Advancing the Kingdom

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Advancing T he Kingdom: Kingdom House
religious or teaching work to which she
may be assigned. She must relinquish all
other pursuits and devote herself to those
forms of Christian work to which she may
be found adapted.’My one year’s experience
as a deaconess convinced me that no
committee nor deaconess can define, or
rather confine, her duties. In outlining the
duties of her city missionaries, the Woman’s
Home Missionary Society, after enumerating
a long list of requirements, very wisely
reaches the climax with an ‘etc.’ Half a
decade as a city missionary has proven
to me that this little symbol more nearly
covers what is expected of a missionary or
deaconess than any printed list of ‘duties.’
With her heart in her work she needs only
this definition, or limitation, of her duties
to make the days full, useful and joyous.
And so have the three hundred and sixty-
five days of my connection with the Sloan
Mission been. They have shown me that to
be a useful deaconess one must not only
meet the requirements enumerated in the
printed list, but she must be able to feel [sic]
all that might be included in the ‘etc.’ In a
Settlement home, she must be able to fill
every position from that of janitor to pastor.
I have served in each capacity during the
year, as housemaid, matron, kindergartner
assistant and pastor unless providentially
kept away. And not only so, that ‘etc’ in my
case has meant that I must be carpenter,
plumber, glazier, chimney sweep and so
forth and so forth.
Meetings are to be conducted
unexpectedly, addresses and talks are to be
made in the home churches and conferences
are to be visited and interested. All these
have been a part of the ‘etc.’ of the past
year. That ‘etc.’ means that the deaconess
must address herself to the task of making
the Settlement a ‘home,’ not only for herself
and for members and friends of the Board,
but a home for the boys and girls, and the
men and women of the neighborhood. To
do this she must be able to enter into their
lives in a real way. She must sympathize
with them in the true sense of the word.
What the world is hungering for is men and
women with hearts that can sympathize and
love. The deaconess must be a friend and
counselor to the parents and a confidant--a
real ‘chum’ for the boys and girls. To do
this she must interest herself in whatever
concerns their daily life, their occupation
or their amusements. To the mystics of other
days the church owes a debt that eternity
alone can pay, but there is no room for the
recluse now. The twentieth century work
of the church demands men and women
with hearts for their fellows. The first
commandment is, ‘Love God with all your
heart,’ but the second is like unto it and of
equal importance--’Love your neighbor as
yourself.’
Looking back over the work of the year,
I am rejoiced to find a steady, healthy
growth in every department. Not only have
our quarters been doubled, adding comfort
and convenience to the household, but the
work itself has increased in an equal ratio.
A year ago we reported an average daily
attendance of five in the Day Nursery. Now it
is more than eleven. We have had our room
full to overflowing more than once and one
day’s attendance reached to twenty-one.
The attendance at the Mothers’
meetings, has not only doubled, but the
spirit prevailing among the members is
delightfully Christlike.
Both in the Kindergarten and the Sewing
school there has been a steady growth and
the children are remarkably prompt and
regular in their attendance.
Two new features have been added to the
work during the year, both of which have
been a source of profit and pleasure to the
participants. These are the night school
and the boy’s club, and we are very much
gratified at the success attending each.
The Club is the work most on our own
heart and since with our meager equipment
we have been so successful in capturing
the boys of the immediate neighborhood, I
am hopeful that a work of great magnitude
can be done as soon as we can provide the
necessary quarters for an unlimited number.
The Club is composed of thirty-six boys
ranging in ages from eight to seventeen.
They are organized into a company of
cadets under command of Mr. Fred English,
from St. John’s Church. Messrs. Lewis,
Ely, Davis, Farrar, Haynes and English
were all instrumental in giving to the Club
a permanent organization. To the faithful
attendance of Mr. English and Mr. Haynes
its success is due. It is now a self-growing
Club and the boys are taking new interest in
it.
A room at the Mission has been fitted up
as a Reading Room, and while it has been
a source of constant pleasure it has been
a source of ever recurring opportunity for
me. Any hour of the day or the evening I am
at home the boys know they are welcome
and they have shown their appreciation so
unmistakably I never have an opportunity
to get lonesome. The Reading Room is their
meeting place for all occasions. It is the
place where their Sunday-School meets
and where they gather for two hours before
Sunday-School.
Sometimes the boys come singly and then
is my opportunity to speak the words the
Holy Spirit, in answer to prayer, has been
putting into my head to say when the time
was ripe for it. I am giving half a dozen
of them music lessons an hour each week,
mainly in order to have these opportunities
for individual work. They are all fond of
music and some evenings we make the air
vocal with our organ and drum, mouth
harps and stringed instruments. Our boys
are getting a reputation for chorus singing
and are very proud of their first appearance
in public in this capacity, having accepted
an invitation to march in uniform to the St.
Louis Mission and conduct the singing for
the service.
Much of my time has been given to
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“Looking back over the
work of the year, I am
rejoiced to find a steady ,
healthy growth in every
department. Not only
have our quarters been
doubled, adding comfort
and convenience to the
household, but the work
itself has increased in an
equal ratio. A year ago
we reported an aver-
age daily attendance of
five in the Day Nursery .
Now it is more than
eleven.”
– Mattie Wright