Coming Americans at Ellis Island immigrant station, the chief port of entry in New York harbor. Among the Indians of Arizona, who have no written language.
The Foreigners at Home
By Steen Rasmussen
STEEN RASMUSSEN
THE immigration problem is one of vital interest to the American people. Mr. Roosevelt once said that with one possible exception, he considered it our most important problem.
Gigantic efforts are put forth by the government to mold these incoming millions into good and useful citizens. Should not equally strenuous efforts be made by the church to make them good subjects of the kingdom of God?
Millions of Foreigners Coming
During the years from 1905 to 1914, more than ten million foreigners came to this country. Nearly one half of these came from but two countries; namely, Italy and Russia. From Russia alone, including Poland, came 2,015,000. This is more than the population of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana combined, and equal to that of Petrograd. The Italians numbered 2,311,000, or nearly as many as the total population of the state of California. Lured by good wages or some other bright prospect, the great majority of these newcomers have flocked into the cities.
What One Woman Did
What can be done to give the gospel of salvation to these vast numbers of foreign-speaking people? Here is what one woman in one of our large cities did: She felt that she ought to do something in a religious way for the foreign people in her neighborhood. She is as busy as other women, with her home and her children; but she found time to visit the Italian district of the city. She took some small delicacies, flowers, etc., for sick mothers and children. She helped to secure work for some of the unemployed men. Gradually she won the confidence and love of these people whose language she could not speak.
She took Bibles and Testaments in their own tongue, and distributed them when opportunity seemed ripe. She always had a smile and a word of cheer. She found some young women helpers in her church who were glad to assist her in her work of visiting, and finally she got her pastor deeply interested. By his aid, and the help of an Italian teacher, she soon managed to open a Sabbath school for children, and in less than a year a prosperous mission was in operation. It grew rapidly, and is to-day a gospel center in an Italian colony.
Volunteers Wanted
This is one Christian woman's work for alien women. Hundreds of others, and men as well, could do likewise. The home is the point of approach, and a Christian man or woman is the key to unlock the door. Will not some who read these lines, and who may feel a burden for these "strangers within our gates," follow this noble woman's example, and be ambassadors for Christ?
