THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

PRESIDENT.

Hon. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

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

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the work of Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields to
the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the “American
Missionary,” to Rev. G. D. Pike, D. D., at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New
York, or when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21
Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a
Life Member.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

We call special attention to our appeal for the funds needful for
re-building the dormitory recently destroyed by fire at Tougaloo
University. The demand is immediate and imperative, as will be seen
by the account of the fire given by Mr. Hatch in this number of the
Missionary.

THE CLASS OF ’80, FISK UNIVERSITY.

Ernest H. Anderson has been elected Principal of the State Normal
School for the training of colored teachers, located near Hempstead,
Texas. This is the most important position open to a colored teacher in
the State. It gives a large field of usefulness for which Mr. Anderson
is well qualified. Laurine C. Anderson is in charge of a school in
Chapel Hill, Texas. Joseph Anderson is at the head of a school in
Leesburg, Camp county, Texas. J. J. Durham is studying medicine at the
Meharry Medical College, Nashville. J. E. Porter is teaching in one of
the public schools of Jeffersonville, Ind. R. P. Neal is in charge of
the school at Humboldt, Tenn. Here is a practical answer to the inquiry
that is often raised by our friends, “What do your students do after
graduating from college?”—Fisk Expositor.

THE INAUGURAL AND THE SOUTH.

President Garfield’s inaugural has very properly given special
attention to America’s great problem, the condition of the colored
people in the South. His fitly-chosen words may well be repeated:

“Bad local Government is certainly a great evil which ought to be
prevented; but to violate the freedom and sanctity of the suffrage is
more than an evil—it is a crime which if persisted in will destroy the
Government itself. Suicide is not a remedy.”

As to the remedy, the President says:

“For the North and South alike, there is but one remedy. All the
constitutional powers of the Nation and of the States, and all the
volunteer forces of the people, should be summoned to meet this danger
by the saving influence of universal education.”

[99]

A sounder utterance could not be expressed if the word “education” be
made sufficiently broad. The training of the common school, reaching
only the intellect, is not enough. There must be the awakening of the
conscience and the purification of the heart as well. Character is
the foundation of manhood, and hence of a worthy citizenship.

The A. M. A. has from the first acted on the necessity of this broader
basis, and hence its school and church work have been blended—the
school has been religious and the church intelligent.

The President’s remedy of “universal education” has been criticised as
requiring too long a time. Perhaps somebody can find a legislative or
legal remedy that will work the cure more speedily. The past does not
make us hopeful in this respect, and hence we, as one of the “volunteer
forces,” which the inaugural mentions, will push on as vigorously as
possible. This is the great work of the age for this nation, and we
hope the strong and clear language of President Garfield will give a
new impulse to it.

TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.

The recent burning of the boys’ dormitory at Tougaloo, Miss., compels
us to build anew, and the over-crowding of students compels us to build
larger.

We must rebuild or abandon the school. The latter we dare not do. The
colored population in the State exceeds the white, numbering 652,221,
and has increased over 46 per cent. in the last ten years. Tougaloo
University is seven miles north of Jackson, the capital, and there is
no similar school of higher grade admitting colored students nearer
than about 200 miles south, east, or north, and none much nearer west.
The Institution has 500 acres of land attached to it, giving employment
to the students, and it has the good-will of the State Legislature,
which makes an annual grant to support teachers.

The school at Tougaloo has long been over-crowded. It has comfortable
rooms for 32 young women, but 60 are in attendance, three being put
in the small rooms, and sitting-rooms being converted into sleeping
apartments. One room needed for the accommodation of teachers was
taken and ten young women put into it. Some applications were refused.
There were, before the fire, accommodations for 28 young men, with 50
in attendance, the overflow being crowded into most unsuitable and
inconvenient quarters.

The students, in summer vacations, teach about 4,000 pupils in day
schools and Sunday-schools, and secure from 1,000 to 1,500 names to the
temperance pledge.

The Executive Committee, a few months since, authorized the gradual
enlargement of the girls’ dormitory as funds would permit. For a
new boys’ dormitory it was hoped that $10,000 might be spared from
the generous gift of Mrs. Stone, but the definite pledges to other
institutions and the increased price of labor and materials forbid
it. We had scarcely more than realized this disappointment when the
boys’ dormitory was destroyed by fire. The best temporary arrangements
possible have been made, including the use of the barn, which the boys
have occupied cheerfully, calling it “Ayrshire Hall,” but they have
suffered much from cold in inclement weather.

Fourteen thousand dollars is the lowest sum for which a boys’ dormitory
and chapel can be erected. Three thousand dollars will be required for
the enlargement of the girls’ dormitory. Two thousand dollars will be
necessary for furnishing;[100] making a total of $19,000. Three thousand
dollars, the insurance on the burned building, will reduce the sum
needed to $16,000.

The building and improvements should begin at once, to get them ready
for use in the fall. The Executive Committee, feeling the call to be
imperative, will go forward immediately, relying upon our friends to
furnish the means as a special contribution: for our ordinary income
will be taxed to the utmost to carry on our current work.

We make an earnest appeal to the friends whom we believe to be both
able and willing to aid us effectually and promptly in this pressing
emergency.

Funds may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New
York.

ARTHINGTON MISSION.

Extracts From Recent Correspondence.

We trust it will be of interest to the friends of African Missions to
learn that Mr. Robert Arthington, of Leeds, England, has paid over the
£3,000 pledged by him to this Association, for a new mission on the
Upper Nile.

The following extracts from letters give a comprehensive view of the
present attitude of affairs relating to the mission:

GROWTH OF NEGRO POPULATION IN THE SOUTH.

The negro most perversely and persistently refuses to do what has been
prophesied of him, or to conform to the general rules enumerated as
applicable to him.

The census reports for 1880 reveal the last and most striking phase of
this, perversity, as may be seen in the following table taken from the
New York Herald, comparing the colored population of the old slave
States, except Texas, in 1870, with that of 1880:

The increase in these States during this decade has been more than 33
per cent., and at the same rate will give us at the beginning of the
next century more than ten millions of negroes in these States alone.
During the same time, the per cent. of increase in the white population
has been less than 28 per cent., which will give something over
eighteen millions as their total white population in 1900.

[102]

It is manifest that the negro has come to stay, and must be taken into
our calculations in all estimates for the future of our national life.
He need not fade away before us despite heroic efforts to save him.
He does not perish even under our discouraging frowns. He will not be
suppressed by a somewhat rigorous repressive policy. He has withstood
all this, and flourished under it, as did the Israelites under the
discouragements of Egyptian legislation.

It is not for us humanely to consider, therefore, how we can make
comfortable in their decline the lingering remnants of this perishing
people. The more momentous question is how this vast and rapidly
increasing mass of humanity is best to be fitted for the large part
it is to play in our national life. It is not a question whether we
shall have it with us or not, but whether we shall allow it to remain
a festering, death-exhaling corruption, or whether it can be converted
into a much needed element of strength. It could not be a matter of
indifference to the most despotic government what is the condition of
such a vast body of its citizens. Even when they were slaves, wholly
under control of their masters, with no rights to claim and no duties
to perform, their very presence as an ignorant and licentious mass of
chattles gave great cause for anxiety to the intelligent lover of his
country. But now they are citizens and voters, and whether exercising
their rights as such or deprived of them, are equally, almost, a source
of dangerous power which cannot but fill us with grave apprehensions,
if we but think of it.

The census tables proclaim loudly that death nor destiny will mitigate
this danger; is it not time for a wise statesmanship to undertake
seriously the task of dissipating it by a good and ample system of
education which will qualify the negro for the duties thrust upon him?

THE TONIC SOL-FA SYSTEM OF TEACHING MUSIC.

BY THEODORE F. SEWARD.

That music is one of the special gifts of the colored people has long
been known and recognized. How to develop that gift in the wisest manner
and to the best advantage of the race, is a question which ought to
receive a practical answer, and as speedily as possible. If they are
peculiarly susceptible to the refining and elevating influences of such
an art as music, it is very desirable that these influences be brought
to bear upon them just now, while in the formative stage of their
history.

Fortunately, or as I like better to say, providentially, the way is
now opened for that result. A system has been devised and perfected
in England, and is now beginning to be generally adopted in this
country, which so simplifies the study of music as to bring it within
the comprehension of a little child. That system bears the name which
stands at the head of this article. A technical description of the
system would be out of place here. It is enough to say that the result
is accomplished and the study of music now is made easy and delightful
where it was formerly perplexing and confusing. How much this means
for the colored people, with their musical gifts and inspirations, it
is impossible to imagine. It is not to be supposed that such special
powers were bestowed upon a whole race without some very important and
far-reaching purpose. The unfolding of that purpose was begun in a very
wonderful way by the Jubilee Singers. But their mission was among the
Caucasian races rather than among their own people. The Tonic Sol-fa
system comes to fill a widely different sphere, viz.: to give to the
masses an intelligent possession of the world of music.

[103]

The A. M. A. has done a very wise thing in taking steps to test at once
the value of this system for its constituents. They have commissioned a
teacher to go to the Fisk University and teach it during the remainder
of the school year. The method is so easy and natural that a thorough
knowledge of its fundamental principles can be imparted in that time,
and not only that, but all who learn it can teach it intelligently in
their schools during the coming summer. Its advantages will thus begin
to be felt in remote country districts, and the reform will be carried
on just where such reforms should always begin, among the masses of the
common people.

The teacher who has been appointed to this important post, Mr. J. W.
Adams, is one who is singularly fitted by his history and antecedents
to engage in this special work. Born in England, he was taken by his
parents to the island of St. Helena at the age of three. When nine
years old he accompanied his father, a sea captain, on one of his
voyages. The vessel was wrecked on the coast of South Africa, and the
young lad remained there for eighteen years. He traveled extensively
throughout the country on trading expeditions, and thus became
thoroughly acquainted with the manners and usages of the native tribes
as well as of the British and Dutch settlers. He learned the Tonic
Sol-fa system there and became so interested in it that at length he
resolved to qualify himself as a teacher. It is certainly a singular
and interesting fact, that the person who is first to introduce the
system among the Freedmen of America should have learned it in Africa.

SUCCESS, REAL AND APPARENT.

It is often difficult, not to say impossible, to know just what success
has been achieved by any special missionary effort. After years of
faithful labor the missionary, if challenged to do so, may not be able
to adduce a single satisfactory proof that he has not labored wholly in
vain, so far as the results he has been seeking are concerned.

On the other hand, changes so remarkable, so exactly in the line of
what is sought and hoped for, follow the very first proclamation of the
Gospel, which we gladly attribute to Divine grace; we grow confident
that at last the promise is nearing its fulfilment when “a nation shall
be born in a day.”

Now, it should be understood that we are in danger of mistake as to the
real condition of things in each case; a mistake which breeds despair
where there may be good reason for rejoicing, or excites hopes that are
fatally false on the other hand.

Doubtless many a faithful toiler has spent his whole life in laying
foundations, deep and broad, but out of the sight of ordinary
observers, upon which shall rise, in magnificent proportions, a temple
to our God after he has gone to his reward—to the reward of one who
has been faithful, rather than of one who has been observed. The merest
accident may place another in such relation to this man’s toils that he
shall seem to be the creator of all the results for which he labored,
while he bears no other relation to them than the minnow does to the
swell and roar and irresistible rush of the wave by which it has been
caught and upon which it rides.

Again, men possessed of certain gifts, but devoid of needed restraints
in their use, may arouse the enthusiasm of their fellows, sway their
passions, play upon their imaginations, excite their emotions and
propel them along certain lines of activity until confidence is created
that now, at last, the kingdom is coming with[104] millennial celerity and
power. But a reaction from all this is certain, and the Gospel ship
which just now was riding with grace and beauty upon the crest of
the wave lies half buried in mud and sea-weed to await the rising of
another tide. The whole movement has been that of an anchored boat,
without the possibility of advance, and worse than useless, for in this
case it has been with the waste of spiritual force.

There are two facts which all who are laboring for the coming of the
kingdom of our Lord should regard as fixed, and being fixed some good
degree of fixedness will be secured for their hopes with reference to
its progress. One of these is the amazing ignorance and wickedness of
those over whom this kingdom of light and love is to be established;
and the other is the Divine power of that kingdom and the Divine
purpose to establish it, and hence the certainty of its establishment.

The Gospel will never gain its conquests in such way as to relieve the
Church of the duty and labor and self-denial and discipline of carrying
it and proclaiming it to the heathen, who will find it, as all people
have, opposed to all their habits and pleasures and traditions, and
will, therefore, when they understand it, resist it before accepting
it. The cheering news which so often comes to us from Central Africa
and other lands will doubtless be followed by most discouraging news of
disappointment and seeming disaster.

On the other hand, it must be remembered that in all really substantial
buildings, especially if erected on doubtful ground, a large proportion
of the cost and of the most valuable material, and also of the time,
must be expended out of sight before it becomes a feature of the
landscape.

In all religious movements it is especially true that much of the best
material, and much of the cost, is utterly lost to sight before the
world sees any result. In the South, for the past fifteen years, the
foundations have been laid for a superstructure which is to arise in
grand and glorious proportions, the joy of our land and the praise
of all people. We are just reaching the surface, and others than the
workmen themselves are now able to see that something has been going on
during all these years.

If structures, however beautiful, which have no foundations, must
topple, and we should feel no disappointment when they do, we would yet
understand that much has been done when a foundation broad enough and
strong enough has been laid.

The work will go on now with apparently tenfold rapidity, for, since it
attracts attention it will also attract helpers, and those who doubted
and sneered will co-operate in carrying it forward.

BENEFACTIONS.

It is reported that John I. Blair has recently given $40,000 to
Lafayette College.

Hon. Levi Parsons has given $50,000 to Union College for the benefit of
worthy students.

Mrs. Orra Bolles, of Hartford, Conn., has given $15,000 to different
benevolent enterprises, mostly under the auspices of the Baptist
denomination.

Ex-Secretary Delano has given $10,000 to Kenyon College.

The Botanical Department of the Cornell University has recently
received a donation of $10,000 from the Hon. H. W. Sage, of Ithaca, N.
Y.

[105]

Mr. Spurgeon is reported to have recently received $200,000 for his
Pastors’ College, and $125,000 for his Orphanage.

Mr. Amasa Stone, of Cleveland, Ohio, has offered $500,000 to the
Western Reserve College, conditioned on its removal to Cleveland.

James Mackey, of California, has signified his intention of giving
$50,000 to Bowdoin College. It is said his example is likely to be
followed by a gentleman in Philadelphia.

The will of Mrs. Maggie Embry, of Eleton, Ky., which has been admitted
to probate, gives $200,000 in Louisville and Nashville Railroad Stock
to the Vanderbilt University at Nashville.

Judge Forbes, of Northampton, Mass., has left $300,000 to found a
second free library in that town.

GENERAL NOTES.

Africa.

—King Meneleck, who rules in Southern Abyssinia, has recently
abolished the slave-trade in his dominions.

—Tunis and Algeria are now united by a daily postal service, and
letters are transmitted at a cost of fifteen cents each.

—M. Lombard, corresponding member of the Norman Society of Geography,
has been charged with a scientific mission in Abyssinia. He has arrived
at Massoua.

—The caravan of the missionaries from Algeria, bound for Lake
Tanganyika, has arrived safely at Karéma, near the Lake. Those that
started, however, for the Victoria Nyanza, have been pillaged on the
route.

—The Chamber at Paris has approved the grant made to a company for a
railroad from St. Louis to Dakar and voted a credit of 1,700,000 francs
for laying a cable from Dakar to St. Vincent. This last line will place
Senegal in direct communication with Europe.

—The Church Missionary Society has received an offer from Mr.
Arthington, of Leeds, of $25,000, the income of which they will be at
liberty to use towards maintaining a steamer and staff of agents on the
Upper Binué and Lake Tchad. In returning thanks to Mr. Arthington, the
Society was obliged to inform him that the amount would be insufficient
for the purposes mentioned.

—Mr. J. M. Cnouwer, a Hollander, has undertaken a journey from
Alexandria to the Cape of Good Hope. It is announced that he will
be joined on his way by a Frenchman who has lived a long while
in Abyssinia. He possesses considerable fortune and has had much
experience as a traveler. It is not his purpose to take with him more
than a single servant and a small amount of luggage. If he succeeds in
his endeavors, his name will be placed by the side of the most renowned
African explorers.

—Stanley continues his travels towards the interior without allowing
himself to be stopped by the difficulties of his enterprise. The 7th
of November he was rejoiced to meet H. Savorgnan de Brazza, who, after
ascending two tributaries of the Congo and establishing a station,
traversed the territory of Apfourous and reached by land the shores
of the Congo. Resuming navigation he descended the course of the
river half way to Stanley Pool, where he founded a new station. Then,
continuing to follow it, he rejoined Stanley. It appears that the
journey[106] made by Brazza, which traversed a territory north of the lower
Congo towards the interior of Africa, is a much more practicable route
than the one up the river itself.

—Praggia, who is engaged in exploring the Soudan south of Khartoum,
between the Blue and White Nile, is said to have met a large caravan
with thousands of oxen, cows, goats and sheep. The children held
in their arms the lambs and kids and even the little calves. The
chiefs were mounted upon mules and asses, while their commander,
upon a beautiful dromedary, ran hither and thither and superintended
everything. These troops of quadrupeds were accompanied by bands of
birds, which flew over their backs. Praggia estimated that the caravan
would count 50,000 living beings. He also met other and smaller
caravans of the same character. The object of the emigrants seems to
have been a purpose to escape from the flies and particularly the
tsetse. The region from whence they came lies a little northeast of the
territory where it is proposed to establish the Arthington Mission.

The Indians.

—A small congregation of full-blooded Chickasaw Indians lately gave
$400 for the Foreign Missions of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

—The largest tribe of Indians in the United States is the Sioux, or
as they call themselves, the Dakota. Since the Sioux were first known,
they have occupied a large portion of the center of the American
continent, including the head waters of the Mississippi River.

—In the last Annual Report of the educational work of the Friends
among the Indians, it is stated that at the Osage agency there are
2,745 Indians. Of these, 205, on the average, are in attendance at the
two boarding-schools sustained at that point.

—The American Sunday-school Union has planted 121 Sunday-schools
in the Indian territory. Next year they are to have a Sunday-school
camp-meeting of ten days in August, at Atoka, in the Cherokee Nation,
where a large gathering of full-bloods, who are averse to meeting in
houses and among strangers, is anticipated.

—The laws of the Indian Colony at Metlakahtla, British Columbia, under
the auspices of the English Church Missionary Society, are fifteen in
number, and worthy to be imitated by those laboring for the Indians
everywhere. These have been summarized as follows:—1. To give up their
Indian magic. 2. To cease calling in conjurers when sick. 3. To cease
gambling. 4. To cease squandering their property. 5. To cease painting
their faces. 6. To cease using intoxicating drinks. 7. To rest on
the Sabbath. 8. To attend to religious instruction. 9. To send their
children to school. 10. To be clean. 11. To be industrious. 12. To be
peaceable. 13. To be honest. 14. To build neat houses. 15. To pay their
village tax.

The Chinese.

—In one district in Japan seventy-one Buddhist temples have been
diverted to secular uses since 1873, and over 700 in the whole empire
since 1871.

—Mr. D. Smith, of the Presbyterian church of England mission at
Formosa, has lately been privileged to baptize nine natives, making in
all thirty-two members of the Peh-tsui-Khan Church. There has besides
been a considerable amount[107] of inquiry here, so that the congregation of
hearers has greatly increased. Other places in this island have also
had blessing and additions to the churches.

—Dr. Happer thinks that Prof. S. Wells Williams over-estimates
the population of China at the present time. The loss of life in
recent years, caused by wars and famines, has been considerable, and
the recuperative power of the Chinese people has greatly decreased
on account of the use of opium. Mr. Happer estimates the present
population as 300,000,000.

—The singular idea prevails among some in China that the reason why
Chinese become Christians on reading the Bible is, that they are
stupified by the ink used, in consequence of which they lose their
reason and are thus ready to believe what is false. People are warned,
therefore, against buying or reading foreign books.

—The students sent by the Chinese government for study in this country
live in American families, and visit the headquarters at Hartford at
certain times for inspection, and for drill in their own language.
The number is distributed at present as follows: Boston Institute of
Technology, 8; Troy Polytechnic Institute, 5; Lafayette College, 2;
Lehigh University, 5; Bethlehem, Pa., 2; Institute of Technology,
Hoboken, 2; Yale College, Classical, 9; Scientific, 5; Amherst, 1;
Harvard, 1; Columbia, 1. The greater number are in Hartford and
vicinity.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

Florence, Ala.—Rev. W. H. Ash, with aid from this
Association, is putting up a neat parsonage by the side of the new and
tasteful church-edifice.

Nashville, Tenn.—The new enthusiasm in Fisk, at present,
is over the novel “Tonic-sol-fa system” of vocal music. By means of
this excellent voice culture, Mr. Adams is bringing out the strength
and beauty of voices for which nature has already done so much. The
first interest does not abate, and very perceptible improvement daily
increases.

Livingstone Missionary Hall is now building, and over this is much
rejoicing.

Louisville, Ky.—On the Sabbath, Feb. 20th, Superintendent
Roy preached for the Congregational Methodist Church of this city, as
well as on the two preceding nights. The church, which has 95 members,
a Sunday-school and a class-meeting along with the prayer-meeting, and
which worships in a hall, owning its own organ, voted to unite with the
Kentucky Association, and invited the A. M. A. to furnish them with a
pastor. A similar church at Junction City, Ky., is moving in the same
direction, having its own modest church property.

Little Rock, Ark.—On the 28th of February, after preaching
on the Sabbath previous, in the “Sons of Ham” Hall, the Superintendent
organized the First Congregational Church of that Capital and of the
State, with forty-six members and ten more educated and influential
persons ready to come, and “more to follow.” Rev. B. F. Foster, a
former student of Fisk University and a licentiate of the Central South
Conference, was invited to serve the church for three months. The
people are moving at once to purchase a house of worship. As would be
the right of any Congregational Church, this one incorporated the class
meeting into the constitution found in Roy’s Manual. A Sabbath-school,
thoroughly organized, with one hundred scholars and seventeen officers
and teachers, started off at the first.

[108]

Marion, Ala.—Our large room is filled every Monday afternoon
at the ladies meeting, and all hearts are full; and the dark faces look
beautiful to me, shining through smiles and tears, as we talk of the
dear Saviour. The same room is filled to overflowing with young people
and children Saturday afternoon. The interest has been so evident
that Mr. Curtis has held a few extra meetings. Twelve children have
been forward for prayer, and we believe they have given their hearts
to Jesus. Mr. C. will hold meetings next week also, and we hope for a
great blessing.

THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOS. E. ROY, D.D.,

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

VIRGINIA.

Pastor’s Testimony.

REV. H. B. FRISSELL, HAMPTON.

I have very pleasant meetings with the Indians here. I let them read
the verses from the English Bible and then explain them. When I first
came I used to read myself, but I found that they liked better to take
a part in the services. Then we sing together from Dr. Robinson’s Songs
of the Sanctuary. After that I give the meeting into their hands. They
suggest their favorite hymns and lead in prayer, usually in their own
language. They all seem attentive and devout. It is very pleasant to
see their faces light up as they get some new thought from God’s word.
I have seldom seen men more earnest in the study of the Scriptures.
One of those who united with the church at the last communion has
been confined to the house with sickness. The nurse tells me that he
often sits for two or three hours at a time patiently spelling out the
words of the English Bible, and asking her the meaning of that which
he cannot understand. I am pleased to see that they are interested
to work for one another. I found the other day that one of the older
boys, Jas. Murrie, had been accustomed to get a number of the others
who were not Christians together, and read the Bible and pray with
them. Excellent work, isn’t it, for a young chief who will soon go back
to take charge of his own tribe? They have a meeting of their own on
Wednesday evening, of which they take charge themselves. I could give
you instances of how these Indian boys have resisted temptation in a
way which seems to me really remarkable.

My work among the colored students progresses very pleasantly. It is
hard to get out of their minds wrong conceptions as to what a Christian
life is. They expect to see visions and dream dreams when they enter
upon it, and seem to look upon the entering as the all important part.
They haven’t been used to thinking of the Christian life as a struggle
against sin. It is a real pleasure to preach to them, and they are
earnest to know the truth.

I am trying to make the Christian boys and girls feel their
responsibility more. I am trying to make them work for others. We
have started a Missionary Association for work in the country about.
On Sunday afternoon twenty-five go out into the cottages to read
the Bible and pray with the poor families. Many of them work in the
Sunday-schools in Hampton. One goes out to the poor-house, another
to the prison. They all make the reports of their work to me. We are
talking of starting a Sunday-school in the Butler School House. We
think we could get in many who do not now attend, and it would give
our students a chance for work. I[109] am anxious to make them feel that
they are not merely to be recipients. There is a good interest in our
meetings, and although I don’t feel at all contented with what is being
done, and look for much greater things, yet I am thankful for the
evidences of God’s favor which I see.

GEORGIA.

Revival Interest.

REV. C. W. FRANCIS, ATLANTA.

We have great reason to rejoice in all the good things the Lord has
done for us in this school. Since the day of prayer for Colleges on
the last Thursday of January, we have had a very marked and general
interest in religious things, and we have reason to believe that very
many have become reconciled to God and taken up the service of Christ.
Nearly every one in the family, numbering about two hundred students,
who was not already a follower of Christ, has been affected and
confessed an interest in the subject, and not many have drawn back thus
far. About sixty have attended inquiry meetings, and we hope a large
proportion of them will hold on their way.

There has been a great quickening of those who bore the Christian name,
and many of them have taken up the work as though for the first time.
We have held meetings every night for five weeks, and there has been
the steady presentation of the truth and much personal effort, and so a
great harvest gathered, which fills our hearts with gladness.

Regular school work has not been broken in upon to any great extent
and there has been no tendency toward undue excitement but a deep and
solemn attention to the claims of God has characterized the experience
of most.

We cannot tell how many have become decided Christians, certainly more
than twenty, and perhaps twice that will upon trial be found steadfast.
Some have already gone away to distant places to open schools, and
will, we trust, carry the light with them, and others will go soon. If
they had not been reached just at this time we should probably never
have had opportunity to lead them again. Next month we hope quite a
number will unite with our church, and many more will in due time unite
with other churches. We are aware of the tendency to over-estimate
immediate results and to be mistaken in regard to the permanent effects
of such a work here; but it is the testimony of all that this is the
most thorough and general work for years in this school. It has been
blessed to be here and to have a share in it. “It is the Lord’s doing
and marvelous in our eyes.”

The John the Baptist of the Church—Genius for Piety.

REV. B. D. CONKLING, SAVANNAH.

Having some friends who read the Missionary—when sufficiently
urged to do so by their pastors—I would like a little space to give
them, not some conclusions, perhaps, but some impressions of the A. M.
A. work.

I remember hearing a zealous brother, at the Chicago Annual Meeting,
earnestly urge that the A. M. A. push more vigorously the “Church
work,” that the conversion of the Freedmen was the thing to be aimed at
rather than their education, etc.

A few months of experience impress me with the conviction that the
school is the “John the Baptist” of the church. We cannot do without
each of them. But we are still in the “school” state; and if either is
to suffer, it must be the church work. Each, in fact, bears the same
message to the masses. The church is doubtless to “increase” greatly;
but it will yet be many days (years) before the school will “decrease,”
if we are wise.

It has sometimes been said that the colored people have what has
been[110] called, “a genius for piety.” How much this means can only be
understood by one who has been with them in their religious assemblies
of the better sort. They have a faculty for getting hold of, and being
interested in and by, the things which are most elaborate and profound
and spiritually significant in thought, which continually surprises
one. They know “meat” from “milk,” and are ready every time for the
former. They might not follow one who gave them Rowland Hill’s fine
“river of words, and only a spoonful of thought,” but if any man can
speak thoughts in words which accurately mate each other, I invite
him to my pulpit, assuring him that he will have an attentive and
appreciative hearing such as delights the heart of the messenger who
has something to say. My impression is that the Negro is to have a
decided and beneficent influence upon the Christianity of America, if
not upon that of the whole world:—but in precisely what direction I am
not clear.

I have a truly noble little band of co-pastors in these churches
scattered here-abouts. They do not know what they are doing—nor do any
of us, I think—in planting the seeds of a decorous and an intelligent
church life, and one which insists upon honesty, sobriety, “whatsoever
is of good report,” etc., as fundamental therein, among these people
who are slowly but surely getting into a secure and respectable place
in the body politic.

In view of their position and its opportunities one cannot help
feeling—and no one can feel it as keenly as they themselves do—that
it is a pity that their early advantages had not been greater.
Nevertheless it is my impression that the next fifteen years of A. M.
A. work will be more important, if possible, than the last fifteen
years have been; and this, whether we consider negro or white, State or
Nation, America or Africa.

Conclusion: Prayers and gifts were never more needed, or more likely to
do lasting good than just now.

The Southern Winter of 1880-81.

REV. S. E. LATHROP, MACON.

For this season, at least, the name of “Sunny South” is a misnomer.
Beginning in November last, there have been almost four solid months of
cold, sour, dismal, cloudy, stormy weather.

For ten days the thermometer stood constantly below the freezing point.
One night it touched zero. Everybody kept roaring fires, and cowered
over them in their loosely-built houses. Soon the coal-yards gave out,
and the wood market was empty. The smooth-shod Southern horses could
not climb the icy hills to bring supplies. Fuel became steadily scarcer
and higher—wood going up from four dollars (the usual price) to
fifteen dollars per cord, and very scarce at that.

Rich and poor alike suffered. Many burned the fences, fruit trees and
shade trees. Poor people burned their board partitions, bedsteads,
tables, even chairs and trunks, and some, after all, had to go to bed
as the only means of keeping warm.

The “fuel famine” lasted ten or twelve days, the like of which was
never known before. Water-pipes burst, fruits, flowers and vegetables
were frozen, and general distress ensued. The chilly rain still
continues, though ice and snow have disappeared. I doubt if the
“blizzards” and “Arctic waves” of the North cause much more real
suffering than this chilly, damp, freezing winter here brings to the
inhabitants so unaccustomed to this weather.

Most Southern houses are very loosely built, generally warmed with
fire-places or coal grates, over which you may scorch one side and
freeze the other. Water froze one day within six feet of our stove.

[111]

Much suffering, sickness and death have resulted among the poor in
their wretched cabins. Fortunately for some our kind friends North
have this winter sent us an unusual amount of clothing, which has been
distributed judiciously among those most needy, and has done much to
alleviate distress. My wife has given away over 400 garments within the
past three mouths, and many shivering bodies have been warmed. From our
own good State of Wisconsin we have had no less than seventeen boxes
or barrels, containing books, clothing, magazines and newspapers. From
friends in other States there have come eleven packages of various
sizes, with the same acceptable help for our poor people. And how
helpful these timely gifts have been!

Although my wife has had no special commission as missionary, she has
done considerable in that line. During three mouths past, she has made
over two hundred and fifty visits, being confined to the house by
illness for one month of that time, and being much hindered otherwise
by the incessant stormy weather, which has also greatly interfered
with our evening meetings and Sunday services. Besides the clothing
above referred to, she has distributed hundreds of papers, tracts,
cards and texts, reading and talking with the women and children. Her
sewing-school, meeting weekly, has steadily increased, until it now
numbers ninety-three girls, of whom sixty were present at the last
meeting. Cutting and basting work for so many occupies a good deal of
time.

At our annual church meeting, the reports showed that eighteen persons
had been received on profession of faith during the year 1880, and $256
raised for church purposes. The Sunday-school reported 220 names on the
roll, of whom 175 were present at one time, and the average attendance
for the year was 115. Ten of the scholars united with the church, and
the school has raised about $60 in weekly contributions. The pastor
and wife gave away 8,500 religious and Sunday-school papers during the
year. One of the papers has a story. It was given to a little girl in
our infant class, who took it home and carefully preserved it. Her
father, not a Christian man, was soon after arrested and confined in
jail for several months for stealing. The little girl carried him her
Sunday-school papers to read. One of these told the story of Joseph and
the baker in the Egyptian prison, and suggested that every prisoner,
and every sinner, had a divine intercessor at the throne, Jesus Christ,
the Saviour, who would not forget his friends in trouble, as the baker
did. So he began to pray, and when released from jail soon after, was a
converted man.

We have received a great many papers from Northern Sunday-schools and
other friends, and shall be glad to receive many more. Much good may
be done by this means, as the above incident illustrates. From the
incessant storms, floods and cold of this winter, the people need more
help than ever by way of clothing for the destitute, and all other
aids. All kinds of business have suffered, and the high prices of
fuel and other necessaries have caused many to be perplexed as to the
wherewithal of eating and putting on. Many of the country churches have
hardly been able to keep up services at all, owing to storms and floods.

I have collected over 1,000 volumes for my “Lewis Public Library,”
and it is doing good work. I expect soon to issue a little missionary
paper. Our Lewis High School is increasing in numbers.

ALABAMA.

Accessions to the Church.

REV. G. W. ANDREWS, TALLADEGA.

Twenty-three connected themselves with our College Church yesterday[112]
March 6th; twenty-two of them by confession, and one by letter: fruits
of a revival scarcely yet ended. All but two of them are children or
young people; twenty-one are members of the Sabbath-school and of the
College. Twelve are children of church members, now a long time with
us. Two are wives for whom faithful and godly husbands had hoped and
prayed, lo! these many years; there had been the secret hope but never
before the open confession. Two were baptized by immersion, the rest
followed the better way, choosing less of the outward and formal,
and more of the inward and spiritual. Of the thirty girls boarding
at Foster Hall, all are Christians, as are the forty boys, with two
or three exceptions. Very few of those who come under our Christian
influences so far as to be members of our family and Sabbath-school,
fail to indulge a hope in Christ.

We had meetings every night for three weeks, Pres. DeForest preaching
with great tenderness and power, while all the teachers and workers
did faithfully what they could. So far from interfering with regular
school duties, these meetings quickened to highest endeavor in study,
and led to the most careful and conscientious use of time. Never before
have our pupils been so conscientious and so well-behaved. Among the
thirty girls at the boarding hall there has been but a single case of
discipline since the present school year has begun, and that grew out
of a voluntary confession, a sign of a very tender conscience.

All the meetings have been unusually quiet; not a case of noisy
demonstration, no great “sights,” no “dreams,” but a thoughtful
surrender to Christ, very much, I think, as in the revival meetings I
have been accustomed to all my life. In them God has honored preaching,
which has been so plain, practical and tender that few could resist
it. There were not many hard hearts or dry eyes when the sermon on the
“Prodigal Son” was ended and the invitation given to all prodigals to
return to an injured Father’s house.

Through all these meetings unusual honor was put upon the Spirit, and
on prayer, and there was more than the usual amount of preaching to the
church, and with excellent results. God has done great things for us,
whereof we are glad.

MISSISSIPPI.

Burning of Building at Tougaloo.

REV. A. HATCH.

Sunday, Jan. 23d, at half-past seven o’clock, the students of the
University assembled as usual in the chapel for the evening worship.
The pleasant afternoon had given place to a chilly night. In a warm
but not overheated room all were attentive to the opening exercises.
In the midst of the second hymn, which all had arisen to sing, one or
two young men near the door were seen to pass out quickly from the
room. Several others followed at their heels, when, immediately, as by
a common instinct, both divisions of the assembly turned and pressed
down the aisles toward the two front doors. Not a word of alarm was
spoken by an individual and the order, “back!” “back!” which was given
from the rostrum, checked for a minute this sudden movement, and some
at the doors hesitated whether to pass out or to return. A moment more
when a quantity of water fell from the ceiling through the thimble of
the stove pipe, simultaneously with the cry of “fire” without, all in
the room became aware of the real cause of alarm. The young men who
first passed out ran to the hall above, and, with what water was found
in three or four rooms which they burst into, attempted to put out the
fire. It was found to have broken out, however, above them, beneath
the roof and very close also to the open bell-tower. This tower, with
the long, straight hall,[113] which, at one end, opened into it, and at the
other had an outside stair door—the only entrance—provided at the
start a powerful, furnace-like draught to the flames, which had they
not been out of reach, could have been with difficulty brought under
control.

Within one hour our chapel was entirely consumed. During this time the
young men managed to save a trunk, in some cases, a handful of clothes,
a few books, or whatever else they could snatch out of their rooms the
quickest. A number lost everything except what they were wearing at the
time. In several instances what was thrown out of windows and carried
to a safe distance from the burning building was stolen by enterprising
neighbors.

No sooner was the chapel well in flames than the attention of everybody
was centered in the effort to save adjacent buildings, and especially
the mansion, the most valuable of all. This and the chapel stood
broadside toward each other, 37 yards apart. We had, however, the
advantage of a flat iron roof easily accessible to work upon. To keep
the northern side of the building thoroughly wet with water thrown from
the roof, from the ground, and from the second-story veranda, was the
work of a long half hour, each moment of which we expected to see the
building take fire. The working force of our institution was put to
its utmost strain for the whole of this time. This and all the other
buildings were saved.

The conduct of our students was truly admirable. Each young man worked
with a will, wherever he was placed, or at whatever needed to be done
at the moment, whether it was at the pumps or carrying water, guarding
a roof, or taking out furniture and books. None worked harder than some
of those who had rooms in the chapel building and were losing nearly
all they had, forgetful even of the trunk or handful of clothing that
lay somewhere scattered about in the yard—all that was left of their
possessions. Many of the young women, also, showed much presence of
mind and were of great service. One was found upon the roof of the
mansion with a bucket of water.

We received much assistance, too, from friendly neighbors both white
and colored. One old colored woman was the means of saving a great deal
from the burning building, running in and out carrying away the books
and loose furniture.

Previous to the fire every available room was occupied by our students,
and many apartments which were barely comfortable for two had to
accommodate three. At ten o’clock that Sunday night our main dormitory
for young men was in ashes. Thirty were without a place to sleep.
For that night fifteen were stowed away on the floor of one of the
teachers’ rooms in the mansion, five were put similarly in one of the
offices, and the rest managed to squeeze themselves into the ten beds
at the “Barracks.”

It shows the earnest disposition of the class of students which are
attracted to Tougaloo University that we were able the next morning,
promptly at nine o’clock, to go on with the regular school work. The
classes all recited as usual, though school books had been scattered
upon the campus and our school room and two recitation rooms had been
turned to ashes by the flames. The Monday writing-class, however, did
not meet. Pens and desks were burnt.

The fire has indeed seemed to result in a moral blessing, softening
the disposition of many, and teaching a lesson of unselfishness. It
has served, we think, to attach our better class of students to the
institution as perhaps never before.

Students have been arriving every week since the fire and we have sent
none of them away. The very week[114] following brought us half a dozen
young men. In addition to this, about the first of March quite a number
of young men as well as young women are expected to return to us from
their winter schools.

TENNESSEE.

Statistics of Teaching by Students now in Fisk University.

From reports carefully made out by students now in attendance on Fisk
University, the following facts are ascertained:

Ninety have at some time been engaged in school teaching. Of these,
sixty-two are members of the collegiate department and twenty-eight of
the normal department. The time taught in all, including the past year,
is 1,630 months, or reduced to school years of nine months each, 161
1-9 years.

It is found that during the year 1880, seventy-two have taught school,
the sum of the months being 309. This reduced to school years of nine
months each, gives 34⅓ years.

The sum total of salaries earned in 1880, is $9,129. From this must be
subtracted for cost of board and travel, $3,236, leaving a net gain of
$5,893.

The entire number of pupils taught during the year is 5,641, and the
sum of average daily attendance is 3,717.

Of the seventy-two who taught these schools, sixty-seven did labor in
Sunday-schools, forty-four as teachers, seven as superintendents and
sixteen as both teachers and superintendents. The total attendance
on these Sunday-schools was 3,963. Besides this, four did labor in
preaching, twelve held prayer-meetings and one held Bible readings. The
number of conversions reported is 151.

Thirty-two taught in Tennessee, twenty-two in Mississippi, eight in
Texas, four in Alabama, four in Arkansas, two in Georgia, one in West
Virginia, and one in Missouri.

Inferences drawn from these statistics:

1. Nearly all the students in Fisk University of sufficient age and
advancement in scholarship, teach during their courses of study. It
is found that eighty per cent. of the students in the collegiate
department have taught. Those who have not taught are too young to take
charge of a school. The per cent. of those in the Normal department who
have taught, is less, because the advancement in scholarship is less,
as is also the average age.

2. The average salary per month is $29.54. The average cost for board
and travel, not calculating other expenses, is $10.47. This leaves the
net gain per month of $19.07. This in reality is reduced somewhat by
loss of time often incurred in securing a school, or in waiting for it
to begin after it is secured.

3. It is seen that the students are making very praiseworthy efforts to
gain an education, and that they earn annually a large sum of money to
secure that end. Still, at a net gain of $19.07 a month, the student
cannot entirely support himself. Parents should consider well this
fact, not fully understood, as it would appear, by some of those able
to assist their children. Those kind friends who have given to the
Student Aid Fund of the University, will see that their benefactions
are needed and well bestowed.

4. This condition of things, if the strain is not allowed to be too
severe, has a compensating benefit to the student, who grows strong by
contending with difficulties. He learns the value of education by its
cost. He obtains that practical experience which students ordinarily
have to acquire after graduation. He is also kept in sympathy with the
people among whom his future labors are to lie.

5. These statistics show that, while in the midst of their own arduous
labors as students, these young people are accomplishing a great amount
of good[115] in a field to which now, happily, the eyes of the nation are
turned, the education of the colored people. During the last year,
when, for reasons not necessary now to give, a less number of students
than usual were engaged in teaching, they had under their training an
army of between five and six thousand children, and performed the labor
of more than the ordinary lifetime of a man; and, including former
years, they have done the work of more than a hundred and sixty years.

6. But the whole good is not to be estimated in years. The great mass
of the teachers among the colored people, as among the white, teach
with little if any more preparation than what is gained in the common
schools. The coming into a community of one who has enjoyed superior
advantages, introduces a better idea to which others will seek to
attain. One of the most threatening obstacles in the way of colored
education has been the great lack of competent colored teachers. The
paying of incompetent teachers is almost, if not entirely, a waste of
the public money. Viewing from this standpoint, the long and expensive
journeys necessarily taken by the students of Fisk University to reach
their schools, may not be a loss but a benefit, by scattering further
the good influence of the University. In a region where one good
teacher is sent, ten schools will be made better.

7. In addition to the devotional exercises held in their schools by the
greater majority of the students, much other religious work is done.
During the last year six preached, twelve held prayer-meetings and one
Bible readings, while ninety-six per cent. of all are now engaged in
Sunday-school labor. A more accurate knowledge of the Scriptures and
better idea of Christian living must be the result of these labors.

8. From a list of institutions of learning where some of those, now
students in Fisk University, studied before coming to it, many of them
of high standing and scattered over the land, it is seen that this
University cannot claim these good results entirely as its own. It
shows also that the University, situated as it is, midway between the
gulf and the lakes, is becoming a great central school of learning.

9. No mention is made in these statistics of any students not now in
attendance on the University. The exact number of those in that class
who are now teaching, is not known. It is known, however, that many
such are devoting their entire time to teaching and some of them are
already occupying positions of honor and importance as educators.
According to estimates derived from reports given by former students
not now in connection with the University, the number of pupils taught
annually by them cannot be far from 10,000, making a total, with those
before mentioned, of more than 15,000.—Fisk Expositor.

THE CHINESE.

“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

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

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

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

II.—HOW SPEEDS THE WORK?

In the February number we gave a brief chapter of replies to this
question. We make no apology for giving a second chapter now. It is
just what our readers want to know, and what we equally wish to tell.
And—

1. The Finances.—It was at this point[116] our former chapter closed. I
announced that we were laying out work with reference to raising, over
and above the regular appropriation from the parent society, $5,000
this year, in place of $1,610.70 received last year. I am glad and
grateful to be able to announce that of that $5,000, fully $2,600 are
already in sight, either in cash or in reliable pledges. It has been
made easy to raise this, because all except the hundreds (i. e.,
$2,000) has come in a single donation from the grand English house
of Balfour, Gunther & Co., in this city. That is to say, $500 from
the senior partner in Liverpool, Alfred Balfour, Esq., $500 from his
Liverpool associate, Hon. Stephen Williamson, M. P., and $1,000 from
the house as a whole, among the partners in which is a worthy son of
Chalmers’ great successor in the Free Church of Scotland—that prince
among preachers, Dr. Guthrie. This great gift is proffered in the hope
and expectation that the balance of $3,000 will not be found wanting,
and, God helping us, it shall not fail. There has been a painful
sense, all along these years, that we were reaching only the outer edge
of the great necessity touching, so to speak, only the bare fringe
of our great opportunity, though we have done the utmost possible
for us, with the means at our command. I can with a clear conscience
claim that not a dime has gone forth needlessly; that every minutest
item of expense has been carefully scrutinized; and, while it would
be “too good to be true” if we said that no mistakes had been made,
that every experiment had proved a success, or that no fields have
been entered from which we were compelled to retire before the harvest
came to view, still, I speak the simple truth when I say that I know
of nothing that to-day I would extract, or, so far as our endeavor
is concerned, essentially change. The constant prayer has been for
the Master’s guidance; is it vain or presumptuous to believe that
the prayer has been answered, his promise fulfilled, his guidance
vouchsafed? It would be meanly ungrateful if I did not thus testify for
Him.

But the point is that now we must go deeper. We cannot rest on the
outer edge of the great work. We must avail ourselves to the utmost of
our opportunity, and for this we must have a marked increase of means.
Toward this, now that God has inclined these English brethren to give
so largely, I cannot believe that American Christians will fail to make
fitting response. And inasmuch as I cannot see how more than $1,500
out of the $2,400 remaining to be raised, can possibly be gathered in
California, I venture to press it on the thoughts and hearts of Eastern
friends, to furnish over and above their regular contributions to the
parent society, at least $900 for its California auxiliary. Let the
gifts be sent directly to me at 940 Copp Street, or to our treasurer,
Deacon E. Palache, 218 Front Street, San Francisco.

2. Our Schools.—In the February Missionary I spoke of 13
schools in operation, a larger number than ever before. The first of
March will see the number 14, a school being prepared to start on
that date, at Tucson, Arizona. It will be, by far, our most distant
out-post, but gives promise of being a very useful mission. Several
of the pupils who had become Christians in connection with our Santa
Barbara mission, work failing at that place, moved on towards the
front, and were scattered among the villages of Arizona; one, at
least, even crossing the line into Mexico. We had letters from them
occasionally, such as encouraged us to believe that, though in exile
from what had been to them a very house of God, and often standing
alone, as Christians, among a crowd of ungodly and profane Americans,
they were still walking in the truth. At length, from one of them[117] who
had settled at Tucson, came, in behalf of himself and eight or nine
others, an urgent request for a mission there. At the suggestion of
some excellent Christian ladies of that city, to whom I appealed for
advice, and who kindly pledged their personal co-operation, the school
is to be placed in the care of Rev. Mr. Messenger, once a missionary
of the Episcopal Board in Africa. He is pronounced to be “a good
Christian, who can sing well, can play on the organ, and will work
earnestly” in the liberty of Christ and not in bondage to any ritual
or liturgy. The pupils attest their zeal by pledging contributions
sufficient to pay the rent of the school-room, $15 per month, and,
perhaps, the incidental expenses likewise. Pray for the success of the
first Chinese mission in Arizona.

Among the new schools reported in my last was that at Oroville.
Its teacher is a daughter of Rev. Alvin Ostrom, pastor of the
Congregational Church in that place, who himself was once a missionary
in China, and has, in his enforced return to this country, been hungry
these many years for an opportunity to preach Christ again to the
Chinese. I hardly need say that with such a spirit in the work tokens
of a coming harvest begin to appear. Two or three of the pupils began
to venture in, on Sabbaths, to the half empty church, and to sit in
unoccupied pews. Whereupon an irate Caucasian vents himself in the
village newspaper in this wise:

“Ed. Mercury—‘What are our places of divine worship coming
to?’ is a question with many. Are we to give way our places in the pews
to the long-tailed Mongolians, or shall we be obliged to take sides
with them? We answer, ‘No!’ Better send them and our pretended leaders
away together to their proper places. We have no objection to his
teaching them, but for the sake of common decency and the respect due
to us, let it be a separate matter.

“Church-Goer.”

The community soon began to be astir. The pillars of the church
began to tremble. Subscriptions began to be withdrawn. Families were
reported as “going over to the other church.” The croakers rose to the
ascendant, and the outlook grew dark. But silence and patience and
gentleness, and pastoral diligence, having God and the right on their
side, are winning the day; and fresh sunshine, gleaming through the
whole church-work, already “puts to silence the ignorance of foolish
men.”

Although the severe storms of the past two months have interfered with
the attendance on our schools, and even made desirable the temporary
suspension of one of them, yet there is much to encourage in the
reports received. At Marysville three during last month “joined the
Association,” professing thus their faith in Christ, and coming under
probation with reference to reception to the church. At Sacramento the
teacher writes, rejoicing over the return to the school, with heart
apparently renewed, of one pupil for whom she had labored and prayed
with great earnestness, but who first left our school for another,
and then seemed to “go to the bad” with utter recklessness. But the
Lord has brought him back, and he now applies to be received to the
Association, and to be thus recognized as a believer in Jesus. This
Sacramento school, as, also, the one in Stockton, that in Marysville,
and those in this city, are a perpetual joy to me, in the spirit which
pervades the work and the results vouchsafed. Indeed, I know not that
I need except any of our schools from this statement, and I cease to
mention them by name only because the list would be too long. The great
lack just now is Chinese helpers trained for service. To select them
wisely, to provide for their being trained, to put them into harness
at the right point, where by teaching they can learn to teach and by
preaching to preach, is the problem now before me.

WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

Room 20, Congregational House, Beacon St., Boston.

Miss Nathalie Lord, Secretary.
Miss Abby W. Pearson, Treasurer.

MONTHLY REPORT.

The Woman’s Home Missionary Association has made no new appointments
during the past month under the American Missionary Association.
From those already sent into this part of the field the reports are
encouraging and interesting.

From Baxter Springs, Kansas, where are 1,000 refugees and 1,100
white inhabitants, Miss Wilson writes that she is getting her work
systematized, and gives her plan as follows:

“A small unoccupied building, owned by the Hard Shell (colored)
Baptists, has been offered me, on condition that I will put in window
panes and a stove. To do this I shall use a sum of money now in Gov.
St. John’s hands, and I hope this will be enough also for a ton of
coal. In this building I am to open an afternoon industrial school for
women. The different arts of housekeeping will be here taught in turn.
Those who wish will learn to read, and especially mothers’ meetings
will be held. This is the central point of all my work—the women and
their homes. Around this will cluster several other departments, for
I have already four or five co-workers. Two of these are good Quaker
women, living in the place and already doing all they can. They will
assist in the women’s school and in visiting at the homes. Another
of the workers there will be John Smith, a colored minister, from
Iowa, educated by the Society of Friends. This man has been on the
ground three months. He is teaching a children’s school. There are
three hundred children of the age to go to school, only about half of
whom are provided for by the town schools. He will be ready to assist
me in every way necessary, and will have one of the departments in
the Sunday-school, of which we have arranged three, beside being the
superintendent of the school. For the use of the Sunday-school we have
three rooms in the public school building. The fourth assistant is Miss
E. Cabell, also colored, a graduate of Hampton. Miss C. joined us from
Virginia in October. She is proving a valuable assistant. She will open
a children’s school, mornings, in our little building, and also have
the Infant Department in our Sunday-school. One other service I desire
to hold, a Sunday morning Bible reading in our little church. And if
we can persuade the ignorant preachers around us, of whom there are
several, to come to our rooms some evening in the week for a weekly
study of the Sunday-school lesson, we shall have gained a great point
with them.”

The work of Mrs. Steele, in Almeda, S. C., proves full of interest.
This place takes its name from a daughter of Mr. Reuben G. Holmes, who
bought this tract of land, 12,000 acres, for the purpose of giving
employment to worthy colored men and enabling them to buy small
farms for themselves at $5 per acre. He now has nearly 150 families,
including more than 700 souls, on the place, and to instruct and care
for these is the work of Mrs. Steele. She writes that she has more or
less care of all, has already had more than 200 in her Sunday-school.
Her day school occupies her from 9 A.M. to 12.30
P.M.; her evening school from 7 to 9.30 P.M.; and
her afternoons she spends in “calling on the folks.” Having mentioned
some touching cases of distress and how she[119] was able to relieve them,
she adds: “Now don’t think it is all out-go and no income. I called on
another family—the mother had previously called on me and wanted me to
cut out a calico dress for one of her little girls—when my little girl
and I came away from that home, the mother brought me a fresh egg as
a present. Now that gift for her was more than ten dollars would be
for some people to give. The good-will back of the gift made me feel
rich.” “In my solemn talks,” she says, “with my pupils, I’ve found
some who seem to me to be of the Lord’s noblemen, so conscientiously
living up to the light and knowledge they have, and eager for more.
I’ve formed a temperance and anti-tobacco society and have quite a
number of names already.”

All who had a hand in filling or packing the barrel lately sent to Miss
Carter, in Nashville, Tenn.—as well as those whose hands are filling
or packing or are about to be filling or packing other such choice
barrels or boxes—will be glad to hear of its welcome, and also to
learn what are among the most acceptable things to send in such cases.
She writes:

“The barrel arrived Saturday and delights my heart. Were I a little
darker skinned I should say, ‘it will do me so proud,’ but as it
is I hardly know how to express my thanks and perfect satisfaction.
Did I tell you so explicitly all my needs—I can’t remember—or did
you guess them? Those test cards are gems: perhaps their value to
others may be beyond price. The papers I’m so glad of, especially the
children’s papers. The pictures cut out by some loving fingers, the
picture cards, tracts, story books, Testaments, all these things meet
especial needs. The children’s clothes, especially the flannels and
boys’ shirts, are most welcome. I know this moment the destination of
each article.

“Perhaps that for which I’m most truly grateful, is the quantity of
sewing materials. The Lord has not since I came here let me name
a day for help, but just now I was counting my little funds and
wondering—wondering if the time had come when I should be really
obliged to halt. This supply of materials is a true blessing. Perhaps
my Sunday-school stands highest in importance, but surely this
sewing-school work, with all the influences of good which I strive
to bring there to bear upon the girls, is next. I couldn’t willingly
give it up. Through it the girls are clothing their bodies with their
own honest efforts; are learning Christian gentleness and politeness,
and having their minds stored with good thoughts out of good books.
They let me come very close to them, tell me their needs, their
troubles, and recognize me as their friend. So in furthering this
work, you are setting many wheels in motion. I held a reception at the
‘opening’—opening of my barrel; how enthusiastic and happy we all
were.”

The Association held public meetings in Boston, Mount Vernon church,
morning and afternoon of March 3. The interest of these meetings
indicates, we believe, increasing energy and delight in forwarding the
work. The total receipts of the year, as announced there, have been
$5,077.34. This is not a great sum, but neither is it a bad beginning,
and as fast as it gives pleasure to the friends of the work to add to
our pile, the present year, so fast shall we be eager to increase it by
scattering.

Receipts from Jan. 1, 1881, to March 1, 1881:

Donations from Cong. Pub. Soc., $25 worth of S. S. papers, lesson
papers, books and cards, for Miss Julia A. Wilson, Baxter Springs,
for use among[120] refugees. From Mrs. C. A. Johnson, for Miss Wilson’s
use, flannel, new cloth and sewing materials, valued at $25.00. Office
chair, $10.00, from friends. Three chairs for office, from a friend.

The following boxes and barrels have been sent, valued at:

RECEIPTS

FOR FEBRUARY, 1881.

H. W. HUBBARD, Treas., 56 Reade St., N.Y.

Constitution of the American Missionary Association.

INCORPORATED JANUARY 30, 1848.

Art. I. This Society shall be called “The American
Missionary Association.”

Art. II. The object of this Association shall be to conduct
Christian missionary and educational operations, and diffuse a
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures in our own and other countries which
are destitute of them, or which present open and urgent fields of
effort.

Art. III. Any person of evangelical sentiments,[A] who
professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not a slaveholder,
or in the practice of other immoralities, and who contributes to the
funds, may become a member of the Society; and by the payment of thirty
dollars, a life member; provided that children and others who have
not professed their faith may be constituted life members without the
privilege of voting.

Art. IV. This Society shall meet annually, in the month of
September, October or November, for the election of officers and the
transaction of other business, at such time and place as shall be
designated by the Executive Committee.

Art. V. The annual meeting shall be constituted of the regular
officers and members of the Society at the time of such meeting, and
of delegates from churches, local missionary societies, and other
co-operating bodies, each body being entitled to one representative.

Art. VI. The officers of the Society shall be a President,
Vice-Presidents, a Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretaries,
Treasurer, two Auditors, and an Executive Committee of not less than
twelve, of which the Corresponding Secretaries shall be advisory, and
the Treasurer ex-officio, members.

Art. VII. To the Executive Committee shall belong the
collecting and disbursing of funds; the appointing, counselling,
sustaining and dismissing (for just and sufficient reasons)
missionaries and agents; the selection of missionary fields; and, in
general, the transaction of all such business as usually appertains to
the executive committees of missionary and other benevolent societies;
the Committee to exercise no ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the
missionaries; and its doings to be subject always to the revision of
the annual meeting, which shall, by a reference mutually chosen, always
entertain the complaints of any aggrieved agent or missionary; and the
decision of such reference shall be final.

The Executive Committee shall have authority to fill all vacancies
occurring among the officers between the regular annual meetings;
to apply, if they see fit, to any State Legislature for acts of
incorporation; to fix the compensation, where any is given, of all
officers, agents, missionaries, or others in the employment of the
Society; to make provision, if any, for disabled missionaries, and
for the widows and children of such as are deceased; and to call, in
all parts of the country, at their discretion, special and general
conventions of the friends of missions, with a view to the diffusion of
the missionary spirit, and the general and vigorous promotion of the
missionary work.

Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for transacting
business.

Art. VIII. This society, in collecting funds, in appointing
officers, agents and missionaries, and in selecting fields of labor,
and conducting the missionary work, will endeavor particularly to
discountenance slavery, by refusing to receive the known fruits of
unrequited labor, or to welcome to its employment those who hold their
fellow-beings as slaves.

Art. IX. Missionary bodies, churches or individuals agreeing
to the principles of this Society, and wishing to appoint and sustain
missionaries of their own, shall be entitled to do so through the
agency of the Executive Committee, on terms mutually agreed upon.

Art. X. No amendment shall be made to this Constitution
without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present at a
regular annual meeting; nor unless the proposed amendment has been
submitted to a previous meeting, or to the Executive Committee in
season to be published by them (as it shall be their duty to do, if so
submitted) in the regular official notifications of the meeting.

FOOTNOTE:

The American Missionary Association.

AIM AND WORK.

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

STATISTICS.

Churches: In the South—in Va., 1; N. C., 6; S. C., 2; Ga., 13;
Ky., 6; Tenn., 4; Ala., 14; La., 17; Miss., 4; Texas, 6. Africa, 2.
Among the Indians, 1. Total 76.

Institutions Founded, Fostered or Sustained in the
South.—Chartered: Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.;
Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La.; and
Austin, Texas, 8. Graded or Normal Schools: at Wilmington, Raleigh,
N. C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S. C.; Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Ga.;
Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selma, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn., 12. Other
Schools, 31. Total 51.

Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants.—Among the Freedmen,
284; among the Chinese, 22; among the Indians, 11; in Africa, 13.
Total, 330. Students—In Theology, 102; Law, 23; in College
Course, 75; in other studies, 7,852. Total, 8,052. Scholars taught by
former pupils of our schools, estimated at 150,000. Indians
under the care of the Association, 13,000.

WANTS.

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

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

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

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

MAGAZINE.

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

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

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

“I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of ——
dollars in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the
person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the
‘American Missionary Association’ 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 [in some States three
are required—in other States only two], who should write against
their names, their places of residence [if in cities, their street and
number]. The following form of attestation will answer for every State
in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said [A.
B.] as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the
request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of
each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some
States it is required that the Will should be made at least two months
before the death of the testator.