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Introduction

Charles Cowman was a successful manager of a Western Union telegraph office when he married Lettie Burd. On this day, 3 September 1894, the Cowmans attended Moody Church in Chicago and heard A. B. Simpson preach, a fact Charles noted in his journal, and quoted below. (Simpson was the founder of a Christian association and a missionary alliance that became the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination.) The date is relevant, because Cowman felt moved to increase his support of missions that day and in 1900 felt a call to mission work. After spending years in Japan with Lettie, Juji Nakada, and Ernest Kilbourne, he helped found the Oriental Mission Society. Lettie is better known than her husband today because, while she cared for Charles who was dying a lingering death, she compiled the upbeat devotional Streams in the Desert to encourage herself.