FINANCIAL NOTICE.
Only two months remain of our fiscal year. We regret to say that a debt of nearly $20,000 is impending. This arises from the encouragement which the prosperity of the country at the beginning of our fiscal year gave us to make some additional appropriations to meet the most urgent calls that pressed upon us from the field. A decline in that prosperity has been intensified by the drought in many parts of the country, and our receipts for our regular work have fallen off.
We give the notice thus early that pastors and churches who sympathize with us and in our work, and in our effort to avoid a debt, may take immediate steps to avert the danger. We are confident that if the collections of churches that are behind in their offerings, and those that are set down for August and September, are promptly and generously made, the deficiency will be covered; but, fearing this may not in all cases be done, we venture to ask individuals having our cause at heart to assure the certainty by additional contributions.
The pastors and officers of the churches can be our most efficient helpers by securing collections and making remittances promptly. We earnestly invoke the aid of our friends. A debt at the close of this year (September 30) will compel harmful retrenchment for the next. The field has never been more fruitful in good results. The command of the Master is, “Go forward.” We cannot go into the Red Sea of debt. Will our friends wield the rod of Moses and open the waters for us?
PARAGRAPHS.
Mrs. Sarah Spees, who died at York, Nebraska, June 10th, was for many years one of our faithful workers among the Indians at Red Lake, Minn. Born in 1832, at Nelson, Ohio, she was converted at the age of fourteen years, and took at once strong and decided grounds for Christ. She was for a time a pupil of Mr. Sturgis, of Micronesia, who inspired her with missionary zeal. Soon after her marriage to the Rev. Francis Spees, she went with him to his missionary field among the Chippewas of Minnesota, bearing the severest privations. The journey required great fortitude. The Indians were in the rudest state of heathenism, and life itself was not secure. Amid scenes of danger and peril, she never shrank or wavered, or regretted that she had entered on so arduous a work. For three years, Mr. and Mrs. Spees labored among these people, and then left them for a quieter work at Tabor, Iowa. Ten years later, the way was opened for their return, and no sooner were they back among the red faces than a precious revival was enjoyed among the Government employees. In addition to her work as missionary, Mrs. Spees added the care of the Girl’s Boarding School. This was too great a tax upon her, and after a few years her strength gave out, and she was obliged to rest. For three years she waited by the river. Her pastor says that often, when visiting her in her feebleness, he found her wearied with the slow progress of the work of Christ on earth, and turning over in her mind how money could be raised for the spread of the Gospel. Her work well done, she has now entered upon the “rest that remaineth to the people of God.”
The Pastor of the Central Congregational Church of Brooklyn must take a great deal of solid satisfaction in the noble missionary work of its Sunday-school. Thoroughly imbued as he is with the mission spirit, he does not fail to impart something of it even to the lambs of his flock. This school is also blessed with one of the most earnest and successful Christian workers of the city as its superintendent, and, therefore, it is not surprising that, in addition to its own local missionary work, it supports, this year, four missionaries—one in the foreign field, and three among the Freedmen. We take great pleasure in referring to this school, whose example might be followed by many others with great benefit to the cause of missions, and, also, to the schools themselves.