VOL. XXXII. No. 4.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
APRIL, 1878.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
THE WARDS OF THE ALMIGHTY 97
DOUGLASS AND HAYES AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY 98
CHURCH WORK IN THE SOUTH 99
FOUR NEW MISSIONARIES FOR AFRICA 100
THE TWO INDIAN POLICIES 102
NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES—ITEMS FROM THE SCHOOLS 103
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 104
INDIAN NOTES 105
CHINESE NOTES 106
OBITUARIES 107
THE FREEDMEN.
TALLADEGA COLLEGE 108
NORTH CAROLINA: “A mighty still religion.”
“Good Christians is Peaceable.” 111
ALABAMA: Debt-raising in a Colored Church 112
LOUISIANA: Revival News 113
TENNESSEE: Le Moyne Normal School—A Woman’s
Work Among Women 114
KENTUCKY: Berea College 115
HYMN 117
THE INDIANS.
WASHINGTON TERRITORY: Three Indian Boys and
Their Letters. Rev. Myron Eells, S’kokomish 118
INDIAN WELCOME TO AN AGENT. Dr. I. L. Mahan,
Red Cliff, Wis. 118
THE CHINESE.
THE CHINESE NEW YEAR—MOB DENUNCIATIONS—THE GREAT
COMMISSION LESSENED—CONVERSIONS. Rev. W. C.
Pond, San Fransisco 119
LETTER FROM AH JAM 120
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE 121
RECEIPTS 122
WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 126
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NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
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Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
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A. Anderson, Printer, 28 Frankfort St.
_American Missionary Association_,
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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. APRIL, 1878. No. 4.
* * * * *
_American Missionary Association._
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THE WARDS OF THE ALMIGHTY.
The notable event connected with the formal presentation of Mr.
Carpenter’s picture “Signing the Emancipation Proclamation,” to the
United States, was the speech of the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens. It
was a graceful and significant act, when the former Vice-President
of the Southern Confederacy spoke such words of hearty good-will
at the reception of this commemoration of its death-blow. Mr.
Stephens claims for the South a share of the honor of emancipating
the slaves, since “the freedom of that race was never finally
consummated, and could not be, until the Southern States sanctioned
the Thirteenth Amendment. They accepted the proposition for
emancipation by a voluntary uncontrolled” adoption of it.
Of the institution of slavery, as previously existing, he said:
“If it were not the best relation for the happiness and
welfare of both races—morally, physically, intellectually and
politically—it was wrong and ought to have been abolished. This
I said of it years before secession, and I repeat it still. But,
as I have said, this is no time now to discuss those questions.
“I have seen something of the world, and traveled somewhat, and I
have never yet found on earth a paradise. The Southern States are
no exception. Wherever I have been, I have been ready to exclaim
with Burns:
“‘But, oh! what crowds in every land
Are wretched and forlorn!
* * * * *
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn.’
“It was so at the South. It was so at the North. It is so yet. It
is so in every part of the world that I have seen.”
In regard to the future relation of the races in this land, Mr.
Stephens speaks cautiously, and not unwisely. With many of the best
men of the South, he sees here a problem not easily to be solved,
and an outcome not lightly to be prophesied. He denies that any
Southern men desire a change back to the old relation of master and
slave. We quote again:
“The question of the proper relation of the races is one of the
most difficult problems which statesmen or philanthropists,
legislators or jurists, ever had to solve. The former polity
of the Southern States upon this subject is ended, and I do
not think it inappropriate on this occasion to indulge in some
remarks with regard to the future. Since the emancipation,
since the former ruling race have been relieved of their direct
heavy responsibility for the protection and welfare of their
dependents, it has been common to speak of the colored race as
‘the wards of the nation.’
“May I not say with appropriateness, in this connection, and
due reverence, in the language of Georgia’s greatest intellect
(Toombs), ‘They are rather the wards of the Almighty,’ committed
now, under a new state of things, to the rulers, the law-makers,
the law-expounders and the law-executors throughout this broad
land, within their respective constitutional spheres, to
take care of, and provide for, in that complicated system of
government under which we live? I am inclined, sir, so to regard
them, and so to speak of them—not in exceptional cases, but
as a mass. In the providence of God, why their ancestors were
permitted to be brought over here, it is not for us to say; but
they have a location and habitation here, especially in the
South, and since the changed condition of their status, though
it was the leading cause of the late terrible conflict of arms
between the States, yet I think I may venture to affirm there is
not one within the circle of my acquaintance, or in the whole
Southern country, who would now wish to see the old relation
restored.”
Recognizing a national responsibility for the welfare and
protection of these freedmen, he closes with this ringing
exhortation:
“This changed status creates new duties. The wardship has changed
hands. _Men of the North and of the South, of the East and of
the West—I care not of what party—I would to-day, on this
commemorative occasion, urge upon every one within the sphere of
duty and humanity, whether in public or private life, to see to
it that there be no violation of the Divine trust._”
To which the _Independent_ gives its enthusiastic assent as follows:
“Amen and Amen! Statesmen, patriots, Christians, listen to the
words of the Vice-President of the Confederate Government! They
speak the deepest feelings of the best men who fought against
the Union. There remains now for us the greater task of making
the freedmen worthy to enjoy and fit to adorn that freedom whose
proclamation was signed September 22d, 1862.”
* * * * *
DOUGLASS AND HAYES AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
Surely, the colored people of the South are receiving plain talk
and good advice on all sides. Perhaps no one speaks more plainly
and penetratingly, and perhaps no one has a better right or ability
to do it, than the Hon. Frederick Douglass. At the reception of
an engraving of Mr. Carpenter’s picture, from the artist, by the
Howard University, he uttered honest words, and true. Speaking of
Mr. Stephens’ speech, in which he said it was yet to be proven
if emancipation was a blessing, Mr. Douglass replied that this
question was to be answered in the future, and meant that his race
was still on trial—on trial to see if they would be better masters
to themselves than their masters were to them—if they would rise
as early and work as late.
In regard to his own people, he said:
“Among the faults of my people are self-indulgence, love of
ease, and improvidence. They must learn to spend their earnings
judiciously. _If one can’t get up, he will be helped down._ They
have a fair chance to get up. They are on the way to Congress,
and if the negro can stand Congress, Congress ought to stand
the negro. The colored men have been forced up by abnormal
conditions, but they are now coming up gradually by their own
exertions.”
This is the soundest kind of sense. Emancipation only struck the
shackles from the slave; it had no power to lift him up. Federal
force could hold him up by the arms, but he is still as limp as
ever, for all that; his ankle bones could not immediately receive
strength from it. “They have a fair chance to get up”; but that
does not get them up of itself. The stairways of education are
laid from the first story—yes, from the sub-cellar up through the
basement, flight after flight, to the top floor. But stairways do
not turn, end for end, to tumble people up. The paths of honest
industry and thrift are open; but they are all up-hill, and never
slide their travelers down into competence and respectability.
There is a chance to get up, but the freedman must do his own
climbing, after all. If there are some to dissuade him, by assuring
him that for him these ascents lead up to nothing worth the effort,
there are others to cheer him on, and to rejoice with him in each
new advance. But even such will be compelled to admit the justice
of the saying, “If one can’t get up, he will be helped down”; he
must not obstruct the way. He ought, however, to be encouraged,
by seeing such men as Douglass up so near the top. And those who
cannot encourage him by example, because they were born on higher
levels, surely may sympathize with him, in the remembrance of
their own toil, as they ascended on the same scale, though higher.
Let there not fail him, while he fails not to strive, cheers from
above, cheers from below, cheers from all around him, and a hand,
too, now and then, for him to grasp and get a friendly pull. The
stair builders must be in the way to help a little, just when heart
and strength are failing.
President Hayes spoke, too, on the same occasion, and in much the
same line. Read this President’s Message:
“The wisdom, the righteousness, and the grandeur of Abraham
Lincoln’s act of emancipation, no man will deny. That it has
conferred infinite blessings on our country, on both races, and
on the world, very few will question. This estimate of the act,
and of its results, will not be changed by the good conduct or
the bad conduct of either race. But it is said that the question
of the blessing conferred on the colored race depends on their
conduct. What they most need is, what Burns calls ‘the glorious
privilege of being independent.’ What this requires is, the
willingness to labor, and the prudence and self-denial to save
the fruits of labor. My young colored friends, let this, then, be
among your good resolutions: I will work, and I will save, to the
end that I may become independent.”
That is good advice for any poor man, black or white. This picture
of the signing of the Emancipation Act can commemorate all of which
it is capable, only if the privilege of freedom be embraced as the
opportunity of manly toil, and the occasion of all patient effort
to become the equal of other men, not in external advantages and
rights half so much as in capacity and character.
This is what we are working for among our colored brethren, and
especially among the youth, and with a measure of success which
makes us full of hope for their future and ours. We must be patient
to hold out the chances, and keep open the opportunities, as well
as they to toil and strive to use them. Most of all do we feel that
when we have succeeded in leading them to an intelligent Christian
experience, we have awakened in them the highest motive of which
the human mind is capable, and brought them under the most powerful
stimulus to the worthiest of all ambitions—to fit themselves, not
for high stations, but for useful work.
* * * * *
CHURCH WORK IN THE SOUTH.
Is the A. M. A. devoting a proper share of its work to the
extension of Congregational Churches in the South? The question is
a fair one, and deserves a frank answer. But the answer, to be just
to all interests concerned, must take a broad view of the whole
subject. The paramount duty of the nation, and especially of the
churches, to the emancipated slaves, is to fit them for their new
position as citizens, and their true destiny as men and Christians
in America, and as missionaries to Africa. Anything short of
this is less than our whole duty. The blacks are all religious
in their way, and nearly all are connected with churches. In the
matter of outward profession and inward emotion, the _quantity_
is all that could be asked. It is in the _quality_ alone that a
change is needed. No Christian Church can discharge its duty to
them by merely denominationalizing them into its ranks, leaving
the essentials of character and Christian manhood unchanged. The
Congregational Churches of this country certainly will not be
satisfied with this low aim.
But these Congregational Churches are, by the nature of the
case, compelled to work in methods differing from those of
other denominations. Methodists, Baptists, and, to some
extent, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, pre-occupy the ground.
Congregationalists were almost unknown among the blacks before
the war, and their efforts must naturally meet with sectarian
prejudice, somewhat in proportion to the ignorance of the people.
But, nevertheless, Congregationalism has a great responsibility
in regard to this people, in laying foundations on which to build
the essentials of character in civil and Christian life. It is
with this aim that the Association has, from the beginning, sought
to do its work—moving, with the progress of the colored people,
from the common-school to the more effective normal, collegiate
and theological teaching. The wisdom of its efforts is attested by
the commendations of those, both in the South and North, who are
most competent to judge, and also by the more convincing fact, that
it can point to 100,000 scholars in schools taught by its former
pupils, to the education it has given to many colored ministers,
and to the missionaries, born in slavery, trained in its schools,
and now sent to Africa.
The church work must for a time, at least, grow out of, and keep
pace with, this Christian teaching, which prepares the people
to appreciate, and the minister to preach, a pure Gospel and a
practical morality. It were easy to scatter the seeds in a thin
and shallow soil, and gather a harvest that would wither while
it was gathering. A writer in one of the religious papers, who
censures the Association, makes this great boast, followed by a
frank confession: “With half of three millions of dollars I can
Congregationalize every negro in the South; _but, of course, the
work would not be permanent_.” The italics in this quotation are
ours, for we wish to call attention to the acknowledgment, and to
say that this transient work is precisely what the Association does
not attempt. It will not take the money of its patrons to start
ephemeral growths. It prefers, and we are sure its intelligent
friends will prefer, that it should plow deep, harrow thoroughly,
and sow “wholly a right seed,” that the gatherings may be an
hundred fold for the garner of the Master.
An effort is made to stir up Congregationalists to plant _white_
churches in the South. The project is not new, but its results
thus far have not been encouraging. Soon after the war, the Home
Missionary Society and the Congregational Union invested large
moneys in establishing such churches there, and we suppose that
their experience will lead them to ask for very clear evidence of
more favorable auspices before they will wish to renew the attempt.
But if it were renewed, it would only be an exaggeration of the
difficulties at the West, where feeble rival churches, in poor and
small communities, struggle against inevitable death. For, in the
South, we should have two feeble Congregational churches, the one
white and the other black, in still poorer and smaller places. And
more than all that, the A. M. A. has started its church work on the
only true Gospel basis, founding churches without distinction of
color. Its churches are not black by its ordination, and are only
made nearly so by the caste prejudice of the whites. It ought to
be understood that the progress of any people in civilization and
Christianity is a growth, taking form and bearing fruit according
to soil and climate, and that it cannot be produced to order, or at
the behest of mere theorists.
* * * * *
FOUR NEW MISSIONARIES FOR AFRICA.
Many an experiment has failed because entered upon half-heartedly,
and tried on too small a scale to succeed. The height of wisdom
is to find the true line on which caution and courage meet. It
has been the purpose of the Association to do its part in the
evangelization of Africa, by missionaries of African descent, and
to begin in that effort so soon as our schools should begin to
furnish those qualified for such important work.
Last fall, when, after the return of Mr. Billheimer and the death
of Barnabas Root, the Mendi Mission needed rëinforcement, the new
policy was begun by sending Messrs. Snelson, James and White to
the field. They arrived in due time, and entered at once heartily
upon their work. They have had some slight illnesses—almost, if
not quite all of them having suffered somewhat in the process of
acclimation—but at last accounts all were well again. If we are
fully informed, they have endured less inconvenience from this
cause than we anticipated.
But the mission was still weak—Bro. Snelson the only minister. Two
of the white missionary helpers, who had been in the field before,
soon withdrew in impaired health. It was deemed wise, and, indeed,
indispensable, for the successful prosecution of the work, that the
ranks should be at once filled. It was decided to send three single
men, or better, if possible, two married men with their wives. A
letter was written to Fisk University, stating the need, which was
read without comment, at prayers, Feb. 8th.
God’s Spirit took the message to the heart of Andrew E. Jackson,
and sent it by him to Albert Miller, and through them to Ella M.
Hildridge and Ada J. Roberts (also students at Fisk), to whom they
were respectively engaged, and three days later the four offered
themselves willingly for this far-off field. The faculty recognized
at once their fitness for the work; they were among the best and
brightest and most advanced of the students in their respective
departments. The four met daily for prayer together, and their
convictions and purposes were daily strengthened. The Executive
Committee accepted them promptly, and felt it necessary to press
their speedy departure, that they might reach the west coast of
Africa before the wet season should set in, when the conditions for
their acclimature would be less favorable than earlier.
On Saturday of that week a council was convened, which, on the
following day, Sunday, Feb. 17th, ordained the two young men to
the Gospel ministry, they having each had considerable experience
in preaching. A farewell meeting of the students was also held on
the same day, full of heartiness and fervor, at which the following
resolution was unanimously adopted:
“In consideration of the call of God to our brethren, to labor in
Africa, and in consideration of the many hours spent together in
Christian communion,
“_Resolved_, That we devote a portion of each Sabbath morning
to prayer especially for them in their labors on the African
shores, that they may be abundantly blessed, both spiritually and
physically, and enabled to do good work for the Master.”
We have no fear of a lack of missionary zeal henceforth in Fisk
University. But the manifestation of interest in this event was not
confined within its walls. All Nashville seemed aglow with friendly
enthusiasm. Dr. Rand, of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
invited Miller into his pulpit, at the close of the Sunday morning
service, to address the congregation, which took up a liberal
collection for the outfit of the young missionaries. Their ages
range from twenty-one to twenty-seven. The Theological students
of Vanderbilt University invited them to an interview on Sunday
afternoon, at which they were most kindly received; and after
prayers together, and conversation, were the recipients of presents
of books and money.
The next day, the double marriage was solemnized by Professors
Bennett and Spence, and later, a general farewell meeting was held
in St. John’s Chapel. The large building was crowded, and many went
away unable to find entrance. Prominent ministers from the city
and vicinity, representing the leading denominations of Christian
churches, were present. The tone of the meeting was congratulatory
and hopeful, as befitted the sending forth of these soldiers of the
Cross.
At their leaving Nashville by the evening train, an immense crowd
gathered in and about the depot to see them off. A day or two only
was spent in New York, to make necessary purchases, and receive
instructions from the Secretary. On Thursday afternoon, a few
members of the Executive Committee, and representatives of the
religious press, held an informal interview with them. They each
told the story of their lives, of their struggles to acquire an
education, and of their religious experiences. All were deeply
impressed with the sincerity of their devotion, and with their
modesty and good sense as well.
On Saturday, the 23d of February, they sailed for England, where
they arrived March 3d. By the 20th they were expected to reach
Freetown, and a few days later, their new home.
We have thus fairly launched on the new experiment of African
evangelization by men and women of African descent, who have come
through American slavery to freedom. The nine adults together in
the field are enough to support each other’s courage and hold up
each other’s hands. But the field is far away; the perils of it are
peculiar; the path is a new one to these young men and women. We
trust in them with great confidence. But in the complications and
unforeseen emergencies which always may arise in a foreign field,
we feel that they need, more than most missionaries even, the
constant remembrances, in prayer, of the thousands of the friends
of Africa in our land and in Great Britain. We repeat most urgently
their parting request—“Brethren, pray for us.”
* * * * *
THE TWO INDIAN POLICIES.
Two radically different views have prevailed in this country from
the outset in regard to the treatment of the Indians—the one
represented by the word civilization, and the other by the word
extermination. The first of these was entertained by the Pilgrim
Fathers, and by the founder of Pennsylvania, and was carried out
apostolically by John Eliot, David Brainard, and others, as well
as by successful Indian missions of later date. But the effort
has been constantly obstructed by the hostilities between the
Indians and the white men, rendering the latter indisposed to
send the Gospel, and the former to receive it. The only decided
and comprehensive effort by the general Government, for the
civilization of the Indians, is the peace policy inaugurated by
General Grant, the results of which, in spite of all obstacles and
opposition, have been unmistakably and increasingly advantageous.
(1) As a class, the agents selected by the religious societies have
been far more trustworthy and efficient than their predecessors,
being themselves honest in their dealings with the Indian, and
defending them from the frauds of ring speculators, and the
temptations of the liquor dealers. (2) The progress of the Indians
in their industrial, educational and moral advancement has been
very marked, as is shown by a tabulated and comparative statement
of facts, prepared by the Board of Indian Commissioners, and
recently published. (3) The agents—representing all denominations,
and, therefore, not committing the government to sectarianism—have
most directly and heartily co-operated with the religious efforts
of the different churches for the evangelization of the Indians.
As the only possibility of civilizing the Indians lies in their
Christian enlightenment, the work of the religious societies, under
the fostering care of the government, gives the highest promise of
success.
On the other hand, the policy of extermination has been tried from
the beginning. In the earlier days the struggle resembled the
border wars between England and Scotland, being mere temporary
raids, carried on with little expense. But modern warfare puts
another aspect on this contest with the Indians, making it vastly
more costly in men and money. It is believed that not a single
Indian has been killed by our army, at less than an average expense
of a million of dollars, and of the lives of one or more white men.
The War Department and the army are the natural representatives of
this policy, and if the Indians are transferred to their care, the
peace policy will be overthrown, and we fear that of extermination
substituted in its place. This apprehension involves no reflection
on the humanity of the officers and soldiers of the army, but the
inference is justified by the history of the past, and by the
fact that the business of an army is to destroy, and not to give
instruction.
Much significancy is added to this question by the recent tables of
Major Clark, showing that the Indians are not decreasing in number.
They are here, and mean to stay. We cannot exterminate them, and
we ought, as a Christian people, to face manfully the other and
grander alternative of making them good citizens and sharers in the
blessings of the Gospel.
One other thing should not be forgotten. This nation long oppressed
the black man, and the dread penalty came at length, whose
mementoes are in a million of soldiers’ graves, in broken homes and
hearts, North and South, and in the disturbance of all commercial
and industrial interests, under which the whole land still
trembles. If we persevere in our wrongs and neglects of the red
man, have we any hope that we shall escape similar retributions?
God still reigns!
* * * * *
NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.
HAMPTON, VA.—“Five students united with the church by profession,
the first Sabbath in March. Others were advised to wait until they
had opportunity to prove themselves Christians by their Christian
works. There seems to be a continual work of grace extending
noiselessly and unobtrusively from heart to heart, and adding one
after another to the trophies of its victorious power.”
MCLEANSVILLE, N. C.—Miss Douglass writes: “My Bible-class still
continues large. My room is crowded every Sabbath. After the class
was dismissed last night one young man, who wishes to fit himself
for a missionary, said, ‘I have taken a new resolution to be more
devoted than ever.’ He must soon leave school to earn more money. I
wish he could go on now.”
SAVANNAH, GA.—Mr. Markham writes: “Our congregation is increasing
every week. God is with us. This is as clear as a sunbeam. I feel
His special aid. Two united with our church yesterday (March 3).
I am to go to Ogeechee next Sabbath. Nine will unite there. The
Sabbath-school at East Savannah is increasing. More than 100 are
now on the list.”
MACON, GA.—“Yesterday (Feb. 10,) was a happy day to the Macon
church. Four children baptized, and five adults received into
membership. Of these, four are new converts—others will come
forward next month. Our daily prayer-meetings are continued. The
church is aroused to more activity, and we look for yet better
things.”
WOODVILLE, GA.—“Six united with the church March 2d. Sunday-school
numbers nearly 100. Prayer-meetings are being held every evening.
The day-school has 92 scholars enrolled.”
NEW ORLEANS, LA.—“The very interesting religious work still
continues. As many as fifty have been converted. Some of the very
hopeful cases are, or have been, nominal Catholics: others of the
same class are interested.”
BEREA, KY.—“An interesting revival in progress—some twenty
conversions.”
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE SCHOOLS.
SAVANNAH, GA.—The Beach Institute in this city was destroyed by
fire on the morning of Feb. 20th. The fire began in a barn on the
premises in some mysterious way, and was speedily communicated to
the Institute building. The Teachers’ Home adjoining was saved,
the wall toward it standing. Part of the school furniture was also
saved. The building had, for a few years past, been rented to the
city school-board for a colored school. Notice had been given them
that the Association would require the building for its own use
next fall. The insurance money will replace the building, and a
school under the Association’s care will be opened as previously
planned.
MARIETTA, GA.—“Our school opened for the first time Oct. 15th,
1877. The local prejudice was so great that only four scholars
attended. A change in the feeling has taken place, and the school
has, up to this time, enrolled 88 pupils. The colored people are
becoming eager to embrace their privileges. The children are
improving in knowledge and in care for themselves. The prospect is
full of encouragement.”
FORSYTH, GA.—On February 1st, the school building of the colored
people of Forsyth was dedicated and set apart for the work
for which it was intended. For months these people have been
struggling to raise money to build the house. They had, as a
fund to start with, about two hundred dollars, which the colored
Baptist Church had collected. Subscription lists were opened and
the colored people and their white friends contributed as they
could. Contrary to the expectation of many, their success was
such that the building was framed and rapidly pushed forward. It
is not yet complete, lacking plastering, but is quite comfortable
nevertheless. The teacher, W. F. Jackson, a graduate of the Atlanta
University, has been indefatigable and untiring in his efforts to
press this enterprise to completion. Rev. E. A. Ware, President of
the Atlanta University, made the dedicatory address.
* * * * *
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
—A Southern man, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a book
agent for many years, reports that in the last two years he has
taken 280 orders from the colored people of Charleston for valuable
books, in many cases trusting them when cash payments could not be
made, and has not lost fifteen dollars.
—A gentleman in Augusta, Ga., tells us he has sold over two
hundred house lots to colored people, who have paid for them in
small instalments, since the war.
—The African Methodists have been holding an educational
convention in Georgia, Bishop Campbell presiding. From the
statements made by the Bishop and by Presiding Elder Brown, we
learn that wonderful progress in education has been made during the
last ten years. Ten years ago, in the Atlantic District, there was
but one man capable of keeping a minute of the transactions, “and
then it had to be read while it was hot, for if it ever cooled down
it could never be read again.” Now there is scarcely a preacher
who, besides reading and writing, has not pursued to some extent
the course of studies prescribed to candidates for the ministry.
—It is pleasant to note how the freedmen are rising to the dignity
of self-support in their religious, as well as their material
interests. A missionary of the American Sunday-school Union, in
North Carolina, having recently organized three new Sunday-schools
among freedmen, writes, that at the close of one of his meetings
“an aged negro, of nearly seventy years, came forward with his
pennies to buy a primer for his grandson. His example was followed
until about two hundred pennies were piled upon the desk—the first
contribution of these poor but willing self-helpers.”
—In seven years the students of Talladega College alone have
organized Sunday-schools in which have been taught over 20,000
scholars.
—Dr. Sears, agent of the Peabody Fund, says that in all the States
where there has been a re-action against education, it has been
followed by a return to better measures than ever. Thus, through
local actions and re-actions, the general forward movement is
assured.
—One morning, in our school in Augusta, on calling for the First
Commandment with Promise, a little girl, hardly six years old,
said: “Honor thy father and mother, that thy days may be long in
the land of liberty.” That wasn’t very bad.
—A colored Tennesseean says: “When I want to hear preaching, I go
to the Congregational Church; when I want to have a good time I go
to these other places.”
—One of our faithful ministers in Georgia grieves over a recent
restoration to his pulpit of a neighboring colored pastor. He
says the white people wanted it, because (1) the man’s politics
suit them, (2) he is ignorant, and (3) he gets drunk. The colored
members of his church know nothing of Bible religion, and are like
their priest. On a recent Communion Sunday seven of them were seen
returning to their homes drunk—three just able to stagger on, and
four “being hauled out in a cart, not able to sit up.” The writer
says such churches cannot save these people, and mere secular
instruction will not cure such evils. The Christian school is the
only hope.
—In another case, in the same State, a minister, going into a
church shortly after the close of a communion service, found the
deacons and a few of the members “eating and drinking and carrying
on as if they were in a bar-room.” Being expostulated with, they
said they did not feel at liberty to throw any of the bread and
wine away. It was evidently, however, a renewal of the old excesses
for which Paul so sharply rebuked the Church at Corinth.
—A woman in one of the old-style churches, not far from one of
our best schools, “came through with religion” one night, and in
telling her wonderful “experience,” said she went to heaven, and
from there she saw this whole school “marching down to hell with
their Bibles in their hands.”
* * * * *
INDIAN NOTES.
—The House Committee on Indian Affairs has reported in favor
of the transfer of the Indian Bureau from the Interior to the
War Department. Its grounds are (1) the failure of the attempts
to civilize; (2) the divided responsibility between Secretary
and Commissioner—between civil and military officers; (3) the
corruption of the present Indian service; (4) the economy of the
change, which will furnish employment for retired and idle army
officers who receive pay.
—Precisely what civilizing agencies would be brought to bear upon
these people under the War Department is not stated in the report.
Whether the school and the church would be allowed, or only the
stockade and the garrison; whether bullets should take the place of
books, and guns of Gospel. This does not follow of necessity, only
from the despairing tone in regard to the attempts to civilize.
—We beg our readers to notice carefully what class of men, as a
whole, sustain and desire the change to the War Department, and
what sort of men oppose it. There is great significance in such
discriminations.
—The recent Sioux war cost $2,313,531 in money, and 283 men
killed, among whom was the gallant Custer and his staff, and 125
wounded.
—_Sunday Afternoon_ says: “It costs the United States about $1,700
a year to support a soldier fighting the Indians. It costs the
American Board about half as much to support a missionary preaching
to them. Would it not be cheaper to send more missionaries and
fewer soldiers?”
—Hon. A. C. Barstow, one of the Indian Commissioners, and a man
thoroughly conversant with the whole subject of Indian affairs,
gives the following opinion regarding this important branch of our
Civil Service and the men who control it. He says:
“The present Commissioner of Indian Affairs is an able man, of
large business experience, and, moreover, (as chairman of the
Purchasing Committee of the Board of Indian Commissioners for
two or three years, and up to within a few months of entering
this office), of large experience in Indian affairs. There is no
man in the country whom corrupt contractors have more learned to
fear and to hate; and, in my opinion, they are the men who are
fanning this flame of excitement, and who are exerting all their
influence to turn the administration of Indian affairs over to
the War Department. They are pinched by the present policy, and
desire change. They cannot suffer by this or any change, and may
be benefited—hence, their noisy zeal. I am sorry that any good
man has for a moment been led to believe that the Secretary of
the Interior is open to the influence of this class of men. I
think the public may safely quiet their fears upon this point.
Whatever else may be said of him, he is not a ‘bird of that
feather.’ From what I have seen, I think the public may look for
an administration of his department not only honest but able, and
may also be assured that the policy of President Hayes toward the
Indians will be eminently humane and Christian.”
—The educational work among the Indians may be summed up from
the Commissioner’s report for 1877, as follows: There are 251,000
Indians, and 28,000 half-breeds, exclusive of Alaska. Among them
are 330 schools, of which 60 are boarding-schools, with 437
teachers; and 11,515 pupils have attended at least one mouth.
Largest monthly average, 4,774; average for the year, 3,598;
expense to the government, $255,379; to Tribal funds, $81,989; to
the religious societies, $33,950; in all, $371,318; 40,397, of whom
23,196 are adults, can read; 1,206 learned to read last year.
—The religious items, drawn from the same source, show 207 church
buildings on the reservations; 126 missionaries, not included
among teachers; expended by religious societies, $36,164; 27,215
are members of the mission churches of all denominations. We
question whether the $36,000 reported as expended by the religious
societies, represents, even approximately, the full amount given
from this source, since the A. B. C. F. M. and the Presbyterian
Board, together, expend annually nearly this amount. We claim that,
considering all the disadvantages of his condition, and the fewness
of the laborers, the results are gratifying and hopeful.
* * * * *
CHINESE NOTES.
—The House Committee on Education and Labor made a report,
February 25th, on the Chinese question, of which we give the
following abstract: Since the first treaty with China, in July,
1844, the migration has been on the steady increase for the last
twenty years—from 1855 to 1859, it was 4,530; 1860 to 1864, it
was 6,600; from 1865 to 1870, it was 9,311; from 1871 to 1874, it
was 13,000. —— The lowest estimate of Chinamen in California is
150,000. From the density of population in China, and the lowness
of wages, from their migratory disposition, and the attractions
of our congenial climate, high wages and liberal government, and
the cheapness and safety of the voyage hither, an increasing
rate of immigration is prophesied. —— While the Chinaman is
desirable merely as a laborer, he has neither home, self-respect,
nor underclothes, and lives on rice, tea and dried fish. He has
low ideas of religion, labor, women and virtue. —— He does not
assimilate with the American people, and is unchanged by contact.
He does not mean to stay, and will not even contribute his dead
body to our national welfare. He cannot be made into a soldier, or
even a juryman. —— He is proud of Confucius, and vainly boasts of
China as the central nation of the world. He is, and will remain,
distinct “in color, size, features, dress, language, customs,
habits and social peculiarities.”
The joint resolution relative to Chinese immigration is as follows:
“_Whereas_, It appears that the great majority of Chinese
immigrants are unwilling to conform to our institutions, to become
permanent residents of our country, and accept rights and assume
responsibilities of citizenship; and,
”_Whereas_, They have indicated no capacity to assimilate with our
people; therefore,
“_Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested
to open correspondence immediately with the Governments of China
and Great Britain, with the view of securing a change or abrogation
of all stipulations in existing treaties which permit unlimited
immigration of Chinese to the United States.”
—Cheap labor, whether by machine or by man-power, has always been
resisted by those whom it has displaced. But it always pushes
the more intelligent laborers up and not down. It has been so in
California. Men are now foremen who were only fruit-pickers, and
engineers who were only miners before Chinese labor came in.
—Race unions, to keep prices of labor up, and to put competition
down, are no better than other unions for these purposes. All such
combinations are both short-sighted and selfish.
—In the San Francisco _Bulletin_, we find the following
schedule of labor rates in that city: Carpenters, from $3 to
$3.50 a day; bricklayers, $4 to $5; painters, $3; plasterers,
$3.50; hod-carriers,$3; stone-cutters, $4; machinists, $3 to $4;
brass-founders, $4.50; common laborers, $2; woolen mills, $2.50 to
$3.50; domestics, $25 to $30 a month—not more than two children
allowed in an employer’s family at that. It can be seen at a glance
that these wages are twice those paid in the Eastern States for
corresponding work. Does Chinese competition keep these prices up,
or does California need less homeopathic doses of “China” to bring
her prices somewhere near the level of her sister States?
—By the statistics of the arrivals and departures for 1877, it
appears that 9,906 passengers arrived from China and Japan, and
7,852 returned, showing an excess of 2,054 arrivals, not all of
whom, indeed, were Mongolians; while the deaths of Chinese exceeded
2,054. It would seem that our Christian statesmen of San Francisco
might repress their morbid solicitude, in view of these encouraging
facts.
* * * * *
We trust our readers will notice carefully the accounts of our
various educational institutions as they appear in order from
month to month. These articles are intended to give a view of
the peculiar work, and appliances for work, of these schools and
colleges. Next month, we expect to publish an article on Tougaloo
University, Mississippi; and, in June, one on Straight University,
Louisiana. Others will follow in such order as their special
circumstances may determine.
* * * * *
We find that we are at liberty to say to our readers, that the
touching little poem entitled “Christ in the Person of the Poor,”
which appeared in our February MISSIONARY, was from the pen of the
Rev. ELI CORWIN, D. D., of Jacksonville, Illinois.
* * * * *
OBITUARIES.
The heroes of the anti-slavery struggle are passing away. The
Tappans, Joshua Leavitt and others finished their course in the
last few years, and now we record the death of two others of their
compeers.
REV. WM. GOODELL was born in Chenango County, N. Y., Oct. 25th,
1792. In his earlier years he acquired a practical knowledge of
business affairs, but it was as a thinker, writer and reformer
that he has made his mark in the world. He will be remembered
as an editor and author, devoted earnestly and successfully to
promoting reform in many directions, but especially in relation to
intemperance and slavery. Mr. Goodell was present at the Convention
in Albany, N. Y., at which this Association was formed, and took
a prominent and effective part in its proceedings, preparing and
reporting the elaborate address to the Christian public, which
was adopted and sent forth as embodying the views on which the
Convention based the new organization. From that time to the close
of his life, his sympathy for our work was constant and earnest.
REV. J. S. GREEN died at his home in Makawao, Sandwich Islands,
Jan. 5th, 1878, in the 82d year of his age. Mr. Green went out
as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands in 1828, in company
with Andrews, Gulick and others, and shared in effecting the
wonderful transformation in those Islands. In 1842 Mr. Green
resigned his connection with the American Board, and from that
time until his death was a pastor, depending for his support upon
his own labor and the contributions of his people. His strong
anti-slavery sympathies led him to seek a connection, yet without
salary, with the Union Missionary Society and subsequently with
this Association, when that Society was merged into it. His name
appeared for years in our list of foreign missionaries, and his
reports were full and interesting. His ready pen, not satisfied
with mere reports, was prolific in contributions on missionary
subjects, and earnest in its denunciations of the evils of slavery
in his native land. He was a man of deep and earnest piety, and his
memory will be cherished in the warm regard of those who knew his
worth and his useful career.
DEATH OF TEACHERS.
The painful intelligence has reached us of the death, on February
17th, of typhoid fever, after a four weeks’ illness, of Mr.
MARMADUKE C. KIMBER, of Germantown, Pa., aged nearly twenty-four
years. The son of one of the valued friends and trustees of Hampton
Institute, Mr. Kimber, when just out of college in 1872, gave his
services to the school for two years as a volunteer teacher. Since
then he has been professor in a Western college, and after a year
of travel in Europe, he took charge of the Friends’ Academy in
Germantown, which position he held at the time of his death. He is
remembered with sincerest esteem by the officers of the school and
teachers who were associated with him at Hampton, and the students
who were under his instruction.—_Southern Workman._
MRS. ALICIA S. (BLOOD) BROWN died at Leavenworth, Kansas, on the
26th of February. Mrs. Brown was for some years a teacher under
this Association at Monticello, Florida, and her many friends there
will remember the faithful instruction she gave and the kindnesses
she bestowed. Her illness was long and severe, but when she did
_not_ look for the Messenger, he came and took her away. In the
midst of her sufferings, she could cheerfully say, that she wanted
to “bear and suffer all His will.”
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
* * * * *
TALLADEGA COLLEGE.
REV. E. P. LORD, PRESIDENT.