VOL. XXXII. No. 10.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
OCTOBER, 1878.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
FINANCIAL 289
OUR ANNUAL MEETING.—THE ROMAN CATHOLICS AMONG THE
FREEDMEN 290
THE YELLOW FEVER 291
A FOUL CHANCE AND A FAIR CHANCE.—INDIAN AGENTS 292
“INDIAN WARS” 293
AN INDIAN HYMN-BOOK 294
INDIAN STUDENTS.—THE WET SEASON ON THE WEST COAST 295
PARAGRAPHS 296
ITEMS FROM CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.—GENERAL NOTES 297
OUR QUERY COLUMN 300
THE PRESS.
UNCLE REMUS’ REVIVAL HYMN.—A BIT OF HISTORY 301
THE FREEDMEN.
GEORGIA—Brunswick—Risley School Exhibition 303
ALABAMA—Wanted, a Barn: Rev. E. P. Lord 303
TEXAS—The Southwest Texas Congregational Association:
Rev. B. C. Church 304
KENTUCKY—A Vacant Church—The National Problem: Rev.
John G. Fee 305
AFRICA.
THE MENDI MISSION: Rev. Floyd Snelson and Mr. E.
White 306, 307
THE INDIANS.
S’KOKOMISH RESERVATION: Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D. D. 307
GREEN BAY AGENCY: Jos. C. Bridgman, Esq. 310
THE CHINESE.
MORE ABOUT A MISSION AT HONG KONG: Rev. W. C. Pond 311
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE 313
RECEIPTS 315
WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 318
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
Rooms, 56 Reade Street.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
* * * * *
A. Anderson, Printer, 23 to 27 Vandewater St.
_American Missionary Association_,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Rev. JONATHAN BLANCHARD, Ill.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
Rev. SILAS MCKEEN, D. D., Vt.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
Rev. D. M. GRAHAM, D. D., Mich.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Ct.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. EDWARD L. CLARK, N. Y.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Rev. H. M. PARSONS, N. Y.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN WHITING, Mass.
Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago, Ill._
EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
EDWARD BEECHER,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
A. P. FOSTER,
E. A. GRAVES,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAM’L HOLMES,
S. S. JOCELYN,
ANDREW LESTER,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to
either of the Secretaries as above.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill.
Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his
order as _Assistant Treasurer_.
A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each
letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in
which it is located.
* * * * *
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXII. OCTOBER, 1878. NO. 10.
* * * * *
_American Missionary Association._
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FINANCIAL.
When this number of the MISSIONARY reaches our readers, our fiscal
year (closing Sept. 30) will be nearly ended. By careful economy
for two years past, we kept our current expenses within our
receipts, and we hope that the receipts of this month will make
this the _third_ year in which our expenditures will not add a
dollar to our debt.
Our _debt_ is now our great solicitude. Last year it was reduced,
by the sale of stocks, etc., from $93,232.99 to $62,816.90. This
year we have received to September 1, in cash, $14,108.22, and
in pledges (partly conditioned) $7,550, making $21,658.22, thus
reducing the amount—if the pledges are paid—to $41,158.68. Shall
not an effort, so nobly begun, be pushed forward to completion?
We feel called upon, as never before, to urge the wiping out of
this debt. We have retrenched in office expenses, and have been
very guarded in annual appropriations, that it might be paid.
Generous doners have given liberally—some of their abundance—more
of their poverty—and the amount is reduced within grasp. We have
rejoiced that the liberality of the churches and individuals have,
in one month, by special efforts, well-nigh relieved a sister
society—the honored American Board—of a balance on its annual
appropriation of $80,000. A little more than half that amount, if
given to the A. M. A., will pay off the remainder of a debt that
has hung upon it as an incubus for ten years. The payment of that
debt will honor the cause of the Master; it will unfetter our
hands; it will cheer us and our friends for future work; it will
be a boon to the ignorant and needy masses for whom we labor. We
appeal to the wealthy, the liberal, the self-denying, to all who
love God and His poor, to make a final effort, by special gifts, to
reach an object so near at hand and so important.
Our books will be closed promptly Sept. 30, for current receipts
and expenditures, but for _receipts for debt_ they will be kept
open till after the Annual Meeting; and we trust that meeting will
have the joy and glory of announcing the complete extinction of the
debt.
* * * * *
OUR ANNUAL MEETING.
The Thirty-second Annual Meeting of the American Missionary
Association will be held in the Broadway Congregational Church,
Taunton, Mass., October 29–31. The meeting will be organized on
Tuesday, at three o’clock P. M., and at half-past seven o’clock
in the evening the annual sermon will be preached by Rev. S. E.
Herrick, D. D., of Boston. On Wednesday, papers will be read by
Rev. George Leon Walker, D. D., and others. Wednesday evening will
be occupied with addresses and reminiscences by present and former
missionaries of the A. M. A. Thursday will be devoted to reports of
committees and discussions of the work.
The meeting will close Thursday evening, with addresses from able
and distinguished speakers, to be named hereafter.
The people of Taunton will undertake to entertain all the friends
who may attend the meetings. Those desiring hospitality can address
Charles H. Atwood, Esq., until Sept. 20th. Return cards, assigning
places, will be duly sent.
* * * * *
THE ROMAN CATHOLICS AMONG THE FREEDMEN.
The _Independent_ closes a careful and, in the main, accurate
summary of the work of Christian education among the negroes, with
a view of what the Roman Catholics are doing. After speaking of
the large estimates of money expended, and pupils taught by that
church, it says:
“Nothing approaching a confirmation of these estimates has been
brought to our notice. We have carefully examined the Roman
Catholic papers with reference to this subject for a year past,
and have been able to glean from them only the most barren record
of facts and isolated movements.... We believe that, if the
Roman Catholics really had facts to prove that they have made
the progress they claim to have made, they would not hesitate to
publish them conspicuously. As they fail to produce them, we are
contented to believe, for the present, that they are doing no
more than their fair share of the work, if so much, and receiving
no more than their share of the conversions.”
In a later issue, the same paper says:
“We are glad to have been able to capture and expose the
spectre which has been frightening Protestants so much. We
mean the wholesale conversion of negroes to Catholicism. In a
recent article in our ‘Religious Intelligence’ we gave all the
information we could gather about the extent and results of
Catholic missions among the freedmen, and there was nothing in it
to alarm or annoy anybody. The _Catholic Review_ quotes liberally
from the article, and virtually concedes the accuracy of our
statements in the following sentences:
“‘Like our contemporary, we have noticed the “extravagant
estimates” to which it refers; but we never happened to
notice their having been made by any Catholic authority
whatever. They usually make their appearance in papers
of the _Christian Advocate_ stamp, and are employed as a
stimulus to rouse missionary zeal in people who are much
more readily moved to give money by their hatred of Popery
than by their love for what they believe to be the truth
taught by our Divine Lord. The _Independent_ wants facts to
substantiate these boastings. We suggest that it can always
be accommodated with facts enough to substantiate the truth
of whatever assertions are actually made by our missionaries.
They can hardly be held responsible for any wild stories
which other people may circulate at their expense.’
“Those who have been most troubled by reports of the gains of
Catholicism among the negroes may give to the winds their fears.”
We, too, have been for more than a year making special inquiries.
We have read the large estimates, which have been through the
newspapers, of money expended, and pupils taught. The statement
that $600,000 in gold (nearly one million dollars in our currency)
was given to this work by the Propaganda at Rome, in 1867, and
that, in the same year, sixty-six priests landed in New Orleans
to undertake missionary work among the blacks, we trace to the
_Christian Intelligencer_ of that year.
The fact is, that it is extremely difficult to get at accurate and
authorized statements in regard to all Roman Catholic missions.
Their funds are not raised by appeals, based on special needs or
special encouragements, or addressed to the general public; and
their policy is one of quiet foundation-laying, rather than of
demonstrative up-building. It is not an easy task, even, to secure
reliable information of what they are doing here at our doors, or
behind their own.
Recognizing this difficulty, we are not ready to agree with the
_Independent_ that, if the Roman Catholics had facts to prove, they
would not hesitate to publish them conspicuously. Nor are we ready
yet to congratulate ourselves that we “have been able to capture
and expose the spectre,” while we are obliged to confess that we
have not had it in our grasp sufficiently to take the measure of
its outlines, or tell its height and girth.
A careful reading of the ‘virtual concession’ of the _Catholic
Review_ makes it amount to virtually nothing, except an ingenious
evasion of responsibility for any statements which may have
been made. It does not even say that the estimates have been
extravagant, but uses that expression as a quotation from the
_Independent_. It only suggests that assertions actually made by
missionaries (who are careful not to make assertions) can always be
substantiated.
We would merely caution the friend of the negro, and those who
fear the influence of Romanism over him, that an argument based on
ignorance is not very securely founded. And, while we would not
have _omne ignotum pro magnifico_, or believe because the spectre
is vague, it must be very large; on the other hand, we would not
say of one whose wont is to hide itself, “Because we cannot dissect
it, it is nothing.”
* * * * *
THE YELLOW FEVER.
The yellow fever, in its ravages in the South, pays no regard to
race, color or previous condition. Whites and blacks alike have
suffered from its sudden and malignant attacks. Death levels all
distinctions. The statement which has been often made, that the
negroes are proof against this pestilence, seems to have been
ill-based, as intelligent observers of its ravages in former years
utterly contradict it. At any rate, it is not true of this year’s
scourge.
Quite opposite assertions have been made in regard to the conduct
of the blacks during the panic which this deathly visitor has
occasioned. So contradictory, in fact, that we suspect the truth
to be that they have acted very much like white people of the
same intelligence. Some have stood at their posts, and done noble
work as nurses, as ministers, and in humbler stations. And some,
doubtless, like those of other races, have been carried by their
fears away from the most sacred of duties.
How has it affected our work? Of course, our schools in the
South are closed during the hot months, and most of the teachers
and white pastors are in the North. Straight University, at New
Orleans, La., is closed, and Rev. Mr. Alexander, the pastor of
the church, is at his New England home. At Grenada, Miss., which
has been almost depopulated by the fever, we had a school. The
two teachers, however, we believe went to the country before the
pestilence reached that beautiful town. The only one of our workers
whom we know to have been stricken down is Rev. W. W. Mallory, the
colored pastor of the church at Memphis, Tenn., who was still sick
at our last advices. We have reason to hope for his recovery and
restoration to full health.
We have transmitted some sums of money which have been put into our
hands for special relief to the suffering colored people of these
infected districts, to which we have added what we felt justified
in doing from the funds of the Association.
But the peril is not over yet. Many days must intervene before the
thrice welcome frosts may be expected to kill the germs of this
fell disease, and famine always comes in the train of continued
pestilence. It is the Lord’s work to avert suffering and relieve
physical want. May the fountains of charity, which have been opened
so freely through the land, continue to flow increasingly until
there shall be no more thirst.
* * * * *
A FOUL CHANCE AND A FAIR CHANCE.
A correspondent writes us upon the subject of how the freedman is
getting on, as follows:
“On my way up the Mississippi, between the States of Arkansas and
Mississippi, I fell into conversation with a planter living on the
right bank of the river, and, after the manner of all Yankees,
asked him how the negroes were getting on. He was a short, chunky,
red-faced man, and his account was gloomy in the extreme. He said
that he would not undertake to tell me all the trouble he had with
his ‘help,’ for, if he did, I would not believe him at all. He
said that he could not advance them anything at the beginning of
the season, for fear of their running away and leaving him without
hands in time of harvest; that they were so lazy that all they
cared for was to get bread and meat for the least possible amount
of work; that, although all his hands were deacons or preachers
or ‘exalters,’ they stole so that he could not raise any pigs or
chickens; that the members of the church were more licentious than
the ‘world’s people’; that they got angry and burned his gin-house
every year, etc., etc. He was the first man that I had met, during
a residence of nine years at the South, who would admit that he was
sorry the slaves had been made free.
“On my way down the river, at about the same point, I had a
conversation upon the same subject with a man residing on the other
bank. He was a tall gentleman of fine form, with an intellectual,
genial, open face. In reply to my inquiries, he said the freedmen
were doing first-rate; were industrious, honest, temperate and
moral; were acquiring property in stock, tools and land; and he
found free labor more easily managed and more profitable than slave
labor. I referred to the conversation I had with his Mississippi
neighbor on my way up, and asked him why their reports were so
different. With a good deal of animation and emphasis, he replied:
‘I can tell you why it is: I just give my niggers a chance, and
he doesn’t. He has always brought them out in debt to him at the
end of every year, and has crushed out all their enterprise and
ambition, so that, as he says, the problem with them is how to
get a bare living with the least possible amount of work. All the
nigger wants is a fair chance.’”
* * * * *
INDIAN AGENTS.
Under the Peace Policy, the Government has entrusted to the
American Missionary Association the nomination of six Indian
agents. Vacancies in these occur from time to time, and
applications for nominations are desired. One vacancy now exists.
These Indian agencies afford an admirable opportunity for
usefulness to the right persons; but they are not sinecures for
incompetent men—whether laymen or ministers. It is desirable that
the applicant have some knowledge of farming and the simpler
mechanic arts, but it is essential that he present the best
of credentials as to _piety, integrity, business capacity and
experience, and ability to influence masses of men_.
The salary ranges from $1,000 to $2,000 per annum, according to
the responsibilities and duties of the agencies. Bonds for the
faithful performance of duty will be required by the government,
varying from $15,000 to $20,000.
Applications or inquiries may be addressed to Rev. M. E. Strieby,
56 Reade Street, New York.
* * * * *
“INDIAN WARS.”
And so the latest Indian War is over! It is absurd to call such
chases and skirmishes by so dignified a name. Small bands of ten,
twenty, sometimes a hundred or two outlaws in revolt, are hunted
to death or surrender in the wildernesses of the Far West. We
call them nations, and this undignified pursuit a war. It is, in
reality, only the same thing which is continually being done in
our great cities by the police. Law-breakers, and men who avenge
their own wrongs, must be chased to their dens, and either caught
and chained, or shot like dogs. Only that, on the frontier, the
facilities for the violence, and then for the escape, are so much
greater than in the city; and that we have to send generals and
colonels in the army after them, instead of sergeants of police.
We pity the “braves” of the Territories more than we do the
“roughs” of the bloody sixth ward, because they are more ignorant
and more wronged, and because the hindrances to a better life are
even greater for them. And we pity the gallant men of the army, who
are compelled to do this police work, in dogging criminals to death.
Among the recent dispatches is one, telling of an encounter
between six cow-boys and eight Indians on the Nueces River, in
which four Indians were killed and one captured; one of the boys
had a flesh-wound, and the others only wounds in their clothing.
Generalship does not go for much in such guerrilla warfare. West
Point tactics are not of much avail. Often, in the brooks of New
England, the farmer’s boy, who goes fishing with a stick and a
string, when it rains too hard to work out of doors, will bring
home ten times as many trout as the city sportsman with eight-ounce
rod, a Conroy reel and a choice assortment of flies. Perhaps a
small army of cow-boys would serve us best on the frontier. It is
not fit work for real soldiers. We do not mean a word of disrespect
to them. They have our sympathy and admiration for their fidelity
and obedience, and for not resigning when they are set to such work.
But how much better it would be if, by fair treatment and
honestly-fulfilled pledges, we had made these Indians both friendly
and law-abiding—or, even, if now, with patience and forbearance,
we should be persistently kind and true, and see how long it would
be before we and they should find each in the other, “a man and a
brother.”
* * * * *
The difference between _equal_ and _identical_ rights is well
illustrated by the action of the Georgia Central Railroad
officials. Travel between Macon and Savannah is so light that only
one passenger coach is run. By a partition this is divided into two
parts, furnished exactly alike, one for white and the other for
colored passengers. The colored end being nearly empty one day, a
white man took a seat, or rather _four_ seats, in it, upon which
the conductor told him that he was in the wrong end of the car, and
that the vice-president was very particular that no white persons
be allowed to ride in the apartment for colored people.
A similar arrangement formerly prevailed on the street-cars in
Mobile, and some of the old partitioned cars are still in use.
It is to be hoped that, in the course of human events, identical
rights on steam-cars will not be considered any worse than on horse
cars by the constituents of Georgia’s good Governor Colquitt.
AN INDIAN HYMN-BOOK.
We have just received a copy of the _Hymns in the Chinook Jargon
Language_, compiled by Rev. Mr. Eells, missionary of the American
Missionary Association. It is not a ponderous volume like those
in use in our American churches, with twelve or fifteen hundred
hymns, but a modest pamphlet of thirty pages, containing both the
Indian originals and the English translations. The tunes include,
among others, “Happy Land,” “Greenville,” “Bounding Billow,” “John
Brown,” and the “Hebrew Children.” The hymns are very simple, and
often repeat all but the first line. The translations show the
poverty of the language to convey religious ideas.
One hymn reads—
“Always Jesus is very strong,
So his Paper (the Bible) says.”
Another we give in full, and in both original and translation, as
part of the words of the Jargon will be seen to be English:
HEAVEN.
1. Kopa Saghalie konoway tillikums
Halo olo, halo sick,
Wake kliminwhit, halo solleks,
Halo pahtlum, halo cly.
_Chorus_—Jesus mitlite kopa Saghalie
Kunamoxt konoway tillikums kloshe.
2. Yahwa tillikums wake klahowya,
Wake sick tumtum, halo till,
Halo mimoluse, wake mesachie,
Wake polaklie, halo cole.—_Chorus._
3. Yahwa tillikums mitlite kwanesum,
Hiyu houses, hiyu sing;
Papa, mama, pe kloshe tenas;
Ovacut yaka chicamin pil.—_Chorus._
4. Jesus potlatch kopa siwash,
Spose mesika, hias kloshe,
Konoway iktas mesika tikegh,
Kopa Saghalie kwanesum.—_Chorus._
Tune, “_Greenville_.”
1. In Heaven all the people
Are not hungry, are not sick;
They do not tell lies, do not become angry;
They do not become drunk, do not cry.
Jesus lives in Heaven,
Together with all good people.
2. There the people are not poor,
Have no sorrow, are not tired;
They do not die, are not wicked;
There is no darkness, no cold.
3. There the people live always;
There are many houses, and much singing;
There is father, mother and good children;
The street is of gold.
4. Jesus will give to the Indians,
If you are very good,
Everything you wish,
In Heaven, always.
We only extract, further, the literal translation of the Lord’s
Prayer, some of the petitions of which seem to find admirable
expression in this version, especially the “lead us not into
temptation,” etc.:
“Our Father who lives in the Above, good thy name over everywhere.
Good if thou become true Chief over all people. Good if thy mind is
on the earth, as in the Above. Give to us during this day our food.
Pity us for our wickedness, as we pity any man if he does evil to
us. Not thou carry us to where evil is; but if evil find us, good
thou help us conquer that evil. Truly all earth thy earth, and thou
very strong, and thou truly very good, so we wish all this. Good
so.”
It is no little task to make hymns for such a people out of such
poor materials. Let it be understood that these are only hymns for
the transition state, for Indians who can only remember a little,
and who sing in English as soon as they have learned to read.
This little book is an interesting monument of missionary labor,
and full of suggestion as to the manifold difficulties to be
encountered in the attempt to Christianize the Indians of America.
* * * * *
INDIAN STUDENTS.
The fifteen Indian students who have been studying at Hampton
remain there through the summer. Many of our readers will look
with interest for some news of them, and be glad to hear of their
continued progress and content. Like the other students who remain,
they work through the summer, chiefly on the farm, thus earning
money for their clothing and support. They are allowed a day and
a half in school each week, and thus, under a regular teacher,
their instruction is kept up in the English language, with object
lessons, and phonetic practice, writing, arithmetic and geography.
They also meet for an hour every evening, from eight to nine,
with a few of the other students, under the care of a teacher,
for conversation, and games that are exercises in talking. This
conversation class is thus far a great success, enjoyed by the
Indians and the other students who take pleasure in helping them.
They also have their Sunday-school class, and a prayer-meeting, in
which most of them are very constant and devoted attendants. The
devoutness of their simple prayers in Cheyenne and Kiowa cannot be
doubted by a listener, though understood only by the Great Spirit
to whom they are addressed.
At their first meeting, a gentleman present spelled out the
question with the card letters for one of the young men to answer:
Why do you like to learn? Letter by letter the startlingly
impressive answer followed, “Because it makes me a man!”
* * * * *
THE WET SEASON ON THE WEST COAST.
It will be borne in mind by those who have special interest in our
Mendi Mission that it is still the rainy season, to which all the
peculiar perils of the West Coast of Africa are to be encountered,
and with great risk to the health and life of those who are not
fully acclimated. We have had weekly letters from our colored
missionaries there, to as late a date as Aug. 13th, who have been
passing the first test of their ability to endure the climate
and resist the African fever. None of them have entirely escaped
the touch of its hot breath and icy hand, and yet it seems to
have for the most part passed them lightly by. Two of the female
missionaries have been very sick. One, Mrs. Dr. James, died early
in the season.
Thus far, then, we are encouraged to believe that, as we hoped it
would prove, men and women of African descent endure the risks of
transplanting and of naturalization far better than those who have
neither themselves nor their ancestors been “to the manner born.”
And, if these perils at the threshold can be encountered better by
them than by others, we may surely hope that the less malignant
influences which pervade the atmosphere will not undermine their
strength, as it does with those who are foreigners by both blood
and birth.
It behooves their friends on this side the ocean, who believe in
the power of prayer, to keep these missionaries constantly in their
minds and in their hearts, and to pray the Lord of the harvest,
who has already raised up and sent forth these laborers into the
field, that He will enable them to bear the heat and burden of the
day.
They are doing well in their work. The schools are growing and
gaining in every way. A lack of proper text-books has hampered the
teachers, and an unfortunate delay has occurred by the loss of a
box containing a supply, which, with the boat which was conveying
it from Freetown to Good Hope, failed to reach its destination. The
church has received valuable accessions since Mr. Snelson and his
co-laborers reached the field. We hope to have more regular and
full correspondence to lay before our readers in future, from month
to month.
* * * * *
An honored New Hampshire pastor writes: “I should be glad to
see the A. M. A’s debt removed, and I am in hearty sympathy
with the Society. It seems to me to combine, in the persons of
the freedmen—to say nothing of the Chinese, etc.—the claims of
Home and Foreign Missions in a remarkable degree. Patriotism and
philanthropy meet and blend in its work.”
The same friend says: “Communism, so much, and thus far, perhaps,
so extravagantly dreaded, will find friends among the black race at
a future day, to an extent unexpected now, if we are not prompt to
enlighten and Christianize that vast army of ignorant and voting
laborers.”
* * * * *
When, at the opening of the war, the life of the infant Berea
College was sought, the Angel of Providence said: “Arise, and take
the young child and flee into the Egypt of Safety, and be thou
there until I bring thee word; for the Herod of Slavery will seek
the young child, to destroy him.” But, when Herod was dead, behold,
the angel appeared, saying: “Arise, and take the young child and
go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the
young child’s life.” And they arose and took the young child Berea,
and went back into their own land. And the child grew, and waxed
strong in spirit. And other children were born to this household of
faith—Howard and Hampton, and Fisk and Atlanta, and Talladega and
Straight and Tougaloo, and several more. These do not have to flee
for their life; but they need to be nourished into maturity, that
they may do the mighty work assigned them in this and in coming
generations, here and in other lands.
* * * * *
_Apropos_—A judge from a Western city told us, the other day, that,
having had a black man to testify in his court, he turned and
complimented him from the bench as the most intelligent witness he
had ever had in that box.
* * * * *
He had been a colonel in the war. Since the coming of peace he
had remained in the South, to engage in the process of the social
and political reconstruction. He felt the desperateness of the
case, and yet was hopeful. In our office, he was setting forth the
Southern status, and arguing for patient endurance and vigorous
endeavor when, in his military phrase, he broke forth: “It is only
one shot in five hundred that hits.” Fire away, then, ye soldiers
of the Cross! Some of the shots will hit.
* * * * *
It was the Christmas of the year 1865. It was in a Southern city.
The preacher, though black, had the frosts of seventy winters on
his head. His text was the parable of the vine and the branches. In
the sermon of singular unction, he said: “My brethren, we has the
advantage of the vine and the branches. They get the sap only in
the spring and thro’ the season, _but the Christian has the sap all
the year ’round_.”
* * * * *
_Old Whitey._—Lewis Tappan had nothing too good to be used for the
benefit of the colored people. While our new Field Superintendent
was in the last six months of his course at the Union Theological
Seminary, with aid from the American Home Missionary Society, he
preached back of Brooklyn for a Presbyterian church of “Americans,
falsely called Africans,” as Mr. Tappan was fond of styling that
people. His own family carriage and horse he furnished the young
preacher all that time for riding out and back. Storms and mud did
not prevent the cheerful bringing out of the rig. In later years,
upon meeting the preacher, he would always speak with pleasure of
the service of Old Whitey. In those days, or even now, how few men
would furnish their family turnout for such a purpose!
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
HAMPTON, VA.—The Trustees of the Normal Institute have decided to
uniform the male students. A plain sack-coat, pantaloons and cap of
bluish-gray cloth have been selected. The suit will cost about ten
dollars.
—Seventy young men and twenty-two young women remain at Hampton
Institute this summer—a larger number than in any previous
year—finding employment on the school-farm, in the shops,
knitting-room, laundry, and at housework. The young people are
under watchful care and supervision; the family life of the school
is kept up, and regular Bible-class instruction on Sundays.
BYRON, GA.—Two united with the church during the month of August;
two infants baptised. Still, many are asking what must they do to
be saved.
TALLADEGA, ALA.—A professor writes: “Never before were our young
ministers, as a body, so much in earnest as now, or more successful
than this summer in their Christian work. They evince more tact in
overcoming difficulties, and show more power in removing obstacles
than I have ever seen in them before. The last two years have told
powerfully on their mental and Christian development.”
—Rev. Mr. Hill writes; “At the church prayer-meeting in the
chapel, September 3d, three girls, pupils in the college, rose and
expressed a hope in Christ. Two of them are in the family at Foster
Hall, for whom we have felt anxious, and have been praying all
summer. They seem now very decided and very happy. I have been much
impressed with the deep spiritual tone of the teachers here, and
their entire consecration to the work.”
—The Talladega College Industrial Department will hold a State
Industrial Fair at the grounds of the College, in Talladega, Ala.,
in November, 1878. This fair is intended as an exhibition of
what the colored people are able to do, as farmers, carpenters,
printers, manufacturers, musicians, housewives, etc. Any one who
has produced, or made, or who owns anything he considers especially
fine, is invited to exhibit. Three hundred dollars or more are
promised, and it is hoped the sum may be increased to one thousand
dollars, to be given as prizes.
CHILDERSBURG, ALA.—Rev. Mr. Jones was ordained here in June.
Between twenty and thirty have recently come out on the Lord’s side.
ALABAMA FURNACE, ALA.—A protracted meeting is now in progress, with
decided indications of good results; and also at the “Cove,” there
have been several marked conversions.
NEW ORLEANS, LA.—A gentleman of high standing, in New Orleans,
writes to Mr. Alexander, the pastor of the Central Congregational
Church, who is now in the North: “Notwithstanding the intense heat,
and the excitement that prevails because of the yellow-fever here,
the congregation at Central Church have not abated their interest,
and, both on Thursday evenings and on Sundays, they manifest by
their presence that they will ‘not forsake the assembling of
themselves together as the manner of some is.’ The good Lord is
present to bless at every service, and the faithful people are, as
far as I know, conscientiously discharging every known duty. They
display a zeal that is truly commendable, and must certainly meet
your approbation and esteem.”
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
The Freedmen.
—The Trustees of the Peabody Fund have just sent $1,200 to aid
schools in North Carolina. One thousand dollars of this amount is
to be used in Raleigh alone—$600 for a white graded school, and
$400 for the two colored graded schools. Dr. Sears, agent of the
fund, said that the Trustees would have sent more money, but that
the income from it had recently fallen off 40 per cent.
—The North Carolina Legislature of 1876–77 provided for two Normal
schools—one for white persons and one for black persons. The latter
offers continuous instruction throughout the year at Fayetteville.
It is under the care of Mr. Harris, a colored man, who was prepared
for the work, which he does well, in Ohio.
—The Board of Education at San José, Cal., has abolished the
colored school, and the former pupils have been permitted to enter
the other schools.
—At Memphis, a telegram says the colored population are acting well
in the emergency, and heartily co-operating with the whites, and
adds:
“A meeting has been called by prominent colored men for the
purpose of organization, to assist the whites in relieving
distress and guarding the property, which the people, in
the panic of last week, left unguarded. Their action in the
present emergency speaks volumes, and has greatly increased the
confidence reposed in them by those who were their masters. Among
the most efficient on the police force now are the negroes.”
—When the better people of the North come to be understood by
the right-thinking people of the South, we shall have hearty
co-operation in the education of the negro.—_Rev. Robert West._
—To “remove the colored man from politics”—in the sense of taking
him out of such an absorption in politics, and such a misuse of
them as does injury to himself and to others—it is only necessary
to put him into education and industry.—_The Advance._
—No nation can possibly let twelve per cent. of its population grow
up in ignorance, superstition and vice, without reaping a fearful
harvest.
—Macaulay says: “The best remedy for the evils incident to
newly-acquired freedom, is _freedom_.”
Africa.
From all the west coast of Africa, in 1874, there were imported
486,544 cwt. of palm oil and kernels, valued at £518,134, or over
two-and-a-half million dollars; of India-rubber, 3,427 cwt. were
imported, valued at £25,792; of coffee, 11,502 cwt., valued at
£46,506; of spices and ginger, 8,803 cwt., valued at £20,908; and,
noticeable fact to Americans, of raw cotton, 11,315 cwt., valued at
£32,839.
The chief articles sent out to the islands and coasts were cottons,
arms and ammunition, haberdashery, hardware and cutlery. Of these,
cotton was king. The whole number of yards of cotton cloth, mostly
prints, sold at these ports for that year, amounted to 47,217,966,
or nearly forty-eight millions. Allowing thirty yards to a piece,
and thirty pieces to a bale, there were over fifty thousand cases
of calicoes, whose value was estimated at £745,179, or nearly four
millions of dollars. Shall America utterly neglect so rich a field,
with its hundreds of factories half idle, and not a few completely
at rest?—_African Repository._
—The colored Republic of Liberia has 3,500 voters, 116
officeholders, besides petty magistrates and constables, and taxes
the people at the rate of twenty-nine dollars for every voter,
besides the cost of maintaining schools and government buildings.
—Stanley is said to have agreed to make another exploring trip
through the Continent of Africa, at the expense of the king of
Belgium.
—Mr. Williams, who accompanied the Azor’s shipload of South Carolina
negroes to Liberia, is unwilling to take the responsibility of
advising the colored people of the United States to emigrate.
It is a magnificent country, and money is to be made there; but
the risks of fever and disease are great, and the climate is
enervating. Thrift, patience and good management are essential
to success. No emigrant should land at Monrovia without a six
months’ stock of provisions, a supply of simple medicines, a
little ready money, and all the bright calicoes, brass trinkets
and notions he can lay his hands on. Salt is always valuable, too.
In the interior, the natives lick visitors’ hands for the salty
taste of the perspiration. Those who have from $200 to $300 over
their passage-money will have a much better chance of becoming
independent in Liberia than in America; but those who expect to
find there a heaven on earth, where they will not have to work, and
who are unprovided with means, will soon become disheartened, and
be anxious to return to the United States.
The Indians.
—One fundamental principle in the management of the Indians should
be, that they are not to be massed together, but separated in small
communities, and as soon as may be, in homesteads. The more they
mix with us the less they will disturb us.
—The solution of the Indian problem will be found whenever a
policy founded upon justice shall be inaugurated, entrusted to a
separate department of the Government, free from political or army
interference, executed by men selected on account of fitness, who
shall be exempt from the accursed political dogma, “that to the
victors belong the spoils,” held to strictest accountability, and
subject to removal only by impeachment. When this is done so that
it cannot be undone, and the officers of the Department are clothed
with power to protect the Indian under the civil law of the land,
and the barriers to the citizenship of the Indian are removed,
and he stands upon the same plane with every other man, alike
responsible to law, and equally entitled to its protection, then,
and not until then, may we hope for peace with our native tribes.
When the army of the United States shall become what it ought ever
to be, the executive servant of the people, called into requisition
only when humane measures have failed, then it may fulfil its
mission—never as a humane civilizing power.—_Col. Meacham._
—The number of Roman Catholic missionaries and teachers among the
Indian tribes in the United States is 117.
—Of the 8,000 youth of legal school age in the Indian Territory,
over 5,000 are enrolled as attendants at the common schools, and
an average daily attendance of over 3,000 is reported. There is a
_per capita_ expenditure upon the total school population of the
Cherokees of twenty-five dollars, while New York State expends
but six. The total expenditure in all the tribes is very nearly
$200,000 a year. If money can make good schools, the Indians
certainly ought to have them.
—The Bannock war is over, and the Snakes are scotched. If we may
believe these last—though it was one of their tribe who deceived
our first mother—in the division of labor, the Bannocks did the
murdering, and the Snakes the stealing.
—The care of Spotted Tail agency was put into the hands of the
Episcopal Church, under the administration of Secretary Delano, in
the Interior Department. The present Commissioner of Indian Affairs
decides that this means that no other missionary religious teachers
shall go on this ground except Episcopalians. Consequently, three
Catholic priests have just been banished from the Spotted Tail
agency, against the wish and choice of that chief and his people.
So says the _Advance_.
Chinese.
—The number of children in San Francisco between the ages of
five and seventeen is 55,899, of whom 133 are negroes, and 4
Indians. The number under five years, of all classes, is 24,389,
making a total under seventeen years, of 80,288, of whom 1,505
are Mongolians. Of the white children of school age, who have not
attended any school during the past year, there are 16,147. The
returns do not mention any Mongolian children as having attended
school.
—The Chinese Consul, Lit-Mium Cook, who has recently arrived at
the port of San Francisco, says that the Chinese Government has
no desire to abrogate or modify the Burlingame Treaty, and also
that it believes that the Government of the United States has
both the power and the will to protect Chinamen in the enjoyment
of their treaty rights in this country. Mr. Seward, United States
Minister to China, who arrived at San Francisco in the same
vessel, expresses himself as strongly opposed, on commercial and
international grounds, to any change of the existing treaty with
China. There is not the slightest danger, as he thinks, that
Chinese immigration will ever be so great as to give that race any
control in this country, or make it injurious to our industrial
interests.
—Chinese labor is discountenanced by the Legislature of British
Columbia. A resolution just passed declares that “Chinese laborers
should not be employed upon the public works of the province, and
that a clause should be inserted in specifications of all contracts
awarded, to the effect that contractors will not be permitted to
employ Chinese labor upon the works, and that, in event of their
doing so, the government will not be responsible for payment of the
contract.”
—Two Chinese young men are preparing themselves for the ministry of
the Episcopal Church, in San Francisco, Cal.
—The Chinese Ambassador is credited with the statement that the
Chinese will go to Ireland, as that is the only country that the
Irish do not rule.
* * * * *
OUR QUERY COLUMN.
One of our most experienced and successful teachers writes to us:
“Why not have a Query Column in the MISSIONARY, which will bring us
in contact oftener? Have questions practical, and answers concise,
clear, and to the point.” To all which we say: Why not, indeed?
Answer: We will.
Here is, then, already the beginning—a query and an answer. The
query practical, which is the only condition imposed by the writer.
The answer, although our own, we are not afraid to measure by all
the three conditions suggested. It is concise—not susceptible of
any very great condensation; clear—no vagueness there; and to the
point—indeed, a direct answer.
Our Query Column is, then, in its place. After the news and notes
will be a place for the interrogation marks. Who will ask the
questions? We suppose it will be he that wants to know. And who
will answer them? We do not profess to know everything at the New
York office; but we have a wise man in the East, at Boston, and
one who may _occidentally_ know a thing or two at Chicago, a royal
correspondent in the South, who will be everywhere, and a whole
corps of intelligent teachers and pastors on the field, who, best
of all, can answer each other’s questions.
Seriously, then, we welcome the idea. We hereby open and inaugurate
“Our Query Column,” for all our friends and co-workers. Let the
questions be “practical,” germain to our distinctive work. Let them
be the real questions on which you desire light for yourselves,
and from some source we will try to secure you answers which shall
be “concise, clear, and to the point.” Of course, we (for the
editorial, like the kingly, “we” is a cover for much irresponsible
authority) shall answer, or cause to be answered, only such queries
as, in our judgment, will be helpful to the work we have in hand.
Who asks first?
THE PRESS.
* * * * *
UNCLE REMUS’ REVIVAL HYMN.
O, whar’ shall we go when de great day comes,
Wid de blowin’ ob de trumpets an’ de bangin’ ob de drums?
How many po’ sinners ’ll be cotched out late,
An’ fin’ no latch ter de golden gate?
No use fer ter wait twel ter morrer,
De sun musn’t set on yo’ sorrer;
Sin’s ez sharp ez a bamboo brier—
O Lord, fetch de mo’ners up higher!
When de nations ob de earth are standin’ all aroun’
Who’s a gwine ter be chosen fer ter war de glory crown?
Who’s a gwine fer ter stan’, stiff-kneed an’ bol’,
An’ answer ter deir name at de callin’ ob de roll?
You’d better come now ef you’s comin’,
Ole Satan’s a loose an’ a bummin’,
De wheels ob destruction is a hummin’—
O, come along, sinner, ef you’s commin’.
De song ob salvation is a mighty sweet song,
An’ de Paradise wind blow fur an’ blow strong,
An’ Aberham’s buzzum is safe an’ its wide,
An’ dat’s de place whar de sinners orter hide.
No use ter be stoppin’ an’ a lookin’,
Ef yo’ fool wid Satan you’ll get took in;
You’ll hang on de edge an’ get shook in,
Ef yo’ keep on a stoppin’ an’ a lookin’.
Jes now is de time, an’ dis yer is de place,
Let de salvation sun shine squar’ in yo’ face;
Fight de battles ob de Lord, fight soon an’ fight late,
An’ you’ll always fin’ a latch ter de golden gate.
No use fer ter wait twel ter morrer,
De sun musn’t set on yo’ sorrer;
Sin’s ez sharp ez a bamboo brier—
Ax de Lord fer ter fetch yo’ up higher.—_Exchange._
* * * * *
A BIT OF HISTORY.