VOL. XXXV. NO. 7.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
JULY, 1881.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
OUR ANNIVERSARY REPORTS 193
A BRIEF VIEW OF THE SITUATION—INTEMPERANCE IN THE
SOUTH 194
THE LAST MAN: Rev. C. P. Osborne 195
OUR BOSTON ANNIVERSARY 196
BENEFACTIONS 197
GENERAL NOTES—Africa, Indians, Chinese 198
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 201
THE FREEDMEN.
ANNIVERSARY REPORTS—D.C., Howard University 201
Va., Hampton Institute, Hampton 202
Tenn., Fisk University, Nashville 203
Miss., Tougaloo University, Tougaloo 205
La., Straight University, New Orleans 207
Tenn., Le Moyne Normal School, Memphis 208
Ala., Emerson Institute, Swayne School 209
Ga., Beach Institute, Byron 210
TALLADEGA COLLEGE—LAYING OF CORNER-STONE 210
NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE 211
AFRICA.
ORDINATION AT GOOD HOPE 212
THE CHINESE.
ANNIVERSARIES: Rev. W. C. Pond 214
WOMAN’S HOME MISS. ASSOC’N.
MONTHLY REPORT 216
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
STORY OF REBECCA 217
RECEIPTS 218
LIST OF OFFICERS 222
CONSTITUTION 223
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS, ETC. 224
* * * * *
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.
[Illustration: STONE HALL, STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS.—See Page 208]
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXV. JULY, 1881. NO. 7.
* * * * *
_American Missionary Association._
* * * * *
OUR ANNIVERSARY REPORTS.
We devote an unusual amount of space in this number to reports
of the closing exercises of ten of our educational institutions
at the South. Next month we purpose to add reports of others
whose anniversaries occur too late for mention at this writing.
It will be seen that the year has been an unusually prosperous
one. The number of students, either of advanced grade or seeking
for a higher education, has been larger, perhaps, than during any
previous year. We note especially the large number of boarding
students, and also the fact that the accommodations for them are
by far too limited in many of our schools. The growing disposition
of our students to continue their studies through as many months
of the year as possible is a fact of much significance. It will
be remembered that our missions have been richly blessed by
outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and that a goodly number—sometimes
whole classes—have indulged the hopes of a new life. Most of these
will go forth to teach during the summer, and the rich experiences
through which they have passed will prove of great value to them
in their work. We know of no class of people needing the prayers
of our patrons more than these. Perhaps the influence of our
institutions upon the leading minds of the South, and especially
upon those interested in popular education, was never so great.
Governors of Southern States, mayors of cities, presidents of
colleges, representatives of the pulpit, the bar and the press,
attend our anniversary exercises, and enter heartily and with
appreciation into the spirit of the work. We believe any one who
will read the reports referred to will find much occasion for
thanking God and taking courage.
* * * * *
The reports of the exercises at Hampton, Va., and Fisk University,
Nashville, Tenn., were written by Virginians, and give a good idea
of the drift of thought concerning our institutions among the
better class of Southern people.
* * * * *
A BRIEF VIEW OF THE SITUATION.
The gift of Mrs. Stone of $150,000 for new buildings at Fisk,
Atlanta, Talladega, and New Orleans; the new educational
institution at Austin, Texas, and our new churches organized the
past year at the South, make additional demands upon our treasury.
The churches should not be left to a feeble struggle for life,
but be aided to a vigorous growth. The additional facilities at
the schools mentioned, and the new institution in Texas, mean an
increased number of students to be aided, and increased expense for
teachers, for insurance, repairs and other incidentals. Our work
among the Chinese in California calls urgently for enlargement; in
fact, the continued existence of such a work means continued growth
with increased expenditures.
A great pressure has been brought to bear upon us to do more for
the education of Indian youth; but the work cannot be done without
money. The success, however, at Carlisle and Hampton indicates
clearly the hopefulness of doing much more. Mr. Arthington, of
Leeds, England, has paid over £3,000, and British Christians have
given a like amount, for a new mission on the Upper Nile, in East
Central Africa; but the opening of the Arthington Mission will
require $10,000 annually for its support.
It will be seen by these statements that the entrance to our
different fields of labor has been thrown open more widely. We must
settle the question as to whether we shall enter; but to enter
means continued and efficient occupancy. “Occupy till I come” is
the command of the Great Teacher. The gate is not open to a haven
of rest, but to a field of labor, and additional labor calls for
additional expense. Nothing short of an increase of 25 per cent.
of the income of the Association will be adequate to meet the
increased demands. The pastors and officers of the churches are our
most effectual helpers in raising the amount required. Will they
not come to our relief right early? The people will give of their
means if the work and its wants are properly presented to them; and
if God has set before us these open doors, surely He will add His
blessing as we enter.
* * * * *
INTEMPERANCE IN THE SOUTH.
One of the “decisive battles” to be fought by and in behalf of
the colored people of the South is on the field of intemperance.
Slavery made this vice impossible. Emancipation, with all its
manifold blessings, opened the gates to its entrance, and these
once opened, it now pours in like a flood.
The cannonading has already begun in some of the Southern States in
regard to prohibition, local option and other legal safeguards; but
in this, as in other battles, small arms and the hand-to-hand fight
must win the victory. Man by man, must the victims of this vice be
warned and rescued, and especially must the young, individual by
individual, be instructed, warned, pledged to personal abstinence,
and enlisted in the work of saving others. The schools of the
American Missionary Association are the very citadels of drill and
equipment in this warfare. Their students must be the vanguard
in the onset, and the “old guard” that “never surrenders” in the
hottest fight.
We rejoice to know that our schools and their students are alert
and active in their duties in this respect. Temperance literature
and the prayers of God’s people are invoked in their behalf.
* * * * *
THE LAST MAN.
REV. C. P. OSBORNE.
The first man is named by sacred history. Scientific prophecy
ventures to tell us who the last man is to be.
Prof. Alphonse de Candolle, son and successor of the great
naturalist, wrote, a few years since, some interesting speculations
on the probable future of the human race. This paper was deemed
of sufficient value to be republished in the Annual Report of
the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, for the year 1875. In
the course of his discussion the eminent writer shows reason for
believing that the last man is to be, not one man, but three. The
future history of mankind, leaving out of the account any possible
catastrophe that might suddenly extinguish the race, will be, in
his view, somewhat as follows.
For an extended period the population of the globe, favored by
improved methods of agriculture, by migration to unoccupied lands,
by general prevalence of peace consequent upon higher morality,
will increase until the world is stocked with inhabitants to its
fullest capacity. Then, after a period, will begin a process of
depopulation. The conditions of life in the colder regions will be
greatly changed by growing scarcity of the fuel supply; the world’s
stock of minerals will be gradually exhausted by rust and wear,
which will bring an end of ships, railroads and commerce, and thus
increase the difficulty of maintaining life; and the incessant
action of water, ice and air will constantly diminish the land area
of the globe, until only mountains will remain as islands above the
surface of the sea. Under the combined action of these agencies,
the principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest
will come into play with decisive effect, and in the struggle for
life the weaker races will one by one succumb and disappear. Three
races, however, exhibit qualities which fit them to survive beyond
all others.
1. The white race, as represented by Europeans and their American
descendants, thanks to their intelligence and habitual bravery,
skill, and the confidence they can place in each other, will
sustain the struggle. 2. The negroes also will prevail, on account
of their physical vigor, power to resist malaria and to flourish in
tropical regions, where the white race rapidly deteriorates. 3. The
yellow race, represented principally by the Chinese, will maintain
their place, since they have great vigor of stock, a capacity to
exist on small resources, and alone seem sufficiently intelligent
and robust to struggle in all latitudes with both the other races.
The last man, then, is to be a white man, a negro and a Chinaman.
But de Candolle seems to think that the negro may, after all, be
the last man of this triumvirate. For the white man, occupying
scattered islands in the colder regions, and deprived of fuel,
might be exterminated by the more or less periodical invasions
of ice from polar regions, while the black man could continue to
subsist with little effort on the pulp of tropical melons.
Such is a brief outline of the curious speculations of this
eminent savant. Of their value as science or prophecy, of their
correspondence with Biblical views of the future of human history,
let the reader make his own judgment. The writer simply asks
attention to a few obvious suggestions.
1. It is a very significant fact that a man of recognized eminence
as a scientist should, in a glance at the probable future of
mankind, give so important a place to the despised African. It
is a fact that more than justifies all the deep interest of
the Christian and the philanthropist in that unfortunate race.
Christians are not in any danger of giving undue attention to the
claims of the negro upon their prayers and benefactions.
2. The conclusions of science, that the African race is fitted to
persist among the latest inhabitants of the earth, are confirmed
by the evidence of facts. The census of 1880 produced two genuine
surprises. First, the fact that the largest relative increase of
population in the United States during the last decade was in the
former slave States. Second, that this result was due to the fact
that while the increase of the whites of those States was some two
per cent. below the average for the whole country, the increase of
the blacks was more than three per cent. above that average.
It is thus demonstrated that negroes are not to be numbered with
those races which, like Australians, Hawaiians and American
Indians, fade away and disappear in the presence of more civilized
races. The negro in warm latitudes has shown his ability, with less
than a fair chance, to hold more than his own with the white man.
We may no longer hope that the grave problems, social, political
and religious, connected with his residence in our land, are to be
solved by the gradual extinction of the race. The black man will
not die; he must be instructed and evangelized.
3. If we are to have black men and yellow men for our neighbors to
the end of time, it is for our interest to be on good terms with
them. As a matter of policy it will be best for us to do all we can
to make them comfortable—I may even say, companionable neighbors.
* * * * *
OUR BOSTON ANNIVERSARY.
It will be remembered by our readers that during the last week
in May the six co-operative Societies sustained largely by the
Congregationalists, hold anniversary meetings in Boston. This year
the meetings were held on Wednesday, the 25th. The day was bright
and breezy, and the congregations throughout were larger than
usual. The meeting of the American Missionary Association closed
the morning session.
A report was made by Secretary Woodworth, reviewing, in brief,
the several branches of the work carried on by the Association
during the past nineteen years. Mr. Woodworth’s address was replete
with facts and statistics, giving a comprehensive view of the
importance, success and necessities of the Association.
Rev. J. F. Lovering, of Worcester, was the first speaker. During
his address he mentioned the fact that a negro family of his
acquaintance, in Massachusetts, found it difficult to rent a
house on account of their color, and argued that if there be such
prejudices still at the North, we ought not to be surprised if
they yet exist at the South. He related several instances coming
under his observation during the war, showing the religious nature
of the colored people and their love for knowledge, closing his
address with a graphic description of a company of colored women
and children singing songs of thanksgiving to troops returning from
the war.
Hon. J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, was the next speaker. He
urged the work of saving the Freedmen as a duty upon us from a
common-sense and statesmanlike view, as well as from a religious
consideration. He said: “They will never vote safely until they
vote intelligently. They will always be at the mercy of others
until they can think for themselves. They are not like the
Mexicans, who have not changed for a century, but they are eager
for knowledge, plastic, and have already made astonishing advances.
They spend their money freely, and if educated will like their
homes tasteful and attractive. In so low a view as the commercial
one, we should be deeply interested for these people. There are
only about twenty-five colored lawyers and a hundred doctors among
them. In the time of the yellow fever, one of the latter remained
through it all and cared for the people. When his work was over,
a large company of white citizens gratefully followed him to the
depot with a band of music, showing that color is forgotten when
there is ability and power.”
Mr. Gregory is now building a mission home and remodeling the
school-house at Wilmington, N.C., at an expense of about $8,000.
These buildings are in close proximity to the new church edifice
also built by him, an account of which was given in the AMERICAN
MISSIONARY for May.
* * * * *
BENEFACTIONS.
—Yale and Hamilton Colleges are to receive $40,000 each from the
estate of James Knox, of Knoxville, Ill.
—Dartmouth College receives a bequest of $5,000 from the late Hon.
H. C. Burleigh, of Great Falls, N.H.
—Hon. E. B. Morgan, of Auburn, N.Y., has given Wells College,
Aurora, $10,000, making his gifts to it upwards of $160,000.
—Col. Gardner A. Sage, of New York, has given $90,000 to the
Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America, situated at
New Brunswick, N.J.
—Hon. J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass., has recently added
to his gift to the A. M. A. of $3,600 for a church at Wilmington,
N.C., $3,500 as the first installment for a school building to be
erected in close proximity to the new church.
—A banker of Altenburg recently bequeathed $187,000 for endowments
in the University of Jena. The government of Saxe-Altenburg,
however, retained $54,000 of the amount as legal duty, thereby
reducing the endowment to $133,000.
—Col. C. G. Hammond, of Chicago, has offered $20,000 towards
establishing an endowment fund of $80,000 for the Congregational
Theological Seminary of that city. Not long since Mr. Hammond
contributed $25,000 for a library building to the same institution.
_The endowment of the young institutions for the education of
colored people South, presents a fine field for the exercise of
such wise charity as is shown in some of the liberal donations
above._
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
AFRICA.
—Dr. Laws, of the Scotch Mission on Lake Nyassa, discovered two
coal seams on the north-eastern end of the lake.
—The Akankoo Gold Mining Company has ordered the explorer Cameron
to go to the Gold Coast to study the mineral ores of the grant
which it holds.
—Dr. Lanz has exploded the theory of converting the Sahara into an
ocean. He reports that the most depressed portion of El Juf, the
body of the desert, is nearly five hundred feet above the level of
the sea.
—M. Harold Tarry, a member of the French Sahara commission, has
discovered, south of Wargla, the ruins of the large city of
Cedradra buried under the shifting sands. A mosque and nine houses
have been excavated containing columns, statuary and charred
manuscripts.
—The village of Roumbeck contains a hundred _toukouls_ (cabins
built upon piles to preserve them from the ravages of the white
ants). This is the chief place of the province of Rohl. Here are
collected ostrich plumes, caoutchouc, tamarinds and cotton, which
are sent to Khartoum.
—The efforts of the French to find tracing for a railroad across
the Great Desert to Timbuctoo have met with disaster. The great
expedition under Col. Flanders, when nearly across the desert, was,
according to most reliable reports, attacked by the hostile natives
and destroyed.
—Dr. Oscar Lanz, the leader of the German expedition to Timbuctoo,
has accomplished the object of his mission. He started from
Morocco, taking a south-easterly course across the Great Desert.
In returning he followed the route to the westward toward the
Senegal river, arriving safely at St. Louis on the coast, after
experiencing many delays and hardships. He went in the disguise
of a Turkish physician, taking with him one Italian and five Arab
servants.
—Timbuctoo is described as lying on the southern edge of the
Sahara near the Niger, is five miles in circumference, and
surrounded on all sides by plains of white sand. Its population has
decreased, many of the houses are in ruins, but it is still the
most important city in Central Africa and the great emporium for
the slave trade of those regions.
—Dr. Holub is preparing to start for the Cape of Good Hope, from
whence he will travel towards the interior of the continent, with
the expectation of coming out at some point on the Mediterranean.
Although his trip is essentially a scientific one, he will not
neglect the commercial question. He is connected with important
houses of Vienna, with which he will attempt to establish relations
with the tribes of the interior of Africa.
—On his return from Bahr-el-Ghazal, Gessi found Khartoum very
different from what he had seen it three years before. The European
colony had transformed it. The Catholic mission had become the
instructor of the population. The traders had imported all the
products of European industry. Houses with magnificent stores had
been erected, and one could obtain there all that was required for
modern civilization. It had become a centre of exportation for
the products of Soudan. To remedy the inconvenience of expensive
voyages, they already thought of establishing in the neighborhood a
permanent place for receiving the wax, rubber and ivory which they
brought from the more central countries.
—The French missionaries who are in the Egyptian Soudan complain
that the slave trade is more active than ever, and that far from
taking measures to prevent it, the regular troops take part in
the plunder in the neighborhood of the White Nile, where they
capture thousands of slaves of both sexes and all ages. One of the
missionaries saw at Fachoda a number of children taken to the slave
market. Another reports that the mountains south of Kordufan are
inhabited by a very beautiful race of negroes, who have resisted
all efforts of the proselytizing Mussulman. These are sold at high
prices, and the slave-hunters regard them as a favorite prey. This
missionary also relates that a dozen valleys were recently ravaged
by the Bagarahs.
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
—In British America, during the past 20 years, more than 13,000
Indians have been received into the Church of England.
—There is a church organization at Fort Wrangel, Alaska Territory,
among the Stickenn tribe of Indians, with a membership of about
forty. In connection with this, an industrial school and home for
girls has been established.
—The Indians at present in close relations with the Presbyterian
church number about 16,000, and may be divided as follows: Mohave,
838; Chimehneva, 200; Coahuila, 150; Cocopah, 180; Pima, 4,500;
Maricopa, 500; Papago, 6,000; the San Carlos, White Mountain,
Coyotero, Tonto, Chiricahua, Cochise, Ojo Caliente, Yuma and
Mohave Apaches, 4,878; Hualapai, 620; Yuma, 930; Suppai, 75; and
Quacharty’s, 400.
These are grouped into the three agencies of Colorado River, Pima
and San Carlos. They number 2,218 children of school age. They had
7,700 acres of land under cultivation, and raised 43,333 bushels of
wheat, 2,493 of corn, and 10,833 of barley and oats.
—Some poet at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., has set forth the merits of
the Indian training-school at that point as follows:
“The Garrison, where tap of drum was rule,
Is now the famous Indian Training School.
In days of yore, the Soldiers there were taught
That RED MEN’S USE WAS ONLY TO BE FOUGHT.
But note the change! The reign of Peace is near,
The ploughshare conquers deadly sword and spear.
The cunning pen shall in their swarthy hand
A swifter missile be than burning brand.
Their only WATCH-FIRE shall be REASON’S LIGHT—
Their only WARFARE, BATTLING FOR THE RIGHT.”
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
—It is a significant fact that nearly all of the thirty men-of-war
composing the fleet of the Chinese navy are commanded by European
officers.
—The Young Men’s Christian Association at Tokio, Japan, consisting
wholly of natives, has concluded to start a religious magazine.
—During the past eight years, which will measure the time of actual
service of the Protestant missions in Japan, the work has been
so far advanced that at present there are 160 missionaries, with
50 churches organized and a total membership of 8,000. There are
also schools, dispensaries, colleges and publishing houses, which
circulate the Scriptures and religious reading in all parts of the
empire.
—It is reported, concerning the Chinese boarding-school for boys at
Ningpo, that nothing has appeared for years that seems to so fully
enlist the interest and co-operation of all the natives. Although
the school is under native management, the foreign members of the
Presbytery with which it is connected have a voice in its affairs.
Contributions for its support have been given freely both by the
converts and heathen people. It seems that the method pursued is
similar to that carried on so generally in the A. M. A. schools
South.
—Lai Tip, a Chinese laundryman, was recently murdered on Spring
Street, New York, while returning from the Sunday-school of the
Reformed Presbyterian Church. It appears he was set upon by two or
three roughs, and while stooping to recover his hat, which had been
knocked off, received from a knife fatal wounds from which he died
on the third day. His funeral was attended by Rev. Drs. Hall and
Crosby, and he was buried amid a large attendance of Chinamen at
Machpelah Cemetery, Hoboken, N.J. The murder was most shameful and
unprovoked.
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
FLATONIA, TEX.—“The box you spoke of in your letter was received
last week. Maps are just what we need and will be a great help.
Almost everything was of use, and I consider it a very valuable
box, unusually so. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the
donors if I knew them. Please do so for me. I know that those who
keep up the supplies at home like to be assured that their gifts
are appreciated.”
COLORED SUNDAY-SCHOOLS, N.C.—“Happy Greeting” Union Sunday-school
is the name of one of eight schools organized during the last two
months by a missionary of the American Sunday-school Union in North
Carolina. “This name,” he writes, “was adopted by a cheerful crowd
of colored people.” Another of these schools is called “Valley
Home.” Very few among those people were able to read the Bible.
In a class of twenty-five, only one could tell the name of the
first book in it. Some said that Jacob built the ark. When asked
how the Israelites expressed their joy after crossing the Red Sea
in safety, one said: “I s’pose, sir, dey shot off big guns and
holler’d!” and all present nodded their assent.
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
REV. JOS. E. ROY, D.D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
* * * * *
ANNIVERSARY REPORTS.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
Commencement Exercises of the Theological Department of Howard
University were held in the Memorial Lutheran Church, Fourteenth
Street and Vermont Avenue, Washington, D.C., Friday evening, May
6th, 1881, at 7.45 o’clock. A large audience of white and colored
friends was present, including various U.S. Senators and other
persons of influence.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
Music; Prayer by Rev. W. W. Patton, D.D., Pres. Howard University;
reading of the Scriptures by Rev. J. G. Butler, D.D.; Music;
Addresses by Graduates; The Perpetuity of the Church, by Emory
W. Williams, Prince George’s Co., Md.; Man, a Religious Being,
by William A. Shannon, Washington, D.C.; Music; The Christian
Minister, by George V. Clark, Atlanta, Ga.; Our Duty to Africa, by
Jarrett E. Edwards, Columbia, S.C.; Music; Address to Graduates, by
Rev. Charles A. Stark, D.D., Lutheran, Baltimore, Md.; Presentation
of Bibles to the Graduates, in behalf of the Washington Bible
Society, by Rev. A. W. Pitzer, D.D.; Conferring Certificates, by
Rev. J. G. Craighead, D.D., Dean Theo. Dept. The addresses were of
a creditable character and gave promise of future usefulness.
The following persons connected with the Congregational, Baptist,
Methodist and Presbyterian denominations, having pursued studies in
the Theological Department, now leave the University to engage in
the work of the Ministry in their respective churches: George V.
Clark, Atlanta, Ga.; Thomas H. Datcher, Washington, D.C.; Jarrett
E. Edwards, Columbia, S.C.; John H. T. Gray, Prince George’s
County, Md.; Thomas H. Jones, Baltimore, Md.; William A. Shannon.
Washington, D.C.; Emory W. Williams, Prince George’s County, Md.
* * * * *
HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
REPORTED BY JUDGE WATKINS, A VIRGINIAN.
Those whose good fortune it was to be present will “not willingly
let die” the pleasant memories of the Commencement day at Hampton,
Va., on the 19th May, 1881. Representatives of widely circulated
journals have made public record of many good things said and done
on this occasion. Some of the incidents will interest readers of
the MISSIONARY.
The illness of Mrs. Garfield, regretted by all, prevented the
President’s attendance. General Howard, Governor Holliday of
Virginia, Rev. Dr. Potter, and other representative men and women,
contributed largely to the pleasures of the day. The full and most
interesting report to the corporation of Principal Armstrong gave
satisfactory evidence of the God-blest success and continuing
usefulness of this noble enterprise. A large edition of this
valuable paper will be issued, and will, it is hoped, be widely
circulated. No report of any year in Hampton’s history has been
more satisfactory.
An account of the public exercises of the day for the MISSIONARY
must necessarily be brief. At 8.30 a. m. the new Academic Hall
was dedicated. Bishop Payne, of the Colored Methodist Episcopal
Church, in most appropriate words and manner, offered the
dedicatory prayer. General Howard followed in an address of
marked ability, and of broad and liberal and most approved views,
admirably presented, basing his brief and pertinent remarks upon
the duties of the hour in reference to the negro on the editorial
in the Memphis _Appeal_ reproduced in the May MISSIONARY. Governor
Holliday, of Virginia, was introduced to General Howard. Both had
lost an arm in battle. With their left hands in cordial grasp,
they exchanged fraternal salutations. The incident gave unaffected
pleasure to all who witnessed it.
The corner-stone of the Stone Memorial building, for colored girls’
industries (the generous donation of Mrs. Stone of Massachusetts),
and the corner-stone of the Indian Girls’ building, were laid.
The Rev. Dr. Strieby, president of the corporation, delivered
the address in the first, and Rev. Dr. Potter, of New York, in
the latter of the ceremonies. Both gentlemen performed the duty
assigned them most acceptably to the friends of the institution.
The large and interested audience filled the chapel of Virginia
Hall to its utmost capacity to hear the public addresses of six of
the alumni. These performances were made in excellent taste, the
elocution being exceptionally good, and the views were expressed in
a style and range of thought above the average Commencement orator,
and reflected honor on the _Alma Mater_ and her sons and daughters.
In appropriate terms General Armstrong introduced General Howard,
Dr. Potter and Governor Holliday, of Virginia, whose words of wit
and wisdom were enthusiastically received. His Excellency, who is a
Christian gentleman of enlarged views and a broad-gauge statesman,
gave cordial welcome to the strangers within the gates of the Old
Dominion, and in fitting words of sincere and merited commendation
approved and indorsed all that had been done and so well done at
Hampton.
Much more might be said; less could not be said. God will, it is
not doubted, continue to call from Hampton to His service Christian
men and women, _workers_ in His vineyard, who will illustrate that
“Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than War.”
The Hampton Institute is becoming more known and appreciated in
Virginia and the neighboring States. Its alumni are occupying
positions of practical usefulness, and discharge the high duties
of good citizens well and faithfully. Virginians believe that
Principal Armstrong is emphatically the right man in the right
place, and that, with General Marshall, Miss Mackie and others
on his staff, he will push forward the good work in which they
are engaged, and will continue to merit and receive the grateful
appreciation of the people of the commonwealth. Above all, they
invoke that blessing of God in the future which has been so
signally manifested in the past.
* * * * *
FISK UNIVERSITY.
PROF. C. C. PAINTER.
No one can properly appreciate or understand Fisk University
who does not take into account the model school whose unique
anniversary exercises occurred on Thursday p. m., preceding those
of the University proper. The school is under the management of
Miss Irene Gilbert, who is assisted by students from the Normal
Department. The excellency of her work is not found alone in
the perfection of drill which every exercise shows, but in the
exquisite finish of whatever work is done. A recent graduate from
Williston Seminary and of the Sheffield Scientific School, with
whom I visited this school one day when it was not on exhibition,
and examined the children’s work in map drawing, declared that he
had never seen any work of the kind that compared with it. The
exhibition given by these children made it easier to understand the
uniformly excellent work apparent in all the classes of the higher
grades witnessed during the three days’ examinations of the next
week. Miss Gilbert trains up the child in the way he should go, and
in the higher departments he does not depart from it.
The Baccalaureate sermon of President Cravath on Sunday afternoon,
from Heb. xi. 27, “For he endured as seeing Him who is invisible,”
was able and timely; well calculated to inspire his hearers with
the faith and courage requisite for the great work which lies
before them as leaders of their emancipated people through the
wilderness which still surrounds and stretches out before them,
after sixteen years of wanderings.
A rainy evening gave a much smaller audience to hear Dr. G. D.
Pike’s missionary sermon than would otherwise have greeted him. He
must be a laggard indeed who, hearing the Doctor on his favorite
theme of missions, does not become inoculated with something of his
divine enthusiasm.
Space cannot be given for even a full programme of the exercises,
which filled to the full Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday;
examinations in the mornings until 1 p. m., and exhibitions in
the evenings by the Normal School, the Literary Society and the
College Preparatory Class; and it would be exceedingly common-place
to say, what simple truth demands should be said, that they were
all excellent. One of the visitors said at the close of the Normal
School exhibition on Monday, that he did not expect to hear
anything better even from the graduating class; but on Thursday
candidly admitted his mistake, as there was just such advance as
there ought to have been to mark the advanced grade of the pupils.
Perhaps, instead of giving a programme of these exercises, it will
prove more profitable to state impressions derived from them.
This was the first time the writer has had the privilege of
attending the closing exercises of this or of any school for the
education of these people. Brought up among them, and always
accustomed to regard them as inferior, he shared until recently the
feeling so prevalent that in their education nothing more should
be attempted than a fair common school training. This is not the
place in which to argue that there is urgent need that the leaders
of 7,000,000 people, who are to be redeemed from ignorance and
lifted into a plane where they shall command the respect of those
who are now unjustly prejudiced against them, shall be thoroughly
disciplined and broadly educated; but it is the time to express
the opinion of the writer, and of several others who attended with
great interest these exercises, with something of his prejudices,
that these students showed conclusively that they are capable of
taking on the same culture, and under it of reaching the same
excellencies of thought and discipline, as the more favored whites
attain under like training; and that an objection to their higher
education must be based on other ground than their inability to
receive it, or the need of their race for such leaders as this
school is sending out from year to year.
A gentleman, native of Tennessee, who has recently been called
from the presidency of a Southern College to the management of the
educational work of the State, was present during the commencement
exercises, and contrasted them with those of the graduating class
of the first institution of the State for whites, in terms so
complimentary to the negro students, that, out of deference to the
whites, his language will be omitted.
This work is no longer tentative. Both the possibility and value
of it have been fully demonstrated, and the urgent demand is that
the University shall be fully equipped for it. The point has
been reached, in the estimation of all who know anything of its
history, needs and opportunities, when it must be enlarged or
suffer irreparably. It was, therefore, with gladness of heart that
a large number of its friends, white and black, from the city and
from other States, gathered to lay the corner-stone of Livingstone
Missionary Hall on Wednesday afternoon.
Gen. Fisk presided most felicitously, and the address of Dr.
Strieby was in every way happy and inspiring. It was a regular
love feast, not simply because there was so much of the Methodist
element in it, as represented by the General and his excellent
lady, and Dr. McFerrin—“a rebel who fought on the last ten acres
left for the rebellion to stand upon,” and who overcame great
obstacles to get out to the exercises, despite attractions in other
directions, and made a delightful speech, full of good feeling—but
because there was such a flowing together of hearts and good-will
from all classes as represented on the occasion. Dr. Strieby should
be requested to print his speech in full and distribute it all over
the land, and with it should go the eight or ten other excellent
shorter speeches which followed, one of which was by the city’s
treasurer, who came to represent the Historical Society.
There was a poem written for the occasion by Prof. Spence, and read
by one of the pupils, Miss Allen, who has remarkable powers as a
reader.
The address from Rev. C. H. Daniels, of Cincinnati, which followed
the graduating addresses of the class, was able and timely. His
theme was “The dignity and value of the individual man.” It was
every way a manful presentation of a manly subject, and was a
fitting _finale_ to the very able and manly addresses of the
graduating class.
The diplomas were presented by Gen. Fisk in a brief address full
of pathos and good sense, with happy allusions in each case to
the theme of the recipient’s address. After this came the Alumni
dinner, plain and substantial, and the speeches following, which
were fully up to those of older and more pretentious societies.
And thus closed the fullest and most hopeful year in the history of
this institution, which is beginning to excite the deepest interest
among the people of the State, who are awakening to the fact that
it is offering the only solution to many dark problems which to
them seemed without an answer, or at least one that had anything of
hope in it.
We cannot better close this article than by giving the following
extract from an editorial from the _American_, the ablest and most
influential paper of the State:
“In the proceedings at the Fisk University, yesterday, another
step forward was taken in the way of providing material means for
that moral and intellectual growth which is going on silently as
a great institution grows and roots itself firmly in the society
around it. Universities are not created in a day, nor at all by
money, although money is a necessary agency. They grow. The Fisk
is passing through with comparatively the early stages of growth,
when we compare it with the ideal which finds place in the dreams
of its enthusiastic laborers—dreams which enfold the future result.
We doubt if the public, although it lend a hearty sympathy and
approval, and expect good to flow from it, begins yet to realize
the work this institution is to perform. We doubt if there is such
appreciation anywhere existent or possible except in the dreams of
its enthusiast laborers. These in some way comprehend its future.
But the Fisk has had to adapt itself in more ways than one. At
first it encountered, as a matter of course, but cold approval from
the wealth and culture of Nashville—not hostility, but approval
from a languid and cold judgment. But perhaps the hardest task
has been to adapt itself to the negro himself. To secure the cold
approval of intelligent judgment was apparently easy; to go a
little further and secure aid, if it were necessary, would not be
hard; but to lift the negro up to appreciate New England culture
and conservatism and quiet labor, is like bringing him, in his
early religious experience, to accept the calm conservatism and
quiet demeanor of the Catholic, Presbyterian or Episcopal churches.
In vain is he solicited to enter the intellectual stage of
religious experience, when nature tells him that his stage is the
emotional, if indeed it be beyond the sensuous. This is the task
Fisk has set itself, and is performing, and performing well. It is
encountering, and has encountered, a world of prejudice from the
very race it seeks to elevate, and must content itself with working
upon and with the _creme de la creme_ of the race in the South,
while it cannot as yet reach the vast mass unless it let itself
down, and we believe that so long as its present laborers are at
the helm it will insist on drawing others up and never let itself
down. It has a great and widening field, which it is worthily
filling, and in the labor of regeneration of a race, no agency
will have a higher, or indeed so high a place as this conservative
school, which is filling so difficult a position.
“We are not unmindful also of the necessity for quite other
laborers in the regeneration of this race. It is just as necessary
in school as in church that this yet blind and emotional creature,
‘crying for the light with no language but a cry,’ shall have
tendance suited to his condition and upon his own level.”
* * * * *
TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.
The annual examinations in this institution began on Thursday, May
26th, continuing Friday and also Monday forenoon. Many friends
of students were present from various parts of the State. The
forenoon of Sunday was taken up with the Sunday-school, with its
very instructive lessons from the parable of the talents, and
immediately following this a temperance Bible reading, with its
intensely practical and stirring appeals. The latter was especially
timely, inasmuch as a large number of temperance tracts, pamphlets
and papers had been distributed to all the members, just before,
for circulation as they return this summer to their own homes, or
go forth to engage in teaching. Supplied in this way, the students
from this school are the means of disseminating through the State
a great deal of good temperance literature, and are enabled to
organize a multitude of little temperance societies.
It will not be amiss to note the fact, as illustrating the high
value of just this sort of work, that besides these societies
established by the students of this University, there is no kind of
temperance organization among the colored people in the State. At
the same time, the prevalence of drunkenness, and of the habit of
drinking among all classes, is appalling. The following incident
shows the crying need of a _reform movement_: A colored church not
far from here had communion service, and when it was concluded, the
pastor and deacons tarried, and following, as they believed, (?)
the instruction of the Bible, where it says, “drink ye all of it,”
consumed what was left of the generous supply of wine, and thus
made themselves beastly drunk.
Sunday was filled up with impressive services. In the afternoon the
Lord’s Supper was commemorated, and five of the students united
with the church, receiving the rite of baptism. In the evening,
Dr. Strieby preached a sermon from the text. “And now also the axe
is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree, therefore, which
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the
fire.” Every word was listened to with closest attention.
On Monday evening the Preparatory School Exhibition, under
the management of the teachers of the Primary and Preparatory
departments, was held in the chapel, presenting to a crowded
audience a varied programme, made up of recitations, declamations,
songs, &c. A prominent feature of this exhibition was a strong and
well appreciated temperance dialogue.
It was a manifest disappointment to all when Tuesday dawned cloudy
and dark, with every prospect of a rainy time. The exercises of
the day were accordingly held in the barn, instead of the grove,
for which all arrangements had been made. The forenoon was taken
up with the commencement exercises of the Normal department. The
orations and essays were presented by members of the Middle and
Junior Classes, with the single exception of an oration by the one
graduate from the Normal course. As was said on that day, what the
graduating class lacked in quantity was well made up in quality. We
expect a very high order of work and Christian influence from Henry
Lanier.
In the afternoon the interesting ceremony of laying the foundation
of “Strieby Hall,” the new boy’s dormitory, was followed by a
procession to the chapel again, where the annual address was given
by Dr. Strieby. This was a stirring presentation of the reason
why the American Missionary Association is to-day in the field of
Southern Freedmen education, and of exactly what it is aiming to do
for the colored race. It was shown how this Association was pioneer
in the work, and how, gradually, the most prominent and cultured of
Southern gentlemen have come to regard the higher education of the
race as possible, and, now, as a necessity to the prosperity and
the material advancement of the region.
Col. Power, who with other gentlemen from Jackson had been
present through the day to witness the exercises, was then called
upon to speak. He alluded to the exercises of the forenoon with
appreciation of the orations and essays presented, referring to one
of the former as “eloquent,” and added a glowing word of tribute to
the sweet music rendered by the students. He assured all present
that the white people of the State are now in hearty sympathy with
the work of the education of the colored race. Immediately after
the war, he frankly admitted, the people were not attracted by
the idea, but now a better opinion prevails, and they see that
education must be given to all, white and black.
H.
* * * * *
STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY.
REV. W. S. ALEXANDER, D.D., NEW ORLEANS.
We come to the close of another school year with a profound sense
of gratitude to God for His guiding Providence, and for His
blessing upon the work undertaken in His name. We have had 328
names upon our rolls, with a large average attendance. There has
been a marked advance in scholarship, and we are justified in
saying with regard to all the pupils, “Our labor has not been in
vain.” There have been years of decline, since the first burst
of enthusiasm after the war, in education; but a better and more
hopeful era has dawned, when interest in the general education
of the people, and the higher grades of scholarship, is in the
ascendant. From this time on, the demand for education among the
colored people will be more intelligent and abiding.
THE EXAMINATIONS.
showed thoroughness of instruction, and aptness in learning and
retaining what was taught. Many kind words of appreciation and
pleasure were spoken by the visitors and trustees. One of our
merchants who attended Professor Jewett’s examination of the class
in botany said: “What would the planters up in Ouchita Parish say
if they should happen in here now and hear a ‘nigger’ analyzing a
Morning Glory?”
THEOLOGICAL ANNIVERSARY.
While the Theological department has been in existence for eleven
years, we have never graduated a student till this year. The
theological and literary attainments of the students would never
have justified us in doing it. It is little less than a crime to
confer an unmerited degree upon a young man. It would not only
be a fraud, but a source of constant embarrassment to him. This
year we had as a student Mr. A. E. P. Albert, who studied some
time at Atlanta University, and who joined our senior class of
the University and the Theological school in October. He is a
regularly ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a
young man of culture and ability. On Sunday night he delivered his
address, taking as his subject, “Like Priest, Like People.” It was
able, impressive, and appropriate for the time and the people. The
President followed with a plea for an “Educated Ministry;” and then
the degree of Bachelor of Divinity was conferred upon Mr. Albert. I
trust all subsequent degrees will be as worthily bestowed.
LITERARY EXHIBITION.
In the afternoon of Commencement day, our University chapel was
filled with an intelligent and interested audience. The exercises,
consisting of orations, compositions and recitations, were entirely
by the undergraduates. We furnished a pleasant entertainment to the
citizens, and identified the entire school with Commencement day.
At night Central Church was packed in every part, pews, aisles,
vestibule and gallery, with an eager, expectant audience,
comprising the best element of the colored population of New
Orleans. Such an assembly was never gathered in Central Church
before. The audience itself was an inspiration and showed a deep
and intelligent interest in the holy cause represented. A goodly
number of our white friends were present, and were among the most
enthusiastic in their congratulations.