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DOUBLE NUMBER. SEE FOURTH PAGE COVER.
[Illustration:
Volume XXXVI.
DECEMBER, 1882.
NO. 12.
The
American Missionary
“THEY ARE RISING ALL ARE RISING, THE BLACK AND WHITE TOGETHER”
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.]
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
PAGE.
EDITORIALS.
PARAGRAPH—Financial Outlook. 353
ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING. 354
SUMMARY OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 357
GENERAL SURVEY. 359
FREEDMEN.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL WORK. 369
HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO. Pres. E. M. Cravath. 370
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHURCH WORK. 372
REMARKS OF REV. C. O. BROWN. 374
AFRICA.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 375
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PROPOSED EXCHANGE OF
MISSIONS. 376
THE INDIANS.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 377
WORK AND DUTY IN THE EAST. Gen. S. C. Armstrong. 378
THE CHINESE.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 380
ADDRESS OF REV. JAMES BRAND, D.D. 381
MISCELLANEOUS.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. 383
PETITION OF PRESIDENT WARE AND OTHERS. 384
EXCHANGE OF MISSIONS. By Secretary Strieby. 385
ADDRESSES AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.
PRESIDENT HAYS’ ADDRESS. 391
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT A. D. WHITE. 395
ADDRESS OF REV. A. G. HAYGOOD, D.D. 399
FROM ADDRESS OF GEN. C. B. FISK. 406
FROM ADDRESS OF REV. A. J. F. BEHRENDS. 407
RELATION OF THE A. M. A. TO CIVILIZATION, By Rev.
F. L. Kenyon. 409
DEDICATION OF LIVINGSTONE MISSIONARY HALL. 410
RECEIPTS. 411
* * * * *
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, NEW YORK.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT, HON. WM. B. WASHBURN, Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
Rev. M. E. STRIEBY. D.D., 56 _Reade Street, N.Y._
TREASURER.
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., 56 _Reade Street, N.Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
Rev. C. L. Woodworth, _Boston_.
Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., _New York_.
Rev. James Powell, _Chicago_.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating To the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; those Relating To the collecting fields,
to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the
“American Missionary,” to Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., at the New York
Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York,
or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, Rev. C.
L. Woodworth, Dist. Sec., 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass.,
or Rev. James Powell, Dist. Sec., 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member. Letters relating to boxes and barrels of clothing may
be addressed to the persons above named.
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.
The Annual Report of the A. M. A. contains the Constitution of the
Association and By-Laws of the Executive Committee. A copy will be
sent free on application.
* * * * *
The
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXVI. DECEMBER, 1882. No. 12.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
The annual meeting of this Association was held in Plymouth Church,
Cleveland, O., Oct. 24–26, and was one of great interest. In this
number of the MISSIONARY we have endeavored to give a glimpse
of what was said and done. For want of space, almost nothing is
published entire except the reports of the committees.
For Dr. Goodell’s sermon on “More Power from Christ for the World’s
Larger Needs,” Dr. Ward’s paper on “Caste in Education,” Dr.
Noble’s on “God’s Way of Vindicating Brotherhood” and Dr. Roy’s on
“The New South,” we must for the present refer our readers to _The
Advance_ of November 2d.
The papers read before the Women’s Meeting by Mrs. Andrews, Miss
Cahill and Miss Hamilton are reserved for mention in the January
MISSIONARY.
The addresses given by Dr. Gregory, Dr. Rust and Mr. Beard,
representing the Baptist, the Methodist and the Society of Friends
may be used in compiling a pamphlet relating to the work done
among the freedmen. Other addresses or papers may also be given in
pamphlet form.
* * * * *
THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.
That part of the report of the Committee on Finances at our
Annual Meeting which says: “More ample facilities for church and
educational work bring with them larger demands for funds, so that
simply to preserve its efficiency in fields already occupied, the
Association requires an annual increase in contributions,” will be
readily appreciated by all who are accustomed to study the laws of
growth. Every new building either for school or church purposes;
every additional scholar, whether among the Negroes, Indians or
Chinese; every church and school organized, calls for enlarged
expenditures. The recommendation at Cleveland that $50,000 be added
to the current income of the Association for general uses during
the next fiscal year is based on sound business principles. It is
not one dollar more than will be required to give the greatest
efficiency to our operations. As in the past, so in the future we
must have, if we do what is pressing to be done, money for special
purposes.
1. The church work, that has grown so steadily under our care,
requires $10,000 for enlargement the coming year.
2. The work contemplated among the Indians, in addition to that
carried on by us during the past year, will also require at least
$20,000.
3. We have purchased fourteen acres of land at Little Rock, Ark.,
for a site for the Edward Smith college, and need $25,000 in
addition to the amount pledged to provide the buildings needful.
4. We need a new dormitory at Austin, Tex. Allen Hall was crowded
to its utmost the day the present school year was opened, and among
the first duties of the teachers was the painful one of turning
needy students away.
The committee at Cleveland, in urging that $375,000 be raised for
the coming year, observes that, “While the receipts for the past
two years have been more than $100,000 larger than in the two years
next preceding them, the expense of raising and disbursing these
funds and managing the affairs of the Association has increased
less than $400 per annum, thus showing that the Association is
fully equipped for a much larger work without additional cost
for the machinery of administration.” We never were in such good
condition to do the work we have in hand so economically, wisely
and successfully as at present, and there never was a time when the
welfare of the nation and the cause of Christ were more fruitful
with promise. The voice of the whole people, North, South, East and
West, is calling upon us to go forward with renewed strength. Shall
we have the means needful?
* * * * *
ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.
The thirty-sixth Annual Meeting of the American Missionary
Association was held in Plymouth Church, Cleveland, Ohio, on
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, October 24th to 26th, 1882.
Promptly at three o’clock Tuesday afternoon, the meeting of the
Association was called to order by the President, Hon. William B.
Washburn, of Massachusetts. Devotional services were conducted
by Prof. John Morgan, of Oberlin, after which Gov. Washburn, on
assuming the chair for the first time, said:
“I appear before you on this occasion with feelings of a mixed
character; partly painful, partly pleasing—painful when I reflect
that your expectations in regard to the presiding officer whom
you have lately selected probably never will be realized;
pleasing—doubly pleasing—to remember that I have received the
support of so distinguished an organization as has invited me to
preside over its deliberations.
“Let me, then, first of all, thank you for the honor conferred,
and assure you that no effort of mine shall be wanting to meet the
demands of the occasion.
“I know full well the many trials and difficulties which this
Society has been called upon to pass through in the past. Your
labors have been for the most part among the neglected and despised
races of our country. Society rests upon selfish principles.
Men respect the honored and the elevated, not the despised and
the down-trodden. Hence a great portion of the labors of this
organization has been unknown and uncared-for by the great majority
of mankind; and yet it is in the midst of such degradation that
we get the brightest glimpses of Christianity, the widest and
broadest views of humanity. The aspect to-day which we witness
of endeavoring to raise even the lowest masses of mankind into
intellectual, moral and spiritual dignity, never was broader than
at the present hour. Take courage, then, and feel that your labors
have not been in vain. The success which has attended your efforts
during the past year, the wonderful increase of the means which
have been provided this organization by an enlarged constituency,
the bright aspect of the future, ought to strengthen the hands and
encourage the hearts of all who are interested in this organization
to make greater sacrifices, if need be, in the future than have
ever been made in the past.
“Every true citizen, every real patriot ought to feel to-day a
special interest in the prosperity and the success of this Society.
“It has been well said that essential to the perpetuity of our
republican institutions are two conditions: Popular intelligence
and popular morality. In other words, in order that free
institutions may be preserved, there must be general intelligence
and sound morals. Hence, two institutions are essential—schools
and Christian churches. Free institutions without intelligence can
exist only in name. It is moral, not physical ills which we have to
fear. While the people themselves remain pure no human force can
prevail against them.
“When four millions of slaves were suddenly set free the great
problem to solve was, what shall we do with them? To-day each vote
of those individuals counts as much in the ballot-box as the vote
of the most distinguished and intelligent citizen in the land.
Would we preserve, therefore, and hand down to our children those
institutions which were entrusted to our charge by our fathers, and
which have been shedding on us blessings to which all other nations
are perfect strangers, then we must educate and Christianize these
millions of new-born citizens. I honor this organization especially
to-day because it has done more than all other instrumentalities,
perhaps, combined to bring about this grand result. Let no one,
then, be discouraged or falter at the magnitude of the work; for,
if we rise to the level of our opportunity, if we are true to
ourselves, victory will sooner or later be ours.”
Rev. George R. Merrill, of Ohio, was then elected Secretary, and
Rev. S. M. Newman, of Wisconsin, Assistant Secretary.
The Treasurer, H. W. Hubbard, Esq., then read his report, which was
referred to the Committee on Finance.
The annual report of the Executive Committee of the Association was
presented by Rev. M. E. Strieby, D.D., Corresponding Secretary of
the Society, and its several portions were referred to appropriate
committees.
After the appointment of the various committees, the remainder of
the session was devoted to prayer and conference, led by Rev. C. L.
Woodworth, District Secretary of the Association. This season of
prayer derived special interest from the fact that the same hour
was observed by the workers throughout the field.
Tuesday evening, after devotional services, led by Rev. Arthur
Little, D.D., of Chicago, the annual sermon was preached by Rev. C.
L. Goodell, D.D., of St. Louis, from the text, Matthew 28:18, the
theme being “More Power from Christ for the World’s Larger Needs.”
After the sermon, Rev. J. E. Twichell, D.D., presented an address
of welcome in behalf of the churches and people of Cleveland. The
observance of the Lord’s Supper followed, at which Rev. T. M.
Post, D.D., of St. Louis, and President J. H. Fairchild, D.D., of
Oberlin, presided.
Wednesday morning the prayer meeting was conducted by Rev. H.
L. Hubbell, of New York. At the opening of the regular session
at nine o’clock, the report of the Committee on the Revision of
the Constitution of the Association was presented by Rev. George
M. Boynton, of Massachusetts. A general discussion followed, in
which the speakers were limited to ten minutes each, and which was
closed promptly at half-past ten o’clock. On motion, the report
was made the order for two o’clock in the afternoon. Rev. F. L.
Kenyon, of Iowa, read a paper on “The Relation of the A. M. A.
to Civilization.” Gen. S. C. Armstrong, of Hampton, Va., read a
paper on “The Indian Problem,” which was followed by a few remarks
from Father Potter, of Ohio, formerly for about twenty years a
missionary among the Cherokee Indians. Rev. W. H. Ward, D.D., of
New York, read a paper on “Caste in Education.”
After the opening of the Wednesday afternoon session with prayer,
the order of the day was taken up and the report of the Committee
on the Constitution was referred to a special committee of
thirteen, to reconsider the whole subject, and report at the next
Annual Meeting, after having obtained an expression of opinion
from each of the State Congregational organizations. An invitation
was presented to the Association from Mr. and Mrs. D. P. Eells
to visit Oakwood on Friday morning, which was received with an
expression of thanks. Rev. F. A. Noble, D.D., of Illinois, read a
paper on “God’s way of vindicating Brotherhood.” The report of the
Committee on African Missions was presented by Rev. M. McG. Dana,
D.D., of Minnesota. Rev. Henry M. Ladd, D.D., of New York, using
a large map, gave an account of his recent extended missionary
explorations on the Upper Nile. Rev. M. E. Strieby, D.D., Secretary
of the Association, read a Paper in regard to the proposed exchange
of Missions with the A. B. C. F. M., and a special committee was
appointed to which the paper was referred. Rev. James Brand, D.D.,
of Ohio, presented the report of the Committee on Chinese Missions.
Wednesday evening, after opening with devotional exercises, Rev.
A. G. Haygood, D.D., of Georgia, delivered an interesting address,
followed by addresses from Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, of New York, and
Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D., of Rhode Island.
Thursday morning the prayer-meeting was led by Rev. Moses Smith, of
Michigan. The business session was opened with prayer by Prof. A.
H. Currier, of Oberlin, after which Rev. W. E. Brooks, President of
Tillotson Institute, Texas, presented the claims of the work there.
The report on Indian Missions was presented by Rev. A. H. Ross,
D.D., of Michigan. Prof. G. F. Wright, of Ohio, next presented the
report on the Educational Work at the South, and was followed by
Mr. B. F. Ousley, a graduate of Fisk University, who spoke upon
the report, and also by Prof. A. Salisbury, the recently appointed
superintendent of the educational work of the Association. Rev. E.
M. Cravath, President of Fisk University, read a paper on “Higher
Education.” Rev. Arthur Little, D.D., of Chicago, presented the
report of the Committee on Church Work, which was followed by
addresses from Rev. C. O. Brown and Mr. Geo. W. Moore, a graduate
of Fisk University.
The Woman’s Missionary Meeting was held at nine o’clock Thursday
morning in the chapel of the church, when papers were read by Mrs.
G. W. Andrews, of Talladega, Ala., Miss Annie Cahill, of Nashville,
Tenn., and Miss Hamilton, of Memphis, Tenn.
Thursday afternoon the session was opened with devotional
exercises. The Committee on the proposed transfer of missions
reported, through Rev. M. McG. Dana, D.D., of Minnesota, favoring
the general plan, but making it a condition that the interests of
the work already in hand be not sacrificed, and with this condition
referring the whole subject to the Executive Committee of the
Association, with power. The report was accepted and adopted. A
petition was presented by President Ware, of Atlanta University,
requesting the appointment of a committee to define the policy of
the Association with reference to its work among the different
races, which was referred to the Executive Committee. The officers
of the Association were re-elected for the ensuing year. Addresses
were then made by Rev. J. M. Gregory, D.D., of Washington, D.C.,
representing the work of the Baptists at the South, and by Rev. R.
S. Rust, D.D., of Ohio, representing the Methodists, and by Elkanah
Beard, representing the Friends in the same field. These brethren
were received in a spirit of cordial fellowship and co-operation.
Rev. J. E. Roy, D.D., Field Superintendent of the Association,
read a paper on “The New South.” The concluding address of the
session was made by Secretary Strieby, representing the work of the
Congregational churches at the South. The report of the Finance
Committee was presented by J. G. W. Cowles, Esq. Thursday evening a
mass meeting was held in the Tabernacle. The music was furnished by
a choir of seventy-five voices from Oberlin, under the leadership
of Prof. F. B. Rice. After devotional exercises, addresses were
made upon “The National Problem of Southern Education,” by
ex-President R. B. Hayes, of Ohio: President A. D. White, of
Cornell University, and by Hon. J. L. M. Curry, of Virginia.
Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., in behalf of the Association, tendered
a resolution of thanks to the churches and people of Cleveland
for their hospitality, and to the committees, pastors, choir and
railroads for their kindness in contributing to the success of the
meetings.
It was the prevailing feeling that the meeting at Cleveland was, on
the whole, a great success. Although there were other attractions
which drew many away, yet the attendance was large, and at the
closing session there were over three thousand present. The weather
was fine, the papers presented of a high order, and the interest
from beginning to end unabated. Nothing was lacking in the way of
preparation, and with the impetus of this meeting resting upon it,
the Association takes courage and looks forward to another year of
work with renewed faith and hope.
* * * * *
SUMMARY OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE AMERICAN
MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION FOR THE YEAR ENDING SEPT. 30th, 1882.
* * * * *
RECEIPTS.
From Churches, Sabbath-schools, Missionary
Societies and Individuals $186,166.62
From Estates and Legacies 78,612.47
From Income. Sundry Funds 7,701.04
From Tuition and Public Funds 24,400.22
From Rents, Southern Property 704.10
———————————$297,584.45
Balance on hand Sept. 30th, 1881 518.80
———————————
$298,103.25
===========
EXPENDITURES.
_The South._
For Church and Educational Work, Lands,
Buildings, etc. $230,733.07
_The Chinese._
For Superintendent, Teachers, Rent, etc. 12,454.45
_The Indians._
For Missionaries and Student Aid 2,020.00
_Foreign Missions._
Mendi Mission:
For Superintendent, Missionaries, Supplies,
etc. 9,548.70
For John Brown Steamer, amt. transferred 7,002.43
Jamaica Mission:
For support of aged Missionary 250.00
_Publication Account._
For American Missionary (22,000 Monthly),
Annual Reports (1,500), Circulars, Clerk
Hire, Postage, etc. 9,043.38
_Cost of Collecting Funds._
BOSTON OFFICE.
For Salary Rev. G. L. Woodworth,
Dist. Sec. $2,500.00
For Salary Rev. Lewis Grout, Agent 900.00
For Traveling Expenses of Dist. Sec.
and Agent 613.21
For Clerk Hire, Rent, Printing,
Postage, etc. 1,628.27
———————— 5,641.48
CHICAGO OFFICE.
For Salary Rev. James Powell, Dist.
Sec. 2,500.00
For Traveling Expenses 540.16
For Clerk Hire, Postage, Stationery,
etc. 700.20
———————— 3,740.36
MIDDLE DISTRICT.
For Salary Rev. O. D. Pike, D.D.,
Dist. Sec. 2,500.00
For Salary Rev. O. H. White, D.D.,
Special Work 355.00
For Trav. Expenses, Printing,
Postage, etc. 178.70
———————— 3,033.70
_Cost of Administration._
For Salary Rev. M. E. Strieby, D.D.,
Cor. Sec. 3,500.00
For Clerk Hire for Cor. Sec. 1,720.00
For Salary of H. W. Hubbard, Treas. 2,500.00
For Clerk Hire 1,200.00
For Rent, Stationery, Printing,
Furniture, Janitor, Expressage,
Postage, Trav. Ex., etc. 3,336.99
———————— 12,256.99
_Miscellaneous._
For Expenses in settlement of Legacies 157.25
For Expenses of Annual Meeting 515.91
For Amounts paid Annuitants, balance 850.86
For Amounts refunded, sent Treas. by
mistake 64.84 1,588.86
———————————
$297,313.42
Balance in hand Sept. 30th, 1882 789.83
———————————$298,103.25
===========
_Endowment Funds received_, 1881–82.
President’s Chair. Talladega College $15,000.00
Graves’ Theo. Scholarships, for Talladega
College 5,000.00
Belden Scholarship, Bond of Oregon Short-Line
Railway Co., for Talladega College 1,000.00
Fisk University Scholarship, Note of Gen.
C. B. Fisk 500.00
_Statement of Arthington Mission Fund, for Africa._
Balance in hand Sept. 30th, 1881 25,477.53
Received from Oct. 1, 1881, to Sept. 30, 1882 5,172.92
————————— $30,650.45
Amount expended 9,280.53
Balance in hand Sept. 30, 1881 21,369.92
————————— 30,650.45
_Statement of Stone Fund._
Balance in hand Sept. 30, 1881 72,868.03
Income in part 655.47
————————— 73,523.50
Expended as follows:
Fisk University, Livingstone Missionary Hall,
balance 37,523.50
Atlanta University, Stone Hall, in part 25,081.30
—————————
$62,604.80
Balance in hand 10,918.70
————————— 73,523.50
RECAPITULATION.
American Missionary Association, Current Fund $297,584.45
Endowments for Talladega College 21,000.00
Endowment for Fisk University 500.00
Arthington Fund, appropriated and used during
the year 9,280.53
Stone Fund, appropriated and used during the
year 62,604.80
——————————
$390,969.78
The receipts of Berea College, Hampton N. and
A. Institute, and State appropriation of
Georgia to Atlanta University, are added
below, as presenting at one view the
contributions of the same constituency for
the general work in which the Association
is engaged:
American Missionary Association $390,969.78
Berea College 23,179.00
Hampton N. and A. Institute (beside amount
through A. M. A.) 87,865.16
Atlanta University 8,000.00
——————————
$510,113.94
===========
* * * * *
GENERAL SURVEY.
FREEDMEN.
These our fellow-citizens are proving the wisdom of the Government
in putting upon them the responsibilities of the elective franchise
as at once their defense and their process of education. Taking
into account their own aspiration and the force put beneath them by
the scheme of Christian schools, we should expect, as we find, a
tremendous uplift among them. In this we have assurance as to the
future, provided the appliances be worked with increasing vigor.
There is in this matter no halting place for the nation. We must
lift them up, or they will drag us down. As one of these helping
forces, we come to our own
_Educational Work._
Our system of schools during the year has been working with its
full force, and its appliances have been materially extended.
The large additions made to our accommodations provided the year
before were at once taxed to their utmost, thus proving that our
appreciation of the necessity was correct, and that our appeal for
the extension had not been made too soon nor too strong. And the
enlargement secured during this closing year is now met with the
response, “we, too, are full to overflowing.” Of the buildings
put up the year before, the two dormitories at Hampton, one for
Indian and one for colored youth, have had no empty rooms; at the
Atlanta University, the wing built to the Girls’ Hall by the Stone
Fund did not have capacity enough for the overflow of the main
structure; the Strieby Hall at Tougaloo, brought to completion and
dedicated since the opening of the year, had to be supplemented in
an extempore way; the Stone Hall at Talladega for boys was filled;
the Stone Hall at New Orleans for girls, and for the family of
teachers, was only opened to find the need of a boys’ hall; and
the Tillotson Institute at Austin, turning the ends of halls into
apartments, calls loudly for another building.
During this year, at the Fisk University, the Livingstone
Missionary Hall has been brought to completion and furnished,
providing dormitories for 121 male students, also a chapel,
library and recitation rooms. The total cost, $60,000, came from
the Stone Fund. This structure, which, in its name, embraces the
highest idea of the greatest African explorer, is next Monday to
come to its dedication, and some of our friends are to go hence
to participate in that service—the address to be delivered by
Professor Northrop, of Yale College. At the Atlanta University, the
Stone Hall, as the central building of the group, has been erected
at an expense of $40,000, and will soon be ready for occupancy.
Greatly commodious, and comely enough to relieve the plainness
of the halls on either side, it will furnish a chapel, library,
reading room and recitation rooms. This structure, as well as the
Stone Halls at Nashville, Talladega and New Orleans, has had the
wise supervision of Prof. T. N. Chase, who has occupied, meantime,
his favorite chair of Greek, and who, as a builder, has shown the
rare gift of always keeping within his appropriations. At Macon,
Ga., to the Lewis High School we have built a two-room “annex,” to
which also was added a wing for the library which is there growing
up. At Athens, Ga., our Knox Institute has been renovated, and in
it a chapel fitted up for the new church. At Mobile, Ala., our
Emerson Institute, that had been burned the second time, has been
rebuilt upon an enlarged scale, and at an expense not far beyond
the insurance money. At Talladega, the President’s house has been
finished, and two cottages on land adjoining our premises have been
bought for the use of two of our mission families, one of them
being named after Mr. Seth Wadhams, of Chicago, who gave the $1,500
for the purchase. At Marion, a house was built for a parish school.
At Athens, the Trinity School Building to accommodate 150 scholars
and the family of teachers, has been completed at a cost to the
Association of $8,000. For this the colored people themselves made
the needed two hundred thousand brick, mixing the clay by the
tramp of their one small steer, and they have their proportionate
interest in the property. At the laying of the corner stone, the
local editor, the Postmaster and the Principal of the Ladies’
Seminary of the place, made appreciative addresses, and Miss Wells
had her Jubilee. In Little Rock, Ark., at a cost of $5,500, we have
bought and fenced a tract of 14 acres, overlooking that city, as a
site for the Edward Smith College, which has been chartered by the
State, being so named from a gentleman in Massachusetts who gave
the money to buy the land, and who to a surplus now in hand intends
to add enough to make his donation $19,000. This institution is
greatly needed in that grandly opening State, where there is,
as yet, no provision for the higher education of the colored
people. This last planting will about complete our circle of State
institutions. At Fayetteville, Ark., our Howard School Building has
been overhauled, and in it we have re-opened our own school. So at
Lexington, Ky., we have refitted our High School Building, and have
resumed our own school, the city for the last six years having had
the use of the house. At Camp Nelson, the trustees of the Academy
are erecting a new three-story building under the lead of the Rev.
John G. Fee.
At the South we count 8 chartered institutions, 11 high and normal
schools, and 38 common schools—in all 57. During the year we have
employed 241 teachers, an increase over the last year of 11. Of
these, 13 have performed the duties of matrons and 15 have been
engaged in the business departments. The number of students has
been 9,608, a gain of 500 over last year. Of these, 72 have been in
the theological department, 28 in the law, 104 in the collegiate,
139 in the preparatory, 2,542 in the normal, 1,103 in the grammar,
2,185 in the intermediate, and 3,481 in the primary.
The theological departments at Howard, Talladega and Straight have
been doing their good work in training upon the ground just the
sort of men who are needed for the peculiar work to be done. Fisk
University has three of its graduates in the study of theology at
Oberlin, and one in a divinity school at Yale. The law department
of the Straight, with a faculty made up of five of the best lawyers
in New Orleans, has had 20 students, who are of both races, and
who, upon their diplomas, by the statute, are admitted to the
bar of all the courts of the State. We are pushing more and more
the lines of industrial training. The two farms at Talladega and
Tougaloo have this year been put into better shape than ever
before. Tougaloo raises fine fruits for the Chicago market and
fine stock for the surrounding country. Both raise much of the
beef and pork and vegetables for their own use. Atlanta University
is pushing fine gardening, teaching the girls of the senior
class cookery, and is planning to go into a school of carpentry.
The Fisk, this year, under a trained hospital nurse, introduces
hygienics and cookery. The Le Moyne, at Memphis, teaches cooking,
nursing and sewing. All of our boarding-schools require a certain
amount of work. The Storrs school, in Atlanta, has opened this
fall a genuine kindergarten under an expert teacher. The Avery
Institute, at Charleston, is going into the same, with training
also in the use of tools.
But to all intellectual and secular training there needs to be
added moral and religious cultivation. This is kept as our steady
aim. No teacher is sent out who is not in fellowship with some
church, and who does not profess to be actuated in going by a
missionary spirit. The large number of conversions, the frequent
revivals in these institutions, and the developed fruit of good
living, attest the fidelity of these missionary teachers. The
judgment day alone can reveal the influence of these consecrated
workers, the most of whom are women, upon the life and character of
the multitude of youth who have been under their care. The pupils
are watched over in the class-room, in the place of religious
assembly, and out of school hours. They are invited to private
conferences for the correction of habits and views, and there the
concerns of the soul are considered; scholars are prayerfully
followed up even into vacation by correspondence, until not a few
in these ways are led to Christ and into His church. The most of
our young men, who are examined for entering the ministry, in
giving their religious history, trace it back to the time when they
were led to the Saviour by some of their teachers, whose richest
reward it must be to see these young men coming into the ministry
with ample equipment largely through their own influence. Women’s
work for women is the modern discovery of missions. Of those who go
abroad, their work is largely that of teaching. Our lady workers,
of whom we have 200, besides the 40 in Howard, Hampton and Berea,
who are reckoned as teachers, are usually missionaries as really
as those who go abroad, or go South under that title. Of this last
class of workers, of whom we have twelve, there are some who are
very apostles in the garb of womanly delicacy. They teach mothers
and daughters things which belong to their sex; they lead to the
tidiness and comfort of home; they gather the maternal meetings and
lead in the same; they labor in revivals; they become assistant
pastors, being often, as the young pastors testify, their own best
teachers and guides. The soldiers of the Union are worthy of all
the praise and the gratitude they have received, but here has been
a small army of heroines, who, forgetful of the best chances, came
after the pomp of war, to serve not for three years, but for ten,
twelve, fifteen, seventeen years, growing gray by work and by the
anxieties and privations of the field, breaking down in health
and wearing out their lives, ostracised and despised by those
about them, who ought to have given sympathy and succor, and not
sustained as they should have been at home, of whom the world is
not worthy, but who must have a large place in the heart of Him,
who, in their isolation, has been the companion of each one, and
who, at the last, shall say, “She hath done what she could, she
hath chosen the good part.”
Before the war and since, the wealthy people at the South had a
full supply of colleges and seminaries, besides the free use of
the best institutions in the North, so that their children were
well educated. But there was a class of white people who could
avail themselves of no such advantages and for whom there were no
free public schools. As a consequence they fell into a distressing
state of ignorance and poverty; they lost aspiration; they felt
themselves in a hopeless class; and they are just there now. From
the beginning our institutions have been open to pupils of all
races. As yet the colored youth have been almost alone in entering
them. But it is thought that, as they shall be seen shooting
ahead, as prejudice shall wear away, many of these worthy white
young people will go where they can get an education, a better
one, and at a less cost, than anywhere else. A Confederate Colonel
says that this will come about in ten years. Already in the
medical department of the Howard University, of the 93 students
two-thirds are white, while some of the Professors are colored,
though accomplished in their profession. In the law department
of the Straight at New Orleans there are more white than colored
students. Some of the best teachers in the white public schools
of Atlanta have visited the class-rooms of our University there,
with the purpose frankly avowed of making improvement in the art
of teaching. In the country white teachers have gone to those
who had been trained at Atlanta to learn their normal methods of
instruction and of management. May not such yet say we will go to
that training school for ourselves, and get those improvements at
first hand? We have one notable illustration of what may be done,
and that is at Berea, Ky. This college, planted before the war by
the Association, upon being opened after the war, allowed colored
scholars to come. After some effervescence the institution settled
into its color-blind method, until it has become a great power
in the State with the colors in about equal proportion among the
students and at the grand commencement convocations. Some of the
young folks coming down from the mountains to Berea say they would
rather go there than to endure the manners of the aristocratic
colleges. The citizens of Cabin Creek, Ky., our old ante-bellum
battle ground, are just now erecting an Academy with the money
subscribed upon the condition of no caste. The influence of Berea
College is felt up in all the mountain country. White youth come
down there to get stores of knowledge to carry back. The Professors
have gone through that region lecturing on education, holding
teachers’ institutes and preaching. At Clover Bottom, 20 miles
out, they have gotten up such a mixed school, which is a success,
and is now under the patronage of this Association. The Committee
have decided to offer those mountain people the aid of our system,
if they will only allow the very few colored scholars to enter
the schools. Up there the colored children in a whole county are
scarcely numerous enough to call for more than one school, and
so the law forbidding such mixed public schools is a virtual
closing of the doors of knowledge to this class. The Committee
have made an appropriation for this work and have already had
their Field Superintendent upon a tour of exploration—his report
being favorable to kind, patient, persevering endeavor to get the
school-master abroad through a region wherein whole counties the
few school-houses are cabins with scarcely a glass window in them.
In the growth of the educational department and in the purpose
of the Committee to do the very best work in our institutions,
it has been found needful to secure the service of an expert in
school processes who should help to the most approved methods of
organization, discipline, instruction and unification. Accordingly
Mr. Albert Salisbury, who had been a Professor in the State Normal,
at Whitewater, Wis., and a conductor of teachers’ institutes, has
been appointed Superintendent of Education, and has already entered
upon service, giving promise of great effectiveness in his line.
Doctor Roy will continue in his position as Field Superintendent.
_Church Work._
At the first some of our best friends thought that the Association
was too slow in its church work; but all now, we think, agree
that the wisdom of experience justifies the process which mainly
through our schools grows its own timber, out of which to build
its churches, taking the young people thus trained and the adults
who are converted to the standard of Christian living and away
from the superstitions and immoralities of the old time. At first
view this would seem to be a tedious process. But it is surprising
how soon the youth run up to maturity and to become the leaders
of churches, the best of which have come on by this nurture. Then
there are some adult people, noble natures, of a childlike spirit,
who gain by absorption and take on the ideas of the younger folks.
In this way, through these seventeen years since the war, our
churches have come on from two or three to number 83, which is an
average of five a year. Nor are these merely skeleton churches.
Every one of these 83 has a pastor, except one whose minister
died a short time ago. Of the 73 ministers who serve these 83
churches, 22 are from the North, and 51 are native preachers.
Every one of these churches except seven has its own house of
worship, or chapel, and there are only four of these that depend
upon the college chapels for their places of religious assembly.
Some of these are rude in structure; the most are plain but comely;
four or five are of brick and of commanding appearance; all are
blessed sanctuaries. Many friends, in going through the South,
are pleasantly disappointed in finding these churches so well
housed. Nor, for young churches, are these deficient in encouraging
numbers. They have a total of 5,641 members, an average of 68,
while the average membership of the Congregational churches west of
the Mississippi River is only 45, and of all west of Pennsylvania,
63. The additions on profession were 709; the Sunday-school
scholars numbered 1,835; the amount raised for church purposes
$9,306, and the benevolent contributions reached $1,496.50.
It is beautiful to see how readily these plain people take up the
New Testament idea of church government, and how this natural
process tends to their education and discipline of character.
Herein we find confirmation that the Apostle made no mistake in
setting up such churches among the Christians of his day who had
not been trained in New England. These churches in the South are
known everywhere as insisting upon a high standard of ethics. Their
example, their methods, their influence, are greatly stimulating
to the churches round about them, so that by quality they make
up in part for want of quantity. These churches are organized
into seven conferences. Many persons have smiled upon reading
the reports of these convocations, and have wondered how such
an ecclesiastical body would seem, whether its members were not
simply playing at an ecclesiastical parliament. Our suggestion is,
come and see. If you were to come, you would find a fulfillment
of the Saviour’s words, “All ye are brethren,” the white and the
colored being members of the same body. You would find a rigidity
of parliamentary usage. You would find literary exercises,
discussions, reports, Sunday-school assemblies, devotional services
going on after the manner of those with which you are familiar.
Some of our brethren testify that these meetings seemed to afford
as much intellectual and spiritual stimulus as those which they
were accustomed to attend before going South. An additional
feature of these gatherings is the presence and participation of
the lady missionaries and teachers, whose reports are greatly
interesting. In Alabama the conference has associated with it a
Ladies’ Missionary Society with auxiliaries in different parts of
the State. The exercises of these women’s meetings are not only to
cultivate the missionary spirit, but to help the wives, mothers and
daughters of this people to be missionaries of sweetness and light,
of order and comfort, in their own homes. These ecclesiastical
assemblies become not only a representative of our work in its
spirit and extent, but they become occasions for drawing out the
fellowship of the pastors and churches, white and colored, where
they meet. At first these bodies were ignored. Now it is a common
thing for the local pastors to drop in upon them, to participate in
the exercises and to offer their pulpits for supply. This has been
done at Wilmington, Macon, Mobile, Marion and Selma.
During the last year, six new churches have been organized, those
at Williamsburg, Ky.; Cedar Cliff, N.C.; Athens, Ga.; Meridian,
Miss.; Eureka and Topeka, Kan. All of these are supplied with
pastors. Athens uses the assembly-room of our Knox Institute;
Meridian for the present rents rooms for the church and school;
Eureka and Topeka have both built houses of worship. New
meeting-houses have also been built at Caledonia, Miss.; Fausse
Point, La., and Luling, Tex. Paris, Tex., has replaced its big
shanty by a fine church edifice. Childersburg, Ala., burnt out, has
rebuilt with great self-denial on the part of the people. Mobile,
burnt out, is to be accommodated for a time in the assembly-room
of the Emerson Institute, rebuilt since the fire. The church at
East Savannah, blown down, has been rebuilt. The suburban church
at Louisville, Ga., also blown down, is still in its ruins. At
Five Mile, out from the city, a mission house has been built. By
the wonderful enterprise of their pastor, Rev. A. A. Myers, the
people have put up a commodious house at Williamsburg, Ky., in the
mountain country. The town is sixty years old, and this is the
first church brought to completion, three others having rotted
down during the process of building. The church at Clover Bottom,
Ky., has been supplied with a school-house sanctuary through the
aid secured by President Fairchild, of Berea. The great church at
Midway, Ga., has been finished up. The church at Anniston, Ala.,
has been enlarged. So during the year ten churches have been
erected.
The closing year has not been without its comforting measure of
spiritual influence. The dew has been in the fleece of most of
our churches and schools. In some of them individual cases of
conversion have been the reward of large faith and zeal. In others,
clusters of souls have been won to Christ. Distinctive revivals
have been enjoyed at Chattanooga and Memphis, Tenn.; McIntosh and
Macon, Ga.; Marion, Ala.; New Orleans, Talladega College, and in
the Fisk, Atlanta and Tougaloo Universities. The total number of
additions to our Southern churches on profession is 709. Those
who in our missions have been led to Christ but who have gone to
other churches would nearly double that number. The total number of
members in all our Southern churches is 5,641.
AFRICA.
When our last annual meeting was in session we had two parties upon
the ocean on their way to Africa. Mr. I. J. St. John and Rev. J. M.
Hall were going to reinforce the Mendi Mission, and Superintendent
Ladd and Dr. Snow were going to explore the Upper Nile with
reference to locating the Arthington Mission if the project should
prove feasible. Mr. St. John was to be the business manager and to
have charge of the John Brown steamer which was to be built. Mr.
Hall, from the theological department of the Howard University, was
to take charge of the Good Hope Station. He readily got hold of the
work and proved himself an acceptable and successful missionary.
He has the church, and a native teacher has the school under his
supervision. Mr. Hall, being of the sturdy mountain stock of East
Tennessee, has endured the climate well, and we can but hope that
an extended career of usefulness is before him. Mr. St. John, by
his own unavoidable exposure on his voyages between Freetown and
Mendi, and up the rivers to our stations, was himself made sick,
and so was confirmed in the judgment that called for the steamer as
a means of preserving the health of our missionaries. The English
Governor-General of the West Coast agreed with Mr. St. John to give
the steamer the carrying of the mail and of all Government freight
between Freetown and Mendi, which is an English dependency. The
transportation of supplies for the Mission and the marketing of
the lumber of our mill, the only one on the West Coast, call for
this steam craft. All views conspire to put down the “John Brown”
as one of the most effective missionaries to be introduced to that
region, where there are no roads nor beasts of burden and where
the water highway is the main reliance. It was thought best that
Mr. St. John should not take the risk of the first wet season at
the Mission, and so he returned to this country, coming over by a
sailing vessel to save expense. He makes the gratifying report that
in his intercourse along the coast he found many evidences of the
good influence of the Mendi Mission in its training of men who have
gone out into the ways of business, and who retain their integrity
of character. He named the noble chief of a tribe where is located
the vigorous Shengay Mission, who, with his son, had been educated
at our Good Hope Station. Rev. A. E. Jackson has continued in
charge of the Avery Station and boarding-school. During the year
the Mission was afflicted in the death of Rev. J. M. Williams, of
the Kaw Mendi Station, who, after having endured fifteen years of
service in Africa, succumbed to the disease of diabetes. Rev. Mr.
Jowett, one of the native preachers, is acceptably supplying Mr.
Williams’ place at Kaw Mendi. Mr. Jowett has a son now in the Fisk
University, who gives promise of making himself a useful man in his
native land. The other three lads from the Mendi Mission at school
at Hampton and at Atlanta, are doing well. The Debia Station is
under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Goodman.
Dr. Ladd and Dr. Snow, having made their long and perilous tour,
which took them up the Nile 2,500 miles, have returned. They report
no sufficiently inviting location for a mission in the region of
the Sobat. They recommend that Khartoum be occupied as a base of
operations, and that a school be established on the east bank of
the river opposite the city, which lies in the junction of the Blue
and White Niles. That site is quite healthy. They would have a
steamer by which to communicate with the Arthington district of the
Upper Nile. The Executive Committee, of course, had to submit to
the inevitable, as indicated by the double revolt, and voted to put
the mission into complete abeyance for the time.
THE INDIANS.