A. E. LEMON, M. D by A. E. Lemon, M. D.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 14, 1902

A. E. LEMON, M. D

By A. E. Lemon, M. D.

Newfoundland

A. E. LEMON, M. D

This, the oldest colony of the British Empire, is a large island lying between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one thousand miles in circumference, has an area of forty-two thousand two hundred square miles, and a population of over two hundred thousand. The main line of the Newfoundland railway system, five hundred and forty-eight miles long, connects the capital, St. John's, in the extreme east, with Port au Basques on the west coast. The latter place is connected by a daily steamer service with the Intercolonial Railway of Canada. Regular lines of steamships ply between St. John's and Liverpool, Montreal, Halifax, and New York. There is regular steamer service also between the different ports of the island.

The coast line is very irregular; bays, inlets, cliffs, and promontories adding to the beauty of the scenery and the danger of navigation. One third of the interior is covered with lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams, which abound with a variety of fish. The other two thirds, while not yet all explored, is made up of large tracts of forest, great areas of rich mining lands, and a considerable portion devoted to the raising of live stock, and the cultivation of grains, vegetables, and fruits. The climate is much milder than is generally supposed by those who have never lived here. The summer is cool, with abundant but not excessive rainfall. The winter is tempered by the ever-open waters of the ocean. And as the severity of the winter season has been decreasing for many years, it is believed that the Gulf Stream is gradually exerting a modifying influence on the climate of the island. There is very little zero weather, and last winter there was scarcely a week of sleighing. The people are of English, Irish, and Scotch descent. They speak only English, with a colonial accent. They live by fishing, farming, mining, lumbering, and trading. The mining industry is growing rapidly. The colony already produces a large proportion of the world's copper, and is now producing immense quantities of the finest iron ore, which in one place exists in great beds on the surface, and so close to the shore that it can be loaded directly onto large vessels. It finds a ready market in the great iron works at Sidney, Cape Breton, at Philadelphia, and even in Europe. Besides iron and copper, lead, manganese, coal, silver, and gold are them, found. Great possibilities, in the way of mining, as yet undeveloped, await the investment of money and labor. The fisheries are the greatest in the world, and afford employment to a large proportion of the inhabitants.

As a rule, the people are intelligent, hospitable, open hearted, and industrious. Their patriotism and loyalty to Great Britain are worthy of notice. Schools are numerous and well conducted. They are under denominational control, and partially supported by the government. The government is democratic; but as in all civilized countries, the politicians influence the people through the newspapers more than they would if every man loved his neighbor as himself. In religious belief, the population is about equally divided between the Church of England, Methodists, and Roman Catholics, there being but a small number of others, mostly of the Salvation Army, and a few Presbyterians.

St. John's, the capital, with a population of thirty thousand, is built on a rock, which slopes southward toward the harbor, which is one of the finest in the world. At the west end of the harbor is a dry dock capable of taking any vessel on this side of the Atlantic. The city is fairly well laid out, and contains a large number of fine buildings. There are several departmental stores, besides many smaller ones, and one can buy almost anything that can be had in the English or American markets, and at very reasonable prices.

Notwithstanding the naturally healthy conditions, the people, by the too free and general use of tea, tobacco, and in many places alcohol, have so injured their general health that the death rate is higher than it should be; although this is offset by the fact that according to the statistics issued by the government, there are almost twice as many births as there are deaths. Vice and immorality are not so prevalent here as in the United States. There is great need of a reform in the habits of the people with regard to eating and drinking and the general care of the body. They need to be taught that true religion consists not in a form of creed and worship, but in keeping the mind and the body pure and free from defilement, and in preserving a conscience void of offense toward God and man.

St. John's.