vastly important in its effects. He is easily approachable, if rightly
approached. Alien accessibility makes home mission possibility. The
approach may not at first be on the distinctively religious side, but
there is a way of access on some side. A living gospel incarnated in a
living, loving man or woman is the "open sesame" to confidence first and
conversion afterward. Make the foreigner feel that you are interested
in him as a man, and the door is open beyond the power of priestcraft to
shut it. The priest may for a time keep the Catholic immigrant away from
the Protestant church but not from the Protestant cordiality and
sympathy; and if these be shown it will not be long before the
immigrant, learning rapidly to think for himself, will settle the
church-going according to his own notion. A kind word has more
attractive power than a cathedral. You will never win an Italian as long
as you call him or think of him as "dago," nor a Jew while you nickname
him "sheeny." The immigrant wants neither charity nor contempt, but a
man's recognition and rights, and when American Christians give him
these he will believe in their Christianity and be apt to accept it for
himself.

[Sidenote: The First Touch]

Home mission work of a distinctive character should and does begin at
the point of landing in the New World. At Ellis Island, for example,
there are now some thirty missionaries, representing the leading
Christian denominations. This gives proof of the partial awakening of
the Churches to the importance of this work. It is only of late years
that any special attention has been paid to the welfare of the incomers,
either by State or Church. Now both are seeking to throw safeguards
around the immigrants and secure them a fair start. A large room is set
apart for the missionaries in the receiving building at Ellis Island,
and they perform a service of great good both to the aliens and the
country. First impressions count tremendously, and happy is it for the
immigrant who gets this initial impression from contact with a Christian
missionary instead of a street sharper. Once put the touch of human
kindness upon the immigrant and he is not likely to forget it. The hour
of homesickness, of strangeness in a strange land, of perplexity and
trouble, is the hour of hours when sympathy and help come most
gratefully. The missionaries are on hand at this critical juncture.
Thousands of immigrants are saved from falling into bad hands