not be made except on the written certificate of one or more physicians.

On this whole subject of health, the missionary, and every one else for that matter, should remember that common sense is the best prophylactic, and that violation of it is neither smart, brave nor pious. If, in addition, he remembers that the best drink is water, that "the best tonic is fresh air, that the best restorative is sleep, that the best stimulant is exercise, that fatigue calls for rest not the spur, and that a change of occupation is more restful than idleness," he will probably enjoy good health and be able to do a large amount of useful work.'

1 Ellen H. Richards.

Cf. the author's "The New Era in the Philippines," Chapter IV, "The Climate and How to Live in It."

IX

THE MISSIONARY'S INTELLECTUAL LIFE

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HIS is a phase of missionary life that may be considered incidental, but it is far more important and far more valuable to the world than is commonly supposed. The missionary is an educated man, and his tastes are therefore the tastes of a cultivated gentleman. Being a scholar, he needs a scholar's tools. Books are even more necessary to him than they are to the home pastor. The latter lives in a land of innumerable newspapers and magazines. Books are abundant and cheap, and if he is unable to buy all that he needs, there is a public library in every considerable town. But the foreign missionary is an isolated man, and unless he happens to be located in a treaty port, he is wholly dependent upon his own shelves.

In these circumstances, there are fewer opportunities for mental stimulus than at home, and intellectual stagnation is one of the dangers against which missionaries must guard. The temptation is strong to accept the apparent necessities of the situation and, because few books are available, to be content and allow the mind to be wholly occupied by routine duties. If this temptation is yielded to, the missionary's intellectual life becomes stunted and narrow.

In order that the recruit may start right, he should take with him, not only all the good books that he already possesses, but as many more as he is able to buy. He should, moreover, add to this stock from time to time as circumstances permit. He may be able to obtain what he wants in some port of the country in which he is labouring; but if not, he can always order either direct from the publisher or through his board. The missionary needs these books for enjoyment, for culture,

for mental growth. They will be friends who will never fail him. Apart from the intellectual value of reading, there are few forms of recreation and mental diversion that are more delightful and wholesome than the pages of a favourite author. The brain, wearied with long thinking upon the problems of routine work, refusing to leave those problems when the tired man throws himself upon the bed, is rested and soothed by the gentle influence of a good book.

Young missionaries often ask for suggestions as to the books that they should take with them. It is difficult to make out a list that would be satisfactory to all, for tastes and purses vary. It is not wise to use much of the outfit allowance for this purpose, as that is needed for clothing and furniture. Moreover, in going to a tropical climate, there is danger that dampness and white ants may destroy books. It is not well therefore to get too many at once or to get costly bindings. But good books substantially bound in cloth are not expensive in these days, nor is freight a serious matter, as steamer charges are based upon bulk rather than upon weight and books do not take up much room.

Widely as tastes vary, there are certain books that may be classed as necessaries to the missionary. The list given below'

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The missionary's library should include, if possible, an English dictionary; a Bible dictionary; a concordance; Beach's Geography and Atlas; several commentaries on the Bible, if the purse will permit, so that one will not be at the mercy of one man's opinion; Greek and Hebrew Testaments, grammars and lexicons; the "Encyclopædia of Missions; "a book on comparative religions, such as Menzies' " History of Religions," or Jevons' "Introduction to the History of Religions"; and a few volumes on the country in which the missionary is to live. Gibson's "Mission Problems and Mission Methods in South China" and the Reports of the Tokio, Shanghai and Madras Conferences and the New York Ecumenical Conference embody a wide range of expert missionary experience that is of great value. The physician will of course need some of the best books in his special line. For those engaged in educational work, James' "Talks to Teachers" and Bagley's "Educative Process " are excellent

is, of course, only suggestive, and each individual will naturally make changes that will adapt it to his special needs; but it may serve to illustrate the general range of desirable reading. The seriousness of the missionary's calling, however, need not deprive him of a few novels like those of Hugo, Scott and that great magician of the heart, Charles Dickens. A single volume of one of these authors is worth a ton of the cheap and trashy fiction of the day. Fiction bears the same relation to the intellectual diet that pepper and mustard bear to the physical. Too much of them ruins the digestion, but a little, wisely used, adds flavour. When the mind has become jaded and anxious by toiling or worrying over some grave problem, a page or two of Pickwick Papers is a blessed relief.

It is a good plan to lay out for oneself a careful and fairly comprehensive course of study and to secure books that bear upon it. In this way the mental development may be more wisely shaped and the mind prevented from falling into ruts. There are certain important studies, particularly in philosophy and sociology, that are apt to be ignored unless a program is resolutely mapped out. With good books upon his shelves, the missionary will have the material for intellectual resource and

pedagogical helps. Standard histories of the United States and England, Guizot's "History of Civilization," and a few biographies of great missionaries like Carey, Morrison, Martyn, Livingstone, Keith-Falconer, James Chalmers, etc., are highly desirable. In the realm of poetry, the missionary will of course want Homer, Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Whittier. If he can afford some books of general literature, like the works of Carlyle, Ruskin, Macaulay and Irving, he will find as the years pass that they are among his choicest treasures. A few devotional books such as Augustine's "Confessions," à Kempis' "Imitation of Christ" and one or two of the little volumes of Meyer, Murray or Gordon will prove a helpful addition.

For a more extensive list, compare "World Wide Evangelization" (Toronto Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement, 1902, pp. 626 sq.), and "Students and the Modern Missionary Crusade " (Nashville Convention, 1906, pp. 662 sq.).

stimulus always at hand. Indeed he may be a better furnished man mentally just because he is obliged to confine himself to a comparatively small selection. The abundance and cheapness of books in America are by no means an unmixed good. When one can hardly open his mail or take up a newspaper without finding attractive advertisements, he is apt to neglect authors of permanent value and fritter away his time on new ones of doubtful worth. Any one who has the time and patience to examine the thousands of new books that are published every year will find that the really valuable ones are like Gratiano's two grains of wheat in two bushels of chaff. The flood of fiction that is poured out of the presses of Europe and America has become a serious evil, while the missionary may congratulate himself that he is in a land where there is no Sunday newspaper with its bulky, blanket sheets crowded with accounts of theatres, horse-races, crimes, divorces and silly gossip. Such reading is intellectually debilitating. It withdraws attention from the tried and settled and concentrates it upon the flotsam and jetsam of daily happenings. An eminent author once said that he never read a book until it was a year old and had been commended to him by men whose judgment he had learned to respect. Of course he might in this way be a year late in reading some useful book; but if it was really good, the lapse of a year would not impair its usefulness. Such a rule saves an immense amount of time that would otherwise be worse than wasted, while by reading only the best, one gets the largest amount of intellectual enrichment.

The missionary will also want a few periodicals. A daily paper is an unnecessary expense on the foreign field. All the real news of the world is in the weekly edition, and one can often get from it a better idea of current events than from the more voluminous daily which mixes facts with a mass of rumours and trivial details. The missionary will also want at least one of the weekly religious journals of his Church, a missionary magazine, and one or two periodicals devoted to gen