though Sivas took its turn in the massacres. More and more, as their poverty and distresses increased, the majority of these villages bought fewer books, and over and over again would they say to the colporter and to us, 'What you say is all right and true, but we can't practise it.' And finally the political situation became so delicate that it excited government suspiIcion to have us Americans seen much at the villages. Later still the colporters were also suspected apparently. We at Sivas were compelled to concentrate mostly on the stronger and most central of our cities, especially on Sivas. It looked as if our range was gradually narrowing, and that neither the Board's resources nor our circumstances would allow us to do much more for the villages which did not soon bid fair to take the gospel work off our hands and support it themselves. But awhile after the massacres we woke up one morning to find ourselves the possessors of thirty orphans' for one year at least'; and another morning of 160 at Sivas, for five years at least.' And these villages the colporter had been visiting so long, together with some who had been so self-sufficient as never cheerfully to receive him at all, were now the recruiting ground from which to gather the orphans. They too were in distress enough, so we might have taken five times as many children from them had we been willing. We selected the cream of them, now no longer with parents and relatives to keep them back, and with generous supplies from Swiss friends, led on by Professor Godet, of Neuchatel, son of the author of the Commentaries, we fitted up very comfortably the asylums at Sivas, put in earnest Christian teachers, and along with full work at school we introduced trades,- cabinetmaking, shoemaking, sewing, cooking, weaving, teaching, — each according to natural ability and taste of the child. Buildings, comparatively near to us and in good locations, were found so easily it seemed as if the Lord had planned them on purpose for us. "I do not know a child of really bad "Our college opened October 7 with fiftyone pupils, the entire senior class of the grammar school in the city coming to us. The first prayer-meeting held we noticed that among the newcomers there were six Gregorians, one Greek, and one Roman Catholic. The fact that we are having music this year attracts a number. There has never been such a demand for teachers as at present. The managers of the city schools have been at their wits' end to find suitable ones, and have had to accept some third and fourth rate candidates. One reason is the enormous growth of the schools for the past two years. "I visited the First Church schools a short time ago, and finding myself at a distance from the front door of the school grounds, went in from a back street. It happened that I had not been that way since one rainy morning, nearly two years ago, when the buildings were turned into hospitals during the typhus scourge. At that time I was met by a deputation of nurses, who asked me to exercise my authority to compel the scarcely convalescent patients to carry away the dead bodies that had been left among the living, and others that confronted me from the verandas. Very different was the sight that met my eyes at this visit. Seven hundred pupils, from kindergarten to academy grades, were busy and happy. Some were orphans under the instruction When one of our faithful native woman. "The other churches in Marash bring the number of school children up to 1,500; and the Gregorians, most of whom evince a very hostile spirit to everything Protestant, have opened schools on a large scale. They have our brightest girl graduate of last year's class to teach their girls; and two or three Protestant graduates of Aintab College for the boys' schools, so their disaffection, after all, may fall out to the furtherance of the gospel.'" HADJIN ORPHANAGES. THE WORK OF NATIVE TEACHERS. From Hadjin, Mrs. Coffing reports the establishment of an orphanage in that city in which there are now seventy-five orphans. In another part of the city there is a "home," with seventy-five inmates, having a Christian man and his wife to care for them. There are at least 400 poor orphans in Hadjin alone, while the neighboring out-stations would swell this number greatly. These children under good training intellectually and spiritually, and Mrs. Coffing says that she finds the looking after these children one of the pleasantest works of her life, since they seem so grateful and respon sive. are Miss Swenson, of Hadjin, reports her visits to a number of the out-stations during the month of October, where she was delighted at witnessing the good work. done by a number of the graduates of the mission schools in their native villages. She writes: - "On Tuesday, October 19, we went to Yerebacan, almost eight hours distant, and were again warmly welcomed by all. Rahel, who graduated from our 'home' school three years ago last year, taught two years in Our 'home' school and last year in Yerebacan, her native village; has charge of the girls' school this year also, and is doing such excellent work. Besides teaching six hours a day she has a prayer-meeting for the women every Wednesday at noon, a Sunday-school for the girls on Sunday, and a meeting Sunday noon for the older girls (those who do not come to school during the week) and for the young brides. She is an enthusiastic, lovable Christian girl, and I am sure God will bless her efforts for the uplifting of the women and girls of her village. She has an enrollment of thirty-five girls and five little boys in her school. "All day Wednesday was spent in her school, and the evening in making out a program, planning the work of this year, etc. Also at noon I had a precious meeting with the women, seventy-five or so being present. Thursday morning was spent in visiting the parents of the girls who have come to our 'home' school from there and some others of the villagers, all of whom were so pleased to have me call upon them. In the afternoon we went to Fekke, a distance of four hours. There I found the next morning such an interesting girls' school with forty-five bright, wide-awake, and happy-looking girls present. The teacher there is also one of our dear graduates, having completed the course in our school a year ago last June, and having taught in Fekke, her native village, last year. How you would have enjoyed reading the letter of praise we received from six of the leading men of that village this last summer, expressing their appreciation and that of all of the villagers of the excellent work done last year by this girl of seventeen or eighteen! She has such good judgment as well as a most winning manner, and is so ready to sacrifice herself in every way that the cause of Christ may advance." "At Shar I found two most encouraging schools and over forty children waiting for a third school to be opened. The day was spent in visiting these two schools and in consultation with the school committee concerning the third, which we opened Wednesday morning. That day was given mostly to this third school and to the prayer-meeting at noon with the women, for which they were all so eager. Thirty children, both boys and girls, including the orphans, came to Hadjin this fall and are attending school here; so with the 130 children in the schools there, 160 Shar children are studying this year, and still there are others who wish to. "This year we opened two schools at the First Church, September 13, a month earlier than usual, and the third school October 15. These schools are filled to overflowing, and everything is progressing nicely. On Monday of this week I opened the two schools in the Second Church and the one in the Parsonage. Thus far about thirty have come to each of the two schools in the church- one for boys and one for girls and twenty to the Parsonage school. Next week I think the number will easily reach forty, which we consider about as many children as one teacher in this country can do justice to. These three schools would probably have been filled to overflowing this week but for the fact that we are demanding a tuition of about twenty cents from each child. "The people, except in a few cases, have never paid tuition before for these little primary children, that is, in the schools in Lower Hadjin, and so find it rather hard to begin; but I am very firm, as I consider it a most important step for them to take. Little by little these schools can be made self-supporting." were some cases that I knew of personally, but the condition of the people hereabouts did not at all resemble the condition of the famine-stricken people of the Central Provinces. The distress there had been of longer duration, but after all the principal reason for having less suffering here was that relief was administered promptly and wisely. "For almost twelve months government, through relief camps and gratuitous aid, fed almost 100,000 people in the Ahmednagar district. Relief camps were abundant, and no one could plead that he could not find work. It was only the aged, the halt and lame and blind, and the children that could possibly complain, and government gave many of these gratuitous helps. "My own principle has been to give outright very little. In general I found that people were willing to work and glad to work. The only difficulty was to find work enough for them to do." Mr. Fairbank refers to various kinds of employment given the people, such as the digging of a large well, the repair of a village tank, and the preparation of a bark used in tanning. At the time of his writing the gathering of the millet harvest, which was then ripe, was giving employment to all laborers, and Mr. Fairbank can report that the acute distress is nearly The greatest need now of the peo over. ple is clothing. THE RELIGIOUS WORK. Mr. Fairbank writes:"It is interesting to notice that recently, since the suffering from the famine has become less, many people have begun to ask for admission to our churches. The distress is past. We are giving help to very few, and yet many come and say, ' We wish to become Christians.' In the past three months there must have been over 150 admissions to our church and over 100 children baptized. We could not say to these, 'We do not wish to baptize you.' On the other hand, if we were satisfied that they came to us with pure motives it was a pleasure to baptize them and admit them to the fellowship of our churches. "They are, however, ignorant, and it is a responsibility that keeps facing me all the time, How are you going to properly instruct these people?' I need very much funds wherewith to provide teachers. The reduction of our forces comes upon us at this time with great severity. I have got rid of four or five teachers during the last year because I really did not have the money to support them. "The question keeps coming to me over and over again, How long is this half-dying rate of work to go on? Are the Christians in our churches at home going to leave these people, who have just now become Christians, without instruction? As one town after another comes to me for a teacher, am I to say to them over and over again, I have no money for your teacher, you must wait?” Madura Mission. ANOTHER PASTOR. DR. JONES writes from Pasumalai : · "We had the pleasure of adding one more to our force of pastors during the last week by the ordination of Mr. P. Thomas, and placing him in the charge of the church at Tirumangalam. He is a good and strong man and will, I am con fident, add to the substantial strength of our native pastorate. I think that our native pastorate is gradually developing in strength and manliness. It seems, however, a much slower progress than we ought to see; and it constitutes one of the perplexing and not one of the most encouraging problems of the day in our mission. During the last two years the pastors have enjoyed a semi-annual meeting of their own, without the overshadowing presence of the missionary. Here they are slowly learning the lessons of independence and of initiative. At their last meeting a paper was read by one of their number, which is being published by their conference and at its expense. But the sad fact still remains that very few of the strongest and most hopeful of our young men look to the pastorate for a life sphere. 66 The annual meeting with our agents begins a week from to-day. We are anticipating a very large meeting and expect a profitable and inspiring week of it. "Good rains have recently fallen here, which gives us fair prospects for the dry crop. Whether we shall have the regular monsoon, a couple of months later, whereby we get rains for the rice cultivation, is another question. In the mean while the price of grain is very high here, so that the people are in much distress in most places." Notes from the Wide Field. AFRICA. THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION. This mission, having its headquarters on the borders of Lake Nyasa, is the true monument to the great African missionary and explorer. It was organized in 1874. During these twenty-four years no less than twenty devoted missionaries connected with the organization have laid down their lives for Christ, and yet to-day the mission now numbers twenty-eight Scotch missionaries and 112 native evangelists, while there are seven native churches with 291 members. The eighty-five schools have a daily attendance of over 11,000 pupils. The Free Church of Scotland Monthly, for November last, has a striking article by Lord Overtoun, who is at the head of the society, describing the lines of work in which the mission is engaged. Bandawé, on Lake Nyasa, is the centre of operations, having a church with an attendance of upwards of 1,000, and sending out native evangelists into all the vicinity. The church building has proved too small, and a new one has been designed capable of seating 1,400 persons. The medical work is vigorously prosecuted, 10,000 cases having been treated at Bandawé the past year, the patients coming from afar to be healed, and carrying away the message of the gospel. Nine different languages are spoken in Nyasaland, which renders the work of evangelization more difficult. Industrial instruction is given at all the stations, and the natives are proving themselves adepts in most branches of industrial work, such as carpentering, brick-making, tailoring, telegraphy, etc. The pupils trained in these schools are now filling important positions in the land. The missionary staff requires reinforcements and a special appeal is made to increase the support of the mission from £5,000 to £7,000 per annum. In concluding his story of the work of this mission Lord Overtoun says: 66 The work of the Livingstonia Mission is changing the country and the people. Slave raiding with its horrors is almost a thing of the past. Poison drinking is ceasing. Superstition is dying out. Fields are planted with coffee, wheat, and potatoes. Gardens with vegetables are to be seen. New fruit and timber trees are being planted. Cattle are being tended. At the Institution there is now a large flock for produce and draught. Superstition is giving way to faith and enlightenment. All this has been wrought by God through the gospel, through the labors of our noble band of workers. But Africa is to be won by her own sons and daughters, and for this end we are laboring. We are seeking to lead them to Christ and to build them up in character and training. When we tell you that within the last six months God has so blessed the work that 285 men and women have confessed their faith by baptism, you will rejoice with us." THE REVOLT IN UGANDA, Somewhat detailed accounts have been received of the revolt in Uganda, and the flight of King Mwanga from his capital, and the final defeat of his army. It seems that the king ran away suddenly, on July 6, taking canoes on the lake for the province of Budu. It appears that there had been among many of the people a strong reaction against the religious control of the Christian chiefs, and the king thought it a suitable time to reestablish his absolute authority and drive out the foreigners. His desire was to restore the old customs of the people, with all the vices which characterized their heathenism. The restraints of decency were irksome to him and to many of his people. After he had fled, people from all the provinces came flocking to his standard which he raised in Budu, and matters looked very dark for a time. Dr. Cook, of the English Church Missionary Society, wrote on July 12: "This is mainly a religious war between the heathen and the Christians. The king hates the Europeans because they stop his gross immoralities; the chiefs hate us because a Christian is expected only to have one wife and because no slaves are allowed; and the people hate us because they say they are obliged to carry loads and to make roads, and because the old heathen customs are dying away." The excitement all through Uganda was intense, and the missionaries were convinced that if the king won in the first battle they should be driven out of the country. Mr. Pilkington was for a time in a very perilous situation, surrounded by a rebellious people, and he did not expect to get out alive. The British commandant had a force of 300 or 400 Soudanese, and three Maxim guns. The Christian chiefs alone could be depended upon, and one of them wrote to say that he thanked God that it was his privilege to protect the missionaries. The report of the battle, which appears to have been fought about the twenty-fourth of July, is not detailed, but it seems that the conflict was very short, and part of the time almost hand to hand. The Maxim guns did great execution, and the king's forces were defeated. Yet it was expected he would make a determined stand farther on. The victory, however, seems to have turned the tide of public feeling, and the capital was illuminated and decorated with flags in honor of the event. |