The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
Tive happily ever afterward." as the fairy
stories say.

live happily ever dS the larry
stories say.
Now this latter incident is a miracle. "as
is a miracle" for if there is a company
commander in the American army who was
to suddenly learn that ne had twelve men
in mis- command who couldn't hit a man in
side Of a hundred yards land in executions
the distance is from twenty TO fifty feeD
the chances are those twelve men would
divide their time for the next six months
between police and the rifle range.
XXX
But consider the r-idiculousness of this
story. 1t brings us face to face with two
alternative propositions: Either the mis-
sionary was imposed on by some uncon-
scionable liar for the sake of what could
be done for him in a material way, or ne
was-well, he had little regard for verbal
exactitude. And light here is the funda-
mental difficulty. in my mind, in the way
of really effective missionary work in for
eign fields by the Protestant churches:
Either the missionaries are so devoid of
guile (and you will recall that the first mis-
sionaries were told TO be wise as SER
pents') that they can be imposed on with
out limit, or their desire to make good re-
ports TO the parent boards leads them first
TO exaggeration and later to prevarication.
Nearly a third of my own life has been
spent i'm and out among the heather parts
of the world, where the missionary is found
in all his glory, and it is within my recol-
lection that reports" have been made, even
to the London Missionary Society, that
peerless agency for the Outstanding of
the world. that showed pastmastership OF
the arts of mendacity.
The trouble with our missionary boards
and societies is that they expect too much,
both of their missionaries and of the peo-
Piles among whom they work In Samoa
a good old Jesuit, whose mission was with
in d very few miles of Vailima, where
Stevenson lived and wrote and died, re-
counted with pride the struggle of a dozen
years that had given him d little charge OF
half that number of families, well ground
ed in the faith, and a school of twenty pu-
pills. Less than two miles away a young
English Methodist. with a beautiful (and
fretfuD wife, fumed because he had an
equally large school and four or five nomi-
nal converts in two years. But l have
known the priest to go ten miles over the
mountains at night 10 be with a dying
savage, whereas the young Englishman
would hold services only Oh the porch of
his house during the rainy season, because
he feared the effects of the climate. Yet the
Briton feared his board would recall him
because of lack of results. Would you be
surprised if he padded his reports when
he sent them in? l wouldn't.
1t is a hard matter TO change a mans
religious faith, however lightly held. 1t
is harder still TO change a woman's, even
a heather voman's. Not in a year or
ten years, but in a generation or two or
ten generations, it will be safe to estimate
the actual work accomplished. In the
meantime. while the work is slowly going
on, the reading and publication of such
letters as that hereinbefore outlined should
be discontinued, as tending TO ALLEVIATE the
friends of the missionary movement, thus
retarding it. And as for a missionary who
would write such a letter, he should be
called in and sent 10 receive the attentions
of an alienist, or put under the ministra-
tons of a competent and 'sanctifed" evan
gelist for purposes OF conversion.
The Minneapolis Tribune recently COM
HleHltQ III u COIlIuuulCdL ZION lLOm a It dlSO
correspondent to the effect that corn,
sweet potatoes, peanuts and other crops
which we're formerly thought to grow only
in more southern ATTITUDES are now sue
cessfully grown in North Dakota The
correspondent ascribed as the cause a
change in the climate; the Tribune believes
it is due to more intelligent ~hUsbandry.
When ! was a boy. living in what is now
South Dakota, peanuts were commonly
| grown by neighboring farmers; sweet po-
tatoes were often found, and corn of all
varieties-sod. dent, black and white sweet
and pop-was plentifully raised. In more
recent years a relative living in Edmunds
county, near Faris, on the North Dakota
border, has repeatedly broken all Dakota
records for yield Of corn per acre, and
has raised amounts that would be phe-
nomenal even in Indiana So it is likely
that neither the assumption that the eli
mate is hanging nor that the results are
due to more intelligent farming is wholly
correct. even though it be true that the
latter would increase any crop possible to
be raised in the Dakotas.
THE GOSSIP.