honest one, supplying an interesting comparison with the count of other elections. When the question arose as to who should represent the people in the Select Council of our city, Mr. Brun was chosen unanimously by a population largely Catholic; and for the school director, the elder of our mission, mentioned above, was elected. The mission has been characterized by preaching the Gospel to many who are continually coming and going; as a result we are ever coming upon evidences of the wide influence which has been exercised for good. The mission at Berwick is a child of the Hazleton mission. Mr. Brun during his recent visit to Italy, found men in many parts of Italy who had received their first knowledge of the Gospel at Hazleton. In the Abruzzi, there is a flourishing church organized by a former elder of this mission. At Pulsanto and Leporano near Taranto, he was welcomed by a large group of men who had all received their faith in Christ through our mission. The Chairman of the Board of Health of that place, who had just caused everything to be white-washed as a precaution against the cholera, was at one time a member of our mission. I met Mr. Brun shortly before his departure for Italy. He held in his hand a large piece of paper containing a petition from a goodly number of his former members, now living in Sicily, who earnestly requested him not to return to America before he had visited them. The work is supported by the help of the Synod of Pennsylvania, that body having never refused any request and always showing a sympathetic interest; also, by contributions from the churches and individuals of the Presbytery and by the offerings of the foreigners.

I wish I could give a bird's-eye view of our city of Hazleton. The Irish Catholics are taking steps to build a new parochial school building. The German Catholics have recently renovated their church. The Lithuanians have sold their building to a sect of the Greek Church and have purchased a new property on which they have already built a handsome parsonage and will soon erect a new church. The Slavs have an imposing church which cost more than $100,000 and is reputed to be the first Slavish church in America; right around the corner is their school building and social hall, while at the foot of the hill is another Slavish church recently erected at great cost. The Poles are about to build a new school

the onion steeples of a Greek church; across the city the onion spires of another Greek church glisten. The Tyrolians have occupied for the past three years a neat, cement edifice, while just this last year, a faction of the Italians built a new church leaving the mother church as she was about to begin the construction of a $30,000 edifice. Our friends, the Methodists, have appropriated $25,000 for the establishment of a large and well-equipped plant for work among the Slavs. Surely we may have the courage to ask for $50,000, to establish a school in connection with our mission, for the training of workers for this pressing and urgent cause.

"The foreign born come to this country because of better economic conditions obtaining here. They know that in America unskilled labor is paid from three to four times as much as in their native land; they know that industrial opportunities are far more numerous here than in older countries; and they know that once they make money in the United States, if they can keep it, they are free to use it as they think fit."-Peter Roberts.

“To understand the immigrant we should know him in the conditions which have shaped him, and which he has shaped, in his own village and among his own people; we should study the culture of which he is a living part, but which he is for the most part powerless to transport with him to his new home. He must, however, be known also as he develops in America in an environment curiously and intricately blended of old and new elements." -Prof. Emily Balch.

"This stupid experiment of organizing work and failing to organize play has, of course, brought about a fine revenge. The love of pleasure will not be denied, and when it has turned into all sorts of malignant and vicious appetites, then we, the middle aged, grow quite distracted and resort to all sorts of restrictive measures. We even try to dam up the sweet fountain itself because we are affrighted by these neglected streams; but almost worse than the restrictive measures is our apparent belief that the city itself has no obligation in the matter, an assumption upon which the modern city turns over to commercialism practically all the provisions for public recreation."

T

HERE are three Poles; the North Pole, the South Pole, and the "Universal" Pole. The first two are geographical points; the third is an ethnological quantity. The North Pole has been discovered by an American; the South Pole remains an object of future discovery for an American; the "Universal" Pole is in process of certain discovery by Americans.

We are discovering, in the first place, that the Pole is a universal and an appreciable factor in our population. We meet him in every state of the Union. We touch shoulders with him in our large congested cities. We encounter him in secluded country districts. Wherever we turn, we are apt to find him. So much so that we are beginning to be impressed not only by his universal presence, but also by his numerical size. To say that the Pole in the United States numbers about two millions and a half is to make by no means an extravagant estimate. And when to this number there are added annually from seventy-five to a hundred and twenty-five thousand new Polish immigrants, we need not be surprised if we are beginning to discover the Pole's presence among us.

In the second place, we are beginning to realize that the Pole presents to the Protestant Church of America an opportunity for service. For the Pole the Bible is a closed book; the Church-an institution that baptizes, marries, and buries people with mysterious religious rites, and everlastingly calls for money; and religion-a system of ecclesiastical ordinances, forms, and ceremonies, which ought to be observed and gone through in order to ward off evil spirits and at death possibly escape the devil himself. But religion as actual and real fellowship with God, a living and transforming power, a vital spiritual "experience," a potent moral force, a perennial source of inspiration, joy, and power, and a practical everyday life, is something that he does not know anything about. Here, then, we are discovering a splendid opportunity of the American Protestant Church to introduce the Pole to the reality of religion, and to lead

him to an experience of its transforming, purifying, ennobling, and uplifting power. So that in this new land of his adoption he may find not only a better living, but life itself.

Is, then, the Protestant Church of America using this opportunity? and to what extent? Yes-is the answer. But we are discovering, in the third place, that she is using this opportunity but very little. The Congregationalists have two Polish missions; one in Detroit, Mich., the other in Shenandoah, Pa. The Baptists carry on Polish mission work in Pound, Wis.; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicopee, Mass.; Philadelphia, Pa., and two or three other places. The Lutherans have three or four men in the field to look after the spiritual welfare of their Polish communicants. Our Presbyterian Church has a Polish mission in Baltimore, Md., started last May, 1910; also, a Polish mission in St. Joseph, Mo. Both of these missions are being aided by the Board of Home Missions. This is the whole extent of our Protestant missionary work to the two million and a half Polish immigrants in the United States, of whom, it is safe to say, about one-third do not attend the Roman Catholic Church.

May we not hope, therefore, that our discovery of the Pole,-who, without a country of his own, is becoming a citizen of the world, -his spiritual needs, and the little that is being done for him by the Protestant churches of America, and by our Church in particular, will lead our denomination to an earnest and vigorous effort to extend our ministry to him?

"Then he, the King, will say to those on his right, Come, you on whom my Father's blessing rests, enter upon possession of the Kingdom prepared for you ever since the beginning of the world. For, when I was hungry, you gave me food; when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink; when I was a stranger, you took me to your homes; when I was half-naked, you clothed me; when I fell ill, you visited me; and when I was in prison, you came to see me."

only 175 members, but they are people of thrift, devout in duty. Every Sunday, twice a day, they go to the services, which are of the Presbyterian form, and looking at the faces and remembering the nationality, one recalls everything he has read of the great division of the Austrian Empire.

This church was not merely connected with Bohemia and Moravia in time gone by, but the arteries of immigration are leading directly to it today.

Just a short distance away from this church, on Broadway and Madison street, is the Baltimore Austrian Immigrant Home, and if you

women sit, in their worn dresses-women with sallow complexions and the fine lines of hard work and care on their foreheads and around their eyes-they have the troubled aspects of people in new surroundings and uncertain of the future.

They will not remain in Baltimore, these people; they are going to the West and Northwest-some to linger in the cities, others to seek the farms, and most of them so poor that they would suffer much on the way but for the generous work of this useful home.

Every week the church pastor, notwithstanding his other labors, goes with the faithful

Bohemian deaconess to the pier to meet the incoming steamships. A friendly face-the native tongue-is like sunrise after the gloom and melancholy of the voyage over; here is a welcome upon landing, a grasp of the hand and cheer and encouragement for the rest of the long journey. How much this means only those know who have left home for the first time to go so far.

Only one who has been an immigrant coming to a strange land by way of the unspeakable experience of the steerage can understand aught of the loneliness and homesickness of the alien, when he first reaches these shores. Only such can know the comfort and courage and happiness that come with the friendly greeting of the missionary at the point of entry. It is full of the Gospel, and the finest possible expression of national hospitality.

The temporary Austrian Immigrant Home was opened by our missionary pastor, Rev. Vaclav Vanek, January 21, 1906, at 817 N. Washington street, Baltimore. October 1st, 1906, the new Home was bought at 800 N. Broadway for $4,500, which can accommodate over 40 people. Over 40,000 meals were served at this Home for a period of four years and over 16,000 lodgings provided. Expenses of this Home amounted to over $10,000. Hundreds of new homes were provided for the coming new arrivals.

This institution has the kind endorsement of ex-President Roosevelt; the governor of Maryland; Mayor Mahool, Baltimore; U. S. Com

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missioner of Immigration L. T. Weis, as well as that of the Presbytery of Baltimore and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

Bearing the seal of the Emperor of his native country, Francis Joseph, the Imperial Order from January 11, 1909, was received by the Austrian-Hungarian Embassy at Washington, conferring upon Pastor Vanek for his valuable services in behalf of the Austrian immigrants, the "Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown", which was conferred upon him March 25, 1909, at his home, 800 N. Broadway, by Baron Ambrozy, as representative of the Emperor. For the first time in history an American citizen was so decorated by Emperor Francis Joseph with such high honors.

Speaking on the importance of the Baltimore Austrian Immigrant Home, Rev. Dr. Charles L. Thompson, of New York, Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, said that the establishment of such homes should be the aim of all mission workers in all seaport towns of the United States. "In such homes as these," he said, "the church could work among the immigrants in a manner that is impossible under existing conditions. Baltimore has many beautiful monuments, but there is not one, viewed from above, that is more beautiful than the mission home for immigrants, established by Rev. Mr. Vanek." The Board is sharing in the maintenance of this efficient work.

other parts of the State. As a class the Mexican is shiftless, untrustworthy and undesirable, but many noble examples prove that he is capable of becoming a faithful Christian and valuable citizen. The Methodists, Baptists, Disciples, and Southern Presbyterians have successful missions among the Mexicans. Possibly the Southern Presbyterians are the most successful. They have an organized presbytery with several ordained ministers. and are planning the establishment of an industrial school for Mexicans. Our Church in Texas is doing nothing for this large foreign element.

The most promising outlook for work among foreigners is among the 75,000 Bohemians. They are a thrifty and prolific people, and their numbers are being increased by everenlarging tides of immigration.

Two per cent of the Bohemian population of the world is Protestant, but it is estimated that twenty-five per cent of the Bohemians of Texas are Protestant. This means that about 20,000 are not under the dominion of Roman Catholicism. The many mixed marriages also give Protestants access to many who are avowedly Roman Catholic. Only a small per cent are infidels. But even among those who acknowledge themselves Christians and Protestants the ignorance of the Gospel is appalling. One missionary writes of some Protestant families: "They have maintained their belief in God. But that is all. As far as knowledge about God is concerned, they are practically in utter ignorance."

Several independent ministers are at work among the Bohemians of Texas. One of them in particular, now an old man, has under his influence about 5,000 of his people, and his influence is against the ideals of American Christianity. He is endeavoring to keep his people aliens in the land of their adoption. He now has two young men working in sympathy with him. The Methodists are doing a good work, with several ordained ministers,

and about ten students preparing for the ministry. The Southern Presbyterian Church has one minister at work in the southeastern portion of the State. Our Church has five workers in the field. Rev. F. W. Rybar is a missionary of the Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work. Rev. John Schiller has charge of some organized churches in Houston and Austin Presbyteries. Rev. Vaclav Pazdral is preaching at several places. Rev. Joseph Sesulka, Penelope, Texas, is the only missionary wholly under the direction of the Board of Home Missions, and a valuable man he is. Two students labored in Texas during the past summer, Mr. Henry E. Beseda and Mr. Francis Hornicek. Miss Frances Psencik is supported by the women of Texas, through the Woman's Board, and she has been unusually successful. She is located at Rowena in the Presbytery of Brownwood. The Synod of Texas at its recent meeting asked the women of the synod to undertake the support of another missionary, and it is hoped they will soon be ready to put another worker in the field. The Synod also appealed to the Board of Home Missions to give Texas two more ministers who could give their full time to mission work. A minister is needed now to take up the work begun at Holliday and vicinity, and one for the work in Milam and adjoining counties.