Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-22
Annual Meeting.

Ladies' Home Missionary of Center
 Church.
 The annual meeting of the Ladies' Home Missionary society of Center church was held at Center church chapel yesterday af- ternoon There was large number of ladies in attendance. The reports were read and were very interesting. The society gave the sum of S2, 116G6 during the past year for the work. A feature of the occasion was manly, spirited and earnest address by Rev Walter M. Barrows, late missionary in Utah, and now assistant secretary of the Home Missionary society. He said that when a junior at Yale here, he was teacher in the Sunday school of the Center church. The late O. B. Whittlesey was then superintend- .ent Rev. Dr. Walker was pastor, and the president of the society was Mrs. Lathrop, now passed to her reward. Since then he had been as far east as Damascus and as far west as Vancouver's Island, but had been principally engaged in Kansas and Utah in missionary work. He went out with a colony in the new part of the State The first building they erected was barn, which for some time served as hotel and meeting house. The first time he was pastor h1s church worshiped in that barn. In re- sponse to a letter written to Center church that church sent the little church commun- ion service. After laboring here some time he left the church in his fathers charge and went to Topeka and established church there. In response to an appeal again Gen. ter church sent this new and needy young church communion service. Then l was sent to Utah and landed at Salt Lake City an utter stranger. Much Encouragement was encountered, but in few months little congregation of twenty-five souls was goth cred. This church became self supporting and the mother of other churches there, the mother of an academy which has two hum dred pupils and the mother of other schools. When organized as church they felt the need of communion service, and the speak CT wrote 8 third time and Center church sent this church communion service. The speaker with grateful words spoke eloquent ly of the importance of the mission work and added:
 Some aspects of our mission work are not understood I find. The home mission work appeals strongly in many points of view. Last year 15O,0OO foreigners emigrated to Kansas, 100, ,0OO to Dakota and 100000 t0 Nebraska Suppose 100, 900 settled in New England. They would be right in the midst | of organized Christian effort. Not so with l the multitudes emigrating to Dakota, etc. They go into wilderness, on the prairies, l with no churches, no schools, no houses. The first summer they have no time to think of l l..-A l~..,o lfrzaf ! tents. They turn the sod of the prairies- an extremely difficult task with it's matted roots, long years unmolested. They raise g meagre, half crop of corn the first year. When they get corn, then they think of du' rable places of shelter and find bank and | dig into it, and half the house is made under ground and half above. Such are theil houses. They must run into debt to | get their land and it is. five years before they are able to get out o1 debt Now you may imagine that com
 munity of this stamp of 100000 people, be ginning life in that way, will have very little
 money for religion. Help must be carried tc them. We must carry this help from the
 Home Missionary society. Let them live for ten years without schools and religions insti
 tutions and they become depraved and theil children become almost barbarous. IL
 hard work to recover ground lost. You sex
 difference between emigrati on east and emf grafton west in this great matter of the sou welfare. A great field is open in the West IYale Seminary gave Dakota band of nine
 last year seven have gone, two are going
 They have gone to the work with will They have organized twelve churches
 One writes me that he has bought horse
 and buggy, as his churches are thirty milei
 apart He is really doing the work of two
 or three missionaries, there is such need oi
 work in all that vast region. One missionary
 has started for New Mexico and Colorado
 The speaker impressively spoke of the open
 ing of fields of work in Oregon and Colon
 bia, now that railroads are being built. mak
 ing them easily accessible. Dr. Atkinson
 was noble laborer in the vineyard in Ore
 gon, and had been laboring for years there
 almost alone. Now his heart would bt
 cheered ere long by helpers. Now that tht
 railroad is completed it is only four days journey there. The next topic was the worl
 among the Mormons. Mormonismwas de grading They raised millions for temples
 but had no schools till obliged to compete
 with the missionaries, who established
 schools The effect of Mormonism upo1
 women was specially degrading. PolygamJ
 was curse to women. The Mormons were I aggressors, and extending their politica power, and without missionary work, and { good deal of it, Mormonism would prove {
 curse which perhaps civil war alone. would | banish.