{pg 193}
The American Missionary
* * * * *
July, 1888.
Volume XLII. No. 7.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL.
President of the Association.--Paragraphs
Indian Problem.--an Outrage
Wade Hampton
Mr. Cable's Pamphlet
Mrs. Ware
Three Commencements
THE SOUTH.
Notes in the Saddle, By District Secretary Ryder
Gregory Institute, Wilmington, D.C.
A Day at Tougaloo
Which will be the Under Dog in the Fight
Valued Appreciation
THE CHINESE.
School Life In China
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
Woman's Temperance Work in the South
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
Children's Day at Talladega
RECEIPTS.
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION,
Rooms, 56 Reade Street.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter.
* * * * *
{pg 194}
The American Missionary
American Missionary Association
* * * * *
President, Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., LL.D., N.Y.
Vice-Presidents.
Rev. A.J.F. Behrends, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.D., Mass.
Rev. F.A. Noble, D.D., Ill.
Rev. D.O. Mears, D.D., Mass.
Rev. Henry Hopkins, D.D., Mo.
Corresponding Secretaries.
Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
Rev. A.F. Beard, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
Treasurer.
H.W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
Auditors.
Peter McCartee.
Chas. P. Peirce.
Executive Committee.
John H. Washburn, Chairman.
Addison P. Foster, Secretary.
For Three Years.
Lyman Abbott,
Charles A. Hull,
J.R. Danforth,
Clinton B. Fisk,
Addison P. Foster,
For Two Years.
S.B. Halliday,
Samuel Holmes,
Samuel S. Marples,
Charles L. Mead,
Elbert B. Monroe,
For One Year.
J.E. Rankin,
Wm. H. Ward,
J.W. Cooper,
John H. Washburn,
Edmund L. Champlin.
District Secretaries.
Rev. C.J. Ryder, 21 Cong'l House, Boston.
Rev. J.E. Roy, D.D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.
Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.
Rev. Chas. W. Shelton.
Secretary of Woman's Bureau.
Miss D.E. Emerson, 56 Reade St., N.Y.
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to
the Editor, at the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, may be
sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A
payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
FORM OF A BEQUEST.
"I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of ---- dollars, in
trust, to pay the same in ---- days after my decease to the person
who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American
Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the
direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its
charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three
witnesses.
* * * * *
{pg 195}
The American Missionary.
VOL. XLII. JULY 1888. No. 7.
American Missionary Association
* * * * *
It gives us great pleasure to announce that, at a recent meeting of
our Executive Committee, Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., Pastor of the
Broadway Tabernacle, New York, was elected President of the American
Missionary Association.
The death of our late honored President, ex-Governor Washburn,
occurred so short a time before our last Annual Meeting, that no
attempt was there made to elect his successor, but the matter was
referred according to the Constitution, to the Executive Committee.
After mature deliberation and with great unanimity, Dr. Taylor was
elected. A brief extract from his letter accepting the position will
indicate his sympathy with our work, and his heartiness in
co-operating with us in this new relation.
"Your Association, alike by its history in the past and its work in
the present, has a strong hold on my heart. It is doing a work much
needed; one, too, which is intimately connected with the welfare of
the nation, as well as with the future of the races among whom it
specially labors. It has always been a joy to me to plead for it with
my people from my pulpit, and I regard your selection of me as your
President, as one of the highest honors of my life."
* * * * *
We are glad to be able to mention, also, the election of Mr. Charles
A. Hull as a member of our Executive Committee, in place of the
honored and respected A.S. Barnes, deceased. Mr. Hull was formerly a
member of the committee, but was compelled to retire on account of
pressure of business. He now returns to his place cheerfully and to
our great satisfaction.
* * * * *
_Who reads Missionary Magazines?_--We are glad to know that THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY has appreciative readers with quick eyes. From the
last numbers we have noticed extracts and quotations in the _New York
Observer_, the _Religious Herald_, the _Advance_, the _New York
Tribune_, and the _New York Times_. We are more than willing.
{pg 196}
* * * * *
THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
A good deal of ingenious ciphering has been done in endeavoring to
solve this problem, and, withal, there has been a good deal of honest
and efficient work. The Government has largely increased its
appropriations from year to year, the Dawes Bill and other valuable
legislation have been secured, so that steps looking towards the
citizenship of the Indian have been attained. Appropriations have been
granted to aid him in farming and other industrial pursuits, and it is
not unlikely that in a short time provision will be made for the
education in the common English branches of every Indian child.
But all this is not sufficient. The Indian may have lands and
citizenship and an English education, and yet, if he has no strong
impulse towards civilization, no motive in his heart impelling him to
be an industrious, self-supporting citizen--in short, if he has not a
new heart looking to a new life as a citizen and a man, he will become
a vagabond on the land granted him, and a skeptic in the school in
which he is taught. The next few years will constitute a crisis in the
rapidly changing condition of the Indian, and it is precisely at this
point where the vital element of the Christian life must be infused
into his character. To the Christian public, all other questions
subordinate themselves to this, and this needs, not speculation, but
hard work; legislation cannot do it, the church must; time will not do
it, Christian teaching and example alone can. The vernacular question,
so much agitated recently, is important only as it may hinder this
practical work.
The Indian problem is not perpetual. The Indian must soon be merged
into the American, and whether this shall be for good or for ill, the
church must decide, and decide speedily. We trust, therefore, that our
constituents will aid us to extend, as rapidly as possible, that part
of the work entrusted to us. We do not ask for expensive buildings or
costly plant. We ask for the means to push forward with the teacher
and the preacher among these uncivilized people till, when they come
forth from their present anomalous condition, they shall come forth
practical Christians, as well as intelligent and industrious citizens.
* * * * *
AN OUTRAGE.
Prof. G.W. Lawrence, teacher of our school at Jellico, Tenn., a
gentleman of quiet and unobtrusive manners, was brutally assaulted by
a man of that place, and was shot in three places; one ball entered
the wrist and followed up the arm, coming out near the shoulder, a
second went into the back of the shoulder, and a third is probably
lodged in the lungs. The assault occurred May 18th, in the church in
which Mr. Lawrence was holding the school, in the presence of his wife
and scholars. The only provocation {pg 197} alleged, was that he had
gone the night before to ask for the tuition of one of his scholars.
He was met in an angry way by the woman, and the next day the husband,
who does not live with his wife, came to the school and fired the
shots. Prof. Lawrence is the brother-in-law of our highly esteemed and
active Christian worker, Rev. A.A. Myers, who has not only done so
much in promoting school and church work in Kentucky and Tennessee,
but who has also been so zealous in promoting the cause of temperance.
Prof. Lawrence sympathized and co-operated with Mr. Myers in this good
work, and it is believed that liquor and liquor influence had much to
do in inspiring the deed. As all the parties in this transaction were
white, it is not at all probable that the color-line question had
anything to do with it.
The community was moved with intense indignation, and the assassin was
speedily taken to the county jail to escape a lynching. A large
meeting was subsequently held in the Baptist Church, and a committee
was appointed to prosecute the perpetrator. Mr. Lawrence at this
writing is in a very critical condition, but hopes are entertained of
his ultimate recovery.
* * * * *
WADE HAMPTON.
We opened the June number of the _Forum_ with the confident
expectation that the article on "_What Negro Supremacy Means_," by
Senator Wade Hampton, would furnish some well-considered and
statesmanlike views on that important topic. We expected to find a
fair, if not an encouraging, statement of the changes that twenty
years have wrought in the educational and property qualifications of
the Negro. But we confess our utter disappointment, in finding that
Senator Wade devotes his entire article to details of the Acts of the
South Carolina Legislature, from 1868 to 1876, in other words, to the
reconstruction or carpet-bag period. He adds, it is true, a quotation
from an address of Abraham Lincoln, but that dates back into the still
remoter past, 1859. Mr. Lincoln learned something better before he
died.
We make no defence of that carpet-bag Legislature, but does not
Senator Wade recognize the change that has taken place in the
condition of the Negro--a change that is going on at an increased
ratio? Would an article be worth much on "What _Anglo-Saxon_ Supremacy
Means," based on extracts from Roman histories in regard to the
ancient Germans? True, the comparison is an extreme one, but it must
be remembered that more progress is now made in human civilization
in one year, than in a century then. But let us confine ourselves
to the facts as they now stand. The present generation of Negroes
in the South has had the aid of the public schools, limited and
inadequate as they are, and it has had the still more valuable aid
of schools sustained by Northern benevolence, supplemented in some
cases {pg 198} by aid from the Southern States, that have furnished
instruction of the best quality in all ranges of study, from primary
to college and professional. From Hampton, Va., to Austin, Texas,
these schools, supported by various religious denominations, with
carefully selected and thoroughly competent teachers from the North,
have been sending forth their graduates as teachers, preachers,
professional and business men. These schools of all grades number more
than two hundred, and a large per cent. of their graduates become
teachers who are giving a mighty uplift to their people. A colored
editor could say truthfully two years ago, "We have preachers learned
and eloquent; we have professors in colleges by hundreds, and
school-masters by thousands; successful farmers, merchants, ministers,
lawyers, editors, educators and physicians." To all this it may be
added that careful estimates place the amount of property on which the
Negroes in the Southern States pay taxes, at one hundred millions of
dollars. Surely this race could now furnish legislators more
intelligent and more interested in the assessment of taxes than in
1868, and the number and quality will be rapidly increased every year.
Senator Hampton might have looked around and ahead, and not backward
only! His article, as it stands, stamps him as a veritable Bourbon;
"he has forgotten nothing and he has learned nothing."
* * * * *
MR. CABLE'S PAMPHLET.
A COLORED MAN'S VIEW OF IT.
Mr. Cable's Pamphlet, "The Negro Question," was sent to an
educated Christian colored man in the South. We make some
brief extracts from his letter acknowledging the receipt of
the pamphlet. He says:
I have read "_The Negro Question_," by Geo. W. Cable, and appreciate
it highly. It is the ablest treatment of the subject intellectually,
morally and judicially that I ever saw. Mr. Cable has dealt with that
_great question_ with the insight of a statesman and a thinker, and
the candor of a true Christian. Oh, how I am vexed and do smart when I
think of the wicked treatment I and my people are subjected to on
account of the God-given color, and by a people claiming and
professing to be Christians! I can hardly believe that any other
people ever bore the names freemen and citizens, and at the same time
were shut out from so many of their rights and liberties as we are.
Our manhood is outraged, our civil and political rights are abused,
our women are robbed of their womanhood and their chastity is
insulted, our aspirations are banded and proscription is held up to
our eyes wherever we go, and enforced against us with Egyptian
exactness and Spartan severity, and the most vexatious and grievous
fact of all is, that the strong arm of the law of the land loses its
power when it comes our turn to receive justice. The law either plays
truant, or openly acknowledges that it has no power to defend us. But
the God of law and {pg 199} justice, who broke down one form of
slavery, will break down this, too. Still, there is a part for us to
do. On this line, as on others, the man who needs help must help
himself while he asks for help.
* * * * *
MRS. WARE.
We honor the memory of the early and self-denying workers
among the Freedmen. They were ostracised at the South, and
were scarcely appreciated at the North. Many of them have laid
down their lives in the service, others were compelled to
return home on account of ill-health, but others still are
toiling on, seeing the fruits of their labors in the new
impulse given to the Negro in his great race struggle. Among
the earliest and most efficient of these workers was President
Ware, of Atlanta, now gone to his reward. Mrs. Ware is still
at the post of duty, and, though in feeble health, clings with
undiminished interest to her chosen life-work.
At the recent anniversary of the Atlanta University, the
meeting of the Alumni, (May 28th), was made pleasant and
memorable by the presentation to Mrs. Ware of a large portrait
of herself. It was wholly unexpected to her, and her impromptu
acknowledgment of the gift was made in the vein of her
characteristic vivacity and kindness. Among the addresses made
at the presentation, was one by Mrs. Chase, herself one of our
earliest and most honored laborers. From this address we are
permitted to make a few extracts.
It is very significant that at any time during these twenty years of
your life here, it would have been just as delightful to meet and say
the pleasant words that leap to our lips, as it is to say them to-day.
You, whom we delight to honor this afternoon, have held the same post
of honor all these years, but many of us do not know how delightfully
you hold that place, so I, who have known you so long, am asked to
explain, and if this hasty sketch seems too flattering to be given in
your presence, I fear you alone are responsible. If you had put less
into your life for us to admire, we could put less into our expression
of admiration.
We know how you lost early a good mother, and that your father was
taken when you were only eighteen; but the missionary spirit of that
father was repeated in the daughter. We know of your being discouraged
by a missionary Board because applying so young, but of your being
finally accepted, and going to Hampton, reaching that now famous
school even before the veteran--General Armstrong.
Then came the year of teaching at Charleston, a year so full of
privations in those pioneer days, that though repeated calls came to
you from Florida and Georgia, as well as the old fields, you shrank
from farther hardships and decided to remain at home, till one Sunday
morning in Connecticut, twenty years ago, these words were unfolded in
a sermon, "Simon, Son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Yea, Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my Lambs." How easy
it is for us now to see the beautiful Providence of those wonderful
words finding a swift response in your heart and bringing you at once
to Atlanta. There are those before me now that greeted you then in
Storrs School. How {pg 200} much we might say of that eventful year
when you worked beyond your strength to fit the "A" class for Atlanta
University. We can hardly see how it could have been otherwise than
that the next year you should come to us, the bride of our beloved
President. But position brought no exemption from hard work to either
of you royal workers.
We shall never forget what hosts of friends have been won for the
school by your ready pen and stirring words. And during those sixteen
memorable foundation years of our school, which are so rapidly passing
into history, who can ever know how much of their grand success was
due to you for your devotion to him who created Atlanta University,
and made it what it is? We may know in that "day when He makes up his
jewels."
* * * * *
THREE COMMENCEMENTS.
BY A VISITOR.
It has been my privilege to attend in succession the anniversary
exercises at Hampton, Va., Atlanta, Ga., and Howard University,
Washington, D.C. Hampton, as usual, welcomed a crowd of visitors, and
among these a number of distinguished men--Governor Lee of Virginia,
and Senator Dawes, being those most widely known. The visitor sees
here the magical touch of genius in these large and commodious
buildings, the schools, the shops, the houses, the cottages, and,
crowning all, the stately chapel. The plat of the village in which
these are congregated realizes the words,
"A mighty maze and not without a plan."
The effect of the whole, threaded by winding roads, shaded by trees,
and interspersed with gardens and shrubs, is picturesque and
practically convenient. The main value of Hampton, however, is found
in what is done _within_ these buildings--the teaching, the
industries, the making of character.
The graduating exercises were the great attraction. The addresses and
papers of the pupils did not, perhaps, as a whole, quite come up to
what we have heard in other years, but all were good and some of them
of great excellence. One is always impressed at Hampton with the tone
and local coloring of the addresses. They are tinged and touched by
the work done here, and the races for and by whom it is done. The
titles of some of the pieces show this: "What is expected of a Hampton
Graduate." "Hampton Girls." "Mission Work in Tennessee." "Way down in
Georgia." "Progress of the Oneidas." Of the same sort was the closing
tableau, "The Great Father and his Children," a representation by
Indian students, with the implements or products of the industries
they have learned, applying to the Great Father for admission to his
country. The exercises were closed by eloquent addresses, given by
Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, of New York, one of the Trustees, Governor Lee, of
Virginia, and Senator Dawes.
{pg 201}
Atlanta University now welcomes its visitors to its
beautiful green lawns and fields, which were once red clay washed into
deep gullies. The buildings are convenient and well-kept. The
Baccalaureate sermon, delivered by Professor Francis, was very
appropriate and touching. The commencement exercises were held on
Monday, May 28th, and were attended by a vast concourse of people,
many going away because the building, though large, could not give
them room. The aisles were crowded through all the services. The
audiences were, as usual, made up mostly of colored people.
Heretofore, at times, the dignitaries of the State and city have
graced the platform, but Governor Gordon was out of town, and,
perhaps, if he had been at home, he would not have attended. The
recent excitement about the Glenn Bill, and the withdrawal of the
$8,000, the annual grant of the State, have left the relations
somewhat strained. There is, however, no excitement on that subject.
The State authorities have not yet decided what to do with the fund,
and in the meantime, the University goes quietly forward with its
work. Prof. Bumstead has just succeeded in raising the $16,000
necessary to meet the current expenses of the year.
At the anniversary exercises there were no graduates from the college
department this year. Thirteen pupils, all girls, from the normal
department, read their essays and received their certificates of
graduation. The number of the class is supposed to be unfortunate,
but there was nothing amiss in the quality of the essays they read.
They were all good, but the absence of any male voice left the class
somewhat in the condition of a choir without a baas. There was a
noticeable difference in one respect between the essays on this
occasion and those at Hampton. Here there was no local or race
tone. If I had closed my eyes, I might have thought myself at the
anniversary of a Ladies' Seminary at the North. Scarcely a word or
allusion indicated that these girls belonged to the colored race, and
for that matter their faces scarcely showed it, for the white blood
largely preponderated in most of them. I can well understand why these
pupils should prefer to stand forth not as a distinct race, but as
American and Christian girls. Perhaps that is the higher wisdom, but
it makes the anniversary less distinctive, and inspires less sympathy
and enthusiasm. These girls were plainly dressed, and in that respect
would differ greatly from the graduating class in a Northern Female
Seminary, but they would have no occasion to shrink from a comparison
with their Northern sisters, if propriety of deportment, and
excellence and force of writing were considered.
At the Howard University, we had the opportunity of attending only the
exercises of the graduating class in college. This institution has a
good claim to its title as a University, for it has collegiate,
medical, theological, law and normal departments. The anniversaries of
the theological and medical departments had been held a few days
previously in {pg 202} churches down in the city, and were attended,
as we understand, by large audiences. The college anniversary, on the
other hand, was held in the college chapel, which, while it was well
filled, contained a relatively small audience, and this was made up
mostly of colored people. We hardly appreciate this discrimination as
to the places of holding these anniversaries, for the orations in the
chapel were of a high order, and might well have attracted the
attention of members of Congress and of the numerous visitors in the
crowded city. The graduating class consisted of six persons, one being
a lady and she the only one of the class without apparent admixture of
white blood. The addresses were all orations, and resembled somewhat
the essays in the Atlanta school in presenting almost no touch or
tone of race or local surroundings, the lady's being almost the
only exception. I could not avoid the conviction, that if these
well-trained minds had thrown themselves into topics more nearly
related to their own life and race struggle, there would have been
more fervor in the oratory. But some of these graduates will yet be
heard from as useful laborers in some fields of active Christian work.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
NOTES IN THE SADDLE.
BY REV. C.J. RYDER, DISTRICT SECRETARY.
I promised, in my February "Notes in the Saddle," to give a brief
account of the mountain campaign which had then just closed. It was
full of most interesting experiences. We began the series of meetings
in the Congregational Church, Jellico, Tenn. The Association was
represented by one of its Corresponding Secretaries, a District
Secretary, and the writer. Beside these brethren from abroad, the
local force of A.M.A. workers was large, and several neighboring
churches of our Congregational faith sent their pastors.
At Jellico, the A.M.A. has planted both a church and a school, and
built a meeting house. The interesting series of meetings, which began
at Jellico, was for the purpose of dedicating the neat Congregational
churches recently built by the Association along this line of
railroad. Preaching services were held every afternoon and evening,
the company of ministers taking turns, as they pushed on from one
church to another. These churches are at Jellico, Pleasant View,
South Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Woodbine, Rockhold and Corbin.
Congregationalism, through the A.M.A., has taken possession of this
whole region in the name of Christ. We can easily hold it in the
interests of broad and evangelical Christianity, if our older
Congregational churches in the East and North arouse themselves to
meet the pressing exigencies, and realize the splendid {pg 203}
possibilities that lie before them in this field _to-day_, but which
will be denied them in the near future.
One very interesting feature of these meetings was the dedication of
a chapel which has been recently added to the Williamsburg church,
and which is used for the infant class of the Sunday-school. This
class had outgrown all the accommodations of the church, in connection
with the other departments of the Sunday-school. It had become a
Sunday-school of itself. This chapel was, therefore, built and
publicly set aside for the service of these little folks.
During these meetings, our honored Corresponding Secretary and
District Secretary pushed through the storms and forded mountain
streams together with the other brethren, that they might keep the
appointments which had been made for them. Dr. Roy's stereopticon
views, which have interested and instructed so many audiences in the
North, he used with great profit during this mountain campaign.
* * * * *
Two men called upon Brother Myers, our general missionary in this
mountain region, and requested that he and the writer visit the field,
some fourteen miles away, from which they had come that morning. They
told a thrillingly interesting story of how God's Spirit had entered
their hearts, and stirred them up to desire better things for their
children and their community than they had enjoyed. One of them was a
son of a French Catholic mother, and had early adopted her faith. His
life had been wild and reckless, until he found the Saviour in a
meeting led by an A.M.A. missionary. He was an intelligent man of some
education. He found others ready to join him in a movement for the
elevation of the people. They established a church and organized a
Sunday-school. We pushed over the mountain on horseback, after the
other visiting brethren had left the mountain region, to inspect
personally this field. We found it even as the men had represented it
to be. A little church had been organized and Sunday-school gathered.
I could learn of no other Sunday-school in that region. I heard
afterwards, that one of the old-time preachers warned the people
against the Sunday-school, saying, "It war a heap worse than a dancing
place." This same preacher had a vision, and gave an account of it to
his people. "Two devils," he said, "had been in that country getting
up some sort of an institution that they called a church." He warned
his people against them.
The two men who visited us at Jellico, together with others who had
joined with them in this effort to Christianize and educate this
community, we found busy on a hillside, laying the foundations of the
new "church house." They were enthusiastic in this new movement, which
promised so much to their community. They had drawn up a confession of
faith and covenant, which were evangelical and Congregational. They
reported {pg 204} three thousand people living in the coves and
valleys radiating from the point upon which they had planted their
"church house," absolutely without intelligent Christian instruction
of any kind. There were hundreds of square miles without a church
building of any denomination. This little company had been stirred up
by God's Spirit, and were almost starving for spiritual food. There
was a pathos even in their peculiar mountain vernacular, as one of
them said to me, "I don't understand scarcely a word you uns say. I'm
too old to larn now. I'se done left. But I does want my chilluns to
know somethin'. I tell you, I'd sell my old farm down in the cove so's
to help my chilluns to know somethin'." What a tremendous appeal this
is from the very heart of our country! All they asked was one hundred
dollars, to help them build this Congregational "church house" by the
side of Hickory Creek.
* * * * *
While writing these "Notes," there comes flashing over the wires,
the news of this horrible crime committed upon the person of Prof.
G.W. Lawrence, at Jellico. I remember a conversation I had with Mr.
Lawrence during this campaign of which I have been writing. He had
just been offered an important and lucrative position as teacher in
the North. He was a young man of only limited means, and felt almost
that he _must_ go. I told him we could not offer him _financial_
inducements to remain, but it seemed to me that the Lord had called
him to that work, and I did not know where we could find a man to fill
his place. "Very well," he replied, "I will remain." The Christian
hero that he was, he went patiently forward in this self-sacrificing
labor. Now, he has fallen by the hand of a brutal assassin! This awful
crime emphasizes the importance of this work, and calls aloud to us to
send _more_ Christian missionaries into this field, until Christian
light shall displace the darkness of semi-barbarism.
* * * * *
Turning a moment from the field in which our missions are planted,
to that from which they are supported, I give three interesting
incidents. In a New England church two young girls came forward after
hearing the story of the A.M.A. work in the dark places of our
country, and pledged fourteen dollars, which they had themselves
gathered by the sale of articles which they had made. A good example.
Another little girl, not ten years old, had one dollar which she had
been saving for sometime. It was her total bank credit. When she heard
of our pressing needs, she slipped her dollar into my hand, asking
that it be spent for the poor children in our field.
A woman, for years an A.M.A. teacher, but now a bed-ridden invalid,
pledges $100 to the work of the Association. What can we not do when
there is so much of Christian self-sacrifice in both departments of
our field?
{pg 205}
* * * * *
ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES AT GREGORY INSTITUTE.
WILMINGTON, N.C.
Our anniversary really began May 18, for on the evening of that date
were held the public exercises of the "Gregory Band of Hope." There
are at least 160 members of this Band and they hold fortnightly
meetings.
One of the principal lessons which has to be impressed upon these
children, is the sacredness of the pledge. We feel sure that much has
been gained in this direction the past year. There were those who
would come forward and manfully confess when they had violated any
condition of the pledge. But the good done to the children is not the
only benefit. Through these children, the parents become interested in
temperance. One little boy said, "Since I joined the Band of Hope I
got my papa and mamma to join the pledge too." Many families were
represented by either father or mother, and in many cases by both.
This topic is destined very soon to be of paramount importance in the
training of the colored people.
The week beginning May 21 was given up to examinations. The pupils
have in the main done well. Many of them in advancement and aptness
will compare well with white children. By reason of a re-arrangement
in the course of study, there was no graduating class this year.
However, on the evening of May 25, we had an exhibition given by the
scholars. The stage at the back was prettily draped with the national
colors, and flowers were scattered in profusion everywhere. At the
appointed hour the room was filled with the parents of the pupils and
other friends of the schools. The programme was a miscellaneous one,
made up of tableaux, songs, dialogues and recitations. Some of these
reflected great credit upon the pupils and their teachers. I say
_some_ of them, because some parts were rendered so excellently as to
astonish one who did not expect anything _very_ good from negro
scholars. One beautiful scene was, "Winding the May Pole," by twelve
little girls dressed in white. Another striking piece was, "What
Alcohol has done for the Nations." Different persons in appropriate
costume represented the various nations of Europe and one represented
Africa, each in a short speech stating what havoc alcohol had made.
One young lad caused a good deal of merriment in declaiming "Theology
at the Quarters," in which he drew a picture of the candidate for
heaven being subjected to a close examination before he could be
admitted through the "_Alaplaster_ gate." "The questions," said the
declaimer, "you must answer mighty straight. And de _watermillion_
question gwine to cause a heap o' trouble." When one of these colored
people declaims in the Negro dialect, it is a treat. There is nothing
artificial about it.
The year has been a prosperous one. The school-rooms have been crowded
to their utmost capacity. 312 different pupils have attended during
some part of the year, and average daily attendance has been 230.
{pg 206} Excellent progress has been made. Another teacher is needed.
More and more are the colored people awakening to their real
need--deliverance from the bonds of ignorance. You older people in the
North gave your sons to free the slave from human task-masters. We who
have arisen since the war look upon that as the noblest sacrifice
which the history of our country presents. But there still remains the
great problem of freeing the black man from the slavery of ignorance,
superstition and sin. The work increases upon our hands. The South is
struggling to rise. It has this problem of illiteracy to settle. We
who have grown since the war could not carry a musket in '62, but we
are willing to carry the Speller and the Bible now, and we do not
consider this work one whit less honorable or necessary than the art
of war. Do you?
Wilmington is a city with a population of 25,000. It is estimated that
14,000 of this is colored. Business is increasing fast and population
is gaining proportionately. How what is the import of all this? Large
numbers of colored people will be attracted here. It will be an
objective point for educational work among them. If we already have
300 pupils, the opportunity will then be enlarged many fold. But even
now we need more help. Cannot the friends at home enter upon a course
of self-denial to extend us a little aid?
G.S.R.
* * * * *
A DAY AT TOUGALOO.
_Special Correspondence of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat._
Jackson, Miss., May 26.--While the white Mississippians were laying
the corner stone of a Confederate monument at Jackson, the black
Mississippians were holding the closing exercises of their university
at Tougaloo, only seven miles away.
TOUGALOO TO-DAY.
For a wonder the war spared Tougaloo. Less pretentious houses within
sight of it were fired and destroyed by roving squads. But the
mansion, in the midst of a grand grove of oaks, stood intact. When the
war was over, the American Missionary Association acquired 500 acres
of the estate, including the mansion.
At the beginning the building afforded accommodations for both
teachers and students. But at present the mansion is used for the
offices of the institution and for class rooms. Tougaloo has developed
into one of the largest institutions for colored youth in the South.
The mansion, which was the nucleus, is now only one of half a dozen
large structures. To the north of it is Strieby Hall, a long
three-story brick structure. The clay was dug, the brick made, and the
walls laid, chiefly by student labor. To the south is another
three-story dormitory. Another notable {pg 207} structure in the
group is the Ballard School Building, every nail in which was driven
by the students. About these larger buildings are grouped the Ballard
Industrial shops and cottages.
Three hundred and twenty-six students were enrolled at Tougaloo the
past year. The steady growth in the attendance more than keeps pace
with the increase in accommodations. They come from all parts of
Mississippi, Yazoo County of terrible memories furnishing a
representation notable for its numbers. Arkansas, Louisiana and
Tennessee are represented.
A MISSISSIPPI MYSTERY.
Nowhere in the South is the negro so totally a nonentity in politics
as in Mississippi, and yet nowhere in the South is there a colored
institution so heartily commended as is Tougaloo University by the
white Mississippians. This seems odd, hardly credible. Tougaloo is not
a State institution. Mississippi has a system of instruction including
a normal school and other departments for colored youth. And yet every
Legislature makes an appropriation for Tougaloo. The institution's
management reports the use made of the money, and the Governor
appoints a Board of Visitors. This is the extent of State supervision,
and still Mississippi continues to make biennially an appropriation
for the university. The last Legislature cut down the amount somewhat,
but it cut some of the white institutions worse than it did Tougaloo.
Perhaps a stronger evidence of the esteem in which this university is
held by white Mississippi is the social consideration bestowed upon
those connected with the institution. The prejudice which ostracises
"a nigger teacher" and which is so pronounced in most communities
where there is a colored institution, is rarely observable here. On
the Board of Visitors are men of the highest standing, like Col. J.L.
Power, for almost a lifetime the head of the _Clarion_; Oliver
Clifton, the Clerk of the Supreme Court, and F.A. Wolfe, the former
Superintendent of Education. Mr. W.S. Lemly, one of the leading
business men of Jackson, is a member of the Board of Trustees. To
visit Tougaloo is not to lose caste in Jackson society, but is
altogether a proper thing to do.
Of course there is an explanation for this. White Mississippians are
much like white Georgians or white Carolinians in their views on the
race problem and on negro education. Tougaloo's peculiar relation to
the white people must be accounted for by the features in which it
differs from other colored institutions maintained by Northern
societies.
THE SECRET OF IT.
The Rev. Frank G. Woodworth, President of the university, was asked
how he accounted for the exceptional esteem in which Tougaloo is held.
His reply was: "I think the attention which we give to industrial
education has a great deal to do with it. That, and the preparation of
teachers, {pg 208} are two things which we make most prominent in our
work. The white people can see the good effects of the training we
give so plainly that they feel the work we are doing is good."
This view of President Woodworth was abundantly confirmed by
subsequent inquiries among white Mississippians. It is the industrial
education the negroes are receiving there which so thoroughly commends
the university to the dominant race. The shops are considered fully
as important as the class rooms at Tougaloo. Carpentry, painting,
tinning, blacksmithing and wagon-making are taught, not only the
rudiments, but to the extent of turning out finished workmen. The
shops were built by the students and are admirably equipped with
tools. Wagons from the Tougaloo apprentices sell for $60 in Jackson,
and are preferred to the product of first-class wagon-makers.
The desk at which I sit, and which will compare with skilled work
anywhere, was made by one of our students. In the blacksmithing and
wagon-making they learn to take iron and wood in the rough and turn
out a good, substantial wagon. The value to the colored youth of such
training can hardly be over-estimated. They are trained to do skilled
work, to be self-reliant and self-supporting.
THE FARM SCHOOL.
But teaching the trades is but part of the system of industrial
education at Tougaloo. Each boy is required to work at least one hour
a day on the university farm. For all work over that hour the student
receives pay, the highest allowance being 7c. an hour. The farm is not
run to make money, but to educate. The idea is to make the operation
of the farm an object lesson to the students in the better methods of
agriculture and stock raising. Several students, enough to take care
of the steady and continuous farm work, are employed all day on the
farm and attend the night school, but the bulk of the farm labor comes
from the students, who give from one to several hours to it outside of
school. Last year the farm was run with but one man outside of the
student help. The boys, while getting their book learning, tilled
eighty-five acres of corn, fifteen acres of oats, with a second crop
of peas, seventeen acres of cotton, eight acres of peas, three acres
of sorghum, two acres of garden and five acres of berries and orchard.
The stock cared for included 100 head of blooded cattle, forty sheep
and forty swine. The farm furnished the boarding department 14,000
pounds of beef and pork, 84,476 pounds of milk, and other products in
proportion. The university farm stock has a reputation State-wide, and
the exhibits are features of the annual fairs held at Jackson. While
every boy in the institution has to do some daily work on the farm,
there is set apart for the ninth grade a special course of a year in
agricultural instruction designed to make good, practical farmers of
those who take it. So much for the boys.
{pg 209}
The girls get their full share of industrial training at Tougaloo.
They have daily instruction in some branch of household duty, ranging
from dish-washing to canning and preserving. Sewing is taught from the
plain darning and mending to fitting and dressmaking according to the
latest fashion plates. It has come to be well understood that the
Mississippi lady of a house who gets one of the trained students from
Tougaloo has "a perfect treasure."
THE STUDY OF HOUSEKEEPING.
One of the latest additions to the system of industrial training
for girls at the university is a novelty. A cottage has been set
apart--four girls are assigned to it for a month at a time. There they
"keep house" in all details. They not only sweep and clean and cook,
but they buy their supplies, keep account of all household expenses,
and manage as they will have to do when they get homes of their own.
A matron looks closely after the cottage feature, which is intended
to teach neatness and economy and to develop executive ability.
With Tougaloo doing such a work as this, how could the white
Mississippians feel otherwise than kindly toward her. The cry has been
that "education ruins the nigger." It has been asserted over and
over--so many times that most Southerners believe it as true as
gospel--that higher education makes a negro too proud to work. But
here is an education the very central idea of which is work--work with
the hands and the eyes. Here is a university which gives to the State
skilled mechanics vastly superior to those who "pick up" their trades;
farmers who can make two bolls of cotton grow where one grew before;
stockraisers who know all the fine points of the various breeds.
Governor Lowry could well say in his last message to the Mississippi
Legislature:
"This university, by its successful management, commends itself to
your favorable consideration."
At the closing exercises of the year yesterday, Tougaloo took another
step forward. Instead of turning out a class of graduates, the
management increased the course and raised the standard. An
institution which does that is certainly progressive.
Two of the notable things on the programme were an essay by Lucy
Jenkins, on "What Tougaloo Does for the Girls," and an oration by
James Miller on "Industrial Education." Both of them were well
considered, well written and well delivered. The essayist and the
orator were black, not yellow. Their efforts would have done credit
to Anglo-Saxons of corresponding age, North or South. As for the
musical part of the programme--ah, there was melody indeed.
A negro boy named Scott, with all the features of the African strongly
marked, executed a difficult solo with an artistic appreciation which
would have brought enthusiastic plaudits from an audience of critics.
{pg 210}
A TRUE FRIEND OF THE RACE.
And then the Rev. Dr. William Hayne Leavell, of Meridian, arose to
deliver the annual address. What a contrast! Dr. Leavell is a South
Carolinian by birth and a relative of the great Nullifier Hayne. He
comes of one of the proud old Southern families and has the highest
social connections. He stands six feet high, a magnificent specimen of
physical manhood, and as chock full of moral courage as he is of blue
blood. This man left his home, declined an invitation to participate
in the Confederate corner-stone ceremonies, and devoted his birthday
anniversary to Tougaloo. Dr. Leavell is a son-in-law of United States
Senator George, of Mississippi. He is the man who delivered an address
before the Mississippi Legislature last winter, and denounced as
cowards, men who go about with pistols in their hip pockets. And when
the blank looks of amazement went round he rubbed his sentiments in on
the Mississippians and their folly, of making themselves walking
shooting galleries. Coming before the students of Tougaloo yesterday,
Dr. Leavell said:
"My interest in you, in this whole work, grows out of a memory. Your
fathers were the servants of my fathers. I remember that in 1861, when
I was a very small boy, the sound of war went through this land. My
father, kinsmen and friends went forth to battle to keep your fathers
in servitude. I remember that not a few of your fathers knew what that
war meant--that if my fathers succeeded, your fathers would be kept in
servitude forever and my fathers would remain the master class. All
the men that could protect the women and children were away. The
fathers and brothers and friends were away fighting. We were in the
power of your fathers and of some of you gray-headed people that I
see. I remember that when they returned from that war your fathers
gave back to mine the women and children without a hair of their heads
having been harmed. I have remembered this with deep gratitude; and
ever since that time I have felt a deep interest in you. It is
therefore, that I have come in response to the call to be here
to-day."
THE ONLY LOGICAL RESULT.
He proceeded at considerable length with such earnest advice as he
might have given to the assembled students of a white university on
commencement day. After a time he touched upon the special condition
which his audience presented.
"I know," said he, "of no people who have ever lived with a more
difficult problem before them. You have before you the duty of saving
yourselves. Mark what I tell you, no man of another race ever saved a
people. Some man of you, or of your race, has got to go with the
pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, and, like Moses, lead
you.
"God knows many a man of my race has given his life and service for
{pg 211} yours. And not only these men who fought at the end of a gun
to make you free have given their lives for you, but some of us from
the South, who stood with breasts bared to the bayonets of those who
were marching forward to the support of a great principle. We are
anxious now to do all we can for your advancement. But we of the white
race may do our best. After all we have done for you, it is as when
a man goes with a friend to the brink of the grave; he can go no
further. There is a limit beyond which we cannot go for you, no matter
how great our interest in you. Some man with a skin darker than mine
must take up the work and carry it on."
He said not a word about politics, but later in the day the question
was put to him privately: