being a district of 40 miles in diameter, and as much further as he is disposed to go. Buffalo alone needs all his time and attention, for it is growing constantly in population and importance. Sheridan has now a population of about 500. It is the centre of a rich farming country, and with the advent of the railroad is certain to grow with great rapidity. There is one church here, the Methodist Episcopal. They have a meetinghouse, paid for, or nearly so. The Congregationalists have just begun to hold services in a large hall. There are quite a number of Baptists in this town and vicinity, some of them living from 9 to 12 miles away. We are holding services in the school-house every Sunday, and a regular prayer-meeting each week, I acting as my own sexton, and endeavoring to break the apathy that seems to have settled upon the people, by having a warm, well lighted room, vigorous bell ringing, and a true, pure Gospel. The meetings are increasing in interest. Large congregations come to hear. I expect to organize a church as soon as the material is well in hand. Through the generosity of M. J. D. Thurmond, a loyal Baptist, we have secured lots in a fine location for meeting house. A third visit within a twelve month finds much that is novel, interesting, even inspiring. The night train from Kansas City over the Rock Island Railroad reaches the borders of the Indian Territory at 9 A. M. The fifty miles across the "Cherokee Strip" is as barren of incident as it is of houses. These 6,000,000 acres of fertile land await occupation till the President shall permit. As soon as we cross the line into Oklahoma the houses begin to dot the plains in every direction. The scattered wheat fields look delightfully green, for the railroads supplied seed for fall sowing, ten bushels to a farm, when desired. The people gather in crowds at the stations, men, women, and children, white and black, native and foreign. They are typical men and women of the frontier, a class to whose heroism and hardihood the country owes a debt of gratitude. There At Dayton services have also been held. will be some suffering, no doubt, before the I preach in Sheridan in the morning, then winter is over, as the drought of last sumride on horseback 22 miles to Dayton and mer was very severe; but the people who preach in the evening, sometimes stop- had seed, planted potatoes, Irish and sweet, ping on the way to preach at a school. and other vegetables as late as September, house. Dayton, or some point near there, after the rains came, and were rewarded by will be the site of a large town soon. abundant yields of finest quality. The peoTongue River furnishes splendid water-ple are hopeful, they believe in the country, power. It is in the heart of this coal region, the nearest point to the gold and silver discoveries; besides, the railroad crosses at this point. A number of Baptists are scattered through this country. They are anxious to have a church. I held a week-night meeting there; several professed conversion. Lots have been secured for a meetinghouse, and it is expected to organize next week. Northern Wyoming needs faithful, patient, missionary work. Great tact and gentleness is needed to win this people. A missionary pastor should be located here as soon as these churches are organized, that the General Missionary might be able to visit other rapidly developing but neglected fields. The Big Horn basin should be thoroughly explored next summer. Sundance in the Black Hills needs help. Lander and one good crop will put them in fair shape. Now, money is very scarce; men with large property in lands are hard pressed for daily bread. This is a great drawback to our mission work; the people cannot raise money to support the Gospel or to build meeting houses. Pastors are living on starvation salaries, and in some cases getting nothing for their services. The first prominent town is Kingfisher, population 1,500. A few Baptists here, but as yet no church organization. Only the Governor's veto prevented this ambitious town from becoming the capital of the Territory. We reach El Reno, our first stopping place, at 1 P. M., 400 miles from Kansas City. Here we have a church of sixteen members, while in the outlying district between thirty and forty Baptists have been found who promise to unite with the church. This town has a population of 1,000. Five miles distant is Fort Reno, where the Government has lately expended $250,000, an important post. Four miles from El Reno is Darlington, where there is an Indian Agency and school. Three miles from El Reno is Reno city, a rival town till the railroad "passed by on the other side." From an elevation these four towns are all in full view, making, with adjacent homesteads, a population of five thousand or more. But the moral desolation is disheartening. A dozen saloons in El Reno, as many brothels and dance houses, and not a single house of worship or school house! But this will be true no longer. Before this reaches the readers of the MONTHLY we shall have a Baptist meeting house completed, dedicated, and paid for. Rev. L. J. | Dyke, district missionary of the Society for Oklahoma, has for the last three months made this the center of operations. He has gathered the Church, raised subscriptions for the house, collected the funds, paid the bills, superintended the work, and with his own hands has done a large part of it. The railroad company gave a lot on a business street, worth $300. The building is veneered with brick; in appearance it is like a business house. It will, in a few years, be in demand for business purposes, when it will easily sell for enough to erect a more churchly house on the fine lots already secured. The cost of the house was $800, of which the Society gives $350. Great er sacrifices, a truer heroism is rarely seen than Brother Dyke has shown in the building of this house for the Lord. My heart was touched as I saw his fingers, worn to the quick by handling brick. And when I saw him, trowel in hand, laying these brick into the wall because he could not secure reliable laborers, I said in my heart, there are heroes on the Western frontier as well as in the Eastern jungle. This Brother I had known as a student at Hamilton more than twenty years ago. A visit to Fort Reno was full of interest. There are six troops of cavalry and one of infantry there at present. A Mr. Evans of Philadelphia keeps the supply store and hotel, and gives excellent dinners, to my certain knowledge. A chat with his family was a real pleasure. We spent a delightful hour in the cozy home of Captain Chance and received assurances of sympathy and help in our mission work. His wife is the daughter of an army chaplain, and, with her daught ers, takes a lively interest in the welfare of the soldiers. A Baptist German girl works at the hotel. The love of Christ lights up her face as she speaks. "Oh," said she, "when I see the wickedness here it almost breaks my heart." Her father has a little shoe-shop; he, too, is one of the elect ones, a sturdy Baptist, and an earnest Christian, bearing daily testimony among many adversaries. A few words with some soldiers discovers the temptations before which they fall. The post has no Chaplain at present. A carriage ride of thirty-five miles across the country in December might promise a dire experience, but it was a positive delight. The air was as balmy as April. Oklahoma City is our objective point. We sight it in the distance, and one of the earliest and most prominent objects is the new Baptist Church, which is to be dedicated next Sunday. But first we take the train for Purcell, just over into the Indian Territory, to the south. This is a thriving town. It has a considerable Indian trade, and is also quite a cotton market. The postmaster and the leading merchant are Baptists. We have a small church there, but it has had no pastor. The brethren feel that if they could have a young man, active, consecrated, without a family, who would cast in his lot with them they could support him, and no doubt they could. Indians drop into the store to trade as I sit there. My friend, the merchant, says they are the "whitest" people down there. At Norman we have a church of nearly fifty members. Our cause ought to be strong, but the people are somewhat divided. Some of them distrust the orthodoxy of the Home Mission Society! We are trying to deserve their confidence; Rev. J. J. C. Harris is missionary pastor. Oklahoma City is the second city in population, about 6,000, the first in wealth, and equal to any in ambition and expectation. Rev. W. H. Nichols has been missionary pastor since April 1st, 1890. In that time the congregation outgrew the dingy store in which the services were held at first. They also outgrew a hall that seated 250. In September last a house of worship was begun. It is a gem of a house, the finest in the Territory by far. Its location is the very best in the city. The lot and house complete and furnished, cost $6,000. The Society makes a gift of $1,200. The dedication occurred Dec. 21st. The writer preached morning and evening to overflowing houses. The balance of $2,000 due was raised and the house was given to the Lord clear of encumbrance. The congregation already fills it. 500 were present at the evening service, Dec. 28th, and half as many more could not get in. There are enquirers at every service; too much praise cannot be given to Pastor Nichols and his appreciative church, which now enrolls sixty members. On Monday the representatives of seven churches responded to a call for a meeting to organize an Association in that section of the Territory. The organization was completed and called "The Central Baptist Association of Oklahoma." A spirit of harmony prevailed, and a determined purpose to take Oklahoma for Christ. There are some twenty Baptist churches in the Territory, of whose work I cannot now write particularly. Only two of these, Guthrie and Oklahoma City, have a pastor's entire service. Once a month is the rule, yet many of the churches have Sundayschools each Sabbath. There are many country churches and they are soon to be strong churches. If we could support one or two evangelists to labor with these country churches, there might be great ingathering. There is great need of houses of worship; we have only three, and one of these cost but $200. It is doubtful if a Baptist church in the Territory has a "communion set;" a common pitcher, with plates and glasses to match, have to do. Will some of our friends make a note of this. On the whole we have reason to thank God and take courage. Alaska. We have had no letter from this far Northland in the MONTHLY for some time and so give place very gladly to the following one from Rev. W. E. Roscoe, of Kodiak, as we believe it will be of much interest to our readers. The "orphanage " he speaks of, is a contemplated one to be established on Wood Island, an enterprise very greatly needed. Brother Roscoe writes under date of September 29, 1890, and we can only give extracts from his long letter: "Yours of July 12th reached me a few weeks ago after having miscarried and been delayed a little. Until recently there has been no opportunity of sending an answer. We were pleased to learn of the appointment of Mr. Feodorf. His being a Russian by birth, will, I believe, if he is steadfast in our faith, be a great advantage to him. I believe Brother Wirth would have come back to Afognak, had his wife's health been good last June. I did not realize how much the Afognak people loved him till two or three days ago. Two of his old friends were here and enquired so feelingly about the old teacher, 'stâre oochetel.' They said that whenever a vessel came into the bay the children would cry out: Maybe the old teacher is on board coming back to us,' and that all of their people, Aleutes and creoles, want Brother Wirth to come back. Brother Wirth's knowledge of the vernacular of Afognak rendered him an efficient missionary. At Karluk, there are several hundred white men annually employed during the spring and summer months. Most of these rough, heathenish fishermen are Europeans (Scandinavians, Italians, and Germans), but they generally understand and speak English. There are but few white men in our own settlement of Kodiak, but the Scandinavians predominate. Our denomination has demonstrated that the Scandinavians are very susceptible to Christianity; and from numerous conversations I have had with these people I have sometimes thought converts from among them would be the beginning of a Baptist Church in our town. Some of them have taken creole wives and if they themselves can be converted their families will be the next ones reached. One Russian Finn has sent his girl regularly to our house for religious instruction on Sundays for several years, and although I once thought he had been converted, the drink curse has led him down and I cannot induce him to take his girl entirely away from the Greek Church. He is still, however, a faithful friend to us. "In answer to your question: 'Is there a necessity for an orphanage?' I answer, yes. There are quite a number of destitute orphans in Kodiak, and in every settlement through this part of the country they may be found-poor defenceless children, clothed only in old rags, with no one to provide suitable food or clothing, and living entirely on such charity as may be found among a heathen people. There are numerous destitute children, made so by the drunkenness and hence vagabond character of their parents. In addition to a kind of beer which the natives themselves make from sugar and Graham flour, they succeed in buying large quantites of whiskey from sailors and the more reckless class of traders. The salmon canneries are, generally speaking, a curse to the natives. The Chinese employees bring or rather smuggle immense quantities of 'samshu' into the country, and peddle it out to the natives. In the Aleute settlement of Afognak, the natives have sold the very fur bedding from their huts to obtain this vile stuff. The winter is upon them and until recently they had been so demoralized with liquor that they had not laid in the usual winter's supply of dried fish, their main subsistence. Without money and provisions and clothing, what misery and want will there be in that village this winter, all because of intoxicating liquor! White hunters, recently arrived from the westward, tell me it is the same out there. The natives are demoralized by drink. Now, the future of this race is, that practically they will perish from off the face of the globe, unless they are Christianized-and that soon. It is a fact that the children do not generally show this terrible craving for strong drink. The pupils of my school are ashamed of their parents' drinking, and we never see them drink any. It seems therefore to be rather an acquired appetite than an inherited appetite. It is only right and just that our Government take orphan children and inebriates' children and put them in a good industrial school under religious teachers, who, in addition to moral and intellectual training, will teach them the cultivation of the soil, the rearing of cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry, the elements of some of the mechanical arts; and the girls, the arts of sewing and cooking. Such a school can be, and should be established in this vicinity. "At Unalaska, they have such an institution. The Government puts the children into the school. Such action would be necessary here. The Greek Church will fight it with all their might. They would rather see the children starve and die than to see them brought under Protestant instruction and care. "Another thing we must consider-natives can no longer make an easy living by hunting. Although, in justice, these Aleutes-a harmless and inoffensive people-should be allowed improved rifles, the Government has forbidden the sale of such arms to them. It is rather difficult, therefore, for them to get Winchesters. I have been told (and I doubt it not) that traders frequently get a sea otter worth $150 from a native for a Winchester which can be bought for $16 in San Francisco. Improved rifles in the hands of white men are rapidly decimating the sea otters. The past season a schooner brought some steam launches into Alaskan waters, and in a short time they ran down 100 sea otters. Now, it is contrary to law for white men to hunt sea otters, but the law is disregarded with almost perfect impunity. White men married to native women the law regards as natives. On the whole, the outlook for the aborigines of Alaska is dark. We cannot expect the older generation to take up with American ways, but among the RussianCreoles the younger portion of the population are rapidly acquiring the English language. The influx of English-speaking people in and around the canneries and mines is an aid in this respect. "I have just heard that a coal mine to the westward is turning out nicely. A schooner left our port this morning for Cook's Inlet for a cargo of coal. "I opened school about five weeks ago and am getting along very well. The pupils learn rapidly." Germans. At Winnipeg, Manitoba, the German brethren have just dedicated a neat house of worship, costing about $1,500. This is the first German church in that city and the first German Baptist church in the province of Manitoba or in the Northwest Territory of ! British America. Rev. F. A. Petereit, the pastor, went there under appointment of this Society in 1885, and now the membership numbers seventy-five. The work under his care has been greatly blessed of God and with the new building much better results are hoped for. The Society still aids them and also assisted in the building of the church. French. Rev. Gideon Aubin, of Worcester, tells of the progress of our cause in that city : "I have the pleasure of telling you that the dedicatory exercises of the French Baptist Church of this city took place the 18th and 19th of last November. We have a cozy little chapel and we are proud of it. There are no words to express the joy of the members of the mission. Since the opening, the interest in our meetings has been growing all the time, and we all feel confident that we will be able to do a better work in every respect now. "Our French people have given themselves and raised among their friends over $1,000 toward the building fund and the furnishing of the chapel. When we began last April I thought that it would not be possible to raise more than three or four hundred dollars, but we have succeeded beyond our best hopes. Considering our small number and the fact that we are not rich in the goods of this world, the success of this effort is a cause of rejoicing and a source of blessing for every one. We feel thankful and happy. Our Sunday-school was re-organized and placed on a better footing than ever. Already we have subscribed for almost all the Baptist Sunday-school periodicals for one year. We could not get along without these helps." Swedes. -November 21, 1890, the new church edifice of the First Swedish Baptist Church in Meriden, Conn., was dedicated. It represents some hard work and much sacrifice. The total cost was $7,351 and of this the little band of Swedish Baptists in Meriden, numbering only about seventy, paid $2,162. Many are poor servant girls and none are well off. The pastor, Rev. A. A. Rohnstrom, and his people deserve much praise for the successful accomplishment of this to them great work, which was begun less than a year ago. -Rev. August Johnson, General Missionary to the Scandinavians in Kansas, gives an interesting account of his work among the settlers in the newer portions of the State: "On this my first quarter, I can say the Lord has blessed our work, and gives me so much strength that I could give every day in His Service-helping churches without pastors and preaching Christ to my poor coun Sever woman trymen out here on the prairie. I have also been able through our friends to help these very poor needy in Rawlings County, Kansas, Thanks with some clothing for the winter. to all those who aided me in this. God bless the Home Mission Society for the noble work they are doing through their missionary. I will mention only one thing among the many of our experiences on the field, as I see so many very needy out here where the crop was a failure-people living in poor sod houses without clothing, food or hardly anything for themselves or cattle. I gave away, as near as I could, my own clothing, my blanket and a few dollars left, but during the time I have heen here, every meeting in our sod house has been blest. al have found Christ as their Saviour, and have promised to study the Bible about baptism. Our people here have been very hard against us as Baptists, but it has changed very much now, as so many come to our meetings. When I came here a came before our church and told about her conversion and faith in Jesus, and asked to be baptized. When her husband heard this he became fearfully mad; he threatened to drive her away with her little baby. We talked to him, prayed for him, but he only got worse. Yesterday we had a prayer meeting for them, and with tears we pleaded to God. All went home in the afternoon; at night, 9 P. M., when we were ready to go to bed, he and his wife came ten miles, and what a changed man!—now meek, his eyes red from tears, as he had not slept for five nights, asking me to baptize his wife and himself, saying he had that day given up after a hard struggle. All went out at night, IO P. M., to a water some distance and she was baptized, but we asked him to wait a little and search himself if it was a real change of heart (as I believe it was). We had a glorious night praising the Lord. to-day going thirty miles from here on farmer's wagon. Thank God for all." Items From the Field. I am a -One of our General Missionaries writes: "The perplexities growing out of this care of all the churches are many, and often grevious to bear. I know not how we could possibly manage our work out here, were it not for the steadying hand of the Home Mission Society." |