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VOL. XXXVI. JUNE, 1882. NO. 6.
THE
American Missionary
“THEY ARE RISING, ALL ARE RISING, THE BLACK AND WHITE TOGETHER”
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.
* * * * *
Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class
matter.]
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
PAGE.
EDITORIALS.
PARAGRAPHS 161
COLORED JOURNALISM IN THE SOUTH 163
KIND OF UNIVERSITY MOST NEEDED IN THE SOUTH.
BY PROF. HORACE BUMSTEAD, ATLANTA, GA. 164
BENEFACTIONS 167
GENERAL NOTES--Africa, Indians 167
CUT OF INDIAN MEDICINE MAN 169
THE FREEDMEN.
AFTER THE SOWING, THE REAPING 170
THE ALABAMA CONFERENCE 172
BITS OF FUN AND FACT 173
MISSION WORK AT WILMINGTON, N.C. 174
AFRICA.
MR. LADD’S JOURNAL 175
WEST AFRICAN HABITATIONS (Cut) 177
THE CHINESE.
CLIPPINGS FROM CORRESPONDENCE 178
SELLING PRAYERS IN A CHINESE TEMPLE (Cut) 179
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
TED’S TEMPERANCE SOCIETY 181
OBITUARY.
MISS SARAH A. G. STEVENS 183
RECEIPTS 183
* * * * *
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, NEW YORK
* * * * *
PRESIDENT, HON. WM. B. WASHBURN, Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
TREASURER.
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
Rev. G. D. PIKE, D.D., _New York_.
Rev. JAMES POWELL, _Chicago_.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields,
to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the
“American Missionary,” to Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., at the New York
Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York,
or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, Rev. C.
L. Woodworth, Dist. Sec., 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass.,
or Rev. James Powell, Dist. Sec., 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member. Letters relating to boxes and barrels of clothing may
be addressed to the persons above named.
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 Annual Report of the A. M. A. contains the Constitution of the
Association and the By-Laws of the Executive Committee. A copy will
be sent free on application.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXVI. JUNE, 1882. NO. 6.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
The receipts for April were $29,519.61, an increase of nearly 38
per cent. over those of last year. The total receipts for the seven
months ending April 30, are $161,542.16, being $35,632.25, or 28
per cent. more than for the corresponding months last year. If
this ratio of increase is continued for the remaining five months
of the fiscal year, the $300,000 will be obtained, and we shall
close the year without a debt, notwithstanding the unusually heavy
expenses that the progress of our work has necessitated. These
cheering facts, we hope, will stimulate our friends to realize the
expectations of the annual meeting, and the pressing needs of the
field.
* * * * *
JOHN F. SLATER, ESQ., of Norwich, Conn., has enrolled his name with
Peabody, Seney and others as the wise benefactors of mankind, by
the appropriation of a million of dollars for the education of the
colored people of America. This munificent fund he has entrusted to
the care of a Board of Trustees, made up of persons well known for
their patriotism and their philanthropy, and from whose honorable
character a wise administration of the trust may be expected.
Mr. Slater has not only shown his generosity in the gift, but
his wisdom as well in the broad and liberal instructions to his
trustees. The letter containing these directions is a model of wise
forethought, guarding against the limitations so often imposed on
executors and trustees, which, in changes of circumstances, often
render the gift well-nigh useless. This letter, we believe, will
have a salutary influence on other donors in this respect.
We have no means of knowing the benefit that may accrue to the
A. M. A. from the income of Mr. Slater’s benefaction, which will
probably amount to $50,000 or $60,000 per annum. We only know that
the Association has a large educational work among the people whom
Mr. Slater wishes to benefit, and we believe that the Board of
Trustees will wisely discriminate as to the amount to which we are
entitled. In any contingency, however, that amount will probably
not be so large as to release our friends from the responsibility
of continuing and even increasing their donations to meet the
demands of our constantly enlarging work.
* * * * *
AN earnest effort is made in Congress to secure a large
appropriation for general education--the fund to be distributed on
the basis of illiteracy. Something of this kind is imperatively
needed to meet the demands of our growing and diversified
population, and especially of the six millions of blacks recently
emancipated and enfranchised, with nearly a million of their number
unable to read or write the ballot they cast. In addition to these,
about three-fourths of a million of the white population of the
nation are equally illiterate. If to these we add the Indians,
and the uneducated immigrants crowding to our country, we have an
illiteracy of startling magnitude demanding the most efficient
measures for its overthrow. There can be no question of the duty
of the nation in this respect. A very marked change in public
sentiment, especially in the South, is manifesting itself, and
there is a fair prospect of the success of some well-digested bill
for this purpose. The A. M. A. has taken an active part in pressing
this matter upon the attention of Congress. No bill can benefit our
schools directly, and the efforts we put forth are purely for the
advancement of intelligence among the people. Our work is mainly in
preparing educated and spiritual leaders, and the more rapidly the
masses can be elevated the more effective and wide-spread will our
efforts become.
* * * * *
REV. J. E. ROY, D.D., Field Superintendent, is again in the New
York office, where his assistance has been desired each summer
by the committee; serving also in the absence of Rev. Dr. Pike,
occasioned by sickness.
* * * * *
THE Commencement of Berea College, Kentucky, will take place
Wednesday, June 21. College exercises in the forenoon. In the
afternoon an address from Rev. R. G. Hutchins, D.D., of Columbus,
Ohio.
* * * * *
REV. DR. HERRICK JOHNSON, of Chicago, has made a manly and
Christian fight against theatres. A little volume of 82 pages,
entitled “_Plain Talks about the Theatre_,” embodies his views, and
is entitled to a candid reading.
* * * * *
THOSE of our readers especially interested in the establishment
of the Arthington Mission will be pleased to read in the African
notes, published in this number of the MISSIONARY, reports of
continued activity on the part of different organizations in the
vicinity of Khartoum.
COLORED JOURNALISM IN THE SOUTH
Our colored brethren have been by no means lacking in journalistic
ambition. Considering the short space of time they have had in
which to develop the literary talent, I think they have done
remarkably well. There have been many undertakings in this line,
and of course a good many failures. Having seen in the Western
States a great many ephemeral newspapers, which ran their course
briefly and then vanished away, I am prepared to say that the
percentage of newspaper failures is no greater among the negroes
than the whites. Newspapers are very frail and mortal creatures,
and to many of them it is appointed to die. Few of them can lay
claim to immortality; like the human race, most of them die in
infancy. Yet there are now more than fifty papers published by
colored men, mostly in the Southern States. The State of Georgia
has five; North Carolina has seven. As the general intelligence of
the people increases, the usefulness of these papers also enlarges.
There is a good deal of race pride among the colored people, and
they greatly enjoy the achievements of their race, whether in the
field of journalism or elsewhere. Of course they are not trained
to habits of close criticism and literary discrimination. Like
all whose education has not been very extensive, they delight in
high-sounding phrases and long, sonorous words. Most of their
editorials are somewhat open to criticism in this line, yet there
are not a few examples of crisp, clear, terse, vigorous English
which are refreshing to read in these pedantic days.
As a general thing these papers are edited by the younger
generation of men, graduates from the A. M. A. colleges or
elsewhere. No others have sufficient ability or perseverance to
make a success in this line. They are mostly Christian men, and
they print many articles upon temperance and other practical
virtues, which are sadly needed here both among black and white. So
these papers exert a widespread and generally beneficial influence,
going into many homes that have no other reading. Like his white
brother, the negro sometimes forgets to “pay the printer,” and
hence there is an occasional suspension for lack of funds. So there
is in the North as well.
More and more, as they increase in knowledge and in property, there
will be a greater demand for good newspapers. The schools and
colleges of the A. M. A. are calculated to have a wide influence
in this field, training up writers and thinkers who shall through
their periodicals exert a great deal of power. Besides preaching
and teaching, there is to be in the future of the Anglo-African a
vast field of usefulness in journalism. The power of thinking, and
of putting thought into effective words, is to be more and more
developed in these schools. Here then is a new argument for the
thorough and adequate maintenance of the church and school work,
to raise up men and women from among this patient race who shall
prove, even as many of them are proving now, that “the pen is
mightier than the sword.” The occasional crudity of expression, the
extravagant adjective and preposterous grammar, must and will give
place to true thinking and correct expression, under the steady
polishing and mental training of our schools. Fresh vigor, greater
power, wider and more salutary influence of the newspaper, will
follow the inexact and “scattering” articles which have more or
less prevailed, inevitably.
* * * * *
THE KIND OF UNIVERSITY MOST NEEDED IN THE SOUTH.
BY PROF. HORACE BUMSTEAD, ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, GA.
A university, in the old-world sense of the term, is an institution
where all the branches of the higher education are taught,
and these alone. In our country the name is often adopted by
institutions as a prophecy of what they hope to become, while their
present work is almost wholly that of elementary instruction--a
work which they expect eventually to outgrow.
So far as the institutions of the American Missionary Association
are concerned, I am inclined to think that there is a nobler
ideal to be realized under the name of university than any feeble
imitation of older institutions. A field is open here in the South
for the development of an institution such as the world has not yet
seen, and which, in a somewhat new but not unnatural sense, would
justify its claim to be called a university.
The university which missionary effort can make most useful in the
South is one that shall represent, in their most perfect form,
all the successive grades of education from lowest to highest. It
should be prepared to train ordinary pupils of all ages rather than
extraordinary ones of mature age only. It should also provide ample
facilities for normal and industrial training, now so much needed
in all the South. But especially it should magnify and dignify
the work of primary instruction, regarding this as a permanent
feature of its work, and not as an unavoidable evil to be shaken
off as soon as possible. It should neither undervalue nor neglect
the higher education. This should be held up as a worthy object of
aspiration for all who show themselves fitted to receive it, by
thorough work lower down. Such an institution would present, under
one management, a kindergarten, or something like it, a graded
school, a normal school, an industrial department, an academy, a
college, and in course of time the professional schools.
In favor of such a university several reasons may be given. In
the first place, the interests of the higher education would be
better served by such an institution than by one devoted to the
higher education alone. It is taken for granted that the Freedmen
and their descendants, for whom largely our institutions are
established, should, like all other people, have the opportunity
of the higher education given them to the extent of their ability
to receive and use it. The welfare of the masses demands that we
train up leaders of intelligence and principle. That this work is
not being overdone at present is evident from the fact that only
ninety-one college students are reported in all the institutions of
the American Missionary Association put together, and only about
fifty in all have ever been graduated from our college courses
since our work in the South began. Now, the principal reason why
our work in the higher education has been so limited, has been the
great scarcity of suitable material for college classes; and the
reason of this scarcity has been that our preparatory departments
have not been able to get hold of their pupils early enough. Pupils
come to us heavily handicapped by a lack of proper training, moral
and intellectual, in early childhood. Now, who can doubt but that
the universities that are going to have the best college classes
twenty years from now, and do the best work, will be those that
soonest put the kindergarten, or some equivalent of it, underneath
all their present courses of study, and thus manipulate the
entire education of their pupils from the age of five onward? A
thoroughness and symmetry of training could be realized by such an
arrangement which would be scarcely possible under any other.
But a second reason in favor of such a university is the invaluable
help it would render to the cause of general education. Here let
it be explained that it would not be the purpose of the proposed
institution to take the work of preparation for college out of
the hands of preparatory schools elsewhere; nor would it expect
to carry all its own beginners through to the end of its higher
courses. It would, however, if properly manned and equipped, expect
to show what might be called _specimen work_ from the bottom to
the top of an education. Such work would be a stimulus to all
other schools of whatever grade, and the methods employed in these
schools would gradually come to be patterned after those in vogue
at the university. The more the lower work of the university was
duplicated elsewhere, the more would its own recruiting ground for
the higher courses be enlarged, and the wider would its influence
become.
A third reason in favor of such a university concerns the
association of normal and industrial departments with the
collegiate. It should be our aim to cultivate manhood and womanhood
rather than mere scholarship. The culture we give must be guarded
from selfishness. The practical uses of all education must be kept
prominently in view, and especially the urgent need of trained
teachers and artisans. The dignity of labor must be emphasized. On
the other hand, our normal and industrial work should be guarded
from the narrow and materialistic spirit into which such training
is sometimes apt to fall. Now, the association of all these
departments under one general management will surely bring to each
from the others some salutary restraint or broadening influence.
In connection with the practical aim of such a university, I
desire to specify two features which should characterize it, both
of them rendered necessary by the same cause--the almost entire
lack of true homes among the people we are seeking to uplift. In
consequence of this deplorable lack, two duties press upon us:
first, to obviate the difficulties arising from this cause in our
present educational work, and second, to remove the cause.
The first of these duties suggests the kindergarten, already
proposed. I use this term for the lack of a more convenient one;
contending simply for _some_ system of training for children
under the usual school age. Among cultivated people, and even the
intelligent farmers and artisans of cultivated communities, every
home is a kindergarten--a preliminary training-school for the eyes,
hands, brains, and hearts of toddling and prattling humanity.
Very few such are to be found among the poorer classes of the
South. Hence arises the necessity of beginning our work earlier
than elsewhere, and using appliances which elsewhere might seem
superfluous. But it will not be enough to have the kindergarten
composed entirely of day scholars from the neighborhood. There
should be a special building for a children’s home, with an able
matron and assistants in charge of it. Into this could be gathered
from a wider territory as large a number of little boarders as
might be thought desirable. The inestimable advantage of this
arrangement would be that a considerable number of children
would thus be separated from their unfortunate surroundings for
twenty-four hours each day instead of six, and for seven days in
the week instead of five. From this number, in after years, would
undoubtedly come our best material for the college and normal
classes.
But a second pressing duty is to help the growth of true homes
among these people. This must be done largely through the girls who
come under our care. For this also a separate building should be
provided as a housekeeping school. It should be constructed like an
ordinary dwelling-house, with such conveniences within and around
it as civilized people aim to secure. It should not be too large,
lest the coziness of home be lost. It should have a parlor with
pictures and books. It should have a garden with flowers and shade
trees. Above all it should have the most commodious and convenient
kitchen and pantry that can be arranged. Let a dozen girls together
occupy this house for a fortnight at a time--all those in the
university taking their turn in the course of the year. Let some
good woman, as near like Mrs. Cornelius or Marion Harland as can
be found, be put at the head, and let her teach these girls how
to cook, sweep, dust, make beds, set the table, wash the dishes,
and in general how to make home as attractive as our Christian
civilization knows how.
Finally let it be observed that such a university would be simply
an expansion of what is now being done in our present higher
institutions, and which the force of circumstances has compelled us
to do. Why should we not accept it cheerfully as the mission which
Providence has given us, and by a deepening and broadening process
convert our present universities into something that shall bring
new honor to the cause of Christian education?
* * * * *
BENEFACTIONS.
The late Thomas M. Reed, of Bath, Me., bequeathed $3,000 to Bangor
Theological Seminary.
Mr. Reed, of Boston, has given $5,000 to the Hampton N. and A.
Institute.
Mr. Ahok has given £10,000 towards the Methodist College in Fuh
Chou.
Sir Erasmus Miller has given £10,000 to endow a pathological chair
at an institution in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Yale College is to receive $50,000 for a laboratory from Messrs.
Thomas and Henry Sloan, in honor of their father, William Sloan.
Thomas McGraw, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has given $50,000 for the
endowment of the President’s chair at Amherst College.
Mr. Holloway, of England, has conveyed to the trustees of the
Enghaman Institution, for the higher education of women, £400,000
for endowment purposes.
Iowa College has received $1,500 to be known as the Ellingwood
Scholarship Fund for the education of ministers.
Hackettstown Seminary, N.J., has received $15,000 from Mr. Geo.
I. Seney, of Brooklyn, N.Y., for the liquidation of its debt of
$36,000, which is now entirely provided for. The property of the
institution cost $175,000.
Mr. John F. Slater, of Norwich, Conn., has given $1,000,000 to a
Board of Trustees, the income of which is to be applied for the
education of the recently emancipated race in America.
_We are happy to report that our appeals for endowment for
Talladega College have met with additional responses since the
statement given in our February number. One friend has given $5,000
towards the endowment of the President’s Chair, and another has
pledged $5,000 for the Theological Department._
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
AFRICA.
--W. F. Mieville has been appointed English consul at Khartoum.
--Ambassadors from Abyssinia have gone to Cairo to regulate the
question of the frontiers and to seek the appointment of consuls of
the two countries--of Egypt and of Abyssinia.
--After working with an indefatigable zeal to gather the means
necessary to the establishment of a new mission, Mr. Coillard will
set out with his wife in May to found a station between the Zambeze
and Lake Bangueolo.
--Mgr. Taurin Cahaque, apostolic vicar, has made from Harrar an
excursion among the Gallas and founded a station around which he
hopes to gather a Christian colony.
--The council of ministers at Cairo has decided upon the complete
abolition of slavery in Egypt. Abdelkader Pasha has been nominated
Governor of Soudan. A special administration of the Soudan has been
created at Cairo with the purpose of making out the statement of
receipts and expenditures of that province and of re-organizing
the military service with a view of maintaining order upon the
Abyssinian frontier. It will take measures for the complete
suppression of the slave trade.
--A company with a capital of 150,000 livres sterling has been
formed under the name of River Gambia Trading Company, to develop
commerce on the Gambia, which is navigable for 640 kilometers.
--The Church Missionary Society has established at Lokodja, near
the confluence of the Niger and the Bénoué, a school to teach the
native instructors the English language and the language spoken
along the lower Niger.
--Mgr. Lavigerie, promoter of the missions of Algeria, has
transferred to Malta the college which was formerly at St. Louis,
to prepare a medical faculty for the Negroes of Equatorial Africa
and the Soudan.
--A dispatch from Tripoli to the _English Journal_ announces
that 600 native Algerians of the Chambas tribe have proceeded to
Ghadamès to demand the punishment of the Touaregs who assassinated
the missionaries and ill-treated the Chambas.
--In a war between the tribe of the Paums and that of the Veys,
sustained by the government of Liberia, the latter have been beaten
and in part massacred, and the survivors have fled to Cape Mount,
where help has been given them by the American missionaries. The
government of the United States has sent the ship Essex to aid the
troops of Liberia against the Paums who intercept communication
between Monrovia and the northwest whence they obtain palm oil.
--Dr. Krapf, one of the pioneers of missionary work in Central
Africa, has just died. Entering the service of the English missions
in 1837, he sailed on the Tiger, the Choa and the Amhara. Not
being able to enter the country of the Gallas by the north, he
conceived the project of attacking the continent by the east, and
in 1844 commenced with his friend Rebmann the mission of Mombas.
His travels gave impulse to the discoveries of the last 25 years.
Since 1856 he has been living at Wurtemberg, occupying himself with
literary works upon the languages of eastern Africa.
[Illustration: INDIAN MEDICINE MAN.]
THE INDIANS.
--The Superintendent of the Indian School at Caddo recently
prepared a concert exercise with an illuminated Jacob’s Ladder. The
sides and steps were covered with tissue paper of different colors.
On each step were five wax tapers which lighted up cornucopias
filled with candies. A lecture was given on Jacob’s Dream,
accompanied with appropriate music, etc. Over 80 Indian children
were in attendance. The occasion is said to have been a grand
and beautiful one, cheering beyond thought to the heart of the
Christian workers.
--Rev. S. G. Wright, of Leech Lake, Minn., writes: Our school was a
real success. Several of our scholars began a life of prayer during
the winter, and all were much improved. The Christian women who
were converted when we were here before still regularly sustain a
prayer meeting. We have just buried one of our staunch Christian
men. His daily life in all places was a living testimony to the
power of the Gospel to save even this poor despised people. In his
long sickness of five months he exemplified the patience of the
Gospel.
--Tindestak, Alaska, is a Chilcat village of 16 houses and 162
people. Each of the houses cost the Indian owners over a thousand
dollars. Their desire, however, for the Gospel was so great that
the whole population left the village last October and moved to
the new mission station at Willard that they might have school and
church privileges.
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
REV. JOSEPH E. ROY, D.D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
AFTER THE SOWING, THE REAPING.
BY SUPERINTENDENT ROY.
It was at Athens, Ga., a city whose classical name has had
associated with it the University of the State. Sixty-five years
ago, my father’s pastor at Basking Ridge, N.J., Dr. Robert Finley,
left there a church of 600 members and an academy in which he had
trained Theodore Frelinghuysen, Senator Dayton and other such men,
to come and serve a church of only a score of members, and the
University as its President. I look up here his sepulchre and learn
of the savor of his godly influence.
In 1867 the Knox Institute is built, a large two-story frame
structure, with four school-rooms in it. For four years this is
occupied by our Northern teachers. Meantime students are going
forward from the “Knox” to Atlanta University; and then some of the
advanced students of the latter institution are sent one by one, to
serve as principals with colored assistants. In this way came S. B.
Morse, John McIntosh and J. G. Hutchins. The last-named receives an
appointment to a clerkship in Washington, and a recent graduate of
the University, Paul E. Spratlin, is appointed as Principal with
three lady assistants. Morse has now a position in the Custom-House
at Savannah, and McIntosh is a representative of Liberty County in
the legislature.
The Superintendent finds that the time has come to start a church.
The building is repaired and one of its rooms fixed up for a
chapel. Mr. George V. Clark, a student of the “Atlanta” and a
graduate of the Theological Department of the Howard University, is
secured. He, with his yoke-fellow Spratlin, starts a Sunday-school,
a prayer meeting and preaching services. Affinity draws to them
friends who are longing for something more quiet, orderly and
intelligent in church life. Then a revival this spring adds eight
disciples to the nine who are ready to come into a new church
by letter. And so a Council meets here on the 14th of April to
recognize the church and ordain the pastor. They find everything
in an orderly condition. There are present from Atlanta Prof. C.
W. Francis, Pastor Evarts Kent and his delegate, Deacon A. J.
Delbridge and Superintendent Roy; from Marietta, Pastor E. J.
Penney; from Macon, Pastor S. E. Lathrop; from Orangebury, S.C.,
a delegate; also Rev. Dr. C. W. Lane, Pastor of the Presbyterian
Church in this city. Professor Francis is made moderator and Rev.
E. J. Penney, scribe. The church process and the examination of the
candidate are heartily approved.
By the courteous invitation of the African M. E. Church, the
public services are held at night in their house of worship,
which is packed with an assembly of 500 people. The sermon is an
eloquent portrayal of the Apostle Paul’s desire and prayer to God
for Israel that they might be saved. The moderator propounds the
Confession and Covenant and gives to the new church the right hand
of fellowship. Mr. Lathrop then presents a royal octavo Bible
printed in Boston in 1822 and bearing in gilt letters on the
front cover the inscription “Mary Walker, 1828,” who has herself
now reached the age of four-score and five. The book seems to be
good for another fifty-four years of service. Mr. Lathrop also
presents from the Congregational Church at Chagrin Falls, Ohio,
a communion set in good condition, although it has been used by
that body of believers for forty years. Deacon Delbridge makes
the best suggestion, namely, that as they are now enjoying the
fruit of the prayers and labors of the abolitionists, of whom
at the time they had known nothing, so now the new church is to
enjoy this hallowed service for the Lord’s table which has come to
them from Christian friends whom they had never known. Professor
Francis states that Rev. Mr. Walker, who at the University had
taught some of these same members, had come from that church in
Chagrin Falls, and so had doubtless used these same communion
vessels before them. The crowning gift of the occasion is that of
Mr. S. D. Smith, of Boston, of one of his American organs, which
is used for the first time on this occasion. It would do him good
if sometime he could catch the voice of these lowly poor as they
bless God for his thoughtful and abounding beneficience in this
line. The prayer of ordination as offered by Rev. Evarts Kent is
apposite and touching. The charge is delivered by Prof. Francis,
who, alluding to his having led this man to school, to Christ and
along the paths of learning, says that it is no new thing for
him to be charging this candidate, but as this is about his last
chance he must improve it well. The right hand is given by Mr.
Penney, a cousin and schoolmate of the new pastor. The address to
the church is delivered by Dr. Lane. His venerable appearance, his
cordial manner and his gracious words are a benediction to the
occasion. Dr. Lane having been baptized by Dr. Edward Payson, was
thirteen years of age when he was removed with his father’s family
from Portland, Me., to Georgia. When I first came to look up this
matter, I went to him for advice and found him ready with sympathy
and co-operation. When Mr. Clark came the Doctor offered him the
use of his library, gave him judicious counsel, and, by a writing,
turned over to him a monthly appointment three miles out, in a
house which his church had built as a union place of worship for
the colored people.
On the Lord’s day, the eight who come by profession receive baptism
at the hand of the pastor by immersion in the Oconee, which flows
by the city. At night I have the privilege of participating with
the church at their first communion season, when the ancient
vessels of the Lord’s house, new to this band of disciples, enter
upon their new round of service.
After the sowing, the reaping. The Knox School and the Atlanta
University have been growing the timber for this house of the Lord.
Several of the members have had that training and the teachers were
thus prepared. It takes time to raise up a native ministry. A few
years ago a boy who was a porter in an Atlanta hotel was started
on his way to school, and now the same comes along the Christian
pastor, ripened under the sun of our Southern institutions, an
able minister of the Word. Much of our fruitage has been gathered
into other churches. Now we garner up something of our own harvest.
* * * * *
THE ALABAMA CONFERENCE.
BY MRS. H. W. ANDREWS.
The day came at last for our annual pilgrimage to the Mecca of
Congregationalism in Alabama--our Congregational Conference. It was
perfect, as Southern spring-days are apt to be--woods and fields
bright with flowers and merry with bird songs. The pastors and
delegates, filing from many directions, met at depots, their very
greetings the happy premonitions of a good time. Selma seemed to be
the place of rendezvous, and the cars from thence to Marion were
quite well filled, as in the latter place the conference was to
convene.
I regret to mar my recital here by that which alone I take no
pleasure in writing. Some otherwise excellent railroad officials
thought we were anxious to ride in the same car with our pupils,
teachers, and church members, _because_ they were black,
while really the young people were only asking for what their
_first-class tickets_ called for. I would like to raise a question
here. What can be done about these _first-class_ tickets sold to
colored people, compelled to take passage on them in second-class
cars? We missionaries are most heartily in favor of a peaceable
solution of this question. A quarrel takes time and nerve, and
hinders Christian development and progress; yet some apt person has
said, “If you have got to have one, there is nothing like it.” I
hope that we shall be wise enough not to have one.
Once at Marion, how cordial and hearty the greetings! We forgot our
tribulations by the way in the warm hearts and friendly tones of
co-laborers. The houses of some of our Southern friends were open
to us for entertainment, and we very much enjoyed their sincere and
graceful hospitality.
The Sunday-school Convention, held previous to the Conference,
but in connection with it, was opened by a sermon from Rev. G. W.
Andrews; text, “The word of the Lord is tried.”
To do justice to the interest of the Convention on Saturday would
require all of the space allotted me. Sunday-school reports given
by delegates from the various schools were never more interesting.
The work of temperance in all the schools was a chief feature. One
colored brother expressed it pithily, if not grammatically, when he
said, “Dere seems to be a skim ober de eyes of mos’ of my brederen
on dis gret subjec.” In the temperance work among the children, to
save them we must keep this “skim” from forming.
In the afternoon an interesting map-lesson, “The Journeys of our
Saviour through the Holy Land,” was given by a colored brother,
though of the Anglo-Saxon race. If a query arises in the minds of
my readers, it may help to make it clear when I say that though
black he is white.
The Conference opened Saturday night with a glowing and effective
sermon by our Field Superintendent, Dr. Roy. How easy it seemed,
while listening to him, to make sacrifices for the dear name that
every Christian loves.
In the much regretted absence of President DeForest, of Talladega
College, Rev. G. W. Andrews filled his place, and as it was
communion Sabbath, spoke from the words, “I am the bread of
life.” That it satisfied the hunger of many new disciples was
evidenced before us by the nineteen who were taken into the church
that morning and partook for the first time of this emblem of
the life-giving power of our Saviour. The beating rain without
only made the comfort, security and sweet peace within the more
precious. As we looked into one and another of the formerly hard
faces of these new travelers in the narrow way we felt how great
the reward of the faithful laborers who have been instrumental in
putting the new song into their mouths. It added to our personal
interest in them that the pastor and wife had told us of the
especial efforts on the behalf of each one.
Sabbath afternoon was given to the children, but the rain kept them
at home and also hindered the night service. Rains in Alabama are
surely as emphatic as Miss E. B. Emery with her impressive pen,
claims they are in Boston, and this season the disposition of each
rain is to develop a flood.
On Monday, after the very spiritual devotional exercises which
preceded the beginning of each morning session, the business
of organization was attended to, followed by reports from the
churches. I have wondered why it is that these reports so often
considered “dry” in the North, should in this Southern work always
be so full of interest. Is it that the Spirit here is “poured out
like water”?
An interesting paper upon “What caused the intellectual darkness
of our ancestors and how shall we avoid a like repetition?” by Mr.
Y. B. Sims, was well spoken of by all as thoughtful, earnest and
suggestive.
Next there came a masterful paper by Rev. O. W. Fay, of Montgomery,
on the “New Revision, its excellencies and defects.” Some of us had
listened to Dr. Schaff on this subject of the revision last summer
at Chautauqua, and we felt that the Dr. Schaffs were multiplying.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in examining three
candidates from the Theological Department of Talladega College
for licensure. As it was not my privilege to hear the examination,
I noted the words of a very competent judge who said that their
careful and correct answers showed the thoroughness of their
theological training. The harvest is plenteous and the laborers are
multiplying.
Another feast of the meeting was enjoyed at night in the address
of our Field Superintendent, Dr. Roy, upon the “Geography of
missionary work in the United States, more particularly in the
Southern field.” Capt. C. W. Lovelace, of Marion, a warm friend
of the work, requested a repetition of a portion of it on the
following night and brought with him several of his white friends
to hear it. They expressed satisfaction and profit at so much
information. Some hearts among our Southern friends are evidently
taking hold of the work with us; now what should hinder their hands?
Tuesday morning was given to pastoral work and ministerial culture,
and the question how to promote revivals was participated in by all
the brethren, who were limited to ten minutes in their speeches.
Some thought this the richest morsel of the feast.
Rev. O. D. Crawford, of Mobile, gave a paper in the afternoon,
subject, “Obedience to the law, evidence of saving faith,” which on
account of absence I regret not being able to report.
The “Praise Meeting” at night, the last of the four days’ session,
was indeed such in spirit and in fact. I was never in a meeting
that seemed so to flow with Divine love as did this one. The spirit
of God seemed to envelope us like a great mantle, and out from its
rich folds were _felt_ the praises to His all-glorious name.
The warmth of our reception, the care and attention bestowed upon
our comfort during our stay, made us regret, on departing, that our
good-bye must be said for five years.
* * * * *
BITS OF FUN AND FACT.
MISS L. A. PARMELEE, MEMPHIS, TENN.
After reading the grave columns of the last MISSIONARY I am tempted
to offer it a few bits of sense and nonsense out of my notebook of
current events at Le Moyne.
From one day’s spelling papers I cull these specimens: “Destroy;
to make away with. She destroys biscuits.” “Deviate; to wander. I
deviate along the Mississippi.” “Deliver; to set at liberty. He
will deliver a sermon.” “Detention; the act of detaining. The man
was a detention man.”
A youth fresh from the wilds of Arkansas defines squall as “an
Indian woman,” and is puzzled to understand why the class laugh at
his words. He is a good Bible student and laughs in turn when he
hears a debater at Literary Society clinch his argument in these
words: “When Adam was turned out of the garden of Eden wasn’t he
told to earn his bread by the sweat of his eyebrows?” A visitor
in my Bible class recently objected to our Lord’s answer to the
Sadducee’s question of whose wife shall she be. “Christ ought not
to have answered as he did. He ought to have said she shall belong
to the first man or the last man. His answer has caused a great
deal of confusion in men’s minds.” It is a pity the objector cannot
join the theological class.
A regular member of my class lately asked me to find the verse
in the Bible where it said that “A man is more dear to God than
a woman is.” I had never heard of such a passage of Scripture,
but it seems that people in this country often have. The question
reminded me of a remark made in Literary Society: “This school
ought to draw in bad characters and trust in God to straighten
them.” We trust some are being straightened. The first of the year
came Miss Anna Gordon with a charming temperance talk and object
lesson of burning alcohol. Her remarks made a decided impression.
Several young people at once abandoned the use of toddy, egg-nog
and similar drinks. The temperance text-book and temperance charts
have deepened the convictions and the gracious wave of religious
interest carried some wayward hearts up to the Rock that is higher
than we.
One of our last year’s graduates has charge of a school in Fort
Smith. We have just heard that a revival in her school numbers
thirty converts. When she first went there in July she induced a
band of young people to visit the jail and read and sing to the
prisoners. Five men under sentence of death wrote a note of thanks
for the kindness shown them. The letter is so remarkable for its
neatness and beauty of penmanship, as well as for its pathos, that
I copy it verbatim:
U.S. JAIL, }
FORT SMITH, Ark., Sept. 2, 1881.}
To Miss Willie Phillips and Miss Emma Walker, Committee Young
Ladies’ Bazar:
LADIES: Allow us to thank you for your kindness, and to assure you
that our hearts appreciate your sympathy, as hearts bowed down with
a weight of woe only can.
It shows us that the world to which we are about to bid a long and
last farewell is not all evil, that amid the Sahara of careless
thought there bloom some oases of kindness for fallen, erring man,
some flowers of sympathy to perfume the pathway to the grave.
Accept then a tribute of respect wafted back to you from the
portals of the grave.
[Five signatures appended.]
* * * * *
MISSION WORK AT WILMINGTON, N.C.
MRS. A. E. FARRINGTON.
During this month I have held my weekly meeting with the women,
taught my Sunday-school class, sometimes numbering fifty, all
under ten years of age, held sewing schools for a part of our
school-girls, made twenty-five calls and arranged a library of
nearly three hundred books, which have been sent to me from various
places at the North. These are none of them new books, but are
such as I think will interest and instruct the children and young
people. Tuesday evenings I open my mission room for a reading room,
having papers and books for them to read while there and take to
their homes. By the kindness of friends at home last summer I
obtained the “Library of Universal Knowledge,” which the older
scholars use and appreciate highly; and those outside the school
are learning to consult it also as they come in Tuesday evenings.
We are rejoiced by the conversion of two young men of much promise,
one of whom will unite with our church next Sabbath. The other
is sick now and has been for weeks. We hope he may be spared to
do good among his people, but fear he may not. Both have been in
our Sunday-school for years. The work here seems to us to go on
very slowly, but I feel that the truth is taking deep root in many
hearts, and the fruits will yet be seen in upright Christian lives.
* * * * *
AFRICA.
* * * * *
MR. LADD’S JOURNAL.
_Friday, Dec. 16._--“Mourgan! Mourgan!!” Before it is fairly light,
the stars still shining brightly, everybody yells “Mourgan!”
Breakfast is the first thing thought of. At 7 o’clock we are
mounted, and on our way. It takes about two hours every morning to
get ready. The desert all the morning has been wider. As we emerge
from the narrow pass of Hashmilbal we come upon the dry bed of a
river. All along here the guides have set up numerous landmarks.
There are a number of apparent graves. We have passed the bodies
of hundreds of dead camels. We pass over a thousand a day. There
are more than ten thousand lining the desert-route from Korosko to
Aboo-Hamed! whose bones lie bleaching in the sun. If one lost the
way he could easily find it again by the carcasses that mark it.
We lunched at Hashmilbal. Then we left the mountains and launched
out upon the boundless desert, an ocean of sand. The mirage is now
all about us. Lakes in all directions, and not a drop of water to
drink, except what is in our “boot-legs” and skins. To say that it
is hot does not begin to express the truth. It is blazing hot! like
a fiery furnace! The sand shimmers and glows in the scorching rays.
We can see the heated air rising in great waves. Now we know what
a desert is! The doctor has a hard headache, but we push on and he
stands it bravely. We pass a mountain with a hole right through it.
We have made fully three miles an hour to-day, and do not stop till
we have been at it 12 hours. We go into camp about 7 o’clock at a
place called _El Mahdood_. The water holds out well. I am feeling
remarkably fresh.
_Saturday, Dec. 17._--Started at 6.40 this morning. We are still
on a boundless desert, and the heat is fearful. Mirage all about
us. Meet the mail and send back postals written on our camels. We
make an unusually long morning stretch of it in order to reach a
rock, under whose refreshing shade we take our lunch. This region
is named _Bahr El Hattab_. A slight breeze in the P.M. makes the
intense heat a little more endurable. The mountains in the horizon
do not seem to grow nearer. Our camels now have to be whipped and
urged along. About 4 P.M. we sight the tops of the mountains in the
region of Murrat. On and on we go in the darkness and silence of
the night, till finally, after about 13 hours of hard riding, we
pitch our camp in a sort of valley called _Ettella_. Mousa is about
used up, and is found crying.
_Sunday, Dec. 18._--We started at 6.50 this morning, and soon
entered a region of high mountains. Here we saw a number of green
bushes. Then we came out on a magnificent gravel plain. Mirage.
Toward noon we came to a partial oasis, where are a number, about
200, of palms bearing a fruit peculiar to this one locality. Then a
gorge. Then another valley with a few palms. Then passing a narrow
defile we entered, what for a fitting name I called the “valley of
lost souls.” Terrible heat. Slate mountains. On and on. No rest--no
lunch till we reach Murrat. It was nearly 4 P.M. when at last we
did arrive, and glad enough we were to throw ourselves down and
rest the remainder of the day. The camels must have water and
rest, too. There are 15 holes dug in the ground. Only three of them
contain water that can be used for camels, and that is not fit to
drink. Six men live here and keep the wells open. They also keep
goats and crows and a half-dead donkey, which the crows already
feed upon. After dinner, we had a pleasant chat with our Arab guide
and others. For now, with the help of signs, we are getting so that
we can talk quite a little Arabic. My Turkish is a great help, as
many words are the same. The camels’ backs are so sore that they
have to be seared with a hot iron. This is Sabbath eve, and I have
had one quiet hour all to myself out on the sand under the stars.
_Monday, Dec. 19._--We left the wells of Murrat at about 7 A.M.,
and came out into a vast plain. We met a party at the wells who
were eight days from Aboo-Hamed. We expect to make it in four. We
pass a region of immense granite boulders, one of them looking
exactly like a large cannon--sight and all. Mirage. We lunch
without shelter on the burning sand, in a region called _Bergat
Allouan_. In the afternoon, meet a party of three. We make for a
mountain pass, but it is dark before we reach it. But we push on
in the darkness. The camels are tired, and have to be whipped to
their work. One is quite used up, and his load is taken off and put
upon others. At last we camp in a mountain gorge, called _Cub El
Gorphas_. High wind. It is toward 9 o’clock before we stop for the
night. We have been at it over 13 hours to-day, and have made about
40 miles.