Were such committees known to be in existence at the East, they speedily would be addressed by multitudes of intelligent and benevolent women, seeking aid in their efforts to gain opportunities to impart knowledge and salvation to the perishing heathen children in our own land.
Were such committees in existence at the West, and their eyes directed to the desolate regions of ignorance around them, they would soon find their warmest energies enlisted in gathering outcast lambs into the fold of safety, to be trained and guided to heaven.
To impart a more vivid idea of the wants which are to be met, and of one of the first objects to be aimed at, in the efforts proposed, some incidents in the experience of the writer will be narrated.
In a small village, less than thirty miles from one of the largest cities of the West, the writer once stopped to dine. Several children were playing about, when the following conversation took place:
“Is there any school in this place!”
“No, madam; it is a good while since we have had one. Miss L. came and taught here nearly a year; but she went home, and we have had no school since.”
“How many children are there here who would go to a school if there were one?”
“I should think there are as many as forty or fifty.”
“Do you suppose the parents would like to have a school, and would pay the teacher well?”