ITALY by J. D. Geymet

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 25, 1900

ITALY

By J. D. Geymet

TORRE PELLICE.—For several years I have been alone in the Piedmont Valleys, trying to sell, here and there, our literature. Occasionally we have had a short visit from Brother Holser, and lately one from Brother Conradi.

It is almost impossible for one who has not visited this country, to realize the difficulties that a canvasser must here overcome. In some places the people are very poor. For a hard day's work they receive only twenty-five cents, while sugar costs sixteen cents a pound, kerosene eighteen cents a liter—about a quart. On account of this extreme poverty, they do not readily spend even one cent for reading-matter.

Another difficulty is that about one fifth of the people can not read, and not half can understand what they do read, neither in French nor in Italian, as the dialect is not the same in hardly any two villages. The latter are very small, and far apart, and one has to travel over poor roads to go from one place to another. Sometimes I have to walk through very narrow passes, and uphill for three or four hours, before reaching one of the villages, at an altitude of fifteen hundred meters, about five thousand feet.

I write to the REVIEW because I have good news. I believe that the work of the message is assuming a new phase. The Central European Conference sent Elder Curdy here, and a general desire to hear present truth was created by our first public effort.

I think that the Lord led us in the selection of the location for this series of meetings, which was held in a village in the Val de St. Martin, named Pomaret, the best place we could secure. At the beginning, there was some prejudice against us; but after the first two meetings, the house was too small to contain all who came. As the effort was made in March and April, many persons from the villages in the upper parts of the mountains, were in the place, tilling their vineyards in the Pomaret. On returning to their homes, they spoke so highly of our sermons that the officers became interested in the work, and sent us word to come to their place, to preach the same things, giving us the use of the best places they had at their command.

As the people of the Pomaret were working in their fields early and late, and many who love the truth were too tired to attend the lectures, some having to walk several miles to come to our hall, we deemed it best not to present the Sabbath question before autumn, although many know that we are Seventh-day Adventists. However, we decided to partially answer the calls from the mountains. Consequently, we left Pomaret the last Sunday in April, and after a four-hours' walk, arrived in Macel, or Massel, an interesting place in the Waldensian history. It is in one of the hamlets of this place, called Balsilia, that seven hundred of those people resisted successfully, for a time, twenty-five thousand soldiers who thirsted for their blood. We visited the spot where they escaped during the night, when they could no longer resist their enemies. For eight miles the road leading to Massel is narrow, and out of repair. The cars can not go there. All burdens are carried on the shoulders. A river, called Germanasca, rolls its foaming billows at the bottom of the abyss along which the road is made. The sight of those high and rocky mountains is grand; and to one who knows the history of the Waldenses, almost every one of those large stones speaks of the faithfulness, sufferings, and earnest prayers of those by whose blood

the stones were stained, as well as of the cruelty of the Moloch whose modern name is “religious legislation.”

We advertised our meeting by going to the public service in the morning. In the evening the school-room was filled to its utmost capacity for our meeting, and the following day we moved into a larger place, to accommodate our hearers. We were then invited to another hamlet, and offered a large room for meetings, and one for ourselves,—a generous hospitality; for the people are very poor. Every person in the place was present, except the pastor and a sick man, and we had a blessed time. For one hour and a half they listened attentively to the word. When the sermon was over, anxious ones asked us questions for more than an hour. There was such an enthusiasm in the audience that some proposed to build a chapel for our use, one volunteering to give the necessary timber.

We left the place thankful to God for the blessing we had enjoyed, but not without promising those good people that we would call again as soon as possible. On our way, we were asked to stop at other places; but as I had taken a bad cold, and felt ill, I was anxious to return home quickly, to have the benefit of the most common conveniences of life. In these villages, if one is cold, there is but one place to go—the stable. It is there that people spend the winter season. Many even sleep there, with cows, goats, sheep, etc. But do not think that the stable is clean. The manure is kept there during the whole winter, and taken out only in the spring.

After a six-hours' trip, through the snow for some distance, we reached Praly, a place fifteen hundred meters above the sea. Although tired, we had a good meeting the evening of our arrival, and another on the following day. We were earnestly requested to go to several other places; but as we already have doors open before us for more than three years, with our present forces (we are only two workers for Italy, and one is here for only two months), we do not deem it wise to go farther.

If we had money, it would be very desirable that some of the intelligent young men who accept the truth here, go with our ministers as assistants. They would thus have the opportunity to develop eventually into workers. In this way, one might always go into new fields, with the young men, the others staying to mature the interest.

J. D. GEYMET.