“_Resolved_, That if the Chattanooga University fail to secu_The American Missionary

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APRIL, 1887.

The American Missionary

VOL. XLI.

NO. 4.

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL.

FINANCIAL, 97

CONSECRATION OF WEALTH, 98

NEW PASTOR PARK ST. CHURCH, 99

DECISION OF SUPREME COURT REGARDING

THE CHINESE, 100

CHINESE INDEMNITY BILL, 101

TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS, 102

THE COLOR QUESTION AGAIN, 103

PARAGRAPHS, 104

HENRY WARD BEECHER, 105

THE NEGRO ON THE NEGRO, 106

RELIGIOUS DOGGEREL, 109

THE SOUTH.

NOTES IN THE SADDLE. Supt. C. J. Ryder, 111

REVIVAL AT ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, 113

VISIT TO MT. HERMON, 114

DEDICATION OF LINCOLN MEMORIAL CHURCH, 115

EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS, 116

THE INDIANS.

OUR DEACON, 117

THE CHINESE.

FROM REV. A. F. NEWTON, 118

BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.

HOW TO ORGANIZE AND CONDUCT A LADIES’ MISSIONARY

SOCIETY––SECRET SOCIETIES AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE, 120

FOR THE CHILDREN.

THE WAY TO DO IT, 122

RECEIPTS, 123

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

American Missionary Association.

* * * * *

PRESIDENT, Hon. WM. B. WASHBURN, LL.D., Mass.

_Vice-Presidents._

Rev. A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.

Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.

Rev. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass.

Rev. D. O. MEARS, D.D., Mass.

Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, Mo.

_Corresponding Secretary._

REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._

_Associate Corresponding Secretaries._

Rev. JAMES POWELL, 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.

A. P. FOSTER, Secretary.

_For Three Years._

S. B. HALLIDAY.

SAMUEL HOLMES.

SAMUEL S. MARPLES.

CHARLES L. MEAD.

ELBERT B. MONROE.

_For Two Years._

J. E. RANKIN.

WM. H. WARD.

J. W. COOPER.

JOHN H. WASHBURN.

EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.

_For One Year._

LYMAN ABBOTT.

A. S. BARNES.

J. R. DANFORTH.

CLINTON B. FISK.

A. P. FOSTER.

_District Secretaries._

Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D.D., _21 Cong’l House, Boston_.

Rev. J. E. ROY, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago_.

_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._

Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON.

_Field Superintendent._

Rev. C. J. RYDER, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._

_Bureau of Woman’s Work._

_Secretary_, Miss D. E. EMERSON, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._

* * * * *

COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the

Corresponding Secretaries; those relating to the collecting fields, to

Rev. James Powell, D.D., or to the District 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.

* * * * *

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

* * * * *

VOL. XLI. APRIL, 1887. No. 4.

* * * * *

American Missionary Association.

* * * * *

OUR RECEIPTS FALLING BEHIND.

It is with great regret that we call the attention of our readers to

our diminishing receipts. We have been cherishing the hope that we

would be spared this necessity. But the receipts in February are so

much below the receipts of the corresponding month of the previous

year, that unless the loss is quickly retrieved we shall be embarrassed

all the rest of the year. In February, a year ago, we received

$21,897.74. Last February we received only $12,389.79. This is a loss

of $9,507.95. Until February we were well ahead of last year. But the

drop is so great that our total receipts up to the first of March are

$3,438.16 less than they were at the same time the preceding year. In

church collections and individual donations, we are behind $5,389.31!

We earnestly ask the attention of all the friends of the American

Missionary Association to these facts. What is the reason for so heavy

a falling off? Are we failing to keep the necessities of our work

before the churches? In our thought that the Association was getting

nicely out of the woods, have we relaxed our efforts and allowed

other things to slip in and crowd the Association out? Something has

happened. That during the month of February––which ought to be one of

the best months in the year––only a little over $12,000 should find its

way into our treasury, is occasion for anxiety. We have had our bills

to pay and we have borrowed the money and _paid_ them. In so doing

we have incurred a debt. We could not avoid it without leaving our

missionaries unpaid. We must speedily be reimbursed, or else back again

into the hated bondage and hindrance of financial embarrassment we

inevitably fall. We appeal to our friends to spare us this humiliation

and vexation. We ask this favor, namely: Will pastors and individual

friends please take this question of our outlook upon their minds and

hearts and make an earnest effort to increase contributions to our work

from this time forward? Will they try, during this month and the months

intervening before summer vacation, to secure so much to our treasury

that during the summer months we shall be spared the agony of special

appeals and special efforts? “A prudent man foreseeth the evil and

hideth himself.” We are urged to be prudent now by the very unpleasant

memories of what we have been obliged to do every summer, for several

years past. Will you join us in foreseeing the evil and help us to

avoid it?

* * * * *

We are from time to time reminded that the old abolition friends of

the A. M. A. are rapidly passing away. They will soon all be gone.

There was something in their friendship that challenges our admiration.

They gave the Association such a hearty support that there could be no

question but that prayer and gifts went together. So also they have in

many instances shown the wisdom of giving generously during life. The

recent death of Mr. Lewis S. Swezey, of Rockford, Ill., gives emphasis

to these thoughts. He helped organize the Liberty Party, and was one of

a few who first voted in the town of Rockford for Birney for President.

Though his whole estate did not amount to more than $10,000, he gave

to the Association a one thousand dollar bond in 1885, and another

amounting to seven hundred and fourteen dollars in 1886. At his death

he left the Association a life policy of $2,000, and $500 in his will.

He made the A. M. A. his residuary legatee, from which our treasury

will probably realize about $5,000. His sympathy for the colored people

may be seen in the fact that one of the last acts of his life was to

give a poor old colored woman in Rockford a hundred dollars to repair

her house. When dying he said to his wife, “This seems like crossing

the river,” and in response to the question, “How does it look on

the other side?” replied, “Very bright, very bright.” And no wonder.

He had laid up his treasures where neither moth nor rust corrupt,

and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Money given to the

Lord during life is followed with no regrets at the dying hour. Were

Christians thoroughly possessed of the conviction that such work as

the A. M. A. is doing must be prosecuted and sustained as a religious

duty, we believe their offerings would be far more generous than they

are. A sense of duty as expressed in their gifts would be accompanied

by a sense of delight. Our prayer is that the surviving old abolition

friends may be long spared us, and that the places of those who have

fallen may be speedily filled with worthy successors.

* * * * *

“It is with pleasure I assist you. I have made several of our young

ladies life members during the past few years, to get them interested

in the A. M. A. Anything I can do to help on the good work, be sure and

call on me for, and I will do all I can for you.”

“I think the placing of the work of the Association before individual

church members is productive of good results, as I find that only those

well informed of the Society’s needs contribute regularly and liberally

to its support.”

“We are to make a careful canvass of our congregation, with a view to

increasing our missionary offerings, and securing a larger number of

regular readers for our missionary magazine. Can you send us ten or

a dozen copies of THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY to be used by our district

visitors?”

“My gifts to the A. M. A. have been necessarily reduced to meet my

change in circumstances. I gave five dollars at our last collection,

which was the price of a cushion in my pew. I believe that under the

circumstances the hard side of a board will be softer than the soft

side of a cushion. There is no special merit in it, but I feel that it

is an encouragement to the workers to know that many in the churches

are willing to give up little comforts for the sake of them and the

cause.”

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

* * * * *

The new pastor of the Park Street Church, Boston, Rev. David Gregg, in

his first sermon after installation, discussed the duties of the Pulpit

and the Pews. One who heard it said at the close, “Well, that was a

sermon that would please the secretaries of our benevolent societies as

well as the rest of us.” Depend on it, that any sermon of which such

testimony can be borne has two things characteristic of it: One is, it

must be a gospel sermon, and another is, it must be interesting. It has

been our privilege to read the sermon as reported in the Boston daily

papers. It fills the bill. It is full of the gospel, and a thrill of

interest runs all the way through it. Speaking for the Secretaries of

the A. M. A., we can say they are pleased, intensely so. Here are two

brief extracts that sufficiently justify their pleasure: “Is it the

duty of Park Street pulpit to accept the service and co-operation of

the Park Street pews? The pulpit here and now solemnly performs its

duty, and declares its acceptance of co-operation and service. I have

come among you for this very purpose. I come to beseech you to throw

yourself for all you are worth into the work of the church, I come to

command you in the name of the Lord that you love, not for yourselves.

I greet your locked-up wealth, and ask it to come forth from the vaults

of the bank to meet me and to join me in the work of Christ. I promise

you to be the most liberal man in the world in dealing out your money

from your pocket-books, and in accepting and in giving away your time.

I am willing that every righteous and needy cause under the broad

heavens shall call upon you for aid. I come among you to tell you that

you have the same obligations before God to consecrate yourselves and

all you have to the gospel that Jesus Christ had when he lived his

sublime and devoted life. I put a gospel mortgage this day upon the

pastor and people of this church, and upon all that we have, by way of

brain and heart power, and gold and trade, and time and business, and

natural endowment and acquired attainment. Park Street pews, you can

offer no good thing to the pulpit of this church, in order that you may

glorify Christ and build up his cause here, that the pulpit will not

take and publicly credit. This pulpit welcomes to the service of Christ

every agency filled with the spirit of Christ.” * * * * * * *

“If we are to realize the possibilities open to us as pastor and

people, we must keep a constant eye upon the land and age in which we

live. Our age and our country speak to us to-day. Because our lot has

been cast in them, they have a claim upon us, and their voice should be

heard. Our age is an age telling of ages, and it commands us to meet

the duties of the hour. No relations in life ought to be more helpful

for this than our church relations. There is no place for mediæval

fossils outside of a museum. The demand of the hour is for living

men and living women. Our age is a pivotal age, a cardinal age, a

burning age, a crucial age. Let us not forget that we are living under

the westering sun of the 19th century, and that this lays us under

obligations to be 19th century Christians.

“While we forget not the age, we must not forget the land in which we

live, and which expects an outcome of good from our church relations.

America is the land where the battles of the future are destined to

be fought. In push of discovery and of civilization there is no land

beyond this. The fields of America are the outer rim of the earth, and

here the nations of the world, crowded out of the old lands, meet, and

here all the great problems and questions of ages must be debated and

settled. Our land cries for help, and we can help it. We can give it

the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is what it needs above all things.

The gospel alone carries in it the principles which can solve with

safety and finality the social and political questions which are coming

to America to stay.”

* * * * *

BY TREATY STIPULATIONS the Chinese in this country are guaranteed the

same rights and privileges as are accorded the most favored nations.

One Thomas Baldwin was arrested by a United States Marshal for driving

out with force and violence a number of Chinese residents from the town

of Nicolaus, California. The circuit court refused to discharge him

upon a writ of habeas corpus. An appeal was taken to the United States

Supreme Court. The Supreme Court looked the matter through and found

that while the United States Government has the _power_ to provide

for the punishment of those who deprive the Chinese of their treaty

rights, there is no statute law by which it can exercise its power!

The decision of the circuit court was therefore reversed. Justices

Field and Harlan dissented. In a separate opinion, Justice Field held

that if the Chinese could not be protected in their treaty rights,

neither could the subjects or citizens of any other nation. This is a

beautiful attitude for the great United States to be placed in before

the eyes of the world. Making treaties when it has not power to compel

its own citizens to observe them! What a farce. Is it to be supposed

that if this were understood nations would go to the trouble of making

treaties with us? Were the questions at issue about the Chinese raised

in regard to subjects of Great Britain or Germany or any of the first

or even second-class powers of Europe, is it to be supposed that any

such a decision would have been formulated and promulgated by our

Supreme Court? We do not question the ability nor the integrity of our

justices. The probability is that in the _strict_ construction of the

law they are right. But even judges, when put to it, can sometimes find

such latitude in the field of interpretation as to warrant them in

setting aside mere technicalities rather than to allow justice to be

defeated.

That such eminent jurists as Field and Harlan found interpretations

that justified them in dissenting; that the circuit court in California

found reasons for refusing to release Baldwin from custody, would

certainly indicate that the decision is fairly challengeable. It is

a national humiliation. It ought to be so felt by the people. It

would be so felt if regard for right and justice were supreme in the

national heart and conscience. It is to be hoped that this matter

will be brought by the proper authority, as soon as practicable, to

the attention of Congress, and that the United States Government will

speedily be clothed with statutory power to enforce its own treaties.

If this decision shall have the effect of getting us out of the painful

predicament that it reveals our Government to be in, we may reluctantly

accept it as a means of grace. Meanwhile even China is on record as

being far more Christian in her treatment of our people than Christian

America is in its treatment of hers.

* * * * *

MONEY COMPENSATION is a very poor return as an offset to outrage.

Congress passed the bill appropriating $147,750 to indemnify the

Chinese sufferers from the Rock Springs riots. Hon. Wm. Walter Phelps,

representative from New Jersey, spoke words upon its passage for which

every Christian in the country must feel grateful. Said he:

“I want to pay this amount because the Chinese Government asked for

that sum. The sum represents only the property destroyed. The Chinese

Government knows that our Government never likes to pay a claim in

full, so it wisely presents its bill only for the property destroyed,

and says nothing of 28 men murdered––nothing of 15 men wounded––nothing

of 700 Chinese hunted for ten days with club and rifle like rabbits,

until they were dispersed into the wilderness and their village was

made an ash heap.

“In the time when Great Britain was at war with China, an American

citizen named Edwards was arrested by mistake as an Englishman,

imprisoned from sunrise to sunset, and then released. The Chinese

Government paid $31,600 for the injury done to his person and to the

dignity of the United States. There were 700 Chinese who suffered

at Rock Springs––all of them more than this man. We hesitate to pay

them $200 each. Recall the familiar story of heathen generosity––how

China once gave us $700,000 and said: ‘Take it and pay the claims of

your citizens.’ We took it; we paid the claims with twelve per cent.

interest, and there was enough left to return $200,000 to the Chinese

Government.

“If this seems ancient history, long after the Rock Springs massacre

there was a riot in Ching King. The rabble destroyed property

belonging to the American Methodist Missionary Society. The Chinese

Government has already paid $25,000 for these losses; and also, since

our discussion on this bill, a riot, under similar circumstances, at

Shanghai, destroyed other missionary property. The Chinese Government

has paid this bill too, $5,000.

“I have no heart to speak of the obligations founded in the

international law. I don’t want even to refer to the treaty, where we

pledged ourselves to exert all our powers to devise measures for the

protection of Chinese subjects in this country. It is not on the ground

of legal, but of the moral obligations that I prefer to rest this

claim.”

* * * * *

OUR TREATMENT of the Indians is very much like the way a kindly parent

allows his judgment to be at the mercy of the pranks of his mischievous

boy. The boy takes a stick, and chasing a dog, pokes it and pounds it

till the maddened brute turns upon his tormentor and bites him. This

enrages the father, who forthwith takes his gun and shoots the dog.

In strict justice he ought to have taken the stick and applied it to

the back of the boy. The good man had no ill will whatever toward the

dog, nor would he ever have thought of shooting it had the poor brute

been let alone and not tantalized into biting the boy. But the dog

having been enraged so as to become dangerous, there was nothing left

but to destroy it. White men––some of them not even citizens of the

United States––in violation of law enter the Indian reservation, steal

the Indians’ ponies, drive off their cattle, shoot down a few of the

Indians for resisting them, or perhaps for the mere fun of the thing.

The Indians, maddened by the wrongs inflicted upon them, go on the

war-path. The savage stirred with anger strikes back, and the innocent

with the guilty––if indeed the guilty do not go scot free––are made to

suffer. Had the Indian been let alone he would have remained peaceful

and quiet and friendly. But by desperadoes he has been maddened to go

on the war-path in vengeance, to retaliate for wrongs he has suffered.

Then follow the blood-curdling stories of ambuscade and massacre.

Popular indignation is roused. Extermination of the Indian is demanded.

There is nothing left now for Uncle Sam to do but to send his army and

put the Indian down. A pity that the chastisement cannot be inflicted

on those whose wickedness started the mischief.

BISHOP WHIPPLE bears the following testimony to the good effect of

making the Indians feel the responsibility of individual distinctive

effort for themselves by vesting them with individual rights of

property and by compelling them to live by their own labor:

“Twenty years ago we began with a small number of Indians at White

Earth Reservation. They were wild folk, used only to savage life. Now

there are 1,800 people living like civilized beings. They have houses

built by themselves. They are self-supporting. It is an orderly,

law-abiding, peaceful community. In religion they are about equally

divided between the Episcopalian and Catholic churches. The laws are

administered by an Indian police. This year they raised 40,000 bushels

of wheat and 30,000 bushels of oats. They have a herd of 1,200 or

1,500 cattle, several hundred horses, swine, sheep and fowls. They

are proud of their homes and of living in them like white people.

They are as neat and orderly as old-fashioned Dutch housekeepers.

They are excellent cooks, too; they never need to be shown twice how

to cook anything. Their sewing is the most beautiful I ever saw; it

is impossible to see the stitches. They have made all the carpets and

bedding I have in my house. The contrast, therefore, between these

White Earth people and the scattered bands of Chippewas shows plainly

what can be accomplished with them by adopting right methods. The

latter are utterly degraded.”

* * * * *

In the February MISSIONARY we commented on the causes which had

led the Executive Committee of the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the

Methodist Episcopal Church to direct the Trustees of the Chattanooga

University to ask Professor Caulkins for his resignation. This the

Trustees refused to do, and, in view of a current expectation that

colored students would again seek admission, they have passed a series

of “whereases” affirming that the University was designed for white

pupils, and not intended to be a mixed school; that well-equipped

schools for colored pupils were easily accessible; that to admit

colored students would injure the school, defeat the object for which

it was established, alienate the races and prove especially detrimental

to the interests of the colored people; that the General Conference had

declared the question of mixed schools to be one of expediency “to be

left to the choice and administration of those on the ground, and more

immediately concerned,” and then wound up with a resolution declaring

that they deemed it inexpedient to admit colored students to the

University, and instructed the Faculty to administer accordingly.

Such action on the part of the trustees could not be permitted to pass

unnoticed. The Executive Committee of the Freedmen’s Aid Society called

a meeting of the Board of Managers, and submitted for consideration

the above-noted “_whereases_” and “_resolution_.” The whole subject

received full consideration. We have not space to publish the report in

full, but it is all summed up in the last resolution, as follows:

“_Resolved_, That if the Chattanooga University fail to secure the

resignation of Prof. Wilford Caulkins, to take effect at a date not

later than the close of the present school term, and to so modify

its action as not to exclude from instruction in that institution

students on account of race or color; _i. e._, if the said university

fail in either of these particulars, we hereby instruct our Executive

Committee to secure, by agreement, if possible, with the Trustees of

said University, the immediate termination of the contract between the

Chattanooga University and the Freedmen’s Aid Society; and, in case a

termination of said contract be not secured by mutual agreement, in

either of the contingencies named above, to notify the Trustees of

the Chattanooga University, within sixty days from this 24th day of

February, 1887, of the termination of the contract as provided in the

same.”

This brings matters to an issue. We congratulate the Board of Managers

of the Freedmen’s Aid Society upon the stand taken.

* * * * *

WRITES a teacher in Georgia: “With the close of 1886 many left our

school, some to teach in the public schools and others to engage in any

work that they could find. Over thirty schools have been supplied with

acceptable teachers from our schools.” We have here an illustration of

what is taking place more or less in connection with all our schools.

We are supplying teachers for the public schools of the South. Reports

that tell only of what our missionaries are doing among those whom

they personally reach, fall far short of that larger work, which,

through their scholars, they are doing all over the South. Think of the

difference between a school taught by a Christian teacher and one under

the care of a godless teacher. The A. M. A. is sending out Christian

teachers.

* * * * *

The Charleston _News and Courier_ is authority for the statement that

one thousand and fifty-seven colored people of that city have deposits

in the local savings banks amounting to $124,936. The person who has

the largest deposit, $6,747, to his credit, is a pure-blooded African,

but a born financier. He has recently bought a valuable plantation

for $10,000, and has paid $7,000 of the purchase-money. The _News and

Courier_ adds: “There are thousands of active and thrifty colored men

in the State who have bought land since the war, and who are steadily

collecting about them the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.

Comparatively few of the colored people entertain decided notions

of economy or have any faith in Government savings banks, but the

wealth they have hidden away in old stockings and the money they are

investing from year to year in lands and houses, if it could be rightly

estimated, would prove a pleasing revelation.”

* * * * *

THE END OF A DISTINGUISHED LIFE.

The death of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher has evoked a widespread expression

of interest. His funeral was more like that of some distinguished

statesman, over whose bier all political and religious differences are

forgotten and only the good connected with his life remembered. It was

certainly a most remarkable demonstration.

And why all this? Because he had worked himself into the popular

thought as the faithful champion of reforms and measures that touched

the popular heart. His pulpit power, as an orator, made Brooklyn

famous the world over. His splendid victory in turning the tide of

British opinion on the side of the Union as against secession by his

marvelous speeches in England, challenged and won the admiration of

his countrymen who were loyal to the integrity of the republic. But

what more than anything else created an affection that his death

has resurrected, and that will make his name famous so long as its

memory remains, was his fearless and uncompromising Abolitionism.

Plymouth pulpit was a battery whose shot and shell made continuous

breaches in the defenses of slavery during the days preceding the

great conflict, and when the conflict came, it was heard as a voice

in trumpet tones calling the people to battle and steadying them in

courage and determination. The preacher saw with prophetic eye not only

the preservation of the Union as the issue, but the emancipation and

enfranchisement of the slaves. Mr. Beecher was, therefore, always the

friend of the American Missionary Association. For eleven years he was

one of its vice-presidents. At Lawrence, Mass., in 1870, he preached

its annual sermon. Its representatives have always been welcome to his

pulpit, and its work has always been sustained by the contributions

of his people. It was fitting that the same man who had been the

undertaker for John Brown and Owen Lovejoy should perform the same

service, as he did, for Mr. Beecher. It was fitting that a Virginia

Confederate general and former slave-holder, and a Massachusetts

colored commander of the William Lloyd Garrison Post of the Grand

Army of the Republic, should march arm in arm, as they did, at the

head of the procession when the body was carried to Plymouth Church

under escort of the 13th N. Y. Regiment, of which Mr. Beecher was the

chaplain. It was fitting that the last letter Mr. Beecher wrote, and

which he left unfinished, should be, as it is, about a colored man and

the word of God.

And it is fitting that THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY should join, as it does,

with the tens of thousands who testify to the wonderful power, the

marvelous achievements, the great value of the varied ministrations of

this justly distinguished and remarkable man, and who thank God that

the transcendent wealth of his great mind, and tender, sympathetic

heart was consecrated to the service of the loving Father, who bestowed

it, in behalf of liberty, justice, equity and right.

* * * * *

THE NEGRO ON THE NEGRO.

The New York _Independent_, always on the alert for information

concerning the colored people, and fearless in its championship of

those people’s rights, has published under the above caption seven most

interesting articles.

A circular was sent to two hundred representative intelligent colored

men and women in the several Southern States, “to ascertain the

prevailing opinions and feelings of the colored people themselves about

the relation of the races and the outlook of the colored race.” The

seventh article, which is a summary of the answers received, we take

great pleasure in publishing:

“_Material Prosperity and Ambition of the Negro._––There is a

practically unanimous opinion (the dissenting opinions coming from

a few communities which have abnormal hindrances) that the colored

people are becoming home owners with great rapidity. The proportion

of families who own their own homes is variously estimated, and

no estimate is trustworthy for statistical uses. But all the

correspondents report an ambition to accumulate property, and the

accumulation of more and more every year. The great mass of the

blacks are not real estate owners. The great mass of black families

are yet tenants; but the progress making in the acquisition of land

seems to be satisfactory. In most Southern communities, land is yet

very cheap, and the mere ownership of land does not argue material

prosperity to any great extent; but the ownership of homes does argue a

social advancement that is exceedingly significant. There is reported

from some communities a lingering opposition by the whites to the

disposition of land to Negroes. But this has had the natural effect

to make the Negroes the more ambitious to become land-owners. In most

communities this opposition seems to have disappeared, or at least to

have taken the modified shape of opposition to the Negroes’ acquisition

of the most desirable land for residences. The race is indisputably

laying the foundation for all healthful progress.

_The System of Wages, Credit, etc._ There is very general complaint

of the credit system which prevails in most Southern communities. The

most grievous shape this takes is the payment of wages in supplies,

whereby an oppressive interest is exacted, and by the nature of the

system generally made necessary. By such a system the thrifty are

taxed to make up for the thriftlessness of the rest. It is at this

point, in fact, that the industrial servitude which yet lingers as a

relic of slavery obtrudes itself most oppressively. The abolition of

this system is necessary for the material advancement of the South––of

both races alike; necessary for the elevation of the laborer and for

the promotion of his efficiency; necessary as a corollary to the

Emancipation Proclamation; and necessary as a means of freeing the

whole system of Southern labor (the employer as well as the employee)

from inefficiency. No conceivable amount of extraneous capital invested

in the South would so add to material prosperity as the abolition of

the credit and supply system. The labor problem there is to effect this

emancipation. As for wages, they are low, but their lowness is not

itself a cause of distress. It is the system which keeps them low and

keeps labor inefficient and taxes thrift and skill, and puts a premium

on thriftlessness and untrustworthiness, that does the damage. The gist

of the whole problem is here.

_The Races and the Laws._––The statutes of the Southern States are

not a matter of complaint, except the bastardy and marriage laws; but

there is a very general opinion that in the execution of the law,

race prejudice appears. One correspondent lays great stress on a fact

which several others mention, that many ignorant blacks often fancy

that they are the victims of injustice when they are not. The opinion

of the colored practitioners of law is practically unanimous that a

Negro tried for certain crimes is more likely to be convicted than a

white man for the same crimes, and likely to pay a heavier penalty

where the penalty is discretionary with the court or jury. The marriage

and bastardy laws of several Southern States at least concentrate the

pressure to crime at the weakest social point, and do not give the

Negro woman a fair chance, nor the same protection or reparation that

the white woman has.

_Schools and Churches._––In the answers to the inquiry whether the

Negroes themselves prefer separate or mixed schools and churches, a

peculiar state of feeling was made plain in this regard––that “union”

or “mixed” schools were opposed by the colored teachers because the

white teachers would then have a monopoly of the business of teaching.

This implies a belief that the Southern whites would teach Negro

schools if it were made profitable. The dominant sentiment of the

colored people is decidedly in favor of the present system of separate

schools and churches; but they prefer them because mixed schools

and churches would emphasize and provoke the race prejudice. As an

independent question, apart from the difficulty of readjusting a plan

now almost universally adopted, they would prefer mixed schools and

union churches. The most intelligent of these correspondents, even

as things are, favor mixed congregations and schools as a means of

eradicating race prejudice.

It is worthy of notice that several correspondents declare that the

separation of the congregations of the same creed on the color line

has had much to do toward causing the blacks to doubt the sincerity of

the religion of those who, though they teach that their religion is

universal in its application, allow it to yield to race feeling. This

is a significant confession for colored men to make; and it is worthy

of the attention of the Southern churches.

“_Civil Rights._”––There is a unanimous protest in these letters

against the discrimination made between the races on public

thoroughfares, and at places of amusement. The desire of the colored

people for the obliteration of the color-line in these places seems to

be universal and is strong.

_The Most Pressing Need._––In answer to the inquiry, “What is the

greatest hindrance, and the most pressing need of the race?” the

Negro’s appreciation of instruction, and his ambition to be educated,

were forcibly expressed. “Education is the greatest need,” is the

answer in substance of every correspondent. In the replies it was made

plain that the race is prepared for an important prohibition movement.

Drink is thought to be the greatest hindrance by a large number of the

colored lawyers and teachers, as well as preachers. This points to a

probably early agitation of prohibition over a wide Southern area.

The colored man himself appreciates, too, the necessity of practical

instruction, instruction in the trades.

_Morality and the Mixture of Races._––A general moral improvement is

what the Negro himself believes his race is making; and this belief is

in itself strong evidence that this judgment is sound. But the dominant

opinion is that the black race is already perceptibly disappearing.

Colored men are everywhere reported to prefer light-colored women.

There is a race pride on the Negro’s side as well as on the white man’s

against intermarriage. But the Negro has, nevertheless, reached the

conclusion, if these letters are representative of the race’s opinion,

as they are believed to be, that the pure African will become rare in a

very few generations, and that he is doomed to extinction.

It remains to be said that the letters which have been received in

answer to these inquiries show not a little mature thought. They show,

too, a profound interest in all phases of the subject. The Negro is at

least seriously thinking over the problems that his presence presents.

Many of these correspondents have expressed great interest in this

investigation, and have put themselves to no little trouble to make

it full and fair. The sincerity and frankness of these letters have

spoken for themselves. A deep moral purpose pervades most of them that

is impressive. They emphasize the conviction that the race is making an

heroic struggle, according to its opportunities for advancement. That

the Negro is true to his race, moreover, is a fact of some importance.

The educated are working to educate the rest.

It is noteworthy, moreover, that out of all the answers received only

two displayed bitterness of race feeling. The Negro’s temper, as shown

in this correspondence, is the temper of a patient, charitable worker

for a great purpose. And, above all, the Negro has faith in the Negro.

It has not occurred to a single correspondent to express doubt of the

continued advancement of the whole race.”

N. Y. INDEPENDENT.

* * * * *

RELIGIOUS DOGGEREL.

_The Sweet Songster_ is the name of a little hymn book published in

Catlettsburg, Ky. It contains verses composed, compiled, altered or

amended, according to the sweet pleasure of one Edward W. Billups, D.D.

There are some old familiar hymns scattered through the book, but often

sadly marred by omission, alteration or addition. Some of the original

effusions are ludicrous in the extreme. The poet shows his estimate of

education as he describes the Christians of old:

Small learning they had, and wanted no more;

Not many could read, but all could adore.

No help from the college or school they received,

Content with his knowledge in whom they believed.

Calvinism has to take it hot and heavy. The sweet singer lets sweetness

take a vacation, while he pours forth his wrath in song:

There is a reprobated plan,

Say how did it arise?

By the predestinated clan

Of horrid cruelties.

The plan is this––they hold a few

Who are ordained for heaven,

They hold the rest a cursed crew

That cannot be forgiven.

* * * * *

If all things were fore-ordained,

Or finally decreed,

I would like to know why mortal man

Is responsible for his deeds?

If Calvinism thus be true,

And all things fore-decreed,

The Lord has been very kind

Unto the devil indeed.

* * * * *

But we do say God’s Holy Word

Doth no such doctrine teach,

For if it do, then why do you

Attempt His word to preach?

For if God has fore-ordained

All things to be just so,

Then we do say, all cease to pray,

And to a-fishing go;

But, my friends, all on you I call

To mind this doctrine well,

It has its birth, not on this earth,

But in the pit of hell.

A vision of the judgment day swept the poet’s high-strung sensibilities

and the fires of Parnassus caused him to warble:

I dreamed I was out to the east––cast mine eye––

The atmosphere calm, and serene was the sky,

So calm, still and awful––tremendous the sight––

I thought the last judgment was drawing to light.

The dead all arose immediately then,

And covered the earth with both women and men

All standing together––’tis hard to indite

The aspect most shocking––surprising the sight.

A pavement of blue from the cloud did go forth,

Extensively reaching from South to the North,

On which holy angels stood almost complete,

And glorified spirits in harmony sweet.

The next I heard Jesus say come you up here,

When all the blessed nations up gently did steer,

And quitting the globe with sweet pleasure did sing

A song that had never before tuned a string.

Then in the sweet transport my feet left the ground,

Without any motion of body or sound;

My joys were unspeakably full of delight,

So loud was the music it wakened me quite.

We were pleased in the perusal of these hymns to notice that the

poet’s theology took in apparently all men in its broad sweep. We said

here is a man who does not recognize the color line in his thought

of God’s redeeming love. It takes poetry to expand the soul above

prejudice and caste––when lo, we stumbled across the following:

Roll forward, dear Saviour, roll forward the day

When all shall submit and rejoice in thy sway,

When _white_ men and Indians, united in praise,

One vast hallelujah triumphant shall raise.

We were mistaken. The colored brother has no recognition. White men and

Indians are to have a monopoly in the vast hallelujah! How the wings

of our poet drooped as he essayed this loftiest of flights. We are

thankful, however, that he did let the Indian come in for a part in the

hallelujah. The war-whoop would not at all be out of harmony in his

_kind_ of a hallelujah chorus! That this “sweet singer in Israel” D.D.

should make some of his songs take on the form of Scripture exposition

is what we might expect, as witness:

There was a man in ancient times,

The Scriptures doth inform us,

Whose pomp and grandeur and whose crimes

Were great and very numerous.

The man fared sumptuously each day

In purple and fine linen;

He ate and drank, but seemed to pray––

Spent all his time in sinning.

Poor Lazarus lying at his gate,

To help himself unable,

Did for the fragments humbly wait

That fell from his rich table,

But not one mite would he bestow,

Would the rich worldling give him;

The dogs took pity––licked his sores––