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stroyed, Divine Law, absolute Justice, will be enforced.-I Cor. 15:24, 28.

The Scriptures, properly enough, then, show us that immediately following this turning over of the Kingdom by Messiah to the Father, the reign of Mercy, giving place to the reign of Justice, will be followed by a period of trial to the race. For a brief period, Satan will be loosed, and an opportunity for sin will be permitted, with a view to testing the loyalty of those who had been rescued from the reign of Sin and Death. A conspiracy of self-will against agents of Divine authority will be permitted to test, to prove, all dwelling upon the face of the whole earth, whose members will then be as the sands of the seashore-innumerable. How many of these will succumb to the temptation and thereby prove their heart's disloyal, is not stated.

But all who do thus yield to the temptation will be accounted worthy of the Second Death and will be utterly destroyed. By such strenuous tests the Lord will prove, test, the hearts of men and blot out of existence all who with full knowledge and opportunity to the contrary still entertain any disloyalty to the principles of truth and righteousness. It is because of these strenuous tests which will be applied to every creature that the Lord is able to guarantee to us that "there shall be no more sighing, no more crying

and no more dying," because there shall be no more sin.

There may be some unwilling to believe in the Millennial Kingdom, because unable to grasp by faith so remarkable a Divine supervision of human affairs for the uplifting of our race from sin and death conditions. These are not to be specially blamed, for, as the Apostle says, "All men have not faith." (2 Thess.3:2.) All men, however, who have faith to believe in the Divine promises can realize the justice as well as the love and mercy connected with the Divine scheme of redemption. It began with our Lord's giving himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. It has continued during this Gospel Age in the selecting of the "little flock," the "jewels," to be Messiah's associates in the work of the Millennial Kingdom. It will operate during the Millenial Age most gloriously, and the results will be all that can be desired. Then shall come the time when every creature in heaven and in earth and under the earth shall be heard praising and honoring the great Prophet Priest and King, whose righteous dealings will finally have been made manifest, and whose creatures will have been brought to the highest degree of blessing-the "little flock" on the heavenly plane, mankind on the earthly plane, and the incorrigible to Second Death-destruction.

THE MIRACLE

BY ONEY FRED SWEET

Where yesterday, fell but the cactii's shade.

'Midst all the glare of desert's stretch of sands, Behold the green-patched sweep of huddled farms And yonder where a rumbling city stands!

The thirsty land has quaffed the cup we gave
And where was dreary waste, we revel now.

Through miles of vines, there clings the purpling grape
And temptingly the orange bends its bough.

THE VINTAGE IN CALIFORNIA AND ITALY

BY ARTHUR INKERSLEY

T

HE CULTURE of grapes for wine making was introduced into California by the Catholic missionaries from Spain and Italy, who found the soil and climate of their new home very similar to those of their native lands. They observed that wild grapes grew in profusion, and, desiring the wine which they had been accustomed to use in church and on the table, they asked their brethren who were assigned to the Pacific Coast to bring cuttings of vines suitable for wine-making. The "Mission grapes," as they were named, were planted near the Missions in various parts of Southern and Central California. They took kindly to the soil, one of the vines, reputed to be a century old and to bear a ton of grapes each season, living till a few years ago at Santa Barbara. The first vineyard was in So

noma County, where grapes were planted so extensively that the price fell to a point at which it did not pay the grower to pick them. The "Mission grapes" produced a heavy, highly alcoholic wine, which did not meet with much favor among winedrinkers. In spite of these untoward circumstances the importance of establishing viticulture as one of the leading industries of California was recognized, and between 1860 and 1865, Arpad Haraszthy was sent to Europe with a commission to get cuttings from the best wine-producing districts of Europe. The cuttings were brought and the kind of soil best suited to each variety of grape was ascertained after many experiments and costly failures. Later a viticultural commission was established, and C. A. Wetmore, a well-known grower, was sent to Europe to gather cuttings of grape vines and val

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One of the great vineyards of California established at Asti, through the thrift and industry of the Italian-Swiss of California.

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Italian women workers in the vineyard. Transplanting seems to have a like effect on the women and the grape. The Italian woman of California is the mother of some of its best and sturdiest citizenship.

uable information about soils and winemaking.

As experience became wider, the quality of the wine produced in California showed steady improvement. The dreaded phylloxera did much damage in some counties, but it is now the practice to plant resistant vines, which are not affected by the pest. In the last year of the nineteenth century it was estimated that there were 80,000 acres of vines, producing 250,000 tons of wine-grapes, which yielded about thirty million gallons of wine. Grapes can be grown nearly everywhere in the Golden State, but the dry wines, such as Zinfandel, Burgundy, Mataro, Sauterne, Reisling, Hock, etc., are produced best in the northern counties, especially Sonoma, Napa, Santa Cruz, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara. Sweet wines, such as Port, Sherry, Muscat, Angelica, Tokay, Madeira and Malaga types, Marsala, are grown. best in the Southern counties-Madera, Fresno, Kings, San Joa

quin and San Diego. No fine dry wine can be made from grapes grown on irrigated lands, and south of the Tehachapi irrigation is necessary.

The largest vineyard' in California was planted by the late Senator Stanford at Vina in Tehama County. Now, though the Senator was a successful moneymaker and founded a large co-educational school, he did not know everything. His vineyards produced great quantities of grapes, but good wine could not be made from them. When this became clear, the idea of wine-making was abandoned and the product of the vineyard turned by distillation into excellent brandy.

The next largest vineyard in California is owned by the Italian-Swiss Agricultural Colony in Sonoma County. The colony was formed in 1881 on the model of the building and loan associations with which Andrea Sbarboro (the leading spirit and secretary of the colony) had been connected. The co-operative association is

sued 2,000 shares of stock, each paying one dollar a month into the general fund. When $10,000 had been accumulated, a committee of men who had had wide experience of wine-growing in Italy was sent out to inspect the State. After examining many districts, they selected a tract of 1500 acres near Cloverdale in the Valley of the Russian River. The tract was a sheep ranch, but eminently suitable for a vineyard, the hills having a southern exposure and the soil being volcanic. The place was named Asti from the famous district of that name in Piedmont. Though the colony experienced much hard fortune and put a severe strain on the courage and resourcefulness of its founders, it lived through all, and became a brilliant success. The original vineyard has been enlarged to 2,000 acres, and scores of families find a happy home on it. The colony has a school-house, a railroad station, a post-office, telephone service and other modern conveniences. Its winery is one of the largest in the State. The colony has grown and possesses drywine vineyards at Fulton, Sebastopol and

Cloverdale in Sonoma County; and sweet wine vineyards in Madera, Fresno and King's Counties. At all the vineyards of the Italian-Swiss Colony the viticulturists and wine-makers are Europeans, who brought their families with them from the Old World, so that many dark-haired, olive-skinned women and handsome children with laughing, mischievous eyes are to be seen there.

has a

But the colony owns not only the greatest vineyards and wineries in California, but also the largest wine tank in the world. This tank at Asti is cut from the solid rock and is lined with Portland cement, having a glazed surface. It is 84 feet long, 34 feet wide, 25 feet high and capacity of half a million gallons. In the center of its flat top a small pagoda-like structure of rock-work supports an urn, which forms a cover of the stairway leading down into the tank. At times, the great vat is pumped dry and cleaned. On one of these occasions it was illuminated, and a hundred couples danced on its floor to the music of a military band. The tank stores the wine, safe from external influ

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Under the pergola of Andrea Sbarboro at the Pompeiian villa at Asti, California

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Young Italy-This sort of thing has found just as picturesque setting in sunny California as in Italy.

ences, until it matures; keeps it till a favorable time for putting it on the market; serves to blend large quantities and to maintain from year to year the same type -a most important consideration in acquiring and keeping a reputation for the products of a vineyard.

The vintage in Southern California takes place in October, frequently after the first rain has fallen and the brown, burned-up hillsides have begun to turn green again. Many of the pickers are Mexicans, who bring their families and camp in tents in or near the vineyards. Men, women and children join in the picturesque work. Each is armed with a knife and drops the purple clusters into a box, which, when filled, holds sixty pounds. Even a girl, if strong and industrious, may pick a ton of grapes in a day. No climbing is necessary, for the vines, not being trained on trellises, are bushes not more than two or three feet high. When a large number of boxes has been filled, a wagon takes them to the winery, where the grapes are pressed. At noon

the pickers seek the shade, the men chatting and smoking the inevitable cigarette, while the women and children take a little siesta. The grape-pickers are a happy. cheerful tribe and while away their leisure evening hours with laughter, gay talk and music for among their few possessions are some guitars. Their drink is the native wine, pressed from the grapes they helped to pick in by-gone seasons. When the vintage is over, they turn to gathering walnuts or pampas plumes; and later may get a job at picking oranges or lemons. In the winter, some of the men chop wood in the mountains. But, whatever their occupation, they take life cheerfully and with much innocent gayety.

In Northern and Central California, except in the Sonoma vineyards of the Italian-Swiss Colony, the vintage is not so picturesque as in the South, most of the pickers being Chinese, Japanese or Americans, animated by no sentimental interest in their occupation. One of the most interesting vineyards in California is on the island of Santa Cruz, twenty miles across

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