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AT HOME AND ABROAD
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A LOOK OV E R THE F I E L D
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TV/TRS. BARNES, a student at the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles, who is now returning to her work in India, recently spoke to the Student Volunteer Association o f the Institute. When asked as to religion o f the lower castes in India, she explained that these people cannot be said to have any religion. They have no creed nor set form o f belief, but merely' an unlimited number o f superstitions. One o f these superstitions concerns the eclipse o f the moon, which phenomenon is quite common in India. The natives believe that the moon is the bfother o f Mother Ganges and that at certain seasons o f the year Mother Ganges expects and demands homage of her brother, and if he refuses to give it, she sends her dragon, the eclipse, to eat the moon. Since the moon is high-caste and the dragon low-caste, this is looked upon as disastrous by high and low caste alike. So the low-caste people set up a motley jargon o f yells to frighten the dragon away,, and the high-caste in turn send gifts o f rice and food to the poorer class. When the eclipse passes away they think they have succeeded in driving away the dragon. The Christian, o f May 17, gives an inter esting synopsis o f the second great national missionary campaign under the auspices of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement. The campaign started in October, in spite of many objections on account o f the war. It has been a wonderful campaign. Sixty-nine conventions preceded the national conven tion in Washington. The total paid regis trations amounted to almost 102,000, a gain o f 42 per cent over that o f 1909-10. These 101,927 men represented many thousands o f congregations. During the last ten years there have been nearly 3000 conferences and conventions, with a total attendance o f approximately a million men.
rT 'H E Student Volunteer Union o f Los * Angeles County met in this city at the University o f Southern California. Del egates from Pomona, Occidental and Red lands colleges,' and from the State Nor mal School and the Bible Institute were in attendance. In the afternoon Dr. J. R. Pratt spoke to the volunteers on “ The Worker and the Word.” One o f the musi cal features was a duet by two students o f the Bible Institute, Miss Ruth Quayawama, a Hopi Indian girl, and Miss Lily Ing of China. One could not help feeling moved as these two young women, representing the East and the West, sang itogether “He Was Not Willing that Any Should Perish.” After a picnic supper in Exposition Park the students gathered again to listen to Dr. Clelland B. McAfee, o f McCormick Semi-: nary, who spoke to the students on the subject o f “ Dedication.” A three-fold dedication, he said, was necessary—a dedi cation o f self-surrender, like that o f John the Baptist; a dedication o f love, like that o f John the Beloved, and a dedication o f sacrifice, like that o f Jesus. Dr. McAfee then spoke o f four qualifications which a student volunteer should look for in choos ing his life task. It must be, he said, an absorbing task, a broadening task, a cry ing task and a difficult task. Miss Helen Blackman was chosen to represent the Institute as one o f the officers o f the Union for next year. “A large part o f our sales o f devo tional books, such as ‘The Imitation o f Christ,’ ‘Come Ye Apart,’ ‘Daily Light,’ and similar books, are to non-Christians,” says a tract society in India. “ Such books, are used by the priests in the preparation o f their discourses and prayers in Hindu tepiples. Whole communities are being influenced in this way.”
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