294 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



stead of being a year old." After all, the mission- 

 aries had only to put their birthdays back one 

 year in imagination and then they had their daily 

 paper as regularly as the frequenter of a London 

 club. Surely this was not a very strong flight of 

 imagination ! At any rate it would not have been if 

 they had been of the gentler sex. But it was not 

 only newspapers and magazines that were treated 

 in this way. Friends of the missionaries at home 

 kept them supplied with a monthly mail. How is 

 that possible ? We listen to Mr. Peck as he says : 

 " I read (on November i) two letters which are full 

 of comfort. Kind friends sent me several packets. 

 The month in which they are to be read is marked 

 on the outside of the envelopes. I have therefore 

 a monthly mail so to speak, which will take me to 

 next July. How full of prayerful thought these 

 letters are. They bring one very close to the love 

 and sympathy of God's loved ones in the home- 

 land." Again speaking of these letters at another 

 time he says : "I look forward to the time ap- 

 pointed for opening letters with many longings of 

 heart, and I must confess that at times I feel like 

 the greedy boy who wishes to eat the whole of the 

 cake at one sitting." 



And yet once more it is impossible to refrain 

 from dwelling upon this very simple, yet very 

 helpful comfort given to God's servants. It is 

 the record in the diary of a new year's eve. " We 



