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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

CONTENTS

• EDITORIAL.
  • The Remedy—But Who is to Furnish it?
  • Some Curious and Suggestive Facts
  • Paragraphs
  • Notes from New England
  • Protestant and Papist—An Object-Lesson
  • School Echoes
  • A Doctrinal Sermon
  • Book Notices
• THE SOUTH.
  • Dedication of Ballard Building
  • Ten Years at the Front
  • Progress of Education in the South
  • New Organ at Thomasville, Ga.
• THE INDIANS.
  • Visit to Park Street Church Station
• THE CHINESE.
  • San Diego Chinese Mission
• BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
  • Notice of a Conference of Officers
  • Temperance Work In Tennessee
• FOR THE CHILDREN.
  • Christmas at S'kokomish Reservation
• RECEIPTS

American Missionary Association.

• PRESIDENT, Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., LL.D., N.Y.
• Vice-Presidents.
  • Rev. A.J.F. Behrends, D.D., N.Y.
  • Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.D., Mass.
  • Rev. F.A. Noble, D.D., Ill.
  • Rev. D.O. Mears, D.D., Mass.
  • Rev. Henry Hopkins, D.D., Mo.
• Corresponding Secretaries.
  • Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reads Street, N.Y.
  • Rev. A.F. Beard, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
• Recording Secretary.
  • Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
• Treasurer.
  • H.W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
• Auditors.
  • Peter McCartee.
  • Chas. P. Peirce.
• Executive Committee.
  • John H. Washburn, Chairman.
  • Addison P. Foster, Secretary.
• • For Three Years.
    • J.E. Rankin,
    • Wm. H. Ward,
    • J.W. Cooper,
    • John H. Washburn,
    • Edmund L. Champlin.
  • For Two Years.
    • Lyman Abbott,
    • Chas. A. Hull,
    • J.R. Danforth,
    • Clinton B. Fisk,
    • Addison P. Foster.
  • For One Year.
    • S.B. Halliday,
    • Samuel Holmes,
    • Samuel S. Marples,
    • Charles L. Mead,
    • Elbert B. Monroe.
• District Secretaries.
  • Rev. C.J. Ryder, 21 Cong'l House, Boston.
  • Rev. J.E. Roy, D.D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.
• Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.
  • Rev. Chas. W. Shelton.
• Field Superintendents.
  • Rev. Frank E. Jenkins,
  • Prof. Edward S. Hall.
• Secretary Of Woman's Bureau.
  • Miss D.E. Emerson, 56 Reade St. N.Y.

COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to the Editor, at the New York Office; letters relating to the finances, to the Treasurer.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, may be sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—The date on the "address label," indicates the time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made afterward, the change on the label will appear a month later. Please send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and occasional papers may be correctly mailed.

FORM OF A BEQUEST

"I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars, in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three witnesses.

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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

THE REMEDY—BUT WHO IS TO FURNISH IT?

President Harrison's Inaugural gives in a brief sentence the remedy for the great Southern difficulty, viz. EDUCATION.

"If, in any of the States, the public security is thought to be threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is education."

The Southern situation has been vigorously discussed in the last few months on the platform, and in the magazines and newspapers, and the conclusion to which the minds of thoughtful men is rapidly coming is that announced in the President's Message.

But the remedy will not apply itself, and the means for an adequate supply of educational facilities must be furnished promptly or the time will soon come when the case will be hopeless.

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF THIS SUPPLY?

1. The public school funds of the States themselves. This must be the main source. We recognize the fact that the Southern States are comparatively poor, and the further fact, so greatly to their credit, that some of them are paying as large a per cent. on the assessed value of their property as do some of the Northern States. But all the same, the supply of school houses and teachers is utterly inadequate.

2. From the National Government. The Government has done something in this direction; in giving lands to the States for educational purposes and in establishing the Freedmen's Bureau. It is urged to do more by the passage of an Educational Bill. It has been said that there are objections to every possible way of planting a hill of corn. But a good deal of corn has been planted, and it grows. There are objections to any possible Educational Bill that can be framed. Some of the funds will be wasted, some will be expended in favoritism and some will be neglected and not expended at all. But yet a large share of the money will be spent and well spent, and the great good will over-balance the minor evils. But even the appropriation, [92]under any Educational Bill that has been proposed, will be but a drop in the bucket.

3. Another source is from Northern charitable funds. The North owes an immeasurable debt to both races in the South. It emancipated the slave, and in so doing, assumed its share of the responsibility for the consequences. It cannot shrink from the duty under the plea that it is a Southern question, or even because some of the people at the South protest against its interference.

The duty of the North is two-fold—educational and religious. It is bound to aid in primary, industrial, normal and higher education. It has the teachers and it has the money. It has a special obligation to impart religious instruction. The public school funds of the South and the money of the National Government cannot be applied to distinctively religious education. But there is no such restriction on the Northern schools in the South; they can give religious instruction in all departments, and they can train up religious teachers and preachers. The North, too, has an urgent call to found pure and intelligent churches among the masses in the South.

The North has not been idle in these respects. The public in both sections of the country have, we believe, a faint conception of the amount of money already expended in the South by Northern charitable individuals and societies. For example, the American Missionary Association, including some institutions which it founded and for a time sustained, has expended $7,124,151.26; and including, also, books and clothing and the amount collected and spent in connection with its boarding departments, the total sum, as near as can be computed, would be not far from ten millions of dollars since 1862; and this money has been economically and wisely expended. It is due to the Association and to those who have supplied it with the funds, that the grandeur of its work should be recognized. But, if now, to all this is added the amount expended in the South by other religious bodies and by the Peabody and Slater and Hand funds, it will be seen that a mighty force is at work, unobtrusive as it is helpful, arousing no antagonism in the South, and blessing in its rebound the benevolent contributors at the North.

THE INADEQUACY OF THE SUPPLY.

But, as the disciples said in regard to the five barley loaves and the two fishes, "What are these among so many?" The means in both cases are utterly inadequate, and the need of multiplying is as imperative here as it was on the shore of Galilee. We have a Negro population of eight millions, which has doubled in the last twenty years, and increases at the rate of six hundred per day—requiring, if adequately supplied, the founding of a new Fisk University or Talladega College every twenty-four hours. There are 1,500,000 illiterate voters in the South, and how can the North, while admitting with President Harrison, that if the public security is threatened [93]by this ignorance the remedy is education, withhold its share of the necessary means?

How can the churches of the North, who know that the future destiny of these ignorant masses depends upon their religious far more than upon their secular education, refuse the needed gifts for that purpose? Here is where the miracle wrought on the shore of Galilee needs to be repeated. Our Lord and Master is not here now in bodily presence, and he entrusts to his church the duty of multiplying the bread of life for these vast perishing masses. The churches of the North must awake to this great duty. If done at all, it must be done promptly. Present means are wholly inadequate. Every individual Christian at the North should feel his personal responsibility and should respond by a great increase of his contributions for this purpose. It is not too much to say that the religious influences sent from the North in school, in industrial training, in the preparation of Christian ministers and teachers, and in the planting of Christian churches, will well-nigh constitute the pivotal point of the whole movement. A loss now can never be regained, but the achievements of the present should be a stimulus for the future. The North withheld neither treasure nor blood to save the Union and to free the slave. Treasure and toil will now save the South and the Nation.

SOME CURIOUS AND SUGGESTIVE FACTS.

What proportion of the funds contributed by living donors to missionary societies comes directly from church collections? We presume the answer from a large majority of the contributors would be, three-fourths or four-fifths. But the curious fact is, that, for the three years, 1886, 1887 and 1888, the average contributions to the American Missionary Association from church collections are forty-seven per cent., from Sunday-schools seven per cent., from Woman's Missionary Societies five per cent., from individual donors forty-one per cent. It thus appears that less than one-half the total sum comes from collections in the churches. Another curious fact is, that these receipts directly from the churches are uniform, not differing to the extent of three per cent. in the past three years. So that, with all the importunity and pressure, the plate collections in the churches have not increased.

Another curious fact is, that one-third of the amount donated by individuals is for special objects, mainly for the increase of plant, and thus adds to the cost of running expenses, and is so far forth a burden and not a relief on regular appropriations for current expenses.

What, therefore, is the stable reliance of missionary societies on which to make annual appropriations? It cannot be on legacies. It cannot be on the special contributions of individuals. It ought to be based on church collections. These should carry current expenses, and the additional plant should [94]come from outside sources. If this be so, and the societies are to increase their work at all from year to year; if, indeed, they are to meet the additional cost of the new plant given by individuals, then the church collections should be increased proportionately.

Are we not, therefore, making a legitimate appeal, when we urge upon every church member the duty of increasing his individual gift put into the plate when the collection is taken? A vote of the National Council or of the Annual Meeting of a missionary body, or of a State Conference, that a society should receive an increase of funds amounts to little, unless the individual donor in the church will increase his gifts.

A little increase here aggregates much. If every member will add five per cent. or ten per cent., it will be little to each, but will be great in the total. May we ask our readers to lay this to heart with the query of each to himself, "Is it not my duty to increase my individual contribution?"

PARAGRAPHS.

We have many appeals by letter and in person from colored people in the South, for help from the Hand Fund, to aid in sustaining enterprises which these people are endeavoring to carry forward. Some of these schools are heavily in debt. Others are greatly lacking in necessary facilities, buildings, furniture and teachers. Others are crippled for want of means to meet current expenses. Many of these institutions are unwisely located, others have no adequate financial basis to warrant their existence, and some seem to lack the necessary provision for supervision and responsibility. Taken all together, they furnish additional warnings to the people of the North against contributing to individual or local enterprises in the South without most careful scrutiny into the facts in each individual instance.

A colored missionary teacher in one of the most desolate parts of North Carolina writes us as follows:

"In making out my bill, you will perhaps not understand what I mean by the amount to be 'deducted.' I desire to give one-tenth of all my earnings to God. Of course it is His by right. Our missionary has brought the matter plainly before me, so I desire that you will deduct $2.00 every month, which will be one-tenth of my entire salary, and put it where it will be used for the service of Christ."

Rev. Frank G. Woodworth writes from Tougaloo University.

The school is progressing well. If we have the necessary accommodations, I see no reason why the school should not enrol 500 pupils within the next two years. We have had nearly 340 thus far, and probably will reach [95]375 by the end of the year, and we have refused between 30 and 40 girls because we had no room for them.

In the last MISSIONARY we gave quite an account of special religious services held in connection with the Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn. In the brief extract below, from a letter of Prof. Steele's, we see some pleasant results:

"Our special meetings in connection with Mr. Wharton's stay of two weeks are closed. There have been some eighty or more conversions in church and school; over sixty are students in school. The work seems very genuine."

The announcement of the winners of the Tunis Quick prize for grammar and spelling has been made by the faculty of Rutgers College. The prize was equally divided between James E. Carr of New York City, and Milton Demarest of Oredell, N.J. Carr is colored. Last year he took the highest honor at the grammar school commencement, delivering the valedictory and winning a prize scholarship. He has only one eye.

We would continue to remind pastors and churches of our Leaflets, which we will be happy to furnish, on application, to those taking collections for our Association.

NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.

I recently spoke in a manufacturing town in New England. In the forenoon service, a man, evidently an operative in one of the mills, sat in a front pew with a whole row of little children beside him, his wife at the end of the line with a baby in her lap. In the evening, the same man and family, minus the mother and baby, occupied the same pew. After the service, this man came to me, and with deep emotion said: "I am only a working man; you saw my large family of little children; every penny I can earn counts, but I feel that I must divide the living of my children with these poor people you have told us of to-day. We can get on with poorer food to give them the gospel."

This was said in the accent that told that this Christian nobleman came from old covenant-making and covenant-keeping Scotland! Not a very "dangerous foreigner!" Money given from such extreme sacrifice is sacred. Would this spirit were universal!

The close relation existing between the work of the American Missionary Association for the colored people in America, and that of the American Board for the colored people in Africa, is most interestingly [96]illustrated by a contribution which has recently reached this New England office. Rev. B.F. Ousley of Kambini, East Africa, sends a contribution of ten dollars for the Theological Department in Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Ousley and wife are graduates of Fisk University and went out as missionaries to Africa under the American Board, four years ago. After these years of experience they realize that Africa must be evangelized by colored people trained by A.M.A. schools, and they make this generous contribution to this grand work.

A suggestion made in the Boston "Ministers' Meeting," on the question, "How to conduct a prayer meeting," might be very appropriately applied to missionary concerts and addresses. This was the suggestion: "Keep the temperature warm, the atmosphere clear, and don't pommel the Christians!" Applied to missionary concerts and addresses, this sound advice would read: Keep the missionary temperature warm by telling incidents of missionary experience; keep the missionary atmosphere clear by presenting the grand hopefulness of the glorious work, and don't pommel those who attend these meetings and give to these causes!

Patriotism is all aglow among the boys and girls of New England just now! More than twelve hundred have enlisted recently in the army of the "True Blues." Pastors, Sunday-school superintendents and teachers, officers of Young People's Societies of Christian Endeavor, and other missionary societies have been the enthusiastic recruiting sergeants, and still there is demand for more recruits. Who will enlist next?

In the last "Notes from New England," we recorded the gift of an aged friend. Now comes this touching letter:

"Dear Sir:—Please find enclosed $5.00 for the A.M. Association, the Christmas present of a son to a father. The father is eighty-one years old to-day. He has been with the A.M.A. from its organization, and wishes its continued prosperity until its great work is accomplished.

Is there any work, North or South, at home or abroad, that requires more versatile gifts or breadth of training than the work of this Association? Here are a few lines from the letter of a missionary in Alabama, which illustrate the many-sidedness of this work:

"I have organized a Woman's Missionary Society. I have an industrial class for girls, and give them instruction in sewing, in housework on the principle of the kitchen-garden system, without the practice, as I have not the articles to use for that purpose. Then a lesson from the Bible, also, [97]comes in, and some amusement in the way of puzzles. The girls are pleased to belong to a society of King's Daughters. I have a class for instructing the women in darning, patching, button-hole making and so on. We have a Society of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in which I have the Department of Social Purity.

"You will be able to believe that my time is pretty fully occupied. I rejoice that I am able to be here, for I am never so happy as when I am engaged in this beloved work."

Is not here a splendid field for missionary work for the King's Daughters throughout the land? Why cannot the loyal daughters of the King, at the North, support such missionaries as this in their self-sacrificing work for the down-trodden daughters of this same Divine King in the South?

PROTESTANT AND PAPIST: AN OBJECT-LESSON.

"In THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY for February, 1889, I read extracts and notices from Catholic sources with regard to the universality of that church organization that 'knows neither North, South, East or West, that knows neither Jew nor Gentile, Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian,' and emphasizing the fact that a colored priest had celebrated mass in company with two white clergymen.

"I am thus reminded of the Annual Meeting of one of the most prominent national organizations of a religious nature in our land. A few months ago in the city of Providence, in one of the finest churches of that or of any city in our land, before as refined and cultivated an audience as could have been convened in our country, addresses were made by colored men who sat in the pulpit with some of the most distinguished white clergymen in the country. If one is an object-lesson, is not the other quite as much so?"

SCHOOL ECHOES.

I shall let the students, small and large, speak for themselves a little while, that you may see them as we do. And first—

Ques.—"What are the divisions of North America?"

Ans.—"Maine, New Hampshire, Illinois, North Pole and South Pole and Augusta."

Ques.—"What is a unit?"

Ans.—"A unit is a number used instead of a name."

Ques.—"What makes the water rise in an artesian well?"

[98]Ans.—"The upward pressure of the rocks under the water."

Ques.—"Where do the collar bones meet?"

Ans.—"Round the north part of the body where the collar fastens."

Ques.—(In woodworking class.) "What is the object of this exercise?" (An exercise in lining wood.)

Ans.—1. "This exercise strengthens my mine and my character." 2. "The object of this exercise is wood."

Ques.—"Define the kinds of sentences."

Part of answer.—"A purgatorial sentence is one that answers a question."

DEBATE.—Resolved, that Arithmetic is better than Grammar.

Affirmative: "Arithmetic is better, because without it we could not buy or sell anything, build houses, bridges or railroads, measure lands or even count. Can a man make money by knowing the grammar? Ain't no sense in grammar noway. It's always been my experience that

Negative: "To prove that grammar is better, take the Tower of Babble. They built it, I suppose, many miles high, and the Lord looked down and mixed up their grammar. So if a man was on top of the tower he would call down, 'John, bring up the hammer,' and John would come up with a saw. Then he would send him down for the hammer again, and John would bring up the nails. How much could we learn of religion, of history and the world around us, if it were not for grammar? Would 1-2-3 tell us all that?"

But I have not left much room to tell about the good side. Many of the papers, for neatness, accuracy and clear expression, would do credit to any children in the world. Especially is this true of the younger pupils, who have received the training of the lower grades of the school. One essay on Slavery, by a member of the Ninth Year Class, written in two days, contained twenty pages, with scarcely an unnecessary word, and very few mistakes. I wish you could hear some of the sensible talks in prayer-meetings, and fervent prayers for classmates, teachers, and the kind people at the North who are trying to help them.

A teacher from North Carolina sends the following:

There is not a girl in my school who uses tobacco, and that is saying a good deal. I cannot be so sure about the boys, but none use it in school or on the play ground.

One day our grammar lesson was changing possessive modifiers to equivalent phrases, and the sentence "Washington's farewell address" came up. One boy wrote, "Washington's farewell address was made of broadcloth."

A colored minister, after reading his text on Sunday, said, "I shall put the greatest distress of my remarks on the latter clause of the verse."

[99]Another minister said, "At one of my stations there were men who called themselves conjurers. One of these with his followers went to church to challenge me. He asked me if I could cast out devils. I told him I could, and as he was the only man in the house who had a devil, if he would come up to the stand, I would cast the devil out of him. The conjurer abused me terribly, became so excited I started down towards him, and dared him to meet me, and he turned from me and ran out of the house, so you see if I could not cast the devil out of him, I cast both him and the devil out of the house."

At another place, he said, the people became very much stirred up concerning the temperance cause, so much so that many closed their bar-rooms and took their Jimmy Johns and poured the contents out on the ground. Said he, "the liquor said good, good, good, as it ran out of the Jimmy Johns, and the people shouted for joy."

A DOCTRINAL SERMON.

By the kindness of a Baptist missionary, we are furnished with the following doctrinal sermon:

Text.—"Ye are the salt of the earth."
Scene in a Baptist church. Nineteen candidates awaiting immersion.

My text am, "Ye are de salt of de yarth."

You all knows what salt am good for—it is good to sweeten things—good to season things—good to keep things from spilin'. We all likes salt in our victuals, some people likes lots of salt and dey has it too; some likes jes a little, and dey gets it too, but when you eats a whole lot of salt, you gits mighty thirsty, and you wants water, tea nor coffee won't satisfy you neither. You cries water, and you cries till you gits plenty of it. Bredren—de text says, "Ye am de salt of de yarth." What does it mean? Christians am like salt—we'se put here to keep this old yarth from spilin'—to sweeten and to season it. Some Christians have a heap more salt about 'em then others, and when dey is full of de salt of God's grace, their soul cries—water—water—and a few drops on der head won't satisfy 'em neither. You must take 'em down to de river and put 'em in. And that's what we'se goin' to do—come chillen.

BOOK NOTICES.

Report of the Centenary Conference of Protestant Missions, London, 1888. By REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S., Revell, Bible House, New York.

These two neat and well-printed volumes give a full sketch of the proceedings of one of the most remarkable Missionary Conferences ever held in the world. The addresses, papers and discussions emanated not from theorists, [100]but from men actually engaged in the management of the great missionary organizations of Christendom, or who were actively employed as missionaries in foreign fields. In addition to these, there are papers and addresses by honored pastors on both sides of the Atlantic, by travelers, and by students of the progress of the church in modern times. The possessor of these volumes will have a treasury of missionary literature of inestimable value.

The Path to Wealth. By A BLACKSMITH, B.F. Johnson & Co., Richmond, Va.

This is a unique book. It purports to give the addresses of a practical blacksmith, some of them delivered in his shop to a few neighbors, but the audience becoming larger, the rest were given in an adjacent church building. To most persons, the title affords a slight clue to the drift of the book, which is to show the duty and the benefits of giving the tithe of a man's income to the Lord. The author's bottom thought is based on this statement in the preface: "God pledges himself for the success of that individual who renders obedience to the divine money-claim." In other words, the path to wealth is the path of benevolence. The obligation to give the tithe is earnestly enforced by the ordinary Scripture quotations, and by arguments drawn from other sources. Whatever the reader may think of the theory of the book, he will find in it a good deal of valuable and practical truth.

Yale Lectures on the Sunday-school. By H. CLAY TRUMBULL. Philadelphia: John D. Wattles.

This book contains Dr. Trumbull's addresses before the Yale Divinity School in the course of the Lyman Beecher Lectures for 1888. They were not only heard with interest, but the Faculty of Yale College expressed their thanks to the author, and their wishes that the discourses might soon be given to the public. Such an author in such a presence and with such a theme, may well be supposed to have presented whatever is interesting and valuable on a subject of such vast importance to Christian families and the Christian church. We commend the book most cordially.

Cooking and Sewing Songs and Recitations for Industrial and Mission Schools. Edited by MRS. J.R. ROMER. J.W. Schermerhorn & Co., New York.

Of a very different style and size from the book above noticed is this little neatly-printed pamphlet with flexible covers, occupying sixty-six pages, of songs, to be used by pupils in connection with their industrial labors. They are vivacious, pithy, adapted to the purpose in hand, and doubtless would cheer and brighten many an hour that might otherwise pass in the humdrum of an unrelieved toil, and at the same time impress upon the memory and heart a good deal of salutary truth.

[101]The Songs of Praise with tunes. Published by A.S. Barnes & Co., New York and Chicago.

Contains 500 choice Hymns with music well adapted to meet the requirements of social worship. Such churches as do not desire a larger collection will find this an excellent book of social song.

THE SOUTH.

DEDICATION OF BALLARD BUILDING, MACON, GA.

MRS. LIVA A. SHAW.

The dedication of Ballard Building took place Thursday, February 14th. The services were attended by a large number of the patrons and friends of the school, among the latter some of the leading white citizens of Macon. After the opening exercises, short addresses were made by Prof. Zettler, Superintendent of Bibb Co. schools, Dr. Greene, a leading colored physician, and the following city pastors; Dr. Warren, First Baptist; Dr. Jennings, First Presbyterian, and Mr. Miller, Washington Avenue Presbyterian, (Colored). These were followed by Corresponding Secretary Dr. Beard, of New York.

The music was appropriate and beautiful, and made a deep impression upon some of our white friends, who were both pleased and surprised. Prof. Zettler gave expression to his interest in all educational matters in this county, and renewed his assurances of good will and gratitude if he can do even a little to help on a good cause.

Dr. Warren said that he had known this school and church through all its past history, having been present at the dedication of the old church twenty years ago. He has watched the growth, and considered the character of the influence here exerted, and so far as he can judge, it has been, and is, elevating. He spoke of the value of a practical education, and he said he could trust these Yankees with their skill and energy to make the training they are giving in this school eminently practical. He expressed gratitude for the privilege he has had of knowing and loving a number of teachers and pastors engaged in labor here, and he invoked the divine blessing upon all these consecrated women who have left their homes and friends to do this work among the poor and needy.

Dr. Jennings spoke to the young people of the need of a high aim and firm purpose in accomplishing any important work in life. His words were full of inspiration to the young men and women who heard him. He stood upon the broad platform of Christian brotherhood, and while he congratulated the American Missionary Association upon the grand work being done, he especially congratulated the citizens of Macon, all of whom are reaping the benefits of this work.

[102]Dr. Greene's message was one of counsel and instruction for his own people. He dwelt upon the generosity of the donor of this beautiful building with its furnishings, the improved facilities afforded for teaching, and the great need of a higher appreciation of the benefits thus brought within the reach of a larger number than ever before. He deprecated the common attempt to solve the Negro problem by stirring up discontent among the people, and making them dissatisfied with present conditions, unless a remedy is recommended and placed within their reach. He looked upon every Christian school in the South, every man or woman who walks uprightly and deals honestly, as helping to the only true solution of the Negro problem. He rejoiced in the raising of the standard of fitness to teach, on the part of the County Superintendent. His words had the ring of successful, manly effort in them, and commanded the respectful attention of all his hearers.

After returning thanks to Mr. Ballard for his noble gift, which brought the assembly together, to Messrs. Pettit and DeHaven for the fidelity with which they have wrought, to Prof. Zettler for his counsel, and to the Christian friends who have helped and encouraged the work by their sympathy, Dr. Beard gave an address full of information, concerning the work of the American Missionary Association, its aims, encouragements, and results. He emphasized the importance of making a right use of blessings, and spoke of the danger that attends all effort to help others, that it may become a hindrance instead of a help, according to the way in which it is received. He left a well-defined impression that it is the aim of the organization which he represents so to supplement the efforts of those who are trying to help themselves, that true independent manhood and womanhood shall be developed. He then introduced the subject of a change of name for Lewis Normal Institute. He stated that it was with the hearty concurrence of Gen. Lewis that he now announced that this school should be henceforth known as BALLARD NORMAL SCHOOL.

When Dr. Beard closed, Mr. Furcron, President of the Macon Sunday School Union, (Colored,) rose and made a motion in behalf of the colored people of Macon, that a rising vote of thanks be tendered to Mr. Ballard for this beautiful building and its convenient and tasteful furnishings. Dr. Warren made a special request that the franchise be extended so as to include the white friends present, that all might vote. It was responded to by the whole assembly's rising. After the benediction, the various rooms were visited and admired. The beauty and convenience of the rooms, the fine pictures on the walls, the beautiful desks and chairs for the teachers, the elegant Steinway piano, the bell, and the handsome stoves, were all noted and heartily commended.

The day passed off pleasantly with but one regret, viz; that Mr. Ballard was not with us to share in our joy and to let us all see his happiness in doing good to others.

[103]

TEN YEARS AT THE FRONT.

BY REV. STANLEY B. LATHROP.

The month of November, 1888, completed the cycle of ten years of my active service in the work of the American Missionary Association. They have been years of intense interest and great enjoyment. Ten years of study, four in the army, and eight years of pastoral labor in Wisconsin preceded; but of all these marked periods, none have been more truly enjoyable and fruitful than these last ten years of preaching the gospel to the poor. It has been my good fortune to visit at various times most of the prominent points in the work of the Association in the South, both in the colored and in the mountain white departments.

And so, from this decennial standpoint of experience and observation, I want to put on record a few thoughts which have been simmering in my mind.

1.—The vast importance and far-reaching influence of the work that has been done. From all these schools and churches, scattered through this Southland, there have come forth, year by year, hundreds of young colored men and women, whose minds have been disciplined and characters deeply impressed for a good life. Thousands have gone out to teach and labor among their own people, with hearts aflame with true missionary zeal. They have labored among innumerable trials and discouragements, in leaky, rickety log-cabins, without desks, without blackboards, maps, charts, or other educational necessities. They have been eager and zealous workers for Sunday-schools, for temperance and righteous living, even when oftentimes opposed by the old-time preachers and church-officers of their own race, and sometimes opposed by the whites. So the leaven has spread far and wide. A great work has been accomplished by these schools and churches. These ten years have seen a most decided uplifting of character and power among the colored race. They are steadily acquiring property, building homes and improving their surroundings. There are now over eighty newspapers published by colored men in the former slave States of the South. Some of these are very creditable specimens in typography and in ability, and they have great and increasing influence. The great majority of these editors and teachers have been educated in the A.M.A. schools. There are also several colored lawyers, dentists and physicians, who have almost without exception been educated in our schools. The direct results in our Congregational church work are not as plainly apparent, because most of the students when coming under our influence are already connected with other churches, or else their parents are, which amounts almost to the same thing. So the Baptists and Methodists have reaped rich harvests through the training of their sons and daughters in our schools. But these same denominations have been through this means greatly uplifted and purified, so that great good has come to all these strong and numerous churches, besides the steady [104]growth of Congregationalism as well. Rev. Dr. Curry, one of the leaders of Southern thought, said in a recent address before the Georgia Legislature, "The Congregationalists have done more than all other denominations for the education of the Negro—they have done grandly, patriotically." To my eyes, which have been wide open during these ten years, there are most marked and gratifying signs of progress apparent in every way. Far and near the leaven has spread, the older denominations are improving, the principles of industrial and Christian education are accomplishing untold good.

2.—There is also manifest in these ten years a marked improvement in the feeling between the races. When a man has lived for ten years in the South, he will begin to see how deeply rooted and immovably imbedded in the Southern mind is the sentiment of inborn contempt for the Negro. This was greatly intensified and brought to the surface by the passions and prejudices of the war, with the volcanic upheavals and chaotic events of the "carpet-bag period" which followed. Considering all these things, there has been in my opinion a remarkable loosening of the grasp of prejudice, a gradual melting of the caste principle, especially in the minds of the better class among the whites. I say this deliberately, with personal knowledge of the agitation of the infamous "Glenn Bill" in Georgia, and notwithstanding the prejudice in Alabama which broke up the colored normal school formerly existing in Marion, and afterward successfully opposed its re-establishment in Montgomery, or rather refused the previous State aid. Having been for many years on the Board of Trustees of Atlanta University, and being personally acquainted with a number of the members of the Georgia Legislature, yet I am prepared to state this astonishing paradox—that even the legislators who voted for the Glenn Bill have a much higher regard for the colored race and for the A.M.A. schools than they formerly had. I cannot take time to explain this singular phenomenon, but it is true. One of the prominent members of the Georgia Legislature said to me on the streets of Macon, when he heard the news of President Ware's sudden death at Atlanta University: "Mr. Ware was a hero of the nineteenth century, and deserves a monument to his memory from the State of Georgia." So, notwithstanding Col. Glenn and his followers, the same Legislature of Georgia has recently added two million dollars to the school fund of the State. The efforts of such brave and fearless leaders as Rev. Dr. Haygood, Rev. Dr. Curry, Hon. Walter B. Hill and others have not been in vain, and the good results of the A.M.A. work have commanded respect and even wonder from its bitterest opponents, whose number and zeal decreases. Wisdom and discretion in future will rapidly increase its friends.

3.—I could say much more concerning the colored work, in which (at Macon, Georgia) I spent eight and a half of the happiest years of my life. That branch of work needs to be sustained and extended for years to come. Having now been for eighteen months in the mountain white department of work, and having visited nearly all its most important posts, [105]I am prepared to say that this, also, is a most needy part of the great missionary work which this Society has undertaken. Here are nearly two millions of people, scattered here and there over this great Cumberland Plateau, who because of their inaccessibility, their poverty and indifference, have been largely passed by until recently. The great tides of missionary effort have swirled and risen to the east, the south and the west, but have reached only a little way up into the caves and valleys of this great island plateau, which towers a thousand feet above the surrounding country. The inevitable effects of isolation, of intermarriage, of stagnation and neglect in mental and spiritual matters, has brought about a condition of things which calls for the aid and sympathy of all good Samaritans. They have not suffered in the same way as the colored race, from the former oppression and contagious vices of a superior race; but left alone in their mountain fastnesses, left behind in the march of human progress, they have been a nation of Robinson Crusoes, deteriorating and retrograding from the inevitable nature of mankind when left to itself. Having no momentum from outside, feeling nothing of the swing and swell of progress, hearing little and knowing little of the outer world, they need now our help to uplift and enthuse and save them. Schools, churches, industrial instruction, mental and spiritual training, help for the poor and the ignorant and the degraded is sorely needed. This is comparatively a new field of work, and is still largely unexplored and obscure. There is much to be done, and it should be done now. The results of a very few years of work are encouraging. Pray, friends, pray! Give, friends, give! Help, friends, help!

PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH.

PROF. H.H. WRIGHT.

I call your attention to the fact that the Board of Education of the city of Nashville have extended the course of study in the public schools for the colored population, so that there is in existence now a fully-fledged High School for the colored youth, having precisely the same course of study as that of the white youth; and the members of the school are subjected to the same written and oral tests as those of the white school. So far as I know, this is the first instance of the kind in the South. Most boards graduate the colored children from the eighth, or at most, the ninth year of school.

The colored High School of Nashville had public exercises in the Grand Opera House in June, when a class of seven graduated. The Superintendent of Public Schools, the Board of Education, and prominent citizens, white and colored, occupied the platform and gave their approval of the innovation by their presence.

The first class of the white High School was graduated twenty-eight years ago and numbered seven. This class of colored graduates also numbered seven.

[106]A member of that first white class is now the President of the Board of Education, and presented the diplomas to the members of this colored class. Altogether, the occasion was auspicious for better things in the public school system in Tennessee.

THOMASVILLE, GA.

One incident that has brightened our year is the arrival of a pretty school organ, the generous gift of Mr. S.D. Smith, President of the Smith Organ and Piano Company, Boston, Mass. It chanced that at the same time, Mr. Hall, our Superintendent, came to visit us, and one morning early we found him at work with his own hands removing it from its box. On its being taken into the school-room where all the pupils were assembled for the morning exercises, Mr. Hall in a felicitous manner presented it to the school in Mr. Smith's name, taking from the children in return a hearty "Thank you" for the donor, and a promise to make use of the organ "in the cause of temperance and for the Lord Jesus Christ." Then the first notes pealed forth from the sweet-toned organ, notes of praise, accompanying the children's voices in the Gloria Patri. Then holy hymns and temperance songs filled the air with melody.

The jubilee ended with grand old "America," and as we came to the closing lines, how truly our hearts echoed the prayer:

THE INDIANS.

VISIT TO PARK STREET CHURCH STATION.

BY MRS. T.L. RIGGS.

For a long time I have wished to see something of the people and of the work at White River. The station there, Park Street Church Station, so-called because the church of that name in Boston contributed the money for its establishment, was almost the only one under Mr. Riggs's care that I had not visited. Although the supervision of it, and of the whole Rosebud Agency field, has recently been assumed by Mr. Cross, Mr. Riggs continues to confer with him in regard to the management of it, and for this purpose made a journey thither a few weeks ago. A happy combination of circumstances at home made it possible for me to accompany him.

After three days of travel in pony-cart, we came in sight of the White River, and before descending into the valley and crossing the river caught a glimpse of the station building and the villages on the hills near it. Climbing the hill at the rear of the station, we drove into the yard, completely surprising Mr. Cross, who, nevertheless gave us a most hearty welcome.

[107]As soon as the news of our arrival had spread, we began to have visitors, but, knowing that I should not see many of the people, especially the older women, unless I went to their homes, I arranged with Mr. Cross to take me to the different villages. We spent two days in going about.

I should think there are between forty and fifty houses in the three villages near there. In each of two houses, we found three wives and ten children, and the others were well populated. All were in ignorance, and filth, and degradation, pitiable to see. Some babies nearly a year old had never been thoroughly washed since their birth. Some of the older people had never been to the school-house. A few rather pride themselves upon keeping aloof from the native teacher and the various exercises he conducts. We were pleasantly received at all the places. Some of the people had heard of "The Sacred Herald's" wife, though they had never seen me.

Wishing to have all the women come to the school-house, that I might see more of them and have them meet Virginia De Coteau, the teacher's wife, we invited them to a feast. This is something the Dakotas are very fond of, though usually it is connected with some of their dances or other heathen customs. Some of the old women wished to know if I was going to preach to them, evidently wanting to fight shy of anything of this sort, but I told them no, it was to be a real feast, not a prayer meeting.

Mr. Cross entered heartily into the preparations for the festivity. We made about five gallons of coffee and the same quantity of stew, consisting of meat, onions, turnips, beans, rice and crackers, with the gravy well thickened—a very savory mess it was, too. We had crackers to pass around. Not a very elaborate menu, but one which appealed strongly to the Dakota taste.

By noon the women began to gather, and soon the school-room was well filled, a good many sitting on the floor. There were about fifty present, not counting little babies. There were only two painted faces, though in our visiting there was scarcely a house in which there were not two or more of the women painted; the most of them had washed their faces and put on clean dresses.

I had told them all to bring their own dishes, and the variety was amusing. There was everything in size from an ordinary cup to a milk-pan and one much battered long-handled dipper. Coffee and crackers were passed first, then the stew. "Oh, it smells of onions!" was the exclamation as I dished it out. All seemed very happy, and laughed and joked as they ate. I told them I had been ten years among the Dakotas and had never before made a feast; that I had planned for a long time to visit them and had not been able, and perhaps it would be a long time before I should see them again, so I thought I would make them happy in this way. The old women replied, "We have often heard of you, and now we see you; we will always remember you and speak of you as 'the woman who made the feast.'" After they had finished, I talked to them a little of the "meat which perisheth not," and [108]of the "Bread and the Water of Life," closing with prayer. It was a very enjoyable experience. I also met the women one afternoon at a special prayer meeting. It was not very well attended on account of the storm, which was almost a blizzard on that day. There are only two Christian women in that community besides Louis' wife. We spent two Sundays with the intervening days at this station, gaining a new insight into the needs of the out-station work, and new inspiration for carrying it on.

One thing that interested me very much was seeing a little girl who was a member of our Oahe School two years ago. She is the daughter of a prominent man in the village near Park Street Church Station. She was in native dress when she came to us; when I saw her over there, although her mother was away at the Agency and she was staying with relatives, she looked very neat and clean. She wore a pretty dress made after the style worn in our school and in every respect looked as well as though she had just come out of school. I think she would have returned with us had her parents been at home.

There were two young women also, whom I should be glad to have in the school here. They have just united with the church and been baptized. They seem quite superior in many ways to their surroundings. They can both read in Dakota and so have the Bible to learn from. Of course they have in a manner isolated themselves from their youthful companions in having given up their heathen customs; it seems as though souls so young and untried in the Christian life must meet with many temptations and many trying experiences. I should be glad to have them here in a Christian community, where they could learn more of our Christian work. I am sure they would gain help and strength from the prayer meetings and missionary work, as well as from the sympathy of all who engage in such work. Then, doubtless, they would be benefited by the industrial training and the academic work, though I doubt if they would do much with the English language, as they are both over twenty years old and would probably not remain in school more than a year.

My journey has been a help to me. Living away from the people and losing sight of the ignorance and filth and heathenism, we forget what our chief aim should be, not simply school-work for the children, but Christianization and civilization for the masses. This, in its greatest effectiveness, can be done at the out-stations and in the vernacular only. It is necessary to have the gospel preached constantly in order to have it penetrate these darkened hearts, preached in a tongue which can be understood, and necessary to have a Christian life lived in its simplicity in their very midst. The native missionary's family is an object-lesson of value not half appreciated by [109]our Eastern constituency. If, in addition to this, there is a white teacher to uphold, support and push with Anglo-Saxon energy the efforts of the native, the value of the out-station work is greatly increased. Would that all could understand this fully!

It is helpful, too, to come home and see our Indian neighbors, who less than fifteen years ago were in the same ignorant condition as those we have just seen, now living as white people, earnest Christians, doing much to help us in our work for their heathen relatives.

While you work for the schools, pray, also, for the work of the out-stations; pray that the light may shine into the darkened hearts so near us, pray that those who are living among them to teach them of the Saviour of men may be granted wisdom and strength to teach and live aright, that many souls may be won for Him whose servants we all are.

THE CHINESE.

SAN DIEGO CHINESE MISSION.

BY REV. J.B. SILCOX.

The anniversary of the Congregational Chinese School at San Diego, organized about six years ago, was held in the Congregational Church on Sunday evening, February 10th. The church, capable of seating about five hundred and fifty, was filled to its utmost capacity. There were about thirty Chinese scholars present. The services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Pond, who had come down from San Francisco for the purpose of visiting the missions in Southern California. The pastor of the church, Rev. J.B. Silcox, assisted in the opening services. The Chinese boys were catechized by Dr. Pond, and showed by their answers that they were being grounded in the fundamental truths of the Bible. Lum Goon Kee recited the Twenty-third Psalm, and Chung Chong the Ten Commandments, and another "The Apostles' Creed." The first and second commandments received a new meaning to us as we heard them recited by one who until recently bowed himself down to graven images of God and the devil in the Joss house. They sang Christian hymns in Chinese and English. Charley Nun gave an address in which he testified to the benefits in being "a Jesus boy." Hom Gee had written and read the story of his conversion to Jesus. It was interesting to listen as they told how they were led out of darkness into light, and asked for the prayers of all good Christians. The audience felt that human hearts are the same the world over, and that the Holy Ghost had been given unto them, "even as unto us." The address of Low Quong would convince the most skeptical of the power of the gospel to purify the heart, illumine the mind and elevate the life and character of the Chinamen [110]as well as others. He spoke in good English, and by his clear putting of the gospel truth, touched the hearts of all. The service made many converts. It convinced the hearers that the Chinaman was made in the image of God and is included in the "every creature," to whom the gospel is to be preached.

There are about one thousand Christian Chinamen connected with the Congregational Churches of California and Oregon. They contribute about $2,500 for home mission work and have organized a foreign missionary society, and with $1,400 as a starter, have sent two missionaries, one a Chinaman, back to China to do work there.

There is considerable opposition to Chinamen in this State. It does not wholly arise from "sand lot" orators either. These "little brown men" are industrious, patient, cheerful, obliging. They make the best of servants. But the average working man of America cannot compete with him in the labor market, and I would be sorry if he could. I hope the day will never come when the working man of America will be reduced to such cramped conditions of home life as "The heathen Chinee" luxuriates in. Paganism can live where Christianity cannot. A hut will do for a pagan Zulu. When he becomes a Christian, he wants a shirt and a house. "Chinatown" in any California city, and especially in San Francisco, where sixty or seventy thousand are housed and herded in a few blocks, will open the eyes of Eastern men as to the wisdom of restricting Chinese immigration. But there is no question as to our duty to those that are here. We cannot afford to let them live and die in their heathen vices. The best solution of the Chinese problem is to Christianize those that are here. The best way to reach China with the gospel is via California. Make Christians of these and they will become missionaries to their brethren across the Pacific.

BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.

MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.

WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS.

CO-OPERATING WITH THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

• ME.—Woman's Aid to A.M.A.
  • Chairman of Committee, Mrs. C.A. Woodbury, Woodfords, Me.
• VT.—Woman's Aid to A.M.A.
  • Chairman of Committee, Mrs. Henry Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
• VT.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. Ellen Osgood, Montpelier, Vt.
• CONN.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. S.M. Hotchkiss, 171 Capitol Ave., Hartford, Conn.
• N.Y.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
  • Secretary, Mrs. William Spalding, Salmon Block, Syracuse, N.Y.
• ALA.—Woman's Missionary Association
  • Secretary, Mrs. G.W. Andrews, Talladega, Ala.
• OHIO.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. Flora K. Regal, Oberlin, Ohio.
• IND.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. W.E. Mossman, Fort Wayne, Ind.
• ILL.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. C.H. Taintor, 151 Washington St., Chicago, Ill.
• MINN.—Woman's Home Miss. Society
  • Secretary, Miss Katharine Plant, 2651 Portland Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn.
• IOWA.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Miss Ella B. Marsh, Grinnell, Iowa.
• KANSAS.—Woman's Home Miss. Society
  • Secretary, Mrs. G.L. Epps. Topeka, Kan.
• MICH.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. Mary B. Warren, Lansing, Mich.
• WIS.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. C. Matter, Brodhead, Wis.
• NEB.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. L.F. Berry, 724 N Broad St., Fremont, Neb.
• COLORADO.—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • Secretary, Mrs. S.M. Packard, Pueblo, Colo.
• DAKOTA,—Woman's Home Miss. Union
  • President, Mrs. T.M. Hills, Sioux Falls;
  • Secretary, Mrs. W.R. Dawes, Redfield;
  • Treasurer, Mrs. S.E. Fifield, Lake Preston.

We would suggest to all ladies connected with the auxiliaries of State Missionary Unions, that funds for the American Missionary Association be sent to us through the treasurers of the Union, Care, however, should be taken to designate the money as for the American Missionary Association, since undesignated funds will not reach us.

NOTICE OF A CONFERENCE OF OFFICERS OF THE WOMAN'S STATE HOME MISSIONARY ORGANIZATIONS.

The Woman's State Home Missionary Organizations will hold an all-day meeting in the Congregational Church, Saratoga, Tuesday June 4, 1889, the day before the Annual Meeting of the American Home Missionary Society.

All State Organizations working through one or more of our six National Societies for Home-land Evangelization are cordially invited to participate in this meeting. It is hoped that there will be a large and able representation from each organization.

There will be two sessions. The morning session will begin promptly at 10:30, the afternoon at 2 o'clock. The morning session is to be a private business conference of State officers only. Questions of the greatest importance are to be freely and thoroughly discussed. State officers of every rank will be admitted to it.

To the afternoon session, all ladies interested in home-land work are most cordially invited. A rich, spirited and helpful programme is to be presented. Further information can be obtained by addressing

TEMPERANCE WORK IN TENNESSEE.

I have been working in this State for three years, giving mothers new ideas, making them think in their log cabins, and causing many to say, "You have done me good." I am now on the Cumberland Plateau with my husband, who is in the employ of the American Missionary Association. A few weeks ago, I went with him to a mining town to assist him and Brother Pope in a series of meetings. There were early indications of popular interest, the crowd was easily gathered and the good work began much sooner than the most sanguine anticipated. The first week passed. Sinners had risen for prayers, strong men bowed their heads, confessing their sins, and conversions were daily reported. Then came a momentary lull, such as is often observed in revival seasons. Mr. Pope's experienced eye was quick to divine the cause. He knew that crowd of eager listeners—that there were many among them, old and young, who stood on the verge of the Kingdom with the fatal cup in their hands. Said he to me, "The time has come for a temperance talk—[112]that is what they need!" and designated that very evening for me to present the subject.

At this I confess I was not a little embarrassed, for although accustomed to short, informal temperance talks in public, I had no idea, woman that I was, of taking his place at such a critical moment. What added to my embarrassment was the disheartening fact to all of us that Mr. Pope was just then unexpectedly called away to another part of his extensive field and was gone two days. So there was no help for it. I looked over my old notes—nothing would do. Then I inquired of the Lord, and He said "Fear not." Here let me remark, that I have hitherto encountered in this needy part of the country an obstinate prejudice against this "Woman's Temperance Work" by the women themselves, the most interested party in it. But here, thanks be to God, I met a most favorable reception. How the people looked, how earnestly they listened also, yes, and wept, as I told them of the world-wide Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and warned them of that fatal sin which was keeping many women out of the Kingdom of Heaven, and they knew it. I talked in my simple way of human love in its various phases, and then turned to the incomparable love of Christ, who would save them if they would only let him. In conclusion I asked—"Is there any one here, man, woman or child, in this congregation, who is willing to forswear the intoxicating cup henceforth and forever? If there is, let him come forward and take me by the hand." With scarcely a pause, the main body of the audience in the rear (you know what that means) rose from their seats and literally precipitated themselves upon the speaker's stand. For the next half hour I had nothing to do but to shake hands and pin the white ribbon. I never witnessed a more exciting scene. The tearful joy of suffering wives over their sobered husbands, and anxious parents over their wandering boys will not be forgotten.

The happy result of this first meeting of the kind created a demand for its repetition on two other occasions, as the revival went on with equal enthusiasm and success. In the course of our visitation from house to house, a Northern lady who had come down here to winter with her brother on account of her health, informed me of the disgusting revels of a certain man and his wife with their half-dozen drunken boarders, which she was compelled to witness in the other end of the house weekly, or as often as pay-day came around. "I can't bear it," said she. "Are you then praying," said I; "Where is your faith?" A few day's later, at the mother's meeting, another woman said, with much feeling, "Won't you present the temperance cause again tonight? My husband and several others wish to join your organization." I did. And who were the first to present themselves as candidates for the white ribbon but that same woman and her husband? Twenty-three others in the congregation followed suit, and all again stood forth hand in hand—token of unbroken friendship—a spectacle to angels and mortal man. By this time, to our great joy, Brother Pope had returned, and he assigned me to my proper place after one of his own rousing appeals.

[113]To give you a general idea of the power of this work, which continued with unflagging interest to the last, allow me to cite two or three instances of conversion. One, a man who had shot and killed three notorious burglars, was tried for legal informality and acquitted on the ground of the public weal. This was two years ago, and the people who knew and understood him well, said that he had enjoyed no peace of mind since. Notwithstanding all, he was, and is, a man of power and commanding influence, and has entered heartily into the work and interests of the A.M.A., as Brother Pope can assure you. Another, a younger man, likewise implicated in a murder last Fourth of July, and committed to jail for a time, the particulars of whose case I am unacquainted with, cried out in open congregation, "Pray for me, I am the vilest sinner that ever lived," and dropped upon his knees in sore agony of body and soul to join in prayer with the Christians present. As the latter arose and began singing, "Come, humble sinner," he stepped right forward exclaiming, "By the grace of God I will, I will," and at that moment the great change might be read in the heavenly expression of his changed countenance. Yet another young man, a boon companion in sin, cried out in the same way and came forward kneeling for some time, and then rising said, "I have found God; he is good; come, my friends, and find him, O come," repeating these words as he passed through the wondering congregation till he came to me, when grasping my hand, he exclaimed, "Praise the Lord that ever he sent you to this place." He was asked to pray. "Yes, yes," was his instant reply, "that is just what I want to do;" and such a prayer as he offered up is seldom heard. A well-known skeptic arose and openly renounced his infidelity.

As my husband and Brother Pope had both their special appointments elsewhere to fill, it fell to my lot, much against my predilections, to close the whole series of meetings by my third and last temperance lecture. This appeal on the temperance question was also responded to, at first mostly by young boys and girls, followed by a venerable gentleman and his two sons, and then the full complement of men and women. So all discouragements of the past are forgotten in these glorious results.

FOR THE CHILDREN.

CHRISTMAS AT THE S'KOKOMISH RESERVATION.

BY REV. MYRON EELLS.

Our Christmas passed off very pleasantly, with a tree and appropriate exercises in the evening. The church was full, with the school children, about forty-five in number, the older Indians, government employees, and a number of surrounding whites. Two songs were sung by the whole school, one being an original piece beginning with the words, "We're from Squakson and S'kokomish," (the two reservations from which the children have [114]come,) and containing the names of all the children in school. The other, "Hurrah for the Christmas Tree" was sung just before the gifts were distributed. There were other songs by the older pupils, the youngest children closing with the clapping of their hands. Two Indian girls played the organ. Nine little girls recited a hymn, each one beginning with the successive letters of the word Christmas, and as they did so, those letters were hung up between them and the audience. Ten little boys recited a poem on temperance, in connection with which the Indian policeman, recently appointed, made some earnest remarks on the same subject. It was his first effort in church, and he surprised his friends by his success. An Indian chief spoke about Christmas, and your missionary added remarks on the meaning of the word Christmas—the feast of Christ.

A report of the Sabbath-school showed that there had been an average attendance of forty-five. Prizes having been offered to all those who should be on the roll of honor four-fifths of the time, by learning the Sabbath School lesson—three verses in advance and three in review— perfectly, it was found that five had gained a prize, a good book each, two of them being Indian children, and the others white children.

The gifts from the tree were then distributed. None of the children were omitted; some went home so loaded that they could hardly carry all, and even many of the oldest, decrepit Indians who could not be present, were not forgotten.

A violin and organ solo by the school teacher and his wife called the audience again to order, and an exhibition followed with a small magic lantern and about eighty pictures, Bible, temperance and comic. This I have used in my tours with the Indians, and it is always acceptable. The remark was made more than once, "How well the children performed their parts."

RECEIPTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1889.