was to be our
last place of labor in Michigan. The ladies of this Conference,
though not yet organized for home work under the State society, for
several years supported a missionary in the South, largely through
the personal effort of one active lady, who made this special
collection her care. With the closing of this Bureau visit to the
ladies of Michigan the work is left in their hands--not to be
forgotten by them, but to be developed and strengthened until there
shall be a rich annual fruitage of effort and practical result.

* * * * *

CHILDREN'S PAGE.

* * * * *

CHRISTMAS GIVING AT MYSTIC, CONN.

REV. CHARLES H. OLIPHANT.

The Editor has asked me to give some account of the way our
Sunday-school behaves itself at Christmas-time.

There are two ideas about the Church; and as parents feel and think
about the Church the children will be pretty sure to think and feel
about the Sunday-school. One conception of the Church is that it is a
kind of receptacle for pious people. When one becomes "good enough"
he is expected to get into this receptacle and there be acted upon by
the means of grace. It is one of the mischiefs of this notion that it
seems to excuse laymen from any active part in Christian work, if
only they are regular attendants upon divine service. So, many people
come to the preaching and the praying as if there were nothing for
them to do, nothing either great or small. Such members may be said
to be found in the "passive voice."

The other and better notion is that the Church is not a receptacle,
but an engine; not a box for Christians to get into, but a "body" for
them to operate, and through which Christ can act upon the world of
to-day. According to this view, the minister is not the only member
whom the Master has called into His vineyard, the ideal Church is not
so much a company of sheep as a company of soldiers; the congregation
comes together not simply to "hear Mr. ----," but to organize for
work. This may be called the Church's "active voice." I cannot
(within the verbal limits assigned me) measure the miles of distance
which lie between these two views.

The same confusion of thought prevails in the Sunday-school. We know
how the small boy finds that Sunday-school the most attractive (and
that teacher the "nicest") whose Christmas-tree pays the largest
dividend.

[Illustration: CHILDREN BEARING CHRISTMAS GIFTS]

Whe