By H. H. HALL
Our Representative Tells Interesting Things About Our Work in Northern Europe — Protected by an Unseen Guide — Progress and Prosperity in the Work
MR. H. H. HALL, a member of our board of management, and the manager of our book department, is making an extended trip through Europe and South America, to study our rapidly increasing work in foreign languages. He is favoring us with several articles, which, with the illustrations, give some conception of the magnitude of the world-wide organization formed for the one purpose of carrying to all the nations of earth the gospel of the coming and kingdom of Christ. The institutions and work that Mr. Hall is describing are nothing more than the separate units in the chain that girdles the world. Earnest men and women are thus establishing themselves in every nation and in the islands of the sea, because they have good news that they are seeking to tell to every one. Other articles of a similar character are on the way and will appear soon.
CHIEF among the institutions that God is using to advance His truth in Scandinavia are the Skodsborg sanitarium and school. These properties include the old summer home of the king of Denmark, and his royal coat of arms is over the entrance of the house in which I had the honor of spending a very pleasant twenty-four hours. I looked out from the same old room and porch where he used to sit, and upon the same restless sound which attracted him. But "the sea is His, and He made it," and He shares His possessions with His children.
A few yards away and facing the beach, are long, shed-like buildings, with rear wall and glass roof, in which the patients sit or lie and enjoy the truly kingly view, or are lulled to sleep by the lapping waves at their feet.
It was Christmas eve; and after being assigned to "a very warm room, because you are from California"—so the inspector said—I joined the seventy or more guests and patients in doing ample justice to a bountiful dinner, the taste of which was not in the least impaired by the Danish names under which the various dishes were disguised. Then I followed a gathering company of two hundred fifty or more to the gymnasium to listen to their Christmas exercises, even though I could not understand a word that was said. Dr. J. C. Ottosen, who has been with the institution from the beginning, opened with a short talk on what Christmas really is. The business manager, A. C. Christensen, directed the choir in rendering several anthems and songs, and the children recited and sang, after which Elder J. C. Raft, president of the Scandinavian Union Conference, closed with an earnest gospel exhortation, which was well received.
A PROSPEROUS WORK
The next morning, the inspector, Chr. Juhl, formerly of Iowa, took me through the entire institution, and told me of its growth, of their efforts to make it a truly Christian home, of the devotion of their hundred twenty-five helpers, of conditions in the summer, when they have from two hundred to two hundred twenty-five patients and guests, and of the hundreds they have had to turn away. During the past four years, they have cared for over four thousand people, many of them being high in social and governmental circles. Their total investment now stands at a little less than two hundred thousand dollars; and with the new buildings now under way, they will eventually have nearly a quarter of a million dollars in grounds, buildings, and equipment.
ENTERING THE HARBOR AT ABO AND GLASS HOUSE FRONTING ON BEACH
The union school, which occupies the building to the left of the series shown, is under the efficient direction of Prof. Erik Arneson, our leading Danish and Norwegian scholar and translator. About sixty are in attendance. This building and its facilities are turned over to the sanitarium in the summer. The school building and equipment represent an investment of a little more than twenty-five thousand dollars.
CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY
To many of the SIGNS readers, the next best known institution in northern Europe is the Christiania publishing house, a view of which is here given. The publishing house, however, only uses the basement and the first and second floors of the new and taller building to the left. The church occupies the third floor of the main building, where the reader will note the tall windows; and the rest of the building is used by Brother C. M. Scott and his staff of twenty-four workers, for treatment rooms and a vegetarian cafe. Many will remember the financial crisis through which Christiania passed a few years ago, in which this institution was involved. Although the help sent from America relieved the most pressing obligations, the struggle to meet the remainder, and at the same time to provide the literature needed in this country, has been a long and trying one. But through the careful management of A. C. Christensen and Jens Olsen and their associates, the indebtedness is being paid little by little, and we hope the time will soon come when such facilities can consistently be provided as will enable them to do their own folding and binding, which are now done by outside firms. The amount of means invested in this institution now stands at a little less than seventy-five thousand dollars.
UNSEEN GUARDIAN
Among other interesting experiences related to me by the manager is the following: One of their colporteurs, in making his delivery among the mountains of northern Norway, was obliged to follow a very narrow, slippery path along the side of a steep precipice. He removed his shoes, and with his books strapped to his back, made the perilous passage. On the other side of the fiord—as the deep arms of the sea are called—a man and his wife watched him anxiously. Some109hours later, he met them on the plains above, and they immediately asked, "Where is your partner?" "I have no partner," he replied. "But you did have when you passed that dangerous place," they insisted, "for we both saw him with you." And they could not be convinced that he was quite alone so far as human help was concerned. The young man believes—and who will not join in his conviction?—that an angel was commissioned to protect him in his gospel mission. He has just gone up near Hammerfest, the northernmost city in the world, where at this time of the year the darkness of one night deepens into the next, and there he will work among the Laplanders with our publications.
ICELAND
And Iceland, "away out in the foaming, greedy Atlantic," has been entered, and about fifty are rejoicing in the hope of a soon coming Lord. Six thousand copies of our first Icelandic book, "Christ Our Saviour," have been sold to the ninety thousand islanders—an average of one copy to every fourth home. Elder Raft will soon make another visit to Iceland, although he tells me it takes almost as long to go there as to America.
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
In the beautiful city of Stockholm the Swedish conferences and depositories are pleasantly situated. I did not get
OUR SCHOOL AND SANITARIUM GROUNDS FRONTING ON THE SEA AT SKODSBORG, DENMARK
out to Nyhyttan, where their school is located, but learned that it is prospering. Our membership in Sweden is the largest of any conference in the Scandinavian Union—the Danish and Norwegian conferences being divided into two conferences each in 1912—and now stands at one thousand eight. I had the privilege of meeting their leading minister, Elder O. Nelson, who labored in California and Utah twenty-five years ago, and who attended Healdsburg College in the good old days of that institution. Brother Emil Lind, their businessman, came in from the school, and talked over plans by which the Pacific Press can cooperate with them in the publication of certain books which we believe will be a help to both countries.
HELSINGFORS, FINLAND
From Stockholm I took the night boat across the Baltic to Abo, Finland, and went thence by train to Helsingfors. One soon realizes that here he is in the dominion of Russia. My passport had first to be signed by the Russian minister, and was taken when I went on board, and not returned until arrival at Abo. It was again signed when I left. This seemed a little strange to an American, but it is their custom, so I acceded to it, and had no trouble. Here the sun rises about nine o'clock and sets at two-thirty. Thick ice had already formed in the harbor, and our boat looked much as it does in the accompanying picture. The city of Abo furnishes one ice-boat, and the government another, to keep the channel open through the winter, but they can not always accomplish the task.
At Helsingfors I was whisked out to our office in one of those Russian sleighs the shafts of which are connected with an arch-like yoke over the shoulders of the horse. And by the way, after that mile trip through the biting atmosphere, the driver offered to give me change out of the 20-cent mark I gave him for the job. I indicated that he was to keep it, and he smiled broadly, turned his little furry pony, and hurried off to the icy, snow-swept square to wait—let us hope not many hours—for another "fare."
PUBLISHING HOUSE IN CHRISTIANIA
LISTEN GLADLY TO THE MESSAGE
The Finnish people listen gladly to the signs of our times and the news of Christ's second coming. Brother Kohtanen pointed out a large hall in which our people had been holding lectures on these subjects, and which had been filled to overflowing night after night, although its seating capacity was not less than eight hundred. Our three workers in Finland baptized eighty-nine persons the past year. Our brethren here, like those in all pioneer fields, are making wise and liberal use of the printed page. Before leaving, I had the privilege of completing arrangements with Elder L. Muderspach, the president of the conference, and his associates, for the publication of a five-thousand edition of "Great Controversy" in Finnish, three thousand of which are to be used in America.
WOMEN CLERKS AND HELPERS
I was greatly surprised, on entering one of the leading banks of the city, to note that the positions of cashiers, tellers, bookkeepers, and clerks generally, were filled by women.
In fact there were only a few men in sight. This is not the only place in Europe where I have noticed women in positions usually occupied by men in America. They are in ticket offices, parcel check stands, are cashiers and cooks on dining-cars, and in some cases, at least, care for the beds on the sleeping-cars.
I would not leave the impression, because I happened to visit Finland in winter, that it is a cold, cheerless country. On the contrary, it is famous for its many and beautiful lakes, its wooded hills and fertile valleys. Helsingfors is a city of some 160,000 inhabitants. It is located on the water-front, and is an important commercial center. It is closely related with Sweden in business and social life, and the Swedish language is everywhere used as well as the Finnish. But the government is Russian, and that language is taught in the schools. The names of the streets are printed in all three languages, one above the other, so he who runs may read.
BUILDING WHERE THE KING USED TO LIVE
On my return to Hamburg, I spent a day at Copenhagen with Elder Raft, completing some items of publishing work, and gathering additional information about the union conference.
PROGRESS AND SACRIFICES FOR THE WORK
During the last four years, they have taken in 1,354 new members, their total membership now standing at 3,391. Their tithes and offerings have been $141,149, and their literature sales $300,562. Their publishing interests are rapidly developing, last quarter's record showing 140 colporteurs, whose sales for 1913 will run close to the $100,000 mark. The conferences are officered by men of experience and energy, and their institutions enjoy the fullest confidence of our own people, and of business men on the outside as well. May the Lord continue to give largely of His Spirit, and make them fruitful in every good word and work.
