The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-31
ISLAND HEROES.
Terse Comnenh Upon the Christian Endeayor Topie for October 51. "Heroes of Missions h the Islands.S Tea. xxxii,
 1-l l6-2O,
BY wILLIAM n. ELLIs.

nh WALblAM 1T. ELAlS. The "isIes of the ssea" have been ia. by the King James Version. and tinged with the romance and mystery of re- mote and strange peoples. and of ad- venture among them While the Cos pei has been carried to many islands the South Sea islands are commonly meant when the fsland mission field Is mentioned. Of course, the always in- teresting story of the first missionaries to. Britain and Ireland Is appropriate under this topic; and its telling will link the Christianity of North America today with the form of eyangelization which this meeting is considei ing.
 If the Gospel cannot make the worst like the best. then its powers are less than 1t claims.
 The story has often been told of the sea captain visiting the Fill Islands who was railing against missionaries in the presence of q native chief. The latter quietly led the noisy critic to a spot where was a great fireplace. fallen into disrepair. Pointing to 1t. he said. If you had come here few years ago before the missionary arrived. you would have been Killed by my people, cooked in that fireplace and then easen. You have only the missionary to thank mat you arc Aple 70 leave tAhs tsionu.
 The great naturalist, Charles Dar- win, thus testified out of his own expe- rience in the South Sea Islands: "The lesson of the missionary is the en- chanter's wand. The march of improve ment consequent on the introduction of Christianity throughout the South Sea probably stands by itself in the records 0f history" sl
 The co-discoverer of the law of evo- iution along with Darwin. Alfred Rus sell Wallace. shared the opinion of Dar- win with respect to missions. He said: The missionaries have much to be proud of in this country (the South Sea Islands.) They have assisted, the gov ernment in changing a savage into q civilized community in wonderfully short space of time. Forty years ago the country was wilderness, the peo- pie naked sayages, garnishing their rude houses with human heads. Now 1t is a garden, worthy of its sweet name of 'Minahata.,"
 Robert Louis Stevenson lived in the South Sea Islands: with all the careful ness of trained literary worker, and out Of the fullness of actual personal experienced. he wrote this deliberate opinion: 'I had conceived a great pre- judice against missions in the South Seas and had no sooner come there than that prejudice was at first reduced and then at last annihilated. Those who deblatterate against missions have only one thing to do, to come and see them on the spot They will see a great deal of good done, and believe. if they be honest persons, they Will cease to complain of mission work and its effects"
 The United States sent a commis- sioner to the Samoan Islands In 1S99 to investigate conditions there. MT Tripp reported Gas quoted by pr. James L. Barton. in "The Missionary and His CriticS')i These people -(the Samoans) are far from being saVages. They are splendid specimens of physical man hood, and are well informed about mat ters of general information. They are nearly all Christians. and are very de- vout in their attachment to their church and their religion. Thanks to the missionaries, the great bulk of the natives and nearly all the chiefs can read and write, and are adopting the habits of civilization with great alac- fity." :.
 The story of missions in the South Sea Islands Is a continuous tale of ads venture. A heart-sickening number or the missionaries. early and late, have been killed and eaten. only few weeks ago, the captain of the new Hi ram Bingham" the gospel ship sent out by the American Board, died of starva- ton and exposure when his vessel was wrecked. There Is no more dramatic book for young or old than the Life or John G. Patton, ''The Apostle Of New Hebrides." t
 When look into the face of John G. Patton, of the New Hebrides, thought of the face of Moses when he came down from the Mount. For the very texture of the missionary's skin seemed fnwrought with a peculiar fineness and luminousness. A long life of Christly service had so spiritualized the mate- rial man that this face shone."
 'orhe Great-Heart of New Guinea" as Stevenson called James Chalmers, lived a big. vigorous life that went deep and reached far A few years ago he was slain by the natives of a tribe whom he was visiting for the first time with the Gospel.
 Back of the murders of missionaries in the South Sea may be discerned the picture of the white trader. whose abuse of the natives led them to fear and to hate all white men. Thus, the noble Bishop Patteson died as result of a traders ruse. They had rigged and painted their ship in imitation of his.