Brother John Osborne and I left Quito on Oct. 16, 1911, and were on the coast nine weeks, most of the time taking subscriptions for our Spanish health journal. We took 295 subscriptions, besides selling nearly six hundred single copies. We also placed some orders for other papers and for books and Bibles.
At Machala I baptized a brother with whom I held two or three Bible studies one year ago. He came into the truth principally through reading, and has been keeping the Sabbath nearly a year. Another brother came for baptism, but did not arrive till we had left the place. He has paid tithe for two years. We have other interested ones in that section, and I must spend some time with them during the next dry season. The climate is very malarious, and it was there we both took the malaria last year. Thanks to the Lord, I have not had any fever since our special seasons of prayer the sixteenth and seventeenth of last August.
The health journal is making friends for us among the people of all beliefs and disbeliefs. Most of those we meet are either fanatics or infidels. One woman would not give her order till assured that the magazine was not filled with Protestant arguments, did not teach the Catholic religion, and was not Masonic. A Protestant missionary said that the health magazine was excellent, and that he would like to have it in his family, but that he would not subscribe for it, lest his name appearing as a subscriber to the health magazine might influence some one else to accept some of our doctrinal literature. A priest who would not look at a sample copy last year, afterward read some of last year's numbers, with the result that he signed his name this time as soon as the journal was presented to him.
One place where we worked had been visited by our canvassers three or four years ago, and many books were sold. After the people had read some of the books, and found them muy bonito (very nice), the priest ordered them collected and burned. There was a big bonfire in the public square. In one house Brother Osborne saw a “Patriarchs and Prophets” that did not meet that fate. In another place I found a “Steps to Christ” with one corner burned off.
In one town, which for its size and wealth should have given us twenty subscriptions, we secured only four. In another town Brother Osborne placed orders to the amount of $14.30 in three and one-half hours. There are very few people on the roads between towns, and seldom can such persons buy anything, because of their extreme poverty. Only about fifty per cent of the inhabitants of the whole republic can read.
There are few railroads on the coast, and practically no wagon roads; nearly all traveling being done on horseback, muleback, or donkeyback. Because of a severe drought hundreds of animals died last summer, and a military uprising in the early fall caused a still greater scarcity of horses. The cost of saddle-horses was so great that we did not hire them, but made the trips from town to town on foot, several times walking more than twenty miles, and once about thirty miles in a day. Often the whole trip was through desert, without water or inhabitant. Sometimes clouds would shut off the direct rays of the sun, but that would not cool the air in these lowlands.
The people could not understand how we could make such journeys on foot; they do not try to walk long distances.
One man said we were surely walking representatives of our magazine, Salud y Vida (Life and Health). Nearly all the food in this country is so filled and then refilled with lard that we had to carry a small kerosene-stove with us to cook our own rice. Rice, bread, and bananas compose one meal; bread, bananas, and rice the following meal; and the next time we have bread, rice, and bananas. “Variety is the spice of life.” During that trip I gained in weight.
We were expecting the arrival of Elders Spicer and Westphal before the fifteenth of January, but a fresh revolution12broke out December 28, so it will not be possible for them to come here at all, nor for me to get away to the union conference meeting to be held in Chile. We greatly need the counsel of these brethren in our work here just at present. Remember Ecuador and us at the throne of grace.
Quito.
New Guinea
By S. W. Carr
S. W. CARR
The news that over one hundred pounds was donated by the Sabbath-schools of Australasia, in the special collection of September, 1911, for literature for New Guinea, brought gladness to all the workers here.
The work at Bisiatabu is moving steadily forward, the fourteen boys making as much progress as one could reasonably expect in Bible, reading, writing, and singing. They now know the following hymns in Motuan: “Lord, in the Morning,” “Beautiful Zion,” “Now the Day Is Over,” “Old Hundred,” “Art Thou Weary?” “Just as I Am,” “Home, Sweet Home,” and “There Is a Fountain.”
Every Sabbath three services are held for the “boys,” at its commencement, at midday, and at its close, and one service at each of the two neighboring villages, one and one-half and two miles distant.
The Bible lessons each day during the week are taken from the life of Christ, illustrated by the large Scripture roll. On Sabbath two or more of the boys take this roll to a village, and there tell what they have learned during the week, while I, with another boy or two, conduct services in the other village.
We were made inexpressibly glad when the boys consented to take their share of the work, and do their part in the preaching. To God be all the praise!
During the past three months the government has purchased a considerable quantity of native food from the mission station for the use of natives who have been making a road near by. The seven hundred pineapples planted seventeen months ago are in full bearing; two hundred fifty have been used or sold, and four hundred are not yet ripe. Some of the large variety weigh twelve pounds each, and measure twenty-four inches in circumference. These can be sold at a good price at Port Moresby, twenty-six miles away.
We very much appreciate Brother F. L. Chaney's few months' sojourn in this field, not only because of his help in building the Port Moresby and Bisiatabu mission houses, but also on account of the interest aroused among several Europeans with whom he became acquainted while at work. We believe that the experience gained by Brother and Sister Chaney in the mission field will be of much benefit to them, and through them to others in their future labors.
A little native boy living in the neighborhood was recently asked where Jesus was, to which he promptly replied, “At Bisiatabu.” We trust this will ever be true, and that His angels may ever delight to walk along the winding pathways of Bisiatabu, and enter our home as unseen guests.
Dysentery is once more claiming its victims, both white and black. We feel grateful for the immunity we have enjoyed from the dread scourge, and also from fever, since returning from Australia twelve months ago.
Bisiatabu.
“Lord, When?”
By Anna B. Bryant
ANNA B. BRYANT
“To thee, O Christ? I only shared
My cup and crust with one athirst
And famished, as I onward fared—
So sore his need I fed him first.”
“I clothed thee? Raiment old and torn
Should ill befit the King of heaven!
A poor man hath but garments worn
To spare; these only have I given.”
“O, when, Lord, didst thou turn to me
With wistful eyes or prayerful tongue?
I have but wept with Misery,
When some poor stranger’s hand I’ve
wrung.”
Thus answered all with meek surprise,
Till spake the King with tender tone:
“I lowly walked in beggar guise;
Ye ministered to me, mine own!”
Edgewood, R. I.
Among the Santals
By W. A. Barlow
W. A. BARLOW
I am glad to say that at the beginning of last year we reopened our Santal Industrial School at Babumohal, with twenty students. We had a class of fine young men, and they enjoyed their studies in Santali and Hindi, and a few began Bengali. They learn the Scriptures and hymns very well indeed, and are able to sing quite a number of the Christian songs from our own Seventh-day Adventist Santali hymn-book, which was printed at the Watchman Press, Karmatar, by our dear departed brother Elder J. C. Little. The students also enjoy the three hours’ manual labor in the mission garden, raising fruit and vegetables; the chief vegetables is tomatoes, and we are now sending them to Calcutta for canning, which will help the school a little. The papaya fruit will also bring in some financial help, and will increase year by year. We have just taken in some more land, and we intend to set out quite a number of papaya plants every year. It is a very good fruit, and sells readily in the market.
SANTALI SCHOOL-TEACHERS
Several of the students will soon be ready for baptism. They will take up village school and evangelistic work among the Santals and others scattered among the hills and forests of this district. The cut shows two teachers who were educated in our school at Simultala some years ago, and are now Seventh-day Adventist teachers and evangelists. The one at the left teaches our Industrial School; the other is in charge of a distant village school, of about twenty-five boys. The schoolhouse is made of branches from the trees growing near by. I am glad to say that now the villagers have built a schoolhouse, where the teacher and his family can live, as well as have a good place for his school work. We have been camping out near that school, visiting the homes of students, those from both our Industrial School and the village school. Everywhere we go the people ask us to send them a teacher. I tell them that as soon as some of the best and brightest students are ready in the Industrial School, we will send them a teacher. We find that those who are trained in our own school are much better and more successful in village schools than those who may come from other missions, and so we are doing our best to prepare the young men for this important and Christ-like work. As soon as Dr. Mann is ready to start his medical training-school for native workers, we hope to have two good Santali workers ready to go and get a good, practical medical missionary training, and then we shall want them to return to us.
Babumohal, India.
A Visit to the East Brazil Mission
By F. W. Spies
F. W. SPIES
ON Nov. 24, 1911, I embarked at Rio, to make a visit to the East Brazil Mission. We arrived at Bahia on the twenty-seventh, and as the steamer was to remain in port until the next morning, I had the privilege of spending the night in Elder John Lipke’s home. On the following day, in company with Brother Lipke, I continued my journey to Maceio, the capital of the state of Alagoas. At Maceio we stayed a week, holding meetings each evening, and visiting the brethren during the day.
At the close of our stay at Maceio five believers were baptized, and with two others who had previously been baptized, were received into the Maceio church.
Scarcely had we arrived at Maceio, when the news came of a revolution in Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco. The situation was quite serious. For several days traffic on all railroad lines running out from Recife was entirely suspended, all business places were closed, and a number of persons were killed. Fortunately, however, by the time our meeting in Maceio had closed, the trains were running again, and we were able to go on to our next appointment at Caruaru, Pernambuco.
Although we met with no further difficulties, our Caruaru meeting was considerably smaller than it would have been if there had been no revolution; for Caruaru being quite an important political center, and the revolution being the outgrowth of political moves, some of our people feared to come to the general meeting.
The Caruaru meeting was held December 8-14. On Sabbath, December 16, we had meeting with the brethren of Recife, who reside principally in and near Tigipio, a suburb of Recife. At the following meeting in Caruaru ten were baptized, and at Tigipio two, making nineteen added to the church during the trip.
Although this mission is comparatively new and the workers are few, about sixty have been received into church-membership during the past year. And although the new believers are all poor in this world’s goods, their tithe has reached an average of eleven dollars per capita for 1911, which is certainly very encouraging. I found the brethren, who are all natives, very earnest and devoted, and I felt rejoiced to see the good work which the Lord through his truth has done for these people. Five native workers have been developed, three of whom are spending their entire time canvassing. The other two do some Bible work, and canvass a portion of the time.
The truth is spreading rapidly in this field, so much so that Elder Lipke, who is the only ordained minister to look after the work in four states, finds it impossible to get around to attend to the various interests demanding attention. Recently, through the work of our faithful canvassers, interests have sprung up in the southern part of Bahia. In a recent letter, written from Ilheos, Elder Lipke states that as a result of meetings held, there is a fair prospect of a company of twenty in that city, and some have begun to keep the Sabbath in Itabuna, another city near by.
This condition exists very much all over Brazil. Just across the line from Pernambuco, in Parahyba, we have Sabbath-keepers, and up in Para there is a company of believers who have as yet never seen a worker. Thus here, as everywhere, the doors are being opened faster than we can enter them.
During the year 1911 three ministers have come to this vast republic,—an addition to our laboring force for which we certainly feel grateful,—but even with this additional help it will hardly be possible for us to supply the needs in the older fields, and so we shall have no workers for branching out into unentered territory.
But our eyes are on the Lord of the harvest. To him we look, and to him we send our petitions for help in this great and needy field. And we believe he will send it.
Estacao Sao Bernardo, S. P. R., Sao Paulo, Brazil.
A Missionary Romance
An interesting story has been told concerning the Providence Industrial Mission at Ciradzulo, Blantyre, British Central Africa. Nineteen years ago a certain official in the district made use of an intelligent boy of the Yao tribe to take a message under difficult circumstances across country, and for this service rewarded him with a rupee. With this small sum the lad bought an English primer, and began to attend school at the mission. Later he was ordained a minister of the gospel, went on a voyage of European travel, and has since built a church which has three hundred members.— Selected.
"Let There Be Light"
By J. F. Coon, M. D.
(Concluded)
J. F. COON, M. D.
THAT those who have not been blessed with the light that the Spirit of God has shed upon the question of drug medication should follow such a course as we mentioned last week is not surprising; but it is a lamentable fact that the ones who have been warned of the dangers and the unreliability of poisons in the treatment of disease are yet among those who have this unsatisfactory experience. Why is this? Is it because they are not informed as to what has been said on this important subject? If that is the case, they should reform, and become interested in what God in his great mercy has given directly to this people on this important question. For the benefit of those who may possibly never have had the opportunity to read the instruction referred to, we will quote from “Spiritual Gifts,” edition of 1864:—
“I was shown that more deaths have been caused by drug-taking than by all other causes combined. If there was in the land one physician in the place of thousands, a vast amount of premature mortality would be prevented. Multitudes of physicians, and multitudes of drugs, have cursed the inhabitants of the earth, and have carried thousands and tens of thousands to untimely graves. . . . Drugs never cure disease. They only change the form and location. Nature alone is the effectual restorer, and how much better could she perform her task if left to herself. But this privilege is seldom allowed her. If crippled nature bears up under the load, and finally accomplishes in a great measure her double task, and the patient lives, the credit is given to the physician. But if nature fails in her effort to expel the poison from the system, and the patient dies, it is called a wonderful dispensation of providence. If the patient had taken a course to relieve overburdened nature in season, and understandingly used pure soft water, this dispensation of drug mortality might have been wholly averted. . . . Nature alone possesses curative powers. Medicines have no power to cure, but will most generally hinder nature in her efforts. She, after all, must do the work of restoring. . . . The effect of poisons may not be immediately perceived, but it is doing its work surely in the system, undermining the constitution, and crippling nature in her efforts. They are seeking to correct an evil, but produce a far greater one, which is often incurable. Those who are thus dealt with are constantly sick, and constantly dosing. And yet if you listen to their conversation, you will often hear them praising the drugs they have been using, and recommending their use to others, because they have been benefited by their use. . . . They will take the various medicines, some of which are very powerful, although they know nothing of the nature of the mixtures. All the medicine they take only makes their recovery more hopeless. Yet they keep dosing, and continue to grow weaker until they die. . . . Every poisonous preparation from the vegetable and the mineral kingdom, taken into the system, will leave its wretched influence, affecting the liver and the lungs, and deranging the system generally. Nor does the evil end here. Diseased, feeble infants are brought into the world to share this misery transmitted to them from their parents.”—Pages 133-140.
With what supreme gratitude should every child of God accept the instruction given above. How earnestly should we seek to learn and understand all that has been said on this subject, that we may escape the terrible results that inevitably follow the administration of these fatal preparations. Certainly we are a favored people to be thus carefully warned of this popular danger; and we should remember that this increase of light brings with it an added responsibility. If we are benefited, there is laid upon us the responsibility of passing on to others the knowledge of that which brings the blessing, that God may be glorified in us.
For nearly fifty years this instruction, so explicit, so unmistakably clear and pointed, that no one can possibly misunderstand it, has been before us. What has been our attitude to it? Do we believe it, and shun the dangers it points out? Are we standing separate and apart from this death-trap that the enemy has set for the feet of the unskilled and uninformed? Has God been glorified before the unbelieving world, by our fidelity to him and the work he has given us to do? Alas! with sorrow and deep regret we must confess that we are recreant to our duty in this respect. Even when we have had opportunity to employ rational methods, we have in many cases gone to the enemies of God and his truth; and despite his warning so graciously given, we have employed the very men he has told us to shun, when sickness has made it necessary for us to seek relief. As a consequence we have reaped what we have sown, and to-day we are, physically, mentally, and spiritually, far from being what we might have been had we heeded the instruction given.
Nor does the mischief stop there, for God gives his light and blessing to us, that we may be a blessing to others. Therefore we have not only failed to derive the benefit he intended us to enjoy; but we have been unable to pass it on to others, that God might be glorified in us and in them. Notwithstanding this, we are yet the chosen people of God, and in his infinite goodness and mercy he is waiting for us to accept the responsibility he has given us.
This is the message of the Lord to us to-day, even as it was to Israel in days of old: “If Jehovah be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” Is it not time that we cast ourselves upon him, trusting in his guidance that we may be prepared to do his will? Can we not trust him who in mercy has gathered us from among the nations, and given us this wonderful message? Let us in faith and meekness consider all his goodness to us, as he has sought to lead us in the right way, and then with one heart surrender ourselves to his guidance, trusting implicitly the promise he has given. This surrender will bring his blessing, even though it be at the eleventh hour, and we shall triumph gloriously.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Medical Question Corner
By Dr. P. S. Bourdeau-Sisco
Answers by Dr. P. S. Bourdeau-Sisco, head lady physician of the Washington (D. C.) Sanitarium
Obesity
“COULD you advise me what to do to reduce my weight, as life is becoming a burden? I have gained thirty-five pounds in four months. Am constipated and eat very rich food, but try to eat just enough to keep up. Mrs. L. B.”
TREATMENT.—The accumulation of fat beyond a certain point is a disease. It should be treated as such. The best measures to use are increase in muscular exercise and decrease in the amount of food taken.
To be effective, the exercise must always be graduated and often strenuous. Walking long distances in the open air, or hard physical work, or vigorous gymnasium exercise is necessary. Exercise14to the point of profuse perspiration is excellent. Fat is stored-up energy, and the expenditure of this energy is the expenditure of fat. Deep massage may in some cases be used as an adjunct to the exercise. Sometimes fasting for a period of days is very helpful. In all cases the food intake should be lessened to such an extent that none of it will go to produce fat. One should reduce the amount of starch and sugar eaten, for these are the main fat-makers. An exclusive fruit diet will serve to keep the bowels more regular. The intake of fluids should also be restricted.
Brief, cold water baths followed by a brisk hand rub several times a week are of value, as also one or two profuse sweating-baths. You should seek relief from the constipation and avoid rich foods.
Epilepsy
“My boy is twelve years old. He has spasms, sometimes one and sometimes three a year, but they have been increasing. Excitement seems to bring them on. He staggers, screams, wants some one to hold him, froths at the mouth, and is very sick. A doctor here wants to give him medicine. Mrs. C. S.”
TREATMENT.—Your boy probably has epilepsy. If so, the treatment should vary according to the exciting causes. These causes, such as fright, fear, emotion, excitement, gastric troubles, intestinal absorption, should be removed as far as possible. No doubt a faulty heredity forms a background for many cases of epilepsy. Many children of epileptic tendencies make marked improvement when withdrawn from all excitement, both physical and mental, and placed on a simple diet. Overeating should be avoided. No meat should be used, and all rich foods and pastries should be forbidden. The bowels should be kept regular, skin active, and moderate systematic exercise should be taken.
A rigid diet of fruit and milk only, taken at separate times, is often very effective. The fruit may be either cooked or uncooked, fresh fruit or dried, but not preserved. Milk may be used in any form, also buttermilk or kumiss. The fruit and milk diet may be alternated every three or four hours. This diet helps to clear the system of waste materials, which are at times responsible for exciting the attacks. Patients should have two or three thorough sweats a week to eliminate the toxins from the body. The child is usually better off if away from his own home and in an institution; or if he is in his own home he should be under very careful discipline, for many persons thus afflicted have little power of self-control. Medicines are very unsatisfactory in this disease.
ANNA MAJEL ROSS
By Anna Majel Ross
Spring
ANNA MAJEL ROSS
When the hills are darkest green,
When the budding trees are seen,
Nodding to the sweet spring flowers
Peeping from their nooks and bowers;
When the showers gently fall,
And the song-birds sweetly call,
As the murmuring brooks glide by,
Whispering softly to the sky;
Then we know that spring is here,
Sweetest time of all the year,
Breathing peace and hope and love,
God’s sweet message from above.
Brawley, Cal.
The Western Canadian Union Conference and Ministerial Institute
By George B. Thompson
THE second biennial session of the Western Canadian Union Conference was held at Didsbury, forty-eight miles north of Calgary, Feb. 21 to March 3, 1912. The first two days of the session were set apart to a study of the work of selling our publications. The time from February 23 to 27 was devoted exclusively to a ministerial institute. The remainder of the time was divided between Bible study, and business meetings of the conference. An effort was made to have all the conference laborers in the union present at this meeting, and practically all were in attendance. Considering the membership and the vast expanse of territory, the number of delegates present was very good.
The instruction in the work of selling our publications was given by Brethren H. H. Hall, W. R. Beatty, and W. L. Manfull, and was very helpful and highly educational. The spiritual rather than the commercial side of the work was emphasized. It seemed that the instruction given was the best I had ever listened to in this line of work. Many experiences were related showing how the Lord is blessing this work. The book, tract, and periodical sales for the union for 1911 amounted to $29,300.93, and for the biennial term, $49,768.75, an increase over the previous biennial period of $13,257.40. The prospect is very encouraging for a material increase in sales the coming year.
The instruction in the ministerial institute was given by Elder A. G. Daniells and the writer, and was similar to that given in other gatherings of like character. From the beginning, the same good spirit which has been present at other institutes was manifest here also. All felt their need of a deeper consecration and greater power to save souls. Nowhere have we seen a more ready response to the instruction given than among the workers here. As we sought God, he sent his Spirit to bless us, and a new and broader vision was received of the work of God and what it means to be a herald of a message of such solemn and eternal responsibilities. Many testimonies were borne of definite victories gained during the meeting. At one of the morning meetings the Spirit of the Lord was especially manifest, and without urging, nearly all present came forward, making a definite surrender to God, and consecrating themselves anew to the finishing of the work of the message in the earth.
At the close of the ministerial institute, Elder Daniells, with his wife, left to fill urgent and important appointments elsewhere; the writer remained throughout the conference.
The business session of the conference was characterized by a spirit of the utmost unity. The territory of this union includes the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and that portion of Ontario west of Port Arthur. It is about two thousand miles from the eastern to the western extremity of this territory, which embraces an area of more than one million square miles, and is therefore about one third the area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and the Philippine Islands. The population is less than two million, or about two persons to the square mile. Quite a large portion of the population is composed of foreigners of many nationalities. In the Sabbath-school during the conference, classes were formed in four languages, English, German, Scandinavian, and Servian. In the providence of God all these foreign-speaking people are placed here to receive the message for this time, some, doubtless, to return to their native land to carry the message there.
The resources of this territory are prodigious in grain-raising, stock-raising, lumbering, and mining. In the three prairie provinces Dominion reports show that the acreage of small grain last year was over four million. Millions of bushels of grain were destroyed by early frost and snow, and one fourth of the acreage is reported as yet in the fields under the snow unthrashed.
The reports rendered from the various conferences during the session showed encouraging progress in nearly all lines of work. The total number of Sabbath-keepers in the field is 1,504, an increase of about five hundred since the organization of the union in 1908. The force of laborers consists of sixteen ordained ministers, seven licentiates, twenty-one missionary licentiates, three union laborers, and over fifty canvassers.
In 1908 the annual tithe was $15,005.01, or a per capita tithe of $14.86. Last year the tithe was $28,783.08, or a per capita tithe of $19.13. The tithe for the biennial period was $51,288.94. Last year $8,388.94 was raised on the ten-cent-a-week fund. The Sabbath-school offerings have increased from $1,414.65 in 1908 to $3,639.96 in 1911. Less than one thousand dollars of the union’s share of the $300,000 Fund remains to be raised. It is hoped that this will all be in by July 1.
The amount of other union funds sent forward for the general work is very good. The people here have a liberal spirit, and when blessed with bountiful harvests will be able to make liberal gifts to advance the work in other fields, where the population is much more dense, and the material resources less abundant.
But few changes were made in the officers of the conference. Elder H. S. Shaw was unanimously reelected president for the coming term. It was voted that the Saskatchewan Mission field be organized into a conference at the time15of their next annual camp-meeting. The publication of a union conference paper will be started at an early date.
While attending this meeting, I had the privilege, with Elder Daniells and others, of visiting the Alberta school at Lacombe. We found a good class of students there, the most of whom are planning to devote their lives to the work of God. Professor Beardsley and the faculty arranged the work of the school so that the most of the older students attended a part of the conference and the ministerial institute. They all enjoyed this very much. The school is doing good work, and is a great blessing to the field. Further facilities, especially buildings, are necessary properly to care for the students, and to carry forward the work in the school. These will doubtless be provided in time. A splendid spirit seemed to be in the school.
Personally it was a great privilege to attend this good meeting, and become better acquainted with the faithful band of workers here, as well as with the needs and conditions in this field. The prospect is encouraging. Many testified that this meeting as a whole was the best they had ever attended, and all left for their fields of labor with renewed courage and determination to press the battle to the gate.
G. B. THOMPSON.
Shelter for My Guest
“I thank thee, Lord, for snug-thatched
roof
In cold and storm,
And that beyond my need is room
For friend forlorn.
I thank thee much for place to rest,
But more for shelter for my guest.”
The Power of Pennies
TRULY all can have a part in giving this message to the world. Even children may help effectually. The little children of the employees of our Nashville publishing house, averaging from five to ten years of age, banded themselves together as a children's missionary society. Immediately the important question of how to obtain funds arose. As always, “where there is a will, there is a way.” One little girl saved the money otherwise spent for candy, etc., and invested this in ten copies of the Watchman. They were readily sold, and the profit was used to secure more copies. One group kept busy making a quilt, which was promptly purchased by a good sister, and the proceeds turned into the treasury. Still others sold pretty picture-postals. And so they worked in the Master's cause, putting to good use the time otherwise frittered away after school.
In a few days they gathered a little sum of nickels and pennies. A council was held, prayer was offered, and they took up at once the question of circulating literature bearing the message. What to use and where to place it so that it would reach the largest number of persons was the burden of their discussion. They had raised $2.34, and having learned how copies of “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation” and “Great Controversy” were being sent to every company in the United States army, about fifteen hundred in all, and that this work was being carried forward by voluntary contributions, they decided to use their money in that way.
The writer was much impressed with the earnestness and loyal consecration manifested by the little ones, and with their deep concern about these men who are separated from Christian influences. The money was placed in the writer's hands for the purpose mentioned, and the desired literature was purchased at once and sent on its mission.
Some time after this little incident, the following letter was received from the first sergeant of one of the companies:—
“DEAR FRIEND AND COMRADE: I am in receipt of your kind letter and the book entitled ‘Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,’ and must say, in addition to my abundant thanks, that it is one of the most finished and interesting books on the interpretations of the Bible that has ever fallen into my hands. Words can not express the great pleasure and the many good thoughts its pages have imparted and revealed to me.
“My wife and family share equally in my enthusiasm, likewise all the members of the company; and all have expressed the wish that they could thank you in person, especially as the gift was tendered by a comrade and ex-soldier. If other good books on religious subjects and Bible thoughts could find their way into the soldiers' libraries, I feel sure that it would tend to elevate the rank and file more than the books that usually fill the shelves of the company reading-room. Your gift has made me do some profound thinking, and I intend to make a thorough study of it. Again, we all wish to tender our sincere thanks and appreciation for the kind thoughts, desires, and motives you had in remembering your one-time comrades. Your gift will find a welcome and a conspicuous place in our library, and will always be prized as the company's chief possession. I wish also to extend my personal thanks as a soldier of twenty-five years' service, and you can rest assured that your address will remain fresh in my memory, and that, in all probability, I shall write you again after making a more thorough study of this splendid book.
“Trusting that the work you are following will bring forth more good results in and out of the army, I beg to remain,
“Your sincere friend and comrade,
“First Sergeant, Company H, — U. S. Infantry.”
Does it pay, mothers, to teach our children to be self-sacrificing missionaries for the truth, like these little ones? The Lord can use us all if we will offer ourselves to him to be used.
We appeal to all our children, and to the older ones, too, the world over, to assist in sending out these two good books to American soldiers stationed in the Philippines, Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, and China, as well as here in the United States. Three thousand books are needed, requiring over five hundred dollars' postage. Stamps, therefore, as well as pennies, will be exceedingly welcome. Remember the missionary ship “Pitcairn” was built with pennies.
Send all the funds to the treasurer, Southern Publishing Association, 2123 Twenty-fourth Ave., N., Nashville, Tenn., with whom we have a regular “military mission account.” Nearly two hundred books have been sent out to the service.
Send four cents in stamps for a little tract, “A Soldier's Appeal,” descriptive of military life, and presenting a practicable plan, approved by the General Conference, by which the entire military service may have the opportunity of hearing the message.
Send for this interesting tract to-day. It will be well worth the two postage-stamps asked. Address 2123 Twenty-fourth Ave., N., Nashville, Tenn.
Formerly Sergeant, Hospital Corps, U. S. Army.
The Bible’s Good Fruits
“A ROMAN CATHOLIC priest in Belgium rebuked a young woman and her brother for reading the Bible. She replied: ‘A little while ago my brother was an idler, a gambler, a drunkard, and made such a noise in the house that no one could stay in it. Since he began to read the Bible, he works with industry, goes no longer to the tavern, no longer touches cards, brings home money to his poor old mother, and our life at home is quiet and delightful. How comes it that a bad book produces such good fruits?’”
