THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

DEDICATION OF CHURCH AT WILMINGTON, N.C.

The new meeting-house for the First Congregational Church of Wilmington, in connection with the work of the A. M. A., was dedicated on the evening of March 12th. (See picture on opposite page.) The history of the house and the services of dedication are of sufficient interest to warrant a notice in these pages.

PROF. BLAIKIE’S LIFE OF LIVINGSTONE.

This volume, published by Harper Bros., is a book of extraordinary interest. In it two great and good minds meet and yield practical thought and valuable instruction. They also give us a rare combination of wise and spiritual truths, calculated to fill the soul of the reader with great aspirations for a richer experience in things that pertain to Christ’s kingdom. If the book were read by Christians everywhere the effect could scarcely be less than a reformation. It is what is needed, under God, to counteract the flood of secular things that evermore threaten to quench the missionary spirit in the hearts of believers. The consecration, perseverance, enterprise, skill, heroism, fidelity and charity of Livingstone’s life are dwelt upon by Dr. Blaikie with such grateful emotions as prompt him to say[133]—“The author could wish for no higher honor than to have his name associated with that of Livingstone, and can desire no greater pleasure than that of conveying to other minds the impressions that have been left on his own.”

Among the many favorable impressions made by this book are those that relate to Livingstone’s superb faith. This was quite discoverable in his early life. Talking with his father—“They agreed that the time would come when rich men and great men would think it an honor to support whole stations of missionaries instead of spending their money on hounds and horses.” When he became great and moderately rich, he illustrated his own faith by his gifts for missions, and his devotion to the success of the laborers who went forth at his instance. All this flowed naturally from his life-long purpose. “I will place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ.”

Upon this followed his exquisite trust for Divine protection. “If God has accepted my service, then my life is charmed till my work is done.” But his faith and works were rounded out by all that was needful to make them complete. “It was in front and not in the rear that he expected to find the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire,” and it was unto the Lord of Hosts he looked for victory, and unto Him his prayer ascended unceasingly: “O, Almighty God, help and leave not this wicked people to the slave-dealer and Satan!”

He not only kept at work answering his own prayer, but was given to see, as he thought, how all things were working together for the wished-for consummation. “Viewed in relation to my calling,” he says, “the end of the geographical feat is only the beginning of the enterprise. We are all engaged in very much the same cause—geographers, astronomers and mechanicians laboring to make men better acquainted with each other—promoters of Niger expeditions, soldiers fighting for right against oppression, and sailors rescuing captives in deadly climes, as well as missionaries, are all aiding in hastening on a glorious consummation to all God’s dealings with our race. In the hope that I may yet be honored to do some good to this poor long down-trodden Africa, the gentlemen over whom you have the honor to preside, will, I believe, cordially join.”

That the millions who are interested in the negro race may “cordially join” in the endeavors promoted by this man for “poor down-trodden Africa,” is our most earnest wish, and, with this in view, we heartily welcome and commend Dr. Blaikie’s book.

WHAT THE SOUTHERNERS ARE BEGINNING TO THINK.

The following extracts taken from an editorial which appeared in the Memphis Daily Appeal, March 18th, contain so much true appreciation of what ought to be done for the Negro under the circumstances, that we are glad to give them a place in our columns. We believe they indicate that the South is on the eve of a great revolution of sentiment respecting the importance of popular education, and that if the friends of the A. M. A. will assist us in pushing forward with our present and proposed work, the time will come speedily when the recognition of the vital importance of our principles and institutions will be well nigh universal.

After commenting upon an article which appeared in the North American Review from the pen of Chief Justice Chalmers, quoting from him the assertion that the negroes’ “right to vote as a race is as fixed and irreversible as their freedom,” and that “the ballot box must speak the unbiased verdict of all lawful electors,” the editor says: “No sane man doubts it; there is but one thing left[134] for the people of the South to do, and that is to throw themselves into the work of educating the negro, of lifting him out of the deplorable condition of brutality which slavery left him in, and elevating him to a plane where he can not only stand alone and see for himself, but where he can not be reached by the arts of demagogues, of which, unfortunately for the country, there are too many in all parties. In this work, a man of culture, like Judge Chalmers, can do a great deal. He can by personal example induce the leading men of his State to come to the front as eager defenders of a thorough system of public education. They have, as most of those of the other Southern States have done, too long stood aloof and allowed the stranger to do for the negro what they should have done themselves as willing workers, instead of making mouths at a fate which after fifteen years of effort they find is superior to anything they can put forward against it.

“Thirteen years ago the Jackson Clarion warned the people of Mississippi, as the leading papers of the South everywhere did, that ‘there was but one way out of the wilderness, and that was as plain as the road to market. It was to recognize the rights the Federal Government had bestowed upon the negro; to treat him kindly, and to point him the way he should go.’ This plan was not generally pursued. But it is never too late to mend. We can begin now the work that should have been done in 1867. We can rescue the negro from the ignorance that threatens him and us by establishing good public schools—not grudgingly, as if we were conferring an unwilling charity—but in a broad, cheerful, earnest and good neighborly spirit, as if we were performing a duty—a paramount and most important duty. Under God this is the only remedy for negro suffrage. It is a waste of time to talk of abridging it. Revolutions never go backward. The best answer to that sort of talk is that the United States never were so strong or so prosperous as they are at this moment, when public sentiment is in all the States demanding the most absolute assertion of democratic life and living. Instead of looking back, we must look forward; nay, we must go forward, and we must take the negro by the hand and make him feel that he is a part of the great column of the people; that his destiny is interlaced with ours; that we must not stand apart, isolated and at enmity, but go forward, each doing what he can to strengthen the community at all points, moral and physical, to uphold and defend our democratic form of government and perpetuate unsullied the liberties which have survived the chaos of civil war and reconstruction.”

We are glad to add to the other testimonials from able and intelligent Southerners, a few words from the remarkable Thanksgiving Sermon of Rev. Atticus G. Haygood, D.D., President of Emery College, Oxford, Ga.:

“There is a vast mass of illiteracy among us. There is white as well as black illiteracy. There are multiplied thousands who can neither read nor write. They must be taught.

“Let us wake up to our want of educational facilities. Our public-school system is painfully inadequate. Our colleges and universities are unendowed, and they struggle against fearful odds in their efforts to do their work. We are one hundred years behind the Eastern and Middle States. We are also behind many of the new States of the West.

“For the negroes themselves. * * * * Much depends on those who, under God, set them free. By every token this whole nation should undertake the problem of their education. That problem will have to be worked out on the [135]basis of co-operation; that is, they must be helped to help themselves. To make their education an absolute gratuity will perpetuate many of the misconceptions and weaknesses of character which now embarrass and hinder their progress. Much also depends upon the Southern white people, their sympathy, their justice, their wise and helpful co-operation. This we should give them, not reluctantly, but gladly, for their good and for the safety of all, for their elevation and for the glory of God.”

BENEFACTIONS.

Three Israelites in Germany devoted 1,400,000 marks to charitable purposes without distinction of faith.

Mr. J. H. Wade of Cleveland, O., has given $92,000 to the City Orphan Asylum, $12,000 of which is to be applied for a school-house.

The late John M. Pinkerton, Esq. left about $300,000 to Pinkerton Academy at Derry, N.H. Mr. Pinkerton was a native of that town, and the Academy was founded by his grandfather.

The late E. R. Harris, of Preston, England, left over £300,000 for the establishment of public institutions for the town, of which £100,000 will be expended for an orphan home, and £50,000 for a science and art school.

The late Hugh Meharry, of Paxton, Ill., left the following bequests: To the Central Tennessee College, $10,000; to the Parent Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, $10,000; to the American Bible Society, $10,000.

If the executors of A. T. Stewart carry out the proposed plan of a college for educating 1,500 young men—with an endowment of some three to four million dollars—it will doubtless be the largest donation to education from any one estate.

The late Herr Isador Kraft, of Berlin, a wealthy philanthropist, has left behind him a will which would have rejoiced the soul of Tom Hood. He has ordered that half of his fortune of 1,000,000 marks be expended in the foundation of a fund for the assistance of poor needlewomen, without regard to sect.

Mr. Amasa Stone has given $500,000 for the removal of Western Reserve College to Cleveland, O. The citizens have raised $100,000, with which a site of 40 acres has been purchased on Euclid Avenue, opposite Wade Park. It is proposed to locate the College and the Case School of Applied Science, with its endowment of $1,250,000, on these grounds, and to designate the different schools as Western Reserve University. The combined endowment funds exceed $2,000,000.

GENERAL NOTES.

Africa.

—The Sultan of Zanzibar has put in irons three slave-owners prominent in the late disturbances at Mombasa.

—M. Callisto Legnani has been named as consular agent of the kingdom of Italy, with his residence at Khartoum.

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—Mr. Mackay, missionary of the Church Missionary Society at Mteza’s kingdom, has completed his translation of St. Matthew’s Gospel into the language of Uganda.

—Lieutenant Dumbleton and the military physician Browning embarked the last of December at Liverpool to penetrate by the Gambia into the valley of the Niger, and if possible as far as Timbuctoo.

—The journal Nature, of London, announces that M. J. Thomson, the explorer of the region between the Dar-es-Salam, the Nyassa and the Tanganyika, has been called to direct an expedition from Sierra Leone to Timbuctoo.

—Capt. Neves Ferreira, Governor of Benguela, and some officers of the Portuguese army, have offered to the Geographical Society of Lisbon to undertake a scientific exploration across Africa, setting out from the Western side.

—A conference has been held at Madeira by the Church Missionary Society respecting West African missions. Bishop and Arch-deacon Crowther, two native Africans, were invited to be present. A deputation from London had arrived safely at the island some time since, and the report of proceedings will be looked for with interest.

—More than nineteen years since, the daughter of Archbishop Whately established a mission in Cairo which she is said to have supported with her own private means. It includes a large mission school for Copts and Moslems, and is attended daily by more than 500. It has also in connection with it a medical mission, book depot and Bible women.

—Mr. Mackay writes from Kagei, on the southern shore of the Victoria Nyanza, on November 1st, that canoes had arrived from Uganda, and he was about proceeding thither together with a re-inforcement for the Romanist mission. The canoes, however, having been three months coming across the lake, there was no news later than July 29th. Affairs were then no brighter and Mr. Pearson found it difficult to obtain food.

—It is reported that the women at the Livingstonia Mission, Eastern Africa, attend the services respectably clothed, and have learned to make dresses for themselves. The native young men have acquired many industrial arts, and can make furniture, bricks, etc., and even work the engines of the steamer belonging to the mission. Over 100 children are on the school-roll, and their attendance is very regular.

—Mouchot, an ingenious mechanic, has succeeded with an experiment in Algiers which is likely to attract much attention among those interested in the development of the manufacture of industries in Africa. He has contrived an apparatus by which he is able to pump and boil water by solar force. With abundance of force, cotton and working people, the unclad millions of Ethiopia, among whom already cloth is the most valuable currency, may become both respectable and rich.

—A new company of missionaries from Algiers has set out to found between that side and the great lakes a station which will render communication easier with the missions of Uganda and Ouroundi, and from whence they can come to their aid, according to circumstances. The missionaries of Ouroundi will also establish a new station to the west of Tanganyika, so that they may advance towards the Manyema and the Upper Congo by a shorter route than that they have hitherto followed.

The Indians.

—Six new converts were received by the church of Odanah, Chippewa Mission, during the last year.

—Congress has appropriated $165,000 for indemnity to the Ponca Indians, and to secure their lands in severalty on either the old or new reservations, in accordance with their wishes.

—A few hundred of the Iowas and Sacs are still in the north-eastern part of Kansas, and the Rev. S. M. Irwin, one of their early missionaries, has agreed to spend some months in missionary labors for them. This is regarded as somewhat an experiment, but it is hoped that it may result in permanent arrangements for their benefit.

—Rev. G. L. Deffenbaugh writes from Lapwai, Idaho Territory, of the very encouraging progress of the Presbyterian mission at that point. It appears from his statement that thirty-four united with the church there during the past year, and that now they have a total membership of 178. Of these three were licensed to preach, while the ordinance of infant baptism was administered to seven. Good work was also done at Kamiah, where the church numbers 200. Seventeen children were baptized at this place during the year ending Jan. 1st, 1881.

The Chinese.

—A Christian hospital has been erected at Tientsin, with funds provided by the viceroy Li Hung Chang, in connection with the successful treatment of his wife by a female medical missionary.

—The Chinese Methodist Mission in San Francisco reports as good results from their religious endeavors as those attained by like labors among the whites. There are ninety-seven full members and ten on probation.

—The American Baptist Missionary Union, Tremont Temple, Boston, has issued a valuable map of China, including Siam, Burmah and Japan. It is about six feet by five in dimensions, and will be furnished at $1.25 cloth, or 75 cents paper.

—A new Chinese church was dedicated at Honolulu, Jan. 2d. The building, commodious and attractive, cost with the land $10,700, the Chinese contributing $4,470. The King and the Attorney-General were at the dedication. Drs. Damon and Hyde assisted in the exercises, while the principal parts were taken by Chinese, and the benediction was pronounced by a native Hawaiian.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

McLeansville, N.C.—On the 4th of March the school observed the day by giving in the forenoon some account of each of the Presidents. In the afternoon they set out Garfield shade trees. At night there was a prayer-meeting, in which the central thought was—pray for the new President.

Woodville, Ga.—The Pilgrim Church had a very interesting service March 6th. The building was crowded; three persons were admitted to membership; one brother was ordained deacon, after which the Lord’s supper was celebrated. The Sabbath-school is well attended, taking the place of the forenoon sermon. Twichell school is growing, and some of the scholars walk eight miles every day to attend.

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Nashville, Tenn.—Pres. Cravath in a recent letter says: “This is a time of special religious interest. Daily prayer-meetings have been held for several weeks, and there have been a few recent conversions. Yesterday Dr. Earle, who has been laboring in the city in connection with the First Baptist Church, came out at eleven and held a meeting with the students. The audience was deeply moved, and a large number rose to express a desire to become Christians. There was deep interest at the night prayer-meeting, and this morning our opening exercises were changed to a prayer-meeting. Prof. Bennett held an inquiry meeting all the forenoon in the parlor. Fourteen think they have found peace, and a large number are anxious and inquiring. We expect to have the inquiry meeting again to-morrow. The interest seems very deep and genuine.”

Chattanooga, Tenn.—On last Sabbath evening the Sunday-school held its quarterly concert, which consisted in reciting the golden texts of the quarter and the lessons of the same, by topics, with a short talk on the great missionary work Christ came into this world to do. Quite a number of people were present and seemed interested in the services. At the close a contribution of $5.64 was taken for the A. M. A.

Paris, Texas.—“Our work is growing. The members are all doing nicely. All our meetings are full of interest. We are holding neighborhood prayer-meetings for those who cannot get to the regular prayer-meeting. One united with us last Sabbath by profession. Sunday-school is full of interest.”

THE FREEDMEN.

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

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

GEORGIA.

Those Atlanta Apples.

Missionary statistics are sometimes thought to be dry. I propose to give some that all will concede to be juicy.

In the good old Massachusetts towns of Amherst, Danvers, Lincoln, Newton, Norfolk, and Walpole, there grew last summer a choice collection of forty thousand apples. These apples were choice not only because of their beauty and flavor, but also because of their missionary destiny. Scorning to waste their precious substance in the cellars, and attics, and barns of a region already over-stocked by their orchard companions, they resolved to put themselves where they would do the most good. So by the aid of willing hands and generous hearts they found their way into eighty good-sized barrels, a goodly half thousand in each barrel. Rail-cars and steamers brought them to the sunny South, and they were soon provided with ample accommodations in one of the basements of Atlanta University.

It must be confessed that when the barrels were opened some of the apples had a very green appearance, as though they had never been on a mission before; while others of them were blushing violently, as if greatly agitated by the responsibilities of their new vocation. Subsequent acquaintance, however, proved that these indications of weakness were wholly upon the surface, and that, with the exception of a very few who had been suffering from their long journey, the new comers were sound to the core and fully prepared for missionary service.

This service, it must be added, was one which called for nerve on the part[139] of the missionary recruits in proportion to their realizing sense of what they were coming to. Many times companies of two hundred each were summoned from the barrels and placed in long picket lines around the edges of a dozen large dining tables, one standing guard at each plate. But scarcely had this been done when two hundred hungry boys and girls and missionary teachers appeared upon the scene, and, after bestowing upon the red and green sentinels many a complacent smile through a long meal of meat and vegetables, finally attacked them with six thousand (more or less) sharp ivory weapons, and subjected them to that fate which other missionaries are said to have suffered among the Cannibal Islands. Others, after being flayed, drawn and quartered, were placed in boiling cauldrons, and their indistinguishable remains were afterwards served up on the same tables in sauce dishes or concealed under the crust of pies.

Yet these missionaries of Pomona uttered no complaint, but met their fate with a calmness that was beautiful to behold. All honor to the forty thousand! What a host it was! If taken to the capital of their native state and strung together, they would have made a festoon stretching from the State house dome to the apex of Bunker Hill monument! Many, many thanks to our generous friends.

All of us.

Twenty-eight New Disciples.

MISS JULIA GOODWIN, ATLANTA.

These beautiful lines of the sainted Herbert well describe that bright day in March, a day in which to breathe its delicious air was a luxury; a day in which our hearts were lifted up in unison with all things in Nature; a day long to be remembered as a golden one in the history of this band of Christ’s followers.

As we entered the audience room, going from the clear sunshine without into the subdued light of the sanctuary, we found it filled to its utmost capacity, and over all seemed to reign a holy calm. Before the altar sat thirty who waited to be made one with this fold, (twenty-eight by profession, two by letter). Waiting to welcome these and to assist in the sacred rites of the hour were Rev. Messrs. Hawley, Francis, and Beaman, and Dr. Roy. After the singing of hymns, reading of Scripture and prayer, and the pastor had spoken fitting words of welcome, admonition and encouragement, those who had not already received the rite, one after another, kneeled before the altar for baptism. The hush of solemn stillness added to the impressiveness of the simple ceremony. Then in the freshness of their love the twenty-eight new disciples stood and took the vows of God upon them, while Christian hearts rejoiced; and may we not believe that angels bent to hear, and carry the news to Heaven of young hearts renouncing the world and pledging allegiance to the King of kings? God grant that each one may be found “faithful unto death.”

The emblems were blessed, the bread was broken, the wine poured, the invitation given, “eat ye all of it.” Interesting and touching reminiscences were indulged in, often with much tenderness of feeling. The heart-hymn, “My faith looks up to Thee,” every line of which breathes a prayer, ascended in its wedded tune of Olivet. The benediction was said; the service was over.

Thus we tell you of the first ingathering of sheaves from the harvest not yet fully garnered. Silently, as God’s greatest blessings always come, this favor has come to us. Seed scattered through many years by loving hands has, all unnoticed, been springing up. Sowing, pruning, digging about, preparing the ground to receive the watering of Divine mercy, has not been in vain. In answer to fervent, long-continued prayer, not[140] with boisterous storm or rush of wind, but gently, the rich showers of blessing fell, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.”

The awakening began in our day-school. Much seriousness seemed manifest during the week of prayer, when daily after-school meetings were held, and in connection with the labors of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Brown, a few weeks later, in many hearts a settled purpose to serve the Lord found expression. The church and school, like twin-born sisters, go hand in hand. One can not be troubled and the other be unaffected; one cannot be blessed and the other remain unmoved. The work of grace went on, making the Sunday-school and all church services solemn seasons. Each night the place of prayer was crowded, many anxious to know the way of life or avowing their purpose to live for Christ, sometimes struggling through days of darkness to find the clear light from the sun of righteousness just beyond. Sweet always will be the remembrance of a morning greeting from a bright-faced girl of fourteen, as she waited at the school-yard gate. Her beaming countenance told the story even before the lips, which quickly uttered the glad words, “I have found Christ at last! He has forgiven my sins!”

Some among those who seemed the stoutest-hearted were the first to submit to Christ, while sadly we look upon others, who remind us of the young man whom Jesus loved, who seemed near the kingdom and yet took no step nearer.

The joy it gives every new-born soul to welcome one after another to their newly-formed ranks has been beautiful to behold. A hopeful sign is that everyone seemed so ready, nay, so eager, to do some service in showing to others the path in which their own feet had just begun to tread. All love the place of prayer, and often spend the half-hour recess at noon in a prayer-meeting by themselves in the small library up-stairs. Some of tender years are as thoughtful in face and manner as the oldest ones. One in telling of her new-found love said, “I felt that I loved everybody, and if my arms had been large enough I thought I would like to take in the whole world;” and with eyes and voice full of tears, she begged prayers for her father, who had said, when she urged him to come to Christ, “I am too old.”

Just as in days gone by, many benighted ones outside of us believe that “gettin’ religion” consists in the seeing of visions and the dreaming of dreams, and those who have been taught the truth in our Sunday-school are often interrogated; “How far did you go?” “What did you see in your travels?” “How long did you stay in torment?” and when they have no answer but the unvarying one, “We are trying to do Christ’s commands,” they are taunted with “You’re no Christian!” “Bible religion ain’t no religion.” Yet they show only a feeling of pity for such ignorant ones.

There is still among us a spirit of inquiry. At our usual Monday after-school prayer-meeting many said, “Pray for us!”

Through all there seems to underlie a current of earnestness and desire for holier living in God’s children, and more, much more we crave of willingness and strength, that so we may—

ALABAMA.

Temperance—First Impression—First Fruits.

REV. A. W CURTIS, MARION.

The temperance agitation here has not been without fruit. A monster petition was sent to the Legislature, praying for prohibition, and a law was passed prohibiting all traffic in intoxicating drinks within five miles’ radius of the court house. The word Bar, printed prominently[141] over several places of common resort, has found at last its legitimate meaning—to bar out all drinkers. Everything is very quiet, and it seems probable that a great crowd of loafers will have to go five miles for their liquor or reform. One man died from over-drinking the last night of open traffic. Yet another loud lecture on temperance was given us a few weeks ago. An old colored man, going home late Saturday night, intoxicated, fell about eight feet into a gully and broke his neck. The effect of the new law upon the colored people has proved very salutary.

Knowing that this people have little opportunity for finding out the news, I have adopted the plan of giving a brief resumé, such as will afford them some idea of the world’s progress in all the great reforms of the day, at the opening of our Sabbath evening service. It works well, if intense eagerness in listening is a fair indication.

My first impression of this people,—Sabbath, January 2d—was that a very large infusion of white blood and brains was represented in my audience, and it was very hard to think that most of them had been slaves. The next was one of respect for my predecessors, as I noted their readiness and precision in responsive reading; though I afterwards saw that many of the older ones did not read—could not, as it proved. You may imagine with what delight some of these listened to President Garfield’s inaugural address as I read it, when it came, to such as happened to be within easy reach. Our work here has been full of encouragement. The attendance is never large, as compared with the other churches, but good interest has been manifest from the very first. We moved here January 17th, and at once revived the meetings at “The Home” for the ladies, the children and young people, Mrs. C. taking charge, with the one aim from the first of winning their hearts to Christ. As many as forty young people have been present at some of her Sunday evening and 3 P.M. meetings, and at the close frequently several of these would ask leave to stay and talk personally about becoming Christians. Of course, we were soon obliged to have special meetings, and have just closed a session of 17 nights’ consecutive preaching. The Holy Spirit has been working in many hearts. The church has been greatly revived. All the Sunday-school children—not already members—have been forward for prayer, and many others in the community, quite a number converted, and more awakened who will probably go to the Baptists, who started a “revival” the second week of our meeting and are still continuing with great excitement, and I hope real good results. Not a small part of our work is to stir up the other churches, for which let us thank God and take courage. Last Sabbath we received ten of the first fruits on profession of their faith in Jesus. Nearly every one of our Sabbath-school now think they are Christians. Oh, for more to come into our Sabbath-school! Pray that the good work may go on.

LOUISIANA.

Examination of the Law Department at Straight University.

It was my pleasure to fall in upon the Straight University at the time of the annual examination in its Law Department. The exercises came off at the office of the Dean of the Law Faculty, Judge Alfred Shaw. There were present, also, the three other Professors, J. C. Walker, Esq., and Honorables M. M. Cohen and R. T. Posey, and Dr. W. S. Alexander, President of the University. Eight young men were examined for graduation, one of whom, J. B. Gaudet, was colored. Pres. Alexander, leading off in general questions, each of the Professors followed in the line of his department. The young men had taken the two courses of lectures and had read[142] law in private, or under preceptors. All were approved. By the laws of Louisiana, graduation from this Institution admits at the Bar for practice. The State University’s Law Department has the same prerogative. So fades out the color line. Our institutions are color-blind. Brains and culture stand on their own merit. The accomplished white law-lecturers and the bright white students receive the colored aspirant lawyers on the basis of citizenship and scholarship. Simon Cameron repeats at the North, after a tour of the South, “the picked-up notion of ‘over-education’ among the blacks, the same, of whom awhile ago it was said that they could not take on the higher education. But how would the Pennsylvania statesman have these sable attorneys prepared for their profession and for the competition of life and business? Does it not come with an ill grace that a man who has himself risen from humble position, should rule down these Africo-Americans to an education that would simply fit them for good servants?” Of the twenty-five graduates of this Law Department, seven are colored, and they are making their way successfully in the Courts. Of the nineteen students now in the course, five are colored. One is the pastor of the English Lutheran Church of the city, a former graduate of a Pennsylvania College, and of Princeton Seminary.

AFRICA.

Off for Africa.

BY REV. HENRY M. LADD.

It does not seem possible that anyone could ever have crossed the Atlantic, followed by more prayers and good wishes, than attended and do, we believe, still attend us.

Our good steamer, the “City of Berlin,” though advertised to sail from New York on the twelfth of February, did not leave till the thirteenth. We met on board, quite unexpectedly, some old college friends, who were bound for a trip in Europe, and we were therefore soon at home, surrounded by the most congenial society.

On the twenty-first we sighted the bold headlands of Cape Clear, and in the evening we were reading the latest news from London. Having arrived safely in Liverpool, and Mr. and Mrs. Kemp, colored missionaries for the Mendi Mission, reaching the same place a few days later, we were obliged to wait there a week for an African steamer; but the time was well employed in some preliminary business in London and elsewhere, with reference to the proposed new mission in the Nile basin. We had the pleasure of a short but interesting visit with Rev. O. H. White, D.D., the earnest and efficient secretary of the Freedman’s Missions Aid Society, who has done so much to interest our English and Scotch friends in the work of the American Missionary Association. We also called on Robert Arthington, Esq., of Leeds, whose munificent generosity has made possible the opening of the new mission near the head-waters of the Nile, which is to be distinguished by his name. He received us very kindly, and with outspread map before us, we spent a pleasant afternoon together, discussing plans and hopes for the opening of the work next fall, which now seems to promise so well. On Saturday, March 5th, we embarked on board the steamship “Mayumba,” for Africa, and our voyage has been a delightful one ever since. The same steamer had on board two hundred tons of gunpowder for the slaughter of the natives. Like the vessel that carried out rum and missionaries to Turkey, this was carrying powder to kill the Africans, while we were going for their peace and healing. Yet we would rather a thousand times go[143] with the powder than with the rum; for the former, horrid as is the art of war, has in the hands of the English made a way in the wilderness for the heralds of the Cross, while the latter has been and always will be an unmitigated curse.

But the cloud is beginning to lift. We believe that there is a bright and cheering history of African missions yet to be written. The five millions of reserve force, now drilling in America for the final victory, are yet to be called out, and they will come to the rescue. They are already on the move. These educated freemen have developed already many of the proper qualifications for the work. We must expect failures and disappointments at first from those so recently in the degradation of slavery, but we believe theirs is the work, and they will yet do it, and do it grandly, too. With a holy enthusiasm they are coming by degrees more fully to appreciate the fact that Africa is their true field of labor—even as this excellent colored brother and his wife, who are going out with me, say they would rather die for their degraded brethren in Africa, than live in Christian America. As, therefore, we approach the shores of Africa, to enlarge and carry forward this work, I feel that we are now moving in the line of God’s appointment, and that success must ultimately crown our efforts. In this very steamer are those going out in Her Majesty’s service to conquer the rebellious tribes along this same west coast. Shall we, who are the soldiers of the Lord of Hosts, the King of kings, have less enthusiasm and courage in conquering these same tribes with the sword of the Spirit and in the bonds of peace?

Teneriffe, March 15th.

I am happy to report our safe arrival at this point on our journey. We have had a very pleasant voyage thus far, and have been remarkably well. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp are in excellent health and spirits. I think we may hope much from them. I have learned to esteem them very highly. Last Sabbath we touched at Madeira, and were met on board by Mr. Smart, agent for the “Missions to Seamen Society,” who very kindly invited us to his house to breakfast and dinner. There we met Mrs. Godman, of the Wesleyan Mission at Sierra Leone, who was much broken down in health. These kind friends showed us every attention possible, and we came away feeling that we had had a day of great spiritual as well as physical refreshing. I was much pleased with what little I saw of the place. I have had many pleasant talks with the Kemps regarding their work, and only wish we had a dozen such men to send out to Africa.

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. Wiley, D.D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D.D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.

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

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

A GENTLE GROWL.

I love to look over the columns of religious intelligence in the Congregationalist, the Advance, the Pacific. I say to myself: “How well the churches are doing! How happy all these ministers must be! How little they have to annoy, to worry, to depress! How much to make them glad and even jubilant!” Yet, a few days pass, and possibly one[144] of these very ministers knocks at my study door, to talk over, confidentially, the pains, the difficulties, the heavy burdens of his work; a root of bitterness which he has tried in vain to remove, now springing up to trouble him; finances going all awry; sad cases calling for discipline,—the duty imperative, and the church, though stung to the quick with a sense of its dishonor, too timid to come up to its task. Of course, such things ought not to go into the papers nor any other but the good and glad things. We can make others sharers of our joys, but we shrink from asking them to bear, with us, our pains.

“Well, that is all right,” I say to myself, and so it is. And yet those who sustain a missionary work have a right to see it on all sides. God be thanked that I have had so much to report that was cheery, stimulating, hopeful; so little that was otherwise. I wonder if our friends and helpers—readers of the Missionary—think that, like the harvest fields of California, so our Gospel work is bathed in perpetual sunshine? or do they know that here, too, we have our darkened skies, our tempests untimely, our frosts premature?

“Well, it won’t hurt them if they don’t see the shady side,” I say to myself again.

“Yes, but am I truthful in the matter?” I reply, and so even conscience puts me up to make a gentle growl. There is nothing very bad to growl about; no more probably than I need; far less than I deserve; but there is something, almost always, on which if one allowed himself to brood, he could soon get up steam to scold hard. And I am not thinking just here of the greater trials of our work, as when some riotous outburst of anti-Chinese prejudice sends these people at sunset to their several retreats, and seems, for the time, to knock our schools prostrate; nor of the sore trials from false brethren among our Chinese Christians—starting discords in the little flocks—or by their vile conduct bringing reproach on the Gospel that they have proclaimed. Those things, I am grateful to say, belong to years past; and, besides, we don’t growl at the great trials—it is the comparatively little things that put us in a scolding mood.

For instance: here is a teacher who has done well—been faithful, skilful and successful; has won the intense affection—almost the reverence of her pupils. But her heart is young, and somebody else’s heart is young also, and these two have grown together, till, in an hour of general congratulation, their hands are joined, and they start off upon life’s journey no longer twain. Then the same zeal, the same concentration of interest and effort which made her so successful a teacher, is developed touching home cares and a husband’s comfort; and weeks grow to months and months to years, and her face is not seen, even for an hour, in the school-room where she served so well. She did not mean it so to be; but so it was, and the shrewd heathen Chinese, that was almost persuaded in view of her zeal and self-denial to become a Christian, thinks now that he sees through it all: “Good pay, good teach; no pay, no teach.”

Here is another teacher who took up the work with zeal and loved it—so she said and so she thought; better and better the longer she wrought. But she is cumbered with much serving all day long, and brings a weak flesh, and, consequently, a not very willing spirit to her evening’s service at the mission. The pupils note it. It is indeed unmistakable, for the head nods and the eyes close, time and again, before the last school hour is half expired. They don’t like to burden her, and one by one they drop out of the school. The Superintendent intervenes as gently as he can; but he finds that it is very difficult to dismiss a teacher and not lose a friend.

Here is a field where the opportunity is evidently large, and the gate to it[145] seems wide open. You enter it hopefully. Plans seem to form themselves almost without your thinking. Arrangements are made and the work begins. Then it appears the arrangements were not made; that you “reckoned without your host;” his plans and yours do not exactly dovetail, and in this case a miss is as good, and as ill, as a mile. Delays ensue; disappointment and failure seem inevitable. The very elements seem to have conspired against you. And yet that opportunity must not be lost, for there are golden harvests possible in that wide-open field, and, somehow, you must reap them.

It is getting past the middle of your fiscal year. We have tried hard to make one dollar do the work of two, and yet the appropriation is well nigh exhausted. Contributions come in slowly. The churches, you fancy, have forgotten this work; or, possibly they dare not propose it among their charities. You sally forth, subscription book in hand. You take the easy ones first, the men that you “know” will give. But they respond to your “know” with a different “No.” and you draw back to your retirement, you enter into your closet, and learn to go forth the next time in the use of a coinage and a wisdom not your own and prayer, or the prayer-hearing Master, pulls you through, so that when the year ends the year’s bills are all paid and you take a fresh start for the next twelve-months’ campaign.

But a truce to all this. Who expects to make a voyage and encounter no storms? Who can hope to win a battle without finding that there are blows to take as well as blows to give? Our Master never promised us that just now the currents should float in either to the fulfilment of our task or the attainment of a full salvation; but forewarning us that in the world we should have great trials and tribulation, he adds, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

I conclude with this little extract from a letter just received from a new helper, Jue Lee, whom we have sent to Oroville: “Now the school is here first-rate getting on. We have almost thirty scholars every night, but Mr. Ostrom, [Pastor of the church, W. C. P.], read the Bible also. I explain China to them. Now I hope God open their ears to hear; find out this true light soon, and come to worship same God. But Christ is a faithful Saviour, and will not forsake those who put their trust in Him. But I, at first, dislike here; it seem everything so strange to me. Now that I remember what the Bible says: ‘But the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head’ [I am content]. Now I hope God give me power to preach and soon they will be all converted.”

WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

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

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

MONTHLY REPORT.

This Association has now become a corporate body. A meeting of the Association to complete the business of incorporation by adopting the Charter and By-Laws, was held in the chapel of Mt. Vernon church, on March 30. In spite of the stormy weather the meeting was a large one. Upon a motion to adopt the Charter, the opposition (to the so-called “restriction” policy) at once offered an amendment, to postpone the whole matter of incorporation for a few weeks. A lively and somewhat lengthy discussion followed, which resulted in the loss of the amendment and the adoption of the Charter by a large majority.[146] The debate was renewed over the obnoxious “9th Article,” and an amendment to strike out the word “Home,” as defining the work of auxiliaries, was proposed; but this was lost by a vote of 87 to 30, and the original Article adopted by a vote of 97 to 15.

The Association feel that they have reason to rejoice, not only in the result, but in the whole course of the meeting. It was evident that the opposition steadily lost ground, while the sentiment that the policy of the Association thus far has been a wise and fitting one, made a constant gain. We hope and believe that this is an omen of the increasing good-will and confidence of Christian people towards the Association. While we are thankful for the steady growth of interest and the expressions of that interest in material aid, we pray and long always for more; and we beg that none of the friends of the work will remit, or intermit their interest, but that they will rather redouble their efforts as they see how the field opens before us, and how good a thing it is to help our neighbors in this way, and to serve our country and God.

We give an extract or two from a letter lately received from Miss Carter, at Nashville, telling us something of how she has used the contents of her last barrel, and of the working of her sewing-school.

“Wednesday evening,” she writes, “I had a reception in my room. The guests were dirty, ragged, pitiful boys; some of them can read, some cannot, but all of them are spell-bound by the wonderful stories of St. Nicholas and The Youth’s Companion. If the children who sent these papers and magazines sacrificed anything in so doing, may they be blessed for it; they would be could they see the happy, wondering faces of the children, who almost reverently turn the pages and spell out the stories.” * * * “I wish it were possible for you to come into my sewing-school of a Tuesday evening. At two o’clock the girls assemble—noisy, rough girls,—racing and laughing they burst into the room where I wait for them: a room where a family of father, mother and five children live, one of many, in some old barracks that were used in the war. We begin with reading of Scripture and a short prayer, and sometimes the girls sing with their rich, full voices; then we are all ready for the work, which is sometimes sewing, sometimes cutting. There is a great deal of commendable rivalry among the girls as to which shall sew best and fastest, so their tongues run fast until I silence them with a proposal to read or tell a story. They are deeply interested in ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ and beside we are having ten minute talks on Physiology, and the care of the body. The immorality among the women and young girls is something to make one’s heart ache, and my daily prayer is that I may do something to turn them to better, purer lives.

“When a garment is finished, the maker buys it for a trifling sum, within the means of the poorest. My other school meets Thursdays, in a school-house, and is conducted on nearly the same plan.

“Pure hearted Northern girls, with homes where every comfort and luxury abound, you cannot picture to yourselves the poverty and degradation of some of these homes where I go daily. Perhaps you read Dickens and Thackeray with moist eyes, and then, laying aside the book, comfort yourselves with the thought, ‘Well, after all there is no Nancy or Bill Sykes. There was never any one so miserable as ‘little Nell’ or ‘poor Jo;’ never any such frightful creature as one of these great hearts has wept over and the other has laughed over.’ But believe me, there are just such; no novelist’s pen has ever colored too highly possible poverty and degradation. What would you say, or rather what would you do, were you to enter a cabin where I have been many times?[147] The first time I ever saw —— she was standing in her door-way on a snowy, cold day, her only article of clothing a calico wrapper. Within, the one room was as cheerless as a place well could be. In one corner stood a bedstead with only a dirty husk bed on it, in another, a table; there were two chairs, neither boasting a seat; on the table were a few broken dishes, and this list enumerates all there was in the room, absolutely all. This woman lives with a man many years older than she; he is a brute, and in his drunken passions beats her; she with one paralyzed and utterly powerless arm can do nothing to defend herself. Perhaps it is no wonder if she too, drinks at times, to forget her misery, yet no amount of persuasion or entreaty will induce her to separate from this man.

“How can other girls and women be saved? Certainly not by the efforts of one woman working single-handed among them, not by the efforts of many such, perhaps; yet possibly by the earnest prayers of pure hearts, that send help while they still pray.”

Receipts of the Association from March 1 to March 28, 1881:

DONATIONS.

Through Cong. Pub. Society, from Hoosac S. S., Hymn books, papers, &c., for Miss Julia A. Wilson, Baxter Springs, Kansas, $15.88.

Bible Society, New York, 60 Bibles for Mrs. Amelia S. Steele, Almeda, S.C., $24.

From Park St. S. S., Boston, for land for church, to Mrs. A. S. Steele, Almeda, $30. From friends, for Mrs. Steele, new clothing, etc., $25.

Barrel valued at $37, sent to Mrs. Steele, from Ladies’ Benevolent Society, Piedmont Church, Worcester, Mass.

Two cases, valued at $100 each, to Western Missionaries, from Shawmut Av. Church, Boston.

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

CLAUDIE’S COLOR LINE.

MISS MARY L. SAWYER.

“I never, never can bring myself to do it, Auntie; I know I never can!” and Claudie’s blue eyes grew so very cloudy that Auntie thought the rain drops would surely fall.

“Very well, my darling, you may do as you please,” she said, cheerily; “but now run out into the sunshine, for I shall be very busy this morning and you must amuse yourself.”

That did not seem a hard thing to the little girl, as she wanted to explore the new home into which she had come for the first time the night before. How strange everything looked; the blue mountains in the distance, the cotton fields where women were picking the white balls into baskets, the little log cabins with their queer mud chimneys, and the mules shaking their long ears as they drew the great wagons piled high with snowy cotton bales along the road to town. From the open window of the great brick building opposite she could hear the hum of voices, for this was a colored college, and Claudie’s uncle was one of its Professors. Her mamma had gone to Heaven a little time before, and this was why she was playing alone in the Southern sunshine at Auntie Faith’s home.

But why was she alone? Out under the cedar trees were Pink and Chloe and little Midge “playing supper” with persimmons and chincapins, and breaking out now and then into song as naturally[148] as the mocking-birds themselves. They had viewed Claudie from afar with round, admiring eyes, reserved the biggest chincapins for her use, and Pink had even ventured to say “Howdy?” but the little stranger stood aloof. Not a cross word or a naughty one had any of the children spoken, and they looked as clean and neat as Claudie herself would have looked had she been eating very ripe persimmons as freely as they. Pink’s black eyes were as full of fun and sparkle as Claudie’s blue ones, and her face as bright, and yet playing with these children was the very thing Claudie had said she could never, never do!

I really don’t like to tell you her reason, she would be so ashamed of it now. It was just because their merry little faces were colored black instead of white!

Now Claudie would never have been so foolish if she had not heard some grown-up people talking after this fashion just before she left the North:

“I really don’t see how dear Mrs. Faith, with her refined tastes, can live among the blacks,” said one.

“Think of eating at the same table, and actually touching them! It fairly makes me shiver,” echoed another, who sat with one arm around a big Newfoundland dog while she fed him with candy.

And after Mrs. Faith, with tears in her eyes, had told the story of her work and described her love and respect for her colored friends, another lady smilingly said:

“I have enjoyed your talk so much, Mrs. Faith; but I don’t envy you in the least. I know I couldn’t endure the negroes.”

Claudie was not old enough to understand that people who talk in this way are not the best or the wisest or the most refined people, and so their words influenced her. She was a very sociable little body, however, and playing alone soon grew dull. It was hot on the veranda, and, too, indeed, that shady nook under the cedars seemed the only cool spot in the yard just then, and how cunning little Midge did look!

piped Pink, gleefully, as she set her table with gouber shells for plates.

Claudie started. Why, Auntie sung that song once, and she said it meant that Jesus and the angels loved black people just as well as white ones, and thought them quite as beautiful. How funny to forget that! If the little angels would be willing to play with colored children of course she could, and then those persimmons were vanishing so fast!

The next minute a little white-robed maiden was flying through the rose-garden toward the cedars.

“Oh, Pink!” she cried, breathlessly, “I never ate a persimmon in all my life.”

“We is saving some for you,” answered Pink, as graciously as if her polite advances had been received at first, “an’ Chloe got some ‘simmon bread an’ Midge brought some goubers.”

What these new delights were Claudie had no idea, and the children’s tongues ran faster than ever as they explained. After the feast came an exploring trip, and under Pink’s guidance the yard and the adjoining field proved a perfect storehouse of treasures.

“’Clare, I done forgot,” she cried, suddenly producing a long necklace of chincapins, and presenting it shyly to Claudie; “I made it on purpose for you.”

“Oh, you splendid Pink!” cried Claudie; “you are the very nicest little girl I know!” and throwing her arms around her new friend’s neck she kissed her rapturously.

Then of course they must play house, with Claudie as the well-dressed mamma, and then came school and church and everything else they could think of, till at last, tired out with play, they threw themselves down in the shade to tell stories.

[149]

“I wonder if Heaven is over yonder by the mountains,” said Claudie, dreamily; “my mamma is in Heaven, and she has a beautiful white robe, and a golden crown and a harp!”

“An’ my mamma is in Hebben, too, an’ she wears a collarette,” chimed in Chloe with much importance; “but Hebben isn’t on the mountains; it’s in England!”

Claudie had just opened her mouth to dispute this remarkable statement, when Pink took up the argument:

“Chloe doesn’t know nuffin ’bout it,” she laughed. “She just thinks that ’cause cousin Emma went to England in a big ship with a heap of colored people to sing, an’ she said ev’rybody was so good it seemed just like Heaven, and nobody seemed to notice that they weren’t as white as anybody, an’ she saw the queen, an’ she went to dinner with white folks in splendid big houses, an’ a white gen’leman took her out to dinner hisself, an’ treated her ’zactly like a white lady; an’ she says, ‘’magine me in Washington an’ Gene’l Sherman taking me out to dinner!’”

Pink stopped breathless.

“But she did say it were sure ’nuff Hebben dere! You didn’t tell it all, Pink Symond,” persisted Chloe, indignantly.

“Yes,” said Pink, more soberly, “she did say that when they came home an’ she had to ride in smoking cars, an’ couldn’t go to table with white folks at hotels, an’ was treated just like we all are, she thought England must be Heaven sure enough, ’cause everybody says this is the freest country outside of Heaven!”

Just then this theological discussion was ended by the sound of the dinner-bells, and Pink and Claudie, with arms lovingly around each other, walked slowly toward the house.

“Of such is the kingdom of Heaven,” murmured Uncle Faith as he watched them from his study window, and the tired look on his face faded away and something came instead that made Claudie say wonderingly—

“Oh, Uncle Faith, you look like—like the apostle John!”

“I think Pink is perfectly beautiful, Auntie,” whispered Claudie at her bedtime talk that night, “and I do wish those ladies at home could see her. You know, Auntie”—the fair face flushing—“I was so ignorant ’bout the colored people this morning, and I didn’t know any better, and I s’pose that’s just the way with those ladies. Isn’t there some way we could tell them, Auntie, that the colored people are just like us, and that they don’t seem so very colored after all?”

RECEIPTS

FOR MARCH, 1881.

H. W. HUBBARD, Treas.,

56 Reade St., N.Y.

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. G. D. Pike, D.D., at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

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

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 slaveholder, or in the practice of other immoralities, and who contributes to the funds, may become a member of the Society; and by the payment of thirty dollars, a life member; provided that children and others who have not professed their faith may be constituted life members without the privilege of voting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOOTNOTE:

The American Missionary Association.

AIM AND WORK.

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

STATISTICS.

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

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

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

WANTS.

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

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

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

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

MAGAZINE.

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

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

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

“I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ‘American Missionary Association’ of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes.”

The will should be attested by three witnesses [in some States three are required—in other States only two], who should write against their names, their places of residence [if in cities, their street and number]. The following form of attestation will answer for every State in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said [A. B.] as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some States it is required that the Will should be made at least two months before the death of the testator.