never wholly overcome, any more than you can your natural desire to eat and sleep. It is a bad thing to drink liquor, but by indulging once, and repeating, you soon form an evil habit that can not readily, if at all, be overcome; but by denying your appetite, and constantly repeating that denial, you also form a habit that will prove a powerful aid in the formation of a good character. A beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form; it gives a higher pleasure than statues and pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts.- EMERSON.

How then, are habits, good or bad, formed? By the repetition of actions. Good deeds and behavior tend to good habits, and these are the foundation of good character. Every young man is in duty bound to aim at reaching the highest standard of character: to be rich in spirit, great in true honor, the most virtuous, the most truthful, the most upright, the most honest, and the most persevering in the path of duty. These desirable ends can not be reached without diligent effort, constant self-watchfulness, self-discipline and self-control. But with a strong spirit, a determined will, and an upright heart, habits may be formed that will surely lead to success in the attainment of these ends. "All habits gather by unseen degrees,

As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."-DRYDEN.

But all this may appear to be beyond the reach and understanding of the average boy. How will the simple surroundings of the average boy enable him to form habits that will lead to such great results. Ability to form habits is one thing in which all men are as near equal as they can be in anything. Habits are personal, and no one is much more favored than another in the possibility of their formation. If anything, a condition of poverty is perhaps more favorable to the formation of good habits than riches, or favorable financial surroundings. Nothing stands in the way of the country lad forming habits that are just as good as those of the city lad; and, on the contrary, there is little in the city, even with its numerous vices and temptations, that the country does not produce in one form or another. There is nothing to hinder a boy determining to be prompt, to be always on time. determination to be prompt in all your affairs will soon distinguish

you, and make you beloved by all your associates. "That boy is never late," will be a wonderful recommend to you, Are you careless in this regard, then change your habit of "always late" to "always on time." Or better still, form the habit of promptness. Keep your word. That is another habit that some young men seem not to value. "Did John say he would pay you today?" "Yes." "Well, you will be paid, then." Such a reputation for veracity is better than much money, and is one of the most important elements of success. But what shall be said of the habits

of industry, self-control, of the power of governing the temper, of temperance and the thousand virtues of the sermon on the mount? By the exercise of a strong will and a determined effort they may become traits in the character of every young man.

"But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another."-Col. 3: 8, 9.

In this warning, Paul names some of the bad habits that are to be overcome, or, better, never formed. Keep in mind that it is perhaps easier to form evil habits than good ones, and steel yourself against taking the first bad step. That is much easier than to avoid a repetition of an evil deed, when once it has been done. It is also much easier to do right voluntarily, and because of a love of the right, than to be compelled by others or by our circumstances. An eastern publication illustrates this: "Under old business methods a young man who sought employment in some great house must appeal to his friends for 'bonds.' Today he must appeal to a guaranty company; and the first question asked him is, 'Do you gamble?" The second is, 'Do you drink?" If he cannot answer 'No' to each, and back up his reply by the evidence of his friends, he may pound stone, but he cannot handle cash. The Sunday school has now a powerful assistant in the packing house and the bank. The area in which a young man may sow wild oats is being narrowed every year, and the young man who 'must have his fling,' may have it out on the levee, but not in the business marts. Fathers and mothers, sad to say, do not send detectives to the race track to see who is betting on the horses there, but the bond companies do; and many a young fellow who sneered at his mother's tearful entreaty has listened very

humbly to the words of the president of the company which holds his future in its hands."

It is not an uncommon thing to see men of the very best qualifications driven to utter ruin by some evil habit, or a combination of such habits. Without good habits no young man has the least right to expect to succeed in any business he may undertake.

THE PROPHET JOSEPH HEALING THE SICK.

BY C. L. WALKER, OF ST. GEORGE, UTAH.

[When the Saints first settled in Nauvoo, much sickness prevailed, owing to the unhealthful conditions of the place, but many of the people were, in the summer of 1839, miraculously healed by the power of God. The Prophet Joseph Smith, with leading elders, went from house to house administering to the sick who were raised from their afflictions to health and strength. The writer has taken his inspiration from these historical facts.-EDITORS.]

He, a man of noble mien, whose stately step,
Majestic, scarce seem'd to touch the earth,
Sped on as with winged feet of Mercury,
Whose flights erratic o'er Olympian heights,
Scan'd Jove in council with the Deities-
His stature, towering full six feet or more,
'Pear'd like a model fit for sculptor's tool;
His poise of frame, as on he sped, looking
Not back at weak ones far behind, who note
His regal stride, and musingly wonder
At his endurance, more than human;
Buoyed up as by some power invisible,

He halted at the hovel door, which swung
With creak incessant to the river-wind;
And viewed the plague-struck inmates lying there,
With eyes compassionate-then, stretching forth
His hand to the form emaciate, said:

"Arise! and be thou whole: in Jesus' name”-
'Twas done and by the power of God, he
Touch'd them all, and all arose forthwith-
And wond'ring gazed on mortal man
With power divine invested.

SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT

STORY OF THE WORLD.

BY DR. J. M. TANNER, SUPERINTENDENT OF CHURCH SCHOOLS.

Now for a Trip Around the World.

A short time ago the directors of the great railway corporations of continental Europe met in Paris for the purpose of making up a through train service that would leave at stated periods for a run all the way from Paris to Pekin. At present, the trip is made by way of the Suez Canal, and requires from thirty-two to thirtythree days. The railroad officers propose that the journey shall be made in eighteen or nineteen days. It was also decided to enter into arrangements with American railroads, and Pacific and Atlantic steamers, to issue round trip tickets from New York to Pekin, permitting people to go by way of the Pacific ocean, and return by the Trans-Siberian railroad and Atlantic steamships, or vice versa. Circumnavigating the globe will soon be a commonplace affair. No doubt, we shall soon be running cheap excursions around the world.

Necessity the Mother of Invention.

The recent coal strike, and the great coal famine throughout the East, have given rise to the preparation of coal briquettes which are in very common use in different parts of Germany and France. These briquettes have not been used in the United States for the reason, no doubt, that coal was so cheap that men did not think it worth while to prepare them.

In the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania there are mountains of coal dust heretofore considered valueless. When the coal famine was on, men began at once to experiment upon a means of

using these great quantities of coal dust, especially as the fact was recalled that the coal dust of Germany is used in the preparation of small coal bricks. With this dust, certain quantities of oil, and distilled products of coal, have been mixed, and the mixture subjected to high pressure.

It is now discovered that these bricks have a great heating power, that they give off little or no smoke, and that there is but little waste in the ashes. The heat is said to equal that of the best anthracite coal, and the cost of manufacturing is but one dollar per ton. This invention will save millions out of what has been considered a waste product of coal, and thus bring some good out of what has been considered one of our greatest calamities from the standpoint of human suffering.

The Negro Question in the South.

The negro question in the Southern states is again agitating the country, by reason of the appointment of Dr. Crum as collector of revenues for the port of Charleston, and the closing of the postoffice by order of the President of the United States at Indianola, Mississippi.

Mrs. Cox had held the office of postmaster for some time. Recently, she was waited upon by a number of citizens and urged to resign. This she did as a consequence of being so annoyed and persecuted that it became impossible for her to discharge the duties of her federal office. Thereupon the Postmaster-general, with the approval of the President, declined to accept her resignation, and ordered the office closed. The people of that small town are now shut off from postal communication with the rest of the world. Strong protests are made against Dr. Crum as the collector of revenues, and every effort has been made to prevent his confirmation by the United States Senate. Dr. Crum, it is said, is seveneight white, and a man eminently qualified to fill the office to which he has been appointed.

It is said that there are actually fewer colored federal office holders in the South now than there were under President McKinley's administration. The objections and protests against the attitude of President Roosevelt are doubtless due to the fact that, in the beginning of his administration, every promise of concilia