The Past, Present, and Future
By S. N. Haskell
It is some time since I have given a general report of labor through the REVIEW, and as we are changing our field of labor, I thought it would be well to let our brethren know something of our movements. At the General Conference in the spring of 1901, it was decided that my wife and I should enter New York City to labor. The first of July, 1901, we entered that field, and remained there two years and three months. We conducted a Bible training-school, and had from six to twenty associated with us in the work all the time. The inexperienced workers were paid five dollars a week. This enabled them to pay their board, and have a little left to pay other necessities. We became responsible for their wages, and paid them without conference help. It can be readily seen that the wages alone would be from one hundred and twenty-five dollars to four hundred dollars a month. We taught the workers to canvass for books as well as give Bible readings, and our book sales were always a large source of revenue. During most of the time we had nurses in the training-school, and they gave treatments, which made another important item in our resources. Many times, seeing that we were not going to be able to pay our bills at the end of the month, we cried unto the Lord; and we could fill this article with records of the way he sent us help again and again. Two Bible classes were held each forenoon, and the remainder of the morning was spent in private study. The afternoons and evenings were spent in missionary work in the city. During the two years and three months there were twenty-five who remained in the training-school from three to nine months, while there were six or eight who remained from two to three months. There were a goodly number of brethren and sisters living in the city who attended the classes more or less regularly. In some instances Bible workers of other denominations attended our morning classes. Some hardly missed a class for six months or a year. Some of these last referred to are now doing efficient work, as well as those who were members of the training-school family. The New England and Ohio Conferences each supported two workers for a term in the training-school. Indiana also supported one. Many thousands of tracts and papers were distributed free, and a large quantity of books and small periodicals was sold. Bible readings were held wherever opportunity was given. Some of our workers did good work teaching in Sunday-school, and holding Bible studies at social gatherings that were held among other churches. All classes were visited. A part of the time the training-school kept three halls every day in the week,—one large hall in a respectable part of the city, another hall for meetings held in the interest of the work among the colored people, and a small hall in one of the worst sections of the city. The use of this last hall was given us free of rent by the owner of the building. The work begun in this hall is what finally developed into the first colored Seventh-day Adventist church in the city. The work among the colored people was largely carried on by Brother Uchtman, who accepted the truth the second month we were laboring in the city. Most of the workers who came to us were inexperienced, and by the time they were able to do efficient work, they left, and new ones filled their places. This did not enable us to do the same work we would have done had the workers been retained in the training-school after they were prepared to do efficient work. The health work was not neglected at any time. Three cooking schools and one health school were held by the workers connected with the training-school. A large quantity of health literature was circulated in the city by the workers. A church was organized the first year we were in the city, known as Seventh-day Adventist church No. 3. The Lord gave us honest souls as the fruit of our labors. The workers who received instruction in the training-school we trust will continue to be faithful, and will meet their Lord with sheaves of precious grain at his coming. Our work in New York City has demonstrated the fact that a self-supporting work can be carried on in our18large cities, and workers trained for service in the field without being an expense to any conference. Soon after we began our work, many requested outlines of the Bible lessons given in the school. To meet this need, in June, 1902, we published the first number of the little journal called the Bible Training School. We intended to send out only a few, but the Lord scattered them all over the world, until our subscription list has grown to over six thousand, and faithful souls in the distant foreign fields and in the home land are giving the Bible lessons in the Bible Training School to hungry souls, and the Lord is blessing the work. We have been sending out many sample copies, and find that honest souls of other churches appreciate the Bible Training School as well as our own people do, and many names from this class are being added to our list. It is also being sold at five cents a copy in many cities. Clubs of from ten to five hundred are taken by many, and used in missionary work. The subscription price of the Bible Training School is twenty-five cents a year. In quantities it is sold at the rate of two cents a copy. The address of this paper is Bible Training School, South Lancaster, Mass. The earnest appeals made for the work in the South during the last few years have touched my heart, but I thought perhaps I was too old to enter such a difficult field; but last summer while attending the camp-meetings, in company with Elder Butler, and witnessing the way in which the majority of our people treated the earnest pleadings for help in this destitute field, I decided that I was not too old to work in a hard field, even if I had entered my seventy-first year, and said that as soon as we could close up our work in New York City, we would go South. We gave up our house in the city, September 30; but I was taken sick at that time, and during October was not able to do any work. We thought best to remain in South Lancaster, Mass., for a few weeks, that I might regain my strength before beginning vigorous work in a new field. I am feeling stronger now, and we long to be at the front of the battle again. We expect to start for our Southern field of labor about December 14. We wish to thank the many friends whom the Lord inclined to assist us by sending donations of money and provisions while in New York City. We hope all will pray that the Lord will sustain us, and give us souls for our hire in our new field. If any feel that they want to give substantial help to the work in the South, we assure them that it will be welcome. S. N. HASKELL.
1025 Jefferson St., Nashville, Tenn.