HONOURED NAMES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 83, 9 April 1934, Page 5

HONOURED NAMES

CANADIAN MISSIONARIES LIGHT TO MANY LANDS [ VANCOUVER, January 16. Among Canadian missionaries who , have brought Christianity ty. remote places, none is more revered than John ; Geddie of Nova Scotia, who spent ; much time among South Sea savages nearly a century ago. lu a neighbouring group two brothers, James and ( George Gordon, from Prince Edward , Island, were murdered. George Gordon’s wife perished with him. Geddie carried on. He died in Australia. Christianised savages built a church

at Aneityum, and plated within tablet to Geddie’s memory: “When he landed in 1848 There were no Christians hcref When he left in 1872, There were no heathens.” In home mission work, the record. !• not less notable. Mainly bcotsmen, these pioneers of the Gospel left an t enduring name on the early history of the Canadian hinterland. Of such were John Black, who founded missions in , the Red River country, where Winnipeg now stands; Janies Nisbet, first Presbyterian missionary to the Cree Indians of the Prairie; George Flett and John Mac Kay, who became tribal linguists and had great influence on the natives; and James Robertson, superintendent of missions from Lake Superior to the Yukon. Preaching in advance of the railroad, this tireless 1 church statesman had an absorbing passion for the welfare of scattered homesteaders, miners, and lumberjacks. In tho East were distinguished workers: George Mac Kay, of Formosa; I Jonathan Goforth. of Alanchuria; Wilkie, of Central India; Mackenzie of Korea. Among Canadian women missionaries a diminutive graduate of Toronto Universiiy, Miss Caroline MacDonald, has a special niche in the record. Known as “The White Angel of Tokio,” she was specially honoured by the JapanI esc Government several times for her welfare work' among criminals and other unfortunates. Her work among factory girls led to the abolition of night work in textile factories in Japan; this ta>k was finally i accomplished at Geneva by the Hou. I Alargaret Bondfield.