326 



FRIENDS. 



houses occupied by Indians, 1,042 ; amount of 

 money contributed by religious denominations 

 for the work of the superintendence $5,790.43. 

 The Unitarian Friends have been assigned 

 the charge of the Northern Indian Superinten- 

 dency and the agencies therein, as follows : the 

 Great Nemaha, Omaha, Winnebago, Pawnee, 

 Otoe, and Santee agencies, all being in the 

 State of Nebraska. The reports of the agents 

 show generally improvement in the disposition 

 of the Indians under their charge, and increas- 

 ing inclination to become civilized, and a grow- 

 ing interest in education, An industrial home 

 had been established among the lowas at the 

 great Nebraska agency, with an average at- 

 tendance of 25 persons, and also a day -school 

 with an average attendance of 31 children. A 

 building for a schoolhouse had been erected 

 among the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri. 

 The Omahas were taking much interest in their 

 schools. The schools had prospered, and the 

 attendance was reported good. A day-school 

 had been in operation among the Otoes for ten 

 months of the year, and, as long as the Indians 

 were conveniently situated to it, the attend- 

 ance was good. At the Santee agency were 

 schools supported by the American Board of 

 Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the 

 Protestant Episcopal Board of Missions, and a 

 manual-labor school supported by the Gov- 

 ernment. All were prospering, with pupils 

 showing great intelligence and aptness to 

 learn. Three day-schools and an industrial 

 school were in operation at the Winnebago 

 agency, with Sunday-schools taught every 

 week. Some newly-elected chiefs had thrown 

 their influence against the schools, and ham- 

 pered their usefulness. 



The Superintendent, Barclay White, reports 

 the following general statistics of the progress 

 of civilization in the superintendency : Popu- 

 lation, 6,446 ; number of the population who 

 are of mixed blood, 703 ; number of schools, 

 18; of .teachers, 22; of scholars, 702; of In- 

 dians who can read, 640 ; of church-members, 

 424; of Indians who wear citizen's dress (no re- 

 port from the Otoes), 2,192 ; of houses occupied 

 by Indians, 480 ; of male Indians who work at 

 civilized pursuits with their own hands, 1,303; 

 per cent, of subsistence of Indians obtained 

 by their own labor in civilized pursuits, 64 ; 

 amount of money contributed by the Friends 

 for the work of the superintendency, $5,387.47. 



The London Yearly Meeting of the Society 

 of Friends was held in May. The statistical 

 statement showed the number of Friends in 

 England to be 14,1 59, or 113 more than were 

 reported the previous year, and the number 

 of attendants upon the regular meetings for 

 worship, who were not members, to be 1,767, 

 or 517 more than the year before. The edu- 

 cational enterprises of the society were repre- 

 sented as in an advancing condition. The 

 schools of the association in the metropolis 

 included 1,840 children, and 130 teachers. 

 Other evangelizing agencies were described, 



as breakfast meetings with the poor, open-air 

 preaching, sewing meetings, mothers' meet- 

 ings, " British workmen " libraries, reading- 

 rooms, and Bible-classes. The total number 

 of tracts issued in the year by the Tract Asso- 

 ciation was, from London, 153,980; from 

 Sunderland, 36,000 ; from Bristol and Somer- 

 set, 58,000; from Leominster, 602,000; from 

 Leeds, 28,500 ; from Manchester, 78,780. The 

 total number of tracts issued from London, 

 since the formation of the society in 1813, was 

 6,444,303 tracts, and 1,234,014 leaflets. Bet- 

 ter translations of tracts into the Danish, Ger- 

 man, and French languages were called for, 

 and an increased variety. Several alterations 

 were made in the queries addressed to the sub- 

 ordinate meetings, the answers to which were 

 supposed to convey an understanding of the 

 general condition of the society. Certain ques- 

 tions which seemed no longer called for, or not 

 capable of receiving a definite answer, were 

 omitted. The most important question omit- 

 ted was that referring to the proper inspection 

 and relief of the poor, the abolition of which, 

 in effect, annuls the rule for the compulsory 

 maintenance of the poorer members. Mr. John 

 Bright attended the meeting and addressed it 

 on the subject of the revision of the queries. 



The meeting of ministers and elders of the 

 English Friends comprehends a monthly meet- 

 ing of the ministers and elders within certain 

 local districts, a quarterly meeting covering a 

 larger area, and a yearly meeting in London 

 of all the ministers and elders in the country. 

 At recent meetings of the general yearly meet- 

 ing of Friends, the question of widening the 

 basis of the meeting of ministers and elders 

 was discussed. One proposition was made 

 contemplating the addition of overseers, who 

 should be charged with the relief of the poor, 

 and the admonition of the disorderly. In 1874 

 a committee was appointed to consider plans 

 for revising the constitution of this meeting, 

 and to consider the whole question of ministry, 

 pastoral care, overseerships, etc. The com- 

 mittee met in the fall of 1875. It recognized 

 that the idea had got abroad that the meeting 

 had some hierarchical functions, agreed that 

 this idea must be dissipated, and that a widen- 

 ing of the basis of the meeting would have that 

 effect. It was agreed to drop the name elder ; 

 to merge the elder into the overseer, and to 

 convert the meeting of ministers and elders into 

 one of ministers and overseers ; to charge it 

 largely with the pastoral care of the church 

 (as a kind of committee) ; to provide for a re- 

 port to the monthly meeting at least once in 

 each year; and to have a joint committee of 

 Friends appointed once every five years by the 

 quarterly and monthly meeting to revise the 

 list of recorded ministers, with a view of rec- 

 ommending the monthly meeting to continue 

 them in their position, or to remove them, as 

 the case might be. The adjustment of details 

 was committed to a sub-committee, who were 

 to report in February, 1876. 



