BEHIND THE SCENES 289 



gotten." Is there a danger of this ? Perhaps so 

 on the part of too many people. At any rate the 

 solitary worker is apt to think so, as John the Bap- 

 tist did when he was in prison ; especially if he is 

 in a veritable icy prison which is penetrated only 

 once a year by rays from the outer world, and he 

 may be excused in having his moments of despond- 

 ency which call to the Christian Church for the 

 support of prayer. 



On the other hand we can look into the heart 

 of the messenger of the Gospel and see how, in his 

 moments of confidence, he is upheld by the know- 

 ledge of prayerful sympathy. One summer, on the 

 departure of the annual ship, Mr. Peck wrote: "The 

 Alert left to-day. I have written altogether about 

 120 letters and have also sent quite a number of 

 circular letters. Thank God for the number of 

 praying friends in the home land. Isolated we 

 truly are here, but from a spiritual point of view 

 we are compassed about with a host of helpers. 

 Cut off we are indeed from loved ones, with no pos- 

 sible opportunity of hearing from them for over 

 eleven months. United, however, we are to a 

 never dying Friend, whose presence more than fills 

 up the gap and void left in our hearts by the loss 

 of dear ones." 



At other times frequent notes are found con- 

 cerning the 24th day of each month and the com- 

 fort which it brings. " To-day is the day of days. 



19 



