made good use of the bit that remained in his hand; yet in spite of his blows they pulled him down to a half sitting position. Then help came. There was a shout of encouragement from outside the mine, a shot or two, a rush of dogs and men, and Charlie fell exhausted. The mounted hunters had been hard after these very wolves, and had arrived in the nick of time. Mrs. Butler speedily recovered from the effects of the adventure, and was soon able to look after Charlie; for the boy needed a good deal of nursing. He had been badly torn by the wolves, his left arm having been terribly wounded. "You had a close shave, Charlie Butler," said the old doctor who had come over from the village. But the lad answered, "Call me Charlie Wolf."-American Boy. Story of the World's Religions. W. J. SLOAN. MY Y DEAR young readers, I am going to tell you a story about religion, or rather several stories about several religions. Religion means the faith or worship, either in love or fear, of some thing, person or power whom we believe to be higher than ourselves; or, as it is put by one writer, "Religion is the worship and service by men of an invisible Power, believed to be like himself, yet above himself." It is also of two kinds, true and false. Most of the readers of Zion's Young People are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and believe in what is generally called he "Mormon" religion; but there are numerous other systems of religion, the followers of which have no faith in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; in fact, not half the people of the world have ever heard His great name. Would you like to know something about them, what they believe and how they worship, as well as how many of the people of our own land worship? If you will come with me we will pay them a visit and find out how they go to church and what they do and say. But we must not go to find fault with, or condemn them, but with the desire to find out any truth that they may have, for if they have got any truth that we have not got we want it. And Digger Indians, of our Own when we see their faults and mis- country. takes, if we should ever meet any of them, we will try and show them where they are in the wrong and help them to do right. You know, our Savior did not scold those who did not know what was right; but He did scold those who, when they were taught the gospel, would not obey it. Our first story will deal with the larger part of the world's people, those who do not believe in the Savior. We will commence with those who are called savages, and who it is thought do not believe in any God, but who we will find believe in some power higher than themselves. Such religions are termed by Mr. Clarke "Tribal," which means that they are the beliefs of different tribes rather than of a nation or great body of people. Among the men who have visited and studied the many different tribes of savages there are many opinions as to which of them are the most depraved, which means the lowest. Some say that the lowest type of man are the natives of Australia; others, the Bushman of Africa; others, the Hottentots of the same country; other travelers claim that the place should be given to the natives of Brazil; the people of Terra del Fuego; to the people of the Andaman Islands (in the Bay of Bengal); some say that the Lapps are the lowest; while others give the place to the As we grow older and read history we will find that they are all very low; but now we want to find out what they believe. Those who have searched most deeply into the history and customs of the wild men have found that all of them believe in a higher power than themselves. Dr. Livingstone, the great African traveler, tells us that the Bushmen of that country believe in a male and female god; while another traveler tells us that before going to war they pray to an invisible man in the sky. The Hottentots worship the moon, with song and dance, which is the god that they can see, but the God they cannot see they call "Jouma Tik-quoa," or "God of Gods." Mr. Phillips, a Christian missionary among the natives of Terra del Fuego, once complained of the heat of the sun, and they said, "Don't say that; he will hide himself, and it will be cold." They also blow in the air to keep away evil spirits. The people of the Andaman Islands worship the sun and moon; they believe in an evil spirit, who they say sends the storms; they also believe in a future life. The Esquimaux and Greenlanders believe in a "Spirit of the Air," which tells them what they must do and what they must not do; they also believe, in "Spirits of the Sea,” "Spirits of Fire," "Spirits of the Mountains," "War Spirits," and a "Mighty Wind Spirit.' tell you about them in another story, which I know you will be interested in, if you have ever read the Book of Mormon, which tells about them when they first came to this land. of whom there are about 100,000,- and funny beliefs to us, who have But I almost forgot to tell you about some strange people who live in the Phillipine Islands, who believe in heaven, but oh, such a funny heaven. It is not above them, but below, right down in the center of the earth; and it is not one heaven, but seven of them, each one lower down and better than the other one; and the more good they do, according to their idea of good, the better place they go to. Do you think they ever heard what our Savior said, "In my Father's house are many mansion's," or that "all men shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body?" According to the belief of some of the other natives of the Pacific Islands, all things began with a single immovable point, which they call the "root of existence." They believe in three worlds, one above, which is divided into seven heavens, the one they live in, and and in dreams. one below. But I must not tire your little minds with hard questions which you cannot answer, nor anyone else, for our Father in Heaven alone knows where they got their strange beliefs. But of one thing we can rest assured, and that is, that all who are called Pagans, or Heathens, (by this I mean the lowest orders of religious beliefs, We must not make fun of nor ridicule any of them for what they believe; we should rather try and feel as the Savior did when He was the cross-"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." on I must also tell you that every tribe of savages believes in ghosts Ghosts, you know, are supposed to be spirits, without bodies, that can see without eyes, hear without ears, and strike without hands; they all believe that when they die it is only the body which dies, and that the spirit, which was inside the body when they were alive, remains near the place where they lived, either to do good to their friends or to punish their enemies. Though these races of people whom we are reading about live far from each other, and have never seen each other, yet when the white man went to them he found that they all believed in departed spirits. I may tell you that belief in the existence of spiritual beings is to be found in every religion from the lowest to the highest. Of all the beliefs of the human race, in all ages and places, none has been so general as that there is a soul, or spirit, which can exist independent of the body, or after the body is dead. The poor wild man does not try to tell us where it came from, but you and I know; our spirits came from our Father in heaven, and when we die they go back to him. From the study of these Tribal religions we see that they do not know God, nor believe in Him as we do, yet they all believe in a higher Power and in a soul which lives after death. I think that if it were possible for us to go far enough back into their history, to the time when they first become a tribe, or even before that, we would find that they once knew more about God than they do now; and I think that if we could find out all about their history we would see that they had drifted from Him because they were wicked and would not keep His laws, and so He took His Spirit from them, just as He will take it from us if we do not love Him and keep His commandments. In my next story I am going to tell you about what the Indians of our own land believe and how they have become the dark and ignorant people that they are today. TABLE ETIQUETTE HERE are a few good rules that can be safely followed: Give the child a seat that shall be strictly his own. Teach him to take his seat quietly. To use his napkin properly. To say thank you. If asked to leave the table for a forgotten article or for any purpose to do so at once. Never to interrupt and never to contradict. Never to make remarks about FOR LITTLE FOLKS. the food, such as "I saw that turkey killed, and how he did bleed," as I once heard a little boy remark at dinner. Teach the child to keep his plate in order. Not to handle the bread or to drop food on the cloth and floor. To always say "Excuse me, please," when leaving the table before the rest of the party. To fold his napkin and to put back his chair or push it close to the table before leaving. And after leaving the table not to return. |