(1921) Oscar & Hellen Engaged

Oscar had finished seminary and his service in the army [not sure when he actually finished this service - may have been earlier than 1921], but Hellen was just beginning her studies. He would often see Hellen at the seminary as he was traveling about speaking at churches. At this time Oscar was still living with the Olssons in Mjölby when he wasn't on the road. Oscar and Hellen's relationship continued to grow and they became engaged with Oscar giving her a engagement band.1 In February he put an official announcement in the local papers, Östergötland ________2 and one in Dagens Nyheter3 in Stockholm announcing the event. It read simply:

This was a terse announcement for what was to be such an eventful relationship. [Possibly one had to make an official announcement for legal reasons].

Oscar wanted to leave Mjölby early the next morning before the Olssons saw the announcement in the newspapers. He could just imagine the surprise on their faces when they read announcement in the morning paper.

That evening the Olsson family asked Oscar if he would like to join them for a concert. Oscar thanked them but said no, he had something to do. What he didn't want to tell them was he was getting up early to catch the train for Stockholm; if he would be up late that evening he might oversleep in the morning. The Olssons left for the concert, soon Oscar was in bed, sleeping soundly. In the morning he woke and realized that he had overslept. He had just minutes to catch the train. Oscar dressed quickly, grabbed his luggage, ran out of the house, and down to the tracks. If he was to go to the train station the normal way, he would have missed his train. Instead Oscar scaled the fence, ran over the rails to the ticket office, quickly bought his ticket and just managed to hop on the train before it pulled out.

That day Oscar met Hellen at the seminary in Stockholm. Everyone had read the announcement in the newspapers by then. Hearty congratulations were given by friends and acquaintances. Hellen's classmates threw a party for them in the evening, arranged by the lady in charge of the school's kitchen.6

Sailing to America7

Oscar was to leave soon for China, returning not as the child of missionaries, but a missionary himself. Though engaged Hellen had just started seminary and still had two years before she would complete her schooling.

Hellen with friends and relatives saw Oscar off at the steamer line docks at Göteborg's harbor. With heavy hearts Oscar and Hellen said good-bye, and Oscar boarded the huge ship. Thousands lined the docks that day to wish their friends, relatives and acquaintances good-bye. People sang, the band played and the large steamer Stockholm eased away from the dock and slowly headed toward open sea. Oscar stayed on deck waving from the railing. Soon Hellen and the crowds could hardly be distinguished against the buildings of Göteborg's harbor. A small boat with about thirty passengers followed the Stockholm out of the harbor, but soon the distance between the giant ship and the small boat became smaller and smaller.8 Oscar watched until the boat disappeared. Eventually Sweden itself was a line on the horizon and then merged with the sea.

With Hellen and Sweden a recent memory but now a distant reality, Oscar turned his back on his love and his homeland and ventured into the giant 23,000 ton ship to his cabin.

Oscar made himself at home in his cabin for the several days journey to America. Sleeping was easy, the food was plentiful, and good even in tourist class. Luxury cabins went to those paying for the expensive tickets in second class and up. Oscar had a more humble cabin. A lounge was available for the passengers, as was a library and promenade deck. The days were spent in reading and meeting, and talking with fellow passengers and playing games. Oscar's favorite pastime was no doubt reading. While walking the deck he could see the white caps on the undulating waves and hear the rumbling engines of the steam ship under his feet. The ship could do 14-15 knots an hour and was manned by a crew of 240. Seven hundred passengers enjoyed the ship's comforts. [Another source gave the total number the ship could carry as 2,103 passengers (282 first class, 21 second class, 1,800 third class).] ²⁴ www.ellisisland.org

The brother of Oscar's mother, Hedvig, happened to be the head engineer on the ship Stockholm.9 One day he took Oscar on a tour of the engine room. Oscar took note of the impressive and noisy machinery in the ship's stomach. Outside the forward drive machinery, which were triple machines at 4000 horse power, were two electric generators providing the ship's lights, telephones and telegraph. All kinds of other machines and pumps for pumping out water in time of emergency were also placed here. The giant room was hot and humid, the noise of the engines made talking difficult as the steam heated by the boilers powered the engines that noisily turned the propellers.10

A Pastor Justingna (sp?)usually lead by Church services onboard. The pastor was taking a job a Bridgeport First Baptist Mission. A collection was taken for the Seaman's Mission. Oscar spoke also to a large audience [during a service?]. The atmosphere was pleasant; the audience seemed to enjoy hearing this future missionary.

When passing Scotland Oscar sent a telegram from the steamer to Hellen saying that the weather was fine and everything was all right. He wasn't feeling too well though at the time. Seasick, he went directly to his cabin where he remained for much of the voyage to the States. The journey was to be partly marred by a storm. Many were of course sea sick "giving tribute to the sea god Neptune" as the large waves and swells rocked the large ship.11

After twelve days on board the ship, much of that time feeling seasick, docking in New York harbor was a relief and a joy. From the ship's rails he saw the beautiful backdrop of Manhattan's rising skyline. The date was May 24, 1921. The ''List or Manifest of Alien Passengers For the United States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival' recorded him as six feet, two inches tall, fair complextion, blue eyes and blond hair. The manifest also stated he was going to the Mounds Park Sanitarium in St Paul, Minnesota. ²² See: 'List or Manifest of Alien Passengers For the United States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival' found on www.ellisisland.org. Downloaded electronic file name is Manifest 1921-1 through Manifest 1921-4. ²³ The 'relative or friend' back in Sweden that Oscar listed on the Manifest was Red. J. Bystom [umlaut over the 'o'] of Dobelnsgatan [umlaut over the 'o'] 12, Stockholm. We don't know what relationship he had with Oscar. Oscar's final destination is listed as Kiaochow, China. He was given a three month visa. [Add general information from the Manifest, which are apparently 29 in number, on the other passengers. Looks like many/most were immigrants. A few were continuing on to China].

In America

"America is a large, rich country of an inner strength," Oscar writes.12 In New York he went up the Woolworth building13 also called "the cathedral of commerce." From its 55th floor he could see a bridge that opened in the middle, people as small as fleas, parks, and much more. He and his traveling companions also went to the Metropolitan Museum, public library, Grand Central Station, Wall Street, and Coney Island. More places were visited but not mentioned. The city is [check Swedish]. Oscar had a similar observation of New York as his father had of London twenty-eight years earlier when he was on his way to China. "Everything that goes with the life of New York," Oscar writes, is to large proportion like a "feverish rush." 14 According to some statistics Oscar read, one passenger train leaves leaves every 50 seconds, a ship loads every 40 minutes, a child is born every 6 minutes, a wedding every 13 minutes and a funeral every 14 minutes.15 This was certainly a big and energetic country.

For a while Oscar's headquarters was in New York. He met Dr. Gordock16 who was pastor in the First Baptist Church. He helped Oscar get "clergy tickets" for the his train trip east. Later Oscar met all the ministers of the New York conference at their yearly conference in Newark. The conference gave Oscar a warm welcome from all the churches in the area. Pastor Johnson and the church in Montclair17 showed interest in the mission in China.

Oscar traveled to New England visiting "America's Athens" which was Boston a city full of historic memories going back 300 years. Howard University nearby was the most well know university in America. In Boston the first Norwegian Baptist had been baptized. Here in the north states the Baptists had many of their headquarters which had now moved to Boston. [Oscar mentions some names of Baptists here]. The Swedish Baptists were very active in this area. Oscar went to many of these churches. For about a month Oscar remained in the USA. In a comfortable Pullman train car he traveled to Chicago, stopped at Niagara Falls where the lights focused on the falls seemed to chase each other as huge volumes of water fell from Canada to America.18 It would have been more beautiful if hotels, factories, [check Swedish word] and other builds had not grown into the area. This was God's wonder in nature - a natural engineering phenomenon.

Next was the city of soot, Chicago. Here the Swedish Baptist had their [ check Swedish word]. Rev. _____ helped Oscar get a clergy ticket for the West. A little later he met Ahldin19 and his church family. He remembered the slaughter house named Amour where they killed 20 1200 pigs each hour, 1000 sheepand 350 other creatures. It was touching to see the sheep being slaughtered. It reminded him of Isaiah 53.7, he was . . . . The screams and chills of the animals being killed followed Oscar for a long time.

On the train again he reached the Northern Baptist Convention in Des Moines, Iowa which was meeting between June 22 and 28.. Inspiring. He looked out over the assembly in the large coliseum. These brothers in Christ gave "faith promise notes" of $1,750,000 during that period to further Baptist concerns. The dominating subject was the building program. The brotherhood of the Swedish Baptist and the American-Swedish Baptist were strengthened during this time. The European guests were welcome with a lot of applause. The Swedes were praised for the work they had given toward Baptist history, which would be furthered by Oscar. The interest of the meeting was also geared toward missions overseas as in China. Oscar spoke to the Society on Friday, June 24 on "The Swedish Mission in China." 20b

The Northern Baptist Ladies Mission was the fourth largest. 21 The men seemed to appreciate the input that the ladies had given. They chose Helen B. Montgomery22 to be president of next year's General Conference, the first time a woman had done this.

It was touching to see the black men and hardy outgoing attitude of the ladies from the orient.

Oscar's impression of this gathering was that if all the Baptists could just become one, wonders would happen in the world.

Minnesota 23

After the convention Oscar journeyed to the state perhaps most closely resembling the forests, lakes and stones of Sweden, the state of Minnesota. This state had become the home of many Swedish immigrants, their children and their grandchildren. In the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul Oscar spoke in six Baptist churches and in St. Paul stopped by the Swedish-American Bethel Seminary,24 then having its 50th anniversary.25 He visited with Margaret and Edith at Mounds Park Sanatorium26 in St. Paul, Minnesota where they were in nurses training.

Erik, their brother, was studying at McAllister [Macalester College?² Seems that the spelling of the name is Macalester because of search of the web for a college in Minnesota of the first spelling did not yield any results.

Sent an email to the alumni office of the college on November 22, 2007.

See: macalester.edu/alumni/macdirect/index.html ] College.27 Oscar and Erik were delighted to see each other having been apart for over seven years. The brothers spent part of the summer at a lake. Erik had been the champion at the tennis tournament at the college where he appeared in the college paper. Oscar played tennis against Erik one day and managed to beat him. Their sisters thought this to be quite funny.

They spent a lot of time by lake Winnetonka28 which turned out to be some of the best time Oscar spent in America.

After one month Oscar continued his journey westward with short stops in Kansas City a pretty area, Topeka where Oscar had relatives,29 and Salt Lake City, the city of the Mormons. Arriving in San Francisco Oscar had laughs and a good time with Vingren,30first Swedish Baptist missionary to the' heathens' in China, and Pastor Lundgren. On Sunday Oscar attended many meeting, and on Monday a nice banquet with Dr. Lundeen. 31Oscar spoke in about thirty churches.32 Collections helped with tickets for travel throughout the United States, and Suez Canal to China.

Sailing to Japan

Oscar continued on across the ocean on a Japanese steamer, Shima Maru, 33 on Monday the 29th of August heading for China. Known to the Swedes as the "calm ocean," this great body of water did not live up to its name according to Oscar. Off of California's coast big storms tossed both the ship and his stomach.

A diverse mixture of peoples and cultures sailed on the Shima Maru.34 The ship's officers were mostly Japanese, though the last English ship's captain was exchanged in 1917. An English [check Swedish word] and an American barber were part of the staff. Those waiting on the cabins were either Chinese or Japanese. (The staff were very kind to both the other Japanese on board and the other foreigners). The Chinese had a monopoly on the kitchen, probably to the delight of Oscar's Chinese-raised stomach. The passengers were mostly Japanese. In first class though were Americans, British, Scandinavians, and Asians. The forepart of the ship was represented mostly by the Japanese, and the stern of the middle [Swedish word - probably Chinese meant here]. The mixture of cultures brought to Oscar's mind a Chinese saying, "within the four oceans, we are all brothers."

Surprisingly there were no less than seventy missionaries of various denominations and nationalities including fiftenn Swedes on board.35 Two of these missionaries became engaged in Honolulu. On board these Swedish missionaries of course spent quite a bit of time together during the sixteen days, getting to know each other better, meeting for prayer or meeting together for talk once a day and of course meeting over meals, and taking an active part in concerts, and games.36 Some of the missionaries took part in dances which some of the missionaries thought to be too loose behavior, especially considering that they danced in front of the Chinese and Japanese onboard who cultures were more sensitive to such behavior.

Missionaries, who already had a lot of experience on the mission field, gave the younger, greener missionaries a lot of insight as to what was in store for them on the mission field.

Hawaii took seven days to reach. Life on board ship was very regulated, which made having a break in Honolulu all the more enjoyable. After the ship docked brown-skinned boys would dive into the waters to retrieve nickels thrown over the side by the passengers. In a few seconds they would appear at the surface, coin in upraised hand proving their skill, and with big smiles on their faces.

Honolulu was where America had one of its biggest naval installations.

In Honolulu they met Swedish Baptist Kurt Söderberg 37 who showed them around the area including the mountains, dormant volcanoes, pineapple plantations, banana plantations and a very rich tropical vegetation for the eye to absorb, and of course the physically and intellectually strong and good native people. English was spoken everywhere. The Hawaiians loved parties, were musical and friendly. In morals they were not too much better than cannibals before missions arrived it was said. Chinese and Japanese also made up a portion of the population of the islands. As a result in these islands there were seventy-eight Buddhist and Shinto temples, but also many Japanese and Chinese Christian churches. Mormons had several churches, and of course many Protestant denominations vied for the people's attention.

The sunsets on the island as they were on board ship were splendid in color and breadth. Off the coast Oscar could see the outline of his own ship.

Boarding again they continued for another ten days through often rough weather with large waves. Finally on the last part of the trip outside of Japan, they experienced good weather. Arriving in Tokyo Mr. Osano38 President of the ship's company invited the first class passengers to a tea supper in his home in the city. Others though including Oscar were invited and experienced a magnificent Japanese home and their beautiful love for beauty and etiquette.

In China

Back in Kiaochow Oscar lived with his big brother Egron, had a Chinese cook, and studied Chinese in a more formal sense than when he was growing up. This time in the Hua Yuan, the northern part, was really very pleasant.

Hellen and Oscar wrote to each other for the next twenty-four months.39 Oscar tried his best to be a good letter writer.

During this time Oscar wrote an article where he said that China's 4000 year old civilization was about to collapse.40 Changes were happening at a rapid pace both inside and outside China. Never before had China been in a worse crisis. But the crisis also gave missions a better opportunity than it had before. All of China excluding Tibet was open to Christian mission. What Oscar could not see though was that this crisis would also one day create a crisis for Christian mission and for himself.

In the past missions had been blocked by doubts and suspicion. For many now this was substituted for faith in missionaries and their work. The new China [Swedish word] for missions. The people themselves were no longer interested in Chinese religious ideas and the heathen cultures. Confucianism, Buddhism, mysticism, Taoism and Mohammedan's blind faith were being shown more and more were being shown for what they were. These were being substituted for a 'hard-hand' feeling toward the mission.41 And the Chinese were now allowed to believe whatever they wanted because the Republic was giving full freedom for religious thoughts.42

Orphanage in Chucheng

An girls orphanage was started in 1921 in Chucheng by midwife Matilda Persson. In China baby girls were often thrown out to die, sold, or if lucky given to Christians to care for. In one area an unwanted baby girl would be carried to the top of a tower. A unwanted baby placed there by the person before would be pushed off to its death. The new young victim would take the previous baby's place on the tower to be pushed over the side by the next person depositing a baby on the tower.43

More than once, a baby girl was left on the doorstep of the orphanage for Matilda to care for rather than killed. All babies that Matilda acquired, one way or another, were well cared for and educated, education not being a common practice even for Chinese girls who had a family. Some of these orphan girls later became Christians. They all called Mathilda "Mother." Philanthropy such as this helped banish prejudice among many Chinese toward the long nose Christians. Closed hearts and homes were opened. Ineffable good impressions Christians and their God were registered in the hearts of the people. The Mission sanctified the home and lifted women and children to a higher level.44

Headstation in Kaomi

A new headstation was opened in Kaomi.45 Ihchao was a mission station in the making. Each city had some 40,000 inhabitants. With these the Swedish Baptist Mission field would have a total population of four million people. Because of the political unrest, Wangtai also became a headstation 46 though the missionary family lived in Kiaohsien. All this meant an increase of foreign and Chinese staff. So far the 'mother' church at Kiaohsien had given birth to four daughter churches and one granddaughter church.

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Footnotes