TRAINING THE CHILDREN OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
In 1888, Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, in a meeting in London, gave a statement of his work as a missionary in the Hervey Islands since 1851. “He spoke of the former condition of the people, of their love of revenge and of their human sacrifices, of the bloody feuds that existed among them, of the rule, followed by all, of keeping alive only two children in the family, and of the whole aspect of their lives as something fearful; and stated that all this had been changed through the influence of Christianity. He remarked that to see a people who were once cannibals partaking of the Lord’s Supper has been most delightful. Looking around upon the assembly gathered for this purpose he had seen the bread administered by one to a man whose father that man had murdered, or the reverse. He stated that the work of evangelization in many of the South Pacific Islands had been done almost entirely by natives trained in the Avarua School; that hundreds of these natives have sacrificed their lives to carry the Gospel to their brethren, and that sixty of Mr. Gill’s own church have been killed while acting as missionaries.” (Alexander, “Islands of the Pacific,” p. 121. Am. Tract Soc.)
INFLUENCE OF A PICTURE CARD
Once a month we give each girl a picture card. These were sent to us by children in American Sunday-Schools, and each time we explain to the child that the card was sent by a little boy or girl in far-away America. One day on our way home we stopped at a shop, and two of our little girls seeing us drew near with the cards in hand. A man sitting by asked one, a clever little girl, where she got her picture. She didn’t say, “My teacher gave it to me,” but answered, “A little girl in far-away America sent it to me.” His next question, “Why did she send it to you?” To which she replied, “Because she loves me!” Then, as he continued to question her, she began to explain the picture. It happened to be Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount. It was only a child-like explanation given by a child of seven or eight years, but the man was really interested. As we wended our way I thought of the hundred and twenty-seven cards we had given out that day, and the many hundreds that had been given in days past, and wondered how many real Christian sermons had been preached by little Hindu and Mohammedan girls by means of these small cards. (Woman’s Work, April, 1912, Bessie Lawton, Fatehgarh.)
BIBLE READING
Revealed unto Babes—Expressed by Babes.
Luke 2:41–49. Matt. 11:25, 27. Matt. 21:14–16.
The things that are hidden from the wise and prudent are understood by children. How near a child is to the Heart of the Great Infinite; how naturally he expresses his love and praise. As the twelve-year old Boy in the Temple understood His connection with His Father’s work, as the children in the Temple comforted the sorrowing Saviour with their praise, so the children of today may understand and do for Christ what the wise and prudent cannot.
“We are facing tremendous problems and great contests which our children have got to settle. Can we not educate these men and women of tomorrow in the world brotherhood that goes back through all the centuries and finds its beginning in the heart of the Boy of Twelve?” L. W. Peabody.