Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-06
TRACTS FOR THE MILLION.
Distributed I'm Countless Numbers Among
the Heather mt Home aud Abroad.

A GIGANTIC BusINzss-rHs REST NxANs PoR
| DISTRIBUTING TRACT LrrkR.ruRE-oProsi-
rIoN TO THE WORK ~ INpIA-How TO At
TRACT THE ATTENTION OF rAE PEOPLE.
L>ORTY-EIGHT THOUSAND IMMIGR Ant
l. Hebrews reached New York city from the
old world during the last calendar year Every
one of them. upon landing. received a copy
OF the New Testament in Hebrew from the
hsnds Of an agent Of the American Tract
Society. Baron Hirsoh having set aside a
great fund for the purpose OF assist
ing Hebrews to reach America. they are
coming over in increasing numbers. On an
average 400 of them arrive at the port men
| toned every day. aud the religious orgauiza-
ton referred to proposes 20 establish Hebrew
newspaper and another in Judao-Ciermsn. for
the purpose Of Converting them to Christianity.
Few people have any notion OF the vas; scale
on which the business Of publishing Christian
propagandist documents is carried on Publ
cations Of this tract society issued by itself or
by institutions in various parts of the world to
the support of which il contributes are printed
IN noless than $50 languages and dialects. includ-
ing many native African. Polynesian and Asia,ic
tongues. Among the people Of isolated Thibet.
the head-hunting Dyaks Of Borneo. the Feejes
Islanders. the Eskimo of the arctic. the pig
tailed Chinese and the Kafir Zulus lnyriais OF
tracts are distributed in their own respective
vernacUiar-. The most popular of all tracts is
entitled The Swearer's Prayer" Of I425.-
800 copies have been sold.
TRACTS IN INDIA
Much trouble is reported from India. which
is favorite field for missionary work. That
densely populated par; of the world is flooded
with tracts sent out by Christian publishing
societies One of these is an attack on the
native religion. entitled "Jugsernau. Tested -
In reply to II an edition of 10000 copies of a
scurrllous aud abominable tract against Chris
tianity with CHASTITY caricature OF the cruel
hxion has been widely circulated. Native
presses are multiplying all over India
and many of them devoted "a
publishing anti-Christian literature. One
| work of this description is entitled The Bible
Dissector for the Use OF Mission School Stu
dents. Another is called One Hundred and
Fifty Contradictions of The Bible
A free-thought publishing house in Mndra.
issues a list of l2i works in this line. including
"a by Bradlaugh. 10 by Mrs. Besant. l6 by Boil
| lngerson. with Others by Paine. Noltaire. &C.
1ngersoll's lectures on the Mistakes of Moses
and other such topics have the largest sale
| Among these books are mentioned Mr.. Besart :
MY Path to Atheism" and the Free Thinker
Text Book, by Bradlaugh and Ms. Besant. IN
the same list. there is most demoralizing
volume. with the apparently innocent title OF
| Elements of Social Economy which advo-
! Gates free love and deuounces marriage. India
being flooded with stuff of this description the
Tract Society calls upon all Christians to loosen
their purse strings and ''deluSc the land" with
printed matter that will have a tendency "a
overcome the evil influence
| While young girls in American churches are
| doing their best to convert Chinese lauudrvmen
nv h.,
occasionally. often in spite o. such obstacles rs
previous wives in China the Chinese Tract SO
| ciety distributes millions of documents i'm that
country. During the year 1891 the American
Tract Society published 3.i5i. 200 copies Of
! tracts 1t prints and circulates six periodicals
two in German and four in English Two aye
| weekly and four monthly: three are for adults
aud three for children. For the latter The
Child's Paper" and the Morning Light are
illustrated monthies. and the Apples of Gold
an illustrated weekly.
OF these periodicals 2.3sl. 800 copies were
sold during the twelyemonth. During the last
fifty years the agents of the society," known a.
'colporteurs, have sold and given away Ii. 000.-
600 volumes of gospel literature. In the same
period they have made Is. 000. 900 family visits
and in nearly 100000 instances they have
taken advantage of the opportunity to pray
with the families called upon.
GIGANTIC BUSINESS.
hhSsc iS" hSuiV' atc given purpose
of showing what really gigantic business the
distribution Of tracts amounts to. To scatter
them probably requires both common sens.
and experience. A recent writer in a mission
airy paper speaks of the difficulty commonl,
found in expressing ones self in letter 70 4
friend or business acquaintance. Under such
circumstances he says that it Is most desirable
to have on hand large private stock of tracts
on variety of topics. Thus provided the
writer will usually be able To find one quite
readily that will strike the point he is driving
at, and by inclosing il in his letter he NAV &C.
complish much. There are scores OF oppor-
tunites every day." he adds. Ito offer tracts to
people whom We meet and with whom we con-
verse. Distribute them on STEAMBOATS, and in
cars, in shops and business places and in homes
as you CALL
| THE Distribution.
1t goes without saying that some discretion
must be exercised in the distribution Of tracts
One must not fire them off unfortunately at
entire strangers. respectable merchant might
| be offended if he were presented with leanet
conveying warning against gambling and in
temperance. and il would not do at all to offer
to conscientious Christian matron the in-
structIve fragment entitled 500 Not Beat the
Child" little gumption in such matters goes
a long way.
The writer above quoted saws that an excel
lent way to distribute tracts lie TO leave them in
the waiting rooms of railway stations and on
the seats of cars. where individuals are at lib
erty to pick up what strikes them without being
annoyed by any imagined personality. One
railroad ticket agent found il most effective
plan to hand out a tract with each ticket that
he sold. The publication entitled Ten Broken
Commandments Illustrated is good for miscel-
| laneous circulation. inasmuch as it does not hit
anybody in particular and no one il accused of
having infringed all of them.
| TRACT MISSIONARIES
There is popular tendency to ridicule mis-
sionaries. which is seriously deprecated by the
thoughtful. In the comic papers they are
usually represented. pictorially and otherwise.
as being eaten by crude and ignorant savages.
Happily no perils of the pot or frying pan
are encountered in the distributing of
tracts. The sparsely settled parts Of
the country, as well as the slums and
| plague spots of the cities. reached by the
| coporteurs. some of whom work i'm the mining
| camps in the mountains or go from one cattle
ranch to another in Texas and New Mexico.
Others labor among the civilized tribes in the
| Indian territory.
One district in the city of Chicago about a
mile square contains 42s saloons and 1876 known
gambling houses. Ninety per cent of the resi-
dents are foreigners. In this benighted mile
square gospel literature is circulated US freely
as If it was in India or in the wilds of Africa
| AMONG SAILORS.