LEAVING La Plata, Argentina, Monday noon by train, our party reached Buenos Aires in good time to take the night boat for Montevideo, Uruguay, arriving there at about eight o’clock the next morning. We spent the day at the mission headquarters, with Brother and Sister F. L. Perry and Brother J. T. Thompson. We have a very nice mission property there, well located, which provides a neat little hall for public worship, an office-room for the mission office and tract society, and in the rear four pleasant living-rooms with a little court. Brother and Sister Perry have occupied these rooms in the past, but now, as they have been called to Chile, Brother Thompson, who has the secretary-treasurer work of the mission, will live there and look after the work in the city.
At 7 P. M. we took the train for a twenty-four-hour ride, in a second-class coach with its wooden seats, for the border of Rio Grande do Sul, where we spent the next night at a hotel in a small Brazilian town. At 6:45 A. M. our train started for Santa Maria, where we arrived before dark. Here we found a good German hotel, the proprietor of which could speak good English. We were well cared for for the night, and took the train the next morning for Montenegro, the place of the camp meeting, arriving at about 5 P. M., Friday, four days after leaving La Plata.
Rio Grande do Sul is the most southern state in Brazil, lying just north of Uruguay and east of Argentina. While there are several states in Brazil which are larger than this, yet this is by no means small, being a little more than twice the size of Pennsylvania, and having a population of a little more than two million. Here, as in all Brazil, Portuguese is the official state language, although German is spoken by many, there being about six hundred thousand Germans here.
Montenegro is a beautiful little city of about six thousand, lying just between the foot of the mountain whose name it bears, and a beautiful river. The camp was pitched on one of the main streets, very near the business section, easy of access to all. About two hundred of our people were in attendance, many coming long distances over difficult roads. Traveling facilities are not the same here as in the United States. Some were present who rode five days on horseback. The third day of the meeting some arrived who had been fifteen days on the way, having had to wait several days for a boat, and then when on the way the boat stuck fast in the sand, causing another delay. One woman came four days on horseback and two days by train.
In the day meetings it was necessary to translate each talk into either German or Portuguese, and when we spoke in English it was necessary to have two translators. The Portuguese-speaking brethren were on one side of the tent and the Germans on the other side. The two brethren who translated stood one on each end of the platform, and translated each sentence into the language of the people, both speaking at the same time. Notwithstanding the seeming confusion, the Lord blessed the instruction given, and the people were able to grasp the lessons. In the night meetings, the Germans occupied one tent, and those who spoke Portuguese the other. The workers who could speak these languages had charge of most of these meetings. There was a good attendance from the city, and a good interest was developed, which will be carried forward by a company of workers, and it is hoped that many will decide for the truth.
This conference was organized in 1906, and now has seventeen churches and six companies, with a total membership of 780, 245 having been added during the past two years. This is the largest and strongest conference in the Brazilian Union, and is self-supporting, its tithes and offerings being sufficient to care for present needs, but not enough to enable it to do any aggressive work.
Besides Elder H. Meyer, who is the president, there are in the field one ordained minister, five licentiates, and one brother who is a Bible worker, to carry this message to the thousands who are yet in darkness. It was a source of much encouragement and pleasure to find so many promising young men in the work. With experience and proper training, they will greatly strengthen the work in this field.
A few special meetings were held for the splendid class of young people who were present at the meeting. The colporteur work, which is being carried forward by the field agent and a company of ten colporteurs, is making good progress. The Lord is blessing this work. Our colporteurs find it necessary in many parts of these fields to travel long distances on muleback, over most difficult roads and into remote sections, selling the books as they go, instead of taking orders for later delivery. The colporteur in many of these fields is truly a pioneer.
Elders F. W. Spies, John Lipke, and R. Wilfart, who were in attendance at the organization of the division conference at La Plata, Argentina, and were returning to their fields of labor in Brazil, together with Prof. W. W. Prescott, Elder N. Z. Town, and the writer, were the workers present from outside the conference. Besides speaking several times themselves, Brethren Spies and Lipke rendered valuable assistance as translators.
As Brother A. Preuss, the former secretary and treasurer, was unable to carry the office work longer on account of poor health, Brother A. Langenstrasse, one of the young men of the field, was elected to that office.
Resolutions were adopted in harmony with the policies of the new division conference and the union conference, looking toward the strengthening of the colporteur work, the home missionary work, and the young people’s work. Resolutions were passed recognizing the new Brazilian Union school as the training school for this conference, and also providing that definite plans be laid for the starting of several good strong church schools. One of the greatest problems in these fields is the education and training of the children and youth.
There is a spirit of courage and confidence which bespeaks progress in the future. The Lord is blessing the work, and we expect to see a splendid growth during the coming year.
Mission Notes
SOME time ago while Brother R. D. Brisbin, of India, was out distributing vernacular literature with some other missionaries in a near-by village, he met an Indian to whom Brother L. J. Burgess, now in Bengal, had given an Urdu booklet explaining the prophecy of Daniel. This man had read the book, and then passed it on to his brother, who is now in the northern part of China. The one who first received it was anxious for more literature, and was glad to talk over what he had learned from reading the booklet. “It may not appear a very singular incident,” Brother Brisbin says, “but it impressed me with the way the message is penetrating the most out-of-the-way places of the earth.”
ONE of the workers in India writes: “A sermon in England, a few tracts, and more tracts in response to a letter written after he had reached India, led a private of the Territorial forces to the truth. He has purchased about $25 worth of our large books, subscribed for the REVIEW AND HERALD, Signs of the Times (weekly), and three more of our papers; and at the time this letter is being written, he is monthly distributing fifty copies of the Signs of the Times Special (corresponding to the REVIEW AND HERALD Extras) in his regiment, besides other campaign literature. He is also corresponding with his family in England, and his brother has accepted the faith of the soon coming Saviour.”
The Evangelists’ Institutes in Central China
By A. C. Selmon, M. D.
A. C. SELMON, M. D.
THIS spring we have held our first ministerial institutes in China, but having so few ordained men, we call these gatherings evangelists’ institutes, rather than ministerial institutes.
In January Brother Fred Lee and I held an institute in Yen-cheng, Honan. Every evangelist from the two provinces of Honan and Hupeh was present. One of our Kiang-si evangelists was in attendance, and also an evangelist from Shen-si. Following this institute, Brother S. G. White and I held one in Changsha for the Hunan evangelists.
At these institutes we took up definite studies on pastoral training and the management of mission stations, and also prepared full sermon outlines for use in series of meetings for nonbelievers. It was a great encouragement to us to see the keen interest that was taken by the evangelists in these institutes. Only a short time has elapsed since the close of the institutes, yet to our personal knowledge many of the evangelists are showing a marked improvement in their methods of work. The spiritual help received at the institutes has also brought more power into the lives of many of them.
EVANGELISTS ATTENDING HUNAN INSTITUTE
In the midst of our Changsha institute there was a revolutionary outbreak in the city. Bombs were thrown into the general’s yamen (court), into the police headquarters, and at the electric light works. The center of the trouble was only a short distance from our chapel. We heard the discharge of bombs, and the rifle firing that followed. The whole city was at once placed under very strict military rule. The immediate section of the general’s yamen included our chapel, and the surveillance was so rigid that no one from the outside was allowed to enter the district. Brother White and I made an effort to get some of our people back to the chapel who happened to be away from it at the time of the trouble, but we were not successful. Later the guard was relaxed somewhat, but wild rumors of more trouble kept the people in a state of excitement. Under the circumstances, it was very difficult to get the evangelists to do good work in the institute. It was found later that among the adherents of one or two of the missions in Hunan were some who were taking an active part in the revolutionary propaganda. On account of this, the authorities suspicioned all the missions more or less. We felt that it was hazardous to leave all our companies throughout the province without their leaders, and so we were compelled to dismiss the institute after only two weeks’ work.
Troublous times are not limited to poor old Europe, but they have fallen on every country in the world. While we have peace in most parts of China today, yet there are few who are rash enough to predict that it will last a long time. Today is the day of opportunity in China. Let us improve it before forces become active that would hedge up the way.
When the Ingathering Missions Number Gets Back into Mission Fields
BROTHER ROY MERSHON, laboring in North Borneo, writes:—
“I wish that the brethren at home could see the eager look and interest that are aroused when we show the pictures [in the Harvest Ingathering Signs] to the native people, especially when some one they know happens to be in the group. It was almost worth coming all the way over here just to see the eager joy on the faces of our members last night at the prayer meeting when I showed them this year’s Ingathering Signs, with the picture of our old “deacon,” as we call him. He is the father and grandfather of several of our members here in Sandakan. They were elated to think that the brethren in the United States cared so much for them as to put their pictures in the paper.”
Monsters in Our Back Yards
By Mrs. I. H. E.
THIS was the title of a lecture on that relentless and almost resistless enemy of the homes of the world,—the Musca domestica. No habitable part of the earth is free from the menace of this monster (for under the microscope or on the screen the house fly clearly shows his true character); and in spite of the often-repeated assertion that he prefers filth and eschews cleanliness, the tormented housewife would be quick to affirm the contrary. To her it seems that he always chooses the freshly washed window, the shining dish, the snowy garment, the choicest food, for his activities.
Nevertheless it is in filth that the fly breeds, and it is from filth, and with filth clinging to his legs and wings, that he comes into our homes, often with deadly results, and always as a menace to the health and safety of the whole family.
The baby, the helpless member of the household, is the special victim of the fly as he crawls over the face and lips of the sleeping child, lights on the nipple of the nursing-bottle, falls into the milk, or nibbles daintily at the bread or cereal. A fly infected with dysentery or typhoid fever may cause either of these diseases, by simply coming in contact with the lips of susceptible persons. “Summer diarrhea,” as well as cholera and plague where these diseases are found, are known to be transmitted through food that has been infected by flies, either in its raw state or after being cooked.
A fruit stand in a Chinese city, displaying pink slices of luscious watermelon, is as thickly covered with flies as any similar display in New York’s lower East Side. But where typhoid takes its toll in the American city, cholera follows more swiftly and with more deadly results in the Oriental town. The natives blame the fruit for the scourge—very much as, a few years ago, we wrote poems about the marvels of the fly, and blamed the summer fruits for many of the summer diseases.
An Innumerable Multitude
We are reminded of the comparisons used to show the number of the enemies that came against ancient Israel, when we study the possible progeny of one female fly in a single year. An official of the health department of the city of Washington, D. C., Dr. A. L. Murray, recently prepared a chart showing that from one female fly in a single season more than 8,200,000,000 flies may come. A study of his chart shows that the estimate is very conservative, and is convincing on the point that the time to begin to fight the fly is not after it has entered the house, but in its breeding places. The stable, the open vault, and the garbage can must be guarded with vigilance, and all open drains, cesspools, etc., eliminated.
Effective Weapons of Resistance
Since stable manure is found to be a favorite breeding place of the house fly, the Department of Agriculture has given considerable study to the problem of destroying the fly in the larval stage, and at the same time not lessening the fertilizing value of the manure. A recent bulletin from the department recommends the following remedy:—
“Powdered hellebore mixed with water and sprinkled over the manure will destroy the larvae which are hatched from the eggs. Since powdered hellebore is readily obtainable, this puts in the hands of every one a remedy for one of the pests that has been found dangerous as well as troublesome. Powdered hellebore, however, will not kill adult flies, which must be swatted or trapped. One half pound of powdered hellebore mixed with ten gallons of water is sufficient to kill the larvae in eight bushels, or ten cubic feet, of manure. The mixture should be sprinkled carefully over the pile, special attention being paid to the outer edges. In most places hellebore is obtainable in one-hundred-pound lots at a cost of eleven cents a pound. This makes the cost of the treatment a little less than seven tenths of a cent per bushel of manure.”
The open vault or dry closet should be treated continuously during the summer with lime, crude creolin, or crude carbolic acid, and should be carefully cleaned at frequent intervals, and the contents buried.
The eggs of the fly will hatch in about twenty-four hours; and the garbage can, kept often in the kitchen itself or just outside the door, is a favorite breeding place. Constant vigilance is the price of safety here. The can must be emptied and cleaned every day. Where the garbage is not fed to stock by the collector (as it sometimes is), kerosene poured over the contents will kill the larvae, or the hellebore or carbolic acid solution may be used; but where this is impossible, the can should be frequently scalded, and often inverted over a low open flame.
When, in spite of all precautions, the enemy gets past the screens and into the house, do not make a household pet of him. Remember the danger of one fly, and consider him “a menace to public health, which cannot be tolerated in the face of a demonstrated remedy.” Sticky fly paper and flytraps may be used; the fly swatter is an effective weapon against the isolated offender; and fly poison, made by dissolving one dram of bichromate of potash in two ounces of water, and adding a little sugar to the solution, may also be used. Where a room “is full of flies,” it is well to close the doors and windows, and burn pyrethrum powder (Persian insect powder). This will deaden the flies for a time, and they will fall to the floor, where they may be swept up and burned. MRS. I. H. E.
Our Homes
By Lida May Westbrook
LIDA MAY WESTBROOK
Poets have written about the home. They have led the mind to the quaint old country place surrounded by creeping vines and blossoming shrubs, and have gently unfolded to our view the sweet-faced mother and the kind-hearted father bent with age. The great men of the world have spoken tenderly of their boyhood days at home, and of mother, whose never-ceasing care and love kept them in the path of integrity. Authors of note have many times written that which has touched an answering chord in the hearts of their readers, and many have been made purer as the memories and teachings of home have come back to their minds.
Just now, when Satan is holding out every inducement to our loved ones, we need pure, attractive, and pleasant homes. “More powerful than any other earthly influence upon human hearts and lives is that of a true home.” What is a true home? It is not a home where the father sits during the evening with a deep frown on his brow, and where, after reading the evening paper, he puts14on his coat and hat and goes out to see his friends, and then, as he nears home, puts on a frown once more. Such a man cannot be the true head of a household; for he cannot become acquainted with his children or win their love. Perhaps before his return, mother quietly puts the children in their little beds, for “father is tired and mustn’t be bothered.”
Neither can a home be a true home where the mother scolds and frets from morning till night; where she appears at mealtimes with uncombed hair and soiled dress. Perhaps she has scolded until she is on the verge of tears. Her house is untidy; everything seems to go wrong from morning till night. What excuse has this mother?—She is “so nervous.”
And what of the children in such homes as these? They are receiving day by day, by both word and example, lessons that will prove their eternal undoing. Little ones whom God has given to fathers and mothers to care for, and for whom they will be required to render a faithful and just account, are having their young feet set in paths that lead to ruin, through the influence of homes in which God is not given first place, and his name and Word are not honored by the fathers and mothers in those homes.
God intends the home to be the dearest spot on earth, and each member of the family should do his part to make it so.
The father, as the head of the household, should strive to make his home a place where cheerfulness, courtesy, and love abide. He should enter it with smiles and pleasant words. He should take time to become acquainted with his children. Even if his business cares are very pressing, he can afford to spend some time with his family, and he will find that it is not time wasted. Human souls are at stake. How much more important is one human soul than all the business cares of life! He should establish the family altar. In the morning before taking up the cares of the day, he should gather his family around him, and bowing before God, commit his loved ones to the care of the Father in heaven.
On the mother seems to rest the greatest care of the family. Each little trial is brought to her. A little hand or head must be kissed and cared for to cure the bump or ache. The duties of the household press upon her. Every little detail must come under her notice. With patience she must care for the children. With a gentle, God-fearing spirit she should lead her loved ones to the side of Jesus. Her house should be kept clean and tidy, that it may be an attractive place for the husband and children. Solomon has spoken of the faithful wife: “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”
A great responsibility rests upon parents. In their home life they are sowing seed which will bear fruit for Christ or for Satan. As fathers and mothers let us draw near to the Saviour, that he may lead us in this great work of making our homes pure, elevated, and love-inspiring, until we reach the blessed home of the faithful, which is just ahead.
Conducted by Mrs. I. H. Evans, Takoma Park, Washington D. C
By Mrs. I. H. Evans; Miss Lora E. Clement
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.
Working with Love
A SCULPTOR once in olden time
Wrought with much love and care,
Lest any shadow of himself
Should mar his work so fair;
Upon his forehead placed a flame,
And its soft beams alone
Kept ever clear and pure the light
Upon his work of stone.
Devotion, skill, and patient thought
His memory enthrone.
Our foreheads bear the sign of Him
Who is the world's great light;
And he who keeps alive God's flame
Of love, will work aright.
Oh, may no shadows from ourselves
E'er prove our efforts naught;
But may the light of his great love
Show singleness of thought,
And work which “profiteth,” because
With love ’tis wrought.
— Selected.
Home Longings
By Inita S. Chilson
INITA S. CHILSON
THIS morning a song bird was trilling
A soul-encaptured lay;
His matin rang through the woodland,
And cheered me on my way.
I listened; the exquisite music
Soared o'er the sunlit lea;
And oh, the bird, my Saviour, was singing,
Was singing of thee, of thee!
I heard a low breath in the pine trees,
And the wind was sighing through,
The oaks lent their voices majestic,
The elms and poplars, too.
Soon, throughout the forest, a plaintive
Sound like a sobbing sea,
And all the wood, my Saviour, was sighing,
Was sighing for thee, for thee!
We think of thee in the daytime
And dream of thee by night,
And waking would thou wert here, Lord,
While tears are blinding the sight.
O hasten thy glorious appearing!
Speed thy angels o'er land and sea,
For Israel, all Israel, my Saviour, is watching,
And waiting, and longing for thee!
Canon, Ga.
W. J. STONE
By W. J. Stone
Springtime
W. J. STONE
“FOR, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.”
Autumn has its glories, its riot of color in wood and field; but spring is to many the most joyful and mysterious time of year. It brings again to our attention the mystery of life. One week all is brown and dead; then, after a very warm shower and a few days of sunshine, a marvelous transformation takes place. The trees are clothed in green, and the perfume of countless flowers fills the air.
Spring is especially the time of the singing of birds. What joy fills the heart as we listen to their melody—redbird and robin, mocking bird and meadow lark, bobolink and bobwhite! Even the caw of the crow and the thrum of the woodpecker are welcome.
The sweetest of the joys of spring are missed by the dweller in the crowded city. The Lord knew best what would contribute to man's happiness; and for this reason he did not build a city, and place man in it, but he planted a garden in Eden, and gave it to be man's home. Here, surrounded by the beauties of nature, he was to live in peace and happiness.
The more nearly we can approach God's ideal for us, the happier we shall be. Truly, “Out of the city, into the country,” should be a welcome message to us all.
For Girls Who Must Travel Alone
Fifty thousand girls—mothers, think of this!—“disappear” every year in the United States. In view of this fact, a number of prominent journals have printed instructions and advice for girls who must travel alone. The following rules are taken from a recent number of the Woman’s Home Companion:—
What to Do
“1. Before starting to a strange city, write the Travelers’ Aid Society to meet you.
“2. If alone, or your friends fail to meet you, apply to the Travelers’ Aid representative or a uniformed official at the railroad station or steamship dock as soon as you arrive.
“3. If you need help of any kind, find the authorized Travelers’ Aid agent—a uniformed official at the railroad station or steamship dock will direct you to find her.
“4. Aim to arrive at your destination in the daytime.
What Not to Do
“1. Do not start to a strange city or town, even for a night, without previous information about a safe place to stay.
“2. Do not leave home without some extra money for an emergency.
“3. Do not ask or accept information, advice, guidance, or direction except from the Travelers’ Aid representatives or uniformed officials.
“4. Do not trust attentions on train, ship, or elsewhere from men or women.
“5. Do not accept offers to work, either in person or through advertisements, without thorough investigation.
“6. Do not go to strange parts of a city or town at night alone, or escorted by public porter, or in a cab.”
A Remedy for Croup
By Mrs. Georgia M. Daniells
MRS. GEORGIA M. DANIELLS
I HAVE found the following remedy very efficacious in the treatment of croup: Place a little baking soda on the end of a knife, put it well back in the child’s mouth, and have him swallow it dry. Take no water. The soda will loosen the phlegm, and give immediate relief.
Santa Margarita, Cal.
Marriage Is Honorable
“MARRIAGE is honorable to all. It is the foundation of the home. Out of it grow the fond relationships of father and son, mother and daughter, brother and sister, husband and wife. What loving words are these! Blot them from our language, and with them that for which they stand, and who would care longer to hear the burden of living?”
Keep Home Near Heaven
By James Hamilton
KEEP the home near heaven. Let it face toward the Father's house. Not only let the day begin and end with God, with mercies acknowledged and forgiveness sought, but let it be seen and felt that God is your chiefest joy, his will in all you do the absolute and sufficient reason.—James Hamilton.
Portland, Maine
By K. C. Russell
Realizing something of the deep and widespread interest in the results of the special lectures on the war problem which were delivered some weeks ago in this city by Elder A. G. Daniells, I am taking this opportunity to present to the readers of the REVIEW the present status of the effort.
A review of the Portland special meetings would be incomplete without making mention of the important part Elder A. E. Sanderson played as the chief promoter and leading spirit; therefore the success of the meetings should, to a great extent, be attributed to his strong faith and great enthusiasm.
Owing to the large expense that was required to carry on the meetings in the city hall, it was thought best to transfer them to another place, and thus reduce the expenses both in rent and in advertising. As the result of this move, our attendance was greatly lessened, but we believe that the really interested ones have followed us to the smaller hall, and now to our church. We are conducting only two services each week for the general public, Sunday and Wednesday evenings. Of course with only two services a week it requires a longer time to get the message before the people than it would if we held services every night. At this writing we have delivered only three sermons on the Sabbath question, and can report, as the result of the meetings and other work which has been done by my associates and our brethren and sisters of the Portland church, that between fifteen and twenty persons have taken their stand for the truth.
A man from Saco, near Portland, took his stand for the Sabbath truth when he first heard it. He at once appealed for a minister to be sent to his town to present the truth, promising liberal financial help. In harmony with his request, we have begun a series of meetings in the place. Elder S. W. Walker is in charge of these meetings. Already a good interest has been created.
Perhaps one of the most encouraging features in this effort in Portland is the favor that we have had with the newspapers of the city. We are able to secure excellent write-ups of our sermons in all three of the daily papers, twice each week. Sometimes these write-ups are on the most testing truths of the message, and are more than a column in length, so that even when our attendance is not large, we can realize that we are speaking to many thousands of people through the columns of the press.
The second Maine State Exposition is to be held in the new Exposition Building in this city, June 5-17. It is expected that at least 100,000 people will be in attendance. We have secured a booth in the Exposition Building, in a very central location, where we shall have all our literature on exhibition and for sale, and shall demonstrate our health principles.
For the past two weeks Brother G. E. Cornforth has been conducting a cooking school in this city. Some of the leading citizens are becoming deeply interested in this branch of our work.
We intend to continue a vigorous campaign here in Portland, with a corps of Bible workers, in connection with our two public services each week. In this way we expect fully to develop the work here.
