Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-06-14
The Anniversaries.

AZ IllO ANNUAL IlGCJluS VI bLC w Olndu .
Home Missionary Union, held in the
SeCouu ongregational church, Tuesday,
the .,i, .,S Of the Secretary and Treas
urer ",to unusually interesting. The
former reported large increase III the in
teresJ taken during the year by auxiliary
societies, and in all respects the work of
the year had been highly successful. The
Treasurer reported that the collections
had been So, ,S92.77 all of which had been
expended but about Sl95, and at a meet
ing of the Executive board held in the
evening, this amount was ap-
propriated so that the year is begun
with everything even. The contrlbu-
tiOns during the year exceeded the
pledges given by the society by over
5000, an unusuai occurrence. One OF the
most interesting portion of the days ex-
ercises was the address of Miss Mary Z.
Collins on "WOrk Among the Indians"
among whom Miss Collins has been a
missionary for number of years. The
following officers were elected for the
ensuing year: president. Mrs. j. II.
Babbitt, West BrattleborO; honorary
president, Mrs. j. L. Swift, Orwell; vice
president, Mrs. W. j. Van Patten, Bur
lingtOn; secretary, Mrs. NJ. X. Paine,
Windsor; secretary of young peoples
work, Mrs. Clarence l.. smith, Burling-
ton; treasurer, Mrs. Rebecca p. Fair
banks, Std ohnsbury; assistant treasurer,
Mrs. Henry G.. Ely, st. Johnsbury; aud.
itor, Rev. Henry Fairbanks, st. Johns
bury. Executive committee, Addison
county, Mrs. II. II. Bryant, Middlebury;
Bennington, Miss Anna q. Park, Ben
nington; Caledonia, Mrs. Walter p.
Smith, s.. Johnsbury; Chittenden, Mrs.
Theodore d. Bacon, Essex Junction; Es-
sex, Mrs. Robert Chase, Gnildhall;
Franklin and Grand Isle, Mrs.
NJ. A. Strauahan, st. Albans;
Lamoile. Mrs. 5. f. Drew, Stowe;
Orange, r. c. Keyes, Newbury;
Rutland, Mrs. f. A. Morse, West Rut-
land Union, Mrs. Adna Brown, Spring
field; Washington, Mrs. A. j. COvell,
Waterbury; Wlndham, Mrs. q. F. Cha
pin, SaXJOns River; Windsor, Mrs. Henry
+. ellison, Queeche. The convention
closed with prayer and behedictiOn by
Rev. NJ. l.. Severance of Bennington
Centre.
The Centennial gathering of the
General Convention of the Congre-
gational Churches met in the old First
Church at the Centre, Tuesday at 2 p. m.
Hon. p X. GleeG of MorrIsville called
lllC COuNGuJlOll w OluCl, lNCNs ~ IL DttJSo
being secretary, position which he has
filled for several years. After OrganlZa-
tiOn the report of the Committee on the
Fairbanks Funds was read by Rev. Henry
Fairbanks, the report of the treasurer,
d. n. Camp was read by Deacon c. f.
Thompson of BrattleborO. The total
collections for the society during the
year was about 5000 Hon. II. f. Field
made the report OH The Vermont Cron-
icle" the Congregational paper of the
State, and the reports on Sunday schools
and christian Endeavor societies was
made by Rev. j. II. Babbitt Of Brattle-
boro. There were no addresses by rep
resentatives to Or from other ecCleSiaS
teal bodies, as none were present.
The meeting in the evening was largely
attended. The historical sermon by Rev.
A. w. Wild of ElizabethtOwn, n. Y. was
one full of interest covering as it did diff
ferent church events from the founding
of the first church in 1862, to 1850. His
text was taken from Psalms 77-ll-l2.
Following the sermon which occupied
one hour and forty minutes IN delivery
Communion was observed, Rev. =. S.
Pratt officiating. Among those who
served as deacons was Samuel L. Robin
son of the old First Church.
WEDNESDAY.
The services began at $50 a. m. in the
Second Congregational church, with de-
votional service. There was an increase
in attendance over the day before.
While the west side of the mountain
showed larger attendance than usual,
there was a large falling off in the at
tendance from the east side, the result
being that the average attendance has
not been as large this year as usual.
The report of j. NJ. COmstOck, the cor
responding secretary, was full of in er-
esting information and the reading of it
attentively listened to. Mr.. COmstOck
began by noticing that this was the first
time that the general convention had
met with the oldest church, although it
met with the second church in 1857
and 1875. Since the last convention met
there have been four ministers IN the
State taken away, the last one being Rev.
Austin Hazen, who recently died
at sea, called suddenly away after min
istry of % years. The others were ReY.
John f. Stone, Alfred B DascOmb and
John f. Hicks. There were seven others
formerly belonging to the Association,
and three natives of the State labOring
elsewhere who have been taken away,
making total of -.
One church, that at East Barre, has
been added to the list, making total OF
2O3. No old name has been removed
from the list, but the churches in RiptOn,
Troy and Pittsfield show signs OF renew
ed life and activity.
Thirty-nine churches have regularly
installed pastors, and l49 have other reg
ular ministerial labor, nlne have summer
supplies, eleven have no ministers.
During the year there have been nine
installations, four have been ordained
without installation, five pastors have
been dismissed. During the year 30
churches have lost ministers, "a have re-
ceived one, 2l are in both lists. The en-
rolled membership December 3lst was
u l34, the largest since 1916, and ex-
ceedS the number reported the previous
year by 1868. The additions exceed the
removals by 42l. Thirty seven churches
failed to make their report of member
! ship. Tho additions during the year,
| ,O20 by confession and 56S by letter,
have been exceeded but thrice in fifty
years. The additions by confession are
distributed among 139 churches. Among
them are Bennington, second, reporting
II; Fairhaven and Centre Rutland, 13
each; North Bennington II. One hun
dred and twenty-six churches received
addition by letter; 43 failed to show any
| additions. The removals are: Ala by
/ s..1s