in each and every one of them"Latter Day Saints, Holiness people, Nazarenes, Watch Tower (Russellites), Non-Progressives, Southern Baptists (Hardshell), and so forth. There are also, of course, a number who have not been swept into any of these organizations, and don't want to be very badly. In discussing this condition with my companion, I found that we had arrived at the same conclusion, namely, "In unity there is strength.' Each one of the many sects might have accomplished some good, and doubtless has done so, but some one who knows how to carry it through. We don't know how to go about it." Exactly. Somebody must lead the way. It is is the business of near by ministers who do understand the conditions to do that very thing. It is their duty to go to these new towns and warn the people against the undue, needless multiplicity of church organizations and buildings where only one is needed and can be adequately supported. This should be done for the sake of the religion so dear to all of us; for the sake of the the cause of religion in small communities is best served when all who confess Christ get together in one place with one accord. The town of Freedom is the trading point for these people. To it their children will sooner or later go for high school privileges. Shall every sect have a separate meetinghouse? Shall there be two or more separate churches in the town? We visited among the merchants and put this question up to them, "Will it not be better to have one church than two or more?" Everyone who was approached answered in the affirmative. Of course they did; it is good business and the right thing to do. One church is all that is needed. One man put it thus: "We can't do it; it takes community which is to support the church, and which has a right to demand the most efficient ministry the church can furnish in the most economical way. So, assuming this duty, the writer undertook to interview the two ministers who were alternately holding services in this new town. A conference was arranged and there will be much to be said about the results later on. From Freedom Mr. Roberts and I went to Edith, about seven miles distant, where the beginnings of a new town were very evident, and where there will soon be a number of new buildings in the course of erection. This place is about three miles from the great salt plains in the bed of the Cimmaron River. the Cimmaron River. The railroad spans this river and the salt plains by a pile bridge 3,180 feet long. The steel rails for this bridge are being laid at this writing, and trains will soon be passing over it. Some two miles beyond Edith is the new town of Salt Springs where telephone connection and several new buildings indicate another new town on the new railroad. I should like to linger here and tell the readers of THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY about the wonderful big salt plains. They are about seven and a half miles long and from half a mile to two miles and parsonage there for a number of years, but for some time it has not been possible to have a pastor there owing to the lack of available men and the need of money. Mr. Roberts is making every effort to secure a minister for the people of this little town. The field is a most interesting one, as I discovered during a visit which I made to it last summer. It certainly causes a heartache to learn how these pioneers have stayed by their homesteads so far removed from railroad transportation. How they appreciate a religious service, and wide, following the river bed. It has been discovered from borings that about sixty feet below the surface the salt rock is from thirty-eight to a hundred feet thick, and a factory is assured, now that the railroad runs right over these wonderful saline deposits. Between Salt Springs and Buffalo two other towns have been planned and platted. I have traveled over this country by automobile, and with the exception of a ranch of 21,000 acres, it is well settled. Buffalo is a town of some six hundred people. Beyond it about eight miles is Doby Springs, so named because of springs of water which testings have proved ninety-nine per cent pure. Congregationalists have had a church building how grateful they are for an occasional ministerial visit is most apparent from the way they turn out at such times. The Sunday School at Doby Springs has been kept up right a'ong and every traveling evangelist is given a hearing. Far beyond, westward almost in a straight line, through the counties once known as No Man's Land, this railroad will extend into the coal fields of New Mexico, with towns and communities like the ones described above, which must be reached by the Gospel, and where we ought to have a share in encouraging Christian ideals. The annual church meeting at Waynoka was held on January 5th. The ladies served a supper to about of our resources, relatively speaking, of course. The United States census just taken will total between fifteen and sixteen hundred people in Waynoka township. There may possibly be some two hundred more, but they are men who work on the railroads and have their residence elsewhere. Half of them are Mexicans, perhaps, in camps and on the sections of track, doing repair work. I would that we could help them in their own language with the Bible and gospel work! The church building at Waynoka is a plain frame structure, about thirty by forty on the inside. It is just one plain room, and would seat about a tion. The same is true of three other church buildings in the town, so that strangers coming here to locate have a struggle with their sense of the fitness of things ere they can really feel at home in our modest meeting-houses. Homes in Waynoka are growing more pretentious, and the contrast is likely to get on one's nerves. However, we all have our obligations, and the high cost of living is as evident here as elsewhere. We are planning for a church building with a basement that can be used for all the social gatherings of the church and community. This basement will have a kitchen, diningroom and furnace rooms. The audi torium will be on the main floor, and I accomplish all this, but we shall need to have the Church Extension Boards and the fellowship and encouragement of the denomination back of us. We expect to do our very best. It will be difficult, for these days even an ordinary store costs $20,000. This is for the glory of God and the good of mankind, and some day this church will be doing for others what is now being done for it. OUR SWEDISH GENERAL MISSIONARY By Rev. J. A. Peterson, Little Falls, Minn. HAVE been working under the commission of The Congregational Home Missionary Society since the month of January, 1910, at which time I started to serve as pastor of the Swedish Congregational Church at Culdrum, Minnesota. In 1912 I accepted the care of the following fields: The church at Culdrum, and the Swedish mission churches at Darling, Randall and Freedhem, also in Minnesota. As these churches were within favorable distance of the city of Little Falls it was possible, by extremely hard work, to serve the five churches, which I did until September 1, 1915, at which time I was called upon to succeed Rev. A. P. Nelson, as General Missionary among the Swedish churches in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. The term "general" indicates to a certain extent the nature of my work. The main duty is to see that congregations are supplied with the Gospel, and if that duty is fulfilled the missionary must always be on the alert. When a vacancy occurs in any church, he must endeavor to find a man suitable for that particular work, and in many cases must supply the pulpit himself until the right man is found. At the present time there are in my district seven churches without regular pastors and these must be visited ferquently. The General Missionary must also have in mind the organization of new Sunday Schools, churches or Ladies' Aid Societies where opportunity offers. During the years of my missionary service I have helped to organize three churches, six Sunday Schools, five Ladies' Aid Societies and three Young People's Societies. I use the English language largely in my work. I wonder if a few words about the missionary's family will be of interest? There are five boys and two girls, the oldest boy being twenty-one years old and the youngest boy four. The oldest girl is fifteen and the youngest seven. They are the liveliest young folks imaginable. My own home, it will be readily understood, is where I hang my hat, and it will not be possible for me to spend very much time with these young people until I cease to be a traveling missionary. It is quite a sacrifice to be away from them, but I agree with Paul, that "seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not." How often we forget the justice of the comprehending look! To know what we ourselves desire is necessary; but even our own innocent desire must take its measure and proportion from the rightful needs and allowable desires of others. |