Since coming to Bombay in November, 1899, we have been busy, soliciting subscriptions for the Oriental Watchman, and canvassing for our large books, “Patriarchs and Prophets,” and “The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan,” nearly a hundred of which have been placed in the homes of Bombay. A goodly number of health books has also been sold. We hope that the canvassing will be continued during the coming winter, with the public preaching of the message.
A tent could be pitched at a central place, and readily reached by all who choose to come; as Bombay has one of the best street-car plants that is in operation, and for two cents, United States’ value, one may be conveyed anywhere within city limits.
Meanwhile, as we have opportunity, we are holding Bible readings in the homes of the people. One young man, a native of the north of Ceylon, who speaks Tamil and Marathi, and has a good command of the English language, has, together with his wife, become much interested in the study of the message, and is now considering the question of the Sabbath. We hope that they will soon take their stand firmly for the Lord. An Armenian family have been receiving Bible instruction for several weeks, and seem eager to learn. We have also begun services at our home Sunday evenings, and already one woman observes the Sabbath, and rejoices in the light she has received.
Brother Richardson reports a new Sabbath-keeper at Otacamund, where he has been introducing the Oriental Watchman, and is anxious that public meetings be begun there soon, to develop the interest that has been awakened. Doors are open to us all through India.
The readers of the paper and books are calling for our preachers, and we are equally anxious to fill the demand, but find that we can not spread our company fast enough nor far enough to meet the necessities of the people. I trust that workers may soon be found in the home field who can come over and help us cast in the gospel net without delay.
A few weeks ago it fell to my lot to visit the famine districts. The famine relief fund had been coming in; and as I am the nearest to the distressed area, it was thought advisable that I should investigate the situation, and get, if possible, a more intelligent idea as to the most practical and helpful way of distributing the funds received.
Happily for me, when the time came to go, I met a missionary returning from Bombay to his district, which was in the famine neighborhood, and he kindly invited me to go with him. We traveled north, on the B. B. & C. I. Ry., three hundred and twenty-seven miles, to a small station called Sanand, in Gujarát. Here we exchanged the train for a bullock-cart, belonging to my missionary friend, and rode ten miles, to a small village, where the famine is a horrible reality.
It did not seem possible that men could be reduced to such skeletons and still be able to move about, but there they were before us.
One poor man, who applied for relief from the missionary, said he had managed thus far to maintain his family, and to keep his buffalo alive, by gathering green leaves, but at last had been forced to beg for help. Many had sold their doors from their houses to get a few pice, with which to buy food; others had gone so far as to pull down the rafters from over their heads for the same purpose. These people were given immediate relief, each family receiving a small amount of grain. Plans were laid to open relief works as soon as possible, so that the needy could earn something with which to sustain their families.
Arrangements were made for some to begin digging wells, the missionary paying them each day for the work done, thus affording immediate relief. The wells, once dug, will become a future source of water supply, and a means of irrigation. As far as possible, all work on the principle of helping the people to help themselves, and so discountenance the idea, now gaining currency, that the people are to be fed and clothed without any effort on their part.
Mr. King, my missionary friend, said he had opened two grain depots, where the people can buy small quantities of rice below the actual cost, care being taken to ascertain that the person who calls to buy at these reduced rates is a real sufferer from famine, and worthy of help. As part of the grain is sold at reduced rates, and part is dispensed gratuitously, it requires constantly inflowing funds to keep things going; and we were glad to leave with this missionary a part of the funds placed at our disposal for this purpose.
I visited other missionaries, and found them united in their efforts to save life, and to make the people self-supporting, encouraging them until the coming rains should prepare the fields for cultivation. They have now had rain throughout the famine districts, and I hope that the worst is over, and that growing crops will soon bid the famine depart.
Cholera has broken out, and I have just received a letter from Mr. King, saying that after an illness of a few hours, his little daughter died of that disease. He spoke in grateful terms of the fund placed with him for famine relief, and said that he had been praying for money to erect a cheap hospital for the very weak famine sufferers, and believed he could now do this.
The money coming to us from America and other places has served a double purpose,—that of famine relief, and Christian fellowship; for by sharing with the missionaries already in the field, we prove to them our comradeship. E. ROBINSON.
Progress of the Work in India
By William Ambrose Spicer
SINCE the last preceding report from India some changes have taken place. The mission house, in Bow Bazar, Calcutta, has been given up, and our meetings are held in a hall, secured for a year, in the European quarter of the city. The hall is ample for our present needs, and by a partition at one end, supplies space for our office and depository. The company meeting here, will pay their share of the hall rent and all expenses of the meetings, leaving a small amount for the book depository to pay for office room. The amount thus saved can be put into public work in other cities in India.12
Our office is now at 44a, Free School St., Calcutta. The medical branch has also changed its location. Until recently their office was in one part of the city, and the hospital for patients in another. Now the work is carried on at 51 Park St., where offices, treatment rooms, and living quarters are combined. This is far more convenient for the workers, and they expect a considerable business increase as the result of the improved facilities. All the medical workers are engaged at the Park Street institution, which the doctors have decided to call the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium. The home institution has made the name “sanitarium” known in India as an institutional name, so the word is understood.
Miss Burma and Sister Fleming are in Calcutta, doing zenana work, or visiting the women in their homes. Sister Fleming heard the message at Naini Tal, while Brother and Sister Brown were at that hill station last summer. After a few months’ canvassing, we called her to the zenana work in Calcutta, as she was already proficient in the Bengali language. The zenana work is one requiring steady, plodding effort, and doubtless we shall see more abundant fruit of it in the kingdom of God than in this world. Seeds of truth sown here and there in Hindu homes must surely bear fruit some day. The orphanage is at Karmatar, where Elders Robinson and Brown died. At present there are but fifteen children in it, but possibly we may add others during this famine. Genuine orphans are not so readily secured in India as in other lands, where the caste system does not work to keep the children within the family and tribal boundaries. The large societies working in the famine districts gather in many children, orphaned, or left, forsaken, at the poor-houses and relief camps. But, as our brethren found in the famine of 1897, unless one is stationed in the distressed districts, or is on good terms with the “orthodox” missionary circles, orphans are found with difficulty. The famine regions are a long way from Karmatar.
Brother and Sister Quantock are at Karmatar, looking after the children and the farm. We can never train the children on the cheap plan generally advertised; for the amount given would put only a rag around the body, and fill the stomach with rice and dahl twice a day. To make anything satisfactory of children in India, it takes the same care that is given to orphans in America, though on a cheaper scale, it is true; and it will take more care and training, because they live in an atmosphere of indifference, indolence, and deception. We are in no haste to add largely to our responsibilities in this direction. The orphan problem is, generally speaking, unsolved in India. Funds for their support are easily raised, but the difficulty to be met and conquered is that of making the child a useful member of Indian society. As yet the mission-trained convert is not at a premium in the business world. A missionary who has a large work, and makes brilliant reports, told me personally some time ago that his orphan children are worse than the heathen, and that he has to watch his preachers and teachers like a hawk, or they take advantage of him by false dealing. We wish to make sure work as we go, nor will we try to force the pace to make grand reports.
The farm is a much better place for the children than the house in the city, and, with the rent paid in by those who occupy the main bungalow, our expenses are lessened. With rain, our farm should produce a good quantity of rice. The land will probably never be very productive, and fruit and the finer grades of garden and farm produce do not grow well, even after the labor of irrigation, but during the next two years there will be opportunity to experiment and learn what will do best. Farming here is not what it is in America. The workmen are cheap, it is true, but will do as little as possible, and must be watched day and night. The head gardener, they tell me, stole a piece of cloth some time ago. Learning that the theft was traced to him, he called a council of villagers, and after much speaking, it was decided to burn the cloth. Why doesn’t Brother Quantock turn him off? Well, why don’t people in India turn servants off generally for petty peculations of foodstuffs, etc.? One would be changing servants all the time; for in the native servant code, the wages includes the right to take small articles belonging to their employer, and also a commission on all purchases.
Experienced medical help being required at Calcutta, the dispensary work that Brother Brown started at Karmatar has been discontinued, except as the workers may be able to do something for the natives coming with sores, bad eyes, etc. A young man, Babu Dewanjee, is teaching the children. Babu Mitter, who formerly was with the school, is engaged in Calcutta in general evangelistic work.
In one of the Calcutta suburbs, Ballaghata, we have our one native school for girls, with another Bengali worker, Babu Biswas, in charge. He and his wife have about thirty girls, of all ages from the little ones to those of ten years, at which age the girl generally leaves to get married.
Brother Ellery Robinson is in Bombay, where he has taken several hundred subscriptions to the Oriental Watchman, and sold a large number of books, besides visiting and doing Bible work. In connection with his rooms, he has a small hall-like room, which serves for a book depository and place for meetings. To draw together some who are interested, he has begun Sunday evening Bible studies for the public. Thus the leaven is working; and very possibly, by the time reinforcements come to carry on public meetings in the centers of India, it will be thought best to begin in Bombay a general effort for English-speaking peoples.
Brother I. D. Richardson, who came to sell books in India, has had good success. This summer he is working with our paper and small books in southern India. One other canvasser is in the field, Brother H. B. Meyers, who is assisted by his son. These two have recently sold a large number of books, mostly health works, in Burma and the Straits Settlements.
Our paper has now a circulation of about forty-seven hundred. We hope soon to get more literature in the vernaculars into circulation. We are but a handful, and can not say much of what has already been accomplished in this great field. It is far less than should have been done, and it seems sometimes as if America, with its increasing appeals and new enterprises, will continue to monopolize the Seventh-day Adventist energies to the end. But the Lord knows. When we see how China is seething, and know how much of unrest and trouble there is in all Asia, we are convinced that now is the most favorable time we shall ever have to work in these lands. We can only go forward and look to the Lord and the brethren for help.
The very fact that India is a dark land, morally, socially, and industrially, makes it a grand missionary field. One of the most depressing things in it is the condition of the convert communities after a century of missions. But the Third Angel’s Message will work reform, and produce something different. Some in the native community are already facing the right way; and we know that many honest but uninstructed ones are waiting for the message. Step by step we shall advance, and the Lord will bless the work, whether we are able to tabulate the results or not.
W. A. SPICER.
D. T. BOURDEAU
By D. T. Bourdeau
FROM THE FRENCH TENT IN NAMUR, QUEBEC.
We have had a rainy season, which has been unfavorable to the holding of tent-meetings. However, since reporting last, we have held Sunday meetings in our tent, and by visiting much from house to house, and occasionally holding a meeting among the France French at another place, have largely made up for the drawbacks resulting from the inclemency of the weather. Since haying has begun, I have gone into the field and engaged in work with those interested in the truth, setting them the example of discontinuing work on Friday in time to begin the observance of the Sabbath at sunset. I have found this an excellent way to initiate them into Sabbath-keeping. My helper, Brother Bourbeau, has done the same. Two France French families, whom I have thus assisted by manual labor, have begun to keep all God's commandments. These have many relatives, and, if faithful, will lead others to walk in the glorious way of present truth.
To know that even old ministers, after many years of hard missionary work in different fields and climes, can, by physical exercise and proper diet, together with other healthful habits, fully compete with strong young men in performing heavy work in the hay field, is a source of no small satisfaction to me. This also adds physical, mental, and moral health. Further, it sets a proper example of industry; and here relieves feeble and overtaxed women of some of the outdoor work which they usually do by the side of their husbands, and says to all that the habit of our Saviour and his apostles in honoring physical work is even now worthy of imitation. It is a blessed means of winning souls to Christ, and teaching them the truth as it is in Jesus. Brethren in the ministry, let us never disgrace the religion of Jesus Christ, nor go against God's original plan, by being ashamed of and neglecting physical exercise.
Soon after we reached this place, several of the France French who had been reading our literature asked for a discussion on points of difference between us and others, the two leading speakers to be myself and the French Presbyterian pastor in Namur, who had been boasting that he was prepared to meet us. A meeting was held, the pastor was present, and I spoke on a very practical subject, inviting him to take part. At the close of the discourse a leading Frenchman, representing several others of his nationality, asked that the points of difference between the minister and myself be discussed in a Christian way, that it might be known who had the truth. I gave all to understand that I had not asked for this discussion, but having been notified that it would be demanded, and that I must be one of the speakers, I had prepared regulations to be observed should such a discussion be called for. These held the speakers strictly to the Bible. I read my paper; the minister refused to go on, and said that God had sanctified no particular day, and if all kept Monday, he would keep it.
Of course I showed that God had sanctified the day of his rest, the last day of the New Testament week, that the Jews keep it to this day, and that the minister had virtually admitted that God had not ordained Sunday; for certainly he would not disobey God's express order to keep Sunday, by keeping Monday instead, if everybody kept Monday. All saw the point, and a glorious victory was gained for the ancient Sabbath.
But now the same minister announces that he will speak next Sunday on the importance of a better observance of Sunday; for the Sunday following a recent celebration of the day of France French liberty and independence (the 14th of July), most of his church-members joined with the world's people in dancing, drinking, racing, and shooting at marks for prizes. We wait to see how this minister will try to get out of his dilemma. Pray for the work among the French.
I would express gratitude to correspondents who have written us encouraging words.
D. T. BOURDEAU
ONTARIO
By W. H. SPEAR
CARLETON PLACE.—Our camp-meeting at Guelph, from June 14-24, was an enjoyable occasion. The grounds were beautiful, a goodly number of our brethren and sisters attended, the weather was pleasant, and the meetings crowded. But above all, God was there with his blessing and providential guidance.
No work having been done in the eastern part of our province, Elder F. D. Starr and I began tent-meetings in Carleton Place, July 19. We have seen many manifestations of God's providence since then. Often it has looked as if the way would be blocked up because we lacked ground on which to pitch our tent. But our extremity has always been God's opportunity. We were unable to secure the use of a lot centrally situated, except one belonging to the town, and we had the assurance of that for only ten days. However, as it was the only opening, we pitched our tent and began meetings. We would have had the permanent use of this ground but for the complaints of the Methodists, whose church was directly opposite the town lot.
Since moving to our new location, we have presented the Sabbath truth, and last Sunday evening, after a discourse on the Third Angel's Message, eight persons promised to obey.
We hear encouraging reports of our brother ministers, who are battling for the right in other parts of the province. W. H. SPEAR.
EXPERIENCE
By W. T. White
A FEW days ago it occurred to me to put up a reading-rack by the roadside. I tore up a dry-goods box and made a reading-rack, which I nailed to a tree by the roadside, and filled with papers and tracts. In less than two days they were all taken out. I have used all my papers and tracts, but will order a new supply to-morrow. Some of the brethren here have promised me all their papers after they have read them, and I am taking five copies of the Signs of the Times to use for this purpose. I will gladly accept clean copies of the REVIEW, Signs, and other periodicals and tracts.
No one can tell what good may result from this work. We are commanded to sow by all waters. “In the morning sow thy seed, in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that.” It is better to use our papers in this way than to paste them on a wall, or to let the children destroy them, while souls all around us are perishing for the word of life, which it is our privilege to give them.
Brethren, if we appreciated the word of God as we should, and had the love for perishing souls and the missionary spirit that characterized the apostles and prophets, we should not waste so much precious time indulging self and seeking our own ease. We should take the books and papers that we have read till they seem dry and uninteresting, and lend them to our neighbors, and read to them, and talk to them about the love of Jesus and about his soon coming. By laboring for others we kindle, and fan into a flame, the little spark of love in our own souls.
W. T. WHITE.
NEWS AND NOTES
— Sweden is negotiating for a $10,000,000 loan in this country.
— Continued wet weather threatens the potato crop of Ireland.
— It is thought that 20,000 Chinese were killed at the siege of Tientsin.
— On the Island of St. Helena 4,000 Boer prisoners are being cared for.
— The United States battle-ship “Oregon” has been ordered to Woosung, China.
— A strike on the Taff Vale Railway, in Wales, has caused a coal famine in England.
— A new elevator now being constructed at Duluth, will hold 3,750,000 bushels of grain.
— The Chinese admit a loss of 3,000 men during the siege of the foreign legations at Peking.
— Steamers from Glasgow will be quarantined twelve days at New York, because of bubonic plague.
— The price of coal has advanced thirty per cent in Newfoundland, the demand exceeding the supply.
— New York firemen will be furnished megaphones, to use in talking from tall buildings to the chiefs in the street.
— Leo Rassieur, of St. Louis, was recently elected commander-in-chief of the G. A. R., at the reunion in Chicago.
— The Union Pacific Railroad offers $1,000 reward for each of the four men who robbed a train near Tipton, Wyo.
— Soldiers of the Connecticut militia are suffering from skin troubles, caused by the poison from the dye of the khaki uniforms.
— War between rival companies in Chicago has reduced gas to sixty cents a thousand feet, and the rate may drop to forty cents.
— Negroes have filed damage claims amounting to $185,000, for being assaulted and maltreated in the late race riots of New York City.
— A United States war-ship has arrived at Tangier, Morocco, to enforce a claim arising out of the murder of a naturalized American citizen.
— The viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, telegraphs that good rain continues to fall, but that cholera still rages in many districts of that country.
— Four electric automobiles, carrying twelve passengers each, are now making hourly trips through Central Park, New York, and up Riverside Drive to Claremont.
— The coal famine in Germany is serious. The Prussian cabinet has modified the tariff on foreign coal, in order to facilitate importation from England and the United States.
— Sahehib Bey, head of the Cipher Bureau of the Turkish Foreign Office, has been appointed Turkish minister to the United States, in place of Ali Ferrouh Bey, recalled.
— The United States transport “Lawton” has returned from Cape Nome, with 220 passengers, two thirds of whom are destitute miners returned at the expense of the government.
— Arthur Sewell, Democratic nominee for vice-president in 1896, and famous ship owner, died at his summer home, Small Point, about twelve miles from Bath, Me., September 5, of apoplexy.
— All the telephone companies in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona, which are associated with the parent Bell Company, have been consolidated in one corporation, with a capital of $15,000,000.
— The United States Department of Agriculture is procuring a good supply of the best varieties of foreign wheat used in the manufacture of macaroni, with the expectation that the use of them in this country will stimulate the home manufacturing industry.
— Elevated railways in Chicago and New York are using a device whereby their passengers are carried from the street to the elevated stations, without walking. Twenty-seven persons can be carried up simultaneously, making a total passenger-carrying capacity of 3,000 an hour.
— The submarine boat “Holland,” built by private parties, has been sold to the United States government. Orders have since been given to build five similar boats. Of course, armor-plate manufacturers object to the submarine boats; for, in their own words, “If they succeed, Congress won’t appropriate for so many ships.” Without a doubt, the submarine boat has come to stay.14
— The population of St. Louis is reported to be 575,238.
— Six hundred ore handlers on Cleveland, Ohio, docks are on a strike.
— The Lehigh Valley Railroad will not hereafter allow newsboys on its trains.
— The number of men participating in the recent G. A. R. parade in Chicago was 35,000.
— The forest fires, which were raging in the Yellowstone National Park, have been extinguished.
— It is rumored that Russia will “seize Manchuria, Germany Shantung, and Japan Korea or Amoy.”
— The first maker of vaccine quills, Wm. Lawrence, died at Coscob, Conn., August 25, aged ninety-two years.
— The present population of Boston, Mass., is 560,892, against 448,477 in 1890, an increase of 112,415, or 25.07 per cent.
— India is suffering from “one of the worst outbreaks of cholera ever recorded,” the people dying at the rate of 7,000 a week.
— The Brooklyn bridge has dropped two and one-half feet, the heat having expanded the cables; but it is perfectly safe.
— F. H. Cooper, of the Siegel-Cooper Company, New York, will found an American Department store in London, England.
— Farmers in Cass County, Ind., have blown the toll-house to pieces, and opened the Burlington turnpike road to the public.
— It is reported that “enlistments in the United States army have been phenomenal since the beginning of trouble in China.”
— Because of President McKinley’s inability to attend the G. A. R. reunion, in Chicago, W. J. Bryan declined to be a visitor.
— With the exception of four towns, every town in Cuba was represented by the teachers attending the Harvard Summer School.
— All railroad crossings in New Jersey now have a flagman, and a sign over the roadway tells the hours during which he is on duty.
— The Cuban flag floated over Santiago de Cuba, August 25, for the first time since General Shafter ordered it hauled down in 1898.
— Since Spain has shifted the Philippine load onto Uncle Sam’s shoulders, receiving her $20,000,000 therefor, she is making rapid strides toward prosperity.
— A combine has been formed to control all the zinc business of the country. The New Jersey Zinc Company are the chief promoters of this new trust; capitalization, $60,000,000.
— During the years 1890–94 Chicago’s mortality record was 126,804, or a yearly average of 25,361, during the years 1895–99 there were but 117,531 deaths, or an average of 23,516 each year.
— Russian troops in the far East are on the way to China, to the number of 375,000, and mobilization is in progress all over European Russia. At Odessa fourteen steamers are chartered to take troops.
— In certain parts of South Africa, the bitterness between the Boers and those speaking the English language is so great that the Americans have adopted badges, showing the public that the wearers are Americans.
— A Lorenzo Marques dispatch, dated August 28, reports heavy fighting between the Boers and British, at Machadoorp, in which the former were “defeated with great loss, leaving their guns and ammunition in the hands of the British.”
— The Westinghouse Electric Company has secured the contract to equip, with American motors, an electric railway that is to skirt Lake Geneva, in Switzerland, and run through the Alps. The line is being built by an American syndicate.
— A London dispatch says that Great Britain is “alarmed by the prospect of an epidemic of bubonic plague.” Two persons have died of the dread disease at Glasgow, Scotland, and ten families have been quarantined by the medical authorities.
— News from Washington, D. C., says that the officials of the State Department “are now convinced that the territorial integrity of China is seriously menaced by the secret plans of some of the Powers whose armies are operating in the yellow empire.”
— Armour and Company have received an order from the Russian government for 6,000,000 pounds of “beef on the hoof,” the largest order in the history of Chicago’s meat trade. The cattle will be shipped to China from San Francisco, via Hawaii and Japan.
— The new United States battle-ship “Alabama” made an average speed of seventeen knots an hour, during four hours’ continuous steaming, running each hour a full knot above the contract requirement. She was built by the Cramps, of Philadelphia, and made her test trip August 28.
— President McKinley has invited former Presidents Harrison and Cleveland to accept appointments on the international board of arbitration resulting from the Hague Peace Conference. At that conference each of the signatory Powers was authorized to appoint four members of the international board.
— In eleven days over 2,000 shells fell among the delegations in Peking.
— Sousa’s band has closed its European tour, and returns to the United States in a few days.
— An electric car at Northville, Mich., was recently stopped by thousands of cricketers being on the rails.
— The Amsterdam papers are urging the Boers to “wage a relentless war against Britain, and to spare no Britisher.”
— For the first time since the Dreyfus trial, the French government will send officers to the grand German manœuvres, this fall.
— The largest gun ever built in this country, and having a reach of fifteen miles, has just been tested before army officers, in South Bethlehem, Pa.
— In point of population, Detroit, Mich., is now the thirteenth city in the United States. The population is 285,704, against 205,876 in 1890, an increase of 38.77 per cent.
— George Greville, British minister at Bangkok since 1896, has been appointed minister to Mexico, succeeding Sir Henry Dering, who has been appointed British minister at Rio Janeiro.
— Owing to the severe windstorms on the inland lakes, a great tidal wave recently swept the shore of Lake Michigan, causing the water to recede 100 feet from some parts of the Illinois shore, and then to rush back again. The Chicago River level fell and rose about four feet.
— The American crusade for the export of United States coal to foreign countries, has opened with an order from England for 75,000 tons, for shipment via Baltimore. Orders for 200,000 tons of coal have recently been received from Italy, by the Chesapeake and Ohio Coal Company.
— Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller, the well-known author of “Bird Ways,” “Among the Tree-Tops,” and books of like character, wears a green gown and a leafy hat when she goes to the woods to study the habits of the feathered songsters, sitting motionless for hours, in order to observe them closely.
— A dispatch from Washington, Ind., dated August 27, states that “at the Odd Fellows picnic at Glendale, near here, to-day, one hundred persons were poisoned by eating ice cream that had been made in tin cans.” Three came very near dying, and “all were in a critical condition for several hours.”
— Bishop Watters, president of the national Afro-American council, recently stated before that body, at Indianapolis, Ind., that “prejudice against the race [colored] is on the increase, but advised negroes to be submissive, and work out their salvation through industry, education, and character.”
— At the agricultural exhibition just opened at Toronto, Ontario, among other historic exhibits, is a sample of pears grown on pear-trees planted nearly 200 years ago, at Walkerville, Ontario, near Detroit, Mich. It is said that the trees from which the fruit was gathered are sixty feet in height, and have a girth of eight feet.
— Vice-Admiral Seymour (British), in a letter printed in the London Express, concerning the march to Peking, says: “The Germans we admired most; but for dash and go, none surpassed, or perhaps equaled, the Americans. The French had no particular rapprochement with any other nationality. The Germans and the Russians were inclined to hold together; but the Americans were with us always.”
— The engagement of Queen Wilhelmina, of Holland, to Prince Frederick Adolf, of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, is announced. Prince Adolf is only eighteen years old, two years the junior of the queen. He succeeded his father as reigning duke, April 10, 1897. It is said that he is a good-looking boy, accomplished, manly, and modest. Mecklenburg-Schwerin is a principality on the northeast coast of Germany. It has an area of 5,135 square miles, and a population of 596,857.
— There are more than 300,000 persons engaged in the United States in the culture of bees, and the annual value of apiarian products is in excess of $20,000,000. There are 110 apiarian societies in the country, and eight journals devoted to the industry. It is further said that “the present existing flora of the United States could undoubtedly support, with the same average profit, ten times the number of colonies of bees it now supports. That means an industry of $200,000,000 a year, supporting 3,000,000 healthy, happy workers.” England is the chief buyer of American honey.
— Catholic papers in Italy are now busy publishing statements to the effect that some months before his death the late King Humbert made overtures to the Vatican for reconciliation. According to the Rome correspondent of the London Daily Express, Humbert “wrote to Cardinal Giuseppe Prisco, archbishop of Naples, requesting that a trustworthy priest be sent to hear his confession. A priest was sent, but absolution was refused unless Humbert would agree to abdicate and give up Rome. The king asked time to consider, as he was anxious to receive the sacrament,” and “it was this communication to the priest that induced the Holy See to grant Christian burial. King Humbert’s letter to Cardinal Prisco will be published. A circular note from the Vatican to the Catholic powers declares that so long as Italy contests the rights of the Holy See, the pope will recognize Victor Emmanuel as king of Sardinia only.”
SOUTH CAROLINA.
By B. F. Gowdy
Since returning from the District Conference held at Graysville, Tenn., in January, I have spent the time at and near my home in Shaw's Fork, S. C. My wife and I have held one or more meetings each week, and have visited among, and studied the Bible with, our neighbors as much as our circumstances would allow. We have also visited the sick, and given a number of successful treatments, as well as carried on considerable correspondence pertaining to the work.
Since April, 1899, with the assistance of Brother Parker Atwood, who secured from his parents the gift of one hundred acres of land for educational purposes, we have been preparing for the opening of school work at this place, on the industrial plan. In December, our cousin, Miss Julia Luccock, from the Sanitarium, who has been in the South for the last three years, came to our assistance, and has been much help to us. A few weeks ago she was united in marriage to Brother Atwood, and they are now permanently connected with us in this work.
As the use of a rude building was kindly given us, we were enabled to open school in February. The attendance was small, but after the first week it began to increase. By the third week the school and class work had grown to such an extent that my wife was unable to attend to it all; so I took the higher grades myself, spending a few hours each day hearing their recitations. The school was not large at any time; but the number of classes required to give each student the work he needed was such that one teacher could not do it justice. We have worked under unfavorable circumstances; for we have only a small two-room tenant-cabin in which to teach, without blackboards, maps, or even desks, only long, rough benches and a few chairs to sit upon, with rude, homemade tables for desks. These, with a four-foot-square rubber-cloth blackboard and a set of Dr. Kellogg's physiology charts, constitute our whole schoolroom equipment. Yet our school proved a success, and without exception our patrons were well satisfied.
The prospects for a much larger school in the fall are excellent. Several who live at a distance are talking of sending their children to board with our neighbors, and attend our school. One man who lives about thirteen miles from here recently told me that as soon as he gathers his crop, he is going to move his whole family into our neighborhood, that his children may have the benefit of the school. Last term one of our pupils came about fifteen miles, and another twelve. We are in need of a boarding hall, where we can accommodate such as these, but we must build a schoolhouse first. We hope to do this in time to open the school about October 1, and I trust the Lord will open the hearts of some of our brethren who have his treasures in trust, to assist us in this much-needed work. We need this schoolhouse, we need equipments for the schoolroom, and our land needs to be improved, so that we can have a steady income from it in the future. We also need reference books and song books to use in the school and in our meetings. If any Sabbath-school has old copies of “Joyful Greetings” or “Gospel Song Sheaf,” in good condition, which it wishes to give for missionary work, we should appreciate the gift very much. The expense connected with the starting of this work has been considerable, and I find my income as a General Conference worker much too small to provide for the work.
The interest in the religious work is correspondent with that in the school work. To reach the highest degree of success in this field, I am convinced that the educational work must be closely connected with ministerial effort. Educational work and Christian Help work, carefully conducted, beget confidence in the minds of the people, and they are then ready to listen to instruction from the same persons in religious matters. Our school work at this place has opened a field for meetings about twelve miles from here, where I now preach one Sunday each month. The Lord is wonderfully blessing, and is opening the way before us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as the power of God unto salvation. We are of good courage, notwithstanding the difficulties we have had to meet, and are expecting great things of the Lord, according to his promise.
My post-office address is Oakwood, S. C.; express office, Southern Express Company, Montmorenci, S. C.; freight office, Montmorenci, S. C. This office does not receive freight if not prepaid.
