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Title: The American Missionary, Volume 34, No. 12, December 1880
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The American Missionary, Volume 34, No. 12, December 1880" ***
by Cornell University Digital Collections)
VOL. XXXIV. NO. 12.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
DECEMBER, 1880.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
PARAGRAPHS 385
DR. MCKENZIE’S SERMON--POWER OF RIGHT PRINCIPLES 386
THE CALL FOR ENLARGEMENT--SHALL IT BE HEEDED? 387
HOLIDAY GIFTS 388
REVIEW AND OUTLOOK: Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D. 389
WHAT OUR AFRICAN METHODIST FRIENDS THINK 395
GENERAL NOTES--Africa, Indians, Chinese 396
CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE 398
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 399
THE FREEDMEN.
GLEANINGS 400
GEORGIA--Atlanta University--Extract from Report
of Board of Visitors 400
ALABAMA, ATHENS--Church, School, and Brick-making 401
MISSISSIPPI, TOUGALOO--Patient Work 402
LOUISIANA, NEW ORLEANS--Revival Meetings 403
TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE--Fisk University 404
MEMORIAL SERVICES 405
THE INDIANS.
INDIAN EDUCATION IN THE EAST: Gen. S. C. Armstrong 406
THE CHINESE.
CHAPTER OF GOOD THINGS: Rev. W. C. Pond 408
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
A SLAVE-GIRL’S FAITH 410
RECEIPTS 412
CONSTITUTION 415
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS, ETC. 416
* * * * *
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.
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.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, D. D., Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Washington Ter.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
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, Mass.
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.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
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.
J. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill.
C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct.
Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal.
Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.
Rev. W. H. WILLCOX, D. D., Mass.
Rev. G. B. WILLCOX, D. D., Ill.
Rev. WM. M. TAYLOR, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. GEO. M. BOYNTON, Mass.
Rev. E. B. WEBB, D. D., Mass.
Hon. C. I. WALKER, Mich.
Rev. A. H. ROSS, Mich.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., 56 _Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, D. D., _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,
C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
H. L. CLAPP,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
A. J. HAMILTON,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
CHARLES A. HULL,
EDGAR KETCHUM,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
SAMUEL S. MARPLES,
WM. T. PRATT,
J. A. SHOUDY,
JOHN H. WASHBURN.
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. DECEMBER, 1880. No. 12.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
The publications provided for a household do much to mould the
character of its inmates. If a right proportion of these are
religious and missionary, good results are sure to follow. As at
this season many determine what periodicals they will take for
the coming year, we beg leave to suggest the wisdom of families
subscribing for and perusing the AMERICAN MISSIONARY. By this
means foundations for right thinking and right doing will be laid,
and the way prepared for the exercise of Christian patriotism and
philanthropy, so needful in the present condition of our country.
* * * * *
We have word from Hampton that the tide of negro students never
set in so promptly and strongly as since October 1st of this year.
For the second time in the history of the school, tents have been
erected on the campus and occupied by the colored boys.
* * * * *
Dr. Alexander, President of Straight University, is much encouraged
by the fact that white students are ready to avail themselves
of the advantages of the Law Department of the University. This
department is entirely self-sustaining, and conducted with rare
ability, one of the professors having served on the Supreme Bench
of the State. Of twenty-three students, nineteen are white.
* * * * *
The number of students in attendance at Fisk University for the
first two months of this year is much greater than that of any
previous year since Jubilee Hall was occupied. A communication
from Pres. Cravath, published elsewhere, states at length some of
the unusually hopeful aspects of the work, and indicates that the
University is entering upon a larger career of usefulness than it
has ever experienced.
The American Bible Society offers to its Life Members an annual
grant of one dollar’s worth of Bibles or Testaments; its benevolent
intention being to supply them with the means of distributing the
word of God among the needy. This perquisite is transferable at
the written request of the Life Members. A lady, once a teacher
in our schools at the South, and who has a great interest in the
welfare of the colored children, suggests that in this way the
pupils of our day and Sunday-schools may be supplied with the
sacred Scriptures. We cordially second the suggestion, and will
be glad to receive the written authorization of any of the Life
Members of the Bible Society for the use of their current gift for
the purpose above indicated. The officers of the Bible Society, as
we understand, acquiesce in this plan so far as it may seem wise to
the Life Members to co-operate with us.
* * * * *
DR. McKENZIE’S SERMON.
The sermon preached at our Annual Meeting by Dr. McKenzie, related
to our duty to Africa, and was one of rare excellence and beauty.
It was printed in the _Advance_, Oct. 28th, and a limited number
can be supplied to persons sending us a postal requesting it, with
their address. The closing words of the sermon, which we append,
not only sound a note of cheer, but are fitted to awaken the hope
and courage of earnest Christian workers everywhere.
“The day of the Lord is coming. The light is on the hills and along
the coast of all the lands. The nations are coming to the King. The
continents and the islands begin to hear His voice. The tongues of
men shall be filled with praise. It is not long; a few days more
of work and prayer; a few more deeds of sacrifice and love; a few
more lives given; a few more men gilded with the towel and with the
basin in their hands; a few more repetitions of that strange and
sacred deed, Jesus washing the feet of Judas. Then the glory and
the rejoicing. A little while and the day shall dawn. We may see
the hastening light as we face the East,
“Where, faint and far,
Along the tingling desert of the sky,
Beyond the circle of the conscious hills,
Were laid in jasper-stone as clear as glass
The first foundations of that new, near Day
Which should be builded out of heaven to God.”
* * * * *
POWER OF RIGHT PRINCIPLES.
From the beginning this Association was wedded to right principles.
It recognized their latent power. It took it for granted that
right was expedient--that right would triumph. It did not ask if
right thinking and right doing was the way of the multitude, even
of the multitude of professing Christians. Its inquiry was simply
for the way of righteousness. That way it strove to tread. It was
called narrow--captious. Its leaders were sometimes stigmatized
as men of one idea--disturbers of the people--fanatics. They were
not time-servers, however. They had the martyr spirit and toiled
on, waiting for the morning; and the morning came. What was once
questioned if not ridiculed, is now accepted and honored.
The elements that entered into their early labors are needful
still. They had courage. They dared to do right in the face of
opposition. If mobbed and mobbed again, the oppression only served
to fill the country with the fragrance of their good deeds. It was
but the torch that kindled the incense. They were never drawn from
a righteous purpose. God was present in the shadows, keeping watch
above his own. They had the spirit of sacrifice. They were ready to
go to the lost sheep--to the despised. They passed not by him who
fell among thieves. They achieved distinction by their readiness
to endure hardness--to submit to insult--to be counted among the
few--to toil with but little appreciation and for meagre rewards.
They also bore about with them a rich and beautiful charity, first
pure, then peaceable, full of mercy and good fruits. It was the
combination of these elements in active operation for a score of
years that served largely to revolutionize public sentiment, and
especially the sentiment in our churches, until the principles
of this Association are accepted and acceptable. The change
was wrought by the power of pure motives applied to aggressive
religious work in behalf of a needy and wronged people.
This change is sure to come in every quarter of our land, by
sufficient application of the power of right principles. Every
mission station of this Association is a centre from which a pure
light radiates. Every graduate from our schools is a torch-bearer
flaming this light over the land. It is a question of time--of a
score of years perhaps--and there will be no ostracism experienced
by our teachers South. If they can be sustained in the field,
toiling in righteousness; if their numbers can be multiplied
to meet the demand; if the churches will make it possible to
continue the work; the victory of right principles South will
be as certain and speedy as it was at the North, and much more
may be hoped for. North and South will clap their hands together
in hearty co-operation, shouting their choruses in one grand
anthem, and entering in company upon the enlarged work of carrying
right principles to the domain of final victory--the Freedmen’s
fatherland. To gird ourselves for that to-day is the duty which
calls the servants of the Master, East, West, North and South.
* * * * *
THE CALL FOR ENLARGEMENT--SHALL IT BE HEEDED?
At no time has the call for enlargement been more urgent. It is
strikingly providential also. The political, moral and religious
atmosphere is charged with forces, prophetic of unparalleled
progress in our Southern work. Questions relative to the policy of
government are measurably settled for four years. We can lay our
plans with encouraging assurances. Sound and practical views on
all that pertains to permanent prosperity are dominant. It is not
likely they will be materially modified, save for the better. Our
statesmen and philanthropists are coming to prize more and more
those forces in man which are developed by a Christian education.
The _want_ that is looming up before them, is good schools for
the masses in every section of the country. They voice this want
in their public utterances, and the sound thereof is echoing and
re-echoing over the land. It has in it the promise of expansion
and universal application. Its adoption and elaboration mean
increase of every laudable industry, the development of commerce,
art, science, literature, wealth, beauty, happiness. They mean the
leveling up of humanity heavenward. The tone and temper of our best
men was never more auspicious than now--never more favorable to the
work of this Association.
There never was so strong conviction in the South as now of the
wisdom of Christian education for the Freedmen. The worth of it
cannot be hidden. It is as evident as the sheen of an electric
light. There is a capacity in the heart of man, by which he is
able to recognize it. He comes to do so gradually, inevitably, as
the flower unfolds from the bud, and as the fruit matures from the
blossom. Many of the best in the world started wrong, but turned
about and out-stripped their fellows in well doing. The South has
been wrong, but pour in sufficient light and it will turn about.
We have a right to hope and pray for such consummation. The aim
of our work is to hasten it. When the South turns, it will not be
by halves,--that is not her method. She is already rising for the
emergency. The signs of it are apparent. It is but a question of
time, and the time is at hand.
Legislatures have appropriated money for our work, and are doing
so heartily still. They act as statesmen, with a view to the
best interests of the State. In Texas, there is a tidal wave
setting strongly in favor of popular education, impelled by the
far-sightedness which discerns that the flow of emigration of the
best sort trends away from territory, however rich and inviting,
where free schools for all classes are not abundant. The value of
inaugurating school work through the agency of Christian teachers,
need not be argued. The call for these teachers is sure to be more
urgent than ever. Shall we provide for the immediate and coming
want? God seems to have said so. We have received $150,000 for
new buildings, in which to train teachers. New buildings mean
enlargement--enlargement means more missionaries, more prayer, more
money. Will not the friends of Christ heed this call prayerfully,
promptly, efficiently?
* * * * *
HOLIDAY GIFTS.
In December, 1869, the late Henry P. Haven, of New London, Ct.,
proposed to his Sunday-school that instead of receiving gifts they
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said: “It is more
blessed to give than to receive.”
The proposition met with favor, and a Christmas service of
worship with a Christmas offering to some deserving cause became
incorporated in the annual school plans. It occurs to us that such
holiday gifts by Sabbath-schools and households have the following
advantages:
One is, they afford the young people more real pleasure. The
happiness from rejoicing over the good of others is an exercise of
the purest affection and the finest feeling of the human heart. It
is akin to the blessedness and happiness of God himself. However
gratifying a gift may be to the receiver, nevertheless it puts him
to a disadvantage. The gift-taker becomes under obligation to the
gift-maker. The receiver’s joy in a gift terminates in himself. It
has a mixture of dependence and submission in it. But the giver is
placed under no obligation to the receiver. Moreover, he inevitably
ministers to his own well-being, though it may be unconsciously.
“Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.”
Another advantage is that there is more virtue in giving than in
receiving. The virtue of receiving consists in regard for one’s
self; the virtue of giving in a proper regard for others. There is
also more self-denial in giving than in receiving, and self-denial
is the essence of virtue. The receiver has no natural habit or
inclination to counteract, but the giver must overcome many
obstacles which require superior virtue. The more young people do
to develop the attribute of virtue, the more real pleasure they are
sure to experience.
And then again, God promises to reward the giver but not the
receiver. This is a great consideration, and may well be taken into
account by all teachers and parents. It is a good thing to make the
holidays memorable and happy by giving tokens to young people, but
not so blessed as to bring them into an attitude where they will be
sure of Heavenly rewards. Of the few things which God has promised
to reward men for in this life, giving is one. “Blessed is he that
considereth the poor * * * he shall be blessed upon the earth.” “He
that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he,” and best of all, God
means to reward the liberal giver more fully at the resurrection of
the just.
By the favor of Providence we have ample opportunity to give to
humane and missionary enterprises.
At this season, when plans for celebrating the holidays are being
matured, would it not be wise for those having responsibility for
training the young, to embrace the time to teach them in their
abundance of gift-taking and gift-making to provide for themselves
“bags that wax not old, a treasure in the Heavens that faileth not.”
* * * * *
REVIEW AND OUTLOOK.
A Paper read at the National Council at St. Louis, Nov. 13th.
BY REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D.
I intend, without preface, to review the work of the American
Missionary Association for the last three years, and to give an
outlook on its future duties.
I. The Review.
1. We have paid our great debt. This had clung to us for years,
like the shirt of Nessus, scorching while it clung. At the last
Council we were enabled to announce that we had rent away about one
third of the hateful garment, during the next two years we tore off
the remainder, and since then we have walked forth, financially,
“Clad in raiment pure and white,” as becometh saints who should
“Owe no man anything.” It may happen to us in the future that our
books will sometimes show a balance on the wrong side; but we
hope never again to be beguiled into putting on one of the large,
iron-clad garments we had so long and sadly worn.
2. We have received the munificent gift of $150,000 from Mrs.
Stone. Not long since, our elder and honored sister, the American
Board, had laid on her table a loaf so large that there was
danger that it might be like the “Cake of barley bread” which the
Midianite saw in his dream, that “tumbled into the host and came
unto a tent and smote it that it fell, and overturned it that the
tent lay along.” But with the whole church, we rejoice that the
loaf has been to the Board, by its great wisdom and God’s blessing,
not as the cake of the Midianite, but as his dream, an augury of
victory and enlargement! Our gift, great as it was, is only as one
of “the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table,” most gratefully
received and all needed at once, with no danger of surfeit. Our
children are not only hungry--they are crowded into close quarters,
and some of them have to be turned out of doors. At the Atlanta
University, with accommodations for only 40 girls, 62 are packed
in. At Tougaloo, barracks of slabs are erected, and outbuildings
and garrets are turned into dormitories, and still the pupils come,
so that the teachers inquire if they may put three in a bed and
twelve in one large room. Our reply is: “Take all that you can
accommodate consistently with good health and morals, and send
the rest away.” These are specimens, perhaps the most striking,
but from nearly every school comes the call for more room. Never
before have we had such overcrowding; never before have we been
obliged to turn away so many. Mrs. Stone’s great gift will meet
the want in five of our larger institutions and no more; and that
only for shelter, while the increased number will make an enlarged
call for bread. Mrs. Stone provides the homes: who will furnish the
endowments for more teachers and the scholarships for more pupils?
3. We are just completing the Tillotson Institute, Austin, Texas,
with its large and commodious building and beautiful campus of
eight acres, near the capitol--an outpost in that vast State of the
Southwest; thus extending our permanent institutions from Hampton
Roads, Va., to the banks of the Colorado, Texas, and supplying
eight of the largest Southern States with schools of higher grade,
each of which sends out annually its score or fifty well-trained
teachers.
4. It is a matter of much gratification to us that while we have
been paying our debt and extending our lines, we have been able to
maintain, and even to enlarge, the work already in hand among the
Freedmen. Three years ago our teaching force in the South numbered
150; now there are 200. Then our pupils were 5,404; now 8,052.
One illustration of the usefulness of these schools is seen in
the great army of scholars taught in them and by their pupils. We
believe, from a safe estimate, that _half a million_ of names have
been enrolled, in the aggregate, in our schools and the schools
of our pupils, since this Council last met, and still the cry is
for more teachers. This roll-call of the school-room gives no idea
of the added work in the Sunday-school, the temperance cause, the
prayer meeting and in the homes of the people. As to the kind of
work done in our schools, and Theological departments, I point
to the modest and gentlemanly Second Assistant Moderator of this
National Council.
Our church work has grown slowly, but steadily and safely. Three
years ago our churches in the South numbered 59, now there are
73. When we began our labors among the Freedmen there was not one
Congregational church in the old South. The famous Central Church
in Charleston, S. C., was not really Congregational, and that in
Liberty Co., Ga., had become Presbyterian. It is said that the soil
in the South is not congenial to our churches. It must be admitted
that they will not flourish in the same soil with slavery, nor
where its roots still live; but as the introduction of clover kills
ill weeds, root and branch, and not only yields a good harvest in
mowing time, but also enriches the ground for all other crops, so
the planting of Congregational churches in the South will help to
destroy the roots of slavery, give a good crop for the Master, and
enrich the field for all other churches. We are confident that our
clover-sowing in the South is coming to be regarded by both whites
and blacks not as supplanting others, but enriching all.
5. The flow of Chinamen to the Pacific coast is not increasing,
but the work we are doing among those now there is as hopeful as
any we are attempting. Many are turning from idol worship and
giving evidence of genuine conversion. Such men as Jee Gam, so
intelligent, so modest, so pious, are proof that the work is not
superficial; and the eagerness of those converts as well as their
teachers to extend the effort to the Chinese in the mines, and even
to carry the Gospel to China, is proof of a missionary spirit as
well as of genuine piety.
6. The new movement for the education of Indian youth in schools
at the East, begun three years ago at Hampton by Capt. Pratt,
deserves encouragement, not as superseding the schools among the
tribes, but as helping them. The sending of these young people
from their homes has attracted the attention of the Indians to the
subject of education more than any other thing that has taken place
for years; and the correspondence which has sprung up between the
parents and the children, as well as the return of the educated
pupils, will deepen the interest. We have aided some of the pupils
at Hampton, and we are disposed to consider the earnest wish of
Capt. Pratt, now in charge of the Government School for Indian
youth at Carlisle Barracks, that we extend the effort into several
of our schools in the South. Gen. Armstrong’s experience at Hampton
shows that the joint education of the Indian and Negro pupils is a
success, that they are helpful to each other.
With this rapid sketch of our work among the three neglected races
in America, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, I
pass to the next item in this review--where we follow the negro to
his home in the land of his fathers.
7. The Mendi Mission in Africa.
When the Council met in Detroit we had just sent out our first
company of Freedmen as missionaries to Africa. Three years is
not long enough to warrant absolute conclusions, yet such as we
have reached I give. 1. We are very hopeful as to the ability of
the colored American to endure the climate of Africa. 2. We are
a little disappointed as to his qualifications in ripeness of
judgment and maturity of character, for the duties of a missionary.
Perhaps we expected too much. The white missionary has behind him
the culture of seventeen centuries; the colored of seventeen years!
But of the fitness of the few now, and ultimately of many, we have
no doubt. We must select at first more carefully, and train the
rest more fully. Nor have we any question as to the call of God to
these Freedmen to carry the Gospel to Africa, and we “bate not a
jot of heart or hope” in our work of preparing and sending them.
The discouragements we share with all the noble societies that
have responded to the grand impulse inspired by the wonderful
discoveries of Livingstone, Stanley and others; nay, with all who
in every age have heard the Divine call for great enterprises in
behalf of religion and humanity. God begins his great movements by
preliminary trials and disappointments; in them only are heroes
and martyrs trained. Persecutions were essential to the success of
the primitive church. Bull Run saved the republic and overthrew
slavery; and our confidence in the Divine purposes for Africa are
all the stronger for the discipline at the outset. He means no
holiday parade, but thorough, apostolic sacrifice and success. And
lastly,
8. To pay that debt and to carry on our work, with its
enlargements, its endowments and buildings, we have, in these three
years, received into our treasury _six hundred and twenty-seven
thousand dollars_. If we add the sums received by our affiliated
schools ($283,132), the amount is _nine hundred and ten thousand
dollars_; and if we add to this the _one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars_ received from Mrs. Stone, now rapidly to be expended,
the total will be _one million and sixty thousand dollars_! The
churches seem to have had confidence in us, and to have appreciated
our work. For this, through you, we wish to thank them, and to ask
continued confidence and the means to carry on the enlarged work
that opens before us.
II. The work before us.
When we turn from what we have done to what we have yet to do, we
are overawed at both its vastness and its pressing urgency.
1. Whatever other danger threatens this republic, or calls for
the labors of its Christian people, that arising from the three
colored races is, I do not say the greatest, but the most obvious.
The vast influx of European peoples does indeed, awaken serious
apprehension, for they bring with them infidelity or Romanism; yet
thus far no overt peril has arisen from this source, for they have
so spread themselves among the masses that their influence has
gathered to no focal point. But the Indian has been an irritant
throughout the whole history of our occupancy of the land, and
in all parts of it. Blood has flowed freely in the track of our
wrongs against him, and will do so until we act like Christians
and he becomes one. The Chinamen on our Western coast are few,
and yet how their coming has shaken the nerves of the nation!
What other set of immigrants, so few in number, has excited so
much irritation--not on their part, but among ourselves about
them? But the great disturber--yet the utterly unintentional
disturber--of the peace of this nation, is the negro. For nearly
half a century the storm has raged around him, as around Elijah
in Horeb--the wind of tempestuous discussion in pulpit, press
and Congress; the earthquake, rending asunder trade-interests,
religious denominations, dividing even the nation itself into two
hostile sections; the lurid and awful fire of war, with its blood,
carnage and desolation. Last of all came “the still, small voice,”
and God was in it. But how little has it been heeded. The wind is
scarcely lulled; the earthquake is quiet but the dreadful chasms
remain; the fires are smouldering, but now and then a darting flame
of Ku Klux outrage or a Chisholm murder reveals the pent-up heat
below! Then as to the _anointing_! Elijah anointed the kings and
the prophet--giving thereby the grace to do the Divine behests,
whether of vengeance or mercy. We have _enacted_ the Freedman into
a king where all are sovereigns, and a prophet where all the Lord’s
people are priests, but we have not given him the knowledge or the
spiritual grace that alone can anoint him as a king or priest.
The source of the special irritation in regard to these races is
not far to seek. If a man moves into your neighborhood who is of
your own race and color, though you may differ from him in theories
of trade, politics or religion, yet assimilation and esteem may
arise. But if he has a tawny skin, delights in the promiscuous use
of the tomahawk and scalping knife, and withal claims an ancient
title to the very land you occupy; or if he has a yellow face,
wears a cue, eats with chop-sticks and is willing to work fifty
per cent. cheaper than you can; or if he has a black face, with
the stigma of slavery and caste-prejudice upon him, then the case
is altered; assimilation and friendship are not so easy. But these
people are here and they must stay; they are so numerous that you
cannot ignore them; you must choose between leaving them as they
are, a perpetual source of annoyance and danger, or training them
to become useful citizens. Moreover, they are your neighbors,
fallen among thieves, which stripped them of their raiment and
wounded them, and you must choose between the part of the priest
and Levite or of the good Samaritan. The meanest of them all is
your brother, and you _are_ your brother’s keeper.
But if you mean to act the part of a neighbor and a brother to
these great multitudes, you have no small job on hand--which brings
me to my next point.
2. The dangers and the duties of emancipation.
The nation that emancipates a large number of slaves assumes a
grave responsibility. This is increased if the emancipation is
immediate and the ex-slaves remain on the soil, and especially
if they differ widely in race from the master-class. All these
difficulties attach to our Act of Emancipation; but they are not
an argument against emancipation. The old abolitionists were
right--immediate emancipation was the nation’s duty. No preparation
could be made for the change before it took place--slavery
must be supreme or nothing. The safety lies alone in the wise
_after-treatment_. Then or never, and soon if ever, must the
Freedman be prepared for his new position. We have striking
illustrations at hand. We begin with the nearest in point of time:
In 1861 Russia emancipated nearly fifty millions of serfs. This was
the result of a ground-swell of popular sentiment demanding some
break in the iron-clad despotism of an absolute monarchy. The next
year the empire completed a thousand years of national existence.
In the joyful enthusiasm over these two great events, there arose a
strong hope of the advent of constitutional liberty. The changes,
however, were few and utterly disappointing; and the issue of
emancipation scarcely less so, involving the ruin of most of the
landed aristocracy, and the ignorance, idleness and intemperance
of a large share of the serfs. And now, after twenty years of
unrelaxed despotism and the continued deterioration of the masses,
the educated people in Russia see no better remedy than Nihilism!
In 1834 Great Britain emancipated 800,000 slaves in the West
Indies, giving £20,000 as compensation to the masters, but making
almost no provision for the education and religious instruction of
the negroes. The hour of emancipation presented a touching scene
in many places. Slavery ended on the midnight that ushered in the
first of August, and the negro population, engaged in devotional
exercises till that hour, were then on their knees and awaiting
in silence the gift of the great boon of freedom coming from the
hand of God! That was the auspicious era for beginning the work
of elevating this inoffensive and willing people. But the golden
moment was lost, for with inadequate provision for schools and
churches, they gradually sunk in ignorance and superstition, back
almost to African fetishism. So hopeless was the field that this
Association withdrew its missionaries, and at length the British
Government, aroused to its mistake, and after the loss of one third
of a century of most precious time, established a thorough system
of common schools. The tide begins slowly to turn.
In remoter years God himself became the emancipator of about two
millions of slaves. Even He did not attempt the task of leaving
them on the soil to meet the scorn or the power of the masters.
But He showed His appreciation of their need of education and
religious training by halting almost immediately after setting out
on their long journey and opening a church-school on Mount Sinai.
That most wonderful of all schools was kept there for a whole
year--God himself the teacher. And when their journey was resumed,
He directed in the construction of a portable church-school edifice
in which instruction was continued till their journey’s end. God’s
appreciation of the need of homes for the ex-slaves is seen in the
fact that He had employed gangs,--not of men, but of nations--for
centuries in clearing the land, building houses, and planting
olive-yards and vine-yards for them.
This act of emancipation must be the model for Christian nations,
so far as the circumstances are the same. There must be no
preliminary apprenticeship, but immediate emancipation, followed
by prompt, thorough, and persistent training of the people in
knowledge, piety, and in acquiring homes.
I call attention lastly to
3. The results and outlook of our own emancipation. Let us consider
these, not as is usually done, from the standpoint either of the
politician of the North, or the planter of the South, but from that
of the negro himself.
With all its glory, emancipation has brought to the negro three
great disappointments.
(1.) Education was to him the talisman of the master’s power, and
above all, it was the key to open the long concealed treasures
of God’s word. He stretched forth his hand for it as if it were
Aladdin’s lamp, which by a few touches would reveal the hidden
riches. But there was no magic in the lamp; it showed him only a
long and difficult road, that by patient and persevering travel
would bring him to the coveted knowledge. Then, again, the common
school fund of the South gives him but few schools, and those are
open but for a short time, while his own necessities bend him
down to the struggle for existence, and allow him little means to
educate his children, or power to spare them from work in the field.
(2.) His next great disappointment was in the ballot. This, too, he
had seized with avidity as the symbol of sovereign power--the one
grand test of equality with the master. In two states he wielded it
in uncontrolled majority, but his use of it was so disgraceful to
himself and so ruinous to the state, that his friends were amazed
and his foes exasperated. He showed that he lacked the intelligence
to wield this great power, and the strength of character to resist
its temptations; and now the symbol is wrenched from his grasp and
he is once more helpless before superior knowledge.
(3.) His last disappointment was as to the ownership of land. What
visions floated before him of land that he could call his own and
of a home that he might adorn and use for himself and family. It is
wonderful to see how much he has done to realize this vision. But
this, too, in large measure eludes his grasp. If he rents he must
pay a rental almost equal to the value of the land; and if he buys,
he must take the united toil of himself and family to pay for it;
and hence his dilemma. If he buys his home, he cannot educate his
children; if he educates them, he cannot buy the home!
Do we wonder that with the crushing of these “great expectations,”
and with as little hope in most cases of seeing things better as
when he was a slave, he yields to despair, and rather than “bear
the ills he has he flies to others that he knows not of,” and that
Kansas becomes his refuge?
The Kansas refugees are not the most hopeless of the colored
people; they, at least, have the energy to flee. But there are
large numbers that are content to sink to the bottom and stay
there; they are the water in the hold that threatens to drag down
the ship. Yet, thank God, there is still another portion, not so
large, but more hopeful and enterprising than either, that get
homes and educate their children. These are the ones whose children
crowd our schools; they are the hope of the race; they have the
right ideal--that an education, of heart as well as head, is the
rod of God in the hand of man; that makes character, wields the
ballot, wins the home and works the land! This is the class to help
first, and this is the way to help--give them the good school and
the pure church.
The emergency was too great to brook delay. This Association did
not wait. It struck in at this point at the outset and has stuck to
it ever since. It is on the right track, as is now admitted on all
sides. Pres. Hayes utters the practical sentiment of the nation,
and he but echoes what Judge Tourgee, the author of “A Fool’s
Errand,” representing the radical opinions of the North, and Rev.
Dr. Ruffner, Supt. of Public Instruction of Virginia, representing
the conservative views of the South, had already uttered, that
there is no way of making the Freedmen safe members of society but
by educating them. To the colored people themselves nothing is
more inspiring and helpful than the kind of work achieved by the
American Missionary Association in your behalf. When these people
recall the little handful of their number that cowered under the
guns of Fort Monroe for protection and the little school opened
there, and now see the large buildings at Hampton, the broad farm
and the busy workshops in which their children are trained; when
they remember the scowling looks of the masters in Atlanta when
Gen. Sherman had gone, and now see the Atlanta University, visited
by those old masters--and the best of them--who come away with
commendations so warm, that the state grants $8,000 a year to the
education of their children, when they think of the timid crowds
of their people in Nashville at the close of the war, and now see
Jubilee Hall, sung into existence by their children, who have
called forth the tribute of tears from crowned heads abroad as well
as people at home; when, in short, they see all over the South
such schools taught by teachers from the North, and behold their
children going forth year by year, by scores and hundreds to teach
and to preach, this is to them the manna that sustains them in
their wilderness journey. Will you help us to multiply that bread,
as Jesus did when He fed the multitudes, saying--“give ye them to
eat”? Multiply it not only for the thrifty and enterprising, but
multiply it for the discouraged ones now ready to flee to Kansas!
Yea, multiply it so abundantly that the most hopeless and degraded
may be fed by it and become strong; and then you will have helped
save the Freedmen and the nation, and will have helped win a
victory for caste-crushed people over all the world--a victory for
freedom, humanity and religion!
* * * * *
WHAT OUR AFRICAN METHODIST FRIENDS THINK.
_The Christian Recorder_ asks: “What is the lesson taught us by
the rapid growth of our sister colored churches, the Presbyterian
and Episcopal especially? That they are growing, and most rapidly,
too, he who runs may read. But what is the lesson it has for us
Methodists? Plainly that we shall put no more ignorant men and no
more trifling men into the ministry. To continue to do so is to
sound our death knell for the future. Ignorant men and trifling
men as religious teachers may satisfy the older generations of our
people, but the younger will insist upon one of two things--give us
an intelligent, dignified pulpit, or we will go where we can get
it. We are already losing too many of our children; nor will the
stampede ever stop, until our conferences stop opening the door to
every one who knocks.”
This is from the able and influential organ of the African M. E.
Church, published at Philadelphia. Not long since we transferred
to these columns, from the same paper, a similar article, in
which the editor used the high quality of the educational and
church work of the A. M. A. at the South in the same way, as a
spur to his people. We commend his wisdom in the case. Perhaps no
more effective stimulus could be applied. Surely this great and
growing denomination, with its own “Wilberforce University,” and
with access to all of our institutions for the training of its
ministers, cannot afford to put off “ignorant and trifling” pastors
upon the young America of its constituency. They must have “an
intelligent and a dignified pulpit” or these young folks _will_
stampede. That former article warned its hearers that the greatest
rival of the A. M. E. was the A. M. A. In the sense of provoking
to love and to good works we are willing to enter the lists. And
herein--the helping of the old-time colored churches of the South
to a public sentiment that demands more of purity and of education
in their ministry--we find much of our incentive and of our
mission. Their children come to our schools and soon learn to call
for more intellectual and moral cultivation in their preachers. Not
a few of their best pastors were trained in our institutions.
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
Africa.
--A third telegraphic cable has been laid between Marseilles and
Algiers.
--Twelve International African exploring and scientific
associations have recently been constituted.
--Algeria exports $5,000,000 worth of wheat annually, of oxen and
sheep $3,000,000, wool $3,500,000, and grasses $2,000,000.
--It is estimated that more than three thousand slaves were brought
to Egypt during the months of last June and July.
--Dr. Zuchinetti has returned from a journey among the Makarakas,
the Niams-Niams, the Gouros-Gouros in Darfour, Kordofan and Nubia,
where he made a special study of the manner in which they collect
gold.
--Messrs. Cadenhead and Carter of the International Association
were recently killed near the Tanganyika during a fight between
two hostile tribes of the interior. The Sultan of Zanzibar has
sent troops under Lieut. Matthews, an English officer, temporarily
secured for the purpose, to quell the disturbance.
--A Sheik has recently transported over eight hundred slaves in a
single week from Suakim to Jedda. In order to evade the law the
negroes are given certificates of liberation when leaving the
African coast, but these are destroyed by their masters when they
arrive at Arabia, where they are sold. The question of appointing
consular agents at Khartoum and Siout for the purpose of breaking
up traffic in slaves, is agitated.
--There is an African chief named Matola, living in the Rovuma
valley, East Central Africa, who speaks six languages. Perhaps the
most remarkable thing about him is that he is a total abstainer. He
became such from principle and has for many years never touched the
native beer or any other intoxicating liquor. By his aid a church
has been built to which he summons his people every Sunday, acting
as interpreter when there is occasion.
--The negro Anderson, who has had great experience in travel and
adventure in Western Africa, is about to undertake the training of
elephants for service in Liberia. He has at his command elephant
hunters from the vicinity of the Congo, who will endeavor to
capture and bring to Monrovia as many of the animals as are wanted.
As domestic animals in Liberia are few in number and affected badly
by the climate, this new enterprise is looked upon with great favor.
--The French people have formed a gold mining company on the west
coast of Africa called: “The African Company of the Gold Coast.”
During the month of August, 1879, it was working actively upon a
large and important gold vein, with machinery sent from Europe.
The results obtained were kept secret, but it transpired on the
coast that they had been surprising. A second company was formed
December, 1879, by the English, called the “Effuenta Gold Mining
Company,” for the immediate exploration of the rich territory named
Effuenta. The gold fever actually animated the inhabitants of
Wassaw as much as it did formerly the emigrants to California.
* * * * *
The Indians.
--Secretary Schurz has pledged himself to send fifty Indian girls
to Hampton, provided they can be received and cared for. He is
ready to appropriate $150 a year for each.
--_Indian youth not revengeful._--General Armstrong testifies that,
“in nearly two years’ experience, we have found no signs of the
revengeful nature ascribed to the Indian. ‘They are like other
people’ is a common remark among us, and is the sum of Indian
character.”
--A full-blooded Indian chief writes to his half-brother at Hampton
from Crow Creek: “I am going to write you a letter. I never forget
you. Try to learn all you can while you are down there. I wish I
were young so I could go down and learn too. I want you to learn
all you can and come back and teach your brothers. Try to learn and
talk English too. Don’t think about coming home all the time. If
you do you can’t learn much. I like to have you write a letter back
and tell me how you are.
WIZI--That’s I.”
--Rev. Mr. Denison of Hampton writes of the twelve captive
Indian warriors from Florida received by him into the church:
“We are not deceived into thinking that these Indians present a
highly civilized type of piety, but after careful observation,
we are forced to believe that, as regards the pith and marrow of
Christianity, they are our beloved brethren, for this one thing
they do if ever men did it, forgetting the things that are behind,
they press toward the mark. One point in theology they understand,
and only one. It is to walk the new road in the help of Jesus, and
they show their faith by their works. They are patient in study.
They are always found on the side of law and order. Digging in the
earth is not the chief joy of an Indian warrior, but Koba writes:
‘I pray every day and hoe onions.’”
--_Bed-making by Indian youth._--Mr. James C. Robbins, a colored
graduate of Hampton who recently had oversight of Indian boys under
Gen. Armstrong, gives the following account: “When they first began
to make beds, the sheets were either tucked up under the pillow or
laid on the outside. One boy was found to have seven sheets, who
did not know the proper use for two. The janitor helped me carry a
bedstead into the sitting-room, the boys were called in and seated
in a semi-circle, and I began the process of bed-making, the boys
grunting and laughing as it proceeded. When the clothes were neatly
tucked in, and the pillow shaken and put into its place, I said,
‘Now boys, I will show you how to get into bed,’ which I did. Then,
through the interpreter, I asked who was willing to try it. He
hardly put the question when a boy who had objected to having his
hair cut when he first came, stepped forward. He began where I did,
and followed every movement, so closely had he observed. No sooner
did he finish than there was a stunning applause. He was then asked
to show us how to go to bed, and when his head touched the pillow
and he drew the clothing up over him, up went another shout.”
* * * * *
The Chinese.
--Dr. Legge, the professor of Chinese at Oxford University, says,
“If the present rate of conversion of the Chinese to Christianity
continues, by the year 1913, there will be 26,000,000 of church
members, and 100,000,000 of professed Christians in the Chinese
Empire.”
--The Chinese government is removing the old restrictions which
withheld Chinese merchants from trading with other nations, and
is adopting a policy of encouragement to a wide-spread foreign
commerce. The Chinese Ambassador at Washington stated that a
steamer, commanded and manned by Chinese wholly, would soon appear
in San Francisco laden with the products of Chinese industry.
--The Chinamen, who walk over bridges built two thousand years
ago, who cultivated the cotton-plant centuries before this country
was heard of, and who fed silk-worms before King Solomon built his
throne, have fifty thousand square miles around Shanghai which they
call the Garden of China, and which has been tilled for countless
generations. It is all meadow land, and is raised but a few feet
above the rivers, lakes, and canals, and is a complete network of
water-communication. The land is under the highest cultivation,
and three crops a year are gathered from it. The population is so
dense that wherever you look you see men and women in blue clothing
in such numbers that you fancy some muster or fair is coming off,
and that the people are out for a holiday. Missionaries of several
societies are at work in this locality.
--A Christian Chinaman at Sacramento, in California, was present at
the annual festival of the Chinese school on June 4th. When asked
whether Christian influence really made the Chinaman better, he
replied:--
“Oh! yes, all much better men. Do not steal. Do not gamble. Do not
do any bad.”
“How about smoking?”
“Oh! no opium! Some not even smoke cigars. We can tell. All other
Chinamen watch Christian Chinamen. If they see him go wrong, tell
us. Then we tell him. Then he stop. If he did not stop, then he
must leave here.”
“But, suppose you don’t watch him. Will he be good without it?”
“Oh! yes, most times. When he is converted and believes truth, it
makes him good inside, he don’t want to go wrong any more.”
“How do you like it as far as you have gone?”
“Oh! me like very well. If all Chinamen be Christians, then no more
trouble about ‘must go’! All more happy and good to each other.”
* * * * *
THE CENTRAL SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CONFERENCE.
This religious body held its autumn meeting with the Second
Congregational Church, Memphis, Tenn. Delegates representing the
Churches in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, were present.
The following programme illustrates the orderly way and the
practical character of the brethren engaged in our church work
South:--“Annual Sermon,” Rev. Wm. H. Ash, Florence, Ala.; “Church
Extension,” Rev. Jos. E. Smith, Chattanooga; “Education,” Rev. G.
W. Moore, Nashville; “Missions,” Professor H. S. Bennett, Fisk
University; “How to Develop the Benevolence of the Churches,”
Professor A. K. Spence, Fisk University; “Absolute Necessity of
Education for the Colored People,” President Magoun, of Iowa
College.
In addition to the foregoing exercises, the Conference examined
and licensed for one year Mr. B. F. Foster, of Arkansas, a former
student of the Theological department of Fisk University. It also
renewed the licensure of Rev. W. H. Fuller, a student of the
Theological department of Talladega College. During the session
a council was organized for the examination of Mr. B. A. Imes,
a graduate of Oberlin College and Theological Seminary, with
reference to his ordination and installation as pastor of the
church in which the Conference was convened. Rev. Dr. Roy was
Moderator of the Council, and the examination was very thorough
and satisfactory. Dr. Magoun, whose daughter is the accomplished
teacher of music in the Le Moyne Institute, was present to
preach the ordination sermon, and Rev. G. Stanley Pope, of
Tougaloo University, to give the charge to the pastor. This young
conference, which already numbers twelve churches, possesses the
elements of a steady and helpful growth, indicative of a better era
for pure religion at the South.
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
WILMINGTON, N. C.--Pressure for admission to the lower classes
still continues. The school is crowded and there already is an
overflow room. Others are knocking morning, noon and night for
admittance.
MACON, GA.--School opens unusually full, but better than that is
the fact that we have a good school. I can truly say that I feel we
are doing well in every part of the work.
MARIETTA, GA.--Our work here is decidedly encouraging. No new
members yet, but three or four candidates are waiting to be
admitted whenever we deem it proper to receive them. One of these
is a man who brings a nice family to our Congregation; he has six
very bright children, five of whom are old enough to attend our
Sunday-school. I have been laboring in a quiet way, spending much
of my time in visiting the people, and with better acquaintance
with them I hope to do good work here. Sunday-school is already
showing an increase. Our monthly and quarterly concerts are doing
much good. Our choir meetings are helpful; in connection with the
practice of songs for the Sabbath we teach vocal music, and allow
all who wish to attend; thus far the plan has worked well. Our
organ is our greatest present burden, but we hope to be able to pay
for it at the stipulated time.
ANNISTON, ALA.--Last Sabbath was our regular communion day, and a
very precious day it was to us. We were gathering up the fragments
of our protracted services. There were seventeen conversions during
the revival, and thirteen of the converts united with us. The
church has been quickened by the Spirit and backsliders restored.
TALLADEGA, ALA.--Our opening this fall was most favorable. The
first day saw Foster Hall nearly full, and Swayne Hall well
occupied. If the pupils continue to come, we shall soon be
compelled to ask what we shall do with them. Both pastors of the
colored churches here enter the normal department, and one the
theological.
MOBILE, ALA.--I feel constrained, by the reports of the coming
applicants, to request an additional teacher. Yesterday and to-day
we have turned away thirty or more applicants, nearly one half of
whom wish to enter the B intermediate department, and nearly one
half are former pupils. Some went away crying because there was no
room for them.
SELMA, ALA.--Our new missionary, supported by the ladies of Maine,
writes as follows: “Have been here one month, and am prepared to
say that I like the work and find ample opportunity for doing good.
I have already called upon every member of our church. A good
degree of interest is shown by the Sunday-school, also an increased
interest in the church is seen and felt by all. We are hoping and
praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and trust that we
are remembered by our Northern friends in this respect as well as
others. I am rejoiced that I am permitted to labor in this cause;
encouragements far out-weigh discouragements, and when the people
of the North fully realize the amount of good accomplished by the
A. M. A. they will be more ready to sustain it than they have yet
been.”
MEMPHIS, TENN.--School opened most hopefully. We now register over
one hundred and forty pupils, and I have already refused children
for the primary and intermediate rooms. I expect every seat will be
taken in the normal room by the end of this month. Our entire work
has never before opened so hopefully as this year.
PARIS, TEXAS.--Rev. J. W. Roberts writes: Enclosed please find $1,
a collection which my Sunday-school sends for “Mendi Mission.” I
gave them a missionary talk yesterday on the work the A. M. A. was
carrying on in Africa, and urged them to aid her in sending the
Gospel to that land. The Sunday-school voted unanimously to do it.
Thus they send this as a beginning.
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,
FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
* * * * *
GLEANINGS.
L. A. P.
Letters from student-teachers often furnish truer insight to the
homes and sentiments of the people than can be learned in the
higher schools. Ten miles from a leading city a young lady writes:
“This is such a wicked place that out of ninety day scholars I can
get only forty to come to Sabbath-school. I begin school at eight,
and close at half-past five in the evening. Parents think the
children are not learning anything unless they stay in school as
long as the field hands work.”
A young man, whose recitations in class are always excellent, says:
“I have professed a hope in Christ, and joined the church. The
letter you wrote me two or three years ago concerning religion was
in my mind all the time before I professed hope. Please tell me
where in the Bible I can find the place where a woman once cooked a
Bible in a loaf of bread to keep it from being destroyed.”
This question aptly illustrates the lack of general intelligence
in the community. It is quite possible for young people to leave
school with fair knowledge of the text-books, yet profoundly
ignorant of everything else, unless access to libraries and
thorough Bible training accompany the regular school work, and are
made a part of it.
Another young man reads books and papers, and induces his patrons
to provide themselves with good reading matter. Under the same date
as the foregoing letter, he writes: “I have an enrolment of 120 in
day school. Sabbath-school numbers 143. I wish you could step into
my school-room, and see how busy and earnest all seem to be. You
cannot imagine how the colored people of this vicinity are grasping
after education. I lectured to a large audience last Monday night.
My subject was ‘Education in the South.’”
Another student records his experience thus: “The school had no
black-board, no writing desks--well, in fact, it was not provided
with anything. I now have a black-board, 8 ft. by 4; also very
good writing desks. The children were very much surprised at the
black-board, as they had never seen one before.”
* * * * *
GEORGIA.
Extracts from the Report of the Board of Visitors to the Atlanta
University.
For three days we listened to examinations of the scholars
conducted orally by the teachers, and written examination work from
the higher classes was laid before us. We were also present at
the anniversary exercises of the Institution. It is with pleasure
that we bear testimony in behalf of the accuracy and thoroughness
manifested both by the teachers and scholars. We have never
seen stronger proof of careful and successful teaching, and the
discipline and government cannot be surpassed in any Institution.
The scholars were neat in appearance, orderly in deportment, and
serious in application. The teachers were remarkably proficient in
their several departments, and the scholars seemed to be impressed
with a deep-seated earnestness, calculated not only to advance the
intellectual status of the colored race, but also to make of them
better men and women.
The practical sciences are not neglected. A visit to the culinary
department showed us that the female students had been thoroughly
taught the art of cooking good dinners, without which even the
intellect would pine and languish. Calisthenics, also, constitute a
part of the training.
We found the buildings and grounds in the best of order, evidencing
the same watchful eyes which overlooked the entire Institution.
The school-rooms and furniture were entirely free from defacements
of any kind, showing a marked difference in this respect between
the Atlanta University and most other colleges.
An interesting feature is the Library, composed of a collection of
about five thousand volumes, selected wisely for the purpose of
interesting as well as instructing the scholars. To the library
there have been added during the past year, three hundred new books
of recent publication.
In connection with the library is a reading room, in which can be
found the leading magazines and daily papers.
The future of the University seems truly bright, and a better
opportunity can never be given our colored citizens for a thorough
education.
We commend the entire corps of instructors, and must express the
confidence which we feel in the capacity of the president, Mr.
Ware, and in his fitness for the position which he occupies.
In conclusion, we think it proper to dwell for a moment upon the
fact that the Atlanta University, besides the influence which it
wields directly upon its scholars, reaches, through the many who
pass out from its walls as teachers, almost the entire colored
population of our State. While the mental man is being developed,
the moral man is carefully trained, and temperance and religion are
important parts of the instruction given.
From this College, Georgia is sending out missionaries for the
amelioration of a large class of her citizens. Who can doubt the
wisdom of continuing the appropriation?
* * * * *
ALABAMA.
Church, School, and Brick-making.
MISS M. F. WELLS, ATHENS.
I reached Athens on Saturday, Oct. 2d, found very little advance
on the brick-yard, the kiln of 118,000 being completed but not
burned, everybody discouraged, young people and children scattered
to the cotton fields, trying to earn enough money to buy their
winter shoes. Of course words of cheer and encouragement in view
of the _great work_ (for them the making of 200,000 brick _is_ a
great work, however small it may seem to those who do not know
their poverty, and the great sacrifice this has cost them) already
accomplished, made their heavy hearts lighter, and in the three
weeks since Oct. 1st a great change has come over the aspect of
things.
Men and boys are in the woods cutting wood to burn the kiln made
this season; women and girls are contributing their dimes, nickels,
half dollars and dollars to raise a fund to haul the wood, and the
prospect is that the brick will be burned before Christmas. But
you will not wonder that down in my secret soul there is sometimes
almost a moan. How long, O Lord, how long before the completion of
the school-house?
During the summer the church has kept up the public worship once
a day; a Cumberland Presbyterian Minister (colored) has generally
preached. When he was not well enough to preach a prayer meeting
was held.
The Sunday-school has been pretty well attended, and is now very
enthusiastic. We are going over a short course of Bible History and
Chronology, in addition to the regular lessons of the International
course. We are to have an examination for promotions at Christmas
and all are striving to complete the course. Our prayer meetings
are increasing in interest and numbers, but we need a minister,
indeed we must have one.
Two delegates have been appointed by the church to attend the
Conference at Memphis. It would be a pleasure to me, as one of the
appointees, to represent the church at that meeting, but there
seems no possibility of my going, as the school is filling up
rapidly, and the wood-cutters have to be provided with dinner, and
it requires eternal vigilance to look after all the interests in
such a way as to keep the “ark a moverin.” I should have written
sooner, but every day has brought some unexpected emergency--so
mixing church and school and brick-making, that no line of thought
or action was marked with sufficient distinctness to express itself
on paper. But now, things are more settled, all the interests
seem harmonized, and the chaos has given place to order. We are
all happy and busy day and night, bright faces and glad, earnest
spirits inspire hope in the teacher’s heart, and give vigor to
every effort to move forward.
* * * * *
MISSISSIPPI.
Patient Work.
REV G. S. POPE, TOUGALOO.
Sometimes we hear of incidents in the lives of our students plainly
showing that what we have said to them about hard, patient work
hasn’t ended with talk.
One of the graduating class last June spoke to us of “Labor.”
A letter just received by one of the teachers tells how his
school-house was so uncomfortable that he thought something must be
done. He had a public entertainment to raise money to get lumber
for ceiling. He did not realize enough and footed the bill himself.
When the lumber arrived he asked the people to come together to do
the work, but they did not respond and he ceiled the house himself.
Four of our girls taught near each other, their schools over 40
miles from the railroad. One of them had taught before 14 months in
the same neighborhood. The people failed to pay her. At one time
she needed some money and persuaded a man who was owing her to kill
a hog and let her have it. She put it in a sack and started on
horseback to peddle it out. She has an invalid mother and one or
two brothers and sisters nearly dependent upon her. She is anxious
to educate herself, but the outlook is pretty dark.
Two of them started together for their new field; went to B----
by railroad, paid a man $5 to take them 20 miles, reached town
about dark and tried four places before finding any one who could
keep them over night. The old woman who took them in was not able
to give them anything to eat, but made a cup of coffee for each.
One of them had a little lunch with her. They ate part of it and
put the rest aside. The next morning one woman who had refused to
keep them over night called and invited them around to see her;
they took dinner there and went back to the old woman’s house to
stay over night again, as they could not find any one to take them
further before the Sabbath. They were going to finish their lunch
for supper, but the ants had finished it for them, so they had
nothing more to eat until about noon, the next day. A man charged
them $7 to take them 22 miles. The Lord sent them some lunch
through the same woman who fed them the day before. One of them
only obtained a two months’ school. She received $36, and had to
spend $13 in traveling expenses and $12 for board. She thinks she
will have hard work to get through the year on what remains.
In one church there were three ministers and only one Testament.
These girls induced them to buy several Bibles.
They wrote for the fourth one to come. She went as far as B----and
had to wait two weeks for her trunk. She then went half-way to her
school with the mail carrier and waited there another week before
she could get any conveyance to her school. She taught two months,
and after purchasing what clothing she absolutely needed, and
settling board bills, only had about five dollars. She has just
written me that she is picking cotton now, hoping to get a bale to
sell, so she can return to school. We have enough such incidents to
make a book.
* * * * *
LOUISIANA.
Indications of Good in School and Church--Revival Meetings.
W. S. ALEXANDER, D. D., NEW ORLEANS.
We watch with peculiar interest the indications of the first month
of church and school work, in their relation to the general results
of the year. The first month has passed, and we have abundant
reason to take courage and press forward. Never did a year begin
with fairer prospects of success. Never before, perhaps, have so
many students reported on the opening day of the University.
The completed roll of the Academic, Law, and Theological
Departments would show nearly, if not quite 200 names. Many
students are detained upon the plantations--new scholars are on the
way, and we expect by the holidays to have all we can well provide
for.
* * * * *
STONE HALL.
The new dormitory, which will bear the name of our generous
benefactress, Mrs. Stone, of Malden, Mass., will soon be a reality.
The plans and specifications have been completed, bids have been
invited, and we shall soon hear the click of the mason’s trowel,
and the welcome sound of the saw and hammer. If Prof. Chase, who
will supervise the construction of the building, had any doubt of
our joy at his coming, he has not the perception with which we
credit him. Our most grateful thanks go out to Mrs. Stone for her
large-hearted benevolence. The blessings of thousands of God’s poor
people whom we are trying to serve will be part of her reward.
* * * * *
THE LAW DEPARTMENT
Numbers already 23 students, only four of whom are colored. This
department is entirely self-sustaining, and a fee of $56 per year
is exacted as compensation for the four able professors. It is a
source of great regret to us that more colored young men, in whose
interests the department was organized, do not avail themselves
of its advantages. It is conducted with rare ability. One of the
professors has been upon the Supreme Bench of this State.
* * * * *
CENTRAL CHURCH.
This church has paid all its expenses during the summer. The
pulpit has been supplied by a young man of ability, Mr. Albert,
formerly a student at Atlanta, and at present a member of our
senior class. I found the church in a good spiritual state, the
congregation somewhat scattered, but they soon rallied, and we have
now fair and increasing audiences.
The one desire and prayer of the church is to witness an earnest
and extended revival, and I am grateful to be able to say that
this hope seems about to be realized. Three years ago, Mr. James
Wharton, of Barrow-in-Furness, England, visited this city to engage
in evangelistic work, if Providence should open the way, among the
colored people. He is a business man, but an earnest Christian,
endowed with fine gifts as a persuasive speaker.
He wrote to me in the summer asking if the way would be open
for him to conduct revival services in Central Church if he
should visit New Orleans in October. I lost no time in sending
him a cordial invitation to come, and promised him our hearty
co-operation. He has arrived in the city accompanied by Mr.
Richard Irving, a man of kindred spirit, and next Sunday, Nov.
7th, they will begin a series of meetings which will be continued
indefinitely, so long as souls can be gathered into the Kingdom.
Printed notices of the meetings have been widely circulated, and
earnest workers are canvassing, going from house to house, and
entreating the people to come to this Gospel feast. Dear friends in
the North, pray for us, and the success of this movement. As Bro.
Wharton wrote me from England, “Pray mightily for us.” I pray God I
may have glad tidings to send you soon. These dear brethren come at
their own charges, and ask only the privilege of preaching a _free_
Gospel to the needy and perishing.
* * * * *
TENNESSEE.
Fisk University.
REV. E. M. CRAVATH, NASHVILLE.
The sixteenth scholastic year of Fisk University has begun under
very favorable conditions and with very encouraging prospects.
1. The number of pupils in attendance for the first two months of
this year is greatly increased over that of last, although that of
last year was larger than any previous year since the occupancy
of Jubilee Hall. The number from outside the city of Nashville is
thirty per cent. greater than at the same time one year ago.
The result is that the limit of our boarding accommodations has
been already nearly reached, and the anxious inquiry is forcing
itself upon us, What shall we do with the large number of students
who desire, and are planning, to come during the next three months?
2. The grade of scholarship in the case of new students is
considerably advanced over that of former years. There have been no
additions to the regular college classes, but four have entered the
senior, three the middle, and six the junior college preparatory
classes. As advanced students are the ones desired in such an
institution as this, it is a source of great encouragement that the
number of such is steadily increasing year by year.
3. There is on the part of the students a growing comprehension
of the value and of the necessity of a thorough education, and
consequently a very much stronger desire and purpose to take long
courses of study. This is one of the most hopeful facts connected
with our work. It required a wonderful amount of determination and
patience on the part of both professors and students to engineer
the first classes through a college course of study. There was no
public sentiment in the community, and no sentiment among parents
or friends of the students, to encourage and stimulate to long
courses of study. But a great change for the better has been
wrought. The steady, persistent work of the past fifteen years,
which has resulted in the graduation of five small classes from
the college department, has created an atmosphere and established
conditions which stimulate the desire for a liberal education, and
foster the purpose of those who undertake to secure it.
The educating power of a considerable body of advanced, carefully
disciplined and well-read students, is marked upon all the lower
grades, and especially upon those who come to Fisk University for
the first time. The present senior preparatory class promises to
enter college in May twenty strong. This is double the number of
the largest class that has ever before been entered.
4. The influence and power of the work done by our students while
absent from the University during vacation or after completing
their studies, become more and more manifest. The reports brought
back by the students themselves, the testimony of Trustees and
County Superintendents, the new students brought here through their
influence, all reveal to us as we have not realized it before,
the greatness of the service the University is rendering to the
cause of education, morality, religion and social life throughout
the great Southwest. Our students are our epistles; and becoming
known and being read by the people wherever they go, are turning
the thoughts and hearts of others to the University. It is largely
because of the faithfulness and loyalty of our students that the
steady growth in numbers continues from year to year.
We have, therefore, abundant reason to thank God and take courage.
The great concern we have about the future is that our friends in
the North will not be ready to meet the growing demands of this
great work of uplifting the millions of recently emancipated people
in the South, by a sufficiently large and constant giving. With
the experience of the last fifteen years in mind, we can say with the
full assurance of conviction that the call for the enlargement
and strengthening of the University is in some vital respects
more imperative now than ever before. Endowments are needed to
adequately sustain the departments of study already established,
and to found professional schools to meet the growing demands of a
struggling and rising people.
These must come, or the best results of the labor already done, and
the money already expended, will not be attained.
* * * * *
Mother and Daughter Gone.--Memorial Services at Fisk University.
The Sabbath services at this Institution, Oct. 24th, were hallowed
by the touching and appropriate tributes to the memory of Mrs.
Elizabeth Spence, mother of Prof. A. K. Spence, and of her
daughter, Mrs. Julia Spence Chase, wife of Prof. F. A. Chase. Mrs.
Spence had been boarding in the Institution four years, spending
her last days with her children. She possessed a mind of unusual
strength and vigor, and was somewhat distinguished as an author.
Only a few days before her death, when eighty-three years of age,
she composed a poem on the occasion of the Nashville Centennial
Exposition, which was published. This mother of missionaries was
born in Scotland, and in her girlhood was made familiar with the
missionary endeavors of the London Missionary Society through an
auxiliary which held its regular meetings at her mother’s house.
She was a woman of much prayer, great faith and a sweet and
beautiful charity.
Just eleven weeks from the day Mrs. Spence died, writes Miss
Henrietta Matson, of Fisk University, Mrs. Chase followed her
mother to the fairer country above. Her death was sudden, and a
heavy blow to her sorely stricken family. She died on Kelley’s
Island, Lake Erie, where the family had gone for summer rest. Mrs.
Chase, with her husband, had been in Fisk University eight years;
a part of the time in the earlier years had been an instructor,
particularly in music, in which she was especially gifted and
accomplished.
Her death was peaceful and beautiful. She sent loving messages to
all her friends, to the teachers and especially to the students,
whom she loved and for whom she had labored. With perfect calmness
she bade each of her dear ones good-bye, and then passed from their
sight, leaning upon the strong arm, and catching glimpses of the
glory beyond, even while treading the dark valley.
At her own request, her remains were brought to Nashville, her
heart seeming to turn to the very last to those with whom she had
been associated, and to the people for whom she had labored. So
we laid her to rest till the resurrection morn on the beautiful
hillside, with southern skies bending above her, and not far from
the earthly home of her own dear ones.
The message brought to us who remain, in the death of those who
have been of us is, “The night cometh, when no man can work.”
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
INDIAN EDUCATION IN THE EAST.
AN ADDRESS BY GEN. S. C. ARMSTRONG.
It is now two and a half years since Indian students were enrolled
at the Hampton Institute; but I never saw a more radical change of
life than appears in these men. They represent the worst stock in
the Indian territory: the class that the West declares can’t be
elevated any more than the buffalo. If the West knows anything, it
knows that you can’t improve the prairie Indian.
Crossing the continent twice, of late, I found the universal creed
to be “There is no good Indian but a dead one,” which has been
adopted by over half the intelligent people of the East.
Capt. Pratt writes as follows from Carlisle, Pa.: “Of the Florida
boys who were formerly at Hampton, five have died; three,--Bear’s
Heart, Etahdleuh and Roman Nose--are still East: the two last being
here render valuable assistance to me by example and effort. The
others have all returned to their tribes, and, with the exception
of Tounkeuh, are reported us doing well for themselves and for
their people. Several are mentioned as specially useful.
“We have 139 boys and 57 girls, 196 in all. The readiness of
children to come is in advance of the willingness of parents to
send at Miles’ Agency, and probably at the Kiowa too; but there
is in general such desire for education that I believe no great
difficulty would be experienced in getting nearly all the children
in the schools from most of the tribes.”
The Carlisle School was established by an act of Congress,
accompanied by an official report from which I extract as follows:
“Experience has shown that Indian children do not differ from
white children of similar status and surroundings, in aptitude or
capacity for acquiring knowledge; and opposition or indifference
to education on the part of parents decreases yearly: so that the
question of Indian education resolves itself mainly into a question
of school facilities.”
Sons of Indian Chiefs, at Carlisle, are now making a portion of the
shoes, harnesses, wagons, tin-ware and other supplies needed by the
Department of Indian Affairs.
Indians think. Their wise ones know that there is no hope for them
but in taking the white man’s road. But there is also a stubborn,
unyielding class. There are progressives and conservatives, as
among all thinking people.
The braves will not fight the people who are educating their
children. Every Indian child at school is a hostage.
I recently met an army officer who told me that in the summers of
1877 and 1878, five hundred thousand dollars had passed through
his hands, as Quartermaster, in payment of Oregon settlers, for
supplies and services in Indian wars; and that the past summer they
had been trying to get up another war for the sake of another five
hundred thousand.
Our system of treaties, annuities and rations is an acknowledged
failure. Distribution is without regard to merit, and encourages
idleness among the one hundred and fifty thousand beneficiaries of
the Government.
The Indians are grown-up children; we are a thousand years ahead
of them in the line of development. Progress is measured by
development. Education is not progress but is a means of it. A
brain full of book knowledge, whose physical basis is the product
of centuries of barbarism, is an absurdity that we do not half
realize, from our excessive traditional reverence for school and
college training. We forget that knowledge is not power unless
it is digested and assimilated. Savages have good memories; they
acquire but do not comprehend.
Indians are easily taught, for their minds are quick; their bodies
are a greater care than their brains; but morals are the chief
concern of their teachers. Hence their education should be first
for the heart, then for health, and last for the mind, reversing
the custom of placing mind before physique and character. This is
the Hampton idea of education.
Apply sanctified common sense to the Indian problem and you will
save them in spite of the steam engine and the threats of fate.
The Indian question has been put wrong end first. It points to us,
not to them.
The possibilities of sound educational methods are not dreamed of.
The power of mind over matter is everywhere seen, but the power of
mind over mind, of man over man, is little shown in all our proud
progress. That three years’ work of Captain Pratt at Fort Marion,
Florida, is the best illustration of it I know of. Yet he never had
over two years’ schooling, and went from his workshop to the war.
Work for the ex-captives was so encouraging, the need of educated
Indian girls so obvious, that resolving to push our effort further,
Mr. Schurz was interviewed, entered heartily into the scheme, and
sent Capt. Pratt to Dakota Territory, whence he brought to Hampton
in Nov., 1878, forty boys and nine girls, since increased to
twenty-two girls and forty-eight boys. Indian girls lead a slavish
life, do all the drudgery, and parents have hated to spare them.
Boys do nothing till they can fight. “I would send a hundred boys,
but not one girl,” said a chief to Capt. Pratt. But now one agency
alone, Yankton, would fill our school with Sioux girls. Agent Miles
says he could enroll Cheyenne children from the Indian Territory
for eastern schools as fast as he could write their names.
Co-education of the sexes will succeed with Indians as well as with
colored people in the six largest institutions for negroes, in
which for ten years it has been tried with the best results.
The death rate at Hampton has been serious but not discouraging.
Out of ninety-six, in twenty-two months seven have died at school
and three since returning home. The tribe, gathered as they are in
unnatural conditions at the agencies, away from the chase and the
fight, without action or buffalo beef, fed on government rations,
weaken.
Indian students have in almost all cases died of diseases
implanted before leaving home; their friends have not been
surprised or discouraged.
Chief Wizi, on hearing of the death of his adopted son at Hampton,
called his tribe together and said: “If only one of our children
returns to us with knowledge, we shall be repaid for the loss of
all the others.”
While this eastern work at Carlisle and Hampton is incidental to
the general educational effort which must be made at the West,
it is, more than anything else, pushing the Indian question to a
proper settlement by creating public sentiment. For a Congressman
to see an Indian hoeing corn, does more good than piles of
documentary evidence. The hundreds of clear-headed, hard-handed
young red-skins who will, ere long, be settled among the tribes,
will, we think, be strong enough to sustain each other and to
teach the rest. They will not return home scared by our great
guns and arsenals, but stimulated by contact with the spirit that
lies at the bottom of our progress. They must see civilization to
comprehend it.
What is given for them will come back with usury. Not the least
return to us may be the educational methods which, inspired by
exigencies and unchecked by tradition, shall be worked out to
meet the emergencies thrust upon the country by the destruction
of the buffalo, which has brought the Indian to face the issue of
civilization or destruction.
* * * * *
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.
SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.
* * * * *
A CHAPTER OF GOOD THINGS.
REV. W. C. POND.
_Our Annual Meeting._--It was a very diminutive affair, compared
with that which, at the same time, was going on so grandly at
Lowell; or with the one which, just now, as I am writing, is--I
trust--in successful progress at Norwich. What a privilege and a
joy I should feel it to be if I were there, instead of here! That
is denied me, so far as bodily presence is concerned; but I am
free to be there in thought, and, in the solitude of my study,
to mingle my prayers with yours. They meet before one throne of
grace. _Our_ annual meeting is one of the features of the annual
convocation of our Congregational churches in California, which was
held this year with the First Church in Oakland. The time assigned
us in the programme was from 10:45 to 12:30 on Thursday, Oct. 7th.
I should think that 250 persons were present. Rev. J. K. McLean,
D. D., pastor of that church, and President of our Mission, occupied
the chair. After a hymn and prayer, the reports of the Treasurer
and of the Board of Directors were presented. The principal facts
set forth in these reports have been laid before the Association
at its meeting now going on, and need not be re-stated here. There
was, however, a novel feature in the Treasurer’s report--novel
to us, however it may be to others--which stirred some of our
friends not a little. We have always had more work at hand than
we could possibly do with the means at our command; but we have
tried to “cut the garment according to the cloth,” and have so
far succeeded as never to report a _deficit_, in current expenses
till this year. This was our novelty. Our friends did not like its
looks any better than we did. The President took it in hand and
shook it, at an expense to himself of $10. Rev. Dr. Mooar followed
with another shake, at the same cost to his exchequer. Then good
Dea. S. S. Smith, and minister after minister, followed in quick
succession, till not a shred of it remained, and we find ourselves
now with every bill paid, and a balance of $24.25, which we
transfer to our Barnes Mission House Building Fund. Cold water was
never more refreshing to a thirsty soul than was this spontaneous
and unexpected offering--whether considered with reference to its
_personelle_ or its results--to the heart of your Superintendent.
We don’t mean to give our friends an opportunity to repeat the
operation; but we shall remember it with gratitude and pleasure as
long as we live. Following this were volunteer speeches, containing
earnest expressions of good will and sympathy, and crowding one
upon another in such a way that the time allotted proved to be all
too short, and the only regret with which we closed the meeting was
that so many who wished to speak, and whom we earnestly wished to
hear, failed to have that opportunity.
_The Chinese Fishing Villages._--It is several years since I first
visited a village of Chinese fishermen. I cannot say that the mere
pleasure of the thing would prompt me to repeat the visit very
frequently. There is nothing in the character of the dwellings, the
appearance of their denizens, or the odors rising from their work,
to tempt one to a protracted stay. But I thank God that I cannot
go through even such a rude and motley and ill-odored settlement,
without seeing the immortal souls of which these ill-kept bodies
are the habitations, or without beginning to query if some way
cannot be opened to pour in upon them the healing light of that
world which needs no sun.
A few days ago a message came from one of them, by a Providence so
marked that I ventured to think it a Macedonian Call, and to read
in it God’s _promise_ of success. This village is on a little cape
jutting out into San Francisco Bay and known as Point San Pedro.
Mr. Charles W. Otis, my warm personal friend,--whom, with his
excellent wife, it was my privilege many years ago, while pastor
at Petaluma, to welcome to the fellowship of saints--has recently
been placed in charge of the “ranch” of which this Point San Pedro
is a part, and is thus brought into business relations with the
Chinese who are tenants upon it. His heart is stirred for them, and
he asked me if something could not be done to save them. I sent Wah
Yene, our devoted helper at Petaluma, to explore, and he brings me,
not only his own favorable testimony, but the following message
from Mr. Otis: “Wah Yene has been here a few days canvassing in
the Chinese school. He will report the prospects. That there is a
field here for work among the more than 400, there is no doubt.
We will furnish a house free, and I think I can get lumber from
some building for furniture, seats, &c. My wife and I will assist
all we can, though I shall be busy much of the time, but I can add
something that, will help the good work along. * * * “I know so
little of the ways and means and plans of the Chinese Mission that
I am unable to say more than to promise a hearty co-operation in
every possible way. We are very much pleased with Wah Yene, and
Mrs. Otis is ready to ‘adopt’ him, and says she would feel safe
with him near when I am compelled to be absent, as I shall be
two or three times each week.” Mr. Otis goes on to intimate that
he could give employment to Wah Yene for a part of each day, and
assume a proportionate part of his support if we desire; or if we
want him to devote his whole time to missionary service, he will
provide him a room comfortably furnished, free of charge. And so
Wah Yene starts to-day for a month’s trial of the work; and we, on
our part, will do our best to make the trial a success.
* * * * *
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
* * * * *
A SLAVE-GIRL’S FAITH.
A TRUE STORY.
“Chillen, git on de bo’de,
Chillen, git on de bo’de,
Chillen, git on de bo’de, bo’de, bo’de,
Dere’s room for many a mo’,”--
were the words that came in high but not unmusical tones from the
depths of the kitchen, where I knew Jule was struggling with the
week’s ironing.
After puzzling over them for some time I cried, “What _does_ she
mean, auntie?”
Auntie laughed. “Oh, you Yankee! Will you never learn negro talk?
Do they never sing about the ‘gospel ship’ in Boston? That is what
Jule means.”
“Oh, is that it?” I replied, laughing in my turn. “I couldn’t
imagine how she was going to ‘get on a board’ with her two hundred
pounds of flesh.
“I’m tired of sewing: I guess I’ll go down and talk to her a little
while.”
Jule welcomed me to her snug kitchen, with a smile which disclosed
her shining white teeth; and I seated myself by her ironing-table,
and begged her to tell me of the days “befo’ de wah.”
“Tell me how you became free,” I said, as she resumed her work.
“Were you set free, or did you run away?” hoping secretly that the
latter was the case.
Her black eyes sparkled, and she tossed her gayly turbaned head, as
she answered--
“’Deed, miss, I just runned away.”
“You did, Jule? How did you do it? Weren’t you frightened?”
“Well, honey, de good Lord just done helped me.”
“The Lord helped you? How?”
“Ah, chile, de Lord just as powerful now as when He showed de
chillen of Isr’el de way to de promus land!”
“Of course,” I replied; “but He doesn’t interpose in the affairs of
men as He did then. We have no pillars of fire, and no parting of
the sea.”
“‘Deed, miss, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout your ’posing, and we
didn’t have no pillow of fire; but de Lord done helped me hisself.”
“Well, tell me all about it, please.”
“You see, miss, we lived just outside dis yere city. One night
somehow de cullud people hearn tell that Pres’dent Linkum was gwine
to set all de niggahs in de District free, and ole mars was gwine
to run us all down South to git clar ob de proclamashun. David, de
dining-room boy, was a likely fellar; he had been about with young
mars, and could read and write; so he heard de talk, and made up
his mind to run away to Washington dat very night. Any one who
wanted to could go ’long. Well, most of ’em was ready to go, my
mammy among ’em. She said I could go too: but we didn’t know how
I was to git away; fur, you see, miss, I was nurse to young mars’
chillen, and slept with dem in a room that you couldn’t git out’en
’thout gwine through his and Mis’ Virginny’s room. De do’ that went
out into the hall was right at de head of their bed, and creaked
mighty loud. I asked mammy what I should do, and she said, ‘Trus’
de Lord.’
“Well, we niggers went to bed same as ever, and de house was shut
up. I didn’t go to sleep, but tried to trus’ de Lord. De chillen
was sleeping sound, and so was young mars and Mis’ Virginny, when I
heard a little tap on de winder, and knew it was de signal. I got
on my knees in de bed, and I prayed hard, and I prayed strong. Then
I took my shoes in my hand, and crep’ frou de do’ into young mars’
room, and round to de hall-do’, and put my hand on de knob. ’Deed,
miss, but my heart was a-beatin’; for, if de do’ should creak, we
were lost. ‘Good Lord, don’t let it creak,’ I whispered, and turned
de knob. Bress yo’ heart, honey! that do’ opened jest as soft as
a white baby’s bref,--that do’ that had always screeched like a
nigger when he’s hurt. I stepped into de hall, shet de do’ behind
me, went down stairs, an’ out by de smoke-house, an’ dare they all
were; but, if de good Lord hadn’t helped me, I shouldn’t have been
among ’em. Bress de Lord! Hallelujah!”
“But what did you do after you got to the smoke-house?” I asked.
“Oh, I was de las’ one; so we started right off. It was snowing,
and I couldn’t stop to put on my shoes; but I was a stout girl,
gwine on fo’teen, and didn’t mind de cold, for I was gwine to be
free.”
“Weren’t you pursued?”
“Oh, yes, miss! By and by we heard horses come pounding along. We
were nigh de cross-roads where de woods was thick; so we crep’
under de branches of de fir-trees. Pretty soon young mars and de
overseer come ’long, and stopped to wonder which road we had taken.
They swore and cussed right smart for a while, and then took de
aqueduct road to Georgetown. When they had been gone a little
while, we crep’ out, and took de other road that led all ’round
’cross de creek to Washington. ’Bout morning we saw de Yankee
tents, and at noon we was free, bress de Lord!”
“Well, Jule, I’m much obliged for your story,” I said, rising to
go, for auntie was calling me.
“‘Deed, honey, you’s welcome. Always put yo’ trus’ in de Lord,
chile, He’ll keep de do’ from creaking.’”
As I went up stairs, she began to sing in a high key and with great
fervor,--
“I’ll lub my Jesus till I die,
_Hal_lelujah!
He leaned from out de hebbenly sky,
_Hal_lelujah!”
--_Well-Spring._
* * * * *
RECEIPTS
FOR OCTOBER, 1880.
MAINE, $227.79.
Bangor. First Cong. Ch. $38.90
Blue Hill. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Bridgeton. Mrs. Rebecca Hale 4.00
Brownville. ---- 6.00
Cumberland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. to const. SILAS
M. RIDEOUT L. M. 30.00
East Madison. Eliza Bicknell 5.00
Eastport. Central Ch. Sab. Sch. 5.00
Gardiner. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.89
Garland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00
Hallowell. Fannie A. Davis, _Stu. Aid, Fisk U._ 25.00
Houlton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
Lewiston. C. C. Cobb, for Talladega, Ala. 10.00
Portland. Williston Ch. and Soc., to const
REV. FRANK E. CLARK. L. M. 40.00
Thomaston. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Woolwich. John Percy 2.00
------
217.79
Legacies, Hallowell--Mrs. Julia Talpey, by L.
D. Emerson, Ex. 10.00
------
227.79
NEW HAMPSHIRE $316.75.
Amherst. L. and L. K. Melendy, $20; Miss Lucy
Blunt, $10, _for Chapel, Wilmington, N. C._ 30.00
Antrim. “A Friend” 5.00
Candia Village. Jona Martin 5.00
Charlestown. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00
Dover. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 97.36
Greenville. E. G. Heald 6.00
Hancock. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00
Hanover. Dartmouth Religious Soc. 24.45
Hinsdale. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.53
Hollis. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.89
Merrimac. Cong. Ch. (ad’l) 5.00
Milford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.36
Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.15
New Boston. Pres. Ch. and Soc. 4.00
New Ipswich. Proceeds of Children’s Fair 13.00
Peterborough. M. R. 1.00
Pittsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.01
Temple. Cong. Sab. Sch. 16.00
VERMONT, $615.17.
Barnet. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.30
Barton Landing. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.75
Benson. Bale of C. _for Refugees_, by Rev. G.
Lyon.
Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. 26.58
Burlington. Mrs. F. S. 1.00
Danville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 27.00
Holland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.32
Londonderry. Mrs. Hepsibah H. Stowell 400.00
Ludlow. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.10
McIndoe’s Falls. Dea. Monteith 5.00
Newport. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.35
Norwich. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00
Saxton’s River. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.00
Saint Albans. A. O. Brainerd 20.00
Saint Johnsbury. North Cong. Sab. Sch. 25.00
Townshend. Mrs. N. D. Batchelder 2.00
West Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.77
MASSACHUSETTS, $3,815.00.
Agawam. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.17
Amherst. North Cong. Ch. and Soc., $60, to
const. MISS MARY D. FIELD and FRANK W.
HARRINGTON, L. M’s;--First Ch., $25. 85.00
Barnstable Co. “A Minister’s Widow” _to
furnish a room, Atlanta U._ 25.00
Bernardston. Orthodox Cong. Ch. 2.00
Bridgewater. Sarah L. Alden, $10.; Mrs. M. S.
Dunham, $2 12.00
Boston. “Teacher of A. M. A.” 2.00
Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.00
Brocton. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00
Brookline. W. H. White 10.00
Chelsea. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 109.57
Chicopee. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.34
Concord. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 39.00
Dorchester. Village Ch. and Soc. 32.87
Dorchester. Sab. Sch. of Second Cong. Ch.,
_for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 10.00
East Charlemont. Dea. P. Field 9.00
East Hampton. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$84.85; Cong. Sab. Sch., $25. 109.85
Essex Co. “Howard,” _for Brick Jacket for
Chapel, Wilmington, N. C._ 500.00
Gardner. J. B. Drury, to const. MRS. SARAH
JANE DRURY, L. M. 30.00
Hanson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.00
Harvard. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 32.78
Haverhill. North Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
Holyoke. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $15; Second
Cong. Ch. and Soc., $8.74. 23.74
Ipswich. First Cong. Ch., Bbl. of C.
Jamaica Plain. Central Cong. Ch. 817.00
Lancaster. Evan. Cong. Sab. Sch. 18.00
Lanesborough. “A Friend” 1.00
Littleton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.50
Long Meadow. Gents’ Benev. Soc. 28.75
Lynn. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc., $20.06;
North Cong. Ch. and Soc., $2.21 22.27
Middleborough. Miss E. P. K. 0.55
Natick. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 118.18
Newburyport. North Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.18
Newton. Eliot Cong. Ch. and Soc. 125.00
North Brookfield. Miss A. W. Johnson, _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 5.00
North Falmouth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00
North Leominster. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.50
North Reading. Miss E. F. E. 1.00
Norwood. Mrs. H. M. F., _for Indian M._ 1.00
Oxford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 34.00
Paxton. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch., to const.
REV. JOHN E. DODGE, L. M. 30.00
Palmer. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.46
Peabody. Joseph Anderson 10.00
Pepperell. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.17
Phillipston. Ladies’ Benev. Assn., Bbl of C.
Plainfield. Mrs. Albert Dyer, _for Student Aid_ 5.00
Plimpton. Carrie, Alice and Nellie Titcomb 3.00
Pittsfield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $37.50;
Second Cong. Sab. Sch., $5 42.50
Quincy. Evan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 72.00
Rehoboth. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Somerset. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
South Hadley. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 31.00
South Middleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to
const. REV. EPHRAIM W. ALLEN, L. M. 30.00
South Weymouth. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. of Second
Cong. Ch. 19.00
South Walpole. J. F. W. 1.00
Spencer. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $132.60;
Young Ladies’ Miss. Circle, $12.35; Young
Ladies’ Soc. Bbl. of C. 144.95
Springfield. South Cong. Ch. and Soc., $43.25;
First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $39.10; Mrs.
Bowdoin, $10; Ira Merrill, $5; Mrs. Ira
Merrill, $5 102.35
Topsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.00
Townsend. “A Friend” 4.00
Wakefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. ($15 _of which
for Indian M_) 66.86
Walpole. E. P. Stetson, $50; Cong. Ch. and
Soc., $28.75 78.75
Westborough. Freedmen’s Mission Assn., 2 Bbls.
of C., _for Savannah and Atlanta, Ga._
West Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.35
Westfield. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 44.93
West Hampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.57
Weymouth. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.02
Whitinsville. Mrs. J. C. Whitin, _for Student
Aid, Talladega, Ala._ 30.00
Worcester. Piedmont Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$313.90, to const. THOMAS H. HODGE, JOHN B.
GOUGH, ANSON BANGS, C. M. DYER, DEA. E. T.
MARBLE, MRS. SARA PARTRIDGE, DEA. LYMAN
DRURY, DEA. F. B. KNOWLES, ARTHUR M. STONE
and E. C. CRANE L. M’s; Central Cong. Ch.
and Soc., $165.75; Salem St. Cong. Ch. and
Soc., $84.28; Old South Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$58.91 622.84
RHODE ISLAND, $445.60.
Providence. Union Cong. Ch. 445.60
CONNECTICUT, $1,042.75.
Avon. Harry Chidsey, to const. REV. N. J.
SEELEY and MISS LAURA SEELEY, L. M’s 100.00
Bozrah. Simeon Abell, 2d. 5.00
Buckingham. Cong. Ch. 4.14
Darien. Cong. Ch., _for Talladega, Ala._ 5.00
Guilford. First Cong. Ch. 19.40
Hartford. Mrs. C. R. Hillyer, $30, to const.
MARY BUSHNELL HILLYER, L. M.; A. R. Hillyer,
$30, to const. DONALD GREGG, L. M.; Windsor
Av. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $17.14; A. C. H., $1 78.14
Hartford. Calvin Day, _for Talladega, Ala._ 50.00
Hartford. Mrs. John Olmsted, _for Student Aid,
Fisk U._ 15.00
Hebron. First Cong. Ch. 6.62
Hockanum. South Cong. Ch., $7; Mrs. E. M.
Roberts, $5 12.00
Mansfield Centre. “Two Friends,” _for Student
Aid, Talladega, Ala._ 2.00
New Britain. “First Ch. of Christ,” $5.59; D.
M. Rogers, $5.50 11.09
New Haven. “Eleven Friends,” _for Talladega,
Ala._ 124.00
New Haven. Mrs. E. R. Marvin 3.00
New London. “A Friend in First Ch. of Christ,”
$100; Chas. D. Boss, $20; Chas. D. Boss,
Jr., $15; W. C. Crump, $5; Rev. J. P.
Taylor, $5, _for Talladega, Ala._ 145.00
New London. Mrs. N. S. P. 1.00
North Manchester. Second Cong. Ch. 14.62
Northfield. Cong Ch. to const. ERNEST WAKEMAN,
L. M. 34.75
North Woodstock. “A Friend,” 8.00
Norwich. “A Friend,” to const. CHARLES BARD,
L. M. 30.00
Norwich. “A Friend,” _for Student Aid,
Talladega, Ala._ 2.00
Orange. “A Friend,” 10.00
Putnam. “M. R. H.” 5.00
Talcottville. C. D. Talcott and Others, _for
Talladega, Ala._ 200.00
Watertown. Cong. Ch. 39.20
West Brook. Cong. Ch. An. Coll., $44.60; M. C.
Coll., $21.69, to const. REV. JOSEPH A.
TOMLINSON, and MRS. NANCY A. PERRY, L. M.’s. 66.29
---- “Friend” 1.50
------
992.75
Legacies. Fairfield--Mrs. Lucretia Tates, by
Walter Jennings, Ex. 50.00
------
1,042.75
NEW YORK, $669.19.
Arcade. Ralston W. Lyman 2.00
Batavia. Mrs. Anna V. S. Fisher 20.00
Binghamton. First Cong. Ch. 104.43
Brooklyn. Central Cong. Sab. Sch., Geo. A.
Bell. Supt., $75 _for a Missionary in Fla._,
and by the liberality of Stephen Ballard,
$100 _for a Missionary, Ladies’ Island, S.
C._ 175.00
Columbus. Box of books and papers by a Lady in
Cong. Ch.
Deansville. “L.” 5.00
Hamilton. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Lebanon. Thomas Hitchcock, $5.75; M. Day,
$5.75; Alfred Seymour, $5.75; J. H. W., $1;
J. A. H., $1; Others, 75c. 20.00
Madison. O. S. Campbell, $5; Melissa Tompkins,
$5 10.00
Newark Valley. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 38.75
New York. Ladies of Presb. Memorial Ch., _for
a Teacher, Talladega C._ 105.00
New York. “A Friend,” $2; National Temperance
Soc., by J. N. Stearns, 1500 Temperance
Papers 2.00
Oneonta. Mrs. H. M. McC., and Mrs. H. C. S.,
50c each 1.00
Ovid. D. W. K. 1.00
Perry Centre. Cong. Ch. $43.20, to const. REV.
E. H. MARTIN, L. M.; R. J. Booth, package
papers 43.20
Poughkeepsie. First Reformed Ch. 16.54
Rome. John. B. Jervis 25.00
Sherburne. Cong. Ch. 85.27
Westfield. Mrs. A. B. Rice 3.00
Woodhaven. L. I. Miss. Soc. of Cong. Ch. 7.00
NEW JERSEY, $5,285.49.
East Orange. Trinity Cong. Ch. 94.48
Jersey City. First Cong. Ch. 36.01
Montclair. Sab. Sch. First Cong. Ch., _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 55.00
Perth Amboy. “A Friend,” _for Ind. Dept., Le
Moyne Inst_., and to const. PROF. S. G.
BARNES, EDWARD W. BARNES, and MRS. E. W.
BARNES, L. M’s. 100.00
------
285.49
Legacies. Morristown--Mrs. M. J. Graves, by
Arthur B. Graves, Ex. 5,000.00
--------
5,285.49
PENNSYLVANIA, $970.83.
Athens. Mrs. F. E. C. 1.00
Cambridgeborough. Ladies’ Miss. Circle of
Cong. Ch., by Mrs. H. R. Ross, Sec. 5.00
Centreville. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Philadelphia. S. A. Johnson. 4.83
Riceville. Cong. Ch. 5.00
------
20.83
Legacies, Washington.--Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne,
by Executors 950.00
------
970.83
OHIO. $902.29.
Akron. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid,
Fisk U._ 25.00
Ashtabula. James Hall 5.00
Bloomfield. Dea. M. Knapp, $10.00; W. A., $1,
_for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 11.00
Bristolville. A. N., $1; Mrs. L. M. C., $1;
“Friends,” 50c; _for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo
U._ 2.50
Chagrin Falls. “Earnest Workers,” _for Student
Aid, Tougaloo U._ 10.00
Chardon. “Cheerful Workers,” by Mrs. Catherine
L. Keyes 15.00
Chatham. Cong. Ch., $3.25; Cong. Ch. and Sab.
Sch., $9.09, _for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 12.34
Cleveland. Dea. C. T. Rogers, $50; Dea. S. H.
Sheldon, $25; H. H. Adams, $20; Martin
House, $15; H. V. Wilson, $5, _for Ladies’
Hall, Tougaloo U._ 115.00
Cleveland. Plymouth Cong. Ch., $30.43; Hannah
M. Paine, $5 35.43
Conneaut. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Edinburgh. Cong. Ch. 25.00
Garrettsville. P. S. Tinan, $5; C. B. W., $1;
R. H. O., $1, _for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 7.00
Geneva. Sab. Sch. and Friends, _for Ladies’
Hall, Tougaloo U._ 20.50
Green. Mrs. H. B. Harrington, _for Ladies’
Hall, Tougaloo U._ 2.85
Hudson. Cong. Ch. 15.00
Hudson. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid,
Fisk U._ 5.20
Kingsville. Rev. E. J. Comings, $10; Myron
Whiting, $5; Mr. Noyes, $2 17.00
Lafayette. “Friends,” _for Ladies’ Hall,
Tougaloo U._ 5.00
Lake Co. “Congregationalist,” ($200 of which
_for Tougaloo U_) 300.00
Lorain. Cong. Ch. 4.70
Madison. James Ford, _for Ladies’ Hall,
Tougaloo U._ 5.00
Mecca. Burt Case, $5; Wm. C. Hickok, $4.15,
_for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 9.15
Mesopotamia. Cong. Ch., _for Ladies’ Hall,
Tougaloo U._ 16.98
Nelson. C. C. Fuller, $5; Rev. R. A. Toney,
$2; Cong. Ch., $1.50; G. F., 12c.; _for
Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 8.62
Oberlin. Rev. Geo. Thompson, _for Mendi M._ 5.00
Oberlin. Miss E. A. L. 1.00
Painesville. First Cong. Ch. 32.30
Ravenna. Friends, through Cong. Ch., _for
Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 55.00
Sandusky. Sab. Sch. of Cong. Ch., _for Student
Aid, Fisk U._ 5.59
Saybrook. “Friends,” Dist. No. 3, _for Ladies’
Hall, Tougaloo U._ 4.75
Seville. Lyman Strong, $25; T. B. Dowd, $25,
_for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 50.00
South Newbury. H. P. G., $1; Mrs. R. M. P.,
$1; Mrs R. T. W., $1; Others, $1 4.00
Springfield. First Cong. Ch. 6.93
Strongville. Cong. Ch., $10; Presb. Ch., $5;
_for Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 15.00
Twinsburgh. Cong. Sab. Sch., $18; Mrs. Truman
Buell, $10; J. R. Parmelee, $2 30.00
Weymouth. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch., _for
Ladies’ Hall, Tougaloo U._ 4.75
Youngstown. “A Friend,” _for Ladies’ Hall,
Tougaloo U._ 10.00
ILLINOIS, $630.62.
Chesterfield. Cong. Ch. 14.00
Chicago. ---- $150; New England Cong. Ch.,
$125.85; Clinton St. Cong. Ch. ($30 of which
to const. DEA S. S. WRIGHT, L. M.), $33.41;
---- $12.23 321.49
Chicago. Sab. Sch. of First Cong. Ch., _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 50.00
Chicago. Ladies’ Miss. Soc., Bethany Ch., _for
Lady Missionary in Mobile, Ala._ 12.23
Galva. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. of Cong. Ch.,
$13.32; Sab. Sch. of Cong. Ch., $11.68, _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 25.00
Joliet. Mrs. M. T. Murray 2.00
North Hampton. R. W. Gilliam, _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 5.00
Rockford. First Cong. Ch. 43.78
Rockford. Mrs. John L. Page, _to furnish a
Room, Atlanta U._ 25.00
Rockford. Ladies of First Cong. Ch., $25;
Second Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., $25, _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 50.00
Streator. Rev. G. W. Bainum 5.00
Sycamore. J. H. Rogers, _for Student Aid, Fisk
U._ 50.00
Sycamore. H. Wood, _for Lady Missionary in New
Orleans_ 10.00
Western Springs. Mrs. J. C. Armstrong, _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 11.12
Wyanet. J. R. P. 1.00
---- “A Friend” 5.00
MICHIGAN. $106.71.
Charlotte. First Cong. Ch. 15.00
Edwardsburgh. Saml. C. Olmstead 25.00
Hillsdale. J. W. Ford 2.00
Imlay City. Woman’s Missionary Soc. 12.00
Olivet. Cong. Ch. 40.71
Pontiac. Cong. Sab. Sch. 3.00
Salem. First Cong. Ch. 4.00
Wacousta. Cong. Ch. 5.00
WISCONSIN, $202.08.
Koshkomong. Cong. Ch. 9.87
Racine. Ladies’ Foreign Miss. Soc., $19; Sab.
Sch., $6, _for Le Moyne Ind. Sch._ 25.00
Wautoma. Cong. Ch. 2.00
West De Pere. Cong. Ch. 11.61
White Water. “Friends,” by C. M. Blackman,
_for Le Moyne Inst._ 153.60
IOWA, $204.98
Algona. Woman’s Miss. Soc., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 3.12
Belle Plain. “A few Friends,” _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 3.75
Burlington. Mrs. Elizabeth S. Grimes, _to
furnish a Room, Atlanta U._ 25.00
Charles City. Woman’s Miss. Soc., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 10.00
Corning. Cong. Ch. 5.12
Creston. Mrs. Perrigo, $10; Rev. U. C.
Bosworth, $9; Mrs. H., $1, _for Student Aid,
Tougaloo U._ 20.00
Danville. Cong. Ch. 5.15
Earlville. Cong. Ch. 7.00
Hillsborough. John W. Hammond 5.00
Iowa City. Individuals, by C. A. M. Currier 1.50
McGregor. Woman’s Missionary Soc. 14.96
Mitchel. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 6.00
Montour. Ladies’ Miss. Soc., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 7.00
New Hampton. Woman’s Miss. Soc., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 5.20
New Hampton. Woman’s Miss. Soc. 2.33
Newtown. Cong. Ch., $15.62, and Sab. Sch., $2 17.62
Ogden. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 11.00
Osage. Juvenile Miss. Soc., _for Student Aid,
Fisk U._ 11.68
Osage. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 10.00
Osage. Woman’s Miss. Soc. 3.00
Riceville. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 5.00
Rockford. Woman’s Miss. Soc., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 3.70
Stacyville. Woman’s Miss. Soc., $3; “Willing
Helpers,” $1.35, _for Lady Missionary in New
Orleans_ 4.35
Toledo. Cong. Ch., _for Lady Missionary in New
Orleans_ 5.50
Waterloo. Woman’s Miss. Soc., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 10.00
Wentworth. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for Lady
Missionary in New Orleans_ 2.00
MINNESOTA, $41.37.
Duluth. Plymouth Cong. Ch. 5.54
Hutchinson. Cong. Ch. 1.50
Lake City. First Cong. Ch. 10.00
Mankato. Cong. Ch., _for Lady Missionary in
New Orleans_ 3.97
Minneapolis. Plymouth Ch. 20.36
KANSAS, $10.
Wild Cat. Mrs. S. B. Peirce 10.00
NEBRASKA, $4.61.
Camp Creek. Cong. Ch. _for Lady Missionary in
New Orleans_ 2.61
Waverly. Cong. Ch. 2.00
TENNESSEE, $179.20.
Nashville. Fisk U., Tuition 178.70
Whiteside. G. W. J. 0.50
ALABAMA, $5.14.
Talladega. Talladega College 5.14
MISSISSIPPI, $110.65
Tougaloo. Tuition, $55.50; Rent, $50; Tougaloo
U., $5.15 110.65
ENGLAND, $482.50.
London. Freedmen’s Missions Aid Soc., _for
Fisk U._, £100 482.50
---------
Total $16,268.72
* * * * *
FOR TILLOTSON COLLEGIATE AND NORMAL INSTITUTE, AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Southampton, Mass. Collected by Ladies of
Cong. Ch. 18.00
Westborough, Mass. Cong. Sab. Sch. 24.00
Westfield, Mass. First Cong. Ch., $12; Second
Cong. Ch., $12 24.00
Worcester, Mass. Ladies in Central Cong. Ch.,
$31.50; Ladies in Union Ch., $13.50; Ladies
in Salem St. Cong. Ch., $10; Ladies in
Piedmont Cong. Ch., $5, by Mrs. G. Henry
Whitcomb 60.00
Worcester, Mass. Freedmen’s Mission Ass’n,
bbl. of C.
Central Falls, R. I. Ladies of Cong. Ch. $24,
and box of Bedding 24.00
East Haven, Conn. Julius Morris 5.00
Fair Haven, Conn. H. H. Strong 10.00
Fair Haven, Conn. Mrs. H. C Hurd 1.00
Guilford, Conn. Mrs. Lucy E. Tuttle 100.00
Guilford, Conn. Third Cong. Ch., $11; Miss L.
C. Dudley, $10 21.00
Hartford, Conn. D. H. Wells 50.00
Meriden, Conn. Centre Cong. Ch. 19.00
Middletown, Conn. Mrs. Benj. Douglass 25.00
New Haven, Conn. “Member Davenport Cong. Ch.” 50.00
New Haven, Conn. E. B. Bowditch 25.00
New Haven, Conn. Simeon E. Baldwin, $20; Mrs.
Alex. McAlister, $5 25.00
New Haven, Conn. Mrs. Emmeline Smith 10.00
New Haven, Conn. J. L. Ensign 5.00
New Haven, Conn. R. E. Rice 5.00
Waterbury, Conn. Charles E. Webster 10.00
Mendon, Ill. Mrs. J. Fowler 125.00
Allegan, Mich. Mrs. R. E. Booth 400.00
--------
Total $1,036.00
* * * * *
FOR MISSIONS IN AFRICA.
Leeds, Eng. Robert Arthington, conditional
pledge, £3,000
London, Eng. Freedmen’s Missions Aid Soc., £332 $1,601.90
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
so, 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., 6; S. C., 2; Ga., 13;
Ky., 6; Tenn., 4; Ala., 14; La., 17; Miss., 4; Texas, 6. _Africa_,
2. _Among the Indians_, 1. Total 76.
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_, 31. Total 51.
TEACHERS, MISSIONARIES AND ASSISTANTS.--Among the Freedmen, 284;
among the Chinese, 22; among the Indians, 11; in Africa, 13. Total,
330. STUDENTS--In Theology, 102; Law, 23; in College Course, 75;
in other studies, 7,852. Total, 8,052. 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., Treasurer, 56 Reade Street.
BOSTON Rev. C. L. Woodworth, Dis’t Sec.,
Room 21 Congregational House.
CHICAGO Rev. Jas. Powell, Dis’t Sec.,
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.
* * * * *
MANHATTAN
LIFE
Insurance Company,
OF
NEW YORK.
ORGANIZED A.D. 1850.
RULES OF BUSINESS.
PREMIUMS the lowest safe rates.
POLICY as little restricted in terms as possible.
NON-FORFEITURE secured in the policy under the recent law of New
York.
DIVIDENDS made annually.
MANAGEMENT steady, reliable, business-like.
INVESTMENTS. Best security sought, rather than the largest interest.
PRINCIPAL OBJECT. To meet CLAIMS promptly.
RESULT. Nearly 3,000 families benefited when most needed.
HENRY STOKES, President.
C. Y. WEMPLE, Vice-President.
J. L. HALSEY, Secretary.
S. N. STEBBINS, Actuary.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
PAYSON’S
Indelible Ink,
FOR MARKING ANY FABRIC WITH A
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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.
* * * * *
W. & B. DOUGLAS,
Middletown, Conn.,
MANUFACTURERS OF
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HYDRAULIC RAMS, GARDEN ENGINES, PUMP CHAIN AND FIXTURES, IRON
CURBS, YARD HYDRANTS, STREET WASHERS, ETC.
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France, in 1867; Vienna, Austria, in 1873; and Philadelphia, 1876.
Founded in 1832.
Branch Warehouses:
85 & 87 John St.
NEW YORK,
AND
197 Lake Street,
CHICAGO.
_For Sale by all Regular Dealers._
* * * * *
A UNIQUE WEEKLY.
_THE NEW YORK WEEKLY WITNESS_,
Now in its ninth year, has a circulation of fifty-three thousand,
scattered over the entire continent. From the first it has
maintained a thoroughly independent stand in politics, discussing
all public questions of interest from a Christian standpoint. In
religion it takes the same ground with the Evangelical Alliance; in
temperance, with the National Temperance Society, and as regards
the oppressed races, with the American Missionary Association.
It gives summaries of the week’s news, full Prices Current and
Financial Reports, and copious selections from the best editorials
of the New York daily papers of both parties. It also gives
reports of important religious and temperance meetings and makes a
specialty of a daily report of the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting,
which has been a much-prized portion of the paper. It stands almost
alone in the New York press in reporting the Progress of the
Independent Catholic Movement.
A chief specialty of the _Witness_ is its Home Department,
consisting of letters from women, discussing questions of domestic
and social interest. So much is this department prized that every
week for several years has brought more letters from all parts of
the country than we can insert in the three columns allotted to
it. There is also a column of children’s letters for which we have
received a constant overflowing stream of juvenile correspondence.
The interest with which children read this column is remarkable.
There is an extensive literary department of the _Witness_ filled
with tales, mostly for children, and extracts from the best weekly
and monthly papers. It has also a department for letters from
all parts of the Union, chiefly from the South and West, giving
information concerning various parts the country.
The _Witness_ will be found to contain more readable, instructive,
and interesting matter than perhaps any other weekly, and to
combine in one sheet the excellencies of a newspaper, a commercial
paper, a religious paper, a temperance paper, an agricultural
paper, and a mother’s magazine--all for $1.50 a year; or five
copies, directed separately, for $6.
* * * * *
We also publish an eight-page weekly entitled =SABBATH READING=,
each number having a first-class Sermon and the best religious
and temperance matter we can glean from American and British
periodicals. Each number contains the Sabbath-school lesson, and a
report of Fulton Street Prayer Meeting. 50 cents a year.
ALSO,
=GEMS OF POETRY=, an eight-page weekly, containing selections of
the choicest poetry in the English language. 75 cents a year. First
volume, from 1st June to 31st December, 40 cents.
Specimen copies of these publications sent free. They all stop when
subscription expires.
JOHN DOUGALL & CO.,
No. 7 Frankfort St., New York.
* * * * *
NEW AND IMPROVED STYLES THIS SEASON.
MASON AND HAMLIN ORGANS
BEST IN THE WORLD: winners of highest distinction at EVERY GREAT
WORLD’S FAIR FOR THIRTEEN YEARS. Prices, $51, $57, $66, $84, $108,
to $508 and upward. For easy payments, $6.30 a quarter and upward.
Catalogues free. MASON & HAMLIN ORGAN CO., 154 Tremont Street,
Boston; 46 East 14th Street, NEW YORK; 149 Wabash Ave., CHICAGO.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
_J. & R. LAMB_,
_59 Carmine St., N. Y._
_CHURCH FURNISHERS_
Memorial Windows, Memorial Tablets,
Sterling Silver Communion Services.
SEND FOR CIRCULAR.
* * * * *
DAVID H. GILDERSLEEVE, PRINTER, 101 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The American Missionary, Volume 34, No. 12, December 1880" ***
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