Preparation for the Assembly
By E. A. Sutherland
A GLIMPSE in the grove on the Emmanuel Missionary College farm would arouse your curiosity. Conventions or summer assemblies are popular in the world. There is scarcely a profession that does not hold its union meetings some time during the season. Chautauquas and summer schools for teachers are the order of the day, because it is a recognized fact that those who are giving their very lives for the education of children, for nine months in the year, need recreation and some strength-renewing diversion during the vacation. If teachers of the world need this, do Christian teachers, who have cast themselves into this great furrow of the world's need, teachers with their long hours, scanty pay, and poor accommodations, need any less the inspiration that comes from the gathering together of large companies interested in this same great cause? Of all our workers, surely none need it more than these; and so Emmanuel Missionary College has dedicated its grove as a permanent assembly ground for Christian teachers. At the last meeting of the Lake Union Conference Committee an appropriation of about three hundred dollars was made for the erection of cottages for those who attend the summer school. Last year the teachers at the summer assembly lived in tents, which had been loaned by various conferences. Such favors cannot be asked every year, and teachers will appreciate the interest manifested in their welfare by the Lake Union Conference in its appropriation. The Wisconsin Conference has voted to erect four cottages in the grove. Bethel Academy will put up one, and several friends of Christian education have arranged for other cottages. These cottages are very plain, wooden structures, which will accommodate four students apiece. They cost $37.50, and are built by students now attending Emmanuel Missionary College. Seven of these cottages are nearing completion. That is the interesting feature of the grove at this time. Although such substantial evidence has been given of the good will of the friends of Christian schools, a sufficient number of cottages to accommodate all the students of the summer school has, by no means, been arranged for. There are churches which have expressed a desire to put up a cottage which they will name, in which the students that they send to the school, or others whom they may designate, will find a pleasant home for the summer. We have thought that, without doubt, there are other churches which have not known of this opportunity to help the cause of Christian education that would be glad to be represented by a cottage in the grove. I feel sure that there are persons who, when they read this, will want to donate the price of a cottage. Those who desire to learn more about this may correspond with the president of Emmanuel Missionary College. From our summer school young people go out to the churches all over the land, and we want to make it possible for them to get all they can during their stay here. We want them to be comfortably located, and then as they breathe the fresh air and work in the soil, and as they study the truths of God, they will become strong to labor for your children. This assembly reminds one of the annual gatherings of the Jews at Jerusalem, which meant so much to that people. Their national unity depended largely upon these convocations. Let our young people, especially the teachers and those who hope to be teachers, to whom we have a right to look for enthusiastic work, and those who are friends of this movement, bear in mind the preparation that is now being made for the summer's work. E. A. SUTHERLAND.