The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-06
MISSIONARY SOCIETY MEETS
TEE FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION OF
 HESrERN CONNECYICUT.

About Fifty Delegates Present. Officers Re-
 elected-Addresses by Miss Louise Iiodg-
 ISins, Editor of the "Friend," and Others
 Christian Fidelity During 1900 Years
 Work With Children-Some of the Dele
 gates present.
 Representatives from the branches of the Women's Foreign Missionary so- ciety in various parts of the state as- sembled yesterday to the number of about fifty at the First Methodist church in this city. the occasion being the first annual convention of the Wo- mans Foreign Missionary society of western Connecticut. The convention was called to order at 9;45 by the pres ident, Mrs J. c. North of this city and the first fifteen minutes were devoted to devotional exercises, which were led by Mrs. North. The minutes of the last meeting, at which the society organiza- t1on was perfected were read and ac- cepted, after which Mrs. c. E. Thomp- son or this city the corresponding sec retary read her report, which showed that $247 had been received from the auxiliaries this year as against $147 last year. Four new auxiliaries and one mission band have been formed during the past year and ali the re- ports from the auxiliaries show them to be in a tlourlshing condition. The report of Mrs. c. M Raymond, the treasurer, showed the receipts to have been $3250, the expenditures S22. .S6, leav- ing a balance of $10.l4 A report of the committee on bylaws was to have been read but 1t was deferred until the next meeting
 l Mrs. W. A. Richards spoke on "Echoes from the Branch Annual Meeting" and told of the last meeting of the New Eng | land branch of the society An inter- esting paper on "The Religions of In- dia" was read by Mrs. N. G. Cheney in which she spoke of the heather re- Ngions in India, especially of the Him. doos and Mohammedans
 1 At 12:30 an adjournment was taken and the ladies repaired to the church parlors, where a lunch was served by the ladies of the First Methodist church. The convention reconvened at 2 o'clock and for a half hour the various | delegates gave instances in which the work is progressing, the meeting be- ing led by Mrs. H. F. Wing of this | city. Mrs Louise Dinel1er then sang a solo, "The Beautiful Land on High after which Miss Louise Manning Hodg- kins of Boston, editor of the ''Woman's S Missionary Friend" gave an address. She said that not long ago she vis- \ ited Blenheim castle, the ancestral l home of the Duke of Marlborough, and l in looking over the palaces she mo- 1 ticed that many picture spaces in the art gallery were vacant and on in- quiry she learned that the pictures had been sold to pay the debts of the pres l ent dukes father and in the library found that a large part of the once famous library had been sold to pay the debts of the dukes grandfather As I she went from Blenheim she thought not of the victories of the great war l rior duke Of Marlborough, to whom the the estate was given, but of the faith lessness of the trust imposed upon them by the succeeding inherities of the title in spending the estates in gambling in- stead of handing them down in the I family. In much the same way the entire world for 1900 years has been fruitless to the trust imposed upon it. | If this trust had been kept the entire world would now know the Lord Tn ! the first century Christians made it the | .,Jr 1f 4t,os T x,;., ,,
 at the end of that century 5OO,OO0 peo- pie were pledged to tell the story wher- ever they went. During the next 50( years this fidelity gradually came tc an end and then from the fifth to the tenth century were the dark ages. Ir the tenth century fidelity began agair and under it's impulse the church grew to a membership of 2O,000,000 People then grew greedy for money and this caused faithlessness to the spiritual
 trust. At the end of the Reformation there were 125,0OO0 GOO Christians in the world After the Reformation came an other period of infidelity beginning about 1860. Now the time of organiza
 ton and missionary societies has come
 During every age the method oi
 Christian work has differed, In the
 time of the Inquisition the same spiri
 prevailed among Protestants as well a.
 among Roman Catholics, and this is
 shown ill the religious prosecutions 1T
 England and the lbanishment of Rogei
 Williams from Massachusetts. In the early part of the present century came
 missionary societies which took up tht
 apostolic method taught by Christ, ant these organizations are now doing won
 ders. At first the societies took the form of womens cent societies and the ont in New Hampshire raised $50,0O0. Mis-
 sionary societies have now formed ant . formulated themselves so that the wo
 man who does not belong to some ont
 is out in more ways than simply no 7 being a member.
 ], It is a great work to make a chile
 ready for the world, but it is a greatel work to make the world ready for thu
 child, and this women are now striving
 to do.
 At the conclusion of Miss Hodgkins
 address she was tendered a vote O
 thanks by the convention.
 A collection was then taken up ana
 Mrs. pr. Munroes of Meriden sang z
 solo, which was followed by an addres!
 on "Children's Work" by Mrs. L. F
 Harrison of Worcester, Mass, superin
 tendent of the child's work of the New i