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REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 Pyecial Mission Wark in Andia, 
 
 JN, BOUT a year ago I printed a brief and informal report of 
 
 MX the special work which God has raised up in connection 
 with our Mission in India, and forwarded copies of it to the many 
 kind friends who had aided us with contributions during the pre- 
 vious year. It is very possible that some of these friends were 
 overlooked, but we tried to reach every donor. Now that we are 
 fairly launched upon the work of another year, I think it due to 
 these same friends, and also to others who have come to our aid 
 since, to prepare a similar report for 18938, and also to give a_ brief 
 
 statement of the grave financial difficulties in which we find 
 
 ~ ourselves involved. 
 
 1893, 
 
 Throughout the whole of the past year our work made steady 
 progress. The movement among the low-caste people of which I 
 spoke in any last report, has not up to the present hour shown 
 
 : any signs of abatement. In some places there has been more 
 or less trouble, and in one district there has been a serious defec- 
 tion of new converts, but when all our losses are summed up and 
 compared with the stable and satisfactory part of the work, the 
 wonder is that we have lost so few. When we consider that’ 
 i hundreds of our preachers and teachers are themselves but imma- 
 ture converts, and that our people are scattered widely over vast 
 "areas, and in hundreds upon hundreds of villages and hamlets, 
 ‘ have every reason to praise God that the great mass of our 
 
Cae) 
 
 converts are still under our care. Our people are for the most part 
 a feeble Hock, but they have been kept from wandering beyond our 
 reach, and they show no disposition to go back to heathenism. 
 Early in the past year we instructed our preachers to lay less 
 stress upon baptism, for the present, and to make it the chief object 
 everywhere to get the converts to comprehend the spiritual meaning 
 of the rite.” We did this, not because of any change of view on 
 the subject of baptism, but simply and solely because we wished 
 , to obey our blessed Master’s directions. Baptism and teaching go 
 together; if we make a man a disciple by an act of outward baptism, 
 we must also teach the disciple thus made. In no case where we have 
 been able to do this, have we been seriously disappointed with our 
 converts. When we teach God gives his blessing, and the feeble 
 babes begin to grow. I may add, that when we teach without bap- 
 tism, the result is seldom satisfactory. I do not for a moment believe 
 in baptismal regeneration, or in the shadow of sucha thing, but I do 
 believe, and know, that baptism as an ordinance of our Master 
 cannot be dispensed with in a heathen land without serious loss. 
 Holding this view, when we found that we were baptizing more con- 
 verts than we were able to teach, we thought it best to hold back our 
 preachers in a measure, and meanwhile turn their energies more in the 
 direction of spiritual growth. In this latter effort God has blessed us, 
 but we have only succeeded in lessening the number of baptisms in a 
 small measure. The people are still coming to us at the rate of 
 1800 a month, as they did throughout the whole of 1893, and un- 
 less some unlooked-for change occurs it is probable that this, or a 
 greater rate of increase, will be maintained for many years to come. 
 
 Aovanced Woventents: 
 
 Although our policy during the past year has been more in 
 
 the direction of conserving our existing work, than of lengthening 
 
 . our cords so as to take up new fields, yet we have found it impossi- 
 ble to stand still. Take one case as an illustration. The city of 
 Delhi stands.on the banks of the Jumna river. On the eastern 
 side of.this river, and some distance north of the city, a Hindustani: 
 preacher had: been stationed and a circuit laid out for him. His’ 
 Presiding Elder lived at a considerable distance, and could not 
 
G3. 
 
 direct his movements closely. Left thus in a measure to himself, 
 this brother heard of some relatives of his converts on the western 
 side of the river, crossed over to see them, found a door of access 
 wide open before him, and had actually baptized over 200 persons 
 before his Presiding Elder heard of the movement. What was to 
 be done? We could not recall the preacher and abandon the 
 converts, nor could we order a halt at the first point occupied. We 
 felt compelled to hold the ground ; but such advanced ground can- 
 not be held in a negative way. New work must always be pushed 
 with vigor. To call a halt just after achieving a.victory is very 
 apt to make the victory a defeat. So we thanked God, and_ told 
 the brother to go ahead, but very soon calls began to reach us | 
 from another place still further beyond our frontier, and now a new 
 and wide field seems to be opening out before us in that direction. 
 In like manner a Hindustani brother crossed the same river at 
 a point south of Delhi, and found hundreds of people who seemed 
 anxious to receive Christian teaching, For a full year I held him 
 back, solely because it seemed to me that he had more work already 
 than he could attend to, but at last a few men were found who 
 could, be spared for the new opening, and at our recent Conference 
 IT gave permission for the advance to be made. That hundreds of 
 converts will be gathered in that field before the close of the present 
 year, Ido notfor a moment doubt, but when these converts do. 
 come, they will only enlarge our boundaries by opening the way to 
 others still farther away, and thus our responsibilities are ever 
 increasing. These two instances: are only examples of what takes 
 place every year at one or more points. The calls never cease ; new 
 doors are ever opening, and the demand for help becomes more 
 urgent every day. 
 In addition to these new ‘movements beyond our present — 
 frontier, our preachers are steadily’ extending their work in the vicin- , 
 ity of villages already occupied. Room for this kind of internal - 
 expansion is practically boundless. Every worker we have can find. 
 villages i his own neighborhood in which there is not a single 
 ‘Christian, and year by year these vacaiit: places : are s sought out and 
 occupied. In this way our Circuits, Districts, and Annual Confer 
 
(4 
 
 ences are increasing, not so much by taking up new territory, as by 
 extending the work within former limits. Thus, in the North India 
 Conference, at its recent session, it was found necessary to create 
 two new Presiding Elder’s Districts. Two years ago this same 
 Conference was divided by setting apart all the territory west of the 
 iver Ganges into a new Annual Conference, but already the loss of - 
 preachers occasioned by this division ig half made up, and by 
 January, 1896, the Conference will be larger than ever. 
 
 Che Spirit of our Workers 
 
 In many mission fields it is a cause of lamentation that a large 
 majority of the Native helpers of various grades become perfunctory 
 in their work, and do not manifest that spontaneous zeal which in 
 all lands is a condition of success. Various causes combine to: 
 foster this kind of spirit or rather, want of spirit, but I rejoice to- 
 say that we have very little ground for complaint on this score in 
 India. While we have all the usual varieties of human character 
 represented among our preachers, yet as a body, they are active and 
 zealous, and push forward the work entrusted to them with great “ 
 tidelity. They are full of hope and confidence, and expect great 
 things from God. <As a specimen of the spirit manifested by some 
 of our leaders, let me quote from a letter received only yesterday.. 
 The writer is a Presiding Elder, and is in charge of a District 
 between the Ganges and Jumna rivers. He says; ‘‘ About six 
 years ago, I was attacked by a serious illness, and went to Bareilly 
 for treatment. Dr. T. J. Scott and Mr. Neeld felt very deeply for 
 me and did all they could for my recovery. The Civil Surgeon, 
 thought that perhaps I could not recover, and quit treating me. 
 That very night my wife and myself prayed together to the Lord 
 Jesus, that He would permit me to remain in this world and work 
 for him until I should win one hundred thousand converts through 
 His name. From that day I began to recover without medicine, 
 and now [ thank God that about eight thousand converts have 
 been brought to Christ in connection with my work, and I feel a. . 
 strong confidence that God will permit me to live till the whole 
 hundred thousand are gathered in.” 
 
Ci) 
 
 It is very true that all these 8,000 persons were not won by 
 this one man, but he laid the foundation of the District, and was 
 only made Presiding Elder after he had, under God, created the 
 District, so that practically the work is his own. His present 
 prayer and hope is that he may be spared to see 100,000 Christians 
 in his present District, and in view of what God is doing, his hope 
 does not seen to me to be an unreasonable one. 
 
 Our BWafive Wreachers. 
 
 I could write many pages concerning these men. Some of 
 them are the veriest babes, but others are men of power. The 
 future of our work must depend on them. They must increase, 
 and we Americans and HKuropeans must decrease. We have now 
 four Native Presiding Elders, out of a total of twenty-three. Of 
 our total baptisms from heathenism during 1893, more than one- 
 third were reported from the Districts of these four men. It is 
 true that they are located in the most fruitful part of our great field, 
 but after every allowance has been made, I cannot but see that God 
 
 is putting his seal upon these men in away which cannot be 
 misunderstood. 
 
 While we have some successful leaders already at the front, 
 we have others who give promise of successful leadership in coming 
 years. Fifty young men will be admitted as new students into 
 our Theological Seminary this month, but these are only a mere 
 fraction of the preachers actually put to work. The men who get 
 a thorough training will make future leaders, but the rank and _ file 
 can only get such an education as we are able to give them in the 
 work. In some respects this plan of training a man in the work 
 for the work is the best possible course to pursue, and we hope 
 never to depart from this feature of our policy, 
 
 All our missionaries unite in bearing grateful witness to the 
 fact, that our Indian preachers have made a marked advance in 
 their spiritual life during the past year. This has been manifested 
 in various ways. There has been a quickening of conscience among 
 them, an increase of zeal, a development of the revival spirit, and a 
 marked manifestation of the spirit of prayer. Many of them ar 
 
 r 
 
Gear) 
 
 still out infirm believers, but this fact does not disquiet us so long 
 “as we are able to note a steady growth in all good directions. 
 Spiritual torpor in cultured Christians, is more to be dreaded than 
 imperfect development in recent converts. 
 
 be CHharacter of our Converts. 
 
 In my report last year [ spoke very frankly of the defects to 
 be found in the character and ordinary life of our people, but it is: 
 to be feared that our friends in Christian lands do not yet fully 
 appreciate how difficult a task it must be to call out a vast body of 
 utterly illiterate men and women from a state of gross heathenism, 
 and start them forward on a career of Christian progress corres— 
 ponding to that with which we have become familiar in Christian 
 lands. I have recently been reading a history of the exodus of the 
 Hebrews from Hgypt, and almost every hour my eye would light 
 on something which reminded me of some phase of the task which 
 God has committed into my own hands. These people, like all 
 people in non-Christion lands, are accustomed to low views of life, 
 to a low standard of morals, and to a low conception of spiritual 
 truths and spiritual duties. We must beware how we try to force 
 our ideals upon them, and we must remember that both individuals 
 and churches must be developed by laws of growth, rather than by 
 artificial means. Measured by any conventional standard brought 
 from Christian lands, our people are not exemplary Christians, 
 but measured by their former selves they give us much encourage- 
 ment, and are as good as we have any right to expect them to be. 
 
 In several respects I have noted an improvement since I wrote 
 my last report. That which has encouraged me most has been aw 
 increase in the number of ‘*men who can pray,” as one Presiding 
 Elder expressed it; that is, of men who can, and do, pray in. 
 public. So far as I have observed all converts from heathenism 
 have to be taught to pray. Prayer, in the Christian sense of the 
 word, is hardly known among either Hindus or Mahommedaus. 
 All converts have to be taught how to pray. About the middle of 
 the year one Presiding Elder reported that two hundred men in his 
 District had&lecome “ praying men.” This was encouraging news,. 
 
Ca) 
 
 but it proved to be the commencement of a movement. During 
 the rest of the year the work spread, and finally a report came from 
 one village that every Christian in it had learned to pray. When 
 it is remembered that this meant that all could pray in public, the 
 significance of the movement becomes apparent. Not many 
 churches ‘can be found in the United States in which more . than 
 
 one in ten of the membership can be induced to utter a word in 
 audible prayer. 
 
 If the thought occurs to the reader that this does not indicate 
 any special progress, I must beg to dissent very earnestly. If there 
 is any sure mark of spiritual life and growth among Christians, it 
 is the presence of the praying gift. A deep and powerful revival is 
 impossible in a church in which the voice of believing prayer is not 
 heard. On the other hand, the voice of prayer may be accepted 
 as a sure token that the Spirit of God is working among the people, 
 and I accept the fact that so many of our people have become 
 praying people, as a clear evidence that they are making progress 
 in spiritual knowledge and in spiritual life. 
 
 Some hard things have been said and published about our 
 converts. Here and there a stranger has catechised them and 
 - found them ignorant; here and there a critic has gone among them 
 and found them inconsistent. Most of these charges have been true, 
 no doubt. Have we any right to expect it to be otherwise 2? But 
 would the average Christians of England and America bear a 
 rigid inspection at the hands of strangers ? Our converts—I mean 
 those baptized in large numbers, are very feeble Christians—no 
 doubt, but in point of moral.character and correct living I believe 
 
 they are quite up to the level of any other considerable community 
 of Christians to be found in India. 
 
 Srustriuction of our converts. 
 
 As before remarked, our greatest difficulty is found in the 
 necessity which exists for giving proper instruction to the new con- 
 yerts. These people are not only willing to ‘receive instruction, 
 but they feel themselves wronged if it is withheld from them. 
 Their deplorable ignorance makes them -feel perfectly helpless 
 
« 8» 
 
 after they abandon their old religion, until they learn how to depend 
 upon the precepts and ordinances of their new faith. Miss Rowe, a 
 lady evangelist of rare gifts, tells a touching story which illustrates 
 this ina very striking way. She was out on a tour among the 
 villages, and chanced to come to a place where afew Christians 
 lived. As she unexpectedly appeared among them she noticed a 
 little blood on the ground, and from the appearance of things around 
 she perceived at a glance that a sacrifice had just been offered either 
 to a departed devotee, or, perhaps, toa demon. She was naturally 
 very indignant and rebuked them sharply, whereupon the head man 
 of the group stood forward and said, ‘“‘ Miss Sahib, what else 
 could we do? Some time ago a man came here and preached to 
 us, and we accepted the word, and were baptized. The man 
 taught us a very little and then went away, and from that day to 
 this no one else has come to us, and how could we learn ? At last 
 one of our children was taken ill, and this morning we feared the 
 child would die. What could we do? No one had taught us 
 what Christians do when a child is sick and in danger of dying. 
 _ We only knew the old way ; we felt that we must do something, 
 ' and so we offered a kid in sacrifice. No one had ever told us what 
 Christians do at such times. What else could we do ? ” 
 
 I mention this incident because it throws a flood of light on our 
 situation as itis to-day. The people need instruction, feel their 
 need of instruction, and are very touchingly helpless without it. 
 To leave them without it is simply to make it certain that they will 
 at an early day lapse again into idolatry. The teaching given them 
 must be of the most elementary kind. It must be, line upon line, 
 precept upon precept. But how can suitable teaching, how can any 
 teaching, be provided for thousands and ten of thousands who have 
 come, or are soon to come, to our altars? ‘This is, beyond all 
 ¥ comparison, the most serious question with which we have to grap-~ 
 ple to-day. 
 
 We are meeting this demand as best we can, and while we all 
 know too well that much remains undone, I think there can be no 
 doubt that the situation is becoming more satisfactory every year. 
 In the absence of good and efficient teachers we simply take the 
 
(35) 
 
 ‘best we can find among our converts. Most of these work for « 
 mere subsistence allowance of thirty dollars a year. Four years 
 ago we began to enroll helpers on this scale of pay, and the ex- 
 perment has been more than successful. Most of these cheap 
 pastor-teachers, are supported by special contributions from home, 
 and they now constitute a well recognized and very valuable class of 
 mission workers, Some of them will remain in this lowly work all 
 their lives, but others who show an aptitude for study will be pro- 
 moted and in time become ordained ministers, or even members of 
 the Annual Conference. 
 
 Boarding Schools. 
 
 At the beginning of 1893, the need of Christian training for the 
 boys and girls of our converts was so urgently felt that I resolved 
 to establish a number of cheap” boarding schools, in addition to 
 those we had already, and accordingly notified a number of our 
 missionaries that they might receive 500 boys and 500 girls to such 
 schools. With a view to ascertaining the lowest possible cost at 
 which such children could be boarded and educated I offered to take 
 ten boys or girls as the case might be, and keep them twelve 
 months for the very low sum of one hundred dollars. That is, 
 for the sum of ten dollars we agreed to receive, clothe, feed, shelter 
 and educate a boy or girl for a full year! The reader will please 
 note, however, that this low rate is only possible when the children 
 are taken “in blocks of ten.” It costs nearly twice as much to 
 keep ten children separately as the same number when living as a 
 ; family group. Parties in America who wish us to support children 
 | at this rate must unite together and make up at least $100. 
 
 ‘Otherwise they should send $15 for each child to be supported 
 _ |'singly. 
 
 The advantages of this plan are manifold. First of all, we 
 can thus hope to raise up an army of preachers and teachers for the 
 early future. In the next place, by separating these children from 
 their home associations we can give them a better ideal of the 
 Christian life, and when they return again to their homes each one 
 
 of them can be made a living-model which their village friends can, 
 
€ 0) 
 
 and assuredly will, imitate. In the older parts of our North India 
 field this plan has been tried for many years, and with the most 
 satisfactory results. 
 
 We have not been altogether successful in getting the whole 
 thousand of these boys and girls into boarding schools. Our 
 converts of long standing are more than willing to let their children 
 come to us, but those recently received shrink from the idea of 
 sending away their boys and girls to places which seem to them as 
 far away as the opposite side of the globe. Added to this, we have 
 to contend against the mischievous devices of crafty opponents. who 
 set wild stories afloat, and thereby terrify the credulous people who 
 know little or nothing of the outside world. In one section of the 
 country a story was not long since spread abroad to the effect that 
 a giant Englishman was going about collecting children, and after 
 killing them making medicine out of their eyes. It was given out 
 that all children away from their homes would be given over to this: 
 giant and killed, and as might have been expected very few of the 
 simple village people were willing to let their children leave them 
 after hearing so frightful a story. Time will no doubt. allay 
 all such fears, but our friends in America cannot understand how 
 difficult it is for our missionaries to found a school in the midst of 
 a people who are at once so ignorant and so timid. 
 
 Bew Cbapels. 
 
 We have been greatly encouraged during the past year by 
 the generous sums sent forward in aid of our chapel building fund. 
 Dr. Butler has been the chief agent in this good work, but Dr. 
 Peck has generously seconded his efforts, and many other friends 
 have also come forward to help. A village chapel can be built for a 
 very small sum, but as our work expands we now and then have 
 need of larger donations. Just at present we could expend $500,. 
 or even $750, at several different points to very great advantage.. 
 Tn a remote village or hamlet twenty-five dollars will sometimes 
 suffice for a mud-walled chapel, but it will be safer for donors to- 
 vive fifty dollars or more. For the present year, however, the 
 demand in our India field is much more imperative for preachers: 
 
Ci) 
 
 and teachers than for chapels. The present emergency is a peculiar 
 one, and calls for a few words of explanation. 
 
 Our Wresenf Emergency. 
 
 At the close of 1888, our missionary authorities found them- 
 selves confronted by a debt of alarming proportions, and in conse~- 
 quence felt constrained to reduce the ordinary appropriations to all 
 their foreign missions to the amount of fifteen per cent. But it 
 so happened that just at this crisis our new work in India began. 
 to attract our attention, and to call for increased support from. 
 America. At the close of 1889, a small appropriation of $2,000- 
 was made in aid of the new work, but this is all our missionary 
 authorities have thus far felt able to do for it, at least in the way 
 of direct appropriations. At the close of 1892, a financial equili- 
 brium had been restored, and it was hoped that liberal appropria- 
 tions to foreign missions might be resumed, but the financial panie 
 of last year has indefinitely postponed this hope, and we are thus 
 compelled to look elsewhere for help. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the vast expansion of our work in. 
 India during the last five years, with the extraordinary ingathering 
 of new converts, has been effected by the aid of special donations 
 received from America, and to some extent, from England, Austra- 
 lia, and other parts of the world. No one could have foreseen this 
 result less than myself, and I am simply amazed at the position in 
 which [ find myself. A vast missionary work is under my care, 
 with hundreds of workers, and tens of thousands of converts, but 
 without any financial support except that which God’s servants im 
 distant lands are moved to send me. At first I regarded this as a 
 temporary arrangement, and each year hoped that the Missionary 
 Society would soon be able to relieve me of so heavy a responsibi- 
 lity, but it now looks as if God had other plans for us, and that we- 
 must continue to look to the friends whom He raises up for us, to. 
 send us help in our time of need. 
 
 At the meeting of the General Missionary Committee last 
 November it was found necessary to reduce again all the ordinary 
 appropriations, at home and abroad, and in consequence of this. 
 
C tz) 
 
 $15,000 was taken from the amount which had previously been 
 sent to India. Not a dollar of this money would in any case have 
 gone to new buildings, the purchase of property, or for any mater- 
 ial interest, and hence we could not reduce our expenditure in any 
 way except by dismissing preachers or teachers. This alternative 
 was not to be even thought of; come what might, we must maintain 
 our workers and our work. I saw at a glance just what this meant, 
 and immediately resolved to assume the responsibility which was 
 thus thrust upon me. When the Conferences met I told the brethren 
 
 ,to go ahead with their work, while I would go to America and see 
 
 what could be done for them. In the mean time I assumed the 
 
 yesponsibility of keeping them supplied with funds, and thus the 
 work is going forward to the present hour. JI am thus responsible 
 for the support of :— 
 
 1. ‘The vast new work which has grown up around us _ since 
 Tes0- 
 
 2. The amount deducted from our appropriations—$15,000— 
 for the current year. 
 
 * 3. The continued extension of the work, which goes forward 
 
 without any signs of abatement. 
 
 What all this means the reader at home can hardly imagine. 
 
 Some time ago I put the figures at $35,000, but I now begin to 
 
 think that if I had fixed upon $50,000, the sum would have been 
 too low. This is a large amount of money, no doubt, but | 
 
 nowhere in the missionary world can so great a work be found 
 carried on at so slight a cost. God is teaching us two great 
 lessons both of which are sorely needed in the missionary world. 
 Tn the first place, we are learning to aim at great results, and to 
 expect great results. Missionary work is no longer to be regarded 
 as a kind of mysterious labor in which we are to toil all night and 
 catch nothing. In the second place, successful work need not be 
 expensive. A mission station can be maintained for fifty years 
 in such a way that the converts will hardly average more than 
 
 'or two a year, while the cost of securing them will be more than one 
 
 a thousand dollars for each convert. This may be objected to as 
 
 an extreme case, but taking the general average in India, China, 
 
Se 
 
 Japan, and other foreign lands, the cost for each convert will be 
 found so great as to be discouraging, if not indeed alarming, to the 
 best friends of the cause. 
 
 But God is showing us a more excellent way. By simplify- 
 ing our methods, and at the same same time employing workers 
 who belong to the people we are trying to reach, we are finding 
 out that tens of thonsands can be reached at a cost which not. 
 many years ago would have seeemed almost nominal. 
 
 Our Bresent Bleeds. 
 
 Our present need is as great as it is urgent. Many who 
 sent us contributions last year are feeling the effects of the hard 
 times in America, and will not be able to help us this year. Most 
 of these friends gave their money to support individual pastors 
 or teachers, and these workers are now left on our hands without 
 any support. Some supported one or more boys or girls in board- 
 ing schools, and these must be sent away if other supporters are 
 not found. Meanwhile scores upon scores were dependent upon 
 the $15,000 which was deducted last November from our annual 
 appropriation, and for these we have no support whatever. Then 
 we have our new work, men pushing forward into new places, 
 inquirers by scores and hundreds sending for preachers or teachers 
 to come to them and show them how to become Christians. Not 
 less than 20,000 heathen men and women are waiting for our 
 coming this very day. Can we, dare we let them wait through 
 months and years until at last they die in their darkness without 
 Christ? Wer cannot noir. Wemusr move on. Ourcry is to 
 God in heaven, and to the people of God in England and America. 
 Surely they will not forsake us in this the hour of our great 
 | extremity. We feel assured that every one of our former supporters 
 who can possibly do so will continue to aid us, and perhaps those 
 ‘who can no longer send us money will beccome collectors, and 
 gather from others the money which they cannot give themselves. 
 
 Our friends can give in various ways, some prefer to give a 
 certain sum unconditionally, simply asking that it be applied to 
 our special work, Donations of this kind have varied from one: 
 
) 14) 
 
 ‘dollar to one thousand dollars. Others—the majority—prefer the 
 ~plan of assuming the support of one or more preachers or teachers, 
 and in most cases wish to have a report of the worker and_ his 
 ‘work sent to them at least once a year. Our workers in India 
 are of many grades, and the amount needed for their support varies 
 ‘to an extent which will surprise persons accustomed to the condi- 
 tions of life in America. Some require no more than thirty 
 dollars a year for their support, while a very few receive nearly two 
 hundred. The one class live in remote villages, keep no books, 
 use no furniture, no table ware of any kind and very few cooking 
 utensils. The others live in cities, keep books, furniture, and other 
 appliances of civilized life, take a weekly paper, and perhaps ride 
 -on their own ponies when they go on preaching tours. Between 
 these two extremes we have various grades of preachers. Some 
 receive fifty dollars a year, some seventy-five, many one hundred, 
 while others again receive one hundred and twenty-five or one 
 hundred and fifty. Just at present we sorely need support for 
 some of these more expensive men. Most of them are intelligent 
 men, and able to write interesting letters to those who support 
 them. 
 I feel emboldened to make a special appeal to the many friends 
 at home who have supported us in the past, not only that they 
 should continue to aid us, but that they should stir up others to do 
 likewise. One lady in Nebraska has had notable success in this line, 
 and several others in different parts of the country have also been 
 greatly blessed in working for us. During the past two years more 
 ‘than six hundred persons in the United States have sent us special 
 contributions. These six hundred constitute a noble corps of Chris- 
 tian supporters, and if they all join in an effort to sustain our great 
 and growing work, we may hope for very great things from them. 
 I know how to value money, but I place a much higher value upon 
 _ friends, upon men and women who help year after year, and who 
 also win the good will and support of others for coming 
 _years. 
 
 In conclusion, let me add a word concerning the value of the 
 work which God has given us. I am more than ever convinced 
 
Gay 
 
 ‘that this work is from God, and that: it is full of golden promise for 
 ‘the future. Its true magnitude can hardly be estimated. I verily 
 believe that God is setting agencies in motion, and committing his 
 people to responsibilities, which will betore many years change the 
 face of the missionary world. Thirty-five’ years ago I was leaving 
 my circuit in Ohio, to set out on my long” voyage to India, to me 
 at that time an unknown world. I have seen much of missionary 
 work since then, have tried many methods, have worked in many 
 fields, but never have I seen such an opportunity as that now set 
 before us, never have I seen any work so signally blessed, and never 
 have I walked on any pathway which seemed so clearly attended 
 by the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night. With- 
 out any shadow of reservation I say to all our friends that this is 
 a great work of God, and well worthy of their most cordial sup- 
 port. Although not able to help this new work by direct appropria- 
 tions, our missionary authorities not only approve, but invite, special 
 ‘donations in aid of the work. All money sent to us is reported to 
 the Society, and the best way to send us help is to forward the 
 money to Dr. J., O. Peck, Missionary Secretary, 150, Fifth 
 Avenue, New York. 
 
 Our friends at home are often anxious to hear about the 
 workers supported by them, and in order to meet their wishes I have 
 appointed Rev. N. L. Rockey, of Shahjehanpore, India, Secretary 
 of our Special Fund. All letters of inquiry should be addressed to 
 him. It will be necessary for me to spend six months or more 
 ‘m the United States this summer, and, I hope to reach New York 
 about the 10th of April. My address while in America will be 
 150, Fifth Avenue, New York. 
 
 J, M. Tuopurn. 
 
 Bay of Bengal, February 15, 1894. 
 
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