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The American Missionary
VOL. XXXIX.
NO. 8.
August, 1885.]
CONTENTS
* * * * *
PAGE.
EDITORIAL.
THE FIGURES--FINANCIAL 213
FAREWELL AND GREETING 215
HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO 217
OPINIONS 219
PARAGRAPHS 221
THE SOUTH.
BEREA COLLEGE, KY. 221
ANNIVERSARY AT TALLADEGA 222
TOUGALOO COMMENCEMENT 223
TILLOTSON INSTITUTE 224
AVERY INSTITUTE--BREWER NORMAL SCHOOL 226
STUDENT'S LETTER 227
THE INDIANS.
THE APACHE RAID 229
INDIAN SUMMER TENT (cut) 230
THE CHINESE.
TOUR AMONG THE MISSIONS 231
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
RESOLUTIONS AT SARATOGA 233
PAPER MISSION--INDUSTRIAL LETTER FROM LE MOYNE 234
CHILDREN'S PAGE.
PLAYING 'POSSUM 234
RECEIPTS 235
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT, Hon. WM. B. WASHBURN, LL. D., Mass.
_Vice-Presidents._
Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
Rev. A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. D. O. MEARS, D. D., Mass.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
Rev. ALEX. McKENZIE, D. D., Mass.
_Corresponding Secretary._
Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
_Assistant Corresponding Secretary._
Rev. JAMES POWELL, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
_Treasurer._
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
_Auditors._
W. H. ROGERS,
PETER McCARTEE.
_Executive Committee._
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.
A. P. FOSTER, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
LYMAN ABBOTT.
A. S. BARNES.
J. R. DANFORTH.
CLINTON B. FISK.
A. P. FOSTER.
_For Two Years._
S. B. HALLIDAY.
SAMUEL HOLMES.
SAMUEL S. MARPLES.
CHARLES L. MEAD.
ELBERT B. MONROE.
_For One Year._
J. E. RANKIN.
WM. H. WARD.
J. L. WITHROW.
JOHN H. WASHBURN.
EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D. D., _21 Cong'l House, Boston_.
Rev. J. E. ROY, D. D., _112 West Washington Street, Chicago_.
Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON, _Financial Secretary for Indian Missions_.
_Field Officer._
----
_Bureau of Woman's Work._
_Secretary_, Miss D. E. EMERSON, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields, to
Rev. James Powell, D. D., or to the District Secretaries; letters for
the "American Missionary," to the Editor, at the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
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.
FORM OF A BEQUEST.
"I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of ---- dollars, in
trust, to pay the same in ---- days after my decease to the person
who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the
'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied,
under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to
its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by
three witnesses.
* * * * *
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
VOL. XXXIX. AUGUST, 1885. No. 8.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
$365,000
NEEDED FOR THE CURRENT YEAR.
* * * * *
Your Committee are convinced that not less than a THOUSAND DOLLARS a
day are imperatively demanded to perfect the admirably organized
plans of the Association, even for the present, to say nothing of the
pressing needs of the early future.--
[FINANCE COMMITTEE'S REPORT ADOPTED BY ANNUAL MEETING AT SALEM.]
* * * * *
THE FIGURES.
Donations. Legacies. Total.
Oct. 1, 1884, to June 30, 1885 - $153,072.30 $23,884.35 $176,956.65
Oct. 1, 1883, to June 30, 1884 - 145,821.49 31,169.90 176,991.39
----------- ---------- -----------
Inc. $7,250.81 Dec. $7,285.55 Dec. $34.74
These figures on their face are encouraging rather than discouraging.
They show that our receipts from living donors are better by a few
thousand dollars than last year, an evidence of the hold that we
still have upon the churches, made all the more conspicuous in these
hard times. But these figures do not tell the whole story. The
$40,000 debt to which we have made frequent reference hitherto is
still pending. To this must be added the $13,000 debt that came over
from last year.
Only two working months are left. Our fiscal year ends with
September. From month to month we have published the figures. Our
friends have been able to trace for themselves just how the financial
struggle has been maintained. Donations from churches and
individuals have been kept distinct from legacies, and comparison
made with receipts of the corresponding months in the preceding year.
A varying story the figures have had to tell.
There is a slave hymn:
"I'm sometimes up and I'm sometimes down,
But still my soul is heavenly bound."
That has been the case with our feelings as we have followed the rise
and fall in the comparisons. But amid all the fluctuations we have
had an abiding confidence that before the year ends there will be
such a rally by our friends that we shall come out free of debt. Are
we to be disappointed? We are approaching the time for decisive
thought and action. We cannot delay much longer. The figures this
month not only show that in the total we are a little behind, but
they also indicate that our reliance for relief must be in the living
and not in the dead. We have no large legacies that are available in
sight, and we have no reserve fund on which to draw to avert
disaster. Can the threatening deficit be averted? Can our friends
meet the demand? Yes, and much more. All that is needed is the will
to do; the ability exists.
We appeal to the wealthy to take this matter upon their hearts and
minds at once. We beg them to send on, as soon as possible, generous
donations to our treasury. Their example at this time will be most
inspiring.
We ask all our friends to do what they can. "The two mites" that in
the Lord's mode of estimating count more than many of the larger
gifts, we cannot possibly do without. The little rills and the small
streams must make their contributions, or the broad and deep river on
which we are to float and be saved will not form.
Especially do we plead that _every_ Congregational church in the
country, large and small, without exception, will see to it that
before the end of next September it shall be on record as having
taken a contribution within the year for the American Missionary
Association. Pastors, deacons, church clerks and church treasurers,
will you not, for the sake of this endangered cause, for the sake of
the millions of Christ's poor for whom we labor, give us the help of
your influence to secure this? We believe you will.
* * * * *
The Thirty-ninth Annual Meeting of the American Missionary
Association will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, October 27-29. The
sermon will be preached by the Rev. Reuen Thomas, D. D., Brookline,
Mass. We hope to see the East well represented at this meeting, and
trust that as many of our friends as possible will make their plans
to be there. The brethren in the West will be glad to welcome them.
Additional notices will appear hereafter.
* * * * *
FAREWELL AND GREETING.
We regret to announce that Professor Salisbury, who for the past
three years has been Superintendent of our school work, this month
severs his connection officially with the A. M. A. He goes to take
charge of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wis. This is the
school in which we found him as a professor, when we called him to
our ranks, and now we are called to give him up that he may go back
to stand at its head. We can ill afford to spare him. He is not only
a master in his knowledge of everything connected with schools, in
respect to organization, discipline and best methods of teaching, but
he is also a man of remarkable executive ability.
When he entered our work he certainly came into the kingdom for a day
that had been providentially prepared. The work had taken on massive
proportions. All over the South our schools had been planted. These
schools were branches of the same tree; they had a common trunk and
drew their life and spirit from the same soil. But, separated so far
from one another, as many of them were, there came to be a felt
necessity that some one competent to care for their common interests,
while recognizing at the same time their separate prerogatives and
rights, must be found. Multiplied variety necessarily had
characterized their development, and as a consequence, the unity of
their origin and aim had been endangered. That is a law of nature. We
had been brought to see and feel this. We looked around to find the
man equal to the task involved. It was not easy to find him. We
realized the difficulty. Our workers realized it. It would not have
been strange if we had made a mistake. A rare combination of
qualifications was demanded. We believed that Professor Salisbury
possessed these qualifications. We invited him to take up the work.
He accepted. He entered, and continued in it down to the last moment
he held the office, with all his heart and soul, and now that he has
felt constrained to leave us we are glad, not only on his account,
but also on our own, unreservedly to bear testimony that, we believe,
no mistake was made when he was appointed.
He has rendered the American Missionary Association signal service,
and when we remember how intimately the work of this Association is
connected with the welfare of the nation, it is not too much to say
that he has in these three years of hard and faithful work rendered
signal service to the whole land. Our school work has steadily grown
in efficiency and power ever since he took it up, and the general
cause of education all over the South has been benefited by the
impulse his teaching, character and devotion have inspired. Not alone
the colored schools, but the white schools as well, have been the
gainers. By his lectures and instruction given in Normal Institutes,
and by his personal contact with the leading educators of the South,
he has brought in no small degree a knowledge of the most approved
methods of teaching to the attention of Southern educators, and has
done much to develop a sentiment in favor of popular education among
the people.
It is a high compliment to his ability the State of Wisconsin pays in
calling him back and investing him with the principalship of the same
school from which we took him; and, as we reluctantly return him, we
can wish for him no greater blessing than that the same success may
attend his labors in the field to which he goes that, with God's
favor, has so abundantly crowned him in the one he leaves.
* * * * *
"The king is dead; long live the king." We have just been speeding
the parting guest. We now turn to welcome the coming. That we have
done the "speeding" reluctantly does not abate the heartiness with
which we now do the "welcoming." To such an extent had our church
work been systematized under Superintendent Roy, and our school work
under Superintendent Salisbury, that when we had to transfer the one
to the Western District Secretaryship, and had to lose the other, we
felt that the two positions might possibly be merged. The very
success of these workers had made this practicable. Not that the work
of the two could be done by any one man. They are not that kind of
men, as our constituents well know. They are both of them drivers. It
is almost enough to discourage any ordinary man to see either of them
work. A hard position to fill surely. We are glad to say that after a
good deal of searching we believe we have found the man.
We have appointed Rev. C. J. Ryder, of Medina, Ohio, as our Field
Superintendent. He accepts the appointment and will take up the work
the first of September. He will be located at Cincinnati, from which
point, by reason of its central location and excellent railroad
facilities, he will be able to reach out in all directions. A
successful pastor--an able preacher, having had experience and
success as a teacher, and in addition possessing already considerable
knowledge of our work, he will enter the field with the opinions of
all those who know him best united that he will make it a success. We
welcome him to the ranks of our fellowship in the glorious cause of
bringing the light of the gospel and Christian education to the poor;
we welcome him to the rich joy the expressions of their heart-felt
gratitude will cause him to experience. We welcome him to the love
and confidence and co-operation of our missionaries whose hearts will
be made glad by his visits and whose toil will be made lighter by his
counsel; above all we welcome him to the rewards God bestows upon
those who are ready, if need be, to surrender everything that they
may follow Christ.
* * * * *
HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO.
REV. W. W. PATTON, D. D.
Many strangely adopt this wrong principle with regard to the negro
race--that they are to be treated not simply as men, but as colored
men, as members of a peculiar and inferior race, about whom one must
not reason as he would about others, and especially about white men.
One writer thinks that his eyes have just been opened to the truth,
for he says: "Like most Northern men, I have made the mistake of
judging the black by the standard of the white. A freer intercourse
with him and a closer study of his characteristics have shown me that
he is not to be so judged, and that the training adapted to the white
man is not adapted to the black." In any reasonable sense of these
words, we regard them as involving the same error which so long
hindered emancipation--the idea that negroes could not be expected to
act as would other men in the same circumstances. It used to be
argued that freed negroes would refuse to labor, and would simply
plunder and massacre. The history of the last twenty years, and the
enormous crops raised at the South since the war, have disproved this
absurdity, although the writer quoted still has his doubts, for he
says of the negro: "We must take him as he is; and because we have
not done this, his freedom, which has been of inestimable value to
the Southern white man, has until now been a most questionable
blessing to the negro!" One who can utter that doubt has some defect
of vision, which disqualifies him from reaching safe conclusions
respecting the colored race. Now, every race has certain
peculiarities, and so has every nation, and to these we have a degree
of regard in our intercourse with them. In minor matters, we
remember, in our dealings, that this man is a Scotchman, and that man
a Welshman, and that a Frenchman, and that a German. But in great
questions of principle and method touching humanity, such as
education and religion, we drop race and nation, and act upon simple
manhood. If we do not, we are sure to err. The true idea in the case
before us is, not to think perpetually of the black skin and the
African blood, but of the man, and to use with the negro precisely
the measures which should be used with white men in the same
circumstances of ignorance and poverty, and with the same
responsibilities as citizens. And it is singular that objectors to
our work do not seem to be aware that the precise difficulty which
they emphasize respecting the black masses at the South has been
equally emphasized by others respecting the white masses at the
North. The complaint everywhere heard in the Northern States is, that
the common people are being so highly educated as to become
dissatisfied with labor. The young men and young women refuse to work
at manual industries, and take to trade and the professions, or else
become dissipated idlers. Hence attempts are making to attach
industrial education to our common schools. Why, then, talk of the
peculiarities of the negro in this matter? There are none. He simply
shares in the temptations which beset all races, and we must reason
accordingly, and plan alike for the masses of the people, black and
white.
One should avoid extreme and disproportionate statements and
implications. The same writer runs a tilt against all education for
the negro above the most rudimental, and says: "I have failed to see
one who has been made a better man or a better citizen by this higher
education; on the contrary, I know of very many who have been morally
and socially ruined by it." We are sorry that his acquaintance has
been so unfortunate with this class. Others have had the happiness to
know scores and hundreds of well-educated colored people who are
doing great credit to their race as ministers, physicians, editors,
lawyers, teachers and authors. To one of these, a graduate of a
theological institution, aided by this Association, the District
Attorney in the part of Virginia where he now lives, recently
addressed a letter of thanks for his having wrought a moral
revolution in that county, saying: "Your boldness in condemning the
wrong and asserting and approving the right has not only impressed
the colored, and influenced their conduct in the right direction, but
it has at the same time won for you the confidence and esteem of all
the thinking portion of the white race, who are interested in good
government and a well-ordered and law-abiding community ... for which
this community ought to be profoundly grateful." And this man is also
"ebon black." And here we would correct the impression that a large
disproportion of the negroes are receiving "a higher education." The
idea is given out that a great mistake has been made by the societies
and philanthropists that are seeking the elevation of the freedmen.
It would relieve the quite unnecessary alarm of objectors if they
would consult the United States census for the statistics of the
negro population, and then compare with its six millions of colored
people the few thousands of them found in the colleges, academies,
high schools, theological seminaries, medical and law schools of the
land. Probably not more than one negro in a thousand is receiving
anything beyond the very simplest instruction. Surely, then, no great
harm can yet have been done, or is likely to be done, for many years
to come. And yet, long before the objectors had spoken, these same
educators had begun to add industrial training to book learning, and
they are now pushing this branch as fast as the pecuniary means are
furnished.
Nor should we overlook the vast and pressing necessities to which the
higher education stands related. There is a loud and general call for
_competent_ colored teachers, instead of there being such a surplus
as the aforementioned writer found when he says, "There was only one
vacancy where there were fifty teachers." A remarkably favored
locality! The superintendents of Southern schools tell a very
different story. Not long since, the Rev. Dr. Haygood, of Georgia,
in an article in the _Independent_, called for fifty thousand colored
physicians, to be furnished as speedily as possible. And who can
exaggerate the need of educated colored ministers to take the place
of the old ignorant preachers? And how is any race to rise without
intelligent leaders of their own in every locality? These will
naturally be found in their men of education and property, in their
ministers, physicians, lawyers, editors, teachers and political
representatives. It is idle and wrong to repress or ignore the
ambition of negroes of talent to be something more than laborers and
servants, bootblacks and whitewashers. They must have the chance that
others have, in proportion to their numbers; no more, no less. And
all these rising colored men must have correspondingly intelligent
wives, for their comfort and improvement and for the training of
their children. To meet such wants the existing schools of high grade
will all be needed and should all be liberally endowed.
* * * * *
OPINIONS.
The American Missionary Association and those allied to it have been
the chief agency at the South, so far as benevolent effort is
concerned, in diffusing right notions of religion, and in carrying
education to the darkened mind of the negro.--_Hon. J. L. M. Curry._
* * * * *
Of all the questions which disturb the mental equanimity of the
patriotic and thinking citizen of our Republic, none is looming in
his horizon with a more lurid and portentous aspect than the black
cloud of illiteracy which is rapidly spreading over the country, and
especially resting upon the Southern States of the Union. Compared
with it as an element of vital danger to the Republic, Mormonism,
Communism and Socialism sink into obscurity. The only way out of the
unfortunate dilemma or of ameliorating the condition in which the
country is placed by the thrusting upon it of this mass of ignorance,
is by education--an education both mental and moral.--_George R.
Stetson._
* * * * *
The real tests of Northern zeal and liberality, of Northern faith and
patience in the work of educating the negro, are yet to come. At the
first, Christian zeal was mightily stimulated by the patriotic
fervors of a great war for the preservation of the Union. In most
minds the course of events identified the preservation of the Union
and the abolition of slavery. The tremendous moral and political
forces that were at work during the war, and for many years after its
close, all conspired to make such an appeal to the thought, sentiment
and conscience of the church in the North as was perhaps never before
made for any form of Christian philanthropy. Christian men and women
were filled with pity for the poor negroes, and there was a movement
of "men and money" for their education that was never before seen in
this, or perhaps any other, country. The effort was stupendous, and
the results are amazing.
But the conditions that obtained from 1865 to 1875 will obtain no
more. The enthusiasms peculiar to that period pass away with the
coming of a new generation. The work must go on now as the foreign
missionary movement of Christendom goes on--by the force that is born
of a fixed conviction and an unquestioning faith in God's purpose to
save the world and in His plan of saving it.
It is saddening, it is not surprising, to know that some noble men
and women teaching in negro schools in the South are discouraged.
This is natural, but nevertheless perilous, as well as distressing.
One teacher, long in the service, speaks thus: "Some are much
discouraged; we have expected by this time to see results more
permanent in the negro character; we thought it would be somewhat as
we have seen it in our Western colleges after a few years."
Such a basis of comparison is very unjust to the negro and very
hurtful to his teacher. We must not forget heredity; we must compare
the negro as to education in schools in 1884 with 1864. The white man
has behind him a thousand years of the influences that enter into our
best education. Yet how much he has to learn! How much easier for
white pupils to learn books than virtue--how much easier to acquire
knowledge than wisdom! Let us have patience with each other. Let us
also settle down to steady work, steady giving and constant praying.
This is a work for the next hundred years--and more.--_The Advance._
* * * * *
The feeling is too prevalent, even among Christians, that "the only
good Indian is a dead Indian." If parents would put into the hands
of their children reports of our missionaries, so they could see
what is being done for the Indians, instead of letting them get
their opinions of the Indian race from newspaper articles and from
books of Indian wars, in which the rifle and scalping knife were
the only arguments used, much prejudice would be removed and the
missions among Indians would be better sustained. Further, if
parents themselves would take the above advice, it would be time
and money well spent, as some grown-up children might learn as
well.--_Correspondent in St. Louis Evangelist._
* * * * *
Bishop H. M. Turner, of the M. E. Church South, is said to be the
first colored man who has ever received the degrees of D. D. and LL. D.
He educated himself at night among the cotton fields of South
Carolina, and was the first colored chaplain in the United States
Army.
* * * * *
It is said by the _Journal of Education_ that the colored people of
the country now edit over 100 newspapers, teach 18,000 public schools
with 900,000 pupils, raise annually 150,000,000 bushels of cereals
and 2,700,000,000 pounds of cotton.
* * * * *
THE CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN CHINESE.
Out of our missions in California has sprung the Congregational
Association of Christian Chinese. What is its object? "Mutual watch
and care; arrangement for special seasons of worship in connection
with the missions, the appointment of brethren to preach at stated
times and places, and a certain measure of mutual aid and relief." A
grand object, surely. The Central Association, with three branches,
is in San Francisco. In other parts of the State there are nine
branches. The total membership is 378. Jee Gam, whom many of our
readers will remember in connection with his visit East four years
ago, is the Secretary.
* * * * *
The new catalogue of Straight University, by an error of the printer,
is made to say that the first building on Esplanade street was
erected and destroyed in 1870. This strikes out seven of the most
important years of the University's history. The date of destruction
should have been 1877. As many of our friends in visiting the
International Exposition at New Orleans took occasion to visit
Straight University, and may have received catalogues of the same, we
deem it proper to call attention to this mistake.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
* * * * *
BEREA COLLEGE, KY.
The Berea College Commencement was held June 17-24. There was present
a number of distinguished men from abroad, among whom may be
mentioned Roswell Smith, of the _Century Magazine_, New York; Geo. W.
Cable, the well-known author; Rev. Washington Gladden, D. D., Rev.
Robert West, of the Chicago _Advance_; Hon. Cassius M. Clay, and
Judge Beckner, of Kentucky. Roswell Smith made a gift of $5,000 to
the institution. We make the following extract from the baccalaureate
sermon of Prof. Wright, in which he ably discusses the question of
caste:
"However long this state of things may continue, do not despairingly
conclude that it is never to be broken down. The stars in their
courses fight against injustice and folly. The very stones of the
field are in league with those who are on the side of equity and
fairness. Any region, small or large, that persists in a separation
of races in its hotels, railroads, schools and churches, dooms itself
to an inferior rank in all the departments of its life--in its
business as effectively as in its intelligence and its piety.
"It costs more to keep up two sets of hotels than one. It costs more
to build railroad stations with separate waiting-rooms for two races
than to build them with accommodations for ladies and gentlemen
without regard to race. It costs more to run trains, if separate
passenger cars must be provided for two races on every train. This
cost will delay the building of railroads in the first place, and
this can only be met by higher rates of fare, which will impede
business progress.
"It costs more to maintain a double system of public schools than to
provide for all the children under a single system. This increases
taxes, while at the same time the schools cannot be as efficient, and
this diminishes intelligence. For in scattered farming communities,
the districts must be so large under the double system that many
families are out of reach of the school. And the number of towns that
can have graded schools is greatly reduced by the requirement that no
school shall receive pupils of more than one race. Normal schools are
also made more difficult to maintain, and teachers' institutes
rendered less efficient. A lower average of intelligence is as
inevitable under such adverse conditions in the educational machinery
of a State, as slower speed in a racehorse is inevitable when he
carries heavy weight.
"Similar things may be said of churches. Any community that insists
on separate churches for different races dooms itself to a lower
grade of spiritual experience and a lower degree of Christian
activity. How must every good work be retarded if, in addition to the
separation of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and others which
we find nearly everywhere, there must also be a further separation of
these by races; if in every neighborhood, however scattered the
population, there must be a white Methodist church with its white
Methodist preacher, and also a colored Methodist church with its
colored Methodist preacher, a white Baptist church and preacher, and
also a colored Baptist church and preacher, a white Presbyterian
church and preacher, and so on through the list. In many cases such
churches have service only once in a month, and the members attend no
other in the meantime. It is plain that of two regions alike in other
respects, the one that insists on race distinctions in the worship of
the one God and Father of us all, and will not allow men of different
races to stand side by side in doing Christian work, must maintain
its religious institutions at greater cost and with less efficiency
because of this race separation.
"The region that treats all men impartially in its churches will have
the advantage in religion and morals. The region that knows no race
distinctions in its schools will have the advantage in intelligence.
The region that is color-blind on its public conveyances and in its
places of business, will have the advantage in business, for it can
equip and run steamboats and railroads more economically and conduct
factories at lower cost, while its higher average intelligence will
make it a producer of better goods. All these elements will conspire
to give the impartial community precedence in wealth, in literature,
in art, in social attractiveness, as well as in a high average
intelligence; in orderly habits, and in both the power and the will
to achieve noble things. Power is coming into the hands of those who
choose righteousness. Let all the commonwealths in our broad land
know that only by treating all men with impartiality can they put
themselves in alliance with the silent but irresistible forces of
social and political economy. There is no future for caste-practicing
communities but decadence and increasing inferiority."
* * * * *
ANNIVERSARY AT TALLADEGA.
Talladega College, chartered in 1869, had its fifteenth anniversary
from June 14 to 18. The Cassedy school gave an exhibition full of
interest, and indicative of the good work done there, on the
preceding Friday evening. The college chapel was well filled at all
these exercises, and sometimes was too strait for the audience. The
attendance from town, especially of our white friends, was
exceptionally large, and we have never heard so many and so
appreciative words of commendation before. Rev. Dr. Worrell,
principal of a boys' school in Talladega, who taught in our Swayne
Hall before the War, when it was a Baptist College, was present,
leading us in a prayer memorable for its sympathy and fervency.
Certainly the work of Talladega College was never so strongly
intrenched in the regard of the people of Alabama as now.
The full course of exercises for commencement was enacted in good
order, including an able Baccalaureate by Dr. Strieby, Missionary
sermon by Rev. J. W. Roberts, Dallas, Texas, one of our theological
graduates, and an address by Dr. Roy, exercises of our two literary
societies, prize speaking and essays, public examinations, orations
and essays on Commencement Day, and ending with a reception at the
President's house. Others can judge better of the worth of some of
these parts than the writer and his associates, but to us they seemed
good. We were greatly encouraged, and feel that our friends and
patrons would have been pleased had they been present.
The Alumni Association, formed three years ago, was represented on
Commencement Day by Mrs. L. L. Wilson, who read an essay on "Homes
and How to Make Them," and by Rev. J. W. Roberts, whose theme was
"Exceptional Greatness." That afternoon the Alumni held a meeting in
the college chapel, when representatives from States as far away as
Arkansas and Texas were present, and others were heard from by
letter.
At the business meeting it was determined to begin an Alumni fund, in
aid either of members of the Association or the College.
The Exhibition of Industrial Work, both of the boys and girls,
attracted much attention and warm commendation. The Slater Shop, with
its facilities for instruction in much wood, little iron and some
paint, made its first annual display, and those who believe in little
other education for the child of the late slave, and those who differ
from them, all agreed in the great advantages of this industrial
training. The work exhibited was good; some of it very choice.
We feel that the College never had a better anniversary; take it all
in all, never as good; but with continued help such as we need, by
the favor of God this may well be dwarfed by the greater result of
the near future. We are looking for that help with increasing
confidence.
H. S. DEFOREST.
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TOUGALOO COMMENCEMENT.
The unsurpassed wealth of our roses had just left their vanishing
fragrance on the air, only the Cherokees being left in profusion to
lend their peculiar charm to our closing exercises, but the grand old
oaks standing like guardian sentinels around the grounds, in all the
freshness of their early leafage and festooned with the Spanish moss,
ever faithful to all seasons, gave to the place a patriarchal
appearance, and an air of seclusion from temptation. The healthful
cedar boughs and buds bestowed their fragrance like a closing
benediction.
Sec. Powell came to us with his strong earnest words of cheer and a
lecture on Slave Music, which our young people could illustrate and
well appreciate. Gov. Lowry expressed a hearty commendation of the
exhibition of work from the industrial department, as well as the
orations, essays, dialogue, and declamation. The colloquy on our
reading-room indicated that good use had been made of that room, even
if the number of volunteers for furnishing news items after dinner
had not always been as numerous as might be desired. Supt. Smith told
us that many of the best teachers in the State come from this school.
Dr. Galloway and the city fathers of Jackson showed their
appreciation of the sentiments expressed by the young people, and we
heartily wished that the dear, good, noble-hearted workers of the
North could have been present, who have so generously opened their
purses to educate and fit "our brother in black" for leading his race
from a darkness more than "skin deep" to noble citizenship. We wish
you could realize, as you only can by seeing it, what a stimulus
every such work is to the white people of the South, for as Dr.
Haygood stated in his closing address, "though Northern money
generously erected these buildings and pays a large share of the
salaries here, yet the State pays the young men and women who go out
from this school to teach in the country schools."
Dear friends, your investments are bringing in grand returns, but the
needs of this race are very great yet. It is sad to see the number
who come to this institution with means to pay their expenses for
_only a part of the year_, hoping to come back another year, and
trusting that in some way they may be able to continue their studies.
A students' aid fund is much needed to assist worthy pupils.
Aspirations are aroused that cannot be quenched. The daily lessons in
keeping rooms tidy, in personal habits, in doing thoroughly whatever
is undertaken, cannot be lost, even if pupils remain but a short
time. The sentiment, that to work is an honor, to be idle a disgrace,
is so infused into their daily life that we fully believe greater
progress will be seen in the coming years than has been seen in the
past. The spirit of those who have labored with these ardent
aspirants for higher, better, nobler things has so entered into and
permeated their very being, that it cannot lie dormant. Arouse and
cultivate the best there is in this race, and you have something
worth making a sacrifice for. God is showing us, by the way, that
this is His own blessed work. We do not have to wait long years to
reap; the sheaves are abundant every year. In one of our late
prayer-meetings special causes for thanksgiving was the topic. There
were many expressions of gratitude "for the Christian influence of
our school." One young man said: "I am just as thankful for what I
have learned in the workshop as in the school-room." After hearing of
the 700,000 one-room log-cabins of the South, and the need there is
of skilled workmen, we felt like singing an added song of praise as
we looked through the work exhibited in wood, tin, iron, and _cloth_,
and saw the promise of better things. Surely the young men who can
exhibit such work will not allow their mothers, wives, and sisters to
live in cabins through whose open roofs the stars are visible when
they shine.
You would travel far to find a more temptingly spread table than the
girls of Tougaloo are taught to prepare--all the eatables of their
own make, even the delicious butter. Nowhere in New England need you
look for a nicer-kept cabin and yard than some of those on the little
homesteads lately purchased by President Pope, for one of his ideas
of missionary work is to help the colored man _get a home_, having
for corner-stones "Industry, Economy, Temperance, and Family Virtue."
* * * * *
TILLOTSON INSTITUTE, AUSTIN, TEXAS.
The third of June witnessed the close of another year of successful
work at Tillotson Institute. Written examinations were held May
26-29. The results of this work, in a shape convenient for
inspection, were placed in the reading room, and attracted no little
attention. Oral public examinations were held June 1 and 2. These
showed faithful work on the part of both teachers and pupils. The
classes in United States history and geometry deserve special
mention. The excitement of the occasion was a little too much for
some of the young people, leading one to say that Riel was the
Governor-General of Canada, while another remarked that Florida,
being discovered on Easter Sunday, and being a land of flowers, was
named the "Mayflower." These blunders, however, were speedily
corrected by the pupils themselves.
The rhetorical exercises of Tuesday evening called out a very fine
audience. The chapel was filled to overflowing. The exercises
consisted of the usual programme of choruses, quartets, recitations,
declamations, essays, etc. Mr. Edward Wilson's rendering of his
translation of Cicero's First Oration against Catiline is deserving
of special notice, though all the parts were given without a single
break or failure of memory. We observe our students have great
capacity for "rising to occasions."
In the midst of the programme we were most agreeably surprised by the
appearance of Secretary Powell, who happily closed the entertainment
by a brief but stirring address.
The anniversary exercises of Wednesday morning made a fitting climax
for the series of meetings. Though not a "commencement" occasion, yet
it was distinguished from other days of the closing week, and from
previous anniversaries, by the presentation of "certificates" to two
young men who have completed the "Elementary Normal Course." These
young men remain with us to pursue a further course of study. The
address of one of them, Mr. A. S. Terrell, on the subject "Our Duty,"
is especially worthy of notice. The subject was considered from the
stand-point of the advantages afforded colored people. "It is true,"
he said, "we must bear many hard things, but let us look on the
bright side. Let us consider and improve our opportunities. Let us
accept the good, from whatever source it comes. To join with
Communists, labor-unions, and other discontented classes, in a chorus
of fault-finding and censure, because we cannot have everything we
want, is to take the sure road to the defeat of our most cherished
objects." These are timely words, and they reveal a state of feeling
among colored people which finds all too fertile a soil in the
tendency to ignore, or discriminate, or, at best, grant but a
supercilious recognition, which still in great measure controls
Southern sentiment. The colored people are naturally loyal and
conservative. It is possible, now, so to develop these qualities,
that they shall be national bulwarks. Some time it may be too late,
and if reaction comes it will be terrible.
The attitude of many representative men of the South, however, is
most encouraging. Our anniversary exercises were honored by the
presence of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the
County Superintendent of Travis Co., Hon. B. M. Baker and Judge
Fullmore. In their addresses at the conclusion of our programme, both
gentlemen spoke with enthusiasm of the great progress in educational
matters that has been made in Texas during the past five years, among
both white and colored. The magnificent school fund of Texas, as
rapidly as it becomes available, is devoted to the interests of both
races without discrimination. Mr. Baker emphasized the fact that
notwithstanding the liberal provision for a State system of schools,
it would be many years before they could dispense with the schools
maintained by benevolent societies. The latter must be the main
agency for the training of teachers. For the present, the State must
devote her energies to the building of school-houses, and the
establishment and maintenance of common schools, without attempting
very much in the line of higher education.
Both gentlemen spoke in high praise of Tillotson, and of the ability
and trustworthy character of the teachers she has sent out.
Secretary Powell made the concluding address, and brought the meeting
to its highest point of enthusiasm. The presence of these men
representing educational interests, which not long ago seemed to
have nothing whatever in common, their interchange of courtesies, and
their expression of mutual dependence each upon the other, made the
occasion both memorable and very full of suggestion.
J. H. PARR.
* * * * *
ANNIVERSARY WEEK AT AVERY INSTITUTE.
The closing exercises of the twentieth anniversary of Avery Normal
Institute, Charleston, S. C., occupied four days of the last week of
June.
The week opened on Sunday, June 21, with a sermon to the graduating
class, by the Rev. E. T. Hooker, pastor of our A. M. A. church.
The morning hours of Wednesday and Thursday were devoted to oral
examinations in all the departments. A fine display of maps, drawing
books, object drawings and original designs found scores of admirers.
The sewing done by the industrial classes made a creditable exhibit,
and the garments found ready purchasers. The remainder of the school
hours of each day were given to rhetorical exercises in the chapel of
the institution.
On Wednesday, P. M., the sub-normal grades entertained their friends.
Promptly at 12 m., they filed into the chapel to a march from the
piano. Music, recitations, gesture and sewing songs pleasantly filled
an hour and a half. A composition, "The New Colony," weaving in, in a
humming fashion, the surnames of some of the teachers and pupils, was
highly appreciated by the crowded house of parents and friends.
Thursday, P. M., the "Normals" held the Fort. The aim had not been to
foster theatrical tastes, nor to produce startling dramatic effects,
but to render in a natural and easy manner, historic, patriotic and
practical selections, both of poetry and prose. Music, vocal and
instrumental, lent its charm to the general enjoyment.
Friday was wholly devoted to those whom Avery each year "delighteth
to honor." A galaxy of twenty-two formed the class of '85. Beginning
promptly at 10 A. M., seventeen earnest, womanly young women and five
faithful young men, expressed their opinions on their chosen
subjects, in the form of essay or oration. From salutatory to
valedictory, the quiet of the packed room attested the interest taken
in the evolution of each theme. The colored people of Charleston are,
intellectually, in advance of those of most other Southern cities.
Before the "slight misunderstanding," their native city was called
the "Athens of the South," and, breathing the same air as the more
favored race, they naturally imbibed some of its cultured modes of
thought. The presentation of diplomas by the Principal, Prof. Wm. M.
Bristoll, the singing of the Class Song and the congratulations of
friends closed the happy day.
ANNA M. NICHOLAS.
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BREWER NORMAL SCHOOL.
The Thirteenth Anniversary Exercises of the Brewer Normal School took
place at Greenwood, S. C., on Thursday, June 25. The annual address
was delivered at eleven o'clock A. M., by the Rev. T. E. McDonald, of
Columbia, to an unusually large audience, and enlisted earnest
attention. It will, we trust, be long remembered by those who heard
it. It was followed by a short, earnest talk from the Rev. H. M.
Young, presiding elder of this district in the A. M. E. Church. The
singing was by the entire school and was loudly applauded. This was
followed by an intermission of an hour and a half, during which time
friends held fellowship with friends and betook themselves to the
contents of abundantly laden refreshment baskets.
The afternoon exercises consisted of singing, recitations and
dialogues by the children of the primary department. Our large hall
was bright with flowers, flags and happy faces, but was by far too
small to accommodate the immense throng seeking admission. The
calisthenic exercises and selections were well rendered and won many
complimentary remarks. At 5 o'clock a memorial service was held for a
member of the school who, the year before, took a very prominent part
in our closing exercises, but who, after months of patient suffering,
entered into rest April 6. The annual exhibition came off at 8
o'clock P. M. The programme consisted of sixteen parts, interspersed
with music. We were favored during the day with music from two brass
bands. By competent judges the declamations were pronounced superior
to any heard on former occasions of a similar character.
The attendance of the citizens from the town was a very pleasant
feature. Brewer Normal has made a deep impression on the white
people. They acknowledge the good work that it has done and is doing,
and believe in the possibilities that are before it. The students in
attendance during the year were 168, an advance upon that of any
previous year. We have had much for which to be thankful during the
first year connected with this institute; but let this be an
inspiration leading us to greater achievements during the year to
come. On Friday morning, amid a "sweet confusion" of tears, laughter
and farewells, the halls of the school were closed for the summer
vacation, and the students boarded the trains to return to their
homes.
J. D. BACKENSTOSE.
* * * * *
STUDENT'S LETTER.
STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS.
The path along which the mind must travel to obtain an education, is
much like that on which one goes to accomplish any desired end. The
student will find in his way numberless difficulties which seem
higher than mountains, lower than valleys, and darker than any forest
glade. The Alpine traveler knows that he will meet many a rugged
steep, that he must cross many a mountain torrent on slender footing,
make his way through many a gloomy valley. He does not give up, but
presses forward with eagerness and courage, until he reaches the
summit and gazes as a victor on the glorious scenes around.