This island, containing 26 251 square miles, is situated to the south and east of Australia, between forty and forty-five degrees south latitude. Its population, according to the most recent census, is 137,211.
Its cool summers, mild winters, and great variety of luscious fruit, have made it a favorite resort for the people of Australia, as well as for those in other parts of the world. I have seen gooseberries that measured more than three inches in circumference.
Those who live in the southern part of the island raise small fruit; such as, red raspberries, strawberries, cherries, plums, currants; and also acres of apricots, pears, apples, nectarines, and some peaches. On account of the destructiveness of the codling moth, fruit growers are becoming somewhat discouraged in growing apples. Much of the fruit is shipped to Melbourne and Sydney, in Australia, and a good price received.
Farmers raise fine crops of wheat, and usually realize from thirty to thirty-five bushels an acre. Nearly every year they grow two crops of wheat and oats. They also raise corn, but never let it come to maturity. They feed it green to their stock. Cattle and horses graze the year round, although the grass during the winter season is quite short.
Its rivers, beautiful mountains, gold, silver, and tin mines, of which the chief export is tin, add wealth and grandeur to this island.
In a country place, called Bismarck, about twelve miles from Hobart, on a mountain slope, stands the Seventh-day Adventists' house of worship; and farther up the valley are the little dwelling-houses of its worshipers, surrounded with fields of living green. The church record shows a membership of fifty-six. There are several young persons in this12as well as in the Hobart church, some of whom are planning to attend the Avondale School, in New South Wales.
The mountain scenery in this vicinity is especially grand. Mt. Collins Cap, Boar's Back, Mt. Brown, and Sleeping Beauty, stand forth as sentinels against the deep-blue sky, as if to guard the quiet German settlers below from the intrusion of tidal waves.
But it is not in the physical geography of the country, or in its fruit and grain, that the readers of the REVIEW are the most interested. Those who have a world-wide interest in the Third Angel's Message, whose treasure and heart are in it to spread it to the utmost bounds of inhabited lands, will be eager to know what progress it is making in this island.
It was brought to Tasmania in 1887 by Brethren Israel and Baker, through the influence of Brethren Foster and Higgins. A company of Sabbath-keepers was raised up in Hobart, a city of thirty-four thousand inhabitants, situated in the southern part of the island. It increased in numbers until one hundred and forty-four names have been registered in the church book. Removals, death, and apostasy have reduced the enrollment to about ninety. A small company was raised up in Launceston, in the northern part of the island, a city of about the same population as Hobart. They have been recently organized into a church. There is a small organization of believers at Latrobe, and another composed entirely of sisters at St. Mary. Besides these, there are a few Sabbath-keepers scattered throughout the island.
The little church at Launceston are actively engaged in missionary work. They have divided the city into districts, each worker taking one or more. He distributes a package of tracts, leaving one at each house. At the expiration of one week he revisits the family, hands out a fresh tract, taking to the next door the one they have read.
In some cases where there is a family of children to look after, the mother does her missionary work on some regularly appointed day of the week, and the father his on another. This leaves one a missionary at home, while the other scatters the printed pages. At the Wednesday evening missionary meeting, each worker reports the work done. Once each month they have what is called “Pound Night.” Each worker is supposed to purchase, or bring from home, one pound of sugar, flour, salt, fruit, or some other edible commodity. This is apportioned to the needy poor, who have been searched out in the various districts, and some one is appointed to deliver it. Similar work is carried on by the Hobart church.
If the workers are faithful and do not grow weary in this work, they will at last be placed on the King's right hand, and given the invitation, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The reason assigned for this benediction and invitation to eternal happiness is, “For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in,” etc. And all this work is done to Christ through the needy poor. Says the King, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Glorious work! Blessed reward! Let not our churches in any land become weary of it, lose sight of the suffering poor, be classed on the left hand, and receive the sentence, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
It was my privilege to accompany some of the workers in their distribution of reading-matter, and also in their visits to the homes of the sick poor. I found most of the readers of the tracts anxious for a fresh one, and some who noticed the advertisement of other tracts ordered them.
I went with one brother, who is a dentist, to see a poor man who had been thrown from a cart, and had his hip broken. We had a Bible reading with him on the sufferings of Christ and his love for afflicted humanity. He was much comforted. Sometimes his face would light up with a smile, and sometimes his eyes would fill with tears, as we dwelt upon Christ's Gethsemane suffering and his mangled, bleeding form upon the cross. At the close he joined most heartily with us in prayer, thanking God for the light from his word. He has expressed himself convinced respecting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, has decided to keep it, and will be baptized as soon as his broken hip recovers. When we left, I noticed that the brother whom I accompanied left some money on the stand by the bedside. I learned afterward that he had been in the habit of visiting him weekly, and leaving $2.50 each time to help support his family. He is also giving the same amount to another afflicted family. This brother has a wife and seven children to support, and is dependent upon his profession for a living. He told me that his tithe is from five to twelve dollars a week. He takes thirty-six copies of the Bible Echo, distributes them among the people, and talks the truth to his patrons, when a favorable opportunity presents itself.
We also visited a woman who has been confined to her bed twenty-four years. While thus afflicted, she, through reading her Bible, became convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath. She was troubled over the matter, and sent for her pastor. He visited her, and advised that she continue Sunday-keeping, and dismiss the seventh-day theory from her mind. Her conscience could not be quieted by man's word, and the pastor being unable to produce Scripture for Sunday observance, she decided to keep the Sabbath. A few days after she came to this decision, he was about to call on her again, when he met one of the family, and upon inquiry learned that she was observing the Sabbath. “Well,” said he, “she had better join the Jews and be done with it.” This made her all the more determined to continue her obedience to God's holy law.
For several years she has been unable to rise from her bed or to be placed in a chair. She speaks words of comfort and faith to all who visit her, and is an example of faith and patience.
There are some in the churches in this island who are good Samaritans, and others who are asleep spiritually, doing but little, and caring mostly for their own comfort. Some are bringing false doctrines into the churches, and even trying to persuade the members to withhold their tithe. But a majority pay a faithful tithe.
In some places those who pay no tithe are beginning to notice the prosperity of those who do pay the tithe, and speak about their crops being so much better. Not only have they had better crops, but they have received a higher price for their produce. They work on the principle that nine tenths with the blessing of God is better than ten tenths without it. E. HILLIARD,
Hobart, Tasmania.
SUMMARY OF THE WORK IN OKLAHOMA.
By C. Mc Reynolds
Since the close of the annual camp-meeting last October, there has been scarcely an effort made that has not been blessed with fruit. The unfinished work with the new church at Claremore, I. T., received further attention; and it is now a well-developed church in all branches of the message. Over forty persons have accepted the truth there.
We left a company of workers at Kingfisher, O. T., after the close of the annual camp-meeting. Though the work pulled hard for a time, a church of twenty members was brought out there.
At and near McLoud we have now a company of fifteen adults as the result of a recent effort, where we had but one family before. At Concord several persons were added to the church, and a deep interest still remains to be developed. At Enid and vicinity, as a result of recent labor, seven or eight have taken a stand for the truth, who, with those there before, will make a church. A few have accepted the truth at Foyil, I. T., also a few near Langston, O. T. A meeting is now in progress in Woodward County, and it is reported that seven persons kept last Sabbath. The meeting has been going on only about two weeks. Several persons have also been added to the organized churches. One new German church, at Omega, O. T., is now ready to dedicate, which will be done next Sunday. The new building in Oklahoma City will soon be finished. A work in a western county has resulted in a good company coming out, and a church, numbering twenty-five or more, will be organized. Within the last five months, more than seventy-five persons in this Territory have accepted the message. The courage of the laborers is good, and harmony prevails.
And last, but not least, we mention the sanitarium work that has been started in Oklahoma City. The plant as it now stands has cost nearly one thousand dollars. It has been running a little more than two months. It is wholly under the control of the Conference, but pays its own way. The physician, Dr. T. J. Allen, who spent ten years at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, is proving very efficient237and we ask the co-operation of all our people in the Conference. Send in the patients who are able to come and pay their way. We are not in shape to do much charity work, as we ask and get no donations, but our own people will receive a reduction from regular charges.
As a result of the recent visit of Dr. Kellogg here, the sanitarium work is about to take on larger proportions. We hope all our people will unite with us in praying the Lord to direct, that no mistake may be made to mar the good work begun.
C. Mc REYNOLDS.
ONTARIO
By Cassie Cameron
TORONTO.—Our school opened September 18, with an attendance of five children. This number increased until the membership reached twenty-three.
We do not feel discouraged by the efforts of Satan to overthrow our work; for we know that if it is to accomplish any good, the enemy will try to hinder. The work is the Lord's; and if we do our part faithfully, God will bless and save our children. The Lord has said that schools should be established, and our children gathered in from worldly influences.
It is a pleasure to see the children interested in the study of the Bible, and I believe that God will by his Holy Spirit impress their hearts. We may have the presence of the Great Teacher in our schoolrooms, and he is just as willing to teach us now as he was when he talked with the disciples on the mountainside. He will bless our children to-day as willingly as he blessed children when on earth.
CASSIE CAMERON.
THE MONTANA CONFERENCE.
By W. T. Knox
The second session of the Montana Conference convened at Helena, March 12–18. While the attendance of this young Conference was necessarily small in comparison with similar gatherings where the truth has been established for years, yet the meeting demonstrated that this people, to whom has been intrusted the light of truth, are alive to their responsibility, and are earnestly endeavoring to be faithful to their trust.
While the meeting was distinctly a conference, there was a deep spiritual movement felt by all throughout. The various reports submitted revealed that a healthy and encouraging growth had been made in all phases of the work. An increase of $1,169 in tithe, a proportionate increase in contributions, a material decrease in the old indebtedness of the tract and missionary society, an addition of one church to the Conference, an increase of about sixty-five members, making the present membership three hundred and thirty-nine, and a general activity among the members in church work, were some of the encouraging items of which mention was made.
The following persons were elected to serve the Conference for the coming year: President, Elder W. B. White; Secretary, Mrs. Nettie G. White; Treasurer and Missionary Secretary, W. J. Felt. Executive Committee: W. B. White, J. H. Behrens, J. C. Foster. Sabbath-School board: President, L. A. Gibson; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. J. H. Behrens; W. B. White. W. T. KNOX.
UNION COLLEGE BOARD MEETING.
By W. A. Hennig
ANOTHER profitable and harmonious meeting of the Union College Board has just closed. All members of the board were present, and seemed as anxious for the welfare of the college as they were for the welfare of their respective Conferences. Brother Morrison gave good counsel, which was much appreciated. Every member of the board was possessed with a real desire to know just what God would have us do in laying plans and making provision for the coming school year. We knew that God had greatly blessed the school ever since our last board meeting, and all were anxious for his presence to remain in the college and homes. Of course we know that perfection has not been reached, but we “press toward the mark.” The teachers are all of good courage, and voice one sentiment with reference to the union and harmony that exist among them.
Professor Kelley, who is one of the oldest teachers among us, said he was well satisfied with the work; that it had not come behind the best school year he had ever experienced. God had been with them in the work. Souls have been converted to the Lord, and workers prepared for the field. A large number of persons are preparing for church school work. There is also a special class conducted by Elder Johnson for the benefit of those who contemplate entering the ministry or Bible work.
The attendance has been good all the year. At the beginning of the fall term two hundred and twenty-five names were enrolled, at the opening of the winter term three hundred and ten, and at the beginning of the spring term three hundred and twelve. Many of the students could not remain all the year, or even the winter term. The entire enrollment has been about five hundred.
A good, strong faculty was elected for the coming school year, and we have reason to believe that the next school year will be better than the present one. A large tract of land will be cultivated by the students this spring and summer, but we feel anxious to arrange for more shop work. This must be done in some way. A good business was done in the college bakery, but only a few hands have been required. Other industries would be a real success if we had money to start them.
Union College, we believe, is one of the places where young men and women can get a thorough education in harmony with principles that God has given us. Hundreds should go there next school year. Many are even now planning to go. They feel that God is calling them to prepare for the work, and that, when he calls, they should obey.
W. A. HENNIG, Sec. of Board.
NEWS AND NOTES
— Queen Victoria has added an automobile to her stables.
— A New Orleans man has bought 1,000,000 tickets to the Paris Exposition, for speculation.
— Lord Roberts has cleared the kopjes near Brandfort, of the Boers, driving them back.
— The Kentucky republican secretary of state is being examined on the charge of abetting the assassination of Wm. Goebel.
— It is said that Lord Salisbury has apologized for the British censor's opening the mail of ex-consul Macrum, at Pretoria, South Africa.
— It is reported that it is “the intention of Great Britain to land troops at the Port of Beira, and send them through Portuguese African territory, into Rhodesia.” Portugal is willing.
— A dispatch from Pretoria says that General Piet Joubert, commander-in-chief of the Boer forces, died at his home in Pretoria, Tuesday evening, March 27. The cause of his death was peritonitis.
— Thieves took $1,300 from the safe of a New York restaurant, March 27, while over forty persons were breakfasting in the same room, and returned $500 worth of checks, through the post-office, later.
— Messrs. Frick and Carnegie have come to an agreement, and the lawsuit started by Mr. Frick has been withdrawn. Frick receives $15,000,000 worth of stock, instead of $6,000,000, the amount Mr. Carnegie contemplated giving him.
— The firm of D. Appleton and Company, New York City, has failed, and is in the hands of a receiver. Liabilities, $1,110,000. The reason assigned is “too many sales on the installment plan, at least $900,000 being due at present from customers.”
— In conversation with United States Ambassador White, at Berlin, the German emperor referred repeatedly to the “open-door” policy in China, which he emphatically espoused, saying, “We must all do our best to establish and maintain an open door there.”
— A dispatch from Quincy, Ill., dated April 4, says that “Charles Schnellbacher, while spading his garden to-day, unearthed a copper kettle containing $2,000 in coin. It is supposed that it was buried by his mother, who died recently. She left $3,000 in the bank, but would not trust all her savings to the banks.”
— The Boers are putting forth every effort possible to surround Lord Roberts, at Bloemfontein, cutting his line of communications to the south. Kruger has “warned the women and children to leave Bloemfontein within five days, as he intends to bombard and destroy the city, and shoot the burghers whom he captures there.”
— A London dispatch states that “renewed trouble between Russia and Japan in Corea is imminent. The movements of the Russian fleet indicate the probability of the seizure of a Corean port. The war office officials at Tokio are holding conferences, and there has been considerable military and naval activity in Japan this month.”
— Admiral Dewey is a candidate for the presidency of the United States. “He is not only willing, but eager. He even goes so far as to intimate that he will, if necessary, run as an independent candidate, without a party nomination.” Mrs. Dewey is back of the proposition. Dewey says that his platform will be “the American flag.”
— A French inventor says that he has solved the problem of sending a number of dispatches simultaneously on a single wire. His system, which was explained on March 20 before the Academy of Sciences, was recently tried with success between Paris and Pau. Twelve independent currents were sent on the circuit at once, in either direction, making a total of twenty-four telegrams.
— A sixteen-year-old anarchist, Sipido by name, attempted to assassinate the Prince of Wales at Brussels, Belgium, April 4. Four shots were fired, all going wide of the mark. As the prince's car was leaving the city, “he begged that the culprit might not be treated too severely.” The prince and princess, with their retinue, were on their way to Denmark, to celebrate the birthday of King Christian on April 8.14
— General Botha succeeds the late General Joubert, as commander-in-chief of the Boer army.
— At a cabinet council at Paris, March 27, at which M. Loubet presided, it was decided to officially inaugurate the Paris Exposition, Saturday, April 14, instead of Sunday, the 15th.
— March 30 the Columbia Theater of Chicago was burned. It was insured for $100,000, and the insurance was divided among thirty-eight different insurance companies. Total loss, $175,000.
— The decrease of the public debt of the United States during the month of March, was $6,629,701. On April 1 the net cash balance in the treasury, including the reserve fund, was $306,192,995.
— Webster Davis, Assistant Secretary of the Interior of the United States, has resigned, that he may lecture throughout the country, in behalf of the Boers, as a private citizen. His resignation has been accepted.
— The Honolulu board of health recently decided that the plague had run its course. Quarantine restrictions will soon be rescinded, allowing the shipment of merchandise from Honolulu, except merchandise from Asiatic ports.
— Governor Pingree, of Michigan, has designated Friday, April 27, as Arbor Day. He “recommends that all who can should plant a tree or shrub on that day, and desires the people to co-operate with the recently created Forestry Commission.”
— The antarctic exploring steamer “Southern Cross,” bearing C. E. Borchgrevink and the survivors of the south polar expedition fitted out in 1898 by Sir George Newnes, of London, arrived at Campbell Town, near Bluff Harbor, New Zealand, April 1. Mr. Borchgrevink reports that the south magnetic pole has been located.
— The Lewis bill, repealing the Horton law in New York, was passed by the New York Senate at Albany, March 28, by a vote of twenty-six to twenty-two. The passage of this bill kills professional boxing in the State after Sept. 1, 1900. Last year 252 prize fights were held in the State, at a profit of $750,000 for their promoters.
— Superintendent Merriam, of the United States census, has written a letter to the members of Congress, requesting each Republican member to “select six women, and each Democratic member three women, to operate tabulating machines after June 1, in the census work. It is explained that during the last census it was demonstrated that women are far superior to men on this class of work.”
— Even more than the $2,000,000 required to be raised for the University of Chicago to insure the conditional gift of the same sum by John Rockefeller, was contributed before the expiration of the time limit, on April 1, 1900. Thus the entire assets of the institution are about $11,000,000, placing it in the same class with Harvard, Yale, and the Leland Stanford University, so far as endowment is concerned.
— April 3, by a vote of forty to thirty-one, the United States Senate passed the Porto Rican bill, providing a civil government and a fifteen-per-cent tariff for Porto Rico. Six regular Republicans voted against the bill. By the bill passed, citizenship is withheld from the inhabitants of the island, and it amounts simply to “taxation without representation,” or the governing of the possessions without the Constitution of the United States.
— Dispatches from South Africa say that a British force consisting of the “Household Cavalry, the very flower of the British army, the Tenth Hussars, two horse batteries, and a force of mounted infantry,” walked into a Boer trap, March 31. “Seven guns and all the baggage were taken by the Boers, and the British casualties number 350, including 200 missing. The disaster occurred within a few miles of Bloemfontein, where Lord Roberts is situated, with 40,000 men.”
— The United States War Department has furnished a comparative statement of the “total value of merchandise exported from the port of San Juan, Porto Rico, during the months of February, 1899, and 1900. During February, 1899, the total exports were $279,004, while the total amount of merchandise exported in February, 1900, was only $78,212. In 1899 eight per cent of the total exported went to the United States, while in 1900 there was shipped to the United States only one per cent of the total exported.”
— The authority of General Otis in the Philippines will hereafter be subordinate to that of the new Philippine Commission. “President Taft, of the commission, will be the personal representative of President McKinley in the Philippine Group, and he and his colleagues will fully represent American sovereignty. The army is to be wholly subordinate to their orders; and General Otis, if he elects to remain in the Philippines, will find the commission taking the place of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, as his immediate superiors.”
— The Swiss arbitration tribunal announced its Delagoa Bay railroad award March 29. Portugal is condemned to pay $3,600,000 for the seizure of the railroad, the owners of which had failed to complete it within the time specified, or had made what the government regarded a serious attempt to do so. Portugal will have to pay “to the government of the United States, and to Great Britain, the claimants, altogether, in addition to the £28,000 paid on account in 1890, the sum of 15,314,000 francs in legal Swiss money, with simple interest on this sum at the rate of five per cent per annum from June 1, 1889, up to date of payment of said sum.”
— The St. Petersburg (Russia) press asserts that Persia is now under Russian protection.
— The two ships that constituted the navy of Liberia were recently destroyed by accidents.
— The United States War Department has shipped fifty tons of candy to soldiers in the Philippines.
— It is reported that “the boycott of the cigarette-smoker by the leading business men of Chicago and other cities, is likely to prove a successful as well as a beneficent reform.”
— The Iowa Senate passed the Lister anti-prize-fight bill on March 28, by a vote of forty to two. The bill is sweeping in its terms, and will stop prize fighting in the State. A fine, not exceeding $300, and ninety days' imprisonment, is provided for any person having any connection whatever with a fight.
— Comparing the slum portions of Chicago and New York, Jacob A. Riis, an authority on the subject, said: “The best street I saw to-day in a tour of several hours in Chicago, was worse than the worst street I ever saw in New York. In every block I saw conditions that, if they existed in New York, would cause the prompt arrest and prosecution of the owners of the property.”
— About forty-six years ago three pairs of enterprising rabbits were introduced into Australia. To-day the increase of these six immigrants may be counted by the millions. They became a pest to the country, and fortunes have been spent to exterminate them. “Wire fences many feet high and thousands of miles long have been built, to keep out the invaders; but the rabbits have finally outwitted man. They have developed a new nail—a long nail, by which they can retain their hold on the fence, while climbing. With this same nail it is said that they can burrow six or eight inches under the netting, and thus enter the fields that mean food and life to them.”
ADVANTAGES OF TRACT DISTRIBUTION.
By D. T. Bourdeau
To go from house to house in distributing even our small tracts, is a potent means of disseminating the light of present truth. This is a good way of searching out and finding the Lord’s precious ones, who are to prepare to pass through the perils of these last days, perfect Christian characters, and stand before the Son of man when he shall return to our earth in the glory of his Father, in his own glory, and accompanied by all the heavenly host.
The work of distributing our tracts and papers is especially needed in cities to prepare the way for public efforts. In country places and in small villages, where there is comparatively little excitement, and where there are not, as a general rule, many public gatherings, it is not very difficult, in a tent or in a hall, to awaken public interest. Indeed, for country people and villagers to see a tent pitched among them, and hear subjects of thrilling interest announced, is something so out of the usual order that they are drawn to the meetings where the soul-stirring and soul-reviving themes of present truth are presented.
But the circumstances are very different in cities, where there is much excitement and much of a nature to arrest the attention and take up the minds of the masses. In these great centers it is an essential prerequisite to success in making special public efforts, that laborers, whether lecturers, canvassers, or ordinary believers, make it a point to find out, as far as possible, who would take an interest in the things of God for these times. When much of this preliminary work is done, interested persons can be persuaded to attend public lectures; and by this means an interest can be started at the very opening of a public effort.
And what better method can be brought into requisition to become acquainted with those upon whose hearts the Spirit of God and good angels are making impressions favorable to the truth, than that of going from house to house with our literature? This work we have been doing in Montreal; and though we meet with difficulties, we occasionally come in contact with persons whose minds have already been impressed in favor of the truth.
Last week Brother Oswald Bourbeau, our special tract worker for the French, offered a French New Testament to a Roman Catholic. As he opened it, his eyes rested on these words: “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Matt. 24: 20. He said, among other things, “This means Saturday, and I have for some time believed that that is the day we ought to keep.”
At another place our tract worker entered a store and handed out our French tract on “The Prophecies and the Proximity of Christ’s Return.” A Catholic priest hastened to see what he was doing, took the tract out of the hand of one who had received it, and, tearing it in pieces and committing it to the flames, said, before several, “I am not afraid to meet in the Judgment what I have done.” Our young worker replied, “Be careful that in the day of Judgment what you have done may not be put down as an insult against Jesus Christ; for the words of Jesus Christ with regard to his soon coming in judgment are in that tract.” The priest tried in vain to frighten the young man. The latter showed he was in his rights, and had been insulted by the priest, even before he had said a word to him. Having been a Catholic, he met the priest on his own ground, and defended the truth in his presence and before others for more than half an hour, even until his accuser had nothing further to say. Being accused of fanaticism, he replied, “Is it not rather fanaticism to take a tract and hastily tear it without even knowing whether it is not good Catholic doctrine?”
Not long ago I had a pleasant interview with an Armenian Catholic priest, who left Armenia a few years ago when so many Armenian Christians were slaughtered by the Turks. I called his attention to the Sabbath, having previously handed him tracts on that subject. He said, “From the days of my tender youth I have known that there is no evidence in the Bible of a change of the Sabbath by divine authority; and I have often told this to Protestants.” There are four hundred Armenian families in Montreal alone. They need publications in their own tongue.
A letter just received from Elder John Vuilleumier, of Buenos Ayres, South America, shows the beneficial effects of tracts. He says: “Some to whom I handed tracts when in Italy, about sixteen years ago, and who then left Italy, are now in South America, sacredly keeping the works handed them in their native land, and rejoicing in the truth.” Of course, Elder Vuilleumier and others helped them on in the good way. Elder Vuilleumier had previously informed me that one person in South America had recently been converted to the Sabbath by a French tract, “Dialogue on the Lord’s Day,” sent from America.
God does not wish all this work of distributing literature to rest on ministers, or even on canvassers. For instance, it would take two persons two years to properly go once over Montreal alone, with our tracts, and then this work would not be finished. Many hands make heavy burdens light. Will all our people everywhere improve the little time that remains in which to work for souls in scattering our tracts and other publications preparatory to ministers making public efforts? How can discerning ministers, viewing fields from the standpoint of believers scattered in them, refrain from showing preference to those fields where this work has been done?
Some may be tried because ministers do not go where they are, to give public lectures. But I would ask such, Have you done your duty in drawing near to your neighbors and in communicating to them the truth by visiting them and by means of our literature? If you depend on your ministers to do the work you ought to do to prepare the way for them, they will not go to you, unless it be to show you what you ought to do. Should a minister go to your locality and lead some to receive the truth, who would take care of them? Would a minister have to remain with them and with you, and do work you are unprepared to do as fathers and mothers in Israel, because you have not previously drawn near to your neighbors, and, consequently, do not know where they stand spiritually? And how would you, under such circumstances, know what souls cost to the real laborer? Not knowing this by personal experience, how could you be expected to look after them when the minister has gone to other fields? D. T. BOURDEAU.
DEDICATIONS IN WISCONSIN.
By William Covert
EARLY in January, in company with Elder Shreve, I held meetings at Dell, in Vernon County. While there, we dedicated the new church built by our people at that place. The people of the neighborhood showed an interest to hear preaching and to study the truth. To meet this demand, a series of meetings has been held there, by Elder Shreve and Dr. Godsmark. Several have accepted the truth, and others are still investigating.
The first week in February, in company with Elders Olds, Reed, and Stebbeds, and Brother Dowsett, services were held at Stoughton, in Dane County, where a church, recently built by the brethren of that city, was dedicated. Elder Stebbeds will, according to arrangements, conduct meetings, and assist the members in the further development of the interest.
May 6 is appointed for the dedication of Woodland school building. We hope to see a large representation of our people at this dedication. Many have assisted in building this institution, and their presence would be much appreciated at the time of its formal presentation to the Lord. Those coming by rail will do well to arrive either at Marshfield or Pittsville on Friday, May 4, in time to reach the school before the Sabbath. Write to Prof. J. E. Tenney or to C. H. Mikkelsen, at Arpin, if you wish conveyance from the station, and arrangements will be made for your accommodation. All the neighbors, as well as the school management, will do what they can to care for visitors, and to make the occasion one of profit.
WM. COVERT.
INDIANA
By S. S. Davis; Elnora Davis
EVANSVILLE, ELNORA, SALEM, LINTON, FARMERSBURG, TERRE HAUTE, BOGGSTOWN.—The first of December, in company with Brother Joseph Tracy and his wife, and Brother John Hickey and his wife, I started on my work among the churches. As a rule, we found the churches in a cold, back-slidden condition, and in many places much divided and torn and scattered by the enemy; but generally they were dissatisfied with their condition, and desired a better experience. The Lord laid it on my heart to preach the Laodicean message. He gave power to the word, and I never before saw such manifestations of the power of God in repentance as I have been permitted to witness in the places mentioned above. In all these places shouts of victory made the churches ring. Perfect union and love prevail. Sixty-seven persons were added to the believers. Praise the Lord for his goodness to the children of men.
S. S. and ELNORA DAVIS.
