Work. At first
glance it does seem that this is a discouraging field. I need not
recapitulate what has been said in the report already before you. It
is sufficiently discouraging; the ignorance and poverty are not the
worst features. The position of the clergy in many sections--I am
happy to say not in all--is full of discouragement. The worst thing we
have to face is the apathy of the people. Their phrase, "We-uns never
asked you-uns to come here," is certainly most pathetic.

What do we propose to do about it? What do we propose to do with more
than two millions for whom Christ died, American citizens, in the very
heart of our Nation, around whom the currents of commerce and industry
swirl every day? Shall the greatest tidal wave of all time pass them by,
and they not feel it for a moment? More than all, shall the great gospel
of God, which is life, and hope, and peace, and home, for us, be nothing
for them?

I am happy to say that it is not all dark by any manner of means. Your
committee is hopeful, the members of this Association are hopeful, our
brethren on the frontier are hopeful. There are very many favorable
things, and one of the most favorable is their increasing numbers. Do we
stop to estimate what two millions of souls means? More than thirty
thousand cradles filled in a single year.

These men respect the Bible. They feel a superstitious regard for it;
they are not infidel people. They have a simple, childlike faith, and
the Bible word is to them final. Many things that many of us have to
contend with, the brethren there do not meet I mean in the field of
infidelity.

They have great respect for woman if she respects herself. I have the
statement of one of our workers in the South that a woman can go even
among these men when they are drunk, and if she respects herself and has
maintained her character she is perfectly safe in their midst.

This same writer tells me of a young man who went out from one of their
schools, and kept school in a certain place during the winter, When he
returned, he said: "Nothing would tempt me to go back there again." Not
so with the young ladies. It is one of the most astonishing signs of the
times that really into the feeble hand of womanhood is given the key of
the situation. They respect these girls, they reverence them and give
them a place of dignity in their hearts. That makes it possible for
these women to do a large and splendid work in the South.

Once let thes