Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-03-12

Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the
world, for | was an hungered, and ye
gave me meat" 1t does seem that in
q national MS well as in an individual
sense no Christian country can truly
present the gospel 10 foreign lands il
those foreign nations when they are
afflicted with famine and plague. We
say famine" and "plngue" in the same
breath, because starvation and disease
are two horrors which always devns-
tate the land Mt 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.
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 mid
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 vIman aid.
Brothers and sisters will be dead; chill
dren will be dead; fathers and mothers
will be dead: whole communities will
be extermingSed by famine and the
plague.
The Cry of Finland.
Though the religious and daily news
papers have been for weeks filed with
the accounts OF Finlnnd's sufferings,
the horrors and agonies which those
simple people Of the north are going
through will probably never be fully
told. But as l try to describe it to you
in part no words of mine can SO touch
ingly present the condition Of that az
fllcted land as does the simple state
ment which Inspector Engberg, who
knows that country well. gave to a
| representative of the American press
81 have seen much of the suffering" he
says. "It has been awfully black aud
is so still, take my word for that. /
have become through custom almost
hardened to seeing women and children
crying for food, that was common as
recently as New Years day. When l
hear people talk about conditions be-
ing exaggerated. think of how have
seen human beings eating bran, Of how
an old woman, the wife of formerly
/ ia In, ha hob ~; ~
coming to my stable and begging per.
mission to scrape the leavings in the
| bin of my horse for sustenance for her
| three cows, of how every mother in
this community is delighted to get meat
bones that have been discarded by
more prosperous householders and boil
them and reboil them until they float
in the hope of extracting particles of
nourishment. You will be right in say,
ing that we have STAYED off starvation
till now, but God help us if relief
should now fail u.s." oh, my brother
and sister, could any plea for food be
more pathetic, more urgent, than that
Human beings compelled to eat bran
that food which today you would re-
luSc W give W your uOR. EhtluS DTdI
and chopped rye straw and the bark OF
trees merely TO stihe the awful crav.
ings Of hunger. and yet not able to even
get enough Of that!
Starving Finland IS stretching her
arms across the Atlantic. appealing for
bread from Christian America Dare
we. can we, refuse to heed the cry I
Dare we, shall we, stop our ears to this
gospel call? Remember that solemn
question of the apostle. "He that hath
this worlds goods and seeth his broth
er have need and shutteth up his com
passion from him. how dwelleth the
love of God in him?" AS you love your
children. think of those children tina,
are starving; as you love your wife
think Of those wives and mothers and
sisters who are now lettering upon the
brink of the grave because they have
nothing to eat. May God lead you to
see your duty in reference to this cal
which comes from across the seas
Then. TO some extent at least, we may
be able to cancel part Of the nationa
debt which Christian America owes tC
the modern Greeks and to the barba
rians."
copyright. 1903 by Louis Klopsch.l