The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-08-01
A Woman Missionary.
VINO Visits Isolated Ports In Maine m
Yacht Sunbeam.

|
Who Visits Isolated Ports In Maine On
Yacht Sunbeam.
From the Boston Sunday Herald
=, Inc summer vacationist who goes to
Maine for his two weeks. or he t,,, "
months, or longer, is apt TO oct Maj; NV
into his system. When The same saa a,,,e
comes round the following wear son,a-
thing in him begins to stir. to waLo -
ciamOr; and the subtle scent of n;nss
wafted for second from-nobodv knows
where-or the Whit of an east wind in
the city, brings back with a rush ali tho
allurements of that wonderful coast.
III you've card the East a-callin,
why, you won't eed nothin' else''
is true of down east" az we'll as of ~
Far East. To the city dweller Who has
''broken away" there is intoxicst;o, mas az
that flash of blue sea in the snnsh;,a
its leaden-colored fury in a storm and
the life saving fragrance of earth and
air.
There are those, however. who al
though they are on the spot all the wear
round, do not see Maine in its vacation as
pect. The sea is to them, not Wondrous
stage setting for their holiday, but
wall, barrier, shutting them in from
the rest OF the world, cutting them off
from many OF the comforts, not to saw
the necessities of life. The summer
storms, that to the visitor are so pictur-
esque. are to the native only forerunners
OF those n ore formidable storms of win
ter, when supplies are hard to get and
traffic is difficult and dangerous. The
isolation, that is an added charm to the
summer camper, is very different mat
ter after the summer camper has de-
parted. What, then, of those sections
where the summer colonist does not pene-
trate; inaccessible places where even in
vacation time there is little change from
the humdrum routine of all the wear? 1t
IS for these places that the Maine Sea
Coast Missionary Society has been estab-
llshed. And it is among these people
that the Rev. Hannah Jewett Powell.
the only woman coast missionary, spends
her life.
ORGANIZED SIX YEARS AGO.
clergymen, who held coast pastorates,
seeing the great need of larger work
along the coast, organized the society.
with headquarters at Bar Harbor. The
organizers were the Rev. A. M. Mac
Donald, president; the Rev. A. P. Mac
Donald, secretary; Thomas Searls, treas
urer; Henry A. Brown, vice-president,
and others. The vice president is the
missionary-in-chief, who is constantly in
the field, and his right-hand man is
woman. Miss Powell has now been with
the society for more than two years-''in
the feld,' as she says, summer and win
ter. There are, in addition, board of
directors and volunteer workers, especial
ly during the summer months. Among
the volunteers this summer are Miss M.
D. Cheney, a teacher in the Deering
High school, Portland, Me-, and Miss
Eva B. Ammidown of the Charlestown
High school. Alfred Homes Lewis of
New York, one of the directors, also will
give a part of his vacation time to the |
summers work.
The activity of the society extends |
along the coast east and west of Bar |
Harbor, 100 miles in each direction, and |
has been greatly facilitated this season,
thanks to the generosity Of Mrs John S. |
Kennedy of New York, by the gift of
fine sea-going yacht, appropriately chris |
tened the Sunbeam" The first boat
used by the mission was the Hope"
3S-foot auxiliary sloop drawing six feet
of water. She did pioneer work under
Capt. H. E. White, but was rather cum
bersome, and was replaced by 45-foot
yacht, the Morning Star, gift of the
late Bishop Alexander Mackey-Smith of
Philadelphia. This is still owned and
used by the society, but is not fitted for
the necessarily rough winter work, and
this, in turn, has been supplanted by the
Sunbeam" which was launched and
christened at Camden, Me-, last April,
and entered upon her summer cruise I'M
der the direction of Miss Powell.
And what is the 'work" that goes on
all the year round, varying with the sea-
son only as the habits and needs of the
coast people vary, from summer to win
that question when she gave to Herald
representative the routine of an average
day.
MISS POWELL'S AVERAGE DAY.
can average day with me" she said,
"would include anything from cooking
my own meals and meals for some sick
person, to studying, visiting, conducting
services of all kinds children's clubs.
mothers meetings, and so on. During
the past year my service has been dlvid-
ed among four islands-Head Harbor
island, where | was resident -four months;
one month with Miss Cheney at Crow
ley's island; two months in the coolest of
the winter at Little Deer Isle, and Outer
Long island, where | was called the last
of May to tide over an emergency caused
by delay in securing teacher for the
plantation school.
Il arrived at $50 one evening, after
travelling from 6 in the morning. The
evening was spent in visiting two homes
where death had entered. The next day
| officiated at the two funerals, one in
the forenoon, one il the afternoon, the
second occasion of the kind in the whole
history of the island.
after that | taught the school of A
pupils for three weeks, alone, and then
finished the term in connection with the
regular teacher. During the time, also
conducted the services of the church,
had third funeral, wedding and made
many calls. My orders are often prac-
tically sealed just live among the
people, and do with my might whatever
my hands find to do 1t may be prayers
with the sick; it may be closing the eyes
of the dying: it may, as the other night
after school, making bread for the chill
dren in a family from which l helped
bury the mother last spring.
This busy and versatile woman, whose
activity consists partly in preaching, but
more of the time in practlcing what she
,pd othor Christians nreach hac pot opl1,