[Written for the special Sabbath-school offering for Korea and Philippine Islands, March 29.]
The first worker to visit the Philippine Islands was Elder G. A. Irwin, in 1905, on his way to the General Conference from Australia. He spent but a few days gathering facts and information, preparatory to sending workers there. In August, of the same year, Brother R. A. Caldwell spent about three months canvassing for “Home Hand Book.” After securing seventy orders, he left for China. In April, 1906, Elder J. L. McElhany and wife came from Australia to open up mission work. They had many trying things to encounter in starting work in a strange place. Brother McElhany soon secured a club of five hundred Signs from some of our American conferences, together with a great many other papers. These he sent out from week to week to the school-teachers. Much of the seed sowing done in this way will in time bear its fruit. Some American families took hold of the truth, but returned to the United States. One of the soldiers became interested from studies with Brother McElhany, and is now a worker in our cause. In February, 1908, Brother McElhany left for New Zealand.
In January, 1908, Brother Caldwell and wife arrived, to take up the sale of our literature. They have been wonderfully blessed in this work. They have delivered 1,600 Spanish “Patriarchs and Prophets,” 1,000 “Coming King,” and nearly 1,000 Tagalog “Thoughts on Daniel,” besides many smaller books. These books have nearly all been sold to Filipinos. Who can tell the amount of good these silent messengers may do? But a very small part of the islands has been worked.12
Dec. 17, 1908, Mrs. Finster and I arrived to take charge of the work. After looking over the ground, I decided that the first thing to be done was to master one of the languages, as only about ten per cent of the natives read the Spanish language. It is true that a few read Spanish in each province, but the mass of the people do not understand it; so most of our time the first year was spent in study, and in getting out literature in the different languages. We were able to secure the man who had translated the Bible into Tagalog, to translate for us into that language. After translating “Is the End Near?” and “God’s Love to Man,” I gave him the tracts “Is Sunday the Sabbath?” and “Elihu on the Sabbath.” When he brought the translation, he said, “I believe you are right on that subject.” I then began studies with him, and he soon commenced to keep the Sabbath. We have also had the tracts “Who Changed the Sabbath?” “How Esther Read Her Bible,” “The Second Coming of Christ,” “The Immortality of the Soul,” and “Which Is the Day of the Lord?” besides “Thoughts on Daniel” and a small “Bible Readings,” translated and printed in the Tagalog language. We also have a few of the same tracts translated into the Ilocano language.
NATIVE HOME IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
Our public work was commenced with some young men who understood English. They soon became so much interested that they invited many of their friends, and even older people came, although they could not understand anything that was said. Soon one of the young men offered to act as an interpreter. The Lord blessed the feeble efforts, and in a short time we had a Sabbath-school of twenty members. Our first baptism was held in March, 1911, while Elder I. H. Evans was making his first visit to the islands. A church of eighteen members was organized. Our hearts were very glad as we saw our first-fruits in these islands, united with other nations, kindreds, and tongues in giving this last message to the world.
During the next year our work went by leaps and bounds. Every quarter we were able to take into church-membership from twenty to thirty members. When our church was one year old, we had one hundred members. At the present time we have nearly one hundred fifty members.
At the beginning of this year, Elder E. M. Adams and wife, and Brother Floyd Ashbaugh came to assist in the work. They are laboring faithfully and untiringly to advance the work, while we are on our furlough after twelve years’ absence from America. When Elder Adams attended our first meetings and saw the great interest to hear, and the hungry souls with no one to feed them, he remarked, “If such things should happen in America, they would think the ‘loud cry’ had fully come.” It is a common thing to have our tent packed and four or five hundred persons on the outside, and after holding meetings every night for two months our congregations are as large as on the first night. It makes one’s heart sad as he sees hundreds of such openings with no one to fill them. The Filipino, so suddenly liberated from the darkness and gross ignorance of Romanism, is eager for anything that promises enlightenment.
Just now there are opportunities for our work that we may not long have. Thus far we have work started in but one language. We should have five families at once to begin the study of the other great languages of the islands.
A Song of Love
By Albert Carey
ALBERT CAREY
I love, I love the Lord;
I love his holy Word;
I love the music of his voice
In every sentence heard.
He loves, he loves me, too.
From his own Book I know
He loved before I knew to love;
That’s why I love him so.
For love he lived and died,
For love was crucified,
For love he pleads before the throne,—
The Lover glorified.
Nor will his love for me
Be satisfied till he,
Safe in the Father’s house above,
His ransomed ones shall see.
Nortons, Oregon.
Pemba, Rhodesia, South Africa
By W. H. Anderson
W. H. ANDERSON
It has been some time since I reported our work, and as I know the brethren and sisters are much interested in things here I shall try to make amends for this neglect. I have been very busy since I last wrote. I made a two weeks' trip among the out-stations, and had a good time with the boys in those schools. I found them all of good courage, and was able to settle some small matters for them that had seemed great to them; but when we had a chance to get together and see the thing from the Lord's side of it, they yielded and all seemed satisfactory, and I left them all happy and going on with the work as well as they could. One thing that seemed rather strange to me occurred at the Bwenga station,—the one Brother R. C. Porter and I were near when we turned back from the lion. The people had met with a number of misfortunes at the kraals, near there, and on consulting the witch-doctor as to the reason, they were told that it was because they had not attended the meetings and placed their children in the mission school, and that more would come to them if they did not attend to this matter at once. They said they thought he was right, but as the boys were all away on the Kafui with the cattle they would have to wait until the boys came home, and then they would see to it that they all attended the school. The attendance at the Sabbath services has increased very materially.
I have repaired all the plows and cultivators and harrows on the out-stations, and have the workers well supplied with food, so they have nothing to do but get at their farm work as soon as the rains start. I am quite pleased with the prospects for the future, and I feel sure that when we get Brother J. R. Campbell back and have him again devoting his time to this work, we shall see greatly advanced strides in it.
I have been reading again this past week the instruction that was given in regard to the Avondale school, and it seems to me that we are carrying it out as nearly here as the different conditions will admit. If I know that God is back of a plan, I never hesitate to carry it out, although the heavens should fall; for then I know we are in the right, and God will take care of the results. It is only when we depart from his plans that we are in trouble. I have been going over the record of the tithes and offerings for the last two years and comparing them with the previous two years, and I find that we have made gains in every department. The tithe has increased, also the Sabbath-school offerings, weekly offerings, annual offerings, and second tithe. We are glad for this and hope to do better in the future.
Brother Campbell has now prepared over two hundred hymns in the native language, and as soon as they have been thoroughly revised they will be ready to submit to the conference committee for its action as to whether they are to be published or not. By the end of the year we expect to have sufficient second tithe to meet all the expense, if the committee decides on publishing them.
I think a great deal of that second tithe as a fund for native literature. We have paid every expense for what we have published here, and have a nice little fund for the next time; then it is a perpetual fund, and no one as yet seems to have suffered from paying it. It makes it so much easier to get the books published when we can have the money on hand to meet all the expense and have the work translated and revised, and ask only the sanction of the committee instead of having to ask them for the funds to meet the expense.
The Untamable Tongue
The tongue no man can tame; hence thou canst not tame thine own, for thou art a man. So thou must needs have continual recourse to God, that he may do for thee what thou art not able to do for thyself.—St. Augustine.
More Objections to Flesh Foods
By A. B. Olsen
A. B. OLSEN, M. D., D. P. H.
THE great prevalence of disease among domestic animals used for food, and the grave dangers associated with the consumption of diseased flesh, ought to be sufficient reason to condemn flesh-eating. Furthermore, the fact that flesh foods obtained from a butcher's or meat shop are always in a varying state of decomposition and putrefaction, and consequently contain toxic substances more or less harmful to health, and are liable to cause serious or even fatal ptomain poisoning, is another sufficient reason for abstaining from their use. Who, we ask, can contemplate with anything like complacency or satisfaction the consumption of decayed food? Decomposed food literally means poisonous food. The fact that in most cases the poisons are not sufficiently numerous and abundant to produce grave or vital effects is no proper answer to this question. The same is true of many alcoholic beverages, and yet the majority of our readers would agree heartily to the principle of total abstinence. But there are still other equally sound and sufficient reasons why the flesh of dead animals does not furnish either a safe or a wholesome diet for man, and consequently should be avoided wherever possible.
Cancer
It is a mistake to think that parasitic and microbic diseases alone are associated with or caused by flesh-eating. We know that there are numerous other maladies that are more or less directly connected with meat-eating. Take cancer for instance. Here we have one of the most terrible scourges of civilized lands, a disease which is second in importance only to tuberculosis. Unlike tuberculosis, which we are happy to say is now slowly diminishing its dire ravages (although according to Metchnikoff it still claims one life in seven out of the total mortality of European lands), cancer is increasing each year by leaps and bounds.
At the present time we have good reason to believe that after the age of thirty-five, one out of twelve men is destined to die of cancer, and one out of eight women meet the same fate. In England and Wales alone there are no less than fifty thousand persons continually suffering the awful distress and misery associated with this fatal and all but hopeless malady. In his book “Preventable Cancer” Mr. Rollo Russell shows that the increase of cancer is clearly associated with the increasing consumption of flesh foods. He says: “It has been observed by Rayer, Leblanc, and others that carnivorous animals are more prone to cancer, caeteris paribus, than herb- or grain-eating animals.”
We need not hesitate to accept the following conclusion which we also quote from the same author: “In a general way it may be stated that all nations or races habitually using fresh and cool non-toxic foods and drinks are little affected by cancer.”
The medical registrar of England has pointed out in one of his animal reports that cancer is most prevalent in those parts of England where flesh foods are most freely consumed. Lack of space only forbids our quoting much more evidence to show the intimate relation that exists between flesh-eating and cancer. Although I am not prepared to say that the consumption of animal flesh is the only and sole cause of cancer, still I do believe that it is one of the most important factors in the causation of this deadly disease.
Appendicitis
Few people have failed to realize the increasing prevalence of appendicitis, emphatically a disease of civilized lands, where the use of flesh is all but universal. Some twenty years ago or thereabouts it was thought by some that appendicitis was caused by the introduction of foreign bodies into the alimentary tract. Although this is possible, still it is a rare occurrence, and to-day we know that appendicitis is almost invariably associated with the consumption of dead animals.
Various authorities have pointed out the comparative immunity of fruitarians and vegetarians from appendicitis. This is true of the Dukhobors of Canada, who are not only immune from cancer and appendicitis, but develop a vigor of health both physical and mental which is consistent with the abstemious life which they lead. They abstain wholly not only from alcohol and tobacco, but also from animal flesh. Again, the Hindus of India, who take little or no flesh, are remarkably immune from appendicitis, and the same is said to be true of the Chinese.
Appendicitis is in most cases simply a virulent form of germ invasion and ptomain poisoning, and the most important direct cause is undoubtedly consumption of poisonous animal food. Those who wish to be immune from cancer and appendicitis will find it necessary to adopt the fruitarian diet, and abstain from both stimulating drinks and stimulating foods.
Organic Extractives and Poisonous Wastes
It is a common but none the less great mistake to think that animal flesh is a very nourishing and sustaining diet. Why! even a dog's life could not be prolonged a single day by the use of beef broth. Dr. Tibbles says, “Dogs fed on beef tea die sooner than when not fed at all.” And yet many ignorant people often resort to beef tea, chicken broth, and similar preparations when in ill health, and some even regard them as important invalid foods. There could be no greater fallacy. Beef tea is merely an extract of the meat, and as such contains little nourishment and much of the poisonous wastes of the animal.
Even if the slaughtered animals were in comparative health, and even though they were eaten soon after slaughter and before serious decomposition set in, they are not by any means free from poisonous matters. In the case of the lower animals as well as man, the activities of life are constantly producing waste substances, known as organic extractives. In reality, these wastes are excretions, and during life are as speedily got rid of from the body as possible because of their injurious influence. The flesh of all animals always contains these poisonous excretions, and therefore we must regard animal food as anything but clean and pure. When we stop to think of it, we must realize that the poisonous excretions of animals form the worst and14most dangerous kind of filth, and it certainly seems passing strange that human beings should be willing to take this filth with their food.
The thought itself is repulsive, to say nothing about the harmfulness of the procedure. Think of consuming the liver of an ox or sheep, or the kidney, an organ which is always saturated with urine. And the various meat extracts and beef broths and teas are for all practical purposes the concentrated uriniferous products of the flesh. Such extracts are anything but nutritious, and must be looked upon solely as unwholesome stimulants.
The presence of these irritating and exciting poisons renders animal flesh the most stimulating of all foods, and its free use often leads to the development of a craving for stronger stimulants. There is no doubt that many persons have been led to take alcoholic beverages through the free use of animal flesh as well as tea and coffee. It is an accepted fact that inebriates and drunkards are more easily restored to sobriety on the fruitarian dietary than when allowed flesh foods.
Too Much Protein
Another important disadvantage of mixed feeding is the danger of taking a superabundance of nitrogenous food. Any one eating meat, except in very small quantities, is in great danger of taking more tissue-building food than he can use to advantage. It is bad enough to take sugar or starch foods in excess, but the evils resulting therefrom are slight compared with those consequent upon an oversupply of protein. Too much protein means extra work for the digestive and eliminating organs, and an undue increase in the nitrogenous waste products of the body. They serve to thicken the blood and clog the system, and there is no doubt that they are important factors in the causation of many nutritional diseases.
Rheumatism and Gout
The presence of these organic extractives, or as Dr. Haig would call them, uric acid and allied bodies, as well as the overconsumption of protein food of any kind, leads to various constitutional diseases and especially gouty, rheumatic, and neuralgic disorders. Dr. Haig and other scientific authorities have demonstrated very clearly the relationship which exists between flesh-eating and a long list of so-called “uric acid disorders.” Again, we would say that animal flesh is by no means the only causal factor in the production of these prevalent diseases; but that it is one of the most important, and, probably, in many cases, the most important factor in bringing on these disturbances is well established. The following is only a partial list of maladies which Dr. Haig believes to be more or less directly associated with meat-eating:—
“I THINK we may enter on this side,” said Thief to his companion, Robber, as they approached the house that was built on the Rock. “The foundations were laid so long ago and its towers are so ancient that it can not possibly be equal to modern construction; we surely shall find some weak spot.”
Within the House of the Sure Foundation was ancient armor, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. All were covered with dust, for Student and Modern Thought had long since ceased to dwell on this side of the house. Though they inherited it from their father, they preferred to live in the side that opened into the pleasure gardens, where a fountain played in the sun, and the birds sang, and there was less to remind them of the wickedness, misery, and strife in the world.
Now, seeing they were about to be attacked, Student proposed to buckle on the sword of the Spirit. “A brave defense you would make with your rusty old sword against modern weapons,” scoffed Modern Thought. “I should as soon make a laughing-stock of myself with the old shield and helmet.” “But,” returned Student, “these are the weapons designed by the Builder for the defense of the House of the Sure Foundation. If only I had more skill in their use!”
Now Thief and Robber had failed to find a single weak spot in the building, but overhearing the remark of Modern Thought and Student’s disgraceful confession, they knocked, boldly demanding admission. “I think we would better let them in with us,” Modern Thought said reflectively. “They appear very respectable; besides, it is not in harmony with the spirit of the times to contend for the faith. One should be always broad-minded and liberal.” Student scarcely noticed this last observation, as he was busy dusting off the scabbard to look at the sword. Coming into the sunlight, he drew it forth, and behold! it was two-edged, of the finest temper, and so bright and glistening that Thief and Robber were seized with dismay. When they saw that its gleaming point was a discerner of the very thoughts and intents of their wicked hearts, they fled in terror.
Modern Thought could not speak for amazement, but Student said thoughtfully, “The sword of the Spirit seems wonderfully suited to the defense of the House of the Sure Foundation. I think I shall begin at once to perfect myself in its use.”
Make the Most of Your Time
A BOY was employed to mind a lawyer's office, and he had a daily paper with which to amuse himself. One day he laid the paper aside and began to study French. Ultimately he became a fluent reader and writer of the French language. A coachman, who often had to wait a long time while his mistress made calls, determined to use his spare hours. He found a small volume of Virgil, but could not read it; so he purchased a Latin grammar, which he thoroughly mastered. One day the lady found him intently reading, and she asked him what book he had. “Virgil, my lady.” “What, do you read Latin?” She mentioned this to her husband, who got David a teacher. In a few years David became a scholar, and afterward was for many years a minister in Scotland. It is said of Charles Darwin, the great naturalist, that “he never wasted a few spare minutes from thinking that it was not worth while to set to work.” That is the best way to grow wise.—Southern Cross.
The Noon-Hour Prayer
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.”
HUGH MILLER once said: “Prayer is so mighty an instrument that no one has ever thoroughly mastered all its keys. They sweep along the infinite scale of man’s wants and of God’s goodness.” Are you in need to-day? The Father above is merciful and gracious. He longs to help you over the hard places and to lighten all your burdens. Trust him with a faith that is strong and steadfast; ask, believing that heaven’s boundless resources await your demand and reception. Then into your life will come a wonderful blessing, such peace and joy and satisfaction as the world can never give. But if you would have the reward in its fulness, you must tarry awhile in the chamber of prayer. He who rushes into the presence of God and hurriedly whispers a few requests, and then immediately rushes out again, never, perhaps, sees God at all. “He can no more get a vision than a disquieted lake can mirror the stars. We must stay long enough to become calm, for it is only the peaceful soul in which eternal things are reflected as in a placid water.”
Requests for Prayer
141. A Pennsylvania sister asks us to pray that she may be healed of tumor of the ear.
142. From Oregon a sister sends the request that we pray for the recovery of her mother.
143. A sister in Oklahoma desires prayer for the restoration of a friend.
144. An isolated sister begs that prayer be offered in behalf of her husband, who is addicted to the use of drugs.
145. An anxious mother requests prayer for the healing of her daughter who is afflicted with epilepsy.
146. A sister in Michigan whose husband is bitterly opposed to this truth, asks us to pray that God will touch his heart, and especially that he may allow their children to attend Sabbath-school.
147. An Idaho sister asks prayer for healing.
Our Training-Schools in England and Switzerland
By H. R. Salisbury
ELEVEN years ago in one room in London was the beginning of our educational work in Great Britain. The eleventh year has opened under far different circumstances. Then we had about eight hundred Sabbath-keepers as a constituency; now there are two thousand members. For the first six years the school was conducted in rented buildings in London; now it has its own neat brick building on an estate of sixty acres fifteen miles from London. It is also to the advantage of the students that the school is connected with the printing and health food factories, and the newly established Watford sanitarium.
That this training-school has been a blessing to the British field can be seen in the number of workers who have received their education here. The young ministers, Bible workers, and all the missionaries who have been sent out to British East Africa, the mission territory of the British Union, were trained in this institution.
I wish more of our school buildings could have been constructed as suitably and at the same time as economically. Its beautiful grounds, its well-kept rooms and halls, and the quiet deportment of the students make it a desirable place to receive a Christian training.
It was a pleasure to meet again, Prof. Herbert Lacey and the other teachers associated with him. Professor Lacey has now been in the English school nine years, the last six years as principal.
I was very much pleased to find a sanitarium established on the same estate and working in the closest harmony with the school. It is evident that the building was planned by one who knew the needs of such an institution, and it has been well equipped. Dr. Charles Hayton, who is in charge, has the confidence of the patients and the hearty cooperation of his helpers. There is every reason to expect that this new sanitarium, so healthfully located and so suitably equipped, will be the means of bringing many in touch with our world-wide message. One could but wish it the same success that has been enjoyed by the Caterham Sanitarium, established ten years ago in the Surrey Hills. It was started free from debt, and under the careful management of Dr. A. B. Olsen has not only kept free from debt, but from its earnings has increased its capacity fifty per cent, added many improvements, and paid each year a per cent of its earnings to the building up of the medical work in that field.
The Latin Union School
It was my privilege to be present this year at the school in Gland, Switzerland, at the beginning of the new year. There were fifty students in attendance, almost double the number of any previous year. Brother Paul Steiner, the principal, is being blessed in his efforts to make the school a real training-center for the Latin Union, and is greatly encouraged with its rapid growth. There were present students from Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Italy, Germany, England, and America.
The school and sanitarium have been able to operate with mutual advantage as to teachers and industrial work.
The sanitarium is enjoying prosperity, and while it has not been long since its capacity for patients was doubled by adding to the original building, it is necessary again to increase its capacity, which will be done by erecting another building this year. While there, I saw illustrated how our sanitariums are in a position to reach those who otherwise would never hear of our work. There sat facing me in the dining-room the wife of an Egyptian pasha, who has been a long time at the sanitarium, and whose husband has also been a guest; at my right sat a Catholic priest in his robes; and there were Americans searching for health, an English officer, and a number of Swiss and French men of education holding high positions of trust.
It would be difficult to find a more beautiful place for a school and sanitarium than this estate, reaching down to the shores of the blue waters of Lake Geneva and facing Mt. Blanc with its perpetual snows.
May the students of this school, who come from the land of Savonarola, Farel, and Calvin, go back to their countries with the spirit of the early Reformers deepened by a thorough knowledge of the final reformation.
H. R. SALISBURY.
Our Foreign Seminaries
By Ole Andres Olsen
RECENTLY I had the privilege of visiting our foreign seminaries. It was arranged for me to give a series of studies at the Danish-Norwegian Seminary at Hutchinson, Minn. I arrived at the place January 21, and remained one week. I was greatly pleased with what I learned and observed while there. The seminary has an enrolment of 102, and a fine class of young people they are—earnest and devoted. At the time of the week of prayer, all then present who had not already done so gave their hearts to the Lord's service. An excellent spirit seemed to prevail in the school. The principal told me at the time I was there that so far during the year not a single case of discipline had been called for. We are very thankful for the blessings attending this branch of the work.
February 4-7 I attended the annual board meeting of the German Seminary at Clinton, Mo. We had an excellent meeting, and everything passed off very harmoniously. We found the school in a fine spirit; unity and harmony prevailed, and the work is moving very successfully. The German Seminary has an enrolment of 139 with 135 in attendance.
Elder W. A. Spicer on his way from the West made us a call and spoke twice to the school. This was very much appreciated, and I think he, too, enjoyed the privilege.
Our German people are taking hold of the school work in earnest. Recently $11,000 has been paid on their note indebtedness, and more money will soon be coming in to further reduce what is still owing.
It was an inspiring sight to see all these young people so earnest and so bent on improving their opportunities to hasten the preparation for the work in the field. There are several mission bands—one a South American band, another a China band, and so on—consisting of those that have set their minds on a certain field.
The Swedish Seminary is located at Broadview, about twelve miles west of Chicago. The Swedes have not so large a constituency to draw from as the Germans and the Danish-Norwegians have. Their present enrolment and attendance is 42, and they are having a fine school.
It is an inspiration when visiting any of these schools to see the earnestness of these young people. Altogether we have in these schools 283 students of these various nationalities.
Sometimes the question has been raised, “Was it a proper move to break up these departments at Union College and start these separate schools?” That such an undertaking would have its difficulties no one would question, but if ever the providence of the Lord has helped in a very marked manner in any undertaking, we see it in the blessings that have come to these schools. We have had difficulties, and perplexing ones, but in the midst of it all great victories have been gained.
The action to dissolve the foreign departments at Union College was taken in October, 1909, and steps were immediately taken to find locations for the new schools, so by Sept. 23, 1910, all three schools opened up in their new places with a larger attendance than was expected for the first year.
The remarkable success that attended the locating committees was a matter of very special interest. The first to locate were the Danish-Norwegians. In looking about they were directed to Hutchinson, where there was a vacant college building that had been built by Lutherans, but had been abandoned. It was in excellent condition, and the location was a favorable one. As it was offered to us at a greatly reduced price, we could but feel that the opening was a very providential one, just such as the Lord had indicated that we should find.
In the location of the German Seminary at Clinton, we had a like experience. Everything seemed to be ready. A large college building in a very fair state of repair was there.
If it had not been for such providential openings in the matter of location, it would have been impossible for us to have got started so quickly with our schools. In all these things we could but recognize the guiding hand of the Lord.
The first year's school in each of these institutions was a real success. During the second year all of them had an increased256attendance and a still better school. Now the third year shows an increase over the second year, and the schools still more improved.
What has already been achieved in these foreign schools would not have been possible had they remained parts of Union College. We now rejoice not only over the success of gathering such a large number of our young people into these schools, but over the educational agitation that has taken place among our Germans and Scandinavians, as it in itself has been a wonderful blessing in the work among these nationalities.
We begin to see results of this in various ways—in the unifying of the work and in the increased missionary interest. And this increased interest among the old and young will result in the gathering of many souls for the kingdom of God. We have reason for sincere gratitude to God for the blessings that are attending these efforts. No one who is acquainted with the situation can fail to see the good providence of God in the establishment of these foreign schools.
We are also glad for the beginnings that have been made in the French in connection with the South Lancaster Academy. This department is a small one, but small as it is, it is a very important factor in connection with our French work in this country.
At the Sheyenne River Academy in North Dakota we have a Russian department, and in connection with that there are a goodly number of Russian young people who are preparing for work among the hundreds of thousands of Russians throughout this country.
The harvest is great and the fields are white, and these many foreign nationalities in our midst have a decided claim upon us. The work can not be finished until these people also have heard the message. Yet the dearth of laborers among the foreigners in this country is exceedingly great. However, we are looking forward with joyful anticipation to the time when these young people in our foreign schools will be ready to enter the work as the way opens.
May the Lord pour out his Spirit in larger measure and hasten the time when this gospel of the kingdom shall have been preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations, and then usher in the glorious day of redemption.
O. A. OLSEN.
D. D. FITCH
By D. D. Fitch
California
DOWNEY.— A series of tent lectures, which continued for nine weeks, was held in this city. The message had not been preached here for fifteen years, and at the close of the meetings the interest was such that a place for Sabbath meetings seemed to be imperative. A store building was rented, and fitted up not only in a suitable manner for the above-mentioned purpose, but also for a free reading-room between the times of service.
The personal library of the writer, some six hundred volumes on history, biography, travel, health, and religious subjects, was arranged on racks. Upon tables in the center are a liberal supply of such periodicals as Signs Magazine, Life and Health, Watchman, Protestant Magazine, Youth’s Instructor, Popular Mechanics, Review of Reviews, Literary Digest, Scientific American.
The room is comfortably heated, well lighted, and open at all times to those who desire to take advantage of it. To transform it from a reading-room to a lecture hall requires but little time and energy. The collections taken during the services have more than covered the expense of rent. The citizens of the town have shown their appreciation of the reading-room by voluntarily contributing enough to cover the expense of light and to purchase the popular magazines. This gives the writer the use of two rooms in the rear, with electric light, free of charge.
Those desiring to make inquiries concerning our faith feel greater freedom in coming to a worker living in connection with a public work of this kind than they do in going to his rooms in a private dwelling.
The prospects seem favorable for the organization of a church in the spring. To this end I am spending my time in study with those who are interested.
