Here is the mightiest, the widest, the most fruitful, the most
abundant, the most prolific, missionary field that was ever opened
to any Christian people. It is right here at your doors. It is not
across the Pacific Ocean and it is not down yonder around the Cape
of Good Hope. Right here at our doors is the greediest people for
education and the gospel there is on the face of this earth, not
counted among our white race. I suppose that ninety-nine
one-hundredths of those who generously give to this cause believe
to-day that it is being given to in generous proportion. Ah! you
never figured on it. Why, if you knew the national value of this
work, to say nothing of its gospel value, you would quadruplicate
it before the year is out. You would not submit to it for a moment,
as citizens, not merely as members of Christ's Church.

* * * * *

The American Missionary Association is called again to mourn the
decease of one of its officers. Hon. Alfred S. Barnes, a member of its
Executive Committee, after an illness extending over five months, at
his residence in Brooklyn, finished his earthly life on Friday,
February 17th, at the age of seventy-one years. Mr. Barnes was elected
on the Executive Board of the A.M.A. nineteen years ago, and had
served in that capacity continuously up to the day of his death. He
was a wise counsellor, large-minded in his views and honorable in his
spirit, known throughout the land as one of the foremost publishers in
the country, largely interested in educational work, and yet he found
time for an earnest devotion to various enterprises in the Christian
church. His fidelity and helpfulness in the service of the A.M.A. are
fully known only to those who were associated with him. Many
organizations of missionary and Christian work will miss his presence