Rivulet Missionary Societies.
By M. K. White
“Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined,” is a saying as familiar as it is true. It follows that if we want our children to grow up into noble, efficient missionary workers, we must begin early to teach them how to work. And we know of no better way to do this than to organize them into regular missionary societies, and let them work with the Instructor just as older ones work with the SIGNS. This has been successfully done in many places in the East, and within the last six months similar societies have been organized in Oakland, San Francisco, and Healdsburg, and we are glad to know that they are contemplated in many other places. Experience is said to be a hard school. In view of this fact, a few hints drawn from personal experience in the organization and working of such societies may be profitable to those who are thinking of leading out in the work at home. In Oakland a meeting was first called by a few of the primary Sabbath-school teachers. After a chairman and secretary for the day had been elected, the constitution used in similar societies in the East adopted, and a nominating committee appointed, each of the children was given the name and address of one to whom he was to send the Instructor. After a few suggestions as to the nature of the letter which was to accompany the paper, each was requested to write a letter and bring it to the next meeting. At the second meeting the officers were elected, the letters collected and examined, and the best read without giving the writer’s name. (Care should be taken to see that at least two or three good letters are written, and that those that are good are highly commended; but in no case should they be given to the children to copy.) After kindly criticising and suggesting, the letters were all handed back, with the request that they be carefully rewritten, and brought again the next week, stamped and addressed ready to mail. Instructions were then given about wrapping and addressing the papers, and each was requested to bring one to the next meeting, addressed the same as his letter. At the third meeting the letters and wrapped Instructors are carefully examined, and the mistakes pointed out before all. If the work has been well done, the letters and papers can be mailed, or left with the secretary to mail. A new name is then given to each, and at the next meeting he brings a new letter and two Instructors neatly addressed; at the next he brings a new letter and three papers; and at the next a new letter and four papers. The first name is then dropped before the fifth is taken; and after that a new name is taken and one dropped each week, so that each member writes a letter and mails four Instructors each week. Thus the work begins gradually and systematically, and after the first four weeks a regular amount is done. Too much pains cannot be taken with the letters. With a few suggestions at first, the children will be able to compose them themselves. In no case should they be allowed to copy the letters of one another, or even to write all their own letters alike. If they were to do this they would soon stop thinking, and consequently would lose their interest. The following are copies of letters that have been written by the children, showing a few of the many ways in which the letters can be varied: “DEAR FRIEND: I am going to send you the Youth’s Instructor for a little while. It is the paper that we get in our Sabbath-school. The children in our school have a little society. The name of it is the ‘Rivulet Missionary Society.’ We have about twenty members. One part of our work is to interest children of our age in good reading. I am ten years old. If you know of any other little girls who would like to read the paper, send me their names, and I will send them a few numbers. “Sincerely yours.” “DEAR FRIEND: I suppose you will be surprised to receive a letter from a stranger in a distant place; but I received your name from a friend of mine, and take the liberty to send you a copy of the Youth’s Instructor. We have taken the Instructor about nine years, and find it a very good paper. It is used in our Sabbath-school. I hope your parents will notice the lessons on the third page. These are for the older members of the school. I am twelve years old and study in a little book called ‘Bible Lessons.’ My last lesson was about Samuel. Do you go to Sabbath-school, and what do you study about? I will be very glad to receive an answer from you, telling me how you like the paper. I remain, yours truly.” “DEAR FRIEND: I am a little girl eight years old, and like very much to read good books and papers. I have one paper called the Youth’s Instructor which I like very much. It always has three or four good stories, and much besides that is instructive. I will mark the pieces that I think the very best of all. When you have read them, please write and tell me how you like them. Your friend.” Four papers are sent to each address, a letter accompanying the first. If no answer is received, the name is then dropped. If a letter is received, three or four more Instructors are sent. By this time the one who received the letter, or, if thought best, the corresponding secretary, is ready to answer it. With this letter he sends a copy of the SIGNS, with the statement that it is for their parents to read, and requests that they write and tell him how their parents like it. One little girl, in answering a letter of this kind, said: “I received your kind letter and papers. Mother thought the paper, the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, very good, especially the two stories, ‘Christ’s Second Coming’ and ‘Evil Effects of Tobacco.’ It is the same opinion that she has had about tobacco-using. Father thinks the papers good. Yes, they would read more of them. You wanted to know if I had looked at the lessons in the Instructor. Yes, and think they are very nice.” Another little girl said that her father and mother had seen the SIGNS before, and they did not agree with the Seventh-day Adventists in regard to keeping the Jewish Sabbath. She then wisely quoted Col. 2: 16 and Rom. 14: 5, to show that it was not necessary to keep it. In answering this letter, one text was explained by copying a brief extract from “History of the Sabbath,” and the other by sending a marked copy of the SIGNS which treated on that subject. The result is yet to be seen. Certainly the parents are investigating the subject, and this is what we want. The number of letters received by the society has been larger than expected. During the last quarter one was received to every three mailed. These have without exception spoken in high terms of the papers received, and almost every one has contained from one to ten names of other children to whom they would like to have the Instructor sent. One little girl wrote that she was a member of the “Band of Hope.” A copy of the Good Health was sent to her, and in reply she says: “I received your kind letter a few days ago, also the temperance book. I like it very much. Perhaps after a while I can get the Youth’s Instructor into the Sunday-school. They have papers now, but after a while they will take it. They are all Methodists here.” When the letters that have been received are read in the society, suggestions are made as to how they shall be answered. And in no case are the answers mailed before they have been brought to the society, carefully examined by the proper persons, and sometimes read before the society for the benefit of others.4 At first the only Instructors the children had to work with were what clean ones they could gather up in the church. But this fund was soon exhausted, and they began to plan how they could raise money to pay for a club of new ones. One girl arranged to earn a little money by caring for a neighbor's child an hour or two after school, another did some crotcheting for a friend. One little boy caught and sold some fish, and engaged to pump water for a neighbor twice a week. Another owned two hens, and agreed to give all the money he could get for the eggs. Several have planted gardens, and expect to sell a portion of the vegetables raised. It may be questioned by some whether a market can be found for these. But not so. At least one of the boys has already sold his crop. He has a standing offer of five cents apiece for all the cucumbers his garden will produce. A week or two before the holidays, most of the members went after school and canvassed for 'Child's Poems,' receiving five cents for each book sold. Most succeeded well; some not so well. One boy eleven years old sold eleven copies in one day. A part of the first money earned was spent in obtaining stationery, also pass books in which is kept a full record of all the work done. Each one then pledged from five to twenty-five cents a month, according to what he thought he could earn, and a club of one hundred Instructors was ordered. The question has been asked, How old must a child be in order to become a member? That does not depend so much on the age as on the ability to write, and the willingness of the parents to encourage. If the parents will take a little interest, a child can join just as soon as he can write or print neatly. One of our best workers is only eight years old, and some are even younger. The names to be used by the society are gathered from ministers, school-teachers, canvassers, friends, or any one else. A copy of these names is kept in a large blank book, with the names of those from whom they are received and to whom given. The age is also specified, and each name is given to a member about the same age. The meetings are held once a week, and are enlivened with singing, instruction from the blackboard on letter-writing and keeping the pass books, and by the reading of good missionary stories. When suitable stories cannot be obtained, we have found the interest equally good in a brief extract from 'Early Writings,' or 'Great Controversy, Vol. 4,' accompanied by occasional questions and explanations. It is surprising to see with what eagerness children will listen to a description of some of the events yet to transpire on the earth, and also to some of the author's early experience. Children whose parents have kept the Sabbath for years are often the most ignorant in regard to these things. In all the exercises the aim should be to lead the mind to God, and to fill the children with such a strong love for the truth that when the temptations of youth come upon them they will not be carried away with the love of pleasure and society, but will be willing to do or suffer anything rather than renounce the truth. It was this principle, planted deep in the hearts of the youth of the Piedmont Valleys, that enabled them to stand firmly for right when persecutions came. And it is this principle, and this alone, that will enable the children and youth of our day to stand amid the trials that are soon to come upon God's people. Who is not willing to aid in implanting this principle in the hearts of at least a few of the children? The blessing of the Lord will surely attend such efforts, if put forth untiringly in his name and strength.