too, and sometimes there will be twenty-five children attending. They have only two months for it, so the course of lessons cannot be very long; but they like to study out of such a book as "The Story of the Gospels" or "The Acts of the Apostles." There are some villages on the lower mountains and a very few Christians among them. The villagers raise peaches and rice and coffee and cardamons, and bring them for sale. Now turn to the other picture on our last page and see those four musical evangelists seated upon a mat just as the Hindus like to sit. One of them has a book in front of him on the mat, and he is the leading singer. He holds in his hands a pair of small disks of bell-metal, called cymbals. They are resonant, and as he sings he keeps time by striking these cymbals very harmoniously. The other three men support him by repeating his choruses and prolonging some of his tones, as well as by playing upon their several instruments. The one on the left of the leader has an instrument of three strings which he plays like a guitar. But one of those strings is intended to give a single note, —the keynote, and the other two give out the tune. Often this instrument, called the vina, has only two strings- one for the keynote and the other for the tune. The man next the leader on the right has another pair of cymbals to make the intervals of time prominent. The man at the end has a drum, which all natives consider very essential in accompanying singing. It is not very loud and is played entirely with the two hands, striking with the fingers or the palm of the hand. One end is just an octave lower in tone than the other end, and by a great variety of strokes an emphasis is imparted to the intervals of the tune which is agreeable to their ears. Instead of the vîna the Christians use violins. They do not get good violins, however, and cannot play very well, seizing the bow in the middle instead of at the end; but still they work them vigorously and produce an effect quite agreeable to themselves. If a small company like this wishes to have an evangelistic service of song they inform the chief men of the village where they go, and invite every one to come. Then they sit down on their mat inside a room, or out on a low piazza, or even on the ground under a tree, and begin to sing and play. The sound of cymbals always attracts the attention of the natives, because all their festivities and performances of every kind are accompanied by that steady beat, just as the drum is used with or without a fife when soldiers march. When a crowd has gathered the leader explains what he is going to sing and preach to them, and begins by singing. Every little while he stops to explain the meaning and bearing of what he has sung. And thus they go on for hours. Another musical exercise in the Madura Mission is the sacred concert. There are, in the different stations of the mission, seven boys' boarding schools and about the same number of girls' boarding schools, and from these are selected a number of choruses which are trained separately and then brought together at the large annual meeting when all the mission agents assemble. Some of the familiar songs are sung by the full chorus, others by the separate choruses, and a great crowd will always gather to hear them sing. One of the missionary ladies plays the organ, sometimes there will be some gentleman who can play a cornet, several natives will play violins, and there will be one or two drums and half a dozen pairs of cymbals. Simple Christian songs have been prepared for these concerts, and after hearing them here the children and others carry them to all parts of the district, and many heathen and Mohammedan children have thus learned to sing the praises of Christ who was born in Bethlehem. MUSICAL EVANGELISTS IN INDIA. SIX MONTHS. The receipts from donations, including "Memorial Thankofferings," during the first half of the fiscal year, amounted to about $177,000 ($176,976.33), which is the average for the corresponding period for the past three years. In 1882-83 they reached the sum of $186,000. We have been hoping that the thank-offerings would carry the donations for the first six months of the present year certainly up to $200,000; but if these offerings shall come in generously during the latter six months of the year, so that instead of about $7,000 ($6,850.94), they shall multiply that sum by ten, and if the regular contributions shall also advance, we shall have abundant occasion for thanksgiving. THE call for the American Board Almanac, unlike that for similar publications, seems likely to last far into, if not through, the year. Our first edition was exhausted some time since, and the second edition is selling rapidly. The publication has proved a much greater success than was anticipated. THE American Baptist Missionary Union calls for $175,000 to be raised before the end of March in order to close the fiscal year without a debt. The new openings for its missions in Upper Burma and on the Congo call for a permanent increase in its annual income of at least $60,000. This will be an advance of thirty per cent. on the donations of the past. God is certainly calling this Society to such an advanced step. Two of its missionaries, Messrs. Freiday and Roberts, are already in Upper Burma, acting, at last reports, as interpreters to the British army in the Shan and Ka-Chin languages. As soon as this service is ended, they will take up missionary labors. Offers for service in Upper Burma have been received from four other missionaries, and the Union proposes to take possession of Upper Burma as soon as possible. May God speed them in their efforts! THE recent publication of a Bible Dictionary in Marathi marks a new and. important step in the provision of a Christian literature for India. The volume has been prepared by Rev. H. J. Bruce, of Satara, using Schaff's Bible Dictionary as a basis, but abridging and enlarging the articles, and adding new ones to meet the peculiar needs of the people of India. The Indian Witness and The Bombay Guardian speak in warmest terms of the book, as a production of greatest value for the churches of India. Application has already been made for permission to translate the dictionary into the Bengali and Urdu languages. . SOME account of the Jubilee services in the Zulu Mission will be found on another page, together with a communication from Rev. Aldin Grout, the veteran missionary, who was one of the first three men sent out by the American Board to Natal. At the close of the half-century Mr. Grout is still living, unable, by reason of age, to continue his labors, but spared in this country to rejoice in the success of the mission which was established under such discouraging circumstances. The work in the Zulu Mission has been materially affected by the presence of foreigners, and by the formation of an English colony in Natal; but the results show what can be done with native Africans, and there is good promise for the future of this mission and, through it, for the future of the southeastern section of the continent. THE simultaneous meetings organized by the English Church Missionary Society were held during the second week in February in nearly two hundred centres in England and Wales. The Record gives particulars from nearly one hundred of these meetings. In the great cities they were not largely attended, but the best and most crowded meetings were held in rural places. Some of the meetings are spoken of as characterized by great spiritual earnestness and fervor. Their object was not so much to raise money as to arouse personal interest in missions, to present the needs of the heathen and the call of Christ to evangelize the world. There seems to have been no difficulty in securing a great number of able speakers, including among them some men of prominence in Church and State. We learn also that the London Missionary Society has been holding a series of meetings for conference and prayer at its mission-house, and an increase of zeal and spirituality, as well as enlarged means, are looked for as a result of these special services. FOR Some time past it has been apparent to those who understand the case, that the Home for missionary children at Auburndale must be put on a better financial basis. Mrs. Walker, to whose untiring efforts and personal supervision the establishment and success of the Home have been due, has found herself physically unable to remain in charge, and has made excellent provision for a successor. But private property which has been employed in this benevolent enterprise should be released. Some funds are now in the hands of the Trustees of the Home for the purchase of the estate now in use, and $9,000 are needed to complete the required amount. While this Home is justly regarded as a necessity for the relief of missionaries in that most trying part of their experience, the sending of their children to this country, it is not deemed wise, and by many it would not be regarded as proper, to use the missionary contributions of the churches for the purchase of this property; but the project to secure the estate has, after careful examination, been cordially endorsed by the Prudential Committee, who would be rejoiced to see the needed amount raised. Are there not those who, in thankfulness for their own Christian homes, and in remembrance of those families called to endure separation for Christ's sake, will contribute, in addition to their regular gifts, the comparatively small amount needed to make this Missionary Home a permanent institution? Contributions for this purpose may be sent to James M. Gordon, Esq., Columbian National Bank, Boston, one of the Trustees of the fund for the purchase of the Home. |