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43? TH
Contributed
BRIGHTSIDE LETTER.
Broken Swords.
Not every one can write poetry. There
are many who think poetry, see visions
and dream dreams, and have "songs
without words," but caji never write a
line. Poeta nascitur, is still true, which
accounts for the variety under the sun.
But some of our hard-working people
are poets. We have said so before, and
we stand by it. Dr. William Henry
Woods, of Baltimore, has a vision that
looks out upon "the things that never
were on sea or land." And a prophet
ought to be a poet. How can a man
preach unless he sees above ajid beyond,
and bring something from without the
world to move and win the human
heart.
In Scribner's Magazine for March Dr.
Woods has a poem, "The House of
Broken Swords," on a fine and lofty
strain, with a rich and gracious lesson.
You will have to read it more than once,
and look up your dictionary and your
classic cyclopedia, too. But it is worth
all that and much more. Remote among
mountain peaks is an old hostelry, and
about the halls are hung the weapons
and banners of the world's heroes. But
far up in the vane are lines of broken
swords, the relics of defeated men. Under
the broken swords are the shields
that bear the names and stories of the
world's real and greater heroes, to
whom no victory came, who fought and
died on fields that were lost. There is
"The Prayer of Beaten Men," that, in the
defeat and dust and death, overcome
and trampled, their eyes may be opened
to see that it was all ordered from above
themselves, and accomplished a purpose,
wise ana gooa, and rar above what they
thought or hoped in their vain conflict.
Then the heavens open and the stars are
shining, and the light comes to illuminate
the names written beneath the
broken swords.
It reminds us of an address by Dr.
Maltbie D. Babcock, "The Success of Defeat,"
very heartening and hopeful, true
and strong, a message very much
needed In a world of few victories and
many defeats, with many broken
swords. Dr. Babcock urges that a man
himself is greater than his work, nobler
tlian his cause. And true success is In
himself, within and not without. Victory
comes in self-knowledge, in
strength, in faithfulness. And however
the sword is broken, the work unfinished,
the goal unreached, that is victory to
"the unreturnlng brave," who sleep in
nameless graves, when at last, out of
the dust, there is heard the plaudit,
"Well done, good and faithful servant."
I
Speak, History, who are life's victors?
nnrnll thv lonsr annals and say?
Are they those whom the world called
the victors, who won the success of
a day?
E PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOI
The martyrs, or Nero? the Spartans who
fell at Thermopylae's tryst,
Or the Persians and Xerxes? his judges,
or Socrates, Pilate or Christ?
One would think it was the country
prophet who would prove himself a poet;
nn a iuKa J ? ?? * *
.. uu uau mug ana lonely rides,
thinking and dreaming as he went, fording
bright rivers, looking upon shaded
and shadowing mountains, with wide
visions of blue sky by day and of stars
by night. But it seems that Baltimore
is the place favored of muses, and
Franklin Square the home of the poet of
"The Broken Swords." But the "nascitur"
nevertheless was over in the Valley
of the Shenandoah, somewhere hard
by the Old Opequon.
J. P. S.
A MARVELOUS WORK AMONG THE
POOR IN KOBE, JAPAN.
My Dear Friends: The mnnv mrHioi
personal answers that have come to my
last quarterly letters have been a great
encouragement and joy to me, I assure
you. My special purpose In writing these
letters has been to keep in touch with
old friends to whom I could not write
frequent individual letters. But let me
remark that nothing short of individual
replies will satisfy me.
With my last letter in September I
sent you a picture of our new seminary
buildings that were just completed, but
not paid for. Since then the debt has
been reduced from about five thousand
dollars to half that sum, and I hope to
report in my next letter that it is all
aid fnr Tho -? *
_ ...v, ..u^iaiu; ui mentis passing
through Kobe and of some in America
has enabled us to go ahead with the
home for Professor Mizoguchi, on the
school grounds, which we planned from
the first to build. The frame of the
building was raised on the 20th, and it
should be ready for occupancy in about
two months. Mr. Mizoguchi's closer association
with the students will certainly
prove a help to them in their spiritual
life.
We started the session with fourteen
students, but one was drafted into the
army, one had to leave on arrnimt
eyes and four new student^ have come
to us. So we now number sixteen. They
are all studying well and are at the same
time doing faithful and effective work
in the evangelization of the city. The
work has been pushed In all the old
places, and in addition, two more centers
of work have been opened this fall, making
eight in all in the city of Kobe. In
our Presbyterian churches and chapels
we had eighty baptisms during the last
year, bringing the membership for the
city up to five hundred and sixty-eight,
and the contributions for the year were
iwo mousana nve hundred and twentyfive
yen. We feel that we have much
ground for encouragement, but we are
looking forward to much greater things
for next year.
In my own little "West Chapel" we
/
JTH. April 6, 1910.
had five baptisms last month, bringing
our number up to seven, and our aim for
this year is fifty. The Christians are all
earnestly praying and working with that
end in view, and I believe we shall see
our prayers answered.
J U6t before Christmas, during the
scuooi examinations, I went down to
Kochi to help in a series of meetings
held in Mr. Munroe's "Saenba Chapel,"
In the west end of the city. The weather
was cold, and the whole city was simply
turned upside down in a grand housecleaning
to eradicate the black plague,
of which a few cases had appeared. But
in spite of this, we had good meetings,
with about seventy present every night,
and quite a number expressed a decision
for Christ. Mr. Munroe's chapel, by the
way, has the best Sunday-school I have
seen in Japan, and one of the best I have
seen anywhere. The large and regular
attendance, the good music, the complete
organization and the systematic Bible
study make it truly a model Sundayschool.
Returning from Kochi, I started off
thf! Ramo niorH* k ?1
o"i. ?-"vj uuuarea miles in the
opposite direction to fulfil my promise of ,
visiting the people of Tsugu, high up in
the mountains. Tsugu is cold?very
cold?in winter, and paper doors and
tiny charcoal fires do not mitigate the
temperature to any great extent. But
Mrs. Myers packed my satchel for me,
and she was evidently under the impression
that Tsugu was located in the
Arctic regions, and that I might make
a dash for the North Pole. I felt quite
sure that if I should try to wear all the
flannels and underclothes provided I
should be obliged to leave off the customary
garments usually worn on the
outside?and that might be thought a
little unconventional, even in Japan. I
did get into them all, however, and the
outer garments, too. anrt ??
, ? turn/ V/Uur *
fortable, though I felt and looked like
the stuffed prophet. It was too cold for
much wide evangelistic work, but we had
good meetings with the Christians and
inquirers that made me feel that the
long journey was well worth while. One
man was baptized, but the other inquirers
seemed not quite ready. This field
has now been turned over to Mr. Cumming,
who moved to Toyohashi on his
return from America last month. I was
not given "bee salad" once on this trip,
but that was, doubtless, because it was
winter and too cold for bees.
In my last letter I told something of
6wu worK aone In Tsugu by our student,
K&gawa San, who was sent there
to build up his health. When he got
back to Kobe in September he was pretty
well worn out, but, In our nice dormitory,
he was soon himself again. In a
few weeks he began to go out preaching
on the streets among the very poor
about a mile south of the school. He
would stand on the street, sometimes
alone, sometimes with some of the teachers
or students, sine a hvm?
about God and sin and salvation. In a
wonderfully short time he had gotten
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