The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-04

never a burden to any society. have
nearly all passed away, but out of their
ashes have sprung evangelical English
| churches, which today are doing effective
work for Christ. The English churches
IN nearly oil the great industrial centres
many more will spring out of others,
| which are almost as numerous as English
| churches in the state. In the district
there is an immense foreign population,
representing 40 different nationalities, of
all grades Of humanity, from the tene-
ment population, which DIR. Scudder
through his palace work in Jersey City
she Hungarians, who drag their priests
from the altar and kick them into the
s6feets, or dedicate their churches with
kegs g OF beer and bloody fights.
Inc population of this district is as
large as that of Greece, Portugal, Sweden
una Norway combined, large enough to,
make an empire, yet the Congregations
every U,0oO people, a mere drop of leav en-
LOT 1ne leavening of this immense hetero-
geneous mass of humanity. The whole
alstrlct has ITO churches, with about 20, :
uVo members, English, Welsh, Scandina-
Wan, German, Slav All the denomina
tlons combined haven't half force enough
q, 20 reach the unevangelized of this great
greatest in the United States.
In the past ten years the wheels of p ro-
gress have never stopped; 70 churches
have been organized, 80 church edifces
erected and added, 81 old edifices remod-
eled, modernized and in some cases en-
larged, and the parsonages Of the district
more than doubled in number capacious,
modern houses. l was crossing the
prairies in Kansas in an early day from
Topeka to E1nporia in rude wagon filled
with eastern .prospectors, all strangers to
each other As the horses pushed through
tender, towering grasses, one of the num-
Der threw his hands to his head as if in
great agony and cried out, ooh! Oh! Oh!
l have lost 1910 head of CATTLE Those
in the wagon with expressions Of sympa-
thy asked him how, "By not having 10,
600 calves to eat this grass" he replied.
AS go through my district, and espec-
tally through Pennsylvania, and count by
the hundreds rich churches Of other de-
nominations with thousands of Congre-
gationalists and millions of Congrega-
tional money in them, I cry out, 'sOhl
Obi Obi We Congregationalists have lost
thousand churches and millions of
money by not taking hold in the past of
opportunities opening to us as to others
in this field" Industrial centers spring
ing up in all directions, on the mountain
top and in the valley. Pennsylvania has
one eighth the manufacturing interests of
the United States and more industrial
centers than any state in the Union.
The population is growing at the rate of
more than million decade, and is to-
day larger than the population of New
York, laying aside the difference between
the population of Philadelphia and New
York City. The greater majority of
churches in this field are poor, but are
gaining ground, unless swamped by these
hard times. Outsof thi$wdistrict n came
two requests from Henry u s tillSney and
Mrs. Mary r. Hawley, members Of the
First Congregational church of. Baltimore
Mr.. Stickney was for years q member of
my summer congregation here in Sara
toga. About the first Sabbath in July
every year, he was in his accustomed
place at the morning service. 1 always
looked for him as for friend. And the
same may sly of Mrs. Hawley
The closing session of the 72st anniver-
sary was held tonight. Addresses were
made by Rev. John u. Scudder of Jersey
City, N. j.; Rev. DR.. Thomas, d. D.,
of Brookline, Mass; and Rev. A. r..
Bradford, D. D., of Montclair, N. J.
Gen. Howard also spoke. The selection
of the next place of meeting was left
with the executive committee to be an
nounced later. Tx
Tonight Rev. DIR. Frank T. Bailey of
Denver offered resolutions which were
unanimously adopted, expressing the ut
most confidence in the operations, conduct
and management of the society. Gen.
Howard, as presiding officer, announced
promulgate. He said that during May,
1896, the receipts of the society were $500,
but during May, 1897 the receipts were
S17 900