D a A ' 
 
 /S33 
 
 Cv 
 
 
 u-/ 
 
 I f 
 
 [.) I Id \ 
 
 INCIDENT 
 
 AND 
 
 STORY 
 
 FROM FAR AND NEAR 
 
 Series II 
 
 THE WOMEN’S MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA 
 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 “Incident and Story” again greets you, this 
 time without fear, because of your kindly wel¬ 
 come. Its khaki cover has, as you see, given 
 place to one of pure white—a war measure, 
 but that in no way detracts from the wonder¬ 
 ful story its pages contain. May it be to all 
 who read it, a stimulus and an inspiration. 
 
 MAMIE C. G. FRASER, 
 
 Editorial Secretary. 
 
 Toronto, September, 1918. 
 
OUR FIELDS 
 
 AT HOME AND ABROAD 
 
 ®ffp HJimatnj of a SparottFsa 
 
 J T is scarcely more than a decade since the Order of Deaconess was 
 established in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. At the time 
 of writing, about forty young women, graduates of the Training 
 Home at 60 Grosvenor St., Toronto, are working throughout our land. 
 For several years the W.M.S. has employed ten or twelve of these 
 deaconesses. They are working at points all the way from Montreal 
 to the Rocky Mountains. There are few lines in life that afford more 
 variety for the worker, and perhaps few that give more real satisfaction. 
 
 The following are some of the experiences of the deaconess 
 gleaned from her summary of the year’s work: 
 
 In a humble home where circumstances do not permit the services 
 of a trained nurse the deaconess enters and relieves the weary mother; 
 the little one is tenderly cared for and health returns. In another home 
 a child has epilepsy. The deaconess spends a night with her when she 
 is very ill, and another worn out mother is relieved. Thus hearts are 
 touched by the kindly ministrations of the gentle lady who represents 
 her Master in doing good. 
 
4 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 A terrible explosion occurs in a mining town and many lives are 
 lost. There are mourning hearts to be comforted and again the 
 deaconess is at her post. One home especially impresses her. The 
 husband went out the morning of the explosion, leaving his wife and 
 five children to await his return in vain. They are comforted by the 
 recollection of the verses of scripture the husband and father read to 
 them the morning he bade them good-bye. The deaconess thus re¬ 
 ceives inspiration in her effort to comfort the widow and the fatner- 
 less. On another occasion this gentle worker has been asked to keep 
 in close touch with the police at a time when law enforcement was 
 weak and, through the ministerial association, reforms were set on 
 foot ahd she had to stand on guard ready for any call. She enlists the 
 assistance of young girls in making the meetings for mothers helpful 
 and attractive, thus giving to these burdened women a bright and cheery 
 
 afternoon. .... 
 
 Just before Christmas the deaconess heard of a family almost 
 destitute. There were 7 children all under 13 years of age. The 
 house was without fuel and the cupboard empty. The father had 
 been working in another town and was taken ill and had to be removed 
 to the hospital. His illness lasted for many weeks, consequently he 
 was unable to send money to provide for his family. How it pleased 
 the deaconess to be able to supply them with clothing and also to 
 send a cheque for groceries. Christmas would have been a sad and 
 dreary day had not a kind friend reported their condition. The 
 deaconess has been cheered by learning that girls she has assisted are 
 eager to assist others. On one occasion she had the privilege of 
 helping a wayward girl when she was in distress. Later on the girl 
 married and when the deaconess again came in contact with her she 
 was in a home of her own, caring for two little children, whose mother 
 had been sent to the asylum, leaving the little ones without any 
 provision. 
 
 During these dark war days much time is spent by the deaconess 
 visiting the homes of soldiers’ wives and soldiers’ widows and mothers. 
 Many of the wives have young children and seldom get to church. 
 The deaconess deems it a privilege to cheer and comfort these lonely 
 and ofttimes suffering souls. 
 
 The deaconess at work among our new Canadians has experiences 
 of a unique character. Sometimes she meets with encouragement and 
 sometimes with real problems. In their own land the manners and 
 customs of these people were so unlike ours that it is not easy to un¬ 
 derstand them, and, on the other hand, it is difficult for them to grasp 
 our meaning. Occasionally, the deaconess thinks she is making pro¬ 
 gress when, to her disappointment, her structure seems to totter, but 
 she perseveres knowing that no reformer ever lifted people to a higher 
 plane without unwearied patience and years of toil. As she faces 
 service in this spirit she ever and anon receives inspiration from her 
 Master’s assurance, “Be not weary in well doing, for in due season 
 ye shall reap if ye faint not.’’ 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 5 
 
 (&ab’a Aurirnt 
 People ilarael 
 
 Part of the Picnic. 
 
 E are living in a wonderful 
 age—an age when prophecy 
 is being fulfilled, for there 
 never was a time when the seed of 
 the Gospel could be sown broad¬ 
 cast among the Jews as to-day. 
 
 The Spirit of God is working 
 mightily in their hearts, for since 
 the capture of Jerusalem many are 
 taking more seriously the coming 
 of the Messiah and are anxious to 
 listen to what the Bible says con¬ 
 cerning Him. 
 
 To quote from some of the re¬ 
 ports of workers among God’s 
 ancient people: “There are many opportunities for doing good. In 
 one home found a very sick woman all alone—quickly got her to bed, 
 and before leaving saw that she was very much better. In another 
 home found a mother in great sorrow because her little boy had died; 
 stayed with her for a while and told her of Christ, our great Burden- 
 Bearer, and left her feeling much comforted. 
 
 “There is a certain shoe maker who mends my shoes. One day 
 while waiting for him to put rubber heels on my shoes I told him the 
 Gospel message. At first he was very indifferent concerning the things 
 of the Bible, but now he is always wanting me to tell him more. A 
 
 number are attending the English classes. This is an excellent way 
 
 to reach them, and we have them do some reading from the Bible. 
 I had one young Jew take for his reading the 53rd chapter of Isaiah 
 and, when line after line had been explained I asked him, ‘Of whom 
 does this prophet speak?’ He could not deny the truth, but just looked 
 at me in amazement. In the dispensary one afternoon, a Jewish woman, 
 while waiting for the doctor, asked me to show her the passage in 
 the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. I did so and had her 
 read it for herself. She then asked, ‘Is it the same in the Hebrew 
 
 Bible?’ A Hebrew Bible was brought and she was soon convinced. 
 
 “One day while visiting a patient in her home she said, ‘That 
 gargle you made for me did me so much good that I gave what was 
 left to a neighbor who had a sore throat. She wanted to know where 
 I got it, and when I told her she did not think it a good place to go.’ 
 The patient advised her to go to the dispensary and see for herself, 
 and told her she had learned to love Jesus since going there. In this 
 case the seed fell on good ground. 
 
 “In visiting the homes we find more of a welcome in some than 
 others, but are rarely refused admittance. Where there is sickness 
 we do what we can for them or tell them what to do and how to do it. 
 It may be only to take a temperature, swab a throat or give a hypo¬ 
 dermic or do a dressing. All these things go to lay the foundation for 
 personal work. 
 
 “The Gospel has proved and is proving effective in the Jewish 
 homes we visit; with the people whom we converse with on the 
 
6 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 street; with the dear little boys and girls who attend our classes; 
 with the men and women who come to our various gatherings and, 
 especially, with the sick and poor who attend our medical dispensary. 
 Week by week we hear from the lips of men and women, confessions 
 of their love for the Lord Jesus. There are indeed many hearts pre¬ 
 pared for spiritual guidance at this time among the Jews. 
 
 “Most of the families have been greatly troubled concerning rela¬ 
 tives and friends who are still in Russia, Roumania, and Poland. It 
 is a sad fact that the spiritual leaders of these people have absolutely 
 no message for their suffering flocks in these days of trial and tribula¬ 
 tion. The lack of interest in their people affords us an opportunity to 
 give them the comfort of the Gospel message, which has the same 
 power as of old. 
 
 “The hope of our work lies in the Jewish children. The work 
 amongst them is very important, not only to the children themselves, 
 but as a means of reaching the parents. They are so eager and earnest 
 and it is so pathetic to hear the little tots of 5 and 6 years old asking 
 God to care for their brothers and friends who are away fighting our 
 battles. The children say with such assurance, ‘My brother cannot 
 be killed for I have asked Jesus to take care of him.’ 
 
 “The children in each of our Jewish missions took great interest 
 in the preparations for the Christmas entertainment. It is a glorious 
 season for those who believe, but how sad for the Jew who has no 
 love for an infant Saviour.” 
 
 May the time soon come when Jesus, their Messiah, shall appear 
 and they shall look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 7 
 
 lowing tljp j 
 in 
 
 QPupfapr 
 Prmnttrp ! 
 
 77 THE year 1917 was 
 1 ^1 one in which the 
 problem of the 
 French-Canadian was 
 much in the thoughts 
 of the whole Domin¬ 
 ion. For years the 
 education of the chil¬ 
 dren has been neglect¬ 
 ed and, as a result, 
 an ignorant, narrow 
 people has grown up. 
 Now, both Government 
 and Church are waking 
 to the fact that some¬ 
 thing must be done. 
 The W.M.S. felt that 
 not only should the 
 children receive a secu¬ 
 lar education, but that 
 they should be given 
 the true Gospel. To 
 this end mission 
 schools and school 
 
 homes have been established. 
 
 Namur, our first venture in 1914, has increased so that we are 
 hoping soon to have two teachers there. Mrs. Bourgoin, the matron 
 of the home, is teaching the 15 boys and girls under her care to be 
 helpful about the house. The missionary, Rev. Mr. Lapointe, gives 
 religious instruction, and Mrs. Lapointe teaches the day school, where 
 36 children are taught French and English. 
 
 The home and school at St. Philippe de Chester has only been 
 open for a few months. This is our most difficult field, partly on 
 account of its isolation and partly because the Roman Catholic ele¬ 
 ment is so strong, but surely, on that account we ought to keep our 
 light burning. The Superintendent, Mr. Tanner, hopes to be able to 
 make some new arrangement whereby we may open the school again 
 in the autumn. 
 
 Tourville, county of ITslet, has grown wonderfully and much 
 credit is due to the faithful work of the missionary. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Chodat give up their home and live in Tourville for the winter. Mrs. 
 Chodat keeps the house and Mr. Chodat teaches school every day, 
 has Wednesday evening services and Sunday services in the school 
 room. He is a true missionary and feels that the only hope for the 
 province is in the children. The first house very soon became too 
 
8 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 small; we were in despair, for there was not another to be had, the 
 Roman Catholics not being allowed to rent us a house, and no money 
 to buy, but God opened up a way. A friend in Ottawa bought some 
 land with a good sized house on it. This house he gave us the use 
 of on condition that we keep it in repair. Mr. Chodat does not be¬ 
 lieve in a church that does nothing for its own upkeep, so he got the 
 people to work and soon the house was ready for occupation. There 
 are now 21 happy children as busy as can be in their new quarters. 
 Mr. Chodat writes, “I am catechising 5 children, 3 girls and 2 boys, 
 who will take the Lord’s supper for the first time. The Young 
 Women’s Missionary Society of St. Andrew’s Church, Westmount, 
 provided a Christmas tree for the children of Tourville. This was a 
 great pleasure, as very few of them had ever seen a ‘tree’ before. 
 This same society provided a baby outfit for little Andrew, who ar¬ 
 rived on the 3rd of January.” 
 
 Hull .—A new school building was erected by the people of 
 Ottawa in which school opened in September. Miss Cruchet, our 
 faithful teacher, continued until December, having 35 scholars and 
 teaching both French and English. Her health gave way under the 
 strain and she was compelled to take a rest. The W.M.S. provided 
 a second teacher and now Miss Cruchet, who has resumed work, has 
 more time to visit the homes of the pupils. Many of them are Roman 
 Catholics, but, Miss Cruchet writes, they gladly receive her and listen 
 to her message. 
 
 Pointe-aux-Trembles .—The principal reports that “Since last fall 
 we have had two hundred and seventy pupils in attendance, of which 
 one hundred and five are girls and one hundred and sixty-five boys. 
 Over one hundred are Roman Catholics. They come from all parts 
 of the Province of Quebec.” The W.M.S. partially supports 24 of 
 these puipls, and has offered two bursaries of $150.00 each to any 
 girl who desires to become a teacher. The principal has sent a report 
 of each of our pupils. Of Alice Laurin, he writes: “She spends her 
 summer working on a farm and is contributing for her expenses. This 
 is her last year with us as she is trying for her matriculation ex¬ 
 aminations this spring. She has been studying hard and her conduct 
 is excellent.” 
 
 Another pupil, Oswald Berthiaume: “This boy has been with us 
 for several years and has always been a good pupil. He is now in 
 last grade for all subjects. He worked in a shop during the summer 
 and will contribute for his expenses. I know he is grateful for all 
 you have done for him by the good spirit he shows in his work.” Some¬ 
 times the pupils we support are not allowed to return for a second 
 term. Such a one is Alerandre Schmittes. The principal writes: “He 
 did not return through the influence of the priest, but I am pleased to 
 know that the good knowledge he took away from our school cannot 
 be taken away from him, and I trust he will not forget it in life.” 
 
 Pray that the good seed sown in this small way may grow and 
 influence many amongst this happy, thrifty but ignorant people. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 9 
 
 Witlj tlje (Ctjiupsf tit (Camilla 
 
 0 OEONTO.—Our work here is chiefly among the women and chil¬ 
 dren. There are 40 Chinese women in Toronto and the outskirts. 
 A mother’s class is held at Knox Church every Sunday, which is 
 doing splendid work. Some of the women have voluntarily asked to 
 join the church. Their meetings must be attractive to judge by interest 
 shown and attention given, as that was the only w*ay for an onlooker 
 to judge, not knowing the language. Their hymns, prayers and lessons 
 for the day were in Chinese, the latter taken by Mrs. Ma Wou, our 
 missionary s wife, who is a very real centre of life in the community 
 here. 
 
 There were some wee tots who had to come with their mothers, 
 and I would like to tell how exceedingly well behaved they were; in 
 fact I think they could set a good example to some of our Canadian 
 children. There are over seventy-five Chinese children in Toronto, 
 and a large primary class is held for them in Cooke’s Church. There 
 are also several families outside of Toronto, in Welland, Brantford 
 and Hamilton. These have all been visited by our worker, Mrs. Mac¬ 
 Millan. 
 
 Victoria.—Miss Cronkhite .—There are ten Christian families con¬ 
 nected with our mission and 20 children on our cradle roll, with four 
 more to be added, in all 24 from Christian homes. In the primary 
 class there are twenty, and an average attendance of fourteen. At 
 present in the kindergarten we have nineteen, and usually fifteen or six¬ 
 teen out. Invariably the absence is due to sickness or an unusual 
 downpour. I must say the children come when I would deem it advis¬ 
 able to stay at home. 
 
 I should like to tell you among the Chinese there are “tongs,” and 
 this does not make work easy; for instance, one little girl comes to 
 school from a home which is desolate. Apart from three little girls, 
 the children are not nice to her; in games they do not want to choose 
 her; in line they do not want to walk with her. Speaking of incidents 
 
10 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 and difficulties, one day she would not obey and I made her sit on a 
 chair, “the only punishment I ever inflict, and then only when abso¬ 
 lutely necessary. She cried, not from grief, but temper, which finally 
 resulted in a perfect storm. When it was time to go home she would 
 not go. I could not leave her. What was I to do? I led her 'some, 
 carried her part way, finally sent for the missionary, who carried and 
 led her the balance of the way, crying all the way and sometimes kick¬ 
 ing, just in passion. Next day she would not come, nor for several 
 days. Now she is one of my most obedient children. At Easter she 
 gave me a pretty card. I appreciated it very much and hope the 
 Easter message may enter the home.” Later on, Miss Cronkhite writes, 
 “The little girl that I had to carry nearly all the way home is now 
 becoming a model and the other children are playing nicely with her. 
 When the lilacs were in bloom her mother sent a branch. We hope 
 that they may learn that our poor attempts at kindness are only a 
 small echo of the great love of ‘the Father of all.’ ” 
 
 One little boy was naughty last week. I gave him a table to 
 himself. He would not give in. I made visits to him frequently, ask¬ 
 ing him if he would be good. Finally he got down off his chair, came 
 over and picked up some sticks and handed them to me. The rest of 
 the day he was giving me things. Mr. Hall gave him a good talk on 
 wanting people to love him and said I couldn’t love him if he was 
 naughty. The sequel came when he came up to me and asked me to kiss 
 him. What was I to do? A small boy of seven years, perhaps trying 
 to prove that I loved him. There was only one thing to do, and I 
 did it. 
 
 Our mothers’ meetings are well attended, considering they have to 
 bring their children with them. We have only one woman attending 
 who is not a Christian. At our meetings we have a lesson in English. 
 Some are learning to write, and some want to study music when our 
 parlor is finished. 
 
 They love to sing in English and are learning “What a friend we 
 have in Jesus” and “Jesus loves me,” and I am also teaching them the 
 Lord’s Prayer in English; they know it in Chinese. 
 
 My babies know and can sing all of “Jesus loves me” and two 
 verses of “Jesus bids me shine.” They sing very well, too. 
 
 Our Sunday morning service is almost for women and children. 
 I go and play for them. In the evening the service is principally at¬ 
 tended by the men, as the women cannot get out with their families. 
 
 On my rounds at Easter I gave the children candy, eggs and downy 
 chickens, and the mothers, cards. One mother looked at me as though 
 she wondered why a white woman should come to her. She is one 
 whom no one visits. I want to go again and take the children some 
 lesson cards. They may not understand English, but they can under¬ 
 stand kindness. 
 
 Vancouver .—Part of the year we were without a worker in this 
 section and were fortunate in obtaining Mrs. McKay for a short time, 
 whose knowledge of the language was especially valuable. 
 
 She says: “It is indeed the work which I have been associated 
 with in South China. I realize it every day, as I hear the familiar 
 dialects and names; as I meet men whose families are now in the towns 
 and villages where our mission works; when I am called to the tele¬ 
 phone by men who have sat in my house in China, I wonder if I have 
 been put here to help the w r orkers on both sides to help each other 
 more than they have ever done.” 
 
 There is the primary work in the Sunday School, which is very 
 encouraging; it has been for some time in the care of Miss Ester Tang, 
 a Chinese girl who has a great influence with the children. A man said 
 the other day, when I was talking to him and his wife about being 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 ii 
 
 Christians, “Oh, I don’t know whether we will ever be, but perhaps 
 my children may, for I am letting them attend the Sunday School.” 
 
 The Chinese children are kept very busy. They nearly all attend 
 the Chinese school as well as the English school, and their only free 
 time is Saturday afternoon, and we have them that afternoon for sew¬ 
 ing and English. I wonder how “our little Canadian children” would 
 like “so much school.” 
 
 The women’s work is just at the seed time, and here they can only 
 be reached by visiting them in their homes, and it is almost necessary 
 to speak their language. 
 
 One day as I passed a shop I thought I saw a Chinese woman, 
 and on the way back saw a sign in the window, “Tailor for Ladies and 
 Gents,” so I went in and asked about a suit, and then I spoke in 
 Chinese, and as the little children came around I asked about their 
 mother and soon I was taken into the back room, as dark as a living 
 room in China. The young mother, though she spoke a country dialect, 
 and did not understand me thoroughly, nor I her, was very much pleased 
 to see me. She seldom sees a Chinese woman, as she lives a long way 
 out and cannot go in easily with her four children. I have gone to see 
 her several times since, and always feel welcome. She has been willing * 
 to learn a little of the Christian primer. 
 
 Another day I was walking along the street and wondering where 
 in the high crowded shops there might be a woman, when I saw a man 
 standing at a door with a baby in his arms and an older child at his 
 side. It was not hard to get speaking to him, and I was asked in to 
 see the mother. Imagine to my surprise to find her shaving a man. 
 
 I wanted to run out, but sat where I was asked to. The woman at 
 first showed little interest, but after a while, when she realized she 
 could talk to the white woman, her face brightened up wonderfully. 
 
 I found she could knit, but did not know how to make stockings for 
 her baby. I offered to teach her, and here again was a chance. I have 
 visited her several times since. 
 
 Last week I v/ent to see a woman whose husband died not long 
 ago. She is going back to China. I am giving her a letter to our 
 ladies, as she will be going right past our home. Is it not wonderful 
 how the work here connects with the work in China? 
 
12 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 A little one shall lead them. 
 
 UR Educational 
 Work in the 
 West has almost 
 limitless possibilities 
 as far as the extension 
 of the work and its far 
 reachingness is con¬ 
 cerned. The only 
 limit is money, to take 
 advantage of the many 
 openings. 
 
 As the need of 
 school homes in one 
 place after another is 
 presented, all urgent, 
 and as the estimate set 
 aside for this work is 
 recalled, one is com¬ 
 pelled to say, “What 
 are these among so 
 man}'?” 
 
 The long-felt need 
 of a home for girls at 
 Teulon, Man., is being 
 met, and it is hoped to 
 have the home com¬ 
 pleted in time for the 
 school term next fall. 
 
 But other calls for homes have so far gone unanswered. Saskatchewan 
 is calling loudly. Canora should have one, must have one. A legacy 
 of $6,000 has been given to establish a home for girls there, but 
 the W.M.S. must supply its upkeep. The establishment of this home 
 at Canora would round out the work of the W.M.S. at ‘that point. 
 Homes are also needed at other centres in Saskatchewan. 
 
 (Siitr tbr 
 f (Elrtlhmt 
 a (Ehattrr J 
 
 Then there is this appeal from Alberta, sent on by the Board of 
 Home Missions, for the establishment of educational work for the 
 French-Canadians, under Rev. J. E. Duclos’ care at Bonnyville. There 
 is no need of pointing out the urgency of this claim. And now is the 
 time for this educational work, to-morrow may be too late. Already 
 the terms nationalist movement and socialist movement are very real 
 in the West. On all sides we are told that the work among the young 
 boys and girls is the great hope of the country. It remains for the 
 membership of the W.M.S. to provide the means. 
 
 Enough for the outlook and urgency of the work. A few incidents 
 culled from letters from the matrons in the homes already established, 
 may serve to show the measure of success which has attended the 
 work. 
 
 Some may ask what interest do the children in our homes take 
 in the world war? The matron of one boys’ home in Vegreville writes 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 i3 
 
 of one boy in her home who knitted 100 wash cloths for the soldiers 
 last year, and also took second prize for a pair of socks at the Vegre- 
 ville Exhibition. Another boy came into the home for the first time 
 and was so homesick he wanted to go home again. The matron, to 
 cheer him, taught him to knit wash cloths for the soldiers, and now 
 he has knitted a good many and there is no word of wanting to go 
 home. He is having his first experience of the joy of service. In 
 another of the boys’ homes one boy has been knitting socks, and got 
 two first prizes at the Vegreville Fair, one for socks, and one for 
 mitts. Nearly all the boys in the teen-age in the Vegreville homes 
 have responded to the call of the S.O.S. One boy, whose teacher did 
 not think him far enough advanced in his class to leave school and 
 go on the land, felt so badly that one morning he took French leave, 
 after rising early and doing all his chores. To a man who gave him a 
 lift he said, he was off “to do his bit” on the farm, though he had 
 never been as happy as since he went to the home. One boy worked 
 as janitor in the hospital for a week, and earned enough to buy 
 his farm outfit. He is eight miles out of Vegreville, but on Saturday 
 night, after his work, he walked back to the home, got his bath along 
 with the others, stayed for Sabbath morning service and S. S., and 
 then walked back to his work. Two of the older boys donned khaki 
 last year and are now overseas, while a third was rejected as physi¬ 
 cally unfit. At Teulon, all the older boys went on farms to help in the 
 greater production campaign. The need of greater production for 
 our homes has not been overlooked, and in all our educational centres 
 gardens are being industriously worked. 
 
 Last winter a boys’ conference was held in Edmonton and seven 
 boys from the Vegreville homes attended. A C.S.E.T. Club was 
 formed when they returned, and the boys enjoyed some pleasant even¬ 
 ings in the Union Church. Rev. Mr. Hughes, the minister, directed their 
 amusements. 
 
 Miss Mitchell, our Travelling Secretary, paid a visit to Vegre¬ 
 ville this spring, and while there organized a Mission Band. All the 
 boys went into it heartily. The fee was 10 cents and every boy had 
 his money ready. In one home in March the boys learned the 3rd 
 chapter of John’s Gospel, and in April the 14th chapter. At Ethel- 
 bert, all the children attend Sunday School and Sabbath services, and 
 every Friday evening the Ruthenian minister calls at the home and 
 has a prayer meeting, partly in English and partly in Ruthenian. 
 Hymn singing is also one of their chief pleasures. The matron here, 
 as in all our homes, has many opportunities for quiet talks. Several 
 of the older ones, both at Ethelbert and Sifton, expressed a desire to 
 unite with the church, but Dr. Gilbart and the matrons felt it wiser they 
 should wait a little longer. At Vegreville, 6 children united with the 
 Union Church on profession of faith. Two others wished to become 
 members, but wanted to unite with the Presbyterian Church. Their 
 idea was that it was the Presbyterian Church that was helping them 
 and they thought they should be loyal to the church that was giving 
 them their chance. At Teulon, the boys have still the advantages of 
 the Sabbath services, Bible classes and the influence of the matron 
 and superintendent, and one had only to listen to Annie Corzack, Miss 
 Bell’s protegee, speak at the Board this spring to realize the Christian 
 influence that had been brought to bear. 
 
 At Sifton, the matron writes that the work in Sunday School and 
 the Mission Band is very encouraging. The children never stay away 
 from either. They have been studying the Life of Mary Slessor, 
 written for the juniors, and have been greatly interested. 
 
 From Teulon the matron writes that the boys have made rustic 
 tables and chairs in the bush so that they may study outside. It is 
 quieter, as they go off by two’s and three’s. She also says she finds 
 
14 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 it hard to get them to take enough exercise, so intent are they on study, 
 and they even try to come to the table with a book in their hand. The 
 matron keeps in touch with her older pupils, and many a letter passes 
 between the home and the boys now off at other duties. Many of the 
 former pupils are teaching and they, too, are cheered and encouraged 
 by a visit from the matron to their schools in the outlying districts. 
 
 One or two incidents of individual boys and girls may be of in¬ 
 terest. At Ethelbert a girl of 17 came to the home. She came to 
 learn to read and write and to learn Canadian methods of house-keeping. 
 She knew nothing of school work and sat down in grade I., her class 
 mates being little tots of 6 and 7. The doctor adds, “A girl with nerve 
 like that is worth helping and should make a woman who will move 
 things. We want her to move them in the right direction.” 
 
 From Vegreville one of the matrons writes of one of her boys, 
 “He is not only clever at school, but at everything he puts his hand to. 
 He has been my prop and comfort. He is very clever with his hands 
 and is a regular inventor. He has made me a handsome screen, book 
 shelves, wardrobes, flour and meal bins, the latter on hinges to pull, 
 like the regular kitchen cabinet bin. He is just completing an elevator 
 for holding the milk. It is a huge affair, and because it is too heavy 
 for me to work, he is making cog wheels of wood and also a chain, and 
 is attaching the whole to a large wheel with a handle, so that I can 
 turn it to raise and lower the elevator. We needed two lengths of 
 pipe for the basement stove and he made them out of syrup pails.” 
 
 One of the matrons was visiting one of her “boys” who was sick in 
 the hospital. A Ruthenian man was in the next cot, and as he watched 
 the matron coming and going he said to her, “Good mamma, good 
 mamma.” That fall he brought in 2 boys and wanted to put them in 
 the home but there was no room. One of the boys in the same home 
 got busy as soon as spring opened, fenced and dug a plot of ground, 
 and made a hot bed, and is now busy planting wild raspberry slips and 
 some tame ones Mr. Lang gave him. He works in town after school, 
 carrying water, etc., and then comes home and works till dark in his 
 plot. This boy is ambitious to be a medical doctor among his own 
 people. 
 
 The boys are all encouraged to earn an honest penny and buy 
 their own pencils, pens and scribblers, and also pay a little for their 
 clothing. This gives them a feeling of independence. 
 
 In the Girls’ Home, Vegreville, is a little girl, Freda, whom the 
 matron has asked to be allowed to care for till she is 18, and whom 
 she plans to train as a teacher. Mr. Lang writes of her that “she is a 
 remarkable child and I am sure will make her mark some day if she 
 is spared. She is a very attractive child and easily wins her way to 
 the hearts of those who meet her.” 
 
 These few incidents serve to tell something of the story of our 
 school homes. All is not sunshine and encouragement, there are dark 
 days and days of discouragement and disappointment for the mission 
 workers, but all believe that “the service of the mission home is 
 patriotic as well as Christian; it is the effort toward fulfillment of 
 the promise of a Christian democracy that every child in this land shall 
 have the opportunity of a Christian education and shall be fitted for 
 Christian citizenship.” 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 15 
 
 All tljat tljr III 
 iuutl» of a [|j 
 Unman ran : 
 ba in nnr 
 
 Hi. m. 
 
 ifospitala 
 
 A Galician patient. 
 
 & 
 
 resulting from enlistment for overseas service. 
 
 EJOICE and be 
 glad.” This is 
 the outstand¬ 
 ing feeling with which 
 we review the work of 
 our Home Mission 
 Hospitals for 1917. 
 Not that the work has 
 been without its diffi¬ 
 culties; at times they 
 have been very real, 
 but we have been able 
 to overcome them not¬ 
 withstanding the scar¬ 
 city of nurses and the 
 many changes of staff 
 
 From St. Andrew’s Hospital, Atlin, comes the report of the busiest 
 year in its history, the renewed mining activity being the cause of 
 many accident cases which were brought long distances to the hos¬ 
 pital. Although this little hospital is one thousand miles north of 
 Vancouver and far removed from the heart of things and the onward 
 rush, the workers are kept very busy, for the regular hospital routine 
 has to be observed, government requirements have to be met, and the 
 lives of their patients touched and reached. As the majority of the 
 patients are men, men from all classes of society, who have somehow 
 drifted “up north” in search of gold, the work of reaching them is 
 not an easy one, nor without its discouragements. Sometimes, the only 
 evidence that seed has been sown is shown when bidding good-bye, by 
 the warmth of the handshake and the hastily muttered, “Thank you,” 
 “God bless you,” “I’ll not forget.” The fact that there is not a doctor 
 for hundreds of miles in the whole territory, makes the responsibility 
 resting on the two brave nurses very heavy, and consequently the 
 strain is nerve trying. Through it all there is never a word of com¬ 
 plaint, only expressions of gratitude for the opportunity to serve. A 
 daughter of the manse is at the head of the hospital and has brought 
 to the work those qualities of head and heart that enable her to rise 
 above all difficulties. The high cost of living is felt here, as in all our 
 hospitals, and, although more patients were treated during 1917 than 
 in any former year, there was a deficit. Much credit is due the Trustee 
 Board of St. Andrew’s Hospital for the splendid service it has rendered 
 the church and community for twenty years in connection with our 
 
i6 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 hospital work in Canada. Through all these years, the relationship 
 between the two Boards has been cordial and sympathetic. This was 
 largely due to the tact and kindliness of the secretary, Mr. J. A. Fraser, 
 whose untiring energies have done so much to make the little white 
 hospital on the hill a mission of mercy, love and truth. An appeal is 
 being made for a medical missionary to go to this isolated field, where 
 so many are shut away from medical advantages. May one soon be 
 found. 
 
 Whenever we consider the work in British Columbia we have a 
 feeling that much has been left undone because Telegraph Creek 
 Hospital still remains closed for lack of a medical missionary. The 
 need is great among the Tahlton Indians and some white settlers who 
 are shut away from civilization and left to themselves. 
 
 In Alberta there is a strong anti-Protestant sentiment, owing to 
 the presence of so many French Roman Catholics and foreigners, and 
 in each centre where our hospitals are located the opposition to our 
 work is very real, and our workers find it most discouraging at times. 
 
 At Bonnyville, where our little hospital is ministering to many 
 Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, there is much to cheer. The 
 very fact that they will come themselves and bring their sick, or send 
 for our nurse to attend them in their own homes, shows that the 
 hospital has their confidence. It has also been a means of presenting 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them in the true light. Although the 
 hospital was only in operation four months in 1917, sixty-seven patients 
 were treated in the institution, besides many calls made in the com¬ 
 munity by the nurse in charge. Already an entrance has been gained 
 into Roman Catholic homes through the nurses’ ministrations, and 
 some have openly confessed their conversion to Protestantism. On 
 the other hand, threats of violence have been made on the life of our 
 missionary, who said, when warned to protect himself, that “he vrould 
 go armed with the sword of the Spirit only.” Soon the hospital will 
 be too small to meet the needs of the community, and even now we 
 are planning to send in another nurse. It is, however, a great testing 
 time with the work and the workers. The seed has been sown in faith 
 and we must have faith to wait patiently the gathering in of the har¬ 
 vest. The other two hospitals, the “Rolland M. Boswell,” at Vegre- 
 ville, and the “Katherine H. Prittie,” at Grande Prairie, have similar 
 problems to face, although the communities at each place are not so 
 solidly Roman Catholic, there being foreigners and other settlers, 
 some of whom have had the True Light presented to them. The work 
 has been very heavy at both places. There have been changes on the 
 staff at Vegreville owing to enlistment for war service, but we have 
 been fortunate in being able to replace all vacancies. Last year there 
 was an unusually large number of children admitted to the hospital at 
 Vegreville, many of them being the children of non-Anglo-Saxons, who 
 declared themselves delighted with the hospital and nurses, while some 
 of the older girls expressed a desire to take a nurse’s training just 
 as soon as they were old enough to enter a hospital. In Mr. Lang’s 
 report he told of the reclaiming of a man. who had led an indifferent 
 life and who professed his belief in Christ and His power to forgive 
 and to regenerate sinful man. He went back to his family renewed 
 physically and spiritually and with a firm resolve to lead a better 
 life and prove a blessing to his children. 
 
 In Saskatchewan our hospital work has been most successful, and 
 our “Hugh Waddell” Memorial Hospital at Canora has won for itself 
 a reputation for service and efficiency far beyond the bounds of its own 
 province. The volume of work steadily increases, and our opportunity 
 for service among the non-Anglo-Saxons in and around Canora is in¬ 
 deed almost without limitation, over fifty per cent, of the patients 
 being foreign-born. Miss Kate McTavish, the new lady superintendent, 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 i7 
 
 has already caught the vision of the great need of evangelization and 
 education along all Canadian lines, especially among the women and 
 children of these people. They are the future homemakers of this 
 wonderful province and must be taught Canadian ideals. They come 
 to our hospital for treatment, and through kindly attention and helpful 
 ministration our nurses win their confidence and then gain an entrance 
 into their homes, and oftentimes win their hearts, too. 
 
 Miss Fox, the newly appointed evangelistic worker, has joined the 
 staff of the “Hugh Waddell” Memorial Hospital, and is the first 
 deaconess to undertake evangelistic work in any of our Home Mission 
 Hospitals. She is to occupy a dual position, being bookkeeper as well 
 as evangelistic worker. She has proved herself equal to both posi¬ 
 tions, and Miss McTavish says her services to all branches of the hos¬ 
 pital work are invaluable. The isolation building may be erected this 
 year, and when ready for occupation will be run in co-operation with 
 the municipality and town council, thus eliminating considerable ex¬ 
 pense. Mr. Hackney, the hospital chaplain, reports the holding of 
 services regularly and a deepening interest taken in the services. The 
 one opinion voiced in all the reports from the hospitals throughout 
 Canada is that deep appreciation is expressed by those who have been 
 cared for while sick; even the poorest patient wants to show his 
 gratitude by some act of kindness or service to those in the hospital 
 who nursed him. 
 
 At the ‘ Anna Turnbull” Hospital at Wakaw they have had a busy 
 year. Dr. Scott regrets that he cannot get a doctor to take his place, 
 even for a short time, to allow him to take a much needed vacation. He 
 tried last year, but could not find anyone. He has such long distances 
 to go, and faces the rigors of a western winter so constantly that the 
 strain and hardship are beginning to tell on him. He goes in and 
 out among his people like a Paul in their midst, and is honored and 
 loved by all. He has done a wonderful work in that community—no 
 tabulated report could convey to our readers the value of his service 
 to his church and country. 
 
 We now come to Manitoba. Here we find some of our oldest and 
 most tried workers—those who blazed the trail and bore the brunt 
 of the pioneering experiences of the early days, when everything was 
 strange, and new, and inconvenient, and inadequate to meet the needs 
 or emergencies of the situation. At Ethelbert, Man., where the work 
 has been established for over ten years, we find it to-day in a more 
 flourishing condition than ever before. It is full of promise and pul¬ 
 sating with a new life. The hospital has been taxed to its utmost 
 capacity many times during the year, and the work has told on our 
 medical missionary, Dr. Gilbart, and his faithful band of workers. At 
 this point the work is especially hard, as the hospital is under¬ 
 staffed and under-equipped. Those of our Provincial officers who have 
 visited Ethelbert are emphatic on this point of inadequate help and 
 equipment, and loud in their praise of the excellent work that is being 
 done in this foreign colony, in spite of the foregoing facts. Good seed 
 is being sown by faithful workers who may never have the joy of 
 seeing the ingathering, but who have had the great honor of being co¬ 
 workers with Him in this vineyard, where many obstacles have had 
 to be overcome, and where they have stood fast through all. Fire 
 swept the town of Ethelbert, but our church property was spared and 
 no harm came to anyone. It was only by the heroic efforts of every 
 worker that the buildings were saved. Dr. Murray, our Home Mission 
 Superintendent for Manitoba, told us of the wonderful unity there was 
 among the people in their desire to save our mission property, and 
 stated a case where a Roman Catholic woman was seen kneeling in 
 the road praying that the hospital be spared. Over fifty quilts were 
 used on the roof and sides, and our nurses stood on the roof pouring 
 
i8 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 on the pails of water that were handed to them by the other nurses. 
 It was a miraculous escape, and our hearts are filled with loving 
 gratitude for such a wonderful deliverance. At Sifton, the dispensary 
 still continues its good work under Miss Angus and Dr. Gilbart. 
 Nearly one thousand came for medicine last year. 
 
 At Teulon, the work is under the same able and consecrated 
 laborers, Dr. A. J. Hunter and Miss E. J. Bell, who have been in this 
 field for nearly fifteen years. The entire community shows the in¬ 
 fluence of these pioneer workers. The present head nurse is a 
 protegee of the hospital. She came to the hospital a sick little child of 
 eight years of age, and after her recovery was sent to the public 
 school in Teulon. From there she continued her studies in Toronto, 
 where she attended the Jarvis Collegiate until she was old enough to 
 enter a hospital and train for a nurse. This she did some four years 
 ago, when she entered the Strathcona Hospital at Edmonton. She is 
 now Miss Bell’s chief supporter and helper and is, as far as we know, 
 the first Ruthenian girl to graduate as a nurse. When she appeared 
 before our Board some months ago and told us something of her work 
 and her hopes for her own people, the Ruthenians, every member pre¬ 
 sent felt a thrill of joy and pride in this fine young woman, a young 
 woman of whom any mother might be proud. Her great love for the 
 Master fairly shines in her face and reflects a heart of gold. She it 
 was who gathered together some of the Ruthenian women from around 
 Teulon, invited them to the hospital, where she explained the objects 
 of the Missionary Society and Red Cross, then she formed them into 
 a club and became its president and, for the first time, these women 
 experienced the joy of service as they made garments and rolled ban¬ 
 dages for the comfort of others. It gave them something to think 
 about outside in the great world beyond the narrow life of their own 
 isolated homes, where drudgery forms the main portion of the daily 
 round. Can we measure by statistics the value of such a movement? 
 If Annie Corzack never does anything more for her own people than 
 this one great thing, she will have earned the “Well Done” of the 
 Master she so loyally serves. The hospital work never was more satis¬ 
 factory than at present. The staff everywhere is seized with the im¬ 
 portance of the opportunity to go in and possess the land by following 
 up the mothers, and especially in keeping in touch with the children. 
 So many children are born in the hispitals and many are brought in for 
 treatment, and in this way the home and the mothers are reached and 
 kept for other forms of evangelistic education to complete the work. 
 
 Dr. Hunter has written the following notes of some of the 
 cases treated in the hospital: “One little fellow was brought in with 
 strangulated hernia. We managed to get a surgeon out and had 
 the case operated on in a few hours. He did well. Another little 
 boy had appendicitis with an abscess, and he also did well. If 
 it had not been for our hospital the first little fellow would certainly 
 have been lost, and possibly the second. These cases were both this 
 month. Another case was not so fortunate. A little girl who was 
 operated on within 24 hours of taking sick, but the bowels were already 
 gangrenous. Another sad case was an old woman with serious heart 
 trouble. Her only son expected to be taken to the army any time. 
 Her husband died in our hospital nine years ago and she only had a 
 little girl to look after her. I got a car and went out and brought her 
 in, but she only lived a very short time. There have been little out¬ 
 breaks of diphtheria in different directions, but they have not spread. 
 To-day in the office there were a couple of babies to vaccinate, a child 
 sick for nine months with bowel trouble to prescribe for, a man with a 
 tooth to pull, a man with a broken head, who wanted a letter to the 
 magistrate certifying to his injuries. A man brought in his wife to 
 have her chest examined. Poor thing, her lungs are in a bad way, and 
 she has seven children. They live in a hole in the woods three miles 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 19 
 
 away, and it was easier to walk than to tackle the road they have 
 driving We are getting good main roads now, but some of the side 
 
 r °-n dS 3 Stl ] re .™ ind on . e ° £ old times. There were other cases, but these 
 will do for illustrations.” 
 
 T ^ 1S - C i ristl , ike , work has been going on in our Presbyterian 
 Church m Canada for nearly twenty years. It began in a small way 
 a - ha s gradually added one by one, until now we have hospitals in 
 nine different centres, each a blessing and a haven of mercy. As we 
 P>° foj* war cl we do so witn a strong belief in the need of such work and 
 its efficacy. We are glad to brighten the lives of the young mothers 
 during their two weeks’ stay in our hospitals, and give a clean whole¬ 
 some Christian welcome to the little strangers who are to build’ uo this 
 land of ours in the years that lie before us. Build it, we trust, in 
 righteousness and for the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 Again we say, ‘‘Rejoice and be glad.” 
 
 JnfciattB of frstrrhag anfc ®o-hag 
 
 ANY noteworthy incidents occur during the course of a year in 
 our Indian schools and on the reserves where our missionaries 
 labor so faithfully to commend the Gospel of Christ by precept 
 and example. 
 
 The spiritual growth is slow as in all pagan lands, but we are 
 cheered with the steady advance that has been made, and realize that 
 present results are largely attributed to the secular and religious 
 training which the children have received in our schools. The chil¬ 
 dren of our first graduates are now attending our schools and the pro¬ 
 gress is noticeably more rapid. The ultimate success of our work lies in 
 the children gathered in our schools. The concensus of opinion by 
 most Indian workers is that the boarding school is the best adapted 
 to give the boys and girls a thorough education, and best results, so 
 far, have come from the boarding school. We have at present under 
 our care about 550 children in our 7 boarding and 6 day schools. 
 
20 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 One of our oldest missions and day schools at Mistawasis was 
 closed on May last. The Indian Department, on the ground of economy, 
 ceased the transportation of the children to and from the school as 
 formerly, and this, with the recruiting of children for the Church of 
 England and Roman Catholic Boarding Schools, reduced the attendance 
 so materially that the Department closed the school. The nearest Pres¬ 
 byterian Boarding School to Mistawasis is at File Hills, a distance of 
 about 200 miles, too far to send the children. We regret very much 
 the closing down of our work at this point, as it was one of our oldest 
 Indian missions. 
 
 The missionaries in charge, Rev. J. T. and Mrs. Smith, have ren¬ 
 dered excellent service and won the esteem of the Indians in general, 
 and the work was progressing along all lines, although the congrega¬ 
 tion was depleted by the enlistment for active service of several of 
 the young men. 
 
 The health of most of our pupils and adults on the reserves has 
 been good. The reports from our boarding schools give evidence of 
 progress in all departments. 
 
 At Portage la Prairie Boarding School we note that sixteen pupils 
 were recruited during the year, leaving an enrolment of eighty-five. 
 The principal says of the farm, that it is not only a help financially, 
 but the finest training resort for the boys. The tv/o departments of 
 industrial work most useful for the after life of the boys and girls 
 are agriculture and household science. The boys should be taught to 
 till the ground and the girls to cook a good meal and keep a clean, 
 tidy house. 
 
 From an enlistment of eight Sioux boys from this school three 
 were killed, four wounded and one is still in the trenches. One of the 
 wounded boys writing to the school, says, “Fritz got me in both legs, 
 but they not scare me yet. I am going back when my legs are in 
 condition.” This is the spirit shown by our Indian lads. 
 
 The work has gone on steadily at Cecilia Jeffrey Boarding School 
 and we are pleased to report that twelve of the senior pupils have 
 united with the church during the year. Who can estimate the results 
 of this spiritual work on the lives of these young people? The health 
 of the pupils has been good, although three cases of typhoid developed 
 after the children returned from the summer vacation, but all made a 
 good recovery. 
 
 At the Birtle Boarding School twenty pupils were recruited, 
 leaving an enrolment of about seventy, with a promise of more to 
 come. * The increased grant for the present year will be a great help 
 to the finances of the school. Sabbath services are attended in the 
 town church, and Sunday school is held in the school, and any visiting 
 Indians may attend. The friendly spirit shown by the Indians towards 
 the members of our school staff and the high regard for the principal 
 is to be commended. The Christmas concert was given by the pupils 
 and many of the parents were present, and a collection of $15.00 was 
 given to the Red Cross Fund. 
 
 A Y.M.C.A. convention was held on the Birdtail Reserve. We 
 allowed the boys to attend one day in care of the farm instructor, and 
 the girls with the matron. Several of the boys joined the Association. 
 
 At Round Lake Boarding School religious instruction is especially 
 emphasized in all departments of the school work. They have two 
 Sunday schools, one at the school for the pupils, and the other on the 
 reserve for the children of ex-graduates, and a few from a Scandinavian 
 colony. Five pupils united with the church and three children and 
 three adults were baptized. 
 
 The work at File Hills Boarding School has progressed steadily, 
 notwithstanding the illness of the principal, Mr. Gibson. We are 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 21 
 
 pleased to learn that he is making a rapid recovery and will we trust 
 resume his work in the near future. 
 
 Our work on Vancouver Island, B.C., has been greatly hindered 
 by the burning of our two boarding schools at Alberni and Ahousaht. 
 The missionaries in charge have kept the work open temporarily and 
 we are encouraged to know that, in all likelihood, we will soon rebuild. 
 
 During the year Mrs. J. Ross, Ucluelet, B.C., one of our oldest 
 and most highly esteemed workers, passed suddenly to her reward It 
 can be truly said of her, “She hath done what she could.” 
 
 The reports from our Indian reserves are, on the whole, en¬ 
 couraging, but here and there a discouraging note is struck. From our 
 Cote Indian Mission we learn that the Indians have taken an active 
 interest in the work of the congregation and, in the beginning of the 
 year, elected their own treasurer and board of management. The 
 session have been faithful overseers of the flock and have done much 
 to turn the minds of the people to religious things. On this account 
 the church attendance has been good. The givings for all purposes 
 were much in advance of former years. Four persons were received 
 on profession of faith and the rite of baptism was administered to 
 eleven children. One of the young men who enlisted has given his 
 life iOr the Empire, and another has been severely wounded. About 
 twenty others are serving in the forestry drafts in France and England. 
 
 The Cote Improved Day School has had a very successful year. 
 Much credit is due the matron and teacher for the earnest and con¬ 
 secrated effort with which they have carried on the work. 
 
 The general advance of the reserve is well seen in connection with 
 the Christmas entertainment. The Indians decorated the class room, 
 did most of the baking for the lunch, and did practically all of the 
 serving. The changed conditions are very pleasing when we compare 
 them with what they were fifteen years ago. 
 
 The report from Hurricane Hills Mission shows that work has 
 been going on constantly during the year. Mrs. MacKenzie, who 
 labored so faithfully for about twenty years at this point, resigned 
 during the year and her place was taken by Miss S. Wilson. 
 
 The Women’s Missionary Society met once a week during the sum¬ 
 mer and raised the sum of $36.75. 
 
 The Y.M.C.A. members conducted meetings in the different homes 
 of the people in the afternoons and evenings, under the leadership of 
 the president, Mr. Philip Ironstar. One of the young men from the 
 reserve, Scott Cherdru, is taking an advanced course of education at 
 Sautee Normal School, Nebraska. He hopes to attend the Moody In¬ 
 stitute next year. 
 
 A social meeting was held in the church in November, when a col¬ 
 lection was taken up for the Red Cross, which amounted to $25.60. 
 A Christmas entertainment was given to the Sunday school children, to 
 which the parents and friends came, and at the close each child received 
 a book and other gifts. The total givings for the year were $139.40. 
 
 At Lizard Point Reserve, there are some 207 Indians. Fifteen 
 boys and eleven girls from this reserve are now attending Birtle Board¬ 
 ing School. Rev. Mr. Scott, the new missionary in charge, says of the 
 previous workers, Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Baily, “that credit is due them 
 for the many courtesies which felicitated our getting into touch with 
 the Indians and the work here.” Much needed repairs have been made 
 to the mission house and church, and services are held regularly each 
 Sabbath. The pupils from Birtle Boarding School drove out and gave 
 the programme for the Christmas entertainment. 
 
 The Qu’Appelle Indian reserves include the reservations Pasquah, 
 Muscowpetung and Piapots. We are sorry to know that there is 
 
22 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 neither school nor church building on any of these reservations, but 
 the missionary says, during the past year a good interest has been 
 shown in religious work, in the Red Cross and in work for the soldiers. 
 A number of the young men have enlisted and seen service at the 
 front. About twenty of the Regina School graduates are serving with 
 the Canadian forces. A special effort has been made this year to 
 induce the younger Indians to give more time to reading books, papers 
 and magazines. We have also received from the Anglican School 
 Printing Press at “The Pas,” copies of a paper printed in the Cree 
 syllabic. These have been very much appreciated by the Indians. The 
 British and Foreign Bible Society has also furnished us copies of the 
 Bible and Gospels in the Cree for distribution. An increasing interest 
 in good reading matter is noticeable. A number of infants were bap¬ 
 tized, and a marriage service performed. The older Indians are re¬ 
 specting marriage as never before. The services are held in the 
 Indian houses and tents. The health of the people on these reserves 
 has been fair, tuberculosis being prevalent. The old people and little 
 children are much pleased with the warm clothing sent to them by 
 the Women’s Missionary Society. 
 
 From Moose Mountain we learn that the Indians, with few excep¬ 
 tions, have been working well on the land, and have harvested good 
 crops of wheat, oats and barley, and the money is being wisely spent. 
 This is largely due to the strong, personal influence of the Government 
 Agent, Mr. Cory. We find many comforts now in the homes, both in 
 furniture and in food, and the Indians and their children are more 
 comfortably dressed. Those who are prosperous have remembered 
 those who are poorer. On the 24th of December a dinner was given 
 by the Assiniboia tribe, at which all the old people of both tribes, 
 Cree and Assiniboia, were the guests of honor. Since then others have 
 given suppers and we are glad to note that the ol'd and poor are the 
 invited guests. The attendance at the Sabbath services is not all that 
 we would desire. There is a strong religious sentiment among our 
 Indians, but it is hard, especially for the older people, to break away 
 entirely from heathenism. There were two weddings, five deaths and 
 nine births during the year. The day school has been well attended 
 and the pupils have been happy and diligent in their work. The Indian 
 mothers are showing more and more care for their children’s personal 
 appearance and cleanliness. 
 
 A change of workers at our Okanase Indian Mission occurred dur¬ 
 ing the year, and we welcome Mr. and Mrs. Moore to this mission. 
 The Sabbath services are held regularly through an interpreter. A 
 Christmas tree was given to the children, which was laden with candies, 
 toys and presents, some of which were donated by children in Ontario. 
 The programme was given by the children of Elphinstone Sunday 
 School. It proved quite a success and was highly appreciated by the 
 Indians. There are always a few cases of want among the Indians, 
 owing to the fact that there are a number who have been unable to 
 adapt themselves to farming. They are still hunters, but the game no 
 longer abounds, and settlement has changed the country so that it is 
 impossible to make a living by trapping. However, those who have 
 taken to farming are doing fairly well. There are a few old people 
 on the reserve who require help in the way of warm, comfortable 
 clothing. 
 
 At Swan Lake the missionary reports the health of all phenomenally 
 good. No pupil attending school has died in the seven years they have 
 been there. The attendance at religious services has increased since 
 the abolition of liquor. The Indians are also more industrious but, 
 for the past two years, the crops have been poor, but the high prices 
 made up in some degree. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 23 
 
 hrom Rolling River we notice that the standard of life among 
 the Indians morally, physically and mentally, has been raised con- 
 siderably. Our one regret is that the Indian is slow to grasp the 
 blessing 01 the Gospel and accept it in its entirety. The pagan mind 
 
 ^ , Unf o°. ld i s i owly \ E o e 1 ry child of sch ° o1 age on this reserve 
 attends Birtle Boarding School, and every child is glad to be there. 
 
 During the Christmas vacation we invited these pupils to the mission 
 ouse, 2Ru their conduct and manners at the table and taking part in 
 the music gave testimony to the good training received at Birtle School. 
 Ihe attendance at religious service is good, but we have no church yet 
 and usually hold services in a tent. The health of the people on the 
 reserve was good, and the doctor was only called twice during the 
 year. The crops, this year, were below the average, oats were practi¬ 
 cally a ^allure. The Indians are to be placed more upon their own 
 responsibility this spring and must provide their own seed grain and 
 their own provisions for the future. This fall the Indians could not 
 get any one to thresh for them on time, so they formed a “Limited 
 Company ’ and purchased their own threshing outfit without consulting 
 agent or government. 
 
 Good work has been accomplished on our Pipestone Reserve but 
 owmg to removals, there are not many families left here. The 
 Women’s Missionary Society, carried on by Mrs. Thunder, has been a 
 blessing to the people, and the work has been very encouraging. A 
 magic lantern was presented to this reserve by the young women’s 
 Bible class of Victoria Church, Toronto, and was a source of much 
 pleasure and profit to the people during the winter months. 
 
24 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 Httsplftsii 
 
 $?ruw? in 
 dXIutta x 
 
 “INASMUCH” 
 
 Medical Work — 
 
 Dr. MacBean. 
 
 TST HE work has grown 
 along all lines 
 during the past 
 year. The hospital has 
 become better known 
 and patients come a 
 long way to be treated. 
 Dr. MacBean tells of 
 two little waifs who 
 were attended to in 
 the hospital. One of 
 these was a wee blind 
 girl brought in by a 
 preacher who had found 
 her on the roadside, 
 where she had been 
 thrown to die. Her 
 eyes were a mass of 
 
 pus and her tiny body was covered with sores, having been burnt with 
 hot irons. She cried night and day for the first two weeks, but she 
 became greatly relieved of her sufferings, and has gradually become 
 brighter and happier. She is now able to walk, and the nurses are 
 teaching her to feel her way with a cane. She is only three years of 
 age and very small. It is quite pitiful and interesting to hear the 
 sort of sigh of satisfaction when the nurse asks if she has been 
 satisfied with what she has eaten to-day. Never in her life before 
 had she had enough to eat. She is now ready to leave the hospital, and 
 they are trying to get her into an orphanage or blind school. The 
 other child was brought in by a Chinese doctor. This child was also 
 picked up by the roadside and was only about four days old when 
 found. As the hospital cannot take care of cases of this kind they will 
 have to secure a home for it, too. If it once became known that the 
 hospital would take them in they would be swamped by a host wanting 
 their babies looked after. There are so many of these people quite 
 anxious to sell their babies or give them away. The nurses have named 
 these babies “Tak Kwong” and “Tak Frek,” which mean “Receive 
 Light” and “Receive Blessing,” respectively. 
 
 The wee blind girl and one of the nurses. X 
 
 — ■ ■ " • ■ ■ - ■ ■ ' • - • ■ ■ ~ yj| 
 
 mm ■ ■ ’ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ . . _ ■ ■ - — ■ ■ —I 
 
 “WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS COME” 
 
 The Boarding School, Kongmoor Port. —The school staff comprise 
 Miss Dickson, Miss Langrill and three Chinese teachers. Among the 
 pupils are those who are taking the advanced training as teachers and 
 Bible women. The text books used are “Fundamentals,” and Bunyan’s 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 25 
 
 Holj^ War. Miss Dickson observes that God has granted them some 
 very blessed experiences in the spiritual side of the work during the 
 past year. 
 
 At a testimony meeting one of the non-Christian girls stood up 
 and stated that she had never heard the name of Christ before entering 
 the school a year ago, but that she had now made her decision to become 
 His follower. 
 
 Miss Dickson took part in the first Y.W.C.A. conference, had 
 charge of a Bible class on “Fundamentals,” did the interpreting, and 
 gave the closing message. 
 
 It was a time when they were privileged to see a very real work¬ 
 ing of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of many who received what they 
 most needed—spiritual light and blessing. Six out of eight of the 
 non-Christians attending became Christians, while many others left with 
 a new conception of the meaning and the power of prayer. 
 
 One of the delegates has since given at least an hour a day to 
 helping one of the new Christians stand firm. As a direct result of the 
 report of the conference, supported by one of the students of the 
 boarding school in attendance, a student Y.W.C.A. was organized, with 
 a membership of 34. The hospital staff joined with the staff of the 
 boarding school, and the head teacher is Y.W.C.A. president. 
 
 In November, Miss Dickson assisted Miss Ruth Paxson in the 
 woman’s part of Mr. Buchanan’s personal work campaign in Canton 
 and Hong Kong. The meetings lasted one week in each city and 
 were confined to groups of picked workers. As a practical result of 
 this campaign many confessed and put away the things that had hindered 
 the individual work for individual souls, and were led to a new con¬ 
 secration to Christ’s method of winning men. 
 
 Our Bible Women .—“For they have refreshed my spirit and yours.” 
 
 I intreat thee also true yoke fellow, help those women which labored 
 with me in the gospel . . . whose.names are in the book of life.” 
 
 In all the various forms of Christian work our missionaries 
 depend a great deal on the assistance of the Bible women. In 
 any aggressive work done by the Chinese Christians the stimulus 
 of the missionary is necessary. Miss Reid speaks very highly 
 of the Bible women of Shek-Ki, who will carry on her work 
 while she is absent on furlough. The Chinese keep asking her who 
 is coming to take her place while she is away, and she is forced to tell 
 them that no one can be spared. She comforts them, however, by 
 telling them that she will try and bring back from Canada another 
 Ku Neung, as the lady missionaries are called. With the exception of 
 an old French priest and an Australian woman, married to a China¬ 
 man, Miss Reid is the only foreigner in Shek-Ki. 
 
 I Mo is a Christian woman who is well advanced in years, and 
 a bound-foot woman, yet she walks to and from the chapel, a distance of 
 eight miles. She always brings with her some one who has never heard 
 the Gospel before. There are nine baptized Christians, and others 
 being examined for baptism in her town, and she has been instrumental 
 in bringing almost all. 
 
 The Kong Moon Bible woman came in one Sunday quite hot and 
 tired. Miss Langrill asked her where she had been. Her only reply 
 was that the weather was very hot. One of the Christian women 
 standing near, and noticing that she was not going to tell the whole 
 story, said that she had just carried an old blind woman on her back 
 several blocks to the chapel, and it was learned that she had been doing 
 this all summer, so anxious was she that the woman should have a 
 chance of hearing the Gospel. It is a delight to know that the blind 
 woman has since been baptized. One is not surprised to learn that 
 during the baptismal service the Bible woman’s face fairly shone. 
 
26 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 Similar reports of unselfish service, sacrifice and devotion could 
 be written of the entire staff of nine Bible women, who are ever faith¬ 
 fully at work. 
 
 Iif= : 
 
 A (filimpsr g 
 at iflar 
 
 iformosa 
 
 Wash day at Formosan school. 
 
 WILL quote 
 from letters 
 from For¬ 
 mosa, so that the 
 readers will be 
 brought into close 
 touch with our 
 missionaries who 
 have sent the in¬ 
 cidents and stories 
 that follow. Miss 
 Tate, in telling of 
 a little holiday in 
 
 Japan says: “We visited a government school for the cultivation of 
 silk-worms, which was the most interesting school I have ever been 
 through. It is situated in the centre of the silk-cultivation-belt of 
 Japan. The young men who take the four 3/ears’ course come from all 
 parts of Japan, and they have also admitted some lads from the 
 Philippines. They are taught the care of the worms, etc., also winding 
 the silk through the different processes, and finally the weaving. We 
 also visited Nikko, which is the summer home of the Emperor, and 
 the most beautiful spot I have ever seen. 
 
 -:=!i 
 
 “The new Theological College is nearly completed. Friday we 
 went over to see them sink the rod for the well. The place here is 
 full of springs and they can sink an artesian well almost anywhere. 
 As we were coming home a wedding, or, rather, an engagement pro¬ 
 cession had stopped at our gate to rest, so we had a good chance to 
 see the gifts which were being carried on the large basket trays. The 
 inevitable pig, of course, came first. He was quite a large piggie and 
 reposed very comfortably on two trays, half on each. This will give 
 you an idea of the size of the trays. The second tray contained half 
 a dozen large fish and a large dinner plate on which marigolds were 
 arranged in a pyramid. The next two trays were piled high with 
 engagement cakes. These wedding cakes are big and hollow, about the 
 same shape as those toy balloons the children buy at the Exhibition, 
 only much larger. They are made of plain white dough and are thickly 
 covered with a white and red rice mixture which looks like those 
 little candies we put on cakes at home. * Red is the bride’s color. 
 These cakes are sent round to all the friends and those who receive one 
 must send a wedding present. The next tray had her wedding costume, 
 which consisted of a bright pink silk Chinese coat and a black silk 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 27 
 
 skirt. In the bride’s chair, which was all fixed around with red cloth 
 sat ihe middle woman, who had arranged the wedding. The curtains 
 were open and she looked as if she were having the time of her life 
 When the little bride rides in it, it will be very different, then it will 
 be all closed up. I always feel so sorry for the bride when I see a 
 wedding procession. Poor little thing, she must go alone to her 
 husband s house, neither her mother nor any of her family may accom¬ 
 pany her. When she goes, there is always a large procession. Of 
 course, the largeness depends on the wealth of the contracting parties, 
 and is not only known by the length of the procession and the number 
 of gifts carried, but also by the noise. They have large Chinese 
 bands, and at the better weddings, Japanese bands also. In a wedding 
 procession all the gifts are carried. Lengths of cloth are carried 
 on long bamboo poles. Many bright pennants richly embroidered in 
 beautiful colors are also carried. 
 
 “A funeral procession is much the same, that is, the music, the 
 crowd, the noise, the pennants carried aloft on bamboo poles. In place 
 of the gifts on trays, they have large potted artificial flowers in a little 
 two-wheeled cart, and then the mourners follow the coffin either in 
 chairs, rickshas or on foot. They wear the sack-cloth and wail as they 
 go. Usually a god in a very highly decorated chair, borrowed from a 
 temple for the occasion, leads the procession. 
 
 “Saturday, I went out to teach with two of the students, Mrs. Koa 
 (Bella MacKay), and one of the student’s wives. Miss Adair had ar¬ 
 ranged to go, but at the last minute was detained. When we reached 
 there the room was all arranged, with benches round the wall and 
 about twenty little boys and girls sitting waiting. The women were 
 nowhere in sight, and after much coaxing through the doors at each 
 side of this living room, in they came. Mrs. Koa spoke first, after 
 we had sung a couple of hymns. She speaks so well to the heathen. 
 The singing had brought quite a crowd to the door, about thirty- 
 five I should think, and all so eager to hear. An old blind man of 
 about eighty sat in one corner, and it was rather disconcerting the 
 way he would speak out every now and then and say, ‘Is that true?’ 
 ‘Are you sure that’s true?’ We had gone only a half hour’s walk and 
 yet these women had never heard the Gospel. The students spoke also 
 and we closed with a hymn. Wlien we were leaving they were very 
 urgent that we come back soon. Yesterday (Sunday), I went out with 
 Mrs. Gauld just back of the new Thelogical College. From the street 
 you can see few houses, just clumps of bamboos, but when you go in 
 you find house after house and crowds and crowds of people. Mrs. 
 Gauld had been invited into one of the larger houses seven years ago 
 to see a sick child. We were just at the door, or, rather, outer gate, 
 when there came up a brisk shower. We sought shelter in the door¬ 
 way and they soon came out and invited us in. The household con¬ 
 sisted of twelve people. Only the mother, two daughters-in-law and 
 the children were at home. They were much interested to hear that 
 we taught women to read at the church, and when we asked the children 
 to come to Sunday School, they promised they would let them if their 
 father were willing. We sang a hymn before we came away and were 
 invited back. These people live within a block of the church, and yet 
 the women have never come to hear. At the next house, a nice looking 
 girl of eighteen asked if she were too old to learn, and has promised 
 to come to the women’s meeting next Thursday. We are always glad 
 to gain admission to the homes. Last spring Miss Elliott and I visited 
 a home in the mountains, with a household of eighty-nine people. They 
 were all so interested to hear our Bible-woman tell the old, old story. 
 One of the older men in the home had heard Dr. MacKay preach when 
 he first came here, but none of the household had heard, with the 
 exception of the ex-patient we went to see. She is a woman of 
 
28 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 about forty, who learned to read while in the hospital, and has accepted 
 Christ as her Saviour. What a great work she has before her to witness 
 to those of her own household! I will never forget the first day I 
 saw her. She had walked down the mountain to church, a very warm 
 day, and came in just a little late. Miss Elliott was playing the organ 
 on a little raised platform at the front. She walked straight up the 
 aisle, stood beside her for a minute and then began to fan her 
 vigorously. Each time Miss Elliott went up to play she also went up, 
 and certainly looked as if she were doing the more important part.” 
 
 Last December Mrs. MacKay wrote: “Did I tell you about the 
 boys who are learning the Assembly’s verses in English? One Sunday 
 afternoon I was surprised to see some Japanese boys, not our students, 
 playing tennis on the court beside the middle school. I went over to 
 the home of a Japanese teacher, beside the court and asked him what 
 he thought about it, and he promptly sent them away. Imagine my 
 surprise, a few minutes later, to see two of our boys and a Japanese 
 teacher (who was soon after dismissed, as being out of place in a 
 Christian school) similarly engaged. I went over and told them that 
 the school court was rough, and any time they wished to play tennis 
 on Sunday, I wished they would come over to the one beside our 
 house, which was in much better condition. The teacher bowed, 
 smiled and took the hint and the game stopped. 
 
 “When I reached home a few minutes later the two boys were 
 waiting at the steps and full of apologies. They frankly said they 
 had nothing to do and thought they might as well play tennis as 
 stand around doing nothing. This ‘nothing to do’ idea came to me 
 as rather a challenge. They have comparatively little to read, as 
 most of the Christian literature translated, up to date, is in the line of 
 helps and commentaries, useful for a preacher, but too dry to interest 
 the average boy. So I asked them if they would like to memorize some 
 Scripture if I chose easy passages for them. They seemed pleased, 
 and I ushered them into the house then and there and we went over 
 part of the Shepherd Psalm. It was their own suggestion, on leaving, 
 that as it was holiday time, they come every day. The next morning 
 seven appeared and came every day for the rest of the vacation. When 
 school opened they came only on Sunday afternoons, in relays of seven, 
 as others joined. In all, at one time, there were 44 busy at the 
 memorizing. Our house was soon cleared out of Bibles, and still 
 not nearly enough to go round. So partly to encourage and partly to 
 provide enough Bibles, we offered a prize of an English Bible to any 
 one who would recite correctly 125 verses, which is the list for be- * 
 ginners in the Assembly’s list. 
 
 “In the spring an agent of the Bible Society in Japan, came, and 
 promised to present the first Bible, as there is a Sunday school in 
 New Zealand which empowers him to give a Bible each year, wherever 
 he saw best. It is a nice leather bound book, good print, and we plan 
 to make the gifts all uniform, and can get them in Taipeh for $1.25. 
 
 “One boy recited 97 verses the other evening without one mistake. 
 Several others are near the goal. There will be many more.” 
 
 Miss Adair writes of her return from furlough last fall: “Our 
 voyage across the Pacific was long and some days very rough, but 
 there was such a fine crowd of missionaries on board that it was a 
 pleasure to be so long in their company. Old ties of friendship were 
 strengthened and new friendships formed, and altogether we had a 
 real helpful time of Christian fellowship that none of us shall soon 
 forget.” 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 29 
 
 lEtjgljtmt 
 
 (HmmertB 
 an ijour 
 
 iKnmt 
 
 J?fHE wonderful 
 if , growth of the 
 Christian Church 
 in Korea is to older 
 missions an almost in¬ 
 credible story. During 
 the first twenty-five 
 years it is stated that, 
 “converts came in at 
 the rate of one per 
 hour, but now the tide 
 has risen to an average 
 of eighteen per hour.” 
 Notwithstanding this, 
 it is too true that 
 Christianity is losing 
 ground in Korea to¬ 
 day. In this time of 
 testing throughout the 
 
 world, many converts have been faithful, but others have proved un¬ 
 faithful. Our missionaries are doing magnificent work, but the cry 
 for more workers has been appealing and insistent and we have not 
 answered that call. The ground has been ploughed and now is ready 
 for the cultivation that can only be done by qualified leaders and 
 teachers. 
 
 Peter and Andrew. Christian Korean children. 
 
 Educational.—Miss McEachern is most enthusiastic in her school 
 work and speaks of the educational problems thus: “Our school work 
 is, in my estimation, one of the surest ways of producing fruit. They 
 tell me there was a time in Korea when one could go here and there 
 scattering seed with good results. But that day has gone, and what 
 we need to-day is specialization, and for that there is no better place 
 than the school room, where you have the opportunity of moulding 
 young lives who are anxious to follow the example of their teacher. 
 We are trying to select the finest and best of our young men and 
 women and by tw r o or three years’ study in a good school, fit them for 
 this great work among their own people. I would like to introduce 
 you to Chun Chang Sin, whom I feel is the most promising for this 
 work. As a very young girl, when her parents had no thought of be¬ 
 coming Christian, she began coming to our Christian school. The 
 influences around her soon led her to give her heart to Christ and, 
 as a result, her people have by degrees been won over. She has been 
 with me now for four years and of all my 80 girls she is by far the 
 cleverest and the most deeply spiritual. She is even now a leader of 
 her school mates. In our dormitory we organized a Christian Endeavor 
 Society, of which she became president. She graduates in March and 
 is working eagerly to get the Endeavor into a flourishing condition be¬ 
 fore she leaves, keeping ever before the girls that the purpose of the 
 
30 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 society is the deepening of the spiritual life. As I sit from week 
 to week and watch her rather than guide her, I wish I understood 
 and could work among her people as well as she does. 
 
 “On Saturday night I told Chang Sin that I was afraid I could 
 not send her to school in Japan for further education as I had planned, 
 but I feel that she should go. It has been suggested that I send her on 
 faith, trusting that the funds would follow. I can’t but think of the 
 passage that ‘faith without works is dead.’ I have been learning lessons 
 in living by faith, and perhaps if I send this girl to school it may be 
 that the money will come in some way. 
 
 “We had the sad experience last week of losing one of our dor¬ 
 mitory girl’s after a short illness and our hearts have indeed been sad, 
 and yet it has been such a comfort to me to remember the eagerly 
 responsive upturned face of that girl as Chang Sin pled with the 
 younger girls that they endeavor to make of our school a mighty 
 power in the advancement of God’s Kingdom. The mother of the 
 young girl arrived the day after the funeral. She had walked 80 miles 
 in a little over three days. I thought it would be very hard to meet 
 her, as I felt that her grief would be deeper than our own, but as 
 she came into the house, she seized my hand and said, ‘Now don’t 
 grieve for her, she has gone to a better land.’ All her talk was words 
 of comfort for us, so that there was very little left for us to say to 
 her. How beautiful is the faith of the Koreans!” 
 
 Mr. Barker says that the training of Christians before being al¬ 
 lowed to unite with the church is so thorough that every church mem¬ 
 ber is a missionary seeking to win others to Christ. The Native 
 Church is sending Koreans as foreign missionaries to China to learn 
 Chinese and preach the Gospel as Canadians do. 
 
 Evangelistic .—The evangelistic work is greatly emphasized in 
 Korea. Miss McLellan writes thus: “My work has been, as hitherto, 
 travelling in the country, exhorting and teaching among the Christians 
 and preaching from house to house among the non-Christians. During 
 the year I spent 152 days in the country. On one winter trip, my Bible 
 woman, Ouhai, accompanied me. She nearly perished, for she is too 
 old and stiff to get down and walk to warm herself up as I was able to 
 do. We were travelling by horse-back but at ox-cart pace, so that it 
 takes time to arrive anywhere. At Ougsong we got a royal welcome. 
 Most of the people had never seen a foreign woman before, although 
 they had heard of the queer clothes, customs and food of the foreigner. 
 I was closely observed from all vantage points, both day and night. 
 I was pleased with the small group of 12 women and 15 or more men 
 and boys. They gathered in our lodgings and were most intent on 
 hearing Bible stories and learning of the new religion which they de¬ 
 cided to accept. They were especially enthusiastic in learning to 
 sing the hymns. They had picked up some from colporteurs and 
 others who had visited them, but alas! without any regard whatever 
 to the proper tune. ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ was one of their 
 favorites. ‘Please listen, Pouin,’ they said, ‘and see if we don’t know 
 this one well,’ but the lustiness and enthusiasm with which they sang 
 was the only resemblance to the piece as I knew it. They took up a 
 collection towards buying a church, and this meant earnest effort and 
 sacrifice on their part. They have since bought a house for worship and 
 are laboring to get the debt all paid. They persuaded me to leave old 
 Ouhai with them, and are unwilling to part with her.” 
 
 V/.M.S .—Miss McLellan continues: “An advance step was made 
 in some of the churches by inaugurating missionary societies. Up to 
 that time they had done nothing to help support their own Bible women, 
 but were quite willing to undertake something when their duty was 
 presented to them. A full quota of officers was appointed, and the 
 occasion was the most momentous in their lives, when at the first meet- 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 3 i 
 
 ing each took her official place and proceeded to conduct the meeting_ 
 
 not exactly according to Roberts’ Rules of Order, but withal very com- 
 mendably. Most of them promised a sen a week cent), and some 
 more than that. The aggregated offerings is quite a help towards 
 their Bible woman’s salary. In one church, in a farming section the 
 women thought they couldn’t possibly give anything, for they never 
 have as much as a sight of money, but decided they could give a spoon¬ 
 ful of millet out of each day’s supply for the Lord’s work. And now 
 they are contributing two yen (one dollar) a month! 
 
 In some places I was disappointed to find that many of the women 
 had gone back to their studying and some were too busy to attend my 
 classes. In others, some had moved away and some had fallen away 
 but, on the whole, our work is growing and the faithful ones are ad¬ 
 vancing year by year and becoming the foundation of greater things 
 ahead.” 
 
 Bible Women.— Bible women in Korea act in many different capaci¬ 
 ties. From one source and another one hears of them as chaperone, 
 escort, interpreter, companion, teacher and preacher. But their chief 
 mission is, of course, interpreting the words as they fall from the lips 
 of the missionary, and this they do wonderfully well. But the need 
 of further training has been felt, and to this end Miss Rogers, who 
 is also engaged in evangelistic work, writes: “One of the special 
 features of our general women’s work has been the inauguration of 
 a Normal Class for our Bible women. This class began with an en¬ 
 rollment of 15 picked women. Four hours daily were given to the three 
 subjects chosen—12 lessons on the Life of Christ, 6 lessons on Prayer, 
 and 6 on the Fruits of the Spirit. After the class was over the women 
 were sent out in ‘twos’ to conduct classes of a week each in such 
 churches as had responded to the invitation to provide entertainment 
 for two women for that period. The experiment has been most suc¬ 
 cessful, requests coming from all parts of the held and the demand 
 has exceeded the supply.” This means in some cases a woman leav¬ 
 ing her home cares to others and doing volunteer work. The financing 
 of these “trips in twos” is interesting to note. “The churches are 
 asked to provide entertainment for the period of the class and the 
 travelling expenses to be defrayed by the missionaries in charge, from a 
 fund as yet unknown.” 
 
 Bible Institute.—“The Martha Wilson Memorial .”—This now 
 famous Bible Institute at Wonsan, sends out every year fully qualified 
 Bible women who give the message of the Gospel to their own people 
 as they alone can do. Graduation exercises are thus described by Miss 
 MacCully:^ “It was a most delightful occasion and the realization of 
 a cherished dream. Our union with the Methodist work gave us the 
 privilege of holding the closing exercises in their splendid girls’ school 
 that has a fine chapel, seating four or five hundred, and also a lovely 
 Chickering piano.” The writer says also, “I do wish we had a build¬ 
 ing of our own large enough to hold this service. The hall was 
 packed with men and women and we had the best attention through¬ 
 out the programme. A processional march was played, to which our 
 students came in quite imposingly. The programme included a num¬ 
 ber of addresses from the women, some music which was quite a credit 
 to them, and presentation of diplomas. The graduates sat on benches 
 at one side of the hall while the other students were seated on the 
 Japanese mats. It looked very pretty to see them come up in their 
 white skirts and soft silk jackets of quiet tints, stand in a row and 
 make their graceful bow together, after receiving their diplomas, then 
 turn and bow together to the audience. New as some of them were 
 to such honors, they were perfectly composed and unembarrassed and 
 did their, part very gracefully. That evening we entertained the 
 graduates at dinner. Don’t be surprised if I tell you we had ducks— 
 
32 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 they were 20 cents each—and the women counted them a great treat. 
 After dinner, where they were all quite at ease, I entertained them 
 with piano music, which never ceases to be a wonder, and which they 
 really enjoy. Yesterday and to-day we are saying farewell and getting 
 the women off to their homes and their work. 
 
 “There is much regret about parting with our graduates, for we 
 have had such happy days with them. They will be so valuable, how¬ 
 ever, that we have delight in the thought of their future work.” Be¬ 
 tween forty and fifty women from all sections of the field are accom¬ 
 modated in the dormitories for the period of institute classes. In 
 addition to this, Miss MacCully writes: “Besides, we have a class 
 for the Wonsan City women who cannot spend all their time in study, 
 and another preparatory year for women who come for the entire 
 session, but are not able to do first year work until they have been 
 brightened up a bit. For this we have a young blind woman as teacher. 
 She went through Dr. Hall’s School for the Blind and Deaf, at Pyeng 
 Yang, and then took a Bible course in Seoul, so is qualified to teach. 
 She is a sweet Christian, and the women enjoy having her. They are 
 quite touched with her affliction and immensely interested in her 
 printed books, pricked by a very primitive machine that she can use 
 herself. I have enjoyed the Bible lessons very much. The women 
 work so eagerly and beam with such joy over every new thought given 
 to them that teaching is very inspiring and soul-satisfying work. 
 Everybody wants to run just a little over their hour, as we all find 
 the same fascination in the classes. Our young women are very earnest 
 and we have great hopes for their future work. How I wish you 
 could step in some morning and see them all seated in rows on the 
 floor, some with funny huge horn spectacles helping out their vision, 
 and some modernized to the extent of a foreign coiffure, but all in 
 strictly Korean dress. They sit on Japanese mats that are several 
 inches thick and therefore warm enough, even in winter. We have 
 stoves in all the rooms and a chair and table for each teacher. Our 
 staff has been quite sufficient this year. We teach Bible exclusively, 
 leaving the secular subjects to Grace and our other Korean teachers.” 
 
 Miss Mary Thomas .—An event of some importance was the ap¬ 
 pointment in Sept., 1917, of Miss Thomas to our staff in Korea. Miss 
 MacCully writes thus of the designation service: “The service was 
 held on the 15th at our house. Her father and mother came over 
 from Seoul to be present, and Miss Kirk and Mr. McDonald were down 
 from Ham Heung for the occasion. We asked the Japanese pastor 
 and his wife and Grace Lee (native Korean teacher), so with some 
 Methodist friends beside, had a good number at the service. Mr. 
 Fraser asked me to speak for the W.M.S. and present the Bible which 
 they sent. Mr. Robb presented a Korean Bible from the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society and made a nice address. Then telegrams of 
 welcome arrived just at the hour from the other stations. Her father 
 and mother were very happy over this answer to their prayers and 
 were especially thankful to see her enjoying her new work. She had 
 already finished one trip to the country, and having a knowledge of the 
 language from a two years’ residence in Korea, was very happy over 
 it. She is a sweet, refined little lady, well educated and most devoted 
 to her missionary work.” 
 
 A word from Miss Thomas’ letters: “Let me thank you for the 
 Bible, it was a pleasant surprise and is a lovely copy. This is a very 
 busy time of the year. The girls’ school closes to-morrow, and I am 
 helping Mrs. Robb with the singing for the programme. Then the 
 Bible Institute is in session and there are so many lovely, bright 
 women in the classes. At the close of the first term a day of prayer 
 was held, at which all received great blessing and an impetus to make 
 the next weeks of study count. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 33 
 
 “Last evening Mrs. Robb had an entertainment for the girls who 
 will graduate, and they enjoyed the postcard views that Mr. Robb 
 showed them with a reflectorscope. Pictures such as the Woolworth 
 Building, New York, interested them very much. 
 
 “There have been quite a number of battleships patrolling outside 
 the harbor (Wonsan), and we can see them quite well from the porch. 
 They must be having a sham battle to-day, for we can hear the distant 
 rumble of the guns. 
 
 “This is market-day and the streets are crowded with people, 
 dragging oxen loaded with wood or fish; and carts piled high with 
 grain, etc. I passed several women carrying a huge load of seaweed 
 on their heads. They use it for food, but it does not seem possible 
 that it could be eatable. I can hear the ‘boy’ coming to help me pack 
 my outfit for a trip into the country for this week-end, so will have 
 to close my letter.” 
 
 Annual Council .—July each year finds our missionaries gathered 
 in Council at Wonsan Beach. The harbor is beautiful, and along its 
 shores cottages have been erected, and with the houses of the mission¬ 
 aries, every one can be accommodated. No one would think of missing 
 Council, for business is combined with pleasure. There they meet 
 to receive reports, plan new work, discuss problems, and in services of 
 prayer and consecration obtain that rest and refreshment so necessary 
 to the spiritual life and uplift of. the missionary. Our young women 
 from the country get a bit of “city life” again; they take up some 
 study and feel the benefit of the “post graduate” course. Then when 
 work is done for the day and when the tide permits, a “dip” in the 
 salt water, the best of tonics, and the pleasant gathering around the tea 
 table, where the ladies take their turn in acting as hostesses; surely 
 life is not dull in Korea! 
 
34 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 Jtt tljr Ifrart nf QUptta 
 
 Sjmttttt 
 
 Five Years’ Forward Evangelistic Movement,” which was 
 decided upon by a conference of missionaries from the various 
 missions in North and South Honan, held in December, 1916, in 
 Kai Feng Fu, the provincial capitol, was inaugurated the first week of 
 February, and generally observed over our field. Very systematic and 
 prayerful preparation had been made by our missionaries, and every 
 effort put forth to make this new feature of mission work in Honan 
 a success; the aim being, principally, to reach every home where there 
 was already, at least, one Christian. The workers, native and foreign, 
 were divided into 140 bands, and through these, 750 centres were 
 reached; it was estimated that over 6o;ooo persons had an opportunity 
 of hearing the Gospel. One encouraging result was that the native 
 Christian women pledged themselves to devote one half day each 
 week to going out to preach the glad news of salvation. 
 
 Changte Station and Field.—Miss Margaret McIntosh —“Here a 
 little and there a little” would very aptly express the seed sowing in 
 Changte City done by our missionaries. In all visiting, especially in a 
 first visit, the aim is to present Christ and Him crucified as the only 
 remedy for sin; for oftentimes a second opportunity never occurs. 
 Such an epithet as “You are followers of the foreign devils,” is 
 quite enough to prevent some, who might be truly interested, from 
 welcoming the missionaries to their homes a second time. Ridicule 
 is a formidable weapon wielded by the evil one, to hinder many from 
 entering the Kingdom. Fortunately there are exceptions, as the re¬ 
 cording of nine women as catechumens in 1917, shows; also two women 
 who were recorded several years ago, were baptized. Mrs. Kao, a 
 Christian of several years’ standing, though never a strong character, 
 by her patience in suffering, and assurance as the end drew near, that 
 the angels had come to welcome her home, was a strong testimony to 
 the heathen, that trust in Jesus takes away the fear of death; for with a 
 smile on her face, she entered the dark valley. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 35 
 
 On Christmas Day, an appropriate service was held, v/hen from fif¬ 
 teen to twenty women were present, besides ten little girls. Mrs. Chi 
 spoke to them of what the birth of Jesus meant to us, and urged all 
 to accept Him as their own personal Saviour. The girls then sang, 
 “Who is He in yonder stall,” and at the close of the meeting a picture 
 card and handkerchief were given to each pupil. 
 
 During the week of special evangelism, six gatherings were held in 
 four different places within the city walls. The speakers, some of 
 whom were Bible women, medical assistants, school girls, and prominent 
 Christian women, were divided into two classes, namely those who gave 
 addresses, taking as their theme such passages as “Zaccheus,” “The 
 Prodigal Son,” and so on; and those who bore testimony as to what 
 the Gospel had done for them; comparing their former way of living 
 with the present. The speaking was interspersed with singing of 
 selected hymns by a number of school girls. Relatives, friends and 
 neighbors were the hearers of the King’s message, and while some re¬ 
 ceived the Word gladly, to others it was as a tale that is told. Since 
 these meetings, an entrance has been gained to a family of influence, 
 two of whose sons are earnest Christians. 
 
 Work among women proceeds much more slowly than among men, 
 doubtless owing largely to the fact that so few women can read. As 
 a result of the week’s meetings for men, forty registered their names 
 as being willing to attend classes and further investigate “The Truth.” 
 
 It has been estimated that in this district, including city and country, 
 some sixteen thousand and eighty-five persons heard the Gospel during 
 the week. 
 
 Miss Shipley, assisted by a band of native Christian women and 
 girls, conducted meetings in several villages within a few miles of 
 Changte. 
 
 Girls’ Boarding School.—Miss Pyke .—About eighty girls, from 
 eight to eighteen years of age, having either a Christian father or 
 mother, are being taught and trained in this school. There are seven 
 grades, four primary and three advanced, all based on the government 
 curriculum, with additional studies. Chinese girl teachers give some 
 instruction, but up to the present, their number has not been sufficient 
 to meet the need; thus throwing a much too heavy burden of teaching 
 upon the principal. Upon entering the class room the impression of 
 splendid discipline prevails. The pupils at once rise, and by a most 
 deferential bow, receive the principal and guests, which is the class 
 custom. Retaking their seats, one is escorted to the desks of each, to 
 observe the work being done. In the special grade being visited, a 
 drawing lesson is in progress, the principal being in charge. It is a 
 surprise to find that each pupil, instead of using loose sheets of paper, 
 which are liable to be lost and torn, is provided with a back number 
 of the Presbyterian Record, the printed page being but faintly discern- 
 able through the heavy Chinese drawing. With delight one notes the x 
 accuracy of the work, the difficult objects seeming to rise from the 
 page; the strength of lines showing the pupils’ boldness of hand and 
 correctness of eye. 
 
 Emphasis is laid upon Bible memory work and exposition, in all 
 the grades, ranging from Matthew in the first, to Romans in the 
 seventh, as well as Psalms and Isaiah. Much of John’s gospel was 
 memorized and repeated. The little tots tell, in their own words, Bible 
 stories from both Old and New Testament. In this way the good 
 seed is being stored away for the Holy Spirit’s future use, when these 
 girls, in their own homes, shall take their places and be given the 
 opportunity of witnessing for the Lord Jesus to their heathen friends 
 and relatives. In addition to this Biblical work, by which they receive 
 a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, the general subjects belonging 
 
36 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 to the Canadian school curriculum are taught. This knowledge, be¬ 
 cause of the general illiteracy of China’s womanhood, gives them 
 standing among their neighbors, and makes it possible for them to read 
 and teach the Word of God to those who have never heard. 
 
 One notices these same girls as they take their places in the chapel 
 on Sunday at public worship. Their outward behavior is perfect, 
 and the spirit of reverence at prayer time is most marked, as well as 
 the apparent earnest participation in the various exercises. The 
 heartiness of the singing, could it be heard in the home-land, would 
 surely arouse many a listless congregation. One can only pray that 
 there may be, not merely the outward form, but the inward response of 
 the heart to God’s blessed Holy Spirit, that their worship may be to 
 His glory. 
 
 The happy faces, the feet of natural size, the sweet responsiveness 
 to kindness, and the general pleasantry of these girls is most attractive. 
 With satisfaction it is noted that the aim of the school is not to alienate 
 the girls from their homes and the surroundings to which they must 
 return. As much as possible, Chinese customs and manner of life are 
 followed, with strict teaching and training along the lines of health 
 and cleanliness. The pupils are urged, upon leaving the school, to 
 put into practice the lessons of love and tender consideration for others 
 which belong to the daily life and routine of the school. Surely the 
 seed-sowing thus faithfully done, watered by prayer and nurtured by 
 the Holy Spirit, will bear fruit unto all eternity. 
 
 A Characteristic Famine Picture. — Mrs. Reeds .—On the verge of 
 despair, facing famine because the spring wheat crop had been an abso¬ 
 lute failure, owing to absence of rain for over seven months, when the 
 ground had become so baked and hardened that they could not plant 
 their summer crop, a number of Chinese farmers banded themselves 
 together to make a pilgrimage, with the object of prayer for the much- 
 needed rain. At sunrise they set out, a party of fifty, and as they 
 wended their way across the plain, from village to village, their num¬ 
 ber grew, until by noon they had over eleven hundred pilgrims. As 
 they marched along they were a very pitiful sight—all ages, from old 
 men of eighty down to small boys of eight or ten. All were dirty and 
 dusty and poorly dressed; many were ragged and barefooted. On their 
 heads were wreaths of willow, and ovec their shoulders they carried 
 branches from the same tree. A few had crude drums, and others, 
 cymbals. At every few paces there would be a great crashing of these 
 musical instruments to call the attention of the rain god, and then all 
 would shout together, “Hsia Yu,” send rain. But to whom were they 
 calling? One had only to look into those dark, despairing faces to 
 see that it could not be to the true and only God, but to some false 
 god, for there was no radiance on their faces such as we see on the 
 Christian’s face, showing he knows of the One who said, “I am the 
 Light of the world.” The faces of these men were all dark and hope¬ 
 less, the typical heathen face, with eyes of night. 
 
 These poor people marched for three days, continually calling on 
 their god to hear them, until at last they reached the sea-shore, where 
 they thought the rain god must be hiding. Then their priests would 
 read some old heathen books for three days, and they would pray for 
 three days for their god to have pity on them and send the rain. The 
 sadness of it was that these were the priests of Baal, but there was 
 no prophet of Jehovah to pray to the True God, who only had power 
 to answer prayer. 
 
 Hospital. —Dr. Dow, who has been in charge of the Women’s 
 Hospital at Changte for several years, left for furlough at midsummer, 
 1917; but for the six months 1,184 new cases were received, and 7,886 
 treatments given. Operations numbered 173. Most enecouraging re¬ 
 sults have been recorded, clearly showing that the preaching of the 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 37 
 
 Gospel, which goes hand in hand with treatment for physical ailments, 
 does bear fruit. Mrs. Goforth testifies that she has met many women 
 in distant country places who have told her that it was while being 
 treated in this hospital that they learned the way of salvation. She 
 says, “When I was at Tz’u Chou lately, holding a study class for women 
 —twenty-two were in attendance—one nice woman, whom I did not 
 previously know, told me she had opposed her son’s being a Christian 
 until she went to the hospital at Changte. Since returning home she 
 had been praying and studying the way of truth; she was one of those 
 lately received as a catechumen. 
 
 “At Kuo Ts’au Wau, 30 li west of Tz’u Chou, my two Bible 
 women walked out one day to a distant village to see some Christians, 
 and also to preach to the heathen. On the way we met a woman who 
 stopped us, and was so hearty that at first I thought she must be a 
 Christian, but found that six years before she had been in the Changte 
 hospital, and that ever since she had never ceased to pray to Jesus, 
 and did not worship idols; she was very clear in her answers and was 
 very glad to learn more of the way of salvation. 
 
 “One morning lately, as I was dressing, the curtain was lifted sud¬ 
 denly, and a strange woman appeared. I was about to send her off, 
 rather sharply, as it was not the way to come in, not the time, but 
 something seemed to keep me back. Her face was just beaming as 
 she said, ‘Yes, I know you, I saw you once at Changte when I was ill 
 there in the hospital.’ I asked her a few questions, as to who Jesus 
 was; how and why He died; how we pray, and so on; and the dear 
 woman was perfectly clear in her answers. She said she prayed every 
 day, and had done so ever since she left the hospital.” Mrs. Goforth 
 continues: “If these three incidents should be met with, in such 
 different ways, and so far apart, and in such a short time, is it not 
 encouraging to think that many, many are being truly touched with the 
 Gospel through the medium of the Women’s Hospital?” 
 
 Wei Hwei Station and Field—Evangelistic and Educational Work 
 in Wei Hwei City.—A Bible Women's Training Class had fifteen women 
 in regular attendance. The work taken up covered two years of the 
 course prescribed by Presbytery. Examination results showed earnest 
 work. 
 
 The regular Sunday and Wednesday meetings have been well 
 attended throughout the year. The interest in Bible study increased 
 so much that in the autumn another weekly meeting was started. Six 
 women professed their faith in Christ, and a number were enrolled as 
 catechumens. During the summer holidays when the missionaries were 
 away, these meetings were carried on by Mrs. Wa, who gives fully half 
 her time to the City work. We look upon her as God’s gift to this 
 mission. 
 
 Girls' Day School. — Mists Isabel McIntosh. —Fifty-eight pupils 
 have been enrolled, two taking Upper Primary or fifth year work, the 
 rest being in primary classes. Many of these attend Sunday School 
 regularly. 
 
 Girls' Boarding School.—Miss MacLennan. —Attendance about 
 sixty and the work accomplished has been very encouraging. A number 
 professed their faith by baptism. 
 
 Day-School. — Mrs. Harvey Grant. —In a village near Wei Hwei, 
 which for many years had been prejudiced against the Gospel, a service 
 has been held every Sabbath afternoon, with a good attendance, and 
 homes are gradually opening. A day school has been opened with twelve 
 little girls in attendance, and a bright Christian girl, a graduate from 
 M iss McLennan’s school, is the teacher in charge. 
 
 Village Touring. — Mrs. Harvey Grant. —During the year frequent 
 tours were taken with my husband. Six towns and villages were visited, 
 
38 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 remaining from ten days to three weeks in each place. In two of these 
 centres the mission has permanent premises, but in the other four a 
 house was rented during the time of our stay. Work of two kinds was 
 usually carried on, preaching to the heathen and teaching the Christians, 
 who try to remain for all or part of the time. 
 
 During the week of “Special Evangelism” the Christian women 
 were divided into groups, and were very earnest and enthusiastic in 
 telling the glad Message to others. There is an increasing willingness 
 to receive the missionary and to hear the Message. In a marked degree 
 the harvest is ready, but, alas, the laborers are few. 
 
 West Suburb Day-School. — Mrs. Lochead. —This school has been 
 doing good work in the three years of its existence; the girls going to 
 Miss McLennan’s school to try regular mission examinations, and the 
 result being very satisfactory. Forty names were on the roll in 1917. 
 
 Christmas Gathering. —94 women and children sat down to a simple 
 Christmas dinner, the expenses being met by those who bought tickets, 
 and a few cheerful givers who made up what extra money was required. 
 At the Christmas service which followed the dinner, several testified 
 to the power of prayer; their bright faces and quiet manner showing 
 that they were giving heart experiences. At this meeting one was 
 missed who had been present at similar gatherings for several years, 
 making everything bright with her beautiful service, Ma T’ai T’ai, who 
 was called to higher service in February, having heard the promised, 
 “Well done, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 
 
 They Shall See His Face. Rom. 22:4 .—Mrs. G. M. Ross.— “Ma 
 T’ai T’ai has just been called home. I was privileged to be with her 
 almost to the last. The beauty of the Lord our God was upon her to 
 the end”—so read a message sent by Miss Isabel McIntosh of Wei 
 Hwei Fu, whose association with Ma T’ai T’ai had been very close for 
 several years. When surprise had passed away—for we had seen 
 our friend in her usual health only a very short time before—the 
 mind went back to our first meeting with her, nearly fourteen years 
 ago. An invitation had come to the teachers of the mission to visit 
 in the home of the Ma family. Mrs. McClure and Miss Menzies, 
 together with three who had but recently arrived, availed themselves of 
 it; the older workers gladly embracing the opportunity afforded by 
 such a gathering to give the Message of the Gospel to those they 
 would meet there. For some of us, the time to speak was not yet, 
 but impressions received then have remained long with us. 
 
 After some time had been spent in the usual festivities, we were 
 shown about the various court-yards comprising the home; but the one 
 thing remaining with me now, is not the flower garden, or the gold-fish, 
 or the other Oriental arrangements of the home—-but—the sight of 
 company after company of ladies richly dressed, seated around small 
 tables, engaged in gambling! 
 
 This visit was the first of a long intercourse with the Mission; but 
 some years passed before the time of decision came for Ma T’ai T’ai. 
 The question, all important, was rightly decided at last; but God only 
 knows what it means to one in heathen lands to be the first, in any 
 particular place or circle, to confess Christ. 
 
 Her life, redeemed by Christ, was gladly given to His service, 
 and was a fruitful one; for into all her friendships she carried the 
 new experience, and won not a few to her Saviour. When the work in 
 Wei Hwei Fu entered upon its larger development, in the compound 
 specially given to women’s work, Ma T’ai T’ai freely offered her ser¬ 
 vices as companion worker to Miss McIntosh, without other reward 
 than that which should come from the Master Himself—the joy of ser¬ 
 vice here, and the “joy of the Lord” hereafter. Her last illness, oc¬ 
 casioned possibly by exposure during a visit to a village where interest 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 39 
 
 was shown, was brief. She had then, as she and her family had at other 
 times, the care of our medical workers. Her life work was over, and 
 she entered into rest after a few days’ sickness, during which Miss 
 McIntosh was with her—till—the end drawing very near—she with¬ 
 drew to allow the immediate relatives the last hours. 
 
 In the memorial service, held in the Women’s Chapel, affectionate 
 respect was paid to her memory by fellow-workers, Chinese and 
 Canadian; by friends from official families; by poor women from city 
 and country, who had often received a warm welcome from her. A 
 wreath made by the children of the M.C.S. was presented by Morrison 
 Mitchell to the grandson of Ma T’ai T’ai, In the winning of this woman 
 to the Saviour; in her work so richly blessed among those of her own 
 acquaintance, and among other women of the city and district, as well 
 as in all the work done by various workers for the women of China 
 in the Master’s name, we see again a proof of the words uttered so long 
 ago by the Apostle who had learned the key to human hearts. “Love 
 never iaileth.” 
 
 Hwai King Station and District. — Girls' Boarding School. — Mrs. 
 Margaret Walks Struthers. —This school has been rather unfortunate 
 through the out-break of an epidemic of diphtheria in the early part of 
 1917, and later a case of small-pox; losses were instanced through 
 depredations of thieves, and teachers had to be changed three times, 
 all of which was a drawback to the work. Mrs. Chai, one of the first 
 graduates, made a good assistant for the first half of the year, when on 
 account of her marriage she left, and since Miss Li, a graduate of last 
 year has helped in the junior grades. Mrs. Chen is still the capable 
 matron, a help and inspiration to all who know her. The school-yard has 
 been improved, and in September had the appearance of a tropical gar¬ 
 den. Eight of the sixteen girls in the school were recorded. 
 
 Girls’ Day-School.—Miss Brown, Principal.— After thirteen months 
 of vain attempts, Miss Brown succeeded, in October,, in securing very 
 fine premises for women’s work to be carried on in the city, splendidly 
 located, within easy reach of the homes of most of the upper class 
 women whom she had met, and on November 14th, the formal opening 
 took place, under most favorable auspices. The Chinese estimated that 
 in all one thousand women and children visited the place on that day. 
 Probably between five and six hundred were actually present to hear 
 the address. Practically all the women of the official class attended 
 and listened with much interest to the very vivid address given by 
 Mrs. Chen, of the Girls’ Boarding-school, her topic being “The Place 
 Given to Women by the Christian Religion.” The girls from the 
 Boarding-school furnished the music for the occasion. A day-school for 
 girls was at once opened on the premises with 21 in attendance, a large 
 percentage being from the official class, several leaving the Government 
 School for the mission-school, and one belonging to the military 
 yamen. Every Sunday and Wednesday services have been well attended, 
 often the seating accommodation being taxed to the utmost. 
 
 * On Christmas Day Mrs. Struthers and some of her girls put on a 
 dialogue, at an entertainment which was given, representing Christian 
 girls from every land. Over three hundred people were in attendance. 
 One Chinese lady remarked that hereafter she would know the mean¬ 
 ing of Jesus’ birthday. 
 
 Some may remember in a previous edition of “Incident and Story 
 From Far and Near” the account of Mrs. Chen, the lady who became 
 Miss Brown’s friend through her guessing so cleverly some Chinese 
 riddles. This lady is now living with her and giving voluntary ser¬ 
 vice to the school; she is highly educated and liked by all who know 
 her. Much of the success of the work has been due to her presence 
 with Miss Brown. 
 
40 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 It is felt that the opening of this school has given a wonderful 
 opportunity for work in Hwai King. 
 
 Industrial School. — Mrs. Mowatt. —This school, which was begun 
 in a very small way, some years ago, to help a few starving women, 
 has now a regular attendance of over fifty women, and many more 
 are working in their homes. A primary school, in connection with it, 
 has eighteen pupils, who study in the forenoons and work in the after¬ 
 noons. During 1917 twenty-two women finished the catechism course, 
 and learned several hymns. Regular visits have been paid to the homes 
 of the women, and classes held, on an average of twice a week, in each 
 of the villages from which the women come. Two, and sometimes 
 three Bible women have been employed. The financial report of the 
 school was very encouraging; the sales of work not having been 
 hindered by the war, but on the contrary, orders have almost doubled. 
 Much of this financial success has been due to the efforts of Mrs. Laing 
 of Montreal, who has given able assistance to Mrs. Mowatt by looking 
 after the sales in Canada, which last year amounted to over $1,000. 
 The school building in Hwai King was the generous gift of Mrs. Laing. 
 
 Country Work.—Miss O'Neill. —Since arrival from furlough the 
 middle of September, I have spent most of the time at four outstations 
 where numbers heard the Gospel, and some came daily to study. 
 Besides the women, there were the usual number of children, and in the 
 evenings a goodly number of schoolboys. The children all love to 
 sing, and are anxious to learn our hymns. We also had a Sunday School 
 and Primary Class Picture Roll, taking up the lessons on it in the early 
 evening before the women gathered. 
 
 Usually we spent the forenoon and evening at the outstation, and 
 in the afternoon visited among the surrounding villages, where we were 
 always welcomed, and where very soon a crowd gathered who listened 
 willingly to our message. They bought many books and tracts, 
 although occasionally they seemed afraid to buy; but when we would 
 present them with some tracts and hymn sheets, they were always more 
 willing to buy on our next visit. One of the Bible women who had 
 not been doing country work for some years, frequently remarked on 
 the change in the attitude of the people; whereas formerly so many 
 were unwilling to hear, now they listen attentively. Old superstitions 
 and fears of being persecuted often hold back many who are almost 
 persuaded. At one of the villages, we met a man who seemed to have 
 a very intelligent grasp of the Gospel, and when one of the Bible women 
 said to him that he had sufficient knowledge to become a Christian, and 
 that he should become one and bear witness in his village, he an¬ 
 swered, “Yes, I know enough, but it is hard, oh! so hard to become a 
 Christian.” Fear of opposition from family and friends evidently was 
 keeping him from yielding to what he felt was the right thing to 
 do. Alas! there are many like this man, who need the prayers of God’s 
 people, that they may come out boldly in spite of opposition. . 
 
 Tao K’ou Station and Field.—City and Country Work.-—Miss Mac¬ 
 donald.— Arriving back from furlough in the Fall, I started work at 
 once among the outstations, visiting one new centre where there was a 
 great demand for a Girls’ Day School. We had to live among these 
 people for a while in order to become better acquainted with them, and 
 had quite a little revival. We feel that their request will have to be 
 granted in the near future as the women are so anxious to learn of 
 Christ and the way of Life. 
 
 Relief work begun, has opened up new villages, in a hitherto 
 hostile district, and good results are earnestly looked for. The regular 
 work of the Women’s School has been carried on, from thirty to forty, 
 from city and village, attending daily. The Sunday afternoon Bible- 
 class is well attended and is a pleasure to teach. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 4i 
 
 The Girls’ Day School is making its impression on the people of 
 the city, mothers even paying their children to attend it, and willingly 
 buying books for them. 
 
 The new lantern is very popular, the chapel being filled whenever 
 the pictures are exhibited. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts and big 
 sisters of our pupils, would come in, sit quietly and listen earnestly to 
 the preaching on the Life of Christ, enjoying the pictures illustrating it, 
 very respectable folk they seem to be. Needless to say, the children 
 are always present and enliven the hour by occasional hymns. 
 
 Hsun Hsien Girls’ Day School, with 20 pupils, is doing good work, 
 and is a little centre of light amid very dark surroundings; being the 
 more effective because of the steadiness of the light. The brightest 
 and cleanest girl in the school was the worst child in the street, one 
 year ago. 
 
 A Strange Schoolroom.—Miss Dinwoody. —Last November Miss 
 Macdonald and I visited a village north-west of Tao K’ou where great 
 preparations had been made for our coming. The lady who had invited 
 us had three small buildings in the form of three sides of a square, 
 which was the home of herself, her husband and daughter, a girl of 
 eleven years of age. One building was occupied by a cow and two 
 donkeys; another was a guest-room and granary combined, and the 
 third was the kitchen, bedroom and living room of the family. An 
 old woman, a poor relation, who acted as servant for her keep, slept 
 beside the animals, and once or twice every night had to get up and give 
 them fodder. The guest-room and granary was cleaned out and fixed 
 up for our reception; the grain being moved into our hostess’s bedroom. 
 As no place else was safe, we lived here for two weeks, and found 
 everything clean, and the people of the village most willing to listen 
 to the Gospel Message; they would come at all times of the day and 
 stay on far into the night. 
 
 We had a small magic lantern which proved a great treat, the 
 women sitting in breathless wonder as the pictures were shown and 
 explained. A larger number of girls attended who showed great anxiety 
 to learn. Our hostess, although she knew little herself and could not 
 even read, as she learned a hymn or a prayer or a text, would 
 gather these little girls together and endeavor to teach them what she 
 herself had acquired. 
 
 As it was November when we were there, the weather was often 
 cold and windy, and as the rooms were so small, one of us always had to 
 have a class out of doors, and we would look for a sheltered sunny 
 place. Just after dinner one day, before we had begun our afternoon 
 work, I heard voices repeating the catechism, and on going around the 
 house to investigate, I found five little girls kneeling on a grinding- 
 stone near a straw-stack, with their heads close together studying the 
 catechism; it was most encouraging to see how eager they were for 
 knowledge. There, in this sunny corner, after studying all morning 
 with me, and having no task assigned to them, they were making the 
 very most of their opportunity. These girls were all under twelve 
 years of age, but instead of thinking of play, or getting their dinner, 
 their minds were intent on learning all they could; and as soon as 
 they spied me they begged me to help them. Since then a regular 
 school has been opened in that village from which we hope for good 
 results. 
 
 Wu An Station and District.—The City Day-School. — Mrs. Clark.— 
 This school has been well attended and the June examinations showed 
 very satisfactory progress, the teachers having been doing good work. 
 The training class for women and girls as Sunday School teachers 
 has been conducted weekly. Special meetings for women have been 
 held in the city during the year, with encouraging results. Several 
 country places, visited from time to time, gave our missionaries a 
 
42 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 hearty welcome. Many new homes and villages were opened during 
 the year. 
 
 Siu Wu Station and District.—Mrs. Ross.—The Women’s Chapel 
 inside the East Gate, which was opened towards the end of 1916, has 
 been filled to its utmost capacity, and the interest manifested in the 
 preaching and study of the Word has been very encouraging. Special 
 interest for the Christians is attached to the prayer meetings, which 
 are held regularly; for in this service is included the preparatory study 
 of the Sunday School lesson. 
 
 The Little Girls’ Day Class. —Some of these girls have done good 
 work in their own homes, teaching to their mothers and older female 
 relatives what they have learned themselves in the school. 
 
 Mu Luan Tien has been visited monthly for sometime, and is a city 
 that appeals most strongly, as the numbers who attend the services 
 and show marked interest, makes it very evident that the Lord “has 
 much people in this City.” 
 
 Shanghai 
 
 Mrs. Donald MacGillivray.— (< Happy Childhood,” the little maga¬ 
 zine for Chinese children, has gone successfully on its way, each month 
 showing additional subscriptions. So far as is known, this is the only 
 interdenominational Christian magazine for Chinese children, and it 
 is eagerly looked for, especially at Christmas time, by about 10,000 
 children. The work in connection with it has been a continual and 
 increasing joy. It is an arduous task, but the Heavenly Father has 
 given the needed strength. The work of planning, finding material, and 
 correspondence is increasing all the time as the interest in the paper 
 increases. Letters of appreciation, from all over China, have many 
 times cheered and helped. 
 
 In connection with the magazine, a series of Christmas cards 
 were prepared, and sold by the Sunday School Unions; 10,000 of these 
 cards were thus disposed of. Plans have been made for issuing a series 
 of short story-books for children to be known as “Happy Childhood 
 series of story-books,” and the first will be “The Life of David 
 Livingstone,” written expressly for children. 
 
 Notwithstanding the chaos and unrest in China, caused by the 
 war, we feel deeply thankful that this branch of “The King’s Business” 
 has been carried on uninterruptedly and successfully. 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 43 
 
 Jln&iaH 
 icmpire for :: 
 Christ 
 
 Snisure 
 
 Medical — 
 
 Dr. McMaster. 
 
 3 
 
 “Overweights of joy.’’ Bhil children. 
 
 HE year has been 
 a busy one at In¬ 
 dore Hospital. 
 Dr. McMaster deferr¬ 
 ed her furlough until 
 October in the hope 
 that a substitute could 
 be found to take her 
 place without disturb¬ 
 ing other work. In 
 this she was not suc¬ 
 cessful therefore Dr. 
 Moodie of Hat Piplia 
 was appointed to take 
 charge of the work 
 during her absence. 
 
 Medical.—Miss Thompson .—-The work in my department has been 
 heavy, though we have had fewer patients than in 1916. All the nurses 
 are in training and I miss the help of my graduates. One nurse, Anandi, 
 passed her final examinations. She, however, has not the qualities of a 
 head nurse, not being able to govern and teach others. On the whole, 
 the work done by the nurses has been satisfactory. I need a staff nurse 
 very much, to help me in the training, one who loves the work and loves 
 to teach others. Three probationers were accepted. One, Lillie Bai, a 
 young widow, educated in our Boarding School; Dhaniega and Rukluni 
 also from the school, the latter two having passed the Anglo-Vernacular 
 Government Examination. Anandi is to have training in the dispensary 
 this year. 
 
 The hospital matron is a dear, motherly woman and her influence 
 is good among the patients and I dread losing her. But she is nearly 
 sixty-five years of age and not up to the work she should do. We 
 pay her Rs. 25/- a month. Her old husband, a Government pensioner, 
 died last month very suddenly and of course his pension ceases. More 
 work falls on me because of her gentle inefficiency, but it is so difficult 
 to get helpers of the right sort that one just goes on doing as well as 
 possible. 
 
 We ended the year with nine babies in the nursery, all well and 
 growing more interesting every day. The latest arrival amongst them 
 was a boy of 2% years, deserted by his father after his mother died. 
 Some workmen at the cotton mills gave the child scraps of food, but 
 finally got tired and brought him to us as a gift. Poor, pathetic, wee 
 laddie, he came up to me and leaned against me so confidingly and was 
 quite willing to stay. He never spoke a word for two months, but 
 
44 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 now he is fat and jolly and talks freely. We gave him the name 
 Mungel meaning gladness. 
 
 Prices kept fairly reasonable through the year for grain and sup¬ 
 plies, but they are going up all the time. Clothing especially is getting 
 beyond the reach of the poor classes, servants, etc. Thus wages have 
 to be raised. 
 
 The evangelistic work goes on about the same. In addition to 
 Chimie Bai, the Bible woman, Namie Bai, one of my graduate nurses, 
 has been employed to teach in-patients. Our faithful helper, Jumua 
 Bai, is diligent as ever singing and talking to in-patients. Plague 
 kept many people out of the city and camps, hence we had fewer in¬ 
 patients for a time. Almost all our workers took part during the 
 campaign week visiting villages on foot and selling portions of Scrip¬ 
 ture and tracts. Since then a nurse or two of a compounder goes with 
 Jumua Bai once a week to villages within walking distance of the 
 hospital. We also encourage them to help in the ward teaching. The 
 S. S. classes in hospital, and the class for men and boys have been 
 carried on as usual. 
 
 Educational.—Miss White.—Women’s Industrial Home .—The year 
 1917 has been, as usual, a busy one in the Women’s Industrial Home. 
 The health of all has been very good and the work has been carried 
 on without interruption. The number of residents in the Home has 
 again been reduced, mainly through marriages. Several women and 
 little children have been admitted throughout the year, among them a 
 war widow and her little child. She has been granted a pension of Rs. 
 4/- per month for life. She can sew and crochet and so can do much 
 towards the support of herself and her child. Another, recently admit¬ 
 ted, is a young Bhil wife whose husband, a sepoy in a Bhil corps, is 
 now at the “Front.” She was married from the Home, some time ago, 
 and went to live in Amkhut, and when her husband volunteered for 
 service, she asked Dr. Buchanan to send her back to the Home. I was 
 surprised and pleased at her request, for she was a very trying girl 
 and often had to get more than the weapon of Truth, and her name 
 Mukti (Salvation) seemed a misnomer to me. Her marriage has 
 worked such a transformation—she is now a help and comfort to us 
 all, quiet but not subdued, thoughtful and earnest in her attention to 
 work and instruction. Others have been admitted under sad circum¬ 
 stances, but we despair of no one, remembering we can draw on the 
 help of our loving Father to guide the penitent ones to Him and so win 
 His peace. 
 
 Industrial work in all its branches is engaged in by all and much 
 good work has been done by the women towards their own support as 
 well as their “bit” of service for the Red Cross War Relief Committee. 
 The knitting machine is the mainstay of our war work. Knitting in the 
 hot season is not easy or pleasant in hands wet with perspiration and 
 rusty needles, but the knitting machine can turn out socks at all seasons. 
 
 The educational work never exceeds the Upper Primary Course of 
 the Educational Curriculum for the United Provinces. Bible instruc¬ 
 tion has precedence of all subjects taught. The dav begins and ends 
 with prayer and Bible study, in addition to the Bible lesson from 10 
 to 11 a.m. at which the Gospels, Catechism and memory verses have 
 been taken up. The course arranged for the Evangelistic Campaign 
 has also been followed by Mrs. Johory on Friday evenings, while a 
 similar meeting at the same time has been held by me with the women 
 living in the neighborhood of our ladies’ bungalow. 
 
 The International Sabbath School lessons have been followed in 
 the Sabbath School. The usual examination on the lessons was held 
 at the close of the year and a number received prizes. Four women in 
 the class held on our compound also gained prizes this year. The 
 Y.W.C.A. meeting always held on Sabbath at noon, continues to be 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 45 
 
 most helpful and encouraging. The secretary of the Y.W.C.A. Hindi 
 Branch visited Indore again during the year and held a joint meeting 
 of the three Y.W.C.A. branches, in the Girls’ Boarding and High School. 
 Reports were read by each branch, and commented on in a helpful way 
 by the Secretary. 
 
 Educational.—Miss Duncan. — Girls’ High School .—The work in 
 the Girls’ High School, Indore, was carried on regularly throughout 
 the year. The matron who had been with us for over six years left us 
 in October, 1916, in order to make a home for her boys who had just 
 come out of school, and it was not until April, 1917, that we succeeded 
 in getting a good substitute. 
 
 In the beginning of March the annual prize-giving gathering v/as 
 held and a goodly number of visitors were present to hear the songs, 
 rounds, recitations, etc., given by the pupils, and to witness the ball-drill 
 of the junior pupils and the bar-bell-drill given by about sixty of the 
 seniors. 
 
 During March Miss Robertson left for Canada on her first fur¬ 
 lough. After her six years of hard work in the school she certainly 
 deserved this much-needed change and rest. 
 
 During the first four months of the year the classes were very busy 
 preparing for their closing examinations—the tenth class girls for the 
 Matriculation of the Allahabad University (one of whom was success¬ 
 ful in passing), the sixth class girls for the Middle or Entrance Exam¬ 
 ination of the United Provinces (seven of whom passed); while all 
 the other girls were preparing for the annual promotion examinations 
 given by the school. Our aim has always been to make this final exam¬ 
 ination a very thorough test of the knowledge gained by the girls during 
 the year, and so it involves a great deal of hard work in the matter of 
 preparing the papers. 
 
 At the close of April when the bustle and excitement of the 
 examinations were all over, the majority of the girls went to their 
 homes to spend the hot-season vacation. 
 
 At the middle of June we were met with the unexpected necessity 
 of trying to get a substitute for Miss Smillie who, at that time, asked 
 Council to allow her to remain at her work on the Hospital Ship 
 “Loyalty” instead of rejoining the school. 
 
 The number of resident pupils has decreased somewhat, owing 
 probably to increase of fees, but the number of day-pupils has increased 
 making our number as usual about no. The orphan girls have passed 
 out of the school. Three of them passed the middle examination this 
 year and afterwards these, with one other, left to take up work in the 
 hospitals at Indore and Neemuch. 
 
 The non-Christians include Parsees, Mohammedans and Hindus, 
 all of whom join our Bible-Classes, learn the hymns and verses and 
 take part in the other religious exercises. 
 
 Three of the boarders were baptised during the year on profession 
 of their faith, two of whom had been Mohammedans and one a Hindu. 
 
 The books of the Bible studied in the senior class were Exodus and 
 John’s Gospel, while many hymns were learned and passages of Scrip¬ 
 ture committed to memory. The junior class studied the Gospel of 
 Luke. 
 
 The Sunday School services and the Y.W.C.A. meetings have been 
 held as usual. Collections taken at the latter amounted to Rs. 30, 
 of which Rs. 20 were sent to Sabathu Leper Asylum and Rs. 10 to 
 the fund for the children of blind soldiers. A good deal of Red Cross 
 work was done during the holidays. 
 
 The library, which contains 800 volumes, is being more and more 
 patronised by the girls, who seem now to really enjoy the stories and 
 literature provided for them. 
 
46 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 The apparatus of the science laboratory has been quite largely 
 supplemented this year and this has added much to the interest of the 
 Physics and Chemistry lessons. 
 
 The new inspector of schools for Central India visited the school 
 on two occasions and expressed himself as being highly pleased with 
 the appliances, library, and general' conduct of the school. 
 
 Educational.—Miss Manarey.—Marathi School. —In the beginning 
 of the year an attempt was made to visit the villages near Indore. As 
 a rule, the people were quite ready to listen and some were interested. 
 They, unlike the villagers farther afield, have lost their fear of the 
 white face. This removes a difficulty so often found in places out of 
 the reach of European communities. 
 
 Zenana work was carried on during the year but the work is not 
 opening up as well as one could wish. A Mohammedan woman whom 
 we were visiting regularly recently welcomed us heartily. She has 
 received teaching before. The work in the Chamar and Ballai quarters 
 has been carried on throughout the year whenever possible. 
 
 The Marathi School in Indore opened January 21st and remained 
 open till the end of the first week in October when it was again found 
 necessary to close it because of plague. The annual prize-giving took 
 place in April with no new features. Miss White very kindly looked 
 after the work of the school while I was in the Hills during the hot 
 season. The average attendance for the year was 39. 
 
 The work among the women during the Evanglistic campaign week 
 was not as great as we had hoped, owing to a large Hindu fair held for 
 a few days that week four miles from the city. The Bible woman and 
 another woman accompanied me to the places where people usually 
 listen. One day a magic lantern exhibition was held in the Marathi 
 School for the benefit of the women of that part of the city. The 
 attendance was very good. The pictures shown illustrated the life 
 of Christ and the teachers explained them. 
 
 Just at that time two of the girls attending the school were 
 married and their mother called me to see them before they went away. 
 Taking two girls from the High School I went the next afternoon. 
 They gathered quite a large number of women about and we had a 
 very good meeting. 
 
 iflthmu 
 
 Among the Bhils and Banjaras 
 
 Miss Weir. —The year began with preparations for an extended 
 tour in Nimar, but on account of plague in the villages there, had to 
 be given up. Attention was then given to a district still plague free. 
 Some time was spent among the Bhils and Banjaras in the hilly district 
 about ten miles from Mhow. These villages had been visited before, 
 but the missionaries had never camped among them. They were well 
 received. After returning from this trip, the next important event was 
 the special week of the Evangelistic Campaign. Careful preparation by 
 classes for Bible study and prayer had been made for months before, 
 and the Christian women entered into the work most heartily. In 
 August it was possible to have a Biblewoman placed in an out-station. 
 Lalibai, whose husband is a catechist in Mandlesar, is working among 
 the women in that and the neghboring villages. These women have 
 hitherto been reached only on the trips throughout the district. The 
 Sunday Bible classes for the women have been held during the year. 
 
 School and Zenana Work. — Mrs. Menzies. —The beginning of the 
 year found both school and zenana work closed on account of plague 
 * which had been very bad in Mhow for some months. Therefore I with 
 the two Bible women and two of the teachers joined Miss Weir in a 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 47 
 
 two weeks camp some ten miles from Mhow in the midst of a group 
 of Bhil and Banjara (gypsy) villages. The women greatly enjoyed 
 getting out amongst the village people and were much encouraged 
 by the reception and hearing given them by most of the wild yet timid 
 Bhils and the wild but not timid Banjaras. The camp consisted of 
 six small tents pitched close to a village on a spot which the people 
 of the village had kindly cleared up for our use, burning the long dry 
 grass. 
 
 It was a great joy in the evenings after the day’s work was done 
 to see the workers gathered around the camp fire, first cooking and eat¬ 
 ing their evening meal and afterwards telling stories or singing hymns. 
 Then all gathered in front of the Miss Sahibs’ tent for worship before 
 retiring. Those people representing different castes who before becom¬ 
 ing Christians could not have cooked or eaten their food or sat together, 
 are now all “one in Christ Jesus.” Only one poor old Hindu ox driver, 
 prohibited by his religion and caste from eating with the Christians, 
 ate, sat and slept with his oxen outside the camp, a poor lonely old 
 man. At the end of the first week he took very ill and had to be sent 
 back to Mhow in the Miss Sahibs’ cart. 
 
 The school was opened and Zenana work resumed February the 
 15th and both have gone on without interruption until the end of 
 November when we were again compelled to close as there was plague 
 all around the school and some of the pupils had died of the dread 
 disease. 
 
 As there were no midsummer holidays the prize giving was held 
 in September this year. On that occasion quite a number of the parents 
 were present and seemed to enjoy the programme, especially those 
 whose children were taking part. We were interested in the pride and 
 gratification manifested by the latter. 
 
 After the programme each girl was made happy by the gift of two 
 yards of colored calico, all but the very tiny ones who received little 
 dolls. Each teacher received a Bible in a new Hindi translation which 
 they were very desirous of possessing. 
 
 . During the week of the long looked forward to Evangelistic Cam¬ 
 paign in February our Christian women in Mhow were divided into 
 three bands, Mrs. Taylor taking one band, Miss Weir one and I the 
 third. 
 
 Also the villages around Mhow were divided into three groups 
 and we with our women went each day to the villages allotted to us. 
 We had visited one large village a short time before and found the 
 people quite friendly, though our hearts were saddened by seeing 
 the poor dead goats which had been offered to the goddess of small 
 pox being dragged away by the chamars (a low caste) to provide a feast 
 for them. Hundreds of people had come from other villages, many 
 of them plague infected and from Mhow and we said to one another at 
 the time, “What a splendid plan to spread plague.” Sure enough when 
 we went there the first day of the campaign, we found the whole 
 village turned out except a few unfortunates who were lying in their 
 houses, dying of plague. There was no welcome for the missionary 
 or her women, foT had they not been there two weeks before and had 
 not the plague appeared after their visit? It was of no avail to 
 tell them that the great crowds for the festival of the goddess 
 of small pox had been there just at that time also and had stayed 
 some days. It was so much more reasonable to believe that the 
 Christians had brought it—had not the Brahmins told them that 
 the British Government spread plague and cholera in order to 
 kill the people of India and secure the country for themselves? 
 However, this did not discourage us, other villages were ready to 
 welcome us and listen to our message. Many of our women walked 
 for miles carrying their babies in order to have a share in this special 
 effort to extend the Kingdom of Christ in their country. 
 
48 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 Industrial Work. —Forty-five women have been working this year. 
 Each Monday morning they gather on the school compound, give in the 
 work of the past week and receive work for the following one. They 
 are paid at the end of each month. In November the Maharajah of 
 Dhar held a fete for “Our Day,” and at the request of the Secretary 
 we sent some work to be exhibited and received a prize of thirty 
 rupees (ten dollars). The work was bought by visitors to the fete. 
 
 We are so thankful that although our Mhow Christian community 
 has been surrounded by plague both last year and this they have, with 
 one exception, been protected from it. One woman when asked if she 
 was not afraid when she saw so many being carried away from her 
 immediate neighborhood said, “Why should I fear when I have asked 
 God to take care of us?” 
 
 Miss Drummond. —My first experience of district work was in 
 January and February of 1917, when Miss Nugent kindly looked after 
 the school work in Ujjain, and set me free for three weeks’ work with 
 Miss Grier in the villages. Many a time I have been thankful for those 
 three weeks with one who has spent so much time in the work, and 
 who can do it so well. I came back to school work, but only for a 
 short time, as our Council in March appointed me to Evangelistic work 
 in and around Ujjain, as Miss Grier was going on furlough. Shortly 
 after Miss Nugent was given charge of the schools. 
 
 Plague in the city prevented us from visiting homes there, so with 
 Miss Grier’s faithful workers, Bu'aji and Bhunbai, I visited the villages 
 near. In a few we were well received but in many w*e found the 
 people very indifferent. 
 
 Preparatory classes for the campaign were held for several months 
 before the week appointed for special Evangelistic effort. Then, almost 
 every Christian woman in Ujjain was willing to go out in turn to the 
 villages to give the Gospel Message. Those who remained at home 
 met daily for prayer. It was a week never to be forgotten, and though 
 there were no baptisms among the women, the effort was not in vain. 
 
 During the summer months we visited the homes open to us in the 
 city and found many sad hearts owing to the ravages of plague. Had 
 the poor sorrowing ones known our loving Father, and experienced the 
 peace which the world cannot give, how different it would have been. 
 I can see yet a poor old Brahmin woman as she stood at her door and 
 told us her sad story. All had been taken and she left alone. God 
 grant that the light of the glorious Gospel may enter into the hearts of 
 the people of this land and dispel the darkness. 
 
 On account of bad roads after heavy rains we did not get out to 
 work in the distant villages until December. It is the work I like best 
 and I shall always be glad that I had an opportunity of doing a little 
 of it in my first term. We were at three places before Christmas. 
 Miss Manarey and I, with our Bible women, visited thirty-five villages, 
 and in most of them had a very good reception. Up to the time of 
 writing I know ten women in different villages very much interested 
 in Christianity. One would be baptized if her husband were willing, 
 and another will, I hope, be baptized with her husband as soon as 
 touring in this part of the field is finished. 
 
 Nmnttrh 
 
 kF.M.S/s Hospital for Women 
 
 Dr. MacKellar. —The year has been crammed with work of one 
 kind or another. Missionary activities have gone on as in other years, 
 but, of necessity, Red Cross work and other War work has been 
 added. In reviewing the twelve months work it would look as if our 
 energies had been dissipated, but we agree with the Indian Christian- 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 49 
 
 leader at work in France who, when he was asked to return to mis¬ 
 sionary effort in India, refused saying, “We have no right to order our 
 lives as if the war did not exist.” 
 
 When possible, I have attended a Red Cross work class once a 
 week, where representatives of all classes of society from “The 
 Colonel’s Lady to Judy O’Grady” meet loyally to do their bit to help 
 win the war. 
 
 At the yearly meeting of the St. John’s Ambulance Association it 
 was reported that some Indian ladies desired to have a share in the 
 Red Cross sewing class but had said there was only one bungalow 
 that they could go to and that was “The Mission Ladies’ Bungalow as it 
 is Zenana” On learning this, we expressed our willingness to have a 
 class meet on Friday evenings. From 20 to 25 Indian Christian, Parsi, 
 Hindoo and Mahomedan women meet. By far the greater number of 
 the women are our Christians and next in number come the Parsis. 
 Several of the non-Christian women take work home with them and 
 all are quite keen to do their bit. Since we started October 27th we 
 have made 302 garments for the Red Cross. 
 
 , December with two other members of the “Selection Commit¬ 
 tee” I visited the Freeman Thomas War Hospital for British soldiers 
 in Bombay, where our 1st unit is at work. The hospital is a beautiful 
 one facing the sea, with accommodation for 500 beds. The pure white 
 walls and white enamelled bedsteads with their dark, moss-green 
 colored blankets (it was in the cold season, so called) were very 
 attractive and most pleasing to the eye. 75% of the unit of Medical 
 • Women were Medical Missionaries. 
 
 Most Missions in India realise the significance of the war and 
 are doing their share in helping to win it. 
 
 Missionaries as well as munition workers keep saying:_ 
 
 “And so we will slave, and slave, and slave, lest the men at the 
 front should rue it.” 
 
 We must not be “Slackers,” “Quitters” or “Deserters.” 
 
 The year opened with an epidemic of Bubonic Plague, which 
 hindered the continuous work in the Branch-dispensaries, which were 
 closed one for three months and the other for two months, as the popu¬ 
 lations where they are situated had fled to other towns or were in huts at 
 a distance. The unusual heavy rains—70"—(our usual average is 28") 
 made conditions of houses and soil favorable for the plague germs to 
 thrive and do their deadly work. The Government returns for the whole 
 of India show a weekly mortality of between 20,000 and 31,000 and this 
 has been going on in India for 22 years. In January (’18) the deaths 
 from plague alone amounted to 114,000. 
 
 The total number of antiplague inoculations here in cantonment 
 was 10,212 of which number we did 2,553 with most satisfactory results. 
 The inoculations spread over nine months of the year and it is signi¬ 
 ficant to note that there were no inoculations from April 21st to July 
 2Ist —the hot season months. The sun’s heat and light and cleanli¬ 
 ness are the greatest enemies of plague. The vaccine for local inocula¬ 
 tions was supplied free of charge by the Chief Military Medical Officer 
 here, who has been most kind in helping us with any special hospital 
 cases. 
 
 In the Mission we have conclusive proof that inoculation does 
 protect against the disease. All the Christians, except a little scrap of 
 a girl in the hospital suffering from diabetes, were inoculated. We 
 decided the girl would not be exposed and as she is a perfect skeleton 
 we passed her over. You can imagine our anxiety when the child 
 developed plague, but as she was promptly isolated and the case proved 
 to be a mild one no others took the disease. Special requests came 
 
5 ° 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 from large towns some 12 miles away to send someone to inoculate 
 the people. The requests usually came through relatives here, who 
 had escaped the plague by being inoculated. Mrs. Lyall with other 
 workers went to two places. In one Mrs. Lyall inoculated 112 persons 
 in the afternoon, while the Indian local medical man had up to that 
 date inoculated only 17. In a second town 200 were inoculated when 
 the vaccine gave out, or Mrs. Lyall would have been kept at the task 
 all night. As it was, it was near midnight before she and her helpers 
 returned. In the latter place the local Indian man had inoculated only 
 3 before Mrs. Lyall’s visit! 
 
 We had in Hospital a patient whose husband is on war work in 
 Africa. With the woman was her little four year old son, who had 
 been promised by his father that he would send him a monkey from 
 Africa. Much to our amusement when the little fellow was presented 
 with his baby sister he said, “Is this the monkey, father promised to 
 send to me!” 
 
 After a special course of Bible study covering three months in 
 February the Medical workers with other Christians did their share 
 of definite work in the period of the simultaneous Evangelistic Cam¬ 
 paign. The effort put forth then we would like to see continued 
 throughout the year. 
 
 The Sunrise prayer meeting for our workers continued through¬ 
 out the year and is a good preparation for the day’s work. 
 
 Jiwali Bai who has been a faithful helper for many years was 
 married at the end of the year and is now in a home of her own. The 
 other helpers remain as in former years. 
 
 Medical.—Miss Cameron .—It is now two years since I took over 
 Miss MacHarrie’s work while she went on furlough. At present we 
 have seven nurses in the Hospital. Shantebai, the senior nurse, com¬ 
 pleted her three years in October. After finishing she told me that she 
 was a Bhil, and that it was her earnest desire to be able, some day, to 
 work among the Bhils. Ghisibai hopes to finish in May. The others 
 are all juniors in their first year. 
 
 After morning prayers they come to the wards and the usual duties 
 begin; cleaning and dusting, bathing patients, taking temperatures and 
 doing dressings, giving medicine and treatments. Sometimes, I fear 
 it becomes very monotonous for the poor probationer, who finds it hard 
 to believe that dust and dirt are dangerous. Has she not been in 
 contact with them ail her life? And why may she not stir the medicine 
 with her finger, or give the typhoid patient’s glass to another, or do 
 all her charting in the evening? It is all very trying to the beginner, 
 and the same lesson must be gone over again and again, and it is so 
 easy for the teacher to become impatient and discouraged. But if we 
 can in any little way help these girls to become useful, intelligent 
 nurses, with a desire to help bring about better conditions among their 
 sisters, surely it is worth while. 
 
 From two till three we have class, and three to four is the sewing 
 hour; for the nurses make all our Hospital supplies, bandages, and 
 dressings, sheets and pillowslips, skirts and jackets, as well as chil¬ 
 dren’s clothes. In the evening they take turns in reading and singing 
 to the patients. At 7 p.m. we have Bible lesson and prayer. This 
 hour has meant much to us all. The perplexities and trials of the day 
 are brought to the One who has promised to carry our burdens. We 
 come away with assurance of strength and help for all our needs, with 
 more sympathy for each other’s difficulties and with a deeper desire 
 to be more faithful witness bearers. 
 
 Marybai, who has done matron’s duties for the past two years, 
 has for several weeks been laid aside by illness. We are anxious for 
 her recovery, and pray that soon she may be completely restored to 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 5i 
 
 health. A cheerful, willing worker, she has been a help in so many 
 ways. Much of her time has been spent in doing Bible-women’s work 
 in the wards. 
 
 Some weeks ago a patient was brought to us complaining of a 
 sore throat. Examination revealed nothing seriously wrong, but it 
 also discovered three large suppurating sores on the chest. One of 
 their simple home remedies had been applied. They had just tried to 
 drive away the pain by burning the patient with hot irons. 
 
 Parbatebai was also with us at the same time. She had been sent 
 in weeks before. Late one evening I went to the Hospital to find her 
 sitting on the steps. When I asked her what was the matter she 
 shoved out a foot swathed in filthy rags, and before these could be 
 removed we had sufficient evidence of the condition it must be in. Even 
 in India I had seen few more repulsive sights. “What had happened?” 
 Because of plague she had been sent to live in a straw hut, and one 
 day she scratched her foot on a jagged edge of matting. By the next 
 day it was infected and sore. Soon a woman was called, one skilled in 
 all the mysteries of Indian home remedies, she at once prepared a 
 poultice of onions and hot oil, and poured it over the sore spot. “Poor 
 woman, what did you do?” 
 
 “Oh, I screamed, the next day my foot was worse, and a hot flax 
 seed poultice was applied. It kept getting worse each day, and at last 
 they made me come to the Hospital.” 
 
 After treatment was prescribed she was handed over to Piyaribai, 
 v/ho, day after day, soaked the foot in lotion, and cleaned and dressed 
 the repulsive wound. Many days later she had her reward in seeing 
 Parbatebai go home with a different looking foot—all the burned 
 surface replaced by clean, healthy skin. 
 
 During Parbati’s stay in the Hospital a Brahmin patient came in 
 for operation. One evening her husband brought some milk for her, 
 and said that he had been unable to get a high-caste woman to carry 
 the milk to her. Being a man, he must not enter our Zenana Hospital, 
 and being a Brahman he must not permit even our shadow to defile 
 the woman’s food. Here was the patient in a room a few rods away, 
 and her milk at the gate. How to bring them together was a problem. 
 Then we bethought us of Parbati. Yes, being a baniya, she might 
 carry the food. But Parbatebai failed to see that she had any duty 
 toward the Brahman patient. Was not her own foot sore, why should 
 she be asked? Then some one reminded her that she had not been left 
 helpless when she was unable to walk. Reluctantly she carried the 
 milk, but it was a smiling Parbati I saw the next day and she questioned 
 as she passed me with the food, “Are you happy now, Miss Sahib?” She 
 was experiencing a little of the joy of service for others. 
 
 Boarding and Bazar School.—Miss Gardner .—The year 1917 saw 
 a few changes in the school work in Neemuch. The greatest, perhaps, 
 was the closing of the industrial branch of the work which had been 
 carried on successfully for some years. It was originally intended to 
 supply some of the orphan girls with a means of livelihood. One by 
 one these girls have been married until by December only one girl, and 
 she a cripple, made her living in this way. She has since been given 
 other work which she can do, and thus the industrial branch closed 
 at the end of the year so far as the older girls are concerned. The 
 school children still do a little lace-work, but this may not be long 
 continued. Several girls have been married this year so that there 
 are now only twelve of the big girls left in the school, the majority 
 of whom are teachers. 
 
 Two sieges of illness have hindered school work to some extent. 
 The first occurred in January when some children returned from their 
 Christmas holiday with whooping-cough. It spread until fourteen 
 
52 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 children were ill, some very ill, but ail recovered. Again in July nearly 
 half the children returned from their homes after the summer vacation 
 suffering from skin disease. This kept many children out of school 
 for nearly three months. Now, however, practically all are well, and 
 we are looking forward to a good term’s work. The attendance has 
 increased from forty-seven to fifty-one. A few old pupils did not 
 return, but several new ones came. Among the latter is one little 
 Hindu girl who comes as a day scholar. Of course she is not allowed to 
 eat our food, or drink our water, but every day a servant comes at 
 midday with her lunch. A little Christian girl also comes as a day 
 scholar, but all others are boarders. 
 
 During the year we had our first “Evangelistic Campaign,” in 
 which the older girls took a share. Practically nothing could be done 
 in Neemuch itself, as had been first planned, because of plague, but 
 every day during the week, three girls went out with different parties 
 to near-by villages, and in this way all who could go were able to have 
 a small part in the work. 
 
 The bazar school, owing to two epidemics of plague, was open only 
 three months during the year. From January to June it was closed, 
 and again from September to the close of the year. When the school 
 was opened in June, we feared that it would mean building it up from 
 the bottom again, but in a few days it was back to its usual average 
 attendance. Two or three of the little ones, who used to come, had 
 died of the dread disease. The children come gladly and we hope the 
 daily Bible lessons they receive may in time bear fruit. 
 
 iKIutnut 
 
 Teaching and Training New Converts 
 
 Miss Clearihue .—In looking back over the year many memories 
 crowd the mind, of journeyings oft, of long, hot days on dusty roads, 
 of packing and unpacking, setting up tents, and pulling down tents, of 
 pleasant roadside picnic meals, crossing rivers, friendly receptions 
 in most villages, and greeting new Christians in many places. Trying, 
 with varying success, to teach ignorant ones to read. Of crowds of 
 villagers at the camp until late at night. Memories of sick and sorrow¬ 
 ful ones all needing to be helped, but on the whole days full of oppor¬ 
 tunity for passing on the message of the Gospel. 
 
 The early months, and also the last month of the year found us 
 out on tour. Two Miss Sahibs, two Bible women, three catechists, 
 and several necessary servants made up the party. 
 
 In this district we are finding it more and more needful to visit 
 specially the villages where new Christians live. In many cases the 
 men of the family have been baptized, but it is for us to get in touch 
 with the timid, ignorant women, win their confidence, teach, and en¬ 
 courage them to leave their idols, and follow Christ. In the seven 
 centres in which we camped during three months we tried to visit 
 many of these people. In some cases we were able to visit their 
 villages after a drive of an hour or two from camp, but in several 
 instances a visit necessitated taking food, a roll of bedding, and a 
 small tent in which to spend the night after an all day trip. Many of 
 the women work in the fields, so night is the only time they are free. 
 Many an enquirer has learned more in the night hours than at any 
 other time. 
 
 Our last camp of the year was especially encouraging. Almost 
 every night crowds of women came to the tent to be taught, women 
 of different castes sitting side by side. Some of the women seemed 
 just as keen at eleven o’clock to sing as at nine. While in this camp 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 53 
 
 two dear women walked five miles each way in order that they might 
 spend the Sabbath with us. Best of all, two women belonging to the 
 village where we were encamped acknowledged Christ in baptism. 
 
 In February during the special “Forward Evangelistic Campaign,” 
 Ganga Bai, a village woman, baptized the year before, came from her 
 village to our camp, and said she wanted to go with us to the villages 
 where she was known, to give the witness. It was a great joy to have 
 her with us, and hear her tell of the peace she had found. 
 
 We had our Mela, or convention for village Christians in Kharua 
 m Apnl. More women came than in previous years, and we felt that 
 this coming together for study, prayer and fellowship was a real means 
 m strengthening these young Christians. Our good friend, Mrs. J. S. 
 Mackay, took a large part in helping in the meetings. Two women 
 and several children were baptized. Two other women stayed for two 
 weeks after the Mela to have some reading lessons. 
 
 During the year we had special study classes for the Kharua 
 women in the weeks when, because of the heavy rains, we are unable 
 to go to villages. 
 
 Our great desire is not only to gain more converts, but to teach and 
 tram those who have already been touched by the Gospel message. In 
 some of the new Christians we are glad to see signs of growth but 
 we greatly need more teachers and Bible women, that every part of 
 
 this promising field may be brought more into touch with Christian 
 teaching. 
 
 Testing True Believers 
 
 Miss Maclean ,—We have toured among our villages, we have 
 preached the Good Tidings, but this is but the beginning. ’ We must 
 teach these village women to know Christ so that from Him may come 
 that strength that will break the binding customs of their former life. 
 After belief and baptism come many difficult tests. How shall a 
 woman break, the strong chains, which have held her, a willing slave 
 of all the intricate social and religious customs of Hinduism? Standing 
 in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, we marvel at 
 the closely interwoven fabric of social and religious usage. To be 
 strong to set aside such, we must teach them to lean on Christ, to seek 
 His guidance in knowing what is honoring to Him, or dishonoring. 
 Many of these women in our villages, accepting the command: “Thou 
 shalt have no other gods before Me,” have refused to worship idols. 
 Believing that Christ came a Sinless Incarnation, they no longer 
 worship Krishna, whose impurities have been the theme for many years 
 of their Hindu songs. The pure teaching of Christ reveals to them a 
 Father’s love. So many of them desire to follow the new but are 
 
 amazed and terrified to find how difficult it is to break with the old. 
 
 Especially difficult is it for even the brightest and truest of the women 
 to abstain from participation in the funeral and marriage feasts. All 
 are called upon to suffer, if they would break with ancient custom. 
 
 Among our village Christians, we know many who do indeed press 
 forward in the new way. 
 
 This, then, is the work which confronts us. 
 
 Many times during the past year we have looked out at the land in 
 front of our bungalow—and wished for the fulfilment of our desire 
 for a school for the little daughters of our new Christians. When we 
 have this school building we shall not find it so difficult to induce the 
 villagers to let us educate their little girls. For in spite of the old 
 
 and hard custom of child marriage, there are not a few who will be 
 
 willing to send them to Kharua. Any other school centre is to them 
 a far country, and while, at present, we have only one girl from our 
 district in a mission school; yet we know of quite a number of these 
 dear little maidens, who are waiting until the new school in Kharua is 
 
54 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 established. There they will live much after their village style and the 
 dread of the unknown will be greatly lessened for the parents, who 
 can see them from time to time in Kharua, where they know are 
 the bungalows of the Padri Sahib, and where coming in on market day 
 the school can be visited if possible by some of the numerous relations 
 of the little students. 
 
 As a first measure, we have, during the year, started a small day 
 school for girls in a little room at the back of the bungalow. From 
 the Christian homes of catechists and servants the children came; and 
 added to these half a dozen little Hindu girls from Kharua village 
 itself. One of the dirtiest of these is “Little Gold.” Her hair is 
 matted, her body bare except for one small garment; but her face does 
 not belie her name. Her father is a beggar and her mother cares 
 not whether “Little Gold” attends school, so she is dirty, but happy*. 
 And, when one day she alone represents the village attendance, and we 
 enquire for the absent ones, she answers gaily thus: “They are all 
 afraid that you’ll make them Christians, except me, I’m not afraid 
 and so I came.” 
 
 May we, who are touching now in our district the first problems 
 of the movements among the masses, be guided and strengthened so 
 that nothing unv/ise, may be done in these early years of foundation 
 laying. We need earnest interest and many prayers. May the friends 
 at home remember us faithfully,—-and may we too be faithful! 
 
 Sbar 
 
 Dr. O’Hara and Miss Coltart. — Medical .—Plague interfered much 
 with our plans in our station work, and, although our people were 
 inoculated twice during the year, several contracted the disease, and 
 among the Christian children four cases proved fatal. We have also 
 had epidemics of measles, whooping-cough, and what was worse than 
 either, skin disease—which last seems to be general and most diffi¬ 
 cult to eradicate. 
 
 Educational .—School was open throughout the year, during the 
 plague epidemics being held in the open. A teacher was assigned to 
 the pupils in her locality, as quarantine rules prevented children from 
 the different camps assembling together. The most advanced class 
 was sent to Neemuch in order to secure more efficient teaching. 
 
 Evangelistic .—Evangelistic work has been regular in the Hospital 
 and Dispensaries—the blind Bible woman having taught in the former 
 and in the Dispensary connected with it. The workers in the City 
 Dispensary were responsible for the evangelistic work there as well 
 as for the medical work. As the city was empty more than half the year, 
 we do not intend to re-open the City Dispensary, although it has been 
 a centre of helpfulness for over twenty-two years. 
 
 During the touring-season and Evangelistic Campaign two Bible 
 women accompanied the missionaries. During the hot and rainy season, 
 one of them continued her work in Badnawar with her husband until 
 plague drove them out. The other went with her husband to open 
 the new out-station in Kesur, where they both seemed to be doing 
 good work until they secured more lucrative situations in another 
 mission, and they left. Their going was a disappointment to us, but 
 we believe that He whose the work is will carry it on by other means. 
 
 V.T.O.S. —The work for which the V.T.O.S. was initiated, and 
 which has been going on for more than twenty years, may now be said 
 to be accomplished. None of the original rescued orphans remain in 
 the institution with the exception ’of two young widows who have 
 returned with their little children to its shelter. These young women 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 55 
 
 work in the Hospital and are practically self-supporting. The few 
 other inmates who remain are orphans and strays who have been 
 received from time to time. 
 
 Hutlam 
 
 Work Under Women's Council 
 
 Miss Kilpatrick. —Joys, sorrows, disappointments, blessings, and 
 progress have all been ours in 1917. The three departments remain— 
 industrial, educational, and evangelistic. Perhaps preparing the drawn- 
 thread work for thirty women, who come twice a week for work, and 
 afterwards the pricing and selling of it, does not sound essentially 
 missionary, but I believe it can be a great service. Through it, the 
 women learn to appreciate cleanliness, and things of beauty, and are 
 kept industrious and happy, besides being able by their earnings to 
 help in the family support. I try to make a profit of twenty-five per 
 cent on the sale of each article, but this year sales were not large. 
 “After the war” will surely mean larger receipts. 
 
 One could write much of the schools. With great hope I planted 
 in the city in the beginning of 1917 a little school for non-Christian 
 children. The teacher was one of our finest women and she and the 
 “Calling-woman” worked nobly to try to dispel the prejudices of the 
 unlettered people whose children we were seeking. Once we had 
 twenty names on our roll, and for a short time there was a full atten¬ 
 dance. Later the rumor spread that we would give the children some¬ 
 thing to eat as a result of which they would all become Christians! 
 Again, a father complained that his little girl was getting too fond of 
 our “bhajans,” and that her future husband wouldn’t have her if she 
 continued to attend school. Other dear children were taken away to 
 go through the lengthy betrothal or wedding ceremonies. Our most 
 faithful and promising pupils were two dear Gujerati girls and one 
 bright little Mohammedan. The oldest of these in a few months read 
 through the second book and was able to do simple arithmetic besides 
 having learned much of the Bible by heart. Her parents had previously 
 had her taught a little in Gujerate but were greatly interested in her 
 progress in Hindi. “Also,” her mother said, “she obeys better since 
 going to your school.” When the hottest weather came, we closed 
 school, intending to re-open after about six weeks. How little did we 
 guess that, where our little school stood amid crowded houses on a 
 noisy street, swift death and paralyzing fear were together to work 
 complete desolation. In the end of June or early July the alarm was 
 given, “Rats are dying!” and in a short time bubonic plague swept 
 Rutlam. One day I went down to visit the street but found only one 
 house inhabited where an old, old man and a few women relatives 
 lingered on, believing that as it was “written” so it would be—what 
 was the use of flying from fate? Many people were inoculated at 
 both the mission and state hospital, and almost all who could afford it 
 left the city to camp outside, or fled to other places. As a result, 
 many of our dear children have never returned, and I have not re¬ 
 opened the school. The three faithful pupils have at last come back. It 
 may be that we can continue in 1918. 
 
 The compound school for Christian children has an average atten¬ 
 dance of over sixty children, of whom most are boarders. As I said 
 last year, the majority of these are the sons and daughters of those 
 saved in famine times. 
 
 The “orphanages” or, rather, “boarding departments” have grown. 
 At the end of the year we had about a dozen little boys, and twenty-six 
 girls. Of the original orphan girls, now all grown up, only two are left 
 in the school, for we have had many happy weddings in 1917! The two 
 
56 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 remaining fully support themselves by assisting the matron and doing 
 drawn-thread work. Our boys are occupied all day long with a varied 
 programme of Bible, the three R’s some higher branches of study, 
 cooking, sewing, cricket, foot-ball, out-door gymnastics. The little 
 girls, ranging from three-year-old, motherless “Santoshi,” (“Contented”) 
 to “big Salomie,” a tall practical child of twelve, spend similarly full 
 and happy days. A dozen of the brighter boys and girls attend an Eng¬ 
 lish class for an hour a day. On a Christmas offering was written in 
 English, “To dear - with beast love!” 
 
 It is with great thankfulness that I report that at the close of 
 1917 every child in the two schools was well,—for in the rains we were 
 terribly distressed by epidemics of whooping-cough, measles, and 
 skin-disease! An excellent nurse was spared us from Neemuch, and, 
 with God’s blessing, through the efforts of Dr. Scott, the nurse, matron, 
 and older girls our little family “pulled through.” No plague came 
 amongst us, but every child had to submit to the disagreeable plague 
 inoculation. Let me here note that almost immediately after inocula¬ 
 tion our children wrote the Sunday-School examination, and one child— 
 of ignorant parents—gained a silver medal, with, I think, the highest 
 marks in Central India. 
 
 A little Sunday-School for the Eurasian and European children 
 whose fathers all work in connection with the railway is a source of 
 great pleasure. These children delight in our Canadian Sunday-School 
 cards and papers—particularly, “Jewels”—any old or spare copies of 
 which will be thankfully received by the writer! 
 
 Owing to the long break on account of plague, systematic zenana 
 work in the city has been difficult. Before plague, I went visiting in 
 the city as often as possible, and my Bible women, both voluntary and 
 paid workers, did faithful work. In the hot weather during school 
 holidajfs the teacher of the bazar school accompanied me to nearby 
 villages. In one village the woman who keeps a shrine used to wel¬ 
 come us hospitably to sit and sing on her verandah. Once when she 
 saw us heated, she fanned us patiently with “the god’s fan!” Through 
 her, many other women gathered to hear. Pray that she and they may 
 turn from these hideous gods, fit symbols of the religion that makes 
 wretched widows of tiny children and plunges womanhood into darkness 
 and degradation. 
 
 It is a joy to write of the work of the evangelistic campaign in 
 February. For months we had been preparing in Bible and prayer 
 groups. When the time came, many of our forty or fifty Christian 
 women responded nobly, trudging daily through the city, carrying 
 books and babies, telling the wonderful story to all who would listen. 
 Often the old questions would be eagerly directed at me, “How old 
 are you? How much are you paid? Why don’t your father and 
 mother make your marriage arrangement?” but at times a real ques¬ 
 tioner came with varied queries such as these, “What will the butchers’ 
 punishment be for taking life?” “Is there no one good act, the con¬ 
 tinual doing of which will gain me salvation?” “How could the Son of 
 God die?” As a result of the campaign many friendly doors are open 
 to us. Even the dreadful plague, which united many in sorrow, caused 
 some at least to reflect deeply and has added to our opportunities. 
 Our women often pray, “Lord, let these people flee from sin to Thee 
 as they fled from plague to safety.” 
 
 ijat Ptplta 
 
 Miss Glendmning. — Dr. Moodie .—The year 1917 has to me in this 
 new field been one of peculiar interest. In my report for last year I 
 told a little of the first month of our work here, and of how friendly 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 57 
 
 the people were. Now a year has passed and we have become a part of 
 Hat Piplia. The exceeding friendliness of the people has brought open 
 doors of opportunity in all directions. 
 
 For the first three months of the year, all classes of the people 
 from the town were living right at our door, and morning, noon, or 
 evening we were made welcome at their huts. I sought to take advan¬ 
 tage of this opening, and instead of going daily to villages spent a great 
 deal of time amongst them, with the result that when they moved back 
 to town at the end of. March, there were many homes to which I could 
 go, and feel that I was no longer a stranger, but a welcome visitor. All 
 classes, with the exception, perhaps, of the wealthier baniyas, listened 
 gladly to the hymns and “words of wisdom.” 
 
 At the beginning of April I opened a school for girls in the lower 
 room of the house where the teacher lives. Ten girls came the 
 first day, and during the first week it grew quite rapidly. It was not 
 long, however, until there was a break. When the people learned that 
 we were teaching the children Christian hymns, most of the baniyas 
 took their girls out of school. Although since opening we have had 
 fifty different girls coming, in no one month have we succeeded in 
 raising the average above eleven. I am not troubled with the children 
 wanting so many holidays as I was in Indore, as, with the exception 
 of the big festival days, they do not think of asking for a holiday. 
 With these exceptions the school has been kept open the whole nine 
 months. 
 
 May and June were spent on the mountain tops where I greatly 
 enjoyed the fellowship with missionaries of other societies, and from 
 other parts of India. I came back at the beginning of July feeling re¬ 
 freshed both in spirit and body. On our return we found our nice 
 new bungalow and hospital finished and so were able to get settled. 
 During the rainy season, from July to the beginning of October, I 
 gave my whole time to the school, and homes of Hat Piplia. 
 
 I was keenly disappointed that it was found necessary at the 
 October council meeting to transfer Dr. Moodie to Indore. We miss 
 her greatly, and of course her absence means just a little added 
 responsibility. That I might not be alone Council appointed Miss Pat¬ 
 terson to Hat Piplia for language study. 
 
 We had a very serious accident case brought to the hospital the 
 week after I returned from Council meeting. It was market day and I 
 had been downstairs most of the afternoon talking to the village people 
 who came for medicine. We closed about 6.30 when we thought the 
 last patient had gone. Mrs. George went home. I was only upstairs 
 a few minutes, however, when I heard a strange sound from the 
 direction of the road which caused me to look out in alarm. Coming 
 in from the road was an ox-cart being drawn by four men, while a 
 great crowd of men followed behind. In the cart sat an old man crying 
 piteously. I hurried down stairs and sent someone off post-haste to 
 call Mrs. George. The poor old man had been to market, and was just 
 starting home when his oxen took fright at a camel. He was thrown 
 down, the heavy cart wheel passed over his legs, breaking both and 
 crushing one of them very badly. I am not medically inclined, and had 
 to pray hard to be able to assist in getting him made as comfortable 
 as possible for the night. The first two weeks of his stay in the hospi¬ 
 tal are like a nightmare to me. We tried our best to save the crushed 
 leg, but had eventually to wire for Dr. Moodie to come out from 
 Indore and amputate it. She and Miss Thomson both came and the 
 operation proved successful. He was with us a month and a half, then 
 took French leave and went off home without even saying, salam. 
 He was afraid to let me know he was going, as I did not think he 
 should go for another two weeks; but he was wearying to be home 
 so just went without asking. 
 
58 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 On the last day of the year I went to his village six miles away 
 to see him. His wounds were not healing as satisfactorily as they would 
 have, had he stayed quietly in the hospital, still he was more contented 
 to be at home. We were received as old friends by the villagers, as 
 many of them had come to the hospital to see Panna while he was 
 with us. 
 
 Most of the year I was very short of workers, Victoriabai, who 
 teaches in the school, being my only helper. Toward the end of 
 November, however, Dr. Oliver let me have two of her girls, one to 
 help Mrs. George in the dispensary and one to go with me to the 
 villages. About the same time I succeeded in getting a Bible woman for 
 the hospital, and Dr. Moodie sent me out a nurse from Indore. With 
 these extra workers a good deal of the strain has been lifted. 
 
 The work in the villages did not receive as much attention as I had 
 hoped to give it. During the year I paid twenty-nine visits to fifteen 
 of the surrounding villages. This work has been most encouraging, 
 and it has been a real pleasure, after driving six or eight miles over 
 rough country roads, to be received so well, and have the opportunity 
 of presenting the Gospel message of love, to women many of whom 
 have never heard it before. 
 
 Each morning since the beginning of November I have had a half 
 hour Bible class with the workers, in preparation for the day’s work, 
 and for the Evangelistic Campaign, to which we are again looking 
 forward in February. 
 
 We have two Sunday Schools, one for the Christian women and 
 children and one in connection with the girls’ school in town. Since 
 Dr. Moodie left Mrs. George has taken charge of the Christian Sunday 
 School and their average attendance for the year was twelve. In my 
 little school in the town we have had an average attendance of nine. 
 
 Sattauiara 
 
 Medical and Evangelistic.—Dr. Oliver .—My work day when I 
 am in Banswara begins with our morning prayer-meeting at 7 or 7.30, 
 according to the season. There is singing first, then some Bible study 
 and prayer—every worker taking part. The prayers are from the heart, 
 earnest and definite. In the rainy season when it was not possible for 
 a time to visit even nearby places, we had three in the evangelistic 
 work at the Dispensary, two taking the service while one was in the 
 inner chamber at prayer. I set aside a tiny room for a prayer room but 
 it has, on occasion, to do duty as a sewing room and as a private examin¬ 
 ing room. 
 
 You know we have, as yet, no Dispensary building at Banswara, so 
 the evangelistic services are held in a tent or, when the sun gets too 
 hot during the rains, on our front verandah. The patients are seen 
 by me in a room that would be my study; dressings are done on a 
 side verandah and medicines are dispensed at a small store-room off 
 the verandah. 
 
 Our bungalow is a little distance from the town. We make a 
 small charge for medicine to those who can pay, and perhaps for this 
 reason we get the name of giving “good medicine.” I treated Bhil 
 men as well as all women, but the work has grown to include other 
 men also. They seem to have no prejudice against coming to a woman 
 physician. During the rains there was, as usual, a great deal of suffer¬ 
 ing from guinea worms. One day the new State Sub-Assistant Surgeon 
 who has charge of the town Dispensary brought a gentleman to me 
 to have his guinea worm removed. I entered the name in the book, did 
 the operation and then learned that this was the Private Secretary 
 to H. H., the Chief of Banswara State. A few days later he came to 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 59 
 
 have another removed. He told me that if he had not got relief at our 
 Dispensary he would have been obliged to go to Udaipur, a long, 
 expensive trip. A Bhil man came on different occasions to have guinea 
 worms removed till I had taken out six for him. Guinea worm is 
 caused by drinking infected water and can be prevented if the water 
 is first strained through a cloth. I was able to do some educational 
 work by showing, under a little old microscope, a drop of the guinea 
 worm secretion, with its crowds of wriggling embryonic forms. It 
 was amusing to watch the faces or hear the exclamations of surprise 
 as the eye took in the sight. I asked and received permission to go 
 to the State School for Boys, to demonstrate guinea worm, and there 
 were some 200 boys besides masters present who saw the specimens 
 and heard the talk. 
 
 A good many books have been sold and conversations had with 
 clerks, teachers and state officials who have come for treatment, so 
 that when one drives through the town one is now greeted on all sides 
 with friendly “salams.” Some patients have come to our Sunday ser¬ 
 vices, others have borrowed books to read, one bought a whole Bible 
 and he returned numbers of times for conversations on religious 
 themes. Several of these people belong to the Araya Somaj, one being 
 a preacher of the same. Pray that the entrance of God’s Word may give 
 light to their hearts. 
 
 209 visits have been paid to 69 patients in their own homes—huts 
 and palaces. While one enjoys going to the humble Bhil hut, yet 
 one feels too it is an opportunity for service when one is called to 
 “them that are of Caesar’s household.” Four or five ladies at the palace 
 were visited. One’s heart aches for these ladies who live in “purdah” 
 and have grown so accustomed to it that they hug their chains. One, 
 the mother of a subsidiary chief, passing our bungalow one day, stopped 
 her litter under a mango tree near by and sent a servant to call me to 
 see her. I learned that she was afraid of what the ladies at the palace 
 might say if she actually visited me at the bungalow. 
 
 Our little hut, put up by the kindness of some friends in Toronto, 
 has given shelter to a number of in-patients. We have had, in all, 
 seventeen, of whom one was healed in our bungalow. One of the in¬ 
 patients was Labu, of whom Miss Beatty wrote, a Bhil man who 
 was found lying in a field under the poor shelter of an elevated plat¬ 
 form used as a watch-tower for the surrounding fields. Like most 
 of his class, dependent on others, Labu was not very grateful, but he 
 still comes back sometimes to visit us and it was to him the Bhil boys 
 gave rice at Christmas, bought with their small collection of fifteen 
 cents. Veshbai was a poor Bhil woman, ill of an incurable malady. She 
 had several times visited us obtaining temporary relief, and returning 
 to her home, if you can call it home where nobody loved her, nor cared 
 if she died. She was only a childless widow, had been one of two wives 
 and her step-children had no home for her since she could do no work. 
 No doubt, glad of an excuse, they accused her of having broken caste 
 by eating with us, and laid a penalty upon her she was not able to pay. 
 In her trouble she turned to us. How glad we were to be able to take 
 her in and care for her! Poor dull, loveless heart! But she responded 
 to the love of Christ as she saw it in us, and when one morning she 
 closed her poor weary eyes, I think it would be to open them in a new 
 world of beauty and to feel herself in a shelter of love such as Lazarus 
 found in Abraham’s bosom. 
 
 We do not lose sight of the fact that we came to Banswara pri¬ 
 marily on a mission to the Bhils, and the winter is the golden time 
 for touring throughout the State. Owing to the unusually late and 
 heavy rains this year, camping was not begun till the latter half of 
 November. A successful medical missionary among the Santals of 
 
6o 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 Bengal (tribes that resemble the Bhils) recently wrote an article on 
 Itineration. He says, “Intinerate, itinerate, itinerate!” It is so easy to 
 be turned aside from this most important work by other business. 
 So, though it means I see fewer patients, yet we reach more Bhils with 
 the Gospel and we must permit them to become acquainted with us and 
 our message, till their fears are put to flight and they will of themselves 
 seek us at the central station. I find in places we visited two years 
 ago, a great difference in the attitude of the people. They are more 
 friendly and in some places even eager to hear. But if we go to a new 
 part to visit the women we are apt to find them fleeing from their hut 
 in fear of us. 
 
 Kashuribai, our chief Bible woman, is always with us on tour and 
 is really wonderful with the Bhils in her pov/er to make them under¬ 
 stand. Rori, our pupil compounder, comes along to help with the 
 medical work, and old Rebeccabai, a Bible woman, is a good help to 
 Kashuri as well as being a chaperone for the younger women. 
 
 Shortly before Christmas the Political Agent made his annual visit 
 to Banswara and in preparation for his coming more than a hundred 
 Bhils were called in to minister to his needs, bringing wood, water, 
 fixing roads, putting up tents, etc. Parties of them visited our bungalow 
 to see the Bible pictures, to hear the organ and to see the house. We 
 had great pleasure showing them through and they were much amused 
 at their own faces in the mirror and laughed over a picture of a crying 
 baby which hangs on the walls of the Dispensary. Kashuri had a party 
 for an hour in the tent showing them the Bible pictures. I played the 
 little organ for them, and later they sat while Abraham (a Catechist) 
 played his violin and sang hymns. 
 
 As I write this report I am out on tour. I wish some magic 
 aeroplane could transport you across the ten thousand miles of sea 
 and land and bring you to spend the day with us in the jungle. At 
 this present moment I am sitting on a hillside on the dry grass in 
 the shade, with my back against a big rock, and the only sound is the 
 rustling of the leaves in the wind. Not far away are our tents at the 
 mouth of a small valley spread out with green wheat fields, amid which 
 are a few Bhil huts. This little settlement is of intense interest to us 
 in Banswara for the Bhils are Christians—the first indigenous Christians 
 of Banswara State. It is only right to say that, for the most part, the 
 fruit is not due to our seed sowing, but to that of the workers of the 
 Irish Presbyterian Mission across the border in Jholad. Last night as 
 Kashuri, Rori, Rebecca and I sat on the mud floor of one of the Chris¬ 
 tian Bhil huts and sang again and again one of our Christian hymns that 
 they might learn it, my heart was thrilled with joy and with the love of 
 Christ for those dear new brothers and sisters. 
 
 Men, women and children included, the community numbers about 
 fifty, distributed in four different villages among six households. As 
 yet we have no regular women workers among them, though we must 
 make arrangements for this if we are to have a strong intelligent Chris¬ 
 tian community. 
 
 All About Bhil Boys and Girls 
 
 Educational .—One of the most encouraging parts of the work 
 in Banswara is the Bhil School started by Miss Campbell. You are 
 already familiar with its beginning, how Miss Campbell overcame the 
 fears of the children and won their love and confidence, often working 
 with them as they were employed on the buildings. The children have 
 sadly missed “Ma” as they called her. But Miss Campbell’s own 
 trained girls have been holding the ropes in her absence. 
 
 At 6.45 in the hot season and 7.15 in the cold the gong sounds to 
 warn the children that it is time to leave their homes. Fifteen minutes 
 later they report for work. Under the supervision of Ganga and 
 
INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 61 
 
 Bhulki they carry earth, stones, cut thorns or do whatever work of this 
 sort may be set them. At 12.30 they have an hour’s intermission, and 
 are back again at 1.30. At 2.30 manual labor ceases and school is called, 
 and continues in session till 5.30 or six according to the season. The 
 Christian children on the compound and two or three others join them 
 at classes. There are 22 on the roll at present. Reading, writing, 
 arithmetic, scripture memory verses, kindergarten songs, hymns and 
 Bible lessons are taught. The classes are held in a hut with bamboo 
 walls which admit a plentiful supply of air. 
 
 Since Miss Campbell left I have had the pleasure of examining 
 several boys for the second reader and of giving them the much 
 coveted coat (usually made from old cotton dress materials) as a prize. 
 One boy is almost ready for the fourth reader and one for the third. 
 Several have also repeated correctly the passages of scripture pre¬ 
 scribed by the Assembly; one has completed the first year’s list for 
 senior scholars. I promised him a book in addition to the customary 
 prize of one rupee, and asked what he would like. There was no hesita¬ 
 tion in his reply, “A Bible.” I expect he is the first Bhil in Banswara 
 to possess a whole Bible and moreover he can read it for himself. 
 This boy is easily first all round, and, if I mistake not, we shall hear 
 from him in future in Banswara work. Just the other day, a Bhil 
 who had come from a place 30 miles away to learn to read, was 
 directed to this boy’s house in the Bhil settlement, and forthwith 
 was brought by Rupo to one of our Christian teachers, so he has 
 already begun a sort of mission work. Two of the boys wrote their 
 first letters to Miss Campbell, while those who could not write sent 
 messages. You would hardly guess what they asked her to bring back 
 for them on her return—safety pins! They think these both ornamental 
 and useful. But the best of this school work is the faces and lives of 
 the children are changed, and Christ is being formed in them, and of 
 many of them it can be said as of St. Paul, “Behold, he prayeth.” 
 
 Sitting among the little ones on the mud floor of the school are two 
 women whose faces have grown bright since I first saw them two 
 years ago. They were delighted recently to be promoted to the 
 second reader. They are the wives of two of the masons who built 
 our houses. They have had to overcome some opposition in the pur¬ 
 suit of learning. First a Brahman, then a Mohammedan, tried to get the 
 husbands to forbid their wives to come. These women are sincere 
 but secret believers and they are teaching their children to worship 
 God. The husbands are not believers. Fear of caste and lack of real 
 devotion to Christ hold them back. They are saying, “We shall get 
 salvation through our wives.” 
 
 At the end of the day the Bhil children are paid, out of Banswara 
 congregational funds, for their manual labor. Were it not for this 
 small amount of money the children earn, the parents would not allow 
 them to come to school at all. Even little children must add to the 
 family earnings. At Christmas we gave prizes for promptness and 
 every child got one—-a vest made from old woollen garments. There 
 were prizes also for races, woven shirts costing from 16-20 cents. 
 
 The task of superintending this work and helping in the teaching 
 in the afternoon has devolved upon Sonibai, one of Miss Campbell’s 
 most efficient daughters. Sonibai’s mornings are most often given to 
 evangelistic work either in the Dispensary or at nearby huts. I would 
 like to pay a tribute to her ability and faithfulness. I seek her advice 
 in connection with the school and evangelistic work. She even mea¬ 
 sures medicines sometimes when the compounder or I are absent. She 
 is big sister to all the other women workers, a member of the 
 “Pandajat” Church Committee, conducts the prayer meetings, Sunday 
 School and Sunday Church services when the catechists are absent from 
 the station on evangelistic tours, regularly teaches the Infant Class, is 
 
62 
 
 INCIDENT AND STORY 
 
 a sort of Dorcas, making garments for the poor, superintending the 
 sewing of the garments of the children for prizes and Christmas gifts, 
 running the machine for her fellow workers, going to the bazar to 
 buy supplies, encouraging her fellow workers to economy and getting 
 them to follow her example in contributing to the War Loan. Last 
 year when there was a deficit in our W.M.S. funds we asked our women 
 workers to help. They responded splendidly with monthly gifts and 
 when word came that the deficit was made up, Soni refused to take 
 back what I had in hand of her gift and insisted I should keep it for 
 the Hospital work. 
 
 “God is working His purpose out as year suceeds to year, 
 
 God is working His purpose out and the time is drawing near, 
 Nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be 
 When the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God 
 As the waters cover the sea.” 
 
 The Armac Press Limited, 66-68 W. Dundas St., Toronto