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Four Rings and a Nickname
Pop Ferger's gift lasted a lifetime

by Carl A. Nelson

It was summer camp, and I was a lanky 13-year-old boy struggling with a body growing too fast. Henry Rabb Ferger, "Pop" to us boys, was a Christian missionary on furlough from his post in faraway India. To me, Pop was the Mr. Chips of America and India, a delicately sensitive man similar to the shy but beloved schoolmaster in the popular 1939 movie Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

One day, Pop stood on the steps leading down from our second floor bunk room, gathered us around, and opened his Bible to Luke 2:52. Then he read. " … and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." He drew a symbol of a small square on the page under the passage.

"This square represents a simple code to live by, a foundation for the rest of your lives. Jesus was a four-square man, perfectly balanced in body, mind, social qualities, and spirit. Each side of this square depicts one of those qualities. In your life—if you keep them in balance, equally developed, you can grow like Jesus."

Secret of the rings
Tucking the Bible under his arm, he held up an Indian puzzle ring made up of four lesser rings woven in such a way that they could be worn on a finger.

"The individual rings represent the four qualities," Pop said. "When the puzzle is together, such as it is now, they are in balance."

He put on the ring, then took it off, shook the parts and said, "All right, who wants to try? Remember if you succeed in putting the puzzle together you may keep it."

I watched the other boys struggle and fail, but was too awkward and bashful to try myself. Pop had given each camper a nickname, and mine was Lamba Singh—the first word meaning tall. "Lamba," Pop finally said, looking up at me. "You're the only one who hasn't tried. You need not if you don't want to."

I knew the trick. I had watched carefully as Pop held together two of the lesser rings, then rotated the other two in place to form the wearable ring. But what if I fail? I thought. The other boys already taunt me because I'm so skinny and clumsy. I can't run well or swim well. Failure at one more thing would only increase the pain of my struggle toward manhood. On the other hand, if I could do just one thing better than they, I might be accepted.

My body tensed. My voice cracked as much from lack of confidence as from hormones. I said, "I … I'll try."

With shaking hands, I took the jumbled mess of rings.

"Oh, Lamba Singh won't be able to do it," one boy said with a giggle.

Pop cautioned, "Give him his chance, boys. Be fair."

I was half way through the first attempt when I realized I was not doing it exactly right. I shook the rings to begin again.

"He's had his chance. He can't do it," another exclaimed.

Pop held up his hand. "Let him go. I think he's on to it."

At that moment I knew I could do it and all at once I felt calm. Without further hesitation I proceeded to solve the puzzle.

I offered the ring in its wearable form to Pop, but he said, "No, it's yours. Put it on and hand me your Bible."

He drew a small square under the verse and wrote, "Pop Ferger, 25 July '43." Across the top of the page he wrote, "MIND—BODY—SOCIAL QUALITIES—SPIRIT."

The whole incident was a turning point in my life—it gave me a simple code to live by, the courage to try, and a curiosity about the world.

Tracking down a hero
A few years later I joined the Navy, and my correspondence with Pop ended. Later, I graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, rose to captain, and commanded various ships. I carried my Bible with me over the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, the far reaches of the Indian Ocean, the Sea of Japan, and through four tours of duty in Vietnam. I frequently thought of Pop and reflected on the message he had clearly marked with a square near Luke 2:52.

Forty years after meeting Pop, I left the naval service. I still wondered about this man who had so impressed me as a boy. Through a Christian historical society I learned he was in retirement in Dryden, New York. I wrote a short note, not sure what to expect in return.

A letter soon arrived. I opened it and read Pop's response: "Of course I remember you—very well indeed, a lanky chap, to whom I gave the name 'Lamba Singh'—the first word meaning tall. We met in July 1943." Not bad for a man who was then 92 years old.

Through a series of letters and a visit to Dryden, I learned that he and his wife had been missionaries in India for almost 50 years. During that period he had been principal of several high schools and even started the first troop of Indian Boy Scouts in northern India. For this service he received the highest scouting award, the Silver Elephant, equivalent to the Silver Buffalo in the States. Each spring he marched in Princeton's alumni parade, as one of the school's oldest graduates. Pop was also a talented photographer who traveled around the world eight times before his death at 98.

Who knows how many young people's lives he influenced in that near century? It's inestimable, but I'm sure I'm not the only boy who'll never forget him or his message.

A Christian Reader original article.

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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