MISSIONARY WIFE MRS. CHARLES KIRKLAND ROYS COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE AND COUNSEL 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY THE COMMITTEE ON THE PREPARATION OF MISSIONARIES The Board of Missionary Preparation for North America was created in 1911 by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America to make a thorough study of the many problems involved in adequate preparation for foreign mis- sionary service in all fields. Its membership represented Boards of Foreign Missions, general as well as candidate secretaries, professors in theological seminaries and in special schools and departments for missionary training, and others whose study of the missionary enterprise or of educational methods especially qualifies them to advise. In 1922, the functions of the Board were transferred by vote of the Foreign Missions Conference to the Com- mittee on the Preparation of Missionaries of the Com- mittee of Reference and Counsel. The proceedings of this Committee are printed annually as a part of the report of the Committee of Reference and Counsel and the reports of conferences held under its auspices are included in the annual Report of the Con- ference. Pamphlets, carefully revised at intervals, are issued on the various phases of missionary preparation. These pamphlets are widely used by Boards for the informa- tion of their foreign missionary candidates. It is believed that they meet adequately the needs of such candidates for suggestions which may help them to make the wisest use of their opportunities during their college and profes- sional study. Other series render the same sort of helpful guidance to the young missionary on the field during the first term of service and in anticipation of the first furlough. The Committee holds from time to time conferences at which those who are responsible as administrators or as educators for the promotion of proper policies in mis- sionary preparation are brought together with missionaries of experience and with specialists to unite in their formu- lation. The reports of these conferences are published by the Conference. The Committee also employs a Director who gives his entire time to correlating and extending its activities. Candidate secretaries of Foreign Mission Boards, teachers in schools which train missionary candidates, and others interested in special problems of missionary training are invited to correspond with him at the office of the Foreign Missions Conference, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City. THE MISSIONARY WIFE HER PREPARATION, PLACE AND PROGRAM BY MRS. CHARLES KIRKLAND ROYS Missionary of the Presbyterian Board in Shantung, China, 1904-1920 Foreign Executive of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. A, PREPARED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE COMMITTEE OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION Of the Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE AND COUNSEL 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY PREFACE The following booklet has been under consideration for some time. It was planned in 1920 to be one of the well- known series of Board of Missionary Preparation pamphlets describing the preparation desirable for various types of missionary service. The appearance, early in 1921, of Mrs. Platt’s delightful little book, entitled “The Home with the Open Door,” referred to in the bibliography at the end of this pamphlet, seemed at first sight to render another inter- pretation of the significance of the missionary home quite needless. From many candidate secretaries, however, espe- cially of the Women’s Boards, have continued to come requests for a pamphlet, available for ready distribution, which should particularly emphasize the details of prepara- tion most advisable for a young woman planning to codp- erate strongly with her husband on the field, and which she might have in mind during her period of anticipation. Like all such statements, it presents an ideal and assumes the existence of advantages which are sometimes unattainable. It must be interpreted and used by each candidate in view of actual circumstances. The Committee of Missionary Preparation has been for- tunate in finding in Mrs. Roys a true interpreter, out of her own rich experience, of such dreams and hopes and a wise adviser regarding the activities to be anticipated. It grate- fully recognizes, also, the continuous and efficient codpera- tion of the special editorial committee, Dean Edward W. Capen, Chairman, Miss Helen B. Calder, and Professor Daniel J. Fleming, appointed in May, 1920, to assume general responsibility for completing the whole series of reports on types of missionary service. This pamphlet is commended to the Boards, their candi- dates and missionaries in the confident assurance that it will meet a very real need and will find much favor and use- fulness. On behalf of the Committee of Missionary Preparation, FRANK K. SANDERS, Director of the Committee of Missionary Preparation. May, 1923. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/missionarywifeheOOroys THE MISSIONARY WIFE I. INTRODUCTION A group of young missionaries under appointment was listening eagerly, nearly two decades ago, to a well-known speaker. “I wish to congratulate you women,” she said, “but I especially rejoice with those who are going out to the field unmarried, for it is you who will really do the work.” This judgment is not unusual even today among friends of missions who have never visited the field. It was received with becoming respect at the time, but experience has shown its shallowness and its misunderstanding of the real mission- ary situation. It does not belittle the heroic tasks undertaken by and developed under the leadership of the unmarried woman on the field, when one declares that the opportunity afforded the missionary wife yields in no respect to these in interest and importance. The two fields of service differ; each supplements the other; they should not be discussed in terms of comparison. There was a time when the married woman received no recognition as a missionary. From the administrative view- point she was a valuable and necessary adjunct to her hus- band. It was her task to maintain his efficiency by carrying on a home that would become his haven of restfulness and peace. The value of a missionary home may go far beyond this definition. It may be established “for the glory of God and for the joy of the pilgrims who pass that way”; and it may also become a real factor in introducing Christianity to a great pagan community. But the making of a home is not the only expression of missionary zeal open to the married woman on the field. The time has gone by for the query, which has chilled the hearts of so many eager young women looking forward to the mission field, “Are you a missionary or only a missionary wife?” Such a remark reveals lament- 5 6 THE MISSIONARY WIFE able ignorance of a matron’s missionary service with its myriad opportunities in the community of which she is a part. Occasionally, after the announcement of the wedding of a single woman missionary, we hear the exclamation, “What a loss!” Does this not indicate a lack of appreciation of the opportunities of service on the mission field open only to the wife? In a volume of missionary letters, written seventy-five years ago, are many delectable references to the missionary wife as “the humble female” or “the weaker vessel.” One “elect lady’ wrote as follows: “Much harm and many painful feelings often arise from females aiming at a kind and degree of authority and influence that do not belong to them. It seems to me out of character for us to come spontaneously forward with our advice in the presence of the other sex. There is a picture of the missionary wife in an essay written in 1852, entitled “The Influences of the Piety of Christian Females.” “She was characterized by the most amiable, affectionate dispo- sition which, combined with the delicacy of her constitution, made her an object of unwearied attention and watchful care.” Her attitude toward domestic duties is thus characterized: “The married woman who complains of the narrowness of her sphere feels and talks like a Heathen. She virtually professes to value the praise of men more than the praise of God, and is likely by her impiety and-folly to forfeit -both.” And yet, even in those days, there were bold and “fro- ward” women, who sought an influence that no modest, proper “female laborer” would wish to exert. “We never listen to what Mrs. says, though she always gives us her ideas as to the points which she hears us conversing upon in our conferences. We just wait till she ceases to speak and then resume the subject, where she interrupted it.” Although the wife of seventy-five years ago was not expected to offer her advice, unbidden, in the councils of the THE MISSIONARY WIFE 7 missionaries, she certainly was expected to join in the activi- ties of the Mission, as the following daily program, sug- gested to one of them, shows: “At sunrise, after securing the morning’s retirement, give direc- tions to the gardener, and proceed to the schools to observe that all is in order. Return to the house, examine and direct the bathing and dressing of the children, and give them their breakfast. When your husband returns from his preaching, sit down to breakfast, and, immediately after, proceed to the storeroom, weigh out the articles required for the day and order the dinner. Then attend to domestic duties, after which your presence will be required at the school. The afternoon will be as crowded as the morning, but after tea the children go to bed. The evening may be employed in read- ing, writing or sewing, and, on moonlight nights, in visiting the native Christian families in their cottages, or the orphan school, to give the girls a little address. After family prayers at nine, retire.” We smile as we read the quaint words of those early missionary women, modest in their estimate of their own powers of mind, delicate often in physique, many of them tenderly sheltered all their lives before going to the foreign field; yet where in modern biography do we find better examples of conspicuous courage, of intellectual achieve- ments in the mastery of difficult languages, or of widespread spiritual influence? Madame Coillard, of South Africa, after her marriage on the mission field, became very homesick. She had been accustomed to lead a very active and independent life in Scotland and Paris. The change to an African wagon and to the career of a nomad was at first extremely trying. Though she kept up a brave appearance, her spirits failed. She would be seen poring over home letters and the journals of her past life, crying silently to herself. But, one day, a strong conviction came to her that this was utterly wrong. She burnt all her letters and diaries; and, when her husband met her, she exclaimed, “You shall never see me fretting any more.” Her courage was often put to the test, for she witnessed many scenes of shocking barbarity. But she never flinched. When an opportunity was offered to her husband to adopt a safer and less arduous sphere of work in Mauritius, and he asked her opinion, she refused even to consider the change, saying they must at all costs be true to their mission, to which he replied, “Thank God, we are of the same mind.” 8 THE MISSIONARY WIFE The exceptional opportunities for education open to mod- ern women tend to make us forget the really remarkable intellectual achievements of some women who went to the mission field, fully one hundred years ago: Mrs. Robert Clark was a pioneer of medical missions, of women’s work in the Punjab, of orphanages, etc. She studied medicine at the University of Paris and in the hospitals of that city, an extraordi- nary thing then for a woman to do. She was a woman of remark- able mental gifts. She spoke with fluency English, German, French and Italian. She was an acceptable and effective public speaker; she had the pen of a ready writer and was a poetess of high spirit. Her versatile genius enabled her to do everything and do it well. By virtue of all that the missionary wife has accom- plished in the past, and because of her potential influence in the future, her position is worthy of careful consideration. Many a young woman, asked to go with her fiancé to the mission field, may not be able to parallel his course of preparation. This pamphlet is written to give her a glimpse of the wide-ranging Christian influence which may be open to her and to suggest ways of her own preparation for efficiency in that career. Oddly enough, little attention has been given, either in Great Britain or in America, to such preparation. II. Tuer SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Missionary HoME The primary responsibility of the missionary wife is in the missionary home. Inability to make it what it should be is a heavy handicap to her, to her husband, and to others. What it may become depends almost wholly upon her, her genius, disposition, willingness and devotion to little and large things alike. It is her throne, her pulpit, her social instrument. Its significance as a missionary institution is worth noting. 1. The Heart of the Missionary Enter prise. The home is basic everywhere, but on the mission field it is an indispensable agency in community evangelism. In Protestant Christianity the unit group is the family. Its first THE MISSIONARY WIFE 9 task, wherever the gospel is preached, is to promote the organization of Christian homes. The missionary home is the starting point and the inspiration for such homes among the Christians. When a missionary wife has unusual success as a home maker, the result is reflected, not only in the life of her own family, or in the comfort of other missionaries, but may be seen in the homes of the Christian community. Recognizing the family as the fundamental social group, the missionary seeks to found a home through which regenerat- ing influences shall touch and transform the community. 2. Christianity’s Best Exhibit. It has been well said, “Christianity has in the home its sweetest fruits and its most potent influences to humanize, elevate and evangelize a race of men.” If this be true among Christian peoples, what must be the value of the Christian home in a land where Christianity is taking root? It is one of the greatest apologetics for Christianity, a concrete demon- stration of Christian idealism. Its value is that it is obvious, challenging attention. It is a little bit of the best of Christian America or Great Britain set down in a non-Christian com- munity. It may embody the finest these countries have to offer. Those who enter a true home find a haven of joy, rest and peace, something the national desires to establish for himself, something the missionary calls “‘a bit of heaven on earth.” The mission enterprise utilizes every agency for making an impact on the life of a people—the schools of various types, the hospital with its dispensaries and district nurses, the church with its out-stations, colporteurs, Bible women and evangelizing radius. But the missionary home goes far in reinforcing all this varied work. In very truth it is the Christian message in action. 3. A Direct Evangelistic Agency. Many who are able to resist the arguments or appeals of the missionary are forced to confess the appeal of the Chris- tian home. A Greek student once wrote in a class paper: 10 THE MISSIONARY WIFE “Nothing in the college in Smyrna impressed, touched and in- fluenced the students as much as the attractiveness, the beauty, the purity and the Christianity of the home of the missionaries, who at all times kept open the doors of their homes and of their hearts as well. There boys and girls came face to face with a living, loving, contagious, applied Christianity. Asking a student to see the baby put to sleep amounted to nothing, perhaps, but it led one of the best young fellows in the college to give his life to Christian service and ultimately to sacrifice it in serving his enemies.” A brilliant student of philosophy, who used to spend his evenings in a missionary home discussing deep questions, remarked: “Though I could throw down all Mr. ————’s arguments, I could not but see, even from his contact with the housemaid, that he possessed something which I could not understand, something that I lacked.” A missionary mother, now on the field, has this to say: “Home is the one and only spot upon earth where you have the opportunity, unfettered, to reproduce in the power of Jesus Christ a plot of the Kingdom and the atmosphere of it.” A real missionary home does not happen. It is the fruit- age of loving, skilful, sacrificial planning. Its furnishings should be as carefully planned as those in our own land. A home turned wholly over to servants does not often secure this atmosphere. When it is restfully ordered, reflecting through some form of music, good pictures, books and maga- zines the tastes of the mistress, the people of her adopted country quickly sense its beauty and are affected by it. It was truly said of a certain missionary wife, refurnishing her home which had been devastated during a war, that to give her a new tea-service or doilies for her tea-table was as real a contribution to foreign missions as a set of text-books or a Bible for the school or church. Such a home attracts many and wins because it is attractive. Simplicity should be its keynote. The lands to which the missionary goes often abound in exquisite materials and equipment, which can be readily utilized, thus obviating the excessive import of goods and furniture from the West. THE MISSIONARY WIFE 11 4. An Antidote to Moral Infection. A pagan land is a land of low ideals, sometimes of unbe- lievable abominations. These are not readily dealt with, even if they are visible. The true Christian home with its atmosphere of happiness, purity and peace is the most potent corrective of low standards of thinking and action for young people or old. What else can combat the subtle, demoraliz- ing influences, or furnish an antidote against the moral infec- tions of a pagan land? To appreciate its value one must pass through crowded native streets, touching, it may be, the most degraded conditions of human life, and then suddenly turn into a missionary compound, to note its simple refine- ment, to breathe its atmosphere of purity, and to hear the laughter of little children. Arguments may be forgotten or may fail to convince the one who is not a Christian; deeds of friendliness he may misinterpret or resent; but the silent witness of the missionary home is not readily lost. Ill. THe Wire’s REvationsuies WITHIN THE HOME The home invariably reflects the qualities of the mission- ary wife. It is her working center. Should she fail to realize the desirableness of an attractive home or be for any reason unqualified to create such a home, the result will be immediate and disappointing. Obviously, however beautiful it may seem, the real value of a missionary home as an agency in preaching the good news of Jesus Christ depends on its relationships. There are four relationships within the circle of intimate home life which make or mar its character and affect its influence. 1. Her Personal Spiritual Life. Profoundly important to the missionary wife is her rela- tionship to God. The intimacy of her communion with Him gives atmosphere to the home and will determine the measure of its most uplifting influence. If in all her problems she seeks the wisdom promised those who ask, if her life is one of prayer and thoughtfulness, its spirit will have transform- 12 THE MISSIONARY WIFE ing power for many. It is this necessity which calls for thorough religious preparation. 2. Her Relation to Her Husband. The fundamentals which underlie all happy family rela- tionships apply in the foreign field as at home, but the fre- quent isolations of missionary life make the husband and wife more than ordinarily dependent on each other. Such isolation, in place of being a sacrifice, may indeed be a real blessing, drawing them together as no other situation can. “Alexander Duff found his solace and inspiration in his wife. She was the warm heart that never failed. From the very first she gave him new strength, and left the whole fullness of his nature and all his time free for the one work of his life.” The question of sharing in her husband’s work is always a complex one for a wise wife. It can never be settled by others or once for all time. She usually has a certain store of time and energy above the needs of household manage- ment, which can be drawn upon to relieve him of respon- sibility. If she has been trained, even a little, in the keeping of accounts, so that her husband can leave the family and household expenditures entirely to her, one real burden will be rolled away. She can write many of the family and social letters. She can support his administration by opening her home to his national colleagues or to his students or to digni- taries. Sometimes she can accompany him on his itinera- tions or share in some of his activities. Such an interest will increase the zeal with which he labors so incessantly. The husband’s work often means separation from home, while he is on mission business. A woman of timid nature suffers under the frequent and often long absences of her husband, and is tempted to make demands on his time which seriously handicap the work. In most cases, however, con- spicuous heroism is shown by wives and young mothers, who, with fine spirit, take these separations as a part of their share in the work. A woman often finds her greatest trial and challenge and strain in this matter of necessary separation THE MISSIONARY WIFE 13 from her husband, but she will be sustained in it by the sense of thus having a part in his achievement. Of even greater importance may be her share in her husband’s recreative life. The necessity of it she should understand. His work, like much of her own, is often tiring beyond endurance. It is her privilege to keep the home a place of refreshing comfort for him, so that he may retain the balance of mind, the hopefulness, the resilience of temper so essential to his poise, sanity and strength. To make him the confidant of the daily round of domestic “‘woes,” or to add to his burden by a tale of loneliness or homesickness, is a sorry contribution to missionary morale. The wise missionary wife will “take it out” of any one rather than her husband, for whom she should be the chief purveyor of joy and comfort and courage. Of Mary Moffat it is said: “She watched over her husband’s health and comfort with a care which grew more constant in the fifty years. She felt, what was true, that he never would have become the missionary he was but for her care of him.” For the sake of the steadiness and efficiency of his life the wise wife will encourage her husband to cherish some “hobby.’’ One missionary lived through years of excep- tional strain and overwork, because he kept his boyish enthusiasm for making canoes. When perplexed beyond endurance by the problems of his work, he would sit down in the evening to draw a plan for a new canoe, and come out of it refreshed. A famous missionary in India, who lived and worked with vigor to an advanced age, maintained his reserves of energy by cultivating choice roses and other flowers. A few hours of pruning and weeding gave him a fresh grip upon his puzzling problems. Calvin Mateer, that indefatigable worker, who began his day earlier and worked later than the younger men of his station, loved to gather the boys together and take a watch to pieces, showing them how to fit the parts back into their proper places. Some mission- aries relax by following a course of study in archaeology, or by some form of research which has no direct relation to 14 THE MISSIONARY WIFE their daily responsibilities. Whatever it may be that relaxes the strain which the innumerable problems impose upon most missionaries, the sympathetic wife will give it all rea- sonable leeway and due appreciation. It is equally true that she should have some means of relaxation. Serenity, poise and sanity of thinking will reward the effort. Sharing a hobby with her husband will double its value. A husband and wife may enjoy botanizing or photography or gardening or any kind of real recreation together. Two women missionaries of China found relaxa- tion in studying the problems of adapting for interior deco- ration a combination of the Oriental and the Occidental styles, studying the actual effects produced in the homes of cultured Chinese. Of very great importance is the sharing between husband and wife of the deepest things in the spiritual life. Each should seek to understand the finer moods of the other and to enter into them with delicate appreciation. When both can not only consider, with mutual helpfulness, the religious problems of other people, but can gain a real inspiration by realizing the true foundations of each other’s deepest life, the relationship of husband and wife will find its sweetest and finest expression. 3. Her Relation to Her Children. Happy is that missionary wife whose children make the home complete! In their earliest years they preclude many forms of outside service, in which she may have shown great skill, yet they hold a very real place in the missionary value of the home she is building. Nationals readily love the little white child, and claim it as belonging to them. A foreign baby overcomes indifference and even hostility. Memory recalls an angry mob, infuriated at the “foreign devils,” which became a crowd of ardent admirers, when the chair- bearers cried, “Make way for the small baby; she’s as white as a woolly lamb!” Although a missionary wife may be kept within her home while her children are young, yet her experience as a mother enables her later to do highly important missionary service THE MISSIONARY WIFE 15 by sharing her ideals with mothers who need her helpful sympathy. Common experiences of motherhood make the best possible foundation for real friendships. The ignorant mother who comes to watch the processes of loving care, not only learns to bathe or clothe or feed or train her own little child, but has an opportunity to hear about the love of Jesus, who came as a little child and who loved to have children about Him. The problem of growing children in the missionary home is one that tests to the utmost the constancy and the character of the parents. Upon the mother rests, as a rule, the details of responsibility. Unless the station is in or near a city of central importance with an adequate number of British or American inhabitants, the task of teaching the little ones until they have to go to America or to some available center of education will be hers. It is advisable for the missionary fiancée or wife to do her utmost to gain some insight into the best methods of educating children and some knowledge of elementary curricula. How far the wise missionary mother should go in sharing her children with her neighbors among her adopted people is a momentous question for her and for them. The sanitary conditions of many Oriental cities demand thoughtful protec- tion against disease. The moral and social conditions of many communities are equally dangerous to young and sen- sitive minds. Yet the wise missionary mother may, if she really wishes to do so, share her children in a reasonable way with the child-loving Eastern or other folk. Contact in the Sunday school or in the garden of the missionary home with native Christian children is natural and need not be morally dangerous, although contact with the non-Christian children of the city or country often is. Without this brave and loyal sharing of the missionary’s best with others her work tends to become professional. It takes sincere conse- cration and abundant common sense to assume that God will shelter little children as well as grownups in their contacts with their adopted people; but, if the missionary mother cannot cultivate this attitude of mind, her position will be both difficult and misunderstood. “To be in all respects a 16 THE MISSIONARY WIFE careful mother, but one ‘without carefulness’ guarding against undue anxiety” is indeed a valuable maxim. On the mission field, as at home, the mother must meet moral emergencies as she meets physical ones, with coolness, tact and constructiveness. The problem is a great one; it never reaches a final solution; it calls for constant watchful- ness; but it is not by any means insoluble. Here again should be noted the importance of training in the homeland in the methods of character development. It will help the young mother to know how others have met urgent problems in the training of young minds, yet her task will be all her own. She should not fail to teach her children by. precept and example the importance of the religious point of view in everyday life and the meaning and value of missionary serv- ice. Their future character, their estimate of Christianity and of Christian virtues and standards will be low or high, their social sympathies will be broad or narrow, their per- sonal manners will be charming or crude, almost in propor- tion to the share of their parents in their growing lives. One observant woman writes: “Not long ago one of the graduate nurses at Clifton Springs, who has had ample opportunity to see missionaries and who sees them sympathetically, said, ‘I wouldn’t say so to any one that wasn’t in favor of missions, but I have never seen such naughty children as the missionary children nor such rude young people as they are when they are older. I suppose it is from such constant living with servants. They are so selfish and domineering. I have to spend all my time explaining to the other girls.’ Another gradu- ate nurse who had the care of a missionary child while his mother was undergoing an operation, said, ‘It was just pitiful to see a little boy so dependent on somebody to do everything for him. He had no initiative, even in play. He missed his nurse dreadfully.’ We had the great privilege of knowing well two of China’s most renowned pioneers during the last years of their lives. Both were men to whom everyone looked for wisdom and to whom everyone looks back for inspiration. But not one of the children of either one of them had one bit of use for missionary work. In fact, the ones I know of well are either definitely opposed or outspokenly neutral. The only explanation we could ever get for this was that ‘Mrs. was not careful in their teaching.’ When we see the wonderful work of ‘second generation’ missionaries we cannot help THE MISSIONARY WIFE | LZ. mourning that any mother was more taken up with the Lord’s work for others than with the Lord’s work for her children.” From the story of the work of early missionaries comes the following illustration of what courage and determination may do: “Very tender was the bond between the children and this most loving and understanding of mothers. When her son told her of his resolve to be a missionary, she said, ‘All the years you were at home from your earliest childhood, as boy and lad and young man, do you know what was my last act every night? I bent over you while you slept and prayed God to make you his missionary servant. So my prayers are answered today.’ When this child was six months old he was given up by the doctors in Peshawar. They declared that only a cold climate could save him. The mother rose to the occasion. The mountains looked down on Peshawar—uwild, inhospitable, full of cruel men, and very dangerous but cold. ‘I will camp on these mountains in spite of every danger and difficulty,’ she said; ‘my child shall not die if the cold can save him.’ And camp on them she did, with soldiers to guard her tent. It was adventurous work. One night she woke up to find a panther in the tent in the very act of attacking her infant; and if she had not, with the greatest courage and presence of mind, snatched up a stick from the smouldering fire and thrust it full in the animal’s face, her child would not have lived to be a mis- sionary.” 4. Her Relation to Her Servants. Generally speaking, the missionary wife will have the management of a household of some size. In tropical coun- tries she must have servants and will have little difficulty in obtaining them, such as they are. A training in household economics and management is a godsend to a young wife on the field, even though every illustration of the principles she has mastered may be wholly unfamiliar. Skilled housekeep- ing is a science and art. Its presence or absence affects greatly the peace, order and happiness of the missionary home, as the following tribute to a missionary wife who lived nearly one hundred years ago proves most conclusively: “She possessed the administrative faculty to a very high degree. She laid out her work beforehand; she saw clearly what was to be 18 THE MISSIONARY WIFE done and how it was to be done; she ascertained what labor she could command; she gave her instructions so definitely that the work was always well done, and the workers were never oppressed. Everything went on like clock-work. A gentleman from Sydney, who was staying at her home for a short time, was so struck with the punctuality of the meals, that he said, one day, ‘I have lived on board a man-of-war, and in many places where order reigned, but I have never seen punctuality like this.’ At the meeting of the mission synod she often seated twenty for dinner and for all other meals during a week or ten days at least; yet so thorough were her arrangements that the captain of the ‘Day-Spring’ said that she could have conducted the commissariat department of a man-of- war.” Such genius for management need not interfere with the beauty and gladness of an ideal home. Not only in the missionary home, but in the Mission at large a woman’s skill in housekeeping is felt. Long before there were departments of domestic science and of training in household management, missionary wives made a large contribution to the work of the Mission as a whole in the sphere of their kitchens. Here is an illustration out of the middle of the nineteenth century: “There was one mission meeting at which there were thirty or more missionaries and an equal number of natives, with fourteen or fifteen children, to be provided for. The missionary wife, for two or three weeks previously, had made the following plans: she had advertised for fowls, buying every one that was brought to her until her coops were full; she spoke to every fisherman on the shore to keep her supplied with fish during the meeting; and she laid in other supplies. She had two kitchens, one of them a temporary erection, with an American stove in each. She prepared a dozen bedrooms, the majority of them extemporized, of course, but all of them supplied with everything necessary. In these circumstances, with guests all agreeable, and all willing to be pleased, the meeting proved very enjoyable, and to most of the visitors the only regret was that their stay could not be further prolonged.” Especially are the young wife’s standards revealed by her management of her servants. It is easy for Westerners to fall into the Oriental habit of treating them as menials who work for a wage. But the gospel of brotherliness and THE MISSIONARY WIFE 19 love should be preached in the home as well as on the street corner. It is a sad commentary on that gospel, as set forth in some missionary homes, that many of the servants are not at all attracted by Christianity. It is not difficult to give zealous servants their reasonable share in the home life without losing the needful respect which they should pay to the heads of their household. What eager service is often rendered in the preparation for expected guests, when house- hold helpers are told something about the visitors before their arrival. In most cases the servants in a missionary household are kept away from their own homes. It should be the pleasure of the missionary wife to enable them to live a wholesome life of their own, properly guarded and developed. To some degree they can share the joys of the home and the problems of the work of each week. Reading matter pur- chased for their use, pictures shared with them, and recrea- tion for their idle hours—these measures of thoughtfulness will be richly repaid by devoted and intelligent service. Missionary children reflect with accuracy the real atti- tude of their parents toward their servants. Some children are insufferable in their discourtesy and unreasonableness. One who has spent several weeks on an ocean liner or even half a day in some missionary compounds will notice illus- trations aplenty of this lack of gentle breeding. The wise missionary mother will encourage her children to recognize courteously every service rendered. Courtesy, that fine flower of the spirit, when practiced by mistress and children, will bloom among the servants. “Sankee you” was famil- iarly heard from the Chinese in a missionary home, where the rule of courtesy was followed.. The friendly “Good night” and “Good morning” were soon learned, although there were no equivalents in the native tongue. They speak a universal language which needs no interpreter. The mastery of these relationships is a matter of no small moment. Frequently the real reputation of a mission- ary in his community is settled by the working standards of his home life, reported by his servants and coworkers. There is, however, a broader significance of the missionary home. 20 THE MISSIONARY WIFE IV. RELATIONSHIPS REACHING OUTWARD FROM THE HOME A happy missionary wife and mother in her own home is often tempted to give herself entirely to its requirements, satisfied to make it a true haven of restfulness and happiness for those. who are near and dear, whose tasks are so impor- tant. But a missionary home may have a very wide range of usefulness. It should be the clear duty of the missionary wife in many situations to plan with tact and persistence to give to her home this additional, far-reaching value. 1. Relationships with the Local Christian Community. The missionary wife who truly wishes to use her home as a means of blessing to the people to whom she and her husband have dedicated their lives faces the most searching and delicate test of all missionary consecration. To succeed in this effort will call for much more than tact or good humor or even devotedness. She may find many other forms of missionary activity relatively simple in comparison. Teaching or visiting or translating or doing some form of hospital service may be performed after a fashion, while in her home the wife may fail. Success means overcoming a natural shrinking from intimacy with a people whose heri- tage, points of view, and manners seem altogether different; it may mean the sacrifice of a life of privacy. It always means continual interruptions; very often, wearisome and seemingly wasteful hours of small talk; it takes a real toll from every missionary activity. Yet such home service unquestionably bears rich fruitage. It demands a careful study of indigenous etiquette, so that what sometimes seems to be the trifling predilections of the people may be respected. It challenges the missionary wife to cultivate an understand- ing of the true values of her adopted people and to persist in a determination to take them at their best. But the most essential factor, after all, is the warm heart of the mission- ary wife manifesting a sincere friendliness. What an “open house” may mean will really differ according to the country and the situation of the woman whose home is concerned. One missionary wife of long THE MISSIONARY WIFE 21 experience and deep sympathy was able to exert an unex- ampled influence among the women of her district. Her habitual method was to take her sewing to a shaded corner of the spacious veranda on certain afternoons, at which time the women of the district knew that they were welcome to bring to her informally, as they sat in turn on the veranda at her feet, their problems, joyous and sorrowful. It was declared with considerable truth that few if any marriages or important social events took place in that area, except after consultation with her. Probably she never had occasion to entertain at her table the women of that community, since it would not have been in accordance with the customs of the country. On the other hand, in some countries, and notably today, nationals of good social standing would be quick to resent a marked distinction between themselves and foreign guests, particularly if they were excluded from portions of the missionary home into which the others were welcome. The missionary home ought not to be a means of raising race barriers, but rather a notable means of levelling them, wherever that is possible. Nationals of any race realize it very quickly, if only the second best of the mission- ary home life has been granted to them. For none others should the missionary wife be so eager to wear her prettiest gown, to use her choicest dishes, to plan her most entertain- ing games. Many a student and diplomat to foreign coun- tries has learned his first lessons in foreign etiquette in a missionary home. But the results of missionary friendliness do not accrue only to the national who is a guest. To the home-maker, who thus as a matter of consecration tries to share her home with those who need its influence, Christ Himself will often come in the person of a guest. To maintain “the home with the open door” is some- times an exasperating business. Visitors, especially those of the country who have had little contact with foreigners, sometimes transcend the privileges offered to them. Women love to see the foreigner’s bedroom, to pull off the bedding and feel of the mattress, to see the baby’s bathtub, to be introduced into the intimate details of the family life. Men guests also have their little exacting ways. A certain man- 22 THE MISSIONARY WIFE darin in China always threw one entire household into a state of panic, for he was wont to show his friendliness by devouring the entire cake intended for the family tea for two or three days! Such incidents, however, are like many accidents; they furnish amusing memories, but are not fatal. They call sometimes for real generalship in order that the sanctities of home life shall not be needlessly sacrificed. 2. Relations with Other Missionaries. Little need be said about the use which will be made of the home in the missionary community itself. Where there is a group of such homes, their interchange of courtesies goes far towards relieving the strain of missionary life. They share the joy of little children, and of the treasures which come from the homeland. They rely upon the com- radeship engendered. The more important use of a happy home in missionary circles is on behalf of the unmarried missionary, the pressure on whose time often reduces his home joys to a minimum, or on behalf of the tired worker who, for some reason, is compelled to return to an empty house. A tactful hostess can, abroad just as at home, do much to maintain the morale of the community of which she is an essential part. In some centers such responsibilities may become very heavy. In one port city, through which many traveled, one missionary household recorded—let it be said, with some pride and not without satisfaction—the entertainment of 395 nationals and 225 missionaries for at least one meal and of 22 over night during a single month. This was, however, an unusual experience at the time of an important gathering. 3. Relationships with the Foreign-Born Community People. A very large number of missionaries are so situated to- day that they may come into a relationship, to a greater or less degree of intimacy, with young men and families from the homeland, who are in business in their adopted country. Unfortunately, through inherited prejudices and for other reasons which will be fairly obvious, the mission- ary community and the business community have often not THE MISSIONARY WIFE 2a been close together. There are, however, in all cities and towns of importance on mission areas, young men who should be made to feel that the missionary home is always open to them. Many a mother in America or England, hear- ing of her son’s difficulties in living a clean, true life because of the downward pull of his non-Christian environment, is inclined to remark, “Why don’t the missionaries take my boy into their homes, now and then?” Such mothers are, of course, unacquainted with the fact that the fault may be two-sided; but the chasm between the community people and the missionary circle is, too often, fairly to be laid at the door of the missionaries. These mutual prejudices ought to be broken down, and will be, when the spirit of friendli- ness is cherished rather than that of censoriousness. What- ever can be gained through friendly hospitality in improving the type of life of business people is a direct, sometimes enormous gain to Christianity itself. V. Her Possisiuitres AS A MIsstIoNARY OUTSIDE OF THESE RELATIONSHIPS The modern-minded woman sees in marriage not only a life partnership, rich in creative fellowship in work and ideals, but also an opportunity to make a unique contribu- tion to her generation as an individual. The missionary wife does not, therefore, conclude her responsibilities with the above described relationships within and beyond the home. In addition to caring for the family and making her home highly efficient as a community influence, she may frequently also assume some of the responsibilities which are undertaken normally by her husband or by the unmar- ried women of the mission staff. The wife’s activities are by no means limited to what can be done in the shelter of her home. A missionary mother in Japan, who most efh- ciently carries a large share of station responsibility, reso- lutely set herself, while her children were small, to doing some one, definite piece of mission work outside of her home, thus training herself for the time when they did not need her, 24. THE MISSIONARY WIFE For the missionary wife to have a definite and respon- sible connection with some form of organized missionary work outside the walls of her own home gives tone to her own Christian living and thinking, and should not be an undue tax on any normal woman. She is more than a help- meet for her husband; her ambition should be to do far more than merely make it possible for him to do his mis- sionary work. Life on the mission field offers one of the finest opportunities for a perfect comradeship between man and wife. The husband is as vitally concerned in the home as is his wife; the wife is as vitally concerned in the work as is her husband. In such a codperative spirit the adjust- ments of home life will naturally be made with reference to the particular needs of the situation and not on any artificial basis of a supposedly clearly defined “‘woman’s sphere.” The wife should, therefore, expect to have a distinct part in the work as an individual. She can make her own unique contribution in some definite bit of creative missionary activity, thus as a trained individual expressing her own life. Many married women care for the supervision of schools or the work of Bible women. Others carry on regular, sys- tematized evangelistic visitation, often itinerating with their husband and children, or they teach English classes or music or supervise industrial or social work. There are abundant opportunities for those who can enter into them. As a responsible member of the mission, and not merely “her husband’s wife,” each one can and generally does assume some part of the responsibility for station work. Whatever experience she may have accumulated during her growth into womanhood in the way of teaching, nursing, manage- ment, etc., will be a real asset and will always find ways of continued expression. In a general way the growing task of a missionary wife is that of dealing with the rapidly enlarging social circle of those who know and trust her. She can go enthusiastically and with full sympathy and influence into circles where the unmarried woman missionary will have a certain amount of difficulty. Opportunities for Bible reading and for simple instruction with small groups of married women furnish a THE MISSIONARY WIFE 25 very common opportunity for service among the class of women who have considerable influence, but are in more or less seclusion. The extent to which the missionary wife can carry on such work depends entirely on her health and strength and on the need for such work. It is natural for her to be interested in movements which deal with the needs of little children or which better the social conditions of native women. The more she can fit herself for the superintendence of such movements, the wider in range will her influence become. What a tribute to the value of this form of mis- sionary work is found in the following words: “My wife never thought of herself but as an ordinary woman, doing nothing but what any one might do. She aimed at nothing that was out of the way, nothing romantic, nothing heroic. Her ambition was to multiply herself. She trained so thoroughly the girls living on the premises that when large classes were collected, she divided them, setting one of her own well-trained girls over each class, and in this way female education and a knowledge of sewing were extended. In heathenism the women were so downtrodden by the men, that they would never have come to me, being a man, to speak about anything. But she, being a woman, was recognized as their friend; and as they came to know her, their confidence increased. Hence they came to her to explain all their ailments and unbosom all their griefs and sorrows. In this way, through her, I gained a great amount of valuable information. With the knowledge thus acquired, I could often bring about either the prevention or cure of evils, as the case might require. My wife took a great interest in the native children, especially the female children, who are sadly neglected in heathenism. On one occasion a woman near us gave birth to a daughter. She cried out to the women beside her, ‘Kill it! Kill it!’ My wife set herself to save the infant girls. She told the women she would give a nice dress to every little girl brought to her as soon as possible after the child was born. She used to kiss the baby, praise its bright eyes and speak kindly to the mother. From that day to this there has not been a girl killed in Aneityum, nor seriously injured.” VI. QUALITIES TO BE CULTIVATED In the last analysis the missionary wife is like any other wife the world round. She has to meet emergencies in the 26 THE MISSIONARY WIFE same variety of ways, depending on inborn characteristics and on those which may be cultivated. Some of the qualities of mind and heart which a missionary wife can cultivate advantageously may be suggested. 1. A Cheery, Friendly, Sympathetic Personality. Even one such woman in a missionary group can do much toward upholding the courage, the aggressiveness and the morale of others. In an alien country, where condi- tions must often be faced which are depressing, such a per- sonality will not only maintain the tone of her immediate family, but often of the whole community of which she is a part. A sense of humor will be of the utmost value to her, saving the day in many a trying situation. Activity will add the joy of achievement and leave no empty hours for dis- content. 2. The Habit of Patience. One of the hardest lessons for every missionary to learn is the necessary adaptation to a new environment. At the best an Oriental represents an unfamiliar mode of thought and habit. To appreciate the good in him and to be able to see daily life from his own standpoint take time and unend- ing friendliness and patience. It is well to begin as soon as possible to cultivate self-control, the ability to see another’s point of view and a willingness to wait for results. 3. Capacity for Codperation. A missionary community ought to be one great family circle. It demands from every member a willingness to cooperate with others. It is especially needful that each wife should “play the game” in the great codperative task of missions; doing real team work herself, and supporting more than her husband or family. The wise matron not only plans for her husband or family or group of nationals, but she also does her part in a larger way, endeavoring to dis- cover what supplemental service she is best able to render to the mission community. This is, of course, determined by THE MISSIONARY WIFE Qik local conditions. One who has the real codperative spirit will have an enviable opportunity to render valuable service to the entire station. Partizanship, jealousy or fault-finding in place of friendliness and a spirit of unity can wreck any mission. One unfriendly, bitter personality can add vastly to the load which all are carrying. To work for individual ends rather than for the good of the whole community is a, if not the, cardinal sin. 4. A Resolute Spirit. Modesty and reserve are admirable qualities in their place, but the woman who takes her full share of the life of the missionary community must have as well a spirit of determination which does not flinch before unexpected ob- stacles. A missionary often deals with people who are repulsive in appearance. Mary Slessor once said: “We need consecrated, affectionate women who are not afraid of work or filth of any kind, moral or material; a woman who can care for a baby or teach a child to wash and comb itself, as well as read and write; women who can tactfully smooth over a roughness and for Christ’s sake wear a smile, taking any place that may be open. If they can play Beethoven and paint and draw and speak French and German, so much the better; but we can overlook all these accomplishments, if they only have a loving heart, willing hands and common sense.” The missionary wife will often find herself compelled to initiate and finish enterprises with little help from others. Good judgment, faith in herself, the courage to proceed— these are characteristics earnestly to be cultivated. 5. A Fine Mental and Spiritual Outlook. The habits of good reading, of high standards of conver- sation, of friendliness in judgment, of persistence in some form of study for the enrichment of the mind and soul are invaluable to the one who seeks to become a useful member of the mission community. In any group isolated from its kind, whether it be at an army post or on a mission com- pound, the spirit of criticism may, like a hot iron, sear the 28 THE MISSIONARY WIFE very life of the community. No one has a greater oppor- tunity than the missionary wife in her home to meet this condition. She has it in her power to kill instantly the unkind word or to give it fresh vigor. When she “thinketh no evil,”’ her mental attitude is quickly reflected by her chil- dren, her husband and her friends. Happy is that commu- nity which has a home where it can be said of the mother: “Strength and dignity are her clothing. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” 6. In General. It is idle to attempt a list of the choice qualities which one who is to assume the important tasks of the missionary wife should covet for herself. Whatever makes a woman beloved and trusted and honored at home finds its place in life on the foreign field. Every quality that makes for fine womanhood finds its appointed use. Above all specific qual- ities stands that self-command, that poise of mind and heart, which enables a woman to use all her powers in the execu- tion of the plans to which she is dedicated. VII. ABILITIES TO BE TRAINED A missionary wife and mother on the mission field, whose new home is not in a great city, needs to be efficient in a variety of ways. One young missionary on his first furlough declared that, before he returned to his field, he was going to learn how to dig a well, to fill a tooth and to build a chimney. A woman’s tasks are no less varied. 1. Simple Medical Skill. In foreign cities the resources to which we are accus- tomed in America are sometimes available. But the vast majority of missionaries live outside of such cities, and must depend largely on themselves. The missionary wife is fre- quently the one who ministers to the simpler physical ail- ments of her household and of many in the community. She THE MISSIONARY WIFE 29 ought to be acquainted with the principles and with the standard methods of hygiene and sanitation, with first-aid knowledge, and with the use of simple medical remedies. A knowledge of the simpler duties of nursing will be very helpful. Such readily procured reference books as the Red Cross Handbook or First Aid to the Injured are invaluable additions to each home library. The Child Labor Bureau in Washington issues a number of very useful pamphlets. The one entitled “The Pre-Natal Care of Children” will be helpful for a missionary wife to use in connection with her work among women. 2. Home Management. The missionary wife and mother is the commander-in- chief of all home interests, taking the responsibility for all sorts of decisions. Her husband has unending and wide- ranging responsibilities of his own and should be free from those which she can assume. Her capabilities in relation to her household will be tested from every angle. All kinds of practical efficiency will be of value. It is often necessary io order family supplies and clothing many months in advance. Emergencies may require the making of a child’s wrapper and a pair of trousers out of an old riding habit and a long cloak out of a portiere! Whatever she has learned to do will be an asset in her experience on the foreign field. An elementary course in dressmaking and millinery is valuable. 3. Skill in Social Guidance. | All over the world today woman is wielding new power. The ablest women, even in the country where the seclusion or effacement of women is a tradition, are making their influence felt in the amelioration of social and industrial conditions, which affect seriously the lives of women and children. They are becoming alive to the dangers of intem- perance, ignorance, the social evils and the methods of unscrupulous industrialists. Those who go to the mission field during the next quarter century will not only witness vast social changes but, willingly or otherwise, will share 30 THE MISSIONARY WIFE in them. Young women can secure valuable help from the investigation of work in social hygiene as carried on in this country. 4. All-Round Efficiency. Speaking broadly, the missionary wife finds all kinds of practical efficiency of value. Not every valuable missionary wife possesses that efficiency, but she regrets its absence. The more things she knows how to do, the more wisely she can direct the actions of others, and the more surely she can surmount the innumerable obstacles which will lie in her pathway. VIII. Preparation aT Home The price of real efficiency on the mission field is careful preparation. Just as soon as a young woman begins to count upon living her life abroad, she should begin to take advan- tage of her opportunities to get ready for that career. 1. Preparation at College. Since the missionary wife, like her husband, is subject to a great variety of demands, she, too, should have a broad, well-balanced college course, or its full equivalent in train- ing. Nowhere does a cultured woman have a wider range of influence than on the mission field. In these days when so large a proportion of the courses in college are elective, it may be helpful to call attention to certain subjects which may wisely be emphasized by one who looks forward to married life on the mission field. (a) An Acquaintance with the Bible—The mastery of the Bible lies at the very basis of the efficiency of the mission- ary wife in her opportunities for teaching and for dealing with individuals. She should aim to know the Bible as an historical whole and to have some training in its interpreta- tion and use. A friendly talk with the head of the Biblical Department in the college regarding needs and plans will usually result in helpful counsel regarding the specific courses to be chosen. THE MISSIONARY WIFE 31 (b) Literature and History —rThe study of life and of literature greatly enlarges the cultural resources of a mission- ary wife. They yield a wholesomeness of viewpoint, an interest in world affairs, and a breadth of interpretation with reference to the historic movements of the day which cannot be overvalued. (c) Domestic Science and Household Economics.—Every good home-maker needs to know food values, how to pur- chase supplies, the principles of nutrition, the different styles and qualities of cookery, the art of preserving supplies and the efficient organization of household affairs. (d) The Social Sciences——A basal course in economics and sociology is most valuable. The social problems of an Oriental or Latin community are those which come most directly and prominently to the attention of the missionary wife. She ought to be able to see them clearly and to judge them dispassionately. She will have abundant opportunity for leadership in dealing with such problems, whether moral, industrial or national. Some knowledge of the ways in which serious community problems are dealt with at home will go far in fitting her for such leadership. Where practice work of this sort is not available during college years, it may be practicable to take a short course at a good summer school of social work. A good course on ethnology, not too technical, is worth taking, whatever bears on the customs of other people or on their vital qualities. Such instruction is sometimes a part of a broader course in social institutions. It helps one to enter appreciatively into a strange environment, and to make a friendly estimate of a new people. (e) Educational Psychology and Educational Methods. —These are subjects of great importance to all missionaries, whether educators or not. Few of them escape some educa- tional responsibilities. Moreover, the effective application of many of the other studies mentioned above or of the results of a wide-ranging college training may depend, within the missionary home or without, on such an educational back- ground. (f) Religious Activity——One who plans to go to the 32 THE MISSIONARY WIFE mission field is likely to have gained some active religious experience in the Young People’s Society of the church or in the Young Women’s Christian Association of the college. She should surely aim to secure such experience. She will be wise, however, if she tries out in available ways her abil- ity to teach the Bible or a mission class, to lead in various forms of Christian service, to speak on her feet and to offer public prayer. Whatever will develop an experimental knowledge of the power of prayer, of the reality of comrade- ship with Christ, of the ability to deal with the spiritual needs of others, will be of supreme value. 2. Further Preparation After College. Most young women expecting to marry and go to the foreign field have, on graduating from college, at least a year or two to devote to the special preparation for their responsibilities. All that is said elsewhere’ regarding the preparation of women for special tasks on the field applies to the missionary wife. Robust health is, of course, a primary need. Physical preparation is as essential as the intellectual and the spirit- ual. To develop good habits regarding exercise and games, and also in regard to regular periods of rest, is wise. It must be borne in mind that the missionary wife has a double responsibility in this respect. Her husband’s usefulness may be seriously impaired if she is physically unfit for the strain of life on the field. The long list of valuable men who have been forced to resign on account of the ill-health of their wives speaks eloquently of the importance of the purely physical aspect of preparation. Another important question is that of dress. In early days many missionaries, especially those in the Far East, assumed the dress of their adopted country in order to lessen the gulf between the foreigner and the national. As Euro- pean customs and dress have become familiar, the mission- aries very generally have reverted to their own habits of dress. But today there are modes of dress for women, to which the American public has become accustomed, which *See the pamphlets referred to in the bibliography. THE MISSIONARY WIFE 33 outrage the sense of decency of Eastern peoples. Remon- strances have actually come from certain groups of nationals who fear the effect upon their women folk of the vulgarities of these vogues. One who is planning an outfit for the mis- sion field will do well to consult a furloughed missionary from the field to which she is assigned, in order to ascertain the prejudices or mental attitudes with which she needs to reckon. In all cases it is safe for her to avoid extremes in dress. (a) Methods of Work with Children and Youth—Much of the outside work of a missionary wife will have to do with responsibilities which affect little children. A knowledge of kindergarten principles and methods, of schemes of work with children of all sorts, of plays, games and songs that children love, will well repay time invested in this form of training. It is equally valuable to know about methods of work with boys and girls, such as scouting and campfire activities, which are rapidly becoming world wide. (b) Music and Art.—tThe ability to play simple hymns and to direct a group in singing is most useful. Whatever of larger musical capacity can be transferred to the field will prove to be a boon. Musical ability and the appreciation of art and literature not only enrich the home and its life, but enable the missionary wife to minister to a far larger circle outside of the home. (c) A Knowledge of Accounting—A knowledge of simple bookkeeping and of household accounting is almost indispensable. Few young people of college age have had the opportunity to take up responsible management of affairs or have learned how to make a budget and live by it. On the mission field, however, no haphazard accounting is toler- able. Hours, even days, of perplexity may be avoided by a little commercial training. The ability to use the type- writer and to handle manuscript work is useful. (d) A Knowledge of the Field and its Work.—It is unnecessary for every missionary wife to have exactly the same training as her husband, but she, as well as he, needs an introduction to her future environment. She needs some acquaintance with missionary history and methods, an intro- 34. THE MISSIONARY WIFE duction to her special field, some experience in directed prac- tice service, and a brief training in phonetics. She is for- tunate, if circumstances permit her to attend, if only for one term, a well equipped school for missionary training in this country. Wherever it is feasible, it is a good plan for hus- band and wife to begin their comradeship in work by a course of study together before going to the field. IX. Tue First YEAR OR Two ON THE FIELD It would seem self-evident that, if a woman earnestly desires to make her life count to the utmost on the mission field, she will determine to let nothing interfere with acquir- ing the vernacular of her adopted people. And yet there are young missionary wives who fail to see the importance of joining their husbands in language study during the first year or two on the field. They take refuge behind the claims of their little children and the burdens of housekeeping and are content with the most meager knowledge of the com- monest expressions. Later on, when the children are grown and away at school, the wife, realizing her handicap, vainly seeks to pick up the abandoned study and finds it too late. The wise missionary wife will let nothing keep her from acquiring the speech of her people in the years in which language study is most rewarding. That it can be done is abundantly proved by missionary biography. Here is the record of a woman, who neither failed her children nor neglected her home, but, in spite of multitudinous duties and a really meager mental equipment, acquired a knowledge of the language which made it possible for her husband to say of her: “My wife’s great familiarity with the language was of very important service to me in translating, revising and editing the Scriptures. She never translated any of the Bible herself, but she was an acute and sound critic. I always read to her every chapter I translated and she often suggested improvements. Every final proof she attested twice: Those unacquainted with such work can scarcely comprehend the labor and the close attention required in such a task. There are nearly a million words in the Aneityumese THE MISSIONARY WIFE 35 Bible, and perhaps more than 120,000 stops. Now, to read twice through the entire Bible, name those million words each time, and’ be certain that each word is correctly spelled, and also name twice over each one of those 120,000 stops and see that each one is inserted in its proper place—this is the drudgery of literature.” X. Tue Use oF THE FURLOUGH When a missionary wife has been for one term on the field and comes back to the homeland for the first vacation, she will be fortunate if domestic conditions permit her to share in the opportunity afforded her husband to take such studies as will fit him for larger service in the remaining years of his ministry abroad. Like him, she will not only feel the need of a spiritual and mental refreshing, but will crave some specific instruction along lines which will fit her for special leadership on the field. It is important that the wife, as well as the husband, shall discover out of the years of experience some of her greatest needs, and seek to satisfy them. For the one who thus becomes conscious of an inade- quate equipment for her varied task, the first furlough offers another opportunity for preparation. A consultation with colleagues, with Board secretaries and with others qualified to offer advice will yield valuable suggestions as to the wise courses for furlough study.” XI. In Conclusion Thus far the technique of the matter! It is a serious business to be a missionary wife, and to found a missionary home. All that is written and much more would fail ade- quately to express the preparation which may fitly go into the making of such a home. Over and above it all one longs to express joyful congratulations to those happy ones who are going to the field as home-makers and wives. You who are to share another’s work and play, life and love, go for- 1TIn the bibliography is noted a very helpful pamphlet which discusses the missionary furlough and how to use it. 36 THE MISSIONARY WIFE ward eagerly, fearlessly, claiming the “one-hundred fold’ which the Master promised. When Almighty God was ready to make the supreme revelation of His love to the world, He chose a woman in a home and her little Child to be His medium of expression. The sure reward of deep and abiding joy awaits those who seek to make God’s love shine through their homes into the dark places of the earth, BIBLIOGRAPHY It is obviously impracticable to list many books which illumine the theme of this pamphlet. The following are volumes or articles which contribute, intentionally or indi- rectly, to the reader’s knowledge of the problems of a mis- sionary wife and of their solution. Platt, Mary Schauffler. The Home with the Open Door. New York, Student Volunteer Movement, 1920. A valuable study, by one with an unusual background of experience, of the missionary home, its importance and how to use it. It includes (pp. 23-28) an invaluable outline for the guidance of the observation and reflection of a young married woman during her early years of missionary experience. Sheffield, Mrs. D. Z. The Wives of Missionaries: Their Status, Preparation and Work. Article in the “Chinese Recorder” for March, 1919, pp. 162-176. A plea out of a long and busy life for a more generous recognition of the place of the missionary home-maker and of her need of special preparation. Baird, Annie L. A. Inside Views of Mission Life. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1913. An intimate view of the varied phases of such work as a missionary’s wife in Korea is constantly doing. Particularly strong in the sympathetic attitude of a woman toward the needs of the common people. Counsel to New Missionaries. New York, Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 1905. Chapter six, written by Mrs. Helen S. C. Nevius, deals with the home life of missionaries. Lawrence, Edward A. Modern Missions in the East, New York, Revell (c 1901). Written years ago, yet the first important contribution to the science of missions in English. Chapter eight, entitled “The Home and Rest of the Missionary,” is suggestive and, in the main, applicable to present conditions. Blaikie, W. G. Personal Life of David Livingstone. New York, Revell (pref. 1880), n.d. The standard life of the great missionary explorer. In it Mrs. Livingstone is given her rightful place as an inspiring and hopeful factor in his life, although her life was necessarily apart from his. 37 38 BIBLIOGRAPHY Shedd, Mrs. W. G. The Measure of a Man. New York, Revell, 1922. Mrs. Shedd, in this fine appreciation of the life of her husband, gives her own measure also; and, incidentally, much of the Persian setting of their life together. Speer, R. E. The Foreign Doctor. New York, Revell (c 1911). This life of a great missionary statesman and physician has as its living, strengthening background the home life which alike blessed his family and the community and state. Gamewell, Mrs. Mary Ninde. The Gateway to China. New York, Revell (c 1916). Chapter V deals with housekeeping problems. Smith, George. Twelve Pioneer Missionaries. London, Nelson, 1900. One of these interesting stories is that of Hannah Marshman, the mission- ary wife, who started the first girls’ school in India. Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Howard. Hudson Taylor in Early Years. 2d ed., London, Morgan, 1912. Pt. VI deals with marriage and settled work. Cabot, Dr. Richard C. Love’s Allies. Article in “The World of Tomorrow” for April, 1923, p. 119. An article which deals in a stimulating manner with the relationship of husband and wife. Mackintosh, Catharine W. Coillard of the Zambezi. New York, American Tract Society, 1907. The best study in English of the fruitful life of Madame Coillard. Padwick, Constance E. White Heroines in Africa. London, United Council for Missionary Education (1914). The story of three missionary women who made homes. Serrell, Jeanne M. Lives of Great Missionaries. New York, Revell, 1922. Contains two vivid sketches of Mary Slessor and of the Coillards. Hubbard, Ethel D. Anne of Ava. New York, Missionary Edu- cation Movement, 1913. A sketch of the life of Mrs. Adoniram Judsen. Her service as related to her husband’s welfare has rarely been excelled. Their life together was an unending romance. BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 Mackenzie, Jean K. Black Sheep: Adventures in West Africa. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1916. Vivid narratives which set forth many of the problems of the woman missionary, whether married or single, to a primitive people. Livingstone, W. P. Mary Slessor of Calabar. London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1916. The story of a queenly woman who did a pioneering work of great diffi- culty, through her great sympathy, devotion to individuals and her influence over the tribesmen. Moffat, John S. The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat. New York, Armstrong, 1888. A tribute from a missionary leader to his mother, who, in many respects in her own sphere, was equal to her husband in his wider relations. The Missionary Furlough. New York, Committee of Reference and Counsel, 1921. A special pamphlet which offers much helpful advice regarding this impor- tant period in the working life of every missionary. Pamphlets on Preparation for Types of Mission Service. The Committee of Reference and Counsel at 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, publishes several inexpensive pamphlets on the preparation for various types of work for women, such as “The Evangelistic and Social Worker Among Women,” or “The Missionary Nurse.” The first-mentioned pamphlet is of value and interest to all women going to the foreign field. Pamphlets on Preparation for Areas of Mission Work. The Committee of Reference and Counsel also publishes a series of inex- pensive pamphlets of great value on different areas, such as China, Africa, India, Japan, and so on. Any candidate will find it worth while to secure the pamphlet relating to the area to which he or she plans to go. a Pi nal heh ot a s 7 ea ] st ees, , 9 aN 7 fete ed eet uy : Bin. siden iene Bie HE et 4 7 F hd ey hal PUBLICATIONS ON Missionary Preparation and ‘Training OF INTEREST TO JUNIOR MISSIONARIES GENERAL MISSIONARY SERVICE The Missionary Furlough. 25 cents postpaid. The Missionary Wife. 25 cents postpaid. The Preparation of Missionaries for Literary Work. 15 cents postpaid. The Specialized Training of Missionaries. 50 cents postpaid. THE PRESENTATION OF CHRISTIANITY The Presentation of Christianity in Confucian Lands. 50 cents postpaid. The Presentation of Christianity to Hindus. 50 cents postpaid. The Presentation of Christianity to Moslems. 50 cents postpaid. The Presentation of Christianity to Buddhists. (Almost ready.) For the above, address the Committee of Reference and Counsel, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, or send a request to your own Board. THE WORLD’S LIVING RELIGIONS A series published with the approval of the Committee of Reference and Counsel by The Macmillan Company, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Each $1.00 postpaid. Other volumes to follow. The Religion of Lower Races as illustrated by the African Bantu. (May, 1923.) Buddhism and Buddhists in Southern Asia. (May, 1923.) Foism and the Buddhists of China. (November, 1923.) Roman Christianity in Latin America. (November, 1923.)