The development of the work among the Freedmen, the interest taken
in African civilization by the most thoughtful people in the
country at large, and the enthusiasm awakened among the blacks for
the land of their ancestors, constantly remind us of the call we
have for mission work in Africa. We have paid much attention to
the consideration of this call. In accordance with the suggestion
of the last Annual Meeting, we have appointed a Superintendent of
African Missions, not only to supervise the work we have carried
on so long on the West Coast, but to lay the foundations of the
Arthington Mission on the Upper Nile. Great care was taken in
selecting a Superintendent, resulting in the choice of Rev. Henry
M. Ladd, the son of a missionary, who spent the first sixteen years
of his life in the East, after which he came to this country,
pursued a course of study and entered the ministry at Walton, N.Y.
Mr. Ladd left America for the Mendi Mission in February, reaching
the West Coast the last of March. He made a careful examination
of the methods of missionary work at Freetown, Sierra Leone,
under the care of our British brethren, and afterward proceeded
to Good Hope Station, where we have a church and school. Mr. Ladd
was accompanied to Africa by Mr. Kelly M. Kemp and his wife, from
Lincoln University. A council was called at Good Hope Station for
the ordination of Mr. Kemp, and representatives of the Shengay and
other missions were present. It was thought advisable that Mr. A.
E. White, who had acted as teacher at this point, should return
to America. He has since done so, and at present is pursuing his
studies at Oberlin College, with a view of preparing himself for
better service on the mission field. Mr. Nurse also retired from
the mission, giving place to Bro. Kemp, whose experiences and
education rendered himself a desirable person as pastor over the
church at this point. After arranging details of affairs at Good
Hope, Mr. Ladd visited the Avery Station, and was encouraged by
the good work under the supervision of Mr. Jackson at this inland
station.
Our saw-mill, being the only one on the coast, can be brought into
service constantly. Logs are plentiful in the neighborhood, and the
people are willing to work. The coffee farm at Avery shows signs of
progress, and very soon we may hope for a yield that will test the
value of the experiment. The church and school have been kept up,
much attention being given in the church to rigorous discipline,
where the members had inclined too strongly toward the barbarous
customs of the heathen about them. We have long felt the need of
a business superintendent to manage the affairs of the mill and
farm at Avery, to take care of the property at Good Hope and Debia,
and to keep the temporary home at Freetown in readiness for the
missionaries on their way to and fro. Mr. I. J. St. John, a man of
considerable experience in business affairs, has been appointed
to fill this position. In common with other missionary societies,
laboring for the redemption of Africa, we find that where there
are no roads or domestic animals, but many rivers, a suitable
steamer would be quite serviceable in promoting the interests of
our civilizing operations, and in adding to the comfort of our
missionaries. We believe we ought to provide such a steamer for the
Mendi Mission as early as possible, and our appeals are already out
for $10,000 as a special fund for this purpose.
We were saddened early in the summer by the unexpected death of
Rev. Mr. Kemp, which was followed soon after by the death of his
wife, just as they were settling down to the life work they had
chosen. Both of these dear missionaries were unavoidably exposed
in open boats to the bad influences of the climate. By their death
they illustrate our need of more speed and better shelter in
transporting missionaries from station to station.
We have appointed Rev. J. M. Williams, a native of South America
and an experienced worker in Africa, to carry on the work at Kaw
Mendi, the first station occupied on the return of the Amistad
captives.
Rev. J. M. Hall, a graduate of Maryville College and of the
Theological Department of Howard University, has consented to fill
the place vacated by the death of Mr. Kemp, and he, with Mr. St.
John, left America in October for the mission.
Three lads from the Mendi country are at school in America, one at
Fisk University, and the others at Hampton Institute.
Early in December, Mr. Robt. Arthington, of Leeds, Eng., signified
his readiness to pay over the £3,000 he had pledged as a nucleus,
provided we would plant a mission on the Upper Nile. Already Dr.
O. H. White, Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society of
London, had made good progress in securing £3,000 additional to
Mr. Arthington’s pledge for the same purpose. It was evident to us
that the $30,000 asked for from Great Britain toward the $50,000
fund for this mission would be speedily made up. As we had pledged
ourselves to furnish $20,000 on condition that we received in all
from Great Britain $30,000, the question of the establishment of
the mission directly was thrown upon us. We felt that the call to
us was to go forward, and Mr. Ladd’s services were secured at the
earliest day possible with a view to this necessity. As the plan of
sending forward two men to look over the mission field, select a
site for the station, and to determine what supplies and facilities
would be needful for the mission, fully met Mr. Arthington’s view,
we determined to send forward Mr. Ladd early in the autumn for the
purpose mentioned. We were happy, also, in securing the services
of a former parishioner of Mr. Ladd, Dr. E. E. Snow, a physician
of much experience, to accompany him on his journey. These two
brethren left New York in September. They had provided themselves
with a valuable letter from Secretary Blaine, instructing the
Consul General of the United States at Cairo to further their
object as much as he might be able. On their way they purposed
to procure letters of introduction from the English Government,
hoping thereby to be assisted in making favorable arrangements
with the Khedive of Egypt for transportation to the field of their
destination, and also for the privilege of using a steamboat on
the waters of the Upper Nile. Their plan of route will be to visit
Cairo, and proceed from thence to Souakim, on the Red Sea; from
this point they will pursue a camel route a distance of 240 miles
to Berber, where they hope to find steamboat facilities for the
remainder of their journey. The point which they seek to reach is
about 1,500 miles in a direct line south of the Mediterranean and
near the mouth of the Sobat, where the people are in the depth of
barbarism. It is the hope of your Committee that Brothers Ladd
and Snow will be able to return in early summer, at which time
Dr. Snow will devote himself to procuring a suitable steamer for
mission purposes on the Nile, and other supplies and facilities
needful for the comfort and success of the enterprise. Supt. Ladd
will devote himself to organizing a suitable corps of missionaries
for the Arthington mission, two of whom are already under
appointment, with a view of proceeding up the Nile next autumn to
their field of labor. Our African work is not without its hazards,
its embarrassments and inevitable discouragements. We believe,
however, that the good tidings of great joy must be preached to the
millions of newly-discovered peoples in Central Africa, and that
the negro race with which we have so much to do has an urgent and
imperative call in this direction. We accept, therefore, cheerfully
and prayerfully, our part of the burden, trusting that the many
friends of the long despised and forgotten Africans will sustain us
by their prayers and by their contributions, while we go forward as
the Lord opens the way, performing our tasks as best we are able
until the day shall dawn.
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