Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-10-21

college at Mt. Vernon and has also
taken course in the Chicago Train
ing school and has prepared herself
for a life as a missionary among the
heather She was the first one to adj
dress the audience last evening and
to relate her call to the missionary
work. In her short talk, she said:
Il am glad to have the privilege of
being in branch annual meeting.
expect to carry the inspiration | have
received here with me to foreign coun-
tries, to sustain me in my work among
strange people until I return to Amer
lea and am privileged to be present
at another such gathering as this
With regard to my call, | got my call
to missionary work when ] was con-
verified, and l believe that every true
Christian at that time feels a call to
work for the Master. l got my call to
the foreign field by hearing and read
ing OF the needs of the heather lands.
But | have learned much since that
time.
Eight years ago I knew very little
about the heather lands. | knew that
the Himalayan mountains were in In
dia and that in China the women's feet
were bound and there were high walls,
especially the Great wall. | knew that
the people of Africa We're black, and
that is about all l did know of those
fields for work.
"But now, since l have decided to go
to missionary work, | have learned a
great deal that | did not learn before
know now that the Himalayan noun
tains are not the only ones in India
that must be crossed. / know. too,
that in China, not only the women's
feet, but their souls, are bound, and
that there are walls of despair and of
difficulty which must be passed.
know that the blackness of the Afri--
cans skin is very pale in comparison
to the blaclsness of his soul without
the light of Christianity. | know that
there is a great work to be accom-
plished, and | am called to lend my
services in accomplishing it,
When | heard Martha j. Abbott, at
Knoxville several years ago, l wanted
to go to the foreign fields. | thought
much about it in private, but it seem
ed impossible to me, with my poor
SuiCdtlOl, W w SutH llllllS,. WOulu
not even tell my friends of my call
and hardly thought of the possibility
OF my doing the work until three years
ago, when l heard Miss Eva Gregg in
this city and had talk with her. In a
short time L was in the Chicago train
/ ing school, and now am ready to go.
Miss Bertha Beard.
poordfe br,,o g.
| ola. She is under appointment to &c
10 Central China to assist Miss Kate
Ogborn in her work Her few min.
utes' address was one of the most i'm.
pressiye parts of the meeting She
| talks in a way that leaves not The
slightest shadow of doubt as to her
sincerity and her devotion to the work
| However she said last evening thai
! for years she struggled against the
conviction that she should go to the
! foreign field as missionary. Il didn't
| want to go, although | knew that
was called to.it. | tried to forget Tho
/ call and to mako other plans. but il
was of no avail. knew that | woul,
/ have to go sooner or later, resist j
] as l would.
4 And when, one night l was return
: ing from missionary meeting at &c
: dar Falls and thinking of the events
the thought suddenly came to me tina
: | loved the work. 1t surprised me
but from that moment | have beef
anxious for the time when / shall sal
for the heather countries. And / an
delighted that | am going to Miss Kat
Ogborn in Central China, for my am.
bition has always been to work in tina
: land and to work with her. / thinl
, the greatest disappointment that coul
come to me now would be to learn tina
| | could not go.
What does it matter if the work
, hard? Some people come to an ou
| going missionary and instead of shall
| ing hands and wishing her God-spee6
/ they express fear that they vii
never see her again. What does tina
i rnattera 1t is no loss to die TIL
) death of Kate Mekkelson in Afric
: will do more for the heather of tina
) land than her life would have don
/ for they have learned that a Christia
t may die happy. 1t is as necessar
, that some of us should lay down OF
: lives in the far-off country as it
that we should devote our life to tn
j work
3 Miss Joanna Davis.
: Miss Joanna Davis of Fayette, ha
S spent six years in the Chicago trainin
$ school for mission workers and is no
t under appointment to a deacones
: work in Bombay, India. She arrived
+ the city only yesterday to attend TIL
0 convention, and last evening she wa
[ introduced for the first time to til
/ members of the Des Moines branc
a She spoke of her hopes and inter
= lions as follows:
( 81 was born as Methodist, and
g think that since early childhood
e have been interested in mission wor
n especially in India. liked to see pic
" lures of people and places in tn;
L country and to have them explained |
IL me. The inclination grew as | BEGAN
older. finished my schooling and b
gan teaching school, and once, abol
/, ten years ago, the thought came
- me, why should | not go into foreis
Il lands and fight against heathenisn