CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



131 



others, and had reorganized 191 schools. Three 

 thousand and forty-six grants of lesson helps, 

 periodicals, and other literature had been made to 

 1,278 schools. 



Congregational Home Missionary Society. 

 The seventy-fourth annual meeting of the Con- 

 gregational Home Missionary Society was held 

 in Detroit, Mich., June 5 to 7. Gen. Oliver O. 

 Howard presided. The report showed that the 

 receipts of the society for the year had been $346,- 

 f>!)7, showing an increase of nearly $40,000 over 

 those of the previous year, and the expenditure 

 $321,672. The debt of $133,469 standing at the 

 beginning of the year had been reduced to $108,- 

 544. The Auxiliary Societies had raised and ex- 

 pended, on their own fields, in addition, $199,163. 

 Seventeen hundred and sixty-two missionaries and 

 superintendents had been employed, preaching to 

 2.594 congregations, with which 2,005 Sunday 

 schools were connected, having 142,812 members. 

 Seventy-four churches had been organized during 

 the year, 36 had assumed self-support; 62 houses 

 of worship had been completed, 69 parsonages 

 provided, and 7,400 persons added to church mem- 

 bership. 



The eighteenth annual meeting of the Woman's 

 Department was held in connection with the meet- 

 ing of this society. 



American Board. The ninety-first annual 

 meeting of the American Board of Commissioners 

 for Foreign Missions was held in St. Louis, Mo., 

 beginning Oct. 10. Mr. Samuel Capen presided. 

 Recognition was made in the report of the Home 

 Department of the death of the Rev. R. S. 

 Storrs, D. D., ex-president, and of the value 

 of the services he had rendered as a corporate 

 member and as president of the board. Forty 

 new missionaries had been sent out during the 

 year; 39 had returned on furlough, besides those 

 who had been driven out of north China by the 

 Boxer disturbances, and 13 had been killed in 

 those disturbances. The year had been prosperous 

 financially, and had it not been for the extra ex- 

 penses arising from the famine in India and the 

 disturbed condition of China, the debt of the 

 board might have been met. The plan for raising 

 a " Twentieth Century fund "of $250.000 was 

 being pushed. The receipts of the year from all 

 sources, including $1,273 for the debt, had been 

 $737,957 an increase of $93,756 from the pre- 

 vious year. Of these receipts, $516,536 or $26,- 

 12S more than in the previous year came in the 

 form of gifts from individuals, churches, and 

 various societies, of which sum $214,774 were 

 contributions of the several woman's boards. 

 The income from legacies showed an increase over 

 t lie previous year of $52.663, and the income from 

 the permanent funds an increase of $7,125. The 

 increase in special donations amounted to $19.- 

 5fiS. The " Annual Survey " of the missions repre- 

 sented 20 mission fields, in which were included 

 10-2 stations, 1,268 out stations, and 1,641 places 

 for stated preaching, which were served by 166 

 ordained missionaries, 239 native pastors, 1.872 

 native school teachers, and 518 other native labor- 

 ers, making a total of 4,011 agents. The churches, 

 numbering 495, returned 51,699 members, 4,523 of 

 whom had been added during the year; while the 

 whole number of members from the first, as nearly 

 as could be learned, had been 153,107. The edu- 

 cational work of the various missions comprised 

 14 theological seminaries, with 196 students for 

 the ministry, 11 boarding and high schools, and 

 1.153 common schools, with a total of 59,671 

 pupils under instruction. The native contribu- 

 tions amounted to $156,642. In the several mis- 

 sion fields it was represented that the persecution 



of the Armenians in Turkey had opened their 

 minds as never before to the reception of mission- 

 ary instruction. The workers in China had in- 

 creased tenfold. Though missionary work had 

 been brought to an enforced halt in north China, 

 it would not retreat. In south China there had 

 not been much active disturbance. In Madura, 

 India, the work in the hospital had appealed so 

 powerfully to the hearts and minds of native 

 Hindus that men of wealth contributed to the ex- 

 tent of $14,000 for the erection of the building, 

 and gave liberally toward its support. The in- 

 crease in missionary converts during the year had 

 been more than 10 per cent. The meeting follow- 

 ing up suggestions offered in the president's ad- 

 dress, approved of a yearly canvass in October 

 of every church for the six benevolent societies; 

 commended the forward movement for a " Twen- 

 tieth Century fund " ; and, recognizing the para- 

 mount importance of educating the rising genera- 

 tion in responsibility for the redemption of the 

 world through Jesus Christ, advised the provision 

 in the Sunday schools of a permanent place for 

 this education. A letter of greeting was received 

 from the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, 

 Sandwich Islands, with a contribution of $9,000 

 toward the Twentieth Century fund. 



The Doshisha, or College of the American Board, 

 at Kioto, Japan, which had been for a few years 

 under the control of trustees not in sympathy 

 with the doctrines of the orthodox churches, hav- 

 ing been reorganized, has begun its work again 

 as a publicly declared Christian school, and the 

 fact is explicitly set down in its constitution. 



American Missionary Association. The 

 fifty-fourth annual meeting of the American Mis- 

 sionary Association was held in Springfield, 

 Mass., October 23, 24, and 25, the Rev. Dr. F. A. 

 Noble presiding. The treasurer reported that the 

 receipts for the year had been $336,651, of which 

 $168,096 consisted of gifts from institutions and 

 individuals, $104,641 were from legacies, and a 

 large part of the rest from tuition fees. The ex- 

 penditures had amounted to $345,049. The re- 

 ceipts were $38,802 larger than in the previous 

 year, and for the third consecutive year it was 

 possible to report no debt and a small balance on 

 hand. The Executive Committee reported in the 

 Southern educational work 29 common schools 

 closely related to the churches, in places where 

 there was no worthy provision in public schools, 

 and taught chiefly by the graduates of the nor- 

 mal and graded schools; 43 normal and graded 

 schools, 12 of which were under the care of negro 

 graduates of the association's own higher edu- 

 cational institutions; and 5 chartered institu- 

 tions; making 77 schools in all, 10 of which are 

 otherwise classified as mountain schools, with 

 432 instructors and 13,203 pupils. Of the students 

 95 were taking theological, 85 collegiate, and 

 1,523 normal courses. The committee remarked 

 that in these schools, in a large measure, pupils 

 were completing their studies at an average age 

 in which twenty years ago they began their edu- 

 cation. The normal and graded schools were 

 represented as enjoying, as a rule, the good will 

 of the educated people of the localities in which 

 they are situated ; and the good character and cor- 

 rect behavior as citizens of their students were 

 commended. The demand upon them for service 

 as teachers and skilled workers was in excess of 

 the supply, and no dependent graduates of the 

 schools were heard of. In the Southern church 

 work, 222 churches, with 147 ministers and mis- 

 sionaries, 11.602 members, 1,023 additions on 

 profession of faith during the year, and 15.293 

 children in Sunday schools, were returned. Six- 





