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 the 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. C. C. Painter, 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 are glad that we can keep silent in regard to the closing exercises of our schools and let others praise us; strangers, and not our own lips. Nay, better than this, we can say that in many cases those whose praise we repeat, are no longer strangers. In place of some of the usual reports written by our teachers, or friends who have gone down to look into our work, having the greatest sympathy with it, we gather up what is said by the native whites of the South, many of whom have been most interested attendants upon all the anniversary exercises of the schools contiguous to them. We find no fuller or more sympathetic or enthusiastic reports in the Southern papers of the schools for whites than of ours for the colored people. We, therefore, ask the special attention of our readers to these reports this year, as showing the estimate the Southern press and people are putting upon our work.

Dr. Rufus Anderson.—Seldom have nature and grace, culture and varied discipline, combined to form a more rounded and perfect character than that of this sainted man, so long identified with the life of Missions, who passed to his rest on the last Sabbath of May. He became permanently connected with the A. B. C. F. M. in 1822, and since 1832 has largely shaped the policy of that Society. For more than half a century, he has been in the closest sympathy with the Divine Master in His effort to save the world, and it has often seemed to us that his face reflected much of the sweet longings of the Master for its accomplishment.

It were sad to be forever on a journey, and never reach home, and so, while the church feels a sense of loss and bereavement because of his removal from its councils, we yet rejoice over his beautiful and useful life, and in the assurance that to him has been administered an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Deacon Isler.—The Church at Wilmington, N. C., has been greatly afflicted, and much weakened, by the death of Deacon Isler, a Christian of rare development in all that graces Christian character. It is only five years since he came to Christ, and it [194] now seems to his associates that these five years have been spent under a premonition that what he did must be done quickly. His consecration was without reserve; nothing was too hard for him to undertake; no obstacle turned him aside from the duty which lay before him. With no patience for those who would accept help they did not need, he combined the purpose and constant effort to bear in his strong arms those who did need it.

While, as he said, he “had his rathers,” and would like to work for others, yet he was willingly and joyfully in the hands of Jesus. Much comforted by his wife’s reply to his question whether she could give him up, “Yes, all I want is Jesus,” he passed gently and sweetly away; a man of rare strength, whose death is a great loss, but, being dead, he yet speaketh, and his works follow after him.

“No Charge On My Books Against You.”—The above sketch of a worthy and noble man, for which we had no room in our last number, is supplemented by an incident which must find place for brief mention.

When it became evident that disease was fastening upon him, the best physician of the city was called in and put in charge of the case. He became acquainted with the noble life of his humble patient, took the deepest interest in him, and attended him as faithfully as if he had been a wealthy and influential white man.

When one of the teachers, who had made herself responsible for the bill, called upon the doctor for it, he said: “I have no charge against you. I only wish I could have done more for so worthy a man; I shall be glad to give my professional aid to as many such beneficiaries as I can.” Straws are small things, but they indicate the set of the tide. Facts multiply which abundantly prove that mutually helpful relations are being established between the two races on the basis of recognized equal civil liberty. The ignis fatuus of social equality between them might with profit be remitted to the realm of dreams and fantasms, and wait the establishment of such between members of the same race.

The Dallas (Texas) Times relates an unparalleled instance which occurred at the last term of the Ellis Co. District Court. A negro was tried and found guilty of conspiracy to murder. His defence had been strong but unavailing. The judge overruled a motion for a new trial, as no error of law could be alleged and the evidence seemed strong. When asked what he had to say, the prisoner answered that he could say nothing which would change the sentence the court was about to pronounce upon him, but he would like to speak a few words to his own people in the court-room. Leave being given, he began in a slow, quiet way to review the case. He dissected the evidence in a most masterly way, showing its inconsistencies and contradictions; and gradually warmed up until he burst forth into a strain of impassioned eloquence which carried audience and court with him. When he finished, the judge said, “Sam, I thought you guilty; I don’t believe so now, and will set aside the judgment overruling your motion for a new trial, and give you another chance.” The attorney for the prosecution then dismissed the case. He was an uneducated, common field hand; and yet there are some who think the negro incapable of doing anything higher than hoeing cotton under a white man’s supervision.

When Gen. Howard was in Andover, Mass., the other week, visiting his son in Phillips Academy, he was introduced to a colored man, who asked him if he remembered an answer given by a colored boy at the Storr’s School, in Atlanta, some years since, to his question, “What shall I tell the people of the North?” “O, yes,” said the General. “A little boy in a white jacket said, ‘Tell them we are rising.’” “Well,” said the young man, “that boy has kept his promise. He has risen and is doing noble, manly work for his people.” He has become editor of the Journal of Progress, one of the fifty-four papers now edited by colored men in this country.

Then and Now.—Nineteen years ago, John G. Fee was waited upon by sixty-two citizens of Bracken Co., Ky., with a peremptory demand that he should leave the county. One of these, an influential and wealthy man, has recently called on him and requested him to give an address on education for the benefit of an institution which the citizens of that county have built. This building is used as an academy. The school is flourishing, having a large number of pupils and three teachers.

The door is opening wider and wider, while the number of adversaries grows smaller: many of them deserting, and becoming co-laborers with us in this work.

Savannah, Ga., has one grog-shop for each 110 of its 33,000 inhabitants, and one Protestant church, white or black, for each 1,223; and until recently, it is said, the churches had no particular fault to find with the grog-shops, and it may be inferred the latter had no complaint to make of the churches. But there has been a disturbance. Some 4,000 of the whites have enlisted to fight this greatest curse and nuisance of our day, while the blacks are also 700 strong in the same army. The labors of Rev. H. E. Brown, in connection with his revival work in that city, have greatly aided Mr. Markham’s efforts in this direction; and so the blacks and the whites are making common cause against the common enemy, just as if their interests were identical in whatever concerns the temporal or spiritual welfare of the city. We shall some time talk more of common interests, and less of different colors.

Preaching, but no Instruction.—In our last number, one of the missionaries in Alabama said that many of the colored people “declare plainly they do not believe in Bible religion.” They believe in visions and dreams. Another missionary, writing from a section still under the spiritual guidance of the old preachers, says:

“These people have had preaching, but no instruction. The heart and conscience have not been touched. The older people will come out of a religious meeting and steal a hog for their supper. A white man said to me, ‘When these darkies are going to have a camp-meeting barbecue, I am pretty sure to lose two or three heads of cattle from my herd.’ One very pious brother, engaged in prayer at a camp-meeting, heard some one in the crowd say, ‘Here comes a United States marshal,’ when the brother rose from his knees, leaving his petition unfinished, and ran with all speed for the brush.” Surely, such need truly religions teachers.

Missionary Studies.—The plan of study adopted by the church at Dorset, Vt., is so comprehensive and practical, that we must give room to it. The reports and papers are offered on the first Sabbath of each month, as follows: Races for whom Christ died. 1st. Characteristics, Homes, Histories; 2d. What is being done for their evangelization? 1. White men, Caucasian race; 2. Yellow men, Mongolian race; 3. Black men, Ethiopian race; 4. Brown men, Malayan race; 5. Red men, American or Indian race.

A most valuable course of instruction is mapped out here, combining the advantages of a literary club, with the spiritual aims of a missionary concert.

What Does It Mean?—The venerable Dr. Moffat, father-in-law of Livingstone, says: “More has been learned regarding Africa since the Proclamation of President Lincoln, declaring the slaves of the United States free, than in all the past.” Who can be so blind that he does not see the relation of these two facts?

Today, eight European governments have from one to three exploring parties penetrating that vast continent for various purposes. The negro slave of America has become a free man, has the ballot in his hand, and the nation is under bonds to fit him for citizenship. He is restive in his present position. He has an instinct for home which does not find its full satisfaction either on the cotton lands of Mississippi, nor on the corn fields of Kansas or Indiana. What it all means, God in His own time will fully unfold. Meantime, the pressure of necessity is upon us to save ourselves from being trampled to death under the feet of these ignorant voters, led to the polls by unscrupulous demagogues. When we have done this, we shall have fitted an instrument for God’s own right hand; whether for use in America or in Africa chiefly, we know not, and it matters not.

John Sykes.—The editor of the Independent, on a recent excursion into Virginia, met with, what we may begin to call, a representative negro, for John Sykes is not so much alone today as James’ celebrated solitary horseman of thirty years ago. He is the owner of 171 acres of land near Lake Drummond, all paid for, and stocked with horse, mule, several cows, pigs, sheep, and fowl. He was on his way to Hampton to hear the valedictory address of his son, with great expectations as to what he should see and learn as to new methods of farming practiced on the great farm connected with the school.

His daughter is to take her turn at the school next year, to be followed by another son. Since he bought his land, eight years ago, twenty-five other colored men, his neighbors, have purchased, and paid for, land in lots of from 5 to 50 acres each, while some thirty others have contracts for similar lots. All this within eight years, and along with it has been a progress in education and general thrift which is most hopeful. The editor met four graduates on the same boat with Mr. Sykes, on their way back to Hampton to attend the graduating exercises, “whose intelligence and gentlemanliness were most marked.” He adds as the result of his observations, what a recent excursion into the South enables us to confirm, “In Virginia, the colored people are rapidly rising in intelligence, in comfort, and in wealth; and the feeling of the whites toward them is quite as kindly as could be expected.”

And the contrast suggested is one that it would be well for those who are impatient of the negroes’ slow progress to follow out to the minutest detail. He writes: “It is impossible for a visitor from the North not to compare their position [197] as a race with that of our ancestors two hundred years ago, when starting an American civilization. The Southern negroes have probably as much comfort about them as most of our early forefathers, as good houses, as good furniture, as many cattle: but they have not the intelligent educated upper class, which founded our great colleges and which molded our whole population. This influence they must get from abroad. They need it, and they appreciate and want it; and no more needed and fruitful work can be done by our benevolent people than to provide the Southern negroes with Christian education.”

The Memphis Avalanche says that a most interesting and entertaining feature of the evening exercises, connected with the close of the Le Moyne School, was the address to the graduating class by Judge J. O. Pierce, which was scholarly, thoughtful and eloquent. And it adds of the school that “it is an honor to the educational institutions of Memphis. It has done much to forward the cause of education among the colored population, and the good results of its labors are apparent in every direction. Institutions of this class cannot be too much encouraged.”

It is proof that we have entered upon a new era when the principal of one of our schools is constrained to say, what Prof. Steele, of Le Moyne Institute, does in a card to the editors of the Memphis Appeal:

“I cannot leave the city for the summer without first thanking you, and, through the Appeal, also the other eminent gentlemen, who have, during the year past, given us so much aid and encouragement in our work among the colored people of this city and vicinity. The course of lectures which these gentlemen have provided has, I am certain, accomplished much good in many ways. * * * In this, as in every other respect, a better day is near at hand. * * * It has been our aim, in quietly doing our work here, to hasten forward this day of better feeling, and after years of patient toil, and amid many discouragements, we hope that at last a day is not far distant when our work shall gain the approval and aid of all good people, or even when we may relinquish our efforts and hand over our work to those here who should be, and who are, I am convinced, becoming greatly interested in it. Again, in behalf of the faculty and students of this school, and in behalf of the American Missionary Association, which has, in the past sixteen years, expended millions of dollars in education at the South, I thank the Appeal and other papers and gentlemen for their interest and encouragement in our work.”

OUR GREAT NEED.

We have vast opportunities. Our schools are overflowing with the best selected material we have ever had. The fields are white for the harvest, much of which must rot ungathered, unless a large number of laborers are sent into the field; and these are not wanting. The day of romance in negro teaching is past, and there is nothing in it that appeals to the mere sentimentalist. The day of danger is past, and martyrs are not called for; but there is a demand for honest, earnest Christian educators, who find ample field for all their best gifts, and there is no difficulty in procuring these of the very first order. There is, also, much intelligent appreciation of the vital importance of this work, in its relations both to the life of our [198] nation and the kingdom of Christ. What is needed now, and most pressingly, is a clear apprehension on the part of churches and individuals of the relation which their gifts bear to these civil and spiritual results. It is largely a question of money given, or money withheld. “Prayers are needed?” Certainly! Prayer, not to move the Lord so that He shall favor the work, and prosper the efforts of those engaged in it, but prayer that shall shake selfish plans of expenditure which are so large that nothing is left over for this work; prayer that shall confirm, and give definite shape to vague desires that the means shall be provided; prayer that selfishness may not throttle benevolence. When this prayer has become fervent and effectual, the result will be money, which, we assert again, is our present great need.

The Association was urged forward, by the zeal of the churches at the last Annual Meeting, to enlarged plans for the year, requiring enlarged gifts from the churches. This enlargement on our part has been made; it is necessary that yours shall now correspond, or disaster will follow.

Owing to the fact that our schools close in the month of June, and our accounts with our workers must be settled, our need is specially great at this time. The long spell of dry weather has affected our collections in the country churches; and there is danger that we shall suffer, as our benevolent societies do in the presidential year, from absorption of public interest in political affairs; and so we must urge again upon our friends the fact that our great and most pressing need is “money.”

ARTHINGTON MISSION—THE OUTLOOK.

To those who are acquainted with the fact, that there is not a single Protestant missionary in the Nile Basin proper, from the Albert Lake to the Lybian Desert, the subject of this article will be of profound interest. Is Ethiopia stretching out her hands to God, or will she do so soon? For a reply to these questions, the eye turns, just now, to this Association and the progress of the proposed Arthington Mission. We have considered Mr. Arthington’s proffered aid, and have sounded the call for men and means. Expectations have been raised, money has been contributed, and the service of experienced missionaries tendered. There have been so many disasters in connection with Central African Missions, so much delay has been caused by unexpected obstacles, and such sacrifices of health and life have been experienced, that we have felt constrained to proceed with the greatest caution. The courage and faith of God’s people may be sustained for a time by displays of enterprise, daring, and readiness to give one’s life for a good cause. Indeed, such exhibitions are essential; but a time comes when nothing will satisfy but solid success. Our earnest prayer from the beginning has been, that we might be led to enter upon work in the Nile Basin, if at all, in a manner that would give promise of great and permanent usefulness. We have, therefore, endeavored during the past year to gather information from every available source, and, especially, from persons who have been engaged in the service of the Egyptian Government. In this, we have been fortunate.

Col. C. C. Long, of New York, who visited Mtesa’s kingdom on the Nile, has kindly responded to our calls upon him, whenever questions of interest about which he was informed, have arisen. More than a year ago, we submitted to him in writing a list of thirty-nine questions for the purpose of obtaining information [199] on every matter of interest in connection with the Mission. To these questions, he responded fully in writing.

Last autumn, Col. H. G. Prout, who had served for two years and a half on Gordon Pasha’s staff in ancient Ethiopia, established himself in New York. At our request, he gave us several interviews of great interest and profit. During his stay in Central Africa, he had carefully surveyed the route from Souakim to Berber, of which we have a full report. He had also surveyed the countries of Kordofan and Darfur, after which, with a view to the acceptance of the governorship of the Upper Nile Basin, he proceeded to Mrooli, by way of the White Nile and the Albert Lake, traversing the country we propose to occupy. He kindly reviewed with us the responses given by Colonel Long, and added valuable information.

Prof. Chase, on his return from Africa to London, submitted the information, received from Col. Prout and Col. Long, to Gordon Pasha, who at that time was in England, and from him gathered in writing additional and valuable knowledge of the country, and the methods of procedure necessary for entering it. Prof. Chase also obtained an interview with Dr. Felkin, of the Church Missionary Society, who had just returned from Mtesa’s kingdom, by the way of the Nile and Souakim. From these gentlemen, and the current literature of the year pertaining to the Nile Basin, we are prepared to re-affirm and supplement the statements made by us a year ago:—

1.—The country is accessible. Col. Prout’s survey from Souakim on the Red Sea to Berber on the Nile, a distance of 240 miles, is reported with such fullness of detail as to familiarize the reader with almost every mile of the journey, impressing him with the feeling that a trip over the road at the right season would prove a pleasurable pastime. From Berber to the mouth of the Sobat, the northern border of the territory selected for the Mission, steamers with suitable accommodations ply with more or less regularity. To this it may be added that abundant supplies, except medicines, can be purchased along the route.

2.—The negroes from the Sobat to the Equator have not been Mohammedanized. They are real heathen, in very needy circumstances, and would, doubtless, welcome missionary endeavors, especially if trade and industries were promoted in connection with religious teachings.

3.—The efforts of the missionaries would have a very wholesome influence upon the Egyptian officials, and serve to check the slave-trade and to ameliorate the condition of slaves.

4.—It would be the part of wisdom to locate our first stations where the people are already protected by the Egyptian Government, as their flag would be sure to follow if new fields were opened, and with it, temporary disturbance. Pressure should be brought to bear upon the Khedive for obtaining permission to navigate the Nile with steam-boats, and for freedom and protection while pursuing missionary work at the points selected.

5.—While it would be desirable to commence at once, for many reasons, among the Obbo and Latooka, south-east of Gondokoro, yet it would probably be the part of prudence to plant our first station near the mouth of the Sobat, where the country is rolling and well-wooded, and the people of the Nouer tribe are friendly to missionary endeavors. From this point, there is frequent and not difficult communication with Khartum, which is a sufficient base of supplies. [200] From the mouth of the Sobat, mission stations may be extended throughout the region we hope to occupy.

6.—A rendezvous might wisely be established at Berber, where a fruitful oasis affords supplies. This locality is said to be healthy, and, being situated on the Nile in the southern portion of the desert, free from African fever. If a steamer is secured for the Mission, the missionaries, in case of sickness or need of changes, could easily resort to Berber, spending a portion of the more unhealthy season; and possibly, meanwhile, developing a Mission at that point.

7.—The aid rendered by the Egyptian authorities to the United Presbyterian, of America, who have established 35 mission stations in Lower Egypt, gives promise of a good measure of protection and co-operation. Although the Mohammedans as such, and, especially, the slave-dealers, are sure to look with disfavor upon Protestant missions in the Nile Basin; yet, American and English influence is sufficient to assure such toleration as is needful, while the real heathen, to whom we hope to minister, have no political or other reasons for discouraging our efforts.

From the information gained during the year, we are encouraged to believe that as soon as the means, now being gathered in Great Britain and America, is sufficient to warrant us in inaugurating the Arthington Mission, we can safely and wisely enter upon the work. The amount to be made up is a little less than $15,000. May the Lord hasten His work in His own good time.

THE GENERIC AND THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO.

In commenting upon the evidence in the Whittaker case, one of our most fair-minded weeklies says: “Should his guilt be finally established, the act will be a blunder no less than a crime. Whatever his purpose, the necessary result of his conduct will be injurious to ‘his people.’”

This is ambiguous. Whittaker is three-fourths part Caucasian, and we are unwilling to take, as being a part of his people, even 1/46,000,000 part of his crime if he is guilty, and do utterly refuse to be hurt by it. If, on the other hand, his one-fourth part negro blood so dominates these three-fourths, that he must be accounted a negro, then grave apprehensions are excited. That he has, as we go to press, passed so many of his examinations successfully under all the difficulties of his position, we must conclude is due to the modicum of negro blood in his composite nature; a fact which foreshadows the supremacy of his people in our land.

But, seriously, we do most earnestly and decidedly protest against this idea that the negro is not an individual but a fraction of an unit. We believe the certain result will be injurious to his people, but this will not be a necessary result. Were a white student guilty of such a crime and blunder, it would be simply ridiculous to say that the necessary result was injurious to “his people,” meaning the white race. There are reported cases of self-inflicted injuries of this kind. Who believes for a moment that, because a wife mutilates herself, as in a case reported, she has brought discredit upon all our wives?

We treat Indians and Negroes in classes as if it inhered, by eternal necessity, in the nature of things, that their individuality should be ignored, disregarded, or trampled upon. We are a great ways off from the true and right basis of action when we pass by the personality of any one with all his inherent rights and responsibilities, and think of him and treat him only as belonging to a general class.

It may be, that until his rights are respected by the public at large, the negro must receive special attention as the case of Whittaker has received; but, so long as his treatment is special because he belongs to a class, it is evident that the treatment of the class to which he belongs is all wrong. Whittaker’s innocence or guilt pertains to himself alone, and should in no way affect the question as to the standing or character of his people. The feeling that it must necessarily affect them is one phase of the sentiment which has isolated and made intolerable the life of this poor fellow at West Point. Personally he appears to be a very fine fellow, but the condition of “his people” has necessarily—so these young cadets think, and evidently many others who are not in the callow softness of their cadetship agree with them—affected him, rendering him unfit for comradeship, or even decent treatment. The questions, (any one of which is deemed a final and conclusive estoppel to all argument as to the right of the negro to Christian courtesy), “Would you sleep with a negro?” “Would you associate with a negro?” “Would you marry a negro?”—these are simply absurd. Whether we would do any, or all of these, should be answered as in the case of any person of whatever race, in view of considerations and qualifications that are purely individual, with no reference whatever to Ham, or to his or her people. We associate with friends because of personal qualities, not because they are white or yellow.

We apprehend that in some schools for the education of colored people, the treatment of the pupil is special because of his color. He is made to feel that he is a special case, whatever the advantage or disadvantage of the fact, its honor or dishonor. He is a negro, and not simply a human being. He is to stand or fall as a part of “his people” rather than by his own individuality and personal character. We say again, with great emphasis, that we protest against the whole so-called necessity of the case as false and absurd; as indicative of abnormal sentiments which must be eradicated before right results can be even sought, much less reached.

THE THIRD STAGE OF OUR EXPERIMENT.

We have reached, and, in some of the States, have distinctly entered upon, the third stage of our experiment of negro suffrage. In glancing at these, we shall be simply historical, not critical; shall set down naught in malice, but with simple truth as we have understood it. The fragments of the late Confederacy resumed their autonomy as parts of this nation almost wholly under direction of the negro voter. There seemed to be a double necessity that he should be armed with the ballot, that he might defend himself against his old master who showed unmistakable evidence of his purpose virtually to re-enslave him, and that he might maintain the political ascendency of his friends over his master’s old friends. In this first stage we had, as the political representative of the South, what is historically known as the carpet-bagger—an immigrant elected by the Freedman, hated and opposed by the native white; and legislation which burdened some of the States to the verge of endurance was the result.

The second stage was reached when the influence of the general Government was withdrawn from the South, and control passed again into the hands of the native whites. The alien was remanded to obscurity, or found the climate of the North more congenial, and the negro was mightily prevailed upon to forego his right to vote. This gave us what is generally regarded as the reign of Bourbonism. [202] The white vote of the South became solid, and the opposition was almost silenced. We state the fact without commenting upon it or arguing from it. This result we might easily have inferred from what had gone before. The instinct of self-preservation, it would seem, must have compelled such a united front against the outrageous robbery to which the South had been subjected by ignorant and dishonest legislators.

But now we have entered upon the third stage of this experiment. The solid South is broken, not by federal assaults, or through the ambition of carpet-baggers, but by native greed of power. The irrepressible conflict between the “ins” and the “outs” hurls to the ground the fabric which seemed to the South so fair and so strong. The hero of a hundred battles leads the ignorant negro to the polls, deluded by lies and false promises, displaces one-armed Confederates who had fought under him, to make room for a low grade of negro politicians, trails the honor of a once proud old commonwealth in the dust, and dissipates forever the fond delusion of a solid white South. We have had the negro placed in authority for a brief day by federal power; then by a certain reaction driven from the legislative hall, and in many cases from the ballot box, by the outraged white restored to power. Now we are to see him debauched and led to the polls by political demagogues, in a desperate and most demoralizing struggle for office.

Which stage has been, or promises to be the worst? Concerning this there would doubtless be difference of opinion, according to the latitude of those who express it. To the Southern white, nothing could seem more terrible than exposure to the insult and burden of negro legislation; not simply because it is ignorant, but chiefly because it is negro legislation. To the average citizen of the North, the stories told of wrongs and cruelties perpetrated by the Southerners in their efforts to deliver themselves from this, to them, intolerable degradation, have seldom been eclipsed in horror and utter fiendishness, and nothing could be worse than that a solid South be maintained. But to us who have been trying to grasp, in order that we may solve, the great problem involved in the negro’s relation to our national life, and the kingdom of our Lord, it seems evident that we are just beginning to get a glimpse of the danger we are called to face, and with which we must grapple. Hitherto we have chased the bear, and the chase has had its dangers; but now the bear has turned to chase us. We can no longer calmly discuss the question, “What shall we do with the negro?” but it becomes one of vital interest, “What will he do with us?” We have put a bludgeon into a giant’s hands, with which he will beat out our brains, unless we soothe and exorcise the devil that is in him.

There is this one way out of our danger, and there is none other. We have been bold enough to attempt the experiment, staking the life of our Republic upon the issue; let us be wise enough to supply, with all promptness and fidelity, the conditions which shall ensure its success. While the statesmanship which thrust the problem upon us has given itself no concern whatever as to the issue, Christian charity has shown that a blessed solution is possible. Our schools have proved that of the ignorant slave a wise and useful citizen can be made. The path of safety has been clearly pointed out; now let the means for achieving this safety be supplied. We believe the nation ought to do it. We know the patriot and Christian must do it, or this third will prove to be the final stage in this experiment, not only of equal negro citizenship in a free Republic, but of Republican government itself.

[203]

AFRICAN NOTES.

—Africa is the most profoundly interesting of missionary lands, because it is God’s greatest providential mystery. Great in antiquity, great in its ancient curse, great in its colossal wickedness, great in its hideous wrongs, great in its tremendous difficulties as a mission field, great in its costly missionary sacrifices, great in its future possibilities for Christ and the world. The eyes, the efforts, the progress of the Church of God, must ever be more and more directed to this grand Satansburg, as Dr. Schlier would call this great citadel of sin.—“Bible in all Lands.”

—Africa is the white man’s grave; to him the sentinel of death stands five miles out at sea; pass beyond that line and sleep on shore, and death is almost certain. “The story of all past mission work on that Dark Continent,” says Dr. Blyden, “is one of the saddest of our missionary stories, and three hundred years of European intercourse with West Africa has left the people worse than it found them.” With these facts before me, I do not hesitate to assert my honest conviction that Africa is to be redeemed by, and through the instrumentality of, her own sons. If we will now do our duty to bleeding Africa, and not debauch her people with intoxicants, then we, of the Anglo-Saxon race, may yet sit as a grand jury over that Continent, introducing all the arts of civilization, and all the pure influences of Christianity. I am encouraged in this belief from the fact that no tribe in the immediate rear of Liberia is considered perfect, unless it has a man who can speak English, and this may be the language of Africa in less time than many of us think.—Edward S. Morris.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

McLeansville, N. C.—Bible temperance meetings at McLeansville, N. C., seem to tone up the sentiments of the people. One young man, who at considerable trouble and expense had procured a situation in a grocery store where whiskey is sold, has thrown up his position and gone to work on a farm, because he was convinced that the Bible condemned liquor-selling, and he could not ask God’s blessing upon his daily work.

Charleston, S. C.—Prof. S. D. Gaylord, principal of Avery Institute and licentiate of the Central Association of Iowa, was ordained in Plymouth Church, Charleston, S. C., by a Council convened on the 29th and 30th of May last. Several members of the Council preached in various churches of the city, which fact indicates a growing ministerial fellowship with our missionaries and pastors.

The Avery Institute for the year has numbered 476 pupils, with an average of 376—its most prosperous year.

The “renewal of the Church Covenant,” introduced and recommended by Pastor Cutler, is proving a great spiritual blessing to the church, and conduces to greater watchfulness on the part of the members.

Atlanta, Ga.—On the 28th of March, the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Atlanta proposed that the debt of that church should be paid off. $26, from two Sunday-schools in the North, were handed in by the pastor as a starter. The Professors of the University gave $30 more, and the people nobly came forward and have now paid off all the debt, making some $563 they have raised, aside from current expenses, since last October. They have since raised [204] money, which, with special gifts for that purpose, has procured a fine 800 lbs. bell, which will greet our Secretary, when he reaches Atlanta on the 24th of June.

Marietta, Ga.—A gem of a church school-house, 24×40 feet, with a gallery, and furnished with wardrobes and Sherwood’s crown double desks, was dedicated at Marietta, Ga., on the 6th of June. The people raised $300 for it; two young men in Illinois gave $50, and the A. M. A. furnished the remainder, and owns the property.

C. P. Jordon, a graduate of Atlanta University, takes the school; and Rev. E. J. Penney, also a graduate of Atlanta University, and more recently of Andover Seminary, will have charge of the church-work. Our Field Superintendent preached the sermon. A promising enterprise, strongly manned.

Mobile, Ala.—The Daily News, in giving notice of the examinations at Emerson Institute, says: “Prof. Crawford deserves great credit for the successful manner in which he has conducted and built up this colored institution, which today has no superior in our State.” And Miss Stevenson, of that school, from whom we have had a pleasant call, speaks of a great change in the feelings of the citizens of that city toward the school, its work and teachers.

Florence, Ala.—The Florence Gazette says of the pastor of the Colored Congregational Church of that town: “Mr. Ash has gained the respect and goodwill of all classes in this community, and has accomplished a most praiseworthy educational and religious work among the people of his race.”

Chattanooga, Tenn.—During the absence of the Rev. Jos. E. Smith in Africa, a retired Presbyterian clergyman of Chattanooga, the Rev. T. H. McCallie, offered to preach for his church three Sabbaths for three months, and to extend the time if necessary. He took the greatest interest in the work, hunted up and looked after the members, and, either in person or by substitute, attended the Sabbath services and buried the dead, as if he were the pastor of the church. The Rev. J. W. Bachman, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, also preached one Sabbath, and has expressed the deepest interest in the church, and invited the pastor to call on him.

Berea, Ky.—There were four accessions to the church at Berea on profession of faith on the first Sabbath of May.

THE FREEDMEN.

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

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

MAKE HASTE SLOWLY.

At one of our Southern conferences last spring, the brethren, colored and white, were bemoaning the small numbers and slow progress of our churches. A Baptist minister who was present, and who is engaged in this educational work, turned the tide by stating that there were advantages, for the present, in that state of things, and that his denomination suffered somewhat from the embarrassment of numbers. He said that he had been a farmer’s boy, and that when at the tail end of a steam threshing machine for shoving away the straw, if for only a short time his associate stepped away, he found himself unable to keep up with the thresher, and covered down by the accumulation. So they were sometimes bothered in handling [205] their great numbers by way of discipline and effort at moral elevation.

There is no room in the South for our church system if its work be simply to transfer the people in bulk from other communions, with all their prevalent views and practices. Our brethren of the Baptist and Methodist churches are to be congratulated upon their large membership, and so upon their opportunity for doing good. They have the responsibility of purifying from within. Many are struggling nobly, as exhorted by the Christian Recorder, “to thin out the ministry of the church until there shall not be found an ignorant man, nor a bad man in the ranks. Thin out the church itself. Expel the vicious. Drive out the notoriously bad. Have a clean church.” Starting as a new church-life, we have no call, no excuse for sweeping in such material. It would be no gain to the kingdom to effect such a transfer in bulk. Our mission is, through our blended educational and Christianizing process, to help raise the standard of Christian and church character. By the stimulus of such example, we are doing more to help the old churches in their eliminating process than we could in any other way. That same article in the Recorder, from which I have quoted, shows this.

The editor also sets down the A. M. A. as the greatest rival of the A. M. E., and no doubt rejoices in this provoking of his church to love and to good works. But our churches, if they would attain to much of this helpfulness, must gain it upon the standard of intelligence and of Christian character, without the risks of wildness and superstition. And so, if God be with us, if we be humble and spiritually minded in our work, by and by we may expect large accessions of members. The president of a Baptist Colored University, himself a New England educator, remarked to me, a while ago, that he could see that in twenty-five years the Congregationalists would have a large church-work among the Freedmen, simply as the result of their educational process.

Our young pastors, who have not as yet the stimulus of the large congregations of some other communions, must remember that the influence of their churches is not measured by numbers, and that if they secure quality, this may go further than quantity.

But, as it is, our church-work is not destitute of encouragement now in regard to numbers. Fifteen years ago there was not a colored Congregationalist in all the South, except in the two ancient white Congregational churches of Charleston, S. C., and of Liberty Co., Ga. The system itself was utterly unknown, as it is to this day, except where it has crept in since the war. The experiment, in one single locality, of swallowing down the old-time churches, proved a failure, and taught us a lesson. The only gain has been by the slow process of enlightenment and of assimilation, mainly by the Christian-school process. A high official in the M. E. Church said of us: “You can afford to wait for the youth; we cannot.” He was right. That great Church, which is doing so grand a work for the Freedmen, had already on its hands hundreds of thousands of adult members, who must be cared for at once. By our policy of waiting, the last Annual Report set down sixty-seven churches, and 4,300 church members, an average of 69 members to each. As this is all new work, let us compare it with new work at the West. Alas, for the lack of church statistics in our last Year Book! By that of the former year, we find that the churches of Missouri and Nebraska had an average in each State of 27 members; Kansas had 34; Iowa had exactly our average of 69; and Illinois, which has been under Home Missionary culture for sixty years, has an average of only 25 members more than that of the churches of this Association.

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THE HAMPTON ANNIVERSARY.

Distinguished Visitors—Speeches by Pres. Hayes,
Sec. Schurz, and Others—Natural
Development—Three Questions Settled.

REV. ADDISON P. FOSTER.

The graduating exercises at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, on May 20, were of even unusual interest. A large and distinguished company was in attendance, including Governors and other notabilities from Massachusetts, and President Hayes and Secretary Schurz from Washington. A military parade by the students under the inspection of the President, recitations, and an exhibition of the various industries of the school, occupied the morning. The work of the Indian boys excited special interest. A farm-cart, complete in all its parts, tin-ware, tables and large silicate globes, were among the articles which they had made.

Whitin Hall was crowded in the afternoon. The students, 300 in number, seated on benches rising toward the rear in front of the audience, were a picture of neatness, intelligence and content. Those who remembered the squalor and ignorance of the colored people as they sought refuge in the Union lines during the war, could not fail to recognize the value of the work done by the noble educational institutions which the American Missionary Association has brought into existence through the South. This thankful feeling was deepened as the students took up the parts assigned them. Their addresses were not mere essays, but the expression of their opinions on practical, vital themes, concerning the welfare of their race. These utterances were marked with rare good sense, a freedom from bitterness for past or present ill-treatment, and a hopeful courage for the future. More than once some expression unexpectedly pathetic, or forgiving, or consecrated, brought tears to the eyes of those who heard.

The exercises of the students were followed by admirable addresses from some of the dignitaries present. President Hayes showed how the relation of the different races and nationalities in the land was one of our most vital problems, and how Hampton was solving it. Secretary Schurz considered at length the experiment of Indian education, which is being tried at Hampton, and showed why it might succeed now when it had not in the past. Governor Long, of Massachusetts, referred to the presence of these educational institutions in the South as one of the most important results of the war. Ex-Governor Rice, of Massachusetts, regarded the Institution at Hampton as the natural development of advancing civilization, which is breaking down the barriers of the races and bringing all nationalities together as brethren.

The concurrent testimony of these speakers, and the manifest conviction of the visitors present, was that Hampton is doing a grand work.

Its diversified departments are conducted with such careful attention to detail, with such consecrated, self-denying enthusiasm, with such genius in teaching, and with such faith in God, on the part of its principal, Gen. Armstrong, and his corps of teachers, gathered from the best families of the North, that the school could not be otherwise than successful. This language may seem extravagant, but, if any one is inclined to regard it so, let him visit the school next May, and he will appreciate the self-restraint of one who says no more than what has just been said.

The Hampton Institute has settled two or three questions very satisfactorily.

From the experience of this Institution, it is plain that it is quite possible to combine industrial with intellectual and religious education without injury to any one of these branches of knowledge. Nothing is more prominent to a superficial observation than the industrial side of Hampton.

The saw-mill, which since September last has cut over a million feet of lumber, the knitting-room, which has produced this year 12,000 dozen mittens for a Boston firm, the market-garden, from which have been sent this spring thirty barrels of peas a day to Baltimore, and from which have been raised peas and asparagus, together amounting in value to $1,500, the ice house, in which are stored 180 tons of ice, the industrial room, where are made the students’ uniforms, the cooking school, in which the girls are taught the culinary art, the printing office, from which is issued monthly “The Southern Workman,” the shoe shop, the blacksmith’s shop, the wheelwright’s shop, the carpenter’s shop, the repair shop, the brick-yard, which has supplied all the bricks used on the buildings of the Institution, the $6,000 barn, where fine blooded stock is kept, the farm of 330 acres—these departments of activity, wonderful for their variety and completeness, are steadily training the students and the inhabitants of the surrounding region in ways of industry. But this is not all, nor the principal benefit, the students receive. If we may judge from a hasty inspection of classes, from the scope and skillful expression of thought in the graduating exercises, and from the testimony of teachers, a thorough and sufficiently extended education in all mental departments is given. Best of all, as the crown no less than the beginning of wisdom, the students, entering the school without special religious impressions, seldom leave it without becoming devoted Christians. The result of the combination of industrial with other forms of training, is seen in the evident union in Hampton students of hard good sense with scholarly intelligence and unostentatious piety.

Another question is most satisfactorily settled, whether it is possible to educate the Negro and the Indian together. On graduation day, in sight of the audience, was a stand on which rested a fragment from the building recently burned. It was a mass of red and black bricks cemented together, and prettily draped with vines. If this was designed to be emblematic, it was truthfully so. The red and the black races do harmonize most happily at Hampton, and cultivate together the graces of character. They are a mutual help to each other, especially the Negro, as farther advanced in civilization, to the Indian. Their dispositions supplement each other. The Negro is enthusiastic, demonstrative and dependent, the Indian reserved, bashful and self-contained. Each finds in the other, qualities that he needs and that attract him. As a consequence, there is great friendliness between the two races. When the colored boys were asked if any of their number were willing to room with the Indians, that the latter might learn to speak English more readily, there was no lack of volunteers. And no one can doubt the kindly feeling pervading the school, who has seen, as we have, Indian and Negro boys walking together, or chatting on the green with arms lovingly about each others’ necks.

Other questions, such as the wisdom of educating the Indians away from their tribes, or of the coeducation of the sexes, we have no time to discuss. It is sufficient to say that the experience of Hampton is thus far entirely satisfactory in these regards.

FISK UNIVERSITY.
Examinations—Ode to Jubilee Bell—Dr. Willcox’ Address—Prosperous Year.

The Nashville Daily American, whose proprietor is the Honorable Secretary of the U. S. Senate, gives a full report of all the commencement exercises of this school, from the Sabbath morning sermon by Prof. Bennett, the baccalaureate by Pres. Cravath in the afternoon, and [208] the missionary sermon by Dr. Twichell, of Cleveland, Ohio, in the evening, to the doxology with which the Alumni dinner closed on Thursday afternoon, making in all at least five full columns.

Monday was given to examinations. The American says: “These examinations were held in different recitation-rooms of Jubilee Hall and were attended by interested visitors.

“We stopped a while in the room where the Senior Class was being examined in Geology by Prof. Chase. One student was giving the names of sixty or seventy specimens of minerals, ores, rocks and fossils. Another was determining the nature of certain minerals by means of the blow-pipe, while another gave the classification of the mineral kingdom as he had written it on the board. Prof. Morgan was hearing a class in Cicero as we entered the library, and one of the students was reading in a sonorous tone the impeachment of Cataline by Cicero.

“In another room, Prof. Spence was hearing a class in Phædon. Prof. Bennett conducted a class through the United States History within the hour and a half allotted to him. Other classes were examined in Astronomy, Virgil, and the Greek Testament. In Normal School, under the care of Miss H. Matson, assisted by Misses E. M. Barnes and S. M. Stevens, classes were examined in Arithmetic, Grammar, Physical Geography, and Reading. A person passing from one room to another would be impressed with the thought that hard and conscientious work had been done, and that the examinations were impartially conducted in order to draw out the exact knowledge of the pupil upon the subject under consideration.

“In the evening came the Common School Normal Exhibition, beginning promptly at 8.30 o’clock. The beautiful song, “The Morning Freshly Breaking,” was sung by a well-trained chorus. The music of the entire week, consisting of thirty pieces or more, was under the charge of Miss Mary O. Swift, who combines with great ability as an instructor, a voice of rare sweetness and power.

“Those who took part in this exhibition had finished the normal course, which is adapted to the demands of the State schools, and received a certificate in which their standing in the studies of the Common School Normal Course is given. Most of these will continue to pursue their studies further. The examination of the day, together with the exercises of the exhibition, promise well for the remainder of commencement week.

“On Tuesday, examinations were continued. We spent a good deal of time in the Model School, an important attachment of the Normal Department of the University. The presiding genius of this school is Miss Irene Gilbert, a lady who seems to have been born for the position she holds in the Model School.

“She has had upwards of a hundred children from the city under her charge during the past year, and has carried them forward with an unflagging enthusiasm, which has secured the best results. The Normal Class, which received certificates on Monday night, have paid daily visits to her school to witness the drill which she gives her juveniles in the mysteries of reading, spelling, and rudimentary mathematics. Details of students from the Normal School have been made daily, who instructed the Model School pupils, under the critical eye of Miss Gilbert. When it is remembered that Fisk University contributes one hundred and fifty teachers to the schools of the South, it will be seen that the drill thus received is especially valuable to those who receive it.

“In the evening came the Union Literary Society Exhibition.

“Wednesday afternoon, at 3 o’clock, occurred the presentation of the great Bell given to the University by the Jubilee [209] Singers and Mrs. Gen. C. B. Fisk, of New York. These were of an exceedingly interesting character. Speeches were made by Prof. White and Mr. Loudin, on the part of the singers, and by Pres. Cravath, Prof. Willcox, and others; after which a poem by Prof. Spence of the University was read. A number of pieces were sung by the Jubilee Singers, who furnished much of the music for all the exercises.

ODE TO THE JUBILEE BELL.

BY PROF. A. K. SPENCE.

“The evening was given to the
SENIOR PREPARATORY EXHIBITION.

The programme was a full one, and well carried out.

“In some respects the Senior Preparatory Exhibition of Fisk University is the night occasion of commencement week. The interest rises from the first, and culminates with Wednesday night. This was specially true of this year. The knowledge of the fact that the Jubilee Singers were to sing contributed to crowd the chapel with such an audience as has not been assembled in it for months. Every inch of available space was occupied, and many were compelled to stand at the entrance unable to find seats. The Jubilee Singers opened the exercises by a song, “Sweet Music”—Beethoven.

“Thursday, commencement proper:
CLOSE OF THE MOST PROSPEROUS YEAR
IN THE HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION.

“According to announcement, the commencement exercises took place Thursday morning at 10 o’clock, in the presence of a crowded house. In addition to the decorations of the previous day, the wall back of the platform was tastefully set off with the folds of the Dutch and English flags, the American flag being on duty on the border. Upon the folds of the flags were arranged in letters of cedar the words, ‘The Class of 1880.’ Six young men then gave their graduating addresses. These are kindly and appreciatively spoken of, as able and well delivered.

“Prof. G. B. Willcox, D. D., of Chicago, was introduced and spoke to the graduates in reference to those things which scholars hold in common. The ideal of a college graduate is that he has come to the possession of his manhood. It is impossible to give the spirit of this most able address. It abounded in wit, humor, and pathos. These kept the audience on the alert for an hour, after they had sat two hours during the previous exercises.

“Then came, what is now a feature of Fisk commencement day, the Alumni dinner, with its post-prandial wit and wisdom. And thus closed the most successful and prosperous year in the history of Fisk University. The catalogue shows an aggregate of 350 students. The work done in the class-room has been unusually satisfactory. There have been abundant evidences of growth in character and mind on the part of all the students.”

STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY.
Why No Graduating Class—Threatened Suspension of Public Schools.

REV. W. S. ALEXANDER, NEW ORLEANS.

The anniversary of Straight University was observed at Central Church. The audience, both in numbers and intelligent appreciation, was one of the best ever gathered for such a purpose in the city. The literary exercises were exceptionally fine. The original orations, one on “Charles Sumner” and the other on “Our Glorious Union,” were, both in composition and delivery, worthy of high praise. All who heard them were proud of the young and promising orators. A cultivated lady in the audience said to me, at the close of the evening, “You don’t tell me that those orations were written by the young men?” “Certainly; why not?” “Why,” she replied, “I have never heard better.”

There was no graduating class this year. Those who in order would this year have finished their course, were persuaded to remain another year that their graduation might signify a higher grade of scholarship.

The year has been crowned with the Divine favor. Three hundred students have been in attendance, real progress has been made in all departments of study, and the Institution stands higher today in the estimation and affection of the New Orleans public than in any previous year.

Unless all signs fail, the ensuing year will bring to our doors a greatly increased throng of eager and earnest students. The public schools of New Orleans, and of Louisiana, are threatened with the evils of indefinite suspension. The doors will be closed June 30th, and the wisest friends of education cannot predict the time of their re-opening.

So far as adequate support is concerned, the public school system in this State has been an uncertain quantity for many months. Its fate trembles in the balance today. A subscription list is now in circulation among the merchants and bankers to raise money to pay the public school teachers the monthly salaries long since due. The most plaintive appeals are made to public sympathy in their behalf. It is a time to press forward our work.

Applicable to the impoverished State of Louisiana, so far as her public schools are concerned, are the words: “The fields are white already to the harvest,” and “The laborers are few.”

TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.
More than a Thousand Visitors.
Promise of the Coming Year.

The commencement exercises of this growing and popular University were held on Thursday, June 3d, and drew together an unusually large company of visitors within its wide grove of moss-draped oaks.

Many parents were present on this day, and also at the annual examinations, which continued from Monday till Wednesday evening. Two old men came from the northeastern corner of the State, a distance of 200 miles or more, to see their sons graduate.

The pains and thoroughness with which the examinations were conducted, aiming to exhibit the pupil’s real knowledge of his studies, the evidence throughout all of great care and constant drill in the use of clear, simple [211] and correct English, and the plain indication of independence on the part of the students in their studying and in their own thinking, made these class exercises of unusual interest. The Senior Class passed creditable examinations in Natural History, Science of Government, The Theory and Practice of Teaching, and Natural Philosophy. There followed on Wednesday evening the exhibition of the Primary and Intermediate Departments, combined with that of the strong Temperance Society—an organization extending through the whole school, and representing a work of great importance yet to be done in this State, where nearly all people are in the habit of drinking, and that to excess.

On Thursday, a class of seven young men presented orations, and received certificates of graduation from the Normal Department of the Institution. These orations were highly commended by the prominent gentlemen who were present from Jackson. In the afternoon, a stirring address was delivered by President De Forest, of Talladega College, upon the topic of “Work.” This was followed by speeches from Capt. Wolf, of Jackson, from Dr. Watkins, the venerable pastor of the Methodist Church at Jackson, and from Dr. Hunter, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the same city, all of whom expressed appreciation of the good work this Institution is doing. More than a thousand visitors were present at these closing exercises on Thursday, an excursion train running from a point fifty miles distant for their accommodation. The location of the University on this great railroad which passes north and south through the centre of the State, these beautiful groves being only about half a mile from the depot, furnishes rare facility for such a gathering of the friends and patrons of the school. The ignorance among the people in this State is fearful, but it is a very hopeful sign when the colored people are themselves showing an interest in such a school as this one now is, and when they are beginning to appreciate the sort of training given here to their young men and women. Much of this has been brought about through the wise, energetic and progressive management of the President, Rev. G. S. Pope.

The promise for the coming year is flattering. The school will probably be crowded even more than during the year just past. The buildings must be in some way enlarged, or new ones provided, in order to have room for all who will doubtless desire to come. There has been little or no complaining by the students on account of very rough, cold and crowded rooms—the only temporary places which hitherto could be provided. Another year, however, ought to bring better accommodations. Here is a place second to none in our country for the doing of great and far-reaching good.

A. H.       

HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
Theological Department—Sixteen Graduates.

REV. W. W. PATTON, D. D., WASHINGTON

The anniversary exercises of the Theological Department of Howard University, (which is largely aided by the American Missionary Association), occurred on the 7th inst., in Washington. The spacious and beautiful edifice of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church was freely offered for the purpose, and was filled with a large audience of white and colored people. Such an event could not have taken place at any former time, and it marks the rapid and healthful progress of public opinion. Six of the graduating class made addresses, which were a credit to themselves and to their race, and elicited the commendation of many intelligent gentlemen and ladies who heard them. Sixteen students were sent forth to preach, all of whom go to the South, to the Freedmen. Five of these had pursued a full course of study, including Hebrew [212] and Greek: the others had received training in English studies only. Fifty theological students have been under instruction in this department the present year. Each graduate received a handsome Bible from the Washington Bible Society, and an address was delivered by Rev. W. R. Harrison, D. D., chaplain of the House of Representatives, and pastor of the South Methodist Church in this city—a fact which marks the progress of good feeling. Never before was the promise of usefulness in this work so great.

LEWIS HIGH SCHOOL.

(From the Macon, Ga., Telegraph and Messenger.)

As announced, the closing exercises of the Lewis High School took place yesterday, May 27th, and reflected credit alike upon teachers and pupils. The latter, embracing both sexes, number 110; and a more intelligent and well-behaved body of colored youth cannot be found anywhere. The singing and music were especially good, indicating great aptitude on the part of the scholars, and very careful training. This Institution is under the care of the American Missionary Association, whose headquarters are at New York. It appoints the teachers, and supplies all the funds that may be needed annually for its support.

The school is under the general supervision of the pastor of the Colored Congregational Church, Rev. Mr. Lathrop, who also teaches chemistry, philosophy and book-keeping. In all of these branches, the pupils exhibited commendable proficiency.

Among those who attended the examinations were Rev. Geo. McDonald, D. D., and Rev. Joseph Key, D. D. Both of these gentlemen expressed themselves highly gratified with all that they saw and heard, and when called upon, responded with neat and appropriate addresses, to the great encouragement and delight of their auditors.

The Lewis High School, under the judicious management of Mr. Lathrop, Miss Christine H. Gilbert, principal, and her efficient assistant, Miss Belle M. Haskins, is doing a good work for the colored people of Macon, and should receive the countenance and support of our citizens.

The college building is a neat brick structure, which was erected at a cost of $5,000 upon the site of the edifice which was destroyed by fire. The school will open again on the first of October next.

BEACH INSTITUTE.

(From the Savannah Morning News.)

The scholastic year of the Beach Institute, which closed yesterday, was made the occasion of interesting school exercises in the examination of the several classes of the Institute, and an exhibition of the scholars in recitation, declamation, reading and singing.

The Beach Institute is one of the educational institutions under the control of the American Missionary Association, whose headquarters are at New York, and whose operations in the South have been directed to the moral and educational advancement of the colored people. The Southern work is under the superintendence of Dr. J. E. Roy, whose headquarters are at Atlanta, and who was present yesterday, a gratified spectator of the progress made at the Institute in the education of the colored race.

The school here is, as we learn from the Superintendent, Prof. J. K. Cole, in a prosperous condition, nearly 300 scholars having been registered during the scholastic year.

The Institution is divided into five grades, under competent teachers, as follows: The first grade, or normal class, under Professor Cole, the Superintendent; the second grade, Miss Partridge, teacher: the third grade. Miss Bailey, teacher; the fourth grade, Miss Burgh, teacher; and the fifth grade, under the supervision of Miss Willey.

The examination yesterday evinced the faithfulness of the instructors in their departments and the aptitude of the pupils, and we were particularly struck with the examination of the normal class in introductory Latin exercises, the pupils showing a remarkable proficiency in their recitations from Harkness’ Introductory Latin Lessons.

At 12 o’clock, the whole school assembled in the chapel, when the programme was successfully carried out, to the pleasure of the large number of friends and parents of the pupils present.

The school will re-open on the first Monday in October.

AFRICA.

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
A Paper read at the State Sunday-school Convention, at New Britain, Ct., May 26, 1880, by Albert Burton Jowett a native of the Mendi Country, West Africa.

I represent the Sunday-schools in the Mendi country of Western Africa. These are located in the interior, about a hundred and fifty miles north of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. The first Sunday-school among the Mendi was established at Kaw Mendi. This place was the site selected for a mission by Messrs. Raymond and Steele, who accompanied the Amistad captives to Africa, when they left Farmington in 1841.

At this school, my mother was a pupil, and had for her instructor, Mar-groo, one of the Amistad captives who had been hopefully converted.

There was a good day-school at this place, and also one at Freetown, a hundred and fifty miles north, which had been kept up for twenty-five years by the Church Missionary Society of England.

My mother has often told me that the missionaries were very much pleased because the Mendi boys passed a better examination than the boys at Freetown, who had had all the advantages of that sea-port city.

Mr. Burton, a missionary who went to Africa from Connecticut, while traveling up the Bar-groo river noticed a fall of water in a wooded country, and determined to establish an industrial mission at that point.

There was no saw-mill on the coast, so Mr. Burton put up buildings for a mill; some one gave him the necessary machinery, and he opened a station and named it “Avery.” A church and some dwelling houses were built, and a community of people gathered who bought logs, converted them into lumber, and conveyed it to the coast for sale. A school was opened in the basement of the church, and a Sunday-school was convened on Sundays. My father is a teacher and interpreter at this station. This Sunday-school and the one at Kaw Mendi are the only ones in the Mendi country proper, where there are about 2,000,000 people. There are Sunday-schools on the Sherbro Island, but the people there belong mostly to the Sherbro tribe.

Our Sunday-schools constitute one of the means by which our young African friends acquire the simple truths taught by our blessed Saviour. I do not know how it is, if I am in the wrong, pardon me, but I do believe it is much more difficult to teach in Africa than in America, because we have no books in the Mendi language and the children know but little English. Our Sunday-schools in comparison with those in America are very small. The bell for school rings at 2 o’clock, and the teachers go round to the houses where they fear the children do not care to come, and bring [214] them to the school. Before bringing them in to the Sunday-school, a shirt is given to each scholar, as many of them wear no garments at home. This is made of English cloth and supplied by the missionaries; when they return from school, it is laid aside to be worn the next time the school assembles. The instruction is mostly oral—the teacher asking the pupils questions and then requiring them to repeat the answer until they are able to say it.

A good deal of time is spent in singing, as the children readily learn the words and music of the Gospel songs, even though they do not understand the meaning of the English words. They are very fond of singing indeed, and the missionaries listen to their songs with much delight, and give them a great deal of credit for them. As some of the children never attend day-school, the alphabet is taught in the Sunday-school.

We have a portion of the Bible, and a few hymns, translated into the Mendi, and hope some time to have books in the language, so that greater progress can be made.

We have some active members who go about into the small villages and act as home missionaries among the people. These frequently bring in new scholars to the mission: and what do you think causes the increase of our members, more than most any other circumstance? Some kind friends in America and England have been sending us illustrated papers, nice little books, and small cards with letters of nearly every color and size.

Such things are very attractive to the little natives. I wish you could know the good you can do, by sending your missionaries in Africa such attractive papers and cards, for those whom the missionaries cannot reach will be instructed and influenced by them in their homes. The children who are brought in, take these papers and fasten them up in their houses for ornaments. The books and cards are offered as prizes to those who commit portions of the Scripture accurately.

We have no Sunday-school Conventions like this one, but sometimes we have Concerts.

Within the past few years, all our missionaries have been Freedmen from America, and one of them was for a time connected with the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. They taught us some of the Jubilee Songs, such as “Steal Away to Jesus,” “Mary and Martha,” and “The Hocks and the Mountains Shall All Flee Away.” The people had never heard the like, and were very much delighted with them.

THE INDIANS.

S’KOKOMISH, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

REV. MYRON EELLS.

On the first Sabbath in April, we had the privilege of receiving three more into our church, all on profession of faith, two of them Indians from the school, and the other a young lady who has been assistant-matron in the boarding department. The Twanas and Clallams were formerly at war with each other, and even now there is not always the best of feeling between the two tribes: a like unpleasant feeling has often been shown between the whites and Indians: yet, on that Sabbath, representatives of the three classes received baptism, there being one Twana, one Clallam, and one white person.

Another noticeable fact was the motive which induced them to become Christians. In reply to my question on this point, each one unknown to the [215] other said, that it was because he had noticed that Christians were so much happier than other people. Two of them had tried the wrong road very earnestly, and had found to their great sorrow that “the way of the transgressor is hard.” I was led then to think of two or three others who had united with the church on profession of faith within about a year, employees on the Reservation, who had made similar statements. “If the Bible were not true, and yet I could only believe it to be true, I would gladly do so, if it would bring me the happiness that Christians profess to have,” said one. Since becoming a Christian, he has often spoken of his happiness, and has great pity for those who are skeptical, for he knows how they feel, even if they do argue against Christianity. Another of the number, who was for three years very skeptical, a talented writer, and who used her talents against Christianity so strongly that her companions feared to enter the lists against her, and who was supposed to be thoroughly contented in her unbelief, became a Christian, and now speaks of those years, as “three years of horrible darkness.”

On the third Sabbath of April, I was at Dunginess, where I received four more into our church, three on profession of faith. Two Indians and two whites stood side by side to enter the church. The communion season was very pleasant. One white lady, who had not been to the Lord’s table for a year, and who was just recovering from sickness, was so anxious to be present, that as she was unable to walk the distance, a little more than a quarter of a mile, she was carried by her husband more than half the way in a wheelbarrow. Another lady, seventy-six years old, walked three miles to be present, then another mile to where I should preach to the whites in the afternoon, and home again in the evening, about eight miles in all. Ten of the whites sat down there with the four Indians in the Indian church to celebrate Christ’s love.

One person, who lives half a mile from the Indian village, said to me, as we came away, “It is a shame, it is a shame, that the Indians here are going ahead of the whites in religious affairs. It is a wonder how they are making advancement, considering the examples around them.” Two marriages, one infant and three adult baptisms, four received to the church, one communion service, one funeral, three prayer-meetings, and other services to the amount of fourteen in all, were the result of the eighteen days I was away from home.

I had been at home but a few days when I was sent for by an Indian on the Reservation who has been an invalid for some time, and who asked to be received as a member of the church. After considerable consultation, he was so received week ago last Sabbath.

Last Sabbath, my work at Seabeck culminated in a small church organization among the whites. I have written you that I have preached at that place, thirty miles distant, about once a month, when not called on some distant trip. The work has amounted to about eight visits a year.

Some six weeks ago, I felt that it was best for the few Christians there to be banded together. I immediately tried to obtain some assistance in organizing, but after three efforts failed entirely, and hence, armed with authority from this church, I proceeded with the organization. Nine entered it, two on profession of faith. The heterogeneousness of the population may be seen from the fact that of the seven who joined from other churches, one came from a Congregational church and two from a Protestant Methodist church in this Territory, one from a Congregational church in California, one from a Presbyterian church in British Columbia, one from the Episcopal church in England, and one from the Lutheran church in Norway, [216] who, however, does not believe that he was a Christian until after he left Norway. “It is the Lord’s doings and it is marvellous in our eyes.”

In the civilization of the Indians we feel somewhat encouraged. One fact has appeared quite plainly during the past winter. It has been the most severe winter known here for twenty-five years—the snow at one time lying five feet deep—and although it was nearly gone on the tide flats in six weeks, yet on most of the Reservation it lay for more than three months from six inches to two feet deep. As late as four or five years ago, the Indians generally lost a large number of cattle or horses every winter for want of feed, even when there were only two or three weeks of snow, selling altogether too much of their hay in the fall; but during the past winter not one of their animals has died for want of food, as far as I have been able to learn. Experience and observation have taught them to secure sufficient food and to keep it until all danger is over.

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, E. P. Sanford, Esq.

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

OUR WORK AT THE CENTER.

REV. W. C. POND, SAN FRANCISCO.

I find that for many months I have had little to say about our work in San Francisco and Oakland. I invite the readers of the Missionary to take a look, with me, at these central points.

Oakland is more to San Francisco, than Brooklyn is to New York. The ocean breezes are so tempered in crossing San Francisco Bay, that a very perceptible change of climate takes place, and Oakland is able to boast of a genial air and a clear sky on many days in summer, when San Francisco is shrouded in fog or swept by heavy, dust-laden winds. It has the aspect, to a very good degree, of a large inland city in New England—Springfield or Hartford, for example. There is a good deal about it not yet very heavenly, but, when compared with the bustle and drive of affairs, both climatic and human, on this side of the Bay, it seems, like Auburndale, Mass., to be a sort of “Saint’s rest.” It is constantly skimming the cream off our San Francisco churches, so that when a brother and sister have fairly come to their places as pillars here in the metropolis, we expect soon to hear that “they are thinking of moving to Oakland.”

These considerations have led to a more abundant provision for missionary work among the Chinese in that city, than anywhere else. Persons, coming to California to labor in this missionary work, are quite apt to become impressed with the necessities of the Oakland Chinese. And so, if our mission had not been, by many years, the first in that field; and if there had not gathered about it a large number of Christian Chinese for whom it is a spiritual home; and, if it were not possible—thanks to the generous provision made for us by the First Congregational Church—to do more work there now, in proportion to expense, than almost anywhere else, I should feel like abandoning the field to those who have crowded in to help us. [217] In the new, spacious and elegant church edifice, rooms much more commodious and much better furnished than those of any other school, have been prepared and assigned to our Chinese work. On the Sabbath, they are occupied by the Chinese Sunday-school, superintended so many years by our dear brother, the late Dea. Edmund P. Sanford, and now in charge of one like-minded, A. L. Van Blarcom, Esq. On week-day evenings, they are opened for our mission school, at which about the same pupils gather who are present on the Sabbath, and every session of which is, in large part, a religious service. About eighty Chinese account themselves members of this school, attend it when they can, and are under its gospel influence; but there are so many interruptions through the pressure of their daily work, that the average attendance is about thirty. Two teachers are employed, Mrs. B. C. Hawes and Miss L. Duncan, who, by years of service in this field, have won a warm place in the affection and respect of the Chinese. The expense is $40 per month. As fruits of this labor, we have 17 who are members of the First Congregational Church in Oakland, nearly as many more in other churches, and a goodly number who have professed Christ in the Association, but have not yet been baptized.

In San Francisco there are 4 schools; Central, Barnes, Bethany, and West. The Central school is taught in our Central Mission house, the headquarters of our work for the whole State. This is, I regret to say, a rented building, the cost of which absorbs more than a sixth of the utmost amount we can hope to command for our whole work. We have occupied it now almost six years, have spent in rents nearly enough to have paid for as good a building, if only we could have seized our opportunity; and I cannot even yet get sufficiently hardened to this expenditure, to meet it without a throbbing heart. “If only I could use this sum for teaching and preaching the Gospel of Christ!” is my thought and my longing; when will the time come? The building is a very plain one, but pleasantly located, just on the edge of the Chinese quarter, and overlooking an acre or two of greenness in the heart of our city which we call “the Plaza.” It has two stories and a basement, the latter occupied by our Association of Christian Chinese as a hall and reading room, with some facilities in the rear for hospitality. The first floor is the school room (18 x 50), in which at times no less than 145 Chinese have crowded themselves. The average attendance now is about 60; it is increasing, and I hope will again reach 100. In the upper story are the rooms of our Chinese helpers, with a little office, also, for the Secretary of the Association above named. A great deal of work is done here besides the mere teaching; a great deal of correspondence carried on; a great deal of what may be called pastoral care exercised; a good deal, also, of honest study of God’s word.

But I am making my story too long. About two miles south of this, on Ridley Street, is the Barnes Mission house, a substantial two-story structure of wood, with a smaller building on the rear of the lot, occupied by our Chinese brethren as a “Home.” This is owned by the Mission, but has a debt upon it of $3,300. The upper story is occupied by the family furnishing the teachers for the school in the room below. The mother and daughter, Mrs. C. A. Sheldon and Miss Jennie Sheldon, are the ones whose names appear upon our lists, but father and brothers all share lovingly and zealously in the work. The rent derived from this upper story and from the “Home” in the rear, pays the interest on the debt, and the cost of insurance and taxes. When we were erecting this building, we expected to gather in it a school of 150 members with an average attendance of about 100; [218] but, the very evening of its dedication, the riots of July 1877 occurred, and, for the time, our work in almost all the city seemed to be knocked prostrate. Other changes, the closing of some large shoe factories, from which many of our pupils came, and the restrictions laid upon the operatives in the Mission Woolen Mills, among whom we hoped to win some souls, have prevented the realization of all that we hoped, though the results at which all was aimed, have not been denied. There are many of whom—looking at our Barnes Mission house—we may say, “This man was born there.”

A mile and a half further south is the Bethany school, taught in the chapel of Bethany church, and through the faithfulness and tact of its teacher well sustained, although the Chinese are not specially numerous in that locality. And about two miles west of the Central Mission is the “West” school, taught in a little back-room, behind a small store—a room most unpromising, and rented for only $5 per month, but, by the taste and care of teachers and pupils, rendered quite neat and inviting. The average attendance in each of these schools is a little less than 20, ranging between 12 and 19.

In the aggregate, about 175 Chinese now belong to these four schools; not as many by nearly one-half as were enrolled in them three years ago. Sandlotism, especially after it invaded our pulpits, has been a sore hindrance to missionary success. But we have tried to get closer to those whom we could bring within our reach, and to do better work among them, and God has graciously owned it in saving power. Sixty-six have been received to Bethany church, and of at least as many more the hope is cherished that they have passed from death unto life. The present outlook seems to me to be especially cheering, not only here but in almost all our fields.

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

THE ELEPHANT IN AFRICA.

We have seen many pictures of elephants in Africa, and they were all in hunting scenes.

This noble, wise, and magnificent animal is hunted in every part of Africa; shot by the Englishman’s rifle in South Africa and on the White Nile, speared by the natives, pursued with the sword by the Abyssinian tribes, as if he were the most deadly enemy of the human race.

It is all for ivory, for the tusks which have taken perhaps fifty years to grow, that the huge beast is slain.

This hunting has been going on for many years, and now in parts of Africa there are no more elephants left.

Some good people, who are also trying to open up the “Dark Continent,” resolved to try some Indian elephants. They were sent from Bombay in a ship to Zanzibar, and after much trouble were landed on the coast. Then away they marched, and after a little time this new procession reached our station at Mpwapwa, and our missionary, Mr. Last, writes to say how successful the elephants have been. The dreaded fly could not harm them; indeed, they kill the flies by catching them in the folds of their thick skin, if the old African travellers are to be believed.

Our missionary, Mr. Stokes, writes from Uyuvi that these elephants had reached Unyamwezi. He says:—

“They can bear a thirty-six miles’ march without food or water. They can carry from twenty-five to thirty men’s loads; and the natives here very soon pick up the management of them. [219] I think these elephants have done more towards the civilization of Central Africa than anything else I have seen. The natives think the white man a most wonderful fellow when these big creatures on which they look with terror obey him. It was quite a picture to view the astonishment depicted on the faces of these poor blacks, as they watched these huge beasts kneeling down at the word of command to let us get on their backs, or elevating their trunks to bid salaam to an Arab.”

The Church Missionary Society would be very glad if it could send two or three of these wise beasts to their Mission at Mpwapwa, to help carry the missionaries up and down with the stores they must have from time to time; and then, when our missionaries can speak freely in the language, think what a help the elephant would be on a missionary tour.

Besides, when the natives see how useful the elephants are, they will soon learn to catch and tame them, as did the Carthaginians, 600 years before Christ.

Turn to the fortieth chapter of Job, and read about the behemoth. You will see in the marginal reference, “The Elephant.” “He is the chief of the ways of God.” What a blessed time that will be, if, instead of being destroyed by man, this, the most wonderful of God’s creatures, is used to carry about the messengers of the Gospel of Peace!—Church Missionary Juvenile Instructor.

RECEIPTS

FOR MAY, 1880.

Constitution of the American Missionary Association.
INCORPORATED JANUARY 30, 1849.

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 slave-holder, 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.

Footnotes

[A] By evangelical sentiments, we understand, among others, a belief in the guilty and lost condition of all men without a Saviour; the Supreme Deity, Incarnation and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world; the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith and holy obedience in order to salvation; the immortality of the soul; and the retributions of the judgment in the eternal punishment of the wicked, and salvation of the righteous.

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., 13; Ky., 7; Tenn., 4; Ala., 14; La., 12; Miss., 1; Kansas, 2; Texas, 6. Africa, 2. Among the Indians, 1. Total 70.

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, 24. Total 44.

Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants.—Among the Freedmen, 253; among the Chinese, 21; among the Indians, 9; in Africa, 13. Total, 296. Students—In Theology, 86; Law, 28; in College Course, 63; in other studies, 7,030. Total, 7,207. 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:

New York H. W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street.
Boston Rev. C. L. Woodworth, Room 21 Congregational House.
Chicago Rev. Jas. Powell, 112 West Washington Street.

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.

THE
CHRISTIAN UNION.

“In my own family, every one of us, from the eldest to the youngest,
finds something in every weekly issue to be read with interest and to yield instruction.”
—Leonard Bacon.

SPECIAL FEATURES FOR 1880.

PICTURES OF TRAVEL, by Blanche Willis Howard, Charles Dudley Warner, Curtis Guild, Adeline Trafton, J. Leonard Corning, G. W. W. Houghton, and others.

SUMMER STORIES, by E. P. Roe, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Rose Terry Cooke, Louise Stockton, Susan Coolidge, Eliot McCormick, Josephine R. Baker, Emily Huntington Miller, Helen Campbell, Sarah O. Jewett, and others.

THE POET’S HOME, by Horace E. Scudder.

A SUMMER JOURNAL, by Elaine Goodale.

Book Reviews, Mr. Beecher’s Sermons, Mr. Abbott’s and
Mrs. W. F. Crafts’ Sunday-school Papers.

THE OUTLOOK. NEWS OF THE CHURCHES. SCIENCE AND ART. FACT AND RUMOR.

The following persons have contributed to the columns of the
CHRISTIAN UNION during the past year:

TERMS: Per Annum, $3. To Clergymen, $2.50. Four Months, $1.

Address,

THE CHRISTIAN UNION,

22 Washington Square, N. Y.

It still stands unrivaled after 50 years’ test.

THE SIMPLEST & BEST.

INQUIRE FOR

PAYSON’S COMBINATION!!!

J. & R. LAMB, 59 Carmine St., N. Y. CHURCH FURNISHERS Memorial Windows, Memorial Tablets, Sterling Silver Communion Services. SEND FOR CIRCULAR.

Every Man His Own Printer.

Excelsior $3 Printing Press. Prints cards, labels, envelopes, &c.; larger sizes for larger work. For business or pleasure, young or old. Catalogue of Presses, Type, Cards, &c., sent for two stamps. KELSEY & CO., M’f’rs, Meriden, Conn.

THE THIRTY-FOURTH VOLUME
OF THE
American Missionary,
1880.

We have been gratified with the constant tokens of the increasing appreciation of the Missionary during the past year, and purpose to spare no effort to make its pages of still greater value to those interested in the work which it records.

Shall we not have a largely increased subscription list for 1880?

A little effort on the part of our friends, when making their own remittances, to induce their neighbors to unite in forming Clubs, will easily double our list, and thus widen the influence of our Magazine, and aid in the enlargement of our work.

Under the editorial supervision of Rev. C. C. PAINTER, aided by the steady contributions of our intelligent Missionaries and teachers in all parts of the field, and with occasional communications from careful observers and thinkers elsewhere, the American Missionary furnishes a vivid and reliable picture of the work going forward among the Indians, the Chinamen on the Pacific Coast, and the Freedmen as citizens in the South and as Missionaries in Africa.

It will be the vehicle of important views on all matters affecting the races among which it labors, and will give a monthly summary of current events relating to their welfare and progress.

Patriots and Christians interested in the education and Christianizing of these despised races are asked to read it, and assist in its circulation. Begin with the next number and the new year. The price is only Fifty Cents per annum.

The Magazine will be sent gratuitously, if preferred, to the persons indicated on page 223.

Donations and subscriptions should be sent to

H. W. HUBBARD, Treasurer,       
56 Reade Street, New York.

TO ADVERTISERS.

Special attention is invited to the advertising department of the American Missionary. Among its regular readers are thousands of Ministers of the Gospel, Presidents, Professors and Teachers in Colleges, Theological Seminaries and Schools; it is, therefore, a specially valuable medium for advertising Books, Periodicals, Newspapers, Maps, Charts, Institutions of Learning, Church Furniture, Bells, Household Goods, &c.

Advertisers are requested to note the moderate price charged for space in its columns, considering the extent and character of its circulation.

Advertisements must be received by the TENTH of the month, in order to secure insertion in the following number. All communications in relation to advertising should be addressed to

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT,

56 Reade Street, New York.

Our friends who are interested in the Advertising Department of the “American Missionary” can aid us in this respect by mentioning, when ordering goods, that they saw them advertised in our Magazine.