Читать книгу The American Missionary. Volume 43, No. 11, November, 1889 - Various - Страница 5

A good friend of the American Missionary Association in a New England village recently greatly stirred up the interest of the people in behalf of our work, through a missionary society which she organized among the children. They had meetings for sewing, preparing articles for a box, and then a fair, in which they sold other articles that they had made, out of which they gathered a considerable sum of money. The interest went far beyond the children. A gentleman, not a member of the church, who had never been interested in missionary work, was stirred up by the solicitation of the children, and gave both time and money to their effort. He afterwards said to a good lady who inaugurated the movement, "I am glad I have given to this cause; it makes me feel good, and I want to keep right on giving." That is the way it affects every one when the heart and pocket-book are open to these missionary objects. It makes them feel good, and stirs up a desire to continue the process.

The Christian Endeavor Societies of New England are assisting nobly in the work of the American Missionary Association. One society pledges itself to support a missionary in our field for a year. Another makes one of its number a Life Member of our Association, contributing thirty dollars. Still another brings in a handsome collection recently taken, and still another devotes the prayer meeting evening to thorough study upon the work that is being done through the A.M.A., in the needy and destitute portions of our country. One young man who spoke at the last meeting spent a portion of his vacation in studying up the work among the Highlanders of the South, and gave the results of his study at their meeting. And why should not this active society of earnest young people be interested in the great work that is being accomplished among other young people, painfully in want of the advantages which those here enjoy? A prayer meeting pledge of the Y.P.S.C.E., printed in the Sioux language by Indian boys at a Santee school, is a most interesting evidence that this society is not confined in its usefulness to any locality or race. A vigorous Society is one of the elements of work in this Indian school, and a most useful element. In a letter written by an Indian boy is the following: "We have a Christian Endeavor Society here. I joined that society not very long ago, and we have nice meetings on Saturday night. It does make me feel good in those meetings. There are about thirty members now." And so these Societies of New England in their prayers for, and contributions to, the work of the American Missionary Association, are clasping hands with the same societies among the Negroes, Mountain people and Indians.

The "King's Daughters" are also a useful agency in the field work of our Association. A little Indian girl writes interestingly of the "King's Daughters" of whom she is one.