well understood object, as a teacher's
or missionary's salary, or a share in one, which should apparently but
not really exhaust the resources of the society, and have the payments
made as early in the year as practicable. Then pursue intelligent study
of the other fields until the time is ripe for proposing generous aid to
the one which appeals most strongly to the combined judgment and
sympathy. And so on through the year, in which time the six benevolences
can all be reached. This somewhat irregular method of procedure has
perhaps no better defence than that it has been known to produce good
results. A society the intelligence and consecration of whose members
could be relied upon would doubtless find the plan of monthly pledges,
to be divided according to some accepted schedule, much easier. No
special labor would have to be expended to make the need apparent, or to
awaken sympathy for the object, or to choose the best means of attaining
it. Gifts would be systematic and uniform throughout the year and could
be counted upon.

The machinery, well oiled at the start, would run smoothly and quietly,
and woman's work would not be made unpleasantly prominent. But it seems
doubtful whether as many gifts would flow into the treasury and whether
the gifts would be accompanied by as much interest, sympathy and prayer.

The hints concerning management thus far presuppose a Home Missionary
Society organized on the modern basis of a programme of devotional
exercises and various mission studies, and do not apply to those cases
in which such exercises have been engrafted upon a sewing society with a
long line of Dorcases as Presidents, and antecedents too respectable to
be ruthlessly set aside. How shall a sewing society be so modified as to
best subserve the present home missionary needs? Do not create friction
by attempting a sudden and complete revolution. Propose that the brief
devotional exercises with which such gatherings sometimes close be
placed a little earlier than usual, that there may be time for some
interesting missionary letter or some inspiring leaflet, or other
selection, or better still, an original paper on some live topic. When
about the usual season for beginning the missionary box arrives, prepare
a symposium on the subject of boxes. Select and distribute brief
paragraphs from the magazines concerning missionary debts, from
missionary letters concerning unpaid salaries, and lead gradually up to
the questio