OCTOBER 24 I left Alexandrodar for Tiflis, Transcaucasus. About twelve years ago I made the trip to that city, crossing the range from Vladikavkas by stage. At that time the railway via the Caspian Sea and Baku had not been built. The distance by rail from Alexandrodar to Tiflis is nine hundred and twenty-five miles; it requires forty-eight hours to make the trip on the cars. As I passed through the German colony of Chassaw-jurt, where we have lately raised up a church, I did not dream that a few days later, at that very place the same train I was riding on would be held up by Tartar brigands from the mountains, and the baggage and mail carried off, while twelve persons would be murdered, and a large number wounded, and all the passengers robbed.
For the first time I now passed along the shores of the Caspian Sea—the greatest inland sea in the world. I tried to get some snap-shot kodak pictures along the way, but was hindered by the police, as everything was under martial law. However, I succeeded in getting one picture anyhow, showing the policeman in his uniform.
THE RUSSIAN POLICEMAN
Upon my arrival at Tiflis the night of the twenty-sixth, I was met at the station by both the Brethren Pampaian. The doctor had lately moved to Etschmiadsin, near Erivan. About twenty-five miles south of Erivan towers Mt. Ararat, 17,000 feet high; beyond that, is Little Ararat. Ararat is on the border of Turkey, Russia, and Persia; thus to-day in the very shade of the mountains where the ark rested, we have a laborer proclaiming present truth.
I found Tiflis in an uproar. A few days before my arrival, the mayor of the city had given permission for a large meeting of the citizens to be held, in which the present situation of Russia was discussed by many very intelligent and enlightened people of the neighborhood; but when this peaceful meeting closed, the Cossacks, who were guarding the exits to the building, began to fire into the defenseless crowd, as they came out. One could still see the marks of the bullets. Blood streamed down the steps of the building. The corpses were buried by the government; it was possible for but one man—he a general—to secure the dead body of a relative or friend. Although the mayor had granted permission to hold the meeting, the government sent the Cossacks.
At noon, next day after my arrival, we learned that the trains in the Transcaucasus district had also stopped running.
We spent Sabbath evening with a German family where the Brethren Pampaian were stopping. They had awakened some interest in the truth here, so we had a Bible study at the house while the soldiers were riding up and down the streets, and heavily guarding the station and all public buildings. Sabbath we went to see some interested readers of our literature; but we found a number of the streets closed by the soldiers. Some officers had been killed, and an investigation was being carried on.
There being no opportunity for me to leave by train, I decided to secure passage over the mountain pass, to Vladikavkas, with the mail coach. I would exchange a thirty-six hours' ride on the railway for a trip taking forty-eight hours by stage. By the time we got back near the railway station, we found that section of the city also closed by soldiers. Just then the station-master came up, and called to an official, who permitted us all to pass, accompanied by armed policemen. From a boarding-house across the street from ours, shots had been fired, and several policemen had been killed, and the soldiers had shot several innocent persons, who, from curiosity, had looked out of their windows. The military and police officials were investigating whence the shots had come. We found all the houses in that district, including our own14boarding-house, closed; so we returned to the family where our brethren stopped; and glad indeed were we that evening, to secure my luggage from the boarding-house. We spent the night with the two Brethren Pampaian.
During our stay we had had ample time to counsel over the work. It was decided that while the doctor would continue work among the Armenians at Erivan, his brother, the nurse, had better go to Bulgaria, and work among the Armenians there. His wife's home is there, and she had gone to that country some weeks before. Although we have still a worker in this part of the German Union District, yet we found there was an urgent demand for a German-Russian worker to labor in this field, where, as stated before, I found about fifty Sabbath-keepers. There are about five millions of people here, and we have something like eight Sabbath-keepers at Tashkend, in Asiatic Turkestan. There are also still some of our brethren in the Russian army, in Manchuria; we have learned positively that five of these were able to have the Sabbath free; and so far as we have been able to ascertain, none of the Sabbath-keepers in the army have even been wounded. Thus the Lord is caring for his truth, and it is extending from the north to the south, and from the west into eastern Asia, where Russian soldiers have been sowing the good seeds of the kingdom, and some have been converted.
Early on Sunday, the twenty-ninth, having previously secured a second-class ticket, we started on the stage-coach trip across the mountains. I was surprised to find that I was the only through second-class passenger, and there were no first-class passengers. The second-class passengers ride on the front seat, under cover, although the body is not very well protected, while those going first-class ride inside, and can be quite comfortable.
In Tiflis, the weather was still rather hot; for the first twenty miles we followed the railroad toward Batum, but we saw no trains of any kind. Then we turned into the mountains, toward Mlety, where we stopped for the night in a pouring rain, after having made about seventy miles during a ride of fifteen hours. We are at an elevation of about five thousand feet.
By daylight next morning, we were again on the way. We crossed a mountain stream, and climbed the mountain side by a road making eighteen sharp turns, then we reached Gudaur nine miles from our last stopping place, and twenty-three hundred feet higher. Some five hundred and seventy-five feet higher up we had to pass under strong snowsheds, built to protect the road against snowslides. As we ascended, we got into a blinding snow-storm. It soon became so cold that the conductor asked me inside with him. As we reached the summit of the pass, we were over eight thousand feet high. We then began a rapid descent, through romantic defiles, viewing here and there small villages perched like swallows' nests among the mountains, in full sight of Mt. Kasbek, that towering 16,800 feet high. Late at night we reached Vladikavkas, where we were again near the railway.
I had been informed that a train would leave early the next morning, so I was driven down to the station, with my baggage. All I could learn here was that the officials knew nothing about when there would be a train,—it might be a week. Finding the journals full of telegrams reporting riots, strikes, murder, and robbery in all parts of the empire, I went up-town to telegraph home that all was well, although I was unable to go farther on account of the night strike. I had secured lodgings, now, near the station, that I might be on hand whenever an opportunity was offered for me to get away. To my surprise, after I came back from the telegraph office, I learned that a train was to go in half an hour, en route to the city of Kawkasskaja, a town about three hundred miles farther north. This was the first train to go for several days. On my way back to the depot, I had seen the telegrams, announcing the czar's manifest, and it was because of this news that trains now would be set in motion once more, as the workmen had determined to remain on a strike until they compelled the government to come to terms, and offer more liberty.
I ticketed only as far as Bogoslawskaia, where I had hoped to meet Brother Ising; but as I found this might be my only opportunity to go farther, I passed right on, and the next morning the train came to a standstill at Armavir. This is a town of about ten thousand inhabitants, mostly Armenians. As I looked out of the car window, I saw Elder J. Perk, one of our brethren, who was only too glad to meet me. We have a German and a Russian church here, and it was at once arranged that our brethren should come to visit us. They came, telling of the terrible riots in the city. Thousands of people were in the marketplace; men got up and made revolutionary speeches, bitterly cursing the government and the officials; the stores and shops were locked; the soldiers and police looked on, and listened, but no one attempted to interfere. During the day the trainmen tried to take the locomotive off from our train, as they wanted to go on home to Rostov, but the station-master would not permit them to go. Then the students tried to get possession of one locomotive, and there was a regular row about that. Our brethren besought us not to leave on that train; even if it did go, it might be ditched. As there was no sign that the train would go that day, toward evening we took our baggage and went to the home of one of our brethren, and we had a meeting that night. Next day the train was still there. So for that night we appointed a meeting for the Russians, and another for the Germans, both of which were successful. Meanwhile, I was glad to learn by telegram that my secretary had safely reached Alexandrodar again. Early Friday morning, Brother Perk informed me that our train had gone during the night, but that another would be ready shortly, so we left without breakfast, and went down to catch the train.
We found there were but few passengers going, as it was so early. As we spoke German, the conductor thought we lived in Rostov, so he said to us: “What are you going to Rostov for? Your merchandise has all been cast into the streets or carried away, and your houses have been burned.” We did not then catch the meaning of his words, but when we reached Rostov late that evening, everything was clear to us. Rostov is a thriving city of about one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants.
RUINED JEWISH BUSINESS HOUSES, ROSTOV
We found that not only was the station crowded with passengers, some of whom had been detained as much as eleven days, but there were also large trains of thousands of persons who were waiting for an opportunity to continue their journey. They told us that there had been a three days' riot in the city, when everything had been in the hands of the infuriated mob. Whole business blocks of Jewish stores had been burned. Hundreds of people had been killed. The Cossacks and police, instead of stopping this plunder, as they should have done, encouraged and assisted in it. The station-master, fearing for the safety of the passengers, had armed them with heavy clubs. Some had firearms, and the whole station was guarded with Cossacks. As there were no trains going, we took our luggage across the track, to a place near the depot, and early Sabbath morning we walked up-town, that we might be eye-witnesses of15the terrible devastation that had been wrought.
Passing up the main street, we found store after store with the windows broken in, the iron casings torn out, and the interior mutilated, while many shops had been utterly ruined, plundered, and burned, and smoke was still ascending from the charred mass. One could easily see from the signs painted over the doors, that they were all Jewish houses. That the mob might distinguish between the Jewish and the Christian (?) shops, the latter placed their images in the front part of their houses; but this did not always help, for we found some fine windows smashed in notwithstanding the presence of the images of the saints. The marketplace had the appearance of a plowed field, for the stalls had been torn down, and some people were digging in the debris, if possible to discover money or other valuables. I had but one remaining film in the kodak, and with it I took the accompanying photograph, which will show something of the vandalism that was wrought by the mob. The synagogue was entirely destroyed. The Cossacks were now guarding the public places and important buildings. I noticed one whole company being marched into the corridors of the city bank. Millions of dollars' worth of damage had been done in this ruthless persecution of the Jews.
After the Sabbath we found there was a train going in the direction we wanted to proceed as far as Charcisk; it was the first train going that way for many days. In vain did we attempt to secure a ticket, for the crowds were too great. As we had our luggage in, we pressed our way through the jam, without tickets, and were told that we could secure a ticket at Taganrog; but when we got there, not less than three thousand people were waiting for the train—no thought of securing a ticket there. We quietly rode on. When we reached Charcisk (about one hundred and thirty miles from Rostov), the station-master was so anxious to get rid of such a crowd of people that he asked us whether we were willing to take a freight-train to the next larger town, Jassinowataja, some twenty miles beyond. We gladly consented to ride even in freight-cars, to get that distance, and then we were only twenty miles from our destination. When we reached the station, we found there an old Jew, all covered with blood. He had been beaten by the mob, and some officers were inquiring into the matter. They took him into the next room to wash his wounds, and while some officials were questioning the persons who had committed the outrage, other officers who had just arrived from Yekaterinoslaf, said that this was nothing; while they had been in that city, they had seen the Jews led out upon the high bridge over the Dnieper, and asked whether they had washed themselves that day, and then they were pitched headlong into the river below. Some of the more tenacious Jews, who had still clung to the railings, had had their fingers smashed off, so that they also fell into the water. There had been the same destruction to life and property as in Rostov. The officers told this in a rough, joking way, calculated to incite the mob to still greater excesses.
A few hours later there was a train that would take us the remaining twenty miles to the station nearest Alexanderpol, where we wanted to go, so we were soon en route again. It was about five o'clock in the morning when we got off at the depot, eight miles from where the meeting was to be. It was very muddy. As we started to walk the distance, we turned around, and to our happy surprise, saw a low Russian wagon, drawn by small ponies. We hailed the driver, and were fortunate in securing his services. Although the mud formed by the “black soil” came rolling into the low wagon-bed, where we had only our bundles as seats, yet we were glad that God had cared for us, and was bringing us safely to the place of meeting—only three days late.
We arrived at Alexanderpol Sunday noon, where we found our brethren already assembled. Elders Loebsack and Isaac came out in surprise as they saw the wagon pulling up. All had heard that for days no trains had been running. From many of the churches, no delegation had arrived. But there were those present who had been able to come with teams. The brethren all thanked the Lord for his keeping power, which had preserved his people and messengers in safety. We had a good, though small meeting here.
Non-Alcoholic Cure for Sleeplessness
PLENTY of fresh air, horseback exercise, bicycle riding. Speakers find a glass of warm milk or other light food useful to draw the blood from the brain to the stomach. Edison recommends manual labor instead of going to rest for aggravated insomnia. He says sleep will soon come naturally.
If indigestion is the cause, nothing can be done until this is relieved. In such cases it is best to avoid late suppers altogether. If wind on the stomach is the cause, take a sip of cold water. Avoid whisky “nightcaps;” they have been the ruin of many.
“Sleep obtained by the use of opiates is not a substitute for natural sleep. Three or four hours of natural sleep will be more than equivalent to double that amount obtained by the use of narcotics. Chloral, bromide of potash, whisky, and other drugs are to be condemned almost as strongly as opium.”
“A warm bath before retiring, a wet-hand rub, a cool sponge bath, gentle rubbing of the body with the dry hand, a moist abdominal bandage, are all useful measures. When the feet are cold, take a hot foot-bath. If the head is congested, apply a cold compress or ice-cap.”
The practise of long deep breathing, about ten respirations a minute, will often put one to sleep when all other devices fail.—N. Y. Christian Advocate.
Overeating and Laziness
He that never eats too much will never be lazy.
Friedensau—Vale of Peace
By Glen Wakeham
(Concluded)
GLEN WAKEHAM
MEANWHILE the progress in other lines did not cease. An addition was built to the sanitarium, which nearly doubled its capacity. A dwelling-house large enough for several families was erected, for the use of the brethren in charge. A new stable for the dairy department, superior in nearly every respect to the original quarters for the students, was completed in September, 1902, and a greenhouse was also established. Later in the same year, a fire, which threatened for a time the whole institution, destroyed one of the old barns, and the managers, taking the lesson to heart, bought a small but thoroughly modern fire-engine, and a suitable house for it was erected.
The different branches of the work flourished, in spite of difficulties. The patronage of the sanitarium, and the16output of the health food factory, increased steadily. The products of farm and garden also increased, and the orchard began to bear fruit. The new school building soon filled, and overflowed, and an addition, considerably larger than the original, was begun, and dedicated in December, 1904.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ORIGINAL BUILDINGS
With the completion of the new building came improvements in school appliances, and additions to the faculty, and the school began to assume the aspect of an educational institution, albeit an industrial one. But the old simplicity of the school life has been preserved as far as possible. The industrial aspect is as prominent as ever. The students all work on the farm, in the factory, or in the domestic departments. The young men go into the kitchen in the morning, and help the girls peel potatoes, and the young women, as well as the young men, go out into field, park, and garden, in the afternoon, and imbibe health and vigor from the fresh air and sunshine. The bill of fare mentioned above has been but little altered; and as the nearest grocery store is seven miles distant, the students are not often tempted to indulge in forbidden abominations.
As might be expected, the strictest economy has been exercised from the beginning. At a cost of less than forty thousand dollars, a school building has been erected, equipped, and furnished, accommodating nearly two hundred students, and containing, moreover, a chapel with a seating capacity, including the gallery, of five hundred persons, four large class rooms, not including the dining-room, and a large parlor. Of course there is no superfluous furniture or unnecessary ornamentation, but the essential school appliances are not wanting. A physical and chemical laboratory has been equipped, the library is steadily growing, the museum is already nearly filled with an excellent collection of specimens from nearly every part of the earth, and a good grand piano and a chapel organ have recently been added to our musical department. Maps and blackboards, which five years ago were an unthought-of luxury, are now in evidence in every class room; and instead of studying in the twilight until their eyes ache, to save lamp-oil, the teachers and students now turn on the electric light.
The call for workers on this side of the water is so urgent that the course of study here is of necessity short and practical; the principal one being two years in length, with a preparatory course of two years for foreigners and others who have but little general education. There is also a two-years' course for nurses who wish to enter the sanitarium. All students enter the school at the recommendation of their various conference presidents or committees, with the understanding that they are to enter the work at the end of their training. And such is the press for help that the more promising students are often called out into the field before they can finish even this. Although the school is only six years old, it can already count dozens of its missionaries, scattered over at least three continents, and a larger contingent is going out every year.
The organization of the work here is simple but thorough. The different departments co-operate in perfect harmony. The sanitarium, the health food factory, and the farm furnish employment for the students, and their earnings go into the general funds. The printing-house in Hamburg, the German Union Conference, and the mission school in Friedensau, all work together. The institutions here have risen amid difficulties unknown in many other countries. Our people are very poor, wages are not half so high as in America, while land and building materials are much higher, yet in six years a capital of $125,000 has been invested without contracting a debt, and two hundred students have been helped through school from the general funds. The school is conducted on a self-supporting basis, but sufficient work is offered to enable any student to get through at an actual expense of about fifty dollars a year, and even this amount is met for those who afterward prove efficient and faithful.
Any sketch of Friedensau which did not mention the spiritual life of the students, would be incomplete. As all are church-members, the field for missionary work within the school is not so large as in our American schools, so on Sabbaths and Sundays the students go out into the surrounding villages, with tracts and papers. The young men who are finishing the workers' course are sent out to different places to hold meetings, so their efficiency can be tested before they leave the school. Those who expect to enter the Bible work also spend several days each month in the neighboring towns, in real Bible work, during their last year in school. The young women in training for nurses are also sent out to answer calls of persons desiring baby nurses or attendants for their children, or to do other light nursing work. Thus no student receives a diploma without having first proved himself practically efficient.
The most interesting meeting of the week is the missionary meeting, which takes place Friday evening. Letters are read from former students now scattered abroad. Nearly every week we listen to the thrilling experiences of some brother in the army, witnessing for the truth from the prison cell, or before the courts martial of Germany; or to the reports of the workers in Russia, who are traveling from one place to another, holding secret meetings, and baptizing converts in the midst of the terrible revolution now in progress there, in spite of the police, who are constantly on their track. It is impossible to listen to the recital of these wonderful experiences without feeling an inspiration to put forth every effort to prepare for a place in the front rank of the battle.
Improvements are always in progress in Friedensau. New bath-rooms and laboratories have just been added to the sanitarium. A new three-story dwelling-house will soon be finished. During the winter a modern steam laundry and electric power-house have been erected. This was a great boon to the young women. The old laundry was so small, and so poorly equipped, that six or eight persons were compelled to rise at one o'clock on Sunday mornings, and stand over the wash-board all day, some of them outdoors.
Among the further annexations projected, is a printing-office. This will be valuable in our industrial work. Other features will be added as the way opens. We are thankful for what the Lord has done and is doing.
Life at Karmatar, India
By J. C. Little
J. C. LITTLE
There is something about the monotony of every-day life that makes us shrink from telling the little experiences that fill a large share of our time in mission work. However, I shall try to give a little glimpse of every-day life at Karmatar.
Every one begins to stir about half-past five in the morning, the boys taking about an hour's exercise in work about the farm or garden, and the girls utilizing the early hours in preparing lessons for the day, or in doing some necessary housework. At this early hour, patients begin to gather at the dispensary door, and usually from this on until midday, the interested group about the door is the common spectacle from our window. These often amount to as many as twenty or thirty patients treated in one day, so it can readily be seen that Sister Whiteis has not an unimportant part in our work here. We find this one of the most favorable means of reaching these darkened people.
Breakfast is at half-past seven, after which the boys gather in the schoolroom, and spend the half hour before school opens at nine, in looking over the day's lessons. Mrs. Little is in charge of the school at present, and she is making some special efforts to teach present truth along with other studies. We they can speak only words of praise for the evidences of the Lord's leading thus far in this branch of the work. School is out at 1:30 P. M.
Also at nine o'clock in the morning the press work begins. School classes are held early for students who work here, and thus we are able to keep up this work during the school year without extra help. Our workers have all been willing, and the work in this department has progressed nicely since the printing plant moved from Calcutta, March 1.
We were pleased to have Sister Burroway join us about the middle of July, and we have found her a valuable helper in the work here. One faculty we seem to require in this country is the ability to adapt ourselves to varied circumstances and conditions without long months of experience, and to readily discern a situation so as to lift in unison with those already on the ground. Sister Burroway has taken hold of the work here in a remarkably short time, and has proved a real help in her branch of the work. God has certainly blessed in sending us help at a time of need.
In the afternoon, farm and garden work for the boys, and the sewing class for the girls, form the principal part of our domestic work. About forty biggahs of paddy-field not far from the compound are now nearly all under cultivation, and besides this we have to plant the garden, most of which is put out in September and October. Thus we are trying to make our school meet the plan of the Lord regarding manual labor.
All students gather at the evening worship hour, and together we sing and bow to thank the Giver of blessings for his daily care. This, with our morning worship, forms the leading part of our devotional exercises. The work here is not all we hope it will be, by any means, but we believe the Lord is leading, and that some fruits will be seen in his kingdom.
Famine in Japan
OWING to the failure of the rice crops in the northern provinces of Japan through drought, a million of the peasants are on the verge of starvation. In order to obtain food, children are being sold for a few shillings. Many of the people are stealing horses, that they may subsist upon horse flesh, while others are living upon baked roots.
Illinois
By William Covert
CHICAGO.—I held a meeting in the South Side church, Sabbath, January 13. A brother was ordained to the office of deacon before the preaching service began. After speaking upon the subject of baptism, I had the privilege of burying five persons with their Lord in the ordinance of baptism. The blessing of the Holy Spirit was very manifest in the celebration of the sacred rite. Such occasions always bring joy to a church; and according to the teaching of our Saviour, there is great gladness in heaven when souls are gathered into the fold of God.
Other brethren conducted a most excellent social meeting in the afternoon. The communion services were also held, and it was said by some that the meetings of the day were the best the church ever enjoyed. This church had put $1,059.30 tithe into the treasury of the conference the past quarter, and their faithfulness on this point was rewarded by a copious spiritual blessing.
In the afternoon of the same day, I held services with the Chicago, Englewood church. They have lately lost possession of their church house where they formerly met, but have since rented on Sixty-third Street in number 830, and they held their first service in the new place on the date named in this report.
It was my privilege to preach for them on this occasion, and also assist in the election of church and Sabbath-school officers. A kind spirit of unity and good courage prevailed in all that was done.
Four persons were received into the church by letter, and four others who had lately been baptized, were received by vote. Still others will unite with the church soon. The elder elected was set apart to the office by ordination. The officers and members requested that definite appointments be made with our Bible workers and ministers who labor in Chicago to assist in the Sabbath services at Englewood. Different ones will labor to bring interested persons to these meetings, and they desire to cast as good influences about them as possible when they do come. We trust they will not be disappointed in this respect.
WM. COVERT.
California
By Wm. Simpson
It has been some time since I have reported to the REVIEW, so I will send a few lines to-night, believing that our brethren who love this blessed truth will rejoice with us in the progress of the message.
I have just closed a two months’ effort in the city of San Diego, Cal. The Spirit of the Lord accompanied the presentation of the truth in that place, and about seventy precious souls accepted present truth. I had the privilege of burying fifty-four in baptism at the close of the meetings, and expect to return soon to baptize others. It rejoices our hearts to see many of these preparing themselves to help us spread a knowledge of this blessed truth to the world.
At present I am at my home at Tropico, taking a much-needed rest before starting another effort in some of our cities. In this land of sunshine we can hold tent-meetings the year round. For over a year I have been using the large camp-meeting pavilion, which is one hundred and ten feet long, and have literally worn it out. It was so badly worn that it was not worth moving away, so I sold the top for five dollars. This will start a fund for a new tent, which will cost about three hundred and fifty dollars, to be used in working the large cities of southern California. I already have fifty dollars raised for such a tent. Should any of our brethren wish a part in such a tent that would give character to our work in the large cities, we would appreciate any contributions that are sent. I go to Santa Barbara in the morning to plan to enter that city soon with the message. I trust that our new tent may be ready for the next effort.
Speaking every evening has been rather wearing on me, but I feel quite well again after a few weeks’ rest with my family, and am of good courage in the Lord to start in again wherever he may direct. I thank the dear Lord for a part in the closing work of the gospel, and realize something of the terrible responsibility that rests upon us who know this truth. Brethren, pray for us. My permanent address is Tropico, Cal.
WM. SIMPSON,
Africa
By Thomas H. Branch
PLAINFIELD MISSION, CHOLO.—We are not only teaching the people and preaching to them, but going with them to the field, and there instructing them how to best use the hoe or ax, and to prepare the soil and to plant. All these things give me an opportunity to teach them something of the beginning and of the Creator. Some of these old men, who are thus working and learning in the field, attend regularly our church services; and as our Sabbath-school lessons are about the creation, they are much interested, and answer intelligently many of the questions.
Another encouraging feature of our work is that the women, who heretofore have been so shy and backward, are now attending all the meetings. From the interest taken, we believe them to be sincere. For all these things we praise God, knowing that we are commanded to sow by all waters, and God will give the increase. O, how anxious we are to do all that we can for the Master while the day lasts!
I am truly thankful that Brother Anderson has been successful in raising funds to start a mission in Barotseland. All these things to me speak the end near. O, how I wish there were more workers in this part of Africa! It is a very needy field. The people are not so thickly settled right around here, but farther on in the interior, and up around the lakes, they are innumerable. When we heard the good news from the once18shut-up Korea, we rejoiced, for certainly this is the time of the latter rain. If ever I longed to see the message take hold of God's people, it is now, that not only in Africa and Korea, but throughout the length and breadth of this sin-sick, groaning old earth the message may be heralded with power. We are praying earnestly for God to send laborers into this great white harvest-field, for there is much to be done, and many people to be warned, before our Lord can come.
At this time the work of building railroads is being pushed in the country, and high wages are being offered to the people, and they are flocking there, especially the more advanced boys in the schools. This is making it very bad for many of the missions. Several whole villages have moved off the mission land here. But with those that remain, we are pushing the work forward. To the near-by villages we go every Sabbath afternoon to preach to the people.
In looking over the work of the past year, our hearts melt in gratitude to God for what he has done; for at the beginning of last year we saw some who were in rebellion against God, and knew nothing of the Saviour, who are now rejoicing in the love of a Saviour, and taking an active part in the meetings, and, as far as we are able to judge, are earnest Christian boys. We hope in this new year to be able to give better service to the Master, and at the end to see a host rejoicing in the love of Christ.
