p. 24 | Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 21. (5/26/1910)

Address Wanted

ANY one knowing the whereabouts of Mrs. Lillian Parker will confer a favor by sending such information to Mrs. Katherine Wirth, church clerk of Bronx English church, 1780 Bathgate Ave., Bronx, New York City.

Publications Wanted

THE following-named persons desire late, clean copies of our publications, post-paid:— Mrs. Anna Hall, 227 West Market St., care S. B. Pardue, Johnston City, Tenn.

James Montgomery, care of Sanitarium, Newark, Ohio, desires any of our denominational literature for use in missionary work.

C. N. Moulton, Villa Duarte, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Signs of the Times, Watchman, Liberty, Protestant Magazine, and Instructor, to distribute on ships touching at ports on this island, and to use in other ways among the people here. Please note that, in mailing literature here, double rates, or one cent for every two ounces or fraction thereof, should be paid in advance; otherwise we must pay excessive rates when it is received.

“The Story of Missions”

By Editor

THIS is the name given to the special number of the Review which will bear the date of June 16. Let no one confound this with the Harvest Ingathering number to be issued next autumn. The two are entirely separate and distinct in every way. The Story of Missions number is designed more particularly for the information of our own people, giving them interesting data regarding our work at the present time in mission fields. It will be issued as a sixty-four-page magazine. It will be a splendid number to circulate among those interested in our work. Additional copies may be obtained for ten cents a copy.

AFTER an absence of eight and one-half months spent in assisting our work in Spain, and the several mission fields of South America, Elder N. Z. Town, assistant secretary of the General Conference Publishing Department, returned to Washington last week. He reports the work onward and the workers of good courage in the great Spanish-speaking fields.

Instruction Concerning the Educational Convention

By Frederick Griggs

1. THE convention will assemble for its first meeting at 10:30 A. M. on Friday, June 10, in the assembly hall of Emmanuel Missionary College, Berrien Springs, Mich.

2. To reach the college, persons coming from east or west over the Grand Trunk Railway should change at South Bend, over the Michigan Central Railway at Niles, for the interurban railway and ticket to the college, Berrien Springs.

3. It will be necessary for delegates to bring sheets, pillow-slips, and towels.

4. Accommodations can be promised only to delegates, but every effort will be made to provide room for all. Without doubt any of the friends who desire to attend the convention can be accommodated with reasonable comfort.

5. All who expect to come to the convention should be very careful to notify Prof. O. J. Graf, College, Berrien Springs, Mich., of their intention. This notification should be sent so as to be received by him before June 5. This is a very important item.

6. Pray for Heaven’s richest blessing to rest upon us from the first to the last of the meeting. Be present at the opening meeting, Friday, June 10, at 10:30 A. M. Plan not to come in late on Friday. FREDERICK GRIGGS.

First Word From Chang-Sha, China

IN a letter written by H. H. Winslow, April 21, and sent out from Shanghai by trans-Siberian mail, the Mission Board received the first word regarding the safety of our missionaries in Chang-sha, the seat of the recent disturbance in China. He says:—

The trouble began with an uprising of the poorer classes there over the price of rice. This would have been comparatively easy to quell, had not between five and six thousand modern-drilled soldiers gone over to the rioters, and begun a systematic pillage and destruction of all foreign property. Two letters just received from Elder J. J. Westrup and Brother Cush Sparks at Hankow, give us the first particulars regarding the escape of our Chang-sha workers. Elder Westrup's letter follows:—

“They have had a great uprising in Chang-sha because of the scarcity of rice. The mob killed the governor and his son, and burned all his buildings. They burned and destroyed all the missions. We are not definitely sure yet whether they have burned our compound and hospital, as we can not get any information from that part of the city. But it is very probable that they have destroyed them. They burned all the warehouses, wharves, foreign buildings, and the consulate (Japanese), and destroyed the property of all the Japanese. They poured kerosene on the river, setting it on fire, in an effort to burn the boat on which all the foreigners had taken refuge. Brother and Sister P. J. Laird, who had to go entirely through the city in order to get out, had indeed a very narrow escape. The angels of the Lord surely were by their side. Sister Laird arrived here with forty other missionaries last Friday evening at ten o'clock; but Brother Laird is still at Chang-sha on a boat, seeing if he can not in some way help our Chinese brethren, who are in great danger, as the mob threatens to kill all the Chinese Christians. Pray for them! Brother and Sister Laird barely got away in their every-day clothing, with no money.”

Brother Cush Sparks writes:—

“The Chang-sha situation is very bad. We had word from Brother Laird today, April 18. All the native brethren seem to be safe. He will probably come down here before long, as nearly all their things were destroyed. Dr. Laird is here. She is able to be up and around, but has to lie down part of the day. . . .

“Fortunately, Brother E. W. Wolfe, with his wife and child, who had only recently joined Brother and Sister Laird in their work at Chang-sha, left the city the day before the rioting began, on account of Sister Wolfe's illness, and arrived at Hankow the day before the first refugees reached there. Thus they escaped the ordeal which so many others passed through.

“Later despatches indicate that the movement has collapsed, and the agents of the government are capturing and decapitating the leaders in the uprising as fast as they can be brought in. The papers say that this has been the worst antiforeign trouble since the Boxer uprising.”

Article for Parents

THE article from the pen of Sister E. G. White in the Home and Health department of this number will be found of special interest to parents.

North American Foreign Department Work

ELDER O. A. OLSEN, secretary of the North American Foreign Department, spent last Sabbath in Washington. He will devote the summer to attending various general gatherings in the interest of his department.

Foreign Mission Seminary Closing Exercises

THE Foreign Mission Seminary closed the school year with interesting exercises last Saturday evening. Several earnest young people, students of the last year, will go to other lands to engage in missionary labor.

Persecution of a Russian Preacher

A LETTER written May 3 by Elder J. T. Boettcher from Russia, tells of the arrest, trial, and imprisonment of one of our licensed preachers, charged—but it is alleged falsely so—with having spoken against the Virgin Mary, dishonoring the saints, etc. He is sentenced to two-years’ imprisonment. A letter from one of the believers where this brother lives, written to Brother Boettcher, says:—

I write to tell you that we have received news of the proceedings by the Senate [at St. Petersburg] against Brother P. His sentence of two years has been confirmed. I also wish to inform you that visiting him is strictly forbidden, except in the case of relatives, who may visit him fifteen minutes once a week. He is treated like a vile criminal, and is allowed no cooked food. All our endeavors to procure better treatment for him are in vain. At present he is not in the prison here, so we are told, and neither his wife nor any of us know where he is. They tell us he will be brought back here in about three months.

Thus the faith of our brethren in Russia is once more severely tried. They request earnest prayer at this critical time, that God will interpose in behalf of his cause and people, as other workers are experiencing trouble also.