PROBABLY all are aware of the terrible drought through which Australia has been passing during the past seven or eight years,—a drought which has been broken in some parts by only an occasional shower. In Queensland there are children of school age who have never seen a rainy day. The country is not blessed with irrigating ditches like many portions of the United States, but is dependent almost wholly upon the clouds of heaven for all its moisture. When day after day, and month after month, and even year after year passes with scarcely rain enough to fill the empty tanks connected with the houses, what can be the awful result, but sorrow, suffering, and death on every hand, of both man and beast, and even the birds of heaven? Scarcely a bird is seen now, where there were formerly multitudes in the woods.
ECHO PUBLISHING HOUSE, MELBOURNE
But to watch the failing health and strength of our own brethren and sisters, and of their little children, and to see their faithful animals, upon which they are dependent for their daily food, dying, and to know that the cause of it all is insufficient nourishment, and then to be powerless to help them, causes a heartache for which there is no cure.
One family, consisting of a father and mother and eight children, who lived about five miles from town, made their living by hauling wood to market. After a time feed became so high that they could not buy enough for their horse, and it gradually grew weaker until it died.
The older boys obtained a small amount of money by hunting wallabies, a species of kangaroo, a few pennies being paid for their skins. Soon these animals were all killed off, for many others were getting their living in the same way. The father was then taken sick, and the mother and one of the boys walked to town two or three times a week, five miles under the burning sun, to collect a little money which was due them. Sometimes they were successful in getting a few shillings, with which they bought a fifty-pound sack of flour and other necessities, which must be carried on the back that long, weary five miles home. At other times, having left home without any breakfast, because there was nothing in the house, they would walk from place to place until the middle of the afternoon, not able to collect a penny, and then call at our house for a little rest. After much questioning I would find out these facts, and divide my small store with them, or go to some neighbor, and thus get a little help in order that they might not go empty handed to their hungry family.
I was very much touched at one time; the father and mother came to town, leaving the children just enough food for their dinners. They were gone all day, but when they returned home, they found the dinner still untouched; for the children were afraid their father and mother might not get any money, and would come home tired and hungry, and find nothing to eat. The father was so moved that he sat down and wept.
Another case was a family of three. The father was an old man. He obtained his living by farming, picture framing, and hauling water for those who had to buy. After planting his garden over several times, and seeing everything which came up wither and die, and not being able to get plenty of feed for his horse, the animal became too weak to do any more work. One day I called on them just as the poor old man was leading his faithful creature to the slaughter house, where he received five shillings ($1.25) for his hide. His wife, though trusting and happy in Jesus, could not keep the tears back while she apologized for not being able to offer me any dinner. Their little girl had gone to one of the neighbors to play, and the mother had not called her to dinner; for she had none to give her. After this they had to depend on what the father could earn by framing pictures, and you can imagine how little that would be when at nearly every house the people would say, and truthfully too, “We can scarcely get bread to eat, and have no money to spend on pictures.” Others would give him work, but when the picture was finished, they could not pay him until the next week. He would walk in three miles next week, only to have a similar experience. This same brother, after the death of his horse, had to haul all his water three miles on a hand cart.
Others who were dependent on their cows for their living, would work day after day, cutting prickly pears, which had to be boiled and mixed with the little bran they were able to give, in hopes to keep the breath of life in them till rain should come, but only to see them die one after another.
Sometimes a horse would die unexpectedly, and on examination his stomach would be found filled with sand, which he had been obliged to eat in order to get at the grass roots.
A little girl came to our house one evening and asked for some bread. She said her father was out of work, and that there were six small children in the family, the youngest a few weeks old, and that they had had no food for two days. I gave her some, and told her to come in the morning and I would go with her to see her mother. I went, and found the picture only worse than she had depicted it.
And so I might relate instance after instance similar to the above, but I forbear. Sufficient has been said to show that in a place like that, means are needed to carry on the work, above what the brethren and sisters in such circumstances can possibly give.
It can be seen that the canvasser must meet with more than ordinary hardships and discouragements, and needs something more than our sympathy and prayers, as do also the other workers. Some good Bible workers receive only ten or fifteen shillings a week, and have to pay nearly half of it for room rent, while food is very expensive. There is only one minister in Queensland, and he is a young licentiate. The last we heard from there, he had gone into the canvassing work, as there was no money in the conference treasury to support him.
Brother and Sister Robie, from New Hampshire, are working in the medical work there. They have opened bath rooms, into which they put all the means they had. Though the rooms are well patronized, yet so much of the work must be done free, or people left to suffer, that it is a continual strain upon them to know how to meet their running expenses.
When we come before God, the Testimonies say, ‘Our need is our greatest plea.’ Can we bring a greater plea before you, dear brethren and sisters, than13the needs of the cause in Australia? The inhabitants of that country must have the truth brought before them before the Lord can come, and now while the hearts of many are made tender by their afflictions, is the time to present before them the last call of mercy to a dying world. And this can not be done there without more workers and more means. May God touch the hearts of those who should go, until they shall say, ‘Here am I, Lord, send me.’ And to the many who can not go may he grant a ‘willing mind,’ which shall lead them to give of their means as God has prospered them.
