he women of India. Our
missionaries in India have long felt the need of some way of ministering
to the converted women who are closely secluded in zenana life, and who,
though sick and dying, are precluded by the customs of the country from
any religious service of comfort or consolation that male missionaries
can render. If it had been possible for our women missionaries to
administer the sacrament many Indian women could have been received into
the Church. All of the papers and memorials on this subject were put
into the hands of a committee, of which Dr. J. M. Thoburn (afterward
made missionary bishop to India and Malaysia) was chairman; and the
report of the committee was as follows:

"THE NEW OFFICE OF DEACONESSES IN THE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

"For some years past our people in Germany have employed this class
of workers with the most blessed results, and we rejoice to learn
that a successful beginning has recently been made in the same
direction in this country. A home for deaconesses has been
established in Chicago, and others of a similar character are
proposed in other cities. There are also a goodly number of similar
workers in various places; women who are deaconesses in all but
name, and whose number might be largely increased if a systematic
effort were made to accomplish this result. Your committee believes
that God is in this movement, and that the Church should recognize
the fact and provide some simple plan for formally connecting the
work of these excellent women with the Church and directing their
labors to the best possible results. They therefore recommend the
insertion of the following paragraphs in the Discipline, immediately
after