p. 18 | The Call of the South by R. A. Leslie

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 5, 1914

The Call of the South

By R. A. Leslie

"We have a great work before us in the Southern field, a work that as yet we have only begun. We must not continue to stand as we have stood for years, dreading this work."

Angels, if permitted, would gladly do this work; but God in his mercy has left it for us to do, that we may enrich ourselves in that greatest asset---character.

Messengers of mercy are needed, not merely in a few places in the South, but throughout the whole field. Rich and poor, white and colored, are calling for light. What are we doing?

It is Satan's desire to hinder God's work in the South in every way possible. We should be thankful that God is willing to give us a part in his work; that he is calling you and me to help give this closing message of salvation.

When I went South, I attended a highland school, and had opportunity to come in daily contact with the people of the community. I was deeply impressed with the free and easy life of the mountaineers, as it is a strong contrast to the anxious, careworn, nervous existence in Northern climes. In most cases the mountaineer owns a small tract of land. Usually the family lives in a log house, and many times I have noticed the neat, comfortable appearance of these simple homes. One invariably finds the big, open fireplace, about which the members of the family gather for the evening. Meals served in these mountain homes are often very simple. The housewife bakes corn pone in a skillet on the hearth, and the big kettle swings from the crane over the fire. The family washing is done at the spring, and the clothes are boiled outdoors. The health of these people is ascribed to their outdoor life, to the open fireplace, which gives ventilation, and to the simple food that they eat.

The farmer cultivates a small garden, but depends principally upon his tobacco crop for cash. Tobacco exhausts the land. The shallow plowing of poorly cleared land, with a mule driven by a jerk line, the use of commercial fertilizers, and the failure to change crops keep the mountain farmer very poor.

The highlanders are the descendants of those liberty-loving people who fled from persecution in Europe. They still love freedom. They hated slavery, and that feeling drove them into the mountains in the days of slavery. Their years of seclusion make them today a primitive people; but they are seeking after truth, and appreciate the industrial schools and accompanying church privileges that are coming into their districts.

One whose life has been spent in the city will, if he hears the Lord's call to the South, appreciate his association with the simple, honest people of the highland districts. "In the South there is much that can be done by lay members of the church. . . . Let Sabbath keeping families move to the South, and live out the truth before those who know it not." The Lord desires the desert places of the South, where the outlook appears so forbidding, to become as the garden of God. Let our people arouse and redeem the past.

R. A. Leslie.