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Title: The American Missionary — Volume 34, No. 9, September, 1880
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The American Missionary — Volume 34, No. 9, September, 1880" ***
by Cornell University Digital Collections)
VOL. XXXIV. NO. 9.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
SEPTEMBER, 1880.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
ANNUAL MEETING—PARAGRAPHS 257
ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF THE TIMES 260
HELP WITHOUT MONEY—THE TWO PARTIES AND THE CHINESE 261
INDIANS, RESERVATIONS AND RAILROADS 262
BETTER HOMES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE 264
GROWTH OF IDEAS AMONG THE NEGROES AND INDIANS 266
AFRICAN NOTES 268
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 270
THE FREEDMEN.
A JULY VACATION 271
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Lincoln Mission, Washington 272
ALABAMA—Florence and her People 273
LOUISIANA—Lady-Missionary’s Letter 274
TENNESSEE—Better Prospects of Memphis, &c. 275
TENNESSEE—Flower Mission and Care for the Sick 276
AFRICA.
MENDI MISSION—Good Hope Station 276
THE INDIANS.
LA POINTE AGENCY 277
THE CHINESE.
SERMONS BY OUR CHINESE HELPERS 278
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
TRIP UP THE YANG-TSE-KIANG 281
RECEIPTS 282
CONSTITUTION 286
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS 287
* * * * *
NEW YORK.
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
ANDREW LESTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. J.
Rev. EDWARD BEECHER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, D. D., Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, D. D., Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
E. A. GRAVES, Esq., N. J.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.
Rev. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D., Ill.
Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
J. W. SCOVILLE, Esq., Ill.
E. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill.
C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct.
Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal.
Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
CHARLES A. HULL,
EDGAR KETCHUM,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
WM. T. PRATT,
J. A. SHOUDY,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields to
the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the “American
Missionary,” to Rev. C. C. PAINTER, at the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New
York, or when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXIV. SEPTEMBER, 1880. NO. 9.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
ANNUAL MEETING.
The next Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION
will be held in Norwich, Ct., in the Broadway Church, commencing
Tuesday, October 12. at 3 P. M. For particulars see 4th page
of cover.
* * * * *
_We are happy_ to say that encouraging responses have already been made
to our note of warning that a debt is impending. Prompt and appropriate
effort in this direction by our friends who have as yet only hoped, but
have not acted, for the best, will, we trust, give us a clear balance
sheet on the last of September.
* * * * *
_A Farmer in New York_ writes: “Enclosed please find draft for
$300 for work among the Freedmen in the South. I notice in the
MISSIONARY that you need an increase of 20 per cent. over last
year’s contribution. I have increased mine 33 per cent. If all felt the
interest I do in this work, and would give in like proportion, there
would soon be a school-house in every neighborhood. It seems to me that
the life of our nation depends upon the education of these people.
However much I desire that the Gospel shall be sent to Africa, for a
few years longer, it seems to me, our efforts should be directed mostly
to the South. All reports from the work are encouraging.”
* * * * *
_In the State Courts of Fulton County, Ga._, of which Atlanta is
the seat, no colored jurors have ever been empanelled; but the
commissioners have recently placed upon the jury list about twenty of
the most intelligent colored men, and it is hoped that some of them
will be drawn at the next term of court, and thus another advance in
the right direction be made by the Empire State of the South. For
several years the United States court held in Atlanta has had a “mixed”
jury, and no serious evil has resulted.
* * * * *
_Our readers_ will anticipate with much interest a new book by Judge
Tourgee—“Bricks Without Straw”—which is announced for September. It
deals with the problem of negro education, and is by one who has made
it a profound study.
* * * * *
_The public sentiment_ of Virginia, in regard to free schools, as
gathered from the reports of the county superintendents, may be summed
up in the language of one of them as follows: “I might content myself
by saying that most of the educated in my county are now decided
advocates of the present system. At first, a large majority were
hostile to it; but a few days ago, one of the first men of the county
said to me that he tried hard to believe it a ‘Yankee innovation’
upon our good old Virginia plan, and as such it should be opposed by
all true Virginians; but now he had become a decided advocate of it,
and believed that the only hope of educating a large majority of our
citizens, indeed, that our very existence, as a free and independent
people, depended upon the preservation and extension of some good
system of popular education.” An examination of one hundred and three
such reports discovers the fact that in less than a dozen counties is
there any very great opposition to the system. The reports show an
almost uniform and decided growth of public sentiment in favor of it.
* * * * *
_A Correspondent_ of the New Orleans _Times_ draws a discouraging
picture of public school prospects in that city and State, and an
editorial in the same issue adds: “It is, indeed, true, that our
schools are in a very sad condition. What is more to be regretted is
that the prospect of their improvement is by no means encouraging. Once
we took pride in them, and gloried in the advantages which they offered
to our children for obtaining an education. That pride appears to exist
no longer. There is a sort of apathy about the schools, which justifies
the inference that they have not the hold on popular favor that they
once had. * * * If there were a prospect of a better condition of
affairs next year, there would be, perhaps, no immediate occasion for
discouraging forebodings. But there is not; there is no reason for
believing that the provisions for the maintenance of the schools next
year will be more ample than they are this year. There is one thing
very certain, and that is that if we are to have efficient public
schools in this city, the money to support them must be forthcoming.”
* * * * *
_The Negro Bishop_ of Hayti, Theodore Holey, a native of the United
States, and consecrated in Grace Church, New York City, who, during the
recent gathering of the Bishops of the Anglican Church in London, was
much honored by all his brethren, and who at the invitation of Dean
Stanley preached in Westminster Abbey, on St. James Day, closed his
address with the following eloquent words and remarkable prayer:
“And now, on the shores of old England, the cradle of that Anglo-Saxon
Christianity by which I have been in part at least illuminated;
standing beneath the vaulted roof of this monumental pile, redolent
with the piety of by-gone generations during so many ages; in the
presence of the
‘Storied urn and animated bust’
that hold the sacred ashes and commemorate the buried grandeur of
so many illustrious personages—I catch a fresh inspiration and new
impulse of the Divine missionary spirit of our common Christianity;
and here in the presence of God, of angels, and of men, on this day
sacred to the memory of an apostle whose blessed name was called over
me at my baptism, and as I lift up my voice for the first, and perhaps
only, time in any of England’s sainted shrines, I dedicate myself anew
to the work of God, of the Gospel of Christ, and of the salvation of
my fellow-men in the far distant isle of the Caribbean Sea, that has
become the chosen field of my Gospel labors.
“O Thou Saviour Christ, Son of the living God, who when Thou wast
spurned by the Jews of the race of Shem, and who, when delivered up
without cause by the Romans of the race of Japheth, on the day of Thy
crucifixion, hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to Golgotha’s summit on
the stalwart shoulders of Simon, the Cyrenian, of the race of Ham; I
pray Thee, O precious Saviour, remember that forlorn, despised, and
rejected race, whose son thus bore Thy cross, when Thou shalt come in
the power and majesty of Thy eternal kingdom to distribute Thy crowns
of everlasting glory!
“And give to me, then, not a place at Thy right hand or at Thy left,
but only the place of a gatekeeper at the entrance of the Holy City,
the new Jerusalem, that I may behold my redeemed brethren, the saved
of the Lord, entering therein to be partakers with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob of all the joys of Thy glorious and everlasting kingdom.”
* * * * *
_Negro prejudice_ against negroes is likely to yield slowly, and will
do so only for good reasons. The prejudices of the whites have so far
given way that Atlanta has had its negro juror, who promptly joined in
convicting a negro who was put on trial. But the next prisoner, who was
also a negro, charged with murder, strenuously objected to having one
of his own race on the jury. There was another such case in Virginia
some time ago, when a colored prisoner made the same objection, on the
ground that “niggers would hang a nigger just to see him kick.”
So against this we note the fact, that the Court of Appeals in Kentucky
recently quashed an indictment against a negro, on the ground that
the grand jury was composed entirely of white men, and that the law
excluding all persons other than white men from serving on juries is
unconstitutional.
* * * * *
_Negro Teachers._—The author of “Other Fools, and Their Doings,” pays
this somewhat rhetorical, but just tribute to the noble women who went
forth to add value to the freedom, which, under stress of military
necessity, the nation had given to the negro slave—a tribute which
will appear more just as the history of our noble workers becomes
better known:
“While from thousands of homes brave men came with flaunting flags, and
beating drums, and booming cannons, singing as they marched,
‘We are coming, Father Abraham,
Three hundred thousand more,’
from out those same homes stole a procession of women, not
clandestinely, not timidly, but brave of soul and strong of heart
and inflexible of purpose, though without ostentation. The Bible and
spelling-book were their only weapons, and their song was of ‘the
mercies of the Lord forever,’ and their ‘trust under the feathers of
his wings!’ ‘Neither the terror by night,’ ‘the arrow by day,’ ‘the
pestilence in darkness,’ nor ‘destruction at noon,’ nor the ‘thousands
falling on their right hand, and on their left,’ could make them
afraid; ‘because they had made the Lord their strength, even the Most
High their refuge.’ They went forth to ‘tread upon the lion and the
adder, the young lion and the dragon.’ Scorn, insult, slander, poverty,
loneliness, sickness and death, they trampled under their feet; for
‘through the work of the Lord were they made glad,’ and they ‘triumphed
in the work of His hands.’
“Away on in the Elysian fields of Heaven, when the cycles of eternity
shall have encircled the universe, and rolled back upon their track in
such repeated and intricate mazes as only the Infinite mind can trace,
they shall receive from the lips of the ransomed of all nations, ‘the
blessing of those once ready to perish;’ and the blessed assurance that
the torch they lit in the Freedman’s hut, lit a beacon that illumined
the world.
“If the South is saved to civilization, its chief human Saviour was
‘the nigger school-teacher.’”
* * * * *
_Capt. Payne_, who was ejected from the Indian Territory, which he
invaded last spring in defiance of the President’s proclamation, again
defies the Government and the Courts, and has gone to the Territory
with a company of men. Parties in St. Louis have purchased machinery
and various kinds of goods for his colony, and the issue is made most
unequivocally with the Administration. We anxiously await the action of
President Hayes.
* * * * *
_The Poncas_, of whose wrongs we spoke in the last number of the
MISSIONARY, failing to receive justice at the hands of Congress, have
commenced a suit to recover possession of their houses and lands now
held by the Sioux, to whom the General Government has ceded them. The
plaintiffs rely upon the fact that the Constitution of the United
States makes a treaty a part of the supreme law of the land, and also
extends the judicial power of the Government to all cases in law and
equity arising under treaties; and they have in their favor established
precedents by the courts for applying to the treaties with themselves
this provision of the constitution. Judge Dundy has decided that an
Indian is a _person_ within the meaning of the laws, and, therefore,
discharged from the custody of Gen. Crook the Poncas whom he held for
the purpose of forcibly returning them to the Indian Territory from
which they had escaped. Thus it is decided that they may have the
question judicially tested in the Federal courts whether they have been
illegally restrained of liberty. This suit is to determine whether
they may have not only their liberty, but their homes which have been
forcibly taken from them in violation of solemn treaties.
* * * * *
ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
(_From the Fisk Expositor._)
Few things can be more gratifying and cheering to those engaged in the
grand work of educating the colored people in Tennessee, than the fact
that those having charge of educational affairs in the various towns,
named below, either have, within the past few years, organized graded
schools for colored youth, or are now taking steps for organizing such
schools: Clarksville, Trenton, Shelbyville, Brownsville, Jackson, Union
City, Bolivar, Paris, Covington, Pulaski, Columbia, Fayetteville,
Mason Station, and perhaps some other towns. Another thing that all
who are engaged in the educational work in the State, ought to regard
as a hopeful sign, is the fact that the last Legislature, in all its
zeal for retrenchment, made no effort to reduce the income of the free
school system. This, and the fact, that much complaint was uttered by
the people all over the State, because of the suspension of schools
consequent upon the postponement of the collection of taxes by the
Legislature, show how deeply the system of the State has taken hold
upon the affections of the masses.
Still another ground for hopefulness is found in the fact, that,
whereas, year before last, not quite 39 per cent. of the colored
children of the State were enrolled in the free schools, last year
nearly 49 per cent. were so enrolled. And there are reasons for
believing that the superintendent’s forthcoming report will show
equally encouraging figures.
* * * * *
HELP WITHOUT MONEY.
The Rev. H. E. Brown, of whose evangelistic work under the auspices
of the Y. M. C. A. of the South, and among the colored churches of
the South, we have spoken, makes at once a suggestion and an appeal
which must strike every one as exceedingly practical, common sense
and valuable. His letter which is given below will explain itself. We
urge, most earnestly, upon the Christian scholars of the North this
opportunity, without cost of money, and with but little expenditure of
time, for doing a most valuable work for the colored people. If men of
acknowledged authority in their several departments of science and art
would furnish such articles as are asked for, the result must prove
highly beneficial to these people who so much need, and are so eagerly
seeking, knowledge in regard to practical matters on which depends
largely their welfare. The physician, the lawyer, the farmer, the
political economist, the scientist, all these might with great profit
to these people respond to this call. We trust that the mere suggestion
of Mr. Brown will prove sufficient to call forth abundant answer:
“LANSING, MICH., July, 1880.
“DEAR SIR: An opportunity is now presented for leading
scholars to afford substantial help toward the solution of the
colored problem of our country. Colored editors of ten papers,
chiefly for colored people, published in Washington, Charleston,
Raleigh, New Orleans, St. Louis, and other Southern cities,
request for publication a series of scientific articles, of about
a column’s length, say a thousand words, such as would be, at
once, helpful to ministers, teachers and students, and would
stimulate future inquiries among all classes. I am aware that the
preparation of such articles will cost valuable time which can
scarcely be spared from pressing duties; but the promise of benefit
to the colored race is so great in the elevation of tone of their
papers, and in anticipating so-called infidel science, that I take
the liberty to ask you to prepare, and send me, one or more such
articles, that I may copygraph, and forward, gratis, to the several
editors who desire them.
“Yours truly,
“HENRY E. BROWN, _Secretary
“for International Committee of Col. Dep’t.,
“Y. M. C. A._”
* * * * *
THE TWO PARTIES AND THE CHINESE.
Ah Sin does not vote even once; Patrick O’Flannigan does as often as
that, and is capable of doing even better if occasion should require.
Ah Sin is, therefore, exposed to such kicks as Patrick may ask for at
the hands, or rather the feet, of the politicians, while both parties
vie with each other in throwing to Patrick such sops as may conciliate
his good will. Under Democratic Government, a class which has neither
chains upon, nor ballots in its hands, is an anomaly impossible to
harmonize with its surroundings, as it is also defenceless against the
assaults of its enemies; it has neither weapons for its own protection
nor a reward to offer for that of others. What Pat, who votes, may ask
for as against Ah Sin, who does not, the average politician is ready
to promise, even when constitutionally prohibited from granting. And
this promise has been made, it is humiliating to confess, not simply by
sand-lot demagogues, but by aspirants for the highest offices under our
Government.
The arrival on our Western coast, and the presence in our land, of less
than a hundred thousand Chinamen is gravely spoken of as a fearful
inundation which in some way must be arrested; but the tide that flows
steadily in upon our Eastern coast from Ireland and other countries,
is regarded as a blessing rather than a danger. If we seek for an
explanation of this difference, it will be found to be at bottom simply
this: Patrick does not like Ah Sin’s frugal, industrious, economical
habits, which enable him to live and labor cheaply; so he nourishes
his ballot over the head of the politician, and his shillalah over
that of Ah Sin, and says that he must go, while all seekers for office
either echo the demand, or more mildly assert that his coming must be
regulated.
A candid examination of the testimony taken by the Committee of the
United States House of Representatives last year in California, will
leave the impression that the Chinese characteristics which give most
offense to the sand-lotters, whose voice both great national parties
have heard, and to which they have also made responses which ought to
mantle our cheeks with shame, are just the ones above mentioned. Such
men as the Mayor of San Francisco, indeed, complain that China Town
is not much like Beacon Hill in beauty or cleanliness; that there are
women among these people not so pure as they ought to be; that many of
the men lie quietly in opium dens under the influence of that subtle
drug instead of assisting, under the stimulus of whiskey, at primary
meetings and at the polls, as good politicians should. Charges to this
effect are made, but the evidence taken shows that the real ground of
complaint is that the Chinaman is sober, industrious, reliable, and
likely to be preferred as a laborer to Patrick and Bridget.
That the necessaries and comforts of life are to be bought, by those
who need them, more cheaply in a market supplied with Chinese labor,
is not deemed worthy of consideration; the great fact which demands
attention is that Patrick must forego his numerous holidays, his
whiskey, and his devotion to politics; must settle down to, and
accomplish, a vast amount of honest and skillful labor, if he shall
successfully compete with the Chinese, which is an evil the two
political parties must promise to abate as the condition of having his
support at the polls.
The fact comes back upon us that the ballot is necessary, under our
Government, for the defence of every class of citizens; and the
education of the voter is a necessary defence of the Government against
the ignorance of the ballot. Neither the wisdom nor the virtue of the
statesman can be relied upon, for he everywhere becomes a demagogue, if
demagogy continues to be the road to office, as it is everywhere among
ignorant voters. Our salvation must be found, not in the virtue of the
statesmen, but in the intelligence and virtue of the people.
* * * * *
INDIANS, RESERVATIONS AND RAILROADS.
There are in all one hundred and twenty Indian reservations scattered
over the country, chiefly west of the Mississippi River, aggregating
more than one square mile of land to each man, woman and child of the
252,897 Indians, exclusive of those in Alaska, which compose our Indian
population. This is equivalent to giving three times the area of New
York State to one-half the population of Brooklyn; only these people
do not hold this land in severalty, and, therefore, are tempted by its
abundance to roam over it as hunters, and are discouraged from building
on it and cultivating it as owners because of the uncertain tenure by
which it is held. That there has been such a decided tendency toward
civilized life, under all such discouragements, as is shown by the last
Report of the Indian Commissioners, is most encouraging.
The five tribes longest settled in the Indian Territory, now called
civilized, number about 60,000 souls. More than half of these can read.
All wear citizens’ dress. They have a school-house for every 312, and a
church-building for every 458 inhabitants. During the past year, they
cultivated more than 22 acres of land for each family of five persons,
raised more than 263 bushels of grain and vegetables, and owned five
and one-sixth horses or mules for each family. This favorable showing
would appear even more encouraging from a full exhibit of all the
statistics given in this Report, to which our readers are referred.
The showing for the other tribes is fully as encouraging, when it is
remembered that their circumstances have been much less favorable.
In fact, it appears evident that the progress of these people has
been great just in proportion to their opportunities; that what is
lacking is not susceptibility to civilized life, but opportunity for
adopting it, which we have denied them. Give the Indian the chance, and
he will become a civilized and valuable citizen. About 77,000 among
the remaining tribes wear citizens’ clothes and own more than 11,000
houses, 1,212 of which have been built during the past year. Eleven
thousand and eighty-one can read, and 1,717 have learned the art within
the same time.
It is significant that the five tribes above mentioned expended
$156,856 of tribal funds for schools, while the Government added $3,500
for this purpose. Among the other tribes, $13,043 of tribal funds were
raised for schools, and the Government appropriated $164,702. That is
to say, these five tribes numbering 60,000 raised, in round numbers,
twelve times as much for schools as all the other tribes, and only
$12,000 less than the Government appropriated to all the others for
school purposes; and the Government expended more than forty-seven
times as much upon the other tribes as it did upon these five.
This would seem to indicate, even to an average Congressman, that the
cheaper policy would be to give the Indian a chance to take care of
himself. Aside from the discouragements to a civilized life furnished
by the amount of land occupied by the Indian, and by the kind of
title he has to it, it should be remembered that much of this land is
valuable and presents a strong temptation to the white man’s greed,
and that it lies, often, in the direct line of advancing civilization,
an almost insurmountable barrier to its progress. We cannot reasonably
be expected to double the length of our railroad lines, simply to
build them around lands which ought to be opened up by them. The
North-western and Milwaukee railroads, in their westerly march, have
nearly reached the Sioux reservations. These cannot be entered except
by force, or with the full consent of this tribe. The right of eminent
domain, under treaty with our Government, belongs to it, not to us; to
the individual members of the tribe, and must be surrendered with each
one’s consent, or not at all. These roads are not willing to pay what
is demanded for the right of way, and are preparing to enter without
permission. The probable result will be this: the roads will enter;
the Indians will resist; the army will be sent in to punish them for
murder; and after a war that will cost many lives and millions of
money, the roads will be built, and the remnant of Indians forced into
some other reservation. Of course, we cannot allow this people to throw
a barrier across the Continent; the road must be built.
The fact is, the whole policy of treating these people otherwise than
as citizens who are to be fitted for the privileges, and from whom
are to be exacted the duties, of good citizens, is foolish, wicked,
costly and suicidal. Is it not time for the good common sense—we say
nothing of the humanity—of the American people to declare that this
shall be done now; that the rights of these people shall be wisely and
righteously adjusted to both our and their highest interests?
* * * * *
BETTER HOMES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE.
That the subject of village improvement was discussed in some of the
essays presented at the closing exercises of the Hampton School last
May is due, doubtless, to the fact that some of the teachers came from
Stockbridge, Mass., and belong to the Laurel Hill Association, rather
than to any spontaneous ideas on the part of the students themselves.
The idea of village improvement comes as a development and outgrowth
of such a degree of _home_ improvement as is yet unknown, not alone
to the negroes, but to the vast majority of the Southern whites. Not
until the log hut has been supplanted by something better, and the
idea of improvement has put in floors and windows, has built a chimney
and yard fence, has planted some trees and flowers about the house,
can it be expected that much interest will be taken in public streets
and cemeteries; neither can much be hoped for in the elevation and
refinement of the people.
Man is so far a chameleon that he takes his color largely from his
habitat, and the observant traveler through the South is slow to
believe that much has been, or can be, done for the culture of the
negro so long as he vegetates, rather than lives, in the miserable
shanties, devoid alike of beauty and comfort, about which flocks of
children like so many crows, or scarecrows, are roosting. From such
homes our pupils come, and back to such they return. It has been
despairingly said that the cultivated Indian gradually, but almost
inevitably, sinks back to the level of the home-life by which he is
surrounded; rarely has he strength to lift others to his isolated
level. This is deplorable, but not surprising. It requires a vast
amount of moral heroism to stand out against the universal customs
of one’s people. It requires more than the strength of one or two
men or women to lift up a whole tribe, and except for an evident and
wide-spread desire among the Indians to better their condition and
change their modes of life, but little could be hoped for from the
experiments now being made at Hampton and Carlisle; neither can we
doubt that much of the culture received in our schools for the negroes
will be lost, or serve only to quicken a sense of degradation, unless
special efforts are made to counteract the inevitable tendencies of
surroundings when these pupils return to their homes. Educational
effort should be largely directed to a practical knowledge of bettering
these homes, and to the kindling of a desire to do so.
Historically and, perhaps, philosophically, dress seems to have been
developed from ornament. All savages strut in paint, feathers, and
skins, intended to set off their charms of person, long before either
decency or comfort suggests clothing; and among the colored girls of
the South, pains should be taken to develop a womanly pride which
will be ashamed of a bare and squalid hut, a pride which, without
care, will prove to be mere vanity, delighting in gaudy dress and
brilliant pinchbeck. In its present stage of development the South is
the Eldorado of the cheap jewelry peddler, and many a youth, who can
without shame sleep on straw, live on corn and get along without shoes,
is miserable for lack of a brass ring and pin.
Dress for comfort and not as mere ornament, soap, towels, beds,
regulated ventilation, the conditions and concomitants of true
culture, these belong to a distinct epoch from that earlier and lower
one characterized by love of display. The wise, Christian culture of
our schools is intended to reduce this evil, to which the negro is
specially inclined, to the least possible dimensions. We aim to make
earnest, practical men and women, who shall value all they can acquire
either of knowledge or of money, not in its relation to personal
aggrandizement, but for its power to lift their homes, families and
people out of their present degradation.
But the work of the teacher needs to be supplemented by other saving
influences. In no other way could the Southern States do so much for
the elevation of intelligence and virtue of its poorer classes, white
and black, as by inducing them to build for themselves better homes.
In more northerly latitudes, climate compels the erection of houses
that are at least well made, and excellence in one particular suggests
and gradually secures it in others; but where a hut, floorless and
windowless, proves sufficient, nothing better is suggested, and life
sustained on that level rises to no higher plane except under special,
extraneous provocatives. In the present impoverished condition of these
States, and comparative indifference of the better to the degraded
condition of the lower classes, nothing can be expected from them, and
the suggestion is made to philanthropists who are seeking the welfare
of the colored people, whether something might not be done by offering
premiums for the erection of homes, and by furnishing, in some way,
plans and suggestions which would be helpful to them.
In some States, the negroes have, with good results, instituted
agricultural fairs, and have thus stimulated each other to helpful
rivalries. Cannot something be done by the offer, through these
organizations, of suitable premiums for cheap, but suitable, homes?
Christianity ought, in this 1880th year of our Lord, to be more than
a “voice crying in the wilderness;” more than John clad in skins and
living on locusts and wild honey. She ought to go forth clad in her
beautiful garments. During these two centuries she has ripened much
fruit which the world knows is good; she has developed much power of
which the world feels its need, and it should not go to the nations
and tribes of the earth empty handed, only to utter, as at first,
the glad tidings which she was commissioned to proclaim. She should
march forth in the greatness of her strength and magnificence of her
beauty, panoplied in power and garlanded with her victories, commending
herself to man by what she has gained for him. Other avenues have been
opened for approach—other than through his hopes and fears for the
future life; substantial gains have been achieved for that which now
is, and these should be made the allies of Christ and the instruments
of the Church. It has taken centuries to build a Christian home,
the mightiest ally of the Church; let the Church take it with her
along with the school, and not suffer the filth, and discomfort, and
degrading influences of the old hut to hang as a millstone about the
neck of those she would save. Of man’s home here, no less than of the
heavenly, “the Lamb should be the light;” his surroundings, person,
intellect, every part of him and every interest pertaining to him,
should be acted upon by the accumulated influences, and appealed to by
the developed advantages and benefits of Christianity. If by some means
the log cabins of the negroes can be supplanted by neat and healthful
cottages—surrounded by gardens and shaded yards—more than threefold
efficiency will be added to the efforts we are making through the
schools and churches.
Send back our pupils from the refining influences of our
boarding-schools into the dirt and squalor and ugliness of these
cabins, and a large per cent. of our work will be lost.
Attention to the subject, immediate and earnest, is demanded by all the
interests we seek, and it is hoped that some one competent to deal with
it will give it thought, and suggest some practical way of securing so
desirable an end.
* * * * *
THE GROWTH OF IDEAS AMONG THE NEGROES AND INDIANS.
REV. ADDISON P. FOSTER, JERSEY CITY, N. J.
It is a truism to say that the welfare of our country depends on the
ideas which are prevalent. No inquiry, then, can be more helpful in
determining our condition as a nation than that which relates to the
progress of ideas among these classes which give us most anxiety. The
Freedmen and the Indians are not the worst classes among us, but they
have been the most ignorant, and every patriot is desirous of knowing
their present mental condition. A recent visit to the Normal Institute
at Hampton, Va., on the occasion of its graduating exercises, gave
your correspondent, as he listened to the addresses of the students
and conversed with different colored people, an opportunity to collect
facts which, though not decisive, are at least suggestive on this
point. Undoubtedly, these ideas came largely through the influence of
Hampton Institute, but it must be remembered that similar institutions
of the American Missionary Association and other boards are scattered
throughout the South, and that, through their educated students, these
ideas are diffused far and wide among the colored people.
As to _work_, the colored man long since learned the Divine law, that
if he would not work, neither should he eat. One could not sit for an
hour on the wharf at Norfolk, as we did lately, and watch the colored
men about the sloops and lighters and on the docks, without being
impressed by the fact that they had learned to work.
The same lesson is just now being diligently conned by the Indians.
Carl Schurz, in his speech at Hampton, declared that the Indians were
discovering that they must work or starve, that hunting would no longer
support them, and that the land must be cultivated for food. A similar
truth was uttered by “Bear’s Heart,” an Indian youth, who made an
interesting address in broken English on the same occasion. Said he:
“Before I come here, I play; my mother and sisters work. When I go
back, my mother and sisters do housework: I dig the ground”—a purpose
which was loudly applauded. An amusing story is told of a certain great
General who is supposed to sympathize with the barbarous sentiment,
“The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Driving out from Fortress
Monroe to examine the progress of the Indians at Hampton, he was
inveighing against them, and declaring vehemently that they could not
be taught to work, when he cast his eyes on a field belonging to the
Institution, and there were ten Indian boys vigorously hoeing corn.
As to _property_, the desire is coming to be very strong among both
Indian and colored for the possession of land. It is well known that
many Indians on Western reservations are seeking an ownership of land
in severalty. A similar desire has long stimulated the colored man. We
had the honor of talking with a man of unmixed negro blood, who owns in
fee simple, about twenty miles from Norfolk, a good farm of 171 acres.
He and a friend purchased together an estate of 342 acres of woodland,
paying $1,300 for it. He took one-half, paid in cash $200, which he
had saved up during the war, and the remainder in three years. He has
since fairly stocked his farm, built him a little house, comfortably
fed his family off his farm, and secured about a hundred dollars a year
in cash. When we met him, he was on the way to Hampton to see his son
graduate with valedictory honors. Geo. Sykes, of Lake Drummond, Va., is
a man whose name deserves to go on record. Mr. Sykes affirms that eight
years ago he was the first colored man in his township who owned land.
Now twenty-five own from five to thirty acres each, and have their
deeds without encumbrance, while twenty-five others have bought land
and are paying for it.
As to _self-help_, we heard the most encouraging words from speakers on
graduation day. “We must stand on our own feet,” said one speaker, “and
must not trust alone to missionary societies or State or individual
aid.” “No talk,” he added, “will make me equal to other men, but I
must equal them, if at all, by my own exertions.” A striking instance
of self-help is more conclusive testimony. We conversed with a
certain young Hampton graduate who gave us a remarkable history. He
was an orphan. After saving up $125 by farm work, he went to Hampton
for study, receiving no aid, and working summers. At the end of two
years, he found he had not more than forty dollars left, so he went to
teaching. But he was paid only in orders on the State Treasury, which
he could not get cashed except at a discount of generally twenty per
cent. With business wisdom, he secured a living by farm-work in summer,
saved up his orders on the Treasury, till at the end of three years the
State cashed them in full, and then he went back and graduated. Not
even Dr. Goodell, of missionary fame, carrying his trunk on his back
to Andover for the sake of an education, showed more heroism than this
colored boy.
The colored people’s desire for _education_ has long been known, and
the incident just related well illustrates it. The same spirit appears
in the support of the “Butler School,” situated on the grounds of the
Institute, and taught by its graduates. The State of Virginia furnishes
funds to keep this school open only five months; but the parents of
the children, finding employment in a canning establishment on the
Institution’s property, gladly pay ten cents a week for each child from
their slender wages, and so keep the school open the rest of the year.
As to _responsibilities_, the colored students recognize their duties
as leaders of their people. Some of them who would gladly be teachers
have found that orders on the State Treasury, subject to ten or twenty
per cent. discount for cash, are not very remunerative, and are looking
in other directions for employment. Undoubtedly, as skillful farmers
and successful merchants, no less than as teachers, they can elevate
their people. But at Hampton, a stalwart black man, in a post-graduate
address, gave the students a ringing exhortation not to desert, because
of its hardships, the vocation of a teacher, “which,” said he, turning
to President Hayes, who sat before him, “is a nobler position than even
that of President of the United States.” The responsibilities of the
negro for village improvements in the South and for the evangelization
of Africa were points dwelt upon by other speakers.
We listened with peculiar interest to references made in the graduating
addresses to the relation of the colored man _to other races_. It was
pleasing to see the kind and forgiving spirit manifested. No bitterness
was shown either publicly or privately because colored teachers had
failed to secure their pay. An interesting essay on “The Advantage
of Disadvantages” referred to their ill-treatment in the past, with
no word of reproach. One speaker advanced the sentiment that the
colored man need not feel specially troubled at his past deprivation
of political privileges; that it was better for him not to have much
influence in government until he had become fitted to exercise that
influence wisely. Other like utterances were made, full of patience,
modesty, loyalty, hopefulness and a worthy ambition.
As to _religion_, everything is most encouraging. We attended a revival
meeting in a neighboring church, which was conducted with great decorum
and genuine feeling, entirely different from the wild hurly-burly of
war times. The students of the Institute are carefully trained in
religious truths, and it is seldom that a graduate goes out who is not
a sincere Christian. The spirit of the anniversary exercises was that
of a deep, but unostentatious piety. The same influence is exerted
among the Indians. We were told a touching story of “Walking Cloud,”
an Indian boy whom nothing could move from his stolidity and his
unwillingness to put away the badges of his barbarism—his blanket and
long hair—till the chaplain of the Institution showed him a picture of
Christ on the cross and explained its meaning. This boy, soon afterward
taken sick and dying, gave expression in the peculiar metaphoric speech
of his race to his desire to live a Christian life.
We are abundantly satisfied that these noble institutions through the
South, of which Hampton is one of the best-known and most efficient,
are surely and not so very slowly re-shaping the races which are under
their influence. We think there was abundant reason for Governor Long,
of Massachusetts, in his address at Hampton, to use these words:
“Horace Greeley was wont to say that the way to resume is to resume,
and so we would say, the way to solve the race problem in this country
is to solve it;” and this is what the Hampton Institute is doing.
* * * * *
AFRICAN NOTES.
—The River Binue, one of the great confluents of the Niger, which
Bishop Crowther and Dr. Blaikie ascended, in 1854, to a point 400 miles
above its union with the other great branch, has recently been explored
150 miles beyond the furthest point before reached by any white man.
This was done by the C. M. S. Steamer _Henry Venn_, under the command
of Mr. Ashcroft. This voyage was recently described before the Royal
Geographical Society of London, which awarded Bishop Crowther a gold
watch, valued at £40, for geographical explorations on the Niger. Mr.
Ashcroft considers the Binue a most interesting mission field. In no
part of Africa has he seen so many flourishing towns—“a good-sized
town every mile along the bank of the river for a long distance,
thickly populated.” He says: “I spoke to the kings at many of the
heathen towns, and they were all willing to learn the white man’s book,
and that their children also should learn.”
* * * * *
—The Royal Geographical Society, on the 26th of April last, was
visited by Rev. C. T. Wilson and Mr. Felkin, who had just arrived from
Central Africa, and with them were three ambassadors from King Mtesa’s
court in Uganda. These were introduced as “Earl Namkaddi,” “Earl
Kataruba,” and “Earl Sawaddu,” nobles of the second rank at home. These
men are described as of slight build, very black in color, and with
features more bright and intelligent than in the common negro type.
It was in 1863 that Speke and Grant discovered the great lake Victoria
Nyanza, and made known to the world the existence of Uganda and its
people. Since then only four whites have visited that country—-Mr.
Stanley, M. Linant de Bellefonds, Col. Long, and Dr. Emin Effendi,
until the visit of Mr. Wilson, who returns with the first natives who
have visited Europe from that region.
* * * * *
—The Peninsula of Sierra Leone is 22 miles long by 12 miles broad,
with a population of 37,000, all of whom excepting about 4,000 bear the
name of Christians. About one-half of these are connected with the C.
M. S., and the remainder are for the most part Wesleyans. It became a
diocese in 1852, and may, with as much propriety, be called Christian
as England or the United States. It is no longer considered missionary
ground. The church sustains itself, and the whole peninsula is divided
up into parishes, the same as England, each one having its own clergy,
Sunday-school and church council. The cost of all is met by voluntary
subscriptions, as it has been for nearly twenty years. Three hundred
and forty-three persons partook of the Lord’s Supper at Lagos last
Easter Sabbath, members of one church, which during the past three
years has contributed no less than £3,412 for church purposes.
Sierra Leone is the oldest, but not the only, mission of the Church
Missionary Society on the West Coast of Africa. Yoruba has eleven
stations, thirteen African clergymen, more than two thousand
communicants, and nearly six thousand professing Christians; and the
Niger Mission, begun 23 years ago, has its African bishop and clergy,
two hundred communicants and 1,500 Christians.
* * * * *
—ROBERT ARTHINGTON AND THE ENGLISH BAPTIST MISSION.—It is difficult
to decide whether to admire most the overflowing love which prompts
his gifts, the large, unsectarian spirit with which they are bestowed,
or the wisdom with which they are placed and limited. Evidently, he
has profoundly studied the problem whose solution he feels called to
attempt. He has just written a letter to the directors of the English
Baptist Missionary Society, offering 4,000 pounds toward putting and
maintaining a steamer on the Congo River, for the use of the Congo
Mission of that Society. He writes:
“I believe the time has come when we should make every necessary
preparation to carry out the original purpose of the Congo Mission to
place a steamer on the Congo River, where we can sail north-eastward
into the heart of Africa for many hundred miles uninterruptedly, and
bring the glad tidings of the everlasting Gospel to thousands of human
beings who are ignorant of the way of life and immortality.
“I have, therefore, now to offer your Society a thousand pounds toward
the purchase chase of a steamer, of the best make and capacity, every
way suitable for the purpose, and its conveyance and launch on the
river at Stanley Pool, and three thousand pounds to be carefully
invested, the interest only to be used for the perpetual maintenance
of such steamer on the Congo and its affluents, until Christ and his
salvation shall be known all along the Congo from Stanley Pool to the
first cataract of the equatorial cataracts of the Congo—beyond the
mouths of the Armvimi and Mbura Rivers.”
* * * * *
—The Uganda envoys from King Mtesa’s court sailed on the 22d of June
for Aden, whence they will take the British-Indian steamer to Zanzibar;
the closing of the Nile route making it necessary for them to return by
way of the East coast. Mr. Felkin, whose health will not admit of his
going back to Uganda, accompanies them to Zanzibar and will return to
England. They will be conducted to their home by Mr. Stokes, who is on
the coast making the necessary preparations for the journey. They carry
back valuable gifts, have seen much of England’s civilization and the
fruits of her religion, and it is not unreasonable to expect that the
future of their country will be greatly influenced by this visit of her
intelligent chiefs.
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
FISK UNIVERSITY.—The following statistics relating to the religious
condition of the University were read at a meeting, held on the day
of prayer for colleges: In Model School—Number of Christians, 35; not
Christians, 56; total, 91; percentage, 38.4. Normal School—Number of
Christians, 61; not Christians, 55; total, 116; percentage, 52.5.
Collegiate Department—Number of Christians, 77; not Christians, 9;
total, 86; percentage 89.5. Total number in school, 293; number of
Christians, 194; percentage, 59. This meeting occurred in the midst of,
and was followed by, great religious interest, which greatly reduced
the percentage of non-religious students.
* * * * *
TOUGALOO, MISS.—A young woman, who has been teaching, writes to Mr.
Miner, of Tougaloo, a letter which, although intended for no eye but
his, we think ought to be seen by others. She is explaining why she has
not returned to school: “I have had bad luck again in collecting what
is due me from the people. They all promised to pay me by the first
Saturday of the month, but they did not; so I am left with but little
money for going to school.
“Mr. M. I am very sorry! Sorry and hurt to my very heart, to think how
I have longed to go to school and learn something, and now I am not
able to do so and pay for my own board. Probably I could do so, but
I have a poor afflicted mother to help, and six younger brothers and
sisters and an orphan cousin; all of them I must help. I am 23 years
old to-day, and I have craved to go to school ever since I was seven
years old, which is sixteen years I have craved for it; and all the
time I have gone, after all, is not more than one year and five or
eight months. And now I am almost discouraged of ever going to school
like I want to go, that is, to bear my own expense.”
* * * * *
MILLER’S STATION, GA.—Rev. J. R. McLean, after an absence of seven
years, has taken a vacation trip to his old home in McLeansville,
N. C. He reports a good work at that point by Rev. A. Connet, the
examinations and closing exercises of whose school he attended. Among
many changes noted, he says: “Perhaps the greatest is in some of the
plantations. Where once there were from 50 to 100 slaves and from 30
to 40 horses and mules, with large barns, granaries and many cabins,
desolation now reigns. One cause of this is the low wages paid for
labor (for men, $6.50 or $7 per month; for women, $3), which causes the
young men to leave home and work in the tobacco factories. These are
schools of vice, as are all places in which young men congregate free
from restraint; and the money earned is speedily spent in forming evil
habits. In looking over these desolated plantations, I could but be
reminded of the prophecy of Jeremiah iv., 27, and Isaiah v., 9-25. As
I talked of these things with the only one left of those who formerly
ruled over my home and people, it seemed as if the frown of God was
resting upon these old homes. May God speed the day when men of all
races shall love Him as a common father, and each other us brethren.”
* * * * *
ANNISTON, ALA.—The Iron Company whose furnaces are at this place, which
is about to erect also a woolen mill, is doing much to improve the
condition of the colored people. The neat church edifice and parsonage,
occupied by the Rev. P. J. McEntosh, were largely built by this Company.
The parish school taught by the pastor, assisted by Miss R. Cruikshank,
a graduate of Talladega, closed on the 30th of June a successful term.
Miss C. was able to add music to the list of studies, to the great
advantage of both school and church. In this she was much aided by the
valuable gift of an organ from Mr. Robert Cushman, of Pawtucket, R. I.
The need of women missionaries and teachers, to visit and labor in the
homes of the colored people, is deeply felt and strongly urged by the
pastor.
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,
FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
* * * * *
A JULY VACATION.
“Once at Clifton Springs, always there.” That is the proverb. Well, why
not? Dr. Cuyler boasts of his thirty years at Saratoga Springs; and he
has been a tolerably healthy man, able to do some work in preaching and
writing for the newspapers. Multitudes of other people go to the same
place year after year for rest and recuperation; and so do many find it
to their inclination and profit to come to these springs, season after
season. The make-up of Dr. Foster’s Sanitarium develops a peculiar home
feeling. The judicious medical treatment, if needed, is an attraction.
The water, with, its sulphates of lime and magnesia and soda, has in
many cases a remedial quality. I think that within the time I get more
of revivification here than I could get anywhere else, and so I am now
on my fourth summer at Clifton.
Nor can I refrain from saying that I find a peculiar pleasure in coming
back to this place, where, during two years of enforced respite from
labor, God was preparing my mind for the transition in His life-plan
for me, by which I was to be taken from my own dear West and set to
doing much the same work at the South, which I have already learned
to love. Here I told the Lord that if He would only let me up so that
I could again preach the Gospel of His dear Son, I would go anywhere,
even to the ends of the earth. But I may as well confess that when He
took me at my word and pointed out the field, it did cost a struggle,
a night without sleep. Up North to have been a good friend of the
slave was one thing; to go down and put one’s self by the side of the
depressed ex-bondsman, to take chances with him, to try to lift him
up, that was another. Now I bless God for the joy of the work. It
is a missionary service without the labor of acquiring and using a
strange language. It is in some sense the work of a foreign missionary
without going from under the flag of my own country. I feel unworthy
of the gratitude of these people, of whom the Master speaks as “these
my brethren.” These two years I have gone everywhere from Virginia to
Texas, without receiving one word or act of discourtesy, but with many
tokens of approbation, from my white fellow-citizens.
I find this also a good stand-point from which to look back upon my
field, to review the work of the year gone by, to devise for the
next, and also to catch the inspiration of Northern interest in this
work. Here are Christian and patriotic people from all parts of our
country and from all branches of the Church of Christ. A single address
before them in the chapel, in behalf of Christian education among the
Freedmen, elicits a gratifying expression of sympathy, and imparts an
impulse to the cause through several denominational lines.
In the review, this seems yet the exigent work of the time. It is not
the caring for one, two or three new Territories or States at a time,
but for five millions of people scattered over fifteen States, who are
needing, all at once, the helping hand. This going back and forth makes
one realize that this is all one country, with one language, with one
history, with one Christian religion, with one interblended destiny;
that the comfort of the whole body must depend upon the welfare of
every member; and that so our common patriotism requires the uplifting
of these lowly poor. This glance back over the field brings immense
encouragement as to the results of this evangelizing process; brings
assurance that, if it is only prosecuted with vigor, there need be no
fear as to the outcome of the great act of emancipation; and brings
evidence of cheerfulness and happiness among the hundreds of workers,
Northern and native, male and female.
As my eye takes its usual course and sweeps around the coast from the
point where the old Mason & Dixon’s line struck the Atlantic to the
boundary of Mexico, all the way it brings up colleges and professional
departments, and normal institutes and high schools, which, under the
management of this Association, are sources of light, fountains of
blessing. It brings up the hundreds upon hundreds of primary schools,
in which, during the last year, the native teachers of our own training
were instructing their one hundred and fifty thousand pupils. It brings
up the seventy churches of the primitive faith, which are the outgrowth
of that educational scheme, and which as to their influence for good,
by their character are multiplying their number many times. It brings
up the multitudes of youth in those higher schools, who are ambitiously
taking on a Christian cultivation that they may use it for the good
of their people. It brings up those Christian congregations so hungry
for the word of God, so anxious for the best things in church-life. It
brings up, too, those masses, beset with ignorance and superstition and
unthrift, who need to be rallied by some worthy aspiration. And then
it turns with all hope to that corps of men and women, who, under God,
have wrought such great things already, whose excelling in the passive
virtues has commanded respect, and made it so comfortable for those of
us who come to join them now, and whose service for the Republic and
the Kingdom makes them high benefactors in our time and land.
Clifton Springs, N. Y.
* * * * *
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Lincoln Mission.
REV. S. P. SMITH, WASHINGTON.
One of the most beautiful sights on the streets of Washington, on the
5th of July morning, was the colored Sunday-schools coming out from
different churches, going to Howard Park, Vaness Garden and other
places to pass the day. The little ones seemed to be in a delirium of
happiness while marching on the street, keeping step with the music, as
their banners floated in the air.
But we felt very sad to think that our poor children at the Lincoln
Mission did not have this privilege. They could not go because we have
not enough teachers now to look after them. All the teachers who taught
here during the winter, left on the thirteenth of June and will not
be back until September. Some thought that it would be well to close
the school during the summer; but others thought that we had better
continue it, if we could have only five teachers and fifty scholars. We
do not expect to have so many scholars in the summer as in the winter;
but what we lose in quantity we hope to gain in quality. Moreover, to
keep up the school through the summer, will aid us in our church-work.
It has been said that this school cannot be carried on successfully
here in the summer, for it has been tried and uniform failure has been
the result. But if the Lord be with us we shall endeavor to carry
on the work; if we fail, it will be no more than what has been done
already.
One of our greatest difficulties is to secure teachers; we have tried
very hard to get some from among the colored people, but have few as
yet.
We are very grateful to those who have come from the Colored
Presbyterian Church in the city to help us. But we feel especially
thankful to Mr. J. W. Cromwell, editor of _The People’s Advocate_, a
colored newspaper, published in the city. He holds a high position in
one of the Government departments here, but this does not make him
forgetful of the children of his humbler brethren. He is found every
Sunday afternoon at the Lincoln Mission (unless called away from the
city) teaching the youth some truth from the Bible.
Indeed, he manifests such zeal in our work that we cannot but believe
him to be one of our warmest friends. He is our example for all
educated colored young men.
* * * * *
ALABAMA.
Florence and Her People.
REV. GEORGE W. MOORE.
Florence is one of the prettiest towns in Northern Alabama. The climate
is fine, the water good, and the scenery picturesque. It stands upon
the banks of the majestic Tennessee, which is fast being opened to
navigation; boats now come here from the Ohio and Mississippi rivers,
and it is intended to open its channel so that it shall be navigable as
far as Chattanooga.
This is a land of abundant foliage, and one cannot but be attracted
by the beautiful gardens of flowers and groves of cedar. To those
seeking rest, or health, the springs of various kinds of water and the
wholesome food are especially welcome.
Good air, pure water and magnificent scenery, ought to have a good
influence upon its people, and it may truthfully be said that Florence
furnishes a good example to our race; her people are healthy, cheerful
and hospitable. Some of them have nice homes, and there seems to be a
disposition in all to improve their condition. To this end, they have
societies, schools and churches, and, last but not least, they work.
One of the additions to the town is a beautiful Congregational edifice,
which is a little gem, and the people, irrespective of race, say that
it is an ornament to the city; but, best of all, it is paid for.
The A. M. E. and Baptist denominations have large and prosperous
churches. The Sunday-schools of all the churches are well attended and
in a flourishing condition.
The educational work of the county is in full blast; the whites have
good seminaries and normal schools and our people have good common
schools. The school at Florence, under the management of Mr. Y. A.
Wallace, is a centre of quite a number of schools taught by students of
the Baptist Institute, Central Tennessee College and Fisk University.
The great need of the place and demand of the colored people, is a good
Normal school. These common schools would become feeders of this Normal
school, and thus meet a great need of the county and do much good for
the State.
Another mark of progress may be seen in the effort some have made, and
are making, to get farms. I am told that some of our people in this
county have farms containing from ten to three hundred acres. The crops
are unusually good this year. If we have rain soon we shall have fine
crops of corn and cotton.
With the church to Christianize, and the school to educate the people,
and the plow to cultivate the soil, the county of Lauderdale may well
be considered a power for good.
* * * * *
LOUISIANA.
Lady-Missionary’s Letter.
[Without designating either the lady or her field, we give a letter
from a missionary among the Freedmen in a Southern city. These devoted
women, for whom there is a vast work, under many discouragements and
difficulties are carrying the Gospel of sympathy and comfort into the
lonely cabins in the South, and helping in many ways our larger and
more fundamental work. It would be a great mistake to withdraw needed
funds from our teaching, and give them to the visiting missionary, but
it would be a great loss in many ways, not to multiply the number of
those whose mission is to visit the mothers in their homes, carrying
the Gospel of cleanliness and thrift, and a knowledge of wifely
and motherly ways, to those who are to shape so largely the next
generation.—ED. MISSIONARY.]
I must tell you of my experience last Sabbath in the “House of
Refuge.” At 3 P. M. I took a car up the long, beautiful,
white shell-road—through “St. Patrick’s Cemetery”—to the Institute
buildings, expecting there to meet our superintendent and teachers. For
some reason they were detained, so I had to proceed, though trembling
and alone. The position can be appreciated only by those acquainted
with the history and training of these poor children. During the school
hours, for our benefit, boys were screaming, dogs snarling just outside
the doors, pupils called out, and once the whole school utterly refused
to sing the hymns so pleasing to them.
This made me afraid of what might occur to-day; but the service must
not be given up, though the door was locked and the “key lost”—the bell
overturned, and no official to be seen about the grounds. Trusting,
however, for guidance, I followed one of the boys through the yard and
work-house to the little chapel, where all had been to mass in the
morning. Thirty or forty were awaiting our arrival, and I am sure the
Lord helped me, for that wild, uproarious group, through the hour,
remained quiet and gentle, while I had no difficulty in interesting
them.
My Sunday-school class in Central Church is a great joy and help in my
work. Commencing with thirty little ones, the names have increased to
one hundred and twenty. Through these, I find entrance to many homes
otherwise closed to all religious influences.
Nothing is so pleasing to the mother as interest taken in her children,
and many interviews, following these friendly calls, will long be
remembered. Only kindness and welcome do I receive everywhere among
them. I have learned truly to pity these poor mothers, who tell me,
with tears, how hard it is to bring up their children properly in
the midst of all this abounding iniquity. All I can bring under the
influence of the A. M. A. work I deem a great gain.
During the last three days I have visited thirty-four families. Quite a
good number were promised for church and Sunday-school.
One Sabbath I was pleased to see in church three mothers and
ten children whom I had visited during the week. There are many
discouragements attending these efforts, but there are also many
rewards—many bright, happy faces, and many happier homes; many
children learning good, rather than all evil ways; and so the days go
by, while we take courage in the growing work, hoping that the little
seeds, as well as the greater, will take root and grow.
* * * * *
TENNESSEE.
Better Prospects of Memphis—Effect upon School-Work—Value of
Industrial Work—Hopeful Outlook.
REV. A. J. STEELE, MEMPHIS.
In October, 1879, few were hopeful of immediate prosperity for Memphis.
All her interests seemed paralyzed, her best friends discouraged and
even hopeless.
But now, in June, 1880, all is changed, despondency and fear have given
place to the utmost assurance of a great future for the business and
social influences of the city.
The business season just ended has been one of unexampled prosperity in
the history of the city; all classes have been kept busy; and as the
sanitary improvements, including a complete and almost perfect system
of sewerage, and durable street pavements, are pushed forward, little
fear is felt of another visitation of the fever this year.
Our work has seemed to take on new life and vigor, and the year just
closed, though cut short two months by the fever, has been one of
special success in every respect.
Though an unusual number of our students have continued teaching during
the year, our classes have been constantly full, the enrolment being in
advance of last year and the attendance more steady.
In industrial work, such as may be undertaken in a day-school, we
have met with every encouragement and success. The sewing classes,
two each day, have done much in learning to cut garments and in the
various branches of needle-work, knitting, etc. The class of older
girls in nursing and care of the sick has been a feature of interest. A
prominent physician said of the examination which the class passed, “If
your class answered those questions they ought not only to make safe
nurses, but also fair physicians.” We hope another year to have better
facilities for this work, meeting as it does a sad need in colored
homes, and at the same time the most hearty approbation of both colored
and white people.
Our closing exercises were of the usual nature, the Junior classes
having their exhibition for the benefit of the library, and netting
$50 for that purpose. Then followed the public session of the Literary
Society, under the management of its members, and the graduating
exerciser, at which three young men received diplomas. The address
given on this occasion by Judge Pierce was heartily appreciated and
enjoyed by a large audience of both colored and white people. He also
presented the diplomas in a manly, earnest address to the graduates.
The final, and perhaps most significant, meeting of commencement
week was the Alumni, at which about a dozen of the graduates of the
school—nearly all who have been sent out—gathered, with teachers and
a few friends, for a pleasant evening. The refreshments were followed
with the usual orations and speeches, and did much to gain for the
school an earnest working constituency.
We are rejoiced that Mr. B. A. Imes, of Oberlin, accepts the call of
the church here, and hopes to enter upon his work in October. Mr.
Williams, of Talladega, who has supplied the pulpit this year, has done
faithful, earnest work, but his health will not allow him to serve the
church longer than till a regular pastor can be found to relieve him.
Everything, the interest of our students, the appreciation of the
colored people, and the growing sympathy of the best class of the
white people, as indicated in the lecture course given by prominent
gentlemen to the school during the year, and by their aid to the school
in other ways, points to a successful and growing work for the future.
* * * * *
Flower Mission and Care for the Sick.
MISS HATTIE A. MILTON, MEMPHIS.
[The training school for nursing, at Le Moyne Institute, is doing good
work, not simply in giving instruction that will fit the pupils to
become intelligent and efficient nurses when they have gone to their
homes, but in visiting and caring for the sick now. Under instruction
from their teachers, they have done much for the sick among the poor of
the city. Miss Milton tells below of the Flower Mission she started in
the City Hospital.—ED. MISSIONARY.]
Yesterday I asked the girls in the sewing class to bring me flowers for
the sick at the City Hospital. They were very glad of the opportunity
and brought sixty bouquets of our lovely roses and some honey-suckles,
I took them to the Hospital, where I met, by previous appointment, the
lady-missionary among the whites, and assisted her in conducting the
services in the white ward. Then we went to the colored ward, which she
had not been in the habit of visiting, gave each patient a bouquet,
which was very gratefully received, after which we had a short service
consisting of Bible-reading, prayer and singing. We then passed through
all the white wards, giving each inmate a bouquet. We came away leaving
many happy hearts and smiling faces. One old colored man, who was dying
when I gave him the flowers, and passed away shortly after I left, said
to the nurse with his last breath, “Take these three spring-chickens”
(sent to him by a friend from the country) “and give them to the
teacher who gave me the flowers.” The chickens came, and I shall have
an opportunity of making some of the sick ones happy with them. The
girls are very much interested in working for the comfort of the poor
and sick, and have asked permission to go with me on my visits. They
have been making some garments for orphans, in the sewing class, and
have enjoyed the work. They ask me to tell them about the poor and sick
while they are sewing. I trust the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts.
* * * * *
AFRICA.
* * * * *
MENDI MISSION.
MR. NATHANIEL NURSE, GOOD HOPE STATION.
We have about a mile of land connected with this station. On this
the natives have built a number of “fackies” in which they live. I
noticed one afternoon, as I entered one of them, a man before the front
entrance; and upon going to see what he was doing, my attention was
attracted to a large piece of country cloth spread outside, and in
front, of the door.
I asked the man what it was there for. He could speak English, but did
not want to tell me; however, when he saw that I could not be put off,
he said that it was there to keep away sickness and death from their
facki; that they put their trust in it as their God. I said, “Would
you like me to put you on the ground, walk on you myself, and let
other people do the same, too? Would you think that I liked you very
much?” He said “No.” I said, “Now you say that you put your trust in
this cloth to keep away sickness and death: if a person has anything,
as silver or gold, which he values, he will keep it in a secure place,
because he values it. Now you show how you value what you put trust
in; you are walking on it yourself, and others are, too; the rains
will soon come, which will cause it to rot, and then it will be thrown
away.” The head woman of the facki was there, (they were without a head
man, as he died only a few weeks before this,) as I spoke to this
man, and another one who would explain what I said to her. I asked if
this cloth was here when their head man was alive. They said it was. I
added, “Then, you see, he got sick and died; this cloth was not able
to save him.” They admitted it. I said, “There is nothing man can make
that can be worshiped as God, neither silver nor gold, nor anything;
God made all, and has made man. If you worship a tree, and say that man
has not made that, God made it. He lives in Heaven, and has made man,
and there is nothing that man can take in place of Him, and if you will
believe that, and put your trust in Him, He will save you through His
Son. If at any time you believe what I have told you, but are afraid to
take away the cloth yourselves, send for me, and I will come and take
it up.” They explained it to the head woman, and while I was there,
they took the cloth up and threw it away. I thought it was best to have
it at the Mission, as a memorial. I asked one of the men to bring it to
the yard some time when he was coming that way.
The head woman of this facki now comes to our church every Sabbath,
and on the first Sabbath, when she was dressed for church, she brought
the cloth in her hand. The act of doing that showed that she gave up
all. I was speaking that day on the long-suffering of God, and inviting
sinners to accept Christ who was waiting to receive them. I said that
although the heathen cannot read His word, they have a conscience, and
naturally know that there is a God. In speaking about that, I referred
to this case, and had one of the brethren bring the cloth into the
church and show them. I exhorted them concerning the life that we
should endeavor to live among these people. Many could not refrain from
tears. I was much encouraged myself. I had almost given up, thinking
I could not do anything, and that the Lord had not called me here. I
have trouble in getting the people to church, but, when visiting them
in their fackies, I have a chance to bring the truth home to them, and
have made it my special duty to visit the fackies twice a week. While I
cannot speak the language myself, I endeavor to avail myself of every
opportunity of doing all the good I can. In many of the fackies I find
some that can speak broken English, so I speak to these and ask them to
tell the others what I say. Sometimes I have a chance to speak to the
parents about bringing up their children, especially if I see any that
are disposed to accept civilized dress, but allow their children to go
anyhow, and do not even send them to school. An ordained missionary is
greatly needed for the advancement of the work here.
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
* * * * *
LA POINTE AGENCY.
DR. I. L. MAHAN, U. S. INDIAN AGENT.
I have just returned from Lac Courte d’Oreille, where I have been to
deliver the annual goods and supplies, and to superintend the farming
operations carried on upon that reservation. Garden and field seed had
been sent forward early in the season, and the farmer and assistant had
progressed finely with the work. I found a larger number of Indians
gathered upon the reservation than at any time since the first year I
came to the agency. This is accounted for by reason of the late visit
of three of their chiefs to their great father at Washington. The
report had gone abroad among the roving bands that the bills had passed
Congress, and they expected to meet the Indian Commissioners to counsel
upon the sale of their timber, from which they believed they were to
receive large sums of money.
All the roving Indians within a hundred miles had gathered, and were
awaiting my arrival. I soon put their minds at rest, however, on
that score, and informed them that those who helped themselves the
Government would help, but no others. In looking over their patches,
for their farms are in miniature as yet, they were seen to be well
tended and well fenced; and as I looked upon the nearly twelve hundred
Indians as they received their goods, for which the males between the
ages of 18 and 45 had worked under the direction of the farmer, I could
not but compare them with the same number gathered in the fall of 1873.
Then they wore long hair, blankets, feathers, paint, &c.; they were
dirty, filthy and almost eaten up with vermin. Now they are clean, with
short hair, blankets rare, little paint, no feathers, and most of them
well clothed. The dresses of the females were in the latest fashion;
and many of them had on hats. The men wore clean white or colored
shirts, and hats or caps. They prized the agricultural implements,
hoes, rakes, scythes, plows, grub hoes, &c., all being in great demand.
Some years ago they wanted blankets, beads and trinkets. They seemed
delighted with the idea of a boarding-school such as we agreed upon
while I was East. There was an entire absence of that domineering
spirit which characterized them in ‘73. They received the goods with
thankfulness. Mildness and gentleness were pictured upon every face.
They respected their agent and loved the Government that dealt with
them so bountifully. This is the reservation on which Mr. and Mrs. Holt
commenced the work of civilization. Truly the seed was well planted,
and although for years we have only been able to hold our own, now, as
the times look favorable, we hope for grand results.
These are the Indians who must go to the personal care of another. I
leave them with sadness, yet cherishing a grand hope of their future. I
have done what I could, and hope they may fall into good hands, for the
field is ripe for the harvest. Give them a good agent who understands
them and will toil for them, and I have no fear. The Lac de Flambeau
are much in the same condition, but the other Indians of this agency
are able to care for themselves.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
* * * * *
“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”
Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.
PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D.
VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C.
Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E.
Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward
P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.
DIRECTORS: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer,
Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, Rev.
John Kimball, E. P. Sanford, Esq.
SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palace,
Esq.
* * * * *
SERMONS BY OUR CHINESE HELPERS.
It seemed to me that no better use could be made, this month, of the
columns set apart for our Chinese Mission, than to introduce to our
friends some of our Chinese helpers, by giving a sample or two of their
work. Let it be remembered that they have been taken from the kitchen,
and set, at once, in the missionary service; and that whatever of
special training they receive, comes along with the work itself. They
are assisted in the study of the Bible by the teachers with whom they
serve respectively, but learn to preach, mainly, _by preaching_.
Lee Sam, in our missionary work but four months as yet, sends the
following:
Matt. xxvi., 41.—Jesus says to his disciples, “Watch and pray that ye
enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak.” When we first become Christians then our own hearts are evil.
It often seems much easier to do wrong than to do right; without Jesus
we can do nothing. We must pray without ceasing. Jesus says, “If a man
love Me he will keep My words, and My Father will love him and make Our
abode with him.” Hear what He says: “If any man will come after Me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me, for whosoever
will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for
My sake shall find it.” If we know of Jesus and His love we shall be
willing to give our life that we may bring others to love Him and to
accept Him as their Saviour. We must pray to Jesus to help us love the
Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our soul, and with all
our mind, and love one another and keep His commandments; and we must
pray that we enter not into temptation, and we may ask Him for whatever
we need. We may ask Him to heal us if we are sick, to help us if we are
weak; for food to eat and clothes to wear. We must ask His care when we
go to bed, and His wisdom and strength when we rise in the morning to
the labors and duties of another day. We must rely upon Jesus Christ as
long as we live. Most of all must we beg of Him to blot out our sins
and give us a new heart. If we live a life of prayer, God will love us
in this life and when we die we shall have joy, and after death our
souls shall be full of joy for ever and ever. We cannot live near Jesus
without much prayer; but we must watch as well as pray. We have many
enemies that we must watch. Our own hearts lead us away from Jesus.
Jesus says: “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from
thee, or if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out.” This means that
we should part with anything, no matter how dear, if it makes us sin.
We must watch our thoughts; if we know they do not please Jesus, we
must put them from us. We must love only good things, and delight only
in what we can have with our heart full of love to Jesus. If we know
that anything will tempt us to sin, we must watch against it and keep
away from it. We must not go to any place where we know Jesus would not
wish us to go. We must watch our tongues that they do not speak any
wrong words, and we must watch that in all that we think, in all that
we say, and in all that we do, we please Jesus. “The spirit indeed is
willing but the flesh is weak.” If we are true Christians, we desire
more than anything else to follow Jesus. We mean to love Him always, to
work for Him always, and to turn from everything that is wrong. But how
many times we do not do things we mean to do, and how many times we do
things that make us sorry: and we go to Jesus and we ask Him to forgive
us. Our spirit is willing. In our heart, our very soul, we love Jesus,
but the flesh is weak. The flesh is our sinful self, the old wicked
heart, anything in this life that makes us do wrong. Sometimes we want
to speak good words for Jesus. We would like to tell our brethren of
His love, but we are not wise; we do not know the right words to say.
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” That is, in
our own selves, without Jesus we are very weak, we cannot do anything
right. But He will give the Holy Spirit to help us, so we may be strong
in Him, though we are in our own selves, without His spirit, very weak.
He will help us be strong to do right, and wise to say the right word.
Lena Chung, our Sacramento helper, who has been in service about one
year, sends the following:
John xiii., 34. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another.”
What does this mean? Our Lord was on earth; His disciples had followed
Him three years. Jesus knew His hour was come that He should depart
out of this world unto the Father. The disciples had been with Him so
long; they might know how to love God and follow Christ, but when their
Light should go away then they would be troubled and offended because
of the world. Jesus knew they would receive persecution; be cast out of
the synagogues and despised and hated of men; so He gave them this new
commandment that they should love one another in this world.
I. We ought to love one another. It is our duty to obey this command.
Some may say: he may be a Christian, but he is not my countryman, not
near to me. I am a white man, he is black, or he is a yellow man, he
does not belong to my family or friends. I will not love him. It can be
no sin to hate him. Not so, my friends. It hath been said, “Thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.” But Christ tells us: “Love
your enemies and bless them which curse you.” If so, we must love all
who love God, and are trying to serve and please Him, whatever their
place in life.
The body has many organs. The head is upward, feet downward, hands at
the sides; they must work in harmony with each other—they must love
one another. So with us. There are many kinds of people in the world;
but God is the Father of all, though same are in Europe, some in Asia,
some in Africa and some in America. The color may be different, the
figure also different; but all must work for the same object, and all
must love one another as members of one body—which is Christ.
Oh, my friends, I hope you will turn to love and not hate. If any love
Christ they must love all people in the world, not only those they
know, but spread it wider and love all who come to Christ,
II. Love one another truly with our hearts. Paul said: “Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I
am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I bestow all
my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” So, then, we must love
truly, honestly, and freely. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his
brother, he is a liar.” When Christ saw the people love outwardly, not
with the heart, He said: “Beware of false prophets which come to you in
sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” We may learn
from this, unless we love one another truly and honestly, we cannot get
the blessing of God.
III. Love one another continually. This is like God, whose love is
unchangeable. He loves us all the time, gives us our daily bread,
our clothes, and all we have. He gave His only begotten Son to the
world to die for us. If we hate Him, He does not hate us, but loves
us still. There was once a father in China who loved his son like the
precious diamond. His son did all things to dishonor his father, but
his father loved him still, and would not change his love. After a time
the son left his father and came to California, where he grew worse
and worse; never wrote any letters to his father. At last, a friend
came to California whom the father knew, and sent word by him to his
son. He said: “When you meet my son please tell him for me, I love
him continually. I never forget my love.” A few months after, this
friend met the son. He said to him, “You are doing all things vain. The
precious time is almost gone. Soon you will feel gloomy and sad. When
I left home your father sent a short message to you. He said he loves
you continually.” When the son heard this his face changed, his heart
became like a piece of ice on the hot fire. He started at once to see
his father. When he reached home, his father was so happy to see him he
forgot all the wrong his son had done. The father represents the true
living God; the son, the people of the world; and the friend represents
Jesus Christ. The bad son leaving his father and doing wrong, is like
the people of the world disobeying God and going far away from Him. God
sent us word by our Saviour that He loves us continually. This word
should melt our hearts and make us return to God. He will receive us
joyfully and forgive us our sins.
Brethren: If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
[The third sketch, which is by Jee Gam, to whom, during his recent
visit to the East, many of our readers listened with great interest,
must be deferred to another issue.—ED. MISSIONARY.]
* * * * *
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
* * * * *
A TRIP UP THE YANG-TSE-KIANG.
REV. G. W. PAINTER.
By the last mail, I wrote that I was in Shanghai for my health. Since
then, I have been up the Yang-tse-Kiang to Hankow, a distance up and
back of 1,200 miles, first-class passage $8. This included board for
a whole week, and it may startle you to hear that we had genuine
strawberries (the first I have seen during seven years’ residence in
China), which cost the steward five cash each (half a cent), and shad
at a cost of $2 per pair. We always had five or six kinds of meat, and
several kinds of fruit. How this could be afforded was a mystery, but
to me a charming one.
The fare provoked even a sick man’s appetite, and the pure sweet river
air conduced to sleep; the weather was fine, and the scenery, for one
half of the route, superb. Part of the way the banks of the river were
flat, and the view was cut off by tall reeds with which they were
lined, but during the latter half of the upward journey the mountains
rose, often abruptly from the river, not unfrequently to great heights,
and it was true of some of these, what I supposed before coming to
this country was true of all mountains, that they were terraced and
cultivated to their summits. Much of the scenery was equal to that on
the Hudson, minus the residences.
The country houses along the river are much poorer than in our Province
of Hanchow, and the cities seem older and more dilapidated. The river
annually overflows the low grounds from April to August, and as it
often rises 50 feet above its winter level, the people build only rude
huts. The missionaries at Hankow inform me that for months they are
compelled to use canoes for travel on their streets. It was the busiest
season (May) when I reached Hankow, which until recently was the most
interior treaty port of the Empire. It is separated from Han Yang and
Wa-Chang by the Yang-tse-Kiang and Han rivers, and each of them is an
immense city. There are some two hundred foreigners here. The Bund
(River) St. has houses only on one side, and is the finest in China.
It stands 50 feet above the river, which for half a mile is faced with
splendid stone masonry. It offers the busiest and most _Chinesy_ sight
yet seen in this country. Fourteen steamers were lying at the wharves.
There is a great rush to get the first new tea into the English market.
The fleetest steamers are chartered at fabulous prices: $32 per ton
is paid for transportation, and $1,600 for river pilots, on the round
trip from Shanghai to Hankow and return—a trip of one week. This year
the season opened on the Sabbath, some taking advantage of the fact
that others were at church to begin lading. Neither heat, night, nor
anything else checks the work. The Russians do the biggest business.
They deal chiefly in the coarsest and poorest qualities of tea. Stem,
leaf, and often extraneous matter, are ground to powder, steamed and
pressed into bricks of convenient size for transportation, and these
are used for money in Mongolia and Siberia.
Hankow is a filthy city. Wa-Chang is much better in this respect, has
fine hills, and a lofty pagoda from which a magnificent view of the
surrounding country is obtained.
I was hospitably received, not alone by the missionaries, but by many
outside the mission circles, who as a rule do not show much kindness
to us. I saw much of the mission work, and found that it was not
given exclusively to the natives, but extended to the sailors in the
various ports. Ancestral worship, which is the religion of China,
is one of the chief obstacles to the reception of Christianity. A
pigeon-English-speaking Chinaman to whom a zealous sister had given a
book said, in answer to her question, “How did you like it?” “That book
talkee fool pigeon. I no can leave father; no can leave mother.” He
meant he could not cease from worshiping them.
I saw here an ancient and queer monument called the “Lamp of a thousand
years.” The inscriptions on it are in Sanscrit, and have not been
deciphered. Also a picture representing a miracle of like import to
that of Jesus at Cana. A landlord had treated one of the _genii_ with
great kindness. He rewarded him by turning his well into a wine pool.
The host’s avarice was awakened, and he complained that now he had no
swill for his pigs, whereupon the well gave forth water again. Hence,
in characterizing an avaricious man, the Chinese say “If his well
bubbled wine he would complain of a lack of swill.”
Smuggling is carried on to a great extent all along the river, opium
and salt being the principal articles thus introduced. The natives
employ foreigners to protect their goods, and the hands on the steamers
are engaged in the work, and are skillful in all manner of tricks
by which to evade duties. The whole trip was delightful and most
invigorating to a sick missionary.
* * * * *
RECEIPTS
FOR JULY, 1880.
* * * * *
MAINE, $309.96.
Camden. E. D. Mansfield, $3; J. H., $1; A. H., $1 $5.00
Foxcroft and Dover. Cong. Ch. 6.60
Limington. “A Friend” 2.00
Machias. “Machias,” $10; Centre St. Cong. Ch., $6.45 16.45
North Waterford. Cong. Sab. Sch. 6.50
Portland. State St. Ch., $150; St. Lawrence St. Ch. and
Soc., $8.50 158.50
Scarborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.66
Skowhegan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 31.75
Thomaston. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Vassalborough. ESTATE of Mrs. Mary B. Buxton, by
Samuel Titcomb, Ex. 50.00
York. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.50
NEW HAMPSHIRE, $354.33.
Amherst. Cong. Ch. 20.25
Bethlehem. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.00
Campton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 17.00
Concord. South Cong. Ch. and Soc. 54.92
Dover. S. H. F. 1.00
Exeter. “A Thank Offering” 25.00
Fitzwilliam. L. Hill 5.00
Fitzwilliam. Mrs. C. E. Gowan, _in memory of her
Mother_ 3.00
Hampstead. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $8.50; Ann M. Howard,
$5 13.50
Hanover. Religious Soc. 20.00
Lebanon. O. S. M. 1.00
Manchester. C. B. Southworth 25.00
Milford. Cong. Ch., $19.43; R. M., $1 20.43
Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00
New Ipswich. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.23
New Market. T. H. Wiswall 10.00
North Hampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. MRS.
ADALINE DRAKE, L. M. 30.00
Peterborough. Union Evan. Ch. and Soc., to const. JONES
N. DODGE, L. M. 30.00
Swanzey. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
Temple. Cong. Sab. Sch. 10.00
VERMONT, $284.76.
Cabot. Mrs. S. S. H. 1.00
Cambridge. M. and C. Stafford, $89.98; J. G. Morse, $5;
Rev. E. Wheelock, $5; S. M. Safford, $5;
O. W. Reynolds, $3; H. Wires, $3; B. R. Holmes, $2;
J. W. T., $1; E. B. $1; M. J. M., $1 115.88
Clarendon. Mrs. N. J. Smith, to const. W. D.
SMITH, L. M. 30.00
Cornwall. Cong. Sab. Sch. 10.75
Fair Haven. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.38
Manchester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 47.12
Morrisville. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $17.84;
“An Aged Friend,” $15 32.84
North Cambridge. John Kinsley 5.00
Pawlet. Mrs. Dan Blakeley 5.00
West Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. 12.44
Wilmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.35
MASSACHUSETTS, $4,517.04.
Amherst. Amherst College Ch., $61.25; Mrs. R. A. Lester,
$50; First Cong. Ch., $25 136.25
Andover. West Cong. Soc. 50.00
Ashland. Cong. Ch. and Soc., _for Student Aid,
Talladega C._ 13.25
Belchertown. Mrs. R. W. Walker 5.00
Beverly. LEGACY of Mrs. Betsey Butman, of Dane
St. Ch. to const. CARRIE T. BUTMAN, L.M. 30.00
Beverly, Dane St. Ch. and Soc. 70.15
Boston. “A Friend” 5.00
Boston Highlands. Eliot Cong. Ch., $122.60;
Immanuel Cong. Ch., $100; Mrs. Livermore, $2 224.60
Boxborough. Mary Stone 10.00
Brookline. Harvard Ch. and Soc., $112.52;—
Mrs. Seaman’s Infant Class, $50, _for Student Aid,
Talladega C._;—F. Winthrop White, $10; “A Friend,” $8 180.52
Brocton. “A Friend” 15.00
Cambridgeport. G. F. Kendall 10.00
Clinton. “A Friend” 50.00
Danvers. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 100.00
Dorchester. Village Ch. Sab. Sch., $25.10;
“E. P.” $1 26.10
East Hampton. Payson Cong. Sab. Sch. 50.00
East Somerville. Franklin St. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 52.58
East Templeton. Joel Fairbanks 5.00
Enfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00
Fitchburgh. ESTATE of Deborah B. Thurston, by J.
Baldwin, Ex. 50.00
Framingham. Plymouth Cong. Sab. Sch. 2.25
Georgetown. First Cong. Ch., _for Talladega_ 6.01
Grafton. Evan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 41.43
Great Barrington. Mrs. J. M. Chapin 5.00
Haverhill. Centre Cong. Ch. 86.00
Hingham. Evan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.23
Holliston. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $49.12; “Bible Christians
of District No. 4,” $25 74.12
Ipswich. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00
Lawrence. South Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.37
Lowell. Thomas Hunt 5.00
Lynn. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc. 16.30
Marblehead. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 78.00
Mattapoisett. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.75
Medford. Mystic Cong. Ch. and Soc., $117.10; “A Lover of
the Cause,” $38 155.10
Medway. Village Ch. and Soc. 100.86
Middlefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 48.76
Monson. Mrs. C. O. Chapin and her S. S. Class,
_for Indian Boys, Hampton Inst._ 11.00
Natick. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 50.00
Newton. Eliot Cong. Ch. and Soc. 125.00
Newton Centre. “A Friend” 10.00
Newton Highlands. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $54.17; “Willing
Hands and Cheerful Givers,” $10 64.17
North Amherst. Mrs. A. M. Smith 2.00
Northampton. “A Friend” 150.00
Norfolk. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.00
Oxford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.49
Petersham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 1.22
Pittsfield. South Cong. Ch. and Soc., $29;
First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $25.24 54.24
Reading. “A Friend” 5.00
Rutland. First Cong. Ch. 14.00
Salem. “A Friend” 10.00
South Boston. “H. J. B.” 1.00
South Hadley. Mt. Holyoke Sem. (ad’l) 5.00
South Weymouth. Union Cong. Ch. 108.80
Sunderland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 60.00
Taunton. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $104.77;
Union Cong. Ch. and Soc. $12.34 117.11
Templeton. Trin. Cong. Sab. Sch. 6.27
Tolland. Rev. J. H. J. 1.00
Uxbridge. “A Friend” 2.00
Wakefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.98
Watertown. Phillips Cong. Ch., $100, to const. MISS
LAURA STAFFORD GREEN, JOHN S. ABBOTT and EDWARD
STOCKIN, L. M’s; Corban Soc. of Phillips Cong. Ch.,
$18.70, ad’l, to const. MRS. C. L. WOODWORTH, L. M. 118.70
West Barnstable. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
West Boylstown. Mrs. Polly Ames, deceased, $3; Geo. W.
Ames, $3 6.00
Westhampton. Cong. Ch. 21.00
Westminster. “A Friend” 2.00
West Newbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
West Stockbridge. Rev. H. M. Hazeltine and Family 5.00
Worcester. Central Cong. Ch. 141.23
Worcester. ESTATE of Rev. M. G. Grosvenor, by
David Manning, Ex. 1,500.00
Yarmouth. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00
RHODE ISLAND, $1,747.00.
Bristol. Mrs. De Wolf Rogers, $500; C. De Wolf,
$500, _for Fisk U._ 1,000.00
Little Compton. United Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00
Pawtucket. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.00
Providence. Central Cong. Ch., $700; Plymouth Cong. Ch.,
$11.50; Mrs. J. W. D., 50c. 712.00
CONNECTICUT, $3,082.58.
Berlin. Rev. J. Whittlesey 10.00
Bridgeport. Park Cong. Ch. 22.02
Bridgewater. Cong. Ch. 21.24
Bristol. “A Friend” 10.00
Burlington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 4.00
Canaan. “N.” 5.00
Clinton. ESTATE of Nancy Stanton, by
John A. Stanton and Lewis E. Stanton, Ex’s 200.00
Cromwell. Cong. Ch. 50.00
Danbury. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 132.12
Danielsonville. Westfield Cong. Ch. ($20 of which,
_for the Freedmen_), $90;—Mrs. S. S. D., 60c. 90.60
Durham. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 30.00
Ekonk. Elizabeth W. Kasson 10.00
Enfield. First Cong. Ch. 50.00
Farmington. Cong. Ch. (Quar. Coll.) 65.08
Glastonbury. First Cong. Ch. 125.00
Giliad. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Brown, $5, _for a
Teacher, Tillotson Inst._, and $5,
_for Hampton Inst._ 10.00
Guilford. First Cong. Ch. 16.00
Hadlyme. “R.” 3.50
Hanover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 19.53
Hartford. First Cong. Ch. ($30 of which from DEA.
HOMER BLANCHARD, to const. himself, L. M.) 1,141.00
Hartford. Asylum Hill Cong. Ch., $176; Windsor Ave.
Cong. Ch., $20.26; J. N. Berdin, $5 201.26
Lebanon. First Cong. Ch., $43.33 to const.
CICERO GARLAND, L. M.; First Ch., $20 63.33
Middlebury. Cong. Ch. 30.56
Middlefield. Cong. Ch., to const. JAMES T. INGLIS,
L. M. 40.00
Milford. Plymouth Ch. 15.00
Moose Meadow. Dea. F. W. 1.00
New Haven. Third Ch., $14.65; “A Lady Friend,” $5;
“A Friend,” $5; W. C. Scobie, $2 26.65
Newington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.17
Norwich. Broadway Cong. Ch. (in part) 200.00
Pomfret. First Cong. Ch. (ad’l) 4.45
Portland. Cong. Ch., ($2.19 of which, _for Student
Aid_) 10.97
Putnam. “A Friend” 17.50
Rocky Hill. Cong. Ch. 9.25
Roxbury. “B. and S. J. B.” 3.00
Salisbury. Cong. Ch. 58.05
Saybrook. Old Saybrook Cong. Ch. 13.16
Sharon. First Ecclesiastical Soc. 41.69
Sherman. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.00
Simsbury. James Reid 5.00
Suffield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.62
Taftville. Cong. Ch. 11.00
Thomaston. Cong. Ch. 19.60
Westford. Cong. Ch. 5.00
West Haven. Cong. Sab. Sch. 30.00
West Hartford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 80.00
West Meriden. Edmund Tuttle, to const. MISS MINNIE L.
BEADLE L. M. 30.00
Wethersfield. H. Savage 5.00
Willimantic. Cong. Ch. 55.13
Wolcott. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00
Woodstock. First Cong. Ch. 20.10
NEW YORK, $2,095.75
Brentwood. E. F. Richardson. 15.00
Brooklyn. Plymouth Ch. 1,250.24
Brooklyn. Church of the Pilgrims 167.27
Brooklyn. E. D. New England Cong. Ch. 30.00
Carthage. A. V. 1.00
Cazenovia. Rev. S. W. 1.00
Champlain. Mrs. M. Hamilton 5.00
Derby. Jennette Bullock 2.00
Ellenville. Mrs. M. B. Holt 5.00
Hancock. Cong. Ch. 10.00
Holley. —— 5.00
Homer. Miss Nancy Knight 5.00
Martinsburgh. Horatio Hough, $5; A. H. A., $1 6.00
Newburgh. John H. Corwin, Pkg. of Reading Matter.
New York. S. T. Gordon. $100; E. L. A., 50c. 100.50
Nineveh. Reuben Lovejoy 300.00
North Lawrence. C. C. B. 1.00
Oneida. Edward Loomis 2.00
Poughkeepsie. First Cong. Ch. 17.33
Rochester. Plymouth Cong. Ch. 44.55
Rome. John B. Jervis 25.00
South Bangor. L. M. K. 0.50
Syracuse. Plymouth Ch. 72.36
Turin. Mrs. M. W. 1.00
West Camden. Mrs. A. L. C. 1.00
West Groton. Cong. Ch., $14; Nelson Cobb, $5 19.00
Whitney’s Point. Presb. Soc. 4.00
Yaphank, Mrs. H. M. Overton 5.00
NEW JERSEY, $13.00.
Montclair. Mrs. J. F. Pratt’s S. S. Class, _for Student
Aid, Talladega C._ 3.00
Trenton. Geo. S. Grosvenor 10.00
PENNSYLVANIA, $26.50.
Canton. H. Sheldon 10.00
New Castle. Mrs. J. S. W. 1.00
North East. B. T. Spooner 5.00
Pittsburgh. E. P. 0.50
West Alexander. —— 10.00
MICHIGAN, $877.54.
Adrian. A. J. Hood. _for African, Indian and Chinese
M._ 10.00
Bridgeport. Cong. Ch. 1.00
Canandaigua. Cong. Ch. 2.70
Chelsea. John C. Winans 10.00
Grass Lake. Cong. Ch. 12.00
Hillsdale. M. J. 0.51
Middleville. Cong. Ch. 2.90
Morenci. Cong. Ch. 2.50
North Adams. Cong. Ch. 10.00
Olivet. BEQUEST of Dea. Henry Topping, by Albert
Topping 50.00
Olivet. A. T. 1.00
Port Huron. ESTATE of Mrs. M. J. Sweetser 750.00
Portland. Cong. Ch. bal. to const. MISS HATTIE
COLE, L. M. 4.00
Salem. Summit Miss. Soc. 4.22
Saint Clair. Young People’s Miss. Soc. of Cong. Ch.,
$11.26, _for Lady Missionary, Memphis, Tenn._;
—Cong. Ch., $2.95 14.21
Saint Johns. G. B. 0.50
Utica. Rev. Wm. Platt 2.00
OHIO, $303.33.
Adams Mills. Mrs. M. A. Smith 10.00
Ashland. Mrs. Eliza Thompson 2.28
Brighton. Cong. Ch. 5.18
Cleveland. Heights Cong. Ch., $46; Euclid Ave.
Cong. Ch., $12.11; Mrs. F. M. S., $1 59.11
Columbus. Mrs. J. L. Bates, $5; Mrs. W. C., $1 6.00
Elyria. ESTATE of Miss Mary Burrill, by Mrs.
Charlotte Moore, Exec’x 25.00
Garrettsville. Cong. Ch. 12.00
Greensburgh. H. B. Harrington, _for Woman’s Work for
Woman_ 5.00
Harman. Cong. Ch. 2.00
Huntsburgh. Miss V. R. P., _for Ed. of Indians,
Hampton Inst._ 1.00
Lenox. Horatio Tracy 5.00
Lodi. Cong. Ch. 9.00
Medina. Woman’s Miss. Soc., by Mary J. Munger, Treas.,
_for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 10.00
Nelson. Cong. Ch. 11.00
Oberlin. Second Cong. Ch. 37.57
Painesville. First Cong. Ch. 30.73
Seville. T. B. Dowd 5.00
South Ridge. Mrs. Uraniah Haviland 2.00
South Toledo. Mrs. J. H. N. 0.51
Springfield. Cong. Ch. 8.40
Sulphur Springs. “Two Friends,” _for Student Aid,
Tougaloo U._ 10.00
Tallmadge. Cong. Sab. Sch., $24.55; Miss Josephine
Pierce, $6; “A Friend,” $10 40.55
Toledo. Edson Allen, _for Teacher, Raleigh, N. C._ 5.00
Youngstown. J. D. W. 1.00
ILLINOIS, $1,373.96.
Aurora. First Cong. Ch. 23.50
Chicago. C. G. Hammond _for Howard U._ 1,000.00
Chicago. First Presb. Ch., $100; Miss Haskell’s S. S.
Class, Lincoln Park Ch., $3 103.00
Dover. Woman’s Miss. Soc. 5.00
Evanston. Ladies of Cong. Ch. _for Lady Missionary,
Mobile, Ala._ 20.00
Galva. Cong. Ch. 21.15
Geneseo. Cong. Ch. 82.00
Gilman. Cong. Ch. 10.00
Maple Park. J. I. Snow 4.95
Marshall. Mrs. G. E. C. 0.57
Port Byron. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. 7.50
Princeville. Mrs. O. L. Cutter, $5; Mrs. Elmira Jones,
$5 10.00
Rochelle. “A Friend,” $5; W. H. Holcomb, Sen., $2 7.00
Shirland. Mrs. J. G. L. 1.00
Summer Hill. Cong. Ch. 5.25
Sycamore. Cong. Ch. 68.04
Waukegan. Cong. Ch. 5.00
WISCONSIN, $269.24.
Beloit. First Cong. Ch. 114.77
East Troy. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch. 10.00
Columbus. Olivet Cong. Ch. 7.75
Hydes Mills. Rev. J. P. S. 1.00
La Crosse, Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid,
Fisk U._ 25.00
New Richmond. First Cong. Ch., $12.75;
Ladies’ Centennial Sew. Circle, $5 17.75
Oconomowock. Cong. Ch. 12.00
Racine. First Presb. Ch. 14.12
Rosendale. Cong. Ch., $25, and Sab. Sch., $7.85 32.85
Waukesha. First Cong. Ch. 34.00
IOWA, $170.57.
Amamosa. Cong. Ch., $4.60, and Sab. Sch., $3.31 7.91
Belle Plain. Correction—Cong. Ch., $5, ack. in
July number should read Mrs. L. A. Baker, $5.
Cresco. Cong. Ch. 3.70
Davenport. George W. Ells 10.00
Des Moines. Plymouth Cong. Ch. 60.00
De Witt. J. H. Price ($5, of which, _for Mag._) 10.00
Emerson. Mrs. E. H. D. F. 1.00
Farragut. Cong. Ch. 13.03
Grinnell. “Brewer Sisters,” _for Student Aid,
Raleigh, N. C._ 9.20
Osage. Woman’s Miss. Soc., $4.77; Cong. Ch.,
Mon. Con., $4.50 9.27
Sioux City. First Cong. Ch. 15.40
Tabor. Prof. A. S. McPherron 2.00
Toledo. Mrs. E. N. Baker 5.00
Traer. Cong Ch. 15.00
Vinton. Joseph Tenny Sen. 5.00
Wittenberg. Cong. Sab. Sch. 4.00
MISSOURI, $11.50.
Amity. Cong. Ch. 3.25
Breckenridge. Cong. Ch. 3.75
Webster Grove. Cong. Ch. 4.50
MINNESOTA, $183.41.
Alexandria. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Austin. Cong. Ch., $30.80; Mrs. S. E. Bacon, $10 40.80
Dexter. Rev. R. B. Wright 3.00
Elk River. Cong. Ch. 6.00
Faribault. Cong. Ch. 39.59
Minneapolis. Plymouth Ch., $20.98; First Cong. Ch.,
$13.81 44.79
Northfield. Mrs. C. N. S. 1.00
Saint Paul. Plymouth Cong. Ch. (Semi-Annual Coll.) 36.90
Sherburne. Cong. Ch. 1.00
Spring Valley. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.33
NEBRASKA, $6.00.
Exeter. Woman’s Miss. Soc., $5; Rev. B. A. D., $1, by
Mrs. J. A. Baker, Treas. 6.00
CALIFORNIA, $847.25.
San Francisco. Receipts of the California Chinese
Mission 847.25
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, $11.00.
Washington. Mrs. A. N. Bailey, $10; Rev. M. P. S.,
$1 11.00
TENNESSEE, $12.50.
Nashville. Fisk U., Tuition 12.50
NORTH CAROLINA, $23.50.
Raleigh. Tuition 23.50
SOUTH CAROLINA, $605.35.
Charleston. Avery Institute 605.35
GEORGIA, $1.75.
Macon. Lewis High Sch., Tuition 1.75
ALABAMA, $99.01.
Mobile. Emerson Inst., Tuition, $3; Cong. Ch., $3;
“A Friend,” $1.91 7.91
Talladega. Talladega College, Tuition 91.10
MISSISSIPPI, $13.15.
Tougaloo. Tougaloo U., Tuition 13.15
INCOME FUND, $185.00.
—— Graves Library Fund 150.00
—— Scholarship Fund 35.00
SANDWICH ISLANDS, $1,000.00.
Sandwich Islands. “A Friend” 1,000.00
ENGLAND, $90.41.
Albyns. Miss S. L. Ropes 10.00
Northampton. On Doddridge Scholarship, _for Fisk U._,
£16 13_s._ 4_d._, by Dr. O. H. White 80.41
—————————
Total 18,515.39
Total from Oct. 1st to July 31st $145,497.49
* * * * *
RECEIPTS OF THE CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION
_From April 20th, to July 17th, 1880._
I. From our Auxiliaries, viz.:
Sacramento Chinese Mission:
Chinese monthly collections $20.75
Ten Annual Memberships (seven Chinese) 20.00—40.75
Santa Barbara Chinese Mission:
Chinese monthly collections 15.00
Five Annual Memberships 10.00—25.00
Stockton Chinese Mission:
Chinese monthly collections 10.00
Five Annual Memberships 10.00
Plate collections at Annual Meeting 8.65—28.65
———————————
$94.40
II. From Churches:
Grass Valley Cong. Ch. (Mrs. H. Scott) $2.00
Riverside Cong. Church collection 9.00
San Francisco Plymouth Church (collection
at Union meeting) $12.75; Bethany
Church—Chinese, $3.00 15.75
Santa Cruz Cong. Church 7.75
—————
$34.50
III. From Individuals:
Oroville:
M. C. W. $1.60
San Francisco:
Messrs. Balfour, Guthrie & Co. 100.00
„ Parrott & Co. 50.00
„ Pope & Talbot 50.00
J.J. Felt, Esq. 25.00
Messrs. E. Ransome & Co. 25.00
„ Rogers, Meyer & Co. 25.00
„ Wright & Sanders 25.00
„ C. Adolphe, Low & Co. 20.60
„ Williams, Dimond & Co. 20.00
„ Taber, Harker & Co. 20.00
George W. McNear, Esq. 20.00
A Friend 20.00
R. P. Tenney, Esq. 10.00
Capt. J. E. Chapman 10.00
W. L. Booker, Esq. 10.00
A. Bannister, Esq. 10.00
John F. Merrill, Esq. 10.00
Israel W. Knox, Esq. 10.00
Messrs. Eppinger & Co. 10.00
„ Macondray & Co. 10.00
„ James Sennett & Co. 10.00
A. Crawford, Esq. 5.00
H. Hughes, Esq. 5.00
Cash, through R. B. Forman, Esq. 15.00
——————
$516.60
IV. From Chinese:
In Marysville:
Regular collections $4.70
Special collections 19.25
One Annual Membership 2.00—25.95
In Oroville 0.30
In San Francisco 0.50
—————
$26.75
V. From Eastern Friends:
Bangor, Me., E. R. Burpee, Esq. 50.00
Amherst, Mass., Mrs. Rhoda A. Lester 100.00
Norwich, Conn., Mrs. S. A. Huntington, to
constitute REV. WM. S. PALMER a Life-Member 25.00
———————
$175.00
———————
Grand Total $847.25
Of which from Chinese at least 101.50
E. PALACHE, _Treasurer_.
* * * * *
FOR TILLOTSON COLLEGIATE AND NORMAL INST., AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Exeter, N. H. Collected by Mrs. Odlin and Mrs. Eliza U.
Bell $22.00
Andover, Mass. John Smith 250.00
Easthampton, Mass. Mrs. C. G. Williston 100.00
Hartford, Conn. John B. Eldredge 100.00
New Britain, Conn. Collected by Mrs. E. H. Wells,
$24, and Box of Bedding 24.00
Norwich, Conn. “A Friend” 400.00
————————
Total $696.00
Previously acknowledged in June Receipts 4,607.00
————————
Total $5,303.00
* * * * *
FOR NEGRO REFUGEES.
Grand Rapids, Mich. South Cong. Ch. 4.25
Previously acknowledged in June Receipts. 432.50
——————
Total $436.75
* * * * *
FOR MISSIONS IN AFRICA.
Leeds, Eng. Robert Arthington, conditional pledge,
£3,000.
London, Eng. Freedmen’s Missions’ Aid Soc.,
£378 6_s._ 8_d._ 1,825.72
Beaver Crossing, Neb. Mrs. E. T. 1.00
————————
Total $1,826.72
Previously acknowledged in April Receipts 4,749.76
————————
Total $6,576.48
Receipts for July $21,042.36
Total from Oct. 1st to July 31st $158,494.31
==========
H. W. HUBBARD, _Treas._,
56 Reade St., N. Y.
Constitution of the American Missionary Association.
INCORPORATED JANUARY 30, 1849.
* * * * *
ART. I. This Society shall be called “THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
ASSOCIATION.”
* * * * *
ART. II. The object of this Association shall be to conduct Christian
missionary and educational operations, and diffuse a knowledge of the
Holy Scriptures in our own and other countries which are destitute of
them, or which present open and urgent fields of effort.
* * * * *
ART. III. Any person of evangelical sentiments,[A] who professes faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not a slaveholder, or in the practice
of other immoralities, and who contributes to the funds, may become a
member of the Society; and by the payment of thirty dollars, a life
member; provided that children and others who have not professed their
faith may be constituted life members without the privilege of voting.
* * * * *
ART. IV. This Society shall meet annually, in the month of September,
October or November, for the election of officers and the transaction
of other business, at such time and place as shall be designated by the
Executive Committee.
* * * * *
ART. V. The annual meeting shall be constituted of the regular
officers and members of the Society at the time of such meeting, and
of delegates from churches, local missionary societies, and other
co-operating bodies, each body being entitled to one representative.
* * * * *
ART. VI. The officers of the Society shall be a President,
Vice-Presidents, a Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretaries,
Treasurer, two Auditors, and an Executive Committee of not less than
twelve, of which the Corresponding Secretaries shall be advisory, and
the Treasurer ex-officio, members.
* * * * *
ART. VII. To the Executive Committee shall belong the collecting and
disbursing of funds; the appointing, counselling, sustaining and
dismissing (for just and sufficient reasons) missionaries and agents;
the selection of missionary fields; and, in general, the transaction of
all such business as usually appertains to the executive committees of
missionary and other benevolent societies; the Committee to exercise no
ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the missionaries; and its doings to
be subject always to the revision of the annual meeting, which shall,
by a reference mutually chosen, always entertain the complaints of any
aggrieved agent or missionary; and the decision of such reference shall
be final.
The Executive Committee shall have authority to fill all vacancies
occurring among the officers between the regular annual meetings;
to apply, if they see fit, to any State Legislature for acts of
incorporation; to fix the compensation, where any is given, of all
officers, agents, missionaries, or others in the employment of the
Society; to make provision, if any, for disabled missionaries, and
for the widows and children of such as are deceased; and to call, in
all parts of the country, at their discretion, special and general
conventions of the friends of missions, with a view to the diffusion of
the missionary spirit, and the general and vigorous promotion of the
missionary work.
Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for transacting
business.
* * * * *
ART. VIII. This society, in collecting funds, in appointing officers,
agents and missionaries, and in selecting fields of labor, and
conducting the missionary work, will endeavor particularly to
discountenance slavery, by refusing to receive the known fruits of
unrequited labor, or to welcome to its employment those who hold their
fellow-beings as slaves.
* * * * *
ART. IX. Missionary bodies, churches or individuals agreeing to
the principles of this Society, and wishing to appoint and sustain
missionaries of their own, shall be entitled to do so through the
agency of the Executive Committee, on terms mutually agreed upon.
* * * * *
ART. X. No amendment shall be made to this Constitution without the
concurrence of two-thirds of the members present at a regular annual
meeting; nor unless the proposed amendment has been submitted to
a previous meeting, or to the Executive Committee in season to be
published by them (as it shall be their duty to do, if so submitted) in
the regular official notifications of the meeting.
[Footnote A: By evangelical sentiments, we understand, among others,
a belief in the guilty and lost condition of all men without a
Saviour; the Supreme Deity, Incarnation and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, the only Saviour of the world; the necessity of regeneration
by the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith and holy obedience in order to
salvation; the immortality of the soul; and the retributions of the
judgment in the eternal punishment of the wicked, and salvation of the
righteous.]
The American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
AIM AND WORK.
To preach the Gospel to the poor. It originated in a sympathy with the
almost friendless slaves. Since Emancipation it has devoted its main
efforts to preparing the FREEDMEN for their duties as citizens and
Christians in America and as missionaries in Africa. As closely related
to this, it seeks to benefit the caste-persecuted CHINESE in America,
and to co-operate with the Government in its humane and Christian
policy towards the INDIANS. It has also a mission in AFRICA.
STATISTICS.
CHURCHES: _In the South_—In Va., 1; N. C., 5; S. C., 2; Ga.,
13; Ky., 7; Tenn., 4; Ala., 14, La., 12; Miss., 1; Kansas, 2; Texas, 6.
_Africa_, 2. _Among the Indians_, 1. Total 70.
INSTITUTIONS FOUNDED, FOSTERED OR SUSTAINED IN THE
SOUTH.—_Chartered_: Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.;
Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La.; and
Austin, Texas, 8. _Graded or Normal Schools_: at Wilmington, Raleigh,
N. C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S. C.; Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Ga.;
Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selma, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn., 12. _Other
Schools_, 24. Total 44.
TEACHERS, MISSIONARIES AND ASSISTANTS.—Among the Freedmen,
253; among the Chinese, 21; among the Indians, 9; in Africa, 13. Total,
296. STUDENTS—In Theology, 86; Law, 28; in College Course,
63; in other studies, 7,030. Total, 7,207. Scholars taught by former
pupils of our schools, estimated at 150,000. INDIANS under the
care of the Association, 13,000.
WANTS.
1. A steady INCREASE of regular income to keep pace with
the growing work. This increase can only be reached by _regular_ and
_larger_ contributions from the churches—the feeble as well as the
strong.
2. ADDITIONAL BUILDINGS for our higher educational
institutions, to accommodate the increasing numbers of students;
MEETING HOUSES for the new churches we are organizing;
MORE MINISTERS, cultured and pious, for these churches.
3. HELP FOR YOUNG MEN, to be educated as ministers here and
missionaries to Africa—a pressing want.
Before sending boxes, always correspond with the nearest A. M. A.
office, as below:
NEW YORK H. W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street.
BOSTON Rev. C. L. Woodworth, Room 21 Congregational House.
CHICAGO Rev. Jas. Powell, 112 West Washington Street.
MAGAZINE.
This Magazine will be sent, gratuitously, if desired, to the
Missionaries of the Association; to Life Members; to all clergymen who
take up collections for the Association; to Superintendents of Sabbath
Schools; to College Libraries; to Theological Seminaries; to Societies
of Inquiry on Missions; and to every donor who does not prefer to
take it as a subscriber, and contributes in a year not less than five
dollars.
Those who wish to remember the AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION in their
last Will and Testament, are earnestly requested to use the following
FORM OF A BEQUEST.
“I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars in
trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who,
when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ‘American
Missionary Association’ of New York City, to be applied, under the
direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its
charitable uses and purposes.”
The will should be attested by three witnesses [in some States three
are required—in other States only two], who should write against their
names, their places of residence [if in cities, their street and
number]. The following form of attestation will answer for every State
in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said [A.
B.] as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the
request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of
each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some
States it is required that the Will should be made at least two months
before the death of the testator.
* * * * *
Brown Brothers & Co.
59 WALL STREET,
NEW YORK.
=Buy and Sell Bills of Exchange= on Great Britain and Ireland,
France, Germany, Belgium and Holland, =Issue Commercial and
Travelers’ Credits, in Sterling=, available in any part of the
world, and in =Francs= for use in Martinique and Guadaloupe.
Make Telegraphic Transfers of Money
Between this and other countries, through London and Paris.
=Make Collection of Drafts drawn abroad= on all parts of the
United States and Canada, and of =Drafts drawn in the United
States= on Foreign Countries.
=Travelers’ Credits= issued either against cash deposited or
satisfactory guarantee of repayment: In Dollars for use in the United
States and adjacent countries; or in Pounds Sterling for use in any
part of the world. Applications for credits may be addressed as above
direct, or through any first-class Bank or Banker.
BROWN, SHIPLEY & CO.,
26 Chapel St., Liverpool.
BROWN, SHIPLEY & CO.,
Founder’s Court, Lothbury, London.
* * * * *
_1850._ _1880._
THE
MANHATTAN
LIFE
_Insurance Company_,
OF
NEW YORK.
An entire generation of successful business management.
_One Thousand Dollars paid out_ EACH BUSINESS DAY _for thirty years to
families of deceased members_.
Policies Incontestable.
Accumulation, $10,000,000
Surplus, over 1,750,000
SEND FOR RATES AND TERMS.
_New form of Policy, comprehensive and very liberal to insurers._
AGENTS WANTED.
HENRY STOKES, President.
J. L. HALSEY, Secretary.
* * * * *
PAYSON’S
Indelible Ink,
FOR MARKING ANY FABRIC WITH A
COMMON PEN, WITHOUT A
PREPARATION.
It still stands unrivaled after 50 years’ test.
_THE SIMPLEST & BEST._
Sales now greater than ever before.
This Ink received the Diploma and Medal at Centennial over all
rivals.
Report of Judges: “For simplicity of application and indelibility.”
INQUIRE FOR
PAYSON’S COMBINATION!!!
Sold by all Druggists, Stationers and News Agents, and by many
Fancy Goods and Furnishing Houses.
* * * * *
“FRUIT of the VINE.”
=Pure=, Rich, Clear Unfermented Wine for =Communion=, rec’d Centennial
=Medal=. Circulars free. =T. H. JOHNSON, New Brunswick. N. J.=,
National Temperance Soc., 58 Reade St., N. Y., Cong’l and Baptist
Publication Soc’s, Boston and elsewhere.
* * * * *
CLINTON H. MENEELY BELL COMPANY,
Successors to Meneely & Kimberly,
BELL FOUNDERS, TROY, N. Y.
Manufacture a superior quality of BELLS.
Special attention given to =CHURCH BELLS=.
☞ Catalogues sent free to parties needing bells.
* * * * *
[Illustration: fleur de lys]
J. & R. LAMB,
59 Carmine St., N. Y.
CHURCH FURNISHERS
Memorial Windows, Memorial Tablets,
Sterling Silver Communion Services.
SEND FOR CIRCULAR.
* * * * *
Every Man His Own Printer.
Excelsior =$3= Printing Press.
[Illustration: printing press]
Prints cards, labels, envelopes, &c.; larger sizes for larger work. For
business or pleasure, young or old. Catalogue of Presses, Type, Cards,
&c., sent for two stamps.
KELSEY & CO., M’f’rs. Meriden, Conn.
* * * * *
THE THIRTY-FOURTH VOLUME
OF THE
American Missionary,
1880.
We have been gratified with the constant tokens of the increasing
appreciation of the MISSIONARY during the past year, and purpose to
spare no effort to make its pages of still greater value to those
interested in the work which it records.
Shall we not have a largely increased subscription list for 1880?
A little effort on the part of our friends, when making their own
remittances, to induce their neighbors to unite in forming Clubs, will
easily double our list, and thus widen the influence of our Magazine,
and aid in the enlargement of our work.
Under the editorial supervision of Rev. C. C. PAINTER, aided by the
steady contributions of our intelligent Missionaries and teachers in
all parts of the field, and with occasional communications from careful
observers and thinkers elsewhere, the AMERICAN MISSIONARY furnishes a
vivid and reliable picture of the work going forward among the Indians,
the Chinamen on the Pacific Coast, and the Freedmen as citizens in the
South and as Missionaries in Africa.
It will be the vehicle of important views on all matters affecting the
races among which it labors, and will give monthly summary of current
events relating to their welfare and progress.
Patriots and Christians interested in the education and Christianizing
of these despised races are asked to read it, and assist in its
circulation. Begin with the next number and the new year. The price is
only Fifty Cents per annum.
The Magazine will be sent gratuitously, if preferred, to the persons
indicated on page 287.
Donations and subscriptions should be sent to
H. W. HUBBARD, Treasurer,
56 Reade Street, New York.
* * * * *
TO ADVERTISERS.
Special attention is invited to the advertising department of the
AMERICAN MISSIONARY. Among its regular readers are thousands of
Ministers of the Gospel, Presidents, Professors and Teachers in
Colleges, Theological Seminaries and Schools; it is, therefore,
a specially valuable medium for advertising Books, Periodicals,
Newspapers, Maps, Charts, Institutions of Learning, Church Furniture,
Bells, Household Goods, &c.
Advertisers are requested to note the moderate price charged for space
in its columns, considering the extent and character of its circulation.
Advertisements must be received by the TENTH of the month, in order
to secure insertion in the following number. All communications in
relation to advertising should be addressed to
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT,
56 Reade Street, New York.
* * * * *
☞ Our friends who are interested in the Advertising Department of the
“American Missionary” can aid us in this respect by mentioning, when
ordering goods, that they saw them advertised in our Magazine.
ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
* * * * *
The AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION will hold its Thirty-fourth Annual
Meeting in the City of Norwich, Conn., on the 12th, 13th and 14th of
October, 1880.
The several sessions of this meeting will be held in the Broadway
Church, Rev. L. T. CHAMBERLAIN, D. D., Pastor.
The opening session will begin at 3 o’clock P. M. of Tuesday, the 12th,
when the Report of the Executive Committee will be read.
In the evening, at 7.30, the Annual Sermon will be preached by the Rev.
WM. M. TAYLOR, D. D., of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York City.
The citizens of Norwich will receive and cordially entertain all
friends of the work of the Association who, desiring to attend, shall
make application for entertainment before the first day of October.
The Chairman of the Committee of Entertainment, CHARLES E. DYER, to
whom all such applications should be addressed, will send out, on the
above date, cards of hospitality, introducing those who have made
known their purpose of attending, to the host by whom they will be
entertained.
Those receiving such cards will please communicate at once with the
person to whom they are introduced, announcing their purpose of
attending, at what time they will arrive in Norwich, and whether
they will remain during the meeting, so that hospitality may have no
unnecessary burdens to bear.
Those failing to receive such a card by the 6th of October will please
inform the Chairman of the fact. An early application will greatly
lighten the burden of the Committee, and will be duly appreciated.
It is hoped that arrangements will be consummated for reduced fares on
railroads and boats, in time to be announced in the next number of the
MISSIONARY, together with the Time Tables of the several roads, so that
our friends at a distance may intelligently arrange their plans.
Any needed additional information will be given to those applying to
the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, Norwich, Conn.
W. S. PALMER,
Chairman Committee of Arrangements.
DAVID H. GILDERSLEEVE, PRINTER, 101 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK.
Transcriber’s Notes:
The spelling, punctuation and hyphenation are as the original, with
the exception of apparent typographical errors which have been
corrected.
Italic text is denoted _thus_.
Bold text is denoted =thus=.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The American Missionary — Volume 34, No. 9, September, 1880" ***
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