WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
This new organization held its first public meeting in Boston, March 18th. The ladies assembled at eleven o’clock in the lecture room of the Park Street Church, which was crowded. Mrs. C. A. Richardson, of Chelsea, presided; Mrs. J. F. Hunnewell, of Charlestown, acted as Secretary. By-laws were read and adopted. An address on the general subject was made by Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton; and Mrs. Steele, of Revere, gave a very interesting account of her labors in Maryland for eight years among the poor whites.
A more public meeting was held in the afternoon in the audience-room of the church, which was also well filled. Rev. Dr. Webb presided, and made a very appropriate and encouraging introductory address, sketching the new range of work opened for women in the missionary world, and assuring the new organization of the welcome it would receive by the officers and friends of the American Board and the Woman’s Board. By invitation, representatives of the American Missionary Association and of the American Home Missionary Society addressed the audience; Rev. C. L. Woodworth and Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D., appearing for the former, and Rev. Robert West and Rev. H. M. Storrs, D. D., for the latter. These gentlemen confined themselves, as was expected, to presenting a view of the wide fields occupied by their respective societies, and the great need and remarkable hopefulness which they furnished for the labor of woman in the elevation and Christianization of the more destitute women and children of the great West and South.
This new organization originated entirely with the ladies themselves, and, as far as we can judge, has been inaugurated and will be carried forward with great wisdom and efficiency, and with no spirit of rivalry, but with the utmost Christian consideration and love towards other similar boards. It is hard to predict the future of a new benevolent organization. Who could have conjectured in 1810 the grand reach of Christian labor achieved by the ever-to-be-honored American Board? And who, ten years ago, could have foreseen the remarkable energy and wonderful success—then latent, but now active—displayed by the Christian women of this land in the several denominations in co-operation with the great Missionary Boards? But while we cannot prophesy of the future of this new society, yet the success of those we have mentioned encourages us to anticipate for it a glorious career. There certainly is room in this our land, among the women and children of less favored portions and races, for the widest and most hopeful endeavors that can be put forth; and while the degraded of distant lands should not be neglected, certainly those in our own should not be passed by. This new Board has our warmest sympathies.
