VOL. XXXII. No. 7.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
JULY, 1878.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
PARAGRAPHS 193
PERMANENT, INTEREST-BEARING INVESTMENTS.—THE CLAIM OF
NEED 195
“THESE STUPID BLACKS.”—AN AGED MINISTER’S ENTHUSIASM 197
THREE EXTRACTS 198
OBITUARY.—ITEMS FROM CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 200
CHINESE ITEMS.—GENERAL NOTES 201
THE FREEDMEN.
COMMENCEMENT AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE 203
FISK UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT 205
KENTUCKY: Then and Now 206
GEORGIA: Religious Life in Atlanta University.—A
Photograph with Lights and Shades 207
ALABAMA: Dedication of Emerson Institute.—The Church
and the Literary Club.—Montgomery—Swayne School—A
Year’s Work—Closing Exercises.—A Surprise Party in
a Southern Church—Another Female Missionary Needed.—A
Blessed Work 210
THE CHINESE.
JEE GAM’S LETTER 215
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE 216
RECEIPTS 218
CONSTITUTION 221
WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 222
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
* * * * *
A. Anderson, Printer, 23 to 27 Vandewater St.
* * * * *
_American Missionary Association_,
56 READE STREET, N.Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Rev. JONATHAN BLANCHARD, Ill.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
Rev. SILAS MCKEEN, D. D., Vt.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
Rev. D. M. GRAHAM, D. D., Mich.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Ct.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. EDWARD L. CLARK, N. Y.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa.
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.
Rev. H. M. PARSONS, N. Y.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN WHITING, Mass.
Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_. REV.
JAS. POWELL, _Chicago, Ill._
EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
EDWARD BEECHER,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
A. P. FOSTER,
AUGUSTUS E. GRAVES,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAM’L HOLMES,
S. S. JOCELYN,
ANDREW LESTER,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to
either of the Secretaries as above.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill.
Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his
order as _Assistant Treasurer_.
A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each
letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in
which it is located.
* * * * *
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXII. JULY, 1878. No. 7.
* * * * *
_American Missionary Association._
* * * * *
We are happy to state that the “New Cartridges” are in frequent
demand, and from sources which insure their best and most judicious
use. By the way, that name, which was used quite casually, appears
to have clung to them, so that they are called for under that title
more than as the Pamphlets. One brother writes: “I am the only one
in our religious society that fires the American Missionary gun
at the mission meetings, and I want cartridges to suit.” Another
says: “I will fire them at my people in the course of a month or
two, and you shall have the game.” And a third: “I hope they will
kick enough to have you feel the effect.” We refer any who may not
understand these allusions to the list of new Pamphlets on the last
page of the cover. We send them free to all who will use them and
let us “have the game.”
* * * * *
The question is frequently asked, especially at our Boston
office, “What is the price of the Questions and Songs prepared
for Sunday-school concerts?” We answer: They are furnished
gratuitously, and gladly, to any pastor or superintendent who will
use them as designed. Only send in your requests for them for this
purpose, and you shall receive them free. The interest and the
gifts which they incite pay us a hundred fold.
* * * * *
At the Boston Anniversary, held May 23d, addresses were made by
Rev. George R. Merrill, of Biddeford, Maine, and by President
Buckham, of the University of Vermont. The remarks of the latter
appear in full in the _Congregationalist_.
* * * * *
The season of the year has come again, when the schools are
closing, and teachers returning North for the summer. The year’s
work being ended, the laborers must be paid. Just at this time the
receipts grow less, and the income is not so well adapted as at
other times to the unusual outgo. If the churches which have taken
their collections recently will forward them promptly, and if those
who are purposing to send us money soon will send it a few days
sooner, we may be saved considerable embarrassment. We do not want
to have a single teacher’s or preacher’s claim unpaid the day it
becomes due and is presented.
* * * * *
We have referred recently more than once to special wants among our
Southern institutions, especially at Tougaloo and Talladega. Both
of these, and Straight University as well, are in pressing need
of new dormitories, to accommodate the students from abroad, who
come to them for instruction unless deterred by the well-known want
of room. Several thousands of dollars have been pledged for the
Tillotson Normal School in Texas, an eligible site for which has
been already secured; and it is important that this stock should
grow speedily to be a fruit-bearing tree. These special needs must
be kept in mind, and if there should be, during the summer months,
some special pleas for help in meeting them, we trust the friends
of the freedmen will be ready to respond, if not waiting impatient
to be asked. Some of these college presidents and professors will
be in the North before very long, and may think it worth while to
tell the things they know and the things they have not got, which
are often harder to bear than the things they have. The pleasantest
way of all would be for their friends to lay by in store something
for them, that there be no gatherings when they come.
* * * * *
Special exigencies during the past year demanded of us that we
should have a special agent in the field. It was necessary that the
burned buildings at Macon, Mobile, New Orleans and Savannah should
be replaced as speedily as it could be wisely and intelligently
done. It was not merely to rebuild, but to build better, both as
to location and adaptation for the work, with a constant view to
economy and the limits of insurance money. The Executive Committee
persuaded Prof. T. N. Chase to leave his chair, at Atlanta
University, temporarily, and undertake the general supervision
of the educational work, and, especially, the oversight of these
important measures for replacing, improving and enlarging the
school buildings. We have now gratefully to record the achievement
of this latter work, in great part, and its forwardness so far
as it is not yet fully done. Three of the locations have been
changed, involving the sale and purchase of lands. Plans have been
made, altered, adapted, in all cases, we believe, to the excellent
accommodation of the schools and churches, and to the entire
satisfaction of the teachers and missionary pastors.
As Prof. Chase returns to his chosen and preferred work at Atlanta,
we desire to express our appreciation of the great value of
his services in this special work. Nor has his usefulness been
limited to the supervision of buildings alone. He has always
had more interest in the schools themselves than in their mere
habitations; and his suggestions in regard to them have been
valuable and practical, while in many other ways he has rendered
important service to the executive officers of the Association. The
wider acquaintance which he has made during his journeyings and
sojournings with the work at large, will, we doubt not, increase
his usefulness to the institution with which he has been so long
and honorably connected.
* * * * *
It may be remembered that we said, at the beginning of the year,
that we should be glad to make the enlargement of the Southern
church work the characteristic work of 1878. We have not done very
much as yet in this direction, though the subject has constantly
and increasingly received attention and earnest thought. And yet
it is a matter which, for practical results, must be considered
in detail, rather than at large; in the concrete, rather than in
the abstract; and in the field, rather than in the office. This
consideration, in part, as well as the frequent need of speedy
communication with the various departments of our Southern work,
have led us to be on the lookout for a man peculiarly qualified
for the position of Field-Superintendent of the Southern work.
Providentially, in the changes going on in the Home Missionary
Society, the Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D., of Chicago, was at liberty to
consider the claims of this position, which was tendered to him.
And we are glad to announce, as the weekly press has already done,
that Dr. Roy has accepted the position, and will enter speedily
upon its duties, making his home at Atlanta, Ga., during the larger
part of the year.
It must not be expected by our friends that there will follow this
new appointment a rapid and spasmodic enlargement of the Church
work, or that the first few months will add largely to the small
list of Congregational churches in the South. The Doctor is too
wise and experienced a field-marshal to design or desire any such
sudden and apparent gain. Nor shall we estimate his efficiency by
any such shallow measure. But we can assure the friends of the A.
M. A. that the whole subject will receive a consideration careful,
patient, and detailed, the results of which will appear in a policy
which, we trust, may be consistent and approved. For fifteen years
we have been laying foundations with care, in the education of the
freedmen and their preparation for citizenship in the State. We
believe that this same education is fitting them for a church in
which all are most fully citizens. But, after these years of toil,
efficient, as we think, and full of promise, we wish to build on
these foundations—not wood, hay, stubble, transient and perishable
things, deservedly short-lived and weak;—but the gold, the silver,
and the precious stones of Christian character and Christian
churches, which shall be able to stand all the tests of time and of
temptation.
* * * * *
PERMANENT, INTEREST-BEARING INVESTMENTS.
Many persons, affected by financial disasters, have at least one
consolation—what they have given for Jesus’ sake is saved. More
than this, it is bearing interest, and no human power can lessen or
destroy it. It is not like a bond, payable in full at the option
of the one who issues it. It draws interest throughout eternity.
The grain sown will multiply, some thirty, some sixty, and some an
hundred fold, and the sheaves will aggregate a much larger amount
than the seed. Those who have sown bountifully, will reap also
bountifully.
The only bags that wax not old are those woven by gifts. These
are stored away in the heavenly garners, and will add to the
exceeding weight of glory. Gifts do give relief to the recipients;
they further the work for man’s redemption. This fact is the
objective reason for them; it lies upon the surface, and is soonest
comprehended. There are times, however, when it is proper to
consider how our charities may abound to our own account—how we
may secure for ourselves enduring mansions, spotless robes, and
imperishable crowns.
If we have been tempted to trust unduly to uncertain riches, which
have made for themselves wings and used them, it is time to ask,
what investments are safe—what are the treasures that never fail?
Bountiful givers cannot be absolutely poor. They may be called to
wait a little for their inheritance, but only for a little, for
their Master’s word is sure: “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward
is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.”
* * * * *
THE CLAIM OF NEED.
What claim on us of the Caucasian race—us of the Christian
Church—have the Negro, the Indian, and the Chinaman, the three
despised races in the United States? We, who have the leaven, what
do we owe to those who have it not? We, who are the leaven, what to
that which is a foreign and corrupting mass, that we may transform
it into not only that which is leavened, but, as all which is
itself leavened becomes, into leaven itself?
What claim on us have they?
We answer, the claim of _need_. We do not even say, of want, which
is conscious need, but of need; the mere absence of that which we
have to enjoy, the mere contrast of their want with our plenty,
that of itself is, perhaps, the greatest of all claims.
That is not the truest generosity which waits to be besieged
with tears and cries for help, which lingers behind the closed
door of its comfortable home, until it is called out by special
application, and its sympathies are moved by loud appeals—as that
is not the truest need which proclaims its wants most loudly—but
that which goes and looks, and, knowing or suspecting want, seeks
it out, patiently and lovingly, to relieve it.
So God has treated this sinful world. He looked from heaven, he
saw, he bowed the heavens and came down. It was the need, and not
the prayer, of the world which brought the Lord Jesus to its relief.
Once here, He sees a man lie in the porches of the pool Bethesda;
He only sees him, and He asks at once, “Wilt thou be made whole?”
He sees the multitudes in the wilderness, and it is only bread they
lack, and He has compassion on them, and from the storehouse of the
Father’s wealth, supplies their need.
He sees the sins of the world, in which the world is taking
pleasure and rejoicing, and against their rejection, their
blasphemy, and their persecution, dies by their hands to free them
from their sins.
And if need _be_ a claim, then the claim is in proportion to the
need. That is the loudest call which comes from the deepest depths.
But what are these? Not poverty, for that may consist with all
which is best and worthiest in this life—with intelligence, virtue,
and faith in God. But the opposites of these—ignorance, immorality,
and superstition.
We need not tell you that the 5,000,000 of freed men in the South,
the 300,000 Indians of the Northwest, and the, at least, 150,000
Chinamen on the Pacific Coast, are, by our standard, in this direst
want. The negroes and the Indians, unlettered and unintelligent,
given over by the habits of their lives, these to the vices which
are found among the degraded classes which are domesticated, and
those to the immoralities which attend a wild life, and in both
cases, made worse by the neighborhood of those possessing greater
knowledge and power, but who have used this knowledge and power
only to depress them, and to make them serve the interests of
intelligent greed and lust.
The negro, religious, but full of superstition and sensuousness,
whose religion consists largely in seeing visions and dreaming
dreams, and singing songs of a heaven they are unfit for—a
religion, too, which has been almost utterly divorced from
morality. As General Armstrong says: “The story of the devout old
Auntie who would go to the communion service, and not let one poor
old goose (that she had stolen) come between her and her blessed
Lord, shows how little a broken commandment disturbs the peace of
the unenlightened.” The Indian, with a vague and dreamy notion of
a Great Spirit, and a happy hunting ground, and a definite fear
of the medicine men, who send evil spirits to possess them, and
drive away disease with a dance. The Chinaman, with the remains of
an ancient civilization, which has taught him to imitate and to
worship his ancestors and to burn Josh-sticks to Confucius, and,
though temperate as to the use of alcoholic liquors, has learned
the worse drunkenness of the opium pipe, and to whom the thought
of a Saviour from sin, and a life of doing good, is an unheard-of
gospel. But we may not dwell longer here. This depth of need may
only be hinted at. That it is real and pressing, no one can doubt.
It is a claim which these races have in common with all who are in
want. We merely ask the question: Can you find needs more real,
degradations more deep, and therefore claims more pressing, than
these we need only not shut our eyes to see, for which we need not
cross the ocean, nor even our own continent—the needs of the three
despised, oppressed, and largely neglected races in these United
States?
* * * * *
“THESE STUPID BLACKS.”
BY REV. G. B. WILLCOX, D. D.
That they are not altogether idiotic, is occasionally made to
appear rather significantly. In a class in Yale College, not long
ago, was a colored youth of high scholarship and fine promise. In
the same class was a white student from South Carolina, with nearly
or quite the same name, and consequently a seat at recitation
next to the sable scholar. Anent which occurred, substantially,
the following correspondence between the Southern father and a
gentleman of the faculty:
“——, South Carolina.
“PROF. ——
“DEAR SIR:—My son informs me that he is obliged to sit next
a negro day after day, which is highly disagreeable to him
and offensive to me. Will you please provide some different
arrangement? Yours, etc.,
——.”
“YALE COLLEGE, New Haven.
“——, ESQ.,
“DEAR SIR:—Your favor is at hand. It is true that the students
are arranged alphabetically for the present term, and a colored
student has his place next to your son. But, at the commencement
of the next term, the arrangement will be in the order of
scholarship, in which case, the colored youth will be so near the
head of the class, and your son, I regret to say, so near the
other extremity, that there will be no farther embarrassment on
that score. Yours, etc.,
——.”
Speedy result: A note from a disgusted father, calling home a
disgusted son.
* * * * *
AN AGED MINISTER’S ENTHUSIASM.
Having commenced my ministry among a class whom it was my lot to
know as slaves, your privilege to know as freedmen, no sooner does
the AMERICAN MISSIONARY cross the threshold of my house than one
pair of eyes is running over its pages. The report of the Alabama
Conference in the May number just received, thus closes a record
that has “stirred a fever in the blood of age”: “I could not ask
a happier lot than to be permitted to give my life to this field.
It seems to me so _unmistakably_ the work of Christ.” I met in the
report one name with which I am familiar, and it occurred to me
that if the sainted mother of him who bears the honored name were
living to-day, she could not ask a happier lot “for her son than to
be permitted to be a laborer in a field where the germinating seed
is giving promise of an abundant harvest in due season.” I have
before me, while I write, a card which that mother, as the wife of
the Treasurer of the American Board, put in circulation, in her own
handwriting, nearly fifty years ago. I have preserved it carefully
during this long period, and it has struck me that it may still do
good service reproduced in the columns of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
I will transcribe it in substance. It is a fine specimen of _multum
in parvo_: “Expect great things, and attempt great things. Little
causes produce great effects. The poor heathen are perishing. We
may be the means of saving them. What we do we must do quickly.
‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ is a Divine command. ‘The Lord
loveth a cheerful giver.’ ‘The liberal soul shall be made fat.’
Who would live to be ‘creation’s blot, creation’s blank, whom none
can love, whom none can thank?’ Rather let the heathen rise up and
call you blessed. The noblest object in the world is the surest of
success. The young and the old, the rich and the poor, may aid it.
The child’s penny, the widow’s mite, will be acceptable. If you
have no money to give, offer a jewel, a second-hand dress, a book,
or if you have none of these, your influence and your prayers.”
Let me repeat one sentence from Mrs. Hill’s card, and emphasize
its application to the work in which the American Missionary
Association is engaged: “_The noblest object in the world is surest
of success._”
REV. T. L. SHIPMAN (ordained 1826.)
JERSEY CITY, CONN.
* * * * *
THREE EXTRACTS.
From a paper read by MR. J. H. ALLEY, of Boston, before the Essex
South Conference. The writer testifies, from his own observations,
as to
The Africans in Africa.
The African, in his native land, is little known by us; but a year
among that people gave me opportunities for observation. They are
far from being the stupid race we so often hear them called. Keen
at a bargain, they are often a match for some of us in that boasted
Yankee trait. Apt to learn, quick to understand and to appreciate
advantages, they are a people easy to assume and appropriate the
best results of civilization—brave in the defense of their rights
and homes, yet not aggressive, except when forced by circumstances
and their teachings. We forget the whole history of this people in
looking only at some particular phase or trait. Their land, the
field of the slave-stealer for centuries, has been the scene of
cruelty, fraud, and all the worst forms of vice. A people educated
by so long a course of schooling in its vicissitudes might well
be cruel and vicious. The land has been hunted, from Egypt to the
Cape of Good Hope, by foreign and native stealers. Tribes have
been driven for self-protection, or by greed of gain, to make
captures from other tribes or other parts of their own. To show the
debasing power of slavery and slave-hunting, let me say that I have
seen slaves brought to the coast from the central parts of Africa
who were the most abject specimens of the human race I have ever
known—brought by a strong, stalwart tribe, noble in bearing, and
brave in war; and these, too, were the same tribe or people only
a comparatively short time before. Why this great difference? A
simple explanation is only required to show it all. Together and at
peace, they had a generous and varied diet of animal and vegetable
food, for they had extent of territory in which to hunt and gather;
but divided and at war, fighting for self-protection, one party
gained the supremacy. Then the other were a defeated people;
circumscribed within small limits, unable to hunt, they were soon
confined to a vegetable diet alone, and then to a single kind,
and often to a few simple roots; courage gone, they were reduced
to servitude and slavery, and brought to a market. This is no new
theory, for the same effects have followed the same causes over and
over again.
After references to the evils of slavery in this land, and the good
to be accomplished by it under the Divine overruling, follows this
Thrilling Incident.
One of the most thrilling incidents of the late war was one in
which I was an observer and part participant. I never more wished
for the powers of a great painter than then, or even now, for I can
see it to-day as vividly as when it occurred, fourteen years ago;
for to me it seemed to contain a history of slavery, embodied in
a single act. The army, in suddenly swinging round, had enclosed
within its lines a large number of slaves who could not be taken
further South before this was done. As we could not encumber
ourselves with the women and children, the steamers bringing
supplies for the army were prepared to take them to Washington. A
very large steamer was brought as near the shore as possible, and
a plank gangway, some fifteen feet in length, and at an angle of
about 45°, was laid from the shore to the entryport of the steamer.
Just back from the shore, the bluff, at about the same angle, rose
some 100 feet, and this bluff and the plain above were occupied
and covered by some three or four thousand slaves. All being made
ready, the order was given for embarkation; the women and children
were to go on board first. For some moments no one started, and
then a single figure, that of a woman of some sixty years, was
seen slowly advancing alone up the plank; no one else followed. A
perfect hush seemed to hang over the scene, as if some great event
was to take place, and if ever an emblematic scene was enacted it
was here. Slowly the bent form went forward, bearing the weight of
years of toil in the field—years of bodily and heart suffering such
as you and I never knew, and pray God _never_ may. Her face, her
whole frame, was a perfect picture of a doubt. All eyes seemed to
watch her in silence; officers and men waited—they probably knew
not for what; her own people—as though she was their “path-finder.”
At last she reached the side of the steamer; the open port was
right before her, and just then it seemed to her as the open portal
to all her heart’s longings, and God’s open door. She and her race
had poured, for long years, their tales of trial and suffering into
His ear, “who never slumbers nor sleeps.” _Was this the answer to
her prayers?_ That seemed to be the question of her heart all the
way up. Suddenly the bent form straightened, the homely, wrinkled
face glowed with a new light, her coarse, ragged garb was a royal
robe, as she turned and looked towards her people, raising her hand
and eyes to heaven, and exclaiming, in tones so loud and clear that
they reached every ear, and made the very hills ring: “_I’s free!
Thank God, I’s free! Come on!_” For a single instant there was
perfect silence, and then cheer on cheer rent the air, and, with a
shout, the rest followed up the gangway till the steamer was full.
It was, indeed, their way to liberty and happiness even in this
life, and by such efforts as this Association is making and aiding,
shall it not be to the life to come?
The paper closes with a plea for the liberal support of our work
among the freedmen, enforced by
Two Examples of Liberality.
About giving, let me relate two incidents and I close, for if they
appeal to you as they did to me they will be more effective than
any mere words of mine. As I sat in Mr. Woodworth’s office, the
other day, an elderly lady came in and took a chair by his desk,
saying, as she opened her bag, that she had come to bring her
offering. Her dress was not of the latest fashion, her bonnet was
not of the spring style; but her face was one of those beautiful
motherly faces you and I used to look into years ago, and which,
though years have come and gone since they were covered from our
sight, are still as sweet to our memories as ever—such faces as
we know will greet us lovingly in heaven, for they are watching
and waiting for us, and our entrance there will be, in no small
measure, in answer to their prayers. From her pocket-book she took
a bill and handed it to Mr. W., saying, she wished it were more,
and in such a tone that I knew it was a heart gift, and that the
wish was almost a prayer, which might go with the gift and make
it as effectual as if it were all she had desired it to be. Gifts
made in such a spirit, in His hands, who multiplied the bread of
old, grow to wonderful results. The bill, to my surprise, for I had
imagined the circumstances of the donor to be very limited, was
twenty dollars.
I have another: A poor woman, with an income of less than one
hundred and fifty dollars a year, whose yearly offering had been
a single dollar, came and laid down on the secretary’s desk (I
had almost said at the Master’s feet, for the place seemed sacred
ground) ten dollars, saying that she could not be here long, her
journey was almost ended, and that she felt she must do all the
could while she stayed, for she could not give after she had gone
home, and so, after prayer, long and earnest, she had been enabled
to make this, perhaps her last gift. What a gift from such scanty
resources! It meant the giving up of many necessaries, as we should
call them. Have _we_ so given? She had cast in of her want, and may
well expect to hear the Master’s commendation. May she not have
cast in more than we all?
* * * * *
OBITUARY.
We are called to notice the death of REV. SILAS MCKEEN, D. D.,
of Bradford, Vt., whose name, for fourteen years, has stood upon
our list of Vice-Presidents. Mr. McKeen was born in Corinth, Vt.,
March 16, 1791. His education was obtained amid many difficulties.
So great was his desire for knowledge that, in his father’s
grist-mill, he occupied his leisure moments in studying, without
a teacher, Latin and the higher mathematics. During an illness
which caused him to abandon all thoughts of a collegiate education,
he was led to devote himself entirely to the service of Christ;
and, in the following spring, he commenced the study of theology
with Rev. Stephen Fuller, of Vershire. In 1814 he was licensed by
the Orange Association to preach the gospel. His first sermon was
delivered in Vershire, and his second in Bradford, where, shortly
afterwards, he was installed as pastor. Twelve years later, he
was dismissed from this church, but in less than three months was
recalled, and remained its pastor five years longer, when he was
again dismissed, this time that he might accept a call to Belfast,
Me. After nine years of labor in Belfast, he was a second time
invited to return to Bradford. His whole ministry in this place
was about forty-three years, he finally resigning when he was
seventy-five years old. During these years, there were added to
the church three hundred and forty-two members. A man of great
diligence and decision, with tender sympathies and warm affection,
true and judicious, his ordinary work among his own people, as
well as in protracted meetings and in revivals, was eminently
successful. He took a lively interest in education, and was a true
and eloquent friend of the colored people. Full of years, with his
work well done, he was ready to leave it for the reward.
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
DUDLEY, N. C.—“A deep and increasing religious interest is
reported. The work of conviction and conversion is going on.
Backsliders have been restored. Brother Peebles was assisted for a
time by Rev. Mr. Smith of Raleigh.”
GEORGIA.—Of the thirty-seven graduates from Atlanta University,
thirty are teachers, two are pastors, one is a missionary in
Africa, one a theological student at Andover. Only three are not
teaching or preaching—two who are wives and one who has died.
ALABAMA.—The Trinity Church, Athens, Rev. Horace J. Taylor, pastor,
received one on profession at the May communion. This church has a
flourishing missionary society, which contributed in February $16
for the support of colored missionaries in Africa. It has sustained
during the year just closing, thirteen mission schools, in which
over 700 have been taught.
LOUISIANA.—The Minutes of the Southwestern Congregational
Conference, which met at New Iberia, April 3-5, have been printed.
The statistics give fourteen churches, with a total membership of
865.
—The following relates to a recent convert in one of our churches:
“Mr. K. proves a very strong man in the church. He is evidently
of the material which makes a first-class sinner or a first-class
saint. He was lately invited to a dinner-party by his brother, who,
when he entered the room, began in a mocking way to give an account
of his (Mr. K’s) conversion. Mr. K. listened patiently, and when
the account was finished, said it was true, but all had not been
told. He then gave his own story in such a way that one of the
company there determined to follow his example.”
MEMPHIS, TENN.—Miss Woodward writes: “For the past thirteen weeks
the Murphy temperance movement has been very successful among the
white people of Memphis. A few earnest workers, seeing the need
of a like effort among the colored people here, inaugurated a
series of meetings at the Second Congregational Church. From the
first there has been a very decided interest manifested, and the
meetings are productive of great good, both directly and as a means
of awakening thought on this important subject. Some two hundred
in all have signed the pledge, and new names are added at every
meeting.”
TOUGALOO, MISS.—A teacher writes: “I think there is not one in the
school who has not signed the pledge. They came in one by one, till
last week one who has stood out all these months, came and put
his name on the list of total abstainers. He said: ‘You all got
away with me at the meeting last night, and I am going to sign the
pledge, for I cannot teach others to do what I will not do myself.’”
—The following is a good illustration of perseverance among the
colored people of the South. While the missionary was persuading
a sick woman to put her trust in Jesus, the husband came in, when
the following conversation took place: “Mr. Williams, are you a
Christian?” “No, Miss, I’s left on de docket yet.” “Do you ever
think about becoming one?” “Yes, Miss, I thinks a heap about it
sometimes. I tries a while, then I stops.” “I fear you do not seek
for it as you do for money; you should keep at it all the time, as
you do when working for money.” “Yes, Miss, that is jes the way I
works for money. I works a while for the ole man, then I stops. Jes
the same way, Miss.”
* * * * *
CHINESE ITEMS.
—Wong Sam has returned from China, and has resumed his place in the
Barnes School. Lee Hame, who was there before, has been sent to
Sacramento. There are now four Chinese helpers regularly employed.
—Mr. Dakin has retired from the Central School, having removed to
Arizona. Mr. Henry C. Pond, a son of our efficient superintendent,
takes his place. He is a graduate of the State University, and well
qualified for the work.
—Mr. Gilbert is doing good work at Woodland, and approving himself
to all.
—Six Chinamen were received to Bethany Church June 2d, making
forty-four Chinese members in all. There are two Chinese Christian
families in the church.
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
The Negro.
—Howard University, for colored students, Washington, D. C., shows
a strength of two hundred and twenty-five in all departments.
There are thirty-two theological students, fifty medical, six law,
twenty-two academical, eighteen preparatory, and ninety-five in the
Normal department.
—The Reformed Episcopal Church has organized fourteen colored
congregations in and around Charleston, S. C. Some of them meet in
log buildings. One church is staggering under a debt of ten dollars.
—The Baltimore Annual Conference of the A. M. E. Church passed
resolutions denouncing the action of the School Commissioners of
that city, in refusing to employ colored teachers for the separate
schools for colored children. Two colored delegates, representing
the African Methodist Church, were most cordially received.
—Prof. Bennett, of Nashville, makes an important contribution to
the question of negro mortality, in the _Independent_. He sums up
the causes of its large percentage: (1) The old and sick, broken
by slavery, are dying as the effect of former hardships; (2) they
lack vital force, are scrofulous, and readily succumb to disease;
(3) ignorance of the laws of health; (4) late and excited religious
meetings; (5) inadequate clothing and food; (6) crowded tenement
house life. He also names the following grounds for expecting an
improvement: (1) They are gradually improving their condition,
as to homes, food and clothing; (2) they are progressing in
intelligence and knowledge of the laws of health; (3) the younger
ministers are leading them to earlier hours and quieter modes
of worship; (4) boards of health are securing better sanitary
conditions.
—The first negro who has sat on an important jury in New York, in
many years, was accepted May 22d, in the Supreme Court circuit, in
a case involving $6,500.
—Should the barque _Azor_ make four trips a year, it would take one
hundred years to transport to Africa the 100,000 now ready to go,
and able and willing to pay $20 each for passage and food. It is
most important that the 99,000, at least, should neither give up
home nor work.
—A French Roman Catholic mission is to be established at Lakes
Victoria and Tanganyika, in Central Africa, with government aid to
the amount of $20,000. Ten missionaries, who have seen service in
Northern Africa, will soon set out for Zanzibar. They have already
large and extending missionary enterprises in the north and in the
south.
* * * * *
The Indian.
—It is hard to tell, from the contradictory accounts, whether
Sitting Bull will continue seated over the Canada lines, trading in
the spoils of raids on Black Hills trains, or will issue from his
camp of 1,500 lodges to take possession of his old home and fight
out his claim to the end. Authorities differ.
—Meanwhile, the Bannock Indians, numbering about 200 warriors,
under the command of Buffalo Horn, the noted scout, are encamped in
the lava beds, between Big Campus Prairie and Snake River, and have
ordered the whites to leave the prairie on penalty of death. The
Indians on the Upper Columbia are equally hostile, and the Sioux
still threatening.
—General Sherman says that, if the present indications of an Indian
war are realized, and he fears they will be, the army, as it now
stands, would be entirely insufficient to cope with the weight of
Indian strategy and valor that would be thrown against it.
—The Commissioner of Indian Affairs is about to try a new
experiment with the Indians. He has given orders forbidding further
gratuitous issue of coffee and sugar to them at their agencies.
In order to secure application to duty on their part, he says
that only as they work, and in payment for their labor, will they
receive coffee and sugar rations in future.
—The _Tribune_ says: “The Senate will certainly raise the army to
25,000 men, and concur in the transfer of the Indian Bureau to the
War Department. The first will almost certainly be yielded by the
House in Conference Committee, and the other has already received
its approval.” The same paper contains this paragraph, also:
“Before the Indian Bureau is transferred from the Interior to the
War Department, however, Congress should strive to comprehend the
fact that even the War Department can have very little success in
managing Indian affairs unless we contrive to attain some settled
Indian policy. We have been in the habit of putting the Indians
by turns under the immediate care of missionaries and thieves,
of Quakers and Catholics, of army officers and contractors. We
have made solemn treaties, and broken them. We have moved them to
reservations, and then crowded them off whenever they were found
to be in the way. We have pauperized them by promising supplies,
and starved them by breaking our promises. We have made a pretence
of civilizing them, without furnishing them with any code of law,
and of educating them, without furnishing them with any teachers.
After supplying them with rifles to fight with, and worrying them
into hostilities, we have made war upon them; and when they have
proved so conspicuously cruel and treacherous as to deserve swift
retribution, we have tried moral suasion. No one ever dreamed that
the same tribe was to receive the same treatment for two successive
years, and no two tribes ever received the same treatment at the
same time. What is first needed is a definite and persistent policy
of some kind, so that both Indians and white men will be able to
form some clear idea of what will probably happen the day after
to-morrow. A bad system is better than no system; any system is
better than caprice.”
—A small Indian church was dedicated at Jamestown, Clallam County,
Washington Territory, Sunday, May 12th, by Rev. M. Eells. The idea
of erecting it originated entirely with the Indians, who bought
the lumber, and have done all the work. The windows and casings,
nails, paint, oil, and lime came as annuity goods. They have also
had encouragement, pecuniarily, from white friends. It is the first
church building in the county, although it has been settled for
about twenty years, and the first white house in the Indian village.
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
* * * * *
COMMENCEMENT AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
BY TELESCOPE.
This always interesting occasion came on the 23rd of May. The
special feature of public interest this year was the attendance of
the President of the United States, with his private secretary,
Rogers, and General Devens and Mr. McCrary of the Cabinet. A large
party went, also, from New York and Boston on this most enjoyable
and instructive excursion.
The trustees were in session on Wednesday, the 22d, on which
day also was held the first meeting of the graduates of Hampton
Institute. There were assembled in the beautiful “Whittier Chapel,”
on the upper floor of Virginia Hall, a large representation of
the 277 who had gone out, most of them as teachers of their race.
Of that whole number, not a complaint has been made. They have
become good and useful citizens, maintaining the high moral tone
of Hampton, and evidencing that growth in character which is the
best witness to the existence of a true life within. Says the
correspondent of the Springfield _Republican_:
“All this was abundantly manifest by their general bearing on this
occasion, the prompt organization of their meeting, the dignity
and good sense of their presiding officer, a negro black as night,
the secretary likewise, but models of courtesy and tact, their
self-possessed and orderly manner of conducting their business
in a large presence of trustees, teachers, and visitors, in the
accounts they gave of their work, their trials, their methods, and
successes.”
After giving reports of their varied experiences, hindrances, and
hopes, a discussion followed as to the desirableness of raising the
educational standard of Hampton and making it a real college. There
was a good deal of feeling in favor of such a move, and the alumni
came, finally, to a standing vote requesting such a change of the
trustees and faculty.
General Armstrong, the Principal, seconded by Secretary Strieby,
the President of the Board of Trustees, with a good deal of
frankness and tact, managed to bring the meeting to a feeling of
the sensibleness of just such a course as that they had enjoyed,
and to receive finally, in response, hearty expressions of approval
of that which had been already done, and of the general sufficiency
of the advantages provided.
Early on Thursday morning the Presidential party arrived, and were
welcomed by a salute from the guns of Fortress Monroe. With other
guests, they were escorted over the farm to the new barn, 100×150
feet in size, and covering the stables, the agricultural and other
machinery, blacksmith shop, etc. The cash balance against the farm
for the year is $326.03. The printing-office shows a credit balance
of $400. The students have earned during the year $12,236.75 in
the varied industries, which, though not profitable in the net
pecuniary result, are among the most important educational agencies
of the institution; for the knowledge of practical work, and the
ability to perform intelligent labor, are among the most important
attainments for the colored students, both as citizens and as
teachers.
The catalogue shows 332 pupils on the roll, of which 202 are young
men, and 130 young women. The graduating class numbered 57. In the
examinations of Thursday morning, the teachers showed the tact
and thoroughness for which they have been always noted, and the
results in the intelligence and interest of their pupils were most
gratifying.
The new class of fifteen Indians attracted much attention. Their
history has been already given. Five of these Indians are going, in
September, to Bishop Whipple’s school in Minnesota. Ten remain at
Hampton as permanent students. Bear’s Heart, White Goose, Squint
Eyes, High Forehead, Wild Horse, and Big Nose will probably change
their names, although the Indian for each has a romantic sound. The
negro students take very kindly to their new friends, and there
is promise of entire harmony between the two races. Proposals
are in discussion between General Armstrong and the Government
at Washington that include the education of more Indians, and
the co-education of an equal number of Indian girls, so that the
experiment may not be one-sided in its future developments.
We abbreviate from the admirable letter of an editor of the
Baltimore _American_ his account of the commencement exercises:
“At 1:30 P. M. a procession, headed by the Normal School brass
band, was formed on the lawn. President Hayes and the trustees of
the school took the lead, while the invited guests and visitors
followed after, in rather irregular order. Seats were reserved on
one side of the hall for the pupils of the school. The platform was
occupied by distinguished visitors, with President Hayes as the
central figure. The audience was composed of the most intelligent
and highly cultivated people of Hampton and the surrounding
country, reinforced by the _élite_ of Norfolk, who came in two
excursion steamers. Nearly all the educated people of this section
of Virginia are friendly to the Hampton Normal School, and take
much pride in its success.
“Four essays were read by members of the graduating class, and four
speeches were made. The subjects discussed were of a practical
nature, and were treated with vigor and originality.
“I can barely mention the speeches that were made in Virginia Hall
after the graduates received their diplomas. Rev. Dr. Strieby, of
New York City, President of the Board of Trustees, briefly reviewed
the work of the year, and commended the spirit of liberality shown
by the Virginia Legislature in providing for the support of the
Institution. After he had concluded, Attorney-General Devens was
introduced by General Armstrong, and made an impromptu speech of
remarkable directness and force.
“In speaking of the historic associations of the place, he alluded
to the fact that, fourteen years ago, he had been brought here
immediately after the great battle of Cold Harbor, and had remained
three months. At that time there were sixty officers and more
than four thousand soldiers in the hospitals erected upon these
same grounds. The natural surroundings were then the same as now;
the river ran lazily along; the roadstead, which glitters to-day
under the Virginia sun like a sea of molten silver, was filled
with ships. They were not ships of a broad, peaceful, prosperous
commerce, such as are now resting upon its bosom, but ships filled
with supplies for the great army that was lying up the river. The
army has gone; the bugles of war have sounded their last notes; the
sick and wounded soldiers that were camped on these grounds have
struck their tents. Three or four hundred of them remain in yonder
cemetery, where stands the monument erected by Miss Dorothea Dix
to commemorate their heroism. But I regard this Institution as a
more fitting monument to the army that fought for law, and order,
and civilization, to the patriotism of the men that rushed to the
defense of a constitutionally elected President when his authority
was defied and his office menaced.”
The President, also, made a telling little speech, expressing his
deep interest in the education of the freedmen, and his approbation
of the things which he had seen and heard.