To the Mission Fields in 1912
By William A. Spicer
Not a month passed by last year that did not see missionaries departing from America, Europe, or the colonies, for the mission fields of the regions beyond. That means that practically every week of 1912 found some messengers sailing the high seas to carry the advent warning to the uttermost coasts of the earth. The list is doubtless incomplete, as regards departures from the further colonial fields, but so far as reported to date, it stands as follows:— G. W. Pettit and wife, to India.
J. M. Comer and family, to India.
Miss Rachel Jones, to India.
C. N. Woodward and family, to China.
Walter S. Mead and wife, to India.
T. M. French (returning) and wife, to West Africa.
E. N. Shepherd and family, to St. Thomas, Dutch West Indies. Charles Degering and wife, to Panama.
Miss Bessie M. Young (at own charges), to the Hawaiian Islands.
N. H. Pool and family, to Trinidad.
H. E. Carr and wife, of Australia, to the New Hebrides.
E. E. Thorpe and family, of Australia, to the Tonga Islands.
C. H. Parker and wife, of Australia, to the New Hebrides. Dr. E. W. Myers and wife, to West Africa.
F. A. Spearing and wife, of England, to British East Africa. C. L. Bowen and family, to South Africa.
A. Boekhout and wife, of Cape Town, to Barotseland, South Africa.
G. M. Brown and family, to Cuba. H. A. Oberg (returning) and wife, to Korea.
Miss E. E. B. Gordon, of Australia, to New Guinea. R. T. E. Colthurst (for the summer season only, in book work), to Cuba.
Henry S. Brown (for the summer season only, in book work), to Cuba.
W. H. Spicer, to Cuba.
A. L. Shidler, to Cuba.
Milton Mattison and wife, to India.
Dr. E. W. Ingle and wife, to Edinburgh, Scotland, preparatory to going to South Africa.
Mrs. C. H. Hayton and children, to England. Miss Alma Gregory, to Spain.
Fred DeVinney, to Japan. B. P. Hoffman and wife, to Japan.
H. U. Stevens and wife, to Argentina, South America.
F. H. Raley, to Jamaica.
E. J. Hills and wife (at own charges), to China.
Miss Enie V. Martin, to Mexico.
Dr. W. C. Dunscombe and family, of Scotland, to South Africa.
S. G. White and wife, to China.
W. Seiler and wife, of Europe, to German East Africa.
H. Palin, of Europe, to German East Africa.
E. B. Phillips, of England, to British East Africa. Mrs. A. Ruoff (at own charges), to Burma.
G. A. Hamilton and family, to Burma.
M. D. Wood and family, to India.
V. E. Peugh and wife, to India.
L. O. Machlan, to the Bermuda Islands.
Mrs. A. L. Shidler, to Cuba.
E. J. Giblett and wife, of Australia, to the Cook Islands. A. F. Prieger and wife, to Haiti, West Indies.
M. D. Smith, to Mexico.
Isaac Baker and wife, to Central America.
H. Steiner and family, of Europe, to Italian East Africa.
Mrs. E. M. Myers, of Australia, to the Fiji Islands.
Miss Magdo Skogs, of Europe, to Jerusalem, Syria. F. A. Detamore, to the East Indies.
Frank F. Mills, to Korea.
A. R. Sherman and family, to Argentina, South America.
Kenneth H. Wood and wife, to China.8 William Kirstein and family, to Argentina, South America.
J. E. Brown and family, to Brazil, South America.
Miss Frankie Stout, to Uruguay, South America.
Miss Audrey Murphy, to Uruguay, South America.
Byron A. Meeker and wife, to China.
Miss Ruth Workes, to India. This list, not counting the children or workers returning after furlough, totals ninety-seven,—nearly a hundred. During the year 1911, the number of outgoing workers was sixty-five. It is the pressure of need in the expanding work that has thrust the workers forth. And in a wonderful way the Lord of the harvest has kept calling forth the resources of means in his treasury—the hands of his believing people—to sustain the missionary advance. It will be seen that Europe and Australasia join strongly in sending out new recruits. Australasia has the burden of the island fields of the South Pacific, while Europe has all eastern and northern Africa, and northern and western Asia within its mission boundaries. Yet again the list of additions during a year just past lays upon believers in all the churches an added burden to still pray and give for missions more earnestly than ever. Those who go are partners in the work with those who hold the ropes at home; and the work is being finished by this carrying of the witness to all nations.
W. A. S.