THE 
 
 Free Baptist Woman's 
 Missionary Society 
 
 >;:5».¥<«J':.1 
 
 BX 
 6370 
 .F73 
 1922 
 
 Faith and Works Win 
 
BX 6370 .F73 1922 
 
 The Free Baptist Woman's 
 Missionary Society, 1873- 
 

Mrs. Lucy Phillips Durgin 
 President, 1910- 
 
T 
 
 HE FREE BAPTIST WOMAN'S 
 MISSIONARY SOCIETY J? ^ 
 
 1873-1921 
 
 Motto : Faith and Works Win 
 
 Watchword : Enlisted for Life 
 Colors : Sapphire Blue and Gold 
 
 |aubU0beti tip 
 %^t iFrec Baptist aciioman'is Q^tiSiSionarp §)ocietp 
 
 PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
 
 LOOSE LEAF MANUFACTURIXG COMPANY 
 
 1922 
 
 MAR 2 2000 
 
Copyright, 1922 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society 
 
OUR COLORS 
 
 " Fidelity, solidity " — 
 
 The heart of new and old; 
 But the later band expresses 
 
 Its faith in blue and gold. 
 little knot of ribbon 
 
 Be ever in our sight, 
 A symbol of the holy, 
 
 A spur to do the right — 
 
 Until the old-time saying 
 
 Of " What is mine is mine " 
 Gives way in every nation 
 
 To " What is mi^ie is thine. 
 For all thy soul's uplifting, 
 
 For all thy daily need " — ■ 
 The children of one Father, 
 
 Whatever name or creed. 
 
 So, steadfastly advancing 
 
 From better unto best, 
 By days and years of doing, 
 
 We reach a joyful rest. . 
 0, little hiot of ribbon 
 
 Be ever in our sight, 
 A symbol of the holy. 
 
 A spur to do the right. 
 
 Nellie Wade Whitcomb 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 X the world of literature history has its place. While in the making 
 the background is too near to allow of an appreciative perspective. 
 Yet it too often occurs that when desire reaches to the past none re- 
 main to tell of that unwritten period. Thinking thus that with the passage 
 of time there may arise persons who will question the significance of the 
 letters F. B. W. M. S. ; who its leaders were, for what it stood, and what 
 it accomplished — ^ f or such the information in the following pages is gath- 
 ered and here presented. 
 
 To those who have made this history, and have lived through its 
 achievement and are now passing off the stage of life the task has been 
 inestimably dear and precious. May those who read it find in it the link 
 between an honorable past and a still more glorious future. 
 
 Lena Fenner Dennet 
 Frances Stewart Mosher 
 Clara A. Ricker 
 
 Committee 
 
NOTE 
 
 E acknowledge indebtedness to all writers of Free Baptist his- 
 tory, be it in book, magazine or leaflet form; to our mission- 
 aries at home in America, and to ]\Irs. M. A. W. Bachelder 
 who has ably assisted in research and consultation. 
 
 We refer our readers for more detailed information to, Free Baptist 
 History by I. D. Stewart; Life and Influence of Benjamin Randall by F, 
 L. Wiley; Free Baptist Encyclopedia; Life of David Marks by Mrs. 
 Marilla Marks; Missionary Reminiscences by Mrs. M. M. H. Hills; His- 
 tory of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society by Mrs. M. A. Davis; 
 Life of Otis R. Bacheler by T. H. Stacy; Life of James L. PhiUips by 
 Mrs. M. R. Phillips; Life of Lavina Crawford by Mrs. S. M. Bacheler; 
 India and Daily Life in Bengal by Z. F. Griffin; Chundra Lela by Z. F. 
 Grififin; to the Morning Star on file at Bates College and at the Baptist 
 Historical Library; and to the files of the Missionary Helper, bound copies 
 of which are in our College librasies, at Baptist headquarters, and in a 
 number of private libraries. Pictures of our earlier workers and mission- 
 aries will be found in Mrs. Davis's History. 
 
 Committee 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Foreword . 
 
 I. Free Baptist Women's Work, 1870- 
 
 1873 Mrs. Frances Slncdrl Mnsh.cr ... 13 
 
 II. The Free Baptist Woman's Mission- 
 ary Society Mrs. Frances Stewart Moslicr .... 15 
 
 III. Home Mission, Storer College, 1865- 
 
 iQoo Mrs. Frances Stewart Mosher. ... 25 
 
 IV. Home Mission, The New Century at 
 
 Storer Mrs. Elizabeth Mosher McDonald 29 
 
 V. Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, 
 
 Indi.\ Mrs. Lena Feniier Dennett 36 
 
 VI. The Mission.ary Helper Miss Jessie L. Waterman 62 
 
 VII. FiN.ANCE Miss Laura A. De Meritte 74 
 
 VHI. The Thank-Offerixg Service Mrs. Clara .4. RicJter 80 
 
 IX. Children's Work Mrs. Laura E. Hartley 83 
 
 X. Union Mrs. Mary .4 . Wade Bachelder. . 88 
 
 XT. Onward Mrs. Lena Fenner Dennett 92 
 
 XII. Our Presidents Mrs. Lena Fenner Dennett 95 
 
 XIII. OcR India ^Missionaries Mrs. Lena Fenner Dennett 102 
 
 XIV. Our Indi.an Helpers Mrs. Lena Fenner Dennett 126 
 
 St.\tistics 136 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 Free Baptist Women's Work 1780-1873 
 
 And this is your commission, 
 O women, saved by grace, 
 
 To tell of Christ arisen 
 To all the human race. 
 
 \iE\NA G. Ramsey 
 
 /^ 
 
 HE men and women who founded the Freewill Baptist Denomi- 
 nation were endowed with great foresight. In Stewart's History 
 we find that the first church established at New Castle, N. H., 
 was reported by letter for the first time over the signature of Abigail 
 Amazeen, and that at Lewiston, Me., by Hannah Thorn who several times 
 walked thirty-five miles to attend Quarterly Meetings. Mary Savage in 
 1791 is the first recorded public speaker. Six years later a contribution 
 was taken at the New Durham Yearly Meeting, and a horse, saddle and 
 bridle purchased for the use of Sally Parsons to travel, exhort and pray. 
 In the life of Charles Bowles, colored minister, we read that he and 
 Clarissa Danforth preached at the Yearly IMeeting at Tunbridge, Yt., in 
 1818, for " neither color nor sex w'as regarded with prejudice, for the lost 
 condition of the wicked and the fullness of the atonement engaged their 
 whole attention." The History states that " Miss Danforth was the popu- 
 lar preacher of the fourth decade of denominational history." Martha 
 N. Spaulding and Susan Humes were other preachers in Rhode Island. 
 In New York was Anna Stone Anderson who was licensed to preach in 
 1839, and in Iowa there was Ruby Knapp Bixby. 
 
 But all this time there were doubts whether it was right for w'omen 
 to speak or pray in public. The middle of the 19th century found the 
 church, and society generally, of the opinion that women should keep silent 
 and learn of their husbands, and the religious spirit of women necessarily 
 found other expression. 
 
 13 
 
14 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Amos Sutton and his American wife in India learned the address of 
 Freewill Baptist publications through a stray copy of the " Morning Star," 
 and a correspondence resulted in the formation of the Freewill Baptist 
 Foreign Mission Society in 1833, and Rev. Jeremiah Phillips and wife and 
 Rev. Eli Noyes and wife were its first missionaries. In 1841 Noyes re- 
 turned to America to tell the churches of the needs in India. Mrs. Davis 
 in her valuable " History of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society " 
 tells us that Mrs. Ann Winsor invited ladies to her home in Providence, 
 R. I., and formed the first local Freewill Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society. 
 
 At the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting in Lisbon in June, 1847, while 
 the brethren discussed business, the uninvited sisters discussed ways to 
 raise money and awaken interest, and organized the " New Hampshire 
 Yearly Meeting Benevolent Association." The next October 13 they met, 
 according to adjournment, at Sutton, Vt., extending their field throughout 
 the denomination under the name of the " Freewill Baptist Female Mis- 
 sionary Society." Mrs. E. Place was first President and Mrs. Nancy 
 Cheney first Recording Secretary. Mrs. M. M. Hutchins was Treasurer 
 and Mrs. V. G. Ramsey was Corresponding Secretary. Systematic preach- 
 ing on missions, monthly concerts of prayer and missionary intelligence, 
 weekly offerings and statistical tables were established. The office of 
 treasurer was soon dispensed with and all collected funds were sent to 
 the joint treasurer of the F. B. H. and F. M. Societies. Mrs. M. M. H. 
 Hills says, " This was a cause of weakness. The individual or society 
 that raises funds should direct their disbursement or interest and effort 
 will fail." 
 
 This missionary society was the first national woman's society in the 
 country, preceding the noted Seneca Falls organization by some five weeks. 
 Mrs. Hutchins was Corresponding Secretary for eighteen years, but there 
 was no financial basis for power. The work of individuals passed with 
 their day leaving only a memory. But the Civil War had developed 
 woman's ability. Susan B. Anthony, Mary A. Livermore, Clara Barton, An- 
 toinette Brown and Lucy Stone, the two latter classmates at Oberlin of 
 Mrs. Marks, were expressing in various ways their convictions. 
 
 " Heirs of all ages forward in the files of time " 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society 
 
 By the love of our Lord, 
 
 By the wants of the world, 
 Let us work till Christ's banner 
 
 O'er all is unfurled. 
 
 Vienna G. Ramsay 
 
 ABOUT 1870 the Free Baptist ^Mission in India suffered from scar- 
 city of funds, and deaths and removals depleted the quota of 
 workers in the field. Only a few women's auxiliaries remained 
 in the churches and yearly meetings were sending money to the joint treas- 
 urer. There was a general desire to rise to the need. Very active corre- 
 spondence followed throughout the year. Mrs. Mosher, of the Morning Star 
 office, devised a plan for the support of a woman medical missionary to work 
 in the zenanas. Other denominations were forming Women's Boards. '" Let 
 us do likewise " said Mrs. Hayes of Lewiston, and Mrs. Marks-Hutchins- 
 Hills of New York heartily seconded the proposition. A call was issued 
 in the Morning Star June 4, 1873, inviting all ladies interested in the F. 
 B. Foreign Mission to meet in Sandwich, N. H., in connection with the 
 New Hampshire Yearly Meeting. 
 
 A large number assembled. The first meeting was held in a room over 
 a store with a steep stairway up which a score of elderly women and many 
 younger ones climbed. Mrs. I. D. Stewart, an officer of the Freewill 
 Baptist Female Missionary Society, was in the chair. Mrs. Bacheler of 
 India offered prayer. Mrs. M. M. H. Hills of New York told the needs 
 of India. ]\Irs. Hayes of Maine explained the workings of a Woman's 
 Board. ]\Irs. C. E. K. Davis, author of many Sunday-school books, spoke 
 for Rhode Island. Delegates from auxiliaries in Maine, New Hampshire 
 and New York favored the formation of a Free Baptist W^oman's Board. 
 In an enthusiastic session it was voted to form such a Board and a com- 
 mittee consisting of Mrs. Hills of New York, Mrs. Hayes of Maine and Mrs. 
 
 IS 
 
1 6 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Mosher of New Hampshire, was appointed to draft a constitution and 
 nominate officers. 
 
 After two days of constant work the hour to which the session was 
 adjourned had arrived. The most talented men in the denomination had 
 given their assistance. Mrs. Hayes gave way to weariness while Prof. 
 Hayes wrote the constitution at the dictation of Mrs. Hills and consult- 
 ing friends; and Mrs. Mosher prepared the list of officers. Interest had 
 so increased that a neighboring church was opened for the meeting. Every 
 seat, even to the rear, was taken by expectant women as the committee 
 came in. The constitution was read and adopted, and the officers elected, 
 with many prayers and heartfelt singing of hymns, and June 12, 1873, be- 
 came a red letter day with Free Baptist women. All the officers elected 
 accepted the positions. There were four conditions of work. It should 
 be a Home and Foreign Mission Society, it should co-operate with the 
 Free Baptist Home and Foreign Mission Societies, it should have an indepen- 
 dent treasury, it should incur no debt. 
 
 In a few months local auxiliaries and state organizations were estab- 
 lished, and the Society was in good working order. At the first anniversary, 
 held with the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting, two men. Rev. A. H. Chase 
 and Rev. A. D. Williams, strolled into the rear of the vestry in the interest 
 of Home Missions, and fervent prayers were offered that the Home work 
 might increase in order to enlarge the Foreign. But the presence of men, 
 in those days of women's silence in the churches, almost created consterna- 
 tion. The Treasurer begged the New Hampshire President not to try to 
 speak off hand, and after a few broken sentences she seized her manuscript 
 and modestly read the rest of her address. 
 
 In 1874, Miss Susan R. Libby went to India as our first Foreign mis- 
 sionary. In 1875, an appropriation was made for the salary of Miss Lura 
 Brackett as Lady Principal of Storer College at Harper's Ferry, W. Va., 
 In 1876, Miss Emily Hallam was appointed a Zenana teacher in Balasore. 
 serving one year; and in 1877 Miss Mary Bacheler, who in 1867, as a 
 child, had been the means of opening the first Mussulman Zenana in 
 Bengal, now a girl of seventeen, was appointed Zenana teacher for Midna- 
 pore. On Jan. 26, 1883, a charter was granted the Society by the State 
 of Maine. 
 
 On the same day of the organization of the national F. B. W. M. S., 
 Free Baptist women in the West organized in Wisconsin a society which. 
 
Mrs. Mary R. Wade and daughters, 
 Mrs. Bachelder and Mrs. Whitcomb 
 
1 8 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 because of the inconvenience of frequent meetings btween East and West, 
 became, with other state societies, the Western Branch of the National 
 Society. 
 
 The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society of New Brunswick 
 was organized by Mrs. Mary R. Phillips in 1875. Though not auxiliary 
 to the National Society they contributed regularly to its treasury in sup- 
 port of the children's missionary and the Widows' Home. The stories 
 of the " Helper " and the work at Storer College are told in other chapters. 
 
 From the first days of the National Society earnest effort was made 
 to interest the children. Mission bands were formed, a couple of columns 
 of the " Myrtle," the Free Baptist Sunday-school paper, were devoted to 
 the " Try Class," members of which sent letters to the " Myrtle," and 
 contributions to India and Storer College. Frances Stewart Mosher was 
 Children's Secretary. Ida Phillips and Emilie Barnes were the Children's 
 Missionaries. In 1898 was organized the " Cradle Roll," with Mrs. E. H. 
 Roberts first Superintendent. The first " Thank Offering " service was 
 held in June, 1891. A bureau of Missionary Intelligence supplied cos- 
 tumes, curios, missionary leaflets, study books and programs. Miss Kate 
 J. Anthony was its first Superintendent. 
 
 At the organization in Washington, D. C, of the National Council 
 of Women of the United States, Frances Willard presented Mrs. Hills as 
 an earnest worker for the elevation of women in America and abroad. 
 The F. B. W. M. S. joined this Council in 1888, being the fourth in order 
 of membership. Their delegates were accorded prominent positions in 
 executive sessions and on the platform. Mrs. E. S. Burlingame-Cheney 
 and Mrs. F. S. Mosher each served a three-years' term as Recording Sec- 
 retary of the Council. The benefits resulting from the interchange of 
 aspirations, means and methods through fifteen years cannot be under- 
 estimated. 
 
 In addition to the support of missionaries and the purchase or erec- 
 tion of five buildings in India, the payment of salaries of teachers, and 
 appropriations for buildings at Storer College, and the support of Field 
 Agents East and West, appropriations have been made to the work of 
 Rev. Antoinette Estabrook at Barbados, W. I. 
 
 The first part of the motto of the Society, " Faith," has been as 
 prominent as the second part, " Works." In every perplexity or difference, 
 in every new undertaking, prayer was the first thought, and arguments 
 
The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 19 
 
 and business were dropped in the effort to find the divine way. At one 
 time such a session sought a new missionary. The astonishment of Miss 
 Butts, Lady Principal at New Hampshire, was great when a committee 
 of the Missionary Society told her they felt she was called to India, and 
 asked her to consider the subject. After weeks she too heard the call, 
 and her devoted missionary life in Bengal-Orissa was the answer. 
 
 Mrs. Nelsine I. Jose 
 Recording Secretary 1913- 
 
 In the desire of the Missionary Society to meet the need next at 
 hand, in the most prompt and efificient way possible, it was inevitable that 
 sometimes its efforts would not be strictly parallel with the conservative 
 ways of societies whose business was carried on solely by men. But to 
 the honor and Christian fidelity of the men and women in our denomina- 
 tion it may be said that diverging opinions have always been met by kind- 
 
2 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 ness and charity, and mutual concessions have always avoided unpleasant 
 controversies. The one purpose of all has been to serve the Master in 
 His way. 
 
 Reviewing the history of the F. B. W. M. S., one is impressed with 
 the devotion and self-sacrifice of its members. Officers serve from love 
 of the cause, and all work together under divine guidance in the interests 
 of humanity. Yet there are a few women whose names cannot be repeated 
 too often. Missions abroad and at home can never forget Mrs. IMarilla 
 Marks Hutchins Hills. As Mrs. Marks, she left her impress at Oberlin, 
 and traveled East and West with her husband, David Marks, the noted 
 evangelist. Later as the wife of Rev. Elias Hutchins, Secretary of the 
 F. B. F. M. S., hers was an open home for missionaries and an inspiration 
 for all denominational work. She was a leader in forming the Free Bap- 
 tist Female Missionary Society, and its corresponding secretary eighteen 
 years. When she became Mrs. Hills she aided in organizing the Free Bap- 
 tist Women's Missionary Society and continued to the end of her life an 
 active member of the Board. For years she wrote mission articles for the 
 Morning Star, the Missionary Helper, and other publications, and was 
 the author of a Life of David Marks; and of " Missionary Reminiscences." 
 
 One also notices in this story of mission work how the idea of service 
 often passes in a family from one generation to another. In India for 
 almost a century we have the devotion of the Phillips family, father, 
 mother, six children, and several grandchildren. The Bacheler family is 
 also represented by parents and children. At Storer, we have the Brack- 
 ett family, father, mother, two sisters, one, Mrs. Lightner, giving a service 
 of over fifty years, two of Mr. Brackett's daughters and one son-in-law 
 teachers, while a son and another son-in-law are on the Board of Trustees. 
 Mrs. Wade of Maine was ably seconded by her daughters, Mrs. Bachelder, 
 active both East and West, and Mrs. Whitcomb, editor of the Missionary 
 Helper, and her two nieces, the Misses Folsom. The DeMerittes include 
 Miss Laura A. with her sister-in-law and her niece, both at periods mem- 
 bers of the Board. Mrs. I. D. Stewart, an officer of the original F. B. F. 
 M. S., was followed by her daughter, Mrs. Frances Stewart Mosher, who 
 in turn was followed by her two daughters. Miss Alfrieda M. INIosher,; 
 agent of the Helper, and Mrs. Elizabeth Mosher McDonald of Storer. 
 We have Mrs. G. C. Waterman and Miss Jessie L. Waterman; Mrs. An- 
 drews, many years agent of the Helper, and her daughter Lydia in the 
 
The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 21 
 
 same office; Mrs. Porter, active on the Board of Managers and at Ocean 
 Park, whose daughter, Miss Edyth R. Porter, was for some years treasurer; 
 Mrs. Fenner and her daughter, Mrs. Lena Fenner Dennett; Mrs. J. A. 
 
 Mrs. Maud West Kenyon 
 Vice-President 1917- 
 
 Lowell, corresponding secretary, and her niece, Mrs. S. C. G. Avery in the 
 same office; Miss Kate Anthony, a worthy partner in the generous bene- 
 factions of her father and brother; Mrs. Clara E. Dexter and her sister, 
 Mrs. Ella E. Stanton of Rhode Island; Mrs. Clara Doe and her mission- 
 ary daughters. 
 
2 2 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 We are also impressed with the number of ministers' wives whose 
 names appear in our history: 
 
 Mrs. Vienna G. Ramsay, who sang in her poems of needy America 
 and India; Mrs. Sinclair, President of the early missionary society, who 
 with her husband gave generously to Storer and India; Mrs. E. S. Bur- 
 lingame-Cheney, the first president of the re-organized society; Mrs. A. 
 C. Hayes, first corresponding secretary; Mrs. Mary A. Davis, many years 
 a president; Mrs. C. E. K. Davis, author of many Sunday-school books; 
 Mrs. Martha Libby Smith, first recording secretary; Mrs. Anne Dudley 
 Bates, known in the Shenandoah Valley as home mission teacher and 
 preacher and builder of churches; Mrs. Brewster, first editor of the 
 Helper; Mrs. Emily Jenness, teacher in New Hampton, Green Mountain 
 Seminary, and Storer; Mrs. Caroline Bradbury, generous worker for India; 
 Mrs. Clara A. Ricker of the Thank Offering Department; INIrs. Osgood, 
 a New Hampshire president; Mrs. Linda V. Jordan, a Maine president; 
 Mrs. Hartley of the Cradle Roll; Mrs. Lizzie Moody Evans, traveling 
 agent, preacher, and present pastor of the church at Hillsdale, Michigan. 
 
 Among the many others who freely gave time and thought to plan 
 and execute are Mrs. Lucy Phillips Durgin of the Phillips family, the 
 present president of the F. B. W. M. S., and ably promoting the sustaining 
 work necessary to keep the missionaries in the field; Miss Harriet A. Deer- 
 ing with a keen care of finances; Mrs. A. M. Metcalf, long recording 
 secretary and a generous helper at Storer; Mrs. O. W. Fullam of Maine, 
 a member of the Board; Mrs. A. B. Webber, tireless New England secre- 
 tary and Helper agent; Miss May Malvern, now of Tremont Temple; 
 Mrs. Coralie Franklin Cook, graduate and teacher at Storer, then at How- 
 ard University, public lecturer and member of the Washington, D. C. 
 school board; Mrs. Lewis B. Stillman, Mrs. Henry Chase, Mrs. Cousins, 
 Mrs. J. L. Tourtellot, and others and others, — their names are legion ; 
 only in the book of life which the angels keep, can they be written. Almost 
 every church had its missionary leaders, locally loved and honored in 
 widening circles of missionary work. 
 
 Of our Western work and workers it may be said, " The pioneer work 
 of the F. B. W. M. S. in the West was one of far distances, of many ob- 
 stacles, and limited resources. Women of earnest heroic spirit, and hearts 
 burning with love for the Master and the whitened field, moved to the 
 frontier and formed the nucleus of activity and power the full realiza- 
 
The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 23 
 
 tion of which eternity alone may reveal. Among these were Mrs. A. A. 
 McKenney, for many years Western Secretary, Mrs. Ruth Keith, Mrs. 
 Thera B. True, Mrs. Jackson, Miss Anna B. Stockwell, Mrs. L. M. P. 
 Durgin, Mrs. N. L. Abbey, Mrs. Hattie Gordon, INIrs. Frances S. Mosher 
 and Mrs. M. A. W. Bachelder, who as officers and directors of varied com- 
 mittees, builded well the firm foundation for later achievement. While 
 as foreign missionaries home on furlough, the Misses Ida O. and Hattie 
 P. Phillips, Emilie E. Barnes and Dr. Mary W. Bacheler were very success- 
 ful in imparting missionary knowledge and awakening zeal. 
 
 Later local women were appointed and traveled thousands of miles in 
 strengthening and inspiring weak churches and organizing Auxiliaries and 
 study classes. Of those thus sent out Rev. Phebe Elizabeth Moody 
 (Evans) gave longest service; having first been employed in her home 
 state of Michigan during vacation seasons, while a student in Hillsdale 
 College Divinity School, from which she graduated in 1895. In 1896, 
 the Society secured her services and for a number of years she gave her 
 time, talent and strength, unreservedly to field work; traveling some sixty 
 thousand miles in all sorts of conveyances, and all kinds of weather; 
 speaking night after night for months at a time. Campaign work was 
 done by her in fifteen different states outside of Michigan. Over fifteen 
 hundred formal addresses were given on these itineracies besides count- 
 less informal talks and heart to heart conferences in the homes and by 
 the way. She often assisted pastors in special evangelistic meetings. Many 
 a tired, disheartened, lonely worker gained new courage and inspiration 
 to go patiently on because the burden had been shared and problems 
 talked over and prayed about, and the ray of sunshine had come in, "and 
 the worry had gone out." Mrs. Carrie Consaulus of Michigan spent one 
 season with Miss Moody in the work. Later ]\Irs. Carrie Miles and Mrs. 
 Inah Gates Stout did similar work in Michigan, IMinnesota, Iowa, and 
 Texas. Others doing pioneer work in pulpit and W. M. S. were Rev. Lucy 
 Dodge, Rev. Willimetta Marks, Rev. Delia Wolfe and Rev. Ellen Cross 
 Copp. 
 
 But the record of Free Baptist work in the West would be incomplete 
 did we not also give honor to the mothers who gave themselves and their 
 loved ones to the cause. " Mother " Sarah Murphy, president of the 
 Nebraska Y. M. W. M. S., gave Dr. H. R. Murphy to the Bengal-Orissa 
 field, Rev. Ada Kennan, president of the Branch and Calhoun Q. M. W. 
 
2 4 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 M. S., gave Dr. A. L. Kennan, and Mrs. Whitney of Jackson, Michigan, 
 gave her daughter Minnie. Mrs. Nancy Myers, president of the Van- 
 Buren Q. IM. W. M. S., gave Harry S. Myers to the home executive office. 
 Dr. and Mrs. Dunn gave Abbie Dunn Slayton, Helen Dunn Gates, and 
 Nettie Dunn Clark, all they had, to the home and foreign work. " Aunt 
 Julia" Reed gave a beautiful granddaughter, Ruth Daniels; and, with Paul 
 we needs must cry, " What shall I more say, for time (and space) would 
 fail me to tell, of all the loyal western women who have beautifully and 
 successfully wrought in the work and the end is not yet, for the King's 
 daughters are indeed willing in the day of His power." 
 
 Thy kingdom come! Oh, will it come 
 
 Until desire and duty wed, 
 And hand in hand, and side by side, 
 
 The sin environed pathways tread? 
 
 Rev. Anna Barton 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Home Mission, Storer College, 1865-1900 
 
 " Sound the loud timbrel 
 O'er Egypt's dark sea, 
 Jehovah has triumphed 
 His people are free ! " 
 
 AS in 1873 the call of women of India found a ready answer in 
 the hearts and hands of Free Baptist women, so in 1875 was 
 heeded the call of needy Southern sisters of tinted race. The 
 Free Baptist denomination had been staunchly anti-slavery from the first. 
 During the Civil War and after, men on the Christian Commission and 
 others sent by the Home Mission Society, went South to teach the " con- 
 trabands." After the war the Shenandoah Valley was assigned to Free 
 Baptists for Educational care. The Anti-Slavery Society in a memorable 
 meeting at Northwood, N. H., in 1868, with Prof. J. FuUonton in the 
 chair, on motion of I. D. Stewart, declared its work accomplished, and 
 the society was disbanded. A Commission to Promote Christian Educa- 
 tion in the South was established. N. C. Brackett, A. H. Morrell, Annie 
 S. Dudley, and others built schoolhouses and churches, and gathered 
 scholars and congregations. In 1867, work was begun at Harper's Ferry, 
 W. Va. John Storer of INIaine gave for endowment $10,000 to be paid 
 when an equal sum was raised. This condition was speedily met and Mr. 
 Storer's name was given to the college. Congress, by the influence of 
 Garfield in the House, and Fessenden in the Senate, gave a wonderfully 
 beautiful site on Camp Hill. The Freednien's Bureau under Gen. O. 0. 
 Howard gave a dormitory for the boys. Garritt Smith made a gift for a 
 girls' hall, and the foundations were laid just before his death. Miss 
 Annie Dudley traveled among Free Baptist Churches and raised money; 
 the Harper's Ferry Jubilee Singers gave concerts in the North; Lura 
 Brackett, to whose support as lady principal the Woman's Missionary 
 Society had already made an appropriation, awakened an interest among 
 
26 
 
 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 the children by selling bricks through the Myrtle. Enough money had 
 been raised for the walls, but the rule of " no debt " was rigidly main- 
 tained, and another thousand must be raised before the roof could be paid 
 for. A private letter from Mr. Brackett said, " We are almost discouraged. 
 Six girls in a room, and more begging to come. But we will not run ia 
 
 debt, and we seem to be at 
 the end of our resources. 
 What shall we do?" 
 
 Six ladies were hastily sum- 
 moned to the Foreign Mis- 
 sion Room at the Morning 
 Star office, Dover, N. H. 
 Their names should be pre- 
 served, — Mrs. Hills, Mrs. 
 Waterman, Miss DeMeritte, 
 Mrs. Martha Smith, Mrs. 
 Chamberlain, Mrs. Mosher. 
 The letter of Mr. Brackett 
 was read. Mrs. Hills said, 
 " Let^^ us pr ay." As we arose 
 from prayer, Mrs. Hills said, 
 " There is no time to get the 
 consent of the Board, but it 
 will consent. We will assume 
 and raise that thousand dol- 
 lars. Each of you write 
 letters." and opening the office 
 door she said to the editor of 
 the Morning Star who had 
 just placed the weekly edition 
 on the press, " Will you stop the press while I write an appeal for a thousand 
 dollars so we can go on with the girls' hall at Storer?" The machinery was 
 stopped an hour. The appeal and letters went prayer-winged, for those wo- 
 men and others of the church met each day to pray. The unanimous ap- 
 proving responses of the Board came. Money came. At Harper's Ferry 
 clear-eyed faith gathered building material. Five weeks later on Memorial 
 Day, May 30, 1878, the Treasurer held in hand $1264.00 aside from pledges, 
 
 Mrs. Coralie Franklin Cook 
 Storer College i88o 
 
Home Mission, Storer College, 1 86 5-1 goo 27 
 
 enough to complete the building without debt, and the corner stone of 
 Myrtle Hall was laid in the name of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society. 
 
 One more incident on the way this Society worked: At the Cen- 
 tennial, Weirs, N. H., Mr. Brackett said in private conversation, " We have 
 the boys and Lincoln Hall; we have the girls and Myrtle Hall, but no 
 schoolroom. What can we do?" The program was full. But a noon 
 meeting of the Woman's Missionary Society was called for twenty min- 
 utes. Prayers for the India Mission occupied the first half of the time, 
 and then Mrs. Lura Brackett Lightner and Mrs. Emily Smith Jenness 
 prayed that the way would open for a school building at Harper's Ferry. 
 A subscription paper was started. It soon held in small pledges about 
 two hundred dollars. That night on a late train Mr. Lewis W. Anthony 
 and wife arrived from Providence, R. I. He told us afterwards that he 
 could not sleep that night thinking of the five little children who rested in 
 God's Acre. He woke his wife and proposed to build them a monument. 
 But again he could not sleep. The living needs of the world pressed upon 
 his business mind. He woke his wife again and they decided to put a 
 thousand dollars in memory of each child where it would help living young 
 people. The next morning Mr. Anthony met a minister and asked, " Where 
 would be a good place to invest a benevolent contribution?" The min- 
 ister answered, " Well, the women are trying to raise money to put up a 
 school building at Harper's Ferry." Half an hour later Mr. Brackett on 
 the way to camp breakfast said, "Let me sit down. I am overcome with 
 joy. Mr. Anthony offers $5000.00 for the school building if we will raise 
 $5000,.00 more." Mr. Anthony later told us of his night's experience 
 and his belief that in some way he entered into the atmosphere of prayer i 
 
 With Lincoln Hall for the boys, Myrtle Hall for the girls and Anthony 
 Hall for library and school purposes, the next need was a church building 
 in which to worship. Curtis Memorial Church was completed in 1892. 
 The DeWolf Industrial Building for the teaching of domestic science was 
 erected from funds furnished by Mrs. Mary P. DeWolf of Illinois. The 
 children of Mr. Lewis W. Anthony erected in memory of their father a 
 three story grey stone building in which are the blacksmith shop, store 
 room, office, carpenter, paint and tin shops. Here also general repair work 
 is done. Sinclair Cottage, named in memory of Rev. and ISIrs. J. L. 
 Sinclair, of New Hampshire, furnishes a cheerful home for girls who wish 
 
28 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 to board themselves. The " John Brown Fort " was placed on the campus 
 in 1910. The need of a home for the President's family had long been 
 felt and the Woman's Missionary Society raised the funds, and a pleasant, 
 commodious house was erected. An adequate water supply had long 
 been needed. Mrs. Whitcomb, editor of the Missionary Helper, was moved ") 
 to ask a few women to join in prayer that new friends might meet this ( 
 pressing need. A casual traveler visiting the college saw the need, left a / 
 generous donation and a good water system was subsequently installed, 
 The story of Storer College in recent years is told in another chapter. 
 
 O'er mountains and desert — mid highway throng, 
 
 Doth the Lord with his love-light lead. 
 O hasten, go forth ; through thy search be long, 
 
 By His love is supplied thy need. 
 
 Ernest G. Wesley 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 Home Mission; The New Century at Stoker 
 
 Consecrated, set apart, 
 Oh, endow each parent's heart 
 With the wisdom, love and truth, 
 That shall guard our tender youth, 
 Feeling they belong to Thee — 
 
 Consecrated let them be! 
 
 Mary B. Wingate 
 
 TORER COLLEGE has always been one of the best-loved interests of 
 the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society. Every Free Bap- 
 tist knows the steadfastness, devotion and loyalty with which the 
 Free Baptist women supported the founders and early workers of the school 
 through the terrible days of reconstruction and the subsequent period, 
 when the race problem was constantly presenting itself in a new aspect. 
 
 During those thirty 3'ears the leaders here were building so wisely and 
 well, that Storer's teachers and students were winning the respect of the 
 community and the interest of the state; and as the new century dawned 
 she was ready to broaden and deepen her activities. As always the Free 
 Baptist women listened patiently to each new project and it was to them 
 that the leaders still turned for financial and spiritual aid. 
 
 With the turning of the century Mr. McDonald and I came to Storer 
 and in this part of the chapter I shall endeavor to tabulate the work 
 of the last twenty years. In 1901, the college owned twenty-four acres, 
 to-day she owns forty, all in practical use. Twenty years ago Storer used 
 six buildings for school purposes. Now she has fifteen in school use. The 
 Lewis W. Anthony Industrial Building. Jackson Cottage, Robinson Cottage, 
 the President's Home have been vitally needed additions, while John 
 Brown's Fort, now a museum, is the building that to the writer, at least, 
 typifies the soul of our institution, — the struggle to make liberty the 
 heritage of all citizens under the stars and stripes. 
 
 29 
 
30 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 In 1901 there was no steam heat. Smoky hot air furnaces dispensed 
 gas and warmth impartially through Anthony Hall, while the dormitories 
 had only tiny soft-coal stoves, easily overturned if a boy stretched his legs 
 with too much energy, and a constant menace from fire. To-day the three 
 main buildings and President's Home are fitted with steam radiators. 
 Twenty years ago there was no school dining hall. The students either 
 boarded themselves, of if they formed the aristocracy, boarded in a private 
 club. The teachers boarded in a dreary room, to which overcoats and 
 wraps were worn in cold weather — a room so small that for years its only 
 use has been for the chemical laboratory supply closet. I well remember 
 the solemn face of the student waiter as it would appear like a Jack-in-the- 
 box in the steep stairway that led to the room announcing " There will 
 be no hereafter " — on days when there was no dessert. Now all students 
 and the majority of the teachers eat in the large basement dining room 
 of the new Lincoln Hall. We have the reputation of setting the best school 
 table in any similar school for miles about, and at the lowest possible 
 price. 
 
 Then there was the perennial water question. Twenty years ago three 
 cisterns furnished the school supply. Later came the driven well with its 
 inadequate flow. Now we have pipes below frost line connecting us with 
 the river, a tank (of 50,000 gallons capacity) on our campus so that bath- 
 rooms and lavatories are an agency of civilization and comfort. It has 
 also made possible up-to-date laboratory equipment so that we may teach 
 any science by the laboratory method. For drinking water we still use the 
 government-made cisterns, the purity of which renders epidemics a prac- 
 tical impossibility. 
 
 In 1901, there were nine teachers and one hundred twenty-six students. 
 To-day there are nineteen teachers and one hundred and ninety-seven 
 students. Between 1901-1905 we sent three to college, between 1916-1920 
 we sent thirty-seven. In those days there were no regularly normal trained 
 teachers sent out from our care, but as the State of West Virginia formulated 
 its normal course Storer has fallen into line, and meets the same require- 
 ments West Virginia demands of her white teachers. And a Storer normal 
 graduate never goes begging for a school. 
 
 Twenty years ago there was no Industrial Building for boys. In 
 1903, the Lewis W. Anthony Industrial Building was opened for work. 
 While the fortunes of war have made inroads in this department, we hope 
 
Home Mission; The New Century at Storer 
 
 31 
 
 soon to return to our pre-war status of two wood-work teachers under whose 
 training the boys were making much of the school furniture, as well as doing 
 much of the repairing and some of the building. A plan to double the 
 capacity of the building was well under w'ay five years ago, and when 
 prices drop to normal we trust the 
 work thus interrupted may be 
 brought to completion. 
 
 In accordance with the modern 
 trend for instruction in Agriculture, 
 every Storer boy and girl must now 
 study Gardening both theoretically 
 and practically. The individual 
 garden plots cause much good- 
 natured rivalry. 
 
 The Domestic Science Depart- 
 ment, one of the most important 
 branches of our work, has expanded 
 and contracted as necessity de- 
 manded. In 1901 Miss Baker was 
 in sole charge. On her resignation 
 Miss Virginia Brown became teacher 
 of Cookery and INIiss Elizabeth Sims 
 of Sewing. For years the work was 
 efficiently conducted in this man- 
 ner. Then the marriage of Miss 
 Brown forced another change and 
 
 Mrs. Celeste Brackett Newcomer took charge of the Cookery, adding to 
 the course Home Nursing. The Sewing Department has had three on the 
 teaching force when appropriations allowed. All the time our room and 
 equipment has been inadequate and now that towards-normal con- 
 ditions have returned we anticipate the long talked of Domestic Science 
 Building. 
 
 Believing that a neat and dainty personality is an asset in any line 
 of work, Hair Dressing and Manicuring were introduced about six years 
 ago. It hasn't meant straightening of the hair as critics feared, but it has 
 resulted in a means of livelihood for some, and an added care of one's 
 person, for all. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Mosher McDonald 
 Teacher at Storer 1901- 
 
32 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 The growth of the library, the constant use of the books by the 
 students, the deepening interest in the well supplied reading table are 
 evidences of the wise investments of those friends who have made these 
 conditions possible. 
 
 It was in 1906 that the development of the Music Department really 
 began. Compulsory public school music, private work with piano, organ 
 and voice, choir, glee-club and chorus work, together with the gift of the 
 
 Myrtle Hall, now Mosher Hall, Storer College 
 
 pipe organ in 1011 have given us a flourishing and popular Music De- 
 partment. Rev. J. R. Wood, now Spanish teacher in California, started the 
 vocal department. Miss Charlotte Nason, now at Spellman, put six splendid 
 years into creating precedents and ideals. Under the present popular and 
 efficient teacher. Miss Carlotta M. Slater, we are filling acceptable concert 
 engagements in adjacent states. 
 
Home Mission; The New Century at St or or 
 
 33 
 
 To defray the expenses of these new lines of work requires most care- 
 ful management as you may judge from the treasurer's report. In 1901 the 
 report totaled $24,781.00, while in 1920 it was $84,768.50. During the last 
 few years the Alumni Association has become much more actively inter- 
 ested. They have raised $1000.00 for scholarship foundations, are nearly 
 ready to place an up-to-date iron fence about the campus, have furnished 
 prizes for declamatory contests and have helped on the $1000.00 drive put 
 over this year to increase teachers' salaries. For the first time in Storer's 
 history the General Education Board last year voted $2000.00 on our 
 
 teachers' salaries, provided the 
 
 school raised another thousand. 
 Students, past and present, enthu- 
 siastically responded to the appeal 
 sent out by the President and in a 
 short time we had more than gone 
 over the top. 
 
 The 19th Century Storer had no 
 athletics. They were not needed. 
 But, the 20th Century Negro boy 
 and girl need Athletics as much as 
 their white friends. And so, many 
 years ago football and baseball were 
 introduced. In face of the con- 
 tention that the colored boy should 
 be taught to work, not to play ball, 
 Storer has pursued her policy of 
 athletics for exercise only, with the 
 results that the superintendents of 
 the halls say they have no cases of 
 discipline during the months when 
 the surplus energy is spent in 
 
 wholesome play. So alarmed have the colored people become at their own 
 low physical status as revealed by the army census in the World War that the 
 demand for gymnasiums in colored schools is growing insistent. Last 
 Thursday, April, 7, 1921, in our chapel, $2,736.50 was pledged by students 
 and teachers alone, as a nest egg for a gymnasium fund. As one boy said, 
 " When the people for whom we may work this summer, know that we 
 
 Mrs. Celeste Brackett Newcomer 
 Teacher at Storer 
 
34 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 have given out of our poverty to help ourselves, they surely will come 
 across with their thousands to make this building possible." 
 
 But, during this period, so full of promise in many lines, we have 
 lost the great-hearted founder of the school, Dr. Nathan C. Brackett. His 
 last active work was to supervise the building of the new Lincoln Hall, 
 in 1909-10. How he longed to see it finished! Never has the mystery and 
 beauty of life come nearer than that July morning when I listened to the 
 tolling of the chapel bell — that bell that for forty years had daily called 
 him to service — and realized that he must be going with same eager- 
 ness and gladness he had always shown here, in his new field of service, 
 Beyond. Since then Mrs. Brackett, his devoted helper since he brought 
 her here a bride, has retired from active service. But her occasional 
 presence among us is a benediction. 
 
 One of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society teachers has been 
 actively interested through the whole fifty years' growth of Storer. Mrs. 
 L. B. Lightner, for so many years a teacher, is still lady principal, and since 
 the death of her brother, Mr. Brackett, the treasurer. Her wise steadying 
 influence has been one of the biggest assets of the school. And who has 
 loved Storer more than Mrs. Alice M. Metcalf? For years she has gladly 
 given her services. Her Botany classes are among the most popular in 
 school. Among the long service teachers still here Miss Ella Smith, super- 
 intendent of our girls' dormitory, has served the Woman's Board well, 
 while loving Storer so truly that mere money has never tempted her to 
 leav^.. For the lesson of cheerful, loyal effort, how many men and women 
 look back with thankfulness to the teaching of Mrs. Emily C. Jenness, whose 
 last working years were given to Storer. 
 
 And so the years come and go. The scenery shifts, and the actors 
 play different roles, or change entirely; but never has the principle of the 
 founder varied, — the principle of service to humanity. Said the Super- 
 visor of Colored Schools in Maryland on Storer chapel platform the 
 other day — "I have never been here before, but I know your school and 
 its ancient and honorable history. Wherever I meet your alumni, and I 
 am always running across them in my work, I find them genuine workers, 
 imbued with the spirit of service, and I have come to believe that that 
 must be the motto of your institution." — Could the women of the Free 
 Baptist Woman's Society, who have been the supporting column in so 
 many of Storer's drives, desire better returns for their prayers and deeds? 
 
Home Mission; The New Century at Storer 35 
 
 With the old allegiance strong within her, with faith in the beneficent 
 results of our new ties, Storer has entered her second half century of 
 service. 
 
 But who shall follow where they have led? 
 
 Who live and labor and love instead? 
 
 Oh, hearts of youth, earth waits for you; 
 
 Be strong and brave, be firm and true. 
 
 Faithfully promise and nobly do! 
 
 Marianne Fariiixgham 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 
 
 " India is sure for Jesus ! " 
 
 The glorious truth proclaim — 
 Press on, for He is calling, 
 And conquer in His name ! 
 
 Vienna G. Ramsey 
 
 INDIA 
 
 UR Free Baptist Mission in India owes its existence, under God, 
 to the ready wit and inspiration of a woman, a Baptist woman. 
 Mr. and Mrs. James Coleman sailed from Boston for Burma in 
 1817, and joined Adoniram and Ann Hasseltine Judson in Rangoon. In 
 1822 Mr. Coleman died, and his widow, a young woman of twenty-five, 
 took up residence in Calcutta, where she taught in a mission school. Here 
 she met and married Amos Sutton, a General Baptist missionary from 
 England. 
 
 His station was Cuttack, Orisso. — Burdened by the needs of his great 
 field, and limited by the small number of his helpers, he searched in vain 
 for recruits. It was then that his American wife suggested that in her 
 country there was a comparatively new sect calling themselves " Freewill 
 Baptists," akin in doctrine and belief to the General Baptists. So far as 
 she knew they had no foreign work: "Perhaps they would help." She 
 also told him that they had a weekly paper named the " Morning Star." 
 Grasping at the suggestion Mr. Sutton wrote a letter to the editor of this 
 paper, but for lack of an address the letter was pigeon-holed. Months 
 afterward Mrs. Sutton received a package from home wrapped in a copy of 
 the " Morning Star." This furnished the needed address and the letter was 
 sent. Printed in the page of the " Morning Star," April 13, 1832, this 
 appeal created a sentiment that crystallized, in the fall of that year at North 
 Parsonsfield, Me., in the formation of " The Freewill Baptist Foreign Mis- 
 sion Society." January 29, 1833, this Society was chartered by the Maine 
 
 36 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 37 
 
 Legislature, and in March Elder John Buzzell, Editor of the Morning Star, 
 was chosen President. 
 
 Out of this grew our first woman's missionary society in 1847, and 
 much later, in 1873, our Woman's Board. 
 
 The Country. — Free Baptist India is a strip of territory two hundred 
 miles along the Bay of Bengal, between Calcutta and Cuttack. It reaches 
 westward to the Nilgiris, or Blue Hills. Its latitude corresponds to that 
 of the city of Mexico and two hundred miles north of it. The climate 
 is tempered by the afternoon breezes from the Bay of Bengal, so that the 
 heat is not so excessive as it is farther inland. It is an agricultural section, 
 dotted with many small villages. Rice culture is the principal industry, 
 with jute, sugar cane, and cotton raising, oil, silver and brass manufacture, 
 forming other occupations. 
 
 Our field, inclusive of parts of two provinces and peoples, has to deal 
 with two principal languages, the Bengali and the Oriya. Though the 
 written characters are unlike, the spoken languages are sufficiently similar 
 to be understood by many of both races. The Oriya is more akin to the 
 ancient Sanskrit and spoken by some 8,000,000 people, while Bengali is 
 spoken by 30,000,000. The Oriyas are less progressive educationally and 
 in their regard for women. Since illiteracy fosters bigotry, we find the 
 people of Orissa strongly entrenched in Hinduism. Orissa has more temples 
 than any other province in India. Through our entire field from North to 
 South runs the great Jaganath, or Pilgrim Road, one thousand miles 
 between the sacred cities of Benares and Puri. While preaching and tract 
 distribution along this road sends the Gospel message to the ends of the 
 Empire yet it falls on ears so bigoted with Hindu orthodoxy that pilgrim 
 conversions are rare indeed. The Bengali people have a large degree of 
 education with a type of mind that inchnes to philosophy and poetry. Of 
 slender physique they are not fighters but are naturally cunning. This 
 province is a hot-bed of nationalism, and frequent collisions with govern- 
 ment occur. Through its big cities Bengal is in close touch with the out- 
 side world. This tempers the thinking and attitude of its people. Many 
 of its educated men and women are in the vanguard of all Indian reforms. 
 Rice sections are nearly always malarial, the stagnant water in which the 
 rice grows breeding the malarial mosquitoes. This condition prevails in 
 Bengal-Orissa and seriously affects the health of both Americans and 
 Indians. Under-feeding and repeated attacks of fever lower the vitality 
 
38 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 of the Indian and makes him an easy prey to further inroads of disease. 
 Cholera and small-pox are always present in the city bazaars, raging more 
 disastrously some years than others. Influenza in recent years has taken 
 its heavy toll here, as elsewhere. There is very little of enforcement of 
 sanitary laws by the British Government. The Government, however, main- 
 tains hospitals. English-trained Indian physicians and free dispensaries for 
 the people, in the two largest cities of our field, Midnapore and Balasore. 
 
 Stations in Bengal-Orissa were opened with resident missionaries in the 
 following order: Balasore 1838, Jellasore 1840, Midnapore 1844, Santipore 
 1852, Bhimpore 1873, Dantoon 1877, Chandbali 1887, Contai 1893, Bhadrak 
 1900, Kharagpur 1894. In all these places the wives of our missionaries 
 worked for the Indian women and children. The women in America worked 
 from the first with the men for the support of the missionaries in the field. 
 
 Miss Sarah P. Merrill of Stratham, N. H., was the first single woman 
 missionary sent out by the Freewill Baptist Missionary Society in 1846. 
 Within a year she became Mrs. O. R. Bacheler. During the days of the 
 " Female Missionary Society " the women worked separately but passed 
 their funds through the general treasury. The first single woman sent out 
 under this arrangement was Miss Lavina Crawford of Arkwright, N. Y., 
 who sailed from Boston in October 1850 and gave a long life of wonderful 
 service to the children of India. 
 
 Orphanages. — Conditions in India combine to make the lives of its 
 women pitiable and appealing in the extreme. Famine and disease, sin 
 and neglect leave many children helpless and homeless. A natural re- 
 sult was the founding of orphanages. 
 
 Such conditions brought a number of children under the care of our 
 earliest missionaries, Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Bacheler. The number was 
 increased by several groups of boys and girls from the Khond Hills, res- 
 cued by the government militia from human sacrifice and placed in the 
 hands of Dr. O. R. Bacheler. Mrs. Sarah Bacheler cared for these 
 from 1847 to 1851. When Miss Crawford arrived in India, the care of 
 these girls became her work. She says, "I was soon introduced to the 
 Girls' Orphan Asylum — my work. As soon as I had learned a few words 
 and the names of the girls they were made over to my charge. I could 
 direct the sewing and other work of the girls, but when spoken to in 
 three unknown tongues I sympathized with the Babelites. Oriyas, Ben- 
 galis and Khonds were of the number." During the entire period of 
 
40 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Miss Crawford's long service in India, 1850-1882, she had the care of 
 these girls in home and in school, often much additional work, but al- 
 ways the girls. The decade from 1851-1861 they continued in Balasore. 
 Then Miss Crawford came to America leaving the girls with Mrs. D. F. 
 Smith. On her return in 1861 she at once moved the Orphanage to Jell- 
 asore, twenty-eight miles north. She gave here more than a score of years 
 of continuous service, building Christian character and training home 
 makers. 
 
 From 1873 our Woman's Missionary Society chose, outfitted and 
 maintained its own work and workers. In 1882, when the tired hands of 
 Miss Crawford dropped, it was our missionary. Miss Hattie Phillips, 
 who filled the gap from April to November, when Mrs. Dorcas Smith, 
 widowed returning to India under the Woman's Board took over the work. 
 To it she gave the remainder of her life the work passing from her hands 
 only when she passed to the better world. This continuous training un- 
 der two such able women wrought splendid results in the lives of the 
 girls. Miss Crawford's girls, scattered throughout our Field, now passing 
 one by one, have been among the ideal home makers, the strong church 
 supporters, the able and devoted teachers and Bible women of our Mission; 
 notably Rutnie Sing, an able Bible woman in Balasore; Emily, a favorite 
 with Miss Crawford, a Zenana teacher in Midnapore, who did fine work, 
 married and had several children; Betsy, who was with Miss Crawford 
 and held her hand for the last written message, married in Midnapore and 
 did Zenana work; Jhumpi, a devoted Zenana teacher in Balasore for many 
 years, married and brought up a good family. Among Mrs. Smith's girls 
 we would mention Rachel Das, now Mrs. Bose, a senior-trained, normal 
 graduate, head mistress by turns of our Midnapore and Balasore Christian 
 girls schools and mother of three lovely girls. It was in Mrs. Smith's 
 term that the orphanage was moved from Jellasore to Balasore, became 
 housed in its beautiful present building, and named " The Sinclair 
 Orphanage." 
 
 The Superintendent of the Orphanage has a lively and varied 
 career. With her time does not drag, nor days pass in monotony. From 
 early morning till late at night her tasks claim her, and if there be guests 
 arriving or departing, or sickness in the family the night becomes as 
 day. The day begins with the rationing of meals for the orphanage family, 
 and the missionary family; then girls' prayers in their house, servants' 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 41 
 
 prayers in the bungalow, the overseeing of the girls at their morning's 
 work — the drawing of water, washing, cooking and cleaning. Then her 
 medical duties come on; whether or no she be a doctor she must perform 
 the office of physician to her large family, examining for fever, skin diseases, 
 intestinal troubles, often compounding her own medicine and personally 
 administering the same. Village callers take time. Then stores of food, 
 wood and coal must be purchased, cloth for dresses and sheets ordered from 
 hundreds of miles away, mats for sleeping must be kept on hand for regular 
 and extra need, and, most appalling of all, accounts strictly kept and balanced 
 for the inspection of the mission auditor. 
 
 The Orphanage Superintendent nearly always has duties outside the 
 institution, so in the afternoon away she goes on bicycle, or in gari, to visit 
 schools. Zenanas, or meet committees. Then, when the children return 
 from school, there are the sewing and mending classes, special needs and 
 causes to be attended to, and the evenings are replete with prayer-meeting 
 groups, and converts' classes. She is supposed to care for the health, the 
 morals, the domestic and spiritual training of her girls. In between these • 
 events the Superintendent gets in, as best as she can, the meals of the day, 
 family prayers with the bungalow family, a brief rest at noon, and a 
 formidable lot of correspondence. It is no wonder that the vacation finds 
 her thoroughly exhausted, when, for a brief period, she may gain respite 
 from the demands of her flock. She is rewarded for her efforts by such 
 results as are seen in the lives of her girls ; — Chandri, by turns, school 
 teacher, helper in the sewing classes and supervisor of Zenana teachers, 
 ever wiUing and ready to do anything that will help; Kenari, keen, English 
 speaking, educated to college entrance, teacher in Christian Girls Schools 
 in Balasore, then Bhimpore, now Midnapore; the three sisters, Kamini, 
 Sarola and Promodini MulUck, of Santali and Oriya parentage, — Kamini 
 now matron in the Girls Orphanage at Bhimpore; Sarola trained in lace 
 making, now teacher of it; Promodini, a very sweet girl, though quite 
 young, a beloved Zenana teacher; and many others of our bright, useful 
 young women of to-day. 
 
 Subsequent to its coming under the charge of F. B. W. M. S., the 
 record of Sinclair Orphanage Superintendents is: Miss Hattie P. Phillips, 
 April 1882-Nov. 1882; Mrs. Dorcas F. Smith, Nov. 1882-April 1891; Miss 
 Lavina Coombs, April 1891-Jan. 1893 (30 girls); Mrs. Smith, Jan. 1893- 
 Feb. 1899; Miss L. E. Gaunce, Feb. 1899-:\Iarch 1902; Miss Emilie E. 
 
42 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Barnes, Mar. 1902-Feb. 1904; Miss M. Ethel Dawson, Feb. 1904-March 
 1906; Dr. Shirley H. Smith, March 1906-Oct. 1906; Miss Dawson, Oct. 
 1906-March 1907; Mrs. Julia P. Burkholder, March 1907-Dec. 1908; 
 Mrs. S. E. Ager, Dec. 1908-April 1910; Miss Barnes, April 1910-March 
 1913 (65-75 girls); Miss Amy B. Coe, March 1913-April 1916 (75-80 
 girls); Dr. Mary W. Bacheler, April 1916-Feb. 1921; Miss Coe, Feb. 1921- 
 (90 girls). 
 
 Schools. The first missionary in our field, Mrs. Phillips, gathered a 
 few stray children and began a school. Other missionaries did the same. 
 These waifs who were the nuclei of the future orphanages, together with 
 the children in the homes of the earliest converts, formed the material for 
 the first girls' schools. These Christian schools established in every station, 
 were followed in due course, as confidence was gained, by village and 
 jungle schools for Hindu girls. These latter have not yet reached above 
 primary grade. The Christian Girls Schools in Midnapore and Balasore 
 are of higher grade, the latter fitting for High School. 
 
 Early in the history of Midnapore, Mrs. Mary R. Phillips and Miss 
 Julia Phillips gathered the children of the streets into what they called 
 ragged schools. They met under trees, on verandas, wherever a place was 
 available. This grew into a large work with many schools in many villages 
 about Midnapore numbering five or six hundred children. Later these 
 were called Hindu village schools, and were for many years under the super- 
 vision of Miss Butts, and more recently Miss Daniels. Once a year these 
 schools met together in Midnapore for a celebration. As Christmas was 
 the gala day for the Christian schools, New Year's day was the " great 
 day " for the Hindu schools. These Hindu schools for girls and very young 
 boys have been formed in many villages about every mission station. They 
 are usually in care of the missionary in charge of the Christian Girls' School 
 in each station. Miss Butts says of these village schools in 1903: "The 
 standard scholarship course for girls, adopted by all girls' schools in Cal- 
 cutta and vicinity, has been introduced into all our girls' schools, and a 
 special effort is being made to induce the little girls to pass the fourth 
 standard which corresponds to the lower primary course for boys, except 
 that it substitutes needle work for the more advanced Arithmetic work." 
 Miss Butts says, " There are still hundreds of villages in which there are 
 no schools. In the past the majority have had little desire for education 
 for their girls, but with the coming of the steamboat, the railroad, the 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 43 
 
 post-office, the telegraph, introduced by the British administration there has 
 come to many a humble village father a new outlook for his sons and 
 daughters. So these villages are willing to allow Christian instruction if 
 by so doing they can secure teachers in secular branches for their children. 
 I have been obliged to refuse many petitions for schools this past year. 
 The Christian Indian inspector when asked what good he considered these 
 Hindu village schools accomplished promptly replied, " First, we are increas- 
 ing intelligence among the illiterate classes, a good work, and second, we are 
 spreading a knowledge of the Gospel in places where it was never before 
 heard, a still better work. For whatever the children learn is repeated and 
 discussed by the grown-ups of the village." 
 
 It is in the Christian Girls' Schools that our leaders for future Christian 
 work are trained and special attention has always been given to these 
 schools in our larger centers. Our Midnapore Girls' School building was 
 entirely renovated and improved in 1914 with cement roof and widened 
 verandas, so that a re-dedication celebration was held at which the writer 
 had the pleasure of being present. Mrs. Rachael Das Bose was at this time 
 mistress of this school and Shanta Baba Rai, a graduate of the school, who 
 received her high school education in Calcutta, was for a time assistant. 
 Later her sister, Khanto Bala Rai, who has had two years of college work, 
 was assistant here before coming to America. A good number of girls 
 have gone up from this school to Calcutta for higher education. We are 
 now promised out of the Jubilee Funds a Girls' High School for Midna- 
 pore that shall serve the Bengali, Oriya and Santali girls of our field. The 
 Balasore Christian Girls' School has been buffeted about in very unsatisfac- 
 tory housing all these years but in 1920 they came into their beautiful new 
 building. It was raised from Middle Vernacular to Middle English in grade 
 in 1920. That is, in the former the study of English was optional, in the 
 latter it is compulsory above the third grade. At the same time the Govern- 
 ment stipend was raised to ninety rupees a month. The Government 
 Instructress, and the educated Babus of Balasore, have on many occasions 
 spoken high words of commendation of the work done in our Christian 
 Girls' School. A number of our girls from Balasore have gone on for higher 
 education, — to Calcutta for High School and Cuttack for Normal Train- 
 ing, or to Berampore for Nurses' Training. Nermola Nayak, one of our 
 Balasore girls, is the first girl in the Province of Orissa to take a full 
 college course and win her B. A. degree. Following that, she became a 
 
Group of Educated Christian Girls 
 Bengal-Orissa 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 45 
 
 teacher in the Government High School in Cuttack. later served as Assistant 
 Inspectress of schools in Orissa, and has now been sent to England to 
 study at Government expense. 
 
 Kindergartens. — The first Kindergarten opened in our field was in 
 Balasore through the efforts of Miss Hattie Phillips. Her niece. Miss Beebee 
 Phillips (daughter of Dr. J. L. and Mary R. Phillips, a third generation Phil- 
 lips in India), became the first Kindergarten Missionary, formally opening 
 the school in 1896. Others quickly followed, one in Oriya at Santipore in 
 1898, organized by Dr. Helen M. Phillips; one in Bengali at Midnapore 
 in 1900, by Mrs. H. E. Wyman; one in Oriya at Chanbali in 1902, by 
 yixs. Ager; one in Oriya for Santal children at Santipore in 1905, by Mrs. 
 Grififin; one in Bengali for Santal children at Bhimpore, by Mrs. Kennan; 
 and a kindergarten department in the girls' school at Contai. Though this 
 movement was started by a missionary of the Woman's Board, none of 
 these schools except the first one at Balasore, is in charge of the 
 F. B. W. M. S. 
 
 On the marriage of Miss Beebee Phillips, in 1897, her aunt. Miss Hattie 
 Phillips, with native assistance assumed charge until Miss Gowen arrived 
 (October 1909) and gained a working knowledge of Oriya. Miss Amy 
 Porter took it from her in 1916, and in 1921 Miss Gladys Doe became 
 head of the kmdergarten work. 
 
 A kindergarten normal training school was maintained for several 
 years, before and after 1910. Our first Indian kindergarten teachers were 
 thus prepared. Later it was deemed expedient to send our limited number 
 of girls taking such training to the English Baptist school in Cuttack. 
 
 WIDOWS' HOME 
 
 The idea of a Widows' Home for our Field was conceived in the 
 heart of Dorcas Smith, but hovered there for a quarter of a century be- 
 fore assuming tangible form. Since 1898 it has serv^ed about one hundred 
 of India's needy women. Neither this nor the widows' home of the Pundita 
 Pvamabai have fulfilled the purpose for which they were intended, the 
 saving of high caste girl widows. Family pride and prejudice would quench 
 life itself rather than give the girl to Christian succor. But other needy 
 girls and women have come and gone receiving temporary shelter and 
 assistance. From twelve to twenty are accommodated at a time. They 
 
46 
 
 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 are given shelter, a sari and jacket at Christmas, if in school a weekly 
 stipend for food, if not, means of earning money to buy food and clothes. 
 Their labor is unskilled, — carrying bricks or mortar for building, clean- 
 ing up the compound, husking rice or making grass rope. Some of the 
 younger women who have remained longer have learned to crochet. One 
 young girl has married and gone to another station to live. Another has 
 refused offers of marriage. Three have been baptized and joined the 
 church. Kuni is perhaps the best fruit of the Widows' Home. She came 
 to us when about eighteen, right from heathenism, entered the lowest 
 
 Dorcas Smith Widows' Home 
 Balasore, Orissa 
 
 primary grade and by persistence has made progress. She is of a happy, 
 loving disposition. She has become a Christian and wants to fit herself 
 for Christian work. Several visits have been made by her to her heathen 
 village with good results. 
 
 Mrs. Smith says, in one article by her, printed after her death in 
 1899, " It is only a few out of the millions that we shall be able to reach, 
 but the God whom we serve only requires faithfulness in doing what we 
 can in His service." 
 
 Zefianas. At the present time education in India is only for one girl 
 out of one hundred and forty-four; and that one in most cases must get 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 
 
 47 
 
 what she is to receive before she is twelve years of age. For, by that 
 age the great majority of India's girls have the burden of domestic duties 
 thrust upon them by marriage. And school for them is only a brief, in- 
 terrupted dream of the past. The Christian girl remains unmarried until 
 she is at least sixteen, and many longer, while they pursue higher educa- 
 tion. If then, the married, or betrothed, girl of the Zenana is to have 
 anything that the school can give her, the school must go to her. 
 
 This was early recognized by our missionaries. But an entrance into 
 these closed or purdah homes, was not easy to obtain, and confidence must 
 
 Zenana Teachers 
 
 first be inspired by long residence and tactful dealing on the part of the 
 missionary. 
 
 It was in February, 1866, that entrance was gained into the first Hindu 
 Zenanas, by Miss Julia Phillips, and Mrs. Mary R. Phillips at Midnapore. 
 It came about through the desire of a Babu for embroidered slippers. 
 Learning that the missionary could teach his wife this art, he reluctantly 
 consented to the religious teaching that must accompany it in order to 
 gain her services. The desire for embroidered slippers spread from house 
 to house and so the doors opened for Christian teaching. More difficult 
 was it to gain admission to Moslem homes. The achievement was made 
 in this way: Mary Bacheler, in India as a child, often went with her 
 
48 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 father on his visits to the sick. One evening in 1867 he went to see a 
 Mussulman of high rank. A crowd gathered about little Mary left in the 
 buggy outside. A member of the household asked her to go inside and 
 see the ladies. She went fearlessly. The ladies gathered about her in 
 wonder and admiration, and when her father called for her they invited 
 her to come again. She asked if her mother might come too, and was 
 answered in the affirmative. Of course her mother went, and went again. 
 This was the first Mohammedan Zenana opened to Christian teaching in 
 the Province of Bengal. The rank and influence of this family was the 
 means of opening other homes. Since those days in the late sixties, regular 
 school instruction and Christian teaching have been carried on in an in- 
 creasing number of homes in the vicinity of all our mission stations. For 
 a number of years this work has been limited only by the number of avail- 
 able teachers meeting educational requirements. The British Government 
 now gives a generous grant-in-aid for this work which is under its inspec- 
 tion, the same as is all our educational work. Reading, writing, number 
 work and sewing are taught, and higher branches if there is a demand. 
 And always Bible verses, stories. Christian hymns, and a brief catechism 
 are taught. Mission prizes are given only for the Bible work done. When 
 a pupil can tell six or more stories well she is given a New Testament. 
 There are hundreds of New Testaments in the Hindu and Mohammedan 
 homes throughout Bengal-Orissa acquired in this way. In Balasore alone 
 fourteen Christian women go two or three times each week to three hun- 
 dred and thirty women, explaining salvation and the way to walk therein. 
 Among our Zenana pupils are those from the wealthiest Hindu and Mo- 
 hammedan homes, as well as many from the very poorest. Mrs. Burk- 
 holder says of the difficulties, " The pupils are constantly changing. The 
 Httle wives are sent away to their husbands' homes and we lose sight of 
 them. Those who are in their husbands' homes are frequently sick from 
 unsanitary conditions or child-birth. An epidemic of cholera and smallpox 
 may break out and the Zenanas be closed to visitation for a number of 
 weeks. And then there are the endless number of Moslem and Hindu 
 festivals that hinder progress. But if one door closes another opens and 
 we go steadily on with our work." 
 
 The Secretary recalls a visit with Miss Sadie Gowen, to Rosie Babu's 
 house, typical of the better sort. Rosie Babu is a Zemindar, or land 
 owner, renting his fields in small sections to poor cultivators. His house 
 
Foreign Mission, Bcngal-Orissa, India 
 
 49 
 
 is a large one covering a quarter of a block. She remembers the mazes 
 of its corridors leading through a bewildering series of courts and rooms. 
 Eighty people live here, all related in some way to one another. One is a 
 teacher of Sanscrit in our Christian Boys' High School, another speaks 
 good Enghsh and was formerly a Deputy Inspector of Schools for Bala- 
 sore. Among the many women of the household, ten are pupils of our 
 Zenana School. One is a mother at thirteen years. Another is a widow, 
 mourning bitterly at times for a husband whom she never saw because 
 
 Balasore Christmas Group 1914 
 
 he died when she was five years old. Another, most interesting in our 
 teachings, had recently become a widow. It was easy to know it. All 
 her gold chains and bracelets were gone, and only the plainest cloth formed 
 the setting of a sorrowful face. Miss Gowen says, " In India, as else- 
 where, affliction brings people to a sense of their helplessness, and at such 
 times many pupils have been brought very near to the true Source of help. 
 There are secret believers not a few in the fine residences and in the little 
 mud-walled, thatched-roofed houses in and about Balasore." This is equally 
 true of the other parts of our Field where the white-robed Christian teachers 
 go with their message of love and cheer, followed in their round, once a 
 month, by the educational missionary having Zenana work in charge. 
 
50 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 " Time was," says Mrs. Burkholder, " when we had to plead with the 
 women to learn to read. The reply was, ' No, we cannot, for we will be- 
 come widows if we do.' ' She is nothing but a woman,' was the attitude 
 of man toward womanhood. Now, how changed! Colleges for women 
 have been established, and girls from Hindu homes have even braved cus- 
 toms and public sentiment and crossed the seas to England and America 
 in search of knowledge. Now when a bride is sought, the question is 
 asked, ' What of her education? What examinations has she passed? ' " 
 And so even in India sentiment has changed in the more than fifty years 
 now (1866-1921) since Zenana work began in Bengal-Orissa. 
 
 Bible Womeji. The directly evangelistic work for women is carried 
 on by Bible Women. This began as soon as there was a Christian woman 
 sufficiently matured and devout in the Christian way to go forth and lead 
 others. None but elderly women, of Christian experience, are quahfied 
 for this work, or are safe to go where they have to go. Mariam and 
 Rutnie are two of our earliest and best Bible Women who have continued 
 down to the present year. Miss Coe says, " A Bible Woman goes out 
 each day to tell the Gospel story wherever she has opportunity. She is 
 much more exposed than the Zenana Teacher, who goes only to her own 
 pupils, who are expecting her, and where she has a comparatively secluded 
 place for the lesson." The Bible Woman seeks the woman where she is, 
 busy in her court-yard, at her tasks, willing to listen but a few moments, 
 or, in the open, along the roads, in the bazaars and market places, where 
 her story has many interruptions. She must be ready to meet the taunts 
 and arguments of men, to tramp long distances and to keep sweet and 
 courageous under all circumstances. The approach is made by a courteous 
 greeting, an inquiry for the health of husband and son; then a song and 
 by way of its explanation is included the story of salvation through Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Mofussil Work. Perhaps there is no work the missionary loves so 
 well as the cold season, country touring when villages are entered that are 
 visited but once a year, or in many cases, only once in a number of years. 
 Tent and equipment are taken along and the missionary lives for a number 
 of weeks in a new environment, an environment fraught with wonderful 
 possibilities for seed sowing. One or more Bible Women are a part of 
 the touring party, and together they tramp the highways and by-ways, 
 across rice fields from village to village and from Market to Jatra. Books 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 51 
 
 and tracts are taken along for sale and free distribution. Sometimes Dr. 
 Mary takes along her flute-harmonium and delights the people with song 
 and music. This never fails to bring listeners. The magic lantern is con- 
 sidered by Dr. Mary and other missionaries to be one of the best ways 
 of presenting the Gospel to Hindu audiences and mixed audiences. In this 
 way a continuous story is gotten while the attention is held through both 
 the ear and the eye. The screen hung in a big open doorway affords view 
 for the women from within the house, and the men outside in the court- 
 yard. I've heard a woman say, when out with Mrs. Burkholder near 
 Midnapore, " That sounds good! your words cool the burning of my heart! " 
 And another, when out with Miss Coe at Jellasore, " Did you say your 
 God loved a woman? and a widow? I'm old, tell it to the young women." 
 Many a soul is saved for the Kingdom in this happy work. 
 
 Properties. 
 
 Our Free Baptist property holdings in Bengal-Orissa are distinguished 
 for their stragetic locations in the several centers where we carry on work; 
 their broad acres allowing for improvements and providing ample breathing 
 space. Four properties are owned by our Woman's Board, one in Midnapore 
 and three in Balasore. 
 
 Henderson Home. The piece of land in Midnapore now occupied by 
 Henderson Home was a part of the military cantonment in the days long 
 ago, when Midnapore was a military station. Our General Board pur- 
 chased it for the erection of a printin7 establishment, and on the founda- 
 tions of a former military structure Dr. O. R. Bacheler erected the first 
 building for a Christian printing press in Bengal-Orissa. Much needed 
 literature was put forth. During the ensuing years other presses, by other 
 interests, were erected in Midnapore and Calcutta, and it was thought wise 
 to close our press. Then it was that our Woman's Board bought the 
 property, remodeling and enlarging it, making it suitable for a dwelling 
 house. A woman in Gonic, New Hampshire, gave the funds for this re- 
 modeling and the home is named in memory of her mother, Henderson 
 Home. The residence is the home of our single women missionaries. It 
 is one story, has six rooms with verandas at front and rear. When Dr. 
 Mary Bacheler lived here, one room was fitted up as her office and known 
 as the Brown Dispensary. This residence was long the home of Miss 
 
52 
 
 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Coombs, Miss Butts and Dr. Mary; later of Mrs. Burkholder, Mrs. Holden 
 and Miss Daniels. Opposite Henderson Home is the Bacheler bungalow 
 of the General Board on whose compound is the Girls' School, toward 
 whose building the Woman's Society gave a substantial sum. Farther along 
 the same road is the Phillips bungalow. Southwest from Henderson Home 
 is the Phillips Memorial Bible Training School, housed in Deering Hall, 
 
 Henderson Home, Midnapore, Bengal 
 
 the most pretentious structure in our Mission. Northeast, across the 
 Jaganath road is the Midnapore Church. 
 
 Sinclair Orphanage. When it became desirable to remove the Girls' 
 Orphanage from Jellasore to Balasore in 1886, there was no suitable building 
 to house the girls. The transfer was made into temporary quarters, and 
 Mrs. Dorcas F. Smith, then in charge, kept her eyes open for possibihties. 
 Learning that a certain English residence was on the market, she at once 
 took steps to secure an option, and sent home an urgent message for funds 
 and authority to purchase. Not waiting for an answer she took possession 
 in her own name, later transferring the same to the Woman's Board. 
 
Foreign Mission, Bcngal-Orissa, India 53 
 
 In America, the news of the need came to the attention of Rev. J. L. 
 and Olive E. Sinclair of New Hampshire, friends of Mrs. Smith, and they 
 at once furnished the purchase price of the property, stipulating that Mrs. 
 Smith have the right of a home here as long as she should live. By the 
 wish of the Society the name Sinclair was given to the home. It was 
 occupied by Mrs. Smith and her twenty-seven girls in 1888. The com- 
 pound is wide and spacious, with two great banyan trees over-arching the 
 entrance gate. The residence sits well in from the road, and is reached by 
 a circular driveway around a heart-shaped plat of lawn and tlowers be- 
 tween it and the gate. Its wide pillared verandas, and imposing entrance- 
 porticos banked with marvelous tropical greenery give it a palatial appear- 
 ance. It is the most beautiful residence in Balasore, indeed, the Secretary 
 says, " It is the most beautiful mission home she saw in her travels around 
 the world." It is five rooms wide on the front and two deep, with a small 
 upper-room on the roof. Indeed the roof itself picturesquely balustraded 
 is used for many purposes, — quiet talks with the girls, Sunday afternoon 
 sings, parties and socials. We can never be grateful enough to Mrs. Smith 
 and Mrs. Sinclair for securing to us this splendid property. 
 
 To the left of the bungalow are the girls' houses, to the rear the cook- 
 houses, and to the right the servants' quarters A large tank and a well 
 are a part of the equipment. In IQIS there were three of the girls' houses. 
 In that year the poorest one was taken down, and a fine new pucca one 
 (brick and cement) erected in its place, connecting with the other dormi- 
 tories giving much more sanitary and safe accommodations. This was done 
 through the generosity of three of our mission workers on the field. 
 
 Dorcas Smith Widows' Home. This was a need felt by many, but 
 the peculiar child of Mrs. Smith's love and prayers. Her zeal interested 
 many, and small gifts began coming into the treasury. But again it was 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair who came to the rescue, and gave the thousand 
 dollars that should secure to the institution the name of their friend Dor- 
 cas Smith. It was Mrs. Smith's executive ability that saw to the erecting 
 of the bungalow and other buildings in 1898. She witnessed the consumma- 
 tion of her efforts in the dedication, October 22. 1898. But worn out by 
 this extra, strenuous effort for a woman over seventy, she became prone 
 to disease and, on the eve of her departure on furlough, Feb. 11, 1899, 
 she passed to the higher life. 
 
 The bungalow is a small three-room house with connecting storage and 
 
54 
 
 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 cook-house. The women's houses, three in number, are to one side open- 
 ing onto a court, and all so connected as to be under lock and key at night. 
 A large tank is in the rear. The compound adjoins the Sinclair com- 
 pound of which it was a part. 
 
 A word about the generosity of Rev. and Mrs. Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair 
 inherited his father's farm, Mrs. Sinclair, one thousand dollars. With 
 this nucleus, and a salary never over five hundred dollars a year, they lived 
 simply and well, entertained hospitably, brought up and educated a son to 
 twenty years of age, when he died, and gave thirty thousand dollars to 
 Missions, a financial achievement rarely equalled. 
 
 Caroline Bradbury Kindergarten Hall. The Balasore Kindergarten 
 started by Miss Hattie Phillips, formerly opened by Miss Beebee Phillips, 
 
 Bradbury Kindergarten Hall, 
 Balasore, Orissa 
 
 a trained kindergartener, in 18Q6, was housed first in their home, next in 
 the chapel, then in a discarded boys' school building, and, until each in 
 turn was over-run, " the very walls bursting out with Brownies," wrote 
 Miss Hattie Phillips. Then a site was purchased on the Jaganath Road, 
 and a new and real kindergarten building erected. The women and young 
 people of Rhode Island were given the privilege of raising the money for, 
 and naming this building. Considerable sums came in, and from one 
 woman five hundred dollars, which gave the privilage of naming. This 
 she did, giving it the name of her mother, Caroline L. Bradbury, who was 
 the third recording secretary of the Freewill Baptist Female Missionary 
 Society. Bradbury Kindergaten Hall was erected in 1904. It was that 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 
 
 55 
 
 ■t\ 
 
 same year that its founder, guardian, and moving spirit. Miss Hattie Phillips, 
 became Mrs. J. L. Stone and returned to America. As a wedding gift, Mr. 
 Stone gave one thousand dollars for the finishing and equipping of Kinder- 
 garten Hall. It stands as a worthy product of their united interest. It 
 is fifty-two by twenty-six feet with a wide covered veranda all the way 
 around. At one end of the Hall is a beautiful stained glass window bear- 
 ing the singularly appropriate 
 words, " Before they call I will 
 answer, while they are yet 
 speaking I will hear." In 1904 
 its equipment was said to be 
 the best of any kindergarten 
 in Orissa, and no other had its 
 own building. It was occupied 
 in January, 1905, and formally 
 dedicated by July 26, 1905, 
 when there were seventy chil- 
 dren on the roll. 
 
 Girls' School. The appro- 
 priation for this building was 
 made by our Society, plans 
 approved by Government, and 
 part of the material gathered 
 and on the spot, when the 
 World War put a halt on Gov- 
 ernment grants and caused 
 prices to soar to a prohibitive 
 height. So that this building, 
 so long planned and needed, did 
 not " become," as our India 
 
 friends say, until 1920. Miss Gowen worked on the plans and saw the bricks 
 gathered on a corner of the lot. Miss Porter re-adapted the plans after the 
 war, and saw the walls rise to completion. But it remained for Miss Coe to 
 consummate the enterprise in a Dedication, Aug. 20, 1920. that will go 
 down as a memorable day in the history of the School. The Magistrate 
 and dignitaries of Balasore graced the occasion, and the children did great 
 credit to their teachers and the School. The school building is in two wings 
 
 / 
 
 Beraj Morapatra and Kamalini Chattigi 
 Teachers in Girls' School, Balasore 
 
56 TJic Free Baptist Womeiis Missionary Society 
 
 extending toward the highway from either side of Kindergarten Hall and 
 connected with it at the corners by the veranda which runs continuously 
 along the three sides of the court thus formed. As it stands it forms a 
 single educational institution with Kindergarten Hall in the center, and a 
 Girls' School wing on each side opening out to the great Pilgrim Road. 
 All our mission buildings are built of brick and cement, with steel beams, 
 and whitened outside and in. Their appearance is substantial and attrac- 
 tive. 
 
 Medical. There have been sent to our Free Baptist Field three women 
 physicians, two by our Woman's Board. Dr. Helen M. Phillips served 
 under the General Board from 1S81 to 1002. Dr. Mary W. Bacheler. 
 going out as a physician in 18Q0, is still in active service. Dr. Shirley H. 
 Smith served one term in lOOO-lQOS. The latter served in Balasore and 
 had a dispensary on the Sinclair compound. The greater part of Dr. Mary's 
 medical service was performed in Midnapore where she ministered from 
 the Brown Dispensary. 
 
 Industrial. In Miss Crawford's day. we hear of her girls doing " weav- 
 ing, knitting, and sewing." 
 
 Miss Barnes at Bhadrak in 1000. says. " knitting is taught, and the 
 sewing class pieced and sold a number of quilts." 
 
 ]\liss Coombs from Midnapore in 1003 writes of the girls of the Chris- 
 tian school, doing " sewing, knitting, and canvas work, samples of which 
 were sent to Santipore Mela and prizes received." 
 
 Such reports could be repeated from all the stations of our ^lission. In 
 fhe orphanages the girls do all the mending and a considerable portion of 
 the sewing that is done for the large number of girls. The Government 
 requires that sewing be taught in the schools. In later years and at the 
 present time classes in Bhimpore and Midnapore excel in pillow-lace work, 
 while the girls and women of Balasore do beautiful crochet edging and 
 doilies, and drawn-work handkerchiefs. These products find a ready sale 
 in this country where they are brought by missionaries on furlough. And 
 the income materially assists our India girls in their school or home life. 
 
 Bible Training. In each station Bible Classes are conducted once or 
 twice a week, made up of the Bible Women, Zenana and school teachers. 
 Their attendance is required and a regular course of study is pursued. 
 -Mrs. Burkholder has prepared two study books which are followed in these 
 classes. An annual examination is given and cash prizes awarded. Every 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 57 
 
 year at Midnapore a week of Institute is held for all the Indian workers, 
 men and women, in our Field. Here again examinations are taken on the 
 class instruction and lecture courses. During Mrs. Holder's term in India, 
 a Bible Training School to prepare young women to enter Christian ser- 
 vice, was started at Midnapore. There were nine girls in the first year 
 class. The second year there were fiv'e in the first year class and seven 
 in the second. The second year the school was conducted by Miss Daniels 
 and Mrs. Murphy, assisted by Indian teachers. When Mrs. Holder and 
 Miss Daniels came home on furlough the school was temporarily dis- 
 continued. A new dormitory is promised by the W. A. B. F. M. S. for 
 this school when it is reopened. 
 
 Temperance. " It is a matter of history,'" says Rev. F. L. Wiley, 
 " that among religious bodies. Free Baptists were the first to declare for 
 temperance reform. They early incorporated its principles into their church 
 covenant and public ministrations." These tenets were taken by our 
 missionaries into their work in India. We find these statements, from Miss 
 Barnes at Bhadrak, "A temperance catechism is taught in the schools"; 
 from Miss Butts at Midnapore, " Our Christian inspector of ragged schools 
 examines the pupils monthly in temperance lessons "; and, from Miss Hattie 
 Philhps in Balasore, " Scientific Temperance Instruction has been given 
 in many fields. This year I am trying to induce the head-master of the 
 Government schools to do the same here.'' Miss Phillips was instrumental 
 in introducing S. T. I. into the schools of seven or eight missions of Ben- 
 gal. There have been W^ C. T. U.'s in Balasore, Midnapore and Kharag- 
 pur. The Secretary had the pleasure of attending a session of the one at 
 Kharagpur. "Tidings" of March, 1921, tells of a W. C. T, U. social at 
 the Kharagpur parsonage to which husbands and friends were invited. 
 It says, " A friendly interest towards the organization was aroused in the 
 hearts of some who knew little about it, and some new members gained." 
 Miss Hattie Phillips was President of the Orissa W. C. T. U. in 1895, 
 while at the same time her sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary R. Phillips, was Presi- 
 dent of the All-India W. C. T. U. Each, in turn, was editor of " The 
 White Ribbon for Asia." Our ministry and Christian people are unusually 
 free from the use of intoxicants and narcotics. And the use of " pan," the 
 national indulgence for men and women, young and old, is frowned upon 
 by our missionaries and ruled against in our Mission institutions. 
 
 Vacations. Mav is the month of intensest heat in Bengal-Orissa, be- 
 
58 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 fore the cooling rains " break "' in June. It is the time of vacation from 
 all lines of endeavor. Then all missionaries who can do so leave their 
 posts and play. Chandipore is nine miles east of Balasore on the Bay of 
 Bengal. It is called the " Ocean Park of India." Here our Mission has 
 three bungalows, built and owned first by individual missionaries, and 
 later purchased by the Mission. Although in the same latitude this place 
 has the advantage of the sea-breezes, the fine bathing, the cooler evenings 
 on the sands, the freedom from folk, and absolute quiet for reading, writ- 
 ing and social intercourse. Here, only missionaries from our own Mission 
 come; and here they enjoy each other. Vacation is not all rest though, 
 for there are stacks of letters to be answered, and volumes of accounts 
 to be caught up. 
 
 Many seek the cooler latitudes of the hills. This is desirable for 
 health, at least every other year. Five hundred miles to the north is 
 Darjeeling, 7,000 feet high, the summer capital of Bengal for Government 
 officials and hence a fashionable social center. Many missionaries from 
 many missions congregate here, but of particular interest to us are those 
 from Bengal-Orissa and our Baptist Mission in Assam. Delightful social 
 events, inspirational gatherings and entrancing scenery are enjoyed here. 
 A few of our missionaries wander so far off to the west and north as Nani 
 Tal and even Kashmir. Another favorite rendezvous is Ootacamund, nine 
 hundred miles to the south, in the Eastern Ghats. This is the resort for all 
 missions in south India, and here missionaries from our two Baptist Fields 
 of Bengal-Orissa and the Telegu country meet. Although not so high as 
 Darjeeling, no snow-capped giant peaks in sight, the setting and foliage are 
 peculiarly beautiful, and Institutes and helpful occasions are held here 
 throughout the season. Our Institutions cannot be left entirely alone; 
 some workers must stay by the " stuff." Such usually take their vacations 
 in September, when, at the close of the rains, is another hot period, be- 
 fore the lowering of the mercury in October bringing in the relief and joy 
 of the cold season. 
 
 Special Events. Christmas is the great celebration of the year. Most 
 of the native people in the large centers know at least the name and are 
 as ready with the familiar salutation as are folk in Christian lands. It is 
 the time when everybody from beggar to Government official expects 
 " backsheesh " from the white man. It is the time when the Hindu Rajah 
 sends gifts to the missionary, — when his servants appear on the porch with 
 
Foreign Mission, Bengal-Orissa, India 59 
 
 huge trays on their heads laden with deHcious fruits with the compliments 
 of "His Highness!" In the mission it is a season of strenuous work for 
 the lady missionaries, and of intense excitement for the younger constitu- 
 ency. There are trees in Institutions and Churches. All of the orphanage 
 children, widows, servants, and dependent poor who must be provided with 
 clothing sometime are so provided at Christmas. The boxes from America 
 are then a joy unspeakable, for, from their contents all the orphanage 
 children of school age are supplied with book-bags, and pencils, and the 
 younger ones with dolls and toys. The native events for the day over, the 
 missionaries of a station meet together in the evening for a dinner, tree ■ 
 and social time. At Jellasore, New Year's Day is the great time, with 
 watch-meeting, serenade and community dinner. 
 
 The Indian heathen people have many jatras and tamashas, all in the 
 name of religion. Sachi and Gunga Babus — both Christians of Brahmin 
 birth — believed a Christian out-of-door festival would be helpful to our 
 cause as a demonstration before the Hindus and Mohammedans of the 
 glad side of our religion. Such a festival was instituted, and named for 
 brother Sachi, who died shortly after its innauguration, the Sachidananda 
 Mela, or Festival of the Life-Giving Truth! It is held each February at 
 Santipore for three days. Gateways and arches are trimmed with flutter- 
 ing banners, mottoes, and gay-colored papers; booths are erected for the 
 bazaar, to which as many as 3,000 people, mostly pagan, come. The 
 school children from the villages round about come in bands, two and three 
 hundred strong, give a program in the open-air and receive sweet-meats; 
 games and stunts are arranged for the young men. In the church evangel- 
 istic services are in progress, and stereopticon lectures on the life of Christ 
 are held in the evenings in the open. Our Bible women are busy among 
 the crowds of Hindu women who attend, and our Christian schools make 
 creditable exhibits. A Quarterly Meeting is held the three days preceding 
 the Mela, as a preparation for it, and as added reason for the attendance 
 of our Christian people and missionaries. 
 
 The Annual Bible Training Institute occurs in March at Midnapore, 
 in Deering Hall. To this come the Christian Indian workers of our Field, 
 men and women, spending a week in study and in acquiring inspirational 
 equipment for continued service. The missionary becomes the teacher, 
 lecturer, and entertainer. The work is summed up in examinations at the 
 end. Social features help our workers from different stations to become 
 
6o The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 acquainted with each other. Men and women, of course, meet separately 
 for social intercourse. 
 
 Prize givings, following English customs, are held in all our schools. 
 In the larger schools of higher grades, they become elaborate functions. 
 These usually occur in April. The English magistrate and native Princes 
 are invited and attend. Some one distinguished guest is honored as the 
 prize giver. The pupils are in gala attire. An attractive program is put 
 on with drills and dramatic presentations in addition to recitations and 
 songs. The handwork of the pupils is pleasingly exhibited about the halls. 
 Here again the contents of our American " boxes " are requisitioned, furnish- 
 ing the handkerchiefs, sewing boxes, books and so forth that constitute 
 the prizes. These occasions serve to advertise our Christian schools and 
 elicit many appreciative words from guests. They also give the pupils a 
 happy time and some recognition of their efforts. 
 
 For the working church the chief event in the year's round is the 
 Yearly Meeting. It alternates between the two largest stations, Balasore 
 and Midnapore, and occurs in October. The mission homes in the enter- 
 taining station get out their supply of cots, secure additional ones, guests 
 bring their cooks and waiters along and jolly house parties are a part of 
 the experience. The Indian folk do likewise among themselves. It is the 
 time, during the several days of sessions, that the American and the Indian 
 church-men confer together, and have mutual and equal parts on the pro- 
 gram. There is a woman's hour with American women speakers. Ex- 
 periences are exchanged, advice sought and given, problems are talked 
 over and practical help given and gained for the work of the ensuing year. 
 The C. E. have an evening and come in good numbers with banners and 
 group songs and texts. Often Yearly Meeting takes an evangelistic turn 
 and a powerful season of heart searching and spiritual uplift is felt. 
 
 In the following month of November the India Committee of Refer- 
 ence convenes. This is composed of all the missionaries on the Field one 
 year, men and women, and they are, so far as may be, expected to be 
 present. This is the one time when the missionaries meet by themselves. 
 Brother Sachi-danando Rai was a member of this Committee but he is the 
 only Indian who has been so honored. At this time questions are ventilated, 
 new policies discussed and acted upon; communications from the Home 
 Board receive attention and the actions of this Committee forwarded to 
 it; mission accounts are audited and new missionaries and those returning 
 
Foreign Mission, Bcngal-Orissa, India 6i 
 
 from furlough located. It is a time of " strictly business " for two and 
 sometimes three whole days, according to the amount of business on the 
 docket. The rapidity with which the chairman dispatches business would 
 make some of our home executives dizzy! Work and needs at the home 
 stations are just pressing for attention and not a precious moment may be 
 wasted. After this the evangelistic missionaries go out with tent and auto 
 or rail and house-boat into cold-season itinerating. 
 
 Advance Steps. A certain section of our field is set apart as home- 
 mission territory. Work here is supported by Indian gifts. Each church 
 contributes, as does also the C. E. and Woman's Missionary Societies. 
 The purpose is to lead the Indian Christian to gain a sense of responsibility 
 toward his own people, in order to make Christianity indigenous and self- 
 supporting. 
 
 As Indian workers are prepared for it. more and more authority is 
 placed in their hands. For instance, in our woman's work, the superin- 
 tendence of Zenanas in Balasore, a task always carried by a missionary, 
 has, for the past two years, been carried very acceptably by Chundri, one 
 of our fine young women, a Sinclair Orphanage girl who became a teacher. 
 
 This year there is being graduated from a Calcutta school another one 
 of our Sinclair Orphanage girls, Bachine. Specialized as a Christian social 
 worker, she will go into the Hindu homes teaching hygiene and simple 
 industries, trying to gather the women together in classes either in their 
 own villages or on the mission compound where the missionary can meet 
 them and nourish their poor starved lives, physically, mentally, and 
 spiritually. 
 
 I thank Him for home and its comfort.s, 
 
 In this far-away heathen land; 
 For friends that are loving and faithful, 
 For work that enlists heart and hand. 
 Harriet Preston Phh-lips 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Missionary Helper 
 
 As a man readeth so is he. 
 
 Frances E. Willard. 
 
 ROM the very beginning of the foreign mission work of the Free 
 Baptists in 1835, and the home work in the Shenandoah Valley in 
 1865, the Morning Star gladly opened its pages to further these 
 undertakings. But its columns were so crowded it could not afford the 
 space the growing work required, and the need of a distinctly missionary 
 periodical was felt. In 1876, by request of Dr. James L. Phillips, then 
 in this country, a committee of five, with an equal number representing the 
 foreign, the home mission, and the education societies, considered this 
 matter but without any practical results. The women in the recently or- 
 ganized Woman's Missionary Society (1873) were deeply feeling the need 
 of some medium through which access could be gained to the many women 
 in our churches who did not take the Star; an organ of their own. 
 to aid in perfecting and extending their organization and in presenting 
 their methods of work, as well as in spreading abroad missionary informa- 
 tion. Miss Julia P. Phillips, then on furlough, was working in the East, 
 organizing auxiliaries and children's bands. While visiting " Mother " 
 Hills in Dover, N. H., she zealously urged the necessity of " some plan 
 by which heart might touch heart," some medium through which ample 
 and friendly consideration might be given all matters coming within the 
 province of the Woman's Missionary Society. A meeting was called at 
 the home of Mrs. I. D. Stewart, at which were present Mrs. M. M. H. 
 Hills, Mrs. E. B. Chamberlain, Mrs. Martha L. Smith, Mrs. F. S. Mosher, 
 Mrs. M. S. Waterman, all of Dover; Mrs. J. A. Lowell of Danville, Mrs. 
 Marilla M. Brewster of Providence, and Miss Julia P. Phillips, now 
 Mrs. Burkholder. From the latter we quote : " After prayer we had 
 a long discussion as to the need of some means of communication 
 
 62 
 
The Missionary Helper 63 
 
 between the different sections of our denomination, something to 
 bind us together into a strong working body. Then the financial side 
 was thoroughly considered. Where were the funds coming from for 
 publishing a magazine? Our Woman's Society was in its infancy. Two 
 cents a week was all that the auxiliaries were asking from the members. 
 The Treasury must not be drawn on for its publication. The de- 
 mand was so urgent that we felt we should make the venture at any 
 cost. At last Miss DeMeritte with her clear, business brain suggested 
 the following plan: "If we could secure fifty persons who would 
 pledge $2.00 a year for five years, if needed, to carry on the work; 
 and if we could secure six hundred subscribers, we were safe to make a be- 
 ginning." This plan was adopted and a committee of five, of which Miss 
 Phillips was chairman, was appointed to work out its details. She continues : 
 " But who, pray, would undertake the work of editing and publishing our 
 little magazine with no financial backing? Again and again it was said we 
 must not draw upon the Treasury for a single dollar! At last our dear and 
 capable Mrs. Brewster had the faith and courage to offer her services for 
 the task. A few days later the committee met at her home in Providence, 
 each with a Year Book in hand, and noted the names of pastors and others 
 to whom we were to write for help. Each of us had about eighty per- 
 sons to whom we were to write." 
 
 From Providence, Miss Phillips went to Maine. " Wherever I went, 
 whoever I met, I talked pledges and subscribers to our hoped-for magazine. 
 One cold November night after a stage-coach ride of ten miles, I reached 
 Mrs. Wade's home in Dover. Never shall I forget that beautiful home, 
 so warm, so welcoming! All my spare time was spent in writing my share 
 of the letters. From Dover I was to visit a number of churches, and then 
 to attend a Quarterly Meeting. In the meantime answers to our letters 
 were being received and we were learning the result of our undertaking. 
 Mrs. Wade was deeply interested in this venture. She attended the 
 Quarterly Meeting and brought the news that the fifty pledges and the 
 six hundred subscribers had been secured! 0, how we rejoiced! We 
 almost wept for joy as we thanked God for answering our prayers. He 
 surely had honored our " Faith and Works." A publication committee 
 was appointed and from several names proposed that of " The Missionary 
 Helper," suggested by Mr. Brewster, was selected. To Mrs. Burkholder 
 (Miss Julia Phillips) and to Mrs. Brewster w'e are equally indebted for 
 
64 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 the establishing of our Helper. A prominent worker says: "Great 
 emphasis should be laid on one fact — that Mrs. Brewster was the moving 
 cause of our having a "Missionary Helper." Another writes: "She was 
 hope, faith, and energy." Miss Phillips, travelling among the churches, 
 pushed with enthusiasm and unremitting toil the canvass for pledges and 
 subscribers. These two indefatigable workers, backed by a score of other 
 consecrated women, brought about this helper long desired in their work, — 
 a distinctly Free Baptist Missionary magazine. 
 
 The first Missionary Helper appeared January, 1878. "Words can- 
 not express our feelings as we watched for it. Every word from cover to 
 cover was read with overflowing hearts." It was a modest little pamphlet, 
 seven and one-quarter by four and three-quarter inches, comprising only 
 twenty-six pages, two of which were devoted to the treasurer's report. 
 It was issued bi-monthly at the astonishing low price of thirty-five cents 
 a year, until 1883, when it became a monthly at fifty cents. In 1887 it had 
 thirty-six pages, and from 1896, when the size was increased to eight and 
 one-half by six inches, it numbered thirty-two pages; but the price was 
 never more than fifty cents. It was issued from Providence from 1878 
 through 1887; from Boston, 1888 to November, 1905; from Saco, Maine. 
 1005 through December, 1919. 
 
 At first Mrs. Brewster was both editor and publisher of the magazine. 
 Much did she need " hope, faith and energy," as her pathetic words in her 
 first editorial indicate: "I stagger beneath the load I have here taken up. 
 but He who gives the burden will also give the strength." One who knew 
 Mrs. Brewster intimately wrote of her: "There are friends who touch 
 us from above, whose very breath is an inspiration, whose ambitions are 
 limitless. . . . The educated skill with which her work was done was 
 a vital part of herself. Sometimes she planned from a higher plane than 
 was quite practical, but is not that very foreseeing of hers a present in- 
 spiration? " Her plea that the Helper " be received into your hearts and 
 used as though all your own," met a generous response. The November 
 issue of the first year announced two thousand three hundred and seventy- 
 seven subscribers. The women who had pledged themselves financially 
 to its support, for five years, were never called upon. 
 
 For eight years Mrs. Brewster's facile pen and devoted care blessed 
 our magazine. With a view to going abroad she resigned her position in 
 1886, and Mrs. Emeline Burlingame of Providence was elected her editorial 
 
The Missionary Helper 65 
 
 successor. The steadily increasing work had become too laborious for 
 one person, and ^Irs. Ella H. Andrews of Providence, R. I., was elected 
 Publishing Agent. She gave the remainder of her life, twenty-four years, 
 serving the Society in this capacity. It is significant to note that Mrs. 
 Burlingame " was the woman who first interested her, as a young lady, 
 in the work of the F. B. W. M. S." The same systematic organization 
 of forces that has been one of the glories of the Free Baptist denomination 
 was pushed by Mrs. Andrews. Each local auxiliary was supposed to have, 
 and as a rule did have, a wide-awake, earnest woman as " Local Agent " 
 to look after the Helper's interests in the community, and keep in touch 
 with the Quarterly Meeting Helper Agent. The latter had the general 
 oversight of all Local Agents in her district, and in turn reported fre- 
 quently to the State Agent, who was responsible for her State to the 
 Publishing Agent. All these officers by public presentation of the magazine, 
 innumerable letters and untiring personal solicitation, rolled up a fine sub- 
 scription list. iNIrs. Andrews' term of service may well be called the 
 " Golden Age " of the Helper. During it occurred a crisis in the life of 
 the magazine, — a brave fight put up by the editor and the publisher for 
 the very existence of this child of the F. B. W. M. S. 
 
 When in 1Q05 the Boston office of the Morning Star was discontinued, 
 the printing of the Helper was given to Mr. W. L. Streeter, Saco, Me. 
 This had the essential advantage of being near Mrs. Whitcomb, whose 
 editorial " Sanctum " was in Ocean Park. The Helper had been mailed 
 from both Providence and Boston as second-class matter without any 
 questions; but a similar application to the Saco post-office was denied. 
 The Postal Laws require that " while a publication may have more than 
 one office for the transaction of business, it may be entered to the second- 
 class of mail matter at only one, and that, the known office of publica- 
 tion." Mrs. Andrews' designation, " Publishing Agent," led to the mis- 
 apprehension that the Helper was really published in Providence, whereas, 
 subscriptions only were received there. As soon as the first application at 
 the Saco office for second-class rates was denied, full explanations were 
 made and changes in the wording of the covers of the Helper in an en- 
 deavor to meet the requirements of the P. 0. Department. All was in 
 vain. Thereupon Mrs. Whitcomb began a correspondence with the Third 
 Assistant Postmaster General which extended through nearly a year. In 
 the meantime, that subscribers might receive their Helper in time, the 
 
66 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 treasurer of the F. B. W. M. S. deposited thirty dollars a month (once 
 sixty dollars) to send the magazine as first-class mail. Mrs. Whitcomb, in 
 most tactful, business-like, and appealing letters, interested Congressman 
 Charles H. Littlefield, whose father was a Free Baptist minister, and he 
 in Washington arose to " help those women." After the fourth applica- 
 tion, filled out most painstakingly by the Publishing Agent, " Uncle Sam " 
 was convinced of the integrity of the F. B. W. M. S. and the Helper was 
 admitted as second-class mail at the Saco P. O. ; and the Postmaster Gen- 
 eral ordered a refund of the first-class postage, then amounting to some 
 $200.00. But for the persistent effort of Mrs. Whitcomb and Mrs. An- 
 drews and the chivalrous intervention of Mr. Littlefield, our Helper would 
 certainly have been obliged to cease publication. 
 
 Mr. Streeter became the authorized Publisher of the Helper, and Mrs. 
 Andrews and her successors were thereafter designated General Subscrip- 
 tion Agents. When in 1910, Mrs. Andrews was suddenly removed from 
 earth's activities, nobly did her husband and her daughter, Miss Lydia, step 
 into the gap in our ranks, and for three years cared for the Helper's sub- 
 scriptions. At the Annual Meeting, at Ocean Park, August, 1913, Miss 
 Alfreida M. Mosher was elected General Subscription Agent. The next 
 few years were precarious ones for missionary work and magazines; but 
 ours survived to render important service during the days of transition to 
 a new order. Miss Mosher's " Publisher's Notes," always stimulating, gave 
 Helper readers an intelligent outlook on " Christian Americanization." To 
 her, came also, in 1919, the task of closing up the business affairs of the 
 Helper, and well did she discharge this duty. 
 
 When in 1894 Mrs. Burlingame resigned the editorship of the Helper, 
 it held an enviable place among the periodicals of its own class. The 
 presentation of specific knowledge of our own fields, tactful setting forth 
 of methods of work, and persuasive appeals for new ventures, had made 
 the magazine a most effective ally in the work of the society, " Post mortem 
 thanks may be heard in heaven, but I suspect that higher things will make 
 them seem less needed there than now when we are plodding along the level 
 stretches of life," wrote Mrs. Burlingame. This conviction expressed in 
 generous appreciation of the talents and services of others had won last- 
 ing gratitude from many a fellow laborer and endeared both the magazine 
 and its editor to an increasing host of friends. Of the Helper, Mrs. Burlin- 
 game wrote, " It had become very dear to me during the eight years that 
 
The Missionary Helper 
 
 67 
 
 I had been its editor, and it was with genuine satisfaction and trust for 
 its future that I hailed as my successor the daughter of my friend and 
 co-worker, Mrs. Mary R. Wade, Mrs. Nellie Wade Whitcomb." 
 
 In perfecting the Missionary Helper, Mrs. Whitcomb spent the re- 
 mainder of her life, — twenty-four years of almost prodigal energy and 
 lavish devotion. With the magazine already enlarged and printed in easily 
 read type, it remained for 
 her to beautify its appear- 
 ance and increase the charm 
 of its message. Before she 
 became the editor, pictures 
 were practically unknown. 
 In her first issue, January. 
 1895, appeared a cut of the 
 retiring editor, Mrs. Bur- 
 lingame; then followed, one 
 each month, the general of- 
 ficers. Next year came the 
 faces of our missionaries, — 
 Miss Beebee Phillips, and 
 " Dr. Mary " among the 
 first, — until we " knew by 
 sight " our workers at home 
 and abroad. The map of 
 our India field, now so fa- 
 miliar, appeared first in Feb- 
 ruary, 1896, and two years 
 later the first Storer cut. 
 " The Helper's attractive- 
 ness and usefulness is in- 
 creased by the many pic- 
 tures taken on the spot," was the well earned commendation of this 
 effort, in which our missionaries generously co-operated. Mr. Albert 
 Armstrong, our Ocean Park photographer, gladly aided and the Shayler 
 Engraving Co., of Portland, gave to the magazine some of its best work. 
 The " Cut Fund " made up of gifts by individuals and societies was estab- 
 hshed by Mrs. Whitcomb, who, to increase its amount, sold the popular 
 
 Mrs. Nellie Wade Whitcomb 
 Helper Editor 1895-1918 
 
68 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 " India Post Cards," and ferns and mosses mounted by our busy mission- 
 aries. With her, also, we associate the " Sustaining Fund," the plan of 
 which was set forth by Mrs. Andrews on the covers of the October Helper 
 1906: 1st. Individuals and Societies became responsible for five new sub- 
 scribers for three years; 2nd. Individuals and auxiliaries took shares for the 
 support of the Helper at three dollars each, the pledge holding good until 
 the one making it asked to be released. These plans received good sup- 
 port and the money received was a decided help to the magazine. Can we 
 ever forget the earnest, enthusiastic presentation of these claims by our 
 Editor at Annual Meeting, and her radiant, smiling " Thank you " as 
 pledges were gladly volunteered? 
 
 Our Colors were dear to the editor's heart, 
 
 '' Fidelity, solidity — 
 The heart of new and old; 
 But the later band expresses 
 Its faith in blue and gold." 
 
 The covers of the " Souvenir Number," October 1897, commemorating 
 the fiftieth anniversary, or jubilee of the " Freewill Baptist Female Mission- 
 ary Society " were printed in gold and white. Other issues were made 
 attractive by the beautiful blue lettering, and Storer numbers shone forth 
 in the college colors, orange and black. Thus did our magazine attract 
 the eye as well as the mind and the heart. 
 
 What shall we say of its contents? While devoted especially to work 
 in the Bengal-Orissa field, and the far-reaching educational work for colored 
 students at Storer College, the Helper gave also glimpses of the " magnitude 
 of God's program of world-wide work." Our society adopted the plans of 
 the United Study of Missions and, beginning in 1901, with Via Christi, 
 the first study book, the Helper gave place upon its monthly programs 
 to these world-wide studies. To do this without neglecting our own fields, 
 required careful condensation of the wealth of material. Mrs. Whitcomb 
 planned a year's Helpers in advance. September gave us "An Acquain- 
 tance Party," with a pre-view of the next study book, and " get-together " 
 features; November, "The Story of the Year," annual reports; February, 
 " Prayer and Praise "; March, the anticipated " Call " for our Annual Thank 
 Offering service; April, material for the same. Special numbers were de- 
 voted to Storer College. The Children, Our Young W^omen, and along with 
 
The Missionary Helper 69 
 
 this denominational work, topics to cover the study book during the year. 
 There were bright bits of information about "our folk and other folk"; 
 personal letters from home and foreign workers ; " Notes by both treasurer 
 and subscription agent, which were far more than mere statistics; lists of 
 books, leaflets, costumes and curios furnished by the " Bureau of Missionary 
 Intelligence"; a page devoted to "Our Quiet Hour," well worth the price 
 of the magazine. This also might be said of the uplifting '' In Memoriam," 
 poetry, and other timely and invigorating quotations " chinked in " through- 
 
 The Hermitage, Helper Sanctum, Ocean Park, Me. 
 
 out the pages of the magazine. For many years the Helper Branch of the 
 International Sunshine Society enjoyed a delightful page edited by Mrs. 
 Rivington D. Lord. " Missionary Reminiscences " was first published as a 
 serial in the Helper. Among other articles of permanent value were the 
 series on " Some of Our Well Known Workers," and a series on the Judson 
 Centennial, together with picturesque sketches of travel and life in India 
 by our corresponding secretary. Miss Lena S. Fenner. During the last few 
 years timely articles on Christian Americanization and other present day 
 religious and educational problems have been given space. " From cover 
 to cover the Helper teems with life and actuahty," wrote one enthusiastic 
 reader. 
 
70 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 To characterize Mrs. Whitcomb's editorial ability a few tributes only 
 must suffice: "To her services as Editor of the Missionary Helper, 
 Mrs. Whitcomb brought a refinement of taste, a skilled and almost poetic 
 diction, a broad, sympathetic appreciation of people and work of many 
 kinds, and undistracted devotion^ " With the flexible style of an ever 
 ready writer she combined knowledge of the Free Baptist denomination." 
 ■' The perfection of her work came not alone from genius, it came, too, 
 from study." " To the Missionary Helper she has given an exquisite touch, 
 so unique that it has been a joy, its work a success, and she herself beloved 
 by hundreds and thousands of people the world around." 
 
 The Missionary Helper served not alone the F. B. W. M. S. '' Its 
 gracious influences have been of greater value in the wide circle of the 
 Kingdom of Christ than most of us realize," wrote Dr. Alfred Williams 
 Anthony. " In an altogether unostentatious way Mrs. Whitcomb rendered a 
 large contribution to the denomination. So soon as a course of action 
 seemed to her wise, even though it involved departure from accustomed 
 ways, and no little sacrifice of personal choice, she not only committed her- 
 self to it, but wisely and tactfully set it forth with voice and pen to persuade 
 others. In the editorial office she has not only disseminated information 
 clearly and convincingly, but she has also served as a leader, loyal to the 
 denominational policies, tactfully explaining and consistently supporting 
 them." Concerning the transitions in the W. M. S. she wrote in 1897: 
 '■ What is the duty of the Helper to this time? 1st. Our magazine must be 
 the voice of our officers as they explain the new order. 2nd. The voice of 
 our missionaries in Bengal-Orissa as they tell us of their blessed work and 
 its needs. 3rd. A medium of communication between our new friends of the 
 W. A. B. F. M. S., the W. A. B. H. M. S. and the Free Baptist auxiliaries. 
 4th. A means by which leaders of the Baptist Women's societies may be- 
 come better acquainted with their new fields. There is, at present, no other 
 way in which any of these results can be obtained to any extent." When 
 the earlier talk of union made some of our auxiliaries restless, then our 
 officers sent out the call for us to " keep together and go together; to be 
 united among ourselves until we were united with others." Note her 
 sacrificial courage as she continues : " Those who best love the Missionary 
 Helper, who have been most closely associated with it, and who believe 
 it has supplied a positive need for many years will be ready to yield grace- 
 fully to the inevitable when they are convinced that its mission has been 
 
The Missionary Helper 
 
 71 
 
 accomplished." Thus was much conserved that might easily have been lost, 
 not only in our missionary work but also in our churches, by her who kept 
 " steady, ready and brave." 
 
 Here our pen falters. Increasing physical weakness made it impera- 
 tive for Mrs. Whitcomb to be relieved of the details of editorial work. 
 
 Miss Alfreida M. Mosher 
 Helper Publishing Agent, 1913-1919 
 
 " We could hardly wait," she joyfully writes, " to make an announcement 
 that makes us very happy: INIiss Doris Elizabeth Folsom, Sanford, Me., 
 has consented to become assistant editor of the INIissionary Helper. . . . 
 She is the grand-niece of Mrs. Mary R. Wade." She continues, " The 
 Editor again says ' Thank you ' to everybody for the help and cheer so 
 
72 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 freely given throughout the years. . . . Whatever changes come to us in 
 hfe and work, as individuals or as a society, may we face the future with 
 serene faith and joyful appreciation of the service of others expressed in 
 Whittier's lines: 
 
 " ' Hail to the coming singers ! 
 
 Hail to the brave light bringers! 
 
 Forward I reach and share 
 
 All that they sing and dare.' " 
 
 Thus could she write October 13, 1918; Nov. 13, her radiant spirit facing 
 " toward the Brightness, out through lanes of whiteness " went " all the way 
 to God." 
 
 The first task that confronted our new assistant editor was the difficult 
 one of editing a " Memorial " to Mrs. Whitcomb. With noticeable skill 
 she joined together by notes of her own the exquisite tributes penned by 
 life-long friends and the co-workers of a quarter century adding to those 
 choice verse of her own. Again the Helper appeared in our Editor's favorite 
 colors, gold and white, fitting symbols of the purity and brightness of her 
 life. The beauty and harmony of the " Memorial " proved our young editor 
 "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." The Helper for 1919 was 
 already mapped out, with much material on hand; to this Miss Folsom 
 added timely editorials and by selections from Mrs. Whitcomb's poems^ 
 tried to make us miss less the " touch of a vanished hand." Our Helper 
 had been cordially welcomed by the leaders in the W. A. B. M. Societies 
 and some of its highest praise came from them. For years the F. B. W. M. S. 
 had made generous annual appropriations for the support of the Helper, 
 believing " the money wisely invested and bringing larger returns than it 
 would be placed anywhere else." 
 
 But in the gradual union of Free Baptists and Baptists there ceased 
 to be public opportunity to obtain subscriptions to the Helper as there were 
 no longer distinctive Free Baptist meetings. The officers of the 
 F. B. W. M. S. no longer felt justified in putting funds into the continu- 
 ance of the Helper, though there was money to do so. Sorrowfully, be- 
 cause of what it had been in our individual lives and in the life of our 
 Society, its discontinuance was recommended with the December number, 
 1919. 
 
 " Men own that life to be highest and best which is a conscious, 
 voluntary self-sacrifice." In a beautiful " L'Envoie," Mrs. Lucy P. Durgin, 
 
^ 
 
 The Missionary Helper 73 
 
 our President, said referring to the Helper, " I had almost said ' whom,' so 
 vital is it, so human, that it seems like a benignant personality." Julia 
 Phillips Burkholder in her " Good-by Letter " to her " child " wrote : 
 "For 40 years you have held the family together"; and Mrs M. A. W. 
 Bachelder voiced the hearts of that living family in these words: 
 
 " Our Missionary Helper will remain in beautiful memories of asso- 
 ciations with strong, spiritual women; a vision of loving, successful mis- 
 sionary service; a hope of ever-widening opportunity; a faith in the ulti- 
 mate triumph of the cause for which it has stood. It Will Not Pass." 
 
 " After the Bible, nothing helps to broaden the intelligence and deepen 
 piety more than a thorough knowledge of Missions." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Finance 
 
 " What are we giving today ? 
 Some have given father, mother, 
 Loving friends and pleasant ease, — 
 All the dear home ties have severed. 
 How compare our gifts with these?" 
 
 "^^ N June 1873, at the New Hampshire Freewill Baptist Yearly Meeting, 
 held in Sandwich, the writer was elected the treasurer of the newly or- 
 ganized Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society. At that time she 
 was known to the people of her denomination only as a book-keeper in the 
 Morning Star Publishing House, Dover, N. H. It was the confidence of a 
 friend that gave her the position. The treasurer's work was very light 
 for a long time. At the first annual meeting of the Society the following 
 October, there was in the treasury only $535.40; one hundred dollars of 
 this sum having been contributed by Mrs. M. M. H. Hills, who made the 
 first five life members of the Society. Year by year the annual contri- 
 butions increased until they reached $10,000 a year for the regular work. 
 Now we remind ourselves that the denomination never exceeded a member- 
 ship of 85,000. This very fact of the limitation of members, however, had 
 its compensations, in that it trained its workers in a life of large sacrifice 
 for others ; bound them in close personal ties ; made it easy to assign special 
 work to individuals, and gave free play for the co-operation of men and 
 women in a common service. 
 
 The first appropriation of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society through its Board was for the outfit and passage of Miss Susan 
 R. Libby of Dover, N. H., as a Missionary to Balasore, India, followed 
 the next year by one for a worker to Storer College, Harper's Ferry, 
 West Virginia. When nine missionaries had been sent to India, property 
 was purchased in Balasore for an orphanage, and named Sinclair Orphanage 
 for the givers; a home for missionaries in Midnapore with a dispensary was 
 
 74 
 
Finance 
 
 75 
 
 also purchased, and still later, land in Balasore was secured on which was 
 erected Kindergarten Hall. As the India work grew individuals assumed 
 the support of children in Sinclair Orphanage, and Bible women and Zenana 
 teachers in the different Mission stations. Women at home were very happy 
 in this personal work as it made the people of India seem very real to them. 
 The policy of our Society from early days has been to apportion the 
 annual budget among the State Societies and recommend that they in turn 
 apportion to the local 
 church auxiliaries. Soon 
 the Board saw the neces- 
 sity of establishing a finan- 
 cial policy to govern its 
 basis of appropriations in 
 preparing the yearly bud- 
 get. This budget included. 
 home and foreign work and 
 administration expenses. 
 After much consideration 
 it was decided that the ap- 
 propriations should not ex- 
 ceed the probable annual 
 income, always allowing 
 for a normal increase. The 
 result has been that only 
 twice in the hsitory of the 
 Society, covering a period 
 of forty-seven years, has 
 there been a deficit, and 
 only once has the amount 
 been over fifty dollars. 
 
 On the latter occasion a woman not noted for generous impulses, came to 
 the treasurer and asked how she could help the Society. Told of the situa- 
 tion and that she could help most by giving her check for $500.00, the 
 amount of the deficit, the treasurer was gratified a few days later by 
 receiving the same in full. At other times when a shortage seemed im- 
 minent, auxiliaries and friends were appealed to through " The Missionary 
 Helper " for prayers and gifts and the need would be immediately met. 
 
 Miss Laura A. DeMeritte 
 Treasurer 1873-1913 
 
76 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Society and Board held in Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 in October 1890, the appeals from the India field were so urgent and piteous 
 that the duty of increasing appropriations beyond the regular sources of 
 supply became imperative. When the situation was presented to the Board, 
 the members knelt in prayer for guidance. It was a beautiful service, 
 permeated with spirit of dependence in our Heavenly Father. As a result 
 it was voted that a Thank Offering Service be held in each church. An 
 appeal for this First Thank Offering was made through " The Missionary 
 Helper." The Auxiliaries and churches were asked to make this a public 
 service if possible. The success of the plan proved so great that each year 
 since for thirty years, scores of Thank Offering Sei-vices have been observed. 
 These are often held of a Sunday evening, and made attractive by the par- 
 ticipation of children, and by special decorations of flowers and banners. 
 Not only, has this offering saved the Society from a possible deficit, by add- 
 ing thousands of dollars to its treasury, but it has proved a constant re- 
 minder that our dependence is not on dollars per se but in our Heavenly 
 Father in whose hand are the gold and the silver and every good 
 thing. 
 
 The next financial problem our Society faced was its relations with the 
 General Conference of Free Baptists. When the Free Baptist Woman's 
 Missionary Society became incorporated under the laws of the State of 
 Maine it was as an independent organization, with the relation of associate 
 worker with the other benevolent organizations of the denomination. Later 
 the other organizations, Home and Foreign Missions and Publication Society, 
 were merged into the General Conference of Free Baptists. The indepen- 
 dence of the Woman's Society was tenaciously held by many women and 
 men too, — and opposed as vigorously by others, all conscientious in their 
 differences. Between the extremes was a small number who wanted an 
 adjustment that they knew could only be effected by mutual concessions. 
 After some years this was secured, and the plan of work as outlined by 
 the W. M. S. was adopted by the General Conference held in Hillsdale, 
 Michigan, in September 1904. In July 1905, a Joint Committee consisting 
 of R. D. Lord, O. D. Patch, H. M. Ford, Lucy P. Durgin and Frances S. 1 
 Mosher proposed the plan which the Woman's Missionary Society accepted , 
 under some conditions at its Annual Meeting held at Somersworth, N. H.^ 
 October 12, 1905. The Conference Board accepted these conditions August i 
 21, 1906, and December 20, 1906, the legal contract was signed. General 
 
Finance 
 
 77 
 
 Conference now took over the control of the India work, aided by an 
 India Committee made up of all the missionaries, men and women, in the 
 field. The written contract between the two bodies pledged the Woman's 
 Society to send quarterly to the treasurer of the General Conference all 
 moneys received for the India work. All un-specified contributions were 
 subject to the action of the Woman's Board. In this way the Free Baptist 
 Woman's Missionary Society became a trustee for all gifts for foreign 
 missionary work to its treasury, 
 without sustaining responsibility for 
 work over which it had no control. 
 This contract brought harmony at 
 home and abroad and strengthened 
 the working ties between men and 
 women. At the same time it re- 
 sulted in deficits in some depart- 
 ments of our work which, under 
 the contract, the Conference Board 
 was pledged to meet. But our 
 love of the work was too great to 
 allow us to look on with indiffer- 
 ence. As in the past we appealed 
 to our friends asking for contribu- 
 tions toward a Contingent Fund. 
 Out of this the treasurer was in- 
 structed to take each quarter, the 
 amount needed to meet depart- 
 ment shortages. This appeal met 
 
 with a ready response, and the Contingent Fund supplied every need. So 
 under the contract we contributed as much to the India Fund as we had 
 previously done. 
 
 Our brief review of the finances of the Free Baptist Woman's Mission- 
 ary Society would not be complete without mentioning its Permanent 
 Fund. Early in its history legacies began to accumulate until now it 
 amounts to $59,000, with as much more known to be coming to it. It is 
 made up of a number of individual funds named for the donors, the income 
 to be used according to their expressed wishes. The largest as yet, $30,000, 
 is the Cristy Fund. It was given by the will of Robert Cristy of Dover, 
 
 Miss Edyth R. Porter 
 Treasurer 1913-1920 
 
78 
 
 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 N. H. He directed that the income be used for the " education of the 
 colored children in the United States in the English branches." This pays 
 salaries in whole or in part at Storer College, Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. 
 
 Miss May Malvern 
 Vice-President 1916-1917 
 
 The investing of the funds is in the hands of an Investment Committee ap- 
 pointed by the Society annually. 
 
 Only the treasurer and assistant have been paid officers. In addition 
 a small appropriation has been made from time to time for field work, 
 mostly in the West, and yearly for a Secretary of the Literature Depart- 
 ment. In addition to her regular work as treasurer, the writer, the incum- 
 
f^ It 
 
 Finance 79 
 
 bent of that office for forty years, has travelled much East and West. I 
 want to testify that this service has brought me in touch with some of 
 the most considerate, kind-hearted, responsive and loyal of women. This 
 gratuitous service has been shared with many of our women, visiting 
 churches and attending quarterly and yearly meetings and thank, offering 
 services. The greatest agent of all for getting funds has been The Mission- 
 ary Helper. Its pages were aways open to monthly " Treasurer's Notes," 
 and to appeals from India and the home field. 
 
 When the General Conference Board passed over the control of all 
 s benevolences, to the Northern Baptists in 1911, the obligations of the con- 
 tract were assumed by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, until 
 the Woman's Societies should have time to get acquainted and decide upon 
 a wise pohcy for future work. These obligations were later transferred from 
 the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society to the Women's American 
 Baptist Foreign Mission Society, when in 1916 the latter organization 
 became responsible for our work in India. Now all our work is a part of 
 the Woman's American Baptist Home and Foreign Mission Societies, and 
 it must be a satisfaction to the women of the Free Baptist Woman's Mis- 
 sionary Society to know that the Woman's Baptist Societies are pledged 
 to appropriate at least as much ta our home and foreign work as our Society 
 was doing at the time of the transfer. As the years go by and needs arise 
 doubtless the appropriations for the same will increase, yes, beyond what 
 we, with our limited constituency, could hope to do for our well-loved 
 work. 
 
 It is necessary that our Society continue its incorporation for an in- 
 definite period to care for unmatured legacies, the transfer of the same, 
 and such other legal and financial matters as may need to come before it. 
 
 The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society has a record that will 
 bear scrutiny and is the story of the love of many women for its work that 
 will be passed on to children's chidren. 
 
 We thank Thee more than all, dear Lord, 
 
 For the gift of thy dear Son, 
 That whosoever will may come. 
 
 And offered mercy find ; 
 That whosoever means not one, 
 
 But all of human kind. 
 
 Elizabeth Pattan 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Thank-Offering Service 
 
 " It may not be my way, 
 It may not be thy way; 
 And yet in His own way 
 The Lord will provide." 
 
 ^HE Boston Herald of January 3, 1916, says the Advocate, gives 
 an extract from a lecture by Dean Fenn of the Harvard Divinity 
 School, at one of the Lowell Institute lectures,' on '' The Religious 
 History of New England." He described the rise, influence and doctrine of 
 the Freewill Baptists and quoted the testimony of Henry Ward Beecher 
 to the effect that the Freewill Baptists were always on the right side of 
 every moral question, and on the evangelical side of every controverted 
 doctrine. " The preachers of those churches," said the lecturer, " kept 
 journals, and I know of no documents richer in human interest than these 
 memories, nor any which throw more light on the New England of the 
 first half century." 
 
 We, the heirs of their large faith, forethought and good deeds, have 
 a most wonderful heritage, which we are trying to pass on to bless others, 
 the world over. In October 1890, the annual meeting of our Free Baptist 
 Woman's Missionary Society was held in Dr. Rivington D. Lord's church 
 in Brooklyn, N. Y., in connection with the denominational Anniversaries. 
 Each report was most interesting. From that of the Corresponding Secre- 
 tary, Mrs. Lowell, we learned of the many doors of opportunity wide open 
 and inviting our attention as never before. Our missionaries in India and 
 our teachers at Storer College, West Virginia, were asking for larger ap- 
 propriations with which to meet these opportunities and enter these open 
 doors. Some of our western churches were also looking to us for aid; 
 but the present resources of our society were not equal to these extra de- 
 mands. Our President, Mrs. Mary A. Davis, called a special meeting of the 
 Board of Managers, for the early morning hours, in the parlors of Mrs. 
 Lord, to carefully consider these needs and try to find some way to increase 
 our funds. The women met promptly, and, after stating the object of the 
 meeting, Mrs. Davis suggested that we have a season of prayer, asking 
 
 8o 
 
The Thank-Offering Service 
 
 that the way be clearly revealed to us. All knelt, and each of those women 
 pled for the guidance so sorely needed in our work. As we arose, Mrs. Wade 
 requested that Mrs. Anna E. Dexter should sing the, then, new hymn " The 
 Lord will Provide," and as her 
 beautiful voice so sweetly sang 
 the words at the head of this 
 chapter the sentiment of the song 
 seemed to rest upon us like a 
 benediction. Just why the re- 
 membrance of a Thank-Offering 
 service of the Woman's Christian 
 Temperance Union recently at- 
 tended in her home city. Provi- 
 dence, R. I., should so persistently 
 recur to Mrs. Ricker, until she 
 suggested it as a possible plan, 
 and Mrs. Porter, who also at- 
 tended this service, should so 
 heartily approve, and ,the other 
 women so enthusiastically endorse 
 the idea, seems more beautifully 
 answered in Isaiah 65-25, "And 
 it shall come to pass, that before 
 they call, I will answer; and while 
 they are yet speaking I will hear." 
 Mrs. Andrews, Mrs. Ricker and Mrs. Porter were appointed a committee 
 to have charge of the matter, and it was decided to arrange for Thank- 
 Offering Services to be held on June 10, 1891. Many letters were written 
 friends, churches and pastors in its behalf; and explanatory articles, a letter 
 of appeal to the women of the auxiliaries, a " Call " and " Suggestive Pro- 
 gram," were prepared for numbers of the Missionary Helper from February 
 to May. 
 
 At the Annual Meeting the following Autumn our Treasurer, Miss 
 DeMeritte, reported four hundred dollars as the financial result of our 
 first Thank Offering, and so many letters were received commending the 
 service as one of spiritual uplift and profit, that it was voted to observe it 
 each year, and the same committee was re-elected. After three years Mrs. 
 
 Mrs. Clara A. Ricker 
 
 Twenty-two years Chairman of Thank 
 
 Offering Committee 
 
82 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Andrews resigned, because of her many duties, but very much of the suc- 
 cess of this observance is due to her clear foresight, business methods, and 
 the firm foundation, laid by her, of prayer, service, and sacrifice. Mrs. 
 Porter served on this committee as an active member until called to lay 
 aside the cares of this life. Mrs. Ricker served continuously for twenty-five 
 years. Others have been members: Mrs. Swan, Mrs. Dexter, Mrs. Cheney, 
 Mrs. Whitcomb, Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Stillman, Miss Waterman, each serving 
 faithfully and well. 
 
 It was decided to designate May as Thank Offering month, in which 
 each Church and Auxiliary could select the time most convenient. But 
 always the " Call " appeared in the March Helper, and a suggestive pro- 
 gram in the April number, and printed invitations and envelopes for the 
 gifts were furnished free to all. This Thank-Offering Service became one 
 of the characteristic features of the work of our Woman's Society. From 
 the " Bureau of Missionary Intelligence " so ably cared for by Mrs. Chap- 
 man, poems, stories, curios and costumes were always available. The 
 committee spared neither time nor pains in gathering from the missionary 
 supplies of all denominations, material suitable and attractive for this 
 service. Many of our most talented writers prepared original exercises 
 of permanent worth. The use of the Society colors, blue and gold, on 
 invitations and banners, decorations and costumes made the Thank-Offering 
 meeting one of the red-letter events of the year. So popular did it be- 
 come that the children also observed it, having a meeting and program all 
 their own. To our Baptist sisters with whom we are now working, the 
 Free Baptist Wom.an's Missionary Society has brought this much-loved 
 observance and it has been cordially received by many of them and in 
 some states has become a part of the scheduled program of the work. 
 
 There has been a steady increase in gifts year by year, the total for 
 the first twenty-three years reaching $30,000.00, and totals since have given 
 us many thousands and enabled us to greatly extend the scope of our 
 work. Surely " Faith and Works win." But far beyond the worth of 
 these recorded results is the value of the unwritten history; the deepening 
 of the spiritual life of the individual and of the society through gifts and 
 prayer and service. 
 
 " No offering of mj^ own I have, 
 Nor works my faith to prove, 
 I can but give the gifts He gave, 
 And plead His love for love." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Children's Work 
 
 We had counted up the offering 
 
 Of the tiny dimpled hands, 
 That with joy their all were proffering. 
 
 For some child in far, dark lands. 
 
 Alice Twort Bassett 
 
 ANY one at all familiar with Free Baptist History is well aware 
 that very early in the life of the denomination the imi^rtance 
 of work for and with the children was duly emphasized. 
 
 In 1850, at the third annual meeting of the Freewill Baptist Female 
 Missionary Society, Amos Sutton, twenty years a missionary in India, 
 said, " Teach your children about missions. Sow the seed in their young 
 hearts and it will blossom and bring forth fruit when they are men and 
 women." And this admonition seems to have been ever before our women. 
 Four years after the organization of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society in 1873, plans were made to interest the children in sending a mis- 
 sionary of their own to India. Mission Bands were formed in many 
 churches; the children aided materially in the support of Miss Ida O. 
 Phillips, the first children's missionary, and later in the support of Miss 
 Emilie E. Barnes, also in the building of Myrtle Hall, the girls' dormitory, 
 at Storer College. In 1895, the children and young people of Rhode Island 
 united in the support of the first kindergarten in our Field, held in the new 
 Kindergarten Hall at Balasore, India. 
 
 Children's Secretaries were appointed east and west, who did much to 
 stimulate Missionary interest among the children of our churches. It 
 was one of these secretaries, Mj;s. Ethelyn H. Roberts, who had put much 
 time and loving thought into work for the children, who organized in her 
 own church in Pawtucket, R. I., in June 1808, the first " Cradle Roll." 
 A report of the first Cradle Roll Party held in that church was given at a 
 Board Meeting of the F. B. W. M. S. the following summer at Ocean Park, 
 
84 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Maine. It attracted the attention and interest of Miss L. A. DeMeritte, 
 who asked that Mrs. Roberts present this plan of work with the children, 
 at the Annual Meeting at Dover, N. H. A similar plan had been used by 
 other denominations. This plan was favorably received at the Annual 
 Meeting and soon " Cradle Rolls of Little Light Bearers " were organized 
 east and west, and hundreds of young men and women in our churches 
 
 today will recall the Cradle Roll Rallies 
 which they attended with mothers, where 
 they first learned of our " Brown Babies " 
 of India, and gave their pennies in the 
 little blue dollie mite-boxes. Who can 
 doubt that the " drives " of later years 
 were made possible because of the training 
 received in those early days. Surely the 
 thought of the Cradle Roll was a seed 
 planted in some mother's heart by God 
 himself. Many mothers were encouraged 
 by the motto of the first attractive enroll- 
 ment card to teach their little ones to — 
 
 "Begin in the cradle in earliest youth, 
 
 ,, ^ T- TT .1 To send to the Christless God's precious 
 
 Mrs. Laura E. Hartley 
 
 Cradle Roll Superintendent 
 
 eleven years Many women who had not been 
 
 at all interested in church-life and 
 work, were reached and helped, and given a broader view of life and ser- 
 vice to God and humanity, because of the interest in her baby shown by 
 the Cradle Roll Superintendent. 
 
 As this was especially a work of little children, for little children, the 
 money from the mite-boxes was used to support the little ones in Sinclair 
 Orphanage, Balasore, India. The first Cradle Roll baby was Anandini, an 
 orphan girl who came into the hands of Miss Gaunce, then Superintendent 
 of Sinclair Orphanage. The second was Bijou, then Jennie and others 
 followed. It would be interesting, if we had space in this chapter, to 
 speak of these girls, now grown to womanhood — of how they developed 
 Christian character under the influence of the Orphanage " Mothers," and 
 are now in Christian homes of their own, with all that means in India. 
 
Our Babies, Over-Land and Over-Seas 
 
86 
 
 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 When Mrs. Roberts resigned from her position as General Cradle Roll 
 Secretary, Mrs. Ada M. L. George proved a worthy successor, and many 
 a mother remembers the helpful letters of this faithful worker. She in 
 turn was succeeded by Mrs. Julia T. Mitchell, who served for one year 
 faithfully and well. Then the writer was appointed to the position, which 
 
 she held for eleven years, until 
 because of union with the 
 Baptists, the office was dis- 
 continued. 
 
 The first beautiful Enroll- 
 ment Card bore the stamp of 
 our Society, but came to us 
 through the courtesy of an- 
 other denomination. This 
 with an explanatory leaflet, 
 written by Mrs. Roberts, giv- 
 ing our plan of work, com- 
 prised our Cradle Roll equip- 
 ment until 1907. Then leaflets 
 were issued, pictured stories 
 of our India Brown Babies, 
 exercises for Rally Day, our 
 own enrollment cards, me- 
 morial certificates, and mite- 
 boxes made attractive by 
 pictures of our Cradle Roll 
 children at home and over- 
 seas. Rally Day invitations 
 and birthday postcards. Large 
 space was ever generously 
 accorded the Cradle Roll cause in the pages of the Misionary Helper by 
 its editor, Mrs. Whitcomb, who delighted in this work for tlie children. 
 All this publicity helped to increase interest and soon we had about two 
 thousand children enrolled in this work for the Kingdom. 
 
 The children were members of the Cradle Roll from birth until six 
 years of age. To fill the need in churches where there was no Junior C. E. 
 the Advanced Light Bearers Society was formed, that the missionary train- 
 
 Jennie June, 
 supported by Cradle Roll 
 
Children's Work 
 
 87 
 
 ing might be continued. Into this, the six-year-old Little Light Bearers 
 were graduated becoming Advanced Light Bearers. This older society 
 gave some woman in the church scope for all her mother-love and ingenuity. 
 The meetings were 
 real trips into 
 wonderland for the 
 children. India, 
 China and Japan 
 were visited in song 
 and story and pic- 
 ture, until the chil- 
 dren of these coun- 
 tries became almost 
 as real as the chil- 
 dren about them. 
 Many happy hours 
 were spent in mak- 
 i n g scrap-books, 
 pasting post-cards, 
 and dressing dolls, 
 to be sent to the 
 missionaries for the 
 children over-seas. 
 
 Many of our 
 young men and 
 
 women trace the beginning of their interest in missions to the meetings of 
 these children's societies. 
 
 Our " Cradle Rolls " have now become " Jewell Bands " and the 
 Advanced Light Bearers Heralds, but the work for and with the children 
 goes on, and we rejoice in the larger opportunities that the present brings 
 to our children and young people. 
 
 Robert and Kenneth Frost and their Ayah. 
 Balasore, Orissa 
 
 And always love can speed with gladness 
 
 Nor need beware, 
 May we not hope, God, that loving 
 
 Is part of prayer? 
 
 Id.\ Lord Remick 
 
CHAPTER X 
 Union 
 
 With grateful hearts the past we own, 
 
 The future all to us unknown, 
 We, to Thy guardian care commit 
 
 And peaceful leave before Thy feet. 
 
 Doddridge 
 
 "^HE Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society maintained a very 
 independent organization from 1873 to 1906. But somewhat 
 previous to 1906 there had been a growing conviction that a 
 closer co-operation between General Conference and the Woman's Society 
 would make for more effective service on the Foreign Field. After much 
 discussion and a careful study of the situation, a contract, conserving the 
 interests of each, was made between the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society and the Conference Board of the General Conference of Free Bap- 
 tists, December 20, 1906, for union of work in the Bengal-Orissa Field. 
 When the General Conference united with the A. B. F. M. S. some arrange- 
 ment had to be made about this contract. It was decided that for the 
 present it would be best for the A. B. F. M. S. to take it over, which it 
 did September 26, 1911. 
 
 At the Annual Meeting of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary So- 
 ciety, August 2, 1915, all recognized, even those who had been most con- 
 servative and reluctant, that the rapid union of state and church societies 
 was making a change of policy imperative and a committee on Conference 
 with Baptist workers was appointed. This committee was Mrs. M. A. W. 
 Bachelder, Mrs. F. S. Mosher, Miss Edyth R. Porter, Mrs. Lucy P. Durgin, 
 Mrs. Harriet P. Stone, Miss Harriet A. Deering. The first joint meeting 
 was with members of the A. B. F. M. S. at Ford Building, Boston, Tuesday, 
 December 14, 1915, at ten A. M. Mrs. Mosher, Miss Porter and Mrs. 
 Bachelder represented the committee. A careful review of the situation 
 was made and a joint meeting of the three Foreign Mission Boards planned 
 
 88 
 
-4^ 
 
 Union 89 
 
 for Thursday the 16th at two P. M. The situation was again reviewed, 
 followed by frank discussion. The time did not seem ripe for final plans 
 but the hope was expressed that these could be made before the annual 
 meeting of the Baptist Boards in May. The following vote was taken: 
 
 " WHEREAS, an invitation has been extended by the Woman's Ameri- 
 can Baptist Foreign Missionary Society to the Free Baptist Woman's Mis- 
 sionary Society to unite with them in foreign missionary work, provided 
 satisfactory arrangements can be made with the American Baptist Foreign 
 Mission Society, and WHEREAS, preliminary Conference has been held 
 between representatives of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society- 
 and the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, and, 
 
 " WHEREAS, a continuance of the present arrangement between the 
 Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society and the American Baptist For- 
 eign Mission Society respecting support of work in the Bengal-Orissa 
 field involves increasing difficulty for the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society in the raising of funds among their constituency on account of the 
 rapid progress of union between Free Baptist and Baptist churches, and 
 the consequent tendency to the coalescing of woman's circles of the 
 Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and the woman's 
 auxiliaries of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society; 
 
 " RESOLVED That this conference recommends to the Boards repre- 
 sented, for favorable consideration, a proposal for union of the Free Bap- 
 tist Woman's Missionary Society and the Woman's American Baptist For- 
 eign Missionary Society in foreign work, provided that arrangements for 
 such union mutually satisfactory to the two Woman's Societies can be 
 perfected; and provided that arrangements for the conduct and support 
 of woman's work in the Bengal-Orissa Mission can be made to the mutual 
 satisfaction of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, the Woman's 
 American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and the American Baptist Foreign 
 Mission Society; and, in case of approval of this proposal, each of the three 
 Boards appoint representatives upon a joint committee, to consider and pre- 
 sent a detailed plan for union covering the various questions involved." 
 
 The President of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, Mrs. 
 Lucy P. Durgin, and the Corresponding Secretary, Miss Lena S. Fenner, 
 attended the Northern Baptist Convention at Minneapolis in May, 1916, 
 and met some of the Baptist Women, both Home and Foreign, in council. 
 
 Another joint meeting was held June 15, 1916, at Ford Building, 
 
90 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Boston. After most careful consideration it was resolved that the con-, 
 tract between the A. B. F. M. S. and the F. B. W. M. S. be abrogated; 
 that the W. A. B. F. M. S. assume the support of all the work of the F. 
 B. W. M. S. in India; that the F. B. W. M. S., in union with it, pay its 
 foreign mission money toward the work as in the past, also the income of 
 
 the invested funds above a due pro- 
 portion for administrative expenses; 
 that the property in the Bengal- 
 Orissa Field be transferred to the 
 W. A. B. F. M. S. on condition that 
 it be used for the purposes speci- 
 fied; that the legal organization of 
 the F. B. W. M. S. be kept for the 
 care of invested funds and what- 
 ever trusts through bequests and 
 other gifts may come to it; that 
 The Missionary Helper be continued 
 for the present and that a com- 
 mittee be chosen as a medium for 
 all arrangements between the two 
 societies. This report was accepted 
 by the Board of Managers of the 
 Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 Society, July 25, and ratified by the 
 Society at its annual meeting at 
 Ocean Park, Maine, August 2, 1916. 
 The following action was taken 
 by the Finance Committee and For- 
 eign Department of the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society 
 on August 2, 1916: VOTED: "To accept the report of the Sub-Committee 
 of Conference, respecting the Woman's Work in the Bengal-Orissa Field, 
 held in Boston on June 15, 1916, and to endorse the action of the Board 
 of Managers of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society at its 
 Annual Meeting, held in Ocean Park, Maine, on July 25, 1916." At a 
 meeting of the same committee, October 4, 1916, the following action was 
 taken : VOTED : " That the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Board be 
 requested to appoint one woman to serve unoflficially on this committee 
 
 Mrs. Mary Augusta Wade Bachelder 
 
 Our Representative to the 
 
 W. A. B. F. M. S. 
 
Union g i 
 
 until the Board of Managers can appoint and the Executive Committee 
 elect her." Mrs. M. A. W. Bachelder was appointed to this place and has 
 been cordially received at the meetings. Union with the Woman's American 
 Baptist Home Mission Society was made less complicated as the F. B. W. 
 M. S. had no Home Mission contract with General Conference and held 
 no real estate. After preliminary correspondence and informal meetings. 
 Mrs. Lucy P. Durgin, as a committee for the F. B. W. M. S., met a com- 
 mittee from the W. A. B. F. M. in Chicago, February 19, 1917. Resolu- 
 tions, with all vital points the same as those of the foreign mission resolu- 
 tions, were adopted and later accepted by the two Boards. At the annual 
 meeting of the F. B. W. M. S. at Ocean Park, ^Nlaine, August 2, 1917, 
 these were adopted. Mrs. Durgin has been made a member of the Home 
 Mission Board. Invested funds were held by the F. B. W. M. S. until 
 1921. At a Board meeting July 28 of that year, guarantees were received 
 from both the W. A. B. H. M. S. and the W. A. B. F. M. S. that the in- 
 vested funds transferred to them by the F. B. W. M. S. will be cared for 
 according to the wishes and purposes of the donors. The committee re- 
 ported, " Your committee agrees that the time has come for the transfer 
 of our invested funds to these Societies and in view of the foregoing action 
 we recommend that the home and foreign permanent funds of the F. B. 
 W. M. S. be paid into the treasuries of the W. A. B. F. M. and the W. A. 
 B. H. M. Societies." This report was adopted by the Board and ratified 
 by the F. B. W. M. S. at its annual meeting, August 1, 1921. A com- 
 mittee of transfer was appointed who, with the Treasurer, will complete 
 the work. Some undesignated funds are still held by the Society for 
 special needs which may arise. 
 
 These negotiations have involved a large correspondence, the working 
 out of many details, a great desire to leave no stumbling block in the way 
 of those who follow and much prayer for guidance. The spirit on both 
 sides has been for the utmost fairness to all, that the work of each shall be 
 properly conserved; the good of the cause has been the ultimate in each 
 heart. With the passing of the years acquaintanship and Christian fellow- 
 ship have grown and Free Baptist Women have been ready to keep step 
 with the onward march of Christ's Kingdom. They are meeting the new 
 situation in that liberality of spirit, strength and conviction, courage in 
 action, faith in prayer, that has characterized them in the past. 
 
 " For their sakcs I con.>;ecrate myself." 
 
 Jesus 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Onward 
 
 Oh, let us hear the inspiring word, 
 Which they of old at Horeb heard, 
 Breathe to our hearts the high command, 
 Go onward and possess the land! 
 
 John Hay 
 
 O appreciate the transformation that has been wrought in the 
 period of time herein outlined, one has only to test the conscience 
 of a century ago, — introspective, dogmatic, unyielding, — with 
 that of today, — f ar-visioned, of broad fellowship, concilatory. In woman's 
 life in this country in the middle of the last century, we see her relegated to 
 her domestic sphere, having no public part in the passing phases of life 
 about her; while today, in civic life woman wields the ballot, in educa- 
 tional and industrial life she occupies a place and forms a factor to be 
 reckoned with, and in the church she determines the policies of Mission 
 Boards, which policies reach to the ends of the earth. 
 
 In Home Missions we contrast the ignorant, helpless Negro of 1865 
 with the educated, property-holding, professional man or woman of influ- 
 ence today. In India it is a long way from the shut-in, dependent, super- 
 stitious child-wife, with whom we began a half century ago, to the edu- 
 cated, English-speaking, self-reliant, single woman of twenty, who comes 
 the long journey across the big waters, a delegate to our Baptist Jubilee, — 
 our Khanto Bala Rai. 
 
 In all this growth and development of the times, we, as an organized 
 body of Free Baptists, and our women, as a Woman's Missionary Society, 
 have felt our responsibiity and performed our share of the task. We re- 
 joice in the privilege that has been ours and thank Him who thru all the 
 years has been the wisdom and power actuating His people. The courage 
 of conviction that led us to stand alone for principles in advance of general 
 acceptance, enabled us, when those principles became the accepted rule, 
 
 92 
 
Onward 
 
 93 
 
 and there existed no longer reason for separation, to loyally return to the 
 body of which we were originally a part. 
 \/ In the union of our Woman's Work with that of our Baptist sisters 
 
 / we believe the gain to be mutual. It has been comparatively easy to work 
 out advance experiments of administration and policy in a small body, 
 such as ours. From early days our men and our women have worked to- 
 gether on committees and in General 
 Conference. To our union we 
 bring this experience. 
 
 Now it is ours to learn to 
 grapple with large problems, to ex- 
 tend our vision to many fields of 
 endeavor. Our Christian character 
 will be broadened and deepened 
 by this larger fellowship and ser- 
 vice. While doing a creditable 
 work with the children, we have 
 realized the incompleteness of our 
 system of organization for our girls 
 and young women. In many in- 
 stances the Junior and Senior 
 Endeavor Societies have ably filled 
 this need. We rejoice now that our 
 girls and young women are to have 
 the advantages and opportunities of 
 the Children's World Crusade and 
 World Wide Guide. Education in 
 missions and its expression is now a 
 complete span from the babies in the 
 in the Extension Department. 
 
 Our Denomination and Society have had an honored and honorable 
 past. Let us carry with us all that is valuable into a larger and more 
 useful future. We rejoice in the happy manner in which we have been 
 received into the new working order. We bespeak for our women as large 
 a place as is commensurate with their worth. We urge upon our women 
 a large loyalty and an eager participation in the new way. 
 
 The great Baptist Mission Over-Sea and Over-Land includes our smaller 
 
 Mrs. Lena Fenner Dennett 
 Corresponding Secretary 1910- 
 
 Jewell Band " to the retired veterans 
 
94 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Mission, and holds within it all of impetus and inspiration to command 
 our utmost endeavor and fullest out-pouring of resources. And because 
 both Baptists and Free Baptists are Christ's, and we are one in Him, we 
 recognize our common task as a Kingdom Enterprise, in which we are 
 laborers together, and together with Him. 
 
 " Out of the shadow of night 
 The world moves into light 
 It is daybreak everywhere! " 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 Our Presidents 
 
 When I'm kneeling at the altar, Thou seemest close beside, 
 To gather-up the tender prayers breathed out so far and wide, 
 For all the loved and loving ones whom Thou to us hast given, 
 To make life's path more beautiful and point the way to Heaven. 
 
 Mary R. Wadb 
 
 EMELINE BURLINGAME-CHENEY 
 
 MELINE STANLEY was born to Wellington and Celeste Angell 
 =^ Aldrich, Sept. 22, 1836. Her life until her marriage was spent 
 1^^ J in Providence, R. I., where the sunset period of her life is now 
 
 being passed. She entered High School at twelve, graduating at fifteen, 
 when she began teaching. Means were thus earned to enable her to take 
 the R. I. Normal School course of one year. In school she excelled in 
 memory work, in composition and recitation. She taught from this time 
 until her marriage at twenty-three. Her first trip out of her native state 
 was made by carriage to Boston when she was fifteen. Two years later 
 she went by train to New York. These were great events. 
 
 She says, " Before I was three years old my mother began taking me 
 to the Roger Williams Church; Sunday School and Church in the morning 
 and again to Church in the afternoon." When fifteen, her Sunday School 
 teacher asked her if she wasn't ready to become a Christian. " The 
 thought at once came forcibly to me that I should never become a Chris- 
 tian in future time, it must be in some present moment." She made the 
 decision and was baptized in April, 1851, by Rev. Eli Noyes, returned from 
 India, and pastor of the Roger Williams Church. She says, " The Roger 
 Williams Church opened its doors to advocates of anti-slavery, temper- 
 ance, and the broader life for women. Few churches of the other denom- 
 inations did. 
 
 Miss Aldrich was married on Thanksgiving Day, 1859, to Luther R. 
 Burlingame, a Brown man, class of '57, from Pennsylvania. The cere- 
 OS 
 
96 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 mony was performed by Dr. George T. Day. Mr. and Mrs. Burlingame 
 lived for two years at Wellsboro, Penn., where Mr. Burlingame was prin- 
 cipal of the Academy, six years at Whitestown, N. Y., where Mr. Burlingame 
 was Professor of Greek and Latin in our Free Baptist Seminary, and then 
 
 seven years in Dover, N. H. Mr. 
 Burlingame became Publishing Agent 
 in our Free Baptist Publishing Es- 
 tablishment. Five children were 
 born to them, two surviving to 
 adult life, Luther Day of Providence. 
 R. L, and Minnie Thomas of 
 Arizona. 
 
 In Dover she began her public 
 career of writing and speaking. She 
 contributed articles to the Morning 
 Star, Little Star, and the Myrtle, 
 becoming editor of the latter during 
 the remainder of her stay in Dover. 
 In 1869, Dr. Dio Lewis gave the 
 lecture in Dover that he gave three 
 years later in Hillsboro, Ohio, where 
 it inspired the woman's temperance 
 crusade and led to the organization 
 of the W. C. T. U. In Dover, a com- 
 mittee of women was appointed, meetings held and saloons visited. Mrs. 
 Burlingame was a member of this committee, presided at the great mass 
 meetings held, and was offered the leadership of the movement, which she 
 declined. 
 
 " In June, 1873," says Mrs. Burlingame, " Mrs. M. M. H. Hills came 
 to my house and told me I had been elected president of the F. B. W. 
 M. S., just organized at the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting. I at once 
 decided that if president in name, I would be in fact. It had been the 
 custom for women's societies in the denomination to ask a minister to pre- 
 side, read reports and conduct all public business. I arranged at the first 
 meeting after my election for the women to do their own work. I well 
 remember the first time I presided at the Anniversaries in 1873 at Farm- 
 ington, N. H. The prominent men. Dr. 0. B. Cheney, Rev. Ebenezer 
 
 Mrs. Emeline Burlingame Cheney 
 President 1 873-1 886 
 
Our Presidents 97 
 
 Knowlton (grandfather of ex-Governor Millikin of Maine), who had 
 formerly conducted the exercises for the women, sat in the front pew, 
 ready to grasp the helm should anything go wrong. Ascending the steps 
 to the platform I was too abashed to stand behind that sacred thing, the 
 pulpit, but stood beside it and did my best. Other ofificers sustained their 
 parts well. At the close of the exercises Rev. Knowlton came and con- 
 gratulated me and said, ' The brethren will have to look out for their 
 laurels after this.' " In 1874 the family moved to Providence. In the 
 fall of that year the General Conference met with Roger Williams Church. 
 It was notable as the first General Conference at which a woman presided 
 over the public meeting of the Woman's Missionary Society. As Presi- 
 dent of the Woman's Missionary Society, she was asked to make the dedi- 
 catory address at Myrtle Hall, Storer College, May 30, 1879. For this 
 she made her first journey alone, and, preceding the dedication gave an 
 evening of reading to defray the expenses of the journey. Rev. A. H. 
 Morrell invited her to preach for him one Sunday morning. This she did, 
 and thereafter, through the years, did considerable pulpit work. 
 
 On moving to Providence, Mrs. BurHngame became actively identified 
 with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union movement, then only a 
 few months old; first with the Providence Union, then as corresponding 
 secretary of the State Union, and in 1884-1890 as president of the latter. 
 It was during her presidency that the campaign was on which won for a 
 period of three years, 1886-89, State Constitutional Prohibition. Into 
 this she threw all of her energies, as she did in 1887 into the effort to 
 secure state suffrage for women. Through all the years she has been keenly 
 interested in these two reform movements, and has lived to see both 
 realized nation-wide. After giving up her state office in the W. C. T. U., 
 she was appointed, through Miss Willard's influence, National Evangelist. 
 This gave her credentials to speak for the cause wherever she might be. 
 As a sample of her activities we quote, " For several years I had the work 
 connected with the Presidency of the R. I. W. C. T. U., speaking once or 
 more every Sunday, attending frequent conventions, keeping track of work 
 at Headquarters and the interests of the local Unions, editing a semi- 
 monthly edition of the Outlook, and the monthly Missionary Helper." 
 
 It was in 1886 that Mrs. Burlingame resigned her position as Presi- 
 dent of the W. M. S. and January, 1887, became Editor of the Missionary 
 Helper. This position she ably filled for eight years, adding new depart- 
 
98 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 ments to the magazine. In the autumn of 1890, at a meeting of the 
 Board in Brooklyn, N. Y., she was elected travelling agent for the W. M. S. 
 For a year and a half Hillsdale, Mich., became her home, whence she 
 travelled twice from Maine to Dakota, encouraging auxiliaries, organizing 
 new ones, visiting yearly and quarterly meetings, preaching everywhere 
 the Gospel of an " Applied Christianity." 
 
 At the General Conference held in Minneapolis in 1883, women were 
 made members of the Executive committee of the Foreign Mission Society. 
 Mrs. Burlingame was not only made a member but one of its vice-presidents. 
 She continued a member until the F. M. S. was merged into the General 
 Conference Board. About the time the Methodists refused Frances Wil- 
 lard a seat in their General Conference, Free Baptists decided to grant 
 women representation in their highest legislative body. Accordingly sev- 
 eral women were elected members of the General Conference which met 
 at Harper's Ferry, W. Va., in 1889. Mrs. Burlingame was one of these 
 and from that time until 1904, when she resigned because of change of 
 residence, she was a member of each General Conference. The benevolent 
 societies were consolidated in 1889 into the Conference Board. Mrs. 
 Burlingame was elected one of the seven women on this Board and con- 
 tinued until 1904. She was also vice-president of the Board, and pre- 
 sided over two of its sessions. " No work," she says, " that I have ever 
 done is more important than this — the helping to plan and mould the 
 affairs of a denomination." As a representative of the F. B. W. M. S., 
 she was several times delegate to the National Council of Women. At its 
 session at Washington, D. C, 1894, she was elected recording secretary, 
 and in the following fall went to Atlanta, Ga., to speak at a meeting of 
 the Council in connection with the Exposition. In 1894 she resigned her 
 position as Editor of the Missionary Helper, to take effect at the end of 
 that year. 
 
 Mr. Burlingame died in 1890. In 1892 Mrs. Burlingame married Dr. 
 Orin B. Cheney, President of Bates College, and went to live in Lewiston, 
 Maine. In Lewiston Mrs. Cheney worked with the college girls, leading 
 them to formulate a self-governing platform of principles and rules. 
 These " Principles " have been printed and re-printed through the years 
 and given to each woman student as she enters, and are in force almost 
 without change to the present time. In 1898 Dr. and Mrs. Cheney com- 
 pleted the Chautauqua Reading Course and graduated at the Chautauqua 
 
Our Presidents 
 
 99 
 
 Assembly, at Ocean Park, Maine. After the death of Dr. Cheney in 1903, 
 Mrs. Cheney made her home with her daughter. While living in Holly- 
 wood, Cal., in her seventieth year, she wrote the life of Dr. O. B. Cheney. 
 " I have wanted," she says, " to be seventy, to live and to keep at work 
 up to that time." And on that birthday she expressed her feelings in a 
 poem, "I'm Seventy Years Old Today! " In 1918 she came back to the 
 city of her childhood and 
 her mature life to make 
 her home with her son. 
 Today at eighty-five she 
 keeps fresh her interest 
 in world affairs, her opti- 
 mistic faith that right will 
 conquer, and occasionally 
 she appears at a mission- 
 ary or temperance func- \ 
 tion. ' 
 
 MARY A. DAVIS 
 
 Mary A. Perkins was 
 born in Center Harbor, 
 N. H., April 11, 1836. the 
 daughter of Benjamin and 
 Mary (Drake) Perkins. 
 She was a lineal de- 
 scendant of Sir Francis 
 Drake. She was gradu- 
 ated from New Hampton 
 Institute in 1859, and was 
 
 preceptress of Lebanon Academy, 1859-61. Mary was converted at the age 
 of fifteen. While still Miss Perkins she became contributor to several 
 magazines and periodicals. She was married to Rev. J. Burnham Davis 
 of Lawrence, Mass., on May 28, 1861. Two sons were born to them. 
 
 Mrs. Davis was sent as a delegate from New Hampshire to the General 
 Conference at Harper's Ferry in 1889, the first session to admit women 
 delegates. In 1891 she was secretary of the National Council of Women, 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. Davis 
 President i 886-1910 
 
100 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 and attended its session in Washington, D. C. Again at the same place 
 she attended the 1895 session as the representative of the F. B. W. M. S. 
 and was one of its speakers. 
 
 Mrs. Davis was one of the Board of Managers of the F. B. W. M. S. 
 from its organization in 1873 to 1886. In 1886 she was chosen President 
 and continued in that office for twenty-four years, until 1910. During 
 her presidency most of the departments of work were inaugurated and 
 poHcies determined. Mrs. Davis had a strong personality and dignified 
 bearing. As a presiding officer she was " courteous and genial, listening 
 patiently to the opinions of all. She was frank, honest, loyal to convic- 
 tion, and held the confidence and esteem of those with whom she was 
 associated." Another co-worker says of her, " She was an adviser of 
 the young, a counsellor of the perplexed, a sympathizer with the sorrow- 
 ful. As a writer she showed clearness of thought and practical grasp of 
 affairs." A most valuable and permanent contribution to our work was 
 the preparation and publication in 1900 of her "History of the Free Bap- 
 tist Woman's Missionary Society." 
 
 Her later years, after the death of her husband, were spent in the 
 home of her son. Prof. Herbert B. Davis, first in Worcester, Mass., then 
 in Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 The F. B. W. M. S. in its forty-eight years of history has had but 
 three Presidents, all remarkably able presiding and executive officers. 
 When work on this book was begun they were all three living. But in 
 May, 1921, less than a month after the celebration of her eighty-fifth 
 birthday, Mrs. Davis slipped away to her Heavenly Home. 
 
 LUCY PHILLIPS DURGIN 
 
 Lucy Marilla, eighth daughter of Dr. Jeremiah and Hannah Cum- 
 mings Phillips, our first missionaries to India, was born at New Hampton, 
 N. H. She was one of the three of Dr. Phillips' fourteen children, born 
 in America, and the only one not to see India. She was left here at the 
 age of ten years by her parents on their return because of the lack, at 
 that time, of school opportunities in India. 
 
 She took her preparatory work at Rockford, Illinois, and was gradu- 
 ated from Hillsdale College in 1876, later receiving the A. M. degree. 
 She taught for many years, serving as Dean of Women in Parker College 
 
Our Presidents loi 
 
 for nine years, though her activities have been more largely in the home 
 and local church. 
 
 Miss Phillips married a classmate, Dr. Frank L. Durgin, of Saco, 
 Maine. Their home, for a time, was in Sanford, Maine, but for the past 
 thirty years, in Winnebago, Minnesota, where Dr. Durgin was widely 
 known as a successful physician. 
 
 Their home was fittingly called " Restawhile," since it frequently of- 
 fered much needed rest to brothers and sisters on furloughs and afforded 
 a home for nieces and nephews left here for education. Their immediate 
 family consists of one little son, a much loved adopted daughter and a 
 foster son. 
 
 Mrs. Durgin was a member of the General Conference Board for 
 twenty-five years and a member of the " Committee of Twelve on Con- 
 ference with other Christian Bodies," whose work eventuated in the union of 
 Baptists and Free Baptists. At the Ocean Park Annual Meeting of 1910, 
 she was elected president of the F. B. W. M. S. In accepting the latter 
 office she said, " It is so blessed to be engaged in a work which cannot fail 
 of success. The degree of success will depend upon our consecration and 
 united efforts." 
 
 The life of the Society during her Presidency has been that of transi- 
 tion, union, and adjustment to new conditions, a period fraught with dif- 
 ficulties and no little of pathos as " the old order changes." Her steady, 
 wise leadership has been and is appreciated by her constituency, and her 
 wit and optimism in the chair, have tided over many a tense moment in 
 our deliberations. On the union with our Baptist sisters, Mrs. Durgin 
 was made an advisory member of the Home Mission Board. 
 
 A wave of the hand to comrades so true! 
 
 Come on! The climb? Yes, but then there's the view. 
 The valley of conflict is softened by mist. 
 The peak-* beyond gleam bright, sun-kissed. 
 Clad I'm .seventy years old today! 
 
 Emeline B. Cheney 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Our India Missionaries 
 
 " I see a hand you cannot see, 
 That beckons me away. 
 I hear a voice you cannot hear, 
 Forbidding me to stay." 
 
 SUSAN R. LIBBY 
 
 USAN R. LIBBY of Dover, New Hampshire, went to India as the 
 first missionary of the F. B. W. M. S. in the autumn of 1874. 
 She was a woman of strong personality and rare Christian devotion. 
 After two years of service she was won from her position by a government 
 official, whose name she graced for the two succeeding years, then passed 
 from that land of spiritual darkness to the world of endless light. 
 
 MARY WASHINGTON BACHELER 
 
 Mary Washington Bacheler, daughter of Dr. Otis R. and Sarah P. 
 (Merrill) Bacheler, was born on February 22, 1860, in New Hampton, 
 N. H. She was the youngest of ten children. When Mary was two years 
 old her father returned to India alone. In 1865 Mrs. Bacheler left Bos- 
 ton to join her husband, taking only Mary with her. When Mary had 
 been in India but eighteen months, she became instrumental in opening 
 to Christian visitation the first Mohammedan home in Midnapore. Learn- 
 ing the language while a child with children, her fluency of expression and 
 command of idiom became of great value to her in later service. 
 
 She came with her parents to America in 1870 and lived in New 
 Hampton, N. H. In 1873 she returned with her parents to India, and, 
 though but a girl in her early teens, was able to greatly assist both father 
 and mother in their work. When seventeen she was appointed Zenana 
 worker by the F. B. W. M. S. During this time she gained considerable 
 
Our India Missionaries 
 
 103 
 
 knowledge of medicine in her father's dispensary, so that when she left 
 India with her parents in July, 1883, it was with the resolution to prepare 
 herself as a physician. Accordingly she entered the Woman's Medical 
 College, in New York City, finishing her course in 1890 and returning to 
 India that same fall, as the first medical missionary of the F. B. W. M. S. 
 At first working with her father, she assumed the whole burden of his 
 practice, when in 1893 her parents came home for the last time. Women 
 who would not come to her father 
 now came to her, and calls from 
 the homes were many, so that her 
 work was greatly increased. In 
 the dispensary, she started a system 
 of tickets, on one side of which 
 was the patient's name, disease, 
 and number of prescription; on the 
 other side a Gospel message. On 
 the medicine envelope, too, a 
 Bible text was printed. While 
 waiting their turn an attendant ex- 
 plained to the patients the story of 
 Jesus and His Love. 
 
 Besides attending to her medi- 
 cal practice, Dr. Mary served on 
 the Church Committee, taught a 
 large Sunday School class of wo- 
 men, took charge of the children 
 too young to attend church, and 
 was general confidante of the 
 Christian community. Physically 
 
 exhausted. Dr. Mary left for America in 1900 to join her aging parents in 
 New Hampton, N. H. Not long was their life together. Only two weeks and 
 the mother slipped away, to be joined by the father eight and a half months 
 later on New Year's Day, 1901. In 1903 Dr. Mary returned to her work in 
 Midnapore, India. She and Miss Coombs lived together in Henderson Home 
 till 1910, when Dr. Mary, much to the dismay of her friends in Midnapore, 
 was transferred to Balasore. There was much sickness in Sinclair Orphanage 
 and medical assistance was needed. Miss Barnes, and then Miss Coe were 
 
 Miss Lavina C. Coombs 
 
104 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Superintendents during this time. The latter learned much of medicine 
 from Dr. Mary so that she was able to care for the eighty girls alone, 
 when in 1912, after much trouble with an injured knee, Dr. Mary came 
 
 home on crutches. She was ac- 
 companied by Miss Coombs. After 
 obtaining helpful treatment for her 
 knee, Dr. Mary studied Bible and 
 medicine in New York City. 
 
 In November 1Q14, in the midst 
 of war conditions, she returned to 
 India. She was stationed now at 
 Santipore, thirty-fiive miles north 
 of Balasore, and seven miles from 
 the railroad. Here Miss Butts 
 lived alone with many demands on 
 her time and strength. After a 
 year spent with Miss Butts, Dr. 
 Mary returned to Balasore to as- 
 sume charge of Sinclair Orphanage 
 from Miss Coe who was leaving on 
 furlough. Her companions in the 
 home during this term, — for vary- 
 ing periods, — were Miss Gowen, 
 Miss Porter, Miss Coombs, and 
 Miss Doe. After a very successful 
 and busy term of service, and on the return of Miss Coe to care for the Or- 
 phanage flock, Dr. Mary came home in February 1921. With her came 
 Khanto Bala Rai of Midnapore, daughter of Sachidananda Rai, as repre- 
 sentative of our Bengal-Orissa field to the W. A. B. F. M. S. Tubilee. 
 
 Dr. Mary W. Bacheler 
 
 JULIA PHILLIPS BURKHOLDER 
 
 Julia Phillips Burkholder, the third daughter of Rev. Jeremiah 
 and Hannah Phillips, was born in Jellasore, India, June 5, 1845. She, with 
 her mother and seven other children of the family, came to America in May 
 1854. Her father remained at his post a year after the family left. They 
 first lived in New Hampton, N. -H. After her father returned to this 
 
Our India Missionaries 105 
 
 country the family moved to New York state. While there her father 
 baptized her and her two oldest sisters March 1858. At the age of sixteen 
 years, she was sent to Hillsdale College where she remained for two years. 
 In December of 1864, she accompanied her parents, together with James L. 
 Phillips and wife and her sister Ida, then a child of eight years of age, to 
 India. In those early days the voyage was made in sailing vessels round the 
 Cape of Good Hope. Three days out from Boston a fearful gale struck 
 them. The captain was swept overboard. They did not reach Calcutta 
 until June, having been six months in making the voyage from Boston to 
 Calcutta. 
 
 Arriving on the field the family were stationed in Midnapore. Mrs. 
 James Phillips and Mrs. Burkholder were the first to begin Zenana work 
 in our mission. After ten years of service she returned to this country 
 on her first furlough. In 1878 she with her brother and family again 
 returned to India. The following year she was married to Dr. T. W. Burk- 
 holder, who having been assigned to the Santal work, they moved to 
 Bhimpore, which was their home for more than twenty years. Here Mrs. 
 Burkholder had the charge of the boys' and girls' orphanages and aided in 
 many ways to build up the church and Christian community. Five little 
 ones were given to them, two of whom died in infancy. 
 
 After their second furlough. Dr. and Mrs. Burkholder were sent to 
 Balasore where they had the care of the Boys' Orphanage and the Boys' 
 High School. In November, 1903, Dr. Burkholder died, and Mrs. Burk- 
 holder was left in charge of the orphanage and work shop. Afterwards she 
 was sent to care for the girls in Sinclair Ophanage. 
 
 In 1909 she took her third furlough in America, but was asked to re- 
 turn to the field to fill a vacancy. Her last voyage to India was in 1911, 
 this time remaining only five years. She arrived in San Francisco, April 
 1917. Including her furloughs and work among the home churches she 
 has spent 52 years in the blessed service. She always considered these 
 years a high privilege granted her by the Lord of the harvest. 
 
 It was the joy of her life to be able to travel in the rural districts of 
 India, visiting one village after another, attending the large markets, dis- 
 tributing tracts and selling gospels. While busy attending to the duties of 
 the station, she was enabled to prepare two small Bible study books which 
 were very useful in the day schools; also three tracts which were scattered 
 broadcast in the outlying district. She was the first person who was used 
 
io6 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 of the Master to bring light to the soul of Chundra Lela, who had been 
 groping for years in darkness and hungering for the bread of life. Blessed 
 privilege! Blessed service! " 
 
 Mrs. Burkholder was not a missionary of our Board, but to an unusual 
 extent she performed the duties of a missionary of the Woman's Board. 
 Home on her first furlough, she was released by the Conference Board to 
 travel for the Woman's Board, in the interest of the Woman's magazine, 
 The Missionary Helper, just then being launched. At one time she served 
 our Society in India as superintendent of Sinclair Orphanage. During 
 her last term she lived in our Henderson Home and cared for our Zenana 
 and Bible Women's work. Except her mother, who gave sixty-seven years 
 to India, Mrs. Burkholder has served as missionary more years than any 
 other woman on our field. 
 
 Dr. Jeremiah Phillips and wife gave six children and three grand- 
 children to India, and including sons-in-law and daughters-in-law an 
 aggregate of service of over three hundred years was rendered by the Phillips 
 family. 
 
 IDA ORISSA PHILLIPS 
 
 When Dr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Phillips decided — in 1864 — that it 
 was their duty and privilege to return to India for another term of ser- 
 vice, it was thought best to leave all the children in this country to be 
 educated, with the exception of Julia, now Mrs. Burkholder, who returned 
 with them for service. 
 
 Following this plan they went as far as Boston, the port of sailing; 
 but friends about them became convinced that the awful strain of separa- 
 tion was greater than Mrs. Phillips could endure with safety, and persuaded 
 them to send back to Illinois for the youngest, Ida Orissa, at that time 
 eight years of age. (Born at Whitestown, N. Y., July 24, 1856.) During 
 her stay of seven years she was an unspeakable comfort to her parents, 
 while she came to know the natives as friends, and the language as one 
 of themselves. 
 
 From Hillsdale College she was graduated in the class of 1877, being 
 one of its youngest members. During her years of study she was an eager 
 and efficient worker in the College church, leaving a marked impress of 
 her strong and lovable character upon the girls of her Sunday School 
 Class, one of them. Miss Emilie C. Barnes, being won to missionary service 
 through her influence. 
 
Our India Missionaries 
 
 10' 
 
 Returning promptly to India after her graduation, Ida's thorough 
 familiarity with the people, their habits of thought and life, as well as 
 their language, enabled her immediately to take a responsible position in 
 the work. She seemed eminently qualified for the many-sided life that fell 
 
 Miss Emelie E. Barnes 
 
 to her lot during the following decade. Whether dealing with men, women, 
 young people or children; high or low, coolies or pundits, her sympathetic 
 nature seemed to make her, in an unusual degree, one of themselves; yet 
 when need arose she exercised an authority that commanded instant respect 
 and obedience, and to this day the name of " Ida Missibaba " is recalled with 
 loving praise and tender regret. She came home in 1887. 
 
io8 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 To the grief of her friends and the loss of the work she loved, she 
 did not live to return for a second term, but passed away suddenly July 5, 
 1889, while at the home of. her sister, Mrs. Marshall, in Minnesota, and now 
 her body rests with that of her sister. Dr. Nellie, in Oak Grove Cemetery, 
 at Hillsdale, beside that of her father. At a memorial service held for her 
 in India, a Christian Indian said, " Whenever sickness came, or trouble, or 
 disgrace, or death, there was Ida, like an angel of God, with kind words 
 and helping hands. If I should ask you who are here, who among you has 
 Ida helped, or comforted, or taught, you would each one answer, ' She has 
 helped me.' " 
 
 HARRIET PRESTON PHILLIPS 
 
 Harriet Preston Phillips, daughter of Dr. Jeremiah and Hannah 
 C. Phillips, was born in Jellasore, India, March 11, 1848. She was graduated 
 from Hillsdale College in 1868, and taught for nine years in the city schools 
 of Chicago, that she might help forward the education of her younger 
 sisters. In the public schools, as well as in the Sunday School that she 
 taught, she was as truly a missionary as in her later life in India, finding 
 many opportunities to impress her pupils religiously, and often to pray 
 with them apart. Religion with her was not only to be professed but to be 
 lived. Her eminent success as a teacher was largely due to her qualities of 
 punctuality, self-reliance, and integrity in word and deed, and to honest, hard 
 work. She hungered for knowledge. The milliner's windows held no temp- 
 tations for her but she longed for money to buy books. She would turn 
 an old dress and wear it another year that she might attend a course of 
 lectures. Civilization meant much to her. She did not want to go to 
 India. It was only after a long struggle, intense at the last, that she became 
 willing to go wherever God wanted her. Once the decision was made she 
 never looked backward. " Unswerving devotion to duty as the Lord 
 enabled her to see her duty " was her watchword. She gave up a fine posi- 
 tion, a large salary, a place in society, and every promise for an eminent 
 future here. 
 
 In 1878 Miss Phillips sailed for India. At first she taught in the Bible 
 School, which was under the superintendence of her brother James. In 
 April 1882, on the death of Miss Crawford at Jellasore, Miss Phillips moved 
 there. But in November of that year she was transferred to Balasore for 
 Zenana work, adding to this church and community interests. This neces- 
 
Our India Missionaries 109 
 
 sitated the learning of the Orissa language. After furlough she devoted her- 
 self more exclusively to educational work, which was her forte. She organized 
 daily classes for the young people and women of the Christian villages, and 
 supervised the Christian and Hindu girls' schools. It was through her efforts 
 that kindergartens were started in our field and the kindergarten training 
 
 Miss Sadie E. Gowen (see page ii8) 
 
 school in Balasore. In 1895 she was elected President of the W. C. T. U. 
 for Orissa, and a little later editor of " The White Ribbon for Asia." In 
 the midst of her busy life came another call, and she relinquished her 
 loved work in India to become the wife of Irving L. Stone of Battle Creek, 
 Michigan, in 1904. Mr. Stone went to India for his bride and the wedding 
 was an event in mission annals. 
 
no The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Miss Phillips was the missionary of the women and young people of 
 Rhode Island, which state was the first to assume the support of a mission- 
 ary under the F. B. W. M. S. 
 
 DORCAS FOLSOM SMITH 
 
 Dorcas Folsom Smith, daughter of Rev. Moses Folsom, was born in 
 Williamstown, Vt. July 20, 1827. She became a Christian in 1839. Her 
 high school education was received in Manchester, N. H. Her earliest 
 memories are of her father's prayers for the slave and the heathen. From 
 these prayers and the reading of the hfe of Harriet Newell date her first 
 desires to become a missionary. A country parish and a large family fur- 
 nished limited opportunity for the fulfillment of her ambition for an edu- 
 cation. When old enough to earn her way, she worked and went to school 
 by turns, her uppermost thought, cherished in secret, being to prepare 
 herself to be a missionary. 
 
 In 1852 she married Rev. B. B. Smith of Sandwich, N. H., and on 
 August 14 of the same year sailed for India. At his death in 1872 she 
 nobly continued alone their work in Balasore. After a furlough she re- 
 turned in 1882 to India, under appointment of our Woman's Board, and 
 took the position made vacant by the death of Miss Crawford, Superin- 
 tendent of Sinclair Orphanage at Jellasore. The prevalence of malarial fever 
 had, made it unwise to continue at Jellasore, so after two years, Mrs. Smith 
 moved the girls to Balasore. By her foresight, quick action and large 
 faith, she was instrumental in securing to the F. B. W. M. S. the present 
 Sinclair Orphanage property. 
 
 Mrs. Smith came home in 1891 but returned to her India girls in 1893. 
 She was untiring in her efforts to form strong, pure characters in her girls, 
 and to build up in Balasore a thoroughly good school for Christian girls. 
 Conscious of her own early lack of education, she pursued in her later years 
 in India, the prescribed reading of the four-year C. L. S. C. course and won 
 her diploma. She did a work for the education of the Christian girls in 
 Orissa that elicited the hearty and repeated appreciation of the leading 
 Indian gentlemen. After her death one of these Hindu gentlemen placed at 
 interest a sum of money, the income of which is to be used annually for a 
 silvei* medal to be awarded to the girl who passes highest in the Government 
 Scholarship examinations for middle vernacular schools in Balasore District. 
 
Our India Missionaries iii 
 
 On this medal, valued at about seven dollars, is inscribed the name of the 
 winner, the benevolent donor and preeminently these words, " Dorcas Smith 
 Memorial." This fund is in the hands of the municipal government, and the 
 medal is given on application to the city magistrate. Each girl who wins 
 the medal receives also, from the Government, two dollars per month for 
 three years, a sum nearly sufficient for high school or normal training. A 
 score of our Balasore girls and women are the 
 proud possessors of these medals. 
 
 Mrs. Smith's position as chairman of the Church 
 Committee, and as general adviser in the Christian 
 community admitted of large usefulness. As a 
 business woman she was far-seeing, clear-headed, 
 and loyal to the interests of the mission. She had 
 positive convictions, great executive ability, and 
 strong determination. While preparing to come 
 home on furlough, making a last visit to her 
 friends, she was stricken with pneumonia and Miss Amy B. Coe 
 
 died in Calcutta on February 11, 1899, at the 
 
 home and school presided over by Miss Sarah Gardner. Her body was laid 
 to rest in Circular Road Cemetery, Calcutta. Mrs. Smith was the missionary 
 of the Free Baptist women of her native state of Vermont from whom she 
 received a most loyal support. 
 
 LAVINA CARR COOMBS 
 
 Lavina Carr Coombs, daughter of Capt. David and Sarah Coombs, 
 was born in West Bowdoin, Me., November 28, 1849. Lavina was the 
 youngest of nine children, all of whom, growing up in a devout Christian 
 home, early became Christians. She received her education at Litchfield 
 Academy 1864-66, and the Farmington Normal School 1872-73. She then 
 taught in the schools of Maine until she went to India. In May 1863 she 
 was baptized and joined the West Bowdoin Church. She soon became a 
 teacher in the Sunday school, organized the first Children's Mission Band 
 in the church, and was made secretary of the Woman's Missionary Auxiliary 
 when it was organized in the church in 1872, preceeding the National 
 Society. In a heart-to-heart talk with a friend about the things of the 
 Kingdom, Miss Coombs exclaimed, " Why don't more people want to be 
 
112 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 missionaries?" "Why don't you," was the rejoinder. And the answer 
 promptly came, " Why, I want to go, if I were only fitted! If the Woman's 
 Board will send me, I will go." And in less than a year Miss Coombs was 
 on her way to India alone, sailing November 11, 1882. The date of her 
 arrival not being known in India in advance, she was not met, and so pro- 
 ceeded alone to Midnapore, where for the first year she lived alone in the 
 Bacheler house. For a number of years Miss Coombs and Miss Butts lived 
 together in Henderson Home. In recent years she has lived in Sinclair 
 Orphanage Bungalow. Both Midnapore and Balasore have shared her 
 services. She has been an all round missionary, doing all kinds of service 
 that a woman may do. In Midnapore her work was the charge of the 
 ragged schools, the Zenanas, and teaching the women's classes in the Bible 
 School. In Balasore she has by turns assisted and superintended in the 
 Orphanage, led Bible classes, women's prayer meetings and industrial classes. 
 Evangelistic work is her special delight, but she adapts herself willingly to 
 the uppermost need. Prompt and energetic, thorough and tireless, ever 
 cheerful is this most valuable of missionaries. 
 
 ELLA MAY BUTTS 
 
 Ella May Butts, daughter of Rev. E. H. and Delphina P. Butts, 
 was born in New Portland, Me., February 22, 1852, and became a Christian 
 in 1870. Following her graduation from the Lewiston High School in 186Q 
 she taught for three years in the pubhc schools of Lewiston. These latter 
 years she lived in the home of Prof. B. F. Hayes and wife. With them in 
 1873 she sailed for Europe spending two years in the study of languages. 
 Immediately on her return Miss Butts was called to teach French and Ger- 
 man at New Hampton Institute. Here she remained eleven years, the 
 last three as lady principal. How acceptably she served may be judged 
 from the words of the Principal of the Institute, Prof. Meservey, " She 
 was a thorough, faithful, helpful, painstaking, persevering, unselfish, 
 enthusiastic, conscientious, teacher. Her influence was always womanly and 
 Christian. She was thoroughly loyal to the school, the denomination and 
 the Saviour. We were very sorry to accept her resignation, but concluded 
 she had a higher call." The " Higher call " was to leave a place which many 
 a woman would be glad to occupy and go where so few are willing to go, 
 and where the need of Christian workers is so great. When first approached 
 
Our India Missionaries 
 
 113 
 
 with the suggestion she at once replied in the negative, saying, " I have 
 never thought I had a call to India." But on consideration she said, 
 " When I gave my allegiance to Christ it was to serve him when and where 
 I was most needed. If India needs me most I am willing to go there." 
 In this she had the cordial approval of her father, who had long been inter- 
 ested in missions, and was now glad 
 he had a daughter ready to give her- 
 self to this service. 
 
 Miss Butts went to India in 1886 as 
 a teacher in the Midnapore Bible 
 School; that is, she had charge of the 
 education of the wives of the married 
 Bible-school students. Dr. Bacheler 
 said, " Her scholarship was of a su- 
 perior order, and she early acquired a 
 critical knowledge of the native lan- 
 guage." Mrs. Bacheler said, " Miss 
 Butts is full of enthusiasm in the 
 work, in all kinds of work." Refined 
 and cultured, she had the remarkable 
 faculty of adapting herself to the 
 humblest task. She had a command 
 of scientific Bengali and of native 
 legends that was unusual. It was a 
 delight to her colleagues to get out 
 with her under the evening heavens, 
 and be told the Indian names and 
 legends of the stars, or to snatch a 
 moment at siesta when instead of rest- 
 ing she would recount the traditions 
 and romances of the Indian people. 
 By bent and preparation she was pre- 
 eminently an educational woman, yet for a number of years she lived 
 alone in the isolated jungle village of Santipore, giving of her best, as an 
 all-round station worker. Well might the Indian pastor say, " She has 
 made herself weak and poor for us." After a long life of rare service, 
 when in the midst of preparation to come home, a malignant disease was 
 
 Miss Ruth Daniels 
 
114 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 discovered that required immediate attention. Dr. Mary Bacheler accom- 
 panied her to the Calcutta hospital where on March 1, 1917, she passed 
 to the Home-land of the Soul. To the Indian people, who loved and 
 mourn her, she is known as " Our Lady of Mercies." Her body was laid 
 to rest in the Scotch cemetery, Calcutta. In America, the Free Baptist 
 women of New Hampshire were her loyal supporters. 
 
 SARAH E. ACER 
 
 Mrs. S. E. Acer, an English woman, gave thirty years of service to 
 our mission. Mr. and Mrs. George Ager, residents of India, were bap- 
 tized by Dr. Coldren at Chambali and soon after joined the staff of our 
 mission. Mr. Ager retired in 1902 but Mrs. Ager was continued by our 
 Woman's Board until her death, December 10, 1918. She served in sev- 
 eral of our stations, perhaps the longest in Midnapore. One of her fellow- 
 missionaries said of her, " She possessed a most devout and consecrated 
 spirit, always willing to take the hardest place, and although at times suf- 
 fering much, she never complained nor slighted in the least the work for 
 which she was responsible. She had the rare art of saying and doing the 
 right thing in the most kind and considerate way." 
 
 MRS. ANNA R. MINER 
 
 Mrs. Ann.\ R. Miner, wife of the Rev. Melville C. Miner of Ohio, 
 a missionary of the General Conference Board, was transferred by that 
 Board to the Woman's Society for service from 1890 to 1896 and was 
 supported by the women of Iowa. 
 
 EMILIE E. BARNES 
 
 Emilie E. Barnes, the Children's Missionary, was born in Twicken- 
 hani, England. She was early orphaned and when about ten came to this 
 country with an aunt and brother. In Hillsdale, Mich., she was a member 
 of Miss Ida Phillips's Sunday School class. It was through Miss Phillips's 
 influence that she became a Christian and united in 1875 with the Hills- 
 dale, Mich., Free Baptist Church. 
 
 By patient and persistent self-help she graduated from the high school, 
 
Our India Missionaries 
 
 115 
 
 and then studied in Hillsdale College. While Mr. Wilder of the Student 
 Volunteer Movement was in Hillsdale in 1887, she publicly pledged herself 
 to the work which she had been prayerfully considering in secret. Two 
 years were now spent in Moody Bible Institute. Then her invalid brother 
 was cared for until his release came in February, 1892. The summer 
 following she travelled in Illinois, 
 organizing women's auxiliaries and 
 interesting churches in missions. 
 
 October, 1893, Miss Barnes be- 
 came an appointee of the F. B. W. 
 M. S. as Children's Missionary, to 
 sail at once. Especially successful in 
 leading souls to Christ she inclines 
 by choice to evangelistic work but 
 turns willingly to other tasks when 
 the need calls. In India, Miss Barnes 
 lived first in Balasore with Mrs. 
 Smith in the Sinclair bungalow-. 
 Then she went to Bhadrak where she 
 was the only white woman, and had 
 the oversight of all the Christian 
 work carried on in that station. 
 In 1902, Miss Barnes became Su- 
 perintendent of Sinclair Orphanage, 
 
 with its fifty girls, following Miss Gaunce. Her big heart of love won her 
 way with the girls. Out of her personal funds she was educating at this 
 time a boy and a girl for service among their people. 
 
 In February 1904 she came to America on furlough, returning in October 
 1906. She now did evangelistic work in Jellasore and had charge of the 
 various activities, Bible Women and Zenana teachers, schools and village 
 work. In 1910, after about three years at Jellasore, she was called the 
 second time to take charge of Sinclair Orphanage, at this time housing 
 sixty-five girls. More dormitory rooms having been provided, there were 
 in 1913 seventy-five girls in the home. That year Miss Barnes came home 
 to America in very poor health. 
 
 On November 2, 1915, her health somewhat restored and her spirit 
 undaunted, she sailed for India from Seattle in company with Miss Coombs. 
 
 Miss Amorette Porter 
 
ii6 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 The Reference Committee, heeding the request of the Jellasore Christians 
 located Miss Barnes again at Jellasore. Here she is all things to all kinds 
 of people with many kinds of needs. By smiles and words Miss Barnes ex- 
 presses her Christian optimism and faith. Every letter or post-card home 
 ends with " Pray for us."' 
 
 MARY SOPHIA PHILLIPS 
 
 Mary* Sophia Phillips, daughter of Dr. James L. and Mary R. 
 (Sayles) Phillips of Pascoag, R. I., and granddaughter of Jeremiah Phillips, 
 was born in India in 1869. Her Indian friends gave her the name of 
 " Beebee " meaning " little lady,"' and by this she is generally known. 
 When Beebee was quite young her mother came to America with four 
 children to be educated. Several years were spent in Rhode Island and 
 Ohio. Beebee became a student successively at Oberlin and Wellesley 
 Colleges, and later graduated from the Kindergarten Training School of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Phillips had returned to India, he as General Sunday- 
 School Secretary for all India, and Mrs. Phillips as President of the Woman's 
 Christian Temperance Union of India. Dr. Phillips loved children and re- 
 joiced in his daughter's prospective career, saying, " And now my child 
 is coming out as the children's missionary for Rhode Island to her own 
 India." 
 
 She sailed in the autumn of 1895 with Miss Coombs for India. On 
 December 28, 1896, she formally opened the Rhode Island Kindergarten with 
 sixteen children, all from Christian families. She greatly appreciated the 
 " baby organ " given her by the C. E. Society of the Roger Williams Church, 
 Providence, R. I. Her aunt. Miss Hattie Phillips, translated for her a 
 number of kindergarten songs into Oriya. All promised well for the future 
 of the Balasore Kindergarten. But Cupid is as busy and efficient in India 
 as in America, and after a brief year of service Miss Phillips resigned her 
 work to her aunt, September 1897, to become the wife of Dr. George Howells, 
 an English Baptist Missionary of Cuttack. Dr. Howells soon after became 
 the President of Serampore College, and has performed a notable service 
 for this historic institution founded by Carey. 
 
Our India Missionaries 
 
 117 
 
 SHIRLEY HOLMES SMITH 
 
 Shirley Holmes Smith was born in Somerset, Mich., May 17, 1870, 
 into a home where Christ was honored by word as well as by deed, where 
 Christian missions was a frequent topic of conversation, and where special 
 honor was accorded missionaries from over-seas. It is no wonder then that 
 
 Miss Elsie Barnard 
 
 she should confess Christ at seven years of age, and that the seed of mission 
 interest thus early planted should have a continuous growth. When she 
 was about eleven her pastor and his wife went to China as missionaries. 
 Knowing them and reading their letters increased her interest. " It was in 
 the summer of 1885," she says, " that I took up^ my Bible, just before going 
 to bed, when my eyes fell on the words, ' Come over into Macedonia and 
 
ii8 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 help us! ' It came to me as a call, and without any struggle or process of 
 reasoning, I knelt by my bed and told God I was willing to go as a foreign 
 missionary if that was His will." While in Hillsdale College during the 
 visit of Mr. Robert Wilder to the College, Shirley joined the Student 
 Volunteer Band. She was president of the College Y. W. C. A., and re- 
 ceived great inspiration from attending its summer assemblies and state 
 conventions. " It made the difference " she says " between doing no harm 
 and seeking to do positive good to others." 
 
 On graduating in 1890 she taught for one year in Parker College, Winne- 
 bago, Minn., then in the fall of 1891 accepted the position as State 
 Y. W. C. A. Secretary for Wisconsin. Under appointment of the F. B. W. 
 M. S. as a missionary to Bengal-Orissa she entered the medical department 
 of Michigan University, graduating in 1900. She sailed for India that fall, 
 and was located at Balasore, living in the Sinclair bungalow. A building on 
 the compound was fitted up as a dispensary, and here she treated her patients. 
 For half a year while Miss Dawson was on furlough in Australia she 
 served as Superintendent of the Orphanage. At other times she cared for 
 the Zenana work. At the end of one term of service, March 20, 1908, she 
 was married to Mr. James Thompson, a business man of Calcutta. 
 
 Dr. Shirley Smith was adopted and supported by the Free Baptist 
 women of Vermont, the state that had so loyally and long supported Mrs. 
 Dorcas Smith 
 
 SADIE ELIZABETH GOWEN 
 
 Sadie Elizabeth Gowen was born in Troy, Maine, May 1878. Her 
 father was a substantial farmer, and her early environment was that of a 
 Christian home. When she was nine her mother passed to the higher life, 
 and for a time she became her father's housekeeper. She entered Maine 
 Central Institute, but her health becoming impaired she spent three years in 
 the home of an uncle in Portland. While there she was baptized by Rev. 
 Lewis Malvern and united with the Portland Free Baptist Church. Her 
 interest in Foreign Missions was kindled through the reading of the life of 
 Lavina Crawford of Bengal-Orissa, and a correspondence with our mission- 
 ary Miss Emilie Barnes. 
 
 Miss Gowen returned to Maine Central Institute at Pittsfield, Me., 
 from which she graduated in 1903. She longed for a course in College 
 but was not strong enough to undertake it. Two years were now spent 
 
Our India Missionaries 
 
 no 
 
 in teaching, but India was ever the goal of her desire. In 1905 she was 
 enabled to enter the Moody Bible Training School of Chicago, where she 
 joined the Student Volunteer Band. She was naturally inclined to evan- 
 gelistic work, but at the expressed wish of the Board that she train as a 
 kindergarten teacher, she became able to say, " I am glad I am going to 
 teach the little children." She was accepted by the F. B. W. M. S. in 
 October 1907 as a missionary-elect 
 for India. The following Decem- 
 ber she was graduated from the 
 Moody School, and went at once to 
 to the Foltz Institute of Herkimer, 
 N. Y., for her kindergarten train- 
 ing, and finished her course there 
 in June 1909. While there she 
 came in contact with girls from 
 India, China, and Japan, who were 
 the product of foreign mission 
 work, and Miss Gowen said, " I 
 should be compelled to believe in 
 foreign missions because of their 
 lives, if for no other reason." 
 
 During the summers of 1908 and 
 1909 she spoke many times in be- 
 half of India, securing pledges for 
 the support of four children in 
 Sinclair Orphanage. 
 
 Miss Gowen sailed for India 
 October 1909 in company with 
 
 Miss Coe and Dr. and Mrs. Kennan. Both Miss Gowen and Miss Coe were 
 located at Balasore, and liv^d in Sinclair bungalow where Mrs. Ager was 
 Superintendent of the girls. There was much sickness in the Home just at 
 this time and the two new missionaries were busy from the first, night and 
 day, nursing the girls. In June 1910, on the field only six months, she took 
 over the charge of the kindergarten with about one hundred children and 
 ten Indian teachers. 
 
 When Miss Coe took the Orphanage, the Christian Girls' Schools came 
 to Miss Gowen, later the Hindu Girls' Schools and again the Zenana work 
 
 Miss Gladys Doe 
 
120 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 of Balasore. This last gave Miss Gowen opportunity for evangelistic work 
 and was her special delight. The number of missionaries was too few for 
 the work to be done. Because of this Miss Gowen essayed to remain a 
 year longer than her term to tide the work over till those on furlough should 
 return. But her health broke down in the middle of the year and she was 
 obliged to hasten away to America, December 3, 1916. Her physical con- 
 dition proved very serious but, after much suffering and brave wait- 
 ing, at the end of five years in the homeland, she was able to 
 pass the medical examination of the W. A. B. F. M. S. in April, 1921, 
 and be accepted for return in the fall of that year. One seldom 
 sees a person more jubilant than was she at this verdict. Miss Gowen has 
 been described as " a blond, a little above medium height, in manner 
 vivacious, in mentality quick, in temperament enthusiastic, and withal deeply 
 spiritual." 
 
 During her first term she was the Missionary of the women and children 
 of Rhode Island. 
 
 AMY BELLE COE 
 
 Amy Belle Coe was born in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 24, 1883. When 
 seven years of age, she was baptized by Dr. 0. D. Patch, and joined the 
 Scranton Avenue Free Baptist Church. In a home where progress in missions 
 was eagerly watched and discussed, and where missionaries were often 
 entertained, she early became interested in foreign work, particularly in our 
 India field. She says that Dr. Coldren was responsible for her first resolu- 
 tion sometime to go to India. 
 
 After completing her High School course in Cleveland, in 1901, she 
 entered Mt. Holyoke College, and the family moved East, settling in 
 Madison, Conn. In her Sophomore year she became a Student Volunteer. 
 The two years following her graduation from College, in 1905, were spent 
 in Settlement Work in New Haven, among the Italians, and in New York 
 City, among the Bohemians. After a year lived in the delightful circle of her 
 home, she was about to enter home mission work in the South, when there 
 came from the Board a definite call to serve in India. Learning that she 
 would be needed for school work, she spent a year at Teachers' College, 
 Columbia University, New York. In October 1909, she sailed with Miss 
 Gowen for India, and the young people of Ohio adopted her as their mis- 
 sionary. Stationed at Balasore she soon acquired a working knowledge of the 
 
Our India Missionaries 121 
 
 Oriya language. After three months in the country she was given charge 
 of the Girls' School then in the Sinclair compound. When Miss Barnes 
 was obliged to leave for America, in 1Q13, the charge of the Orphanage 
 devolved upon her, and was her work, during the remainder of her term. 
 At that time, it numbered eighty girls. As other missionaries left on fur- 
 lough, she was also given the care of the Widows' Home, the Balasore Bible 
 women, and finally the supervision of the womans' work at Jellasore, 
 twenty-five miles north, which she visited once a month. 
 
 At the end of her first term, which was filled with abundant and joyous 
 service, she came home in April 1916. She remained in this country longer 
 than is usual, as it seemed necessary for her to be within call of her home. 
 Two years of this time, she taught in the Normal department at Storer 
 College, but her heart was continually in India. In tune with the Master, 
 her spiritual ear was keen to hear his call. When a need for workers be- 
 came more than usually urgent, with the sanction of her family, she 
 returned in February 1920, for an emergency three-year term of service. 
 The program of her first term was repeated. From Miss Amy Porter she 
 took the Balasore Girls' Schools; at the end of a year releasing these to 
 Miss Gladys Doe and Mrs. Rachael Das Bose, and receiving from Dr. Mary 
 Bachelor, leaving on furlough, her former work of Superintendent of the 
 Girls' Home. 
 
 IDA MARSHALL 
 
 Ida jNIarshall, daughter and granddaughter of missionaries, served 
 one term on the field where her grandparents were pioneers. 
 
 She was born in Balasore, India, January 10, 1882. When eleven years 
 of age she was baptized by her father. While her family were resident in 
 Des Moines, Iowa, she attended Drake University, graduating in 1906, adding 
 to the scientific course a year of medicine. While in Des Moines she be- 
 came identified with the Y. W. C. A. work and joined the Student Volunteer 
 Band. For several years she taught in the High schools of Blackfoot, Idaho, 
 and Salem, Oregon. 
 
 On September 22, 1912, she was married to Mr. F. B. Holder of Turner, 
 Oregon. And on October 2, 1913, four months after the tragic death of 
 her husband her little daughter Doris was born destined to be a fourth 
 generation member of the Phillips family in India. Now that home ties 
 were broken the call to become a missionary again sounded in her heart. 
 
12 2 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Peculiarly fitted in many ways for such a position she was accepted by 
 the F. B. W. M. S. and with baby Doris sailed in October 1914 for Bengal- 
 Orissa, India. She was stationed at Midnapore, and lived in the home with 
 her mother's sister, Julia Phillips Burkholder. 
 
 When her aunt came home in 1917 Mrs. Holder took over her work, — 
 the charge of Bible women and Zenana teachers, jungle Sunday schools and 
 the woman's sewing society. It was during her term and largely through her 
 efforts that the Woman's Bible Training School was started in Midnapore. 
 Part of her time was given to teaching in this school. 
 
 Mrs. Holder proved apt with the language and an efficient worker. She 
 came to America in 1918 with little Doris, who was very ill with fever. 
 In the cooler clime of Minnesota she recovered health. 
 
 Mrs. Holder and Doris were supported in part by the Free Baptists of 
 Texas and in part by the Phillips family. 
 
 Mrs. Holder has done acceptable deputation work. Through her in- 
 fluence one young woman gave up her position as a high school teacher to 
 accept a similar position in Burma. At present Mrs. Holder has a position 
 in the high school at Estacada, Or., and during the vacation of 1921 is 
 travelling among the people of Texas and speaking in their churches. 
 
 AMORETTE PORTER 
 
 Amorette Porter, daughter of Dr. Edwin A. and Amoretta E. Porter 
 of Liberty, Me., was born on May 26, 1887. When Amy — as she is called 
 — was eight, the family moved to Pittsfield that the older sister and she 
 might have better educational advantages. She grew up in an ideal home 
 where it was natural to be a Christian. At nine years of age she united 
 with the Pittsfield Free Baptist Church. 
 
 In Maine Central Institute she became acquainted with Miss Sadie 
 Gowen and others interested in Missions. It was at this time that she 
 resolved to go wherever God might send her to work for Him, though always 
 in thought she turned toward our field in India. She was graduated as 
 valedictorian of her class and entered Bates College, Lewiston, Me. Here 
 she counted among her student friends Harold Frost and Mabel Schermer- 
 horn, already enlisted for India. She was graduated in 1910, as a Commence- 
 ment Day speaker, winning an honor in languages. For a year she taught 
 English and history at Foxcroft Academy, two years at Maine Central Insti- 
 
Our India Missionaries 123 
 
 tute, and one year of Latin and Greek at the latter institution. " Amy has a 
 finely trained mind and her thoughts reach the inner truth of whatsoever 
 subject engages her." Extremely conscientious she gives herself in whole- 
 hearted devotion to her tasks. 
 
 Accepted by the Board she sailed for India, October, 1914. And with 
 scant and interrupted time for language preparation she took over from 
 Miss Gowen the supervision of the Balasore Girls' Schools. As time went 
 on and war conditions and the lack of recruits threw additional work upon 
 the missionaries at their posts, there came to her hands four Hindu 
 girls' schools, the Zenana work in which over two hundred wives were being 
 taught, the women's evangelistic work in Balasore, and the lace class in 
 Sinclair Orphanage. She came home in April, 1920, and is with her parents 
 in Pittsfield, Me., expecting to return in due time to India. 
 
 MABLE RUTH DANIELS 
 
 Mable Ruth is the granddaughter of Hon. Marshall Reed of Mich- 
 igan, and " Aunt Julia," a well-known and efficient worker in the Hillsdale 
 Quarterly Meeting. Ruth was born March 23, 1890, at Rome, Lenawee 
 Co., Michigan, where she lived until nine years of age. Her parents, Jackson 
 
 B. and Alice Reed Daniels, then moved to Onsted, their present home. 
 
 When seven years old Ruth was baptized and united with the North 
 Rome Church. About this time a share in the salary of Miss Barnes, the 
 Children's Missionary, was subscribed for her by her parents and she kept 
 this up till her high school days earning the money in all sorts of ways. 
 At thirteen she entered the Tecumseh (Mich.) High School. Her Alma 
 Mater was Hillsdale College, Mich., from which she was graduated in 1912. 
 It was in her sophomore year that she identified herself with the Student 
 Volunteer Band, a natural outgrowth of the trend of her Hfe. During her 
 senior year she was president of the College Y. W. C. A. For two years 
 after her graduation she taught Latin and English in the Reading (Mich.) 
 High School. Here she organized a Bible Study Club in the school, was 
 organist in the First Baptist Church and superintendent of the Junior 
 
 C. E. Society. 
 
 In October, 1913 she met Miss Emilie Barnes, on furlough from India, 
 and heard of the great need for workers in our field. She at once offered 
 herself to our F. B. W. M. S., was examined and accepted, and sailed in 
 
124 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 October, 1014 in company with five others for the Bengal-Orissa field. 
 The W. M. S. of Hillsdale Quarterly Meeting, in which three generations of 
 her family had been ardent workers, voted to adopt her as their missionary 
 and to assume her entire salary for her term of service in India. 
 
 Expecting to be stationed at Balasore she studied Oriya on the way out 
 with Dr. Mary Bacheler. But on the sitting of the India Committee the 
 decision was in favor of Midnapore, and she had to begin anew on the 
 BengaU language. In spite of this delay and the fact that she studied under 
 native pundits in the local station, she did two years language work in a 
 year and a half and stood number one in the Calcutta Language School 
 examination. She lived in Henderson Home with Mrs. Burkholder and 
 Mrs. Ida Holder. 
 
 Her particular work was educational, supervising the schools in and 
 about Midnapore, the industrial classes in lace making and teaching in the 
 Woman's Bible Training School. When Mrs. Holder left for America the 
 care of her Bible and Zenana women came to Miss Daniels, and also, from 
 another missionary, oversight of twelve village boys' schools. After a 
 strenuous term of service she came home on furlough in February 1920. 
 She returned to India in October of this year, 1921, and greatly appreciates 
 a message just received from an Indian co-worker, " Midnapore is needing 
 you so much now, for when you come back to us you will be no longer a 
 foreigner but one of us, and that makes a world of difference." 
 
 OTHERS 
 
 Miss M. Ethel Dawson, 1903-1910, from Australia and Miss Julia 
 J. Scott, 1893-1907, from Scotland gave excellent service to our Mission 
 under our Woman's Board. 
 
 Miss Jessie Hooper, 1878-1891, and Miss L. E. Gaunce, 1894-1904, 
 missionaries of the Free Baptists of New Brunswick, served with our mis- 
 sionaries in our Field. 
 
 Miss Edna C. Wile, 1894-1898, and Miss Clara Goodrich, 1908- 
 1910, went to India as missionaries of our Board but were obliged, because 
 of ill health, to return to this country before they had gotten the language 
 or entered into service. 
 
Our India Missionaries 125 
 
 Gladys E. Doe and M. Elsie Barnard, Free Baptist girls, appointees 
 of the W. A. B. F. INI. S., sailed for India in the late summer and fall of 191Q, 
 and are in active service, respectively at Balasore and Midnapore. 
 
 Our Woman's Board made an annual appropriation to each woman 
 missionary in our Field, " whether of the General Conference Board or 
 the Woman's Board, for local work among women and children, also for 
 the support of schools, Zenana teachers, and Bible women." 
 
 ' Tis love to Jesus bears her on. 
 
 ' Tis love for souls that fires her breast ; 
 Beyond the cross she sees the crown, 
 And light she deems of all the rest 
 
 Amos Sutton 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Our Indian Helpers 
 
 Where the graceful bamboos drooping fall, 
 And the sal trees grow so straight and tall 
 Festooned with vines and flowers blue, 
 Ye poor and blind, we seek for you. 
 
 Harriet Cummings Phillips 
 
 CHUNDRA LELA 
 
 JHUNDRA LELA — " Plaything of the Moonbeams " — Hindu 
 Priestess and Christian Evangelist, known throughout India, was 
 the most remarkable Indian woman in our Free Baptist Mission. 
 
 Her home was in Nepal, an independent kingdom in the Himalayan 
 Mountains. Her father was a priest in the King of Nepal's palace. She 
 was betrothed at seven, widowed two years later, before going to her husband, 
 thereby forever denied marriage and motherhood. When thirteen she went 
 with her father on the pilgrimage to Puri, some twelve hundred miles, where 
 her father suddenly died of cholera. She returned with the pilgrims to her 
 home. But hungry for peace from the " crime of widowhood," she decided 
 to become a pilgrim. With the gold left her by her husband, and two women 
 companions dressed as men, — both of whom died on the journey leaving 
 her alone, — she started on her quest for God. 
 
 After years of long wanderings to all the famous shrines of India, of 
 extreme self-torture, and of still unsatisfied soul-longings, she came to Mid- 
 napore in Bengal. Here she heard of a new religion, and by one of our 
 Christian girl teachers was taken to the white woman who could tell her 
 about it. This woman was Miss Julia Phillips, now Mrs. Burkholder. We 
 will let her continue the story: " I never can forget the intensity of feeling 
 shown in Chundra Lela's face as she sat looking intently at me listening 
 to the story of the Cross. Breaking in she exclaimed, ' Then is there no 
 hope for me? Am I to gain nothing for all my journey and much suffering?' 
 I replied, ' Chundra Lela, there is but one Saviour and He is Jesus Christ.' 
 
 126 
 
Our Indian Helpers 127 
 
 I gave her a New Testament and she went away. It was not long before she 
 decided to forsake all and accept Christ. This decision meant more to her 
 than we can realize. Among her own people she was an object of worship, 
 the dust of whose feet was sacred, a religious teacher, a temple priestess, 
 supported by her devotees. 
 In becoming a Christian she 
 renounced all this and joined 
 a class of people looked upon 
 as outcasts. But she never 
 swerved from the stand she 
 had taken, and came bringing 
 her idols and sacred books, 
 all that had been most dear to 
 her, and laid them at the 
 Master's feet. She was bap- 
 tized on Aug. 6, 1871, by Dr. 
 James L. Phillips in Mid- 
 napore. 
 
 From teaching and worship- 
 ing dumb idols she began at 
 once to teach and preach 
 Christ to her former disciples. 
 She could read and write two 
 or three languages. She had 
 a remarkable command of 
 words. Her prayers were 
 wonderful. Very early one 
 morning, while country tour- 
 ing, in the cold season we 
 were awakened by a voice not 
 far from our tent. Stepping 
 outside we found her praying 
 
 for all classes of people including the Queen of England and her counsellors. 
 Her restless and self-reliant nature would not allow her to sit quietly and 
 be cared for. She would take a bundle of gospels and tracts, carrying 
 them on her head and be gone for months. When these were disposed of, 
 back she would come for more, Wherever she could make herself under- 
 
 Chundra Lela 
 
128 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 stood, there she went, stopping at one mission station after another, going 
 with the missionaries into/ the bazaar and preaching as none but a converted 
 Hindu, with the fire burning within, could preach. 
 
 Her brother, from Nepal, on the pilgrimage to Puri, stopped at Midna- 
 pore to see Chundra Lela. He heard the story of her new-found faith 
 and accepted it as his own. Years afterward she journeyed to her far home 
 in the north. Her brother was slowly dying. He wanted to be baptized. 
 There was no one to do it. So Chundra Lela did it, immersing his head in 
 water — he was too weak for more — as she pronounced the sacred words. 
 She stayed by to see, against much opposition, that his body had a Christian 
 burial. 
 
 Not long before Chundra Lela's death she went once more to Puri — 
 this time as a follower of Jesus Christ instead of Krishna. On her return 
 she rested for a time at Balasore, where I was. She was anxious to go 
 once more to speak to the people here. Seeing how frail she looked, I 
 remonstrated, but she replied, ' I can hire a cart to take me to the bazaar.' 
 She went. 
 
 The same evening she came to our house, and in her quiet but graphic 
 manner, told me of a wonderful vision she had had before she forsook her 
 old life and became a Christian. She said : ' One night I sat alone in my 
 room, thinking and thinking, trying to decide which was the true way. 
 Before me lay the Bible and the Hindu Shastras. I said to myself, this 
 tells of a God and so does the other. This tells of an incarnation and so 
 does the other, which is the truth? I want to see God. I sat and 
 thought. My room became dark. The nearby police gong struck the 
 hours eight, nine, ten, eleven and twelve. Suddenly my room was flooded 
 with a bright light. There stood Jesus before me. Oh, His face shone so 
 bright; it was so beautiful! I fell at his feet and worshiped Him. He 
 pointed to the Bible and said, " Chundra Lela, that is the way." When I 
 raised my head He was gone. The next night again I sat alone with the 
 two books. Again I heard the gong strike the hours eight, nine, ten, eleven 
 and twelve, and lo, again the bright light shone and again Jesus stood before 
 me. Again He said, " That is the way." The vision was so sacred to me 
 that for years I could not speak of it to anyone. When talking with the 
 Hindus they would ask me, "Have you seen God?" I would answer with 
 perfect assurance; "Yes, I have seen God! "' 
 
 The same evening she told me of a dream she had on one of her 
 
Our Indian Helpers 129 
 
 tours. In those days the Bengali Bible had not been printed in a small 
 size, but was a large bulky book; that made no difference, her Bible always 
 went with her. In her dream Jesus came to her and laying His hand on her 
 head said ' Chundra Lela, always keep the Bible with you. It will be your 
 guard.' She added. ' So at night I always have the Bible by my head.' At 
 the close of the talk she said, ' Now that I have found the Saviour, it is 
 the one great desire of my life to live for, serve and adore Him." 
 
 As she grew less able to travel her missionary friends wanted to build 
 a house in a sheltered mango grove where she might spend her last days in 
 quiet and rest, but she begged rather that it be placed close up to the 
 highroad, where people were constantly passing. This they did, and from 
 her cot on the front porch she proclaimed salvation through Christ with 
 her latest breath. Near midnight of November 26, 1907, she saw in vision 
 the heavens opening and exclaimed, " Four bright angels have come to take 
 me to Jesus!" These were her last words. Christians, Hindus, Moham- 
 medans gathered about her grave in Midnapore, all agreeing that hers was 
 "A holy life! " 
 
 MARIAM CURTIS 
 
 Mariam Curtis has been for some years our most able and ardent 
 Bible woman. It hurts to speak in the past tense of Mariam for she has 
 only just gone Home. Her father was one of a group of five Hindu men 
 who, in their jungle home, on receiving a Christian tract from one of our 
 preachers, agreed to renounce their idols and worship Jesus Christ. They 
 came down to Midnapore for instruction and baptism in 1865. Dr. O. R. 
 Bacheler returned with them to their village and baptized them there, amid 
 stone-throwing and anathemas. From these five families have come a 
 large number of our best mission workers. After Mariam's father's death, 
 his widow and children moved to Midnapore that the children might have 
 Christian education. Mariam was born in heathenism, but brought up a 
 Christian. She was married quite young to a Christian young man, son of 
 Silas Curtis, and grandson of the first convert in our mission. After a 
 brief time of unusual happiness she was left a widow. Shortly after, her 
 only child, a litle girl of three or four, ran to her one day exclaiming. 
 "Mamma, I am going to Jesus!" and in a few hours, stricken with a 
 swift India disease, she too had gone. Then indeed Mariam's arms were 
 empty, her heart broken. Her faith too seemed to fail her. She refused 
 
130 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 to eat, or sleep, or work, sitting only in hopeless agony. Her friends feared 
 the loss of her reason. Then one night in a vision her Lord said to her, 
 " Mariam, arise and read Romans viii-3S." She obeyed and in the 
 strength of that love from which nothing could separate her, arose to a new 
 life. Though it was in the middle of the night, she bathed, and cooked rice 
 and ate. Then, indeed, her friends thought her mind had broken. But the 
 
 next day she presented herself to 
 the missionary asking for work 
 to do for Him. From that time she 
 has served as a Bible woman. 
 
 V '^^^mm&mv^r^mss^^^ When her twin-sister was dying 
 W ^^r^^^^BvjB^B^ '" her little home in Jellasore, Mar- 
 aSww^sS^BH ^^^ ^^^ ^y ^^^' watching the closed 
 j ^ ^ ggSy^W eyes and silent lips. Suddenly she 
 
 1 / .^^^nT ^1 roused and said, " Sister, I have 
 
 been to Dhalbhum, our birthplace. 
 The Lord took me there. Oh, how 
 the people listened to the Gospel! 
 Sister, I am going to Heaven. Put 
 your hand on mine and promise me 
 \ou will go to Dhalbhum and tell 
 our own people about Jesus! " The 
 i:)romise was given and the sister 
 passed into the Beyond. Mariam 
 remembered and prayed for the way 
 to open, but it was four years before 
 she fulfilled her promise. Then, with 
 another Bible Woman and two of our missionaries, Miss Dawson and Miss 
 Barnes, she made the long, jungle tour in January 1908, through a section 
 of country without roads and infested with tigers and wild elephants, until 
 they came to her village of Dumudia, in the native state of Dhalbuhm, 
 to the north-west of our mission. Miss Dawson says, " We found the 
 women of the caste ready to receive us. It was so good to see Mariam 
 among them. Her heart was right in the work, and with unwearied zeal 
 she told them of the blessing and peace and joy she had received through 
 becoming a Christian. Some of the older people remembered her father 
 and showed her his grave, the ruins of his home, and the tree under which 
 
 Mariam Curtis 
 
Our Indian Helpers 131 
 
 he used to sit and preach to the villagers. We saw the tank in which he 
 was baptized and were told that Dr. Bacheler's pith hat was all broken 
 by the flying stones. The witness of this life was not lost as was evidenced 
 by the many inquiring the way of Salvation. We remained in Dumudia 
 four days. Mariam's twin sister's dying vision was literally fulfilled. The 
 people were ready and prepared for the Gospel." And Mariam kept her 
 promise and told the Story to her own people, many days journey from 
 her Balasore home. 
 
 Miss Coe says of her, " Many times I have followed her swift, tire- 
 less feet along the checkerboard lines of ridges that separate the plots of 
 rice. With Mariam as my companion I need not ponder how to begin a 
 conversation with the women, or fear to take my stand in the most crowded 
 market-place. Equal to the men in an argument, resourceful in illustration, 
 tactful, always ready, she and Rutnie are my two ideal Bible women. She 
 has a splendid knowledge of the Bible. Each year at the annual examination 
 at the end of the course of study required of all our women workers she holds 
 first or nearly first place. Though deeply spiritual, she is practical too, 
 and has a keen sense of humor that helps through many trying situations 
 in the long country tours.'' She was a frail little woman with whitening 
 hair and bright keen eyes. In a sudden epidemic of influenza that attacked 
 our Christian community after Dr. Mary Bacheler left on February 4, 
 1921, Mariam's frail life passed out. We can illy afford to lose so tried 
 and true a worker. 
 
 Our corresponding secretary will not soon forget the ardor with which 
 Mariam pleaded with her to remain in India, or the kiss bestowed upon each 
 cheek as she gave her farewell message. '" Tell our sisters in America to 
 pray for us." 
 
 RACHEL DAS BOSE 
 
 Rachel Das Bose was the daughter of high caste Bengalis from a vil- 
 lage to the north of Midnapore. Her father was priest, teacher and head- 
 man in his village. Through the efforts of Dr. O. R. Bacheler and Dr. J. 
 L. Phillips, he broke caste, became a Christian, and with his wife, was 
 baptized in the presence of his \nllage-folk. Persecution followed, — stones 
 were thrown as they came out of the water, and their houses pulled down 
 and burned. So, with their two little girls they came to INIidnapore and 
 lived on the compound of Dr. James L. Phillips. With Dr. Phillips, Rachel's 
 
132 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 father studied the Bible, became a preacher and pastor of the Midnapore 
 Church. While in Midnapore four more daughters were born to them, 
 of whom Rachel was one; and two died. After a time the family moved to 
 Santipore where lived Dr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Phillips. The father did 
 evangelistic work among the neighboring villages. Returning from one of 
 these tours, when about a year in Santipore, he was caught in a heavy 
 cyclone and took shelter in a mud house. With his Christian servant he 
 
 Three Generations of Indian Christians 
 Mother, Sister, and Niece of Rachel Das Bose 
 
 knelt in prayer, and while so engaged the mud walls fell in and buried him. 
 The widow was thus left with her four little girls and a fifth born after her 
 husband's death. 
 
 Little Rachel was sent to the Orphanage at Jellasore, then in charge of 
 Miss Crawford. Here she was baptized. Mrs. Smith coming to the Orphan- 
 age in 1882, recognized in Rachel a girl of unusual abiUty and promise, 
 became her foster mother giving her careful training and every advantage. 
 
 In 1884, Mrs. Smith and Dr. Coldren sharing expenses, Rachel was 
 sent to an English school for Bengali girls in Calcutta. Here she studied 
 the Bible, English, Bengali, drawing and painting; won several prizes and a 
 medal for good conduct. February 2, 1893, when nineteen, Rachel passed 
 
Our Indian Helpers 133 
 
 the university entrance examination. She returned to Balasore and assisted 
 Mrs. Smith with the school in connection with the Orphanage. Of this 
 she says, " I seek by every means to develop and strengthen their Christian 
 character; more and more I feel the need of impressing upon their hearts 
 the necessity of being born again." 
 
 In Mrs. Smith's death, on Feb. 11, 1899, she keenly felt the loss of a 
 mother, and was very lonely. Miss Hattie Phillips became her guardian 
 and says of her, at this time, " Rachel had offers of marriage but none 
 that were suitable. Not a native woman in our mission was her equal in 
 education and refinement, and among our people not a helpmeet of equal 
 qualifications was to be found for her." Then, early in July 1900, letters 
 and a photograph came from a Bengali widower from far away seeking a 
 wife. A mutual friend had recommended Rachel. The case was investigated, 
 Rachel was consulted, a favorable answer returned, the engagement was 
 made, followed quickly by a wedding early in August, that Mr. Bose might 
 get back for the opening of his school in September. Mr. Bose was head 
 master of a Scotch mission school, at Dinga in the Punjab, a man of 
 choice Christian character, excellent English education and disposed to 
 provide generously for Rachel. But while she was twenty-six years of age, 
 he was fifty-three, with a long gray beard ! The wedding was in the Balasore 
 church which was packed. Dr. Coldren gave Rachel away. She wore a 
 sari of delicate rainbow tints, softly blended. This was gracefully draped 
 over a white lace and satin blouse. White stockings, slippers, and gloves, 
 wreath and veil, with much gold jewelry, gift of the groom, to which 
 Rachel was, unused, completed the outfit. " Our Rachel looked very sweet," 
 said one of the missionary ladies. 
 
 After three days, Mr. and Mrs. Bose started for their new home, 1200 
 miles away, close to the north-west frontier of India. Here everything was 
 strange to Rachel, — race, language, customs and physical features. She 
 picked up the Hindu and Urdu to be able to join in the Christian worship. 
 The houses were so close together that, she says, " I sit at my window and 
 sing Christian hymns in Hindustani to the Hindu and Mohammedan W'omen 
 gathered at their windows. They seem to take pleasure in it and try to 
 sing w4th me. As I get the language it will be a joy to me to do more and 
 more for these women." At the end of three years she and her husband 
 visited Balasore with their three months old daughter, Dorcas Emily. Her 
 joy was keen at being back, for although she was content and happy with 
 
134 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 her '' dear, good husband," she was lonely for the companions and friends 
 of her youth. Two more daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bose in 
 the Punjab, and then came the death of her husband. Rachel returned 
 with her three little girls to her friends in Balasore. A position was made 
 for her as teacher in the Midnapore Girls' School. She was advanced 
 to head mistress. It was in this capacity that the corresponding secretary 
 met and knew her in 1914. Mrs. Bose read the Missionary Helper and was 
 famihar with the names of our home workers and officers. She was the 
 one among our Indian people who knew something of the visiting Secre- 
 tary and was prepared to welcome her by name. 
 
 It was shortly after this that the Government raised its standard, re- 
 quiring that the head mistress of a school of the grade of the Midnapore 
 school should have Senior Normal Training. This meant much to Mrs. 
 Bose; either the giving up of her position and so her income, or the 
 breaking up of her home and going to Calcutta for training. The death 
 of her sister had placed her four children in Mrs. Bose's home. To place 
 seven children, and without her teacher salary arrange for their support, 
 as well as her own with travel and tuition fees added was a problem. But, 
 the four foster children were placed with relatives, and her own were taken 
 with her to Calcutta and put in school. The mission helped financially, 
 and Mrs. Bose took her Senior Normal Training. In due time, with certifi- 
 cate in hand for the Government Inspectress, she came back and resumed 
 her position in the Midnapore school. 
 
 The three-months-old baby brought on a 2400-mile visit to Balasore in 
 1903 was now grown to young womanhood. Early in 1920 she was married 
 to a young Bengali gentleman of fine Christian family from Calcutta. The 
 wedding took place in the Midnapore Church. Contrary to custom, the 
 bride stood with the groom, to receive the good wishes of their friends 
 at the reception which followed. And equally against custom, her two 
 younger sisters, daintily draped in gold-bordered, blue silk saria, modestly 
 and pleasingly served the refreshments. It was the most up-to-the-minute 
 wedding to date in our Mission, speaking more loudly than words of the 
 distance travelled in the advance of women in the past fifty years. 
 
 Now Mrs. Bose, some of her family married and others in Boarding 
 School, is again free to choose her life. And at the beginning of this 
 year, 1921, she answered a call to the Balasore Girl's School, to supervise 
 the higher grades, the school having recently been raised to a Middle English 
 
Our Indian Helpers 135 
 
 School. And so at middle life she finds herself back amid the scenes and 
 associations that as a girl she loved so well. We wish for her many happy 
 years of devoted service to our common Lord. Would that her friends in 
 America might know this rare Christian woman and efficient worker as their 
 co-laborer in the affairs of the Kingdom. 
 
 Oh, " Chosen vessels," yours to take 
 The bread of life and freely break 
 To hungry souls, for His dear sake, 
 AVho died for you. 
 
 Mary B. Wincate 
 
OFFICERS OF THE FREE BAPTIST WOMAN'S 
 MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 
 1873-1921 
 
 Presidents 
 
 Mrs. Emeline S. Burlingame 1873-1886 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. Davis 1886-1910 
 
 Mrs. Lucy P. Durgin 1910- 
 
 Vice-Presidents 
 Mrs. a. C. Hayes Mrs. J. L. Sinclair 
 
 Mrs. E. W. Page Mrs. Anne S. D. Bates 
 
 Mrs. B. F. Zell Mrs. J. Mariner 
 
 Mrs. D. H. Lord Mrs. J. Dodge 
 
 Miss Lou E. Champlin 
 
 After 1882 the Vice-Presidents were the Presidents of the Yearly 
 Meetings. 
 
 Vice-Presidents at Large 
 
 Mrs. Alma M. Cousins 1910-1915 
 
 Miss May Malvern 1916-1917 
 
 Mrs. Maud West Kenyon 1917- 
 
 Correspondifig Secretaries 
 
 Mrs. a. C. Hayes 1873-1874 
 
 Mrs. J. A. Lowell 1874-1893 
 
 Mrs. S. C. G. Avery 1893-1908 
 
 Mrs. Minnie A. Milliken 1008-1910 
 
 Miss Lena S. Fenner (Dennett) .... 1910- 
 136 
 
Officers of Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 137 
 
 Assistaiit Corresponding Secretary 
 Miss Jessie L. Waterman 
 
 Recording Secretaries 
 
 Mrs. M. W. L. Smith 1873-1878 
 
 Miss Sarah Perkins 1878-1881 
 
 Mrs. J. L. Tourtellot 1881-1891 
 
 Mrs. Alice M. Metcalf 1801-18Q3 
 
 Mrs. E. B. Cheney 1893-18Q4 
 
 Mrs. Alice M. Metcalf 1894-1913 
 
 Mrs. Nellsine I. Jose 1913- 
 
 Assistant Recording Secretaries 
 
 Miss Harriet A. Deering Mrs. :Mary G. Osgood 
 
 Miss Flora E. Berry ^Mrs. Xellsine I. Jose 
 
 Mrs. Alice J. Merriman 
 
 Treasurers 
 
 Miss Laura A. DeMeritte 1873-1913 
 
 Miss Edyth R. Porter 1913-1920 
 
 Miss Edna A. Folsom 1920- 
 
 Assistant Treasurers 
 
 Mrs. G. C. W.aterman Miss Edyth R. Porter 
 
 Miss May Malvern 
 
 Auditors 
 
 Mrs. E. B. Chamberlain :Mrs. :M. G. Osgood 
 
 Miss Harriet A. Deering Mrs. M. W. Thomas 
 
 Mrs. Blanch I. Butterfield 
 
138 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Members of the Board of Managers 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Emeline Burlingame Cheney 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Frank Switze 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 E. D. Jordan 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 C. F. Penney 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. M. H. Hills 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 N. C. Brackett 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 A. C. Hayes 
 
 Miss 
 
 Nellie Dunn 
 
 Miss 
 
 L. A. DeMeritte 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Ransom Dunn 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 I. D. Stewart 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. A. W. Bachelder 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 G. C. Waterman 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 F. L. Peckham 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 E. B. Chamberlain 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 F. S. Mosher 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. R. Wade 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. S. Osgood 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 S. L. Cilley 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 A. A. McKenney 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 J. W. Winsor 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Alice Hulce 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 W. H. Bowen 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 N. L. Abbey 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Thera B. True 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 0. W. Fullam 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 H. C. Keith 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 T. L. Rose 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 J. S. Staples 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 W. H. Getchell 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 G. N. Howard 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Coralie Franklin Cook 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 C. A. Ricker 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Mary W. Ashbaugh 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 A. M. Metcalf 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 C. A. Willisford 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 E. A. Copp 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 A. E. Wilson 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 C. E. Chase 
 
 Miss Minnie A. Mellows 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Etta C. Lord 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Inah G. Stout 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 0. H. Denney 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Belle Toothacre 
 
 Miss 
 
 Clara M. Law 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 S. C. G. Avery 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. E. Scribner 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Maud West Kenyon 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Flora Tuck 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Emily A. Paige 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 H. K. Jordan 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Willis Davis 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 H. P. Stone 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Martha W. DeMeritte 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Carrie Miles 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 C. H. Austin 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 J. A. Lowell 
 
 Miss 
 
 Mattie James 
 
 Miss 
 
 S. A. Perkins 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 F. P. Stone 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 V. G. Ramsey 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Grace Morris 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 J. B. Davis 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Nellie Wade Whitcomb 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. M. Brewster 
 
 Miss 
 
 Kate J. Anthony 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 E. W. Page 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Ethel Demeritt 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 E. W. Porter 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 J. W. Doe 
 
Officers of Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 139 
 
 Miss Alfreda M. Mosher 
 Mrs. N. I. Jose 
 Miss Cora E. Edgerly 
 Mrs. Clara J. Ewer 
 Mrs. L. V. Jordan 
 
 Mrs. J. D. Waldron 
 Mrs. Bertha Longfield 
 Mrs. Blanche I. Buttertield 
 Miss Amy B. Coe 
 Miss Doris E. Folsom 
 
 Home Secretaries 
 
 Mrs. E. D. Jordan 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 B. F. Hayes 
 
 Miss M. E. French 
 
 Miss 
 
 S. L. Cilley 
 
 jNIrs. V. G. Ramsey 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 R. R. Leavens 
 
 Miss Anna B. Stockwell 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 H. J. G. Crosswell 
 
 Mrs. A. A. McKenney 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 F. L. Durgin 
 
 Mrs. M. A. W. Bachelder 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 F. H. Peckham 
 
 Miss Carrie L. Bacon 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 M. M Brewster 
 
 Mrs. L. C. Lawrence 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 A. M. Armel 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Roberts 
 
 Miss 
 
 Ruth Brockett 
 
 INIrs. G. A. Jackson 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 A. B. Webber 
 
 Mrs. A. L. Worden 
 
 Miss 
 
 Elizabeth Kelso 
 
 Miss Zoe Barnthouse 
 
 Western 
 ^Irs. J. W. Winsor 
 Miss Alice Sanborn 
 :Mrs. J. B. Lagh 
 Mrs. S. L. Cilley 
 Miss Nellie Phillips 
 Mrs. A. A. McKenney 
 Mrs. Thera B. True 
 IMrs. A. M. Metcalf 
 Mrs. Carrie Miles 
 
 Committee 
 
 Mrs. J. M Sinclair 
 Mrs. G. P. Linderman 
 Mrs. H. C. Keith 
 Miss Anna B. Stockwell 
 Miss Jane Perry 
 Mrs. M. A. W. Bachelder 
 Mrs. X. L. Abbey 
 Mrs. Lucy P. Durgin 
 Mrs. Bertha Longfield 
 
 Secretaries of Children's Department 
 
 Mrs. F. S. Mosher Mrs. A. E. De.xter 
 
 Miss Carrie L. Bacon Mrs. L. C. Lawrence 
 
 Mrs. C. Edith Chase Mrs. M. W. Thomas 
 
 Rev. Elizabeth Moody Mrs. Julia P. Burkholder 
 
140 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Secretaries of Cradle Roll of Little Light Bearers 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Roberts Mrs. Ada M. George 
 
 IVIrs. Julia T. Mitchell Mrs. Laura E. Hartley 
 
 Secretaries of Young Wofna?i's Work 
 Mrs. Inah Gates Stout Mrs. Flora Harvey 
 
 Superijttendetits of Bureau of Missionary Intelligence 
 
 Miss Kate J. Anthony Mrs. L. C. G. Avery 
 
 Mrs. A. D. Chapman 
 
 Editors of the Missionary Helper 
 
 Mrs. INIarilla M. Brewster 1878-1886 
 
 Mrs. Emeline S. Burhngame (Cheney).. 1886-1895 
 
 Mrs. Nellie Wade Whitcomb 1895-1918 
 
 Miss Doris Elizabeth Folsom 1918-1919 
 
 General Subscription Agents 
 
 Mrs. Marilla M. Brewster 1878-1886 
 
 Mrs. Ella H. Andrews 1886-1910 
 
 Miss Lydia Andrews 1910-1913 
 
 Miss Alfrieda M. Mosher 1913-1919 
 
 Publication Committee 
 
 Mrs. M. N. Davison Mrs. J. L. Tourtelott 
 
 Mrs. A. B. Bradbury Mrs. Ida M. Remick 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Andrews Miss Clara M. Law 
 
 Mrs. D. C. Arnold Mrs. Etta M Lord 
 
 Mrs. H. C. Keith Mrs. J. M. Lowden 
 
 Mrs. Ella Evans Stanton Mrs. B. A. Sherwood 
 
Officers of Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 141 
 
 Mrs. J. H. Piper 
 Mrs. F. S. Mosher 
 Miss. Mary Malvern 
 Mrs. N. H. Hayes 
 Mrs. E. W. Porter 
 Mrs. H. K. Clark 
 Mrs. J. T. Ward 
 Mrs. J. L. Phillips 
 Mrs. A. Given 
 Mrs. F. M. Kendall 
 
 Mrs. Alice M. Metcalf 
 
 Mrs. M. S. Waterman 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Roberts 
 
 Miss Elizabeth Moody 
 
 Mrs. Lena S. Fenner (Dennett) 
 
 Mrs. A. W. Jefferson 
 
 Mrs. Carrie Miles 
 
 Mrs. Lucia F. Libby 
 
 Miss Edyth R. Porter 
 
 Mrs. Walter Malvern 
 
 Thank Offering Committee 
 
 Mrs. C. A. Ricker 
 
 Mrs. E. B. Cheney 
 
 Mrs. Nellie Wade Whitcomb 
 
 Mrs. Ida L. Stillman 
 
 Mrs. Ethel DeMeritte 
 
 Mrs. Blanche I. Butterfield 
 
 Mrs. S. A. Porter 
 Mrs. Linda V. Jordan 
 Miss Doris E. Folsom 
 Mrs. A. D. Chapman 
 Mrs. Laura E. Hartley 
 Mrs. Caroline C. Swan 
 
 India Service 
 
 Susan R. Libby 1874-1876, married, 1878 died in India. 
 
 Mary W. Bachelder, M.D. 1876-1883, 1890-1900, 1903-1912, 1914- 
 
 1921 now on furlough. 
 
 Ida O. Phillips 1877-1887, 1889 died in America. 
 
 Harriet P. Phillips 1878-1889, 1892-1901, 1903-1904, married. 
 
 Dorcas F. Smith 1882-1891, 1893-1899, died in India. 
 
 Lavina C. Coombs 1882-1894, 1896-1904, 1905-1913, 1915- 
 
 active. 
 Ella M. Butts 1886-1897, 18Q9-1907, 1908-1917, died in 
 
 India. 
 
 Sarah E. Ager 1889-1918, died in India. 
 
 Anna R. Miner 1890-1896, retired. 
 
 Julia J. Scott 1893-1907, retired. 
 
 Emilie E. Barnes 1893-1904, 1906-1913, 1915-active. 
 
 Edna C. Wile 1894-1898, retired. 
 
142 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 Beebee M. S. Phillips 1895-1897, married in India. 
 
 Shirley S. Thompson, M.D. 1900-1908, married in India. 
 
 M. Ethel Dawson 1903-1910, married in India. 
 
 Clara V. Goodrich 1007-1910, retired. 
 
 Sadie B. Gowen 1909-1916, 1921-active. 
 
 Amy B. Coe 1909-1916, 1920-active. 
 
 Ida M. Holder 1914-1918, retired. 
 
 Amorette Porter 1914-1920, on furlough. 
 
 M. Ruth Daniels 1914-1920, 1921-active. 
 
 Important Dates 
 
 1780, June 30 — Founding of Free Baptist Denomination by Benjamin 
 
 Randall at New Durham, N. H. 
 1833, June 29 — The Freewill Baptist Foreign Mission Society chartered 
 
 by the State of Maine. 
 1835, Sept. 22 — 'First Missionaries sailed for India. 
 1839, Jan. 27 — First convert in Bengal-Orissa baptized, Chakradhar at 
 
 Balasore. 
 1841 The first local Woman's Missionary Society, at Olneyville, 
 
 R. I. 
 1847, June Organization of the Freewill Baptist Female Missionary 
 
 Society at Lisbon, N. H. 
 1865 Beginning of Free Baptist work among southern negroes. 
 
 1866, Feb. Work begun in Hindu Zenanas, Midnapore, India. 
 
 1867 Work begun in Mohammedan Zenanas, Midnapore, India. 
 
 1868 Storer College, Harper's Ferry, chartered by W. Va. 
 1873, June 12 — Organization of the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 
 Society, at Sandwich, N. H. 
 
 1873, June 12 — The first local Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society 
 
 in the West. 
 
 1874, Oct. The first Missionary of the F. B. W. M. S. sailed for India. 
 
 1875 The first Home Missionary of the F. B. W. M. S. began 
 
 work at Storer. 
 
 1875, Oct. 4 — Organization of the F. B. W. M. S. of New Brunswick. 
 
 1876 Zenana work taken on by the W. M. S. at Balasore, 
 
 Orissa. 
 
Officers oj Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 143 
 
 187 7 Zenana work taken on by the W. M. S. at Midnapore, 
 
 Bengal. 
 
 1878. Jan. First issue of the Missionary Helper . 
 
 1879. May 30 — The dedication of Myrtle Hall, Storer College. 
 
 1882 The Balasore Orphanage taken over by the W. M. S. 
 
 1883, Jan. 26— The F. B. W. M. S. chartered by the State of Maine. 
 1886 The publication of " Missionary Reminiscences." 
 
 1888 Sinclair Orphanage building named and occupied. 
 1888, Oct. 3 — The F. B. W. M. S. became auxiliary to the National 
 
 Council of Women. 
 
 1889 Organization of the Western Branch of F. B. W. M. S. 
 
 Discontinued after six years. 
 
 1890 Appointment of Travelling Agent and Organizer. 
 1891. June 10 — First Thank-Offering Service instituted and held. 
 
 1896 First Kindergarten in Bengal-Orissa opened at Balasore. 
 
 1897 Celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Freewill Baptist 
 
 Female Missionary Society. 
 
 1898 Celebration of the Silver Anniversary of the Free Baptist 
 
 Woman's Missionary Society. 
 1898. June Organization of the Cradle Roll of Little Light Bearers. 
 
 1898, Oct. 22 — The dedication of the Widows' Home, Balasore, India. 
 IQOO The publication of the "History of the Free Baptist 
 
 Woman's Missionary Society." 
 1903 Celebration of a quarter-century of the Missionary 
 
 Helper. 
 1905, July 26 — Dedication of Kindergarten Hall, Balasore, India. 
 1906 Union of the foreign work of the W. M. S. with that of 
 
 the General Conference of Free Baptists. 
 1910 The John Brown Fort placed on the Storer College 
 
 Campus. 
 1011. Sept. 13 — L'nion of the foreign work of General Conference with 
 
 that of the A. B. F. M. S. 
 1014. Jan.l to 1015, May 1— Visit of the W. M. S. Corresponding Sec- 
 retary in India. 
 1916, Aug. 2 — Union of the foreign work of the F. B. W. M. S. with 
 
 that of the W. A. B. F. M. S. 
 
144 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 1917, Aug. 2 — Union of the home work of the F. B. W. M. S. with that 
 of the W. A. B. H. M. S. 
 
 1920, Aug. 20 — Dedication of the Girls' School Building, Balasore. India. 
 
 1921, April Visit of Khanto Bala Rai of Midnapore, India, to the 
 
 Jubilee of the W. A. B. F. M. S. in Amcnai 
 
 1921, May Storer becomes a Junior College. 
 
 1922, Feb. Publication of " The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary 
 
 Society." 
 
/ 
 
 MY SISTER ACROSS THE SEA 
 
 Nellie Wade Whitcomb 
 
 If I have plenty and you have need, 
 
 My sister across the sea, 
 I care not what your caste may be — 
 If born of high or low degree — 
 Or what your color or creed; 
 
 I only know that in Galilee 
 Our dear Lord lived for you and me. 
 
 You have your sorrows and I have mine, 
 
 My sister across the sea. 
 I know not what its form may be, 
 Or what its anguish or degree — 
 It is safe with the Love Divine; 
 
 I only know in Gethsemane 
 Our dear Lord suffered for you and me. 
 
 You, too, have sinned, as well as I, 
 
 My sister across the sea; 
 What matters it what the sin may be. 
 Or if it differs in degree 
 In the light that we see it by; 
 
 I only know that on Calvary. 
 Our dear Lord died for you and me. 
 
 There is joy for me and joy for you. 
 
 My sister across the sea; 
 It knows no country, and no degree. 
 Nor Jew nor Gentile, bond or free. 
 But brings its blessings, sweet and true — 
 
 The promise of immortality, 
 Since our dear Lord rose for you and me. 
 
 145 
 
146 The Free Baptist Women's Missionary Society 
 
 So I reach my hand to you in the dark, 
 
 INIy sister across the sea; 
 Our living, dying, risen Lord 
 Sends you his living, saving Word, 
 And out through the days and years we hark 
 
 The call to the heav'nly " Hame Countree." 
 Where our dear Lord waits for you and me. 
 
Princeton Theological Sen;ina[',y,,L'|t';a['|," 
 
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