[Illustration: MARCH, 1883.
VOL. XXXVII.
NO. 3.
The American Missionary]
CONTENTS
PAGE.
FINANCIAL—COST OF LADY MISSIONARIES 65
PARAGRAPHS 66
A PERMANENT NECESSITY 67
GENERAL NOTES 68
BENEFACTIONS 70
CONNECTICUT CONVENTIONS—ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 71
THE SOUTH.
LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL (with cut) 72
A WEEK’S WORK BY LADY MISSIONARIES 73
Selma, Ala.; Savannah, Ga.; Atlanta,
Ga.; Raleigh, N.C.; Montgomery, Ala.;
New Orleans, La., Washington, D.C.
VANTAGE GROUND NEEDED BY STUDENTS 80
CUT OF LADIES’ HALL, TOUGALOO, MISS. 81
THE INDIANS.
WORK AT S’KOKOMISH, W.T. 83
INDIANS WATCHING A TRAIN (cut) 85
THE CHINESE.
COMITY 86
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
LADY AGNES HAMILTON 88
RECEIPTS 89
* * * * *
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.
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. WM. B. WASHBURN, LL.D., Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
TREASURER.
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
AUDITORS.
M. F. READING. WM. A. NASH.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman; A. P. FOSTER, Secretary; LYMAN
ABBOTT, ALONZO S. BALL, A. S. BARNES, C. T. CHRISTENSEN, FRANKLIN
FAIRBANKS, CLINTON B. FISK, S. B. HALLIDAY, SAMUEL HOLMES, CHARLES
A. HULL, SAMUEL S. MARPLES, CHARLES L. MEAD, WM. H. WARD, A. L.
WILLISTON.
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, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West 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.
* * * * *
WANTED
$375,000,
Efficiently to prosecute the work in hand.
CO-OPERATION
Of every Congregational minister, and of every office bearer in
our Congregational churches to secure (_a_) an annual presentation
or the work, and claims of the A. M. A. in every Congregational
church; and (_b_) an annual contribution from every Congregational
church in the country for this great work.
HELP
Of every Congregational Sunday-school superintendent to secure from
his school a contribution to our “Student Aid Fund.”
AID
Of every Ladies’ Missionary Society to sustain our work among the
colored women and girls.
ENDOWMENTS
For Professorships and Scholarships in our schools. The time has
come when in our larger institutions the chairs of instruction
should be endowed, that the Association may be left to enlarge its
missionary work in other directions.
GIFTS
For the improvement of schools and churches already built, and the
erection of additional buildings, imperatively needed.
A SUBSCRIBER
In every family for our monthly magazine,
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY,
Subscription Price, 50c. per annum.
* * * * *
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXVII. MARCH, 1883. No. 3.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
Our receipts for the first four months of the present fiscal year,
ending Jan. 31, 1883, amounted to $85,555.11, an increase of
$1,661.72 over the amount received for the corresponding months of
the previous year. The legacies, however, this year, have amounted
to $25,141.83, against $9,191.72 for the year before, showing a
falling off in collections and donations of $14,288.39. We desire,
therefore, to remind our readers that the enlargement so greatly
needed and so deeply felt by the friends who attended our last
annual meeting and reviewed the work of the Association cannot be
accomplished unless the receipts are greatly increased.
* * * * *
We devote considerable space in this issue to a report of a week’s
work by our lady missionaries. We believe that what they are doing
is vital to the welfare of the families from which many of our
students come, and wish to commend the work and workers to the
prayers and sympathies of the patrons of this Association.
* * * * *
COST OF LADY MISSIONARIES.
We sincerely hope that those who read the record of a Week’s Work
by our lady missionaries will carefully consider the value of these
labors, and the importance of the question as to their duty in
aiding to supply the vast want that exists at the South for this
kind of Christian service. It takes four hundred and fifty dollars
to provide for a lady missionary for one year, including traveling
expenses, board and a moderate salary.
Are there not some societies of ladies who will pledge us the
amount needful, and by so doing have a missionary of their own
in the field? Are there not individuals who will promise as much
for the same purpose? We shall be most happy to answer inquiries
relating to details.
* * * * *
The pastor at Hampton writes: “Every night for the last two weeks
we have been having meetings for prayer, and the whole school has
been deeply moved. Many have already confessed their love for
Christ, and there are many now seeking Him. General Armstrong and
all the teachers are thoroughly in earnest in the matter. The
General made a most earnest appeal to the students last evening, in
which he said that nothing like it had been known in the history of
the school.”
* * * * *
We have received intelligence from Rev. D. K. Flickinger, D.D., who
has made in Liverpool, London and Glasgow preliminary inquiries
relating to the John Brown steamer. It was his purpose on reaching
Sierra Leone to learn definitely as to the necessary capacity of
the boat for the use of the mission. He hoped also to be able to
conclude contract with the Governor of Sierra Leone for carrying
mails and for doing other business which would be a source of
income to the mission without interfering with its special work.
* * * * *
Rev. J. M. Hall writes from the Good Hope Station of a prosperous
year’s work among the Mendi and Sherbro people. He says: “One year
ago yesterday I took charge of the spiritual work at this station.
We have had 48 eleven o’clock Sabbath services, 48 Sabbath night
services, 40 Wednesday night services, 360 early morning six
o’clock services, not including the class and children’s Friday
afternoon services. I have received eight persons into the church,
five on profession of faith in Christ, have baptized 25 children,
and married one couple. I have traveled two thousand miles in
search of medical treatment and in the interest of the mission,
notwithstanding that I have been confined to my bed and room
twenty-two times with this most dreadful fever. We trust that we
shall by the grace of God be enabled to do more the next year if
permitted to live. Our schools, both Sabbath and day, have been
well attended. The work is certainly a great one and I like it more
and more every day.”
* * * * *
The _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_ makes its appearance with
enlarged form and new dress. Its first cover page is tastefully
embellished to indicate the scope of work carried on by the
Baptist Home Mission Society. Its twenty-four pages are packed
with pertinent paragraphs, passages of Scripture, personals,
pictures, poetry, there being over one hundred separate articles,
items, etc., etc. It is edited with the pen, quotation marks being
particularly scarce. Care, literary skill and discernment have been
used in the selection and arrangement of topics, and wide range
has been given in the discussion of matters relating to the world
of missions. The work expended on this publication will stimulate
other societies in providing missionary literature abreast with
the demands of the age. We extend to our Baptist brethren our
gratulations.
* * * * *
A PERMANENT NECESSITY.
Temporary evils call for temporary agencies and remedies, but
permanent conditions of society require permanent and adequate
provisions to meet these demands. The confident prediction that the
freedman would rapidly fade away before the superior white races,
suggested to the humane that he should be made comfortable in
some sort of field hospital while he lingered, and made ready, if
possible, for a speedy departure to a more congenial world, where
perhaps the conditions of life would not be so unfavorable for his
continued existence.
The figures given by the unsentimental census-taker showing that
during the past decade there has been an increase of about 34 per
cent. of this race in our population does not indicate that the
black belt stretching along our Southern horizon is likely to
fade away. The negro is here to stay, and in adjusting him to our
natural life we are faced by a permanent, not a temporary problem.
We must either take counsel of the Egyptians and “deal wisely”
with this people and so prevent their increase, or broadly and
comprehensively deal with the question of fitting them for a
large and permanent place as an integral part and most important
factor of our Republic. If we deal wisely with them we must bear
in mind first of all that they are here and will remain here, and
their character and condition will enter largely into that of our
national life and character.
It is not beyond the limits of modest truth to say that the victory
which has been gained over Southern prejudices against the free
common school systems was gained, not by the political conventions
which established them by constitutional provisions, but by the
missionary training-schools and the teachers sent out by them; but
the fact that these are established does not supersede a necessity
for the schools which gained this victory. An intelligent gentleman
who was appealed to for aid in the endowment of one of these
said: “Private charity has demonstrated the possibility and value
of negro education, but it is a work for which it is altogether
inadequate. It must be done in the South as in the North by the
States themselves. These rapidly increasing millions must be, and
can be, cared for alone in schools sustained by government. Your
missionary, pioneer, experimental work has been done so wisely
and so well that its success has superseded the necessity of its
continuance.”
The answer to this is of course not far to seek. Yale and Harvard
did not grow out of the common school systems of Massachusetts and
Connecticut, but made these possible and efficient by supplying the
prime conditions of a good school-trained teachers. These colleges
were founded not by the State, but by private philanthropy, as all
such schools have been, for on no theory which has been accepted
as to the functions of government can such be built by the State.
The primary and preparatory work which has been done by the schools
of the A. M. A. will indeed be remitted, more and more, to the
common schools of the States, but there will always be a demand
and a necessity for fully endowed colleges and universities for
the higher education of the teachers and leaders of this people;
and neither the highest efficiency of the public school, nor the
fullest development of such universities as Vanderbilt and similar
schools for the white race, will lessen the need of such schools as
Fisk and Atlanta Universities. If the day shall ever come, as come
it certainly will, when these schools for whites shall strike out
the word white, and admit all who seek their advantages, it will
come as the result of a work which they are not doing now.
The prejudice which now excludes the negro will yield only to
established facts, but will not, from the nature of the case,
create these facts. When educated negroes in all the public
callings of life shall have proved “that a man is a man for all
that,” that what entitles him to respect and honor lies deeper
than the color of his skin, and is not to be determined at all by
its peculiar shade, so that separate schools will not be demanded
for him, he will come in such numbers that those now established
for him will be urgently needed for the accommodation of students,
regardless of color. Thus are we led by our just and reasonable
views to the conclusion that the schools for higher training of
the negro, established by the A. M. A. and kindred societies, are
demanded for a permanent work most vitally related to all that
is dear to us as Christians and patriots, and that permanent and
adequate endowments for them must be made if these interests are to
be conserved.
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
AFRICA.
—On Nov. 12th, Bishop Crowther, while at Sierra Leone, on his way
back to the Niger, admitted three Africans to deacon’s orders. Gov.
Havelock and other Europeans were present, and more than eighteen
hundred native Christians.
—The C.M.S. Committee has presented a memorial to Lord Granville
on the question of slavery and the slave-trade in Egypt. Pressure
is brought to bear upon the Government not to miss the present
opportunity of using the influence and power of England to abolish
slavery itself, and so put a stop to the slave-trade.
—The River Gambia Trading Company has been incorporated in London
with a capital of $750,000.
—A new station has been founded among the Angoni by Dr. Laws and
Mr. Koyi, of the Livingstonia Mission.
—The gross weight of diamonds passed through the post-office of
Kimberley, South Africa, in 1880, was 1,440 pounds, estimated at
$16,839,485.
—Captain Burton and Commander Cameron, on their return from the
West African Gold Fields, reported that the wealth of the land was
prodigious. “Gold dust is found by native women from the sands of
the seashore. Gold spangles glitter after showers in the streets
of Azim. Gold is yielded by the lumps of yellow swish that rivet
the wattle walls of hut and hovel. Our washings range from half an
ounce to four ounces per ton.”
—In 1880, the number of Protestant communicants in Africa,
according to Dr. Behm, was 122,470. The number composing the
communities in the midst of which these were found was 506,966.
Thirty-four religious societies were prosecuting the work
represented in these communities.
—Dr. Blyden, President of Liberia College, reports increasing
prosperity among the immigrants who have gone from this country.
The commercial interests of Liberia are indicated by the fact that
one vessel, the bark Monrovia, brought 150,000 pounds of coffee to
New York on a recent trip.
—The last report from the missionaries of Tabora marks great
progress in the transportation of letters. The mails have become
more regular, nothing is lost on the route, and the roads are
safer. The Wanyamouesis mounted guides are very capable, and there
is this advantage in employing them that on the return trip, going
back to their homes, they delay less than the other natives. The
station of Ouyoug has met with great misfortune in the loss of Dr.
Southon, who, while filling the place of missionary, has rendered
great service as a physician to the population.
THE INDIANS.
—Red Cloud has paid a visit to Hampton, where he has several
children at school.
—Sec. Teller has set apart a portion of the Turtle Mountain
reservation for the Chippewa Indians.
—It is reported that ex-Congressman Phillips, of Kansas, is paid
$4,000 a year by the Cherokee Indians to look after their interests
in Washington.
—The Commissioner of Indian Affairs reports that, exclusive of the
five civilized tribes, there are 101 day schools for Indians, five
less than last year.
—In the report of Dr. Means, at Portland, he asserts that, “In
proportion to the aid and means employed, no missions to the
heathen since the Apostolic age have been more successful than
those to the American Aborigines.”
—A Quaker and his wife who have labored for seven years among
the Modoc Indians, are reported to have transformed them into
well-mannered and well-dressed people. They own nice farms, and,
for the most part, have connected themselves with the Society of
Friends.
THE CHINESE.
—A Baptist preacher in Portland, Oregon, named Fung Chak, reports
a church of 65 Chinese converts.
—During the first three months after the anti-Chinese law went
into operation, 3,849 Chinese departed from the Pacific coast, and
only 169 arrived.
—The Presbyterian Board has purchased a large and valuable
building, in San Francisco, at a cost of $22,500, for a Chinese
Mission.
—Mr. Yung Wing, so well known for his efforts in establishing a
school for the Chinese in Hartford, Conn., has been appointed chief
magistrate of the city of Shanghai.
—The British and Foreign Bible Society entered China in 1843, and
has agents at Shanghai, operating chiefly through the missionaries
of the different societies.
—A Chinese Sunday-school was opened in Farwell Hall, Chicago,
in 1878. The number of regular attendants at the present time is
between fifty and sixty. On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings,
secular instruction is given them. The school is under the auspices
of the Y. M. C. A.
—Soon after the American Board, in response to the suggestion
of the A. M. A., decided to open a mission at Hong Kong, a
Thanksgiving offering, amounting to $114, was made by Miss Harriet
Carter’s Chinese Sunday-school, Mount Vernon Church, Boston. The
money was paid over to the treasury of the Am. Board.
* * * * *
BENEFACTIONS.
Dickinson College has received $10,000 from Rev. D. H. Carroll, D.D.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hazzard, of Newport, R.I., left a legacy of $1,000
to the Carlisle Indian School.
The Pope of Rome has subscribed $600 to the College of Propaganda,
at Alexandria, Egypt.
The class of ’47 has given $500 to the Mount Holyoke Female
Seminary for the adornment of the chapel of that institution.
A wealthy American of St. Petersburg is reported to have given
$250,000 to found a college for his countrymen at Erzroom, Turkey.
John Wells Hallenhock, of Wilkesbarre, Pa., has given $50,000 to
Lafayette College to endow the chair of the President.
The late S. R. Bearce left $2,000 to the Maine Wesleyan Seminary,
the income to be expended in assisting worthy young men in studying
for the ministry.
James Langlin, of Pittsburgh, Pa., gave by will $15,000 to the
Pennsylvania Female College; $10,000 to the Western Theological
Seminary, and $5,000 to the Western University.
_The increase of the illiteracy at the South during the last decade
was appalling. Every teacher educated in our institutions, however,
labored to overcome it. If a sufficient number of such were
prepared for the work, the illiteracy would virtually disappear in
a generation. Where else is there greater claims for endowments
than in the collegiate and normal schools established by this
Association for this object?_
* * * * *
The Connecticut Conventions mentioned in our last issue will be
continued in March at the following places: Tuesday, the 6th,
1st Church, Guilford, morning and afternoon; Wednesday, the
7th, 1st Church, Meriden, afternoon and evening; Thursday, the
8th, Hartford, 4th Church, afternoon and evening; Tuesday, the
27th, East Hartford, morning and afternoon; Wednesday, the 28th,
Willimantic, morning and afternoon; Thursday, the 29th, Plainville,
morning and afternoon.
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
AUGUSTA, Ga.—On the 23d of February a council was to be convened
at this city to organize a church.
TECUMSEH, Ala.—Rev. Milus Harris has taken up the work of teacher
and preacher at this place; the Tecumseh Iron Co., by the manager,
Gen. Willard Warner, having built a home for the mission and for
the minister, is also paying one-half of the salary.
GOLIAD, Texas.—Rev. J. J. Benson, of Orangeburg, S.C., has been
transferred to the church of this place, Rev. B. C. Church having
retired from the pastorate.
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Association having helped the Plymouth
Church—Rev. J. D. Smith, pastor—to purchase the house of worship
of the East Baptist Church (white), it was to be re-opened with
dedicatory services on Sabbath, the 18th of February, Rev. B. A.
Imes and W. A. Sinclair and the Field Superintendent assisting and
remaining over for additional service.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Following two preliminary visits of the Field
Superintendent, a council, on the 2d of February, organized a
church of a dozen members, with more to follow. Prof. G. W. Andrews
was Moderator, and Rev. C. B. Curtis, Scribe. Sermon by Rev. J.
R. Sims, right hand by Rev. H. P. Williams, address by Rev. A. W.
Curtis, prayer by Rev. S. G. Norcross. Rev. A. J. Headen, who had
been chosen pastor by the church and the A. M. A. was present, and
he and Mr. Sims and the Superintendent remained over the Sabbath to
preach.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
REV. JOSEPH E. ROY, D.D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT. PROF. ALBERT
SALISBURY, SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION.
[Illustration]
LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL.
BY PROF. GEO. F. JEWETT.
Nearly every one knows of the far-famed blue grass region of
Kentucky. It is seventy miles south of Cincinnati, and fifty miles
east of Louisville. Lexington is in the very heart of this fertile
country, eighty miles south of Cincinnati, on the Cincinnati
Southern R.R. The country excels in the production of corn,
potatoes and thorough-bred stock, and it is said that the finest
horses in the United States are raised in this region. Lexington is
one of the oldest towns of Kentucky and has a population of 16,500,
of which one half is colored. Although Kentucky did not take a
very active part in the late war, yet at its close the provisions
for the education of the colored people were as meagre as in other
States.
Last June the Association decided to re-open the school, and
accordingly the building was repaired. The cut given herewith
represents the house in its present shape. On the first floor there
are two large school-rooms capable of seating fifty pupils each,
two large entries and two coat rooms. On the second floor there are
two large school-rooms which may be thrown into one by means of
folding-doors, thus forming our chapel. There are also two small
recitation-rooms. In the front of the building there is a hall and
stairway. The house is also provided with a large bell, which is
a great help in securing punctuality. Our school numbers 133, 38
males and 95 females. There are 31 above 16 years of age. None are
admitted below the fourth reader. The school is divided into three
grades—high school, first and second grammar grades. Miss H. C.
Minton is teacher of the first grammar grade, and Mr. C. H. Jewett
of the second. Our scholars are not far advanced, because of the
very poor advantages which they have had; yet they are a class of
well-behaved and earnest pupils.
The discipline of the school is very easy. The scholars respect
their teachers and seem to consider the school a means by which
they are to rise. Our school-house is far superior to any building
in the city for colored schools. This gives us a great advantage.
We are obliged to turn away many from the lower grades. The State
has just passed a law making the salary of white and colored
public-school teachers equal. This makes it important that the
colored teachers should fit themselves better for their work. Our
school is intended to offer them opportunities for doing this work.
* * * * *
A WEEK’S WORK BY LADY MISSIONARIES.
* * * * *
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SELMA, ALA.
_By Miss Mary K. Lunt._
_Sunday, Jan. 14._—A bright, crisp morning, and as we prepare
for Sunday-school, we think that many of the little ones will be
necessarily detained from their accustomed places, or at least,
be obliged to see their cards with unclipped figures upon them.
But no, one hundred and nineteen are present, a good average,
and but few are tardy, notwithstanding that many have walked
a long distance, and perhaps without having taken breakfast.
At 9:30 A.M. the opening exercises commence—singing, prayer,
chanting the Lord’s Prayer, and responsive reading—after which
the weekly offerings are collected in envelopes, and the amount
subsequently reported, also the number of pupils present, reported
by the Secretary. The contributions are appropriated as follows:
First Sunday of the month, for needy Sunday-schools; second
and third, our own needs; fourth, our church; fifth, foreign
missions. Several schools have been aided by this method, and the
pupils bring their papers carefully folded, to be sent to other
Sunday-schools. Collections last year amounted to $50, revealing
the fact that scarcity of nickels does not keep them from helping
others less favored. After the re-assembling of the classes,
two of which, the infants, the girls named “Buds of Promise,”
the boys, “Little Soldiers,” are taught in the rooms below, the
main school comprising eight classes and one Bible class; their
attention is directed to illustrations and lesson topics on the
board by the superintendent, supplemented by remarks on the
lesson from the pastor. Some of our teachers and pupils have read
original papers on the subject of the lesson for the morning, this
being an incentive to a more thorough study of the lesson. At 11
A.M. we are seated for the morning service, and after the usual
opening exercises and responsive reading we listen to an earnest
discourse, founded on the closing passages of that wonderful Sermon
on the Mount, contrasting the builders, showing the foolishness
of building religious characters on false pretenses, and the
importance of building on the solid rock Christ Jesus.
At 3 P.M. is the children’s meeting known as the “Look Up Legion,”
but called by some the “Look Up ’ligion,” composed of members of
our own and other Sunday-schools of the city, ages ranging from two
and a half to twelve years. Their regular and prompt attendance
attests their interest and zeal. One of the members of the choir
assists in leading the singing, which is a prominent feature of the
hour. Our principal readings and talks are taken from the book,
“Talks to Boys and Girls about Jesus.” Always when available we
give them a short juvenile temperance story, and distribute books
and papers when we have them. Our motto is “Lend a Helping Hand,”
and the aim to teach to become children of the Great King, to help
others to become such by inducing them to come to Sunday-school and
to these meetings, where they can hear about Jesus. One little girl
said to us to-day, “I am glad you have these meetings, for I get
tired reading, and mamma won’t let me play.” One of the larger boys
is anxious to know if we are to continue them during the year. At
7 P.M., with a good and attentive congregation, we listen to one
of a series of illustrated sermons, which has been our privilege
since Christmas, an earnest and solemn appeal to the unconverted
from the passage in Rev. vi., 13-17, plainly proving that the fear
and confusion of those who cried “Fall on us and hide us,” resulted
from the sinner’s own carelessness and indifference, and it is
hoped that the truth found lodgment in the hearts of the hearers,
and will bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Our day closes
full, and if in after years we see the young filling honorably
responsible positions, we shall not regret that we were “sent.”
MISSIONARY WORK, SAVANNAH, GA.
_By Miss Jane S. Hardy._
_Monday, Jan, 15._—Early dawn found me wide awake, and planning
the work of the day. Soon the accustomed “ding dong” caused a
general stir in the Home, and the second call brought us all
into the dining-room, where we soon satisfied our bodily wants,
and on bended knee sought “supplies of grace” for our spiritual
needs. Soon another bell announced the approach of school-time,
and nearly two hundred pupils gathered, as was their wont, in the
chapel of Beach Institute. There God’s blessing was again invoked,
both in song and prayer, a few words of counsel were given by the
Superintendent, and the scholars were dismissed to their respective
school-rooms.
I would fain have lingered there; for it brought to my mind
the many years of happy toil spent among _my_ pupils in the
school-room. Yet I am content—yea, happy, in doing the work that
comes to my hand in visiting from house to house.
My first call this morning was upon the Deacon’s wife, who greeted
me in her usual lady-like manner. Although often bending over
wash-tub or ironing-board, she leaves all to be taught her reading
and Bible lesson. She is not a Christian, but the truth brought
before her in repeated Scripture readings is evidently making deep
impressions.
My next call was at the house of a church member, but a
wanderer—bitterness in her heart, “cares of this life and the lust
of other things entering in have choked the word and made her life
unfruitful.” She cannot read; but I have resolved to carry the word
to her. May God lead her back to her Father’s house!
Mrs. K—— is a cripple. For her diseased feet I carried a pair of
soft shoes, sent by some good friend in the North.
I found her with a company of children gathered about her whom she
was teaching to read, thereby earning five or six dollars a month.
She is an intelligent Christian woman, and has lately been reading
“Prince of the House of David,” for which she expresses great
admiration.
Hastening home, I met a class of young men—hotel-waiters—who are
off duty in the middle of the day, and desire to improve their
leisure time in studying the three R.’s and the Bible.
At two o’clock, I went into the school building to attend a prayer
meeting held daily among the pupils since the opening of the Week
of Prayer. There are indications of the Spirit’s presence among us,
and we are anxiously hoping that some of these dear young people
may be turned to the service of Christ.
After dinner I went to a distant part of the city to meet a regular
appointment for a ladies’ prayer meeting. This week the meeting
was held at the house of a good sister, who kindly opened her
well-furnished parlor. A good number gathered to hear the word
and to mingle their petitions at the throne of grace. Among those
present was Mrs. S——, who, so lately, came into the kingdom.
Her great desire is to work for the Master. Thus passed an hour,
helpful, I trust, to us all. Returning home, I felt called upon,
ere night should close in, to visit a family much afflicted by
sickness. Both father and mother weak and feeble, no ready cash
in hand, and seven small children to care for. No wonder the
days look dark to them. We are glad to give them a helping hand.
A few articles of clothing, a little money, and words of cheer
are the things they most need just now. In the evening a Sunday
school scholar came for instruction, giving me another opportunity
to sow seeds of truth in a darkened mind. How precious are the
opportunities that come to us day by day!
MISSION WORK AT ATLANTA, GA.
_By Miss Lizzie Stevenson._
_Tuesday, Jan. 16._—The heavy rains since my return from the
North, Jan. 3, have kept me much at home. This morning, however,
I started out, and soon found myself at Aunt Judy’s door, but she
had gone to a neighbor’s to get warm. When she saw me, she said,
“Missus I’s so glad you’se come back. I was just talkin’ about
you. We folks don’t have nobody to come roun’ and see and talk to
us since you’se gone.” She has been a cripple for years, but this
winter is unable to work, on account of rheumatism. She has always
been contented and happy, and “proud” that she could pay her rent,
fifty cents a week. But to-day it made my heart ache when she
said that it took all that “Wes,” a grandson ten years old, could
make by picking up rags and papers to get something to eat and a
little coal. The landlady had just been there for rent, but she
did not know where she could get the money. After reading a few of
the Saviour’s words, and commending her to the Father’s care, I
gave her a little toward the rent and left her. I next found two
children about two and four years old hovering around a handful of
coals; talked with them a few minutes, gave them a picture paper
and passed on. I then stopped at Aunt Gracie’s and knocked, but no
answer; so I pushed open the door and went in, and spoke several
times before I could rouse her. Then with great effort she told
me that she had been in bed several days with rheumatism. Her
miserable shanty is but poor protection from the rain. Every thing
in the room was damp, and not a stick of wood or a mouthful of any
thing to eat. I carried her a little food and sent to the wood-yard
for wood. But the streets, which are not paved, were so muddy they
would not deliver nor sell even an _armful_.
Next I find Mrs. Williams, who has been sick for two months. She
is very old, and has for years supported herself and two orphan
children by picking up rags. As soon as it was light she could be
seen with her sack on her shoulder going to her work. She is quite
sick, but fortunately she belongs to a society, which provides for
her. From here I go to see an Auntie who is over one hundred years
old. She is unable to lie down on account of asthma. As she sees
who it is she exclaims “Bless the Lord, honey, I knowed the good
Lord would send you back, kase we old folks haint got no one to
come round and read to us when you’se gone! ’Pears like the rest
are so busy. I prayed the Lord would send you back, and I felt it
in my bones you’d come;” and she thanked the Lord again and again
for sending me back. And at so many places their first exclamation
was to thank the Lord for sending me back to read to them. Another
poor woman, who has not walked for years, and whose husband has
deserted her, is entirely dependent on the neighbors for her
support; and no doubt she goes hungry many days. She said to me
as I was leaving, “Miss Lizzie, I didn’t get no Christmas ’cause
you’se gone.” After making several other calls and distributing
quite a number of Sunday-school papers, I came home with a sad
heart to think how little I could do to relieve these poor needy
ones. Sometimes I feel that it is mockery to offer to read to them,
when they are so cold and hungry. If I only had the _means_ to make
their bodies comfortable, they could enjoy so much more the food
for the soul.
DAY’S WORK FOR JESUS—RALEIGH, N.C.
_By Miss E. P. Hayes._
_Wednesday, Jan. 17._—As this is the day for our woman’s prayer
meeting, I had taken that day to call on the members of our church.
After breakfast, I was preparing to start, when Georgia came in to
inquire if I had heard from the ladies who were coming from the
North. Then Mr. Smith, our pastor, called to decide upon articles
to be read at the concert the next Sabbath evening on the work of
the A. M. A. I wrote a postal to thank the lady who sent a nice
silk hood to an old, sick auntie, and started.
It was raining a little, but I determined to proceed. I made the
first call at Mr. Young’s, close by. Mr. Y. is blind and paralyzed.
They were eating breakfast. It was then 10 o’clock. Mrs. Y. said
they had nothing to eat till she went out and hunted up something.
One day during the snow, as they had no wood, they were obliged to
remain in bed till three in the afternoon, and the Saturday night
before they had no wood, and nothing to eat. I furnished them
with enough to last over the Sabbath. As Mrs. Young is a reader
I gave her a paper, and went on to Mrs. Hills. Mrs. H. has two
little children, and cannot get out to church, but is very fond
of reading. I found her with a good coal fire, and looking very
comfortable. I left a paper, and stepped into Mrs. Smith’s to see
if her children were as destitute as she had represented and to
request her to send her boy to the wood-yard to order some wood
for me. I met her husband coming out half drunk, and talking in
very loud tones. The boy was stretching a line around the room in
which they lived for his mother to dry the washing she took in.
Some wet wood in the fire-place was making a feeble effort to burn.
I couldn’t see how clothes could dry in such a place as that, and
said so to Mrs. S. She replied that she was compelled to dry them.
When I came out, the rain was pouring down, but I was obliged to go
to the Bank to get a check cashed, as I was out of money, and was
expecting a barrel of clothing with a freight bill to be paid.
After going to the Bank, drug store and post-office, the rain and
mud conquered and I turned my face homeward, feeling thankful when
I entered my door that I had so good a shelter. I built a fire,
or tried to, with wet wood, as all our wood is soaked with rain
when we buy it, and spent an hour in selecting Bible verses for a
Sunday-school class coming in the evening to study for a concert
the last Sabbath in the month, partly wrote a letter to thank the
ladies of Hopkinton for a barrel of clothing, and to interest them
further in the work.
After lunch, Dea. Jones called to inquire about his part for
concert. As the rain had slackened, I went to prayer meeting at
three o’clock, at Dea. Dunston’s. We meet with the different
members of the church. Dea. D. is our oldest member, seventy-three,
in feeble health, and enjoys having us meet with them. But five
were there, and three of those members of the family. All took
part in the meeting, and after its close, I assisted the daughter,
in selecting an article to read at the concert. She chose for her
subject the Indians.
When I came home I looked over the mail, and went to inform Mrs.
Bembry, with whom I had engaged board for the Northern ladies, that
they would arrive Friday morning. On my way I stepped in to see
an old lady who is paralyzed, and called to tell Georgia when the
ladies would arrive. In the evening a Sunday-school class came to
study verses, and get temperance cards. Then I finished my letter,
wrote another and retired, feeling that I had accomplished but
little.
ONE DAY’S WEAVING—MONTGOMERY, ALA.
_By Miss Rebecca G. Jillson._
_Thursday, Jan. 18._—The Swayne School for the colored children
of Montgomery, with its four hundred scholars, is just opposite
the “Teachers’ Home.” The day began with a call at the school; a
bundle of Sunday-school papers was soon distributed among the boys.
Near the school-house lives a good woman, from whose home two girls
have just gone to Talladega to school. I stop and talk with her
about their going and read a letter for her. A neighbor needs help,
the mother and seven children are all sick. Although dependent on
friends for care, these are the sick woman’s words: “We’re all
down, but old Marsa knows what He’s doing.”
On the porch of the next house stands an old grandmother, children
of all ages around her. A girl of eighteen promises to come to the
Home twice a week for lessons. Across the way lives a kind-hearted
woman; her neighbor, a sick woman, has only her little son and
this friend to care for her. She needs much the comfort of God’s
word and his assuring promises of help. Another is waiting for
sympathy; she is alone though not widowed, and tells how, when the
human help on which she leaned failed, she found support in God
alone. A young woman whose husband’s health has failed is trying to
help him by keeping a little store; she is brave though sometimes
discouraged. The next call is on a woman just recovering from
illness. Her friends have been kind to her in her sickness; this
interest in one another is especially noticeable among the colored
people. Stopping to speak to a group of children, “this one, they
say, has no father or mother, so we have taken her in.” Two other
calls in this neighborhood are made; an invitation given to a young
man to attend the Singing School and to a young girl to renew her
interest in music; and now the house of a faithful church member
is reached. The Ladies’ Missionary Society and what work it may do
is discussed, and questions from the article on Missions in LIFE
AND LIGHT are left to be prepared for the next meeting. Two calls
near by are made. One lady is interested in music and is glad to
hear of the cantata we are to learn. The next is a scene of labor.
This good woman washes for a large restaurant and has in this way
earned enough money to build a substantial house. Every day piles
of table-linen must be washed and ironed, and when it rains, every
corner in-doors is made use of to dry the hundreds of napkins and
towels.
The first call in the afternoon was on an old lady, a faithful
Christian, who finds that her pilgrim journey has had in it many
passages and experiences like that of the pilgrim of old, in
whose story she is much interested. The Celestial City is for her
almost in view, and her entrance there will be triumphant. “I’se
only waiting,” she says, “for the Lord to say: ‘Elsie, come up to
glory.’”
Several girls come to the Home in the afternoon, two to learn to
make worsted hoods, two others to take lessons in music. There is
also time to fold the Sunday-school papers for distribution next
Sunday. Late in the afternoon I called on a mother whose little
child God had taken home to himself. Our next neighbor is a man of
intemperate habits. I had a talk with him. At nightfall a young
woman came in and sang some of the old plantation melodies. In the
evening a young girl came for lessons, and with her, two boys, who
spent the hour with pencil and drawing cards. With God’s blessing
may the day’s work not be in vain.
A DAY IN NEW ORLEANS.
_By Miss A. D. Gerrish._
_Friday, Jan. 19._—Having attended morning devotions at the
University chapel, equipped with my satchel and a few gifts to be
distributed here and there, I wend my way to Mrs. R.’s to hold a
promised meeting. There are six of us altogether. At the close
of the brief hour spent with Jesus I stop to speak with a young
Catholic girl. The mother is evidently surprised. She “didn’t
know as I’d talk to such as she.” I reply, “I came to speak to
all.” My next call is at what I term the half-way house. A few
late flowers still bloom in the pretty garden and the oranges seem
turning a deeper gold, touched by the warm sunshine. Aunt Comfort
is “only just about so so.” We talk of household affairs and the
revival. An offered prayer for us both and I bid the dear old lady
good morning. On the street a sad-hearted mother delays me for a
moment to ask that I will please pray for her son, who is dying and
without hope in Christ. With a few kindly words of sympathy and a
promise to remember the young man, I pass on. The door of Mrs. A.’s
pleasant room stands open and I pause long enough on the threshold
to receive her cheery “Good morning” and the injunction to “be
sure and stop next time.” As I reach the top of a winding flight
of stairs a voice full of childish eagerness asks, “Did you bring
my little Testament?” The Testament, a tiny book, and some picture
papers are taken from my satchel and three little hearts for the
time made happy. The mother is very grateful for the garments given
her for the children. An urgent invitation is left with her to come
to the evening meeting. Another call made and the city bells ring
out the noontide hour. I stop for lunch and rest at Sister W.’s.
Mrs. M. lives at a distance, so I take the street cars. A rap at
the outside gate, a careful climbing up the rickety stairway and I
am warmly greeted by the little woman. Would that I had space to
describe to you her one bit of a room. She says: “You must excuse
it; ’tisn’t alus possible to keep things lookin jus so.” She has
received no pay for her last three months’ washing, so for want
of car fare her Sabbaths have been spent at home. I must tell her
all about the meetings, the New Year’s tree, how many have joined
the church, and affairs generally. With a prayer and a substantial
proof that the “Lord will provide” her heart is comforted. I find
Aunt Sally “jus tolable, thank’e, but powerful busy.” She tells me
once again, “’Twill be a glorious time, shur nuff, chile, when I
can leave this ere washtub for a manshun in de hebens.” I seek out
a delinquent Sabbath-school scholar and call upon two interesting
little girls, who promise to come to the sewing school. A picture
paper given to each and I hasten homeward.
After dinner I find a little time for writing. Promptly at 7
o’clock the church prayer meeting begins. The passage selected
for the evening lesson is Jer. 8:20. The large audience listen
attentively to the pastor’s words. In the hush of this tender
interest nine come forward for prayers. The voice of petition
rises in their behalf. Two tell us that they have found Jesus. We
sing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Benediction is
pronounced and the meeting closes. Another day, with its joys and
sorrows, its failure and success, is ended. Its record is with Him
who sees and understands. In the quiet of my room I kneel to humbly
ask that it may be accepted as “one more day’s work for Jesus,”
knowing that it is “one less of life” for us all.
LINCOLN MISSION, WASHINGTON, D.C.
_By Mrs. C. B. Babcock._