Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, KarenD and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by Cornell University Digital Collections)
[Illustration: NOVEMBER, 1887.
The American Missionary
VOL. XLI.
No. 11.]
[Illustration: CONTENTS]
* * * * *
EDITORIAL.
FREE FROM DEBT! 307
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WASHBURN, 308
NEGRO “AUNT” AND “UNCLE,” 309
YOUNG MEN IN THE SOUTH, 310
* * * * *
FRED DOUGLASS AT THE GOWDEN GATE, 311
PARAGRAPHS, 311
THE USE OF A LIFE, 312
GENERAL SURVEY.
FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 313
THE CHINESE.
REVIEW OF THE YEAR, 324
RECEIPTS, 326
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
[A]PRESIDENT, Hon. WM. B. WASHBURN, LL.D., Mass.
_Vice-Presidents._
Rev. A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.
Rev. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass.
Rev. D. O. MEARS, D.D., Mass.
Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., Mo.
_Corresponding Secretary._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Associate Corresponding Secretaries._
Rev. JAMES POWELL, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Treasurer._
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Auditors._
PETER MCCARTEE.
CHAS. P. PEIRCE.
_Executive Committee._
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.
A. P. FOSTER, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
S. B. HALLIDAY.
SAMUEL HOLMES.
SAMUEL S. MARPLES.
CHARLES L. MEAD.
ELBERT B. MONROE.
_For Two Years._
J. E. RANKIN.
WM. H. WARD.
J. W. COOPER.
JOHN H. WASHBURN.
EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.
_For One Year._
LYMAN ABBOTT.
A. S. BARNES.
J. R. DANFORTH.
CLINTON B. FISK.
A. P. FOSTER.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D.D., _21 Cong’l House, Boston_.
Rev. J. E. ROY, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago_.
_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._
Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON.
_Field Superintendent._
Rev. C. J. RYDER, _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Bureau of Woman’s Work._
Secretary, Miss D. E. EMERSON, _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretaries; those relating to the collecting fields,
to Rev. James Powell, D.D., or to the District Secretaries; letters
for “THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY,” to the Editor, at the New York
Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters or post office orders may
be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York,
or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member.
FORM OF A BEQUEST.
“I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars, in
trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person
who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the
‘American Missionary Association’ of New York City, to be applied,
under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association,
to its charitable uses and purposes.” The Will should be attested
by three witnesses.
FOOTNOTE:
[A] Deceased.
* * * * *
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XLI. NOVEMBER, 1887. No. 11.
* * * * *
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
* * * * *
FREE!
With gratitude and thanksgiving to God and our friends, we are
permitted to announce that our treasurer has closed his books with
the balance on the right side. The receipts of the year cover
all the expenses of the year, wipe out the debt of $5,000 with
which the year began, and leave $2,193.80 with which to start out
on the coming year. For this glorious result we are especially
indebted to the magnificent rally of our friends in the month of
September. The falling off in our receipts last February of about
$9,000 as compared with the same month of the preceding year, and
the heavy deficit of July, in which we ran $17,000 behind, made
the outlook very dark indeed; but it has proved that it was the
deepening darkness before the light. As we are able to see it now,
our friends settled down to the determination that the year would
end right. They have done it. There was no excitement about it.
They just kept on quietly planning and working and giving until
they rolled up what was needed, and more. Not without sacrifice
in many instances. Our eyes have moistened, oftentimes, as we
read the words accompanying the gifts. Indeed, in some instances
gladly would we have returned the contributions could we have done
it without offending the givers. We mention one instance, that of
a home missionary in the West, whose wife, by self-denial, had
saved five dollars to have some long-needed work done. The person
who did the work, probably knowing the needy circumstances of the
family, refused to keep the compensation, and returned it. There
was only a single dollar in the possession of the home missionary
when the five dollars were returned, and seventy-five cents of that
were to be paid for a necessary bill in a day or two. Those five
dollars were sent to our treasury. The letter that brought the gift
was full of thanksgiving that the sender was able to aid us. Even
this does not tell the story of the noble spirit that lay behind
it all; for there came with the money the request that it should
be credited to the Congregational Church! This is only a single
example. We could refer to a great many such. Large and small, the
contributions have been sent, from churches and individuals, from
rich and poor, from young and old, bearing the evidence of interest
and sacrifice and work; and the result is, we have closed the year
free from debt.
By this outcome we are again impressed with the strong hold that
the American Missionary Association has upon the churches and the
Christian public. They believe in it; they love it, and they mean
to stand by it.
* * * * *
It is right, in this connection, that our friends should know that
the Executive Officers of the Association have very earnestly
co-operated with them to secure this happy result. Appropriations
have been made after the most careful scrutiny. Economy has been
practiced at every possible point. The knife has been applied
until, in numerous instances, the quick has signaled its pain. New
work, urgently inviting, has been refused. Regret and perplexity
have been experienced because of inability to meet what seemed to
be absolute necessities. We trust that during the coming year,
while continuing to be no less careful than we have been, we may
be able to do some of the things that during the past year we were
obliged to leave undone. But we must beg our friends to remember
that this can be only as our receipts are increased. The small
balance with which we set out is not much to build upon. It will be
quickly swallowed up in meeting claims that have been postponed.
The outcome calls upon the friends of the Association to prepare
for a year of more extended work and more liberal benefactions than
ever before. The standard raised by the National Council in Chicago
should be kept steadily in view—$350,000 from the churches for the
prosecution of our work!
* * * * *
It is with profound sorrow that we record the death of our honored
President, Hon. Wm. B. Washburn. He was born in Winchendon,
Mass., in 1820, and died in Springfield, Mass., Oct. 5. He was
attending the annual meeting of the American Board, of which he
was a corporate member. While sitting on the platform of the City
Hall, in which the meeting was held, he quietly and suddenly and
unexpectedly fell asleep in death. “He was not, for God took him.”
Mr. Washburn’s life was a most successful and honored one. He
graduated from Yale College in 1844 with the Christian ministry
in view, but being called to straighten out some entanglements
in a business firm that had become badly involved, he revealed
such business capacity that his continued services were deemed
indispensable. He settled in Greenfield, Mass., and built up a
large business in the manufacture of wooden-ware. He took an
active interest in everything that pertained to the welfare and
prosperity of the town in which he lived. He became director of the
leading bank in Greenfield and afterwards its President. He was
a director of the Connecticut Valley Railroad and several other
local corporations. Early in the war he was elected United States
Representative, being complimented with the _entire_ vote of his
district. He was so popular no one was put in nomination against
him. Five times he was sent to Congress by successive reëlection.
Massachusetts elected him its Governor in 1871 by 27,000 majority
over John Quincy Adams. He resigned his seat in Congress to be
inaugurated Governor in January, 1872. He was reëlected Governor
for two more terms and resigned his Governorship to fill out the
unexpired term in the U.S. Senate caused by the death of Charles
Sumner in March, 1884.
In 1881 he was elected President of the American Missionary
Association. His valuable services as presiding officer at the
annual meetings, his wise counsels and wide influence, greatly
advanced the interests of the Association.
His funeral, which was private, took place Saturday, Oct. 8th, at
his residence in Greenfield. The Association was represented by
Secretary Powell and Treasurer Hubbard, and Charles L. Mead, Esq.,
of the Executive Committee. A life full of honors worthily and
modestly borne is ended here, but it still lives in the works that
do follow and in the immortal life beyond the grave.
* * * * *
NEGRO “AUNT” AND “UNCLE.”
A correspondent of the Atlanta _Constitution_, who signs himself or
herself “Georgia,” asks:
_Editors Constitution_: Why is it that so many of the
respectable white people of this country claim blood affinity
with the Negro race by condescending to call them “aunt” and
“uncle”? An “aunt” is a father’s or mother’s sister, an “uncle”
is a father’s or mother’s brother. Now, why should a Negro be
made to believe that he is a blood relation of white families
by calling them “aunt” and “uncle,” terms of the highest family
respect? Is there any wonder that some Negroes think they are
as good as a white man, when they are called by these endearing
names? The Negro is an imitator of the white man, and if we are
to keep the races apart, let no such example be set for the
Negro’s imitation.
What absurdity this is, and withal how insulting to the colored
people. Not unlikely the person who wrote it was brought up by
a colored nurse. The genuine affection with which many of the
Southern white people speak of the old colored uncle and aunty is
often very touching. They belong, however, to the “Old South.”
The “New South” is speaking another kind of language. When Mr.
Grady in his speech at the New England Society’s dinner in New
York informed his auditors that the New South recognized fully the
Negro’s rights, it must have been in grim sarcasm. Did he mean by
the New South the white people of Georgia? That interpretation of
his language would save the other Southern States from the censure
of his misrepresentation. But Georgia, by the recent conduct of its
Legislature in the discussion and manipulation of the Glenn bill,
contradicts nearly everything Mr. Grady said in that speech on that
subject. The right to be legislated against, to be branded with
essential and eternal inferiority as a race, to be insulted, to be
abused, to be discriminated against at every point,—this is what
the white people of Georgia believe if the voice and conduct of
their legislators mean anything. We presume Mr. Grady did not know
this when he made that speech. If he did know it, he violated the
hospitality that honored him as its guest.
But the colored people will have their rights. The time is not yet,
but it is coming. Hostile legislation and violence cannot prevent
it. Christian education will solve the problem.
* * * * *
YOUNG MEN IN THE SOUTH.
The friends of the South look to the young men for
regeneration, and yet the situation is complicated by a
peculiarly unfortunate circumstance. A Southern boy that
was six years old in 1860 was allowed to run the streets,
boss the slaves, and do anything but study. It can be stated
as a general proposition that the Southern-born men in the
prime of life in the South to-day—that is from 30 to 35 or
38—are uneducated. A man with gentle blood in his veins and
a patch of weeds in his head, so to speak, is no ornament to
any community, and the chances are that he will be a danger
to it. If one would understand the full application of this
fact let him run over the lists of the Southern Legislatures
and note the ages of the members that make the most trouble.
Again, the migration of young men is a cause of disquietude.
Through the low country from the Carolinas to Louisiana, where
agriculture is at a low ebb in consequence mainly of the credit
system, the young men are continually becoming dissatisfied
and leaving. Our Northwest is full of these ambitious Southern
men. Certain Southern States are for various reasons putting
premiums unwittingly upon emigration. Kentucky has been almost
swept as with a broom, the better class of young men having
been carried across the Ohio River. This is not the case with
Tennessee, which is twenty-five years ahead of Kentucky in
civilization. Tennessee seems destined to become one of the
most important educational centers of the South, and it is in a
fair way of holding its young men. Texas is another State which
is holding its young men. This is a matter that the law-makers
of the South will do well to consider. A commonwealth that
cannot hold its young men cannot hold its own in the race for
supremacy.—_Springfield (Mass.) Republican._
A partial confirmation of the above views is furnished in the
action of the Georgia Legislature respecting the co-education of
the races. Mr. Glenn is a young man. His wild followers are in
the main young men. Just now these youth are in the saddle and
they are not backward to show the world what kind of men they
are. In our opinion, there have been greater and wiser statesmen.
It is something of an explanation, however, to know that in all
probability they are men of no education. The works of ignorance
are very apt to be works of darkness.
* * * * *
FRED DOUGLASS AT THE GOWDEN[A] GATE.
BY REV. J. E. RANKIN, D.D.
Fred Douglass, doffed this mortal state,
Stood waitin’ at the Gowden Gate,
Inquirin’ for St. Peter:
He heard within that gran’ auld hymn,
Like distant waters, breakin’ dim,
Old Hundred, in Long Meter.
He knocked, and knocked, and waitin’ stood
While white folks, a great multitude,
Went in, without cessation:
He thought he heard in undertone:
“This is the white folks’ gate, alone!”
Distract, in consternation.
They hurried through, without a glance—
He was to them na circumstance—
Upon the very canter:
He saw their backs were maistly labeled,
For places in advance they’d cabled,
And hailed doon from Atlanta.
At length, there came one martyr, Glenn,
And pointed to an auld slave-pen,
Fitted for nigger-quarters:
It stood against the city-walls,
Arranged within with auld-time stalls,
Just as before they fought us.
“Your name, I think, is Douglass, Sir,
An’ nigger poisons in you stir,
O hell itsel’ th’ infection!
Ten thousand æons you must wait,
Till you are purged withoot the gate;—
Submit, then, to inspection.
“For, Heaven no place, as well as earth,
Can find for those o’ nigger birth,
For Master or for Madam:
You married, too, on earth a white;—
And that deserves a deeper night,
Than first befell auld Adam!”
And sae the Gowden Gate was slammed,
And in yon pen was Douglass crammed,
For doom sae unrelaxin’:
Till he had passed from state to state,
Been bleached all white, from heel to pate,
An’ made an Anglo-Saxon!
FOOTNOTE:
[A] Golden
* * * * *
Mr. L. Maxwell, a graduate of Atlanta University, a member of the
Hartford Theo. Sem., and who during the summer has had charge of
our Congregational Church in Savannah, Ga., went with a friend a
few weeks ago by railway to McIntosh. They paid for first-class
tickets and went into the so-called “white car.” The conductor
merely intimated to them that they were in the wrong car. This did
not suit the white passengers, who, to the number of twenty-five,
insisted that they should leave. They found the conductor and
appealed to him. To his credit be it said, he came and informed
the passengers that as conductor he was compelled to protect the
colored men, and hinted that they better not interfere with them.
This settled it. The boys took their first-class seats in the
white people’s car and rode unmolested to their destination. This
is certainly a report of progress. All that is needed is a little
backbone on the part of railroad officials at the South, and the
colored people will have their rights in railway travel.
* * * * *
The Kentucky Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
convened recently in Louisville. Bishop Miles having called the
meeting to order, before proceeding to business startled the
Conference by saying:
“I have received complaints against a great many of you preachers
who do not pay your debts. You are liable to be arrested, and I
fear I shall have to call a private session to consider the matter.
If you don’t receive enough money for preaching, you had better
quit and go to work at something where you can make more money. You
need not say a word. I know you, and I’ll just give you until next
Friday to get square with your creditors. I hope you’ll do this,
because I don’t want to expose you, but if you don’t come up and
do right the public will know it, and you will be left without an
appointment.”
It is certainly a sad condition of things when a Bishop has thus to
reprove ministers, and so many of them. It is no surprise to those
who know the kind of men who are ministering to the colored people.
There is no greater need among the colored people than that of a
morally and intellectually competent ministry; but it is gratifying
to know that there are such men in positions of influence and power
as Bishop Miles. It is in the speedy multiplication of such men
that the colored people’s future, under God, depends.
* * * * *
Our thanks are due and cheerfully rendered to Rev. and Mrs. John
P. Cowles, of Ipswich, Mass., for one hundred copies of a book
entitled “The Use of a Life.” These volumes are to be distributed
among our missionaries. The life whose use these pages trace was
that of Mrs. Z. P. G. Bannister, whose work as a Christian educator
and missionary supporter has entered into the life of the nation
and the work of the world’s evangelization. The inspiration of her
work at Derry, where she was associated with Mary Lyon, and at
Ipswich, in the education of young ladies, spread westward until
from the Atlantic to the Pacific it has been felt. Mrs. Bannister
was a most remarkable woman. She was rich in her intellectual
endowments; rich in her knowledge of the Scriptures; rich in
the strength of her consecrated life to magnify the kingdom of
Christ and thereby make all her scholars the friends of missions.
Scholarship, thorough and severe, she believed in, but it must be
consecrated to Christ and used for the extension of his kingdom.
The story of this book is an inspiring one, and its perusal is
especially commended to Christian young women who are asking the
question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
* * * * *
Of late there has been an effort made to revive the spirit
of patriotism among us by organizations and by recalling war
incidents. But we need a re-laying or re-enforcing of first
principles. American patriotism must be a Christian patriotism.
And while on this theme, we can hardly help referring to the false
patriotism prevailing in a portion of our country where the colored
people are still so generally proscribed. Were they not the loyal
ones in the civil war? And yet they have few rights. This is their
native land, yet they are denied suffrage. They are manfully trying
for an education, but little encouragement do they get from those
around them.
Among the truest patriots to-day in our land are those teachers
and preachers who have gone among this race to help elevate them,
but they are still, as for these two decades past, ostracised by
the whites, some of whom are altogether their inferiors, and who,
if they themselves are to be elevated, it must, it would seem,
be accomplished largely through the elevation of these colored
citizens, by these same despised Northern teachers!
No! A true American patriotism must not ignore these six millions
for whose condition the whole people are, and have been,
responsible. And if the Government cannot be induced in some form
to give federal aid towards educating those needy millions, then
surely the true patriot of to-day, whether North or South, will
individually contribute to support such organizations as the
American Missionary Association, whose object it is to help the
poor and oppressed now among us, whether they be the freedmen, the
Indians or the Chinese.
FROM A SERMON BY REV. E. N. ANDREWS, HARTFORD, WIS.
* * * * *
FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
GENERAL SURVEY.
THE SOUTH.
Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, gave evidence of a keen and
just appreciation of the needs of a race just escaping from
centuries of bondage, when he said to his son-in-law: “Thou shalt
teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein
they must walk and the work they must do.”—Ex. xviii, 20. These
freed slaves, under the leadership of Moses, needed instruction
in reference to religious duties, the conduct of their lives, and
the larger work that opened to them as _free_ men. This counsel
of the old Midian Priest applies equally in its principles to the
problem the A. M. A. is helping to solve among the freed men of the
South to-day. This work must be fundamentally that of instruction.
No revival excitements, no moral shocks, will effect the cure of
superstitious ignorance which the social, political and religious
forces of the past have united to make most dense. Slow and patient
methods of instruction only can dispel this darkness. This fact
emphasizes the importance of the
EDUCATIONAL WORK
in the South. The total number of schools planted in the Southern
States is fifty-four. Six of these are chartered institutions,
fairly entitled to the rank of Colleges. Sixteen are Normal
and Training Schools. Thirty-two are common schools, scattered
throughout nine different States. In these schools are 246
instructors and 8,616 pupils.
In analyzing these figures, we find not a few encouraging facts.
One school has been added to the total number under the care of
the Association during the last year. Two new schools stand in the
list of Normal Institutes. Normal work was begun by the A. M. A. in
1866; now we have sixteen well furnished schools, one great purpose
of which is to instruct instructors.
Large additions have been made to the accommodations of our schools
during this year. Three school buildings, and two buildings used
for industrial training, have been erected. Tougaloo rejoices
in the completion of the two Ballard buildings, one used for
class rooms and the other for industrial training. These two
buildings were erected by the students, under the direction of the
Superintendent of Mechanical Training, who was also the architect.
The saving in expense of building was not less than $3,000, and the
Industrial classes were thus given the best instruction in this
department.
The Girls’ Industrial School at Thomasville, Ga., has just entered
its new and commodious home. This building accommodates forty
boarding pupils, and contains furnished rooms for teachers, two
offices, dining-room, reception room, kitchen and laundry, and all
the appointments of a complete boarding school.
The Academy at Pleasant Hill, Tenn., a school established for the
mountain people, has just dedicated a new and commodious building,
to be used both for school and church purposes.
At Williamsburg, Ky., we have added an Industrial Department to
the course of study, and an unused factory has been purchased and
fitted up for the accommodation of the classes. These mountain
boys who become skillful in the use of carpenter’s tools in this
school will scarcely be satisfied to occupy the poor log cabins in
which their fathers and grandfathers have lived for generations.
Missionary influences radiate from a carpenter’s shop now as in
our Lord’s day. At Grand View, Tenn., the people themselves have
rented an additional building for school purposes. The enrollment
had already outgrown the accommodations of the old quarters. At
Straight University, New Orleans, a neat Industrial building has
been erected. In addition to these new buildings which have been
put up this year, the Cassedy school building at Talladega has been
materially enlarged, to meet the growing needs of this department.
At Avery Institute, Charleston, S.C., the damage wrought by the
earthquake has been repaired. There was serious interruption of the
school work here, as the Institute could not be opened for months,
and it was difficult even then to gather the usual number of
pupils, on account of financial losses and the intense excitement
of the public mind incident to the earthquake. The enrollment shows
an attendance of ninety-two less than last year.
Notwithstanding these extensive enlargements, pupils have been
turned away from several of our institutions because of lack in
school accommodations and in teaching force. In one school the
Principal tells us of a boy who applied for admission to the
school. He could not take him. In a few days a leading business
man of the city called to intercede in the boy’s behalf, but every
corner of the school was full. “If there is a case of sickness or
removal for any cause, will you not promise to let that boy have
the first chance?” pleaded his earnest friend. But this boy was
only one of many such boys and girls. At another Institution the
Principal reported at one time during the year that there were
twenty-five families who were waiting for an opening in the school,
that they might send one or more pupils there.
In a school-room fitted to accommodate fifty-two pupils if every
desk were full, I counted ninety-six, and the teacher reported
shortly afterwards that one hundred and eight were present. It goes
without saying that it is impossible to do the best sort of school
work under such circumstances as these, and the A. M. A. seeks to
do only the best work.
One of three things is evidently true in reference to the
educational work of the Association: We must either sacrifice the
character of the work, or reduce the amount of work done, or have
more money. Which shall it be?
Industrial training holds a still more important place than ever
in the course of instruction in our schools. The new Industrial
buildings at Williamsburg, Tougaloo and Straight are already
occupied with interested classes.
There are now taught at Tougaloo, in industrial branches: Farming,
Tinning, Blacksmithing, Wagon-making, Carpentering, Painting, the
use of Steam Power in Sawing and otherwise. The boy who completes
a course of instruction in the wagon-making department can build,
iron, paint and prepare for market, wagons or carriages, beginning
with iron in the bar and timber in the rough.
The Industrial training for girls shows similar advancement.
The work has been better systematized, and regular grades in
housekeeping and sewing have been established. Kitchen gardening,
which is the æsthetic name for all sorts of unæsthetic household
work, has been introduced into several of our schools. In one
instance the A. M. A. missionary has been invited to organize
classes for Industrial training in the white public schools of the
city, on account of her superior skill in teaching in this line.
The Connecticut Industrial School for Girls, already mentioned,
which began its existence under the baptism of a fiery persecution
at Quitman, rejoices in the great enlargement of its facilities for
industrial training. Unlike the prophet’s experience, we can say
that “the Lord was in the fire.”
Let us turn a moment now to note the record of the year’s work in
our six chartered institutions.
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY has wrought throughout the year, under various
embarrassments. No one has yet been found to take up the large
responsibilities of the Presidency so successfully borne by the
lamented President Ware. The schools of the prophets and the
various fields of labor have been diligently scanned, but no Elisha
has been found upon whom her Elijah’s mantle should fall.
The iniquitous Glenn Bill disturbed the quiet of the scholastic
life of the University. It is not necessary to refer at length to
the barbarous propositions of this bill. It failed to pass; but
the bitter agitation, the obtrusive visits of politicians and the
excited state of public feeling, have been a terrible tax upon the
strength of those who were already burdened with the regular work
of the University. Notwithstanding these discouragements, Atlanta
University has increased the enrollment of pupils from 291 of last
year to 413. “The wrath of men shall praise Him,” is a truth that
is always true.
FISK UNIVERSITY has enjoyed a year of marked prosperity. The
character of the work done here is of a high order. A scholarly
French prelate of the Romish Church, who had visited many
institutions in this country, recently found his way to Fisk
University. He took in hand the classes in Latin and Greek, and put
them through an exacting and exhaustive examination. He afterwards
said to a friend that the work done in the class rooms at Fisk
University was as good as that of any American school which he
had visited. This is unsought testimony of high value. Fisk is
constantly broadening and deepening her work. Here, too, the
enrollment shows a decided increase over that of last year. The
names in the catalogue number 437, as against 384 last year—a gain
of 53. During the year there has been a quiet work of grace among
the students, both hopeful and helpful.
TALLADEGA COLLEGE.—Among those who took the title of B. D. upon
examinations at Talladega’s last commencement was a young clergyman
who, during several years of successful ministerial labor in a
large church, carried on systematic study and prepared himself
for these examinations. Talladega College lays great emphasis
upon thorough scholarship. The course of study includes Normal
Training, College Preparatory, College and Theological Departments.
The Intermediate and Primary grades of the Normal department
have outgrown their accommodations, and the building has been
enlarged to accommodate them. The industrial departments are an
important feature of the school work at Talladega. The Winsted
farm offers fine advantages for agricultural training, and the
large Slater shop furnishes the students with opportunity for
thorough knowledge of mechanical industries. The President writes:
“Talladega aims at thoroughness and seeks to cultivate the hand,
head and heart.” The enrollment in this college shows a slight
increase over that of last year.
STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY, at New Orleans, gathers among its students
many from that bright and interesting people known as Creoles,
who have so often furnished characters for song and story. The
Romish influence is very strong at New Orleans, but during an
interesting revival with which the school was blessed this year,
not a few children of these Catholic homes professed Christ. One
of these desired to join the University Church. Her parents gladly
consented, saying that if their child could live a better Christian
life in that church than in their own, they were rejoiced that she
should take this step. The religious interest in the school this
year has been deep and genuine.
The regular course of training at Straight includes Normal
instruction, and teachers educated here are found in many Southern
cities. At Vicksburg, Miss., the Superintendent of the colored
public schools, having eleven teachers under his direction, is
a graduate of Straight and is an honor to his Alma Mater. The
year just closed showed an enrollment of 518 pupils in this
school. Industrial classes have been organized as a part of the
regular school work. In the Law Department at Straight we have
the remarkable phenomenon of white and colored students sitting
down side by side in the same classes. The whites come from the
best Southern families, and are there because the instruction in
the Straight Law Department is so excellent. A diploma from this
department admits a student to the practice of law in the State,
without examination.
TOUGALOO, MISS., is situated only eight miles from the capital
of the State. There has been added to the former course of study
at Tougaloo a department of Biblical instruction during the
year. The purpose of this department is to fit the students for
more efficient and intelligent Christian work. The industrial
departments of Tougaloo are especially complete and have been
already mentioned. The appropriation of $3,000 from the State was
almost the only one in the whole list of appropriations voted by
the Legislature for school purposes which was not reduced this
year. This fact is remarkable testimony to the value of the school
by those who see its immediate results. Rev. G. S. Pope, who has
been connected with Tougaloo as its President for many years, has
been transferred to the general missionary work in the Tennessee
mountains. His services as President of Tougaloo have been
characterized by great energy and faithfulness.
TILLOTSON INSTITUTE, at Austin, Texas, is the only important
school we have in that great empire of the Southwest. This is the
youngest child among the chartered institutions of the Association,
but even this child is crying out for enlarged accommodations.
The enrollment of the school shows a considerable increase over
that of last year, and the promise for the year now opening is
still larger. One building only answers all the purposes of this
institution. Here are the school rooms, the teachers rooms, the
President’s residence and office, dormitories, rooms for industrial
training of girls, library, chapel, dining room, kitchen and
laundry, and it is not a large building either. Are not these facts
potent arguments for a new building? An industrial department has
been added to the Tillotson this year and a Superintendent of
Mechanical Training has been appointed.
In addition to this goodly list of large institutions we point with
pride to Berea and Hampton, planted by the Association. Howard
University also receives support in its department of Theology.
Such is the brief record of the educational work in the South
during the year. Thoreau paid a splendid tribute to John Brown
when he said of him in reference to his neglect of the schools:
“He let his Greek accent slant in the wrong way in order to set
upright human souls.” But these heroic teachers of the A. M. A.
are straightening Greek accents, solving mathematical problems,
and teaching the spelling book and the alphabet, for the same
grand purpose, that they may set upright human souls. Salvation is
the guiding purpose of this educational work. This purpose is not
forgotten amid the rush and fret of school cares and duties.
CHURCH WORK.
Number of Churches 127
Number of Missionaries 103
Number of Church members 7,896
Added during the year 1,197
Scholars in our Sunday-schools 15,109
These statistics show a substantial gain over last year. Seven new
churches have been organized during the year. These are situated
as follows: Decatur and Riverside Plantation, Ala.; Hammond, La.;
University Church at New Orleans; Petty, Texas; Combs, Ky.; and
Andersonville, Ga. The hills and valleys of the old prison pen at
Andersonville doubtless sometimes echo with the songs, and with the
prayers of these Negro disciples, loyal to the heart’s core to New
England Congregationalism.
Five churches have been dropped from the list this year, as changed
conditions of communities made it unwise to continue them.
There has been during the year a quiet Christian work throughout
the South, which has borne gratifying fruits, over 1,000 having
confessed Christ for the first time. The Sunday-school enrollment
has increased by nearly 2,000. The contributions of these churches
also show a healthful increase. They contributed this year for
benevolence, outside of their own work, $2,322.51, and for
their own church purposes, $16,014.50, making a grand total of
$18,337.01. This was an increase over the previous year of $610.96
in their benevolences, and $3,075.61 in the total. This is an
average contribution of $2.32 per member for every man, woman and
child in these churches. The average membership of these churches,
planted among a humble people who have no Congregational trend nor
training, stands at the encouraging number of 62 for each church,
while the average membership for each Congregational Church west of
the Mississippi is only 43. And these people in the South are loyal
Congregationalists. Although “a wild olive tree and graffed in
among the branches, they already partake of the root and fatness of
the olive tree.” The old argument urged by their Baptist brethren
that the Bible tells of John the Baptist, but no where of John
the Congregationalist, has lost its power to shake their faith in
the church of Paul and John Robinson. An old black man recently
arose in a prayer-meeting and most solemnly, with eager voice and
emphatic gesticulation, exclaimed: “I am a Congregational, and I
mean to continue a Congregational till I get up yonder,
‘Where congregations ne’er break up,
And Sabbaths never end.’”
They have found Congregationalism in their old hymn book, which is
the next thing to their Bible.
At the annual meeting in Cleveland in 1882, in the report of
the Committee on Church Work, is found the following: “The rate
of progress during the last seventeen years has been uniformly
constant, about five churches per year. * * The question now
comes, whether it is not quite time to change the rate by doubling
it; at least to quicken the pace.” Do the facts show that this
suggestion has been followed? Since 1882 fifty-five churches have
been organized, an average of eleven per year for the five years
since 1882—more than double the old rate of five per year; another
illustration of our Lord’s words, “Be it unto you according to
your faith.” In 1882, 709 were added to the churches; in 1887,
1,197 were added. But the advancement in the Sunday-school work
in our churches is still more remarkable. The total Sunday-school
enrollment, as it appears in the annual report of 1882, was 7,835,
but we are able to report this year an enrollment of 15,109, an
increase in these five years of 7,274, or nearly 100 per cent.
These years have witnessed marvelous progress in systematic care
for the children and youth by the churches of the Association.
The year just closing has been a year of building activity in the
church work. Five new meeting houses have been erected; four of
these are among the mountain people and one among the freedmen. One
new feature in our church work is the organization of two churches
composed principally of Congregationalists from the North, who
have taken up their residence in the South. They needed help and
organized under the care of the Association. Although we have no
great Pentecostal baptism to record this year, we reverently speak
our thanks “that the Lord has added to the church almost daily,
such as are being saved.”
MOUNTAIN WORK.
When the Executive Committee of the American Missionary Association
“decided to offer these mountain people the aid of our system,”
probably even this far-seeing committee did not fully realize the
magnitude of the work, nor the grand possibilities of the field.
The few feeble churches that then existed are scarcely recognized
now in the larger work that has grown up independently of them and
miles away. Indeed, in entering this region in 1882 we were only
putting the plow into the field, which had been already turned by
pioneer laborers of the American Missionary Association. Before
the war a brave man had pushed his way back into these mountain
fastnesses in Christ’s name. He went under commission from this
Association. He opened a school; his work was successful. Into
his school he put a library for the use of his pupils. In this
library there was a volume of Wesley’s sermons and, among these,
one against the sin of slavery. This book got into the hands of
a pro-slavery family. It was told that the preacher was teaching
anti-slavery doctrine. Excitement in this back mountain region was
intense. A mob was organized. They seized this missionary, bound
him, beat him, and took him some two miles over the mountains and
threw him into a cabin, and left two men as guards at the doors,
while they, with their habitual delay, went to their homes for
their dinner. They intended to return and inflict sorer punishment
and perhaps hang him. Two mountain lads, brothers, heard of this
outrage. They were pupils of this godly school-master and loved
him. Each one, unknown to the other, went by a different path to
the cabin with his rifle on his shoulder. They took out their
teacher, cut the cords that bound him, and while he and his
terrified wife at his side climbed the mountain, pushing their way
to the Ohio river, these stalwart mountain lads kept back the mob
with the threatening use of their unerring rifles. This missionary
and his heroic wife finally reached the river and escaped. Now for
the wonderful climax to that history. We have recently organized a
Congregational Church where these thrilling scenes occurred. Among
the original members who united in the bonds of freedom-loving
Congregationalism were these two men who when boys defended this
teacher at the risk of their own lives. A neat little church stands
near this prison cabin of the past, and the bell that hangs in its
belfry, whose tones fall now upon no slave’s ear, was contributed
by the wife of this first missionary to this mountain region. Such
was the heroic beginning of the Association’s work among these
mountains. God had not forgotten during the years that passed, the
tears and blood and prayers of these brave sufferers for Christ’s
sake.
This mountain work now is divided into two well-defined fields,
both important. The field in Kentucky has for its base the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which has been built since our
present missionary force began their work in this region. The
central point of this work is Williamsburg. Here we have a large
and prosperous academy and church. Eleven whole counties are
easily reached from this center and only one of these has as yet
been occupied. In addition to the work at Williamsburg, there are
two primary schools and five organized churches and constantly
increasing numbers of missionary stations in this field. Chapels
have been erected in S. Williamsburg and Woodbine and are used
for public service. A pastor has been settled over the church at
Williamsburg and has taken up the work with great efficiency. The
General Missionary has been relieved from the pastoral duties
which he has borne before, and has larger opportunity for outside
work which is pressing upon him. “Can we not have at least one
pastor for each county?” is the painfully urgent plea of one of the
faithful workers in this field.
The other field of mountain work lies along the Cumberland
Mountains in Tennessee. Its base is the Cincinnati Southern
Railroad, and the work extends far back into the mountains.
Twenty-two counties are here accessible to our pastors and
teachers. We have in this field two flourishing schools, one at
Grand View and the other away up on the Cumberland plateau, at
Pleasant Hill. Besides these schools, there are also churches
at Grand View, Pleasant Hill, Pomona, Robbins, Slick Rock and
Helenwood. Last year a new school was taken under the care of the
Association at Sherwood, Tenn. We have thus surrounded this vast
mountain region with our missionary forces. A General Missionary
has been put into this field during the past year and the work
opens upon him with constantly increasing magnitude. These people
are Americans in every sense of the word, ninety-eight per cent
of the population of some counties having been born where they
still live. Those who come into the region from other parts of the
same State they call foreigners. A missionary in writing recently
from this field says: “I asked how many of them in the meeting had
Bibles in their homes, and out of fifteen or eighteen families
represented only two of them had Bibles.” Another missionary asked
a girl seventeen years old if they had a book in her house. “A
book, what is a book?” was the astonishing question. A book was
described to her. “Oh! yes,” she said, “I believe there was one in
the cabin before grandmam died, but it was lost so long ago I plumb
forgot how it looked.”
This is _our_ work. Only the edges of this great field have been
gleaned. Will you not let us send our harvesters right into the
heart of this ripening grain to gather in the name of our God?
INDIAN WORK.
The Indian work is chiefly in Nebraska and Dakota. The following is
the summary for the year:
Churches 5
Church members 370
Added during the year 43
Schools 18
Pupils in Schools 608
Missionaries and Teachers 61
The report shows an encouraging increase in church membership. This
means the redemption of souls from heathenism.
The three principal stations in the North are Santee, Oahe, and
Fort Berthold. The work has been strengthened in each of these
stations during the year. The Santee Normal School celebrated its
seventeenth birthday during the past year. It was the first school
of its kind established among this nation and its fruitful history
abundantly proves the wisdom of its planting. Superior normal
training is given the students in this school. The enrollment this
year was 195. Twenty-six students were gathered in the theological
department, many of whom will doubtless become missionaries to
their own people. Pilgrim Church at Santee has enjoyed a year of
prosperity. Eighteen have been added to the membership, eleven on
the confession of their faith.
At Rosebud Agency three villages, including about 8,000 Indians,
are open to missionary influence, and the work is being pushed
with increased vigor. Jacob Good Dog, a converted Indian, was the
Boniface in this field.
Among the Ponca Indians, in Nebraska, the work had been carried on
with about the usual results.
OAHE.—This mission includes a training school and eleven
out-stations on the Cheyenne and Grand rivers. Nineteen have been
added to the Oahe church, on confession of their faith, during the
year. A young man has been ordained as missionary to the Indians,
and enters this field on Grand river for his life work. He has
caught the spirit of Edwards, and Eliot and Brainard.
FORT BERTHOLD has passed a year of prosperity. New work is opening
in this field. I quote from a recent letter: “Since my last letter
we have had very interesting and serious developments. The Gros
Ventres and Mandan tribes, situated 20 and 40 miles from us, have
little or no religious instruction, only as they come to us. These
two tribes we are hoping some of our young men who are away at
school will be ready soon to work with.”
S’KOKOMISH AGENCY lies 1,000 miles to the west of Fort Berthold, in
Washington Territory. The church here has also been blessed during
the year with revival influences and four have united with it on
confession of faith.
These Indian missions have been visited personally during the year
by two of the Secretaries of the Association, and the work has been
carefully inspected.