RIGHT IN OUR OWN COUNTRY.
By Editor
THOSE who are deeply interested in helping foreign missions, or who have a burden to engage in the foreign work, need not stop to read this. It is not designed to in anywise turn their attention from that interest or to remove that burden. We would that hundreds more were likewise interested and burdened. But to those who always want to talk of home mission work when foreign work is under consideration, and are doing little or nothing in either line, we command a thoughtful reading of the following report. It is from a missionary named J. B. Mitchell, and appears in the Gospel Message:— "I am engaged in home missionary work among the mountain whites in Tennessee and North Carolina. My principal work is supplying the people with Scripture and Gospel reading matter. Most of the people living in the mountains are very poor, their land not being very productive, and they can hardly raise sufficient food to supply their necessary wants. Their surroundings are such that most of them will never be able to make their condition any better. The destitution of all kinds of literature is very great. There is scarcely one family in ten that have any reading matter in their homes, unless it is a copy of the Bible, and about one-half the families do not even have a Bible. "In some settlements back in the mountains they really have no reading matter of any kind. In one community, five miles from the main road, and only a foot-path to get there, only one New Testament and a few other books were found among thirty-eight families. They had not heard a Gospel sermon for six years, and some families were so poor they had nothing to sleep on except a little straw in one corner of their house, and had a few old quilts to cover them. "In another settlement, six miles further on, out of fifty-three families visited, there were found three Bibles, one Testament, and a few old school-books. They had no regular preaching, but were trying to keep up a small Sabbath-school. They all hailed us with joy and gladness, and you can not conceive how grateful those people were to receive the Word of God and other good literature which was given to them. "Many of the Sabbath-schools have no reading matter of any kind. I found two schools, the average attendance being forty and fifty scholars respectively, that had only one copy of the Bible to read in each school. Some other schools had from three to six Testaments. "There is a large number of children in these mountains, the numeration in the school districts running from one to two hundred. In addition to supplying the people with Gospel reading, we have established a school in connection with this work. We take children under our care and supervision, when their parents are not able to help them, and feed, clothe, and educate them, depending on the people for clothing and provision. In many school districts we find that one-half of the children can not go to school, for the want of books and clothing, their parents being so poor they are not able to supply them. We hope all who read this will send us clothing or bedding to help in this part of the work. "Many of their boys and girls are bright and intelligent, some being great readers. I have found some that were making great sacrifices trying to educate themselves. "I am not only supplying all the destitute homes with a copy of the Bible, but I am making a great effort to supply every child that can read with a copy of the New Testament. There are at least seventy-five thousand children in these mountains that can read, but few of them have any reading matter in their homes. What better gift can we give them than the Word of God? Most of them are eager to get it. One boy walked fifteen miles to get a school-book and a Testament. Two boys walked eight miles to get some school-books and a Bible. One little boy came three miles, and brought with him three heads of cabbage to purchase a Testament. Seven little girls, hearing of me in the mountains, came quite a long distance, each one bringing one cent with her to purchase a New Testament."