greatly diminished, and Protestantism is protected by the government. We ought to have more workers in this field. It is one of great promise. It is in a sense Foreign Mission work. Among Presbyterians it is under the direction of their Foreign Board. With us, North America is our Home Mission field.

The Home Mission Society justly appeals to the young people of our city and country. God has given us immense opportunities in this land for work. Here, in our own lives and homes, will we reap the fruits of our diligence or the misfortunes of our neglect.

Here a little money accomplishes a great deal. Twelve hundred dollars ($1,200) will keep four missionaries on the field for one year, each having in charge a church and one or two out-stations. It will secure the erection of three chapels in places where they are greatly needed. It costs from $250 to $700 to support a missionary in Mexico. A general missionary among the colored people receives about $800, while $75 will carry a student through a year in one of our Indian or Southern schools. The workers should be increased and the givers multiplied.

A Plea for the Indians.

In a recent number of your MONTHLY I notice a communication from Bro. J. S. Murrow, of Indian Territory.

I wonder if your readers realize what need there is of such workers as he amongst the blanket Indians? Can they realize (they can, but I fear that they do not) that right here, in our own land of boasted civilization, there are thousands of human beings, with souls just as good as the best amongst us, that cry aloud for some one to show them

the way; some one to tell them of the wondrous Christ; some one to lift them up from the depths into which they have fallen. One man, or a dozen, can't do it. One dollar, or a hundred, won't build churches; men and money are both wanted.

We in the East know but little of those poor beings; we imagine them to be a race forgotten by God, cursed by man, and unworthy of our aid or sympathy. Not so. God has not forgotten them, although many of His disciples here on earth may have done so. The greed of the white man has been, and is now, a curse to them; and if those poor, ignorant, human beings are not worth our efforts to save, then the whole plan is a farce.

The blanket Indians are not a class of beings that do not want Christ, as do the pagan and Christ-denying nations of the East; they do want Him; they will accept Him; they do cry for Him; and all that they want is some one who knows of God to tell them what he knows, that they may know as well.

I say God speed such workers as the missionaries of Indian Territory. Let every Christian pray for them, and, after that, put their hands into their pockets and help the cause in a substantial manner. Highgate, Vt.

F. W. BAXTER.

Showers of Blessings.

CRYSTAL, NO. DAK., January 9, 1895. Dear Bro. :-During this quarter we have been tasting the sweets of success; consequently, the sight of pen and ink does not set me in a flurry, as these have often done when about to use them in giving you an account of the month's work, minus the success. A shower of blessings has fallen upon us, and the precious drops have resulted in the salvation of over twenty souls, two of my own sons being among the number. (It is most precious to see other people's children eating the bread of life, but it is doubly precious to see your own eating it with a delightful relish.) Nine confessed Christ in baptism; three more putting on the Lord Jesus in the same way last Sunday, which, of course, belongs to my next report, but the news is too good to keep.

The establishment of young men's prayermeetings, and of women's prayer-meetings, in parlors throughout the community.

Eleven have united with other denominations who received their saving blessing at our meetings, and a general flooding with new life in all channels of our church work. We are thankful, and greatly encouraged. Fraternally yours,

PETER MITCHELL.

Hardships of Pioneer Missionaries.

WAKEENEY, KANS., January 11, 1895. Dear Bro.:-I see in the MONTHLY, Vol. XVII., No. 1, suggestions to correspondents. I am going to send you this little article, and, if it is so you can publish it, I pray that the eyes of those who have charge of our Home Mission work may be opened by it until they can not only see, but also perceive how our missionaries have to live, and what dependence they have in this far West. This is the story of the way in which my own brother has had to labor and sacrifice until he has nothing left but his wife and children, and a heart that prompts him to persevere at whatever cost.

He has been a pastor for four years in this part of the State, and has had three Sundays out of each month employed during all that time, and has had to drive thirty miles to two of his appointments, yet in all that time he has not received over two hundred and fifty dollars, and, in order to keep bread for his family, he has had to sell his farming implements, and what stock he possessed, until nothing remained but his team and one cow.

One day he returned from the store with this report: "Our grocery bill is fifteen dollars, and I cannot allow it to accumulate until I make an effort to pay some of it, at least." You sisters who have plenty can hardly imagine with what feeling the wife asked: "Where is it to come from?" "A neighbor has offered me fifteen dollars for Rhona." "Oh! my God, is there no other way?" was the almost despairing cry of the poor mother, as she thought of the four little ones who so much enjoyed their meals of bread and milk. "How can we ever tell the children?”

mother has to endure the same questioning. Is it any wonder, Christian friends, that she sometimes feels: "I wish my husband had chosen a different life, or that God had chosen some other messenger." Yet it is only for a short time that these thoughts will rise. She almost loses the power of thinking of other things in planning things for her children to eat that they may not miss their milk.

In story-books we read of such sacrifices being made, and then come brighter days. Their bright days are yet to dawn. A short time ago he had to sell his buggy to buy fuel and feed for the winter. He now must make those long drives in a lumber-wagon, which was not in a salable condition.

More, much more, could be told of this and other missionaries who are making these sacrifices in order to lay a foundation for the work in this western country; and perhaps, in the future, when these who are laboring so faithfully now will have passed to their reward, others will take their places and wonder why they found the work so hard.

Some may ask: Why don't they apply to the Missionary Society for aid? It has been done. But the Society expects the churches to furnish as much towards the support of a pastor as they give. This cannot be done in this country, that is, if the Society gives anything, for the people here have all they can do to live, and many of them have to be helped themselves.

This is the condition of your missionaries in this country. What can be done? Your sister in Christ,

ARTIE HOBBS.

"

FUNG UET MOW, CHINESE MISSIONARY, NEW YORK CITY, WIFE AND CHILD.

shall never see them on earth. I will see them in the City above. I could not talk to them here. I will talk to them in Heaven. I cannot write to them. I ask you, my father, to write and tell them "Thank you" for me, and that I will work hard for Jesus and for my people. Amen. JOSIAH MCCLURE.

church has been in a low condition for some years, but a blessing has come to them. There has been deep interest felt; many have asked for prayers-some of whom, we trust, have been converted. The chapel-car service closed Sunday evening, February 3d, and has gone to Tucson, Ariz.

an

over a year, both of them suffering from overheated revival, several persons having been brought in who were unconverted. The English prayer-meeting has increased from 4 or 5 to 15 or 17. The Sunday evening meetings among the English are very much better.

Sunday evening meetings are not so good among the Norwegians, because they are scattered over the country from one to seven miles from the village. Two have been added by baptism since I came here. We are earnestly praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Both Sunday-schools are thriving. We have more scholars that we can depend upon.

Yours in the work,

C. P. OLSON.

Rinconada, New Mexico.

In the MONTHLY for April, 1893, the story was told of the heroic mission work carried on for years among the Mexicans and Indians at Rinconada, New Mex., by Mrs. Susan Thresher, of Ohio. Her appeal for a missionary to help her was also given a voice which reached many hearts East and West. The Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society of New England promptly offered to assume the support of a missionary as soon as he could be secured. Not less than a dozen letters were received within a few months from brethren who responded "Here am 1; send me." But the field was very peculiar, and none who offered seemed to meet the conditions. At length Prof. W. H. Rishel and wife, teachers at Normal, Ills., wrote me of their willingness and desire to go to that field. Pastors who knew them cordially recommended them. The Woman's Society accepted them, and the Board of the Home Mission Society appointed them, and they reached the field the last of December and began work with the New Year. A Council called at Normal, Ills., ordained Bro. Rishel to the work of the Gospel ministry prior to his departure.

A letter from Mrs. Rishel, dated January 12th, lies before me, which contains items that will surely interest others besides myself. She says: "We are so interested and so busy in this great field of labor, that we find little time for loneliness or for writing of the needs of the field. Last week we held, on Thursday evening, the first weekly prayer-meeting that has ever been held in

this valley. We had nine present, and last evening at the meeting had an attendance of fifteen. Of this number four, all adults, asked us to pray that they might have clean hearts. This morning, before we finished breakfast, three of them came seeking for light. Mr. Rishel and Mrs. Thresher read the Bible, talked and prayed, and we all sang. The oldest man, a very good-looking man, said he desired to confess Christ to the whole world. This man has come to the house so many times and begged us to give him a Spanish Bible, but there is none for him. This morning he asked again, but Mrs. Thresher could only lend him hers, and I shall not forget the eager, radiant look on his face as he opened it. So many come for Bibles, and it is so hard to send them away empty-handed. Can you tell us how we may arrange to get the Bibles very soon?"

Efforts to procure Spanish Bibles for Mrs. Thresher's use have hitherto failed, but the supply must be had in some way at once. It is gratifying that so soon after these laborers reached the field the harvest time seems to appear. But seven years of such patient, prayerful sowing as Mrs. Thresher has done cannot be in vain. There are manifest tokens of a ripened harvest among the Mexicans of New Mexico. H. C. W.

A Famine of the Word. The whole country, from east to west, has been stirred very greatly by the reports of destitution in the drought-stricken regions of the West. It has been a beautiful tribute to our common humanity that these appeals have been so generously answered that the State Commission in Nebraska estimate that no more clothing or provisions will be needed during the present weather than that already on hand and in transit.

But there is another kind of destitution which prevails even more largely than the actual need for clothing and provision. Right-thinking people do not appeal for help until their last resource is exhausted, and will even then manage, if possible, to borrow rather than become subjects of charity. Long before this, however, they find it impossible to continue their contributions to benevolent causes, the result being that the pastors of our churches soonest feel a shrinkage of the income of the people. From personal observation in my dis

trict the pastors in parts of Oklahoma and Indian Territory and Western Nebraska and Kansas first felt the strain of financial stringency and of the failure of the crops. There are churches where many of them said, "We cannot continue the usual support;" and although many of the pastors were receiving help from the Society, they were absolutely unable to remain upon the field upon the amount which could be appropriated for their support. The result was that they have largely left their fields from dire necessity, in order to secure food and clothing for their families.

Several of the other denominations sent men to the East as soon as this state of affairs became known, and raised special funds amounting to thousands of dollars to make good to the pastors the amounts which were usually paid by the churches, or so much of it as could not be realized from the field.

But there was no movement of the kind among our Baptist people. They are very loth to call for special help, and our missionaries are very slow to let their sacrifices and trials be known, and the result is, that while many pastors of other denominations have been left on the fields, our own have very largely been compelled to leave.

Whole Associations without a Pastor. There are several whole Associations in my district where there is not a single pastor left; others with but one or two. True, there are not so many people as there were before the drought, but there are still large numbers of people who are actually deprived of the Word of Life, at a time when their thoughts most naturally turn toward religious things. Hundreds of towns and villages are left without any religious influences of any kind, not a single pastor of any denomination being left on the field.

It is not the intention of this article to call for a special fund, but the Society is very anxious to send men back to these fields as rapidly as possible, and stand behind them until the people can raise another crop. In order to do this, it will be necessary to bear a much larger share of the burden than heretofore, and the funds at the disposal of the Society must be increased. If our churches could increase their offerings to the Society from twenty-five to fifty per cent., it would enable it to at once despatch a suitable missionary to each of these Asso