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[Illustration: JUNE, 1887.
VOL. XLI.
NO. 6.
The American Missionary]
* * * * *
[Illustration: CONTENTS]
EDITORIAL.
THE ADVANCE--APPEAL, 157
PARAGRAPHS, 158
LOOK ON THIS SIDE AND ON THAT, 161
THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED, 164
PLYMOUTH CHURCH, MINN, 165
FROM THE _Atlanta Constitution_, 166
THE SOUTH.
NOTES IN THE SADDLE, 167
SENATOR SHERMAN AT FISK UNIVERSITY, 169
REMARKS OF SENATOR SHERMAN, 171
A CHURCH AND A SCHOOL TO A COUNTY, 172
THE INDIANS.
SPEECH OF ELI ABRAHAM, 174
THE CHINESE.
HOME-LOVE VERSUS CHRIST-LOVE, 175
BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.
EXPERIENCE OF AN A. M. A. STUDENT TEACHER, 177
FOR THE CHILDREN.
MRS. TUCKER’S CONVERSION, 179
RECEIPTS, 181
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
Rooms, 56 Reade Street.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.
Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class
matter.
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT, Hon. WM. B. WASHBURN, LL.D., Mass.
_Vice-Presidents._
Rev. A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.
Rev. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass.
Rev. D. O. MEARS, D.D., Mass.
Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, Mo.
_Corresponding Secretary._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Associate Corresponding Secretaries._
Rev. JAMES POWELL, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Treasurer._
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Auditors._
PETER MCCARTEE.
CHAS. P. PEIRCE.
_Executive Committee._
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.
A. 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.
A. S. BARNES.
J. R. DANFORTH.
CLINTON B. FISK.
A. P. FOSTER.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D.D., 21 _Cong’l Home, Boston_.
Rev. J. E. ROY, D.D., 151 _Washington Street, Chicago_.
_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._
Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON.
_Field Superintendent._
Rev. C. J. RYDER, _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Bureau of Woman’s Work._
_Secretary_, Miss D. E. EMERSON, _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretaries; those relating to the collecting fields,
to Rev. James Powell, D.D., or to the District Secretaries; letters
for “THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY,” to the Editor, at the New York
Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters or post office orders may
be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York,
or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member.
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. XLI. JUNE, 1887. NO. 6.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
The _Advance_ will please accept our thanks. In a recent issue it
quotes almost the entire financial article published in the May
AMERICAN MISSIONARY, and then editorially comments as follows:
“The _Advance_ seconds the motion for a movement all along the
line to save the American Missionary Association from the calamity
of a threatened debt. May and June are magnificent months for
doing good things. The whole world opens out in beauty. Blossoms,
songs, abounding life, are everywhere. What a hint to close-clasped
pocket-books to come out from their hiding places and join with the
lilacs and apple trees and the birds and the forests and the fields
in making everybody happy with their generous outflow. The New West
is out of debt; the Home Missionary Society is out of debt. Let
ministers and churches and sympathetic friends see to it that when
the financial year ends the American Missionary Association can
join in the same glad refrain--_out of debt!_”
* * * * *
The prime object we have in view in urging our appeal for increased
contributions at the present time is that, if possible, we may
obtain relief from threatening financial embarrassment before the
summer months are upon us. When the ministers are in their own
pulpits, and when the people are in their own pews, then is the
time to make an effort. Unfortunately for some years past, we have
been obliged to make special appeals during the summer months. We
had no option. It was appeal or suffer. We have always felt the
disadvantage. We were obliged to call, and yet we were conscious
that those who ought to hear did not hear, and that many who heard
felt constrained to do more than they really could afford. Many a
time we would have gladly returned donations to friends who made
altogether too great sacrifice in giving what they did. Cannot this
evil be remedied? That is the question we wish to press during the
few weeks that are now passing. Brethren and friends, before the
vacation days come, can you not so roll up on your gifts to the
treasury of the A. M. A. that when the summer is fairly here and
you are gone to the mountains, to the seaside, across the ocean,
or elsewhere, our anxieties shall be allayed and the danger of our
being obliged to make special appeals shall be averted? “’Tis a
consummation most devoutly to be wished.”
* * * * *
Our Treasurer frequently receives gifts in the form of cherished
keepsakes. These keepsakes are associated with the memory of
loved ones now dead, and they represent much more than any
money value can measure. A widow, to whom a watch was the chief
material reminder of her husband, heard the appeal of the American
Missionary Association, and having no money to give, sends that
watch that it may be sold in the market and the money go into our
work. A friend of hers, who sent the watch to us, writes: “Favored
with but few of this world’s goods, yet not daring to plead this as
an excuse for not giving, she felt heavenly drawings to give to the
Lord this cherished memento of the dear departed one. Having known
her for many years as a Dorcas in the church, I cheerfully write
these few words, not because of the intrinsic value of the gift,
but because it is indeed the widow’s mite, and in God’s sight the
widow’s mite may be more than the costly offerings of the wealthy.”
Such gifts greatly encourage us, because they tell of affection and
devotion and sacrifice.
* * * * *
We wish to guard our work and friends from imposition. Not
necessarily imposition in the bad sense. It is to shield them from
making donations to objects that in themselves may be worthy,
under the impression that they are giving to the work of the
A. M. A., when they are doing no such thing. There are a great
many schools, of one kind and another, that have been started
at the South among the colored people by private parties, on a
purely independent basis. Complaint comes to us frequently that
circulars and letters begging for funds with which to carry on
these independent enterprises are being continually received, and
that funds are diverted from our treasury on that account. Many
contribute in response to these appeals under the impression that
they are giving to the A. M. A. These independent ventures differ
from our work in one very important respect. All our institutions
are under supervision and are held to a strict responsibility and
scrutiny. These others to which we refer are irresponsible and
not supervised. Many of them are carried on with what we should
consider a great lack of economy, and some of them are in the
field because those that control them were uncomfortable under
supervision. They knew too much to be counseled with and would not
be advised. We ask our friends to be careful in the confidence they
give to every applicant, who, taking the files of the AMERICAN
MISSIONARY, uses the United States post-office as a means of
gaining entrance to their homes and charity. We have no right to
dictate to our friends where they shall spend their money. That is
their own business. But we feel that it is our duty to advise them
of the complaints that come to us, and to put them on their guard
against imposition from every quarter.
* * * * *
THE COLOR LINE IN ART.--The Art Students’ League of New York
recently admitted to its membership Mr. Geo. Alex. Bickles, a
colored youth of nineteen years. He is the first colored student
ever admitted to the League. A few of the students were inclined
to be angry because he was admitted. They wanted to draw the color
line. They tried to work up a feeling of antagonism against the
management. They called a meeting of the students, introduced a
series of resolutions against the admission of colored students,
but they were ingloriously defeated. To add to their chagrin,
they were informed that even had their resolutions passed, the
management would have taken no notice of them. Mr. Bickles is a
bright young man, who until recently was a stable boy at Islip,
L.I. He has a remarkable talent for drawing and painting, and
his sketches are to be found in many a home in that Long Island
village. Several prominent Brooklyn gentlemen having summer
residences at Islip, recognized the young man’s ability and urged
him to quit the stable and study art. This is the reason why he is
now a student of the Art League, and there is this to his credit,
that he has been admitted to its membership upon the merit of
his work. In addition to being a good painter, he is also a fine
musician.
* * * * *
A German, who owned a large plantation and many slaves near
Savannah, Ga., at his death manumitted his slaves. Some of them
were his own children. Two of his boys he sent to Germany and
had them thoroughly educated. It was the design of the planter
to have his property go to his freed children, as they were the
only children he had. The war came and the State confiscated the
property. One of the boys has been for many years a missionary of
the A. M. A. He spends half an hour daily teaching German to the
daughter of a prominent white citizen. Our missionary writes:
“Yesterday, while busy teaching this little one, a visitor looked
in and asked the mother in German, ‘What are you doing?’ She
replied, ‘My little daughter is taking lessons.’ Visitor said
something about ‘nigger.’ The lady held up her hand, as the
stranger drew back in the next room, and said to him, ‘That is
the German translator.’ The visitor answered, ‘Is that the one?’
The conversation was now carried on in an undertone. Whenever
I go to discharge my duty at the above mentioned house, I am
kindly treated. Whenever I call on the German Lutheran minister,
Dr. Bowman, of Savannah, he treats me with kindness and respect.
The language of the visitor made little impression on me, for in
Germany I have been taught to respect an honest man, not his color.
The United States is a strange place.”
* * * * *
A CHILD’S FAITH.--A little colored boy was in the room where his
old grandmother was lying, suffering intense pain from rheumatism.
It was in the evening. As he was leaving and said good-night to
the old woman, she said: “Lewis, won’t you ask God in your prayers
to-night to make grandma better?” “Oh, yes, I will, and God will
make you better.” He went right away, and offered up his child’s
prayer that God might take away his grandma’s pains and make her
well. His mother, not knowing what had happened, incidentally asked
him if he had prayed for his grandma. The little fellow, thinking
that his mother knew all about it, replied: “Oh, yes, I did; but
God hasn’t done so yet. I guess he is seeing about it, but he’ll do
it.” Next morning he hastened to ask his grandma how she was. “I
am better, thank God, this morning,” came the answer. At once he
jumped about the room, clapping his hands, and cried out: “Didn’t I
tell you God was seeing about it, and I am so glad that he did it!
I knew he would!”
* * * * *
An educated Christian Chinaman, thoroughly acquainted with the
teachings of Confucius, made the following comparison between
Confucius and Jesus:
“They are like two bridges; they are both noble structures. You
admire the strength of the timbers and the way in which they are
framed together, forming the solid foundation and the graceful arch
rising about it. You walk on the bridge of Confucius; it is all
right till you come to the River of Death--there you see the black
waters rolling before you, and there is no plank on which you may
cross to the shore beyond. Jesus Christ is a completed bridge, over
which you may safely pass to the Heavenly Home and to the mansion
he has prepared for your eternal habitation.”
* * * * *
STANLEY AS A MISSIONARY.
In a recent interview between Mr. Stanley and a newspaper
correspondent, the distinguished explorer said: “I have been in
Africa for seventeen years, and I have never met a man who would
kill me if I folded my hands. What I wanted, and what I have been
endeavoring to ask for the poor Africans, has been the good offices
of Christians, ever since Livingstone taught me during those four
months that I was with him. In 1871 I went to him as prejudiced
as the biggest atheist in London. I was out there, away from a
worldly world. I saw this solitary old man there, and asked myself,
‘Why on earth does he stop here?’ For months after we met I found
myself listening to him and wondering at the old man’s carrying
out all that was said in the Bible. Little by little his sympathy
for others became contagious; mine was awakened; seeing his pity,
his gentleness, his zeal, his earnestness, and how he went quietly
about his business, I was converted by him, although he had not
tried to do it. How sad that the good old man died so soon! How
joyful he would have been if he could have seen what has since
happened there!”
And thus have these great explorers demonstrated the power of
sympathy and kindness even upon the most degraded of people.
* * * * *
LOOK ON THIS SIDE AND ON THAT.
There is a very ancient chestnut tree which has been shaken by many
a traveler on his way. One of its nutshells has a word of wisdom in
the story of two knights who contended about a certain shield. “It
was gold.” “It was silver.” Both were sure, for did they not see it
for themselves? Both were wrong, of course; people usually are who
see one side. There were two sides to that shield.
The point of view has to do with what one sees. For example, when
Rev. Doctor Field went South, the shield which he looked at on
the way was burnished gold. He saw it. He wrote a book about it,
which was honorable to his heart and to his eyesight. Everything
was lovely and of good report down South. It was faith, hope and
charity, but the greatest of all was charity. Then Editor Grady
came to New York and told us in eloquence and imagination of the
New South. The shield which he held up to us was gold studded with
diamonds. “Very well, let it be gold, that is what we want,” was
the hopeful response of tens of thousands until it has come to
be the mode to say, “Surely it is gold. The era of good will and
justice has come, and nothing either great or small remains for us
to do.”
Those of us who have been praying and working for “the acceptable
year of the Lord” could wish that this were so, but it remains true
that an intelligent view is not a one-sided view. People may run
through the South and get the view that leans to inclination. They
may have delightfully warm receptions, but it takes a good many
warm days to make a summer.
There is no doubt that there is a New South, that the beginning of
the dawn of a glorious morning is lifting itself up. Thoughtful
people in the South are realizing the trend of things. They
are attent to the problems which present themselves. They are
re-adjusting their opinions. A few leaders are coming into the
realm of convictions which are quite other than those they once
entertained. They are nobly meeting questions once ignored. This is
the prophecy of the golden year for which the American Missionary
Association has been expending itself. From the time when the
American Missionary Association planted its first Institution
at Hampton, Va., until its last one was destroyed so lately by
incendiaries at Quitman, Ga., it has waited patiently for Southern
recognition of its work. This has been coming gradually, and we
need not say that we appreciate it. Many have been convinced, some
are urgently exhorting us to increased activities and service.
Thoughtful Southern people do not look upon a population of another
race, now numbering about seven millions, which averages upwards of
seventy per cent of absolute illiteracy, with unconcern.
They begin to see what we are doing; they begin, in some
respects, to feel with us. They even, in some slight measure, are
co-operating with us.
This is the golden side. It is full of promise. But now if one
should see this, and see this only, he would make a great mistake.
That which centuries have cherished will not change in a life-time.
It is true that it does not require the heroism of the past years
for our teachers to go South now, but none of them, so far as
we have learned, have been spoiled as yet by being too greatly
honored. To illustrate the point of view, we quote from a recent
issue of the _Banner-Watchman_ of Athens, Ga. It reads: “About
8 o’clock in the morning of any school day a passer through the
streets of Athens is met by great swarms of negro children on
their way to be educated. * * * * The question naturally presents
itself, who feeds and clothes and buys books for these pupils? We
do not suppose that one negro in twenty has $10 worth of property,
and they are paid, too, the smallest wages imaginable, barely
sufficient to buy them coarse raiment and the plainest food, and
yet they all seem not only able to keep their children in idleness
(sic) but these children are nicely clad and have expensive books.
The question then arises, who pays for all this? And the conundrum
naturally arises, what are we educating these young negroes for?
What can we do with them? The field for educated whites is narrow
enough, and there is no opening for a learned negro, except the
pulpit and the school bench, and these two avocations are now
crowded to suffocation. Experience has taught that when you educate
a negro you incapacitate him for manual labor; and to be a hewer of
wood and drawer of water for the superior race is all the sphere
that the African ever has or ever will creditably fill. (We forgive
this unpremeditated murder of the Queen’s English.) Visit the chain
gangs of Georgia, or any old slave State, and you will see that a
little education, assisted by a linen duster, a cotton umbrella and
a hymn book, is the best recruiting sergeant that the penitentiary
has.”
“And yet the white people of our State, through the medium of
politicians and office-seekers, are taking an enormous load of
taxation on their shoulders (sic) to make convicts and vagabonds
of the only class of labor they now have. To substantiate this
statement we have only to refer to Athens before and since public
schools were established, and the history of our city is the
history of every place in the South where the whites have consented
to bear the burthen of educating the negro. There is (sic) ten
times as much stealing in our midst now as before free schools were
established, and the number of idlers has increased as many fold.
So it is unkindness to the negro to lift him above his position.”
In the same paper, a second article declares that the colored
schools are rapidly “becoming nuisances.”
Now, it would not be just to say that the sentiments quoted above
are those of the New South. They are not. It would be equally
erroneous to deny that these views would be accepted by the great
body of people living in the South. The New South to many means
simply a new South for white people. Those who have had the
misfortune to be the children of slavery are to most as yet not in
the newness.
There is a New South that is becoming awake to the possibilities,
the opportunities, and the duties, especially of the dominant race,
but he shuts his eyes to serious facts, and to many sad ones, who
is led to think that the movements which we herald with gladness
are the thought and feeling of any large significance, or that they
can do the work to which the American Missionary Association is
consecrated. It will, we fear, be a long time yet before the South
will become so new that it will spell negro with one _g_. And it
will be as long perhaps before the poor and despised shall be so
elevated and Christianized that people shall be ashamed to use two
_g’s_ where one is superfluous.
The appreciation which our work gains from noble and thoughtful
people in the South is the bright side. We love to look upon this.
But the fact that there are seven millions of colored people in
the South, and probably not more than five hundred well educated
colored preachers for them, is a fact not so bright. Our schools
and theological seminaries are bright spots in the darkness. While
we are grateful to note the fact that the thoughts of men are
widening, we know that there is need of faith and patience, because
there remains much land to be possessed. One need not go far from
what is hopeful to find enough to excite concern for the future,
and to urge him to relax no zeal to hasten the day when Christ
shall make all things new.
When Southern newspapers can still print the opinion that education
for the Negro is a recruiting agency for the penitentiary, and that
colored schools are nuisances, we may be sure that the anxiety of
thoughtful people, who are urging us to do a work which they cannot
do and know not how to do, is very real.
As to the truth of such opinions, which are very common in the
South, we have only to quote a sentiment of a modern philosopher,
viz., “It is better not to know so many things, than to know so
many things that ain’t so.”
* * * * *
THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED--NO. 1.
It seems to be a condition of every successful benevolent
undertaking that there should be a constant recurrence to
fundamental principles. The danger, in all mission enterprises,
is that they will become perfunctory,--about so much to the
society--rather than a contribution measured by the forces and the
interests involved in its work.
It is only when we see the _reason_ of things, and apportion our
gifts according to the significance and value of our work on the
Kingdom of Christ, that we give intelligently, wisely, steadily for
its promotion.
The friends of the American Missionary Association, we believe,
will thank us if we recall to their minds certain fundamental
things, of which the Association’s _work_ is only an expression.
_The Work_: Three historic heathen races are represented on these
shores and engage the labors of the Association. These races number
fully one-half of the human family, and, at least, three-fourths of
the un-evangelized portions of the world. For eighteen centuries
Christ has claimed them for his own, and long ere this would have
received them for his inheritance had his people been obedient to
his last command. But as we failed to go into all the world, he has
sent the world to us, until the vast empire of heathendom pushes
itself up to our very doors. Every day and every hour of the day
we touch thousands and millions of China and Africa, and might, if
we would, prepare them to be, respectively, the saviours of their
country. It is not only possible, but it ought to be an easy thing
to raise up out of the seven million blacks, out of the one hundred
thousand Chinese, and out of the two hundred and seventy thousand
Indians, teachers and preachers enough to give the gospel, with
all its accompanying light and power, to the unnumbered myriads
they represent still sitting in the shadow of death. The Chinese
are returning homeward at the rate of thousands a year, and will
all return, if they live, at their own charges. Who dare say it is
not in our power to send them back with enough of the knowledge
of Christ in their heads, and of his love in their hearts, to
guide themselves and their countrymen to Heaven? Who dare say
that we have not Christian power enough to bring every Indian in
the land under the subduing influence of the Gospel: that we have
not resources of _every_ kind adequate to preparing thousands and
tens of thousands of the sons and daughters of Africa to be the
regenerators of their country?
And yet we have been in contact with the Negro and the Indian
since the landing of the Pilgrims; and with the Chinese since the
discovery of gold on the Pacific coast, without perceiving that our
hand was on the unsaved millions of the globe, and that we had the
opportunity to move and master them for Christ.
Has blindness happened to our churches that they do not see the
meaning of the presence of these races here, and that they look
with such apparent indifference, not only upon questions of the
gravest political import in connection with them, but questions
involving the regeneration of continents? These populations are in
our hands, and will be what we make them. We may train them to be
the World’s teachers and leaders, or we may leave them and their
races to the old night of heathenism. It is such an opportunity to
do a magnificent Christian work for the human race as was never
before offered to man. To take advantage of this opportunity is
the special work of the American Missionary Association. And to
no society in _this_ or in _any_ land is there entrusted a work
broader in the possibilities of its influence, or mightier in the
sources of its power.
C. L. WOODWORTH.
* * * * *
PLYMOUTH CHURCH, MINNEAPOLIS, ONCE A BENEFICIARY OF THE A. M. A.
Dist. Sec. Roy, in his address before the General Association of
Minnesota, at Minneapolis, reported from official documents the
early beneficiary relation between the Plymouth Church of that
city and this Association. It appears that the Church, having been
organized in 1857, had Rev. Norman McLeod commissioned as acting
pastor in 1858, with $200 a year pledged. Under him the first
church edifice was erected. It was a frame structure, 32×62, that
cost $2,300, of which $300 was furnished by the “Building Fund.”
The Church had then fifty members. In 1860 Rev. H. M. Nichols was
commissioned at the same rate for the same Church. During his
first year of service that new meeting-house was burned by the
incendiarism of the saloon interest. A young man from New England
in three years had run down to delirium tremens. Mr. Nichols was
with him at his death, and on the Sabbath, referring to this
affair in a temperance sermon, charged the murder upon the liquor
traffic of the town. The liquor sellers were present, and “were
infuriated like mad hounds.” Fifty ladies of the town waited upon
the rum-sellers, begging them to abandon their traffic. They were
answered by a flow of free rum that fired the crowd to do their
desperate work of burning the church by using kerosene and burning
fluid for kindling. An indignation mass meeting was held and a
vigilance committee of fifty was appointed to act. “The town,”
says Mr. Nichols, “will be cleared of liquor.” A revival was also
reported for that same year. But just as Mr. Nichols was about to
start east to solicit aid in rebuilding, he and his two children
and a brother-in-law, with his two children, were drowned in Lake
Calhoun.
In 1861 Rev. W. B. Dada was commissioned. The A. M. A. report
speaks of the place as an “important field,” and mentions another
revival as enjoyed there. The first man labored eight months; the
second, seven months; the third, nine. This has proven a good
investment, as the contribution of this Church the last year to
the A. M. A. was $508, and this is about the annual offering, and
its total of church benefaction the last year was $35,263. In these
years it has been a very mother of churches. It was this Church
that, in 1873, entertained the meeting of the American Board,
which had come to hold its anniversary upon the field of its first
mission among the Sioux Indians.
At that time, 1860, there were also two other churches in Minnesota
under the A. M. A., those of Traverse de Sioux and Brooklyn; and in
the West there were _seventy_ white churches under the commission
of this Association. Among them, those of Charlotte, Mich.,
Sandwich, Ill., and Waterloo, Iowa.
* * * * *
We take the following from the Atlanta _Constitution_. We publish
the whole of the article, from beginning to end, in order that
there may be no opportunity for drawing wrong inferences. The
_Constitution_ is edited by Mr. Grady. We consulted the editorial
columns to see if any editorial remarks had been made upon the
incident. We did not find any. Surely the man who made that famous
speech at the New England Dinner recently in New York could not
have been in his office. If he were, and allowed such an incident
as this to go unnoticed, very ugly inferences indeed must be drawn
in reference to that New England Dinner speech. Just what _is_ the
New South, anyway?
“Something of a sensation was created at Tillman’s tent service,
corner Hunter and Lloyd streets, yesterday afternoon. Early in
the afternoon two white teachers in the Clark University entered
the tent with eight or ten negro girls, who are students at the
school, and seated themselves. Soon after the party entered the
tent, ladies and gentlemen began arriving and in a short time the
tent was crowded. Every seat except those reserved for the colored
people was taken and many persons were standing up. One of the
ushers, with a view to supplying seats for some who were standing,
went to the negro girls and asked them to move to the seats set
apart for their race. The girl to whom the usher spoke referred him
to one of the teachers. Up to that time the usher did not know that
the negroes and the two white women were together, but turning to
one of them he asked her to have the negro women move to the seats
provided for their race.
‘Why should they move?’ asked the teacher.
‘Because they are in seats reserved for the white ladies and
gentlemen, and there are plenty of them standing. Those seats over
there are for colored people and those women can take them.’
‘Well, I don’t know that there is any distinction as to color in a
church and they won’t move,’ answered the teacher.
The usher seeing that a scene was probable if he insisted upon
the negro women moving, sought Patrolman Whitley, who was near
the tent, and telling him that the tent belonged to the Rev. Mr.
Tillman, asked him to remove the women. The patrolman entered the
tent and approaching the party, repeated the request.
‘Well, we are satisfied with these seats,’ said the teacher.
‘I can’t help that,’ said the patrolman, ‘this tent belongs to Mr.
Tillman and he wants these seats. Over there are seats for those
negro girls. You ladies can remain here, but they must move.’
‘What difference does color make?’ asked the teacher.
‘I don’t know, only I know they must move. Now if they don’t go
I will have to take you all out, and if I take you out I’ll make
cases in police court against you. I am sorry to disturb you, but
it is my duty.’
The two teachers and the negro girls held a consultation in a low
tone a few minutes, and then arising from their seats swept out.
When outside the tent one of the teachers called Patrolman Whitley
to her and said:
‘I was never treated so shamefully before. I never knew before that
one’s color made any difference in a church before the Lord.’
‘I don’t know what it does before the Lord,’ answered the
patrolman, ‘but down South here it makes a difference. In this
section we have nothing like social equality, and never will, in
church or out of church.’”
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
* * * * *
NOTES IN THE SADDLE.
BY FIELD-SUPERINTENDENT C. J RYDER.
In the “Notes” of last month I spoke of the floods that threatened
the destruction of plantations and villages in Western Mississippi.
From Mississippi I passed over into Texas, and this was passing
from flood to drought. In some sections of the latter State there
have been only two showers in as many years. Cattle are dying by
thousands on prairie ranches. Water is held at fabulous prices,
and in some sections it is impossible to get it, even for gold.
The reports of suffering which come from the Western part of the
State are painful in the extreme. All Christian hearts are turning
in agonizing prayer to Him “who holds the waters in His hand.”
Special prayer services are held in many places, and every Sabbath
petitions are offered in the pulpits for rain. It is a fearful
experience through which Texas is passing just now, and unless
relief comes speedily the loss of property will be enormous, and
the lives of the settlers will be endangered.
I wonder if there be any occult logical connection between the want
of water and the prohibition agitation? However that may be, Texas
is stirred to its centre by this temperance movement.
Next August a prohibitory amendment to the State constitution is
to be voted upon by the citizens. Churches, public halls and
school houses are filled almost nightly with interested and excited
audiences listening to the discussion of their political duties
concerning this great moral question. The leading temperance
advocates have confident hopes that this coming election will wheel
the Lone Star State into line with the goodly number of prohibitory
States. In the hotels, on the streets, in railway carriages,
everywhere, prohibition is the absorbing question.
In the cars, as I journeyed from Paris to Dallas, two gentlemen sat
just behind me. They were, of course, discussing this perplexing
question of prohibition, although from their arguments I learned
that they were both opposed to temperance legislation. One was
a Georgian, the other a Texan. They both freely admitted that
they “liked their bitters,” and neither believed in prohibition,
“because, you see, it wouldn’t prohibit!” Said the Texan: “There
always have been, and there always will be, certain besetting sins,
and you cannot abolish them by law. People have kept getting drunk
ever since Eve got drunk in the Garden of Eden, and I reckon they
always will, and you can’t prohibit it by law.”
Poor old mother Eve! The apple must have had hard cider in it. This
was the argument of a lawyer, and fairly averages the arguments
urged throughout the State against prohibition. Agitation and fair
discussion are all that are needed to convince every man that the
thing to do with crime is to prohibit it. Every A. M. A. preacher
and teacher was pronounced and energetic in his advocacy of this
sound temperance principle. The influence of these Christian
workers will be felt in the coming election. The colored vote is an
important factor in the settlement of this question, and our A. M.
A. workers will do their utmost to make it solid for prohibition.
* * * * *
The Sunday laws in Texas are strict and well enforced. Even at
the news counter at the hotels, cigars and tobacco are not sold.
Congregational leaven, or some other moral force, has agitated
society most healthfully. Texas is a worthy example to many of our
older States in respect to Sunday observance. There is now before
the Legislature a law prohibiting hunting on Sunday, and there is
every reason to believe that it will pass.
* * * * *
Tillotson Institute, the A. M. A. institution at the capital of the
State, is demanding better facilities and larger accommodations.
The school has outgrown its buildings. Its very prosperity makes
additional expense necessary in order to do the work that is now
pressing upon us. And there is every reason to expect still larger
success for the school in the future under the management of its
new president. It is the only institution which the A. M. A. has
in the State, and it holds a commanding position. If it is largely
and generously supported, its influence will be felt throughout the
entire State.
A ride of forty miles across the lonely prairie, starting at
midnight, was full of _possible_ romances and _imaginary_ dangers.
The boy who drove got out of the buggy repeatedly “to feel for the
road, sah.” As the track was so dim where other wagons had passed,
and as there were no fences to mark the road, the only way to find
it by night was to get down on one’s hands and knees and feel for
it. Houses stood ten, twelve, and even eighteen miles apart. Wolves
were all around us on the prairie. It would have been easy to have
fancied that one was in danger, but there was no real danger,
and when the light of the early morning came the ride was most
delightful. The prairie was starred with flowers; thorny cactuses
stood guard over more timid blossoms. Away back here on the prairie
is Goliad, and in it an A. M. A. church and school. An old Mexican
town, now in ruins, stands across a ravine a short distance from
the present village. Here, in 1835, the terrible massacre of the
American troops crimsoned the prairie grass. But it was the bloody
baptism of freedom! The fetters of Mexican tyranny were broken.
To-day this village is the centre of a large and exceedingly
fertile farming region. The A. M. A. church is feeble, but full of
hope and confidence. They own their meeting-house, and are thrifty
and prosperous. They are pushing towards self-support. One of the
church members teaches a day school. So in this out-of-the-way
village on the prairies of Texas the A. M. A. is sowing the seed of
a better Christian progress.
* * * * *
The local papers of Alabama have changed the spelling of the name
of that State, and write it now “Alaboomer.” It is an appropriate
change, for the whole State is in a fever of excitement over the
“booms” in real estate. This rise in the value of property means
increased work for the A. M. A. Children of small farmers can be
spared from cotton and corn field as their parents become more
prosperous, and thus our schools will be more crowded, if this is
possible.
* * * * *
SENATOR SHERMAN AT FISK UNIVERSITY.
By invitation of the Republican members of the Tennessee
Legislature, Senator John Sherman visited Nashville on his return
to Ohio from Cuba, and on the night of the 24th of March delivered
in the hall of the House of Representatives a public address on the
issues of the day.
Dr. Theo. L. Cuyler said, a few mornings since, in addressing our
students, that he had chosen to return home from New Orleans via
Nashville in order to visit Fisk University, though he could spend
only a few hours in the city; and that for a Northern man to come
to Nashville and not see Fisk, would be like going to Washington
and not seeing the Capitol.
The Mayor of Nashville followed the custom observed in the case of
other distinguished visitors, in providing in the programme of the
day for Senator Sherman and his party a visit to Fisk University.
Under the escort of distinguished citizens of Nashville, during
the present year we have had the honor of visits from Judge Kelly,
of Philadelphia, “the Father of the House of Representatives,” and
his traveling companions; Charles Dudley Warner and the Harper
party, and others. These occasions are always full of interest, and
the University becomes an object-lesson to teach and illustrate
the possibilities of Negro education; but Senator Sherman’s visit
was in every way so pleasant and significant that it will long be
a fragrant memory and quickening inspiration to both faculty and
students. The Senator’s party, largely increased in number by the
addition of distinguished citizens of Nashville and of the State,
and even of adjoining States, and under the escort of the Mayor of
Nashville, arrived in carriages at Livingstone Hall at half-past
eleven A.M. After a few moments had been spent in greetings and
introductions in the President’s room, all repaired to the chapel,
where the students had been assembled in the order observed at
our usual chapel worship. The Senator, on his appearance with the
president of the University at the head of the procession as the
guests filed into the chapel and took seats upon the platform,
was greeted with most hearty applause. The students then sang,
accompanied by the piano, organ and orchestra, “The Red, White and
Blue,” which called forth hearty applause from the platform.
President Cravath, in a few well-chosen words, then introduced
Senator Sherman. The students rose to their feet and stood in
silence with eager, upturned faces, until the Senator began his
address. His words were reported by one of the students, and were
full of the kindest sentiment and the soundest practical wisdom.
At the close of the address the Jubilee song, “Good News! The
Chariot’s Coming,” was sung.
At the request of Senator Sherman, Gen. Grosvenor, formerly
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and now member of Congress, was
introduced. He began by referring to the gallantry and bravery of
the colored soldiers under his command, who made the desperate
charge on the Confederate works on Overton Hill during the second
day of the battle of Nashville, and to the conviction expressed
then that the descendants of such brave, heroic men would under
freedom prove themselves worthy citizens of the country their
fathers fought to save from disruption. The General made an
excellent point in favor of higher education by an illustration
drawn from the war. He said: “When we called upon the colored men
to become soldiers, we put the best Springfield rifles into their
hands, for being under greater disadvantages than white soldiers,
they needed the best possible weapons. So for your success as
leaders and guides of your people under freedom, you need the best
weapons, and so the advantages of a higher education are provided
for you, and you should arm yourselves with the best discipline,
for you must fight your battles under unusual difficulties.”
Gen. Wheeler, a prominent citizen of Nashville, who fought on the
Confederate side, was next introduced, and spoke a few words of
most cordial greeting and congratulation.
The Mayor then tendered thanks in behalf of the party for the
cordial reception that had been extended by the University, and
announced that the limit of their time had been reached, so that
they must ask leave to retire. The whole party then visited Jubilee
Hall, and thus completed the inspection of the University. A
quotation from the report of an interview with Senator Sherman,
as published in the New York _Herald_ and quoted in the Nashville
_Daily American_ of the 3d of April, will best convey the
impression produced upon the Senator by his visit:
“Are the Southern Negroes devoting much attention to the matter of
education? I never saw anything like it. Their thirst for knowledge
has been greatly increased by the obstacles previously thrown in
their way. There are several excellent colored universities in the
South. Fisk University at Nashville is especially good. The young
men and women attending it are bright and very intelligent. The
young white people of the South must look well to their laurels or
their black neighbors will soon lead them in the race for mental
improvement.”
BY A TEACHER.
* * * * *
REMARKS OF SENATOR SHERMAN.
STENOGRAPHIC REPORT BY A FISK STUDENT.
This seems to me a very impressive scene. Most of you have grown
up, indeed most of you have been born, since the event that secured
your citizenship took place.
I am familiar with the object of “Fisk,” and Howard University in
Washington; both are engaged upon the same work and are a tower of
knowledge to a race of people that were denied all those privileges
now so dearly cherished and so valuable to everyone. It seems
almost an act of the genii or the golden lamp, like the story of
_The Arabian Nights_. The rapid changes that have occurred and now
are occurring, and the attainment of citizenship to a race that was
a short time ago denied these privileges, seem only to have been
made possible by the magical power of the wonderful lamp.
You are all now entitled by the Constitution and laws of the United
States to the privilege of citizenship. Thirty years ago this
could not be said of you in any State in the Union. Now, so far as
law is recognized, you have the same rights as the proudest man
or woman in the country. You must fit yourselves to enjoy these
privileges. I am now getting to be an old man. Let me give you a
word of advice. You must be patient in the progress you are making.
You must meet the prejudice of centuries. While you should assert
your rights with dignity, you must be patient, endeavor to command
the respect of those you meet, and you will see in the time near
at hand that you will be given all your privileges. You must be
guided and directed by the forces that govern all humanity, and,
therefore, while you have the rights of American citizenship, you
should do all that will materially help your race and those that
are to come after you. You must be patient if sometimes you meet
with difficulties and prejudice.
The Alumni of Fisk University will some day stand side by side with
the graduates of Yale and Harvard. To help on this passage are the
laws of education, the study of the sciences, the study of arts,
and the study of the practical development and various resources
you have at your command. It is this, young men and young women,
that is to help you.
Now, with these simple remarks, with no desire to excite you,
I again express the hope that the time will come when in the
North, South, East and West you will be recognized as a race and
as American citizens according as you behave yourselves and not
according to your color and condition.
* * * * *
A CHURCH AND A SCHOOL TO A COUNTY.
The “Mountain Work,” which the A. M. A. has undertaken in the
South, has a tendency to make those who engage in it enthusiastic,
and we in the field sometimes almost mistrust that even our
well-informed officers in New York, with all their appreciation of
the need and greatness of the work before us, are accustomed to
make a discount of seventy-five per cent. on all we write them. On
the other hand, we _know_ we have not been, and shall not be, able
to make anyone who has not spent weeks here realize one quarter of
the real needs of this field. One has to go into their poor homes
and see them in sickness and in death; come into contact with
them day by day, and feel the general intellectual and spiritual
destitution; see some of them taking on noble, Christian manhood
and womanhood, before he can fully comprehend the importance of the
work.
The A. M. A., burdened with debt and beset with calls from other
needy fields, has been able, so far, to devote but a small sum
to this work; yet the work has gone on marvelously. It has been
clearly shown what can be done.
I am sure the A. M. A. is ready to hear and heed the command of the
churches to go forward, and even to take as a motto: _A Church and
a School in every County in the Mountains_. It is with the hope of
contributing a little to such a result that I give the following
reasons why this should be done:
1. These counties contain from three to fifteen thousand
inhabitants each--some of them even more. In most of them there
is no day-school worthy of the name, no Sunday-school, no
prayer-meeting, no educated ministry, no churches in which pure
religion is taught or systematic work of any kind is done. The
majority of the people are good-hearted and respond readily to kind
words and acts of love. They live mostly in wretched, windowless
log-cabins, and know few of the blessings of a Christian land,
having no luxuries and few of those things which are generally
considered necessities. Physically, mentally and spiritually they
need teaching and elevating. For the sake, then, of the two and a
half millions already here, there ought to be a church and a school
established at once in the county seat, or chief place of every
county. From these centers the leaven would work through the whole
region, and other churches would spring up about them as they are
doing in Whitley Co., Ky.