[pg i]

The American Missionary

CONTENTS

• EDITORIAL.
  • NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
  • “NOW, CONCERNING THE COLLECTION”—THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH
  • AFRICA—ITS SHADOW AND SUNSHINE
  • CONVENTIONS OF COLORED PEOPLE—SCHOOL ECHOES
  • ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT EATON
• THE SOUTH.
  • FIELD NOTES, BY REV. F.E. JENKINS
  • REVIVAL AT WASHINGTON, D.C.
  • A GLAD THANKSGIVING
  • STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS
  • TILLOTSON INSTITUTE
• THE INDIANS.
  • MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE DAKOTA INDIANS
  • NEW CHURCH AT FORT YATES, DAKOTA
• THE CHINESE.
  • CHINA FOR CHRIST
• BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.
  • MASS MEETING OF THE WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY UNIONS
  • WORDS FROM OUR ANNUAL MEETING
  • WOMAN’S STATE ORGANIZATIONS
  • RECEIPTS

New York:
Published by the American Missionary Association.
Rooms, 56 Reade Street.

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American Missionary Association.

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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.

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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.

[pg 1]

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS.

The New Year opens upon this Association auspiciously. The setting
sun of our old year went down in a bright sky. Revivals of religion and an
increased membership was the joyful record of our churches; by the generous
aid of the Daniel Hand Fund, our schools showed a greatly enlarged
attendance, and the faithful work of the teachers brought forth most satisfactory
results; the threatened debt that darkened several months of the
year was happily averted by good showing on the right side of the ledger.

It is from this bright setting sun of the last year that we turn with faith
and hope to the opening of the new year. We believe, the work is the
Lord’s and that he will provide. But our faith alone will not save us. It
is our duty to inform and arouse our constituents as to the needs and urgency
of our work. We will specify in a few particulars:

1. As to funds. Our last year’s favorable showing was due in large
part to legacies. These are variable, and we must rely on the gifts of living
donors. Unless, therefore, the churches and individuals make larger
contributions than last year, we have no assurance of an escape from debt,
even if the work be maintained merely as at present. We wish most earnestly
to press this fact upon the friends of the Association.

2. But this is not all. Growth is imperative. The people at the North
are alarmed by the disturbed condition of the South, and are awakening
afresh, as they were at the close of the war, to a sense of responsibility to
the colored people. The aroused feeling at that time took a practical turn,
and money, men and women were sent without stint to enlighten and elevate.
Shall it be so now, or will mere sympathy or useless regret suffice?
No! Something, the right thing, can be done. Fair-minded men, both
North and South, realize that all schemes involving fraud, violence, disfranchisement
or deportation, are impracticable, but all are agreed as to
[pg 2]
the value of Christian enlightenment, enabling the Negro to earn property
and to become an intelligent and virtuous citizen. This is the line on
which the Association has perseveringly toiled since it opened its first
school at Fortress Monroe in 1861, and it is not too much to say that nothing
more effective has been done in all these years. Can anything of a
better sort be done in the future? Amid all the jarring discords at the
South, the people there, both white and black, welcome the efforts of the
Association. They feel that we are not disturbers, that we have a single
honest aim, and are working at the only true solution of the great problem.
We ask the people of the North, therefore, to come to the rescue once
more by practical, self-denying liberality.

3. but this is not all. a work so vital to the interests of the nation and
of the cause of christ needs to be uplifted by the prayers of god’s people.
deliverance cannot come from political parties, governmental authority or
theories of industrial reform. the power of god must be in it. we
therefore respectfully but earnestly ask our brethren in the ministry to remember
this work in their prayers in the great congregation, and we ask
our fellow christians to remember it in the prayer-meeting, at the family
altar and in the closet.

“Now, concerning the collection.” These are not the words of a begging
agent, but of Paul the Apostle, and they come from his pen just after
he had closed that wonderful fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians on the
glorious resurrection and the victory over death and the grave. These
words are fit, therefore, in any assembly and at the close of any discourse
however exalted. Brethren remember the “collection.”

The Corinthian church seems, like some churches in recent times, to have
been remiss in sending on the “collections,” and hence we find Paul, a
year later, to be “After Money Again.” He writes so nobly, so kindly, that
we are tempted to quote a few sentences:

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might
be rich. And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you who
have begun before not only to do but also to be forward a year ago. Now
therefore perform the doing of it. As it is written, He that had gathered
much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack.”

The National Council has appointed Committees to take into consideration
the consolidation of the missionary magazines and the re-adjustment of
the work of the several Congregational missionary societies. We are happy
to furnish these committees with all the facts in our possession on these
[pg 3]
subjects, and this Association will, in accordance with its fundamental theory,
cheerfully acquiesce in what shall be found to be the deliberate and ultimate
decision of the churches. In the meantime, it may not be out of place for
us to say that missionary periodicals and missionary societies are growths
and not manufactured articles, and that plans for modification should be
very carefully considered. We venture, therefore, to suggest that counsel
be taken of the Town Clerk of Ephesus, “to do nothing rashly.”

AFRICA.—ITS SHADOW AND SUNSHINE.

The shadow is still broad and dense, well nigh covering the continent.
The heroic Stanley has found that shadow as dark as when he first traveled
beneath it. The malarial climate and the bitter hostility of the
natives are there yet. The accursed slave trade is as extensive as ever,
embittering the lives of its victims, instigating wars among the tribes
and obstructing agriculture, commerce and civilization. The failures
to suppress it are discouraging. Sir Samuel Baker’s well-equipped military
force, Col. Gordon’s intrepid courage, and Emin Pacha’s brave
endurance have all succumbed before it. Its flow, pushed back for a
time, now returns with its old-time flood. Then, too, the Mahdi uprising,
seemingly suppressed, still lives and is likely to hold the Soudan if
not to harass Egypt. When Emin Pacha, under the protection of the
heroic Stanley, abandoned his little sovereignty, it was a farewell, humanly
speaking, to a speedy establishment of missions in that territory.

But there is a bright lining around all this darkness. For one thing
the eyes of the civilized world are turned toward Africa with increasing
intensity. The rainbow fringe of missions around the coasts is still sustained
by the gifts and prayers of Christians, and by the blessing of God.
The multiplied efforts of the European States to colonize the dark continent
are facts full of encouragement. The motive may be selfish; the
method sometimes unwise and cruel, and the conflict of contending interests
may be hindrances, but the results will be good. All these movements
aim at commerce, and commerce can only flourish on the ruins of the
slave-trade, and among peaceful tribes with growing industries, intelligence
and civilization. The Congo Free State, with its railroad in construction,
its steamboats on the rivers and its civilized settlements, is a bright omen
of the future.

Surely God’s people should pray for Africa, moved by pity and by
hope. Christians in America can do more than pray—they can help to
answer their own prayers. They can raise up the sons and daughters of
Africa, trained in our schools, to go forth as missionaries and colonists to
the land of their fathers. The experiment has been tried with success.
Missionaries of African descent can endure the climate better, and can
[pg 4]
more readily reach the people than those of the white race. There
is a call in these facts for the means to give special instruction in Biblical
truth to those who can thus be prepared for this great mission work.

CONVENTIONS OF COLORED PEOPLE.

The proposed National Conventions of colored people to be held in
Chicago and Washington are significant facts. They indicate that the
colored people are suffering wrongs, and that they feel a call to seek redress.
Their right to hold such conventions is unquestioned; the wisdom
of holding them will be vindicated, we hope, by their just and reasonable
utterances and plans. Intemperate language and rash and impracticable
measures will not help, and we have so much confidence in the discretion
of our colored friends that we believe none such will be said or proposed.

Our colored brethren must not forget that much is being done for them
and that they are doing much for themselves. It would be unwise to overlook
this in any attempt to reach something less tangible.

Their appeal to the justice of the Nation, to the Constitution and the
laws can be made invincible, but it will be well to keep in touch with the
sympathy of the North and with the conscience of the South, for in spite
of all the wrongs inflicted on the colored people in the South, we believe
there is a large and growing number of Southern people who look upon
this whole question conscientiously, and although perplexed desire that
the right shall be done.

For the colored people themselves, while conventions are good, yet the
accumulation of property, growth in intelligence, and character are better.

SCHOOL ECHOES.

A boy in one of the arithmetic classes was given an example which began
with the statement, that a man deposited a certain sum of money in a
bank. He was asked if he knew what a bank was. He replied; “Yes, it
is a place where you dig coal.”

“What is the shape of the earth?”

“The earth is square. Pap says so, and he says the Book says so too.
He says if there warn’t four corners, how could the four angels stand
on ’em.”

“I hear you’uns have taken your children out of school. What did you
do that for?”

“I’ll tell ye. I yaint goin’ to send my child to any such fool-teacher as
that ar. Why, he tole ’em that the world was roun’, an’ any fool knows
better.”

[pg 5]

A Methodist minister in North Carolina, preaching from the passage
about standing at the corners of the streets to pray, told his people that if
they wanted to see a “first class hypocrite,” see anybody who would stand
up to pray. The standing up was what he thought Jesus reproved.

A man in the South writes to us as follows, making an unusual inquiry:

“I write you this to ask you do you take married ladies in your school,
and if so I want to send my wife at once. Please send me the terms of the
school and what she will need. My wife wants an education and my desire
is to give it to her. You will greatly oblige me to answer this on return
mail.”

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT EATON,

AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN CHICAGO.

God, who writes his thoughts in the development of a nation, not less
than in the grouping of constellations or in the drama of the physical world,
has spoken in the birth and history of our land with startling distinctness.
In every people we may see an ideal of God embodied, however imperfectly
realized by human achievement. Happy is that people who can see God’s
ideal for them, and those statesmen who have it in their hearts to lead the
people along the line of God’s thought. To get at something of God’s
thought for us, we must go back even into those dark Teutonic forests into
which the Roman world peered with so much fear and awe, and out of
which came those freemen who knew how to leap upon that Roman world
in its pride and its weakness and re-assert human liberty.

Those old ancestors of ours knew what freedom was; but as they came
against that Roman world, they themselves were in part conquered by it,
and they lost something of that freedom. But God set apart one corner of
the European world for them, and called over the English Channel in the
fifth century those forefathers of ours, there to watch for a century and a
half that tremendous conflict in which the very plow-share of the Teutons
went through the roots of the Roman life in Britain and left nothing but
Teutonic fields remaining. And then God brought into this Britain, thus
set apart, the gospel of Christ, and our forefathers became Christians—not
Christians such as there were in other parts of Europe, but having that free
and independent Christian life that shone forth in men like Wyckliffe,
denying the power of the keys to Rome except where Rome spoke with
Christ’s voice, and in men like Latimer, before whom the proud Henry
trembled.

All over England were sown these seeds of a free Christian
faith; so that when Luther came, it was in England as in our country when
the forest fires have ceased, and suddenly there spring up from the sod a
new forest because the seeds lie in the prairie from age to age. So in our
English soil there were those seeds of Christian freedom that sprung forth
[pg 6]
and gave us a free and Protestant England. And then, in the reaction,
when Mary was on the throne, and the fire at Smithfield was kindled, the
Christian men of England went to Geneva and there met John Calvin, whose
system of Christian thought set the soul of man forth, in his awful agony of
sin, and in God’s redemption for him—set him forth independent of kings
and rulers, and in whose sight a king was but God’s vassal. When Englishmen
had to come in contact with John Calvin, the iron of his free spirit
became steel, and then Puritanism was born, and at that time God raised
the curtain that hung over a whole hemisphere, and gave that hemisphere
to these free Teutonic English people. We know how they conquered the
country for this free spirit, and how the Revolutionary War came on, and
Samuel Adams, awakening to the sound of those cannon at Concord on
that spring morning, said, in spite of all the forebodings of a long and deadly
struggle, “How glorious is this morning,” because he foresaw what
God could work here in a free Christian land. And so on that following
Fourth of July those men assembled in Philadelphia and put forth the
Declaration of Independence. There is no better commentary on it than
Lincoln’s words when he said, in those dark days just before the war: “In
their enlightened view nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness
was sent into the world to be trodden on or degraded or imbruted by its
fellows.”

They set up a beacon for their children and their children’s children.
Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity
to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident
truths, that when at some remote time some man, or faction, or interest
should arise, and say that none but rich men, or none but white men, or
none but Anglo-Saxon white men were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness, their children’s children should look back to the Declaration
of Independence, and should take heart to begin again the battles
their forefathers fought, that thus truth and liberty and righteousness and
justice and all the Christian virtues might not be lost in the land; and none
might dare limit and circumscribe the principles on which the temple of
liberty was being built. Thus, by these centuries of growth and life God
said to our people, “I have given you this key to your history, the union of
liberty and an enlightened faith—faith and freedom. Be true to these.
This do and thou shalt live.” It seems plain enough. And yet, in this
garden of liberty there were sown tares. In the bosom of this free land the
deadly foe of freedom, slavery, was here. In slavery was the evident and
necessary foe of all that God had foreplanned for our Nation, because slavery
denies the rights of men. Men tried to deal with this problem; they
tried to circumscribe it; they said it was a local question, and Webster
stood in the Senate and boasted that he had never spoken of slavery on that
floor. How the way of liberty was choked, how the tree of liberty withered!
And then God spoke in the earthquake, and the fire, the war came on, and
[pg 7]
the slave was set free; and it seemed as if again we had come into sight of
God’s plan for the race, that liberty and Christian faith should be the
watchword of our national life.

Now again, at last, it seems as if that which we are accomplishing and
that which God has spoken in all these ages is again jeopardized, and as if
this human right shall be denied in the South. Men doubt whether there
is in the Negro more than the capacity of a subordinate race, and say that
to educate him is to lift him out of his sphere. Brethren and friends, there
is manhood in the Negro race. There was humanity in those slaves who
toiled their way over mountains and through swamps before the war, with
their eyes focussed upon the North star of freedom. And there was
humanity in those mothers who clasped their babes to their breast and fled
before the bloodhounds that they might escape the enslavers of men.
There was manhood in those one hundred and seventy-eight thousand
Negro soldiers who seized their muskets and went to the front and fought
for us, and with us, in those dark days of 1864, when the draft was failing
and when volunteering had failed, that there might be soldiers to stand in
the front and to dig in the trenches, and of whom eighty thousand gave
their lives for us. There was manhood in those cabins in which all over
the South, our fleeing soldiers, escaping from prison, never failed to find
support, help, and guidance. Oh! how disastrous a business it is that
that manhood, which all those years of slavery could not extinguish, should
now be extinguished by the priests of a proud, arrogant, and selfish aristocracy.

But, my friends, as we felt in those days, and feel to-night, there is still
no help for us but in the Christian solution of this problem and in the
Christian destiny God has given to us. Liberty and faith, the two elements,
must be conjoined. For us to deny the rights of the Negro now is
to say that God did not make man in his image. It is to say that liberty
is not a sacred right, but a selfish acquisition; that government does not
exist to establish rights, but to protect privileges, and that mankind are not
brothers, but foes. It is to turn the shadow upon the dial of human progress
backward toward the ages of oppression and chaos.

And just there is the problem that confronts us, South and North together.
What shall be done in this dire extremity? I remember years
ago hearing of a fire in Charleston in which that beautiful spire of St.
Michael’s took fire and some one had to be found to go up beyond the
reach of the hose to put out the flame kindling and flickering there. No
one was found until a Negro stepped forth and climbed that tower, taking
his life in his hands, and put out that flame. And when he came down
again, one man said, “Name your reward,” and he replied, “Let me but be
counted a man.” And that we have got to do, or God will shake down
our civilization and our Nation as he shook down that spire of St. Michael’s
in the earthquake three years ago. It is certain to come unless we
[pg 8]
follow the line of God’s appointing that this must be a free Nation, absolutely
free, free everywhere. As yet, emancipation is but an outward and
formal thing. What we wait for now, is the emancipation of a true and an
elevated will in the South, and Christian citizenship. Into that, this Association
pours its strength, its money, and its life. It took half a
million lives to emancipate the slaves outwardly, and it may yet take
hundreds and thousands of lives—our lives—our children’s lives—poured
in upon this problem, that so we may lift the Negro to that point where he
feels himself, and where we feel him to be, a man—taught to labor, protected
in the enjoyment of the fruits of his labor, without which the
strongest arm grows palsied, trained in a strong, self-reliant Christian manhood,
holding the reins firmly on the neck of all passion—a man. And
that we will do; and the very greatness of the problem, I believe, is our
redemption. It was the greatness of the crisis that thrilled the Nation’s
heart when the war burst upon us. It is the very greatness of our present
problem that calls in trumpet tones to men and women and children all
over the land; “Come and help solve this problem for Christ.”

A few weeks ago, in one of the beautiful towns of Northern Illinois, a
young man, the only son of his father and mother, hearing at Sabbath
evening the alarm of fire, sprung forth and took his place upon the burning
building and there did the work of a fireman. In the attempt to put
out the fire he was hurled headlong and in one moment his life had gone
hence. A few weeks afterward, as a friend was talking with his mother about
it, she said, “Our son was always so swift to heed any call of need or duty, it
seems to me as if he heard suddenly some call from God from some farther
clime and sprung forth and was gone from our sight.” Blessed, heroic
faith! But, brethren and friends, fathers and mothers, we need that same
faith for our living sons and living daughters, to send them forth into this
work of God. When the Christ child was on the back of the giant Christophorus
crossing the stream, how heavy he grew as the giant plunged his
way through the waters. God weighs heavily upon this Nation this greatest
of all national problems, what to do with these despised ones. But
bear the burden we must, and bear it through we must to the farther shore
of a Christian solution, or we and it will go down the flood together.
There is no help for us except in this solution which makes brothers of
these men.

I see a possible issue in this large Christian faith of our land; and I
see the time coming when the black and the white shall dwell together in a
mutual helpfulness, with a more complete national feeling, a deeper dependence
upon him from whom alone comes strength, less display of material resources,
but more faith in God. That time must come. And then I see
the army enlisting for the conquest of that dark continent of Africa,
shrouded in gloom, so long robbed of her children, but now at last finding
that, like Joseph, they were taken from her that they might come back to
[pg 9]
save life. So our Nation shall be not a mirage awakening the hopes and
aspirations of mankind but to mock them, and leaving the sands of human
experience still more arid and barren; but it shall be a mountain of God,
its base resting on the eternal foundations of law and liberty; its summit
drawing down from the willing heavens the streams of prosperity which
shall enrich all the lands of the earth.

THE SOUTH

FIELD NOTES.

BY REV. FRANK E. JENKINS.

I reached Little Rock, Arkansas, late one Saturday night and on Sunday
morning found my way to our church service. Arriving a few minutes
late, I found the service already begun. It was a fine looking audience and
as quiet and orderly as any New England congregation. The service was
well arranged and conducted in a very happy manner. The sermon was
thoughtful, earnest and inspiring. The pastor, Rev. Yancy B. Sims, is a
graduate of Talladega College and an honor to his Alma Mater. On Monday
I visited, with the pastor, several of the homes of the people. What a
contrast between these refined homes and the hut of the slave quarters of
twenty-five years ago! The ladies of this church had just finished a silk
block for a quilt which a home mission church in Washington Territory is
making from blocks made in each State in the Union, with the hope of selling
it to increase its fund for building a house of worship. It was a beautiful
block of rich material and the most delicate workmanship. The faces
of these ladies showed great delight in the thought that they were helping
others who needed help.

“Do the colored people vote here without opposition?” I asked of an
intelligent colored man. “Oh, yes!” he replied. “And are the votes always
counted?” “Yes, except in a pinch!” was the answer. This is much better
than in most places which I am called upon to visit.

From Little Rock I went to Paris, Texas. This growing city has a population
of about twelve thousand, five thousand of whom are colored. Our
pastor here is a graduate of Fisk University, as also is his wife. The need
of our church work in this city and in the State is two-fold, direct and indirect.
Our Congregational churches are quite as useful for toning up other
churches and their ministry as in the direct work done by them.

Dodds, Roxton and Dallas in Northern Texas were next visited, and in
each a small church is established and doing a good work.

At Austin, I found our Tillotson Institute rapidly filling with students—bright
and earnest. A girls’ hall is greatly needed here at once. This institution
with its unlimited opportunities in the great State of Texas ought
[pg 10]
not to be cramped in any way, but to be given every facility. Who will give
it at once what it so urgently needs? I found several intelligent people
here greatly desiring a Congregational church in the city—the school-church
being too far away to reach the mass of the people. Said an educated
colored man to me: “Our most intelligent people cannot endure the
ignorant worship of these old churches much longer. We want Congregationalism,
but if we can’t have that, we must look elsewhere. We must
have something to hold our educated young people from falling into infidelity.”
And so they must, for that is a coming danger.

At Helena, I found a most interesting state of things. Our church is in
a country place called “The Colony.” The church and the colony began
their existence together, and a more prosperous community of colored
people it would be hard to find. They own several thousand acres of land,
and are in every way ahead of their white neighbors. The school house of
the latter was a poor tumble-down affair and the children were untidy,
while the school house of the former was a neat, painted and well-kept
building, crowded in school hours with bright, enthusiastic children—clean
and polite. The teacher was from Talladega College and has taught here
for five years. His school is pronounced the best in the region for white
or colored. The pastor of this church has charge also of the Congregational
Church at Goliad.

Corpus Christi is a curious town on the Gulf of Mexico. It has about
6,000 people—Americans, Mexicans, Negroes, Italians, Greeks and Chinese.
The Negroes here hold an unusual position, being regarded as in
every way superior to the Mexicans and Italians. Our pastor here is popular
with all classes and has been chosen an alderman of the city, and is
treated with as much consideration as any other of the City Council.

Our church is one of the oldest Congregational churches in the South,
and has had a very interesting history. With the exception of the Roman
Catholic church it has the best house of worship in the city. On Sunday
afternoon, Rev. Mr. Strong, the Congregational pastor, and myself
attended service at the Roman Catholic church. We went into the body
of the church and took a first class seat, and the fact that one was colored
did not even draw attention to us. It was taken as a matter of course.
The colored people of Texas are taxed for $20,000,000 of property. In
the cities they make up about one-third of the population. An enlargement
of our church work in this State is greatly needed.

Straight University in New Orleans, La., is an inspiring place. I found
the buildings packed full—seats full, chairs in the aisles, in the corners and
on the teachers’ platforms—all full. About one hundred and fifty applicants
had already been sent away for want of room, and they were still
coming, as many as ten often being refused in a single day. They were
here not only from the States, but also from Mexico, the West Indies and
Central America. I saw here some remarkable work in moulding done by
[pg 11]
a student in the fifth grade, who had never been trained, but who seems to
be impelled by real genius. Straight University has a unique position and
opportunity. Its influence is now great; it is destined to be boundless.

From the Chicago meeting I made this trip. The meeting was inspiring,
but what I saw in the field, of character-building and the uplifting and
refining of a race, was more than inspiring—it was thrilling.

At Dodds and Roxton a few hymn books are needed. A dozen or two
Gospel Hymns or other singing books for each church would do great good.
Papers for the children are also needed. They should be sent to Rev.
Mark Carlisle, Dodds, Texas.

Papers for the children could be well used at Paris, Texas, Rev. J.D.
Pettigrew; Dallas, Texas, Rev. Mr. Holloway; Helena and Goliad, Texas,
Rev. M. Thompson; Corpus Christi, Texas, Rev. J.W. Strong.

REVIVAL AT WASHINGTON, D.C.

BY REV. GEO. W. MOORE.

There have been over forty conversions reported and thirty have been
added to our church on profession of faith. There is a revival now in
progress at the Freedmen’s Hospital as a direct outgrowth of our meetings.
Several of the young people of our church, including some of the
converts, were instrumental in leading a number to the Saviour. I am
planning to assist them in dealing with inquirers there, to-night. There
have been revival services in three other churches. The meetings held in
our place were indeed a season of refreshing from the presence of the
Lord.

Our chapel was crowded on Thanksgiving morning; the sermon was
preached by Rev. Dr. Grimke, pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian
Church, followed by an address by myself. The pastors of the Berean
Baptist Church, Methodist Church and the Lutheran Mission were on the
platform, the Plymouth Church holding a service of their own. In the evening
we held a Thanksgiving praise service, in which about one hundred
persons, including thirty-five of the converts, gave short thanksgiving
testimonies.

Last Sabbath I baptized fourteen by immersion and received twenty-seven
into the church on profession of faith, and three since, making
a total of thirty. Rev. Eugene May of Osage, Iowa, one of the delegates
I met at the World’s Sunday-school Convention this summer
in London, gave us a powerful sermon on the characters of “Dives
and Lazarus Contrasted.” In the evening I preached a sermon to
the church on “The Christian Armor” and we had the Lord’s Supper.
Last night, after addressing the young Christians on “The Way to God,”
as illustrated by the worthies of Hebrews eleventh, we had them testify on
how they came to Christ, the one thing they did and what they got. The
[pg 12]
answers were all intelligent and to the point. Decision was what they did,
and Christ was what they got, were the answers put in various forms. At
the close of the meeting I asked a gentleman, a member of another church,
the Berean Baptist, who always attends our special services, to say a few
words. He testified to the help and inspiration he had received from the
meetings; that he had never listened to clearer testimonies of conversion
than those given by the converts, and that they were doubly blessed
in having “our pastor,” “yes,” he said, “I will say our pastor, for he is pastor
to this whole community and city, lead you to Christ, and train
you for service.” His remarks were warm and sympathetic, but too
personal for me to report more than the above, which is but the key-note
of the kindly feeling that many of the best Christian people of other
churches have toward us, as they have seen our little church come up
from almost nothing to its present position of service in this community.
It has been the Lord’s doings and it is wondrous in our eyes. We have
already begun the work of training these young disciples for service, while
we have our nets still spread to catch sinners for Christ. Our motto for
the year is: To win souls for Christ and to train them for His service.

A GLAD THANKSGIVING.

BY MISS MARY A. BYE, WILLIAMSBURG, KY.

If any one had been the least bit homesick or unhappy from any cause
on Thanksgiving day, it would have done him good to spend the day at
Williamsburg Academy. Our boys and girls were so happy all the day that
no one could feel tired or sad. After breakfast the boys thought it hardly
fair for them to have all the holiday while the girls had to work, so they
borrowed aprons and helped the girls. Dishwashing, sweeping and all the
various branches of housework were done in a very short time, and everybody
was as merry as could be. The boys declared that they were glad to
have learned something which they did not know before, about the work the
girls had to do. Our very tallest boy, over six feet in height, was instructed
in the mysteries of scouring knives. He said he had no idea how knives
were cleaned, and thought his Thanksgiving lesson worth learning.

After the housework was done the boys gathered a great quantity of
holly, and our pretty new dining-room was profusely decorated. All the
family then attended the Thanksgiving services in the Christian Church;
that is all except the “Mother,” who must needs watch the dinner in process
of preparation. We had a real Thanksgiving feast, in all except that
our turkey was fried chicken.

Mr. Tupper contributed oranges, which were quite a treat. One of the
girls came to mother very much excited, eyes wide open and hands up,
exclaiming “O, Mrs. Bye, what are them big yeller things in the dining
room?” When told that they were oranges, she said, “Law! I never seed
[pg 13]
none before.” There were others who had never tasted them, and they
watched closely to see how the teachers managed them, before they ventured
to eat theirs. Two of the teachers had written Thanksgiving verses
on cards tied with ribbon, and placed at each plate. After dinner we
moved our chairs back and read our verses, after which we sang “Praise
God from whom all blessings flow,” and I think it is rarely sung more
heartily. Then again the boys donned the aprons and cleared the tables
and washed the dishes, while the teachers watched the fun and laughed until
we were tired. While the molasses was boiling, the scholars played
games in the sitting-rooms. Then came the “candy-pull,” and very
sweetly closed the day’s festivities.

I am sure we went to prayer meeting in the evening with very thankful
hearts. Some of the scholars said it was the happiest day they had ever
known.

It is a constant wonder to me to see the improvement in our girls, and
their interest in their work. They are so eager to learn to do things well
that I cannot think of my work as one of sacrifice, as some work may be,
for the joy of it overcomes all such thought.

STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS.

REV. C.H. CRAWFORD.

Much interest is manifest in our meetings for prayer, a number of students
having expressed a desire to become Christians. I have organized
a class for the instruction of Christian workers. It is composed of both
teachers and students, and numbers about twenty-five.

A young man came to my study to be shown how to become a Christian.
After instructing him and showing him the promises, there still
seemed to be something in the way. Questioning him, I found that he was
expecting some wonderful experience. He had specially in mind the
remarkable conversion of a certain young man of his acquaintance. He
was hoping for the same. I said to him, “Now you want to know that
you are a Christian. Which would you rather have for evidence, an experience
such as that young man had, or God’s word for it?” After waiting
a moment to take in my meaning he replied, “God’s word.” “Do you
believe on Jesus Christ?” “Yes.” “Well, here you have God’s word,
John, 3:36, ‘He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.’ Will you
take God’s word?” After a moment’s deliberation came the answer,
“Yes, I will.” Then we knelt down and prayed. This, I trust, was a soul
born into the kingdom.

One of our theological students reports the following admonition from
an ignorant preacher much older than himself: “You go to school and get
education. In five or ten years the people will not listen to such preachers
as I am.”

[pg 14]

TILLOTSON INSTITUTE, AUSTIN, TEXAS.

Our school is opening very auspiciously. Never before have so large a
number been here at the beginning of the term. And the requests for the
privilege of coming are numerous, so that if all come who are asking to do
so, we shall be over-full. We are greatly pleased with the spirit with which
the new year’s work is taken up. There are more each year who come
prepared to enter the higher grades, which shows that the common schools
of Texas are improving.

The Christian Endeavor Societies, of both the young men and the young
women, have elected their officers and are ready to begin work again, and
the Temperance Society will do the same, this week.

One of the students who has been with us from the beginning of our
school, has left us this year and gone to Oberlin, where he has entered the
Sophomore class. We miss him much, but bid him “God Speed,” for the
need of workers is great, and we are hoping much from him in the way of
work among his own people.

R.M.K.

THE INDIANS.

MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE DAKOTA INDIANS.

BY MRS. J.F. CROSS.

It is hard to get the most interesting experiences of a missionary’s life,
because they belong to the daily routine and so are often unmentioned.
But here is a description of life and travel among the Indians, by the wife
of a missionary just going to the Dakotas:

The land of the Dakotas—what a distance! How long the miles
seemed from my home! How frightful the land seemed to me, from the
tales of blizzards and cyclones! How strange to go to live among the
Sioux Indians, known to me principally for the Minnesota, Fort Fetterman
and Custer massacres; to be a friend to Sitting Bull, Brave Bull, Gall,
Grass, Swift Bear, Red Cloud and many others with names no less picturesque!
With such impressions I left my home to accompany my husband
to his home and work at Rosebud Agency, South Dakota.

I was soon relieved of the idea of the distance, for only a few hours
took us across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota to the border
of Dakota. Here we left the railroad to attend the general conference
of the Dakota Mission at Flandreau. How quickly all the impressions of
years can be changed, when the impressions are wrong and we see the true
state of affairs. In this case, seeing hundreds of bronzed faces, lighted up
with joy, as they sung “I hear Thy welcome voice” in their own tongue,
there was enough to change all my former opinions of Indians in general
and of the Dakota Indians in particular. It was like coming into a new
world. That is, it was finding those whom I thought belonged to another,
[pg 15]
lower, baser life, living the same life with myself; rejoicing in that which
is my greatest joy—childhood with God the Father. And after meeting
Ehnamani, Grey Cloud, John Wakeman, Spotted Bear, and many others;
after hearing them discuss living topics—living topics to them because they
belong to the change from heathen to Christian life; after hearing them
pray—though I could not understand a word, yet from their earnestness I
could understand the spirit of their prayer; after all this, I could scarcely
believe that these men had ever been Indians in paint, feathers, dances and
on the war path. Thus I spent my first four days among Indians. And
even if preaching, prayers, discussions were in an unknown tongue, I perhaps,
understood as much as I would at many a Presbytery or Conference
meeting. And I got as much good from the Dakota sermon as I have from
many an English sermon.

Not the least pleasing of my new impressions were those made by the
missionaries present. Rev. John P. Williamson, of Yankton Agency; Rev.
A.L. Riggs, D.D., of Santee Mission and Normal School; Rev. T.L.
Riggs of Oahe, or rather the apostle to the Tetons, were the life of the meetings
whether in English or Dakota. They came from and returned to the
work to which their lives are given. I did not meet these men with the
greetings of a certain minister there, who asked, “How many years have
you been in the Indian work.” “About twenty,” was the reply. Then the
minister said: “Well, you have been in the work so long that you would
not be much good anywhere else.” My impression was that such men
would be now, as they always have been, successful in any field of labor.
But I must leave Flandreau with its citizen Indians, ready to vote for prohibition
in the Constitution of South Dakota, for this is not our field of labor.

The next scene is one which I shall long remember—our reception at
a mission home. Other homes may be happy and other people may welcome
me to their homes; but few—none that I have met—can welcome
one so cordially as Mrs. Riggs welcomed us to her home at Oahe. This is
a long-to-be-remembered experience. And after spending a week at Oahe,
meeting the teachers and pupils of the school, and the citizen Indians there
we started for our own home and work, Park Street Church Station.
This place has been the home of my husband for a year.

Crossing the Missouri is one of the first of our experiences. The team
and wagon are loaded on the boat, the men row a few rods, then the boat
stops. “Bar,” remarks Mr. Cross, “got to tow;” when, horrors! “Is this
a missionary I see?” Mr. Cross is in the water, sometimes to his knees,
sometimes to his waist. Thus they tow the boat a half mile. From the
way they hold their breath the water must be cold. Well, it is October 10,
in blizzard-swept Dakota. But after two hours of work we are safely
landed on the west side of the river and soon we are toiling slowly out of
the breaks of the river. After a ride of a few hours we come to a creek
with no water but plenty of wood. Here dinner is announced. This is
[pg 16]
camping in earnest. This is not play. Camping in the East is generally
within sound of the cackle of the hen and the low of the cow. But here
you must live off of the land or out of your mess-chest. We combine the
two. Many hotels and families could learn a good lesson from an experienced
traveler and camper. In less than thirty minutes from the time we
stop, horses are unharnessed, fire built, prairie chicken dressed and
cooked, coffee made, table spread, blessing asked and we busy with the
tender and juicy chicken. This is the same order at each meal.

At night we sleep on the earth and under the sky, with but little between
us and either sky or earth. This is a new and somewhat larger bedroom
than I have been used to. But with no house within twenty miles we
are unmolested. What a place! I listen. “All the air a solemn stillness
holds.” I look. “So lonesome it is that God himself scarce seems to be
there.” But the clear air and quiet night soon lull me into unbroken
slumber. Thus we travel until we reach Park St. Church Station, where
we find our comfortable log house of one room ready to receive us. Though
we reach the house at eleven o’clock at night, a full half dozen come to
greet us, saying, “Catka, winyau waste luha, lila caute ma waste.” “Left
Hand, (Mr. Cross) you have a good woman, so I am happy.” Sunday
comes; at eleven o’clock we go to the neat little room, chapel and schoolroom.
Here fifty men and women with children of all ages, listen with eagerness
and attention to Mr. Cross as he tells them of the wise men who came
to seek Jesus. Some of the faces are dirty, and so is much of the clothing.
But all listen as if they perhaps might see this same Jesus. This is
Dakota, our field, our people to save.

NEW CHURCH AT FORT YATES, NORTH DAKOTA.

REV. T.L. RIGGS.

On Sunday, the 8th, we took steps here in the organization of a new
church. By invitation, two of our Oahe Church, Solomon Bear Ear and
David Lee, were present from the Cheyenne River Agency, and it was judged
wise to organize. The Apostles’ Creed and a short Covenant were offered
as Articles of Faith and the pledge. The nine members of our Oahe church
whose homes are at Grand River and Fort Yates will become members here
on dismission at Oahe, and the native workers and other missionaries will
also transfer their connection, so that if all do so, the new church will
have a membership of eighteen or twenty.

In connection with these services the new chapel was dedicated to the
Master’s service by public expression; it has already been so consecrated. I
doubt not, in the heart of the giver of the funds, as well as by the prayers of
all who have been interested in it. Is is a bright, pleasant room within, and
has a snug appearance from without. I think Mr. Reed has made a very
creditable success in this his first building.

[pg 17]

THE CHINESE.

CHINA FOR CHRIST.

BY REV. WM. C. POND, D.D.

It is quite possible (though I do not distinctly remember about it,) that
our readers have seen this caption at the head of my articles more than
once already. Be that as it may, I am sure that such persons as read this
Magazine cannot be weary of it. It is the motto of our corporation
adopted twelve or thirteen years ago. It then looked rather magniloquent
for a work so humble as ours; but there was promise in it, and
prophecy, and nothing less would satisfy either our Chinese brethren or
myself. This promise and prophecy begin to be fulfilled. We hoped
then, and now we are gladdened by oft-recurring confirmations of our
hope, that we were laboring not only for these sojourners in our own land,
but for a mighty multitude to be reached by their testimony, and to be
leavened by the influence of their example.

This will be illustrated for our readers by the following extract from an
address delivered by one of our brethren at the last anniversary of our
mission at Santa Cruz. His English will require a little straightening, but
for the most part, I will give it just as spoken:

Dear Friends: I am glad to see you all here this evening; and that you
have an interest in the Chinese work. I will tell you a few words about myself,
what experience I had in my native land. I left California to go to China,
July 15, 1887, and after thirty-one days, reached my home. I found a piece
of red paper on the wall above my cooking place, with the name of the
stove-god written on it. We call it “Doy Shin;” “Doy” means “Stove,”
“Shin” means “god.” Every family worships the stove-god at the cooking
place. The first of every month they burn some punk, and twice
every month make a fresh cup of tea, which is left standing on the stove.
I found that several thousands of punk had been burned during my absence,
and the ends of the sticks were left in the bowls. I felt very sorry
for it; so I tore up the paper and break the punk-sticks in pieces and
burn them up. My wife felt very indignant, and was afraid the stove-god
might be angry and make me sick, and punish me. I say: “Nothing to be
afraid of. But I am only afraid that the true God in heaven will punish
me if I do not tear up the paper and burn up the punk-sticks.” I say: “I
must entirely abandon this superstition and must give this testimony for
Christ. For he is the only God that can preserve my life, and the only
one that can take it away.”

In the mean time, a Chinese preacher who was supported by the Methodist
[pg 18]
Mission was very sick. His children were very small and his wife
cannot walk. There was nobody to go after a doctor for him. So he sent
for me to call doctor and get medicine. He and myself were the only
Christians inside the walls of the city. Outside in the villages were a few
Christians, but fifteen or twenty miles away. My wife advised me not to
go to his house lest I get sick also, for my health was not very good. I
say to her, that only he and I are Christians in this place. I have to go
to his house. I rather die than not go. In about twenty days he die.
We sent for the Christian friends, from different parts—some thirty to fifty
miles away—some nearer. So we bury him the Christian way. The men
carry the coffin. They charge four dollars to bury him, because he is
Christian. The others they charge only two dollars. We also hire music
for the funeral—different from the heathen funeral. Several hundred people
were standing on the way, watching us pass by. Some say: “How
funny the burying of the Yason dog,”—i.e., the Jesus boy.

After the funeral I was very sick, and my whole body trembling with
cold. Many blankets put upon me, but cannot make me warm. My wife
begin to cry. My cousins and all said it was because I went to the dead
man’s house and catch the sickness. Some of them said it was because
I tore up the paper and burned the punk-sticks of the stove-god. But
my wife, sitting on the bed-side crying, suggested the medicine which I
brought from California; the name—sulphate of quinine. So she ask me
to take that; but I say: I never have been this way before, and never use
that medicine for this kind of sickness. But she ask me to try; so I take
a very little with a little water. Not more than three minutes my whole
body stop shaking, and I felt a great relief. I thank God for his help, and
soon I got all well.

Another Chinese preacher came from Canton to my district to take the
dead preacher’s place; also, to live in his house. Next day, he and his
wife and boy all taken very sick. They grow worse and worse, every day
appointed to death. I felt very much dismayed because many people
say, “The Death Spirit make them very sick because they will not worship
him.” But I pray to God to make him well. I say:—”Oh Lord, if
you let this family die also, all the people in this place will not
like to hear thy Gospel, and I also may be tempted by the superstition.
I ask thee, oh God, let thy mercy be upon them and not
let this family going to die; so let all this people of darkness see thy
power, and thy glorious light appear to their sight.” I believe that God
answered this prayer, for they grew better and better every day, though
they were so sick they expected to die.

I will tell you of another trial which I encountered. I live inside the
wall, and all the people inside are divided into six societies. I belong to
No. 4. Once in three years we have what we call festival. So a man who
had charge asked me to sign my name to give twenty-five cents to buy
[pg 19]
some pork and other things for offerings to the idols. The temples have
some property, but they use the temple money for other expenses. I
refuse to subscribe. So he advised me and said: “While you are in the
foreign country, imitate foreign customs, but now you are in China, you
have to obey Chinese customs.” They try to compel me to give. I stand
up and say: “If these six societies could not have this festival to the
idols because I refuse, do the people depend on me? If so, then all the
people are without hope, and may despair of the blessing of the idols. Is
that what you believe? Because you worship the idols you give offerings
to them, and expect blessing from them. I do not worship the idol, and he
would not give me the blessing. I do not wish for the idol’s blessing. It
is not because I am stingy that I will not give to the offering of the idol,
but because it is against the true God in heaven, whom I trust, and whose
blessing I do greatly desire.” So they could not compel me to give, and they
let me alone, but they felt very much indignation and were hostile to me.
A Christian in China has sometimes a very hard time. “But what
things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” Yet more and
more are believing the Gospel of Christ every year in China.

A year has passed since, this brother returned to America; but is there
any hazard in affirming that those towns-people of his in China have
thought more or less, even to this day, of the stand he took and the God
in Christ to whom he testified?

BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.

MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.

MASS MEETING OF THE WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY UNIONS.

The first meeting of the Woman’s Home Missionary Unions in connection
with the American Missionary Association was a genuine success.
The programme was put in the hands of Mrs. E.S. Williams of Minnesota by
vote of the ladies at Saratoga in June last, and the interested group who
filled the large and pleasant Sunday-school rooms of the New England
Church in Chicago, October 29th, rejoiced in their new and forward movement
for home and native land. Mrs. Lane of Michigan gave Mrs.
Williams genial help in presiding. Mrs. Palmer of Massachusetts led in
prayer. Mrs. Burke Leavitt, President of the Illinois Union, gave to the
ladies a felicitous welcome to the city and to the sympathy of the workers
of the great state of Illinois. Mrs. E.W. Blatchford greeted the women
in behalf of the New England Church and of their co-workers in the W.B.M.I.
If only all good women saw and felt, as this wise sister did, that
all Christ’s work is one, and that all work for him outside of our own
[pg 20]
home and church is mission service, their appeals to their sisters would
have more irresistible force, and the Saviour’s prayer be nearer answered,
“That they all may be one.” Miss Emerson, of the American Missionary
Association, spoke with her usual straightforward effectiveness of the joy of
the Association in their share of the work of the Unions.

These greetings were followed by the roll-call of State Unions, with brief
responses. Mrs. Williams represented Minnesota; Mrs. Palmer, Massachusetts
and Rhode Island. She also read a letter from Miss Nathalie
Lord of Boston. Mrs. Grabill responded for Michigan, Mrs. Cowles for
Ohio, Mrs. Morgan for New York, Mrs. Miner for Wisconsin, Mrs.
Bronson for Missouri, Mrs. Taintor for Illinois, Mrs. Douglass for Iowa,
Mrs. Leavitt for Nebraska, and Miss Emerson for Mississippi, Tennessee,
Arkansas and North Carolina. A telegram was received from Mrs.
Gale of the Florida Union, letters from Mrs. Swift of Vermont and
Mrs. Andrews of Alabama, and a warm message from Louisiana came just
too late for public hearing. Greetings also came from Northern and
Southern California, Oregon and Colorado.

After prayer by Mrs. Douglass, of Iowa, Miss Hand gave a brief, but
very effective address on “What the New West needs from our Women—prayer,
consecrated effort, contributions.”

In the afternoon, Mrs. Lane gave a complete summary of “Foreign
Missions at Home. What have we done? What have we left undone?
What ought we to do now?” No brief mention can give any adequate idea
of the amount of information which was crowded into this address, or the
earnestness of its presentation.

Mrs. Regal, of Oberlin, presented the report of the Bohemian Bible
Readers’ Home, in Cleveland.

Mrs. E.M. Williams answered effectively the question, “How can we
induce women of wealth to give to Home Missions?” She thought lack of
information was the cause of most of the indifference from which the work
suffers, and recommended individual effort as likeliest to be successful.

Mrs. Bailey, of Ogden, Utah, gave a stirring address on the “Need of
Pure Homes and True Churches in the West.”

Elizabeth Winyan, a Christian Indian woman of the Dakotas, next addressed
the meeting in her native language, Rev. Mr. Riggs acting as her
interpreter. Elizabeth’s manner is very calm and dignified, and her gestures
are graceful and forcible. Her language is eloquent even though trammeled
by the necessity of having an interpreter. When she “shakes hands
with us in her heart,” we know she means it, and when she has “said
enough,” we know she is done.

A Free Parliament for the discussion of practical questions was conducted
by Mrs. Regal, of Ohio. The subjects of Missionary Literature,
Life-Membership, Dangers threatening the Unions, Holding meetings in
connection with or separate from local and State Conferences, and
[pg 21]
National Organization, were discussed, a large number of ladies participating
freely.

Mrs. Goodell, of St. Louis, conducted a “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” which
closed the day’s sessions, and the earnest group dissolved only to swell the
throngs at the best meeting the American Missionary Association ever
held.

WORDS FROM OUR ANNUAL MEETING,

OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO WOMEN.

Twenty-six Woman’s State Organizations now co-operate with us in our
missionary work. Each year shows the increasing importance and helpfulness
of the Woman’s Bureau. From it go counsel, help and inspiration
to the lady teachers in the field, and missionary news and helpful suggestions
to the ladies of the State Associations. Through it pass the sympathy
and the help of the earnest workers in the older churches to the earnest
workers in our mission churches and schools. The people for whom we
labor can not be saved either for this world or the next unless the women
who make the homes are lifted out of coarseness and vice, and taught true
womanhood and womanly duties and arts. The Woman’s Bureau is a
most potent factor in the work of bringing the gospel to the rescue of
womanhood in our mission fields.

Annual Report of Executive Committee.

Our laborers are faced by all the serious problems of the foreign land—problems
unrelieved by a single romantic charm. When we send our
missionaries to Africa they go to labor among the Africans; and when we
send them down South they go to teach “niggers.” I believe that the
American Missionary Association, in its calm and unimpassioned history,
is one grand and splendid eulogy of woman. Our sisters went South while
the sky was yet heavy with the clouds of war; they went to the rude
dwellings where those people sat in stupor and in darkness after the first
thrill of the new found liberty; they went from homes of refinement and
culture and wealth and religion; they bore to this darkness light, to this
dullness life; they carried down there in their white hands the great tree
of Calvary, the cross of Christ, and planted it in the land of the magnolia
and the palm. I say that the history of this Association is a grand and
glowing eulogy of woman because these were willing to be called “teachers
of niggers” for their love of humanity.

Rev. C.W. Hiatt.

It is one of the most astonishing signs of the times that really into the
feeble hand of womanhood is given the key of the situation. They respect
these educated girls, they reverence them and give them a place of dignity
in their hearts. That makes it possible for these women to do a large and
splendid work in the South.

[pg 22]

Once let these girls that come under the influence of our Christian
Northern women who go there as teachers, and the graduates of these
various colleges and schools that we have planted, and are about to plant
in the South; once let common womanhood in the South that has been so
much under the heel of this oppression; once let girlhood feel the power
that has come to girlhood, that to them as young women in the cradle of
these hills, under this fair sky, is given the power to turn over in not less
than thirty or forty years this whole country for God and humanity, for
enlightenment and for Christian peace; once let that idea get into the minds
of those girls, and we have not the same problem that we have to-day.

Rev. D.M. Fisk.

There were deeds of valor by mountain heroines that shine as brightly
as those of a Molly Stark or Barbara Frietchie. Mrs. Edwards, of Campbell
County, marched 150 miles in inclement weather, over the mountains,
to carry information to Union troops. Immediately upon arriving at
home, having received some valuable information, she pushed her way
through the rain, on horseback, alone, and saved the Union General Spears
from capture. Again and again this same woman took perilous journeys
to carry information to Union officers. Nor was she the only heroine among
the mountain women. During the siege of Knoxville, General Grant
desired to send an important message to General Burnside. “So overrun
was the territory between Chattanooga and Knoxville by Confederate
troops that it could only be delivered, if at all, with great difficulty and
hazard. At length Miss Mary Love, of Kingston, Tenn., agreed to take
the message through the Confederate lines.” She got as far as Louisville,
Tenn., but could get no farther. There she found but one person who
was willing to run the risk of taking the message through the lines, and he
was a boy only thirteen years of age, John T. Brown. He carried the dispatch
safely through the lines and delivered it to General Burnside.

Let us build school-houses and churches, where their better cabins have
risen from the ashes of the past. Let us invade their coves and press up
their mountain sides with an army of Christian teachers and preachers,
until the gray old forests that echoed with the shout of these loyal Highlanders
shall again echo with the sound of church bell and school bell, and
they who took from us the larger sacrifice of war, shall find that we are
ready to share with them the blessed fruits of peace.

Secretary C.J. Ryder.

There is, furthermore, a peaceful Christian invasion of this land. We
scarcely realize how much these gospel songs mean to those Southern people,
and how they listen with eagerness at once to the sweetness of the
tune and to the gospel that is within it. It is an entering wedge to a new
[pg 23]
life there. A dear girl of my acquaintance taught from thirty to fifty of
these women; they listened eagerly, and the tears rolled down their cheeks,
and they said to her, “Oh, come and tell us more about Jesus, for we want
to be different kind of women, different kind of mothers.”

There was one girl who came out to one of our commencements
and went back with the arrow in her heart, saying, “I would give all the
world if I had it, if I could write a piece, and git up thar and read it like
them.” She went home determined she would go to college. She was a
large girl, fifteen years old, yet did not know a single letter. She walked
fifty miles nearly, and came and said to the college president, that she
wanted to work for her board, so that she could enter the school. What
could she do? He found that really she was incapacitated for doing anything;
but she said; “I can hoe corn like a nigger.” Finally she was set
at some sort of work, and that girl, after three or four years, went out as a
school teacher into a district where young men dared not go, where her
eyes were blistered with the sights she saw—men shot down before her
face and eyes by the whiskey distillers—and she was asked to organize a
Sunday-school there. When any one starts a Sunday-school he is expected
to preach, and so that girl had to become a preacher, and to-day
she is preaching the gospel of God and spreading the work there.
And yet she came from one of the very humblest classes.

Rev. D.M. Fisk.

There is another influence of which I would speak, the influence of the
home. Here in our happy homes we know but very little of what that
means to the Indian. An Indian has no home, in our sense of the
word. There is at Santee Agency a piece of limestone, perhaps three feet
wide by five feet long, which was the hearthstone of our Dakota mission
home. It was taken a few years ago by my brother, from Minnesota,
where it had served the purpose of a hearthstone in one of the original
buildings of the mission. He took it to Santee Agency, and every time I
go to Santee, I go out and look at that stone. There is the hole in the
stone into which we poured milk to feed the cat, and on another corner is
the place where we used to crack nuts. That stands for our boyhood home.
The Indian has nothing of the kind. The Dakota Indian lives in a region,
not in a place. The Christian home coming into the midst of a village
carries there an ideal of which the Indian knows nothing, and he is taught
by the power of example day after day. The Christian woman in that
home keeps her house clean, keeps her children clean, and stands here as
a persistent example of the power of the gospel of soap.

Rev. T.L. Riggs.

Carlyle tells the story of a woman in the North of Scotland in the old
days before charity was organized, who wanted help. She was poor and
[pg 24]
sick, and they said to her, “You may look out for yourself.” Finally she
was taken sick with typhus fever, and died, and because they didn’t take
very good care of her in the place where she was sick, she killed seventeen
others with her poison. Carlyle says: “You said she was not your sister
and she said, ‘I am, and I will prove it;’ and she did, though it cost seventeen
good lives to prove it.” There will be a typhus fever in this land
infinitely worse than any pestilence that kills the body unless this deadly
germ be killed by putting education where there is ignorance, and putting
honor and truth where there is degradation to-day. “Look out for No.
1?” Aye, it is our business to look out for ourselves. May God Almighty
help us that we fail not to attend to it. There is just one way to save ourselves.
We learned that long ago at the feet of Him who said: “He that
loseth his life shall save it.” That is the only way. It is just as true for a
nation as for an individual.

President George A. Gates.

[pg 26]

RECEIPTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1889.

THE DANIEL HAND FUND,

For the Education of Colored People.

FROM

Mr. DANIEL HAND, GUILFORD, CONN.

CURRENT RECEIPTS

MAINE, $235.81.

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $225.60.

VERMONT, $320.79.

MASSACHUSETTS. $8,698.46.

RHODE ISLAND, $180.00

CONNECTICUT, $2,072.11.

NEW YORK, $2,150.93.

NEW JERSEY, $417.50.

PENNSYLVANIA, $134.00.

OHIO, $416.97.

ILLINOIS, $609.14.

MICHIGAN, $305.44.

WISCONSIN, $331.80.

IOWA, $186.21.

MINNESOTA, $261.34.

MISSOURI, $70.00.

KANSAS, $28.80.

NORTH DAKOTA, $39.77.

SOUTH DAKOTA, $33.58.

NEBRASKA, $47.37.

COLORADO, $37.25.

IDAHO, $3.00.

WASHINGTON, $10.00.

CALIFORNIA, $5.00.

MARYLAND, $15.00.

KENTUCKY, $5.00.

NORTH CAROLINA. $28.44.

GEORGIA, $1.00.

TEXAS, $5.00.

CANADA, $5.00.

SANDWICH ISLANDS, $5,005.00.

INCOME, $3,036.15.

TUITION, $4,256.68.

SUMMARY.

FOR THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade St., N. Y.