p. 10 | After Twelve Years by Mrs. S. R. Town

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 17, 1910

After Twelve Years

By Mrs. S. R. Town

MRS. S. R. TOWN

The Transforming Power of the Truth

It was in the autumn of 1896 that we first visited the company of new believers in this gospel of the kingdom, located in one of the provinces of the Argentine Republic of South America. After a pleasant ride of thirty-six hours by river steamer, we arrived at our port about midnight. At sunrise we could discern a Russian wagon winding down from the brow of the bluff above us, and we were soon rolling over the open prairie in the fragrant country air, far from the taints and contaminations of city life, the bluest of spring skies overhead, many colored wild flowers under foot, and soaring song-birds all around us.

A ride of twenty-four miles brought us to the place of meeting. The worshippers were already assembled, and were singing with all their might. There seemed to be as many different parts to the music as there were voices, but each part fitted in with every other part in its windings and slurs and broken time, and all ended so abruptly that it left one breathless. The men were patriarchal looking, with unkempt hair and beard and soiled hands. The women

were gaudily dressed, and each had her head enveloped in a large kerchief. The children were exact reproductions of the parents, except in matter of size. But when meeting was over, and we were made the recipients of their smiles and hearty fraternal greetings, we realized that the same blessed hope as ours had come into their lives, and that our aims and affections were one. With true brotherly love they extended to us their hospitality, and we, as newcomers, were apportioned for the night to a more commodious home than others by our fellow workers; that is to say, we had only one roommate, the general rule being for visitors to share the same sleeping-room with the rest of the family. But we were unable to sleep, from the nature of our bed, as well as from the lack of fresh air, to which our roommate objected, being an elderly man.

The houses were made of adobes, roofed with thatch, and without floors. The furniture was of the most primitive, both as to quantity and as to quality; and dogs and cats, ducks and chickens, had free sway. All the dwellings were huddled together, leaving the land to be worked at a distance. The least personal privacy was impossible as long as daylight lasted, every window being filled with childish faces from without, and the room door opening unceremoniously as often as any man or woman chose to enter.

Educating the children was something which had not as yet occurred to these brethren. Each child was regarded as a profitable investment, being used to replace hired help at a very tender age.

Just twelve years from the time of this trip, we visited the same section again, to help temporarily in the work of an industrial boarding-school established among this same people. As before, we were invited to visit their homes; but although glad to see them, we did not look forward to our stay among them with very much pleasure. Imagine our surprise when the first brother took us, not to a mud hovel, but to a good white house, with shade trees and flower gardens, orchards and cultivated fields surrounding it on every side. Windmills and herds of cattle also betokened that industry and thrift had taken the place of idleness and vice. Personal cleanliness and modesty of dress marked their persons, and the house rejoiced in convenient furniture, and such little comforts and ornaments as distinguish a home from a mere house. There was a spare room for transients, airy and comfortable, and the children no longer intruded. And as we went from one place to another, this experience proved to be the general rule, and not the exception.

Among them lived their former associates just as they were before, but those who have heard the message, “The Lord is coming,” are getting ready for him, soul and body. Not only that, but they are getting their children ready. Each little neighborhood has its children’s school, and as already mentioned, they have also established a more advanced school for preparing their young people for gospel laborers. About ninety were in attendance last year, and some have gone to Europe to take more extended courses than this school affords. A sanitarium in course of construction stands as another witness to their zeal and liberality, and there may be seen to-day their sons and daughters neatly attired in nurses’ uniform, learning to make themselves useful.

In fact, fathers and mothers there are struggling and sacrificing just as they do here, to prepare their children and send them forth in the work which lies so near their hearts. From such humble beginnings, the message of the Lord’s coming is going to all parts of South America to high and low, rich and poor, and we can only say, “What hath God wrought!”

Takoma Park, D. C.