VOL. XXXIV. NO. 5.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
* * * * *
MAY, 1880.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
PARAGRAPHS 129
GEN. GRANT’S RECEPTION AT STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY 132
OLD NAILS WELL CLINCHED--THE CASE IN A NUT-SHELL 133
SOUTHERN NEGROES IN NEW YORK CITY--WOMAN’S
HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION 134
EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA 135
LE MOYNE INSTITUTE 136
ANGLO-TURKISH CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION
OF THE SLAVE-TRADE 137
H. M. STANLEY ON THE CONGO 138
JESUS SAT OVER AGAINST THE TREASURY--GRADATIONS,
NATURAL AND HELPFUL 139
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 140
THE FREEDMEN.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA--Lincoln Mission, Washington 141
NORTH CAROLINA, WILMINGTON--Report of a Visitor 141
NORTH CAROLINA--Revivals in Raleigh 142
ALABAMA--Conference of Cong’l Churches 143
" Sunday-school Convention 145
" MONTGOMERY--Health-Talks, etc. 145
KENTUCKY--The Land and the People 146
AFRICA.
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM PROF. CHASE 148
THE INDIANS.
INDIAN BOYS AT HAMPTON 149
THE CHINESE.
CHAPTER OF ITEMS 150
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
ALBERT BURTON JOWETT 152
RECEIPTS 153
CONSTITUTION 157
AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS 158
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
ANDREW LESTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. J.
Rev. EDWARD BEECHER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, D. D., Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, D. D., Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
E. A. GRAVES, Esq., N. J.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.
Rev. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D., Ill.
Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
J. W. SCOVILLE, Esq., Ill.
E. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill.
C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct.
Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal.
Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
CHARLES A. HULL,
EDGAR KETCHUM,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
WM. T. PRATT,
J. A. SHOUDY,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to
the Corresponding Secretary, those relating to the collecting
fields to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of
the “American Missionary,” to Rev. C. C. PAINTER, at
the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New
York, or when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
VOL. XXXIV. MAY, 1880. NO. 5.
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
With this number, the AMERICAN MISSIONARY passes into the
hands of Rev. C. C. Painter, as Editor and Business Manager. Mr.
Painter was born in the South, educated at the North, where he was for
several years a pastor, and more recently a Professor of Theology in
Fisk University, and connected with its financial management. He brings
to the work a ripe scholarship, the pen of a ready writer, and a deep
interest in the varied work in which the Association is engaged.
The retirement of the Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, who, for several years,
has acted as Editor of the MISSIONARY, is felt to be a great
loss to the Association. His peculiar skill in editing, his facility
in writing, and his quick apprehension of current events bearing
on our work, enabled him to give to our magazine a freshness and
attractiveness it never before had attained. Mr. Boynton’s usefulness
as a member of our Executive Committee makes his loss to us the
greater. In his new pastorate in Jamaica Plain, Boston, he bears with
him the warmest affection and best wishes of the officers of the
Association.
* * * * *
As we make our bow after the above graceful introduction by our honored
Senior Secretary, we are conscious that all eyes are turned regretfully
toward the departing, rather than hopefully to the incoming, Editor.
We are in the position similar to that of a new minister, who is
told as he makes his first pastoral visits, “We never expect to love
another pastor as we loved Mr. B.” We are glad for all that makes our
position difficult, and suggest as the only remedy for the loss the
MISSIONARY must otherwise sustain in the retirement of Mr.
Boynton, that all who feel it, shall make the appropriate effort to
prevent it. Let our teachers and missionaries understand, that they
must come to the rescue by prompt and faithful reports of every phase
of their work; giving us rich material from which to select what, from
our stand-point, appears _the_ thing to be said at any given time. Let
Pastors and Superintendents, and other co-laborers, feel that they
must stand between this work and loss, and double their diligence, and
quicken their zeal, in keeping their churches and schools informed
and interested; and, finally, let all who have
felt an impulse to _give_ more, show their appreciation of the late
Editor’s good work by such an increase of gifts, as shall meet the
urgent demands on our Treasury; and in _reporting_ all this, we promise
the most interesting numbers of the MISSIONARY yet published.
Thus:
“Out of these _golden_ griefs
Bethel we’ll raise.”
* * * * *
We have received a copy of the new map of Central and Southern Africa,
published by the A. B. C. F. M. As an outline map for chapel purposes,
we believe it unsurpassed in beauty and cheapness. The price, on paper,
is 75c.; on cloth, $1.25; to be had of C. N. Chapin, 14 Congregational
House, Boston.
* * * * *
Dr. T. Thornton Macklin, who for several years was connected with the
Blantyre Mission in the region of the Nyassa, is making a brief visit
to this country, and gave us much valuable information about methods of
work in Equatorial Africa, in an hour’s interview at our office. Dr.
Macklin is anxious to return to Africa and enter upon pioneer work,
such as that proposed by Mr. Arthington to the A. M. A., in the Nile
basin.
* * * * *
We are glad to know that Dr. G. B. Willcox, whose presence and
counsels are sadly missed in our Committee meetings, loses none of
his enthusiasm for the American Missionary Association and its work,
because of his new home and new duties. At a recent meeting in Dr.
Noble’s church in Chicago, he read an address which we wish could be
put into the hands of every Christian, and of every citizen, in the
land. It is too long to print in our pages, and too consecutive to
dismember without marring. We hope he may have calls to deliver it
before the other churches of that city, and of other cities, East and
West.
* * * * *
We fear that a fact, stated by Mrs. Hill in our last number, has not
been fully taken in by our readers. Writing from Marion, Ala., of her
work among the children, she said, incidentally, and most of us read it
without comprehending it, “The girls’ sewing-class has sent $38 to the
Mendi Mission.”
The “GIRLS’ SEWING-CLASS!” “THIRTY-EIGHT DOLLARS!”
Sunday-school workers of New England, think what that means! We
venture to say there is scarce a Sunday-school connected with one
of our churches in New England where the same amount of money would
cost a girls’ sewing-class one-half the self-denial and labor that
is represented by this $38 for the Mendi Mission. And it came from a
colored girls’ sewing-class!
* * * * *
Some time since, a request came from a teacher in one of our
institutions to the Sunday-school of the Second Congregational Church
in Rockville, Conn., that it should raise $70 for a promising young man
who, for lack of it, must leave his studies. The matter was brought
before the school and laid over for consideration. On the next Sabbath,
a class of young men, every one of whom was earning his own living,
stated that it would assume the responsibility for the whole amount.
To raise this money did not hurt them; on the contrary, it did them as
much good as it did the one who received it. What if this same spirit
should become epidemic in our schools!
The Sunday-school at Kenosha, Wis., when its pastor read to it
President Cravath’s article in the October MISSIONARY,
entitled “What shall we do?” promptly responded by sending a check for
$50. Pastors, Sunday-school superintendents and teachers, it is not
a difficult thing to do, but a most easy, and as blessed as easy, to
enlist your young people in this beneficent work; beneficent not alone
in relation to the ignorant negroes, but to your own young people.
The needs of our work are great, but the need that our Sunday-school
children and young people be educated out of narrow, selfish views
of life, is even more urgent. Let this double education go forward
steadily and by organized effort; thus shall sower and reaper rejoice
together, and it will be difficult to tell the one from the other in
their mutual joy and benefit, for both are reapers of such sowing.
* * * * *
The Selma, Ala., _Daily Times_ notes the fact that our Field Secretary,
Dr. Roy, preached in the First Presbyterian Church of that city in
the morning, and the Rev. H. S. DeForest in the evening, of a recent
Sabbath, and says that more than usual interest was manifested in both
services. Also, in a kindly notice of the Fifth Annual Convention of
the Congregational Churches of Alabama, convened in that city, it says:
“This church is doing a great work for the education and religious
culture of the colored people in Alabama, and the other Southern
States.”
* * * * *
Dr. R. S. Rust, Secretary of the M. E. Freedmen’s Aid Society, in his
Twelfth Annual Report of the work of that Society, speaks with a just
pride of the twenty distinctive colored schools established in the
South, with an aggregate of 2,510 pupils: of these, 453 are classed
as Biblical, 20 law, 60 medical, 74 collegiate, 270 academic, 1,020
normal, 242 intermediate, and 371 primary.
We congratulate him and his church on the good work done, and to be
done.
* * * * *
Prof. J. W. Randolph, of Waco College, Texas, which, we understand, is
a newly-projected school, to be under management of the colored people,
announces his purpose of publishing a new music and hymn-book for and
by his own people; and so the genius of this people is reaching out
into new fields of effort.
* * * * *
Facts are facts _positeevely_, as Dr. John Brown’s Scotch beadle would
say, and will assert and establish themselves if we can only have
patience in well-doing. The professor of Greek in one of the State
Colleges of the South said to us, some months since: “I spent a day in
Fisk University, and as I am, and have been all my life, a teacher of
Greek, was curious to see what the negro could do with that language;
and, sir, I should be most proud and happy if I had twenty boys in my
College who could recite Greek as I heard that number of boys and girls
reciting it in that school.”
The teacher of these boys and girls was a young colored woman, 22 years
of age, herself a graduate of the school in which she was then teaching.
* * * * *
Among the many indications of the growing interest taken by the best
class of Southern people in the educational work of our schools, we
note the frequent kindly notices, given in the daily papers of the
cities in which our schools are located, of anything that concerns the
work. We clip the following from the _Morning
Ledger_, of Memphis, in appreciative mention of the lecture course
before Le Moyne Institute of that city: “It is an encouraging sign
of the times when such men as Dr. Maury, Judge Morgan, Col. Eaton,
and Judge Hammond give their time and talents for the instruction and
elevation of the colored race, especially when these people show a
disposition and a capacity for moral and intellectual improvement. It
is an indisputable evidence of the amiable relations of the two races,
and gives assurance that the traces of the war, and its bad passions,
are wearing out, and that we have entered upon a peaceful, law-abiding
era, with a good basis for solid prosperity.”
At the close of the last lecture, delivered by Rev. Mr. Trible, Col.
L. B. Eaton arose, and after reference to the success of the course
and its good results to the community, proposed, as appreciative of
the lecture and expressive of their interest in the object, that they
should take a collection, which resulted in over $30 for the library of
the school.
We learn that these lectures have been prepared with the same care
as if intended for the most cultivated white audiences, and without
condescension or patronage, were delivered as if addressed to an
audience of young men and women without any hint, direct or implied, of
race, color, or previous condition.
* * * * *
GEN. GRANT’S RECEPTION AT STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY.
Just as the MISSIONARY was going to press, we received a
letter from Dr. Roy, who is now in New Orleans, giving a brief sketch
of the visit of Gen. Grant to the Straight University. We have also
a more full account in the _New Orleans Times_, but we can offer our
readers in this number only the shorter narrative. Dr. Roy writes:
“We gave a reception to Gen. Grant in the chapel. Flags were displayed
at the front and behind the platform, with the big map on the wall and
a placard ‘Our Country.’ The school and the patrons filled the hall.
Prof. McPherron led his scholars in some exquisite classic music;
Prof. Alexander made the welcoming address in behalf of the Straight
University. Gen. Grant responded in one of his laconic and fitting
speeches, which was greatly satisfactory to the colored people. Gen.
Grant said:
“‘It is a good sign to see such a University as this attended by
colored people who were for so long deprived of any such advantage.
Those who have gone before you had no such advantages. But by the
gift of these institutions, those here are taking the first great
step towards improving the advantages guaranteed to them by the
Constitution. Great advantages are given these people by the provisions
of the Constitution and the Amendments, and the colored people are
coming to improve them. The privilege of emigration is permitted
and allowed to any people. But other things being equal, every one
is happiest in passing his life in the locality where he was born.
So that I am glad to see you improving these opportunities. I hope
everything for the colored people, and may you make freedom a blessing
to yourselves. Gentlemen, I thank you for your kindness.’
“Then the Field Supt., in behalf of the A. M. A., followed, thanking
the General for the peace-policy which he had inaugurated, and which is
affording so much aid to our work among the Indians; and thanking him
for his word in China, upon Chinese emigration, which has helped us in
our missions on the Pacific coast. The Superintendent also reported the
extent of the work of the A. M. A. at the South, the patriotism of the
colored people, and their hunger for knowledge.
A young lady, in behalf of the students, presented the General with a
bouquet, and Col. Lewis (colored), Collector of the Port, responded
for the colored soldiers of Port Hudson. The scholars and friends then
filed around and shook hands with the General.”
* * * * *
OLD NAILS WELL CLINCHED.
Three cases of more than ordinary importance were decided in the
United States Supreme Court, last month, from which it happily appears
that the soul of Judge Taney doesn’t “go marching on.” The Negro has
rights. Thanks to the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, he has
exactly the same civil rights as the white citizen. Moreover, he has
equal rights before the courts--any “State Sovereignty” legislation
discriminating against him to the contrary notwithstanding. The
test-cases, which had been appealed to the Supreme Court, were those
in which colored men had been put on trial for alleged crimes in State
courts, and had been denied the right of having any member of their own
race on the jury. This discrimination against them, on account of race
and color, was pronounced unconstitutional and illegal. The decision is
one to awaken devout thankfulness and patriotic pride in the hearts of
all lovers of humanity and equal rights for all.--_The Advance._
* * * * *
THE CASE IN A NUT-SHELL.
Judge Tourgee, if he _is_ the author of that remarkable book, “A Fool’s
Errand,” which every citizen of the Union should not only read, but
profoundly study, puts the case in a nut-shell when, in answer to his
old teacher’s question, “But what can be done for their (the Negroes’)
elevation and relief, or to prevent the establishment of a mediæval
barbarism in our midst?” he says:
“The remedy is one that must be applied from the outside. _The
remedy for darkness is light; for ignorance, knowledge; for wrong,
righteousness._ The nation nourished and protected slavery. The
fruitage of slavery has been the ignorant freedman, the ignorant poor
white man, and the arrogant master. Now, let the nation undo the evil
it has permitted and encouraged; let it educate those whom it made
ignorant, and protect those whom it made weak. It is not a matter of
favor to the black, but of safety to the nation. Make the spelling-book
the sceptre of national power. Let the nation educate the colored man
and the poor white man, because the nation held them in bondage, and is
responsible for their education; educate the voter, because the nation
cannot afford that he should be ignorant. Honest ignorance in the
masses is more to be dreaded than malevolent intelligence in the few.”
We express no opinion as to his method for applying this remedy, as
it would lead to a discussion of political questions with which, as
such, we have nothing to do. But that the remedy for, and the provision
against, these threatening evils, is the education of these people, of
this there can be no doubt.
We are happy to say, also, that the work already accomplished by our
schools is dissipating the fears, conciliating the prejudices, and
disarming the hostility of the Southern people, who are coming more and
more to appreciate and sympathize with the effort to educate the Negro,
and in helpful ways to co-operate with us in this work. The remedy,
indeed, must come from without; but it is beginning to operate, and the
most hopeful symptom of healthful action is that the patient begins to
appreciate and demand it.
* * * * *
SOUTHERN NEGROES IN NEW YORK CITY.
In our efforts to find out the needs of the emigrants for Liberia, now
in New York, we have discovered facts in regard to the resident colored
population in the city which were to us a great surprise. One of its
most intelligent colored men informs us that of the 20,000 colored
inhabitants in this city, only about 5,000 are of Northern birth.
A church organized two years ago, with 21 members, has now a membership
of 150, and a congregation of about 800, all of whom are from the
South. They now worship in a hall for which they pay $40 per month;
have raised more than $3,000 for current expenses; $300 for charities,
and have $2,000 in bank toward a church building. The pastor of this
church is a young ex-slave from Norfolk, Virginia.
Now, in regard to the refugees themselves, we believe an attendance
upon the meeting in Dr. Garnet’s church, called to organize and
systematize the effort to care for them, would have proved a radical
cure for chronic and most persistent doubt as to the negroes’ ability
to meet an emergency. The overflowing charity of that meeting was only
matched by the wisdom, prudence and skill with which it was managed.
If the Christian churches and friends of Christ would but seek out, and
bring as prominently before the public, facts, of which there are many,
such as the above, showing the rapid progress these people are making
under great discouragements, as the police courts and enemies of the
negro report and dwell upon those which show his degradation, we are
confident he would be held in much higher estimation.
We venture to say that a like number of refugees of any other race, in
as great destitution, with a similar story of wrongs, whether true or
false, could not be so quietly stowed away in New York, or left to be
cared for so exclusively by their own people. There have been no urgent
appeals to the public, and either none at all, or but a passing notice
of their arrival, in our religious papers.
* * * * *
WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
This new organization held its first public meeting in Boston, March
18th. The ladies assembled at eleven o’clock in the lecture room of
the Park Street Church, which was crowded. Mrs. C. A. Richardson, of
Chelsea, presided; Mrs. J. F. Hunnewell, of Charlestown, acted as
Secretary. By-laws were read and adopted. An address on the general
subject was made by Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton; and Mrs. Steele, of Revere,
gave a very interesting account of her labors in Maryland for eight
years among the poor whites.
A more public meeting was held in the afternoon in the audience-room
of the church, which was also well filled. Rev. Dr. Webb presided, and
made a very appropriate and encouraging introductory address, sketching
the new range of work opened for women in the missionary world, and
assuring the new organization of the welcome it would receive by the
officers and friends of the American Board and the Woman’s Board. By
invitation, representatives of the American Missionary Association and
of the American Home Missionary Society addressed the audience; Rev. C.
L. Woodworth and Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D., appearing for the former,
and Rev. Robert West and Rev. H. M. Storrs, D. D., for the latter.
These gentlemen confined themselves, as was expected, to presenting
a view of the wide fields occupied by their
respective societies, and the great need and remarkable hopefulness
which they furnished for the labor of woman in the elevation and
Christianization of the more destitute women and children of the great
West and South.
This new organization originated entirely with the ladies themselves,
and, as far as we can judge, has been inaugurated and will be carried
forward with great wisdom and efficiency, and with no spirit of
rivalry, but with the utmost Christian consideration and love towards
other similar boards. It is hard to predict the future of a new
benevolent organization. Who could have conjectured in 1810 the grand
reach of Christian labor achieved by the ever-to-be-honored American
Board? And who, ten years ago, could have foreseen the remarkable
energy and wonderful success--then latent, but now active--displayed
by the Christian women of this land in the several denominations in
co-operation with the great Missionary Boards? But while we cannot
prophesy of the future of this new society, yet the success of those we
have mentioned encourages us to anticipate for it a glorious career.
There certainly is room in this our land, among the women and children
of less favored portions and races, for the widest and most hopeful
endeavors that can be put forth; and while the degraded of distant
lands should not be neglected, certainly those in our own should not be
passed by. This new Board has our warmest sympathies.
* * * * *
EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA.
In a letter from Rev. J. Edwards, of Grantville, Mass., he adds his
testimony to the many that reach us from all directions, that the South
is experiencing a gradual, and to one who visits it after several
years’ absence, marked uplifting. He also comes back full of the
assurance, as do all others who study the “problem of the South,” that
the A. M. A. is doing good work just where it is needed. We thank him
for his letter, and second his suggestion that our work presents a
magnificent opportunity to the Christian and patriot. We have room for
a few extracts:
“Enter the train of the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad and you will be
carried very comfortably through a country as monotonous and unexciting
as you will often find. You can bear to watch, for once, the scenery
that looks so painfully uninviting it is positively entertaining: light
land, scattered pines, and here and there, the so-called villages, of
which you might say, ‘enough of them--such as they are.’ No bright
green sward; and as for houses, homes--where are they? Surely not very
near the line of the railroad, unless you can by courtesy give the name
to the scanty cabins, with the tow-headed children, and the wan women,
and the man scratching the top of the earth with a plow drawn by one
decrepit steer or sorry mule.
“The railroad on to which you pass at Weldon, would carry you to
Wilmington, famed throughout the old North State for its delightful
social life. But we stop one hundred miles short of this, in the heart
of the State. Your desolate ride has hardly prepared you for the
pleasing aspect of the town that greets you. Comfortable houses, some
of them tasteful, with abundant flower-yards, and, now and then, the
familiar green turf, preserved with a good deal of pains; the county
buildings, numerous and large stores, some of them doing a business of
two or three hundred thousand a year, assure
you that here, too, are homes and American enterprise. You are in the
midst of the cotton belt--a dry, light, almost sandy soil, level like
the bottom of a lake, showing signs (in beds of marl, with shells not
yet absorbed) of having been once under the sea, easily tilled; large
amounts of chemical fertilizers in use; plenty of work for both whites
and blacks; and, although some of both races are do-nothings, numbers
of both are industrious and reap the reward. The relations between the
two races here appear to the casual eye entirely peaceful. Some blacks
are leaving for Indiana, and a few are returning; and the departure
of those who go from this particular section only gives more room and
occupation for those who stay.
“A fragment of the conversation of two negroes I overheard on the
street sounded true and sensible: ‘My ’pinion is, one dat’s willin’ to
work, kin make a livin’ most anywhar; as fur ---- he allus was too lazy
to live; he’s too lazy to die. I don’t b’lieve nuffin sech as he ses.’
They were talking of a bright but indolent mulatto, well known in the
place, who had lately exodusized and come back.
“The churches are Baptist, Episcopal, and Methodist, with
‘Hard-shells,’ Campbellites, etc. The colored people have churches and
preachers of their own, and will never rise very high till they have
schools and better churches.
“The lack of schools is a great evil, felt and deplored by some of the
best people. There are private schools for the whites who can pay for
them, but no public schools for them, and none of any kind for the
blacks here yet. But times move forward and grow better.”
* * * * *
LE MOYNE INSTITUTE, MEMPHIS, TENN.
Training Nurses--Needle-Work--Preparation of Food, etc.
In the MISSIONARY for March, 1879, Miss Milton gave some
account of the industrial department of the school at Le Moyne, and
also announced the purpose of giving attention to the training of
nurses.
Prof. Steele writes that their plans have been more fully developed
with most gratifying results. During the year, about an hour each
day has been devoted to such work, without interfering with regular
studies, and with the effect of stimulating the students in all other
directions. The list of questions on the care of the sick, which
constituted a part of their examination at the close of the winter
term, indicates a varied and minute training, which must fit these
pupils to be angels of mercy, and most blessed ministers of comfort and
health in many cabins of the South.
Professor Steele reports a death-rate among the negroes of Memphis that
is simply appalling. He says in other cities of the South it is about
double that among the whites; in Memphis it is three times as great.
We are confident that this disproportion does not prevail through the
country. The blacks are gregarious, and crowding into the cities, as
they do, in ignorance and poverty, disease is fearfully fatal among the
children; but we do not believe the forthcoming census will establish
such a death-rate as the above among the colored population at large.
Our teachers, wise and Christ-like in their spirit, are directing their
efforts to whatever affects the welfare of these poor people, and their
condition will constantly improve.
* * * * *
ANGLO-TURKISH CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE.
The Queen of England announced at the opening of the last session of
Parliament, Feb. 5th, “That a convention for the suppression of the
slave-trade has been concluded between my Government and that of his
Imperial Majesty the Sultan.” This was very gratifying to all who had
so long waited the signing of the oft-promised and oft-delayed treaty
with Turkey. On the 9th of February, it was said by the Under-Secretary
of State that the treaty had been signed but not ratified, and would
soon be laid upon the table of the House of Commons. In the meantime,
what purports to be a copy of the treaty has been published.
An examination of its several articles creates grave fears that astute
Turkish diplomacy has been too much for Sir Henry Layard in this
matter. It is all very well for English cruisers to have the right to
search suspected ships, sailing under the Turkish flag, for slaves; but
their officers cannot touch African _slave_ seamen, and it will be easy
to so make out a ship’s papers that she can carry many more men than
she needs, and she can change her crew every voyage. All slaves seized,
another article provides, shall be turned over to _Ottoman authorities
for the purpose of proclaiming them free_, which, we fear, will prove
as effectual in accomplishing that result, as throwing the turtle into
the water by the simpleton was effectual in drowning it.
When England made treaties with other slave-holding nations for the
suppression of the slave-trade, she provided that captured slaves
should be tried before a mixed Commission in which British officers
sat. In this treaty they take their chances for freedom before an
Ottoman Court.
In this connection we regret to announce that Pacha Gordon has
resigned, and his resignation has been accepted; and thus Central
Africa loses its noble Christian ruler. He went out in 1874 as Governor
General of Soudan, “to establish a regular government, to create
facilities for commerce, and to destroy the slave-trade in the province
entrusted to him,” and his resignation will bring dismay to all who
have the cause of humanity at heart. It was at first reported that
Ismail Eyoub Pacha had been appointed to take his place, who, while
not Gordon Pacha, was, it is said, as good a man for the post as could
be found in Egypt. But the _Anti-Slavery Reporter_ now says, “it is
officially announced that the actual successor is one Raouf Bey, of
evil memory.”
This Raouf Bey is spoken of by Sir Samuel Baker in his “Ismailia” as
the bosom friend of Abou Saood, whom he describes “as the _incarnation
of the slave-trade_, and the greatest slave-dealer on the White
Nile.” Colonel Gordon thinks it certain that the slave-dealers will
at once resume their operations, and will be unmolested by the new
Governor. He estimates that at least 30,000 slaves have annually,
for the past twelve years, been brought down from the Bahr Gazelle
and Darfur; and Vice-Consul Wylde believes that not less than 50,000
annually cross the Red Sea, who are taken to Egypt, Turkey, and other
Mohammedan countries. And now, it seems, the Anglo-Turkish Convention
provides that slaves captured by the English shall be handed over to
the _Ottoman_ authorities to be by them declared free, and a noted
slave-hunter displaces the Christian suppressor of that hellish traffic
in the governorship of the slave-hunting grounds.
* * * * *
MR. H. M. STANLEY ON THE CONGO.
[From the Field, March 12.]
As the recent movements of this well known African explorer have not
been given in detail, the following translation of a letter written by
Father Carrie, head of the Congo Mission, dated Landana, December 3,
1879, and published in _Les Missions Catholiques_ (No. 559), may not be
without interest.
Father Carrie says: “Having just returned from a voyage through
the whole navigable portion of the Lower Congo, I take the
first opportunity of sending you the following particulars
concerning Mr. Stanley and his explorations. The party of the
great explorer is somewhat numerous. It consists, besides the
leader, of a superintendent, an engineer, a sea captain, several
mechanics, carpenters, etc., in all, twenty whites of different
nationalities--Belgians, Americans, English, Italians, and Danes. A
French naturalist, M. Protche, just come to Landana from Paris, and an
old member of the German expedition to Chinchoxo, near Landana, are
also about to join The ‘Society for the Investigation of the Upper
Congo,’ as this expedition terms itself.
“The blacks of the party consist of about one hundred men, Arabs
and natives from Sierra Leone and the Congo. The stores are very
considerable, comprising especially five small steamers and some
auxiliary craft, engines and trucks for land carriage, wooden houses
ready for erection, &c.
“Mr. Stanley, as I am informed by Mr. Greshoff, proposes to go up the
Congo to the Lualaba, where he hopes to meet his Arab friend Tibu-tin.
He will then explore the Western part of the Congo as well as the
countries near both of its banks, and will endeavor at the same time to
bring the ivory-trade to Emboma. When we arrived at Vivi (four or five
miles below the first cataract of the Yellala Falls), Mr. Stanley was
on his way across the mountains in the direction of the great village
of the same name, doubtless studying the start for his route to the
interior. M. Van Schandel, chief engineer of the expedition, told us
that the celebrated traveller habitually started on such excursions
without warning any one of his going or returning. Soon, however, Mr.
Stanley himself was announced; he returned tired to death and covered
with dust and perspiration.
“While waiting for the end of the rainy season, he is engaged in
firmly establishing his first station--the base of all his future
operations--and in maturing his plans for overcoming the gigantic
difficulties in his way.
“It is, indeed, a startling enterprise to traverse some two hundred
miles of precipitous, rocky mountains, piled up--so to speak--one on
the other, and almost without any intermediate passage, not only with
a numerous party, but a considerable weight of baggage, wooden houses,
trucks and steam vessels, which must be hoisted over heights of from
1,000 to 1,300 feet, with extremely abrupt rises; and this not once, or
twenty, or a hundred times, but on thousands of occasions.
“Happen what may, it will require some years’ work to reach the end
of this terrible chain of mountains at Stanley Pool, where the second
station is to be established.”
Making every allowance for the fears of the worthy ecclesiastic whose
letter we have here given, it is sufficiently evident that Mr. Stanley
has his work cut out in executing the Belgian international programme.
He will, apparently, have a land journey of three hundred miles before
he can make use of the river, and he himself considers that it will
take three years to carry out the project successfully. -----File:
013.png---
* * * * *
JESUS SAT OVER AGAINST THE TREASURY!
It is an assurance full of sweet comfort, especially to the poor, that
One sits over against the treasury who estimates at its full value the
widow’s mite, knowing as He does out of what love and self-denial it
comes. With a check for the last instalment of $100 from the estate
of a poor widow, comes a brief sketch of a life that was beautiful
and touching; a life that was full of struggle, and sorrow, and
benefaction; which closed in blindness after 88 years. After a brief
married life, she was left a widow with one child, in great poverty.
She won a home with her needle, in which she lived for forty-two years,
the last twenty-six of these entirely alone, as her daughter had been
taken from her by death.
She lived her brave, self-forgetful, helpful life; active in all good
words and works in church and neighborhood, economizing where her own
wants were concerned, keeping guard even over the use of matches;
liberal to the limit, not only of what she _had_, but of what she
_could earn_, where the needs of others were known. Intelligently
acquainted with the work of the Church, at home and abroad, from a wide
reading of all our home and foreign missionary journals, she accepted
it as the highest duty and most honored privilege of life to fill up,
according to her measure in her own body, what remains behind of the
sufferings of the divine Redeemer. Such gifts are as precious ointment
poured upon the head of the Master, and He accepts them with the pledge
that they shall not be lost. It were almost a sacrilege to write a name
upon our pages by way of eulogy which the Master himself has pronounced
with honor before His angels: “Thou hast been faithful over a very
little.” “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
And He still sits over against the treasury, noting not alone
the widow’s mite, but the larger gifts of those who give, if not
abundantly, yet out, of their abundance.
* * * * *
GRADATIONS, NATURAL AND HELPFUL.
Can civilization reach the state of nature, that state which God meant
for it, until men know how to divide society equally, from top to
bottom? I do not mean by this that there will ever come a time when
two will not be more than one, when four will not be more than two,
and when eight will not be more than four; I do not mean that we shall
ever see the time when there will not be gradations in society from the
top to the bottom--gradations of power, gradations of intelligence,
gradations of wealth, gradations of refinement; but there is to be in
society just that which exists in households--namely, a disposition,
that runs from the top to the bottom, of love and sympathy; and when
you have so stratified society, and organized it, and made every member
of it, from the lowest to the highest, feel, “My brother above me is
pulling me up higher,” we shall begin to realize our true relation,
and fulfil our appointed duty one to another. When in society it is
as it is on the sides of mountains, where men, being helped by those
who are above them, turn round and help those who are below them, and
go on a few steps and again are helped by those that are above them,
and again help those that are below them, and so on until they reach
the top, then gradation will not be an evil. Gradation is now an evil
because there is a stratum of prosperity, and a
thick slice of selfishness; then another stratum of prosperity, and a
thicker slice of selfishness; and so on, selfishness growing thicker
and thicker as you go toward the bottom. It has got to be broken up.
The low places, the valleys, have got to be exalted, the mountains
have got to be brought down, and men have got to mix and coalesce.
In other words, the day has got to come when that simple sentence, a
million times repeated, and a million times not understood, shall be
fulfilled, and love to God and love to man shall be the law of the
universe, and of universal conditions. We have got to come to it first
or last.--_Christian Union._
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
N. C., LASSITER’S MILLS.--“The church is greatly revived; six
converts this week, and many more seeking the Lord.”
N. C., RALEIGH.--“The revival still goes on. There have been
over 200 conversions since Mr. Brown left us, and many are still
anxious. There are revival meetings in every colored church in the city
every night without the least rivalry. We have twenty-two converts in
our church already.”
S. C., CHARLESTON.--“Miss Wells has organized a Band of Hope
with forty members, and there seems to be a good deal of enthusiasm.
The church has fixed on the 3d Sunday in April as the day for a renewal
of the covenant. The officers are now visiting every member, urging
them to come forward to renew their church pledge.”
GA., MCINTOSH, LIBERTY CO.--Mr. Snelson writes: “Our communion
season held yesterday was highly enjoyed by all. Six persons united
with the church. Four were promising young men. Two of the candidates
came out from Baptist families and were baptized by immersion.”
GA., WOODVILLE.--Mr. Sengstacke writes: “I have been preaching
every night for six weeks. Our Sunday night meetings are crowded, and
the unconverted people are becoming alarmed. I am now reaching the very
class I have been longing after for some time--the young people. In
February I baptized two young people, in March three, and last night
one young woman professed conversion. Our Sunday night contributions
are increasing. We are having the church repainted on the inside, and
are trying to raise money for additional seats. We cannot seat the
people. Last Sunday night many turned away, because we had no room.”
ALA., FLORENCE.--Easter-Sunday was observed in an impressive
manner. The new church was full.
KY., BEREA.--Some persons have here recently professed faith
in Christ, and others are inquiring.
THE FREEDMEN.
REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,
FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
* * * * *
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Lincoln Mission.
REV. SIMON P. SMITH, WASHINGTON.
A great deal has been said recently about the Lincoln Mission in the
District of Columbia, and probably many would like to hear how the work
is progressing.
There is a very large Sunday-school at this mission, and has been for
several years. The teachers come from Dr. Rankin’s church, more than
fifty of them, and manifest great enthusiasm. The school averages about
three hundred scholars, and on some occasions, during the cold weather,
we had more than four hundred.
The majority of these children come from the poorest and most
illiterate colored families in the city. They have good training in the
day-schools, but bad home influences. Their parents do not bring them
up as they should, hence they are very rude. There is much need of a
lady missionary here to teach the mothers of these children how to make
homes happy.
It is said that there are about sixty thousand colored people in the
city, and from the appearance of loiterers standing on the streets,
there must be twenty thousand out of employment. Idleness is the mother
of mischief, and what an opportunity such people have to enter into
temptation! Some of the parents of the children who come to the Lincoln
Mission are among these idlers.
These children are very poorly dressed; they scarcely have sufficient
clothing to keep them warm. We hold prayer-meeting with them every
Wednesday evening, and we find it very difficult to keep them away from
the stove. This seems to indicate that they have but little fire at
home. We are always glad to have it cold on Wednesday evenings, for,
then, we are sure of a good audience; and we can tell them about the
words of eternal life. Many desire to be prayed for, and we believe
that some of them love the Lord Jesus.
General O. O. Howard was with us recently, and addressed the children.
While he was speaking, his words were so full of sympathy and love that
he held the attention of the rudest class of boys in the city for more
than an hour. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice--even the lambs. We
know that he loves our nation, because he built us this synagogue, and
we love him because he loves us. He is, indeed, a true philanthropist.
* * * * *
NORTH CAROLINA.
Wilmington.
In place of a report from our teachers at this place, we are happy to
substitute a letter from a visitor from the North who happened to reach
Wilmington in time for the examinations. We have yet to hear of the
first visitor who has not become an enthusiastic friend of our work. We
do not wish a general decline in health among our friends, but we do
wish that all visitors to the South would make themselves acquainted
with this work.
REPORT BY A VISITOR.
Returning with my friend from our winter’s stay in Florida, we embraced
the opportunity to stop in Wilmington, and visit Mr. and Mrs. Dodge,
and see their work among the colored people.
We arrived the day previous to the exhibition which was to close the
winter’s term of school. Friday evening, March 26, at 8 o’clock, we
repaired to the pleasant hall of the building, where were gathered over
a hundred bright, interesting-looking boys and girls between the ages
of five and eighteen, well and neatly clad, and a fine looking audience
of expectant parents and friends, who filled the room to its utmost
capacity. The exercises were opened with singing by the school, one of
the ladies presiding most creditably at the organ.
Then followed responsive reading from the Bible, led by Miss Warner,
and a prayer of thankfulness, by Mr. Dodge, for the possibilities now
opened to this once oppressed race. After devotions came recitations,
declamations, and dialogues, interspersed with music, in which all
participated, and the exercises from beginning to end were conducted
with a correctness and order that would have done credit to any white
school in the North. One of the pleasantest features of the evening
was the representation of the re-united States, in which each scholar
appeared wearing upon his or her shoulder the name of one of the
States, and repeating some appropriate motto or watch-word. When
all were gathered on the platform the Goddess of Liberty took her
place in the center, waving the stars and stripes as they sang the
“Star-Spangled Banner.”
I only wish more friends in the North could have seen in their faces,
and heard from their lips, the pride and gratitude which these parents
are already finding in the education of their children. Sunday morning
we attended service in the same hall, where Mr. Dodge conducted the
exercises much as he would those of a church at home, with singing,
responsive reading, and an exposition of the Scripture appropriate to
Easter. At two o’clock Miss Farrington, who has this year joined the
Home in the capacity of a missionary, gathered in one of the lower
rooms for instruction, what she calls her mission school, made up of
those outside the church. At three, a large Sunday-school came together
in the hall, and after devotions were assigned to their respective
teachers for work.