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EEADE, CHARLES. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. 



typical and poetically true to nature to be re- 

 alistic, while the occurrences from actual life 

 that he sometimes worked into the mechan- 

 ism of his stories seem unnatural. The third 

 part of " It's Never too Late to Mend " is taken 

 up with a graphic depiction of the cruelties 

 and horrors of prison discipline. The novel 

 went through many editions on both sides of 

 the Atlantic, though critics assailed him not 

 only for his breach of the canons of art, but 

 for presenting an overcharged picture of this 

 evil. In 1859 he published a statement of 

 " Proofs drawn from Prison Revelations." In 

 "Hard Cash" he directed an attack against 

 private lunatic asylums; and in "Put Yourself 

 in his Place" (1870) he held up to execration 

 the violent practices of the early trade-unions 

 in Sheffield. "A Woman- Hater," published 

 in 1867, dealt with the woman - suffrage move- 

 ment. His only historical novel, " The Clois- 

 ter and the Hearth" (1861), is one of his master- 

 pieces, as is also " Love me Little, Love me 

 Long " (1859). Another of his most powerful 

 novels is "Griffith Gaunt " (1866). " The Wan- 

 dering Heir" (1872), "A Terrible Temptation " 

 (1871), " White Lies" (1857), and " The Course 

 of True Love" (1857), also achieved success, 

 although some of them were sharply criticised. 

 In 1858 he published a short, graphic narra- 

 tive entitled the " Autobiography of a Thief." 

 Charles Reade was easily provoked into a con- 

 troversy, and did not hesitate to defend with 

 his pen the artistic value of his work. A col- 

 lection of controversial writings was published 

 in 1882 as "Readiana." He was a man of 

 strong impulse and firm convictions, which he 

 asserted in a determined manner. He 'was a 

 resolute champion of the rights of authors. In 

 1862 he won a suit against a London manager 

 named Conquest who had put upon the stage a 

 version of the plot in "It's Never too Late to 

 Mend," which he afterward dramatized him- 

 self. He also took a vigorous stand against 

 violations of literary property by American 

 publishers. His novel of "Foul Play" at- 

 tacks the abuses that Plimsoll and Chamberlain 

 have sought to remedy by legislation. It was 

 dramatized as " A Scuttled Ship," a success- 

 ful play in which he had the co-operation of 

 Dion Boucicault. A drama founded on Tenny- 

 son's poem of " Dora" was brought out in 1867. 

 His last dramatic adaptation was "Drink," 

 founded on Zola's novel " L'Assommoir." One 

 of his latest stories, " A Simpleton " (1874): is 

 a powerful work, though overloaded with real- 

 istic episodes. His last stories were " The Pict- 

 ure," published in 1883, and " A Perilous Se- 

 cret," published just before his death. Among 

 his minor stories are " Propria quae Maribus " 

 and "The Box Tunnel" (1857), "Jack of All 

 Trades" (1858), "A Good Fight, and other 

 Tales" (1859), "The Eighth Commandment" 

 (1860), "A Hero and a Martyr" (1875), "Mul- 

 tumin Parvo," "The Jilt," "Good Stories," 

 and "The Coming Man." 

 Mr. Reade never married, but for many 



years Mrs. Seymour, the actress, lived in his 

 house and sat at the head of his table, until 

 her death, a few years before his own. If he 

 had married, he would have been obliged to 

 relinquish his fellowship at Oxford, which gave 

 him an income of a thousand dollars or more 

 per annum. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. I. Reformed ( hnrcli in 

 America. The following is a summary of the 

 statistics of the Reformed Church in America, 

 as they are given in the "Acts and Proceed- 

 ings " of the General Synod for 1884 : 



Number of classes, 33 ; of churches, 520 ; 

 ministers, 549 ; of communicants, 81,880 ; 

 number of additions during the year on confes- 

 sion, 4,388; of baptisms, 1,084 of adults and 

 4,397 of infants ; number of baptized non-com- 

 municants, 30,456. Amount of contributions: 

 for benevolent purposes, $220,383 ; for con- 

 gregational purposes, $938,190. Seven hun- 

 dred and sixteen Sunday-schools were reported 

 to the General Synod, with 90,308 members. 



The Board of Direction reported to the Gen- 

 eral Synod that the amount of assets and cash 

 in the hands of the treasurer on account of 

 the educational enterprises and benevolent 

 funds of the church was $717,160. 



The amount of the widows' fund, which was 

 included in the above statement, was $63,520. 

 The gifts from churches and individuals during 

 the year had been $2,122, and the annual pay 

 ments from ministers $1,285. Annuitants had 

 been paid from the income the aggregate sum 

 of $3,769. The amount of the disabled minis- 

 ters' fund invested was $53,267 ; from its in- 

 come had been paid during the year, $5,220. 

 The education fund (endowed scholarships, etc.) 

 amounted to $113,110; the parochial school 

 fund, to $11,307; and the permanent semi- 

 nary fund, to $133,507. 



The receipts of the Board of Publication for 

 the year had been $22,141. The assets of the 

 Publication-House were returned at $14,977, 

 with no liabilities. Including regular annual 

 documents, 12 publications had been issued. 



The receipts of the Board of Education had 

 been $18,235. The board returned 44 students 

 on its roll of beneficiaries. 



The receipts of the Board of Domestic Mis- 

 sions had been $44,795, besides which the 

 treasurer returned $30,088 as received on ac- 

 count of the church - building fund. The 

 board had aided 95 missions and churches, of 

 which 55, served by 51 missionaries, were in 

 the East, and 40, with 35 missionaries, were in 

 the West and South. Connected with these 

 churches were 6,350 members, 685 of whom 

 had been received on confession ; 4,658 fami- 

 lies; and 97 Sunday-schools, with an average 

 attendance of 8,674 scholars. Seven new 

 churches had been organized, and six churches 

 had become self - sustaining. The mission 

 churches had contributed $889 to domestic 

 missions, and $3,930 to other objects. 



The Board of Foreign Missions had received 

 $92,872, of which $12,193 had been contrib- 



