The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-11-15

they themselves, nor their work, can
measure UP to the enthusiastic por
traitures of uniformed supporters.
A Motley Assortment Of Missionaries.
1t is impossible to speak of ''the
missionary" human nature does not
lend itself to congratulations. Mis-
sionaries are almost as various COM
pany as editors or doctors or lawyers.
An honest critic cannot unqualifiedly
approve or condemn "the missionary"
Even at the risk of shocking many
readers, let me say that l have met
missionaries who are as incompetent
as the bitterest enemy of missions
represents all missionaries to be. l
have met others who are so small that
they may be classed as negligible
quantities. | have met unmanuered
missionaries, lazy missionaries, cow
ardly missionaries, gluttonous mis-
sionaries, bad-tempered missionaries,
avaricous missionaries, bigoted mis-
sionaries, eccentric missionaries, sell
fish missionaries, and even, in two
cases, l know missionaries who have
been cast out for gross immortality.
There is scarcely charge which has
been made concerning missionaries as
whole that / have not found true of
individual missionaries. Let those
who know little of the facts on the
field rush into qualified defense of all
missionaries as worthy of haloes; l
cannot do so.
Yet, In perfect fairness and frank
ness, can say of the very large ma
jority of the hundreds of mission
aries whom l have watched at their
work, that they are thoroughly hon
est, competent, self-immolating and
devoted servants of great ideal. This
applies to men and women of all de-
nominations and bodies Cath
Ollie and Protestant, churchman and
independent; and to all the mission
fields which | have thus far investi-
gated. In quiet modesty, and with
self-denying service, these men and
women are patiently seeking, against
great odds, the conversion of the peo-
pie among whom they dwell Their
lives are the best recommendation of
their message.
On the whole, they are persons of
more than ordinary ability and refine
ment; the charge may be rejected,
practically in toto, that missionaries
are incompetents who have been driv-
en- into their field by inability to Sc
cure a livelihood. So eminent an au.
thority as DR.. Arthur H. Smith as.
sures me that there is no class of pro-
fessional worker, except only the col
lege professor of whom so high a
standard is required
The number of missionaries of in
dependent wealth, who give literally
to the foreign mission work of which
they themselves are a part, is a sur
prising revelation to an investigator;
and at once an evidence of the conf.
dence of these persons in the mission
airy enterprise, and of their own dis
interestedness in pursuing this voca-
ton.
The Troubles of the Missionaries.
Nevertheless, there are certain trials
of missionary life worth noting, apart
from the difficulties inseparable from
any kind of pioneer work. The first
of these, which bears most hardly in
the beginning, is the separation from
family and friends; as the years soften
this, and the foreign field becomes
home. there ensues, usually, the great
est trial of all, separation from chill
dren, who must be sent away to he ed
ucated. This is the heaviest burden
borne by the missionary.
Very little is said by missionaries
in China about the danger from mobs,
although all the older workers have
thrilling stories to tell when you get
them to talking upon this topic.
When Natives Get on the Nerves.
Another price that must be paid for
life amid an alien people is the fact
that the natives gradually wear upon
the nervous system of the missionary,
who as rule, is a person of more
than ordinary culture and of a sensi-
tive temperament. Gradually the ma
tives do get on a foreigners nerves,
to a degree incredible to one who
spends his days with people of his
own color and speech and manner Of
life and thought. The white men who
are in the east for their own advant-
age usually arrive speedily at the point
of detesting and despising the native,
even to the extent of abusing him, if
he be a Chinaman of Korean; they
also abused the Japanese until the lat
ter would stand it no longer.
While on this point of the character
and calibre of the missionary, the tes-
timony of British war correspondent
with whom travelled into the famine
district of China, is worth quoting.
When we started out he was bitterly
prejudiced against missionaries;
thought them mo good and crowd
of mischief makers. Upon his return,
after meeting many missionaries, he
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