The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-06-04


Hebrides Islands - His Present
Mission to This Country,
One of the most noted men OF the
Presbyterian church, Rev. DR.. John q.
Patton, missionary to the Australasian
| churches, was in the city yesterday
and Saturday. He came to this coun-
| try to attend the missionary confer
| ence In Washington last September and
| to make a tour OF the United States.
Canada and Great Britain In tho In
| terest OF his mission.
| The venerable missionary was re-
| ceived with exceptional enthusiasm.
He appeared at four services and made
wonderful impression upon the peo-
pie. In the first place his striking ap-
pearance is sermon in holiness and
the atmosphere OF his presence we in
stlnctively feel as that belonging to
sainthood. His head would be a study
for the greatest painter or greatest
| sculptor that ever lived. Michael An
| gelo had no such model for any OF his
| enduring works. not even his almost
inspired figure of Moses. Giorgione,
| Delsarto or the more modern painters
| never represented an aged man whose
face lives on canvas in such beauty
He looks as II he had walked out of
the Old Testament with the gift Of
prophecy shining on his brow, or as II
one of the apostles, old and sanity,
had stepped silently into the new CEN
tury's dawn with n divine message.
He has thick, waving hair OF the
whiteness OF snow. with a beard as
white and soft. That he Is called THE
| Apostle of the New Hebrides" is most
| fitting.
a FAMILIAR NAME
To Presbyterians and all actively In
terested in foreign missions, no name
is more familiar than Dr. Patons. His
lifework among the savages OF the
New Hebrides Is story Of self-sacri-
flee, perseverance and success that RI
walls the most thrilling tales Of heroic
adventure. It is related in two vol
umes Of autobiography edited by his
brother and published in this country
by Revels & Company, of New York
and Chicago. 1t is certainly q marvel
| ously interesting story.
The savage and benighted people
among whom he has labored and with
wonderful success for forty-two years
are, without question, among the most
vicious human beings going to help
make UP the population OF the earth.
So absolutely depraved are they that
they have made virtues Of csrtain
vices, particularly OF treachery. To
practice treachery successfully is to
them a thing to be lauded. Lying and
deceit of all kinds can become In their
eyes, a fault only when the purpose Is
not attained. Successful lying is an
accomplishment that tends to put men
forward In chieftaincies.
They are cannibals OF a very pro-
nounced type and savagts wfthuu.
any trace Of civilization, without a
literature and with a religion that Is
one OF the lowest forms OF festichism
known. The finger nails OF ancestors
are numbered among their deities. TIL
the missionaries went among then
none Of them ever had any idea OF a
God of mercy or grace. They only
worshipped in fear. None but dead
spirits Inhabited their Olympia and
most remarkable OF all the brightest
heaven they had any conception OF
was q city on the side Of a volcano
on one OF the largest Of the islands
CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE.
A girdle OF woven grass worn by
the women was the most elaborate
costume to be encountered, Some
added q bracelet or necklace Of shells
by way of adornment. The sacrifice
of children, polygamy. the strangline
and burial OF widows, and the mur.
dering Of old and infirm persons are
to be numbered among their common
practices. War IS the chief occupa.
ton % the men. The women are sim.
ply drudges.
At present there arc, roughly esti
mated 10000 OF these people inhabitine
the thirty islands comprising the New
Hebrides group. Half a century agC
scarcely one OF these natives but wha
practiced all these vices. TODAY
there are $4,000 professed Christian.
among them, and on the island OF
) Aniwa, where DR.. Paton's latest sta
J ton is located, every adult Is a mem
!: Der OF the church and regularly at
|, tends school. There are yet, it Is re
grettable to say, anywhere from 40,
900 to 10000 of these poor humans eat
! ing the enemies slain in battle, killing
! widows, sacrificing children and wor
shipping in their religion of fear tht
! crudest Of idols, trees, stones and vol
canoes.
A Tribune reporter had brief inter
. view with the venerable DR.. Patton yes
terday at the home OF Rev. James Nc
| Leod, D. D., whose guest he Is durinl
his stay here. He spoke rather re
servedly Of himself, but when It cam
: to a discussion of the opportunities 70
, work IN this field he grew enthusias
{ tic.
He recuunted briefly the work tina
r has been carried out and that which 4
: contemplated after which he brancheC