THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

TILLOTSON NORMAL AND COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.

PRES. WM. E. BROOKS.

Tillotson Normal and Collegiate Institute? (See opposite page.) Where is it? What is it? When opened? How welcomed? What is its present outlook, and what are its needs?

Tillotson Institute is situated just outside the limits of the city of Austin, Texas, upon a fine elevation, commanding on the east and south a beautiful and far-reaching view of the valley and of the shimmering waters of the Colorado. On the west is the city of Austin, with its spires and busy streets, and from the upper part of the building, looking northward, appear the far-extending prairies, so familiar in Texas, while, almost encircling the whole, rise hills and mountains, making this a most beautiful and picturesque spot, and of all others fitted for an institution of learning, where the student, while treasuring up knowledge, may have before him that which shall awaken a sense of the beautiful and the grand, leading him from nature to nature’s God. In these points Tillotson has few rivals.

As to its material, it is a large brick building with stone trimmings, 104 feet in length, 42 feet in depth, and five stories high. It has a dining hall, a beautiful and airy school-room about 37×48; three large recitation rooms, with other smaller ones, which are probably the most complete in their appointment of blackboards, maps and desks of any in the State. No one who has visited the Institution has been heard to question this. It may be added, also, that the building, as it now stands, is the gift of friends living in the East and West for the education of the colored youth of Texas.

Owing to delays in completing the building, the opening of the school was deferred from October, 1880, till January 17th, 1881.

Our numbers at the beginning were small, but have been steadily increasing, till now, in the Institute proper, we have over sixty students, with a good prospect that this number will be increased to at least a hundred before the close of the year. We have a large class in algebra, a still larger class in complete arithmetic, comprehensive geography and United States history, as also some ten or twelve in Latin and an equally large number in English composition. All of these are doing finely in everything but Latin—only fair in this.

[162]

The question as to the spirit of the people will excite interest in the minds of many. The “Fool’s Errand” and “Bricks Without Straw” have prepared some for a doleful statement on this point. I am glad to disappoint them, and in contrast to the above, I rejoice to bear witness to the kindly and even cordial manner with which we have been received. Thus far not one rebuff from the Governor down. The people are not only kindly disposed, but are pleased with the work carried on; they do not all have equal faith, but nearly or quite all acknowledge that it is a work that should be done, that the colored people must be educated. The State is doing something in this line now—not for us, we have not asked for anything—and is bound to do more. I venture the statement that in ten years, no other State in the Union will, in proportion to the number of her people and area, do so much for the instruction of the young as Texas. Many are coming to see eye to eye and stand foot to foot on this question of universal education.

The completion of the building and fencing the grounds, which is an absolute necessity, with the cost of furnishing, call for at least $2,000 more. This should be provided at once; then land is needed; thousands of colored youth in Texas greatly desire an education; they are worthy, but poor. Yet their highest good requires that they pay for their education. And, since this is not possible in many cases, some means should be provided by which they can. The most practical way is to have land which they can work.

The result would be advantageous in two ways: First, it would enable them to maintain their self-respect; they would feel that they were not receiving bounty, but were paying their way; this would make them more manly. Second, it would be a practical school where they would be taught the best methods of agriculture; this would be a priceless benefit to them.

But the Institution owns no land save the spot upon which the building stands. There are, however, some 450 acres of the first quality joining the Institution grounds for sale. True, since close to the city it is dear; but when once bought and paid for, these acres become a bank that will never fail, and always pay good dividends. It would be a wise and noble act for some one to buy this land and present it to the Institution; with it the possibilities of Tillotson Institute would be greatly magnified.

Who will purchase the farm, and giving it his own name, present it to the youngest child of the A. M. A.?

Finally, we are all more than pleased with the field and its work. It exceeds even our expectations; the climate is delightful, the location unsurpassed, the present inspiring, and the future radiant with hope.

It gives us pleasure to announce the safe arrival of Rev. Henry M. Ladd and Rev. Kelly M. Kemp, with his wife, at Freetown, Sierra Leone, March 23d, after a favorable and altogether agreeable passage from Liverpool. They were cordially welcomed on their arrival by the missionaries at that point on the coast.

The Memphis Appeal declares that there can be no excuse for allowing the work for the colored people at the LeMoyne Institute of that city to be sustained entirely by the friends of the A. M. A. North. It suggests also that the citizens of Memphis provide the improved facilities needful for the best development of the work of this eminently worthy Institution.

[163]

We heartily congratulate Berea College on its successful efforts during the past winter in securing a partial endowment. A few individuals in six different States recently joined in an effort to secure for it a fund of $50,000.

The movement was started by a Western Massachusetts man who subscribed $5,000, to which he afterwards added $1,666. Mrs. Valeria G. Stone, of Malden, Mass., gave $10,000. One friend in New York gave $7,500, and another $2,500. Three friends in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, gave $5,000 each. The balance was made up in smaller sums.

This college—the first founded by the A. M. A.—is doing a noble work, educating about an equal number of blacks and whites. It richly deserves all that has been done for it.

We are thankful to our friends and patrons for their hearty support of our work as shown in the increase of our current receipts by $20,087 over those of the corresponding seven months of last year. Encouraging as this is, the increase is not sufficient to enable us to accomplish what we had planned to do, and close our year free from debt, September 30th.

At the beginning of our fiscal year we called for an increase of 25 per cent. over the receipts of last year for current work. Our receipts have increased 19 per cent. to April 30th. At this rate we shall fall $10,700 short of the amount required to meet all payments. We make an earnest appeal now, for we wish our friends to know our situation, and to prevent a threatened debt. We already feel the pressure, for our workers are calling for the salaries due them, and they will need their money to bring them North for rest and change after the severe labors of the year.

ARTHINGTON MISSION—A TIMELY PROPOSAL.

In the spring of 1879 the Executive Committee of this Association, after a careful consideration of Mr. Robert Arthington’s offer of £3,000 for a new mission in the Upper Nile basin, voted to undertake the establishment of the proposed mission on the receipt of a fund of $50,000 for that purpose. During the autumn of the same year the Committee pledged itself that on receipt of £3,000 from Mr. Arthington and a like amount from the British public, “to devote thereto the sum of $20,000, and with the blessing of God and the assistance of the friends of Africa in Great Britain and America, to undertake permanently to sustain that mission.”

They felt free to make this pledge, as was stated in the American Missionary at the time, “especially as final receipts from the Avery estate have recently come to hand, which are devoted by the donor to the evangelization of the African race in Africa.” The receipts above mentioned amounted to $12,000. Mr. Arthington and the friends in Great Britain have already paid over the £6,000, or about $30,000, apportioned to them, and the Association has entered upon preliminaries looking toward the early establishment of the mission. We still lack about $8,000 for the completion of the fund. In view of this deficiency we consider the unsolicited offer from a distinguished anti-slavery man of $500 for this mission, on condition that $500 more be given by another party for the same object, as both opportune and providential, and we not only urge that the above pledge be secured, but that the entire deficiency be made up by the early autumn, as by that time our missionaries purpose to be on their way to the Upper Nile in Central Africa.

THE SECOND CALL.

REV. JAS. POWELL, CHICAGO.

When emancipation summoned the American slaves to freedom, nothing appealed with stronger effect to the sympathies of their friends than their wonderful eagerness for education. They thought that if they only could obtain a knowledge of letters they would also come into possession of the white man’s power and the white man’s privileges. An illusion this, in so far as it held out promise of speedy fulfilment, but a serious fact, nevertheless, in that it points to the only open door through which the Freedmen or their descendants must pass, if they ever do come into possession of that power and those privileges.

But illusion as it was, it acted as an inspiration. Under its power, old men and old women, young men and maidens, children and youth, flocked into everything that was called a school for Freedmen.

This unprecedented manifestation of a hunger and thirst for education was promptly met by a large supply of missionary teachers and educational facilities. The promise, however, was larger than the fulfilment. Old people could not learn, and young people must improve by the diligent application of persistent effort extending through years. Such is the teaching of all history and experience. This the negroes did not know, and many of their friends had apparently forgotten it. Reaction came, and with it disappointment and discouragement. “It’s no use, chile, I’se too old to learn,” said the old negroes; and young Sambo, with a characteristic genuinely human, began to develop a passion for sport rather than study. The fact is, the wonderful passion for study exhibited by the Freedmen was abnormal. It is not natural for scholars to be running ahead of their teachers and enthusiastically shouting back for them to come on. As a rule, the teacher must lead. Ability to inspire pupils with a love for study is one of the essentials for success in teaching. The work of education, like everything else good in this world, must be pushed.

A full recognition of these facts dictated the original policy of the A. M. A. in its educational work among the Freedmen, and has shaped its policy ever since. Institutions were planted and fostered with a view to permanency. Interest in sustaining them might rise or fall, but the work, in order to succeed, must be patiently carried forward.

The flood-tide of enthusiasm on the part of the Freedmen, as a matter of course, began to ebb when the difficulties of obtaining an education fairly dawned upon them. Some of their friends at the North, seeing this, began to lose faith in their educability, and as a consequence began also to withhold their support from the work. But the American Missionary Association said, “This is just as we expected,” and instead of yielding, buckled down to its work all the more earnestly, and argued for its continuance all the more forcefully. The reaction would again react. The tide of interest would return with healthier beat, and the second call would be more effective than the first. It was a firm faith in such an outcome that prompted the annual reports which, for several years, held out this bow of promise, while that ugly debt was hanging like a threatening cloud over all the work; and the faith has been justified by the results. The reaction of the reaction has come. The tide is setting back again with normal flow. The cause is advocated from the leading pulpits; our foremost statesmen endorse it; the most influential newspapers editorially commend it; the debt has been wiped out; our schools are crowded to their utmost capacity, and there is to-day sounding in[165] the ears of the public a louder call for the immediate enlargement of work for the education of the Freedmen than has ever yet been heard. It is not the old, with heads filled with all sorts of fantastic notions, who now clamor for what they never can acquire. The young and ambitious are pressing forward, and they are doing it with eyes wide open to the difficulties that must be encountered, while at the same time, to give them confidence and hope, they have before them the living examples of scholarly achievement on the part of some of the youth of their race. These young men and young women, who are now turned away from the doors of our schools because “there is no room,” appeal to us not merely because they want to obtain an education for themselves, but because they represent the neglected condition of a race. It is a remarkable fact, and most pathetic in its meaning, that they plead in many instances to be taken into school in order that they may qualify themselves to be the means of the elevation of their people.

A critical time is this. These millions cannot be left much longer in their ignorance without danger to the public peace. Vice does not tend to produce virtue. Ignorance does not tend to produce knowledge. Let the feeling settle down on the colored youth that all avenues for intellectual culture are closed against them, and ambition for improvement will soon disappear, and when the brood of evils to which ignorance is the prolific parent has been once fairly let loose upon the land, it may be too late to remedy the mischief. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” says the wisdom of the ages. The demand of the hour is, “Let the wisdom of the ages be put to practical use.” Recorded in books, tossed from lip to lip, it profits little; it must be put into action. No question presses upon the Christian and patriotic thought of our land with greater urgency, or bears within it farther reaching consequences, than this same question of the education of our negro population. The hour of opportunity is now. We ask the friends of the Freedmen to heed this second call that comes to them, to prosecute the work of Christian education among the negroes, with a greater zeal and greater enthusiasm than ever before. If we are faithful, a rich harvest will be ours to reap.

THE NEGRO FOR HIS PLACE.

PROF. C. C. PAINTER.

An intelligent Christian woman, fairly representative, we believe, of the best friends of the negro, herself engaged in the work of negro education as an amateur, in the literal meaning of the word, during her annual sojourn in the South, said to us recently that she did not believe in the attempt of Fisk, Howard, Atlanta and like schools to give this people a higher education. They should be taught the three R’s, and how to work, and so fitted for their place in life. She esteemed it an unfortunate mistake and blunder that they should be disqualified for it by a classical education.

An associate editor of one of our largest dailies, a widely influential man, commended, not simply by its excellence, but by way of contrast, the work done at Hampton, not because in the pursuit of its own aims it left the work of higher education to other schools, but because it taught its negro pupils to work, and did not make fools of them by teaching them Latin and Greek, and this, not because he is opposed to higher education for any one, but because such an education unfitted the negro for his place. These friends are not alone in the opinion that the place of the negro is definitely known, and that is one which demands and allows a very limited range of intellectual power, and requires the exercise of his muscles chiefly.

[166]

We respectfully submit that the only possible apology for slavery as it existed in this country was based upon the assumption that the white man had the right to determine just the place in the scale of being that the black man should occupy. He stood forth as the authorized interpreter of nature, and maintained that both nature and Noah had settled it that the sons of Ham were fitted alone to be the servants of their brethren.

When we have assented to the proposition that nature has allotted to a race a certain position, we have assented, logically, to the further and co-ordinate proposition that it should be fitted for the place and kept in it; thus the whole code of slave laws stands approved and justified.

There has been much discussion, and there will probably be a great deal more, as to the proper place and exact sphere of woman; and with more show of reason, for she constitutes not a race, but a class; and nature has indicated in the fact of sex some of the possibilities of her nature and duties of her sphere; has decided some things as possible, and some as impossible to her. She cannot be the father of a family; but what she may be intellectually, morally, spiritually, as a mother, as a woman, can be known only when she has opened before her unlimited opportunity for her untrammeled powers. She may not transcend nature’s limitations, but she ought to insist that man’s ignorance and prejudice shall not prove a more insuperable bar to what she may do.

That nature has placed any disqualifications upon the negro, and has thus indicated or determined what is or what is not possible for him to accomplish, we cannot know until we have so far removed the obstacles we have put in his way, and stricken off the chains with which we have bound him, and thrown open an opportunity which we have barred against him, that he shall have a chance to show what the purpose was with reference to him; and we may thus learn, also, as we are beginning to do, what our injustice and wrong has been.

Our treatment of the negro, whether as slave or Freedman, has been and will be shaped by our theories in regard to him, but it is time we honestly sought to know what the facts are, and draw our theories from them rather than attempt to limit him by our prejudices, as if they were indisputable facts of nature.

The master said the negro’s place is that of a chattel slave, and he wisely enacted that he should neither be educated out of it, nor be allowed to escape from it. The fortunes of war (should we not say the misfortunes, if the theory were correct?) broke the chain and palsied the whip-arm of the master, and now his friends, many of them, who rejoice that he has escaped from his old place, would attempt to fit him for a new one, but determine for him what it shall be, and express grave apprehensions of evil if we say he should have the best possible opportunity to find for himself what it is. The war destroyed the old chain by which he was held in his appointed place, but has not eradicated the disposition of the Anglo-Saxon to decide for him what his new one must be, and in the minds of many it is that of a laborer of the lowest grade; and lest he might escape from it by rising above it, they would see to it that his education shall be of such character as to fit him for it alone.

While the wise teacher sees to it that he shall not neglect thorough training in the most elementary branches in order to become a smatterer in Greek and Latin, it should be done on the general principle applicable to all races and every individual, that any other course would be consummate folly. The theory to which our practice should conform is this: Give to every child of God the best opportunity possible for him as such, and let him in the untrammeled exercise of his powers find out what his Creator designed him to be and assigned him to do.

[167]

The time is coming when it will appear incredible that a man’s place in the intellectual and social world shall be assigned to him because of the color of his skin, any more than because of the color of his eyes, or of his clothes. Educate not the negro, but the child, not for his place, but that he may find his place, and do his work among his fellows.

ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.—Baccalaureate Sermon, Sunday A.M., May 22d. Anniversary of Missionary Society, Sunday evening. Examinations, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Commencement Exercises, and the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of Livingstone Missionary Hall, Thursday.

Talladega College, Talladega, Ala.—Baccalaureate Sermon, by the President, Sunday, June 12th. Examinations, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Commencement Exercises, Thursday.

Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.—Baccalaureate Sermon, Sunday, June 12th, Examinations, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, to be attended by the Examining Committee appointed by the Governor of Georgia. Commencement Exercises Thursday. Address by Rev. Atticus G. Haygood, D.D., President of Emory College.

Tougaloo University, Tougaloo, Miss.—Baccalaureate Sermon by Rev. M. E. Strieby, D.D., Sunday, May 29th. Examinations and closing exercises Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Straight University, New Orleans, La.—Baccalaureate Sermon, Sunday, May 29th. Examinations and closing exercises, May 30th and 31st and June 1st.

Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute, Austin, Texas.—Examinations and closing exercises, June 8th, 9th and 10th.

Beach Institute, Savannah, Ga.—Examinations and closing exercises, May 26th and 27th.

Swayne School, Montgomery, Ala.—Examinations and closing exercises, May 30th and 31st.

Emerson Institute, Mobile, Ala.—Examinations and closing exercises, May 25th, 26th and 27th.

Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn.—Annual Sermon, Sunday evening, May 29th. Junior Exhibition, Monday, 30th. Graduating exercises, Wednesday, June 1st.

Lewis High School, Macon, Ga.—Examinations and closing exercises, May 31st and June 1st.

Avery Institute, Charleston, S.C.—Examinations and closing exercises, June 29th and 30th.

The next meeting of the National Teachers’ Association will be held in Atlanta, Ga., July 19th. This opportunity for interchange of views between Northern and Southern teachers ought to result in great good. Northern teachers need not fear to visit Atlanta at that season of the year, as its altitude, about eleven hundred feet above the sea, gives it a mild and healthful climate. Our teachers often spend their summer there.

BENEFACTIONS.

Cyrus McCormick, of Chicago, has added $75,000 to his former gifts to the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of that place.

Robert L. Stewart has enlarged his gift to the San Francisco Presbyterian Theological Seminary from $20,000 to $50,000.

Mr. Moses Hopkins, brother of the late Mark Hopkins, has just given to a California academy an endowment of $50,000, the largest sum yet bestowed in this way by any one person in that State.

Harvard College has received a gift of $115,000 for the erection of a physical laboratory, provided a fund of $75,000 be raised to defray the running expenses. As in the case of the Law School, the name of the benefactor is not to be made public.

Mr. Thomas A. Scott has endowed the chair of Mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania, now occupied by Prof. Kendall, with $50,000. He has also given $50,000 to Jefferson College, $30,000 to the Orthopedic Hospital, and $20,000 to the children’s department of the Episcopal Hospital.

The list of Mr. Geo. I. Seney’s gifts in the past two years, including his latest donations to Southern Methodist institutions, is as follows: Wesleyan University, $260,000; Long Island Historical Society, $62,000; Brooklyn Industrial Home, $20,000; for Hospital, $270,000; Church at Bernardsville, $15,000; Emory College, Oxford, Ga., $50,000; Wesleyan Female College, Macon, Ga., $50,000; total, $727,000.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

McIntosh, Ga.—Miss Parmelee, from Memphis, after visiting some of her old pupils at Andersonville, writes: “It is easy to forget any hardship connected with those pioneer days in visiting these Christian homes of former pupils, and the homes that have been blessed through them. One woman was telling me of this and that neighborhood where schools and church meetings had been held, and, with a gratitude that was genuine, exclaimed: ‘There’s many a light been started in this dark place, and it all dates back to Andersonville.’ I could but feel, and afterwards say: ‘No, it all dates back through John Wycliffe to Calvary.’ I have been deeply impressed during these past few days with a sense of the power of grace. I never had great expectations of any of these friends. Their honest, kindly, God-fearing lives are all that I expected, and more than I feared. Remembering their former low estate, I am filled with a sense of relief and gratitude at finding them so trusty and good. Friday morn: just there came a call to go and see a sick woman; returning from the two-mile ride, I found forty women waiting for me. I talked to them for half an hour and then answered questions for nearly an hour. Several come in every day to listen to the school talks.”

Childersburg, Ala.—“We are going on in the work of the Lord. We have a good lively Sabbath-school every Sabbath, and all seem to enjoy the lesson. All are Christians but six, and I hope to gain those for the Lord. We are going on in peace as pastor and people. We did not pay all we owed on our church farm last year, but we will pay all of it this year, and then we will give $25 or $30 every year to carry other work on. My members want to give as much as any one else to the work. I hope they will. I have put my horse on the church farm to work. Bro. Y. gives his entire attention to the farm, and he rents more land to make out a full two-horse crop. He has planted all his corn, and the[169] most of his cotton land is bedded up, and I think he is doing well. One of my best members last year went to Long View, Ala., and since he has been there he has got up a meeting-house and wants me to come and preach once a month.”

Cypress Slash, Liberty Co., Ga.—The Cypress Slash church was dedicated the 10th of April. An audience of 150 was comfortably seated in the new church. A brief sketch of the history and formation of the church was given, going back to the time when the first public meeting was held in the public road. The church is now in a growing condition, and the church building is completed except the ceiling.

Little Rock, Ark.—On the Sabbath, April 24th, by a Council, Rev. B. F. Foster was ordained as pastor of the new church of this city, which has now come on to a membership of 69, and which has purchased a lot for $400, one half of which has already been paid. Supt. Roy, Rev. J. W. Roberts, of Paris, Texas, and Rev. L. A. Roberts, of Memphis, led in the services of the sermon, charge, right hand, and address. It was a great day for the new enterprise. Two other sermons were preached by the young men. On the evening of the 25th, Mr. Foster was married by his two young brethren to Miss Helena Duff, a graduate of Talladega College.

At the annual meeting of the New Orleans Sunday-school Association, held April 4th in the Y. M. C. A. Hall, the lesson of the next Sunday, upon the good Samaritan, was the subject of the three addresses made. George W. Cable, the author, a member of Dr. Palmer’s church, spoke from manuscript upon the point: “Who is my neighbor?” After giving the question the old antislavery interpretation he found the wounded man as an amalgam of Chinese, Indian and Negro, and a Roman Catholic; and his suggestion was that we should not put that man up in the gallery of the church, nor make him wait for the communion till after we had been served. The hits made a few persons wince, as was apparent in the assembly; but they were honestly delivered and will do good. They are a finger indication of the working of the Southern Christian mind. I noticed that Prof. McPherron, of the Straight University, had been selected to act as precentor to lead the singing of the occasion, being a prominent and greatly respected member of the Philharmonic Society of the city. Dr. Alexander, who is an officer of the city S. S. Association, was called upon to offer prayer. Nor is it an evidence that these men have fallen from grace that by their patient waiting they are thus winning honorable recognition among the best people of the city.

L. E. R.

GENERAL NOTES.

The Freedmen.

—The census reports show that in three States, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana, the colored people exceed the whites in number. In the first named there are 154,458 blacks to every 100,000 whites; in Mississippi 135,664 blacks to 100,000 whites; and in Louisiana the proportion is 106,372 to 100,000. In Alabama the blacks are 91 per cent. of the whites; in Georgia 89 per cent.; in Florida, 88 per cent.; in Virginia, 72 per cent.; in North Carolina, 61 per cent.; in the District of Columbia, 50 per cent. The colored element in the Northern States is the largest in Kansas, where it is 4½ per cent. The colored population has increased in twenty-seven States and Territories in the last decade. In the[170] United States as a whole there has been an increase of 625 to the 100,000. This state of things means work for all who have the interest of the country at heart, that the increased suffrage shall be intelligent and the new lives a help rather than a burden to the land.—Congregationalist.

Africa.

—The French Government is placing a second telegraphic line between Algeria and Tunis. It was to have been finished by the last of March.

—Work on the railroad from Sétif to Algeria has been commenced. The greatest activity prevails, and the whole line may be finished in 14 months.

—The Belgian Society has charged Mr. Stanley with engaging anew at Zanzibar, for several years, native workmen, who will be employed upon the Congo.

—The sultan of Zanzibar has offered to the celebrated traveler Thomson the mission of exploring the basin of the Rovuma from a geological point of view.

—Mgr. Taurin Cahagua, apostolic vicar of the Gallas, has gone to Berber to install there three missionaries. From thence he will go with the others to Havar.

—M. Irgens Bergh, a Danish archæologist, has arrived at Cairo to devote himself to his favorite studies. M. Insenger, a Hollander, also an archæologist, accompanies him. The field of his scientific exploration will be essentially Nubia and Upper Egypt.

—After a journey in Europe M. de Hesse Wartegg, who has already turned his studies in Fayoum and in Nubia to the Coptic race, has returned to Alexandria to continue them. He is accompanied by Dr. Hociner, a noted botanist. These gentlemen are awaiting the arrival of two other students attached to the expedition, after which they will set out in a caravan for Upper Egypt.

—A French expedition composed of mining engineers and chemists, has started from Marseilles, on the side of the Oxus, to explore the region north of the Zambeze.

—The missionary Hore, of Ujiji, traveled in 62 days the distance from Tanganyika to Zanzibar. He is reported to have observed earthquakes in the months of September and October, 1879 and 1880. The last made various crevasses a metre long.

—A new military and maritime expedition is preparing, with a view to the occupation of the Upper Niger. It will probably set out towards the month of October.

—A new company, the Akankoo Gold Coast Company, Limited, has been added to the preceding societies for the exploration of the mines of the Gold Coast. The mine which they have acquired is situated upon the borders of the River Ancobra.

The Indians.

—Fifteen Indian youth from Capt. Pratt’s school, Carlisle, Pa., were recently received into the Second Presbyterian church at that place.

—Rev. Mr. Hayworth being detained by swollen streams while journeying in the Indian Territory among the Kaws, interpreted the circumstance as a providential[171] indication that he should labor for the conversion of the tribe. He at once instituted religious services. A revival followed, which resulted in the organization of a Presbyterian church of 15 members.

—At the McAllister Mines (Indian Territory), a house for church and school purposes is being fitted up for the use of the Indians. A Sunday-school of 40 scholars will be organized at once. The American Home Missionary Society are about to build a church edifice in the immediate vicinity, the money being nearly all secured.

—Revs. Geo. W. Wood and A. L. Riggs, missionaries among the Dakotas, have, during the past year, put through the press a new edition of Dakota hymns. Mrs. Wood has also prepared a new Dakota dictionary, which is soon to be published. There are now 190 communicants in three churches, under the supervision of the Presbyterians among these Indians, seven new members being admitted the past year.

The Chinese.

—The Chinese University at Pekin, under the presidency of Dr. W. A. P. Martin, numbers 100 students.

—A Chinese mandarin, on reading a translation of Matthew’s Gospel, says: “Its style is perfect. It is quite as good as that of Confucius himself. And as to these New Testament ideas, there is nothing so beautiful in all Chinese literature. The humanity of the Sermon on the Mount I am perfectly fascinated with. Our sages became gods after they had written our reverend classics; but divinity must have come before the writing of these matchless thoughts, these exquisite sentiments!”

—During 1879 there were imported into China from India, under monopoly of the British Government, 11,073,333 pounds of opium, of the market value of $50,700,000. Allowing for the amount consumed in Hong Kong, or re-exported thence to the Chinese in California, Australia and elsewhere, the total importation was not less than 13,995,000 pounds. No other article of importation or exportation equaled this in magnitude or value. The value of imported cotton goods was only $31,400,000; of woolen goods, $7,000,000; metals, $5,700,000; and all other articles together less than $20,000,000. Even the tea exports amounted to less, not exceeding $46,000,000. Silk exports were valued at $40,000,000, and all other articles combined at $11,200,000.—Foreign Missionary.

—The following words from Kobe and Okayama, Japan, are very cheering. They have all the added force that always accompanies letters bearing liberal gifts:

THE FREEDMEN.

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

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

ALABAMA.

Conference at Mobile.

We received too late for publication in our May issue, a full and well written report of the Sunday-school Convention and Conference of Congregational Churches held at Mobile, Ala., the last of March.

The opening sermon was preached by Rev. A. W. Curtis, of Marion, Friday evening, March 25th. Saturday was devoted mainly to reports from the Sabbath-schools, which brought out a valuable discussion on the question of the establishment of mission schools and the benefits of the visitations necessitated thereby. An address on “The teachers’ meeting” by Rev. O. W. Fay, was mentioned as a paper of choice thought. A general discussion followed the reading of the paper.

The sessions of the conference were opened Saturday evening by a sermon from Prof. G. W. Andrews, of Talladega, who chose for his theme, “The Harmony between the Divinity and Humanity of Christ.”

On Sunday, ministerial fellowship and courtesy were shown by a number of the pastors of the city, both white and colored, by sending in requests that their pulpits might be supplied by representatives from the Conference. Monday was occupied chiefly by papers and discussions, which appear to have been of unusual interest. Monday evening Dr. Roy gave a full and most instructive account of the origin and progress of the A. M. A., and was followed by Pres. DeForest, of Talladega, and several others, who urged the need of education for the 600,000 who, in Alabama, are sitting well nigh in midnight darkness. The Conference is reported to have given great satisfaction to those in attendance, and to have elicited much sympathy among the white pastors and several of their families, who opened their doors for the entertainment of some of the delegates.—Ed.

Woman’s Missionary Meeting at Mobile.

MISS EMMA E. CAUGHEY.

Mrs. O. D. Crawford, as acting President, opened the meeting, and in a very happy manner addressed a few words of welcome to representatives of sister societies with us and also to the ladies of the city, who by their presence showed their sympathy with our work; and expressed the hope that the meeting would inspire all with new zeal, and refresh us with a new baptism of the Holy Spirit. Mrs. Cheeny then sang a solo, “What shall the harvest be?” which very appropriately appealed to the gleaners in the field and opened the way for bringing in the sheaves of the year’s work.

Reports from local societies at Selma, Montgomery, Talladega and Mobile were given. Selma sent in a very interesting report. Many good results seem to be growing out of their missionary meetings. In the woman’s meeting $80.45 has been raised during the past year, and among the “Mission Workers,” who are under the care of Miss Lunt, $27.85. The Montgomery society reported a discouraging state of affairs at the beginning of the last, its third year, having but twenty-five names on the roll, some of these permanently out of the city, more who did not again connect themselves with the society, and of the small remnant left death had claimed four; while the resignation of both President and Secretary took off two wheels of the chariot at once; but[173] the “royal remnant” rallied to the front and succeeded in creating a good degree of interest, by various ingenious plans, until now the roll of membership numbers forty, and the outlook for the coming year is hopeful. The expressed aim of the societies is to promote intelligence, industry and piety among the women and girls, believing that the missionary spirit will as naturally follow as that flowers in good soil will bloom in the warm sunlight and soft showers.

The report from Talladega was encouraging. In connection with this society are three committees, one for visiting the sick, one on visiting in general, and the third, called the “Highway and Hedge Committee,” consisting of young men, who report any destitution which they may find. The society acts upon these reports and grants any aid which is within its power. A mothers’ meeting is held, and also a girls’ mission band, before whom mission work is held up in such a way that the hope is expressed that some may be led to consecrate themselves to the work of carrying the Gospel to Africa. From Mobile the report from the mothers’ meeting showed an enrolment of thirty-two, nine of whom have been added this year, while the average attendance has been eight; the great disparity between the enrolment and the average attendance being mainly due to the great disadvantages under which the mothers labor, many of them widows obliged to toil hard for the support of their families. It is only owing to a faithful and earnest desire that some are enabled to gather at the weekly meeting for prayer. By much self-denial this year the mothers have contributed $3.50 for the Mendi Mission. The Emersonian Mission Band, formed from the girls of Emerson Institute, was reported in a state of progress; thirty-nine members enrolled. The girls have been working every Saturday afternoon since November 13, preparing salable articles for a fair, the proceeds to be devoted to mission work, both at home and in foreign fields. The character of the meetings is social, industrial and religious combined, hoping to elevate the standard of virtue and piety among our girls and give them correct ideas of pure womanhood. Rev. Dr. Roy addressed the association, expressing in very hearty and encouraging words his views of woman’s position and importance in the world at large, but more especially in this particular branch of God’s work, “Woman’s Work for Woman,” in the missionary field. We were next favored by a solo from Mrs. DeForest, of Talladega, “Not a sparrow falleth,” which was very beautifully rendered. Miss Strode, a former student from Emerson Institute, being called upon, arose and gave some of her personal experiences. Miss Stevenson, the visiting missionary at Mobile, in a few words, gave expression to the gratitude she felt toward the kind people of the North, who, during the past winter, had sent her fifteen barrels of clothing and over $100 in money to assist, in relieving destitution and want among the people for whom she is laboring, thus making her the dispenser of their generosity. Miss Lunt, visiting missionary at Selma, read a paper on “The True Success of Missionary Work—What is it?” in which she compared the condition of heathen nations in past ages with their condition since the missionaries had planted the banner of the cross on their coast; how woman had been elevated from her menial life of servitude and oppression to be a help-meet capable of the highest mental improvement, fitting her for the noblest enjoyments of life, spiritually, mentally and socially. Mrs. Cheeny read a paper prepared by Mrs. A. W. Curtis, of Marion, on “How to Reach Mothers in their Homes.” Since Mrs. Curtis is an invalid and a great sufferer, being unable to visit among the homes, it seemed at first an unfortunate topic for her consideration;[174] but when we listened to her paper and saw how she had been directed of the Lord to reach the mothers and help them by bringing them to her own home, and there giving them the perfect illustration of what a true Christian home may be, and of counseling and instructing them, we were led to say, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Man deviseth his ways, but God directeth his steps.” This paper was an inspiration, must have been, to every mother present. To this contact with the mother at her own home, Mrs. Curtis points as the first seed dropped which led to the revival at Marion, where such a harvest was reaped for the Lord. Mrs. Deforest, of Talladega, read a paper on “How shall we Increase the Interest in our Work?”

These brief mentions are only crumbs which fell from our bountifully loaded table, the fragments, hastily and poorly gathered together, but we hope that you may gain some faint idea of the good which came to us by our mutual exchange of thought and sympathy, and the encouragement we received to persevere in our good work.

THE SOUTH-WESTERN CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

Annual Meeting at Terrebonne, April 6–8.

REV. W. S. ALEXANDER, D.D., NEW ORLEANS.

The Association met with a most cordial welcome by Brother Clay and his church at Terrebonne, the place of our last annual meeting. The good pastor has been sadly afflicted during the year by the loss of his devoted wife and daughter, but he has met his troubles with the faith and fortitude of a true Christian. Terrebonne—worthy of its name, “good-land”—is situated in one of the most beautiful and productive sections of Louisiana. The chief staple is sugar, and it requires only capital and enterprise to cause the entire country to bloom like a garden of roses.

To those who believe that it is a prime necessity to the Freedman to own his homestead and to become a part of the “realty” of this Southern country, it is especially gratifying to see the modest homes and fruitful gardens and cultivated acres of our newly made citizens, and to hear them say: “This is mine; no man holds a mortgage on my home.”

Our annual meeting was regarded as in some respects the best we have ever held. The brethren feel that they are climbing a little higher each year. Every church but the smallest mission church was represented, and several delegates came 100 miles to the meeting.

The reports from the churches were hopeful. There have been seasons of refreshing and ingathering, as at New Orleans and New Iberia. In all I think there was a desire and purpose manifest to bring the churches to a higher standing of intelligence and holy living.

There is something of the old conference element in our meetings which is healthful; to examine critically the ministers and their churches, and to have their “characters passed.” So men are here judged by actual results, and vital defects in administration are criticised with kindly severity, and impartially condemned.

The annual sermon was preached by Rev. Charles E. Smith, of Abberville. It was earnest, evangelical, and marked by a good deal of ability. Dr. Roy, who is always heartily welcomed, addressed the association with great acceptance. The “amen corner” made itself heard while he spoke. One good brother would occasionally break the silence by saying, “Look at him. He has a good hold now, sure.”

The session of Thursday morning was devoted to the subject of employing missionaries at large. A decision was reached at a subsequent session that a missionary committee be appointed, representing the northern, central, and southern portion of the association limits—New Orleans, Terrebonne and New[175] Iberia—to exercise wise missionary over-sight over the parishes adjoining their own, to report opportunities of planting new churches, and to make temporary provision for them. Two new churches were received—St. Rock, in the town of Howma, and Little Zion, near Thibodauxville. These churches were regularly organized, with the assistance of Congregational councils.

To meet the growing demands of the field, and in answer to the urgent request of the churches, it was decided, after faithful examination regarding the character, doctrinal views and qualifications of the candidates, to license for the term of one year Mr. Squire Williams, of Thibodauxville, and Paul Martin, of New Iberia. In the case of Father Benjamin Fields, of Terrebonne, who has suffered for his faith in Christ and his fidelity to His service in the darkest days of bondage, the association, by a unanimous and cordial vote, granted him a license without limitation of time. The relation of his personal experience was very affecting. When he had spoken of the torture inflicted upon him by the lash, the paddle and the stocks, the Moderator asked him if while he suffered for his faith he prayed for his persecutors. He said: “I should not have been a Christian if I had not prayed for them.” One of the new churches received, the St. Rock Congregational church, earnestly requested that Mr. Humphrey Williams, one of their number, be set apart to the work of the ministry by the solemn rite of ordination, that he might serve them as pastor, and administer to them the sacraments of the church. The examination of Mr. Williams was approved, and his ordination secured in the evening. The Moderator preached the sermon and Dr. Roy gave a most excellent charge to the candidate. The ordaining prayer was offered by Rev. J. K. Jones, of Napoleonville, and the right hand of fellowship given by Rev. W. R. Polk, of New Iberia.

After the ordination service, Rev. Isaac H. Hall, of New Orleans, the delegate of the association to the National Council at St. Louis, made his report. His address was grand. As he described his visit to the Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association at Norwich and to the National Council, giving the salient features of each as they impressed his own mind, the audience were aroused to a high state of enthusiasm; smiles and tears were commingled; and one loud “Glory to God!” broke forth from hundreds of lips.

I must relate one incident in Mr. Hall’s address. Speaking of the election of a colored man as one of the vice-presidents of the National Council, he said: “Just think of it, dear brethren! There was Dr. Dexter on one side, and Dr. Sturtevant on the other, and a colored man in the middle, saying, ‘Are you ready for the question?’” You should have heard the hallelujah which greeted this announcement. There was a colored Baptist minister in the audience, with more enthusiasm than learning, who said: “Do you hear that? A white man on one side, and a white man on the other, and a nigger in the middle, saying, ‘Is you ready for de question?’ O Lord! is we riz so high?”

The association adjourned on Friday morning to meet in New Orleans, with Central Church, the first Wednesday in April, 1882. Dr. Alexander was appointed to represent the association at the autumn meeting of the Congregational Church in England. The religious interest awakened by our annual meeting deepened to the last, and at the urgent request of Brother Clay, several of the ministers remained after the adjournment. At the meeting on Saturday night, 35 were brought under conviction of sin, and asked for the prayers of the church. The good work still goes on.

The churches of the association need to be encouraged, instructed and helped.[176] I see to-day, as I have seen every year that I have been in the State, opportunities of investing one hundred dollars in a piece of ground for a church site, or to make the last payment upon a chapel, or to save a discouraged frontier preacher, which would pay a fabulous revenue.

While our bankers and statesmen are devising means for funding the national debt, who in all this broad land, so rich in resources, will decide to fund something of his surplus revenue in the way I have indicated?

KANSAS.

The Condition of the Blacks at Topeka, Kan., and Savannah, Ga., Contrasted.

REV. R. F. MARKHAM.

I spent five years in Savannah, devoting my whole time to the colored people. Savannah claims 30,000 inhabitants, of whom about 15,000 are colored. Topeka has 16,000 inhabitants, 5,000 of whom are colored. Physical wants can be more easily supplied in Savannah than in Topeka. In nearly all of the South the bare necessities of life are more easily secured than at the North. The colored people of Topeka have equally good schools with the whites, where separate schools for them are established. The State Superintendent has ruled that any district which does not supply equal advantages for both white and colored can have no State appropriation. Savannah has tolerably good public schools for a little over one half of the colored children, but the poorest teachers are employed especially outside of the city. Everywhere through Kansas the blacks are as well supplied as the whites.

In Topeka a colored man can take jobs and superintend business when he is competent, and all are willing he should, but in Savannah I employed a very competent negro to superintend a job of mason work. I asked a white mason a few days afterward if it would do to put mortar on green lath. He replied, “I will not answer you. You have got a nigger to do your work.”

It is all right for colored men to do the work South, but they must have a white overseer. At the barber shops in Topeka they shave both white and colored, but let a colored man shave a black man in Savannah, and he will have no white customers. If a white man and a colored man walk the streets of Savannah together, the colored man must go behind, like a dog, not walk by the white man’s side. It was a long time before I learned why even my deacons would always walk behind me. That was their training. I said: “Walk by my side, you are my brother.” My daughter walked the streets of Savannah with a colored lady by her side. A white lady said to her, “You cannot be respected; you should have the colored girl walk behind you.”

In Topeka colored men and white walk side by side. Even the Governor of the State does not hesitate to walk this way with a colored man. I attended an election yesterday in Topeka. Politicians were anxious for colored votes. So they are in the South sometimes, but I observed the different way they have of treating a colored man in Topeka from the one they practice in Savannah. The politician says: “Mr. So-and-So,” but in Savannah it is, “Jim, Jack, boy, come, give me a vote.” I never heard a Southern white man “Mr.” a colored man. I wrote several articles for the Savannah News and called the colored girls Misses, and applied Mr. to colored men. In every case they struck out Miss or Mr., as applied to colored persons. I was told by a prominent man in Savannah that any man who would sit at the table with a colored man ought to be driven out of the city. A colored man cannot sue a white man in Savannah and collect a debt; but in Kansas he is equal before the law. A negro entered the Presbyterian church in Savannah when Ralph Wells, of New York, was lecturing on Sabbath-schools, and was called upon to pray, at which the black sexton said to me, “The millennium must be[177] here, a colored man prayed in the Presbyterian church! I never heard of such a thing before in my life.”

The Topeka Ministerial Association invites negro ministers to come in and join indiscriminately in its deliberations. In Topeka every white man encourages the colored man to save his money and get a home; in Savannah it is right the reverse. In Topeka a majority get homes; in Savannah but very few. In Topeka a majority of the whites encourage temperance, and, as the result, the colored vote goes nearly solid for temperance. In Savannah it is the reverse; nearly all drink. The moral instruction in Topeka is deficient, as the instruction is largely given by ignorant colored people, except the Sabbath-school sustained by the A. M. A. I believe it a great mistake of the A. M. A. not to put more laborers into the field in Kansas, where there are nearly 60,000 freed people. By no means neglect the South; all the work now being done is needed and twice as much more, but do not neglect this important field in Kansas, where all that pertains to true manhood can be far more rapidly developed than at the South.

THE INDIANS.

LETTER FROM JAMES MURIE.

Dear Friend:—A year ago, when I was at home, I stayed at the Agent’s office. I used to stay there and board at the school. I had a room and had nice things in there. One day a white man came to the office, wanted some children to go to Carlisle and Hampton schools. He said he wanted to take the Chief’s sons. In the evening I went to the school-house. A lady called me; she told me if I wanted to go to school. “Why, yes,” I said. The next morning I got two boys, and the Agent got two girls and a boy. We went to the commersary and got some clothes, and got ready for the next morning. We went to our homes the same day to see our friends. My father talked to me, but my mother and sisters cried. The next morning the wagon came up to the school. All the school-children came out, and the teachers; we bade them good-by. We start off for Arkansas city, which is about sixty-five miles from here. We had a box of grub to eat on the way. We went on; we stopped at place called “Poor Pawnee;” we had dinner there; the girls stopped crying then. Dinner was over, we watered the mules, hitched them up and went on. About five o’clock we got to Ponca Agency; we camped on a small creek; all the grub was gone; we had to buy some more. The man went to the Agent’s house to get some boys. They had a council with him; they let him take some boys. We stayed in the post-office all night; the next morning the boys were ready; there were five boys, two Nez Perces and three Poncas. They had to get another wagon for them. We went on. We got to Arkansas city about six o’clock. We camped on the western side of the city. We went to the town to buy some things which we had to eat that night. One white man came to the camp and told us that Capt. Pratt telegraphed to Winfield that we were to get to Wichita City before morning. We started off for Winfield. I had to drive, for the man had to walk to know which way we went. We got there in the night, and got to the depot house. We laid down for a little while, and the man told us that the train was ready.[178] Before we got in the cars the Indian man who brought us talked to us. He wanted us to be good, and told us to remember what we were going away for. We got in the train, and got to Wichita before morning. We went to the hotel and found some other Indians there; we stayed there one day to rest. The next morning we took another train; we did not stop at any place till we got to St. Louis. I saw many white people there. We had supper there. I do not know what other places we stopped till to Harrisburg, Penn., and then went to Carlisle. I stayed there little while, and then I went to Hampton. I got here last October, which I entered in the lowest class. I think I improved my studies, and am now in another class. I will now try and tell you about my vacation this summer. School closed in June, Mr. J. C. Robinson, who had charge of us Indians, divided us into groups, some to go to Massachusetts, and some to change around. I mean there were three crowds; each crowd had to go to a farm called Shellbanks, to work out there a month. My crowd were the first to go out. We used to work on the farm, hoe corn, beets and cabbages, etc. I like to work on farm, though it was hot. Every evening we used to have prayer-meeting with Mr. Davis, who had charge of us out there. We had two Indian boys to cook for us. Every Sunday we used to go to the church, though it is about four miles where we stayed, and went to Sunday-school, too, and went back as soon as possible, so as to rest. Month was out, we went back to the school. On the way we met the other party of boys, to stay there a month like we did. When we got to the school they sent us right in the orchard, to help the men in gathering fruits. We got through, then Mr. Cocks took us on the farm to plant some potatoes. Then I went in one of the training shops to work. I worked in there till my time came on again. I went out there again, this time we worked on a bridge which the colored students were building to shorten the Normal School road. Some boys help load the carts, but I haul dirt with a wheelbarrow.

When I went back to the school I went in the same trade or shop. I went to learn the trade of printer that I might be able to start a trade out there. But, friend, don’t think that I did not do anything in the evenings of my vacation. Every Tuesdays and Fridays Rev. J. J. Gravatt and Rev. Mayor use to come over to the Indian Cottage, and there we would meet with them, read the bible and prayed with them, taught us about God, I learned many things from them. They are good friends toward the red men, for they want them to know something about God and have faith in him. They are doing this yet. I was glad when I saw some teachers here for I was ready to study. I know it is my duty to study and I always try and have good lessons. I work two days every week. There are more students in school this term than there were when I first come here. I hope I will learn all I can while here that I might be able to teach my own people. I am getting along well in this school, I like the colored students for they help us how to talk English. I am very glad that some white people thinks that Indians can learn, I know some thinks they can not learn, and thinks that it is no use for them to come to a good school like this; if the old Indians had been educated like the old white people, we would have been even in schools. The Government have just started schools for Indians. When these Indians at Hampton first came here, they did not know a word of English, they were dressed in Indians’ cloths; but now they have cloths like white people and they can read, cipher, and spell, and we are learning how to work just as well as studying books; we are getting along very[179] nicely in our studys. Dear friends, I am glad that you are helping me in school though I am an Indian, which some people say that they can not learn anything. I have learned here that we can learn though we were not raised in talking the English language. I will now close, thanking you for what you have done for me.

Yours respectfully,
Jas. R. Murie, Young Eagle,
Pawnee Indian.

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., Robert B. Forman, Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D.D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, 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 Howell, Rev. John Kimball, A. L. Van Blarcon, Esq., George Harris, Esq., and the Secretary ex officio.

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

JEE GAM ON THE MISSION IN CHINA.

In China proper, exclusive of Chinese Tartary, Thibet, etc., there are eighteen provinces, among them Kwong Dioung, of which the well-known city of Canton is the capital. This province embraces 77 districts, and almost all of our Christian Chinese come from four of these districts, which lie in a cluster about eighty miles south-west of Canton, and 100 miles west of Hong Kong. To these districts our young men expect to return, and many of them already have returned. Their faith has often been tried, but they have stood firm, and have often come forth victorious, because the Lord Jehovah has been with them.

I wish I could tell you all about the trials and persecutions of these converts; but time will not permit, so I will briefly relate the story of the marriage ceremonies of Lee Fon and Quong Jo. These two brethren went home some three years ago. Not long after they had arrived the time for their marriages was undesignedly appointed on the same day. When they learned of this, and found that the day for their marriages could not be changed, they were very much grieved, for they did not wish the ceremony to be performed in a heathen manner. The principal rites of a Chinese wedding are the worshiping of ancestors, and of the household gods. The bride and bridegroom are married separately at their own homes. After the marriage of the bride, she is taken to the home of the bridegroom. Then both worship the ancestors together.

Within a distance of eighteen miles there were only two Christians—one of them a native preacher. The help of these men was very much needed. There being such a long distance between them, it would have been impossible for the native missionary and the convert to attend both ceremonies. So Quong Jo decided to stand alone, and oppose his brothers and relatives, who were urging him to worship the ancestors. He would not do this. They reviled him, and threatened to compel him. He still stood firm, for the Lord was with him even there, alone in that heathen village. Finally they left him to himself to worship whatever God he[180] pleased. When the time came to place the offerings before the ancestral tablets, Quong Jo turned the opposite way, and prayed aloud to the true God whom he had learned to worship in America. He was closely watched by a crowd.

At the same time the marriage of Lee Fon was taking place in his own village, about ten miles from Quong Jo’s home. The native preacher and his convert were invited a few days previous, and arrived early in the morning of the day of the marriage. As soon as they entered the reception hall of the village, the cry on the streets was: “Two barbarians have come to the wedding.” Fifteen minutes afterwards the hall was filled. Among those present were teachers and professors who had come to argue with the so-called “barbarians.” For several hours the argument was kept up, but each of these followers of Confucius was, in turn, silenced. His brothers and relatives, who had been the chief persecutors, now said, “We will let you worship the foreign Jesus.” After this contest the missionary and the native convert returned with the bridegroom and his friends to his home, where the marriage ceremony was concluded by prayer and praises to God, instead of the worship of ancestors. Thus these two battles for the right were gained by four Christians.

From this, dear friends, you can see that a native missionary who understands the customs and manners of the people, and is thoroughly acquainted with their language, is a very great help in two respects: 1st, in preaching the Gospel to the people; and, 2d, in helping and advising those who are already converted. We want more of such missionaries; and we want more missionary stations in these districts. Neither can be had, until we first establish a General Mission or Seminary in that country.

Hong Kong would be the most suitable and convenient city for the seat of such a mission. I will tell you why.

1st. The English language is used more in Hong Kong than in any other port in China, and the Chinese living there, or those visiting that place, could not be reached in a more efficient manner than by opening the same kind of free schools for them as you have opened for us here. They feel that they need to know the English language. Of course, there are public schools where both the English and Chinese languages are taught by the British government, but all have their sessions in the day-time; consequently, the children are the only ones benefited by these schools. There remains the laboring class unreached. If a free evening school is opened, I have no doubt that much good could be done among them.

2d. Hong Kong is a great highway to all foreign ports, especially San Francisco. Through Hong Kong nearly all the Chinese in the United States have come and will return. If a General Mission could be established at this port much co-operating work could be accomplished between our mission here and that at Hong Kong. Christian Chinese, returning home, would receive letters of introduction to the superintendent of the Hong Kong mission. This superintendent would have pastoral care over them, and be a very great help in time of persecution. Converts would be made firmer in faith, and more earnest in leading others to Christ. If this mission prosper, as we have not the least doubt it would, these converts could have preaching stations in these districts, and from these stations reach every village; but the work would be carried to a much wider extent by the aid of lady missionaries, who alone could reach the women.

Many of our number will go back there to study; for if they return they must be well versed in the Chinese Bible and in the classics of Confucius. They will meet much opposition from educated men. These will come and[181] discuss with our brethren, and they should be able to give a reason for the hope that is in them.

In regard to the cost of this mission, what we propose would not be very expensive. There should be one missionary, a wise and earnest Christian, with good business capacity, and one well-educated Chinese helper; and as the school grew and scholars were prepared to preach, the range of studies and the number of teachers could be increased.

All our Chinese Christian brethren expect to do all they can towards the establishment of such a mission, but we must have help from our American friends, especially the friends of the American Missionary Association.

WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

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

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

One of the difficulties the W. H. M. A. meets with is to find definite work for its auxiliaries. Although in general they have fields of labor chosen by themselves, it often happens that they look to the parent society to furnish them; and indeed one of the chief offices of the Association is to bring together the need and the supply, those who want help and those who have the heart and the hands ready to help. So we are fortunate this month in having something to offer to the party requiring work, and first we present a call which may well enlist sympathy and effort. Miss Carter, writing from Nashville, Tenn., asks in behalf of the President of Fisk University, whether our Association, in any of its auxiliaries, would be willing to assume the education of a pupil there. She says:

"Let me tell you of an especially sad case. —— is a little girl about thirteen, her fair hair, blue eyes and white skin prove her parentage. Her mother is a colored woman of the lowest class, living and delighting in licentiousness. There are numberless such, but this woman differs from the majority in this respect, it is perfectly immaterial to her what becomes of this daughter. Usually, if the mother seems hopelessly bad she will yet try to shield her child from the same sin which has been her own ruin. * * * ——’s mother is different. Her grandmother has seen the danger to the girl of allowing her to remain with her mother, so has sent her here. But the grandmother can pay only five or six dollars a month towards her expenses. The tuition and board are twelve dollars, and beside this is the expense of clothing her. If the girl can remain here four or five years, such habits and good principles will be formed in her that at the end of that time she will be morally saved, perhaps. If during that time she could receive help she could then begin to teach and so help herself. There is more than usual religious interest in Fisk at present, and little —— has surprised all by showing deep interest.

“Will you not present her case to whomsoever will help her?”

This opportunity offered suggests also that there are many such. We do not know of any better or more satisfactory work for an auxiliary than to assume the support of a student at Hampton, Carlisle, Fisk, or some other kindred institution. There is certainly no surer way to have a hand in the strengthening and purifying of our country as well as in saving individuals, for the large majority of those so helped go directly into the work of helping up their own race as teachers, and all so brought under the power of a Christian education must be centres of good in the nation.

[182]

Then here is one more opportunity, and this is for the children. The greatest, perhaps, or at least one of the greatest disadvantages under which these brave and earnest young teachers labor who go out from Hampton, Fisk, and other schools to teach their people, is the almost total lack of good reading matter. Sunday-school papers are of really inestimable value to them in their Sunday-schools; but they can only get them occasionally and very sparingly. Now we know there are Sunday-schools on Sunday-schools of our Congregational churches where the children would be glad to save their papers and send them regularly to such destitute schools, where we can promise the children they will give double the pleasure they have ever given before—in fact will double the pleasure to each party, to the givers and to the receivers. Now, how to do it; for, in order to be a success, the thing must be done systematically. Well, then, first, if any Sunday-school wishes to adopt the plan, let them send to us and we will furnish them the name of a neighbor Sunday-school in the West or South too poor to have any papers of its own. Then let them appoint some one to take charge of sending the papers, and let each scholar be sure and remember to save his paper and give it to the one who has the business in charge. The only expense, in money, will be the postage. This often seems a good deal, when large numbers of papers are mailed each week, and some one may even be disposed to question whether it is worth the money; but our Home Secretary, who has taught some years at Hampton, and is in constant communication with teachers who have gone from there, and is often sending papers and books in this way, and receiving letters in return which show how they are appreciated, thinks the good they do far outweighs the expense; for, she says, in many cases, the children would have absolutely no reading were it not for them.

So then, third, some one or ones, will be found to pay the postage, and the thing will be done. The children will have the pleasure of reading the papers themselves, the pleasure of sending them regularly to some one else who will appreciate and enjoy them even more than they; the pleasure of hearing from these friends at a distance, for the teachers will write them, that is a part of the plan; and the pleasure of doing something for Jesus and helping His cause.

Now, who wants to take up with this plan and begin at once? Let them write to the Secretary of the Woman’s Home Missionary Association, 20 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., and the address will be sent them forthwith. Where Sunday-schools are not ready, individuals can take up the work. A little girl in Philadelphia is sending two hundred a week, her mother paying the postage.

Since writing the above we have received an account of the Annual Meeting of our Alabama State Auxiliary, held in Mobile March 28th. This must have been a meeting full of interest to all who were present, and as the reports were brought in from different parts of the State, the Secretary writes, “We found that the field had many a Ruth, who had toiled from morning even until even, and brought in her gleanings.”

Receipts of the Association from March 21 to April 25, 1881:

Donations through Cong. Pub. Soc., Boston, to colored schools, S. S. papers, $5.20. From the Williston Young Ladies’ Aux., Portland, Me., one box of new clothing and sewing material valued at $30.00. From Ladies’ Freedmen’s Aid Soc., of Eliot Ch., Newton, second hand clothing, $55. From Ladies’ Aux., Franklin St. Ch., E. Somerville, barrel clothing, $94.50.

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

FRANKIE’S CHAPEL.

PREPARED FROM “THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS,” BY THE EDITOR.

Some years ago there lived in Suffield, Ct., an elderly woman by the name of Mary Ann Bestor. She was so poor that charitable people frequently assisted her. On one occasion she received a five franc piece, with which to purchase a warm dress for winter, but desiring to give something for missions, she argued that the money was hers, and that if she chose she could give it to the Lord. She was not ignorant, however, that some might blame her for giving from her deep poverty. So she hid the money in the toe of a stocking and sent it to Mrs. Vinton, who was on a visit to this country from her mission work among the Karens in India.

When Mrs. Vinton learned of the poverty of the donor, her heart was touched, and she said: “This is holy money and must not go into the general fund.” So she laid it aside by itself. Soon afterward, while narrating the circumstance to a Hartford gentleman, he said to her: “It is cold weather; ‘Frankie’ should have a wrapper,” and he handed her a ten dollar bill, which she wrapped around the five franc piece, “to keep him warm.” The next day another ten dollar bill was given by Deacon Day, of Hartford, “To buy ‘Frankie’ an over-coat, as the weather had grown colder,” while Mrs. Kent, of Suffield, happened to remember: “These are stinging nights to sleep alone; ‘Frankie’ must have a bed-fellow,” and a five dollar gold piece was laid by his side. Mrs. Vinton then said: “If ‘Frankie’ had a few more wrappers I would send him to Boston.” So she wrote out “Frankie’s” history and forwarded it to Dr. Ives, with an appeal for other articles of clothing. The good doctor read the letter from his pulpit, and thirty dollars were secured and forwarded to Mrs. Vinton. She now felt that she could furnish a suitable outfit to enable “Frankie” to appear among city people, so she sent him first to Boston for the purchase of Bibles for the Karens, and next to Philadelphia for a box of medicine, also for the Karens, and afterward to a Mrs. Thompson to buy some eye-water for the poor heathen, who suffer so much from the glare of the sun. All the good people where he visited were glad enough to see him, but none of them seemed to care to keep him long, so he was sent back every time with the supplies he wanted, to Mrs. Vinton. Just on the occasion of his last return, Rev. Mr. Vinton came back from a tour among the churches where he had been pleading for his mission in India, and his wife told him “Frankie’s” story. After hearing it, he said: “I, too, have had a donation which has touched my heart. At Norwich, a Mrs. Chapell came to me and tearfully said, handing me a little roll of money: ‘This belonged to my poor boy. I cannot put it into the general fund, but will you, Mr. Vinton, take it and apply it to some special purpose?’”

Mrs. Vinton at once said: “That, too, is holy money, it will do to go with my ‘Frankie.’ This money shall build a house for the Lord in Burmah, and it shall be called ‘Frankie’s Chapel.’”

The story, with its singular incidents, was repeated by one and another, and money began to flow in from many sources, some ingenious play of imagination serving constantly to keep up the interest. Friends in Philadelphia said: “We often visit Burmah in imagination, and when we reach there we are tired enough to sit down; may we not rent pews in ‘Frankie’s Chapel’?” The suggestion was so reasonable, that a plan of a church was drawn, and sittings were rented rapidly. Clergymen who contributed had their names written on the platform. From Philadelphia Mrs. Vinton went to Cincinnati, where the people said to her: “Why, you have rented all your pews, and we Western people are crowded out.” So they drew a larger plan and began renting more pews. Meanwhile, a communion service, a beautifully bound pulpit Bible, a fine-toned bell, pulpit lamps and a communion table were presented by one and another in the different localities visited.

In 1850 the Vintons sailed for Calcutta, with the purpose to build the chapel in Maulmain. On their arrival they found that their English friends and the Karens were as deeply interested in the welfare of “Frankie’s Chapel” as their American friends had been. An[184] English officer sent 200 rupees, with the message, “In America they gave money to keep ‘Frankie’ warm. In view of the high state of the thermometer I send this to keep him cool.”

Another sends 100 rupees “for legs for ‘Frankie’ to stand on,” alluding to the custom of building houses on posts in Burmah. Still another officer sent 1,000 rupees.

It transpired, however, that an overruling Providence had greater plans for “Frankie’s Chapel” than those which had yet been conceived of by the Vintons. During the four or five years after they left America with “Frankie” there were serious troubles in Burmah, and the affairs of the country were such that they were unable to settle down permanently until 1855. At that time plans were furnished for a building much more elaborate and substantial than had been contemplated at first. A beautiful location had been selected at Kemmendine, and the land necessary made a free gift by the Governor-General of India.

On the 20th of May, 1855, the corner-stone was laid by Mr. Vinton, in the presence of a large assembly. The building was to be 60 by 70 feet—two stories high; the lower part being designed for a school-room and the upper part for church services. It was built of brick, and admirably adapted for the use for which it was designed. It serves the purposes not only of the mission, but also as an assembling place for special meetings and general conventions. The Rangoon Karen Mission was at that time the largest in Burmah, and the building was precisely what was needed to meet the various wants of the many interests which centred at that point. Now, after more than twenty-five years, “Frankie’s Chapel” still stands as a monument to the consecration and faith of the poor old Suffield woman, who chose rather to provide for the cause of her Master than to enjoy the comfort and warmth that had been intended for herself. But it happened to her as everyone might have supposed it would have happened; she did not have to go unclad, either, for good people, learning of her charity and self-denial, provided her with the “warm dress” and such other consolations as she richly merited.

RECEIPTS

FOR APRIL, 1881.

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 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.