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American Missionary Association.

COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields, to Rev. James Powell, D. D., or to the District Secretaries: letters for the "American Missionary," to the Editor, 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.

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.

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THE
American Missionary

Your Committee are convinced, that not less than a THOUSAND DOLLARS a day are imperatively demanded, to perfect the admirably organized, plans of the Association, even for the present, to say nothing of the pressing needs of the early future.—

THE FIGURES.

The figures given above mark the close of our fiscal year. While they show a gratifying increase of receipts from living donors over those of the preceding year, the falling off in legacies has been so heavy that our books balance on the wrong side, and we are obliged to report a debt of $15,451.87, which, with the debt of the preceding year, makes a total indebtedness of $29,237.73.

For an analysis of the figures, we refer our readers to the report of the Executive Committee on the finances of the year, published in another part of this number. It was a grand rally our friends made to save us.[Pg 298] We fear that some of them sacrificed more than they ought in contributing so generously as they did. We pray that God may abundantly reward them. We thank them, one and all, with a heartiness greater than we can express. We would not sit in judgment upon the churches and professed friends who have contributed nothing to our treasury during the year. We know that some of them were not financially able. But we cannot believe that this was true of a majority of them.

The Congregational Year Book of 1885 reports 4,092 Congregational churches in the United States. We received during the year contributions from 1,677. What can be done to bring the non-contributing churches into line is a question we beg the pastors of contributing churches and the friends of the Association to help us answer. The pastors and members of these non-contributing churches as a general thing do not read our magazine. They are ignorant of our needs, and we do not know how to reach them so as to wake them up. Had we an army of agents to visit and talk to them, we might move them to take our work upon their thought and sympathy. Our appeals by circular, by newspaper, resolutions of State conferences and of the National Council, all fail to move them. They still continue not to hear and not to do. There is only one way that we can think of by which they can be reached, and that is for the local conferences to take the matter in hand, and select a committee of "a persistent ONE," who by letter, and, if need be, by personal visitation, will bring the delinquents up to meet the obligations of fellowship and denominational honor.

But as seen over against this long list of do-nothings what a grand army the 1,677 contributing churches appear! Theirs has been the work and theirs is the glory of "a well done" both from God and man. They form a base of supplies from which the army at the front can be recruited and sustained, and which can be counted on for support till the victory is won. We enter upon the new year with fresh confidence and renewed strength. No such word as "fail" finds place in our vocabulary so long as we have such friends behind us and God above and around us. The work will not be permitted to suffer. We shall throw off the debt. The faithful 1,677 will be reinforced. Our friends will be multiplied, and the work carried triumphantly forward.

WHAT OUR FRIENDS THINK AND SAY.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS RECEIVED BY THE TREASURER DURING THE PAST FEW WEEKS.

"If any part of the country is to be put first, the South should be, and helped most. Hence the inclosed, half of it from myself and the other half from the Congregational church here. Your work and that of your[Pg 299] compeers is above criticism. All there is of you is put in with a skill and completeness which are not surpassed; and your plans are as large as the field and as complete as its needs. No one could get more out of the money or put it where it would do more good. You and yours are as unmingled beneficence as rum shops are unmitigated maleficence. Were it in my power, I would build a new school-house in the South every year. My heart never thinks of you and your work without blessing you in it; and I have written the above as a sort of relief." (We hardly feel ourselves worthy of such generous praise, but we do very heartily thank our brother for his warm indorsement.—Ed.)

"Inclosed find a small sum to help elevate and Christianize the colored freedmen. Grains of sand make the mountains, and drops of water the ocean, and the invisible workmen rear the coral islands; so may God's people one and all do what they can, and your debt will be wiped out."

"At our meeting last evening, I read your appeal and took up a collection of $6, which I send you. It is a little Home Missionary church of only 10 members, but they are good ones, and in earnest. Hope all other churches will do as well and your society be saved from debt."

"Got your final appeal before last Sunday, but were so happy to think we had not waited for it, having taken our collection and subscription two weeks before. But owing to the general poverty among my people, we had to give time, and the sum is only now made up. I may say that this little amount at this time represents more real giving than any collection I ever secured. May a blessing go with it."

"I feel myself, like Paul, a debtor to all men, especially the classes you represent. Accept, then, my single mite, in the spirit in which I desire to send it, and may the Lord free you from the threatening debt by leading your constituency to feel their indebtedness to these classes and to Himself."

"I inclose $10, and wish I might increase it a hundred-fold. I had already given all that I intended, but could not resist the urgent appeal for the needy."

"The notices of your financial need came and touched a responsive chord in my heart. A week ago I gave a preparatory notice that a collection would be taken yesterday in your behalf. The people responded quite liberally. Inclosed find draft for the amount. You have my earnest prayer for the success of your effort to raise what you lack. May God bless you in your work and labor of love." (It was indeed a generous contribution, yet nearly one-third of it came out of the pastor.—Ed.)

"I had thought I had done all I could afford in these times, but coincident with your appeal came the inclosed, for which I had another place; but here, take it. The Lord will provide."

"In response to your society's importunity, I inclose $2. I took the collection up after a sermon I preached on Foreign Missions. We surprised [Pg 300]our people by the amount, as we don't usually get by a collection one dollar. I hope you will realize soon that there is no debt." (We have always believed that one of the best ways to rouse people up to Home Missions is to stir them up on Foreign Missions.—Ed.)

DEATH OF PRESIDENT WARE.

Edmund A. Ware was born in North Wrentham, now Norfolk, Mass., Dec. 22, 1837, and died suddenly of heart disease in Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 25, 1885. He passed the early years of his life under conditions which made him acquainted with hardships, and fitted him to have warm sympathy for those who struggled against obstacles and trials.

He was graduated from Yale College in 1863. During his college course his attention was often turned to the field for Christian work, then being opened in the South by the steady advance of our armies, and his sympathies were strongly enlisted for a race just coming out of the prison house of bondage, and he was ambitious to have a part in laying the foundations of a new and better society in the regions desolated by war.

He was appointed an officer of the Freedman's Bureau in 1867, with charge of the schools opened under its auspices in the State of Georgia, which position he held for three years, until the closing of that branch of the work of the government.

His great work, however, was in connection with Atlanta University, an institution for higher education, whose foundation he was active in securing, and over whose interests he presided until the day of his death. He labored for its welfare and that of the people in whose interests it was established with rare devotion, and rejoiced in its steady growth and prosperity with special personal gratification.

Owing to some peculiar circumstances the institution early secured the favorable attention of the State authorities, and an annual appropriation from the State treasury. In the endeavors to secure and confirm this grant he was conspicuously and honorably active, and during the many years of its continuance his relations to the officers of the State with whom he has thus been brought into contact have been exceptionally pleasant, and in some cases cordial.

During the last year of his life he took great interest in the successful opening of an industrial department in the institution, and for the last few weeks his great anxiety had been to secure the furnishing of a large new building whose erection he had personally overlooked. He had returned to Atlanta in advance of his family to make preparations for the school year soon to open, had completed most of his plans, and seemed in unusual good health and spirits. Soon after dinner on Friday, Sept. 25, feeling dizzy while in his own house, where he was alone, he sought the open air and walked toward the house of Professor Bumstead, but[Pg 301] becoming alarmed by increasing faintness he made loud calls, which were promptly responded to by Mr. and Mrs. Bumstead; but in spite of all remedies and efforts he speedily passed away to enter upon his well-earned rest and his glorious reward. The crushing effects of this sudden blow upon his household, upon his associates and the people who loved and revered him, cannot be described. At his funeral services all classes of the community were largely represented, and sympathy for the bereaved was profound. The grief of former pupils was touching, and was like that of children bereft of a father.

So passed away in the maturity of his powers and the midst of his usefulness, one of the earliest and most efficient of that great company who have toiled since the war in this broad and needy field. His departure seems like a translation; being taken suddenly without the pains and anxieties of wasting sickness, in the full tide of his greatest success, before any impairment of vigor or any calamity had overtaken the work he loved so well. He was a man of great power over other men, especially over young people, who were caught up by his enthusiasm, and borne along sometimes to the attainment of surprising results. He was well fitted to be a leader in the sphere he chose for himself, and made his mark upon his generation, and had a large and honorable share in securing the results already achieved, which are to bless the State and nation with increasing power.

A good man has fallen, and a great gap is made in the ranks of laborers at the front; but the Lord who loves his own cause better than we do will see that it suffers no loss. As the Lord has taken care that his servant rests from his labors, it is ours to see that they follow Him.

IYAKAPTAPI.

That is, the ascent from the plains of the head-waters of the Minnesota River to the Coteau du Prairie, or high table-land to the west. The old trail up-hill here gave the name Ascension to the place. There the tribes—Dakota tribes—met together for their annual autumn feast—the missionary conference on the 24th of September. On the Sabbath the little church was too small, and 400 Indians, with a sprinkling of white people, sat outside in the sun, some on benches, and most on the grass, around the Communion table. The tents of those who had come in from long distances were pitched on either side in the ravines, among the fall foliage, and the wide brown plain, with a long gleam of shining lake far off, lay below. As we took the bread and hid our faces in our hands, we thought of that distribution by Galilee, when they sat in companies on the grassy slope by the lake. It was not "the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still," but the real presence of Him who said "I am the bread of[Pg 302] life," to these 400 Christian Indians whom He had brought up from the low, dead level of barbarism to the present heights of Christian life.

One little dark baby in a white dress was baptized, and four young people publicly confessed their faith in a newly-found Saviour.

Solomon, "His Own Grandfather," who has gathered a church of the Dakota refugees from the Minnesota troubles of 1862, over in Manitoba, spoke to us of the spiritual nature of God's kingdom; and Ehnamani, who years ago laid down his warrior weapons, administered the bread, telling us of the tribulation and fire through which Christ went to become bread for our life. Then the "beloved John," our brother missionary who threw his young strength into the Dakota work at its darkest hour twenty-five years ago, could hardly control the emotion with which he spoke of the trials out of which the Dakotas had been brought to this present joy and strength through "His stripes."

It has been a long ascent for fifty years, but now fourteen churches, with a thousand members; eleven young men's Christian associations; a native missionary society, receiving contributions amounting this year to $1,165, much of it the fruit of hard labor by Dakota women, with the needle and at the wash-tub; a Christian community with its own native justices of the peace, rigidly enforcing temperance and marital law, and, according to the testimony of the United States agent on the ground, more careful of religious observances than white communities, and no less exemplary in morals; thousands of acres of cultivated land; these are some of the outward signs of the inner life of God in the heart.

Add to this the 1,000 or more converts gathered in later years and claimed by Episcopalians and Roman Catholics; add the long roll of those who have ascended to their Lord; add the white people who have been saved and inspired by the example of their Dakota brethren, and compute if you can the spiritual fruit of the Dakota Indian Mission.

Then think of this result wrought out, in the midst of what is fast becoming one of the most influential communities of our land. Christian churches by hundreds, Christian colleges and Christian homes, all built on this early Indian work as a foundation. Then, as we rejoice in the present interest in work for Indians, remember the obloquy and opposition of the past through which the early workers struggled.

To appreciate this ascent, one should come up from Western Indian barbarism, and not down from Eastern culture.

Leave the nightly drumming and dancing and revelry, the daily offering to heathen gods, the daily wailing and cutting of the flesh at the scaffold of sepulture, and one will acknowledge that God alone has wrought this change.

Before the regular sessions of the conference a "theological institute" occupied two days. This was attended by some thirty pastors and leading members of the churches. There were lectures on Bible history, on[Pg 303] family relations, on preaching and pastoral work. Then the general meeting opened with a hymn written for the occasion by the organist, a young Indian, and the singing was led by native young men. The topics at the conference were such as the education of children, the missionary cause; and the one that seemed to call out most discussion was, "How to secure the spiritual growth of the Church." The young men showed great interest in their Christian associations, and voted to affiliate with their kindred in the white communities, of whom they heard through the Rev. Mr. Williams, who represented the Christian association of the young men of Minneapolis. The Indian women, too, had their missionary meeting, and show the same traits and give evidence of the same activity and zeal that make their white sisters the main strength of the Christian Church.

So we bid all take heart, and go on upward—iyakaptapi. C. L. Hall.

INDIANS IN THE DAKOTA ASSOCIATION.

This is an ecclesiastical body of a hundred churches that has the opportunity to show the unity of the spirit in race fellowship. Besides the local German Association, one of the five belonging to it, the Indian Mission churches and pastors of the Santee Agency and of Fort Sully, with their superintendents, Revs. Alfred L. and Thomas M. Riggs, are among the members. At the recent annual meeting, held at Huron, September 17th to 20th, there were present the Riggs brothers, three lady missionaries, and two female and four male Indians. The service of Rev. A. L. Riggs, as moderator, was justly commended for its urbanity and promptness. At the meeting of the Woman's Missionary Society, held with the mixed assembly, the two Indian women, Estelle Ward and Ellen Spotted Bear, were brought forward, in their usual white woman's garb, to make talks, which were interpreted by Mrs. T. M. Riggs. During some discussion upon Indian work, the Riggs brothers supplemented their remarks by addresses from Frank Frazier and Stephen Yellow Hawk, a deacon and a pastor. At the Communion, on the Lord's Day, this deacon was associated with three white men in distributing the elements. At the final meeting, on Sunday night, with a crowded house, between the addresses of Rev. Drs. Jos. B. Clark and Jos. E. Roy were sandwiched two hymns, sung by the natives and their teachers, and also an address by the dignified pastor at the Santee Agency, Rev. Artemas Ehnamani, interpreted by Rev. A. L. Riggs. This, and the talks of the other Indians, reported their former condition as heathen and their coming to the light through their missionaries. Particularly touching was the allusion of Pastor Ehnamani to the sainted men, Drs. Williamson and Riggs. All showed the one spirit, that of the common Redeemer.

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THE LAKE MOHONK CONFERENCE.

On the 6th, 7th and 8th of October the third annual meeting of the Lake Mohonk Conference was held. Hon. Albert K. Smiley and Mrs. Smiley, as usual, extended the hospitality of their magnificent mountain retreat to the friends of the Indian. The sessions of the conference were of great interest. Eminent men and women read historical and suggestive papers, and ably discussed the great questions of the Indian problem. The conference, after much earnest debate, were unanimous in recommending such legislation by Congress as will give allotments of land in severalty to the Indians—the sale of lands not required for occupancy, and funding of proceeds therefor for their benefit—the early discontinuance of rations and annuities, increased educational facilities, including industrial and especially agricultural, and the dispersion and diffusion of the Indians among the other people of the country, with all the rights and immunities of other citizens.

THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

GENERAL SURVEY.

This Association by its chartered rights is authorized to go anywhere that it finds people destitute of Gospel privileges. Limitation of means and coöperation with other societies may compel it to a narrower sphere than the demands call for; but this is the principle that underlies the Association's organization, and that has characterized all its historic development. The work is at present confined to this country. We have missions in sixteen States and three Territories. The combined population of these States and Territories is 17,459,610, and at least one-third of that number are the legitimate objects of this Association's care. By reason of the necessities of the people our work is both evangelistic and educational: the church and the school in their united aim securing the salvation of body, mind and soul; reaching home life, social life and business life; laying the only foundation on which can rest a progressive and enduring civilization. These mighty forces of Christianity—mother and daughter—in mutual helpfulness and in close proximity, are the agencies through which, with God's blessing, we hope to reach and save the people.

CHURCH WORK SOUTH.

STATISTICS.

In this department of our work we are permitted to report very decided growth. Heretofore, the average number of churches organized each year has been six.[Pg 305] This year the number runs up to seventeen. This increase comes from the maturing of enterprises that have been nursed for a longer or shorter time, and also the fruiting of our school process and the enlarging of our mountain work. These new churches are at Pleasant View and Rockhold, Ky.; at Cedar Cliff, Melville and Johnson's, N. C.; at Jellico, Pleasant Hill, Robbins, Jonesboro, Grand View and Helenwood, Tenn.; at Rutland, Ga.; Ironton, Ala.; Greenville, Miss.; Abbeville, La.; and at Dallas and Austin, Tex. They have all been supplied with the ministry of the word, though several have been yoked two and two under one pastor. Eight of them have houses of worship, the others use school-houses or chapels of school buildings.

Of the 89 pastors who have ministered to our 112 churches, 30 were from the North and 59 were raised up in our own institutions at the South. The average membership of these churches is 61. Total additions for the year, 1,127, of which, on confession of faith, 883. Raised for church purposes, $12,394.78; for benevolence, $1,625.86.

The evangelist, Rev. J. C. Fields, accompanied by his wife, who aids him by song, has continued his service through the year. He has labored at Louisville; in our three churches at Nashville; at Meridian, Jackson and Greenville, Miss.; and at Athens, Tecumseh, Montgomery, Marion, Selma, Talladega, Birmingham, Ironton and Shelby Iron Works, Ala. As a result, between seven and eight hundred souls were hopefully led to Christ, and about one half of them gathered into our churches; while other denominations shared in the precious harvest. At several of the places visited, the religious interest assumed marvelous power.

At Marion there were 55 who professed Christ, the work spreading from our church into the State Normal school located there. Two-thirds of the converts were young men, ranging from fifteen to twenty years of age, who gave themselves earnestly to prayer and labor for the conversion of their comrades. A little girl, eight years old, was the first of a family to accept Christ. Her mother followed. The father, a drunkard, through the persuasion of friends, visited the church for the first time. When opportunity was given those desiring salvation to express their desire, the little child crossed over to where her father was, and begged him to come. He did not that evening, but a few nights later he yielded and gave his heart to the Saviour. It is a custom among the colored people to give the hand of welcome to those who have made up their minds to become Christians; and we can well believe, as an eye-witness describes, "it was a beautiful as well as a touching scene when this little girl stepped forward to welcome father and mother on the Lord's side."

At Talladega College there were 116 conversions, including every inmate of the ladies' hall, and, with a single exception, every boy in the Stone Hall. The meetings, as distinctively revival, had to come to a close for lack of material upon which to work, and take the form of praise and thanksgiving unto God for the marvelous display of His grace. It was a literal fulfillment of the Divine promise to "pour out a blessing that there should not be room enough to receive it."

At Selma there were 300 who confessed their Saviour. Gray-haired men, grandmothers, men and women in the prime of life, youth and children, were among the converts. "The most glorious work of grace," writes Pastor Curtis, "it has ever been my privilege to see."

Revivals have also been enjoyed in the Central Church and Straight University, New Orleans; in the Tougaloo University, where nearly all the students were led to Christ; at New Iberia, La., where, under the labors of the pastor, fifty-nine were[Pg 306] brought into church fellowship; in the First and University churches, Atlanta, and at several other places. It has been a year of marked religious interest and progress nearly all over the field.

EDUCATIONAL WORK SOUTH.

STATISTICS.

The resignation during the year of Professor Salisbury, Superintendent of our school work, and the transfer to Chicago of Dr. Roy, Superintendent of our church work at the South, raised the question whether, in view of the system to which these brethren had reduced the work of their respective fields, the two departments might not be consolidated and their care assigned to one man. With much hesitation it was decided to try the experiment. Rev. C. J. Ryder, of Medina, O., has been selected to take the new position, and has entered upon its duties. His headquarters will be at Cincinnati, from which point, by reason of its central location and excellent railroad facilities, the whole field will be easily accessible. We regretfully part with Professor Salisbury. The three years of his service have been very valuable to our work, and it is largely because of this service we are permitted to report that our schools were never before so well organized nor so efficient as now.

The exhibit of our schools in the World's Exposition at New Orleans attracted much attention from visitors. The New Orleans papers spoke of it in very complimentary terms. Descriptions of it were written and widely published in the newspapers all over the country. President Hitchcock, of Straight University, Rev. S. E. Lathrop and several of our colored students, took charge successively of the exhibit, and were on hand to answer questions regarding the American Missionary Association, its schools and its work. A large number of pamphlets and tracts were distributed. Representatives from every State in the Union, and from nearly every nation on the face of the earth, dropped in to learn the object-lesson the exhibit taught of what Christian education had done for the Indian and the Negro.

At Midway, Ga., an additional building has been erected for the Dorchester Academy. The Storrs School, Atlanta, by the sale of bullets dug from the battlefields around the city, realized enough to secure a much-needed kindergarten building. Mrs. F. L. Allen, of Waterbury, Conn., has donated us a property in Quitman, Ga., containing three acres of land, on which stands a hotel building, nearly new and thoroughly furnished, to be used as a school for girls. The ladies of the First and Second Congregational churches of Waterbury promptly seconded Mrs. Allen's gift by raising $1,000 to make the necessary alterations to put the building in order for the school, and the ladies of the Congregational churches of the State have so far responded to an appeal for them to assume the support of the school, that it starts out with an assurance of success from the beginning. Rev. J. H. Parr, formerly of the Tillotson Institute, is to have the school in charge.

We have not been able to spend much money this year in brick and mortar.[Pg 307] We have been obliged to put our funds almost exclusively into the more practical work of mind and character building.

Fisk University celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year by graduating from its college course fifteen, two of the number being young ladies. This makes 52 who have been graduated from Fisk. The Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Tennessee, several State officials, many Senators and Representatives attended the Commencement exercises and alumni dinner. A series of speeches in commendation of the good work done at the institution were made by these gentlemen, who bore testimony to the high standing of the Fisk students as teachers and citizens throughout the State. Of the 37 graduates previous to the class of this year, the record shows that 24 of them are principals and teachers in different schools; 5 are pastors of churches; 1 is a missionary in Africa under the American Board; 2 are practicing lawyers; 2 are studying for the professions—1 in a theological, the other in a medical school; 1 is a member of the Tennessee Legislature; and 2, who were teachers, have died. Its roll numbers 427, including representatives of 21 States and 1 Territory.

Talladega College has had 365 students. This was more than it could comfortably care for. The girls' hall was crowded. Some applicants had to be refused for lack of room. The new Cassidy School building, having been used by over 200 pupils, continues to justify its right to be. Prosperity has marked the life of this college in all its departments.

Atlanta University maintains its well-earned reputation for school work of the highest order; 297 students have shared its privileges. Colonel L. W. Avery, Chairman of the State Board of Visitors, in his report last year, was so emphatic and strong in his praise of what he had seen and heard at the University, that the other members of the Board would not believe him, and he was compelled to modify his praises before they would accept his report. This year the whole Board was present at the examinations, and the result is that they have every one been converted, and are now ready to go even farther than the Colonel in testifying that "the proficiency attained in the scholastic results has been simply astonishing." The University continues to receive the annual appropriation of $8,000 from the State—a fact that is all significant respecting the undeniable worth of the school.

Tougaloo University, located on the Illinois Central R. R., about eight miles north of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, receives State aid to the amount of $3,000 annually. Two hundred and sixteen students last year have taxed its utmost capacity for accommodation. Governor Lowry and the State Board of Visitors attended the commencement exercises, and were surprised at the evidence of the Negro's capacity for education. Four students took degrees in the elementary Normal course that requires ten years to complete it, and one took the degree from the higher Normal course, to complete which requires twelve years.

Straight University, New Orleans, notwithstanding the devastation of floods and the failure of cotton crops that last year so severely affected the very limited finances of the colored people of Louisiana, was filled with students at the beginning of the school year, and continued not only crowded, but overcrowded to the end; 584 scholars were enrolled, including representatives from Cuba, Honduras, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois, and even Old England.

Tillotson Institute, Texas, has also had a very crowded and successful year. This is the youngest of our chartered schools. It has the modesty that in every way is becoming the youngest member of the family, but in all that is excellent in work it stands not a whit behind the oldest and the best. It has already outgrown the comfortable limits of its habitation. The crowding process has struck[Pg 308] it, and its cry for relief is growing sharper and sharper. We shall have to heed its cry one of these days. The great and rapidly-growing State of Texas challenges our forethought and our care. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Hon. B. M. Baker, was present at the commencement exercises, and after commending the teachers for their faithful work and testifying that the best teachers of the colored schools in Texas were graduates of the Tillotson Institute, he publicly thanked the people of the North for the establishment and maintenance of the school. Judge Fullmore, a county school superintendent, who was also present, not only indorsed all that Mr. Baker had said, but added that in his appointments of teachers he always gave Tillotson graduates the preference, and that a certificate of graduation from Tillotson in the hands of an applicant was all the evidence of character and ability he needed.

Were we to continue sketching the salient points in the work of our other schools scattered all over the South, it would be simply to give fresh illustrations of the five facts already made prominent—crowded schools, growing necessities, faithful work, good results and outside commendation.

As compared with last year, the statistics in our school work show a falling off of two chartered institutions and seven common schools. On its face, this looks like loss; in reality, it is gain. The two chartered institutions dropped out of our statistics are Berea and Hampton, that, as a matter of fact, have been for several years self-sustaining and independent, and which, as formerly fostered by us, we have hitherto reported; they are still in the field, doing a greater work than ever, while the seven common schools, dropped because they ceased to be needed where they were located, are more than represented in the better work of the other schools, to strengthen which the money thus set free has been transferred.

We are steadily but slowly coming to the realization of the idea that was the inspiration of the American Missionary Association's school system—Christian colleges and Normal schools for the training of leaders, and Christian preparatory schools to furnish them with the right kind of material. The South is year by year, as its financial ability increases and its public sentiment improves, doing more for the rudimental instruction of its children. It is the duty of the State to provide elementary education for every child within its borders, and to that point the Southern States must one day come; but just in proportion as they come to that point, the necessities for our work increase. The demand for Christian teachers and preachers and professional men in all ranks at the South will grow as facilities for the elementary education of the children multiply. Our aim is not only to save the land from ignorance, but to save it from godless intelligence. Infidelity is as much the enemy of free institutions as ignorance; and when the children are intelligent, an ignorant leadership is almost as effective as an infidel leadership to raise up an infidel people; so that, as intelligence spreads among the youth of the South, we are placed under accumulating obligations, by virtue of our loyalty to the kingdom of our Lord, and by virtue of our interest in the perpetuity of republican institutions, to strengthen, enlarge and multiply this work. Of course, just now, and for a great many years to come, by far the greater part of our school work must be in the lower grades of instruction. So long as it can be said, that in the Southern States eighty per cent. of the colored and thirty per cent. of the white population are illiterate; that there are not educational facilities enough to furnish fifty per cent. of the children with even a chance to learn their letters; that there are whole communities and sections in which there are no schools whatever; that there are thousands and tens of thousands of children and youth who would be glad to go to school did they have opportunity; so long we[Pg 309] must continue to furnish elementary instruction in all our schools, and as far as possible to open such small schools as may meet the present but transient exigency, to be dropped, as we have the seven common schools above referred to, when, from whatever cause, the necessity for them has passed away. The Executive Committee desires to emphasize and to have the constituents of the American Missionary Association keep it constantly before them, that as the cause and means of popular education extend in the South, the necessity for the work of the Association becomes stronger and stronger.

As seen from this stand-point, the desirability of bringing our larger institutions as speedily as possible, where they shall be able to take care of themselves, becomes clear and urgent. They should be at once so far endowed that the question of their permanence as conservators of the supremacy of Christian leadership in the thought, character and life of the people should be settled beyond peradventure for all time.

We commend these schools to the special regard of those who are looking about to invest money where, in the name of the Lord, it will yield rich and enduring returns.

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

Industrial teaching is made prominent at Santee, Oahe, at all of our chartered institutions, at Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn., Lewis High School, Macon, Ga., and incidentally at six other schools. Aid has been received from the Slater Fund for this work at Macon, Atlanta, Nashville, Tougaloo, Talladega, Memphis and Austin. Nearly all the scholars in attendance pursue some of the branches of industry taught. Housekeeping, cooking, dress-making, care of the sick, agriculture, blacksmithing, harness-making, type-setting and printing are made prominent, according to the conveniences at hand. Atlanta, Talladega and Tougaloo have farms which are worked by the students under the instruction of practical farmers. At several other points farming could be successfully taught if only we had the farms, and we could have the farms if only we had the money.

For the teaching of the trades we need special buildings. Progress has been made in this direction. Atlanta University has erected "The Knowles Industrial Building," a memorial of the late Mr. L. J. Knowles, of Worcester, Mass., whose widow not long before her death appropriated $6,000 for this object. It is a brick building 100 by 44 feet, with two stories and a basement, and, for its use, is one of the finest in the South. At Macon, a two-story building has been constructed—the upper story for the Lewis Library and the lower for a carpenter shop. At Talladega has been also built a two-story structure, the upper story to be used for carpentry and the lower for blacksmithing. The citizens of Memphis two years ago gave Professor Steele $1,000 to put a girl's industrial department into the Le Moyne school, and now they have pledged him $600 more to secure a workshop for the boys. Fort Berthold in Dakota and Fisk and Straight Universities at the South greatly need industrial buildings, and there are other schools of which the same might be said with equal emphasis.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of industrial training. Latest in development in connection with our schools, it may yet prove first in value. Labor is heaven-ordained. It is the chief instrumentality through which a people are elevated. Grace saves the soul and transforms character instantly. It makes[Pg 310] the savage and sinner kind and good instantly; but it will not instantly make him a good farmer, a skilled mechanic, a trained scholar. Up from the lowest to the highest, man must toil patiently and laboriously. Nature will tolerate neither jumps nor deceptions. It is no kindness to put a man where he is out of place, and still less is it a kindness to make him believe that he has a right to be there. He who climbs up into position or who is foisted into it by any other instrumentality than by the toil necessary to fit him for the position, the same is a thief and a robber. The police forces of Nature will speedily put him under arrest. The judicial forces of Nature will soon cast him into a prison, out of which he shall not come until beginning at the bottom, by diligent labor, he is willing to pay the last farthing at every step in the process of his advancement. The implements and the products of industry are the gauges of civilization. Between the roughly-hewn stone hatchet and the finely-polished steel axe lies all the history of the world's progress. The college, the library, the fine residence and the factory of modern civilization are at one end of the line, the other end of which starts from the dug-out and the hut. Man, in the highest estate, forget or ignore it as he may, has that in him which connects him with the lowest, and labor, the hard labor of his ancestors, extending through the ages as well as his own, has been the means of bringing him where he is. If the Indian and the negro are to be elevated, they must rise by the same steps as have others. They must work their way up. But they who are above them, remembering the pit out of which they themselves have been dug, must give them a chance to rise, and help them as they try to rise. That they have the capacity for elevation along every line of human development has been abundantly proved over and over again. The industrial exhibit of the colored people at the recent Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, was in every way gratifying to their friends. Though these people are only 20 years out of the house of their 250 years' bondage, antedated by millenniums of barbarism, they sent articles showing their progress in the industries that more than filled the entire gallery assigned them in one end of the immense Government building.

MOUNTAIN WORK.

This work has gone forward the past year with marked success. In Kentucky, Rev. J. T. Ford, having taken the pastoral charge of the church at Williamsburg, Rev. A. A. Myers was at liberty to give himself to more extended missionary work; and, as might be expected, he has gone into it with a will. He has organized three new churches; one at Jellico, with 11 members; one at Pleasant View, with 13 members, and one at Rockhold, with 15 members. Under his superintendency the Jellico church has erected a good, commodious house, but it needs a bell. The congregations number from 250 to 300, and the pastor, Rev. E. W. Bullock, reports the interest as increasing.

Pleasant View Church has also put up a house of worship, now complete except seats. At Rockland, stone is on the ground. Mr. Myers using his own team to haul it, himself being teamster, and the lumber is all ready to begin work. A chapel is soon to be erected at South Williamsburg, where there are hundreds around the mills who cannot be induced to attend church up town. Eleven Sunday-schools, with an enrollment of 1,200 and an average of 750, have been maintained. These schools extend from Jellico on the State line to the northern part of Whitley County along the railroad. Besides these, several students from the Academy have conducted Sunday-schools at their homes, reporting an enrollment of 160.

Day schools have been kept at Woodbine, Rockhold, Dowlais and Jellico with marked success.

[Pg 311]

The Williamsburg Academy has had an enrollment of 203. The reputation and influence of this school are extending far and wide. The teachers, imbued with the missionary spirit, have been a power in the church and in the community as well as in the school. The question whether our schools could be kept up if colored students were admitted, has been squarely met and answered, and right at our central station, Williamsburg, we have had colored pupils during the past two terms. When they were first admitted, there was a stampede of the white scholars, reducing the number of pupils from 120 to 40, but as they had a chance to think the matter over, and they saw the school going right along as if nothing had happened, and that it was going to keep right along, they began to come back again, with still others to join them, so that the school closed with a larger enrollment than the previous year. The excitement caused a discussion that found its way into the newspapers of the State, and gave the school such an advertisement as could not have been secured by years of ordinary work. We shall have no more trouble with the color question in Whitley County. It has been settled, and settled right.

In Tennessee, the Independent Church at Sherwood, and its pastor, Rev. A. B. Smith, have entered our fellowship by joining the Central South Association. On the Cumberland plateau, Pastor B. Dodge has secured the organization of a church with 16 members, which is associated with his church at Pomona. An organ and hymn-books were furnished by the Pilgrim Church, Cambridgeport, Mass. The people have subscribed $300, chiefly in lumber, toward a much-needed chapel for church and day school. At both these points day schools have been maintained. At Grand View, the first year of the Academy has proved a success, and now a church has been organized in association with it, both to be under the care of Rev. C. B. Riggs.

The school work of Mrs. St. Clair in Scott County has been remarkable. Three years ago there were 27 saloons and two Sunday-schools in the county, one school held in Mrs. St. Clair's tent and the other in a blacksmith shop; now there are three saloons and 25 Sunday-schools, and the good people are praying with much confidence that their prayers will be answered for three less saloons and three more Sunday-schools. Mr. R. F. Taft, of Worcester, Mass., was sent down to help in this field. His labors were wonderfully blessed. Two churches, one at Robbins, the other at Helenwood, were organized. He is not able to continue in our service, but, in speaking of what has been accomplished, he has this to say: "Wherever I went the people were so eager to hear the Gospel that it was a joyous work to me. All came together, natives and Northerners, and our colored brethren. If the A. M. A. has accomplished nothing more, it has broken down the line of color, and to-day all mingle together in seeking after the pearl of great price." The work of Mr. Taft has been taken up by Rev. W. E. Barton, a recent graduate of Berea College, who finds already so much on his hands that he is crying for help.

WORK AMONG THE INDIANS.

STATISTICS.

Our Indian work is chiefly in Nebraska and Dakota, among the great Sioux nation[Pg 312] that numbers about sixty thousand, and the tribes that mingle with, or are located around, them. We have three main stations, Santee, Oahe and Fort Berthold, all situated on the Missouri River, and at points strategic for pushing missions out among the people.

Santee.—Here is planted the Santee Normal School, under the care of Rev. A. L. Riggs. This institution, pioneer of its kind, began work for the higher training of Indian pupils fifteen years ago. Its history and experience show the great advancement that has been made by the Indian mind. At first the pupils came as to a sort of picnic, and expected to slip out when the fun stopped. But now the discipline, attendance and class work are of a high order and will compare favorably with schools of similar grade elsewhere. One thing quite noteworthy about Santee is that while it is often impossible to fill the desired quota of girls for other schools, applications at Santee from girls and young women far exceed the ability to receive them. This school, with its 177 pupils busily engaged in their studies under the instruction of an able corps of teachers, in possession of buildings that are up to the times in all their equipments, reaching by its influence every Indian village of the great empire of the Missouri River basin, is an institution from which, with God's blessing upon its work, we have a right to expect great things in the future.

Pilgrim Church, under the joint pastorate of the Rev. Artemas Ehnamani and Rev. A. L. Riggs, honors the faith and polity of the Pilgrim Fathers in its co-operation with the school, nurturing and extending the cause of Christian education. Its roll numbers 164 names, and its Sabbath-school reports an attendance of 183.

Great and urgent fields inviting missionary occupancy lie all around Santee. Swift Bear's colony, numbering sixteen families, an offshoot from Rosebud agency, has located along the Niobrara. Others are coming down this fall as soon as their little crops are harvested. All the land on the north side of the Niobrara, twenty miles east of the mouth of the Keya-paba, and much of the land on the Ponca Creek close by, is now taken. Here has just been built a school-house given by Deacon Burrill, of Oberlin, Ohio, a little building of two rooms, one for the teacher's residence, and the other for the school room and chapel. A son of Pastor Ehnamani, of the Santee Church, is to take charge of this station.

Among the Poncas, since last December, we have had a missionary, Rev. J. E. Smith, who, while maintaining Sabbath services with good attendance, has during the week taught a government school. At the Upper Ponca settlement, during the months of February and March, a mission day school was kept by Albert Frazier, a native teacher.

Oahe.—This mission, with its out-stations, is in charge of Rev. T. L. Riggs. The native helpers are Titus Jugg, Elizabeth Winjan, William Lee, Daniel Lee, Samuel Smiley, Stephen Yellow Hawk and Edwin Phelps, all, with one exception, full-blood Dakota Indians.

The Indians of the Rosebud Agency on the White River have long been calling for missionaries to be sent among them. The Park Street Church, Boston, has given $400 to open a mission in that needy region, and Mr. Riggs expects to have a well-established out-station on the White River before the beginning of the coming winter.

During the year a movement has been made to establish an industrial school at Oahe. The Indian Bureau gave twenty scholarships. Alonzo Trask, Esq., executor in the Marquand estate, gave $1,500 toward a building, on condition that an additional $1,500 be raised. This additional amount Mr. Riggs secured. The [Pg 313]beginning of the school was made in January. Twelve scholars were all that could be accommodated. They were promptly secured. The school has been continued by the exercise of strictest economy and the willing self-sacrifices of all concerned. The experiment has proved a success, and a good beginning has been made for another year. The new building is now about, if not quite, ready, and fitted to receive forty scholars.

The church at Oahe bears the significant name of Shiloh. A place of rest it has proved to many a weary soul—yet of rest only as it has prepared for activity. During the year God has been pleased to manifest His grace in saving power. Seventeen new members have been received on profession of their faith and three by letter. The total membership is 54. The greater part of these are young men and women, not more than half being over thirty years of age and not more than five being past forty-five years. This church enjoys the ministrations of Stephen Yellow Hawk and David Lee.

Fort Berthold.—This point with the territory adjacent is held by Rev. C. L. Hall. The day school has had 129 pupils during the year. Six of the Indian girls have been taken into the teachers' home, with marked benefit to the mission work. Increased interest has been manifested in the church services, the average attendance being 75. At Fort Stevenson a Government school (75 pupils) has been kept by Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Wells. Religious meetings have been held fortnightly on Thursday evening and Sabbath school each Sunday. The Crow agency, after waiting two years, is still begging for us to send a missionary.

Leaving Fort Berthold and striking westward about 1,000 miles, we come to Skokomish Agency, Washington Territory, where Rev. Myron Eells stands almost alone to represent the interest our denomination takes in the salvation of the Indians of that region. At Skokomish he has a church of 46 members; at Dunginess a church of 28 members, where he spends two Sabbaths and the intervening week each month; and at Squakson, a small reservation formerly in charge of the Presbyterians, who have now withdrawn, he conducts public worship once a month. In these three places he has under his pastoral care 102 families; average attendance at public worship, 150; at Sabbath school, 84; at prayer meeting, 62. Infant baptisms, 19; adult baptisms and reception to church membership, 11. Many of the Christian Indians are efficient helpers in the prayer meeting and the Sunday school, assisting Mr. Eells when he is present and carrying on the work when he is absent.

At Santa Fé, New Mexico, we have maintained during part of the year four teachers who have had under instruction Pueblo Indian children, for whom Government scholarships had been secured.

WORK AMONG THE CHINESE.

STATISTICS.

These figures show three more missions and twelve more missionaries than the statistics of last year. In the missionary force there are eleven Chinese helpers.

Four new schools have been opened at the following points: Alturas, Fresno,[Pg 314] San Diego and Tulare. The school at Alturas, in the northeastern part of California, though established for the Chinese, like all other A. M. A. schools, is open to everybody, irrespective of race or color, and the Indians in the vicinity have so largely availed themselves of the privilege that they greatly outnumber the Chinese. This school is under the care of Mrs. Griffiths, wife of the pastor of the Congregational Church in the place. She has the constant coöperation of her husband, who welcomes to his church all who can be induced to attend from the school. The mission at Stockton, the first one established by us in California, was closed last year, but has been reopened with an attendance and promise such as it never had before. Our schools are all in the hands of devoted and efficient teachers, are well located and well rooted. We are justified in feeling that they are all fairly on the way to become permanent.

The California Chinese mission, whose superintendency has been under the care of Rev. W. C. Pond ever since its organization in 1875, is auxiliary to the American Missionary Association. It has its own President and Board of Managers. It works in closest harmony with the parent society, and while it must look to us for by far the largest part of the funds necessary to carry its work forward, yet it does not rely wholly upon our appropriations, but makes continuous efforts to raise money itself.

It reports as having received into its own treasury the past year $3,141.20. Its property consists of the Barnes and the West Mission Houses in San Francisco, together with an interest in the North Mission House of San Francisco and the new Mission House in Tulare. Mr. Pond has made strenuous efforts to secure sufficient contributions to bring to pass, without incurring debt, a transfer of these properties to the A. M. A., and he informs us that this result is now assured and that the transfer will soon be made. We shall thus come into possession of property worth upward of $9,000, free from debt.

The past year has not been in garnered results so fruitful as our Superintendent and his co-workers had expected; yet they have been faithful in the cultivation of the field. Early in the year they determined to be more aggressive than formerly. If the Chinese would not come in greater numbers to the schools, then the missionaries would go to them. Three men in the providence of God were at hand who were impressed with the importance of this aggressive work, and who were able to preach to the Chinese in their own language; Rev. D. D. Jones, who had returned from missionary work in South China, Jee Gam and Wong Ock. These brethren have been engaged in evangelistic work both at the mission houses and on the streets in San Francisco and at several other points. But "hard hearts," threatened persecution, and actively working prejudice have everywhere stood in the way of progress.

Still God did not leave His children altogether without some evidence of His favor. There were eighteen who professed conversion and twelve who received baptism. The reflex influence of these evangelistic services has been productive of great spiritual blessing to our missionaries and to the Chinese Christians. It has driven them to realize that they must more than ever trust in the power of God's spirit to overcome the difficulties; that they must faithfully hold and work every point now occupied; that they must pray on and labor on until the Holy Spirit descend in power to break the stony hearts and dissipate the opposing forces of Mongolian heathenism on the one hand and Caucasian inconsistency and infidelity on the other. "Brethren, pray for us!" is the almost heart-agonizing appeal Superintendent Pond makes to the constituents of this Association. "Never before," he writes, "were we so well prepared to do good service to the Master, and to move on with saving power among these dark souls purchased with His[Pg 315] blood, as now, at the opening of this new fiscal year. Yet never before did we look on into the year with such a sense of utter helplessness or such a despair of real success except through the co-working of the Holy Ghost."

We commend this appeal for prayer to all our friends. Let there go up such a cry to God for help that in Pentecostal power His spirit may be outpoured upon our Chinese missions; and not only will the good results be felt in our own country, but they will reach in blessing even the vast empire of China and make strong and glad the hearts of our Christian brethren there.

THE WOMAN'S BUREAU.

The Woman's Bureau has proved a most efficient agency in our work during the past year. The family and the home where mother and sister are the strong guard of purity and moral strength, the newly-freed people knew nothing about from experience. Our missionaries, more than two-thirds of whom were women, found themselves face to face with the duty of caring for their unfortunate sisters. When the Christian women of the country were taking up and discussing the special claims of degraded and lost women for woman's special effort, and organizing societies to meet that claim, the American Missionary Association had the whole business in operation on a large and successful scale. When, therefore, the Woman's Bureau was created, it was neither to inaugurate a new work nor in imitation of other organizations. The purpose was to make the Christian women of the country more intelligently acquainted with a branch of our mission long in operation, and induce them by an increase of their contributions and sympathy and prayers to make it more widely successful. Miss D. E. Emerson, who not only by her experience as a missionary in the field, but also by her experience as a clerk in the New York office, was admirably qualified to take the Bureau in charge, was made its Secretary. She has opened direct channels of communication between the lady missionaries on the field and the Christian women of the churches. Sunday schools and ladies' missionary societies have been furnished an opportunity to assume, either wholly or partially, the support of an assigned missionary from whom they have regularly received letters. She has arranged to have addresses given upon the work at missionary meetings and conferences, either by herself or by a lady missionary, so far as she could, wherever and whenever such service has been desired. The work has been steadily growing upon her hands. The interest is widening and deepening. With no increase of machinery, with but little increase of expense, and with no divisive disturbance, either in the Association or in the churches, our Woman's Bureau quietly and effectively carries forward its operations at the North and at the South, at the East and at the West.

FINANCES.

Receipts for 1884-5.

As compared with the receipts of last year, these figures show $191,698.35 col[Pg 316]lections and donations this year, as against $164,056.77 last; legacies, $41,501.66 this year, as against $64,559.42 last; a gain in contributions from the living of $27,641.58, a loss from legacies of $23,057.76. The receipts from all sources for the past year, notwithstanding the heavy loss in legacies, are in excess over the receipts of the preceding year $3,299.87. The expenditures for the year have been $306,345.93, leaving a debt on the year just closed of $15,451.87. This, added to the deficit of the previous year, leaves us with a total indebtedness of $29,237.73. But over against this and in close connection with it, should be stated the fact that in both years the indebtedness has been owing to an increase of appropriations to meet the absolutely necessary demands of the new Indian missions transferred to us by the American Board. In 1883-4, we expended on these missions, including $11,495.19 received from the U. S. Government, $33,204.95. In 1884-5, including $9,458.13 from the Government, we spent $41,283.75. The churches had laid this work upon us, and we could not avoid these expenditures.

We began the year with a debt of $13,785.86. The task before us, therefore, if our work was to be kept to its former scale, was to increase our receipts over the previous year $27,571.72, or twice the deficit. We have made that increase in donations from the living, with $69.86 to spare, and that, too, in the face of the stringency of the times. Had the legacies remained the same as the preceding year (which were $61,807.31 less than the legacies of the year preceding that), we should have closed this year without a debt, and had $7,605.89 on hand to apply on the debt with which we started out.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, this review of the year inspires first of all songs of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for His manifold blessings upon the work and workers, and then our heartfelt gratitude to the pastors, churches and friends that have so nobly and generously, many of them at great self-sacrifice, contributed to sustain the work. With such evidence from heaven that the work is God's, with such evidence from earth that it rests upon the hearts and consciences of His people as a sacred trust, we cannot but feel that in it all Providence is saying unto us, Go forward. But what say our constituents? We present them our report. We await their answer.

RECEIPTS FOR SEPTEMBER, 1885.

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

Invigorating, Strengthening,
Healthful, Refreshing.

BEWARE OF IMITATIONS.