THE AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME

MISSION SOCIETY.

"Societies are organized on the principle of the division of labor. Each society has its distinct and definite work. To this it should confine itself. To depart from this, is to encroach on the work of another society and to produce confusion in the popular mind. No denomination establishes two missionary societies for the same field. The leading denominations of this land have three general societies; one for Foreign Missions; one for Home Missions; and one for the publication of religious and denominational literature; each having its own specific work.

"The name of a society expresses the aim of a society. The American Baptist Home Mission Society, as its name announces, is a Missionary Society for North America. Its general title, and the general terms of its Constitution, clothe it with full power to engage in every kind of missionary work. The sole and simple and significant sentence in its Constitution defining its object is this: 'The object of this Society shall be to promote the preaching of the Gospel in North America.' There is no limitation as to race, color, condition or age; no limitation as to the agencies to be employed, whether by means of settled pastors or general itinerating missionaries—whether by ordained or unordained men; no limitations as to kinds of missionary work, allowing the Society, therefore, to assist in the organization of churches, in the erection of church edifices, in the organization and the care of Sunday-schools, and in the raising up of a qualified ministry among the Freedmen, so that the Gospel, instead of the vagaries of visionary men, may be preached to this people; no limitation as to place, whether in consecrated churches, or in school-houses, in the log cabin, or from house to house. The original design was to make this Society. the comprehensive Baptist Missionary organization of the denomination for North America. Not a segment, but the whole circle of missionary work, is committed

to it.

"The missionaries of the Home Mission Society are not specialists, but men of all work, embracing in their service every feature of missionary labor. If the Home Mission Society appoints no colporteurs, it is because all its missionaries are expected to do this kind of work just as far as they are supplied with religious literature for this purpose. They are most anxious to do this, and as a matter of fact have disseminated during the past year, and are now disseminating, hundreds of thousands of pages of religious literature among the people who most need it, They are the natural agency for the distribution of denominational literature without a dollar's additional expense for this service. Every missionary of the Society is by virtue of his appointment a colporteur.

"In like manner, the Home Mission Society, through its missionaries, devotes particular attention to Christian effort in the family and in the Sunday-school. Family visitation has been required of its missionaries from the beginning. They are instructed 'to preach publicly and from house to house.' Their quarterly reports give the number of religious visits they make. Many of these frontier missionaries, having from two to twelve preaching stations, travel over vast districts, engaged, as they go, in this house-to-house service. During the last year the missionaries of this Society report 54,275 religious visits to families or individuals. The whole number reported during the last forty years is 1,667,813. It is, therefore, eminently a Family Missionary Society.

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"It is also a Sunday-school Missionary Society. Indeed, were it to be otherwise, it would be unworthy the confidence and the support of the denomination. If the Society does not appoint strictly Sundayschool missionaries,' it is because such specific appointments are unnecessary, inasmuch as every missionary is a Sundayschool missionary, an important part of whose regular duties is to look after the religious training of the children, by organizing and maintaining Sunday-schools whereever practicable. Our local and general

missionaries are heartily engaged in this service; no duplication of agencies for this feature of Christian work is needed on their broad fields. Frequently from three to seven schools are under the supervision of one missionary. The reports for the past year (1879) show 461 schools with an attendance of 27,031 scholars.

"The average attendance in the Sundayschools under the supervision of our missionaries during the last forty years has been 13,084.

"Thus it appears that the Home Mission Society is a Missionary Society in the broadest sense for North America; a Society which includes every variety of missionary service and excludes none; a Society which gives particular attention to the Family and to the Sunday-school; aiming ever so to conduct its labors that tangible and abiding results may be secured thereby.

"Figures fail to present fully the work of such an organization, yet, as helpful to an estimate of the extent of its work, we submit the following summary (corrected to 1894):

Number of Commissions to Missionaries

"A great work has been done by this Society. A great work yet remains to be done."

(Extract from annual report for 1880.)

HAVE YOU A PIANO TO SPARE? Negroes are very fond of music. They have shown exceptional talent as singers, and some of them have evinced special aptitude and skill in instrumental music. In their homes, in church services, and in their social gatherings, music plays a very important part. It is for them a delightful recreation, an agency of culture, and a medium of worship.

In each of our schools in the South special care is taken to provide competent musical instruction, and to afford opportunities for those who desire it to acquire skill in the use of the organ and the piano. For this purpose, a large number of instruments are needed, involving a considerable expenditure of money; being in constant use, pianos and organs wear out and need to be replaced.

There are, doubtless, in many homes in the North silent instruments. Their sweet tones no longer make glad the household. Sometimes better, more modern instruments have taken their places, and relegated them to the background; sometimes those who have been accustomed to use them have left the family mansion to establish a home of their own; and sometimes they have exchanged the piano for the harp of gold.

It has occurred to us that there may be those who would gladly send such silent pianos or organs to some of our schools in the South where they could be useful. If there are such, it will be a great pleasure for us to communicate with them, and to designate the schools where their gifts are most needed, and where they will be most heartily welcomed.

OUR CIRCULATION.

Can we

Stop and

It would It would

We print about 12,000 copies of THE HOME MISSION MONTHLY. We ought to print 25,000. Shall we do it? not double our subscription list? think what this would do for us. double the number of readers. double the amount of money received from subscribers; it would make the MONTHLY self-supporting; it would add largely to our advertising patronage; it would enable us to spend more money for illustrations; it would increase the number of friends of our work; it would add largely to our receipts for educational, missionary and church-edifice work. Shall we have 12,000 new subscribers? Will you help to secure them? We mean you, District Secretaries; you, General Missionaries; you, missionary

pastors; you, teachers; and you, dear friends, who read this. Will you send us names of new subscribers? The subscription price is only fifty cents.

Expensive additions have been made to the Indian School Building at Tahlequah, in the Indian Territory, and the school never was so prosperous as at the present time. The school is in need of additional furniture for the rooms occupied by the students: there is a special lack of carpeting in the building, and a gift of new, or even partially worn, carpet would be particularly acceptable. Any person desiring to make such contribution can communicate directly with the Principal of the school, Rev. W. P. King.

CO-OPERATION.

As indicating the tender and Christian spirit with which the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention is entering upon the work of co-operation, we print below a copy of the letter sent to the presiding officer of the schools where it is proposed to establish local advisory committees. Certainly nothing but good, and much. of it, can come out of an arrangement emanating from such a spirit.

It is not proposed to appoint advisory committees in connection with schools wholly under the control of negro trustees, unless they specially request it:

HOME MISSION BOARD OF S. B. C., No. 52 GATE CITY, BANK BUILDING, ATLANTA, GA., Dec. 5, 1894.

Dear Bro. :-Under an arrangement with the Home Mission Society, the Home Mis. sion Board of the Southern Baptist Convention is authorized to appoint an advisory committee located near your school who will visit it, and from time to time make both to the Society and the Board such suggestions as they think will be promotive of its interest.

In accepting this relation to these schools the Board earnestly desires that those in charge of them shall understand that it seeks only their welfare. We come as friends to them, and especially to those who have charge of them. We shall endeavor to

select as members of the local committee none but those who will be interested in your work, and who will seek by every means in their power to increase its useful

ness.

A thorough acquaintance with the methods, aims and needs, with the difficulties, successes and hopes of these schools, will bring us in closer sympathy with them and render our efforts more effective. This we greatly desire. We are your brethren, and with no other ends in view than the good of our fellow-men and the glory of our common Lord, we ask that you give us your confidence, and thus facilitate the work upon which we are entering.

Your brother,

I. T. TICHENOR, Cor. Sec.

MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE. The field of the Home Mission Society embraces the United States and Mexico, and over this vast region of country, with its more than eighty millions of human beings, the Society, through its Superintendents of Missions, General Missionaries and Missionaries, keeps an ever-watchful eye. Numberless thrilling incidents transpire, the recital of which cannot fail to be of interest to multitudes of people, as well as helpful to the cause of Home Missions. The great denominational newspapers, for their own sake, as well as for the sake of the Cause, are always glad to print simple, graphic sketches of real life drawn by eye-witnesses. The HOME MISSION MONTHLY is also a medium of communication between the missionaries on the field and the friends and supporters of missions at home. A few practical hints may be helpful in facilitating this important matter of missionary correspondence.

I. All Superintendents, General Missionaries, Missionaries, Teachers, and other workers are earnestly reminded to be ever on the alert for the gathering of incidents of missionary life, observing accurately the facts, and making a note at the time of the essential features for future use.

reader, a thousand miles away, may enter into sympathy with the observer on the spot, so as to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and feel with his heart.

3. Take special care in composition, using good paper of medium size; write legibly on one side of the paper only, using ink (or preferably the type-writer), taking pains with spelling, punctuation, capital letters, paragraphing, and other essentials of good composition.

4. Send the communication to the editor of the paper for which it is designed, and ask him to return it to the writer if it is not acceptable, enclosing postage for its re

turn.

by their misdeeds deserve punishment of the law and the condemnation of the court which they dishonor with their lives and degrade by their presence? Shall the government of our nation, our States, our cities, our rulers, our legislators and our judges be such as to ensure domestic tranquillity, clean administration, prosperity of the people and to encourage respect at home and abroad? We have committed these grave matters to the voters. The formal character of our government and the essential nature of our civilization, so far as that is determined by legislation and administration, is a question which is left to men who have been entrusted with the ballot. The gravest matters involv

THE PROTECTION OF THE BALLOT.

The character of the government under which we live is a matter of very grave importance to us all. Shall the laws which are enacted for us be wise expressions of justice and seek to secure to every individual the fullest guarantee of his rights of life, person and property? Shall they guarantee to him the utmost possible freedom consistent with the rights of his fellow citizens? Shall they adequately punish crime, discourage viciousness, promote industry, thrift, intelligence, public virtue? Shall those who are called upon to rule over us represent the best elements of our civilization, which add to the dignity and glory of our republic, or shall they be men the very mention of whose names brings a blush to the cheek? Shall our judges be men of integrity, of learning, of high character, whose decisions are received with respect and whose careers promote justice? Or shall they be men who

our plan of finance, our educational system, the administration of our charities, the question of our relations with foreign peoples are periodically submitted for determination by the men who vote Those who wield the ballot are the supreme arbiters of our national destiny. They are the sovereigns. whose will determines the nature of our national government.

The ballot is the symbol of the voter's authority; it is the expression of his will; it is the record of his decree. The ballot ought therefore to be so protected that it shall be a full and complete expression of the intelligence, the conscience, the patriotism and the freedom of the voter. Every man who is entitled to vote should have the opportunity without intimidation, restraint, hindrance, or any possible inducement of any kind whatsoever which will tend to prevent him from casting his ballot in behalf of the public weal. The ballots, as cast, should be accurately counted, correctly reported, and the result should be loyally accepted by all citizens as final or until modified or reversed by subsequent election. Anything short of this is anarchy, disorder and treaThe man who seeks to corrupt the ballot by bribery or intimidation, by repeating, or by stuffing the ballot boxes or miscounting, misreporting, or in any other way, is an enemy of the republic and should suffer the severest punishment.

son.

The dangers that threaten the ballot today in America and imperil the very existence of free institutions are those resulting, first, from criminals who seek to invade the sanctity of elections; second, from the ignorant and depraved who, without any possible qualification for the high office of governing, go to the polls to deposit ballots which are not expressive either of intelligence, conscience, patriotism or freedom; third, from bosses and partisans who for personal or party considerations attempt to use the voters, not for the promotion of the public weal, but for the furtherance of their own ambitious and selfish designs; fourth, from ecclesiastics who seek to control the ballots of their subjects so as to secure ecclesiastical advantages at public cost; and fifth, the ballot is endangered by a large body of citizens who, by reason of business cares, or from a failure to appreciate the sacred responsibility of citizenship, abstain from participation in politics and relegate all our most vital interests to the professional ward politician with his retinue of heelers and thugs.

The ballot should be protected, first, by enlightened public opinion. We have a right to insist that those who vote shall vote intelligently, freely, honestly and patriotically. There should be so strong a public sentiment in the community that the dishonest, the criminal, the grossly ignorant, the enslaved will not dare to present themselves, ballot in hand, at the polls and seek to control the destinies of the city, the State, and the nation.

We know of no more solemn duty resting at the present time upon the pulpit, the religious and the secular press than to mag

The convicted criminal, the pauper, the notoriously vicious, the grossly ignorant should be denied the right of ruling such a nation and people as ours. The facilities for voting, the safeguards for insuring secrecy, the contrivance for rendering fraud, in any form, impracticable, should all be such as to give the public assurance that elections are fair and honest expressions of the intelligent purpose and patriotic intent of the voters.

The revelations of corruption in the Police Department of New York City made by the Lexow Senate Investigating Committee are more and more impressive. Apparently, the Department is thoroughly bad; and people are beginning to seriously ask the question whether there are any honest men on the police force.

The conviction is becoming deeply rooted in the public mind that not only the Police Department, but every other department of the city government of New York, is honeycombed with evil. Tammany Hall, which is responsible for the whole, is probably the most utterly corrupt political organization that exists on the face of the globe. We are beginning to think that it is composed chiefly of thieves banded together for public plunder; at least, much of the evidence thus far adduced points in that direction.

The complicity of Tammany Hall and the Roman Catholic Church is no longer doubtful. Many of the Tammany officials who have been convicted of crime are members of the Roman Catholic Church in good standing. If they are good Catholics, they doubtless have each one poured into the ears of their priests their confessions of wrongdo

In the second place, the ballot should be hedged about by law in such a manner as to secure, so far as law can compass it, the end for which the ballot is designed. Corruption of the ballot should be punished swiftly, surely, sternly, solemnly and severely.

and have received from their ghostly confessors absolution for all their sins, and gone on sinning. Doubtless, the Catholic priests of New York City have thus come into possession of evidences of corruption known only to them. No other class of people so thoroughly understand how inexpressibly vicious is Tammany Hall, and how loathsome are its methods; and yet Archbishop