sions. The people are eager to learn both their native and the English language. They have their adult schools for this purpose. Their children go to the public schools. There are four Ruthenian weeklies and one monthly published in this country, and some books. Education is promoted by reading circles, lectures, and societies for self-improvement. The race has a fine physique, with great physical endurance. Individuality is more marked in it than in many Slavonic races, and assimilation is comparatively rapid. In this country they rapidly wake up to a new life, and promise to make a worthy addition to our citizenship.

OTHER NATIONALITIES

We can only mention the remaining nationalities of the Slavic group. The Croatians and Dalmatians, unable to make a living at home, are fleeing from "starvation and mismanagement," and seeking work in America. Croatia is a kingdom of Austria-Hungary, Dalmatia the sea-coast province of Austria. The Slovenians come from the provinces northwest of Croatia. The three nationalities have probably sent between 200,000 and 300,000 persons to America. Dalmatians are oyster fishermen at New Orleans, make

staves in Mississippi, are wine dealers in San Francisco, and vine growers and miners in other parts of California. The Slovenians are chiefly found in the Pennsylvania mines and other mining regions. The Croatians are mostly in the same regions and work, although in New York there are about 15,000 of them engaged as longshoremen and mechanics, and a small number are farmers out West. There is no specific missionary work done for them by Protestants. They are Roman Catholic, largely illiterate and unskilled. The Catholics do little for them.

The Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Bulgarians, Servians and Montenegrins are just beginning to come in appreciable numbers. They represent much the same home conditions as the nationalities mentioned more in detail. Catholicism, Greek or Roman, has cast them pretty much into the same mold. Ignorant, semi-civilized many of them, they have everything to get and learn in their new home, and afford still larger opportunity for Protestant Christianity in its mighty work of making America the land of the free and the homeof righteousness and progress. No specific. missionary work for them has been noted among any denomination.

THE STUPENDOUS TASK

WHAT IS BEING DONE

This survey of the Slav peoples at home and in this country cannot fail to impress the thoughtful reader with the immensity of the work to be done through Home Mission agencies. In comparison with the multitudes to be reached and uplifted into Christian citizenship, for their own sake and America's, the Protestant undertakings seem pitifully small and inadequate. Yet it must be remembered that this vast immigration is largely recent, and creates new conditions. A beginning has been made, in which the Baptists have a share, though a much smaller one than we hope they will take in future.

In

The Congregationalists began work of a definite kind for the Bohemians in 1883 in Cleveland. Their Home Mission Society had the good fortune to secure for superintendent of Slav missions Dr. H. A. Schauffler, of missionary stock and practical experience as a missionary in Bohemia, so that he knew the people and their language and how to approach them. From that beginning the work has grown until it is now carried on in 28 places in 9 States (Virginia to Minnesota and Nebraska), and 24 missionaries are engaged in it. There are 16 churches with 772 members, 21 Sunday schools with about 2,000 members, and an average attendance upon preaching services of 1,204. Cleveland, where the first Bohemian house of worship was built in 1884, there is a training school, and there is also a Slovak department in Oberlin College, so that young men and women are trained for pastoral and missionary service. There are distinct missions to the Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, and Magyars, and general work is done among all the Slavic races. The number of workers, including the wives of pastors and students, is about 60. Prior to 1882, when this work was proposed by a Cleveland pastor, practically nothing had been done for the Slavs, who were then represented chiefly by the Bohemians. Every form of opposition has been encountered, from the priests on the one side and the freethinkers on the other, but the results have proved that many are receptive to the gospel. Dr. Schauffler says: "Never anywhere have I

seen the gospel produce more admirable results. Souls 'soundly converted,' as I once heard a colored brother say, lives wholly changed, character transformed, family altars erected, the saloon and dance-hall abandoned." One of the first Slovak converts in Braddock, Pa., was a bartender, now a Congregational missionary to the Slovaks in Minnesota.

The Presbyterian Home Mission Board has also prosecuted work among the Slavs with vigor. It reports 28 Bohemian churches and missions, with a membership of 1,733. It has 10 congregations among the Hungarians, located in northern New Jersey, the Pennsylvania coal regions, western New York and Ohio, with 1,935 members reported in 1904. Besides this, it has 10 churches and stations among the Slovaks in Pennsylvania, with 293 members. Thus at 48 points altogether this denomination is touching the new immigration. A training school work has recently been started at Wooster University.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1904, appropriated $13,300 for its home mission work among the Bohemians and Hungarians. It has missions in Baltimore, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. Pittsburg, Cleveland and Chicago are its chief points. It reports 315 members and probationers, so that the results as yet are very small.

If other Protestant denominations are doing any appreciable work among these peoples, the figures are not at hand. The American Bible and Tract Society is engaged in colportage work, and many copies of the Bible and of tracts in the various languages are put into circulation. This is valuable seed-sowing, and the colporteurs do a general missionary work.

OUR BAPTIST WORK

The American Baptist Home Mission Society began its work among the Slavs in 1887, with a Bohemian mission in Chicago, and the next year established one to the Poles in Detroit. A mission to the Lettish was added in 1898, one to the Hungarians in 1902, and one to the Russians; and in 1903 one among the Slovaks. The work is comparatively small, and mostly of recent origin. There are now ten missions, nearly all of them organized into churches. The growth is slight, but in the main

steady and encouraging. The difficulties are very great, the greatest being the impossibility of securing competent leaders, trained men and women. Our Hungarian mission in Cleveland is now without a pastor, and one cannot be found at present.

Our oldest Slav mission, that to the Bohemians in Chicago, is in charge of Rev. Vaclav Kralicek. It is the strongest in membership, with a total of 185, and maintains four Sunday schools, with an attendance of 532. It will be seen that the freethinkers are not able to monopolize the Sunday schools. The mission in Detroit is to the Poles and Bohemians conjointly, and is in charge of Rev. Charles V. Strelec. The church has 17 members, and a Sunday school with 100 scholars.

Among the Poles we have also a mission in Buffalo, in charge of Rev. P. P. S. Morawsky, with 45 members, and a Sunday school of about the same size. Nine members were added to the church in 1904, and the pastor carries on a very large tract distribution, as do nearly all of our mis

FIRST SLOVAK CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA, AT CREIGHTON, PA.

sionaries among the Slavs. A new Polish mission has been established in Chicopee, Mass., where there are about 6,000 of these people already. The work is conducted by Rev. Joseph Antoszowski, who was formerly in Butt'alo, and the outlook is most hopeful.

Among the Hungarians we have two missions. That in Cleveland centres in a church with 16 members, and at present leaderless. A new and most promising work is the mission at Passaic, concerning which we had an article in the last issue of THE MONTHLY. This work was organized and well started through the missionary enterprise of Rev. W. W. Pratt, then pastor of the Baptist church, who saw the large number of uncared for Hungarian workers in the mills. Rev. John Sivak gave himself to the work, which has now been taken up by the Home Mission Society and the State Convention. A prosperous and self-sustaining church is looked for, as the Hungarians give systematically and nobly.

There is a Lettish mission in Boston, the first among this people, with a capable pastor in Rev. A. S. Grundman. This has been fostered by Ruggles Street church, which gave it rooms for services. Among the Lithuanians, who do not regard themselves as Slavs, we have established a mission at Pittsburg, under direction of Rev. V. R. Dillonis. He has had to begin without a supporter and without local habitation, and try to make headway among a people who have no Bible and no knowledge of the Word. The only Bible printed in Lithuanian is in the gothic letters, and the great bulk of the people cannot read a letter of it.

We have a Slovak church at Creighton, Pa., in the vicinity of Pittsburg. Rev. Matthias Steucsek is the missionary pastor, and the people are rejoicing in a neat house of worship recently dedicated, of which we give a picture. The property is valued at $2,000, and gives the church recognized standing in the community. In our Protestant mission work we too often overlook the necessity of having a suitable and attractive meeting house if we expect to win those who are accustomed to imposing services and large church edifices.

In addition to the regular stations, the Society sustains a general Slav missionary, Rev. L. L. Zboray, who labors among the Lithuanians and Poles, Slovaks and Hungarians in the mining regions, going from place to place in house visitation, distributing tracts and Bibles, and holding services whenever possible. In the last quarter of 1904 he traveled 1200 miles, and he does a useful and important work among a class largely unshepherded and uncared for.

A CALL TO LARGER THINGS

Putting the work all together, it will be seen that we have made only a fair start, and that the Protestant work for the Slavs, all in all, is but touching the fringes of a vast home mission work that is an imperative obligation. It is hoped that this review may serve to stimulate our people to a deeper interest in and great enlargement of our work for the new immigration, which constitutes a genuinely American problem.

At

URING a visit to North Dakota, Dr. Chivers, our Field Secretary, found there a Russian Baptist church, the only one we know of in the country, blessed with a devoted pastor in whose history he became deeply interested. his urgent request, this pastor, Rev. A. H. Nikolaus, wrote a brief sketch of his life and work, which we here give. The writer is thoroughly versed in many languages, and is a scholarly man, though modest and retiring in unusual degree. To express himself in English is perhaps the most difficult task for him. We change his wording only where it is necessary to make his meaning clear. He represents a type of the Slavs who are most valuable accessions to our population. We are glad to be able to give his likeness.

MR. NIKOLAUS' STORY

My birth was in Turkey, South Europe, in Tuleea City, near the Black Sea. Born in 1862, March 29th, I was brought up in the Greek Catholic Church. Went to school at seven years of age. When I left school I was eighteen. I had no church, but I was very interested to visit the churches of every denomination. visited Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian, Roumanian-all these orthodox churches (Western Catholic). Then I visited all Protestant churches, then Mahomedan and Jewish. I used to talk mostly all these languages. But I did not find to satisfy

I

while chopping cord wood and reading the Bible, during my hard work I would stand up and preach to the timber standing about me.

In 1896 I left Canada for Virginia, to get a warmer climate, and lived there four months. Then I came from Virginia to North Dakota. In 1898 there came about fifteen Russian families at once. All was strange to them. I made the first step to do mission work among them, because nobody was able to talk to them in the Russian language. There was open prairie at that time, so I took a few families to my home, and the rest of them scattered around in my neighborhood; and a couple of weeks after they located near Balfour, N. D. In this flock some were Greek Catholic, some were nothing, and three families were Baptist. I visited them every Sunday and preached to them. They are about 20 miles from my home. From 1898 to 1900 we had over 100 families who came from Russia to North Dakota. In 1900 we had a very dry year and poor crops, and this class of people was very poor and hungry, with nothing to eat and nothing to wear. I believed that was the time to bring them to Christ.

I

was full of sorrow for them, and not only preached to them but tried to help them in every way. I thank the Lord this matter was attended to very finely by Dr. O. A. Williams of Minneapolis (our District Secretary), Rev. T. M. Shanafelt, of Huron, South Dakota, and Rev. J. Jager, of St. Paul. They sent special aid to the Russian brethren, flour and cloth; and more than that, Drs. Williams and Shanafelt came up here and had with them $1,000, which amount was distributed April 3, 1901. April 4 we organized the church-the First Baptist Church of Liberty.

The greatest mission work, I found, was in visiting from one house to another and talking to the people. One day I visited one family, Russian Polanders, Roman Catholics. There were five persons in the family. I came a little after noon, and I talked to them nearly all night, reading and singing. In the morning after breakfast I knelt down, and they all knelt with me and followed me in my praying; and I prayed to my Lord to give them new hearts. And next day they asked me to baptize them, thank the Lord! Martin, N. D.

Our Leaders Appreciated

THE following letter from one of our pastors in Indian Territory, where the development is so amazing, shows how our leaders are appreciated, and how deeply interested the people are in the Home Mission work. It will do good to all concerned to print it. The writer is Rev. W. T. Cantrell, of Bradley:

"Having read Dr. Chivers' account of his trip to the Navajo Desert, I was very much impressed with the great work of the Home Mission Society. I am determined more and more to stand by the work. We have been looking for Bro. Franklin for some time to make our offering for Home Missions. With such men as Chivers, Rairden and Franklin in this part of the territory the work of Home Missions will be a success. My people feel very grateful to the Society for its noble help in our section. We are planning for a meeting house at Bradley, and by the help of the Lord we will succeed. THE MONTHLY is a welcome visitor. I am glad to get it, and closely examine its pages. My work at Terrell is moving forward. We recently held a successful meeting, in which the membership was greatly strengthened and became more energetic. We are praying for a

sweeping revival to spread over Indian Territory this year. We are looking for Chapel Car 'Evangel' at any time, to be at Bradley for eight or ten days, J. B. Thomas to do the preaching. Success to the Society in its noble work."

A Word from the Cheyennes

Rev. Robert Hamilton, missionary at Watonga, says that during the first month of the quarter the attendance at the chapel services was somewhat interrupted by the Indians going away in bands to pick cotton, making it necessary to hold a few of the meetings in their camps, they being too far from the church to attend. Then followed the quarterly payment, part of them going to Darlington, 40 miles scutheast, and part to Cantonment, 30 miles northwest. I spent a few days in camp with them at Darlington, but as even a missionary cannot be in two places at the same time, when I arrived at Cantonment I found the camps deserted, the Indians had gone home.

Most of them also left their homes to spend the holidays with their children near the Government schools. Now that they are settled again the attendance has greatly improved, notwithstanding the cold and stormy weather.