A VISITOR in India is impressed continually with the density of the population, which to the casual observer seems to spring up from nowhere. One may ride on the train for hours, and with the exception of the large cities and villages along the road, see little or no evidence of human habitation, apart from the cultivated fields and bands of laborers working here and there; but any hour of the day or night he will find the train loaded to its utmost capacity, with multitudes coming and going. It is no uncommon sight to see a train pull into a station at night with pairs of legs hanging out of many windows, and every apartment jammed with travelers, like sardines in a tin, and the aisles crowded so that entrance is impossible. The railroad platforms swarm with people, and the stillness of the night air is thrown into a tempest by their excited cries as they surge hither and thither. The continual press and jam of these throngs, together with the noise and confusion, is trying even on the nerves of a strong man.
This congestion of humanity is evident not alone to the train traveler. Go into the bazaars of the city, and into the streets, temples, and sacred bathing ghats, and the same congested condition is to be seen. There the people are in numbers that bewilder, in all stages of dress and undress, rich and poor, ignorant and educated, debased and refined, sick and well; and as you gaze, you wonder whence they come and whither they are bound.
One thought is continually in the mind of the gospel messenger as he sees these surging masses. They are as sheep without a shepherd, judgment bound, yet with no warning voice to tell them of their danger, no hand to guide them into the right way. And one question hangs continually upon the lips of the observer, and is never satisfactorily answered: “How shall we reach this great sea of humanity with God’s message for today?” And as the question is repeated in deep earnestness, the echo seems to come back from the surrounding darkness, “How? How?”
Of all the known means of disseminating knowledge and truth, none seems to excel that of the circulation of the printed page. This medium more nearly answers the question than any other.
“But how,” you ask, “can we carry the message to them by this means when only one in ten of the men and one in one hundred and forty-four of the women are able to read?”
Photo by J. S. James
WORKERS AT COLPORTEURS' INSTITUTE, TRICHINOPOLI, SOUTH INDIA
While it is true that the majority of the people are illiterate, yet it is marvelous how the knowledge of anything new or strange is spread throughout the cities and villages. Allow a bit of news to fall into the hands of one living on the outskirts of a village, and in less than an hour all the village is talking about it.
Suppose one of these villages is visited by one of our colporteurs with a variety of suitable literature for sale and free distribution. He begins his work by visiting from house to house. The “house” in India may contain from one to twelve families, all of whom are more or less related. Nearly all the men in each house, and some of the women, are able to read in their own vernacular.
Naturally these are the first ones sought by the colporteur with his printed message, and around them gather the rest to hear what is read or spoken. It is a common sight to see a group of people gathered in the shade of some building or tree, with the leader in the center reading from a newspaper or tract, telling stories, or reciting mythical tales of the gods which delight and fascinate the crowd. This is a common village experience in India, varied somewhat by location, education, and environment.
When it is remembered that nine tenths of the population, which numbers three hundred and five million, live in villages of fewer than five thousand inhabitants, and four fifths in villages of one thousand; that two thirds of the whole number of villages have less than two hundred inhabitants, while five hundred villages have from five hundred to two thousand inhabitants, something of the extent and nature of our responsibility of reaching them with the message can be grasped.
The task before us is made still more difficult by the fact that one language does not form a common medium for reaching the people. There are two hundred and twenty languages spoken by the population of India. These can be classified in two main sections,—the Aryan group of north India, such as the Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, and Punjabi, each of which varies greatly from the others; and the Dravidian or Turanian group of south India, such as the Telugu, Tamil, Kanarese, and Malayalam.
Here in south India God has laid upon us the responsibility of carrying the message to sixty-five million. We dare not think of undertaking such a task without a plentiful supply of literature setting forth the truth in the vernacular languages of these multitudes.
Already an encouraging beginning has been made in the Tamil, the important tongue of sixteen million; and in 1915 we began to print in the Telugu, which will reach twenty million, and in Malayalam, a language spoken by six million. In these two latter languages we already have a working force in training, while among the Tamils the canvassing work has been a success for more than three years. Our Tamil quarterly, Present Truth, has a good circulation among the educated Indians who speak that language, and a rich, prosperous class of subscribers throughout Madras Presidency and as far east as Ceylon, Burma, and the Straits Settlements.
The accompanying picture shows a group of Tamil canvassers in attendance at an institute held in July, 1915, at Trichinopoli, south India. These are men who are helping to carry the printed page into thousands of villages and towns, and tens of thousands of homes, of but one language area. We must have similar or larger forces in the four other main languages of this division to do a like work. In this way only shall we be able to reach the masses who perhaps will never hear the voice of the living minister of truth.
G. A. WOOD
By G. A. Wood
Java
G. A. WOOD
My wife and I have been in east Java about three years, and we are enjoying our work among the different nationalities represented here. Recently we have gone out to the various towns to secure subscriptions for our Malay and Chinese papers, with an encouraging measure of success, for which we praise the Lord. Hundreds whom we could not very well reach in any other way at present, can be reached with the printed page. We pray earnestly that God will graciously water the seed thus sown, and grant a rich harvest at the final ingathering.
As we travel through the rural districts on these tours, and see the laborers at their toil, we are reminded of the work of the Saviour as he mingled with the multitudes amid similar surroundings. In many places there seems to be nothing to mar the picture, except sin, and oftentimes it is the sin of ignorance, for many in this fair land are totally ignorant of the One who supplies their daily needs. And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Both this year and last the people have given well in the Harvest Ingathering campaign. We still have some papers left, which will help to swell the fund. It is really encouraging to see how the paper is received, notwithstanding it is in a different language from the one generally spoken here.
While the number of converts has not been large, some of those won from the darkness of heathenism are gaining a real experience in the things of God. Some have a burden to win their relatives and near friends, and servants too. Is not this one of the evidences of the Spirit's work upon the heart?
During the year just past seven persons followed their Lord in baptism, and enlisted in the ranks of the Lord's host. We earnestly pray that they may be kept from evil ways, and be reckoned among the saved at last.
One thing which encourages us is, that while we are not free to work everywhere, our members are, through force of circumstances, scattered all about.
Just now one of our Dutch sisters is seriously ill. My wife has been at her home all night, doing what she could to cooperate with the Great Healer. This poor woman has been sorely tried for months. We know God can, if he will, rebuke the disease.
As the Week of Prayer Readings were late in arriving, we are having them this first week of the new year. Some are receiving help, and we trust that more will be helped before the week closes.
How It Might Be
By T. E. Bowen
T. E. BOWEN
DOES it seem to you at times that yours is about the roughest, the most cheerless, the hardest burden-pressed pathway any one is called on to travel; that, to say the least, the problems and annoyances you have to meet are very hard to bear? This may be so, but—
Suppose you were suddenly taken out from the midst of all these trials, and other hands should take your burdens, how do you think you would feel then? With absolutely nothing to do but to look on and observe others toiling on with your work, how would the difficulties seem to you, do you suppose?
Well, this is the very experience of some of our brethren. They have been taken from their work,— from publishing houses, from conferences, and from mission stations, where, in common with us all, they had trials to meet, perplexities thrust upon them, which no doubt at times seemed hard to bear.
But how is it now? While they are freed from all their former tasks, much harder ones are now imposed. Some are confined in prison camps, where they are practically powerless to do much for God. With some, more than a year has gone by in which they have been separated from their loved ones, being able to do only a little of their former work. As these think over their past experiences, very likely they wonder how they could have noticed the perplexities that at the time seemed so great, and long for an opportunity again to be associated with God's work in the earth.
If they could write us what is uppermost in their hearts, would it not be to exhort us to count every hour, every day, as most precious in placing before others the message for this time? And would they not urge us to forget every trivial annoyance, to brush aside every intended or unintended slight, and to buckle on the whole armor and valiantly fight the spiritual battles of the Lord while we have the opportunity to do so? We believe they would.
God help us all to improve every opportunity for hastening with the message into every dark, unentered corner, both at home and in the far fields, while our day of opportunity lasts; for soon the night in which no man can work will settle down upon the whole world, and God's work for lost men will be finished forever.
Nanking, China
By O. A. Hall
O. A. HALL
DURING the past few months our work in Nanking has undergone some changes, but the Lord has led. In the spring it was decided to move the headquarters of the East China Mission from Shanghai to Nanking. As Brother Doolittle and his wife were settled there, we planned to unite our efforts in building up a stronger work in the city, as well as throughout the Anhwei Province; but Brother Doolittle was called in the autumn to connect with the training school in Shanghai, and we were left alone to carry the work in the province in connection with our general work in the division.
While this made our burdens much heavier, we proceeded to carry out the program for city work, calling in some of our best Chinese evangelists and beginning an evangelistic effort December 8, which lasted one month. As the result of the meetings, a number have been added to our list of inquirers, and those who had been previously studying were established in the truth and prepared for baptism. On the last Friday of the meeting, twenty-one were buried in baptism, and on the following day united with the church, and with grateful hearts and joy beaming in their faces, joined in the ordinance of humility for the first time.
Mrs. Hall conducts a Bible class three times each week for a very intelligent class of women, some of whom give promise of becoming efficient workers. The prospects for the future growth of the work in Nanking are very encouraging, and we hope in the coming year to see many led from darkness to the light of gospel truth.
Mission Notes
ABOUT a century ago, in the early days of mission work in India, Henry Martyn, after years of effort, wrote in effect, “If I ever live to see a converted Hindu, I shall see what to me is greater than a resurrection from the dead.” Present-day missionaries are witnessing many such resurrections.
THE AMERICAN ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Morgenthau, after more than two years’ residence in that country, pays this tribute to the missionaries: “Without hesitation I declare my high opinion of their keen insight into the real needs of the people of Turkey. The missionaries have the right idea. They go straight to the foundations, and provide those intellectual, physical, moral, and religious benefits upon which alone any true civilization can be built. The missionaries are the devoted friends of the people of Turkey, and they are my friends. They are brave, intelligent, and unselfish men and women. I have come to respect all and love many of them.”
BROTHER JAMES E. SHULTZ, writing January 7 from Shanghai, where he is connected with the publishing work, says: “Our work here in the press is showing very encouraging progress. We have changed the policy of the paper, and are now taking subscriptions, of which we at present have 30,000. This is in addition to our regular monthly sales. This month most of our canvassers are in institutes, but our January edition of 60,000 is already exhausted, and we cannot fill the additional orders that are coming in. Thus you see that our edition will soon be as large as it was before we adopted the subscription plan, and now everything is done on a real business basis. All papers printed are sold on commission or sent direct to subscribers.”
The Loss of Faith
“He that hath lost his faith hath little else to lose.”
From the Heart
By Mrs. I. H. E.
We hear a great deal about the importance of obedience,—for the child!—the necessity of it, the value of it, the training it gives, and so on. Someway, it is a virtue that is peculiarly comfortable and desirable in the eyes of parents; so much so that, unless we are careful, we are likely to overlook the very vital fact that outward compliance with our requests, apparent conformity to our commands, may not be obedience in its highest sense at all.
Your little fluttering canary, so long in captivity that in spite of the bars that imprison him he daily pours out those liquid, golden notes that seem the voice of pure joy and embodied content, is, you would say, in perfect accord with his surroundings. But wait. A day comes when the gilded gate is lifted; the wide, alluring outdoors calls; and the helpless little captive, a mere fluff of yellow down, spreads his unaccustomed wings, leaving the safe shelter and unfailing food supply of his restricted life for the thrilling bliss of freedom.
So with the child. Some natures fret under restraint, others revolt, and still others conform. But all, as soon as they are old enough or strong enough,—as soon as the bars that have confined them against their will, even when they apparently yielded, are lifted,—will choose their own ways of thought and life.
Shall we, then, perforce, adopt the plan of the dear old woman who attended her first “mothers’ meeting” when her own sons and daughters were grown up, and their children came from near and far for longer or shorter sojourns in her ample home? The physical needs of The Child had been discussed pro and con,—his clothes, his food, his weight; his morals had received critical attention; his mind, his moods, and his will. Now indeed we flounder. When obedience is so good for the children, and so pleasant for us, why will they disobey? How shall we “make them mind”?
“I have made a discovery,” announced this grandmother in Israel. “I have raised a large family of my own, and my house has never been without children in it from the day our first little ones came. So I know what I say is true. If you want your children to obey you, never ask them to do anything you know they do not want to do.”
She had no idea of being “funny,” or of amusing that audience. Her “discovery” was as real to her, and was as practical, as much that she had heard discussed that day. We smile at her philosophy; for we know that our children—and we ourselves—must obey, and very often indeed when they—when we—find it directly opposed to the promptings and longings of the natural heart.
But not eye-service nor lip-service, not hand-service nor foot-service, not the reverent manner and the wandering mind. The only obedience, dear mothers, that will help your child in the formation of a sturdy, self-reliant, sincere character, steadfast to duty, firm to resist wrong, valiant to defend the right, is the same kind of obedience that you yourself must possess. And that is the obedience that is the outworking of right principles, and that comes from the heart. For acceptable obedience “does not consist in isolated acts; it is an atmosphere, it is a necessity, it is the breathing of a new existence.”
It takes time and patience, “line upon line, line upon line,” to build into your child’s life the just principles that will lead him to choose the way of obedience,—to obey not only your commands, but the laws of the state and the laws of God, because they are just and right. But obedience of this kind will be a solid foundation beneath his feet in the hour of test, a shield against the fiery darts of the enemy, and a sword to insure victory in the fiercest assaults. Such obedience comes not because of fear, but it springs from love; and it is to those who are willing and obedient that the promise is given, “Ye shall eat the good of the land.”
MRS. I. H. E.
Proper Sabbath Occupations for Children
By Mrs. B. P. Foote
MRS. B. P. FOOTE
The question of proper Sabbath occupations for children is one of the problems that all Seventh-day Adventists have to meet. There are three phases to this problem,—the mental, physical, and spiritual,—and to overlook any one of them is a serious mistake. Growing children need physical exercise on the Sabbath, and they need mental and spiritual training, in addition to that which they receive in Sabbath school.
It is important that a love for the Sabbath be instilled into the minds of the children from the time they begin to understand. Perhaps I cannot do better than to illustrate what I mean by comparing two actual cases, since practical illustrations appeal to us more strongly than the most elaborate theories.
When I was a little girl, I visited a Seventh-day Adventist family consisting of father, mother, and eight children. The members of this family were often spoken of as “strict Seventh-day Adventists.” I shall never forget the gloom that settled down over that house at the beginning of the first Sabbath I spent there. No laughing was permitted. During family worship, all the children were compelled to pray, instead of being taught to love to pray, and to consider it a privilege to be able to do so. They were not allowed to take any walks on the Sabbath. In fact, the whole family kept the Sabbath as if it were a great burden. One by one the children grew to manhood and womanhood, went out into the world, took worldly companions, and today they are all out of the truth. Even the father and mother, from sheer discouragement, have also practically given up the truth.
Another family, consisting of a mother and four children, lived in the same city. Their Sabbaths were happy, pleasant ones. The mother read, told Bible stories, and took the children out for walks to near-by parks, where they gave away missionary papers. She talked to them of nature and the handiwork of God. These children looked forward to the Sabbath with pleasure. The Sabbaths were too far apart to suit them, while with the other family the Sabbath came too often. When these children grew up, they14took companions of like faith, and today they are all in the truth, and trying to bring their children up in accordance with God's will.
If we will give careful thought and study to this subject, we shall find that there are many ways to interest the children on the Sabbath, and they will grow up to love this day above all others. Take walks with them; tell them of nature and of the many beautiful things God has created. In “Christ’s Object Lessons,” pages 25, 26, we find these words:—
“Christ’s purpose in parable teaching was in direct line with the purpose of the Sabbath. God gave to men the memorial of his creative power, that they might discern him in the works of his hand. The Sabbath bids us behold in his created works the glory of the Creator. And it was because he desired us to do this that Jesus bound up his precious lessons with the beauty of natural things. On the holy rest day, above all other days, we should study the messages that God has written for us in nature. We should study the Saviour’s parables where he spoke them, in the fields and groves, under the open sky, among the grass and flowers. As we come close to the heart of nature, Christ makes his presence real to us, and speaks to our hearts of his peace and love.”
If the children have proper home companionship, they will not feel the need of going visiting or pleasure seeking on the Sabbath. It is almost impossible for grown folks to confine their conversation to proper Sabbath topics when visiting on that day, and surely we cannot expect more of our children.
One cannot begin too early to train the children in proper Sabbath observance. The child’s mind is said to be like wax to receive impressions, and like marble to retain them. It has also been said, and truthfully, that a child learns more during the first four years of its life than during any succeeding four years. How important that a love and respect for the Sabbath be one of the things learned during these early years!
It seems perfectly proper for little girls to play Sabbath school with their dolls. I knew of one little girl who would place her dolls all in a row, and go over the memory verses, and tell them all about her Sabbath school lesson. She spent a great deal of time in this way on the Sabbath, and seemed to receive much benefit therefrom. Let the little ones rock their dolls and sing Sabbath school songs to them.
One child where the Sabbath had always been made one of the most pleasant days of the week, remarked, one day, “I wish Sabbath would come every day; it’s too long to wait a whole week.”
Part of the Sabbath could be very well spent with blocks, building the temple or the sanctuary. Something special should be planned for each Sabbath. The older children who can read, should be encouraged to do so. But whether the children play with blocks, or go walking, or read, they should be under sympathetic supervision. Let us be sure that we know just where our children are, and what they are doing. If they are inclined to read, we should know what they are reading, and help them make the right choice of books, papers, etc.; for reading is either a blessing or a curse, and few children have the judgment to make a wise choice of Sabbath reading.
This problem of proper Sabbath occupations is one that each family will have to work out “with fear and trembling.” It has as many variations as there are families of Seventh-day Adventists,—yes, and there are as many problems in each family as there are members of the family; so no set of rules can possibly be made that will meet all requirements. The great secret of success is for each member of each family to seek, by every possible means, to solve the problem. Let the children help. Often they will make good suggestions; and the more responsibility they can be made to feel, the easier it will be to lead them along in the way they should go. Every hour spent in careful, prayerful study of this question will bring a rich reward in the day of final reckoning.
Mountain View, Cal.
Our Words
By Worthie Harris Holden
WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
FIRM on the battlements of truth and right
Stand Gideon's host as watchmen of the night;
Naught swerves them from their post and duty's call,
For through their vigilance the foe must fall.
But, with a venomed tongue, well masked with guile,
The archdeceiver with a luring smile
Suggests the faults and motives of each other,
And each accosts his neighbor, friend and brother,
Till he deserts his armor, shorn of might.
The foe attacks, and conquers in the fight.
Was this a dream? Shall God's own chosen be
Enslaved and taken captive readily?
Can those who seek communion of high heaven
Befoul their mouths with tales by Satan given?
If undefiled we walk the narrow way,
Must noble thoughts be our delight for aye?
Ah! words translate the heart, and mirror fair
The image and the superscription there.
Thy God in judgment sits. The hour is late.
With solemn mien thy final sentence wait.
Home Life
By Mrs. I. H. Evans
Conducted by Mrs. I. H. Evans, Takoma Park, Washington D. C.
Assisted by Miss Lora E. Clement
Through the columns of this department, hints will be given on all matters pertaining to the home life. Short articles and letters are solicited from home makers, telling of their everyday experiences,—their joys and sorrows, their failures and successes.
LORA E. CLEMENT
By Lora E. Clement
“Buzzites”
LORA E. CLEMENT
We all number among our acquaintances persons who are extremely busy, men and women of affairs, real burden bearers in the workaday world. Quietly unassuming, they shoulder the load which falls to their lot, and carry it steadily, calmly, day after day. Yet they always have time for worth-while things, and the sorrowing look to them for cheer, the discouraged for comfort, the overburdened for help. These are the lifters in a world of the weary and heavy-laden.
Then there are others who seem to be exceedingly busy. With a worried, hurried air they rush from task to task. Preoccupied with anxiety to get to the “next thing,” they flit here and there, and one is unable to put his finger on any definite “one thing” they have accomplished. These friends belong to the “tribe of Buzzites.” The numerous members of this clan cannot help their fellow travelers along the way; they do not bear their share in the world’s great work; they never really have time to do anything, because they are “so busy.” These Buzzites miss the joy of service. They are too much occupied to appreciate the glories of the commonplace. To them we pass on the admonition,—
“Get busy, yes, get busy,
But not so busy, quite,
That you’re nothing but a galley slave
From morning until night.
“Keep busy, yes, keep busy,
But take some time between
To be a friend among your friends,
And not a mere machine.”
Do You Know That—
OUTDOOR air is the best spring tonic?
Malaria is spread by a special mosquito?
Proper house screening prevents disease?
Fingers, flies, and food spread typhoid fever?
The careless sneezer is the great grip spreader?
Measles kills more than eleven thousand American children every year?
There has not been one case of yellow fever in the United States since 1905?
Children from sanitary homes advance more rapidly in school than those from dirty premises?
Plague is a disease of rodents, and that the Public Health Service of the United States has destroyed more than eighteen thousand rodents in New Orleans in the last eighteen months?
Good English in the Home
By Estelle M. Hurll
“How can children who hear good English at home, but who live in a region in which a somewhat ungrammatical and colloquial English is spoken, be trained to use the language they hear at home, and not that spoken by the neighbors?” asks a puzzled mother.
It is only by constant correction that parents can overcome the faults of speech which the child has contracted from outside associates. With children who are old enough to grasp the idea, an appeal may be made to family pride. Tell them how mortifying it is that people should have reason to suppose that this sort of language is spoken in their own home. The problem is easier when there are several brothers and sisters who may be set to watch one another, and perhaps have a little fun by catching the mistakes.
If a record is kept of the double negatives, “ain’ts,” etc., which each one uses during a day or week, some method of fining the greatest offender, or rewarding the most careful, will cause a good deal of merriment. Children can often help one another more effectively than their parents can help them.
It must not be forgotten that incorrect English is not a fault of character, and should be treated in a different way from questions of morals. The appeal is not to the conscience, but to the intelligence, and the first aim is to awaken the child’s own interest in correct speech.—Estelle M. Hurll, in Home Progress.
A Sure Rat Exterminator
(Republished by request)
WE had rid our yard of moles by using carbon bisulphide; and as our chicken houses were overrun with rats, I thought of trying it for exterminating them. We soaked cloths with it and poked them into the rat holes as far as possible, so that the chickens could not pull them out. The rats left and have never come back, although it is over two years since we tried it. We felt this a great victory, for we had tried everything else we ever heard of without success. Care should be taken, however, to keep all fire away from the sulphide fumes, as they are highly inflammable.—Selected.
His Love for Me
By Edna L. Hetherington
EDNA L. HETHERINGTON
Do we love our blessed Saviour,
Love him with a heart sincere?
Do we long for his appearing,
Are we glad that it is near?
Have we given our hearts to Jesus,
Have we yielded all to him?
He has power to cleanse each sinner,
And remove each stain of sin.
If we knew how much he loved us,
Yes, and how he loves us still;
If we knew how he is longing
For us all to do his will;
If we knew the tender pity
Which he feels for you and me,
I believe we’d love him better.
Think of it—he died for thee.
And ’twas just because he loved us
That he wooes us with his love.
Think of being sons and daughters
Of the King who reigns above!
What is earth with all its pleasures
When compared to joys like these?
For this love let’s thank our Saviour
Every day on bended knees.
Takoma Park, D. C.
A Growing Work in Jamaica
By W. A. Spicer
I HAVE just closed a busy two weeks' visit to Jamaica. Elder E. C. Boger took me in his automobile from one end of the island to the other, making stops at churches, sometimes visiting two or three in one day. In this populous island, with but one railway east and west, and a branch to the north, Elder Boger's automobile has certainly proved a blessing. Our longest day's run was 142 miles, over mountains and round the coast to Montego Bay, at the northwest extremity of the island. Thirteen years ago, with Elder J. B. Beckner and his horse and cart, I spent a fortnight visiting companies. Time has speeded up things since those days. Now Elder Boger can reach any church in the conference in one day's journey from Kingston, the headquarters.
Jamaica shows the fruitage of years of faithful toiling. Now there are 2,000 Sabbath keepers in this island, gathered into forty-four churches and companies. Last year 221 were baptized, and about thirty received on former baptism. Still the interests grow. "We don't know how to respond to the calls for meetings," Elder Boger says. Here is just one illustration: At Golden Grove we stopped for a noonday meeting. Three or four new Sabbath keepers walked in from Ocho Rios, eleven miles over the mountainous roads. The two local elders at Golden Grove have been taking turns in going down to Ocho Rios each Sabbath to foster the interest there. So from the little churches the interests are being developed in regions about.
As we passed through one town where we have no believers, Elder Boger remarked, "We must get one or two families to move in here and find work, and so make a beginning for meetings."
It is good to drop into these isolated fields and find the workers aggressively pushing on, and the believers talking the truth to their neighbors and rejoicing in its progress, even as do we in the older fields.
The Kingston church is a large one, with a Sabbath congregation that I estimated at five hundred. For the young people's meeting in the afternoon about two hundred gathered, including the Junior young people's society. Elder F. E. Roberts has just taken up the work in Kingston.
I know that friends in America always like to know where workers from the American conferences are. In one house in Kingston, living a busy and harmonious life, are Elder and Sister Boger, Elder and Sister Roberts and Miss Ruth, and Brother Charles Degering, secretary of the conference, with Sister Degering and little daughter. In the mountain district of the west central part, Elder N. J. Aalborg has charge. We visited his family in Beverley, where we have a church on the mountain side, and found Elder Aalborg in another place, Marchtown, where he has a church building nearing completion. Brother and Sister A. E. Holst are at Montego Bay. Brother Holst has charge of the canvassing work, and we hope he may be blessed in training a little band of workers to hold permanently to this branch of service. At the Riversdale publishing headquarters for the union conference we found Brother A. F. Haines and family, and Elder E. Van Deusen. Here is also the home of Elder A. J. Haysmer, president of the union. Sister Haysmer was at home, but Elder Haysmer is away on his rounds southward, to return in September. Our last call was at Port Antonio, where Elder C. H. Keslake and family live. From this point Brother J. J. Ireland and I took ship for the eastern end of Cuba. Brother Ireland was engaged in auditing work at the Riversdale press. The brethren in these fields greatly appreciate the help that the General Conference auditor is able to give them.
