Bible Principles in Business

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Will This Eye See Again, Doctor?

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Care for the Aged

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Those Incredible Edibles

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DECEMBER 8, 1962

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital Issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. '‘AwakeI" has na fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It Is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; It Is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself frte that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

"AwakeI" uses the regular news channels, but Is not dependent an them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncensored, on-the-scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal's viewpoint is not narrow, but is international. It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons af all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.

"Awake!" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a righteous New World,

Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"

Illi—I M*IH ■ ''till Published Simultaneously in ths United States by the WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC, 117 Adams Street                               Brooklyn 1, N. Y_s, U* S. A,

and TN England 3Y

CONTENTS

Straining Out the Gnat but Gulping

Down the Camel!

Bible Principles in Business

Will This Eye See Again, Doctor?

Life and Travel of Birds

Terror Strikes in Barcelona

What Is Wrong with the Churches?

Care for the Aged

Not a Good Companion

Those Incredible Edibles

Witnessing to the Gypsies

Porcelain—Stability of the Ceramics

Mental Firmness

"Your Word Is Truth"

Baptism in Whose Name?

Watching the World

Volume XLIII                      London, England, December B, 1962                         Number 23

being concerned about trifles while ignoring weighty matters. And an apt saying it is, for in English currency it takes 240 pence to equal a pound. A similar adage is, “Save at the spigot and waste at the bunghole.”

However, more than nineteen hundred years ago the great Teacher, Jesus Christ, uttered the most expressive comparison of ail on this subject when he said to certain religious leaders: “Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel!” (Matt. 23:24) The force with which this metaphor must have struck his listeners becomes apparent when we note that, just as the gnat was very tiny, so the camel was one of the largest creatures with which they were familiar. Depending upon their size, it takes from fifteen million to more than a hundred million gnats to equal the weight of an average camel.

Nor would we overlook another reason why Jesus’ statement on this occasion was so forceful. He knew that his religious opposers carefully strained their wine and vinegar with a cloth sieve lest they swallow a gnat, not for health or esthetic reasons but for religious reasons; the gnat gulping down the gigantic camel, which was just as unclean as the gnat!—Lev. 11: 4, 21, 23.

Why did Jesus charge the religious leaders of his day with straining out the gnat but gulping down the camel? As he said: “Because you give the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cummin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These things it was binding to do, yet not to disregard the other things.” From these words of Jesus we can see that what Jesus meant by straining out a gnat and gulping down the camel was to be concerned about the smallest obligations while neglecting the most serious ones,—Matt-23:23.

What causes one to make the mistake of straining out the gnat and gulping down the camel? It could be any number of things: pride, greed, hypocrisy, ignorance or misguided zeal. But, regardless of the cause, the course is folly, for it brings neither honor to God nor happiness to man.

Today many of the religious leaders of Christendom make the same mistake the leaders of religion did in Jesus’ day. They stress fine manners and doing acts of charity, yet wink at dishonest business practices and sexual immorality.

Christendom manifests a similar common failing when it comes to obeying Jesus’ words at Mark 12:17: “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” Religious leaders keep stressing the need of paying back Caesar’s things to Caesar, yet show little concern about paying back God’s things to God. In doing so are they not also straining out the gnat while gulping down the camel?

Not that this failure is limited to the religious leaders. Pride of family causes many to come short in this regard. Witness the difference between the way some mothers view the shortcomings of their own children as compared with the way they view those of their neighbors’ children. Or the way some mothers-in-law remind their daughters-in-law of the slightest infractions as compared with the way they gloss over the glaring errors of their own sons.

Racial prejudice is another thing that causes some to strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel. The petty shortcomings of one whose skin color is different are judged harshly, while the gross misdeeds of those of one’s own race are often viewed indulgently—a weakness, let it be noted, that is not at all the peculiarity of any one race.

Misguided zeal at times makes a loving housewife guilty of straining out the gnat but gulping down the camel. Her great concern to have her house spic-and-span causes her to ignore the comfort and convenience of her family. Spill something on the tablecloth and the meal is spoiled. Would it not be better for both her and her family if she gave more thought to happiness and contentment, yet not neglecting neatness ?

The same must be said about her who is overly concerned about her appearance. She may go to great lengths to strain out the gnat as regards her looks but gulp down a camel by neglecting her personality. Would she not be wiser to put the emphasis on a mature, well-furnished mind and an understanding and generous disposition?

The underlying principle Jesus gave at Matthew 23:23, 24 can also be applied to dedicated Christians and their ministry. God’s Word contains many instructions for them, even as it did for the Israelites in olden times, and, reasonably, Jehovah God has an organization on earth to help Christians to apply these, even as he did in the days of the prophets. As in their day so in ours, not all instructions are of equal weight. Thus at times a presiding minister may let himself become so busy keeping records that he has no time left for ministering to those in need of his help. Then again, a Christian minister may be keenly concerned about his appearance; he would never think of venturing forth without looking neat and presentable. Yet at the same time he may be neglecting proper preparation so as to be able to give effective sermons and an answer to whoever may demand a reason for his hope. Accurate knowledge and unselfish love are of far greater importance. These should always be given due attention, yet one’s appearance should not be neglected.—1 Pet. 3:15.

So be careful that you never become blind to the situations that confront you. Let both love and the wisdom from above help you to see your obligations in proper perspective. Be faithful in little things, but give first attention to the more important ones.

In 1961 executives of some American electrical firms were arrested and tried for violating a Federal law against price fixing. This was a shock to the communities where they lived and where they were honored church members and civic leaders. It put their churches in a position where a defense of Biblical moral principles was expected from them.

Commenting on the silence of the churches to which some of these men belonged, The Christian Century of November 8, 1961, stated: “It must be acknowledged that the silence of the churches created one of two impressions: that no moral issues were involved, or that moral issues were involved but that guidance on those issues was not to be had. If the first impression is true, one must conclude that the churches do not know enough; if the second is valid, it is apparent that they do not care enough. munity. This failure to uphold Bible principles is general and undoubtedly contributes to the fact that bad business ethics are commonplace in the modern business world.

Rather than permit Bible moral principles to be the guiding standard for business conduct, many businessmen let questionable corporation ethics or popular practice guide

them. A survey among 1,700 businessmen revealed the general feeling that corporation ethics have come to dominate personal ethics. Time magazine said: “Many otherwise ethical employees in lesser jobs find it difficult to defy company policies that violate civil laws or moral codes.” From big corporations down to the operators of small businesses can be found a general disregard for Biblical moral principles, and that among businessmen who profess to adhere to them by being regular church attenders.

Who Can Be Trusted?

Shoppers are constantly confronted with the problem of finding a businessman that can be trusted, one who lives by good moral standards. They have to be alert for butchers who may try to cheat them by short-weighing their meat; they have to watch grocery clerks who may try to charge customer after customer for a food package that is kept on the counter; they have to watch cashiers who may try to short-change them; they have to watch building contractors who may try to cheat them by using inferior materials; they have to watch radio and television repairmen who may try to charge for replacement parts that are not needed or for parts that are not actually replaced; they have to watch auto mechanics who may try to charge for work they do not do and for parts that are not needed; and so it goes for many forms of business. People are constantly confronted with dishonesty.

At Colossians 3:9, the Bible stresses the principle of being truthful. It says: “Do not be lying to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices.” This principle is not out of place in business. It does not endanger business profits. By following it a businessman can build up a reputation that will attract customers to him. Usually people want Lo deal with businessmen they can trust, especially when a large sum of money is involved. The businessman who tells the truth inspires confidence in his customers, and they will recommend him to their friends. Thus by sticking to the Bible principle of being truthful, a businessman helps his business as well as sets a good moral example for the community.

Honesty

A person in business might feel that it is difficult to be honest when many of his competitors are prospering by being dishonest. But their dishonesty does not mean he should forsake moral principles. How can he if he has love for righteousness? If he claims to be a religious man who lives by Bible principles, he cannot be like a pig and jump into the miry wallow of unethical business practices because others are prospering there. He must be honest in all his business dealings, not because honesty is the “best policy,” but because it is right and just.

If a businessman sells merchandise that requires weighing, he will use accurate scales if he is one who is endeavoring to live by Biblical moral principles. He will give his customers full measure for their money, not trying to cheat them by shortweighing or short-measuring. The principle of being honest in business is stressed in the Biblical law regarding weights and measures. “You should prove to have accurate scales, accurate weights, an accurate ephah and an accurate hin.” (Lev. 19: 36) This divinely given law to the nation of Israel expresses the principle of being honest with other people. It obligates Christians who are not under the Law to. use honest scales and to weigh merchandise honestly. To do otherwise would incur the displeasure of God. “A cheating pair of scales is something detestable to Jehovah.”—Prov. 11:1,

The Bible principle of honesty is not out of place in the business world. It belongs there, especially among persons who make a claim of living by Biblical moral standards. Those who practice it raise public respect for businessmen, and at. the same time encourage, by their example, employee honesty. Since there is a great loss to business firms because of employee dishonesty, they would gain much by encouraging honesty among their employees. This they can do by setting a good example of honesty in their dealings with their customers. Very often employees who steal from an employer rationalize their dishonesty by the knowledge that their employer steals from customers by unethical business practices.

Cheating people in business transactions is a form of stealing. The unethical businessman takes from customers what does not belong to him when he cheats them. How can any person who claims to respect moral principles in private life condone business practices that amount to stealing? The Bible sets the policy on this by saying: "You must not defraud your fellow, and you must not rob.” (Lev. 19:13) The person who may have done this before he decided to live by the moral principles of the Bible certainly cannot do it anymore. "Let the stealer steal no more.” —Eph. 4:28.

Neighbor Love

The basis for the moral principles of the Bible is neighbor love. When a person exercises neighbor love in his business dealings, he cannot become involved in unethical practices, whether he is an employer, an employee or someone conducting a private business" transaction. Exercising neighbor love requires him to follow the good advice at Luke 6:31, "Just as you want men to do to you, do the same way to them.”

When there is neighbor love, selfish advantage is not taken of other persons. Their ignorance of mechanics, electronics, house building, and so forth, will not be taken as an opportunity for getting more money than should be taken. Love requires you to be concerned with the interests and welfare of persons with whom you are doing business. It is not in their best interests to pay more for something than they need to pay or to buy something that will not be serviceable to them. Their trust in you, if you are a businessman, should not cause you to regard them as “suckers” for bad merchandise or for exorbitant prices. Out of neighbor love you will not violate their trust for selfish advantage. Neither will you put profits ahead of their wellbeing by selling them something that might be potentially dangerous.

Much unnecessary grief and suffering could have been prevented among the 10,000 Moroccans who ate adulterated cooking oil in 1959 if neighbor love had guided the merchants who sold the oil rather than greed for profits. Their selfish disregard for the welfare of their customers caused these people to be stricken with paralysis. It is not showing neighbor love when a merchant knowingly markets adulterated foods, injurious drugs, electrical appliances with dangerous shock hazards and defective mechanical devices that could cause injuries. And his employees are not innocent when they do as he does.

The Christian who works for an unethical businessman is not obligated to shortmeasure, short-w'eigh, deceive and make false promises to customers because he is told to do so. The wages the employer pays entitles him to an employee’s time, energy and abilities, but they do not entitle him to require the employee to lay aside moral principles. A Christian will refuse to violate Bible principles to help an employer gain profits.

Bible principles are practical and can be exercised by businessmen despite unethical practices by competitors. The person who truly respects them will not have a double code of morals—one for business and one for nonbusiness activities. He will follow the instructions of the apostle Peter, w'ho said: “Maintain your conduct fine among the nations.”—1 Pet. 2:12.

TIE day was beautiful. The sunshine beamed down from a blue sky spotted with puffy white clouds. The mountain atmosphere was cool and dry. But the peaceful delight of the day was suddenly shattered by tragedy! Not worldshaking—a very personal one, but still tragedy.

Marcos, a serious boy, twenty years old, had been working on a construction project in Tegucigalpa. The building was completed—only a few details remained. A fence was being installed. A wire had to be cut. At arm’s length the pliers closed. Snap! The end whipped around and got imbedded in the pupil of his eye! The head jerked back instinctively; a fluid ran down his face.

I looked up at him standing there in front of me, every muscle in his body tensed, pallor showing through the deep tan of his clean-cut face, his one eye wide with concern. His voice came, husky but controlled: “Se rompid el ojo” (“My eye is broken”).

The San Felipe General Hospital was only two blocks away. “Emergency” quickly sent us to the ophthamological service, section for men, where a young assistant checked the vision of the injured eye. Marcos could see light but distinguish no shapes, no clear outlines.

Checking the Damage

Dr. Luis Callejas Z., trim in his white jacket, glanced at us with serious brown eyes. Briefly he studied the assistant’s report, then made his own practiced examination. The wire had made close to a perfect bull’s eye, penetrating right into the pupil. Emergency treatment was given to ward off infection and allow time to make a more thorough examination.

The doctor explained to us that he could not continue treatment in the San Felipe hospital because it was a beneficiary hospital and Marcos was privately employed, but he would be happy to care for the case privately. Forty-five minutes later we were in the well-appointed waiting room of Doctor Callejas’ clinic. The young nurse invited us to sit down near the table with the usual stack of well-known news magazines.

Marcos said very little. When he spoke his low voice indicated the thoughts that must have been racing through his young mind. What about the future? Would the injured eye see again? Thoughtfully he commented: “It could have been worse. I still have the other eye left regardless of what happens. Through it much Bible truth will yet enter to go out again through the mouth. How true it is, despite all your plans, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow or even in the next five minutes.” His emotions were under close control.

The doctor entered with a quick, businesslike step. He cleaned the eye again and had the nurse administer eye drops every five minutes for half an hour to dilate or expand the pupil of the eye.

In the office modern equipment stood ready. Methodically and almost automatically the doctor manipulated complicated devices, studying how to save the sight of the eye. The eye could now distinguish shapes. But it was too soon to be confident.

A Decision to Make

While Marcos awaited us in the reception room, the doctor drew me a diagram of the eye, illustrating how the wire had penetrated clear into the crystalline lens. My heart sank. Was there any chance of using the eye again? Yes. An operation would have to be performed to sew the damaged cornea, or clear cover of the eye, and to remove the crystalline lens and its capsule so as to avoid future destruction of eye functions in the healing process. That being successful, sight could be restored if a contact lens could be fitted to the eye. What were the chances for success? Eighty percent, the doctor informed me.

I explained the situation to Marcos, drawing him the same diagram. He quickly grasped the situation and accepted calmly the 20-percent chance of failure. He agreed to the operation.

I followed Marcos down the narrow, rocky path to his small, wooden house on the hillside to pick up his belongings. He walked quickly, testing his reactions to sight with one eye. Mother was not home. We entered his small room, and he began gathering the things he would need. The bed took up about a third of the space in the room. There was a radio, a table, a tiny closet, a small suitcase. By the door tacked to the wall was his personal, daily study schedule: the Bible, ministerial texts, grammar, mathematics.

Mother arrived—a slight woman, long, black hair combed tight to her head and falling to the middle of her back; she almost stumbled in. The neighbors had told her what had happened. The care lines deepened in her distraifght face and tears filled her dark-brown eyes. She was almost frantic with concern for her son. Marcos took her into his arms, comforting, minimizing: “I just got hit in the eye, Mamma.”

Marcos was soon settled in the Viera Hospital, high on the mountainside overlooking Tegucigalpa. He was still taking it bravely. The operation was for three o’clock the next day.

The day had arrived. Another patient with both eyes bandaged was in the same room. The three of us talked about the wonders and humor of Jehovah's animal creation. Momentarily injured eyes were forgotten. At three o’clock a nurse came in to give Marcos an injection. One could not help but be impressed with the conscientiousness and warmth of the care the nurses give their patients. But I flinched at the size of the hypodermic needle. Marcos did not, even as it plunged into his shoulder. Very soon he was sleepy. He listened to us, but no longer replied.

Doctor Callejas came in to make a preliminary check of his patient. He granted my request to watch the delicate and exacting operation. I waited while Marcos was prepared and given a local anesthetic, and then a nurse called me in, gave me a white gown to slip on and helped me tie on the white cap and surgical face mask.

A Delicate Operation

The operating room was spotless. Marcos was completely covered with a sheet except for a round hole over the eye. The lid was tied back and the eye stared unmoving at the ceiling. A table over his chert presented an array of sterilized, carefully arranged tiny scissors and instruments of various shapes. The doctor and nurses always seemed to know exactly where each one was, almost without looking.

Doctor Callejas sat at the head of the operating table on a high stool; the nurse stood at the side, very dose. He motioned ma to the best spot where everything would be visible. The eyes that looked at me over the rims of double-lensed magnifying glasses were calm, the hands in the rubber gloves steady.

First, with a tiny, curved needle called a “point” attached to an incredibly fine and tough thread, he pulled together the wounded cornea or transparent cover of the front part of the eye, and tied it with an almost invisible knot. The nurse broke off the corner of a sterilized razor blade in a tiny, plier-shaped clamp and handed it to the doctor. Poised to begin, he explained where he would make the first cut. After that he said little. The concentration was Intense. Doctor and nurse worked as a team, mostly in silence, an occasional whispered request, instruction or report, but mostly as if reading each other’s minds. The doctor evidenced the mounting tension only in the sweat that gathered on the back of his neck. From time to time another nurse gently, softly, dried away the perspiration with a towel. But the steady hands never faltered, never trembled, never hesitated. Unhurried, methodically, he made a small incision in the conjunctiva, a clear membrane that covers the front of the eyeball and the inside of the eyelids, right at the top of the eye where the colored iris joins the white sclera. Imagining the eye as a clock with numbers on it around the iris or colored part, he made the cut on an arc between eleven and one o’clock. A small plier-like instrument was used to separate it from the white beneath and lay it back over the pupil.

As he worked, the nurse, with a small pencil-Hke piece of cotton, cleared away the small amount of blood and other liquid, and cleaned the eye with drops. Now began the crucial part. The limbus corneae, that is, the white part of the eye where it joins the iris, had to be cut without puncturing into the inside of the eye itself. Carefully he drew a tiny line with the tip of the razor. The eye bulged inward with the pressure. The tool was handed to the nurse, who broke off another corner of the razor blade in the clamp and handed it back. The doctor retraced the invisible line—again and again. At last I could see the tiny opening beginning to form. A small, heated bar was applied and seemed to prevent bleeding. At last the opening was to the doctor’s satisfaction. Before continuing, two curved needles were used to put into place sutures of virgin silk thread in preparation for the closing of the wound. Now a small, bent-sclssorlike tool was slipped through the incision and the wounded parts were separated. Tiny scissors slipped a sliver clear through the iris. The channel was now open for the work to be done. I could see the movements of the tiny tools inside the eye. Next a tiny, elongated spoon was slipped in, and little by little a clear, jellylike substance was spooned out. The clear cover of the eye became slightly wrinkled.

The spoon was removed. “The wire penetrated clear through the lens into the eye,” said the doctor, his voice tight for the first time. I tried to keep the alarm out of my own voice. “Is that bad news?” But he sensed it. Very softly, kindly he replied, ‘'We’ll see.” But Marcos, unknown to me, had heard the exchange.

A hypodermic with a bent needle was used to flush out the cleared area with a saline solution. The front of the eye returned to its normal shape. Now the threads, already in place, were pulled tight, cleverly tied and clipped. The nurse leaned back, stretched the muscles in her face, and for the first time the Latin eyes above the mask showed weariness. But more was to be done. With renewed concentration she assisted the doctor in sewing, again with a curved needle and heavier thread, the original incision in the conjunctiva. The operation was finished, at least. The eyelid was untied. Salve was put into the eye. The face was uncovered. The doctor removed the special glasses and the rubber gloves. Bandages were applied to both eyes. The doctor finally relaxed, stood up, removed his mask, put his hands on his hips and stretched briefly. It seemed impossible that half an hour had passed from the time the first stitch was taken.

In the dressing room the doctor gravely concluded, "Now it remains with God."

The Outcome

I was waiting in his room for him when Marcos was wheeled in. He was put in bed. It was five o’clock. He was very thirsty. His mouth felt odd. Now for the first time he spoke, with some despair in his voice. He had heard all the comments made during his operation. When the time finally came to leave him it was hard to go. But despair , did not get a grip on him. The next day we found him cheerful and eager to tell us of the lessons to be learned from his experience. “Material things are so unsure and can be taken away so quickly,” he said, “but if one is putting Jehovah first and doing His will, even if one is suddenly faced with tragedy he has hope and can face it with confidence.”

The doctor arrived while a group was visiting, and seeing all the friends Marcos has, the first big smile I had seen softened his serious face. Kindly, he asked the group to wait in the hall while he examined the eye and changed the bandages. I was allowed to stay.

The doctor gently pulled back the eyelid. Marcos announced, “I can see the outline of your face, doctor." We all felt a flood of relief.

Under the doctor’s daily care the eye healed as expected. Finally, one month after the operation, an examination proved that Marcos could already read the letters of the charts with the aid of lenses. There is every reason to expect that with a lens he will once again have practically normal vision.

How marvelously the Creator has formed the eye, that, even when damaged, if given proper care, it can heal and see again!

Life and Travel of Birds

< Every year Some 500,000 birds in North. America are banded, and there has been a total of over eleven million of them banded over the years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports some interesting information gathered as a result of some one million recovery and return records on these birds. For example, birds banded in North America have been recovered in such distant places as Siberia, Africa, Portugal, France, England, South America, Japan, the mid-Paciflc Islands and New Zealand (Cook Islands). The pintail, a famous traveler, was once taken in England only eighteen days after it had been banded in Canada. A Caspian tern was recovered twenty-six years after banding, a ringbilled gull and osprey after twenty-one years, and It was learned that a mallard and a pintail had lived more than twenty years. Among the,small birds, a purple martin and a blue jay were taken fourteen years after banding and a chimney swift after thirteen years.

HRQELO IM A

BARCELONA’S celebration in honor of its patroness, the Virgin of Our Lady of Mercy, had just begun when tragic disaster struck. A devastating downpour of water turned streets into veritable canals, and through bone-dry valley riverbeds surged floodwaters seventy-five feet wide, sluicing homes, factories, animals and 380 human victims to watery graves.

The entire Spanish peninsula had endured one of the hottest and driest summers on record. Water reservoirs had lowered 5,000 million cubic meters, almost double the normal loss during the three summer months. One thousand and seventeen forest fires had been reported. The peninsula was in dire need of rain.

But Barcelona was in a festive mood, and great throngs lined the streets to watch parades. Marking the religious nature of the festival, on September 23 and 24 long lines formed outside the Royal Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy in order to venerate and to kiss the hands of the image of the “Virgin.” City and provincial officials along with the populace participated in religious processions and acts to “implore the protection and help of Our Heavenly Lady.”—La Vanguardia Espanola.

The Storm Strikes

Then on September 25 dark clouds started forming about noon, and a light rain began to fall. Many ran up to the roofs of their houses in order to greet the welcome sight. Yet long before sunset the black clouds had made it necessary for cars to turn on their headlights, and from above thundered a drenching cloudburst that lasted more than an hour.

Unlike most thunderstorms, the clouds did not break up. Tempestuous winds began to lash the city with cyclonic force, breaking windows and paralyzing traffic. The speedy TAE train coming in from Valencia was held up at the edge of Barcelona province. The airport was closed, and telephone service was interrupted. As the downpour continued, parked cars were washed along city streets until they piled up against trees or other obstacles. Manhole covers were blown off as if by dynamite because of the tremendous pressure of the water, causing geysers of water to spurt from the openings. Trees were uprooted. Electricity failed, leaving the city in darkness, and the city’s water supply was interrupted. Before midnight firemen had received more than a thousand calls for aid, and throughout the night sirens of official cars could be heard.

Nevertheless, it was not until sunrise the following morning that it was possible for Barcelonians to appreciate that a disaster of tremendous proportions had taken place. Seemingly inexplicably, mountains of all types of debris littered the city’s Barceloneta beach, located on the shores of the Mediterranean. Barrels, furniture, bales, doors, timbers, balconies and trees were strewn about, together with the bodies, of cows, pigs, and of men, women, and children, most of whose clothes had been mercilessly torn from their bodies by rampaging currents.

Where had they come from? Barcelona itself is built on h slope that sweeps gradually down to the sea from Mount Tibi-dabo, thus allowing the torrential downpour to flow off into the Mediterranean with a minimum of damage. However, the city’s suburbs and adjacent towns, located in the valleys on each side of and behind Mount Tibidabo, had been hit by a flash flood that washed everything in its path to destruction.

Destruction came so suddenly that it was not even possible for Tarrasa’s mayor to call to the capital for aid. Highways were covered with mud and water, telephone and telegraph lines were down, and railroad fills over dry creeks were washed out, leaving the still-connected rails dangling in space.

Said one observer: “It was as though the very floodgates of the heavens were pouring out all of their contents.” Stated another: “It wasn’t like a rain at all, but more as though some kind of fantastic liquid metal were being poured out over everything.” “It was the noise,” declared another, “a sickening roar, mixed with cries for help from somewhere out there in the darkness.”

In just forty-four minutes, between 10:38 and 11:22 p.m., the city of Sabadell registered much more rain than the province had received in the previous three months! The rivers Llobregat, Ripoll and Besos, as well as creeks where it had been impossible to catch more than a cupful of water, were converted into rampaging torrents.

Palau creek runs down the main street of Tarrasa, a city of more than 92,000, by means of a subterranean conduit. Not being able to enter the overworked pipe, the swirling overflow surged down the wftle tree-lined avenue, inundating stores and buildings to a height of over two and a half meters (about eight feet). Housefronts were sheared away and huge trees were ripped up by the roots and deposited in shop windows. Lampposts and park benches disappeared. Almost one hundred cars, trucks and wagons were tossed about like matchboxes, smashed beyond description as they came to rest at the end of the avenue in what was once an athletic field.

Piles of smashed alarm clocks among the ruins at Rubi indicate that a wall of water slammed into the city at 10:55 p.m. The district of Escardivol was so completely razed that nothing remains to indicate that there once existed more than one hundred homes in the area, not only those of inexpensive construction, but also buildings of several stories, including two large factories and the city slaughterhouse.

Bridges Dam Flow

Bridges crisscrossing the riverbeds added to the catastrophe, for as trees and other debris piled up against them, choking off the free passage of water, they served as makeshift dams. Then when the bridges gave way, the wall of water thus released wiped out everything in its path.

Every bend and eddy of the riverbed was turned into a virtual cemetery, collecting cows, pigs, chickens and the bodies of human victims. Of the 380 who were washed away, 109 were children, for a large number of big families lived in the disaster area. Some families lost five to six children, and of one family of eleven, only one member survived the cataclysm.

Men returned from working the nightshift in the textile factories to find their wives, children and homes washed away. Other workers situated in factories located in the path of the flood were unable to get out in time and perished in the swirling waters.

Economic Losses and Aid

The flood left thousands homeless, end thousands more without employment. Crops intended for export were ruined in the fields.

Reaction to the disaster by the entire nation was fast. Barcelona’s Municipal Sports Palace was converted into a great warehouse to receive donated clothing and food for the flood survivors. In city after city in the disaster area it was announced that the articles donated by the public exceeded their immediate needs.

A day after the disaster Captain General Munoz Grandes, who serves as vice-president of the nation, was on hand to direct operations. Spain’s Chief of State, Francisco Franco, also flew to the disaster area.

The Causes

But why were such a large number of people living in such an obviously dangerous area? Some pointed out that the old Catalonian dream that the affected rivers and creeks would one day have levees built on their banks was yet to be realized, and that they would have saved many lives. Yet few really thought that even this precaution, though badly needed, could have coped with the extraordinary storm.

A more basic cause was that of over-confidence on the part of many in building homes and factories at the edge of, and often on the very beds of the dried-up streams, as well as indifference on the part of officials who permitted such construction. Even factories had been built right on the riverbeds.

The catastrophe forced the cancellation of the remaining days of the festival in honor of the “protector of Barcelona,” and the entire province entered into mourning.

Yet thinking persons asked: "Why was such a calamity allowed to take place, especially during the festival in honor of the Vhgin of Our Lady of Mercy?” The explanation by Doctor Modrego, Archbishop of Barcelona, that God does not permit great evil if from this same evil no great good should come, was more philosophical than satisfying. And his assertion a few days later that all the dead, “because of the circumstances which produced their death, enjoy heaven,” carried with it no confirmation from the Holy Scriptures nor did it offer much hope of relief for the survivors.

While none of Jehovah's witnesses were adversely affected by the floods personally, all immediately swung into action to aid and comfort the mourners throughout the nation. Special Bible sermons were prepared to show what the “Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort” has to say on the matter. The disaster could not be attributed to the disfavor of any “saint,” nor was it an act of God. Both good and bad die in such disasters, because, since Adam chose the course of sin, “time and unforeseen occurrence befall” all of-us. It is Satan that led men into sin, and it is because he knows that his time is short that he brings increased woes upon mankind. Yet this increase of distress fulfills the Bible prophecies showing that God’s new world is near at hand where "death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more.” In that new world God will raise from the dead those who loved him and who are kept in his memory, and he will provide everlasting security for all obedient mankind. It Is to that new world that we can all look In hope.—2 Cor. 1:3, 4; Eccl. 9:11; Rev. 12: 12; 21:4.

Wljat Wrong with tho (Ehurrljrs?

SLERGYMEN everywhere recognize that a> something is wrong with the churches, ft "The soul has gone out of the church," ft Lennard Helle explained to his New York ft city congregation last year,                     ft

Episcopal bishop Daniel Corrigan gave an a honest appraisal of the trouble: “Broadly ft speaking most people do not find much in ft the average church that reminds them of T Christ. , , . Every church,” he said, “ought ft to turn a flshy eye on its own program and |> ask itself honestly what difference it would ft make if the church wasn't there.”

Danish minister J. V. Sorensen spoke in ? a similar vein. "Even from people who reg- ft ularly attend church complaints are heard X that they do not get anything out of going | to church. It is as if there is nothing to kindle ft their interest,” he said.                          ?

After a frank analysis as to what is wrong ft with the churches, United Church of Canada X minister D. R. Keating concluded that they ft no longer practice Christianity. As reported ft in the February 18,1961, issue of the Winnipeg | Tribune, he invites: "Consider some of the ft evidence to prove that this is not Christian- ft ity you see in the churches—assuming of ft course that you would compare it with the ft New Testament in order to find out,          g

"In the New Testament the church is a ft community of people turning the world up- ft side down. Today the church is a community ft of people struggling to maintain the status ft quo.                                        ®

“In the New Testament the church ap- ft pears to be a people so caught up in some ft great task that they carelessly throw their ft lives into it—at all costs. Today we see a ft church determined to perpetuate the Instltu- & tlon In its old forms—at all costs,              ft

"In the New Testament the experience of ft worship is described by saying that the wor- ft shippers were shaken by the power of what ft they called the Holy Spirit. Today the ex- & perience of worship is described most often ft by saying that the worshippers were soothed, ft comforted, or felt peaceful.                      ft

“In the New Testament, you can’t miss the ft fact that when the message is being pro- I claimed something revolutionary is happen- ft ing—men’s lives are being disrupted. Today ft you can’t help but feel that the message is ft calculated bo It will not disrupt lives. It is ft designed rather to be palatable, pleasing, and often flattering.

“In the New Testament the marks of the Christian are usually persecution, poverty, humiliation and faithfulness. Today the marks of the churchgoer, not omitting the clergy, are usually respectability, middle class, honor, and success. It pays to be a Christian modemstyle.

"In the New Testament the Christian life undoubtedly meant self-sacrifice, living under threats, and in danger. Today you can be sure of the opposite: self-indulgence, security and safety.

“In the New Testament the new members (followers) were told they could expect to be hated by the world. Today becoming a member of the church is the sure way to win acceptance in the world, approval among men.”

Keating asserted that "from this general evidence there can only be one conclusion: it is true that this is not Christianity you see in the churches. Here you see Instead the very opposite to New Testament Christianity. Yet in spite of this the leaders of the spectacle, the clergy, take their ordination vows on this same New Testament and then become the chief administrators of institutions that are the opposite to the New Testament church.

“They know it needs renewal, they talk about its sickness, and they work at it here and there. But they are reluctant to do anything about it really, because they dimly sense that the sickness is not like a chest cold but like a cancer and that the work of renewal therefore amounts to the removal of the very thing they presently make their living at—namely, something that is not Christianity.

“What church am I talking about?” Keating asks. "Well, I am a minister of the United Church of Canada but I wouldn’t dare presume to say that this is not also true of the whole church—Catholic or Protestant—at least In this basic way.”

Perhaps you also suspected that the churches had drifted a long way from true Christianity. It is interesting to note that clergymen themselves confirm such suspicions. Yes, the trouble with the churches is that they are not Christian.

CARE for

ONE of the f\ £/

most bitterly f  J rTSf^

disputed issues in I        / fj/j'A

recent years in ^x' the United States has been the sub-

ject of medical care for the aged. Several bills were presented before the Second Session of the 87th Congress and one of these, the King-Anderson Bill, highly favored by the president, was recently rejected by the Senate in a closely fought race. Unfortunately, those caught in the middle of this political arena have been the very ones for whom these bills were designed—the aged themselves.

There are estimated to be approximately 17.3 million persons in the United States sixty-five years of age and over. In 1960 this represented one out of every eleven persons, as compared with one out of twenty-five in 1900. Obviously, there are more older people alive today, with a giant spotlight being focused upon their problems and how they are being handled. This issue is of more than national proportions; every country is faced with the problem to some extent.

The Aging Process

None of us can be completely detached from the problems of the aged, for with each passing year more join their ranks, and one day their problems become ours. As children and youths have problems incidental to their circumstances, so too have the aged. Their resources of health, as a rule, diminish as does their status as wage earners. Those who have reached sixty-five in sound health can be truly grateful, for it is estimated that more than half the people over sixty-five have chronic diseases, the most prevalent of which are

heart disease, cancer, diabetes and arthritis. Their independ-r ence, once held with pride, now

gives way to dependence on chiJ-fJF dren, relatives and, in too many X/ instances, strangers.

Psychological, as well as physical, factors play a great role in the life of one who is aged, due to the difference in the mental attitude each one has toward the aging process. One man considers himself old at sixty; another young at seventy. An eighty-year-old woman was asked how it felt to have most of her life behind her, what it really felt like to be “old.” She replied: “You'll have to ask somebody 'older' than I am.”

Not all of these “elder citizens,” as some like to be called, share the same problems. Many enjoy good health and a means of support, adding to their sense of security; while others are completely dependent on children or on whatever aid their government may provide.

One important factor is the feeling of well-being that the aged must derive from life if their declining years are not merely to be lived out but enjoyed. If they are made to feel unwanted, unloved, discarded and of no use, no amount of medical attention can counteract the damage done.

Medical Care

Although old age is not a disease, it is often accompanied by signs of deterioration in certain body functions, such as impairment of sight, hearing and memory, making medical attention a most important feature in caring for the aged.

Each country has certain facilities for caring for the sick, infirm and aged. In the United States, if a person is destitute, application can be made to the Department of Welfare for relief. There are also homes for the aged. Most of these are segregated according to religious affiliations, but for others there are nondenominational homes. There have been many exposes in the press recently depicting the deplorable conditions in some of these homes and, although they do not reflect on all of them, there is still a crying need for more facilities for the aged and better conditions within the present institutions.

In contrast to the United States, many countries in Europe have adopted plans whereby the government operates and runs various health plans, particularly for the aged. In England socialized medicine under the National Health Service, which has been in effect for fourteen years, is deep-rooted and quite popular. Everything, from minor cuts to cancer, is treated free of charge, with a nominal fee of only two shillings for each drug prescription. However, employers and employees pay in certain amounts weekly.

France’s medicare system differs from most in that patients pay all medical bills and are then reimbursed for 80 percent of their expenses.

Under Italy’s plan, in which employers foot much of the bill, the majority of the population of fifty million are covered. There is no charge for most medical supplies, and convalescent homes for victims of serious illnesses are provided.

Denmark’s health insurance plan requires that everyone over the age of sixteen who is not covered by an approved health insurance fund be at least a passive member contributing 24 kroner ($3.47) annually. The amount paid by active members, who are the ones that benefit from the fund, is several times that paid by passive members. Provision is made for modest pensions to disabled and aged persons. There are also special housing projects for the aged, which provide small low-rent flats within the community.

Dependence on Children

There are various situations that may make it necessary for an aged man or woman to look to the children for aid and care. For instance, a widow, whose husband may not have been covered by social security, may not be eligible to receive any funds from the government, so, upon his death, she may have to turn to her children for care and support if she is not able to support herself. Even those widows whose husbands were covered and are eligible to receive funds may still h^ve to seek aid from their children if those funds are insufficient to provide the necessary support.

Some have had their savings wiped out by prolonged illnesses or hospitalization, while others may become almost destitute from fire and other damage to an uninsured home. There are many circumstances that might make it necessary to lean on one’s children. But more important than the reasons for such aid is the attitude of both parent and grown child toward the aid given.

Those parents who have lovingly reared their children into Godfearing men and women can now graciously and warmly accept a i willing hand from 2? their offspring when in need of it. They is- will not be forsaken.

If the children are appreciative of the time, money and love showered upon them when they were the recipients, this will aid them to have the proper attitude toward their aged parents. Daughters will not utilize their mothers solely as baby gitters, but will appreciate their need for occasional entertainment and privacy; while sons will not regard their fathers* ideas and opinions as old-fashioned, but will frequently seek out their advice, thus drawing from their wisdom and long years of experience. If parents are made to feel useful, it can promote peaceful home relations, particularly if an aged parent is brought into the home on a permanent basis.

Aged parents are not forgotten by godly children who keep in mind the fifth of the Ten Commandments, which says; “Honor your father and your mother in order that your days may prove long upon the ground that Jehovah your God is giving you,’’ (Ex. 20:12) In 1 Timothy 5:4 encouragement is also given to Christians to care for their aged parents. It says: “If any widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to practice godly devotion in their own household and to keep paying a due compensation to their parents and grandparents, for this is acceptable in God's sight.”

Years ago the responsibility of children toward aged parents was unquestioned until the governments started to make provision. Now the inclination is to leave care for the aged to the government. While its provisions can properly be utilized, parents are not to be forgotten.

In much of India the aged parent traditionally has a most unique and prominent position, as opposed to most Western cultures. Many generations live together in the home. The oldest woman of the house is looked upon with respect. Also, in other places in the Orient and in some parts of Europe children are raised and trained with a sense of deep respect and honor toward not only their parents but other elders as well. That attitude, while not completely missing in other lands, is usually not as prevalent.

Various Means of Support

Many parents, of course, want to maintain a feeling of independence, even in later years. Some avail themselves of government provisions, feeling that the government should give them the assistance provided by law, since they have paid taxes for many years.

Others took steps in their youth to provide for their future by taking out life and health insurance policies. The higher the premiums they had to pay, the greater the rewards when they no longer are able to seek employment and make a living.

Some prefer to deposit their savings in banks or trust companies over the years, reaping in old age the interest these give in return. Others invest in stocks and bonds.

There is yet another means of support to be considered seriously. Practically everyone has some interest that he considers to be a “hobby.” Many turn theirs into money-making ventures.

Some men and women who live by the sea and on islands frequented by tourists make the collecting of rare sea shells not only a hobby but a living. These shells are painted, decorated with various ornaments and sold to tourists and specialty shops. Others who have talent for drawing supply greeting-card concerns with,their work. Those talented in music, whose hands may not be as deft as in the past, now turn to teaching others and pouring into them the enthusiasm they once possessed. A man who is a lover of the outdoors can engagi in part-time gardening as both a health; and a productive pastime. Many home owners and apartment dwellers who have extra rooms rent these to help them supplement their income.

Every housewife has some talent that is put to practical use for her home and family, and in an emergency it can be a means of support. A part-time dressmaker can support herself very well. Many women in their seventies and eighties are still knitting scarves and sweaters, and making rugs, blankets and spreads. Few husbands or children have not at some time bragged about “Mom’s cooking.” Baking pies, cookies and cakes for special occasions can, not only enhance a woman’s feeling of sufficiency, but make her a real “breadwinner” in more ways than one.

Most women, no matter what age, cannot resist a cuddly baby. Caring for children at certain times, or even on a fulltime basis-ae- a foster parent, can be both enjoyable and financially rewarding. All these things have been done successfully by many, and take note that there is no traveling involved. They can be done right at home.

Regardless of your age, there is much that can be done. Age should never be a barrier to those who have an interest in doing things. You are as old as you want to be.

Hope for the Future

One of the factors that can do much to enhance the mental health of most older people is a hope for the future. Most men and women tend to remember things of the past, because that was the time when they were most active and things seemed to be happening to them. As the activities slow down, the interesting things to remember do also. It is usually the ones active in their old age that have a vital interest in someone or something and that can be heard to speak of the future with interest and enthusiasm.

True, the world at present offers very little hope for the future; in fact, many question whether we will have a future at all. But the Bible offers a hope that man cannot duplicate, because it directs us to the source of all life, Jehovah God. And' what hope does he hold out? One that is due for fulfillment in this generation—a hope so wonderful that only He can bring it about, and that he will. (Matt. 24:32-34) Under the rule of his kingdom, earth will be transformed into a paradise. Sickness and death, even the infirmity of old age, will be things of the past. Those in the memory of God will be raised from the tombs. Mankind will be revitalized, to live forever with the vigor of youth. Care for the aged will be a thing of the past.—Isa. 33:24; Acts 24:15; Rev. 21:1-4.

With such a prospect before them, many older folks as well as younger ones find great delight in a study of the absorbing promises contained in God’s Word. They are not thinking about dying; their minds are on living, and they are using their energies to help others to take hold of . God’s provision for eternal life in his new world.—John 17:3.

WHEN Duncan Hines, the

American authority on tasty food, made his first trip to Europe in 1954, he announced, bravely, that he would try anything but snails. Though an exquisite delight to many Frenchmen, to him snails as food were incredible. Later he admitted that he found more than snails incredible, for this intemational-ly known gourmet described his despair at being served baby octopus in an oil sauce with the eyes staring up at him. “Couldn’t choke the thing down,” he was quoted as saying.

Yes, food is an oddity in a way: What foods may be delectable to many persons may be called by others “incredible.” But a dish of baby octopus is not out of the ordinary at all in Italy. The French also enjoy tasty octopus and squid tentacles, along with snails in vinegar. Yet other persons, even gastronomically adventurous ones, may view such items as incredible.

Certain Oriental peoples are fond of raw fish, even squid and octopus. Though many Americans would return uncooked fish to the chef in a hurry, raw clams and oysters are consumed by the ton in the United States.

Do you think you would enjoy “Roast Leg of Fido in a Casserole”? Westerners think of dogs solely as pets, incredible as food. However, in large parts of Africa and Asia, dogs have long been a favorite food. Puppy hams, dog chops and dog sausages are well liked. But with continued Western pressure for people in those places to give up dogmeat, one wonders whether it will cease to be a desired food, even in fooddeficient areas.

If any Westerner looks upon those in Malaya who enjoy a python meal as eating

something incredible, he ought to remember that many Americans consider rattlesnake meat a fine delicacy.

Two Chinese delicacies are shark fin and century-old eggs. The eggs are buried and eventually get green and cheeselike. However, there are those who would get “green” at the thought of such an edible. Nevertheless, the eggs were the fare of emperors in the past.

Many Chinese are fond of bird’s-nest soup, but they have it seldom because it is costly and hard to get. The nests are made by a species of swifts that (with a Godgiven instinct for safety) glue them on the face of a cliff or at the mouth of an almost inaccessible cave. The birds make their snug abodes of twigs and seaweed glued together with saliva. It is the hard saliva that is the base of the soup.

The word “yak” might mean mere persistent talk to the inhabitants of North America, but the Tartars who dwell in Central Asia eat the yak (a long-haired ox) the meat of which may have a strong smell. But before you get squeamish, remember how delicious Limburger cheese is to many persons after they get it past their nose!

Some Burmese may not be able to endure smelly cheese, but, then, a Westerner might find their rice flavored with nga-pi-gyet (a garlic and shrimp sauce) difficult to down. Their teas are first scented with jasmine and orange blossom fragrances, which sounds wonderful to the Occidental, but then they thicken them with grains or cereals until the teas attain a gumbo-like consistency.

In Japan seaweed soup (very similar in taste to clam broth) is a favorite, along with kabayaki, which is made of broiled eels. The Japanese may export to American gourmet shops such tidbits as baby bees in soy sauce, tins of fried grasshoppers and roasted caterpillars and even chocolate-covered ants; but many Japanese themselves would not think of eating these epicurean delicacies, which they call “spooky food.”

Food in India consists mainly of curries (a peppery sauce containing a mixture of spices, seeds, vegetables, and so forth), which are usually prepared and served according to custom or one’s religion.

Singular African and European Dishes

In many countries of Africa the rule is, “The hotter the food, the better.” The cooks begin by dumping as much red-hot chili pepper into the pot as they can afford; then they add rice and chicken, shrimp or lobster. The result is a delightful dish called, in some localities, peli-peli or peri-peri; but to many gentle Western palates the result would be more like a gastronomic volcano, for they would probably find the experience a burning one.

Other outstanding African dishes might include such meats as monkey, porcupine, elephant, crocodile, lizard, squirrel, locust or deep-fried black ants.

Another country that features food much hotter than the climate is Thailand. Genuine Thai food is made of mainly two ingredients, hot chili peppers and pak chee (fresh coriander or Chinese parsley). Nevertheless, if you yearn for highly con-dimented dishes, you will be richly rewarded in Thailand.

In many lands soups are made of unusual ingredients, such as Australian pumpkin, Uganda’s cream of peanut, Belgian and Luxembourg Soupe aux Cerises (cherry soup), German Aalsuppe (eel soup), Czechoslovakian Pivni Polevka (made of beer, eggs, cream, butter, water, sugar).

An exceptional iron-curtain recipe is the aptly-named “Red Bacon” of Hungary and Bulgaria. It consists of very fat bacon pieces dipped in paprika, and it is eaten raw by many peasants there.

Then there is the Scottish dish “Haggis.” It is a pudding made of a sheep’s heart, liver, lungs, and oatmeal, and it is cooked in the lining of a sheep’s stomach.

Right next door, in Ireland, you might enjoy sampling a delicious chocolate potato cake or one of many puddings and desserts using carrageen (a moss found on the Irish shore) as its base.

The Norwegians are great on herring. They eat it raw, dried, smoked, salted, spiced or pickled. They also make a herring soup called sildegryn. Another of their dishes worthy of mention is rakrret-raketrout. This is an overripe trout, kept one month or more until "ripe.” Now if your nose is offended, what about those smelly, moldy-looking cheeses? Yet Danish blue, Italian Gorgonzola, English Stilton and French Roquefort are considered by many to be the ultimate in cheese.

The South Pacific and the Americas

In Australia the aborigines enjoy lizard and turtle eggs, raw or boiled. They also relish poached bats called “bandicoots” (a fruit bat with a wing spread of four feet). Fresh grubs (a wormlike form or larva of an insect, especially beetles) are eaten alive and are an aboriginal speciality.

Hawaii is the home of pol, a pasty mash made of taro plant root, ground, watered and eaten after fermentation. Many a Hawaiian would say “Oh, boy!” when you mention poi.

In South America the Indians eat piranha, the man-eating fish. Some chefs might be startled to learn that chicken is cooked in cider in El Salvador, while Mexicans serve Mole de guajalote (turkey with chocolate sauce). But to Peruvian gourmets nothing equals seviche, a pickled raw fish garnished with cold, cooked sweet potato slices. Uruguayans, however, are just as satisfied with their Carbonado. crioda, a unique combination of veal and fruit in a stew.

If you travel to Alaska you might sample a certain kind of ice cream. It is composed of grated reindeer fat, seal oil, water and blueberries; and it is a great favorite with the children and adults.

On the Arctic shores, the Eskimos enjoy a seagull dish made in the following way: Seagulls are caught and put in a large sealskin bag, which is hung on the sunny side of the house or igloo, whichever it may be; then they alternately freeze and thaw until late winter. By this time, the birds are a formless mass and judged ready for ingestion—or indigestion, as those who are not Eskimos might view it. Eskimos are also able to eat and enjoy fancy raw whale blubber and walrus meat.

“Every Creation of God Is Fine”

Whatever food one may eat, there are probably other people on this earth that view it as incredible. Yet who is to say which foods are incredible ? We are all entitled to our personal preferences, but perhaps one should be cautious about assuming that the food habits of one's native country are necessarily more rational than those of another. Says Professor Frederick Simoons of the University of Wisconsin, in his book Eat Not This Flesh; “Western man, despite his frequent temptations to claim his foodways are based on rational considerations, is no more rational in this than other men, for it makes no better sense to reject nutritious dogflesh, horseflesh, grasshoppers, and termites as food than to reject beef or chicken flesh.” Often it is a matter of using what is available.

Taking the Bible viewpoint, we find that after the Flood, God did not put any restrictions on animal food except that in regard to blood: “Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to you. Only flesh with its soul —its blood—you must not eat.” (Gen. 9: 3, 4) And an inspired Christian, the apostle Paul, wrote: “Every creation of God is fine, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.”—1 Tim. 4:4; Acts 15:19, 20.

Let us enjoy our edibles, then, even if others view them as incredible. Let us also never forget to thank Jehovah God for our daily bread no matter what it may be. As King Solomon said under inspiration: “With a man there is nothing better than that he should eat and indeed drink and cause his soul to see good because of his hard work. This too I have seen, even I, that this is from the hand of the true God.” —Eccl.2:24.

'IrfJitneMlnp to the (gypsies

NE of Jehovah’s witnesses, a missionary X In Argentina, relates this experience: \ __“One day in our door-to-door ministry ) we came to a group of Gypsy houses. We X clapped our hands at the gateway to get their \ attention, and a large group of young girls, j all with long hair and colorful, long skirts, X came to the gate to listen. After a brief ser- \ mon from the Bible was given and the study f aid From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained X was presented, one of the girls stated that \ she had the book but she also wanted the j Bible. Could I bring her one?                  X

“The Bible was delivered the following • week, and on my being Invited into the house, f the girl showed me her well-worn Paradise J book. A Witness had previously visited the * father and, besides placing the book with f him, he had had many interesting conver- \ sations about Jehovah’s purposes. During -those visits, the girl and her sister would f listen from a distance because, according to Gypsy custom, it is not proper for the daugh- • ters to enter in on their father's con versa- < tions. So now they were more than pleased j that a visit was being made directly on them, • and they quickly responded to the invitation f to study their newly acquired treasure, the j Bible.                                               •

“Each week it was an hour to be eagerly \ anticipated. The girls had such a sweet, sim- j pie and sincere desire to learn. They had no X difficulty understanding the new truths about \ Jehovah, although their schooling was limited j and many worde in Spanish were difficult X for them.                                      \

“The family proved to be an international j group. Esteban, the father, is of Russian X birth and during his life he has traveled in C most of the' countries of the world. He, as ? well as his Itallan-born wife, Laila, can apeak \ seven languages. Nlneteen-year-old Paulina • and her seventeen-year-old sister, Katia, were i born in Brazil and can speak five languages, j while the four-year-old Valentina chatters . away in Spanish, French and Gypsy. Only a ? few years ago the family had come to Ar- X gentina from France. While there, together • with a large group of aunts, uncles and cous- f ins, they toured Europe as dancers and gui- ) tarists, interpreting Russian, Spanish and X Gypsy music.

“On various occasions, over glasses of tea, we would discuss their travels and customs, along with Bible truths and promises. The mother always added color to the scene in her ankle-length skirts and bright silk head scarves wrapped securely and pinned by two gold pins to her black hair. Married women are identified by their silk head scarves.

“After only a few weeks of study, Paulina said that she had a serious problem. 'God's way is the good way, the right way,’ she said. ‘I don’t know how I can do God’s will.’ But she was soon strengthened by more knowledge and by personal prayar. She would spend many hours out in a nearby field reading her Bible. The two girls would often study far into the night.

“The neighboring Gypsy women are known for their fortunetelling. One day a lady, who had just had her fortune told, asked Paulina if a certain Gypsy woman dguld really tell the future. ‘No,’ was her reply, ‘only Jehovah can do that, and if you want to know the future you will have to study your Bible.’ She then made a call on the lady in her home with her Paradise book and Bible to give the lady a real hope for the future.

“After a year and a half of study and association with Jehovah’s witnesses in Argentina, the girls had to leave for Mexico, the father having made his final arrangements. The girls, although anxious tc see new lands, felt sad at having to leave behind their friends in the New World society. Paulina and Katia made decisions to serve Jehovah, and prayed for God’s help that nothing would hinder their progress and desired baptism. When Katia prayed she said: ‘Gracias, Jehovii, por-que estamos en esto. t'Thank you, Jehovah, because we are in this.’] Bless all our brothers and help us to be faithful in our new country.’

“The girls are happy that their parents havp cooperated with them in their newly found worship of the true God. Paulina, with shining eyes, related how her father took advantage of the opportunity tc witness to a large group of Gypsy men ibt very night before they left. Undoubtedly the s :3d has been sown, and Jehovah will give the increase among the sincere Gypsies who hear the good news of the coming new world of righteousness.”

W|\ T AY I help you with some-1VJ. thing?” The friendly salesgirl in the large ceramics shop could not help but notice the young lady’s unconcealed delight as she admired the vast assortment of beautiful things made of porcelain. Her gleaming eyes shifted from the fascinatingly designed vases to the graceful ivorycolored service sets, then to the hand-painted jugs, bowls and delicate figurines, “I’d like a souvenir of Germany. I thought perhaps a vase, a bowl or something like that—I just really don’t know.”

“Would you care for something hand painted?” Following the young lady’s glances and noticing that she was apparently captivated by a bowl decorated in relief with a gold flower, the salesgirl added, “This lovely piece you see here comes from Lake Chiemsee, and was hand painted by very talented artists.”

But another vase, one decorated with a golden bird, seemed to please the customer too. She sighed heavily. “Oh, it’s all sooooo beautiful I would just love to buy everything you have, if I could. Is it really true that all of these beautiful objects are made from clay?”

Ceramics

“Yes, generally speaking, that is right,” answered the well-informed salesgirl. “Ceramics comes from the Greek word Tc&ramos, which means potter’s clay. Even the Bible refers to early ceramics

and their manufacture. However, it took thousands of years to develop objects as beautiful as these pieces of porcelain that you see here. Today ceramics are practically indispensable. Did you realize that?"

“It is true,” the salesgirl responded to her customer’s negative nod. “There is hardly a room in the home where ceramics are not found. Cups and saucers, bowls, plates, trays, jugs, crocks, teapots and many other items of earthenware, pottery or porcelain all have a common beginning in clay. The same is true of the ceramic tile in the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the lavatory bowl and wash basins. Objects such as flower vases, ashtrays, figurines and knickknacks are also usually made of porcelain or one of the other ceramics.”

“But none of those things look like clay,” objected the customer. V J “They are so hard and have such || a shiny surface. Take this porce- M lain piece, for instance; when I hold it up to the light I can see right through it, and when I flick 'VL*/ it with my fingernail it rings like a bell. How did man ever learn to make such things from clay?"

“That is a story of absorbing interest,” the salesgirl noted. “It actually goes back to Bible times and involves a secret that one nation of people kept from the rest of the world for over seven hundred years.” At the young lady’s eager request the salesgirl shared with her what she had learned about ceramics, and particularly about the noblest among them all—porcelain.

Bible Times

One of the very early mentions of ceramics is in the familiar Bible account concerning Job. You will recall that when he was sorely afflicted with some sort of skin disease “he proceeded to take for himself a fragment of earthenware with which to scrape himself.” That was over 3,400 years ago. So it was early in history that men learned that if objects of clay were baked they would harden and retain their shape. The earliest pieces of earthenware were probably baked in an open fire, until eventually some type of oven was devised that served the purpose better.—Job 2:8.

After a time it was discovered that if pieces of earthenware were coated with particles of metal and then heated to a high temperature the metals would melt and form a glazed, glasslike surface. This made the earthenware impermeable, enabling it to hold liquids. It also gave it a brilliant surface, which hid the dull-appearing clay beneath. That such brilliant glazes were achieved by the time of King Solomon, in about 1000 B.C., is evident from reading his proverb: “As a silver glazing overlaid upon a fragment of earthenware are fervent lips along with a bad heart.”—Prov. 26:23.

Another early innovation was the potter’s wheel upon which objects of clay were shaped. It is evident that ceramicsmaking was a common trade in Bible times, since this also is described in the Scriptures. Jeremiah wrote: “I proceeded to go down to the house of the potter, and there he was doing work upon the potter’s wheels. And the vessel that he was making with clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand, and he turned back and went making it into another vessel, just as it looked right in the eyes of the potter to make.”—Jer. 18:3,4.

Development of Porcelain

It was the Chinese that made some of the greatest advances in the making of pottery. Even before the time of Christ they had developed kilns capable of reaching temperatures above 1150° C. By baking sandy, heat-resisting clays to such high temperatures they were able to produce excellent pieces of stoneware. These differed from earthenware in that the clay, instead of remaining porous, would melt into a kind of solid mass, quite impervious to liquids.

Through the years the quality of stoneware was improved until the Chinese finally struck upon the combination of materials from which they were able to produce porcelain. Recent excavations of tombs of the second or third century after Christ yielded excellent stoneware, some of which approaches porcelain in fineness. However, it was not until some time toward the end of the T’ang dynasty, from 627 to 906 A.D., that the Chinese perfect^ true porcelain. The secret to this formula was kept from other peoples for over seven hundred years.

The T’ang potters found that when kaolin was combined with another similar clay called “petuntse,” a beautiful glasslike porcelain would be obtained when they were heated to temperatures of 1300° C. to 1400° C. Kaolin is a white clay often called china clay, which is produced from the decay of feldspar, a mineral constituent of rocks. Petuntse, known as china stone, is a less decayed feldspathic material that also contains flint, a variety of quartz.

It is the proper combination of these materials, which are fused together at a high temperature into a translucent, glasslike substance, that is treasured the world over as genuine porcelain. Unlike other pottery that has a surface glaze composed of a different material than the clay beneath, the porcelain glaze is formed from the china stone, which, along with the kaolin, also makes up the body. Therefore the china stone does not melt to become a surface on the ware, but becomes part of the ware itself, giving the surface an exceptional glitter. While a fracture on other pottery is granular in appearance, somewhat akin to a lump of sugar, a porcelain fracture is similar to a chip on the edge of a piece of glass. If you run your tongue over the fracture it will feel smooth; there is no roughness as in the case of a fracture on other types of pottery.

For hundreds of years porcelain-making flourished in China, and the rest of the world marveled at /the amazing productions, unduplicated by any other people. When the famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited China in 1275 (A.D.) and was shown the amazing treasures created by the potters, he is reported to have exclaimed in awe, “Porcellano! Porcellano!” In Marco Polo’s time that meant ‘sea shells’ or ‘mother-of-pearl,’ but the word later came toidentify these exquisite works of art. For at least eight hundred years, until the end of the eighteenth century, the Chinese produced a superb quality of porcelain ware of many varieties and colors, but around 1800 a protracted decline set in, and the art among them has never regained the splendor of the past.

fn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries pieces of Chinese porcelain were treasured items among the nobility Of Europe. The demand for them sent mariners on long and arduous voyages to the Orient in order to decorate the tables and homes of kings, princes and the rich with these pieces of sparkling “white gold.” Although European craftsmen had developed a fine quality of pottery and glass, they were unable to duplicate genuine porcelain, which combined the characteristics of the two. In their efforts to solve the secret, potters in the sixteenth century produced an artificial porcelain by mixing ground glass with a white clay, but its only resemblance to true porcelain was a certain translucency.

It was not until the early eighteenth century that the Chinese secret of fusing white china clay and china stone at very high temperatures was first discovered. This was done after many years of research by the German nobleman Ehren-fried Walter von Tschimhaus. Just about the time that production methods had been worked out, Tschirnhaus died, in October of 1708. However, by the following March his able assistant Johann Friedrich Bottger was able to submit a piece of porcelain along with formulas and notes to a Royal Commission, which confirmed his success. On January 23, 1710, a royal decree authorized the establishment of a porcelain factory in Meissen, Germany, and by 1713 porcelain was being produced on a commercial scale. In time the secret spread and soon other factories in the Western world were producing porcelain.

Today millions of pounds of porcelain are turned out annually to serve the needs and satisfy the tastes of people the world over. It remains the noblest of the ceramics.

JUST before Jesus returned to heaven he instructed hjs followers: “Go therefore and make djsqples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit” (Matt. 28:19) Yet there is no statement in the Bible that says specifically that the apostles did baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, although it is recorded, as in Acts 2:38, that baptism was done “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Why this seeming inconsistency? In whose name are true Christians to be baptized?

It is good to remember that baptizing had been going on even before Jesus gave the above command. Even his own disciples had been baptizing. (John 4:1, 2) However, the baptism they performed was similar to that of John the Baptist, and no one had been baptized in the name of Jesus. The baptism then being performed was in symbol of their repentance for sins against the law covenant. (Luke 3:3) Such a baptism obviously entailed faith on the part of the ones baptized. It showed that they worshiped Jehovah God, the Giver of the law covenant. Furthermore, as persons who knew of God’s dealings with his people, they were well acquainted with the way that his holy spirit had strengthened those whose exploits on behalf of true worship were recorded in the Bible and how that record itself had been made as directed by holy spirit. Even those Jews who had not been baptized by John were not ignorant of these things.

Therefore, when Peter stood up and prophesied under the power of holy spirit at Pentecost, shortly after Jesus had given his command on baptizing, what was it that needed special emphasis? Since his audience was composed of Jews and Jewish proselytes, would he need to oonvince them that Jehovah is the true God or that it is necessary to accept the guidance of holy spirit? No! He knew he needed to convince them on one main point: that Jesus, the one they had caused to bo impaled, was the Messiah. So he concluded his argument with the words: “Let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.” Upon their request for counsel on the proper course to take, Peter told them to “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”—Acts 2:36-38.

Were the three thousand subsequently baptized on that day baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit? It would be good for ub to pause at this point and discuss just what is meant by those words. They were not merely words to be chanted or repeated as part of a formal ceremony at the time of baptism, without which the baptism would be invalid. No, they had a much deeper meaning. The “name” there referred to is not merely a personal name, as can easily be seen in view of the holy spirit’s being included, which is a force, not a person. Rather, the “name*’ refers to the office or function performed by that person or force. Hence baptism in the name of the Father means that the one being baptized recognizes Jehovah as the Giver of life and Supreme Sovereign and dedicates his life to him. One being baptized in the name of the Son accepts Jesus as the Messiah and as the means used by Jehovah tp provide a ransom for man’s salvation. Those being baptized in the name of the holy spirit realize that it Is an active force emanating from God through Jesus Christ and that they must submit to it at all times. Were those three thousand at Pentecost appreciative of these things? Yes, once they had been convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus. So they were baptized exactly as Jesus had commanded, although Peter, in view of the circumstances, emphasized the “name of Jesus.”

The circumstance was similar when, many years later, Paul visited Ephesus and found disciples who had apparently been baptized with John’s baptism long after Jesus had given the new instructions concerning baptism, as recorded at Matthew 28:19, 20. They too were in need of instruction particularly concerning the role of Jesus Christ, so the report is given that “they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”—Acts 19:1-5.

It may be argued, however, that the expression “in the name of Jesus” was used in connection with the baptism of Gentiles and not only that of Jews, as in the case of Cornelius, who, according to Acts 10:48, was baptized by Peter “in the name of Jesus Christ." However, Acts 10: 2 tells us that Cornelius was “one fearing God.” So again Peter emphasized baptism In the name of Jesus, whom God had anointed with holy spirit, since this was ' the all-important issue at the time and since Cornelius already recognized Jehovah. Therefore the baptism of Cornelius was in full harmony with Jesus’ command.

The situation was different, though, when Paul began to preach to persons who were pagans and who did not recognize Jehovah as God. To them he put considerable emphasis on the Father, although he did not exclude Jesus, since there was no other way to approach Jehovah. So in Acts 17:22-31 we find Paul at the supreme court of Athens speaking of the God who made heaven and earth, Jehovah, and our accountability to him. He also pointed out to them that the one appointed by God to be judge, Jesus, had been resurrected from the dead. So he spoke of both the Father and the Son.

It is not unusual in the Bible to find one text emphasizing the Father and another emphasizing the Son, while others combine the two and include holy spirit. For example, in Romans 10:13 the statement is made that “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” No mention is made of Jesus in this verse, yet in John 3:16 belief in Jesus is stressed for salvation. Then in Revelation 7:10 the two are mentioned when it says: “They keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ ” This is not inconsistent, nor is it difficult to understand. The point is used that best fits the circumstances and stresses the aspect of belief desired. It would not be reasonable to expect that each time the name of God is mentioned, the name of the Son and reference to the holy spirit should also accompany it. Today Jehovah's witnesses, when preaching to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, do not spend as much time in pointing out the basis for such faith as they do in non-Christian lands. However, when they are in non-Christian lands they need to explain both the Father and the Son in great detail, as Paul did to the Athenians.

Thus a little knowledge of the circumstances in the first century helps us to see that the Scriptures are completely consistent with themselves and that true Christian baptism, from Pentecost, A.D. 33, up to the present time, is done “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.”

Crisis Around Cuba

<$> On the evening of October 22 President Kennedy, in a speech to the American people, accused the Soviet Union and Cuba of building missile bases and accumulating a stockpile of weapons for offensive warfare in Cuba. He announced the setting up of a blockade around the island to prevent any further shipments of weapons for offense. If ships would not submit to search but sought to run the blockade, he declared, they would be stopped, even if it meant sinking them. These developments again brought the world to the brink of global war, though diplomatic negotiations averted any immediate violence. Whereas the majority of the Westernbloc nations favoreJKennedy’s action, many others were in sympathy with Cuba, which just last year had turned back from her shores an invasion in which the United States was involved.

Chinese-Indian War

<$> On October 20 border disputes erupted into a full-scale war as heavy fighting broke out along the Indian-Chinese border. Both sides accused the other of being the aggressor. After several days of fighting the Chinese had pressed many miles into Indian territory.

Nuclear Stockpile

<$> On October 20 physicist Ralph E. Lapp said that the United States has stockpiled "enough nuclear explosives to overkill the Soviet Union at least 25 times.” He urged Russia and the U.S. to stop the arms race, warning that “the time is short; the 1970's will be too late.” "The strangest aspect of our perilous times,” he said, “is the ominous quiet. Probably never before in history has the human race looked so much like’ sheep marching silently to slaughter.”—San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 1962.

17.N. Membership

<$> On October 25 Uganda was accepted as the 110th member of the United Nations. Her entry gave the Afro-Asian countries exactly half the total number of member nations; Uganda raising Africa’s membership to thirty-two countries.

Talk, Talk, Talk

& The sixteenth session of the United Nation’s General Assembly held 716 meetings from September, 1961, to June, 1962, out of which came 306,370,000 pages of records and documents. This was a tremendous increase over the 177,000,000 total pages in 1952. Concern over this verbosity has led to the problem's being put on the agenda of the present seventeenth session. What are the prospects for cutting down on the excess verbiage? "It’s seifdefeating,” sighed one official. “We’ll undoubtedly spend more time debating how to cut down debate than we’ll ever save."

“Greatest Challenge”

<$> Dr. B. R. Sen, directorgeneral of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, recently declared that “never in the history of mankind have so many people been subjected to so much under-nourishment.”

Communism Widespread

<$> On October 16 the Soviet newspaper Sovetakaya Roasiya claimed that throughout the world there were 88 Communist parties with 41,600,000 members, 5,200,000 of whom belonged to 75 parties in nonCommunist countries. The paper said that “in the underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, there function 49 Marxist-Leninist parties, uniting in their ranks about 2,700,000 Communists.”

Cold Milk for Batdes

The results of a recent study showed that babies thrive just as well on cold milk as they do when their bottles are warmed. For two years 358 babies in the prematurebaby unit at Bellevue Hospital In New York city were fed from bottles taken right from the refrigerator, which was kept at about 39 degrees Fahrenheit. In a report on the findings that was published in the Journal of Pediatrics during October it was claimed that the study had failed "to demonstrate that the traditional procedure of warming the feeding is in any way advantageous to the infant.” Dr. L. Emmett Holt, Jr., who directed the study, said that all babies

In the Bellevue Hospital, both premature and normal infants, are on cold feedings and are thriving on them. He estimated that it takes about 130 to 200 hours to warm bottles to feed a baby during a year. With about two out of three of the some 4,000,000 babies born in the United States each year being fed on bottles, cold feedings would represent hundreds of millions of hours saved annually.

Jealous Dog Kills Infant

On September 28 a fox terrier In New Zealand mauled to death a month-old baby girl, apparently because of jealousy over the new addition to the owner’s family. Commenting on the case, a Wellington veterinary surgeon said it is not unusual for a family pet dog to go through a period of temporary jealousy after a baby has been born in the household. He said that dogs more than other animals are likely to react this way because of their strong attachment to humans.

Radiation Bett

+ The United States explosion of a powerful hydrogen bomb 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean last July resulted in an intense radiation belt that produces a radio "hiss'¹ that is audible on ground receivers. Calculations Indicate that the belt may remain for from 10 to 100 years. There is a hot spot of radiation as low as 200 miles above Brazil. Dr. James A, Van Allen, discoverer of the natural radiation belts, said that the new radiation "must be clearly recognized by those conducting flights in this region in 1962.”

Early Education

Many parents have had the feeling that their children of preschool age were too young to learn much. But not so. A research team headed by Dr. Kenneth D. Wann, professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University, found that young children can learn a great deal. In the recently released book, Fostering Intellectual Development in Young Children, which contains the group’s findings, it was noted: "Too frequently we underestimate yoling children's readiness to investigate seriously and to understand their world.” The report further observed that "the period from three to six years of age is crucial to children’s intellectual development.”

Conscientious Objection

The Army Times of September 12 reports that the United States Defense Department has issued a new document on conscientious objectors in an attempt to make procedures in dealing with them uniform in all the services. Although the new directive, it is said, does not make it easy for a person who is a conscientious objector, it does state that it is Congress’ belief that ''it is more essential to respect a man’s religious beliefs than to force him to serve fn the Armed Forces.”

Soul, the Person

The new Jewish Bible, a translation 6f the first five books of the Bible, virtually eliminates the English word soul because of the common religious belief that the soul refers to some separate spiritual part of a person. Dr. Harry M. Orlinsky, editor-in-chief of the committee of translators, said of the Hebrew word nephesh that is often translated into English as soul: "The Bible does not say we have a soul. ‘Nefesh' [Nepheshl is the person himself."

Well-fed Countries

<$■ When it comes to listing countries with high calorie intake per person, New Zealand is first on a United Nations survey ot 13 lands. Each Inhabitant there has an intake of 3,440 calories a day, more than half of which is of animal origin. Next comes Denmark with 3,350, and Great Britain is third with 3,260 calories. Because of an abundant supply of food in New Zealand, each person consumes an average of 237 pounds of meat and 43 pounds of butter every year. Many commodities are inexpensive. An imperial quart of milk, for instance, is only ten cents. Butter is a mere 28 cents a pound.

Smoking

<§> Americans rank first and Canadians second in smoking. Third in smoking is the small country of New Zealand, with a population of 2J million people. New Zealanders smoke 240 million cigarettes a month, which if laid end to fend would stretch from Auckland to London and then New York. The national average Is four cigarettes a day and over five pounds of tobacco per person each year. During the same one-year period, more than 500 persons in New Zealand die from lung cancer.

Pleas for Charity

People in many communities are so besieged with pleas for charity that they dread the ring of the doorbell. One Montclair, New Jersey, housewife exclaimed angrily, as reported by the New York Times of October 10, 1962: "This thing has gotten all out of hand! In the last six months it seems as if my doorbell has been ringing day and night with somebody asking for money. It's been multiple sclerosis and retarded children and cancer and polio and leukemia and muscular dystrophy and the heart fund. And now it’s the Community Chest!"

"Bleeding-Saint” Miracle

One day nine years ago when Jean Salvade, a hotelman of Endrevaux in southeastern France, lost in a card' game he hurled a plaster statuette of Saint Anne to the ground for not bringing him luck. This broke off one of the statuette’s fingers. Later Sal-vade smeared blood on the stub of the broken finger, and, the next day, he cried to onlookers, "A miracle!” Pilgrims flocked from miles around, and Salvade and a friend set up a collection box to receive the offerings of the devout. Recently the Frenchmen felt remorse and confessed; they were sentenced to prison.

Rise in Illegitimacy

<& Small towns *ⁿ the midwestern United States are experiencing the same moral breakdown as are the large cities of the world. This was revealed by the report that one out of every forty births in the state of Iowa IS illegitimate, and that illegitimate births have increased from 15.$ per thousand in 1941 to 26.4 per thousand in 1961.

Saved from a Crocodile

<$> A Reuters press dispatch from Northern Rhodesia reports that while a group were on a picnic along the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls recently, 12-year-old Zelda Erasmus went to the water's edge to wash the mud from her feet. There she was seized by the knee by a six-foot crocodile, and dragged into the shallow water. Immediately Eugene Marais, a 14-year-old companion, grabbed her under the arms and pulled her and the crocodile ashore. When the crocodile gave up the tug-of-war, Zelda was taken to the hospital with a severely injured knee.

Quacks Bleed Public

Despite the frequent warnings of the Federal Food and

Drug Administration, it is estimated that about ten million Americans spend some $1,000 million every year for things that cannot possibly benefit them as claimed, but may actually do them harm. Persons that know they have incurable cancer or those that fear they may have are especially susceptible to quacks, as are women who want a shortcut to a glamorous figure.

Effect on the Brain

<$> Experiments recently conducted, "by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, revealed that, during the process of learning, the chemistry and structure of the brain of an animal undergoes a change. This revelation was contrary to the opinion held for years, that the physical strwituxfe ci Wsi ta'iSvi (Su not change with the increase of knowledge.

1963 Yearbook and Calendar

This amazing report of Christian activity reveals a united body of joyful preachers keeping integrity in the face of all kinds of adverse conditions. Read of their courage and faith. Share in their joy. Thrill to the results of the past year's intensive proclaiming of “this good news of the kingdom?’ Send 3/6 (for Australia, 4/-; for South Africa, 35c)

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32                                              AWAKE! I