VOL. XXXII. No. 2.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
FEBRUARY, 1878.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
PARAGRAPHS 33
GIFTS FROM THE FIELD 34
AFRICAN EVANGELIZATION 35
LIFE OF EDWARD NORRIS KIRK, D.D. 36
NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES 37
CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE—IS THE NEGRO
DYING OUT? 38
AFRICAN EMIGRATION 39
INDIAN NOTES 41
CHINESE NOTES 43
NEW APPOINTMENTS.
THE SOUTHERN FIELD 44
AMONG THE CHINESE—AMONG THE INDIANS—MENDI
MISSION, WEST AFRICA 48
AFRICA.
OUR NEW MISSIONARIES 48
KAW MENDI, SHERBRO, W. AFRICA. REV. J.
M. WILLIAMS 49
COMMUNICATIONS.
POETRY. “Christ in the Person of the Poor.”
—REPLACING THE BURNED BUILDINGS 50
CAMPAIGN IN MASSACHUSETTS. DIST. SEC’Y
POWELL, OF CHICAGO 51
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. From
the _Fisk Expositor_ 53
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE 54
RECEIPTS 55
CONSTITUTION 59
WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 60
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NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
* * * * *
A. Anderson, Printer, 28 Frankfort St.
_American Missionary Association_,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
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PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Rev. JONATHAN BLANCHARD, Ill.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
Rev. SILAS MCKEEN, D. D., Vt.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
Rev. D. M. GRAHAM, D. D., Mich.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Ct.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. EDWARD L. CLARK, N. Y.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Rev. H. M. PARSONS, N. Y.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN WHITING, Mass.
Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago, Ill._
EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
EDWARD BEECHER,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
A. P. FOSTER,
AUGUSTUS E. GRAVES,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAM’L HOLMES,
S. S. JOCELYN,
ANDREW LESTER,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to
either of the Secretaries as above.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill.
Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his
order as _Assistant Treasurer_.
A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each
letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in
which it is located.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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VOL. XXXII. FEBRUARY, 1878. No. 2.
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_American Missionary Association._
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We desire to express our grateful appreciation of the kind
notices with which “THE MISSIONARY” in its new form
has been received, especially by the newspapers edited under
Congregational auspices. Their relations to us have always been of
the pleasantest, and their readiness to do us favors has been a
constant help and encouragement. May their circulation never grow
less!
* * * * *
We are daily receiving enclosures of twenty-five cents, as payment
for the MISSIONARY for 1878. We trust that the receipt of the
January number, and the present form of the magazine, will monthly
remind our friends that _a quarter of a dollar only pays for half
a year_. Please send the other quarter, all who have made this
mistake.
* * * * *
The Belleville Avenue Congregational Church of Newark, N. J.,
and the Congregational Church at Mount Carmel, Conn., have
already accepted our proposition to send 100 copies of the
MISSIONARY for the year to one address for $30.00. Other
churches and neighborhoods are canvassing for it; who will go and
do likewise? We want readers, and those who pay something for the
magazine will read it. A letter, enclosing his subscription, from
a Presbyterian minister, says that he can secure the information
he desires in regard to the Southern field and work from no other
source.
* * * * *
We welcome with special pleasure to our table, the first number
of the _Fisk Expositor_, published at Fisk University, Nashville,
Tenn., from which we give an extract on another page. It is an
additional witness to the devotion and enterprise, with which
our professors and teachers are working in all directions, to
extend their influence for the information and enlightenment
of those among whom they labor. This is another of a group of
such publications, among which are the _Southern Workman_, of
Hampton, the _Southern Sentinel_, of Talladega, and the _Straight
Occasional_, of New Orleans. They are full of information as to the
work of these institutions, and of valuable discussions of topics
of interest and importance to the colored people of the land.
* * * * *
SMALL GIFTS.
We cited in the MISSIONARY for January a number of
large gifts from wealthy men and women, to relieve from debt the
Missionary Boards of various churches, as worthy examples to some
of the men of liberal heart and means who are in especial sympathy
with our work for the lowly. We still have hope that such, alone or
in combination, will do great things for us, and make us glad, in
freeing us from accumulated but already diminishing indebtedness.
Meanwhile, to enable us to carry on our constantly increasing work,
it may not be needless to address this word to those who cannot
give large sums from a large store of good, but who, out of their
moderate incomes and limited means, have been in the habit of
sending us smaller amounts.
Dear friends, after all, it is on you that we depend. If you will
look through our list of receipts from month to month, you will
see how large a proportion of it all comes to us in little sums—a
few dollars here and a few dollars there. You must not fail us,
then. We cannot afford to give up the large contributors, perhaps;
still less the small ones. Sometimes, when it has gone abroad that
such an one has given his five, ten or twenty thousand dollars,
the givers of five, ten or twenty dimes are checked for a while in
the flowing of their generosity. Because there was a heavy rain
yesterday, the dews will not form to-night. The suggestion of
plenteous supplies goes abroad because of one large receipt, and
the small sums seem so very small to the givers as they compare
them with the large ones.
But, after all, good friends, a deluge of beneficence only comes
once in a great while. Our bow of promise of unfailing resources
is formed upon the drops of your steady giving. Forty days and
forty nights the Deluge lasted; but, for forty years, each morning,
“when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the
wilderness there lay a small, round thing...on the ground”—it was
the daily bread of Israel. So your gifts—if they be only “small,
round things,” the dimes and quarters, the ancestral dollars—are
the gifts to which we look for the maintenance of the great host
which we are trying to lead from the bondage of ignorance and sin
to the liberty of intelligence and Christ.
* * * * *
There has been coming into our treasury during the last month a
class of offerings for the debt, which have a peculiar and almost
pathetic significance. They are the gifts from the Southern
field—from the teachers and pupils in our institutions, from the
pastors and people of our poor colored churches; one from a Band of
Hope, one from a Sisters’ Benevolent Association. One Sunday-school
agrees to take a monthly five-cent collection from its 200 members,
and hopes to send $10.00 a month. The Avery Normal Institute at
Charleston. S. C., and the Chattanooga Band of Hope gave each
a holiday entertainment, and sent us, the one $38.60, and the
other $50.00, for the debt, “as tokens of love and respect from a
grateful people.” We believe the original suggestion was made by
Rev. G. S. Pope, of Tougaloo, Mississippi. The amounts have varied
from over one hundred to three dollars, and are accompanied with
hearty expressions of kind and grateful feeling.
A missionary, who has devoted the last ten years to work among the
freedmen, writes: “I think the story of these Christmas gifts from
the South toward the A. M. A. debt, ought to bring ten-fold from
the North. I tell you, boys and girls here have given their five
cents, dimes, quarters and half-dollars, who have hardly decent or
sufficient clothing to wear.”
One old and poor colored member of one of the churches said: “I
will give a dollar for that, if I have to go without meat and bread
for a week.” A teacher writes: “Would that the history could be
written of every dime and ‘nickel’ of this offering, which comes
from old men and women, youths and maidens, and little children in
their rags, to the A. M. A., which God has ordained as a channel of
blessing to the colored race in the South and their fatherland.”
Such gifts are sacred, by the sacrifices of which they are the
fruits, and by the spirit of loving devotion to which they testify.
* * * * *
PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATIONS FOR AFRICAN EVANGELIZATION.
It is a significant fact that God moves His providences on parallel
lines. One great event is made to match another. The supply and the
demand spring up together, as the following circumstances, with
many others, illustrate:
In 1855, Mr. Charles Avery gave $100,000 worth of property to this
Association, to constitute a perpetual fund for charitable use,
in sending the Gospel and the blessings of civilization to the
colored people on the continent of Africa. Almost simultaneously,
Burton and Speke made known to the world the fact that the heart
of Africa, instead of being a wild waste, possessed a wonderful
lake system, a most fertile country, and millions upon millions of
vigorous and interesting people.
At a later day, Mr. Stanley visited these lakes, and made an
appeal for missionary effort, which was answered by a response as
liberal as the donation of Mr. Avery; and as a result, the Church
Missionary Society of England is sustaining a mission at Uganda, in
Mtesa’s Kingdom.
When Dr. Livingstone was in the heart of Africa, he wrote: “Come
on, brethren, to the real heathen. You have no idea how brave
you are till you try.” His words were caught up, and the story
of his explorations, devoured with eagerness, resulted in the
establishment of three missions at least, far in the interior. More
than $60,000 was given for the establishment of Livingstonia, on
the Nyassa Lake. A large amount was also given for the University’s
Mission in the same vicinity, and $25,000 by Mr. Arthington,
of Leeds, to the London Missionary Society, for the purpose of
establishing a mission at Ujiji, on the shores of the Tanganyika.
To this latter amount was added a sum sufficient for sending forth
a full corps of missionaries to that locality, and recent reports
warrant the hope that they have already reached their destination.
Perhaps no more striking illustration of the parallelisms we have
suggested has been exhibited, than the one recently brought to our
knowledge by the report of Mr. Stanley’s explorations, and the
doings of the Baptist Missionary Society of London.
Last May, this Society received a letter, stating, “There is a
part of Africa on which I have long had my eye. It is the Congo
country. There is not much knowledge of the Christian religion
in the Congo. Only three or four of its inhabitants can read and
write. The language of the coast is the original African. The old
king has strongly expressed his hopes that some white men would
come to them. It is, therefore, a great satisfaction, and a high
and sacred favor to me, to offer £1,000 if the Baptist Missionary
Society will undertake to teach these interesting people the words
of eternal life. By and by, possibly, we may be able to extend the
mission eastward, and carry the Gospel, as the way may open, as far
as Nyangwe.”
While this letter was being penned, Mr. Stanley was pushing his
way from Nyangwe, through a vast unexplored region, to the mouth
of the Congo, having overcome the obstacles which had baffled
Dr. Livingstone and Commander Cameron, who attempted the same
explorations, from the same point of departure.
It is to be remembered, also, that there have been other forces
affecting Africa, parallel to these gifts, and explorations and
missions. Fervent prayers of faith have been offered for its
redemption, and many things indicate that these are being speedily
answered.
“I go,” said Dr. Livingstone, in his last public utterance, before
leaving England, “to open the door to Central Africa. It is
probable I may die there; but, brethren, I pray you see to it that
the door is never again closed.”
It requires no great reach of faith to apprehend that the time
has fully come when the words of the risen Saviour may become our
assurance respecting tropical Africa—“Behold, I have set before
thee an open door, and no man can shut it.”
* * * * *
LIFE OF EDWARD NORRIS KIRK, D. D.
The appearance of this biography renews our remembrance of the
honored man whose life and work is chronicled so well by his former
pupil and friend, Rev. David O. Mears. As the President of the
American Missionary Association for nearly ten years—from 1865
until death sundered the relation—it is fitting that there should
be a notice of this published record of his career in the organ of
the Association.
Dr. Kirk was born in New York City, was graduated from Princeton
College, and pursued legal studies for a year and a half, living a
life which he characterizes as profligate. His conversion, after
a severe struggle, was complete, and the purpose of his life was
utterly changed. He immediately devoted himself to preparation for
the ministry of the gospel.
Handsome, gifted and ardent, he at once took a leading position.
His two pastorates, at Albany and in Boston, were full of
fruitfulness. While yet a pastor, he did the work of an evangelist,
with a power and success which has been seldom paralleled. He was
a direct and pungent preacher, sometimes, as in Albany, stirring
up opposition, and yet wonderfully tender and conciliating in his
manner, and so gaining friends even from those who antagonized him.
He was always a reformer, but a radical only in the best sense.
He spoke manfully of the slave, and of the possibilities of
the African race, in 1820, when only in his eighteenth year, a
student at Princeton. Not until much later was he in sentiment
an Abolitionist. He was never a denunciator. In opposing a false
system, he made all charitable allowance for those involved in it,
and was careful to recognize the fact that there were slaveholders
who became or continued such that they might protect and benefit
the slave. In the summer of 1860 and in the spring of 1861, when
the South was peculiarly sensitive, Dr. Kirk was traveling in
Virginia, North Carolina and beyond, expressing his sentiments
frankly, and yet so courteously and wisely that he was always met
with kindness.
In 1865, when the emancipation of the slaves had opened to the A.
M. A. the work of their instruction and Christianization, Dr. Kirk
was chosen its President, as a man representing its aim and spirit
most fully. His sympathy with its work was deep and earnest, and
continued to the end.
But this was not a specialty. He was equally earnest in the
cause of Foreign Missions, of work among the Roman Catholics, of
Education (as shown by his interest in Amherst College and the
Mount Holyoke Seminary), of Temperance, and of evangelistic work at
home.
So far as the memoir reveals the secret of his power, it seems to
have been a rare combination of fearlessness and tact—the courage
which comes from deep conviction, and the tact which comes from
a loving sympathy with men, and a real sweetness of disposition.
But more than all, it shows him as a man who walked with God in
reverential yet familiar intercourse—who realized that the Lord
Jesus was indeed with him always, and whose prayers were in accord
with the resolution of his early life—“I intend hereafter, in my
prayers, to converse with God, and not make speeches before Him.”
Such lives are powerful in their influence while they are with us,
and profitable in their instruction when we have only the record of
them to read.
* * * * *
NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.
SAND MOUNTAIN, ALA.—This church has no pastor. Sunday
services kept up by the reading of sermons; does not sustain a
prayer-meeting or Sunday-school. The church is composed of white
people, all from the North. A day-school, numbering fifteen, is
sustained in connection with the church.
SELMA, ALA.—Rev. Fletcher Clark, pastor, reports the
field as encouraging, with earnest workers in the church. The
meetings are well attended. The church is very strong in favor of
temperance, and against the use of tobacco, as compared with the
other churches in vicinity. Sabbath-school flourishing. An earnest
effort is making in behalf of the young men. A very encouraging
feature of the work here is a Woman’s Prayer-meeting, which meets
once a week.
ATLANTA, FIRST, GA.—Rev. S. S. Ashley, pastor. Several
additions during the year. Large proportion of the church, heads of
families, also in the Sabbath-school, which numbers about 275. The
church has adopted the plan of “Envelope Collections,” and finds it
increases the amount of collections.
BYRON, GA.—This church has been supplied, during the
year, by Bro. H. Watkins. The church holds its own, and still
sustains the mission-school at Powersville.
MACON, GA.—Rev. M. O. Harrington, pastor. This church
has not been in a very good condition for two or three years past;
their church and school building have been burned during the year
past, and consequently they are much broken up. A new building is
nearly completed, and much hope is felt that the church will take
a “new departure” in Christian earnestness and godly living. The
school sustained in connection with the church is in as prosperous
a condition as could be expected under the circumstances.
MARIETTA, GA.—Rev. T. N. Stewart, pastor. This church
was organized February 8, 1877; now numbers 21. The Sabbath-school
averages 20.
CHATTANOOGA, FIRST, TENN.—Rev. T. Cutler, pastor. This
church is in good condition, though the Young People’s Meeting has
been given up. The Band of Hope prosperous; a Mother’s Meeting is
held once a month; Sabbath-school, 175.
NASHVILLE, UNION, TENN.—Rev. H. S. Bennett, pastor, is
connected with Fisk University. The church is composed almost
entirely of students. A hopeful feeling manifest.
GOLDING’S GROVE, GA.—“The condition of the church
spiritually is pretty good. The presence of the good Spirit has
been felt in our midst, and we have gathered some of the fruit.
At our last communion season, which was on the last Sabbath in
November, six joined with us, five by confession of faith. Three
of these five were very old persons; one eighty odd years of age.
The old man’s experience was full of useful lessons, and it seemed
as though we could almost see the long, patient love of God toward
sinners, as he sat and told of a wasted life, and, with tears in
his eyes, sorrowed for his sins. There is much interest in our
midst still.”
SAVANNAH, GA.—“We received six new members into our
church last week, two by letter and four by profession.”
HAMPTON, VA.—“We are still favored with the influences
of God’s Spirit in the conversion of souls. These influences,
with which we were so richly blessed the last school year, did
not end with the year, but in some instances bore fruit unto life
during the long summer vacation, and, since the beginning of the
new school year, have been manifested in turning heavenward the
thoughts and steps of one and another of our pupils. Four united
with the church on the first Communion Sabbath of the year, and at
least as many more are expecting to make a public profession of
their faith in Christ on the coming Sabbath.
“Another item of interest is the increase of the missionary spirit,
and we trust that the reflex influence of the one who has gone as
a missionary to Africa, will be more and more richly blessed to
those still in the school, quickening them to corresponding works
of faith and love. Such certainly should be the result.”
* * * * *
THE CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE.
At the recent meeting of the Central South Congregational
Conference, the minutes of which have just been laid on our table,
the following resolutions were passed:
On the subject of Education, it was
_Resolved_, That education is a matter of prime importance, and
that it is the duty of all our churches to advance the cause by
contributions, by sending promising young persons to the schools
within their reach, and in every other way.
_Resolved_, That the necessity for aid from the North is still
pressing, and that the American Missionary Association be
requested and urged to continue its assistance in this direction.
In regard to Church Extension the following resolution was passed,
viz.:
That the needs of the churches represented in this Conference
call for the appointment of a man of wisdom and experience to
be a Missionary Superintendent, whose labors should be first
directed toward establishing, upon a firm basis, the churches
already organized; and next toward selecting promising and
needy fields for planting new churches and directing our young
ministers in opening such fields.
* * * * *
IS THE NEGRO DYING OUT?
—In the lull of political agitation over the colored people, the
question is being discussed as to their continuance. Are they dying
out? What are the ascertained facts?
—A correspondent of the Cincinnati _Gazette_, in Jackson, Miss.,
has taken the pains to collate the deaths of the white and colored
people in the various Southern cities. In Washington, during the
year 1875, 19.22 died out of every thousand whites and 47.60 out
of every thousand blacks. In the succeeding year, the proportion
was 26.53 whites and 49.29 blacks. In Baltimore, the rate for 1875
was 19.80 whites to 34.42 blacks. In Knoxville, during 1876, the
mortality per thousand whites was 18; per thousand blacks 31.2. In
Richmond, for the same year, the rate was 17.36 whites, and 28.13
blacks. In Mobile, during the previous year, the proportion was
12.1 to 23.1. In New Orleans, the rate for the same year was 25.45
whites to 39.69 blacks. In Charleston, during the ten months of
the present year, 17.4 out of every thousand whites have died, and
38.7 out of every thousand blacks. In Memphis in 1876, there were
652 deaths among the white population, and 601 among the negroes:
in other words, considering the proportion of white and colored
inhabitants, the death-rate among the negroes was nearly four times
as great as among the whites.
—It has been suggested that these death-rates may not hold
throughout the country places in the South, and that the cities
whither the freedmen flocked after the close of the war have become
peculiarly fatal to the race. In answer, the Charleston _News
and Courier_ states that the negroes of the rural parts of South
Carolina are dying out even more rapidly than those in Charleston.
—The _Scientific American_ deduces the following results, from the
Surgeon-General’s report, as to comparative health and mortality
in the army. For the year ending June 30, 1877, the army consisted
of 23,284 white men and 2,075 colored men. Total cases of sickness
of all kinds, 40,171; deaths, 260. Among colored troops, total
sicknesses, 4,348; deaths, 32. The colored men’s sicknesses were 20
per cent. more than those of the whites; while in deaths, we find
the proportion reversed, for only 7 per thousand of colored men
died of disease, as against 8 per thousand of white men. In cases
caused by wounds, accidents, or injuries, 8 per thousand negroes
died, against 3 per thousand of white men. It thus appears that
the negroes become diseased more easily than white men, and also
recover more readily; but when actual bodily injury occurs, the
death-rate is more than twice that of white men.
—The United States Census of 1860 showed the increase among the
blacks in ten years to have been 25 per cent.; from 1860 to 1870 a
little over 10 per cent., though these were years of war and want.
—In view of these statements, General Armstrong, of Hampton, Va.,
writes in the _Southern Workman_:
“Many close observers believe that the decrease is general, but
equally good authorities assert the contrary. No conclusion is
satisfactory; but we incline to the belief that the colored race
will at least hold its own, because in the corresponding class
of whites in all cities there is great mortality. It would be
interesting to know the death-rate among the poor whites of
Washington, Richmond and Charleston, whose dying out has never been
hinted at. The negro is prolific. The phenomena of a dying race,
such as one sees among the decaying Polynesian tribes are not seen
among them. Children are abundant and healthy in city and country.
The pickaninnies do not seem destined to die young. They are a
numerous, frisky, healthy class, of unfailing humor and appetite,
as unlike as anything can be the sore-spotted, scarce Hawaiian
child, whose race is doomed.”
* * * * *
AFRICAN EMIGRATION.
—It appears that the “information from Liberia,” said to have been
received by “the Department of State,” already widely circulated,
was not in any sense an official publication, nor is the name or
standing of the author given.
—Rev. Dr. George W. Samson, for forty years a resident of
Washington, for twelve years President of Columbian College, and
for sixteen years a member of the Executive Committee of the
American Colonization Society, has written a weighty reply to
these statements in the Boston _Traveller_. In it he shows the
economical planting, the rapid progress, the fertility of the soil,
the intelligence and educational facilities of the colony, by the
testimony of U. S. naval officers and other distinguished witnesses.
—Fifty-two colored emigrants sailed for Liberia recently in the
bark Liberia. They were forwarded by the American Colonization
Society. Three clergymen were among the cabin passengers, one of
whom goes to the Boporo Mission in the interior. The majority of
those emigrating are mechanics and farmers. Many of them are
members of Christian churches. They are comfortably quartered
on board, and have more conveniences than is usual on emigrant
vessels. The American Colonization Society has made a contract with
the agents of the vessel, who agree to carry adults for $50 and
children for $25. This amount includes everything required during
the voyage, and the Liberian Government insures their support for
at least six months after their arrival. Each single immigrant
receives ten acres of land, and the head of a family twenty-five
acres. Ex-President Warner, recently elected Vice-President of
the Republic, is the Society’s agent to receive the emigrants,
and under his charge they will be kept until they can support
themselves. The Society has sent many parties before this and
reports the applications as so numerous that space cannot be found
to accommodate them.
—A very different enterprise, apparently, is the Liberia Exodus
Association, which failed to provide the steamship which was to be
ready December 15th. Says Mr. Scarborough, an intelligent colored
man connected with Wilberforce University:
I regard the Liberia Exodus Association as another Credit
Mobilier affair on a small scale. We judge of an undertaking by
the character of the men engaged in it. Now, it does not require
a profundity of knowledge to tell who and what these men are;
what has been their past history, what it is now, and what it
will probably be in the future. All these we can pretty well
determine. It is stated on good authority that a petition will be
sent to Congress praying for aid; the exact amount is not stated.
However, I am confident that I express the feelings of hundreds
of the better-thinking colored citizens when I say that Congress
should make no appropriation for any such pell-mell movement. If
Congress wishes to make an appropriation for the negro, let it
make it with the restrictions that it shall be used to pay off
the deficit caused by the sinking of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank,
or for the purchasing of lands and outfits in the great West,
that the negro may wend his way thither, build up and utilize the
hitherto barren country. In South Carolina, it is said, thousands
are selling or letting their little farms and homes by way of
preparation for leaving America; men, women and children all
have the African mania. My advice to these people now is this:
To pay no attention to these fair promises; if they have sold
their homes, buy them back if possible; if they have leased their
farms, rent others till the lease expires and then return to
their own; or, if this is not desirable, seek homes in the great
West, in the country that gave us birth, forgetting color, race
or condition, only to rise above it.
—As bearing on the question of a general or large transportation
of ignorant and untrained men to Liberia, were it possible,
we quote from Prof. Blyden in a late number of the _Methodist
Quarterly Review_. He, in speaking of unskilled labor, says:
In Liberia, there is no lack of the lower kinds of unskilled
labor supplied by the numerous aborigines who throng the
settlements. The immigrant who comes from America is at once
made a proprietor. He has land given him by law, but having no
capital to employ labor, he must enter, single-handed, upon the
work of subduing the forest, and with all the efforts he may put
forth, it is with the utmost difficulty that he ever rises above
a hand-to-mouth existence. Hence, very often men owning their
twenty-five acres of land, pressed by their necessities, prefer
to leave it a wilderness and go to the arduous and, for new
comers, perilous labor of shingle and lumber getting, or enter
the employ of men who may be able to keep them from starving, but
hardly able to give them a start toward self-support on their own
lands.
When it is remembered that Prof. Blyden is a citizen of Liberia and
knows whereof he speaks, there will be no reason to doubt the truth
of the above statement.
—One of the workers in the Liberia movement met a wise, old
colored man in Shreveport, La. He was describing the great benefits
the negro would enjoy by emigrating, and told him that there the
negro did not have to work; bread and sugar trees covered the
forests, and bananas, cocoanuts, pine-apples, lemons, and all the
tropical fruits, grew everywhere. “Dat’s ’nough of dat story,” said
the old man; “dat ain’t so, kase if it was, de white man would a
went dar long ago, and the niggers neber would hah known nuffin
’bout it.”
—We notice now, as the most recent movement, that a State
convention of the Mississippi Colonization Society, held a few
weeks since, to consider the project of emigrating from the South,
was attended by some 4,000 persons, including 300 delegates
from other States than Mississippi. The proposition to emigrate
to Africa was not looked upon with favor, but the proposition
to emigrate to Arizona, New Mexico or Texas was approved. The
following resolution was adopted:
_Resolved_, By the people of color of the State of Mississippi,
in convention assembled, that we earnestly entreat our countrymen
throughout the Union to form a national colonization association,
with branches in every county and State in the Union, for the
purpose of effecting a peaceable separation of the blacks from
the whites, and concentrating our numbers as a body in certain
States or Territories within this Union, as may be hereafter
agreed upon in national convention assembled.
A national convention is to be held in February next, at Corinth,
Miss., in furtherance of this project.
* * * * *
INDIAN NOTES.
—Are the Indians dying out? Major S. N. Clark, of the Bureau of
Education, has compiled these various estimates of their population
as follows:
1789—Estimate of Secretary of War 76,000
1790-91—Estimate of Gilbert Imlay 60,000
1820—Report of Morse on Indian Affairs 471,036
1825—Report of the Secretary of War 129,366
1829—Report of the Secretary of War 312,930
1834—Report of the Secretary of War 312,610
1836—Report of Superintendent Indian Affairs 253,464
1837—Report of Superintendent Indian Affairs 302,498
1850—Report of H. R. Schoolcraft 388,229
1853—Report of United States Census of 1850 400,764
1855—Report of Indian Office 314,622
1857—Report of H. R. Schoolcraft 379,264
1860—Report of Indian Office 254,300
1865—Report of Indian Office 294,574
1870—Report of United States Census 313,712
1870—Report of Indian Office 313,371
1875—Report of Indian Office 305,068
1876—Report of Indian Office 291,882
These figures are, however, in part conjectural, and all based upon
varying data, and limited by varying boundaries. They do not show
any constant movement of increase or decrease.
In regard to particular tribes, the Cherokees, since 1809,
notwithstanding the depressing influences of removal, and loss by
civil war, have increased from 12,395 to 21,072. The Seminoles
have, since 1870, increased from 2,638 to 3,000. The Iroquois, 100
years ago numbering about 11,500, are now 13,668. Within forty
years the Sioux are computed to have increased from 25,000 to
40,000.
A comparison of births and deaths for the last three years has been
made, but it is too incomplete to be the basis of any conclusions.
Major Clark says, in summing up, that several years of study have
convinced him that the usual theory that the Indian population is
destined to decline and finally disappear, as a result of contact
with white civilization, must be greatly modified—probably
abandoned altogether.
—Missionaries Riggs and Williamson substantially agree that (1)
the Indians, in their wild state, increase quite rapidly, unless
disturbed by some violent agent, as war, famine, or pestilence; (2)
the first effect of a change to civilized life is to diminish their
numbers; (3) the final effect, however, is to a recovery and more
rapid growth, even, than in their former state.
—From the best official estimates, there are in the country about
275,000 Indians. Of this number, 56,630, or only about one-fifth,
receive subsistence from the government. Perhaps a majority of
the whole number are self-sustaining. The tribes in the Indian
Territory are said to compare favorably in moral, social and
material condition with many of the white communities in the
neighboring States. Schools, courts, church organizations and local
legislatures are among their cherished institutions.
—The only Congregational Church in Indian Territory was dedicated
Sunday, December 2d. Its site is in the town of Caddo, on the line
of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. Having been begun in
the year 1876, it is known as the “Centennial Church.”
—Official statistics lately published show that, for the past
forty years, the military operations against the Indians by the
United States have cost $12,000,000, on an average, each year.
The wild Apaches, 10,000 in number, cost the government nearly
$2,000,000 annually for the pay of the army that takes care of
them; while the 60,000 Cherokees, who are civilized and quiet, cost
us almost nothing.
—The governor and delegates of the Chickasaw nation, and the
delegates of the Choctaw nation, have united in a memorial to the
Senate, remonstrating against the passage of the bill to enable
Indians to become citizens. They say:
We have no objection to the measure in so far as it permits
citizens of our nations to become citizens of the United States,
if upon such change of citizenship they leave our jurisdiction,
and surrender all rights growing out of and depending upon the
tribal relation, retaining, however, all their separate property.
But this bill expressly provides that, after one of our citizens
becomes a citizen of the United States, he shall retain all his
rights and interests in the lands, claims, annuities, funds, and
other property of our nations or tribes. The result of these
provisions is that after he ceases to be a citizen of the Choctaw
or Chickasaw nation, he retains every right which he had while a
citizen. The proposed statute will violate the treaty, and confer
on citizens of the United States, who are not citizens of the
Chickasaw nation, a part of a large fund which the United States
have covenanted shall be the property of the Chickasaw nation.
Certainly we could not be expected to consent that a treaty
stipulation of such great importance to us should be annulled by
an act of Congress.
—A bill to allow the civilized tribes of the Indian Territory to
elect a delegate to Congress has been introduced in the House,
and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. A sub-committee
has been appointed to consider and report upon the bill. Their
report is favorable, and will be made to the committee on the
re-assembling of Congress. It will no doubt be adopted. It provides
that a delegate, who shall be a member of some one of the Cherokee,
Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, or Chickasaw tribes, shall be chosen at
a general election, to be held under the supervision and direction
of the Secretary of the Interior, and shall have all the rights,
privileges and emoluments of a delegate from any of the regularly
organized Territories. The report shows that it costs the natives
upward of $60,000 yearly to send delegates here. Under the present
system each tribe now sends from two to five or six delegates, at
an expense of about six dollars a day each. One delegate for all,
who shall have the privilege of the floor of Congress, would give
the tribes much more influence with the government.
—The new Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Hayt, took the oath
of office Dec. 18th, and received his commission.
* * * * *
CHINESE NOTES.
—No one seems to fear lest the Chinaman will die out. To allay
apprehensions as to their over-swarming, Prof. S. Wells Williams,
LL.D., for forty years an honored resident in the Flowery Kingdom,
says:
Some fear that this country will be swamped altogether by this
flood of aliens, but the 125,000 or so of Chinese now in this
land, with few exceptions, all came from a small portion, two
prefectures, of Kwangtung province. There is no probability of
other parts of the empire joining in this emigration, for several
reasons, one of which is the great differences in their dialects.
—Congressman Shelley, of Alabama, has introduced into the House
a bill providing that, after January, 1879, all Chinamen coming
here (except officially) _from any country_ shall be taxed $250 per
capita, or serve five years in the penitentiary!
—Over 300 Chinese have been received as members of the Protestant
churches of California, and in addition there are 700 Chinamen in
Christian associations for learning Christian doctrine; 750 Chinese
attend the mission schools of San Francisco, and over 1,000 go to
the Sunday-schools.
—Representative Page, in a letter to the President of the United
States, writes:
I desire still further to state, that in California there is
no division of opinion as to the evils of Chinese immigration,
and I, therefore, on behalf of the people of that State, very
respectfully suggest that you make this matter the subject of a
special message to Congress when it convenes in January next.
—On the other hand, Mr. D. O. Miles, formerly of the Bank of
California, says:
There are about 60,000 Chinese in California, and I do not
know what we could do without them. They are industrious and
peaceable, generally speaking, and it would be impossible readily
to supply our manufactories with labor, but for the Chinese.
Their wages—the wages of the laborers, I mean—average $1 a
day. In Virginia City white labor costs as much as $2.50 a
day. We need whatever Chinese labor we have in California. It
might be well for Congress to check temporarily the flow of
Chinese immigration by levying a tax upon each immigrant. But
those who are now on our shores are needed, and they should be
treated with humanity, and protected from the persecution of the
rougher element of society. The Chinese, generally speaking, are
temperate, exceedingly industrious and economical.
—The Attorney-General, by direction of the President, has given
considerable attention to the question of protecting the Chinese in
California. The Attorney-General finds that there is no authority
for the United States to interfere unless the State should ask
for aid, and is of opinion that this matter should be referred to
Congress, and a special message from the President on the subject
has been talked of. The President, and all members of his Cabinet,
are anxious to use every means which they can constitutionally
command to prevent the threatened outbreak. The class of people
engaged in the attempt to create disorder is chiefly confined
to the foreign laboring element, aided by roughs and the lower
classes of San Francisco population. The fact that the Chinese
have completely armed themselves has held the roughs in check; but
matters are believed to be in a much worse condition than has been
reported, and news at any time of horrible scenes in San Francisco
would not create surprise in Washington.
* * * * *
NEW APPOINTMENTS.
1877-1878.
The following list presents the names and post-office addresses
of those who are under appointment in the Churches, Institutions
and Schools, aided by the American Missionary Association, among
the Freedmen in the South, the Chinese on the Pacific Coast,
the Indians, and the Negroes in Western Africa. The Theological
Department of Howard University is supported jointly by the
Presbytery of Washington and the A. M. A. The Berea College and
Hampton Institute are under the care of their own Boards of
Trustees, but being either founded or fostered in the past by this
Association, and representing the general work in which it is
engaged, their teachers are included in this list.
THE SOUTHERN FIELD.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
_Theological Department._
Rev. W. W. Patton, D.D., Washington, D. C.
Rev. Lorenzo Westcott, Washington, D. C.
Rev. Alexander Pitzer, D.D., Washington, D. C.
Rev. John G. Butler, D.D., Washington, D. C.
* * * * *
VIRGINIA.
HAMPTON.
_Minister._
Rev. Richard Tolman, Hampton, Va.
NORMAL AND AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE.
_Instructors and Managers._
Gen. S. C. Armstrong, Hampton, Va.
Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, Hampton, Va.
Mr. Albert Howe, Hampton, Va.
Mr. M. B. Crowell, Hampton, Va.
Mr. J. B. H. Goff, Hampton, Va.
Lt. S. R. Jones, Hampton, Va.
Miss Ann M. Hobbs, Hampton, Va.
Miss Charlotte L. Mackie, Newburgh, N. Y.
Miss Susan B. Harrold, Franklin, Mass.
Miss Mary F. Mackie, Newburgh, N. Y.
Miss Nathalie Lord, Portland, Me.
Miss Isabel B. Eustis, Springfield, Mass.
Miss Helen W. Ludlow, New York City.
Mrs. Sophia Buck, Orange, N. J.
Miss Eleanor W. Collingwood, Hampton, Va.
Miss Eunice C. Dixon, Hampton, Va.
Miss Mary A. Coe, Boston, Mass.
Miss Elizabeth P. Hyde, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Miss Margaret W. Buck, Hampton, Va.
Miss Jeannie I. Hincks, Hampton, Va
Miss Carrie Watson, Hampton, Va
Miss Emily Kimball, Hampton, Va
Mr. Albert H. Tolman, Hampton, Va
Mr. Charles G. Buck, Hampton, Va
Mr. Thomas T. Brice, Hampton, Va
Mr. James C. Robbins, Hampton, Va
Mr. Frank D. Banks, Hampton, Va
Mr. John E. Fuller, Hampton, Va
CARRSVILLE.
_Teacher._
Miss M. A. Andrus, Riceville, Pa.
* * * * *
NORTH CAROLINA.
WILMINGTON (P. O. Box 207).
NORMAL SCHOOL.
_Minister and Superintendent._
Rev. D. D. Dodge, Nashua, N. H.
_Principal._
Miss Lucy Goodwin, Mason, N. H.
_Assistants._
Miss Martha Moore, Holden, Mass.
Miss E. A. Warner, Lowell, Mass.
Mrs. D. D. Dodge, Nashua, N. H.
RALEIGH.
_Minister._
Rev. Geo. S. Smith, Raleigh, N. C.
_Teachers._
Miss E. P. Hayes, Limerick, Me.
Miss Kate Randall, Lorain, Ohio.
Mr. William R. Harris, Raleigh, N. C.
Miss Anna M. Day, Sheffield, Ohio.
Miss Ida M. Ransom, Raleigh, N. C.
Miss Eliza Gant, Raleigh, N. C.
DUDLEY.
_Minister._
Rev. David Peebles, Long Island, Ala.
McLEANSVILLE.
_Minister._
Rev. J. Kedslie, Jamaica, W. I.
_Teacher._
Miss E. W. Douglass, Decorah, Iowa.
WOODBRIDGE.
_Teacher._
Miss Carrie E. Waugh, Scriba, N. Y.
* * * * *
SOUTH CAROLINA.
CHARLESTON.
_Minister._
Rev. W. G. Marts, Delmont, Pa.
AVERY INSTITUTE.
_Principal._
Prof. A. W. Farnham, N. Hannibal, N. Y.
_Assistants._
Mr. C. C. Scott, Charleston, S. C.
Miss Jane S. Hardy, Shelburne, Mass.
Miss Julia E. Phelps, Syracuse, N. Y.
Miss Eugenie C. Gaillard, Charleston, S. C.
Mr. E. A. Lawrence, Charleston, S. C.
Mrs. L. J. Brown, Charleston, S. C.
Miss Monimia H. McKinlay, Charleston, S. C.
ORANGEBURG.
_Minister._
Rev. W. L. Johnson, Orangeburg, S. C.
_Teacher._
Mrs. W. L. Johnson, Orangeburg, S. C.
GREENWOOD.
BREWER NORMAL SCHOOL.
Mr. J. D. Backenstose, Geneva, N. Y.
* * * * *
GEORGIA.
ATLANTA.
_Ministers._
Rev. C. W. Francis, Atlanta, Ga.
Rev. S. S. Ashley, Northboro, Mass.
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY.
_Instructors and Managers._
Rev. E. A. Ware, Atlanta, Ga.
Rev. C. W. Francis, Atlanta, Ga.
Rev. Horace Bumstead, Atlanta, Ga.
Prof. J. F. Fuller, Atlanta, Ga.
Prof. Frank W. Smith, Lincoln, Mass.
Miss Emma C. Ware, Norfolk, Mass.
Miss Mary A. Chapin, Uxbridge, Mass.
Miss Susie A. Cooley, Honek, Kansas.
Miss Mary E. Sands, Saco, Me.
Mrs. Lucy E. Case, Millbury, Mass.
Miss Carrie H. Loomis, Hartford, Conn.
Miss Mary L. Santley, New London, Ohio.
_STORRS SCHOOL._ (104 Houston St.)
_Principal._
Miss Amy Williams, Livonia Sta., N. Y.
_Assistants._
Miss Emily Robinson, Lake City, Minn.
Miss M. E. Stevenson, Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Miss Fannie Andrews, Milltown, Me.
Miss F. J. Norris, Atlanta, Ga.
Miss Julia Turner, Atlanta, Ga.
PARISH SCHOOL.
_Teacher._
Mr. George Clarke, Atlanta, Ga.
MACON.
_Minister._
Rev. M. O. Harrington, Macon, Ga,
LEWIS HIGH SCHOOL.
_Teachers._
Mrs. M. O. Harrington, Macon, Ga.
Miss Lizzie Abbott, Andover, Mass.
BYRON.
_Minister._
Rev. L. A. Rutherford, Macon, Ga.
AUGUSTA.
_Teacher._
Miss S. A. Hosmer, Augusta, Ga.
MARIETTA.
_Minister._
Rev. T. N. Stewart, Marietta, Ga.
_Teacher._
Mr. Cosmo P. Jordan, Atlanta, Ga.
ALBANY.
_Teacher._
Mr. Howard Burts, Atlanta, Ga.
ATHENS.
_Teacher._
Mr. John McIntosh, Atlanta, Ga.
CUTHBERT.
_Teacher._
Mr. Richard R. Wright, Atlanta, Ga.
DALTON.
_Teacher._
Miss Blanche Curtis, Atlanta, Ga.
FORSYTH.
_Teacher._
Mr. Wm. F. Jackson, Atlanta, Ga.
STONE MOUNTAIN.
_Teacher._
Mr. William C. Craig, Atlanta, Ga.
SAVANNAH.
_Minister and Supt. of Missions._
Rev. R. F. Markham, Wheaton, Ill.
_Teachers._
Mrs. R. F. Markham, Wheaton, Ill.
Miss Hattie Markham, Wheaton, Ill.
Miss E. H. Twichell, Saratoga, N. Y.
_MISSION CHURCHES._
WOODVILLE.
Rev. J. J. H. Sengstacke, Savannah, Ga.
OGEECHEE.
Rev. John McLean, McLeansville, N. C.
LOUISVILLE AND BELMONT.
Rev. Wilson Callen, Selma, Ala.