Sunday not long ago a poor old lady who was a comparative stranger in
the city. During the sermon she sat with mouth, eyes and ears open.
After the service she came to me and said, "I tank de Lord He bro't me
year. I done been gwine ter church dese fifty years, an I nebber heard
de tex 'splained befo." This old lady has since united with our
church, and when she is not there I know something serious is the
matter at her home. It is worth a year's preaching to have the
privilege of enlightening one benighted soul like this.
I called recently on an old gentleman who had become generally
disgusted with "dese yere churches roun year." I found him poring over
a big, well-worn Bible, the perspiration pouring down his shiny face,
and with a big pair of spectacles resting on the tip of his nose. With
an air of superior wisdom he surveyed me over the top of the
spectacles, and then solemnly stated to the few who gathered around as
I sat down on an old soap box, "Dat a preacher? I kin tell a preacher
the fus question I ask him." Then taking off the spectacles and slowly
closing the big Bible, he went on: "Now I'se gwine to put you all a
question" (looking at the others) "an den I'se gwine ter ask de
preacher, an I can tell whedder he'm a good one or not." "Now," said
he, "when we gits cold and wicked follerin' our own ways, how does de
Lord brung us back again to our senses?" This question was put with
various modifications to each in turn until it came to me. "Now, what
does you say?" he said to me. I replied that my experience said
"Trouble." "Yah! Yah! dat's it, Trouble. You's answered it, shore;
dese yere ignorant niggers, dey don't know nuffin. Ise gwine up to
hear you preach next Sunday." And sure enough, there he was the next
Sunday and his wife with him. This is about the way we gather them in,
one by one.
A great many families are gathered in by getting their children
interested. A parent sends his little ones to our school and says: "I
never had no chance to git learnin', but I wants my children to have
it."
There, after all this rambling, I have reached the one idea which I
believe ought to stick in the mind of every A.M.A. worker and every
A.M.A. supporter--the children! If we can only teach them, save them,
the African in America and in Africa is saved. It seems to me this is
the solution of the problem. The longer one labors among the colored
people and learns them and their surroundings, the more difficult
seems the solution of the negro problem. Tourists in the South and
people at a distance are very prolific in suggestions as to the best
methods for elevating the negro. Why! visitors who have spent hardly
twenty-four hours in a Southern city can write home marvellous letters
as to the wonderful progress of the colored race, and prophesy a
speedy settlement of the matter of negro education and race prejudice.
It is a fact, however, that the longer one stays here the more
puzzled he grows about these matters. An old A.M.A. worker said
to me, "The first year of your work you will think you understand the
colored people pretty well; the second year you won't know quite so
much; the third year still less, and so on until by the tenth year you
will think you don't know anything about them." But we all come to one
conclusion, that all the trouble arising from race prejudice will pass
away as the negro rises. When he is able to intelligently exercise all
his rights, then the white man will have to acknowledge them. This
result is in the distance, and while due attention is given to the
older ones, yet the destiny of the colored race is wrapt up in the
rising generation. They are terribly endangered, but they must be
saved if the race is saved. A new generation, who knew nothing of
slavery but much of the dangers of freedom, are taking hold upon
manhood. They must be taught to read, to think, to work, to save and
to love goodness for its own sake. If all this can be brought about I
believe the Negro question will be settled. This must be done. I trust
that not all of the 1,500 who have lately signified a willingness to
enter the mission field will suppose that all of the ignorant and
needy millions are on the other side of the globe. We hear a good deal
just now about patriotism. Now, how can one better prove his
patriotism than by giving his money or service to save his country
from ignorance and degradation? It will pay you back in dollars and
cents, to say nothing of the reward of learning that "it is more
blessed to give than to receive."
* * * * *
INTEMPERANCE.
The few lines below indicate the quality and flavor of the papers
read by the graduating class at Atlanta University.
One of the great causes of intemperance in our land is that lack of
self-respect which the present state of society induces among the poor
and laborious. Just as long as wealth is the object of worship and the
measure of men's importance, and is regarded as the badge of
distinction, just so long will there be a tendency toward
self-abasement and self-abandonment among those whose lot gives them
no chance to acquire it.
Such naturally feel as if the great good of life were denied them.
They feel themselves neglected. Their condition cuts them off from
communion with educated and refined people. They think they have
little or no stake in the general weal of life. They feel as though
they have no character to lose, consequently intemperance takes
possession of them.
This evil of intemperence is said by some to be the greatest of all
evils. It is the cause of the ruin of some of our fathers and
brothers, and I am sorry to say it ruins some of the mothers. When we,
the temperance girls and boys, ask them to leave off their habit of
drinking, they tell us that it does them good. When cold it makes them
warm, when warm it makes them cold. When troubled, it cheers
them. When weak, it strengthens them. It is certainly killing them by
degrees.
* * * * *
STUDENT'S LETTER.
THE BLUE-JACKET TEACHER--FIRST SCHOOL EXPERIENCE.
From youth I was impressed that the "Yankee" was the terror of the
world, capable of literally swallowing a small fellow, so it was with
great difficulty that Judge M.J. S----, a Southern white man, induced
me, in 1873, to enter Burrell Academy, then an A.M.A. school located
in Selma, Alabama, and taught by some of those "blue jacket" beings
whose names did not always begin with "blessed." The principal having
sent me to Grade 2, I followed a little girl to the door of that room.
She passed in while I stood at the door and thought thus, "Shall I go
in here when one of those awful "blues" is there?" Half doubting, half
fearing, trembling throughout, I slipped shyly inside the first
school-house I ever entered, and lo! to my greatest surprise there sat
a woman who was anything but "blue," whose face was as white and fair
as any ever seen, whose hair was slightly golden, whose voice seemed
more sweet, mellow and musical than the softest flute note; she was
one whom all praised and loved. The only blue about her was her eyes,
which marked her pure Saxon lineage.
When I felt sure that no monster would suddenly spring from those
queer walls of white and black, I silently exclaimed, "Why, that's a
white woman!"
In March, 1873, she began teaching me the alphabet, when I was
thirteen years old. I had no mother and no home or friend, other than
Judge S----, in whose family I served.
In 1874 he left the city, leaving me homeless. I vainly sought work
but was turned away with "too small."
Pinched and pressed by hunger and want, I was despairing when that
angel-like teacher, one of the purest and best of women, came to my
rescue, and thenceforth with her own hands and earnings continued to
help supply all my needs--material and spiritual. She taught me the
alphabet of school, of life and of heaven; she influenced me to pray,
and in answer to our prayers I was converted and joined the church in
1875.
In May, 1879, finishing the course, I graduated from Grammar
Department A, of Burrell Academy, and began teaching in Cato, Miss.,
in 1880. In the autumn of this year, I entered the Normal and College
Preparatory Departments of Talladega College, and graduated in May,
1884.
Returning to Preston, Ga., I resumed my school work, whence I was
called to a position in Burrell Academy under Prof. Edwin C. Silsby,
Principal. Upon the resignation of the above named gentleman,
in 1885, I was finally chosen principal of that school. This position
I still hold, striving to perform in the most faithful, earnest and
satisfactory manner the work of him that sent me.
The first money earned by me as teacher, went toward the purchase of
the home now owned and occupied by us. My good friend, who labors
to-day in Beaufort, N.C., having helped me through college and seen me
launch upon life's tide, seemed to say, "My boy, do not drift, but
steer straight for heaven's port, and do unto others as I have done
unto you." For me, her prayers still ascend, unto me, her wise counsel
still comes, and upon me, her benedictions still rest.
In conclusion I say God bless you, A.M.A. for sending such a laborer
into the field, for if there is, or shall be, in me anything of
manhood, worth or useful service to my country, my people and my God,
the credit is due to her.
ALEXANDER A. PETERS.
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
MR. MOODY'S MISSIONARY MEETINGS.
REV. MR. SHELTON'S ADDRESS
Mr. Moody's Missionary Meetings have been a marvel in their
conception, in their remarkably large audiences and in the still
more remarkably able and interesting class of speakers--some of them
from distant mission fields. They show how broad and many-sided is
Mr. Moody's mind and heart.
At the meeting held August 8th, Rev. C.W. Shelton, the Financial
Secretary for Indian Missions of the American Missionary
Association, was invited to address the meeting. We condense from
the Springfield Union an outline of Mr. Shelton's stirring address,
and its effect upon Mr. Moody and others in attendance, with the
practical results.
The most stirring address of the morning was delivered by Rev. Chas.
W. Shelton of New York City, on the Indian problem. He stated the
problem with simplicity and dignity, but when he got worked into his
theme, he became eloquent in his description of the position of the
Indian people and their strong desire to receive the gospel. While he
was illustrating his argument with pathetic incidents in his
experience, there were many of his audience in tears.
The speaker described the Indians themselves; their first
characteristic was the deep religious nature which swayed their whole
life. They prayed oftener and more fervently than Christians,
worshipping everything that was unknown and mysterious; of which the
saddest thing was that the Indian's gods were all gods of anger,
involving sacrifices. To show the extent to which the Indians would
sacrifice themselves to appease their god's anger, a very touching
story was told of a boy torturing himself for the recovery of
his sick mother. At the close of the Mohonk Conference, two years ago,
our committee went to President Cleveland to petition in regard to
methods. He said that he sympathized with all our methods and ideas.
"But," he said, "gentlemen, you may do all you can at Mohonk, I may do
all I can here in the White House, and Congress may do all that they
can over there, but," and he turned and picked up a Bible, "gentlemen,
after all, that book has got to settle the Indian problem."
(Applause.) And the President was right. Before you can do anything
for the preservation of the Indian you've got to give him a new hope,
a new salvation. I have studied many tribes, and have never found a
tribe or village of Indians or a single Indian civilized before he was
Christianized.
The speaker next considered the question whether the Christianization
of the Indians was possible. This he answered by the case of the 400
Indians taken captive in the Sioux war which followed the Minnesota
massacre of 1862. In the fall of that year, a missionary went to their
prison, and in the next six months taught 392 to read and established
a church with 295 members. Subsequently President Lincoln pardoned all
but 39 and the survivors went among the Sioux, and the speaker
considered the ten Christian churches and 2,000 Christians among the
40,000 Sioux to be owing to this church of prisoners. In Dakota, every
one of the 40,000 Indians was ready to receive the gospel.
On Mr. Moody's asking how much he wanted, he said that it took $400 to
start a station, and $300 a year to keep it up. He then related a very
pathetic story of an old Indian who traveled 150 miles across the
Territory seven times to get a missionary sent among his people. The
difficulty in getting one arose from the society sending the
missionaries, whose debt was so large that the executive board had
refused to send out any more. ("Board wants more faith," put in Mr.
Moody.) The old man finally went back to his people, saying sadly:
"They must die in their darkness; the Christian people of America
haven't interest enough in the poor dying Indian to try and help him."
Mr. Moody, who had been apparently deep in thought ever since the
speaker had mentioned the sum necessary to start a station, now broke
out, "Got a mission started where that old man wanted it?" in such an
earnest way that it brought down the house. But Mr. Moody wasn't
satisfied till Mr. Shelton answered in the affirmative, and added that
what he said of the Sioux was true of the other tribes, 68 of whom
were untouched by any missionary efforts. At this point, $300 was
handed to the platform to establish a station, and the audience grew
enthusiastic. The speaker continued, illustrating the need of
Christian work among the Indians and their willingness to receive it
by telling a story of a little Indian girl who was converted while
dying. She asked of her teacher: "But, lady, how long have you known
of this beautiful story?" "Many years," replied the missionary. "And
how long has white man known of this?" "Oh, very many years."
"Lady, if white man has known about God and about heaven so long, what
for, why has he not told poor dying Indian about this before? If I
could only get well, I would go and tell all my people this beautiful
story about Jesus and home," and with those words, "Jesus and home,"
her eyes closed forever.
In answer to Mr. Moody's questions, he described the stations, little
buildings of three rooms, and the missionaries' life, at home, and
teaching the Indians to cultivate the soil, as well as preaching to
them; his wife also teaching the women. The audience had become quite
enthusiastic by the time he finished his eloquent appeal, and at this
moment Mr. Sankey offered $700 to start one station, and shortly after
Mr. Moody pledged an equal amount. A lady then handed in $400 to go
with the $300 subscribed during the address. Mr. Moody himself then
made a brief appeal, speaking of the Indian boys and girls in his
school and the high rank they had taken. He offered a short prayer and
then dismissed the audience, telling Mr. Shelton to "make himself
plenty" around the buildings during the afternoon, and doubtless he
would receive more money.
Mr. Shelton did "make himself plenty" around the building, and the
result has been that nearly $3,000 were contributed either in cash
or in pledges that have since been redeemed. Still other
contributions are anticipated as the outcome of this fine address.
Three out-stations will be started at once in Dakota, one of them
bearing the name of Mr. Moody, another of Mr. Sankey, and the third
may be named Northfield or it may bear the name designated by the
donor.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
CONFUCIUS AND CHRIST--A LETTER FROM HONG SING.
It would be presumptious, I fear, for me to assume that the readers of
the Missionary remember the little sketch I gave some years ago of one
of our missionary helpers--Hong Sing. A very little man he is, in
"bodily presence weak" and in speech, for lack of lungs, sometimes "of
no account." Yet, though near-sighted almost to blindness, and though
often sick and always weary, in the intervals of work as a
house-servant he gained what seemed to me a remarkable knowledge of
the truth as it is in Jesus. The Bible was (and still is, I doubt not)
his unfailing companion, and its study his choicest rest.
Several years ago, his health became so precarious that he decided to
return to his native land. A letter from him, under date of "San Ning
District, July 9th, 1888," has interested me so much that I feel sure
that others will enjoy the reading of it. His English needs
straightening somewhat, for, while the words are ours, the idioms are
sometimes decidedly Chinese. I confess, therefore, to having done a
little correcting and even translating, yet, for the most
part, the letter is just as our brother himself wrote it.
"Mr. Pond:--Dear Brother, I must tell you that I think of you many
times and intended to write you many times, but some things prevented
me. I go out to tell the old, old story of Jesus, and many questions
have been asked. I am not able to write all, but I tell you a little.
Some ask: 'Do you believe our Confucius?' I said, 'I do.' 'Don't you
think his doctrine good?' I answer, 'Yes.' 'What was the matter, you
believe in Jesus, the foreign doctrine, and why not for our Confucius;
and what was the matter, you are entirely turned away from his
doctrine and not obey him; you think his doctrine not good enough for
you! He has taught us to worship the ancestors and also use a lamb for
sacrifice, why don't you obey?'
"Ques.--'Your Jesus men, was there any difference between them and
us?'
"Ans.--'No difference, our Jesus men wear hat just like your hat, wear
clothes like your clothes, walk just like you walk, but only one thing
was not like you--in worship. You all worship the idol, our Jesus men
worship the true God who is in heaven, and you all worship with meat
and fruit, etc., but we mean to worship with true heart. We believe
Jesus that we may obey Confucius doctrine, in which he has taught us
to be good. Those who are not Christians cannot obey what Confucius
taught. Before I became a Christian I was swearing and I speak evil
words, but since I believe in Jesus, these things I was entirely
stopped of. I remember Confucius has written in his book, teaching us
to be honest, and also say, vice things we must not look at, the vice
way we must not walk, the vice word we must neither speak nor hear.
How rarely I hear of a man who believes Confucius and does what he
taught. They are swearing all the time, speak the evil word all the
time, go among the bad women all the time. So this attests that they
do not obey Confucius, but disobey and dishonor him. Once we do like
the same, but since we found Jesus and believe he is our Saviour, we
stop to speak the bad word, stopped to gamble and smoke opium. Very
seldom I hear or see those who study Confucius do as the Jesus men,
for these are they that obey Confucius doctrine and keep his word. Why
cannot those disciples of Confucius be better men? Ah, Confucius only
a good man, he can only tell you the way how to be good man, but he
has no power to change your heart, and Jesus can if we trust in him.
This I know, for before I found Jesus I was always swearing and use
the bad language, but since I believe in Jesus and confess my sins and
ask him to forgive, I know that he has helped me to keep away from all
vice and has converted my heart that I might be a better man.
Therefore our Confucius was a man, but Jesus is God.'
"Another question they asked me: 'You say, whenever you pray to God,
God is there. Suppose you go to the stable to pray, do you think God
was there--such a dirty place--and hear your prayer?' I answer, 'Yes,
for God is everywhere. And though we call the place a dirty place, the
heart that prays may be clean. You see the sun rise in the
sky, its beams shine over all the world; God's eye the same, not only
see over the world but all through our hearts.'
"Mr. Hager (Missionary of the American Board in South China) has
opened a school in our district, so that I found a good opportunity to
speak in the name of Jesus. The seed was sown into their ears, but I
do not know what the hardest will be."
I have also received a brief but interesting note from another of our
former helpers--Wong Ock--a man of great fervency of spirit and a
diligent student of the Word. Years ago he joined the Salvation Army
and was sent to London to be trained for Army work in China. We had
lost sight of him, till this letter came. Though not connected with
the Army he is busy in Christian work, preaching in one of the Gospel
Halls in Hong Kong under direction of Dr. Ernest J. Eitel. For some
time before he left California he declined to receive any salary as a
helper, believing that the Lord would provide, and he is working still
upon this principle, and not without fruit. A note from Dr. Eitel
speaks of one of Wong Ock's hearers offering himself for baptism,
though the work had been in operation but three weeks.
In anticipation of the confirmation of the new treaty, the Chinese are
crowding upon us in larger numbers than at any time before for several
years. By hook or by crook they get in, finding no lack of American
lawyers ready to smooth their way, and when one opening in the
Restriction Act is closed to seek or make another. If well-supported
rumors are to be believed, even customs-officials have not always been
irresponsive to golden arguments. At any rate they come, and the
Central School in this city is crowded with pupils, the average
attendance for last month being 113, and the number present often
rising to 130 or 140. We are glad to welcome them, though with our
present force of teachers--which lack of means forbids us to
increase--the pressure for instruction in English interferes more or
less with that gospel teaching which it is our chief aim and our
sufficient reward to impart. Yet an earnest spirit pervades the
school, and, indeed in almost all our missions the outlook for harvest
seems to me more hopeful than ever before.
WM. C. POND.
* * * * *
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.
WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS.
CO-OPERATING WITH THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
ME.--Woman's Aid to A.M.A., Chairman of Committee, Mrs. C.A. Woodbury.
Woodfords, Me.
VT.--Woman's Aid to A.M.A., Chairman of Committee, Mrs. Henry
Fairbanks. St. Johnsbury, Vt.
VT.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. Ellen Osgood,
Montpelier, Vt.
CONN.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. S.M. Hotchkiss, 171
Capitol Ave., Hartford, Conn.
N.Y.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. William Spalding,
Salmon Block, Syracuse, N.Y.
ALA.--Woman's Missionary Association, Secretary, Mrs. G.W. Andrews,
Talladega, Ala.
OHIO.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. Flora K. Regal,
Oberlin, Ohio.
IND.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. C.H. Rogers, Michigan
City, Ind.
ILL.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. C.H. Taintor, 151
Washington St., Chicago, Ill.
MICH.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mary B. Warren, Lansing,
Mich.
WIS.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. C. Matter, Brodhead,
Wis.
MINN.--Woman's Home Miss. Society, Secretary, Mrs. H.L. Chase, 2750
Second Ave., South, Minneapolis, Minn.
IOWA.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Miss Ella E. Marsh,
Grinnell, Iowa.
KANSAS.--Woman's Home Miss. Society, Secretary, Mrs. Addison
Blanchard, Topeka, Kan.
NEB.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, President, Mrs. F.H. Leavitt, 1216 H
St., Lincoln, Neb.
SOUTH DAKOTA.--Woman's Home Miss. Union, Secretary, Mrs. S.E. Young,
Sioux Falls Dak.
* * * * *
A SKETCH OF MISSION LIFE ON THE FRONTIER.
FORT YATES, DAK.
I am alone once more, all my company have gone. The plasterer has just
been here and I had to dismantle my house entirely for him; I am
therefore too tired to write. I have been putting up bulberry jelly
and am trying to get ready for my company, which will come the first
of September and stay until we all go together down to Oahe to the
meeting.