Her Caste passed the word along from village to village wherever its
members were found, and all these relations and connections were
speedily leagued in a compact to keep her from hearing more. When we
went to see her, we found she had been posted off somewhere else. When
we went to the somewhere else (always freely mentioned to us, with
invitation to go), we found she had been there, but had been forwarded
elsewhere. For weeks she was tossed about like this; then we traced
her and found her. But she was thoroughly cowed, and dared not show
the least interest in us.... Take a child of four or five, ask it a
question concerning its Caste, and you will see how that baby tree has
begun to drop branch rootlets....
The young girls belonging to the higher Castes are kept in strict
seclusion. During these formative years they are shut up within the
courtyard walls to the dwarfing life within, and as a result they get
dwarfed, and lose in resourcefulness and independence of mind, and
above all in courage; and this tells terribly in our work, making it
so difficult to persuade such a one to think for herself. It is this
custom which makes work among girls exceedingly slow and unresultful.
A few months ago a boy of twelve resolved to become a Christian. His
clan, eight thousand strong, were enraged. There was a riot in the
streets; in the house the poison cup was ready. Better death than loss
of Caste. In another town a boy took his stand and was baptized, thus
crossing the line that divided secret belief from open confession. His
Caste men got hold of him afterwards; next time he was seen he was a
raving lunatic. The Caste was avenged! (Amy Wilson Carmichael in
“Things as They Are.”)
SPIRIT-WORSHIP AMONG THE LAO
Spirit-worship, as existing among the Lao, is not reduced to a system
as is Buddhism. It has no temple, but it is enshrined in the heart of
every man, woman, and child in the country.... Children are seen with
soot marks upon their foreheads. These are placed there by
spirit-doctors and are to ward off evil. They also wear around their
wrists charm-strings. This belief is by no means confined to the
peasantry.
Every person is believed to have thirty-two good spirits pervading his
body, called kwan. As long as these kwan all remain as guardian
spirits within, no sickness or mishap can befall the person. But alas!
these kwan are freaky, vacillating spirits, and may leave the body
without a moment’s warning, and at once sickness or accident befalls.
Much time and money are spent trying to keep these kwan in a good
humor, so that they will not desert the body....
The folk-lore of this people is pregnant with this belief in magic and
spirit-worship, and so the children at the knee learn to reverence and
fear both, and in after years when the saner reason of maturity would
assert itself, this belief has become a habit too deeply ingrained in
the mind to be cast aside. (Lillian Johnson Curtis in “The Laos of
North Siam,” Westminster Press.)
SUNDAY-SCHOOL--NINGPO, CHINA
I wish some of you might be here tomorrow to go with me to my
Sunday-School for heathen children. This is a school which had to be
discontinued for some time, and I re-opened it on Easter Sunday, with
the assistance of nine of our older girls and pupil teachers. One
hundred were present last Sunday, including some girls from our two
mission schools, and a few visitors. The majority of the children are
very poor and dirty, and they are learning to sing “Jesus loves me,
this I know,” with as much gusto as though they were as clean as
pinks, and they carry away with them a lesson leaf and a picture card,
to try to tell at home what they have learned that day. I quite forget
they are Chinese children, for their human nature is very like that of
the children at home. One Sunday, two little girls from our mission
school, clean and comfortably dressed, were sitting on the front
seat, when I brought in three little heathen girls, soiled and untidy,
to sit beside them. Whereupon one of the clean little girls drew
herself off in one corner, gathering her clothes close about her for
fear of touching the others; while the second clean little girl moved
toward the soiled children and shared her hymnbook with them, pointing
out each character as we sang. Did you ever know any little children
at home who acted as did these two Chinese children? (Edith C. Dickie
in _The Foreign Post_.)
BIBLE READING
“Suffer the little children.” Mark 10:13-16.
Various ways in which Christ’s disciples hinder the
children,--consider them too young,--too irresponsible,--feel that
adults have the first claim to Christ’s time and attention.
How different was Christ’s attitude! “In His words over the little
children, Christ has lifted childhood into a type of character, and
has given children their share in the Kingdom of God.” (Shailer
Mathews.)
The touch of Christ on a little child’s life brings blessing. Are we
bringing the children to Him or forbidding them? “The place for the
lambs is in the fold.” (Woelfkin.)
A CHILDREN’S LITANY
Dear Heavenly Father of all the children of the earth;
Have mercy upon us.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst become a child to redeem
all nations;
Have mercy upon us.
That in all the families of the world parents and children
may learn to have a fear and love of Thy Holy Name;
We pray Thee, dear Lord.
That a blessing may rest upon the homes of all missionaries,
and that protection may be granted to all missionary
fathers and mothers;
We pray Thee, dear Lord.
That we may earnestly desire to bring some child who does
not understand, into the light of the Star of Bethlehem;
We pray Thee, dear Lord.
That homes and hospitals which minister to the needs of
children may be blessed, and their number multiplied;
We pray Thee, dear Lord.
For Christian nurture, Christian homes, and Christian parents;
We thank Thee, dear Lord.
For the Babe of Bethlehem in the manger, and the Christ-Child
in the carpenter shop;
We thank Thee, dear Lord.
(_Spirit of Missions._)
QUESTIONS
1. What would be the moral and physical effects on a boy, of the
religious rites of ancestor worship as practiced among the Fang tribe
of Africa?
2. What can we learn from Mohammedan methods in teaching their
children the Koran, and establishing them in the doctrines and usages
of their faith?
3. What are the principal difficulties met by representatives of
Christianity in efforts to come in contact with and influence
Mohammedan children?
4. Suggest methods best adapted for overcoming these difficulties.
5. What methods have been most successful in reaching the children in
the missions of your denomination?
6. What estimate should be placed on the Sunday-School as a factor in
the evangelization of mission lands?
7. What are the greatest needs for better equipment in Sunday-School
work in the lands where your Board is at work?
8. What can American children be trained to do in meeting these needs?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Children of Persia, Mrs. Napier Malcolm, (Oliphant, Anderson &
Ferrier.)
Children of Egypt, Miss L. Crowther, (Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier.)
“Little Wednesday,” _Everyland_, June, 1913.
“A Social Settlement in the Slums of Okayama,” _Missionary Review of
the World_, Dec., 1912.
Sketches from the Karen Hills, Alonzo Bunker, (Revell.)
On the Borders of Pigmy Land, Chaps. 9, 10, 19-25, Ruth B. Fisher,
(Revell.)
The Light of the World, Chap. 6, R. E. Speer, (Mission Study Series.)
Lotus Buds, Amy Wilson Carmichael, (Geo. H. Doran Co.)
Things as They Are, Amy Wilson Carmichael, (Revell.)
Overweights of Joy, Amy Wilson Carmichael, (Revell.)
The Call of Moslem Children, _Missionary Review of the World_, Oct.,
1913.
LEAFLETS
Ought-to-have-been-a-boy Woman’s Baptist Foreign
Sorrows of Heathen Motherhood Missionary Society.
How Chinese children learn Woman’s Foreign Missionary
to worship idols Society of the
Boys and Girls in Korea Methodist Episcopal
Christmas in India Church.
How Koharu learned to worship
A Little Girl and the Lions
A Sunday-School picnic in
India
The god of Hindu children Woman’s Board of Missions
Three in a Temple of the Congregational
How a bamboo helped to Church.
overthrow idol worship
Ping-ti’s discoveries
A Road and a Song Woman’s Board of Foreign
I come to stay Missions of the Presbyterian
Church.
Pen notes and pictures Woman’s Board of Foreign
Story of Ozeki San Missions of the Reformed
How we do evangelistic work Church in America.
in Japan
FOOTNOTES:
[75] Told in “Buddhism,” by Monier-Williams. (Macmillan.)
[76] “Things as They Are,” Amy Wilson Carmichael. (Revell.)
[77] “Children of Persia,” Mrs. Napier Malcolm. (Oliphant, Anderson, &
Ferrier.)
[78] “The Jungle Folk of Africa,” R. H. Milligan. (Revell.)
[79] “The Wrongs of Indian Womanhood,” Mrs. Marcus B. Fuller.
(Revell.)
[80] Quoted by E. Storrow in “Our Sisters in India.” (Revell.)
[81] _Spirit of Missions_, Feb., 1912.
[82] “Children of Egypt,” Miss Crowther. (Oliphant, Anderson &
Ferrier.)
[83] “The Wrongs of Indian Womanhood,” Mrs. Marcus B. Fuller.
(Revell.)
[84] “The Sorrows of Heathen Motherhood,” Helen D. Newcomb.
[85] _Woman’s Work_, July, 1912.
[86] Hastings Bible Dictionary.
[87] _Spirit of Missions_, March, 1906.
[88] _Spirit of Missions_, February, 1911
[89] _Missionary Review of the World_, January, 1911.
[90] “Children of Egypt,” L. Crowther. (Oliphant, Anderson, &
Ferrier.)
[91] _Over Sea and Land_, April, 1913.
[92] Miss M. T. Maxwell Ford in “Daylight in the Harem.”
[93] “Things as They Are,” Amy Wilson Carmichael. (Revell.)
[94] Told in _Missionary Review of the World_, December, 1911.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHILD AT WORK FOR CHRIST
“I must be about my Father’s business.”
Christ needs all the children of the world--Work for the children
in awakening lands, Japan, China, India--Work for the children in
lands convulsed by war and revolution, Turkey, Persia--Work for
the children in lands asleep--The world’s tragedies--What a slave
boy accomplished--Need for trained workers--How Bishop Selwyn
obtained and trained them--Children at work for Christ--Children
from mission lands helping to save America--Missionary children at
work--American children have a share in the working and giving and
going--The world needs the Holy Child.
THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD NEED CHRIST.
CHRIST NEEDS THE CHILDREN,--ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.
[Sidenote: Christ needs the children.]
Unless the children of today are brought to the Master and trained for
His service, the outlook is dark indeed for coming generations. If
every child now living could be brought under Christian influences,
receive a Christian education, and be sent out to live and work for
Christ, what a marvelous transformation this world would experience!
In a conspicuous place on the wall at a recent Sunday-School
convention hung a banner with the words “Childhood is the Hope of the
World,”--the same thought that was embodied in the remark of a
prominent Japanese Christian, who said to a missionary, “The grown-up
people are so ignorant and set in their ways, they will not become
Christians, but _the hope is in the children_.”[95]
“He who helps a child,” says Phillips Brooks, “helps humanity with a
distinctness, with an immediateness, which no other help given to
human creatures in any other stage of their human life, can possibly
give again.” Here is a challenge to all who believe that the world
needs hope, that humanity needs help, that God needs human agents to
carry out His plans, that Christ needs the child!
[Sidenote: Work for the children in awakening lands.]
What is there for the child of today,--the man and woman of
tomorrow,--to do in countries that are awaking out of age-long sleep?
[Sidenote: Changes in Japan.]
Sixty years ago Japan was in darkness. What great transformations have
taken place since Commodore Perry sailed for Yedo Bay in November,
1852! As a commercial, military, and naval power Japan has been taking
her place with the important nations of the earth. We have already
learned that her educational system contains much that might well be
copied in Western lands. The manner in which Japan is “catching up”
with nations that have had centuries of advantage over her reminds one
of the educational experimenters who claim that a child need not be
bothered with mathematics until he is ten or twelve years old, and
that he will then speedily “catch up” with children who have toiled
over their mathematics since they were of kindergarten age. During the
serious outbreak of bitter feeling in Japan regarding the proposed
Alien Land Holding Bill pending in the California Legislature, a
large reception was tendered in Tokyo to Dr. John R. Mott, Hamilton
Wright Mabie and Dr. Peabody. In the course of his address, Count
Okuma, who is not in any sense a Christian, remarked that diplomacy,
the courts, and commercial interests were alike helpless to maintain
peace on earth and good will among men. “The only hope,” he said, “is
in the power of Christianity and in the influence of Christians to
maintain peace and righteousness in the spirit of brotherly love.”[96]
[Sidenote: Religious census in Imperial University.]
Not only from a political point of view, but far more from an
intellectual and religious point of view, is Japan in great, urgent
need of what Christianity can give her. “It seems from the figures of
a religious census recently taken in the Imperial University of Japan
at Tokyo, that of the students in attendance, three-fourths of them
declare themselves agnostics, while fifteen hundred are content to be
registered as atheists. That leaves only five hundred of the whole
student body to be accounted for: and of these, sixty are Christian,
fifty Buddhist, and eight Shinto.... The educated classes of Japan
have practically broken with Shintoism and Buddhism, and are looking
around for some better basis for ethics and faith. The issue in Japan
is no longer between Christianity and Buddhism, but between
Christianity and nothing.”[97]
[Sidenote: Kindergarten children in after-life.]
Side by side with this pregnant statement we place a few sentences
from the Sixth Annual Report of the Kindergarten Union of Japan.
“What influence has the kindergarten on the lives of its graduates in
later years? From many churches we hear of them as church members
doing active service, like one young man who has a class of
twenty-five boys in Sunday-School. As teachers, as mothers, in many
walks of life, they are showing the power of Christ in their lives,
and all, whether Christians or not, are better men and women for their
training in Christian schools.”
The inference is so obvious that we need not comment upon it. Rather
let us do our share to multiply the agencies that can embody in their
reports such incidents as the following from the American Church
Mission Kindergarten at Sendai:--
“More than ever before have we emphasized Christianity as the center
of our thought and life, and feel much encouraged to go much farther
next year. Yearning over our graduates, who, when they leave us, may
be separated for a long time from Christian teaching, we earnestly
desired to see Christianity move definitely forward in their hearts,
so far as may be for little children. So we based the last month’s
work on Phil. 2:6-11. This seems deep, but was found helpful by the
teachers.... Just before graduation, in the free talk at luncheon hour
one day, a boy whose parents were about to move to Akita said most
disconsolately, ‘There won’t be any God to take care of me when I go
to Akita!’ ‘Oh, yes, there will,’ said Taguchi San, who, seeing his
need of a broader understanding of the Omnipotent God, told of the God
of all the earth, and that He cared for us wherever we go, even when
farther than Akita.”[98]
[Sidenote: China’s awakening.]
China’s awakening has been so sudden and so rapid that even while the
Christian women of America were studying “China’s New Day,” many facts
in that up-to-date text-book became ancient history. A few of the
startling contrasts between the Old China and the New were indicated
in the _Congregationalist_ of April 24, 1913.
Associated Press despatches from Peking on Thursday of last week
reported that the Chinese Government has made an appeal to all the
Christian churches in China to set aside April 27--next Sunday--as
a day of prayer for the Chinese National Assembly, for the new
Government, for the President of the new Republic yet to be
elected, for the constitution of the Republic, for the maintenance
of peace and for the election of strong and virtuous men to
office. Representatives of provincial authorities are instructed
to be present at these services....
Thirteen years ago this coming summer the Imperial Government of
China hunted and slew her Christian subjects like wild beasts and
brought all of the resources at her command to aid in driving the
hated religions of the “foreign devils” from her shores. Today
the new Republic solemnly and officially sets apart a day and
urges all her Christian subjects, as well as foreigners, to
assemble and, in the presence of the officials, intercede for
those things which Christian nations seek and supremely value.
In 1900 a despatch was sent from the throne to all viceroys of
all the provinces to exterminate all foreigners, and the streets
of Peking were placarded with posters threatening with death all
who provided them refuge. A few weeks ago the President of the
Republic, Yuan Shi Kai, addressing in Peking an assembly of
delegates to the Annual Convention of the Y. M. C. A., said:
“You, my friends, who are members and delegates to this Christian
Association from every province of the Republic, are examples for
the men of every class of society. By the help of your guiding
light and uplifting influence, millions of young men, well
equipped, morally, intellectually, and physically, will be raised
up in this nation to render loyal service to the Republic in her
time of need, and lift her to a position that shall add to the
civilized world an undying luster.”
China is doing her part to make amends for the past and to
demonstrate to the entire world the sincerity of her purpose.
Undoubtedly this is the first time in history that such an appeal
has been made by a non-Christian nation. With commendable
promptness both the Federal Council and Committee of Reference
and Council of the Foreign Missionary Societies of North America
have asked the churches to intercede for China.
Was there ever a more striking proof of the presence of God in
the life of the world and of His purposes for men in Jesus Christ
the universal Saviour? Was there ever greater encouragement to
use the mighty enginery of united prayer for a specific end?
[Sidenote: Sun Yat Sen.]
Listen to the testimony of the son of a prominent Christian official
in China:--
“Where did the Chinese Republic ever come from? You say from the
reformers and revolutionists. You don’t go back far enough. Dr. Sun
was in a large measure responsible for it all, but where does he come
from? Where did he get his principles of freedom and equality? These
were instilled into his heart by a missionary, and who was he? He was
a follower of Jesus Christ, and in China for the direct purpose of
teaching how Jesus came to save the world.... Blot out of China today
the education which owes its origin to Jesus Christ, and where will
China be? In the depth of deepest ignorance.”[99]
Sun Yat Sen, by many considered “the first citizen in the hearts of
his countrymen,” spoke with no uncertain sound of China’s greatest
need in this time of her crisis. “Brothers,” he said, when addressing
a number of Chinese students, “applied, practical Christianity is our
true need. Away with the commentaries and doubts. God asks your
obedience, not your patronage. He demands your service, not your
criticism.”[100]
[Sidenote: Applied Christianity in China.]
“Applied, practical Christianity,” is what the missionaries are trying
to give China, and can any part of their work be more practical or
more important than what they are doing for the children who are soon
to be the statesmen and educators, the military and social leaders,
the fathers and mothers of the great new Republic of the East?
[Sidenote: Dr. Li Bi Cu.]
Many pages might be filled with true tales of how Chinese children,
won to Christ in early life, have brought blessing and uplift to
hundreds in their land. The story of Dr. Li Bi Cu and her mother is a
wonderful illustration of what _might_ be multiplied many thousands of
times if there were always some one ready to rescue girl babies and to
give them a fair chance.
Dr. Li Bi Cu is one of China’s new women. A forceful speaker,
using perfect English, with a charming personality, Dr. Li Bi Cu
never fails to win the hearts of her audiences. Those who heard
her at Northfield can never forget the appeal made by the little
woman in Chinese dress, to the women of the United States to come
to the help of her countrywomen. The mother of Dr. Li Bi Cu was
rescued from the street, where she had been thrown to die, when
only a day or two old, and taken to a mission school, where she
was cared for, educated, and trained as a Bible woman. She married
a Methodist minister, Mr. Li, and her daughter, Li Bi Cu, grew up
in a Christian home. One of the missionaries, seeing unusual
ability in the young girl, brought her to America for a more
thorough education than China afforded. She studied in Folts
Institute, and later entered the Women’s Medical College in
Philadelphia. Graduating with honor, she returned to China after
eight years’ residence in the United States and was sent to the
Fukien Province, where the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church had opened a hospital, and where
she has cared for the souls and bodies of thousands of
patients.[101]
A charming sequel to the story shows how this splendid Chinese woman
is ready at a moment’s notice to do her duty as a Christian citizen of
the world. She was passing on her return to China a point not far
from Chicago, when the train struck a track laborer and suddenly
stopped. The injured man, a Russian by birth, was brought aboard, and
Dr. Li, hearing of the accident, volunteered her help. Then was seen
the curious combination of a Chinese Christian woman physician caring
for a wounded Slav in an American baggage car![102]
[Sidenote: Chinese mothers in council.]
“Applied, practical Christianity” is being taught to the mothers of
China, and some of them are responding in a way that augurs well for
the future of their children and their land. Mrs. T. N. Thompson of
Tsining writes of a recent women’s convention to which Christians came
from far and near, some from a distance of sixty miles. Women spoke
from the platform with ease, spirit, and eloquence. Some of the
subjects discussed were:--Equal authority of husbands and
wives--Partiality between sons and daughters--Duty of sending girls to
school--Cleanliness and order of the home as taught in mission
schools--Dedication of children to the Lord. The subject of marriage
engagements was thoroughly canvassed, and many laughed heartily at
reminiscences of old heathen days when children were betrothed in
babyhood.”[103] “Old heathen days!” And yet it is but one hundred
years since Robert Morrison baptized his first Christian convert, and
but fourteen years since the great Boxer uprising tried to rid the
land of all Christians. Thus it was ordained long centuries ago when
God “appointed a law in Israel, when He commanded our fathers, that
they should make them known to their children; that the generation to
come might know them, even the children that should be born, who
should arise and tell them to _their_ children.” (Psalm 78:5, 6.) From
father to son, from mother to daughter, the knowledge of God’s love
and Christ’s salvation is to be transmitted, and those who gain that
knowledge in early childhood are the ones on whom China can surely
depend in the important years to come.
[Sidenote: Work for the children in India.]
“The children born of Christian parents in India,” says Rev. E. A.
Arnett in the Sunday School Times, “are probably not more than half a
million, but upon the thorough and systematic character of the
religious work done among these depends the hope of the future of the
church of India. These are to be the army for India’s conquest. The
day of opportunity is soon to come to India as it has come to Japan
and to China. A great crisis is approaching when there will be a
death-grapple in the open between Christianity and the opposing
forces. Then will be needed as never before an Indian church, rich in
men and women able and fit for the fight.”
[Sidenote: An Indian girl redeemed.]
That India’s children with all their handicaps are capable of being
made “fit for the fight” can be abundantly proven. A letter from a
missionary friend tells of a little Indian protege, now a grown
woman, who was the child of a drunken father and a half crazy,
evil-tempered mother, who, in a brawl, lamed her poor baby for life.
The child was sent away to school after her father’s death, and it
seemed as if it were to prove her salvation. But at the age of
fourteen the old evil propensities broke forth. She became
foul-tongued, irreverent, disobedient, and diseased. She was sent to
visit her mother, then an inmate of an insane asylum, where the girl
was placed under observation and declared to be a moral degenerate.
The fact that she was perfectly satisfied to stay at the asylum was a
cause of great distress to her missionary friend, and soon a number of
earnest workers banded themselves to pray for her “literally night and
day.” A wonderful change came over the girl; the seed sown in earlier
years sprang up and bore fruit. She asked to be allowed to leave the
asylum, and soon after taking a position she gave her heart to Christ.
Far out on the western frontier of India, a woman, growing in grace
and character, is compounding medicines, and otherwise helping in a
mission hospital, occupying a difficult and trying position. Oh! was
she not worth saving,--that little, lame, degenerate baby, born in the
degradation of darkest India, and accomplishing a work today that you
or I could not do?
[Sidenote: Work for the children of Turkey and Persia.]
What is there for the children to do in lands that have lately been
convulsed with war and revolution? Who will fill the places of
able-bodied men, maimed and slain in battle? Who is to reconstruct and
upbuild and guide through long years to come the countries that have
been shaken to their very foundations? The only hope of Turkey and
Persia is in their children, and what is done by Christians for these
children today will determine very largely the course of history in
the “near East.”
[Sidenote: Persian school boys.]
The boys’ school at Teheran, Persia, has won the name of a “factory”!
Among the Mohammedan boys brought here, is a little fellow whose
father said to the missionary, “I hear this is a factory where you
manufacture men. Do you think you can turn out a man from my
boy?”[104] Such “factories” are needed throughout Turkey and Persia,
and those who know the boys of these countries will assure you that
they are capable of turning out to be _men_ if they have the proper
opportunities. When the self-supporting Christian boarding school for
Mohammedan boys was started in Teheran, the missionaries naturally
felt a good deal of concern as to the results of such an experiment.
The actual results are thus reported,--
“Not only has it been somewhat more than self-supporting financially,
but, thanks to the co-operative plan initiated from the beginning,
into which the boys entered with enthusiasm, and in which they showed
a most admirable spirit throughout the year, a good share of the
management and government was taken by the boys themselves in a most
efficient manner,--of course under the close supervision of my wife
and myself.”[105]
[Sidenote: Testimony of Wm. E. Curtiss.]
The following testimony of William E. Curtiss, the world-famous
correspondent of the Chicago Record Herald, written after an extended
visit to the Orient, would seem to be convincing proof that
missionaries can give and Turkish children can profit by that which
will re-mould and upbuild the remnants of the Turkish Empire.
“The influence of the American schools has been carried to every
corner of the Empire. Every student leaving these American schools has
carried the germ of progress to his sleeping town. He has become a
force for the new order wherever he has gone. This influence has been
working for a half century or more, and has been preparing the minds
of the people for the great change that has recently come over them.
The missionaries do not teach revolution, they do not encourage
revolutionary methods; but they have always preached and taught
liberty, equality, fraternity, and the rights of man.”[106]
[Sidenote: Syrian girls at work in summer.]
It is well to remember that the children under missionary influence
are being trained not only for what they can be and do in the future,
when they are grown up, but are being taught to use _now_ what they
have learned, for the benefit of others. Listen to the report of what
some Syrian girls did during a summer vacation.
“An hour ago I came home from Sunday-School which we are having
this summer. We began it the first summer we came to K. ... and
twenty children attend. We are teaching them lessons from the Old
Testament, and I think I can say that our school is a real success
this year.”
“I am teaching some children Bible stories and have given one of
the boys two papers to make a study of some chapters which I have
appointed for him.”
“I brought a new Bible with me, and I try to teach our servant to
read it.”
These few extracts are from letters which I have received this
summer showing how Beirut school-girls are trying to give
expression to the pass-it-on spirit. All over the country they
are busy according to their opportunities. I know of one little
girl who last year was in the lowest class of our Preparatory
Department, but this year has a school of seventeen every Sunday
afternoon during the vacation. One of her older brothers and a
boy cousin taught classes, but she was both organizer and
superintendent.
One of the pleasantest gatherings we shall have this fall will be
the Report Meeting, when we shall hear from all the pupils about
results of their summer efforts for others. Fourteen took certain
Bibles home with them, promising to use them in teaching others
to read.[107]
Is there anything for children to do in countries where as yet no
great awakening or startling political upheaval has taken place, but
where missionary influence has been quietly, steadily at work? What
about those “unoccupied mission fields” where not even a beginning has
been made toward giving the Gospel message? Does Christ need the
children of these lands to be at work for Him?
[Sidenote: The World’s Tragedies.]
“Some one thus summarizes ‘The World’s Tragedies’:--
207,000,000 bound by caste--from Hinduism.
147,000,000 permeated with atheism--from Buddhism.
256,000,000 chained to a dead past--from Confucianism.
175,000,000 under the spell of Fatalism--from Mohammedanism.
200,000,000 sitting in darkness--from Paganism.”[108]
[Sidenote: What a slave boy accomplished.]
Let us try to realize that each unit of these vast figures stands for
a life that was once an innocent little child, born into conditions or
surroundings similar to those of which we have been studying in this
book. Think of the future tragedies that may be averted if each little
child today is redeemed and begins to work for Christ. Why should
there not be thousands of averted or transformed tragedies like those
surrounding the life of the little black boy, born in 1806 on the West
Coast of Africa? Because of certain peculiar circumstances at his
birth it was prophesied that he was not to be a devotee of any idol,
but one “celebrated and distinguished to serve the great and highest
God.” At one time when the house of his prosperous father caught fire,
the little boy rushed in and saved the idols. Whereupon it was
commonly said,--“This child will be a great worshiper of the gods; he
will one day restore the gods to our nation.”
When the child was about fifteen, a raid was made upon the village by
Mohammedans, and a large number of women and children were led away
captive with ropes around their necks, young Ajayi and his mother and
grandmother among the number. Sold from one person to another, often
bartered for rum or tobacco, he finally fell into the hands of
Portuguese traders. He and his fellow slaves were rescued by an
English man-of-war from the Portuguese vessel, and he was educated by
the Church Missionary Society. He became a school-master, then
preacher, and finally Bishop of the native Church on the Niger. Fourah
Bay College, where he pursued a part of his studies, was founded as a
result of the conviction forced upon the Church Missionary Society
that, if Africa were to be evangelized, it must be done chiefly
through native agency, because of the devastating effects of the
climate on foreigners. In other words, _Christ needs the children of
Africa_, to be trained for Him in places where no one else in the wide
world can accomplish the task.
[Illustration: THE HOPE OF AFRICA
A WEST AFRICAN BABY
A GROUP OF FANG BOYS, AFRICA]
On the beautiful white monument, erected over the grave in Lagos,
Sierra Leone, can be read these words that give a brief outline of the
noble life work of the little slave boy whom some one thought worth
saving and training for Christian service.
Sacred to the memory of
THE RIGHT REV. SAMUEL AJAYI CROWTHER, D.D.
A Native of Osogun, in the Yoruba Country;
A Recaptured and Liberated Slave;
The First Student in the Church Missionary Society’s College,
At Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone;
Ordained in England by the Bishop of London, June 11th, 1843;
The First Native Clergyman of the Church of England in West Africa,
Consecrated Bishop, June 29th, 1864.
A Faithful, Earnest, and Devoted Missionary in Connection
With the Church Missionary Society for 62 Years,
At Sierra Leone, in the Timini and Yoruba Countries
And in the Niger Territory;
He Accompanied the First Royal Niger Expedition in 1841;
Was a joint founder with others of the Yoruba Mission in 1845,
And Founder of the Niger Mission in 1857;
And of the Self-Supporting Niger Delta Pastorale in 1891.
He fell asleep in Jesus at Lagos, on the 31st December, 1891,
Aged about 89 Years.
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant, ... Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Matt. 25:5.
“Redeemed by His Blood.”[109]
[Sidenote: Trained native workers necessary.]
Our story of The Child will not be complete unless we pay close
attention to one of the great fundamental policies of Christian
missions,--alluded to above,--that the work of world evangelization
must be accomplished chiefly through trained natives of the countries
where the Gospel is not known. And these agents, in order to be most
efficient and successful should be won to Christ in early life. The
methods used by Bishop Selwyn in the New Hebrides were so successful
and interesting and illustrate this point so thoroughly that it will
pay us to study them.
[Sidenote: Methods of Bishop Selwyn in the Pacific Islands.]
Bishop Augustus Selwyn, of the Episcopalian Church of New Zealand,
proposed to secure children of the natives in the new fields,
educate these children in schools of a Christian country, and send
them as pioneer missionaries to their own peoples. He proposed,
also, that, after these children had overcome the pagan
opposition, white missionaries should be introduced for
co-operating with them. “The white corks,” he said, “were for
floating the black net.”
With this in view, in 1848, he made a voyage of exploration in H.
M. S. Dido as far as to the Loyalty Islands. Observing that the
Fijis, the Southern Hebrides, and several other groups were
occupied by other religious denominations which were doing
successful work, he chose for his field the groups not thus
occupied. These were the Northern Hebrides, Banks, Santa Cruz,
Torres, Reef, and Solomon Groups....
Over these islands the trail of the Serpent has extended. A
wilder, more besotted, and fiercer people than their inhabitants
it would be hard to find. With the exception of the natives of
the Santa Cruz and Reef Islands, they all were formerly
cannibals, and those of them in the Solomon Group were also
head-hunters....
The work of procuring boys proved to be difficult and perilous.
By great tact and a kind and courteous manner the Bishop secured
in his first trip five. In process of time he was able to employ
the boys, who had been some time in his school, to do the
soliciting, and then he was more successful. Each succeeding year
the natives received him with greater cordiality, and more
readily supplied his vessel with stores of taro, yams, and fruit.
The number of boys in the school has been one hundred and fifty
to two hundred.
On Norfold Island a thousand acres of land were purchased for the
school at a cost of ten thousand dollars. In this tract a
beautiful chapel was built, and around it houses for the teachers
and pupils. The land was very fertile, and was easily made to
produce almost all the food the school needed. The boys were
taught the gospel of work. They were trained in the mechanic
trades, the cultivation of the ground, and the care of livestock;
and to each of them was committed a small garden for him to
cultivate for himself. They were kept in the school six to ten
years, and then taken, as teachers, to their homes or to other
islands.
In 1854 Rev. John Coleridge Patteson joined the mission. He had
been moved when fourteen years of age, by a sermon of Bishop
Selwyn, to devote himself to the missionary cause. In 1861 he was
consecrated as the First Bishop of Milanesia....
The Milanesians who have embraced Christianity have ceased from
their cannibalism, their head-hunting, and their warfare, and
have become an humble, upright, and peace-loving people. In 1905
the number of baptized persons in the groups of the mission was
2,811, of white missionaries, 41, of native teachers, 689, of
mission stations, 200.[110]
[Sidenote: Children at work for Christ in Korea.]
The Child at work for Christ! Would that it were possible to give to
the women of our American Missionary Societies and to the young women
of our schools and colleges a vision of the children of many lands who
are today at work,--realizing as did the Christ Child that they must
be about their Father’s business. In Korea, we shall find that a
question asked of each man, woman, and child who wishes to become a
church member is,--“Have you tried to win a soul for Jesus Christ?”
Not long ago the children in one section of Korea demanded a half
holiday, and in the leisure time thus obtained the five hundred
children won eight hundred others into the church.[111]
[Sidenote: In Burma.]
Away up in the Karen Hills of Burma the first mission tour of
exploration to a certain point was made with a company which included
a number of school boys, among whom were some sweet singers. On
associating with the Red Karen children, they quickly made
acquaintance and were valuable workers. Great was the enthusiasm among
the little Red Karens when classes were formed in reading and singing,
and with surprising quickness they learned from their eager young
teachers, who were glad to pass on to other children what they had so
recently acquired themselves.[112]
[Sidenote: Generous givers in Japan.]
Not only are the children under missionary influence trained to
_work_, but they are also taught the joy and privilege of giving. Here
is the method employed by Mrs. McCauley of Japan.
The Sunday-School children in Keimo No. 1 and No. 2, Tokyo, under
Mrs. McCauley, take up a collection every Sabbath.... The children
coming from heathen homes cannot ask their parents for money to
put into this collection, so must practice self-denial to be able
to give. The money for a boiled sweet potato purchased near the
school building from a vendor, two rin, is saved by taking a
smaller potato, and the lunch is none the less palatable because
the child has made a little sacrifice, and these two rin, as they
rattle in the collection box, are music in his ears and joy--the
joy of giving,--in his heart. I happen to be one of the Auditors
of the accounts at the Leper Home, and this year we closed the
books with deficit,--a debt of two hundred and sixteen yen,--and
we were troubled, having no resources. I looked over the
Sunday-School collections, and found we had in the treasury nearly
twenty-five yen, and I told the scholars about the dear little
girl just thirteen, who is a leper and can never again be well,
but is the light of the Home. When the women get discouraged and
cry, this little angel puts her arms about them and says, “Auntie,
dear Auntie, don’t cry; we will soon, all of us, have new bodies.”
Two boys of fifteen are there--their companions like themselves
are lepers. “Now, children, we need money; you have some; will you
give it there, all or some part of it? How many say all? Let us
see the hands”: and every little hand, kindergarten and all, went
up, and we made it twenty-five yen to send to the Treasurer of our
Leper Home. I then told them to tell their parents of how we spend
the money given by the little ones, and we reviewed the places we
had helped from our mite: For five years an Ainu School; Red
Cross Society, two years; Charity Hospital, two years; Okayama
Orphanage, two years; destitute soldiers, one year; comfort bags
during war; famine sufferers, one year; flood sufferers, one year;
earthquake sufferers, one year; Lepers’ Home, _this year_;
medicine for sick pupils, often; help at funerals for poor
families of school.
These children when they grow up and enter the church will be
systematic givers and know what benevolence is.[113]
[Sidenote: Missionary gifts in mission lands.]
It brings tears to the eyes and joy to the heart to see how eagerly
children of one mission land devote their little gifts to sending the
Gospel to children of some other land. It seems the most natural thing
in the world to lead them into missionary giving, and many a
children’s band in America might be put to shame by the joy and
spontaneity of those who are themselves objects of missionary giving.
“One day early in the fall,” writes Miss Alice B. Caldwell of
Marsovan, Turkey, “while walking in the school garden I noticed
two little girls strolling up and down the path arm in arm. They
were chattering in their vivacious way, and one of them was making
her crochet needle fly as fast as her tongue. On my inquiring what
she was making, she held up a dainty bag, and several little
interpreters informed me that it was for the Christian Endeavor
Bazaar. After that day I saw many busy fingers on the playground
making the most of the hours out of doors.
“The Junior Endeavorers help to support a little girl in a
Chinese school, and they were getting ready for a bazaar to help
make the money for their adopted child.”[114]
[Sidenote: Children from missions fields helping to save America.]
If we are touched by such stories as the above, which can be
multiplied many times over, what is our feeling about those who are
serving and helping our own Christian land because they were won to
Christ in childhood on the mission field? We are thinking of one young
woman whose parents became Christians under missionary influence, and
who grew up in a Christian home among many persecutions and adverse
circumstances from without. When, in the course of time, her widowed
mother immigrated to America, the girl, already a devoted Christian,
entered a training school in this country. Today she is working in six
languages for thousands of immigrants in a New England city,--doing a
work that few Americans could ever hope to accomplish. Merely as a
business investment or a patriotic effort, the money contributed to
the Mission Board, which brought about this result, has been more than
profitable.
Here is the record of another good investment made in China:--
Some years ago there entered the True Light Seminary a bright
little girl of thirteen, who, under the wise and gentle training
of Miss Noyes, gave her heart to Christ and united with the
church, becoming thereafter one of the best pupils in the school.
Her great desire was to become a teacher, but since three years of
age she had been betrothed by her father to the son of a heathen
family--the betrothal by Chinese law being almost equivalent to a
marriage--it became her duty to fulfil the promise made for her,
and at the completion of her course of study she married the man
of her father’s choice. The marriage did not prove a happy one;
the husband’s business took him much away, leaving his wife alone,
and at the end of three years he died suddenly of plague. The
young wife, thus unexpectedly set free for service, at once took
up her desired work, and after teaching for three years in
Hongkong was called to a position in a Congregational school in
Canton....
In the spring of 1910 it came about that one of the benefactions
of Mr. Andrew Carnegie came to the Occidental Home in San
Francisco, and when the question arose as to what should be done
with the gift it could but seem that the long-sought opportunity
had come to secure a Chinese teacher to live with the girls in
the Home and to train them in their own tongue.
So it came to pass that Yeung Mo Owen, or Mrs. Yeung, as she is
known in America, led in these various ways, became an inmate of
the Mission Home in San Francisco, teacher of Chinese to the
girls, both in the Home and in the Occidental Board Day School,
and incidentally a blessing not only to the Home and to the
Chinese Church, but also to Chinatown, and to the Board
itself....
“I have never seen such a lovely face, never been so impressed by
a Chinese woman,” said one long in the work in California. “Now
you see what our native Christian women are like,” quickly
responded a missionary who was present.[115]
[Sidenote: Missionary children at work.]
The story of the Child at Work for Christ would not be complete
without making mention of the missionary children who in such large
numbers are trying to do their share toward bringing the Kingdom of
Christ to this world. “If one life shines, the life next to it must
catch the light,” and the joy and privilege of mission service in all
its beauty,--and in all its trial and discouragement as well,--are
well known to the missionary boy and girl. Even little four year old
Annie had her share of discouragement when her parents returned to
their field of work after a furlough during which Annie had forgotten
all languages but English. When she heard her mother speaking of
women’s meetings and various forms of work as she took them up, one by
one, Annie decided to do her share also. Picking up her dolly, she
trotted down to the gate to be a missionary to the little Turkish
girls next door. Sadly she came back again to report, “Mother, the
children cannot speak the American language.”
Let no one think that because missionary children are “used to” the
country and the language, the climate and food and presence of the
“natives,” it is always easy and natural for them to return to their
parents’ field of labor. Just because they have been familiar with it
all from childhood, the surroundings and opportunities of the
homeland,--their own rightful heritage,--seem desirable beyond words
and hard to relinquish. To the missionary children who return to the
field, the halo of romance surrounding the step is non-existent,--they
go with open eyes to what they know about. And yet they go, large
numbers of them, and it might be well to ask of your Mission Boards
whether their services are valuable to the cause or not. A newspaper
clipping a few years ago gave these statistics:--
“Nearly one-third of the missionaries of the American Board of India
and Ceylon are the children or grandchildren of missionaries who were
sent out by the Board two or three generations ago. In the three India
missions, including Ceylon, there are now ninety-five American
laborers, nineteen of whom were children and eleven grandchildren of
missionaries.”
It would be interesting to get the statistics of other Missions and
Boards on this subject and to compare the results of their work with
some of the psychological statements quoted in the early chapters of
this book regarding heredity and early training.
[Sidenote: American children at work for Christ.]
What part are our own precious children in Christian America to have
in this great subject,--the Child at Work for Christ? Are they alone
to be left out, or to have but a paltry share in the glorious work of
giving the Gospel of Christ to the whole world? If the work is worth
doing, if the result justifies the effort, _if the children of the
world need Christ_, then it is unjust, unfair, un-Christian, to deny
_our_ children a share in the labor and the reward. Nor may we deny
them the training and teaching that will make them realize not only
the need, but--the one only adequate way in which that need may be
satisfied. A few words from the pen of Dr. William Adams Brown
emphasize very practically the need of this “only adequate way.”
[Sidenote: The one great need of the world.]
There are many persons today who are ready to recognize the
beneficent work done by foreign missionaries for the social
welfare of the peoples among whom they have been working, who have
no sympathy with the religious motives which animate them. Why,
they ask, can we not have the hospital and the school without the
doctrines that go with them? They forget that it is faith in the
realities which the doctrines express which alone has made the
missionary enterprise possible. Had it not been for the belief
that man is an immortal spirit capable of communion with God, and
meant for fellowship with Him throughout all eternity, we should
have had no Livingstone or Moffatt or Paton. James Russell Lowell
saw this clearly when he spoke the striking sentences which have
often been quoted, but which will bear quoting again:--
“When the keen scrutiny of skeptics has found a place on this
planet where a decent man may live in decency, comfort, and
security, supporting and educating his children unspoiled and
unpolluted, a place where age is reverenced, infancy protected,
womanhood honored, and human life held in due regard,--when
skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe,
where the Gospel of Christ has not gone before and cleared the
way and laid foundations that made decency and security possible,
it will then be in order for these skeptical literati to move
thither and there ventilate their views. But so long as these men
are dependent on the very religion which they discard for every
privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate to rob the Christian
of his hope and humanity of its faith in the Saviour who alone
has given to men that hope of eternal life which makes life
tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its terrors and
the grave of its gloom.”[116]
[Sidenote: Children trained to systematic giving.]
Is there anything more beautiful and spontaneous than the generosity
of a child who has learned to give to others because of its love for
Christ? The churches that are systematically training their children
to give have a great future before them.
Says _The Spirit of Missions_: “There is an old Scotch proverb
that ‘Mony a mickle maks a muckle.’ Nowhere is this more
effectively demonstrated than in the Lenten offering given each
year by the Sunday-Schools of the church. This movement was begun
thirty-five years ago in the diocese of Pennsylvania, and almost
at once it spread throughout the church. Year by year the volume
of gifts has grown, until for the whole period they have reached
the amazing sum of $2,618,290.86. The gifts which have produced
this result have come from all quarters of the earth and from all
manner of children. Youngsters in Alaska have shovelled snow and
others in California have raised flowers to earn their money for
this purpose. The negro boys and girls of Africa, the peons of
Mexico, the Igorotes of the Philippines, and the brown and yellow
children of Japan and China have gathered the odd coins of their
several countries in common with the children of the mountains and
prairies, the small towns and the great cities of the United
States.”[117]
One who had spent some years in India tells of an experience in
Chicago that brings the quick tears to one’s eyes.
[Sidenote: From Chicago to India.]
“I had been telling the children at Olivet Institute in Chicago of the
little girls in Fatehgarh who called Christmas the Great Day and who
had never had any Great Day to look forward to at all until they had
come to the mission school; of Gunga De, who had worked so hard to
deserve a doll on the Great Day and learned the Beatitudes and her
psalms and prayers, only to have her Hindu father take her away to
bathe in the Ganges so that she would miss the prize giving, and of
her joy when she found the doll waiting for her the next day.
Afterwards as I stood waiting for the car on a dreary sordid Halstead
Street corner, a little stranger who had wandered into the meeting
came and stood beside me. A thin shawl was over her head, and the hand
that held it together under her chin was thin and blue with the cold.
There were dark circles under her eyes, and the little face had no
look of childhood about it.
“‘Say, missus,’ she began, ‘you forgot something.’
“‘What did I forget?’ I asked, puzzled.
“‘You forgot to tell us how we could send things to those children out
in India. I’ve got a doll--she has no head--but I like her--and two
picture cards. Maybe I will get some more, so I would like to send
those.’”[118]
We can almost hear the Master say of the little, pitiful, weary-eyed
child, “Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
[Sidenote: Giving our children.]
Perhaps some mother may fear that if she trains her child to feel a
personal responsibility for the children of far-off lands the day may
come when the dear one will look into her face and say, “Mother, I
must go. I hear the call to tell others of the Christ whom I love!”
Blessed is that mother who can answer, though there may be a sharp
catch of the breath and a tightening of the heart strings, “If He call
thee, thou shalt say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’” A
mother can never afford to let her child lose out of its life the very
best and highest possibility, and when God calls to a service, there
is nothing greater that can come to a life than the blessing found in
the pathway of obedience.
What do the children of the world most need?
Who is going to supply that need?
How is it to be accomplished?
How quickly shall it be done?
In the name of the little Child of Bethlehem let every Christian woman
answer these questions honestly and prayerfully, opening wide her
heart of hearts to love and care and work for The Child in the Midst.
[Sidenote: The world needs the Holy Child.]
A traveller was visiting several missionary lands, and while in Korea
had the joy of training twenty-four missionary children for an
exercise in the Gospel of Luke. She says, “As one little boy stood
before an audience to repeat the lines quoted below, it seemed a call
to the Christian world for the children:
“The world was dark with care and woe,
With brawl and pleasure wild;
When in the midst, His love to show,
God set a Child.
“The sages frowned, their heads they shook,
For pride their heart beguiled.
They said, each looking on his book,
‘We want no Child.’
“The merchants turned toward their scales,
Around their wealth they piled;
Said they, ‘‘Tis gold alone prevails;
‘We want no Child.’
“The soldiers rose in noisy sport;
Disdainfully they smiled;
And said, ‘Can babes the shield support?
‘We want no Child.’
“Then said the Lord, ‘O world of care,
So blinded and beguiled,
Thou must receive for thy repair
A Holy Child.’”[119]
[Illustration: THE CHILDREN OF TUNIS ARE WORTH HELPING]
QUOTATIONS
PRAYING CHILDREN IN KOREA
Sometimes little children learn about Jesus in some way and become
Christians before their parents do. Three years ago, after a meeting
in the country at a place called Top Chai, in Korea, two small boys,
each nine years old, came up and told me that they were friends and
had been believing in Jesus for a year, but that none of their parents
had been Christians. They said, “We want you to pray every day with us
that our parents may believe in Jesus.” I wrote their names in a
little book and did pray as they asked me to, and every time I met the
boys after that I would ask if their parents had become Christians
yet. “No,” they would say, “not yet, but they are going to.” Last
spring, just before I left Korea, I went to Top Chai to say good-bye,
and one of the boys came to me with the brightest smile you ever saw
and said, “My father has been sick for a long time but is better now,
and has promised to come to church just as soon as he is able.” And
back of him stood the other boy holding a smaller boy by the hand.
“Pastor,” he said, “this is my younger brother, who has become a
Christian, and my father has been coming to church all winter.”
A bright, manly little fellow in my church in Pyeng Yang had been a
Christian only about a year when he succeeded in getting his mother to
come to church with him. Soon after the mother decided to be a
Christian, this boy became very sick and his mother was very angry at
God about it. “See,” she said, “this is what I get for being a
Christian.” He plead with her not to feel that way about it, and tried
to get her to pray with him; but she refused, saying, “I will never
pray again.” One day, just before he died, he held out his hands to
her, saying, “Mother, come pray with me now,” but she turned her face
away and sat down in a corner, and he began praying alone in Korean,
“Hanale Kai sin, uri abage,” “Our Father who art in Heaven,” and, as
he was praying, he died. The next day his poor mother came to our
house and told my wife all about it and cried as if her heart would
break because she had let him die without praying with him. I think
God will let this boy know in some way in heaven that his mother did
repent after he went away. (W. N. Blair, _The Foreign Post_, May,
1910.)
TRAINING THE CHILDREN OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
In 1888, Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, in a meeting in London, gave a statement
of his work as a missionary in the Hervey Islands since 1851. “He
spoke of the former condition of the people, of their love of revenge
and of their human sacrifices, of the bloody feuds that existed among
them, of the rule, followed by all, of keeping alive only two children
in the family, and of the whole aspect of their lives as something
fearful; and stated that all this had been changed through the
influence of Christianity. He remarked that to see a people who were
once cannibals partaking of the Lord’s Supper has been most
delightful. Looking around upon the assembly gathered for this purpose
he had seen the bread administered by one to a man whose father that
man had murdered, or the reverse. He stated that the work of
evangelization in many of the South Pacific Islands had been done
almost entirely by natives trained in the Avarua School; that hundreds
of these natives have sacrificed their lives to carry the Gospel to
their brethren, and that sixty of Mr. Gill’s own church have been
killed while acting as missionaries.” (Alexander, “Islands of the
Pacific,” p. 121. Am. Tract Soc.)
INFLUENCE OF A PICTURE CARD
Once a month we give each girl a picture card. These were sent to us
by children in American Sunday-Schools, and each time we explain to
the child that the card was sent by a little boy or girl in far-away
America. One day on our way home we stopped at a shop, and two of our
little girls seeing us drew near with the cards in hand. A man sitting
by asked one, a clever little girl, where she got her picture. She
didn’t say, “My teacher gave it to me,” but answered, “A little girl
in far-away America sent it to me.” His next question, “Why did she
send it to you?” To which she replied, “Because she loves me!” Then,
as he continued to question her, she began to explain the picture. It
happened to be Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount. It was only
a child-like explanation given by a child of seven or eight years, but
the man was really interested. As we wended our way I thought of the
hundred and twenty-seven cards we had given out that day, and the many
hundreds that had been given in days past, and wondered how many real
Christian sermons had been preached by little Hindu and Mohammedan
girls by means of these small cards. (_Woman’s Work_, April, 1912,
Bessie Lawton, Fatehgarh.)
BIBLE READING
Revealed unto Babes--Expressed by Babes.
Luke 2:41-49. Matt. 11:25, 27. Matt. 21:14-16.
The things that are hidden from the wise and prudent are understood by
children. How near a child is to the Heart of the Great Infinite; how
naturally he expresses his love and praise. As the twelve-year old Boy
in the Temple understood His connection with His Father’s work, as the
children in the Temple comforted the sorrowing Saviour with their
praise, so the children of today may understand and do for Christ what
the wise and prudent cannot.
“We are facing tremendous problems and great contests which our
children have got to settle. Can we not educate these men and women of
tomorrow in the world brotherhood that goes back through all the
centuries and finds its beginning in the heart of the Boy of Twelve?”
L. W. Peabody.
PRAYER
We beseech Thee, O most merciful Father, for all Thy little children
who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of evil that is in the world;
that it may please Thee to have pity on them, and to gather them by
the kindly hand of Thy true servants, into the light of the Christian
fold, that they may sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him. So let
Thy truth be manifest from generation to generation, and the whole
family of mankind rejoice together in Thy mercy, through Jesus Christ,
the Saviour of the world. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer.)
QUESTIONS
1. What are some of the problems that must in all probability be
confronted fifteen years hence in China? in Japan? in India? in
Thibet? Turkey? in Central Africa?
2. What agencies, native and foreign, are preparing children to solve
these problems?
3. How are the children of your home and church and community being
trained along missionary lines?
4. What are you doing to help them?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A Little Child Shall Lead Them. Wom. Bd. For. Miss. Ref. Ch. in Am.
The Black Bishop, Jesse Page. (Revell.)
The Islands of the Pacific, Alexander. (Am. Tract Soc.)
See current newspapers and magazines for up-to-date material for this
chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[95] _Woman’s Work_, July, 1911.
[96] Told in _Missionary Review of the World_, June, 1913.
[97] Told in _Missionary Review of the World_, June, 1913.
[98] Sixth Annual Report of the Kindergarten Union of Japan.
[99] “Testimony of a College Student,” Wom. For. Miss’y Soc. Pres. Ch.
[100] Rev. C. R. Mayes, M. D., in _N. American Student_, May, 1913.
[101] _Missionary Review of the World_, March, 1913.
[102] _Record of Christian Work_, March, 1913.
[103] _The Continent_, June 12, 1913.
[104] Told in _Foreign Post_, Dec., 1906.
[105] Rev. S. M. Jordon in “The New Persia,” Pres. Bd. For. Miss.
[106] _Missionary Review of the World_, August, 1911.
[107] _Missionary Review of the World_, August, 1911.
[108] _New York City Mission Monthly_, May, 1913.
[109] “The Black Bishop,” Jesse Page, p. 379. (Revell.)
[110] “Islands of the Pacific,” Alexander. Am. Tract Society.
[111] Told in _Over Sea and Land_, April, 1913.
[112] Told in “Sketches from the Karen Hills,” Alonzo Bunker.
(Revell.)
[113] J. K. McCauley in _Foreign Post_, October, 1908.
[114] _Life and Light_, April, 1912, p. 168. Alice B. Caldwell.
[115] _Woman’s Work_, June, 1912, p. 144. Mrs. E. F. Hall, Berkeley,
Cal.
[116] “The Christian Hope,” W. A. Brown, p. 200. (Scribner.)
[117] _Missionary Review of the World_, April, 1913, p. 315.
[118] _The Continent_, March 27, 1913, “Dolls from Chicago to
Fatehgarh, India,” Louise Atherton Dickey.
[119] Miss Caroline L. Palmer in _Missionary Review of the World_,
Jan., 1918.
APPENDIX
CHAPTER VII.
THE MOTHER AND THE CHRIST-CHILD
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord.”
It is suggested that at some convenient time during the Christmas
season a mass meeting be held for the mothers of the community.
Special efforts should be made to gather _all_ mothers, as far as
possible; carriages might be sent for the old mothers, for special
love and deference is due to them; and arrangements should be made
for care of babies, so that young mothers may be free to attend.
If so desired, the program may include selections of stories and
quotations from the foregoing chapters, and some of the prayers
may be used. Let all Christian mothers gather to pray and plan
for the children of the world, in the Name of the little Child of
Bethlehem.
BIBLE READING
Luke 1:26-35, 38, 46-55 & 2:19, 51.
The angel addressed the holy mother as “highly favored,” “the Lord
with thee.” God’s presence in her life was a reason why she could be
trusted with the greatest responsibility ever given to a woman, to
bring up, to teach and guard the most wonderful child ever born.
Contrast how royal princesses are seldom entrusted with the care and
training of future kings and emperors.
Vs. 46-55. Mary’s appreciation of what God had done for her
personally,--her wider vision of what her experience was to mean to
the world. She accepted the trust and believed the amazing promise,
(v. 38) but realized that the present and future generations were to
share in the blessing (vs. 48, 54, 55.)
Ch. 2:19, 51. Mary kept in her heart all the strange, wonderful
occurrences, pondering them, trying to understand God’s dealings, and
to bring herself and her actions into line with them. She realized
that hers was an unusual task, and set herself to watch and understand
its meaning.
PRAYER
Oh Lord, our Heavenly Father, we pray for Thy rich blessing upon this
gathering of mothers, and upon the mothers of this community. Grant to
each one of our children those blessings of body, mind, and soul which
Thou seest they most need. Grant to each father and mother the wisdom,
love, and courage, and, above all, the personal acquaintance with Thee
that shall enable them to train their children for useful, happy,
Christian manhood and womanhood, and to love and serve Thee for time
and for eternity.
We beseech Thee, in the name of the Holy Child of Bethlehem, to
remember our homes and the homes of the whole earth with Thy Fatherly
blessing. Guard little children throughout the world from sin and
sorrow and suffering, from cruel neglect and oppression, from growing
up in vice and ignorance. Stir the hearts of Thy servants at this glad
time of the Children’s Festival, to take the knowledge of the blessed
Christ-Child to the remotest corners of the earth, that all children
may learn to know Him, and may grow up into His likeness.
We ask it in the name of Thy Holy Child Jesus. Amen.
“Holy night! peaceful night!
Through the darkness beams a light
Yonder, where they sweet vigils keep
O’er the Babe, who, in silent sleep,
Rests in heavenly peace.
“Silent night! holiest night!
Darkness flies and all is light!
Shepherds hear the angels sing--
‘Hallelujah! hail the King!
Jesus Christ is here!’
“Silent night! holiest night!
Wondrous Star! oh, lend thy light!
With the angels let us sing,
Hallelujah to our King!
Jesus Christ is here!”
What a significant fact it is that, of all religions, Christianity is
the only one which lays emphasis on the childhood of its Founder!
Mohammedan tradition weaves the most marvelous and fantastic tales
about the infancy and childhood of the man who founded it, though none
of these are mentioned in the Koran. But how different are these
extravagant and often disgusting stories, from the wonderful Gospel
story of the Christ-Child.
No other child ever born into this world has had such honor done to
the event of his birth, or has been able to inspire in millions of
hearts through generation after generation the joy of remembering
others, the delight of expressing love by gifts, the glory of
“goodwill among men,” that mark the Christmas time.
Few of those who live in a Christian land can realize the effect of
the mere observance of the Christmas festival on those who never heard
of Christ. Christmas Day, although of course not celebrated by
non-Christians, is nevertheless called in India “the _great_ day of
the year,” by thousands of Hindus and Mohammedans. Dr. Badley of
Lucknow, in commenting on the fact, says:--
“The heathen people of course do not celebrate Christmas; they know
that Christians do, however, and this simple fact, so constantly
observed, causes them to think about the power of Christianity. Many
are led to ask, ‘Who was Christ? What did He do? Why do the Christians
observe His birthday?’ These inquiries call forth various answers,
discussion follows, and thus the whole nation with its many millions
of people, is thinking and talking about the world’s Saviour.”
Would that every mother in America might have a vision today of a
Christless home in a Christless land, and then of that home
transformed, and taking its share in the festival of the Christ-Child!
When once the spirit of the blessed Christ has touched a heart or a
home or a community, there is a transformation. Is there any other
anniversary that inspires the blessed joy of giving that belongs to
the Christmas season? The _Missionary Link_ gives a sample of what
Christmas has come to mean to some Japanese children in Kyoto, and
the consequences of their celebration:--
“Last Christmas the children used the money they had collected in
Sunday-School to buy charcoal for the poor. As they did not know to
whom they should give it, they asked the policeman to give it to the
poorest people he knew. They did not hear any more about it for some
time, when one Sunday an old woman came to Sunday-School, and asked if
this was the place where poor people were helped. She then thanked the
children for the charcoal, telling them it had kept her warm most of
the winter. She told them she lived in a tiny room with another old
woman, and, although she worked very hard sewing, she could only earn
about three cents a day. She had no money to buy charcoal to keep her
warm, and about Christmas time thought she would throw herself into
the river, as she was of no use to any one. Just at that time the
children sent her the charcoal, so she felt that some one really cared
for her. She helped in the heathen temple for a little while, but said
the people were so unkind to her she could not stay. Now she is
studying about Jesus, and goes every week to the Sunday-School.”
If such effects follow when little heathen children are taught the
story of Christmas and its significance, why, oh why, should not we
mothers send the beautiful message to every little child in the
world?
MOTHERHOOD
I see them come crowding, crowding,
Children of want and pain,
Dark sorrow their eyes enshrouding,
Where joy’s touch should have lain.
They stand in silence beseeching,
Gaunt faces lifted up,
And wan little hands outreaching
For Love’s forbidden cup.
Their hearts are restless with yearning,
The hearts of my own are stilled,
Their lips are parched and burning,
The cups of my own are filled!
I cry in love unsatisfied
For these without the fold,
My mother’s arms are open wide
These weary ones to hold.
What though my arms are open wide,
Only mine own lie near,
Without still stand those long denied,
Compassed in want and fear.
Bowed with the crown of Motherhood,
I seek that Shepherd of old;
“How can mine own receive the good
With some left out of the fold?”
(Isabel Kimball Whiting in _The Survey_. By permission.)
Is it enough for us to plan that our own children and those near and
dear to us shall be made happy by our Christmas tokens of love and
remembrance? Truly it is such a busy, rushing time that even our
regular church work must often be set aside that the Christmas
obligations may be met. But a true mother heart is big enough to take
in more, and ever more, and the blessing of growth is bestowed on each
heart that opens to admit new objects of love.
“Recently,” says the _Outlook_, “a tender, gentle, refined woman who
has identified herself with those movements which seek to improve the
conditions of child life, said, ‘I have had a new thought come to me
that has made me accept the loss of my little girl with patience,
almost with resignation. God never meant that a woman should be the
mother to just one little girl. He meant that every woman should be
mother to every child in the world.’”
“How I wish I could give a Christmas present to Jesus!” said a loving
little girl, her eyes dancing with Christmas joy as she surveyed the
small gifts, so long planned and carefully prepared for her dear ones.
For her the very essence of Christmas was its expression in visible
tokens to those whom she loved. If we mothers long to “give a
Christmas present to Jesus,” what could be more acceptable to Him,
than the dedication of an hour of this busy, happy Christmas season to
loving prayer and thought for the mothers and children in our own
community and throughout the wide world? Thus shall we be drawn near
to the heart of the great Father, and, if during this hour some angel
messenger whispers to our hearts of a special task which He is
willing to entrust to us, may we be ready to answer with Mary of
old,--“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word!”
What blessings shall we ask for the mothers of the world? What do we
need for ourselves? Unselfish love, infinite patience, wisdom and
insight, tact and sympathy, health to bear the daily strain, quiet
nerves, a sense of humor that smooths rough places, a sweet, strong
cheerfulness, a likeness to Christ that shall be reflected in the
lives of all the members of the household. “According to the _riches_
of His grace,” He is waiting to bestow His blessings on the mother
hearts waiting here, before Him, and through their intercession, on
the mother hearts of the world.
What blessings shall we ask for the children of the world? The same
that we ask for our own as we kneel at their bedside, and our eyes are
dim with tears of yearning love, while we pray that our darlings may
be kept from harm and accident, from all soul stains, that they may
“grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” Is there
any blessing you ask for your boy and girl that is not needed by the
other children of the world?
“Prayer is cheap,” some say, “it costs nothing to say a prayer for
missions.” _Real_ prayer is not cheap,--it costs the deepest,
strongest thought one can expend; it costs time; it costs the
willingness to help to answer one’s own prayers in terms of interest
and gifts and service. In Christ’s name, then, let us pray, and let us
not rest nor be satisfied until every mother in the world, clasping
her child to her bosom, is truly a holy mother, and every little child
is a holy child.
INDEX
Addams, Miss Jane, p. 92.
“Age of the Child,” p. 4.
American children at work, pp. 248, 251, 252.
Anti-foot-binding movement, p. 33.
Applied Christianity, p. 17.
Bathing, pp. 22, 23.
Bible, place of the child in, p. 197;
the power of, pp. 207, 208.
Bible reading, pp. 41, 82, 128, 172, 216, 256, 261.
Bibliography, pp. 42, 84, 128, 173, 218, 257.
Blind children, pp. 118, 120.
Bunker, Alonzo, p. 6.
Burma, a home in, p. 55.
Burma, Christian children in, p. 242.
Burnett, Mrs. Frances Hodgson, p. 9.
Caste, India, p. 213.
Childbirth, China, p. 39;
suffering during, pp. 13, 14.
Child labor, among Bedouins, p. 104;
in Africa, p. 104;
in Persia, pp. 105, 106;
in many lands, p. 105;
need of public sentiment concerning, p. 103.
Child marriage, India, pp. 68-72, 79.
Child slavery, pp. 107-110.
Child training, Persia, pp. 58, 59.
Child wives, Persia, p. 81;
India, p. 10.
Child welfare agencies, p. 5.
Child at worship, Thibet, p. 180;
India, pp. 180, 181;
Moslem lands, pp. 181, 182;
Africa, pp. 183, 184.
Children, of India, needs of, p. 3;
of Persia, p. 4;
of Syria, p. 3;
importance of, p. 8.
Children’s pavilion, Beirut, p. 38.
China’s awakening, p. 227.
Chinese, mother ideal, p. 57;
mothers, p. 10;
mothers in council, p. 231.
Christ needs the children, p. 223.
Christianity, in the home, p. 78;
place of child in, p. 263.
Christmas, in India, p. 264;
in Japan, p. 265.
Clothing, p. 23-24.
Cochran, Mrs. James, p. 21.
Confucianism, attitude towards girls, p. 21;
and Christianity, pp. 187, 188.
Conservation of human resources, p. 8.
Contagious diseases, pp. 34-37.
Curtis, Wm. E., p. 235.
Crowther, Bishop Samuel A., pp. 237-239.
Dale, Mrs. G. F., p. 38.
Deaf and Dumb children, pp. 118, 119.
Defective and dependent children, pp. 110-124.
Death of children, pp. 196, 197.
Discipline, lack of, p. 58.
Devine, Dr. E. T., pp. 6, 31, 52.
Dolls, in Central Africa, p. 126.
Dying child’s doll, pp. 101-103.
Education, Africa, pp. 170, 171;
divergent views on, pp. 136-138;
Japan, pp. 139, 140;
China, p. 141;
India, pp. 141, 142;
Persia, pp. 142-144, 154, 234;
Turkey, pp. 142-144;
Siam, pp. 168, 169;
extent of American Missionary, pp. 163, 164;
among backward nations, pp. 151-153;
of future mothers, p. 156.
Egypt, Lord Cromer on, p. 155.
Eugenics, pp. 9-11.
Evil Eye, pp. 15-16.
Evil spirits, p. 17.
Exner, Dr., p. 28.
Family life, foundations of, p. 65.
Famine waifs, pp. 116, 117.
Fathers, position of, pp. 61-64;
Egyptian, p. 62;
African, p. 62;
transformed by Christianity, p. 63.
Feast day, Arabia, p. 124.
Feast of dolls, Japan, p. 93.
Feast of flags, p. 94.
Feeding, pp. 26-28.
Foerster, Dr. F. W. on education and Christianity, pp. 144, 145.
Foot-binding, pp. 32, 33.
Games, pp. 95-99.
Girls, mothers of, pp. 64, 65.
Giving to missions, pp. 243, 244, 251;
systematic, p. 250.
Harrison, Elizabeth, p. 148.
Health, pp. 31-32.
Heathen baby, A, p. 213.
Heredity, pp. 9, 10.
Hindu Vedas, p. 186.
Holy Child, The, pp. 252, 253.
“Holy Night,” p. 263.
Home, the center of a nation’s life, pp. 52-54;
a transformed, p. 79;
a Mohammedan in Persia, p. 47;
a heathen in Africa, p. 49;
a Christian in Zululand, p. 51.
Homes, disorderly, p. 54;
how to bring Christ to, pp. 72, 73.
Hygiene, pp. 28-29.
Hymns, p. 208.
Idol worship, pp. 190, 191.
India, infanticide in, pp. 19-21;
work for children of, pp. 232, 233.
Industrial training, p. 163.
Infant mortality, pp. 24, 25.
Infanticide, pp. 18-21.
Influence of a picture card, p. 255.
Influences, moral and immoral, pp. 56-58.
Illiteracy, statistics, pp. 138, 139;
Sir J. O. Rees on, p. 139.
Innocence, absence of, p. 55.
Japan, changes in, pp. 224-227.
Japan, Imperial University, p. 225.
Junior Endeavor, pp. 205-206.
Kashmir, the athletic method in, pp. 159, 160.
Kindergarten children grown up, p. 226.
Kindergartens, need of Christian, pp. 147-149.
Kindergartners, qualifications of, p. 150;
a West African, pp. 150, 151;
Union, Japan, pp. 145-147;
China, p. 147.
Koran, p. 185.
Korea, praying children in, pp. 253, 254;
Christian children in, p. 242.
Languages used in Presbyterian schools, p. 164.
Li Bi Cu, Dr., pp. 229-231.
Literature, need for good, pp. 161-163.
Lepers, pp. 120-124.
“London Bridge” in Africa, pp. 96-97.
Mary, the slave child, pp. 109, 110.
Marriage, early, a barrier to education, pp. 154, 155.
Medical practice in non-Christian lands, pp. 34-36, 39.
Milligan, Robt. H., p. 11.
Missionary children, p. 77;
at work, pp. 246-248.
Missionary’s dream, A, p. 212.
Missionary education, reasons for continuing, p. 138;
is it needed, pp. 135-136.
Missionary homes, pp. 74-77;
wives, pp. 73, 74;
mothers, pp. 29, 30.
Mothers, ignorant, pp. 26, 36.
Mothers’ meetings, p. 78.
Motherhood, protection of, p. 11;
suffering of, p. 13;
the burden of, pp. 64, 70, 71.
“Motherhood” (poem), p. 266.
Mpongwe, a dying tribe, pp. 12, 13.
Mohammedan girls, pp. 66, 67.
Mohammedan month of mourning, p. 190.
Montessori, Dr., p. 153.
Moslem lands, need of women doctors, p. 14.
Needs of childhood, pp. 3, 4.
Need of the world, the one great, p. 249.
Non-Christian religions, place of child in, pp. 185-188.
Obstacles, pp. 209, 210.
“Organized motherhood for the world,” pp. 5, 54.
Orphans, Armenian massacre, pp. 111-113;
Mohammedan, p. 113.
Orphanages, India, pp. 114, 115.
Pacific Islands, pp. 240, 241;
training children of, p. 255.
Persian girls, education of, p. 154.
Persian “Helen Keller,” pp. 117, 118.
Persian schoolboys, p. 234.
Physical training, pp. 157-160.
Play, teaching children to, p. 157;
among the Lao, p. 125;
importance of, pp. 90-93;
stops early in non-Christian lands, pp. 99, 100.
Playground Movement, p. 90;
America leading in, p. 95;
in Japan, p. 94.
Prayer, pp. 41, 83, 128, 172, 216, 256, 262.
“Polishing Jade Establishment,” p. 114.
Questions, pp. 41, 83, 89, 172, 217, 257.
Rights of every child, p. 7;
of every mother, p. 7.
Rite of the broken pot, p. 15.
Religious acts, results of, pp. 189-193.
Religious needs of children, p. 184.
Rescue homes, for slave children, pp. 108, 109.
Rescuing the servant of the gods, pp. 194, 195.
Saving a boy, China, p. 127.
Schools, the call for, pp. 133-135;
missionary, pp. 165-168;
Persia, pp. 169, 170;
Kurdish Mountains, pp. 171, 172.
Sunday schools, statistics, p. 199;
Japan, pp. 199-202;
China, pp. 202, 215;
India, pp. 202, 203;
Africa, pp. 203-205.
Schoff, Mrs. Frederick, p. 8.
Selden, Dr. Chas. C., p. 10.
Sex instruction, pp. 60, 61.
Soldiers and babies, p. 40.
“Spirit of Play,” need of, pp. 100, 101.
Spirit worship, p. 214.
Starvation diet, pp. 30, 31.
St. John, Prof. E. P., pp. 59-60, 92.
Stuart, Dr. E. M., p. 14.
Superstitions regarding infants, pp. 15-18.
Sun Yat Sen, pp. 228, 229.
Syrian girls at work, p. 236.
Teachers, where to be trained, pp. 141, 143.
Teething, p. 16.
Temple girls, pp. 192, 193;
legislation concerning, pp. 193, 194.
Training children for service, pp. 240, 241;
Christian wives and mothers, pp. 66-68.
Twins, superstitions regarding, p. 18.
Underwood, Mrs. H. G., p. 27.
West Africa, boys of, pp. 166, 167.
“World’s Tragedies, The,” p. 237.
Yeung, Mrs., of China, pp. 245, 246.
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors repaired. Punctuation, spelling,
hyphenation and stylistic presentation standardized when a predominant
preference was found in this book. Otherwise left as printed.
Italicized text is denoted by _underscores_.
Where possible, illustrations have been moved next to the
corresponding text, otherwise placed at section breaks.
In the original book, outlines of each chapter were printed on
separate pages, preceded by chapter headings. These chapter headings
were then repeated before the chapter text proper. In this electronic
book the repeated chapter headings are not preserved.
Page 80, ‘Tyer’ changed to ‘Iyer’ (Mr. Justice Moothoswami Iyer).
Footnote 34, ‘Caffin’ changed to ‘Coffin’ (“On the Education of
Backward Races,” E. W. Coffin).
Page 134, ‘plead’ changed to ‘pleaded’ (Earnestly he pleaded with the
missionaries).
Page 147 (sidenote), ‘year’ changed to ‘years’ (Dr. Balliet on the early
years of childhood).
Page 189 (sidenote), ‘religous’ changed to ‘religious’ (Result to the
child of religious acts).
Page 192, ‘then’ changed to ‘than’ (Worse than all the results).
Page 194, ‘jewlery’ changed to ‘jewelry’ (some article of jewelry).
Page 272, ‘American’ changed to ‘Armenian’ (Orphans, Armenian
massacre).
On page 231, there is an orphaned double quotation mark after
‘babyhood’. The opening mark should probably be before ‘Women spoke
from the platform’ etc.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Child in the Midst, by Mary Schauffler Labaree