MARCH, 1887.
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
VOL. XLI.
NO. 3.
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL.
PAGE
FINANCIAL--A GOOD IDEA, 65
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENTS, 66
THY KINGDOM COME--PARAGRAPH, 68
WE ARE VERILY GUILTY CONCERNING OUR BROTHER, 69
DOES THE HIGHER EDUCATION BEFIT THE NEGRO? 71
SOME CHANGE NEEDED, 73
NEW LIGHT IN THE SOUTH, 74
PARAGRAPH--DEATH OF MR. WEIR, 75
THE SOUTH.
NOTES IN THE SADDLE. Supt. C. J. Ryder, 75
DEDICATION OF BALLARD BUILDING, 77
OUR SCHOOL OF OBSERVATION--CHARLESTON, S. C., 79
CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS, 80
THE INDIANS.
A VISIT TO THE DAKOTAS, 82
THE CHINESE.
FROM REV. F. B. PERKINS, 84
BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS--LETTER FROM JENNIE COX, 86
FOR THE CHILDREN.
LETTER FROM A COLOURED BOY TO HIS TEACHER--LETTER
FROM MRS. A. A. MYERS, 88
RECEIPTS, 89
* * * * *
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. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.
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. MARCH, 1887. No. 3.
American Missionary Association.
The receipts published this month bring us to the end of
one-third of our fiscal year. They are $17,712 less than
one-third of $350,000, the total amount recommended by the
National Council and the Annual Meeting. Our payments have been
in excess of receipts $9,130. Add this excess to the $5,000 debt
with which we began the year, and you have the condition of our
treasury. We have borrowed the money to meet the deficit. Our
missionaries are all paid, our work is being pushed and sustained
at every point. It is evident that there must be a large increase
in contributions from churches and individuals. The contributions
are voluntary. As a generous contributor to our treasury says
in a letter just received, “Resolutions of annual meetings are
not collectable taxes.” Our work is entirely dependent upon the
free-will offerings of our supporters. We appeal to them with
this understanding. We invite their thoughtful attention to all
the facts in the case. The next few months are the best in the
year to collect money. People are all at home and about their
business. Pastors are all in their pulpits. All the machinery
of church and Sunday-school activities are in operation. We
earnestly beseech pastors and church officers, and all friends,
not to let this harvest-time pass without making special effort
to put the finances of the A. M. A. on an assured foundation,
before the summer months with their vacations and interruptions
of church work come.
* * * * *
A GOOD IDEA.
This little missive shows the way in which one pastor works the
cause of benevolence in his parish:
“_Dear Friends_:
The American Missionary Association is the Hand we have extended
toward the seven million of colored people in the South, toward
the two hundred and seventy-five thousand Indians in the West,
and to the one hundred thousand Chinese on the Pacific Slope, to
help lift them to Christian character and citizenship.
The accompanying leaflet shows us what the Association is doing,
while the envelope is to receive the annual offering which we are
to make the coming Sabbath, ----.
Shall we send a prayer with our gifts?
Faithfully yours.”
We have a supply of leaflets, collecting cards and envelopes
which we will furnish gratis on order to any who request them for
use in taking up contributions.
* * * * *
The Annual Report for 1885-’86 is now ready, and on application
will be mailed to any one who wishes it.
* * * * *
A precious revival of religion has been enjoyed in the Atlanta
University, of which a full report will be given next month.
* * * * *
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENTS
SELECTED FROM NUMEROUS LETTERS RECENTLY RECEIVED.
“Our contributions, though not large, are larger than they would
be were it not for the copies of the magazine read by the people.”
“We are doing better for you than ever before, though not half
what we ought to. Hope you will get your $350,000 and $150,000
more added to it.”
“The magazine is of interest, and is enjoyed always. It is doing
a noble and appreciated work.”
“We are glad to be able to send this year the largest collection
the church has ever taken for the work of the Association. We
shall hope even to improve on this next time.”
“I will see that the matter of looking up subscribers for your
magazine is placed in proper hands. I am much interested in your
work.”
“The magazine does good. We love the Association, and do not fail
to give our little.”
“I will do what I can to increase interest in our work, and, if
possible, extend the circulation of your magazine.”
“The information furnished by the magazine is used freely in
our monthly meetings by those who receive it. We regard the A.
M. A. as one of the most useful and sacred of the benevolent
organizations to which we contribute.”
“I do wish that more of our people would take your magazine. I
shall recommend it to their notice.”
“The last number of THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY is worth its weight
in gold. I wish it could be found in every one of our families.”
“We are thoroughly interested in your work, and will give you a
better collection this year than we did last. I can say so much
with confidence.”
“That your magazine is a power in your behalf is evident from
a glance at our record, as our little country church averages
nearly $200 a year in support of your work. As long as I remain
pastor of the church, it will not be my fault if this good record
is not continued.”
“The copies of THE MISSIONARY which come here are all used, and
profitably so. Our parish is thoroughly interested in your work,
and we have one of our best reporters to represent your field at
our monthly concerts.”
To those who will help in extending the circulation of THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY, we will, on order, send sample copies. The
subscription price is 50 cents. Send orders to H. W. Hubbard,
Treasurer, 56 Reade street, New York city.
* * * * *
We do not desire to have the money that rightfully belongs to
other missionary boards find its way into our treasury; yet we do
rejoice that there are many noble men and women in the different
denominations who were among the constituents of the Association
in its early days, and who have remained its constituents down to
the present time. One of them attended our last annual meeting,
and enclosing $30 to make a Life Membership, which makes the
thirty-first Life Member that he has constituted, writes in
regard to that meeting as follows:
“The meeting at New Haven was the best I ever attended;
everything moved so easily, and there seemed to be such a
good spirit. But of all the papers read, there was none that
interested me so much as Rev. Dr. Strieby’s, from the fact that
it carried me back to those dark days when I, as an Abolitionist
and a Presbyterian, united with the Society. He brought all the
historical facts of those days out so clearly that I had to say
amen, and amen, and thank God that I had lived to see the great
change in our beloved America. I have never left a stone unturned
for the A. M. A., for I have always found it true to humanity and
working for the interest of the Master. Therefore I have stood
by it, and at the same time never have forsaken the Board of my
own church. I am sure that meeting brought me a little nearer to
Heaven, and I rejoice that I was spared to enjoy its blessings.
Push on until all men of all nations of the world are brought to
the knowledge of the truth as it is in our blessed Jesus.”
* * * * *
When we offer the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven,” it is simply a petition that the
kingdom of heaven become the kingdom of earth. The kingdom of
heaven, in so far as it is in the earth, is in the hearts of
men. When it shall be in the hearts of all men and call forth
their loyal service, the prayer will be answered. As Christians
we are bound not only to pray but to help answer our prayers.
Into what a field for self-culture membership in Christ’s church
introduces the believer! Large thoughts tend to make large
souls. It is not merely the local church or community in which
one happens to be, for whose interests he prays and plans and
works; it is the kingdom of God in the earth. The local church
may be small and limited in the opportunities that it offers for
soul-growth, but the kingdom of God has no limit. In its reach
it is wide as humanity. “Christ sees in every man, even in the
poorest and most miserable, a human being whose privilege it is
to become a member of the kingdom of God.” The vision of the
disciple should be like that of the Master. High and low, rich
and poor, ignorant and learned, are words that mark degrees and
conditions in human society, but in the Divine sight all are low
and poor and ignorant and lost who have not by the regenerating
power of the Holy Ghost, through faith in Jesus Christ, been born
into the kingdom of God. The Gospel is to be preached to every
creature. If we cannot go in person we can in purse and prayer.
Representatively we can preach in the ends of the earth, heal
the sick, feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Obligations to
the particular home field that the individual church to which we
belong cultivates, absolve us not from the obligations we owe
to the world-field into which the kingdom of God is coming by
the extension of the church universal. This large view of our
personal relation to Christ’s kingdom as a whole, this faith that
sees in every man a brother for whom Christ died, compel us to
an interest in missions. The triumphs of the gospel in the South
and at the West and in foreign lands, will be just as precious to
us as the triumphs of the gospel in our own community. We shall
desire to have a part in winning them, for wherever the scenes
are laid the triumphs are Christ’s, and therefore ours.
* * * * *
President Cleveland not only believes that the Indian can be
civilized, but that it is the duty of the Government to help. He
says the Indians “are a portion of our people, are under the
authority of our Government, and have a peculiar claim upon, and
are entitled to, the fostering care and protection of the Nation.
The Government cannot relieve itself of this responsibility until
they are so far trained and civilized as to be able wholly to
manage and care for themselves. The paths in which they should
walk must be clearly marked out for them, and they must be led
or guided until they are familiar with the way, and competent to
assume the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship.”
Let Congress make these sentiments the basis of Indian
legislation, and let all the servants of the Government who have
to do with the Indians work with these truths in view, and in a
very few years the wisdom and economy of the policy will appear
in such a light that all will be compelled to approve it. And yet
all this will fail unless the Gospel be brought to the Indians at
the same time. The particular value of this Government movement
in behalf of the Indian is, that it will not only prepare the way
for the coming of the Gospel, but will also protect the effects
of the Gospel from the evil influences of wicked men. Had the
hindrances which have shut out Christianity from the Indians been
removed, as they could and ought to have been by the Government,
the Gospel long ago would have solved the Indian problem, and the
Gospel must solve it now.
* * * * *
WE ARE VERILY GUILTY CONCERNING OUR BROTHER.
BY MRS. A. McDOUGALL.
From the day when we come to Him for rest, taking His yoke upon
us, we give assent to the oneness of God’s people in Christ,
and to the oneness of the work given them to do. We sing of the
sacred tie that binds our hearts into one, we preach about it, we
pray over it, in a theoretic way we believe it; but it seems as
if it requires something like the fountains of the great deep to
be broken up to make us practically realize all that the singing,
preaching, praying and believing involve. Our loyalty to the
Union slumbered and slept, as securely as the ten virgins, till
the trumpet blew all over the land. Who then felt his life too
dear to offer it for the Union? What lady’s hand was too delicate
to scrape lint, make bandages, or pack boxes of home comforts
for the boys at the front? How many timid hearts made themselves
brave to endure the sight of horrible suffering, that they
might minister and so help; but now we have grown careless and
secure, as if we had no part in the work which the war left for
us to do. In travelling through the southern part of this great
commonwealth, along the highways and byways, over long reaches of
dark country, the between places, outside and beyond the centres
where mission and educational work is being done, we see the
vast crowds of people “who have not come to their own;” people
who have a triple hunger consuming them, the hunger of poverty,
the hunger for knowledge and the hunger after righteousness.
We are compelled to see ignorance, helplessness and consequent
shiftlessness, contending hopelessly with the might and
meanness of greed. This great need in a professedly Christian
land--people perishing for lack of knowledge, where knowledge is
a birthright--causes our hearts to burn within us, and we say,
how long until the whole body of Christ feels this pain? Oh, if
they only knew! And we take the task willingly of telling of it.
Alas, they are so busy, the farm, the merchandise, the different
enterprises of ecclesiastical masonry and millinery, and we find
that the need is too far away for general sympathy.
I am reminded of an incident in the lumber country. One of the
workmen, an exceedingly tall man, cut his foot with an axe,
literally splitting his great toe. A sympathetic little one
inquired anxiously, “Will it be long till you feel it? It is so
far away from your head, you know,” she added apologetically. The
pain in the Southern limb of the body politic has not reached all
the members yet. If it had, the fair hands that erstwhile scraped
lint would do as much as the women of Brittany did for the ransom
of Bertrand Des Guesclin, spin one day’s spinning; the men, who
gave themselves, would give a crumb of their cake to preserve
the fought-for Union. On the Church of the living God this work
must fall, by the people of God it must be done, if it is done at
all. There are people who have given themselves, who are in the
forefront of this battle. We do not all recognize that we, who
hold the Head and are all members one of another, live under the
rule of the Beloved, our New Testament David. “The part of those
who go forth to battle and they who tarry by the stuff shall be
alike”--alike in the cost, the danger and the glory of triumph.
Then, when we restore that which we took not away, the blessing
that multiplies falls upon us until we have not room enough to
receive it.
We must have our eyes touched with His eye-salve to see clearly
the Christ in these helpless ones whose hands are stretched out
to touch our hearts. Human nature, even renewed human nature,
has some queer inconsistencies. The way in which we fulfill
Scripture by turning everyone to his own way is wonderful. One
of our own ways is how much readier we are to give charity than
to pay debt. One of the best men I ever knew paid the new hands
in his establishment less than they could hire their board for,
and subscribed liberally to a home where boys could get plain
board at half price. Now, God’s way is: “The worker is worthy of
his meat.” This dear, good man believed he was doing something
religious when he gave the part he kept back from wages in
charity. This is an instance of a widely-spreading delusion.
Give, and give liberally, for the conversion of the polished
Japanese, the philosophical Brahmin, the filially-trained
Chinese, the monotheistic Mohammedan, the heathen of distant
Africa and the isles of the sea. You are right. The marching
orders of the Grand Army are: “Go ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature.” “All” and “every” cover
every inch of ground. Go on and prosper and the Lord magnify thy
work.
But, stay, there is here a debt to be paid, restitution to be
made. “Leave there thy gift before the altar, go thy way, first
be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift.”
Thy brother in black has a controversy with thee. And his
Advocate is thy Judge. Listen to the plea: “All the fields
cleared and tilled in this broad south land, we cleared and
tilled them. The roads that are made we made them, the bridges
built we built them. We have been like Joseph in Egypt, whatever
has been done here we have been the doers of it. We are American
citizens. We have bought our citizenship dear with the sweat of
our bodies and the blood of our backs. We have waded the red
sea to freedom. The hands that reaped your fields for nought
are held out to you for knowledge. We ask for our share of your
civilization and your Christianity.” Fellow Christians, the back
pay must be made up.
* * * * *
DOES THE HIGHER EDUCATION BEFIT THE NEGRO?
BY PRESIDENT H. S. DE FOREST, D.D.
It was once believed that a little learning was a dangerous
thing, but it is now held that much learning is perilous to the
negro. His risk is in over-education. Manual training is good for
him, of course. He has a natural talent for that which came down
from inheritance and has been worked in with both care and pains.
He also needs moral training, though this is not an ancient
heir-loom in his family. But for his mental development, the
fundamental branches, few and simple, are thought to be enough.
The higher range of study, even if he be capable of reaching it,
would only harm him and unfit him for his place. This opinion,
held by not a few, has been stated by Bishop Pierce as follows:
“The negroes are entitled to elementary education the same as
the whites from the hands of the State. It is the duty of the
church to improve the colored ministry, but by theological
training rather than by literary education. In my judgment,
higher education, so-called, would be a positive calamity to
the negroes. It would increase the friction between the races,
producing endless strifes, elevate negro aspirations far above
the station he was created to fill, and resolve the whole into
a political faction, full of strife, mischief and turbulence.
Negroes ought to be taught that the respect of the white race can
only be obtained by good character and conduct. My conviction
is that negroes have no right in juries, legislatures, or in
public office. Right involves character and qualification. The
appointment of any colored man to office by the Government is
an insult to the Southern people, and provokes conflict and
dissatisfaction, when if left as they ought to be, in their
natural sphere, there would be quiet and good order.”
The argument then is briefly this: The negro is a low order of
man, fit only for a low place, and therefore best trained by a
low order of studies. The error is two-fold, embracing both a
falsehood and a fallacy: a falsehood, for as far as inherent
nature is concerned, the negro is no lower than the rest of the
human race; and a fallacy, for if he were, or so far as he has
become so from the force of circumstances, the more urgent the
demand for superior training. The negro is a man, and, like any
other man, is profited by choice mental culture. Furthermore,
the disabilities of the past make his higher education specially
necessary, and as fast as possible the most promising of the
black race should attain the best and choicest culture. In bare
outline some of the reasons for this opinion may be thus stated:
(1.) The negro has ability for the highest range of studies,
and to debar him therefrom is to sin both against the man and
his Maker. Many, especially those who cannot spell his name
without putting in one “g” too many, doubt the intellectual
power of the negro. It is true that heredity holds with him as
with other men. A race scarce one and twenty years removed from
enforced ignorance does not climb the hill of science as nimbly
as those who inherit the brain, will and spiritual forces which
generations and centuries have accumulated. But twenty-one years,
and of wretched environment too, have sufficed to show that souls
clad in the blackest African setting are capable of the highest
thought and most difficult studies. The evidence on this point
is abundant and conclusive. To deny the negro this ability is
only to advertise one’s ignorance or prejudice. And since God
has written his truth both in his word and works, and also given
to the black man aptitude and thirst for the highest and most
hidden, it does not become a race longer out of darkness and
further removed from heathenism to say “thus far and no farther”
in the culture of immortality. The negro should receive the
higher education because God has made him capable of it, and he
is profited thereby as much as any other man.
(2.) The higher range of studies is necessary to supplant
self-conceit with self-reliance. Measuring themselves by
themselves, an ignorant people are always inflated by the merest
modicum of knowledge. Broad scholarship gives modesty, but the
sciolist everywhere is a braggart. None are so satisfied with
their acquisitions as the valedictorians of very poor schools.
Where gold is scarce, a little metal, and chiefly alloy, will
serve for many a big spangle, and the greater the darkness the
brighter it shines. The serene satisfaction with which the
African novice will misapply and mispronounce grandiloquent
speech can only be cured by the presence of some scholarly men
who have climbed far enough to see the heights and to know that
the low-land is a bog.
But wise self-reliance is as rare among an ignorant people as
conceit and folly are abundant. One part of the problem before
us is to develop manly courage. Slavery cut the hamstrings of
independence and sapped very manhood. As a rule the negro is
not certain of his rights nor is he heroic in maintaining them.
He has long been habituated to wrong, and the passive virtues
have become disproportionate. From the days of the Cyrenian
he has ever borne the cross, and naturally his back is bent
and his knees are weak. Probably there is no other man in this
country who can be wronged with such impunity and success as the
negro. He is outraged in business, in society and in politics.
He knows his wrong, but he does not know of his power to repel
it. He needs a manly self-reliance, and that he must have or he
will always be victimized. As Franklin said, “If we make sheep
of ourselves the wolves will have us.” It is true the virtue
needed is largely moral. Scholarship alone cannot give it, but
scholarship is a prime ingredient. The step of one walking
in darkness is of necessity halting and hesitant. The higher
education is essential to that higher courage without which right
and privilege are insecure.
(3.) The negro needs well-trained leaders and they must come from
his own people. Race prejudice is an uncomfortable fact, and
there are two sides to the color line. The Moses of the future
cannot, in general, be an Egyptian, whether teacher, preacher or
politician. But the future Moses will need all the learning of
Egypt. A task is before him. The Red Sea indeed has been passed
and God is going before. But the wilderness is simply terrible,
and many are falling by the way. Leaders must be trained, and to
do this is now our chief work. Every regiment certainly needs a
competent colonel, and among every one thousand men there surely
ought to be one well bred and well read, broad and thoughtful and
scholarly, trained to thought, enriched with varied knowledge,
and able either to cope with men or to grapple with difficulties.
By this meager percentage, seven thousand liberally trained men
are needed for the nearly seven million Africans in our country.
We conclude then, that while all should have the lower education,
a great many should receive the higher. Every man may need
silver, but the best commerce of the world requires that some
should also have gold, and a good deal of it.
* * * * *
SOME CHANGE NEEDED.
We publish the following as evidence of the necessity for
Congregational Churches among the colored people. There are some
kinds of religion from which intelligent people wish to get
away. Of these kinds it can be truthfully said that a “special
religious interest” is not a blessing.--ED.
“The church here was organized in April, 1882. From the beginning
we have held worship in one room of the Knox school building,
which is owned by the A. M. A. This room is not large enough
to accommodate the people when there is anything like a good
interest, as we cannot seat, comfortably, more than one hundred
persons. We are, therefore, put to great inconvenience at times.
Again, there is not the air of sacredness in worshiping in a
school-house as there is in an out-and-out church edifice. At
least it is so among the people here.
“Great as these reasons are for a church building, yet there is
another still greater. It is this; we are holding our services
not farther away than thirty steps from a colored Baptist church
whose congregation is immense. Moreover, our meetings are held at
the same hour as theirs. Their great demonstrations and shoutings
are destructive to the solemnity and comfort of our quiet and
orderly congregations. When there is special religious interest
among that people--and it is almost a perpetual thing--the good
effect of our services is almost as good as none.
“Now, to carry out our building plan we need fifteen hundred or
two thousand dollars. We hope our Northern friends will give us
at least one thousand dollars of this amount. Please respond as
soon as possible, as we are very anxious to complete our church
by next April when our fifth anniversary will be held. We wish to
hold that service in the new edifice.
“The future good of the work here will depend very much upon our
ability to build within the year 1887.”
And the following is an evidence of the necessity for
Congregational ministers:
“DEAR SIR: I hav been infome buy Some of you brothren. As I
wished to Change my Relation Ship with the Church to Some other
branch of Church. I. hav. come. to. the. conclusion to Join.
with. you. Church. as. a. Colord. Missionarie. in you church
with. my. peopl. I. Am. in. the. best of. Good. Standing. in.
the. Church. And if. you. Dought. this frase. you. can. Rite to
the Rit Rev Bishop in Regard. to. my. Standing in the. Church,
but Dont. Say to him what. I. say. to. you a bout. Joinen you
Church. if. you. please. not as. I. am tring. to Run. off but. I
Like to. no what. I Am Going. to. Do. first I hav been a Elder
in the Church for. 9 years and for five years I. hav. not. Got.
3000. Dollars, for. my Laber. not as. I. Dezier riches of this
Earth. but. a Enought. to Live. with. in this. Life. I. Am
thinking to tak. up. a home Stide, on Goverment. Land. in Kansas.
or. in Alabama. or Some plase where Grate meny of our people is
but if. I. am Blesst. to Join. with you Church. I. will Do. as
you. Law Says. I. m. familey. wife. and one. neace. And. I Expect
my. neace will. not. be. with. us. Long please be So Kine. as. to
answer this Soon as. you. Get. it.”
* * * * *
NEW LIGHT IN THE SOUTH.
The two sections began life together and formed a government.
The South had the advantage of soil, climate, and wealth. At the
end of eighty-four years the two grappled and fought. The Yankee
section came to the fight richer and stronger than our Southern
section, and beat us into the earth while we did our best.
To-day these Yankees are rich in everything, and we are poor in
everything but manhood and womanhood, and have less than we began
with one hundred years back. These same Yankees furnish the bulk
of the capital we use, the food we eat, the clothes we wear,
the books we read and study, and the high-grade teaching in the
normal schools of the Southern States. Almost every convenience
of life and invention of art and science we know, came from these
same people, who have in ten years done more for Florida than
the Florida natives have done in fifty. Almost any one of their
large communities could buy the whole South for a park if they
liked it for that purpose. In a fight they could crush us like
eggshells. In politics they are masters, and we have to hold
our breath in every big campaign to avoid offending them. Their
percentage of ignorance is one-tenth of ours. When trouble comes
on us we depend on them for most of the help, and get it. The
world knows them as America, and us as outlying and unconsidered
provinces.--_Greenville, (S. C.) News._
* * * * *
GEORGE W. MONISTY was a slave, and was sold from his parents
in 1853, being taken to Mississippi. He subsequently served
as a Union soldier all through the war, and finally settled
at Lafayette, Ind. While at the Wabash depot recently, George
fancied he recognized two colored women who were passing, _en
route_ to Iowa. The recognition was mutual, and with tears,
cries of joy, and embraces, the mother, brother and sister came
together after a separation of thirty-three years.
* * * * *
REV. W. W. WEIR, pastor of the 2d Congregational Church in
Eureka, Kansas, died Nov. 21st, in his fifty-first year. He
had been sick some time with consumption, and his death was
not unexpected. He began his ministry in the African Methodist
Church, and was ordained as a Congregational minister in Eureka
in 1881. In an obituary in a local paper it is said of him:
“Considering the limited privileges which he had in his youth, he
was a man of superior qualifications, and each year has increased
the esteem in which he was held by the community.”
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
NOTES IN THE SADDLE.
BY FIELD-SUPERINTENDENT C. J RYDER.
The Lincoln Memorial Church at Washington, D. C., are rejoicing
in their remodeled building. Various branches of missionary work
are carried on with increased vigor. The industrial training is
now under the direction of the _pastoress_, Mrs. Moore, and is
reaching a large number of women and girls. The outlook of this
work at Washington was never so bright as now.
* * * * *
Dudley, N. C., is a smart little village, having in its entire
population only four white families. The two saloons in the
town, however, are kept by white men--a pretty sorrowful
and disgraceful comment upon the white race. The County
Superintendent of schools spoke in the highest praise of the A.
M. A. school and church at Dudley. Congregationalism here, as
elsewhere, is the synonym for intelligence and purity.
* * * * *
Wilmington is still saddened by the death of Rev. D. D. Dodge,
for a long time the active pastor of the Congregational Church in
that city. But the work goes on with continued prosperity.
* * * * *
A little nine-year-old daughter of the pastor of the A. M. A.
church at Beaufort, N. C., has used her time so wisely between
school hours that she sat down to the organ and played ordinary
music readily. Can any other little A. M. A. girl no older show
better use of her time? This little girl has had only a few
weeks’ instruction in music.
* * * * *
No one who has not visited Charleston, S. C., can form any idea
of the terrible results of that awful earthquake visitation.
The citizens have accomplished wonders in repairing the ruins
of their homes and churches and shops, but it will be months
yet before the fearful desolation can be overcome. Poor
Charleston, what with war and cyclones and earthquakes has she
not suffered! Is it Divine punishment for her rash and fearful
sins of the past? Who can say it is? Who dare say it is not? The
Congregational Church was uninjured by the “quake.” Extensive
repairs had just been made in the building, and the services of
re-dedication came immediately after that night of earthquake
horrors, and were very impressive. Many conversions have taken
place since the re-opening of the church.
Avery Institute suffered seriously from the earthquake. Extensive
and expensive repairs were made necessary before the school could
be opened. These are now completed. I learned of some two hundred
pupils who were waiting to enter Avery as soon as it should be
opened.
* * * * *
At Savannah, Ga., I found a most delightful state of religious
interest. More than a hundred have been hopefully converted
during the few weeks just passed. Many interesting incidents have
occurred. One young man, who has been rather a wild young fellow,
became a Christian. He was at once anxious for his mother, who
was not a Christian. One night she refused to come to evening
service. The friend who went to invite her gave up in despair.
But God did not give up. His spirit still strove with her, and
she came into the church and took the very back seat. But she
was the first to come forward when the invitation was given to
those who desired prayers for themselves. She sat with bowed
head a long time. Her son was there praying for her. There was
no excitement. At last this mother, rising to her feet, walked
across the house, and taking the preacher by the hand, said: “I
will venture.” There was joy in many hearts. The mother and son
are now praying that the aged grandmother may find her way into
the fold of the Good Shepherd, even in her trembling old age.
* * * * *
McIntosh is also rejoicing in a spiritual harvest. Twenty-eight,
all on confession of their faith, joined the A. M. A. church
on the last communion Sabbath. Dorchester Academy is full, and
more than full. The enrollment for January was 250, and _sixty
pupils had been turned away because there was no “room to receive
them.”_ Miss Plimpton, with three young lady assistants, does
this tremendous work with marvellous success. The pastor had been
ill for a few Sabbaths, and the Sabbath duties fell upon these
overworked and heroic women. As I looked into the schoolrooms,
crowded to their very doors, hot and oppressive, it seemed to me
that if anywhere on this continent the Master’s work is being
done, it is right here at McIntosh, Ga. They are indeed Sisters
of Mercy. A little girl in one of our schools was asked what
the feminine of Friar was. She replied, “Fricassee.” In that
hot school-room it seemed almost possible that these Protestant
teachers might be unwillingly converted into female Friars,
according to the little girl’s definition.
The teachers are reaching out in every direction. In a little
tumbled down, or tumbling down, log cabin, Miss Robertson holds
mission service every Sabbath. From seventy to ninety, mostly
men and boys, gather to sing, hear God’s word read, and gather
useful lessons from the wise and loving counsel of this earnest
Christian soul. One hundred dollars are needed at once to put
this cabin into such shape as shall make it suitable for these
services.
In pushing out through the swamps that lie all round Dorchester,
the teachers not infrequently see great, venomous snakes (water
moccasins) tumble off the path before them into the water. And
yet these are timid ladies, and shrink just as you do, gentle
reader, from such monsters. They are there for Christ’s sake, and
in His name they go forward.
Will not some earnest Christian at the North increase his
contribution, so that the school facilities at Dorchester Academy
may meet the demand another year, and so that the hearts of these
Christian heroines may be comforted and cheered?
* * * * *
DEDICATION OF BALLARD BUILDING.
The first Sunday in this New Year was a memorable day with
us at Tougaloo, having been looked forward to with eager
expectancy for months--especially by the carpenter’s apprentices
and other wood-working students, who, no doubt, next to Mr.
Stephen Ballard himself, of New York, feel a sense of personal
proprietorship and joyful interest in “Ballard school-house,”
which was dedicated that day.
The new school-house is not only a monument to Mr. Ballard’s
philanthropy, but also to the value and success of the mechanical
training given here, as the work was almost entirely done by the
students.
The day of dedication was the third of a succession of days
unusually cold for us, and the air was full of snow-flakes,
so that few of the expected guests from a distance made their
appearance, and the extreme unpleasantness of the day kept most
of even our near neighbors at home. However, besides the students
and their immediate friends, we had as guests Miss Dickey, the
honored head of Mt. Hermon Seminary at Clinton, with two of her
assistants; Rev. J. B. Oliver, of the Congregational Church at
Greenville, and Rev. C. L. Harris, of the Congregational Church
at Jackson; also Mr. Moses Folsom, of Iowa, a representative of
“_The Burlington Hawkeye_,” with a friend of his.
Probably none of the _special days_ in the annals of the school
have passed off with more unity and spontaneity of feeling, nor
left a happier consciousness behind. The Sunday-school lesson
had for its title “The Beginning,” and besides its regular and
ordinary teachings, was specially and happily applied, and, at
its close, ten persons were received into church membership.
The regular dedicatory ceremonies and services took place in
the afternoon and were good throughout. Rev. C. L. Harris,
of Jackson, delivered the address. Always energetic and
enthusiastic, and ready for whatever word or work his day and
opportunity bring him, he gave us a really excellent address.
He gave in the outset a sketch of the life of the Christian
merchant who had considered himself the Lord’s steward of the
funds required to build this school-house and the shops required
for our trades. He then spoke at large upon the three-fold work
to which this institution was dedicated,--the education of head,
hand and heart, all tending to the firm and right establishment
of the home and fitting for the widest usefulness.
The last thing in the service supplied an outlet for the
manifestation of the loving and joyful interest with which the
service had been participated in by the congregation, and was
apparently at least _as much_ enjoyed as any part of it, namely,
the taking of a collection. The subscription, started with the
thank-offering of Thanksgiving Day, for seating the new chapel,
had reached $36.50. The collection at the dedication service
brought it to $97.35, additional free-will offerings next morning
making up the hundred. At this writing a beginning has been made
on the remaining $66.25. About one-fourth of this has been given
by our own students, and nearly one-half by the colored people
connected with, or interested in, our school.
A sermon from Rev. J. B. Oliver in the evening closed the
exercises of the day.
* * * * *
OUR SCHOOL OF OBSERVATION.
BY MISS ANNA M. CAHILL, FISK UNIVERSITY.
Sixty bright faces welcomed me as I took my place with
other visitors, this afternoon, in the school-room of our
practice school. These faces are the property of as many happy
children--children with no more weight of years upon them than
properly belongs to pupils in a primary school. As I looked
down the rows of little seats on this my first visit for the
year, I saw at once that many new pupils had taken their places
in this company since the first of September, but some of the
little folks have grown so familiar that I realize they are soon
to “graduate” into the English department of the University.
At least half a dozen of those before me are the children
of parents, one or both of whom were pupils at Fisk at some
time during the first ten years of its work. They come from
comfortable and well-regulated homes in the city, as do the
majority of those primary pupils.
The special occasion that drew us together to-day was the public
exercise of the practice teachers who taught in the school
during the fall term. Every member of the senior normal class
spends six weeks, at some time during the year, in practice
work, under the direction and criticism of the principal of the
school. To-day each of the four teachers taught three classes
ten minutes apiece, and in the two hours thus occupied, not only
the regulation studies, reading and number, were presented, but
very interesting lessons were taught in elementary grammar,
geography of Tennessee, form, color and physiology. When the
bright sunlight gave its aid by flashing through a prism the
rainbow colors on the wall, the little people were quick to tell
how these colors might be combined and others formed; and when to
the physiology class there were shown the heart, lungs and liver
of a sheep, they gathered with so much interest around their
young teacher that spectators and school were forgotten in their
childish eagerness to ask and answer questions.
In one of the motion-songs that varied the exercises of the
afternoon, these little people sang of the shoemaker, “All he
wants is his elbow room,” and as I came away impressed with a
sense of the power developing in that school-room and thought of
the future of its pupils, I said gladly to myself, “All they want
is their elbow room.”
These public exercises are held semi-annually, in order that all
members of the normal class may have opportunity to show the
result of their practice work.
* * * * *
CHARLESTON, S. C.
A young man who recently united with our church on profession of
faith, in his first prayer at the Wednesday night prayer meeting,
said: “Help us young men to pray a little faster and a little
better, for you know how slow and imperfect we are. We cannot
help ourselves. You are our only help. Lead us in the way that we
should go, and help us to withstand the temptations which come
every day.” It is the same idea which St. Paul gives us when he
says: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already
perfect, but I follow after.” “A little faster and a little
better.” What a lesson for Christians generally. If we all would
be a little faster in doing good, in giving to aid in this work
of raising up fallen humanity, there would be no need of constant
appeal from the treasury department of the A. M. A. and the other
great missionary organizations, and if Christians would pray a
little better, that is, with more earnest desire for a literal
answer to their prayers, His Kingdom would speedily come in the
hearts of men. His _will_ would be more generally done “on earth,
as it is in Heaven.”
VOLCANO AND TIDAL WAVE.
A good sister recently came into the parsonage very much
exercised in mind. After a while she said: “Well, it’s just as I
expected. One of them things has broke out in Summerville.” We
asked: “What is it? The smallpox?” “No.” “The cholera?” “No.” “A
riot?” “No. Not any disease or anything like that. It is one of
them things. I think they call it a _volcano_, or something like
a _tidal wave_, you know.”
There is nothing new under the sun, says the wise man,
but I hardly think he saw in his day and generation--a
volcano--something like a tidal wave! And yet the idea is a good
one, typical, I think, of the American Missionary Association,
which, years ago, began in a humble way to pour forth--not fire
and smoke and ashes--although the outcome of its work was fire
and smoke and ashes to false opinion and wrong. Like a volcano,
it sent forth material which moulded itself into the public
sentiment of years ago, and since, like a tidal wave, this
sentiment has continued to sweep over the continent until all
the nationalities represented in this country are beginning to
recognize the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. GEO.
C. ROWE.
* * * * *
CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS.
BY REV. B. DODGE, PLEASANT HILL, TENN.
What have you done? This is a fair question for friends of this
mission, North, West and East, to ask. I propose briefly to
answer it. I left my pastorate in the “Pine Tree” State, and,
with my wife and daughter, entered upon the work here October
1st, 1884. To leave a New England home for these mountain wilds
is much like entering a new world. But, coming not to _play_, but
_work_, duty said: “Look about you--East, West, North and South.”
It was done, and the outlook showed a large amount of illiteracy
in every neighborhood, many living so far away from school as to
be totally beyond their reach, and many young people growing up
with no knowledge of books.
What could be done? More impressively the answer came than I can
tell it: Build a house for school and worship which may bless
present and future generations. But, from a human standpoint, to
erect such a building as was needed seemed extremely difficult,
if not impossible, with limited means on every side, no market,
no railroad, and 2,000 feet above the sea level. But, being used
to hard work from early life, and not easily _scared_, I grappled
with the idea of building a house for the double purpose named.
I laid the matter before the A. M. A., and was by them requested
to undertake the building of such a house as, in my judgment, was
needed.
I began the work March 1st, 1885. A good lady donated five acres
of land (a lovely spot) for church and school purposes, and
deeded the lot to the A. M. A., and also contributed $50 to the
building. I then headed a subscription paper with $50, and the
people here added enough by timber and labor to make in all $300.
I then employed a man to put in a good foundation of split stone,
laid in masonry and elevated twenty inches above the ground, the
size of the building to be 50×47 feet, including tower.
What next? It was to hew a white oak frame in the forest and haul
it to the building spot, then have it framed. At length I invited
men to raise it, and women to bring a dinner.
When gathered we sought, with uncovered heads under the blue sky,
the blessings of heaven on the future of the house and freedom
from accident during its erection.
At 11 A. M. the school, marshalled by its worthy teacher, Mrs.
Lord, came and marched around the walls and waiting timber with
songs of greeting, and when the song ended, the men responded
with three lusty cheers for the school. At sunset the frame stood
on its solid base.