Wilson-Apostle To Islam.pdf - Radical Truth

28 Apostle to Islam
ject of "Pottery," which took the full hour. The second week Sam Zwemer
took the whole period with a dissertation on "George ·Washington," but by
that time the professor caught on and broke it up.
The buildings were all heated by iron stoves, under the care of a janitor
named Peter De Witt, whom most of the students remembered all their lives.
Members of the upper classes at one time removed all the stoves and placed
them in a huge snowdrift with stovepipes sticking out. Early in the morning
all the stoves were lighted; with a great display of smoke the snowdrift
melted, but classes had to be cancelled for the day.
The first active re1igious leadership in which Zwemer engaged was the
teaching of a district Sunday School in Pine Creek schoolhouse, across the
Black River. This was volunteer work and the young leader walked from
college, a couple of miles, and returned. A page from a Bible used at this
time is inscribed "Joined church March 9, 1884."
In spite of all her indomitable energy and strength of will, the mother of
the Zwemer family had been growing steadily weaker. She passed on to her
reward on August 25th, 1886. Before she died she told Samuel that he had
been placed in "''Ie cradle with the prayer that he might be a missionary. She
was buried in the Pilgrim Cemetery at Holland.
During vacations the young college boy whom we are following did all
kinds of work to make money for the ensuing year. He worked with a
threshing gang that went from farm to farm after the grain harvest. The
work was hard and the dust was often terrible, but the \vages were very
good. He was also a notable book agent; this type of work was to his ;iking
both because of his love of books and his flare for the circulation of literalure.
The farmers and townsmen of the West in the eighteen eighties were
not the easiest prospects in the world by any means, but the stubborn characteristics
of the Dutch gave him great success in the overcoming of sales
resistance. The books he handled were family Bibles, a volume with the
title, Mother, Home and Heaven, and Lives of the Presidents.
During his senior year in college Zwemer heard Robert Wilder speak and
became a Student Volunteer. He was one of the first thousand to enter the
movement and be=e one of its leaders. Under date of March 22nd in his
senior year he records in his diary, "Six boys of Our Mission Band came to
spend the evening. Read paper on the Belgian Congo:'
In March young Zwemer applied to the American Bible Society for work
during the summer as a colporteur. He was appointed and began this service
before the graduation and commencement. ~n May he bought a horse for
$70.00 and a cart for $26.00 to furnish transportation in his Bible distribution.
He must haye been a good worker for only a few days had passed before
he was arrested for selling Bibles without a license.
Glrding on His Armour
Not to keep the reader in suspense, our hero did not rema1·n l'n d
-'1 f h t rr I !traltce
Vl e, or e go Ou a te egram at Once to the Bible Soc'lety l' N Y k
th bl .' neworand
. ey were a e to conVInce the over-zealous local authorities that a .
hcense was not necessary for the sale of the Bibl b gu1 1 ped~ler s
agent of the Society. e yare ar Y appomted
The graduation exercises took place on June 2" 1887 Lik- 11
. I b th . ~, . e a such they
"e:e yery ong, ut e fnends and supporters of Hope Colle e s
::l~h a progr":"al0hf Sdeveral hours and would probably have felt ~ bi~:t~
1 e ceremOTIl a not been long enouoh to make 't . .
• • b 1 unpreSSlVe.
\V,th h1s bachelor of arts degree in hand at the a e of
went back to the labor of selling Bibles and covered mu~ of s~enty
29
~w-:mer
townships in an attempt to put a Bible in everY home Th ver"i,M1ch11fln
May, June and July, and in addition to travel i;' his ~ . e ~~~CCUPled
Wa1ki~g, sometimes as much as twenty miles in a day. ,mvo v p enty of
\Vb11e ~ged in this work he wrote a missionarv article each th f
the magazme "De Hope" and ~ mon or
Thomas Co. I I hich h a:n on . g o.ther books read Sartor Resart"s by
rye, w e notes In hIS dIary was I'very fine."
ho;'~ea~~':~~~ :~~ :~d~~ble Society was completed on August 10th. The
and on to Middl b "Fa ProGfit and the colporteur headed across the lake
e urg Or ree race Iowa,'h h' f th
pastor of the Reformed Church Th' were 1S a. er !'-ad gone as
at this time his father was in the midestsoonf rpe:nuna~~ed 0 at m l~f'0tL" County
r lwve pIOneer 1 e.
There was a family . A
:~~o~~~~f~~~:'dh:,,:,~~~;~:e:~as~~rn~l~:"~~~~~~ J;::rfci