VOL. IX.

A FORGOTTEN SONG.

No. 3

I sang a song with an aching heart.

Ah me! what burdens a day can bring.
And how strange it is that a burdened life
Can lift its pinions toward heaven and sing.

I sang with a faith that reached to God,
And laid firm hold on his promised aid.
And help came down to my troubled world
As if I had lifted my voice and prayed.

And it was a prayer in deed and in truth,

A prayer that some singer had spun and wove, When his heart was burdened like mine that morn, And his burden had fallen in notes of love.

And now, though I cannot recall that strain,
Nor the blessed theme that if bore to me,
Yet the sweet repose of that sweet refrain
Shall dwell in my heart in eternity.

-Vinton Phenis.

The Gospel of Debits and Credits. [Synopsis of a lecture by Professor W. C. Stevenson before the faculty and students of the Kansas State Normal School, October 14, 1896.]

My talk this morning will be along the line of three texts which have been chosen to give biblical authority for the positions which will be taken with reference to some questions of prime importance to all.

The first from Proverbs-"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings: he shall not stand before mean men." From Ecclesiasticus-"Deliver all things in number and weight and put all in writing that thou givest out and receivest in." From St. John-"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." From the first text it may be inferred that all people are in business of some kind and that they should be diligent in business. As a result of that diligence there is promised that because of it "he shall stand before kings," i. e., be equal to or above kings, and negatively, "he shall not stand before mean men," but standing like Ithuriel, the star-eyed watchman, on the imperial battlements of heaven, shall gaze upon them as upon mere specks upon the earth,

"To catch dame fortune's golden smile
Assiduous wait upon her,

And gather gear by every wile
That's justified by honor.

Not for to hide it in a hedge,
Not for a train attendant,
But for the glorious privilege
Of being independent."

The second text, is an unmistakable and mandatory injunction to do a certain thing in a certain way. No clearer exposition of the principles of debit and credit could possibly have been given, and no one can possibly construe the language as to find an excuse for failing to obey what is so distinctly and clearly commanded. "Deliver all things in number and weight" is a statement of the fundamental principles of business, and implies the exercise of those virtues of justice, accuracy, and certainty, which are characteristic of the true man of business. "Put all in writing that thou givest out and receivest in," is only the ancient form of the modern rule of double entry bookkeeping,-"Debit the incoming and credit the outgoing value." Thus we discover the origin of double entry bookkeeping to be in this scriptural injunction, for by "putting all in writing," that which goest out, as well as that which is received in, it is necessary to make two entries, one to record the incoming and

the other the outgoing value. Here we have the origin of the science of bookkeeping, a science which governs the thrones of commercial empires and guides the financial affairs of the world. Divine as it is and based upon the eternal principles of truth and justice, yet like religion its evolution can be traced by following backward the path of centuries as it winds its way through the commercial marts of the nations of antiquity.

But the records of commerce are not the only revelation of the principles of debits aud credits. It is a principle that is evident in all nature. All life, animal or vegetable, is dominated by the principle of debit and credit, for growth and development are the result of an exchange of values. The animal receives from the earth and air the elements necessary for the building up of a body which gives out value in the services it renders to the world. The plant receives its food from the soil and the invisible world of atoms above and gives out forces that produce the harvest. Mother Nature is constantly exchanging values with us, and for whatever we get an equivalent must be given. To obey literally the injunction given in our text,

it is necessary to understand bookkeeping-a science considered by many of small value as compared with those sciences born of suppositions and those ologies, the text-books of which used ten years ago are now all wrong, and yet which are stuffed with infinite pains, into the fat heads of half fledged ephemera, who leave the great owleries of our land to fatten on pastures green but doing little to make known the gulf that separates Dives and Lazarus, or ameliorate the poverty of millions of their fellow men. Believing as I do that one of the proper objects of an education is the training in business pursuits sufficient to enable a student to take care of himself and those dependent upon him, I cannot but see in the subject of bookkeeping or account keeping a most important means of attaining a desired end, and I deem it a great privilege to teach bookkeeping to the teachers of the youth of a great state, for "to drop a secret subtle oil upon the machinery of life which reduces its friction, to give inspiration and enthusiasm to the humblest toiler, is a greater gift than to range the fields of space or float on clouds of sublimated ideals."

Every man owes it to himself, his family and his creditors that his accounts be kept clearly, and correctly. If he be destitute of the ability to do this, he will be at the mercy of others, and not a few have found too late that ignorance is more costly than instruction. The time has come when the fact should be recognized that in the United States at least, business is the present basis of national progress. Even in the professions an early training in business methods is momentous. Too often the scholar, teacher, or preacher looks upon business and business affairs as debasing and discourages the desire on the part of the young to transact business or earn money. The business world reciprocates the feeling by ridiculing the business ability of the teacher and preacher. Yet there should be no warfare between learning and the most practical affairs. The better a man is trained, his mind stored, or his character formed, the better can he perform any task assigned him, yet too often the trained teacher, o: the collegian with acute mental powers, is only awkward blunderer in caring for his own affairs and perhaps eventually burdened with poverty or plunged into bankruptcy when with a little business training he would have had facility of action and with it a competency.

are.

Bookkeeping shuns the too exclusive worship of antiquity and fixes its gaze firmly upon one great section of actual present life, and aims to bring the problems of business into subjection to intellectual processes. Well, what is the philosophy of bookkeeping? I am reminded of the old German bankrupt who, being asked for his books, spluttered out in disgust: "Books! I don't keep no books. Books dells dales!" There it is in a nutshell-books tell tales. Books of account are to any individual dealing in dollars and cents,-and who does not?-what quadrant and chronometer, celestial and terrestial globe are to the mariner-they tell him his latitude and longitude, where he has been, where he is, and which way he ought to go. They are the index of all his activities; without them the pictures of his fancy may usurp the place of facts; with them, he has at least some hope of seeing things as they really But says somebody, "I can see no use in bothering with my petty accounts; if I had charge of a large business I would keep books, but they would be of no use to me now." Yes the keeping of books would be of value to you, my young friend. It would teach you the principles of accounts as thoroughly as if you were in a wholesale house; it would give you mental training, moral training, and training for citizenship; it would inculcate habits of industry, perseverance, system, and thoroughness; give you lessons of thrift, furnish a record of facts relating to your life that would be of use many times, and give protection from the inroads of vices of greater or less degree that destroy character and manhood, among which may be mentioned, a hap-hazard way of doing everything, no fixed time. to do daily tasks, lack of system and regularity, no thought of the future, spendthrift habits and the multitudinous temptations and vices resulting therefrom, and which eventually end in moral and financial bankruptcy. What! no need for accountkeeping when the amount spent by students of this institution last year for display ribbons alone would have paid the expenses of a poor boy or girl at school for a year! This is not a question of money alone, but of education and the true character as well. It is the practical discipline and mental training involved in the use of funds, the judgment gained by choice in spending, the habits of thrift so learned, that we want for the boys and girls of our country. Children should learn the value of money and its purchasing power by experience and be made independent and responsible. The spirit of self-help is the root of individual growth. How often the spirit of dependence, the result of a too loving parent, results in selfishness and indolence.

Bookkeeping teaches us the mutual dependence of men and constantly impresses upon the student the great lessons of complexity in human affairs. Society is so interwoven and we are all so dependent upon the honesty and ability of each other that no one lives alone and no one falls alone, and one single business failure, one failure to meet your business obligations, one delay in paying a bill that should have been paid promptly, affects a thousand individuals of whom you and I dream not. If you pay me, I pay A, A pays B, and B pays C, and C, D and so on, with the same money. One of the greatest sins, I might say crimes, of our people today is the fact shown by statistics that more than ninety per cent. of our merchants fail once.

There is no necessity of the boarding clubs being run on the credit system, and further, no young person who holds business integrity in high regard, will remain for any length of time as a partner in a business, whether that business be a Normal club or a Normal society, whose business affairs are conducted in such a way that he has no means of knowing whether they are conducted properly or not. It is a good rule to treat every public servant as if he were dishonest. Books should be kept systematically and should always be open to inspection. Affairs should not all be in one person's hands; there should be sev

eral officers, each acting as a check upon the others. It is a crime to put temptation before anyone, unnecessarily.

Among the most important lessons taught and enforced by bookkeeping are: 1. Accuracy. This means precision, and it is a quality much needed in every walk of life, yet very rare. 2. Neatness. This means order. It is said that order and method render all things easy. 3. Dispatch. This means celerity. Dispatch is the soul of business and method the soul of dispatch. Time and quantity are important considerations in the modern world. 4. Concentration. One thing at a time and that well done. A time for everything, everything in its time; a place for everything, everything in its place.

Children have an ambition to earn money, and it is a laudable desire and should be encouraged. Many boys have been saved from utter worthlessness by parents who understood this trait of their character, and were sensible enough to foster it. When this desire begins to manifest itself it should be cherished and directed to proper ends. The minds of boys must be occupied with something, and the ambition to make money often drives out many evils which would otherwise paralyze all efforts for good. Bookkeeping, conveying as it does ideas of moneymaking, is certain to have a steadying effect upon a young perHe soon comprehends that it is a matter of dollars and cents to him. Do not fear that he will be inspired with sordid motives. Even a little sordidness is better than the habit of loafing around street corners, cigar stores, and saloons, spending all that is in pocket or that can be borrowed. It is not a bad thing to learn to look at things from a dollar-and-cent standpoint. This brings us to our third text, "Gather up the fragments that none be lost." The responsibility of teaching frugality and industry rests with the teacher. Bookkeeping gives an opportunity given by no other subject.

son.

In the future I hope to give you a comprehensive study of student's receipts and expenditures while here at school. Those of you who would like to see some tabulation of such data, will oblige me greatly by keeping books from this day henceforth, giving me the reports in the course of five or more months. Already I have gathered much interesting information and in a general way I will give you a few of the most startling facts. Example 1. Some five or six years ago, a along, green, lank specimen of the genus boy entered the office and inquired for an unfurnished room. As he left with a list of Choice rooms, the secretary incidentally noticed that he wore a gingham shirt without a collar and that his pantaloons were barel in sight of his shoes. That young man paid his way through chool, and sent money to his father and mother at the same time, graduated twice and on the day of his graduation told me privately that the day before he had made the last deposit nec sary to bring his bank account up to one thousand dollars. never tell this true story but that I feel like the old negro whose master was a great hunter, and who, on one occasion asserted that he shot a deer, the bullet entering the heel and coming out at the ear. Turning or corroboration to Pompey he got this reply: "Yes, massa, dat am a fac'. You see, gemlen, jist as massa shot, de deer stooped to scratch his ear." Then turning aside he said to his master, "Fo de Lawd's sake, massa, get dem closer togedder next time."

Example 2. A young lady reports an expenditure of fifty cents a week for a year, all told.

Example 3. The pathetic story and untimely end of me Normalite who tightened his belt for breakfast, had shad HOW soup for dinner and dried rabbit tracks for supper, slept in his castle in the air and woke up in-I will not say where.

These examples would seem to indicate that our students at stingy and live on nothing, but many reports from students show that on the contrary a large majority of our students are spending more than they should. The highest monthly report

is $35.45 and the lowest $10:00, while many students confess to an unnecessary expenditure of over $10.00 per month. The highest report of unnecessary expenditures is $20.00, and the lowest 35 cents per month. On the lowest estimate possible, our students spend $4,500 per week in this city.

Dr. Harris in a recent report says in support of School Savings Banks. "The rapidity with which extreme poverty swallows up its victims is one of the startling facts in social science. If every child can be trained to save, as well as given the knowledge and habits which assure his earning, much will be done toward saving the very poor from the temptations and sufferings of poverty. School Savings Banks have already yielded excellent results in this direction. In France there were reported 23,371 banks, with 161,387 depositors, to whom were due $2,421,229.62."

It is wonderful how money accumulates. Save five cents every day and it will amount with interest at three per cent. in twenty years to $497.05. Save twenty-five cents every day and in twenty years it will amount to $2,485.25. Why should any one be poor?

I could ask no greater blessing for you young people this morning than to get you to agree that whatever wages you get, some part of it shall go into a savings bank or some other safe place; that you will live on less than you earn; that you will get a competence and wealth if you can. The propensity of acquisition in the human breast is honest and right. Poverty is not necessarily pious, nor wealth necessarily wicked. It is not the question how much a man gets, but in what spirit he gets it and what he does with it that determines the quality of the act. So I say, get money-get it honestly; save something of what you get, and understand that in this great business of acquisition in the world, you have your rightful place. How refreshing it would be to hear a sermon from a minister on the text, "It is more blessed to give than to receive, yet it is blessed to get that you may be able to give."

The world needs each one of you to preach the gospel of debits and credits. Yes, and the world wants you to practice it too. Keep books and know how you stand. Let it not be said of a school teacher that he fails to pay his debts, and spends for that which he does not need. Do not dread the work of keeping your accounts regularly and accurately. Remember that Chas. Lamb was a bookkeeper, and that he made his office a pilgrim shrine for the feet of multitudes who pay homage to the memory of the gentle Elia. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a bookkeeper, but while he toiled for bread his spirit swept the fields of fancy and wove the lives and work of men into such wondrous story as made him easily the chief among the writers of fiction in America. George Washington was a bookkeeper and scrupulously exacting concerning the details of his immense estates. Benjamin Franklin taught bookkeeping and thrift to a nation, and the Almanac of Poor Richard contains more of concentrated wisdom and the philosophy of life than hundreds of books of later times abounding in pretension and veneered with the tinsel of unreality.

While this talk has emphasized the importance of record making with respect to dollars and cents, money getting, money saving, I would not be content to leave you with the thought that the results of our buying and selling, trading and delving, are to be finally measured by our bank accounts. On the great white balance sheet of life, the present worth is not found by taking the difference between worldly resources and liabilities, but is found by adding to the naught with which he started the net gain of the individual as weighed in the scales of the universe of God.

Helen M. Adair is teaching in Hanford county, Texas, with Hanford as her post office.

The Story of One Thanksgiving Day. [Written for the children of the K. S. N. Kindergarten, by Miss Mary McKee, of Hutchinson.]

One cold Thanksgiving morning, two children trudged along a lonely road in eastern Kansas, laughing and talking and trying hard to forget their numb little toes and aching fingers. The first snow of the season was falling in thin, scattering flakes, and wee Elsie's eyes grew bright as she watched, though she clung still closer to her brother for warmth.

"Were the flakes little feathers," she wondered, "of Mother Goose's picking, or were they, indeed, the dear white chickens in the fairy story her mother used to tell her?"

She smiled to herself as she wondered, but her brother hurried her on. It was such a cold, cold day. Presently they came to a cross road, and there they saw coming, with a great clatter of horses' hoofs, and the rumbling of wheels on the hard ground, a heavy farm wagon, with one man perched on the high seat.

The farmer saw the children and drew in his lines. "Hullo, little ones!" said he. "You must be wantin' a walk mighty bad, to be out this cold day."

"No," said Elsie sweetly, "we don't want a walk, but we are going to church. Mamma told us to go on Thanksgiving Day, and it's Thanksgiving Day today. George found in a paper where it said so."

"Where is your mamma?" asked the farmer.

"Why she went away last week, way, way off, I don't know where. P'raps she went to hunt papa. He's gone, too. They might be at the church, George."

"I don't know," said George slowly. Then he turned to the farmer.

"Mamma told us she must go away, and perhaps never come back to us. She was awful sick too, and we never said goodbye to her 'cause Mrs. Smith took us to her house and kept us most a week, I guess, and when we came back mamma was gone. But she said that our Heavenly Father would take care of us. I wonder if he really will."

"Yes," said the farmer, "he is pretty sure to do that. But say! What's the use of your walkin' when these here horses are just prancin' and wantin' a bigger load? Come, pile in! We'll take you to the church, anyhow, and mebbe I might go in myself."

The children "piled in" right gladly, and in a moment Elsie was wrapped in quilts and cuddled down in the bottom of the wagon, while George sat on the seat with the farmer.

It was not half so cold now, and Elsie was almost asleep when they reached the little white school house where the services were to be held.

After the farmer had blanketed his horses, he went with the children into the house, where a bright fire burning in the stove in the center of the room made it seem almost as warm

as summer.

People in all parts of the house were laughing and chatting and feeling very happy, but George and Elsie sat down quietly before the fire, and smiled at each other as the comforting warmth crept into their little cold noses and fingers and toes. In one end of the room, piled around the desk where the teacher sat on school days, were great yellow pumpkins, and crook-necked squashes, baskets of turnips and potatoes, walnuts, and rosy-cheeked apples; and, on top of these, paper parcels that looked very much as though they might hold chickens, and turkeys, and hams.

"What are they all for?" asked George, looking up at the kind farmer.

"Why, for the poor people in the city, who have little or nothing to eat," said the farmer, "and I declare if I ain't ashamed

to be here with nothin' at all to give. Guess I'll put in when the plate comes round."

"Is it like a party?" asked Elsie, her eyes round as saucers. "Goodness, no! It's the plate for the money, Sissy. There now, they're goin' to begin."

And so they were, for the people had all taken their seats, and behind the desk,in front of them, stood a tall, young looking man, who smiled pleasantly at every one, but most of all, at the children. Then he stretched out his hands and said "Let us pray," and all the people bowed their heads.

George and Elsie grew very quiet, as they heard that kind voice.

"Dear Lord,” it said, “we thank thee, we thank thee, for this blessed Thanksgiving Day! Thou hast given us a prosperous year; thou hast added to our store; thou hast brought us happiness more than we can tell; and now we pray thee, bless us as we remember our less fortunate brethren, and bring of our store to feed thy poor, *** and the children who are in thy house today. Wilt thou not make their hearts grateful, also? Thou hast done much for them, and much for us through them. Now we pray thee, our Father, bless these little ones, and make this, for them all, a glad Thanksgiving Day."

The prayer ended, and as the people raised their h ads, a sweet-faced lady seated herself at the organ and began to play, softly and sweetly. The two children looked at her, and immediately had eyes for no one else, for her face was like a flower or a star, above the dark evergreens that wreathed the top of the organ. They hardly knew when she began to sing, but their little hearts grew warm as the sweet voice rang out, and their bright eyes bigger and brighter. They thought of their mother who used to sing in just that way, and they knew that somewhere, she must be happy, too; and then they remembered the dear Heavenly Father who was to take care of them, and their hearts were so full of happiness and love. Why, they could love all the world!

The song was not very long, and after that came the minister's talk, which was not long either; and that was a good thing, for more than one child was beginning to feel tired. So the organ played again, the people all sang, and the service was ended.

After that there was a great hand-shaking and the minister and his pretty wife came in for a large share of that, for every one liked them, and besides they could not come often. It was only one day in the year that this young pastor of a large city church could leave his work and go to his friends in the country. So when he did come, it was like a little jubilee.

George was toasting a sprig of cedar over the coals, when the minister noticed him. The boy's face was quiet but happy, and little sprig of cedar seemed happy too, though not quiet, for it sputtered and crackled at a great rate, and filled the room with a spicy, Christmas-like odor.

"A fine manly little fellow, you have there," said the minister to the old farmer.

"Yes, and such a dear little girl," said his wife, for they both loved children and only grieved that among their many blessings they could not count the best one of all, a little child.

The old farmer rubbed his forehead and looked perplexed. "Yes, they're right nice children," said he, "but they don't happen to be mine. I picked 'em up, down the road apiece, and I don't know exactly where they do belong, either. Seems 's 'f I ought to."

Just then another man came up and said, "Why, I know those children!" and in a low tone he told their story.

The pretty lady's blue eyes were shining with tears when the story ended, and her voice trembled a little as she slipped her hand through her husband's arm, and said, “Such lovely children, and no home any more! Poor little things!"

The minister looked down at his wife with a twinkle in his eyes, and said: "Well, if you say so, dear. I see no reason why they should not have a home again, right today." And so it was settled.

Twenty minutes later, the old farmer climbed into his wagon and drove off alone down the road, but as he went, he looked back over his shoulder at a carriage that was rolling toward the city, and said, "Well! well! well! If I ever!"

And in that carriage, tucked up in the fur robes, Elsiean d George were being taken to their new home, their "always home" as Elsie said, for it was to be their home as long as they lived if they wished, and they were to be the minister's own dear children.

That evening after the good gifts of the morning had been taken to the people who needed them, the four returned to their pleasant home and sat before the fire-place, Elsie and the pretty blue-eyed wife singing little songs, and stringing popcorn, while the minister showed his new son how to make a pumpkin lantern.

And I am sure you could not have found a happier family on the great round earth, for the minister had helped to answer his own prayer, and it had been, indeed, a glad Thanksgiving Day.

The Education of Our Girls.

It is very essential that the education of each and every one should not be superficial, but practical. The mind must be so trained that it will become habitual to think rightly. The early training of the child forms an important part of the mother's duty, yet how many of our girls who are to become wives and mothers give even one thought to the necessity of fitting themselves to the position? Do we not constantly meet parents who wholly ignore the necessity of preparing their girls for the important place they must take in life? Generally speaking, when a daughter succeeds, to the satisfaction of her parents, in capturing an excellent suitor, the great climax is reached. Her education is complete; she enters upon her new life as wife and feels she has accomplished her purpose satisfactorily. But the man who wanted a helpmeet finds he has only a pretty plaything-just a mindless doll-and upon such an awakening, who can wonder that misery ensues?

Hitherto a girl's education has consisted of scarcely anything but accomplishments, but we are now entering upon an era when women no longer wish to be slaves to others' ideas, to be mere recipients of certain facts without understanding them. They want to be so taught that they will be capable of judging for themselves. The ornamental education only does not, and cannot, prepare the girl for her position. She must be the counterpart of man, an ever ready help in the time of trouble. What indescribable satisfaction to the true wife to be enabled to enter into business worries-to be the one to whom the husband can go with his joys and his cares!

Our girls should be so trained that they can meet both the storms and the sunshine of life. There is no better remedy for foolish and idle thoughts than sound and deep study on the practical side of life. Most of the discontent existing among our girls is due to want of healthy occupation. Painting, music, calisthenics and singing are excellent studies, but each of these might be taken as a recreation. A girl whose hunger for knowledge is appeased by these light foods becomes affected, lackadaisical, and helpless, and as soon as her first great diffi culty presents itself she becomes despondent; her latent energies, never being called forth, refuse to work. On the other hand, one who has battled occasionally with the practical realities in her studies will overcome her trials, surmount her difficulties and regard them as stepping stones to a higher, better and purer life.

No girl's education is complete without a knowledge of the current literature. She must be taught too high an opinion of herself to degrade the noble powers of the mind by devouring trash. (In fact, we should all be too proud to abuse our intellects.) She must be well acquainted with the authors and with the careful training she has received is quite competent to select what she needs for her rational recreation. It is a common occurrence to find a bright, vivacious girl perusing some classical work, while a more studious girl will select some light literature with which to spend her leisure hours.-Kansas Catholic.