REV. JOS. E. ROY, D.D.,
FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.
PROF. T.N. CHASE, ATLANTA.
A stranger could hardly obtain a more
vivid and correct idea of the far-reaching
influence for good that one of the
higher institutions of the American Missionary
Association is exerting, than by
listening to the reports of the students
as they return from their summer’s work
of teaching. At Atlanta University the
first Sunday afternoon of the fall term
is devoted to these reports, and to the
teachers it is one of the happiest and
most inspiring occasions of the whole
year. We wish that many of the readers
of the Missionary could have been with
us on last Sunday, and seen with their
own eyes and heard with their own ears,
since the full rich tones of voice, dignified
composure and simple earnestness
of these student-teachers cannot be transferred
to paper. But I did not see you
present, and so will give you the benefit
of some notes I took down, departing
from my original plan of arranging and
classifying the “testimony,” omitting
quotation marks, and introducing the
successive speakers simply by beginning
on a new line.
I taught in Tatnal. Other pupils were
afraid to go there because it was a democratic
county. People did not want a
teacher from outside of the county, because
they did not want the money to go
out of the county. They liked me very
much. Colored people have from one
acre to 2500 acres of land, and are about
as well educated as the whites. Children
are compelled by their parents to
come to Sunday-school. I kept up a
Sunday evening prayer-meeting. Several
of the children acknowledged Jesus and
turned over to the church. I made two
or three speeches on temperance.
My Commissioner is well disposed toward
this Institution. I made two or
three lectures against intemperance, and
encouraged the people to educate themselves
and accumulate property. At my
exhibition three lawyers were present and
forty or fifty other whites.
The Commissioner did not examine me,
saying that this school was the best in
the world and he never intended to examine
a pupil from it. He was a Saturday-Sunday
man and did not do any business
on Saturday. I tramped a week and
a half for a school and found one on
Col. ——’s place. Parents want their
children whipped, and do not think they
are taught any thing unless they are
whipped.
Some of us had a convention on temperance,
tobacco and morals. The colored
people own a good deal of land and make
lots of cotton. One man made twenty-one
bales, but saved only eighty dollars.
Col. —— said Atlanta University
must be the best disciplined school in
the State. The poor whites do not want
to go to school, and are more intemperate
and degraded than the blacks. If the
colored man would only stand up for his
rights, he would not be hacked.
I taught in a district called “Dark
Corner.” I think I gave them a right
start. Had a prayer meeting which was
largely attended. Poor whites use more
whiskey than the colored people.
Whites seem kind to blacks, lend them
money and horses, and help them in
every way.
I had an average attendance of thirty-three
and a night-school of fifteen.
Taught on an old plantation, on which
there used to be five hundred slaves.
Ignorance has great sway there. People
have good stock, but cannot buy land.
There is a temperance lodge in Camden
of one hundred and forty members.
It was a bad county where I taught.
I was careful about teaching there.
They never had a school before. No
land is owned by colored people. There
is much opposition to their education.
The immorality of the place is explained
by the fact that they formerly had stills
there. Preachers are not moral men.
They are opposed to “foreign” teachers.
Poor whites create a good deal of disturbance.
Land is owned by those who
owned it during slavery times, and they
will not sell it to white or colored.
I was the first lady teacher that taught
in the county and was quite a novelty.
They had bad teachers. One white one
was intemperate. White people were
friendly. Three whites raised their hats
to me, which was quite a new thing.
I had a very good Sunday-school; white
people attended my exhibition. They
like this University very much, and the
Commissioner wanted me to encourage
the boys and girls to come up.
Most everybody uses whiskey and
tobacco. I talked on temperance, distributed
temperance papers and read to
them. Took the New York Witness and
read it to the people. I think I did
some good among the children. The
children of the poor whites are knocking
about on the road all the time. They
had a school one month, then gave it up.
Young men spend Sunday in gambling;
guess they are doing it right now.
Some said I was not teaching them anything
because I did not use the blue-back
speller. The houses of poor whites
are just like the colored, but their clothes
are not so good.
The people where I taught are intelligent
and well-to-do. Most of them own
their own homes. The whites want the
colored people educated. A speaker at
an exhibition of a female seminary said
that the colored people were leaving
them in the dark, and if they did not
look out, the bottom rail would be on the
top. Six or eight colored people own
from one hundred to five hundred acres
and stock. The Commissioner’s wife
asked me into the parlor and gave me a
rocking-chair.
Where I was last winter, the people
kept Thanksgiving. Of course I enjoyed
that, because I knew you were keeping it
here. I had a Sunday-school that was
quite large at first, but when big meetings
came on it grew small.
I had seventy-five pupils. I cannot see
that I did much good, but I hope some
good will come out of my summer’s work.
Public sentiment seems to sanction the
worst things there are.
The people where I taught said they
must have a man, that females could not
teach, and they could not stand ladies.
The whites, on the whole, are better to
the teachers than the colored people are.
I succeeded in getting six men to stop
using tobacco while attending school,
and then they said if they could stop fifty-five
days they could all their life-time.
Somehow they looked at me like they
looked at Columbus when he first came
to America. Preachers are all intemperate
men, and some of them said they could
not preach well unless they had some
whiskey in them. I taught four times
in the same place, and have had a larger
school each time. The morals of the colored
people depend on the morals of the
whites. I opened school at eight and
closed at six. I saw no intemperance,
because it was the wrong time of the year.
I talked temperance and acted it. There
is but little difference between the whites
and colored; they eat together, sleep together,
and have the same kind of houses.
Now to these reports, only a small part
of which I have copied, I will add a few
comments:
1. There is no diminution of the desire
of colored children to learn, and of
their parents to have their children educated.
Parents want teachers to teach
from early dawn to candle-light, and
even to beat knowledge into the pupils.
2. Intemperance and licentiousness
abound to a fearful extent, not only
among the laity, but also among the
clergy.
3. The poor whites need education and
moral and religious instruction as much
as the colored people, and our students are
reaching some of them in their influence.
4. Public school privileges in the South
are limited, and it will be a long time
before suitable buildings are provided
and efficient teaching secured.
5. The whites are, in the main, well
disposed toward the colored people, and
in favor of their being educated.
6. Many of the colored people are acquiring
homes and other property, although
in some places the owners of land
will not sell it.
7. In some instances the colored people
are cheated out of the benefits of
their labor, and ill-treated in various
ways.
8. Atlanta University stands high in
the estimation of the people, and needs
liberal pecuniary support from its friends
to keep up its reputation and do the
great work that lies before it.
9. Social prejudice seems to be yielding
somewhat, although the fact that a
white lady invited a colored girl to sit
in a rocking-chair in her parlor, is not so
common an occurrence as to make it unworthy
of mention. Tidiness, gentility,
intelligence and morality will yet be considered
superior to a light complexion.
10. The hope of this race, as well as of
any other, lies in the training of children,
and hence the value of good schools, both
day and Sunday.
11. The American Missionary Association
is doing a valuable work among the
whites, by showing them what education
will do for poor people, and stimulating
them to try to keep the “top-rail”
where it is.
12. No one can estimate the influence
our school is exerting in favor of education,
industry, economy, temperance,
Sabbath observance, chastity, social
order, and, in short, morality and religion.
MISS LAURA A. PARMELEE, MEMPHIS, TENN.
We give the closing portion of a paper
read at the Woman’s Meeting, held in
connection with the Annual Meeting at
Chicago. In the opening portions of
it, Miss Parmelee describes with frank
truthfulness the perils which encircle
the colored girls of the South by reason
of the family habits, the laxity of the
marriage relation, the ignorance of the
laws of health, the late hours of their
religious and social gatherings, &c. We
print her statements and suggestions as
to the remedy and protection.
Of special agencies for training colored
girls to better habits, boarding schools
claim the first place. If there had been
seventy, instead of seven homes of this
kind, we could to-day report a fairer
record of virtue and purity. Under the
constant supervision of faithful teachers,
who regulate the hours, walks and visits
of those in their charge, there is opportunity
to acquire a love for systematic
ways and a pure home life. With the
instinctive imitation of their race they
adopt the manners and sentiments of the
ladies living under the same roof and
sitting at the same table. Yet with this
help, there has been frequent occasion
for teachers to ponder the story of the
young crabs that went from the sea-side
to a seminary among the mountains,
where they became ashamed of their own
gait and diligently tried to learn the
new way of walking, succeeding to the
entire satisfaction of their teachers as
well as themselves, and seeming to have
forgotten the old ways, but, upon returning
to parents and friends at the
shore, relinquished the accomplishment
and walked backwards as in other days.
In two or three schools—possibly more,
but I speak only from personal knowledge—it
is the duty of one of the lady teachers
to give the girls instruction in dress,
manners, morals and health, particularly
in matters relating to their peculiar physical
organization. Once a week the regular
lessons are postponed or laid aside,
that the pupils may have a half hour
for listening to the lecture that has
been thoughtfully prepared for their
exclusive benefit. Commencing with
points of etiquette, dress, sketches of
lives of famous women, announcing the
latest fashion items when they happen to
be suitable, and so winning the confidence
and arousing the interest of the
class, it is comparatively easy to come
to graver counsels concerning morals,
health, danger of association with people
of loose principles, the lowering of standards
of personal honor, and finally the
teaching properly due a daughter from
her mother’s lips.
This branch of work is neither light
nor pleasant. False delicacy, fear of
speaking injudiciously and of being misunderstood
by the girls and their mothers,
too long kept us silent. We shrank
from meeting our full responsibility in
this direction, and nerved ourselves to
the task only when circumstances convinced
us that it was an imperative duty.
The ordinary study of physiology is
good, but in colored schools something
more is needed. Teach young girls to
reverence the body, to regard all its
functions as gifts of God, and the possibilities
of motherhood to be sacredly
guarded, and they are transformed from
animals to thoughtful women. Do any
regard this as dangerous argument?
Those who have tried the experiment
are satisfied of its worth. More sensible
and healthful modes of dress, increasing
discretion of manners and modesty
of deportment, are immediate results
of a plan that a few regarded as an innovation,
but which has abundantly justified
itself. If every well-established
school of the American Missionary Association
could be furnished with models
for this purpose, far more good would
be accomplished than with empty hands,
however wise the teacher’s lips.
These health talks include cookery,
sanitary measures, medical hints, and a
thousand items of common information
in a land of newspapers, but unknown
to people who depend upon neighborhood
gossip for all their knowledge.
As teachers became better acquainted
with the needs of their fields, sewing
lessons were given, or sewing schools
established in connection with daily
work. While teaching deft use of the
needle, to mend old garments and cut
new, there is opportunity to speak apt
words about love of finery, habits of
wastefulness or extravagance, and improper
hours, all of which find quick
lodgment in minds eager for new ideas.
It is no slight gratification to teachers
that, in large assemblies, they can select
their students by a more quiet, suitable
dress and dignified bearing.
House-to-house visiting is another important
means of elevating the homes
and making “life among the lowly”
cleaner and purer. In the early days of
labor for the Freedmen, ladies were commissioned
by the American Missionary
Association for this purpose. It is encouraging
to note that, through the parent
society, the Christian women of the
North are adopting representatives to
carry on this branch of work more systematically.
Year by year there are
changes in methods, and teachers have
less time than formerly for this outside
visiting.
Honorable mention must be made of
the part Congregational churches bear
in this work of regeneration. Too much
time would be consumed in explaining
the opposition they meet, or the great
need of planting this little leaven that
is already moving the mass of blind superstition.
Suffice it to say, that one of the
two denominations claiming the religious
loyalty of the Freedmen insists that,
once in Christ, a soul is forever safe, and
can commit sin with impunity, because
forgiveness frees from all restraints of
the law. The other great body of believers
is equally false in its explanations
of truths held by followers of Whitefield
and Wesley.
These are the principal agencies operating
for the redemption of the colored
homes, and through them for the emancipation
of Africa, latest called of nations,
now stretching out imploring
hands for the light, and health, and
hope, streaming from the cross of
Christ. I will not stop to detail incidents
illustrating various phases of the
one great plan, nor recount successes
attained, nor introduce you to the homes—truly
homelike in peace, purity and
domestic love; or to the little centres of
social influence, where refinement and
virtue invite your respect and friendship.
There are such homes and circles,
although they are not sufficiently numerous
to have the power in their communities
that they deserve.
Between the graduates of Atlanta or
Fisk, and the toilers in cotton patch or
rice swamp—between the better homes
of Memphis or Charleston, and the cabins
in piney woods or Louisiana glades—there
is a great gulf, to be spanned only
by the prayers and labors of Northern
Christians. I have chosen not to paint
prospects and aspirations of the dwellers
this side of that chasm; but rather to
give you a glimpse of life beyond in the
darkness, that you may comprehend in
some degree the urgency of the need to
chase away the clouds that obscure the
light of hope and purity.
I have thought it possible for women
to do more than they have heretofore in
distinct efforts for their own sex; that
some new effort might be made to efficiently
supplement the work of schools
and churches.
Two years ago, we made a bold venture
at Le Moyne Normal School. Health
talks had become popular, and the
teachers were convinced of the wisdom
of taking further steps in that direction,
when, most opportunely, there came to
Memphis a lady physician, well advanced
in years, of evident culture, and
provided with an excellent life-size
model of the human frame. She was
invited to lecture to our female pupils
and their mothers, and did so very acceptably.
Her gray hair commanded
respect, although the girls were at first
a little suspicious of the manikin.
Satisfied with the effect upon the students
and of the lady’s good judgment,
her services were secured for a course of
lectures, to which the friends of the
girls were invited. It was a happy
idea, as was quickly proven. I cannot
tell how many times teachers were
thanked for the privileges thus afforded,
or how many mothers exclaimed, “If I
had only known these things sooner, I
should have saved myself and my children
worlds of sickness and trouble and
disgrace!”
Ever since that experiment I have
longed to see a similar opportunity offered
to all the colored women. If a
discreet, motherly woman, who understood
anatomy, hygiene and medicine,
could be furnished with a model of the
body and sent through the large cities
and villages, giving free lectures upon
health, care of their own persons, proper
food, training of children, and responsibility
to God for the chastity of their
sons and daughters, the Freedwomen
would receive incalculable benefit. The
teachers cannot always reach out and
control the mothers; the missionary
meets but a part of the women in a
single city; but an itinerating lady physician
could influence thousands of the
very class most in need of the instruction
she could give. I wish the
heart of some woman, qualified for the
undertaking, would be stirred to consecrate
herself to this work. I think
the officers of the Association would indorse
such a movement. Certainly,
pastors and teachers in the field would
heartily welcome her to their churches
and homes, to which she would be a
valuable auxiliary, while exerting a
more positive and direct influence upon
the women than is possible from any one
of the already established methods of
work.
Dean Howson says: “How can you
convert a country unless you convert
the families? How can you convert
the families unless you convert the
mothers?”
It was once my privilege to minister
to an honored friend who was gently
falling asleep in Jesus. Happening to
draw up a window-shade an hour before
the eyes closed upon the scenes of mortal
life, I received from the beloved lips
this last commendation and counsel:
“That’s right; give us more light.”
Speaking to-day in behalf of our colored
sisters, I appeal for light. “Give
us more light” to dispel the heavy
clouds of ignorance and sin, to show
plainly straight paths for the feet of
stumbling ones, and for the praise of
Him who is able to keep us from falling,
and to present us faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding
joy.
REV. C.W. HAWLEY.
The Georgia Congregational Conference,
from which I have just returned,
is a large body, if an extensive framework
can make it so. My share of the
travel to its second annual session at
Savannah was about six hundred miles.
Of the fourteen churches, two of which
are in South Carolina, all save one were
represented, and the meeting was much
enjoyed by all. The color line was a
little indistinct and almost forgotten.
The colored brethren were quite in the
majority on the platform and on the
floor, and gave good proof of their
ability to preside with dignity—Rev.
Floyd Snelson was our Moderator—and
to speak fluently and well. In fact, they
showed a real genius for public address,
warranting the statement of a city daily—the
Southern press is growing liberal—that
their speeches were “worthy
of the most dignified deliberative body.”
Dr. Roy reported the great meeting at
Chicago, giving, as he had already done
at Atlanta and Macon, rich skimmings
from the papers and speeches there presented,
and greatly cheering, with these
proofs of the sympathy of Northern
Christians, those who must here learn to
do without the sympathy of their near
neighbors. His lecture on Congregationalism
also elicited much interest,
and nothing but the lack of money to
pay the printer prevented its immediate
publication in full, as a much needed
campaign document for the use of the
churches. To whatever church a man
here belongs, it becomes him to be able
to state and to justify its faith and polity.
There is kept up a running fire of
small arms between denominations here.
It was encouraging to see that the men
of this young Conference desire to be
intelligent Congregationalists, and able
to defend themselves; but it is hoped
that they will not fall into the mistake
of making denominational strife the
chief end of their existence, as some of
their neighbors seem to do.
The reports from the churches do not
show any rapid increase. “We must
expect the churches to be small, perhaps,
for twenty years yet,” said one who has
grown up with this work. There are
obstinate prejudices in the way, and
there is a great educational work yet to
be done. A lay delegate sagely remarked:
“When the ground is rough
we must go slow, or there’ll be trouble,”
adding also his personal testimony that,
in seeking to bring others over to his
way of thinking, he found it “mighty
hard to sense them into anything better
than their old ideas, that a man cannot
have religion without making a great
big fuss about it, and cannot pray without
hollering as though the Lord was
deaf;” but still he was sure that “if we
kept pulling at the wheel and rolling on
the chariot we should gain the field.”
On the way down to Conference, some
of us stopped at Macon, according to
letters missive, for the examination and
ordination of Preston W. Young, acting
pastor at Byron; and during the sessions
of Conference another council examined
and ordained two others, A.J.
Headen, of Cypress Slash, and T.T.
Benson, of Orangeburgh, S.C. These
three young men passed very creditable
examinations, and, with Rev. J.R. McLean,
moderator of the second council,
formed a very interesting and promising
group—all Talladega men and classmates—a
fine illustration of the good
work done by the school for the church.
Putting all things together—Conference
and Councils, and acquaintance with the
teachers and their excellent work in
Macon and Savannah—it was with us
all a grand week, quickening in its
Christian fellowship, and profitable in
its revelations of work already done,
and of harvests yet to be gathered.
REV. HORACE J. TAYLOR, ATHENS, ALA.
The Central South Conference embraces
the Congregational churches of
Tennessee, North Alabama and Mississippi.
Last week we enjoyed the rare
privilege of welcoming to our homes
some of the members of this Conference,
and the Field Superintendent of the A.M.A.
On Thursday evening, Nov. 20th,
Rev. G.W. Moore preached the opening
sermon from Psalm lxxiii. 24, “Thou
wilt guide me by thy counsel, and afterward
receive me to glory.” The subject
was clearly and forcibly presented.
On Friday morning an organization was
effected by electing Rev. J.E. Smith,
of Chattanooga, moderator. That morning
was spent in hearing the narratives
of the churches. The reports generally
showed progress. Athens alone reported
a less membership than last year;
but in this church there has been a
growth in grace in many of its members.
In the afternoon we discussed the subject
of education. The young people
were especially urged not to be content
with a little schooling, nor even with
a good common school education, but
to press forward with a determination
to secure the very highest education that
can be secured. The idea that the
schools at Chattanooga, Athens, Florence
and Memphis ought to be feeders
of Fisk University was well brought out.
These schools cannot give the high education
that can be gained at Fisk, and
their success should be measured largely
by the number of students they send to
Fisk University. Rev. J. E. Smith
read an article on the necessity of church
discipline. The subject was well presented,
and in the discussion that followed,
as in the paper, the idea that
church discipline ought to have for its
main object the reclamation of the offender,
was clearly brought out. Dr.
Roy and others also spoke as to the
method of church discipline, and especially
the propriety of getting evidence
from any source. It seems that some,
perhaps a majority, of the churches about
here will not receive the evidence of any
but their own members. Some think
that Congregational churches should be
bound hand and foot in the same way,
so that the devil and his followers can
manage all in their own way. Then
any member could be guilty of theft,
adultery, fornication or anything else;
if he only were not seen by members of
this church he could remain in “good
and regular standing.” Dr. Roy said
emphatically that evidence was to be
sought from any source, and weighed
carefully. Others agreed with him.
At night Dr. Roy spoke, using his fine
large map, on the work of the Association
in the South. The house was full,
and all were deeply interested. Saturday
morning we listened to a paper by
Rev. G. W. Moore, on how to reach the
young people. Saturday afternoon was
mainly taken up with hearing reports of
committees. Revs. H. S. Bennett and
J. E. Smith were chosen delegates from
this Conference to the National Council.
Saturday night we listened to the news
of Trinity church and congregation.
This was one of the best meetings of
Conference. Sunday morning Rev. H.
S. Bennett preached from Acts ii. 3, and
Revs. A. K. Spence and G. W. Moore
officiated at the communion. At night
Rev. A. K. Spence preached to young
people from Ps. cix. 9.
I cannot give in this paper an idea of
the interesting meetings we had. Each
meeting was a feast of fat things. It
was a great privilege to meet these brethren
from abroad, to have them sit at
our table, to talk with them about the
common cause we all are interested in,
and above all to meet with them around
the table of our Lord. Some of us may
never meet them again in Conference,
but the memory of this good meeting
will remain through life; and we trust
that this church will receive a blessing
in consequence of this meeting.
REV. C. W. HAWLEY, ATLANTA.
I have just come in from our social
evening service of thanksgiving and
prayer for the A. M. A. About fifty were
present, and there were repeated expressions
of gratitude for blessings here
received, and fervent prayers for the
continued and increasing success of the
cause. One brother thought the Association
the chief agent in the abolition
of slavery, and spoke most feelingly of
the inexpressible relief which that abolition
had brought to him and to his
people. Another in his prayer thanked
the Lord for the schools and the church
in the city, expressing the conviction that
if the A. M. A. had not sent its workers
here “things would be in a considerably
worse fix than they are.”
One woman told her story: her blind
gropings as a slave, her joy in being
sought out and taught by the teachers
of the A. M. A., just when she
“did not know what to do with her freedom,”
and made capable of giving her
children, now converted, a Christian
training, with a purpose henceforth
to use for the good of others all
the light and help she had received.
Another told us how the A. M. A. had
reached out its helping hand to him in
this city when he was ignorant and
vicious, and through the influence of a
faithful teacher in a night school had
saved him from evil companions and the
curse of drunkenness.
It has been an intensely interesting
meeting to me, and would have quickened
the zeal of any friends of the A.
M. A. who might have been present.
Our regular prayer-meeting comes tomorrow
evening and is a pleasant anticipation
to me. I reached the field the
11th inst. and am not yet well acquainted
with it. I am sure to be interested in
it. I have quite enjoyed the welcome
given me and have no painful sense of
isolation. Their faces, their intelligence,
their quiet good sense, their homes, so
far as I have seen them, all surpass my
expectations. The work that has been
done for them shows. I shall esteem it a
privilege if I may do something to help
it on.
REV. O. D. CRAWFORD, MOBILE.
It was named after Mr. Ralph Emerson,
a resident of Rockford, Ill., whose
timely gift enabled the Association to
purchase “Blue College,” a commodious
building, with beautiful grounds, in
the western part of the city, two miles
from the post-office. It was originally
built for the education of the white
youth. In the transpositions of the times
“after the surrender,” as the close of
the war is here styled, it became the resort
of three hundred Freedmen. In
April of our Centennial year it crumbled
in the flames. The school went on in
unfavorable quarters until, in May,
1878, it entered its new and elegant
building, which was designed for two
hundred and fifty pupils. Last year the
yellow fever delayed the opening of
school and crippled many of its friends.
But adverse influences are now disappearing,
and the ten thousand colored
people of the city are looking to it again
as the hope of their youth.
Last year, two-thirds of our whole
number in attendance entered after the
Christmas holidays. This year the second
month closes with fifty names more
than the highest number of last year.
The rooms are furnished with the best
of modern desks; but their present capacity
is exceeded by more than forty
names. If another room and sufficient
teaching force be added by the friends
of the Association after New Year’s, our
present number of two hundred and
forty will, in every probability, run up
to three hundred. To meet the wants
of these, we should have six teachers
besides the superintendent, including
one that should give half an hour each
day to instruction in vocal music and
some time to instrumental music. We
now have one that is competent for this
work, but she has no time for it. Our
overworked force is to be somewhat relieved
by the expected arrival of a fifth
teacher this week.
At present we are obliged to receive
many primary scholars, not only to relieve
the public want, but also with the
view of raising up normal scholars, for
whom the Institute has been specially
designed. We regret the seeming necessity
that is laid upon the colored parents
of taking their children from the
public schools. We do not advise their
action. The feverish desire for education
which seized the body of colored
people immediately after emancipation
has subsided. Their best men are now
obliged to urge upon them the duty of
educating their children. In this they
have come down to the level of the
whites. An organization has been
formed to promote this interest. The
largest church has established a school
of more than fifty members. The pastor
of the most influential church, in point
of intelligence, has opened one, with an
attendance of more than forty, and
teaches it himself, in addition to preaching
three sermons every Lord’s day and
performing the other usual duties of a
minister. These schools are intended
to awaken their people in the matter,
and to raise up candidates for the work
of teaching, that may get their fuller
preparation in our Normal department.
The friends of Christian education
could not ask for a more needy and
promising outlook than lies before us.
Will they put into the hands of the
Association the necessary means?
Organized with forty-seven members,
it now has sixty-one. It owes its origin
and existence to the presence of the
Institute. Its members are very poor
in this world’s goods, but delightfully
rich in grace.
It was natural that the spirit of independence
which found full scope among
the Freedmen should seek for a church
organization and connection with an
ecclesiastical body whose history was
not tainted with oppression. This disposition,
however, has sometimes asked
for more license for fleshly indulgences
than pure Congregationalism permits.
In this city it is impossible for your Superintendent
to find a provision store
having any considerable variety of goods
that does not include among its principal
commodities wines and liquors.
Members and officers of churches are
engaged in the trade, and scruple not
to advertise conspicuously that branch
of their business, which we regard as
exceedingly immoral. Yet there are
some churches, both white and colored,
whose rules and discipline would delight
the heart of a Puritan. Congregationalism
is an exotic in this soil; and its
Northern friends have reason to be
pleased if it grows even slowly. Among
the adverse circumstances against which
our church has had to struggle may be
mentioned a frequent change of pastors.
In its three and one-half years it has
suffered the perturbations incident to
two summer supplies, and now the
fourth pastor. These changes have
tended to prevent some from making
their church home with us. More permanence
is a necessity. We have no
such opportunity for reaching those under
our educational care as is offered
by a boarding-school. The parents of
most of our pupils are connected with
some church, and the children themselves
with Sunday-schools. The kind
of instruction they receive is one of the
necessities of our continuance. The
growing intelligence of the colored
preachers, and the attractiveness of the
large congregations which gather about
them, make our beginning less attractive
to the young, who otherwise might
prefer our place of worship.
Your missionary has preached to the
largest colored church in a revival meeting,
and exchanged pulpits with the
other leading pastor; but we cannot
expect any special help from other
churches in building up a new denomination
in the midst of them. J. H.
Roberts, now in the Senior Theological
Class at Talladega, supplied the church
very acceptably through the summer,
and just before his departure witnessed
the reception of four persons to fellowship.
Since then the attendance has increased
some. The interest in the Sunday-school
has likewise received the impetus
given it by the return of our schoolteachers;
yet our hopes of an increase
in members have not thus far been realized.
As accessory helps we need Sunday
school papers and a library. Our
problem is that of reaching the young
with Christian influences in the form of
direct religious instruction. For this
purpose we have some advantages, and
hope for more. We wish to keep this
missionary work upon the prayerful
hearts of our Northern friends.
REV. J. D. SMITH, SHELBY IRON WORKS.
During the first week in October we
set apart Wednesday as a day of fasting
and prayer. On the following Sabbath
we commenced a series of meetings,
which continued three weeks. Brother
H. W. Conley stopped off here on
his way from Marion back to Talladega,
and preached and labored very faithfully
with us several days. Brother J.
W. Strong came down and labored with
me, preaching the word almost every
night for over a week. Brother Jones,
of Childersburg, paid us a short visit,
and Rev. F. J. Tyler, of this place,
pastor of the Union Church (white),
preached for us. Last of all came Rev.
G. W. Andrews, who preached several
times.
Every evening, one half-hour before
services, a number of Christians would
assemble in the inquiry-room and converse
with those who came to inquire of
the way of salvation. I must say that
the inquiry meetings were the means of
great and untold good, as much or
more than the sermons, perhaps.
Well, the meetings closed with twenty-one
conversions reported. Last Sunday
fifteen came forward, entered into
covenant with the church, and were
baptized, on profession of their faith.
All of the candidates for baptism preferred
sprinkling—the first instance, to
my knowledge, where we did not have
to immerse some out of so many uniting
at one time; and, more singular than
all, a Baptist father and mother presented
their infant boy for baptism.
When reminded by some of the Baptist
brethren that they had “broken the
rules of the church,” they replied by
saying that if they had five hundred
children, they would have them baptized,
because it was right in the
sight of God. The work has a more
hopeful outlook for future prosperity
than ever before.
Some eight or ten are to unite by letter,
the first opportunity, who did not
get ready in time to join last Sunday.
Our total membership will then stand
about fifty.
REV. E. M. CRAVATH, FISK UNIVERSITY.
Our readers will remember a plea for
student aid made by President Cravath
in the Missionary for October. Soon
after its publication this description of
the first young man thus aided came,
but has been delayed by the special matter
which has claimed our columns.
There are many more such at all our
institutions awaiting similar help.
The first answer came in the shape of
a draft for fifty dollars from a good
friend of Rochelle, Illinois. On the
same day with this answer a young man
from Abbeville, S. C., came to Fisk
University for the first time, and as he
was a good representative of the class of
young people for whom our appeal was
made in the October Missionary, we
assigned him at once to this scholarship.
A brief sketch of his personal history
may encourage some of the readers of the
Missionary who are yet hesitating to
give a favorable answer to our appeal.
Mr. Richard J. Holloway was born in
Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1857, and
was a slave up to the close of the war.
He brought to the University the following
testimonial from his former master,
dated Abbeville, S. C., Sept. 8, 1879;
“The bearer of this, Richard J. Holloway,
is a young man who was born in
my family. I have known him from
his birth to the present time. He
early exhibited a desire for knowledge,
which he has pursued under great difficulties.
Notwithstanding he has made
considerable advance, his laudable desire
seems to be unsatisfied, and he leaves
this section of the country to avail himself
of advantages offered elsewhere.
So far as I know, his moral character is
good. He is commended to the favorable
regard of all to whom this may
come.” The first year after the war,
being a lad of nine years, Richard had
the opportunity of attending a school in
Abbeville for five or six months. After
this he was under the necessity of working
with his parents, but contrived to
study by himself so that he made considerable
progress. During the fall of
1875 he happened to see, upon the table
of his minister, a circular which had
been sent out from the school established
by the Am. Miss. Assoc. at Greenwood, S.
C., which was then, and is still, taught
by that most faithful and zealous missionary
laborer, Mr. Backenstose, of Geneva,
N. Y. Noticing that the tuition was
only fifty cents a month, there dawned
upon him the possibility of realizing his
long-cherished desire of securing a good
education. Inspired by this thought he
left home and hired out on a plantation
to earn some money with which to go to
Greenwood.
By working three months he earned
money enough, so that by buying his
food and doing his own cooking he was
able to attend school about the same
length of time. He then went to one of
the upper counties of South Carolina
and taught a private school for two
months, after which he worked for two
months in a cotton-gin near by, while
remaining to collect the money for his
teaching. Being compelled to use considerable
of the money he had earned to
help his parents, he again secured a public
school for two months, at fifteen dollars
a month, and boarded himself. He
then went over into Georgia and taught
a public school, for which he was fortunate
enough to receive twenty-five dollars
a month. He was then able to return to
Greenwood, where he was again under
the instruction of Mr. Backenstose for
nearly three months. Under the advice
of his teacher, he determined to get
to Fisk University if possible and take a
thorough course of study, but not succeeding
in earning much money by his
teaching during the spring and summer,
he stopped for five months of last year
at Biddle University at Charlotte, N. C.
He then undertook teaching again, determined
to earn what money he could
during the spring and summer, and to
get to Fisk University if possible at the
opening of the next school year. He
only succeeded, however, in getting a
three months’ school in Georgia, for
which he has only received payment in
part. As soon as his school closed he
started for Nashville and reached here
on the 7th of October, just as the
answer came from our friend in Illinois
which told us what to do. Mr.
Holloway is a member of the African
Methodist church, and his desire evidently
is to secure an education that he
may use it in Christian work among his
people.
We are confidently hoping that we
shall receive similar answers enough to
enable us to provide for at least a hundred
such young men as this.
PROF. A. J. STEELE, MEMPHIS.
November 1st found Memphis dull,
spiritless, and wearing a half deserted
appearance, its streets strewn with autumn
foliage and dry grass, so that the
rustling of leaves beneath the feet was a
more familiar sound than the rumbling
of wagons or drays on most of the streets.
Business men who had returned, in most
cases without their families, wore a troubled
and doubtful look. Many were
discouraged and without hope for the
future of the city, either as a business
point or a place of residence. A few,
like the boy in the dark, made a pretence
of courage by “whistling.”
Although the Board of Health had declared
the fever ended, there were still a
few cases, with constant rumors of
many more. After the cold spell of October
30, the weather became and continued
unusually warm. Little or no
cotton was being received, and orders
for goods came not to waiting merchants.
Laboring people returning to the city
found no employment, and many suffered
for the necessaries of life.
This state of things continued till
the middle of November, when, after
a few frosty nights, and with bright
clear weather, the entire aspect of affairs
changed, and rapidly took on a most
hopeful and promising appearance. Cotton,
the staple and life of business, began
to come in rapidly, until before the end
of November the daily receipts became
the largest ever known at this point,
placing Memphis as a primary cotton
market scarcely second to New Orleans.
With this revival of activity the
empty talk of a hundred or so self-constituted
newspaper correspondents and
pretended scientists ceased to be heard
on the corners and to be seen in the papers.
The city authorities and a committee
of citizens began a careful and
thorough canvass of the city to ascertain
its condition and needs. Under the advice
of a committee of experts from the
meeting of the American Sanitary Association
held at Nashville, a system of
sewerage and general sanitary reform
was promptly adopted, and it is now expected
that the Governor will convene
the legislature to empower the city to
make the needed changes. There is
little doubt but that the hard and painful
lessons of the past two seasons have
finally been learned, and that at least
another epidemic will not be invited
next year by the criminal negligence of
the authorities.
The school opened November 17 with
about forty students. This number on
December 2nd had increased to over 100.
We are now receiving new students
every day, of these ten are in the senior or
graduating class. We note with interest
a revival of the early desire for education
and the culture which it brings;
not just the early desire of ignorant and
foolish expectation, but a steadily deepening
conviction of the need and advantage
of patient, continued study and
training for better things in the future.
We hope to foster this feeling, and to do
what we may to realize the expectation,
by building up honest, manly and womanly
characters in our students. Many
of the pupils have taught during the vacation
months; some have not yet completed
the term for which they were
engaged. So far as we know, all have labored
earnestly to exert an influence for
good in the communities where they
have been located. A few during the
sickness were employed by the Howards
or other societies as nurses, one young
man saving about $200 at this work,
and gaining an enviable reputation as a
nurse.
Our public library is demonstrating
its influence and usefulness in a gratifying
way, in awakening in many laboring
people a love of reading and of thought,
aside from the great advantage it is to
the school directly and indirectly. During
the summer months, considerably
over one hundred volumes were drawn
and read. Among many others several
white persons of most excellent standing
availed themselves of its privileges.
Of these latter, one is principal of a
boys’ and girls’ school in our vicinity.
I cannot close this letter without a
word concerning the church here. During
the epidemic, one of its most earnest,
reliable members fell a victim to the
scourge. By thrift and saving, every
family belonging to the church, except
one only, got through the long summer
of idleness without aid in the way of
charity, and before the return of the
teachers, and in the absence of the pastor,
the church voted to send a delegate
to the Conference at Athens, raising
money at once to pay his expenses. If
this is not an example of commendable
church devotion and courage, show us
one that is so.
We look for a fuller, stronger school
this year than ever before. I sometimes
think these people have become so accustomed
to adversity and trial, that
they come out stronger under it than
from any other experience. May it not
be that God is leading them through
rough ways to better things than we
think?
Sample copies sent free.
