THERE are eleven large rivers in the Swatow district, and lining these rivers on both sides are scores of cities and hundreds of villages. With our “Hayes Gospel Boat”—a gift to our mission during the last year—we are able to travel for weeks along these watercourses, visiting new places every day. We have at present opened chapels in sixteen stations, and the work is spreading.
Unless the reader has traveled in the interior of a country like China, he may not appreciate how thankful one is for this good, clean home on the cool river after a day’s work amid the dirt and filth of a crowded city. Here there are no rats to tear the mosquito nettings at night, nor the other pests of a village inn, where the missionary often has to share his room with travelers in all stages of health and disease, and possibly with a variety of domestic animals. Especially do we thank God for this river boat when we find the dreaded plague raging in the community.
SHIP MISSION YACHT “LIBERTY,” NEW YORK HARBOR; HAYES GOSPEL BOAT; SWATOW RIVER, CHINA
Multitudes of people must be reached with the gospel message along these watercourses, and we are to seek for the Lord’s lost sheep in the byways as well as the highways.
