News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1912-07-24


evangelization of the women of the
world must be done by women who
have accepted Christ is because they
can be reached by women only. 1t Is
common saying that men do not I'M
derstand women. Evidences of this
have been presented in the thousands
of divorce cases and oft repeated fam
lily troubles which are commonly re-
ported in these days. If this be true
in civilized countries, where the grace
of God modifies the harshness of hui
man life, how much more must it be
true among the heather, who have no
spiritual or moral standards such as
We have, and no divine power to as
sist them in living righteous lives
There are no women in foreign
lands who will open their hearts to
men. Being very sky and suspicious,
they are often reluctant to do this
even to the missionary women who
visit them. In fact, such a network
of suspicious fears has been woven
around the lives Of women in non
Christian lands that they shrink from
every foreigner who would pry into
the secrets Of their inner life.
1t would be entirely improper for a
man to visit the home of any native
woman in any non-Christian land, even
should she be member Of the church.
So rigid are the customs that often in
case Of illness, the male doctor is not
permitted to see the female patient.
A missionary doctor in China was
once asked to visit Chinese home to
prescribe for a sick wife. When he
insisted on seeing the patient, the hus-
band demonstrated. However when
he found that no relief could be given
without examination, such as the feel
ing of the pulse, he FASTENED to her
room, tied twined string around her
wrist and passed the end out of the
window to the doctor, telling him to
take hold of it and see If she had
fever There are thousands of wom-
en- in Asia who would rather die than
let man see their faces.
Over most of the territory from ia.
pan through Korea, China, Siam, Bur.
nah, India and on to Palestine and !
Turkey, women are shut apart in |
places called the "woman's apart |
ment." In poor Indian homes, this |
secluded portion of the house Is made |
by hanging a sari of coarse piece of |
cloth across one part of the room, thus |
forming a retreat for the women when |
men come to visit their husbands. |
The women of the Orient are guard |
ed as though they were Enthusiastically |
and as though they were unworthy of |
human privileges, or were in capable |
of exercising proper management OF |
the family affairs.
Under such conditions as these. if
can be easily seen to be impossible
for the men of the mission stations to
preach the gospel to the quarter Of a
billion women living in the Orient; it
must be done by women.
In the first place, the women of
these non-Christian lands need the
gospel for their own sake. The soul
If a Hindoo or Chinese woman is as
truly precious in the sight of God as
that of any other woman, for he does
DOT look on the outward appearance:
whether the person be black or white
Or whether she be dressed in a calico
sari or sealskin cloak, whether she
eats rice with her fingers off a ba-
mana leaf or dainty delicacies from
cut-glass ware.
Another reason why the women of
the Orient must be reached is ba-
cause they support and maintain the
religious systems of the countries in !
which they live.
1t must be readily seen that the |
hundreds of millions of women in
Asia must perish without the gospel
f the women of Christian lands do
lot respond to the call of Christ and
larry his message into their homes.
The response which these women
i've to the missionary lady who asks
or admission to their homes is a
guarantee for untold usefulness for
my Christian woman who can find II
n her heart to take them the words G
# life. In the non-Christian lands
women are often so anxious to hear
he message concerning the new
way" that they will listen with in c
ense eagerness for a longer period b
han the missionary is able to Speak. t
With such an open door of blessing
fered to the women of America who
ave come to know Christ can there
e any trade or profession which a
-ould prevent one from entering the il
DOR with the true message of saliva,
inno /