VOL. XXXIV. NO. 9.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
SEPTEMBER, 1880.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
ANNUAL MEETING—PARAGRAPHS 257
ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF THE TIMES 260
HELP WITHOUT MONEY—THE TWO PARTIES AND THE CHINESE 261
INDIANS, RESERVATIONS AND RAILROADS 262
BETTER HOMES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE 264
GROWTH OF IDEAS AMONG THE NEGROES AND INDIANS 266
AFRICAN NOTES 268
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 270
THE FREEDMEN.
A JULY VACATION 271
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Lincoln Mission, Washington 272
ALABAMA—Florence and her People 273
LOUISIANA—Lady-Missionary’s Letter 274
TENNESSEE—Better Prospects of Memphis, &c. 275
TENNESSEE—Flower Mission and Care for the Sick 276
AFRICA.
MENDI MISSION—Good Hope Station 276
THE INDIANS.
LA POINTE AGENCY 277
THE CHINESE.
SERMONS BY OUR CHINESE HELPERS 278
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
TRIP UP THE YANG-TSE-KIANG 281
RECEIPTS 282
CONSTITUTION 286
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS 287
* * * * *
NEW YORK.
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
ANDREW LESTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. J.
Rev. EDWARD BEECHER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, D. D., Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, D. D., Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
E. A. GRAVES, Esq., N. J.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.
Rev. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D., Ill.
Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
J. W. SCOVILLE, Esq., Ill.
E. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill.
C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct.
Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal.
Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
CHARLES A. HULL,
EDGAR KETCHUM,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
WM. T. PRATT,
J. A. SHOUDY,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
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. C. C. PAINTER, at the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New
York, or when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXIV. SEPTEMBER, 1880. NO. 9.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
ANNUAL MEETING.
The next Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION
will be held in Norwich, Ct., in the Broadway Church, commencing
Tuesday, October 12. at 3 P. M. For particulars see 4th page
of cover.
* * * * *
_We are happy_ to say that encouraging responses have already been made
to our note of warning that a debt is impending. Prompt and appropriate
effort in this direction by our friends who have as yet only hoped, but
have not acted, for the best, will, we trust, give us a clear balance
sheet on the last of September.
* * * * *
_A Farmer in New York_ writes: “Enclosed please find draft for
$300 for work among the Freedmen in the South. I notice in the
MISSIONARY that you need an increase of 20 per cent. over last
year’s contribution. I have increased mine 33 per cent. If all felt the
interest I do in this work, and would give in like proportion, there
would soon be a school-house in every neighborhood. It seems to me that
the life of our nation depends upon the education of these people.
However much I desire that the Gospel shall be sent to Africa, for a
few years longer, it seems to me, our efforts should be directed mostly
to the South. All reports from the work are encouraging.”
* * * * *
_In the State Courts of Fulton County, Ga._, of which Atlanta is
the seat, no colored jurors have ever been empanelled; but the
commissioners have recently placed upon the jury list about twenty of
the most intelligent colored men, and it is hoped that some of them
will be drawn at the next term of court, and thus another advance in
the right direction be made by the Empire State of the South. For
several years the United States court held in Atlanta has had a “mixed”
jury, and no serious evil has resulted.
* * * * *
_Our readers_ will anticipate with much interest a new book by Judge
Tourgee—“Bricks Without Straw”—which is announced for September. It
deals with the problem of negro education, and is by one who has made
it a profound study.
* * * * *
_The public sentiment_ of Virginia, in regard to free schools, as
gathered from the reports of the county superintendents, may be summed
up in the language of one of them as follows: “I might content myself
by saying that most of the educated in my county are now decided
advocates of the present system. At first, a large majority were
hostile to it; but a few days ago, one of the first men of the county
said to me that he tried hard to believe it a ‘Yankee innovation’
upon our good old Virginia plan, and as such it should be opposed by
all true Virginians; but now he had become a decided advocate of it,
and believed that the only hope of educating a large majority of our
citizens, indeed, that our very existence, as a free and independent
people, depended upon the preservation and extension of some good
system of popular education.” An examination of one hundred and three
such reports discovers the fact that in less than a dozen counties is
there any very great opposition to the system. The reports show an
almost uniform and decided growth of public sentiment in favor of it.
* * * * *
_A Correspondent_ of the New Orleans _Times_ draws a discouraging
picture of public school prospects in that city and State, and an
editorial in the same issue adds: “It is, indeed, true, that our
schools are in a very sad condition. What is more to be regretted is
that the prospect of their improvement is by no means encouraging. Once
we took pride in them, and gloried in the advantages which they offered
to our children for obtaining an education. That pride appears to exist
no longer. There is a sort of apathy about the schools, which justifies
the inference that they have not the hold on popular favor that they
once had. * * * If there were a prospect of a better condition of
affairs next year, there would be, perhaps, no immediate occasion for
discouraging forebodings. But there is not; there is no reason for
believing that the provisions for the maintenance of the schools next
year will be more ample than they are this year. There is one thing
very certain, and that is that if we are to have efficient public
schools in this city, the money to support them must be forthcoming.”
* * * * *
_The Negro Bishop_ of Hayti, Theodore Holey, a native of the United
States, and consecrated in Grace Church, New York City, who, during the
recent gathering of the Bishops of the Anglican Church in London, was
much honored by all his brethren, and who at the invitation of Dean
Stanley preached in Westminster Abbey, on St. James Day, closed his
address with the following eloquent words and remarkable prayer:
“And now, on the shores of old England, the cradle of that Anglo-Saxon
Christianity by which I have been in part at least illuminated;
standing beneath the vaulted roof of this monumental pile, redolent
with the piety of by-gone generations during so many ages; in the
presence of the
‘Storied urn and animated bust’
that hold the sacred ashes and commemorate the buried grandeur of
so many illustrious personages—I catch a fresh inspiration and new
impulse of the Divine missionary spirit of our common Christianity;
and here in the presence of God, of angels, and of men, on this day
sacred to the memory of an apostle whose blessed name was called over
me at my baptism, and as I lift up my voice for the first, and perhaps
only, time in any of England’s sainted shrines, I dedicate myself anew
to the work of God, of the Gospel of Christ, and of the salvation of
my fellow-men in the far distant isle of the Caribbean Sea, that has
become the chosen field of my Gospel labors.
“O Thou Saviour Christ, Son of the living God, who when Thou wast
spurned by the Jews of the race of Shem, and who, when delivered up
without cause by the Romans of the race of Japheth, on the day of Thy
crucifixion, hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to Golgotha’s summit on
the stalwart shoulders of Simon, the Cyrenian, of the race of Ham; I
pray Thee, O precious Saviour, remember that forlorn, despised, and
rejected race, whose son thus bore Thy cross, when Thou shalt come in
the power and majesty of Thy eternal kingdom to distribute Thy crowns
of everlasting glory!
“And give to me, then, not a place at Thy right hand or at Thy left,
but only the place of a gatekeeper at the entrance of the Holy City,
the new Jerusalem, that I may behold my redeemed brethren, the saved
of the Lord, entering therein to be partakers with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob of all the joys of Thy glorious and everlasting kingdom.”
* * * * *
_Negro prejudice_ against negroes is likely to yield slowly, and will
do so only for good reasons. The prejudices of the whites have so far
given way that Atlanta has had its negro juror, who promptly joined in
convicting a negro who was put on trial. But the next prisoner, who was
also a negro, charged with murder, strenuously objected to having one
of his own race on the jury. There was another such case in Virginia
some time ago, when a colored prisoner made the same objection, on the
ground that “niggers would hang a nigger just to see him kick.”
So against this we note the fact, that the Court of Appeals in Kentucky
recently quashed an indictment against a negro, on the ground that
the grand jury was composed entirely of white men, and that the law
excluding all persons other than white men from serving on juries is
unconstitutional.
* * * * *
_Negro Teachers._—The author of “Other Fools, and Their Doings,” pays
this somewhat rhetorical, but just tribute to the noble women who went
forth to add value to the freedom, which, under stress of military
necessity, the nation had given to the negro slave—a tribute which
will appear more just as the history of our noble workers becomes
better known:
“While from thousands of homes brave men came with flaunting flags, and
beating drums, and booming cannons, singing as they marched,
‘We are coming, Father Abraham,
Three hundred thousand more,’
from out those same homes stole a procession of women, not
clandestinely, not timidly, but brave of soul and strong of heart
and inflexible of purpose, though without ostentation. The Bible and
spelling-book were their only weapons, and their song was of ‘the
mercies of the Lord forever,’ and their ‘trust under the feathers of
his wings!’ ‘Neither the terror by night,’ ‘the arrow by day,’ ‘the
pestilence in darkness,’ nor ‘destruction at noon,’ nor the ‘thousands
falling on their right hand, and on their left,’ could make them
afraid; ‘because they had made the Lord their strength, even the Most
High their refuge.’ They went forth to ‘tread upon the lion and the
adder, the young lion and the dragon.’ Scorn, insult, slander, poverty,
loneliness, sickness and death, they trampled under their feet; for
‘through the work of the Lord were they made glad,’ and they ‘triumphed
in the work of His hands.’
“Away on in the Elysian fields of Heaven, when the cycles of eternity
shall have encircled the universe, and rolled back upon their track in
such repeated and intricate mazes as only the Infinite mind can trace,
they shall receive from the lips of the ransomed of all nations, ‘the
blessing of those once ready to perish;’ and the blessed assurance that
the torch they lit in the Freedman’s hut, lit a beacon that illumined
the world.
“If the South is saved to civilization, its chief human Saviour was
‘the nigger school-teacher.’”
* * * * *
_Capt. Payne_, who was ejected from the Indian Territory, which he
invaded last spring in defiance of the President’s proclamation, again
defies the Government and the Courts, and has gone to the Territory
with a company of men. Parties in St. Louis have purchased machinery
and various kinds of goods for his colony, and the issue is made most
unequivocally with the Administration. We anxiously await the action of
President Hayes.
* * * * *
_The Poncas_, of whose wrongs we spoke in the last number of the
MISSIONARY, failing to receive justice at the hands of Congress, have
commenced a suit to recover possession of their houses and lands now
held by the Sioux, to whom the General Government has ceded them. The
plaintiffs rely upon the fact that the Constitution of the United
States makes a treaty a part of the supreme law of the land, and also
extends the judicial power of the Government to all cases in law and
equity arising under treaties; and they have in their favor established
precedents by the courts for applying to the treaties with themselves
this provision of the constitution. Judge Dundy has decided that an
Indian is a _person_ within the meaning of the laws, and, therefore,
discharged from the custody of Gen. Crook the Poncas whom he held for
the purpose of forcibly returning them to the Indian Territory from
which they had escaped. Thus it is decided that they may have the
question judicially tested in the Federal courts whether they have been
illegally restrained of liberty. This suit is to determine whether
they may have not only their liberty, but their homes which have been
forcibly taken from them in violation of solemn treaties.
* * * * *
ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
(_From the Fisk Expositor._)
Few things can be more gratifying and cheering to those engaged in the
grand work of educating the colored people in Tennessee, than the fact
that those having charge of educational affairs in the various towns,
named below, either have, within the past few years, organized graded
schools for colored youth, or are now taking steps for organizing such
schools: Clarksville, Trenton, Shelbyville, Brownsville, Jackson, Union
City, Bolivar, Paris, Covington, Pulaski, Columbia, Fayetteville,
Mason Station, and perhaps some other towns. Another thing that all
who are engaged in the educational work in the State, ought to regard
as a hopeful sign, is the fact that the last Legislature, in all its
zeal for retrenchment, made no effort to reduce the income of the free
school system. This, and the fact, that much complaint was uttered by
the people all over the State, because of the suspension of schools
consequent upon the postponement of the collection of taxes by the
Legislature, show how deeply the system of the State has taken hold
upon the affections of the masses.
Still another ground for hopefulness is found in the fact, that,
whereas, year before last, not quite 39 per cent. of the colored
children of the State were enrolled in the free schools, last year
nearly 49 per cent. were so enrolled. And there are reasons for
believing that the superintendent’s forthcoming report will show
equally encouraging figures.
* * * * *
HELP WITHOUT MONEY.
The Rev. H. E. Brown, of whose evangelistic work under the auspices
of the Y. M. C. A. of the South, and among the colored churches of
the South, we have spoken, makes at once a suggestion and an appeal
which must strike every one as exceedingly practical, common sense
and valuable. His letter which is given below will explain itself. We
urge, most earnestly, upon the Christian scholars of the North this
opportunity, without cost of money, and with but little expenditure of
time, for doing a most valuable work for the colored people. If men of
acknowledged authority in their several departments of science and art
would furnish such articles as are asked for, the result must prove
highly beneficial to these people who so much need, and are so eagerly
seeking, knowledge in regard to practical matters on which depends
largely their welfare. The physician, the lawyer, the farmer, the
political economist, the scientist, all these might with great profit
to these people respond to this call. We trust that the mere suggestion
of Mr. Brown will prove sufficient to call forth abundant answer:
“LANSING, MICH., July, 1880.
“DEAR SIR: An opportunity is now presented for leading
scholars to afford substantial help toward the solution of the
colored problem of our country. Colored editors of ten papers,
chiefly for colored people, published in Washington, Charleston,
Raleigh, New Orleans, St. Louis, and other Southern cities,
request for publication a series of scientific articles, of about
a column’s length, say a thousand words, such as would be, at
once, helpful to ministers, teachers and students, and would
stimulate future inquiries among all classes. I am aware that the
preparation of such articles will cost valuable time which can
scarcely be spared from pressing duties; but the promise of benefit
to the colored race is so great in the elevation of tone of their
papers, and in anticipating so-called infidel science, that I take
the liberty to ask you to prepare, and send me, one or more such
articles, that I may copygraph, and forward, gratis, to the several
editors who desire them.
“Yours truly,
“HENRY E. BROWN, _Secretary
“for International Committee of Col. Dep’t.,
“Y. M. C. A._”
* * * * *
THE TWO PARTIES AND THE CHINESE.
Ah Sin does not vote even once; Patrick O’Flannigan does as often as
that, and is capable of doing even better if occasion should require.
Ah Sin is, therefore, exposed to such kicks as Patrick may ask for at
the hands, or rather the feet, of the politicians, while both parties
vie with each other in throwing to Patrick such sops as may conciliate
his good will. Under Democratic Government, a class which has neither
chains upon, nor ballots in its hands, is an anomaly impossible to
harmonize with its surroundings, as it is also defenceless against the
assaults of its enemies; it has neither weapons for its own protection
nor a reward to offer for that of others. What Pat, who votes, may ask
for as against Ah Sin, who does not, the average politician is ready
to promise, even when constitutionally prohibited from granting. And
this promise has been made, it is humiliating to confess, not simply by
sand-lot demagogues, but by aspirants for the highest offices under our
Government.
The arrival on our Western coast, and the presence in our land, of less
than a hundred thousand Chinamen is gravely spoken of as a fearful
inundation which in some way must be arrested; but the tide that flows
steadily in upon our Eastern coast from Ireland and other countries,
is regarded as a blessing rather than a danger. If we seek for an
explanation of this difference, it will be found to be at bottom simply
this: Patrick does not like Ah Sin’s frugal, industrious, economical
habits, which enable him to live and labor cheaply; so he nourishes
his ballot over the head of the politician, and his shillalah over
that of Ah Sin, and says that he must go, while all seekers for office
either echo the demand, or more mildly assert that his coming must be
regulated.
A candid examination of the testimony taken by the Committee of the
United States House of Representatives last year in California, will
leave the impression that the Chinese characteristics which give most
offense to the sand-lotters, whose voice both great national parties
have heard, and to which they have also made responses which ought to
mantle our cheeks with shame, are just the ones above mentioned. Such
men as the Mayor of San Francisco, indeed, complain that China Town
is not much like Beacon Hill in beauty or cleanliness; that there are
women among these people not so pure as they ought to be; that many of
the men lie quietly in opium dens under the influence of that subtle
drug instead of assisting, under the stimulus of whiskey, at primary
meetings and at the polls, as good politicians should. Charges to this
effect are made, but the evidence taken shows that the real ground of
complaint is that the Chinaman is sober, industrious, reliable, and
likely to be preferred as a laborer to Patrick and Bridget.
That the necessaries and comforts of life are to be bought, by those
who need them, more cheaply in a market supplied with Chinese labor,
is not deemed worthy of consideration; the great fact which demands
attention is that Patrick must forego his numerous holidays, his
whiskey, and his devotion to politics; must settle down to, and
accomplish, a vast amount of honest and skillful labor, if he shall
successfully compete with the Chinese, which is an evil the two
political parties must promise to abate as the condition of having his
support at the polls.
The fact comes back upon us that the ballot is necessary, under our
Government, for the defence of every class of citizens; and the
education of the voter is a necessary defence of the Government against
the ignorance of the ballot. Neither the wisdom nor the virtue of the
statesman can be relied upon, for he everywhere becomes a demagogue, if
demagogy continues to be the road to office, as it is everywhere among
ignorant voters. Our salvation must be found, not in the virtue of the
statesmen, but in the intelligence and virtue of the people.
* * * * *
INDIANS, RESERVATIONS AND RAILROADS.
There are in all one hundred and twenty Indian reservations scattered
over the country, chiefly west of the Mississippi River, aggregating
more than one square mile of land to each man, woman and child of the
252,897 Indians, exclusive of those in Alaska, which compose our Indian
population. This is equivalent to giving three times the area of New
York State to one-half the population of Brooklyn; only these people
do not hold this land in severalty, and, therefore, are tempted by its
abundance to roam over it as hunters, and are discouraged from building
on it and cultivating it as owners because of the uncertain tenure by
which it is held. That there has been such a decided tendency toward
civilized life, under all such discouragements, as is shown by the last
Report of the Indian Commissioners, is most encouraging.
The five tribes longest settled in the Indian Territory, now called
civilized, number about 60,000 souls. More than half of these can read.
All wear citizens’ dress. They have a school-house for every 312, and a
church-building for every 458 inhabitants. During the past year, they
cultivated more than 22 acres of land for each family of five persons,
raised more than 263 bushels of grain and vegetables, and owned five
and one-sixth horses or mules for each family. This favorable showing
would appear even more encouraging from a full exhibit of all the
statistics given in this Report, to which our readers are referred.
The showing for the other tribes is fully as encouraging, when it is
remembered that their circumstances have been much less favorable.
In fact, it appears evident that the progress of these people has
been great just in proportion to their opportunities; that what is
lacking is not susceptibility to civilized life, but opportunity for
adopting it, which we have denied them. Give the Indian the chance, and
he will become a civilized and valuable citizen. About 77,000 among
the remaining tribes wear citizens’ clothes and own more than 11,000
houses, 1,212 of which have been built during the past year. Eleven
thousand and eighty-one can read, and 1,717 have learned the art within
the same time.
It is significant that the five tribes above mentioned expended
$156,856 of tribal funds for schools, while the Government added $3,500
for this purpose. Among the other tribes, $13,043 of tribal funds were
raised for schools, and the Government appropriated $164,702. That is
to say, these five tribes numbering 60,000 raised, in round numbers,
twelve times as much for schools as all the other tribes, and only
$12,000 less than the Government appropriated to all the others for
school purposes; and the Government expended more than forty-seven
times as much upon the other tribes as it did upon these five.
This would seem to indicate, even to an average Congressman, that the
cheaper policy would be to give the Indian a chance to take care of
himself. Aside from the discouragements to a civilized life furnished
by the amount of land occupied by the Indian, and by the kind of
title he has to it, it should be remembered that much of this land is
valuable and presents a strong temptation to the white man’s greed,
and that it lies, often, in the direct line of advancing civilization,
an almost insurmountable barrier to its progress. We cannot reasonably
be expected to double the length of our railroad lines, simply to
build them around lands which ought to be opened up by them. The
North-western and Milwaukee railroads, in their westerly march, have
nearly reached the Sioux reservations. These cannot be entered except
by force, or with the full consent of this tribe. The right of eminent
domain, under treaty with our Government, belongs to it, not to us; to
the individual members of the tribe, and must be surrendered with each
one’s consent, or not at all. These roads are not willing to pay what
is demanded for the right of way, and are preparing to enter without
permission. The probable result will be this: the roads will enter;
the Indians will resist; the army will be sent in to punish them for
murder; and after a war that will cost many lives and millions of
money, the roads will be built, and the remnant of Indians forced into
some other reservation. Of course, we cannot allow this people to throw
a barrier across the Continent; the road must be built.
The fact is, the whole policy of treating these people otherwise than
as citizens who are to be fitted for the privileges, and from whom
are to be exacted the duties, of good citizens, is foolish, wicked,
costly and suicidal. Is it not time for the good common sense—we say
nothing of the humanity—of the American people to declare that this
shall be done now; that the rights of these people shall be wisely and
righteously adjusted to both our and their highest interests?
* * * * *
BETTER HOMES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE.
That the subject of village improvement was discussed in some of the
essays presented at the closing exercises of the Hampton School last
May is due, doubtless, to the fact that some of the teachers came from
Stockbridge, Mass., and belong to the Laurel Hill Association, rather
than to any spontaneous ideas on the part of the students themselves.
The idea of village improvement comes as a development and outgrowth
of such a degree of _home_ improvement as is yet unknown, not alone
to the negroes, but to the vast majority of the Southern whites. Not
until the log hut has been supplanted by something better, and the
idea of improvement has put in floors and windows, has built a chimney
and yard fence, has planted some trees and flowers about the house,
can it be expected that much interest will be taken in public streets
and cemeteries; neither can much be hoped for in the elevation and
refinement of the people.
Man is so far a chameleon that he takes his color largely from his
habitat, and the observant traveler through the South is slow to
believe that much has been, or can be, done for the culture of the
negro so long as he vegetates, rather than lives, in the miserable
shanties, devoid alike of beauty and comfort, about which flocks of
children like so many crows, or scarecrows, are roosting. From such
homes our pupils come, and back to such they return. It has been
despairingly said that the cultivated Indian gradually, but almost
inevitably, sinks back to the level of the home-life by which he is
surrounded; rarely has he strength to lift others to his isolated
level. This is deplorable, but not surprising. It requires a vast
amount of moral heroism to stand out against the universal customs
of one’s people. It requires more than the strength of one or two
men or women to lift up a whole tribe, and except for an evident and
wide-spread desire among the Indians to better their condition and
change their modes of life, but little could be hoped for from the
experiments now being made at Hampton and Carlisle; neither can we
doubt that much of the culture received in our schools for the negroes
will be lost, or serve only to quicken a sense of degradation, unless
special efforts are made to counteract the inevitable tendencies of
surroundings when these pupils return to their homes. Educational
effort should be largely directed to a practical knowledge of bettering
these homes, and to the kindling of a desire to do so.
Historically and, perhaps, philosophically, dress seems to have been
developed from ornament. All savages strut in paint, feathers, and
skins, intended to set off their charms of person, long before either
decency or comfort suggests clothing; and among the colored girls of
the South, pains should be taken to develop a womanly pride which
will be ashamed of a bare and squalid hut, a pride which, without
care, will prove to be mere vanity, delighting in gaudy dress and
brilliant pinchbeck. In its present stage of development the South is
the Eldorado of the cheap jewelry peddler, and many a youth, who can
without shame sleep on straw, live on corn and get along without shoes,
is miserable for lack of a brass ring and pin.
Dress for comfort and not as mere ornament, soap, towels, beds,
regulated ventilation, the conditions and concomitants of true
culture, these belong to a distinct epoch from that earlier and lower
one characterized by love of display. The wise, Christian culture of
our schools is intended to reduce this evil, to which the negro is
specially inclined, to the least possible dimensions. We aim to make
earnest, practical men and women, who shall value all they can acquire
either of knowledge or of money, not in its relation to personal
aggrandizement, but for its power to lift their homes, families and
people out of their present degradation.
But the work of the teacher needs to be supplemented by other saving
influences. In no other way could the Southern States do so much for
the elevation of intelligence and virtue of its poorer classes, white
and black, as by inducing them to build for themselves better homes.
In more northerly latitudes, climate compels the erection of houses
that are at least well made, and excellence in one particular suggests
and gradually secures it in others; but where a hut, floorless and
windowless, proves sufficient, nothing better is suggested, and life
sustained on that level rises to no higher plane except under special,
extraneous provocatives. In the present impoverished condition of these
States, and comparative indifference of the better to the degraded
condition of the lower classes, nothing can be expected from them, and
the suggestion is made to philanthropists who are seeking the welfare
of the colored people, whether something might not be done by offering
premiums for the erection of homes, and by furnishing, in some way,
plans and suggestions which would be helpful to them.
In some States, the negroes have, with good results, instituted
agricultural fairs, and have thus stimulated each other to helpful
rivalries. Cannot something be done by the offer, through these
organizations, of suitable premiums for cheap, but suitable, homes?
Christianity ought, in this 1880th year of our Lord, to be more than
a “voice crying in the wilderness;” more than John clad in skins and
living on locusts and wild honey. She ought to go forth clad in her
beautiful garments. During these two centuries she has ripened much
fruit which the world knows is good; she has developed much power of
which the world feels its need, and it should not go to the nations
and tribes of the earth empty handed, only to utter, as at first,
the glad tidings which she was commissioned to proclaim. She should
march forth in the greatness of her strength and magnificence of her
beauty, panoplied in power and garlanded with her victories, commending
herself to man by what she has gained for him. Other avenues have been
opened for approach—other than through his hopes and fears for the
future life; substantial gains have been achieved for that which now
is, and these should be made the allies of Christ and the instruments
of the Church. It has taken centuries to build a Christian home,
the mightiest ally of the Church; let the Church take it with her
along with the school, and not suffer the filth, and discomfort, and
degrading influences of the old hut to hang as a millstone about the
neck of those she would save. Of man’s home here, no less than of the
heavenly, “the Lamb should be the light;” his surroundings, person,
intellect, every part of him and every interest pertaining to him,
should be acted upon by the accumulated influences, and appealed to by
the developed advantages and benefits of Christianity. If by some means
the log cabins of the negroes can be supplanted by neat and healthful
cottages—surrounded by gardens and shaded yards—more than threefold
efficiency will be added to the efforts we are making through the
schools and churches.
Send back our pupils from the refining influences of our
boarding-schools into the dirt and squalor and ugliness of these
cabins, and a large per cent. of our work will be lost.
Attention to the subject, immediate and earnest, is demanded by all the
interests we seek, and it is hoped that some one competent to deal with
it will give it thought, and suggest some practical way of securing so
desirable an end.
* * * * *
THE GROWTH OF IDEAS AMONG THE NEGROES AND INDIANS.
REV. ADDISON P. FOSTER, JERSEY CITY, N. J.
It is a truism to say that the welfare of our country depends on the
ideas which are prevalent. No inquiry, then, can be more helpful in
determining our condition as a nation than that which relates to the
progress of ideas among these classes which give us most anxiety. The
Freedmen and the Indians are not the worst classes among us, but they
have been the most ignorant, and every patriot is desirous of knowing
their present mental condition. A recent visit to the Normal Institute
at Hampton, Va., on the occasion of its graduating exercises, gave
your correspondent, as he listened to the addresses of the students
and conversed with different colored people, an opportunity to collect
facts which, though not decisive, are at least suggestive on this
point. Undoubtedly, these ideas came largely through the influence of
Hampton Institute, but it must be remembered that similar institutions
of the American Missionary Association and other boards are scattered
throughout the South, and that, through their educated students, these
ideas are diffused far and wide among the colored people.
As to _work_, the colored man long since learned the Divine law, that
if he would not work, neither should he eat. One could not sit for an
hour on the wharf at Norfolk, as we did lately, and watch the colored
men about the sloops and lighters and on the docks, without being
impressed by the fact that they had learned to work.
The same lesson is just now being diligently conned by the Indians.
Carl Schurz, in his speech at Hampton, declared that the Indians were
discovering that they must work or starve, that hunting would no longer
support them, and that the land must be cultivated for food. A similar
truth was uttered by “Bear’s Heart,” an Indian youth, who made an
interesting address in broken English on the same occasion. Said he:
“Before I come here, I play; my mother and sisters work. When I go
back, my mother and sisters do housework: I dig the ground”—a purpose
which was loudly applauded. An amusing story is told of a certain great
General who is supposed to sympathize with the barbarous sentiment,
“The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Driving out from Fortress
Monroe to examine the progress of the Indians at Hampton, he was
inveighing against them, and declaring vehemently that they could not
be taught to work, when he cast his eyes on a field belonging to the
Institution, and there were ten Indian boys vigorously hoeing corn.
As to _property_, the desire is coming to be very strong among both
Indian and colored for the possession of land. It is well known that
many Indians on Western reservations are seeking an ownership of land
in severalty. A similar desire has long stimulated the colored man. We
had the honor of talking with a man of unmixed negro blood, who owns in
fee simple, about twenty miles from Norfolk, a good farm of 171 acres.
He and a friend purchased together an estate of 342 acres of woodland,
paying $1,300 for it. He took one-half, paid in cash $200, which he
had saved up during the war, and the remainder in three years. He has
since fairly stocked his farm, built him a little house, comfortably
fed his family off his farm, and secured about a hundred dollars a year
in cash. When we met him, he was on the way to Hampton to see his son
graduate with valedictory honors. Geo. Sykes, of Lake Drummond, Va., is
a man whose name deserves to go on record. Mr. Sykes affirms that eight
years ago he was the first colored man in his township who owned land.
Now twenty-five own from five to thirty acres each, and have their
deeds without encumbrance, while twenty-five others have bought land
and are paying for it.
As to _self-help_, we heard the most encouraging words from speakers on
graduation day. “We must stand on our own feet,” said one speaker, “and
must not trust alone to missionary societies or State or individual
aid.” “No talk,” he added, “will make me equal to other men, but I
must equal them, if at all, by my own exertions.” A striking instance
of self-help is more conclusive testimony. We conversed with a
certain young Hampton graduate who gave us a remarkable history. He
was an orphan. After saving up $125 by farm work, he went to Hampton
for study, receiving no aid, and working summers. At the end of two
years, he found he had not more than forty dollars left, so he went to
teaching. But he was paid only in orders on the State Treasury, which
he could not get cashed except at a discount of generally twenty per
cent. With business wisdom, he secured a living by farm-work in summer,
saved up his orders on the Treasury, till at the end of three years the
State cashed them in full, and then he went back and graduated. Not
even Dr. Goodell, of missionary fame, carrying his trunk on his back
to Andover for the sake of an education, showed more heroism than this
colored boy.
The colored people’s desire for _education_ has long been known, and
the incident just related well illustrates it. The same spirit appears
in the support of the “Butler School,” situated on the grounds of the
Institute, and taught by its graduates. The State of Virginia furnishes
funds to keep this school open only five months; but the parents of
the children, finding employment in a canning establishment on the
Institution’s property, gladly pay ten cents a week for each child from
their slender wages, and so keep the school open the rest of the year.
As to _responsibilities_, the colored students recognize their duties
as leaders of their people. Some of them who would gladly be teachers
have found that orders on the State Treasury, subject to ten or twenty
per cent. discount for cash, are not very remunerative, and are looking
in other directions for employment. Undoubtedly, as skillful farmers
and successful merchants, no less than as teachers, they can elevate
their people. But at Hampton, a stalwart black man, in a post-graduate
address, gave the students a ringing exhortation not to desert, because
of its hardships, the vocation of a teacher, “which,” said he, turning
to President Hayes, who sat before him, “is a nobler position than even
that of President of the United States.” The responsibilities of the
negro for village improvements in the South and for the evangelization
of Africa were points dwelt upon by other speakers.
We listened with peculiar interest to references made in the graduating
addresses to the relation of the colored man _to other races_. It was
pleasing to see the kind and forgiving spirit manifested. No bitterness
was shown either publicly or privately because colored teachers had
failed to secure their pay. An interesting essay on “The Advantage
of Disadvantages” referred to their ill-treatment in the past, with
no word of reproach. One speaker advanced the sentiment that the
colored man need not feel specially troubled at his past deprivation
of political privileges; that it was better for him not to have much
influence in government until he had become fitted to exercise that
influence wisely. Other like utterances were made, full of patience,
modesty, loyalty, hopefulness and a worthy ambition.
As to _religion_, everything is most encouraging. We attended a revival
meeting in a neighboring church, which was conducted with great decorum
and genuine feeling, entirely different from the wild hurly-burly of
war times. The students of the Institute are carefully trained in
religious truths, and it is seldom that a graduate goes out who is not
a sincere Christian. The spirit of the anniversary exercises was that
of a deep, but unostentatious piety. The same influence is exerted
among the Indians. We were told a touching story of “Walking Cloud,”
an Indian boy whom nothing could move from his stolidity and his
unwillingness to put away the badges of his barbarism—his blanket and
long hair—till the chaplain of the Institution showed him a picture of
Christ on the cross and explained its meaning. This boy, soon afterward
taken sick and dying, gave expression in the peculiar metaphoric speech
of his race to his desire to live a Christian life.
We are abundantly satisfied that these noble institutions through the
South, of which Hampton is one of the best-known and most efficient,
are surely and not so very slowly re-shaping the races which are under
their influence. We think there was abundant reason for Governor Long,
of Massachusetts, in his address at Hampton, to use these words:
“Horace Greeley was wont to say that the way to resume is to resume,
and so we would say, the way to solve the race problem in this country
is to solve it;” and this is what the Hampton Institute is doing.
* * * * *
AFRICAN NOTES.
—The River Binue, one of the great confluents of the Niger, which
Bishop Crowther and Dr. Blaikie ascended, in 1854, to a point 400 miles
above its union with the other great branch, has recently been explored
150 miles beyond the furthest point before reached by any white man.
This was done by the C. M. S. Steamer _Henry Venn_, under the command
of Mr. Ashcroft. This voyage was recently described before the Royal
Geographical Society of London, which awarded Bishop Crowther a gold
watch, valued at £40, for geographical explorations on the Niger. Mr.
Ashcroft considers the Binue a most interesting mission field. In no
part of Africa has he seen so many flourishing towns—“a good-sized
town every mile along the bank of the river for a long distance,
thickly populated.” He says: “I spoke to the kings at many of the
heathen towns, and they were all willing to learn the white man’s book,
and that their children also should learn.”
* * * * *
—The Royal Geographical Society, on the 26th of April last, was
visited by Rev. C. T. Wilson and Mr. Felkin, who had just arrived from
Central Africa, and with them were three ambassadors from King Mtesa’s
court in Uganda. These were introduced as “Earl Namkaddi,” “Earl
Kataruba,” and “Earl Sawaddu,” nobles of the second rank at home. These
men are described as of slight build, very black in color, and with
features more bright and intelligent than in the common negro type.
It was in 1863 that Speke and Grant discovered the great lake Victoria
Nyanza, and made known to the world the existence of Uganda and its
people. Since then only four whites have visited that country—-Mr.
Stanley, M. Linant de Bellefonds, Col. Long, and Dr. Emin Effendi,
until the visit of Mr. Wilson, who returns with the first natives who
have visited Europe from that region.
* * * * *
—The Peninsula of Sierra Leone is 22 miles long by 12 miles broad,
with a population of 37,000, all of whom excepting about 4,000 bear the
name of Christians. About one-half of these are connected with the C.
M. S., and the remainder are for the most part Wesleyans. It became a
diocese in 1852, and may, with as much propriety, be called Christian
as England or the United States. It is no longer considered missionary
ground. The church sustains itself, and the whole peninsula is divided
up into parishes, the same as England, each one having its own clergy,
Sunday-school and church council. The cost of all is met by voluntary
subscriptions, as it has been for nearly twenty years. Three hundred
and forty-three persons partook of the Lord’s Supper at Lagos last
Easter Sabbath, members of one church, which during the past three
years has contributed no less than £3,412 for church purposes.
Sierra Leone is the oldest, but not the only, mission of the Church
Missionary Society on the West Coast of Africa. Yoruba has eleven
stations, thirteen African clergymen, more than two thousand
communicants, and nearly six thousand professing Christians; and the
Niger Mission, begun 23 years ago, has its African bishop and clergy,
two hundred communicants and 1,500 Christians.
* * * * *
—ROBERT ARTHINGTON AND THE ENGLISH BAPTIST MISSION.—It is difficult
to decide whether to admire most the overflowing love which prompts
his gifts, the large, unsectarian spirit with which they are bestowed,
or the wisdom with which they are placed and limited. Evidently, he
has profoundly studied the problem whose solution he feels called to
attempt. He has just written a letter to the directors of the English
Baptist Missionary Society, offering 4,000 pounds toward putting and
maintaining a steamer on the Congo River, for the use of the Congo
Mission of that Society. He writes:
“I believe the time has come when we should make every necessary
preparation to carry out the original purpose of the Congo Mission to
place a steamer on the Congo River, where we can sail north-eastward
into the heart of Africa for many hundred miles uninterruptedly, and
bring the glad tidings of the everlasting Gospel to thousands of human
beings who are ignorant of the way of life and immortality.