New Orleans has three hundred and seventy-five thousand inhabitants. This city figured prominently in slave times, and in the days of the civil war. In the old St. Louis Hotel there still remain the cells where slaves were kept, and the block upon which they were sold to the highest bidder. But both the North and the South are glad that those days are over, and are now seeking the good of the race once treated as chattels.
There are about one hundred thousand colored persons in the city of New Orleans, most of whom are descendants of the old slaves. Though it has been but a short time, comparatively, since their freedom was granted to them, they have made remarkable progress. Members of their race may be found in nearly all professions and occupations in the city.
There are many honest hearts among them susceptible to the truth. At this writing we are holding a tent-meeting for white people in the city of Alexandria, and every night a number of colored persons sit on the curbstone across the street from the tent to listen to the proclamation of the truth.
About eight years ago Elder S. B. Horton held a tent-meeting in New Orleans. A small congregation of colored people assembled each night in the vicinity of his tent, and several took their stand for the truth. Shortly thereafter he organized a colored church of fifteen members. They have passed through some unpleasant experiences, but the Lord has had a care for his little flock, and has continually added to their numbers, until at the present time they have a membership of about sixty. They are loyal to the truth, and faithful in supporting the cause as far as their finances permit.
Real estate is very high priced in New Orleans. The city is growing, and the colored people are being gradually crowded back farther from the center. The most suitable place that they have been able to obtain for their meetings is half of a double house. By opening a folding door they have a meeting-room 12 x 24 feet, with no openings on one side, and only one opening in one end, communicating with another room. A large house stands beside this room, which cuts off the air from that side. Will the reader imagine the condition in that overcrowded room on these hot days in this semitropical city?
For these accommodations they have to pay a monthly rental of twelve dollars. This is such a heavy tax on them that they are unable to make much headway in the matter of obtaining a permanent church home. If they had a good church building, their numbers would certainly rapidly increase.
Elder T. B. Buckner and Sister Jones are now working there, and in spite of the lack of conveniences, the number of believers continues to grow. But it seems imperative that a church building be erected for them without delay. This fruitful field must not be longer hampered. Property is advancing in price all the time, and the colored people are being crowded back continually unless they own their homes or churches. It will now take about three thousand dollars to purchase the lot and erect a suitable building. Just how this is going to be accomplished, I do not know. Will not our brethren and sisters make this work a special subject of prayer?
R. W. PARMELE.
The Wyoming Conference
By E. T. Russell
The Wyoming Conference is composed of the State of Wyoming, Black Hills territory of South Dakota, and the Panhandle portion of Nebraska, including eleven counties.
The camp-meeting and conference was held July 17-27 at Hemingford, Nebr., on the Northwestern branch of the C. B. & Q. R. R. It was a good meeting from the beginning to the close, and the unanimous expression from those in attendance was to the effect that it was the best meeting they had ever been privileged to attend in that conference.
There were present fifty delegates, representing nineteen churches. Three new churches were admitted to the conference. The outside help was more than in the past. There were present Elder Charles Thompson of the Northern Union, Professor Griggs of Union College, Elder W. C. Hankins formerly of China, Mrs. J. P. Anderson of China, and the writer. Very few left the ground without giving themselves to the Lord. Brother F. B. Jewell, who was formerly State agent of Wyoming, was present the last few days of the meeting. He and his wife are under appointment for South Africa, and are booked to sail from New York on August 28.
The business of the conference passed off very harmoniously. But few changes were made in the officers. E. H. Meyers was chosen missionary secretary of the book work, relieving H. A. Fish, who takes up ministerial work. Elder D. U. Hale was reelected president, and Asa Smith secretary and treasurer. The conference committee remains the same as last year.
The president’s report showed that there had been an increase in the membership, and also in the offerings, over the previous year. The increase in Sabbath-school offerings was over one hundred per cent better than the previous year. The book work shows an increase of more than $6,000 over the same period of 1912, also the work in the conference office has increased twenty-five per cent during the year just passed.
About thirty-five family tents were occupied. Over two hundred were encamped on the grounds. The amount of donations to missions during the meeting amounted to $1,511.46. Of this amount $89.97 was Sabbath-school offerings, and the remainder was for the Midsummer Offering. Of the above amount about $300 was cash.
Not a word of criticism or complaint was heard. The Lord is giving his people more of the spirit of unity and love for his cause. Twenty-two were baptized. These were very largely young men and women. One sister nearly four-score years of age, was converted and baptized. It was a meeting long to be remembered by all who were privileged to attend.
E. T. RUSSELL.
Teaching Public Speaking by Correspondence
By C. C. Lewis
THREE years ago, at the Berrien Springs Educational Council, the teaching work of our denominational colleges was divided into sections, and I was asked to take charge of the public speaking section, and to promote, if possible, the teaching of public speaking throughout the denomination.
Seemingly I have done nothing to justify this appointment, but I have been thinking about the matter and trying to see where and how to take hold. During the past two years I have been teaching classes in public speaking at Pacific Union College, and I have learned a good deal, whether my students have or not; and now I am engaged to teach the same subject at the Foreign Mission Seminary during the coming year. I have also decided to prepare the instruction in the form of lessons for the Fireside Correspondence School, thus letting the Seminary lessons and the Correspondence School lessons develop together.
I am not wholly without preparation for this work, although not much of a public speaker myself. In the matter of public speaking I know a good thing when I hear it, even though I may not be able to produce it myself. More than twenty years ago, while teaching English at Union College, I conducted special classes in this subject, because I saw the great need in this direction, and no one else seemed to have a burden to supply it. Since that time I have heard a number of my old pupils say that they received more benefit from this subject than from any other which they pursued while in college. At that time, also, I took regular work in the public speaking785class of the University of Nebraska, principally to see how such a class was conducted. During the past year I have taken through correspondence the lessons of Mr. Grenville Kleiser, so widely advertised by the Funk and Wagnalls Company, and I drew from these lessons what could be adapted to the needs of my pupils in regular class work.
These studies in the university and these lessons by Mr. Kleiser have been of much benefit to me, chiefly in helping me to see that I could do nearly as well myself, though I am far from being the one that ought to say so. Indeed, I think that for our own people, and for our own work, I can do better; for my lessons will be prepared from the standpoint of the message that God has called us as a denomination to deliver to the world. These other lessons are, of course, prepared from the worldly standpoint, and hence are not so good for our particular use.
Mr. Kleiser’s lessons cost twenty-five dollars for twenty-five lessons, and they are well worth the money. But his lessons are entirely one-sided; that is, he does all the work. The lessons are printed, are mailed evidently by clerks, and are just the same for all persons. In this respect the Fireside Correspondence School lessons will be like them; but in another respect there will be a great difference. Mr. Kleiser’s lessons come week by week, with exercises for the student to take, with good examples for him to follow, and with exhortations for him to be faithful in his work; but they do not ask the student to report to the school week by week his progress and his experience. Our work will require responses from the student week by week, and these responses will include written exercises, will bring the pupils into personal touch with the teacher, and will give them the privilege of asking such questions as they may desire. Mr. Kleiser’s lessons are twenty-five in number and cost twenty-five dollars; the Fireside Correspondence School lessons will be forty in number, and will cost fourteen dollars plus one dollar enrolment fee. I have succeeded in finding what I consider a better series of books than those I have used in the past. They are entitled Phillips’s “Effective Speaking” and “Natural Drills in Expression,” Straw’s “Lessons in Expression,” and Gregg’s “Parliamentary Law” (I should have said that I connect the study of Parliamentary law with my lessons in public speaking). I have not yet learned what the cost of these books will be, but I think it will be from three to four dollars for the set.
The first numbers of these lessons are ready, and those who desire may begin work at any time, the sooner the better. I would suggest that tent companies, Bible schools, and college classes might study the lessons together, and divide the expense. They could organize little public-speaking societies, order the lessons in the name of the secretary, pursue the instruction together, and unite in preparing the matter for the recitation papers.
And now, will not all who are interested in promoting the practice of public speaking throughout the denomination unite in securing a large class of pupils for the public-speaking course in the Fireside Correspondence School during the coming year? Will not our editors assist in advancing this good cause by printing this article, or the substance of it, in their papers? And will not our ministers and missionary workers, who would be most benefited by such instruction, arrange to take the lessons, either singly or in groups, as may be most convenient?
Those who are interested are invited to correspond with the undersigned if they desire further information. Enrolment blanks and copies of the new calendar of the Fireside Correspondence School will be sent free upon application. Address C. C. Lewis, principal Fireside Correspondence School, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.
Advancing Requirements for Entrance to the Medical Course
By W. A. Ruble
There is a tendency among educators toward a higher standard of education in all branches of learning. The times in which we are living demand this. It is a noticeable fact that in all grades of school work the students in the respective grades are much younger than was the case a few decades ago. Young people are completing the ordinary high-school course at a much younger age than formerly. For this reason and others, it is necessary to provide for more advanced education than heretofore, and to urge upon young people the necessity of securing a thorough training before entering upon their life-work.
In no preparation for service is there greater need of a thorough education than for missionary endeavor. Seventh-day Adventists are primarily a missionary people. Their means is given for the advancement of the gospel message. Their lives are devoted to the carrying on of the present truth to the world in this generation. Their children are dedicated from birth to the advancement of the truth.
There is no people that need a more thorough preparation for service than do Seventh-day Adventists. They must go to the uttermost parts of the world to carry the message. They must associate with the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the sick and the well. For these reasons the young people of the rising generation among us should receive a thorough preparation for service. This is evident in every department of our denominational work.
At the recent General Conference urgent calls were made for young men and women with a thorough preparation to go to needy fields. Missionaries in attendance at that great council urged the necessity of a more thorough preparation for service. Missionaries of other denominations are well trained. Many of them are college graduates. Repeatedly the comparison was made between some of these missionaries and a few of our own who have gone to these foreign fields without adequate training. It was urged by these men from the front that our young people be given a thorough preparation in our schools.
In medical education especially is the movement for advancement conspicuous. Governments are recognizing the responsibility placed upon medical men in carrying the lives of their fellow men in their hands, and these governments are requiring that very thorough preparation for such responsibility shall be required of men and women to whom such responsibilities are given. Not only are governments prescribing the courses of study in medical courses, but they are also demanding that certain thorough preliminary preparation for medical study shall be provided.
Up to the present time most of the medical colleges in this country have held as a standard for entrance to medical studies a high-school education, covering twelve grades of work. The requirements, however, have been raised of late, and after Jan. 1, 1914, it will be necessary for students entering upon the study of medicine to have completed at least one year of college work before entering. This must comprise a year’s study in biology, chemistry, advanced physics and language. In 1915 the requirements will be raised one more year, making it necessary for students entering the study of medicine to have at least two years of college work.
It will be seen that this fall is the latest date when students may enter upon the study of medicine with no more than a high-school education, covering thirty points of academic work; hence the necessity for all who plan to take up the study of medicine to give this matter thorough consideration and begin the study of medicine not later than this autumn, unless they desire to take one or more years of college work before entering.
There is a provision in most colleges that where students have had fourteen grades,—that is, a high-school education and two years of college work,—they may be granted during the medical course a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Upon their graduation they are given the degree Doctor of Medicine. This provides for what is known as a combined course, leading to the degree B. A. or B. S. and M. D.786
In this way a young person can save two years if he desires the two degrees by taking fourteen years of study in a literary college, then completing the medical course, which gives him the combined degree.
Such a provision is made by the College of Medical Evangelists at Loma Linda, Cal., and a number of our students have already availed themselves of this privilege, and many others are doing so. It is quite desirable that students generally follow this plan. Where a student desires to complete the full college course before entering upon the study of medicine, this may be done.
The prospects for a fairly large class in the college the coming year at Loma Linda are good. Our facilities are fast being perfected for giving a thorough medical course. There is one of the best laboratories in the West in connection with the college. A new seventy-bed hospital will be completed for use by the opening of the college year this fall. A new dispensary is being fitted up in the city of Los Angeles, where part of the course will be given. A number of strong teachers are being added to the faculty this year, which will greatly strengthen the course.
While we would not urge upon any to take up the study of medicine, we are very desirous that every Seventh-day Adventist young person who contemplates the study of medicine will prepare to enter our own medical school. Much instruction has been given on this point and should be heeded.
The new calendar for 1913-14 of the college has been completed, and will be sent to any who contemplate entering this school in the near future.
All desiring to enter the medical course must secure a State medical student’s certificate, which is accepted by this college for entrance. If you cannot secure one in your own State, you should apply for a Michigan or a California certificate.
A medical-evangelist course is also offered. Those entering this course must have completed at least ten grades of preparatory work. A large number of young people should secure this training to go out as medical evangelists into the large cities and mission fields. We invite correspondence regarding this course.
A strong nurses’ course is conducted in connection with the institution. This is a three-year course, and is based upon ten grades of preparatory education. Applications for entrance to this course will be received for a short time. The course begins August 24. A number of young men are especially desirable for the next class.
The college also offers a strong post-graduate course for those nurses who have completed their work in other acceptable schools.
Other courses, such as a cook’s course and a special missionary course are offered.
None but consecrated young people who are seeking a preparation for service in connection with the work of the denomination are desired. It is not the object of the college to give merely a technical medical training, but to prepare missionaries with a very thorough medical training to go out to labor in this message in all parts of the world. Correspondence is solicited.
W. A. RUBLE, M. D.
Loma Linda, Cal.
Field Notes
There are six new Sabbath-keepers at Alamosa, Colo.
On a recent Sabbath Elder H. C. Hartwell baptized eight persons into the church at Taunton, Mass.
A new church has been organized by Elder E. L. Maxwell at Lawrenceburg, Ky. The membership is nine.
Elder William Woodford reports the baptism of seven new believers in the vicinity of Hillyard and Pleasant Valley, in Upper Columbia Conference.
Elder B. W. Brown recently visited Davisville, Ky., and at the close of his labors six persons were baptized, and a church of ten members was organized.
Brother H. Goebel writes of the baptism of ten souls in Iman, Siberia. These are the first-fruits in that town, and have been organized as a church. This city is not far from the Chinese border, being in the vicinity of Vladivostock.
Medical Missionary Department
W. A. RUBLE, M. D. - General SecretaryL. A. HANSEN - Assistant SecretaryH. W. MILLER, M. D. - N. Am. Div. Secretary
The Standard of Attainment Plan
By Milton E. Kern
EVERY Missionary Volunteer should be a soul-winner, for truly, as Amos R. Wells says, “A Christian that is not making other Christians is as much a contradiction in terms as a fire that is not warming or a flame that is not lighting.” Christ was the ideal Christian worker. His recorded talks with the lonely sinner are as marvelous as his sermons to the eager throngs that pressed about him. We need to be filled with the same knowledge and with the same spirit that he was in order to be successful in Christian service. Every Missionary Volunteer should learn how to lead a conversation pleasantly and easily from secular topics to the theme of all themes.
The Standard of Attainment is a plan for getting acquainted with Bible doctrines and our denominational history. It is an important landmark on the road to thorough preparation for service; and reaching it will give one confidence and courage to press on to greater heights.
Growing Rapidly
This plan was launched at Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1907. For years it grew slowly though steadily, but in the fall of 1912 it received a remarkable impetus. Workers in many places seemed to awaken suddenly to the importance of the plan. Hundreds of young people entered the race for the Standard of Attainment goal. Scores of societies organized bands for studying the important subjects for which the Standard of Attainment plan stands. Last spring the conference secretaries called for nine times as many sets of examination questions as at any previous test.
The Missionary Volunteer workers in the Columbia Union are aiming to have one hundred new Standard of Attainment members by March, 1914, while the workers in the Lake Union have made their aim two hundred new members of Attainment by the same date.
Who May Take This Course
All our Missionary Volunteers are urged to become members of Attainment. Others, old and young, who desire to take these studies, will find a hearty welcome. Any one with a moderate capital of diligence may become such a member. One becomes a member of Attainment by passing satisfactorily the tests in Bible doctrines and denominational history issued by the Missionary Volunteer Department of the General Conference.
Examinations
When the Standard of Attainment was launched at the Mount Vernon convention several years ago, the following resolution was passed:—
“(a) The General Conference Young People's Department shall prepare questions once every six months, and in response to orders shall send them to the young people's secretaries of the local conferences, or if there is no such secretary, then to the church elder.
“(b) The church elder or some one appointed by him shall conduct these examinations during the first weeks of March and September of each year.”
This plan is still followed; so when a candidate wishes to take the examination, he should write to his conference Missionary Volunteer secretary, asking for the test questions and giving the name and address of the examiner to whom these questions are to be sent.
A Bible may be used as reference during examinations, but no concordance, personal markings, or other helps.
Liberal time will be allowed for answering the questions, but the examination in one subject must be completed at one sitting and in the presence of the examiner, to whom the paper will then be given. The examiner forwards the same to the local conference Missionary Volunteer secretary.
The test need not be taken in both subjects at the same time. For instance, the candidate can take the examination in Bible doctrines in the spring and denominational history in the fall or later.
The examination paper should bear the name and address of the candidate. All writing should be done with ink.
The conference Missionary Volunteer secretary corrects the papers, and sends the names of all who pass the tests in both Bible doctrines and denominational history to the General Department, where the certificates are issued. When a certificate is filled in, it is sent to the conference Missionary Volunteer secretary for her signature, and she then passes it on to the successful candidate.
Importance of These Subjects
“Our only safeguard against the wiles of Satan is to study the Scriptures diligently, to have an intelligent understanding of the reasons of our faith, and faithfully to perform every known duty.”
—Review and Herald, Nov. 19, 1908.
As to the importance of knowing our denominational history, the spirit of prophecy says: “The work is soon to close. The members of the church militant who have proved faithful will become the church triumphant. In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment and with confidence in Christ as our leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.”—General Conference Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 2, page 24.
Surely all parents and church officers who are acquainted with this standard of efficiency in Bible doctrines and denominational history will strive to get the youth about them to reach the goal. The spirit of prophecy teaches us the importance of this study in these solemn words: “None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.”—“Great Controversy,” page 593. M. E.
Missionary Volunteer Department
M. E. KERN General Secretary
MATILDA ERICKSON N. Am. Div. Secretary
Standard of Attainment Examination
The next Standard of Attainment examination will be held during the first week of September.
Bible Doctrine Study in Australasia
Four hundred and eighty-four young people in the Australasian Union are studying Bible doctrines.
Standard of Attainment Certificates Sent to Central America
RECENTLY the General Missionary Volunteer Department sent seven Standard of Attainment certificates to Central America.
Talks on Education
By W. E. H.
It would be very unfortunate for any one to gain the impression from these talks that nothing substantial is being done to strengthen and extend the work of providing our children and youth with the blessings of Christian education. I have just attended a council of the educational secretaries and superintendents of the Central and Northern Union Conferences (July 16-20), at College View, Nebr., in which much evidence was brought forth that earnest, persevering effort to build up the church-schools and academies in that territory is meeting with most encouraging success.788A few concrete examples will be of interest:—
Case 1.—The church-members are all women but one or two, mostly wives of miners. With no resources but their own earnings, these mothers were determined to provide their children Christian instruction. They bought a building for $35 (worth $200), and with their own hands built a chimney, outhouses, and other equipment. To pay the teacher they take in washings, go out and paper rooms, and do any kind of work they can get to do. Last year they had eight months of school, twenty pupils, a praying teacher, and three of the pupils who were not Christians were converted.
Case 2.—This school is supported chiefly by one man, a farmer, with thirteen children. He has to raise the teacher's pay from his farm and other work he can get to do. His three oldest children went on from the church-school to the academy. One of them is now a nurse, another earned his way to the bookman's convention in Mountain View by selling $1,000 worth of books, and a third started out the other day with his father's best horse and buggy to canvass for a scholarship.
Case 3.—An uncle with four orphans whose mother had been killed by lightning, secured a teacher with twelve grades of education, paid her wages promptly each month, gave her board and room, and met the running expenses with an unusually good sorghum crop which the Lord gave him. One neighbor's child attended, and the school ran six months.
Case 4.—This school had been carried on for thirteen years. At one period of discouragement, it had been almost decided to drop it, but some one counted up the number of workers who had gone out from there, and finding it to be forty, they decided to go on, and now have as high as forty pupils enrolled.
Case 5.—Three years ago this school had run down in attendance to fifteen. One sister who was determined it should not break up, visited dealers in building material in the town, told their need of a better school building, asked contributions of lumber, doors, shingles, etc., then found a building offered for sale at a remarkable bargain, agreed to take it, and raised the money among church-members. They then leased a piece of ground, moved the building there, fitted it up, had school nine months, with an attendance of fifty-two last year, and twenty-five turned away for lack of room.
Case 6.—This church was warned by the county superintendent of public schools not to start a school, but on learning from the county attorney that they could not be hindered legally, they opened a school. The truant officer took the children to the court, but the judge let them go free, and the school went on. One poor man with four children moved near enough to send his children, and though he had no prospects of work, was prospered of the Lord so that he paid seven or eight dollars a month on school expenses.
Case 7.—This is a Danish school. A Lutheran neighbor said that the Seventh-day Adventist children advanced faster and better than his own, and though he had previously felt bitter toward the school, decided to send his children there. He has now kept them in this school three years, they receiving the same instruction in every respect as the Seventh-day Adventist children. He pays about fifty dollars a year in tuition, and now feels very friendly. The county superintendent came to visit this school for half an hour one day, but became so interested that she remained half a day, keeping a livery rig waiting at her expense. Later she drove twelve miles to attend the closing exercises, and with tears rolling down her cheeks, said, “It’s been many a year since I’ve seen or felt a spirit like this, and I know it’s because you teach God’s Word here.” Three public-school teachers were also present. The school has forty pupils and two teachers.
These are only a few selected from many. Little do we sense how great blessings the church is missing by being content to patronize the secular school. In one conference of nine hundred and thirty membership, there are nine church-schools and one family school. In another of four hundred and seventy-four membership there is a prospect of five church-schools and one family school next year. The great cry everywhere is for more and better-trained teachers. One conference with nine schools has eight teachers with a twelve-grade education, but lacking in normal training. There are about seventy teachers and prospective teachers in training this summer at the joint summer school of the Central and Northern Unions, at College View. Our reason for courage is that both the development of schools and the training of teachers is decidedly on the upward trend. W. E. H.
A Fourfold Blessing
By E. M. Graham
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS who live in the United States and Canada have many privileges. Times are good, and wages high; so that while living is high, too, there is still enough to provide for all the comforts of life. Above all, there are abundant opportunities to do missionary work, to have a part in giving the truth to others. We can give of our money; and we have many about us well able to buy our literature, so no one who wishes to work for the Lord is prevented from doing so from lack of means.
In some other countries it is not so. Our people are extremely poor, living on the border line of starvation much of the time. They have no money with which to buy literature to give away, nor can they sell, for their neighbors are as poor as they are. Yet they long to be able to have a part in giving this truth to others, because they love the Lord and his cause as we do.
Should not the strong help the weak? We would suggest a plan whereby this could be done, with very little trouble to our people in this country.
Let every Sabbath-keeper in the United States and Canada sell one ten-cent magazine during the month of September, and give the five cents' profit to a fund for providing our brethren in China, Japan, Korea, and India with literature for free distribution. We have 68,000 Sabbath-keepers in the United States and Canada. Five cents from each of them would give $3,400. This would buy a large quantity of reading-matter in countries where it can be produced very inexpensively.
Some may say that if it is only five cents that is needed from them, they will give that rather than be to the trouble of selling the magazine. Brethren and sisters, do not do that. If you have five cents to spare, give it to the regular mission offerings, for they are in great need of every cent that can be obtained. Secure this fund from the public. The Lord says that “the forces [“wealth,” margin] of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Isa. 60:5. By every Sabbath-keeper's selling one magazine, we may obtain $3,400 of the wealth of the Gentiles. Is it not worth this small effort?
Let all who decide to unite in this effort—and we hope every one will—order through their church missionary secretary, who will order the magazines in clubs, in order to get the fifty-per-cent discount. If some desire to sell more than one magazine to benefit this fund, so much the better. The larger the fund, the more missionary work our people in China, Japan, Korea, and India will be able to do with it.
There is in this plan a fourfold blessing,—the Sabbath-keepers in this country will receive a blessing as they sell the magazine, the people who buy the magazines will be helped by them, our people in those heathen lands will be blessed as they use the fund to help their friends and neighbors, and the people who receive the literature will have the opportunity of receiving the light of the gospel.
We must also remember that the big end of the warning work yet to be done is in the foreign fields, and everything we can do to hasten the giving of the message in them brings the end of our work nearer. This plan will be especially helpful in China, with its 450,000,000 people. To reach all these in the short time left by living preachers alone would be a hopeless task. Literature must be scattered from one end of the country to the other, in order to warn these vast numbers of people. That this is a successful method of working has been proved, for whole companies have accepted the truth in China from reading alone.
Who will sell one magazine on behalf of India, China, Japan, and Korea?
E. M. GRAHAM,
Secretary Home Missionary Dept.
Home Workers’ Books
By N. Z. T.
THE title of this article stands for one of the latest advance steps taken in the development of our literature work. For many years we have been accustomed to the terms subscription books, trade books, tracts, pamphlets, and periodicals. Later we added ten-cent magazines. Now come the home workers’ books. As indicated by the name given them, these are not designed to be sold by the regular canvassers, but by home workers, or “opportunity workers,” as they are called in Germany. By home workers we mean the fathers and mothers and young men and women who cannot consistently leave their home duties to engage exclusively in the sale of our large subscription books, but who can from time to time spend a few hours working among their friends and neighbors.
Our publishing houses have given careful study to the preparation of this line of books, and as a result have developed a splendid assortment, with attractive cover designs and fully illustrated. There are in this collection good books for all classes. Among them are the following:—
For small children:—
“New Testament Primer”
“Gospel Primer”
“Little Folks’ Bible Nature”
For the older children:—
“Best Stories From the Best Book”
“House We Live In”
“Bible Child Life”
“Uncle Ben’s Cobblestones”
“Elo the Eagle”
For the youth and older members of the family:—
“Story of Pitcairn”
“Advance Guard of Missions”
“Making Home Happy”
“Making Home Peaceful”
“Those Bible Readings”
“Steps to Christ”
“Mount of Blessing”
“Christ Our Saviour”
“Our Paradise Home”
“His Glorious Appearing”
The Way Made Easy
In order to facilitate the handling of these books, a very attractive prospectus has been prepared, containing samples of each book. These samples consist of the front cover of each book, and sixteen carefully selected pages. The samples are arranged in a neat binder, and one may carry all or only a portion of these, as he may wish.
Preparation for taking up this work is made easy by the arrangement of the prospectus. The front cover sample of each book has on the inside a well-worded description, which may be used as a canvass in describing the book.
The Outfit
Those who wish to take up work with this collection of books should write their tract society for the following outfit:—
The prospectus; a duplicating ordering book, to use in taking orders; report blanks for weekly reports to the tract society; order blanks on which to order books.
Liberal discounts are given on all these books to those who engage in their sale.
As special efforts are now being made to reorganize and revive the home missionary work among all our people throughout the world, we believe that this line of books will afford opportunity to many to engage in a profitable line of work among their friends and neighbors.
Not an Experiment
Many of our people have already demonstrated that these books sell very readily. One sister, a member of a country church, tells her experience as follows:—
“I think I went out only five different days, and worked about five hours a day. I enjoyed my work, and made many friends, also removed prejudice from some minds and opened the way for reading-matter in some places.”
Her sales were reported as follows: Four “House We Live In,” four “Uncle Ben’s Cobblestones,” four “Making Home Happy,” four “Making Home Peaceful,” five “Best Stories,” four “Pitcairn Island,” two “Little Folks’ Bible Nature,” one “Steps to Christ,” one “Sketches of Bible Child Life,” one “New Testament Primer.” Total value, $23.75.
Another young sister in twelve hours sold 23 copies of these books, value $17.30.
Other experiences might be given, but these show what can be done. Will not those who are interested write their tract society at once, ordering an outfit, and take up this profitable line of missionary work among their friends and neighbors? N. Z. T.
Publishing Department
By N. Z. Town; W. W. Eastman
N. Z. TOWN — General Secretary
W. W. EASTMAN — N. Am. Div. Secretary
Educational Department
By J. L. SHAW; W. E. HOWELL
J. L. SHAW — General Secretary
W. E. HOWELL — N. Am. Div. Asst. Secretary