VOL. XXXIII. No. 12.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
DECEMBER, 1879.
_CONTENTS_:
THE ANNUAL MEETING.
PARAGRAPHS 353
THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK 354
PROCEEDINGS 355
GENERAL SURVEY 356
REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE 368
THE FREEDMEN.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL WORK 368
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHURCH WORK 370
PROVIDENTIAL CALLS: Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D. 372
THE NEGRO IN AMERICA: Prest. R. H. Merrell, D. D. 378
CHURCH WORK IN THE SOUTH: Rev. C. L. Woodworth 384
AFRICA.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 388
THE MENDI COUNTRY: Rev. G. D. Pike 390
THE INDIANS.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 394
THE INDIAN QUESTION: Rev. H. A. Stimson 395
THE CHINESE.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 401
AMERICA AND CHINA: Rev. J. H. Twichell 402
* * * * *
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,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
ANDREW LESTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. J.
Rev. EDWARD BEECHER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, D. D., Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, D. D., Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
E. A. GRAVES, Esq., N. J.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.
Rev. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D., Ill.
Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
J. W. SCOVILLE, Esq., Ill.
E. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill.
C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct.
Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal.
Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
CHARLES A. HULL,
EDGAR KETCHUM,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
WM. T. PRATT,
J. A. SHOUDY,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILCOX.
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. Geo. M. Boynton, 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.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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VOL. XXXIII. DECEMBER, 1879. No. 12.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
It is a real source of regret to us that all our news from the
field must be omitted for this month. Next month we shall be
flooded with good tidings, we hope, from all quarters.
* * * * *
Friends sending us remittances will please address H. W. Hubbard,
Esq., Treasurer, he having been promoted from the Assistant and
Acting Treasurership on the retirement of Edgar Ketchum, Esq. Mr.
Ketchum still remains on the Executive Committee.
* * * * *
By a mistake at the Chicago newspaper offices, the name of
Mr. Samuel Holmes was omitted from the list of our Executive
Committee as printed by them, and that of Mr. Andrew Lester
retained. The facts are just the other way. Mr. Lester having
resigned, was made a Vice-President, and Mr. Holmes is still a
member of the Committee.
* * * * *
The MISSIONARY is this month devoted to the reproduction of the
Annual Meeting. We wish all our readers could have been there to
learn of our work, our situation and our prospects, and to gain
those enlarged views of the duty and the opportunity which lie
before us in all directions. This grouping of proceedings and
papers is the best substitute we can offer.
We print the annual survey of the Executive Committee nearly in
full, rather than in abstract, as heretofore, as giving that
general view of the work, without which it cannot be appreciated
in its extent and variety. Instead of covering several pages with
the formal minutes of the Annual Meeting, we condense them into a
shorter compass, as giving equal information in a more readable
form. The Annual Report, when published in full, will, of course,
contain these as well as the reports of the Committees in detail.
We have maintained our general division of the field, prefixing
the reports of the several committees to the papers and addresses
on the cognate subjects, by this classification making the whole
more valuable for reference and use. We thus propose to send the
annual meeting to those who could not go to it, regretting still
that the enthusiasms and impressions of a great assembly cannot
be transmitted by types and ink.
We regret the necessity which has compelled us to abridge
somewhat almost all the reports and papers following, but the
limits of a double number are easily reached with so much
material at hand. We have omitted entirely the valuable paper by
General Leake, on “Protection of Law for the Indians,” because
it has been printed in full in both the _Inter-Ocean_ and the
_Advance_, and because it is so long and yet so compact that it
cannot be condensed. It is well worth most careful study.
* * * * *
We are under obligations to our denominational newspapers for
their full and faithful reports of our meeting. The _Advance_, in
its regular edition and in an extra, gave full copies of the most
important documents and papers read, for which we have secured
a wide circulation; while the _Congregationalist_, through its
editorial correspondent, devoted a large part of its first page
to the report of the meeting, printed the larger part of the
annual report on its third page, and in its leading editorial
spoke good words of commendation for the Association, and of
exhortation to its friends.
* * * * *
THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.
Our work has, in the successful termination of the year, reached
an important crisis. We should be sorry to have any one think,
because the debt and the expenses of the year have been met,
that we are, therefore, about to retire from business and rest
from our labors. On the other hand, we are just ready to go
to work. It has taken a good share of our strength to carry
this back-load; and we have been crippled at the front by the
insufficiency of the buildings for our largest institutions. We
have been walking as men walk on the ice, holding back lest we
should venture too far and make some bad slip.
But that is all, we trust, of the past. God has been good to us.
We have prayed for deliverance and we have worked to be free, and
prayers and alms have come up together before God, and prayer is
always effectual when accompanied with such proofs of sincerity.
Now we are free to work. Our feet are on the solid rock of
solvency. The Lord has established our goings. The way is open
before us and the work lies ready to our hand. Our schools in
the South of all grades are opening this year fuller than ever.
Several churches are waiting to be recognized and put upon the
pilgrim foundation. The completion of the new building in Austin,
Texas, and of the four we hope soon to build at other points,
will give increased and much needed accommodations. Those who met
at Chicago urged us to enlarge the missionary schools among the
Chinese on the Pacific Coast; and the new departure in attempting
the education of Indian youths at our negro schools offers us
opportunities of more permanent influence in that direction than
we can hope for in any other way, while the tribes are subject
to be moved at will from one reservation to another. The African
Missions, new and old, are both calling upon us for attention and
expense.
What is the financial outlook for all this? Shall we be able to
meet these various calls with anything like adequate efficiency?
We answer, with a look of inquiry, Friends, it depends on you.
But our expression of inquiry turns to one of confidence as we
remember what you have done. We expect to do this larger work;
for evidently God calls us to it, and His friends have never
failed us yet.
We are encouraged, too, by the beginnings of the year. Our
receipts for the month of October and the beginning of November
are larger than a year ago. But, do not forget, they need to be
so all through the year. We will be as wise and saving in the
expenditure as we can; but we can be far more wisely economical
on an income which is reasonably adequate to the needs of the
work, than on a very scanty one. “The destruction of the poor is
their poverty,” says the wise man. Keep us in mind then and in
heart, we pray you, that we may all realize that God has brought
us out into this liberty that we may serve Him and our generation
better.
* * * * *
PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.
The meeting place was the spacious First Congregational Church
of Chicago. At 3 p. m. of Tuesday, October 28th, President Tobey
assumed the chair, and Dr. W. H. Bidwell, of New York, conducted
the opening devotional services. Rev. J. G. Merrill, of Iowa, and
Rev. George C. Adams, of Illinois, were elected Secretaries.
The Annual Report was read by Rev. George M. Boynton, and the
Treasurer’s Report by H. W. Hubbard, Esq. In grateful response to
their cheering character the congregation rising sang, “Praise
God, from whom all blessings flow.” The hour following was
observed as a concert of prayer with the pastors and teachers in
the Southern field.
In the evening Dr. R. S. Storrs, of New York, preached a grand
discourse from Psalm cxviii. 23, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is
marvelous in our eyes.” President Strong, of Minnesota, and Dr.
Robbins, of Iowa, conducted the other services.
During the evening the following greeting was received by
telegram and read by Secretary Strieby: “The Prudential Committee
and the Executive Officers of the A. B. C. F. M. congratulate the
A. M. A. upon the successful termination of their year’s labor,
and bid them God-speed in their work for the coming year.”
ALPHEUS HARDY, _Chairman_.
On the next morning the following response was adopted by a
rising vote: “The A. M. A., assembled at its thirty-third
anniversary, receive with grateful appreciation the congratulations
of the Prudential Committee and Executive Officers of the
venerable American Board, and with thanks to God for the recent
enlargement granted to the Board, pray for the continued
Divine blessing on its glorious and expanding work.”
M. E. STRIEBY, _Secretary_.
Dr. Goodwin, of Chicago, then led in an earnest prayer for the
blessing of God upon the two societies and their common work.
Tuesday evening Secretary Strieby read a paper entitled
“Providential Calls,” and President Merrell, of Wisconsin, on “The
Providential Significance of the Negro in the United States.” These
will be found in this MISSIONARY. Field Superintendent Roy gave
“A Field View of the Work.” Rev. J. H. Twichell, of Connecticut,
read a paper on “The Relations of America and China,” of which
we reprint a portion. In the afternoon a paper on “The Necessity
of the Protection of Law for the Indians” was read by Gen. J.
B. Leake, of Illinois. These papers were referred each to the
committee having charge of the cognate subject.
The Finance Committee reported through Mr. J. W. Scoville,
approving the management of the Association and calling upon the
churches to increase their contributions to its treasury, so that
now freed from debt it might do a greater and a better work. The
report was followed by remarks from Hon. E. S. Hastings, Geo.
Bushnell, D. D., and Hon. E. D. Holton, of Wisconsin.
Rev. Henry A. Stimson reported for the Committee on Indian
Missions, and followed the report with an able address, giving
a sketch of the causes of the various Indian wars. An animated
discussion followed.
Rev. C. H. Richards read the report of the Committee on Church
Work, and was followed by District Secretary Woodworth and others.
The Committee on Educational Work reported through its chairman,
Prest. A. L. Chapin, of Wis., followed by Professors Willcox and
Chase, and Rev. Messrs. Bray, Boynton and Foster.
Rev. A. H. Ross, of Mich., reported for the Committee on Chinese
Missions, following the report with a brief address, and followed
by Rev. Mark Williams, of China, Jee Gam and others.
Dr. Dana, of Minn., reported on African Missions for the
Committee. He also, District Secretary Pike, and Dr. E. P.
Goodwin, made addresses.
For these reports in full or in part we refer to the following
pages; and for the officers elected for the coming year, to the
inside of the first cover.
The morning prayer meetings were led by Rev. James Brand, of
Ohio, and M. M. G. Dana, D. D., of Minn. The Lord’s Supper was
administered on Thursday afternoon by F. Bascom, D. D., of Ill.,
and Rev. Thomas Jones, of Mich. At this service a contribution
was taken, amounting to $437.46, for the Trinity School at
Athens, Ala., for which a special plea had been made in the
morning.
President Fairchild and Col. C. G. Hammond presided at the
morning and afternoon sessions of Thursday respectively.
A most interesting meeting was held on Wednesday evening, when,
after prayer by Dr. Geo. N. Boardman, of Illinois, addresses
were made by Jee Gam, a converted Chinaman, and now one of our
teachers in Oakland, Cal.; by Big Elk, a converted Indian, from
the Omaha Reservation, who was accompanied by Rev. Mr. Dorsey,
who acted as his interpreter, and by Rev. James Saunders, a negro
minister. These three told the story of their own religious
experiences and life. Prest. Alexander, of La., and Dr. Roy, of
Ga., followed, and pointed the illustration of this one humanity
and one Gospel.
Thursday evening the closing session was held, at which Mr. M.
H. Crogman, a graduate of Atlanta, and now Professor in the
Methodist school at Nashville, Tenn., made an address which, by
the vigor of its thought and the eloquence of its expression,
was a sufficient illustration of the capacities of his race.
President Tobey and F. A. Noble, D. D., also addressed the
meeting. Resolutions of thanks to the First Church and its
pastor, the people and press of Chicago, and the railroads which
had given especial facilities, were passed. A few last words from
Dr. Goodwin, and the benediction from Dr. Savage, of Chicago, and
the Association adjourned for another year.
It would not be right to omit the notice of the Ladies’ Meeting
held in the church parlors on Wednesday afternoon. Mrs. E. W.
Blatchford presided, and the large assembly was addressed by Mrs.
Prof. Spence, of Fisk University, and Misses Parmelee and Milton,
teachers at Memphis, Tenn.
* * * * *
GENERAL SURVEY.
From the Annual Report of the Executive Committee.
The report opens with brief obituary notices of Rev. Simeon S.
Jocelyn, a Secretary of the Society for many years and more
lately a member of the Committee; and of Rev. William Patton, D.
D., and Rev. George Thacher, D. D., Vice-Presidents; of Miss
Laura S. Cary and Mrs. Anna M. Peebles, valued teachers, and Miss
Rebecca Tyler Bacon, associated with Hampton in its early days,
who have also died during the year. These may be found in full in
the forthcoming Annual Report volume.
THE FREEDMEN.
The varying fortunes of the Freedmen through the year have added
another illustration to the many which combine to show that an
uneducated mass of men is always an uncertain quantity in the
national problem. That these once slaves in the South have been
wronged and abused there can be no doubt. Advantage has been
taken of their ignorance in contracts for labor, and in the
manner of their pay. They have been misled and intimidated in the
attempt to exercise their right of franchise. It would be useless
to deny the facts. The thousands who have left their homes and
associations in Mississippi and Louisiana for the chances of new
settlement in Kansas, are witnesses as powerful in their silence
as in their speech. They have not gone for nothing.
We have no apology to offer for those who have made it impossible
for them to remain in peace, and who have sought by force to keep
them from departing. But, on the other hand, it becomes us to
remember that these evils spring not so much from local as from
general causes. The same wrongs are perpetrated and endured,
to some extent, wherever there are similar states of society.
Ignorance is always at a disadvantage, whether it wants to work
or to vote. It is always in bonds to some power and will beyond
its own. New York, and perhaps even Chicago, knows something
of abused labor and a controlled vote. The local causes which
increase the evil may need thorough treatment, but that is not
ours either to prescribe or to administer. It is the general
cause which we may consider, and to which we are directing all
our energies—not to the restraint or punishment of those who do
the wrong, but to the removal of the ignorance which gives such
large occasion for the wrong.
For our work is foundational and steady. Amid all social and
political changes the need for it remains unchanged. We are not
engaged in pulling up the shallow roots of weeds, nor in planting
flower-beds with annuals, but in sub-soiling our Southern fields,
and so preparing the ground for crops of better quality from
year to year. The only permanent guarantee against the abuse of
any race or class, either North or South, is the diffusion of
Christian intelligence among the abused, and of the spirit of
Christian love among those who abuse them. This is our work.
We have no word of criticism for those who have chosen to remove
to another State. Liberty of emigration is one of the most
unquestionable rights of freemen. But there is no charm in the
name of Kansas which will make the ignorant or the timid either
wise or brave. Let the masses of the colored race be once armed
with intelligence, and they can stay or go with equal impunity.
Without it they will be anywhere at the mercy of either force or
fraud.
Nor is the work of the Association to be limited by any local
changes among the Freedmen. The removal of seven thousand men,
women and children from so vast a population leaves no noticeable
void; nor, even if the proportions of this exodus shall reach
the highest numbers at which it has been estimated, will it
perceptibly diminish the millions of a race which is year by year
increasing in numbers and in thrift.
The only plea which these facts make to us is, that we redouble
our efforts to forge for them the armor which alone can be their
complete defence.
The Association has not, therefore, felt itself called upon to
divert its efforts to the field thus newly occupied. If, as the
outcome of this movement, there shall be permanent and large
settlements of the colored people in new localities, it may
become needful for us carefully to consider the claim which they
may make on us for such service as we are trying to render their
brethren in the South.
We have cheerfully forwarded such gifts of money and clothing
as have been entrusted to us to local agencies, in which we had
reason to have the greatest confidence, for the relief of the
present distress, and have kept ourselves to our main work.
EDUCATIONAL WORK.
Our _eight chartered institutions_, in the eight leading States
of the South, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, have continued to do thorough
and faithful work. One has been added to the number of our normal
schools, making twelve in all. Twenty-four common schools have
been aided—six more than the previous year. The total number of
schools of all grades has been 44.
We have had in all 190 teachers in the field; of these 10 have
also fulfilled the duties of matrons, 6 have been connected with
the business department, and 11 have been pastors of churches,
but all have been actively engaged in teaching.
The total number of pupils has been 7,207—almost exactly the
number reported a year ago. These have been distributed as
follows: Primary, 2,739; Intermediate, 1,495; Grammar, 633;
Normal, 2,022; Collegiate Preparatory, 169; Collegiate, 63; Law,
28; Theological, 86. This shows an increase in the professional
schools, a decrease in the collegiate, and over 500 more in the
normal department than last year.
The reports of the _quality of the work_ thus accomplished have
been most encouraging. Greater regularity of attendance has
been attained than ever before, and the ambition to keep up
with the classes entered has been marked. The same persistence
in overcoming obstacles to entrance arising from poverty and
distance from the schools which marked previous years, has been
no less conspicuous during that just passed. The range of study
and instruction has been much the same as heretofore. The work
of the class-rooms has been too good to need to be materially
altered.
The _industrial and practical training_ has been that in which
there has been the most marked improvement and expansion. How to
work is quite as important a branch of knowledge for the colored
boys and girls as how to teach. Indeed, that they maybe able
to teach others how to work is a large part of their vocation.
How to behave themselves on the farm, in the shop, in the
work-room, sick-room and the kitchen, is as needful for them to
know as how to behave themselves in the school-room and in the
church of God. This training is receiving more and more wise and
thorough attention, and we are sending out young men and young
women better and better fitted to be the teachers and leaders of
society, as well as of the school.
Our schools and teachers have been evidently _growing in favor
and esteem_, both with the colored and white people of the South.
A most noticeable instance of the attachment of the colored
population to the schools, and their appreciation of their value,
was given very recently at Athens, Alabama. It became necessary
to give up the school at that place, or to rebuild at an expense
of not less than $5,000, which latter it was deemed impossible
to do. Word to that effect was sent to Athens. The grief of the
people was intense. It did not, however, expend itself in tears,
but became motive power. They offered themselves to erect the
needful building, pledged over $2,000 at once, and by gifts of
labor and material provided fully for it, and are at work upon it
now. They propose to make brick sufficient for its completion,
and a surplus to exchange for the lumber which will be required.
They are all at it. A blind man, who can do nothing else, offered
to turn the crank to draw the water. Whether they will be able,
in their extreme poverty, to accomplish all they have undertaken,
yet remains to be seen; but such zeal in a good thing is surely
worthy of special notice. When the colored people attempt to
co-operate with us to such an extent, we cannot desert them. The
school will go on.
During this year it appeared to the Committee that a sufficient
fund had been accumulated to warrant at least a beginning of the
permanent building for the Tillotson Normal Institute, in Austin,
Texas. The foundation is already laid, and the contract drawn for
the enclosure of the building. This great State, with its rapidly
increasing population of colored people, and its insufficient
provision for their education, demands the earliest possible
completion of this building, and the equipment of the institution
for efficient work.
With the four _buildings_ completed the previous year at Mobile,
New Orleans, Macon and Savannah, we are now in possession of
better and more permanent equipment for our school work than
ever before. But it is yet quite insufficient for its pressing
need, which is most felt in the necessity of enlarged provision
for boarding pupils, for it is, after all, in those who are
thus brought under the continuous influence of their teachers,
and away from the debasing surroundings of cabin life, that the
best results of mental and religious training are realized. The
call for such relief has been continuous and increasing in its
urgency; but we have been obliged almost to deny it a hearing in
the poverty and pressure of these past years.
The near future will, however, we trust, do much to relieve this
long-felt want, through the generous gift to the Association of
$150,000 by Mrs. Daniel P. Stone, of Malden, Mass., from the
estate of her late husband, of which, though it is not yet in
our possession, we have been fully assured. In accordance with
the expressed wish of the donor, this money is to be used in
the erection of buildings at Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans
and Talladega. These buildings will largely increase the
accommodations of these institutions for the class of pupils
which has been named, and will greatly diminish the percentage of
expense for their education, as but few additions to the corps of
teachers already in the work will be required. In these normal
and collegiate institutions it is the variety of studies rather
than the number of students to which the teaching force must be
adapted. We may add fifty per cent. to the number of pupils,
and need to add only five per cent., perhaps, to the number of
teachers. There can be no more acceptable gift than that of these
new buildings for well-established schools—none which will so
add to their effectiveness.
A few school _buildings_ belonging to the Association have been,
of late years, _rented to local school boards_, in cases where
greater good could be accomplished for those for whose use they
were intended than by retaining them in our hands. It has been
a saving to our treasury, a widening of their usefulness, and a
bond of fraternity between the friends of education North and
South.
We may only, in passing, refer to the beginning in the
accumulation of valuable _libraries_ made in some of our
institutions. There is yet room for much needed enlargement of
this important branch of our educational service.
Two things yet remain to be done that our schools may be
placed upon a permanent and satisfactory basis, and these are
adequate provision for the maintenance of professorships and
of scholarships. We have been compelled to confine ourselves
chiefly to making appropriations for the salaries of teachers,
simply because without them there could be no schools at all.
This was the one thing indispensable from the very start. But,
increasingly, the need of _student aid_ makes itself manifest.
Gifts have been secured from churches, Sunday-schools and
individuals for this purpose, and more money must be raised from
similar sources. Yet it is evident that this must not be taken
from the fund by which the teachers are sustained. That would be
to increase the number of applicants, and, at the same time, to
close the doors at which they seek admission. We must not try
to lengthen the skirts of our coats by cutting them off at the
shoulders; they will fall off from us altogether if we do that.
This is our problem: both to maintain our teachers and to support
more students. It cannot be solved by any process of subtraction.
Can it be done in any other way than by addition to our income?
And it must be done, if we are to make our work tell as it ought
upon the vast negro population of the South. To overcome the
obstacles which stand at every step in the way of attaining the
thorough education needed by those who are to be the leaders
of their people, demands a power of will and an energy of
perseverance such as few individuals of any race possess, unless
they are assisted all along the way.
The origin and surroundings of these colored students must
be continually borne in mind. They have nothing to help them
in the homes from which they came; nothing to help them in
the prevailing sentiment of the white people toward them; the
fewest possible openings for such remunerative labor as is
ready for white students in similar conditions, and checks on
their ambition of every sort. Nor is it strange that they lack
that stamina which generations of culture and self-restraint
impart. Their help, both moral and material, must come from us,
and those who, like us, believe that they can be and should be
thoroughly trained before they are sent forth to lay foundations
for the upbuilding of their race. Student aid must be freely
and systematically given, or our higher schools will accomplish
their beneficent design at great disadvantage, and only to a very
limited extent.
But the glory of our schools and colleges is more than in all
else in their _religious character and influence_—that they
are Christian schools and missionary colleges. Indeed, they are
so completely at one with the church work that it is difficult
to draw a line between the two departments, and to tell where
the one ends and the other begins. A few particulars may best
illustrate the influence of faithful Christian instruction and
example. Of 52 graduates of Atlanta, 50 at graduation were
professing Christians, and none have fallen away. Later we hear,
“All the members of the classes to be graduated now profess to
be Christians.” A revival is reported during the year, and not
less than 30 conversions. Fisk reports several additions to the
College church at every communion, and as many more of those
converted there to other churches. At Talladega we hear of “a
precious work of grace; 37 were received into the church. All
but two of the girls, and all but four of the 45 young men, who
are boarding scholars, are professing Christians.” The pastor at
Hampton writes: “Nowhere can teachers be found more earnestly
evangelical, laboring often beyond their strength to bring souls
to Christ. 11 of the Indian students were, in March, received
into the College church.” At Berea, the graduates of this year
are all professing Christians. These are examples of the good
accomplished and reported. In several of the lower schools, also,
we hear of many being brought to Christ.
Nor are these Christian students idle in the Master’s vineyard.
They go out to _their school work_ in vacation time, and have
learned as they go to preach. The help which was given, the
previous year, to lengthen the short terms of a few common
schools, thus furnishing employment for our _student teachers_,
was thought to be fruitful of good results by our best and most
experienced instructors. It has been deemed wise to somewhat
enlarge the work in that direction.
108 teachers from Fisk, in 1877, taught 9,332 pupils. Over 10,000
pupils, during the year 1878, are estimated to have been taught
by those educated at Atlanta. On this basis, we feel justified
in estimating that at least 150,000 pupils have been reached
by our present and former students during the year. They also
go out to do Sunday-school and missionary work on the Lord’s
day. Talladega reached 1,200 Sunday-school scholars through its
students during the last year, and in all the years some 20,000.
A high educational official testifies that the students of
Tougaloo “almost invariably start Sunday-schools as soon as they
open their day-schools.” So the seed is sown not by the way-side,
nor on the rock, nor among the thorns, but where it “also beareth
fruit and bringeth forth, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some
thirty.”
A few words, by way of bridging over to our church work, as to
our _Theological Departments_. They are four—at Nashville,
Talladega and New Orleans, which are ours altogether, and at
Washington, where we continue to share the support of the
Theological Department of Howard University with the Presbytery
of that city. There are 86 students in these schools, of which
number nearly one-half are at Howard University. They are sending
out ministers, well trained both intellectually and spiritually,
into our churches and those of other denominations.
THE CHURCH WORK.
The present _number of churches_ in connection with the
Association is sixty-seven. These are supplied with pastors,
some of them white ministers of experience and culture, who,
for health’s sake, are glad to be in the South; others, young
and earnest men, who prefer to devote themselves to work among
the lowly; others still are colored men, who have been educated
in our own or similar institutions, and who are doing good work
among their own people. Some of these are also principals or
teachers in the schools, thus doing double duty.
The number of church members is 4,600, of whom 745 have been
added during the year. This work has been under the supervision
of Dr. Roy. It has been a time for making acquaintance with
the men and the field, but his first visits have been full of
service in quickening and counselling those on the ground, and in
correspondence with the administrative force at home.
Three _new churches_ have been established during the year—at
Shelby Iron Works, Ala., at Cypress Slash, Ga., and at Flatonia,
Texas.
After a careful survey of the material and opportunity, we are
neither prepared to rush in and organize new churches wherever
it may be possible, nor to abandon the field as unfitted to our
polity. We could probably buy up a hundred churches within a
year at $100 apiece, and then should be worse off than when we
began, loaded down with useless burdens. There is nothing in the
nature of the South or in the character of the negro by which
the people of that region or that race are unfitted to be good
Congregationalists. It only demands intelligence and the power
of self-control. Where these have been developed by Christian
education there is readiness and preparation enough. Hitherto
our churches have flourished under the shadow of our schools
and of their graduates. But as the sun goes toward the west
the shadow broadens, and the field for churches of our order
is enlarged. There are some half dozen localities now waiting
and ready to organize Congregational churches, to which our
Field Superintendent will give early attention and assistance.
Discriminating and timely help at such points will accomplish far
more in the end than rapid and ill-considered assistance. Too
many churches, both North and South, die early, because born too
soon. We design and purpose to extend this work as fast, and only
as fast, as we may do it with the hope of permanent results.
A goodly number of these churches report _religious interest_
during the year, and, indeed, some of them are engaged in seasons
of special effort and ingathering at this time; for in the
South—strange as it may seem to us—the summer gives an interval
from farm work which is often and successfully devoted to special
Christian effort. A letter just received informs us of such a
series of meetings in one of our churches in North Carolina,
with a congregation of 200, who bring their lunch and stay from
morning till afternoon, and often till the evening service too.
The impression made by these churches upon ministers who went
among them for the first time last winter was very noticeable,
and their testimony agrees as to the decorum, as well as fervor,
of their colored congregations. Nor are they without the witness
to their progress, which is indicated by efforts looking toward
their _self-support_ and a participation in the general work of
missions. These all have _Sunday-schools_ connected with them,
in which are gathered 6,219 scholars, besides which some of our
teachers are engaged in Sunday-schools connected with other
Christian churches. The cause of _temperance_ receives constant
attention in both schools and churches. Juvenile and adult
organizations are found in nearly all of them, and the young men
and women go out pledged, not only to abstain themselves, but to
make it part of their mission to persuade others to follow their
example in this respect.
To the six _Conferences_ into which our churches were organized
one has been added during the past year—that of North Carolina.
The Georgia Conference takes the place of that of South-eastern
Georgia. The Congregationalism of the South is thus fully
associated. The meetings of these bodies are full of interest.
Their discussions are practical and admirably sustained. Their
fellowship is cordial and Christian, and their spiritual power is
in some cases remarkable. The South-western Conference, this year
held at New Iberia, La., was signalized by the quickening and
reviving of the churches represented, and by the conversion of
fifty souls.
_Councils_ are called for ordination of pastors from time to
time, and in all customary ways the churches mutually advise and
help each other.
We should be greatly remiss did we not call attention also to the
work done in the homes of the colored people by _devout women
who have given themselves to this missionary work_. The need
of such work can easily be imagined, but cannot be appreciated
fully without a knowledge of the facts. At Memphis, Tenn.,
Atlanta, Ga., Miller’s Station, Ga., Charleston, S. C., etc.,
faithful visitations have been made from house to house, and
Bible-reading, cottage prayer-meetings, practical instruction,
and occasional temporal relief, have been administered by lady
missionaries, while many of our lady teachers have cheerfully
engaged in similar work, so far as their engagements would allow.
No general organization of Northern women has been attempted in
this behalf, but of their own motion circles have been formed at
Detroit, Mich., Waukegan, Ill., Oberlin, Ohio, and other points,
whose object it has been to provide the expenses for these
messengers of mercy. The work, though limited in its extent, has
been fruitful of good results.
Before leaving this hurried review of the Southern field, we are
happy to say that our corps of workers, as a whole, has never
been more admirably efficient than now. There are fewer changes
in the force from year to year than formerly, and those who have
just gone for the first time into these schools and churches are
men and women of superior intelligence and character. We look for
grand work and great results, through God’s blessing on their
labors in the coming year.
AFRICA.
About the beginning of the current year, the Rev. Floyd Snelson,
who was at the head of the _Mendi Mission_, was obliged to
return to this country on account of the health of his wife.
We greatly deplored his loss, as we trusted much to his wisdom
and experience for a wise administration of our work in that
far land. To Rev. A. P. Miller were committed the position and
responsibilities thus vacated. He, with Rev. A. E. Jackson,
and their wives, Dr. James and Mr. White, constituted then our
missionary band.
On the 13th of February, Elmore L. Anthony was sent, _via_
Liberia, to join them. His various experiences as a slave, a
soldier and a student, had fitted him to take special charge of
the industrial work at Avery, though we believed him to be as
much a missionary in spirit as those who had preceded him. He was
submitted to a severe medical examination, and pronounced sound
in health; for we have concluded that those only of unimpaired
health should be exposed to the debilitating influences of a
tropical climate. He has so far fulfilled all our expectations.
We have just sent another missionary to the field. Nathaniel
Nurse, a native of Barbadoes, who has resided already in Liberia
five years, and who has been maintained at Fisk University for
the last two years by English and Scotch friends, sailed on the
fourth of this month. He has shown much enterprise in the past,
which we hope will be effectively applied to the missionary work
on the West Coast.
Our force consists then, at present, of these six men and the
wives of two. The men have endured the climate wonderfully well,
having suffered only temporary disabilities, and having been laid
aside but little from their work. Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Jackson
have not been as well, perhaps, because they were not in as firm
health before leaving this country, but have not been compelled,
as yet, to leave the Mendi coast, even temporarily.
Last year we had but a single _church_ to report, of 44 members,
at Good Hope Station. Since that time a church has been organized
also at Avery. These two churches now include a membership of 85,
and have 190 Sunday-school scholars in connection with them.
The _school_ at Good Hope Station has been in a condition
of growing prosperity, and has enrolled during the year 245
scholars, with an average attendance, as collated from the
monthly returns, of 156. At Avery the school has been small, the
children being frequently diverted by their parents to work of
various kinds. About a dozen children have been taken into the
Mission Home to be educated under permanent Christian influences.
A school has also been sustained at Debia, and a preaching
service.
The _industrial work_ has been carried on with energy, the mill
and property have been put in better order, some 16 laborers have
been employed in the saw-mill, the coffee plantation is beginning
to be productive, and we trust that this arm of the service will
prove increasingly a means of education to the natives and a help
in the support of the mission.
Our missionaries have not been content with merely maintaining
the work as they found it, but have been exploring the interior
to study opportunities for its enlargement. They found the people
peaceable and friendly, and open to their approach not only, but
inviting their permanent settlement. It is their plan to use
native Christians for preaching at _out-stations_ as far as they
may be able.
Our missionaries have had to labor under the disadvantage of a
very limited experience in organizing and carrying on either
church or school work. They all went directly from the college to
the foreign field. They have made fewer mistakes of judgment than
might have been anticipated. We regard this experiment of African
missionaries to Africa as practically solved. Their endurance of
the climate and their general success in the work are evident.
More and more clear to us, from year to year, is the connection
between our work on the American and the African continents.
And now, while our original mission field is again becoming
fruitful under these new conditions, the question is brought to
us in a way we cannot refuse to consider. Shall we, in addition
to this, undertake a new field upon the other side of the “Dark
Continent”? The generous _offer made by Robert Arthington_, of
Leeds, England, of £3,000, to this Association, to aid in the
establishment of a mission between the Nile and the Jub, and from
the 10th parallel of north latitude down almost to the equator,
compelled us, early in the year, to examine the field and the
possibility of undertaking it. A large committee, through books
and travellers, made as thorough investigation as was in their
power, and were supported by the Executive Committee, as a whole,
in regarding the proposed location as offering advantages in
accessibility over almost any of the new fields recently opened
in equatorial Africa; but they delayed any distinct acceptance
of the proffer until this fund should be swelled from other
sources to not less than $50,000. In this state of abeyance the
whole matter remained until a very recent date. Dr. O. H. White,
the Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society in Great
Britain, has been sanguine as to the willingness of the English
and Scotch brethren to further aid us in the establishment of
the proposed mission. He has already received contributions to
a considerable amount for this object, and at the last regular
meeting of our Committee, after careful discussion, the following
resolution was unanimously passed:
“Voted, that on condition of the receipt of £3,000 from Mr.
Robert Arthington, of Leeds, as offered to us by him, for the
establishment of a new mission in Eastern Africa, and of a like
amount from the British public, raised through the efforts of Dr.
O. H. White, the Association pledges itself to devote thereto the
sum of $20,000, and with the blessing of God and the assistance
of the friends of Africa in Great Britain and America, to
undertake permanently to sustain that mission.”
The Committee were encouraged to take this step by the fact
that the debt of the Association was no more an obstacle, that
several thousand dollars were already in hand from the Avery
estate, bequeathed for this very purpose, and by other, as they
thought, evident leadings of Providence in this direction. And
now if these conditions be met, and this new work at no distant
day be fairly entered on, the Mendi Mission on the West, and the
Arthington Mission on the East, will support one another in their
plea to Christian England and America for generous and prayerful
sustentation. Our foreign work will thus be more complete than it
can be with but a single mission, and we shall be able to present
a wide field for the generous devotion and self-consecration of
the sons of Africa now in this land.
This new field is among the real heathens, unclad, and with
their native barbarism made worse by all the atrocities of a
slave-hunting ground. That evil is, providentially, fast passing
away. During the past year Col. C. G. Gordon has overcome the
mightiest of the slave traders, and his large and desperate
force. When the influence of the Arab invaders is withdrawn,
with their unnatural stimulation of tribal wars and the ready
market they afford for human beings, other of the native kings,
under the influence of even a few Christian men, will follow the
example of Mtesa, who has lately forbidden the sale of slaves in
his dominions under pain of death. So the Lord has set before us
an open door, and no man can shut it. Shall we not go in and set
up our banners in the name of Immanuel?
THE INDIANS.
The Indians still remain under the care of the Department of the
Interior. We believe that the Administration earnestly desires
the promotion of their true interests, but the grievous wrongs
under which they have so long suffered still continue to be
visited upon them, and will so long as an impossible policy
is attempted to be carried out by an insufficient force. The
question as to the legal status of the Indian is now before the
courts. Until his rights there, and to hold property by a secure
tenure, are established, he will be exposed to provocations which
we cannot expect him to bear in silence.