History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

General Conference of 1884 the Society was made amenable to the Board of Foreign Missions; but,
this relation proving unsatisfactory, at the Conference of 1888 its relation as an independent
organization was restored with amenability to the General Conference, like the other general Boards.
In 1885 the Methodist Protestant Missionary, which Rev. C. H. Williams of the Foreign Board had
been conducting in its interests and which he had concluded to discontinue, was offered the Woman's
Board, and at the meeting held at Adrian, Mich., it was accepted; and thus originated the Women's
Missionary Record, Mrs. Mary A. Miller being elected editor. It was published in Pittsburgh, with
varying success, for ten years The editor received no compensation, and its receipts consumed in
publication. Its highest circulation was 1850. In 1890 Miss Miller resigned and the paper was
removed to Kansas City, Kan., with Mrs. M. B. M. Budens, editor, and it has since been issued with
greatly improved appearance. At present, 1898, Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Ruling publish and edit it.
In the years intervening between 1884 and 1890 thirteen more conferences entered branches, in
all making twenty-two. But these branches were far from being thoroughly organized, having but few
auxiliaries and fewer churches interested in the work. The mission bands, which at one time
numbered eighty, have largely given place to the junior Societies of Christian Endeavor. During
these years the work in Japan had assumed a more permanent form. The Board of Missions in 1883
sent out Rev. and Mrs. F. C. Klein. in 1884 the Society sent out Misses Brown and Crittenden. The
General Conference having assigned the Girls' School to the Society, it was still continued in the
Home until a building could be erected, Miss Brittain being assisted by the two ladies and the
Society paying its proportion for the use of the building. Early In 1885 Miss Brittain resigned, and
the two ladies took charge of the school. In a few months Mr. Klein opened a school for young men,
and the Society rented a building in the native part of the city for the Girls' School, which was used
until the Woman's Home was ready for use. In a short time Miss Crittenden resigned and Miss
Brown continued the school, which numbered about fifty, with the assistance of native teachers,
when failing health compelled her to return to America in February, 1887. Under efficient help
provided by Mr. Klein the school was continued, and in May of the same year the Society sent out
Misses Whetstone and Bonnett. In the meantime Mr. Klein having opened a mission in Nagoya, two
hundred miles from Yokohama, early in the spring of 1888, Miss Whetstone was transferred to that
point to take charge of a girls' school, which Mrs. Klein had started, and in October, 1889, Miss
Forrest was sent to her assistance. Native girls from the school in Yokohama were also sent to
Nagoya as helpers. Miss Forrest, besides assisting in the day-school, conducted a meeting in a village
near by twice a day on the Sabbath, also on Wednesday evening. The day school at one time
numbered fifty boys and girls, but, owing to untoward circumstances, the school was closed and the
labor of the missionaries was directed chiefly to evangelistic work.
In Yokohama, Miss Kimball, a resident missionary, had been employed to take the place of Miss
Whetstone and assist Miss Bonnett. The success of the school was gratifying to the Society in the
fact that a number of girls were being prepared as Bible readers and teachers in the Sabbath schools.
Mrs. T. H. Colhouer gave valuable assistance to the older girls in Bible study, and with them visited
regularly many of the women in their homes. The Rev. T. H. Colhouer, superintendent of the
Yokohama mission, gave personal supervision to the erection of the Woman's Home, and in
September, 1889, the school was removed to the new building. By a gift of $500 from Dr. and Mrs.
Colhouer the Society was enabled to pay the last debt on the property.