St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1906-11-21
Home Missionary Field Day.
Excellent Addresses from Field Workers
and a National Officer.

/ anu a itdtlUudA OAAANSAe
A series ofrallies under the auspices of
the Congregational Home Missionary
Society have been held throughout Yer
mont the past week and have greatly
stimulated the interest in the work and
future plans of this great missionary
organization. The series closed at New
port last evening and the meetings at St.
Johnsbury were held in the North church
Monday afternoon and evening. The
meetings were attended by the pastors
and other representatives from the sur
rounding towns and Rev. DR.. c. H. Mer-
rill, secretary of the Vermont Domestic
Missionary Society, an auxiliary of the
national society.
At the afternoon service the devotional
exercises were conducted by Rev. DR.. S.
6. Barnes and DR.. Merrill was the first
speaker. He gave comprehensive state
ment of the reorganization ofthe national
society and explained in detail
how each of the state societies
were related to it, Referring to the fl
nancial side of the question he said the
standard set for the coming year was a
dollar for home missions for each resi-
dent church member. The statistics as
far as Vermont is concerned show that
the Congregationalists in the state have
been contributing about 55 cents per
resident member, including all contribu-
lions from the Sunday School, the Chris
! tian Endeavor societies and the Womans
| Home Missionary Union. Of the amount
| to be contributed two-thirds would be
| devoted to work in Vermont and the
balance would be appropriated to the
national treasury.
DR.. Merrill touched briefly ugon the
work and needs in the state, tracing the
history from its early days nearly CEN
fury ago and said that in all its history
there had never been any friction between
the state and the national society.
Rev. Charles A. Jones' now of Hacken-
sack, N. :, was the next speaker and he
presented some interesting glimpses of
the work in his district which comprises
the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Delaware, West Virginia, and the District
of Columbia. Mr.. Jones is very pleas
ing and magnetic speaker, and both of
his addresses were we'll received. He
said there were Is missionary churches
in the great state of Pennsylvania, and
in referring to the work among the
Welsh churches, gave touching illustra-
ton of how the oil er ones in the parish
chung to the use of their language, while
the younger generation were anxious to
hear the gospel in English. He referred
! to the church started by John Brown in
! 1928, and touched briefly upon the
problems of the work among the noun
tain whites and the negroes.
While he was speaking Rev. DR.. Wash
ington Choate of New York, the cores
ponding secretary of the national organ
ization, entered the room and was later
( introduced as the last speaker. DR..
Choate presented the immediate wants
of the various state societies along the
/ lines of forward work, as ascertained by
inquiries recently sent out from his office,
and made an eloquent plea in closing TOR
more interest in the great work of saving
America for Christ.
Rev. DR.. Edward D. Eaton conducted
the devotional services in the evening
and Rev. DR.. Merrill introduced as the
first speaker Rev. L. A. Wilson, the new
pastor at Hardwick, who described in
an interesting manner his work at East
Charleston. Mr.. Jones followed in an
inspiring address upon the problems
arising from immigration, giving specific
instances-some humorous and some
pathetic-of the immigrant entry into
this boosted land of the free. He brought
out the interesting fact that one-third of
New York population was Hebrew and
one-fourth Italian, while other nations
were largely represented in this cosmo-
politan city and that it was the duty of
the Christian people to solve the prob
lens of the great cities by getting at the
masses.
The general theme of DR.. Choate's
eloquent address was 'The New Out
look along Old Lines" After referring
to the successful reorganization of the
society he said the work was along same
old lines The west scontinually calling
for more workers, the small towns in the
east are asking for help and the problems
of the great cities still remain unsolved.
Referring to the incoming influx of over
a million a year he said it was for the
Christian people to determine whether
this would become a menace or mission.
He thoroughly believed it would be the
latter and that it was our duty and our
privilege to solve the question along
the lines of christian work.
The service closed with prayer by Rev.
DR.. Barnes, after which there was de
lightf1l social hour and the chance which
all were glad to improve Of meeting the
| crea karc from abroad