VOL. XXXII. No. 1.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
JANUARY, 1878.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
1877-1878. 1
LARGE GIFTS AND LARGE GIVERS 2
CHANGES IN THE MAGAZINE 3
WOMAN’S WORK FOR WOMAN 4
THE JUBILEE SINGERS—A GOOD USE OF NEGRO
SUFFRAGE 5
PARAGRAPHS 6
NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES—SOUTHERN EXODUS NOTES 7
INDIAN NOTES 8
CHINESE NOTES 9
BOOK NOTICE 10
THE FREEDMEN.
NORTH CAROLINA: Revival in Church and School.
GEORGIA: Revival in Atlanta University 11
ALABAMA: Church Organized—A New Pastorate 12
TENNESSEE: Le Moyne Normal School 13
“ State Teachers’ Institute 14
TWO SIMPLE RULES. J. P. Thompson, D. D. 15
DR. PATTON’S INAUGURAL 16
THE INDIANS.
FORT BERTHOLD, D. T. 17
THE CHINESE.
ANNUAL MEETING—GENERAL ASSOCIATION—THE WORK 18
COMMUNICATIONS.
PROTECTION BY DEVELOPMENT. Rev. C. H. Richards 19
EDUCABILITY OF THE BLACKS. A Virginia School
Superintendent 21
CAMPAIGN IN CONNECTICUT. Dist. Sec’y, Powell of
Chicago 22
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE 24
RECEIPTS 24
CONSTITUTION 27
WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 28
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NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
_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.
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VOL. XXXII. JANUARY, 1878. No. 1.
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_American Missionary Association._
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1877-1878.
Year after year the work of the American Missionary Association
goes on with steady increase. We glide from one year to another
noiselessly, and take up on the New Year’s Day the same tools we
dropped when the signal came that the working hours of the old year
were ended. One seems very much like the other, and yet, as we look
back, we find that each year has, to some extent, a character and
a work of its own. Changes come unheralded, proportions vary; each
phase is now conspicuous and now in almost eclipse, while the whole
work goes on.
A few years ago it was the large number of our common school
teachers sent from the North to the just-opened Southern
field; then came the era of Normal instruction, as the States
opened schools for the colored children, but could not furnish
schoolmasters fit to teach them. The facilities for higher
education, and, especially, for training for the ministry, came in
then for our care—1877 saw what seemed to be the beginning of the
end in this direction, in the sending of three men, trained in our
schools, for missionary work to Africa.
What shall be the peculiar work of 1878? There is no portion of the
whole which those who work through us are willing to have dropped.
Among the Indians, what little we have done we must continue to do,
until some Providence as plain as that which gave it to our hands
shall discharge us from the duty. We cannot withdraw our help from
the churches on the Pacific Coast, in their endeavors to lead the
Chinaman through the knowledge of the English language to the God
of the English-speaking people. We cannot close the Normal school,
for the intelligent Christian teacher is yet the greatest want of
the Southern Freedmen. To the young men who desire to preach Christ
Jesus and Him crucified to their own people, we cannot deny the
instruction in the word of God and in the truths of religion which
they ask of us. All these, which are distinctively departments of
Christian effort, must be kept up, and, especially, this work among
the negro youth of the great South.
What we should be glad to make the great and characteristic work
of the new year, is the Southern church work. We have now more
students in our three theological schools than we have churches in
the entire South. Of course, this does not limit the opportunity
of these young men. It does not altogether destroy our influence
through them. They will go out and preach the Gospel, but they
must go into other ecclesiastical relations to fill churches of
other orders, and, as we feel, many of them to do far less telling
work for God and good than they might in churches founded anew by
them under our care. This direct evangelizing and church work is
very dear to those to whom the management of this Association is
entrusted. Shall 1878 be for us the year of church extension?
There are favoring conditions in more respects than one. The
comparative freedom of the South from political agitations gives
the opportunity for undisturbed effort for the enlargement of this
work. The impulse given by the Syracuse meeting will be felt long
by us and by all connected with the Association. The diminution of
the debt already relieves for use in active service nearly $3,000 a
year, which was absorbed by its imperative demands.
If this debt can be wholly put behind us we may add this to the
achievements of the coming year.
It is easier to write prophecy than history, and yet the pen will
glide lightly over the paper, and the press will resound with a
more cheery clatter than in other days, if a year from now, they
shall be able to make it known that the churches in the South have
been largely increased in numbers and efficiency, and that the debt
of the Association has every cent of it been paid.
With a “happy new year” all round the circle, officers,
missionaries, teachers, contributors, let us to the work!
* * * * *
In the fall of 1866, Mr. Warren Ackermann gave to the Foreign
Board of the Reformed Church of America $55,000 in one gift, thus
entirely extinguishing its debt, and leaving it a fund of nearly
$10,000 for expenditure upon the field.
Last spring the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was on
the point of reporting a debt of $50,000, when a like gift, by
the liberality of Mrs. John C. Green, of New York, freed them
from that necessity, and enabled them to close the year without a
deficit. The Methodist Episcopal Missionary Committee, by special
effort during the last year, paid off over $100,000 of their large
indebtedness. None of us have forgotten the noble spontaneity of
the successful movement this fall at Providence, resulting in the
complete liberation of the American Board from their debt of nearly
$50,000, and we cannot fail to notice with rejoicing every success
of “the finangelist” (as he has been called), Mr. Kimball, in
casting the mountains of church debt into the sea of solvency.
All these things encourage us to hope and pray and labor for
great things. Our debt is diminished already from $93,232.99 to
$57,816.90. This is quite within the average of the sums named
above. Not one of these societies or churches but will say: “These
gifts, to deliver us from the bondage of debt, have proved the
grandest helps to our forward work.” Let no one think that money
thus given does not tell upon the work. It does tell: not this year
alone, but every year it puts money in our purse to be expended in
the directest furtherance of our mission to carry the Gospel of
light and love to the poor and neglected races. It is in effect a
permanent fund, the interest of which we have for yearly use.
Is there not some one, or may there not be more far-sighted men, to
whom the Lord has entrusted a liberal share of His gold and silver,
whom these examples and this opportunity may stimulate?
* * * * *
In accordance with the decision at the last Anniversary Meeting of
the American Missionary Association, the printing of this paper
will be done hereafter in New York City.
In parting with General Armstrong and his printers at Hampton, it
gives us pleasure to bear our warmest testimony to their uniform
courtesy and to their untiring efforts to relieve, as far as
possible, the unavoidable difficulty of printing at so great a
distance from these rooms. Of the excellence of the work done at
the Hampton office, we need use no words of commendation, for each
successive number has carried to our readers its best evidence.
During the past year, as we learn from General Armstrong, it has
given help to eight young colored girls who, as folders, have been
able to earn enough to materially assist them in meeting their
school bills; it has given steady employment to two young men who,
twelve years ago, were enrolled in the first schools opened at
Hampton by the Association. From little bright-eyed pickaninnies
they have grown to be competent printers; they are now a help to
their parents and are growing up to be among the solid men of
Hampton.
Extra help being needed, a very worthy colored mechanic in
Litchfield, Conn. was engaged. He not only worked on the
MISSIONARY, but having rented a house in a region destitute of
workers, he at once gathered the young and the old, and every
Sunday morning during the summer a motley crowd of about fifty in
number was collected in his verandah. Seated on boxes, tubs, pails,
etc., they received excellent instruction from Mr. Rowe, through
whose good work we hope that some who were blind can now see.
The officers of the Hampton Institute bear testimony to the decided
benefits received from the printing of the MISSIONARY at Hampton.
It has been of no small advantage as an aid to the Industrial
Department there, which is the peculiar and difficult feature of
the Institute.
* * * * *
With this number, then, the MISSIONARY returns wholly to this
office and its vicinity for preparation. As our readers have
already noticed, the advice of the Annual Meeting has been followed
in restoring it to its old form, which many of its familiar
friends think more becoming than the perhaps sprightlier, but less
dignified manner of the last year. We trust they will not like it
less because it has a little more of body than formerly, and is
attired in a new, and, we trust, not inappropriate dress. A few
of its additional pages are given to advertisements by the same
advice. We shall be glad to serve and be served by our friends,
who know our circulation and constituency, in opening to them this
channel of communication with one another.
It is our hope to make the MISSIONARY of certainly as much, and,
if possible, of more value than in former years. We should be glad
to do what we can to dissipate the impression that an exposition
of Christian opportunity and a record of Christian work is of
necessity dry reading—of use mainly by way of fitting preparation
for a Sunday afternoon nap. We know that the opportunities, if
realized, are full of encouragement and stimulus, and that the work
itself is intense in its earnestness and interest. We know that
the considerations which enforce its claims are among those which
appeal most irresistibly to thoughtful men, and stir their deepest
feelings. If the presentation, then, be dry, it must be the dulness
of those who write, or the indifference of those who read. We will
try to prevent this at one end if our friends will at the other.
We shall try to procure the freshest and most recent news from
the field, in regard to the general progress and the particular
incidents of the work, by diligent application to our missionaries
and teachers—remembering ourselves, and reminding others, that
they are busy men and women, far more intent on doing the work than
in telling about it. We shall endeavor to give, in condensed form,
a record of the current events, religious, social and sometimes
political, which affect the various departments of our work. We
hope to arrange for special presentation of the nature and needs of
our larger institutions in successive numbers. So we shall try to
bring within the range of our readers’ vision the stars of larger
and of lesser magnitude which gem our Southern and Western sky,
only regretting that our, like other telescopes, can only bring
far-off things a little nearer—can by no means reveal them as they
are.
With the old form we return, of necessity, to the old subscription
price—50 cents a year. Will our good friends remember that if each
of our 25,000 magazines should bring us in a half a dollar, they
would be a source of income to the Association, beside the valuable
service which it does us indirectly? If this suggestion impresses
any one favorably, please let the money be inclosed, and the letter
sealed and directed at once before it can be forgotten.
In accordance with the further recommendation of the Annual
Meeting, Rev. George M. Boynton, of Newark, N. J., who, as a member
of the Executive Committee, is familiar with the work, and whose
pen has contributed freely to our columns during the last year, has
been associated with us in the editorial charge of the MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
WOMAN’S WORK FOR WOMAN.
Specific missionary work by devoted women, among the colored women
and girls in the South, is one of the many interesting departments
of our enterprise. “Woman’s work for woman” has not been neglected,
although it has not been made prominent before the public by the
Association. It is enough to say that more than three-fourths of
our missionaries have been women, and the majority of our church
members and pupils, females, to make it evident that much work of
this kind must have been done; still it has not been singled out
and magnified as _the_ work to which, as an association, we had
given ourselves. It has all along been a matter of deep regret
that we could not make more of this branch of our work. We have
noted the inexpressibly sad condition of the colored woman in
the South—no future before her, public opinion giving her no
recognized standing of respectability, dooming her to an evil
reputation, whether in character she was deserving it or not, and
this, too, in a Christian country—these things we have noted and
felt; but our receipts were all swallowed up in the current demands
of our general work. We are glad to be permitted to record that a
step has recently been taken, promising relief in this direction.
A lady in one of the Western States, who has been for years known
as an indefatigable worker for Christian missions, has had the
elevation and salvation of the colored women of our country on
her heart and mind for years. She has made herself thoroughly
acquainted with the fact that if anything is done, it must be _in
addition_ to what the ordinary receipts of the American Missionary
Association would warrant. Self-moved, she said to our Executive
Committee a few months ago, “If you will commission a competent
and devoted woman missionary and assign her to one of your mission
stations, to give herself _entirely_ to the work of visiting the
homes of the colored women, for the purpose of saving them by the
use of every method her enlightened judgment may suggest as wise, I
will become personally responsible for her support, and will pledge
that what I do shall not in any way interfere with the general
receipts of the Association.” The Executive Committee thankfully
accepted the proposition. A lady missionary was appointed and sent
to Memphis, Tenn., in November. She entered at once upon the field,
and the beginnings of her work are full of promise, and already
assure us of the usefulness of her mission.
We hear from Memphis the week after her arrival of the favorable
impression made, and of the rejoicing on the part of our teachers
that there is help for them in the homes of their pupils and in
mothers’ meetings, etc. One teacher says, “I hope to visit with
her a little, especially to take her to the homes of our girls.”
Another writes, “We regard her being sent here as a special
Providence in our favor. I think there is no place where she could
do more.”
We trust that many such workers may be sent by the Christian women
of the North to these their needy sisters in the South.
The _Advance_ mentions the Church Sewing Circle as the medium, and
the spring as the most convenient time, to carry out the following
suggestion. In this way, it says, there need be no friction between
what is done for the A. M. A. and other missionary work:
“There was a time, directly following the war, when the American
Missionary Association was wonderfully aided in its work by
the special efforts of the philanthropic women. There has
been nothing finer done in the way of immediately urgent but
far-reaching influence, by the Christian women of America,
either before or since. Every one rejoices in the helpfulness of
the Woman’s Boards, creating and fostering as they do a mighty
interest on behalf of their benighted sisters in heathen lands,
and we will not believe the Christian women in our American
churches incapable of again inaugurating some similar work,
equally worthy of them, toward meeting the inexpressibly urgent
moral necessities of their sadly darkened and depressed sisters
nearer home.”
* * * * *
THE JUBILEE SINGERS AT THE IMPERIAL COURT OF GERMANY.
The Jubilee Singers have recently gone to Germany to continue the
work they have for the last six years been so successfully doing in
the United States, Great Britain and Holland, in the interests of
the education of their race at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.
Within a few days of their arrival at Berlin, they had the
honor of appearing before the Imperial family of Germany under
circumstances of peculiar interest. They were invited by their
Imperial Highnesses, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, to sing
some of their slave songs at the New Palace, Potsdam, on Sunday
afternoon, Nov. 4, and on presenting themselves at the appointed
hour they found, to their joy, that they stood in the presence of
His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Germany, as well as in the
presence of the Crown Prince and Princess, with their children
gathered around them. Thus three generations stood together in the
home circle, listening to this little company of emancipated slaves
from the United States, as they sang the songs of the days of their
bondage. And never did their strange, touching songs produce a
deeper impression, or call forth heartier expressions of sympathy
for, and interest in, the work they are laboring to do for their
race in America and in Africa.
His Majesty, the Emperor, made many inquiries of the President of
the University respecting the Singers, and their personal history,
and the work they had accomplished, while the Crown Prince and the
Crown Princess conversed freely with the Singers, making inquiries,
and expressing great delight in the singing. It was especially
gratifying to learn from the Crown Princess that four years ago,
when the Jubilee Singers had the honor of singing before her Royal
Mother, the Queen of England, she had received a long letter
speaking of the Singers and their mission. The Crown Prince said,
“These songs, as you sing them, go to the heart—they go through
and through one.”
The first public concert was given in Berlin, at the Sing
Academy, on the 7th of November, and was greeted with such hearty
demonstrations of approval, that success in Germany seems quite
well assured.
* * * * *
A GOOD USE OF NEGRO SUFFRAGE.
An article of two and a half columns in an Augusta, Ga. paper,
begins thus: “The Superior Court room in the City Hall was crowded
last evening with the colored voters of the county who had
assembled to listen to addresses from Hon. Jos. B. Cumming, the
Democratic nominee for Senator, from the Eighteenth Senatorial
District, and Hon. H. Clay Foster, Independent candidate for the
same position. Both these gentlemen were present by invitation
of the colored people themselves.” Then follow abstracts of the
speeches of the two candidates, wherein each attempts to show the
colored voters that he has a stronger claim upon them than his
competitor. This political gathering was peculiar in several
respects. The audience was composed of Republicans, while the
speakers were both avowed Democrats. The assemblage comprised
a distinct class in the Senatorial district. This class was
composed of those who during most of their lives had enjoyed
fewest opportunities to obtain knowledge and learn how to vote
intelligently. And what is most vital, they, as the speakers seemed
to tacitly acknowledge, held the balance of power. In other words,
they, whatever their standing might be in society, and whatever
qualifications they might possess or lack, were to decide which of
the two candidates should represent the PEOPLE of the Eighteenth
District in the State Senate.
Whether or not it was humiliating to the pride of “high-bred”
citizens of the Empire State of the South to vie with each other
thus publicly in soliciting the votes of their former servants, is
of little consequence. Neither is it a matter of very great import
that a political gathering of “niggers” (negroes would be more
elegant, but less pointed,) was respectfully addressed by Southern
white men, and respectfully referred to by a Georgia Democratic
paper. That all the colored voters of that district will be urged
and helped to pay their taxes, and thus for one year at least avoid
disfranchisement, and will have an opportunity to vote unmolested,
though a good reason for congratulation, is nothing worthy of
very great consideration. But the prominent and startling feature
of this incident is the fact that those who, through no fault of
theirs, are least qualified for the responsible trust, hold the
balance of power and cast the decisive vote. In this instance, no
great issues are involved, and if, under the influence of wise and
virtuous leaders of their own race, our colored friends always
see as clearly what is really for their good, the danger will
be lessened. As an indication of what is now uppermost in their
minds upon such occasions, and for the encouragement of those who
contribute to the funds of the A. M. A., I will quote the questions
they put to the candidates:
“1. Are you in favor of the States levying a tax for educational
purposes—the benefit to be equally enjoyed by all classes?
“2. Are you in favor of the State continuing the annual
appropriation of $8,000 to the Atlanta University for the higher
education of the colored youth?
“3. Are you in favor of the law known as the ‘Laborers and
Mechanics’ Lien Law’?”
Such danger coupled with such encouragement ought to nerve the
arms of A. M. A. laborers, and stimulate the alms-giving of its
contributors.
* * * * *
We are rejoiced to hear of the increasing prosperity of Howard
University under the presidency of Dr. W. W. Patton. The attendance
and attention of the students to their work, is, we are informed,
most gratifying and encouraging. Dr. Patton, in addition to his
presidential duties, fills an important chair in the Theological
department, the maintenance of which department our Association
shares with the Presbytery of Washington. On another page, we give
some extracts from the thoughtful Inaugural address of the new
President, which we are sure will interest our readers.
* * * * *
The barque “Jasper,” which sailed from the port of New York,
September 24th, carrying the missionaries Snelson, James and
White, with their families, to reinforce the Mendi Mission in
North-western Africa, was reported in the New York _Herald_ of
Saturday, Dec. 1st, as arrived at Sierra Leone. The date of arrival
was not given. A note just received from Mr. Snelson, dated Nov.
20, then at Freetown, assures of the health and safety of the
party. The same Hand which we trust has delivered them from the
perils of the sea is able also to deliver them from perils by land
and from perils by their own countrymen. We hope before our next
issue to receive the account of their voyage, and their first
impressions of the field they go to cultivate.
* * * * *
NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.
Rev. J. E. Smith has accepted the pastoral charge of the Midway
Church, Liberty Co., Ga., succeeding Rev. Floyd Snelson, who has
gone to the Mendi Mission in Africa.
Rev. Wilson Callen has gone to the churches at Belmont and
Louisville, Ga.
Rev. J. G. Kedslie, from Jamaica, West Indies, to McLeansville, N.
C. He reports an increasing religious interest there.
Rev. J. H. H. Sengstacke is with the church at Woodville, Ga.
Mr. J. R. McLean, a student at Talladega, is preaching at Ogeechee.
Rev. William Ash has gone from Providence, R. I., to the church at
Mobile, Ala.
Two brethren from the North have recently gone to take charge of
churches in the Southern field: and Rev. Fletcher Clark, son of
Rev. Rufus W. Clark, D. D., of Albany, N. Y., to Selma, Ala., and
Rev. Geo. E. Hill, recently of Southport, Conn., to Marion, Ala.
A church of twenty-one members was recognized by Council, Nov. 12,
at Marietta, Ga. It has been gathered under the labors of Rev. T.
N. Stewart, formerly of the African Methodist communion. Rev. S. S.
Ashley preached, and Revs. H. S. Bennett and J. Q. A. Erwin bore
other parts in the service. The place is a beautiful town of three
or four thousand inhabitants, with a large colored population.
Several young men have joined the new enterprise, and seem very
much interested in it.
The Central South Conference of Congregational Churches met Nov.
9th in Atlanta, Ga. The meeting was very spirited, though the
attendance was not large. The narrative of the state of religion
was, on the whole, very encouraging. Prof. Bennett, of Fisk
University, occupied one evening in giving an account of the
National Council at Detroit, and the Annual Meeting of the A. M.
A. at Syracuse. Mr. Clark, referred to above, was ordained in
connection with the meeting of conference.
* * * * *
SOUTHERN EXODUS NOTES.
The enrolment still goes on; 65,000 in South Carolina, 69,000 in
Louisiana, and large numbers in North Carolina, Alabama, Florida,
Arkansas and Mississippi. In South Carolina, five commissioners
have been appointed to visit Liberia and make arrangements for
emigration; and a joint stock company has been formed to issue
30,000 shares at $10 each—2,000 shares already taken.
* * * * *
The appeal is made especially in South Carolina and Louisiana, on
the ground of the changed political situation, which is interpreted
to signify a denial of the rights of the negro citizen, and a risk
of future oppression and even of a future restoration of slavery.
Africa is pictured as “a land flowing with milk and honey, with
no white man to molest or make afraid.” Names are enrolled on
impulse, and with little consideration, and speedily swell to large
proportions. It is much easier to write a book of Exodus than to
cross the sea and go through the wilderness.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, the question of emigration is being, of necessity,
investigated. Among intelligent colored men, some press their right
to the country in which they have been born, and for which they
have shed their blood; others suggest that the wealthy inhabitants
of the rich Republic of Liberia send over vessels to transport them
there, so proving their ability; others, less wise and prudent,
have sold out everything and gone to Charleston, expecting to find
speedy transportation, and have returned chagrined and disappointed.
* * * * *
The United States Government has issued a report of the condition
of Liberia, showing the dangers of the sea shore climate to the
health of immigrants; that Liberia has never produced sufficient
food for her own consumption, and that provisions are very
high; that while the interior is fine and healthy, it is almost
inaccessible, and thoroughly inhospitable from the jealousy of the
petty kings.
* * * * *
Rev. Dr. Dana, of Norwich, Conn., who has given no little time to
the study of Africa, in a recent letter to the New York _Herald_,
on the other hand, makes the following statements: That the
country in the interior east of Liberia is healthy, productive
and accessible. Boporo, 75 miles inland, is elevated, with an
invigorating climate and a productive soil. “The exhibit of
Liberian products at the Centennial was sufficient to set beyond
all question the richness of the country, and the returns it makes
to average industry.” A beginning of manufacturing has been made.
The government sustains primary schools, and five higher schools
are managed by missionary societies, and a college. The war with
the natives of Cape Palmas has terminated and a treaty been made.
The Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist and Presbyterian Churches are
represented there, and have made efficient progress. Iron ore is
found there, and coffee plantations are a source of wealth. The
natives, both Pagan and Mohammedan, are represented by Dr. Blyden
as anxious to have Christian settlers occupy the beautiful hills
and fertile plains in their neighborhood. Dr. Dana concludes: “A
general exodus to Liberia of the colored people of the South need
not be apprehended, but it is anything but commercially wise or
politically just to disparage the condition or speak derisively of
the prospects of the African Republic.”
* * * * *
The American Colonization Society has sent to Liberia, since the
close of the war, 3,137 colored persons. It is now preparing to
dispatch another expedition on the 2d of January next. The number
of emigrants will depend, to a considerable extent, on the means
yet to be contributed for the purpose. The society is constantly
receiving urgent applications for passage and settlement. These,
with other movements, especially in South Carolina and Florida,
represent, it is estimated, a quarter of a million of men, women
and children.
* * * * *
INDIAN NOTES.
Notwithstanding the successful termination of the Nez Percès war,
in which General Howard so happily vindicated both his valor and
his courtesy, there is no settled and general peace among the
Indian tribes. Some 1,700 Sioux broke away while being removed
from the Red Cloud agency to their new agency on the Missouri
River, and are now on the war path. They have since been committing
depredations in the immediate vicinity of Deadwood, Dakota. They
number about two hundred lodges, a number not sufficient in itself
to render operations against them on a large scale necessary, but
probably quite large enough to keep our small available force
(exhausted as it is by the long campaign against the Nez Percès)
fully occupied should the Indians open hostilities. Although a
general Indian war is not considered to be imminent, such an event
is not impossible as the outcome of the present troubles, and may
be deemed almost probable.
The most serious feature of the situation lies in the probability
that the many roving bands who live in the country north and west
of the Black Hills, and who are thought to be in sympathy with
Sitting Bull, and to have experienced more or less injustice at
the hands of the whites, will join with the small band which is
creating the present alarm at Deadwood, and thus bring about an
outbreak which it would be quite beyond the power of our present
reduced military establishment to suppress. The opinion is
expressed by officers at the War Department, that the removal of
troops from the Black Hills region to the Texas border, may result
in the protection of people in the latter section, at the expense
of the lives of those who are exposed to much greater danger.
Meanwhile, the Ponca Indians have sent a deputation to Washington,
to remonstrate with the President against their removal to a new
reservation. They are a peaceful and civilized people, who cannot
bear to leave the houses, schools and churches they have built and
maintained. The assurances which they received of restitution for
their losses, and protection in their new homes, though liberally
made and with honest intent, were a poor comfort to them in their
enforced removal.
* * * * *
The Sitting Bull Commission report that that doughty chief will
not return to this country at present from his retreat across
the Canada border. His camp, however, keeps up communication
with hostile tribes, stimulating dissatisfaction, and inciting
hostility; it furnishes an asylum, also, to fugitives from
justice—one hundred of the defeated Nez Percès are now there. The
commission suggests, as required by international comity and usage,
that they be removed so far into the interior of the neutral State
that they can no longer threaten in any manner the peace and safety
of our citizens.
* * * * *
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has reported a bill for
enabling Indians to become citizens of the United States. The
conditions of admission to citizenship are that the Indian shall
belong to some organized tribe or nation having treaty relations
with the United States, and that he shall appear in a United States
Circuit or District Court and make proof to its satisfaction that
he is sufficiently intelligent and prudent to control his own
affairs and interests, that he has adopted the habits of civilized
life, and has for the last five years been able to support
himself and family, and that he shall take an oath to support the
Constitution of the United States. The bill also provides that the
Indian shall not, by becoming a citizen, forfeit his distributable
share of all annuities, tribal funds, lands, or other property.
* * * * *
In his Annual Report, the Secretary of the Interior says that,
respecting the Indians, the great difficulty in dealing with them
is that there is no longer any frontier line; they are divided
among the whites who are constantly spreading over the Western
country. The immense region allotted them, and the strict dividing
line between them and the whites, in British America, is the reason
the English Government is enabled to manage them so easily. We
can make no such restriction, with our growing population. The
report recommends as progress toward civilization that the Indians
be gathered in smaller reservations and taught agriculture and
cattle raising; that small tracts be deeded each one, so that they
may have fixed homes; that hunting be discouraged; that proper
tribunals of justice be established; that schools be introduced,
and attendance by youth made compulsory; that farmers be employed
to teach Indians agriculture, and that Indian labor be employed on
all reservations.
* * * * *
CHINESE NOTES.
Governor Irwin, of California, has urged the Legislature of that
State to memorialize Congress that it is the duty of the United
States Government to prevent unlimited Chinese immigration. The
State Senate has forwarded such a document. The Memorial says, that
the 180,000 Chinamen constitute one sixth of the population of
California, pay less than one-four-hundredth of the State revenue,
and send back to China $180,000,000 annually ($1,000 each); that
they have no families here; that not one has been converted to
a Christian faith or way of living; that the cheapness of their
labor, owing to their cheap living, stops American and European
immigration, and interferes with the development of the State; that
if not interfered with, they will ultimately drive out white labor,
and leave only masters and serfs on the Pacific Coast.
* * * * *
The “Chinese Six Companies” make a representation on their own
account, calling attention to the fact that, since the treaty,
the United States Government has received from China nearly
$800,000 indemnity for outrages on American citizens and their
property, while in not one case in fifty of similar offenses
against themselves have the perpetrators been brought to justice.
In the July riots in San Francisco, when upward of thirty Chinese
laundries and dwellings were raided, some burned, one Chinaman
killed, and his body thrown into the flames, not one arrest was
made by the authorities, State or municipal. They say that for
twenty-five years the emigration has not averaged over 4,000
annually. They reiterate what they said to the chairman of the
late Chinese Congressional Commission, the late Senator Morton,
in a communication addressed to him—“That if the restricting the
emigration of our people to this free country would have a tendency
to allay the fears of the timid, and protect our people in their
just rights, we would give our aid and countenance to any measure
to that end.”
* * * * *
If the assertion of the California Senate, in its memorial to
Congress, that “there is no evidence that a single Chinaman has
been converted to Christianity, or has been persuaded to adopt
Christian manners and habits of life,” is a fair sample of the
truthfulness of the statements of that document, it offers a very
weak foundation on which to base a legislative enactment. This we
know to be false. Those who have read our monthly letters from
Mr. Pond will not need to be reminded that more than a hundred in
our schools alone are now giving convincing evidence that they
are Christian men, and that not simply in name, but in deed and
in truth; and that a large number have united to establish and
maintain a Christian home for the expressed purpose of adopting
Christian manners and habits of life. We are regretfully compelled
to doubt the familiarity of California Senators with the progress
of Christian missions in their own State. Are their other “facts”
no truer than this?
* * * * *
BOOK NOTICE.
ETHIOPIA, _or Twenty Years of Missionary Life in Western Africa_.
By Rev. D. K. Flickinger.
As indicated in the title, the author of this modest volume has had
long experience as a missionary of the United Brethren to Africa.
Their mission station is near our own, and its story sheds light
on our work. With no pretension to literary or artistic merit, a
very simple and vivid description is given of the people of the
north-western coast, their homes, their houses, their food, their
dress (or lack of it), their sleep, their work, their war, their
play. The grossness of their polygamy, the superstition of their
faith in gree-grees, and their Purrow society (an Oriental Ku Klux
Klan) are exposed.
We extract the account of the legend current among the Mendi tribe,
as to the order of the creation of the races, and their explanation
of their differences. The story runs thus:
“God made white man early in the morning, and take plenty time to
show him book palaver [how to read], and God palaver [a knowledge
of the Gospel], and how to make plenty fine things. Then he tell
him go. Next he make Mohammedan man, and show him little book
palaver, and how to make some fine things, and then he tell him
go. After this he make Mendi man, and showed him how to farm, make
country cloth, mats, canoes, and such like things; and then he tell
him go. In the last place, he make Sherbro man; and when he get him
done, the sun go down, and he had no time to show him anything but
make salt and catch fish, but promised to come back and show him
more things. But he forgot to do it, and that the reason Sherbro
man know so little.”
Over against this we quote an old negro’s prayer:
“O God, you must remember me. You must make my heart clean; make me
no hate nobody; you made me; all my mind then to you. Please God,
you must show me how for pray, because I don’t know how.”
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
* * * * *
NORTH CAROLINA.
Revival Work in Church and School.
MISS E. W. DOUGLASS, MCLEANSVILLE.
I must tell you the good news. Our protracted meeting is over,
and it has, indeed, been a glorious time. Never did I witness
anything like it before. I was so busy talking with inquirers,
that I could not keep any account of the number converted. I can
now think of twenty. Last Sabbath Mr. Welker was with us, and we
had our communion season. Twenty-seven were added to the church,
and two others were restored who have been wandering. Fifteen were
baptized—of these, eight were recent converts. The others were
fruits of a previous revival. One woman who wished to join us last
Sabbath could not, as she desired to be immersed. She is to be
baptized next Sabbath.
After sermon at each meeting, the inquirers were invited to go into
my rooms for instruction, while the meeting continued in the large
room. My rooms were filled every night, and many were weeping who
could not go in for want of room. As soon as one was converted and
came out, another took the place. There were very few unmoved in
the house.
Outsiders came in and made the meetings too noisy at times, but
we had less confusion than usual when such crowds gather. Our own
congregation were willing to abide by our rules, and they helped to
restrain others.
Ten of those who united with the church were from my Sabbath-school
class. Fourteen others were heads of families. Seven infants were
baptized, all from those families. Mr. Ingle was with us all the
week, and had no outside help except last Sabbath. He came over and
preached again last night.
There are many little ones who are interested; and I feel that the
Lord has given me much work in caring for these lambs.
The fame of this place has gone abroad, and I think a good teacher
will draw a large school this winter. Who are coming? When will
they come? The church is in a better state now than it has been for
years. Those who needed discipline have most of them come back to
duty.
* * * * *
GEORGIA.
Revival in the University.
REV. C. W. FRANCIS, ATLANTA.
We have never had more occasion for thanksgiving in this school
than in the season just past, on account of the work of the Lord
among us. A deep solemnity has pervaded the school since the
opening of the term, and every week some have been coming to
Christ. On account of the closing of schools in South Carolina,
quite a number of the young men from the University were led to
unite with college classes here this year, and nearly all these
have been converted. May we not believe that it was by special
Divine leading that they were brought to this place at this time?
There has been no interruption of regular work, and no special
services have been held, but the Lord has blessed richly the
ordinary means of grace, and in His own way has been gathering in
the precious harvest. Five members of the junior class have been
brought, as we hope, to Christ, and are seeking the best places
and ways of serving Him. There are left only two or three, who are
not followers of Christ, while most of those in the higher classes
have already been brought in. We seek the continuance of this
blessing all the year, and the ingathering of the whole school.
There was never a more auspicious time to work in this field, so
far as spiritual results are concerned, and “the regions beyond”
were never more accessible or more needy than at present. May
the sympathies, aid and prayers of good people be continued and
increased!
* * * * *
ALABAMA.
A Church Organized—Other Churches Revived.
REV. E. P. LORD, TALLADEGA.
I have thought for some time I would try to do less, and tell you
more about it. But the things to be done are nearer at hand and
more exacting.
The Sabbath before school opened I went into the country, eight
miles from here. One of the students had been working there during
the vacation, teaching day-school, without receiving enough to
pay his board, carrying on a very successful S. S., and holding
meetings. I believe twelve had shown a change of heart and life.
Nearly one hundred people met in and around a log schoolhouse
hardly large enough to hold half the number. Those outside,
however, were about as favorably situated as those within, for
the crevices between the logs were about as large as the logs
themselves. A Congregational church, of six men and women, was
organized. Three others expected to unite with them, but were kept
away that day. Four or five more will unite soon, and we have
reason to expect a vigorous church there. It is one of the best and
largest neighborhoods in the region, and the people have already
set to work upon a church building. The next Sabbath I was there
again, and baptized six persons.
Last Sabbath I went up to Anniston, twenty-five miles away, where
another student is in charge of the Congregational church. There
have been twenty-one conversions in this church during the summer.
I immersed nine, baptized nine by sprinkling, and received nineteen
into the church. The little church building was crowded to its
utmost capacity in the evening, hardly room enough being left upon
the platform for the speaker. The church and parsonage adjoining,
finished and painted with taste, clean and tidy inside and out,
as well as the energetic and faithful pastor and his wife, and
their earnest, quiet, decorous people, remind one of a New England
village church. The contrast with most of the neighboring churches
is very marked.
I go again next Sabbath to Childersburg, twenty miles south, to
baptize and receive into that church quite a number of converts.
The school is unusually full this term, and the spirit of the
pupils is marked by all of us.
* * * * *
A New Pastorate—“Pauses” in Prayer Meetings not yet Introduced.
REV. CHARLES NOBLE, MONTGOMERY.