One of our faithful members—a member of the class of ’84—on the first day of October sent this pleasant greeting to the Superintendent of Instruction: “My Dear Doctor—This is opening day. I must send you a line just to keep it—and the Lord keep you!”
The Sacramento Circle last year answered in writing over 1,000 questions, besides having prepared sixty-two original papers.
A young lady who has charge of a Young Ladies’ Seminary in Washington, D. C., recently remarked that she had adopted the Chautauqua Text-Books on History as an auxiliary in her school, as they are so condensed and so carefully arranged. She said that at the last examination of her graduating class the influence of the little Text-Books was visible in the remarkable proficiency of the pupils.
Each C. L. S. C. Local Circle in the study of Biology should secure the services of a local microscopist, if possible. Without the microscope, Biology is like Hamlet with Hamlet left out.
In one of the leading churches of one of the leading denominations in one of the leading cities of the United States, a strange thing has happened. The president of the local circle of the C. L. S. C. made application for the privilege of holding bi-monthly meetings in a room in the basement of the church, so many of the members of the circle being members of the church. The matter was referred to the president of the board, a leading lawyer, who refused the application. When asked why he should exclude such an auxiliary of the church, and especially a circle containing so much of the religious element, he responded that it “could not be a religious organization, because they were studying biology.” This is very hard to believe if it were not well vouched for. If the church had been a Methodist Episcopal Church, the editor of this column would have felt at liberty to make a few direct remarks; but, as it refers to another very respectable and very orthodox branch of the Holy Catholic Church, he must content himself with this general announcement. What would this leading lawyer have said to the wise man who said: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise;” or to that wiser teacher who commanded his disciples to “consider the lilies.” Biology zoölogical and biology botanical being commended in the Bible, and the study being necessary to the fullest interpretation of the Bible, we commend our legal friend to a little more biblical study.