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Bantu languages

(Encyclopedia)Bantu languages, group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages). Bantu contains...

Commonwealth Fund

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth Fund, foundation established (1918) by Anna M. Harkness, wife of Stephen V. Harkness, an early Standard Oil investor, “for the welfare of mankind.” Its headquarters are in New York Ci...

Craddock, Charles Egbert

(Encyclopedia)Craddock, Charles Egbert, pseud. of Mary Noailles Murfree nō-īˈ [key], 1850–1922, American novelist, b. near Murfreesboro, Tenn. She wrote her best works about the mountain people of Tennessee, m...

Aldhelm, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Aldhelm, Saint ôldˈhĕlm [key], 639?–709, English churchman and scholar. He was abbot of Malmesbury (from 675) and became the first bishop of Sherborne (705). A distinguished student of the classi...

Alcoholics Anonymous

(Encyclopedia)Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), worldwide organization dedicated to the treatment of alcoholics; founded 1935 by two alcoholics, one a New York broker, the other an Ohio physician. They developed a 12-step...

Christian Endeavor

(Encyclopedia)Christian Endeavor, association in evangelical Protestant Churches for strengthening spiritual life and promoting Christian activities among its members. The first Young People's Society of Christian ...

Faizabad, city, Afghanistan

(Encyclopedia)Faizabad or Feyzabad both : fīˈzəbăd, fīzäbädˈ [key], city (1992 est. pop. 9,098), capital of Badakhshan prov., NE Afghanistan, on the Kokcha River. The chief commercial and administrative cen...

healers

(Encyclopedia)healers, people who treat illness or suffering by calling forth divine help or by attempting to control the body with the mind and spirit. Since prehistoric times healers have used such techniques as ...

Fraser Island

(Encyclopedia)Fraser Island or Great Sandy Island, 66 sq mi (171 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Queensland, Australia; on the west it borders Hervey Bay (NW) and the Great Sandy Strait (SW). Known as...

Gladden, Washington

(Encyclopedia)Gladden, Washington, 1836–1918, American clergyman, writer, and lecturer, b. Pottsgrove, Pa. He was pastor of the First Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio, from 1882 until his death. He helped to...