The American McAll record : devoted to the interests of the McAll Mission in France

October, 1594

The AMERICAN MCALL RECORD

FOBLtSHIID QUARTUHLY IIV TH«

AMERICAN McALL ASSOCIAtidN
Room 21, 1710 Ciiestnut Street
PHILADELPHIA, PENN.

SlHGLB SuEJCRinioN, postpaid, 30 cents a year.

Club Ratbs, twenty or more subscriptions: To one address, lo cents a year: t;
iiKlividual siibscribeis;, ta cents a year.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

The Evancemzing Power of ti'ie McAel Mission. 1,6 pp. By Mrs.

Louise Seymour Houghton. Price, 5 rents a cojiy. ' i '
A Consecrated Life, Elizabeth Rogers Beach, MEMORiAt Address.

■ By Rev. E. W. Hitchcock, D. D. ,i6 pp. Price, 5 cents a copy.
The New Religious Spirit in France. By Prof. Jeau C. Bracq;. 4 pp.

40 cents a hundred, postpaid.
Incidents of the McAll Work. By Rev. S. H. Anderson. 4 pp. 2

cents each. ■ ' '

The Women ok French Protestantism, 20 pp. ; Our DEBt to

France, 15 pp.; French Protestantism in the Nineteenth

Century, 20 pp. By Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton. Price of

each, postpaid, 5 cents per copy.
The Lc-st Children : A Story of the McAll Mission. By

Madame Pasteau. J 6 pp. Price, $2 per hundred, postpaid. Single

copies, 3 cents. This tract is specially designed for Sunday-school

children.

Twelve Questions Answered. Price, 35 cents per hundred, postpaid.
A New Departure, 4 pp. 45 cents per hundred, postpaid.
Christmas F£tes in the McAll Mission, 4 pp. 45 cents per hundred,

postpaid. • ,

The Present Outlook in France. By Rev. Arthur T, Pierson, D.

D. Price, 35 cents per hundred
FiFiNE: A Story gf the McAll Mission, 204 pp. Ulustraled- By

Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton. Cloth, 65 cents, postpaid. ,
The Cruise of the Mystery in McAll Mission Work. 408 1^.

Illustrated. By Mrs. Louise SeymouT Houghton. Cloth,5l oo, postpaid.
Among The French Folk, 128 pp. By Miss E. H. Moggridge. Price,

pcstpaid, 50 cents.

JB@^A11 remittances should be payable to Miss Caroline Remington,
Assistant Treasurer, and addressed to Room 21, 1710 Chestnut Slieet,
Philadelphia, Per.n.

Entered at the Post-office, Philadelvhia, Penn., as second-class matter.

THE

AMERICAN McALL RECORD

Vol. XII. October, 1894. No. 4

Our subscribers are requested to notice that, with few
exceptions, all subscriptions to the Record expire with this
number. Orders for renewal, with correct lists for mailing,
copied on one side of the paper, should be sent to Miss C.
Remington, General Secretary, 17 10 Chestnut Street, Phila-
delphia, Pa., by December 10, that you may receive the
January number. Please do not forget to give attention to
this matter.

The office of Ih-easurer so sadly left vacant by the death
of the beloved and regretted Mrs. Chamberlain, has been filled
by the election of Mrs. Katharine S. Nicholson, of Philadelphia,
one of the founders of the Association, and an original mem-
ber of the Board of Directors. Mrs. Nicholson's address
will be 2106 Chestnut Street.

The report of the Annual Meetmg held in Philadelphia
in April is now issued, and may be procured by addressing
the General Secretary.

We publish the list of Sunday-schools already pledged
to give ^25 toward the Sunday-school Work of the Mis-
sion :

Central Congregational, Philadelphia; St. Matthias'
Protestant Episcopal, Philadelphia; North Broad St. Presby-
terian, Philadelphia; St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal, Phila-

2

The Evangelistic Mission of France.

delphia ; Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian, Brooklyn; New
York Avenue Presbyterian, Washington; Madison Avenue
Presbyterian (two schools). New York ; Mount Pleasant
Union, Chester Co., Pa. ; Five schools taking one pledge,
Northampton, Mass.

With regard to the last-mentioned pledge we would say,
that while we think it great gain to have so many schools in
one town interested in the cause, even though they give only
five dollars each, and while we can see a great benefit to the
schools themselves in thus finding a common interest, it seems
wise to offer a word of advice to Auxiliaries in such a case,
which may, perhaps, be often repeated : Do not let this
sharing of interest become a burden upon the Central Office
in Philadelphia. This you may avoid by having the various
contributions sent to you as an Auxiliary, and forwarding
them a// (2/ dJ^^-i? to Philadelphia. Tims there need be only
one entry in the books, one letter of acknowledgment, and
one report from the French school, sent to the Auxiliary.
In that case the Auxiliary would have the obligation laid
upon it to see that all the matter, acknowledgment and news
from the field, should be received by each subscribing school.

With the opening of the autumn work, it is especially
urged upon Auxiliaries that they lose no time in getting the
Sunday-schools they represent to take up the Sunday-school
work of the Mission.

The origin of this new movement was explained in the
July Record, and the article has been reprinted and sent to
all the Auxiliaries. In this number of the Record we give
an article on the same subject, which lately appeared in a
New York paper, and now, our friends being thoroughly well
informed as to the needs and opportunities and the reasons
why American Sunday-schools should be enlisted in the cause,

Edilorials.

3

we trust that we shall soon hear of many additions to the
list of schools pledging $2c^ for a Mission School.

Particular attention is called to our literature, especi-
ally to our new publications, a complete list of which will be
found on page 2 of the cover. We trust that our readers will
send to the Bureau for an abundant supply for distribution.
Mr. Anderson's "Incidents of the McAll Mission;" Prpf.
Bracq's "The New Religious Spirit in France;" Dr. Hitch-
cock's beautiful tribute to Elizabeth Rogers Beach, "Memo-
rial of a Consecrated Life; " and the paper on "The Evan-
gelizing Power of the McAll Mission," are al! calculated to
inform the mind as to the need and usefulness of this great
work, and some of them, to warm the heart of the reader to
co-operate in it.

The Twenty-second Annual Report of the Mission, for
1 893 -1 894, issued by the Committee in France, is now ready,
both in French and English. Though somewhat later than
usual, it will be found important enough to pay for the delay.
We observe several important improvements over past
reports, especially in the methods adopted for getting the
statistics of the work before the public. The report opens
with the proceedings of the general assembly of the Mission
held April 22 in the historic church of the Oratoire. After
that come reports from the field, some selections from which
are given in this number. But we urge Auxiliaries to send
for copies of the Report for their own careful study. The
General Secretary will be happy to send them when requested.

There are at the Bureau two copies (14^ by 10 inches)
of the photograph of the Paris Committee, twelve members.
They are very desirable for hanging in Church parlors where
meetings of Auxiliaries are held. The price is ^5.00 each.

4 The Evangelistic Mission of France.

IN MEMORIAM.

It was with feelings of no common sorrow that the Buffalo
McAU Auxiliary received the news of the death of its beloved
President, Mrs. J. N. Adam, who died suddenly at Birming-
ham, England, on the 28th of August. She was a native of
Scotland, and her burial was among her kindred at Edinburgh.

It thus becomes the sad duty and privilege of this society
to testify to the unusual ability and zeal which Mrs. Adam
brought to the conduct of its work for the entire term of her
office. When once enlisted in its interests she gave it the
ready service which her varied gifts of mind, culture and
temperament so well fitted her for. Her sympathy with it
was kept warm and glowing by her familiarity with and visits
to the scenes of Mr. McAU's immediate labors, and also by
her correspondence with the workers in France.

This unusual readiness brought her self-sacrificing and
onerous duties and filled up her useful, busy life with grave
responsibilities. She was a woman of broad views and of
great fairness of judgment. Possessed of a talent for organiza-
tion, she inspired others. Her liberality, though remarkable,
was not exceeded by her business ability and general com-
pleteness of character. What she was in the relations of home
and friendship many of our members could testify.

Realizing more than ever the importance of the work
which she has ennobled by giving it her best service, let us in
the future stand closer together and endeavor to advance and
enlarge its benign influence.

In imagination, members of this society can take the place
of mourners with her kindred around that dear grave in a
foreign land, and say : " Blessed are the dead that die in the
Lord, for they rest from their labors and their works do follow
them."

Mrs. Elizabeth H. Childs,
Mrs. Mary N. Thompson,

\ Committee.

Siirm/irig the Field.

5

SURVEYING THE FIELD.
If all the members of the Auxiliary could see the oppor-
tunities for work which at this moment lie open before the
Committee of Direction in Paris, their hearts would rejoice ;
more than this, they would take up their own winter's work
in this cause with indescribable zest, feeling that they can
no more afford not to double their efforts when the prospect
is that they may expect thirty or sixty or even a hundred fold
in returns, than a business man can afford to keep his money
in the savings bank, when an opportunity of enormous profits
lies before him. For years past we have been told that
".France is the most promising missionary field in the
>vorld ; " but if this was true five years ago, it is ten fold
true now.

Our President, who has just returned from a summer
abroad, gives the following as the result of her investigations
into the work, and interviews with Mr. Greig: The oppor-
tunity for evangelistic work is unparalleled, and is limited
only by the funds for its support. Calls are coming from
all sorts of out-of-the-way places, urgently begging for an
evangelist. Mr. Greig had been holding a meeting in a town
where there was only one Protestant Christian. He had
heard of our Mission and wrote offering to pay all the
expenses of a hall if the Mission would only occasionally stnd
some one to hold meetings ; he was ready single-handed to
do all the rest ; and when Mr. Greig went he found that the
meeting had been splendidly worked up ; the room was full
and all were clamorous for more.

The minds of the common people of France are open to
the gospel in a wonderful way. They will listen to any
presentation of it, no matter how unusual; in fact, every
form of presentation of the gospel is unusual to nineteen-
twentieths of these people. The extracts and summary of
Mr. Greig's annual report, given further on, show a few of

6 The Evangelistic 3Iission of Frcmce.

the unusual ways by which the gospel is carried to these
people. There seems to be no limit to the fertility of inven-
tion or readiness to carry out new plans on the part of the
conimittee. And all plans seem to work well.

One of the new measures, for which appropriations are
earnestly desired, is that of road wagons, furnished with a tent
for meeting and the necessary appliances, to do the same
work in the byways of France that the boat is doing on its
waterways. The itinerating work must assuredly take a most
important place in our methods. France is ready for the call.
We have only to send bands of trained and. consecrated
workers, on bicycles, in road wagons, in boats, in any way
through the length and breadth of the land, to secure a glad
and grateful hearing.

The surpassing wisdom with which new steps are taken
is something that we can only begin to appreciate after most
careful study. Let our readers take a first lesson by reading,
with this thought in mind, the article Mr. Greig sends us on
Brie-Comte-Robert. How judicious, how far-sighted, how
marvelously adapted to win and hold the people, how full of
tact to avoid raising opposition was the method of the four
"Conferences" held in that place! Such an article, by
itself alone would be enough, if thoroughly apprehended, to
inspire perfect confidence in all who are asked to aid in the
McAll work.

The boat work has been simply marvelous. To this
other pages in this number bear witness. If we had four boats
we could do just as good work with every one of them. Mr.
Greig thinks the boat work one of the two most encouraging
features of this year's work. The other is that in spite of the
financial depression, money has come in well. We are now
on a sonnd financial basis. Our prospects are excellent.
The universal testimony is that Mr. Greig is doing admirably.
Now let us all to work with a will !

'J'lic 7\vn} 1 1/ -second Year of the llission.

7

THE TWENTY-SECOND YEAR OF THE MISSION.

I From Mr. Greig's Annual Report.]

Although Dr. McAll withdrew from the direct supervision
of the work about the middle of our last financial year, and
although this one had already begun before he was finally
called away from us, yet this Twenty-second Report of the
McAll Mission is, for both Directors and subscribers, emphatic-
ally the record of our first struggling attempts to walk alone.
Every one asked, Can they get on without Dr. McAll ? will
not everything be changed now he is gone? and it is, before
all else, an answer to these questions that our friends will
seek within these pages. And though we have to tell of trials
and retrenchments, the trials inevitable to those who war on
the prince of this world, the retrenchments whose necessity
Dr. McAll himself had conceded, yet we can also point to as
striking testimony as of old to the efficiency of the well-
known methods ; to the zeal and heartiness which the whole
staff of workers brought ever increasingly to bear on their
happy task, and even to an exchequer better filled than at this
time last year ; to a heavy deficit all but wiped off; and to a
current account in which the receipts of all kinds exceed the
corresponding expenditure. Our Treasurer's accounts, duly
vouched by the auditors, will show with what care and success
our finances were managed ; the tone of the reports sent in by
local directors will testify to the joy they feel in . the work ; and
the bird's-eye view of the whole field, which serves as intro-
duction to this last, will, it is hoped, stir up a more intelli-
gent interest in these unceasing efforts to bring the people of
France " out of darkness into light, and from the power of
Satan unto God."

Mr. Greig then goes on to describe the work done in the 129 halls
with a view to ascertaining /io7v far the mission is an appreciable factor in
the life of the seventy-three cities and townships in which it is found. He

8

The Evavgelistic Mission of France.

groups the various works under two heads : preaching the gospel and train-
ing the converts. Under the first head the first instrumentality is the

Evangelistic Meetings.

These, the only part of the work in which Dr. McAll took
a personal interest, have remained what he made them, and our
care has been, far from improving on his model, to strive to
train up to it our younger workers, always too prone to mor-
alization, controversy or philosophy. The simple, brightly-
lit hall ; the courteous, but urgent, invitation to enter ; the
lively, haunting music ; the short, pointed passage of Scrip-
ture ; the warm, loving presentation of a personal Saviour;
the prayer, and the cordial grasp of the hand at parting ;
these have been effective this year, as of old, in winning sin-
ners to Christ. These evangelistic meetings are held — (a), in
permanent mission-rooms ; (/;), in the street ; (^r), in public
halls or rooms of private houses hired for the night ; this more
especially in the villages.

The Salle McAll has been often enough described. Una-
voidably, a little more attention is paid now than in early
days to its interior decoration ; a hall situated in the neigh-
borhood of the Madeleine must have a little more pretension
than one destined for the inhabitants of the Rue Julien
Lacroix, or of the Rue de la Tombe d' Issoire. In Paris, dur-
ing this year, we have supplied all our principal halls with
what are known as "becsAuer," in which the light comes
from a metallic tissue, rendered incandescent by the gas jet.
Besides affording a brighter and whiter light, this system has
the great advantage of burning much less gas, and, therefore,
heating to a less degree the atmosphere of the halls. The
question of ventilation has also received great attention from
the Committee, and although it is sometimes absolutely
impossible to secure a sufficient supply of fresh air in a low-
ceilinged shop, shut in between high houses, yet the ingenuity

77(*? Tiocutii-sccond Yt ar of (he Mission.

of our talented young architect, M. A. Aug. Rey, has fre-
(luently secured results which seem almost miraculous to the
old workers in the Mission.

Open-Air Meetings
are not as a rule tolerated in French cities by the police
authorities. Some of our young men tried them a year or two
ago in Paris, but met with indifferent success ; elsewhere, for
the most part, only disconnected attempts have been made on
special occasions, but at Marseille M. Lenoir has reduced the
thing to a system. We translate the following account from
the bulletin of the Home Mission : — " We set out in search
of scholars, armed with our roll of Bible Pictures,* and with
a light easel on which to hang tliem. At the corner of a
street we found quite a little crowd of children, to whom we
announced that we had come to tell them a nice story, and
then turning down a quiet little cross-street, we unrolled our
picture and struck up one of our Cantiques Populaires.
Astonished by the novelty of the thing, they called to their
comrades to hurry up, which these latter promptly did, fol-
lowed by their bewildered parents. Brooms were laid aside,
carpenters' benches deserted, babies' stools brought along,
and soon we had quite a good-sized congregation. We
explained the resurrection of Lazarus to a most attentive
audience, and before leaving the place we drew up the children
in a line, their backs to the wall, and gave each of them a
Bible picture. Then two or three streets further on we began
the story of Lazarus again, and so on, as many as three times
in one morning, preaching the Gospel each time to at least
fifty persons, children included. We had warned the dis-
trict magistrate of what we were going to do ; he sent a
policeman to watch, but nothing unpleasant occurred ; one
man was bright enough to accuse us of grinding down the

* Published by the Providence Lithograph Company, R. I., and sent by American
Sunday-schools for use in those of the Mission.

10

The Evangelistic Mission of France.

poor, but nobody paid any atten.tion to him. At least a hun-
dred and fifty people heard the Gospel that first morning."

Public Ball-rooms,
or other places of general resort, have been very sparingly
hired this year, in order to keep down expenses. At St.
Quentin, Roubaix, and some other places, cottage meetings
were held more or less regularly, with varying results. From
the center of France comes the following story, all the more
typical because the writer makes no pretensions to eloquence;
an elderly man, often ailing, innocent of all university dis-
tinction, his sole recommendation is an unquenchable love
for souls : — " I got our meeting announced by the town crier,
and on the appointed day we arrived at the Mairie ten min-
utes before the time fixed for the opening, but not a soul was
visible, and, as I remarked to the colleague who had been good
enough to lend us his aid, no one would ever have fancied
that a meeting had been announced for that evening. How-
ever, we lighted the lamps, and while two hymns were being
sung, the men came slouching into the hall one after another,
till our audience got up to about a hundred, among whom
hardly a woman was to be seen. As there were very few
chairs, most of them had to stand the whole time, but in spite
of this inconvenience all seemed very well pleased, and when,
before leaving, I asked all those who wished us to come back
in a fortnight to hold up their hands, almost all were raised."

In Corsica where the power of the priests makes it diffi-
cult to keep up an audience in the hall, M. Piguet is greatly
cheered by the reception he meets in the mountain villages.
Sometimes, it is true, all entrance is denied him, and a reward
has even been offered to whomever will drive him from the
place, but everywhere he has found .some seeking souls, and in
more than one instance the seed sown in these lonely hamlets
has already sprung up and is bearing fruit. It is a pity that, at

The Twch/i/sccoihI Year of the Mission.

least in all our large cities, the young men who have been
brought under the influence of the Gospel cannot be ba'nded
together as " Gospel Scouts," and sent out to bear the glad
tidings to all the villages round. The present enthusiasm
for bicycling might thus be turned to account. A scene
of this kind, which none who were present are ever likely
to forget, might have been witnessed some years ago, not
very far from Paris. The meeting was held in a farm-
yard, from which its usual inhabitants had been banished
with more or less clamour. The solitary candle, by the light
of which one of the Gospel parables was read, was sheltered
behind a vast straw hat, and carefully extinguished for econ-
omy's sake, as soon as the reading came to an end. Every
one stood except the lady of the company, for whom a
chair had been fetched from some house, but not a creature
moved while the love of God in Christ was affectionately
commended to them. From time to time all the faces stood
out from the darkness, lit up by the bluish glare of the sum-
mer lightning that played around us, and away in the distance
the thunder seemed to add a weird Amen to the impassioned
appeals of the speaker. It is here too that we might speak of

The Mission Boat,
on board which at this moment the Gospel is being preached
to eager crowds', to whom it seems indeed to be as " cold
water to a thirsty soul, as good news from a far land." How
much of the interest roused will lead to permanent results,
we, of course, cannot yet say j but that the opportunity is
unlimited cannot be gainsaid. With four Mission boats, as
many caravans for the inland roads, and clubs of bicyclists
scouring systematically the suburbs of the great cities, some-
thing might be done to dissipate the present ignorance, and
to utilize the forces that are everywhere lying latent.

A second class of work, is that in which, thougli the aim still
is the conversion of souls, some other- object seems to occupy the first

12

The Evairgelistic Mission of France.

place. Mr. Greig mentions singing practices and stereopticon lectures,
both, when rightly managed, most valuable auxiliaries to evangelization;
reading rooms, such as the excellent " Salles Militaires," or the "Work-
man's Club" of Marseille, of which M. Lenoir writes that it is open
every night from half-past seven to ten, at the Old Harbour, and competes
most successfully with the bars and saloons, that have up till now been
the only places where the workmen could spend their winter evenings ;
temperance meetings, connected, of course, with the " Soci^te Fran(;aise
de la Croix-]51eue," and which, Mr. (Ireig says, it would be well to found
in each of our halls ; soup distributions, dispensaries and industrial
schools ; of the soup distributions he says that they cost the Mission
nothing, all expenses being defrayed by special contributions, sent in
for the most part by people who would not give a half-penny to the
regular Mission work. Three hundred starving people can get a good
meal at a cost varying from £i to ^i, 5s., according to the price of
vegetables. When all the soup has been eaten, a hymn is sung by the
helpers, a very short address given, and after an earnest prayer good-bye is
said. The poor creatures have been known to entreat not to be sent
away without " hearing a few good words," as they say, on one or
two occasions when the workers, pressed for time, suggested a short-
ening of the usual service. Our readers are already familiar with the
work of the dispensaries ; of the industrial schools the report says :

Here, as in the case of the two previous categories, the
material advantages of the institution are so manifest, that
some might fear that spiritual interests are entirely neglected.
The children, however, know better, and especially in the
poorer districts it is almost the only effectual method of get-
ting the mothers to send their children regularly to the hall.
And while the little fingers are busy, the ears are open, and
many of the most serious of our young girls owe their first
and most indelible knowledge of the Gospel to the Thursday
sewing-school. This, too, is a work in which many can help
who are anxious to do something for Christ, but are too timid
or too ignorant to venture on any form of religious instruc-
tion. All expense connected with the material used at these
schools is borne by friends interested in the hall, and is not
charged on the general evangelistic fund.

The Twenty- second Year of the Mission. 13

A third class of evangelistic work is the special tneetings, to which
the general public is not invited, but destined for special classes or
sections of the community.

Such are the meetings for the blind, held regularly in
two of our Paris halls, in which a familiar explanation of
Scripture is followed by the distribution of a cup of cocoa
and a piece of bread to each of our blind friends. Here,
again, the Mission pays only for the lighting and warming of
the hall. At Montpellier, they gathered together the chim-
ney sweepers ; at Cannes, the cabmen ; and in the neighbor-
hood of Boulogne-sur-Mer, special meetings were held at the
time of the departure of the fishing fleets.

In the same class are the mothers' meetings, held almost all over the
Mission, few halls being without one. The great value of these meetings
lies in the opportunities of intercourse which they create, and of practical
application of Gospel truths to very definite needs. When a similar means
of reaching the men has been devised, says Mr. Greig, the Mission will be
perfect.

With these also are classed the Voung Men's and Young Women's
Christian Associations, soldiers' reading rooms and children's Thursday
schools. During this year, we are told, the attendance in the soldiers'
reading rooms has been small in Paris, but in Nice and in Algiers the rooms
have often been too small to accommodate the men. Our agent in Algiers
was allowed a free pass to Europe by the governor, in consideration of
the services he rendered the army in the Salle Militaire. Of the
Thursday schools Mr. Greig says : " If the utter neglect of religion and
religious duties, even on Sunday, in so niany houses in France has a
withering eftect on the national soul, out of the evil comes at least this
good, that when attention is directed to the things of God, there is no
temptation to restrict such thoughts to Sunday, and children come just as
readily on Thursday or Wednesday after school hours as on Sunday
morning or afternoon."

The Training of Converts.
Some maintain that this is to go beyond the limits of
what is expected of an evangelistic agency. Leave the teach-
ing to the Churches ! they cry, your task is to compel them
to come in. But it must be remembered that we have to do

14

Tlie Emngdistic 3Iission of France.

with people so ignorant of Bible truth and rules of life, that
very much requires to be learned (and unlearned) after the soul
has once got into contact with Christ, before the learners
are able to avail themselves, with profit, of Church services
and Church organization. During this intermediate stage
they can still best be cared for in the Mission halls, and if the
Church superintends the training given to the neophyte, it is
as a mission worker and without ecclesiastical coloring. We
get, therefore, at once two classes of meetings, Sunday-schools
for the children, and Bible studies or " Societes frater-
nelles" for the adults : to these their natural outcome has,
in a few cases, been given in the form of Missionary Churches,
still partially under the tutelage of the Mission, while the
work done in all tlie meetings is driven home and applied
energetically to each individual case by visits and personal
conversations.

The Sunday-schools hardly need to be again described to our readers.
Of the work for adults the report says ;

The meeting for Bible study does for adults what the
Sunday-school does for children. There are even in one or
two halls adult classes which accomplish much good ; the
societes fraternelles also make the careful study of a portion
of Scripture an integral part of their meeting. Here also
might be mentioned the very important preparation classes
for teachers, held weekly in Paris and sometimes, at wider
intervals, in others of our larger centers.

The report concludes with allusions to the deaths of Dr. McAll and
Mrs. Chamberlain, the minutes adopted by the Committee of Direc-
tion at Mrs. Chamberlain's death, and with the ascription, " To Him who
has walked beside us all the way ; who has taught our eyes to see and our
lips to speak ; who has deigned to bring to the Light not a few souls by
our means ; to God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.
Amen."

C. E. Greig.

The Mission Boat on the Aisne.

15

THE MISSION BOAT ON THE AISNE.,

On Saturday afternoon, April the 28th, many of the
Paris workers came to Bas-Meudon, to welcome Captain and
Mrs. Pim and to implore God's blessing on tiiis third cruise
of the Mission Boat.

After the meeting she was moved down below the bridge
at S6vres, to await the tug with its " train " of boats, which
was to take her in tow early on Monday morning.

Being in need of a short rest and change, the writer
boarded her at the beautiful village of Bougival, as she passed
the lock late in the afternoon, and lived on board until the
boat reached Soissons.

These locks on the Seine are wonderful. They are long
enough to hold two tugs abreast, each with a train of six or
seven barges. The immense gates are easily worked by
hydraulic power. There is such a great traffic on the river,
that the saving of time thus effected is very valuable. . At an
ordinary lock, it takes nearly four hours to pass a tug and
five or six barges ; whereas at Bougival it takes less than
half an hour. In fact, on these journeys, almost half the time
is occupied in passing through the locks, and waiting for the
other boats of your " train " to get through also !

By half past nine we reached Conflans, at the mouth of
the Oise, and there made fast for the night, just beyond the
immense railway bridge which spans the Oise, on the new
line from Argenteuil to Mantes.

In the morning we found ourselves in the midst of about
forty barges, waiting to be towed either up or down the river.
An enormous traffic passes up the Oise to Compiegne, and
thence by canal to the north of France, and beyond.

We soon made friends with some of the people living on
the neighboring barges. Mr. Pim invited them to coffee and
they in return invited us to visit them. The cabins are
generally comfortable and well-furnished, some are even

16

The Ecangelistic Mission of France.

handsome, with polished pitch pine fittings, plenty of handy
cupboards and beds in recesses. The men are a very clean,
respectable, hard working, honest race; some are even owners
of the barges they navigate. We never heard an angry or
impolite word during all our intercourse with thtm during
this trip. One family, especially, interested us greatly.
They were Dutch, and their French vocabulary was exceed-
ingly limited, but Mrs. Pirn and her niece could converse
fluently with them in their native tongue. They were Catho-
lics, but truly religious people, trusting in God, loving Him,
and praying to Him before every meal. They also possessed
the Scriptures, and .-ead them. We saw a good deal of this
family, as they formed part of our " train " all the way to Com-
pi^gne. The old father and mother no longer work, but
simply live on board to keep house for their two sons. They
were the owners of that barge and of three others ! We gave
tracts and various papers to many of the men and women
living on different boats, and also New Testaments ; when-
ever we could we also preached the Gospel to them. We met
a few who had seen the boat on the Marne ! Thus, in God's
providence, the few grains of seed we have been enabled to
scatter will be carried far and wide throughout France and
other countries. In fact the possibilities of this work are
enormous.

After waiting until Wednesday afternoon, a tug came to
take us and three other boats to Compiegne. We were lashed
alongside, and were thus taken safely without having to steer.

The captain of the tug proved to be a very pleasant
young man, and we soon became great friends. Mrs. Pim
invited him and his men to afternoon coffee and cakes, soon
after we had started ; and a very pleasant time was spent by
them, while the Captain and I paced the " upper deck," a
most agreeable piomenade. Every afternoon they came on
board thus, and each received a New Testament and some

The Mission Bodt on (he Aisne.

17

tracts, and heard the Gospel. They learned thus our object
in visiting these rivers, and spread abroad among the water-
side population, wherever we stopped, the news of our Mission.
We were invited on board the tug, and the men were much
pleased to show us the engines, cabins, etc.

The Oise is not so picturesque as the Marne, but the
Aisne is almost more so. Both are dotted with villages, the
soil being fertile. Large quarries in the hills give employ-
ment to many men, who prepare the stone with which Paris
is built. At each lock we gave a Testament to the lockkeeper,
and tracts to all who came on board.

After Compiegne, we left the Oise, and entered the Aisne,
which is now comparatively deserted, the traffic passing by
another canal. At Vic-sur-Aisne, where we stopped for halt
an hour, about a hundred people assembled, to whom Mrs.
Pirn and I had an opportunity of explaining our purpose,
and preaching, after which we distributed tracts and gospels.
At length, after a pleasant, restful journey, we reached Sois-
sons, a town of 12,000 inhabitants, possessing a Cathedral
and a bishop, also two large barracks.

Our first meeting at Soissons was held on Wednesday, May
the 9th. Great crowds attended, so much so that the boat was
more than full before the hour of meeting. But the people were
most quiet and orderly ; and those who could not get in one
night, took care to come early on the next. Many interest-
ing cases occurred. A widow woman had a son, who, though
only eight years old, had got into bad company and gave her
great trouble and anxiety. Through Mrs. Pim's influence
this lad and his mother both received the truth, and found
the Saviour; the lad became obedient and loving, and his
mother has great reason to bless God for the visit of the Boat.
Several of the older lads, studying at the Lycee, came night
after night in boating costume, lashing their skiffs to the Bon
Messager. One or two of the professors also came ; in fact

18

The Evangelistic Mission of France.

very many of all classes attended the meetings, both those
for adults and those for children. More than 200 of the
soldiers stationed at Soissons came on board, and each
received a Testament ; many came several times, bringing
their comrades.

Pastor Daniel Courtois, of Laon, who conducts a fort-
nightly service in a small room at Soissons, worked with great
zeal, coming night after night, although the distance is great
and he could not reach home until one in tlie morning.

We were obliged to rigorously exclude children under
fifteen from the evening meetings, so as to leave room for
adults, and even then many could not get in.

Pastor Courtois plays the harmonium beautifully, and
his warm, earnest addresses soon won many hearts. M. Four-
neau also spoke three or four times, and was much appreciated,
and M. Escaude, of Paris, helped during several days.

The children's meetings were largely attended, and also
those on Tuesday and Friday afternoons for women only.
The visit to Soissons was one long to be remembered.

On the last evening, May the 31st, the people gave Cap-
tain and Mrs. Pim quite an ovation, almost overwhelming
them with bouquets, besides several choice flowers in pots,
tokens of their affection and esteem. The boat then moved
down the river to a village called Pommiers, about three-
quarters of anr hour's walk from Soissons.

The first meeting here was held on Sunday, June the 4th,
and the last on July 6th. Here also the meetings were most
successful. Several of the people had already attended the meet-
ings at Soissons, and had prepared their neighbors to receive
the boat, so that soon almost the whole population came,
besides many old friends from Soissons. Much good was
done, and many hearts gladdened by the Gospel message.
One family has already offered a large room in their house to
Pastor Courtois to conduct weekly meetings in. Several

After Ten Years

drunkards have received good, and we hope have given up
their evil habits in God's strength.

The next move was to Port Fontenay, where the meet-
ings were begun on Sunday, July 8th. Not so well attended
at first, they improved by the end of the week. The people
were well disposed, and the children came to the school, not-
withstanding the threat of the cure to exclude them from
" first communion." Adults and children listened with great
attention, and seemed to drink in the truths proclaimed. The
writer had the pleasure of passing three days at Fontenay,
which is a lovely spot. The valley is wide here, and was
covered with luxuriant cornfields, whilst the hills are crowned
with woods. Some of the people have bought Bibles, and
many have bought Testaments and hymn books ; still larger
numbers were sold at Soissons and Pommiers. Here also
Pastor Courtois has paid several visits to the boat, and has
been warmly received.

Henry James Benham.

AFTER TEN YEARS.
Elizabeth Beach.

Can we ever forget the shock which we received when
the distressing news came to us of the going down (almost in
sight of shore) of the ill-fated steamer Colunibus on her way
to Florida ? The vessel bore with her to a watery grave all
on board, including our beloved friend and co-worker, Miss
Elizabeth Beach, who was going to Florida hoping to regain
the health which had been so fearfully shattered through her
arduous labors in connection with the McAU Mission.

And now, after almost a decade of years has passed, I,
wandering in the rural cemetery of the little village of Wood-
stock, Conn., accidentally came upon the Beach family burial
spot. Miss Beach's remains after a time being washed ashore,

19

20 The Emngelistic Mission of France.

were borne hither to be laid by the side of her loved ones,
awaiting the joyful resurrection morning.

Sadly I lingered, and sadly I made my way to the little
church where her father had long preached, and where she
had loved to worship. There I was shown the memorial
window placed in that church by some of her loved pupils of
the Woodstock Academy.

Three windowi together, the center one being a memo-
rial of Elliott, the beloved missionary preacher to the
Indians ; on either side of which were memorials of young
women, the two, to my mind, forming a perfect one. The
first was a copy of Oertel's well-known picture, the " Rock
of Ages." The maiden is clinging with an agonized grasp to
the strong granite cross, firmly embedded amongst rocks
and boulders in the midst of the "waters of strife." The
dark waters of death are all about her, and the heavy billows
seem as though they must overwhelm and submerge her.
Still she clings with a grasp that will not let go, let the
waters beat and surge as they may. Surely she is hearing the
words of the Great, Eternal Rock of Ages, " When thou
passest through the waters, I will be with thee."

Then my eyes turned to Elizabeth Beach's memorial
window. There, on a quiet shore stands another maiden,
calm and serene, her arm resting on a strongly embedded
anchor. He eyes, gazing far away over the waters through
which she has come — no agonized grasp, no terrified looks
are hers now, but calmly as one resting in the arms of her
Beloved, knowing that her journey is over, her gaze is fixed
eternally on " the King in His Beauty " in the " land that
was very far off," and she is a

" Conqueror through Him Who loved her."

God grant that as our dear friend has, so we all may
come off conquerors through Him Who loves us !

Brooklyn, N. Y. Mrs. S. K. M. Brandegee.

Brie- Comic- Robert.

21

BRIE-COMTE-ROBERT.

The numerous pleasure-seekers who go boating at Join-
ville in summer or skating at Fontenay in winter, all know
well this quaint high-sounding name. Was it not till just the
other year the terminus of the Paris-Vincennes Railroad, and
did it not suggest vague images of medijeval knights regaling
themselves on vast cheeses and as far removed from all the
conditions of modern life as though Brie-Comte-Robert were a
day's journey and not an hour's from Paris? But except the
all-invading bicyclist few Parisians and no missionaries had
ever thought of disturbing its rustic calm, till an unexpected
request drew the thoughts of the Committee toward it.

Some time before Easter a gentleman, who has persisted
up till now in keeping his incognito, offered the direction of
the Mission a hundred francs with which to make a first
attempt at the evangelization of Brie-Comte-Robert. He was
interested somehow in the place, and believed in the power of
the gospel ; but he did not wish it known that he was the
instigator of the effort, nor did he desire any attack to be
made on Popery. If the McAU Mission considered the result
of the first attempt encouraging, he would see if something
permanent could be done. The Committee agreed to the
proposal, and its Secretary hired a concert hall in the heart of
the town for a series of four " conferences," made the neces-
sary declaration before the local magistrate, and got some
posters put up announcing a conference by M. Th. Monod
for the 19th June on " Jesus Laique."

And so a little after seven that evening a company of
seven walked up from the station along the quiet streets of
sleepy Brie, six gentlemen and one lady. Except, perhaps,
M. Monod they scarcely answered to one's ideal of mission-
aries; one carried an unmistakable violin case, another an
uncouth pipe-looking thing ; to be sure they had a brown
paper parcel which might have contained tracts, but if they

22

The Ecavgelistic Mission of France.

had a professional look at all, it was such as strolling players
might have. The concert hall which one reaches through an
outer room adorned with questionable paintings, is large and
lofty ; a narrow platform occupies one end and there is a piano.
Alas ! age and ill use have so weakened it, that it is barely
audible at the further end of the room. The wisdom of bring-
ing other instruments is at once manifest, .the more so as the
obliging proprietor assures that the town is much exercised to
know what the "sacred music " announced on the bills may
be, and will come in the first instance for that rather than for
the "conference." A preliminary rehearsal gives the young
people confidence, five minutes of prayer gives more, and at 8
p. m. we open the doors sure that God will give us an answer
but pleasantly ignorant of what kind it may be. There are a
hundred chairs, seats for about as many on rough benches,
and about half the hall empty. The flute, oboe and violin
filling out what is only too plainly lacking in the piano, the
citizens begin to stroll in, some in coat and hat, most in
blouse and " casquette," and four or five " citoyennes,"
among whom two are unmistakably ladies, venture to join
them. Most of the men smoke, the younger ones talk and
laugh loudly. About quarter past eight the president steps
on to the platform and presents the lecturer of the evening.
The momentary lull is soon followed by an interested and
amused attention as the speaker presents Christ, the friend of
mankind, the declared enemy of all formalism and cant.
The hall fills up, and though conversation still goes on in
some corners, the good will of the audience is plainly gained,
and a round of applause marks the close of the '* conference,"
which has been, in truth, a most telling evangelistic address.
The announcement that we were coming back against next
Tuesday is received with unequivocal demonstrations of satis-
faction, and we hurry off to the train, full of thankfulness to
the Lord who stills " opens " so wonderfully men's hearts.

Brie- Com le- Robert.

23

On the following Tuesday, some twenty Christian
Endeavorers from Bercy enabled us to add singing to our
programme. President Carnot had just been foully murdered,
and the meeting was opened with Chopin's Funeral March
and Bost's magnificent "Ah Pourquoi I'Amitie," sung by
the Endeavorers in the midst of the most absolute silence.
Hardly any one smoked that night, the women were much
more numerous and quite a number of childreji crowded
round the singers at the close to get the picture cards and
leaflets with which they had provided themselves. Besides
several interesting conversations, one of our girls was recog-
nized and hugged with enthusiasm by an old woman from a
neighboring village, who had made her acquaintance at the
free dispensary of the Rue Nationale.

The third Tuesday, a lady well known in West End
circles and whose well-trained voice, still pure and true, is in
the greatest request at all charity concerts, most kindly
accompanied, along with her daughters, M. le Pasteur Saut-
ter, the speaker of the evening, and provoked again rounds
of applause from a packed audience, for whose use we had
had to hire a hundred more chairs. But so deep was the
impression that we were able for the first time to close the
meeting with a short prayer, which was listened to devoutly.

The following week a local fair began, and the proprie-
tor of the hall recommended us to defer our meeting. We
should have nobody. We only partially hearkened to him,
transforming the " Conference " into a Stereopticon Lecture
on the Life of Christ, with appropriate hymns sung by the
Y. P. S. C. E. of St. Marie. It is unnecessary to say that
the hall was crammed, in spite of pouring rain.

To the fifth and last meeting we had invited the most
eminent preacher of the Paris of to-day, who accepted with
pleasure, and gave us an admirable closing address on " Our
Heavenly Father." Again some Endeavorers were present.

24 The Ecangelistic Mission of France.

and one of them had come out by an earlier train, to visit
her dispensary friends. They could not make enough of her.
The cure had begged to be introduced to her, if she came,
but he was out when they called ; the lady of the cliateau
received her most graciously, and she had many opportunities
of praying with those simple-minded peasant women and
commending Christ to them. Though a theatre had been
opened close to our hall, and though also the arrival of a
regiment of artillery, picketed as usual on the townspeople,
kept many at home, the audience was not far short of four
hundred, and the attention and seriousness all that we could
wish. Many were the requests made to come back and give
them more, and we have good liope that it may be possible to
do so toward the end of the year, and perhaps to found a
permanent station in the secluded little town, with its open-
hearted inhabitants.

C. E. Greig.

PARIS NOTES.

Since my last quarterly report the mission has pursued
the even tenor of its way. Mr. Greig, indefatigable direc-
tor, patient in his oversight, devotes himself without reserve
to his self-denying work. Neither he nor Mr. Soltau, the
Secretary of the Mission, has allowed himself any vacation
this summer. The last three months, however, have been
devoid of special incidents which would particularly interest
American readers. Mrs. Le Gay, who has done so much
during the many years of her gratuitous and noble service,
chiefly in Salle New York, but also in other Christian work of
tlie Mission, has been absent from Paris since June, and the
work in Salle New York has devolved upon your correspond-
ent. I certainly have seen enough of ignorance, poverty and
distress to call forth the deepest sympathy, but this is scarcely
transferable in a report. It is sufficient to say that it cannot

Paris Notes.

25

be possible that the leaven of the gospel can be lost which
enters into the lives and destinies of these poor people who
have been reared in superstition and darkness.

That there is room and great opportunity for work among
the children is evident enough to those who know how impor-
tant it is to save them early, and how difficult it is to rescue
older people who have imbibed wrong ideas and have become
confirmed in them.

My work among the children has greatly impressed this
fact. For example, I promised such as had been regular in
attendance an excursion to St. Cloud. I have never seen
children more docile and courteous and thoughtful than they
were in this outing. I wished that those interested in the mis-
sionary work among the children might have been with us. It
would have quickened their interest. The hopefulness of the
Mission, it seems to me, is in this direction.

Some glimpses into the homes and lives of those who
frequent our halls may not be without interest.

Madame M. is a widow who has gained some light and
help from the Gospel since the death of her husband. He
was a clever electrician, one of Edison's men for a time, and
had attended the meetings at the Rue Royale.

Though a Protestant by conviction, whose custom it was
to read every night from his Bible, strange to sa)', he never
had the courage to speak to his wife of his reading.

After his death, his wife learned that the small book
which she had seen him read was a Bible. Then she also
began to attend the meetings of the Mission. Though a
Catholic, she soon asked to be received as a Protestant. I
found her with her niece at work on bunches of glass bead
flowers for funeral wreaths. She has nearly lost her eyesight
through this work. Wishing us to read the Gospel to her she
sent her niece to bring " the big Bible."

Marie brought it. It proved to be a large illustrated

26 The Evangelistic Mission of France.

history of Spain, containing pictures of the Suez Canal,
Napoleon and Garibaldi, written in Spanish. This for a sam-
ple of the common degree of Bible knowledge.

Madame S., who sends her little ones to our industrial
school, covers umbrellas for her livelihood. The family live
in one room which is also her husband's carpenter shop.
Working from morning until late at night, she is able to cover
six umbrellas, for which she receives in all thirty cents.

These people are poor, but not so poor but that they are
often helping one another.

A poor old couple live by making artificial flowers. The
wife had come to our meetings until she was taken so ill that
she was sent to the hospital.

The husband, a confirmed invalid not able to leave the
room, was left for six weeks entirely alone. It was a desolate
abode, but on visiting it I met one of the poor women — a
regular attendant of our meetings — who had ministered to
their necessities. She said to me, " Madame C. has returned,
but they have no bread nor anything whatever to eat." I found
them very poor, but very grateful. To earn thirty cents, each
would need to begin work at six in the morning and continue
until ten at night.

Thus the words of our Lord is realized, " To the poor
the Gospel is preached." It is their only comfort : their only
hope.

As my work has been limited to the Salle New York, I
can only speak of other Halls and of the general work by
hearsay, but as I communicate with other workers, I am
informed that the usual conditions exist.

Mr. Brown, who preaches in Salle New York, has been
absent for the summer directing the work in Marseilles. He
is very efficient. He returns to Paris in October. Miss
Chickering from Pittsfield, Mass., is a most devoted and con-
scientious missionary worker. The faithful pastor of the

Paris Nulcs.

American Church in Rue de Berri, Rev. Doctor Thurber,

gives us his cordial and hcl|)rul sympathy. M. de Rouge-
niont is very devoted in liis excellent service at Salle Brook-
lyn. Our Brooklyn friends would be cheered could they see
the people as they listen to his earnest words. He puts hope
and help into many a life.

The Missionary Boat has been for the past month at Vic
on the river Aisne, two and a half hours railroad ride from
.Paris. At our Friday prayer-meeting for workers Mr. Greig
read an interesting letter from Captain Pim which told of
good audiences and earnest attention to the truth preached.
Still later news is exceedingly hopeful. More than thirty
families at Vic, we are told, were so intensely interested in
the gospel preached in the boat as to unitedly and urgently
ask that a church should be formed there. They expressed
great sorrow at the departure of this floating chapel. If there
were ten such boats instead of one, it would be a good mis-
sionary investment for aggressive work.

The Boat has now moved on to Attichy, and never fails
to prove itself a great attraction to the people of the various
neighborhoods where it goes. The interest of curiosity doubt-
less is something, but the gospel which the people hear is quite
as new to them as the boat is.

No stranger can realize how little the common people
here know of the New Testament and its teachings, nor how
much they need the gospel. If educated American young
women who have French at command could devote a few
years of their lives to this Mission they would find France
both an interesting and hopeful missionary field.

August 25, 1894. Anna Beatrice Beard.

Two additions to the working force have recently been
made. M. Huet, formerly an evangelist of the Socie^e Centrale
hasjoined the boat staff. M. Giiehen, a Frenchman, converted
in England, has gone to help Mr. Durrlemann at Rochefort,

28

The Emngelistic Mission of France.

FRENCH CHILDREN AND THE McALL MISSION.

\_Fi-o»i Advocate and Guardian-]

Before the first year of the McAll Mission was out Mr.
McAU had begun to gather the children into Sunday-schools.
Not such schools as American children are accustomed to
attend. There were few or no teachers, and if there had been
teachers in abundance it would have been impossible to divide
them into classes. The children had no idea how to behave.
They could not have studied any lessons at home, for they
had no Bibles, and neither they nor their parents would have
known how to use them if they had had them. The only way
was to teach them all at once, in concert. They were gathered
around the one or two teachers who stood upon the little
platform, and two or three monitors stood among them to
keep order — a pretty difficult matter unless the teacher was
very interesting. She would tell them Bible stories and teach
them hymns line by line, and when they had half learned
a verse or two they would sing it. So between singing and
stories the hour would pass, and at the end those who had
not been too unruly would receive a ticket, or, as they called
it, a boft point (good mark). When they had gathered a cer-
tain number of tickets they could exchange them for a Scrip-
ture portion — a Gospel of Luke or Matthew.

Rudimentary as these Sunday-schools were, they did
much good, and were highly prized by many of those who
attended. Indeed, so much did the children enjoy coming
that it was found to be quite worth while, before the Mission
was three years old, to open also Thursday schools, Thursday
being the children's holiday in France. They have only a
half holiday; school'' keeps" on Thursday morning; but
hundreds of children were more than willing — nay, deemed it
a delight and a privilege — to spend an hour of Thursday
afternoon in learning hymns and hearing stories. The only

French Children and the McAll Mission. 29

difference between the Sunday and Thursday schools in those
days was that in llie latter, other than Bible stories were some-
times told.

When, several years later, the French Government secu-
larized the public scliools, taking all teaching out of the hands
of the priests, and forbidding religious instruction in the
schools, a large number of parents, even freethinkers and
avowed infidels, became anxious to have their children attend
the McAll Sunday and Thursday schools. They felt that the
only hope that the children would grow up moral and res-
pectable was in their getting a foundation of religious instruc-
tion ; therefore, about that time the schools increased very
rapidly.

Happily by that time it was possible to organize them on
a better basis. The children had learned how to behave, and
by this time there were many more people ready to teach and
work in the Mission than in the earlier days, and even so soon
as this some of the children of the schools had become old
enough and intelligent enough to teach. Therefore it was
possible to group them into classes, and to teach them in a
more systematic way. The number of children now in the
Sunday-schools is over 10,000, and a great many of the
teachers were members of the schools in their younger days,
there taught and there converted.

It is difficult for us to imagine what these children
would be but for these Sunday-schools. We can hardly rea-
lize a state of society in which children hear absolutely nothing
of religion from parent, teacher or minister. Not long ago a
French lady, seeing two little girls of eight ornine years fight-
ing in the street, stopped and told them that they grieved God
by quarreling. One of the little things looked her full in the face
and answered, " God ! go tell that to fools ! There is no
God ! " Does not France need Sunday-schools ?

It is impossible to tell what these schools have been to

30

The Evangelistic Mission of France.

many of these children. The workers in the Mission can
tell of hundreds, literally, who have passed smilingly through
death, who but for these would never have known of
God.

One of the most touching of all the illustrations of tliis
was a baby — at five years old a dying child is nothing more —
who after bidding her father and mother good-by, asked to be
left alone to wail for Jesus to come for her, and died so, with
a smile upon her lips. A little cripple became tenderly
attached so another little girl in Sunday-school. At last the
little cripple became ill, and could not leave her garret. Her
little friend went daily to see her, and on parting they would
always (to use the French phrase) give one another rendez-
vous in heaven. The time came when the little sufferer was
taken home ; she waits, we are sure, to give her friend a
welcome in heaven.

How much they value their schools is evident in every
possible way. In many cases, when they are about ten or
twelve years old, the priests take them away and give them
a short course of instruction preparatory to their first com-
munion, but as soon as that is over many return eagerly to the
McAU schools. The fame of these schools spreads in a way
difficult to understand. In a city near Paris a McAU worker
tried in vain to find a hall in which to open a mission — of
course a school. A little hunchbacked girl became deeply inter-
ested, and soon wrote to him, telling him of a liquor shop
that was about to be closed. The gentleman hired the shop
and opened the mission. The first Sunday afternoon his little
hunchbacked friend appeared on the scene, accompanied by
six other children. Marshalling them up to the front row of
seats, she waved her hand toward them with pride, saying,
" Monsieur, 1 brought all that

One very great difficulty has been the want of lesson
helps of every kind. None are published in France, and where

French Children and the McAll Mission.

31

children are so entirely ignorant and untaught as these chil-
dren are, it is difficult to make them realize what is taught
them without pictures. Of late years, however, pictures have
been procured from America, the large ones for the walls, and
small ones, with the lesson verses printed below, for the chil-
dren. These pictures have been a priceless boon.

One child who loved the school fell ill with a lingering
malady. Two of the large wall pictures, representing the
Lord Jesus, were given her as a special recompense, for she
had been a most regular attendant until she could go no
more. These pictures, framed and hanging on her wall, were
an unspeakable comfort to her. When her teacher came to
see her one day and asked her if she would be afraid to die,
she stretched out her little arms to the pictures with a look of
unutterable love, saying, " I shall rejoice to go into my
Saviour's arms ; he draws me to Himself." She died in joy,
seeing her room filled with loving angels.

The great difficulty of the Mission is to find means to
provide the schools with these pictures and lesson helps.
They must be imported from America, and the duty is very
high. It is now hoped that American Sunday-schools will be
found to adopt, each of them, one of the McAll schools, pro-
viding them with these valued pictures and cards, from time
to time receiving from the director of the school a letter
giving incidents of the school they have adopted. Twenty-
five dollars a year, it is estimated, will suffice to provide thus
for each school. Surely there are many schools in America
that will rejoice to undertake this work. The French children
have a great love for America, and nothing, I am convinced,
would more encourage them or give them a truer notion of
Christian fellowship, than the knowledge that an American
school was providing them with the pictures and cards that
are so much to them.

L. S. H.

32 The Evangelisiic Mission of France.

RECEIPTS OF THE AMERICAN McALL ASSOCIATION
FROM AUXILIARIES AND CHURCHES.

From Junic 15, to Sept. 15, 1894.

MAINE, $17.28.

Lewiston— S. Robitscbek ... $.3 00
Portland Auxiliary H 28

MASSACHUSETTS, 8461.00

Boston Auxiliary 8160 00

Holvoke — Second Congrega-
tional Church 36 60

Northampton Auxiliary — Mrs.
Ij. D. James' Class, Wil-
liamsburg 5 00

Edwards Church Infant Class 5 00

Baptists. School 5 00

St. John's P. E. S. School ... 5 OU

Unitarian S. School 5 00

Worcester Auxiliary 240 00

CONNECTICUT, 856.53.

Hartford Auxiliary 825 00

Norfolk Congregational Church

and Society 27 .59

Plantsville Congregational Ch. 3 U4

NEW JERSEY, $15 00.

Hamburg— Mrs. A. Guyot ... 85 00
Trenton Auxiliary — Y. P. S C.

E. First Pre.sbyterian Ch. 10 00

NEW YORK, 8500.00.
Troy Auxiliary $500 00

MARYLAND, 8100.00.
Baltimore Auxiliary 8100 00

WASHINGTON, D. C, 8377.53.
Washington Auxiliary .... $577 53

OHIO, 8595 00.

Cincinnati Auxiliary .... 8540 00

Cleveland— J. L. 0 50 00

F. L, 0 5 00

INDIANA, 8100.00.
Indiana Auxiliary $100 00

ILLINOIS, $30.00.

Chicago— First Congregational

Church 817 00

Chicago— Union Park Congre-
gational Church 13 00

FORM OF BEQUEST FOR PERSONAL ESTATE.

I do give, devise and bequeath to the American McAU Asso-
ciation the sum of dollars.

FORM OF BEQUEST FOR REAL ESTATE.

I do give and devise to the American McAll Association the
following described property.

AMERICAN MCALL ASSOCIATION

OFFICERS
President

Mtr. Ch^. H. Pabkhurbt, 188 East 35th Street, New York City.

Vice-Presidents

Utb. James a. Garfielp, Northern Ohio.

Mrs. J. V. Farwei,!,, Illinois.

Mrs. Felix R. Ruunot, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Frances Wayi-and, Connecticut.

Mm. A. P Beabd. Ea-stem N. Y.

Mrs. W. H Fk.nn, Maine.

Mrs. J. K. Sticknky, Dist. of Coliunbia.

Miss Ann \ H. Adams. Eastern Mass.

Mrs. P W. OwKN, New Jersey.

Mi9.s ANNA L. Dawe8, Western Mass.

Mrs. Samuel M. Vail, Northern N. Y.

Mrs. J. S. BtRBY, Maryland.

Mrs. Martha E. Landbss, Indiana.
Mrs. MCRKAY 3IIIPLET, Southern Ohio.
Mrs. M. B. Taylor, Florida.
Jfrs. LAWRE^•OK Mykks, Central N. J,
Mrs. Edward Hawks, Vermont.
Mrs. Olivb T. Vauqhan, Wisconstn.
Mrs. Georqb E. Martin, Missouri.
Mrs. Henry A. uuPont, Delaware.
Mrs. Andrew Cowan, Kentucky.
Mrs. James G. Vosb, R. Island.
Mrs. J. Warren Goddakd, N. Y. Olty.
Mrs. David VVintees, Kansas.

Board oi Directors

Tirm eriArea 1895.
Mrs. John Rodgers, Washinslon, D. C.
Mrs. A. Van Wage.-^en, Boston. Ma.ss.
Mrs. E. R. REXFonn, Harrtord, Conn.
Mrs. R. D. Fisher, Baltimore, Md.

T>.rm eipires 1896.
Mrs. J. Lewis Crozer, Uplands, Petin.
Mrs. JouN R. Whitney, Brvn Mawr, Penn.
Mrs. Wm. Bxioknkll. Pbiliidelphia, "
Mrs. Jajies F. Stone, Philadelphia, Penn,

TVrwj expires 1897.
Mrs. JoKK F. Keen, Philadelphia, Penn.
Miss HOCKLKY, " '•

Mrs. W. B. Nicholson, " "
C. A. LO^OSTAETU, *' "

Treasurer

Mrs. Katharine S. Nicholson, 2106 Chestnnt Street, Philadelphia

Corresponding Secretary
Mrs H. L. Wayu\nd, 511 3. 42d Street, West Philadelphia.

Recording Secretary
Mrs. A. H. Fetterolf, Girard CoUege, Philadelphia.

General Secretary and Assistant Treasurer
Miss Caeolink Remington, 1710 Chestnut Street, Pliiladelphto, Pa.

Auditors

LETvns H. Rkdneb. Hij^ry N. Paul.

MissionPopulaire Evangelique de France^

known as

THE McALL MISSION IN FRANCE:

Founded iH 1872 by the late Rev. R. U^. McAll, D. D.

Paris and Us Envirom, Versailles, Sevres, St. Germain, Creii,
Marseilles, Nice, Cannes, LeCannet, Grasse, Corsica, Al-
ters, Lyons, Bordeaux, Boulogne-sur-Mer, LaRochelle,
Rochefort, Lille, Roubaix, Cherbourg, St. Etienne,
Saintes, Cognac, Toulouse, Montpellier, Cette, Beziers,
Poitiers, Chdtellerault, Angers, Nantes, Grenoble,
Calais, St. Quentin, Montmorin, Montmorillon,
Chdlet, Roanne, Thiers, Auxerre, Rheims,
Tonnerre, Rennes, Alencon, Lorient, Quim-
perle, Bruai, Epernay, Li'even, Li-
moges, Aurillac, Brest, Vareddes,
Sotteville- Rouen, Clamecy, Tulle,
St.Fortunat, Vermelle , Lour-
ches, Lens, etc.

Hon. President:
M. LOUIS SAUTTER.

Committee of Direction :
Director and Chairman : Vice- Chairmen :

Rtv. C. E. GREIG, M. A. Pasteur B. COUVE

Rev. E. G. THURBER, D. D.

Secretary : Finance Secretary :

M. B. J. ROUILLY. Mr. W. SOLTAU.

Correspondent and Visitor for the Provinces :
Dr. HENRY J. BENHAM.
Rev. H. E. NOYES, D.D. M. L. RIEDER

M. E. RE VEILLA UD M. J. de NEUPV1LL&

M. G. MONOD
Pasteur H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE.

OFFICE OF THE MISSION:
36, Rue Godot de Mauroy, Paris.

Bankers: Mess. MONROE &' CO., 7, Rue Scriie, Paris.