The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-11-24

and progress can be mos; easily az
| fined and tabulated let us LOOK Ut ule
missionary uprising of the women III
the churches of America between
IIS7O-1S8O. truly the most rehlaEAdoie
religious movement OF th9 ceHt"l 80
the beginning of that neC1'+I, ~
of the great branches OIL lH1 -
ant church had Just n.S'ii'A =, tba
mems Missionary Societes. a. tI0
close twenty-one CD such great So
ciat,aS were at work, and though SO
Recently organized, in 1881 were CIV
mo one-fitth of all the cnurch was
giving TO foreign missions. III fl's
great movement the Baplisl women VI
9bo North-for the two million seven
hi'ndred Thousand (2,700,000) white
pantists of the United States a'e
5ivided into a Northern and Southern
acknowledgements not backward. In
1S71 they organized in Boston for for
oign mission work; seven years later
home mission society was organized
in Chicago. Year by year these two
ORGANIZATIONS have poured out an ever
increa sing sum. one for mission work
in the United States, the other for ell
daavor in all lands, until last yeat
Northern Baptist women gave for Tor
eign missions the sum of one hunoreu
and twenty-five thousand ($l25,OOo)
dollars and an almost equal GIT 10
home missions.
Southern Baptist women, with the
usual conservatism of the South, iol-
lowed the early years of these North
ern organizations with questioning
ewes. Slowly and cautiousiy-for In
those DAYS there was still questions as
to what this Woman's Mission move
ment in the church would grow the
women of one State after another
united for broader effort but not until
Mi o.
men of the entire Southern Baptlst
Convention effected.
Unlike the societies in the North,
this organization of southern baptlSl
women embraced under the head of
one society, missions in both the Unit
ed States and foreign lands. Never
was the power Of united effort more
fully justified than in this organiza-
ton which i'm it's sixteenth year re-
ported one hundred and twelve thou
sand dollars ($112, 000) for missions,
with an aggregate sum of nine num-
dred and ninety-fve thousand dollars
($995, 1000 since it's beginning.
1t is thus, not without pride. tina,
we tell of the Baptist women of our
country making an annual gift OF over
third of a million dollars, or about
three hundred and sixty thousand dol
lars ($360,000) each year TO missions
through their missionary societies
alone. to say nothing of the great
amounts given directly through the
church
Turning to the Southern Union il
may be we'll supposed that such work
as this has not been carried on with
out developing along many kindred
lines.
The great Women's organizations of
| the church at large, may fairly claim
| to have created the great volume of
missionary literature and originated
that systematic study whose influence
| is permeating the whole church and
awakening it to it's duty to the UNI
christian of every land.
In this propaganda the Southern
Baptist women have borne their share
and from their headquarters in Bal
timore pours out great and steady
stream of missionar" information.
This year will see the establishment
in Greenville, 5. G., of home for mis-
sionaries' children, the handsome
property being the gift of one woman.
Closely allied to the Union is the re-
Gently inaugurated Bible Training
School for Women, opened in Louis
Vile. Ky. in connection with the
Southern Baptist Theological Semi
nary, where women may enter for
training for Christian endeavor both
at home and abroad.
Did the occasion serve ii might not
be without interest to tell the part the
Baptist women of North Carolina had
planned in general Southern organiza-
| ton Let it suffice here TO say that
organized in 1886 they began at the
very foun ton, for as yet, women's
missionary societies were rare in the
churches. Coming steadily forward In
their numbers and gifts they now have
more than five hundred (500) socie-
| ties which in 1903, gave eleven thou
sand three hundred dollars ($11,300)
| to Home, State and Foreign Missions,
and had given since their organizi;-
| ton ninety-five thousand dollars ($95,
| 000.)
| But / weary you with figures. Con-
| tributions for the spread of the church
universal, whether at home or abroad
are but 1.-THE outward sign of an in
| ward grace" The devotion that
prompts the gift is greater than the
offering. The results here outlined are
but a small part Of Woman's work in
the church From these figures is ex-
cluded all the hundred and one
thoughtful ministrations to the home
| church-the teaching in the Sunday
school, the watching with sick neigh
| bors, the helping hand to the poor or
each congregation. the building or re-
| pair of their own church building
and even the care of the orphans for
whom many a woman becomes a very
| Dorcas as her needle flies back and
forth, helping to fill the many boxes
which find their way to the Baptist
| Orphanage. These and many another
gift of heart and life must be read be-
| tween the lines
Suffice it to say that Baptist women
are arousing to their mighty respon-
sibilities and possibilities. Thought
| fully they are reaching out farther
| and farther to lift up those around
| them and those far removed. knowing
| that Ich Diem 81 serve" is yet the aim
which lifts it's possessor nearest God
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
BY MISS MARY HATCH HARRISON.
AS we look down the vista of time
| we see that woman has always been
accorded holy and consecrated place
N the church; recalling the Esthers
the Ruths, the Marthas and Marys oil
the past we behold the same virtues
in their sisters of the present. the
same unselfish devotion, the same ten
derness, patience charity. love which