VOL. XXXIV. No. 7.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
JULY, 1880.
_CONTENTS:_
EDITORIAL.
PARAGRAPHS 193
OUR GREAT NEED 197
ARTHINGTON MISSION—THE OUTLOOK 198
THE GENERIC AND THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO 200
THIRD STATE OF OUR EXPERIMENT 201
AFRICAN NOTES—ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 203
THE FREEDMEN.
MAKE HASTE SLOWLY: Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D. 204
HAMPTON ANNIVERSARY: Rev. A. P. Foster 206
FISK UNIVERSITY 207
STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY 210
TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY 210
HOWARD UNIVERSITY 211
LEWIS HIGH SCHOOL—BEACH INSTITUTE 212
AFRICA.
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN CENTRAL AFRICA 213
THE INDIANS.
S’KOKOMISH, WASHINGTON TERRITORY 214
THE CHINESE.
OUR WORK AT THE CENTRE: Rev. W. C. Pond 216
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
ELEPHANT IN AFRICA 218
RECEIPTS 219
CONSTITUTION 222
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS 223
* * * * *
NEW YORK.
Published by the American Missionary Association,
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Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.
American Missionary Association.
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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
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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. JULY, 1880. No. 7.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
We are glad that we can keep silent in regard to the closing
exercises of our schools and let others praise us; strangers, and not
our own lips. Nay, better than this, we can say that in many cases
those whose praise we repeat, are no longer strangers. In place of
some of the usual reports written by our teachers, or friends who
have gone down to look into our work, having the greatest sympathy
with it, we gather up what is said by the native whites of the South,
many of whom have been most interested attendants upon all the
anniversary exercises of the schools contiguous to them. We find no
fuller or more sympathetic or enthusiastic reports in the Southern
papers of the schools for whites than of ours for the colored people.
We, therefore, ask the special attention of our readers to these
reports this year, as showing the estimate the Southern press and
people are putting upon our work.
* * * * *
_Dr. Rufus Anderson._—Seldom have nature and grace, culture and
varied discipline, combined to form a more rounded and perfect
character than that of this sainted man, so long identified with the
life of Missions, who passed to his rest on the last Sabbath of May.
He became permanently connected with the A. B. C. F. M. in 1822,
and since 1832 has largely shaped the policy of that Society. For
more than half a century, he has been in the closest sympathy with
the Divine Master in His effort to save the world, and it has often
seemed to us that his face reflected much of the sweet longings of
the Master for its accomplishment.
It were sad to be forever on a journey, and never reach home, and so,
while the church feels a sense of loss and bereavement because of
his removal from its councils, we yet rejoice over his beautiful and
useful life, and in the assurance that to him has been administered
an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
* * * * *
_Deacon Isler._—The Church at Wilmington, N. C., has been greatly
afflicted, and much weakened, by the death of Deacon Isler, a
Christian of rare development in all that graces Christian character.
It is only five years since he came to Christ, and it now seems
to his associates that these five years have been spent under a
premonition that what he did must be done quickly. His consecration
was without reserve; nothing was too hard for him to undertake; no
obstacle turned him aside from the duty which lay before him. With
no patience for those who would accept help they did not need, he
combined the purpose and constant effort to bear in his strong arms
those who did need it.
While, as he said, he “had his rathers,” and would like to work for
others, yet he was willingly and joyfully in the hands of Jesus. Much
comforted by his wife’s reply to his question whether she could give
him up, “Yes, all I want is Jesus,” he passed gently and sweetly
away; a man of rare strength, whose death is a great loss, but, being
dead, he yet speaketh, and his works follow after him.
* * * * *
“_No Charge On My Books Against You._”—The above sketch of a worthy
and noble man, for which we had no room in our last number, is
supplemented by an incident which must find place for brief mention.
When it became evident that disease was fastening upon him, the best
physician of the city was called in and put in charge of the case. He
became acquainted with the noble life of his humble patient, took the
deepest interest in him, and attended him as faithfully as if he had
been a wealthy and influential white man.
When one of the teachers, who had made herself responsible for the
bill, called upon the doctor for it, he said: “I have no charge
against you. I only wish I could have done more for so worthy a
man; I shall be glad to give my professional aid to as many such
beneficiaries as I can.” Straws are small things, but they indicate
the _set_ of the tide. Facts multiply which abundantly prove that
mutually helpful relations are being established between the two
races on the basis of recognized equal civil liberty. The _ignis
fatuus_ of social equality between them might with profit be remitted
to the realm of dreams and fantasms, and wait the establishment of
such between members of the same race.
* * * * *
The _Dallas_ (Texas) _Times_ relates an unparalleled instance which
occurred at the last term of the Ellis Co. District Court. A negro
was tried and found guilty of conspiracy to murder. His defence had
been strong but unavailing. The judge overruled a motion for a new
trial, as no error of law could be alleged and the evidence seemed
strong. When asked what he had to say, the prisoner answered that he
could say nothing which would change the sentence the court was about
to pronounce upon him, but he would like to speak a few words to his
own people in the court-room. Leave being given, he began in a slow,
quiet way to review the case. He dissected the evidence in a most
masterly way, showing its inconsistencies and contradictions; and
gradually warmed up until he burst forth into a strain of impassioned
eloquence which carried audience and court with him. When he
finished, the judge said, “Sam, I thought you guilty; I don’t believe
so now, and will set aside the judgment overruling your motion for
a new trial, and give you another chance.” The attorney for the
prosecution then dismissed the case. He was an uneducated, common
field hand; and yet there are some who think the negro incapable
of doing anything higher than hoeing cotton under a white man’s
supervision.
When Gen. Howard was in Andover, Mass., the other week, visiting his
son in Phillips Academy, he was introduced to a colored man, who
asked him if he remembered an answer given by a colored boy at the
Storr’s School, in Atlanta, some years since, to his question, “What
shall I tell the people of the North?” “O, yes,” said the General.
“A little boy in a white jacket said, ‘Tell them we are rising.’”
“Well,”said the young man, “that boy has kept his promise. He has
risen and is doing noble, manly work for his people.” He has become
editor of the _Journal of Progress_, one of the fifty-four papers now
edited by colored men in this country.
* * * * *
_Then and Now._—Nineteen years ago, John G. Fee was waited upon by
sixty-two citizens of Bracken Co., Ky., with a peremptory demand that
he should leave the county. One of these, an influential and wealthy
man, has recently called on him and requested him to give an address
on education for the benefit of an institution which the citizens
of that county have built. This building is used as an academy. The
school is flourishing, having a large number of pupils and three
teachers.
The door is opening wider and wider, while the number of adversaries
grows smaller: many of them deserting, and becoming co-laborers with
us in this work.
* * * * *
_Savannah, Ga._, has one grog-shop for each 110 of its 33,000
inhabitants, and one Protestant church, white or black, for each
1,223; and until recently, it is said, the churches had no particular
fault to find with the grog-shops, and it may be inferred the latter
had no complaint to make of the churches. But there has been a
disturbance. Some 4,000 of the whites have enlisted to fight this
greatest curse and nuisance of our day, while the blacks are also
700 strong in the same army. The labors of Rev. H. E. Brown, in
connection with his revival work in that city, have greatly aided
Mr. Markham’s efforts in this direction; and so the blacks and the
whites are making common cause against the common enemy, just as if
their interests were identical in whatever concerns the temporal or
spiritual welfare of the city. We shall some time talk more of common
interests, and less of different colors.
* * * * *
_Preaching, but no Instruction._—In our last number, one of the
missionaries in Alabama said that many of the colored people “declare
plainly they do not believe in Bible religion.” They believe in
visions and dreams. Another missionary, writing from a section still
under the spiritual guidance of the old preachers, says:
“These people have had preaching, but no instruction. The heart and
conscience have not been touched. The older people will come out of a
religious meeting and steal a hog for their supper. A white man said
to me, ‘When these darkies are going to have a camp-meeting barbecue,
I am pretty sure to lose two or three heads of cattle from my herd.’
One very _pious_ brother, engaged in prayer at a camp-meeting, heard
some one in the crowd say, ‘Here comes a United States marshal,’ when
the brother rose from his knees, leaving his petition unfinished, and
ran with all speed for the brush.” Surely, such need truly religions
teachers.
* * * * *
_Missionary Studies._—The plan of study adopted by the church
at Dorset, Vt., is so comprehensive and practical, that we must
give room to it. The reports and papers are offered on the first
Sabbath of each month, as follows: Races for whom Christ died.
1st. Characteristics, Homes, Histories; 2d. What is being done for
their evangelization? 1. White men, Caucasian race; 2. Yellow men,
Mongolian race; 3. Black men, Ethiopian race; 4. Brown men, Malayan
race; 5. Red men, American or Indian race.
A most valuable course of instruction is mapped out here, combining
the advantages of a literary club, with the spiritual aims of a
missionary concert.
* * * * *
_What Does It Mean?_—The venerable Dr. Moffat, father-in-law of
Livingstone, says: “More has been learned regarding Africa since the
Proclamation of President Lincoln, declaring the slaves of the United
States free, than in all the past.” Who can be so blind that he does
not see the relation of these two facts?
Today, eight European governments have from one to three exploring
parties penetrating that vast continent for various purposes. The
negro slave of America has become a free man, has the ballot in his
hand, and the nation is under bonds to fit him for citizenship. He is
restive in his present position. He has an instinct for home which
does not find its full satisfaction either on the cotton lands of
Mississippi, nor on the corn fields of Kansas or Indiana. What it all
means, God in His own time will fully unfold. Meantime, the pressure
of necessity is upon us to save ourselves from being trampled to
death under the feet of these ignorant voters, led to the polls by
unscrupulous demagogues. When we have done this, we shall have fitted
an instrument for God’s own right hand; whether for use in America or
in Africa chiefly, we know not, and it matters not.
* * * * *
_John Sykes._—The editor of the _Independent_, on a recent excursion
into Virginia, met with, what we may begin to call, a representative
negro, for John Sykes is not so much alone today as James’ celebrated
solitary horseman of thirty years ago. He is the owner of 171 acres
of land near Lake Drummond, all paid for, and stocked with horse,
mule, several cows, pigs, sheep, and fowl. He was on his way to
Hampton to hear the valedictory address of his son, with great
expectations as to what he should see and learn as to new methods of
farming practiced on the great farm connected with the school.
His daughter is to take her turn at the school next year, to be
followed by another son. Since he bought his land, eight years ago,
twenty-five other colored men, his neighbors, have purchased, and
paid for, land in lots of from 5 to 50 acres each, while some thirty
others have contracts for similar lots. All this within eight years,
and along with it has been a progress in education and general thrift
which is most hopeful. The editor met four graduates on the same boat
with Mr. Sykes, on their way back to Hampton to attend the graduating
exercises, “whose intelligence and gentlemanliness were most marked.”
He adds as the result of his observations, what a recent excursion
into the South enables us to confirm, “In Virginia, the colored
people are rapidly rising in intelligence, in comfort, and in wealth;
and the feeling of the whites toward them is quite as kindly as could
be expected.”
And the contrast suggested is one that it would be well for those
who are impatient of the negroes’ slow progress to follow out to
the minutest detail. He writes: “It is impossible for a visitor
from the North not to compare their position as a race with that
of our ancestors two hundred years ago, when starting an American
civilization. The Southern negroes have probably as much comfort
about them as most of our early forefathers, as good houses, as good
furniture, as many cattle: but they have not the intelligent educated
upper class, which founded our great colleges and which molded our
whole population. This influence they must get from abroad. They
need it, and they appreciate and want it; and no more needed and
fruitful work can be done by our benevolent people than to provide
the Southern negroes with Christian education.”
* * * * *
The _Memphis Avalanche_ says that a most interesting and entertaining
feature of the evening exercises, connected with the close of the Le
Moyne School, was the address to the graduating class by Judge J. O.
Pierce, which was scholarly, thoughtful and eloquent. And it adds of
the school that “it is an honor to the educational institutions of
Memphis. It has done much to forward the cause of education among the
colored population, and the good results of its labors are apparent
in every direction. Institutions of this class cannot be too much
encouraged.”
It is proof that we have entered upon a new era when the principal
of one of our schools is constrained to say, what Prof. Steele, of
Le Moyne Institute, does in a card to the editors of the _Memphis
Appeal_:
“I cannot leave the city for the summer without first thanking you,
and, through the _Appeal_, also the other eminent gentlemen, who
have, during the year past, given us so much aid and encouragement
in our work among the colored people of this city and vicinity. The
course of lectures which these gentlemen have provided has, I am
certain, accomplished much good in many ways. * * * In this, as in
every other respect, a better day is near at hand. * * * It has been
our aim, in quietly doing our work here, to hasten forward this day
of better feeling, and after years of patient toil, and amid many
discouragements, we hope that at last a day is not far distant when
our work shall gain the approval and aid of all good people, or even
when we may relinquish our efforts and hand over our work to those
here who should be, and who are, I am convinced, becoming greatly
interested in it. Again, in behalf of the faculty and students of
this school, and in behalf of the American Missionary Association,
which has, in the past sixteen years, expended millions of dollars
in education at the South, I thank the _Appeal_ and other papers and
gentlemen for their interest and encouragement in our work.”
* * * * *
OUR GREAT NEED.
We have vast opportunities. Our schools are overflowing with the
best selected material we have ever had. The fields are white for the
harvest, much of which must rot ungathered, unless a large number
of laborers are sent into the field; and these are not wanting. The
day of romance in negro teaching is past, and there is nothing in it
that appeals to the mere sentimentalist. The day of danger is past,
and martyrs are not called for; but there is a demand for honest,
earnest Christian educators, who find ample field for all their best
gifts, and there is no difficulty in procuring these of the very
first order. There is, also, much intelligent appreciation of the
vital importance of this work, in its relations both to the life of
our nation and the kingdom of Christ. What is needed now, and most
pressingly, is a clear apprehension on the part of churches and
individuals of the relation which their _gifts_ bear to these civil
and spiritual results. It is largely a question of money given, or
money withheld. “Prayers are needed?” Certainly! Prayer, not to move
the Lord so that _He_ shall favor the work, and prosper the efforts
of those engaged in it, but prayer that shall shake selfish plans of
expenditure which are so large that nothing is left over for this
work; prayer that shall confirm, and give definite shape to vague
desires that the means shall be provided; prayer that selfishness may
not throttle benevolence. When _this_ prayer has become fervent and
effectual, the result will be _money_, which, we assert again, is our
present great need.
The Association was urged forward, by the zeal of the churches at
the last Annual Meeting, to enlarged plans for the year, requiring
enlarged gifts from the churches. This enlargement on our part has
been made; it is necessary that yours shall now correspond, or
disaster will follow.
Owing to the fact that our schools close in the month of June, and
our accounts with our workers must be settled, our need is specially
great at this time. The long spell of dry weather has affected our
collections in the country churches; and there is danger that we
shall suffer, as our benevolent societies do in the presidential
year, from absorption of public interest in political affairs; and so
we must urge again upon our friends the fact that our great and most
pressing need is “money.”
* * * * *
ARTHINGTON MISSION—THE OUTLOOK.
To those who are acquainted with the fact, that there is not a single
Protestant missionary in the Nile Basin proper, from the Albert
Lake to the Lybian Desert, the subject of this article will be of
profound interest. Is Ethiopia stretching out her hands to God, or
will she do so soon? For a reply to these questions, the eye turns,
just now, to this Association and the progress of the proposed
Arthington Mission. We have considered Mr. Arthington’s proffered
aid, and have sounded the call for men and means. Expectations
have been raised, money has been contributed, and the service of
experienced missionaries tendered. There have been so many disasters
in connection with Central African Missions, so much delay has
been caused by unexpected obstacles, and such sacrifices of health
and life have been experienced, that we have felt constrained to
proceed with the greatest caution. The courage and faith of God’s
people may be sustained for a time by displays of enterprise,
daring, and readiness to give one’s life for a good cause. Indeed,
such exhibitions are essential; but a time comes when nothing will
satisfy but solid success. Our earnest prayer from the beginning has
been, that we might be led to enter upon work in the Nile Basin, if
at all, in a manner that would give promise of great and permanent
usefulness. We have, therefore, endeavored during the past year to
gather information from every available source, and, especially,
from persons who have been engaged in the service of the Egyptian
Government. In this, we have been fortunate.
Col. C. C. Long, of New York, who visited Mtesa’s kingdom on the
Nile, has kindly responded to our calls upon him, whenever questions
of interest about which he was informed, have arisen. More than
a year ago, we submitted to him in writing a list of thirty-nine
questions for the purpose of obtaining information on every matter
of interest in connection with the Mission. To these questions, he
responded fully in writing.
Last autumn, Col. H. G. Prout, who had served for two years and
a half on Gordon Pasha’s staff in ancient Ethiopia, established
himself in New York. At our request, he gave us several interviews
of great interest and profit. During his stay in Central Africa,
he had carefully surveyed the route from Souakim to Berber, of
which we have a full report. He had also surveyed the countries of
Kordofan and Darfur, after which, with a view to the acceptance of
the governorship of the Upper Nile Basin, he proceeded to Mrooli, by
way of the White Nile and the Albert Lake, traversing the country we
propose to occupy. He kindly reviewed with us the responses given by
Colonel Long, and added valuable information.
Prof. Chase, on his return from Africa to London, submitted the
information, received from Col. Prout and Col. Long, to Gordon Pasha,
who at that time was in England, and from him gathered in writing
additional and valuable knowledge of the country, and the methods
of procedure necessary for entering it. Prof. Chase also obtained
an interview with Dr. Felkin, of the Church Missionary Society, who
had just returned from Mtesa’s kingdom, by the way of the Nile and
Souakim. From these gentlemen, and the current literature of the
year pertaining to the Nile Basin, we are prepared to re-affirm and
supplement the statements made by us a year ago:—
1.—The country is accessible. Col. Prout’s survey from Souakim on the
Red Sea to Berber on the Nile, a distance of 240 miles, is reported
with such fullness of detail as to familiarize the reader with almost
every mile of the journey, impressing him with the feeling that a
trip over the road at the right season would prove a pleasurable
pastime. From Berber to the mouth of the Sobat, the northern border
of the territory selected for the Mission, steamers with suitable
accommodations ply with more or less regularity. To this it may be
added that abundant supplies, except medicines, can be purchased
along the route.
2.—The negroes from the Sobat to the Equator have not been
Mohammedanized. They are real heathen, in very needy circumstances,
and would, doubtless, welcome missionary endeavors, especially if
trade and industries were promoted in connection with religious
teachings.
3.—The efforts of the missionaries would have a very wholesome
influence upon the Egyptian officials, and serve to check the
slave-trade and to ameliorate the condition of slaves.
4.—It would be the part of wisdom to locate our first stations where
the people are already protected by the Egyptian Government, as
their flag would be sure to follow if new fields were opened, and
with it, temporary disturbance. Pressure should be brought to bear
upon the Khedive for obtaining permission to navigate the Nile with
steam-boats, and for freedom and protection while pursuing missionary
work at the points selected.
5.—While it would be desirable to commence at once, for many
reasons, among the Obbo and Latooka, south-east of Gondokoro,
yet it would probably be the part of prudence to plant our first
station near the mouth of the Sobat, where the country is rolling
and well-wooded, and the people of the Nouer tribe are friendly to
missionary endeavors. From this point, there is frequent and not
difficult communication with Khartum, which is a sufficient base
of supplies. From the mouth of the Sobat, mission stations may be
extended throughout the region we hope to occupy.
6.—A rendezvous might wisely be established at Berber, where a
fruitful oasis affords supplies. This locality is said to be healthy,
and, being situated on the Nile in the southern portion of the
desert, free from African fever. If a steamer is secured for the
Mission, the missionaries, in case of sickness or need of changes,
could easily resort to Berber, spending a portion of the more
unhealthy season; and possibly, meanwhile, developing a Mission at
that point.
7.—The aid rendered by the Egyptian authorities to the United
Presbyterian, of America, who have established 35 mission stations
in Lower Egypt, gives promise of a good measure of protection and
co-operation. Although the Mohammedans as such, and, especially,
the slave-dealers, are sure to look with disfavor upon Protestant
missions in the Nile Basin; yet, American and English influence is
sufficient to assure such toleration as is needful, while the real
heathen, to whom we hope to minister, have no political or other
reasons for discouraging our efforts.
From the information gained during the year, we are encouraged to
believe that as soon as the means, now being gathered in Great
Britain and America, is sufficient to warrant us in inaugurating the
Arthington Mission, we can safely and wisely enter upon the work.
The amount to be made up is a little less than $15,000. May the Lord
hasten His work in His own good time.
* * * * *
THE GENERIC AND THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO.
In commenting upon the evidence in the Whittaker case, one of
our most fair-minded weeklies says: “Should his guilt be finally
established, the act will be a blunder no less than a crime. Whatever
his purpose, the _necessary_ result of his conduct will be injurious
to ‘his people.’”
This is ambiguous. Whittaker is three-fourths part Caucasian, and
we are unwilling to take, as being a part of _his people_, even
1/46,000,000 part of his crime if he is guilty, and do utterly refuse
to be hurt by it. If, on the other hand, his one-fourth part negro
blood so dominates these three-fourths, that he must be accounted a
negro, then grave apprehensions are excited. That he has, as we go to
press, passed so many of his examinations successfully under all the
difficulties of his position, we must conclude is due to the modicum
of negro blood in his composite nature; a fact which foreshadows the
supremacy of _his people_ in our land.
But, seriously, we do most earnestly and decidedly protest against
this idea that the negro is not an individual but a fraction of
an unit. We believe the _certain_ result will be injurious to his
people, but this will not be a _necessary_ result. Were a white
student guilty of such a crime and blunder, it would be simply
ridiculous to say that the _necessary_ result was injurious to
“his people,” meaning the white race. There are reported cases of
self-inflicted injuries of this kind. Who believes for a moment that,
because a wife mutilates herself, as in a case reported, she has
brought discredit upon all our wives?
We treat Indians and Negroes in classes as if it inhered, by
eternal necessity, in the nature of things, that their individuality
should be ignored, disregarded, or trampled upon. We are a great
ways off from the true and right basis of action when we pass
by the personality of any one with all his inherent rights and
responsibilities, and think of him and treat him only as belonging to
a general class.
It may be, that until his rights are respected by the public at
large, the negro must receive special attention as the case of
Whittaker has received; but, so long as his treatment is special
because he belongs to a class, it is evident that the treatment of
the class to which he belongs is all wrong. Whittaker’s innocence
or guilt pertains to himself alone, and should in no way affect the
question as to the standing or character of his people. The feeling
that it must necessarily affect them is one phase of the sentiment
which has isolated and made intolerable the life of this poor fellow
at West Point. Personally he appears to be a very fine fellow, but
the condition of “his people” has necessarily—so these young cadets
think, and evidently many others who are not in the callow softness
of their cadetship agree with them—affected him, rendering him unfit
for comradeship, or even decent treatment. The questions, (any one of
which is deemed a final and conclusive estoppel to all argument as
to the right of the negro to Christian courtesy), “Would you sleep
with a negro?” “Would you associate with a negro?” “Would you marry a
negro?”—these are simply absurd. Whether we would do any, or all of
these, should be answered as in the case of any person of whatever
race, in view of considerations and qualifications that are purely
individual, with no reference whatever to Ham, or to his or her
people. We associate with friends because of personal qualities, not
because they are white or yellow.
We apprehend that in some schools for the education of colored
people, the treatment of the pupil is special because of his color.
He is made to feel that he is a special case, whatever the advantage
or disadvantage of the fact, its honor or dishonor. He is a negro,
and not simply a human being. He is to stand or fall as a part of
“his people” rather than by his own individuality and personal
character. We say again, with great emphasis, that we protest against
the whole so-called necessity of the case as false and absurd; as
indicative of abnormal sentiments which must be eradicated before
right results can be even sought, much less reached.
* * * * *
THE THIRD STAGE OF OUR EXPERIMENT.
We have reached, and, in some of the States, have distinctly
entered upon, the third stage of our experiment of negro suffrage.
In glancing at these, we shall be simply historical, not critical;
shall set down naught in malice, but with simple truth as we have
understood it. The fragments of the late Confederacy resumed their
autonomy as parts of this nation almost wholly under direction of the
negro voter. There seemed to be a double necessity that he should be
armed with the ballot, that he might defend himself against his old
master who showed unmistakable evidence of his purpose virtually to
re-enslave him, and that he might maintain the political ascendency
of his friends over his master’s old friends. In this first stage
we had, as the political representative of the South, what is
historically known as the carpet-bagger—an immigrant elected by the
Freedman, hated and opposed by the native white; and legislation
which burdened some of the States to the verge of endurance was the
result.
The second stage was reached when the influence of the general
Government was withdrawn from the South, and control passed again
into the hands of the native whites. The alien was remanded to
obscurity, or found the climate of the North more congenial, and the
negro was mightily prevailed upon to forego his right to vote. This
gave us what is generally regarded as the reign of Bourbonism. The
white vote of the South became solid, and the opposition was almost
silenced. We state the fact without commenting upon it or arguing
from it. This result we might easily have inferred from what had gone
before. The instinct of self-preservation, it would seem, must have
compelled such a united front against the outrageous robbery to which
the South had been subjected by ignorant and dishonest legislators.
But now we have entered upon the third stage of this experiment. The
solid South is broken, not by federal assaults, or through the ambition
of carpet-baggers, but by native greed of power. The irrepressible
conflict between the “ins” and the “outs” hurls to the ground the
fabric which seemed to the South so fair and so strong. The hero of a
hundred battles leads the ignorant negro to the polls, deluded by lies
and false promises, displaces one-armed Confederates who had fought
under him, to make room for a low grade of negro politicians, trails
the honor of a once proud old commonwealth in the dust, and dissipates
forever the fond delusion of a solid white South. We have had the negro
placed in authority for a brief day by federal power; then by a certain
reaction driven from the legislative hall, and in many cases from the
ballot box, by the outraged white restored to power. Now we are to
see him debauched and led to the polls by political demagogues, in a
desperate and most demoralizing struggle for office.
Which stage has been, or promises to be the worst? Concerning this
there would doubtless be difference of opinion, according to the
latitude of those who express it. To the Southern white, nothing
could seem more terrible than exposure to the insult and burden of
_negro_ legislation; not simply because it is ignorant, but chiefly
because it is negro legislation. To the average citizen of the
North, the stories told of wrongs and cruelties perpetrated by the
Southerners in their efforts to deliver themselves from this, to
them, intolerable degradation, have seldom been eclipsed in horror
and utter fiendishness, and nothing could be worse than that a solid
South be maintained. But to us who have been trying to grasp, in
order that we may solve, the great problem involved in the negro’s
relation to our national life, and the kingdom of our Lord, it seems
evident that we are just beginning to get a glimpse of the danger
we are called to face, and with which we must grapple. Hitherto we
have chased the bear, and the chase has had its dangers; but now the
bear has turned to chase us. We can no longer calmly discuss the
question, “What shall we do with the negro?” but it becomes one of
vital interest, “What will he do with us?” We have put a bludgeon
into a giant’s hands, with which he will beat out our brains, unless
we soothe and exorcise the devil that is in him.
There is this one way out of our danger, and there is none other.
We have been bold enough to attempt the experiment, staking the life
of our Republic upon the issue; let us be wise enough to supply,
with all promptness and fidelity, the conditions which shall ensure
its success. While the statesmanship which thrust the problem upon
us has given itself no concern whatever as to the issue, Christian
charity has shown that a blessed solution is possible. Our schools
have proved that of the ignorant slave a wise and useful citizen can
be made. The path of safety has been clearly pointed out; now let the
means for achieving this safety be supplied. We believe the nation
ought to do it. We know the patriot and Christian must do it, or this
third will prove to be the final stage in this experiment, not only
of equal negro citizenship in a free Republic, but of Republican
government itself.
AFRICAN NOTES.
—Africa is the most profoundly interesting of missionary lands,
because it is God’s greatest providential mystery. Great in
antiquity, great in its ancient curse, great in its colossal
wickedness, great in its hideous wrongs, great in its tremendous
difficulties as a mission field, great in its costly missionary
sacrifices, great in its future possibilities for Christ and the
world. The eyes, the efforts, the progress of the Church of God,
must ever be more and more directed to this grand Satansburg, as Dr.
Schlier would call this great citadel of sin.—“_Bible in all Lands._”
—Africa is the white man’s grave; to him the sentinel of death stands
five miles out at sea; pass beyond that line and sleep on shore,
and death is almost certain. “The story of all past mission work
on that Dark Continent,” says Dr. Blyden, “is one of the saddest
of our missionary stories, and three hundred years of European
intercourse with West Africa has left the people worse than it found
them.” With these facts before me, I do not hesitate to assert my
honest conviction that Africa is to be redeemed by, and through the
instrumentality of, her own sons. If we will now do our duty to
bleeding Africa, and not debauch her people with intoxicants, then
we, of the Anglo-Saxon race, may yet sit as a grand jury over that
Continent, introducing all the arts of civilization, and all the pure
influences of Christianity. I am encouraged in this belief from the
fact that no tribe in the immediate rear of Liberia is considered
perfect, unless it has a man who can speak English, and this may be
the language of Africa in less time than many of us think.—_Edward S.
Morris._
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
MCLEANSVILLE, N. C.—Bible temperance meetings at McLeansville, N.
C., seem to tone up the sentiments of the people. One young man,
who at considerable trouble and expense had procured a situation in
a grocery store where whiskey is sold, has thrown up his position
and gone to work on a farm, because he was convinced that the Bible
condemned liquor-selling, and he could not ask God’s blessing upon
his daily work.
* * * * *
CHARLESTON, S. C.—Prof. S. D. Gaylord, principal of Avery Institute
and licentiate of the Central Association of Iowa, was ordained in
Plymouth Church, Charleston, S. C., by a Council convened on the
29th and 30th of May last. Several members of the Council preached
in various churches of the city, which fact indicates a growing
ministerial fellowship with our missionaries and pastors.
The Avery Institute for the year has numbered 476 pupils, with an
average of 376—its most prosperous year.
The “renewal of the Church Covenant,” introduced and recommended by
Pastor Cutler, is proving a great spiritual blessing to the church,
and conduces to greater watchfulness on the part of the members.
* * * * *
ATLANTA, GA.—On the 28th of March, the pastor of the First
Congregational Church of Atlanta proposed that the debt of that
church should be paid off. $26, from two Sunday-schools in the North,
were handed in by the pastor as a _starter_. The Professors of the
University gave $30 more, and the people nobly came forward and have
now paid off all the debt, making some $563 they have raised, aside
from current expenses, since last October. They have since raised
money, which, with special gifts for that purpose, has procured a
fine 800 lbs. bell, which will greet our Secretary, when he reaches
Atlanta on the 24th of June.
* * * * *
MARIETTA, GA.—A gem of a church school-house, 24×40 feet, with a
gallery, and furnished with wardrobes and Sherwood’s crown double
desks, was dedicated at Marietta, Ga., on the 6th of June. The people
raised $300 for it; two young men in Illinois gave $50, and the A. M.
A. furnished the remainder, and owns the property.
C. P. Jordon, a graduate of Atlanta University, takes the school; and
Rev. E. J. Penney, also a graduate of Atlanta University, and more
recently of Andover Seminary, will have charge of the church-work.
Our Field Superintendent preached the sermon. A promising enterprise,
strongly manned.
* * * * *
MOBILE, ALA.—The _Daily News_, in giving notice of the examinations
at Emerson Institute, says: “Prof. Crawford deserves great credit
for the successful manner in which he has conducted and built up
this colored institution, which today has no superior in our State.”
And Miss Stevenson, of that school, from whom we have had a pleasant
call, speaks of a great change in the feelings of the citizens of
that city toward the school, its work and teachers.
* * * * *
FLORENCE, ALA.—The _Florence Gazette_ says of the pastor of the
Colored Congregational Church of that town: “Mr. Ash has gained
the respect and goodwill of all classes in this community, and has
accomplished a most praiseworthy educational and religious work among
the people of his race.”
* * * * *
CHATTANOOGA, TENN.—During the absence of the Rev. Jos. E. Smith in
Africa, a retired Presbyterian clergyman of Chattanooga, the Rev.
T. H. McCallie, offered to preach for his church three Sabbaths
for three months, and to extend the time if necessary. He took
the greatest interest in the work, hunted up and looked after the
members, and, either in person or by substitute, attended the Sabbath
services and buried the dead, as if he were the pastor of the church.
The Rev. J. W. Bachman, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of
this city, also preached one Sabbath, and has expressed the deepest
interest in the church, and invited the pastor to call on him.
* * * * *
BEREA, KY.—There were four accessions to the church at Berea on
profession of faith on the first Sabbath of May.
* * * * *
THE FREEDMEN.
REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,
FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
* * * * *
MAKE HASTE SLOWLY.
At one of our Southern conferences last spring, the brethren,
colored and white, were bemoaning the small numbers and slow progress
of our churches. A Baptist minister who was present, and who is
engaged in this educational work, turned the tide by stating that
there were advantages, for the present, in that state of things,
and that his denomination suffered somewhat from the embarrassment
of numbers. He said that he had been a farmer’s boy, and that when
at the tail end of a steam threshing machine for shoving away the
straw, if for only a short time his associate stepped away, he found
himself unable to keep up with the thresher, and covered down by the
accumulation. So they were sometimes bothered in handling their great
numbers by way of discipline and effort at moral elevation.
There is no room in the South for our church system if its work be
simply to transfer the people in bulk from other communions, with
all their prevalent views and practices. Our brethren of the Baptist
and Methodist churches are to be congratulated upon their large
membership, and so upon their opportunity for doing good. They have
the responsibility of purifying from within. Many are struggling
nobly, as exhorted by the _Christian Recorder_, “to thin out the
ministry of the church until there shall not be found an ignorant
man, nor a bad man in the ranks. Thin out the church itself. Expel
the vicious. Drive out the notoriously bad. Have a clean church.”
Starting as a new church-life, we have no call, no excuse for
sweeping in such material. It would be no gain to the kingdom to
effect such a transfer in bulk. Our mission is, through our blended
educational and Christianizing process, to help raise the standard of
Christian and church character. By the stimulus of such example, we
are doing more to help the old churches in their eliminating process
than we could in any other way. That same article in the _Recorder_,
from which I have quoted, shows this.
The editor also sets down the A. M. A. as the greatest rival of
the A. M. E., and no doubt rejoices in this provoking of his
church to love and to good works. But our churches, if they would
attain to much of this helpfulness, must gain it upon the standard
of intelligence and of Christian character, without the risks of
wildness and superstition. And so, if God be with us, if we be humble
and spiritually minded in our work, by and by we may expect large
accessions of members. The president of a Baptist Colored University,
himself a New England educator, remarked to me, a while ago, that he
could see that in twenty-five years the Congregationalists would have
a large church-work among the Freedmen, simply as the result of their
educational process.
Our young pastors, who have not as yet the stimulus of the large
congregations of some other communions, must remember that the
influence of their churches is not measured by numbers, and that if
they secure quality, this may go further than quantity.
But, as it is, our church-work is not destitute of encouragement
now in regard to numbers. Fifteen years ago there was not a colored
Congregationalist in all the South, except in the two ancient white
Congregational churches of Charleston, S. C., and of Liberty Co., Ga.
The system itself was utterly unknown, as it is to this day, except
where it has crept in since the war. The experiment, in one single
locality, of swallowing down the old-time churches, proved a failure,
and taught us a lesson. The only gain has been by the slow process
of enlightenment and of assimilation, mainly by the Christian-school
process. A high official in the M. E. Church said of us: “You can
afford to wait for the youth; we cannot.” He was right. That great
Church, which is doing so grand a work for the Freedmen, had already
on its hands hundreds of thousands of adult members, who must be
cared for at once. By our policy of waiting, the last Annual Report
set down sixty-seven churches, and 4,300 church members, an average
of 69 members to each. As this is all new work, let us compare it
with new work at the West. Alas, for the lack of church statistics
in our last Year Book! By that of the former year, we find that the
churches of Missouri and Nebraska had an average in each State of
27 members; Kansas had 34; Iowa had exactly our average of 69; and
Illinois, which has been under Home Missionary culture for sixty
years, has an average of only 25 members more than that of the
churches of this Association.
* * * * *
THE HAMPTON ANNIVERSARY.
Distinguished Visitors—Speeches by Pres. Hayes, Sec. Schurz, and
Others—Natural Development—Three Questions Settled.
REV. ADDISON P. FOSTER.