Mission Notes

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 10, 1904

NOT more than one Chinese man in a hundred, taking the empire through, can read, and still fewer can write a letter. Of the women, not more than one in a thousand can read.

THE first direct effort made in behalf of the native women in India by a Christian woman was embodied in the day-schools of Perampore, opened by Mrs. Hannah Marshman, in 1800 and 1807.

THERE are some beautiful examples of Christian heroism among those who died for their faith during the Boxer troubles in China. One of the finest examples of this was a faithful Chinese servant in Shansi. A little child of one of the missionaries had seen his parents cut down before his eyes. When he saw in the crowd his faithful Chinese servant, he piteously called to him. This devoted man walked calmly into the midst of the circle of cruel murderers, clasped the child in his arms, and died with him.

THE British and Foreign Bible Society celebrated its one hundredth anniversary March 7. The first Sunday in March is to be quite largely “Universal Bible Sunday” among the churches in England. When this society was organized in 1804, there were about fifty translations of the Bible, many of these in European languages. During its history it has promoted the translation and distribution of the Scriptures in more than three hundred and fifty foreign languages and dialects.

FIVE missionaries of the English Church Missionary Society penetrated the heart of Hausaland in 1900, a difficult journey of six hundred miles, as far as Kano, a city of two hundred thousand. But the king, fearing that the “praying men” would try to break up the slave traffic, expelled them. They retreated to a small town of five hundred people, where one of their number died, and another was sent home an invalid. After eight months their mission house was burned, and the survivors were obliged to withdraw. In February, 1902, one of the party, Dr. Walter Miller, obtained permission from the king to return, and is now trying to establish a mission on the spot where the first attempt was made.