Missionary Unions, that funds for the American Missionary Association be
sent to us through the treasurers of the Union. Care, however, should be
taken to designate the money as for the American Missionary Association,
since _undesignated funds will not reach us_.
* * * * *
ANNUAL MEETING.
The public meeting of the Woman's Bureau was held Thursday afternoon,
simultaneously with the business meeting of the A.M.A. in Providence, and
was conducted by Mrs. C.A. Woodbury, of Portland, Me. The report of the
Secretary, Miss D.E. Emerson, of New York, was presented, and then
missionary addresses were delivered by Mrs. A.A. Myers on "Mountain
Work;" by Mrs. Geo. W. Moore on the "Colored People;" and by Miss Collins
on "Indians," all of which were listened to with deep interest.
Mrs. Woodbury, on taking the chair, said:
The object of this meeting is well understood. It is to decide what the
women of the Congregational Churches shall do in connection with woman's
work--that part of the Association's work which is designed to be among
women. It is woman's work among women. It is designed at this time to
hear from those fields in which the speakers are especially interested.
We shall hear from the Mountain Work, from the Negroes in the South, and
from the work among the Indians in the West. Like a very close man who,
to the surprise of those who approached him, gave money enough to
purchase a town clock, who explained by saying he liked to hear his money
tick, so it is meant here this afternoon that the women shall hear the
tick of their work from all these fields to which I have referred, and
may the sound of it reverberate all down through the ages.
* * * * *
A special meeting for ladies was held on Thursday morning, at which there
was a full attendance. Brief remarks, interspersed with song and prayer,
made the occasion an enjoyable one. Miss Plimpton, of McIntosh, Ga., gave
bits of her experience among the colored people, and Miss Haynes
described her work for the Indians at Santee Agency, Neb.
* * * * *
The annual report made by the Secretary was given in full in our November
Magazine, and is also published in leaflet form for free distribution to
those desiring it.
We give below extracts from the addresses of the missionaries.
* * * * *
MOUNTAIN WHITE WORK.
BY MRS. A.A. MYERS.
In my younger days I never remember looking at the forests that skirt the
horizon without an indefinable questioning as to what lay beyond. It was
easy to picture stretches of landscape and quiet homes like our own, but
the query was ever the same, what is _still beyond_?
The first Sabbath I attended church in the mountains of Kentucky, having
listened to the quaint singing before entering the rough-board building,
seating myself on one of the slab benches near a box stove, which had but
one length of pipe, out of which the smoke was pouring towards an opening
in the roof, glancing around on the women in their sun bonnets, the
babies in their little calico caps and the men in homespun, then out of
the open door into a ravine where the tops of the tall trees were beneath
us, I said to myself, I've reached "_that beyond_." The undefined has
taken shape and I have reached the place of which I could never formulate
a picture. Seven years' acquaintance in this mountain country has not
changed my opinion. We are in another world, and if I could describe that
world so you could see it as it is, could feel its needs as we feel them
day by day, it is all I could ask.
Philosophers might describe it as the dead centre of motion; at least it
has remained seemingly unmoved, while all the world around it has been
moving forward.
Here in these mountains live over two million people, two-thirds of whom
have never written nor received a letter, could not read one if printed
and sent them. They take no newspapers, and the great events of nations
or discoveries of science have been nothing to them. Questions of vital
importance to our country have never troubled them. They knew there was a
war, for contending armies met on their grounds. With few exceptions
their sympathies were with the Union. Too poor to own slaves to any
extent, they had no motive for seceding, and many of them joined our army
and were faithful soldiers.
At the close of the war, they went back to their secluded homes, and
between them and the world the curtain fell again. We very well know that
mortals cannot rise above their surroundings only within defined limits.
Alas! for the defeated manhood and blasted womanhood in our land, held
down to earth by unfortunate surroundings. They are looking to you for
help. You have done nobly in sustaining a work in their midst. Besides
what you have done at Pleasant Hill, Grand View and other points, you
have enabled us to organize eight churches and build one academy and
eight houses of worship. You have sent among us most efficient teachers.
Besides their school duties they have taken upon themselves to visit the
homes, to pray with the sick, to distribute clothing among the needy, to
go to the homes of the students, to share their humble fare and sleep in
their crowded rooms. They have spared neither time nor strength to carry
the uplifting word to those needy souls. From the better classes we have
been fortunate enough to draw a nucleus for each of our churches. We have
some Sunday-school superintendents that for zeal and tact are models in
their work and many a Northern school might rejoice in the possession of
such officers. They are not so well versed in Scripture as we could wish,
but they spare neither time nor expense to prepare themselves for their
work.
This class of people responds quickly to the new life that comes to them
by the school, the railroad or the business man. If we could find as
ready response in the masses as we find in the individuals, our work in
the mountains would be quickly done. But, alas! what of these hundreds of
thousands who seemingly have no more aspiration than the brute in their
field? They are wedded to the customs of their ancestors, and they rebel
at any innovation. Give them tobacco, and whiskey, and pistols, a little
meal and bacon and coffee, a crude bed and a roof, and that, to them, is
living. Oh, those purposeless lives! They exist simply because they are
in the world and cannot help it. With the girls especially, marriage is
the chief aim, and what should be the holy relation is entered upon
almost in childhood. As soon as they begin to lisp they are talking of
their lovers. A little wee girl came to a teacher's home, and after
answering in monosyllables the common questions as to schools and
Sunday-schools, there was a lull in the conversation, when she spoke up:
"I hain't got no sweetheart." For all marriage is the chief aim, it is
surprising how little preparation they make for it. No bridal trousseau
is ever thought of; not even a new dress is made for the occasion. I have
seen many a bride in calf-skin shoes, old calico dress, long apron, with
no cuffs nor collar, and her hair falling from her comb, while the groom
appeared with uncombed hair, stogy shoes, jean pants and in shirt
sleeves.
We have no rollicking girls or boisterous boys; we never see a crowing,
cooing baby. The children are born old. The babies have a sad and
dejected look, as if this world were a "dreary wilderness of woe," and
they grieve they were ever born. Poor little ones in the Southland! how
many are gathered home ere a twelve months' stay on earth. Besides this
weary, aged look of the children, we frequently find those who look like
walking corpses. A little inquiry reveals the fact that they are clay
eaters. We have them in our schools. In our Jellico school, we have
children whose elder sisters had to sprinkle pepper around the
hearthstones to keep them from digging out the clay and eating it. The
habit once formed, it seems to last them during life; where it ever
originated I don't know, but have no doubt it was from lack of proper
nourishment.
Our women! how shall I describe them? I wish I might picture them before
you as they ride into town with their babies in their arms and a child or
two on their horses with them, or as they walk in with heavy, dragging
gait, loaded with some produce for sale, or as they stand for hours
open-eyed and open-mouthed around the counters of some country store. I
wish you could see them in their cabin homes, as bare of comfort as a wild
desert waste, or at work in the field with the family, but always and
everywhere with a chew of tobacco or a snuff stick in their mouths. They
never express a desire for what they have not, nor a murmur at what they
have, but their very movements are a complaint--a wail. On their face is
ever seen that weary, resigned, passionless look. They never lighten with
joy or surprise. If you could manage to fire a Vesuvius before their eyes
you would never know by any outward expression but that they had seen
volcanoes every day of their lives. There is no imagery, no ideality. The
world to them is a humdrum routine, a common-place affair. They have no
heroes, and they look upon all men, not as protectors, but seducers, not
as beings formed in the image of a pure and holy God, but in the image of
a God of lust and debauchery.
When first going among these people, the ludicrous or comical keeps
presenting itself, but as you stay year by year the terrible _reality_ of
their lives presses sore upon you. You are cramped by their narrowness;
you are depressed by their lack of buoyancy; you grow distrustful because
of their perfidy; you become sharer of their woes, but they have no joys
to share.
Our work among them was begun none too soon. The eye of the speculator is
being turned to our mineral and timber resources, and with unscrupulous
money-makers for a centre and a demoralized people to gather round them,
and no Christ in their midst, what strongholds of Satan would be formed.
When we commenced our work seven years ago the field was open to the
Congregationalists. If we could have had means to have secured helpers we
could have planted ourselves largely, for we had continuous calls to come
and organize churches. The people of better minds are sick and tired of
the church life around them; they cannot indorse it and so are called
infidels. But we have found no infidels there; still it takes no prophet
to see that the reaction from this demoralized church life all through
the mountains is going to create a great wave of infidelity unless real
Christians come to the rescue very soon.
How these things nerve us to increased efforts to save the children and
youth from these ways of death. Our hope for the land is in saving them,
and our work is largely for them. We have many Sunday-schools connected
with our churches and many others where we furnish some helps and where
our students teach. Our Bands of Hope are encouraging. Our Christian
Endeavor Society has a large membership, and is a power for good. But
while we rejoice over these places that have these helps we think of the
hundreds of counties along this mountain range that have no such helps.
Senator Plumb has stated that the assessment in Alabama for pistols, guns
and dirks is four times that on farming implements, and Kentucky's record
of crime is far worse than Alabama's. Who of us can say that he is
innocent of this shed blood, unless he is doing something toward sending
the only cure--a Christian civilization? Because the work has many
discouragements, are we excused? Because the people are prejudiced
against us and our principles, shall we withdraw, and let them sink lower
and lower?
But the question is asked: "Have you no public schools or churches in
this large section of the country?" Yes, schools for a few months in the
year, taught in little log school houses, some with floors and some with
none; some with a tiny window and some without; some have doors and some
haven't. Very few have desks; in most there are but slab benches. But
worse than the school house and its surroundings is the illiterate,
immoral teacher who attempts to teach the children. As for church
organizations they are numerous, and a large majority are church members;
but alas for the Christianity taught and practiced. Religion and morality
are divorced. With most of them, religion is the thing of a moment and
not of a life. Meetings once a month during the summer, and that is all
the Christian institution the people have, and we call it _instruction_.
We are inclined to smile at the thought of a preacher prefacing his
sermon with the boast that he has no learning; that his "jeens" coat has
never brushed the chalk off college walls, and what he has to say is "no
fixup" of his own, but direct from "_sac_-rid writ" or an "inspiration of
the Speret." But our smiles end with a sigh when we see that there is not
only _ignorance_, but "the poison of asps is under their lips." Their
hatred for all other churches than their own is intense. They have no
charity for any religion outside of their own church. The excitement and
strife for membership is unequalled even in the craze of their political
wars. They are bigoted and intolerant, they have no idea of practical
Christianity. They have no prayer-meeting, no family prayers, no
Sunday-schools. One minister living near where we have recently planted
some Sunday-schools gave a whole sermon to talking against them, and said
if any one would show him from the Bible where Sunday-schools were taught
he'd believe they were right; but a few weeks later, pressed by seeing
our schools drawing so largely from the community, he thought something
must be done, so with a few of his leading members they announced the
organization of a school near ours. They sent to Jellico on Saturday and
bought two gallons of whiskey in order to draw the crowd. Of course, such
a school lasted but a few days, but their hatred doesn't die so easily.
We could help many churches if it were not for this jealousy among their
ministers. The people are our friends, and our growing churches are a
stimulant to them. Paul said: "What matter if Christ were preached
through envy, only so he were preached," and if we can provoke them to
good works, will not the children be blessed? Whatever cause prompts them
to church building, to prayer or outward Christian living, they must be
bettered by it.
And so, slowly, but steadily, this great mass is going to be leavened. It
may not come in your day or mine, but come it will, and happy will we be
in that far-off time to know that we had something to do in bringing
about such needed results. We are confident of success. Right must win
"since God is God," and the day is coming when the great "I Am" will
dwell in all these churches. Then the bigot will say, "my brother;" the
intolerant will grasp hands in loyal fellowship, and Christian hearts
will pulsate in one common rhythm. Then will our mountains and hills
break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands.
* * * * *
NEEDS OF THE COLORED WOMEN AND GIRLS.
BY MRS. G.W. MOORE.
I have been asked to speak to you on the needs of four millions of women
and girls. The time allotted for this paper is far too limited for me to
give more than a glimpse of their real condition.
In considering the needs of the colored women and girls of the South, you
must bear in mind their past condition, present status and future
prospects, together with the forces that have contributed to each, before
you can know and feel the heart yearnings and struggles of my sisters.
No human lips can tell the story of that dark night that has left its
impress upon the habits, customs and life of a whole race of people. The
crudest results of that iniquitous system fell heaviest upon the colored
woman. From childhood, no matter how favorably situated, she was liable
to become the doomed victim of the grossest outrages. There was no
assurance that she would not be a constant associate in the field with
the coarsest and most ignorant men of both races, or at any moment, at
the caprice of the master, be sold. Swayed, body, mind and spirit, by a
master class who found it necessary to close every avenue of intelligence
in order to accomplish his fiendish purposes, this creature, made in the
image of God, was often taught that there was no God of justice for her.
Her body, instead of being a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit, was subject to the foulest demands of sensuality. No wonder they
sang,
"Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord,
Nobody knows but Jesus."
These slave songs, born of agony, might well be called "The Passion
Flowers" of the slave cabin. Thank God that all of my sisters were not
thus brutalized, and even to those who were, God was merciful. Deep down
underneath the lacerated and bruised heart, rested the "Shekinah of the
Lord," preventing the wholesale transmission of vice. Two hundred and
fifty years of such tuition gave her but little chance to develop her
womanhood.
Intuitively she knew that there was a living God, and she sought Him in
visions, and listened for His voice, and looked forward and persevered
for that home not made with hands, and from her heart were wrung these
words:
"O Lord, O my Lord, O my good Lord,
Keep me from sinking down."
And then comforted, she cried out triumphantly--
"Didn't my Lord deliver Daniel,
Then why not every man?"
Many have told me their struggles, and I know of others who even suffered
death rather than submit to the outrage of chastity. One poor mother with
three beautiful baby girls, driven to despair by realizing their probable
doom if allowed to live, sent them back to the God who gave them and then
took her own life.
Thus the colored women and girls lived before the war.
How have they fared since Freedom?
Have they had a fair chance in the race of life? No. They have met
caste-prejudice, the ghost of slavery, at every step of their journey
during these years of freedom. They have been made to feel that they are a
separate species of the human family. The phrases "Your people" and "Your
place," do not so much designate their race identity, as the fixed status
in the sisterhood of races. This idea, as harmless as it may appear, or
as much as it is used, with varied phrases of meaning, according to the
attitude of the speaker, has been one of the greatest barriers to the
progress of the Negro, especially of the women and girls. It has colored
everything they have to do. Their place, like the ebony of their skin, is
a dark place. In the home, and in social life, "their place" is confined
to colored society, colored schools and colored churches. Be it
understood, I am not reflecting upon colored society, but am pointing out
the limitations that no other race in this country has to contend with,
in its efforts to rise.
The higher the plane of culture the colored women and girls reach, the
more sensitive they become, and the more keenly the effects of ostracism
are felt. In wages it does not matter how capable she may be, she must
not aspire. I have asked several persons, "What is the greatest need of
the colored woman and girl?" and many have replied, "To be good
servants." Assuming that this is her highest need, can good servants be
had without good wages?
In education, her place is the colored school, if there is one far or
near, and if there is no school for colored youth, (as is sometimes the
case) the no-school is her place. In religious life, her place is the
colored church. No matter how her soul may long for a more intelligent
Gospel than perchance surrounds her, she must find it there.
Her place in the work of reform, if she has fallen or desires to reform,
is the public street. I could relate many incidents which have come under
my personal observation in Washington, (and Washington is far ahead of
many places in the South) to illustrate how our fallen sisters have
suffered worse than death, because doors have been shut against them.
Several cases have been brought to me this year, one since writing this
paper, but my sisters, the sad fact is like the advent of our blessed
Lord, there is no room in the inn for her.
What is the true place of our women and girls? It is that place which is
not circumscribed by the mere accident of birth and race, where she can
rise just as high as she has the ability to reach and sustain. My five
years' experience in Europe as a Jubilee Singer gave me a taste of the
sweets of true womanhood, unfettered by caste-prejudice and by a low
estimate of my position. There my complexion was not a target for insult
and ostracism. Our needs are not only those common to other races, but
are in a vast measure greater, because of the past and present
difficulties. The masses furnish the most difficult problem to solve. How
can we rescue them from poverty and illiteracy, and not pauperize them?
How can we prevent crime, check immorality and decrease mortality? The
answer lies in giving to them better home life, more elevating social
surroundings, better educational advantages in school and industries, and
a higher type of Christian life and worship.
My first introduction into an intelligent idea of practical Christianity
was at Fisk University. There, and at many similar institutions under the
A.M.A., may be found the epitome of a Christian home. Such schools
furnish potent object lessons; such are the factors of the problem in
answer to the question of how to meet the needs of the colored women and
girls, who are to preside over the homes of eight millions of people, who
had no home twenty-three years ago. Washington, alone, has a population
of eighty thousand colored people, and more than forty thousand of these
are women and girls.
It is said that the "hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world." It
matters not whether that hand be black or white, but it does matter
whether that hand be intelligent or ignorant. They not only need the
education of the schools to develop their minds, and industrial training
to prepare their hands for the practical duties of life, but Christian
education, such as is given in the schools of the Association.
More than three thousand women and thousands of men have gone out under
the A.M.A., in school, home and church, for the uplifting, Christianizing
and elevating of our people.
Eternity alone will reveal the work that these Christian heroines and
heroes have done in the Master's name. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews
would need be extended to give to them their rightful place in the role
of achievements of faith. We need not wait for eternity, we now see some
of the grand results; their memory is already engraven upon the hearts,
and their spirit infused into the life of thousands of educated colored
young men and women, who have gone out among their people, carrying
educated minds, trained hands and warm hearts, as an outgrowth of that
labor which has not been in vain. This magnificent record of Christian
endeavor and conquest has largely been made possible by the foresight,
energy and fidelity of the many who have been and are at the head of the
different departments of the A.M.A.
How can the Association more fully meet these needs? By continuing
woman's work for woman, through their Woman's Bureau. Through this
agency, ladies of the churches can furnish volunteers for the work and
the base of supply. While we at the front are in the heat of the battle,
you at home, through your missionary societies, young people's meetings,
and Sunday-schools, can aid us with your prayers, your sympathy, your
gifts and service. Those in the larger churches can sustain a missionary
in the field, and may it be said of all, both large and small, "They have
done what they could." Then we can sing,
"March on, and you shall gain the victory,
March on, and you shall gain the day."
My sisters, we must first be touched by the Spirit of the Master, and
through him touch them. This work cannot be done perfunctorily or
professionally.