St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-05-06
Y. M. G. A. ANNIVERSARY.


Y. NJ. c.. A. ANNIVERSARY.
Report of the Years work.--Remarlxs
by State Secretary Avery, Rev. c. M.
| LamsOn and others.
The anniversary meeting of the
Young Mems Christian association was
held in Music hall Sunday evening. 1t
was union service and was well at
tended. President G. E. Putney pre-
sided. The singing was congregation
al, Messrs. w. H. Herrick, C. S. CO.
nant and w. C. Tyler leading, while
M. H. Eddy presided at the piano and
T. G. Spencer aided in the song SER
vice with the cornet. After singing
Rev. E. t. Sanford read Scripture Sc
lections, Rev. w. R. Laird offered
prayer and then President Putney
made brief statement of the purpose
of the meeting. He referred particu-
larly to the loss during the year of
the former secretary of the association,
Mr.. Sage, who had been so successful
in his work here but was forced to
leave on account of his health. In in
PRODUCING the present secretary, G. L.
Page, Mr.. Putney spoke in unqualified
terms of praise, declaring him admir-
ably adapted for the work.
From Mr.. Pages report which fol-
lowed is CLEANED the following facts
The st. Johnsbury association is one
of the oldest in America, organized in
1855, and only II years younger than
the oldest in the world. The special
religious work done has consisted of
about 275 meetings. The young mems
meetings, in charge of young men, led
by young men and attended by young
men, have been specially useful in de-
velOping Christian workers. The
prayer meeting a. $50 Sunday morn
ings, open to al, has been very help
full. The boys meetings have been
held during most of the year Sunday
afternoons and Bible study meetings
Friday evenings. The boys enjoyed
ramble in summer and many of them
enjoyed supper given by the ladies
auxiliary. The meetings at the town
farm were discontinued early last
summer the Jail meetings have been
held through the year. About Is SER
vices outside the village have been
held by the association with rich re-
suits. During the year 225 days have
been ended by evening prayers. Two
Bible training classes, one of resident
young men, the other of students, have
been conducted by the general secre-
tary, the purpose being to impart a
more complete knowledge of the Bible.
These statistics were presented:
Young men visiting building, Ia5
Boarding places found for, 9
Employment found for 16
Calls on sick by secretary, 90
Watchers furnished, Is
Letters of introduction 80
Invitations to meetings, 2,54O
Papers sent to missionaries 600
Papers distributed in town, asia
Invitations to hotel guests 500
AS result of the labOrs of the lee
ture committee the debt on Music hall
has been reduced $500.
The present membership of the as
ISOLATION is 40 a gain during the year
of IS. Mr.. Page gave some very strik
ing instances of the benefits that had
been derived from the more practical
branches of the work such as the in
PRODUCTION of young men to others,
getting employment for them, invita-
tiOns of hotel guests to church, etc. A
number of entertainments have been
given members and in the winter the
st. Johnsbury guard and band were
given supper.
1t was during the past year that
Prof. Henry Fairbanks presented the
association with the fine building
which they now occupy and special
reference was made to it and the add
ed advantages it brought. In closing
Mr.. Page said that one great feature of
the work was to provide a place of
cheerful resort for the young men. A
number of touching instances were al
so related of the work among the sick,
where both temporal and spiritual help
had been rendered. The report was
exceedingly gratifying as a whole and
furnished practical evidence of the
wisdom of the association managers in
selecting Mr.. Page as general secre-
tary.
During the presentation of the re-
port l.. B. Mcfarland and F. w. Rob-
insOn spoke briefly regarding the ben
efits they had derived from the asso-
citation.
George S. Avery was then introduce
ed. Mr.. Avery has for the past month
been engaged as a state secretary and
has visited many of the large towns in
the interest of Y. M. c. A. work. He
is young man, enthusiastic in the
work in which he has been very sue
cessful. He spoke at considerable
length drawing from large fund of
practical experience not only in this
but in other states. One of the points
emphasized and worthy of note was
that the Christian association workers
had learned from the experience of
the past the danger of seeming to take
the place of the churches in their work
instead of seconding and supplement
ing them. 1t was no mere theory but
practical work, one looking to the
salvation of the young men of the
land. The advantages derived from
social gatherings, from employment