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28 Items of Missionary InteUigence.make their offerings for it, and he will bless usyet more and more.J. B. Dales, Cor. Sec.PhiladeljMa, Pa.ABROAD.smaller numbers in Arizona, New Mexico,MAD AGASCAR.—On this island there Dakota. are Washington, Oregon and Alaska.over eight thousand communicants and twelvehundred Protestant churches, more than halfof which were built.within fourteen years.AT HOME.ALASKA—Under the influence of Mrs.MacFarland, the motherof missions in Alaska,a girls' boarding-school was started, ten yearsago, at Fort Wrangel, but the opposition ofthe government officials, culminating in theunwarranted arrest of Dr. Jackson, hinderedits earlier growth ; yet, since the appointmentof a new set of officers, ihe school has prospered,and been subsequently removed to Sitka.The Greek Church has done some work amongthe people, but the results are insignificant.The good effects of our missionary labors thereare seen in the improved external conditions oftheir homes. The great bain of the Indians iswhiskey, whose use the missionaries endeavorzealously to repress. The zeal and patiencedisplayed by the Christian laborers in Alaskaare not excelled on any missionary soil.—ThePreshyterian.THE WEST.—The Ghurch at Home andAbroad, speaking of that part of the UnitedStates lying west ofthe Mississippi river, says:Vastly as foreign and interstate immigrationhas poured into this area, the population is, ofcourse, still almost as small, relatively, as thearea is large. There are doubtless twelve millionsof people, or one-fifth of our whole population,west of the Mississippi. Nine and onehalfmillions are native born—children of immigrants,or sons and daughters of parentsfrom New England, from the Middle States,from the Oentral West, or the South. Twoand one-half millions are foreign born. Tbenorthwest contains one-half of our whole Germanpopulation. The porportion of Irish isless than in the large cities and the easternstates. On the other hand Minnesota alonecontains one-fourth of all the Swedes andNorwegians in the land. The French andEnglish, muoh fewer in number, are more generallydistributed, except that there is a considerableconcentration of French in NewOrleans. The surviving remnacts of Indiantribes, numbering two or three hundred thousand,are mostly in the Indian territory, withThe one hundred and fifty thousand Normansare mainly concentrated in Utah, but havespread into Idaho and Wyoming.What is tbe state ot religion ? The membersand adherents of all Christian denominationsnumber about two and a hall millions, or lessthan one-fifth of the whole population. Ofthese some three hundred and sixty thousandare members and adheients of our ownchuroh.The nine and one-half millions outside ofchurch ties, from the remoteness and inaoffioienoyof the means of grace, are less underthe pressure and restraint of religious influencesthan the godless masses in the olderstates. Intemperance, gambling, lawlessness,and violence are general and unchecked.Roughness and reckless license largely characterizethe modes of living. The Sabbathis widely profaned, often almost wholly disregarded.Materialism and infidelity pervadethe masses and clog the advance of the gospeland the kingdom.What has the Presbyterian chureh done forthis region 1 The Board has 853 missionariesat worn there, many of them covering largedistricts, and miuistericg each to severalchurches and out stations. There are besidesthese a considerable number of self-supportingchurches, most of which were once under theBoard's caie. There are a'so maintained by theWomen's Executive Committee some eightyschools, with about two hundred teachers,among the Indians, Mexicans and Mormons.The Board expended in this region last yearnearly $300,000,Jand its receipts from the samefield last year were over $42,C00, a markedevidence of hfe and growth and success.ANNUAL REPOR P OF THE A. M.MILLIGAN MEMORIAL MIS­SION BAND.To-day ends the second year of our existenceas an <strong>org</strong>anized band. Of what use hasbeen our existence? What good have W6

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