THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

NEW YORK.

Published by the American Missionary Association,

ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.

Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.

American Missionary Association,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

PRESIDENT.

Hon. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

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

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

should be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Ass’t Treasurer, No. 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.

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

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THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

Our readers will see, on the last page of the cover, that the next Annual Meeting of the Association is to be held the last week of October, in the city of Chicago. We suggest to our Eastern friends, or those from the far West, who have in their plans a visit to that city within the next three months, that, if possible, they delay their going until that time, that they may prove to our friends of the interior their interest in the work, and add to it the impulse of their presence.

THE PAINS OF RETRENCHMENT.

We do not propose a treatment of this topic in the abstract, to tell of the internal pressure for retrenchment from the collapsed condition of our treasury, or of the outcries which accompany the red line made by the surgical knife. We simply lay before our readers the facts in regard to our latest efforts in this direction.

We have had a school for fourteen years at Athens, Alabama. Miss M. F. Wells has been the principal from its beginning, and has been one of our most faithful and most successful teachers and missionaries. Miss Underwood has been her assistant for two years, and Rev. Horace Taylor has been pastor of the vigorous and enterprising church which has grown up by the side of, and indeed out of, the school. Some 150 scholars have been in attendance at the school, and its work has been more and more satisfactory year by year.

We had a building there which was, however, in bad repair: its walls had been propped up these last months, and it was becoming really unsafe, so that it must be abandoned or replaced. But to erect a suitable and permanent building would cost $5,000, and we had no such sum to expend; and the question came to be, Shall we build, or close the school and transfer the teachers to some other field? Reluctantly this latter decision was made:—indeed, we did not make it; it was made for us. We could not build, and the decision was sent on to Athens.

On the first of July, Miss Wells wrote from a sick bed, of the shock which this decision gave to her, though it had been intimated beforehand. She said:

On the day following, Miss Underwood wrote:

On the 4th of July, Mr. Taylor, pastor of the church, wrote as follows:

At the last meeting of our Executive Committee these letters were read. All were deeply moved, and the response was hearty and unanimous, Let them arise and build, and the funds needed for the continuance of the school shall be appropriated and paid. We cannot stop such a work. We cannot refuse such a plea. Why, the educating power of this movement upon the colored people of that place, and its effect, perhaps, upon the white population as well, is worth ten times the money involved in both the building and the school. And yet we are told that the blacks are becoming indifferent to education.

And now, dear friend, you who are thinking how the Lord has not prospered you quite as much as he did a few years ago, when you have read this, will you not put back that $100, or that $1, you were going to take from your usual gift to us, that such work as this may go on? It is your retrenchment that compels ours.

FREEDMEN’S MISSIONS AID SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of our English Auxiliary took place at Union Chapel, Islington (Rev. Dr. Allon), June 6th. The Earl of Aberdeen presided. The Rev. Dr. O. H. White read the general report of work done in the United States and to be done in Africa. The Rev. J. Gwynne Jones presented the financial statement. The total receipts had been £5,270; £4,727 had been expended in direct mission work, and the balance in hand was £205. £3,000 had been promised by Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, towards the establishment of a mission in Central Africa. The American Missionary Association had fully considered the proposal and deemed it practicable, and they desired now to raise another £3,000 in this country, trusting that they would be able to command funds in America for carrying on the work, if its outfit should be substantially secured here.

Miss Jennie Jackson, of the Jubilee Singers, then sang one of their plaintive hymns, after which the presiding officer addressed the meeting, referring to his personal observation of the slave trade in Africa. The Rev. Dr. Moffat followed, saying that he had been the servant of Africa for sixty years. Since he went out as a missionary in 1816 he had been incessantly engaged in advancing the Redeemer’s kingdom in Africa. He had had many opportunities of witnessing what the Gospel could do in Africa, and he could testify that it was the salvation of every one that believed. Mr. J. B. Gough then spoke in his usual entertaining and forcible way.

On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Allon, seconded by the Rev. Dr. F. Billing, the following resolution was adopted:

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MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

At the recent anniversary of the London Missionary Society, the Rev. W. F. Clarkson, B. A., of Birmingham, made the following remarks upon Missions in Central Africa:

“And now, turning to Central Africa, what a solemn responsibility has been thrown upon the Church of Christ in connection with that vast continent! True it is that the North of Africa has been connected with European history ever since Europe had a history, and Egypt, especially, is rich in associations of the most remote antiquity. South Africa has been colonized by modern European nations, and the East and the West Coasts have furnished the material for that iniquitous slave trade in which Christian nations have not been ashamed to join hands with Mohammedans in order to rob their fellow-men of their liberties.

“But all this has touched only the fringe of this vast continent, and the interior has been practically unknown. Look at the maps of a few years ago and you will see blank spaces, relieved only by imaginary rivers and unverified mountains, and the letterpress of the geography books was just as meagre and as unsatisfactory. I chanced to light upon a school geography, the other day, published in 1847, in which this was the description given: ‘The interior of Africa is little known. The climate is so bad that the few Europeans who travel there generally die before they return.’ And it concluded by saying: ‘Most of the inhabitants are negroes.’ I think that the young people of to-day may congratulate themselves that they have not to study the text-books of thirty years ago—at any rate, on this question. I need not remind this meeting how, by the labors of eminent geographers and explorers and, not the least, missionaries, this reproach has been rolled away, and Africa promises to be as widely known as is Asia. But it is more to the purpose of this meeting to express the admiration and the thankfulness with which we witness the Church of Christ, of divers denominations, taking up the solemn responsibilities thrown upon her, and addressing herself to the evangelization of Africa.

“The Church Missionary Society advancing to Lake Nyanza, the Scotch Church taking possession of Lake Nyassa, the Baptist Missionary Society establishing itself on the banks of the Congo; and, not to mention other kindred societies, our own London Missionary Society advancing to Lake Tanganyika—are so many distinct columns of the great invading army which has gone forth to rescue Africa from the power of the prince of this world, and to bring it into subjection unto Christ. Surely this is the dawning of the day which David Livingstone rejoiced to see and was glad. And I hope that I may take upon myself, in your name, respectfully to congratulate our venerable father and apostle, Dr. Moffat, upon the advent of a time so rich in promise, and so glowing with hope, for that Africa which he has so long and so lovingly served. The report has spoken to us in forcible terms of the anxieties of the directors concerning the establishment of this Central African Mission, and I think you will feel that nothing shows that anxiety more clearly than the action of the directors in regard to the offer of Dr. Mullens, that they should have accepted that offer and dispatched him, if not to the front, at any rate to the base of operations for this new campaign; and he will carry with him to Zanzibar our best wishes and our most earnest prayers in the enterprise which he has so promptly and so generously undertaken.

“I think nothing can exaggerate the seriousness of the enterprise to which we, as a society, have committed ourselves in connection with Central Africa.[229] To have to travel 600 or 700 miles, every mile of it measured out by the weary tread of human feet, and to be accompanied by 200 or 300 porters, not simply to carry your luggage, but even to carry the very money with which you have to pay your way, is no holiday excursion; and to have to deal with native chiefs of difficult and capricious tempers, with differing and oftentimes opposing interests, demands qualities of the highest statesmanship. To establish a mission like that of Lake Tanganyika, the lake itself being of the length of the distance, say from London to Carlisle, and twenty miles broad, with all its shores lined with populous villages—to establish a mission in such a centre of such a district demands an energy and a zeal and a patience equal to those of the greatest missionaries that have ever lived; and to do this, with the certain loss of the comforts and conveniences of civilized life, and with the equally certain risk of losing life itself, demands a heroism equal to that of the ancient martyr. All honor to the brethren who have responded to the demands of Christ, and have given themselves to this sacred work. We sympathize with those that are living and working, and we shall never forget those that have laid down their lives in this blessed service. Dr. Black in the South, Lieut. Smith in the North, and our own J. B. Thomson, and others who have fallen with them in this warfare—shall not the Church of Christ register them, each one, in the roll of heroes and of martyrs, by whose immortal example she will seek to stimulate the generations to come?”

THE EDUCATION OF FREEDMEN.

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has contributed two articles with the above title to the June and July numbers of the North American Review, tracing the history of this work, and giving a valuable summary of its present status.

We reprint a brief paragraph and the six general propositions, of which the facts given are offered as the proof:

“For years patriots, statesmen, conscientious and Christian men, had toiled and agonized over the inscrutable problem, How could slavery be abolished without ruin to the country? Madison, Jefferson, Washington, all had their schemes—all based on the idea that after emancipation it would be impossible for the whites and the blacks to live harmoniously together. Sudden emancipation was spoken of as something involving danger, bloodshed and violence; and yet, as no one could propose a feasible system of preparation, the drift of the Southern mind had come to be toward indefinite perpetuation and extension.

“Our emancipation was forced upon us—it was sudden; it gave no time for preparation; and our national honor forced us to give not only emancipation, but the rights and defenses of citizenship. This was the position in which the war left us. We had four million new United States citizens in our Union, without property, without education, with such morals as may be inferred from the legal status in which they had been kept; they were surrounded by their former white owners, every way embittered toward them, and in no wise disposed to smooth their path to liberty and competence.

“That in such a sudden and astounding change there should have been struggle and conflict; that the reconstruction of former slave States, in such astonishingly new conditions of society, should have been with some difficulty, wrath and opposition; that there should have been contentions, mistakes, mismanagements, and plenty of undesirable events to make sensation articles for the daily press, was to be expected.

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“But wherever upon God’s earth was such an unheard-of revolution in the state of human society accomplished with so little that was to be deprecated?

“For in this year, 1878, certain propositions of very great significance bear assertion, and can be maintained by ample proof:

“1. The cotton crop raised by free labor is the largest by some millions that ever has been raised in the United States. That settles the question as to the free-labor system.

“2. The legal status of the negro is universally conceded as a finality by the leading minds of the South.

“3. The common-school system has been established throughout the Southern States, and recognized in theory by the wisest Southern men as to be applied impartially to whites and blacks.

“4. All of the large religious denominations are conducting educational movements among the Freedmen on a large scale. There are scattered through the Southern States, under the patronage of different denominations, thirty-nine chartered and endowed institutions for the higher education of colored people as teachers, ministers, physicians, farmers and mechanics. Besides these, there are sixty-nine schools of a lower grade. It is calculated that in the last sixteen years twenty million dollars has been contributed and invested in the work of educating the Freedmen.

“5. Leading and influential men at the South are in many cases openly patrons of these educational efforts. Several of these institutions have been generously assisted by the States in which they are founded. The last reports of all these institutions represent them as in a successful and flourishing condition.

“6. The colored race is advancing in material wealth and prosperity.”

CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE SOUTH.

4. Its Relation to the African Race.

DIST. SEC. C. L. WOODWORTH, BOSTON.

Beyond any sentiment of honor, or of ambition to do our share of the immense work thrown in an hour upon the churches of this land, is the higher aim to introduce our faith and our polity to the African race. Not only is it our reproach that we have been, almost exclusively, confined to a small part of the English-speaking people, but we shall deserve our littleness if we consent to be limited to this nation, or even to this continent. The world needs the principles we have in trust, and will not reach its best until it attains them. And, now, before us is an open field, rich in resources of life and wealth, all untilled. One-sixth of the human family waits to be moulded by Christian influence. A continent bares its bosom and asks Christianity for her strongest and best. Why should the Church, which took possession of one continent and gave it the most benign institutions earth ever saw, hesitate to lay hold of another, and plant it with the good seed of the kingdom?

There is something immensely stimulating in the thought of breaking forth after a lost race. All we need is an infusion of the enterprise which guided the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock. A new continent for Christ is what we need to take up as our watch-word, and pass along the lines till our membership is fired with a holy zeal to win its 200,000,000 unto the Lamb that was slain. And if we were intent on this, how easy it would be to connect the work here with the work there.[231] If, when the door opened into the South, we had gone in with our plans to save the African race, we could hardly have done differently from what we have. We have planted our schools and our churches in the very centres of population and of influence. We have a large force of young men and women in our schools, and our churches are constituted almost wholly of young Christian scholars. How easy it would be to turn the whole tide of their study and thought and influence towards Africa! There is in the African mind of the South now a strong drawing toward the land of their fathers. The schemes of colonization afloat all through the South show it. The hundreds of young men and young women banded together in our schools and churches to go to Africa as teachers or as preachers, if the way shall open, show it. They only need the guiding intelligence to undertake to plant on Africa’s shores another Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay.

And this opportunity comes to the Congregational church and finds it well prepared to enter on the training of Christian scholars and preachers for this work. Our churches on the ground are few in number, but filled with young, fresh, intelligent, pure material, and co-operate with our schools to bring forward the teachers and leaders of the African race. Is it all chance that puts us in this position and gives us this advantage in laying the foundations of education and religion for another race and another continent? God’s plan may include black as well as white pilgrims, and it may be ours to impart the pilgrim spirit and prepare the men who shall make a new Africa, as our fathers made a new America. This is possible to us as a church, and we ought to work towards it with unflagging zeal. We can only lose our advantage by our own neglect and lack of enterprise. We are in the front of workers for Africa. Eight or ten of our young Christian scholars are already on African soil. They send back a call for reinforcements, and the reinforcements will be ready as soon as our churches furnish the equipments and give them marching orders. The work may be long and rough; our fathers found it so here. Congregationalism is used to that. Indeed, she does best when on the strain. She is grand when she leads the forlorn hope. Easy, comfortable, self-pleasing life is not the atmosphere in which she grows tough, sturdy, courageous and aggressive. Show her something to do for Christ, something calling for sacrifice, some mighty battle to be fought for her King, and she will cover herself with glory.

Out at the front—among the ranchmen, herdsmen, miners, soldiers, savages—she is at home. This Southern work, which has taken the feet of her toilers as near the thorns, and their heads as near the crown of martyrdom, as any work of the century, has shown her splendid qualities. Her faith and meekness, love and heroism, have won her praises even in the gates of her enemies. And now we ask her to make the whole African race the object of her endeavor. This is the mission offered to her; let her not decline it. Let her lead the hardest and perhaps the grandest movement in modern missions. The young colored scholars of the South have learned to trust her, and they will follow her.

Now is the time: Africa swings wide open her long barred gates; commerce and science are moving to possess the land; foundations are being laid for the centuries: let the church that can build so wisely and so well, build this new temple of a regenerated Africa.

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DEATH OF A TEACHER.

It is with painful regret that we are obliged to record the untimely death of Miss Laura S. Cary, one of the teachers of the Fisk University. She was the daughter of John J. Cary, Esq., of Nashville, well known as cashier of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank, and as a trustee of the Fisk University from its organization.

Miss Cary pursued the full course of study at the University, and was graduated with honor in the class of 1877, receiving the degree of A.B.; after this she engaged in teaching in the classical department as an assistant to Professor Spence.

She was very attractive in person, cultured in manners, dignified, quiet and winning. Her character as a Christian was unobtrusive and consistent. As a teacher she was proficient, kindly and patient, adding to exact scholarship a grace of demeanor and a voice of such rare sweetness as to attract constant attention to it. In her death the institution has lost one of the most valuable members of its corps of workers, and the African race a representative of rare merit and promise.

She died of typhus fever, June 28th, after an illness of ten days, aged 23.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

Raleigh, N. C.—After the closing of the Conference, Pastor Smith, with the assistance of Rev. Mr. Peebles, of Dudley, held special services for three weeks. The church was greatly revived. Two young men have been received into the church. Others have been and are interested. The congregation is increasing, especially in the attendance of young men.

Greenwood, S. C.—The Brewer Normal School, under the care of Mr. J. D. Backenstose, closed, June 26th, a successful year’s work. Examinations and exhibition were very creditable and largely attended. The annual address was delivered by the Rev. F. E. McDonald, on “Culture.” Ministers of other denominations, graduates of the school, and many prominent citizens, showed by their attendance, and expressed in words, their deep interest in the work and gratification with its results.

Atlanta, Ga.—The teachers and students of Atlanta University contributed about $75 at their monthly missionary meetings during the past year, and have employed that sum in aiding the work of the National Temperance Society, from which they have received a large supply of the best temperance literature. As nearly 150 of the students are at present engaged in teaching summer schools, and nearly all enter into the temperance work, they will find such a supply a valuable help, and can give it wide and effective distribution. About an equal sum was given at weekly school meetings, and will be sent to aid mission work among the Indians.

A State Teachers’ Association was organized in Atlanta, during commencement week, by the young colored teachers of Georgia. There was an attendance of more than one hundred, and all parts of the State were represented. The proceedings were dignified and appropriate, and wise and useful plans were set on foot for future action. A large portion of the participants were graduates of Atlanta University, and were in attendance upon its closing exercises.

Rev. S. S. Ashley has resigned the care of the First Church in Atlanta, and Rev. Geo. E. Hill, of Marion, Ala., is supplying the pulpit during the summer.

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Woodville, Ga.—The Sabbath-school is growing, and God is with us. It is in a better condition now than ever before since its organization. Last Sunday we had both white and colored people, who came seven miles to our Sunday-school. The day-school has never been as prosperous as it is this year. Truly we ought to be thankful. Our Sunday night meetings have been crowded for some time.

New Orleans, La.—A very complete manual of the Central Congregational Church, neatly printed, is in our hands. The order of admission and of administration of the church is very complete. The present membership is 149. Rev. Walter S. Alexander has been pastor of the church as well as President of Straight University for the past three years.

GENERAL NOTES.

The Indians.

From a recent report to the Department of the Interior, we extract the following items of information in regard to our Indian treaties, which may be to many as novel as they are striking:

Department of the Interior,                              }
Office of Indian Affairs, Washington, April 28, 1879.}

To the Honorable the Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C.

Sir: By reference to the treaties now in force with our nomadic tribes, it is found that a clause, in like terms, in reference to education, appears in seven (7) of our most important ones, while manifestly the same spirit of educational help from the Government pervades them all.

One of the clauses referred to is as follows (see revision of Indian treaties, page 132, Treaty with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, 1868):

“Article 7.—In order to insure the civilization of the tribes entering into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially by such of them as are or may be settled on said agricultural reservation, and they thereby pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty children between said ages, who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians and faithfully discharge his or her duties as teacher.

“The provisions of this article to continue not less than twenty years.”

These treaties were all confirmed in 1868, and, as will be seen, the educational clause is respectively limited to twenty years. The intent was unquestionably to gather into schools all of the children of the tribes who became parties to the treaties. By reference to the last annual report from this office, it will be found that the total population of the tribes having this clause in their treaties, on the date of that report, was about 71,000, and their children of school age numbered 12,000; and that ten years after making these treaties, of this great number of children entitled to educational privileges at Government expense, only 944 were really provided for.

The following extracts from said report have a direct bearing upon this subject, and merit special attention in this connection:

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“Experience shows that Indian children do not differ from white children of similar social status and surroundings, in aptitude or capacity for acquiring knowledge; and opposition or indifference to education on the part of parents decreases yearly; so the question of Indian education resolves itself mainly into a question of school facilities.

“But the figures contained in the tables herewith fall far short of indicating a purpose on the part of the Government to make this question one of speedy solution.

“At a low estimate, the number of Indian children of school-going age, exclusive of those belonging to the five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory, may be placed at 33,000. Of these, not less than 8,000 could, within a short time, be gathered into boarding-schools, except for the fact that the teachers are yet to be employed, the school buildings are yet to be erected, and the funds for both, and for feeding and clothing the scholars, are yet to be appropriated.

“The whole number of children who can be accommodated in the boarding-schools now provided at the various agencies is only 2,589. To these may be added 5,082 more, who can find room in day-schools—those expensive make-shifts for educational appliances among Indians,—making a total of only 7,671 Indians who have yet been placed within reach of school facilities. And when it is considered that the fifty youth who spend from one to three years in a boarding-school, must step from that into the social atmosphere created by 500 youth and 2,500 other members of the tribe who are still in ignorance, it can readily be seen that the elevation of an Indian tribe is being attempted by a method at least as slow as it is sure; and that what should be the work of a year will be protracted through a decade, and the work of a decade through a generation.

“In many cases this policy is not only short-sighted, but in direct contravention of treaty stipulations, as, for example, the treaty of 1868 with the Kiowas and Comanches (heretofore noted). The one boarding-school at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency, which will accommodate 75 pupils, is filled, and the other 425 children are waiting their turn. To comply with treaty stipulations with these two tribes would more than absorb the entire fund appropriated for the civilization and education of all the Indians in the Indian Territory, exclusive of the five civilized tribes. Even more glaring violations of educational clauses in Sioux treaties might be cited.”

The experience of the Department has been that the best results are obtained by a removal of the children from all tribal influence during the progress of education, so that educators can command all the time and attention of their pupils.

Youth so educated return to their tribes as teachers, interpreters and examples in farming, etc.; and if properly sustained and guided thereafter, prove far more effective guides than whites of the same capacity.

Nothing is more essential than that Indian youth, while passing through school, should have thorough instruction in some practical branch of labor that will meet their needs for obtaining a livelihood after leaving school.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. J. Brooks, Acting Commissioner.

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THE FREEDMEN.

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

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY.

The Tenth Anniversary—Commencement—Alumni Meeting—Going Forth to Work.

REV. C. W. FRANCIS, ATLANTA, GA.

The tenth anniversary of Atlanta University, which has just occurred, was an occasion of special interest to all its patrons and friends. The fact that the school was closing a year of prosperous work, during which a larger attendance than ever had been secured and maintained, and that evidences were multiplied of increasing confidence and respect on the part of all classes of people in the State, so that opportunities for usefulness were never greater, while generous gifts had recently come to provide needed facilities for the work, together with the real merit of the exercises and the large attendance of graduates, gave all a feeling of satisfaction which did much toward making the week one of great pleasure.

The exercises were introduced by a thoughtful and instructive sermon on the Sabbath, addressed to the graduating classes by the Rev. Mr. Bumstead, in which he set forth the occasion and motives for a high standard of attainment in life according to “the pattern shown on the Mount.”

Three days of examination followed, which were attended by a board of examiners, appointed by the Governor of the State, and by a committee of citizens, invited by the Board of Trustees, and a large number of patrons and friends. The chairman of the Board of Examiners, a prominent editor of the State, who has attended these exercises in his official capacity for six successive years, spoke, in an address to the students at the close, of his increasing satisfaction with the progress in education exhibited, and the substantial work done, with the spirit and management of the institution, and the zeal and skill of the students in their work, in different communities. He assured them of the liberality and friendliness of the people, and pledged the hearty co-operation of the State authorities and leading citizens with all their efforts at self-improvement, and for the elevation of the poor and ignorant so long as the present high standard of doing good was maintained. For all their work in these directions thus far, he had nothing but praise to give.

The Commencement exercises upon the last day were brief, sensible and entertaining. Five young men were graduated from college and two young women from the normal course, and degrees were conferred upon six young men who were graduates of three years’ standing. The music was a pleasant feature of the occasion, being well selected and well rendered. A report, which was highly commendatory, was read by Rev. J. M. Martin, D.D., of Atlanta, who had been in attendance upon the examinations by request of the Board of Trustees.

The gathering of the graduates in their meeting in the afternoon was the most striking feature of the occasion, as it was their first formal meeting, and secured the attendance of a large portion of them, and was marked by the warmest expressions of devotion to the school, its aims, discipline and culture, and affection and gratitude for its instructors. A singularly sober and earnest feeling pervaded their utterances, and it could plainly be seen that the conflicts of life in the difficult work nearly every one has taken up, have led them[236] to appreciate as never before the value of work done for them here.

A finely framed portrait of Pres. E. A. Ware was presented by them to the school, as an expression of their appreciation of his sacrifices and devotion to its interests, as well as a testimonial of personal affection.

The next day witnessed the busy scenes connected with the departure of more than 150 young people, who, for the most part, go to teach summer schools of three months’ duration throughout the country regions of the State. There is something peculiarly interesting in the separation and departure of a large company of young people anywhere, but a special interest belongs to this occasion. These go with such a simple faith to difficult work among strangers, with so few facilities and so many obstacles of many kinds; and yet they seem to win favor, even from those naturally opposed to their work: they find places open for them, gather schools in churches, log-cabins, or brush arbors, make furniture, black-boards and charts, give lectures, lead Sunday-schools, Bible classes and meetings, teach ministers and elders, and become “all things to all men,” that they may save some from the degrading bondage to ignorance, superstition and sin in which they find the mass of those for whom they labor. It is rare that any are unable to find schools through lack of money to travel and friends to aid them, but the absence of any efficient system of schools makes the burden heavy, and brings to a few sad disappointments. But the fact that so many young people, with no experience and little money and few friends, accomplish every year such a great work, seems to prove that the hand of the Lord guides and protects them, and that His purpose is to make them a leavening power at the base of society in this State, to regenerate and bless and save the whole mass.

The religious work of the year has been prospering, twelve having united with the school church, and more than as many more, who were hopefully converted here, being expected to unite with churches at their homes. All the members of the graduating classes are professing Christians, as has been the case with all who have been graduated thus far. The opportunities and possibilities for good were never greater nor the outlook more hopeful; and we may well set up at the end of the year another stone of witness and say, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

We append the following statements from the Editorial correspondence of the Macon Telegraph and Messenger:

This institution has been conducted with singular wisdom and propriety, and has already proved an inestimable blessing to the colored people of Georgia. Gradually, but surely, all the prejudices of the whites have been overcome, and the predictions of many that it would eventuate in a mere nursery of Radicalism and hate to the superior race, have not been justified by the facts. On the contrary, we have the testimony of our own School Superintendent, Mr. B. M. Zettler, that some of the most efficient and conservative teachers in the Bibb County schools were educated at the Atlanta University. Moreover, he favors the appointment, by the various Boards of Public Education, of teachers of their own race for the colored children of the State, in every instance where they show themselves competent.

Accordingly, we find from the official report of President Ware, that of the fifty-one alumni of the University, forty-two have engaged in teaching as a profession, while three are pastors of churches, two theological students, and one, Nathaniel D. Harris, of Washington, D. C., is pursuing the study of law. Of the teachers, four only have located beyond the limits of the State.

In addition, over ninety of the more advanced pupils employ their time during vacation in teaching.

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The institution is in a more flourishing condition than at any previous period of its history. Its matriculates number two hundred and forty, representing ten different States and forty-seven counties in Georgia. The trustees hold sixty acres of valuable land adjoining the college edifices, which is in itself a splendid endowment. The other revenues cover $8,000 per annum from the State of Georgia, tuition fees (only $2 per month), and donations usually amounting to $2,500 from charitable institutions at the North. But recently the trustees have had quite a windfall from the Stone estate at Malden, Mass. The widow of Mr. Stone, who, by her husband’s will, was made the almoner of his bounties, has given $50,000 to the University. They have fallen heir also to another sum exceeding $10,000, from the estate of the late R. R. Graves, of New York, who had previously donated a valuable library to the University.

With these subsidies it is proposed to erect immediately another College building between the two present structures, to cost $40,000, and a large addition to the Girls’ Dormitory, which will include a dining-room capable of seating 300 pupils. The estimated cost of this improvement is $15,000.

The library of the Institute comprises 4,000 volumes, most of them excellent selections, with a balance on hand in cash of $700 for further augmentation, derived from the interest on the permanent library endowment, which is $5,000.

It will be seen from the above that the Atlanta University is on the high-road to prosperity.

TALLADEGA COLLEGE.

The College, Farm, and Theological Seminary.

REV. TEMPLE CUTLER.

Talladega is beautifully situated among the hills of Alabama. It reminds one somewhat of Andover, Mass., only the hill on which the college stands is not as high. There is, however, the same outline of mountains in the distance, and the same soft light falling on the village nestling below, hidden among the rich foliage of trees. Talladega is by far the prettiest site for a college that I have seen in the South. Nature has done her part in fitting up the place for purposes of instruction. There is every incentive to mental improvement that nature can afford. If man will do his part, we may expect to find here one of the most important of those springs which are sending forth streams of moral and mental influence through all the wastes of this south country.

A week spent here has been exceedingly enjoyable. The teachers are an agreeable set of finely educated gentlemen and ladies, who spare no pains to make one’s stay a pleasant one. The hospitality is not made burdensome either to host or guest, but one quietly falls into the routine of life, and feels immediately at home.

There is a farm here of about 180 acres of land, most of which is under cultivation, called the Winsted Farm. This is being rapidly reclaimed from the waste of former mismanagement. The difference between Northern and Southern agriculturists is, that the land is improved under the former management, and wasted under the latter. In New England it is a sure sign of shiftless husbandry when the land runs out year by year. In the South there are but few farms or plantations that are not becoming poorer every year. The effort is begun on this farm to restore fertility, and in a few years we may expect to see a fine specimen of Northern enterprise in the products of its hitherto barren acres. The students work the farm in part payment for their education. How far this industrial department is going to succeed financially is a question that must wait for an answer. It is easy to theorize about the advantages[238] of such a measure, but the surest proof that the pudding is good is found in the eating of it. One thing is certain: four or five hours a day of work in the hot sun does not fit a young man to bone down to real hard study. It takes a good deal of the remainder of the day to get rested and ready for work. It sounds pretty to talk about a man’s catching up his book between works, and so using up the odds and ends of time, a la Elihu Burritt; but unfortunately there are not a great many Elihu Burritts left, and I am afraid they are not indigenous to this climate, nor found among boys and girls in these schools. It is a question whether we can afford to run a farm and school together. The drain on both the treasury of the college and the physical powers of the student must be taken into our calculations.

The collegiate exercises of the school were creditable to the students and their instructors. The examination exhibited the usual enthusiasm of these students in their studies. The day is past when we need to parade proofs that the negro has a brain capable of improvement. We can now quietly assume that the color of a man’s skin does not necessarily affect his mental calibre, and there we may leave it. I must say, however, that I have not attended a closer and more satisfactory theological examination in many a day than that of the nine theological students who will graduate from Talladega next year. I have attended examinations in seminaries and associations and councils, and been through several such trials myself, but I never was present at one that gave me better satisfaction than this. If all our theological teachers will pass over to us men as thoroughly posted in the fundamental doctrines of the Bible as these young men appeared to be, we will gladly put them into the ministry. Prof. Andrews has solved the question of the practicability of a theological department in this school. We have henceforth no excuse for putting men into the ministry who cannot answer the questions usually propounded to candidates for the sacred office.

The public appointments of this week embraced literary exercises by the Soronian Society on Monday evening, public exercises of the Model School on Tuesday afternoon, and College Address in the evening: Wednesday, graduating exercises of the theological department at 2.30 P. M., and at 8 o’clock, prize declamations and essays, closing with a spelling match: on Thursday, 10 A. M., the graduating exercises of the higher Normal department; at 2 P. M., an exhibition of the agricultural department; and at 8 P. M. a concert by the Musical Union closed the week. I was not able to remain through all the exercises of Thursday. Those that I attended were of a high order, and compared favorably with similar exercises of the same grade in other schools.

The attendance of the citizens from the town through all the public exercises was a very pleasant feature. Talladega has made a deep and lasting impression on the white people. They acknowledge the good work that it has done and is doing, and believe in the possibilities that are before it.

Last fall, arrangements were made for an Industrial Fair, which called together some of the best specimens of work done by colored men and women in this State and a part of Georgia. This, probably, gave more impetus to the industrial enterprise of the people than anything that has been done since freedom. May the good work go on. That is just what we want to see—the people waking up to do their level best.

BEREA COLLEGE.

A Commencement Crowd—A Mixed School—Free Speech—Self-Support.

PRESIDENT E. H. FAIRCHILD, BEREA, KY.

Wednesday, June 25th, was a beautiful day. The dust had been laid by a[239] grand shower the evening before, and the whole day was cool and bright.

At half-past seven in the morning the neighboring people began to enter the college campus, a beautiful grove of forty-five acres. At half-past nine, when the exercises commenced, they were bringing extra seats into the tabernacle, a rough but very substantial and commodious building, which accommodates two thousand people.

At half-past ten there were thought to be three thousand in and about the tabernacle, and nearly a thousand horses on the ground. As Berea embraces but eight hundred inhabitants, including students and infants, it appears that more than two thousand came from abroad.

But what came they out for to see? An exhibition of an impartial school in the centre of Kentucky. Sixteen students—twelve young men and four young ladies—delivered orations and essays. Only three of these were colored. This disproportion is accounted for partly by the fact that the great demand for colored teachers calls colored students away before they reach the higher classes. But it was partly accidental. It has never occurred before, and probably never will again. The colored students outnumber the white.

There were ten graduates—six from the classical department, three from the scientific, and one from the normal.

Two-thirds of the audience were white. A large portion of them were mountain people, but many were from the blue-grass region. The colored people generally gravitated to one side of the building, thus keeping up their country customs and gaining the approbation of their white neighbors. This is one of the relics of slavery. Generations must die before either white or colored people will feel like treating each other as equals. As master and slave they made no objection to the closest contiguity; as equals they cannot eat in the same dining-hall, though forty feet apart. This feeling has nearly passed away in Berea, as was perfectly manifest in a social farewell gathering of about three hundred of both races at the ladies’ hall in the evening. Equal rights, to the full extent, will never be enjoyed till this feeling is extinguished.

“Democracy Restored” was the subject of one oration, delivered by the only democrat in the institution. It was cheered by ex-rebels, and the college gained popularity among them for its liberality. Some of them thought the Faculty must have hired him to deliver his harangue to make a show of toleration. One young son of the democracy decided to attend the school. It will be a good place for him. The author of the oration has two years yet to study, and trying years they will be for him. His party had better get his faith insured.

The graduates are all professing Christians, though one has had his faith somewhat shaken, as was shown by his oration. He would be glad to study theology at an orthodox seminary. He is a son of the mountains, and an honest, earnest thinker, and a superior scholar.

The effort of the college to get on alone, without aid from the American Missionary Association, taxes all its energy and faith; but, thanks to God and its faithful friends, the past year it has not been left to suffer. The erection of the new chapel will commence immediately, though the necessary means are not all secured.

Berea College is a miracle of God’s grace and power. No other being could have established such a school, in such a community, with such instrumentalities, and made it such a power.

In this voting precinct of five hundred voters, where whiskey has reigned for many years, three-fourths of all the inhabitants have signed the Murphy pledge. Arrangements are made for a grand temperance rally on Friday, the[240] 4th, which, it is confidently believed, will fill the tabernacle to its utmost capacity. Berea, a beautiful spot by nature, is growing more and more beautiful every year. It is a charming place for a college, and nothing but poverty prevents a thousand youth from flocking here for education. Expenses are very low: Tuition, $9 a year; board, $1.50 a week; free tuition for ninety pupils; yet many students must leave, unless they can contrive a cheaper way to live, and find work to meet their small expenses.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

School Closing—Religious Life.

REV. W. L. JOHNSON, ORANGEBURG.

Our scholastic year closed on the 5th inst. Appropriate exercises were held at the “Independent Hall.” There was a very large and respectable audience of the children’s parents and white citizens who felt interested in our work. The exercises began about 8 o’clock, consisting of declamations, orations and music. After the exhibition, Rev. Professor Larrence, of Claflin University, by an eloquent address, in which he paid a splendid tribute to the value of learning and the excellence of the A. M. A. schools, its Principal and teachers proceeded to make the presentation of six silver-plated vases and beautifully ornamented butter-dishes to as many pupils. Those gifts were awarded by the Superintendent. Five were given for sustaining perfect examinations, and one for excellence in delivering a declamation. The whole affair was closed by a bountiful collation for the children and friends of the school.

During the term we have maintained religious meetings among the children, several of our scholars taking part by offering prayer. It has been a pleasure to see others mourning to know Christ as their Saviour. The neighboring ministers have, in general, been present, and expressed deep interest in our undertaking, besides impressing valuable lessons and pious sentiments upon the minds of the children.

Six pupils taught this year, in the free schools of Orangeburg County, an aggregate of 575 children, and were very acceptable to trustees and patrons of the schools. The whole number of days taught by them is about 375.

GEORGIA.

A Revival—Call for a Lady Missionary.

REV. FLOYD SNELSON, M’INTOSH, LIBERTY CO.

We have had, and are still having, a precious work of grace. On Sunday, the 25th, our communion season, nearly a thousand people were present. The weather was very delightful, and everything else connected with the occasion. Sixteen persons, hopefully converted, united with the church. The church is much encouraged, and its future looks very hopeful. I am almost broken down in this long and hard pull, still I believe that with this interest around me I could go on five months longer.

In summing up the converts during this campaign we find twenty at Cypress Slash, 14 miles above in our new field, and thirty-five here, making fifty-five in all. Most of these are not only young in grace but young in years, being from eleven to twenty. Therefore, in order to make them successful and useful Christians, I deem it very necessary to give them uncommon care. A special meeting of a social and religious nature is held Friday evening of each week in my house for them, and each one is required to take a part and is made to feel at home.

A Literary Society is also held at the church on the second and fourth Wednesday evenings of each month. In the former meeting much is sometimes said to correct the errors of home life. The necessity of this arises from the secluded situation of their parents and themselves from the white people. They were not at all situated like those in the upper part[241] of the State among the whites, whose ways they generally imitate, but were left to themselves, with no training except such as was given by overseers and drivers.

This important work is, therefore, left still undone. My wife did what she could in this line before we left for Africa, but since our return her health has been such that she has not been able to do anything. This work is of so much importance, and in such a promising field, that I now earnestly ask, Will not some one of our churches or Sunday-schools send us a lady missionary who can do it?

Actions and Reactions—Temperance and Religion.

WM. F. JACKSON, FORSYTHE.

Our school year closed May 30th, with encouraging results.

This was the first year of real systematic work in the Academy, the building having been finished too late to open at the beginning of last school year.

There is a growing interest in the work. Upon the close of the war, the schools established by the American Missionary Association were everywhere crowded with our people thirsting for knowledge: in the whole South the feeling for education ran high, so that the zeal of the Freedman for education became proverbial. But this proved to be not so much zeal as blind impulse. It is not so now. By a bitter experience, our people have been brought to see the errors of the past. Their present ideas respecting education plainly show this discovery. The people of our community feel that they and their children need it to make them useful. In our school were three women and two men of advanced age, who were diligent in studying, and compared favorably with younger pupils in their advancement, and who are now exerting their influence to bring in others, that a permanent class of aged persons may be formed. Again, many parents have sent children to school to me, evidently for no other purpose than to have them cared for; but now, some of these same parents express a different purpose, viz., to have them prepared for the duties of life. Then, too, there is a public spirit in favor of a better and higher education, manifested in the efforts now being made to establish here an African Methodist Episcopal College and a Methodist Episcopal High School.

Our pupils have been very regular in attendance compared with past years. There have been 113 students in school during the year, many of whom came from the adjoining counties, and will go out to take schools for the summer. There has been much earnest study done by these pupils, who seem determined to surmount the difficulties which present themselves. They have been encouraged to organize a Temperance society, which they manage themselves with credit. This organization is doing much in the school and community to encourage those who are striving to be temperate.

Amid all the flattering results of the year not much could be considered gained were it not for the great revival of religion among the pupils of our school. In April, very many became serious about their souls. They made earnest inquiries after the way of life. The Lord poured out his spirit in copious showers upon these precious souls, and nine were happily converted and added to the church. Thus we feel that God has richly blessed our labors, and that His approving smile rests upon us.

ALABAMA.

Corner-Stone of a Church Laid—The School Work.

REV. WM. H. ASH, FLORENCE.

This week has been a blessed one for us. On Saturday last the corner-stone of the new chapel was laid, and on Sunday appropriate services were held. It was an occasion long to be remembered.

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On the walls, at the front of the building, was erected a temporary platform, and on it a table. In the centre of it was a Bible and a large vase of beautiful flowers; back of this were seats for the speakers, and at the right was seated the choir.

The Rev. M. L. Frierson, of the Presbyterian Church, opened the services by reading the second chapter of Nehemiah, and led in prayer. The Choir then sung “What shall the harvest be?” The clerk of the church read the list of articles which were to be placed in the box prepared for the corner-stone, which has this inscription: “First Congregational Church, A.D. 1879. A.M.A.”

Next in order was an address by Hon. W. B. Wood, who said that he was a Methodist and a sectarian, too, but he loved all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not of the same denomination, but Paul said, Be ye brethren. He said that the times were better, that some old fogies would have us believe that we are not as progressive as they were 40 or 50 years ago, but his experience was, that we are moving onward, for he, as a judge, did not have as many cases to decide as he had five or six years ago. Not that the people were afraid of the punishment of the law, but controlled by the power of the Gospel and its morality.

He said that he took pleasure in aiding to build churches, that he had an interest in every church of Florence, and that if a subscription book should be carried around and his house passed he would feel slighted; and he advised all present to aid in behalf of the church.

He said that he believed he could speak for the entire white population, that they, in sympathy, would encourage every good work.

Rev. Mr. Frierson also spoke. After a collection was taken, “Ye Christian heralds, go proclaim salvation in Immanuel’s name,” was sung by the choir, and the benediction pronounced.

On Tuesday the examination of the school took place, and on Wednesday night the exhibition occurred. We had many visitors during the examination, and on the night of the exhibition our building, used for church and school, was filled to overflowing; all around the building, at the windows and doors, there were many who were eager to see and hear the exercises.

It is the first year of school work in connection with the church. At the beginning of the year we had three scholars; at the end we closed with thirty-five.

TENNESSEE.

Teachers’ Institute—Practical Education.

The Shelby County Teachers’ Institute or Convention was held in June. In regard to it the editor of the Memphis Appeal writes:

The teachers of the colored schools of the city and county deserve especial commendation for the interest they take in the leading educational questions of the day, and for the efforts they are making to reach wise and correct conclusions, and if we may judge of the nature of their entire proceedings and discussions from the paper on practical education presented before the Institute yesterday, and printed in another column of this morning’s Appeal, the Institute has certainly been a success in point of ability. It is not often that teachers take the initiative in educational reforms, but we are glad to notice here that a company of teachers speak boldly and plainly in favor of a more practical course of study for the preparatory and common schools of the country. We would call the attention of educators and school boards to this paper, and urge that some system be devised for our schools, whereby the simpler of these plans, at least, be at once carried into effect with the opening of the schools in October. The actions and words of this Institute have an especial[243] significance, coming as they do from the teachers of our colored schools, themselves belonging, with few exceptions, to the colored race. They certainly indicate a commendable earnestness in matters pertaining to the educational interests of the country and community, and they richly merit the encouragement and co-operation of all good citizens.”

The paper referred to was by Miss Laura A. Parmelee, of the Le Moyne School, and, after a historical sketch of much value, ended with the following recommendations:

A cordial letter from the Hon. W. H. Fonte, Superintendent of Schools, closed with the following words:

THE BY-WAYS OF TENNESSEE.

There is situated in the eastern part of Tennessee a beautiful, lonely, little valley, called the Sequatchie Valley. It is sixty miles long and five miles wide, containing about four hundred inhabitants. This is one of the by-ways of Tennessee, or, as it seems to be, from the condition of the people, Africa at home. It is hedged about with mountains, and its inhabitants scarcely hear of any other place than their own valley. They are very ignorant, and their chief occupation is farming.

I spent my last vacation among them, and tried to teach and show them the need of an education. There were persons who were forty and sixty years old[244] who could not count a hundred. Scarcely any of them had seen a steam-boat or car. They know only of the wilds of Sequatchie, where they have spent their lives. Near the head of the valley was my place of work, principally inhabited by drunkards of both colors, who spent their Sabbaths in intoxication and in the use of profanity. Their places of enjoyment were three still-houses about half a mile apart, where the price of their labor was given in liquor.

On my arrival at Pikeville I was conducted to a little house on the main street, where I remained one week. I was examined three days after my arrival. My examination seemed very simple, and I received first grade certificate. During that time it was noised abroad that school would open Monday, June 10th. Bright and early Monday morning I commenced my summer’s work; but as I met only twelve bright faces I felt somewhat discouraged, and was beginning to think that I would go elsewhere if I did not have more next week. To my surprise, by that time I found nineteen, and felt more reconciled. After I had taught a while I visited some of the children’s parents, and found that every body wanted to go to school, both young and old. Every one began to show an interest, and the number of scholars grew to fifty-seven, a few of whom had been to school before, while the others were only making a beginning. My most advanced pupil studied only the Third Reader and the Elementary Speller, which was considered by him quite an education. The most of them said that they did not want to go any higher than the Speller. Others only wanted to get as far as “publication.” In one case a lady came and brought a little girl to me who did not know the alphabet, and asked me to get her to “baker” as soon as possible, for she wanted her, as they say, to “help to lay by crop.” She said that if she got as far as “baker” she would be half through the Speller, which she considered half of an education; but I told her that that was only laying the foundation for the great work intended for them to do. They had often heard of schools, and half realized that they had minds to be cultivated, but not until last summer had they become interested in the real work of learning. They had a very good school-house for dry weather, but when it rained we had to shelter ourselves the best we knew how. The house would seat about sixty scholars comfortably, and was beautifully situated on a small hill called “Cedar Bluff,” which was surrounded by large oaks.

The people do not have very much preaching, but when they do have it it must be by daylight, on account of the white people stoning them at night. The colored people are still living as slaves, and are afraid to live otherwise. The laborers do not work by the day, as they do here, but as they are told. They get up about three or four o’clock in the morning and work until about midnight, and sometimes later if their employers desire to have the work finished. This is what they consider a day’s work. They have the same idea about teaching. They wanted that I should teach from sunrise to sundown. They know nothing of the eight or ten hour system of labor.

Those who live along the highways of trade and culture in our State, that are participating in the active work of the world, would scarcely believe that some parts of their own State are half civilized if they did not occasionally see it; but one has only to cross the Cumberland mountain to find his mistake. The Sequatchie Valley is only catching a ray of light now and then from the sunrise. When the sun comes up in the east it is first seen by those who live on the mountain tops and those who live in the highest places; but it keeps rising until it shines on valleys and plains. So[245] with the morning that has dawned upon the people of the South; it is first grasped by those on the highways, and then it begins to shine into the hidden corners until all shall be lighted. What can be expected of the children of the next generation if their parents are not more than half civilized? We need educated parents, so that the children may be properly trained. In order to do this we must go into these by-ways of our State and sow our seed, though it be on untilled soil. I think that the time is fast approaching when the public school system, carried out by earnest teachers, shall reclaim these valleys, and make them an honor to the State instead of haunts of ignorance and vice.

AFRICA.

THE MENDI MISSION.

Explorations into the Interior, etc.

REV. ALBERT P. MILLER, GOOD HOPE STATION.

I am traveling more or less to see the interior of this extensive country, going up certain rivers and visiting towns and villages on the way. I visited the Bargroo country last week, and hope to leave in the morning for Kaw-Mendi, to see what are the prospects of useful work for the Mission in that part of the country. Many of the old places formerly held by the Mission I shall try to visit before the rainy season proper sets in. We are getting things somewhat in shape, and hope to push into the interior as soon as practicable. Dodo is open to us; Cunkananny, also, on the very frontier, no mission station having ever been established nearer them than Avery. Bros. Anthony and White are to-night with us; will leave to-morrow for Avery. Bro. Anthony is well, and is getting on very well in his new field of labor. He takes right hold, and seems to be in dead earnest. Bro. White is also well. I find that we shall be obliged to get a large quantity of goods from some source or other with which to purchase logs, as two saws will soon be running in the mill, which will come in to help us. We are all very well save the doctor, who has been ill of late, but is now up. Pray for us.

The Industrial Work—General Impressions.

ELMORE L. ANTHONY, AVERY STATION.

I am well and all right. I had a slight pain in my head yesterday for the first time since I have been in the country, and that came from being in the sun too much. Everything seems to be going forward. I am doing the best that I can.

The mill has been repaired. The bottom logs were decayed; the ends of some of the posts were also decayed. There is considerable work to do yet. One of the saws started this week, and the other one will start soon. Bills for lumber are coming in. We can find sale for all the good lumber that we can saw. Logs are coming in; business seems to be opening. We had the shoot that leads the water from the vat or receptacle to the turbine wheel enlarged, which will, I think, give the water greater propelling power, and, of course, give the circular saw greater velocity. I am having the coffee farm cleaned, and will have the trees pruned next month, as I understand that is the time. I am doing just as you said.

The religious work seems to be improving, though I have not been here long enough to tell much about it. The industrial department is about all one man can attend to if he will do his duty. Brothers Jackson and White have the church and school. I help in the Sabbath-school.[246] Having seen the condition of the people, I would say, if you had the money, send one hundred thousand missionaries to different parts of Africa at once, and have them establish missions and tributaries. This country is baptized in ignorance, vice, poverty and old customs. Humanity is entirely below description. There are hundreds, yes, thousands of persons here that have not a string of clothing to their names. All the natives do is to sow and reap; they know nothing about cultivation whatever. Now, why keep missionaries away, when Christ has said, “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations”?

THE CHINESE.

“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

NOTES AND CLIPPINGS.

BY REV. W. C. POND.

It is unnecessary, and, of course, in the space at command it would be impossible, to give at length my correspondence with teachers and pupils connected with our schools; but I must ask you occasionally to make room for brief “notes and clippings.”

Whatever concerns our Chinese helpers bears with great weight on our work. Their teacher writes: “I think my pupils are very much in earnest, and study the Bible with no mere desire of finding out what there is in it, or of advancing themselves in the knowledge of our language—as some intimate the Chinese do—but with an earnest purpose to learn God’s ways and follow His commands, and to fit themselves to teach others the blessed truths which they themselves have come to believe. It seems to me they must make excellent missionaries; they appear to realize so fully the sad condition of their heathen friends, and are so simple and unquestioning in their faith in the God revealed to them by our Bible. All their teaching and preaching is the love of Christ, and what we should do in return for such love. I am puzzled what to do about the texts [passages of Scripture which I give them week by week to prepare outlines of discourses from. W.C.P.], for no matter what is the subject of them they are sure to run into the one thing that seems to fill their minds.” But that is the one thing needful.

The difficulties of which our teacher at Petaluma writes, are encountered to a greater or less extent everywhere. She says: “No Chinese ever attend the school except from one company. [Two of the now famous ‘Six Companies’ are represented among the Chinese of Petaluma. The rivalries and mutual antipathies of members of these companies are often very intense, leading sometimes to pitched battles. In Petaluma they keep the peace; but no efforts of teachers or helpers have yet succeeded in getting Chinese of both the companies into one school. W.C.P.] The scholars are, also, house-servants or laundrymen, and are constantly changing places, and a great deal of the time have nothing at all to do. If they had work we could keep them. If the times would improve the school would improve. The scholars like the school, and are much more friendly and cordial[247] to me since Hong Sing [the Chinese helper] came, because now I am better understood. But while they are constantly shifting about to get employment, I am afraid the good accomplished cannot be very great.”

This is illustrated by the following from a teacher in the Oakland School: “I was hearing a scholar who had been in the school about a week read in his primer. We came to the sentence, ‘Christ died for us,’ and I asked him ‘Who was Christ?’ To my astonishment, he knew nothing of him. In the plainest way possible to me, I gave an account of Christ’s life and death. He seemed interested, but told me that he had never been at Sunday-school. The next night I noticed him reading with the helper in the Testament, and he became regular in his attendance at Sunday-school. Losing his position, he was obliged to go away to get work. I was very sorry, for I had great hopes that he would soon become a Christian. This teacher adds: ‘It is gratifying when you ask one who has seemed somewhat dull, Who is God? to see the face brighten and the hand point upwards; and if you go still further and ask, Do you love God? a smile plays upon the features and the reply is, ‘Oh, yes.’ A prayer-meeting is held each Wednesday evening, in which manifest interest is taken. After the close of the school the pupils often remain and read together the Scriptures written in Chinese. Each Friday evening I tell them a short story from the Bible, and try to take from it some truth which they may remember. I should be deeply grateful could I write of more being brought into the kingdom of God. The work is encouraging; and while sometimes we reap the fruits of others’ labors, so others shall reap the fruits of ours.”

Of course the Gospel leaven working in this mass of heathenism induces more or less of fermentation. Our Christian Chinese are often engaged in discussions with their heathen friends. I took brief notes of one such, as afterwards reported to me. I am glad to say that the assailant of the truth in this dispute has since been converted, and is now a member of my church. The heathen, who had long been a pupil in Bethany School, and a close reader of the New Testament, said to our brother, “Your Bible itself says we must not put new wine into old bottles. China is an old bottle; new wine will burst it.” The reply surprised me by its apt and correct interpretation of the text referred to: “Not so. You cannot put the new wine of Christ into the old bottles of Chinese teachings and worship, it will burst them; but you can put it into Chinese hearts and it will save them.” “But you say,” continued the objector, “that a little water on the head washes sins away. I wash all over three times a day, and not take my sins away.” “Not so,” replied Hong Sing, “water cannot take sins away; but water means that God’s Spirit poured upon our hearts, Christ’s blood sprinkled on our souls, takes our sins away.” “But people come to the Lord’s Supper and then go away, do wrong, gamble, smoke opium.” Neither admitting nor denying this, Hong Sing told and interpreted with perfect correctness the parable of the net cast into the sea. The last objection was this: “You Christians say that you go to the Lord’s table and drink his blood and eat his flesh. Would you eat your mother’s flesh and drink her blood, if she were dead?” Hong Sing’s reply will be easily surmised by my readers. I wish that I could give word for word the broken English, and could reproduce on paper the animation with which this conversation was related to me; but the limits of my space forbid, even if otherwise it were possible.

The Story of Lee Jin as told by Jee Gam.—“Lee Jin was a young man twenty-three years of age, a nephew of Lee Young. For more than three years[248] previous to his death he had been a member of a Chinese society of freemasonry, and also a member of Lock Shan Tong. This latter is a school or society where the doctrines of Confucius and other Chinese sages are professedly taught; but, in reality, this society has been formed for no other purpose than to prevent any more Chinese from becoming Christians, and to entrap those who have already become Christians. During his connection with the above-mentioned society he was one of its most active members, and one of the strongest opposers of Christianity. He did not content himself with setting forth his opposition at his own place and outside Christian institutions, but often carried it into our Christian association. His argument was nothing but pride and self-glory. As a Jew boasted of his father Abraham, and felt proud because his race was the chosen people of God, so he himself was lifted up. He said: ‘The middle kingdom is the true celestial empire. She is the realm of literature. She is the nation of rites. Great and powerful are her people, and especially her ancient personages, whose great deeds no language is sufficient to describe.’ He endeavored to display his learning by quoting what he had learned from the books of his sages, ‘I have heard of men using the doctrines of our great land to change barbarians, but I have never yet heard of any being changed by barbarians, etc.’ But when his arguments were overcome he would say, ‘Well, I am a Chinaman; I have Confucius; I worship the gods of my own country. If Jesus is the God of the barbarians, let him be worshiped by them, and not by Chinese.’ So his heart was hardened like that of Pharaoh, until, at last, he fell sick. During his illness the Lord, with His wonderful power, revealed the folly of his pride, and the consequences of his self-righteousness and evil deeds, to his then opened eyes. He trembled with fear and said, ‘Oh, what a great sinner I am! What a miserable offender of Jesus! Do send for Lee Hain and Jee Gam. Tell them to come immediately and pray for me.’ His uncle, Lee Young, was struck with astonishment when he heard these words, and saw this great change in his nephew. He said in reply, ‘Do you really want Jee Gam and Lee Hain to pray for you?’ ‘Yes,’ was the reply. ‘Why not pray to the gods you always worship?’ ‘Oh, they are dead idols. They are of no use. They could not save me from the punishment of my sins.’

“We were sent for accordingly. When we reached there he begged us to forgive him for his opposition against us for preaching the Gospel of the Saviour, whom he had begun to love. We prayed for him, and asked him to repeat the words after us, which he did with a tone of true repentance. Oftentimes after this he asked his uncle and his younger brother to pray for him. His heathen friends deserted him to the care of these Christian relatives, but after his death, when we had taken charge of the body to give it Christian burial, they came and wished to perform some of their heathen rites. We would not permit it; and, rather than take back their offerings, which would bring them bad luck, they burned them before the door. We accompanied Lee Jin to the cemetery, where we had procured a suitable lot, and then we sang a hymn and offered a prayer before committing his body to the dust. We believe he is now safe in heaven.”

[249]

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

The following “short talk” was made by Etahdleuh Doanmoe (“Boy Hunting”), at the anniversary at Hampton. He is one of the St. Augustine Indians now studying there:

My Home in Indian Territory.

“I am a Kiowa Indian boy twenty-three years old. My home is in the Indian Territory. My people are not much civilized. They live in houses made of skins of the buffalo. They like to hunt and fight. When I was a little boy I did not see many white people. The Kiowas moved camp often to keep near the buffalo, and we lived on buffalo meat and berries all the time. We had no bread, no coffee or sugar. We boys talked all the time about hunting the buffalo, going to fight the Utes, Navajoes, or Pawnees, and most about fighting the white people or stealing horses. The old Kiowas talked all the time to us about fight or hunt the buffalo. Sometimes the men would go off and bring back scalps of white men and women, or Indian men and women; then we had a big dance. This was all I heard and all I saw, and I thought it was good, so I will be a big fighter and a good hunter too, and may be I get to be a big chief. When I was about fifteen years old I killed my first buffalo with a bow and arrow. I had no gun. Then I was called a man, because I could kill buffalo. Then I went with the young men to fight the Utes and Navajoes and steal horses. I was in three fights with the Utes and two with the Navajoes. All this time I wore a blanket or a buffalo robe, and liked to have my hair long, and paint my face and wear big rings in my ears. I did not know anything about God, or churches, or schools, or how to make things grow from the ground to live on. Four years ago there was a big war. The Kiowas, Comanches and Cheyennes fought the soldiers all winter. The buffalo were nearly all gone, and the Indians got very hungry. The horses worked hard, and it was so cold the grass was poor, so they got very weak, and we lost many in fights with the soldiers. Then the soldiers came to our camps and we had to run away and leave our lodges, then the soldiers burned them. We all got very tired and hungry, and the women and children cried, so the chiefs said we will go into Fort Sill and give up. We met Captain Pratt in the Wichita Mountains. He had some Indian soldiers and two wagons loaded with bread, sugar and coffee. He gave us plenty, and we gave him all our guns, pistols, bows and arrows, shields and spears. That night we had a big dance because we had plenty to eat. I went to Florida. Then I first began to learn something about the good way, and I find Indian’s way very bad; so I thought I will never live Indian’s way any more. Captain Pratt was our good friend. He taught us many things and showed us the white man’s road. We stayed in Florida three years, and then some of the Indians went back home, but the young men wanted to stay east and get a good education. We came to Hampton. We have been here one year, and we study hard and are learning to work and be men. We like it. I see that every white boy and girl, and every black boy and girl can go to school, and that is the way they get ahead of the Indians. Indians have no chance. You give all Indian boys and girls schools and teachers like you have, and Indians will do better.”

[250]

LETTERS TO THE TREASURER.

We give a few extracts from letters recently received expressing interest in and motives for pressing our work, and containing substantial contributions to its continuance. We could print many such letters every month if we had room for them:

I inclose a pocket-piece (a gold half-dollar), held and valued for many years, to pay subscription to The American Missionary for one year.

Respectfully,

I. M. S.

My little son, the morning he died, on being asked what should be done with the little money he had so carefully invested in the new four per cent. $10 certificates issued April 1st, said his father should have it to distribute as he thought best among the benevolent societies, and I send you one-third of it, and the balance to the Board and Home Missions.

This is very precious money. Put it where it will do the most for the cause.

A. L. W.

Inclosed find draft on the American Exchange Bank for $200, my subscription to your society for the Freedmen for the year 1879. I have heretofore given $100, but it seems to me very important that the Freedmen should be educated as fast as possible. As many of the educated men as possible should be kept in the Southern States to assist in educating the colored people and helping them to stand up for their rights.

R. L.

Inclosed please find $5 for the American Missionary Association. As I am now nearly ninety years old, this, in all probability, is my last contribution to this good object. With my prayers for this and every object of Christian benevolence,

I am yours truly,

C. H.

The other day, when I thought that our loved American Missionary Association was in debt, when I thought that our kind Father in heaven had given us such overflowing crops in the past season, and blessed us in every department (almost), it struck me that there was something wrong in the supporters of the noble cause. Well, let the time past suffice that we have been slack; let us come up to the work.

Please find inclosed $25 for the old debt, $15 to constitute (in part) two life members of the American Missionary Association, and oblige yours,

A Friend.

In the Congregationalist of last week, I noticed your “Appeal” in behalf of the American Missionary Association, to which I respond by inclosed draft for $24, pension for one quarter, for service in the War of 1812.

An abolitionist from my first consideration of the enslaved in our country, induced by the movement and utterances of the great agitator—now happy, I trust, in his reward—I still feel that, though their chains are broken, they are objects of sympathy and aid in their anxiety and effort to become intelligent and useful citizens. There is no department of benevolent effort to which I more cheerfully contribute.

With respectful regards,

Yours truly,

O. G.

From Grenada, Mass.

Inclosed find six dollars ($6), which you will please accept from our Sunday-school as a thank-offering for what the American Missionary Association has done for us in the past. We would gladly have made it more, but the pressure of so many conflicting claims made it impracticable. We are just now paying for a new organ.

[251]

RECEIPTS

FOR JUNE, 1879.

H. W. HUBBARD,

Asst. Treas.

The American Missionary Association.

AIM AND WORK.

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

STATISTICS.

Churches: In the South—In Va. 1; N. C., 5; S. C., 2; Ga., 12; Ky., 7; Tenn., 4; Ala., 13; La., 12; Miss., 1; Kansas, 2; Texas, 5. Africa, 1. Among the Indians, 1. Total 66.

Institutions Founded, Fostered or Sustained in the South.—Chartered: Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La.; and Austin, Texas, 8. Graded or Normal Schools: at Wilmington, Raleigh, N. C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S. C.; Macon, Atlanta, Ga.; Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selma, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn., 11. Other Schools, 18. Total 37.

Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants.—Among the Freedmen, 231; among the Chinese, 17; among the Indians, 17; in Africa, 14. Total, 279. Students—In Theology, 88; Law, 17; in College Course, 106; in other studies, 7,018. Total, 7,229. Scholars, taught by former pupils of our schools, estimated at 100,000. Indians under the care of the Association, 13,000.

WANTS.

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

2. Additional Buildings for our higher educational institutions, to 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.

[255]

THE CHRISTIAN UNION.

HENRY WARD BEECHER, LYMAN ABBOTT,

Editors.

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CHARLES L. NORTON,	AND OTHERS.

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An answer to the great question by

The Rev. PHILLIPS BROOKS,

The Rev. JOHN HALL, D. D.

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In a Series of Interviews with themselves, phonographically reported by

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On trial for Three Months to any new address, FIFTY CENTS.

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Address THE CHRISTIAN UNION, 27 Park Place, New York.

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[256]

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Transcriber’s Notes:

Ditto marks replaced with the text they represent to facilitate text alignment. Obvious punctuation errors and omissions corrected.

On page 231, “Afric’s” was changed to “Africa’s”. (on Africa’s shores)