presided. After an appropriate hymn, prayer was offered by the Rev.
Stanley Rogers. Then the chairman said: “It gives me great pleasure
to preside at such a meeting of this society. These missionaries
before you are the first-fruits from the Fisk University, which was
established at Nashville, Tenn., for the education of those who
were freed from slavery by the late Civil War in America. And now,
here they are ready for work in that great mission field of Africa.
It is a vast field. And it is to be hoped that the British people
will do their part in the aid of this most important enterprise.
Fisk University was introduced to the English people a few years
ago by the Jubilee Singers, who have done wonders towards its
support.” The chairman then turned and added: “We must not forget
the wives of these young missionaries; we must give them a shake of
the hand, as a token of our interest in them.”
The Rev. Dr. O. H. White (one of the secretaries of the Freedmen’s
Aid Society), then gave an interesting statement of the origin of
the American Missionary Association, of its plan and work for the
African race, and of the formation of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid
Society, with the Earl of Shaftesbury as President, to be auxiliary
to the Association in New York. And he stated that the united
societies are now making a special effort to send missionaries from
among the freedmen to that dark and long-plundered continent beyond
the sea—Africans to teach and to save Africans!
The Rev. Andrew Jackson, one of the missionaries, then spoke, and
gave a very interesting account of their call to the work, and of
the great increase of the missionary spirit in Fisk University
during the year, and of the great self-denial on the part of the
colored parents and of pupils, that larger numbers may get an
education, and so be prepared for a greater usefulness among their
own benighted people.
The chairman then called on the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, pastor
for many years of the Myrtle street Baptist Church. He stated his
great interest in the Jubilee Singers, and in the efforts making
to send the Gospel to that long-neglected Africa, which is now
so wonderfully opening up to trade and commerce, and especially
to Christianity. He expressed his strong hope that these young
missionaries would be brought safely to their field of labor, and
that they might be greatly successful in their work, and that many
more might follow their example, and go forth to that great African
field.
Rev. Albert Miller (a true type of the African race), then
addressed the meeting, with the warmth and glow peculiar to the
sable children of the summer and more genial climes. He spoke of
the depressed condition of his people in America, and of the need
on that dark continent, to which he and his associates were now
going, under the Divine lead. He expressed the desire of his heart
that all Christians should pray and give for the evangelization of
the benighted millions of Africa.
The Rev. Mr. Pearson, M. A., pastor of the church, next spoke,
in the most cordial manner, of his great pleasure in welcoming
these young missionaries and the freedmen’s cause to that ancient
historic church. He commended the plan for sending educated
Africans to that great work to be done in those vast fields, which
have proved so fatal to Anglo-Saxon life. He said the British
people had special reasons for taking part with the American people
in this effort to redeem Africa from the darkness and doom of the
past centuries. If the work so well begun was followed up, as it
ought to be, the time was not distant when we should see a far
better day for that dark continent with its millions of people.
In the absence of the Rev. Mr. Wech, M. A., who was expected to
speak, his Elder, John Patterson, Esq., was called to fill the
place. He spoke with the pith and pathos characteristic of those
from the Emerald Isle. He recalled a little of the past history
of Liverpool and contrasted it happily with the present state of
things, when so many, from the different denominations of the city,
could come together so harmoniously to greet the young missionaries
from Fisk University, on their way to the west coast of Africa to
teach the knowledge of the Gospel to the benighted of their race.
The Rev. Wardlaw Thompson, in a few words, cordially commended the
Freedmen’s cause to the hearts and to the pecuniary support of
the friends of Africa. He then led the congregation in an earnest
prayer for the blessing of God upon the missionaries, in their
voyage to their distant home, and upon their work for many years
among their own people.
An appropriate hymn was then sung, and the services, which had been
highly satisfactory, were closed with the Benediction.
* * * * *
Wanted—Cloth, Bibles and School-books.
REV. FLOYD SNELSON, SHERBRO ISLAND, W. AFRICA.
I must “strike while the iron is hot.”
There is very little of anything found here. Most of the children
and parents go naked, with the exception of those who wear a
handkerchief or country cloth. When you ask them to send their
children to school, they show a willingness, but render, as excuse,
that they have no clothes, and that they are unable to furnish
them. Cloth here is very high, and in most cases their excuse
is reasonable. If some person would be so kind as to send out a
quantity of cheap cloth, to be made up for clothing, it will prove
a blessing to many a suffering one.
The disadvantages and sufferings through which this people have
to pass are indescribable. I have had many calls for Bibles, but
regret to say I have been unable to honor any. We have a very
flourishing Sabbath-school, and are in great need of Sabbath-school
papers and tracts. The day-school is larger. Some of the scholars
are unable to pursue their studies for want of books. We cannot
keep the number together we now have, unless this evil is removed.
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
* * * * *
S’KOKOMISH AGENCY, W. T.
Sunday-School Progress—An Indian Festival—Temperance and Order.
REV. MYRON EELLS.
Our Sabbath-school is accustomed to make a specialty of inducing
the children to learn the lesson in the Bible, believing that the
Bible is the best Sabbath instruction with which we can store their
minds. Learning six verses places a child on the roll of honor,
and reciting them perfectly gives him two credit marks. For four
Sabbaths during the past year there was no Sabbath-school, hence
the highest number which a child could receive was ninety-six.
That number was received by one Indian girl, and it is the best
that has ever been done in the school. Last year the highest number
was eighty-six, and that was better than the year before. Ten
others, out of about thirty who can read English, received over
fifty credit marks.
In January and February, I was absent some three weeks at an Indian
festival, ninety miles from here. They are wholly heathenish, but
thus far it has been about as impossible to prevent them as it is
to prevent a river running down stream; hence, the next best thing
is to guide them. Drunkenness at such places is one of their worst
dangers, and the principal Indians are beginning to realize it.
About 550 Indians were present, seventy-five of whom went from
this reservation. I have made the trip by canoe several times in
the summer, and in the winter by steamer, but the prospect was not
pleasant of traveling 180 miles in an open canoe; camping out when
it might rain, snow or freeze all the time. But the chiefs there
and here urged me to go, and assist in guarding against worthless
white men and Indians. There was no one else to go, and it did seem
that if they should get on a “big drunk,” and I should be asked
why I did not go and try to prevent it, and should reply, because
I was afraid it would be stormy, it would be a poor excuse. It
was a hard place to attempt to elevate the Indians, though I held
several services with them, but there was a prospect that I might
prevent their falling as deep into the pit as they would otherwise.
The result justified the work. One drunken Indian was arrested,
one drunken white man and wife were sent home; and it was plain
that, had I not been there, no one could have told where it would
have ended. Out of the seventy-five who went with me, I do not know
of more than half a dozen who have been drunk within four years,
although nearly all drank more or less previous to the adoption of
the present policy; and it is considerable to say that 550 Indians
were together for a week, and that there was only one case of
drunkenness, and only one of quarreling.
* * * * *
GREEN BAY AGENCY.
Education Among the Menomonee Indians.
JOS. C. BRIDGMAN, KESHENA, WIS.
Education among the Menomonee Indians is making very perceptible
headway. At the suggestion of Colonel E. C. Watkins, United States
Indian Inspector, the three day-schools upon the reserve were
merged into a boarding-school, in September, 1876. This has proved
a success beyond our most hopeful expectations. No like school
among white children, so far as my observation goes, shows more
enthusiasm on the part of the scholars, more zeal on the part of
the teachers, or better progress, when the obstacles to success are
taken into consideration.
It is almost impossible to induce the children to talk English.
Only when forced to do so, will they speak in other than their
vernacular tongue. Naturally very timid, a proper and pleasant
familiarity with them is a sure inroad to their confidence, and the
knowledge of them thus gained convinces us that they are capable
of comprehending and grasping ideas of knowledge. We have no
difficulty in filling our limited accommodations; and, could they
be increased sufficiently, we should expect an average attendance
of one hundred children. This tribe very enthusiastically voted
$6,000 of their own funds, to be expended in the erection of a
school boarding-house; but the possibility of part of the tribe
becoming citizens within a few years, leads the Indian Bureau to
delay the building, so much needed and desired.
The Indian problem will never be satisfactorily solved until
education and citizenship are brought to the foreground, and take
the prominence they deserve.
This is strictly a government school. The two teachers are
Protestants, the assistant matron a Catholic. When first
established, the Romish priest attempted to break it up; but
understanding the agent’s aim, that it should be free from
sectarianism on the part of both teachers and matron, he has kindly
and wisely withdrawn all opposition, and is in pleasant harmony
with both agent and school.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
* * * * *
“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”
Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.
PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L.
Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon.
F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S.
H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D.,
Jacob S. Taber, Esq.
DIRECTORS: Rev. George Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E.
Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford,
Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.
SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.
* * * * *
A Rebuke and a Response.
The following communication is clipped from the San Francisco
_Chronicle_. The club which expresses its mind after this sort,
is a society of so-called (miscalled) “workingmen,” followers
of Dennis Kearney. Bernal Heights is in the immediate vicinity
of Bethany Church, of which Rev. W. C. Pond is the pastor. The
production has marked peculiarities, not only in moral tone, but in
grammar and rhetoric as well, and affords to our readers all the
elements necessary for a correct and vivid picture of its authors:
“BERNAL HEIGHTS CLUB.
“The Bernal Heights Club met last evening, in Ewald’s Hall, J.
Clancey in the chair. The following resolution was read and
adopted:
“The Committee on Chinese, in the discharge of the duties
assigned them, do submit the following, with the recommendation
that the same may be communicated to the parties addressed,
either through the public press or by letter, as follows: To
the Rev. Pond, pastor of the Bethel[A] Congregational Church
Society, and members of the aforesaid society: We, the members
of the Bernal Heights Club, having been informed that you, and
the members of your society, are devoting your energies in the
endeavor to teach and instruct Chinese in the English or our
language, in order to Christianize them, and bring them up to
our standard in all their requirements (a futile undertaking),
knowing as we do that they consider their theory of spiritual
economy and their doctrines concerning the soul’s immortality,
and such things, far superior to our own, and they treat us and
all our endeavors to bring them over to the theory and belief
with absolute contempt, should convince us, without doubt, of the
fallacy, we take this method of expressing our disapprobation of
the course that you are pursuing, in encouraging Chinese in this
country. We do not object to your following the commands of our
Divine Master. Where He enjoins you to go out to all the world
and teach and preach, He did not command the whole world to come
to you. He said go out to the world and preach. Therefore, if you
must preach and teach Chinamen, go to China, and you will there
find an opportunity to unburden your full load of Christianity
for the heathen lepers. We tell you now, and we shall tell you
again, in all earnestness and candor, that we shall and will
handle this question without gloves, and that the Chinese must
go. Our organization is perfecting to attain that end, and the
beginning of the end is not yet. We tell you these facts in all
friendship. Do not think that we array ourselves as enemies, but
as friends of our race we will defend and protect you as far as
we can, consistently with our obligation; but we tell you you
must stop this Chinese business. If there is no other way to
perpetuate Christianity in this country but through the medium
of the Chinese, why, let Christianity slide; if you cannot get
a society of your own race and kind to support you, without the
help of Chinamen, quit the business you are at, and try something
else. Do not think we have signaled out your especial case.
Other similar Chinese Christian factories will receive their
full share of attention in due time in their own districts. To
expel the Chinese from our shores is a duty we owe to ourselves
and to posterity, and we will not relent one particle until that
end is attained; and, in our struggle to attain that end, we
have a right to expect the sympathy of all. We have a sufficient
guarantee to warrant us in asserting that every member of the
Workingmen’s Party of California will do his duty in this regard.”
Justice to San Francisco demands that we append to this deliverance
of the club the following editorial response, which appeared the
same week in the _Mission Mirror_, a paper published in the
section of the city in which Bethany Church and Bernal Heights are
located:
“MOBOCRACY.
“If that Bernal Heights Club don’t quit fooling with the bull,
the first thing they know, that animal will turn and gore them.
Their late pronunciamento against the Protestant Christian
churches generally, and Rev. W. C. Pond in particular, for
teaching the English language to the ignorant heathens in our
midst, stamps the majority of that club as a body of men who, in
point of civilization, stand away below the ignorant, helpless
pagans at whom they profess to strike. No one for a moment
believes them so reckless as to mob a Christian church. It is
only another one of those little bluff games, for which political
anti-Coolieites have become famous, and in which they propose to
frighten somebody into their way of thinking. We greatly mistake
the callibre of Mr. Pond if he is not more than a match for the
whole mob. We agree with the great body of intelligent people on
this coast that “the Chinese must go,” but the course proposed by
this club will only tend to prolong their stay in this country.
There is, at least, abundant opportunity yet for the fool-killer,
if not the hangman, to reap a rich harvest on Bernal Heights.”
FOOTNOTE:
[A] A mistake for _Bethany_.
* * * * *
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.
* * * * *
ALBERT, THE SLAVE BOY.
MRS. A. K. SPENCE, NASHVILLE, TENN.
Twenty-three years ago, in one of the northern counties of
Mississippi, there was born a little slave boy. No white blood
coursed in his veins. No one cared for his birth save, perhaps, his
weary slave mother. Some one called him Albert, and that was all,
for slave children had only one name. No future opened before him,
for slave children had no future, but service to a master. He grew
up to a life of poverty and toil and neglect, and early learned
what it was to be cold and hungry and sorrowful.
By and by began the fierce struggle between slavery and freedom.
The slaves were sent from place to place, to prevent their escape
to the Union army. Albert wandered about with them—to Tennessee,
to Texas, to Georgia—till the close of the war found him back in
Tennessee, and near the city of Nashville. Here he picked up his
letters, and, at the age of fourteen, learned to read. In 1869, he
went to a school taught by one of the first student teachers from
Fisk University, who encouraged him to look to something higher
than the spelling-book and reader.
In 1870 he entered that institution. Then began the long, hard
struggle for an education. For two years he groomed horses and did
housework. For two years more he took care of a drunken young man,
the son of wealthy parents in Nashville; and often might Albert
have been seen with his Greek or Latin book, far into the night,
sitting in some saloon or grocery, waiting for the young man, whose
aged mother had made him promise that he would never leave her son
in a saloon at night. Poor, awkward, and dressed out of missionary
barrels, often the recipient of student aid, sometimes well-nigh
disheartened, but always pressing on; once bought off by Mr. Spence
for the sum of ten dollars, when his father wanted him to work in
the field, he toiled slowly on, step by step, winning honor and
respect, and loved by his teachers as, perhaps, few students of
Fisk University were ever loved.
Always good in scholarship, always among the first of his class, in
nine years he passed from the alphabet to within three mouths of a
college diploma.
He was converted in 1872, and at once gave himself to the ministry.
In common with most students of Fisk University, he had thought,
though not very definitely, of missionary work in Africa.
On the 1st day of February, there came a call for two men for
the Mendi Mission. Albert had his plans. He hoped to graduate
from college, a thing few colored youths have attained. He had
two orphan brothers and a little sister, to whom he purposed to
give an education and Christian training. Perhaps he had also his
ambitions in the ministry, where educated colored men will soon
rise so high; but he laid them all aside when God called, and with
a fellow-student, whose soul was mightily stirred by that call, he
said, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” He said, “How I should feel, to
have God call, and I not be ready!”
His last request to the students of Fisk University was that they
would make this its motto:
_“Her sons and her daughters are ever on the altar.”_
To-day Albert Miller is on the shores of Africa. The prayers,
the tears, the affections of the institution, are with him. The
prayers of the Christian heart of America will be with him, and his
companions, in that distant land. Did not God, who chose Abraham
and David, and Paul and Luther, choose him for such a time as
this, and make all the years of his slavery—his privations, and
his discipline—but the means to fit him for this great work of
carrying the Gospel to Africa?
* * * * *
RECEIPTS
FOR MARCH, 1878.
* * * * *
MAINE, $146.95.
Andover. Mrs. E. P. 1.00
Bangor. First Parish Sab. Sch. 6.00
Bath. “Friend” $50; Mrs. J. C. 25c 50.25
Bethel. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Biddeford. J. N. A. 1.00
Bluehill. M. E. Johnson. 5.00
Brunswick. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.00
Calais. First. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.55
Castine. Lucy S. Adams. 20.00
Kenduskeag. Rev. J. S. 1.00
Machias. Centre St. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.64
Newport. M. S. N. 1.00
Sweden. Cong. Soc. 7.00
West Bethel. Mrs. E. C. 0.51
NEW HAMPSHIRE, $967.54.
Amherst. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $51.53.—“Memorial
Union” $20; _for Wilmington, N. C._ 71.53
Bennington. Miss Emily Whittemore, _for a
Student, Atlanta U._ 75.00
Chester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.75
Colebrook. J. A. H. 0.50
Concord. C. T. P. 0.50
Exeter. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc.
$72.11.—Ladies of Second Cong. Parish $3,
and bbl. of C. _for Wilmington, N. C._ 75.11
Fitzwilliam. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 30.50
Francestown. Young Men’s Christian Ass’n. 9.75
Haverhill. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 27.67
Keene. Ladies’ Benev. Soc. of 2d Ch., bbl. of
C. and $3 _for freight_.—Mrs. N. R. C. 50c 3.50
Lebanon. Mary L. Choate. 5.00
Lyme. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.94
Marlborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 16.37
New London. M. K. T. 0.25
Orford. Ladies, bbl. of C. and 60c, _for
freight_.—Miss A. E. 50c 1.10
Peterborough. Mrs. E. H. 1.00
Plymouth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.94
Portsmouth. ESTATE of Dea. Joshua
Brooks, by Henry A. Yeaton, Ex. 500.00
Rindge. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.10
Troy. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.03
—— “A Friend” 100.00
VERMONT, $205.41.
Burlington. Third Cong. Ch. $32.02; Rev. D. G.
$1 33.02
Bridport. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.25
Cambridge. Dea. S. Montague 10.00
Fayetteville. Individuals, by Austin Birchard 2.00
Granby and North Victory. Cong. Ch. 2.00
Ludlow. Mrs. P. M. $1; N. M. P. $1.20 2.20
Marshfield. Lyman Clark 10.00
North Waterford. S. E. H. 1.00
St. Johnsbury. South Cong. Ch. and Soc.
$99.44; W. W. T. 50c 99.94
Strafford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00
Williamstown. Individuals, by R. D. Nichols 1.00
—— “Life Member” $9.50; Mrs. S. D. 50c 10.00
MASSACHUSETTS, $1,232.07.
Abington. Mr. Talbot 5.00
Amherst. Second Cong. Ch. $17.75; E. T. S. 50c 18.25
Ashfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.40
Athol Centre. Mrs. Emily Eaton 2.00
Belchertown. D. B. B. 0.50
Boston. Mrs. E. C. Ford $25; Mrs. E. C.
Parkhurst $20; L. F. H. 50c.; Smith Organ
Co., 1 Organ, val. $100 45.50
Brimfield. Benev. Soc. 41.00
Cambridgeport. Ladies’ Aux. of Pilgrim Ch.
$40, to const. MRS. R. V. RUGG, L.
M.; Mrs. I. J. 50c 40.50
Clinton. MRS. MARTHA C. GIBBS, to
const. herself L. M. 30.00
Coleraine. Miss E. McG. 1.00
Dana. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 2.00
East Douglass. Cong. Ch. M. C. Coll., to
const. MRS. MARY JANE WILLIS, L. M. 30.22
East Medway. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $13; H. D. 50c 13.50
East Woburn. Wm. Temple. 2.50
Fall River. M. E. 1.00
Fairhaven. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00
Foxborough. Mrs. W. P. P. 0.50
Fitchburgh. W. L. B. $1.—Rollstone Benev.
Soc. 1 box of Bedding, _for Atlanta U._ 1.00
Florence. Two S. S. Classes of Cong. Ch.,
“Little Pets” $2.74; “Pilgrims” $3.63 6.37
Granby. Cong. Ch. 27.17
Groveland. Mrs. M. A. R. 1.00
Hanover. Mrs. McLauthlin and Mrs. Allen,
bundle of C.
Haverhill. North Cong. S. S. $50; John B. Case
$5; Dea. J. Flanders $5 60.00
Holden. Bbl. of C., _for Wilmington, N. C._
Hopkinton. Ladies 1.50
Hyde Park. First Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Hampton
N. and A. Inst._ 70.00
Lancaster. Ladies of Trin. Cong. Ch., 1 bbl.
of C., _for Atlanta U._
Lee. Cong. Sab. Sch. 75.00
Malden. “A Friend” $3; Mrs. C. F. B. 50c 3.50
Mansfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.45
Matfield. Mrs. O. Grover 2.00
Melrose. Orthodox Cong. Ch. and Soc. $36.11;
E. N. Chapin $4.50 40.61
Monson. Miss E. A. W. 1.00
New Braintree. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.10
Newbury. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.74
Newburyport. P. H. Lunt 25.50
Newton Centre. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 19.28
Newtonville. Mrs. A. W. G. 0.50
Norton. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 34.00
Northfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $15; “A Friend”
$10 25.00
Norwood. Mrs. W. B. 0.50
Pepperell. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00
Princeton. “Ladies” 14.00
Rehoboth. Cong. Ch. 25.00
Rochdale. Miss A. G. L. 0.50
Rockland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 103.00
Sandwich. Mrs. J. French $5; Robert Tobey $5;
Silas Fish $3 13.00
Sharon. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $16.55; Dr. Bacon
$5.00 21.55
Somerville. Broadway Cong. Ch. and Soc. $13;
Prospect Hill Sab. Sch. $9 22.00
South Dartmouth. Mrs. M. P. S. 1.00
South Deerfield. Mrs. M. B. 0.50
South Framingham. G. M. Amsden 5.00
Tolland. Cong. Ch. $2.74; Rev. D. J. O. 50c 3.24
Wakefield. H. L. H. 1.00
Walpole. Orthodox Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00
Waverly. Cong. Ch. and Soc., _for Student,
Atlanta U._ 17.72
Westborough. E. J. G. 0.50
West Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.56
West Dennis. Mrs. S. S. C. 1.00
Westfield. Mrs. J. F. 1.00
West Hampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.50
Weymouth. ESTATE of Abby C. Pratt, by
Henry Dyer, Ex. 193.56
Weymouth and Braintree. Union Ch. _for Marion,
Ala._ 45.35
RHODE ISLAND, $1.
Pawtucket. Mrs. G. W. K. and A. B. 1.00
CONNECTICUT, $3,075.99.