p. 9 | The North India Mission by Arthur G. Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 6, 1915

The North India Mission

By Arthur G. Daniells

FROM Bombay we journeyed north to Lucknow, a distance of eight hundred and eighty-five miles. Here we had the joy of meeting old friends and fellow workers whom we had known in the homeland. We found Sister Salisbury looking well, and deeply interested in her language study preparatory to active work in India. She had just passed her first year's examination with success, which gave courage to press on with the second year's work.

We were glad to find Brother and Sister S. A. Wellman looking so well and strong for their work. He had recently been down with enteric fever, but had fully recovered. Brother Wellman is kept very busy with his editorial work on the Oriental Watchman and the Herald of Health, and also the work required of him as superintendent of the North India Mission. Brother and Sister W. E. Perrin, who came from Iowa, are located in Lucknow, Brother Perrin having the management of the printing office. They and their children have all been blessed with good health in this field. Here also we found Sister M. M. Quantock who came to India twenty years ago. She was then Miss May Taylor. In all these years Sister Quantock has gone back to the States but once, and then to accompany her husband, whose health had entirely failed, and who lived but a short time after reaching home. She soon returned to India, and has been working hard in the office of the India Union Mission ever since. But she now finds it necessary to leave this field permanently. As the work here has grown year by year, it has so twined around her heart that she finds it painful to go away from this field. She leaves India with the confidence and love of all the workers, and with the gratitude of both the India Union Mission Committee and the Mission Board at Washington for the faithful, conscientious service she has rendered.

Besides meeting these old friends, we had the privilege of making the acquaintance of workers whom we had not met before—Sister Vera Chilton and Sister Scholtz. Sister Chilton is devoting all her time to the zenana work, and Sister Scholtz is in charge of a dispensary in Lucknow.

I was very much pleased with the property purchased by the brethren for the headquarters of our work in India. The location is excellent. The building is an attractive, creditable-looking structure, and seems well suited for our work.

From Lucknow we visited the different mission centers in the North India Mission. At Najibabad we found an encouraging work in progress. Brother R. P. Morris is in charge of this station. I had known Brother and Sister Morris intimately during the years they spent in the Foreign Mission Seminary. They are in perfect health, and want all their friends and old classmates to know that they are glad they came to India, and that they intend to remain here while there is work to be done for the Master. Sister B. A. Kurtz, from Pennsylvania, has charge of the dispensary, which is operated principally for women. She is assisted by Sister Shoto Mitter, an Indian sister. From thirty to seventy-five patients pass through the dispensary daily, giving these sisters all the work they can carry. I was glad to find the workers in this mission very comfortably housed in the bungalow recently erected for them from funds sent out by the Mission Board. They are a mile and a half from the crowded part of the town, and have land enough to raise vegetables and fruits. There are thousands of persons living in the villages all about Najibabad. The workers in this mission will itinerate among these people, giving them all the help they can. Some of the natives who have embraced the truth in Najibabad are laboring with our European workers and rendering valuable help.

At Mussoorie we were pleased to meet Sister Bruce, who came from the Iowa Circle Sanitarium (Washington, D. C.) seven years ago, and Brother and Sister R. D. Brisbin, who came from South Lancaster Academy a year and a half ago. As these workers are located in the hills away from the heat, they were looking strong and rugged, and able for any amount of hard work. They were in charge of a school which has been established for the children of our missionaries

and our European and Anglo-Indian Sabbath keepers. Annfield House, which was purchased a few years ago for a summer hill station for our workers in the plains, is being used for the school. It was crowded to its utmost capacity when we were there. This enterprise means much to our people in India, and in the near future a permanent and suitable school building must be provided. The people of India will do their part as soon as this step can be taken. Brother and Sister Furnival, of South Lancaster Academy, have just reached India to connect with the school. Brother Brisbin has settled in Lucknow, as secretary of the union mission and private secretary of Professor Salisbury.

During the hot season we operate what are known as the Kirkville House Treatment Rooms, in Mussoorie. These are under the supervision of Brother and Sister William Lake, who embraced the message years ago in India. The patronage is good during the summer, and by careful, efficient management this enterprise more than pays all expenses. This institution forms a center from which rays of light are received and taken to all parts of India.

On arriving at Simla we were met by our dear friends, Dr. and Mrs. Menkel, whom many in the homeland will remember. Simla is located far up the Himalayan Mountain ranges. Our train had meandered around the mountains so long, and had traveled so far, that we really seemed to be going away off from everywhere; and when we saw the familiar, smiling faces of Brother and Sister Menkel, our meeting seemed unusually cordial. Every hour of our stay with them was appreciated. They are not so robust and strong as they should be to follow up the many avenues of service that are open to them. Simla is in some respects the most important hill station in India. It is the headquarters of the viceroy and his administrative staff during the summer months. Large departments of the general government are permanently located here, and this gives Simla a more permanent population than is to be found in any of the other hill stations. During the last two or three years some of our ministers have spent their summer vacations in Simla. While there they have carried on evangelistic work, and as a result a small but active church has been organized. Some of those who have embraced the truth hold important positions in government departments. Their applications to be exempt from service on the Sabbath have been considered by Lord Hardinge, and their requests granted. These members have a good, strong influence in Simla, and are earnest, active missionary workers. We found quite a number of influential persons deeply interested in the truth. Some of them, when at the station seeing Brother and Sister Menkel off to the Calcutta general meeting, asked for special prayer in their behalf. These requests were laid before the workers in our institute, and earnest supplication was made for them. A good, strong church in Simla will be of great value to our cause in India. Dr. and Mrs. Menkel are in charge of this station, and for a time they will devote their energies principally to evangelistic work. The Lord has blessed their efforts in this line since going to Simla. Of course they are very anxious to see sanitarium work established there; but while waiting for the funds necessary to do this, they will do all they can to win souls to the obedience of the truth. It is very evident that a sanitarium in Simla would be a great help to our work there, and that from it the light would radiate to all parts of India. We hope that some day a good institution may be opened there.

After visiting Mussoorie and Simla, and reading about Darjeeling, Murray, and other towns in this great range of mountains, I am convinced that the providence of God has placed within our reach in India means by which we can live and work in this mission field a lifetime without breaking down. I believe we should give this problem more careful study, and provide the means necessary to take advantage of the provision within our reach. Schwartz, Judson, Carey, and other missionaries in the pioneer days lived here twenty, thirty, and forty years without returning home. At that time there were no railways, and hill stations were unknown. They were also deprived of many helps within reach at the present time. We are nearing the end. Millions are unwarned. Much work is to be done, and all our forces are needed in the field, preaching, teaching, preparing and circulating literature, and directing the native workers every day until the end. Our workers in India love the field. They want this to be their field of labor until the end. Why, then, should not we as a people take advantage of this great mountain range all the way from Assam to Afghanistan, working in the plains as long as we can stand it, and then going to the cool, refreshing, invigorating temperature of the Himalayas, and keep on working there? I am sure we have hundreds of brethren of means who would gladly unite in providing the money necessary to carry out a plan of this kind. May the Lord of the harvest direct his workers in all their plans for the finishing of his work.

A. G. DANIELLS.