VOL. XXXIV. NO. 11.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
NOVEMBER, 1880.
ANNUAL MEETING.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
PARAGRAPHS 321
FINANCIAL—PROCEEDINGS AT ANNUAL MEETING 322
HEROISM AND STATESMANSHIP: Rev. Alex. Hannay, D. D. 325
GENERAL SURVEY 326
SUMMARY OF TREASURER’S REPORT 334
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND ENLARGEMENT 335
WHY WE SHOULD ENLARGE: Rev. L. T. Chamberlain, D.D. 336
SACRIFICIAL LIVING AND GIVING: Rev. A. F. Beard, D.D. 340
WORKING OUT THE EQUATION: District Secretary Powell 342
THE FREEDMEN.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL WORK 344
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION: Rev. Addison P. Foster 345
A SAMPLE STATE: Pres. H. S. Deforest 347
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHURCH WORK 350
OUR DISADVANTAGES AND ADVANTAGES: Field Sup’t
J. E. Roy, D.D. 351
THE NEED AND THE OPPORTUNITY: Prof. Wm. J.
Tucker, D.D. 354
AFRICA.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 357
THE MENDI MISSION: Prof. T. N. Chase 359
THE CALL TO THE ASSOCIATION: Rev. H. M. Ladd 363
THE INDIANS.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 364
CAUSES OF THE MISMANAGEMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS:
Rev. A. H. Bradford. 365
LETTER FROM GENERAL FISK 370
THE CHINESE.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 372
THE TWO METHODS: Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D. 372
OUR GROUNDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT: Rev. Samuel Scoville 375
RECEIPTS 379
CONSTITUTION 383
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS 384
[Illustration]
This number of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY is sent to some persons
whose names are not among our subscribers, with the hope that they
will read it, become interested in the work it represents, and
subscribe for it. Terms, 50 cents per annum. Subscriptions may be
sent to H. W. Hubbard, Esq., Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York.
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.
E. 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. J. 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. NOVEMBER, 1880. NO. 11.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
This MISSIONARY, as will be seen, is an Annual Meeting number. We
have endeavored to give a glimpse at the things which were said
and done at Norwich. We have been able to give almost nothing
entire, except the briefer of the reports of the Committees. For
Dr. McKenzie’s sermon we must refer to the _Advance_ of Oct. 28;
for Dr. Taylor’s paper, to the _Congregationalist_ Supplement of
Oct. 20; for Mr. Carroll’s review of missions, to the _Independent_
of Oct. 28. For the rest, we have crowded what we could into this
double number of the MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
We are under renewed obligations to our denominational newspapers
for their editorial representation at our anniversary, and their
full and discriminating reports of our proceedings.
* * * * *
Our Annual Meeting in the Broadway Church, Norwich, awakened, in
the minds of many, encouraging comparison with the Anniversary of
this Association held in the same place 19 years ago. It was in
the fall of 1861. Our country was just settling into the heavy
tug of war. And yet one of the headings of the Annual Report
was: “Enlargement demanded.” See how God has fulfilled that
aspiration in the enlargement of our finances, of our constituency,
of our field, of our work. The $51,819 of that year, upon the
recommendation of the Boston Council in 1865, came up to $250,000
and $3,000 more, and the average of these fifteen years has been
that same sum, $253,000. All the work we then had at the South,
the very first of the kind that was done, was that of the one
missionary and one teacher among the 1,800 “contrabands,” who
at that point had pressed through our lines. But the men of
that meeting, believing that the day of freedom was at hand,
and praying,—in the words of one of Governor Buckingham’s State
papers—that “the country might be carried through the crisis in
such a manner as should forever check the spirit of anarchy,
bring peace to a distracted people, and preserve, strengthen
and perpetuate our National Union,” did solemnly and grandly
resolve “to follow the armies of the United States with faithful
missionaries and teachers”. You know how this Association did
follow those armies across the sunny South, and how it turned its
own forces into an army of occupation, until its field became
identical with the realm of our national flag.
Now this marvelous enlargement, attained within less than two
decades, has brought us to “the cross of our success.” Shall we
take up that cross? Shall we consecrate ourselves to bear the
burden of obligation which this extension of our work lays upon us?
May we discern this call of God for enlargement, even as did the
good men of that day?
The chief officers of this Association, the President, Rev. David
Thurston, the Treasurer, Lewis Tappan, with his brother Arthur, the
Secretaries, George Whipple and S. S. Jocelyn, now on high, were
all here on this platform, bearing up against the discouragements
of the way, and by their great faith inciting the people to “go
forward.” “The workers die, but God carries on the work.”
* * * * *
A SUGGESTION—FINANCIAL.
We have passed another milestone in our work. The reports and
extracts from addresses made at the recent annual meeting, and
placed before our constituents in this double number of the
MISSIONARY, tell how far we have progressed, and indicate something
of the demands that the journey beyond is already making upon us.
A perusal of these papers will show that the enthusiasm of earnest
conviction characterized the Norwich meeting. The success of
the past, no less than the present exigent needs of the field
in every department, focused the thought of the meeting on one
thing—enlargement of the work.
But the spirit that pervaded the annual meeting must in some way
or other be carried over to the churches. Enlargement of the work
means necessarily enlargement of resources. There must be at least
an increase of twenty-five per cent. over the contributions of last
year. It is a good time now to lay plans to secure this. We would
suggest to pastors and others having charge of missionary meetings,
that, as far as possible, the next monthly concert be made the
occasion of bringing before the churches the interesting facts
regarding the work of the American Missionary Association presented
at the Norwich meeting. By possessing the minds of the people with
intelligence, and their hearts with interest regarding the work,
the needed increase in contributions, we believe, will be easily
secured.
* * * * *
PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.
The thirty-fourth Annual Meeting of the Association had for its
meeting place the commodious Broadway Church in the beautiful
city of Norwich, Conn. It was favored with perfect autumnal days,
bountiful and beautiful hospitality, and a large and sustained
attendance at all its sessions.
President Tobey being detained from attendance, the chair was
occupied by Vice-Presidents Dr. Wm. L. Gage, of Hartford, and Dr.
Wm. W. Patton, of Howard University, and at the closing session by
Dr. L. T. Chamberlain, pastor of the church in which the meetings
were held. Rev. Geo. M. Boynton was elected Secretary, and Revs.
C. P. Osborne and J. H. Isham, Assistant Secretaries of the
meeting. Dr. Langworthy, of Massachusetts, conducted the opening
devotional services. The Treasurer read his report. The report of
the Executive Committee was read by Secretary Strieby, after which
an hour was spent in prayer, reminiscence and thanksgiving.
Dr. Alex. McKenzie, of Cambridge, Mass., preached the Annual
Sermon, his text being Ex. ii.:9—“Take this child away and nurse it
for me.” The thought elaborated with great force and beauty was the
claim of the child, the African race, upon the King’s daughter, the
Church of God.
Wednesday morning the prayer meeting was led by Rev. R. B.
Howard, of Massachusetts. Part of the morning was devoted to
presentations of missionary work outside of the special limits
of the Association. A paper, valuable for its clearness and
comprehensiveness, on “Recent Progress of Protestant Missions,” was
read by Mr. H. K. Carroll, one of the editors of the _Independent_,
in whose care is their excellent missionary column. Mr. Eugene
Reveillaud then addressed the Association, through Rev. Mr. Dodds,
who acted as his interpreter, on the recent remarkable religious
movements in France. Mr. Dodds and Rev. L. W. Bacon spoke briefly
on the same subject.
The Committees to which had been assigned the various departments
of the work as represented in the official papers, then in order
reported, and addresses were made on the subjects of which they
treated.
1. The church work. The report was presented by Prof. Wm. J.
Tucker, D. D., of Andover Theological Seminary, and was sustained
by him in an able and suggestive address, showing the kind of
religion needed by the negro and the progress already made. Dr. Roy
followed with a statement of the disadvantages under which this
department of our work was compelled to labor, and, on the other
hand, of the favorable circumstances by which it was assisted.
2. The Indian report was read by Rev. A. H. Bradford, of New
Jersey, after which General Armstrong spoke of the educational
experiment at Hampton, its success and its needs. A company of the
Indian pupils on their way from their summer homes in Berkshire
County, Mass., added, by their presence on the platform and by
simple exercises, to the impressiveness of the plea. Mr. Bradford
sustained the report made by him in a forcible address, showing the
evils of the treaty and reservation systems, and the need of still
further reform in our civil service.
3. The educational work (South) was reported on Wednesday
evening by Rev. Addison P. Foster, of New Jersey, Chairman of
the Committee. Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, of New York, followed with a
strong plea. Its leading illustration was drawn from the feeding
of the five thousand; when the disciples came to the Master and
said, “Send the multitudes away;” to whom he replied, “They need
not depart, give ye them to eat.” Mr. Foster also sustained the
report read by him. He demonstrated the greatness of the need and
the religious character of the education demanded and sought to be
supplied by our schools.
Thursday morning, after the prayer meeting, which was led by Rev.
F. Williams of Connecticut, Rev. H. S. De Forest, President of
Talladega College, spoke in continuation of the discussion of the
report on education, setting forth the wants of Alabama and the
condition and needs of Talladega. Rev. Wm. E. Brooks, just elected
to the Presidency of Tillotson Institute, in Texas, gave his creed
in regard to the work before him, in a brief address full of
animation and hopefulness. He was followed by Professor Fairchild,
of Berea College, who spoke of the influence of that Institution in
doing away the prejudices of the whole community in which it was
located. Dr. I. P. Warren, of Maine, also spoke briefly. District
Secretary Powell, of Chicago, closed the discussion of this largest
department of the work of the Association.
4. The African Missions were reported on by Rev H. M. Ladd, of
Walton, New York, who followed the report with a brief address.
Professor T. N. Chase, of Atlanta, Georgia, who recently has
returned from a visit of inspection to the Mendi Mission, gave an
account of the field, of the location of the mission, with its
drawbacks and hopeful signs frankly and fully contrasted. Rev.
Lewis Grant followed briefly. Dr. Patton also spoke on this topic.
5. The Finance Committee reported through its Chairman, Rev.
Wm. H. Willcox, D.D., commending the business management of the
Association, and making it clear that the $150,000 recently
received for buildings in no wise lessened the demands upon the
treasury or the dependence of the treasury upon the churches.
Secretary Strieby followed, urging the need of the enlargement of
the work. Dr. A. F. Beard, of New York, read a most suggestive
paper on Giving as an important part of the sacrificial life to
which the Christian is called. He was followed by Dr. Chamberlain
in an earnest plea for justice and restitution to the races which
our race has so deeply wronged, and briefly by President Magoun of
Iowa College.
6. The Chinese report was read on Thursday evening by Dr. Lyman
Abbott, of New York, and supported by him. In his address he
stated fully and frankly the possible dangers arising from
Chinese immigration, and the two methods by which they might be
averted. Rev. Samuel Scoville, of Stamford, Connecticut, followed
in a fervid plea based on the importance of the work, and the
encouragements to its prosecution. Rev. R. B. Howard briefly
followed.
It would not do to omit the witty and eloquent address of Rev. Dr.
Hannay, Secretary of the Congregational Union of England and Wales,
in which he spoke of the heroism of modern missionary effort and
the statesmanship needed and shown in the discussions of the work
of the Association.
The Lord’s Supper was celebrated on Wednesday afternoon, Rev. J.
O. Barrows of Turkey, and Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Massachusetts
officiating.
At the close, resolutions of thanks to the churches and citizens
of Norwich, to the choir, the Committee and the railroads, were
adopted, and responded to by Rev. Wm. S. Palmer, D.D., of Norwich,
chairman of the Committee of Arrangements. The benediction
was pronounced by Rev. Dr. Chamberlain. Thus ended one of the
best attended and best sustained anniversaries of the American
Missionary Association. For changes in the list of Vice-Presidents
and Executive Committee we refer to the first inside page of the
cover.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Second Church was filled below and
above with a congregation of nearly a thousand women. Mrs. Dr. John
A. Rockwell, of Stamford, Conn., presided, and, after the opening
prayer by Mrs. Phipps, read a brief paper on woman’s responsibility
in the nineteenth century.
Miss Stevenson, Miss Sawyer, Mrs. Hickok and Miss Emery, all
familiar with the condition and needs of the colored women of the
South, addressed the meeting, the interest of which was so great
and so well sustained that it re-assembled the next morning. At
that time Miss Douglass, who had labored in Georgia among the
negroes, and Miss Ludlow, of Hampton Institute, Miss Lord and
others spoke, keeping up the interest which had attended the
previous session.
Resolutions expressing hearty sympathy with the work of the A.
M. A., and urging an organization for home mission work in every
church in New England, were adopted at the close of this full and
earnest woman’s meeting.
* * * * *
HEROISM AND STATESMANSHIP.
FROM THE ADDRESS OF REV. ALEXANDER HANNAY, D.D., SECRETARY OF THE
CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES.
We sometimes talk—and I think in a very superficial and wild
way—about heroic ages of certain nationalities, heroic ages of
the church; and there are men who will say it was a heroic age
in which foreign missions were projected, whether in England or
here; that then the men were of great stature, and that they rose
to the opportunities the great living Head of the Church offered
them, and went out and did a giant’s work; and they look down on
this time, and perhaps complain that it is not a heroic age, and
that we cannot have a giant’s test put to us. Now that is all very
flimsy and superficial talk in my judgment. There are epochs in
the history of nations and of churches when great opportunities
occur, the record of which becomes historical, and it seems that
the men who take the prominent part then are men of Alpine bulk
and grandeur of nature—true heroes; and then there comes a time
of equable, dogged, plodding, unhistorical work, and it is said
“The age of heroism and the age of heroes has passed away.”
Brethren, the work of these quiet and plodding ages cannot be done
well, except in the very spirit of the heroic age; and I take
it there is a test of individual character, there is a test of
strength and firmness in men, a strength of heroism demanded for
the quiet, ordinary, fruitful work of times like these, equal, at
least, to that which was needed to originate the new epoch. And I
congratulate the representatives of the American churches assembled
at the meetings of these great societies on the evidence which
has appeared to me, (and I would use no words of mere courtesy in
this, but a simple and unaffected expression of the feeling which
has taken possession of me while I have attended these meetings),
that here they are in the very spirit of their fathers, now gone to
their rest, who said, “We must redeem the pagan nations and bring
them to Christ.”
Another thing that has struck me is this: in listening to what
we have heard here to-day, I have seemed to find not merely a
fulness and vitality of the missionary sentiment, but associated
with that, a keen, political outlook, the statesman’s thought
about the demand of the hour and the special adaptations that are
necessary in service for the carrying out of the great work that
these societies have in view. It is especially encouraging in view
of this, to which no one can be blind, that God is calling America
to a singularly honorable, because singularly difficult, vocation,
in dealing with the races with which her life of intelligence and
faith is here being brought into contact.
It is quite true, sir, that the Head of the Church, as has been
proclaimed from this platform, and from that at Lowell, again and
again, is imposing on you the discipleship of the world, the duty
of carrying the Gospel to all the nations of the earth. It thus
lies upon the Christian nations so honored to stretch out their
hands to lift the other nations up to the plane on which they are
themselves living. But there has been brought to America, it seems
to me, a specially difficult task. She has had thrust within her
national boundary at least three separate races, that are on a
different stage of intellectual development and civilization from
that which she has reached; or if it be too much to say that these
races have been thrust within her boundaries, then that the high
and laudable ambition, which has moved you as a people to keep this
great continent to yourselves, and to take as much more as you
can get, has brought upon you this obligation in connection with
the great races which are to be found on your soil. We are aware
that the spirit and the policy of the world is hounded on, perhaps
now more than ever, by that proud and insolent dictum of science,
falsely so called, ready to be applied to the affairs of races as
to other things—“the survival of the fittest.” No doubt there are
men among you who are ready to take up the spirit of this maxim and
to apply it all around, and to feel, as has been said here about
the dead Indian, that it is the province of the stronger people
simply to overrun, and press out, and hustle over the frontiers, or
over the shores of your continent, the weaker races. Now, sir, as
I understand it, you have been called to this vocation of bringing
up these weaker races, of incorporating them into your own national
life, of clothing them with all the honors and responsibilities
of citizenship, of giving them a full status in the Church and in
the township, of making them what you are yourselves, gradually
scattering their darkness by the light of your intelligence, and
vitalizing their enfeebled and degraded manhood by the overflow of
the surplus energy of your own manhood. There has been given to
you this great task to perform, to show the nations a better way
of dealing with the weaker races than any nation has yet reached;
and if the spirit of the American Missionary Association can but be
breathed into the American people as a whole; if you can control
your political action, if you can determine the issues in your
Congress by that spirit, and control all your dealings with those
peoples by it, one of the very brightest of the many crowns which
will sit on the brow of the American nation will be the crown which
you will win in that service. This is the work to which you are
called.
I have been asked since I came here how I could explain the fact
that the citizens of America seem to meddle so much in politics. I
do not think we of England meddle enough with them. The existence
of a political church among us forces a certain political
contention upon us with which you here have nothing to do. But I
take it that it is one of the highest, most urgent vocations of the
Church of Christ, in this and in all lands, to see to it, that,
so far as her influence shall go, by teaching and by testimony,
by debate, by criticism, by all kinds of fair mental conflict to
penetrate the political life of the nation with the spirit of
Christ. It will not be well with you in America, any more than
with us in England, whether with regard to your work for the black
man and the Indian and the Chinese, or with regard to your own
national stability and progress, until this work has been gone
earnestly about. We can afford to rise above party politics, but we
are bound to preach that righteousness, that truth, that spirit of
self sacrifice, without which neither church nor nation can be made
great and stable.
* * * * *
GENERAL SURVEY.
The battle cry of the American Missionary Association now is
ENLARGEMENT. We are called to this by recent encouragements, and by
the demands of the future.
THE ENCOURAGEMENTS OF THE PRESENT.
FINANCES.
We present our _financial_ situation as one of these
encouragements, and first in order, as being special, we mention
the receipt of $150,000, the donation of Mrs. Valeria G. Stone,
of Malden, Mass. This munificent gift has been so confidently
anticipated, that Prof. T. N. Chase has for some time been occupied
in maturing plans for the buildings to be erected by it, so that
the work at all points will be pushed forward with rapidity and
economy. We hope, therefore, at our next Annual Meeting, to
announce that buildings have been erected at several points in
the South that shall afford much needed facilities to overcrowded
schools, and that shall serve as monuments to the liberality and
wisdom of the donor, more fitting, because more useful, than the
most costly shaft or obelisk.
Next in order, but not least in significance, we refer to the
_financial exhibit_ of our Treasurer, with its favorable balance
sheet. The receipts for the year, aside from Mrs. Stone’s donation,
have been $187,480.02, which together with the amount on hand
Sept. 30, 1879 ($1,475.90), makes a total of $188,955.92; and the
expenditures, $188,172.19; thus giving a credit balance of $783.73.
As a part of the gratifying results of the year’s expenditures,
as we had no debt to pay, we can point to _four_ school buildings
newly erected or greatly improved; to _six_ church edifices
completed; to _two_ in the process of erection; to _five_ repaired
and improved; and to _three_ parsonages repaired, one in process
of erection, and one built by the people. Among these new school
buildings we are glad to number the large and commodious edifice
for Tillotson Institute, Austin, Texas, a permanent outpost, we
hope, in the rapidly increasing population of the great South-west.
Such a balance sheet, carrying on the one side our regular work
and these new and greatly needed buildings, yet held in even
poise by the generous donations of our friends, is an argument
for enlargement at other points calling for it with increased
importunity. We dare not be presumptuous, but may we not trust
still further to the God of the poor, and will not his people
sustain us in the trust?
FREEDMEN.
Our _Educational_ work among the Freedmen furnishes the next source
of encouragement.
The _increasing appreciation_ of our schools by both the white
and colored people of the South, is manifest. Georgia continues
to give the substantial assistance of her annual appropriation
of $8,000 to the Atlanta University. A large majority of the
State Board of Examiners attended the anniversary exercises this
year. Their examinations were close, their report to the Governor
wholly favorable, and their recommendation of the continuance of
the appropriation unhesitating, the closing words of their report
being: “Who can doubt the wisdom of continuing the appropriation?”
The State of Mississippi was represented at the Commencement
exercises at Tougaloo by her Superintendent of Education and other
influential citizens, who, after careful inspection, gave public
assurance of State aid. The first instalment, we are confident,
will reach us this fall. Soon after the war, when this State was
under Republican rule, it granted aid to Tougaloo. Under changed
political control, this grant was for a time withheld, but now
while overwhelming Democratic majorities are regularly reported,
the proffer of aid is renewed. The significance of the fact is that
both political parties, much as they may differ on other points,
are agreed in sustaining the Tougaloo University.
Another evidence of such appreciation is found in the attendance
at our school anniversaries, of persons who represent public
sentiment. At Hampton, President Hayes, Secretary Schurz, the
Governor and an ex-Governor of Massachusetts were present; at
Berea, the audience numbered probably 1,800 or 2,000 persons,
two-thirds being of the white race; at Fisk, there was reported “a
crowded house;” at Atlanta, the audience was packed; at Straight
University, New Orleans, it is reported that “the audience, both
in numbers and intelligent appreciation, was one of the best ever
gathered for the purpose in the city.” Our work is not now done in
a corner, nor under the ban of good people, North or South.
The colored people show their appreciation of the schools by an
increased attendance. The roll is larger than last year in the
aggregate, and in nearly all the departments. The total number of
pupils reported this year is 8,052 against 7,207 last year. The
largest proportionate increase is in the theological, grammar and
normal grades.
Our schools are meant to be _religious_. If not, they are as
nothing to us. We watch, therefore, with great jealousy, the
developments in this direction, and we are gratified to be able
to report interesting revivals at Fisk, Tougaloo and Woodbridge,
with conversions and a quiet spiritual work at other schools. The
usefulness and activity of our students as they go out in vacation
or at graduation may be illustrated by facts like these: “One
pupil who is a minister reports over forty hopeful conversions in
connection with his labors during the summer vacation.” Another
writes: “I was assigned to a place where there was no school-house
or church. The people had their meeting under an arbor. I worked
with the patrons until they built me a school-house.” From
Memphis the report is: “Sixteen of our young people have, during
the summer, taught 1,035 day pupils, and very nearly as many
Sunday-school scholars.” The returning pupils at Tougaloo reported
that “the Sunday-school and Temperance work had been vigorously
pushed with excellent results, one of which was over 1,300 signers
to the Temperance pledge.”
Our _Theological Departments_ are the flower of our schools, and
the germinating seed for our church work. They have this year, as
we have seen, increased in the number of their students and in
their efficiency. Talladega reports that “eight young men will
graduate from the Theological Department, all of whom will enter
the Congregational ministry in the South. They are now warmly
welcomed to the pulpits of all denominations.” From New Orleans:
“The Theological Department is larger than in any previous year.
Four of the class are ordained ministers, of whom two are pastors
of churches in New Orleans.” The Theological Department of Howard
University reports that “sixteen students were sent forth to
preach, all of whom go to the South to the Freedmen.”
With such a record before us, a work so useful and that needs
almost indefinite expansion, invites to that expansion by its very
success.
Our _Church Work_ shows a steady and healthful growth. The number
of churches in the South is 73 as against 67 last year; of church
members, 4,961—last year, 4,600.
In the four new churches organized, and in the six new edifices
erected, and two in the process, five repaired, and in the
parsonages improved and built, we see the additions to the outward
scaffolding, within which is going forward the spiritual work
of preparing the polished stones of the sanctuary; and we see
the added force of workmen ascending this scaffolding, in the
ordination of four young men to the Gospel ministry, and in the
reports from our Theological Departments of well trained young men
graduating and entering the service.
That spiritual work is indicated in part by the reports of
precious revivals and ingatherings into the churches. The pastor
at New Orleans writes: “It is my happiness to record one of the
most precious revivals in the history of the Central Church.”
From Shelby Iron Works, Ala: “The meetings closed with twenty-one
conversions reported. Last Sunday fifteen came forward, entered
into covenant with the church, and were baptized on profession
of their faith. Some eight or ten are to unite by letter the
first opportunity, who were not ready to join last Sunday.” From
Savannah, Ga,: “There has been an unusual work of grace among this
people, and the meetings have been quiet and orderly as with a New
England congregation.”
We have been impressed this year with the unusual mention in the
reports from the churches of the attendance and interest _in the
prayer meetings_. If the prayer meeting is the pulse of the church,
we should infer that the life blood flows warmly from the heart in
our churches in the South.
The disposition for _self help_ is a plant of slow growth among
a people marvelous for their faith and passive endurance, but
little used to forethought and activity. We have felt the need of
developing “this grace also,” and have, therefore, taken unusual
pains to induce the churches to aid more fully in the support of
their pastors. The responses have exceeded our expectations; in
almost every instance the additional sum we have named has been
given, and in some instances more.
Other facts of the same purport are seen in such extracts as
these, culled from the “Detailed Report.” The pastor of the church
in Atlanta proposed that the _church debt_ should be paid off.
With a little help from the North, and from the professors of the
University, it was done, making about $563 raised by the church,
aside from current expenses, in six months. They have also aided in
securing a fine bell of 800 lbs. The young church at Marietta, Ga.,
raised $300 for their new church edifice. In a church collection
for the American Missionary Association in Marion, one man put in
$5, being one-tenth of his crop—a bale of cotton. A man and his
wife are sustaining their daughter in the school at Tougaloo with
the money saved on snuff and tobacco since they signed the pledge.
The church at Wilmington, N. C., claims to be the banner church
among the constituents of the American Board, having given more
than any other, according to number and means, as judged by the
report of Dr. Alden.
The _Sunday-Schools_, as reported, show a slight increase in
numbers, but the reports are not full, and hence the figures do
not properly represent the strength of this arm of the service.
Revivals have occurred in some of the schools. The _Temperance
cause_ holds its place in the hearts and efforts of our workers in
the South. In the churches, schools, mission schools, and by the
teachers who go out in vacation, is the good work pushed forward.
The _Conferences_ in the South have held their meetings, and Dr.
Roy, who was enabled to attend several of them, was delighted with
the excellence of the sermons and papers and the ability of the
discussions, as well as with the fervor of spiritual life. Some
of the Conferences appointed delegates to the National Council.
A marked feature at one of these meetings—that of the Alabama
Conference at Selma—was the social and religious welcome it
received from the white families and churches. Dr. Roy thus reports
it:
“You have been told of the new era in our work, marked by the
opening of half a dozen of the homes of the first families in
Selma, Alabama, for the entertainment of the white members of the
Conference. It was not merely the offer of their houses as eating
and sleeping places, but it was a delicate and attentive Christian
hospitality, which invited the guests around from home to home in
order to the extension of acquaintance. When grateful words were
said to Major Joseph Hardie for having led the way, he answered
that that gave him too much credit; that the places had all been
opened cheerfully, and that, after the sessions were over, other
families had said: ‘Why didn’t you give us a chance? We would
like to have had some of those folks.’ Another host, referring
to the mutual satisfaction, said: ‘It is just because we are
getting better acquainted.’ In the same line was the opening of
the Presbyterian pulpit, morning and night. The exercises of the
Conference were of a high order and well sustained throughout. It
was much like one of the Western General Associations.”
THE INDIANS.
The experiment of educating Indian youth at Hampton and Carlisle
is a confirmed success. We have in the office two pictures—one
representing a company of these young Indians as they came to
Hampton, in their blankets and with their stolid countenances, and
the other taken after they had spent a year in the school. The
change in dress is less significant than the bright and intelligent
look of the faces in the last picture. A visit among them, as
they are engaged in the school-room and at various mechanical
employments, accounts for the change. The joint education of the
two races, the black and the red, seems helpful to both.
Four agencies, the same number as last year, are under our
nomination, and we have favorable reports from each. At the Lake
Superior Agency some years ago, the Indians wanted blankets, beads
and trinkets; now they want a boarding school. At Fort Berthold,
40 new houses were built this season; at the Sisseton Agency,
the Indians dress entirely in citizen’s clothing, live in log
houses and cultivate 4,025 acres of land, and the scholars in the
boarding and day schools show marked improvement; at the S’Kokomish
Agency, the morals, manners, health and homes of the Indians are
improving—most of the houses have been ceiled and furnished with
good, tight floors. More land has been cleared, and 1,000 fruit
trees have been set out.
CHINESE IN AMERICA.
Of our mission on the Pacific coast, the efficient Superintendent,
Rev. W. C. Pond, says that not only more, but better work has been
done this year than ever before. The total enrolment of pupils is
67 greater than last year, but the most marked gains are in those
reported as having ceased from idol-worship, and as giving evidence
of conversion; in the former, 180 against 137 last year, and in the
latter, 127 against 84.
AFRICA.
The aspect of our _Mendi Mission_, in a surface survey, seems
discouraging. A deeper view discloses one great element of success,
and moreover reveals lessons of wisdom that will be of much more
value than any transient success.
After maintaining this mission for 30 years with white
missionaries, with a rapid death-rate and meagre results,
Providence seemed to open to us a plan for using the Freedmen of
America, trained in our schools, as missionaries to Africa. Three
years since a company was sent out, with Rev. Floyd Snelson as
a leader. His age and experience guided the mission well, and
the next year new recruits were added. But the failure of Mrs.
Snelson’s health compelled him to return with her to this country.
The management fell into younger and less experienced hands, and
dissensions and complaints ensued. Prof. T. N. Chase, of Atlanta
University, accepted our invitation to visit and inspect the
mission. Accompanied by Rev. Jos. E. Smith, the pastor of our
church in Chattanooga, he spent two months at the mission, making
most careful examinations, the result of which he embodies in an
extended report. It may suffice here to say that Mr. Chase found
many things in an unsatisfactory condition, chargeable in some
degree to moral delinquency, but more largely to immaturity of
experience and of judgment.
From Mr. Chase’s report and our own knowledge of the affairs of the
mission, we reach these results:
1. The colored man of America _can_ endure the climate of western
tropical Africa. We have sent to the Mendi Mission 17 persons of
that race—seven men, five women and five children. Of this number
_not one man has died_, and _but one_ has been compelled to leave
on account of ill-health; nor have any of these, with this one
exception, suffered from the African fever so as to hinder their
work, except temporarily. The children were not sick; of the women,
one died, the wife of Dr. James. Mrs. Miller has been compelled
to return as far as England for the recovery of health. In the
single case of death and in the three of failure in health, the
cause can be traced to the germs of disease in the constitution,
existing there prior to leaving America; but in every case of a
sound constitution, good health has been maintained. In this we see
hopeful evidence that, with careful previous medical examination,
the _colored people of America can furnish missionaries for
tropical Africa capable of enduring the climate and of rendering
active service as missionaries_—a result full of encouragement.
2. Due allowance must be made for the inadequate training of the
young colored missionary. The Anglo-Saxon race has behind it 17
centuries of culture; the negro race in America, 17 years. This
should make a difference as to the races. The white candidate for
the post of missionary was born in a Christian home, reared in a
Christian community, educated in early days with the best culture
of school and church, enjoyed afterwards the training of the best
college and seminary, with their full corps of highly educated
professors, with all the advantages of large libraries, apparatus
and lectures; and above all, that unconscious education that comes
from constant contact with practical men and cultured society. The
colored candidate was born a slave, lived in the slave quarters
with no refinements of home or surroundings; his education was in
our young and imperfectly equipped schools and colleges, and his
knowledge of the world is bounded by this limited horizon. This
should make much difference with the individual. Perhaps these
facts on both sides have not been duly considered. They will
hereafter be fully recognized by us, and will lead us to place the
management of our African mission for a time in charge of a white
superintendent. They will also dictate a great deal of caution in
selecting candidates for that field. We may send fewer at first; we
will try to send those that are best prepared.
3. Our experiment with colored missionaries in West Africa has
not been discouraging when compared with our former efforts there
with white missionaries, or with those of other societies in other
parts of Africa. A new impulse has been given to African Missions
by the startling discoveries of Stanley and others, and if the
Christian world expects these new missions to be crowned with
immediate success, it will soon be undeceived. There, as elsewhere,
missions must furnish heroes and martyrs, must fight battles,
suffer defeats, win victories and endure hardness. Leviathan in the
African jungle is not easily tamed, and the efforts which would
overcome the barbarism which has for ages defied civilization, and
even discovery, will test the “perseverance of the saints.”
In the missions growing out of the new impulse for Tropical Africa
discouragement and trial have been nearly everywhere encountered.
Of the sixteen missionaries sent so promptly by the Church
Missionary Society to establish the mission in Mtesa’s kingdom,
some have died, some have returned on account of sickness, and the
whole work is now in abeyance. The mission of the London Missionary
Society at Ujiji is still pushed forward, yet with much sickness
and several deaths, among which is numbered that of the lamented
Secretary Mullens. The Livingstonia Mission on Lake Nyassa is
compelled to abandon its first station on account of the tsetse
fly. The Scotch Blantyre Mission has had the sad experience of
wrongs practiced by the missionaries upon the natives, attracting
the attention and stirring the sorrow of Great Britain.
We are not alone, then, in the trials of our African Mission,
nor must we, more than others, be discouraged. Africa was not
forgotten in the Redeemer’s plan. His people must meet and overcome
difficulties. The assurance that the colored American can endure
the African climate is worth all the effort we have made.
THE DEMANDS OF THE FUTURE.
1. Enlargement in the work already in hand among the _Freedmen_.
The noble gift of Mrs. Stone, while supplying some of the great
and most pressing wants in certain directions, creates new ones
in others. It gives additional buildings, but these mean more
students, more teachers, more student aid, more libraries, and more
apparatus.
Buildings are needed where the gift of Mrs. Stone, great as it
is, does not reach—needed as imperiously as where it does. At
Talladega, the original building erected before the war at a cost
of $30,000, bought by us after the war, used and oft repaired,
is thus described by President DeForest: “The walls are staunch,
but the roof leaks, and within and without, from foundation to
bell-tower, it needs repair. It is estimated that $3,000 are
required for this purpose.” A house is also needed as a home for
the President, to save room for teachers and pupils in the main
buildings. In addition to the $15,000 from the Stone donation,
Talladega needs for these buildings and repairs, $10,000. The
wants of Tougaloo are even more pressing. The crowd of students
defies all means of accommodation. Temporary barracks have been
erected, out-buildings and garrets have been used as lodging
places, and yet students have been turned away for want of room.
The buildings now on the ground need extensive repairs to save them
from decay, and additions should be made to the farm buildings to
give adequate shelter to the stock and products of the 500 acres of
land connected with the school. But what shall we more say? for the
time would fail us to tell of the needs of Wilmington, N. C., of
Greenwood and Orangeburg, S. C., Mobile, Montgomery and Athens, Ala.
Besides all this we ought to establish, at some eligible point
in North Carolina, a chartered institution of higher grade, with
a boarding department. We have for a long while felt the need of
this, and have only been deterred by the lack of means. We ought
also to found an institution in Arkansas, similar to that in
Austin, Texas. We are just beginning efforts among the Refugees
in Kansas, and these should be greatly increased, and include
churches, schools and lady missionaries.
_Endowments_ are an absolute necessity for our institutions at the
South. Here are eight institutions, carefully managed, efficient in
work, and furnished with buildings equal in number and size with
some at the West of much greater age. These Western schools have
in most instances the nucleus of an endowment, if not a complete
one. Those in the South need endowments much more, and have almost
nothing of the sort.
2. But enlargement should far transcend the limits of the work
already in hand among the Freedmen. We take it for granted that
every portion of the population of this country must have equal
facilities open to it for education and advancement. No part of
that population is so inadequately supplied as the four and a half
millions of colored people in the South. There were in 1875, in
this country, 1,932 schools of grades above the primary. Of this
whole number, the four and a half millions of colored people have
access to but 91! It must be borne in mind that in this number
of schools (1,932) Harvard, Yale and Oberlin are but units, with
their ample endowments, teachers of finest culture, libraries and
apparatus of the best and largest; and to balance them the colored
people can only point to a few new and inadequately furnished
schools, of which those of this Association are among the best.
There were in 1875 in this country, 3,647 libraries, numbering 300
volumes and upwards in each. Of that number, the colored people of
the South have access to 25! The same disparity is found here in
regard to the size and quality of the libraries open to them as in
regard to the schools and colleges.
It will not do to say that these people need only primary schools.
No race can rise unless it has leaders who can teach and encourage
the masses; nor will it suffice to say that the few seeking
special advantages can go to colleges at the North. The people of
the West cannot send their sons to Eastern colleges in adequate
numbers. The West has, and must have, its own colleges. How can the
poor ex-slaves of the South send their children to the North for
education, when most of them have a life struggle with the wolf at
the door?