism into atheism. The greatest thinkers and saints delight most in the simplicity of the Scriptures.

A. D., Los Angeles.

I.

The petition of Naaman after his healing (2 Kings v. 18) which, according to the King James version seems a prayer that he may be permitted to go on in outward idolatry, while secretly a disciple of Jehovah, is explained in two ways. (1) The request is taken as natural in a convert saturated with heathenism and just entering the light of better ethics; and Elisha's non-commital answer: "Go in peace," as the answer of one who would not quench the smoking flax of a dawning faith, nor yet distinctly authorize seeming idolatry, knowing that very soon the conscience of the convert would itself forbid the compromise. (2) Many eminent textual critics affirm that the words should be rendered in the past tense: "I bowed myself in the house of Rimmon; for my bowing myself in the house of Rimmon, Jehovah be propitious, I pray Thee, to Thy servant." Either explanation is adequate.

2. Concerning difficulties which seem to you at present inseparable, I venture to suggest that not one of them touches the great verities of the Christian faith. Lay to heart

Augustine's wise words: "For now what things, sounding strangely in the Scripture, were wont to offend me, having heard divers of them expounded satisfactorily, I referred to the depth of the mysteries; and its authority appeared to me the more venerable and more worthy of religious credence, in that, while it lay open to all to read, it reserved the majesty of its mysteries within its profounder meaning; stooping to all in the great plainness of its words, and lowliness of its style, yet calling forth intensest application of such as are not light of heart" (Confessions, vi. 8).

The Parsonage, E. Northfield, Mass.

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RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK

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The Lord of the harvest will allow us to see enough results from our labors to encourage us, but not enough to make us proud.

As you would not speak to another of the faults of your wife, so do not speak of the faults of the church or people among whom you labor.

If you want to know whether a person has received the Lord Jesus, do not ask the person's friend or even near relative, but wait until you can ask the person.

When you have talked with a friend about his soul, do not express any opinion about him to others. Let him do that.

The secret of success in religious work, especially in a hard field," is much prayer to the heavenly Father and much love to His children.

"Owe no man anything." "Let your requests be made known unto God." "Keep yourself unspotted from the world."'

Do not make the present a failure by moaning over past failures.

If God has given you "abundance of the revelations," expect "a thorn in the flesh, to buffet you, lest you should be exalted above measure."

Think about yourself, about what you want, what respect people ought to pay to you, and what people think of you-in other words, center all your thoughts on self-and you will have abundance of misery.-Charles Kingsley.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

As we go to press with the present issue, several of the most important conferences of the year are in progress, including Winona, under Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman; Old Orchard, under Rev. A. B. Simpson; and Ocean Grove, under Rev. C. H. Yatman. We shall hope to give notice to these important gatherings in our next issue.

The past month has seen several changes in the outward appearances of some of the more familiar magazines and periodicals. The most noticeable change has been that which has transformed the Critic from a weekly review to its new role of an illustrated monthly magazine. While the Critic will retain many of the features which gave it so much popularity as a weekly, it will give its readers a greater variety of essays on literature and art.

One of the most noticeable results of our victories over Spain has been the awakened interest in missionary circles regarding the new territories under American control. An agreement for missionary co-operation has already been effected, we understand, between the leading denominational societies for the evangelization of the Philippines and as soon as the way is opened special efforts will be made to send experienced and able missionaries to these islands.

The Army and Navy Christian Commission are also co-operating with the American Bible Society in distributing Spanish Testaments and tracts. Permission has been accorded to circulate these among the Spanish prisoners of

war at Portsmouth, N. H., and elsewhere, and the kind treatment that our government has accorded the men, makes them all the more accessible. It is to be hoped that; through this channel the light of the Gospel may break in upon the darkness and superstition which has beclouded for centuries the uneducated classes of Spain.

It is reported that a new and interesting missionary effort is about to be inaugurated among the islands of the Inland Sea of Japan. "These islands number literally thousands," says the Atlanta Constitution, "and are inhabited by a population estimated at about 400,000. No religious effort whatever has been made for them in the past, and their condition is represented as deplorable in every moral and religious aspect. Mr. Luke W. Bickel, son of Dr. Bickel, of Hamburg, who was formerly an officer of the British merchant marine, and more recently secretary of the Baptist Tract and Book Society of London, is appointed to open this mission."

The Army and Navy Christian Commission has continued to carry on its work in the military camps during the past month. The labors of this organization in presenting the gospel to the young men of our army have been attended with the most gratifying results, and thousands of soldiers have witnessed to the blessings received through the gospel message. Already the Commission has sent agents to the new territories that have come under the control of the United States in Hawaii, Cuba and the Philippines, and it is hoped that others may soon be sent to Porto Rico.

We would thank our readers for the cordial and generous response with which our appeals have been met in behalf of this work. The opportunities for reaching young men that this war has offered can hardly be exaggerated. Those who have represented the Commission in the camps this summer are in accord in testifying that they have never witnessed audiences so eager for the gospel message. while we welcome the prospects for restored peace and thank God for giving victory to our arms, let us not forget that the present opportunities afforded for preaching the gospel in camps are exceptional and should have our heartiest support.

And

With the current number the RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK enters upon the second year of its publication in its present magazine form. At the time that the change was effected it was felt that there was room for such a magazine as the RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK, and the experience of the past year has confirmed us in the conviction. From the time the magazine took on its present form we have had a steadily increasing circulation and have almost doubled our list of subscribers in the past eleven months. And for the coming year we expect still further improvements and more important accessions to the various departments of the magazine, and it will be our earnest endeavor to make the magazine in every respect a useful and interesting aid to Christian students and workers.

There are several ways in which our readers can greatly assist us in the development and improvement of the magazine in the future. One of the most helpful ways in which such aid may be given is in the friendly criticism of the magazine, with a view to introducing new features or improving the present departments. Any such suggestions will always be most gratefully received and will have our careful consideration. Already a number of valuable suggestions have been given us by our readers, and we trust that many more may co-operate with us in this respect, giving us the benefit of views regarding the needs and wishes of our readers.

The Churchman, for July 30th, publishes a supplement of missionary statistics that will