HOW SHOULD 
 THE MISSIONARY 
 SPEND HIS FURLOUGH? 
 
 Board of MiMionary Preparation 
 
.Biwrd .of" 
 
 Missiooary Prej^ratioa > : 
 
 ; . Pennell P. Turner, Honorary, Secretary v " 
 
 • TbC Her. James t. Bttrion, D.D. ^ 
 
 > ; , Prof; Hawaii P; Beach, D.D., ; . ‘ 
 
 DayW. Kovalrd, Jr., M.D.u-i 
 S. Brown, D.D, .! ' ^ ^ 
 
 Prof. Ernest DeWitt .Barton, D.b. , 1 
 
 Miss Helen B. Calder , ; • ; 
 
 . ,-Prof. Edward W, Capen, Pii.D. 
 
 ' - ‘ ^he Bev. Wm. I. Chamberialri, P 
 
 ; The Her.: George Drach ■ •, . ; . -’ ; ■ i ; 
 
 The Itevi flames Endicottv B.b; . ' ’ ' / ^ 
 
 Prof. Charles E. Erdknan, D.D. : T ' . V% i 
 
 :• ' The Rev.)-'P.‘B-.'Haggard,^D,D,'■■ 
 
 ■ Pres.’-Henry. <5; E’lnK,'''b.b. ,,;' 
 
 The Rt. Eer. ijrthhrVs. Lloyd, DJ). : 
 
 The Ec^. E. P, Mhthay, ‘ /" , > 
 
 Pres'. W, W. Moore, Dip.j .■• .. 
 
 ■ Johh 'E. Mott, Hp.p. 'v:' ■.v'i-v ^ 
 
 r^' prea. 'E.-' Y; MuiUn8,^'T}.b.’.;.-^ 
 
 Bishdp W; ,E, Oldham, ' - 
 ; Frinclhal T. E, p’Mearn, P;d, ^ 
 
 ''Pres. C., T.: Pahl,'. PED. i- -r'.-' 
 
 Dean WUford Lv EobWos,^^^^^^^^ J ."ffl 
 
 ’ Prof. Henry W- pobins; Ph.P, / , 
 
 - Prof. G, A.' Johnston, Boss, IVLA'.’ • ' 
 
 Dean James E. Enssell, XPcpi ■ ■, ? ^ -i -T B 
 
 ■--T.'H, p.'Sailer,:phJ>;' ■ 
 
 Miss Dna-Saunders^ ' ^ 
 
 ' .<r ■ Eobert;,B.-Bpeer.-D.D. ■.~v 
 
 Pres. J.-Ebiss/SteTenson, • D.D.' : -■ • 
 
 The, Efey. John H, Strong, ,D.Di'* . C?; ^ 
 
 ^<f4Ai«r ' A 1A ' TCr#i • TLT :..A' fri r.j.., 
 
How Should the Missionary 
 Spend His Furlough ? 
 
 Board of Missionary Preparation 
 25 Madison Ave. New York City 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 T his leaflet is only meant to be sugges¬ 
 tive. The material it contains is the 
 result of a careful investigation of the 
 missionary furlough problem by a committee 
 appointed by the Board of Alissionary Prep¬ 
 aration. The data on which this report is 
 based are noted on page 8. While the experi¬ 
 ences and view points of so large a number 
 of missionaries carry considerable authority 
 and constitute a rich storehouse of sugges¬ 
 tions, the Committee investigating this subject 
 covets for its report the correction of further 
 criticism and the enrichment of further sug¬ 
 gestions. Will you not, you into whose hands 
 this leaflet falls, will you not contribute to 
 this undertaking bv sending your suggestions 
 to Dr. F. . K. Sanders, the Director of the 
 Board of Missionary Preparation, who may 
 be addressed at 25 iMadison Avenue, Xew 
 York City. 
 
 The attention of readers is called to other 
 investigations made by other committees 
 whose reports are in a peculiar way supple¬ 
 mentary to the discussions of this leaflet. 
 These reports are listed on the inside back 
 ■cover of this leaflet. 
 
 Charles R. Watson, Chairman. 
 
 W. B. Anderson, 
 
 Harlan P. Beach, 
 
 David Bovaird, Jr., 
 
 O. E. Browm, 
 
 Edward Warren Capen 
 Henry C. King, 
 
 R. P. Alackay, 
 
 G. A. Johnston Ross, 
 
 Committee on Missionary Furloughs 
 
How Should the Missionary 
 Spend His Furlough? 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF SUBJECT 
 
 HE vital importance of this sub- 
 
 1 ject, proposed by the Board of 
 Missionary Preparation for special 
 study and investigation, will be appre¬ 
 ciated more fully as we remind our¬ 
 selves of the number of lives involved, 
 the amount of time and money at issue, 
 and the practical bearing of the whole 
 Qiiestion upon missionary efhciency. 
 The total number of foreign mission¬ 
 aries supported by American Boards 
 and Societies is over 8,000. Wdth an 
 average term of service of seven years, 
 1,143 missionaries will be found com¬ 
 ing to America each year for their reg¬ 
 ular furloughs. As the furlough period 
 usually extends to fifteen months, we 
 are dealing in this investigation with 
 an annual investment of 1,429 years of 
 human life, while the annual financial 
 investment is certainly not less than 
 $572,000. Were we to include the 
 whole Protestant foreign missionary 
 force there would be involved annual¬ 
 ly 3,600 years of human life and prob¬ 
 ably as much as $1,500,000 in finan¬ 
 cial investment. The effective use of 
 
 3 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 SO much time and money surely de¬ 
 serves the most painstaking' investiga¬ 
 tions and the most careful study on 
 the part of those to -whom is commit¬ 
 ted the task of carrying the Gospel to 
 all the world. Nor is this duty of care¬ 
 ful research laid upon us alone by the 
 high estimate of time and money in¬ 
 volved, for there is a further call to the 
 investigation proposed because its 
 findings promise increased efficiency in 
 service as these missionaries return to 
 their fields of labor for terms approxi¬ 
 mating seven years. The missionary 
 enterprise is even now involved in the 
 expense of missionary furloughs (both 
 travel expenses and salary expenses), 
 whether these furlough periods are be¬ 
 ing rightly used or not. Any addition¬ 
 al expenditures proposed will be infin¬ 
 itesimal as compared with the large 
 expenditures to which the missionary 
 enterprise is now committed in con¬ 
 nection with the furloughs of its mis¬ 
 sionaries. The investigation, there¬ 
 fore, promises, at little or practically 
 no expense, to provide clear and 
 marked gains in missionary efficiency. 
 
 The need for this investigation is 
 all the more pressing because it seems 
 to have been neglected in the past. 
 
 4 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 The report of Commission V on “The 
 Preparation of Missionaries,” presented 
 to the Edinburgh Conference in 1910, 
 discussed at length the general subject 
 of the training of missionaries, but it 
 was the candidate for missionary ap¬ 
 pointment and the years preceding his 
 appointment that were under special 
 consideration. The training and 
 further development of the mission¬ 
 ary who is already in service were 
 given only the limited treatment of six 
 pages, while the opportunity which the 
 furlough period provides for such 
 training was only touched upon in a 
 single page. Furthermore, in the am¬ 
 ple bibliography presented as a part of 
 the Commission’s report, no volume 
 or leaflet deals primarily with the 
 proper use of the furlough period, and 
 only a few elementary leaflets have 
 been discovered, issued since the Edin¬ 
 burgh Conference and affording sug¬ 
 gestions to missionaries as to how they 
 may make the most profitable use of 
 their periodic furloughs. 
 
 The time and money values in¬ 
 volved, the possibility of great gain in 
 efficiency at but slight additional ex¬ 
 pense, and the absence of an adequate 
 treatment of the subject in the past, at- 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 tach a significant importance to the 
 present investigation. 
 
 DATA INVESTIGATED 
 
 This leaflet is based largely upon 
 replies to a questionnaire which was 
 prepared and sent out to a selected 
 list of missionaries and missionary 
 leaders. limitations of time have pre¬ 
 vented hearing from some of the more 
 distant fields, save as those fields were 
 represented by missionaries on fur¬ 
 lough. However, the Committee had 
 before it some no replies to its ques¬ 
 tionnaire, the majority of these bearing 
 clear evidence of most careful prepara¬ 
 tion, while in some cases accompany¬ 
 ing letters gave still more extended in¬ 
 formation. The no replies presented 
 such a variety of viewpoints that one 
 may justly believe that few situations 
 could have been overlooked. Among 
 the correspondents there were both 
 men and women; ordained mission¬ 
 aries and laymen; missionaries en¬ 
 gaged in medical, educational, indus¬ 
 trial, administrative and evangelistic 
 missionary work; missionaries laboring 
 in Africa, Alaska, Assam, Brazil, Bur¬ 
 ma, Ceylon, China, Greece, India, Japan, 
 
 6 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Persia, the 
 Philippines, Syria, Tibet, Turkey, Uru¬ 
 guay and the West Indies; some of the 
 correspondents were having their first 
 furlough experiences, while others had 
 had repeated experience with furlough 
 periods. Repeatedly did the correspond¬ 
 ents express their very deep interest in 
 the investigation and their conviction 
 as to the value which it might have to 
 the missionary individually and to the 
 cause he serves. The list of correspond¬ 
 ents included particularly a large 
 number of those who were either on 
 furlough or had just returned to their 
 fields after furlough, for it was felt 
 that to these the problems and value 
 of the furlough period would be most 
 vivid and real. 
 
 The questionnaire requested replies 
 to some 62 questions grouped under 
 the following six main heads: 
 
 I. Furlough conditions. 
 
 II. Physical development. 
 
 III. Intellectual development. 
 
 IV. Spiritual development. 
 
 V. Cultivation of the home Church. 
 
 VI. Matters requiring special emphasis. 
 
 This report discusses the first five 
 of these headings and presents some 
 general suggestions which are sub- 
 
 7 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 mitted in addition to the conclusions 
 which belong to each of the five sub¬ 
 divisions. 
 
 FURLOUGH CONDITIONS 
 
 It is important to have a clear and 
 accurate knowledge of furlough condi¬ 
 tions, for these are vitally related to 
 the uses which it is proposed to make 
 of the furlough period. 
 
 (i) Frequency of Furlough —This 
 bears a vital relation to the state of 
 health, and' this in turn determines, to a 
 great extent, the possibility of study and 
 other work during the furlough period. 
 In mission fields lying within the Tem¬ 
 perate Zone, seven years seems to be 
 the prevailing length of the term of serv¬ 
 ice. In the Tropics and also in Arabia 
 and Brazil, the term is from three to five 
 years. It is worth noting that there has 
 been a general tendency to reduce the 
 length of the term of service, the seven- 
 year term being in the majority of in¬ 
 stances a reduction from ten years. In 
 a large number of cases unmarried wom¬ 
 en missionaries serve for shorter terms 
 than do the men and their wives. In a 
 few cases it was urged that an option 
 should be given the missionary to return 
 at the end.of a longer term, spch as 
 
 8 
 
FIJRLOTJGTTS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 seven years, and have a year at home, 
 or to return at the end of a shorter per¬ 
 iod of four years ^vith but six months at 
 home. This plan has in some cases been 
 found actually impracticable and, save 
 for nearby fields, such as the West In¬ 
 dies or Mexico, it would be open to the 
 following serious objections: (a) The 
 expense of travel is too great for such 
 slight furlough advantages as six months 
 would provide; (b) it is confusing to 
 plans at home and on the field to allow 
 such an option; (c) the short furlough 
 makes impossible almost all uses of the 
 furlough period, save for physical devel¬ 
 opment. 
 
 It is to be noted that the necessity for 
 a periodic furlough is vitally related to 
 summer vacation privileges. Where 
 these are satisfactory and provide some 
 real rest and tonic the existing regula¬ 
 tions would seem to be generally satis¬ 
 factory: about seven years for the term 
 of service in temperate zones and from 
 three to five in the Tropics. Under nor¬ 
 mal conditions of health this should not 
 only prevent breakdowns but should also 
 bring the missionary home with such a 
 fair degree of health that he would he 
 able to apply himself to a reasonable de¬ 
 gree to study, to the cultivation of the 
 
 9 
 
PlIRLOtinnS OR MISSiONARtES 
 
 home Church and to self-improvement 
 generally. 
 
 (2) Length of the Furlough —Pass¬ 
 ing by the proposals for short term serv¬ 
 ice and short furloughs the prevailing 
 opinion is that a furlough period of fif¬ 
 teen months should be allowed. In 
 theory, this is a furlough period of one 
 year, but to avoid the summer months, 
 in which little would be done on the field 
 anyhow and which are trying months, 
 the missionary comes home in the late 
 spring and returns to his field in the 
 early autumn of the succeeding year. A 
 few, doubtless, where the climatic con¬ 
 ditions of their fields are a negligible 
 factor, would limit the furlough to one 
 year in America. Some argue for long¬ 
 er furloughs in the later periods of mis¬ 
 sionary service on the ground of failing 
 strength with advancing years; but 
 others argue for longer furlough periods 
 in the early years of missionary service 
 on the ground that at that period of life 
 they can be most helped by courses of 
 study and further preparation. 
 
 On the whole, fifteen months seems to 
 be the most reasonable length for per¬ 
 iodic furlough. 
 
 (3) Furlough Allowance —This varies 
 for married men from $500 to $1,200, 
 
 10 
 
PURLOtTGlTS OF MISSTONARIKS 
 
 with or without children’s allowances; 
 although the majority seem to be al¬ 
 lowed $1,000 for the furlough salary. In 
 the case of unmarried women it varies 
 from $350 to $600. 
 
 This question of furlough allowance 
 needs to be very earnestly considered by 
 all missionary agencies, especially by 
 those that have not made a recent ad¬ 
 justment of their missionary salaries to 
 the increased cost of living in America. 
 It is a subject more vitally related to the 
 proper use of the furlough period than 
 is commonly supposed. It affects health, 
 for where the salary is inadequate finan¬ 
 cial worry ensues. It affects intellectual 
 and spiritual development, for the mis¬ 
 sionary is thereby prevented from tak¬ 
 ing advantage of educational and inspir¬ 
 ational privileges that would otherwise 
 be accessible. It affects his usefulness 
 as a force in cultivating the home 
 Church, for he is unable to travel about 
 or dress in the way that social standards 
 require. Frequently, he is compelled to 
 go back to his field with debts which 
 would rightly embitter the soul of a 
 righteous man. One missionary reports 
 that his first furlough cost him almost 
 twice as much as his furlough allowance, 
 and the second furlough almost four 
 
 11 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 times as much; and his is a name most 
 honored in missionary circles. The ques¬ 
 tion is most pressing because of the enor¬ 
 mous gains that come from more satis¬ 
 factory furlough allowances. 
 
 (4) Where to Locate — Naturally, 
 the overwhelming majority of fur¬ 
 lough periods of American missionaries 
 are spent wholly in America. A consid¬ 
 erable number are able to widen their 
 horizon and add to their self-develop¬ 
 ment by visits to other countries lying 
 along the route of their travel or even by 
 extended delays in Europe for purposes 
 of study. In America the location of the 
 missionary during his furlough period is 
 determined by one or more of the fol¬ 
 lowing considerations: (a) to be with 
 relatives; {h) to provide educational 
 privileges for the children; (c) for 
 health reasons; {d) for reasons of econ¬ 
 omy; {e) for purposes of study; (/) for 
 deputation work and speaking; {g) for 
 conferences with the Board. It is easy 
 to see that some of these considerations 
 might so dominate the missionary’s loca¬ 
 tion as to interfere with the most effect¬ 
 ive use of the furlough period, e.g., (a), 
 (b), (d), and (/). It is for this reason 
 that the returning missionary should be 
 helped by friendly counsel on the one 
 
 12 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 hand and by such financial co-operation 
 as may be reasonable and possible on the 
 other hand. 
 
 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The physical recuperation and devel¬ 
 opment of the missionary may well be 
 treated first, for it is the primary and 
 basic object of the furlough period. 
 
 (i) What Time Should be Devoted to 
 Physical Development? — The replies 
 show wide divergence of personal opin¬ 
 ion or experience. There is the mission¬ 
 ary whose opinion is that “this rest busi¬ 
 ness is somewhat overdone,” who comes 
 home rejoicing in his strength and who, 
 evidently a good sailor, would limit the 
 rest period to the invigorating experi¬ 
 ences of a sea voyage from the foreign 
 field to America. Then there is the mis¬ 
 sionary who would devote the whole 
 period to physical rest, who would count 
 all other occupation as an exception to 
 the rule and who would even then reckon 
 the rest period all too short. Recogniz¬ 
 ing that special schedules will require to 
 he made for those who are broken down 
 physically or nervously or who stand in 
 need of some severe operation, perhaps 
 a reasonable allowance for rest and 
 physical recuperation for those who re- 
 
 13 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 turn home with a fair degree of health 
 would be one-third of the entire time of 
 the furlough, or three months at the be¬ 
 ginning (usually the first summer) and 
 one month or two at the end of the fur¬ 
 lough. The case of those whose health 
 is undermined will be considered later. 
 The following reply expresses, in the 
 main, the thought of many: “As a rule, 
 the first few months of the furlough 
 should be spent in physical rest, visiting 
 friends and relatives and getting one’s 
 bearings. During that period the mis¬ 
 sionary should not do much public 
 speaking or much special study in insti¬ 
 tutions, but should be studying the gen¬ 
 eral situation in the home land and home 
 Church. He should know what the peo¬ 
 ple at home are thinking and planning, 
 and the terms in which they are think¬ 
 ing. He should get thoroughly interest¬ 
 ed in them and what they are doing and 
 not be ‘just dying to get back to his field 
 of labor.’ When he has had a good 
 physical rest and has done this work of 
 ‘orientation,’ he will be in a position to 
 do other things.” 
 
 (2) What Treatment Should be FoT 
 lo 7 ved and How Determine the Same ?— 
 For those who are generally well some 
 simple prescription of exercise and diet. 
 
 14 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 with outdoor life on farm, ranch, moun¬ 
 tain or plain is recommended. For otlv 
 ers hospital, sanitarium or surgical treat¬ 
 ment may be required. Freedom from 
 anxiety is an essential requirement for 
 satisfactory physical recuperation, and 
 here again the root of the trouble may 
 lead back to the financial problem. 
 
 To determine what is required the 
 proposal most widely endorsed is that 
 every missionary upon arrival in Amer¬ 
 ica shall undergo medical examination. 
 Three questions are to be answered by 
 this examination: (a) Does the mis¬ 
 sionary require any special treatment 
 while on furlough? (b) If so, what? 
 (c) Does the case suggest the necessity 
 of a further medical examination toward 
 the end of the furlough to determine fit¬ 
 ness for return to the field? 
 
 That all should undergo this first ex¬ 
 amination seems clear, for as one mis¬ 
 sionary (a doctor) remarks, “He (the 
 missionary) is usually a poor judge 
 when left to himself, even though a phy¬ 
 sician,” while another (also a medical 
 missionary) writes: “It (the treatment) 
 should in no wise be left to the decision 
 of the missionary himself.” However, 
 the following points with reference to 
 this medical examination need to be 
 
 15 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 noted: (a) The examining physician 
 
 should be a man in sympathy with mis¬ 
 sions. (b) He should have some knowl¬ 
 edge of Oriental conditions and diseases, 
 (c) In case of a special ailment the mis¬ 
 sionary should go to a specialist, (d) 
 The examination should be thorough 
 and fearless. Fearing that too many 
 concessions will be made, one mission¬ 
 ary writes: “Have a medical board 
 which knows nothing of the individual, 
 his field, relatives, friends, desires, fears 
 or hobby.” 
 
 A proposal made in the questionnaire 
 that every missionary should undergo an 
 annual medical examination on the field 
 was widely endorsed. The few objec¬ 
 tions raised suggest the propriety of 
 modifying the suggestion somewhat and 
 instead of actually requiring every indi¬ 
 vidual missionary to undergo a medical 
 examination each year in the field, that 
 a medical report be required by every 
 Board to be sent to it annually from the 
 field, reviewing the health of the mis¬ 
 sionaries on the field. This would avoid 
 the necessity for formal examinations, 
 where manifestly unnecessary. It 
 would, however, bring to light physical 
 breaks that are threatening. Needless 
 to add, it would be a confidential report 
 
 10 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 from the doctor on the field to the Board 
 in America and would not parade be¬ 
 fore the entire mission the physical limi¬ 
 tations of each missionary. The bearing 
 of this proposal upon physical recupera¬ 
 tion during the furlough period is obvi¬ 
 ous, for the reports from the fields would 
 form a basis for a prescription of treat¬ 
 ment by the home doctors when the mis¬ 
 sionary returns to America. A proper 
 correlation as to character of examina¬ 
 tion and method of reporting the same 
 will need to be worked out between the 
 medical examination taken on the field 
 and the one taken at home. The records 
 of both should be carefully filed for sub¬ 
 sequent reference and perhaps criticism 
 both at home and on the field. 
 
 (3) Financial Provision for Medical 
 Treatment —A very few instances occur 
 where hospitals under denominational 
 control generously provide free medical 
 treatment and beds for missionaries. In 
 a larger number of cases only some re¬ 
 duction of the regular charges is con¬ 
 ceded. In some cases the Boards, by 
 regular or special allowances, cover the 
 cost of the medical treatment or the sur¬ 
 gical operations which their missionaries 
 require. Repeated mention is made of 
 the special privileges which have been 
 
 17 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 accorded missionaries at Clifton Springs 
 and Battle Creek. 
 
 The investigation discloses strong rea¬ 
 sons for the position that just as Boards 
 should insist on all missionaries under¬ 
 going medical examination upon their 
 return on furlough, the Boards should 
 carry the expense of any unusual expen¬ 
 ditures that are involved in the medical 
 or surgical treatments which their med¬ 
 ical examinations have shown to be nec¬ 
 essary. The reasons for this are obvi¬ 
 ous: (o) It is a matter of ultimate econ¬ 
 omy ; a missionary fully restored to 
 health will be more useful than one who 
 returns to work with some physical dis¬ 
 ability. (b) In almost every instance 
 the present furlough allowances would 
 not permit the missionary to take ex¬ 
 pensive treatment at his own charges. 
 (c) The disability is often incurred 
 while the missionary is serving the 
 Board and the Church; in some cases it 
 is the direct result of strain owing to 
 the Church’s failure to send adequate re¬ 
 enforcements. 
 
 INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 To begin by mentioning a general im¬ 
 pression gained from a study of the data 
 
 18 
 
FUUT.OUGHS of missionaries 
 
 in hand, there seems to be justification 
 for saying that this section of the ques¬ 
 tionnaire received on the whole inade¬ 
 quate or imperfect treatment at the 
 hands of correspondents. Naturally the 
 subject presents such varied aspects be¬ 
 cause of differing types of intellectual 
 training required on the foreign field 
 that it does not lend itself to a clearly de¬ 
 fined discussion. Then, too, the exact 
 content of many of the studies proposed 
 may not have seemed clear to the cor¬ 
 respondents, partly because some of 
 them are of more recent development 
 and partly because the treatment of them 
 differs greatly in different institutions. 
 Generally speaking, the wisdom of de¬ 
 voting part of the furlough to intellect¬ 
 ual development is granted by all. Where 
 reserve appears in the endorsement of 
 this plan it seems to be because of fear 
 that it will infringe unduly upon phys¬ 
 ical recuperation on the one hand or the 
 cultivation of the home Church on the 
 other. 
 
 (i) Selection of Work —Who shall 
 decide the questions connected with spe¬ 
 cial study during the furlough period— 
 the missionary, the Mission or the 
 Board? There is remarkable unanimity 
 in the opinion that the missionary him- 
 
 19 
 
FURLOunns of missionaries 
 
 self should be the chief judge in the 
 matter, and, naturally so: he it is who 
 must be whole-heartedly satisfied or his 
 study will be formal and perfunctory; he 
 it is who knows his own field of work 
 and his own limitations in relation to it; 
 he it is who best may correlate consci¬ 
 entiously the Mission’s policy with the 
 Board’s projects. The chief function of 
 the Mission would be to notify the mis¬ 
 sionary on furlough of any specialized 
 form of work to which it is intending to 
 assign him; otherwise he would be free 
 to follow the lines of his own sense of 
 personal need for intellectual develop¬ 
 ment. The special function of the Board 
 is to lift before the missionary its ideals 
 for greater efficiency through special 
 training, to bring him into touch with 
 that wealth of specialized knowledge of 
 whose existence he may be ignorant, to 
 help him in solving some of the practi¬ 
 cal problems connected with his selection 
 of an institution and of suitable courses 
 of study, and finally to help solve the fi¬ 
 nancial difficulties which might otherwise 
 prevent his engaging in these studies. 
 
 (2) Time —While some would regard 
 even one month of study as satisfactory 
 and others desire an entire school year 
 for such intellectual development, it is 
 
 20 
 
FURLOITGTTS OF MISSION ARIES 
 
 recognized that with other claims upon 
 his time the missionary on furlough will 
 not be able, as a rule, to give more than 
 one full term (about three months) to 
 study at an institution. This would not 
 apply to those preparing for some spe¬ 
 cialized form of work where a definite 
 appointment to such work becomes the 
 justification for longer furlough and 
 more extended study. 
 
 The problem of properly correlating 
 study with speaking in the churches may 
 find solution in several ways. If the 
 fall months are given to study, the 
 spring months may be given to deputa¬ 
 tion work. Or, again, the missionary 
 may be able to study during the week 
 and devote his Sundays to speaking; this 
 assumes a fair degree of health and also 
 his location for study in the midst of his 
 denominational constituency, which may 
 not always be the case. Or, finally, dep¬ 
 utation work may be reduced to a mini¬ 
 mum on the ground either that this mis¬ 
 sionary is not specially gifted for such 
 work or that the missionary’s chief duty 
 has to do with making himself efficient 
 for work abroad. It is to be recognized 
 that many plead for the upkeep of dep- 
 utational activity on the ground of its 
 mental and spiritual stimulus and be- 
 
 21 
 
fttrlougtis of missionaries 
 
 cause of its value as a wholesome cor¬ 
 rective to purely intellectual work. 
 
 (3) Place —Should that portion of 
 the furlough which is to be devoted to 
 intellectual development be spent on the 
 foreign field, in Europe or in America? 
 The objective on the foreign field would 
 be some original study of language, lit¬ 
 erature, religions, social conditions, for 
 which investigations no opportunity ex¬ 
 isted while the missionary was im¬ 
 mersed in regular work. The methods 
 and conditions of adjoining missions and 
 mission fields would also require study 
 abroad. The argument for studying in 
 Europe would be, for example, that med¬ 
 ical men could profitably take up special 
 studies in Oriental diseases, and Ameri¬ 
 can missionaries laboring in India would 
 find it a valuable thing to study British 
 educational ideals which lie back of the 
 British educational policy in India. Such 
 cases, however, may be regarded as ex¬ 
 ceptions; in the majority of cases the de¬ 
 cision will relate to institutions in this 
 country. 
 
 In selecting the place of study it is 
 recognized that ordinarily considerations 
 of economy and accessibility are likely 
 to exert far too strong an influence, 
 while the truest considerations are aca- 
 
 22 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 demic facilities and spiritual atmosphere. 
 If academic facilities are given chief 
 consideration it is with the very proper 
 explanation that church life in the city 
 may provide the spiritual atmosphere re- 
 C[uired, even though there is little or 
 none of it in the institution itself, e. g., 
 many medical and technical schools. De¬ 
 nominational considerations are ordinar¬ 
 ily reported to be of lesser importance in 
 the selection of the place for study. 
 
 A strong plea is made by most of the 
 correspondents for the allowance of 
 study privileges to wives as well as to 
 their husbands. The advantage of thus 
 having the family united during the fur¬ 
 lough period; the intellectual fellowship 
 which husband and wife may thus en¬ 
 joy; the partial amends that ought in 
 justice to be thus made to those women 
 who through their devotion to household 
 duties are ever making heroic sacrifices; 
 these are among the arguments pre¬ 
 sented. 
 
 (4) Cost —The replies received from 
 missionaries reveal a most worthy con¬ 
 servatism with reference to making 
 claims upon the mission treasury for ex¬ 
 penses incurred in pursuing these studies. 
 Nevertheless it is recognized that in 
 very many cases all such study will 
 
 23 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 be impossible if the missionary must 
 bear the expense. With general unanim¬ 
 ity the opinion is expressed that the 
 Board should provide for the tuition fees 
 if these are not remitted by the institu¬ 
 tion. It is also felt by many that the 
 railroad travel should be paid by the 
 Board, especially if some distant institu¬ 
 tion is selected after consultation with 
 the Board. Perhaps a wiser principle 
 to adopt would be for the Board to ap¬ 
 point a special committee to deal with 
 each case separately and provide for all 
 such expenses connected with these 
 studies as are found to be in excess of 
 the missionary’s normal furlough ex¬ 
 penses, providing, of course, that the 
 missionary finds himself unable to 
 meet these expenses and providing 
 the Board approved of them before 
 they were incurred. Among the 
 arguments by which, it is sug¬ 
 gested, the Board can justify such 
 expenditures are; (a) These studies 
 aim to increase the missionary’s efficien¬ 
 cy in the work of the Church; (b) but 
 for such help from the Board the mis¬ 
 sionary must go back to his field imper¬ 
 fectly equipped; (c) the very condi¬ 
 tions of the mission field and of the mis¬ 
 sionary’s life abroad place limitations 
 upon him, cutting him off from the in- 
 
 24 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 tellectual stimulus which is the common 
 privilege of all in America—this is, 
 therefore, only proper and partial com¬ 
 pensation; (d) principles of efficiency in 
 the business world will justify such 
 grants. 
 
 (5) Course — Correspondents were 
 asked to indicate the relative emphasis 
 which their experience and observation 
 would lead them to lay upon the follow¬ 
 ing subjects of study; 
 
 (a) Biblical, theological and philosophical. 
 
 (b) History, literature and religions of the 
 field. 
 
 (c) Recent developments in thought or tech¬ 
 nique in the missionary’s own profession; 
 e. g., medicine, education. 
 
 (d) Social subjects bearing on present-day 
 movements. 
 
 (e) Subjects omitted from the missionary’s 
 early education, need of which was discovered 
 in service. 
 
 (f) Special preparation for new lines of 
 work (e. g., for Moslems in India, China). 
 
 (g) Survey courses for intellectual and spir¬ 
 itual stimulus. 
 
 Medical missionaries generally give 
 first place to (c). Evangelistic mission¬ 
 aries emphasize (a), with particular ref¬ 
 erence to Biblical study. Almost every 
 one of the classes of subjects named Fas 
 its strong advocates. Two generaliza¬ 
 tions, however, may be made. The first 
 is that a very real and earnest plea is 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 made for a more satisfying study of the 
 Bible. What seems to be desired is a 
 study of the Bible which will unfold its 
 spiritual teaching and dynamic. The 
 other generalization is that the replies 
 reveal to a considerable degree some sus¬ 
 picion and doubt as to the character and 
 value of some of the lines of study which 
 are proposed and which were endorsed 
 at Edinburgh, but whose comparative 
 novelty is still a hindrance to their ac¬ 
 ceptance in many quarters. There is 
 need, if these studies are to be very 
 widely taken up, that missionaries be 
 made acquainted with their spiritual 
 dynamic and their missionary value. 
 Much has been done in this direction, but 
 much yet remains to be done. 
 
 It is generally agreed that the first 
 two furlough periods afford the best op¬ 
 portunities for special study and that 
 after the second furlough it may not be 
 easy to set the missionary free for 
 study, as he will become preoccupied 
 with the work of cultivating the home 
 Church by missionary messages based on 
 his years of experience on the foreign 
 field. 
 
 2G 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 To the question, Is the return home on 
 furlough spiritually uplifting? the great 
 majority of answers are in the affirma¬ 
 tive. There were some who doubt it; 
 the tremendous tides of worldliness and 
 materialism in Christian America seem 
 to such altogether appalling. Where 
 coldness is found in the Church itself, it 
 is to the missionary more discouraging 
 than heathenism on the foreign field. 
 Some feel that physical exhaustion is to 
 a great extent the chief hindrance to spir¬ 
 itual development during the furlough 
 period. The testimony, however, to the 
 spiritual helpfulness of the furlough 
 period is both abundant and very strong. 
 
 When pressed to define more particu¬ 
 larly what phases or features of the fur¬ 
 lough period have proved most helpful 
 spiritually, our correspondents have un¬ 
 covered many most interesting and sug¬ 
 gestive lines of spiritual quickening. 
 Many speak of the stimulating value 
 of campaign work in which they 
 have participated, testifying to the pow¬ 
 er and grace of God in their own fields: 
 many make the spiritual value of a fur¬ 
 lough period to depend almost entirely 
 upon the maintenance by the missionary 
 on furlough of those personal Bible 
 
 27 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 Study and prayer habits that lie back 
 of spiritual development everywhere; 
 this is significant and suggestive. Men¬ 
 tion is also made of personal fellowship 
 with devout men and women while visit¬ 
 ing congregations, Christian fellowship 
 with godly relatives and friends, the op¬ 
 portunity for leisure and meditation, as¬ 
 sociation with those engaged in evangel¬ 
 istic work, coming into touch with Board 
 leaders, attending conventions, congre¬ 
 gational life under live pastors, the en¬ 
 joyment of worship in a well-appointed 
 church, acquaintance with the intellect¬ 
 ual development of leaders in Christian 
 thought, the enjoyment of a Christian 
 social environment, fresh views gained 
 of one’s own work, meeting young life 
 and noting its missionary interest, at¬ 
 tending great conventions, meeting those 
 who are supporting the missionary, 
 preaching sermons other than mission¬ 
 ary, sharing in evangelistic effort, stimu¬ 
 lating letters, books of a deeply spiritual 
 character—at these and similar foun¬ 
 tains have missionaries on furlough 
 slaked their spiritual thirst. 
 
 Could the opportunities for such spir¬ 
 itual experiences be increased? One 
 missionary wishes that there might be 
 developed some great missionary and 
 
 2S 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 spiritual rallying center for America, as 
 Keswick is for so large a constituency in 
 Great Britain. A most valuable sugges¬ 
 tion is that there should be appointed a 
 secretary on furloughed missionaries 
 whose duty would be to advise and fol¬ 
 low up all missionaries on furlough and 
 take the initiative in bringing them into 
 touch with the most helpful movements 
 ministering to spiritual development. 
 Frequently the cost of travel prevents 
 missionaries from enjoying the privileges 
 of many helpful gatherings which might 
 send them back to their fields of labor 
 with entirely dififerent conceptions of 
 the home Church and an entirely dififer¬ 
 ent spirit of hopefulness and faith. 
 
 Many centers are mentioned where 
 spiritual quickening was received, 
 among them Student Volunteer Conven¬ 
 tions (these receive repeated mention), 
 general missionary rallies, the meetings 
 of the highest courts of one’s own de- . 
 nomination, Northfield, Silver Bay, Clif¬ 
 ton Springs, Student Young Men’s 
 Christian Association and Student 
 Young Women’s Christian Association 
 Conferences, Laymen’s Missionary 
 Movement Conferences, Moody Bible 
 Institute, Nashville Christian Workers’ 
 Conferences, Christian Endeavor Con- 
 
 29 
 
KTRLOtTCttS OF MISSTONARIF.S 
 
 ventions, State Sunday School Conven¬ 
 tions, Montreat, Lake Geneva, Hartford 
 Seminary, Winona, Ocean Grove, Nor¬ 
 wood College, Bible Teachers’ Training 
 School. 
 
 While few would divorce the intellect¬ 
 ual development from the spiritual, yet 
 many recognize that the spiritual may 
 require an emphasis and an environment 
 of its own, other than that of the period 
 of study, when academic or professional 
 study may be having almost exclusive 
 consideration. It seems, therefore, that 
 the spiritual development of the mission¬ 
 ary calls for very definite planning and 
 for such provision for contact with spir¬ 
 itual movements in the Church in Amer¬ 
 ica as may be possible. 
 
 CULTIVATION OF HOME CHURCH 
 
 The replies show that, next to physical 
 recuperation, the cultivation of the home 
 Church has seemed to the missionary to 
 be the chief function of the furlough 
 period. It is really remarkable how 
 much time is actually given to this work 
 by missionaries; and more remarkable 
 still is the generous allowance of time 
 which missionaries designate in their 
 replies as a proper assignment to such 
 
 30 
 
r-TTRLOUGITS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 work. While the majority would assign 
 about one-third of the furlough to such 
 work, many would assign one-half; 
 while one declares two-thirds of the time 
 none too much and another urges at least 
 three-fourths. One missionary states 
 that on his first furlough he spoke 200 
 times, on his second 230 times. 
 
 A discriminating distinction, however, 
 is drawn by several between a larger use 
 of the missionary in the work of culti¬ 
 vating the home Church and a more and 
 intelligent and effective use of him. The 
 suggestion ought to be heeded, for there 
 are evidences of wasted energy in this 
 work and the difficulties are so numer¬ 
 ous and entangling that only a very sys¬ 
 tematic and careful handling of them can 
 solve the problem. 
 
 Almost every correspondent is of the 
 opinion that the work ought to be 
 planned and operated from the head¬ 
 quarters of the Board. A sort of “Mis¬ 
 sionary Speakers’ Supply Bureau” would 
 need to be established. The missionary's 
 speaking gifts should be carefully noted. 
 Some should not speak at all, for health 
 or other reasons. Some would only be 
 acceptable and would be most acceptable 
 in parlor meetings and with small groups. 
 Some would fit into country churches 
 
 31 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 best; others into city churches. Infinite 
 tact would need to be exercised by the 
 Board’s representative; infinite trust by 
 the missionary. The Board would plan 
 for individual congregational appoint¬ 
 ments and also for continuous cam¬ 
 paigns. Some could write who could not 
 speak. Some would give direct ad¬ 
 dresses; others might more effiectively 
 use the stereopticon lecture method. 
 
 If this work is to be systematized by 
 the Boards after some such fashion, then 
 it would be possible to go farther and 
 give suggestions, if not training, to pros¬ 
 pective speakers. Leaflets or booklets of 
 suggestions (“Do and Don’t”) would 
 need to be prepared. At present only 
 two are in evidence: Dr. A. J. Brown’s 
 “The Foreign Missionary” and a leaflet 
 by Rev. W. B. Anderson. A correspon¬ 
 dent urges a “setting-up” conference 
 with prospective missionary speakers, at 
 which coaching on methods could be 
 given; another testifies to the practical 
 value along these lines of a lecture by 
 Prof. St. John of Hartford on “Stories 
 and Story Telling.” 
 
 It would also be necessary to work out 
 just, practicable and acceptable plans for 
 meeting the expenses connected with this 
 work of visiting the churches. The feel- 
 
 32 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 ing is strongly expressed that, the mis¬ 
 sionary being on furlough salary, the 
 Board should take care of all special ex¬ 
 penses incurred in this way. This would 
 include railroad expenses, entertainment, 
 and perhaps an estimated allowance for 
 incidentals and clothing where the work 
 calls for expenditures along these lines 
 that are out of the ordinary. Naturally, 
 any collections donated would likewise 
 go to the Board. Only in rare cases 
 do missionaries endorse speaking in be¬ 
 half of specials. The opinion is repeat¬ 
 edly expressed that loyalty to the work 
 as a whole is the duty of every Board 
 representative, unless his Board definite¬ 
 ly assigns him the task of pleading for 
 some special. It is also recognized that 
 this is not at all in conflict with each 
 missionary speaking for the most part 
 concerning his own field or work. 
 
 Some very helpful suggestions come 
 to light as to the particular aims which 
 the missionary speaker should have be¬ 
 fore him in this work. Among them are 
 these: “witness to the dynamic power of 
 the Gospel to save nations, but most par¬ 
 ticularly individuals,” present needs, ac¬ 
 quainting the Church with the difficulties, 
 appealing for volunteers, appealing for 
 the consecration of wealth, telling of his 
 
 33 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 own field, lifting the home Church mem¬ 
 bership to a wider horizon, living the 
 Life before all. 
 
 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 
 
 In addition to the opinions expressed 
 in the foregoing sections certain more 
 general suggestions require to be record¬ 
 ed ; 
 
 (i) Do we not need to work out a 
 clearer and truer conception of the pur¬ 
 poses of the missionary furlough? If 
 one may judge from the replies received 
 from our correspondents the different 
 ends which a furlough serve are in the 
 order of their importance as follows, ac¬ 
 cording to existing conditions: (a) 
 
 Health, (b) Social purposes, meeting 
 friends and relatives, (c) Cultivation of 
 home Church, (d) Spiritual stimulus and 
 (c) Study. In the judgment of the Com¬ 
 mittee the proper order should be, con¬ 
 sidering present day missionary condi¬ 
 tions: (a) Health, (b) Study, (c) Spir¬ 
 itual stimulus, (d) Social purposes and 
 (e) Cultivation of the home Church. 
 
 However, there may be objection to 
 any comparison of aims and purposes 
 and it may be better to submit the follow¬ 
 ing comprehensive scheme setting forth 
 the ends to be served by a furlough: 
 
 34 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 (a) As regards the missionary’s own life 
 and that of his family, the furlough is supposed 
 to minister to physical repair, to spiritual up¬ 
 building, to intellectual stimulus and develop¬ 
 ment, to the renewal of social life and relation¬ 
 ships, to professional training and graduate 
 work, and, finally, to the gaining of those new 
 intellectual and spiritual viewpoints which go 
 far toward making over all of one’s life and 
 one’s lifework. 
 
 (b) As regards the missionarv’s Board, 
 through his furlough the missionary is given an 
 opportunity to bring to his Board and its offi¬ 
 cers first-hand information and, when de¬ 
 sired, advice, and to counsel with them for the 
 solution of special problems involving the dis¬ 
 covery of men, money or methods commensu¬ 
 rate with the needs. 
 
 (c) As regards the missionary’s Church, the 
 furlough period makes possible the cultivation 
 of the general missionary interest of the 
 Church, and the deepening of the Church’s 
 interest in the missionary’s own field and 
 work in particular, through public addresses, 
 private interviews, printed articles, co-opera¬ 
 tion in campaigns and conventions. 
 
 (d) As regards the missionary’s Mission, 
 the furlough period should set the missionary 
 free from the engrossing claims of his own sta¬ 
 tion or department and enable him to view the 
 work of his Mission as a whole: it should add 
 the corrective of the viewpoint of the home 
 constituency and contribute helpful criticism 
 through comparison of methods with workers 
 from other Missions: it should afford an op¬ 
 portunity for building up at the home base a 
 constituency having a special interest in that 
 particular Mission and ministering to it 
 
 35 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 throughout succeeding years, sympathy, prayer, 
 money and life. 
 
 {e) As regards the missionary’s wider or 
 more general interests, the furlough period af¬ 
 fords opportunity for co-operating with pres¬ 
 ent-day movements in the home land, such as 
 the national and interdenominational mission¬ 
 ary movements, social movements, etc.; it may 
 aflford opportunity for vitally moulding public 
 opinion in America and influencing popular 
 feeling toward foreign nations, and perchance, 
 even for useful and important service to gov¬ 
 ernment officials who desire information as to 
 political, economic or commercial conditions in 
 foreign lands. 
 
 It is not to be expected that any one 
 missionary during any single furlough 
 can render vital service along all or 
 even many of these lines, for “there are 
 diversities of gifts” and “diversities of 
 ministrations,” but through the most ef¬ 
 fective use of the furlough periods on 
 the part of all contributions of incalcula¬ 
 ble value to the Kingdom of God will be 
 made. 
 
 There is particular need that higher 
 ideals be cultivated with reference to 
 study and intellectual development as a 
 furlough objective. Steps should he ta¬ 
 ken to advertise more widely in mission¬ 
 ary circles the high standards of mis¬ 
 sionary preparation endorsed by the 
 Edinburgh Conference, and then to show 
 that really vital work may be done dur- 
 
 36 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 ing the furlough period, short as it is. A 
 booklet of testimonies from those who 
 have done such work might be exceeding¬ 
 ly effective. 
 
 (2j Should not Boards institute ‘Alis- 
 sionary Furlough Departments,” assign¬ 
 ing the work connected with this depart¬ 
 ment to special committees and to a spe¬ 
 cial secretary, whether the latter give his 
 whole time to it or not? 
 
 It seems preferable to suggest the es¬ 
 tablishment of such “departments” rath¬ 
 er than the enacting of innumerable rules 
 and regulations, which will be inapplica¬ 
 ble or irritating. Furthermore, the situ¬ 
 ation requires, throughout, the personal 
 touch. Innumerable personal considera¬ 
 tions must be weighed and sympathetic 
 personal interviews are needed to clear 
 away the difficulties of the individual 
 missionary and set him forward on his 
 way to the most effective use of his fur¬ 
 lough. 
 
 (3) May not some financial provision 
 be made by Boards to insure the highest 
 returns? In many instances the finan¬ 
 cial arrangements just fall short of what 
 is required to make the furlough an ef¬ 
 fective measure. Some financial pro¬ 
 vision is needed by the great majority of 
 missionaries not to induce them, but to 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 make it at all possible for them, to avail 
 themselves of the opportunities for study 
 that are to be found in existing American 
 institutions. If the furlough salary itself 
 is too low and tends to bury in some out- 
 of-the-way place a missionary who ought 
 to be either studying or touching the 
 home Church, the evil may require for 
 its correction what many Boards have 
 recently been undertaking, a general ad¬ 
 vance in the furlough allowance, even be¬ 
 fore special allowances are made for 
 study. 
 
 (4) A measure of educational equip¬ 
 ment remains to be provided to meet the 
 rather special and peculiar requirements 
 of study by missionaries on furlough. 
 Short yet complete schedules are needed 
 to fit the limited time at the missionary’s 
 disposal. It would seem more impor¬ 
 tant to have regard, not to denomination¬ 
 al distinctions, but to geographical dis¬ 
 tribution, in seeking to establish such 
 study centers for missionaries on fur¬ 
 lough. 
 
 .38 
 
FURLOUGHS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 In conclusion we call attention again 
 to the opening paragraphs of this report, 
 in which emphasis was laid on the enor¬ 
 mous money and life values which are 
 at stake: an annual investment of 1,429 
 years of American missionary life and 
 an annual investment of $572,000 of 
 American missionary money. Waste here 
 becomes multiplied to an appalling ex¬ 
 tent. Efficiency here means, under the 
 blessing of God, a maximum of power 
 whose possibilities stir the imagination. 
 
 It is recognized that the conditions 
 which govern the furlough period of the 
 missionary are not ideal. It is to be 
 hoped that as the thought of the Church 
 and its leaders becomes focused upon 
 existing limitations, much will be done 
 to remove them. Meanwhile it will be 
 the part of wisdom for missionaries and 
 Boards alike to exercise that resource¬ 
 fulness which will triumph over limita¬ 
 tions and make this furlough period to 
 yield the most that is possible for the 
 increase of efficiency in this great enter¬ 
 prise of carrying the gospel to all the 
 world. 
 
 39 
 
- 
 
 
 •t 
 
Publications 
 
 Q -ff the ■■ 
 
 Board of Missionary Preparation 
 
 for Report ot the Second Annual 
 Meeting (jDec. 1912) 
 Containing the reports cm“Fun- 
 4amerital Qualifications for Mis- 
 sionary Work” and on the "“Facil¬ 
 ities for'Training Missionary Can- 
 ; dida?^^^ ^ 
 
 Report of tbe Third Annnal 
 ; ^ ^Meetii^ (dan. 1914) 
 
 ^ This ^Report is rich in suggestions 
 a^ to the special training which 
 evahgejistic, educational and med- 
 ichi missionaries should seek. It 
 also contains an invaluable list of 
 different;:institutions which offer 
 special; courses along these lines, 
 and suggests valuable courses of 
 reading for candidates. 
 
 Report the Fourth Annual 
 Meeting (Dec. 1914) 
 Containing reports on Prepara¬ 
 tion for different Fields, such as 
 China, India^ the Near East, Latin 
 Aifferica, Japan and Africa; also 
 ^e proceedings of two important 
 Conferences. 
 
 of each report, twenty-five cents, 
 postpaid. 
 
 ^ ^ Address 
 11^; The 3Qard of Missionary Preparation, 
 : .. Madison Avenue, 
 ':-:.New'-ydrk City ;