HOME VISIT.
The death of Dr. Elmslie's mother, which took place 6th July, 1869, was
a heavy blow to him. The severity of such a trial is measured by the
place the departed holds in our thoughts; and next to his Saviour, Dr.
Elmslie loved his mother, and lived for her. In his letters, and often
subsequently in conversation, he spoke mournfully of his great loss,
remarking, that by her removal his greatest attraction to home was gone.
But his stipulated time of service had expired; he needed rest; and
other considerations made it important he should return to England.
At Bombay, on his way to this country, in the early days of 1870, he
spent a fortnight with his former fellow-student Dr. Young. "We had many
conversations about our spheres of labour," writes Dr. Young, "and he
mentioned, as one of the greatest difficulties he had to contend with,
the careless way in which the Europeans lived before the natives,
especially in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath," adding, "I have
never tasted wine, or any kind of (intoxicating) drink since leaving
Scotland, that I might not be a stumbling-block to the Kashmiris; and
for the same reason, I never opened a home letter on the Lord's day
except once, when my dear mother was very ill. We cannot, as
missionaries, live too strictly for our Master."
Hearty welcomes awaited Dr. Elmslie in Britain. One deserves especial
notice. "I can never forget," writes a friend, "how, on Dr. Elmslie's
arrival in England, a father shook his hands, as the tears started to
his eyes on seeing him, and how he could say no more than 'You have
saved my boy!' It was not his body only that Dr. Elmslie was the means
of saving, during a dangerous illness, but he had been the means of
saving his soul."
In the spring, he came to Edinburgh, and was cordially welcomed to our
heart and home. He stayed with us most of the summer, renewing in the
city and neighbourhood former acquaintanceships and forming new ones. As
a token of "filial gratitude," as he called it, he undertook duty for
us, and sent us off to rusticate among the beauties of Braemar. Dr.
Elmslie's principal work at home was the preparation of a vocabulary of
the Kashmiri language. While busy putting the material together, he
consulted "a gentleman who professed to take a deep interest in Kashmir.
To this friend he submitted a portion of his MSS., requesting his advice
and aid in publication. The reply was that nothing could be said till
the opinion of a certain learned professor was obtained. After a
considerable time, a letter was received, which Elmslie characterised as
a regular _damper_, intimating, that another person had made an
excellent contribution on the same subject to a Journal in Calcutta, and
that Dr. Elmslie might do worse than not to push the matter further at
present. He was vexed at the coldness of the letter; surprised, but
delighted to hear of another worker in the same field, and once more
wrote to his friend, asking him if he could procure the name of the
person referred to. The professor took some trouble, and found amongst
his papers the contributor's designation, and it turned out that the
paper had been written by Dr. Elmslie himself." The vocabulary was, of
course, proceeded with; but it took much time, and he stuck so close to
his task, that he brought on a severe attack of "liver," the effects of
which he did not entirely shake off, so long as he remained in this
country. In October 1871, he writes us from London, "I have been busy
with my little book, and to-day I saw the first page in print. The
printer has promised to push on with it to the utmost of his power."
Next month he writes to Dr. Farquhar, "You will be happy to learn that
the small Kashmiri dictionary is making progress. We have got as far as
S. in the English-Kashmiri part, which comes first." The work was not
out of the hands of the publishers till Dr. Elmslie had returned to
India, and a completed copy, intended for him, reached Amritsar the day
after his death. "Their works do follow them."
Whatever seemed fitted to advance the cause of medical missions,
afforded pleasure to Dr. Elmslie. It is needless to say, therefore, that
when a _Convalescent Home_ seemed likely to be realised, as an adjunct
to a medical mission, through the generous kindness of a lady, it
awakened in him the liveliest interest. The only out-standing difficulty
was a suitable house; and for this Dr. Elmslie scanned the
advertisements as carefully as if seeking a home for himself. In the
country three tenements advertised seemed worthy of examination, and the
writer and he fixed March 6th for an expedition to the country for that
purpose. It was interesting and encouraging, in turning, on the morning
of the visit, to "_Daily Light on the Daily Path_," to find this verse,
"The Lord your God went in the way before you, to search you out a place
to pitch your tents in." The first house visited was St. Ann's Mount,
Polton, which was so commodious, and in every way so suitable, it seemed
as if built on purpose. Dr. Elmslie could not help recalling the
morning's Promise, and in one of the empty rooms of the house he pleaded
that the God who had guided, would grant possession, and make the home a
blessing to many destitute poor. That delightful retreat, which has now
been open for four seasons, is thus sweetly associated with our departed
friend.
From the time his attention was first turned to medical missions, the
Scripture argument for them bulked largely in his mind; but he always
felt that the full significance of it had never been brought out, and he
longed to see some giant intellect take it up and give it the treatment
it deserves. "In August, 1871," writes Dr. Young, "when Dr. Gauld and I
with our families were living at Braemar, Elmslie joined our party and
remained ten days with us. Elmslie's heart was then full of the
Scriptural argument for medical missions, and was anxious to see the
subject _fully_ opened up. So much so, that on our return to Edinburgh
we sent a conjoint letter to the Rev. Dr. –– asking him to preach on the
subject, or write an article upon it for a Review. The Rev. doctor sent
a kind and encouraging reply, and asked various questions anent medical
missions, but the correspondence closed, as both Elmslie and I were soon
busied in preparations for going abroad."
During the greater part of Dr. Elmslie's stay in this country, his mind
was a good deal unsettled respecting his future sphere. His heart was in
Kashmir, and his thorough knowledge of the language imposed obligations
upon him that could not be lost sight of, but the interruption of his
work every year, just when it was getting into proper order, tried him
exceedingly. He felt he was always going on without making progress. He
was so perplexed, that he admits in a letter to Dr. Farquhar, "My mind,
for a time, was turned towards home." During this period various
appointments, missionary and professional, were placed within his reach.
"He relinquished," writes a friend, "the prospects of a practice that
would have produced £1000 a year." Writing to us of another sphere, he
says, "There are too many ornamental names in the list of members I
fear. It is a fine thing for a doctor to have his name on a committee
for some Christian work. It may tell favourably at the year's end. ––
said £200 or £250 would be enough for salary. I looked at him! _He_
could not live on that." A third appointment was rather pressed upon
him, but learning that it was in the offer of another party, he
wrote:–("25th April, 1871).... As –– (naming the place) is now under Mr.
––'s consideration, it would be both premature on my part, and not quite
kind to him, were I to entertain the proposal at present." As his
professional attainments were of a very high order, he was urged to
stand as a candidate for a vacant chair in one of our universities.
Speaking of the subject, one day, he said, jocularly, "It would swamp
any university to let a medical missionary into one of its chairs, for,
you know, '_No man worth his salt would be a medical missionary!_'" He
was content to forego academic honours, to which he might justly have
aspired, and as a humble missionary to lay out all his attainments for
the furtherance of that gospel that brought peace to his own soul.
At length his mind was set at rest. Writing to Mrs. B. T. (London, 25th
November, 1871) he says, "At the end of last month I wrote a long letter
to the committee of the Church Missionary Society, giving them a full
account of the great difficulties with which God's work in Kashmir is at
present beset. I did this that they might not be ignorant of the true
state of matters there, and that they might have the materials on which
to form a judgment as to the desirability of continuing the medical
mission.... The decision to which they came was that I should be sent
back to Kashmir, to continue the work as before. A future of no ordinary
toil and trial is therefore before me, but I trust that He who sends me
back will make His grace sufficient for me, and make me strong in His
strength. I rejoice at the prospect of undergoing trial in God's
service." This same month, to Mr. Wade, he writes, "I am willing to
return to Kashmir. The missionary life is the only one worth living. It
is the only one that can be called Christ-like.... My dear friend, I
have had a terrible battle to fight with selfishness, and the love of
ease, and the fashion of this world that passeth away. But I trust our
heavenly Father has enabled me to overcome in His strength. I return to
India joyfully and thankfully to rough it in God's work. Oh, it must be
terrible to become old, and to look back upon a life spent for self, in
ease and comfort, with little likeness to the life the dear Saviour
lived–_and lived for us_."
When one reads in his diary Dr. Elmslie's account of his _missionary_
labours in India, there seems wondrously little time left for anything
else; yet we have seen he contrived to gather materials for a
dictionary, and he also accumulated a large amount of matter for a
comprehensive work on Kashmir. In the ensuing campaign he hoped to go
somewhat thoroughly into the botany of the region. For counsel, how best
to overtake this department, he naturally turned to his friend Dr.
Cleghorn.
"MY DEAR FRIEND,–My chief object in writing to you now, is to inquire of
you what a copy of Wight's 'Icones Plantarum Indiæ Orientalis' in good
condition is worth; also what should I give for a copy of Royle's
_Botany of the Himalayas_? Can you tell me where I am likely to meet
with works of that kind.
"Should I return to India, which I am now very likely to do about the
end of January next, I should like to do a little to the botany of those
interesting and far-away regions. I should feel extremely obliged to you
for any hints as to how to proceed in the study of the botany of Kashmir
and the surrounding mountains; also, as to how to do with any specimens
which I may collect, and also as to any points of pre-eminent importance
in _Flora_ of the valley and the neighbourhood. I feel sure that I could
not apply to one better qualified than yourself to give me directions as
to how to proceed in the study of the _Himalayan_ _Flora_." Dr. Elmslie
was permitted to do little amid the rich flora of the Himalayas. He was
judged worthy of speedy promotion; and was soon called to study a
botanical system of far higher development than any to which Linnaeus or
De Candolle has yet introduced us, in which the trees yield twelve
manner of fruit every month, and the leaves thereof are for the healing
of the nations.
The more intimate friends of Dr. Elmslie, were very anxious he should
not return to India alone. He was not sufficiently careful of his
health, and desirous for the preservation of his valuable life, there
was much prayer that God would give him a companion, who, loving Jesus
and His service, might be truly a helpmeet to him in his missionary
labours, and care for himself also, that Gaius-like, he might prosper
and be in health even as his soul prospered. On one point Dr. Elmslie
was most particularly in earnest, that _if_ it should be the Lord's will
that he be accompanied to Kashmir by a fellow worker, she might be very
manifestly _a gift from God_. Miss Duncan, daughter of the late Rev.
Wallace Duncan of Peebles, was given to Dr. Elmslie in answer to
earnest, united, and continued prayer. The marriage took place 23d
February 1872, at Eyre Place, Edinburgh.
It would afford us peculiar satisfaction to give a detailed account of
Dr. Elmslie's proceedings during this home visit, as he was much with
us, and proved a blessing to us beyond what we can well record; but this
might lead to the consideration of interests that do not claim special
notice here, and divert attention from his great life work as a
missionary of Christ in Kashmir.