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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
March, 1889
Vol. XLIII. No. 3.
CONTENTS.
EDITORIAL.
TO THE PASTORS AND CHURCHES
A CALL FOR ENLISTMENT
PARAGRAPHS
SUPREMACY OF THE WHITE RACE IN THE SOUTH
TRAINING OF COLORED STUDENTS FOR THE EPISCOPAL MINISTRY
A MONTHLY CONCERT AND SUPPLEMENT
NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND
ENGLISH AS IT IS NOT TAUGHT--CLIPPINGS
THE SOUTH.
REVIVAL AT LEMOYNE INSTITUTE
EVERY-DAY LIFE
CROWDED SCHOOL-ROOMS
PARAGRAPHS--DEATH OF MRS. HATTIE B. SHERMAN
THE CHINESE.
LOO QUONG'S APPEAL
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
PARAGRAPHS
CHRISTMAS AT FORT YATES
MISS COLLINS
FOR THE CHILDREN.
OUR SCHOOL GIRLS--JOSIE MIKE--POLLIWOG
RECEIPTS
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, Rev. WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D., LLD., N.Y.
_Vice-Presidents._
Rev. A.J.F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass.
Rev. F.A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.
Rev. D.O. MEARS, D.D., Mass.
Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., Mo.
_Corresponding Secretaries._
Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
Rev. A.F. BEARD, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Recording Secretary._
Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Treasurer._
H.W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Auditors._
PETER McCARTEE.
CHAS. P. PEIRCE.
_Executive Committee._
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.
ADDISON P. FOSTER, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
J.E. RANKIN,
WM. H. WARD,
J.W. COOPER,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.
_For Two Years._
LYMAN ABBOTT,
CHAS. A. HULL,
J.R. DANFORTH,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER.
_For One Year._
S.B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
SAMUEL S. MARPLES,
CHARLES L. MEAD,
ELBERT B. MONROE.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C.J. RYDER, _21 Cong'l House, Boston_.
Rev. J.E. ROY, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago_.
_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._
Rev. CHAS. W. SHELTON.
_Field Superintendents._
Rev. FRANK E. JENKINS,
Prof. EDWARD S. HALL.
_Secretary of Woman's Bureau._
Miss D.E. EMERSON, _56 Reade St. N.Y._
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to the
Editor, at the New York Office; letters relating to the finances, to the
Treasurer.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, may be
sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment
of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.--The date on the "address label," indicates the
time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on
label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made
afterward, the change on the label will appear a month later. Please
send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former
address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and
occasional papers may be correctly mailed.
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. XLIII. MARCH, 1889. No. 3.
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
TO THE PASTORS AND CHURCHES
_Who take Collections for the A.M.A. in March, April and May._
Dear Brethren: The work of this Association requires $1,000 per day. The
receipts for the first four months of our fiscal year have been only
about $800 a day. Here is the germ of a debt. Unless it is chilled and
destroyed in the vigorous months of March, April and May, when the
churches are full and active, it will, during the hot summer months,
when the audiences are thin, grow rapidly, and develop its bitter
fruit--a great deficit. The coming three months will be the test. We are
the servants of the churches and are doing their work, and we are
confident that they intend to give us the means to carry it forward.
We, therefore, appeal to the pastors whose collections come during these
three months, or whose collections can conveniently be brought within
these three months, to lend us their great help by emphasizing our needs
when the collections are taken, and we appeal to our patrons that they
will, both in their church collections or by their special donations,
come to our aid in a time when that aid will be so beneficial.
* * * * *
A CALL FOR ENLISTMENT.
Perhaps we never shall cease our urgent appeals for the "sinews of war."
The growing work of this Association requires increasing funds to meet
the enlarged demand. But we are beginning to feel the need of a greater
force in the field. We sound forth the bugle note calling for recruits
for the army of the Lord in our glorious warfare. We appeal to students
in theological seminaries, colleges, normal schools and female
seminaries, to consider the claims of this great work. We make this
appeal with special urgency to the Congregational institutions of the
land, for it is from this body of Christians that we receive nearly all
the funds with which we carry on our work, and there is a special
fitness that the sons and daughters of these churches should enter the
field for which the funds are contributed.
But we wish to make a distinct announcement in connection with this
appeal. We wish only to "get the best." The needy people for whom we
labor have suffered such privations, and such absolute destitution of
all adequate religious instruction, that we feel they are now entitled
to as good as can be given them. We send no teachers to the field that
are incompetent and without adequate experience. We do not believe that
everybody is qualified to teach the Negroes, at least it is not fair to
them, that we should employ those who cannot find occupation anywhere
else. Good health, good training, good powers of discipline, a
missionary spirit and a membership in some evangelical church, are the
absolute essentials for all persons that we employ. We call for
recruits, but we ask for only those that are well equipped, courageous
and ready to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ.
* * * * *
The treasurer of a church in the West, who had been an officer in a
colored regiment during the war, in remitting the contribution of the
church to which he belongs, thus expresses his reason for his interest
in the welfare of the colored people:
"I was an officer in the 5th United States Colored Troops, the first
colored regiment raised west of the Alleghenies, just before the
massacre of colored troops at Fort Pillow, and knowing so much of the
fidelity and valor and good service of those troops in the war to the
Nation, to which they then owed so little, I have special interest in
the enlightenment and uplifting of the colored race in the South."
* * * * *
In the last month's _Missionary_, we published some statements showing
that persons declined to contribute to our treasury because we had been
so enriched by the Daniel Hand Fund. It gives us pleasure to know that
all our patrons do not take this view of the matter, as will be seen
from the following extract from the letter of a practical business man:
"If A.M.A. means _A Million Accepted_, I hope you will be able to write
it once a year till you can build churches, school-houses and colleges
all through the South, but not enough to take away from the churches of
the North and East the privilege of helping the poor and needy till they
are able to take care of themselves."
* * * * *
Rev. Chas. H. McIntosh has for some months assisted Dr. Roy in
collecting funds for the Association, using a stereopticon as a
means of illustrating his lectures on the varied phases of our
work.
Pastor Leeper of Red Oak, Iowa, writes: "We were much pleased with
Brother McIntosh's lecture and exhibit. He does well, and makes in every
way a good impression. The lantern works promptly and makes clear
pictures. That mode of presenting the work is the best I have seen. The
people will not soon forget what they saw and heard. They were surprised
to know that the A.M.A. is doing so extensive a work. I had often
preached on the subject, but pictures make the facts stand out so much
more vividly. We had crowded houses."
* * * * *
Rev. J.B. Chase, of Hull, Iowa, wishes to complete his files of the
_American Missionary_ to have them bound for a public library. If any of
our readers have the numbers for August and September, 1880, and April,
1878, that they can spare and willingly give, it would be a favor to us
if they would mail them to the above address. Our edition for those
months is exhausted.
* * * * *
THE SUPREMACY OF THE WHITE RACE IN THE SOUTH.
Never since the days of reconstruction and of the adoption of the
Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, has the question of the equal
suffrage of the races in the South awakened public attention as it does
now. In many quarters, some of them very influential, the right of the
Negro to a fair vote and a fair count is strenuously advocated. On the
other hand, the supremacy of the whites as the ruling race in the South
is set forth by leading Southern men more distinctly than ever before.
WHITE SUPREMACY.
Col. Grady, of Atlanta, in his famous speech at Dallas, Texas, urges
this in these emphatic terms:
Standing in the presence of this multitude, sobered with the
responsibility of the message I deliver to the young men of the
South, I declare that the truth above all others to be worn
unsullied and sacred in your hearts, to be surrendered to no
force, sold for no price, compromised in no necessity, but
cherished and defended as the covenant of your prosperity, and
the pledge of peace to your children, is that the white race
must dominate forever in the South, because it is the white
race, and superior to that race with which its supremacy is
threatened.
Hon. W.C.P. Breckinridge, member of Congress from Kentucky, and many
other prominent men in the South, express the same sentiment, so that
this may be regarded as the ultimatum of Southern popular requirement.
HOW THIS SUPREMACY IS TO BE ATTAINED.
The most _obvious_ way is that which is in use at present, the
intimidation of the colored man and the manipulation of the ballot-box.
But against this the sober second thought of the South itself begins to
revolt. Thus a paper so thoroughly Southern as the Charleston _News and
Courier_ utters this salutary and emphatic protest:
"It appals thinking men to know and see that the present
generation and the rising generation of white men in the South
are taught in practice that republican institutions are a
failure, and that elections are to be carried, not by the honest
vote of a fair majority, but by campaigning, which begins with
rank intimidation and ends with subterfuge and evasion. The
white people suffer more by the trickery and malfeasance by
which they score victory than the colored people suffer. The
supremacy of what, for convenience, is called Anglo-Saxon
civilization, though there is little of the Anglo-Saxon manner
or of civilization in the mode of securing it, must and will be
maintained, but it can be maintained without sectional divisions
in politics and without the maintenance of radical lines at
elections."
As these old methods are beginning to find little favor with the South
itself, a multitude of other schemes are brought to the front.
The _Age-Herald_, of Birmingham, Ala., claims a patent (which it says
others are infringing) for the scheme which it thus sets forth:
"The Negroes could be induced to emigrate to a Western Territory, if it
were set apart for their especial use without any force being used to
compel them to go."
A writer in the Richmond _Dispatch_ proposes that the Negroes in the
South be induced to voluntarily emigrate to Brazil, Mexico or other
countries where they are wanted, and even the old plan of fifty years
ago, to return them to Africa is again brought forward. To this last
suggestion, the _Yonkers Statesman_ replies:
The notion that the black can be successfully re-shipped to
Africa dies hard; but there are few things plainer than that he
has no desire and no purpose to be thus disposed of, but regards
this land as being as much his as it is the white man's. It
would be hard to dispute his title, grounded as it is in age and
effective service. The Negro believes he belongs here, and here
he means to remain; and the prospect that his mind can be
changed is certainly not very cheering.
The _Times-Democrat_ of New Orleans thinks that the true solution is
white immigration, but the _Daily Express_ of San Antonio, Texas,
replies: "The principal objection to this scheme is that the Negro will
not go till the white immigrants come, and the white immigrants will not
come until the Negro goes."
Congressman Oates, of Alabama, advocates the disfranchisement of the
Negroes, or rather as a Democrat he suggests that the Republicans do it.
He says that as the Republicans gave him the ballot, the South would
cheerfully acquiesce if they should take it away from him. But it is not
likely that the Republican administration will lead off in such a
movement. Indeed, from present appearances, the new President is looking
in exactly the opposite direction.
WISER VIEWS.
There are men, however, in the South, wise, conscientious and "to the
manner born," who take entirely different views of this great problem.
The Hon. J.L.M. Curry, once a General in the Confederate Army,
subsequently the efficient Secretary of the Peabody Fund, more recently
our Minister in Spain, and now again at his post as Secretary of the
Peabody Fund, utters himself in this forcible language:
"I want to say to you, in perfect frankness, that the man who
thinks the Negro problem has been settled is either a fanatic or
a fool. I stand aghast at the problem. I don't believe
civilization ever encountered one of greater magnitude. It casts
a dark shadow over your churches, your government of the future.
It is a great problem which will tax your energies. Your
ancestors and mine a few years ago were cannibals and pagans.
They have become what they are, not by virtue of white skin, but
by improving government and good laws. You let the Negro
children get an education where yours do not, let the Negro be
superior to you in culture and property, and you will have a
black man's government. Improvement, cultivation, education is
the secret, the condition and guarantee of race supremacy. I
will astonish you, perhaps, by saying that if the Negro develops
and becomes in culture, property and civilization, superior to
the white man, the Negro ought to rule. You see to it that he
does not become so. The responsibility rests with you."
Rev. A.G. Haygood, D.D., Secretary of the Slater Fund, closes a review
of Senator Eustis's recent paper in these earnest words:
Whatever political theory men form or oppose; whatever their
speculative opinions about the origin of races; whatever their
notions concerning color or caste; whatever their relations
heretofore to slavery and what went along with it, this is
absolutely certain: no question involving the rights and wrongs
of men, civilized or savage, white or black, was ever yet
settled so that it would stay settled by any system of mere
repression. And to those who believe in Jesus Christ it is
equally certain that nothing can be rightly settled that is not
settled in harmony with the teachings of the Sermon on the
Mount. If there be a Divine Providence no good man need be
afraid to do right to-day; nay, he will fear only doing wrong.
* * * * *
THE TRAINING OF COLORED STUDENTS FOR THE EPISCOPAL MINISTRY.
A very interesting discussion occurred in the Missionary Council of the
Episcopal Church, held in Washington, D.C., November 13th and 14th, in
regard to the education of colored students for the ministry in the
Episcopal Church. The motive for not educating them in the existing
Episcopal Seminaries appeared to be simply the caste-prejudice, and some
marked utterances and facts were given on that subject, which we wish to
preserve.
The Bishop of Kentucky, whose generous feelings toward the colored race
we have had occasion to notice heretofore, quoted from another, and
endorsed for himself, the declaration: "The white man is not fit to
study for the ministry who is not ready to have his black brother sit by
him in the class room," and he subsequently added: "I believe I can
speak for my brothers, and I say out of my heart I would just as soon
sit by the side of a black man if he were in the House of Bishops, as
one of my white brothers." But yet the Bishop suggested and endorsed the
plan for the separate education of colored students, for two reasons:
(1) "The power of heredity is not to be overthrown in a day nor an
hour... This subtle spirit of caste is perhaps the demon hardest to cast
out of the human spirit, the one that requires the most prayer and
fasting, without which it will not go out," and (2) "It is certainly
true that the colored men themselves do not want to go there. It is just
as true that the white men do not want to have them there."
As to the first point, it is to be regretted that the good Bishop did
not give himself to fasting and prayer to cast out this malignant demon,
rather than to yield to it, and that he did not heed the words which
Jesus uttered when his disciples could not cast out a demon, "_Bring him
hither to me._" If bishops and churches will only bring this demon of
caste to Jesus, the work will be done.
The Bishop's second point, that the colored people desired the
separation, was pointedly answered by Dr. Crummell (rector of St. Luke's
Colored Church, Washington,) who was invited to speak on the subject.
Dr. Crummell said: "I do not think that any man in this country has seen
any statement by any number of black men or black students that they
wanted to be by themselves. I do not think such an utterance can be
found among the race. I myself never heard such a thing, and wherever
they have had entrance to other schools they have gone to them."
The decision reached by the Council was to erect, in connection with
some of the colored universities in the South, a hall under Episcopal
control for colored Episcopal students for the ministry, who should also
attend the college classes in the University. So far as the principle is
concerned, we regret this decision. How much better if the wealthy and
intelligent Episcopal Church in this country had lent its vast influence
in repudiating the spirit of caste by introducing colored theological
students into its own excellent seminaries.
* * * * *
A MONTHLY CONCERT AND SUPPLEMENT.
BY REV. EDWIN N. ANDREWS.
Do they say the monthly concert is dull? If so, it is likely owing to
one or two causes like the following, (1) Perhaps only two or three
families take any missionary Magazine, hence but little information can
be expected. People are not interested in what they know nothing of. Or,
(2) there is a lack of preparation and purpose to make the meeting
interesting on the part of those to whom the leader ought to look for
help.
However, our last meeting took a rather interesting turn. It had been of
the average sort only, when towards the close one of the ladies spoke of
a call among the Freedmen for dolls and clothing, (not clothing for
dolls). The pastor suggested that we gather together, from the families,
various contributions, such as partly-worn garments, toys, books,
religious papers, etc., and make a New Year's donation to the people to
whom such things would be a god-send and good as new.
The suggestion was favored, and the animated countenances and talk that
followed betokened an after-meeting of unusual interest, and certainly
the most practical if not the best part of our conference. Something to
do, then and there, had been suggested; tongues were somehow set loose;
each one seemed to have a new-born interest, each held common stock in
the enterprise. Dr. Roy was consulted by the pastor as to a proper and
responsible party. Meanwhile the goods began to come in, often sent by
the boys or girls, who thus began to do missionary service, The pastor's
wife and daughter did the packing. Picture cards were pasted in cloth
folios for the little ones; old hats were trimmed; coats and vests went
in, shawls, Bibles, toys, etc., till a barrel, a large sugar barrel,
take notice, was crammed.
After awhile there came the address of a colored graduate of Tougaloo
University, living at or near Chattanooga, whose name was marked on one
end of the barrel, and the freight sent forward. After some delay, the
letter of acknowledgment came, saying, "The barrel came safe. The things
are just what so many of the people need, and they will go to those most
in need. Accept our thanks."
This letter will be read at our next concert, which should be a
thanksgiving occasion for the opportunity of doing something for the
destitute, and for the discovery of a way to make a monthly concert
interesting.
* * * * *
NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.
BY DISTRICT SECRETARY C.J. RYDER.
Here comes a gift of five dollars from an aged friend ninety-one years
old! He has contributed to the A.M.A. every year for a generation. Who
will step into the place of these grand veterans when they are called
from the ranks? Such examples ought to thrill younger men and untie
their purse strings.
* * * * *
At a recent visit to Wellesley College, the great company of students
listened patiently more than an hour to the story of the "American
Highlanders; where they are, who they are, and what the A.M.A. is doing
for them."
This interest on their part is characteristic of the intelligent people
throughout New England. The churches are asking for information
concerning these most interesting mountaineers, and are prayerfully
considering their duty toward them. In view of this general interest, I
give in these notes this month the following review of a book which I
have been requested by several New England pastors to present in THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
_The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee._ By Thomas William Humes, S.T.D.
Ogden Brothers & Co.: Knoxville, Tenn.
Another interesting book on the Mountain people of the South. Those who
are familiar with the mountain missions of the A.M.A. will hail this new
volume with special delight. Those who read it will understand better
the magnitude and importance of this great field into which the A.M.A.
has pushed out its vanguard, and the necessity of following up these
advances with a solid phalanx of intelligent and enthusiastic
missionaries. This historical sketch brings prominently before us the
heroic manhood of these American Highlanders during the years of bitter
and systematic persecution by the rebel government. There is stuff in
these Highland chieftains and their clans!
Three facts that stand out from the pages of this history must intensify
our interest in these American Highlanders. One, the systematic and
brutal outrages inflicted upon them by the rebel authorities and their
heroic endurance; second, their unimpeachable and unswerving loyalty to
the country; third, the tremendous debt the loyal Christian people of
the North owe them. Take the following order issued by J.P. Benjamin,
Secretary of War, November 25, 1861, which appears on the 140th page of
this book;
"_First._ All such as can be identified in having been engaged in
bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head court martial,
and, if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging. It would be well
to leave their bodies hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges."
The State had voted in February, by sixty thousand majority, to remain
loyal to the Union. These Highlanders had sought to save their section
of the State from rebellion, and to defend their cabin homes from
outrage and butchery. In doing so, they had burned bridges, and for this
the government at Richmond deliberately instructs its army officers to
hold a mock trial, to hang, and to brutally expose the bodies of those
who had been executed, so that surviving friends would have to look upon
these sickening horrors! It seems almost impossible that any man could
deliberately perpetrate such monstrous cruelties. But the order was
issued by the rebel government and carried into effect. Indeed, the
brutalities went even farther than this. In December, 1861, two men by
the name of Harmon, father and son, were hanged. Only one gallows was
provided, and the authorities compelled the father to stand by and see
his own son pass through the horrors of strangulation while awaiting his
own execution. (Page 151).
The diary of Parson Brownlow, from which abundant quotations are given
in this volume, furnishes many similar instances of cruelty perpetrated
against these loyal mountaineers; but they were true to the flag from
beginning to end. They left their homes, and camped in the forests and
"down the coves" of their own wild mountains. Parson Brownlow encamped
for days in concealment in Tuckaleeche and Wear's Coves in the great
Smoky Mountains. Had fair and honorable means been used, these loyal
mountaineers would have saved Tennessee from that disgraceful chapter in
her history which records the dark story of her treason. This book must
stir the patriotism and Christian enthusiasm of every one who reads it.
It ought to lead us to make genuine sacrifices to show our appreciation
of their supreme devotion to the country by sending to this Mountain
Work, opened by the A.M.A., generously of men and of means.
* * * * *
ENGLISH AS IT IS NOT TAUGHT.
He didn't crack a smile.
I feel many gratitudes to you.
His forgiven name is John.
Help us to bring forth meats for our repentance.
I won't fool with the Lord no more.
Help us to pray as the Republican did, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
* * * * *
At one of our schools, students had been learning the Beatitudes to
recite at the table, and one Sunday they were asked to write the meaning
in their own language. One wrote, "To be poor in spirit means weak but
willing." Another, "Poor in spirit means that a person who has religion
and don't make a great to-do over it, has as much as one who cuts up
over theirs." ("Cutting up" means the noisy demonstrations in meeting).
A pupil gives us the following insight into the precise appearance of
the beings of the future world. "An angel is two lines which intend to
meet," in response to the question, "What is an angle?"
According to one of our growing historians here, Gen. Gage, of
Revolutionary fame, didn't altogether believe in the then existing
styles, for we were told the other day, that, "Gage, learning that there
were millinery stores at Concord, at once sent a force to destroy them."
* * * * *
CLIPPINGS
FROM PAPERS EDITED BY COLORED MEN.
The only colored daily paper in America is printed at Columbus, Ga. It
is a four column folio, neat in make-up and well edited.
COLORED EXHIBITIONS TO THE FRONT.--At the recent Virginia Exposition Mr.
J.C. Farley, the colored photographer, was awarded the first premium for
his work, for which he is to receive a diploma and medal. Our esteemed
townsman has entered a new field and ascended to the topmost round of
the ladder at one bound.
A COLORED PRIZE WINNER.--Give a colored man a fair show and he is
certain to give a good account of himself. One of the notable college
contests in Illinois is known as the Swan Oratorical Contest, and is
held annually at Lombard University, at Galesburg. This contest was held
Thursday night of last week. The first prize was awarded to Burt Wilson,
a colored student, who lives at Galesburg, and is one of the most
promising scholars in the university. His oration is said to have been
an unusually brilliant effort.
WHAT THE NEGRO HAS DONE.--In the South there are now 16,000 colored
teachers, 1,000,000 pupils, 17,000 in the male and female high schools,
and 3,000,000 worshipers in the churches. There are sixty normal
schools, fifty colleges and universities, and twenty-five theological
seminaries. The colored people pay taxes on nearly $200,000,000 worth of
property valuation. This is a wonderful showing for a race that has two
hundred years of slavery and four thousand years of barbarism back of
it; it needs no silent sympathy or patient waiting, when in twenty years
it makes such a showing. American generosity has done for the South in
twenty years what statesmanship has failed to do in over a century; but
generosity should not be depended upon, as even that can reach a limit.
SUCCESSFUL IN BUSINESS.--North Carolina has a colored man whose business
success is hard to find surpassed by even the white people. The Concord
_Times_, a white journal, gives the following interesting sketch of his
career:
He was born a slave, and until he was twenty-one years of age, never had
a copper of his own. Possessed of a keen and adaptable mind, he has by
his energy and untiring efforts accumulated a competency, equalled by
few of his race in the South.
Warren Coleman commenced business here in 1879. He has lost everything
by fire three times,--one time meeting with a loss of $7,000 and no
insurance. Various purses of money were made up and sent him at this
time, all of which he very nobly returned. But by pluck and energy he
rose again.
He owns four farms, amounting in all to some 300 acres of land, and
employs on them twenty regular hands. He is the owner of ninety-eight
tenement houses and is still adding to the list, having in his employ at
this time twenty carpenters and eight or ten brick masons, laborers,
etc.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
* * * * *
REVIVAL AT LE MOYNE INSTITUTE.
PROF. A.J. STEELE.
It has been my privilege and my great joy to write you often during my
nearly twenty years of continuous service under the Association, of
God's blessing upon our work. We are now in the midst of one of the most
gracious visitations that I have ever experienced, and I recall "times
of refreshing" not a few. In 1875, the first great revival in connection
with this school saw over a hundred and twenty-five of our pupils
hopefully converted to Christ, and the young converts, by their
faithfulness, overcame all the fixed notions and ways of the old
churches on the subject of early conversions.
I have since that time, year by year, followed many of these young
people, and know that the great majority of them have proven faithful
followers of the Saviour, and many have lived lives of exceptional
influence and usefulness. Since that notable year in the history of the
school, but one year has passed without most evident tokens of God's
gracious presence in the conversion of pupils attending the school. In
some years the number has been large, and in others not so many have
made open profession of faith in Christ. I think I am safe in saying
that not a year, nor a month, has passed in which the school has not
been markedly under the influence of the Spirit, giving guidance and
instruction, and drawing, as with cords of love, many of our pupils to
see in the religion of the cross a peace and joy to be found nowhere
else. To this influence, the school owes all its success in every
direction. For myself I can truly say that in the midst of the sorrow
that has been my constant and only companion, besides my Saviour, the
joy of this work and the consciousness of its acceptance with God have
alone held me to the task laid upon me these years. I rejoice now, with
all my fellow workers, that we are in the midst of another season of
reaping, after months of sowing precious seed.
During the past week, two members of the senior class, young men,
professed their faith in Christ in the quiet prayer meeting of the
school, as did also a young lady of a lower class, and now, this week,
Brother Wharton is with us, and to-day, at the first meeting led by him
in the school, sixteen of our students, three more of the senior class,
quietly but hopefully profess to become followers of the Master, with
scores more earnestly seeking to enter in.
Since writing the above, two days of great but quiet interest have
passed in our work. Between thirty and forty of our scholars, including
five of the seniors and nearly every pupil of the other higher classes,
have learned the joy of Christian experience, and there are yet others
to follow.
The night meetings at the church are very interesting and in them
conversions are occurring in considerable numbers. The class work of the
school has not been interrupted, as half-hour meetings only have been
held, morning and noon. We rejoice greatly in this work that crowns and
confirms all the other work of the school.
* * * * *
EVERY-DAY LIFE.
MRS. A.W. CURTIS.
Put on your best glasses, dear friends, and take a peep at the regular,
every-day life of some of the workers among the colored people South.
Rap, rap, rap.
"Come in!"
It is a toil-worn, sad-faced woman, with hard, bony hands, and that look
of patient endurance that is so pathetic. She is poorly clad, with only
a thin bit of an old shawl around her shoulders, and a hat so
disreputable that she instantly removes it, and drops it behind her on
the floor. After a few kindly words of greeting, she tells her story. A
sickly husband, deranged for the last nine years of his life, whom she
had to support and care for; a daughter who married a wretch who treated
her so cruelly that she, too, lost her mind, when he left her entirely,
with their child. She kept the daughter confined to bed or chair, while
she worked out as cook, to support them all. She had several other
children. Finally the crazy daughter got away, and she does not know
whether she is dead or alive.
What had she come to us for? Money, old clothes, help of some kind?
No, indeed. She came to see if we would take her grand-daughter and her
own daughter, both about twelve years old, into our school. She had
never been able to make them fit to go to any school, so they could not
even read, but she would do her very best, if we would take them now. I
wish Mr. Hand could have seen her shining face and tearful eyes, when we
told her of the kind friend who had provided so grandly for just such
cases as these.
A patter of small feet, a hasty rap at the door.
"Please ma'am, send little sister some medicine."
"What ails sister?"
The little fellow looked puzzled for a moment, then confidently
answered, "Her stomach has settled on her bowels!"
It is a perplexing diagnosis, but a few skillful questions draw out the
fact that she has a bad cold, and some chamomilla is sent at a venture.
Word comes back the next day that "Sister is well: that medicine did her
_all_ the good."
Next comes, one after another, a perfect rush of small boys and big
girls, with now and then a man or woman for variety, on various errands.
"Please ma'am, give me a settin' of eggs. Our old hen wants to set, and
we haint got no eggs." The great brown eyes grow round with astonishment
when we tell them that the hens are A.M.A. hens now, and not ours, and
these hungry teachers eat every egg they lay. Two or three others, who
have been accustomed to rely on our good nature for their winter supply
of greens and salad, receive the same reply, and it is evident that the
new order of things is very unsatisfactory and perplexing to them.
"Please ma'am, give me some castor oil for the baby; she's awful sick;
Doctor says it's indigestion of the lungs."
She gets the castor oil, but soon comes back to say in most cheerful
tones--"Baby is dead. She died at ten o'clock, but she's better off, and
please, ma'am, give mother a black basque to wear to the funeral."
Heartless? Oh no. There was great wailing and moaning at the funeral,
and when the one carriage, with as many of the family as could crowd in
beside the poor little coffin, started for the cemetery, this same child
stood in the doorway, waving her handkerchief, and shouting tragically,
"Fare thee well, baby! Fare thee well!"
A half-grown girl came up the steps with two tiny chickens about as
large as pigeons, their legs tied together, their voices lifted up in
shrill squawks.
"Father sent you these two chickens for a Christmas present, and says
please send him a coat and pair of breeches, and a vest, too, if you
can. And mother sent you these eggs for a present, and please send her a
warm underskirt and a pair of shoes!" A modest request, surely.
Next, a great girl, barefooted, though it was a raw, cold day that made
us huddle gladly over a big fire, and with her a small boy, literally
naked so far as his bony little legs were concerned. A few fluttering
rags that had once been pants depended from the remnant of what had once
been a calico waist. An old bag was pinned around his shoulders, which
completed his entire outfit. "Please ma'am, mother says she'll send
Johnny to school if you'll give him a coat and some breeches." Alas,
there is neither on hand, nothing for the boy except a thin cotton
shirt, and a pair of thin overalls to make over, by a mother who is more
accustomed to the use of a hoe than a needle, and who has seven children
as ragged and miserable as poor Johnny.
A messenger rushes in without knocking. "Come quick--Mattie's baby
burnt!"
"Yes, I'll come. Wrap it in cotton and oil."
Away flies the messenger. I seize the bottle of morphine and a hat, and
follow to the child's home. The floor is strewn with fragments of burnt
clothing. A sickening odor of burnt flesh fills the room. The scorched
high chair, in which the child was tied and put before the open
fireplace, while the mother went to a neighbor's for milk, lay in a pool
of water, and beside it, the burnt whisk-broom that an older baby had
put in the fire, then dropped blazing under the baby's long clothes,
these told the whole sad story. They were all at the grandparent's house
next door--a crowd of screaming people. Upon the bed lay what was left
of the poor child, moaning in conscious agony. A drop of water
containing the precious anodyne which alone could ease it then, soon
brought blessed unconsciousness until death kindly bore the little soul
to God. But oh! the heart-rending grief of that poor mother! God grant
we may never witness such suffering again. We tried to comfort her with
our tearful sympathy and prayers, but God alone can ever heal her sore
heart.
A sad-faced man wants to see the minister. We know his pitiful story and
his errand before he speaks. A sick wife and six young children. The
desperate daily fight with the hunger-wolf at the door, spite of the
little lifts we try to give them. Now the wife is dead, and he comes to
ask for money to buy a coffin and a place to lay her away. He has tried
in vain elsewhere, so comes to us, and we cannot refuse. A few hours
after, the pitiful little procession passes by. The pine coffin in an
old cart, the husband and children, the minister and a few friends,
following on foot. Such calls are frequent. Does the money ever come
back? _Once_ it did.
So it goes on, day after day, twenty, thirty, sometimes forty calls, for
all these incidents are actual facts, and fair samples of our daily
experiences and only a small part of our work. There is a large
household to look after, and between times there must be flying visits
to the distant kitchen to see that everything is going on right there. A
watchful eye must look after the details of the dining room and see to
the comfort of the whole household. Supplies must be ordered; bills must
be paid; there are countless letters to write; there are sorrowful
hearts to be comforted; wayward church members to look after; cold, dead
prayer meetings to warm up; the Sunday-school to carry along; mother's
meetings and children's meetings and missionary societies. An unlimited
stock of patience, tact and good nature must be constantly on hand to
keep all the machinery running smoothly, while the work is exhausting,
wearing out body and soul far too soon.
Does it pay? _Yes!_ for slowly but surely this people is being lifted up
to a higher life, and while we sometimes grow faint and heartsick and
discouraged, still there are rifts in the clouds and bits of sunshine
now and then to cheer our hearts, and someday we hope to hear the Master
say, "_Well done!_"
* * * * *
CROWDED SCHOOL-ROOMS.
Perhaps some of our friends would be glad to hear a few words concerning
Brewer Normal School, Greenwood, S.C. The work goes on, but we are
hurried and crowded almost beyond endurance. We have only two
school-rooms and one recitation room. In one school-room fitted for
fifty-eight scholars, there are ninety-seven. They are obliged to sit,
three in a seat made for two, on chairs, stools and even on the teacher's
platform. Classes are sent from this room, and their recitation room is
the teacher's kitchen and dining-room--not very pleasant for the teachers,
but a necessity. The teacher of these classes is the Principal's
daughter, who has been taken from her own school to aid in this
emergency. In the other school-room, fitted for fifty-eight, there are
eighty-six--not quite as many as in the other room, but what is wanting
in numbers is made up in size. There are several men six feet tall, and
one minister six and a half. In many instances, we are obliged to look
up to our scholars.
Some of our classes in this room number thirty-five or forty. The
smaller classes from this room recite in the recitation room. It is with
difficulty that some of our men, weighing two hundred, get into the
seats in the school-room, but they bear the crowding and close packing
with great patience. The small boarding-houses in the yard are as badly
crowded as the school-rooms. In two small rooms, having two beds each,
there are twelve young men, six in each. Here they cook for themselves,
sleep and study out of school hours. One can hardly find standing-room
among the chairs, trunks, etc. Other rooms are crowded nearly as much.
And still the scholars come. What shall we do with them? Our cry is
_more room_. O, that God would put it into the heart of some one to give
the money needed for another building at Brewer!
* * * * *
PARAGRAPHS.
The congregation of Lincoln Memorial Church, Washington, D.C., rejoiced
in a renovated and newly-furnished church edifice, Sunday, Jan. 6th. The
pastor, Rev. George W. Moore, preached an interesting sermon on "The Law
of Christian Growth." At the conclusion of the services a statement of
the cost of the recent improvements was read. The total cost was $1,500,
about $200 of which was given by contractors and workmen. Hon. A.C.
Barstow, of Providence, R.I., presented the church with one of the large
and beautiful stoves, and gave the other at the cost of manufacture. The
present membership of the church is one hundred, ninety of whom are
resident members. The people have done nobly in their gifts and
self-denials, and Pastor and Mrs. Moore have in their hands a great work
which promises to be greater in the future.
* * * * *
From a pastor in a remote part of Georgia:
"I have seen more of the condition and wants of the people than ever
before, but whiskey and tobacco are the great evils of this part of the
country. The colored people are not very much in advance of what they
were twenty years ago, but the sad part of it is, that the leaders are
no better than the people. I think almost every minister about here uses
whiskey and tobacco, as far as I can learn, and of course the members of
the churches can see no harm in doing what their minister does. This is
a sad picture, but it only shows the need of intelligent and consecrated
leaders, such as the American Missionary Association is raising up for a
people who have been led by those who are neither intelligent nor
consecrated."
* * * * *
Mrs. Hattie B. Sherman, the daughter of Rev. R.F. Markham, died January
14th at her residence in Stockton, Kansas. For two years she was a
missionary of this Association at Beach Institute, Savannah, Ga., where
she rendered faithful and effective service in the education of the
colored people. We tender our sympathies to her father, who was for so
many years a useful missionary of the Association in the South, and to
her husband, in their great bereavement.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
* * * * *
LOO QUONG'S APPEAL.
Loo Quong is one of our Evangelistic Helpers. His special field
at present is Southern California. The appeal is not only
original, but spontaneous; written out of the anxious longings
of his own heart, and not upon any suggestion from me. I have
simply condensed it, to bring it within the limits of our space.
I ask for it a kind and responsive hearing.
WM. C. POND.
_Dear friends of the American Missionary Association_:
We, the Chinese, have appreciated the generous Christian acts of the
members of this great Association, who not only have done good to other
souls of the United States, but have saved hundreds of poor sinners of
our Chinese race, in which I, myself, was one of the lost and now am
found. It was through the generosity and God-loving heart of the
Association that the Chinese found Jesus Christ the Saviour of the
world. And it was through the hard labors and patience of our
Superintendent of the California Chinese Mission that the Chinese have
become partakers of the blessings of the gospel. Though it is here that
the good news is told, it has echoed back far away across the Pacific,
where the four hundred millions of heathen Chinese are living. Just as
our Lord said to his disciples, "There is nothing covered that shall not
be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore, whatsoever
ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which
ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the house
tops." Luke 12: 2, 3.
Those who have been converted in California and who have visited their
homes in China, have seen the necessity of Christianity for their
countrymen in China. Within these ten years there were hospitals
established and missionary societies organized by native Christians and
by those who have returned to China from California. Contribution books
are often sent over to the United States to the different denominations
of Christian Chinese to raise money and send back to support the
hospitals and missionary societies in China. But this is not all; not
long ago the Congregational Association of Christian Chinese in
California organized a missionary society to Southern China, from which
part nearly all the Christian Chinese that are now in the United States
have come, and this is the most important part of China in which to do
the missionary work. There are now many native preachers and
evangelists. This society proposes to buy property in China, for a
headquarters must be established in some of the middle cities in the
south of China, and then to sustain some of those native preachers and
evangelists.