The Viru district, where we are opening our mission in Solomon Islands, is perhaps the smallest in our territory, but there are cogent reasons why we have been led to Viru first. These people, though few in number, have shown the greatest desire to have us, and have been quite enthusiastic in clearing ground, and putting up our schoolhouse. As I watch them at work, I am reminded of the scripture, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.” They are very happy in their work of providing a mission site for us. These savages with painted faces put many of us to shame by the willingness and good spirit they show.
The ground is full of great hardwood trees, from three to five feet in diameter, which they tackle with jollity. Every now and again, one of these giant trees falls. Then there is the loudest and most weird screaming you ever heard, renewed every few minutes for the sake of encouraging one another as the cutting goes on. Then another and another monster falls, interlacing one another on the ground until I wonder where and how they are to be disposed of, for they are not so easily burned as most trees. It is by no means a small undertaking; but willing hands and stout hearts, with the help of the Lord, can accomplish it. We hope that some of these young people, trained as teachers and workers, will be able to reach others of the same tongue.
Gizo, New Georgia.
Jagadishpur Mission, India
By Mrs. R. H. Leech
Moonie
BY MRS. R. H. LEECH
One day while seeking a little rest, I heard my schoolgirls eagerly shouting: “Mem Sahib, Mem Sahib, where are you? Do come quick and buy us a baby. It’s a poor little starving baby, just skin and bones. Its mamma is dead, and its father cannot buy it milk, so has brought it to see if you want to buy it. O, do please let us take it! We will take care of it and never complain.”
Eskimo Boy
“Well, bring my topee, and I’ll go and see it,” I said. They took me a little way down the road, and there, sitting on a few old rags, was one of the most emaciated babies I ever saw. It was shivering with the cold, for its only clothing was a string about its waist. It could hardly hold up its little head. The father saw a chance to make a little money, so asked five rupees for it. I told him he should be thankful that we would take his child and care for it. He hung his head in shame, and said, “Take it, only let me come to see it occasionally.”
Since the death of the mother, they had fed this poor child on opium to still its cries for food, so that the father could work in the fields. This is a common practice in India. It was pitiful to hear her feeble cries when she came out from under the effects of the opium; but by constant and careful nursing, she has now grown to be a strong, healthy child, and is the sunshine of our school. All the girls love her dearly, and uncomplainingly leave their play at any time to care for her. We have named the baby “Moonie,” which means “beautiful child.”
Jagadishpur Mission, India
Little Russian
Little Maid, India
Our Santali Girls' School, India—Baby Moonie Sitting in the Foreground
Little Spottie
Our Pet, “Spottie”
By R. P. Robinson
BY R. P. ROBINSON
THE boys and the girls will be interested in our pet leopard that we captured near our mission. Spottie is about five months old, and we have had her four months and a half. She is three feet long from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail, and is about a third grown.
Most people would be afraid of a leopard of that size, but Spottie is just like your dog or cat. Mrs. Robinson has come to think so much of her that often she grabs Spottie up in her arms, big and heavy as she is, and gives her a big hug. Spottie thinks so much of Mrs. Robinson that she often rubs her big head against her. I have never seen any other animal show so much seemingly real affection as Spottie shows toward my wife. She does not try to scratch or bite either of us.
She is a beautiful animal, with her long, graceful body covered with black spots. A month ago, the new fur began to come in very short and thick, showing all the spots so clearly. She is fat and full of life.
We give her all the cooked meat and milk she wants. She has not tasted raw meat. When we leave the house, we shut Spottie in the kitchen or in a cage we have. As it really takes more time than we have to spare to take care of her, we must take her to the little zoo in Bulawayo, where they said they would be glad to have her. We think so much of her, and she is such a pet, that it will be a hard parting when we have to take her away.
Near Bulawayo, Africa.
Michiko Okohira and Her Younger Sister
Plowing in China
Progress of a Chinese Four-Year-Old
By Myrtie B. Cottrell
BY MYRTIE B. COTTRELL
ONE, two, three, four,—only four years of age, was the little Chinese maiden who quietly entered the room where Mrs. Djang and I were talking. Mrs. Djang, our Bible woman, is a real “mother in Israel,” and beloved by all.
Calling the little girl to her, she said, “Come and repeat the commandments for Mrs. Cottrell.” Immediately, in very clear Mandarin, the child repeated, without prompting, the Ten Commandments. Then Mrs. Djang asked, “Now will you625sing for us, ‘Jesus Loves Me’?” whereupon the little girl sang, from memory, the four verses of that beautifully impressive gospel song, and then sang quite accurately, from the song book, several other hymns.
Little Korean
Holland Miss
Sleigh Riding in Lapland
Trinidad Native
This little girl is attending one of our church schools, and, though so young, studies very diligently. Her attainments are but a sample of the good work done for the youth and children at that place. Their leaders seem to believe firmly that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Honkau, China.
Chinese Children Attending Tent Meetings near Shanghai
Child Worker from Heathendom
By Michiko
BY MICHIKO
Let me tell you of my first experience in the Master's work. It was a question how to spend my summer vacation. I asked father his opinion. He said: “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” You might spend your vacation in the country town where the tent will be pitched, and do what you can.”
Peruvian Child
This place is more than two hundred miles from my home. I went alone. The Lord protected me. I assisted Mrs. Fukazawa in music at children's meeting. Every evening, so many children flocked in that we could not take all into the tent. They had never heard the story of the loving Jesus before.
They quickly learned to sing and to praise the Saviour. I soon became acquainted with them so affectionately that when I came home many came to the station to see me off, and many looked after me through their tears.
Dear young friends, remember your friends in this heathen land, and when you get old enough to cross the ocean, come over to Japan and help us.
Would Pay a Halfpenny
By Mrs. E. W. Myers
BY MRS. E. W. MYERS
Sorie’s father told him he must go to school and learn; but his mother said, “You go to school, then run away to your grandfather, and I will take care of you.” Sorie has been with us about two years. The people think it is wonderful the way he has learned. He repeats the Lord’s prayer every morning at worship, and does not forget to return thanks before eating his food.
Not long ago, our Sabbath school lesson was on tithing. We explained it carefully to him. After a while, he said, “Please, ma’am, is it all right to pay a halfpenny tithe?” He had five pence. The only way we can do anything for the children is to take and keep them. If they stay at home, it is impossible to win them from the superstition of their parents. Many fathers beg us to take their boys, but we have no room for more.
Waterloo, West Africa.
“Have Made Me See”
By E. W. Myers
BY E. W. MYERS
ONE little girl who was almost blind, but who has about recovered her sight, said: “My people say the krefe [devil] threw medicine into my eyes; but I do not know whether that is true or not, for I did not see any krefe. One thing I am sure of, and that is, the missionaries have made me see; and I shall always say that.”
Waterloo, West Africa.
Yong Kung and Yong Wah
Children Tucked into Fur Bags
By Jens Hokland
BY JENS HOKLAND
THE little folks in cold Lapland, away in the northern part of Europe, do not have warm houses in which to live, but must be tucked into their beds, as the cold night comes on, under fur covers in a tent. A mother where I was visiting began teaching her three small children to pray to the true God as she tucked them into their fur bags and covered them with their sheepskin bed covers for the night. The sight was a very touching one to me.
EXPERIENCES IN AFRICA
Too Few Teachers
The past year, work in the West African Gold Coast region has been reopened by W. H. Lewis, who has found a healthful site some two hundred miles inland. He writes:
Majita Mission, German East Africa
“We began school the first of January, and have about forty-five students enrolled. Last week, we started another school about six miles from this place, with thirty boys enrolled. I did not like to open this school with our small staff of workers; but the chief urged that he would give us thirty boys to begin with, and furnish buildings for the teacher and the school, and would give all the land needed, also put up a good school building himself later. So I sent a teacher over to him.
“We have had calls from several other chiefs to open work in their towns, but we have not the teachers to answer the calls. The Lord has greatly blessed us thus far, and we are trusting Him to send us more teachers. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send more reapers.”
Working under Great Difficulties What Is the Motive?
By W. B. White
BY W. B. WHITE
President South African Union Conference
As the writer has traveled in different parts of South Central Africa, mingling with the native heathen population, visiting their kraals, sitting by their camp fires, observing the dense darkness in which they are living and the superstition and ignorance that surround their minds, he has many times been led to wonder what it is that holds intelligent gospel workers among such a people, teaching, preaching, sacrificing even life itself for the sons and daughters of Africa.
Just Simple Love
The answer to this question is not difficult. The motive that holds the true Christian missionary to his or her work with bands of steel, is love—pure, simple love for the souls of mankind.
Kafr Woman and Baby
Here is a people in great need, sitting in the shadow of death. Thousands are dying each year without a knowledge of Christ, having never heard the good tidings of salvation that we have heard so long. It has been shut away from them; and as a consequence, they are to-day in ignorance and squalor. This great need appeals to the heart of the true Christian missionary; and after he gets a taste of working for this people, and sees the wonderful change that is wrought in the lives of many through the power of the gospel, he can scarcely be enticed away from his work long enough to take a needed physical rest.
As the writer has come in contact with Christian missionaries of all denominations in Africa, he has discerned this divine love burning in their hearts,—a love which would lead them to give their lives willingly, that some in this dark land might be rescued from Satan’s power.
And many are responding, especially the young men and women of Africa. They are coming to the gospel light by hundreds, and greatly desire a higher, better life than they have been living. They have caught a glimpse of a great light above and beyond, and are already piercing the veil of ignorance and blindness behind which they have been living so long.
To assist them to a true knowledge of God and the religion of Jesus Christ, to lead them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the peace and liberty of the children of God, is all the work a true Christian needs between here and heaven. But the teacher must himself know the way. He must know that his own sins are forgiven. He must know of the transforming power of God in his own life. Then he can show these poor, ignorant natives the way.
Cape Town.
Practical Work for the African Heathen
By R. S. Greaves
BY R. S. GREAVES
OUR main station in Sierra Leone is at Waterloo, where we have a training school, and from here young men are sent out to preach the good news of salvation. In connection with the school, we have a farm, also a wagon factory, so that the boys can receive instruction along industrial lines. This enables them to be practical men.
We have opened several stations in the interior, and are planning to push still farther inland. Our brethren on the east coast are advancing this way, and we hope to be able to meet them soon in the center of Africa. Then the blessed gospel will have reached across the “Dark Continent,” for which Livingstone and so many others have given their lives. Many of our boys are anxiously awaiting the time when they can leave school and go out to teach their own people of the Saviour.
The African is often convinced of a mighty power beyond himself, by the very things of nature all around him; and that he desires to worship is shown by the fact that he bows down to wood and stone. We feel that the burden rests on us to lead him from his ignorance to the true and living God. To this end we plan and pray, and shall be glad for the coöperation of all our Christian friends.
