BAPTISTS. 



Women's Societies. The annual meeting of 

 the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission 

 Society, auxiliary to the American Baptist Home 

 Mission Society, was held in Concord, N. H., May 

 1 and 2. Balances were reported by the treasurer 

 of $311 in the general treasury and $84 in the 

 Alaska treasury. The reports from the field re- 

 lated to work in the South, Utah, New Mexico, 

 and Alaska, among French Roman Catholics in 

 large manufacturing cities, and to the operations 

 of Hartshorn Memorial College. From the 

 Alaskan mission 13 church-members were re- 

 turned, with 32 children cared for at the home 

 an institution the support for which is looked for 

 from the Sunday-schools of New England. A 

 change for the better was remarked in the atti- 

 tude of the natives. While they had allowed their 

 children to attend school, they had themselves 

 heretofore held aloof from the whites. They had 

 now asked to be admitted to the evening schools. 

 Resolutions were passed by the meeting declaring 

 that the main efforts of the society should be de- 

 voted to the work which it had pledged itself to 

 uphold, while causes not directly in that line 

 should be carefully scrutinized ; and that its chief 

 purpose should continue to be to promote Chris- 

 tian education and emphasize its importance. 

 Other resolutions urged that every possible means 

 be used to create a public sentiment in favor of a 

 constitutional amendment making polygamy a 

 crime, and defined the position of the society as 

 against the manufacture and sale of intoxicating 

 liquors. 



Of the 2,807 auxiliaries of the Woman's Baptist 

 Home Mission Society reported upon at its an- 

 nual meeting of 1901, 354 were children's con- 

 tributing organizations. Young ladies had dur- 

 ing the past year contributed $755 for work in 

 Cuba, and girls and boys of junior age $711, 

 mainly for the support of the kindergarten in the 

 city of Mexico and for the work for Chinese chil- 

 dren in San Francisco, Cal. The sum of $599 had 

 been paid in in the name of the " Baby Band," 

 consisting of 3,817 little folks seven weeks of age 

 and younger, mainly for the support of the Chi- 

 nese kindergarten in San Francisco. 



Southern Baptist Convention. The South- 

 ern Baptist Convention met in New Orleans, La., 

 May 10. The Hon. W. J. Northen, of Georgia, was 

 unanimously reelected president. The first report 

 presented was that of the Foreign Mission Board 

 for its fifty-sixth year. In accordance with the 

 recommendation of the previous convention, the 

 board had at once proceeded to enlarge its work. 

 Twenty-one new missionaries had been sent out 

 during the convention year, important new points 

 had been occupied, and old ones strengthened. 

 The receipts for the year had been $150,083, con- 

 stituting the largest contribution ever made by 

 the people represented in the convention to foreign 

 missions. For the fourth year in succession the 

 board was able to report all indebtedness paid, 

 and an appreciable cash balance remained on 

 hand. The Chinese Publication Society at Canton 

 had made some progress, and had been aided by a 

 gift of $500 from the Sunday- school Board. The 

 establishment of theological training-schools was 

 encouraged. Such schools were now in operation 

 at Canton and Shanghai, China, in Africa, and 

 at San Paolo, Brazil, and arrangements were 

 making for one in Rome. An advance step had 

 been taken in medical work, in the shape of prepa- 

 rations for opening a hospital in north China. It 

 was represented that 87 per cent, of the contribu- 

 tions made to the board go directly to the work 

 in the field, the expenses of management being 

 about 13 per cent. The actions of the missionaries 



in China had been governed during the troubles in 

 that country largely by the advice of the repre- 

 sentatives of the United States Government there. 

 The missionaries in north China had escaped by 

 going to Chefoo, on the coast, or to .Japan. Those 

 in central China not resident in Shanghai had to 

 leave their posts temporarily, and the women in 

 south China had sought places of safety for a 

 season. The missionaries had acted with discre- 

 tion and fidelity through all the troubles. None 

 suffered bodily harm, though some of their houses 

 were looted and many chapels were destroyed. 

 The native Christians had as a rule been faithful. 

 All the missionaries had now returned to their 

 stations. 



The Woman's Missionary Union had contrib- 

 uted $31,801 to the foreign work during the year 

 an advance of $4,043 over the contributions of 

 the previous year. The women missionaries re- 

 ceived no salaries, and the expenses they incurred 

 amounted to only $2,477. The missions under the 

 care of the Foreign Board in Brazil, Italy, Mex- 

 ico, China, Japan, and Africa returned altogether 

 127 churches, 166 out-stations, 102 missionaries 

 (46 men and 56 women), 41 ordained natives, 130 

 unordained native helpers, 6,773 members, 1,009 

 baptisms during the year, 2,294 pupils in Sunday- 

 schools, 70 houses of worship, 35 day-schools with 

 939 pupils, and $10,259 of contributions. 



The total receipts of the Sunday-school Board 

 for the year had been $78,381, an increase of $6,- 

 778 from the previous year. It owed no debt, and 

 the surplus on hand was adequate for current 

 needs. The reserve fund had been increased by 

 $14,000, and now aggregated $44,000, which were 

 safely invested in interest-bearing securities. The 

 appropriations aggregated, with denominational 

 work, $16,288, besides the supplies sent in boxes, 

 which were valued at $8,000. During the ten 

 years of the existence of the board it had made 

 appropriations of $184,681. It had received $2,995 

 for Bible work, and had appropriated 31,554 copies 

 of Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Scripture, 

 valued at $5,016. The contributions of the 

 Woman's Missionary Union to the board had 

 been, in cash and boxes, $9,023. 



The Home Mission Board reported for its fifty- 

 sixth year 811 missionaries, 2,660 churches and 

 stations, 6,671 additions by baptism, 162 churches 

 constituted, 100 houses of worship built, $82,542 

 expended in the building and improvement of 

 houses of worship, 511 Sunday-schools organized, 

 and the details of the personal and other work 

 of the missionaries in their several departments. 

 The State boards of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 

 Georgia, Indian Territory, Kentucky, Louisiana, 

 Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, 

 Oklahoma Territory, Tennessee, Texas, and Vir- 

 ginia were in cooperation in part or the whole of 

 their work. The receipts of the board for the year 

 had been $86,904 for the regular work, and $4,110 

 in special gifts to the Church Building and Loan 

 fund, making a total of $91,075, as against $79,- 

 366 in 1899. An increase of gifts had taken place 

 in all the States except two. Seventeen mission- 

 aries had been employed in work among the 

 negroes in Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North 

 Carolina, and Virginia, with a total expendi- 

 ture of $2,391. Special emphasis was laid in 

 the report on cooperative work, and special 

 mention was made of the "mountain work" 

 in North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, for 

 which $2,850 had been appropriated. " Fron- 

 tier work " was favorably spoken of. Not 

 all that was hoped for had been realized in the 

 matter of cooperative work with the Home Mis- 

 sion Society of the Northern Baptists. Labors 



