American Missionary | Page 2

to support us until my next month's payment, and for means to go to the meeting of the A.B.C.F.M., in case I attend."
"Twenty-five cents of this money was from a woman 82 years old. She is almost helpless. The family in which she lives is very poor. She has not a penny that she calls her own. She said to me, 'Here is the widow's mite. I prayed that the Lord would send me something to give away. You please take it and send it where it will do the most good.' I send it to you trusting that with her prayers of faith, it may be useful."
The writer of a letter enclosing a donation of $10 adds in a postscript in regard to the donor: "Mrs. A---- was born May 5th, 1787, and is an old contributor."
"I have expended all my appropriation for charitable purposes this present year, yet I can, perhaps, curtail in some directions and so remit to you $20 as a small tributary to swell the stream for meeting indebtedness. I hope your appeal will accomplish the results desired.
"Through abounding grace, my wife and I are once more permitted the joyful privilege of sending for the general work of the American Missionary Association, $100 enclosed herewith in draft to your order. (Their third contribution this year. Ed.) Say to the dear brethren in the work of the Master: 'Be of good courage, fear not, for I am with you'; His own words enduring forever."
"Enclosed, please find check for $100. I am always glad to be remembered on special appeals when they are necessary, even if I cannot help. I do not know that I enjoy anything more than what I am able to give to the A.M.A. I trust your appeal will find many generous responses."
"Your kind and thoughtful letter of the 13th, received. It affords me real pleasure to respond to your call for our Association. The good Lord has more or less blessed me with opportunity and ability to acquire money, and may He forbid that I should turn his blessings into curses by hoarding the gifts of his providence, when the cry of the poor and down-trodden is heard. I enclose my check for $100 for the cause."
"It is a small contribution, but it comes from a small church. Certainly it represents a genuine interest in the work of your society and is accompanied with prayers for its success."
An executor, in remitting a legacy of $500 says: "It is not due according to the terms of the will till next spring, but you may find it useful at this time to help out the year."
We have received from Oaks, North Carolina, towards the extinguishment of our debt, a contribution from forty-nine different persons, amounting to $5.66. This represents a degree of sacrifice, not surpassed, perhaps, by any who have contributed. Seventy cents of it were in cash; sixty-six cents were value in fodder; one dollar and thirty-four cents in potatoes and corn; one dollar and one cent in work.
The missionary who is ministering to these very poor people says: "If all who love the A.M.A. would do as well, according to their ability, your treasury would be filled."

THE MOHONK CONFERENCE.
This Conference is unique in its character, and in the place where it is held. Lake Mohonk was born in a great earthquake that sunk it in its solid rocky bed, and piled up around it wonderful ranges of hills and vast splintered rocks. The splendid summer resort built on the margin of the Lake is the work of Mr. A.K. Smiley, a man of creative genius, and of kind manners and a warm heart. The house, or rather the range of houses, is picturesque, and the walks among the hills and down the rocky gorges, and the forty miles of excellent roads, give the widest scope for walking and driving.
The Conference is the invention of Mr. Smiley. To it, he invites annually a hundred or more guests, giving them the freedom of the house; and three days are spent in the discussion of Indian affairs, interspersed with afternoon drives amid the striking scenery. The invitation is extended to those who are supposed to be intelligently interested in the Indians; but within that limit there is the freest range--men and women of all political parties and of all religious denominations being included. The acts of the Conference, like the utterances of a Congregational Council, have only the authority of the reason that is in them; yet it is wonderful what an influence this peculiar body has had on public sentiment. Its utterances have been discussed and have had their weight in the pulpit, the press, in Congress and in the White House. The Indian and the Nation owe much to the Mohonk Conference.
The Sixth