COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; letters for " The American Missionary ," to the Editor, at the New York Office; letters relating to the finances, to the Treasurer; letters relating to woman's work, to the Secretary of the Woman's Bureau.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, Bible House, New York; or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 153 La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars constitutes a Life Member.

Notice To Subscribers. --The date on the "address label" indicates the time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made afterward the change on the label will appear a month later. Please send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and occasional papers may be correctly mailed.

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

"I give and bequeath the sum of ---- dollars to the 'American Missionary Association,' incorporated by act of the Legislature of the State of New York." The will should be attested by three witnesses.

The Jubilee Year Fund.

Extract from the appeal of the Executive Committee of the American Missionary Association:

Fifty Dollars a Share.

It is proposed to raise during the next six months a special Jubilee Year Fund of $100,000 in shares of $50 each, with the hope and expectation that these shares will be taken by the friends of missions without lessening those regular contributions which must be depended upon to sustain the current work.

FORM OF A PLEDGE.

Share, $50.
$100,000.

THE JUBILEE YEAR FUND
OF THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

I hereby take ..... shares (Fifty Dollars each) in the Jubilee Year Fund of the American Missionary Association, to be paid before the close of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, 1896.

Name . . . . . . .

P. O. Address . . . . . . . .

FIFTY-DOLLAR JUBILEE SHARES.

In the last number of The Missionary we gave the gratifying report of 34 shares taken for this fund, and in the present number we have the pleasure of adding 75 more. We are fully aware of the difficulties under which we send forth the call for responses to this much-needed fund. Other appeals have been made, and are still pressed upon the churches, all of them worthy of the generosity with which they are met.

But the ability of the churches to meet the demands of their varied mission work is not exhausted, and the spirit of consecration among the followers of Christ, even when self-denial must be practiced, has not reached its limit. We therefore urge our appeal with strong confidence that we shall not be felt to be intruders, but that we are simply trying to fulfill the duty imposed upon us in carrying the Gospel to the most needy and destitute in our land.

We must repeat the plea made by our Executive Committee that in giving to this Jubilee Fund, the contributions for our regular work, to which we are committed and whose claims we cannot repudiate, may not be neglected.

THE ACCEPTABLE MITES.

Andersonville, Ga. --"Please find inclosed $2.31, which is a contribution from our church toward paying the debt of the American Missionary Association. It is very little, but more than I supposed the people would raise, there is so little money in the place."

Greenwood, S. C. --"It is a great pleasure to me to hand you herewith bank draft for $11, which is the amount of our collection for the Lincoln Memorial Day. I have delayed the remitting of this amount somewhat to give others an opportunity who wished to contribute, but were not quite ready. The amount is not large, but it is from the people and expresses in a measure their interest in the work of the American Missionary Association. The collection represents offerings of the young and old from a cent to a dollar. What was done was done with a free heart."

NO COLOR-LINE IN CLEVELAND.

The Methodist General Conference and the hotels in Cleveland, O., deserve great credit--the hotels for according to all delegates, regardless of color, equal accommodations, and the Conference for its hearty indorsement of their action. If this greatest gathering of the largest Protestant church in America had nothing else to do, it might go with its grand meeting from city to city securing this recognition of the brotherhood of man. It is ardently hoped that the generous and [pg 179] liberal-minded hotel keepers in Cleveland may not "backslide," and that if any single colored delegate, clerical or lay, should come alone to Cleveland, even before the close of the "six months' probation," he might not find the door closed against him.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church may be equally useful at its meeting in Saratoga in preaching this same gospel of the brotherhood of man, and in this case, too, permanency is very desirable, and it is hoped, therefore, that in this event there may be the illustration of the good old Presbyterian doctrine of the "perseverance of the saints."

ORANGE PARK NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL IN FLORIDA CLOSED BY THE SHERIFF.

It will be remembered that on Friday, the 10th of April, seven teachers and two patrons of the Orange Park School, at Orange Park, Fla., were arrested for violation of an enactment legalized a year ago by the State Legislature under the instigation of William H. Sheats, the State superintendent of education.

The enactment, which we protest is in no just sense a law, forbids not only white and colored persons to be instructed within the same building at the same time, but it also forbids a white principal or matron or guardians of the school rooming or living within the same building where their pupils are.

This enactment against the personal rights of education in a private Christian school not supported or aided by the State, if sustained, would destroy nearly all of the institutions carried on by Northern benevolence in all of our Southern States. It would take the guardianship of manners and morals out of the hands of those who have planted and sustained the institutions until now, and who, in view of the millions yet uneducated and untrained, are now needed as much as ever. It is not surprising, therefore, that the National Council of Congregational Churches at Syracuse in October requested the Association to take this question to the highest courts, nor that the General Conference of the Methodist Church in Cleveland has just passed a resolution denouncing this iniquitous enactment, or that we are receiving constantly from our State and local associations assurances of sympathy and support in our contest against this reversion to barbarism. We quote a few of the opinions which have come under our observation.

From the Congregationalist :

From the Outlook :

From the Independent :

From the Advance :

From the Boston Standard :

From Frank Leslie's Weekly :

From the Boston Daily Advertiser :

From the Boston Journal :

These comments are but samples of the sentiment which comes to the Association respecting this attempt to challenge the constitutional amendment which came with the emancipation of the colored people from slavery. But now there is

MEMBERS OF THE ALBANY CONVENTION.

We are desirous of securing the names of the survivors of the little band that gathered in Albany fifty years ago, and formed the American Missionary Association. A few years since, we made a similar call to this in the pages of The American Missionary , but the responses were very few. At the present date, we know of only two persons, Rev. John H. Byrd, Lawrence, Kan., and Rev. Peter B. Thayer, Garland, Me., who were present at that time. We hope, if there are any other survivors, they will write to us promptly, and if there are persons whose eyes fall on this little notice who happen to know of any person who was present at that meeting, we will be much obliged if they will send us the name and address.

OUR CHURCHES.

We intend to present to our readers from time to time brief sketches of some of our churches located in the South and elsewhere, with some account of the condition of the membership as to property and education, with glimpses of their poverty and hard struggles to support the pastor, with occasionally the cheerful story of those who reach self-support. On another page will be found a sketch by Pastor Snell of the church in Talladega, Ala.

THE TALENTED TENTH.

In the discussion concerning Negro education we should not forget the talented tenth man. An ordinary education may answer for the nine men of mediocrity; but if this is all we offer the talented tenth man, we make a prodigious mistake. The tenth man, with superior natural endowments, symmetrically trained and highly developed, may become a mightier influence, a greater inspiration to others than all the other nine, or nine times nine like them. Without disparagement of faithful men of moderate abilities, it may be said that in all ages the mighty impulses that have propelled a people onward in their progressive career, have proceeded from a few gifted souls. Sometimes these have been "self-made" men, so-called, whose best powers were evoked by rare opportunities. Oftener, they have been men of thoroughly disciplined minds, of sharpened perceptive faculties, trained to analyze and to generalize; men of well-balanced judgments and power of clear and forceful statement.

It is this talented tenth man of our colleges that in after years reflects more honor on his alma mater than the other nine; it is this tenth man that is the recognized leader in his profession and the leader of [pg 183] public opinion. To him, rather than to the other nine, the many look for suggestion and advice in important matters. He is an uncrowned king in his sphere.

This being true, I repeat that not to make proper provision for the high education of the talented tenth man of the colored people is a prodigious mistake. It is to dwarf the tree that has in it the potency of a grand oak. Industrial education is good for the nine; the common English branches are good for the nine; but that tenth man ought to have the best opportunities for making the most of himself for humanity and God.

The powers of this talented tenth man are often latent; unsuspected by others and even by their possessor, and are evoked only under favorable conditions, sometimes comparatively late in the youthful period of life. In a symmetrical course of study calculated to bring into exercise every mental faculty, somewhere, as by a touchstone, the particular aptitude of the pupil may be discovered, the secret springs of power be opened; and the man, having discovered himself, leaps forward to pre-eminence among his fellows. Scores of such men and women are among the students in the schools for the colored people of the South. A mere common education will not disclose their uncommon powers; they need the test of the best. And somewhere, at several central points at least, provision should be made for the higher education of the talented tenth as well as ordinary education for the other nine.

The great need of the colored people of the South is wise leadership along all lines of development; men of large and comprehensive views acquired by contact and communion with the world's great thinkers; such men are needed to-day even more than nine times as many with a little more practical knowledge concerning the use of the saw, the jack-plane and the blacksmith's forge. In our educational work for the colored people, therefore, proper provision should be made for the talented tenth.-- Dr. Morehouse in The Independent .

ALASKA MISSION.

The following sentences from a personal letter of Miss Anna L. Dawes state a profound truth in terse and impressive form:

Mr. Lopp, whom Miss Dawes refers to, is pleading for funds to make it possible to open the mission among the Eskimos. The American Missionary Association was obliged to discontinue it for a year on account of the straitened condition of the treasury. We are now making every effort to gather funds outside of the current income of the Association, that there may be at least one Christian mission conducted by Congregationalists in this great northern mission field. Mr. Lopp's plea for " his people" and abandon of self-sacrifice both on the part of himself and his wife, impress every one, as they did Miss Dawes.

This is the only mission of the Congregational denomination in Alaska. No other denomination plans to occupy this station if given up by the American Missionary Association. The work requires about five hundred dollars more than has been subscribed, and this must be in hand by the first of June, when it is necessary for Mr. Lopp to sail, if he goes this year.

HISTORY OF A CHURCH IN ALABAMA.

BY REV. SPENCER SNELL.

The beautiful and healthful city of Talladega is located among the Appalachian foot hills. The First Congregational church was organized in the year 1868. The first members were people who came out of the colored Baptist Church, and who had begun to look for a more intelligent mode of worship and better religious instruction than it was possible to have in churches whose pastors had been slaves and were uneducated.

The first pastor of the church was Rev. H. E. Brown, of Ridgefield, O., whom the American Missionary Association had sent into the South. Since his retirement the pulpit has been occupied by several pastors, including the acceptable services of professors of Talladega College. My pastorate began in 1894.

There are friendly relations between our church and the other colored churches near at hand. The pastor is often invited to preach in the other churches. The pastors of two of the Baptist churches are graduates of our school here, and the pastor of one of the Methodist churches is now taking lessons in our seminary.

The present membership of the church is 219. Many of them are poor students who have to be helped through school. The resident [pg 185] members have but very little money. With one or two exceptions they receive small pay for what they do. Those who have trades find but little here to do and have to go away to get employment. Among the male members of the church are farmers, mechanics, etc., and among the females those who do laundry work, sewing, etc. Several of these women take the washing of families home and work very hard for a very little money with which to subsist their families, buy books, and pay tuition for their children in Talladega College.

There are about thirty-five members of the church who own their homes, and about eleven who rent the places where they live. Several of the homes owned by the members of the church are fairly comfortable for Southern homes, having from two to seven rooms. None of them are costly. I do not suppose that one of them cost $1,000. Neither is the furniture in them costly. Scarcely any of them have carpets on their floors. They look upon carpets as a luxury which they cannot afford. Plaster on the walls is almost as rare as carpets on the floors. In some cases there is not a rocking-chair in the house. The furniture they have is of a very ordinary kind.

The people have but very little money and are obliged to struggle long and hard to get a little place to call home, in many cases buying the lumber and hiring the carpenter on credit. This being the case, it takes them years and years to pay for the little homes. The homes vary from the fairly comfortable to the wretched. It is noticeable that those who have had the advantages of an education have better homes than those who have no education.

There comes to mind as I write one very miserable home in which both the parents are ignorant. There are three rooms to the house not nearly so comfortable as the places where Northern farmers keep their horses and cattle. There is neither stove nor grate in the house, but simply some rocks on each side of the open fireplace on which they lay the green wood, by which they sit and shiver while the cold winds blow through the cracks in the floor and sides of the house. There are six children and only two excuses for beds. One of these has on it a tick, the other has a pile of dirty rags. There is not a whole table or chair in the house.

And yet, these people, like many others just as poor as they, are trying to educate their children. They believe that in Christian education lies the only redemption from this condition for them and their race, through their children, who are enjoying privileges that were denied to them.

There are not more than a dozen individuals in the church who are earning a comfortable living. More than that number did so when times were better, but now there is not much for them to do except conduct [pg 186] very poor farms, on which they cannot earn enough to make themselves comfortable.

There have been very few years in the history of the church when it did not have a revival of religion. Of late it has been the custom to have two series of special services each year--one during the winter, while the school is in session, and another during the summer vacation. Effort is made each year to have all the students converted. Of all the young people who have graduated here only two have left without being professing Christians.

The growth of the church has not been rapid, but steady. During the days of slavery the colored people were members of the churches to which their masters belonged. None of them belonged to Congregational churches, and so, when Congregationalism came to the South after the war, it was entirely new to the former slaves and to those who had been their masters.

The masses of the children and the young people still cling to the churches which their parents were taught to love. It will, therefore, be some time before Congregationalism will grow rapidly in the South. The church has no building of its own, and no parsonage, but worships in the chapel of Talladega College. The building in which the chapel is located was erected by the white Baptists of the Coosa Valley Association before the war as a college for their sons. Some of the old slaves who helped to put up the building lived to see freedom, to see the building come into the hands of the American Missionary Association, and to see their own children study and graduate in it.

MEETINGS AMONG THE HILLS AND AT A CONVICT CAMP.

BY REV. H. E. PARTRIDGE.

Perhaps nowhere is a religious meeting made more of than in the hill country of the South. There are reasons and reasons for the fact. Take a real, genuine Methodist or Baptist matron, or brother, of fifty, and they love Christ and His cause, and do not fail to associate their love for Him and the work with the gathering in His name. If it be possible, they will be in attendance when "the parson" comes round. The girls love to go; some because they, too, are learning to love the service of the Master, some because they have no other so good opportunity to see and be seen, and others because everybody else goes. Where the girls and young ladies are sure to be, there the boys and young men are apt to be; and so it comes that when the meeting, especially the "big meeting," is to be held, the people throng. And if you want to see a genuine democracy, untainted by any kind of aristocracy, you could not find it better illustrated than among the hills, [pg 187] at meeting time, in some log "church-house." No Sir Wonderful to claim best pew, no usher to give you the place he chooses. You come with your wife and, following the custom, she goes to the left, you to the right. I will not describe the service. The singing varies from a wonderful chorus of praise that lacks nothing in volume in one neighborhood, to the nasal-twanged hymn which some incompetent leader sings almost alone in some other community. The old songs predominate, but any brisk moving song of work of praise or progress easily becomes a favorite, when once it has been sung long enough so that the words and movement are mastered by a few.

You will not be long in any big meeting or revival service before you will hear:

This is varied. Now it is Brother, Father, Preacher, or Sister who has a home.

You may not know the tune or words, but it will not be long before you are singing with the rest, if you are a participator or worshiper, and not that horrid and heartless thing, a critical looker-on.

You know of the hand-shaking? If a sinner seeks to enter the Christian life, he comes, on invitation of the minister, to shake hands at the close of, or during, the service. And often service closes with an all-round-hand-shake. There is a song started, like "Say, Brother, will you meet me?" or some simple devotional hymn, and all rise and shake hands all around, singing or praying, or speaking gently one to another.

Ah! many a feud has sunk forever, many an unpleasantness has been forgotten, many a half-ripe quarrel has been strangled, and many a friendship has been strengthened and ripened in these services of emotion and love, those hand-shakings of the Mountaineers. The blessings of the peacemakers should be his who first introduced the service.

Among other invitation hymns I have heard, I remember vividly:

This, too, is varied. "Seeker," "Brother," "Sister," and "Everybody's welcome" being sung.

I could tell of parts I do not like, of excitements the reverse of helpful to my devotional feelings, and of loudness mistaken for piety or zeal, but so could others criticise the services at Dr. Cuyler's or Dr. Storrs's church. I prefer to speak of the really good.

May I tell you of a unique service? It was at the Convict Camp, near Baker's X Roads, in Cumberland County, Tenn.

No need to ring the bell--the congregation are assembled, and armed guards are standing by lest someone should escape. Still a bell was tapped. Silence at once.

"Boys," I said, "when I was here before you kindly asked me to come and speak to you again. I am here. Before I speak I want to have you sing. Will you sing?" A moment's pause, and in the rich tones which the colored people so often have, there rang out from scores of throats, one of those weird songs of the race. It was of chariots and heaven, of songs and praises, and of Jesus the King. I cannot reproduce or describe it. I prayed for a blessing on our service, and several responded with apparently as fervent "Amen" as ever came from Camp Meeting or Altar service. Then I read passages, closing with a part of Romans 6: from the twenty-third verse. I spoke briefly of "The wages of sin, and of the gift of God." I almost fear I was harsh. Poor fellows--they were criminals, but who is not guilty, before God, of violations of Divine law?

As I pleaded for the starting of a better life, as I spoke of their families, as I said "Some of you will be through with prison life soon," as I talked of honesty, sobriety, and purity, there were moist eyes. I asked for an expression at the close. All who will accept Jesus Christ, and from this very hour live for Him, and with the strength he gives try to forget the grievances you have thought to revenge; try to love and serve one another here, in Christ's name, and others when released; strive to do your work faithfully; in short, try to do what you think Christ would want you to do--first, give me your hand, and then kneel with me in prayer. Through the chinks and crevices of the stockade a score of men thrust their hands, eager to respond to the invitation, and many knelt in prayer.

How much was make-believe? How much was genuine? The Searcher of hearts alone knows. Sowing by all waters, I am willing to leave results with God.

Another song, and then "Good-bye, boss!" "Good-bye, Captain!" "Come again, preacher!"

The days were weeks, and then! Criminal carelessness, perhaps. A premature explosion of dynamite and powder combined on the railroad, and six of these men had been discharged. Dead! A rough grave beside the track, God knows the rest. They were convicts, they were blacks, but they were my brothers and yours, children of one Father.

I was tired that Sunday, but I am glad God let me go and give them another invitation to the Christ-life. Perhaps in some other time and place I shall talk over that service among the boys in black at Convict Camp, with a soul in white over there. Who knows?

A BRIGHT AND CANDID VIEW OF OUR MOUNTAIN WORK.

The following letter comes from a member of the "Andover Band," three of whom entered the work among the American Highlanders last year. It is the first band of theological students organized in any of our seminaries for work in the field of the American Missionary Association. It was a very interesting movement and worthy the seminary that has sent out bands into other parts of the country which have accomplished great results.

The testimony is set forth by Prof. John C. Campbell, a cultured young man, who looks on this interesting work with a fresh vision and gives opinions well balanced respecting this field and others.

It should be said that the letter was not written for publication.

The year has been trying and wearing, but I take great satisfaction in knowing that much has been accomplished. We have established ourselves in the hearts of the people, I believe, and have the respect and co-operative interest of the best men in this and adjoining counties, so I hope for great things in the future if our friends in the North will only help us.

Suspicion has given way to confidence, and I may even fire broadsides at the tobacco habit now, even if it hits home. They are a trying, promising, and loveable people. I admire those of my classmates who have heard the voice of God (not the prompting of inclination) calling them to remain in dear old hair-splitting New England; but, while I admire their bravery, I am sorry for them, for it must seem as if they were striking in the air. Here we see the enemy, and can strike directly at him, and one has some satisfaction in getting weary and sick at heart in fighting at great odds against a visible power instead of the more subtle powers "of the air." But I digress! It is such a temptation to let myself out when communicating with one who understands this discouraging, fascinating, and encouraging work. This year's work has given me experience, as well as gray hair, and even if my labors in the South should terminate this year, I should feel that I had gained a great deal. I wish that all Northerners could come to know the best element of the South, and show their magnanimity as victors by helping the American Missionary Association do the work which alone will make a new South. To me the South presents a touching but heroic picture as she struggles nobly, but somewhat uncertainly, toward the light, still the victim of her cavalier training, still held back by the poor black and the poor white, the products of her accursed institution. Now that is all abolished, she needs help from the North. I doubt if we in the North would be any better had we been [pg 190] placed in the same environment, and our superiority may be due as much to soil, climate, and the consequent unprofitableness of slave labor, as to our Puritan ancestry.

The tide of immigration is beginning to turn toward this State from Georgia, and many coming from the Dakotas. The mass of ignorance is appalling. I realize in part, I think, the difficulty of getting the needs of the whites before a sympathizing audience. When it comes to a white man's needs and his condition, too many church members and others substitute the scientific theory of the survival of the fittest for Christ's law of love. They forget too, I fear, that many of these people in the mountains are victims of slavery as innocent as the Negro; and they do not see that their indifference is letting them lie in the hard bed which circumstances, largely beyond their control, have made for them. If they will only give us money, "greenbacks," if need be, and enable us to get the young out of bed on their intellectual and spiritual feet, I shall be satisfied. And if our Congressmen and politicians would bury the "Bloody Shirt," and stop throwing stones over Mason and Dixon's fence, and out of their personal means give, what is too often given uselessly, to the Association and other similar Boards, the questions which spring from sectional prejudice would soon be solved. I do believe that what the American Missionary Association stands for is the panacea for all political and social ills.

REVIVALS.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

Denominational Fraternity. --From High Point, N. C., we have the following:

Grateful Remembrances of the Past. --Rev. James Brown, of Anniston, Ala., recalls some memories of the past:

Liberal Giving from a Small Income. --Rev. A. L. DeMond, of Lowell, N. C., writes:

A Poor Woman's Fine Feeling. --One day last year our laundress sent her oldest boy, a lad fourteen years of age, on an errand. He was gone an hour or more longer than she expected him to be. Upon his return she asked him what he had been doing all that time. He told her that an expressman had been run away with, and had been quite badly hurt. He had helped get the man into a store, had gone for a doctor, and had done all that he could for him. When he left him the man told him to go to his office the next day and he would give him something. The boy's mother at once said that he mustn't think of taking anything for what he had done for the man when he was in trouble.

Who can say that the colored people are incapable of fine feeling? This poor woman was certainly not so well provided with this world's goods that she had no use for money. On the contrary, she was a widow, with a family of five children that she had kept together and had sent to school at the cost of much sacrifice and years of hard work at the washtub.

REVIVAL--LIBERAL CONTRIBUTIONS.

MISS M. C. COLLINS, FORT YATES, N. DAK.

I am sure you will be glad to hear of the great, may I say "revival," which seems to be upon us. On March 1 at our regular communion we received into the church fifteen adults, and there were eight marriages and nine children baptized. Six of these people came from Flying-By region (Miss Lord's people). She is rejoicing. One, Swift Cloud, and his wife, are a middle-aged couple, who lived here when I first came to this village. They are a good addition to our force. Then Two-Runs and his wife are two good people, Miss Lord's near neighbors, and will be a great help to her. The others uniting came from my village, and we now have only two men and their wives in this village who are not in the church. Bird-Dog, another of Miss Lord's people, and his wife and sister have given me their names as candidates for membership at the next communion. The Y. M. C. A. down there are hauling logs to build a place to meet in. The little cabin we put up is already too small.

Our contributions for Native Missionary work, from October 1 to March 1, all told, on Standing Rock Agency, are $206.47.

Beside this our church here has given about $15 to the Lincoln Memorial Fund for the Association and $10 to buy table and chairs for the pulpit. Our Christians are going from house to house to pray with the sick, and many of these people are being brought to Christ through this means. On communion Sunday we opened the folding doors and yet the church was so full that three of us sat down on the little platform behind the pulpit.

I forgot to tell you that aside from this $206 we raised $200 to build a chapel at One Bull's, where Elias was. The house is too little.

We are not "lazy, good-for-nothing Indians, fit only for the soldiers' target." We are men and women struggling against clannishness and superstition--against evil without and within--reaching up to you who know the blessedness of the Light of the Gospel, asking you to reach down, down into our dark lives and lift us up. Let us get a glimpse on this side of the beauties of Heaven.

We need your help, and bye and bye we will join your forces and help you to gather with God's fold other tribes and nations who know not God. Do not cut us down this spring. It will break our hearts with discouragement.

God help people to hear our prayer. We shake hands with God's people in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

P.S.--Three of the people outside the church in this village have given me their names as candidates for church membership at the May communion.

Crow Agency, Montana. --The growth of the missionary work among the Indians at the Crow Agency, Montana, is very encouraging. Recent reports from this field bring information of large gatherings in the religious services, and in the church services and Sunday-school. Our missionary, Rev. J. G. Burgess, is planning to spend several weeks this summer among the camps on the prairies to which the Indians withdraw during the warmer months. A chapel is very much needed at this mission in order to afford a place for religious gatherings and such instruction as the missionary and his wife are able to give these Indians. This mission of the American Missionary Association is the only Protestant mission among the entire Crow tribe.

THE OROVILLE MISSION.

BY REV. W.C. POND, D.D.

New Years Cake.

The cake of which we give a picture is more than a monument to the artistic cookery of which some of our brethren there are capable. It was made in a sort of Christian competition with the rude and senseless operations by which their idol-worshiping countrymen observed their great annual festival. And on Salvation Army principles, though not after their methods, it called the attention of multitudes both of Chinese and Americans to the Mission House and the Mission work and the Saviour for whom our brethren were eager to bear witness. They did not confine their attention to cake-making nor express their loyalty to Christ in that way alone, but made up a very respectable sum, which, as "New Year's Gifts to Jesus," they placed in our treasury.

The picture, as we are able to give it in our magazine, is not large enough to show all the points of interest about this cake. It represents, of course, a Chinese pagoda, but with the idols omitted. Possibly there is in it a little symbolism of ascent --the excelsior spirit which comes from new life in Christ. Beginning at the shell foundation, we see two cards which bear in Chinese an inscription literally translated [pg 196] thus: "Eyes see; hands must not touch." Above this were the more abrupt or pointed English words: "Hands off." Over the door at the head of the steps is a framed inscription: "Happy New Year, 1896." In what might be called the second story there is another inscription, which, being interpreted, reads: "Blessed News Chapel"-- i.e. , Gospel Chapel--while on the right post are characters which, literally translated, mean: "Blessed Land: good cultivating"-- i.e. , to good cultivation this happy land yields large returns. On the left-hand post the characters literally translated mean: "News Chapel: righteous pastor: forms intimate friends"-- i.e. , the righteous pastor of this Gospel Chapel makes warm friends.

On either side of the cake are Chinese New Year's lilies (narcissus) growing to perfection in saucers supplied with nothing except clean pebbles and pure water--these are said to symbolize purity and mercy. Above the lilies rise great clusters of artificial flowers, which also have some symbolical import; I am unable to say what.

This will be a good place to say a few words about this mission, which has now been in existence for more than twenty years. During all this period it has occupied, rent free , a small brick building belonging to our ex-Governor and United States Senator, Hon. George C. Perkins, who began his wonderfully successful career in this town of Oroville. He has not even required us to pay the taxes upon it, and when a rumor reached my ears that his agent had received an offer for the purchase of it, Mr. Perkins kindly assured me that we should have the first chance to buy it, and he would help us out by a generous donation. That's the sort of man he is.

There has always been a large Chinese population engaged mainly in mining, whose headquarters were at Oroville. When our mission was established the number was estimated at not less than twenty-five hundred. Chinatown was quite extensive and all its frail structures swarmed, like bee-hives, with inhabitants. There are no such throngs now, but there are still people enough to call forth the most and the best that we can do for them.

A large number of Chinese have here been turned from idol-worship to the love of Jesus. I have at hand no means of scanning the long roll--reaching up to many hundreds--of those who have for longer or shorter periods been brought here to know something of Christ. And the frequent change of teachers has rendered impossible any adequate statement of results. Among those whom I specially remember are three Yongs: One, Yong Jim, an unusually well-educated man who, after being a missionary helper in several of our fields, returned to China, and has done gospel-work there in connection with the American Board; another, Yong Kay, was a delegate from California [pg 197] to the great convention of the Y. P. S. C. E. in Boston, and made several addresses there, which were well received. He is now preaching the Word in that city. Yet another of the same family has been for several years a leader in Christian work among the Chinese in New York. The Christians in California and elsewhere belonging to this family have a little missionary work of their own among their relatives in China in addition to what they do through our Chinese Missionary Society. The work at Oroville is now in excellent hands. We have a good helper--intelligent, wise, steadfast--who almost wholly supports himself, drawing but five dollars per month from our treasury, and giving back a goodly portion of this. The teachers are faithful and earnest, and I rejoice to add that for several years our church in that town has recognized its responsibility for this work, has given it the right hand of fellowship, and has aided it with generous gifts.

Jubilee Year Fund, Additional Shares.

Rev. Milo N. Miles , Iowa City, Ia.

First Congregational Sunday School , East Orange, N. J.

Miss M. F. Aiken , Maiden, Mass.

Mrs. Mary R. Englesby , Burlington, Vt.

Rev. Geo. W. Reed and Wife , Fort Yates, N. D.

E. A. Goodnow , Worcester, Mass., two shares.

Broadway Congregational Church , Norwich, Conn., twenty shares.

Congregational Church , Watertown, Conn.

Judge Wm. H. Upson , Akron, O.

Trinitarian Cong'l Ch. , Norton, Mass., four shares.

Rev. J. E. Roy , D.D., Chicago, Ill.

Mrs. A. B. Ross , Cambridgeboro, Pa.

Arthur's Mission , Millbury, Mass., two shares.

Horace Tracey Pitkin , New Hartford, Conn.

Mrs. Emma P. Shumway , Groton, Mass.

Mrs. Augusta S. Thurston , Whitinsville, Mass.

High St. Congregational Church , Auburn, Me.

First Congregational Society , Keene, N. H.

Dea. M. M. Fisher , Medway, Mass.

E. Fisher Richardson , Medway, Mass.

Mrs. Harriet P. Somers , Boston, Mass.

From a Friend in Memory of Her Mother , Boston, Mass.

Mrs. M. N. Phelps , Foxboro, Mass.

Dr. R. N. Baughman , Marseilles, Ill., two shares.

Windham Conference of Connecticut.

Mary R. Cummings , for heirs of W. H. Cummings, two shares.

Mrs. A. L. Bayley , Amesbury, Mass.

Congregational Sunday School and Departments , Flushing, N. Y.

Mrs. Lucy S. Connor , Henniker, N. H.

John P. Jube , Newark, N. J.

Mrs. Sarah C. Kellogg , in memory of her Father, Rev. E. J. Comings, Kingsville, O.

Miss Abby W. Turner , Randolph, Mass., two shares.

Congregational Church and Departments , Grand View, Tenn.

Rev. J. G. Burgess and Wife, Crow Agency, Mont.

By a Friend in memory of Rev. J. H. Stearns, D.D., Epping, N. H.

A Member of South Church , Salem, Mass.

Nelson Valentine , in memory of Mrs. R. W. Valentine, New Gloucester, Me.

Congregational Church , Auburndale, Mass.

Mrs. Julia E. Brick , Brooklyn, N. Y.

Gloucester Evangelical Congregational Society , Chepachet, R. I.

Mrs. John H. Washburn , New York.

Geo. W. Marston , San Diego, Cal.

Mrs. Anna Lee Marston , San Diego, Cal.

James A. Smith , Osage, Iowa.

S. B. French , Chicago, Ill.

South Church , Salem, Mass., two shares.

Norfolk Conference , Mass.

RECEIPTS FOR APRIL, 1896.

THE DANIEL HAND FUND

For the Education of Colored People .

CURRENT RECEIPTS.

H. W. HUBBARD, Treas.,
Bible House, N. Y.

WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS

MAINE.
Woman's Aid to A.M.A.

State Committee --Mrs. Ida Vose Woodbury, Woodfords; Mrs. A.T. Burbank, Yarmouth; Mrs. Helen Quimby, Bangor.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Female Cent. Institution and Home Miss. Union.

President--Mrs. Cyrus Sargeant, Plymouth. Secretary--Mrs. N. W. Nims, 16 Rumford St., Concord. Treasurer--Miss Annie A. McFarland, Concord.

VERMONT.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. J. H. Babbitt, W. Brattleboro. Secretary--Mrs. M. K. Paine, Windsor. Treasurer--Mrs. Wm. P. Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury.

MASS. and R.I.
1 Woman's Home Missionary Association.

President--Mrs. C. L. Goodell, 9 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, Mass. Secretary--Mrs. Louise A. Kellogg, 32 Congregational House, Boston. Treasurer--Miss Annie C. Bridgman, 32 Congregational House, Boston.

CONNECTICUT.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Miss Ellen R. Camp, 9 Camp St., New Britain. Secretary--Mrs. C. T. Millard, 36 Lewis St., Hartford. Treasurer--Mrs. W. W. Jacobs, 19 Spring St., Hartford.

NEW YORK.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. Wm. Kincaid, 483 Green Ave., Brooklyn. Secretary--Mrs. Wm. Spalding, 511 Orange St., Syracuse. Treasurer--Mrs. J. J. Pearsall, 230 Macon St., Brooklyn.

NEW JERSEY.
Woman's Home Missionary Union of the N. J. Association.

President--Mrs. A. H. Bradford, Montclair. Secretary--Mrs R. J. Hegeman, 32 Forest Street, Montclair. Treasurer--Mrs. J. H. Dennison, 150 Belleville Ave., Newark.

PENNSYLVANIA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. J. W. Thomas, Lansford. Secretary--Mrs. C. F. Yennie, Ridgway. Treasurer--Mrs. T. W. Jones, 511 Woodland Terrace, Philadelphia.

OHIO.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. Sydney Strong, Lane Seminary Grounds, Cincinnati. Secretary--Mrs. J. W. Moore, 836 Hough Ave., Cleveland. Treasurer--Mrs. G. B. Brown, 2116 Warren St., Toledo.

INDIANA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. W. A. Bell, 223 Broadway, Indianapolis. Treasurer--Mrs. A. H. Ball, Dewhurst.

ILLINOIS.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. Issac Claflin, Lombard. Secretary--Mrs. C. H. Taintor, 151 Washington St., Chicago. Treasurer--Mrs. L. A. Field, Wilmette.

MISSOURI.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. Henry Hopkins, 916 Holmes Street, Kansas City. Secretary--Mrs. E. C. Ellis, 2456 Tracy Ave., Kansas City. Treasurer--Mrs. K. L. Mills, 1526 Wabash Ave., Kansas City.

IOWA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. T. O. Douglass, Grinnell. Secretary--Mrs. H. H. Robbins, Grinnell. Treasurer--Miss Belle L. Bentley, 300 Court Ave., Des Moines.

MICHIGAN.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. J. M. Powell, 76 Jefferson Av., Grand Rapids. Secretary--Mrs. C. C. Denison, 132 N. College Ave., Grand Rapids. Treasurer--Mrs. E. F. Grabill, Greenville.

WISCONSIN.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. E. G. Updike, Madison. Secretary--Mrs. A. O. Wright, Madison. Treasurer--Mrs. C. M. Blackman, Whitewater.

MINNESOTA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Miss Katherine W. Nichols, 230 East Ninth Street, St. Paul. Secretary--Mrs. A. P. Lyon, 17 Florence Court, S.E., Minneapolis. Treasurer--Mrs. M. W. Skinner, Northfield.

NORTH DAKOTA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. W. P. Cleveland, Caledonia. Secretary--Mrs. Silas Daggett, Harwood. Treasurer--Mrs. J. M. Fisher, Fargo.

SOUTH DAKOTA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. A. H. Robbins, Bowdle. Secretary--Mrs. W. H. Thrall, Huron. Treasurer--Mrs. F. H. Wilcox, Huron.

BLACK HILLS, SOUTH DAKOTA.
Woman's Missionary Union .

President--Mrs. J. B. Gossage, Rapid City. Secretary--Mrs. H. H. Gilchrist, Hot Springs. Treasurer--Miss Grace Lyman, Hot Springs.

NEBRASKA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. D. B. Perry, Crete. Secretary--Mrs. H. Bross, 2904 Second Street, Lincoln. Treasurer--Mrs. James W. Dawes, Crete.

KANSAS.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. F. E. Storrs, Topeka. Secretary--Mrs. George L. Epps, Topeka. Treasurer--Mrs. E. C. Read. Parsons.

COLORADO.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. E. R. Drake, 2739 Lafayette Street, Denver. Secretary--Mrs. Chas. Westley, Box 508, Denver. Treasurer--Mrs. B. C. Valantine, Highlands.

WYOMING.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. P. F. Powelson, Cheyenne. Secretary--Mrs. J. A. Riner, Cheyenne. Treasurer--Mrs. H. N. Smith, Rock Springs.

MONTANA.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. O. C. Clark, Missoula. Secretary--Mrs. W. S. Bell, 410 Dearborn Ave., Helena. Treasurer--Mrs. Herbert E. Jones, Livingston.

IDAHO.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. R. B. Wright, Boise. Secretary--Mrs. E. A. Paddock, Weiser. Treasurer--Mrs. D. L. Travis, Pocatello.

WASHINGTON.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. A. J. Bailey, 1614 Second Ave., Seattle. Secretary--Mrs. W. C. Wheeler, 424 South K. Street, Tacoma. Treasurer--Mrs. J. W. George, 620 Fourth Street, Seattle.

OREGON.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. F. Eggert, The Hill, Portland. Secretary--Mrs. George Brownell, Oregon City. Treasurer--Mrs. W. D. Palmer, 546 Third Street, Portland.

CALIFORNIA.
Woman's Home Missionary Society.

President--Mrs. E. S. Williams, 572 12th Street, Oakland. Secretary--Mrs. L. M. Howard, 911 Grove Street, Oakland. Treasurer--Mrs. J. M. Haven, 1329 Harrison Street, Oakland.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. Warren F. Day, 253 S. Hope St., Los Angeles. Secretary--Mrs. W. J. Washburn, 1900 Pasadena Ave., Los Angeles. Treasurer--Mrs. Mary M. Smith, Public Library, Riverside.

NEVADA.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. L. J. Flint, Reno. Secretary--Mrs. Margaret N. Magill, Reno. Treasurer--Mrs. Mary Clow, Reno.

UTAH (Including Southern Idaho).
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. Clarence T. Brown, Salt Lake City, Utah. Secretary--Mrs. W. S. Hawkes, 135 Sixth Street, E., Salt Lake City, Utah. Treasurer--Mrs. Dana W. Bartlett, Salt Lake City, Utah. Secretary for Idaho--Mrs. Oscar Sonnenkalb, Pocatello, Idaho.

NEW MEXICO.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. C. E. Winslow, Albuquerque. Secretary--Mrs. E. W. Lewis, 301 So. Edith Street, Albuquerque. Treasurer--Mrs. H. W. Bullock, Albuquerque.

OKLAHOMA.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. J. H. Parker, Kingfisher. Secretary--Mrs. L. E. Kimball, Guthrie. Treasurer--Mrs. L. S. Childs, Choctaw City.

INDIAN TERRITORY.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. John McCarthy, Vinita. Secretary--Mrs. Fayette Hurd, Vinita. Treasurer--Mrs. R. M. Swain, Vinita.

NORTH CAROLINA.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. S. S. Sevier, McLeansville. Secretary and Treasurer--Miss A. E. Farrington, Oaks.

GEORGIA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. H. B. Wey, 253 Forest Avenue, Atlanta. Secretary--Mrs. H. A. Kellam, Atlanta. Treasurer--Miss Virginia Holmes, Barnesville.

FLORIDA.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. S. F. Gale, Jacksonville. Secretary--Mrs. Nathan Barrows, Winter Park. Treasurer--Mrs. W. D. Brown, Interlachen.

ALABAMA.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. M. A. Dillard, Selma. Secretary--Mrs. J. S. Jackson, Montgomery. Treasurer--Mrs. E. C. Silsby, Talladega.

TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY and ARKANSAS.
Woman's Missionary Union of the Tennessee Association.

President--Mrs. G. W. Moore, Box 8, Fisk Univ., Nashville. Secretary--Mrs. E. J. Lewis, 15 Echols Street, Memphis. Treasurer--Mrs. J. E. Moreland, 216 N. McNairy Street, Nashville.

MISSISSIPPI.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. C. L. Harris, 1421 31st Avenue, Meridian. Secretary--Mrs. Edith M. Hall, Tougaloo Univ., Tougaloo. Treasurer--Mrs. L. H. Turner, 3012 12th Street, Meridian.

LOUISIANA.
Woman's Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. C. M. Crawford, Hammond. Secretary--Mrs. Matilda Cabrère, New Orleans. Treasurer--Mrs. L. St. J. Hitchcock, Straight Univ., New Orleans.

TEXAS.
Woman's Home Missionary Union.

President--Mrs. J. M. Wendelkin, Dallas. Secretary--Mrs. H. Burt, Lock Box 563, Dallas. Treasurer--Mrs. C. I. Scofield, Dallas.