Society for Illinois. The American Missionary Association had three
auxiliaries—the Penobscot, in Maine; the Western Home and Foreign,
at Cincinnati; and the North-western, at Chicago. In 1854, the
North-western was modified to become the Illinois Home Missionary
Association. As such it was operated for five or six years, when
it was given up, and the whole work was transferred to the A. M.
A., with a District Secretary to have supervision of the missionary
churches and to push the collections. When that District Secretary
and the missionary churches, in 1861, were transferred to the A.
H. M. S., he retained in possession the record books of those two
auxiliaries. But these, together with other precious journals,
were consumed by the great fire, so that it will be difficult to
reproduce that chapter in our State home evangelism. Rev. Epaphras
Goodman was the Corresponding Secretary. Rev. S. G. Wright and Dr.
Flavel Bascom both served as agents. Rev. A. L. Rankin, now of
California, was a general missionary along the southern portion
of the Illinois Central Railroad. Coming to one place in Egypt,
and inquiring for the religious element there, he got this as an
answer: “Religious element? You are the first man we have had
making that inquiry. We thought you were looking for land.”
We find by the Annual Report of the A. M. A. for 1855 that, of its
104 missionaries in the home department, forty of them were under
the Illinois Society. Among these were Revs. W. W. Blanchard,
Nelson Cook, George Bent, William Beardsley, S. Dilley, George
Gemmell, J. T. Marsh, M. N. Miles, Alfred Morse, W. A. Nichols, L.
Parker, George Schlosser, David Todd, E. E. Wells and David Wirt.
Among the fifty-four churches aided were the South, the Edwards,
and the Welsh, of Chicago; and those of Amboy, Henry, Providence,
Udina, Plymouth, of Ottawa; DeKalb, Lawn Ridge, Metamora, Roscoe,
Sterling, Bloomington, Byron, Kankakee, Newark, Milburn, Albany,
Urbana (now Champaign), Huntley, Victoria, Shirland, Dundee and
Sandwich.
The State Society investigated the necessities of the field, and
endorsed applications for aid, but did not make appropriations
to the churches. This was done by the A. M. A. in New York,
which issued the commissions. After a while the executive
committee—Deacons Carpenter and Johnston, and Pastors Patton and
Roy—finding that they were simply an additional committee for
endorsing applications, and not having the responsibility and the
stimulus of administration, made request to have the whole work
resumed by the A. M. A., and the State Society voted to discontinue
its operations. Herein is a confirmation of the wisdom of the new
Society in making itself independent and auxiliary, and not simply
co-operative. This piece of history, containing the argument of
experience, was not brought out in the late series of discussions.
That there was no alienation of feeling attending this separate
operation in home missions as a testimony against slavery, is
evident from the fact that the churches and the missionary pastors
of the A. M. A. were so readily turned over to the A. H. M. S.,
and by it so cheerfully received. That National Home Missionary
Society had all along borne more or less of testimony against
slave-holding; but when, in 1857, it passed a rule by which all
of its fifty-five Southern Presbyterian missionaries were dropped
from its list, then no one could question the soundness of its
position. So, again, the readiness with which testifying churches
returned to regular contributions in behalf of the American Board,
as well as of this Society, revealed an abiding love for these
very organizations with which for a time they had not walked in
fellowship. The First and the Plymouth Churches of Chicago, which,
from their organization, had taken each its two annual collections
for the A. M. A., one for the home and one for the foreign
department, fell in with the old Society and Board as naturally and
heartily as though they had always been among the more conservative
churches. On the other hand, the chief officers and supporters of
the old organizations were glad that the organic testimony thus
borne, along with other influences, had been able to tone up public
sentiment so that the satisfactory action could be taken by them.
And now everybody sees that, out of that testifying process, God
was bringing on another organization to be ready against the day
when He should open to it the special field of the South and of
Africa.
—_Rev. Dr. Roy, in the Advance._
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
* * * * *
GEORGIA.
Brunswick—Risley School Exhibition.
AS SEEN BY A SOUTHERNER.
This school is taught by S. B. Morse, a graduate of Atlanta
University. The following account is from a local newspaper.
MR. EDITOR: It has ever been a source of unfeigned pleasure to me
to observe any efforts tending to the elevation and refinement
of humanity. Hence, it was no less a pleasure than surprise
last evening when I found so marvelously successful an effort
in that direction, as evinced in the concert and exhibition—the
closing exercises of the Risley School. Mr. Morse (a graduate of
the University of Atlanta) may justly congratulate himself upon
the proficiency attained by his pupils, considering the great
difficulties and discouragements under which he has necessarily had
to labor.
The colored people are born natural musicians; but the time,
harmony and smooth rendering of the “part-songs” last night gave
indubitable evidence of thorough culture and faithful practice.
The declamation by the young scholars displayed good powers of
memory and hard study. Their enunciation was distinct and perfect.
The selections were excellent. With the single exception of an
interruption by a few disagreeable, unmannerly boys, who evidently
had as little respect for themselves as for propriety, the affair
went off without a break. Quite a number of white persons were
present. Just before closing the exercises, Mr. Morse made a short
and pertinent address, stating the numerous difficulties under
which he had labored, but offering “the fruits of his labors” as
the test of his fidelity and capacity for filling the position he
proudly claimed, of “teacher.” The Honorable President of the Board
of Education and Mr. Kenrick, the county-school commissioner, were
called upon for speeches, and expressed their hearty gratification
at the degree of proficiency and the evidence of faithful study
on the part of the school, and their satisfaction at the marked
improvement in order, manner, and the advance in education, as
clearly shown by their present exhibition.
We have to congratulate ourselves upon possessing a most quiet,
respectable and law-abiding colored element. Their comfortable
homes, with well-stocked gardens; their numerous churches, some
quite pretentious in architecture, and, above all, their large and
substantial free school, give proof that there is no question of
their enjoyment of all “the rights, titles and emoluments” of a
“free and independent citizen” in Brunswick.
* * * * *
ALABAMA.
Wanted—a Barn.
REV. E. P. LORD, TALLADEGA COLLEGE.
Meeting a lady recently who has long been interested in our work,
she remarked: “Talladega does not seem to have so many wants as
most new institutions—at least, we do not hear so much of them.”
Imagine my surprise, when I had feared that the Association and all
of our friends were wearied by our continual importunities.
What a list we have of not merely wants, but actual and pressing
necessities, for which some of us pray as continually and earnestly
as for daily bread. A dormitory, for the physical and moral
good of the young men, now crowded six and more in a room, in a
building intended and much needed for other purposes; a library, as
necessary in a college as steam in a factory; money, without which
none of the means of elevating a race or individuals can be made
effective.
But I want now especially to urge one vital necessity, even to the
continuance of one of our most important means of helping this
people. Last year good friends in the North gave us $3,566.52,
and some of the instructors advanced $2,000. With this amount
property valued now at about $5,000 has been purchased, and an
Industrial Department, including farming, carpentering, printing,
and house-work of all kinds, has been carried on one year. By
this outlay sixty scholars have earned a large sum in payment of
their school expenses. They have also learned to do these various
kinds of work in a systematic and intelligent manner. But in the
growth of character the good has been greatest. The young people
have acquired earnestness, self-dependence and enterprise. During
the vacation they are disseminating this practical knowledge and
their spirit through the whole State. The Southern Educational
Society, composed of some of the foremost educators of the South,
recently pronounced “industrial education the hope of the South.”
It is certainly more necessary and more promising among the colored
people than among the whites. Already we can see the benefits of
the department in the improving material condition of the people
in the country about, in better and larger crops, cultivated more
skilfully with better implements, etc.
The Agricultural Department is one of the most useful, and it is,
also, one of the most remunerative parts of our work. At present we
are obliged to go three-fourths of a mile by the road to reach the
farm; $1,000 would buy a piece of land connecting the farm directly
with the college buildings. This would save annually a large
percentage of the cost in time required to reach the farm, to say
nothing of the use of the land. Who will make this very essential
addition to “Winsted Farm”?
The most profitable part of the farm-work is the dairy, and
raising beef for the College boarding department. We shall keep
fifty or sixty cattle continually, but we have now no barn. The
working stock, the implements and the feed must have a shelter.
We have nothing but sheds made of old lumber, which we fear the
autumn storms will destroy, with much property within. Besides,
if the farm is to be, as it should be, a model to the colored
people, we must not leave everything out in the rain and cold,
as is universally the case in the South. There is to be held, in
connection with the department, this fall, the first Industrial
Fair ever held by the colored people. We expect it to be a means
of education to 5,000 people. The barn should be ready for their
inspection and information. Fifteen hundred dollars will give the
farm the barn it needs, and furnish work to a number of young men,
by which they will learn the use of tools, under our very skilful
carpenter, and be able to pay their expenses in school. If friends
could appreciate how necessary these things are, we certainly
should have them at once.
* * * * *
TEXAS.
The Southwest Texas Congregational Association.
REV. B. C. CHURCH, GOLIAD.
The General Association of Congregational Churches, of Texas, at
its seventh annual session, doffed its name, and hereafter will be
known as the Southwest Texas Congregational Association.
Three churches were represented by their delegates and pastors.
Rev. Geo. Whitefort, of Red River Association, and agent of the
American Tract Society, added to the interest of the meeting, and
found himself more interested than in any other association.
The Rev. A. J. Turner, member of West Texas General Conference,
and pastor of the Congregational Church of Schulenburg, requested,
with his church, to be received into the Association. The church,
consisting of fifteen members, with Sabbath school of ninety-eight
scholars, had been gathered by him since last January. They left
former associations to find a church home of purity and morality,
and a more simple and Scriptural government. After examination,
conducted mostly by Rev. S. M. Coles, a graduate of Yale Divinity
School, he and the church were received.
At our morning and night sessions of each day we had preaching and
other devotional services. Sabbath morning, Rev. Messrs. Coles
and Whitefort spoke most earnest and profitable words to parents
and children. This was followed by a love-feast, in which we had
forty-five talks, which, with singing, occupied about an hour and a
half. If several rose at a time, each waited for his turn. When the
people have been educated to speak of Christ and the joy of faith,
rather than of themselves, and “these low grounds of sorrows”
coming from their emotional nature, it is not strange that you see
smiles and tears, or that sinners’ hearts get into their throats.
When the opportunity was given, seventeen rose, saying, “Pray for
us.” After the Association adjourned, religious meetings continued
for a week, as a result of which, seven persons united with the
church.
The Helena Church was organized four years ago with three members.
Now there are fifty-four members, twenty-three of whom united
within the last twelve months. During the same time they have
raised seven hundred dollars, with which they have built a house
and furnished it. The other churches have had but little growth in
membership, but in Bible study and intelligent worship there has
been commendable improvement.
A Christian Church, worshipping God according to Bible rules, is a
light of untold worth in any country. This feature of our work is
encouraging. Even those who hate and persecute us gradually adopt
our views and modes of worship.
* * * * *
KENTUCKY.
A Vacant Church—The Seed Wafted—The National Problem.
REV. JOHN G. FEE, CABIN CREEK, LEWIS CO.
I am here, in the field of my early ministry, on my regular
quarterly visit. Twenty-four years since, I left this for my
present home in Berea, Ky.
Most of those who, as parents, heard me with trembling twenty-five
years ago have passed away, and those who were then boys and
girls are now fathers and mothers. These, by time, thought and
observation, have had their early impressions ripened into
convictions. The sympathies and convictions of these are for
loyalty to the union, liberty to man, and a gospel of impartial
love. They take no stock in the issues of mere denominationalism.
They assent readily to the proposition that manifested faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, as a personal Saviour from _sin_, is the faith
of the gospel. On this faith the church was organized in 1847,
as it then separated from all slave-holding bodies. Some of the
members are still there. They have been without a regular pastor
ever since the year 1860. They still keep up a Sabbath-school, and
part of the time a prayer-meeting.
What they now need is a regular pastor—one who can visit the
families, and preach at least once in two weeks. I hope such an
one may be speedily found. This, together with the congregation
in Bracken County, would make a most interesting and promising
field. The effort to plant churches here thirty years ago was not
in any sense a failure. And the second temple can be made much more
glorious than the first.
Emigrations from these fields have been useful also. Five families
went more than a hundred miles into the interior to help build up
Berea; eleven others, young men and young women, have gone out
there as students in the college. Other families have gone to other
States to exert there an influence for liberty, justice, and a
gospel of impartial love. Many of these were “mere children,” and,
having had their birth in times of trial, they were not mutes in
the fields where, in the providence of God, they were cast.
In view of the debasing effect of slavery in the South, and the
communistic element in the North, I am often asked, “What is to
be the result of this effort to establish republican institutions
on this continent?” I answer, there is no hope but in sanctifying
the hearts of the people by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This will
direct aright the intellect, the wealth and the activities of the
nation, make the people a law unto themselves, and for good. Let
us pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His
harvest.
A Teacher’s Vacation Correspondence.
When tired teachers flee for rest to their own homes, they do not
wholly escape from school duties or cares. Letters pursue them with
unmerciful rapidity. From a pile of fresh ones, let us cull a few
samples of requests that demand sympathy and aid.
“My school is to have an exhibition in a few weeks. Can you not
send me some interesting declamations and fresh music?” A favor
easily granted.
“The Sabbath-school has appointed me king of its celebration.
Please send me a nice piece suitable to speak, and a few dialogues
appropriate for the little folks.” An hour’s search through old
files of the _National Teacher_ provides material exactly suited
for this occasion.
“There is to be a Sunday-school Convention at ——, the 24th of
this month, and I am expected to speak. I never attended such a
meeting. Please write me a nice speech, telling who introduced
Sunday-schools, and how much good they have done.” A modest
request! But, if there is really to be a Sunday-school Convention
in the heart of Southern Georgia, and this shy boy is to help make
it successful, ’tis worth while to look over Sunday magazines for
facts which the speaker can arrange and use.
“I wish I could go to school the whole of this year. My wages for
teaching public school three months will not carry me through.
Could you help me in any way?”
A determined worker, who holds Sunday-schools on door-steps when
no better place offers, seeks encouragement and papers. Here is
part of his story: “I have some hard trials, and ups and downs,
but I trusts in God, and tries to fight my way through. I have got
no learning of account, but to the best of my knowledge I means
to teach. God said where there is little known there is little
required.” Perhaps the angels could tell us that poor Jacob’s crown
will far outshine that of many a richly-endowed soul.
A “sweet-girl graduate,” folding away bouquets and compliments with
her pretty muslin, wishes to know how she can make her school-room
attractive. Speaking of future plans, she pens these words: “I mean
to work for the Master to the best of my ability. I think a life
not consecrated to God is _no life_.”
If sometimes burdensome, such letters do greatly add to the
sweetness of vacation rest. They give assurance that the seed
sown in weariness is yielding harvest, which, with the affection
breathed from every page, inspires to future faithfulness and zeal.
L. A. P.
* * * * *
AFRICA.
* * * * *
THE MENDI MISSION.
Eight Added to the Church—A Refreshing Sunday.
Rev. Floyd Snelson writes:
Last Saturday was our day for preparatory meeting, the following
Sabbath being the day of Communion. Ten persons presented
themselves as candidates for membership. All were examined
carefully, in open meeting; eight were received, as we believed
from their evidence that they were hopefully converted, and two
rejected on the ground that they were not married according to
law (this is one of the greatest evils that exist here, both
among the white and colored, there being no law to compel them
to marry). Sunday was, indeed, a day of great refreshing, there
being before us eight adults to be welcomed into the Church
of Christ, and seven children, in the arms of parents and
god-parents, to be consecrated to Him. And what increased the
joy was, that the whole week had been a rainy one up to late on
Saturday, when the good Master stopped the rain, and removed the
clouds gradually, and let the light of the sun beam upon us.
I would say more upon this precious subject, but the time for
closing the mail has arrived, and I am compelled to stop. Pray
for us.
Mr. E. White writes:
The thing I want to ask you about now is this—if you will help
me to take care of a few boys? When I was here the first of
the year, the people came almost daily to get me to take their
children and keep them in the mission, but I told them that
I was not allowed to do so; if I were, I would do it gladly.
Their reason was that, if they sent their children to the
mission-school, they would only be in the school a small portion
of the day, and at home most of the day and all night, and,
therefore, the evil influence which they would have over them
in that time would overbalance what the teacher would teach
them in the short time he would have them in the day; and they
wanted their children to “Sabby-book,” and if they did, they
must be taken away from them. They say that they don’t think
their children can become like the white man while they are with
them; the “pickin’” must be taken from the old people; and I
agree with them on this point. The vices which the old people
practice, the children will surely follow, if allowed to be where
they are. There are no children in this station, and we said in
our meeting that we would not take in any till we heard from
you; but, as I am a single man, you might not think of my taking
any mission children. Therefore, I write to ask you if you will
allow me to take some of the boys offered me. Some of the people
have promised to bring rice (which is the most they eat) for the
children, if I would only take them.
One being with these people every day can clearly see that the
redemption of Africa is in the little folks, and, therefore, I
think, that a number of these boys and girls should be taken by
somebody, and trained, as they are at Hampton.
This part of Africa is very little behind the South in 1866; and
see what the A. M. A. has done in that dark place since that
time? There are only two things that differ here from the South.
First, the colored people in the South had been taught to work
with more skill than these people have. Second, those at the
South had more civilized people to deal with than these people
have now. Take out these two, and Africa (this part), to-day,
will compare with the South before the A. M. A. took it in hand.
Now, if so much has been done in America, why not in Africa?
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
* * * * *
S’KOKOMISH RESERVATION.
REV. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., PORTLAND, OREGON,
_Superintendent A. H. M. S., for Oregon and Washington Territories._
The best way to study the Indian problem is to study the Indians
themselves. The agents and employees on the reservations have all
the means to test every element of this question.
Safety of Life and Property.
The agent, Edwin Eells, Esq., with wife and children, has lived
among the Indians here seven years. The employees and their
families have lived here from one to six years each, all without
harm or fear. At any moment the Indians could have killed them,
stolen their property, burnt the dwellings, and fled to the rugged
hills and mountains. The agent has traversed the country occupied
by his bands, alone, or with Indians, by day and by night, without
injury or alarm, leaving his wife and little ones at their mercy.
Whisky is excluded from the reservation, but outsiders have sold it
to the Indians, and exposed him and his household and company to
danger from them, when excited by it, and the more when arresting
them and arraigning and convicting the sellers in the courts. But
in no case has he or one of the whites received a blow, or a stab,
or a shot, or a threat from an Indian during all these seven years.
Like facts can be put on record of the safety of agents and
employees, and their families, on most, if not all the reservations
in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Their property has also been safe. Agent Eells affirms that clothes
are left out day and night, tools are left in open sheds, doors are
never locked, and yet they have never had an article stolen. He
adds that they have had no occasion to use force, or show weapons,
except in the arrest or retention of criminals. For this police
service he commonly appoints Indian constables. What is true on
these counts of the S’Kokomish Indians, is true of other bands or
tribes placed on reservations in this region. Those who live near
them, or who have observed them in all conditions, both off and on
the reservations, for the last fifteen, and even for thirty years,
can bear witness that they are usually quiet, peaceable hunters,
fishermen, or workers on farms, or in mills, or lumber camps, or
in kitchens and laundries for the whites, exciting no fear among
families, and causing no danger to lone travellers on the prairies
or in the forests.