Missionaries and Marriage
— Important to Those Thinking of Foreign Field
following le tte r from a mis- uary of wide experience was tten to an English paper, Lwe commend it to any con
on account of the loneliness of h er po sition, being thus cut off from convers ing with Indian Christians, is not likely to be very happy, especially when her husband is away. 2. I t may cause th e loss of a Worker. The first two or th ree years are criti cal from a health standpoint. If young workers come out engaged or married, and one of the p arties (as is sometimes the case) is unable to live in the tropics, both have to return. This means also an unnecessary financial expenditure. If young people,who have been warned along these lines, cannot refrain from getting engaged or married for tw o or th ree years after coming to the mission field, one is almost inclined to doubt th eir call. Were th is m atter to be brought seri ously before such whilst in train ing or before leaving home, I, personally, be lieve th a t they, out of love for th e ir Lord and devotion to His cause, would be quite prepared to agree so to act, and would acknowledge th e wisdom of pass ing th e ir language te st before making any engagements whatever. Many mis sionary societies expect th is of th eir mis sionary candidates, and though I would deprecate tak ing them as our p attern in many things, I th in k , in th e m atter of ievotion to our Lord, and, so far as is possible, equipment for service, we should not lag behind them , and may learn much from, th eir dearly-bought experience. 3. I t H inders th e W orkers from Gaining Useful Experience.
templating going to the foreign field. “F o r some tim e past Xhave felt (and I know others have also) much concerned about young m issionaries going out to th e ir prospective fields married., or be coming engaged before or shortly aftei getting there. As one who has spent twenty-three years in India, perhaps a word from me will be taken- kindly and not prove unacceptable. My main reasons against the practice are: 1. I t H inders th e Study of th e Lan guage. In some cases a life’s work has been thu s crippled. Languages are no t easily picked up. The average student needs tc give his whole tim e and energy to the task if he would be successful. It is considered axiomatic th a t if a missionary does not get a working knowledge of the language in his or her first twc years, they never will. Some societies call upon such to leave the country if they fail to pass th e ir second year’s examination. Single m issionaries usually board with married workers and so have little or no household duties or domestic cares; hence they can give th e ir undivided at tention to the language and are con stan tly hearing it spoken to servants and others. Young people coming out m arried find setting up house in a new country very difficult, and no young m other in a foreign land, where the difficulties of raising th e child are greatly enhanced, has a fair opportunity of honest study. A married sister w ith out the language is not likely to be much help, though th ere are exceptions, and
By living w ith older m issionaries, new workers learn much. If m arried, young workers in most cases will have to live in separate bungalows, and so will to a great extent be cut off from th e ir fellow- FACTS AND FIGURES WHICH FURNISH
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