Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 28, Number 13, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 29 May 1907 — Page 2

ON THE TRAIL OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY By WILLIAM T. ELLIS This Distinguished American Journalist is Traveling Around the World tor the Purpose of investigating the American Foreign Missionary from a Purely Disinterested. Secular and Non-Sectarian Standpoint.' Illustrated with Drawings and from Photographs. HOW THE COLLEGE MAN REACHES THE HEATHEN '

(Copyright, 1906, by Joseph B. Bowles,) Karuizawa, Japan.—Exactly how a missionary goes about introducing his teachings to a “heathen” community which knows absolutely nothing about Christianity is an interesting point made plain; now I have seen 'it done, and the procedure is worth describing. This trip to a large interior town, where missionaries and 0 Christianity are unknown, with the incidents which befell by the way, was the most interesting experience thus ,pfar encountered in Japan. In several features! this particular preaching expedition was abnormal. It was made in connection with an excursion to the famous hot springs of Kusatsu by a party of missionaries who are spending their vacation in Karuizawa, the largest summer resort for foreigners in Japan. There were eight ycung American missionaries, two Japanese teachers or evangelists, and myself, in the party which started early one morning for the 25-mile walk over the mountains to Kusatsu. It was worth while to get this intimate view of missionaries, for three days of hard travel under these conditions was enough to reveal the inwardness of a man’s nature. Escaping from the five runners from

I |. h| . >■ ♦ J WB i * Jhlk * L\ ▲ / fJW 4. ffimgMß gkaKHßkft ’ ■ 7 n fl | j|

In the Hot Sulphur Baths at Kusatsu.

the one so-called European hotel, who I besieged us at various points along the latter half of the journey, and despite assurances from apparently disinterested persons that all the native inns were full, the party, by an exercise of its Japanese—speech and western persistence, found an eminently satisfactory Japanese hotel, where all the missionaries were at once at home, being quite accustomed to eating and sleeping on the floor. At once the native teachers set out to arrange for a religious service by the foreigners. The Preachers and the Police. Soon the kindly paternalism of the Japanese police was encountered. Immediately upon reaching their inn, the foreigners had been obliged to register their names and ages and occupations, where-they came from,. whither they were going and how long they intended, to stay. This is part of the , marvelously- complete system whereby the police, department keeps a. record of every foreigner within the borders of the empire. Soon the Japanese teacher returned to say that the police, ' while quite willing that the visitors should hold a preaching service in the public square, advised that it be very short and simple, lest there be trouble with the rough element in town. Later, there came a second message, couched in politest terms, suggesting that the meeting be held id the hotel, where the honorable gentlemen lodged, at the upper end of the village. So it was arranged. Shortly after eight o’clock, lighted b'y the conventional paper lanterns , which the inn supplied, we proceeded to the public square, alongside of a steaming pool whose sulphurous fumes suggested the opposite of things heavenly. In fact, Kusatsu itself Is a good place for preaching. Its very existence is based largely upon the consequences of immorality. The permanent population is about 1,500 persons, all living off the visitors, who number between three and four thousand, more than a score of whom are Europeans. These hot sulphur baths, for centuries the most famous in Japan, while efficacious in rheumatism and gout, are more generally 'imeA-.lor, the most loathsome skin diseases. By far the largest number of visitors' go.iio Kusatsu as a penalty for their own or their parents’ transgression of the moral law. The Old and the New In Competition. But to return to the party of missionary visitors In the center of the

village. The simple presence of so many foreigners, apparently in good health, attracted attention. When the older of the two Japanese preachers announced, holding aloft his lantern, that the foreigners lyould speak and sing that nigfet, heads began to appear on all sides. Then the missionaries, all of whom speak Japanese, gathered about their one hymn book and began to sing a Japanese translation of a familiar hymn. In the meantime the native evangelist was busily accosting individuals, inviting th§m to the service and giving them tracts. Two hymns were sung, the announcement was repeated, and the procession wended its way down near the leper bath, with natives bringing up the rear. Another halt was made and a similar procedure was adopted; and again, further up the village, a third stand was made. This was a short distance beyond where two native story-tellers were entertaining large crowds with sing-song recitals, after the ancient custom. The missionaries considerately moved to a distance before singing, lest they should disturb these audiences, but they nevertheless got a considerable following from the fringes of the lat-

ter. At a slow pace, to accommodate the lame and the halt, the crowd moved on to the appointed meeting place, having created a sensation in the town. A Fresh Sensation For the Jaded. Curiosity, and the desire of the blase for anew sensation, was largely responsible for the attentive company of about 50 Japanese which gathered when the meeting opened. Outside the room, which, in the convenient fashion of the land, was enlarged by removing two of the walls, was a border of wondering women and children. Inside were the men, siting on their knees, according to the native code of politeness; after the introductory address, one of the auditors spoke up and, with profoundest apologies for the rudeness, asked if the men might not be so impolite as to sit crosslegged, the more comfortable posture, since they were most of them invalids. With many mutual bowings—to live in Japan insares abundant exercise foT the njuscles of the back—the request was of course granted by the missionaries, only half of whom, I noticed, knew the art of sitting on their knees; • I found the ordeal of sitting crosslegged for more -than an hour quite severe enough. The meeting was the first Christian service ever held in that ancient community, the <|ficial said, although I later learned- That when Revs. T. M. McNair and E. R. Miller spent a vacation in Kusatsu a score of years ago, they also conducted Christian services. Naturally It was as interesting to me as to these Japanese who had never seen a missionary before. After a hymn in English, sung from memory, and an introductory address and prayer by the native preacher—who, by the way, recently refused an increase in the ten-dollar-a-month salary which a Pennsylvania church pays him, because he said the work elsewhere needed the money more than he —Mr. Hail spoke in Japanese. There was a vein of humor in his address, which abounded in illustrations, and caused the audience to utter the Japanese equivalent for “Hear! Rear!’’ ‘Throughout the meeting, -strangely enough, the addresses and M .tgmpg points„wcre applAudfld by hand-clapping. Despite the lateness of the hour to which this meeting had been prolonged, the party was astir almost at daybreak, and on a tour of the town watching the bathers. Whoever will

may see these, for tlie Japanese know nothing of the American interpretation of modesty. Then an early start was made for Shibu, more than 20 miles distant, by way of Shirane, an active volcano 7,500 feet high. This tramp is enough to test the religion of anybody, even a missionary, for it is entirely over mountains, and the road is superlatively bad, though the scenery is superlatively beautiful, rivaling Colorado’s best. Polite Police. The faithful Japanese preacher had omitted the climb up Shirane and so he reached Shibu another village famous for its milder baths, ahead of the main party of sunburned and footsore missionaries, who arrived at sundown, to find the town expectant of a meeting, all the preparations for which had been made. Several rooms on the first floor of the native inn where the visitors spent the night were thrown into one, making room for upwards of a hundred persons seated, while many more could stand outside or Sit in the house across the alley, so pigh is neighbor to neighbor in the old Japanese villages. Word came from the police that should this meeting place be too small for the foreigners’ purpose, the police themselves would provide a larger room. But some 200 men, women and children crowded around when the service began, and listened to the new teachings with an attention that could not be surpassed in a Fifth avenue church. The same speakers took part, although with different addresses. A considerable circle of young men, mostly students, gathered about Mr. Hail after the meeting, for further conversation. At this service a native Christian woman, who had moved into the village from another town, took a delighted part. One of the American Bible Society’s colporteurs was also present; and, in general, Shibu seemed somewhat more familiar with Christianity than did Kusatsu, -although there are no Christian services held there. Where Religion is Cheap.

The next morning the Americans, who were quite accustomed to creating a stir by their appearance in native villages, went to Nagano, where is one of the most celebrated Buddhist temples in Japan, dating back to 670 A. D., although the oldest portion of the present structure is only six centuries old. The high priestess of this temple Is an aunt of the emperor. The temple area is crowded with statues and buildings of absorbing interest. I noticed one bronze Buddha of heroic size holding a baby, and some devotee had put a modern bonnet, of cheap calico, on the latter’s head! On several occasions I have seen Images thus incongruously adorned. Thousands of devout pilgrims visit this temple, and the emperor himself has a sumptuous suite of apartments" therein, although the Shintoists claim him as one of their number. In fact, he has rather impartially?’ patronized bothrfaiths; and thousands of his ‘subjects do likewise. Ordinary pilgrims to the temple are kept outside the wiTe screen before the altar, but the missionaries, by the application of the silver key Which unlocks doors the world over, were omitted to a closer View and a complete inspection. They were even taken down through the absolutely dark underground" passage where the keys of paradise may be found?* attached to a huge padlock. And assuredly those young Americans found them, and rattled them loudly enough for all the celestial doorkeepers to hear. This trip in the dark is supposed to purge the soul of sin, thbugh, paradoxically enough, the priest who was our guide warned us that if we had any evil in our hearts when we entered we would come out changed into dogs, which is the common belief. Os course this party emerged barking and growling like curs with tin cans to their tails. It must not be inferred that the missionaries were disrespectful, to the temple or its worshippers. They moved about, uncovered and unshod, and were genuinely interested in the bewildering explanations of who’s who in this sect of Buddhism. Among the more than 3COOO ancestral tablets placed in one apartment, I noticed one that was surmounted by the Harvard H.

As Souvenirs Of' this trip I have a written token from the high priest that I have performed an early morning devotion at a Certain shrine, and have received absolution from him in person—although, as a matter of fact, it was nearly noon when we were in the temple, and I never saw the high priest. I bought the document from a priest in the temple office for one and a half cents. Similarly, I have a brass charm from the imperial'high ‘priestess (whom I did not meet, I am sorry to say), guaranteeing protection to my body from every kind of harm, and all for the sum of eight cents. Religion comes cheap in Japan. I saw priests emptying the money boxes which stand before each shrine, and later stringing the coins together. These are all of copper, and of the lowest denominations, two' sen, one sen, half sen, rln and half rin. The last two are the commonest, and are worth respectively, one twentieth and one fortieth of an American cent. These are now seldom used In commerce, and are called “temple money.” The sen is worth one-half cent. The elaborate and costly Buddhist temple apd Its ritual and was in sharp contras* with the impoverJsdmd Jiimßle services which those ua- ? uniformed missionaries had been holding; but the latter ’had a confidence and a vitality which made one foresee the possibility of the overthrow of Buddhism by the plain gospel of the Nazarene.

NAOMI’S SACRED TRUST A STOIY or THE rEIIOD OF THE JUD6ES IN ISIAEL By the “Highway and Byway” Preacher

(Copyright, IM7. by die Author, W. S. Edson.) Scripture Authority—Ruth 4:13-17.

SERMONETTE. The Messianic Line This beautiful story of Ru£h traces for us the genealogy of David, who established the kingly line from which sprang the Christ, the promised Messiah of the Jews. Note the large part which faith plays here. Faith which stirred in the heart of Naomi in the far country of Moab and drew her back to her God and her people. Faith bringing to Ruth’s heart a vision of a better life, and giving her the courage to forsake all that she might find a place with God and God’s people. Faith making them both faithful and patient durihg those early days of bitter trial and poverty after their return to Bethlehem. Faith leading each step of the way through the darkness of their loneliness and grief. Faith reaching out so hopefully, so delicately, and yet so boldly and laying hold of the right to the claim of kinship. Faith inspiring to modest and gracious acceptance of the exalted position to which the alliance with Boaz lifted them. Faith finding its ultimate and joyful triumph in a son and heir whose coming was to add its link to the Messianic line around which the thought of every devout Hebrew parent centered. This book of Ruth is a fitting parallel to the eleventh of Hebrews. And one cannot read either without being stirred with a yearning for more of that faith which made such triumphs in the Lord possible. And' let us contemplate how this pathway of faith led step by step in so wonderful and beautiful a way up to the coming of the Christ, who came not only as the perfect exemplification of the purity and holiness of God, but as the perfect exponent and expression of that faith which was to win the ultimate and glorious triumph over sin and death and the grave.’ All that this world has ever had from God has come along the pathway of faith, yea in the very beginning it was the faith of the son of God, the second person of the Trinity, which brought the universe Into, being and created the earth and all that is therein. This pathway of faith can be traced through the Bible from Genesisto Revelation. It has been the slender thread on which has hung the fate of the human race, and it is still the only medium of access to God and the one element which, if absent from the human life, makes all other virtues and attainments of none avail. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” It was faith which could lift a Moabitish woman from the midst of an alien and heathen race to’ become the greatgrandmother of David, the ancestor of the Christ. Think of the Divine honor which thus came to Ruth because of faith, and then consider how mucn of God’s blessing may be yours through faith' in the Son of God.

THE STORY. </"OD hath been good to us, indeed,” aj responded Boaz, to the happy words of gratitude which Ruth, his wife, had just spoken. “Yes,” continued Ruth,. “He® hath given me thee” —looking up with loving glance into the face that bent aver her —“and now He hath given me a son—and thee, too,” she added, eagerly. * **- A sound came from the other side of the room, where the aged Naomi w r as busy about the household cares, which sounded much like a sob, and caused Ruth to look in that direction. “And thee, too, mother,” she added, hastily, while a shadow passed over her face, and was gone again as the baby cooed and. reached up its little hand and touched her cheek. She buried her face in the little one’s clothing, as she pressed him to her breast, and when she lifted her face again she said, appealingly, to hdr husband: “And I want our son to be named after thee, thy husband. Cannot it be 80?” Again the half-suppressed sob sounded from the other side of the room, followed this time by a choking voice, which said: “Is not Naomi to be consulted in the naming of the child?” “Why, mother dear, I had not thought to shut you out. I had not thought that you cared,” and again the troubled shadowsrossed her face. “Will not the Lord, who hath given us the son, also in His own good time give us a name for him?” asked Boaz, hABtUy. anxious that no suaptekm of disharmony 'should exist between the two women who had been so close to each other in love and sympathy, and who had rejoiced together over the coming of the babe and had planned bo earnestly for ijj#*future.

“Ye, we can wait” both women responded In the same breath, and there the, matter rested for the time behfg, but In the heart of each the troubled thoughts which had been there since the coming of the babe remained. Neither knew just how the feeling arose, for there was no spoken word, but each became conscious of a jealous solicitude over the child; each was utterly consumed with love and ambition for the child, and each felt a personal pride and triumph in him. And as the days had passed, Ruth had lavished her love and attentions upon the child, had talked of her plans for the child, and, without realizing it, had scarcely given Naomi chance for a share in it all. How the old woman’s heart yearned for a sense of ownership and proprietorship in the child. How her eyes feasted themselves upon the face and form of the babe, and followed with a great hunger in her eyes every move that the little one made.- The mother became conscious of this and the thought had flashed through her heart: “She wants rny baby for her own.” And then had come the climax, as indicated in the opening conversation, of our story. From that moment, when the whole situation was revealed to the heart of Ruth, there began a great struggle in her heart. It was her baby. Yes, her heart welled with gratitude and love, as she remembered how it was through the loving, helpful influence of Naomi that she had come to know the true God and had found entrance to anew life that now had opened up to her seemingly in all its rich fullness and blessing, and yet, as she hugged her baby close, she would say over and over to herself: “He is mine.” And Naomi, as she hovered about mother and child, and sought in tender solicitude to minister to them, by quick intuition became conscious of the state of Ruth’s heart and it came as a great and cruel stab at her own heart. This babe that had come like an answer from heaven that the name of her dead husband might not be cut off in Israel, and forever shut her family from hope <of being in the favored line of the promised one who should be a leader like Moses; this babe whom she felt belonged to her in a peculiar way; this babe whom she felt instinctively was destined to become great in Israel —was she not to have special charge of him? Was she not to have the direction of his mind and life as she alone, a devout mother in Israel, was able to give it? How she wanted to pour the wealth of her devotion to God into that little life as it unfolded, that it might prove a life pleasing unto God. Thus in the hearts of these two women the struggle went on. But with Ruth the conflict was especially fierce, for the natural inclinations oF the mother heart were pitted against the higher and better self. She was conscious of Naomi's peculiar claim upon the child and of her special fitness to have the care and training of him. But Jipw could she yield the place she wanted to occupy to her son, even though it was to one whom she knew could fill it better? So she asked herself over and over again, and was still asking the question on the day appointed when the neighbors and friends had been summoned to the presentation of the child before the priest Eli. In fact, after all the guests had arrived, .the question was still unanswered. The baby was still in her arms, where, with feverish solicitude, she had kept him, as though fearful that to put him down was to lose him. All through the ceremonies she held him, and now has come the time when he shall be named. It Is her right to name him, and she can call him Boaz, as she had expressed her wish to do. Silence has fallen upon all the glad, expectant company. All eyes turn to Ruth and wait for her to speak. The conflict rages fierce within her breast. Will she speak, or will she give her baby up? What shall she do? She must do something. They are all waiting. Shall she let the selfish claims of her own heart dictate; or shall she yield to the dear Naomi? She rises to her feet, the precious baby still In her arms. She advances ai —ss the floor, the baby still hugged close to her bosom. She turns, when in the center, and moves swiftly towards Naomi. She reaches the old woman's side. . She stoops and, opening her arms, she places the precious baby in the arms of the mother-in-law, while a great and glorious light illuminates her face. A glad note of approval sweeps over the company, and the women said unto Naomi: “Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.” And they called his name Obed, and Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and she became nurse un to it. .

In the Sunshine. O sunny ray! O sunny ray! - That deep within my heart doth stray, In golden billows from above. Flooding my soul with dreams of loVe! The sunshine lures me fronrmy home, In budding woodlands '' And there I met, in bowers green, The fairest maidens ever seen. O sunshine! do you then suppose, Tlmt you kiss cm-h bvjflfllWg _roso. , I am to woo each smiling maid I meet beneath the leafy shade? Full many a year has passed and gone Since first on earth the sunshine -shone; Thou oughtst to know- it cannot be— O sun! why art thou tempting me? —Transatlantic. Tales.

By Graves of Herpes kn hour, a flower, a memory, perchance a tear pr two, These jive we from our life to them: Nation, what gave they youT What of the silent partings, too solemn and sad for tears? What of the homesick sighing which only the nlght-wlnd hears? What of the waking picket, guarding the nation's sleep? What of the cold and the hunger?—what of the thirst and heat? What of the midnight marching, where, weary, footsore, drenched, The pallid weeping morning shows the enemy Intrenched? What of the shriek of the battle? What of the after-hours? Oh, men! In the name of God, can ye heal such wounds with' flowers? Hook to your lilies, Columbia! Stainless they should be as snow, To rest on hearts burned white In battle's furnace glow; And your roses, red as the blood that flowed on fields of death. Their fragrance full sweet to stifle the smell of battle's breath! Alas! If our flowers were all that we laid on each nameless grave— Alas! for us and for them and the sacrifice they gave. But over those lowly hlllocns, as over the hills of God, A glory breaks from the flower-cups withering on the sod, For they are the pledge of the promise—- “ What you gave to us we will keep.” The oath of the nation’s waking sons to her sons who are asleep. —Frances Ten Eyck. AT GETTYSBURG Field of Battle Is Forever Consecrated to the Highest Ideals of American Valor. SEE Naples and die!” wrote an enthusiast, and gave anew vogue to a moribund old world city by a sententious saying. But to the American whose soul is alive to patriotic emotion, a more fitting exhortation would be, see Gettysburg and live! And so seeing, live to be consecrated anew to American ideals. Realize and drink in from that historic fount tfie immortal lesson of “what they did here,” that the nation might live —a grand object lesson, made manifest so that he that "runs may read by its 600 monuments and tablets dedicated there to American valor. A thrilling page it is that may be read in these silent yet speaking symbols which mark the various positions held by the 640 organization# that fiercely contended for victory during those fervid July, days of ’63. And punctuating the longflines of marble and granite memorials that thickly strew the picturesquely diversified field imposingly stand out the colossal bronze images of the leading generals in the commanding stations each occupied, or where they fell wounded or dead, while directing their hosts. While here and there dotting the elevations whence the batteries belched out their terrible shots and shell art grim cannon, in some instances the self same pieces that sent their winged deaths searching Ewell’s, Hill’s and Longstreet’s lines stretched around the town and along Seminary ridge, or hurled them at Meade’s embattled front opposite. All the historic landmarks, too, are there to-day. Away to the west the Lutheran seminary, still standing like a sentinel on the outpost, round which the waves of battle raged and spumed and from the cupola of which Reynolds and Buford watched Hill’s advance debouching from the woods on either side of the Chambersburg pike; and, just beyond, the undulating plain and McPherson’s wood, the scene and altar of sacrifice whereon the valient first corps of Meade's army unstintedly poured out Its libation of blood. To the east and south. Cemetery hill and its prolonged ridge, along which stand out those never to be effaced features of the landscape—the national cemetery, with its 3,575 graves of union dead, the clump of trees or “high water mark of the rebellion,” whence Pickett's braves were hurled back in disaster and death; the “bloody angle,” and‘ the peach orchard, which season after season renews itself in blossom and fruit; the wheat field, yearly sown to the same crop, but no longer yielding Its “harvest of death”; grim Devil's Den, a rocky, wood-tan-gled maze to-day as it was and has ever been since the red Indian and savage beast sought it for their lair; the same wooded heights of Little and Big partly denuded, yet with many surviving ancient trees scarred and broken and torn by solid shot and shell, or trunks pimpled by minie bullets, but fruitful yet with leafy life. Vanished only are 'the mangled corpses of the slain, the rushing columns of struggling foeman, the blazing lines, the crash of musketry and cannon’s deafening roar, the dying groans and frantic, swelling cheers. With all these marvelously preserved vestiges of the battle still defining Its . varying, toftune*,. and lc story of 'the guides,, vqry little exercise of the Imagination is needed even to a stranger, none at- all to the veteran who fought there to reconstruct the scene, and once seen render its realization vividly Impressed forever on the mind.