Norman's last expressed hopes was that her successor might be one who would carry on the work with increased zeal and faith and love. The good Lord supply our need, for His dear Son's sake! The Women of Scripture. By the Rev. J. E. Sampson, Vicar of Barrow-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. XVII.-A POOR WOMAN. MARK XII. 41-44; LUKE XXI. 1-4. VERY poor woman. And a widow too. I cannot tell you her name. It is nowhere recorded. Ah, I err in saying so. It is recorded, but not on earth. It shines brightly in rich illuminated characters in the roll of the Book that is written in heaven. 'The spirits of just men made perfect,' they know her name. And angels know it. And, best of all, God knows it. 'I have called thee by thy name ; thou art Mine.' But nobody knew her here. Brightly her lamp shined, but nobody saw it. 'Eyes have they, but they see not.' Quietly, calmly, her life went on. It ruffled no one's path. It attracted no one's admiration. There was nothing in it heroic or grand, as men estimate these things. She was one of the Lord's hidden ones. Did I say she lived in peaceful tranquillity? She did, so far as the great world around her knew. But she had bowed before storms, and trembled beneath clouds, as black, as terrible as had fallen on any others. Once she had a husband. She was a widow now. Who can tell what pages of sorrow are written on that one fact? Whatever she had in his lifetime, she was poor, very poor, now. Widowhood and poverty, friendless and forsaken, was ever case more desolate? All she had was 'two mites, which make a farthing.' But her poverty did not keep her from the Temple. She 'came,' we are told. I should not have wondered if she had come to sit at the 'Beautiful gate' that she might ask an alms.' But no. The little glimpse we get of her as she 'came' rather suggests the thought that in her secret heart she was treasuring that golden saying of her God, 'Let thy widows trust in Me.' Though she had but 'two mites,' I see in her no 'care for the morrow.' Certainly I could not have blamed her if she had kept her 'two mites,' or at least one of them, for the morrow's wants. It would have seemed but provident. Have we not often thought of the very poor, that they are too poor to give anything for our missionary work? If we have, is it not because we have thought it to be our work, man's work, to be ruled by man's estimate, rather than the Lord's work, to be done by the Lord's people? I shall not soon forget the words which 'a certain poor widow' said to me a few days ago. 'There are no collectors for the missionaries,' she said. 'Yes,' I said; 'every house in the village is visited, I expect.' 'They never come to me,' she said, 'and I feel grieved. Widowhood and poverty are, I think, grief enough. But here was another grief. Let us take heed lest in our collecting we grieve the poor and the widow. There is a sweet solace in giving to the Lord, a joy in His merciful acceptance of our gifts, which we may not deny even the poorest. Nor yet let the poor servant of the Lord deem her gifts to be of little worth. I think this 'certain poor widow' thought less of her gifts than of the Giver of all; less of what she gave than of Him to whom she gave. Our offerings are not to our 'Society,' but to the Lord. We need not care to calculate their value. He knows what and why we give. "The rich men' are said to give 'much,' but He tells us exactly what 'this poor widow' gave. He notes not only the 'farthing,' but, with a delicate attentiveness to her needs, he notes also that she had not kept for herself even one of her 'two mites.' I love to notice this little Scripture 'sum '—'two mites, which make a farthing.' Let us go to Christ's school that we may learn Christ's arithmetic. Then shall we know more clearly the real value of things. 'Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury.' And when He saw the 'poor widow casting in thither two mites, He called unto Him His disciples.' His lesson from her example was intended especially for their ears. She came, and went, and knew not that her 'two mites, which make a farthing,' were to be a lesson for the Church in all ages. She came and cast in her 'two mites, which make a farthing,' little thinking that she had 'cast in more than they all.' There is a wealth in pious poverty which men little think of. There are mines in our back streets yet unworked. I said I could have excused 'this poor widow' if she had not given. But I venture to think that such excuse is a product of these last and 'perilous times.' From the very first I see men rendering somewhat 'unto the Lord for all His benefits.' Abraham and Jacob gave their tenth, and gave it apparently as a matter of course. The Israelite gave much more. Even in those degenerate days when Jesus sat over against the treasury,' rich and poor all gave. The sin of not giving, or of giving only what we can easily spare, or of thinking that we may give or not as we please, has been reserved for the closing days of this Christian era. But let 'disciples,' at least, learn of 'this poor widow,' or rather of Him who 'looked up and saw' her, to love the praise of God more than the praise of men. Our Fourth Anniversary. ANY of our Home Workers will look back with thankfulness to the first week in last May. The proceedings began on Wednesday evening, May 7th, with a Prayer Meeting at the Society's Home at Maresfield Gardens, which was attended by a large number of our workers in England, and by Miss Blandford and Miss Haitz from the Foreign field. The Rev. J. E. Matthews, Vicar of Swanwick, gave a very useful address on John xii. 24, which he described as one of the 'germverses' of the New Testament. Several friends engaged in prayer for a special blessing on the proceedings on the morrow, and on the conference to assemble on Friday. The Anniversary Meeting was held at the Polytechnic on Thursday morning, May 8th. Sir John H. Kennaway, Bart., M.P., took the Chair at eleven o'clock. The Rev. J. F. Andrews, Vicar of Roxeth, offered prayer, and the Report was read as follows:: With feelings of deep gratitude to Almighty God your Committee meet again their friends and constituents on the occasion of our Fourth Anniversary. They are happy in being able to report an Income of over £20,000, which God has graciously given to His servants; and they note with thankfulness and expectation, not only that this is the largest income they have received, but also that the rate of increase has been greater than in any former year. From every part of the mission field has come one glad tale of blessing and opportunity; blessing abundantly vouchsafed on labours spent, and opportunity for fresh endeavours all around. Indeed the main anxiety which has weighed on your Committee during the past year may be expressed in the single word 'overstrain.' The work set before wellnigh every worker has been more than she could properly overtake; and we have been continually fearing 'breaks-down.' Still in this also the Lord has been very gracious to us, and the health of our working band at all our 31 foreign stations has been on the whole well maintained. To Him be all the praise ! I. NORTH INDIA MISSIONS. 1. Calcutta and Neighbourhood.Each branch of our work in Calcutta and neighbourhood shows good progress. เ (a) The Examiners report 'a marked improvement' in all the three divisions of the Normal School. Five of its pupils passed out at Christmas, and will, we hope,' says Miss Hunt, 'make really useful Ženana teachers.' The Native Training Class is also doing well, and the Central School, where the students practise the art of teaching, is in itself an important missionary agency, with 118 Bengali girls, mainly non-Christian. The Normal School is in fact a great Central Institution-a training-ground whence our North India Missions draw supplies. (b) The Misses Highton's Bengali work, which extends to the villages round Calcutta, shows more than 600 pupils in II schools, besides 103 Zenana pupils taught at home. 'Christian School work,' writes Miss Gore, who filled Miss Highton's place during her absence in England, 'arches India with a magnificent rainbow of hope.' Now I must pray to God before I go to my bed,' said a little child at the outstation of Howrah, who had bought at school a little book by A.L.O.E. In this way seed is sown in many a home. (c) The Mohammedan work in Calcutta has difficulties peculiar to itself. Nevertheless Miss S. Mulvany has been able to carry on Christian teaching in some 30 or 40 Mohammedan and 2 or 3 Parsee houses. 2. The Converts' Home at Barrack pore, like the Calcutta Normal School, is a handmaid to all our North India Missions. Miss Good has had the joy of seeing in connection with it 6 baptisms in the course of six months, 2 from Barrackpore, and 4 from other places. The number in the Home during the year has been 14; of this number one has become a teacher, two have gone back to their homes and are doing useful work in the villages, and one is at present in the Alexandra School at Amritsar. Your Committee propose to connect with the Converts' Home their longdesired Training Class, in which widows, carefully chosen from among the Native Christian community around Krishnagur, may be trained as missionaries to their fellow-countrywomen. This, it is hoped, will in time be removed to Kapasdanga or Chaprah, as suggested in last year's Report; but our funds will not permit this at present, and rather than delay the matter longer, the class will be begun at Barrackpore; and thus a third Central Institution will be formed which will be of use to this group of missions. The prayers of our friends are asked on its behalf. tone. 3. Our Krishnagur Mission has been visited by Mr. Meek of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 'I am delighted,' he told our missionary, 'with your work and with the spiritual I wish instead of 5 you had 50 schools and half a dozen Zenana helpers. If I were a lady I should feel tempted to come and work here.' In addition to the Zenana, school, and itinerating work carried on by Misses Collisson and Dawe, the latter has been asked by Mr. Clifford, C.M.S., to superintend some Zenana work begun by two C.M.S. teachers at Santipur, where is a population of 30,000 souls. She says, 'They can get an entrance to all the houses, and that simply for Bible-teaching without any secular work;' and again, 'We could extend in every direction if only we had the workers.' 4. The work at Burdwan has materially developed. A higher class school has been opened for the daughters of Bengali gentlemen officially connected with Government; and Miss E. Mulvany has been cheered by a visit from the Lieut.-Governor, who, in one of his progresses through Bengal, went to see her school, and sent her a donation of Rs. 100. Your Committee hope to try the experiment of making Ranegunge a kind of out-station of Burdwan, where our missionaries may do some work for the Master during the months of August and September, when Burdwan itself is unhealthy. 5. The Bhagulpur Mission is described as 'full of encouragement.' Miss Haitz, with Miss Pinniger as her colleague, has been able to gather round her groups of women and speak to them of the Saviour's love. Miss Butler's medical work has been carried on by means of dispensary and house visitation. The attendances for six months ending September last numbered 3651. She is now assisted by a compounder and by two Bible-women, and we look forward hopefully to many cases in which soul-healing will attend this bodily cure. 6. Our Jabalpur Mission has three branches, the Bengali, the Mohammedan, and the Hindi; numbering respectively 50, 41, and 43 Zenana pupils, 134 in all, being a large and rapid increase, for which, in so central and influential a place, we cannot but thank God. Miss Branch has returned to the work which the Misses Daeublé have carried on so diligently in her absence. 7. At Mirat Miss Hornle reports that out of some 22 Zenanas where she gives Bible instruction, only six require secular instruction also, and Miss Strælin writes: 'The number of my houses is constantly increasing.' The opening of another Hindu Girls' School is also reported. 2. PUNJAB AND SCINDE MISSIONS. 1. At Amritsar, besides 20 Schools (including two Normal Classes), nearly 100 Zenanas, of which many more than formerly are among the influential class, and prosperous village work, Miss Wauton has two deeply interesting institutions. The Converts' Home, like its fellow at Barrackpore, is a central agency which serves the missions all around. In October last Miss Wauton moved into the city, where the missionaries and their converts are able to be under one roof; and she has during the year commenced what will, we hope, become a second central institution, a Hindu Widows' Industrial Class, where, according to Apostolic rule, they are taught to 'labour, working with their hands the thing that is good,' and where table-cloths, curtains, etc., are made from their own designs, in which there is much indigenous art. The Alexandra School is described in Mr. Clark's recently published volume, as an institution which has probably no parallel in North India, and of which the Amritsar Mission may well be proud.' 'It is a boardingschool for native Christian girls of good family.' It was never in a more hopeful state or doing better work than now. The inspector found 64 names on the roll and 60 actually present. He reported 'a perceptible and marked improvement,' and he pronounced the external appearance of the school to be excellent, the order and discipline perfect. Miss Gray on her arrival was very warmly received, and your Committee are thankful to add that Miss Swainson is now to be relieved of the Orphanage, for which the C.M.S. are making other provision. The thanks of your Committee are due to Rev. E. H. Bickersteth, who has kindly_promised a grant of the 'Hymnal Companion' for use at the school. Miss Hewlett's medical work is interesting and useful as ever. She has 21 beds in the Mission Hospital : and has received during the year 180 in-patients, of whom no less than 130 were discharged cured or greatly relieved. 'I shall never forget,' said one of them, 'what I have heard, or what you have done for me: I shall pray to God every day to bless you.' The Maternity Hospital has now been placed by the Municipality under her care. One of her patients was baptized on January 26. Mr. Clark writes on March 24: 1 Thirty Years of C. M.S. Work in the Panjab and Scinde, by the Rev. Robert Clark, Lahore, 1883. A volume of singular interest. |