Then the mother fled out in the darkness to rock back and forth in
an agony of weeping, which was hushed only when the quiet voice of
the nurse said: "You make it harder. Pray instead."

At last the waiting nurse feels the little body relax under
her touch. Sleep and restoration begin to steal back the ebbing
vitality--the little life is saved.

To-day within reach of this home, and many like it, the Mary
Isabel Alien Memorial Hospital at Gray Hawk, Kentucky, stands with
open doors and inviting beds for all who suffer. [Footnote:
Women's Board of Domestic Missions, Reformed Church in America.]

Whatever equipment and loving service can do to provide healing
may be found here.

* * * * *

"The military occupation of Porto Rico drew the attention of
the Christian churches of the United States to their opportunity
and responsibility for sending the light of the true Gospel to that
island where it had never penetrated. Soon after this the investigations
of a military surgeon demonstrated the important fact that ninety
per cent of the working population of the island were affected with
the hook-worm disease. Apart from other diseases which were present,
here was a great economic and humanitarian problem. The government
had done much, but as elsewhere, other agencies were needed if the
physical ills of the Porto Ricans were to be healed. In response to
this need Dr. Grace Atkins went to Porto Rico in 1900 as the first
medical missionary under the Woman's Board of Home Missions of the