Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-02-15
WORK OF A vIRGINlAN.
Report of Bishop Funsten Of Missionary
District of Boise.

Bishop James Bowen Funsten, of
the Missionary District of Boise, in
, Guiding Idaho and Wyoming, has sub
mitted report on the work in his
;. district Bishop Funsten is native
Virginian and was at one time rector
Christ church. in Richmond.
The report will be of much interest
: to many here in a personal, as well as
, a general way, as Miss Lucy G. Kinney
is principal of the st. Margaret s
, School for girls mention in the report.
This missionary district, it will be
remembered, includes western Wyom-
stretching from the Big Horn Noun
j, tains in Wyoming to the eastern Ore
gon line, having an area of about no.
600 or lis, 900 square miles. The coun-
TRY, as a whole, is thinly populated,
the towns saaai,, and the conditions of
church work thoroughly missionary,
but full of promise and interest. The
fact that the population in Wyoming
has increased from 100. 900 to 130, 900,
and in Idaho from 81, 900 to 157 900, in
the last decade, shows that this is a
time for laying foundations, and that
We must not despise the day of small
things.
| Only two railroad systems operate
in all this country-the Union Pacific
| nd tho Oro0on Short Tina Troyal |
ing in the interior must be accomplish
ed by stage or horseback. and the !
towns are widely separated. The |
greater part of the people have come |
into the country in the last fifteen |
years. and the population is, in the |
main, American, from other States
The opportunities of the Episcopal |
Church are far more than we have men |
or means to meet. Nowhere are |
stronger, truer and ADLER ministers of |
Christ more needed than in the West. |
Whatever the standard of life a west
ern man has for himself, he invariably
holds up very high one for his min
lister, and appreciates and follows the
man who by life and word is faithful
to Christ and His church.
A pleasing feature of the outlook is |
the hearty reception accorded to our
beloved Church, with its character |
moulding ritual and teaching. Only
recently letter was received by me
from prominent men of a growing
town offering several thousand dollars |
cash and fifteen acres of land if the |
Episcopal Church would start school |
there. AS yet / have been unable to
see my way to take hold of the propos-
tion.
During the time since began work,
about a year ago, [ have Travelled |
abont 10000 miles, of which 1000 by |
stage; have preached over 200 time;
baptized thirty one; buried two; con-
firmed ninetytwo, celebrated the Holy
Communion twenty times; have had |
services in every county of my district.
including Yellowstone Park, except |
Big Horn county, Wyoming.
have tried to have before me the |
idea of pushing on to the remote points,
that the Gospel, as this Church hath |
received it, might be carried every |
where in the district. In this | have |
been assisted by most faithful band |
of clergymen. There are. however,
in the entire district, only ten active |
ministers, and one, who, OH account |
of health, is non-parochial. Many
places are still without regular min
istrations, but Archdeacon jennings |
has been able to reach most of these |
at my request.
st. Margaret's School for Girls is |
beautifully located on block selected |
and paid for by Bishop Tuttle in the
city of Boise back in the sixties. |
Bishop Talbot had a building erected
on it and. in SO doing, accomplished |
much for the future of Idaho. On this i
building last year there was debt of |
$4,000. | am thankful to say noble |
Churchman has reduced this $4,000,
and agreed to pay the interest on the
rem aiming $4,000 for five years.
The school is not yet self-support- |
ing. but will soon be. We need |
scholarships to help to educate these
young daughters of this new land.
No oher memorial could be erected
than for those who have wealth, to en-
able me to receive and support in this
school those who desire to be trained
under the influence of this institution.
The work of the Rev. J ohm r oberts
and the Rev. Sherman Coolidge is too
we'll known to require extended notice.
They minister to the whites and the
Indians on the Wind River reserva-
| tion, in Wyoming. The church has
recently assumed the entire respon-
all government aid.
Ona recent occasion | visited this
work and spoke to the Indians, both
at the Shosohne and Arapahoe camps.
| We have at this place 160 acres of
land and nice school building, besides
a wooden church for the whites and
small log churches for the Shoshone
and ArapahOes. The Indians are very
needy and hay many old superstitions
| which have followed them in all their
wanderings.
The Indian work at Fort Hall,
Idaho, has been recently begun, the
Board of Managers of the domestic
and Foreign Missionary Society
having accepted the title to the 16O
acres of land, and framed mission
house, before my conservation. The