NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.
CONDUCTED BY J. D. FORREST, C. H. HASTINGS, AND PAUL MONROE.
Redeemability of Humanity.—We who have followed the poor black sheep into the darkest wilderness, and have seen the worst of sin, crime and depravity, come back to tell you who may perhaps know of it only by hearsay, that we do not in any sense despair. We are full of hope and courage. We are still firm believers in the redeemability of all humanity. Beneath the sin and misery and wretchedness we see fine streaks of gold that are worth retrieving, and gleams of jewels, that, when cleansed and cut and polished, will be found fit for a king's diadem. Pearls are found on the deep sea bottom, in the ungainly oyster shell. Gold is dug and washed from among the dross of the mine. Marble and onyx must with toil be hewn from the rough mountains. So we say that from among the harder, rougher, more unlikely class, humanly speaking, God may perhaps enrich the treasure-house of heaven as largely as from the more fortunate and cultured sections of humanity. Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth, "The Church of the Black Sheep." Harper's Weekly, March 14.
Politics and City Missions.—Missions and institutions of moral reform continually lose the proper fruitage of their efforts more because of corrupt politics than from any other agency which works against righteousness and purity. The fact that in nearly all of our large cities the leaders of the poorer quarters are either law-breaking saloon keepers or corrupt politicians, sets them up as the idol of the boys for whom we spend so much time and money in Sunday schools, entertainments, and classes of all sorts. The boys certainly must be bright enough to see that however nice our moral counsels may be, they do not lead to a practical success; and if any one is justified in making success an ultimate standard, it is the poor boy who has been nurtured in poverty and want, and who, if he has any ambition, feels that his first effort must be to improve his material circumstances. I firmly believe that these missions would be justified in taking half of their time to support public administrations and good government, devoting the balance to their special work, and that in the end the results would be greater than they are while so many of the missions are in an atmosphere of cheerful indifference to all things outside of their own mission hall. Mr. James B. Reynolds (Headworker at the University Settlement, Delancey street, New York), "Practical Development of Sociology," Public Opinion, March 12.
The Social Creed of the Right Honorable Joseph Chamberlain.—His one great credo was thus stated by him ten years ago: "I am confident in the capacity of wise government resting upon the representatives of the whole people to do something to add to the sum of human happiness, to smooth the way for misfortune and poverty. We are told that this country is the paradise of the rich. It should be our duty to see that it does not become the purgatory of the poor. . . . . What I say is that the community as a whole, cooperating for the benefit of all, may do something to add to the sum of human happiness—do something to make the life of all its citizens, especially the poorest of them, somewhat better, somewhat nobler, somewhat greater and somewhat happier."
He again expressed his ideas of the duty of government in these words: "The government, which no longer represents a clique or a privileged class, but which is the organized expression of the wants and wishes of the whole nation, should rise to a true conception of its duties, and should use the resources, the experience and the talent at its disposal to promote the greater happiness of the masses of the people." And again: "The leading idea of the English system may be said to be that of a joint-
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