The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-11-14

melodeon that he had used in the lum-
Der camps and among the steerage pas
| sengers.
Mr.. Eben Bumstead of Boston spoke
on "Colportage and Tract Work" He
said:
1.-The term colportage is of French
origin, and originally applied to men
who went about selling religious books.
Colportage now is not book selling,
1t is spreading the word of God by
| menas of tracts and books and personal
| work. 1t has been carried on in this
country for sixty-four years by the
| American Tract society under the d.
rection of John E. Vassar. We go into
the cities, into the far west, and into the
peninsulas of the south.
| "The dearth of good literature here is
startling. The growth of the dime novel
and trashy literature bids fair to reap
an awful harvest. We have found peo-
pie who thought they had the Bible,
and in some cases they had a religious
almanac, which they took for the holy
book
1--WE began the work fifteen years ago.
We have visited 1898 families, having
eleven colporters on the road. We have
found that As per cent. of the people in.
the villages are non-churched and the
only way to reach them is to carry the
gospel to them.
I'VE find that there are rural districts
in which newspapers are seldom seen,
and went into one community where
at one house the only literature in the
house was dime novels"
Mr.. lBumstead said he had Travelled
through the country for weeks without
seeing newspaper. Over 5000 families
had been visited about 5000 of whom
were Protestants, and As per cent of
these We're non-church going people.
In one town he found the number of
non-church going to be over 70 per cent
of the population.
For this work we have an outfit con-
tanning books for everyone, like doc
tors medicine chest. The most i'm
portant books are the books we have to
counterfeit; the wild west stories for
the boys. The books have attractive
titles and are only five cents.
Another feature of our work is the
spreading of the gospel by personal
work. I went into village once where
there had been a church scandal and
the minister had been turned out for
allowing the poor to come into the
church and soil the carpets. spoke in
the place, and eleven were converted"
Mr.. Bumsteads address closed the
morning convention.
OTHER NOTES
After the afternoon session a gospel
wagon meeting was held on Broadway
by some of the delegates
The following letter was read from the
platform of the convention yesterday
morning, and the request was made that
it be published:
Dear Mr. Torrey:
The Palladium this morning makes me
say that two-thirds Of the regular army
of the United States are Roman Catho-
licsI If I said so it was a slip of the
tongue. The journal and Courier
credits me with what I intended to
say, and that the army is only one
third Catholic. Again: The statement
that Catholics are not Christians is
hardly fair to US and was only inferred
by the reporter. I want to be under
stood as saying that only 10 per cent. of
the two-thirds Protestant, or nominallv
so, are baptized believers.
Fraternally, ETC.,
JOHN B. KETCHUM,
New Haven, Conn, Nov, 49, 1895.
An open air meeting was held imne
diately after at Welcome hall in Oak
street and was addressed by Rev.
Thomas Bone. Rev. Mr.. Lamb sang.
At 3 p. M meeting was held in the
police building for the benefit of the
police department and was addressed
by Miss Winnifred J. Macdonald of
Toronto
PRESIDENT TORREY RESIGNS.
President Torrey of the Christian
| Workers association resigned yester-
day and Rev. Russell H. Conwe1l of
Philadelphia was elected to succeed him.
This action was taken at a meeting of
the managing committee held during
the noon recess of the convention. Mr.
Conwell is pastor of the Temple, Phila-
delphia, and has one of the largest
congregations in America.
There were present at the meeting
President R. A. Torrey, Secretary John
c. Collins, John A. Huyler of New York
and Miss W. J. Macdonald of Toronto.
| Mr.. Huyler is the well known candy
manufacturer, who it is estima ted, gives
away 100000 annually The absent
members of the committee were Mrs.
]. K. Barney of Providence, r. l., who
| is travelling in Europe, and Rev. B. Fay
Mills, who is in Louisville, KY.
| Rev. John c. Collins of this city was
reelected secretary of the association
and it was voted to elect twenty-five
vice presidents. Rev. Edward NJ. Po-
| teat was named vice president for New
| Haven. 1t was also voted to elect d
committee of twenty-five on ways and
means. 1t was also announced that a
ways and means committee of twenty
five would be appointed to raise, if
possible, 100000 for the work of the
society the coming year. About $1,000
was raised yesterday. The names of
the donors will not be announced as
yet.
Rev. R. A. Torrey of Chicago. who re-
signed yesterday as president of the
association, has held the office since the