The Madison (Tenn.) School and Its Influence
It was my privilege to spend Sabbath, January 9, at the Madison school. At the beginning of the Sabbath, Elder A. G. Daniells and I met the teachers and students in their new commodious assembly hall. Their eagerness to hear and our willingness to talk, led to the holding of four meetings in the twenty-four hours of our visit. Elder Daniells spoke that evening and early Sabbath morning, with thrilling interest, upon the world-wide progress of the message. Then he hastened to Nashville, to speak again in the Memorial church. At the forenoon service I spoke on the work that students may do while attending school—as nurses, and as teachers of Bible truth in homes and in Sabbath-schools. In the afternoon the ordinances of humility and fellowship were celebrated, nearly all the students taking part. Since our visit in January, 1908, marked changes had taken place in the personnel, the equipment, and the surroundings of the school. Many whom I had met in former years were gone, and there were scores of new faces. On inquiring, I learned that twelve or more of the older students had been drawn from time to time to enter the employ of the Southern conferences and institutions; eight were teaching in foreign fields; and a score or more were connected with the ten schools that have been established during the last two or three years in the needy mountain districts. Several times I had visited the school when the only assembly room was the large, low-ceiled parlor of the original farmhouse. One year ago the school had outgrown that room, and was using for an assembly room a cottage put up without partitions. During the summer of 1908, Gotzian Hall had been built, and now for the first time the school has found a roomy, comfortable home. Central Tennessee is a well-watered country, but occasionally there are severe droughts. The school farm had several wells, but in the driest times the flow of water was scanty. When the school family was small, there was no serious trouble, except the necessity of pumping water from the river for the horses and cattle. But a sanitarium needs a large16and constant supply of good, pure water, and when the plans and location of the sanitarium were settled, it was found that water must be brought from the river, or many cisterns must be built. After much study it was decided to install a water plant that could be relied upon at all times to furnish an abundant supply, (a) to the sanitarium; (b) to the school boarding-house and all the resident cottages; (c) to the stables and stock-yards; and (d) for the irrigation of the kitchen garden in time of drought. On one of the highest elevations between the river and the buildings, a forty-three-thousand-gallon tank was put up, constructed of red cypress. From this tank to the river, a distance of thirty-five hundred thirty-six feet, a three-inch supply pipe was laid, and on the river bank a ten-horsepower gasoline engine operates the pump, which is set in a cement casement twenty-six feet below, near the level of the river. From this large tank, water is supplied to the sanitarium, the boarding-house, the cottages, and to smaller supply tanks in the two large pastures. The sanitarium was completed, and was ready for opening as soon as the severe January weather was over. It is a model of simplicity and economy, and is so built that it can be operated for five patients or for twenty-five, on a scale of expense corresponding to the amount of work it has to do. Dr. Newton Evans is the surgeon and physician-in-chief. He has recently built a cottage and located his family near the sanitarium. He also maintains an office in Nashville, and is teaching in one of the medical colleges there. Dr. Lillian Eshelmann Magan is the house physician. While waiting for the sanitarium to be put up, she has built up quite a practise outside. With the little sanitarium in full operation, the Madison school can do good work in training medical evangelists for the home and foreign fields. The Madison school promises to be an important factor in our educational work in the South, as a center of influence, a place to which those who are pioneering in hard places can look for counsel and encouragement. Not only are young men and women gathered from the North and given a practical training for service, but when they leave Madison, they are not forgotten, and in times of special need they are sometimes helped to secure necessary assistance. Just recently an advance step was taken in the inauguration of quarterly conventions. It is now planned that once in three months a convention shall be held at Madison or at Hillcrest or some other accessible place, where the teachers from the hill schools will be invited to come together for a two-days' council. In these councils, teachers will relate their experiences in meeting difficulties, in developing self-support, in doing evangelistic work, in winning the confidence of the people. So far as the students of the Madison school are able to attend, they will gain a valuable education, and the teachers will learn much from one another. Concerning the convention recently held at Madison, Prof. E. A. Sutherland says:— “We gave considerable attention to the proper method of using our Sundays in the mission schools. Practically all the teachers are attending Sunday-schools and services, and some of them are planning to hold Sunday-schools in their little schoolhouses. Most of them have Sunday evening meetings. They say they could have meetings every Sunday evening if they had competent help. We are arranging to give them this help. Near Alden's school one of the best families in the neighborhood has just begun to keep the Sabbath. Several have begun to keep the Sabbath at Mulford's school. This is encouraging, and we rejoice greatly that the quiet work is having its effect. The schools are full, and are doing a good work.” “On Sunday we gave much time and study to the question of self-support. You would have been intensely interested to hear the plans of the leaders of these schools in making their living from the soil.” “We also spent much time in studying methods of teaching those not of our faith, and had an exchange of experiences from the various teachers. There were twelve in attendance from these schools.” “Our students were deeply interested in what was said at this meeting. The next meeting will be held at Hillcrest in three months. Our plan is to have a two-days' meeting every quarter. The one that has just been held is the second meeting of this nature.” In a letter dated Feb. 26, 1909, Brother Sutherland writes as follows:— “This winter we are having the best school since we came South. Most of the students are earnest young people who are preparing for work in the Southern field. Several were taken in who were not Christians; these have taken their stand for the truth since entering the school. Nearly all the students are earning their school expenses.” “We have a great deal of work in connection with the dairy, the school home, and the sanitarium, also building, farming, and clearing the brush off the land. The general round of duties and improvements keeps us very busy. We need two or three more persons in the school who are able to carry heavy responsibilities. The work is quite wearing on some who are here.” “We are making some headway with the sanitarium. It has been quite a problem to get this enterprise started, but we have faith that God has ordered that it should be established, and that he will in his own way make it a success. We are thankful for one thing, and that is that we are able to conduct it without financial loss. Our patronage has been sufficient thus far to prevent this. A few operations have been performed, and a number of persons have been helped in regaining their health. We have several nurses who are busy all the time. Drs. Evans and Magan are our physicians. They are faithful, and we feel that the Lord has greatly blessed us in giving them to us.” “One of the most encouraging features of our work is the success that is attending the little mission schools that are being established throughout the country. They appeal to the people. There are about five hundred children and youth attending the schools that have been established here since we left Battle Creek. Several persons have begun to keep the Sabbath during the last year, as the result of these little schools. The schools are just starting. We hope, after a year or two, to see much fruit from them.” “We are holding meetings among the young people of these communities. Not very long ago I held a meeting at one of our little schools, and there were about two hundred persons present. They listened very attentively to the instruction. The people are more reverential than those in the North. If we approach them in the right way, we can have a strong influence over them. There are many, we believe, who will embrace the third angel's message if we properly present the truth to them.” W. C. WHITE.