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Called By God
firsthand the importance of being able to work one’s way through school. That is why
she arranged to have the Watchman Press moved to Karmatar, enabling several young
people to attend school who otherwise would not have had the opportunity.
During several summers Miss Knight worked in Simla, a resort community, holding
meetings, conducting Bible studies, giving treatments, and teaching classes.
Early 1906 found Miss Knight and a companion, Miss Haegert, selling Christian books
in Rajputana, where Advent-ists had not ministered for several years. Difficulties included
sunstroke, going for uncomfortable periods without food and water, and being attacked.
Amid such storms of adversity, Anna’s lamp of faith appeared not even to flicker. “There
are some clouds and barren places, to be sure,” she acknowledged, “but my motto is,—
`On the victory side,’ and I am not going to look on the dark side, for we know this truth is
going to triumph, and I want to triumph with it!” (From Anna Knight, “A Word from the Out
Posts,” Eastern Tidings (February, 1906): 2-3, emphasis in the original.)
Meanwhile, tales of woe trickled in from Mississippi regarding the school she had
founded. The moonshiners, she learned sadly, had renewed their harassment when the
new teachers came. These enemies of the school finally resorted to the extreme measure of
burning down the building. The school closed. The work in Jasper County seemed lost.
Anna wrote begging the General Conference leadership to send someone to
Mississippi to teach her people. She added that if no one could be found, she would like
a furlough to rebuild the work herself.
After several months of waiting and praying, Anna received a letter saying that she
had been granted a furlough to return home to try to revive the work that had been
stopped by violence in Mississippi. She departed, with the people in Mississippi and of
India all on her heart. She left her trusted bicycle and other belongings in India for use
on her return.
Arriving back home in Mississippi, Anna Knight received the welcome of a celebrity.
Construction of a new school building had already started in anticipation of her return.
On her first Sunday back in the community, Anna and her supporters called a
meeting in the new building. Many people attended. Some of the moonshiners, even
though they had helped burn down the school that Miss Knight had built, now sat in
the congregation or stood outside to listen. The returned missionary told thrilling
stories of her experiences; she painted dramatic word pictures of faraway places.
Anna Knight then changed her topic and spoke, not as a world traveler, but as a
hometown girl. She reminded her listeners that not one of them had been able to read
or write until she, and after her the Atwoods, had taught them. She challenged the
assembled community to cooperate with her to move toward a still brighter future.
The school organizer set forth a strong and specific program, including buying school
books for each child and subscribing to Our Little Friend and the Youth’s Instructor for the
children’s reading. Miss Knight set forth the school rules: no card parties, dances, or
other inappropriate forms of recreation. School attendance must be regular. If they were
ready to support such a program, Anna told her listeners, she would throw herself fully
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