The age-herald., 1900-02-18
Work of Baptist Women in the West.

Work of Baptist Women in the West.
 While the influence of the modern club
 woman is discussed from various points of
 view and the progress of womarIhood has
 become a never-ending theme, lit Is strange that more is not written of the work of
 women in the churches of the land. Their | recognized influence in church work Is a
 matter upon which the world agrees, and | this is probably the reason that the
 the church woman is not discussed in the | same breath as the so-called new woman.
 The woman's missionary movement in the
 churches, however, had in common with
 other great movements its day of blrth, its | years of struggling, its period of growth
 and leading distinctly the woman movement
 of the age 1t embodies in it's work all the
 educative and philanthnophic principles
 which the most progressive clubs of wo-
 men advocate today
 The work of millions of Christian women
 In this country for the salvation of heather
 women in other lands is so vast and so far
 reaching in its magnitude that statistics
 both appalling and encouraging cannot fully convey to even the enlightened woman
 the true conditions of women in heathen lands.
 The knowledge of the immortality that 1 confrontS missionaries in far away mission | fields convinceS one of the necessity an
 American mother must feel in sending afer
 child back to this country rather than al- l lowing him to grow up in land where
 it would be impossible to prevent him | from seeing the degrading condition of the | men, women and children. The lack of | educational advantages and the climate, | too, decides the American woman in part | ing with her child for a few years. The I fact that the missionaries sent to foreign l fields were forced to educate their chil- 1 dren in this country has resulted as a part | Of the work of the women in the churches of establishing homes for the children of | missionaries during the years that they are attending American schools The mission l aries in India, Burmah and other ceun- l tries recognize the importance of their 1 children having the advantage of dihe ] American schools and universities and like i tfe English officers in India or indeed any other soldier at the front who leaves loved i ones behind, the sorest trial in their lives l is returning to far lands and leaving be- hind little child.
 The women of the Baptist Foreign Mis- sionary Society of the West, own just out l of Chicago a home for the children of mis- sinnaries who are sent out under the Bap- f'st Missionary union. It was established a few years ago at Morgan park and is maintained by the western women, and conducted similar to the -children's home near Boston that was established many years ago by the women of the Baptist Foreign Missionary society of the east Mrs. Ellen Taylor Dodge of Chicago who
 is the guest of her sister, Mrs. William P. Lay IS III charge or une Morgan Park home and knowing of her great work in | the interest of missions I asked her recent ly to tell me something of the manage | ment of this charming home in the west of which had heard much.
 'The Morgan Park home" said Mrs Dodge was established for the young children of foreign missionaries and strange to say there are numbers of persons who claim fhat 1t encourages inconsistency on the | part of missionaries. Parents. in their opinion, have right to leave the rearing | of their little ones to others while they | themselves are looking after the spiritual I welfare of heathen children in far-off lands. Those persons not familiar with the l conditions that surround our missionaries | cannot understand the latter's position l "The great expense to mission boards in | sending missionaries to foreign fields, the | years of labor required in learning the 1 language the advantages of becoming ac- | climated, the value of long experience in | mission work, are conditions that must | be considered by the man or woman who goes to distant lands After number of
 years in a foreign mission field the mis- sionaries see the results of their hard la bors and they recognize the futility of re- l turning to this country. There is perhaps ! the mother who is torn with conflicting i emotions at the thought of raising her lit- tie boy in this fever-stricken immoral [ land when her native land is not so far | away. Her husbands work is probably be- | ginning to be realized, and they both are encouraged at the growth of the Christian } religion in the especial field in which they l have been working. She, of course real l dzes that her boy will be deprived of edu- l cational advantages, if indeed he escapes l the fever, that she is thankful if she can place him at an American school" l "The growing child,'' continued Mrs 1 Dodge" cannot become physically or men-
 tally strong in heathen land, anu to pre- .@f, must return to this country during the for l nation period of his life. The missionary | mother has therefore to part with her child, just as the Christian mother in this , land is separated from her child while he | attends the military or boarding schools.
 "nhe question is often asked" said Mrs | Dodge. that If mother must leave her
 child in this country why not leave him
 M With relatives or friends and of course. | thls IS done whenever 1t is possible hut
 some missionaries have no kindred so sit | uated that they can take these little ones
 into their homes just when the demand
 comes Temporary adoption into a family
 has often proved uncertain and bhe sorro1y
 of parting intensified by anxiety lconcern-
 ing the well-ibedng of the children In
 some cases, few bhs after leaving
 them with relatives, the conditions change
 reiatives lind themselves helpless to render | uhe necessary assistance. and the children
 are without proper care. The parents must
 then abandon their fields Of labor and re-
 turn, if the society makes no provision for | them. An instance of this kind called tine
 Morgan Park home into existence.
 l
 "On account of the crowded condition of
 the home at Newton Cep.er applications
 for seven children of missionar ries who a,ad
 gone out from the west were denied. the
 family there being already larger tha n was | considered for the best At the earnest | solicitation of missionaries, at the siigges- | tion of the Eastern society and by the
 approval of the Missionary union, the So-
 ciety of the West decided by vefe at a
 meeting held in connection with the anni-
 versarfes at Denver 1S92 to make the be- | giningS for a nome in the west
 | "In September, 1893, '.he missionaries first 1 interested suggested Morgan Park, so long
 known as center of Baptist influence
 This place is located in the region of the ! middle west, from which the larger num- | Der of our missionaries go out It has the l racnrr, me dn tin,r .of