The American Missionary,
NOVEMBER, 1885.
VOL. XXXIX
NO. 11.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
* * * * *
EDITORIAL.
PAGE.
THE FIGURES--FINANCIAL 297
WHAT OUR FRIENDS THINK AND SAY 298
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WARE 300
IYAKAPTAPI 301
INDIANS IN THE DAKOTA ASSOCIATION 303
THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
GENERAL SURVEY--CHURCH WORK SOUTH 304
EDUCATIONAL WORK SOUTH 306
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 309
MOUNTAIN WORK 310
WORK AMONG THE INDIANS 311
WORK AMONG THE CHINESE 313
THE WOMAN'S BUREAU--FINANCES 315
CONCLUSION 316
RECEIPTS 317
* * * * *
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. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
Rev. A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
Rev. ALEX. McKENZIE, D. D., Mass.
Rev. D. O. MEARS, D. D., Mass.
_Corresponding Secretary._
Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
_Assistant Corresponding Secretary._
Rev. JAMES POWELL, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
_Treasurer._
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
_Auditors._
W. H. ROGERS,
PETER McCARTEE.
_Executive Committee._
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.
A. P. FOSTER, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
LYMAN ABBOTT.
A. S. BARNES.
J. R. DANFORTH.
CLINTON B. FISK.
A. P. FOSTER.
_For Two Years._
S. B. HALLIDAY.
SAMUEL HOLMES.
SAMUEL S. MARPLES.
CHARLES L. MEAD.
ELBERT B. MONROE.
_For One Year._
J. E. RANKIN.
WM. H. WARD.
J. L. WITHROW.
JOHN H. WASHBURN.
EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D. D., _21 Cong'l House, Boston_.
Rev. J. E. ROY, D. D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago_.
Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON, _Financial Secretary for Indian Missions_.
Rev. C. J. RYDER, _Field Superintendent_.
_Bureau of Woman's Work._
Secretary, Miss D. E. EMERSON, _56 Reade St., N. Y._
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; 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
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 112 West 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. XXXIX. NOVEMBER, 1885. NO. 11.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
$365,000
NEEDED FOR THE CURRENT YEAR.
* * * * *
Your Committee are convinced that not less than a THOUSAND DOLLARS a day
are imperatively demanded to perfect the admirably organized plans of
the Association, even for the present, to say nothing of the pressing
needs of the early future--
[FINANCE COMMITTEE'S REPORT ADOPTED BY ANNUAL MEETING AT SALEM.]
* * * * *
THE FIGURES.
Donations. Legacies.
Oct. 1, 1884, to Sept. 30, 1885 $249,392.10 $41,501.66 $290,894.06
Oct. 1, 1883, to Sept. 30, 1884 223,034.77 64,559.42 287,594.19
---------- ---------- ----------
Inc.$26,357.63 Dec.$23,057.76 Inc.$3,299.87
The figures given above mark the close of our fiscal year. While they
show a gratifying increase of receipts from living donors over those of
the preceding year, the falling off in legacies has been so heavy that
our books balance on the wrong side, and we are obliged to report a debt
of $15,451.87, which, with the debt of the preceding year, makes a total
indebtedness of $29,237.73.
For an analysis of the figures, we refer our readers to the report of
the Executive Committee on the finances of the year, published in
another part of this number. It was a grand rally our friends made to
save us. We fear that some of them sacrificed more than they ought in
contributing so generously as they did. We pray that God may abundantly
reward them. We thank them, one and all, with a heartiness greater than
we can express. We would not sit in judgment upon the churches and
professed friends who have contributed nothing to our treasury during
the year. We know that some of them were not financially able. But we
cannot believe that this was true of a majority of them.
The Congregational Year Book of 1885 reports 4,092 Congregational
churches in the United States. We received during the year contributions
from 1,677. What can be done to bring the non-contributing churches into
line is a question we beg the pastors of contributing churches and the
friends of the Association to help us answer. The pastors and members of
these non-contributing churches as a general thing do not read our
magazine. They are ignorant of our needs, and we do not know how to
reach them so as to wake them up. Had we an army of agents to visit and
talk to them, we might move them to take our work upon their thought and
sympathy. Our appeals by circular, by newspaper, resolutions of State
conferences and of the National Council, all fail to move them. They
still continue not to hear and not to do. There is only one way that we
can think of by which they can be reached, and that is for the local
conferences to take the matter in hand, and select a committee of "a
persistent ONE," who by letter, and, if need be, by personal visitation,
will bring the delinquents up to meet the obligations of fellowship and
denominational honor.
But as seen over against this long list of _do-nothings_ what a grand
army the 1,677 contributing churches appear! Theirs has been the work
and theirs is the glory of "_a well done_" both from God and man. They
form a base of supplies from which the army at the front can be
recruited and sustained, and which can be counted on for support till
the victory is won. We enter upon the new year with fresh confidence and
renewed strength. No such word as "_fail_" finds place in our vocabulary
so long as we have such friends behind us and God above and around us.
The work will not be permitted to suffer. We shall throw off the debt.
The faithful 1,677 will be reinforced. Our friends will be multiplied,
and the work carried triumphantly forward.
* * * * *
WHAT OUR FRIENDS THINK AND SAY.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS RECEIVED BY THE TREASURER DURING THE PAST FEW
WEEKS.
"If any part of the country is to be put first, the South should be, and
helped most. Hence the inclosed, half of it from myself and the other
half from the Congregational church here. Your work and that of your
compeers is above criticism. All there is of you is put in with a skill
and completeness which are not surpassed; and your plans are as large as
the field and as complete as its needs. No one could get more out of the
money or put it where it would do more good. You and yours are as
unmingled beneficence as rum shops are unmitigated maleficence. Were it
in my power, I would build a new school-house in the South every year.
My heart never thinks of you and your work without blessing you in it;
and I have written the above as a sort of relief." (We hardly feel
ourselves worthy of such generous praise, but we do very heartily thank
our brother for his warm indorsement.--ED.)
"Inclosed find a small sum to help elevate and Christianize the colored
freedmen. Grains of sand make the mountains, and drops of water the
ocean, and the invisible workmen rear the coral islands; so may God's
people one and all _do what they can_, and your debt will be wiped out."
"At our meeting last evening, I read your appeal and took up a
collection of $6, which I send you. It is a little Home Missionary
church of only 10 members, but they are good ones, and in earnest. Hope
all other churches will do as well and your society be saved from debt."
"Got your final appeal before last Sunday, but were so happy to think we
had not waited for it, having taken our collection and subscription two
weeks before. But owing to the general poverty among my people, we had
to give time, and the sum is only now made up. I may say that this
little amount at this time represents more real _giving_ than any
collection I ever secured. May a blessing go with it."
"I feel myself, like Paul, a debtor to all men, especially the classes
you represent. Accept, then, my single mite, in the spirit in which I
desire to send it, and may the Lord free you from the threatening debt
by leading your constituency to feel their indebtedness to these classes
and to Himself."
"I inclose $10, and wish I might increase it a hundred-fold. I had
already given all that I intended, but could not resist the urgent
appeal for the needy."
"The notices of your financial need came and touched a responsive chord
in my heart. A week ago I gave a preparatory notice that a collection
would be taken yesterday in your behalf. The people responded quite
liberally. Inclosed find draft for the amount. You have my earnest
prayer for the success of your effort to raise what you lack. May God
bless you in your work and labor of love." (It was indeed a generous
contribution, yet nearly one-third of it came out of the pastor.--ED.)
"I had thought I had done all I could afford in these times, but
coincident with your appeal came the inclosed, for which I had another
place; but here, take it. The Lord will provide."
"In response to your society's importunity, I inclose $2. I took the
collection up after a sermon I preached on Foreign Missions. We
surprised our people by the amount, as we don't usually get by a
collection one dollar. I hope you will realize soon that there is no
debt." (We have always believed that one of the best ways to rouse
people up to Home Missions is to stir them up on Foreign Missions.--ED.)
* * * * *
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WARE.
Edmund A. Ware was born in North Wrentham, now Norfolk, Mass., Dec. 22,
1837, and died suddenly of heart disease in Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 25,
1885. He passed the early years of his life under conditions which made
him acquainted with hardships, and fitted him to have warm sympathy for
those who struggled against obstacles and trials.
He was graduated from Yale College in 1863. During his college course
his attention was often turned to the field for Christian work, then
being opened in the South by the steady advance of our armies, and his
sympathies were strongly enlisted for a race just coming out of the
prison house of bondage, and he was ambitious to have a part in laying
the foundations of a new and better society in the regions desolated by
war.
He was appointed an officer of the Freedman's Bureau in 1867, with
charge of the schools opened under its auspices in the State of Georgia,
which position he held for three years, until the closing of that branch
of the work of the government.
His great work, however, was in connection with Atlanta University, an
institution for higher education, whose foundation he was active in
securing, and over whose interests he presided until the day of his
death. He labored for its welfare and that of the people in whose
interests it was established with rare devotion, and rejoiced in its
steady growth and prosperity with special personal gratification.
Owing to some peculiar circumstances the institution early secured the
favorable attention of the State authorities, and an annual
appropriation from the State treasury. In the endeavors to secure and
confirm this grant he was conspicuously and honorably active, and during
the many years of its continuance his relations to the officers of the
State with whom he has thus been brought into contact have been
exceptionally pleasant, and in some cases cordial.
During the last year of his life he took great interest in the
successful opening of an industrial department in the institution, and
for the last few weeks his great anxiety had been to secure the
furnishing of a large new building whose erection he had personally
overlooked. He had returned to Atlanta in advance of his family to make
preparations for the school year soon to open, had completed most of his
plans, and seemed in unusual good health and spirits. Soon after dinner
on Friday, Sept. 25, feeling dizzy while in his own house, where he was
alone, he sought the open air and walked toward the house of Professor
Bumstead, but becoming alarmed by increasing faintness he made loud
calls, which were promptly responded to by Mr. and Mrs. Bumstead; but in
spite of all remedies and efforts he speedily passed away to enter upon
his well-earned rest and his glorious reward. The crushing effects of
this sudden blow upon his household, upon his associates and the people
who loved and revered him, cannot be described. At his funeral services
all classes of the community were largely represented, and sympathy for
the bereaved was profound. The grief of former pupils was touching, and
was like that of children bereft of a father.
So passed away in the maturity of his powers and the midst of his
usefulness, one of the earliest and most efficient of that great company
who have toiled since the war in this broad and needy field. His
departure seems like a translation; being taken suddenly without the
pains and anxieties of wasting sickness, in the full tide of his
greatest success, before any impairment of vigor or any calamity had
overtaken the work he loved so well. He was a man of great power over
other men, especially over young people, who were caught up by his
enthusiasm, and borne along sometimes to the attainment of surprising
results. He was well fitted to be a leader in the sphere he chose for
himself, and made his mark upon his generation, and had a large and
honorable share in securing the results already achieved, which are to
bless the State and nation with increasing power.
A good man has fallen, and a great gap is made in the ranks of laborers
at the front; but the Lord who loves his own cause better than we do
will see that it suffers no loss. As the Lord has taken care that his
servant rests from his labors, it is ours to see that they follow Him.
* * * * *
IYAKAPTAPI.
That is, the _ascent_ from the plains of the head-waters of the
Minnesota River to the Coteau du Prairie, or high table-land to the
west. The old trail up-hill here gave the name _Ascension_ to the place.
There the tribes--Dakota tribes--met together for their annual autumn
feast--the missionary conference on the 24th of September. On the
Sabbath the little church was too small, and 400 Indians, with a
sprinkling of white people, sat outside in the sun, some on benches, and
most on the grass, around the Communion table. The tents of those who
had come in from long distances were pitched on either side in the
ravines, among the fall foliage, and the wide brown plain, with a long
gleam of shining lake far off, lay below. As we took the bread and hid
our faces in our hands, we thought of that distribution by Galilee, when
they sat in companies on the grassy slope by the lake. It was not "the
touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still," but
the real presence of Him who said "I am the bread of life," to these
400 Christian Indians whom He had brought up from the low, dead level of
barbarism to the present heights of Christian life.
One little dark baby in a white dress was baptized, and four young
people publicly confessed their faith in a newly-found Saviour.
Solomon, "His Own Grandfather," who has gathered a church of the Dakota
refugees from the Minnesota troubles of 1862, over in Manitoba, spoke to
us of the spiritual nature of God's kingdom; and Ehnamani, who years ago
laid down his warrior weapons, administered the bread, telling us of the
tribulation and fire through which Christ went to become bread for our
life. Then the "beloved John," our brother missionary who threw his
young strength into the Dakota work at its darkest hour twenty-five
years ago, could hardly control the emotion with which he spoke of the
trials out of which the Dakotas had been brought to this present joy and
strength through "His stripes."
It has been a long _ascent_ for fifty years, but now fourteen churches,
with a thousand members; eleven young men's Christian associations; a
native missionary society, receiving contributions amounting this year
to $1,165, much of it the fruit of hard labor by Dakota women, with the
needle and at the wash-tub; a Christian community with its own native
justices of the peace, rigidly enforcing temperance and marital law,
and, according to the testimony of the United States agent on the
ground, more careful of religious observances than white communities,
and no less exemplary in morals; thousands of acres of cultivated land;
these are some of the outward signs of the inner life of God in the
heart.
Add to this the 1,000 or more converts gathered in later years and
claimed by Episcopalians and Roman Catholics; add the long roll of those
who have ascended to their Lord; add the white people who have been
saved and inspired by the example of their Dakota brethren, and compute
if you can the spiritual fruit of the Dakota Indian Mission.
Then think of this result wrought out, in the midst of what is fast
becoming one of the most influential communities of our land. Christian
churches by hundreds, Christian colleges and Christian homes, all built
on this early Indian work as a foundation. Then, as we rejoice in the
present interest in work for Indians, remember the obloquy and
opposition of the past through which the early workers struggled.
To appreciate this ascent, one should come up from Western Indian
barbarism, and not down from Eastern culture.
Leave the nightly drumming and dancing and revelry, the daily offering
to heathen gods, the daily wailing and cutting of the flesh at the
scaffold of sepulture, and one will acknowledge that God alone has
wrought this change.
Before the regular sessions of the conference a "theological institute"
occupied two days. This was attended by some thirty pastors and leading
members of the churches. There were lectures on Bible history, on
family relations, on preaching and pastoral work. Then the general
meeting opened with a hymn written for the occasion by the organist, a
young Indian, and the singing was led by native young men. The topics at
the conference were such as the education of children, the missionary
cause; and the one that seemed to call out most discussion was, "How to
secure the spiritual growth of the Church." The young men showed great
interest in their Christian associations, and voted to affiliate with
their kindred in the white communities, of whom they heard through the
Rev. Mr. Williams, who represented the Christian association of the
young men of Minneapolis. The Indian women, too, had their missionary
meeting, and show the same traits and give evidence of the same activity
and zeal that make their white sisters the main strength of the
Christian Church.
So we bid all take heart, and go on upward--iyakaptapi. C. L. HALL.
* * * * *
INDIANS IN THE DAKOTA ASSOCIATION.
This is an ecclesiastical body of a hundred churches that has the
opportunity to show the unity of the spirit in race fellowship. Besides
the local German Association, one of the five belonging to it, the
Indian Mission churches and pastors of the Santee Agency and of Fort
Sully, with their superintendents, Revs. Alfred L. and Thomas M. Riggs,
are among the members. At the recent annual meeting, held at Huron,
September 17th to 20th, there were present the Riggs brothers, three
lady missionaries, and two female and four male Indians. The service of
Rev. A. L. Riggs, as moderator, was justly commended for its urbanity
and promptness. At the meeting of the Woman's Missionary Society, held
with the mixed assembly, the two Indian women, Estelle Ward and Ellen
Spotted Bear, were brought forward, in their usual white woman's garb,
to make talks, which were interpreted by Mrs. T. M. Riggs. During some
discussion upon Indian work, the Riggs brothers supplemented their
remarks by addresses from Frank Frazier and Stephen Yellow Hawk, a
deacon and a pastor. At the Communion, on the Lord's Day, this deacon
was associated with three white men in distributing the elements. At the
final meeting, on Sunday night, with a crowded house, between the
addresses of Rev. Drs. Jos. B. Clark and Jos. E. Roy were sandwiched two
hymns, sung by the natives and their teachers, and also an address by
the dignified pastor at the Santee Agency, Rev. Artemas Ehnamani,
interpreted by Rev. A. L. Riggs. This, and the talks of the other
Indians, reported their former condition as heathen and their coming to
the light through their missionaries. Particularly touching was the
allusion of Pastor Ehnamani to the sainted men, Drs. Williamson and
Riggs. All showed the one spirit, that of the common Redeemer.
* * * * *
THE LAKE MOHONK CONFERENCE.
On the 6th, 7th and 8th of October the third annual meeting of the Lake
Mohonk Conference was held. Hon. Albert K. Smiley and Mrs. Smiley, as
usual, extended the hospitality of their magnificent mountain retreat to
the friends of the Indian. The sessions of the conference were of great
interest. Eminent men and women read historical and suggestive papers,
and ably discussed the great questions of the Indian problem. The
conference, after much earnest debate, were unanimous in recommending
such legislation by Congress as will give allotments of land in
severalty to the Indians--the sale of lands not required for occupancy,
and funding of proceeds therefor for their benefit--the early
discontinuance of rations and annuities, increased educational
facilities, including industrial and especially agricultural, and the
dispersion and diffusion of the Indians among the other people of the
country, with all the rights and immunities of other citizens.
* * * * *
THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
* * * * *
GENERAL SURVEY.
This Association by its chartered rights is authorized to go anywhere
that it finds people destitute of Gospel privileges. Limitation of means
and coöperation with other societies may compel it to a narrower sphere
than the demands call for; but this is the principle that underlies the
Association's organization, and that has characterized all its historic
development. The work is at present confined to this country. We have
missions in sixteen States and three Territories. The combined
population of these States and Territories is 17,459,610, and at least
one-third of that number are the legitimate objects of this
Association's care. By reason of the necessities of the people our work
is both evangelistic and educational: the church and the school in their
united aim securing the salvation of body, mind and soul; reaching home
life, social life and business life; laying the only foundation on which
can rest a progressive and enduring civilization. These mighty forces of
Christianity--mother and daughter--in mutual helpfulness and in close
proximity, are the agencies through which, with God's blessing, we hope
to reach and save the people.
* * * * *
CHURCH WORK SOUTH.
STATISTICS.
Churches 112
Missionaries, of which 89 are pastors 119
Members 6,881
Added during the year 1,127
Sunday School scholars 10,569
In this department of our work we are permitted to report very decided
growth. Heretofore, the average number of churches organized each year
has been six. This year the number runs up to seventeen. This increase
comes from the maturing of enterprises that have been nursed for a
longer or shorter time, and also the fruiting of our school process and
the enlarging of our mountain work. These new churches are at Pleasant
View and Rockhold, Ky.; at Cedar Cliff, Melville and Johnson's, N. C.;
at Jellico, Pleasant Hill, Robbins, Jonesboro, Grand View and Helenwood,
Tenn.; at Rutland, Ga.; Ironton, Ala.; Greenville, Miss.; Abbeville,
La.; and at Dallas and Austin, Tex. They have all been supplied with the
ministry of the word, though several have been yoked two and two under
one pastor. Eight of them have houses of worship, the others use
school-houses or chapels of school buildings.
Of the 89 pastors who have ministered to our 112 churches, 30 were from
the North and 59 were raised up in our own institutions at the South.
The average membership of these churches is 61. Total additions for the
year, 1,127, of which, on confession of faith, 883. Raised for church
purposes, $12,394.78; for benevolence, $1,625.86.
The evangelist, Rev. J. C. Fields, accompanied by his wife, who aids him
by song, has continued his service through the year. He has labored at
Louisville; in our three churches at Nashville; at Meridian, Jackson and
Greenville, Miss.; and at Athens, Tecumseh, Montgomery, Marion, Selma,
Talladega, Birmingham, Ironton and Shelby Iron Works, Ala. As a result,
between seven and eight hundred souls were hopefully led to Christ, and
about one half of them gathered into our churches; while other
denominations shared in the precious harvest. At several of the places
visited, the religious interest assumed marvelous power.
At Marion there were 55 who professed Christ, the work spreading from
our church into the State Normal school located there. Two-thirds of the
converts were young men, ranging from fifteen to twenty years of age,
who gave themselves earnestly to prayer and labor for the conversion of
their comrades. A little girl, eight years old, was the first of a
family to accept Christ. Her mother followed. The father, a drunkard,
through the persuasion of friends, visited the church for the first
time. When opportunity was given those desiring salvation to express
their desire, the little child crossed over to where her father was, and
begged him to come. He did not that evening, but a few nights later he
yielded and gave his heart to the Saviour. It is a custom among the
colored people to give the hand of welcome to those who have made up
their minds to become Christians; and we can well believe, as an
eye-witness describes, "it was a beautiful as well as a touching scene
when this little girl stepped forward to welcome father and mother on
the Lord's side."
At Talladega College there were 116 conversions, including every inmate
of the ladies' hall, and, with a single exception, every boy in the
Stone Hall. The meetings, as distinctively revival, had to come to a
close for lack of material upon which to work, and take the form of
praise and thanksgiving unto God for the marvelous display of His grace.
It was a literal fulfillment of the Divine promise to "pour out a
blessing that there should not be room enough to receive it."
At Selma there were 300 who confessed their Saviour. Gray-haired men,
grandmothers, men and women in the prime of life, youth and children,
were among the converts. "The most glorious work of grace," writes
Pastor Curtis, "it has ever been my privilege to see."
Revivals have also been enjoyed in the Central Church and Straight
University, New Orleans; in the Tougaloo University, where nearly all
the students were led to Christ; at New Iberia, La., where, under the
labors of the pastor, fifty-nine were brought into church fellowship;
in the First and University churches, Atlanta, and at several other
places. It has been a year of marked religious interest and progress
nearly all over the field.
* * * * *
EDUCATIONAL WORK SOUTH.
STATISTICS.
Chartered Institutions 6
Normal and Graded Schools 14
Common Schools 36
Instructors 250
Pupils 8,823
Classifying the students, we have: Theological, 96; Law, 67;
College, 52; College Preparatory, 113; Normal, 814; Grammar,
Intermediate and Primary, 7,681.
The resignation during the year of Professor Salisbury, Superintendent
of our school work, and the transfer to Chicago of Dr. Roy,
Superintendent of our church work at the South, raised the question
whether, in view of the system to which these brethren had reduced the
work of their respective fields, the two departments might not be
consolidated and their care assigned to one man. With much hesitation it
was decided to try the experiment. Rev. C. J. Ryder, of Medina, O., has
been selected to take the new position, and has entered upon its duties.
His headquarters will be at Cincinnati, from which point, by reason of
its central location and excellent railroad facilities, the whole field
will be easily accessible. We regretfully part with Professor Salisbury.
The three years of his service have been very valuable to our work, and
it is largely because of this service we are permitted to report that
our schools were never before so well organized nor so efficient as now.
The exhibit of our schools in the World's Exposition at New Orleans
attracted much attention from visitors. The New Orleans papers spoke of
it in very complimentary terms. Descriptions of it were written and
widely published in the newspapers all over the country. President
Hitchcock, of Straight University, Rev. S. E. Lathrop and several of our
colored students, took charge successively of the exhibit, and were on
hand to answer questions regarding the American Missionary Association,
its schools and its work. A large number of pamphlets and tracts were
distributed. Representatives from every State in the Union, and from
nearly every nation on the face of the earth, dropped in to learn the
object-lesson the exhibit taught of what Christian education had done
for the Indian and the Negro.
At Midway, Ga., an additional building has been erected for the
Dorchester Academy. The Storrs School, Atlanta, by the sale of bullets
dug from the battlefields around the city, realized enough to secure a
much-needed kindergarten building. Mrs. F. L. Allen, of Waterbury,
Conn., has donated us a property in Quitman, Ga., containing three acres
of land, on which stands a hotel building, nearly new and thoroughly
furnished, to be used as a school for girls. The ladies of the First and
Second Congregational churches of Waterbury promptly seconded Mrs.
Allen's gift by raising $1,000 to make the necessary alterations to put
the building in order for the school, and the ladies of the
Congregational churches of the State have so far responded to an appeal
for them to assume the support of the school, that it starts out with an
assurance of success from the beginning. Rev. J. H. Parr, formerly of
the Tillotson Institute, is to have the school in charge.
We have not been able to spend much money this year in brick and
mortar. We have been obliged to put our funds almost exclusively into
the more practical work of mind and character building.
Fisk University celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year by
graduating from its college course fifteen, two of the number being
young ladies. This makes 52 who have been graduated from Fisk. The
Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Tennessee, several
State officials, many Senators and Representatives attended the
Commencement exercises and alumni dinner. A series of speeches in
commendation of the good work done at the institution were made by these
gentlemen, who bore testimony to the high standing of the Fisk students
as teachers and citizens throughout the State. Of the 37 graduates
previous to the class of this year, the record shows that 24 of them are
principals and teachers in different schools; 5 are pastors of churches;
1 is a missionary in Africa under the American Board; 2 are practicing
lawyers; 2 are studying for the professions--1 in a theological, the
other in a medical school; 1 is a member of the Tennessee Legislature;
and 2, who were teachers, have died. Its roll numbers 427, including
representatives of 21 States and 1 Territory.
Talladega College has had 365 students. This was more than it could
comfortably care for. The girls' hall was crowded. Some applicants had
to be refused for lack of room. The new Cassidy School building, having
been used by over 200 pupils, continues to justify its right to be.
Prosperity has marked the life of this college in all its departments.
Atlanta University maintains its well-earned reputation for school work
of the highest order; 297 students have shared its privileges. Colonel
L. W. Avery, Chairman of the State Board of Visitors, in his report last
year, was so emphatic and strong in his praise of what he had seen and
heard at the University, that the other members of the Board would not
believe him, and he was compelled to modify his praises before they
would accept his report. This year the whole Board was present at the
examinations, and the result is that they have every one been converted,
and are now ready to go even farther than the Colonel in testifying that
"the proficiency attained in the scholastic results has been simply
astonishing." The University continues to receive the annual
appropriation of $8,000 from the State--a fact that is all significant
respecting the undeniable worth of the school.
Tougaloo University, located on the Illinois Central R. R., about eight
miles north of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, receives State aid
to the amount of $3,000 annually. Two hundred and sixteen students last
year have taxed its utmost capacity for accommodation. Governor Lowry
and the State Board of Visitors attended the commencement exercises, and
were surprised at the evidence of the Negro's capacity for education.
Four students took degrees in the elementary Normal course that requires
ten years to complete it, and one took the degree from the higher Normal
course, to complete which requires twelve years.
Straight University, New Orleans, notwithstanding the devastation of
floods and the failure of cotton crops that last year so severely
affected the very limited finances of the colored people of Louisiana,
was filled with students at the beginning of the school year, and
continued not only crowded, but _over_crowded to the end; 584 scholars
were enrolled, including representatives from Cuba, Honduras, New
Mexico, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois, and even Old
England.
Tillotson Institute, Texas, has also had a very crowded and successful
year. This is the youngest of our chartered schools. It has the modesty
that in every way is becoming the youngest member of the family, but in
all that is excellent in work it stands not a whit behind the oldest and
the best. It has already outgrown the comfortable limits of its
habitation. The crowding process has struck it, and its cry for relief
is growing sharper and sharper. We shall have to heed its cry one of
these days. The great and rapidly-growing State of Texas challenges our
forethought and our care. The State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Hon. B. M. Baker, was present at the commencement
exercises, and after commending the teachers for their faithful work and
testifying that the best teachers of the colored schools in Texas were
graduates of the Tillotson Institute, he publicly thanked the people of
the North for the establishment and maintenance of the school. Judge
Fullmore, a county school superintendent, who was also present, not only
indorsed all that Mr. Baker had said, but added that in his appointments
of teachers he always gave Tillotson graduates the preference, and that
a certificate of graduation from Tillotson in the hands of an applicant
was all the evidence of character and ability he needed.
Were we to continue sketching the salient points in the work of our
other schools scattered all over the South, it would be simply to give
fresh illustrations of the five facts already made prominent--crowded
schools, growing necessities, faithful work, good results and outside
commendation.
As compared with last year, the statistics in our school work show a
falling off of two chartered institutions and seven common schools. On
its face, this looks like loss; in reality, it is gain. The two
chartered institutions dropped out of our statistics are Berea and
Hampton, that, as a matter of fact, have been for several years
self-sustaining and independent, and which, as formerly fostered by us,
we have hitherto reported; they are still in the field, doing a greater
work than ever, while the seven common schools, dropped because they
ceased to be needed where they were located, are more than represented
in the better work of the other schools, to strengthen which the money
thus set free has been transferred.
We are steadily but slowly coming to the realization of the idea that
was the inspiration of the American Missionary Association's school
system--Christian colleges and Normal schools for the training of
leaders, and Christian preparatory schools to furnish them with the
right kind of material. The South is year by year, as its financial
ability increases and its public sentiment improves, doing more for the
rudimental instruction of its children. It is the duty of the State to
provide elementary education for every child within its borders, and to
that point the Southern States must one day come; but just in proportion
as they come to that point, the necessities for our work increase. The
demand for Christian teachers and preachers and professional men in all
ranks at the South will grow as facilities for the elementary education
of the children multiply. Our aim is not only to save the land from
ignorance, but to save it from godless intelligence. Infidelity is as
much the enemy of free institutions as ignorance; and when the children
are intelligent, an ignorant leadership is almost as effective as an
infidel leadership to raise up an infidel people; so that, as
intelligence spreads among the youth of the South, we are placed under
accumulating obligations, by virtue of our loyalty to the kingdom of our
Lord, and by virtue of our interest in the perpetuity of republican
institutions, to strengthen, enlarge and multiply this work. Of course,
just now, and for a great many years to come, by far the greater part of
our school work must be in the lower grades of instruction. So long as
it can be said, that in the Southern States eighty per cent. of the
colored and thirty per cent. of the white population are illiterate;
that there are not educational facilities enough to furnish fifty per
cent. of the children with even a chance to learn their letters; that
there are whole communities and sections in which there are no schools
whatever; that there are thousands and tens of thousands of children and
youth who would be glad to go to school did they have opportunity; so
long we must continue to furnish elementary instruction in all our
schools, and as far as possible to open such small schools as may meet
the present but transient exigency, to be dropped, as we have the seven
common schools above referred to, when, from whatever cause, the
necessity for them has passed away. The Executive Committee desires to
emphasize and to have the constituents of the American Missionary
Association keep it constantly before them, that as the cause and means
of popular education extend in the South, the necessity for the work of
the Association becomes stronger and stronger.
As seen from this stand-point, the desirability of bringing our larger
institutions as speedily as possible, where they shall be able to take
care of themselves, becomes clear and urgent. They should be at once so
far endowed that the question of their permanence as conservators of the
supremacy of Christian leadership in the thought, character and life of
the people should be settled beyond peradventure for all time.
We commend these schools to the special regard of those who are looking
about to invest money where, in the name of the Lord, it will yield rich
and enduring returns.
* * * * *
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.
Schools in which industries are taught 16
Special industrial teachers 10
Teachers combining industrial with other work 21
Industrial teaching is made prominent at Santee, Oahe, at all of our
chartered institutions, at Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn., Lewis
High School, Macon, Ga., and incidentally at six other schools. Aid has
been received from the Slater Fund for this work at Macon, Atlanta,
Nashville, Tougaloo, Talladega, Memphis and Austin. Nearly all the
scholars in attendance pursue some of the branches of industry taught.
Housekeeping, cooking, dress-making, care of the sick, agriculture,
blacksmithing, harness-making, type-setting and printing are made
prominent, according to the conveniences at hand. Atlanta, Talladega and
Tougaloo have farms which are worked by the students under the
instruction of practical farmers. At several other points farming could
be successfully taught if only we had the farms, and we could have the
farms if only we had the money.
For the teaching of the trades we need special buildings. Progress has
been made in this direction. Atlanta University has erected "The Knowles
Industrial Building," a memorial of the late Mr. L. J. Knowles, of
Worcester, Mass., whose widow not long before her death appropriated
$6,000 for this object. It is a brick building 100 by 44 feet, with two
stories and a basement, and, for its use, is one of the finest in the
South. At Macon, a two-story building has been constructed--the upper
story for the Lewis Library and the lower for a carpenter shop. At
Talladega has been also built a two-story structure, the upper story to
be used for carpentry and the lower for blacksmithing. The citizens of
Memphis two years ago gave Professor Steele $1,000 to put a girl's
industrial department into the Le Moyne school, and now they have
pledged him $600 more to secure a workshop for the boys. Fort Berthold
in Dakota and Fisk and Straight Universities at the South greatly need
industrial buildings, and there are other schools of which the same
might be said with equal emphasis.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of industrial training.
Latest in development in connection with our schools, it may yet prove
first in value. Labor is heaven-ordained. It is the chief
instrumentality through which a people are elevated. Grace saves the
soul and transforms character instantly. It makes the savage and
sinner kind and good instantly; but it will not instantly make him a
good farmer, a skilled mechanic, a trained scholar. Up from the lowest
to the highest, man must toil patiently and laboriously. Nature will
tolerate neither jumps nor deceptions. It is no kindness to put a man
where he is out of place, and still less is it a kindness to make him
believe that he has a right to be there. He who climbs up into position
or who is foisted into it by any other instrumentality than by the toil
necessary to fit him for the position, the same is a thief and a robber.
The police forces of Nature will speedily put him under arrest. The
judicial forces of Nature will soon cast him into a prison, out of which
he shall not come until beginning at the bottom, by diligent labor, he
is willing to pay the last farthing at every step in the process of his
advancement. The implements and the products of industry are the gauges
of civilization. Between the roughly-hewn stone hatchet and the
finely-polished steel axe lies all the history of the world's progress.
The college, the library, the fine residence and the factory of modern
civilization are at one end of the line, the other end of which starts
from the dug-out and the hut. Man, in the highest estate, forget or
ignore it as he may, has that in him which connects him with the lowest,
and labor, the hard labor of his ancestors, extending through the ages
as well as his own, has been the means of bringing him where he is. If
the Indian and the negro are to be elevated, they must rise by the same
steps as have others. They must _work_ their way up. But they who are
above them, remembering the pit out of which they themselves have been
dug, must give them a chance to rise, and help them as they try to rise.
That they have the capacity for elevation along every line of human
development has been abundantly proved over and over again. The
industrial exhibit of the colored people at the recent Centennial
Exposition in New Orleans, was in every way gratifying to their friends.
Though these people are only 20 years out of the house of their 250
years' bondage, antedated by millenniums of barbarism, they sent
articles showing their progress in the industries that more than filled
the entire gallery assigned them in one end of the immense Government
building.
* * * * *
MOUNTAIN WORK.
This work has gone forward the past year with marked success. In
Kentucky, Rev. J. T. Ford, having taken the pastoral charge of the
church at Williamsburg, Rev. A. A. Myers was at liberty to give himself
to more extended missionary work; and, as might be expected, he has gone
into it with a will. He has organized three new churches; one at
Jellico, with 11 members; one at Pleasant View, with 13 members, and one
at Rockhold, with 15 members. Under his superintendency the Jellico
church has erected a good, commodious house, but it needs a bell. The
congregations number from 250 to 300, and the pastor, Rev. E. W.
Bullock, reports the interest as increasing.
Pleasant View Church has also put up a house of worship, now complete
except seats. At Rockland, stone is on the ground. Mr. Myers using his
own team to haul it, himself being teamster, and the lumber is all ready
to begin work. A chapel is soon to be erected at South Williamsburg,
where there are hundreds around the mills who cannot be induced to
attend church up town. Eleven Sunday-schools, with an enrollment of
1,200 and an average of 750, have been maintained. These schools extend
from Jellico on the State line to the northern part of Whitley County
along the railroad. Besides these, several students from the Academy
have conducted Sunday-schools at their homes, reporting an enrollment of
160.
Day schools have been kept at Woodbine, Rockhold, Dowlais and Jellico
with marked success.
The Williamsburg Academy has had an enrollment of 203. The reputation
and influence of this school are extending far and wide. The teachers,
imbued with the missionary spirit, have been a power in the church and
in the community as well as in the school. The question whether our
schools could be kept up if colored students were admitted, has been
squarely met and answered, and right at our central station,
Williamsburg, we have had colored pupils during the past two terms. When
they were first admitted, there was a stampede of the white scholars,
reducing the number of pupils from 120 to 40, but as they had a chance
to think the matter over, and they saw the school going right along as
if nothing had happened, and that it was going to keep right along, they
began to come back again, with still others to join them, so that the
school closed with a larger enrollment than the previous year. The
excitement caused a discussion that found its way into the newspapers of
the State, and gave the school such an advertisement as could not have
been secured by years of ordinary work. We shall have no more trouble
with the color question in Whitley County. It has been settled, and
settled right.
In Tennessee, the Independent Church at Sherwood, and its pastor, Rev.
A. B. Smith, have entered our fellowship by joining the Central South
Association. On the Cumberland plateau, Pastor B. Dodge has secured the
organization of a church with 16 members, which is associated with his
church at Pomona. An organ and hymn-books were furnished by the Pilgrim
Church, Cambridgeport, Mass. The people have subscribed $300, chiefly in
lumber, toward a much-needed chapel for church and day school. At both
these points day schools have been maintained. At Grand View, the first
year of the Academy has proved a success, and now a church has been
organized in association with it, both to be under the care of Rev. C.
B. Riggs.