the careful drill that had been bestowed in the endeavor to convey
the spirit of study, and not alone the “letter” thereof, although
the “Busy Bees” were not far in advance of that fundamental
branch of education. They could readily grasp the _fact_, in the
physiological lecture, of the different parts of the body, although
their undeveloped articulation could only pronounce the arms and
limbs as the “upper” and “lower ’strumties.”
A white gentleman of much educational experience, who has charge of
an academy for young men, left his own duties to be present during
the last day; and his final address to the pupils was pleasingly
commendatory of their progress and attainments.
In his original and epigrammatic manner he told them to go ahead,
and get beyond these lazy white boys, who liked to have so much
done for them—for you can do it! He had tried to shame his boys
before, by telling what the Emerson Institute scholars could do,
and he surely could now. He concluded, urging them not to forget to
bring, and the parents to send, the little tuition money which came
due once in a while, and was so small a recompense for what they
received.
A paper was read by two of the oldest scholars, entitled “Emerson
Institute Ledger,” for which the subscription price was readily
paid, which was announced to be “undivided attention, payable in
advance.” Some members of the audience offered to pay for the paper
if it could be regularly issued.
Addresses by ministers and others followed the examinations; the
school sang “Gathering Home”; the circulars announcing the next
year’s school-work were distributed; the hope was expressed of
seeing the familiar faces again after these intervening months of
vacation; the Lord’s Prayer chanted; the benediction; warm and
tearful words of farewell between pupils and teachers, and the
doors closed upon another year’s work.
* * * * *
MISSISSIPPI.
The Year at Tougaloo University—Results and Reforms.
REV. G. STANLEY POPE, PRINCIPAL.
As we look back over the school-year, we have every reason to feel
that it has been a successful year.
The health of the teachers has been good; their devotion to the
work unsurpassed, and their success in the school-room everything
that could be expected.
The general health of the school has kept up well. There were only
two serious cases of sickness, and no deaths, for which we are very
thankful to our protecting Father. None were even obliged to leave
school on this account.
The attendance from abroad has been much larger than usual, and
those attending have uniformly been anxious to remain during the
whole session.
We graduated our first class this year, and there has been quite
a class spirit developed, so that there is a strong desire on the
part of the pupils to remain in school and graduate in the classes
that they are now in.
The religious work has not been marked by as many conversions
as we had hoped to see; but there has been great progress made
in Christian activity in certain directions, especially in
_Sunday-school Work_ and _Temperance Reform_.
The Sabbath before Commencement we spent in Sunday-school
Convention. Steps were taken to organize a Sunday-school Union,
which promises to greatly enlarge our usefulness to those in the
surrounding country. No such work has ever before been undertaken.
In our temperance work we were opposed at the outset by the leading
students. For some time it looked as though we were not going to
bring them to the point of taking a stand, even after they were
brought to see that the people were being ruined by strong drink.
But the victory was most complete. Students who had to leave before
the year closed, sent back for pledges. They were hard at work
in the temperance reform. When school closed, every one who was
going out to teach, and many others, took pledges, and went out
enthusiastic to their new field of labor. This seems to us the
peculiar feature of our work this year outside the school-room.
The work in the school-room has been marked by thoroughness. Gen.
J. A. Smith, State Superintendent of Education, writes me: “Only
having attended your exercises one day, I am hardly prepared to
give anything more than impressions hastily formed. I will say,
however, those were all favorable. The examinations of the classes,
so far as I heard them, especially in mathematics, surpassed my
expectations * * * Judging from the order and system exhibited,
I was led to believe that the discipline of the institution was
excellent.”
Nothing could more fitly have followed the instructions of the
year than Rev. W. S. Alexander’s address, on Commencement Day, on
“Natural and Acquired Right.” It was full of interest and wise
application.
* * * * *
LOUISIANA.
“Here am I; Send Me, Send Me.”
_One of many Applications._
_June 24, 1878._
PROF. A. K. SPENCE:
_Dear Sir_—I just received a catalogue from Fisk University, and I
must frankly express myself as gratified at the noble work that is
being accomplished by Fisk University.
I am anxious to attend the University so as to prepare myself
as a missionary to Africa. I have a poor mother, and I am her
only support, and I know not how I shall ever be able to make
preparations.
Let me know the provisions made for those preparing to go on
mission.
I have made quite an advancement in the English branches, but
desire to pursue the High Normal course proscribed in your
institute, and also the studies of the theological course.
I feel that I must go to Africa. “Here am I; send me, send me.”
See what can be done for me. I can bring certificates of my
advancement made, and also of character. I shall patiently wait to
hear from you, and trust you will not forget me.
Your brother in Christ, F. C. L.
* * * * *
FROM NEW ORLEANS TO NEW YORK.
REV. W. S. ALEXANDER.
The Commencement season, marking the completion of a year’s work
and the beginning of welcome and needed rest to the teachers in the
South, is now well over, and those who have wrought so faithfully
during the year, are enjoying the quiet of their Northern homes.
While _en route_ to New York, it was my pleasure to visit several
of our most prominent institutions, and I shall be glad to speak of
what I saw. By way of preface, let me say of
STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY
that the school-year closed happily and successfully. The
examinations, which are the best test of scholarship and progress,
gave great satisfaction to our friends, and the teachers were
glad and grateful to feel that the year’s work had been a good
one. We graduated ten young men from the Law Department, of whom
eight were white, showing the appreciation of the manner in which
this department is conducted. It is entirely self-supporting,
the professors accepting the fees of the students as their
compensation. Next year we anticipate a class of twenty-five.
We graduated three young ladies from the Academic Department.
They were superior scholars, and will be successful teachers. At
our annual exhibition, and at the Commencement exercises on a
subsequent evening, an audience of 800 were in attendance, to show
by their presence their deep interest in the prosperity of our
beloved institution.
Leaving New Orleans on Tuesday evening, June 4th, we were met at
Jackson, Miss., by Brother Pope, with whom we went to
TOUGALOO.
What a delightful location! my first thought was. It does not
require a great degree of self-denial to spend the winter in such
a retreat as this. The mission-house is situated in the centre
of a plantation of five hundred acres, and the approach to it is
through a superb grove or forest of oaks, festooned with Spanish
moss. Coming from parched and dry New Orleans, where the sun
smites so fiercely in midsummer, the country around Tougaloo
seemed delightfully fresh and cool. I found teachers and pupils
in the midst of their annual examinations. I was impressed with
the faithfulness and thoroughness of the instruction given here.
There was no “coaching” and no prompting, but every student was
put to a fair test of scholarship and proficiency. The singing
was an important and interesting feature of Commencement week.
Tougaloo could send out its troop of Jubilee Singers, who would
win general favor. Great credit is due to the teachers of
vocal and instrumental music. The institution, already in such
good condition, should have, at the earliest day, increased
accommodations for boarding-scholars, enabling them to receive a
larger number of mature pupils from all parts of Mississippi. From
Tougaloo I went to
SELMA, ALA.,
for a day only. This is one of the prettiest towns in Alabama.
The county has a dense negro population, so that the school must
always have abundant patronage. It was pleasant to find here Mr.
Silsby, whose father was an efficient worker in the same field many
years. Mr. Burrell, who is still living, has the great satisfaction
of knowing that his benevolent gift has been so fruitful of good
results. I reached
TALLADEGA
in time for my appointment on Sunday. This was another surprise
to me. Situated in the mountain region of Alabama, with a grand
outlook on every side, with fresh breezes from the hills, and
with valleys clothed with verdure, it certainly seemed as though
a Divine hand guided in the choice of this favored site. The
Baccalaureate sermon by the college pastor, Rev. Mr. Hickox, was
able and timely. The examinations were full of interest, and
brought out the real merit of the instruction and the zeal and
diligence of the students. I was particularly pleased with the
theological examination conducted by Rev. Mr. Andrews. It covered
a wide range of study, and showed that the young men had been
taught to think and reason for themselves. I noticed with great
satisfaction, in the boarding department, the orderly and polite
deportment of the seventy-five young men and women who gather three
times a day in the same dining-hall. It was like a quiet Christian
family. The training received here will be beyond value, and will
reach many families in the State. Were a boarding department not
necessary, it would be very desirable for the culture of manners
and the direct influence on character of the association of the
sexes.
MEMPHIS.
It was a long and wearisome journey to Tennessee. I was never
sure of making a railroad connection, as we do on the grand trunk
lines. Le Moyne Institute has an interesting history. Dr. Le
Moyne, the noted Cremationist, was the generous benefactor of this
institution. Without him, it would not now exist. I was too late
for the examinations, but in time for the Commencement exercises.
They were held in the pretty Congregational Church, and were
highly creditable. I found here a company of live, enthusiastic
teachers. The mission-house is a most home-like place, and it was
not difficult for me, on inquiring of citizens, to ascertain that
Le Moyne Institute is thoroughly prized in Memphis. With the same
corps of teachers as now, they can hardly fail of success. Here, as
in many other points in the South, dormitories are urgently needed.
They cannot secure, without them, the best class of students, and
the school will remain, at best, a High or Normal School, when it
might be the College, in West Tennessee, for the colored people.
If some man of Dr. Le Moyne’s generosity would put up a fine
building for a dormitory, he would be planting seed-corn which
would yield many harvests in the coming years. A fact which touches
our hearts at every repetition of it, is that, years ago, during
the yellow-fever epidemic, two of the teachers heroically remained
at their posts and ministered to those smitten with the fever, and
cheerfully paid the forfeit with their lives. Such men and women
are made of “good stuff,” and the cause they represent has a right
to popular sympathy and support.
With regard to our general work in the South, I was glad to
notice everywhere quickened zeal, followed by greatly increased
prosperity. I believe the good work among the freedmen was never
so efficient as to-day, and never so richly deserved the hearty
sympathy and generous benefactions of the good people of the North.
As it is no time to sound a retreat when an army has gained its
earliest victories, so it is no time, in the work of education and
evangelization among the freedmen in the South, to repress zeal
or to slacken effort, or to retrench where retrenchment would be
fatal; but to push forward till the highest results are achieved.
* * * * *
AFRICA.
* * * * *
THE MENDI MISSION.
Converts Added to the Church—Death of Mrs. Dr. James.
REV. FLOYD SNELSON, GOOD HOPE.
The church-work is progressing very well. At our last communion,
the first Sabbath in May, eleven natives united with the church,
all hopefully converted. It was a great day with us. One of the old
sisters, who had been here from the beginning, cried out, “Thank
God! I’ve never seen it so before,” with many other expressions
of joy. This is the result of steady work. Others are seeking
admission; but it was thought best that they should wait until
another opportunity. One child was baptized. Pray that the Lord may
bless us.
With painful regret I must inform you that Death has entered our
ranks, and has taken away one of our missionaries—our sister, Mrs.
James. I wrote you in my last that she and her little daughter
were unwell. I learned by a letter May 20th from Dr. James (who is
stationed at Avery), that his wife was seized with a convulsion
on the morning of Sunday, the 19th, while engaged in her domestic
business, was taken to her room, and that one convulsion succeeded
another rapidly, and with such violence that she could not speak,
until two o’clock in the night, when she died.
Brother Jackson is well again, and he and his wife have returned
to Avery Station, to resume their work. All are now comparatively
well, and the work is going on. We feel its importance more and
more, and we are not discouraged by the fact that one has fallen,
but will close up our ranks and march forward, hoping to be
reinforced from time to time, until the victory is won.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”
Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.
PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L.
Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon.
F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S.
H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D.,
Jacob S. Taber, Esq.
DIRECTORS: Rev. George Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E.
Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford,
Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.
SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.
* * * * *
Items and Incidents.
REV. W. C. POND, SAN FRANCISCO.
STATISTICS.—Our schools have not yet recovered, so far as
attendance is concerned, from the shock they received through the
riots of last July. But they are gaining, and should no untoward
event occur, I hope that before this summer is ended they will
be as large as ever before—as large, that is, as we can possibly
sustain without an increase of means. Ten schools are now in
operation, and seventeen teachers are employed. The aggregate
number of pupils enrolled May 31st was 467, and the average
attendance was 242. This is a gain over months preceding, and
June promises something better still. The total number of Chinese
who had attended the schools, for a longer or shorter period,
from September 1st (the commencement of our fiscal year) to May
31st, was 1,178. Seventy-eight of these pupils give evidence of
conversion. The whole number whom we have reason to believe have
been born of God, during the last five years of our work, cannot be
much less than two hundred.
BAPTISMS.—Six of our pupils were baptized and received to Bethany
Church, San Francisco, on Sunday, June 2d. This makes the Chinese
membership of that church number forty-four. These brethren had
studied diligently the Confession of Faith and the Covenant, which
they were called publicly to accept, and had approved themselves
well through their five to eight months of “probation” in our
“Association of Christian Chinese.” I have no doubt that both
the Confession and Covenant contained words which they could not
define; but I have also no doubt that “for substance of doctrine,”
they assented to the one and consented to the other intelligently,
honestly and devoutly. I shall never forget the evening I spent
with them, questioning them as to their views and purposes and
experiences as Christians. Not one of them but had come out of more
or less tribulation, into this decided and outspoken Christian
life. Friends turn their backs upon them and load them with
reproaches, but they seem to harbor no feeling of resentment—only
longing to impart to their persecutors the same blessing they have
found for themselves.
On the same day the first Chinese child of our church was baptized,
under the “Christian name,” as her father phrased it, of Lily Lee.
This father was one of the first group of Chinese converts whom it
was my privilege to receive to the church. He returned to Canton
about two years since, and sought out, at one of the missions, a
Christian wife; and so, in his one room in California, he has now
a Christian home. On the same day, also, Wah Yin was baptized and
received to the Congregational Church in Petaluma—the first-fruits,
so far as church membership is concerned, of our mission there. He
is a very interesting Christian, and has endured hardness, as a
good soldier. He has been not only reproached, but whipped, by his
countrymen, for the name of Christ. But he says “it didn’t hurt
much,” and we should never have known of the fact, but that one who
took part in it boasted of it openly.
LU LUNE, for nearly a year a missionary helper, was offered by
his uncle a position as Chinese foreman at the salmon fisheries
near Collinsville. The work there knows no Sabbath, and the
Chinese settlement abounds in gambling and opium dens and in petty
idol shrines. The position was, in a worldly point of view, very
desirable, but Lu Lune refused to go unless he could have his
Sabbath, and could be permitted to be just such a Christian there
as he would be at the mission-house itself. It is a token of Lu
Lune’s own desirableness that his terms were accepted, and he is
there, trying, as opportunity offers, to preach Christ, and letting
the light of a Christian example shine all the while. I may add
that this is the fourth among the Chinese members of our church
who has been placed in a position of trust by persons who knew
nothing and cared nothing about their Christian professions. It is
a tribute paid to their trustworthiness.
LEE HAIM, recently appointed as a helper, has now been for two
months in Sacramento. The increase in attendance and interest
at the school speaks well for his zeal and aptitude. Under his
influence, the Christian members of the school have rented a small
building for a sort of Home, and he uses it as a chapel. I will
quote a few words from his letter of June 6th, correcting his
English a little, for, while he, like Wong Sam, excels most of his
countrymen here in knowledge of Chinese, he is also like Wong Sam
in his trouble with English idioms:
“Now, dear brother, Mr. Pond, I am happy to say to you a few words
how the mighty God has done to us. He has prepared us a home, and
leads many Chinese to come to learn the Word of Him, and to study
your language, also. When the Sabbath-day is come, I am happy to
go down to preach to them on “I” street, where the Chinese dwell.
Some of our countrymen very anxious to hear, and some are not. I
think our congregation of Christian Chinese will become large,
though I am weak, and no one can help me to take a part on Saturday
and Sunday evenings. Yet I remember a certain man in Cesarea,
called Cornelius, had feared God, with all his house, and prayed to
God always, and then God heard his prayer, and said to him, ‘Thy
prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.’—Acts
x. 18. So I will ask God what we need. Then we receive. Oh, how
glorious! So I wish you pray for me; so I will pray for you, and
all your family and teachers.”
AN INDIAN GIFT.—Such gifts were not in good repute in the days of
my childhood, but for me the name is now redeemed. A venerable
Presbyterian pastor in the State of New York, who had himself
previously made a generous donation in aid of our work, writes a
second time as follows: “After reading the account of your work
on page 150 of the May number of THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY, at our
missionary meeting, last evening, an Indian came forward and handed
me fifty cents for your mission, with tears in his eyes. I hasten
to enclose his offering, with those of others, making out for you a
postal order for five dollars.” I know not what others may see in
this brief epistle, or how others would receive that Indian’s gift;
but to me it came as something surpassingly sacred. I certainly
mean to make _every_ donation go as far as possible; but some have
in them their _par value_—simply that and nothing more. This came
to me fragrant with incense and wet with tears—a vial full of
odors, which are the prayers of saints—and to use it except with
utmost care and earnest supplication seemed like sacrilege.
OUR STOCKTON SCHOOL.—Mrs. M. C. Brown, teacher at Stockton, says:
“Ah Gun (otherwise Jimmie), one who had gladdened my heart by his
consecration to Christ, left us December 29th, to go to Oregon. He
had been a regular attendant at my school for eighteen months, and
for the last three of his stay, I have every reason to think he was
a true Christian. Three weeks since came the news that the vessel
on which he sailed was wrecked, and Jimmie was among the lost. May
he not even now be singing that song, known only to those who have
‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’?
This is the first ripe grain, so far as I know, gathered from this
school into the garner of the Good Husbandman.”
* * * * *
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.
* * * * *
AN UNCONSCIOUS JONAH.
The following correspondence will explain itself. A letter sent
by mail to buy _Wellsprings_, and enclosing the necessary money
missed its way, and was brought with waste paper to a mill; there
it was found by a boy of ten years. The sender of the letter was
sought out by the boy’s father, and, as a result of it all, the
money, somewhat increased, has through us purchased _Wellsprings_
to supply the school at Ogeechee, Ga., for six months. So at last
this Jonah has arrived at his Nineveh. We think this singular
discovery and pleasant correspondence has in it several suggestive
lessons. If some of our young friends will write us what they think
it teaches, we will be glad to print their suggestions in the next
MISSIONARY.
“N. A., MASS., May 17, 1878.
“Mr. D. O.: _Sir_—The letter written by yourself, which I enclose
in this, will explain the reason for my wishing to ascertain your
address. My little boy found the letter, with the money enclosed,
in the paper-mill in this place, as he was looking among the old
waste for some fancy scraps of paper. He came to me with it, to
know what was to be done. I thought it a good opportunity to
impress upon his mind the value of strict honesty, and told him
that of course we must try to find the owner. Thus, after being
tossed about among old rags for nearly two years, the money will if
not again miscarried, return to its original owner. If the money is
received, please acknowledge the same.
“Yours truly, C. R. D.”
_The Lost Letter._
“NEW YORK, July 19, 1876.
“MOSES H. SARGENT, ESQ.:
“_Dear Sir_—Enclosed find one and 20/100 dollars. Please send me by
return (if possible) the value in _Wellsprings_—the latest issue. I
want to use them next Sabbath.
“Yours very truly, D. O.”
“NEW YORK, May 20, 1878.
“Mr. C. R. D.: _Dear Sir_—Yours of the 17th, with the money
enclosed, reached me, for which please accept my best thanks.
“Due inquiries for the letter were made at the post-office here at
the time, but without success, and of course I concluded that it
had been opened and money stolen by some post office official. Even
now there is some mystery, which perhaps might be removed if the
(original) envelope could be found.