Evening star., 1945-01-14
SeIossie Great G hriistiion Leader,
Adventist Missionaries Relate
Brunsons Return
After 7 Years Work
In Middle East :.
By JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

Haillie Selassie, Emperor of Eth
opiA, and his Empress are great
Christian souls and humanitarian,
leaders, influencing their people to-
ward the best, in modern civiliza-
.tion, according to Mr.. and Mrs. E, l.
Branson, Seventh-Day Adventist
missionaries.
The Bransons have just returned
from a seyen-year sojourn in the
war-torn Bible lands of the Middle
East, for visit with Mr.. Branson's s
father, w. H. Branson, vice president
OF the Seventh-Day General rAd-
ventist Conference in Takoma Park
During the past two years, while
her husband was making his head
quarters IN Adds .Ababa, Ethiopia. as
superintendent of the Middle East
Union Of Seyenth-Day missionary
work, Mrs. Brapson. conducted q
school for the grandchildren of
Halle Selassie and the children of
court of1cials at the special request
OF the Emperor and Empress. One
OF her most priced possessions is a
gold cross Surmounted by the royal
crown Of Ethiopia. 1t was a parting
gift to her from the Empress imme-
diately before the Bransons' depart
urs' for the United States.
Ihe Emperor, who claims direct
descent from King Solomon and the
Queen OF Sheba and Ethiopia, from
the Christian era down to the pres
ent time, has preserved Christianity
IN the midst of heathenism, the
Bransorls report. The Empress is a
daughter of a long line of kings in
her own right and has always been
. Christian.
Held Glasses in English.
Mrs. Branson, who speaks French
and Arabic and is an accomplished
musician, held all of her classes in
English. She also taught her charges
choral singing and piano lessons.
They were very apt pupils, ex-
tremely intelligent and unusually
reasonable, as well as responsive and
innately courteous. Their childish
JOY in such American games as
Farmer in the DELI and Musical
Chairs was truly delightful" Mrs
Branson says.
She likewise introduced American
fudge, cookies and popped corn, both
buttered and the kind made up into
sugar balls, with their elders being
as intrigued as the children them
selves
Her pupils Invariable called the
Emperor Selassie Papa Johnhoy,"
as term of .endearment on the &C.
casion of his frequent visits to the
school with the Empress, although
they also held him in veneration.
Educational Exhibits.
Both the Emperor and Empress
encouraged Mrs. BranSon to set UP
educational exhibits of the work
which she was doing In the Palace
School, as it was called, and made
them freely available to native
teachers, ,.
: They also are greatly interested
In the national school for the sons
OF patriots killed in the Ethiopian
war with Italy. The school is sit
uated in Adds Ababa and is semi
military in character. !
The central government of Ethi-
.opia, with the continued co-opera-
tion of America and Great Britain,
plus Americas lease-lend support,
has the framework tor excellent
progress, the Bransons believe. The
Ethiopians need education. IN sax1i-
tary measures to, help In the con
Quest OF social diseases, and the oil
too prevalent epidenics OF measles,
smallpox, typhus and other diseases.
Many problems are q direct result
OF the italian invasion, they empha-
size. While it brought thousands of
miles of modern highways to Ethi-
:opia, it made serfs of many of its
people by uprooting them from their
agricultural pursuits and small in
dustries of generations. !
Industrial Schools.
: Through industrial and craft
schools, and a government expert
mental farm, Haillie Selassie is max
ing supreme effort to repair the
damage with A wise economy The