ssion have taught the
natives a great deal about caring for young children, and now many a
mother dresses and cares for her babe after American custom.

TEMPERANCE.

The Assyrians were a great nation for drinking wine. Many men owned
vineyards and made from the fruit some of the best wine. One man was
known who made 100 barrels of wine one year for his own use. Wine and
not water was the drink. Grapes were very cheap and the poor man could
be supplied with wine.

Nearly all forms of industry and business were suspended in winter, and
the time was spent in trying to get joy from the cup. They said wine
was love and good fellowship, which is a common notion in many nations
of the earth to-day. When a man had a guest from a distance, he would
invite forty or fifty neighbors to his home where the entire day would
be spent in eating and drinking. Next day one of the neighbors would
entertain the company, and so the feast would continue for a week or
more. By the end of the debauch perhaps one or more of the number would
have met death. Falling by the wayside at a late hour, or tumbling from
a housetop as he was journeying homeward, he would die from cold or
from the shock. In those degenerate days idleness, extravagance and
drunkenness were praised in a man. When such a one died, an engraving
on his tombstone would show that his table was always spread and
provided with wine for his friends. Many a man was brought to poverty
by these habits of extravagance and drunkenness. The women were
required to let wine alone that they might cook much food for these
degenerate Christians. On such occasions the master of the house
demanded that the very best food be put before his guest.

The missionaries have completely broken up these customs. The
evangelical church forbids its members to make or taste wine or to sit
among drinkers. Any who disobey this rule are dismissed from
membership. Rev. E. W. Pierce, one of the most beloved of all
missionaries, spent one winter in preaching temperance. Many were
converted to his views on the subject and brought their wines, many
barrels, and poured it into the streets. They believed it would be a
sin to even sell it. The old Assyrian church-members have given up
their former ways and are now temperate. Formerly it was the glory of a
man to be idle and drunken, but now public opinion has been entirely
reversed. The drunkard is looked upon as an object of shame.

The Assyrians used to obse