WHILE in past years our workers in the German Union Conference have had their lives wonderfully preserved, so that we have had very few deaths among them, yet this severe winter in Europe has cost us several of our laborers.
January 21, Brother Karl Koeller died, seventy-one years of age. He was one of the very first Sabbath-keepers in Germany, and for a number of years he was the faithful elder of the Vohwinkel church, and later he served for years as a preacher in the German field. Three years ago he donated his own ground to the union that a chapel might be erected on it for the Vohwinkel church. Thus one of the pioneers in the German Union has been laid to rest.
February 13, Sister Rosa Ehlers died near Hamburg. When our work was opened in German East Africa, her husband, Brother Johannes Ehlers, and Brother A. C. Enns were the first missionaries we sent out (1903). Then the following spring Sister Ehlers (she had married Brother Ehlers the previous year), with the second party of workers for German East Africa, followed her husband, and they remained there until recalled on account of the ill health of Brother Ehlers, in February, 1906. Sister Ehlers faithfully assisted her sick husband, and just as he seemed recovering, she took a cold, and owing to the latent malaria in her system, she quietly fell asleep in Jesus, to await the voice of the Redeemer on the resurrection day. When I last visited them at their home, Sister Ehlers' thoughts were still on Africa, and her only desire, with her husband, was to return to that land as soon as their strength would permit.
We lost another faithful friend and worker in Brother Gustav Hantzsch, who had formerly been cashier in a bank in Danzig. As the truth came to him, he left his position, and, being a man of means, he bequeathed quite an amount of money to the cause, while he himself helped us faithfully in Friedensau and Hamburg, in our institutional work, almost fully donating his time to the service of the Master. A few days before his death an operation was performed, but without any beneficial results. He passed away happy in the Lord, February 14, in Hamburg. He died of diabetes. L. R. CONRADI.
The Sanitarium Work at Caterham
By A. B. Olsen
THE CATERHAM (ENGLAND) SANITARIUM
SEVERAL years, and much time and money, were spent in searching for a location for our sanitarium before we decided upon Caterham. Here we found a hydropathic establishment which had suffered failure, and was being run as a boarding-house. The place was said to have cost about six thousand pounds, but we obtained it for about half that amount. The grounds consist of an acre and a half of freehold property, and a hillside of twenty-two acres,—leasehold,—with a fairly large commodious building containing about forty rooms, large and small. We purchased an attached villa containing nine rooms. When we took over the villa, there were in all twenty bedrooms for guests and workers. The work has grown steadily from the opening in June of 1903, and it has become necessary to rent two adjoining villas, each containing ten rooms. At the present time we have thirty-six guest-chambers, and twelve rooms for our workers. We can thus accommodate from thirty-five to forty patients, although we have had as many as from forty-five to fifty when we have been crowded.
Caterham is a village of about nine thousand inhabitants, and has a good railway service from London with frequent trains. Although only seventeen miles from the heart of London, our sanitarium lies distinctly in the country, and is surrounded by charming hills and valleys. The inhabitants have taken a friendly interest in the enterprise from the start, which is very gratifying.
At the present time the institution is manned by a physician, matron, lady and gentleman head nurses, and fourteen probationers who are receiving training in the nurses' school. Brother W. T. Bartlett, editor of Present Truth, is our Bible teacher. He also conducts a Sunday evening service in our gymnasium each week. Brother W. C. Sisley is chairman of the board of managers. From the first he has taken a deep interest in the institution, giving us much time and valuable counsel.
List of workers at the Caterham Sanitarium: A. B. Olsen, M. D., Mrs. A. B. Olsen, M. D., L. Brooking, A. P. Guyton, Wm. M. Scott, Ruby Eastcott, Mary Jacques, Mabel Pringle, Lillian Hamilton, Louisa Cooper, Hannah Howarth, Helen Brain, May Grenville, Winnie Mainwaring. A. B. OLSEN, M. D.
W. A. R
By W. A. R.
Findings
Dr. F. E. Braucht, of the Kansas Sanitarium, reports: “Our work in this institution is moving along very nicely, and the outlook for the coming year is very encouraging.”
In a letter from Elder C. McReynolds, president of the Wisconsin Conference, we read: “The Madison Sanitarium continues full of patients, and we have noticed an unparalleled improvement in each one of the cases. A number of the patients, however, are those who have very little money. Still, we have quite a number of good paying patients, and the finances of the institution are in good condition for the present. We recently enjoyed a very profitable visit from Dr. S. P. S. Edwards.”
Brother F. H. Westphal, who is laboring in Chile, South America, writes: “We have no medical worker in our field at present, and I trust that some of our medical students will have a desire to prepare themselves for work in this needy field. One should be a graduate and have a diploma as a doctor, and have a knowledge of the Spanish language. He could make great progress in the language before he came so that it would not take him long to prepare for the examination here. There are many openings for doctors here, and I should be glad to see this branch of the work pushed forward in this field. A young doctor, who loves the truth and would live with a desire to teach it to others, would certainly accomplish a good work for the Master. If he was recognized in the United States, he would not have so much difficulty in passing the examination here.”
W. A. R
Chinese Medical Practise
By A. C. Selmon
There is hardly a disease in the whole category that the Chinese doctor will not treat by sticking a needle in some part of the body. For example, a needle is stuck in the back of the hand to cure the toothache, in the wrist to cure malaria, in the elbow to cure a pain in the shoulder, in the temple to control inflammation in the eye, and, in fact, there is hardly a spot in the body that is not mentioned in thier medical books as a place to stick a needle in case of sickness of any kind.
It is needless to say that many lives are sacrificed as a result of this barbarous practise. Several cases have come to our notice in which new-born infants have had needles stuck in the tongue repeatedly to cure digestive disturbance, and death almost always results.
The needles used are of iron or silver, and vary in length according to the place they are to be used. For example, in sticking the leg a needle three or four inches long is used, and it is stuck in the leg at a depth of two inches, and in sticking the wrist a shorter needle is used, and it is penetrated to a depth of three fourths of an inch.
The native doctor is not troubled about germs, for he has never even heard that any such things exist, so before plunging in the needle he will rub it on his dirty hair, to oil it and make the needle penetrate easier. We have had many cases of blindness come to the dispensary that have resulted from sticking the needle into the eye. The needle is stuck into the eye either to remove a scar on the eye or in case of cataract.
In surgery the native doctor is a veritable butcher. This is due to the fact that the ordinary Chinese doctor is afraid to do any cutting, and those who are bold enough to do it are always of the reckless kind. One of this kind lives near our mission station, and some of his work has come to my attention. A patient who had a slight growth on the eyeball came to him. The native doctor had just been out in his poppy patch, cutting gashes in the poppy pods to cause the opium juice to exude. With the knife he had been using to gash the poppy pods, he at once proceeded to cut the growth from the man's eye. The knife being only a blunt piece of iron, he soon tore a large hole that allowed the whole contents of the eyeball to run out. Another of his cases was a woman with a large abscess in her breast. To open this he used a broken piece of the blade of a hoe that he had sharpened for the purpose.
A common method used in vaccinating is to take the scab from one child's arm to vaccinate another child. As they never take the trouble to wash the arm, and in addition tear the scab off with their long finger-nail, it is needless to say that the vaccination rather succeeds in making a large disagreeable sore.
A. C. SELMON, M. D.
Siang Cheng, via Hankow, China.
Medical Missionary Department
Conducted by the Medical Department of the General Conference
W. A. GEORGE, M. D., - - - - Chairman
W. A. RUBLE, M. D., - - - - Secretary
School Buildings and Surroundings
By F. G.
SPRING has come, and with it must come a spring dress. It is time for us to clean, paint, and plant. Some one has said that soap is the forerunner of civilization. Whether this is so or not, it is true that the best education can not be gotten in unclean and neglected buildings, situated in the midst of barren surroundings. It can not be too often repeated that education is not gotten alone from books. The child is educated more by those unconscious influences which enter into his life than by direct effort in study; both, however, are necessary. He needs to be surrounded continually by an atmosphere of purity and beauty. The food for the mind and soul needs to be even more wholesome than the food for the body. To this end every effort should be made to have the floors, walls, and windows of our schoolrooms immaculately clean. There should be plants and a few good pictures in the room. We have sometimes seen schoolrooms cluttered up with cheap and gaudy pictures and trinkets. These are supposed to please and instruct the child, but as a matter of fact there is nothing neat or artistic about such a room. The child thus receives an education which tends rather to confusion and gaudiness than to order and neatness, and is bound to affect his life and work.
Around our buildings ornamental trees, shrubbery, vines, and flowers should be artistically planted. The care of these flowers and plants is in itself a valuable education for the children and young people. But the delight which comes from the beautiful plants and flowers is continually giving to the pupils a most wholesome education. Flowers can often be grown to financial profit, not only in our advanced schools, but in our church-schools.
The following instruction, which was given by the spirit of prophecy in the establishment of the school at Cooranbong , Australia, has lessons of value for all our schools:—
“Let the lands near the school and the church be retained. Those who come to settle in Cooranbong can, if they choose, find for themselves homes near by, or on portions of the Avondale estate. But the light given to me is that all that section of land from the school orchard to the Maitland Road, and extending on both sides of the road from the meeting-house to the school, should become a farm and a park, beautified with fragrant flowers and ornamental trees. There should be fruit orchards and every kind of produce cultivated that is adapted to this soil, that this place may become an object-lesson to those living close by and afar off.”
F. G.
Teaching Manners
By F. G.
“EVEN a child is known by his doings.” True manners find their source in a true heart. They are not simply a matter of formal etiquette of conventional conduct, but they are the results of a generous and kindly heart.
There is danger of devoting too much time to education upon manners and forms and of attaching too much importance to the matter of etiquette, but on the other hand there is great danger of not attaching enough importance to these subjects. Our students should be so educated that they can enter the most refined homes and deport themselves in a becoming manner. They should know the usual forms of good manners, not only in theory, but as habits in their lives.
Instruction in social forms, table etiquette, proper dress, should from time to time be given to the students in our schools that they may become thoroughly conversant with what is expected in good society. In our school Homes there should be a constant effort to teach the pupils the art of good conversation, that they may talk with one another in a sensible and pleasing manner. The undignified, ungentlemanly or unladylike ways of the gospel worker may, to an unconverted person, speak more loudly than the words of truth which are uttered.
We are not to teach our children to be seekers of and followers after the fashions and foibles of society, but there are good forms which will have to be held before them as desirable habits of life. These good, sensible forms have their origin in kindliness of heart, and with this in view we may ever hold them before our pupils.
F. G.
The Closing of Our Schools
By F. G.
WE have come to that time in our school year when attention is being given to the closing of our schools for the long summer vacation. The manner in which the schools close will have much to do with the way they open next fall,23and we should seek to have the closing hours filled with those things which will be an inspiration to our pupils during the summer. The parting words said to us often remain with us for a long time, and there is an opportunity here given to teachers to say and do those things that may have great influence upon the lives of the pupils.
Our schools are established for the sole purpose of preparing workers in the cause of truth. Accordingly, all that is said and done in these closing days should have direct reference to this preparation. It would seem to be but natural and right that there should be closing exercises in our schools. These exercises may leave with the pupil many pleasant memories, and it is right that his memories of school experiences should be of a pleasing nature.
Our schools should be made very dear to our students, but this affection should not be because of the good times that can be had in them, but because these schools stand for good things — good principles. Now, it would seem that these good principles could be so pleasingly set forth in our closing exercises as to create a deeper love for them in the minds of the students.
To illustrate: In place of the customary class prophecy and class history of class-day exercises which abounds with personal references and jokes concerning the students, there may be given prophecies and histories which speak forth the struggles of the students in their endeavors to obtain that which is higher and better, of the grand principles for which the school has stood and is standing, and of the noble purposes for the future. Most helpful and inspiring thoughts can thus be presented by the graduating classes to their fellow students. There is in this way a seriousness which in itself is agreeable and pleasant, and which is in perfect keeping with the solemn and earnest nature of our work. The closing exercises of all our schools should be invigorating rather than enervating.
F. G.
The Duty of Students to Their School
By F. G.
It is as much a duty of our school managers to fill our schools as it is to teach the children and young people when they are in the schools. There are hundreds and thousands of our boys and girls who do not appreciate the possibilities that lie in their lives. Their parents do not appreciate the importance of an education, and so they have not surrounded their children with an atmosphere of mental development. Such young people need to be awakened to the importance of securing an education that will qualify them for usefulness in life.
It is the duty, however, of the students of our schools to interest other young people in the matter of education. It passes without argument that young men and young women who put forth an effort to secure an education for themselves appreciate something of its value. Thus it is but natural and reasonable for them to enlist the interest of other young men and women in this same good work. As a matter of fact, the students in our schools can do more than the teachers of the schools and managers in filling our schools, if they would enter upon the work heartily.
There is no better missionary work that they can do. The importance of this work should be held before our students as we are closing our schools this year, that they may work earnestly not only to come to the school themselves at the opening of the next school year, but to bring many others with them. If our students have a real burden for souls in their hearts, they will appreciate this grand opportunity of doing good, and will enter heartily upon such a work as this. Too much emphasis can not be laid upon this valuable opportunity for the accomplishment of a good work by our young people.
F. G.
To Students Preparing for Work in China
By W. H. Miller
While all our schools are giving the best missionary course ever offered, still a few hints may not be out of place as a guide to students in selecting work that will enable them quickly and efficiently to prepare for work in this extensive field. In most cases where students are of mature years, we would recommend securing this preparation in the shortest possible time, since the more important preparation must be obtained on the field, and we would not advise any one to spend time trying to learn the language at home, for experience has shown that time thus spent has not only been in vain, but has delayed them here.
It must be remembered that China, while just emerging from her long state of conservatism into modern civilization, is still many years behind in her movement, and will remain so for some time in the future. Civilization has only touched the outskirts of China, and a foreigner in the interior cities and villages is still a subject of great curiosity.
In every occupation the most obsolete and crude instruments are still in use, — the hand sickle for reaping the grain; the wheelbarrows, and donkey carts without springs, for transportation; two wooden rollers approximating each other for seeding cotton, with which one man can seed two pounds a day, etc. General improvements are also greatly deficient, the public highway often answering for ditches in wet weather, and the ferry answering for a bridge. All cities and large villages have the ancient walls, which are still kept in repair, and during this year were resorted to as places of safety during the local disturbances in the empire.
By far the larger percentage of the people are agriculturists, the coolie class (that is, those engaged in transportation) coming next, and nearly all the other occupations are represented—blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, doctors, teachers, coppersmiths, carvers, tailors, etc. These can seldom be induced to use any modern method unless it can be demonstrated before them, since they can not understand by being told, but only by having it done before them. However, those who have the ability of sketching their idea on paper may succeed if their drawing is clear and plain. We have found carpenters who could take a good diagram of an object, and make it with but very little help. Drawing and making illustrations to explain our ideas is one of the most useful methods in teaching this people, since the large percentage are illiterate, and can grasp an idea in no other way. This method can be recommended none too highly, nor studied too diligently by the student coming to this or other foreign lands. Study how to illustrate gospel truths by such means as the kindergarten methods; the use of the magnet to illustrate the drawing power of God in such texts as John 12:32; the use of iodin and sodium hyposulphate to illustrate the cleansing power of Christ’s blood. Just as the hyposulphate causes the dirty iodin color to become transparent, so Christ’s blood will clear all that is impure and unclean in our hearts. The more these illustrations can be multiplied, the more effective will one be in making the gospel truths plain to the heathen. We find it necessary to use these simple examples continually, even with the class of literati.
A good plan to follow in Bible study would be, with every illustration to couple as many texts as possible, as well as to try to find some illustration for every important truth of the gospel. It has been the method of teaching among the Chinese to explain everything by finding a comparison. Now, as foreign things can not be used for comparison here without first explaining them, one who has prepared himself with this method of teaching can soon adapt his illustrations to things Chinese. This was Christ’s great method of making the gospel plain. His comparisons drawn from nature were many. The example or comparison should be written down and connected with the text at once, and all necessary illustrations procured, so that when the call comes to proceed to the field, all is in readiness. Bible atlases, scrolls, pictures, and picture cards, and kindergarten supplies are all of exceptional value here.
Music, vocal and instrumental, being an important aid in any land, is of special value as a help here. The instruments that are most appreciated are the organ, accordian, guitar, and mandolin. Wind instruments, such as the cornet, flute, and clarinet, as well as the violin, are somewhat looked down upon in the interior, since the Chinese flute and wind-instrument players are considered the lowest class, and neither they nor their sons were formerly permitted to take examination for literary degrees. A word about bringing instruments: few have found that they could use large organs brought from the home land in the interior. If they are not spoiled in transportation, they soon spoil in this climate, in the houses where missionaries have to live. It is also difficult to move a heavy organ here, owing to the very crude conveyances, and the expense as well. The small folding organs are almost universally used here, since they cost but little for transportation, and can be readily moved from chapel to house in the mission compound. Most organ companies make what is called the acclimatized organ, having brass and copper mountings, so that the parts will not rust and spoil in the damp climates. The acclimatized folding organ should be secured for the interior. Regarding the smaller instruments, such as the mandolin, guitar, and accordian, see that the parts are not held together with glue, as that will not last in these climates; also that all breakable parts, such as strings, are amply supplied.
W. H. MILLER, M. D.
Sin Yang Cheo, Honan, China.
(To be concluded)
At Such a Time as This
By H. C. HARTWELL
At such a time as this,—when the world is given over to greed and avarice; when men are bending every effort, even committing dreadful crimes, in order to gain worldly wealth and power; when judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off, and truth is fallen in the street; when error and every wind of doctrine is blowing; and when superstition, distrust, and uncertainty24are in the very air,—it is a glorious thing to know the truth.
The wise man has said, “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” It is the pearl of great price, it is more precious than rubies, and all the things that man can desire are not to be compared unto it. He who knew all things said concerning the Scriptures, “Thy word is truth.” “The Bible came fresh from the Fountain of eternal truth, and throughout the ages a divine hand has preserved its purity. It lights up the past, where human research in vain seeks to penetrate.” It also illuminates the future, and in the prophecies are unfolded the history of the world to the close of time; it also reveals bright glimpses of the eternal world, when we shall see His face, and sin and evil shall be no more.
But though there are many Bibles in the land, though thousands of churches rear their lofty spires, though immense institutions of learning and schools of every kind are being built to-day, yet darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. Instead of looking upon the sure word of prophecy as “a light that shineth in a dark place,” “the vision of all is become . . . as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I can not; for it is sealed.” The inspired record is largely regarded as foolishness, and theories of evolution and modern science are set forth to explain the origin and destiny of creation. The blind are leading the blind. False teachers are constantly arising, and thousands are being carried away by their deceptions.
As Daniel and John, in ancient times of moral darkness, were raised up to bear testimony for God, so “he has called us out from the world that we may be witnesses for his truth; and all through our ranks, young men and women should be trained for positions of usefulness and influence.”
Such a preparation can not be obtained in the schools of the world, where “lessons containing falsehood” are taught. It was not the education which Moses acquired in Egypt that prepared him for the important work of his life, but in communion with the Great Teacher he learned the lessons of humility and true wisdom that enabled him to bear with meekness and undaunted courage the trials which befell him as the great leader of Israel.
“We know that there are many schools which afford opportunities for education in the sciences, but we desire something more than this. The science of true education is the truth, which is to be so deeply impressed on the soul that it can not be obliterated by the error that everywhere abounds.” “One great object of our schools is the training of youth to engage in different lines of gospel work. The people everywhere are to have the Bible opened to them. Young men are needed for this work; God calls for them.”
Daniels and Esthers are wanted to-day to represent the truth. “We shall have to stand before magistrates to answer for our allegiance to the law of God, to make known the reasons of our faith. And the youth should understand these things.” To each of them the question comes, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
H. C. HARTWELL.
The Evils of Memory-Based Education
For ages education has had to do chiefly with the memory. This faculty has been taxed to the utmost, while the other mental powers have not been correspondingly developed. Students have spent their time in laboriously crowding the mind with knowledge, very little of which could be utilized. The mind thus burdened with that which it can not digest and assimilate, is weakened; it becomes incapable of vigorous, self-reliant effort, and is content to depend on the judgment and perception of others. . . . As the student sacrifices the power to reason and judge for himself, he becomes incapable of discriminating between truth and error, and falls an easy prey to deception. He is easily led to follow tradition and custom.—“Christian Education.”
