A HIGH STANDARD.


DEAR CHILDREN: I wish to call your attention to the wonderful nature of the life you have just begun, and to your capabilities of improvement. Infancy and childhood are the first stages of human existence. Life consists of living and learning; and you must determine the result of coming years. You can become happy, noble, and true, or you can become miserable, low, and degraded. You have God-given powers; you have materials within reach with which you can build a soul-temple of dazzling purity, beauty, and loveliness; and you were placed in this world for a purpose, the grandeur of which you have never dreamed.

It is impossible for you to succeed in life unless you form in your mind some idea of what you wish to accomplish. Perhaps your standard of happiness is fame; if so, you are deceived. The moment a person gains a high station in life, thousands of envious, jealous, discontented people begin to speak ill of him, and with the deadly poison of slander seek to injure his name and reputation. Evil influences press about him, and he is a conspicuous mark for Satan and wicked men. Cares press heavily, and gloomy unrest fills the soul. 

Would you know the end of earthly greatness? Go to the silent halls of death, and behold the ashes of the great. The inhabitants of earth are continually changing, and the most noted men soon yield their places to others. Of what avail is honor to those who sleep beneath the sod? A true life is not thus lost. The grassy hillock cannot obliterate deeds of love. Life in its noblest sense is higher than fame and loftier than honor.

It is your privilege to stand upon the very hilltops of life. Say not within your heart, "I cannot reach those far-off summits." The blue dome of heaven beckons you on, angels whisper, " come," and golden rewards await you "up yonder." The "mists of earth" hide the beauty of the hills, but the good of all ages have climbed the rugged mountains, and the sunshine of eternal glory will soon dispel every cloud of darkness.

My dear young friends, every kind word is a step upward, and every noble deed helps to make a true character; therefore, copy the spirit of the Master and do the work he has commanded. This alone is love; this alone is life. When you reach the eternal world, and behold the great Being seated on the white throne, you will realize your brightest dreams and be satisfied. Aim high, and endeavor always to walk in the elevated pathway that leads to everlasting joy. 

May God bless you, is the prayer of your friend,

 

ELIZA H. MORTON. 


Battle Creek, Mich.




THE ATLANTIC CABLE.

THE tea-party described in our first-page story this week, we think must have been held about the fifth of August, 1858, as that was the time when the laying of the first Atlantic cable was completed.

This cable consists of seven fine copper wires slightly twisted together, forming a rope; around this rope are three layers of gutta-percha, which are protected by tarred hemp wound around, and the whole is covered by eighteen strands of seven fine iron wires each. The circumference is nearly that of a dime.

Since this was completed, five others have been constructed in a somewhat similar manner, and successfully laid. The sixth and last was completed Nov. 17,1879.

When Cyrus Field first proposed to join the two hemispheres by means of a cable, the people laughed at the idea, and even Field himself often became discouraged. But after thirteen years of anxious watching and ceaseless toil, the work was accomplished. What a lesson is here taught of perseverance in what we know to be right.





M. K. W.