ITINERATING IN THE Glw.T NORTHWEST Coma listen. my children, and hear with both ears, A tale that is str~er than brave Paul Revere's. They say that his ride was so dangerous and wild, But really Peul' s ride was remarkably mild. For now since I'm touring the :famous Northwest, l' U say Paul was good but he was not the best. PaUl didn't build bridges or stick in tl1e mud; His Ford didn't tall in a ditch w1 th a thud. He :may have gone fast but still 1 t was slow Compared to the way-our new Ford truck could go. Especially going down steep enough grades, And even there sometimes we had to use spades. Yes, spades, picks and shovels and long heavy poles We used ell to dig out of deep loess holes. Sometimes 8S we slid to the edge of a cliff, I'm sure that the most ot our hair stood up stiff. While ploughine; through rivera and over tho hills, There net er was an end to excitement end thrills. When stuck in "' mud hole or deep in a brook, It seemed ell the natives came running to l.ook; ~o:ngolian, Tibetan and !Usselmen, too, All cmne out to see if lfe' d ever pull through. A horse co.u•t do much when he's hitched to a car, And even a·mule cannot pull very far. Row many a time we got stuck in the aand, And how many folks do you think lent a hand ? We soaked in a river an hour or tw.o And d1 d 8ll that humans end horses could do; Nor ell. of our grunting and groaning end patn Could get our cer out or the river again. The ong!ne was wet and of course eo were we, Ai sorry a sight as you ever could eee. And Simeon cried when we deeper went down, "Five mules to the car and we'll pul.l beck to town." But here Itm ehea.d o:f rrr:; story again And should have first mentioned our party was ten. Our Geo. J. Appel was Comnender-in Chief, Did most of the driVing with little relief. He held to his faith from the first to the last. And even was Blt'eet through a long tedious fast. But some things are harder than hunger to bear, And he proved hie metal was made for long wear. He, list'n.ing to orders :trom tront and from rear, Continued to smile with his usuel good cheer. A ,¥other in Israel his w1 te proved to be, But aaw many dangers the rest oouldn' t see. But dangers were plenty, of that there's no doubt, And many a time we all helped her shout. She gave all first aid to the sick in their need, ..-~ And: bound up their bruises betore they could plead. 3- The rich and the poor live the same hours ea~h day, .And all 'find a common ground under the c1ay. r erchantman, beggarmen, preacher and prince Since Abel have died, so Why should we Wince ? 0 why should we :fear when the canyons look dOep ? . 'When walking death' s valley, '0 why a.o men weep ? The Lord ia my Shepherd, then why ohould I tear ? 0 why not be happy since J"esus 1a near ? He told us to go to the ends of the world, And He would go with us Ria :flag to un:t"t.lrl • .And so we were going because Re a aid, "Go'". ' So why should we tear if "the goiM was slow ? Our pert was happy and jolly end good; HOw wondrous indeed is this blest brotherhood. The writer was happy to join ouch a crowd, To eat and to sleep with the rest 'neath n oloud. Ita wonderfully sweet to gaze up at the stars A'searching for Venus or Saturn or are; Bu-t one n.ight we climbed up too neer to the sky, (The mountain was nearly nine thousand teet high) I guess that e bumped the Great Dipper that night And it poured out ita contents -until the daylight. Indeed it kept raining :for six d51s and nights And we furnished crowds with some terrible sights. Immersed in the mud everyone :was a MEb"'S, And yet we endured thru the strain and the atreos. Thru strain end the stress; thru str ss and the strain, iWe pushed and we pulled with our might and our main; And yet the mud stuck like old Le Page's glue And never a man of us knew what to ao. We ulled thru the mud until blue in the ~ace, And wondered how long Wo could keep up the pace. But Hsining we reached and rejoiced to get there In. time tor the abbath, its blessings to share With Brethren who weloomed us into the fold And made us ~ememoer, 'Lovo's better than gold'• had some good meetings end all were inspired By God's blessed Spirit --our hearts were refired. On Sunday we started to drive to Kum.bum le hadn't gone far when we had some 'humdrum' • • e stalled in a river I've mentioned before; 'Twos nearly two houra e'er our soaking wee o'er. nut when we went on and we reached the fair nlace, Whore four thousand monks daily bend each set fe.ce. 'Tis here where they worship the Buddha each day And bow to this :Living One and to him pray. o wan od to see hlm but didn't kno how For he is the one to whom millions must bow. -The chief sent llis cerd and I gave a tract-- Thoy thought 1 t l1J'!J' name card and said so in !'act; Tliey usliered us into his spacious abode In spite of our clothes and our mud tram the road We got out our camcrea and asked fo1• so:mc. snaps, And that seemed to pleeae those ~ibetan chaps. 4- FoYeh looked o'er the camera for te«r of a shell; ~ They guard this Live Buddha, they say, very well. We a..'1ked him to ,Pnt on his gorgeous rare robe And whan e. consented we then ceased to probe • .And then he began to give more than our call, And ordered hie throne, his cerpotR end all, ~d thereon he sat in hie rich robes ot state. Like ~opes in their pomp or a great potentate. He sat in is glory so cal..m and sedate No wonder 'l'ibetans ill think him so great. He's just twenty-three but is worshipped each da;y By four thousand m.onke wlio all kneel end ray. We got tnese rare pictures Nld pleased as could be To think we had come and this rare sight could see. But 311 of us wondered if Buddha could smile, He seemed to look pleased every once in a while. So I stepped right out with my broad monkey grin, And .Buddha collapsed --he had to give in. • He gave ua a smile that was tit for a clown, I venture to say 'twas the best JS!llile in town. And Mrs. Ap el we.s right there on the spot ':o snap that rare smile while the smile was red not. The ;Buddha requested we send him some snaps; We promised, then thanked hi.ni and left those kind chaps. We then tnade a hasty trip back to ~sining ..And got back in tilne to enjoy a good sing. Another good meal tor food thero ~ cheap, And then we all craved another night's oleep. The next day was ~onday with work to be done, But all our friends told ua the State .had no 1mon'. For five months or more not a man hnd been paid, And here we had come on an In.gat.hering raid. But further they eaid, the old Governor's fled, eon gone for two months and as good cs tho dend. ''But tho~ he were here", Faster Chen told us then, ''You ooUldn' t do muoh for he rarely )lelps men. l.ast year Paator 'orris and Pastor Osa, too, Saw tha old boy but what did be do ? Although they were ~ed with good lettera galore From T.v. Soong, Generals, end other :friends more, He only responded with good natured cheer, 'Gave twenty before, I'll give thirty this year'•" Well etter we heard this sad. story he told, ough you would think to chill all hearts with cold, ve thanked him and went to the closet to pray; When meetin~ ~th problems there's ~o other way, .And God heard our pleadings and gfl.ve us His grace; How blessed. 1 t is when He chowe £is kind face. We went out to work and soon heardt the strange word, "The Governor's comingtt --1 t seemed so abeurd, For he had been gona for many a day, 'Twas wondrous he'd oome tro.m his long weary way: Exactly the dey he he.d come to hls town To pay him a call end to get his nam.e d.Ol'lll 5- Amo~ a long list of good kind worthy friends Who help build God's buildings "for tho r.~esaage God sends. We felt that the Lord had indeed oped the way; We thmikod GOd and praised Him for guidance that day. We went to the home of the Govm:no:r· then; They said he was weary and coUld not eeo men. "Five days," they said, "he has been on his way", And asked us, to como back again the non day. e told them, "We're leaving :next ,orn at daylight; If we wait awhile, 'may we see him· tonight ?11 'l'hey took in our cards and t.hen asked us .. "o a1 t, . ,And soon he came in and was not a bit late. We had a fine talk - he was pleased as col.lld o With what we w~re doing for humanity. All during tnis viei t, we later on learned, Our Pastor was praying tha·ii we'd not be spurned. He feared that we might not see Chu _ i at all, Or that if we did it might prove a vain cell. lle made bold to pray that our God would draw neal", And bless us with twice ·what the man gave last year. Well after our call we returned to tbe Church Rejoicing that God left us not in the lurch. e told kttl our good man the results or o~ call, ['bree Hundred, not thirty, Ma .gave us this fall. The Brethren were happy to hear the good word, .And all took ne-courage and all hearts were stirred. Our Brethren were pleased with this nest egg in tore, While we were so sorry Ma didn't glve more. In Kansu the Governor so gladly ,ave ·aid, One Thousand in cesh and more romlses made. 'But whether its little or whether itf:l much, 'Tis all God's rich blessings and thank Him fo:t- uch. · We're helpless and hopeless without His kind Hand, Which leads ue in ways that we cen't understand. The next dSf we started th long journey back, xpecting a quick tri~ by following our treck. ~ut lo we were doomed to keen disappointment, In spite of poor roads we lllUSt learn contentment. Our first sorrow ceme as Tte climbed our first hill; The road was ~o slick we had many n thrill. Some siety 11 up e.nd about the same down; e ,fought for each foot as guards fight tor a town. That terrible ordeal w~ can never forget; To · thi:O.k or 1 t now makes me shudder and sweat. At last when we'd foug)rt our way 1lP to the ',Peak, We all deserved reet _ .. now I spe8k as :men speak - But that we.s 'the night 'We were too near the sky, ithout any tents end no shelter was tight 1 The r-ain kept a' pouring all night and next dey The wordS can ne'er portr8Y that horrible highway. The next ·dey: we tried to drive down that steep hil'l And 0 what a. journey and 0 What a thrUl •. 6- In extra low gear the old car still raced down, · Alid us1~ 'the brakes --well, that' u all right in town; At last When the oar see!:.od 'twas do·Jmed tor a vrreck , And only one thing its wild speed crJuld e'er check, Our Chief drove the car into soft loecs 1anks. The oar thus W88 saved and all gave lieurty thanks. Through all ot that duy --through that long ~ectic ride, 'l'he door was lett ope by.the driver's r·ight side. We built our orm bridges and built our own roads, .And sCIIletimes we hs.d to take orr nll our loods. Though roaring through rivers we had lots of fun, Our Ch'i Ch'eh aru didn't alw~~s sail on. en deep in one river we atL'k for a while; e went down so deop that not Etny could smile • • e hung on our side on a deep hidden bank, .And each held his breath es tl1e cur• turned end sank. 1e screamed as we saw our Chi et• s head d.isau:pear Beneath the wild :torrent that f'ille'l. us w~ th fear. But soon he came up with a vengeance and vim, And smiled as he cried out, "I ,know how to swim". Then.o'er the wild waters we oar·rie6 our load. e heard someone sigh, ff ell, the ear is in. ured~. And most ot us thought, well, at lest v·e are cured. e wondered how far 1 t was back to Lane how, And how many deya i t.?iwould take us to go, But all ~he Chief's servants and all the Chi f'~ en Could not pull tho truck t'r·?l:D th iver again. 'TWas then that we sought out a score o:r men more, And pulled at the car till e l' ached tl e dry shore • .And tllen eve:ryone hea·v-ed a sigh of r~lie.f, A~d ell felt like saying, Three Cheers to the Chief'. 1e all seemed surprised tl at we ever go t! l'Ot.!gh, So happy we hardly knew just what to do. All hungry and weary an.<1 soaked to the sldn, e l~nged for tho w~·mth of kind friundly inn. 'We drove into :Pingf'ang and ltad a good m a1 -- Ita strange how somo noodles wi~t rnek:e a man feel. e felt that our son·ows at last ere all o'er. }ye thought we'd see Lunchow the llOxt da;y· by four. 18 eent Doc a te"!egram tolling hi:in eo, And jumped in the auto and. started. to go. • we hardly had gotten outside of 'hi.:J town, Be!ore we struck mud and began goipg ~own. e rolled like the pigs for a eek in that mud; For want ot good food, like the cows, chewed our c~d. We slap" in a bern by tho roadSide t.t.at night, And mBfbe you don't think we all looked a sight. The next day wae Friday and ell we could make Waa ten bitter miles mere before we drove stOke. The Chief and his helper had walked back to town To wire f<:tr :DlOI'e oil and tor ehe.ine to gri'P ground. '! - o• er $a,bbath 1fe stayed in a good chickensnouse, And all WOlJld have felt just aa anug as a ·ouse, But lo, it kept raining as seems wont to do Tbrougb July and Atl.gust end September 'too, Our :root W85 a eieve and Qt course i.t poured through, And what in the world co you think w~ could do ? The Friday night raillf!! soaked our bedding up right, And all we could do wee to chill "throll€h the ;Qight. The rain on my-cheek wes qUite herd. on my pride, But then I remembered and turned the dry side. At last I was happy with. malice towal"d none, And then I could sleep for JJJY duty was donal· On Sabbath our meeting was held. spite of :rain; The Villagers like it and ca'tle back egain. We all felt that Sabbath v;re aowed some good seedS; .And pray that sonie good grain will grow n-J.det the weeda. On Saturda,Y night we all got so[\kee o' ~r. But if the day comou when you csrmot ouy uire, You'll' find all tha cbaufi'em·a up h~re t..-111 retire. You'll find all the autos left ~eep in tho mud Abandoned by men 'Who did all that they cou.td. 'J:'he motors and C!Jg.i nas ?Jill 811 ro ain cold, And child.ren will listen to s to1•:les' of old, Of or ave men and wouon with Jlearts full of fire, Who ventured in autos crmeQ. only ~with wil·e. Ah'. those were the days that did try out rnen'e souls, .Alid those were the men who reach a all of their goals •. :i th all due regard for t).l.ese m n ful' ot fire, Let me add kind wv:rds tor t e htu.1ble haywi!'o. Again we were otf and Wt:.l'C ar ned to the te-3tl:., lli th wire up on top ond ui th vd.re unasrneo.th. VIe plou..~h.ae tlu·o11eh the _ uCl. at the fabUlous 'rs.te Of six t.dles an hour Md sometimes reached ei3ht. 'twas jllllt at this juncture some tlud 'l;oul6.n' t yield,. lmd found we cur car in another ':1a!l1 8 fbld. We jumped the embtlfikment bu.t diO.n't turn m:m: o•er, And glad was the bunch we wcra still on ell fcur,. 10- Until the clouds pass we cannot see the blue; Until we are tried we cannot know we•.re true. UntiY the eyes dry we cannot see eo clear The stars in their glory that o'er us appear. The bright star of hope shines the ·brighter to me In dark nights o~ sorrow or adversity • .And pain boco:nes .. leasu.ro for which I have yearned., hen finally I grasp the new lesson I've learned. At dawn the next day we kept looking for carts, 1ith sad longing eyes and still anxious hearts. But no carts appeared as w all did desire, And so we resprted again to more wire. And Simeon smiled as he cried out, t~Can go", "We'll t.e.ve to be ca.rei'ul, we'll have to drive slow." But res.lly we never broke records o'f speed, And now CLOWER STilL beceme part of our creed .• We drove for a couple of hours or more And some of us thought that our troubles were o'er. We met our two c orts but declined to unload, We thought we'd go slew sd still hold t~, the road. At noon in our desert we reached a bright spot, And friends i.n. our need fixed a meal that was hot. An o&ais b:dgh t it did prove to us all, Wo ell were ao weak that we feared we would fall. Sometimes we got dizzy and things became black, So hungry: and weak as ii' bound to a rack. But now with a meal that was :1'1 t for a king, ne all :felt like shouting--we wanted to si~. One kind Brother Yen proved a brotner indeed, Tie gave ua tho meal in our dt.c-e hour of need. lle boile the potatoes--no other knew how-- And. when he was through it we.o wonderful chow. This man was baptized just, a short onth before, And he seemed so glad h~ could see us once nore. He worked wi 'th the head of the town c:: al t Gnbelle, And all of those men surely treated us well. Tilcir mud walls were papered--it seemed l)assing s ~.~range To see a clean room and clean men tor a change. Well, after this dinner { to,us, bre8ki'ast,too,) We started ~sin we hoped to get through. But little we dreamed of the road just ahead, If we had not eaten we'd ell nave been dead. c followed the cart trails like deep serpent's tracks, And dug out the send till strange ;pains tilled our backs. And 0 such a road no mere words can describe, We t'inally got natives to help through a bribe. We built roads tor hours and truly that night, Our bed seemed like downiest billows of light. ~e swellowed some noodles and hollered ~or more, The natives must think that's why foreigners snore. ll - The rest of the crowd had 811 gone ahead, All braving the dangers of that river bed. So finally the Chief thought he'd take tne wild chance, 1\.nd drove that old ear in the strangest car dance That men ever dreamed of-right down that wild stream, And none of us ever heard one of them scream. They turned those sharp corners at terrible speeds; ~stablished new records for wild der1ug deeds. The road was wasjed out so what else could they do, But charge down that river end hope to get through. And frantically Esther wipted window of rain, Tho car dashing onwE>.rd wi tli more miles to gain. They-had to go fmrt for they didn't dare ;atand, Or down they would eo in the deep shifting sand. Indeed several times they 1rent down to the hub And that was quite hard on the old sinking tub. But trouble boards, rocks and the i.e use ot poles, Succeeded in eetting us out of tbose ~olea. At: last in one deep hole 1 t seemed we were beat; ·The lady folka left us to find food to oat. Since Lanchow was only eight more miles ahead, They started to welk it and find a dry bed. e stayed by the car and took ott "both chains, And we were rewarded tor ell of our pains. The tires did not dig such deep holes in the nand; The trouble boar as worked as we'd hoped and had pl ned. The oar took a leep and was ott w:l th a apla:sh, The "Ch'i Ch'eh Uaru then began its last dash. ~e rounded a bend and longed for nore power For there in the distance was Lanohow's ~air tower. We lett the deep canyon around -that lest bend, But then o~ wild car ride reached an abrupt end. The mud ;waa so deep that we sank on ell four-- And knew that our car ride at le.et wa.a all o'er •. We left a Chinese to looK after the car, hilo we started walking toward Lanchow's high tower. They told ue the ladies were ten 11 ahead; We knew they were tired and nearly h81.1' dead. e walked a few miles 1n nearly an hour, :Each longingly looking at hang l:Io' s great power. 'When fie were so week end ready to yelp, Why not let the river's power come to our-help ? We hired a Chinese with a ra:tt or hog skins To take Us to Lanchow - 'tis prudence that wins. · The river was dangerous --tar over its banks-- But gladly we risked it, profusely gave thanks. Some say it is dangerous to ride on a raft, But we thought it mild after all we had passed. Of course it was wobbly and shook wl th the tide A hundred· feet end a half a mile wide. On thirteen hog -skins all the five of us rode, The skins filled with air seemed to hold up the load. 12- We gl3lleed to the shore end there ~~0 ID WE 'SE"li! ? The ladies ware walking, as tired as could be. And Alva was limping, the poor 11 ttle chap; • His losing his shoe was indeed a mishap. .,. Our raft was not caugh·t in ·the swift -'flowing stream, .And naught could be done --and 'twas 110 use to scremn. e soon reached the city end sent out two car·ts, To bri~ in the pilgrims in whole or in parta And were those fair pilgrims surprised as could~~, 1hile nearing the city to look up and see ~wo certs tor their comfort in which they might ride Right up to the co~pound and tri~ndly fireside. To cell them surprised would be putting it mila, For they were as shocked as a strange little child. They saia they had tram-ped through each]& each long weery ,mile, And. thinking ot us ever.y once in a while; Indeed they'd f()und rook carts and cent ua book two, To help in our misery and brillg us beck two, To help in our misery and bring us on through. But lo, on our "p'i fa Tzu" we got home f'Jrst, And drank so:ne good water to hel'P quench our thirst. We had a good bath and round something to eat, And thus was our: vict'ry wrought out ot defeat. By Friday the roads had dried up a bit more, • -The cor was brought home and the long trip wa:s o'er. The tive hundred li we had gone in tl~ee days, But nine daya were used while returll.ing thoso ways. Just one thousand 11 oftr~racleu atrange, •acb. dey it was different, each day was a change. From Lfl.nchow to Hsining and back agnin homo, You never can beat it where aver you roam. Real thrii.:lo for a lifetime packe l full :in oach day, l ne'or can forget them wherever I stray. Three cheers to the Chief and ell Of the rest--- We've finished our trip in WEE GHI!AT !WRT.HWEST ! U Adlai Al'bert .Esteb Sop·t. 4, 1934. Lenchow, Kansu, China