The American Missionary -- Volume 34, No. 2, February, 1880

American Missionary Association,

American Missionary Association. — ARRIVAL OF MR. NURSE IN AFRICA. — KNOWING, GIVING, PRAYING. — TILLOTSON COLLEGIATE AND NORMAL INSTITUTE, AUSTIN, TEXAS. — WHO SHALL CIVILIZE AFRICA? — ITEMS FROM THE FIELD. — GENERAL NOTES. — The Freedmen. — Africa. — The Indians. — The Chinese.

We need very much two communion services—one for the Midway church, Golding’s Grove, Ga., and the other for the new church at Cypress Slash. Who will send them to us?

A pastor of an M. E. Church South, in Georgia, asked us by mail, the other day, for a hundred copies of the American Missionary to put on a Christmas tree for members of his church, that he might thus awaken more interest in the missionary cause. We sent them. This is the first time we were ever asked to send our publications as “Christmas greens.”

How the angels must smile when they see a man whom God has greatly prospered carefully take a hundred dollars out of a hundred thousand that he has laid away, and hear him say to himself, with a chuckle of self-complacency: “Yes, we are only stewards; we must deal generously by these good causes; I will give that to the Lord.” A pauper giving crumbs in charity to the King on whom he depends for daily bread! But then there are some who do not give even the crumbs.—Congregationalist.

In this month of February, we publish, according to our custom, the list of our missionaries and teachers in the field; and we are proud of it, not for its length or numbers, but for the high and approved character of those who constitute it; nay, rather, we are thankful to Him under whom we all labor, that He has given to us and to each other so worthy a band of co-laborers, so intelligent and so devoted. We do not forget that these pastors and teachers are far from their homes, and that each is known personally to but a limited number of the friends of the Association, and we bespeak for them not only a general but a personal remembrance. Would it not be well to select some one whose work you, reader,[34] will follow with especial interest, to whom you will some time write, assuring of your interest and prayers, and with whom you may establish and maintain a personal friendship? Pray for some one at least in this list by name, and you will be less likely to forget to pray for all the rest.

“Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem.”—So, in that hour of unearthly experience as recorded in the fifty-first Psalm, does David’s heart leap from the state of penitence and of forgiveness to take in the welfare of Zion. So, evermore, does the truest devotion inspire the missionary spirit. The first burden of our Lord’s Prayer is for a heavenly Kingdom on earth. His last prayer with and for His disciples, that they might be kept, and sanctified and glorified, was, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” It is the instinct of a soul in communion with God, that in every prayer it should utter at least one petition for the coming of his Kingdom. So often do our lyric hymns, which are but a transcript of Christian experience, glance off from almost any line of thought and of feeling, to utter the great aspiration for the crowning of Christ in His spiritual realm. The nearer we come to God, the more do we long to have Him enthroned in all hearts.

Mr. Miller writes: “I am very glad to be able to announce to you the arrival of Bro. Nurse from America to join our work in Western Africa. His voyage was rather longer than had been expected, and he doubtless grew impatient as the ship neared this place, and stood several days under the silent influence of a calm.

“Yesterday was Thanksgiving-day with you at home—not less so with him and his mother, from whom he had been separated for many years, as they met in warm embrace. How freely the tears rolled down the cheeks of that overjoyed mother, as she looked upon her son returned to her and the ‘dark continent,’ a missionary of the Gospel to assist in lifting up degraded, perishing mankind. Bro. Nurse is a little worn-out from his long voyage, but will soon get well rested, and we shall leave for Sherbro.”

These are the three strands of the rope by which the car of missions is drawn. This is the trinity of Christian work. The three are one, and each one is only itself fully as it is with the three.

One can have little interest in knowing of a work for which he neither gives nor prays. His knowledge will be indefinite and easily forgotten. It has no grip in it such as comes from a personal connection. In the nation’s war, men and women thought of it, read of it, were eager to know the latest tidings, because their sons and their wealth had been given to the cause which they believed was God’s, and their prayers were daily following as they traced the progress of the day.

No one will give generously or sufficiently when he has not taken pains to know. You cannot get up much enthusiasm over a mere list of stations or catalogue of workers. Dr. Albert Bushnell says that half the Presbyterian churches in the United States give nothing to the cause of foreign missions, and that many who do not give do not pray. We should be willing to go further than that and say[35] that none who do not give can pray effectually. They may repeat prayers possibly in public for missions, because that is the proper thing to do, but such are but “vain repetitions” against which we are warned.

We all agree that missions need the prayers of Christians; that such prayer is the duty of all who bear the name of Christ. Then it is equally a duty for all such to fulfil the conditions by which they may be able to pray aright. It is a duty to know about the progress of the Redeemer’s cause. If He bids us say, “Thy kingdom come,” He will not be content with us if we sit with closed eyes, indifferent to the signs of its coming. But how many Christian people take pains to keep themselves informed of the affairs of the nations of the earth, their wars, their acts, their commerce, and skip the paragraphs which tell of the contests and conquests of Christ’s kingdom! How many who know of the strifes and supremacies of parties in Maine and Mississippi, know nothing at all of the religious state or progress of our land! Is it likely that such will give much, or pray earnestly?

Nor will they pray aright unless they give. That makes it their work. That establishes their interest in it. That, if it be real giving—not mere throwing away to avoid the trouble or the embarrassment of saying No—based on intelligent appreciation of the need, enlarges and emphasizes and doubly underscores the prayer which, then, with the alms ascending, will surely find their way to God together.

Friends, we want your prayers for us, for our workers and for our work. But we want prayers that are weighted by your gifts—they will rise the better for it; and that are illuminated with your intelligence—they will be read the better for it, even by the Father who “dwelleth in light.”

This school was founded on the same comprehensive scale as the other chartered institutions of the American Missionary Association. In 1876, a beautiful site of eight acres, overlooking the valley of the Colorado River and the mountains beyond, was secured in the city of Austin, the capital of Texas, and subsequently paid for by the originator of the enterprise, Rev. Geo. J. Tillotson. Efforts were commenced at once to raise the funds for the first building, which is to serve all the purposes of a boarding school until the growth and ability of the institution shall necessitate and provide others. Dea. David Allen, of Connecticut, headed the subscription with $1,000, and to this amount has since added $250. David Banks, of Stanwich, Conn., a gentleman over 80 years of age, raised $1,200 more, subscribing one-third of it himself. The remainder of the amount we now have on hand was collected for the most part by Mr. Tillotson, who has kindly added the gift of his services to the enterprise founded by his liberality. The principal benefactors of the institution are all over seventy years of age.

Work on the new building was commenced last summer, and is still going on. It is being constructed of brick, with some trimmings, and will have accommodations for seventy boarding students. The funds at our disposal for the object are barely sufficient to inclose the building. We need $7,000 additional in order to finish and furnish it for occupation by the 1st of October. The money already given, amounting to about $11,000, exclusive of the $5,000 paid for the site, was subscribed largely in sums of $400 each by persons who are to have the privilege[36] of naming the students’ rooms, of which there will be thirty-five. A grand example has been given. Are there not others ready to follow?

The burden of debt, and the struggle required to maintain the institutions already under way, has deterred this Association, during the past three years, from pressing the claims of this, our only school in Texas; but we believe the time has now come when we should earnestly solicit the gifts needful for its speedy completion. Already we have received the written indorsement of seventy-six of the leading citizens of Austin, saying, “We believe that such a school is very much needed, and that the enterprise will be hailed by very many of our best citizens as of great importance to the welfare of the State.” Texas has a territory larger than France, and constitutes no mean part of “the whole world” where we are commanded to go and teach. Will our friends aid us to go up at once and possess the land?

We copy from the Tribune the following opinion of Col. C. Chaillé Long, the African explorer, who preceded Stanley by a year in visiting Mtesa:

If the heart of Africa is ever reached by civilizing influences, Colonel Long thinks the work must be done by intelligent colored people from the United States. They, if anybody, could keep communications open, introduce trade, and gradually train the natives in habits of systematic industry. Last spring, when public attention was attracted to the exodus of negroes from the Southern States, Colonel Long wrote a letter to the King of Belgium, who is President of the principal European society for exploring and civilizing Africa. In that letter he proposed that the King should stimulate, through the medium of his society, a movement to take a large body of the discontented blacks from our Southern States and settle them in Central Africa, opening with them a line of trading and missionary posts from the West Coast to the lake country.

Colonel Long believed that thousands of the most industrious and best educated colored men in the Gulf States could be induced to go. Their presence in Africa would, he wrote, create no surprise or hostility among the natives, and they would soon acquire influence over the native tribes and start the work of civilization. In this way the experiment of opening the dark continent would be tried under the only conditions that afford the least promise of success. King Leopold wrote in reply that the project deeply interested him, and that he should give it his careful investigation, but nothing further has been heard from him. Colonel Long says it would cost a great deal of money to carry out the scheme, but the African exploring societies in Europe could raise it if they tried. He is not enthusiastic about the success of his plan, but is confident that it is the only one not foredoomed to failure. Equatorial Africa, he insists, will never be civilized by white men.

Macon, Ga.—Pastor S. E. Lathrop is getting under way his Circulating Library for the colored people. He sends out a circular, printed on his own “Gospel Press,” that was given him as a home missionary in Wisconsin, appealing for the gift of new or second-hand books for this purpose. Gov. Colquitt and Senators Gordon and Hill have furnished some. Pres. A. L. Chapin, of[37] Beloit, Wis., is putting up a trunk full. Sup’t Roy sent in a “carpet-bag” full. Who’ll follow up?

Macon, Ga.—A graduate from the Lewis High School writes: “I have worked faithfully for three months. I was assigned to a place where there was no school-house or church. The people had their meeting under an arbor. I worked with the patrons of the place until they built me a school-house. Since that they have erected a church at the expense of $350. It is 35 by 45 feet. We are holding protracted meetings. Three persons have been received in full connection, and many more are hovering around the altar. Our Sunday-school is prospering. Many are coming in. The old folks are more interested in this great work than the young. We are hammering down upon them. My school numbers thirty-nine scholars. I have received several petitions from the colored people, asking me to come again and teach for them.”

McIntosh, Liberty Co., Ga.—A pleasant and profitable Sunday-school concert and Christmas exercise was held in the Dorchester Midway church. Mr. McIntosh, the superintendent and teacher, and Miss Douglass, the missionary, are doing good and successful work. Rev. Floyd Snelson is the pastor, and his children gave some exhibitions of their African treasures and experience. A watch-night prayer-meeting was held at his house New Year’s eve.

Cypress Slash, Ga.—The people are getting up timbers for their new meeting-house.

Tougaloo, Miss.—We have had a blessed work here this week. Several of our pupils had been very thoughtful for a great while, some of them a year, and one or two even longer. They had held out stoutly, but last Sabbath afternoon one yielded. Saturday night, several asked for prayers. After church, three young men were converted. Monday morning, twelve more yielded. Monday afternoon, one of the most stubborn cases I ever met came into the fold. She had been trying to climb up some other way for more than two years. Tuesday afternoon another gave up, making in all eighteen within two days. Our term closed on Wednesday. Several went to their homes very anxious. I hope they may still be brought within the fold.

Florence, Ala.—The new church edifice mentioned in our last number was first planned through the benevolence of Mrs. J. Fowler, of Mendon, Ill., who contributed fully one-third of the total cost, and thus laid the foundation of this good enterprise. The completion of the work was made possible by “Howard.”

Washington, D. C.—The American Missionary Association has called Rev. Simon P. Smith to a missionary work among the colored people of Washington. The Lincoln Mission, a Sabbath-school enterprise connected with the Congregational Church, has offered its capacious building, and here may yet arise a colored Congregational church. Mr. Smith is a colored clergyman, a graduate of Howard and then of Chicago Seminary, and well fitted for his work.—Congregationalist.

—The school work of the Presbyterian Church among the Freedmen reports 39 schools, 4,184 scholars, 58 (or, including 16 ministers and 6 catechists engaged in teaching in addition to their other duties, 80) teachers; making in both departments, including a few assistant teachers, 140 missionaries. Five of their higher[38] schools report 1,126 pupils, of whom 145 taught part of the year, reporting 7,513 pupils. Of the teachers from four of these schools, 77 superintended Sabbath-schools while teaching, and reported 4,043 Sabbath-school scholars. These four schools report also 51 students preparing for the Gospel ministry.

—The M. E. Church, through its Freedmen’s Aid Society, has aided in establishing and supporting 6 chartered colleges, 3 theological and one medical school, and 9 institutions not chartered. In these institutions the number of pupils taught during the year is classified as follows: Biblical, 453; law, 20; medical, 60; collegiate, 74; academic, 270; normal, 1,020; intermediate, 242; primary, 371. Total, 2,510.

—A colored lawyer was recently admitted to practice in the Court of Appeals of Virginia. He is the first colored man who has ever enjoyed this privilege in that State. The motion for his admission was made by the son of ex-Gov. Wise.

—On the 8th of July, Mr. James Stewart, C. E., then in charge of the Nyassa Mission, wrote to the Convener from Livingstonia. After building a dwelling-house for the head of the mission at Livingstonia, he sailed north to visit the stations of Marenga and Kaningina. He found all well. The Mangoni chiefs had presented the mission with eleven cows, but insist on their being used only in the country around Kaningina. Our own cattle—most precious property—were in good condition. At Livingstonia, advancing cultivation had driven off the pestilent and fatal tsetse fly. After a fortnight’s holiday, the school-boys and girls had returned to Christian instruction. Mr. Stewart had distributed toys and handkerchiefs as prizes at the examination. Namalambi, “a fine, promising boy,” was dux of the school. Mr. Stewart had already started for Lake Tanganika before the request of the London Missionary Society was telegraphed, and was hoping to meet and, if necessary, aid Messrs. Hoare and Hutley.

—The Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, devotes a large portion of his annual report to the Indian question. He states that the hostile Indians at the West are few compared with the whole number of the race. He states the Indian policy of the Department to be as follows:

“The ends steadily pursued by it are: First, to set the Indians to work as agriculturists or herders, thus to break up their habits of savage life and to make them self-supporting; second, to educate their youth of both sexes, so as to introduce to the growing generation civilized ideas, wants and aspirations; third, to allot parcels of land to the Indians in severalty, and to give them individual titles to their farms in fee, inalienable for a certain period, thus to foster the pride of individual ownership of property, instead of their former dependence upon the tribe, with its territory held in common; fourth, when settlement in severalty with individual title is accomplished, to dispose, with their consent, of those lands on their reservations which are not settled and used by them, the proceeds to form a fund for their benefit which will gradually relieve the Government of the expenses at present provided for by the annual appropriations; fifth when this is accomplished, to treat the Indians like other inhabitants of the United States under the laws of the land.

[39]

“This policy, if adopted and supported by Congress, and carried out with wisdom and firmness, will in my opinion gradually bring about a solution of the Indian problem, without injustice to the Indians, and also without obstructing the development of the country. It will raise them to a level of civilization at least equal to that of the civilized tribes in the Indian Territory, and probably to a higher one, considering the stimulus of individual ownership in land. It will not take away from them by force what in justice and equity belongs to them, but induce them to part with what they cannot cultivate and use themselves for a fair compensation. It will open to progress and improvement large districts now held by Indians, which will then be of no real advantage to them and are now to nobody else.”

—Last February, Congress passed the bill prohibiting Chinese immigration which was vetoed by President Hayes. The very next day the new anti-Chinese constitution was adopted by the convention in California, denying the Chinaman the right to land, to labor, to vote, or even to live in any town or city. Soon came on the other side a decision of the Federal courts, adjudging the queue-cutting ordinance to be an unconstitutional violation of personal rights; and another, asserting that the treaty with China, granting its people a right of residence, gave them also a right of labor, and forbade any State to prohibit their employment. Chinese merchants meanwhile, unwilling to give up the commercial advantages assured to them by treaty, are establishing a line of steamers from China to the Sandwich Islands, and a connecting line thence to the Pacific coast. This record of the year’s events is memorable and full of suggestiveness.

NEW APPOINTMENTS. — THE SOUTHERN FIELD. — AMONG THE CHINESE. — AMONG THE INDIANS. — MENDI MISSION, WEST AFRICA.

Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D., Field Superintendent.

THE FREEDMEN. — GEORGIA. — CONFERENCE REVIEW. — EDUCATIONAL REPORT. — ATLANTA MISCELLANIES. — FLORIDA. — LOUISIANA. — The Schools and the Churches. — TENNESSEE. — Labor Among Convicts. — WOMAN’S WORK AMONG WOMEN. — STUDENT TEACHERS FROM LE MOYNE.

The fact that all of our fourteen churches except one, have been represented in this Conference by their ministers and delegates, reveals an interest in its meetings, and in the doctrine of the fellowship of the churches, that is truly delightful. In this connection we cannot refrain from noting the grace of God conferred upon the churches in their custom of providing the necessary traveling expenses of their delegates. We hope that such messengers of the churches will reciprocate this consideration, and magnify their office, by making a full report of this and all such convocations to their respective assemblies for worship.

We gratefully recognize the increase of our total membership by 354, making the present number 949. One new church has been organized, that of Cypress Slash, which reports to us a membership of 54; a temporary cabin, built as a place for church and school, with the purpose soon to erect a more comely and[45] permanent sanctuary; and also a new young minister who, with his wife, is already reaping missionary fruit.

We note with gratification that every one of our churches is supplied with the ministry of the word, except that at Marietta, whose pastor, Rev. S. P. Smith, has been transferred to Washington City for the purpose of building up the 2d Congregational Church at the capital. So, with the same exception, every one of our churches has its own house of worship. Some of these are commodious and tasteful; others are very plain; but all are places of sanctuary comfort, and the worshippers are striving each year to increase their comeliness and convenience. During the year, three of these congregations have added to their meeting-houses the attraction of the church-going bell. Among a people, few of whom have clocks or watches, the church bell is their time-keeper, and the promoter of that promptness which adds a charm to the services of public worship.

The doctrine of church discipline as a means of grace has been illustrated by a heroic use of the pruning knife upon these vines, that they may bring forth more fruit. The seeking of a clean membership is essential to the healthfulness and well-being of the churches.

The cause of temperance has been kept near the heart of our members. One church, the Pilgrim, at Woodville, has a large and influential Band of Hope. All preach temperance and require its practice among their members. We are deeply convinced that the habit of intemperance is the devil’s best grip upon the poor and lowly people among whom we have our lot and our work, and that total abstinence is the only consistent rule for Christians. In a community where pastors and officers and members of Protestant churches indulge in the practice of drinking liquors, we feel called upon to bear an unremitting and uncompromising testimony against this violation of the spirit and the precept of the Gospel.

We are confirmed in the wisdom of the union of the school-work and the church-work in our evangelizing process. The school prepares the way for the church. It brings along the young and hopeful material for the church membership. The church garners up such fruit. It reacts upon the school and the community by its educating and elevating influence. In our ideal, both unite in the one purpose of saving and edifying the souls of men. We desire to express our sincere gratefulness in view of the devoted and self-denying labor of the teachers in the schools associated with our churches.

The higher schools and colleges within our bounds have gone along upon the plane of their former success. The Avery Institute, at Charleston, has passed through a change of administration without any diminution of its members or lowering of its high grade of scholarship. The Normal School at Greenwood, S. C., has held on in its beneficent way, enjoying the fine building and campus of an old time Baptist College. The Beach Institute in this city, with its cultivated and consecrated corps of seven teachers, with its fine body of pupils, with its thorough discipline and its decided moral and religious tone, is a power for good in this community and in this part of the State. The Dorchester Academy at Midway, the Lewis High School at Macon, and the Storrs School at Atlanta, have kept steadily upon the line of their extensive and beneficent influence. The Atlanta University maintains its high position as to classical and normal scholarship, and as to moral and religious tone, approved by the authorities of the Commonwealth and also by the favor of Heaven, in the enrolling during the year of a couple of score of its students among the disciples of the Great Master. Its independent Union Church, with 67 members, although not belonging to our body, is to us a sister in Christ, for whom our prayers and sympathies shall ever abound. Its Faculty consists[46] of three graduates of Yale and one each of Harvard, Dartmouth and Amherst Colleges, and of half a dozen cultivated ladies. To these it has just added Prof. A. W. Farnham, who is introducing the most approved normal methods, not only for the benefit of the normal scholars but of all in the University. More than a dozen of its graduates are now teaching high schools in leading cities of the State of Georgia, and so starting from these centres, radiating influences that shall bless many more communities. We give thanks to God for the bequest of $50,000, by which the University will now be able to add still more to its spacious accommodations.

We greatly rejoice in the new feature of the work within our limits, that of lady missionaries. We have four of them. One of these has been located at Charleston, one at Miller’s Station, one at Macon, and one in Atlanta. Woman’s work for women and children in these communities, we consider a Christly service of the utmost value. Woman can enter the homes as the pastor cannot; and yet she will make work for him in following up her discoveries. Her ready sympathy and happy tact will help her in stimulating to greater domestic comfort, and will aid her in doing good through many ways that are peculiarly her own.

We are comforted by the educated young men who are coming forward to minister in our churches. Besides those who have been raised up in the “Beach” to minister to the churches that cluster about it, we are happy in the coming of four graduates of the Theological department of Talladega College in Alabama, three of whom are this week receiving ordination at the hands of our own church councils, and the other is the moderator of one of these Convocations. We are happy to express grateful obligation to that Christian institution in another State for this gift of her cultured sons, who are to us also a part of the ascension gift of our blessed Lord.

We are devoutly grateful to God for the spiritual refreshings that have been enjoyed this year in our churches and schools. Some have had special seasons of revival. Others have had the dew in the fleece. Many souls have been brought into fellowship with Christ, and Christians have, we trust, been advanced somewhat in the process of purification.

We cannot conclude this annual narrative without recording our gratitude to the American Missionary Association, which, under God, has been the occasion within a short period of all this school and church development as now represented by the Conference of Georgia. We remind ourselves, also, that this is only one of seven of these Conferences which have been the outgrowth of the same general Christianizing process at the South. We magnify the grace of God bestowed upon the churches and friends who have furnished that Association with the funds, the prayers and the sympathies, that were essential to this great work. “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

At the Georgia Conference the Committee on Education make the following report:

That “Education is the handmaid of Religion” has become an accepted maxim. To be remembered everywhere, it is of especial importance in this field. Religion has here been corrupted by ignorance, and has often degenerated into superstition. A devout and imaginative spirit has been betrayed into serious errors and gross excesses in the name of truth and godliness. More knowledge, more culture of mind, is necessary in many cases to prepare the way for the perception of the truth. The one great object of the Church of Christ in its[47] labor among men is to save the souls of men by holding forth the word of Life; but to attain this, the Church must help to teach them what that word is, and how to read and study it for themselves. The Gospel seeks to prepare men, not only for the next life, but for this life also. It is fitted to bless the whole man, physical and mental, as well as spiritual. Education and Gospel piety must go together. The Committee would, therefore, recommend the adoption of the following resolutions:

1. Resolved, That this Conference desires to emphasize the fact that the past year’s experience gives new occasion for gratitude that from the beginning of the American Missionary Association’s work in this field, the school and the church have been closely united.

2. Resolved, That it is the deliberate judgment of this Conference that this field still requires the enlargement and vigorous prosecution of the school work, as a necessary aid to the upbuilding of our churches.

3. Resolved, That the churches must not cease to pray fervently for those who are teaching in our elementary and higher schools, and for their pupils, that the instruction given and the mental culture gained may bear the stamp of Christian consecration.

4. Resolved, That we desire to express our warm sympathy with our young people, who, in the face of many obstacles, are bravely pressing forward in their studies, to fit themselves for teachers or preachers, and would urge them to get as thorough and complete an education as possible.

Respectfully submitted,

BY A RESIDENT.

—A Christmas concert was observed by the Sunday-school of the First Congregational Church of Atlanta, Georgia. It followed Dr. Vincent’s programme, which, with variations, was rendered with great success. The singing was excellent. The recitations and the responsive readings of Scripture were impressive. The recitations on the platform, of prose or poetry, a score or more, did not have a failure or a prompting. Every piece during the whole evening was about Christmas. The good reading and elocution were apparent as the result of the good training in the Storrs School, whose teachers are also instructors in the Sunday-school. Pastor C. W. Hawley seemed in his element as the leader of this service. Sup’t Roy made a talk at the close. The school numbers two hundred and twenty-five. It would greatly gladden the hearts of the friends of our work if they could only look in upon this and the many other such schools in the South.

Atlanta has a monthly Sunday-school Teachers’ Institute. Pastor Hawley attends it. Atlanta’s County, Fulton, has also a Sunday-school Association, which convenes in the city quarterly. At the last meeting, as interest was warming up in favor of taking some more practical measures toward helping the colored Sunday-schools, it was found that the constitution limited the membership to such schools as were “all white.” Whereupon a resolution of interest and of encouragement was adopted. At the last meeting of the State S. S. Association, held in Macon, a colored school in Savannah applied for membership. The matter was quieted for the time, but it is said that it will come up again. Upon the recommendation of Gov. Colquitt it is proposed to adopt the Brooklyn idea of a Children’s Day once a year; this not only for the City but for the State. In Atlanta there are fourteen colored Sunday-schools.

—At an entertainment at the Atlanta University, during the holidays, the Field Superintendent gave one of his[48] addresses upon the map of the United States.

—At the watch-night service in the Trinity M. E. South Church, of Atlanta, one of the speakers, Rev. Dr. Potter, a Presiding Elder, dwelling upon the openings of benevolence during the last year, expatiated at length upon the million of dollars given by one estate to the American Board. Surely the children of light are beginning to do business upon something of the grand scale on which the children of this world project their schemes. It was stated at that meeting that during the year, under Pastor Heidt, the Trinity Church had received two hundred members, half of them upon confession of faith, and had paid off a debt of twenty thousand dollars. It seems that the M. E. General Conference, South, has abolished the feature of a six months’ probation. Only those are received who give evidence of conversion. The form in receiving a member that night was quite Congregational. This church has also advanced upon the policy of its sister at the North, in allowing a four years’ pastorate, instead of three.

Letter from Rev. Geo. Henry.

Dear Sir: I opened last Monday a day-school in addition to our Sunday-school. The necessity of this step will be apparent when I tell you that there are fifty children in this place who wish to attend school, but have been unable heretofore to do so, as the distance to the nearest colored school is from four to seven miles from their homes. Only a few of the larger ones have been able to attend.

In my school I have dull and bright, lazy and industrious children, as you have in all other schools, but taking them altogether, they study as well and learn as quickly as any set of pupils I have ever seen. I have one little girl who did not know the alphabet last Monday, but by the end of the week was able to read little stories from a Reader rapidly and accurately. I have never anywhere seen such progress made by a young child.

In view of the capability of the children to learn, there can scarcely be reason to doubt that the deplorable mental condition of the adult Freedmen is due to that institution which has been such a curse both to the slave and his owner. The public schools are open from three to four months each year; but so far they have been of very little use to the colored children, as they have been, as a rule, taught by incompetent persons. Most of the colored schools have colored teachers, and very few of them are either morally or intellectually qualified for the position. For example, the man who taught the school nearest to this place last winter used to bring his bottle with him to school. A woman of bad character and only rudimentary education has the same school this winter; yet this is one of the largest schools in the county. In a conversation which I had with Judge B——, a member of the Board of Public Instruction, he said that “the school money which had been spent for colored schools had been thrown away, for the children had not learned anything.” This is very nearly a correct statement of the case, for a bright child ten years of age would learn more in two months than boys 19 or 20 years old know who have attended these schools for years. Understand me, I think this is the fault of the teachers and not of the pupils.

I believe that in my week-day school I shall be able to do as much for the improvement of the condition of the Freedmen as in any other way, and I am sure if you were here to look over the field you would agree with me.

Our work in the Sunday-school is also very encouraging; not that the scholars are uniting with the church—for nearly[49] all the older ones are members of churches now—but they are learning from the word of God those truths which are calculated to prepare them for useful lives in the earth and eternal happiness in the world to come.

BY REV. W. S. ALEXANDER.

The work of education and evangelization among the Freedmen in this State was never more hopeful. By the provisions of the new constitution which was adopted at the recent election, the rate of taxation has been greatly reduced, and as a direct consequence, the appropriation for school purposes will be correspondingly cut down. The free colored schools will be the first to be struck by this wave of retrenchment. Many schools, especially in the country parishes, will be closed, or, at the best, be maintained for a very brief period in the year. New Orleans will feel this matter as keenly as the country, for the amount of taxation is strictly regulated by the new constitution. Only special gifts can possibly keep the schools up to the present standard. One of the most prominent educators in the city said to me, “I would not raise unnecessarily the cry of alarm, but a crisis is surely near at hand with our public schools.” The colored Normal School will certainly be discontinued. The Peabody fund will probably not be available for Louisiana another year. All these events, so unpropitious to the free school system of Louisiana, and so deeply to be deplored, render our work all the more necessary, and our prospect of enlarged usefulness the brighter.

When we see the grand opportunity opening before our beloved University—an opportunity which has not the remotest resemblance to the fictitious and dreamy—we try to forget the plaintive words, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,” and rally our courage by the more inspiring prophecy, “The morning light is breaking.”

When the glorious work of enlargement begins, will it not be in order to start at the Gulf of Mexico and gradually work up? We rather approve of that plan and are quite ready for it.

CHURCH WORK IN LOUISIANA.

“We hold our own, and something more,” is the word that comes up from the churches of our Association. Our annual meeting will be held at Terrebonne, the first Wednesday in April, and the brethren are eagerly anticipating it. Congregationalism is a plant of slow growth among the colored people, not from want of adaptation, but from lack of money to push it into fields now unoccupied or uncultivated. Money is needed to give new enterprises substantial encouragement in their difficult “beginnings”—to tide the pastors past the starvation point—to give them “foothold” till strength comes to them in the natural growth of a good enterprise.

The church at New Iberia, which welcomed our last annual conference, and which is memorable as the scene of a most precious revival, and suffered seriously in the loss, by a furious wind storm in September, of their tasteful and commodious chapel, is rallying grandly from the shock. By liberal subscriptions, by mortgaging their property, and by personal labor, they have put up and covered the frame of a larger building, and have stopped before finishing, simply because they could do no more. Two hundred dollars will put the new chapel in order for dedication. Shall they appeal in vain? We cannot afford to lose or to cripple this church. It has been a bright light on the prairie, and though the tempest levelled the building, it cannot—it must not—extinguish the light.

Our own, the Central Church, sends greeting to all kind, sympathizing and[50] praying friends in the North. All summer long, the members of the church have prayed in public and in private for a gracious out-pouring of the Divine Spirit. I found the church in an earnest, praying state. A greater degree of unity and cordial Christian fellowship prevails than I have ever before seen. To-morrow (Sunday, Jan. 4,) begins the “Week of Prayer.” If, in its results, it shall fulfil the longings and faith of this people, then will it indeed be the “Week of Weeks” to us in Central Church. Last night, at our preparatory service, seventy-five were present; five new members were received, of whom three came on profession of faith. It was a meeting of peculiar tenderness and spiritual power. After a brief lecture by the pastor, forty-two Christians spoke tender, earnest words of love to God, and devotion to His service. God grant I may have good tidings to send you in my next letter.

PROF. H. S. BENNETT, NASHVILLE.

I have been superintendent of the Sunday-school in the Penitentiary of Tennessee, located at Nashville, for nine years, and several of the teachers of Fisk University have done so much in connection with that school that the work done there becomes a part of the influence of Fisk University. Hence, a brief description of a powerful work of grace, which has been in progress during the past three months, will appropriately find place in the columns of the Missionary.

During my connection with the prison school, several seasons of refreshing have been witnessed, and hundreds of the prisoners have expressed a hope in Christ.

On returning from the North and resuming my duties as superintendent in the prison, in September, I noticed an unusual interest in the study of the Bible lesson. The remarks which were made at the close of the lesson were listened to with breathless interest. The interest was so marked that it was determined to give an opportunity to those who might desire to present themselves for prayers. This was done, and upwards of one hundred prisoners presented themselves. After a brief prayer-meeting, the prisoners were dismissed. On the next Sabbath, five or six made a profession of their faith in Christ, having been converted through the week. The work thus begun went on for two months, only one meeting for inquiry being held each week, and that at the close of the Sabbath-school. Another meeting was held on Sabbath morning, at which regular services were conducted by the chaplain. Each Sabbath, from three to six reported that they had found the Saviour. A deep religious interest pervaded the entire prison. Wherever little groups of prisoners were to be found, their conversation was upon the subject of religion. All the teachers felt that the Lord was present in power. At the end of two months thirty-five had found the Saviour, and ten or twelve backsliders had been reclaimed.

On the last Sabbath of November an unusual scene was witnessed within the prison walls. Thirty-four prisoners were received into the prison church. As the long row of prisoners, arrayed in the stripes of the criminal, stood up to take upon them the covenant vows of the church, it was perceived that the work had been very great.

Of the candidates, eight or ten were baptized by sprinkling, the rest by immersion. Ten or twelve remain to be taken into the church.

The influence of the work among the prisoners is seen to be very salutary. The church service and the Sabbath-school are the two bright spots in the lives of the prisoners. From twenty to[51] twenty-eight teachers, of both sexes and colors, Northern and Southern, engage in the work. Three hundred pupils, prisoners, attend with remarkable regularity, as the attendance is optional. The influence of the religious work is to inspire the prisoners with hope, and with a purpose to retrieve whatever they have lost by their folly and crime in the past. Scores of them go out and live useful and honorable lives. Of this we have abundant proof.

Answers to Prayer—“Scrubbing up with the Bible.”

MISS HATTIE A. MILTON, MEMPHIS, TENN.

My heart is overflowing with thanks-giving, not so much for the great results that I have already seen—for the greatest results in this work are discerned only by the eye of faith—but that I am permitted to be the instrument, even in a humble way, of answering your prayers, and not only yours, but those of the poor suffering people here. So many times when administering to their wants, not only when giving them loaves and fishes, but when pointing them to a higher spiritual and moral life, they have remarked, “Miss, I know the Lord sent you in answer to prayer.”

Sometimes I hesitate about going to places, and think I will do some other duty that day; but when the thought comes to me that it may be an opportunity to answer somebody’s prayer, I feel that I must go. Again, many times have my friends in the North answered my prayers. I will mention one instance which struck me as being remarkable. A very poor woman came to me asking for clothing for the little helpless children of her dying sister. I had just given out the last garment; but while talking with her I put up a prayer that something would come soon, and told her that I thought I should have something for her in a few days. Just then the door-bell rang, and I went to the door and found there a box, which I opened at once, and in it beheld the answer to my prayer! It was full of very nice and mostly new clothing for children. It was a literal fulfilment of the promise, “and it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” And it is a comforting thought, that wherever God places us, He gives us the opportunity to answer other people’s prayers.

The interest in this work is constantly increasing as we know more about it. The outlook for the year on which we have already entered is very encouraging. A few days since, while visiting a very hard neighborhood, one mother who is a church member said, “You must come around often; we knew ye first, and ye ought to visit us most; we needs ye too. I allers lays close down to what ye say, like the knife to the grindstone, ‘cause I wants ye to sharpen me, so I will get to living better. I’s mighty keerless, tho’ sometimes I does try in a stamerin’ manner to talk to my trifling neighbors. Now do come around often and scrub us up with the Bible.” Another woman, who has a good home, said, “We are so glad to have you back, so we can have our prayer meetings again; for we like those quiet meetings, without any fuss; and we like a leader in whom we have confidence, to instruct us.”

One of the pupils in our school urged me to start a Sunday-school in the Methodist church, of which she is a member. I went three or four times, accompanied by one of our teachers. The colored pastor gave us a hearty welcome; said he was proud that we had come to help, and that he was no respecter of persons. The number increased each week. Last Sunday it was very unpleasant. The tenacity of the red Memphis mud was marvelous; but when I arrived, a little late, at the church, having been detained to attend[52] the burial of a baby, I found a goodly number, and the pastor was reviewing the last week’s lesson. We immediately proceeded with the lesson for the day, after which I told them I thought we had better organize a Sunday-school, as I only wished to be a teacher, and would rather some of their own number would be the officers. To this they gladly assented, and we organized. We have three classes. I furnish them with Sunday-school papers, as they have never had any. Twice, as the hour for service approached, the minister has given up preaching, saying they learned much more studying the Bible. As we were leaving the church a brother said, “I believe you is going to be jest the building up of this church.” Another said, “That is the kind of folks we colored ones needs; some one who is always at the post of duty, and is not afeard of mud and rain.”

We have substantial evidence that our Northern friends have not forgotten the suffering ones here, in the shape of two barrels of very useful clothing, from Whitewater, Wis., and I have word that boxes from three other places are on the road. May those who give be as much blessed as those who receive, and we will strive to do all in our power to answer their prayers. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

MISS L. A. PARMELEE, MEMPHIS.

We have never kept any record of the teaching and Sunday-school work done by our pupils, but, within a few days, I have gratified my curiosity by taking notes from the lips of a few student-teachers. Here they are.

Sixteen of our young people have during the summer taught one thousand and thirty-five (1,035) day pupils, and very nearly as many S. S. scholars. This does not include the teachers now at work, some of whom return to us next week, or in early spring. Probably this is only a fifth of the record, counting all former pupils.

Some of the experiences are very droll, as of the young woman who saw new phases of life in Arkansas: “Would you believe it, that the white people didn’t know as much as I do?” White and black always called her “the white lady,” and urged her return next season.

Another young woman was assistant in a school of 80 children. The log school-house had no windows except board shutters; the seats were boards fastened upon blocks of wood; the blackboard was of her own manufacture. The building was so small that in pleasant weather she heard her recitations in a bush-arbor built against the side of the house.

Some of the teachers had better accommodations. One young man had an excellent building in a community of thriving farmers. He has taught there for five seasons. Just now he is getting up a club for the New York Tribune and reports ten subscribers.

Another young man, a member of the senior class, could scarcely leave his people. A powerful revival in connection with the school had brought many aged people as well as children to confess Christ, and the converts were loth to part with their teacher and friend. The person who went after him does not weary of telling about the tears shed and pathetic expressions of regret.

After two years of constant teaching, another writes, “There are so many things in life I can’t manage, I want to go to school again.” The most cheering sign of the year is this growing desire for more thorough preparation for the work of life.

[53]

THE INDIANS. — BOYS FOR HAMPTON FROM FORT BERTHOLD.

I have had my privilege and my duty to co-operate with your society as represented by Hampton Institute, Virginia, and with the U. S. Government, in inducing a number of Indian youth to go East for education.

We thank God that the Government, among other good movements it has undertaken, has taken this “new departure” in the matter of Indian education. The A. B. C. F. M. has for many years been educating Indians with success, and the present civilized condition of the Cherokees, Choctaws, and many of the Sioux, Nez Perces and other tribes, is owing to their efforts, and for some years past the A. M. A. has also undertaken like work with like success. Indian education is no new departure with us; but on the part of the Government it is, and it has given us great pleasure to help on the plans of the Secretary of the Interior and of Commissioner Hayt in this matter.

The beginning of their “experiment” was here at Berthold. Captain Pratt, who was detailed by the Government to get fifty Indians from the mission, came to start his company at this agency, and I shall always feel that it was an honor to have been able to help him get a start. We did not know how the people would feel about sending their children to a distant and unknown country. They were superstitious about school and church influences. Would they trust the white man? Would they be sufficiently influenced by the desire for an education.

Well, Captain Pratt had both experience and faith; he told us of his talks and prayer meetings with the prisoners in Florida, and of their desire for education, and of the willingness of Eastern Christian friends to help them; then we knelt down in the sitting-room of our mission home, that Sabbath evening, and committed our way unto the Lord. All was in doubt; some had refused to go; the chiefs would not send their children; but soon three youth (boys of eighteen or twenty years of age) came of their own accord and offered themselves. They had been attending our school and had learned in a measure to trust us. They said they knew it was a long way to go and a long time to stay, and it would be hard; but they were prepared to carry out their resolution to learn to be white men. Soon thirteen youth, nine boys and four girls, were secured, all from our school; it took the nucleus of our school; but we knew that this movement would create a new interest in education and bring us new scholars, as well as do more than we could for the old ones who should go away, so we gave them up willingly.

With this beginning, Captain Pratt started down the river in a flat-bottom stern-wheel mission steamboat, one cold October day, collecting more from the river agencies as he went along till forty-nine were secured. The youth looked very sober as they started off; there were some very touching partings with friends, one of whom said, “I may not see a hair of him again;” and at the last look at them we saw blankets and coats waving in lieu of handkerchiefs on the upper deck of the boat. My heart was in my mouth as I thought of the boys and their Indian relatives, and of the better days in store for Indians, of which Uncle Sam was giving us a foretaste. All this was a year ago; to-day a hundred more from Dakota are on their way to Hampton and to Carlisle,[54] and provision is being made for others in the West near their own homes. It is a beginning of better days, and I rejoice that our two Congregational societies can find occasion to co-operate with each other and the Government in behalf of the Indian.

Now let us make a vigorous push, along with the forces now at work, to get him the protection of the U. S. Courts, so that he may have a better appeal than the only one now open to him, as Gen. Crook says—his rifle.

In spite of the change of agents four times in less than four years, and in spite of all endeavors to break down Christian influences here, these Indians have steadily progressed. They are cultivating more land and doing it more thoroughly, showing more interest in schools, and a stronger desire to adopt civilized habits, one young man going so far as to come to me with the request, “Father, they say you are skilful; can you not make my shoes squeak for me? They don’t squeak like white people’s shoes.”

THE CHINESE. — “CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.” — Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association. — THE ROMANCE OF MISSIONS. — THE OROVILLE MISSION.

Directors: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, Rev. John Kimball, E. P. Sanford, Esq.

Secretary: Rev. W. C. Pond. Treasurer: E. Palanche, Esq.

BY REV. W. C. POND, SAN FRANCISCO.

It is said that in connection with a somewhat enthusiastic collection for the American Board, taken ten years or more ago, at the First Congregational Church in this city, one card was sent up having this inscription: “Five dollars for Home missions, but ‘nary red’ for Foreign.” The Christian spirit of the expression and its rhetorical elegance are about equal. Yet it well represents one class of Christian workers and givers who believe intensely that charity begins at home, who like to see what they are doing, and to watch its on-goings and to judge of its results for themselves. Foreign missions seem to them chimerical; the interest in such work romantic; and they don’t believe in romance and chimeras.

We have sometimes met another class whose interest flags when they are brought in contact with the hard facts of any Christian work. For them, “’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.” To see and handle any Christian enterprise involves them inevitably in disappointment. They read the glowing pages of the Herald, and often feel their hearts burn within them; but if brought into actual, daily contact with the toils, the drudgeries of service, the days of small things, the months and years of discouragement through which, with faith that would not falter, God led his servants on to that which now makes those pages glow, they would soon become disheartened, possibly fault-finding, as though funds and men were being wasted on a work that makes so little show.

We respectfully suggest to all such friends of our Chinese work that they remain in the East, and do not at present visit California; for Christ, as found in the souls for whom we labor, has no halo round his head—indeed,[55] He had none when He wrought in that carpenter’s shop at Nazareth; when He walked, with dust-worn raiment and with weary feet, the ill-wrought trails of ancient Palestine; nor even when He hung upon the cross. There was no external beauty to make men desire him; and to many who at this distance are almost filled with envy at the high privileges Peter, James and John enjoyed of seeing his face and hearing his voice, and walking in his companionship, He might have seemed a “root out of dry ground, having no form nor comeliness.”

At any rate, He abides to-day in souls that are very dark, that are very little sanctified—saints that by no means answer to the ideal saintliness—He abides in them; and while with patient love we bear with them, and while we hope on and work on, though faith feels like fainting and hope seems long deferred, we are assured that we are serving Him. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

This is the period of the year when our work has least of what is outward and visible to stir enthusiasm. The weather is often stormy. The nights are often very dark. At some of the factories, work having broken across the boundary line which fading daylight fixed, holds on under gas-light till it is too late for our pupils to get to school. At any rate, many of them drop off; the average declines, and our hearts droop a little. It would be so much easier to work, if we could all the time be expanding, increasing, harvesting. Then, often, the pupils seem specially dull, and this one or that one in whom we have become deeply interested, and whom we supposed to have become somewhat enlightened, discloses a depth of darkness which we do not like to fathom, and shows that he has understood far less than we supposed. Among those whom we believe to be true followers of Christ, there crop out littlenesses of envy or jealousy or ill-humor, that perhaps would call down on them swift condemnation, did not all this remind us so much of what has stained our own Christian life.

Now if our romantic friends should drop in upon us at such times, they might be sorely disappointed; might feel that we had drawn on our fancies for some of our facts; might possibly go away and add their own “Amen” to the scornful taunts of Godless newspapers upon “converted Chinamen.” And yet just such experiences of difficulty and discouragement belong to Christian work everywhere. If they do not form a necessary part of the discipline and training of the church, they certainly are unavoidable in the healing of sin-poisoned souls—in the education, the leading out of men from darkness into light.

I write these things, not because I have any special disappointments to communicate. I have none. And yet the state of the work just now is shadowed in these reflections. I have sometimes fancied—and felt that it was no mere fancy—that I could see in the story of our little mission, a tiny miniature of the history of the Apostolic Church. We had our little Pentecost to start with. We had the glow of a new love, the effervescence of a new life, the fresh joy of fraternal fellowship; prayer meetings carried, against my protest, for sheer delight in them, on into the small hours, by men who must be up and hard at work by six o’clock in the morning. Then after awhile we had our Ananias—two of them, since there was no wife to match Sapphira. And then we had disputes and little jealousies, like those of the Grecians against the Hebrews, and our scatterings by persecution and by other causes, in which, I rejoice to say, our disciples, like those of old, went here and there, preaching the word; so that with all that there has been at times to start anxiety, to test faith, to chasten hope, the work has[56] kept moving on. Souls have been added constantly, saved souls, we trust. Much prayer has gone up to the throne of grace, and earnest work has followed it, and Christ, thank God, has proved himself to be stronger than the strong man armed.

We entered a new name on the list of our schools on the 1st of November. It is at Oroville, the county seat of Butte Co. It is taught by Miss Jessamine Wood, daughter of the Congregational pastor in that town. Years ago we began a work there, but under auspices that proved to be very unfavorable. Ever since, we have desired to renew the effort, but the way has not opened till now. There are few points in the interior of the State where so many Chinese—1,500, it is said—are congregated. The Chinese population of the town at one time out-numbered that of all other nationalities. Our school, at its outset, is very small, the attendance being only seven, but we trust it is the thin edge of a wedge which we may yet drive home with good effect. A helper will be set at work there, temporarily at least, after the holidays, by whom not only may the school be enlarged, but the Gospel be preached in the streets, and the war for Christ be carried into the very Africa of Oroville Chinatown.