With the opening of the University the Christian Association will begin, in a broader way than ever before, its efforts for philanthropic and religious good at Cambridge and elsewhere. In their scope and variety of interest, the opportunities which the Association offers to all Harvard men are most valuable. The two principal lines of activity are those in the University and those outside. The latter, having more to do with social service work is perhaps of greater interest; but the two fields of endeavor are not distinct, but rather work most satisfactorily together.
The chief aim of the work in the University proper is the widest possible development of student interests in moral and religious ideas. This year there will be an autumn training conference of one hundred student leaders, presided over by Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, and addressed by undergraduates and alumni. There will also be seven courses in devotional Biblical study. In connection with this, 5,000 daily Bible readings will be sent to all members of the University. Regular religious meetings--at which all Harvard men will be welcomed--will be held at stated times and will be addressed by prominent speakers. Those interested in the study of the Bible and in missionary work will find a reference library at the Association rooms in Brooks House.
In its outside social service work the Association has in past years accomplished its most tangible results. It is to this line of work that most undergraduates have been attracted. At T wharf in Boston, there is a social reading and game room, patronized by eight hundred fishermen and visited daily by more than one hundred and fifty men. Fifteen members of the Association are sent each week to teach English to the Chinese laundrymen of Boston. The most recent accomplishment has been the opening and successful management of a juvenile library, The Harvard House, in East Cambridge. Until the establishment of this library this district of Cambridge was without a free library. In addition to its library, The Harvard House includes boys' clubs in chair caning, wood-carving, basket-weaving, military drill, Chemistry, Physics, American History and other similar enterprises. A very large number of men by this means come to be known intimately in the homes of the poor. A. B. Parson '03 will be director this year.
With R. E. Osgood '04, as superintendent, over sixty men are engaged at the Riverside Alliance in library work and boys' clubs. In response to invitations from various quarters more than a hundred men have been sent in the past to discuss the religious, philanthropic and missionary interests of Harvard at such places as Groton, St. Mark's, St. Paul's, Andover, Exeter and Worcester Academies.
The entire work of the Association is under the direction of G. E. Huggins 2G.
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