Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-26
ON THE TRAIL OF THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY

selves, nor their work, can measure up to
the enthusiastic portraitures of uniformed
supporters.
1t is impossible to speak of 1.-The mis-
sionary;' human nature does not lend it
self to generalizations. Missionaries are
almost as various a company as editors or
doctors or lawyers. An honest critic can
not unqualifiedly approve condemn 1.-The
missionary" Even at the risk of shocking
many readers, let me say that 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. I have met I'M
hammered missionaries, lazy missionaries.
cowardly missionaries, gluttonous mission
aries, bad-tempered missionaries, avaricous
missionaries, bigoted missionaries, eccentric
missionaries, selfish 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 a whole that I
have not found true Of individual mission
aries. Let those who know little of the
facts on the field rush into qualified defense
of all missionaries as worthy Of haloes;
cannot do so.
Yet, in perfect fairness and frankness,
can say OF the very large majority OF the
watched at their work, that they are thor
oughly honest. competent, self-immolating
and devoted servants of a great ideal. This
tions and bodies-Roman Catholic and Prot
estant, churchman and independent: and
to all the mission fields which l have thus
far investigated In quiet modesty, and
with self-denying service, these men. and
women are patiently seeking, against great
odds, the conversion of the people among
whom they dwell. Their lives are the best
recommendation of their message.
IN WI IF
than ordinary ability and refinement; the
charge may be rejected, practically in toto,
that missionaries are incompetents who
have been driven into their field by inabil-
ity to secure livelihood. So eminent an
authority as DR.. Arthur H. Smith assures
me that there is no class Of professional
worker, except only the college professor, Of
whom SO high q standard Is required.
The number of missionaries of independ-
ent wealth, who give literally to the for
eign mission work of which they themselves
are part. is a surprising revelation to an
investigator. and at once an evidence of
the confidence of these persons in the mis-
sionary enterprise, and Of their own dis
interestedness in pursuing this vocation.
Were I to withhold this testimonial I
would be doing an injustice to notably
fine and noble company of men and women
who have chosen what. at the time of
choice, they regarded as a hard lot, and
which. even though the realization proves
less of hardship than the expectation, Is
none the less not position to be coveted,
except from lofty religious motives. It
SHOULD be made plain that most mission
they are placed by the churches; they
themselves minimize their difficulties, when
these exist
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 be-
comes home, there ensues, usually, tine
greatest trial of all, separation from chill
dren, who must be sent away to be edu-
Gated. This Is the heaviest burden borne
by the missionary.
Very little is said by missionaries in
China about the danger from mobs, al
though all the older workers have thrilling
ing upon this topic This often present
peril Is taken as part of the days work,
and neither magnified nor ignored. How i'm
minent it is was brought indirectly to my
long trip in bad" part of the interior.
Remember" was one missiopary's part
ing injunction. IF you get into trouble,
take to the water. Keep your wits about
ringleader of a crowd look foolish in the
eyes Of his followers, or if you can scare
him, you are all right And when your
boat ties up at night. 1t will do no harm
to have a little revolver practice, so that
it may be known that you are armed"
All this was spoken in as matter-of-fact a
manner as the directions about boiling wa
ter and making bed.
X
Another price that must be paid for life
amid alien people is the fact that the
natives gradually wear upon the nervous
system of the missionary, who, as rule,
is person of more than ordinary culture
and Of sensitive temperament. Gradu-
ally the natives do get on 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 VINO are in the
east for their own advantage usually ar
rive speedily at the point of detesting and
despiSing the native, even to the extent
of abusing him. IL he be Chinaman or a
Korean; they also abused the Japanese un-
til the latter would stand it no longer
In sharp contrast with this is the con-
duct of the missionaries. whose relations
with the natives are close and constant.
whereas those of the merchant are merely
commercial and occasional The mission
aries, as rule, speedily arrive at the point
of genuine interest in and affection for the
natives: they really love those whom they
serve. This, however, does not wholly re-
move the nervous straiz; which is PROBABLY
the most frequent cause of missionary
breakdowns in health.
While on this point of the character and
colihoP NJ tho missionary the teatirnouv