Emmanuel Missionary College
By M. Bessie DeGraw
Once upon a time, some twenty-eight hundred years ago, the young men of a certain school found themselves in quarters too cramped to allow them to do their work to the best advantage. So these young men spoke one day to the principal of that school and said, “The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell.” The head of that school was evidently pleased with the energy and independence of his students. They were willing to fell the trees, to cut them into lumber, and build more commodious quarters. This they would do for the sake of having school privileges, and the teacher, seeing that it would be not only the means of providing more room, but an education as well, said to the young men, “Go ye.” Then he was invited to go also, and his ready answer was, “I will go.” There was no drawing back. Evidently there was no hesitancy on the part of any one. This was co-operation, a sign of unity in the Lord; for those students were preparing for the Lord’s work. It is little wonder that the schools which were taught by such men as we find in this one, and were attended by such pupils as these, exerted a great influence, and trained men who brought their nation to the pinnacle of earthly glory. This story, divinely recorded, reminds me of a more modern experience which I have no doubt is recorded with equal care in the books of heaven. God recognized the schools of ancient Israel as one of the most effective means of promoting the righteousness of the nation. To the church to-day, God has given certain positive principles of education. As then, so now he says that schools should be in country places; by the Jordan, as it were. Believing this, Emmanuel Missionary College was established on a farm. Having no buildings whatever, a company of young men was organized under the direction of a skilled mechanic to erect the buildings. When the money for purchasing material was exhausted, the students did practically the same thing as Elisha’s students. The place was too narrow. Books were laid aside, and students and teachers went into the field and sold books and raised the money to put up more buildings. When the books had been sold, the students returned to their studies. The young men in the building department spent hours of patient labor in the mechanical drawing class. They began by drafting the simplest structure, a henhouse, I think it was. Gradually their skill increased, until, as a result of that class work, the plans for Study Hall were produced. This is a building two stories above the basement, the dimensions of which are forty-five by one hundred and four feet. It contains a chapel with seating capacity for about two hundred and fifty students, six recitation rooms, and several offices. For hours at a time those students and their teacher have stood over those plans, working out details, figuring on lumber, thinking, planning, computing. During the summer active work was begun on the building. We have watched it as it has grown. Others, too, have watched the progress of this building. It can be seen by every one passing on the main road to St. Joseph. That is a much traveled road, and all who pass know that building, and it is a witness to the world of the educational idea being worked out by Emmanuel Missionary College. Some visit the buildings, and as they do, their surprise is great when they find that every stroke of the hammer is given by student laborers,—young men who are preparing for other and wider fields of missionary work. The students have carried brick and mortar up a ladder sixty feet high. They have done the carpenter work, the tinning, the plastering, and the plumbing. They have set the furnaces, they have put in the registers, they have painted and put on the hard-oil finish. This is a part of the education given at Emmanuel Missionary College. Not all the energy of the students goes into the building department, however, I mention that because it would be one of the indications of co-operation most noticeable to a casual observer. A more careful inspection of the work reveals the fact that this is a type of what is done throughout the institution. For instance, during the grape season, over twelve thousand baskets of grapes were picked and shipped to Chicago. Twenty students were employed in the vineyard for six weeks. At the same time the college cannery was putting up fruit juice for home consumption. There was wood to cut for the winter. The young men in one-half day felled trees enough to make forty-five or fifty cords when cut into cord lengths. When there is corn to husk, the young women lend a hand. The fall term opened October 21, with about seventy-five students. It was hoped that Study Hall would be in readiness for the fall opening. In this we were disappointed. One half of the dining room was again cleared, and all our public services are held there, as they were last year. But the chapel will soon be finished. Even then accommodations for students will be limited. Sleeping rooms are improvised, the young men using the large rooms over the printing office and the second floor of the Manual Arts Building. No cottages have yet been built, and until they are, it will be impossible to accommodate a large number of students. During the winter term there will be room for about one hundred and twenty-five. I would not give the impression that our students are uncomfortable. They are not, but they are not supplied with luxuries, by any means. They realize that they are in camp, and that they are to be soldiers. They are workers, and they are willing to co-operate even under difficulties. I wish that the readers of the REVIEW might spend a little time in the school. It would warm their hearts to this work, I am sure. I hope at another time to tell of some of the workings of the co-operative plan. God is blessing this work. The school is training missionaries, and in this time of need we make an appeal for the prayers and good will of all who wish to hasten the coming of the Saviour by preparing workers for needy fields. M. BESSIE DE GRAW.