THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

OUR ANNUAL MEETING.

The Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association will
be held in the First Congregational Church (Rev. Dr. Goodwin’s), Chicago, Illinois,
commencing October 28th, at 3 p. m. The Annual Sermon will be preached
by Rev. R. S. Storrs, D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., service commencing at half-past
seven in the evening. A paper on the Chinese question will be presented by Rev.
J. H. Twichell, of Hartford, Connecticut; one on the Necessity of the Protection
of Law for the Indians, by Gen. J. B. Leake, United States District Attorney,
Chicago, Illinois; one on the Providential Significance of the Negro in America,
by Pres. E. H. Merrell, of Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin. Addresses may be
expected from Rev. Drs. Goodell, Roy, Corwin, Dana, Ellsworth and other able
speakers on timely and important topics. For reductions in Railroad fares and
other important items, see fourth page of cover.

We are called to record the death of another venerable friend of the Association,
Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., who died suddenly at his home in New Haven, only
a few days after his return from a trip to Europe, on Saturday, the 6th of September.
He had been a Vice-President of the Association for fifteen years, and always a
warm and generous friend of the colored people. He was the father of President
Patton of Howard University.

Educated at Middlebury College and at Princeton Seminary, he was the first
pastor of the Broome Street, now the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, in New
York. Since 1862 he has resided in New Haven, Conn. He has labored much and
written much, and died at the good old age of 81, beloved and honored. He
remembered the Association in his will with a bequest of $500.

In our issue of last month, the article “North and South” stated that we have
a common interest in the glory of our Revolution. This assertion finds confirmation
in the fact that a Southern Centennial is now under process of arrangement.[Pg 322]
It is to occur on the 7th of October, 1880, at King’s Mountain, North Carolina, to
commemorate the battle that was fought at that place Oct. 7, 1780. In July a
meeting was held at that same mountain to make preparation. The States of
Georgia and of North and South Carolina were represented. Three thousand
people were present. Patriotic speeches were made. In these, and in the several
resolutions adopted, as reported in the Atlanta Constitution, not one word was
used in reflection upon the American Union. All the other States were invited
to participate. Besides the States represented, those of Virginia, West Virginia,
Kentucky and Tennessee were to be memorialized, through their Legislatures,
to make such appropriations as would be necessary to the proper consummation
of the celebration. The ladies of those several States were invited to co-operate.
The committee of arrangements were to secure a collection of the historic relics
of the battle ground and to apply for troops to illustrate the plan of the battle.

Secretary Powell has recently made an earnest plea in the Advance for printing-presses,
greatly needed at Fisk, Straight and Tougaloo Universities. He says:
“About $1,000 are needed for each press, with its accompaniments of type, rules
and leads. But there is a firm in this city that for presses going into this work
will discount fifty per cent. Only five hundred dollars, therefore, are needed for
each press and accompaniments. And in what direction could five hundred dollars
be better used for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom and the safety of the
land?”

Incidental testimony from pure sources of high authority to the value of a work
is often more gratifying to those engaged in it than purposed compliments. A
recognition of its value before an outside audience is also of special importance.
We are glad, therefore, to call attention to the fact that Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts,
in his recent political address at Worcester, referring to the interest of
the Northern people in everything that would promote the true interests of the
South, speaks of Captain Eads’ jetties, “making one long harbor of the Southern
Mississippi,” as a great boon to its material prosperity, and points to “the
magnificent work of the American Missionary Association” as in a higher sphere
a source of sincere rejoicing to all good men of the North.

We notice, also, in the report of the Peabody Educational Fund, the following
reference to our work: “Much good has been accomplished for the colored
schools by the universities and other endowed institutions with normal departments
maintained by different Christian denominations. One association has
already sent out from its numerous institutions 5,267 teachers, by whom about
100,000 pupils have been instructed. A large proportion of the graduates of all
these institutions become teachers.”

The following tribute to the Hampton Normal Institute is also paid by the
Superintendent of Public Schools in South Carolina: “The agent of the Peabody
Fund has placed at my disposal ten fifty-dollar scholarships in the Normal and
Agricultural Institute, at Hampton, Va. A visit to the Institute, and observation
of the manner in which it is conducted, convince me that it is doing exactly what
it professes to do.”

Whether our work needs testimonials to its value or not, we are always glad to
find such as these, which were not intended either for the ears of our teachers or
officers, or even constituency. If we needed to be assured at all, such witnesses
would give us deeper confidence than ever in its real need and real efficiency.

Dr. O. H. White, Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society, writes
from London:

The recent death of Dr. Mullens and four others connected with the effort of
the London Missionary Society to reach Central Africa, has turned the thought
of this people to our plans and work for Africa as never before. They begin to
believe that, as Dr. Moffat said, “Africans must go to teach and save Africans;
it is the Divine plan.” And the more I speak upon this idea, and the more I see
of the people, the more I am persuaded that this view will prevail in the future,
and we shall have all we can do to furnish the colored missionaries for all the
missionary societies of Europe working in Africa.

If our colored missionaries show to the world that they can live in Africa and
can manage the affairs of a mission as well as white men, then the demand for
them by the missionary societies of this country will be large enough for all we
can supply from America in many years. And the ministers here tell me that if
my mission to the country should result in nothing else, it will more than pay for
all the time, work and expense which I am giving to this effort.

Were it not for the earnest commendation of many of the most prominent
ministers and laymen in England and Scotland of my sermons and addresses on
the subject of the evangelization of Africa by the Freedmen, I should give up at
once in these hard times of dreadful depression in business; but the Lord has
evidently given me the ear and the heart of the people with reference to the future
redemption of that vast continent of Africa by the emancipated slaves.

NO DEBT—NO DEFICIT.

From time to time during the year our readers have been told the condition of
our treasury. Occasionally it has been only a place to put money in, a great vacuity.
It has been with us a year of anxiety and frequent change, of falling and of
rising tides. And now we have just closed the books which contain the record
of another financial period. And by the arrival of the date which this number of
the Missionary bears, and which we have to anticipate for printing and mailing
to our remotest subscribers, we shall have made its full statement to the annual
meeting.

It is with profound gratitude to Almighty God, and with renewed confidence
in Him and in His people, that we write its record.

First. We have fully met all the expenses of the year from the year’s income.
We have kept in active operation all our institutions and churches. No one has
been suspended or stopped for lack of funds. We do not by any means intend to
say that all have been fully equipped and carried on to the best advantage, for
we have not dared by any means to do with them all that could have been done.
They have all been run in the most economical manner consistent with the accomplishment
of their main intent. The salaries have been small, the services have
been great, the self-denials have been many, of our pastors and teachers; still, in
the year, which only at its close has begun to show signs of returning commercial
prosperity, we are glad to record an undiminished work all paid for.

Secondly. We have fully paid the debt. The $37,389.79 of indebtedness
reported at the last annual meeting has absolutely disappeared. Every cent of it
has been paid, to the last of the seventy-nine. The great work undertaken three
years ago is finished, and we are free. We have been for a long time like Lot’s
wife, looking back and fearing lest perchance the past might overwhelm us; but[Pg 324]
God has only rained down riches out of Heaven and buried our burden beneath
His gracious gifts; and we are free now to look and to press forward.

But such a statement brings a weight of grave responsibility. We say of the
treasury of the Association gladly and gratefully, No debt—no deficit. But we
must remember, in all humility, we do ever owe the debt to love our fellow-men
and show it by our works of Christian charity, and our deficit is what we have
been lacking in filling up the full measure of our opportunity for serving
Christ in the person of His poor.

MISSIONARY MASS CONVENTIONS.

At the late State Conference of Ohio, a Committee on Missions was appointed,
of which Prof. Judson Smith, D. D., is chairman, and Rev. C. C. Creegan, of
Wakeman, secretary. It is proposed to hold a series of mass conventions, at central
points, and every member of every Congregational church in the State will
be invited to attend at least one of these meetings. Rev. James Powell will
represent the A. M. A.

The following schedule has been prepared:

OUR NEW MEN.

We are delighted with our new men. Scarcely ever in the history of the
Association have we had so large a number of recruits for important places in our
service, of such proved quality, and more and more we find ourselves able to retain
the services of our best men, who have served the cause of education and religion
with us in years past. It is to us a gratifying indication of the growing sense
among our Christian ministers and teachers of the importance and dignity of the
work, and of their appreciation of it, as founded and established beyond all question,
and for all time (as we measure things), that such men are willing to commit
themselves to it, and to remain in it year after year.

We accept the congratulations of The Congregationalist as expressed in the
following paragraph:

The Association is to be congratulated upon new accessories to its working
force. Rev. Henry S. DeForest of Iowa has accepted the Presidency of Talladega
College, and is already upon the ground. Rev. S. D. Gaylord, a highly commended
schoolman of the West, has taken the principalship of the Avery Institute
at Charleston, S. C. The late principal, Prof. A. W. Farnham, is proposed as an
occupant of a chair in one of the colleges of the A. M. A.; Rev. C. W. Hawley,
pastor of the Second Church at Amherst, Mass., is to enter upon the pastorate of
the First Congregational Church of Atlanta, which was resigned by Rev. S. S.
Ashley, that he might take a season of respite after his fourteen years of invaluable
Southern service. Rev. O. W. Fay accepts the call to the pastoral charge in[Pg 325]
Montgomery, Ala.; Rev. O. D. Crawford of West Bloomfield, N. Y., goes down
to serve as pastor of the church and superintendent of the Emerson Institute at
Mobile; Prof. J. K. Cole is transferred from New Orleans to the principalship of
the Beach Institute at Savannah, Ga.; while Prof. McPherron is promoted to be
Principal of the Normal Department of Straight University.

THE MENDI MISSION.

We call attention to the summary on another page of the Second Annual
Meeting of our Missionaries on the West Coast of Africa. There seems to have been
in it a careful review of the work of the year and a study of the means at hand for
carrying it in the future, and a reasonable view of its needs and possibilities.

It will be seen that the report of church and evangelizing work indicates not
only earnest effort but substantial results. The missionaries are planning—and
the plan has resulted from their own experience and observation—a more free
use of native helpers as it shall become possible. All Missions have come or are
coming to this. It needs but a simple knowledge of the love of God and the redemption
of the world by the Lord Jesus Christ, to fit a man to go home and tell
his neighbors the good news which has come to him. That is the work of evangelization.
And if these native Christians, carrying to their own people only that
portion of the Gospel which they have known and certified by their experience,
can come into frequent contact with the missionaries educated and established
in the faith, they will be kept from wandering off into error, and grow in
grace and knowledge by using the grace and knowledge they have already received
and acquired.

The missionaries have, to some extent, upon the basis of the year’s experience,
re-arranged themselves so that they think (and we agree with them) that they
can work to better advantage than the past year.

One of the schools, that at Good Hope, seems to have been very successful and
to have reached a large number of native children. The other, at Avery, has been
more confined to the training of children, who are taken into the home to be under
continuous influence, in the hope that by industrial and religious, as well as mental
training, they may in time be fitted to be important helpers in the work.

Mr. Anthony, who joined the Mission in March last, to take especial charge
of the mill and other industrial work at Avery, has already proved to be a valuable
addition to the band. And the Committee have just commissioned and
sent out another recruit to strengthen the hands, we trust, of those already in the
field. His name is Nathaniel Nurse. He was born in the island of Barbadoes,
West Indies; immigrated to Liberia, Africa, where he spent five years; came to
the United States; spent nearly two years in the cities of New York and Boston;
was converted to Christ in the latter city nine years ago. He returned to Barbadoes,
visiting also various other West Indian islands. In 1875 he went to England,
visiting Liverpool, and spending a year in London. While in the latter city he
was engaged in missionary work.

He was sent, about two years ago, by the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society, of
London, assisted by Belmont Church, Aberdeen, Scotland, and several individual
Christians, to Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., where he has been studying with
a view to devoting himself to missionary work in Africa.

These young men are in a very trying position, and need the prayers of all good
people that they may have wisdom and grace and patience from the Giver of all
good and perfect gifts.

THE ARTHINGTON MISSION.

Let it not be thought by any of the friends of the Association, because we have
not had more to say in the Missionary, that we have given up the hope of yet
being able to accept the noble offer of Mr. Robert Arthington, and of establishing
and sustaining the Mission proposed by him. We have already fully and
formally recognized the importance of the work, the accessibility of the field and
its peculiar claims upon our body. Equatorial Africa is our sphere. It is in that
that we have labored for over thirty years, and to that that we desire to confine
ourselves. This Eastern Mission will be a proper balance and complement to the
Mendi Mission on the Western coast. But we have tried to make haste slowly.

The condition precedent made by Mr. Arthington, that the debt of the Association
should be extinguished, is now fully and fairly met. That is an obstacle
out of the way. The only other condition is one on our part of prudent anticipation.
It will take a large amount—though it has been more often over than
underestimated—to provide the men and the outfit and to put them on the ground.
It will require at least an amount annually equal to that we are expending on
the Western Mission to sustain this in the East. And the Executive Committee
have thought it wise to assure themselves of $50,000, which they would have in
hand to devote to this work as it might be required, before they should take the
first step towards beginning it.

There are several things within our horizon to-day which conspire to give us
hope of a speedy realization of this plan. Mr. Arthington’s offer still holds good.
There is $15,000 for the work to begin with. Dr. O. H. White, the indefatigable
Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society in Great Britain, is enthusiastic
on the subject of this Mission, and reports to us that the interest of the English
and Scotch people in it is deep and deepening. Already he has secured considerable
sums to be devoted to this work. Recently he has written us asking for a
definite agreement on the part of the Association as to what it will do in the way
of providing from this country a portion of the fund deemed necessary to the
inception of the Mission, if he shall raise from the mother country a second $15,000.
The Committee has answered him that they will agree to provide the $20,000 to
make the needed $50,000 for the start, and will then, “with the blessing of God
and the assistance of the friends of the African race in Great Britain and America,
perpetually maintain the Mission.”

The Committee felt free to make this pledge, in the present financial condition
of the Association, and especially as final receipts from the Avery estate have
recently come to hand, amounting to a considerable part of this sum, and which
are devoted by the donor to the evangelization of the African race in Africa.

It is a great step for us to take; but we have felt that it would be a great mistake,
a great failure in duty, for us not to take it. God bless Robert Arthington,
of Leeds! God bless Dr. White in his efforts to raise this second fund! God
bless every man and woman on either side the sea who shall join hands and put
together their resources to carry the light of the gospel of love and liberty into
the thick darkness of Eastern Equatorial Africa! Who will help us on this side
the water?

SELF-PROTECTION.

[We extract from the valuable address given at the Boston anniversary, by the
Rev. Albert H. Heath, of New Bedford, Mass., his second division (all we can find
room for), in which he treats forcibly of one most important aspect of our home work.[Pg 327]
In other portions of the address he spoke at length of our special obligations to
these people and of the work in the light of a genuine Christian philanthropy.
We commend these strong words to careful reading and thought.]

Self-protection is to be taken into consideration in this work. What effect, we
may well inquire, is it going to have upon the beloved institutions of our land if
these races are not Christianly educated? It is possible that many will feel that
the Indian, whatever our treatment of him, can never offer any serious menace to
our civil life; we may safely let him go, as his fathers have gone before him, marching
before our fixed bayonets toward the setting sun. And if this military policy
is to prevail, we shall all be glad when he has made his last trail across the plain and
echoed his last shrill war-whoop amid the mountains’ fastnesses. But, after all,
friends, it may be there is a God in Heaven who will remember and avenge the red
man’s wrong. “They that take the sword shall perish with the sword,” is not
alone to be found in Scripture. It is written in our constitutions; it is a fundamental
law of our being; and history bears abundant testimony that it is no dead
letter. We ought to remember this law as we press the Indian from his God-given
right. It may be that we, the children of the Pilgrims, may yet find ourselves
driven from our Eastern homes and the institutions which the century has
helped us to build, while the red hand of Nihilism holds sway over the graves of our
fathers, and crowds us, as we are to-day crowding the Indian, into the track of the
setting sun.

But whatever may be the result of our treatment of the Indian, there can be no
doubt what will be the effect if the Negro and the Chinaman are left uneducated
and unchristianized. Already do we feel the hand of the black man in our politics;
our ears have distinctly heard the low rumbling, and we have felt the shudder beneath
our feet which betokens an eruption. Before we know it Vesuvius may be
belching forth its fiery flood, darkening the sky and spreading far and wide its
river of death. Nor will the exodus greatly change the matter. The demagogue
and the office-seeker are a genus that thrives in all climes. They may be more
poisonous at the South, as most reptiles are that breed under a tropical sun; but the
frosts of the North do not kill them any more than they kill the larvæ of the insects
which every April sun hatches into life. It only needs the warmth of an election
to quicken them and bring them in buzzing swarms around your ears. There will
be corrupt politicians in Kansas who will rob them of their political rights as
readily as those in the South. It matters little where they dwell; even in New
York or Boston they would find themselves still in the reign of demoniacal possession.
While they remain an ignorant class they will be a dangerous class. To be
shot and intimidated may not be, after all, their worst political fate; to be corrupted
with bribery would be equally bad. The electioneering purse, in the hand of the
Northern office-seeker, might prove as potent in robbing them of their rights as
the pistol which Southern chivalry may point at their devoted heads. Let us not,
therefore, cheer ourselves, nor encourage these, our colored friends, that there is
any holy land in these United States to which they may go in solemn exodus and
be safe. Wherever they may be, ignorance is their greatest curse; nothing but
education and Christianization will dispel this shadow that is darkening their lives,
and lift this yoke of bondage that is now galling their necks, and in no other way
can they be converted into useful citizens. They are an element of danger to the
Republic, until, like our Northern children, they grow up under the shadow of the
school-house. It is possible that all are not aware how great is the weight of this
ignorance, which is like loose ballast in the ship of State, ready at any sudden lurch
to change sides and carry us to the bottom. We and our legislators have been most[Pg 328]
thoughtless in our treatment of this question. In a single day, by legislative enactment,
we put the ballot into the hand of a million men, not one of whom knew a letter
of the alphabet. A more suicidal blow has seldom been aimed at the heart of this
Republic. We have given, almost indiscriminately, the right of suffrage to these
Southern States, and yet in sixteen of them seventy-five out of every hundred of
the population, according to the census of 1870, are growing up entirely without
school advantages. At the present moment a majority of the voters in Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina are without the ability either to
read or write. In either of these States, or in all of them, any election can be
carried by sheer weight of ignorance. Seventeen hundred thousand men, according
to a statistical report which has been put into my hands, at the last national election
cast the ballot which they could neither read nor write. No wonder we were
plunged into confusion. Had not a kindly Providence been on our side we should
have been plunged into anarchy. And this scene waits to repeat itself in 1880.
The next President of these States will be elected to his high position by sheer
force of ignorance—ignorance manipulated and controlled by men whose hearts are
as black with treason to-day as they were in ’61. No thoughtful man can look
upon these facts and not tremble for the safety of his country.

So, also, is the ignorant and unchristianized Chinaman making himself felt in
our politics. He casts no ballot, he holds no office. He does not come to the
polls to drink and smoke and sell himself to the highest bidder on election day;
and yet his political influence already is as wide as the continent; his unwelcome
ghost stalks through the halls of Congress, and broods over every political
or religious convention that is holden between the two oceans. Already
have we seen one sovereign State changing the terms of its constitution and revolutionizing
its laws out of pure regard for the Chinaman. And, still more significant,
we have seen our great National Congress voting to change the very
genius of the Government, and to shut the doors that have for a hundred years
stood open, and which we mean shall not be closed for a hundred years to come;
and we will write over these open doors in letters of fire, so that the most distant
islands of the sea may read: “This is the world’s asylum, free to the oppressed of
all nations.” Now, I doubt not there are evils connected with the coming of the
heathen Chinaman. There is oppression and sorrow brought home to many hearts.
I feel that there must be more or less of pollution in his touch. I pity the State
into which this old world sewerage empties itself. But the remedy is not in
building walls, though they be heaven-high, on our Chinaward side. This evil
can be handled and neutralized only by the Christian virtue that is in us. Can
we convert this heathen material—permeate it with Christian thought? Can we
assimilate it and weave it into the civil fabric we are making? If so, it will do
us no harm; otherwise it will rankle like poison in our blood, and possibly work
our destruction in the end. This question should not be settled in the political
arena. It is a moral, a religious question. The forces that are needed now are
those that lie in the hand of the Christian church. We must permeate this festering
mass with the leaven of Christ, and we must do it speedily. The evil is
growing. Politicians are beginning to treat it, and therefore it is rapidly growing
worse. It cannot be cured by legislative enactment. Legislation knows of no
instrumentality, save that the civil statute ultimately seeks support in the bayonet.
Before we know it, this question may be baptized in blood. Those western shores
are far away. The Rocky Mountain wall lifts up a tremendous barrier to separate
us and make us twain; only one little thread of iron binds us together and makes[Pg 329]
us one. Let us not wait until the whole Pacific slope bristles with rebellion as
the South did in ’61; but let us pour the strains of our Christian influence over
the mountains. If we can Christianize this heathen mass, then the trouble is
over, the danger passed. Self-protection, then, affords a most powerful motive in
the prosecution of this work.

Albert H. Heath.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL LETTERS.

The interest of the Sunday-schools in our Southern work has been increasing
during the past year. The concert exercise has taken well, and many schools have
sent us their first contributions.

How many of the schools connected with our churches understand clearly our
offer in regard to correspondence from the field, we do not know. It is this:
any Sunday-school which contributes ten dollars or more annually to the work of
the A. M. A., if they request it, is entitled to a quarterly letter from one of our
missionaries.

The “Children’s Page” of this number of the Missionary contains such a letter.
It is bright and interesting to both teachers and scholars. The following
letter from a superintendent tells of the interest excited by such letters in his
school.

Besides the good done by the money given, is it not well worth while to train
up our children to give, and to educate them in the missionary spirit? This letter
is in response to a Sunday-school letter from Miss Barr:

Miss L. E. B.

Dear Sister in Christ: Your kind letter of the 11th inst. came to hand by
due course of mail, and your very valuable epistle to our Sabbath-school, of the 2d,
came last Saturday. Accept my sincere thanks for the same, in behalf of the Sunday-school
and myself. I think if you could have seen the eager faces and deep
interest manifested by all while I read it to the school last Sabbath, you would be
satisfied that at least one missionary of the A. M. A. would be mentioned by our
praying ones in their petitions at the Throne of Grace for some time, and that all
of us have so much of a missionary spirit kindled in our hearts, and so much interest
awakened in you personally, that your next letter will be looked for so
eagerly that it will seem a good while to wait. I think you must have a very
earnest-working church in Atlanta, and that the Master will bless them and you is
my prayer. I have no doubt but “Aunt Lucy” will have many prayers offered for
a blessing upon her.

I am glad to know that your present field of labor in the vineyard is so pleasant;
and that the Master will give you health and strength to labor for Him in it,
and that you may be the means in His hands of gathering in many precious sheaves
from it to the heavenly garners, is the sincere prayer of

Your humble fellow-servant,

R. H.,
Superintendent Congregational Sabbath-school.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

Anniston, Ala.—Rev. P. J. McEntosh writes: “My field is increasing in
interest greatly. I have just closed a series of meetings in our church. The Lord[Pg 330]
hath once more visited this part of His vineyard. There have been twenty-two conversions
in our meetings. Seventeen of these have cast their lot among us—seven
strong, settled men, four settled wives, six promising young ladies. Others are
still asking what they must do to be saved, and if I can induce them to take Jesus
at His word and believe on Him, they too shall be saved. Pray for us, that I may
lead them on in the paths of peace, and that they may learn from experience that
‘The path of the just is as a shining light, which shineth more and more unto the
perfect day.’”

Talladega, Ala.—Our first word from the new President of the College, Rev.
H. S. DeForest: I came sound and dusty this p. m., having seen many things of
interest to me at Hampton and Atlanta. The first look here more than meets my
expectations. The buildings, grounds and scenery are very pleasant, and the possibilities
certainly are grand.

Atlanta, Ga.—The Fall term of the University opened October 1st. The
first week gives promise of a very full school. There are already thirty girl
boarders, and the indications are that their Hall will be as badly crowded as last
year. The reports of the Summer work of the students, in all parts of the State,
are very cheering. There is an increasing desire for education. The white people
are taking a deeper and more kindly interest in the education of the colored children
and in the University.

Dr. Orr, State School Commissioner of Georgia, has, with the approval of Dr.
Sears, established fourteen Peabody scholarships, each paying $72, in the Normal
department of Atlanta University. The award is to be determined by competitive
examinations.

The Storrs School is running over full.

Cypress Slash, Ga.—Brother Snelson writes: Last Sunday, 14th, I spent with
Brother Headen at Cypress Slash. Gave the communion there, and received
three new members. They have made a pretty good pole-house, about 28×20
feet, in which they hold school and meeting.

Flatonia, Texas.—We are holding a protracted meeting, and last Sunday
was our communion. There seems to be more interest in the church, and the prospect
is fair for doing good. Last night seventeen persons rose for prayer. Brother
Church has been here since last Thursday, and will remain a few days longer.

Austin, Texas.—Mr. A. J. Turner writes: I was in Austin last week and visited
Mrs. Garland’s school. She had just returned from the North and started
her school. She has a full Sabbath-school. I visited with her the site of the
new building, the walls of which are rising. It will be a beautiful place. I
rejoice that Northern people are doing so much for our people.

Goliad, Texas.—“There is an increasing desire among our people to carry the
Gospel beyond the bounds of our churches, and so far as it has been done, our
polity and purity have attracted favorable attention. There is a growing dissatisfaction
with the worship and moralities of the older churches on the part of some
of their members and others who would join but for these. The young people,
in their plays, imitate the ‘shouting’ to perfection. It is fine sport to them to see
the church members perform. They laugh at the claim of Divine help to do what
they can so easily do without that help. The young men, on this account, are
increasingly more difficult to reach with the Gospel. Education, property and[Pg 331]
morality are cast aside as of little worth; stealing and shooting among themselves
are not uncommon. Only a pure Gospel can save these young men from dissipation
and crime; yet they see the grossest immoralities in church members, and the
wildest fanaticism in their modes of worship. A wide door is open here for
Christian workers, and as promising as any other to those of great patience and
self-denial.”

GENERAL NOTES.

The Freedmen.

—The Peabody Educational Fund—Reports of the General Agent and
the Treasurer.—The annual meeting of the trustees of the Peabody Educational
Fund was held October 1st, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The chairman
addressed the meeting, and in the course of his remarks mentioned with regret the
shrinkage in the income from the investments, and expressed the hope that from
other sources the funds would be rendered adequate to the work laid out.

The thirteenth annual report was presented by Dr. Sears, the general agent.
He said that the work had made satisfactory progress during the past year. The
difficulties arising from the poverty of the South, he continued, are now increased
by the pressure of the State debts. The necessity of aid from the Federal Government
is now greater than ever before. The evils that are certain to grow out
of popular ignorance, if the public schools are suffered to languish, or if they
reach only a part of the population, will not be limited to the States where they
first appear, but will cast their blight over the whole country.

It might be thought best to limit the assistance to the colored population, if
any should be granted. By an act of the General Government the right of suffrage
has been extended to them. A large proportion of them are confessedly
unqualified for a judicious exercise of this power. If the colored people are the
“wards of the nation,” in what way can the nation so well perform the duties of
its trust as by qualifying them for citizenship?

Of the two grand objects of this fund, the first, the promotion of common
school education, has been thoroughly established, and the chief attention should
be henceforth given to the second, the professional training of teachers. In some
of the States that stand most in need of efficient normal schools, it would be
impossible to provide at once the requisite funds for their establishment.

Though there are very few normal schools of a high character besides our own
in the States with which we are concerned, there are several of different grades of
excellence, either maintained or aided by public authority. Some of the former,
and all of the latter, are for colored teachers. Much good has been accomplished
for the colored schools by the universities and other endowed institutions with
normal departments, maintained by different Christian denominations. One association
has already sent out from its numerous institutions 5,267 teachers, by
whom about 100,000 pupils have been instructed. A large proportion of the graduates
of all these institutions become teachers.

The report by States shows the following facts: In Virginia less than half
the children of the State attended the public schools last year. In the colored
schools there was a loss of 3,271, compared with the year before. Over $250,000
of the school money has been diverted to other purposes; but in the future three-fourths
of the appropriation are secure.

[Pg 332]

In North Carolina the attendance is less than one-half. Difficulty has been
found in this State to induce young men of character and talent to prepare for the
business of teaching, as the pay is uncertain and but little more than the wages of
a common laborer.

The school attendance in South Carolina has increased 13,843 during the year.
For several years the system of public instruction was in a disordered condition;
but, during the last year, a better state of things has been manifest. But the
want of normal schools and of more funds is painfully felt. Such, at least, are
the views of the State Superintendent. In regard to scholarships he says: “The
agent of the Peabody Fund has placed at my disposal ten fifty-dollar scholarships
in the Normal and Agricultural Institute at Hampton, Va. A visit to the Institute
and observation of the manner in which it is conducted convince me that it
is doing exactly what it professes to do.” He adds: “There are dangers before
us which it will require the highest patriotism and the wisest statesmanship to
avoid. Nearly 57 per cent. of the voting population of the State are unable to
read the ballots which they cast.”

In Georgia, notwithstanding the increase of nearly 40,000 in the school population,
the number of the illiterate is diminished 20,614. Great encouragement is
felt regarding the educational prospects in the State.

In Florida education is advancing rapidly. Two-fifths of the children attend
school, and there are applicants promised for all the Normal College scholarships
that can be allowed to that State.

Opposition to the public free school system is disappearing in Mississippi, and
a healthy condition is reported. A normal institute has been established. One-third
of the school population attend in Louisiana. In the Colored Normal School
we have had twenty scholarships of $50 each. This arrangement is the result of
an extended correspondence with the State Superintendent.

In Tennessee, never since the first year of the present school system has so
much money been raised for its support; never has the school tax been paid more
cheerfully. Speaking of the use made of Mr. Peabody’s gift, the Superintendent
says: “The encouragement given by the wise disposition of this fund has always
proved an invaluable accessory in the arduous work of organizing and sustaining
the cause of popular education in this State and in the South.”

The State Superintendent of West Virginia says of the aid received from the
Peabody Fund for the Normal Institutes: “It is of the highest value to the cause
of education, and contributes more, perhaps, in general advantage than an equal
expenditure in any other direction could do.”

The appropriations from the fund for the last year were: Virginia, $9,850;
North Carolina, $6,700; South Carolina, $4,250; Georgia, $6,500; Florida, $3,000;
Alabama, $3,600; Mississippi, $4,000; Louisiana, $7,650; Texas, $7,700; Arkansas,
$5,600; Tennessee, $12,000; West Virginia, $4,000; total, $74,850.

The Treasurer’s report showed a balance of about $83,000 available for expenditure
during the coming year. In former years the income has amounted at
times to as much as $110,000, but there has been some shrinkage since the 6 per
cent. bonds, in which much of the fund was invested, have been called in, the
new investments being in 4 per cent. bonds.

The officers of the Board, who have been continued from year to year, are
Robert Winthrop, Chairman; G. Peabody Russell, Secretary; Samuel Wetmore,
Treasurer; the Rev. Barnas Sears, General Agent.

[Pg 333]

The Indians.

—In the coming fall, twenty more girls will be added to the number of Indian
students at Hampton. Their due proportion is regarded as essential to the success
and value of the effort. When the Indian prisoners from St. Augustine returned
to the Territory, and their wives and families turned out to welcome them home
with rejoicing, the long dreamed of meeting proved such a shock to the reconstructed
braves that some of them broke from the company and ran away to the
woods, refusing to have anything more to do with their affectionate but very dirty
squaws. The situation was humorous but tragic, and withal very natural. How
could they walk “the white man’s road” in such companionship? And how could
they walk it alone? The co-education of the Indian boys and girls, with its lessons
of mutual respect and helpfulness in the class-rooms and work-rooms, is the
hope, and the only hope, of permanent Indian civilization.

—The Secretary of War has turned over to the Department of the Interior the
U. S. Army barracks at Carlisle, Penn., to be used for the purpose of Indian
education, under charge of Capt. R. H. Pratt, who has been sent West to collect
100 Indian youths for his school, as well as the girls for Hampton. Captain Pratt’s
wise, Christian philanthropy toward the Indian prisoners at St. Augustine was the
origin of the present movement for Indian education, and has demonstrated his
eminent qualifications for the work.

Africa.

—Mr. Mackay gives most interesting accounts of his intercourse with Mtesa
and his chiefs. Every Sunday, after Wilson left, he conducted service at the
palace for the king and chiefs, speaking in Suahili without an interpreter, and Mtesa
interpreting into the Uganda language for the benefit of those who did not understand
Suahili. On Christmas day a special service was held, all the chiefs being
in “extra dress,” when Mackay explained the great event of the day. He regards
Mtesa as most intelligent, and quite inclined to listen to the word of God. Gratifying
instances are mentioned of the influence already exerted upon him. Some
Arab traders arrived to buy slaves, offering cloth in exchange, and saying they had
come from the Sultan of Zanzibar. Mackay vigorously opposed them, informed
the king of the Sultan’s decrees against the slave traffic, and of the cruelties perpetrated
upon its victims. Then he gave a lecture on physiology, and asked why
such an organism as a human body, which no man could make, should be sold for
a rag of cloth which any man could make in a day. The result was not only the
rejection of the Arabs’ demand, but a decree forbidding any person in Uganda to
sell a slave on pain of death! By another decree Mtesa has forbidden all Sunday
labor, and the question of the evils of polygamy has been seriously discussed by
him and the chiefs. He was on capital terms with the chiefs, and was teaching
numbers of people to read, having made large alphabet sheets for the purpose.
He describes the Arab traders as most bitter against the Mission. They are distilling
ardent spirits from the plantain, and drunkenness is spreading in consequence.

THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,
FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

PART OF A TOUR THROUGH THE CAROLINAS.

A new administration was to be inaugurated
in the Avery Institute. The
way was found open, and the new Principal,
Rev. S. D. Gaylord, one of the
foremost educational managers of the
interior, was greeted on the first day, the
29th of September, with an attendance
of 258, which was an advance of 40 or
50 upon former opening days. The
prospect was for a continued accession
through the month. The News and
Courier gave a handsome notice. I found
that the Avery was an occasion of city
pride, not only on the part of colored
but of white citizens. The authorities
of Claflin University, at Orangeburg,
S. C., have visited and complimented
the institute, seeking to pattern after
some of the methods. Prof. A. W.
Farnham, who has been at the head of
the Avery for four years, bringing it up
to its high standard, will do a like work
on a more general scale in the Normal
department of Atlanta University. The
Plymouth church, during the Summer,
under the care of the pastor’s assistant,
Rev. Mr. Birney, a former fellow-servant
with the members, had been prospering.
Under the lead of Rev. Temple Cutler,
the church will enter upon a career of
enlargement. The new principal and
the Field Superintendent preached in the
Centennial M. E. and the Zion Southern
Presbyterian churches, the largest for
the colored people of the city, as well as
in the Plymouth. These three churches
form the bulk of the constituency of the
Avery.

At Orangeburg a repeated visit and a
preaching service prepared the way for
the coming of the new pastor, Rev. T.
T. Benson, a graduate of the Talladega
theological department. A pleasant
church and a rallying people were
ready to greet him.

On the way I stopped off at Chester,
S. C., to visit my seminary classmate,
Rev. Samuel Loomis, who, in ten and a
half years, has gotten under way his
“Brainerd Institute,” and has helped
to plant nine Presbyterian churches
within that county. Blessed is the man
who is permitted to lay foundations in
that way. At Charlotte, N. C., I ran
out to visit the Biddle University, which
is the principal collegiate and theological
institution of our Northern Presbyterian
brethren in the South. Rev. D.
S. Mattoon, the president, is supported
by Rev. Messrs. R. M. Hall and S. J.
Beatty. Rev. Thomas Lawrence, of
Penn., is to take the place of Rev. Dr.
John H. Shedd, who has returned to
his mission work among the Nestorians.
The current catalogue shows eight students
in theology, twenty-one in the
college classes, and a total of 155. This
institution is for males alone. Its mate,
for females, is Scotia Seminary, at Concord.
The glory of the Biddle is, that
in these ten years it has planted a whole
Presbytery of thirty churches in the
region round about, besides raising up
teachers and preachers for the regions
beyond.

In the back country of Randolph
County, N. C., twenty-five miles away
from the railroad, I looked up Rev.
Islay Walden, a former slave in that
region, a recent graduate of New Brunswick
Seminary, N. J., who had been
ordained by the classis of New Brunswick.
The A. M. A. had sent him down
to make a field in his native State. The
Field Superintendent assisted him in
organizing a Congregational Church of[Pg 335]
thirty members. The ordinances of
baptism and the Lord’s Supper were administered.
This is in the neighborhood
of one of the churches of our antebellum
missionary, Rev. Daniel Worth,
whom all our colored friends and some
of the whites remembered affectionately.
His church, a former Wesleyan,
has been taken up by the M. E. Church,
so that they are well cared for.

We were waited upon by two committees,
one from Hill Town, seven miles
away, and one from Troy, the county
seat of Montgomery, thirty miles off.
The former had one man to offer three
acres of land and timber in the tree for
all the lumber needed for a church
school-house, and that man was an ex-slave.
The latter committee consisted
of three men, who were the trustees of
the “Peabody Academy,” whose erection
they had secured at Troy. They
wanted a teacher and a preacher. Living
twelve or eighteen miles away from
Troy, they intended to send in their
children and have them cared for in a
boarding club by an “Aunty.” In token
of their good faith, all of them interesting
men, they united with our new
church, intending to transfer their membership
to their own localities when we
get ready to organize there. Who could
forbid that their requests should be
granted? So we organized a circuit for
Brother Walden, one Sabbath at Troy,
and the other at Salem Church and Hill
Town, with one sermon at each place.
The Quakers promise a school at Salem.
A public school will serve Hill Town
for the present, and a competent teacher
must be secured for the Academy. It
was a delight to witness the pride of the
people in their educated fellow-servant.
Even the old master gloated over the
diploma of his “boy.”

Running into McLeansville early this
Monday morning, thinking to make it a
minister’s rest-day, with only this article
and other letters and a sermon for the
night on hand, I found the church at the
opening of a protracted meeting with the
visiting preacher announced for forenoon,
afternoon and evening; house
crowded all day, with two hundred people
in it by count; all remaining with
lunch in hand, between the first and second
services, and many holding over between
the second and third. And this is
the habit of the people at such a time.
All unnecessary work is put aside and the
entire time given up to religious service.
This habit they take from that of the
white churches, with the exception that
the colored people have added the third
service. Pastor Connet had held a similar
meeting in another part of his field
this fall, and yesterday, as a result of it,
twelve members were added to this
church. One of those converts, an old
man, testified, bearing himself with the
air of a conqueror: “I have fought
the devil, and I’ve got the victory.
Jesus helped me. I have fought the
devil, and I’ve got the victory.” The
meetings are orderly and solemn—congregational,
only warmed up by the
African glow. The membership now
numbers one hundred and fifty-six. Pastor
Connet is also superintendent of the
school, which is doing a good work in
raising up teachers.

CONTRASTS.

The Past and the Present.

L. A. P.

“Reminiscences” in the October Missionary
have recalled a host of buried
memories concerning the days of pioneer
work, with its swiftly-changing experiences
of humor and pathos.

I might draw a picture of the good
man who often asked the Lord to “bless
these teachers that have left their homes
in foreign lands and come a far distance
to destruct us;” of the old aunties who
came to inquire about friends and old
masters in Virginia and the Carolinas,
thinking we must know the history of
each family, because “didn’t you come
right by there on your way down from[Pg 336]
the North?” of the romances and tragedies
connected with the hundreds
of letters we wrote inquiring for lost
friends, sold away in the days of slavery;
but one picture is more vivid than others,
and as the days of quaint prayers are
rapidly passing, I am tempted to commit
it to print.

Almost a dozen years ago, I found
myself one of two teachers in a night
school varying from forty to sixty pupils.
The roughly-ceiled room was long, low
and dimly lighted. The scholars were
hard-working men and women who
walked one, two, three or four miles,
after the day’s labor, for the sake of acquiring
a bit of book learning. At ten
o’clock lessons closed with a Bible reading,
singing and prayer.

One evening, after books and slates
had been laid aside, my attention was
attracted by a voice, liquid and rollicking,
as it carolled a popular “spiritual.”
In the gray room—for the light wood
fire was nearly out, and the two lamps
in the rear gave little brightness—it was
some time before I distinguished the
singer.

He was a jaunty little man, very black,
very lithe and very much dressed up.
A blue round-a-bout coat was trimmed
with two rows of yellow braid; a crimson
dress braid made his neck-tie, the
long ends of which floated over the
shoulders. His hands were folded over
a stout walking-stick; his head nodding
and feet patting time to the music.

My thoughts instantly went back to
childish days, to a certain tree where a
golden oriole’s nest used to swing, to a
field of red-winged, chattering bobolinks,
not one of which ever seemed so
deliciously happy in his song as my
dusky scholar. I liked to look at him.
It put me into communion with friends
and influences hundreds of miles beyond
the piny woods.

He often spoke and prayed in the regular
prayer-meetings. We soon learned
the words of his petition, for it was
always in the same form, reverently intoned
with an indescribable, inimitable
cadence:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed
be thy name; thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as is in
heaven. Father, Father—this evening—of
all grace, look down upon us and hear
us and bless us. O Saviour, come riding
around this evening upon the milk-white
horse and wake up sinners. Touch
and tender about every heart. Teach
’em that they have a soul to be saved or
to be lost to all eternity. Bless my old
mother. Teach her that she has a soul
to be saved or one to be lost to all eternity.
Strike her with the hammer of
conviction. Shoot her with the arrow
of love. Bless families and families’
connections. Give us more grace, more
faith, more love. Make us humble.
Teach us to pray, and teach us to love
it, too. Be our guide and leader and
protector. Bless the sinners who are
standing with one foot upon the grave
and one upon the land of the living.

“Father! Father! when Gabriel shall
stand with one foot in the sea and one
upon the land to blow his horn, and he
shall say, ‘How loud must I sound?’
and Thou say, ‘Sound calm and easy so
as not to disturb My children,’ then shall
we link and lock our eagle wings to
march upward to the golden gate.

“And when You see us fail below,
help us to say, ‘Here, Lord, I give myself
away, ’tis all that I can do. Welcome
dis solisted band and bear my soul
away.’ And when You have done suiting
and serving Thyself of us here, hand
us to our graves in peace, where we
shall praise the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit in a world that never ends, is my
prayer for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

At that time this man was one of the
more intelligent of his people.

In contrast, let me introduce a younger
man of the same size and color, also endowed
with unusual gift of song.
Neatly dressed, quietly mannered, he[Pg 337]
seems no kin to the earlier types of his
race.

From under the very shadow of Yazoo
he writes these lines: “I have subscribed
for the New York Tribune. My
school numbers 112 pupils, with a daily
attendance of 85 or 90. I have Cutter’s
Physiology, from which I give oral
lessons daily. I will state the studies
of my most advanced pupils: Robinson’s
Practical Arithmetic, Harvey’s
Grammar, Swinton’s Geography and
Educational Readers. School closes
next Friday with a concert. I do wish
you could be with us Thursday and
Friday to attend the examinations.”

Lest any one may infer from the above
that “the schoolmaster is abroad” in
the land, let me quote one sentence of
a prayer uttered a few months ago by
the pastor of a large church in a leading
Southern city: “O Lord, bless us individually
and respectfully.”

GEORGIA.

An Economical Industrial Department.

MRS. T. N. CHASE, ATLANTA, GA.

The demand for industrial departments
connected with our schools of
learning has developed so rapidly of late,
that it appears like one of the fever
heats of our American civilization that
may soon subside.

Friends of the A. M. A. institutions
have been specially anxious that their students
should learn trades and home industries
while at school, fearing that
they would have little opportunity to
learn them except from their Northern
instructors, and thinking that they could
be acquired from them outside of school
hours without much thought, time or
trouble.

On the other hand, some have felt
that our immediate, pressing need was
young colored men and women with
minds developed by long and thorough
training in the text-books used in our
schools and colleges. They are not
ignorant of the students’ deficiencies in
practical knowledge, but feel that close
and continued application of the mind
to books is the best and surest way to
acquire all knowledge. They believe
that if the brain power of a child is
developed, the hoe, the cook-stove and
the sewing-machine will be well managed
when occasion requires.

Again, these students are to be the
teachers of their race in the South.
These friends believe that nothing will
so quickly convince the intelligent men
of the South that the negro has power
which they are bound to respect, as to
see him well versed, not only in the
sciences he teaches, but his mind broadened
by a familiarity with subjects beyond.
To secure this training, through
an ordinary course suitable for an average
teacher even in Northern schools,
with supposed superior material, has
generally been found to require all the
time and strength of pupils under 18
years of age. Principals of the different
schools, however, differ much both
in theory and practice, in regard to
combining manual with literary work.

In Atlanta much has been done during
the past ten years in a quiet way, by the
business manager, matrons and preceptress,
toward giving practical instruction
in a variety of home industries, making
specially prominent the importance of
good work. Every student, during the
entire course, works an hour a day, generally
with careful supervision. While
visiting the Massachusetts Agricultural
College at Amherst, recently, I learned
that less time for manual labor was required
of its students.

During the past year, however, at Atlanta,
it was thought best to give more
time and thought especially to sewing,
cooking and care of the sick. How to
secure a practical knowledge of these
without much expense of material or
instruction, and without taking much of
the student’s time from literary pursuits,
was the problem. The sewing was arranged
in this way: Sometime before[Pg 338]
graduation the girls are required to make,
under the eye of the preceptress, a small
garment of calico or other inexpensive
material. This garment is to contain all
the varieties of plain sewing, machine-stitching,
hand-hemming, ruffling, etc.
More than this, it must have the bugbears
of all beginners in sewing—a buttonhole,
a patch and a darn. Each girl
writes her name in indelible ink on the
garment, and it is kept in the institution
as a record of her standing in sewing.

In a catalogue I received lately from
the hands of the matron of the Mt. Holyoke
Seminary are these words: “It is
not part of the design of this seminary to
teach young ladies domestic work. This
branch of education is exceedingly important,
but a literary institution is not
the place to gain it. Home is the proper
place for the daughters of our country to
be taught on this subject, and the mother
the appropriate teacher.” I think I remember
reading the same words from
a catalogue twenty years ago, and presume
they were first penned by the
immortal Mary Lyon. So we hoped
the emulation created by the prospect
of leaving a beautiful specimen of
needle-work upon graduation would inspire
our girls to faithful painstaking in
sewing at their homes even before entering
school. The matron has the graduating
class spend their required hour
of work in learning to make good bread
and to do other plain cooking. When
any student is ill, opportunity is given
for practical instruction from the preceptress
in nursing the sick. In addition
to this, the time of one recitation
was taken during a part of the year for
giving instruction in household science.
A teacher prepared talks upon
general rules for good housekeeping,
general principles of good cooking, care
of the sick, care of children, economy,
etc. The class took notes, and
were examined from their notes before
the visiting board at the close of the
school. We hoped thus to convince
them that we were not educating our
girls above the homeliest duties of the
household, as some of them had accused
us of doing.

I have given these details to show how
much may be done in this direction
without any additional expense.

Revival—Work and Results.

S. B. MORSE, SAVANNAH

The Congregational church of this
city has been blessed with a visible outpouring
of God’s Spirit. Many of our
old members have been quickened in
their religious feelings and have reconsecrated
themselves to their Lord and
Saviour. Many who have been lingering
and shivering on the brink of doubt,
and many, too, who were waiting a
plainer manifestation of their acceptance
with God by “dreams and travels,”
suddenly, as the truth struck them,
yielded their ways to His ways, and are
now, we trust, walking in accordance
not with their own, but with God’s
plans.

We had an extra series of meetings
for over two weeks, which were well attended
by Christians of all denominations.
These meetings closed last week.
On Sunday morning, September 7th, one
was baptized by immersion, and at
night five others were by sprinkling.
Still another was received who was a
fallen member of some other church.
Five children were at the same time
baptized, after which all those who loved
the Lord Jesus, and who wished, met
around His sacramental board and feasted
with Him. The church was so
crowded that many were compelled to
stand outside. It was a high day in
Israel. Many hearts were gladdened.

Most of those we received were young
people. Some of them teachers of our
Sabbath-school, and nearly all of them
at some time had been under the influence
of some good Northern lady
teacher. Perhaps those teachers were
disheartened and feared that their good[Pg 339]
seed had fallen upon stony ground, but
in this they were deceived. We are too
anxious often to see results. God’s logic
extends through years, but His conclusions
are nevertheless sure and true.

Rev. Floyd Snelson officiated at the
sacraments of baptism and the eucharist.
Bro. Clarke was directly instrumental
in bringing about this revival.

ALABAMA.

Our New Church Building.

REV. WM. H. ASH, FLORENCE

Our new church is getting on nicely.
The outside is nearly finished, with the
exception of the belfry, which I hope
will be done this week. The work has
been carried on strictly with reference
to economy as well as to the finish, and
yet it is so well done that it is simply
beautiful. Almost everybody has
something to say about the church.
One says, “You are going to have a nice
church, and your church will be well
attended when it is done.” Another
says, “This is the greatest thing the
colored people ever accomplished in
Florence.” I am constantly greeted by
my white fellow-citizens with, “You
are going to have the only modern
church in town;” and they visit the
scene of the building to watch the progress
of the work and speak friendly
of it. A gentleman who lives in Fryar’s
Point, Miss., and belongs to one of
the first families here, has just asked me
to let him look at the plan. He said,
“This is going to be a credit to the
town.” I have put on a large portion of
the first coat of paint myself.

The people have made great sacrifices
to build their house of worship. I don’t
believe that the same number of members
in any church North could have
done better with all the discouraging
circumstances. They have struggled
hard to help themselves, giving when
really they needed it at home.

We shall need a bell and pews, also a
communion service, and money to buy
paint for the finishing of the inside and
out. Who wants to help those who help
themselves?

Letter from a Student—Vacation Supply
at Mobile.

J. W. ROBERTS, TALLADEGA.

Our protracted meetings lasted during
three weeks. The Holy Ghost has given
us five souls for our hire; besides He
has warmed up our hearts with His
sacred love as a church. I am thankful
to Him that my health is kept all right.

Since and during our revival our audiences
have been steadily increasing both
at afternoon and evening services. There
is also an unusual interest in our Thursday
praise meetings. In short, the
“fold” is in a good condition if the
shepherd will come soon.

AFRICA.

THE MENDI MISSION.

Annual Meeting of the Missionaries—The
Board of Counsel and Advice.

The annual meeting of the Board of
Counsel and Advice of the Mendi Mission
was held in the Good Hope Chapel,
at Sherbro Island, July 14, 1879. Rev.
A. P. Miller presided, and Dr. Benjamin
James was elected Secretary.

The Moderator made the following
introductory remarks:

Before we proceed to our business,
you will please indulge me with a few
preliminary remarks, inasmuch as we
are about to enter upon that part of our
missionary work which will tell most
plainly to the civilized world as to the
wisdom and good judgment of colored
missionaries in devising plans for the
furtherance of a work of so great importance,
sacredly intrusted to our care.

In the performance of our several[Pg 340]
duties in the second annual meeting of
our Board, let us not forget that body
of devoted men of the A. M. A., by
whose unwearied zeal and toil means
are procured for the furtherance and extension
of this well-begun work.

Let us not forget the thousands of
Christian men and women who give of
their means for the support of Missions,
especially in Africa.

Let us not forget the five millions of
our own race in the South, from whom
the shackles of slavery have been torn
asunder, to whom Africa is now looking
for the light of the Gospel and a Christian
civilization, of whom we are the
advance guards.

Let us not forget that the problem of
Africa’s future is now under solution
and that we are the solvers. Our failure
to arrive at a conclusion in her favor, as
Freedmen, would bring everlasting disgrace
upon us as a race, while on the
other hand we should most shamefully
wrong unenlightened manhood, whose
blood would be required at our hands.

As a slave, the negro served well his
oppressors. As a soldier, he served well
the cause of freedom and his country.
The tyrant’s chain of oppression, which
held five millions in bondage, has been
broken, and to-day the grand duty as
well as privilege of carrying light and
life to his benighted brethren in his
fatherland lies before him and calls
him onward. It remains yet for him to
prove himself a man in this important
relation that he holds to his fellow-countrymen
and to the world.

In view of these great responsibilities
incumbent upon us in this Council assembled,
in the discussion and decision
of matters of importance, may God, in
mercy, so guide each one that he shall
be unprejudiced and deeply sincere, as
well as conscientious, throughout all
these deliberations, with due regard to
their bearing upon the interest of the
benighted whom we come to serve and
enlighten. In view of all these things,
may each one give the weight of his influence
to the furtherance of our work,
exercising patience and charity one
toward the other.

Committees were appointed on the
various interests of the Mission, while
the subject of the extension of the
work was referred to a committee of the
whole.

The Committee on Church Work reported
forty-four members in the church
at Good Hope Station, one having died
during the year; seven infants baptized;
attendance on services good, and showing
earnest desire to hear the Word;
advance in the Christian life of converts;
prayer-meetings valuable. Some persons,
under watch and care, will be received
to membership as soon as legally
united in matrimony.

At Avery there are forty-one members;
under watch and care, three adults;
eleven children baptized. Increasing
willingness on the part of the people to
attend church, and growing interest in
the cause of Christ give encouragement.

At Debia, Mr. Goodman conducts religious
services on the Lord’s day. A
chapel is hoped for here, books at Good
Hope, and repairs of building at Avery.

Our Sunday-school is in a flourishing
condition, being well attended,
most of the scholars attending church
services. Bradford friends in England
sent our Sunday-school a nice present in
the shape of copies of the Gospels, pamphlets,
papers, etc., which we used as
prizes for good attendance, to encourage
the little ones. We need singing books
for this work.

The Committee on School Work reported
that at Good Hope the school has made
rapid progress. During the year 245
children have been enrolled. These are
both from the Sierra Leone and from the
native element. They learn English
rapidly. “We have teachers,” says the
report, “who are quite awake to their
duty. Children are accessible in Sherbro,
and are brought into day and Sunday[Pg 341]
schools in large numbers. Through
the kindness of friends of the poor little
Africans, shirts have been put on their
backs and books into their hands, for
which they seem to be grateful. Of
course these wear out, and others must
be procured in some way or other in
their stead, or these little ones in many
cases will leave off attending school.
They must be constantly looked after.
We hope to see not far in the future a
first-class school at this place. We have
material in abundance upon which to
work. Time, patience and labor will
bring success.”

The school at Avery has not made such
progress as was hoped for during the
year. On the first of January its numbers
were decreased by the taking away
of most of the larger boys to cut the
crops for their parents. The irregularity
of attendance is a great obstacle in
the way of our success. Some attend
for one day, and may not be seen again
for a month. Those who have attended
regularly have made progress. The
prospect for the future is better. There
are some children now in the Mission
whose attendance may be depended on.
Most of the children living in the village
around the Mission have been taken to
the farms to drive birds, so that the
number on the roll at present is only
twenty, ten of whom come from the
Mission house. There have been 56 on
the roll during the year.

The school work at Debia is encouraging,
Mr. Goodman and family being
settled there. We base our hopes largely
on the little ones who are being trained
in our Mission schools.

The Committee on Agriculture reported
that the cassida planted at Good Hope
does not thrive, owing to the impoverished
condition of the soil. At Avery
the coffee plantation is in a comparatively
thriving condition, and some of
the trees bearing well. The need of
more laborers and implements is urged,
and it is recommended “that more of
the ground be put under cultivation as
a measure tending to supply the wants
of the growing Mission, and that the
children of the Mission be employed
two hours each day upon the farms, under
the supervision of a competent and
skillful person.” It is further recommended
“that the science of horticulture
be introduced at each station, and
that the choicest flora of native and
foreign production capable of being
grown on the premises be obtained,
so far as practicable, for this purpose.”

The Committee on Industrial Work reported
that the saw mill needs repairs
of floor and roof, that one saw is in good
running order. There are sixteen hands
employed at the mill, and two more
are needed. It is deemed desirable that
some of the Mission children should be
“instructed into the workings of mechanics
so far as we have the means for
instruction.”

Committees on Repairs and Sanitary
Condition of the Mission, made careful
examination, and reported their advice
in these regards.

DISTRIBUTION OF MISSIONARIES.

Some changes were made in the location
of the members of the Mission.
The force is now divided as follows: At
Good Hope: Rev. A. P. Miller and wife,
Pastor and Superintendent of the Mission;
Dr. Benjamin James, Physician and
Teacher; and Mr. A. E. White, Principal
of School. At Avery: Rev. A. E.
Jackson, Pastor; Mr. E. L. Anthony,
Industrial Department, and Mr. George
N. Jewett, Teacher.

THE INDIANS.

A TOUR AMONG THE CLALLAM INDIANS.

REV. MYRON EELLS, S’KOKOMISH, W. T.

The last month has been spent in a
tour among the Clallam Indians. Wishing
to go further, and be absent from
home longer than has been usual on
such trips, my family, who had not
been six miles away from home for more
than two years, concluded to accompany
me. Although steamers run the whole
route of our travel, yet as they stop at
but few of the places where the Indians
live, and on the main part of the route
go only once a week, it was impracticable
for us to travel in that way, so
we took a canoe from the Reservation
with an Indian man and his wife, looked
out for our own food, carried house and
bed, stowed in the three babies, and
away we went.

Our first call on Indians was at Port
Gamble, fifty miles from home. Here
are about one hundred, and they asked
me to talk on temperance. During the
last year and a half they have reformed
in this respect. After pointing them to
Christ as the source of their help, they
had their talk. They said that one
thing now troubles them. They live
across Port Gamble Bay, an eighth of a
mile from the saw-mill and town, in a
village by themselves, on land owned by
the mill company. They can manage
the Indians as well as could be expected,
but there is near them a white man with
a black heart, who with his Indian
wife often gets drunk, sometimes remaining
so for a week at a time. They
also tempt the weaker Indians; and
now how to get rid of him is the
question. As both he and they live
on land belonging to the company,
the only way I saw was for them to petition
the superintendent to remove him. So
after nine o’clock at night I wrote out a
petition, which the chiefs and policemen
and others signed, stating all the facts,
and asking for this man’s removal. I
was obliged to leave early the next
morning, and so left them to present it.
I have known of whites petitioning to
have worthless Indians removed, but
have never before known Indians to
petition to have a white man removed
because he was so low that they did not
wish to have him near them. Two
years ago they would not have done
this, as many of them were glad to have
an opportunity so convenient where they
could obtain the liquid poison.

My next congregation was at Port
Discovery, thirty-five miles farther on,
and very much the same routine was
observed at a number of places. My
business with them was to preach; theirs
with me was to talk about how and
where to procure land in the best way.
This was true at Port Angelos, Elkwa,
and two settlements at Clallam Bay.
For several years they have been urged
to procure land so that they could feel
warranted in erecting good houses, and
thus leave the old ones, full of grease,
dirt and smoke; but with the exception
of those at Dunginess, very few have
done so; now they begin to realize the
benefits of it and have “land on the
brain.” But they move cautiously, for
it is easy for them to be deceived, and
it is talk, talk, talk as to what is best.
Two parties traveled to the Reservation
about the time I was beginning my
journey—a trip of two or three hundred
miles—to consult about land.

At Dunginess a troublesome case begins.
Four Indians, living fifty miles
farther on, had been here three or four
weeks previously, anxious to obtain the
land on which their houses stood. They
had been sent to the clerk of the Probate[Pg 343]
Court, who knew nothing about it,
but told them it was Government land,
and offered to get it for them for the
usual fees, nineteen dollars each. They
paid him the seventy-six dollars, and
he promised to send it to the land office
at Olympia, and have their papers for
them in two weeks. They waited the
two weeks, but received no returns. In
the meantime others told them that the
man could lawfully do the business, but
he was not to be trusted, for the land
had been owned by private individuals
for fifteen years. He, too, by the time
I met him, had written to the land
office and found the same to be true.
My business is, if possible, to get the
money back. It is useless to sue him,
as he has no property which the law
can touch. One of the four Indians returned
with me to get his money, but
was satisfied that it was useless for him
to go farther, so he went home. He had
already spent three weeks, and the three
others two weeks each in trying to recover
it. Yet this same man is Postmaster,
Clerk of the Probate Court, U. S. Commissioner,
Deputy Sheriff, and lately
offered fifty dollars to the County Treasurer
to be appointed his deputy. I was
not disappointed at the result, but handed
the business over to the agent to settle
in Court.

Let us contrast the action of the
Indians with this. I felt very sorry for
them. For four years we have been advising
them to obtain land, and now they
were swindled in their first attempt.
Fearful lest they should become discouraged,
I offered them ten dollars to divide
amongst them, saying, “If you
never get your money I will lose this
with you, but if you do you can then
repay it.” One-tenth of my income has
long been given to the Lord, and I felt
that it would do as much good there as
anywhere. When I first mentioned this
they refused, saying that they did not
wish me to lose my money, if they did
theirs, but two weeks afterwards, when
I left the last one he took it; yet shortly
afterwards I found that he would not
spend any of it, although he wanted
some articles very much, saying that it
was not their money after all.

This lower part of the Sound is very
like the ocean, with nothing to break
the winds, so I procured for that part
of the journey a very large canoe,
thirty-six feet long, two and a half
deep and six wide. The children can
play in it, and at night we anchored
it out in some good harbor like a small
schooner.

Hospitality was very generous. I
thought that there were too many of
us to go into anybody’s house; but at
Dunginess, where we remained two or
three days in connection with each of
two Sabbaths, a woman said, in the absence
of her husband, “You must all
come in. If you pitch your tent I will
set fire to it and burn it down.” We
submitted. The agent at Neah Bay
was just as hospitable, notwithstanding
that his house already seemed to be full,
and also the superintendent of the mill
at Seabeck.

The weather was generally pleasant,
but sometimes it rained hard. No one
caught cold, however, on account of it.
Camping on the sand is not so pleasant.
Fresh water is so scarce as only to be
used for drinking. We boil our potatoes
in salt water, but get it near shore, and
forget to let it settle. The potatoes
crack, and the sand is all through them.
Then baby crawls along and tips the rice
over into the sand, and we all tramp the
sand on to the beds, and into them,
until our better half wishes herself at
home, as it blows into the food-box and
clothes-boxes and everywhere.

A WEDDING.

An Indian, who had been married
Indian fashion for several years, but who
had homesteaded a farm, thought it best
to be married in a civilized way. He
had never seen such a performance, so I
explained all to him beforehand. But[Pg 344]
when I was going through the ceremony
and had just said, “You promise to
take this woman to be your wife,” he
interrupted me, saying, “Yes, of course
I do. You do not suppose I am going
to put away my wife now, after I have
lived with her so long? See, here are
my children, the oldest fifteen years old.
It would be foolish for us now to separate.”
I told him, “All right,” kept very
sober, laughed in my sleeve, made a
note of it, and proceeded to say, “You
promise to love and honor her,” etc.

Twenty religious services were held
during the journey, including one communion
service, and one very pleasant
prayer-meeting preparatory to it. Thus
we spent the month of August, enjoyed
it, and have enjoyed home all the more
since reaching it.

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

CABIN PRAYER-MEETINGS—WHICH WAS THE HERO?

LILLIE E. BARR, ATLANTA, GA.

Dear Teachers and Children:

I wish I had space, so I could tell you
all of the beautiful, interesting and
helpful things that happen day by day
in my work; but as I have not, I must
content myself with giving you one or
two incidents. First, let me tell you
about an impromptu prayer-meeting
held in one of the many cabins which
dot the hills all over. A few nights
ago I went to see a sweet old Christian,
who for three years has not known an
hour’s rest from pain, and yet is as
merry as a cricket, receiving the little
offerings of food and shelter which her
poor neighbors bring her with cheerful
gratitude as from her God. One day I
asked her how she could be so patient
and so gay. “Why, chile, it’s all on de
journey, an’ I don’t know no reason why
the way should be made easier fur me
than it was fur the Master,” she answered.
While I was trying to make
her more comfortable, several women
came in, none of whom could read, and
after we had talked a little while about
our sweet Lord Jesus, one said: “Please
read the chapter where Jesus says:
‘I pray not for these alone, but for all of
them who shall believe on me through
their word.’” A little tin lamp was
brought, and as I opened my Bible I
glanced at the living picture before me.
The lamp threw its feeble light over the
patient sufferer, and lit up the dusky faces
of the women bending eagerly forward
as I read those blessed words. No sooner
had I finished the chapter than one
began that beautiful slave song, “Steal
away, steal away, steal away to Jesus.”
Instantly it was caught up. Our hearts
had touched the heart of Christ in this
grand prayer chapter. As soon as it
was ended, another chapter was asked
for, and then another, and another,
intermingled with prayer and song. It
was just such a prayer-meeting, I imagine,
as the one held by the disciples
when, being gathered together, Jesus
stood in their midst and said, “Peace
be with you.” I knew, I felt that I had
been with Jesus.

With the light and grace of this prayer-meeting
still about us, we came down an
alley and into a court known as Campbell’s
Block. It is a square, built round
with cabins of one or two rooms without
windows. A large wash-shed and well occupy
the centre of the court. Look now
into the rooms; everywhere dirt and
filth, crying children, quarreling children,
women smoking, women dipping
snuff, women idling, women washing,
women fretted with care until they are[Pg 345]
prematurely old, and not one woman in
the block able to read, and so gain
strength from the blessed word of God.
And this block is one out of four in our
field. One house only shows any sign
that for the poor there is anything
beautiful; but that, like a grand sermon,
stands amid this misery and sin, from
ground to roof a mass of flowers. I
could not help thinking what a joy they
must be to the ministering angels, as
they pass through this place of suffering
and sin. To me they were the promise
of redemption for the block. Like a
pure thought in a sinful heart we found
old Mr. and Mrs. Pleasant in one of the
rooms. He is blind and helpless with
paralysis, consequently the providing of
rent, food and clothes devolves upon
his aged wife. After reading them the
two last chapters in Revelation, the old
man cried out: “It’s worth while being
blind to know the first thing I shall see
will be the New Jerusalem.” “Yes
indeed, George, now we must work
harder than ever to win home,” answered
his wife, as she brushed the tears away.
We have begun a prayer-meeting in this
block, and I ask your prayers for its
success. To these cases I might add
ever so many more; but if I give you big
folks any more room, I shall crowd my
story to the children out, and that
wouldn’t be one bit fair—would it, little
ones?

I shall introduce my story by asking
the boys to pay particular attention, as
I want them to decide whether Jesse
Dobbs or Jim Prescott—the two boys
whom this story is about—is the true
hero.

“Who minds de cold? Come on,
Jesse; de boys is going to make up a
company and have heaps of fun down
by Big Bethel.” I must explain that
Big Bethel is the name of a church.

Jesse glanced out at the sunshine and
called, “Mammie, mayent I go with Jo
down to Big Bethel?”

As the answer was yes, the two bounded
away and soon joined several boys,
the leader of whom, from his coarse,
bloated face to his heavily booted feet,
was the very picture of a young ruffian.
As Jesse and Jo came up he was saying,
“Dare aint a fatter roost to pick den
old Judge Gibbs’ in de world; ’sides
dat, you ken git 15 cents a piece fur
every chick’n. Den you brings de money
to me, and I gibs you so much out of it.
’Stand what I say?”

“Yar, yar,” came from the other boys.

“’Sides dat, dares heaps of fun clearing
off a chick’n roost, and I, fur one,
aint feared to go into nobody’s yard.
Now is you gwine to be ready to-night
to follow your captain? I’s your captain.”

“Captain of what?” asked Jesse.

“Captain of the roost-clearing brigade;
dat’s what. Is you going to jine us,
Dobbs? If you aint I’ll most kill you fur
coming here to spy into our plans.”

Jesse paused an instant, then he said,
“No.”

“Why not, I’d jist like fur to know?”
demanded Jim, angrily.

“Because I aint going to jine no
thieving company.”

The words were hardly spoken before
Jim lifted his foot and kicked him in
the side. Kick followed kick in such
rapid succession, that Jesse was almost
senseless before Jim could be pulled off;
and when I formed his acquaintance he
had been in bed nine months, a large
tumor having formed in the side where
he had been kicked. When I asked him
about lying so long in bed, he answered:

“At first the time was awful long, but
by-and-by I began to take notice how
mother worried when I ’plained of de
pain and de tiredness, so I took to trying
not to ’plain fore her, and that kinder
drawed off my ’tention from de pain.”

For nine months he had been trying
to help his mother by being patient.
Three weeks ago he died from the effects
of that cruel kick—died forgiving all
who had injured him, and bearing his[Pg 346]
cross of suffering like a noble little Christian
to the end.

Which was the hero—Jim, who boasted
he wasn’t afraid to steal from any man,
or Jesse, who wasn’t afraid to say no,
although forewarned that he would be
almost killed if he said it?

I say Jesse was.

What do you all say?

From this story I hope you will all try
to be more gentle and loving, for we
never know what months of pain and
suffering, not only to others, but also to
ourselves, one rude action may cause.