Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-03-09

the multitude because t-;ay had moth
ing to eat would Il. ~ We closed his
ears to the cry q me stricken
nation. If we vo... a.El we.
too. should feed tie r succor
the homeless. tie We L tie or
phan. How better can We a.l.., ki.cwn
the grandeur ard teeaty Of tie Chris
ii; faith than by pio o ortier na-
items its Dennficcn, iu:1u sec: IS The
haad of Christian America is stretched
the starving. they see Christ living
again in US and bless his dear name
Having accepted from us the bread
that perisheS, they will listen as we
tell them of the Bread that came down
from heaven. of which if man eat he
shall live forever. Were the welcom-
ing doors of heather India ever more
widely openetl for the gospel message
than when the ShiploadS of American
breadstuffs were fioated across the At
lantic, through the Mediterranean,
down the Red sea and over the Indian
ocean until they were safely landed in
the harbor of Bombay during the awful
Indian famines of 1897 and 1900? /
have seen it estimated that hundreds
of thousands of starving and dying ma
tives were physically saved through
American generosity during those two
years. But no one save the recording
angel of heaven will ever be able to
keep track of the multitudes of immor-
tai souls who will ultimately be
brought to the feet of Christ through
the contributions and the prayers of
those who tried to some extent to allay
the horrors of that awful famine
plague.
When did Russia ever hear q sweeter
gospel message than that played by the
waves tapping the ships prows which
carried American food to her peasants
during the famine plague of 1892? All,
those were not idle words which Christ
uttered when he said unto those on his
right hand, ''Come, We blessed Of my
Father. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the
world, for | was an hungered. and We
gave me meat" 1t does seem that in
a national as well as in an individual
sense no Christian country can truly
present the gospel to foreign lands if
at the same time it is not ready to help
those foreign nations when they are
afflicted with famine and plague. We
say famine" and plague" in the same
breath, because starvation and disease
are two horrors which always devas-
| tate the land at the same time. Where
| famine goes, there plague follows close
| behind. And. while we are thus con-
| sidering the philanthropic aspect our
| national duty to other lands sometimes
assumes, want to make an especial
| plea for famine stricken Finland. I
make it the more earnestly because
many of her sons and daughters have
migrated to our shores, and therefore
for that reason Finland has a special
claim upon us. They are of the same
household of faith with ourselves;
| therefore it is doubly our duty to aid
them. make this plea the more ear
nestly because if food is not sent
| quickly thousands of those poor peas
ants will soon be beyond human aid
Brothers and sisters will be dead; chill
dren will be Dead fathers and mothers
will be dead; whole communities viii
be eXterminated by famine and the
plague.
The Cry of Finland.
Though the religious and daily news
papers have been for weeks filled will
the accounts of Finland's sufferings
the horrors and agonies which those
simple people of the north are going
through will probably never be fully
told. But as I try to describe it to you
In part no words of mine can so touch
ingly present the condition of that af
f1icted land as does the simple state
ment which Inspector Engberg, VIII,
knows that country well, gave to
representative of the American press
81 have seen much of the suffering" b
says. cit has been awfully black ant
is so still, take my word for that
have become through custom almos
hardened to seeing women and children
crying for food. that was common a
recently as New Years day. When
hear people talk about conditions be
ing exaggerated, think of how I hav
seen human beings eating bran, of hoy
an old woman, the wife of a formerl
prosperous farmer, is in the habit O
coming to my stable and begging pei
mission to scrape the leavings in th
bin of my horse for sustenance for he
three cows, Of how every mother
this community is delighted to get mea
bones that have been discarded b
| more prosperous householders and bo
them and reboil them until they foa
in the hope of extracting particles Q
nourishment. You will be right in say
ing that we have STAYED off starvatio
till now, but God help US if relic
| shouId now fail uS Oh nv hrothe