A Word of Thanks by H. H. Votaw

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 27, 1909

A Word of Thanks.

By H. H. Votaw

“The strength of the hills is His.”

THESE words of Israel’s sweet singer express the feelings of the tired worker on the burning plains of Hindustan. When all the broad expanse of the Indian Empire lies enveloped in a sheen of heat; when the torrid rays of a tropical sun beat down mercilessly for days, weeks, aye, even for months at a time, and the heat from above is increased and intensified by the returning heat waves which arise from the parched earth; when the land can be compared to but a giant oven and the energies are at the lowest ebb,—then it is that the “hills” are fully appreciated. At such times the majestic Himalayas seem to be indeed not only under God a source of our “help,” but the fountain of health as well.

Even the casual reader knows what an important part these mountains have played in the politics of the East. But for them it is extremely doubtful whether Britain would have been able to preserve her supremacy in India and hold back the “Colossus of the North.” In another and even more marked sense have they been the upholders of British power, for they have furnished a temperate climate for the sons of the North, without which, ere this, their numbers must have been greatly lessened by the terrific heat of the plains. The hills have truly been as “the shadow of the great rock in a weary land,” as the “shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”

It has been my privilege to spend about three months in the beautiful Mountain Rest Home, Annfield House, toward the purchase of which the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES contributed so liberally. I desire to express thanks to every one who gave to this fund. Surely in the day of rewards the Master will count the gift as unto Himself.

In offering these thanks, I not only speak in behalf of Mrs. Votaw and myself, but I wish to speak for “the children of missionaries, the involuntary inheritors of their parents’ suffering.” These suffer most from the heat. Their natural activities are stifled by the heat, and it is doubly painful to see them with wan faces and reduced forms. But how quickly their strength returns when they reach the cool, bracing climate of the “hills,” and the merry children’s voices and laughter help to brighten the Rest Home. To see the glow come to the cheeks of the children and the sparkle return to their eyes would pay you abundantly, dear giver, for your liberality.

“And the King shall answer and say unto them [you], Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”

H. H. VOTAW.

Kemmendine, Burma.