Part 3

Pleasant View Church has also put up a house of worship, now complete except seats. At Rockland, stone is on the ground. Mr. Myers using his own team to haul it, himself being teamster, and the lumber is all ready to begin work. A chapel is soon to be erected at South Williamsburg, where there are hundreds around the mills who cannot be induced to attend church up town. Eleven Sunday-schools, with an enrollment of 1,200 and an average of 750, have been maintained. These schools extend from Jellico on the State line to the northern part of Whitley County along the railroad. Besides these, several students from the Academy have conducted Sunday-schools at their homes, reporting an enrollment of 160.

Day schools have been kept at Woodbine, Rockhold, Dowlais and Jellico with marked success.

The Williamsburg Academy has had an enrollment of 203. The reputation and influence of this school are extending far and wide. The teachers, imbued with the missionary spirit, have been a power in the church and in the community as well as in the school. The question whether our schools could be kept up if colored students were admitted, has been squarely met and answered, and right at our central station, Williamsburg, we have had colored pupils during the past two terms. When they were first admitted, there was a stampede of the white scholars, reducing the number of pupils from 120 to 40, but as they had a chance to think the matter over, and they saw the school going right along as if nothing had happened, and that it was going to keep right along, they began to come back again, with still others to join them, so that the school closed with a larger enrollment than the previous year. The excitement caused a discussion that found its way into the newspapers of the State, and gave the school such an advertisement as could not have been secured by years of ordinary work. We shall have no more trouble with the color question in Whitley County. It has been settled, and settled right.

In Tennessee, the Independent Church at Sherwood, and its pastor, Rev. A. B. Smith, have entered our fellowship by joining the Central South Association. On the Cumberland plateau, Pastor B. Dodge has secured the organization of a church with 16 members, which is associated with his church at Pomona. An organ and hymn-books were furnished by the Pilgrim Church, Cambridgeport, Mass. The people have subscribed $300, chiefly in lumber, toward a much-needed chapel for church and day school. At both these points day schools have been maintained. At Grand View, the first year of the Academy has proved a success, and now a church has been organized in association with it, both to be under the care of Rev. C. B. Riggs.

The school work of Mrs. St. Clair in Scott County has been remarkable. Three years ago there were 27 saloons and two Sunday-schools in the county, one school held in Mrs. St. Clair's tent and the other in a blacksmith shop; now there are three saloons and 25 Sunday-schools, and the good people are praying with much confidence that their prayers will be answered for three less saloons and three more Sunday-schools. Mr. R. F. Taft, of Worcester, Mass., was sent down to help in this field. His labors were wonderfully blessed. Two churches, one at Robbins, the other at Helenwood, were organized. He is not able to continue in our service, but, in speaking of what has been accomplished, he has this to say: "Wherever I went the people were so eager to hear the Gospel that it was a joyous work to me. All came together, natives and Northerners, and our colored brethren. If the A. M. A. has accomplished nothing more, it has broken down the line of color, and to-day all mingle together in seeking after the pearl of great price." The work of Mr. Taft has been taken up by Rev. W. E. Barton, a recent graduate of Berea College, who finds already so much on his hands that he is crying for help.

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WORK AMONG THE INDIANS.

STATISTICS.

Churches 5 Members 301 Ministers 7 Schools 15 Teachers 52 Pupils 706 Sunday-school scholars 776

Our Indian work is chiefly in Nebraska and Dakota, among the great Sioux nation that numbers about sixty thousand, and the tribes that mingle with, or are located around, them. We have three main stations, Santee, Oahe and Fort Berthold, all situated on the Missouri River, and at points strategic for pushing missions out among the people.

_Santee._--Here is planted the Santee Normal School, under the care of Rev. A. L. Riggs. This institution, pioneer of its kind, began work for the higher training of Indian pupils fifteen years ago. Its history and experience show the great advancement that has been made by the Indian mind. At first the pupils came as to a sort of picnic, and expected to slip out when the fun stopped. But now the discipline, attendance and class work are of a high order and will compare favorably with schools of similar grade elsewhere. One thing quite noteworthy about Santee is that while it is often impossible to fill the desired quota of girls for other schools, applications at Santee from girls and young women far exceed the ability to receive them. This school, with its 177 pupils busily engaged in their studies under the instruction of an able corps of teachers, in possession of buildings that are up to the times in all their equipments, reaching by its influence every Indian village of the great empire of the Missouri River basin, is an institution from which, with God's blessing upon its work, we have a right to expect great things in the future.

Pilgrim Church, under the joint pastorate of the Rev. Artemas Ehnamani and Rev. A. L. Riggs, honors the faith and polity of the Pilgrim Fathers in its co-operation with the school, nurturing and extending the cause of Christian education. Its roll numbers 164 names, and its Sabbath-school reports an attendance of 183.

Great and urgent fields inviting missionary occupancy lie all around Santee. Swift Bear's colony, numbering sixteen families, an offshoot from Rosebud agency, has located along the Niobrara. Others are coming down this fall as soon as their little crops are harvested. All the land on the north side of the Niobrara, twenty miles east of the mouth of the Keya-paba, and much of the land on the Ponca Creek close by, is now taken. Here has just been built a school-house given by Deacon Burrill, of Oberlin, Ohio, a little building of two rooms, one for the teacher's residence, and the other for the school room and chapel. A son of Pastor Ehnamani, of the Santee Church, is to take charge of this station.

Among the Poncas, since last December, we have had a missionary, Rev. J. E. Smith, who, while maintaining Sabbath services with good attendance, has during the week taught a government school. At the Upper Ponca settlement, during the months of February and March, a mission day school was kept by Albert Frazier, a native teacher.

_Oahe._--This mission, with its out-stations, is in charge of Rev. T. L. Riggs. The native helpers are Titus Jugg, Elizabeth Winjan, William Lee, Daniel Lee, Samuel Smiley, Stephen Yellow Hawk and Edwin Phelps, all, with one exception, full-blood Dakota Indians.

The Indians of the Rosebud Agency on the White River have long been calling for missionaries to be sent among them. The Park Street Church, Boston, has given $400 to open a mission in that needy region, and Mr. Riggs expects to have a well-established out-station on the White River before the beginning of the coming winter.

During the year a movement has been made to establish an industrial school at Oahe. The Indian Bureau gave twenty scholarships. Alonzo Trask, Esq., executor in the Marquand estate, gave $1,500 toward a building, on condition that an additional $1,500 be raised. This additional amount Mr. Riggs secured. The beginning of the school was made in January. Twelve scholars were all that could be accommodated. They were promptly secured. The school has been continued by the exercise of strictest economy and the willing self-sacrifices of all concerned. The experiment has proved a success, and a good beginning has been made for another year. The new building is now about, if not quite, ready, and fitted to receive forty scholars.

The church at Oahe bears the significant name of Shiloh. A place of rest it has proved to many a weary soul--yet of rest only as it has prepared for activity. During the year God has been pleased to manifest His grace in saving power. Seventeen new members have been received on profession of their faith and three by letter. The total membership is 54. The greater part of these are young men and women, not more than half being over thirty years of age and not more than five being past forty-five years. This church enjoys the ministrations of Stephen Yellow Hawk and David Lee.

_Fort Berthold._--This point with the territory adjacent is held by Rev. C. L. Hall. The day school has had 129 pupils during the year. Six of the Indian girls have been taken into the teachers' home, with marked benefit to the mission work. Increased interest has been manifested in the church services, the average attendance being 75. At Fort Stevenson a Government school (75 pupils) has been kept by Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Wells. Religious meetings have been held fortnightly on Thursday evening and Sabbath school each Sunday. The Crow agency, after waiting two years, is still begging for us to send a missionary.

Leaving Fort Berthold and striking westward about 1,000 miles, we come to Skokomish Agency, Washington Territory, where Rev. Myron Eells stands almost alone to represent the interest our denomination takes in the salvation of the Indians of that region. At Skokomish he has a church of 46 members; at Dunginess a church of 28 members, where he spends two Sabbaths and the intervening week each month; and at Squakson, a small reservation formerly in charge of the Presbyterians, who have now withdrawn, he conducts public worship once a month. In these three places he has under his pastoral care 102 families; average attendance at public worship, 150; at Sabbath school, 84; at prayer meeting, 62. Infant baptisms, 19; adult baptisms and reception to church membership, 11. Many of the Christian Indians are efficient helpers in the prayer meeting and the Sunday school, assisting Mr. Eells when he is present and carrying on the work when he is absent.

At Santa Fé, New Mexico, we have maintained during part of the year four teachers who have had under instruction Pueblo Indian children, for whom Government scholarships had been secured.

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WORK AMONG THE CHINESE.

STATISTICS.

Schools 18 Missionaries 38 Pupils enrolled 1,457 Average attendance 810 Ceased from idol worship 171 Giving evidence of conversion 112

These figures show three more missions and twelve more missionaries than the statistics of last year. In the missionary force there are eleven Chinese helpers.

Four new schools have been opened at the following points: Alturas, Fresno, San Diego and Tulare. The school at Alturas, in the northeastern part of California, though established for the Chinese, like all other A. M. A. schools, is open to everybody, irrespective of race or color, and the Indians in the vicinity have so largely availed themselves of the privilege that they greatly outnumber the Chinese. This school is under the care of Mrs. Griffiths, wife of the pastor of the Congregational Church in the place. She has the constant coöperation of her husband, who welcomes to his church all who can be induced to attend from the school. The mission at Stockton, the first one established by us in California, was closed last year, but has been reopened with an attendance and promise such as it never had before. Our schools are all in the hands of devoted and efficient teachers, are well located and well rooted. We are justified in feeling that they are all fairly on the way to become permanent.

The California Chinese mission, whose superintendency has been under the care of Rev. W. C. Pond ever since its organization in 1875, is auxiliary to the American Missionary Association. It has its own President and Board of Managers. It works in closest harmony with the parent society, and while it must look to us for by far the largest part of the funds necessary to carry its work forward, yet it does not rely wholly upon our appropriations, but makes continuous efforts to raise money itself.

It reports as having received into its own treasury the past year $3,141.20. Its property consists of the Barnes and the West Mission Houses in San Francisco, together with an interest in the North Mission House of San Francisco and the new Mission House in Tulare. Mr. Pond has made strenuous efforts to secure sufficient contributions to bring to pass, without incurring debt, a transfer of these properties to the A. M. A., and he informs us that this result is now assured and that the transfer will soon be made. We shall thus come into possession of property worth upward of $9,000, free from debt.

The past year has not been in garnered results so fruitful as our Superintendent and his co-workers had expected; yet they have been faithful in the cultivation of the field. Early in the year they determined to be more aggressive than formerly. If the Chinese would not come in greater numbers to the schools, then the missionaries would go to them. Three men in the providence of God were at hand who were impressed with the importance of this aggressive work, and who were able to preach to the Chinese in their own language; Rev. D. D. Jones, who had returned from missionary work in South China, Jee Gam and Wong Ock. These brethren have been engaged in evangelistic work both at the mission houses and on the streets in San Francisco and at several other points. But "hard hearts," threatened persecution, and actively working prejudice have everywhere stood in the way of progress.

Still God did not leave His children altogether without some evidence of His favor. There were eighteen who professed conversion and twelve who received baptism. The reflex influence of these evangelistic services has been productive of great spiritual blessing to our missionaries and to the Chinese Christians. It has driven them to realize that they must more than ever trust in the power of God's spirit to overcome the difficulties; that they must faithfully hold and work every point now occupied; that they must pray on and labor on until the Holy Spirit descend in power to break the stony hearts and dissipate the opposing forces of Mongolian heathenism on the one hand and Caucasian inconsistency and infidelity on the other. "Brethren, pray for us!" is the almost heart-agonizing appeal Superintendent Pond makes to the constituents of this Association. "Never before," he writes, "were we so well prepared to do good service to the Master, and to move on with saving power among these dark souls purchased with His blood, as now, at the opening of this new fiscal year. Yet never before did we look on into the year with such a sense of utter helplessness or such a despair of real success except through the co-working of the Holy Ghost."

We commend this appeal for prayer to all our friends. Let there go up such a cry to God for help that in Pentecostal power His spirit may be outpoured upon our Chinese missions; and not only will the good results be felt in our own country, but they will reach in blessing even the vast empire of China and make strong and glad the hearts of our Christian brethren there.

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THE WOMAN'S BUREAU.

The Woman's Bureau has proved a most efficient agency in our work during the past year. The family and the home where mother and sister are the strong guard of purity and moral strength, the newly-freed people knew nothing about from experience. Our missionaries, more than two-thirds of whom were women, found themselves face to face with the duty of caring for their unfortunate sisters. When the Christian women of the country were taking up and discussing the special claims of degraded and lost women for woman's special effort, and organizing societies to meet that claim, the American Missionary Association had the whole business in operation on a large and successful scale. When, therefore, the Woman's Bureau was created, it was neither to inaugurate a new work nor in imitation of other organizations. The purpose was to make the Christian women of the country more intelligently acquainted with a branch of our mission long in operation, and induce them by an increase of their contributions and sympathy and prayers to make it more widely successful. Miss D. E. Emerson, who not only by her experience as a missionary in the field, but also by her experience as a clerk in the New York office, was admirably qualified to take the Bureau in charge, was made its Secretary. She has opened direct channels of communication between the lady missionaries on the field and the Christian women of the churches. Sunday schools and ladies' missionary societies have been furnished an opportunity to assume, either wholly or partially, the support of an assigned missionary from whom they have regularly received letters. She has arranged to have addresses given upon the work at missionary meetings and conferences, either by herself or by a lady missionary, so far as she could, wherever and whenever such service has been desired. The work has been steadily growing upon her hands. The interest is widening and deepening. With no increase of machinery, with but little increase of expense, and with no divisive disturbance, either in the Association or in the churches, our Woman's Bureau quietly and effectively carries forward its operations at the North and at the South, at the East and at the West.

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FINANCES.

_Receipts for 1884-5._

Donations from Churches and Individuals $191,698.35 Legacies 41,501.66 U. S. Government for Indian Schools 9,458.13 Slater Fund for Industrial Training 8,600.00 Tuition, Rents, etc. 39,635.92 ----------- Total $290,894.06

As compared with the receipts of last year, these figures show $191,698.35 collections and donations this year, as against $164,056.77 last; legacies, $41,501.66 this year, as against $64,559.42 last; a gain in contributions from the living of $27,641.58, a loss from legacies of $23,057.76. The receipts from all sources for the past year, notwithstanding the heavy loss in legacies, are in excess over the receipts of the preceding year $3,299.87. The expenditures for the year have been $306,345.93, leaving a debt on the year just closed of $15,451.87. This, added to the deficit of the previous year, leaves us with a total indebtedness of $29,237.73. But over against this and in close connection with it, should be stated the fact that in both years the indebtedness has been owing to an increase of appropriations to meet the absolutely necessary demands of the new Indian missions transferred to us by the American Board. In 1883-4, we expended on these missions, including $11,495.19 received from the U. S. Government, $33,204.95. In 1884-5, including $9,458.13 from the Government, we spent $41,283.75. The churches had laid this work upon us, and we could not avoid these expenditures.

We began the year with a debt of $13,785.86. The task before us, therefore, if our work was to be kept to its former scale, was to increase our receipts over the previous year $27,571.72, or twice the deficit. We have made that increase in donations from the living, with $69.86 to spare, and that, too, in the face of the stringency of the times. Had the legacies remained the same as the preceding year (which were $61,807.31 less than the legacies of the year preceding that), we should have closed this year without a debt, and had $7,605.89 on hand to apply on the debt with which we started out.

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CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, this review of the year inspires first of all songs of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for His manifold blessings upon the work and workers, and then our heartfelt gratitude to the pastors, churches and friends that have so nobly and generously, many of them at great self-sacrifice, contributed to sustain the work. With such evidence from heaven that the work is God's, with such evidence from earth that it rests upon the hearts and consciences of His people as a sacred trust, we cannot but feel that in it all Providence is saying unto us, _Go forward_. But what say our constituents? We present them our report. We await their answer.

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RECEIPTS FOR SEPTEMBER, 1885.

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MAINE, $1,078.85.