records of travel; forty-seven good histories, essays, stories,
&c., of genuine worth. Many of them are already in circulation. I
am confident this must gather to our support the best elements in
the colored community.
Some of the public school-teachers have spoken to Mr. Steele
about reciting to him at night. They say they wish to review the
lower branches. The arrangements have not been perfected. And
a request has come that a class be formed in theology, for the
benefit of young men who are obliged to work, but wish to fit
themselves for preaching.
Just at this time we are in a state of chaos, waiting for the
holiday merry-makings to be over, that people may settle down to
plans for another year. We hope for a good year in every sense
of the word. As I sit by my stove writing, a substantial Baptist
sister is warming her feet on the hearth and making arrangements
with Miss Milton to hold a neighborhood prayer-meeting at her
house Tuesday morning. I think the missionary work is broadening.
The yellow fever fund you sent is helping to break down barriers.
* * * * *
Generous Giving--Not Dying Out--Help Wanted.
REV. TEMPLE CUTLER, CHATTANOOGA.
During my seven months' absence from home the church managed to
take care of itself with credit both to its zeal and its ability.
Three months of the time it was ministered to by the Rev. G. W.
Moore, a young preacher pursuing his studies at Fisk. Brother
Moore gave himself most heartily to the work while here, and
displayed qualities of mind and heart that give promise of great
usefulness to his race. The church raised for him by its own
contributions $50 per month, besides contributing nearly $50 to
aid yellow fever sufferers in other cities in the early stage
of the epidemic. The total amount of their contributions during
my absence was $211.42. I do not think many of our Northern
churches can show a better record, considering their income. It
amounts to about $3.50 from each resident member. The income of
our membership will not average $150 a year. Let these figures be
compared with those of some of our city churches, and we will
not blush. I sometimes get a little tried with the people when
I see them waste their money on tobacco and a thousand little
extravagances; but I immediately feel rebuked when I compare
their extravagance with that of white people. If white people
gave according to their income as these poor black people do, our
debt would not hang like a millstone around our neck, and the
Home Missionary Society would not still groan over $30,000.
I have heard it stated that the colored people are dying out.
This is not the case among our people. I have been here two
years and a half, and have not been called to attend a funeral
of any member of our church. There have been but three deaths
in the families, and two of them were yellow fever cases during
my absence. Some of our members were sick, but none of them
died. There were many, many cases of yellow fever among the
colored people that were not reported. They held, perhaps, a
superstitious notion--the doctors would say so, at least--that if
they went to the hospital they would surely die; so they doctored
themselves with herbs, and so far as I can learn not one so
treated died.
We are in the midst of the trying season for these poor people.
The cold weather is coming on; but thanks to the kind women of
Yarmouth, Mass., and Skowhegan, Me., we have a good stock of
garments for the most needy. Two barrels have come and their
contents been distributed in part. The Lord bless the generous
hearts and fingers that filled them.
I want to say to the friends of Tennie that she is making a
grand record in school. I have another girl named Rosa for whom
I bespeak an interest. If any Sunday-school or any body wants to
take her off my hands, I will find another to take care of. Work
done for these girls is good work.
* * * * *
Freedom's Day.
The Band of Hope in Chattanooga observed the first day of
January in celebrating the anniversary of the proclamation of
Emancipation. The exercises were held in one of our largest
halls, and were well attended. They consisted of speaking and
singing, and the reading of the Proclamation. The principal
address was given by Rev. Mr. Hurley, of the A. M. E. Church, and
contained some excellent thoughts upon the situation of things
in the South. After a brief introduction, in which he spoke of
the propriety of the colored people's observing this day as the
white people had been accustomed to observe the Fourth of July,
as independence day, he proceeded to name some of the benefits
that had come to the whole country, white and black, North and
South--for we are one, and what really benefits one section,
benefits all--from the emancipation of the slaves.
1. His first point related to the honor of the American name.
For almost a century poets have sung and orators boasted of the
national honor. The declaration of independence, "that all men
are born free and equal," has been flaunted abroad as the pennant
of the nation, while millions of our people were being born,
living and dying in the worst form of slavery the world has ever
known. In all those long years the nation lived a stupendous lie.
Never was the declaration of independence true until Abraham
Lincoln made it so the first day of January, 1863. It is a great
benefit to the nation to be true to its professions; to have this
great blot wiped out.
2. By the emancipation of the slaves, 5,000,000 pairs of hands
were added to the wealth and defences of the nation--no small
gift. We read of a time when a nation shall be born at once.
It has come. What if the ex-slave has had to be nursed! All
babes are nursed. Is not the babe a blessing to the household?
Even its very helplessness is a blessing, educating the finest
sensibilities of humanity. If the babe born January 1st, 1863, is
nurtured aright, God alone can measure the benefits to the nation.
3. By the emancipation of the slave, a system of education
was introduced to the South that insures a lasting blessing
upon the whole people. The intelligence of a large portion of
the white population before the war was not above that of the
slave. If the slave had not been made free, there is no reason
to suppose the condition of these poor whites would have been
changed. Now a glance over the broad territory of these States,
where school-houses have sprung up like magic, shows the immense
advantage that has come to white and black alike; and with the
increase of intelligence will come increase of prosperity and
happiness to the whole nation. With the emancipation of the
slave, the common-school system has been forced upon the South,
until now, having tasted of its sweetness, we hope it is never to
be abolished.
4. Another benefit resulting from the emancipation of the slave
is the moral elevation of the people. Ah! we know too well the
vices that sheltered themselves under that most accursed of all
traffics. The slave was but a chattel; his level was the ox; he
was like any other beast of burden, and his morals were not above
his position. Great complaint is now made of the moral condition
of the colored man. But low as it may be, every intelligent
observer can perceive a vast improvement over the condition
before the war. The wonder is that one virtuous, or truthful, or
honest person could come out of 250 years of moral degradation
like that of American slavery. But these dark days are gone. Now
there is incentive enough for us to rise. The opportunity is
before us to show to the world that the vices of the past are due
to our education, and not to the inherent nature of the black
man. We have only to recover a lost manhood. We want faith in one
another. We must believe in the possibilities that are before us
as a people, and aid each other to reach them, and God will give
us the victory.
In closing, the speaker referred to some mistakes the colored
man has made. One was too much confidence in the white man.
Confidence begets dependence. Dependence is not good for those
who would rise in the world. We must learn to trust God and our
own exertions. We have always been dependent, and it is not
strange that we have leaned upon our friends in the early days
of our freedom; but now it is time for us to begin to act and
think for ourselves. There is a destiny before us which we must
achieve. Let us arise and work. Another mistake is the scheme
of emigrating to some other land. This is our home as much as
it is the white man's. It is our native land. The country and
people that have witnessed our degradation should also witness
our exaltation. After years of servitude shall we turn our
backs upon glorious privileges that are now within our reach?
No, my friends, we shall make a grand mistake if we follow to
any extent the wild scheme of defeated politicians, projected
in this African exodus. Let us be content to wait until we have
redeemed ourselves from the evils of 250 years of servitude by
the improvement of the advantages that God has so graciously
brought to our door, before we venture into that dark continent
from which our fathers were torn, to be ground under the iron
heel of the slave-master. Until then, Africa will be no better
for us, and we will be no better for Africa. We must learn to
respect ourselves before we can command the respect of others.
May God hasten the day when the colored man shall recognize in
his brother the character which he would have all men recognize
in himself.
I do not give this as a verbatim report, but the thoughts as
nearly as I can recall them from a few notes taken at the time.
Coming from a colored man, they show the sentiment of the more
intelligent leaders among them. The address fits so exactly into
the line of our work that I cannot refrain from giving this brief
report.
T. C.
* * * * *
CHILDREN'S PAGE.
LAME JOE.
MISS M. WATERBURY, POLO, ILL.
We were teaching a Freedman's school in Mississippi, and boarding
with a Northern family on a plantation, where a few years before
were four hundred slaves. One Sabbath morning we were sitting on
the back piazza, sorting Sunday-school papers for the school,
which was that day to begin, when Joe made his appearance from
the kitchen, coming along by the porch with a limping, shuffling
gait; his only garments a shirt much too large for him and
minus one sleeve, and a pair of pants hanging in tatters, the
cast-off rags of an older brother. "Can you read, Joe?" said the
teacher, passing him a paper full of pictures. "Not yit, ma'am;
but brother Ben can read right smart, and he's gwine to teach
me a heap o' larnin', and I reckon I'se goin' to read dis yere
some time shore." Joe took his first lesson in learning by means
of the word method, and limped off spelling the word "so," and
picking out all the so's in his paper.
In a few days we took occasion to interview his mother and broach
the subject of his going to school; but we soon found that the
chances were against him; for being the youngest of ten children,
there were so many to feed and clothe, as his mother expressed
it, she "couldn't get to him," and he had to tote wood and water
for her, while she cooked at the big house. After repeated
attempts to get Joe started in his education, the Yankee school
ma'am set about clothing her protégé, but was soon put to her
wits' end to find a pattern for boys' pants; and as tailoring
was not her forte, there were several obstacles to be overcome.
Happily, a plan was hit upon, and Joe pulled off his dilapidated
pants and went to bed, while his new clothes were cut by the use
of the old ones for a pattern, and very soon the happiest boy of
the Ethiopian race was a daily attendant at the school. A week or
two of study passed, when the gentleman who had provided Joe with
hat and book accosted him with, "How do you get on, Joe?" "Mighty
well, Colonel; done got past the picture o' de ox; have shore
done got past him!"
No pupil was more constant in attendance than our protégé, and
with rapid strides he passed the boys of his age, learning well
whatever he was permitted to study, and in four years from
the time he learned his first word on the piazza, we left him
doing examples in higher mathematics, before a large audience
of parents and friends of education, who were delighted at his
progress. Many of our pupils had come to the Good Shepherd, and
with delight told of the joy in following their newly-found
Saviour; but Joe was so engrossed with study, nothing seemed to
move him, and we left him, a little saddened that he was, as he
expressed it, "yet in the outstanding army."
This summer, while the yellow fever was prevailing, there came
a postal from Joe, saying he had found Jesus, and taken Him for
the captain of his salvation; and now he loved everybody, and
his teachers better than ever, and amidst all the fears about
the fever he never was afraid; he was well, though his father
and mother were both sick; but he didn't have any fears for this
world or the next.
* * * * *
RECEIPTS
FOR DECEMBER, 1878.
* * * * *
MAINE, $531.65.
Bangor. Central Cong. Ch. $200; Central Ch. Sab.
Sch. $20; First Cong. Ch. $4 $224.00
Bath. T. E. 0.50
Bethel. Ladies of First Cong. Ch. $10; Mrs. E.
C. C. 50c. 10.50
Blanchard. Daniel Blanchard 5.00
Blue Hill. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.00
Cumberland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.00
Farmington. "A Friend" 1.00
Hampden. Mrs. R. S. Curtis, $4; Chas. Hicks, $2 6.00
Machias. "Ladies' Prayer Meeting," $5; E. G. L. and
Mrs. W. C. H. $1 6.00
Norridgewock. Cong. Ch. $50; Rev. B. T. $1 51.00
Portland. State St. Cong. Ch., to const. MRS.
ELIZABETH C. HINCKS and MISS CAROLINE S. CONANT
L. M.'s 100.00
Portland. Ladies of Bethel Ch. $16.15, _for
Talladega C._, and bbl. of C; Mrs. L. D., 50c. 16.65
South Freeport. Horatio Isley, $3; Rev. H. I., 50c. 3.50
Standish. Cong. Ch. 2.50
Thomaston. Cong. Ch. $1; Mrs. J. H. $1 2.00
Topsham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.00
Wells. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. $25; First Cong.
Ch. and individuals, $7 32.00
Winslow. Cong. Ch. 21.00
Winthrop. I. N. M. 1.00
Woolwich. Cong. Ch. 13.00
NEW HAMPSHIRE, $1,974.11.
Amherst. ESTATE of Eliza Kenney, by Geo. Kenney,
Ex. 1,515.60
Atkinson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Auburn. Cong. Ch. 9.00
Bristol. H. T. A. 0.50
Colebrook. Cong. Sab. Soc. 4.00
Concord. First Cong Ch. and Soc. 46.08
Cornish Centre. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.65
Dunbarton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $25; and Sab. Sch.
$41 66.00
Exeter. "A Friend," for _Memorial Inst.,
Wilmington, N. C._, and to const ABRAHAM A. TOWLE,
MISS MARY GORDON and SIDNEY E. MCINTIRE L. M.'s 100.00
Exeter. M. E. S. 1.00
Francestown. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $25; Dea. M. B.
Fisher, $5; C. B. R., 50c. 30.50
Hampstead. Cong. Ch. 15.85
Hancock. Mrs. Mary H. Washburn 5.00
Hanover Centre. Cong. Ch. 9.00
Hopkinton. D. S. 0.60
Keene. First Cong. Sab. Sch. $65.33; Elisha Rand, $5;
S. P. Cook, $2;---- 50c. 72.83
Kensington. Cong. Sab. Sch. 2.00
Marlborough. Ladies, b. of C. and $2. _for Freight_ 2.00
Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 17.86
New Ipswich. J. W. C. 0.50
Stratham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.36
Sullivan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Troy. M. W. Wheeler 2.50
West Lebanon. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $17.28; O. S. M.
and Dea. H. F. $1 18.28
VERMONT, $624.92.
Bradford. R. F. 0.50
Brandon. Cong. Ch. 23.17
Burlington. J. P. 0.50
Cabot. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.40
Cambridge. Madison Safford 89.88
Cambridge. Mrs. Mary Waterhouse, $5; John Kinsley,
$5; Jesse Mudgett, $3 13.00
Chester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 27.00
East Hardwick. Ladies, by J. D. Bell 2.25
Essex. Mrs. L. C. B. 1.00
Hartford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 107.17
Jericho Centre. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.05
Johnson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.50
Ludlow. Mrs. L. H. C. 1.00
Lunenburgh. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $8; Mrs. S. S. J. 50c. 8.50
Manchester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. to const. REV. ALBERT
C. REED L. M. 50.50
North Ferrisburgh. ESTATE of Sylvia Dean, by J. M.
and W. L. Dean, Executors 18.00
North Thetford. Mrs. E. G. Baxter 2.00
Peacham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 36.43
Peru. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.33
Pittsford. Mrs. N. P. Humphrey 10.00
Pomfret. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 4.00
Richmond. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.37
Roxbory. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.55
Saint Johnsbury. South Cong. Ch. 95.06
Saxton's River. Mrs. A. C. 1.00
Shelburn. James D. Duncan, bal. to const. FANNY E.
DUNCAN L. M. 5.00
South Royalston. Rev. S. K. B. P. $1; Dea. A. S. P.
$1 2.00
Townshend. Mrs. Annie Rice 5.00
Waitsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $13.71; Mrs. A. B.
Fish. $5; S. H. R. $1 19.71
Weathersfield Centre. Mrs. E. Chamberlin 5.00
Westminster. Cong. Ch. 9.05
MASSACHUSETTS, $3,735.60.
Acton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00
Andover. E. J. P. $1; Mrs. F. R. B. 50c.; Miss S.
E. J. 50c. 2.00
Ashburnham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 28.28
Ashfield. Ladies of Cong. Ch., bbl. of C., and $2.50
_for Freight_ 2.50
Auburndale. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 123.36
Belchertown. Mrs. R. W. Walker 5.00
Boston. S. D. Smith, $200;----, $5; Mrs. N. B.
Curtis, $200; Mt. Vernon Ch. and Soc. $155.05;
Union Ch. and Soc. $82.16; Chas. Nichols, $30, to
const. MRS. W. W. FROST L. M.; Mrs. L. A. Bradbury,
25c. 697.21
Boston Highlands. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. REV.
ALBERT E. DUNNING L. M. 45.00
Boxborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.00
Boylston. Ladies, bbl. of C.
Bradford. Young Ladies of Bradford Sem. 23.50
Brocton. "Sab. Sch. Teacher." $6;--"A Friend," $2.50.
_for City Mission Work, Nashville, Tenn._; Mrs. B.
Sandford, Jr., bbl. of C.; Porter Sab. Sch. bundle
of C. 8.50
Brookline. H. R. N. 2.00
Buckland. A. Thayer 1.00
Cambridgeport. Pilgrim Ch, $146.25; Ladies of Pilgrim
Ch. bbl. of C. and $1.25 _for Freight_; Mrs. G. D.
C. 50c. 148.00
Campello.----, $10 _for City Mission Work, Nashville,
Tenn._ 10.00
Charlestown. Ivory Littlefield 40.00
Chelsea. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. $68.96; Third Cong.
Ch. and Soc. $19.87 88.83
Coleraine. Mrs. P. B. S. 1.00
Danvers. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. $92.22; Maple St.
Sab. Sch. $20 112.22
East Bridgewater. Mrs. S. D. Shaw 3.00
Easthampton. Payson Cong. Ch. 427.58
East Weymouth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Fitchburg. Rollstone Cong. Ch. by Mrs. C. W. Hubbard,
$10; Rollstone Cong. Ch. by "A Friend," $10 20.00
Freetown. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 30.00
Groton. Elizabeth Farnsworth 10.00
Hanover. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 29.25
Harwich. 2 bbls. of C.
Holbrook. Mrs. C. S. Holbrook and Daughter,
2 bbls. of C. and $10 _for Freight_ 10.00
Holliston. A. W. M. 0.51
Hopkinton. First Cong. Sab. Sch. $54;--Cong. Sab.
Sch. $25, _for Student Aid, Talladega C._; Ladies,
box of C. 79.00
Indian Orchard. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.58
Ipswich. W. E. K. 0.50
Jamaica Plain. "A Friend," 4.00
Lakeville. B. K. 1.00
Lawrence. Central Cong. Ch. 35.00
Leicester. Mrs. C. C. Partridge 5.00
Littleton. Ladies, box of C.
Lowell. E. S. Hunt, $10; C. C. B., $1; Mrs S. L. P.,
50c. 11.50
Lynn. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc., $25.65; First Cong.
Ch. and Soc., $7.50 33.15
Malden. First Ch. and Soc., $43.91; Rev. J. C.,
50c. 44.41
Marlborough. W. N. H. 1.00
Methuen. A. P. C. 0.50
Merrimac. John K. Sargent 2.00
Middleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.98
Milford. B. of C.
Millbury. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.41
Natick. First Cong. Sab. Sch., _for a Teacher_ 50.00
New Bedford. "A Lady Friend," 20.00
Newburyport. Mrs. Sarah W. Hale, $100; Philip H.
Lunt, $25.50; Whitefield Cong. Ch., $9.70; Miss
P. N., 60 cents 135.80
Newton. Elliot Ch. and Soc. 17.32
North Abington. Barrel of C., and $1.50
_for City Mission Work, Nashville, Tenn._ 1.50
Northampton. "A Friend," $150; W. K. Wright, $30 180.00
North Adams. Cong. Ch. 26.57
Northborough. Evan. Cong. Ch. _for Student Aid,
Atlanta U._ 50.00
North Brookfield. Union Ch. and Friends 46.55
Norton. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $38.85; and Sab.
Sch., $15 53.85
North Leominster. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.74
North Woburn. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.35
Oxford. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 15.28
Pepperell. Cong. Ch. by John Loring 10.00
Plymouth. C. W. P. 0.50
Randolph. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 76.37
Reading. Old South Cong. Ch. 9.00
Rockland.---- $50 _for City Mission Work, Nashville,
Tenn._ 50.00
Royalston. Ladies' Soc., 2 bbls. of C.
Salem. J. P. A. 0.50
Saxonville. Ladies of Edward Ch., 2 bbls. C.
Scituate. Mrs. Ellen M. Green, to const. REV. WM. B.
GREEN L. M. 30.00
Sharon. B. of C.
Sheffield. First Cong. Soc. 16.31
Somerville. Miss M. C. S. 1.00
South Abington. Ladies' Sewing Circle, $50; Miss S.
H. Champney, $5; Miss C. H. Whitman, $4, _for City
Mission Work, Nashville, Tenn._ 59.00
Southampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.53
South Attleboro. Mrs. Harriet Draper, b. of C.
South Boston. Phillips Cong. Ch. 51.59
South Deerfield. Mrs. M. B. Richardson 0.50
South Framingham. Central Cong. Ch. _ad'l_ 25.00
Stockbridge. Cong. Ch. 58.02
Stoughton. Mrs. B. E. Capen, $2; Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$1.10 3.10
Sunderland. Dorcas Soc., _for Atlanta U._ 5.00
Sutton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.75
Topsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 65.00
Townsend. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $13.25; S. F. W., 50c. 13.75
Wakefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 90.48
Watertown. Mrs. J. G. Robinson, $1.20; Others, $1;
Corban Soc. 2 bbls. of C. 2.20
Westborough. Rev. J. W. B. 0.60
West Boylston. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $63; C. F. W. $1 64.00
Westford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.00
Westfield. Miss E. B. Dickinson, $50; Mrs. J. F.,
$1 51.00
West Haverhill. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.50
West Medford. Cong. Ch., $16.48; "A Friend," $5 21.48
West Medway. Cong. Sab. Sch. 26.48
Westminster. Mrs. H. G. Whitney 5.00
Whitinsville. S. A. D. 0.50
Williamstown. First Cong. Ch. 5.00
Winchendon. "A Friend of the Freedmen," $50; "A
Friend," $5.--Atlanta Soc. _for Atlanta U._,
$4.--Mrs. M. D. B., $1 60.00
Woburn. Mrs. M. J. Keyes (_Memorial offering_) to
const. MISS R. M. LEATH, L. M. 30.00
Worcester. Plymouth Ch. (of which $2 _for Berea
C._), $48.21; "A Friend," $1; Mrs. M. P. J., 50c. 49.71
RHODE ISLAND, $152.76.
Barrington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00
Peace Dale. Cong. Ch. 10.00
Providence. Pilgrims Cong. Ch. $89.16; Ladies, b.
of C. and $2.50 _for Freight_; R. D. & Co., 50c.;
S. P. P., 60c. 92.76
CONNECTICUT, $1,478.83.