The whole region may be defined as a group of sharply defined mountains and hills covered with a dense growth of pine timber, which, seen from a distance, gives them a dark and sombre appearance; hence the name "Black Hills." Now let us go into them. We are at Rapid City, the county seat of Pennington County, one of the thriving towns of southwestern Dakota. Among its 3,000 people we visit a dozen Baptists, and gently reprove them for not having at an early day set up the Baptist standard. It is a mistake for Baptists to think that they can do nothing because they have not a King like other nations." Now, with a concord coach and four spirited horses, we start off in fine style. For the first twenty-five miles the road skirts the "hills" and passes through an excellent farming country. Then we wind in among the foot-hills twelve miles, and roll into Sturgis in season for dinner, stop over one stage, visit fifteen Baptists, and preach in the evening. A church should be organized here at once. The railroad is graded to this point, and trains will be running before the snow flies. Take on two extra horses and plunge into the hills. Followed Bear Butte Creek the first fifteen miles. Canyon steep and narrow, so that the road in places is built upon a shelf along the side of the mountain. Now a wheel runs off, and we are on the point of being dumped into the creek. Unload and help get the stage upon the "shelf" again. Now we cross the rugged divide between Bear Butte Creek and Deadwood Creek. Four miles of this, and with steaming horses we enter the city of Deadwood. It is built in the gulch, where placer mining was begun in 1876. The gulch is very narrow, and will only admit of one principal street, the others being terraced up upon the sides of the mountain. Present population, 3,500. Two churches Congregational and Methodist. Twenty-five Baptists-part working in each of the churches. Preach Sunday morning at a union service in the Congregational church. The Baptists all say, "Send us a man to preach and organize churches in the different towns in the hills." An aged sister, whom I visited, said, "I have lived here seven years, and yours is the first Baptist sermon I have heard. I see by the papers that we are all the time sending ministers to foreign countries, and I can't help asking, 'Do Baptists in the East think more of the heathen than of their own brethren and sisters?' I suppose I ought not to have such thoughts, but in my loneliness they will sometimes arise." Sunday evening drove up to Lead City, three and one half miles, and preached in the Congregational church. Meet a few Baptists. Here is located the most extensive gold mine in the world. Five hundred and eighty stamps are worked, and 1,500 men employed. Population of town, 3,000. Fifteen miles north is Spearfish, with a population of 600. Now we will go through the "hills," and for this purpose secure a one horse stage, sometimes called a buckboard. The way lies over densely wooded mountains, and through beautiful valleys. The scenery constantly changing from rocky cliff to wooded summit, from narrow canyon to broader valley with its charming farm cottages; a perfect kaleidoscope. In this way we make sixty miles, passing through a half dozen beautiful villages, and reach Custer City, the county seat of Custer County. The town was named after General Custer, who encamped here a few days on his expedition to Montana, where himself and faithful band were slaughtered by the Indians. A beautiful town situated in the valley of French Creek. It has an elevation of 5,500 feet, and its pure air and water, with its wild and varying scenes to make it one of the most attractive places on the "hills." Population about 600, among which are a half dozen Baptists. Now we strike out through the hills again nearly east, to the Hot Springs, forty miles, where we spend the Sabbath. A beautiful town in a narrow gorge abounding in springs highly prized for their medicinal properties. Visit the Baptists and hold service morning and evening in the Methodist church, which is without a pastor. Visitors from almost every part of the country present. Twelve miles more bring us to Buffalo Gap on the railroad. Some excellent Baptist families here. Get them together in the school house and preach from the parable of the lost sheep. SUMMARY. Numbers of towns in the Black Hills having post offices, 55. Population of these towns, 18,000. Number of mines actually worked, 23. Bullion shipped in 1886, $3,206,504.90. Ministers employed: Congregational, one superintendent of missions, and 7 ministers; Methodist, superintendent, and II ministers; Presbyterian, 2 ministers; Lutheran, I minister; Catholic, three priests. There are at least 150 Baptists "like sheep having no shepherd," in the different towns in the hills. Ought we not send pastors to them ? "The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest." Luke IO: 2. →FROM THE FIELD. "Watchman, What of the Night?" The Work of French Evangelization in New England. From the address of Rev. C. E. Ameson, a French Canadian Missionary in New England, before the American Home Missionary Society at Saratoga, in June last, we glean the following facts which have a direct bearing on our Canadian French work in New England: "There are about 1,000,000 French-speaking people in the United States. Of these, 300,000 are in New England, and about 175,000 in Massachusetts. In the last named State about 10,000 are nominally Protestants, or inclined that way; 40,000 are socialists, anarchists, or bold and blatant infidels; the remainder, 125,000, are under the influence of Rome. And this in the Pilgrim and Puritan State, par excel lence! "The reasons why so many French-Canadians come to New England are not far to seek. twenty-sixth bushel yields about $4,000,000; her compulsory system of pew rents, $4,000,000, and under the old French laws in the Province of Quebec, she claims and exercises to the utmost her right to tax and assess the people for her huge bishop's palaces and churches which are being erected continually. By all these means she draws from a population not exceeding 2,500,000, a sum not less than $40,000,000 per year, and as the people are growing poorer every year, they must emigrate to live. But though thus oppressed by the Romish power, they are for the most part very bigoted Catholics, and their priests have openly taught them that their mission is to subdue New England to the sway of the Pope. 66 They are a most prolific race, families of ten or twelve children being the rule, and it is the aim of these priests to have all these children brought up in the Romish faith. At the present rate, in another generation these French Canadians and their descendants will outnumber the descendants of the Puritans and Pilgrims there. Shall it be to make Canadian Romanists the dominant power in New England, or to give over the land of the pilgrims to French socialists and anarchists? "These people can and must be converted, and the work must go forward with great energy and promptness now, or it soon will be too late." The movement for a Protestant Christian education of at least the young men of ability among the Canadian French, which is so strongly urged by Mr. Ameson, as well as by Rev. J. N. Williams in the September number of the MONTHLY, is one which our New England Christian men of wealth should push forward with the utmost zeal. UTAH.-Rev. Frank Barnett, of Ogden, is in affliction by the death of his oldest daughter. He writes: "We have thoroughly repaired the church within at a cost of about $225. The parsonage is done and we are in it. It is very comfortable indeed, for all which we are very grateful. I never saw more devoted work than I have seen among this people." This is substantial progress, and shows that our work in Utah is not in vain. LIGHT BREAKING IN. And here is a deeply interesting account of the way the truth is spreading, and of the work which Brother Barnett sometimes is called to do: "In a little settlement about eight miles away from Ogden, a company of young ladies, who had left the Mormon Church, met in a private house to talk over the matter of starting a Gentile Sunday school. Be "The first and cogent reason is that they are coming totally ignorant of how one should be conducted, pelled to escape from the oppression of Rome or starve. The burden she lays upon these poor people grows heavier each year. The grain tithe of each they sent to Ogden for some one to come out and organize and start them. The second Sunday after it was started I went out and found about fifty gathered in a private house. None of them had ever prayed in public, but one young lady said she had been praying in secret for help to come, and now that it❘ had come she was ready to do what she could publicly, and would attempt anything. She is the superintendent of the school and a most earnest young woman. An old, gray-headed man, who has been in Utah for thirty years, and a Mormon elder until within the last fifteen years, arose and said, with tearful eyes: For long years I have prayed that the time might come when my children might be| taught of Christ as He is; but they have grown up and left me, and have never heard, only from my lips, about pure religion. But, thank God, my prayers are answered on my grandchildren. They are yet to be taught the pure gospel. You may depend on me to do all I can to help on this work, and my house is always open for any minister of the gospel or any gospel service.' For the summer they are to erect a booth of branches to hold the school in, and are taking steps to build a school-house for the winter. They besought me to come out whenever I could. It was 'Cornelius' again calling for light. Just about eight miles in the opposite direction the people of the settlement had already organized a school and were running it to their great satisfaction. On one side of the house they had the Bible; on the other side they had Paine's 'Age of Reason;' and they were comparing and discussing the merits of the two, and telling the children to accept just which they pleased. They did not care for any preacher of religion, but wanted their children to think for themselves. "Three miles west of us Miss Oberg, our lady missionary, has started an industrial school of about forty, and the people are so taken up with it that one man has given ground for a school-house, and under Miss Oberg's management the community are about to build. She is spending her short vacation in working up that interest. On every hand men and women want the light of truth, which Mormonism cannot give. How white are the fields! How few the laborers! Only one Baptist minister in all Utah! "Last Sunday evening two were baptized into the church. The man had been a Catholic and the wife a Mormon. Another has been received for baptism, who for twenty years has been a Mormon, and yet said at our meeting: Through it all God has not permitted the spark of grace to die, and at last has brought me back to His own people.' We are praying for her husband, who has been drifting into doubt and to the use of strong drink. He is often in our services, and we hope he may yet be saved. How blessed the work to plead with these dear souls and see them come rejoicing into the light and truth! "God grant that this far-off whisper of Utah's need may be heard by the brethren of the East." tended funeral that ever took place in Spokane Falls. He was indeed a man; a GOOD man, and a safe man. He was our main dependence and best worker in all denominational matters on this field. How the place of so broad and good a man is to be filled we cannot say. He leaves a most important position as pastor unfilled at a time when we were in the worst condition to spare him. I now stand alone in the midst of seven pastorless churches on this very rapidly growing field. We have just had a grand revival in Garfield, W. T., right in the midst of harvest and the heat of summer. House would not hold the people. About forty conversions. Preaching by Miss Mary C. Jones." OREGON.-The church at Astoria is greatly revived under the ministration of Rev. M. L. Rugg, who has made heavy pecuniary sacrifices to do the work there. The prospects are good if the field can have a minis. ter "who will stick to it a few years." Indeed there is reason to believe it will become one of the strong churches of the State. KANSAS.-Rev. M. P. Hunt, of Ellsworth, says that the place is a county seat, with a population of 2,600, and that the little Baptist church of twenty-five resident members have just completed a new and commodious house of worship, costing $3,500, which was dedicated August 21st. Subscriptions for $1,500 were made that day for the payment of the indebtedness on the property. The outlook for the future is promising. -The church at Wamego proposes henceforth to become self-supporting. Rev. C. J. Coulton tells an interesting story of its struggles and triumphs. It pays to help such interests: "Two years ago, by the aid of our Baptist Home Mission Society, I commenced my labors here as pastor with a much discouraged people. Member. ship small and scattered. Not a yard of carpet upon the church floor; hard, cheap chairs for seating. Now the church is seated with neat, comfortable assembly chairs, good carpets upon the floor, a bap.. tistery built under the pulpit, the house renovated, the membership more than doubled, the spiritual con. dition good, and hope dwells strong in our midst. We commence the third year September 1st, feeling able by sacrifice and self-denial to sustain the preaching of the Gospel unaided by the Home Mission Society, and glad to become an aid in sustaining the Home Mission Society instead of longer being a dedependent upon its bounty. The two years of aid from your Society has saved this church to our de. nomination and the cause of our Blessed Master in this community. Long live the Baptist Home Mis. sion Society to aid and bless these weak and waste places is the prayer of this church." INDIAN TERRITORY.-Rev. G. W. Hicks, whose post-office address is Anadarko, Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita Agency, gives us interesting facts about his field. We hope that a communion set has been secured for him. If there are churches that would like to give their old communion sets to our mission churches we shall be glad to put them in correspondence with each other. attended school at Carlisle and other places, who can speak and read English well enough to help me very much if they can be induced to take hold. You can scarcely appreciate the disadvantage I "I reached this field on the 11th of July about have, to conduct this work. I am unfamiliar with midnight. Having been out here before I was some- the language here, and I have no ready interpreter, what acquainted with the place and with the people. in consequence of which I am prevented at times from All that knew me appeared glad to see me among | preaching. But I am determined to overcome this them again. It was really pleasant to see many | hindrance, by learning the language, which I have familiar faces and to be greeted with a hearty hand- commenced to do. shake, with the usual "Sar-ter-kee" (Wichita term for Cherokee). I found the Wichita Indians hard at work making preparations for their annual camp meeting, which was held July 14 to 18, with good results. Two professed conversion and were baptized by Rev. James | Edwards, missionary of the Territorial Baptist Con vention. Two others were received by experience. You are aware of the existence of a Baptist church among those Indians. It was established several years ago by the celebrated Delaware Chief, Black Beaver. Through the labors of missionaries sent here at different times by the Creeks and Seminoles, a good many of the Wichitas became followers of Jesus Christ, so that at one time the church numbered eighty members. But having no pastor--no regular missionary-many have been drawn away, others removed by death, reducing the church to probably one-third of its former membership. I have not yet ascertained the exact membership at present-but reckon they number about thirty. One truly en couraging feature of this church is, that it is a working church. With very few exceptions, the members take part in the meetings readily, either by singing, prayer, or speaking. They are not ashamed to testify in public for their Saviour. They are truly sincere and faithful, so far as they know how to be so. Another worthy characteristic of the spirit of these humble disciples of Jesus Christ, is their liberality in giving. They give freely and cheerfully, to bear the expenses of the church, and for other purposes. At the last camp meeting, a collection of $31.10 was taken, to be applied to the expenses incurred by the meeting. The church has lately been re-organized, by the election of pastor, deacons, clerk, treasurer, and sexton; which, we believe, is in accordance with the scrip. tural idea of a church. We have services every Sabbath either at the church or at an out-station; weekly prayer-meeting, woman's meeting and covenant meeting. The church decided to hold communion on first Lord's day in each month. If some church could donate a communion set to us, even a "second-hand" one, it would be gladly received and do much good. We cannot purchase one ourselves yet because we are struggling to raise money to pay off the camp meetIf ing debt, which was made before I came. church can do nothing for us please make our need known through the HOME MISSION MONTHLY. your I hope to organize a Sunday school as soon as I can find teachers. There are a few here who have This is a good field for missionary work. The Gospel is needed here as much as any place on the Western Continent. The good seed sown in this soil will in time yield abundant fruit, to the glory of our God. I am very much encouraged at present to look for God's blessing upon this people. MEXICO.-Brother Westrup reports an extensive revival at San Rafael, in New Leon, under the labors of Alejandro Treviño, assisted by Brother Powell of Saltillo, and Brother Treviño of Monterey. Meetings have been large-so large, indeed, that the place of mee ing would not at times accommodate them. Profound interest is shown in the truths of the Go A new pel. Fifty-seven have been baptized on profession of MINNESOTA. Rev. Kussell S. Sargent, who is ministering to the two churches at Sauk Centre and Long Prairie, regards them as very important fields, each of which should have the full service of a pastor, with preaching every Sunday. For lack of regular services some of our Baptist people, and others who would have attended the Baptist church, have been drawn into other congregations. Is not this an illustration of the proverb: "There is that wi holdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty' y"? -Rev. S. G. Adams, of Pipestone, tells what timely assistance has done for that field: "Only sixteen months have passed since Rev. A. S. Orcutt came to Pipestone, Minn. He found a very few dispirited Baptists, organized into a church years ago, but without a cent's worth of property. Encouraged by four hundred dollars-support from State Convention and Home Missions- he began work, giving half his time to this field. The promise of a five hundred dollar gift from the Chapel Fund encouraged the church to buy a lot well located and begin to build. Last December 15th Rev. A. S. Orcutt lost his life in a burning building. Rev. A. Walson, evangelist, had just come to assist in a series of meetings. Under this deep bereavement the writer, S. G. Adams, was invited to assist the evangelist. After a precious meeting I became pastor of the church. "Now we have property worth $3,500, a membership of fifty-one, twenty seven having been added during the last twelve months. During these twelve months $2,800 has actually passed through the hands of our treasurer, raised on the field. All this is the direct result of the few hundred dollars from the Home Mission Society. Now is the time to duplicate these facts all over the Northwest. "Men of Israel, help the Society, that she may plant perpetual local churches in all these rapidly growing towns." About Boxes. "I have to day received a box of clothing from the ladies of the Mission Band in --, N. J., and I must say I feel quite unworthy to receive such a bountiful supply of everything. It came in a very good time, for our clothes were all worn out, and they were such nice things that we can hardly believe our own eyes. May God bless them; they have done nobly." The ladies of the - Church, Brooklyn, recently sent a box to one of our missionaries in Kansas. In a note informing us that it was sent, we find some things so good that we must give our readers the benefit of them. "Its value, including freight, was $98, and that was a very low estimate for it. In the first place, we provided an immense barrel, and nearly every article it contained was new, and they were valued for just what we paid for them. I wish you could have seen all the nice, comfortable things that barrel contained. I never was more proud of any thing in my life. Our ladies seemed especially interested in Little Myrtle, (I suppose it was because she was a girl and my namesake), and every thing a child could wear was provided for her. We also sent some bedding, sheets, pillow cases, and a pair of blankets, all new. We bought fourteen suits of good, heavy flannel underwear, two suits apiece all around. I merely mention these few items, to let you know it contained no trash, and I thought it would be satisfactory to you to know about what we did send them." We call that, "doing the handsome thing." Chinese. The observance of the Chinese New Year in Mrs. Bradway's Mission School, Oakland, Cal., is thus described by Mrs. E. H. Gray: "A number of Christian friends were invited to call upon the Christian Chinese at the Baptist Mission on the evening of the first day of the celebration of the "Kong Hee Fah Choy," or the Chinese New Year. The converted Chinese of this school had assembled in their chapel the night before to welcome the New Year. And as soon as the clock struck twelve the company joined in singing the hymn commencing,- "Arise, my soul, arise, Shake off thy guilty fears," etc. Then they knelt in prayer, thanking God for the return of the New Year, and especially thanking him that this New Year found them, not idolators, as some of them were one year ago, but worshipers of the true and living God, and followers of Jesus Christ His Son. Then they arose and sung "Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice, On thee, my Saviour and my God," etc. After this followed mutual congratulations, and singing the praises of Christ, their glorious Redeemer. On repairing to the chapel Sunday evening, we found the Mission boys all there, with smiling faces and happy hearts. Their chapel was neatly and beautifully decorated with flowers and mottoeschiefly in Chinese; but conspicuous in large, beautiful, ornamented letters, in English, was the precious name of "CHRIST." This, evidently, was the name above all others these converted idolators delighte to honor. According to the Chinese custom, sweetmeats, in great variety, were passed around among the guests with their complimen's. Then followed a brief religious service. The boys singing some favorite hymns in Chinese, when short, appropriate remarks were made by Mr. J. H. Stevens, Dr. Bradway, Mrs. Bradway, and Dr. Gray. This was supplemented by remarks from the Chinese brethren, giving some description of the observance of New Year in China, and thanking the Christian friends for their welcome visit and sympathy in their mission work. The exercises were then brought to a close with prayer by Dr. Gray, the Chinese joining heartily in closing with the Lord's Prayer. In gazing upon that interesting group of former idolaters, now wor shiping the true God, how could we help exclaiming, "What hath God wrought!" All honor to Mrs. Dr. Bradway, the indefatigable and successful prin cipal teacher and worker in this school." -Upon the passage by Congress of the Bill appropriating $147,750 to indemnify the Chinese sufferers from the Rock Springs riots, Hon. William Walter Phelps spoke as follows: "I want to pay this amount because the Chinese Government asked for that sum. The sum represents only the property destroyed. The Chinese Government knows that our Government never likes to pay a claim in full, so it wisely presents its Bill only for the property destroyed, and says nothing of twenty-eight men murdered-nothing of fifteen men wounded-nothing of 700 Chinese hunted for ten days with club and rifle, like rabbits, until they were dispersed into the wilderness and their village was made an ash heap. "In the time when Great Britam was at war with China, an American citizen named Edwards was arrested by mistake as an Englishman, imprisoned from sunrise to sunset, and then released. The Chinese Government paid $31,600 for the injury done |