BAPTISTS. 



61 



nearly 1,000, with at least 25,000 members. 

 The agents of the society were stationed in the 

 missions among the Burmese, the Karens, the 

 Eurasians, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Te- 

 loogoos, and the Shans, and reported 20 mis- 

 sionaries, 33 schools, 32 Bible-women, 1,530 

 scholars, and 85 conversions in the year. 



The 6th anniversary of the Woman's Baptist 

 Missionary Society of the West was held at Day- 

 ton, Ohio, April llth and 12th. Mrs. Robert 

 Harris, of Chicago, presided. The treasurer 

 reported that the receipts of the society for the 

 year had been $13,352.05, and the expenditures 

 $12,455.93. The Executive Board reported 

 that the society employed 8 woman-mission- 

 aries and several Bible-women, and had the 

 care of several schools. The work was re- 

 stricted by the limited amount of resources. 



The annual meeting of the American Bap- 

 tist Home 'Mission Society was held at Provi- 

 dence, R. I., May 23d. The Hon. Robert O. 

 Fuller, of Boston, presided. The receipts into 

 the treasury of the society from all sources, not 

 including temporary loans, for the year ending 

 M'arch 31st, had been $189,824, and the expen- 

 ditures, not including payments of temporary 

 loans, but including the loans of the church- 

 edifice fund, had been $262,503.24. The re- 

 ceipts were $31,557.82 less, and the expendi- 

 tures and church-edifice loans were $59,620 

 greater, than those for the preceding year. The 

 balance against the society was $40,452, which 

 was entirely for borrowed money. The in- 

 crease of expenditures was accounted for by 

 the fact that the sum of $43,124 of liabilities, 

 which had not matured at the time of making 

 the previous report, had been paid on con- 

 tracts for the completion of the school-build- 

 ing at Nashville, Tenn., and on notes given for 

 the original purchase of the property for the 

 same; an amount exceeding by $2,671 the 

 present indebtedness of the society for bor- 

 rowed money. A gift of $20,000, made after 

 the report was prepared, reduced the debt to 

 $20,452. Two hundred and thirty-three mis- 

 sionaries had been employed during the year, 

 under whom 60 churches had been formed, 

 1,581 persons baptized, and 19,238 scholars 

 gathered into the Sunday-schools. The subject 

 of an increase of direct missionary work among 

 the colored people had been under the consid- 

 eration of the executive board. The devel- 

 opment of better signs of the cooperation in 

 this work of the white brethren at the South 

 was noticed with "profound satisfaction." 

 Seven freedmen's schools were taught under 

 the patronage of the society, which were all 

 in successful operation, under the care of 27 

 teachers, with an aggregate of 860 scholars. 

 Twelve missionaries were employed among the 

 Indian tribes, four of whom were white. In the 

 church-edifice department, the total amount 

 of loans outstanding was $234,328, and the 

 amount of interest due was $23,037. The to- 

 tal amount of property, funds, and claims held 

 by this department was $274,140. A report 



V 



recommending the continuance of the mis- 

 sionary work among the Chinese in the Unit- 

 ed States was adopted. An amendment to the 

 charter of the society granted by the Legisla- 

 ture of the State of New York, for the pur- 

 pose of enabling it to receive endowment 

 funds and hold real estate for the mainte- 

 nance of schools and colleges, and the education 

 of freedmen and Indians, was accepted. 



The 53d annual meeting of the American 

 Baptist Publication Society was held at Prov- 

 idence, R. I., May 25th. Mr. J. L. Howard 

 presided. The receipts in the benevolent de- 

 partment of the society from all sources had 

 been $55,135 ; the receipts in the business 

 department had been $333,831; and the total 

 receipts of both departments had been $388,- 

 966. A system of life-annuities had been es- 

 tablished, by which the society could receive 

 at once the funds which its patrons intended 

 to bequeath it, paying to them a given rate 

 of interest, mutually agreed upon, for the use 

 of the capital sum during the lives of the 

 donors. Twenty -one new publications had 

 been issued during the year, of which 20,400 

 copies had been printed. Of former publica- 

 tions, there had been printed 107,460 copies 

 of books, and 181,750 copies of tracts. The 

 total issues of the society for the year were 

 equal to 329,116,580 pages 18mo. The total 

 number of issues since the organization of the 

 society had been 76,848,887 copies of books, 

 tracts, and periodicals, containing 4,308,360,336 

 pages. The total number of publications on 

 the catalogue, after a very extensive revision, 

 was, on the 1st of March, 1877, 1,113 volumes. 

 The present valuation of the real estate of the 

 society was $247,759. 



The 24th anniversary of the American Bap- 

 tist Historical Society was held in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., June 4th. The finances were reported as 

 in a good state, with a balance of several hun- 

 dred dollars in the treasury. 



The annual meeting of the American Baptist 

 Educational Commission was held in Provi- 

 dence, R. I., May 23d, Rev. Alvah Heney, D. D., 

 presiding. The report stated that " the com- 

 mission had suspended its work during the past 

 year, on account of the Centennial movement 

 for the endowment of seats of learning." 



A Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society 

 was organized in Chicago on the 1st of Feb- 

 ruary, with Mrs. J. N. Crouse as president, 

 to cooperate with the American Baptist Home 

 Mission Society, and yet be distinct from it. 

 A meeting in behalf of this society was held at 

 Providence, R. I., May 24th, in connection 

 with the anniversaries of the other Baptist 

 societies, at which it was recognized as one of 

 the general societies of the denomination, and 

 the formation of societies auxiliary to it was 

 recommended. 



The third National Baptist Sunday-school 

 Convention, under the auspices of the Ameri- 

 can Baptist Publication Society, met in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., May 17th. Delegates, consisting 



