Our work is quite well established on the island of Atchin, in the New Hebrides. One pleasing experience I will mention. Recently a French trader came and spent the night on the island. He sold the natives grog, and a great number had to be either carried or helped to their homes. Many others were lying around in the woods. The night air was filled with their cries and frenzied outbursts. Mrs. Parker and I could not sleep, but spent the night in prayer for them.
A Group of Workers and Believers in Samoa
The following morning, I called all the people together. They came, with but few exceptions, and I spoke to them on the evils of liquor drinking. Then I read to them what God says on the subject, and closed my remarks by pointing out the fact that they had power to prevent liquor coming to the island. I asked them to go away and talk the matter over among themselves. This they did. A little later, a number came back and told me they had decided not to touch grog again, and if the trader brought it ashore, they would tell him to take his things and go.
Chapel in the New Hebrides
The trader came back in a week, expecting to reap another harvest from the ignorance and darkness of these poor people. He fired off a blast of dynamite, fit representative of his destructive work. The people sold a large amount of copra to him, but not a penny did they spend for drink. He taunted them, then flattered them, but they told him that they “saved finish” the custom of grog (that is, they had become wise now about grog and were through with it), as the missionary had made plain to them its awful results. They wanted him to understand that he was not to bring his liquor on the island, and if he did so, he could take his things and go. He has come the third time, but the people have remained true to their first decision, and the “grog man” has since let them alone.
Converts of Borneo, Born in China, but Rescued from Idol Worship in Life's Evening Time
