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CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



The Treasurer reported that his receipts for 

 the year had been $105,798. The receipts for 

 the parsonage fund, which had been instituted 

 three years before, had been $26,856, and the 

 total receipts from the beginning had been 

 $37.855. The purpose of this fund is to pro- 

 vide for loans upon mortgage security, without 

 interest, to churches, in sums averaging $250 

 each, for not more than five years, to aid in 

 building parsonages. During the year, grants 

 amounting to $37,025 had been voted to 81 

 churches; grants amounting to $71,361 had 

 been paid to 91 churches ; loans to aid in the 

 erection of parsonages, of $8,350, had been 

 voted to 29 churches, and of $6,345 had been 

 paid to 19 churches. During the last three 

 years the Union had built 284 churches, or an 

 average of 95 each year. 



American Home Missionary Society. The fifty- 

 ninth annual meeting of the American Home 

 Missionary Society was held in Saratoga Springs, 

 N. Y., June 2. The Eev. Dr. Julius H. Seelye 

 was chosen President. The total resources of 

 the society for the year had been $462,133. 

 The number of ministers in service was 1,447, 

 and they had been employed in 41 States and 

 Territories, fully or partly supplying 2,990 

 congregations. Eighty of the ministers had 

 preached in foreign languages, viz., 30 to 

 Welsh, 20 to German, 13 to Scandinavian, 

 4 to Bohemian, 1 to Hungarian, 1 to Arme- 

 nian, 1 to Spanish, 1 to Chinese, 3 to In- 

 dian, 4 to French, and 2 to Mexican congre- 

 gations. The number of Sunday-school and 

 Bible scholars was "not far from 118,000." 

 The organization of 306 new schools was re- 

 ported, and the number under the special care 

 of missionaries was 2,085. The number of 

 additions on confession of faith, so far as re- 

 ported, was 4,848. One hundred and fifty-five 

 churches had been organized in connection with 

 the labors of the missionaries; 50 churches had 

 assumed their own entire support ; 124 houses 

 of worship and 25 chapels had been built, 40 

 parsonages had been provided, and 79 young 

 men in connection with the missionary church- 

 es were preparing for the ministry. Thirteen 

 State Woman's Home Missionary Societies were 

 in action, and co-operating with this body. 



American Missionary Association. The American 

 Missionary Association held its thirty-ninth 

 annual meeting in Madison, Wis., beginning 

 Oct. 27. Ex -Governor W. B. Washburn, of 

 Massachusetts, presided. The total ordinary 

 receipts of the society for the year had been 

 $290,894, and the expenditures had been $306,- 

 345. The following is an abstract of the re- 

 port of the missionary and educational work 

 of the Association: Church work South: Num- 

 ber of churches, 112; of missionaries, 119, of 

 whom 89 are pastors; of members in the mis- 

 sion churches, 6,881 ; of additions on confes- 

 sion of faith, 883 ; of Sunday-school pupils, 10,- 

 569. Seventeen new churches had been organ- 

 ized, one parsonage had been built, and six 

 new places of worship had been secured. Edu- 



cational work South : Number of chartered in- 

 stitutions, 6; of normal and graded schools, 

 14; of common schools, 36; of instructors, 250 ; 

 of pupils, 8,823. Several new buildings had 

 been secured. A boarding-school for girls had 

 been started at Quitman, Ga. Industrial teach- 

 ing had been made prominent in many of the 

 schools. It had been given at 16 schools by 10 

 special industrial teachers, and 21 teachers who 

 combined industrial with other work. The in- 

 dustrial exhibit of the pupils at the Exhibition 

 in New Orleans was considered very gratifying. 

 It included examination papers and specimens 

 in considerable variety of mechanical and ar- 

 tistic work and agricultural products. The 

 u mountain - work " chiefly among the white 

 population in Kentucky and Tennessee had 

 been successfully prosecuted. The Williams- 

 burg Academy returned an enrollment of 203 

 white and colored pupils. Eleven Sunday 

 schools were maintained, with a total enroll- 

 ment of 1,200 and an average attendance of 

 750 pupils. 



Work among the Indians : Number of church- 

 es, 5 ; of members, 301 ; of ministers, 7 ; of 

 schools, 15 ; of teachers, 53 ; of pupils, 706 ; of 

 Sunday-school scholars, 776. This work was 

 carried on chiefly in Nebraska and Dakota, 

 among the Sioux, with the principal stations 

 at Santee, Oahe, and Fort Berthold, on Mis- 

 souri river. A mission was also sustained at 

 the Skokoinish agency, Washington Territory, 

 and a school at Santa Fe, New Mexico. 



Work among the Chinese (in California): 

 Number of schools, 18 ; of missionaries, 38 ; of 

 pupils enrolled, 1.457; average attendance, 310. 

 These figures show 3 more missions and 12 more 

 missionaries than were returned in the previous 

 year. Four new schools had been opened; 11 

 Chinese helpers were included in the mission- 

 ary force. One hundred and seventy- one of 

 the pupils were returned as having ceased from 

 idol- worship. 



American Board. The seventy - fifth annual 

 meeting of the American Board of Commis- 

 sioners for Foreign Missions was held in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., beginning Oct. 13. The Rev. Mark 

 Hopkins, D. D., presided. The entire receipts 

 of the board for the year, from gifts and ordi- 

 nary legacies, had been $517,593, showing a 

 slight increase over the receipts of the previous 

 year. The sum of $462,583 had been paid into 

 the treasury from the bequest of Samuel W. 

 Swett, of Jamaica Plains, Mass., and " set apart, 

 to meet special calls for a brief period of years 

 in the evangelistic and educational departments 

 of our missionary work abroad, emphasis being 

 placed upon the present emergency in Japan, 

 and upon the great opportunity in China " ; 

 and of this sum $52,992 had been applied, of 

 which $28,791 had been devoted to special 

 calls in Japan, and $6,500 to similar calls in 

 China. From the Otis bequest, set apart by 

 the board for new missions, the sum of $43,- 

 884 had been appropriated for the work in 

 central and east central Africa, in Shanse, 



