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 HVvot,- 
 
 l>i$torical Sketch 
 of Tom years 
 
 I$70'10l0 
 
 By 
 
 Mrs. W. Packer Prentice 
 
 Women’s Board of Foreign Missions of 
 the Presbyterian Church 
 Room 818, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York 
 
 Price 2 cents \ 20 cents per dozen 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FORTY 
 
 YEARS 
 
 (Written for the Annual Meeting of the Women’s Board of 
 Foreign Missions, held in the University Place Church, 
 N ew York, April 27th, 1910.) 
 
 W E meet to-day and celebrate the fortieth 
 anniversary of the Women’s Board of 
 Foreign Missions* Forty years “with the 
 good hand of our God upon us.” No halt, no 
 retrenchment, but only a steady progress in the 
 work of missions—this is our record—and we 
 offer our thanks to Him who has honored us 
 by calling us to work in His vineyard. The 
 young wife of the cavalry officer on our 
 western plains, when she saw the appalling 
 spiritual destitution of the region and sent 
 home the plea that some effort should be 
 made to send the Gospel thither, little thought 
 as she threw that stone that its ripple would 
 spread until the waves of missionary progress 
 would encircle the whole earth. And she still 
 lives to see what God hath wrought. This 
 little band, “The New Mexico, Arizona and 
 Colorado Missionary Association,” formed an 
 appropriate nucleus for the distinctly Presby¬ 
 terian Society formed in 1870, with the title, 
 “The Ladies’ Board of Missions of the Pres¬ 
 byterian Church,” auxiliary to the Home and 
 Foreign Boards, and laboring in both fields. 
 Representatives from the different Presbyte¬ 
 rian churches in New York City formed the 
 Board of Managers, with Auxiliary Societies 
 in their respective churches, and in addition 
 to these were 21 Auxiliaries in different lo¬ 
 calities. Among these original managers 
 were many sainted women—Mrs. Horace 
 
 3 
 
Holden, Mrs. William E. Dodge, Mrs. R. R. 
 Booth, Mrs. Sheafe, Miss Kennedy, Mrs. C. P. 
 Hartt, Mrs. Loring Andrews, Mrs. Robert 
 Kelly. The first report shows 48 Auxiliaries, 
 9 Missionaries, 6 Bible Readers, and receipts, 
 $7,747.00. To-day we have 34 Presbyterial 
 Societies, 904 Women’s Auxiliary Societies, 
 1,299 Young People’s Societies and Mission 
 Bands; while we are supporting 129 Mission¬ 
 aries, taking part in many Mission Stations, 
 and our receipts this year are $114,868.17. 
 While we realize that the work of missions 
 cannot be reckoned by a money value, that 
 God will number many unknown jewels in 
 the last great accounting; yet it will interest 
 us to note that in these 40 years we have 
 raised over two million dollars for Foreign 
 Missions. 
 
 For 13 years the Ladies’ Board of Missions 
 pursued its double work for Home and 
 Foreign Missions, gaining constantly new 
 auxiliaries. In 1875 were formed 3 Presby¬ 
 terial Societies, to which organizations con¬ 
 formable to our Presbyterian forms of order, 
 report the Auxiliaries in each Presbytery, thus 
 giving an opportunity of closer oversight of 
 individual societies and a more intimate 
 knowledge of the needs of each society and 
 greatly lessening the labors at Headquarters. 
 It was in 1883 that the first great change came 
 into the scope of our work—the relinquish¬ 
 ment of all work in the Home Missions 
 Department. This was a great grief to our 
 President, Mrs. Graham, who, with many of 
 the Managers, was loth to give up that phase 
 of the work which had been the original 
 cause of this missionary organization. But it 
 was felt that an individual aim would produce 
 greater concentration and larger results, and 
 accordingly at the annual meeting held at 
 Rochester and at an adjourned meeting in this 
 city the Ladies’ Board decided to transfer its 
 
 4 
 
Home Mission Department to the care of the 
 Woman’s Executive Committee of Home Mis¬ 
 sions. As we look at the glorious work of 
 this Home Missions Board we can but feel 
 that the wisdom of this radical change has 
 been justified. The reorganized Society at 
 this time adopted a more comprehensive con¬ 
 stitution under the title of the “Women’s 
 Board of Foreign Missions of the Presby¬ 
 terian Church, New York,” and has since 
 labored exclusively in Foreign Mission fields. 
 In May, 1885, the Women’s Board became 
 an incorporated body, capable of holding 
 property and receiving legacies. The next 
 important change, or rather growth, came in 
 1908 when we were privileged to welcome 
 into our ranks 9 Presbyterial Societies, 2 
 from Kentucky (formerly connected with the 
 Cumberland Board), 3 Presbyterial Societies 
 of Northern New Jersey, which, because of 
 their proximity to the Headquarters in New 
 York City, felt that they more naturally 
 belonged to our Board and were most cordi¬ 
 ally transferred from the Philadelphia Board, 
 and 4 Presbyterial Societies which had previ¬ 
 ously formed the Board of Northern New 
 York. This accession has proved delightful 
 and stimulating to all, and includes the Synods 
 of New York and Kentucky, 
 
 During these 40 years the Women’s Board 
 has had 3 Presidents, devout women raised up 
 of the Lord, with varying gifts and character¬ 
 istics, each one thoroughly adapted for the 
 distinct periods of our existence. Our first 
 President, Mrs. James Lorimer Graham, was 
 a woman of large mental grasp, with enthusi¬ 
 asm and initiative, far-seeing and undaunted 
 by the magnitude of the task undertaken for 
 the first time by the women of the Presbyter¬ 
 ian Church. For 13 years she devoted almost 
 every hour of her time to the interests of the 
 Society, inspiring many to unite in the work, 
 
 5 
 
bringing to bear her many gifts of social 
 position. She kept every detail of the work 
 in her mind and maintained an enormous cor¬ 
 respondence—a loving friend to all our mis¬ 
 sionaries, admired and beloved by all with 
 whom she came in contact. Her death, 
 occurring in the early part of the year 1883, 
 was a great loss to the Society, but at once 
 her place was ably filled by Mrs. O. P. Hub¬ 
 bard, whose qualifications enabled her to guide 
 the enlarging group of auxiliaries into larger 
 channels and to lay foundations wide and 
 deep, equal to any superstructure. This was 
 the period of constructive formation and 
 wisely and well was this done under our sec¬ 
 ond President, who, alas! was only granted to 
 us for four years. In 1888 Mrs. Henry N. 
 Beers became the President. Of deep spirit¬ 
 uality, calm and wise judgment, with fine tact, 
 she led the ranks, guiding the various depart¬ 
 ments of our work with happy skill. After 
 rounding out twenty years of faithful service 
 Mrs. Beers felt that advancing years precluded . 
 her from active work and she declined a re¬ 
 nomination, but until her death, the following 
 year, maintained her deep interest and took 
 up committee work with loving devotion. 
 Upon her resignation the present President 
 was elected—Mrs. W. Packer Prentice, who 
 having been the first Secretary of the New 
 Mexico Association, is now, in point of ser¬ 
 vice upon the Board, the oldest manager. 
 
 We would briefly refer to the Magazines 
 edited by our Board: In 1871 was issued the 
 first number of “Our Mission Field,” which, 
 in 1885, was united with the Magazine of the 
 Philadelphia Society and Northwest Board, 
 called, “Woman’s Work for Woman,” under 
 the title of “Woman’s Work for Woman and 
 Our Mission Field.” Later the title became 
 “Woman’s Work, a Foreign Missions Maga¬ 
 zine,” and this publication, ably edited by 
 
 6 
 
Miss Ellen C. Parsons, is of the greatest use¬ 
 fulness in inciting interest and conveying 
 information of our many mission stations. A 
 magazine for children was started in 1885, 
 called “Children’s Work for Children,” which, 
 in 1893, took the title of “Over Sea and 
 Land” and became the organ of both the 
 Home and the Foreign Women’s Societies, 
 and has very recently transferred its head¬ 
 quarters from Philadelphia to New York. In 
 addition to these publications is now yearly 
 issued “The Year Book of Prayer,” wherein a 
 day is assigned to every missionary for loving 
 thought and earnest prayer by those at home. 
 Our Publication Committee is becoming more 
 active with each year, many leaflets, circulars, 
 helps to study, etc., being published constantly. 
 
 It is of interest to note that our 40th anni¬ 
 versary is being held in this University Place 
 Church, where many of the first meetings of 
 the Society were held, whose pastor at that 
 time. Rev. Robert Russell Booth, was one of 
 the ablest advisers of the new organization; 
 where was held our 25th anniversary; the 
 church where three of our Presidents, Mrs. 
 Graham, Mrs. Hubbard and Mrs. Prentice 
 have been members, and w^hose present pastor. 
 Dr. George Alexander, is himself the Presi¬ 
 dent of the Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
 During the first years of the Society, meet¬ 
 ings were held in the apartment of Mrs. 
 Graham, in West 10th Street; upon her death 
 a room was rented in the handsome house on 
 Washington Square, which had been for many 
 years the home of the Grahams. But when 
 the Foreign Board removed from Centre 
 Street, in 1888, to the commodious mansion, 
 53 Fifth Avenue, which had been given to the 
 Missionary Boards of the Presbyterian Church 
 through the munificence of Mr. Robert Lenox, 
 the Ladies’ Board was given pleasant quarters 
 there. This move was followed by another 
 
 7 
 
when the Presbyterian Building at 156 Fifth 
 Avenue was completed, and now we have 
 delightful rooms and accommodations, with 
 the Assembly Room for our meetings, and 
 where it is possible to consult with the 
 Secretaries of the Board without delay. 
 
 During these forty years we have supported 
 a long list of missionaries, increasing their 
 number year by year. Our Foreign Secre¬ 
 taries are in close correspondence with these, 
 our dear missionary sisters, and thus not only 
 strengthen and cheer them, but receive the 
 news from the field which is the reward of 
 our efforts and the stimulus to new enter¬ 
 prise, and through the Bureau of Exchange 
 these missionary letters are sent to all our 
 Constituents for their encouragement and use 
 in meetings. For a long time we gave out to the 
 Auxiliaries, for their special work, Bible 
 readers and scholars, or scholarships, but for 
 several years we have adopted what is known 
 as the “Station Plan.” We found that often 
 a Bible Reader was transferred, the scholars 
 died or were married, and that a continuity of 
 interest was better preserved, even if a little 
 of the personal element was lost, by having 
 the Auxiliaries give their contributions to the 
 mission station which appealed most strongly 
 to their interest. Then when word comes of 
 any part of the work of their station, they 
 receive the account of the larger work and 
 gain in knowledge and interest. This seems 
 to be the nearest approach to the ideal of 
 giving indefinitely “to the cause,” which is 
 possible to our human desire for the concrete, 
 and our experience of its usefulness has justi¬ 
 fied this plan. 
 
 Time would fail to tell all of the many 
 different objects to which we have sent our 
 contributions in these 40 years, suffice it to 
 give some items under various heads. We 
 have given medical education to three stu- 
 
 8 
 
dents, who have done good work upon the 
 field and have assisted others. We have 
 aided in building and keeping up many chapels. 
 We have bought land and built houses for 
 missionaries in numerous countries; also 
 houses for native helpers and have kept them 
 in repair. Among the missionary homes are 
 those for the Bernheisels, in Korea; for the 
 Palmers, in Laos; for the Silsbys, in China, 
 and for the Labarees, in Urumia, Persia. 
 
 Medical work always appeals to every 
 human heart and we have been able to assist 
 in many missionary dispensaries, providing 
 equipment and various forms of relief and 
 improvement to this kind of work, which has 
 proved so successful, not only in winning 
 souls to Christ while aiding their wretched 
 bodies, but in presenting to heathendom a 
 striking object-lesson of what Christianity 
 stands for in the world. 
 
 We have built and furnished hospitals at 
 Hengchow, China, and at Chieng Mai, Laos, 
 and dispensaries at Urumia and Hamadan, 
 Persia; Batanga, Africa, and Tsinanfu, China. 
 Many years ago the Sara Seward Hospital at 
 Allahabad, India, and more recently, the Rose 
 Bachman Hospital at Tsining-Chou, China, 
 were entirely the work of this Board, as was 
 also the x4nna Jacobson Memorial Home at 
 Seoul, Korea. 
 
 Most naturally the care of schools would 
 fall appropriately to woman’s w^ork and we 
 have been privileged to build schools, enlarge 
 and repair them. Long have we loved Graham 
 Seminary at Tokyo, Japan, started by our 
 Miss Youngman in 1872 and, in 1890, united 
 with the Bancho School for Girls, under the 
 name of Joshi Gakuin. A new Graham 
 Dormitory replaces the one burned in 1906. 
 Miss Youngman also started the Training 
 School at Tokyo, now known as the Bible 
 Institute. 
 
 9 
 
We have founded schools at Petchaburee, 
 Siam; at Guatemala City; at Urumia, Persia, 
 and at Hamadan, Persia, we have cared for 
 the Faith Hubbard School and have also 
 bought property for the Boys’ School. We 
 are now enlarging Miss Sara C. Smith’s long- 
 established school at Sapporo, Japan, and are 
 assisting in the Boys’ Schools at Sidon and 
 at Tripoli, Syria. While we cannot omit to 
 speak of our interest in schools for the Blind 
 and Deaf, the Hoshyarpore Orphanage, etc. 
 Our Board entirely built and equipped the 
 school at Peking which was destroyed in the 
 Boxer rebellion, but the school was after¬ 
 wards transferred to Paotingfu. The Arthur 
 Mitchell Memorial Fund for a new station at 
 Praa, Laos, and the EHinwood Training 
 School in the Philippines, have claimed our 
 interest and help. 
 
 That we have not omitted to think of the 
 physical needs of our noble missionaries, 
 laboring amid great climatic disadvantages to 
 the utmost limit of their health and strength, 
 is shown by our contributing homes for sum¬ 
 mer resort, such as the Nourmahal Summer 
 Home at Hamadan, and the old Temple 
 bought and fitted up near Peking, for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 It goes without saying that much money 
 has been raised for the outfit and travelling 
 expenses for outgoing missionaries. 
 
 The Children’s Bands have supplied boats 
 for use in travelling up and down the rivers, 
 sometimes the only highways for Siam and 
 Africa, and wells have been dug and con¬ 
 duits made to furnish pure water to many 
 Stations, and a sawmill constructed at Chieng 
 Mai. 
 
 We do not attempt the necrology for 40 
 years, we can only give thanks for the long 
 line of devoted and saintly women who have 
 labored in the Lord with us, but we cannot 
 
 lO 
 
omit to mention our losses in the past year 
 and to place a wreath of affectionate honor 
 upon the names of Mrs. Henry N. Beers, our 
 President for 20 years, and of Miss Mary 
 Parsons, a manager almost from the begin¬ 
 ning of this Board, who, by her literary abili¬ 
 ties and inspiring energy, was of signal useful¬ 
 ness to the cause. 
 
 As we review briefly the work of the past, 
 mingled feelings are ours—we realize our 
 shortcomings, our want of faith sometimes to 
 go forward, our mistaKes, our failure to meet 
 opportunities shining before us—and for these 
 we humbly implore our Father’s forgiveness; 
 and we see that God has given us courage, 
 has helped us to do many things in His name, 
 and for this we offer our deepest thanks, and 
 as we enter upon another period of mission¬ 
 ary service we dedicate ourselves anew to the 
 God-given work of proclaiming Christ to our 
 heathen sisters. May we rise to the great 
 task, may we “sound out the word of the 
 Lord” that many may be “turned from idols 
 to serve the living and true God.” 
 
THE WILLIAM DARLING PRESS 
 NEW YORK