At Bombay, on his way to this country, in the early days of 1870, he spent a fortnight with his former fellow-student Dr. Young. "We had many conversations about our spheres of labour," writes Dr. Young, "and he mentioned, as one of the greatest difficulties he had to contend with, the careless way in which the Europeans lived before the natives, especially in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath," adding, "I have never tasted wine, or any kind of (intoxicating) drink since leaving Scotland, that I might not be a stumbling-block to the Kashmiris; and for the same reason, I never opened a home letter on the Lord's day except once, when my dear mother was very ill. We cannot, as missionaries, live too strictly for our Master."
Hearty welcomes awaited Dr. Elmslie in Britain. One deserves especial notice. "I can never forget," writes a friend, "how, on Dr. Elmslie's arrival in England, a father shook his hands, as the tears started to his eyes on seeing him, and how he could say no more than 'You have saved my boy!' It was not his body only that Dr. Elmslie was the means of saving, during a dangerous illness, but he had been the means of saving his soul."
In the spring, he came to Edinburgh, and was cordially welcomed to our heart and home. He stayed with us most of the summer, renewing in the city and neighbourhood former acquaintanceships and forming new ones. As a token of "filial gratitude," as he called it, he undertook duty for us, and sent us off to rusticate among the beauties of Braemar. Dr. Elmslie's principal work at home was the preparation of a vocabulary of the Kashmiri language. While busy putting the material together, he consulted "a gentleman who professed to take a deep interest in Kashmir. To this friend he submitted a portion of his MSS., requesting his advice and aid in publication. The reply was that nothing could be said till the opinion of a certain learned professor was obtained. After a considerable time, a letter was received, which Elmslie characterised as a regular damper, intimating, that another person had made an excellent contribution on the same subject to a Journal in Calcutta, and that Dr. Elmslie might do worse than not to push the matter further at present. He was vexed at the coldness of the letter; surprised, but delighted to hear of another worker in the same field, and once more wrote to his friend, asking him if he could procure the name of the person referred to. The professor took some trouble, and found amongst his papers the contributor's designation, and it turned out that the paper had been written by Dr. Elmslie himself." The vocabulary was, of course, proceeded with; but it took much time, and he stuck so close to his task, that he brought on a severe attack of "liver," the effects of which he did not entirely shake off, so long as he remained in this country. In October 1871, he writes us from London, "I have been busy with my little book, and to-day I saw the first page in print. The printer has promised to push on with it to the utmost of his power." Next month he writes to Dr. Farquhar, "You will be happy to learn that the small Kashmiri dictionary is making progress. We have got as far as S. in the English-Kashmiri part, which comes first." The work was not out of the hands of the publishers till Dr. Elmslie had returned to India, and a completed copy, intended for him, reached Amritsar the day after his death. "Their works do follow them."
Whatever seemed fitted to advance the cause of medical missions, afforded pleasure to Dr. Elmslie. It is needless to say, therefore, that when a Convalescent Home seemed likely to be realised, as an adjunct to a medical mission, through the generous kindness of a lady, it awakened in him the liveliest interest. The only out-standing difficulty was a suitable house; and for this Dr. Elmslie scanned the advertisements as carefully as if seeking a home for himself. In the country three tenements advertised seemed worthy of examination, and the writer and he fixed March 6th for an expedition to the country for that purpose. It was interesting and encouraging, in turning, on the morning of the visit, to "Daily Light on the Daily Path," to find this verse, "The Lord your God went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in." The first house visited was St. Ann's Mount, Polton, which was so commodious, and in every way so suitable, it seemed as if built on purpose. Dr. Elmslie could not help recalling the morning's Promise, and in one of the empty rooms of the house he pleaded that the God who had guided, would grant possession, and make the home a blessing to many destitute poor. That delightful retreat, which has now been open for four seasons, is thus sweetly associated with our departed friend.
From the time his attention was first turned to medical missions, the Scripture argument for them bulked largely in his mind; but he always felt that the full significance of it had never been brought out, and he longed to see some giant intellect take it up and give it the treatment it deserves. "In August, 1871," writes Dr. Young, "when Dr. Gauld and I with our families were living at Braemar, Elmslie joined our party and remained ten days with us. Elmslie's heart was then full of the Scriptural argument for medical missions, and was anxious to see the subject fully opened up. So much so, that on our return to Edinburgh we sent a conjoint letter to the Rev. Dr. –– asking him to preach on the subject, or write an article upon it for a Review. The Rev. doctor sent a kind and encouraging reply, and asked various questions anent medical missions, but the correspondence closed, as both Elmslie and I were soon busied in preparations for going abroad."
During the greater part of Dr. Elmslie's stay in this country, his mind was a good deal unsettled respecting his future sphere. His heart was in Kashmir, and his thorough knowledge of the language imposed obligations upon him that could not be lost sight of, but the interruption of his work every year, just when it was getting into proper order, tried him exceedingly. He felt he was always going on without making progress. He was so perplexed, that he admits in a letter to Dr. Farquhar, "My mind, for a time, was turned towards home." During this period various appointments, missionary and professional, were placed within his reach. "He relinquished," writes a friend, "the prospects of a practice that would have produced £1000 a year." Writing to us of another sphere, he says, "There are too many ornamental names in the list of members I fear. It is a fine thing for a doctor to have his name on a committee for some Christian work. It may tell favourably at the year's end. –– said £200 or £250 would be enough for salary. I looked at him! He could not live on that." A third appointment was rather pressed upon him, but learning that it was in the offer of another party, he wrote:–("25th April, 1871).... As –– (naming the place) is now under Mr. ––'s consideration, it would be both premature on my part, and not quite kind to him, were I to entertain the proposal at present." As his professional attainments were of a very high order, he was urged to stand as a candidate for a vacant chair in one of our universities. Speaking of the subject, one day, he said, jocularly, "It would swamp any university to let a medical missionary into one of its chairs, for, you know, 'No man worth his salt would be a medical missionary!'" He was content to forego academic honours, to which he might justly have aspired, and as a humble missionary to lay out all his attainments for the furtherance of that gospel that brought peace to his own soul.
At length his mind was set at rest. Writing to Mrs. B. T. (London, 25th November, 1871) he says, "At the end of last month I wrote a long letter to the committee of the Church Missionary Society, giving them a full account of the great difficulties with which God's work in Kashmir is at present beset. I did this that they might not be ignorant of the true state of matters there, and that they might have the materials on which to form a judgment as to the desirability of continuing the medical mission.... The decision to which they came was that I should be sent back to Kashmir, to continue the work as before. A future of no ordinary toil and trial is therefore before me, but I trust that He who sends me back will make His grace sufficient for me, and make me strong in His strength. I rejoice at the prospect of undergoing trial in God's service." This same month, to Mr. Wade, he writes, "I am willing to return to Kashmir. The missionary life is the only one worth living. It is the only one that can be called Christ-like.... My dear friend, I have had a terrible battle to fight with selfishness, and the love of ease, and the fashion of this world that passeth away. But I trust our heavenly Father has enabled me to overcome in His strength. I return to India joyfully and thankfully to rough it in God's work. Oh, it must be terrible to become old, and to look back upon a life spent for self, in ease and comfort, with little likeness to the life the dear Saviour lived–and lived for us."
When one reads in his diary Dr. Elmslie's account of his missionary labours in India, there seems wondrously little time left for anything else; yet we have seen he contrived to gather materials for a dictionary, and he also accumulated a large amount of matter for a comprehensive work on Kashmir. In the ensuing campaign he hoped to go somewhat thoroughly into the botany of the region. For counsel, how best to overtake this department, he naturally turned to his friend Dr. Cleghorn.
"My dear Friend,–My chief object in writing to you now, is to inquire of you what a copy of Wight's 'Icones Plantarum Indiæ Orientalis' in good condition is worth; also what should I give for a copy of Royle's Botany of the Himalayas? Can you tell me where I am likely to meet with works of that kind.
"Should I return to India, which I am now very likely to do about the end of January next, I should like to do a little to the botany of those interesting and far-away regions. I should feel extremely obliged to you for any hints as to how to proceed in the study of the botany of Kashmir and the surrounding mountains; also, as to how to do with any specimens which I may collect, and also as to any points of pre-eminent importance in Flora of the valley and the neighbourhood. I feel sure that I could not apply to one better qualified than yourself to give me directions as to how to proceed in the study of the Himalayan Flora." Dr. Elmslie was permitted to do little amid the rich flora of the Himalayas. He was judged worthy of speedy promotion; and was soon called to study a botanical system of far higher development than any to which Linnaeus or De Candolle has yet introduced us, in which the trees yield twelve manner of fruit every month, and the leaves thereof are for the healing of the nations.