Evening journal., 1908-05-27
CHRISTIAN
ENDEAVOR NEWS
Topic, May 81; Home Missions.
Alaska For Christ. lisa. 60.12-22.
SOME BIBLE HINTS.

fffAN ~
Isa- 6O:12. Every fallen nation is a
powerful illustration Of this verse.
Isa. 60;17. The mineral wealth O, !
Alaska was unsupported when it was |
purchased; all Gods gifts are better |
than we think.
lisa. 60.22. It is easily possible that /
Alaska will become one Of the mos. /
thickly peopled parts Of our country; |
how necessary therefore. that the
church should be promptly on the |
field
Facts About Alaska.
Alaska formerly constituted Rus. |
sian America BY treaty of March 30. |
1867, the United states bought thig |
territory for S7,200,00O At the tine. !
this was called Stewards folly" from |
the name of our Secretary of state. |
through whom the purchase was made |
but it has now become our most val
liable possession, a veritable empire in
richness ana extent.
This vast territory of $4,000 square
miles has a coast line which would
stretch around the globe. being 1-2
times that of the United States 1t Is
as large as that section of our country
east Of the Mississippi river and north
Of the States of Alabama and Georgia
and North Carolina. Besides its wealth
Of gold 1t is enormously rich in min
erals lumber. fishes and furs. It's seals
are famous. It's principal river, the
Yukon, is the Amazon of North Amer
lea. It's rich soil promises great agri-
cultural possibilities These wonderful
resources are bound TO mean It's full
settlement in spite of the long and
severe winter.
With the coming Of the population
1t will be one of the worlds richest
fields of Christian service, where IN
gold Of character may become Alaslas
chief product
The native population Of Alaska may
be divided into three classes; the
Aleuts, who occupy the Aleutian
islands, the Eskimos. who occupy the
coast Of the mainland, and the Indian
tribes of the interior The Aleuts have
been under Russian civilization for
century and have been brought into tae
Russian Greek church, but the AslS.mos
land Indian tribes at the commencement
Of American occupation were steepco
i'm all the savage vices and degrada-
tions Of heathenism.
In recent years, the great inrush OF
white population hocking to the gold
! problems To illustrate the present
, diversity Of population we quote the
following from an Alaskan Missionary
r The population of the small Alaskan
, town Of Douglas is made of Aleuta.
Americans, Australians. Austrians
. Belgans. Brazilians. Canadians, Chin
ese, Danes English Finlanders French,
! Germans, Greeks, Herzegonians, Hun
, garlans, Indians. Irish. Italians, Jap
, anese. Norwegians. Poles, Russians.
Scotch, Swedes. Swiss Syrians, Turk g
and Welsh, and representatives, of all
these have been at the church ser
vices"
The missionary must not contend
only against ignorance and downright.
heathenism, but also against lawless-
ness. Gambling and many other forms
of vice are rampant but the most dead
ening of Alaska's vices is the terrible
Z soul-killing greed for gold. Among
those who come 10 the country Will
be found the oollege-bred and the
ignorant the refined and the rude, the
q law-abiding and the reckless; but al %
) most all are dominated by the lusi
i of gold. Separated from home re-
e straints. far from Christian iniu-
n ences men who leave home as pro-
o Tossing Christians drift into all sort
n OF vice, and one of the sad sights Is
y the wickedness of those trained in
q Christian ways. Nowhere in the world
q are missionaries more needed than IN
= Alaska. And yet. the terrible testing
2 Of character there has its bright side
: for II the man be strong enough. espe-
cially, If he has that strength that
+, comes from above. he becomes ten
fold stronger and more noble i'm ths
! face of such temptations No moro
u lovable and admirable men exist any
s where than some of the men of those
y northern camps. The hard rubbing
that destroys the clay polishes the
Il diamond
e Alaska Mission Notes.
r Fresbyterlans sent the first mission
Il aries TO Alaska in 1877 when DR. Shell
p don Jackson established a mission at
S Fort Wrangle. The success Of the
O Presbyterians work among the native.
r was so great as to attract the entire
Christian world, and other societies
prepared to send men there. Now all
the principal denominations have mis-
sions in Alaska, all working harmon
= iously together and everywhere tina;
] the missionary goes. the Christian En-
:. deavor Society goes too. But there
= are still thousands of unevangelized
\ natives, while the work to be done
y among the white settlers is far beyonf
u the power of the small force of mis-
= sionaries. The Christian churches
u must awake to the need, if Alaska {,
l. to become Christs
q The record of California shows us
IS the necessity Of evangelizing this new
= land Of wealth For lack Of church ac-
tivity, California in its early mining
days was known as the most lawles.
: part Of the globe, and the aboundine
ungodliness in California today is wit
ness to the early neglect of the church
at large, which thought the popula-
tion too transient TO warrant mis-
sionary effort Let us not make tn,
same mistake i'm Alaska.
Wonderful results have attended th'
work of the missionaries, of whicf
only brief mention may be made here
AWhen the missionaries came 20 Alaska
they found the natives wild and savage
FILLED with heather superstition an,
worshipping in constant dread th'
spirits of evil AS late as 1877 SitlS,