THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.

A. Anderson, Printer, 28 Frankfort St.

American Missionary Association,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

PRESIDENT.

Hon. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

Rev.M. E. STRIEBY, 56 Reade Street, N. Y.

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his order as Assistant Treasurer.

A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

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THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

THE WARDS OF THE ALMIGHTY.

The notable event connected with the formal presentation of Mr. Carpenter’s picture “Signing the Emancipation Proclamation,” to the United States, was the speech of the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens. It was a graceful and significant act, when the former Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy spoke such words of hearty good-will at the reception of this commemoration of its death-blow. Mr. Stephens claims for the South a share of the honor of emancipating the slaves, since “the freedom of that race was never finally consummated, and could not be, until the Southern States sanctioned the Thirteenth Amendment. They accepted the proposition for emancipation by a voluntary uncontrolled” adoption of it.

Of the institution of slavery, as previously existing, he said:

In regard to the future relation of the races in this land, Mr. Stephens speaks cautiously, and not unwisely. With many of the best men of the South, he sees here a problem not easily to be solved, and an outcome not lightly to be prophesied. He denies that any Southern men desire a change back to the old relation of master and slave. We quote again:

Recognizing a national responsibility for the welfare and protection of these freedmen, he closes with this ringing exhortation:

To which the Independent gives its enthusiastic assent as follows:

DOUGLASS AND HAYES AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY.

Surely, the colored people of the South are receiving plain talk and good advice on all sides. Perhaps no one speaks more plainly and penetratingly, and perhaps no one has a better right or ability to do it, than the Hon. Frederick Douglass. At the reception of an engraving of Mr. Carpenter’s picture, from the artist, by the Howard University, he uttered honest words, and true. Speaking of Mr. Stephens’ speech, in which he said it was yet to be proven if emancipation was a blessing, Mr. Douglass replied that this question was to be answered in the future, and meant that his race was still on trial—on trial to see if they would be better masters to themselves than their masters were to them—if they would rise as early and work as late.

In regard to his own people, he said:

This is the soundest kind of sense. Emancipation only struck the shackles from the slave; it had no power to lift him up. Federal force could hold him up by the arms, but he is still as limp as ever, for all that; his ankle bones could not immediately receive strength from it. “They have a fair chance to get up”; but that does not get them up of itself. The stairways of education are laid from the first story—yes, from the sub-cellar up through the basement, flight after flight, to the top floor. But stairways do not turn, end for end, to tumble people up. The paths of honest industry and thrift are open; but they are all up-hill, and never slide their travelers down into competence and respectability. There is a chance to get up, but the freedman must do his own climbing, after all. If there are some to dissuade him, by assuring him that for him these ascents lead up to nothing worth the effort, there are others to cheer him on, and to rejoice with him in each new advance.[99] But even such will be compelled to admit the justice of the saying, “If one can’t get up, he will be helped down”; he must not obstruct the way. He ought, however, to be encouraged, by seeing such men as Douglass up so near the top. And those who cannot encourage him by example, because they were born on higher levels, surely may sympathize with him, in the remembrance of their own toil, as they ascended on the same scale, though higher. Let there not fail him, while he fails not to strive, cheers from above, cheers from below, cheers from all around him, and a hand, too, now and then, for him to grasp and get a friendly pull. The stair builders must be in the way to help a little, just when heart and strength are failing.

President Hayes spoke, too, on the same occasion, and in much the same line. Read this President’s Message:

That is good advice for any poor man, black or white. This picture of the signing of the Emancipation Act can commemorate all of which it is capable, only if the privilege of freedom be embraced as the opportunity of manly toil, and the occasion of all patient effort to become the equal of other men, not in external advantages and rights half so much as in capacity and character.

This is what we are working for among our colored brethren, and especially among the youth, and with a measure of success which makes us full of hope for their future and ours. We must be patient to hold out the chances, and keep open the opportunities, as well as they to toil and strive to use them. Most of all do we feel that when we have succeeded in leading them to an intelligent Christian experience, we have awakened in them the highest motive of which the human mind is capable, and brought them under the most powerful stimulus to the worthiest of all ambitions—to fit themselves, not for high stations, but for useful work.

CHURCH WORK IN THE SOUTH.

Is the A. M. A. devoting a proper share of its work to the extension of Congregational Churches in the South? The question is a fair one, and deserves a frank answer. But the answer, to be just to all interests concerned, must take a broad view of the whole subject. The paramount duty of the nation, and especially of the churches, to the emancipated slaves, is to fit them for their new position as citizens, and their true destiny as men and Christians in America, and as missionaries to Africa. Anything short of this is less than our whole duty. The blacks are all religious in their way, and nearly all are connected with churches. In the matter of outward profession and inward emotion, the quantity is all that could be asked. It is in the quality alone that a change is needed. No Christian Church can discharge its duty to them by merely denominationalizing them into its ranks, leaving the essentials of character and Christian manhood unchanged. The Congregational Churches of this country certainly will not be satisfied with this low aim.

But these Congregational Churches are, by the nature of the case, compelled to work in methods differing from those of other denominations. Methodists, Baptists, and, to[100] some extent, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, pre-occupy the ground. Congregationalists were almost unknown among the blacks before the war, and their efforts must naturally meet with sectarian prejudice, somewhat in proportion to the ignorance of the people. But, nevertheless, Congregationalism has a great responsibility in regard to this people, in laying foundations on which to build the essentials of character in civil and Christian life. It is with this aim that the Association has, from the beginning, sought to do its work—moving, with the progress of the colored people, from the common-school to the more effective normal, collegiate and theological teaching. The wisdom of its efforts is attested by the commendations of those, both in the South and North, who are most competent to judge, and also by the more convincing fact, that it can point to 100,000 scholars in schools taught by its former pupils, to the education it has given to many colored ministers, and to the missionaries, born in slavery, trained in its schools, and now sent to Africa.

The church work must for a time, at least, grow out of, and keep pace with, this Christian teaching, which prepares the people to appreciate, and the minister to preach, a pure Gospel and a practical morality. It were easy to scatter the seeds in a thin and shallow soil, and gather a harvest that would wither while it was gathering. A writer in one of the religious papers, who censures the Association, makes this great boast, followed by a frank confession: “With half of three millions of dollars I can Congregationalize every negro in the South; but, of course, the work would not be permanent.” The italics in this quotation are ours, for we wish to call attention to the acknowledgment, and to say that this transient work is precisely what the Association does not attempt. It will not take the money of its patrons to start ephemeral growths. It prefers, and we are sure its intelligent friends will prefer, that it should plow deep, harrow thoroughly, and sow “wholly a right seed,” that the gatherings may be an hundred fold for the garner of the Master.

An effort is made to stir up Congregationalists to plant white churches in the South. The project is not new, but its results thus far have not been encouraging. Soon after the war, the Home Missionary Society and the Congregational Union invested large moneys in establishing such churches there, and we suppose that their experience will lead them to ask for very clear evidence of more favorable auspices before they will wish to renew the attempt. But if it were renewed, it would only be an exaggeration of the difficulties at the West, where feeble rival churches, in poor and small communities, struggle against inevitable death. For, in the South, we should have two feeble Congregational churches, the one white and the other black, in still poorer and smaller places. And more than all that, the A. M. A. has started its church work on the only true Gospel basis, founding churches without distinction of color. Its churches are not black by its ordination, and are only made nearly so by the caste prejudice of the whites. It ought to be understood that the progress of any people in civilization and Christianity is a growth, taking form and bearing fruit according to soil and climate, and that it cannot be produced to order, or at the behest of mere theorists.

FOUR NEW MISSIONARIES FOR AFRICA.

Many an experiment has failed because entered upon half-heartedly, and tried on too small a scale to succeed. The height of wisdom is to find the true line on which caution and courage meet. It has been the purpose of the Association to do its part in the evangelization of Africa, by missionaries of African descent, and to begin in that effort so soon as our schools should begin to furnish those qualified for such important work.

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Last fall, when, after the return of Mr. Billheimer and the death of Barnabas Root, the Mendi Mission needed rëinforcement, the new policy was begun by sending Messrs. Snelson, James and White to the field. They arrived in due time, and entered at once heartily upon their work. They have had some slight illnesses—almost, if not quite all of them having suffered somewhat in the process of acclimation—but at last accounts all were well again. If we are fully informed, they have endured less inconvenience from this cause than we anticipated.

But the mission was still weak—Bro. Snelson the only minister. Two of the white missionary helpers, who had been in the field before, soon withdrew in impaired health. It was deemed wise, and, indeed, indispensable, for the successful prosecution of the work, that the ranks should be at once filled. It was decided to send three single men, or better, if possible, two married men with their wives. A letter was written to Fisk University, stating the need, which was read without comment, at prayers, Feb. 8th.

God’s Spirit took the message to the heart of Andrew E. Jackson, and sent it by him to Albert Miller, and through them to Ella M. Hildridge and Ada J. Roberts (also students at Fisk), to whom they were respectively engaged, and three days later the four offered themselves willingly for this far-off field. The faculty recognized at once their fitness for the work; they were among the best and brightest and most advanced of the students in their respective departments. The four met daily for prayer together, and their convictions and purposes were daily strengthened. The Executive Committee accepted them promptly, and felt it necessary to press their speedy departure, that they might reach the west coast of Africa before the wet season should set in, when the conditions for their acclimature would be less favorable than earlier.

On Saturday of that week a council was convened, which, on the following day, Sunday, Feb. 17th, ordained the two young men to the Gospel ministry, they having each had considerable experience in preaching. A farewell meeting of the students was also held on the same day, full of heartiness and fervor, at which the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

We have no fear of a lack of missionary zeal henceforth in Fisk University. But the manifestation of interest in this event was not confined within its walls. All Nashville seemed aglow with friendly enthusiasm. Dr. Rand, of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, invited Miller into his pulpit, at the close of the Sunday morning service, to address the congregation, which took up a liberal collection for the outfit of the young missionaries. Their ages range from twenty-one to twenty-seven. The Theological students of Vanderbilt University invited them to an interview on Sunday afternoon, at which they were most kindly received; and after prayers together, and conversation, were the recipients of presents of books and money.

The next day, the double marriage was solemnized by Professors Bennett and Spence, and later, a general farewell meeting was held in St. John’s Chapel. The large building was crowded, and many went away unable to find entrance. Prominent ministers from the city and vicinity, representing the leading denominations of Christian churches, were present. The tone of the meeting was congratulatory and hopeful, as befitted the sending forth of these soldiers of the Cross.

At their leaving Nashville by the evening train, an immense crowd gathered in and about the depot to see them off. A day or two only was spent in New York, to make necessary purchases, and receive instructions from the Secretary. On Thursday[102] afternoon, a few members of the Executive Committee, and representatives of the religious press, held an informal interview with them. They each told the story of their lives, of their struggles to acquire an education, and of their religious experiences. All were deeply impressed with the sincerity of their devotion, and with their modesty and good sense as well.

On Saturday, the 23d of February, they sailed for England, where they arrived March 3d. By the 20th they were expected to reach Freetown, and a few days later, their new home.

We have thus fairly launched on the new experiment of African evangelization by men and women of African descent, who have come through American slavery to freedom. The nine adults together in the field are enough to support each other’s courage and hold up each other’s hands. But the field is far away; the perils of it are peculiar; the path is a new one to these young men and women. We trust in them with great confidence. But in the complications and unforeseen emergencies which always may arise in a foreign field, we feel that they need, more than most missionaries even, the constant remembrances, in prayer, of the thousands of the friends of Africa in our land and in Great Britain. We repeat most urgently their parting request—“Brethren, pray for us.”

THE TWO INDIAN POLICIES.

Two radically different views have prevailed in this country from the outset in regard to the treatment of the Indians—the one represented by the word civilization, and the other by the word extermination. The first of these was entertained by the Pilgrim Fathers, and by the founder of Pennsylvania, and was carried out apostolically by John Eliot, David Brainard, and others, as well as by successful Indian missions of later date. But the effort has been constantly obstructed by the hostilities between the Indians and the white men, rendering the latter indisposed to send the Gospel, and the former to receive it. The only decided and comprehensive effort by the general Government, for the civilization of the Indians, is the peace policy inaugurated by General Grant, the results of which, in spite of all obstacles and opposition, have been unmistakably and increasingly advantageous. (1) As a class, the agents selected by the religious societies have been far more trustworthy and efficient than their predecessors, being themselves honest in their dealings with the Indian, and defending them from the frauds of ring speculators, and the temptations of the liquor dealers. (2) The progress of the Indians in their industrial, educational and moral advancement has been very marked, as is shown by a tabulated and comparative statement of facts, prepared by the Board of Indian Commissioners, and recently published. (3) The agents—representing all denominations, and, therefore, not committing the government to sectarianism—have most directly and heartily co-operated with the religious efforts of the different churches for the evangelization of the Indians. As the only possibility of civilizing the Indians lies in their Christian enlightenment, the work of the religious societies, under the fostering care of the government, gives the highest promise of success.

On the other hand, the policy of extermination has been tried from the beginning. In the earlier days the struggle resembled the border wars between England and Scotland, being mere temporary raids, carried on with little expense. But modern warfare puts another aspect on this contest with the Indians, making it vastly more costly in men and money. It is believed that not a single Indian has been killed by our army, at less than an average expense of a million of dollars, and of the lives of one or more white men. The War Department and the army are the natural representatives of this policy, and if the Indians are transferred to their care, the peace policy will be overthrown, and we fear that of extermination substituted in its place. This apprehension[103] involves no reflection on the humanity of the officers and soldiers of the army, but the inference is justified by the history of the past, and by the fact that the business of an army is to destroy, and not to give instruction.

Much significancy is added to this question by the recent tables of Major Clark, showing that the Indians are not decreasing in number. They are here, and mean to stay. We cannot exterminate them, and we ought, as a Christian people, to face manfully the other and grander alternative of making them good citizens and sharers in the blessings of the Gospel.

One other thing should not be forgotten. This nation long oppressed the black man, and the dread penalty came at length, whose mementoes are in a million of soldiers’ graves, in broken homes and hearts, North and South, and in the disturbance of all commercial and industrial interests, under which the whole land still trembles. If we persevere in our wrongs and neglects of the red man, have we any hope that we shall escape similar retributions? God still reigns!

NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.

Hampton, Va.—“Five students united with the church by profession, the first Sabbath in March. Others were advised to wait until they had opportunity to prove themselves Christians by their Christian works. There seems to be a continual work of grace extending noiselessly and unobtrusively from heart to heart, and adding one after another to the trophies of its victorious power.”

McLeansville, N. C.—Miss Douglass writes: “My Bible-class still continues large. My room is crowded every Sabbath. After the class was dismissed last night one young man, who wishes to fit himself for a missionary, said, ‘I have taken a new resolution to be more devoted than ever.’ He must soon leave school to earn more money. I wish he could go on now.”

Savannah, Ga.—Mr. Markham writes: “Our congregation is increasing every week. God is with us. This is as clear as a sunbeam. I feel His special aid. Two united with our church yesterday (March 3). I am to go to Ogeechee next Sabbath. Nine will unite there. The Sabbath-school at East Savannah is increasing. More than 100 are now on the list.”

Macon, Ga.—“Yesterday (Feb. 10,) was a happy day to the Macon church. Four children baptized, and five adults received into membership. Of these, four are new converts—others will come forward next month. Our daily prayer-meetings are continued. The church is aroused to more activity, and we look for yet better things.”

Woodville, Ga.—“Six united with the church March 2d. Sunday-school numbers nearly 100. Prayer-meetings are being held every evening. The day-school has 92 scholars enrolled.”

New Orleans, La.—“The very interesting religious work still continues. As many as fifty have been converted. Some of the very hopeful cases are, or have been, nominal Catholics: others of the same class are interested.”

Berea, Ky.—“An interesting revival in progress—some twenty conversions.”

ITEMS FROM THE SCHOOLS.

Savannah, Ga.—The Beach Institute in this city was destroyed by fire on the morning of Feb. 20th. The fire began in a barn on the premises in some mysterious way, and was speedily communicated to the Institute building. The Teachers’ Home adjoining was saved, the wall toward it standing. Part of the school furniture was also saved.[104] The building had, for a few years past, been rented to the city school-board for a colored school. Notice had been given them that the Association would require the building for its own use next fall. The insurance money will replace the building, and a school under the Association’s care will be opened as previously planned.

Marietta, Ga.—“Our school opened for the first time Oct. 15th, 1877. The local prejudice was so great that only four scholars attended. A change in the feeling has taken place, and the school has, up to this time, enrolled 88 pupils. The colored people are becoming eager to embrace their privileges. The children are improving in knowledge and in care for themselves. The prospect is full of encouragement.”

Forsyth, Ga.—On February 1st, the school building of the colored people of Forsyth was dedicated and set apart for the work for which it was intended. For months these people have been struggling to raise money to build the house. They had, as a fund to start with, about two hundred dollars, which the colored Baptist Church had collected. Subscription lists were opened and the colored people and their white friends contributed as they could. Contrary to the expectation of many, their success was such that the building was framed and rapidly pushed forward. It is not yet complete, lacking plastering, but is quite comfortable nevertheless. The teacher, W. F. Jackson, a graduate of the Atlanta University, has been indefatigable and untiring in his efforts to press this enterprise to completion. Rev. E. A. Ware, President of the Atlanta University, made the dedicatory address.

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.

—A Southern man, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a book agent for many years, reports that in the last two years he has taken 280 orders from the colored people of Charleston for valuable books, in many cases trusting them when cash payments could not be made, and has not lost fifteen dollars.

—A gentleman in Augusta, Ga., tells us he has sold over two hundred house lots to colored people, who have paid for them in small instalments, since the war.

—The African Methodists have been holding an educational convention in Georgia, Bishop Campbell presiding. From the statements made by the Bishop and by Presiding Elder Brown, we learn that wonderful progress in education has been made during the last ten years. Ten years ago, in the Atlantic District, there was but one man capable of keeping a minute of the transactions, “and then it had to be read while it was hot, for if it ever cooled down it could never be read again.” Now there is scarcely a preacher who, besides reading and writing, has not pursued to some extent the course of studies prescribed to candidates for the ministry.

—It is pleasant to note how the freedmen are rising to the dignity of self-support in their religious, as well as their material interests. A missionary of the American Sunday-school Union, in North Carolina, having recently organized three new Sunday-schools among freedmen, writes, that at the close of one of his meetings “an aged negro, of nearly seventy years, came forward with his pennies to buy a primer for his grandson. His example was followed until about two hundred pennies were piled upon the desk—the first contribution of these poor but willing self-helpers.”

—In seven years the students of Talladega College alone have organized Sunday-schools in which have been taught over 20,000 scholars.

—Dr. Sears, agent of the Peabody Fund, says that in all the States where there has been a re-action against education, it has been followed by a return to better measures[105] than ever. Thus, through local actions and re-actions, the general forward movement is assured.

—One morning, in our school in Augusta, on calling for the First Commandment with Promise, a little girl, hardly six years old, said: “Honor thy father and mother, that thy days may be long in the land of liberty.” That wasn’t very bad.

—A colored Tennesseean says: “When I want to hear preaching, I go to the Congregational Church; when I want to have a good time I go to these other places.”

—One of our faithful ministers in Georgia grieves over a recent restoration to his pulpit of a neighboring colored pastor. He says the white people wanted it, because (1) the man’s politics suit them, (2) he is ignorant, and (3) he gets drunk. The colored members of his church know nothing of Bible religion, and are like their priest. On a recent Communion Sunday seven of them were seen returning to their homes drunk—three just able to stagger on, and four “being hauled out in a cart, not able to sit up.” The writer says such churches cannot save these people, and mere secular instruction will not cure such evils. The Christian school is the only hope.

—In another case, in the same State, a minister, going into a church shortly after the close of a communion service, found the deacons and a few of the members “eating and drinking and carrying on as if they were in a bar-room.” Being expostulated with, they said they did not feel at liberty to throw any of the bread and wine away. It was evidently, however, a renewal of the old excesses for which Paul so sharply rebuked the Church at Corinth.

—A woman in one of the old-style churches, not far from one of our best schools, “came through with religion” one night, and in telling her wonderful “experience,” said she went to heaven, and from there she saw this whole school “marching down to hell with their Bibles in their hands.”

INDIAN NOTES.

—The House Committee on Indian Affairs has reported in favor of the transfer of the Indian Bureau from the Interior to the War Department. Its grounds are (1) the failure of the attempts to civilize; (2) the divided responsibility between Secretary and Commissioner—between civil and military officers; (3) the corruption of the present Indian service; (4) the economy of the change, which will furnish employment for retired and idle army officers who receive pay.

—Precisely what civilizing agencies would be brought to bear upon these people under the War Department is not stated in the report. Whether the school and the church would be allowed, or only the stockade and the garrison; whether bullets should take the place of books, and guns of Gospel. This does not follow of necessity, only from the despairing tone in regard to the attempts to civilize.

—We beg our readers to notice carefully what class of men, as a whole, sustain and desire the change to the War Department, and what sort of men oppose it. There is great significance in such discriminations.

—The recent Sioux war cost $2,313,531 in money, and 283 men killed, among whom was the gallant Custer and his staff, and 125 wounded.

—Sunday Afternoon says: “It costs the United States about $1,700 a year to support a soldier fighting the Indians. It costs the American Board about half as much to support a missionary preaching to them. Would it not be cheaper to send more missionaries and fewer soldiers?”

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—Hon. A. C. Barstow, one of the Indian Commissioners, and a man thoroughly conversant with the whole subject of Indian affairs, gives the following opinion regarding this important branch of our Civil Service and the men who control it. He says:

—The educational work among the Indians may be summed up from the Commissioner’s report for 1877, as follows: There are 251,000 Indians, and 28,000 half-breeds, exclusive of Alaska. Among them are 330 schools, of which 60 are boarding-schools, with 437 teachers; and 11,515 pupils have attended at least one mouth. Largest monthly average, 4,774; average for the year, 3,598; expense to the government, $255,379; to Tribal funds, $81,989; to the religious societies, $33,950; in all, $371,318; 40,397, of whom 23,196 are adults, can read; 1,206 learned to read last year.

—The religious items, drawn from the same source, show 207 church buildings on the reservations; 126 missionaries, not included among teachers; expended by religious societies, $36,164; 27,215 are members of the mission churches of all denominations. We question whether the $36,000 reported as expended by the religious societies, represents, even approximately, the full amount given from this source, since the A. B. C. F. M. and the Presbyterian Board, together, expend annually nearly this amount. We claim that, considering all the disadvantages of his condition, and the fewness of the laborers, the results are gratifying and hopeful.

CHINESE NOTES.

—The House Committee on Education and Labor made a report, February 25th, on the Chinese question, of which we give the following abstract: Since the first treaty with China, in July, 1844, the migration has been on the steady increase for the last twenty years—from 1855 to 1859, it was 4,530; 1860 to 1864, it was 6,600; from 1865 to 1870, it was 9,311; from 1871 to 1874, it was 13,000. —— The lowest estimate of Chinamen in California is 150,000. From the density of population in China, and the lowness of wages, from their migratory disposition, and the attractions of our congenial climate, high wages and liberal government, and the cheapness and safety of the voyage hither, an increasing rate of immigration is prophesied. —— While the Chinaman is desirable merely as a laborer, he has neither home, self-respect, nor underclothes, and lives on rice, tea and dried fish. He has low ideas of religion, labor, women and virtue. —— He does not assimilate with the American people, and is unchanged by contact. He does not mean to stay, and will not even contribute his dead body to our national welfare. He cannot be made into a soldier, or even a juryman. —— He is proud of Confucius, and vainly boasts of China as the central nation of the world. He is, and will remain, distinct[107] “in color, size, features, dress, language, customs, habits and social peculiarities.”

The joint resolution relative to Chinese immigration is as follows:

“Whereas, It appears that the great majority of Chinese immigrants are unwilling to conform to our institutions, to become permanent residents of our country, and accept rights and assume responsibilities of citizenship; and,

”Whereas, They have indicated no capacity to assimilate with our people; therefore,

“Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to open correspondence immediately with the Governments of China and Great Britain, with the view of securing a change or abrogation of all stipulations in existing treaties which permit unlimited immigration of Chinese to the United States.”

—Cheap labor, whether by machine or by man-power, has always been resisted by those whom it has displaced. But it always pushes the more intelligent laborers up and not down. It has been so in California. Men are now foremen who were only fruit-pickers, and engineers who were only miners before Chinese labor came in.

—Race unions, to keep prices of labor up, and to put competition down, are no better than other unions for these purposes. All such combinations are both short-sighted and selfish.

—In the San Francisco Bulletin, we find the following schedule of labor rates in that city: Carpenters, from $3 to $3.50 a day; bricklayers, $4 to $5; painters, $3; plasterers, $3.50; hod-carriers,$3; stone-cutters, $4; machinists, $3 to $4; brass-founders, $4.50; common laborers, $2; woolen mills, $2.50 to $3.50; domestics, $25 to $30 a month—not more than two children allowed in an employer’s family at that. It can be seen at a glance that these wages are twice those paid in the Eastern States for corresponding work. Does Chinese competition keep these prices up, or does California need less homeopathic doses of “China” to bring her prices somewhere near the level of her sister States?

—By the statistics of the arrivals and departures for 1877, it appears that 9,906 passengers arrived from China and Japan, and 7,852 returned, showing an excess of 2,054 arrivals, not all of whom, indeed, were Mongolians; while the deaths of Chinese exceeded 2,054. It would seem that our Christian statesmen of San Francisco might repress their morbid solicitude, in view of these encouraging facts.

We trust our readers will notice carefully the accounts of our various educational institutions as they appear in order from month to month. These articles are intended to give a view of the peculiar work, and appliances for work, of these schools and colleges. Next month, we expect to publish an article on Tougaloo University, Mississippi; and, in June, one on Straight University, Louisiana. Others will follow in such order as their special circumstances may determine.

We find that we are at liberty to say to our readers, that the touching little poem entitled “Christ in the Person of the Poor,” which appeared in our February Missionary, was from the pen of the Rev. Eli Corwin, D. D., of Jacksonville, Illinois.

OBITUARIES.

The heroes of the anti-slavery struggle are passing away. The Tappans, Joshua Leavitt and others finished their course in the last few years, and now we record the death of two others of their compeers.

Rev. Wm. Goodell was born in Chenango County, N. Y., Oct. 25th, 1792. In his earlier years he acquired a practical knowledge of business affairs, but it was as a thinker, writer and reformer that he has made his mark in the world. He will be remembered as an editor and author, devoted earnestly and successfully to promoting[108] reform in many directions, but especially in relation to intemperance and slavery. Mr. Goodell was present at the Convention in Albany, N. Y., at which this Association was formed, and took a prominent and effective part in its proceedings, preparing and reporting the elaborate address to the Christian public, which was adopted and sent forth as embodying the views on which the Convention based the new organization. From that time to the close of his life, his sympathy for our work was constant and earnest.

Rev. J. S. Green died at his home in Makawao, Sandwich Islands, Jan. 5th, 1878, in the 82d year of his age. Mr. Green went out as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands in 1828, in company with Andrews, Gulick and others, and shared in effecting the wonderful transformation in those Islands. In 1842 Mr. Green resigned his connection with the American Board, and from that time until his death was a pastor, depending for his support upon his own labor and the contributions of his people. His strong anti-slavery sympathies led him to seek a connection, yet without salary, with the Union Missionary Society and subsequently with this Association, when that Society was merged into it. His name appeared for years in our list of foreign missionaries, and his reports were full and interesting. His ready pen, not satisfied with mere reports, was prolific in contributions on missionary subjects, and earnest in its denunciations of the evils of slavery in his native land. He was a man of deep and earnest piety, and his memory will be cherished in the warm regard of those who knew his worth and his useful career.

DEATH OF TEACHERS.

The painful intelligence has reached us of the death, on February 17th, of typhoid fever, after a four weeks’ illness, of Mr. Marmaduke C. Kimber, of Germantown, Pa., aged nearly twenty-four years. The son of one of the valued friends and trustees of Hampton Institute, Mr. Kimber, when just out of college in 1872, gave his services to the school for two years as a volunteer teacher. Since then he has been professor in a Western college, and after a year of travel in Europe, he took charge of the Friends’ Academy in Germantown, which position he held at the time of his death. He is remembered with sincerest esteem by the officers of the school and teachers who were associated with him at Hampton, and the students who were under his instruction.—Southern Workman.

Mrs. Alicia S. (Blood) Brown died at Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 26th of February. Mrs. Brown was for some years a teacher under this Association at Monticello, Florida, and her many friends there will remember the faithful instruction she gave and the kindnesses she bestowed. Her illness was long and severe, but when she did not look for the Messenger, he came and took her away. In the midst of her sufferings, she could cheerfully say, that she wanted to “bear and suffer all His will.”

THE FREEDMEN.

TALLADEGA COLLEGE.

REV. E. P. LORD, PRESIDENT.

Almost in the very centre of Alabama, the great Allegheny range makes a last and only partially successful effort at rearing mountains, before losing itself in the low, flat black belt. Thus the pure and exhilarating atmosphere of more Northern latitudes is brought to the very border of the almost tropical country that belts the Gulf. Overlooking the rich, populous, and somewhat unwholesome low-lands, breathing the pure mountain air, is situated Talladega, seeming to have been Providentially placed as a city of refuge for the colored people of Alabama. The beauty of the surrounding landscape is a perpetual inspiration to teachers and students. The location[109] of the college, in a quiet country village of two thousand inhabitants, invites the young people from the cities, and less favored localities, to an atmosphere as pure and healthful morally as it is physically.

But one other Southern State, if any, has so large a colored population as Alabama. A half million are now in the State, and the number is continually increasing. Of these, three-fifths cannot read. There are about two hundred thousand children of school age, and only one in ten of these was in school last year. Eighty-three cents only was expended upon the education of each of those who did attend. One would hardly judge that this could afford a liberal education.

In a State needing moral and educational efforts so greatly, the A. M. A. has opened schools and organized churches in Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, Marion, Athens, and a few other places. In 1870 the Association established Talladega College, as the key-stone of the arch, or the centre of its system of educational and religious work in Alabama. The college is closely connected with the other points of the Association’s work in this State by means of the intimate social relations between the faculty of the college and the workers in those places.

The various departments designated by the name Talladega College, are so closely interwoven that any distinct mention of the workings of one must contain facts closely related to the others. For convenience I will speak of (1) the Literary Department; (2) the Industrial Department; (3) the Theological Department; (4) the Church Work.

The Literary Department.

This includes the various grades, from the elementary to the higher Normal course, the latter requiring three years for its completion. The studies pursued include in mathematics, University Algebra and Geometry; in science, Physical Geography, Physiology, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, English Literature, Mental and Moral Philosophy, etc., with the theory and practice of teaching. Its students have accomplished much in teaching throughout the State. In seven years, according to their reports to the principal, these students have taught about five hundred day-schools, with fifteen thousand scholars. At the same time they have organized Sabbath-schools, and taught in them over twenty thousand scholars. These numbers fairly represent the power these young people have exerted for the moral and intellectual elevation of their people in this and other States. There are in the department seventy pupils. Next year a large number will be admitted from the intermediate grade, which now numbers one hundred, though, in our present poverty, it has had but one teacher the greater part of the year.

There are in attendance this year two hundred and fifty students, a much larger number than ever before, and there is every indication of an increase the coming year. During the last vacation the principal and the music teacher, with a company of students, visited many of the larger places of the State, lecturing, giving concerts, and stirring up the people generally on the subject of education. The Christian zeal and deportment of the students, and the information diffused, awakened a desire for education, and a public sentiment in favor of Talladega College never before known. The last commencement exhibited and also increased the new love and enthusiasm for the college. They gathered from the country for twenty miles around, on foot, on mules, in ox-carts and wagons. All the examinations were largely attended; many who could not read taking the liveliest interest in “two unknown quantities,” and experiments in philosophy. An instructive address by Rev. Dr. Brown, of Newark, N. J., the prize declamations and essays by fourteen of the Normal students, the graduating exercises of three young men from the Theological Department, the concert by the Musical Union, and other interesting exercises, furnished the only means for comprehending a liberal education, which hundreds[110] of the great crowds in attendance had ever enjoyed.

The students, also, are taking a personal pride in bringing back the best scholars from their summer schools. One young man, having failed to collect any funds from his summer school in Georgia, started with his most advanced pupil on foot, their satchels upon their backs. Walking, riding in chance carts, and helped on by railroad conductors, who were evidently influenced to surprising kindness by the spirit of the Master, they reached this place. Incited by the enthusiasm of this young man, three more have followed him from his distant field of labor. From Mississippi, another young man brought back two. They walked about one hundred miles, and are now paying their way in school by labor on the college farm.

Both have begun earnest Christian lives, and are soon to unite with the church.

All the young men of the college are organized into a battalion of cadets for physical culture. Their government is conducted by means of this organization, its officers being held responsible for the conduct of the members, and being expected to set an example of manliness and courteous deportment. We find this to be one of the most potent factors of their moral as well as physical development.

Industrial Department.

At the close of the last school year, the Industrial Department was decided upon. One of the professors, with the approval of the Association, immediately proceeded to lay the matter before friends in the North; and the teachers gathered from all sources whatever they could secure, with which to begin the work. About three thousand dollars have already been received, and work in the following branches begun:

A printing press was secured, with which to bring our wants before the people of the North, and our influence to bear upon the intelligent colored people. Six students have learned a useful trade, and by its means are paying their way in school. In August they began the publication of the Southern Sentinel, a small eight-page paper, of which five hundred copies are issued monthly. Should any one doubt its usefulness, a year’s subscription (one dollar) would be an excellent test. Six hundred copies of the Sabbath-school Lesson papers, prepared with reference to the peculiar needs of our Sabbath-schools, are also printed, together with a large quantity of other matter.

Work upon the farm was begun in September. In October one hundred and sixty acres were bought, in addition to the thirty acres already owned by the college. The citizens of the place, both white and colored, have become deeply interested in the success of the enterprise. Gifts of all kinds, from a little girl’s pet chicken, to a fine eighteen dollar plow from a merchant of the town, and from an old auntie’s half-peck of potatoes to a fine cow and calf from one of the deacons of the college church, and varying in amounts from five cents to fifty dollars, have been given. Our most intelligent citizens say that no other enterprise for the benefit of the colored people has ever aroused so much interest among them as the Agricultural Department.

In the Girls’ Industrial School, sixteen young women are earning, wholly or in part, their board and tuition; while, at the same time, learning ways and methods which will make hundreds of homes brighter and happier.

In mechanical work, five hundred dollars’ worth of building and repairing has been done, under the direction of an excellent carpenter.

In these different departments of labor, the students have already received about fifteen hundred dollars as wages, in board and tuition.

Theological Department.

If the colored people are to be elevated, in no class is education more necessary than in the ministry. One of the leading Baptist ministers in the State, being asked how many of the young ministers educated in their schools were now in the ministry in this State, replied “One, and we expect soon another.” Yet this church includes by far[111] the largest number of the colored people. To meet this great want, a Theological Department was organized in connection with the college in 1872. Four young men constituted the first class, three of whom are now in the ministry. The number of pupils last year was twenty-seven; at present it is nineteen. The decrease is owing to the requirement of a higher standard in literary training. The colored people are naturally theologians and Bible students. Three distinct lines of study are pursued, all of which have special reference to practical, Christian work. (1) To make the pupils familiar with the facts of the Bible. (2) To establish them in a system of Christian theology. (3) To acquaint them with the best methods of Christian work. Twenty-five Sabbath-schools are carried on by the students. Six of these have grown into churches, the young men acting as their pastors. Sabbath-school Conventions, and various other kinds of Christian work, are conducted by the students, often assisted by teachers from the college. This department has a library of over eight hundred volumes.

Church Work.

We doubt if anywhere else in the South the Church and School are both so strong and so closely united as here. The Congregational Church of Talladega was organized in 1868. There are at present one hundred and forty-nine members, with a Sabbath-school of three hundred. Of course the larger part are students, but a goodly number are citizens, heads of families, having good homes, and being comparatively prosperous. Not only the members of this church, but of the other churches in the village, are thoroughly interested in whatever affects the college. In all the church services citizens and students mingle, with always a sprinkling of members from other churches. In the social gatherings of the students, the members of the church are always welcomed, and enter heartily into their pleasures. Thus the college is anchored by means of the church in the hearts of the people themselves. Many colleges are held in their present location by the force of gravity, or by the adhesive force of brick and mortar alone; but Talladega College, were her buildings burned to the ground, or blown aloft into the air, would remain firmly fixed in the hearts and affections of the people.

NORTH CAROLINA.

“A mighty still religion.” “Good Christians is Peaceable.”

MISS MARTHA MOORE, WILMINGTON.

With a larger working force this year, we are able to do more outside work, and we find in our visits among the people plenty of poverty, misery and sin. We almost wonder if any power is sufficient to raise them from their degradation. Yet, the many noble exceptions bring to view the possibilities of the race, and encourage us to labor on.

To show how the old heathenish idea of religion seems to those who have received more light, I will copy a letter from one who, only a year ago, was led to embrace the truth and to join our church. She writes from her old home in the country, where she is spending the winter with her father. She has, as you will see, a very limited education. She writes:

We have in our night-school some who are making great efforts to improve in knowledge. It requires no little resolution, after working hard all day, to walk a mile or two and study two or three hours. A stranger came a few weeks ago, wishing, as he said, “to cultivate his brain.” There was evidently need of it, and we were glad to learn that his recent conversion had awakened him to the importance of knowing how to read for himself. He also expressed a wish to come here to church, as he had become acquainted with one of our members, who, as he said, “seemed to be a good, civil sort of Christian,” and he thought he would come and see what kind of meetings produced that effect. He had attended another church, but said he “didn’t like there, for they had some crossness, and good Christians is peaceable; they can’t help being peaceable”;—a good lesson for all who bear the Christian name.

Our Sunday-school averages about 130, and the truth seems to be gaining a firmer hold in the minds of some of the older pupils. The day-school is prospering. One of the little ones of the primary department, a bright little fellow, was yesterday laid in his grave.

ALABAMA.

Debt-Raising in a Colored Church.

REV. CHARLES NOBLE, MONTGOMERY

At the annual meeting of the church, in December, it was found that of the $100 pledged to the pastor’s salary, only $25 had been paid; and that an old debt for sexton’s services remained, amounting to $34. In the extra effort made to pay for the painting and repair of the church, and other expenses in spring and summer, these things had been neglected. It was a surprise, and, of course, a disagreeable one to many of the church; but there was a decided feeling that the amount ought to be raised at once, and not left to be a burden on the church any longer. A debt of $109 is as much to this people as some of the $50,000 debts, which Mr. Kimball has been helping churches North to clear away, are to them. Therefore, it seemed to me that the matter was one to be carefully and prayerfully managed. I appointed a meeting for the consideration of the matter, and opened it by reading Chaps, viii. and ix. of 2d Cor., and briefly explaining their teachings. Then we spent half an hour in prayer, the brethren bringing the burden right to the Lord in the simplest and most touching language, expressing their sorrow and self-reproach at having failed to make good their promises, and asking forgiveness and help. Then they talked the matter over, and decided to raise the amount at once by subscription. A fair was suggested, but the decision was against it, on the ground that it wasn’t quite honorable to call in outside help to make good their own delinquency; and, moreover, that a fair involved a great deal of unprofitable labor and excitement, and was a fruitful mother of dissensions. These points they made themselves, and in view of them they decided to raise the amount by voluntary offerings. The subscription began at once, and the matter being presented to the church for two successive Sundays, the whole amount was raised by voluntary pledges. I am certain that the brethren who so cheerfully and promptly pledged, and paid, $7.50 and $6 and $5, gave as abundantly, in proportion to their means, as those who pledged $5,000 and $2,000 at Providence. The spirit in which it was done was the most beautiful part of it. It was more than willingly done. The gifts were brought forward thankfully, joyously, and I never saw happier people in my life than those who joined in thanksgiving to God, when the whole amount was raised. We observed the week of prayer, with meetings every evening, and there was real evidence of[113] the presence of the Spirit. One who has long been in the dark was brought out into the light; and it seemed to us that we must go forward. We had meetings for two weeks with good attendance, and very tender feeling. Quite a number of people rose for prayers, and we hope that four at least have found the Saviour. The church has certainly been quickened and strengthened very much.

LOUISIANA.

Revival News—“Pray for My Child!”—Older Converts—Romanists Reached.

MRS. T. N. CHASE, NEW ORLEANS.

You will rejoice to hear of the good work in the Central Congregational Church of New Orleans. The interest has been sufficient to bring an unusual number every night for four weeks to our prayer-meeting. One evening, after the pastor had taken nearly the usual time, he called for brief testimony from Christians. Fifty-three responded in the limited half hour.

The fruit to be gathered in was from among the older students of the school, who were not already professing Christians. This was what would be expected by those who know their faithful, Christian teachers. All teachers know the thrilling interest that clusters around the conversion of young persons under their tuition. So, as I have heard our teachers talk of this scholarly young man, and that promising young woman, coming over to the Lord’s side, I knew very well what a burden of prayer and effort was lifted from their hearts and hands.

The third week of our meetings a younger class seemed interested. One evening a widow begged us to pray for her daughter, in tones that would have melted a heart of stone. As she passed out of the door, at the close of the meeting, I overheard her saying to one and another, “Pray for my child! pray for my child!” An earnest mother, I thought; who can doubt the reality of her religion? On my way home I learned that her husband had been a devoted member of our church, and a wealthy, intelligent, respected colored citizen. I am happy to find such men are not rare in New Orleans. The next evening the mother, with the same pleading earnestness, begged us to pray for her child. Since her husband’s death her property had gone, other dear ones had passed on, and it seemed as though she could not be denied the conversion of her child. The grandmother was present, too, and gave us a soul-stirring testimony of her long pilgrimage. When those who wished our prayers were requested to come forward, several responded. All were strangers to me; but when a certain little girl went forward just behind the others, a tide of emotion almost overcame me. She was as much a stranger to me as the others, and I, for a moment, wondered at my tears. Then it flashed upon me that she must be the widow’s child, and my emotion was caused by the flood of sympathy that was involuntarily surging from heart to heart for that praying mother. On inquiry, I found I was not mistaken. You can imagine, better than I can describe, the scene, when mother and grandmother gathered about the child, pleading with her to yield to Jesus, as we all knelt to commend the lost lambs to a loving Shepherd.

Now, the older people are being reached. Friday evening a man came in late to escort his wife home. Saturday he came early, and at the very first opportunity was on his feet, saying, “For forty years I hadn’t thought I had a soul till I came in here last night. Help me to find Jesus.” He went forward, fell upon his knees, and was so penitent it did not seem strange that that very night the publican’s God sent him “to his house justified.” As he met our pastor the next morning at church, he exclaimed, “Mr. Alexander, you convinced me, but Jesus saved me.” It would do a stoic good to look upon his beaming face and see what grace has done for that man.

It seems to me that the most interesting feature of the A. M. A. work in New Orleans is its leavening influence upon Roman Catholicism. I was talking, after service one evening, with a beautiful girl who had been forward for prayers, and[114] whose face wore a genuine look of deep contrition. On asking her if she attended church here regularly, she replied, “No; I go to the Catholic Church.” Another girl was sitting beside a member of our family one evening, when a boy behind whispered to her, “Don’t you ask for prayers! if you do, I’ll tell the priest!” I hear that a large number in the school are professed Catholics, but are allowed to attend on account of the superior instruction.

TENNESSEE.

Le Moyne Normal School.

Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 16th, 1878.

The Le Moyne teachers, last year, organized among themselves a reading circle for their own pleasure and improvement. Each Thursday evening was devoted to the study of an author. After a while, other friends were invited to join them for a single reading. The custom was continued after the long vacation, and became a part of the family life.

So much interest was manifested among the occasional guests, that some of them proposed that the circle be enlarged to include all the colored teachers of the city. The proposal was favorably received, and the new literary society has superseded the original. The character of exercises has been changed to meet the demands of this wider and different element. The programme this week was as follows:

Historical: “Benjamin Franklin—his public life; his private life.” Poetical: “Longfellow—sketch of his life; selections from his writings.” Debate: “Resolved, that the Crusades were a benefit to the world.” “Humorous Reading.” Scientific: “Cell Life.” “Budget.”

Music is interspersed, and discussions upon different topics are presented. Ten minutes is the utmost time allowed each participant. The only drawback is the lack of books of reference. Our small library furnishes some assistance, and the additions made to it from time to time help us in our preparations for the literary society.

Friday evenings are devoted to an equally interesting and well-attended gathering of a more devotional character. The Sabbath-school teachers, who use the International Lessons, meet in one of the school-rooms for studying the next Sabbath’s lesson. It is one of the most enjoyable hours of the week.

The first suggestion of united study came from the superintendent of the leading Methodist Sabbath-school. Others at once acceded to the proposal, and heartily join in the exercises. Topics are assigned to members of various schools, so that special preparation is previously made, and very little time is wasted during the meeting.

Methodist, Baptist and Congregational superintendents succeed one another in leading the meetings. Denominational lines are forgotten in seeking to learn the truths of the Bible, and in considering the best methods of presenting those truths to classes. The ten minutes of devotion, at the beginning of each meeting, include the discussion of a practical subject. “How to secure the influence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our scholars,” “Best methods of conducting Infant Classes,” “Opening and closing exercises of the school,” are a few of the topics considered.

A Woman’s Work among Women.

MISS HATTIE MILTON, MEMPHIS.

My mission, thus far, has been mostly to the lowly. The first step was to become acquainted with the people and secure their confidence, which had to be accomplished in various ways; sometimes by taking a great interest in the children, lending them books, giving them pictures, candy, toys, etc., or by giving the mother a little assistance or advice about her work. Sickness affords a good opportunity. I visited one family where the mother had been helpless for some time from a beating given her by her husband. I dressed her wounds, made clothing for her infant, washed and dressed it, set the neighbors to work, and thus secured the confidence of the whole neighborhood; now I am welcomed into homes where before I was treated with coldness[115] and suspicion. I reach a great many through my sick ones.

Some little Sabbath-school girls in Crete, Ill., sent us a box of bedding and clothing, which has been a great help in my work; also, my friends at Romeo, Mich., sent a box of clothing, toys, books, and material for my sewing-school, all of which has been a God-send to me, as I find some very destitute families. The city does nothing for the poor colored people, so my opportunity is all the greater for doing good.

I find many who cannot read and who are very glad to hear the Bible read. Some have even offered to pay me for reading to them, at the same time saying, “You must need it, you dear child, if you have left your friends and home to come and work for the poor colored people.”

It is astonishing how little these people know about the Bible, although they have attended church for years. Those who cannot read find it so hard to understand the preaching, and those who could read a little to them ‘could not give the understanding,’ as they say. When I had finished my Bible reading with one family, they said: “Please, ma’am, come every Sabbath, we get so much more satisfaction from hearing you read than we do anywhere else.” I endeavor to visit them at such hours as not to interfere with their work, and often read and explain the Bible to a woman while she proceeds with her sewing or ironing; however, some insist on laying aside work, saying, “We must give our whole attention to the word of God when we do have a chance to hear it”; and it is quite affecting to have them thank the kind heavenly Father for sending some one to teach them ways they knew not of, and pray to become better women for having received the instruction.

The missionary and those who send her do not lack for prayers from the colored people. I have a Mothers’ Meeting once a week, where I endeavor to teach them from the Bible their duties as mothers and wives; also a sewing-school, where we teach the girls how to cut and make garments, which they buy, when finished, at a low price. I have had so much to do in this part of the work, that one of the teachers has kindly assisted me.

I have over fifty families on my visiting list, and have called on several others and am received cordially by nearly all. I am well pleased with the work, and ought never to cease being thankful for the good and wonderful way in which the Lord has opened this field of labor for me.

Not long since, one of the girls from the senior class came and told me she would like to become a missionary sometime, and asked me to tell her what she could do now, as she wishes to begin to work for Jesus while she is young. She asked me to take her with me on some of my visits among the people, which I shall be glad to do. I think one of the good results of this work is that it tends to set the colored people to work for themselves, as they are glad to do, but did not know how to go to work; they need instruction in this as in everything else.

KENTUCKY.

Berea College.

While the echoes of Merry Christmas are ringing in our ears, and good dinners and joyous family greetings are still bright spots in our memories, it may be interesting to hear of a Gospel Feast in Berea, Ky. Our good steward, of the Boarding Hall, conceived the plan of going out into our highways and hedges and inviting those most destitute to dine with him. Over the hills and the valleys went the joyful tidings into many a log-hut—“Mr. H. done ’vite us to a big dinner at de Hall.”

Aside from teachers and their wives, no white folks were admitted within those doors as guests. At an early hour, the large parlor began to fill. To those of us who were late, it required no little moral courage to enter a room so well filled, and go through the ordeal of hand-shaking. The walls were lined with people, and from their sober, dignified looks, one could easily imagine it a funeral occasion. They seemed conscious of the dignity of the hour, and were prepared to maintain it at any cost.[116] Men sat modestly far away from the women. The costumes would have driven “Worth” distracted. Surely, never could he have devised so many ways of “doing up” the female form. Bits of ribbon, faded and old, stray pieces of lace pinned here and there in charming abundance, and with a lofty indifference to such minor matters as harmony or usefulness. One large figured gown of prominent yellow shades, made conspicuous the form of an old woman, who seemed, like her gown, to have awakened out of a Rip Van Winkle sleep, or been unearthed from some old ruin. It reminded us of the days of Dolly Varden, and was not very unlike the Chinese and Japanese cloths which to-day we try to think pretty. But it would be impossible to attempt a description of the toilettes. Necessity made a virtue of all sorts of combinations; and if they were not beautiful, they seemed to give the wearers the feeling of being dressed—a feeling not always accomplished under happier circumstances.

As we went from one to another, it certainly relieved the monotony to hear them say, “Ki, yi! dars Miss Lizzie,” “How d’ye, honey,” and so on. From the men came the stiffest bows and politest concern for our health. Knowing but few in the party, we hastily found a seat, where we could talk to one about gardens. To another, the never-failing question of babies proved interesting; and thinking of the little black ones, I thought in God’s sight they might be as fair as my own. It took so long for one old dame to tell of her “rheumatiz” and general “misery,” that our sympathy, which was real, almost cooled before the lengthy recital was ended. During all that long hour not a loud laugh was heard from those laughter-loving people.

At length, to the relief of us all, the great doors opened, and the eager old children could contain themselves no longer, and almost broke ranks and ran; husbands and wives apart, evidently fearing, as they hurried to their seats, there would not be room for all. Not till the guests were seated did the teachers scatter here and there, glad for once at least to yield the first seat.

What a meal was provided! Of all good things that could be brought from farm or store, there was no lack. The blessing asked, eagerly they began to enjoy what was to them the principal event of the day. Glancing about us, we saw our steward (a man of deeds rather than of words), upon whom all the expense of this feast came, looking around, with beaming eye, over the great company whose hearts he had made glad. We thought of the wife who had stood by his side so many years, helping in every good work, and who would have been there if God had not called her higher. The flushed face of our good housekeeper, who is never too weary or too busy to do a little more, if she can make hearts happy thereby, shone upon us, and we knew her hands had been full for many days. Though her feet were tired, they obeyed the loving heart, and she flew among us like a spirit, watching on all sides that no one should fail to enjoy the dinner.

Looking up the table, our hearts ached, as one face after another brought up the old slave days. Some there were who had risen above every discouragement, and in the face of poverty, low wages and many another hindrance, had proved themselves men, gladly denying themselves the comforts of life, that their children’s days might be brighter than their own. We saw there old men, grown grey in their “massa’s” service, turned out without a dollar, to pinch the rest of their lives to keep from suffering. Women, married in the Lord and in the honesty of their own hearts, considered only as so much property, to be abused or neglected as their masters chose. Beauty was a fearful gift to the race, and many of our colored women do not lack the gift.

One woman we must speak of, who, having neither riches nor sweetness of temper, made it all good in the wealth of names, which can only be equalled in the royal family. I give a few: “Carrie Lee, Bessie Fee, who but she—Bernaugh.”[117] “Isabel, rise and tell, the glories of Immanuel—Bernaugh.” “Raphael Rogers, Alfred Hart, ’Postle Paul, Caleb after all—Bernaugh.” How she abbreviated these names I know not.

The dinner over, the music room quickly filled. Some of our pianists gave sweet music, but so far above a part of the assembly that I’ve no doubt they longed for their “fiddles and banjoes.” By request, they struck up a wailing sound, which rose and fell, with words somewhat after this style:

This was so sad, that something joyful was called for, and again the strain rung out; old men and women moving their bodies to keep their own time, which each one seemed to do regardless of his neighbor, closing up each line, and almost each word, with such hemi-demi-semi-quavers as would have puzzled some of our best singers. Poor things! the elements of joy had not entered into their religious life. The minor strain swept over all their heart experiences, and in spite of the words of their hymns, their music gave us the echo of their days of bondage, and helped us to thank God that a brighter life had been ours. To them seemed to come no middle ground between the “double-shuffle” and the saddest songs for Christ.

After many a hand-shake and parting blessing to us all, the people wended their way back to their homes, some to their rude cabins, saying to one another, “Dis de best day of my life,” “Tank de Lord for dis good day.”

To our steward we gave the conventional good-bye, but in our hearts we knew that there was one blessed passage of Scripture applicable to him, and we doubt not he will hear it some day: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”

This is one picture. I shall be glad soon to show the other side, and give the contrast between some of those who were gathered at this feast, and their children, who have enjoyed the privileges of the school at Berea. L. R.

HYMN.

MRS. E. SPENCE.[A]

FOOTNOTE:

THE INDIANS.

WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

Three Christian Boys and their Letters.

REV. MYRON EELLS, S’KOKOMISH

Our hearts were gladdened, last Sabbath, by receiving into our Church three of the Indian school-boys, each of them supposed to be about thirteen years of age. We had kept them on a virtual probation for nearly a year, until I began to feel that to do so any longer would be an injury both to themselves and to others. Their conduct, especially towards their school-teacher, although not perfect, has been so uniformly Christian that those who were best acquainted with them felt the best satisfied in regard to their change of heart. Said a member of our Church of about fifty years’ Christian experience—who was not here much during the summer, and hence knew comparatively little about them—after hearing a full statement, “I wish that some of the white children whom we have received into the Church had given one half as good evidence of being Christians as these boys give.” And yet the Church was satisfied in regard to them. On religious subjects, they have been most free in communicating both to their teacher and myself by letter. I have thought that you might be interested in extracts from some of them, and hence send the following:

He wrote to his father the following, which I read to him:

The letter of another, to his Indian friends:

The letter of the other to me:

To his Indian friends:

Indian Welcome to an Agent.

DR. I. L. MAHAN, RED CLIFF, WIS.

The payment recently made to the Bois Forte Indians was one of the most pleasant and agreeable I have ever made. The Indians received me with a salute (of blank cartridges) fired from their guns. On each side of the team, as I passed through their camp, the Indian men, women and children were in line on each side of the road for a quarter of a mile, and such hurrahs and rejoicings I have seldom witnessed.

[119]

THE CHINESE.

“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

President: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. Vice-Presidents: Rev. A. L Stone, D. D., Thomas O. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.

Directors: Rev. George Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E. Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford, Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.

Secretary: Rev. W. C. Pound. Treasurer: E. Palache, Esq.

The Chinese New Year—Mob Denunciations—The Great Commission Lessened—Conversions.

REV. W. C. POND, SAN FRANCISCO.

The Chinese New Year festival began Feb. 1st. It was observed for five days, the first three being “the great days of the feast.” As the Chinese excuse themselves from manual labor during those days, worship and business, and sociality absorb the time. At this festival, accounts must be squared, or, at any rate, brought to some settlement. Votive offerings, with the smoke of incense, abound in the temples—bribes with which good luck is purchased from their gods. The city authorities had forbidden the use of fire-crackers, greatly to the chagrin of the Joss-worshippers, but the din of the gongs was such that even an idol, it would seem, might almost be made to hear. For our Christian Chinese it was, first of all, a week of prayer. Not to be out-done even by their own former-selves, they began their meetings at eleven o’clock on the last night of the old year, and welcomed the new one in its first hours, with worship to Jesus, their new friend and Saviour. They say that it would be a shame, if they were not willing to give hours to Him, which, but for Him, they would still have been giving to senseless blocks of wood, or to pictures hung upon the wall. Each day there was more or less of time devoted to social worship, and the rest to friendly calls among the brethren of different missions, and the reception of calls from American friends, or else to the transaction of the annual business of their Association. The carefulness with which they attend to this business, might well be emulated by many a strong church. The amounts involved are small, of course, while the talk might seem superabundant to taciturn people like us; but the exactitude in accounts, the watchfulness against debts, the punctuality in their mutual settlements, if grafted into the working of many a church that I have known, would greatly help its peace and growth, and even its good name.

The “era of good feeling” towards the Chinese, is, doubtless, nearer now than it was eight months ago. I affirm this by faith, and not because I can see, as yet, even the first streaks of its dawning. It seems as though the out-cries, “Down with the Chinese!” “The Chinamen must go, peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must,” would have become, by this time, monotonous and wearisome, but every Monday’s morning paper reports a gathering of from 3,000 to 6,000 people standing on a sand-lot near our new City Hall, in the midst often of wind and rain, and listening for an hour or two, while Kearney and Willock repeat their barbarous refrain. We cannot prevent a depressing effect of this upon our work. Christians get afraid of it. One of our pastors, entering upon temporary service with an inland church, wrote me as follows a few days since:[120] “On my first Sabbath here, a poor Chinaman came to church to hear me. The next day I found him out, and he is a Christian. He is hungering and thirsting for the word of life, and I thought—what a splendid nucleus that would be for a class. I sought the officers of the church for their consent and approval to such an organization. Then came swiftly the ominous shake of the head, which I now so well know, and I was told that ‘public sentiment would not bear it.’ My heart aches for them, and I pray fervently to know my duty.” I am utterly at a loss to know how such church officers read the Great Commission. I understand what the plain English of it is: I think I could study it out in the Greek. Does anybody know of any rendering of it, according to which the Chinese are left out? It not, how is it that we have so many of these head-shaking Christians all over California?

Furthermore, prejudice breeds prejudice, and the heathen Chinese are beginning even to hate the language thus abused to curse and slander them. They have no longer any appetite for the bait with which we have been fishing for their souls. But if our schools are thus unavoidably less attractive to them, and some of the seats get empty, we try to do the better work with such as remain. And the gracious Spirit adds His blessing still. Five were received to the First Congregational Church in Oakland at its last communion. This week two from the Barnes school have been reported to me as persuaded to be Christians, and desirous of joining the Association. What I have several times before said is still true, I think—that no month passes in which I do not hear from some one or more of our schools, of souls coming out of darkness into light. The consequence is that hearty Christians once fairly engaged in this work become enthusiastic in it. One teacher writes: “To try to prepare the way for the enlightenment of these darkened minds has been the highest privilege of my life. I do not forget the blessedness of leading my own children and other young people to Jesus, but in the offices of mother and teacher, this work has come to me as a matter of course, while the other is the realization of one of my earliest and most fondly cherished desires. I have found it pleasant, even when I could get no word or sign that the faintest shadow of my meaning was comprehended, for I felt that I might be starting thought and opening the way for truth to come in by and by; but when, in some instances, there has been a sudden interest manifested, and such half-incredulous, half-delighted responses come as ‘What! Jesus died for me?’ ‘What! Jesus Christ my best friend!’ ‘Yes, I will love Him!’ I have felt one such moment a complete compensation for a whole lifetime of sorrow and toil.”

LETTER FROM AH JAM.

Santa Barbara, January 12th.

Mr. Pond:

Dear Sir—How is your health? I should be glad to have you to write me another report about you school. If you find any interest chapter I shall enjoy it if you will let me know. I cannot explain it which is the best of all [i.e. cannot tell which chapters are the best]. It seems to me very hard to understood the Bible. I wish I had more leisure for my study, or to follow you while I shall learn a great deal. I was very much troubled when I stayed on board ship; she had four Chinese besides me. There was nobody instructed in anything like the gospel. They thought it was dreadful to believe in Christ. It makes them swear, grumble, and smoke opium. They are walking in the way of destruction. I felt very sorry for them. I told them several times what we ought to do in this world while we live. They said they would never be afraid when they die where the soul would go. I presume they will do all things as they please. I left my place, and came on shore two weeks since. But I cannot find any situation yet, because it is very dull. Perhaps I will go to the city next year, and then I shall see you again. We do remember you when we pray; we would like you pray for us, too, if you please. Your sincerely,

Ah Jam, and the others.

[121]

THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.

A SICK BOY’S LETTER TO HIS TEACHER.

I thank you for the beautiful papers that you sent me. I read a piece in one they call “Glad Tidings.” It was about the dissipated father and the dying child. He was a bad man, and used bad languish, and cause his whole family to be miserable; and his little son would go to him and crawl up on his knee and tell him about the good God, and the tears would gush from his eye. The little boy said to his father: “Father, you are crying; what is the matter?” “I am afraid, my son, I am going to lose you—you are going to die.” “Well, father, I know I am going to die, but I am not afraid to die, for I will go to Jesus.”

I read that piece, and my little heart did feel so warm. I am trying to be a good boy, and pray to God that I may be a good boy. I am trying to be a better boy every day.

From your dear scholar,

M.T.

Montgomery, Ala.

LIVE IN GOD’S SUNSHINE.

“Well, Aunt Polly, here you are again on the doorsteps. It seems to me you almost live on them.”

Old Polly raised her faded eyes to the face of her friend, and, laughing, said:

“Yes, dear, dat’s jus’ so! Jim says ‘We mought build a house all doo’ steps and nothin’ else, fo’ granny, ’cause she lives dar an’ nowhar else.’”

“I suppose you like to see the people, and to hear the children prattle as they go by to school,” said the lady.

“Well, yes, I likes to see folks, ’cause my Fader up dar made ’em all; but it’s most fo’ de sunshine dat I stays out here. O, God’s sunshine’s a powerful blessin’, dear. When I’s cold I comes out and sits in it, and I grows warm; when I’s hungry, and Jim’s wife’s got nothin’ to eat, I comes out here and ’pears like I’d had my dinner; when I’s in pain, and ’scruciated all over wid de rheumatiz, I comes out into the sunshine, and de pain skulks off; when Jim don’t be good and ’pears like he was goin’ to ’struction, and my heart is bustin’ like, I comes out and sits in God’s sunshine, and peace comes through His beam into my soul; when old Death comes an’ star’s in my face, and say, ‘I comin’ arter ye soon, to take ye into de dark grave,’ den I comes out into God’s sunshine, and dares him to frighten my soul! Says I to him, ‘Ye hasn’t power in ye to throw one shadow on to my pillow; for my blessed Jesus, de Sun of Righteousness, He been down dar before me, and He left it full, heaped up and runnin’ over wid God’s sunshine. I shall rest sweet in dat warm place, for de eternal sunshine dat shall magnify and glorify all as loves de shinin’ Jesus.”

“Auntie,” said her friend, who always felt that she could sit at the feet of this humble saint and learn of Jesus, “that is very lovely. But there come days when there is no sunshine—when the clouds gather, and the rains fall, and the snows come, and the winds blow. What do you do then?”

“O la, honey, by de time de storms come, I’ve got my soul so full ob sunshine dat it lasts a heap o’ time. Dem times Jim scolds, and his poor wife’s ’scouraged, and de child’n are cross, and de stove smokes and de kittle won’t bile; but I never knows it. God’s sunshine is in my soul, and I tries to spread it round, and sometimes Jim’s wife feels it, and she says—oh, she’s a good daughter-in-law—‘Long’s I keeps close to granny, ’pears like my heart’s held up.’

“Well, well, dear, you can teach me somethin’, and ye can fetch me nice things to make mo’ sunshine; but I can teach you what ye never thought on—dat God’s sunshine’s ’nough for rich and poor, and dem dat thank Him for it, and sit in it, or work in it, and let it into dar heart, will soon go whar it’s all sunshine. Try to make folks live in God’s sunshine, and get it into dar hearts, honey.”—Intelligencer.

[122]

RECEIPTS

FOR FEBRUARY, 1878.

H. W. HUBBARD,

Ass’t Treas.

The American Missionary Association.

AIM AND WORK.

To preach the Gospel to the poor. It originated in a sympathy with the almost friendless slaves. Since Emancipation it has devoted its main efforts to preparing the Freedmen for their duties as citizens and Christians in America and as missionaries in Africa. As closely related to this, it seeks to benefit the caste-persecuted Chinese in America, and to co-operate with the Government in its humane and Christian policy towards the Indians. It has also a mission in Africa.

STATISTICS.

Churches: In the South—In Va., 1; N. C., 5; S. C., 2; Ga., 11; Ky., 5; Tenn., 4; Ala., 12; La., 12; Miss., 1; Kansas, 2; Texas, 4. Africa, 1. Among the Indians, 2. Total, 62.

Institutions Founded, Fostered or Sustained in the South. Chartered: Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn., Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La.; and Austin, Texas, 8; Graded or Normal Schools: at Wilmington, Raleigh, N. C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S. C.; Macon, Atlanta, Ga.; Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selina, Ala; Memphis, Tenn.; 11; Other Schools, 7. Total, 26.

Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants—Among the Freedmen, 209; among the Chinese, 17; among the Indians, 16; in foreign lands, 10. Total, 252. Students—In Theology, 74; Law, 8; in College Course, 79; in other studies, 5,243. Total, 5,404. Scholars taught by former pupils of our schools, estimated at 100,000. Indians under the care of the Association, 13,000.

WANTS.

1. A steady Increase of regular income to keep pace with the growing work in the South. This increase can only be reached by regular and larger contributions from the churches—the feeble as well as the strong.

2. Additional Buildings for our higher educational institutions, to accomodate the increasing numbers of students; Meeting Houses, for the new churches we are organizing; More Ministers, cultured and pious, for these churches.

3. Help for Young Men, to be educated as ministers here and missionaries to Africa—a pressing want.

Before sending boxes, always correspond with the nearest A. M. A. office, as below.

MAGAZINE.

This Magazine will be sent, gratuitously, if desired, to the Missionaries of the Association; To Life Members; to all clergymen who take up collections for the Association; to Superintendents of Sabbath Schools; to College Libraries; to Theological Seminaries; to Societies of Inquiry on Missions; and to every donor who does not prefer to take it as a subscriber, and contributes in a year not less than five dollars.

Those who wish to remember the American Missionary Association in their last Will and Testament, are earnestly requested, to use the following

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,” 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 [in some States three are required—in other States only two], who should write against their names, their places of residence [if in cities, their street and number]. The following form of attestation will answer for every State in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said [A. B.] as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some States, it is required that the Will should be made at least two months before the death of the testator.

[127]

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[128]

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---

Transcriber’s Notes:

Punctuation and spelling were changed only where the error appears to be a printing error. The punctuation changes are too numerous to list; the others are as follows:

The original text at the bottom of page 115 was unreadable, and extended to read “...soldiers?”, as that was the logical conclusion of the sentence.

“T Life Members” changed to “To Life Members” on page 126.

What appears to be “5 Rue Serebe, Paris” on page 128 was changed to “5 Rue Scribe, Paris”, as that is the correct address for The Demorest.