Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1912-04-03
John Lake Writes From China

| Inc following lelteI uds JusU
been received by the editor of The
Advertiser, and was so much priced
10y him that he passes it on to 9TH
ers:
My Dear Old Friend julie:
If you were ten or eleven thou
sand miles from home, on rainy
day, when the days work was
about done, you'd like to have what
have just been enjoying batch
of papers from the dear old home
of your boyhood. That was thought
full of you, old college-mate, and l
am not waiting until the next steam
er TO write and thank you for it.
The three numbers of The Adverti-
ser, why, man, they sent flood of
Edgefeld "reminiscences and Pleas
ant Lane "reminiscences, and citadel
"reminiscences, floating through my
brain, and ! am the younger for it,
can tell you. I have enjoyed read
ing them out to her who has so
successfully and so wonderfully
kept the blues away, and 1 am look
ing forward to the time when she
and | shall see you and all the
friends and loved ones face to
face.
You know, my furlough was due
last year, but as the work is SO
pressing, and as our mission SO
needs reinforcements, we decided
not to go till this year. But when
the Board at Richmond wrote to US
that we might leave China this
month, we were joyously getting
our plans matured for the long
looked for trip, when the political
troubles, including the Revolution,
began to look so grave, that to
leave the Chinese Christians, and
the Chinese churches, some that we
had planted when things were in
such an unsettled state, was more
than we could do. We have writ
ten that we can't make up our minds
to leave China yet. If what to-
days paper says is true, and the
Emperor has at last abdicated,
maybe the revolution will soon be
over, but while it lasts we can not
leave. Then, during the past few
months, our mission has lost two of
its members by death, and nine are
now in the homeland taking their
much needed furloughs, including
our good brother Snuggs; and DR..
Simmons, the next to the Oldest
member of the mission lies critical
ly ill. have helped to nurse him
for several weeks. At time like
this, when the doors are wide open
for the reception of the gospel, our
Board ought to be able to at least
double the number of men on the
feld-maybe the people will see to
it that they are enabled to do this.
They would if they could see things
as l see them. We had over 600
baptisms in the churches connected
with our South China Mission in
the year just closed, 90 of them 10
the part of the field personally
look after, besides 81 in Mrs.
Lakes Boarding Schoo...
In many respects we could have
left our work for years furlough
better now than later on; but for
the revolution we'd go yet. My
wife and l are able just now to do
very little more than attend to our
literary work, as itinerating is out
of the question for the present.
She has gotten up the little stories,
and have furnished the notes on
the International Sunday School
lessons, and we have edited our
Sunday School weekly paper, on to
January 1913, year ahead. Then
| have gotten from the press two
little Chinese volumes that | have
recently translated into Chinese.
We are keeping over forty preach
ers, teachers, Bible women, colpor-
tiers and writer's AT work, and even
in these troublous times there are
calls for more workers than we can
supply and equip financially.
could use $4,000, if had it, in
building much needed chapels in
my field this year. l could use
$1,000 in putting new colporters at
work, and supplying them with
christian literature this year. l
c uld furnish the copy in Chinese
for books and tracts that would go
into the homes of millions of people
who are eager for the gospel if
had the means. Can you wonder,
then, that / would rather stay and
work on than to spend the Boards
=: oo,,;no- bo,oo IN fur |