great advance on any previous year in our history. We surely hope that this decided manifestation of interest in the missionary work of the Diocese will be continued in future years. This is the great interest that we need to cultivate within our borders until in every part of this great commonwealth our beloved Church shall have a representation and be within reach of its population.

The assessments of the Diocese have also been paid and with the income of the Endowment have met all Diocesan obligations.

I feel that in no year of my Episcopate has the spiritual advance in the work of the Diocese been more clearly marked. The confirmations, though there have been several vacant parishes and a number only recently supplied with clergy, have been greater than in any year of my Episcopate.

In July last I nominated to the Missionary Board as Archdeacon of the Diocese and its general missionary Rev. L. F. Cole, rector of Marion. September 1st he entered upon his duties and has faithfully prosecuted his work all over the Diocese bringing to many the ministrations of the Church who had hitherto been deprived of them. He has ministered to more communicants perhaps than any of our parish clergymen. His baptisms exceed them all. He has spent a month in every quarter in each of the three Convocations. His aim is to visit on Sundays vacant parishes, to explore towns of which we have had no knowledge, to minister to communicants we know are living in towns where there are no regular services, to hold missions or continuous services for a week where it seems desirable, to keep the Bishop informed of any feasible openings for permanent establishment of the Church, to present the missionary work of the Diocese in parishes and at Convocations and before the Auxiliaries, to be the eyes and ears

for the Bishop in reaching and ministering to every part of his Diocese, and to aid in securing the means to support a rector in vacant parishes.

I am grateful to the Diocese for furnishing me this aid and grateful to my brother who is so faithfully fulfilling the work expected of him.

The financial pressure has in a measure prevented church building, and the churches expected to be built at New Albany, Elwood and Alexandria must be deferred until more favorable times.

The past winter has been one of great distress in our large cities and Churchmen in common with their fellow citizens have been called upon to contribute liberally of their means to alleviate the distress caused by lack of employment. It has been most refreshing to notice with what alacrity the distress has been met by the generous contributions of the benevolent. It has been pleasant to know that Churchmen in many places have borne a willing part in this good work, our clergy being the foremost.

In this connection I am glad to know, too, that some of our clergy are in the habit of visiting the poor farms and county infirmaries to look after the unfortunate occupants and to minister as opportunity offers to the patients therein. I wish that more and more the clergy would feel it their duty to do this kind of work, to have, say, one afternoon in the month for such visits. It will do good and be the true manifestation of the spirit of our dear Lord, who, whilst on earth, went about doing good, and healed all who had need of healing. It will be a satisfaction to the inmates and make them feel some one has an interest in their welfare.

OUR SCHOOLS.

The Howe Grammar School has had a good year, numbering more than forty boarders.

St. Mary's Hall has had a successful year in the character of the work accomplished. It has had sufficient pupils to meet its current expenses for the current year, but has been embarrassed by the accumulation of the arrearages of past years. and by financial obligations incurred by Mr. Swan in purchasing the school from Mr. Lyon. With the aid of comparitively little money, in consideration of the results secured thereby, its financial distress could be relieved. This, I am greatly in hopes, will be done and the good work go on.

ST. STEPHEN'S HOSPITAL, RICHMOND.

St. Stephen's Hospital, Richmond, has continued its useful work throughout the year. The institution is expecting a legacy of five thousand dollars from the estate of a friend of the institution in Richmond, Mr. Morrison. This will place it out of debt and in a position to somewhat enlarge its work.

CHURCH HOME AND ORPHANAGE.

The Church Home and Orphanage, for which for years we have been pleading, has made some progress in the erection and enclosure of a suitable building. Whether we shall be able to secure the means for its completion at this time I am unable to say. We are praying and hoping that the Churchmen of the Diocese will make it possible. If every communicant in the Diocese who has done nothing yet for it, will give a little we shall be able to complete and occupy it for its beneficent work the present year. I have exhausted all my resources in endeavoring to move the hearts of Indiana Churchmen to accomplish this.

LAY ORGANIZATIONS.

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Daughters of the King and the Woman's Auxiliary have all had a fruitful

year.

The Brothers have manifested a deep interest in establishing mission Sunday-schools and in behalf of young men, whilst the Daughters of the King are doing the same good work for young women.

The Director of the Brotherhood, Mr. S. A. Haines, the past year, has rendered efficient aid as a member of the Board of Missions in stirring up the interest of the Diocese in behalf of mission work, and in furthering the work of the Brotherhood. I am very grateful to him for this aid.

The Woman's Auxiliary is making steady progress and the past has been one of the best years in its history.

REVISED PRAYER BOOK AND HYMNAL.

The revised Prayer Book is now generally in use. throughout the Diocese. We owe a deep debt of gratitude. to the Bible and Prayer Book Society of New York and the Bishop White Prayer Book Society of Philadelphia for generous donations to our missions. Our Ash Wednesday offerings are appropriated for these societies but they are simply an evidence of our appreciation of what they are doing for the Diocese. I am glad to see that in many parishes also the new Hymnal is in use and giving good satisfaction.

VESTED CHOIRS.

Vested choirs are now in Holy Innocents', Christ Church, St. Paul's and Grace Cathedral, Indianapolis; Trinity, Fort Wayne; St. James's, Goshen; St. Mark's, Lima; Trinity, Michigan City; St. James's, South Bend; St. John's, Lafayette; Trinity, Logansport; Holy Innocents', Evansville; and St. James's, Vincennes.

ENDOWMENT OF THE DIOCESE.

The last coupons to endow the Diocese have come due the past year. It was an effort undertaken at the request

of the Convention in 1884 to secure in small installments during a period of seven years in as many parishes as possible the sum which, invested at 6 per cent., would produce their Diocesan assessment for the support of the Bishop and thus relieve the parish of the uncertainty of annual assessments which are paid or unpaid at their pleasure and convenience. Though not all was accomplished that was hoped for the result has been most helpful, securing $39,000 for the permanent endowment invested in improved real estate and notes of parishes yielding at least 6 per cent. per annum over taxes, insurance and commission. The exact receipts from every parish will be given in detail in an appendix to this address.

Whether or no your present Bishop will ever attempt again to canvass the parishes which have not completed their share is doubtful. It ought to be done and every parish cheerfully meet their quota. The easy way in which it was accomplished where the parishes cheerfully took hold of it, the relief which it has afforded and the general good results to the whole Diocese make it most desirable that at some favorable time the good work should be pushed to completion.

OBITUARY.

The past year has been marked with the death of some of our Right Reverend Fathers, my brothers in the Episcopate. It is usual in these addresses to mention them that we may be reminded of the transitory nature of the office and that we have here no continuing city. The Rt. Rev. Alexander Gregg, D. D., first Bishop of Texas, Rt. Rev. Benjamin Paddock, D. D., Bishop of Olympia, Rt. Rev. Theodore B. Lyman, D. D., Bishop of North Carolina and the resigned Bishop of Constatinople, Dr. Horatio Southgate have passed to their reward since our last meeting, all of them, men of learning, of great devotion to