The Portland daily press., 1891-11-13
MAINE INDIAN ASSOCIATION.
Annual Meeting, Reports and EIec-
ton Of officers.

| Inc annual meeting VI tuo WOm6nS
| Maine Indian Association was held yester-
day afternoon and evening in the Plymouth
church. The business meeting In the after
noon, held in the vestry, was only thjnlv
attended. Mrs. j. j. Frye, president of
the association, presided. After mpsic
Mrs. Frye read the Gath chapter of Isaiah
and Rev. Henry Blanchard, who was nras'
emit, offered prayer. WV ''o'7
An opening address by Mrs. FRYE fol-
lowed. She reviewed the work of the So
ciety In the past eight iyears, speaking Of
the many petitions which have sheen sent
TO congress praying that the mission Ind;-
ans might have their lands restored 10
them. Some people see no good in al, this
petitioning, yet only recently a commits
sion has been appointed to provida for ,ha
PARTITION OF the lands to these Indians.
Ihis should give the society encourage
menf, ana give it new courage when II ia
fainting, as 1t does at times. In the matter
OF the education of Indian children. nd.
vance is making. Not long ago there were
only about IL 900 In the schools, now there
are $4,000. and yet there are 30. 600 not vet
In the schools. Miss Alice Blanchard tna
secretary read her annual report as fol-
lows:
sEcRErARY's REPORT
The year has been an important ono 70 .ha
Momen,s Maine Indian Association, in that the
SSnss;ring Wedge OF long cherished hope, the
h hsshg missionary station of our own, has
now to make 1t do its work. After long CORES.
pondence with the Women's National indian
Asssoclatlon, consultation with our auxiliaries
nfn
zeal might not outrun our finances, we found
| we We're IN condition 10 iput missionary in the
neid; Then arose the still more important
and the hardly less difficult one of Competent
missionary. The first was answered for us by
the Women's National Indian Association, the
| second through the zeal and kindness of mis-
sionary In Indian Territory, working Under the
| auspices OF the Friends yearly meetings, To
him we are Indebted for knowledge OF a young,
Christian Indian, educated in Tennessee, whom
he considers peculiarly adapted to his chosen
| people.
Those Of us who have seen this Indians let
ters feel tnat We are fortunate In securing one
| VINO seems so consecrated TO his work. That
he has great task before him all will admit
when they consider what it means for him to go
back from civilization to the wild Indians
| among whom his work lies. Having been
homes. SO fearful are they Of the white man
| they cannot be induced to take up land In
seyeralty; therefore their reservation has been
| hut would be palace to the tent where our
missionary lives with the chief of the tribes.
bis am Is 60 arouse interest res 10 the English
| men and teach them to become interpreters,
feeling this will be the surest way towards
| gaining permission to reach the children our
language, since the need OF Interpreters is felt
by the tribe. If he succeeds in this we must
| eventually build him school house, as well as
| home for himself, which will be constant
| object lesson in civilization. He is at present
| engaged in translating portions OF the Bible in
10 their dialect, since the Indian language Is di
| tribes.
Regular monthly meetings have been held in
different churches and delegates were sent to
Indian Association, held in Boston last Novem-
Der. Six hundred and six signatures were Sc
asking that civil service rules apply to the In,
dian department. Letters have been received
from auxillaries from time to time and Indian
THE Indians Friend" bright little paper
published monthly at Philadelphia by the
Woman's National Indian Association. Is not
its warrant, nor as courtesy to the National AS
ISOLATION suggests, since the price, 80 cents
| year, Is within the reach of all.
| Al1iliGries.
| Bangor reports: sour meetings are yery
pleasant with abundant material" and MEM
bership Of 80. Have held seven monthly
meetings In private houses with average atten-
Friend" are taken and two Of the "soutnern
| Workman" Fifty dollars have been raised
during the year. Voted to assist in building
chapel for the use OF the missionary.
Brunswick has AZ members. They have
| held six monthly meetings, and six INDIANS
Friends are taken. Six barrels, valued at
| Twenty-Five dollars have been sent towards
support OF teachers to the seminoles in Flor
lewiston reports "such pressing local needs
| upon time, strength and purse" that little has
been done this year.
| dent, lost enthusiasm in our work and very lit
tle has been done. We hope more from it In the
Augusta also has been very nearly at stand
| still owing to several causes; but we trust an
other IL months will see her auxiliary strong in
good works.
Portland has several life members with 1874
1 annual members. Has had eight regular
| monthly meetings 10 different churches and
Two mass meetings with speakers from outside
| the state. The Indians Friend" is taken.
In ADDITION to these auxiliaries there are in
several cities and towns one or more ladies
directly connected with the state association
who work as committees in those places, dis.
tributing literature and ar0using interest In the
cause; which ~ time we believe will result in
Before our missionary was engaged we were
requested to help the SeminSles 10 Fiorda Dy
So0 @ay Ds cse se ory az any q
there is urgent need that each one of us hall
feel it dependent upon herself to try and In
| member will make it her duty to increase our
| membership by securing at least one new mem
| Der this coming year. We now number 237;
| double it would only make 474 members In
state as large as ours whose territory equals
all the rest of New England we ought not to be
| coHtent with membership less than a thousand.
Mrs Frye added another earnest call for
members and friends.
Mrs. Lettie Bailey and Miss Addie Wyer
were appointed an enrolment committee.
Miss Jennie erie and Mrs. }. L. Paine
were appointed nominating com mittee.
TREAsURER's REPORT.
Mrs. j. Fl. Coffin. the treasurer, read the
| following report:
Receipts.
Membership fees............... ........ 1890
SUBSCRIPTIONS ................... ........ 1O.zO
Collected at annual meeting collections. 1927