The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1913-03-26
MISS GLASSBURN-
Err TELLS.0F WORK
Time in Mission Field Flies as the
Passing Of Shuttle. keenIy
Realized in China. >.
OPPORTUNITY IN DAY SCHOOLS
Its Influence Reaches Far Beyond the
Reach of Any Other Form OF
Work in That Country.
Hal tang, China, Jan. 26, 1918.

Hal tang, China, Jan. 26, 1913.
The Chinese have a proverb which
says, Time flies as an arrow, and
the days and months go by as the
passing of shuttle" The proverb is
true the world over, but nowhere is
its truth so keenly realized as on the
mission field, where there ever seems
ringing in ones ears the words Of the
Master, "Ye shall not have gone over
the cities of Israel till the Son of Man
be come" Surely the kings business
requireth haste, and one of the surest
ways to make haste is to work with
the children. Roman Catholicism has
| long boosted, Give us the training OF
child the first eight years of his
life and We care not who has charge
of him later" and in so saying they
have given utterance to truth which
servants of Christ of whatever faith
have no right to ignore or neglect.
The Church of Christ has found it's
81
childhood of the darkened lands OF
which it would make conquest through
the day school. The day school work
is not spectacular or pretentious
branch of service. 1t does not always
have striking or pathetic story to
tell, but in it's influence it ramifies far
beyond the reach of any other form
of work, and is indeed like the leaven
of which the Master spoke.
During the year just past, beside
the supervision of our day schools, l
also had charge of our district evan
gelistic work and spent much Of my
time in going from place to place
with our bible women holding evange-
listic services for women who were
inquiring after the way of life. In
this work many glimpses that other
wise might not have had, were given
me of the value Of the day schools.
Wherever there was day school the
pupils, though many of them are not
from christian homes, seldom failed to
appear in body, paying closest at
tention, joining heartily in the sing
ing, memorizing scripture texts, an
swering questions so readily and so
intelligently that they We're indeed an
inspiration to us. Our district super
intendent said to me short time ago:
"The evangelistic services held this
year have certainly been OF great ben
eft to the children. Whenever | hold
a quarterly meeting at point you
have visited l find the children show
ing greatest interest in the services"
But the children we touched were in
nearly every instance day-school pu-
pills. The day school had first caught
them with guile" and brought them to
place where the gospel could reach
them. At one place noticed large
boy OF fourteen or fifteen years, his
head wound with blue scarf and his
long legs and arms clad in the coarse
blue denim worn by the peasant
class. He seemed to drink in every
word. His face was unusually deli
cate and receptive and l wondered at
his being there, until l heard some
one call him Little Sister," Then it
came out that che" was not boy at
all, but girl living in the family in
to which she had been betrOthed. The
family, being very poor, it was neces-
sary for her to go each day to the
hillside to gather grass and sticks for
fuel, which accounted for her boylike
garb. The family are not christians
and no other member came to the
meetings, but she came every time,
and on the last day We found her in
corner crying bitterly because the
meetings were about to close and we
were going home. She has been in
the day school all year and we believe
that the gospel has hold on her that
she will never get away from. The
pupils in this school, at their last ex-
animation, in addition to their three
RS" could answer promptly any
question in the first chapter of the
catechism, or on the scripture nara
tive of the childhood of Christ. They
had also memorized the 23d, Tooth and
126th Psalms, the Lords prayer, the
Ten Commandments, Apostles creed
and four hymns. Can you think Of
any other way in which thirty-tive dol
lars could have been invested than in
giving ten children such a start as
that in the fundamentals of christian
life and character, aside from the
value the secular side of the years
work will be to them.
At another place group of girls,
ten or twelve years of age, came for
ward desiring baptism and church
membership. The pastor demurred,
thinking them too young to under
stand the step they We're taking. They
insisted that they did understand and
fbo p,ottar woo raforrod RI tho dictr