WORKERS FOR CITY MISSIONS.
THE following is abridged from the Battle Creek (Mich.) Weekly Journal, a secular paper, owned and conducted by a Sunday observer. It will speak for itself. A Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association has recently been inaugurated in this city, the proportions of which are perhaps little appreciated by the majority of our citizens. For a number of years Dr. J. H. Kellogg, of the Sanitarium, and others associated with him in that institution, have been urging upon the members of the Seventh-day Adventist body the extension of the charitable work of the denomination heretofore represented by the Sanitarium, by the organization of an Orphans' Home and other charitable and philanthropic enterprises. At a meeting of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists held in this city two years ago, Dr. Kellogg was placed at the head of a committee charged with the duty of taking the necessary steps to organize a home for orphan children and friendless aged persons. The committee set themselves about the work of collecting the necessary funds for the purpose named, and after a few months found money flowing into their hands so rapidly that at the biannual meeting of the General Conference recently held, they were able to report nearly $200,000 in hand and immediately in sight, a sum considerably larger than was needed for the purpose for which the committee was appointed. The results of the committee's efforts in raising funds was a surprise to the originators and friends of the enterprise, as well as to those who had given little thought to it, as no subscription paper had been circulated, and no appeals for money to the general public had been presented. Most of the sum named had been contributed by persons of considerable means, the larger sums coming from persons outside of the State. Thirty thousand dollars were contributed by a wealthy Chicago lady [whence the name] who became interested in the unique features of the work, and $40,000 by Henry Wessels and Francis H. Wessels, of South Africa. Finding such an abundance of means at hand for charitable work, Dr. Kellogg set himself about preparing plans for a more extensive scheme of philanthropic work which included the organization of a general Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, the purpose of which was stated to be to assist orphans, homeless aged persons, sick and needy persons of all classes, giving them medical aid through medical missions established in this and other countries, educating missionary physicians and nurses, and doing good in various other ways independent of denominational or sectarian interests. An association was formed, to be known as the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, and a board of directors appointed to carry out the objects named above. This committee consisted of the following persons: O. A. Olsen, J. N. Loughborough, W. C. White, S. N. Haskell, J. Fargo, G. Tyszkiewicz, A. R. Henry, J. H. Kellogg, president, and L. McCoy, secretary and treasurer. It is worthy of note that the purpose of this organization is not the propagation of religious doctrines nor the promotion of sectarian or denominational interests, but pure Christian philanthropy. Much more has been done in this line in the west end of our city than most of our citizens may be aware of. The Sanitarium, which was organized some twenty-six years ago, has been a strictly philanthropic work almost from the beginning. This fact is chiefly due to the broad-minded and liberal policy of the late Elder James White, who will be remembered by many as a public-spirited citizen and a man much interested in charitable and philanthropic work. Although the Sanitarium was organized as a money-making enterprise, and so conducted for the first year of its existence, at the end of the first year Elder White, who was ill at the time of the incorporation of the institution, placed before the stockholders of the Sanitarium the importance of making the institution a purely philanthropic enterprise, and urged the matter with so much zeal that the stockholders were led to surrender their dividends and to make the stock which they had invested an endowment, all the earnings to be used to build up the institution and enlarge its facilities, and for the treatment of the sick poor. Dr. Kellogg, the present superintendent, became connected with the institution in a professional way twenty years ago, and two years later was appointed superintendent. The doctor's policy since he became connected with the institution has been to build up a large self-supporting charitable work, which would represent in the highest degree of perfection all the resources of rational medicine. In this he has been heartily seconded by other members of the board of managers and by his professional associates, all of whom, together with the scores of nurses, medical attendants, and others connected with the institution, have given their services to the institution for sums barely sufficient to afford them a livelihood. No physician, nurse, or manager, or any other person, participates in the earnings of the institution to the extent of a single dollar beyond the moderate salary which he receives each week or month. By no other plan would it have been possible to build up so great an enterprise. Our citizens have never been called upon to contribute by subscription or otherwise to the erection of any of the large buildings in which the work of the Sanitarium is carried on nor to any other of its facilities. The institution has received very few gifts and no legacies or endowments to any extent in addition to the original stock invested by the incorporators. It has been built up simply by the economy, thrift, and personal sacrifices of those connected with it. Several years ago Dr. and Mrs. Kellogg began a work for orphans by taking homeless little ones into their own family. Beginning with one little girl, they now have a full dozen boys and girls to whom they are endeavoring to give all the advantages of Christian training and culture. The Orphans' Home enterprise is the outgrowth of the work of the Sanitarium and the personal work of Dr. and Mrs. Kellogg in this line. With the organization of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, it is proposed to organize medical missions, orphans' homes, and missionary sanitariums in various parts of the United States, and also in foreign countries. Something has already been done in this direction. Through the gift of $40,000 by the Wessels brothers, and a site by the friends of the enterprise in Illinois, a branch of the Battle Creek Sanitarium has been started in Chicago, and is now open. All the profits arising from the running of the institution will be devoted to the support of a dispensary and a visiting nurses' work, located near the very center of the wretchedness, ignorance, and misery of the worst part of Chicago. Missionary nurses from the Sanitarium have been already at work in this portion of Chicago for several months, and have done the first work of this sort ever done in that portion of the city. This has ordinarily been considered too difficult and dangerous a field for nurses to work in. A large basement has also been leased, in which free baths are being fitted up, to be run in connection with the dispensary. In addition to this, facilities will also be afforded for the use of the poor, who, for the most part, in that portion of the city, have no home facilities for washing or baths outside of a piece of soap and a dishpan. Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, the leading lady physician of Chicago, will take charge of the obstetrical clinic connected with the dispensary. The idea is to make the work a practical Christian charity. Such a work would be a Godsend to every large city in the United States. Practical Christian effort of this sort preaches louder than preaching in behalf of Christian principles. The idea of Dr. Kellogg and those associated with him in this work is to carry the sunlight of practical philanthropy into the darkest and most neglected spots of our great cities. At the present quite a large number of persons are in training at the Sanitarium to engage in the various lines of this philanthropic work. In visiting the institution yesterday we dropped into the kindergarten department in the Sanitarium Hospital, where we found about thirty little ones seated in a circle around the room, with the teacher, Mrs. Woodward, seated in the circle, on one side, and a pupil teacher opposite her. In the missionary mothers' class, one of the several courses of instruction which is being carried on in connection with the Sanitarium Medical Missionary School, we found some twenty-five mature young women engaged in preparing themselves for work among children in poor districts. In another room we found a section of this class receiving instruction in sloyd under Mrs. Stearns. Some of the members of the class are taking their course of training preparatory to entering the work in the Haskell Orphans' Home, which is now nearly finished, and which is one of the institutions which will be conducted under the supervision of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. It is the purpose of the managers of this Home to make it much more of a genuine home for children than has ever before been attempted in any similar institution. The entire family of little ones, which will number, when the Home is wholly occupied, nearly 150, will be divided into families of twelve, each one in charge of a missionary mother. Every person connected with the Home, from the cook to the care takers and the teachers, before undertaking their duties, have a course of training in the Sanitarium training schools, supplementing each training as can be obtained in the best training school of the country. The purpose is to make the Home not simply a temporary stopping place for children, but a place in which boys and girls will be trained up to a self-supporting age, receiving a good education, thorough manual training, instruction in one or more trades, and such accomplishments as individual talents may suggest. The division of the children into families cultivates the home idea, and prevents the injurious effects sometimes noticeable from life in an institution. Especial attention is given to the physical health of the little ones, and abundance of the best food prepared in the most wholesome manner, plenty of exercise652in the open air, daily gymnastics, and all other hygienic means, such as abundance of sunlight, plenty of pure air, and careful attention to clothing, contribute to the development of a high state of physical health, which is abundantly evidenced by the plump, rosy cheeks and bright eyes which the visitor sees in the kindergarten and nursery. No enterprise could be more thoroughly philanthropic and humanitarian in its purpose than is the extensive work which has been undertaken by the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. Not only the citizens of Battle Creek are interested in the philanthropic enterprises represented by the Sanitarium, the Haskell Orphans' Home, and the various lines of charitable and philanthropic work directly and indirectly connected with these institutions, but also the citizens of Michigan and those of our neighboring States. This is a matter in which all good men and women everywhere should be interested, and the enterprises such as should be fostered and encouraged in every legitimate manner.