WOLFF, Joseph

[s. 805] : Born in Bavaria, Germany, 1795, of Jewish parentage, the son of a rabbi; early became a Christian; was baptised in 1812 at Prague Hebrew for a Benedictine monk, tauglit a time at Frankfort and Halle, by Wolff, Josepli WonianUood studied at Munich, Weimar, and Vienna; went to Rome in 1815, to be educated as a mi ionary. He entered first the CoUegio Romano and in 1817 the College of the Propaganda. While in Rome he spent his time in studying the Oriental languages. Suspected by the Inquisition of heresy, he was sent in 1818 to Vienna, then a monastery in Switzerland, and finally dismi ed as incorrigible. He went to London, joined the Church of England, and through the influence of Charles Simeon and others, who perceived his fitne for mi ion work among the Jews, he entered Cambridge University, where for two years he continued his Oriental studies under Profe or Lee. He then commenced his career as a traveler, visiting Malta, Egypt, Palestine, Me so pot am i a, Armenia, Ba orah, and Persia, and returning home by the way of Cir ca ia, Constantinople, and the Crimea, reached Dublin, May, 1826. In these travels he became acquainted with learned to men relations, everywhere Christ, and, altho he had been imprisoned and his life often endangered, showing in all undaunted courage and great presence of mind. In 1827 he married Lady Georgiana Walpole, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, who accompanied him on his second mi ionary tour as far as Malta. of all profe ing ecclesiastical Jesus as the In April he proceeded to Smyrna, the Ionian Islands, and Jerusalem, where he was poisoned by some Jews, and just escaped death. On recovering he set out for Bokhara by way of Persia, encountering on the journey the plague; was repeatedly robbed, taken prisoner, and sold After as a slave, but finally reached Bokhara. laboring there three months in mi ion work among the Jews, he went to India, visited the Punjab, Lahore, Ludhiana, Simla, Delhi, Benares, Lucknow, and reached Calcutta March, He preached everywhere in different 1833. distributed Scriptures, and the interested the most prominent men and women From Calcutta he went to in his behalf. Haidarabad, visited the Jews at Cochin and Goa, proceeded to Bombay, whence he sailed for Arabia, and returned to England in 1834. In 1836 he made a second visit to Aby in i a, \\ hence he sailed for Bombay, and there embarked for America, reaching New York August, 1837. He was ordained as deacon in the Protestant languages, Episcopal Church by Bishop Doane of New Jersey, visited the principal cities, preached before Congre , and returned to England January 2, 1838. Having received priest’s orders, he was settled as curate in Length waite, and then for his wife’s health he went to York, where he remained five years. In 1843, the news of the imprisonment of Colonel Stoddart and Captain ConoUy at Bokhara having reached England, Dr. Wolff set out to attempt their release or ascertain their fate. Before reaching Bokhara he learned that they had been beheaded. He himself was made a prisoner and condemned death, but through the intervention of Persian Amba ador he made his escape. Reaching England in 1845, he was settled in the parish of Isle Brewers, Somersets hire, where he labored till he died. May 2, 1862. The most interesting of his publications are Travels and Adventures of Rev. Joseph Wolff to the (2 vols. 1861). WOLKENBERG, Rev. Marcus Born of Israelite parentage in Ru ia in 1834, he was converted to: 788 Christianity in 1856, and educated in the Malta In 1862 he was appointed Protestant College. by the London Society for the Jews to labor at Ja y (in Roumania), and subsequently at Bacau and London. In 1876 he was placed in charge of the Northern division of the Home Mi ion, which post he continuously held for a quarter of a century and up to the time of his death. Mr. Wolkenberg will be remembered as one of the ablest mi ionaries of the London Promoting Christianity among Society for the Jews in the present age. Bishop Ryan, at one of the anniversaries, gave him a most remarkable public testimonial; and Pastor de le Roi, in his history of Jewish mi ions, speaks of him as po e ing a more sober and better judgment concerning the needs and the operations of the Jewish mi ion than many of his contemporaries. He was certainly distinguished good intellectual powers, sound cla ical and Hebrew learning, and a masterly ability in preaching special sermons to the Jews and for In private conversations or the Jews. controversies with individual Jews, he had the talent of winning the attention and respect and often the admiratian and love of his hearers. Had he enjoyed better health, he would have been considered a great preacher. Mr. Wolkenberg rendered good service to the Mi ionary Sub-Committee in their prep Publications’ and pamphlets, his a ration of new tracts keen, critical intellect being of the greatest value. His English literary works testify to his learning and ability as’an author, especially The Pent a teuch according to the Talmud (a translation of Hebrew with a very learned Mr. Wolkenberg wrote also the introduction). following tracts: Alienation of Jews from Judaism; Israel’s Mi ion General Aspect of Judaism; to the World, When and How Fulfilled; Judaism and Christianity on the Threshold of Eternity; Theory and Practice of Judaism and Christianity; and also contributed excellent papers to the Conferences on Jewish Mi ions held in South port, 1875, and in London, 1899. for WOMANHOOD; its debt to Mi ions: To Rer. David Abeel, D.D., an American mi ionary to China, must be conceded the honor of suggesting to Christian women the importance of a dis During tinctive mi ion for heathen women. his mi ionary career he realized that the greatest hindrance to the spread of the Gospel lay in the fact that heathen homes were the strongholds Womanhood itself, synonymous with of Satan. ignorance and superstition, was trampled under brutal feet. Women throughout the Orient were unwelcomed at birth, unloved and oppre ed in life, and unwept at death. Hoary customs precluded the po ibility of reaching them through ordained ministers, and only by the undivided efforts of Christian women aglow with gratitude for their elevation through Christ, could they be approached. Dr. Abeel’s burning zeal awakened a responsive chord in the hearts of consecrated women in England and America, resulting in 1834 in the organization of the Society for Female Education in the East in England, and, seconded by the appeals of Mrs. Francis B. Mason of Burma, in the establishment in 1860 of the Woman’s Union Mi ionary Society of A merica for Heathen Lands. Thus these two Societies in England and America were the pioneers of woman’s organized distinctive work for women. 789 Pitiful as is the position of all Oriental women, in no land is it so peculiarly painful as in India. Since the dominion in 1001 A. d. Mohammedan the custom of the zenana has prevailed {zen means woman), whereby millions of women having no contact with the outside world become literally prisoners. Mi ionaries give these results of wide experience: “The more I see of woman’s lot in India, the more I know that no account of her degradation, darkne and suffering can be exaggerated.” “No one realizes the depths of suffering borne by the women of India, and the longer I am here the more terrible I see it is. As they often tell us, we do not begin to suspect what goes on behind the scenes, even in the shelter of their own homes. We know their only hope is in the Savior’s redeeming love, of which they — know nothing.” Pundit a Ramabai, the foremost Hindu reformer Indian women, states: “Distrust and a low estimation of woman’s character is at of the root of the custom that secludes women. I have never read any sacred book in Sanskrit literature without meeting this deplorable sentiment.” Among many questions on this subject trans scribed by Manu, the law-giver of the Hindus, these occur: “What is the chief gate to hell? A woman. Who is the wisest of the wise? He who has not been deceived by women, only to be compared to malignant fiends.” This low estimate of woman induced the deplorable custom of child marriage, whereby girls of tender years are doomed to responsibilities Following for which immaturity unfits them. in the ascending scale of misery is the condition recent census gives 38,of child widows. 24,000,000 000,000 girls under fifteen, of are widows; nearly 14,000 are four years of Rigid custom forces these tiny children age. to undergo all the penalties of widowhood. The luxuriant hair, the pride of the Oriental A whom woman, is forever shaved, and one white, coarse garment is the badge of the household drudge, for whom nothing is too severe. Allowed but one meal a day of the simplest character, to observe rigorous fasts, is it that death is eagerly sought, misery and often manifold to end untold temptations? In such conditions began what may be called a social and religious revolution in India. Attractive fancy work was the bait which opened the Visiting where doors sealed for generations. the patriarchal system of living pertains, large numbers of women were reached. Children from this same secluded cla were gathered into schools, where the vital truths of the Native Gospel formed the prominent teaching. Bible women were trained as evangelists to Indian villages, reach the ma es in 718,000 orphanages were established to rescue the victims of famines, and hospitals were endowed, where gifted women physicians could, while mitigating suffering, lead to Christ the only remedy for the ills accumulated under ages of heathenism. Books also have been written or translated especially suited to women and girls, thus creating a Christian literature for a cla hitherto excluded from every avenue Richest results have folfor mental culture. lowed these varied methods of service, and you sands of heathen women have emerged often obliged any wonder — Wolffl, JosepU Wouiuiiliood from utter darkne and degradation, to become in Christian homes centers of light and influence. — “The the flippant comment made the F^ast are well suited to the What can people why disturb their belief?” be said of religions which doom half of the human race to degradation inconceivable, dwarf aspirations and stifle sympathies, robbing life of every joy, and the future of every hope? We hear from a gifted mi ionary in China, “One-fifth of all the women of the world are waiting in China for the Savior, Who so long has waited for them. What a burden of responsibility does this lay on the women of Often religions — is of Christen dom!” Through girls’ schools established bj^ Christian women in Japan has the Empire realized the po ibilities of women trained and elevated of through establishment education. The Government schools from which religion is excluded does not diminish the obligation in direction resting on Christian women. Elevated solely by the Cro of Christ to the enviable position which they as Christian women occupy in the Occident, and believing that the Redeemer died for the whole world, and not for a favored few, can they dismi responsibility without an effort to mitigate a doom incident on heathen birth which but for the grace of God might have been theirs? It is not only individual women in Asia and Africa who have been ble ed by Christian Mi ions: it is Womanhood as a whole which is being lifted up and given a position of dignity and influence. The very first effect of a mi ion this in any Mohammedan or pagan community has ever been to force into the minds of men the fact that Christians consider girls and women capable of absorbing book knowledge altho they themselves have cla ed them with cows. Upon the one enterprise of the education of women. Christian philanthropy has applied a persist ant energy which has amazed, aroused, perplexed and at last won the support of men who are neither Christians nor phil an- What it means for womanhood in thropists. India, for instance, to have a large section of the population now stand forth as ardent defenders of the capacities and rights of women, needs not to be detailed. Such a change in the place given womanhood in the thoughts of men is the direct outcome of Christian teaching and practise gradually and insensibly permeating the community. The same is true of the abolishment of debasing customs and crimes against womanhood Long after the and Africa. in both Asia African slave-trade had been abolished by Moliammedan America, activity and Europe The object of these in slave-raids continued. raids was not to secure laborers, but to capture women. This determined and brutal purpose to degrade and destroy womanhood was revealed to the world, and the pa ion to end it was aroused by Christians, and in great measure by Christians who were mi ionaries. The abolition of the Suttee in India was but languidly pre ed until Carey and his companions and many later mi ionaries made the halls of Parliament ring with their indignant protests. The succe ful agitation in Travancore (182730 and 1858-59) against degradation of womanhood throiigh caste denials of the right of women to cover their persons. low-caste “Woman’s Union Woman’s Work is another instance of the debt of womanhood So, too, is the strong sentiment to mi ions. seen among progre ive Hindus against child-marriages and the oppre ion of widows. The same is true of the growing sentiment Wlierever of Chinese against foot-binding. we loolc, the effect of Gospel-teaching is to loose the bands of the captives and to lift up those who stand in the mire that they maysit among the princes of the people. now WOMAN’S UNION MISSIONARY SOCIETY of Headquarters, America, for Heathen Lands: 67 Bible House, New York, N. Y., U. S. A. This Society was organized in New York City January 15, 1861, as the result of an addre by a mi ionary from Burma at a parlor meeting Its first membership in of six denominations, cluded and it has remained strictly undenominational. Its immediate conduct is in the hands of an executive committee of women representing the different denominations residing in or near York City. In May, 1861, a Philadelphia the week previous. representatives New 790 to the general mi ionary societies as collectors of money only, and especially in undertaking no enterprises of their own in the mi ion field. The following list of the operations of Women’s Foreign Mi ionary Societies in America in the first half of the 19th century shows the character of these early mi ionary efforts by women. The list was derived, like the most of the material used in this article, from a paper by Mi Ellen C. Parsons, editor of Woman’s Work (PN). 1800”Boston Female Society Purposes.” (Baptist and Mi ionary Con greg a for Promoting for tional.) 1801 “Boston Female Society 1808 the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge.” (Congregational.) “Female Mite Society,” Beverly, Ma . 1811 “Salem Female Cent Society,” Ma a- (Baptist.) chusetts. (Baptist.) About this time, 1808-1812, “Cent a Week” societies were common among women of different denominations in Eastern Ma achusetts. organized, and branches and established in different 1812 The first mi ionary, Mi Marston, went in November, 1861, to Burma, and in 1863 Mi Brittan (Episcopalian) went to Calcutta. Later work was commenced in Shanghai, China, and The work in Burma has Yokohama, Japan. 1813 The “Female Foreign Mi ionary Society” of New Haven, Conn., contributed to the American Board $177.09. First legacy to the American Board $345.83 out of an estate of $500, left by Sally Thomas, of Cornish, N. H., a domestic, whose wages had never ex- 1814 April 11, a branch was auxiliaries have been parts of the country. been dropped. In India the great work of the Society has from the first been Zenana work. It is carried on in Calcutta, where it is known as “The American Doremus Mi ion,” in honor of Mrs. Doremus, the first President and really there are 15 mi ionaries and 57 native workers; in Allah a bad, 12 mi ionaries and 24 native workers; in Cawnpore 9 mi ionaries and 21 native workers; in Jhansi 4 mi ionaries and 2 native workers, a total in India of 40 mi ionaries and 104 native workers. The Broad well Memorial School at Calcutta, the Woman’s Home at Allah a bad, and the Mary A. Merriman Orphanage at Cawnpore, besides other homes and rescue work, supplement the Zenana work. In Shanghai the work of the Union includes the Margaret Williams on Hospital, with 4 physicians, and the Bridgman Memorial School, besides the evangelistic work, in which there are engaged 2 mi ionaries and 5 native workers. The work for 1902 shows 472 patients admitted to wards and 34,743 cases at the dispensary, of There were m addition which 22,570 were new. 208 visits to homes, while over 47,000 prescriptions were filled. At Yokohama the boarding school has 58 and the — the Other stations are founder of the Society. Allah a bad, Cawnpore and Jhansi. In Calcutta mi ionaries find excellent openings for educational and evangelistic work. pupils, 1815 1816 WOMEN: 1818 1819 Woman’s Mi ionary Society formed in Derry, Pa. (Presbyterian.) July 5, a society was formed in the Wesley an Seminary, Forsyth Street, New York City. 1821 It i ued its last annual report in 1861. During forty years it had contributed to the mi ionary treasury of the Methodist Episcopal Church the sum of $20,000. There were 250 societies in existence (formed from 1812-1820), all contributing to the American Board; many of them were composed exclusively of women. 1823 A society “For the Support of Heathen Youth” was organized in Philadelphia, (PresbyPa., and existed until 1874. terian.) 1835 FOR The activity WOMAN’S of Christian women in support of early foreign The records mis.sions is a fact often overlooked. of the mi ionary movement at the beginning of the 19th century show that an astonishing proportion of the nece ary money was collected by These early societies were societies of women. separate local bodies differing from the modern woman’s mi ionary society in lacking provision for permanence, in taking no responsibility for definite work, in a uming an auxiliary position “Female Charitable Society” of Tall madge, Ohio, contributed $20 to the American Board the first received by the Board from west of the Alleghenies, save one dollar from a pastor’s pocket. — 3 WORK ceeded fifty cents a week. woman’s mi ionary society was organized in the Fayette Street Baptist Church in New York City. Legacy from Mrs. Norris of Salem, Ma ., was realized to the American Board $30,000, the largest received up to that time or for many years there- 1838 A society “For the Evangelization of the World” was organized in the First Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J. During the first ten years it contributed $2,344.76 to the American Board. The Society still lives (having joined the new movement), and celebrated its jubilee in 1885, one of its original members and 20 descendants of members participating on that occasion. A society was formed in the First Church, AUegiieny, Pa. (United Presbyterian), and has celebrated its jubilee. The original secretary was still holding the position. 1839 More than 680 “Ladies’ A ociations,” ha-ving nearly 3,000 local agents of their own membership, were collecting funds for the American Board. One of these a ociations met in Brook line, Ma ., at the house of Mr. Ropes, and made regular contributions for Japan, altho that empire was then sealed against foreigners. The amount which they forwarded expre ly for Japan was 8600, which, with the accruing mterest, became $4,104.23 before the American Board opened its mi ion to Japan, of which the first expenses were paid from 1847 1848 Woman’s Union Woman’s Work 791 the Brook line fund. Free Baptist Female Mi ion Society” was formed in Sutton, Vermont. It continued in operation for “The over twenty years, and was never formally di olved. The”Ladies’ China Mi ionary Society” (Methodist) of Baltimore, Md., was formed. It was a thriving Society in 1871, when it merged itself as a branch of the wider organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The modern uprising of women in behalf of foreign mi ions must be emphasized as an epoch It had its motive in in the history of mi ions. the social systems of the East. It was primarily the purdah and the latticed window, the zenana and the harem, that roused the women of Christen dom to attempt an errand of mercy to their sister-women of the heathen world. Experience proved that no nation can be elevated until its women are regenerated; also that no man, whether clerical mi ionary or even physician, can carry the Gospel to the jealously-guarded women When the degradation of Oriental households. and sufferings of Asiatic women and the darkne to the Western world future were revealed of their the conscience of Christian women was aroused. The Gospel had developed them and given them honor, security, moral power, and intellectual They recognized the claim of their le happy sisters to the same ble ings. David Abeel, mi ionary of the American Board, was the first to suggest action for this end. On his way home from China in 1834 Mr. Abeel told the people of England the facts, which had hitherto been imperfectly known, concerning the He condition of women in India and China. showed that the mi ionaries’ wives, who had always done what they could for women arid freedom. children about them, were neither sufficient in numbers nor sufficiently free to a ume the burden of lifting up their sex. Effort so strenuous and continuous would be nece ary as to demand the entire consecration of many lives, and he urged unmarried women to volunteer in He Christ’s name for this new form of service. also declared that women of the Church at home should organize to render their labors permanent. Little did Mr. Abeel know what a force he was The Spirit of God winged his words. evoking. That same year the first society was formed in England, The Society for Promoting Female Education in the East; and upon whatever others, in the progre of years and under divine control, the burden of leadership may seem to fall, this Society is ever to be had in reverence, and led the way. Others followed speedily in Great Britaip: those connected with the Free Church and the Established Church of Scotland in 1837, the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society in 1852, and the Wesley an Auxiliary in 1859; the German Society for Christian Education of Women in the East in 1842, but none of these as the one that ventured first was much known acro the Atlantic. Meanwhile Mr. Abeel had brought his plea to America, but hearts were not ready for it. At last, in 1861, Mrs. Doremus, of New York City, was able to carry out her cherished longing, and the Union Mi ionary Society was launched. Women of six denominations composed its membership, and it stood alone in America for eight years. This was the period of the Civil War in the republic, and in the absorbing demands of that struggle Christian women had no leisure to undertake new departures in mi ions, but at the same time they were acquiring a training for it in the future. scale, for By combining as they did, on a large work in soldiers’ hospitals and in the Sanitary Commi ion, they learned the po ibilities and the power of organization. In 1868 the Woman’s Board of Mi ions (Congregational) of Boston was organized. From that time the proce of organization went on until nearly every denomination has its Woman’s Home and Foreign Mi ionary societies, working in cooperation with the general mi ionary societies of the denomination. Organization: All the main features of organization nece ary in each separate Woman’s Board of Mi ions may be included in three, and in England two are often made to answer. First: There is the local or parish society, made up of individuals from a single local church, or, as often occurs in America, women of two or more churches of the same denomination in one large town unite to form one Mi ionary Society. This local society is usually called an Auxiliary. It has its own constitution and officers, and is independent in its management; but when it undertakes to carry out its purpose of sending forth mi ionaries and funds to sustain various forms of mi ionary work at a distance, it does not try to act alone, but under its Woman’s Board, of which it thus becomes an “auxiliary,” An annual fee is the usual requisite or helper. for membership. Second: These auxiliaries are grouped, and thus constitute what are usually called Branches. This relation is sectional. Adjacent auxiliaries, sometimes to the number of not more than 20, sometimes covering a county, sometimes a whole containing several hundred auxiliaries, combine, with a set of officers elected from the whole territory represented by the Branch. This stands between the Board and its auxiliaries. State It voices the wishes of the and expre es latter to the Board. iaries, the Board to the auxilsentiment of the A Branch a umes the responsibility for some mi ionary enterprise, and its auxiliaries share it among themselves proportionally. Third: The Board includes all the Branches, legal charter and requires its own officers. is requisite for a Board, but not for auxiliaries and Branches. Auxiliaries usually hold their meetings monthly or oftener; Branches quarterly; but the Board meets annually, or, at most, two or three times a year. Busine of the Board A is transacted throughout the year by its officers. WoniJin’s Work Wood, Georgre AV. who elected by the delegates of annual The delegates are chosen, not from auxiliaries, but from Branches. The Board or Society (whichever name is given to the inclusive organization) has supervision over an area which If the So varies according to circumstances. ciety is undenominational, like the English Society for Promoting Education in the East, or are meeting. the Woman’s Union Mi ionary Society in America, it may have its constituency in any part of If the Society cooperates with a the country. Board of some denomination, its territory will depend upon the form of organization of that Church. The Society within the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, for reasons which apparent, is indivisibly one all over the But the geographical spaces are so country. great in America that in many cases it is found more practicable to have several coordinate boards in one church. The area of each Board determined. The Con greg a is geographically tional women are ma ed distinctly under Eastern, Middle, and Western Boards, the Baptist women under the East, the West, and the Pacific Coast Boards. The advantage of one great undivided Board is offset in the case of several coordinate Boards by the following results: a. A far greater number of responsible, official workers are secured. h. The work of each Board does not become duced in some places. The Protestant Episcopal Society is itself called, not a Board, but “Auxiliary;” and its constituent societies, not auxiliaries, but, respectively, diocesan and parish branches. In Great Britain, societies often have long lists of honorary officers. Such are scarcely known in America, where names heading the official list are those of the actually responsible leaders, who conduct public meetings and control the affairs of their societies. The committees of gentlemen which some societies in the old country appoint are also unknown in America, the office of Auditor of Accounts being the only one ordinarily c. Interest throughout the constituency is augmented by nearne to headquarters. po ible for a vastly greater number of members to afford the expense of the journey to attend the annual meeting where the Board is a local center than where it is a national center. While organization always begins at the top, with the Board the real germ is the auxiliary, and Enlargement of an this is the place of growth. auxiliary by addition of members, one at a time, an auxiliary formed in a local church by gathering a few picked individuals into a little monthly meeting this is the unobtrusive way in which Boards grow. Societies of young ladies and children’s bands are regarded as only phases of the auxiliary, but the officers of the Branch are responsible for the work undertaken both by young ladies and cliildren within its domain. The existence of more than 30,000 auxiliaries and bands in America, with a membership of several hundreds of you sands, speaks volumes for the patient, persevering, enthusiastic efforts of the women of the Church for foreign mi ions; but it after all represents the efforts of only a fraction of them. Many of the Societies cover not more than one-fifth of the church membership of d. It is — the denomination. Terms Employed: In Great Britain the name “Ladies A ociation,” or “Ladies Society” is employed, while in America “Woman’s Board” Also many societies Society” is preferred. in Great Britain dispense with the “auxiliary” and appoint “collectors” of funds from the churches; others do not u.se the term “Branch,” but “District Auxiliary” in.stead. “Presbyterial societies” and “A ociations” and a variety of other terms take the place of those explained above. In the Presbyterian Church in America “Presbyterial corre.sponds to Society” the term “Branch.” tho “Synodical Society” is intro or by a man. Under the auspices of a single one many of these women’s societies hundreds of filled Meetings: are unmanageably large for its officers. 792 of meetings are held eyery year. Meetings for both busine and prayer are convened at the headquarters of most Boards, at stated times, besides farewell meetings upon the departure of mi ionaries, and other meetings specially called; and an annual meeting is universal; but in both character and conduct of them great diversity exists. Breakfast and tea meetings, and working parties for the purpose of making clothing for native children in orphanages and schools, for filling Christmas boxes and preparing embroidery patterns for cla es all these are much mentioned in English reports, but are comparatively infrequent in America. In Europe a limited number of Christmas boxes are sent to the mi ions, but the general purpose of meetings in — America is either the transaction of busine or the imparting of information in order to arouse interest in mi ions. Whatever its object, the mi ionary meeting is always partly a devotional service and sometimes strictly such. Many societies have a by-law requiring the opening of all meetings with devotional exercises; and altho many printed reports make no allusion to prayer meetings, it is not supposable that societies often exist without them. Where the organization extends to parishes the number of meetings is vastly multiplied. An “auxiliary” is generally understood in America to mean a company of ladies, who, among other things, hold a meeting every month, in the morning, in cities, for prayer and deliberate study of mi ions; in the afternoon in the country; and perhaps, on Sunday, in rural districts where people live widely scattered. Branch, or Presbyterial meeting, means a quarterly meeting, often lasting all day, which It is held in one or another town by invitation. is thus brought at some time within the reach of every member of the Branch. Those of A adjacent towns who can conveniently attend go by carriages or train to the quarterly meeting, and a hearty sight it is on pleasant days, in a country town, to see the ladies driving up from every direction, all their horses’ heads pointed toward the church. There they spend the day. A little Branch busine . Scripture-reading, and frequent prayer and song, wideawake, practical papers, inspiring talks, often from mi ionary ladies on a furlough, with a hospitable lunch between morning and afternoon se ions these are quarterly meetings. Perhaps their place is most nearly filled in Great Britain by “deputation meetings,” where some speaker is sent out to a certain locality by the secretary and holds an appointed meeting, generally in connection with one managed by the parent society. In the old country, also, annual meetings are — 783 Woman’s Work Woodt George W. often, but not always, presided over by gentlemen, and sometimes no ladies speak on their own platforms. Such a thing is unknown in America. It IS there very exceptional for a gentleman to preside, altho occasionally one is invited to speak; and while in the early days of the societies they were rigorously excluded from the audience, gentlemen are now absent chiefly because there is not room for them. Annual meetings of the larger Boards now occupy two or three days, and attendants upon them are quite familiar with the sight of a large church packed with women. Children’s Societies: Beyond occasional mention of contributions from “pupils” of some lady, or “from a Bible-cla ” or “Sunday school,” the reports of women’s societies in the old country seldom have anything to say of the children’s part in the modern mi ionary crusade. But in America they are a great factor both in the United States and Canada. The children are organized into Bands, of which they are — themselves officers, altho superintended by some skilful leader; and they read their little reports with_ quite^ as much gravity, accumulate their offerings with equal enthusiasm, and, in general, march to the music, if with a somewhat broken step, as happily as their seniors. One of the first momentous duties of a band is to name itself, and the English language has been explored for the purpose. There are the Carrier Doves and Lookout Guards, Snowflakes and Mayflowers, Busy Bees, Steady Streams, Mustard Seeds, King’s Cadets, Up and Readys, Little Lights, Pearl Seekers, Acorns, The Drum Corps, Do What You Can Band, and so on, in endle variety. As one has said, “Each dainty or suggestive name looks out from the record like the growing face of a child.” And no mean sum in hard cash do these children send to the foreign mi ion treasury. And what have the children not done to fill their mite-boxes? They have tithed what was given for Christmas and Fourth of July; they have hemmed towels by the mile, and practised scales by the half day; they have foregone sweets and even butter; they have picked blackberries in the sun; they have “minded” baby, and submitted to have their teeth drawn, and “buttoned papa’s boots, who can’t stoop over because he’s so fat;” they have bunched flowers and shoveled snow; raised vegetables and poultry; and after earning their money some of them have divided with little brother, so that he might share the glory of giving. One little girl had her music-box, “which plays with a handle, right by my bank, and I play a tune whenever I put some money in, so I like to put the pennies in oftener than before.” Meetings of these Bands are held statedly, and the inventivene of the most skilful leader is taxed to arrange programs which are at once instructive and entertaining. The children are taught numerous hymns and Scripture pa ages and many learn to pray in the meetings. They draw maps, recite dialogues, hold African palavers, and Indian pow-wows in costume, and give facts about mi ionary lands in one-minute reports or five-minute papers. They quiz their parents and teachers, and ransack the library and search the atlas for information, because they are “on the committee.” Sometimes exercises take a different turn, and they make scrapbooks or dre dolls for a mi ionary school, or In a pick lint and roll bandages for a hospital. great variety of ways their childish energies and sympathies are directed into mi ionary channels, and they are becoming both grounded in the principles of giving, and through graphic stories and letters, exhibitions of curios, and talks from mi ionaries, they are growing up in the churches of America, familiarized with mi ions as their parents never were; so that, much as the little people now accomplish, it is as nothing compared with what may be expected from them when they come to years of maturity. Results of the active entrance of women into Mi ionary work: What has already been said of the influence of the women in cultivating the mi ionary spirit among children suggests one important branch of these results. Christian women have taken a leading place in arousing interest in mi ions and in securing systematic study of this branch of the worlc of the Church. Theirs is the scheme for united study which has brought forth in America a series of valuable works used by study cla es in all denominations. The first three volumes of this series have found sale for 120,000 copies. To the activity of the women, also, must be ascribed a notable increase of funds devoted to the mi ionary enterprise. Without the women’s societies there would always be devout women in the churches desirous But of contributing to the support of mi ions. the ma of women, without these societies and the methods which they use, would never be sufiiciently in touch with mi ions nor sufficiently informed upon the details of their beneficent infiuence to make sacrifices for their support. Through the energy of the women’s societies it has come to pa , however, that a very large Eroportion of the funds which they collect must e reckoned as a gain, not otherwise po ible, to the resources of foreign mi ions. The most far-reaching and weighty result of the entrance of women upon the mi ion enter The misprise is found on the mi ion field. sionary woman is not a preacher, but she is an evangelist. She is also a teacher, and often she She may is a physician of the highest ability. be also a skilled writer, and a linguist of talent that finds its field even in translation of the Bible. Mi ionary women not only thus reenforce other workers in all the great departments of the mi ionary enterprise, but, being women, they gain effective acce to that half of the population which no man can hope to reach in any but the most superficial and unsatisfactory way. It is their entrance among the women of non-Christian lands and their many-sided activity for the culture of true womanline tliat has made the period of the uprising of the women of Christen dom in behalf of mi ions the dawn of a new era in mi ionary history. 811