The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-01-23
THE MISSION MAIL BAG.
WORTH SAVING.

L
large sections and people are literally
starving to death. An American Board
worker there, familiar with famine
scenes, writes that he 'has never
known such conditions Orphan chill
dren clamor to be taken into the mis-,
sion schools. There is good stun
among these Armenian waits. one
applicant was little chap about ten
wears old who walked from his native
village to the neighboring city OF
Erzroom for an operation for enlarged
glands in the neck. He marched TO
the hospital, mounted the operating
table and tnck chloroform without
wbimper, all alone with not friend or
acquaintance near. The kind Christian
doctor gave him the best medical care
possible, then the child had to be set
adrift. to make room for other suffer-
ers. The boys eagerness TO enter the
school was pitiful to behold, but that,
too. was full to overlooking. A perma-
nent orphanage is greatly needed to
care for such orphans.
THE CONTAGION OF ENTHUSIASM.
The tide of enthusiasm in the Lay
mems Missionary Movement seems to
be sweeping over the whole country
At one place in Virginia few weeks
ago mitl-owner had his plant destroy
ed Nv fire. Before the flames were
exti1guished he pulled out his check
hook and wrote check for $1,000 TOR
foreign missions. The churches IN
Norfolk and Portsmouth IN the same
State pledged to increase their annual
gifts for missions from $4,000 TO w.
600 In Tennessee interest IN the
movement has taken the form, IN
addition to larger contributions OF
money, of organizing mission study
classes. More than a thousand new
ou-s have lust been started. thus lay
ing the foundation for greater lntelll-
pence among the young people. lgno-
rance lies at the root of most of the
prejudice against foreign missions. 10
know what is really being done In non
Christian lands through schools, hos
pitfalls and industrial plants, as well as
through the churches, is enough TO
kiudle enthusiasm in the dulleSt soul.
NOT UNLIKE OTHER LADS.
A writer in the Worlds Work for
December pays glowing tribute to
the man or woman "who carries the
gospel in a surgical case and whose
chapel is a matched dlspensary in an
out-ot the-way place in the world. !"
Honor is also due those who are preach
ing the gospel of labor through the
manual training schools on foreign
missionary ground. One such under
the care of the American Board in
South India gives instruction in carpen-
Try and blackSmithing, and is about to
add departments in mechanical and
free-hand drawing, agriculture, book
keeping CORES pondeuce and wOod-car-
yIA.. The principal of the school,
John y Miller writes: eve hope III a
Year or TWO to be able to add shorthand
and typeWrlring and commercial law,
but We must first secure type writing
machines. There is d real demand tor
men trained III this way. and while
government is doing little along this
line. and others are talking about 1t a
great deal, it is the privilege of the
American missionary to enter and de
velop the work along lines of Western
thought and method.
Boys here are in many ways like
boys III America and school life differs
but little, save that here it is more sim
pie and less expensive. The work of
the classroom Is like that at home and
our textbooks are, for the most part,
English productions. The govern
meut passes judgment on all text
books used, as ali examinations are con-
Quoted by the universities with which
the schools are affiliated. In athiet-
les we try to encourage manly sports;
foot-b ball, cricket and tennis have their
devotees, Just as with you. We have a
very good outdoor gymnasium and all
students are required to take regular
class work therein, but there is no
attempt to establish or to break records
as we find III schools in America"
BUBoNIC PLAGUE.
Last year when bubonic plague ap-
peared in San Francisco the city APP
pealtd to the government for aid in
stamping out the dread disease. 1t is
an importation from India, where the
British Government eXpends thousands
of dollars annually in trying to enforce
laws for cleanliness among the people.
For filth is the chief cause of the
plague and it is diSheartening to meet
with bitter opposition from the natives
themselves in efforts to improve their
sanitary condition. 1t is a remarkable
fact, however, that the Christian viii
lagos are exempt from the disease.
Why? Because the men and women
who become followers of Christ keep
their bodies and their homes clean.
What the government cannot force
them to do they do willingly OF their
own accord as soon as new principle
controls their lives. Hon. John Bar
rett once remarked that cit is no exag-
geration to say that the missionaries
are solely responsible for preventing
the spread of smallpox all over China,
Japan and SIAM
IN A NUTSHELL.
Since the United States became a
world power there is an increasing
demand for fresh facts about foreign
countries, in compact and disable form.
Within the compass of A pages the
American Board has condensed into
its Almanac for 1908 not only vast
amount of useful information on mis-
sions but items of interest concerning
the form of government, population,
rulers and present condition of various
lands Among the illustrations are
shown modes of travel in Turkey, how
tiles are made in West Africa, and the
kind of houses occupied by the Filip-
nos. A valuable feature of this little
pamphlet, which costs only ten cents,
is the pronunciation of geographical
names at the end. We are being shak-
en- out of our provincialism by touch
ing elbows with strange peoples all
over the globe, but it is still hard to
twist Our tOnpleS around the names