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The American Missionary
June, 1890.
VOL. XLIV. NO. 6.
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL.
Removal
Dr. Storrs on the Negro Problem
Missionaries to Alaska
In a Nutshell
Higher Education of the Colored People
Spring Conferences
Mississippi Immigrants
Notes from New England
Music's Mission
Items
THE SOUTH.
Our School Work
Our Church Work
Revival at Wilmington, N.C.
Ballard School, Macon, Ga.
Dreary Picture of Place and People
Report from Mountain Schools
The King's Daughters Society
THE INDIANS.
Our S'kokomish Mission
THE CHINESE.
Jottings
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
Paragraphs--State Missionary Unions
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
Letter from a Teacher
Woman's State Organizations
RECEIPTS.
NEW YORK:
Published By The American Missionary Association
Bible House, Ninth St. and Fourth Ave., New York.
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., LL.D., 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., _Bible House, N.Y._
Rev. A.F. Beard, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
Rev. F.P. Woodbury, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Recording Secretary._
Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Treasurer._
H.W. Hubbard, Esq., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Auditors._
Peter McCartee.
Chas. P. Peirce.
_Executive Committee._
John H. Washburn, Chairman.
Addison P. Foster, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
S.B. Halliday,
Samuel Holmes,
Samuel S. Marples,
Charles L. Mead,
Elbert B. Monroe.
_For Two Years._
J.E. Rankin,
Wm. H. Ward,
J.W. Cooper,
John H. Washburn,
Edmund L. Champlin.
_For One Year._
Lyman Abbott,
Chas. A. Hull,
Clinton B. Fisk,
Addison P. Foster,
Albert J. Lyman.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C.J. Ryder, _21 Cong'l House, Boston, Mass._
Rev. J.E. Roy, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill._
Rev. C.W. Hiatt, _64 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, Ohio._
_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._
Rev. Chas. W. Shelton.
_Secretary of Woman's Bureau._
Miss D.E. Emerson, _Bible House, 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, Bible House, New York, or, when more
convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House,
Boston, Mass., 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill., or 64 Euclid Ave.,
Cleveland, Ohio. 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. XLIV.
June, 1890.
No. 6.
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
REMOVAL.
The Rooms of the American Missionary Association are now in the Bible
House, New York City. Correspondents will please address us accordingly.
Visitors will find our Rooms on the sixth floor of the Bible House,
corner Ninth Street and Fourth Avenue; entrance by elevator on Ninth
Street.
* * * * *
DR. STORRS, ON THE NEGRO PROBLEM.
Not long since Rev. R.S. Storrs, D.D., preached a sermon in his own
pulpit, presenting the claims of the American Missionary Association for
the annual collection in its behalf from the Church of the Pilgrims,
Brooklyn, N.Y. This sermon appeared in print in one of the daily papers,
and attracted the attention of a benevolent gentleman deeply interested in
the Christian education of the colored people, who was so impressed with
the great value of the address, that he has furnished the Association with
the means to print a large edition for general circulation. This we have
done, and we presume that already, many of our readers have had the
opportunity of reading this eminently wise and timely utterance on one of
America's greatest problems. Should any one desire an extra copy, we will
gladly furnish it on application.
Although the discourse has had large circulation, we cannot resist the
temptation to extract a few of its forcible utterances on some very
important points.
Permanent popular liberties have their only sure foundation in
sound moral conditions practically universal. We must secure
these among those to whom we have given the ballot, and who are
to be henceforth citizens with ourselves. Otherwise, we are
building our splendid political house on the edges of the
pestilential swamp from which fatal miasmatic odors are rising
all the time. Yes, we are building our house on piles driven into
the thick ooze and mud of the pestilential swamp itself. We are
building our cities, which we think are so splendid, and which
are so in fact, as men built Herculaneum and Pompeii, on a shore
which ever and anon trembled with earthquake, over which was hung
the black flag of Vesuvius, and down upon which rolled, in time,
the lava floods that burned and buried them.
We have got to meet this immense problem, which is not far off,
but right at hand; which is not a problem of theory, or of
distant history, but of practice and fact; and which concerns
not the well-being alone, but the very life of the nation. Noble
men and women at the South are engaged in it already, with all
their hearts; and we must help, mightily! It would be the
craziest folly of the age for us to be indifferent to it.
Some men may say, perhaps, "But this is a work that cannot be
done. It is too radical and vast to be hopefully attempted."
Nonsense! There is no work for the kingdom of God and the glory
of His name, which cannot be done! With the Gospel in our hand,
we can do everything.
There has been a good beginning made already. This Society, to
which we are to contribute to-day, the American Missionary
Association, has four established colleges, three of which are
entirely supported by itself, have been founded by it and are
carried on by it; and the fourth very largely so. It has
multitudes of high schools, normal schools and primary schools.
First of all, we want men trained, and women too, in the
knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ, and then to have them
teaching others. And that is precisely the line along which the
Society to which we are to contribute to-day, as we have done
gladly and largely heretofore, is carrying its incessant
operation.
Now I affirm absolutely that if ever there was a work of God on
earth, this is his work! If there was ever anything to which the
American Christian people are called, they are called to this. If
there was ever a great opportunity before the Christian church,
here it is.
Ah, my friends, don't say "It is too great a work." It is going
to be done! You and I may do or may not do our part in it. It is
going to be done!
* * * * *
MISSIONARIES TO ALASKA.
As announced in the last number of the MISSIONARY, we have appointed
two men as missionary teachers for the new station to be opened at
Point Prince of Wales, Alaska. The names of these brethren are H.R.
Thornton, of Hampden Sydney, Virginia, and W.T. Lopp, of Valley City,
Indiana. The credentials furnished by these young men are very
satisfactory, and they enter upon the field with the full realization
of its difficulties and even dangers, and yet, cheerfully trusting
themselves to the hand of God, are ready to go forward with undaunted
faith. We bespeak for them the prayers of God's people. It is expected
that they will leave home about the middle of May and sail from San
Francisco June 1st. Dr. Sheldon Jackson and Dr. Pond will aid them in
providing materials for the building and the necessary outfit. They
will, therefore, be well provided for, though long months must elapse
before they can again have communication with the civilized world.
* * * * *
IN A NUTSHELL.
_WHICH IS THE WISER WAY?_
There are some people who seem to see only the ignorance and vice of
the Negro, and the inveterate race-prejudice against him; or at least
they appear to be so occupied in dilating upon these hindrances that
they have no time to devote to their removal, and, so far as their
influence goes, they discourage others from doing anything.
On the other hand there are those who, while they see all these
difficulties, only find in them the strongest incentives to the most
earnest efforts to relieve the Negro from them. Which of these two
classes is the wiser?
Some persons propose as the solution of the race problem,
disfranchisement; and they point to the bad legislation of the blacks
in South Carolina and Louisiana a quarter of a century ago, when
scarcely any of them could read, and almost none owned property. On the
other hand, there are those that are industriously trying to educate
the blacks and inspiring them to the acquisition of property, and not
in vain. More than two millions of the blacks can now read, and more
than two hundred million dollars' worth of property is now owned by
them. They are thus being prepared to vote wisely.
Which of these two classes of persons is solving this problem to the
best purpose?
There are other persons, in Congress and out, urging the deportation of
the blacks to Africa, a thing impossible to be done, and, if possible,
it would be harmful to those that were sent, as well as useless to
benighted Africa. On the other hand, there are those who are training
the colored people of this country in education, industrial habits and
stable Christian character, thus preparing them as missionaries to
Africa.
Which of these two classes has the wiser theory?
* * * * *
HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE.
The eagerness of our colored population for education is strikingly
shown in the reports given on another page from our institutions in the
South--reports of over-crowded rooms, and students dismissed by scores,
and even hundreds, for want of accommodations.
We call special attention to the report from Fisk University, in
reference to the higher grades of education. It will be seen that, even
in that place, a relatively small number are in the higher classes, and
yet there is a sufficient number of these to indicate that some of the
pupils are seeking what is absolutely essential to the race, to wit,
that some should have the best education attainable.
While it is true of this race as of all others, that the masses can
receive only primary training in letters and in industry, there must be
some of their number who can be leaders in thought and influence. No
race can make progress without such leaders, who can command the line
of march. There must be the inspiration that comes from the success of
the leaders. Hooker's men did not ascend Lookout Mountain in a steady
line. There were some far ahead of others, cheering and encouraging
those following at greater or less distances, till at length the whole
array stood on the brow, and thus won their position.
The warfare is different, but human nature is the same. The Negroes are
no more of equal capacity than white men, and there is just the same
call for differences in their attainments in scholarship and in general
influence. And if those advanced in scholarship shall have Christian
character as well as education, it will render their leadership all the
more safe for their people and the nation.
* * * * *
SPRING CONFERENCES AND CHURCH WORK.
Five of our Conferences in the South have held their spring meetings.
The reports we have had from them indicate that they were of unusual
interest. Almost without exception they are pronounced to have been
the best ever held. The high character of the sermons, addresses and
discussions shows that these ministers are fit leaders of the people.
Their reports of the progress of the work among the churches is
encouraging. On another page of the MISSIONARY will be found some brief
sketches of revival scenes and of individual experience and effort.
This branch of the work of the Association deserves and will receive
increased attention and assistance.
* * * * *
MISSISSIPPI IMMIGRANTS.
We alluded in a recent number of the MISSIONARY to the attractive
advertisements of railroad and immigrant companies in the South, and we
expressed the fear that many colored people might find the change to be
disappointing. But the process goes on, and the rich bottom-lands in
the State of Mississippi are attracting many hundreds and thousands of
new settlers. Perhaps there is no better place to which they can go,
for there are no better lands in the South. The great point is whether
these people shall be herded together in rude homes, tilling the soil
without skill, and rearing their children in ignorance and vice. It is
the part of Christian wisdom and the duty of the Christian churches of
this land to see that the people in this densely-packed and fertile
region shall be promptly met with the means of Christian education. Our
school at Tougaloo should be enabled to meet in some degree the
opportunity it has to prepare and furnish preachers and teachers for
this growing population; and schools and churches should be multiplied
to meet the emergency.
* * * * *
NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.
BY DISTRICT SECRETARY C.J. RYDER.
Nothing stimulates to good deeds more effectively than good deeds
themselves. I copy the following notice, which was circulated on a
neatly printed sheet among the members of a certain church in Boston:
The "Felice" circle of "King's Daughters" will hold a sale for
the benefit of the Williamsburg Academy, established for the
education of the "Mountain Whites" in Kentucky, on Friday,
March 21, from 8 to 10 P.M., and on Saturday, March 22, from 3
to 10 P.M., at Miss Maxwell's, 37 Allen Street, Boston.
Admission 10 cents.
The enthusiastic leader of this circle of "King's Daughters" thought
that possibly she might raise $30 and so constitute one of their number
a Life Member of the American Missionary Association. Imagine our
surprise and delight when, as the result of this effort, $125 were
brought in, as their splendid offering to this work!
Take another fact of unusual interest in the religious life in New
England. Five leading pastors here in Boston chose a particular
Sabbath, upon which they would each preach upon the Negro Problem.
Several sermons were reported at length in our daily journals, and
aroused much interest and comment. One found its way down into the
South, and was commented upon by a Southern editor in true Southern
style. Hard words were used with the recklessness that characterizes
Southern editors, and often Northern as well. The funny thing about it
was, that two gentlemen of the same name, who are both ministers and
reside in Boston, were confused in this comment. The one, who had
recently been South, but who did not preach the sermon, was read a
severe lecture, because after partaking of the hospitality of the
Southern people, he had spoken in so severe terms of them. It was an
amusing blunder, but illustrates the fact that more and more even the
Southern editor is coming to feel the importance of Northern criticism.
It is a very hopeful sign. It is sometimes said that time will settle
these monstrous inequalities that prevail in the South, but time never
settles anything. Mischievous forces only increase in power, the longer
they are permitted to operate. There must be set in operation
beneficent forces, in order to make the element of time useful.
Agitation is needed, patriotic, prayerful agitation, and such united
effort as was made in these Boston pulpits, helps in this agitation.
The new book which comes from the pen of G.W. Cable, under the title
of "The Negro Question," puts old truth in a new dress, and renders it
more attractive and presentable. If any man has the right to write
upon this "Negro Question," it is Mr. Cable. If I had to prepare a
liturgy for the Congregational churches, I would put in it the
following petition: "From the superficial views and misleading
statements of tourists through the South, or those who reside in a
single locality, good Lord, deliver us!" Mr. Cable is not of either of
these classes. He speaks from an intimate acquaintance with, and a
long residence in, the South; better than this, he is familiar with
the whole territory, and not with a single locality simply. This
little book ought to be in the hands of every conscientious student of
this Southern problem. Take a single quotation:
"To be governed merely by instincts is pure savagery. All civilization
is the result of subordinating instinct to reason, and to the
necessities of peace, amity and righteousness. To surrender to
instinct, would destroy all civilization in three days. If, then, the
color-line is the result of natural instincts, the commonest daily
needs of the merest civilization require that we should ask ourselves,
is it better or worse to repress or cherish this instinct, and this
color-line?" There are forces at work, regenerative and ennobling, that
will lead the Southern white people to be ashamed of their attitude
toward the Negroes, and not the least of these are the life and works
of Mr. Cable.
A letter came into my hand, when I was in the South, which is not only
a commentary, but also throws a ray of sunlight where there is much
darkness. It was a letter from an old mistress to her former slave. He
is now a successful business man in Chattanooga. This earnest,
Christian woman, rising above her prejudices, wrote her former slave a
cordial invitation to visit her in her home. Her husband, his old
master, had died in the Confederate service. She had seen her servants
taken away from her through the success of the Union armies. Her
property had been depleted, and her fertile plantation overrun by the
loyal troops. It must have been with great sadness and a bitter heart,
that she looked out upon this ruin, wrought as she believed, throughout
the invading of the sacred soil of Virginia. But in these years that
have passed, this bitterness has largely gone, and this sweet,
Christian letter comes to her former slave. The ex-slave told me with
tears in his eyes that he paid her this visit, and that she welcomed
him, not to the Negro quarters, nor to the kitchen-chamber, but to her
best guest-chamber, and said: "I want you to feel that you are welcome
to the best hospitality of my home." "And she treated me almost as
tenderly as she would one of her own sons," said the colored man. And
so light is coming, little by little.
Dr. Haygood expresses a regret that the white women of the South are so
slow to appreciate the importance of the moral elevation of the
Negroes, and so slow to join hands with their Northern sisters in his
education. But such facts as this kind, Christian letter furnishes,
lead us to hope and to believe that better times are coming, and that
the Southern Christians, interested as they are in the Negro in Africa,
will, little by little, appreciate and minister more and more to the
terrible need of the Negro in South Carolina and Alabama.
* * * * *
MUSIC'S MISSION.
BY REV. E.N. ANDREWS, HARTFORD, WIS.
Suggested by the following words by Rev. B.A. Imes in the May
MISSIONARY:
"The Mozart Society at Fisk treated us to an excellent
rendering of Haydn's great oratorio, 'The Creation.' Many came
over from the city (Nashville),--whites from the "best
families," all crowding in, listening, wondering, enjoying!
How the music of those well-tuned instruments and voices
caught us up and carried us away! Color-line melted and faded
out. How we wished the politicians all might have been brought
under that magic spell of solos and choruses!"
O Music, with thy wand celestial, touch
The hearts of men, and by thy alchemy
Divine, resolve, remelt, aye, e'en recast
The thought and very being! Selfish man,
So filled with prejudice and hate hath need,
O heavenly messenger, of all thy aid.
And as thy votaries in anthems sing
With the immortal Haydn, and do praise
Creative Wisdom, Who, of one blood made
All Nations for to dwell on earth in love,
Then let celestial fires descend and burn
Complete, the offering of the lips, and purge
The dross of caste and hate from every soul!
This do, for Satan hath his spectrum set
Before the door of human hearts and cast
Upon the screen the separated lines
Of black and red and yellow--white forsooth,
While these should mingle in that glorious Sun
That shines alike on all, impartially.
Then come, O Music, re-resolve the lines,
These color-lines, and let the sun's pure ray
Beam forth in unobstructed light and love,
Transmuting, by his touch, these human hearts,
Till they shall mirror forth the Golden Rule.
* * * * *
ITEMS.
Everywhere the colored contestants in Civil Service examinations
succeed admirably in their work. In March just past, there was a
competitive examination held in the Custom House at Newark, N.J., for
clerkships. Out of forty-three contestants, Mr. J.N. Vandewall, a well
known young colored man, stood No. 1, 96 per cent. There was only one
other colored contestant, Mr. G.W. Harris. He stood fifth, with an
average of 86 per cent.
Mr. A.C. Garner, our colored representative in the Chicago Theological
Seminary, passed an excellent examination last week, and received
praise not only from his Professors but from his student friends as
well. Out of a class of forty, he was one of seven chosen by the
Professor of Elocution to represent the class in oratory at the closing
exercises held last week.
During the recent illness of one of our teachers in the South, the
pastor of the Church called every Sunday for volunteers as watchers
during the week. There was always a ready response from the church
members. The teacher relates that before leaving him in the morning,
these watchers would almost invariably kneel down by his bedside and
offer up earnest, fervent prayers for his recovery. He was impressed
with the simple faith and trust in God of these colored Christians,
their belief in prayer and the contrast between them and an equal
number of white brethren under the same circumstances.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
OUR SCHOOL WORK.
PROGRESS--OVER-CROWDING.
From Wilmington, N.C.--Instead of sixty pupils as a year or two ago,
we now have over ninety, and next year the number will be fully one
hundred or more, if we have room. The classes are very large.
From Grand View, Tenn.--The classes are full and the accommodations
inadequate. The school numbers one hundred and eleven. It is necessary
to crowd four boys into each room of the Boys' Hall. Four boys are
boarding themselves in a shackly log building at the foot of the hill.
Their grit is admirable.
From Tougaloo, Miss.--Both the dormitories are crowded. The Ladies'
Hall is supposed to accommodate seventy-five girls. One hundred and six
are crowded into it to-day. We have turned away nearly one hundred more
because we had not room for them. Every indication is that the crowd of
applicants will be greater next year than ever. Already applications
are coming in. The American Missionary Association has the lead in
Mississippi to-day.
From Marion, Ala.--We need another grade established. Our primary has
numbered nearly or quite one hundred pupils. The average attendance has
been large and the school-room over-crowded. Three grades are now
virtually working in the primary department. We may look for a large
increase of attendance in all grades next year.
From Florence, Ala.--We need a building if the school is to be
continued. We are now inconveniently crowded, one hundred and sixty
children in a 20 x 40 room, with all the teaching to be done in the same.
To fail in giving us a building will certainly narrow our usefulness in
this field. Our school is constantly increasing in popularity. We can
safely count on an enrollment of over two hundred next year, with
someplace to accommodate them.
From Meridian, Miss.--The work of the school is hindered by lack of
room. We have enrolled this year two hundred and thirty two pupils, and
many have been turned off because we could not seat them. We opened in
December of 1888 with twenty-eight pupils. A school for more advanced
pupils is needed in this part of Mississippi. We have thirty young
people in school who come from the five adjoining counties. They are
boarding in good families and I have every reason to believe that they
have used their time and opportunities well; most of them are this
summer to teach.
From Straight University, N.O.--It has been a golden year for Straight
University. Financially it has been our best year. A larger proportion
of students able to pay came to us. We want to grow, and have every
opportunity to do so save that our quarters are too small. We have
turned away during the year probably two hundred applicants, many of
them for the boarding department. We have had to put cots in nearly all
the rooms, packing them too full for comfort, as it was very hard to
say No! to young people who came hundreds of miles and begged tearfully
for admission. The school has grown during the last eight years from
two hundred to six hundred, and only is not one thousand because we had
no room for them. Our graduates are filling important positions all
over the South. Several are Superintendents in Texas, Kansas,
Mississippi and Louisiana. One holds an important office in Honduras;
others are doing good work in Cuba and Mexico. Eight are filling
important positions in this city. We have no trouble in getting
positions for our young people. Indeed, we cannot supply as fast as
demanded. Often as many as twenty are called for when we have none to
send.
From Fisk University, Nashville.--The evidence of progress in the
educational department of the University is found in the very marked
increase of numbers in the first year of our normal course and of our
college preparatory department. Last year there were fifteen in the
first year of the latter department; this year there are thirty-one.
Last year there were thirteen in the first year of the normal
department; this year there are thirty-one. Last year there were in the
normal, college, preparatory and college departments, one hundred and
forty-five students; this year there are one hundred and seventy-six.
At the coming Commencement, we expect to graduate twelve young men, and
from the normal ten young women and one young man; making a total of
twenty-three. This is a little more than one-sixth of the entire number
of present graduates from these departments.
From a Teacher in the Tennessee Mountains:--Let me tell you of the
general interest manifest in several of the counties west and north of
us in attending this school. One of our students visited many cabins
over the mountains during his vacation, and found that school
advantages were very scarce and poor. He found poverty and ignorance of
the world and of books. Some of the people are still using the old-time
method of kindling their fires by flint and steel instead of matches.
He met many young people who were thirsting for books and schools, also
numbers who had struggled up through the darkness to become teachers in
the neighborhoods. These almost invariably wish to come to our school,
and say they shall be here as soon as their schools close. Many are too
poor to come. This is true of a large number of young girls, who would
come if they could work for their board or in any possible way pay for
it. Whoever will provide funds to meet the expenses of these neglected
girls, and place them at our school, and prepare them for the future
duties of life, will be doing an angelic work, and in the end will do
the greatest good that can be done to this people. Very much of the
money spent for this mountain people will be the same as thrown away,
if this effort is not made to educate the girls.
* * * * *
OUR CHURCH WORK.
A letter from Rev. F.R. Sims of the Medway Congregational Church,
McIntosh, Ga., reports that seventy persons have been added to that
church on confession of faith, within the last four months.
From Knoxville, Tenn.:--Our attendance at preaching services has been
large and attentive. On the second Sabbath of March the members and
friends made special efforts for collection and raised $30. There has
been a happy increase in the Sunday-school and the prayer meetings.
From Dudley, North Carolina;--It gives me much pleasure to write you
that the Lord has abundantly blessed us in our work at this point.
For three weeks a revival, with much success, has been going on in my
church, the Lord has been with us disturbing the slumber of the
sleeping Christians and bringing sinners unto repentance. We have ten
converts and ten more seeking the Lord. We are all very much encouraged
and are now looking forward for a brighter and more encouraging future.
From Macon, Ga.--At our last communion we baptized and received four
into our fellowship on confession of faith. They were all young people
who are in school and full of promise. Others are expected to unite
with us next month. There have been seventeen additions to the church
in the last eleven months. There has been some real progress made by
the church in all directions. I find in our church meetings a much more
gentle spirit between the members than when I first came here, and I
feel that this outward improvement is due to inward spiritual growth. I
can see this growth in the prayers and testimonies of the weekly prayer
meetings.
* * * * *
REVIVAL AT WILMINGTON, N.C.
PROFESSOR GEORGE A. WOODARD.
The revival which took place in this church the latter part of the
winter was, in some respects, a model one.
At the close of one of the Wednesday evening prayer meetings, our
pastor spoke to us with the view of ascertaining if the church were
ready for special work; then he appointed another prayer meeting for
Friday night. With faith, and resting upon the promises of God, the
work was begun the next week. At first the attendance was small; but,
as the meetings continued, the interest increased, and it became
necessary to move into the large hall of the school.
It was evident throughout that God was in the work and that the Holy
Spirit was striving mightily with sinners. A deep, quiet emotion
pervaded the meetings, in strong contrast with the revivals held in
many of the colored churches of the city, where the excitement becomes
intense, and the confusion great. Their meetings are often continued
until long after midnight, in a crowded, unventilated room, whereas
ours never closed later than ten o'clock.
As a result of our revival, although other revivals were going on
amongst the colored people at the same time, upwards of forty were born
into the Kingdom, for some of whom, many, many prayers had been offered
up; and all was done in answer to prayer. Among these were several
cases of interest, two of which I will mention. One is that of an
intelligent young man employed by the leading dentist of the city, for
whom he does the mechanical work, which previously had to be sent
North. Although of excellent character, he was a skeptic, reading the
writings of Ingersoll, Paine, and others. For years, our teachers had
taken a special interest in him laboring with him and praying for him,
that he might come into the light He was induced to attend these
meetings, and was finally led to believe that these things are so and
to accept of the Saviour. He has gone earnestly to work to bring in
other young men, teaches in the Sunday-school and is ready for any
Christian work.
The other is that of a brawny brick mason, a great sinner, who, while
earning excellent wages, often failed to bring home sufficient to feed
and clothe his children; and when remonstrated with by his wife, would
answer; "They are your children, you take care of them." All is changed
now. He gets up early Sunday mornings, assists in getting the children
ready for church, where the family, all neatly dressed, can be seen
regularly every Sunday; and in the prayer meeting his voice is usually
heard.
As a further result of this revival, the church has been greatly
quickened, the members have been brought closer together in brotherly
love, and God has given a fresh outpouring of his spirit.
On Easter morning, when a special communion service was held,
twenty-nine of the new converts were received into our church, amidst
the most touching and impressive services. But the revival has not
stopped with the special meetings. After every Sunday evening service,
an after-meeting has been held, in which several have been led to give
their hearts to God. All of these meetings have been marked by the
earnestness with which the church has labored for the salvation of
those who were yet without, and more fervent prayers never ascended to
the throne of grace.
* * * * *
FACTS ABOUT BALLARD SCHOOL, MACON, GA.
The opening of the New Year saw manifestations of the Holy Spirit in
our midst, and during the week of prayer there appeared to be a deep
interest among the pupils. Our prayers seemed to take a new meaning,
and we felt that they were about to be answered.
Nothing but God's Spirit could have laid the burden of souls upon so
many hearts at once, or have bidden us speak to different ones, while
our movements were almost unknown to one another.
In the meetings that were held in the different rooms, and those
conducted in the High School, which were attended by some of the pupils
from other grades, a large number expressed a desire to become
Christians; and there were about sixty who gave their hearts to Christ.
We rejoice greatly over the work of the Spirit, and have the assurance
that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God."
The study of the Bible is an important feature in the school work. One
hour each week is set apart for it. A visitor, passing from the lower
grades up, on Friday afternoon, would find Bible work going on in every
room. The work of the little ones is largely memorizing. The older ones
have a systematic course. The outlines of Bible history are first
carefully studied, then the more important events and characters in
detail. Work in map-drawing is done in connection with all the lessons.
A short time ago, a middle-aged woman applied for admission to our
school. She had been teaching for several years, but wanted to prepare
herself for the teachers' examination by taking a short course of
study. She was permitted to try the sixth grade examination and failed;
then the fifth with like results; finally she was placed in the fourth
grade, where it was discovered that she did not know the multiplication
tables, and evidently had never heard of division. Her knowledge of
spelling would not exceed that of an average third grade pupil, and she
is called one of the best colored teachers in the county from which she
came.
In the Industrial Department nearly two hundred and fifty girls sew
from a half hour to an hour every day. Excellent work is being done and
they are very much interested, some of them begging for the privilege
of sewing at other times than those designated for that purpose. The
industrial teacher finds difficulty in keeping the supply of work equal
to the demand.
Friends have kindly sent us donations of work, and much more will be
acceptable. Sheets, pillow cases, underclothing or patchwork, basted
ready for sewing, will be very thankfully received. The work in the
sewing classes includes patchwork, the making of dresses, all kinds of
other garments, and quilting.--_From the Ballard Record._
* * * * *
A DREARY PICTURE OF PLACE AND PEOPLE.
BY AN A.M.A. WORKER.
The country is low and flat, with here and there a small elevation on
which is a house or log cabin. For miles and miles the country is
dreary and monotonous. The swamps have a funereal aspect as one looks
upon the live-oak and cypress, hung with long Spanish moss swaying to
and fro in the gentle breeze.
Back in these pine woods are hundreds who have never seen the railroad,
a boat, carriage, or even a mail-bag. Sometimes a few will go to the
little obscure station on Saturdays and stand gazing at the train as it
goes thundering by, and many comical remarks are made, as: "Dat am de
train 'pon which no darkies nor crackers kin ride; dat am all de heben
dat dem buckra want and am gwine ter git."
Most of the people own their homes, which are poorly constructed of
pine poles with clapboards to cover the cracks, through which the
dampness and cold winds make it uncomfortable for the occupants, who
are seated before a clay chimney and a great lightwood fire. Very few
of the houses have any windows. A lightwood torch furnishes the light
by day and by night. Some of them are improving each year, but the most
of them are satisfied with a roof, and a few acres under cultivation.
The country people seem to be naturally religious, as they are all
church members, are so from childhood, and are great believers in the
"sperit," which must be the evil one. They are not denominational in
the sense in which enlightened people are. The church which allows the
greatest number of privileges, and the minister who will just be
preacher and make the most noise and have the greatest number of "big
meetings," are the most popular. They have a burial service, and
several months or a year after, they have a funeral service, which is
always a big time.
Cæsar is considered the best preacher that has ever been in ----. He
comes once a month, and cannot read a chapter; "nor need you expect me
to get the one-thousandth part of the ingrejience out of this text," is
his introduction to every sermon, but he can get up steam enough to be
heard half a mile. One of the preachers wanting to be known as a
licentiate, said in meeting: "I want you to know that I am a licentious
preacher,"--which is the truth.
Our work has done an amount of good, even among those outside, and our
schools and the two churches have done more good in the country than
all other work combined. The recent fanaticism in the county did not
get one believer from our church.
* * * * *
REPORT FROM MOUNTAIN SCHOOLS.
Our year's work is rapidly drawing to an end. The older scholars are
doing well and are remaining with us through the year. They certainly
are gaining in this direction. They become very restless as soon as it
is "put in crap time." They sigh for the fields and "shovel plow," and
often look from the school-room windows with a longing for the log
cabin and the ground surrounding it. In many cases we have to be
_very_ persuasive to have them remain, yet they seem thankful for
the advice and remain. The older scholars seem to manifest an earnest
ambition to obtain situations through the summer, so that they may
procure clothing and help pay their tuition. We try as far as possible
to obtain situations for our girls. The better class of the people will
come to us for help, feeling that our girls have been educated in the
home and kitchen.
In our temperance meeting last Friday, I asked the question, "What
would you do if you were forced to take whiskey?" A little girl rose
and said, "My father asked me to take some and said 'you must.' I said,
'I can't. God would not be pleased.' He said, 'Well, I 'lows how you're
'bout right." What a happy girl she was. She knows if she will keep on
refusing, he will give up strong drink. Our greatest hope is in the
children.
A poor woman had some articles of clothing to take home with her. I
offered to wrap her parcel in newspaper. She said, "If you don't care,
I would like to have that ar paper." She never has a piece except what
is given her by some kind person. She utterly refused to have the
parcel wrapped. The people use the papers to keep the cold out. I have
seen pieces of paper four inches square and parts of letters pasted on
the boards. We save all the papers we receive, and have assisted in
making many poor homes comfortable.
There is a good Sunday-school in a neighboring town. The people listen
very attentively, and seem to be thankful for the Sunday-school and
church services. The average attendance for the last five Sundays has
been forty-two. The thought of leaving this school during the summer is
a _cross_. There are fathers and mothers who are present every
Sabbath. The children show the need of a good school.
* * * * *
FROM MISS M.A. BYE.
Our Christian Endeavor Society interests me very much, as I have given
more time and thought to that than to anything else outside of school
work. It has increased in numbers, and the members have for the most
part gained a great deal in interest and courage, and this term quite
a number of associate members have become Christians. We are working
now to send a delegate to the St. Louis Convention, and I anticipate
great pleasure in watching the effect upon our delegate of the
enthusiasm of the Convention and the sight of the city, and think it
will be worth the year's work to be with him, for we hope to send one
of the boarding boys.
* * * * *
THE KING'S DAUGHTERS SOCIETY.
About a year ago, ten or fifteen girls might have been seen sitting in
their teacher's room, at Tougaloo University, while she spoke to them
of forming a society. The members of this society, she said, were to do
all the good they could in every way they could.
Now, of course, we want a name for our society. If we are going to do
all the good we can, we are worthy to be called followers of Christ,
and as he is a King, we call ourselves "King's Daughters." When our
society began, we had but eight or ten members, but at almost every
meeting there was some one who wanted to join. The meetings were
carried on every Sunday evening, and some one of the members was
appointed to lead the next meeting. During the week we try in every way
to do something definite to please our King; to go to no place in which
we would be ashamed to have our King see us, and to keep no company
with which we would be ashamed to have him see us. Our society
continued to grow and prosper, and finally the young men concluded to
organize a King's Sons Society. During the summer the two societies
held joint meetings. New members were continually joining. As the
meetings were new to us when we first began, they were not as
interesting as they grew to be at a later date; but generally the time
was all occupied. Some one would read a portion of Scripture and offer
prayer, after which a story would be read or told by one of the
members, who had prepared it during the week. Then we would tell how we
had kept our pledge, or in what way we had been helped by being King's
Daughters. Sometimes, when we had broken our pledge, we would leave off
our badge for a week.
The first Sunday in every month we have what we call our consecration
meeting. The President calls the roll and each one answers by giving a
verse of Scripture, or her experience as a King's Daughter. The third
Sunday in every month we elect the officers who are to serve during the
next month. These consist of President, Vice-President, Secretary, a
sick committee, whose business it is to visit and help any who are
sick, and a committee on invitation, whose business it is to find out
who would like to join our society. They report the names at the next
meeting. Sometimes we have a question-box into which we put questions
regarding the society. These are written on small slips of paper and
read by one of the members. If they are directed to a particular one,
that person answers them; but if not, any one in the Society answers
them.
During the school year of 1888, we made a box of clothing to send to
the Indian mission school in Dakota. We would meet every Saturday
evening and sew until we had made enough to fill our box. Whenever one
of us finished a piece we would write our name and pin it on. One of
our girls wanted to sew a little on every article, so as to have her
name on all of them. Well, when we had finished our box of presents, we
each wrote a letter and put into it. We intended to make this a
Christmas present, but severe snow-storms prevented it from reaching
its destination in time. They received it about a month after
Christmas, and the things were divided among the Indian girls. Some of
them wrote to us, thanking us for the presents which they had received.
After our society grew to about twenty or thirty, we were divided into
tens. Each ten had a name given it, such as the Truthful Ten, the Judge
Not Ten, the Do Without Ten and the Polite Ten. Most of us find it
hardest to be Judge Not Tens and Truthful Tens.--_From the Tougaloo
Quarterly._
* * * * *
THE INDIANS
OUR S'KOKOMISH MISSION.
BY DISTRICT SECRETARY J.E. ROY.
The S'kokomish Reservation is at the extreme southwestern corner of the
Puget Sound, where the S'kokomish River empties in, and is three miles
square, with five thousand acres, embracing rich bottom land and
mountain timber land, the river and the sound furnishing the best means
of transportation to the market. On the place I measured the stumps of
red cedar that were eight, ten and twelve feet in diameter. The waters
at hand are of the best for fishing. As we--Mrs. Roy was with me--were
going up from the river where we had been set across after a ten-mile
mountain drive from Shelton, we saw a Mr. Lo lugging a three-foot
salmon into the missionary home; and at Olympia, the capital, and
another point on the sound, the fishmonger told us they did not sell
such fish by the pound, but by the piece, twenty-five cents each. When,
in 1855, this reservation was set apart by the treaty, it was for the
three bands of this tribe and for the Clallams up at the entrance of
the Sound, who, because of variance with one of the other bands, never
left their ancestral habitation to go to the selected spot. The people
belonging to the Reservation now number about six hundred and twenty.