A Letter From India by Stephen N. Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 20, 1906

A Letter From India

By Stephen N. Haskell

[The following letter from Sister Burgess in India will be read with interest, and is in itself an appeal for help with which to advance the message in that dark field.—Ed.]

“DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER HASKELL: Your good letter reached us this morning, and made us glad, as your letters always do. We are happy to learn of Brother Haskell’s good health, and of the interest in your work there.

“We are getting on nicely in our work here, and enjoy it very much. We expect within a few days to go into the country about two miles, where we have secured a little house for the remainder of the hot season, at a rental of four rupees ($1.20) a month. It will be more quiet there, and better adapted for our work. The air also is much better, as the house is just on the edge of a large pine forest.

“A few days ago we were joined by a young man and his wife from the plains who expect to remain with us several months, studying the truth and preparing to give the message to the Hindustani people. I think Mr. Burgess mentioned them in his last letter. This young man was born a Hindu. When he was about twelve years old, he went with his father to one of their sacred cities to attend a mela, and at the close of the festival, in the crowd and confusion he became separated from his father. He was found by a missionary living in that city, and was taken by him to the mission and cared for until word could be sent to the father as to the whereabouts of his son. When the father came for him, he had become so attached to his new friends and the teaching he had received from them that he refused to leave them. He remained in the mission, and was educated as a preacher, in which work he has been engaged for a number of years.

“We met this young man when we first went to Tulsipur, where he had been working in connection with the Methodist Mission. From the first he seemed to realize that the Lord had something more for him, and seemed anxious to walk in the light as fast as he received it. We gave him no encouragement to disconnect with the Methodists and unite with us, as we wanted to be sure that the Lord was leading them, but they voluntarily gave up their situation in the mission, and came here to study the truth and fit themselves for this work. Since they have stepped out by faith and united with us, we feel that it would be a great lack of faith on our part not to receive them. So we expect to begin our first training-school for Hindustani workers in a few days, as soon as we move into our new quarters, with this young man and his wife as pupils. We want them to become thoroughly established on all points of the message before sending them out in the work. They will also be a great help to us in our translation work, as their native tongue is Urdu. It will cost us about five dollars a month to support this young man and his wife while they are training and after they go out into the work, but we know that the Lord, who opened the way for us to return to work among this people, and who has so bountifully supplied all our needs, will give us the means to care for just as many workers as can be raised up for the Hindustani people.

“The little house into which we expect to move can be obtained by the year for forty rupees, or about thirteen dollars. We are thinking some of taking it by the year, and establishing a permanent station here. Almora has the reputation of being the most healthful hill station of India, and the native people are very friendly to us. Of course we would expect to work in the plains during the cool season, but we would leave the native workers here in charge of the station during that time. However we shall know better what to do in this matter after having remained here a while longer. It seems that the Lord is leading in the direction of our working in the hills during the hot season and in the plains during the cool weather. In this way we shall be much more likely to keep our health, and the people in both places must have the message.

“Just to show you the kind feeling the people seem to have toward us, I will relate an incident. The only way of getting about here except by walking is by pony or landy. As there is so much climbing, of course it is rather difficult to walk any very great distance. Once or twice of late my husband has needed to go quite a distance, and has hired a pony, but as the regular charge is one rupee, whether one has the horse one hour or several, he has made most of his journeys on foot. A few days ago as we were up in the bazaar, a nice-looking Mohammedan gentleman, whom we had never seen before, stepped up to us and told my husband that he had horses for hire, and that when he needed a pony, he should come to him. Mr. Burgess asked him if he would hire the pony by the hour, and while he did not give him a definite answer, he gave him to understand that he would be reasonable with him. So the next time he needed a pony, he went to this man. He furnished him with a pretty black riding pony, and when my husband went to settle with him, he told him that he did not care to take anything from him. The horse was at his disposal whenever he wanted

to use it, but he would not charge him anything for it. We never saw the man before, and do not know how he knew that a horse was needed, but of course the Lord knew all about it. We often speak of how much better off we are than those who are rich, for we get the use of everything we need without the anxiety of owning it.

“The editor of the Hindi paper here has been very kind in publishing in his paper anything we give him, without charge. We have had one article on tobacco, one on vegetarianism, and he has in his hands for the next issue an article on the cause of earthquakes, which Mr. Burgess prepared largely from the Testimonies and the Bible on that subject. In this way we can get the truth before the readers of the paper when perhaps we could not reach them in any other way. We hope to get the second of Daniel in yet.

“With much love,

“GEORGIA A. BURGESS.”

From the above it is evident that the Lord has gone before Brother and Sister Burgess.

There are some eighty million Hindustani people, and God already has given them a minister and his wife. It is very probable that Sister Burgess’s estimate on the cost of supporting a minister and his wife is very low, but if a minister and his wife can be supported and receive an education and then go into the field for one hundred dollars a year, it would be a very safe investment.

If there are any of our people who have a few spare dollars, or if some wish to invest a few dollars in this work, they may send the same to the Bible Training-school, at South Lancaster, Mass., and it will be forwarded to Brother and Sister Burgess in India.

S. N. HASKELL.