The American Missionary
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October, 1888.
Volume XLII No. 10.
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Contents
Financial. Annual Meeting
Voting Members--Paragraphs
Qualifications Of Candidates For Mission Work
Immigrants And Negroes
Book Review
Gift Of Books From Mr. Willey
The Unconscious Influence Of Our Missionaries
Expulsion Of Negroes From Marion, Ark
Extracts
School Echoes
Rome And The Freedmen
THE SOUTH.
Vacation Echoes
Extract From A Graduating Essay
STUDENT'S LETTER.
The Blue-Jacket Teacher
THE INDIANS.
Mr. Moody's Missionary Meetings
THE CHINESE.
Confucius And Christ
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
Sketch Of Mission Life On The Frontier
RECEIPTS
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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.
* * * * *
The American Missionary
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
President, Rev. WM. M. Taylor, D.D., LL.D., N.Y.
Vice-Presidents.
Rev. A.J.F. Behrends, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. Alex. Mckenzie, D.D., Mass.
Rev. F.A. Noble, D.D., Ill.
Rev. D.O. Mears, D.D., Mass.
Rev. Henry Hopkins, D.D., Mo.
Corresponding Secretaries.
Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
Rev. A.F. Beard, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
Treasurer.
H.W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
Auditors.
Peter McCartee.
Chas. P. Peirce.
Executive Committee.
John H. Washburn, Chairman.
Addison P. Foster, Secretary.
For Three Years.
Lyman Abbott,
Charles A. Hull,
J.R. Danforth,
Clinton B. Fisk,
Addison 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.W. Cooper,
John H. Washburn,
Edmund L. Champlin.
District Secretaries.
Rev. C.J. Ryder, 21 Cong'l House, Boston.
Rev. J.E. Roy, D.D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.
Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.
Rev. Chas. W. Shelton.
Secretary of Woman's Bureau.
Miss D.E. Emerson, 56 Reade St., N.Y.
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to
the Editor, at the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, 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 151 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. XLII. OCTOBER, 1888. No. 10.
American Missionary Association.
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FINANCIAL--THE DEBT.
Our receipts for the eleven months ending August 31st show an increase
from collections of $14,452.76; a decrease in legacies of $5,195.52;
with a net increase of $9,257.24 over the corresponding months of last
year. On the other hand, the expenditures for these eleven months have
been $31,835.70 more than those of last year, and hence a debt of over
$22,000 is impending. The explanation is to be found in the fact that
an unusually large per cent. of our collections this year is in
specified gifts for special objects, and could not, therefore, be used
to meet appropriations for current work; and the added expenditures
have been absolutely required by the natural and healthful growth in
our varied industrial, school and church work in all parts of our
extended field.
As our friends have had occasion to know, we are making an earnest
appeal for special help to avert this threatened debt. The responses
thus far are encouraging, but not such as to leave the question beyond
doubt. This magazine will reach most of our readers before the last
Sunday of the month. We urgently appeal to our friends to make a grand
rally on that day for our relief.
* * * * *
ANNUAL MEETING.
The forty-second Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association
will be held at Providence, R.I., Oct. 23-25. The meeting will open
promptly at 3 o'clock, Tuesday P.M., Oct. 23. On Tuesday evening, the
annual sermon will be preached by Rev. Arthur Little, D.D., of
Chicago. Those purposing to be present and wishing entertainment are
requested to write to Mr. G.E. Luther, Secretary of Committee of
Entertainment, Providence, R.I. (See the last page of the cover.)
* * * * *
VOTING MEMBERS.
By our Constitution it will be observed that the following persons are
entitled to vote at the annual meetings of this Association: Members
of evangelical churches who have been constituted life members by the
payment of $30 into its treasury, with the written declaration at the
time or times of payment that the sum is to be applied to constitute a
designated person a life member, such membership beginning sixty days
after the payment; delegates chosen to attend the annual meeting by
evangelical churches which have within a year contributed to the funds
of the Association, such churches being entitled to send two delegates
each. Each State Conference or Association is also entitled to send
two delegates. Such delegates are members of the Association for the
year for which they were appointed.
We sincerely urge our patrons to avail themselves of the opportunity
thus afforded to participate in the management of the trusts of this
Association, hoping that by so doing they will share more fully in the
responsibility of its work and become more helpful in furthering its
development in years to come.
* * * * *
We are happy to announce the return of Rev. Dr. Beard. He attended the
London Missionary Conference, as the delegate of the American
Missionary Association, and presented a paper on "History of Missions
among the North American Indians." He was called by a telegram to
Florence to the sick bed of two of his children, one of them very
severely ill. Both recovered and he now returns to America, himself
and family in excellent health. During his absence, he preached in his
former pulpit in the American Church in Paris, and met many of his
former parishioners. He had become greatly attached to that church and
much interested in the very successful McAll Mission, to which he was
greatly helpful. We welcome him once more to his chosen field in the
work of the A.M.A., where he will find ample room for the exertion of
his best energies.
* * * * *
The executive committee of the American Missionary Association has
unanimously appointed the Rev. Frank E. Jenkins a Field
Superintendent, to examine and report upon the work of our schools and
churches in our Southern field. Mr. Jenkins is a graduate of Williams
College, Massachusetts, and has had some years' experience as a
principal of advanced schools. He is a graduate of Hartford
Theological Seminary, and has been engaged successfully in our work in
the South. Some parts of the field are already well known to him, and
with others he will make immediate acquaintance. We commend him to our
missionary teachers and preachers in the field, as a beloved Christian
brother whose heart is in full sympathy with our work. We
trust that the relationships which will be established, will be
fruitful in helpfulness. His residence will be in Chattanooga, Tenn.
* * * * *
The prevalence of yellow fever at Jacksonville, Fla., and the danger
of its spreading into the towns and cities of the southeast, will make
it wise for us to delay for a time the opening of a few of our schools
in that region. In former years some of our teachers, while at their
posts, were caught by this malignant scourge and they faced the danger
bravely--some of them laying down their lives and others permanently
impairing their healths, by taking care of the smitten ones. Such
heroism is demanded when the danger comes, but it does not seem best
to seek the danger. A little delay in some places, we hope, will be
all that is necessary.
* * * * *
By the time these pages reach our readers, most of our workers will
have resumed their labors in the South. Many of the ministers and a
few of the teachers have remained at their posts all summer, but the
schools have been closed. Work in the cotton fields has called for the
younger pupils, the summer schools have given employment to the older
ones, while rest and a change of climate have been required by the
white teachers from the North. But now activities will be resumed, and
we contemplate the work with joy and hope.
These workers, and others like them, are the hope of the South. They
go not arrayed and armed for bloody battle-fields; they go not as
commercial travelers to sell the wares of the North; they go not as
capitalists to start the whirling spindles or to kindle the fires in
the smelting furnaces; they go not as politicians to speak for or
against tariffs, nor to build up or break down parties. Their work is
quieter and deeper than all this. They reach the mind and heart. As
Christ aimed not so much at once to tear down or build up the outer,
but to reach the inner springs of the soul, so these workers aim to
make character, intelligent, pure, active, and thus to impel to all
that is noble and honest in life, that stimulates to industry,
economy, thrift--to making the home pure and all outer things
prosperous and right. But, as Christ was misunderstood and rejected,
so are these laborers ostracized. We rejoice to find a growing
recognition of their worth and work, and trust that the day is coming
when they will be fully appreciated and welcomed. In the meantime they
toil on uncomplainingly, and for their sakes and for the work's sake
we invoke, not perfunctorily but earnestly, the prayers of God's
ministers and people in their behalf.
* * * * *
On another page will be found a review of two books by the well-known
author, Edmund Kirke (J.R. Gilmore), who has made a special study of
the white people of the Mountain regions of the South. Mr. Kirke has
at our invitation prepared a paper to be read at our Annual
Meeting, in connection with the Report on our Mountain Work. We have
been permitted to read it. It is replete with racy incidents and
delineations of quaint yet noble characters. If the tears and smiles
which the reading of the paper drew from us are any test, then we can
promise a treat to those who may hear it at the meeting in Providence.
* * * * *
QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR MISSION WORK.
Many of our missionaries who are engaged in their devoted and
self-denying labors in the South, have been compelled by the nature of
our work to take their summer vacations. The educational work of the
American Missionary Association is through and through a missionary
work. It is begun with a missionary purpose and is carried on in the
name of Christ to disciple the people, that they may know Him who is
the Way, the Truth and the Life. All of our teachers are sent to be
missionaries. Many are returning now to their fields of service with
which they are well acquainted, and some are going for the first time.
Among these, questions are raised as to the requirements needed in
those who are to go. We have thought that a few suggestions given to
the candidates for the China Inland Mission by Hudson Taylor, might be
properly repeated here for those who are to take upon themselves these
responsible Christian duties. He says:
First of all, it is absolutely essential that those desiring to be
missionaries should have a deep love for Christ, a full grasp of His
plan of salvation, and be wholly consecrated, in their inward lives,
to Him. Mission work is not preaching grand sermons, or witnessing
marvellous baptisms; it is a patient Christ-like life, day by day,
far from external help, far from those we love; a quiet sowing of
tiny seeds, which may take long years to show above the ground,
combined with a steady bearing of loneliness, discomfort and petty
persecution. The work demands of every worker very real and manifest
self-sacrifice and acts of faith. It aims at, and ought to be
satisfied with, nothing less than the conversion of the people to
God. Not witness-bearing merely, but fruit-bearing is the end in
view. Anything short of the salvation of souls is failure.
It is generally found that when people are of no use at home, they
are of no use in the mission field. The bright, brave, earnest
spirit, ready to face difficulties at home, is the right spirit for
the work abroad. A patient, persevering, plodding spirit, attempting
great things for God, and expecting great things from God, is
absolutely essential to success in missionary efforts. Those will
not make the best missionaries who are easily daunted by the first
difficulty or opposition, but those whose strength is equal to
waiting upon God, and who fight through all obstacles by prayer and
faith. The spasmodic worker, frantic in zeal one month, and at
freezing-point another, will be weary long before the station has
been reached: while in the strength of Christ the weakest of us need
not draw back, nor say, "I am not fit," yet nothing less than
burning love to Christ, and in Him to perishing souls, will survive
and overleap the difficulties and disappointments of the work.
These are royal words, and we believe that our teachers and
missionaries engaged in this most glorious work of saving needy souls
will take with them this spirit, and be blessed in the communication
of their blessing to others.
* * * * *
IMMIGRANTS AND NEGROES.
The Immigrant question challenges attention. Shall immigrants be
welcomed, restricted or prohibited? In the early days of the Republic,
when the revolutionary war had welded the people together and our
boundless territory begged for occupancy, we welcomed the oppressed of
all nations. Later, the welcome has been responded to by such a
rushing, heterogeneous and even dangerous mass that we are compelled
to pause. Restriction is talked of, but the line of discrimination is
hard to be fixed. No committee at Castle Garden can detect anarchists,
criminals, or even the poor, if that line should be chosen.
Prohibition--exclusion is talked of--nay, is enacted stringently
against the Chinese. If need be, it may extend to all. So there is a
way of averting this evil.
But the Negro question cannot be put away. The Negroes are here. They
outnumber the immigrants that have come to our shores in the last
thirty years, and have a foothold upon the soil as valid as the Aryan
race, whether we consider the date of their coming or the labor they
have put upon the land.
There is a strange disposition to shrink from the Negro question. Some
avoid it by flippantly denying the danger; others turn from it because
they are appalled by it. Thus an able writer on Immigration in a
recent number of the Century passes the topic with this awe-stricken
remark: "This problem (of the Negro) cannot be touched practically;
ancient wrongs bind the nation hand and foot, and its outcome must be
awaited as we await the gathering of the tempest--powerless to avert,
and trembling over the steady approach" (The italics are ours.) This
is not wise; it is not manly. Why try to avert the evils of
immigration, or any other, if we are meanwhile only to await
tremblingly the doom that is to come on us from the conflict with the
Negro?
There is a strong disposition to gather hope from the newly-developed
manufacturing interests in the South. But this is delusive. The South
is essentially a rural population; the new industries will necessarily
be confined to a few localities, and will reach but slightly the wide
agricultural region, and will scarcely touch the Negroes. And more
than all this, these industries will only be importing into the South
the struggle between labor and capital, which so vexes us at the
North. Instead, therefore, of solving the old difficulties at the
South, they will add a new one.
The danger of a war of races is scouted at the North; it is not at the
South. This is natural. The North is not in immediate contact with the
danger; the South is. When the war of the rebellion was impending, the
North refused to believe in its coming; and when it came, one of the
wisest statesmen of the North, Mr. Seward, predicted that it would
"not last sixty days." No such delusion prevailed in the South. Many
of the best men there, nay, nearly all the border States, dreaded its
coming and held back as long as possible, but they were swept
into the flood they foresaw and could not avert.
Thoughtful men at the South now have no rose-colored views about the
Negro problem. They fear the impending conflict. With them the
supremacy of the white race is the settled point, but they see in the
growing numbers, intelligence and restlessness of the Negroes an
increasing danger that will only be aggravated by delay. Why should
not the North and South alike manfully face the question of a war of
races? What will it mean? What will be its end? If the whites and the
blacks of the South alone engage in it, the blacks will be
exterminated. Nothing less will meet the case. If the North mingle in
the struggle, it must be to help the whites or the blacks. If to help
the whites, that will mean the more rapid defeat and slaughter of the
blacks; if the North help the blacks and save them from destruction,
then we shall be worse off than we are now, the two races will be
together with enmities aroused a thousand fold!
But why not face the more hopeful question: Is there a remedy? There
is! The teacher and the preacher, the spelling-book and the Bible, the
saviours of men, the reformers of society, the uplifters of races, are
spreading over the South. They go to the manufacturing towns--the
Birminghams and the Annistons--they go to the large cities with their
common and normal schools, their medical, law and theological
seminaries. When the pupils become teachers, they go into the smaller
towns, they go into the rural districts, on the small farms,
everywhere instructing, encouraging and stimulating the people,
leading them to more intelligent industries, to economy, to the
purchase of land, the erection of better houses, to a higher aim in
life, and to the formation of a right character. Of such stuff men are
made, citizens, Christians; men who can use the ballot, who own
property that must be protected by the ballot; men who have homes that
must be refined and pure, churches where God is worshipped
intelligently and where a practical morality is taught and attained.
Such a people will be safe, for they will be bone and muscle of the
South, they will be needed in its wide expanse of fertile soil, needed
in its practical trades, needed for the accumulated wealth,
intelligence and cultivated piety they will bring into all the walks
and avocations of life.
But it will be some time before these educational and religious means
reach all the blacks, and in the meantime much patience and toil will
be needed. To the blacks we would say: You won the admiration of men
and the blessing of God by your patience under the yoke of slavery
when there seemed to be no hope; now win both again by bearing in like
spirit your lesser present ills, while hope dawns and help is near.
To thoughtful men North and South we urge: Take hold of this work like
men. If a thousandth part of the self-sacrifice and money spent in the
war were devoted to this work, the evil might be averted. Why stand
over-awed at a threatened flood that if met in time may not only be
averted but be turned into fertilizing waters over the broad lands?
* * * * *
BOOK REVIEW.
THE REAR GUARD OF THE REVOLUTION. By JAMES R. GILMORE (Edmund
Kirke). D. Appleton & Co.: New York. 1.50.
JOHN SEVIER AS A COMMONWEALTH BUILDER. By JAMES R. GILMORE (Edmund
Kirke). D. Appleton & Co.: New York. 1.50.
Just one hundred years before the rebellion of the Southern States,
Daniel Boone cut on a beech tree near Jonesboro, Tenn., the following
words, which are still legible:
D. Boon
Cilled A BAR on
THE Tree
in YEAR 1760
The same year that Daniel Boone "cilled" (killed) this "bar," William
Bean, a former companion of Boone's, settled in the valley of the
Watauga River, in what is now Eastern Tennessee. The two volumes whose
titles are given above trace the history of this mountain settlement
from the time that this pioneer crossed the Alleghenies down to the
death of John Sevier, Sept. 24, 1815. These books are of much more
than ordinary interest to the readers of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
James R. Gilmore (Edmund Kirke) has put the same power of graphic
description, the simple yet thrilling narrative, which held us
spell-bound to the last chapters of Among the Pines.
Our limited space does not permit an extended review of these volumes.
We only call attention to them here because they touch upon great
missionary problems, and throw a flood of light upon these interesting
Mountain people among whom the A.M.A. has so extensive and important a
work. The first of these volumes in chronological order is the Rear
Guard of the Revolution. The colony of the Mountain people in the
Watauga Valley, led by John Sevier and James Robertson and Isaac
Shelby, constituted this "rear guard." No better blood ever mingled in
the veins of a people than that which flows in this Mountain people.
French Huguenot, Scotch-Irish Presbyterian and Welsh Presbyterian were
their ancestors. With such leadership as these three men furnished,
the early Mountain colonists ought to have been heroes, and they were.
In the author's own words, "These three men, John Sevier, James
Robertson and Isaac Shelby, * * * were like Washington and Lincoln,
'providential men.' They marched neither to the sound of drum nor
bugle, and no flaming bulletins proclaimed their exploits in the ears
of a listening continent; their slender forces trod silently the
western solitudes, and their greatest battles were insignificant
skirmishes never reported beyond the mountains; but their deeds were
pregnant with consequences that will be felt along the coming
centuries."
They were, and they held themselves to be, "providential men." Whether
reading the Bible by the light of the great pine fires, or burning the
cabins of the Cherokees, or driving the marauding
Chickamaugas into their lair at "Nick-a-Jack" cave, or beating the
British at King's Mountain, these men felt themselves called of God to
maintain for the people a free government.
There was the same reckless administration of punishment that still
characterizes these Mountain people. A tory appeared in the road one
day near the home of Colonel William Campbell, of the "Backwater
settlement." The Colonel at once gives him chase; after a brief
absence he returns to his home, and his wife eagerly asks "What did
you do with him?"
"Oh, we hung him, Betty, that's all."
These early settlers did not immediately plant churches and
school-houses, as the settlers of New England did. Still they were not
altogether illiterate. A public document still in existence has the
signature of 112 out of 114 of their number who signed the paper, two
only making their X.
In 1779, the first Court House was built at Jonesboro. At about the
same date, the author informs us, "The school mistress was to be found
at nearly every cross-road in the older settlements. She occupied a
small log-house, generally about sixteen feet square, and often
without floor or windows." The author might have added that she, or
one like her, occupies the same school-house to-day.
In 1779, the first "church-house" was erected, and Rev. Tidence Lane
became the "first settled minister beyond the Alleghenies."
To those of our readers who have recently followed the missionary work
of the A.M.A. in this Mountain region, these books will be of great
interest.
CHAS. J. RYDER.
* * * * *
We have received from Rev. Austin Willey, author of "THE HISTORY OF
THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE IN THE STATE AND NATION," a gift of one hundred
copies of the book for gratuitous distribution among our workers in
the South. We gave a brief review and a warm commendation of the
volume in the AMERICAN MISSIONARY for June, 1886, and we renew our
endorsement, and tender our thanks to the author for his benefaction.
Our field workers will be interested in this candid sketch of the
early anti-slavery struggle, and we believe that many of our white
friends in the South will be glad to read in the light of these quiet
days the sayings and doings of a class of people whom they then
misunderstood.
The book may be had of B. Thurston, Portland, Me., or of C.T.
Dillingham, 678 Broadway, N.Y. Price, 1.50, postpaid.
The reference to Father Willey and his book is suggestive. He is one
of the "old, original" abolitionists. Men who were once denounced and
are now scarcely honored, for lo! to the amazement and amusement of
some of us, we find that everybody was an abolitionist and always had
been, that everybody learned to hate slavery on the mother's lap, and
was always opposed to it! We who in those early days were treated as
outcasts by "gentlemen of property and standing," and mobbed
by the rabble at their bidding, are led to wonder what has become of
all those who thus disagreed with us! One marked exception occurs to
us. A prominent professor in a theological seminary, when the question
was put to him ten years ago: "Professor, when did you become an
Abolitionist?" replied, with a merry twinkle in his eye: "When it
became popular." We have found few, however, who are so frank or so
witty.
M.E. STRIEBY.
* * * * *
THE UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE OF OUR MISSIONARIES AT THE SOUTH.
In a recent number of The Nineteenth Century, Sir William W. Hunter,
an eminent authority, reporting the influence of the missionaries in
India, says that among the people to whom they have gone they have
built up the most complete confidence and implicit faith in the purity
and unselfishness of their motives. He declares that he regards the
missionary work of the English as an expiation for wrong-doing, and he
believes that the missionary instinct forms the necessary spiritual
complement of the aggressive genius of the English race. Sir William
also claims that the advance of missionaries in the good opinion of
non-Christian peoples is a most striking evidence of their high
character and intelligence, and that no class of Englishmen has done
so much to make England respected in India as the missionaries, that
no class has done so much to awaken the Indian's intellect and to
lessen the dangers of transition from the old state of things to the
new.
After this much of condensation of that profound article by the
Christian Union, we quote from the author:
"The careless onlooker may have no particular convictions on the
subject, and flippant persons may ridicule religious effort in India
as elsewhere. But I think that few Indian administrators have passed
through high office, and had to deal with the ultimate problems of
British government in that country, without feeling the value of the
work done by missionaries. Such men gradually realize, as I have
realized, that the missionaries do really represent the spiritual
side of the new civilization, and of the new life which we are
introducing into India."
Names and places being changed, it is coming to appear that the whole
of this can be said of the Christian workers from the North among the
colored people of the South. Besides all of their work that can be
told by statistics, and besides all of that in building up character
among the Negroes and awakening their intellect and their aspiration
for thrift in every sense, they have exerted a profound unconscious
influence upon the white people of that Southland. They, too, have
built up among the whites a confidence in the purity and unselfishness
of their motives. At first they were suspected as emissaries of a
political party. By many even of the best people there they were held
as necessarily persons of low-down condition and character to be
willing to do that "low-down work." "With our views of the case, how
could we believe anything else?" was the answer to the
remonstrance against the current mode of treatment. Gradually this
feeling has been giving way to one of growing confidence, until for
several years such men as Rev. Dr. A.G. Haygood and Mr. G.W. Cable,
and such papers as the Memphis Appeal, and such a State Board of
Examiners as that of the Atlanta University have been publicly
declaring the high intellectual quality and moral standing of these
once despised teachers, while many of the most respectable citizens
are privately saying the same thing, and multitudes believe it, though
making no announcement of the same.
By this crucifixion of feeling through which those workers have
passed, and by their self-denying endurance of hardness, they too, in
no small sense, have been making expiation for the wrongs done the
slaves. Their missionary instinct also forms the necessary spiritual
complement of the aggressive genius of the Puritan civilization which
is now taking possession where its sword had cleared the way. Their
advance in the good opinion of the best people of the South is also a
striking evidence of their high character and intelligence. No class
of Northern people going South have done so much to make the North
respected as the missionaries, and none are doing more to lessen the
danger of transition from the old state of things to the new. Going,
not as "carpet-baggers," but as citizens, to be identified with the
moral reconstruction of the South, they translate there the real
spirit of the North, and represent the spiritual side of the new life
which is going into that fair portion of our own dear country. By the
peculiar people to whom they especially go, and who prove to have a
natural affinity for Puritan ideas and institutions, they are doing
more than any others to set up, not a New England in the South, but a
New South, wherein shall be rejuviant the principles of that
civilization which was planted at Plymouth Rock.
JOSEPH E. ROY.
* * * * *
EXPULSION OF NEGROES FROM MARION, ARKANSAS.
It is not our custom to publish details of alleged outrages upon the
colored people at the South. We have no wish to stir up strife by
recalling memories of the past, or by giving incidents of recent
aggression against the helpless. But this case in Marion is free from
bloody details and is a simple illustration of the determination of
the white people to maintain their sway in the South.
The simple facts in the case are, that in Crittenden County, Arkansas,
of which Marion is the county town, the population is chiefly colored,
the ratio being seven negroes to one white man. For several years the
office of Judge of the County and Probate Court, and the Clerk and
under officers of the court, were colored men. The more important
county offices were held by white men. On a given day, fifty or more
heavily-armed white men appeared at the county seat and drove from
their offices and homes the colored officers named above, together
with the colored local doctor, the lawyer, the schoolmaster
of the colored school, the editor of the colored newspaper and a
number of other prominent colored citizens.
The farther details of the transaction are given in a thoughtful and
calm article in a recent number of The Independent by Rev. B.A. Imes,
the colored minister of the church at Memphis, Tenn., under the care
of this Association. We give below all of the article that relates to
the facts:
THE CRITTENDEN COUNTY OUTRAGE.
BY THE REV. B.A. IMES.
From the bluff at Memphis we look across the river, where along the
western shore stretch the forests of Crittenden County, Arkansas, and
Marion, about fourteen miles from Memphis, is the county-seat. The
story of the recent banishment of fifteen prominent colored
office-holders, professional men and farmers has gone to the world.
The whites, well armed, took their game by surprise, bagged and
shipped it without bloodshed. Now the "empire is peace" they say,
although for a time terror reigned among the startled colored people.
With a Negro population six or seven times as large as the white, it
is not strange that the County Court Judge, the County Clerk and his
deputy should be Negroes, nor that they should aspire to other places
in public life.
Unfortunately, as all witnesses agree, Judge Lewis and Clerk Ferguson
were given to drinking habits, which brought them under accusation
before the courts for drunkenness. It was probable that they would
have been convicted; but without awaiting the tardiness of the law, a
shorter process was found.
In palliation of their hasty banishment it is claimed that anonymous
letters were sent to some of the leading white citizens, warning them
to leave the county. These letters it is asserted--not proved--must
have proceeded from Clerk Ferguson's office, although not written by
himself. The object was to intimidate those who would be most
efficient in convicting and deposing the unworthy officials.
Furthermore, there are two opposing factions of colored Baptists at
Marion, and it is surmised that one of these factions, regarding these
prominent characters as their enemies, had something to do with the
letter-writing in order to bring down wrath upon them. Still another
theory is, that the whites have only been awaiting their chance, and
taking advantage of favorable conditions, knew when and whence the
said letters would be issued. It was all arranged beforehand. At all
events, the time was very short, after the delivery of the letters,
until Winchester rifles and shot-guns were in the hands of some scores
of white citizens, and fifteen Negro men, including Lewis and
Ferguson, York Byers, a deputy sheriff and well-to-do farmer, Dr.
Stith, a successful young physician, and others, were speedily sent
across the river to Memphis.
Clerk Ferguson found himself surrounded by a squad of these brave
men, who, with rifles presented, demanded that he sign without
ceremony a resignation. He signed. Byers escaped through the swamps,
made his way to the river, and came to Memphis in a sorry plight. The
other victims were put upon the train with orders to go and never
return. Byers was to be violently dealt with, had they caught him.
Sandy S. Odom, living on his farm about six miles from Marion, I am
informed, refused to leave his home, when waited upon and ordered to
go. Said he. "All I have is here--wife, child and farm--I can't go
away." For a time his pluck seemed to be respected. His fault was that
of being a friend of the Marion officials. He had once served at
Little Rock as a legislator from his district, but, like Cincinnatus,
had since resumed the plow.
According to the latest by the Memphis Appeal, Odom has decided that
discretion is the better part of valor, and will be off for a safer
place as soon as his business affairs can be arranged.
The Governor of Arkansas has refused to interfere, because the Circuit
Court Judge at Marion has solemnly charged the grand jury as to their
duty toward the writers of threatening letters, and also toward those
who unlawfully drove citizens from their homes, etc. But this solemn
part of the proceeding was enacted, in spite of the fact that the
sheriff of Crittenden County was one of the leading spirits in the
outrage upon the defenceless black men, and the judge and grand jury
and all Crittendon County are far from expecting to hear of any white
man being arrested.
But last Sunday, Dr. Stith, one of the exiles, went back to Marion on
the morning train. He had heard that his wife was sick, and he said:
"If I am a man I must go to her." He was promptly arrested by the
patrol force at Marion and lodged in jail, where he is likely to
remain until next January meeting of court before he can have a trial.
There is nothing brought against him aside from his having been once
associated with the "offensive partisans." He had at one time been an
active politician, but more recently has devoted himself to his
profession, and was already known as a successful physician. Like
Odom, his character is not assailed: but he was educated, and
influential among the people.
Two young ladies, teachers from Memphis, one of whom had taught last
year at Marion, went thither soon after Dr. Stith's arrest, to make
inquiry about a situation for teaching.
They were closely watched, and in an interview were warned by a
reporter of the Memphis Appeal that it was not safe for them to remain
in Marion. They had reason to think that they were being watched as
spies in the interest of the banished; hence their stay was very
brief.
When the Clerk Ferguson had vacated, a "white citizen" was at once put
into that office. It is a remarkable fact that, aside from a few hints
about the necessity of maintaining order and proceeding according to
law, the general tone of the press here is to the effect that this
occurrence, though unfortunate on account of its effect at the North,
was really justifiable.
The cruel wrong inflicted upon those who have no crime laid to their
charge, no personal reproach of character, is treated as though it
were but little more than a joke. If the two officials were guilty of
drunkenness no one doubts that they could have been legally removed
from office. If the colored people at Marion are divided into
factions, then the whites could the more easily combine forces against
the officials in question, or any political ring which may have
existed. But there was a general Negro uprising threatened, and in
order to save their own lives the whites made haste to get into the
field first. This is the avowed excuse. But it is certain that no one
believes there was serious danger of a Negro uprising. The men
arrested and banished were unarmed, and taken by surprise. If they
were in any sense desperate or dangerous characters they turned
cowards suddenly, making no resistance. Indeed, there is but one
excuse for their bloodless surrender. They display to the world the
utter groundlessness of the charge of a conspiracy. No dynamite bombs,
no loaded weapons, no evidence of organized bands were discovered.
In all the history of the shot-gun policy and the unnumbered outrages
committed, there are on record few, if any, cases of conspiracy
against life and property on the part of the Negro. But the true
animus of the Crittenden County affair, I think, is found in the
current declaration which is used at Marion on the part of the brave
men who drove out these exiles, viz.: "We don't want any educated
niggers, and won't have 'em here, not even to teach school."
It should not be overlooked, that in this instance there is fully
revealed that singular idea which so widely prevails at the South,
viz.: A Negro is in his place only and always as a subordinate. It is
assumed that to educate him unfits him for his mission in life, unless
that education looks simply to some hand service.
With this fact before us, we can explain the dead silence of the
pulpit and the press of the South as touching the first principles of
justice.
The end justifies the means when "Negro rule" is to be prevented, and
to protest against this bold subversion of the great principles of
citizenship in the Republic, is to "wave the bloody shirt." We will
admit that it is by no means desirable that a mass of illiterate
people should hold sway, but we claim that the Southern white people
can break the "color line" if they will, by admitting frankly the
rights of the Negro, and by encouraging him to aspire to an
intelligent and worthy manhood.
* * * * *
EXTRACTS.
Fifty years ago there was a boy in Africa who was taken prisoner in
one of the fierce wars between the tribes, and was carried away from
his home to be sold as a slave. First he was sold for a horse. Then
his buyer thought him a bad exchange for the horse, and compelled his
master to take him back. Then he was sold for so much rum.
This was called another bad bargain by the man who had bought him, and
again he was returned, to be sold for tobacco with the same result.
Nobody wanted the poor, miserable slave-boy, who was on the point of
committing suicide when he was bought by a Portuguese trader and
carried away in a slave ship. How little that wretched boy knew what
the future had in store for him as he lay chained in the hold of the
crowded slave-ship! But one of England's war ships that were clearing
the high seas of the slavers bore down upon the Portuguese vessel,
rescued the captives, and the African boy was placed under Christian
influences, baptized and educated, and to-day he is Bishop Crowther,
England's black Bishop in Africa.--The Gospel in all Lands.
* * * * *
A very obliging Indian.--Dr. C.A. White, Professor of Paleontology in
the Smithsonian Institution, relates this pleasing incident. Being in
the Ute country a year or so ago, in pursuit of scientific facts, he
found himself on one occasion encamped some fifty miles from Uintah
Agency. Being desirous of sending a letter to his wife in Washington,
he entrusted it to an Indian who, he learned by signs, was on his way
to the agency. He was not sure that the Indian understood what he
desired him to do with the letter, but took the risk of that. His wife
received the letter and was surprised at finding it postmarked Salt
Lake City. The Doctor afterward learned that the Indian arrived at the
agency just after the mail had gone, and knowing that it would be a
month before another mail would be sent out he actually carried the
letter to Salt Lake City, a distance of 225 miles, for this white man
whom he had never met before, and whose name he did not know.
Doubtless the Indian thought the letter of great importance, but where
is the white man who would have done as much for his best friend,
without the hope of reward or even thanks?--Council Fire.
* * * * *
SCHOOL ECHOES.
In 1864 in Memphis, in a refugee school that I visited while chaplain
in the army, the Bible lesson was John xv., "I am the vine and my
father is the husbandman." One little fellow recited it thus: "I am
the vine and my father is a married man."
What for we come to this school.--We come for to intelligent about the
civilization ways, and we want to American write, we want to American
home, and we want friendly each other with the white people. We are
commence learning discretion and we are works our own hands. My
conscience has cried because our Indian they can not do nothing with
their hands and when I look back our old Indian ways I am great sorry,
but when I looked future I have examined with careful attention, and I
very great pleasure. Last summer I went home. I worked at harness, but
I don't know some about measure length and wide, cut off I
know but not perfectly, so I come back to school again, because I want
to learn perfect all things about harness make without anybody help
me.
* * * * *
ROME AND THE FREEDMEN.
We present below two articles on this subject. The first is from a
London paper and the second is from one of the many able papers edited
by colored men. As to the facts alleged we have no definite
information. When the slaves were emancipated the Roman Catholics made
very decided efforts to win them. It was supposed by Protestants that
the grand ceremonials, the gaudy vestments, the music, and especially
the welcome which the Papal Church was said to give to all men
irrespective of riches, race or color, would attract the Freedmen. But
the expectation was not met; the Freedmen were not attracted, and soon
the special efforts seemed to cease. But Rome never surrenders, and
those efforts may now be resumed. We invite attention to the two
articles.
From "THE CHRISTIAN."
Romanism is spreading among the colored people of the American
Continent, and it is said that several Negroes are now in training in
Rome and elsewhere to become priests. The American Roman Catholic
papers say that the cause is not far to seek, the Roman Catholic
Church being 'the only one on this continent offering the Negro
communion on terms of equality.' If this is not true all round, it
certainly is the fact that outbreaks of the so-called
'color-prejudice' have been of but rare occurrence among the
Romanists, and that they are apparently reaping the result in a large
accession of numbers.
From "THE NEGRO AMERICAN."
Few persons are aware of the rapid spread of Catholicism among the
colored people of this country. From the American Catholic Tribune,
the organ of the colored Catholics of America, we obtain facts that
are truly startling. Young colored men are now in Rome and in the
Catholic schools and colleges of the United States, preparing for work
among their people in America, and Africa as well, while to-day
missionaries are everywhere busy, sowing the seeds of Catholic belief
and worship. These teachings are eagerly accepted by the colored
people. The cause of this success among them is not far to seek. The
Catholic Church, of all which are ruled by whites on this continent,
is the only one offering the Negro communion on terms of equality.
While the Southern Protestants are setting up separate synods,
councils, presbyteries and conferences for the Negro, and the
Y.M.C.A., with the same narrow spirit, is refusing colored men seats
in its councils, while Northern Protestants are either neutral in this
matter of caste or only half-hearted in crying down upon the
sin of it; the Catholics alone have accepted in a full and liberal
sense the command, "preach my gospel to every creature," and have
extended fellowship to all, regardless of race, color or condition. It
matters not what their motive is. The fact stands boldly out. True,
instances are occurring of outbreaks of color-prejudice among the
Catholics, but the policy of the church is openly and boldly against
discrimination of whatever sort among its members. The fear of "social
equality," that shadow of a something that never did, and never can,
exist, that bug-bear of illiberal minds and narrow culture, does not
stand guard at the doors of this church to drive away the colored
worshipper or compel him to sit at the second table at the Lord's
feast. Is it to be wondered at, then, that the colored people are
flocking to the Catholic fold? This they will continue to do, so long
as the spirit of caste dictates the policy, and governs the action, of
the white Protestants of the United States.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
VACATION ECHOES.
REV. G.S. ROLLINS.
I wish some of our home friends who complain of dull, unprofitable
prayer-meetings could step into one of the kind we have in our colored
churches. One soon loses sight of mispronunciation and wretched
grammar in listening to the sensible, meaty, forceful ideas which many
of these negroes can express. You cannot go to a prayer-meeting
without bringing something away.
One good old mother in Israel said to me lately, in regard to the
weekly prayer-meeting: "I begins in de mawnin' to lay my plans fur dat
meetin', an I don stop ter eat so's to get my work along froo de day.
And I tinks and prays a heap about dat meetin' all day, I does."
How many of you at home do as much for your prayer-meeting as this
poor old colored woman? No dull summer prayer-meetings when church
members go prepared like this. I have said that these people have
ideas and can express them. At my last prayer-meeting before departing
for my vacation, one good brother prayed that the "Lord would bless
the pastor in his absence and continue to fill him up with new things,
so he can give them out to us." The pastor is filling up as fast as
possible.
One of the questions most often asked is, "Are the colored people
improving?" One has to say, "Of course they are." But are they
progressing rapidly? Yes and no. Yes, considering their antecedents
and present advantages. No, if one were to measure their rate of
progress by our impatience. The surest progress is not the swiftest.
Slow and sure is the rule by which we work. Statistics but feebly tell
the story of the improvement of the Freedmen since the war.
They can best testify concerning the advance who have been in the
field since the beginning of the work.