p. 16 | In the Highlands of the South

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 23, 1915

In the Highlands of the South

By MATTIE HAMILTON WELCH

I AM glad to report that I have enjoyed good health, and that the Lord has blessed me since coming to Virginia. I spent seven weeks in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Page County, visiting our station. In Lucas Hollow, near Stanley, there was a spiritual awakening among the mountain people, which greatly encouraged me. Men who used to chew or smoke tobacco and swear are now Christians, and have requested Bible studies and that a Sunday school be organized. When I went there four years ago, only a few children knew their letters. With the instruction I gave them and that obtained in the district school, which I stirred up the directors to continue, the children can now read the Bible. The parents seem burdened for the salvation of their families. And hearing of the terrible war in Europe and of the great storms and disasters in our own land, they desire to learn from the Word of God what they must do to be ready to meet the Lord when he comes.

The fourth of July was observed for the second time in the history of the settlement, and those sturdy mountaineers appreciated my talk on religious liberty. The children gave a very interesting program, which consisted of patriotic readings and a temperance chart exercise.

I desire to thank my friends everywhere for sending so promptly our good papers and magazines for distribution on that occasion. At least a barrelful came, and I gave away over four hundred copies that day. The rest I gave to dear old Mrs. Cubbage, the mother in Israel of that region, to give out during the coming winter.

There are several denominations represented in Lucas Hollow, but there is no church building. Quite a number of the people said, “If the Adventists will help build a union meetinghouse, we will work on it free, and join that faith; for the Seventh-day Adventists preach the whole Bible.” I hope that the conference will consider this appeal.

At Rileyville I found our little Adventist church of good courage. They have bought the old schoolhouse from the county, and have a church school. To pay off the seventy-eight dollars still remaining on the building, the sisters are piecing and selling quilts. If any of our people or sanitariums need quilts, I hope they will buy of these noble sisters who are so bravely holding up the truth in these isolated regions. This would be helping in a good work. These sisters would also appreciate quilt patches — pieces of calico, worsted, or silk — to use in making other quilts. Mrs. Lula Hill is the president of the Mothers’ Aid and Missionary Society, and an order for a quilt or the gift of a package of pieces sent to her at Rileyville, Page Co., Va., will receive due attention from the society.

At present I am assisting in the tent effort at Charlottesville. During the camp meeting recently held at this place, so deep an interest was manifested by many of the residents that the big tent was left and a series of meetings planned.

Elder Stewart Kime, Elder Armstrong and wife, and Brethren Farley and Craft were given charge. The lady Bible reader selected was ill, so I was asked to take her place. This is an important city, as the University of Virginia, which is the pride of the South, is located here. “Monticello,” the old homestead of Thomas Jefferson, is near by. The people attending the meetings seem to appreciate present truth. They say they never heard the Bible explained so clearly before. No doubt a church will soon be organized here, and I am happy to have a little part in this work.

When the meetings close, I expect to go up into a mountain near by, called Ragged Mountain, where I shall open a new station among the needy mountaineers, and try to do something to better their condition, and to give them the message of a soon-coming Saviour.

I ask a share in the prayers of our people, as this is a needed work among a people that have been long neglected.

MATTIE HAMILTON WELCH. Charlottesville, Va.