fashion, and in a few places can even write a few figures, and still more rarely add a problem in simple addition. When boys are taken from these schools for the work in the training-school, half of the time must be spent on these most elementary subjects, and a part of the remainder on other subjects that they should be drilled in before they are admitted to this work. There are other branches that should be taken up also, that up to the present time have never been attempted. We have been talking this matter over for a long time, but as it means the translation of text-books, etc., it has not thus far come to the point of starting. Now what we have in view is to select twenty or twenty-five of the brightest of all the scholars in the out-stations, and have them here for one or two years, and out of these take students for the training-school, especially those who are to be teachers. To make a personal selection from these schools is another reason for the tour previously spoken of. Dr. Catheune Mabie here, and has now almost entire y relieved me of the medical work, so that my time may be given to the church work and translating. While the training-school was running it was difficult to find time to do much of the latter. It is sadly needed, as there is only Luke and eleven chapters of Matthew's gospel, and Romans, First Corinthians, Galatians and the two Timothys of the New Testament translated into this dialect, and but forty chapters of the Old. We hope to add to these the first book of Psalms and John's Gospel before '99. Our eyes are lifted unto the hills from whence cometh our help, so if the deeper shades do prevail in this letter, we trust it will add to the beauty as a whole. "While the shadows are many the sunshine is one." W. H. LESLIE, M.D. A CHANGED VILLAGE I I HAVE just come home from a fourteen days' visit to our outposts. We have now nine in all, four planted this year. I had a really good time of it. There were a good many inquirers. baptized fifty-nine. In one of our new outposts, about nineteen miles from here, there is a circle of small villages. Five or six years ago I did a lot of work among them; but after some time they would not even come to hear me. I tried to build a little schoolhouse of grass, to gather the children in. One evening an old fetich woman got mad about it, and ran through the village, screaming and shouting that every one in the village would die if the house was allowed to stand. She then ran to the house, tore off the grass, and more people came, and the house was destroyed. Four months ago the same people invited me to come to work among them again. I told them that I would, but they must build a house of worship for themselves. On my last trip I went to see them. They had begun to build the house in the middle of the circle of eight villages. About one hundred gathered on the Sundays to hear the word. Seventeen professed conversion, and were baptized. Two backsliders asked to be restored to fellowship; nine more have asked for baptism. What is the most hopeful in this and similar works on the Congo is that it is the young people and women who take the lead. That gives us a true hope of large success in the future. REV. P. FREDERICKSON. LUKUNGA AND KIFWA I WENT to Lukunga in June to look after the work. The schools had been begun, as promised in my last visit. Not a few of men, women, and children attended. Several could read pieces in the New Testament. There was a kind and pleasant spirit among the Christians; the gospel was preached regularly. There were inquirers in three churches. We baptized fourteen in all. In another three were restored to fellowship. The gospel has entered a new village four confessed conversion. One of them was among the number baptized; the other three happened to be away, not knowing that I was coming. On my return to Kifwa I slept in their village. Many came to our evening prayer, and several professed their willingness to follow Jesus. The sleeping sickness is very bad in and around Lukunga. Luvava, the Lukunga evangelist, died from it in November. That was a great loss to the work, he was such a bright Christian and preacher. At Kifwa the Lord continues to bless us. In July we had our yearly meeting. All the Christians from our outposts were invited. We expected about two hundred to come, but three weeks before the meeting the small-pox broke out in a large number of villages. This hindered many persons from coming. Three were sick from it on our station while I was at Lukunga. Two of my carriers were taken sick and had to return. We had five meetings in all. On the morning of the first day we had an hour of prayer. At ten o'clock we met again. After prayer and singing of some hymns the brethren were welcomed to the meeting. We then began with the different subjects which we were to speak about. 1. The necessity that we as Christians take care of the old, sick and helpless. 2. Caring for our children, sending them to school, and training them up for the Lord. 3. Is it right to give our young daughters in marriage while yet children? Ought they not to make their own choice? 4. Ought all church members to learn to read? 5. Drinking of palm wine and other wine. 6. What is our duty toward new fields, and how can we best reach them with the gospel? 7. Our duty to offer ourselves to the service, as well as give to sustain the Lord's work at home, and to send the gospel to other places. On the last day several gave short gospel addresses. Eighteen out of twenty-two were received for baptism by the church and baptized, after which 140 of us sat down to remember the dying love of our loving Savior. Thus ended a most pleasant and profitable meeting. P. FREDERICKSON. A GENUINE CONVERT ONE young man came to me and said he and his wife had been quarrelling, and "come and help us." I went to his home and found that he had been exacting and the wife had aggravated him, and he struck her. I spoke to both of them, and then advised Mbolakolo to confess he was wrong, and ask his wife to forgive him. He rose up before many people, went to his wife, and putting his arm round her, asked her to forgive him, as they both belonged to Jesus. You will see the significance of this when you remember that wife-beatings are of common occurrence, when the husband calls friends around to beat her, and so keep her in order. She is only recognized as his money. For him to go to the wife at all and confess himself wrong was a great thing, but to do it before many other people certainly proved that grace was in his heart. Before these two professed conversion they were always quarrelling and fighting, and could be heard raging all over the village; now it is so different with them that everybody notices it. C. B. BANKS, Boiengi. PERSONAL MRS. S. A. D. BOGGS sailed from Boston Dec. 8 to rejoin her husband at Gauhati, Assam. REV. O. L. SWANSON and wife are settled in their new field, with headquarters at Gologhat. MISS HENRIETTA F. MORGAN and Miss Isabella Wilson have removed from Sibsagor to Tura, Assam. MRS. J. E. CLOUGH of Ongole, India, is in Hamburg, Germany, with her sister, Mrs. J. G. Fetzer. REV. E. G. PHILLIPS and wife and Miss Alice J. Rood of Tura, Assam, have returned to America. MR. ROBERT R. MILNE of Ikoko station, on Lake Mantumba, Upper Congo, is in America for a few months. THE salary of Rev. A. Friesen of Nalgonda, India, has been paid by the Mennonites of Russia. The statement on page 22 of the "Year of Blessing" is incorrect. Mr. and Mrs. Friesen are now in America. REV. EDWARD O. STEVENS of Moulmein, Burma, since his return to America a few months ago, has undergone two operations for the trouble in his throat, at the skilful hand of Dr. W. W. Keen of Philadelphia. It is expected that the last was completely successful in removing the cause of the difficulty, but at the cost of the loss of his voice. Mr. Stevens will have the sympathy of a wide circle of friends in this affliction. WE are deeply pained at the new trial which has come to the veteran missionary and District Secretary of the Union, Rev. C. F. Tolman, D.D., of Chicago. Last year he fell and broke his hip. After a long season of suffering and disability he was getting about again, but again fell and broke his hip again in nearly the same place. We extend profound sympathy to Dr. Tolman in this suffering, and pray that the Lord may strengthen and restore him. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE THE THE MEETING OF OCT. 10, 1898. THIRTEEN MEMBERS PRESENT 'HE committee were informed that a cablegram had been received from Port Said announcing that the Foreign Secretary had been obliged to abandon his proposed visit to the missions in Asia. The cablegram was as follows: " Obliged to leave steamer. Duncan." A letter from the Foreign Secretary written from London, in regard to the title to the chapel in Rue de Lille, Paris, was presented, and the propositions which had been arranged by Dr. Duncan in conference with brethren from Paris, were approved. THE MEETING OF OCT. 24, 1898. TEN MEMBERS PRESENT A letter was presented from Dr. Duncan, the Foreign Secretary, dated Port Said, Oct. 6, 1898, stating the circumstances of his failing strength, under which he was obliged to leave the steamer and give up the plan of visiting the missions in Asia. It was stated that he expected to arrive in Boston Friday, Oct. 28, and Deacon George W. Chipman was requested to meet Dr. Duncan at the steamer, and extend to him, on behalf of the committee, the assurance of their profound sympathy. A letter was presented from Robert Allan, Esq., of Glasgow, covering a check for £500 for the additional cost of the proposed schooner for missionary work in the Inland Sea of Japan, and the Corresponding Secretary was authorized to extend the grateful appreciation of the committee to Mr. Allan. Dr. Elder led in a prayer of thanksgiving for this generous gift and the interest of Mr. Allan in this work. The Corresponding Secretary presented the conclusions of the conference of the committees regarding missions in the new United States territories, as follows: The joint committee of the Executive Committee of the Missionary Union and the Executive Board of the Home Mission Society, appointed to consider proposed missions to our new national dependencies, met in New Haven, Conn., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 1898. The following brethren were present for the Missionary Union: Rev. Henry M. King, Rev. N. E. Wood, Rev. J. F. Elder, Rev. H. C. Mabie. For the Home Mission Society: Rev. E. T. Hiscox, Hon. Francis Wayland, Rev. H. L. Morehouse, Rev. Wallace Buttrick. The Hon. Francis Wayland was chosen Chairman, and Rev. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary. Resolved, That it is the sense of this joint committee that the West Indies shall be considered a legitimate field for Home Mission work, and that the Philippine Islands and other possessions contiguous to our Asiatic missions, which may come under the authority of the United States, shall be considered a legitimate field for Foreign Mission work. Resolved, That in view of the successful work inaugurated by the American Board of Com missioners for Foreign Missions in the Hawaiian Islands, and continued by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, it does not seem expedient for the societies which we represent to initiate Baptist mission work in these islands. Adjourned. Respectfully submitted, WALLACE BUTTRICK, Secretary Joint Committee. Voted, That the report be accepted, and its conclusions adopted as the policy of the Missionary Union. Messrs. Mabie and Elder were appointed a committee of conference on behalf of the Union to meet the representatives of other mission boards in regard to the missions in the Philippines, on Nov. 7, at 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. Permission was voted to Rev. William Wynd of Osaka, to leave his field for a period of rest. Attention was called to the very serious result of the operations which Rev. E. 0. Stevens had been obliged to undergo, wholly depriving him of the power of speech, and the Recording Secretary was requested to extend the sincere sympathy of the committee to Mr. Stevens in his severe affliction. THE MEETING OF NOV. 3, 1898. EIGHT MEMBERS PRESENT This was a special meeting called in view of the death of Rev. Samuel W. Duncan, D.D., Corresponding Secretary of the Union, whose funeral services were held in the afternoon. Messrs. King, Barbour and Huling were appointed a committee to prepare a minute on the death of Dr. Duncan, for presentation at the meeting of the committee on Nov. 7. The committee, with the officers of the Union, proceeded in a body to the funeral services of Dr. Duncan, at the First Baptist Church on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. At the service Rev. Henry M. King, D.D., chairman of the Executive Committee, presided, and the following order of service was observed: Invocation, Rev. A. J. Rowland, D.D., Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Reading of scripture, Rev. Nathan E. Wood, D.D., pastor of the First Baptist Church. THE MEETING OF NOV. 7, 1898. THIRTEEN MEMBERS PRESENT A minute on the death of Dr. Duncan, late Foreign Secretary, was presented by the subcommittee appointed at the preceding meeting, and adopted, and ordered inscribed on the records and a copy sent to the family. (See the MAGAZINE for December, page 652.) A committee of five was appointed to consider and present the name of a candidate to fill the position of Corresponding Secretary, made vacant by the death of Rev. S. W. Duncan, D.D. Messrs. King, Chipman, Perkins, Wood and Estey were named as the committee. The committee was led in prayer by Dr. Huling and Dr. Merrill, in view of the bereavement which has fallen upon the Union in the death of the late Foreign Secretary. The return of Mrs. James M. Baker of Ongole to America was authorized. THE MEETING OF NOV. 21, 1898. FIFTEEN MEMBERS PRESENT The Treasurer stated that the Treasurer of the Japan Mission at Yokohoma had realized $202.03 Mexican for each $100 of the bills of the Union; and the Treasurer of the West Japan Mission at Kobe had realized $202.16 Mexican for each $100 of the Union's bills. The Recording Secretary presented the action of the Triennial Conference of the German Baptist Churches in America, urging their churches to sustain the Missionary Union. A letter was received from Rev. F. L. Piper, Corresponding Secretary of the Advent Missionary Society, stating that their Board, having decided not to continue their mission in Portuguese Congo, had transferred their property at Sumba, twelve miles from Mukimvika station, to the Missionary Union for the use of the Society in its mission work, and the Secretary was instructed to extend to the Board of the Advent Society the fraternal appreciation of the committee for the gift. A circular of historical information regarding the changes in the salaries of missionaries from the beginning of the missions, was adopted and ordered sent to the missionaries. Rev. H. Morrow of Tavoy, Burma, was presented, and addressed the committee in regard to the condition of the work in Tavoy. His return to Burma was authorized, provided his health should prove to be sufficient. Resolutions of sympathy on the death of the late Foreign Secretary, from the Presbyterian Board, North, of New York, were presented, and the Corresponding Secretary was authorized to acknowledge the receipt of the resolutions, with appreciation of the sympathy expressed. Rev. A. Friesen of Nalgonda, India, was introduced to the committee, and made an interesting statement in regard to the relations of the Mennonite Brethren in Russia to the Baptist work in India, stating that they had paid in the neighborhood of $2,500 or $3,000 a year for his salary and mission work, and were greatly interested. Dr. Elder, on behalf of the conference of representatives of various mission boards in New York in regard to work in the Philippines, stated that no definite arrangements are being made by the Boards represented, for missionary work in those islands, except as special funds are provided. In view of the importance of general action in the present circumstances of the Missionary Union, and at the suggestion of the special committee, the committee voted that a special meeting of the Board of Managers of the American Baptist Missionary Union be called on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at ten o'clock A.M., for the purpose of electing a Corresponding Secretary to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Duncan, and to consider other matters which may come before them, the meeting to be held in Tremont Temple, Boston. Rev. Heinrich Unruh, of South Russia, was appointed a missionary of the Union, to be associated in the work at Nalgonda, India, with Rev. A. Friesen. Rev. A. J. Hübert, now at Nalgonda, was authorized to begin measures with reference to the opening of a new station, dividing the Nalgonda field. The Mennonite Brethren have already contributed $800 toward the proposed new station. THE MEETING OF DEC. 5, 1898. ELEVEN MEMBERS PRESENT In harmony with the custom of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, it was resolved that the evening of the regular prayer-meeting following the first Sunday in February, be appointed an evening for special prayer for foreign missions. Rev. J. C. Brand and Mrs. Brand were transferred from Tokyo to Mito, Japan, to have charge of the work there inaugurated several years since by Rev. J. L. Dearing of Yokohama. Messrs. Elder, Barbour, Bullen, Estey and Huling, with Dr. Mabie, Corresponding Secretary, were appointed a committee to confer with a similar committee from the American Baptist Home Mission Society with regard to methods of raising funds on the home field occupied by the two societies. |