No. 105. 
 
 Tiuitmni’s l(ninn (Diooinnnrn Sorirli). 
 
 A FIRST STEP. 
 
 T HIS is a period when in our land, pioneers and discoverers 
 are being honored. Many brave sailors, and gallant 
 ships, have followed Columbus across the sea, but we 
 honor him as the first to point the w r ay to a new world, and to 
 take possession of it in the name of Christ. Thus it is fitting to 
 recall the past of our Union Society, and do honor to those brave 
 pioneers in Woman’s Missions, who in the face of indifference 
 and incredulity, first found a way into this new world of Mis- 
 sionary achievement. 
 
 The year 1834 forms an epoch in the history of heathen 
 women, for then Rev. David Abeel, returning from his mission 
 in China, via England, first presented in London, their claims on 
 the sympathies and labors of Christian women, resulting in the 
 organization of an association called The Society for Promoting 
 
2 
 
 Female Education in the East. The history of this Society forms 
 the most enduring monument, of the godly advocate for the ele- 
 vation of heathen women. 
 
 The same year, in New York, he pleaded the woes of 
 
 this debased and enslaved sex, for which no adequate remedy 
 
 had yet been suggested. But foreign missions were in their 
 
 infancy in our land, and the leaders of Missionary Boards 
 
 deemed an independent movement premature. This germ of a 
 woman's mission to woman was, however, not forgotten by Mrs. T. 
 C. Doremus, whose consecrated heart had been fired to enthusi- 
 asm by her personal friendship with Dr. Abeel. 
 
 Twenty-six years later, as a manager in the Female Bible 
 Society of New York, she listened to the stirring words of Mrs. 
 Francis B. Mason, a missionary from Burmah, appealing to that 
 organization for the employment of Christian Bible Readers in 
 heathen lands. The circumscribed work of that association, 
 rendered any official co-operation in this direction impossible, 
 but Mrs. Doremus then determined that nothing should hinder 
 a response to this second appeal. An independent undenom- 
 inational society to send out single women to the East, con- 
 ducted by unsalaried officers, was organized in the Fall of i860, 
 under the title of the Woman’s Union Missionary Society of 
 America for Heathen Lands. Nine ladies in Boston had 
 previously formed a society for the same purpose, became an 
 auxiliary, and zealous gifted women in Brooklyn worked side 
 by side with those in New York, in the new organization incor- 
 
3 
 
 porated February, 1861. Mrs. Doremus was chosen its first 
 President, continuing her arduous labors for eighteen years. 
 No one could have been better fitted as a leader in this delicate 
 and difficult enterprise ; for her supreme faith and indomitable 
 courage, her enthusiasm for missions, dating from childhood, 
 her wide experience combined with tireless energy and purpose, 
 and her extensive acquaintance and influence; all her varied 
 resources were devoted to the interests of this frail little bark, 
 launched on tempestuous seas of opposition and unbelief. 
 
 Among many original methods of arousing interest, children 
 were organized into Mission Bands at an early day, the first 
 one, still in existence, bearing the suggestive name of Pioneer. 
 
 The Philadelphia Branch, formed May, 1861, became the 
 first advocate and champion of women physicians, opening a 
 new field for medical missions, now recognized as a most im- 
 portant factor, in reaching heathen women, doomed by the 
 tyranny of ages to neglect and misery. 
 
 The zenana work for the secluded women of India, which 
 had never been brought before the Christian public of America, 
 was the distinguishing feature of the new organization. 
 
 Such in brief was the origin of this Union Society , whose 
 later history and present standing are known. The wisdom and 
 far-reaching faith of its founders have been proved, not alone 
 by its results in heathen lands, but also by its effects in America. 
 Some of its distinctive features have been adopted by all de- 
 nominational Missionary Boards and local societies of women 
 
4 
 
 for the advancement of the questions of the day, have followed 
 in the train of this first organized effort of women to conduct 
 labors of magnitude and importance. 
 
 In view of the present efforts to further a more united 
 Church of Christ, is it too much to hope that the Woman’s Union 
 Missionary Society , whose sole aim is to spread the name of Jesus, 
 may win to its support thousands of consecrated women, who 
 owe all in this life and the next, to the Gospel which alone has 
 elevated and honored women ? 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE WOMAN’S UNION MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 Mrs. HENRY JOHNSON, President. 
 
 Miss S. D. DOREMUS, Corresponding Secretary , 
 
 Miss ELIZABETH STONE, Assistant Treasurer. 
 
 The Missionary Link, issued monthly, 50 cents a year, 
 the only organ of the Society; may be obtained at 
 
 Mission Room, 67 Bible House, New York City.