ABYSSINIA TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22809, 19 February 1936, Page 5

ABYSSINIA TO-DAY

LIVES OF THE PEOPLE THE MISSIONARIES' WORK ADDRESS BY MR C. H. BARTON An intimate picture of life in Abyssinia, a country in which the interest of the world is centred at the present time, was given by Mr Charles H. Barton, a member of the Sudan Interior _ Mission, before a large crowd of people at the Trinity Methodist Church last night. Ihe address, which was illustrated with lantern elides, was delivered under the auspices of the .Otago Missionary Society, an affiliation of interdenominational missions, which has been in existence in Dunedin for about a year. Mr Barton was garbed in the threepiece white costume of the country, with very tight sleeves and legs, and a loose, gauze-like piece of cloth hanging from his shoulders. It was the costume, he said, to which every man in Abyssinia aspired, while the dress of the women was ]ust the opposite —an immense, loose and heavy garments—for evidently pride felt no pain and no perspiration either in Abyssinia. . • _. ~ Referring to the progress of the Italian invasion of the country, Mr Barton said that at the opening of the campaign the Italians had captured Adowa, by the process of bombing it from the' air for two days, shelling it with artillery for three days, and then walking in and capturing the city, which was nothing more imposing than a collection of mud huts on the crests and slopes of hills. According to recent despatches the latest advance had been to Makale. which was still only a short way in from the frontier and a long way from the capital. Addis Ababa. "It will take the Italians a long time to get to Addis Ababa," said Mr Barton, " and I doubt whether they will ever get there. In the south the invaders have made certain Advances into very barren land, but their operations there are not likely to be of any great use to them. Addis Ababa was 8500 feet above sea level, Mr Barton added, and it must be enormously expensive for an invading force to maintain a garrison in such country. Dealing with the work of the mission, Mr Barton said that he had opened a station at Marako, a district four days journey south of Addis Ababa, although it was likely that it would take much longer to cover the distance in unfavourable weather. Haile Sellassie,. the present Emperor of Abyssinia, had been crowned in 1930, and a great many of the advances made by the missionaries in the past few years had resulted from the Christian qualities of that man. He is a very enlightened man,' Mr Barton added, "and is inspired by high Christian principles." • Round Addis Ababa, Mr Barton continued, there were millions of Australian bluegum trees, and the total population of the capital was estimated at 60,000, although it was considered that 20,000 more people came in each week to the market. Before he left hew Zealand he had been told that there was no need to send missionaries to Abyssinia, which was a Christian country. It was true, he said, that the Coptic Church existed there, but many thousands of its priests were ignorant and dirty and possessed no evangelical zeal whatever. Consequently, the 15 New Zealanders who were labouring in the country, in addition to the other missionaries, found an abundance of work ready at hand. Referring to various pioneers of the work m Abyssinia, Mr Barton referred to Dr Thomas Lambie. who had given up his American citizenship and become an Ethiopian that his work might be the more effective, and to Mies Ethel Templeton, well known in Dunedin, who was doing excellent work, in charge of a leper hospital. By means of interesting slides, Mr Barton presented many unfamiliar aspects of the native life, and,, using a native spear for a pointer, apprised his audience in this manner df many intimate details of the life of the people of Abyssinia. For instance, he pointed out. it was essential for the peace of a family that a son should be born; otherwise the wife was packed off and another was taken in her place. In respect of the slavery, which is quoted bv the Italians as one of their reasons for wishing to civilise Abyssinia, he said he was not a very keen advocate for the abolition of slavery in the country as it existed at the present Abyssinian slavery was not to be compared with slavery as it existed formerly in North America, but slave raiding was vile and plain murder, and it was being put down by Haile Sellassie until his plans were disturbed by the ItaliW desire to "civilise him. It was rather the bonds of slavery of Satan that required to be broken in that counF Mr Barton entertained his audience while he told of the Abyssinian method of milking cows, impossible unless the calf was present with a child, to hold it, and of the manner of hairdressmg common among the women, who used black rancid butter to plaster their tresses into place. The women wore one dress tor an inordinate time, and had a particular garment of leather which, when it reached a certain stage of filth and decrepitude, " rustled like silk, although it did not smell a bit like eau de Cologne. Mr Barton spoke of the work done on his station by Miss Daisy MMillan of Burnside, and Miss Freda Horn, ot Palmerston North, who were at present alone on the station and doing great work amidst difficult conditions. 1 become very impatient," added Mr Barton, " when people say to me, Ut course, all the missionaries are home from Abyssinia now.' The missionaries have not left Abyssinia, and I know of nothing in the Scripture which tells us to come away Avhen the people are m trouble and are more in need of medical and other aids than ever." In conclusion, Mr Barton spoke of Miss Bessie Martin, of Invercargill, who had died on the field, but whose sacrifice had not been in vain, for not long after her death the opportunity had suddenly arisen for the establishment of a women's gospel service, which always before that time had been impossible.