Chapter C: H. C

TALLADEGA COLLEGE.

_Dear Sir_,—I am glad to have the opportunity of writing you this my third letter. You know that this is my third year in the seminary, and that I was to finish my course of study at the close of it. Among all my benefactors there are none to whom I feel so grateful for my education as to you. By the assistance, which I have received from your charitable hand, I shall be enabled to complete my studies and enter upon a field of labor at our next Commencement. It would be impossible for me to repay you for what you have done for me during these last years of my course, though I had bags of “fine gold.” I know that my getting an education was not the ultimate motive that actuated you to give your money; but that I might be prepared thereby for the Master’s service, and to go into His vineyard and help build up His kingdom. This is the fruit which, I perceive, you expect to find growing upon the vines which you have planted and watered; and, by the help of my Master, this shall be the labor of my life. I feel that I have a work here in the South among my people, which God would have me do, that no other man can do. When I look abroad and see what is to be done to raise this people out of chaos, and the almost overwhelming responsibility that is resting on us who are being prepared for the work, it almost discourages me; but I have made up my mind to die in the work.

The most encouraging thing among us is the fact that most all of the schools and colleges which have been founded here for the education of the colored people are conducted and taught by Christians. The colored people, though the majority of them are unlettered men, seek for Christian teachers—even in our common public schools—as a general thing.

The mission work carried on by the theological students is still full of interest, and promises a bright future for the many thousands who are being brought to a knowledge of the truth. The students of the college go out into all parts of the State and teach day and Sunday-schools, and by so doing exert a Christian influence over their pupils.

I trust that the good Master, who sees the doings of all His children, will increase your store, that you may continue to help lift up those who are bound to ignorance and degradation. Remember especially the American Missionary Association, which has been instrumental in doing so much for the Christian elevation of this people. It has pressing need of funds to carry its work successfully.

If I never have the opportunity of writing you again, or of hearing from you at any time, I trust we shall meet each other in the kingdom above, where we shall remain together forever, and give God all majesty and praise.

From your ever grateful servant,

J. D. S.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY.

_Dear Sir_,—It becomes my delightful as well as grateful task to drop you a line in recognition of your kindness. The opportunities for us who were lately transformed from chattels into citizens to enjoy the advantages of a collegiate or theological training are a rarity. Schools, seminaries, universities are many; they abound in every quarter; but we are either barred out of them by poverty on the one hand or proscription on the other. Therefore, when the philanthropic hearts of our friends at home and abroad are moved to institute places of learning for our benefit, and aid us in securing the wherewithal to attend them, we experience a joy, an inward pleasure, a sense of gratitude, I may say, unspeakable.

Our University, I am glad to say, is in a prosperous condition; no opposition daunts it in its upward march, and I am warranted by every circumstance in heralding the fact that “we are rising.” I entered the Theological Department here last autumn and am pursuing a regular course. If at the completion of my studies I shall go into the world and shall there prove faithful to my trust, fulfil the office of the ministry, reflect honor upon this institution and credit upon myself, then I shall feel that your kind benefaction was not bestowed in vain. Accept my sincere thanks for the interest thus manifested in our welfare.

W. A. S.

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AFRICA.

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THE MENDI MISSION.

Annual Meeting of the Missionaries—The Board of Counsel and Advice.

The missionaries of the Mendi Mission are, in accordance with the instructions of the Executive Committee, organized into a Board of Counsel and Advice. In this capacity they met at Good Hope Station, August 7th, 1878: Rev. Floyd Snelson, President; Rev. A. P. Miller, Secretary. After devotional exercises, with which each session opened and closed, committees were appointed on church work, school work, agricultural work, extension of mission work, reception of scholars, buildings, &c.

We give the reports of these committees in whole or in part, as presenting a clear view of the work in hand, and its wants. We submit the question also with confidence, whether this band of colored men does not, by this careful and business-like survey of its work, approve itself as well qualified to carry on the important mission which has been assigned its members in their far-off fatherland.

The Report of Committee on Buildings.

We, your committee on buildings, beg leave to submit the following report. On entering the field we found all the buildings at Good Hope in a dilapidated condition, three in number, namely, the mission-house, chapel and school-house. The latter was a mere wreck, having been covered with bamboo, which was completely rotten. This allowed the rain to pass through, which hastened its ruin. As we desired to open school and at once proceed to work, we were compelled to repair it. As one of our first duties, the whole building was made anew, and also enlarged at a cost of about £100.

The chapel, too, was in a similar state, although it was covered with boards and tin. The school was held in this during the time of repairing the school-building. As soon as this was completed we proceeded to the repairing of the chapel. From this we went to the mission-house, which we found to need more repairs than we could possibly make before the rains fully set in.

The first work was to begin the covering of this, that the building, with its contents, might be protected during the rains, though we were interrupted frequently, being called to the repairing of the floor, which was fast decaying. We could not cover the whole of the building before the rains had fully set in. The remainder of the roof was patched so that it might serve through this season.

Since the rains commenced some internal repairs have been made. We recommend that the remainder of this building be covered as soon as the weather will permit, and that all or a greater part of it be painted.

We have also been trying to enclose the premises, but under much difficulty. This is very much needed, that cattle roaming about may be kept out.

At Avery we found three buildings, namely, the mission-house, chapel, freight-house; in addition to these a mill-shed, the three former in good condition. Adjacent to the house is an ell built for a kitchen, bath-house and store. Under the chapel is a room for a school; adjacent to this is another room, used both for school and sewing-room. Also, at the freight-house is a shed-extension used as a lumber wharf. The mill is in a decaying condition, the greater part of it being covered with bamboo, which was rotten, and allowed the rains to pass through, greatly to the injury of the frame-work and the mill apparatus generally. Repairs have been made on this roof more or less ever since our coming on the field. Still, we regret to say that this work is not as yet completed. Repairs have also been made on the under part of the shed, a water-trunk, saw-lever, etc., have been replaced, yet much more is needed to put this structure in good condition, which we deem best to have done during the next dry season. Again, there are other things that must be supplied as early as possible—rubber-belts, etc. The belts, we are informed, have already been ordered by the Executive Committee. As it is so difficult to pass up the ascent from the front wharf to the house, we recommend the construction of an elevated stairway, which would put the whole place in a good condition.

At Debia, we found also one building in a dilapidated condition, namely, the teachers’ home—a structure enclosed with rough boards—three rooms and a bamboo roof. This roof, like most others on the field, was almost worthless. It has been re-covered, and is used at present for school purposes. Previous to our coming on the field, a country building had been erected for a chapel and school, which for want of attention had gone to decay. If this work is to be continued, it is quite necessary that a better building be erected for the same purposes, so that the persons teaching and carrying on the religious work there, may have the use of the house and reside upon the field. Each of the above stations has one or more country buildings erected for different purposes.

We submit all to your consideration.

The Report of Committee on Agricultural Work.

Your committee on agricultural work beg leave to say that at Good Hope, according to records left at this station, there are four hundred acres of land under the control of the Mendi Mission, some of which we think might be very profitably put under cultivation. But we regret to say that we have no means other than hoes and cutlasses to begin such a work.

It was our purpose on entering the field to do something in this direction. Therefore we began to clear the land, turning over some with hoes; but as the premises were not enclosed, and cattle were roaming over them, it was impossible for us to plant to any advantage. Therefore the first part of our work had to be abandoned, and we are giving our attention to the fencing of the premises, with a view to doing something in the agricultural work at the opening of the next season.

The records show that a hundred and sixty acres of land are under control of our mission, at Avery. About eight of these are cleared off, including yard. Three hundred and six coffee-trees are growing on said land. The trees are not in a very promising condition, and we are unable to say as yet what the result will be. The land is very hilly, yet a small portion of it might be utilized to some profit, but must first be cleared. All such work will necessitate an additional expense, the returns of which we need not expect to realize very soon, yet will tend to advance civilization.

Report of Committee on Church Work.

Your committee on church work beg leave to submit to you the following report. We regret to say that on entering the work at Good Hope Station, we found the church abandoned, the doors having been closed for months, since the death of the Rev. Barnabas Root. Many of the members had united with the Church Mission Society.

We re-organized with as much of the old element as willingly returned, and set to persuading others who knew not Christ to come into the fold, and we rejoice to say that our efforts have been blessed. Twenty-two new converts have been added, mostly from among the pupils of the mission, and some who serve as laborers; nearly all from the native element, whose eyes have been opened to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and have learned to love Him.

Now our number of regular members is forty-four. In addition to these we have baptized ten children. Our church is in a healthy condition, and attended mostly by a native element, preached to through an interpreter. The attendance is good, and at times our accommodations are not sufficient. We hope soon to see many others coming into the kingdom.

We have also organized a Literary Society, which adds greatly to the interest of our work. This meets the first and second Fridays in each month, in our chapel. But like all other departments of our work, this is greatly retarded by continued rains. We hope to redeem the time when the dry season sets in again.

Our hours of conducting services at Good Hope Station are, on the Sabbath, preaching at 11 A. M., Sunday-school at 3 P. M., and prayer-meeting or preaching at 7 P. M. We have also a prayer-meeting Wednesday evening, and one every morning, very early, for the benefit of laborers and natives generally.

At Mannah Bargroo Station, or Avery,

we have a new chapel, which has been opened since our coming to the field. Meetings were conducted in the first part of the year by Bro’s James and White. The people became more and more interested in these meetings. Since the arrival of the new missionaries, Rev. A. E. Jackson has been put in charge of that work, and regular preaching services, together with prayer-meetings, have been kept up.

A number of the old members from Good Hope Church, and those who have been converted, have been brought together, their names enrolled, and other preparations made, looking forward to an early organization, which, we hope, will take place as soon as the weather will allow. Seven adults have been baptized and four children. The whole number enrolled is thirty. There is great interest manifested among others whom we hope soon to see converted.

We have preaching services at eleven A. M., Sunday-school at two P. M., prayer-meeting at seven P. M. Also a Thursday evening prayer-meeting. There is a preaching station outside the mission.

Report of Committee on School Work.

Your committee on school work beg leave to report to the members of the Board of Counsel and Advice, the progressive state of the schools both at Good Hope and Avery, under the existing circumstances. The progress of the schools is wonderful when compared with the chances of the scholars. The advantages have been poor, as we have been trying to fight without arms for the last nine months. We have been, and are now, almost altogether without books, which not only discourages teachers and pupils, but is also a great loss to the scholars and the general work. [Provision was made for a supply of books from England, but a misunderstanding led to delay; the books have since been sent from this country.—ED.] As time with missionaries is something in Africa, where so much darkness prevails, we lay before you the real needs of our schools.

Many of our scholars attend school with only a handkerchief as a garment, tied around their necks, hanging somewhat cloak-fashion.

School is taught at Debia. The prospect does not seem very hopeful, yet more so than at any time previous. The people are very poor, and are not able to supply the wants of their children. A larger number could be brought in if we were to aid them a little. This, we hope, we shall be able to do, to some extent, in future, as we trust we shall be so advised by the committee at New York.

The Sunday-schools, no small factor in our work, are in a flourishing condition. We stand in great need of Sunday-school books, papers, mottoes, etc., which, we hope, will soon be supplied us.

Our aim is to train up young men and young women, who may go forth into this broad continent, and carry the light to those benighted ones whom we are unable to reach. Therefore, we recommend to this body the importance of establishing, at whatever station in their judgment seems best, a High School for the purpose of training up persons to be missionaries to the dying millions in the interior, with hope of the approval of the Executive Committee at New York.

On Reception of Scholars at the Stations.

The Board resolved itself into a Committee of the whole to discuss this question, after which the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

_Resolved_: That experience has convinced us that it is absolutely necessary to keep a Boarding Department, to some extent, at each of the stations, viz., Good Hope, Avery and Debia.

(1) Because the people are unable to continue their scholars in school as necessity demands, to fit them for missionary work as suggested by the Executive Committee.

(2) The people on the whole are not sufficiently acquainted with the benefits of an education to compel the attendance of their children, even if they were able.

(3) We can never train up persons to serve as assistants in missionary work without taking them from under the unwholesome influence of their parents, and placing them under Christian influence.

(4) Therefore, seeing the difficulties which exist from having to receive the material upon which we are to work sent us at the will of the parents, we recommend to the Committee at New York that each station be allowed to retain as many scholars as can be well provided for. We submit this to your weighty consideration.

Extension of Mission-Work

was discussed by the Board. This is a question of great importance, and to carry our views into effect, will necessarily require a large sum of money. We regret to say that from the outset we have been greatly embarrassed, in attempting to extend our work, because of the want of means with which to do it. And we are no more encouraged now, from the fact that we are continually being instructed by the Committee that the means are short, and we must curtail expenses. At present we have not a dollar to do this, and we are unable to tell when we shall have. In our view, there are many places which could be opened and worked up with great success. But our present situation forbids any attempt. We hope the change may be such soon that we shall be able to do something in this direction, as we consider this to be one of the purposes for which we were sent out.

REV. A. P. MILLER, Sec.

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THE INDIANS.

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FORT BERTHOLD, D. T.

REV. C. L. HALL, MISS’Y OF THE A. B. C. F. M.

Yeast.

So Kingsley entitles one of his books; and we may give the name to all those influences which help in preparing the bread of life for this people, or in preparing them to receive it.

First comes the article itself; we have been furnishing them with it to make wholesome bread. Their Indian way of preparing flour, is to fry soggy dough in a panful of grease over a fire made of sticks in the centre of the lodge. Any one who goes back with longing memories to the old days of open fireplace cookery, may enjoy it to his heart’s content without the least contamination with modern conveniences in, a Ree or Gros Ventres or Mandan earth-covered lodge in this place, a journey of only two or three days by railroad and steamboat from Minneapolis. The Indians, however, take kindly to cooking-stoves when our “Uncle” furnishes them; and we are trying, as the first requisite of household health, to teach them to make good bread. Our first step was to create a desire for it, by giving them good bread. But the preference for “white man’s bread” has been created, and the cry for yeast to make it has been daily heard at our door this summer. Lately, we have said, “no more yeast,” but “go and pick hops, and we will teach you how to make yeast”; and specimens of gathered hops are exhibited. It is a great gain to have the people eating wholesome food, for the want of which, in their changed condition of life, and the absence of the former abundance of game, they are dying off. It is greater gain to have them beginning in any way to make home more comfortable, attractive, decent; to have the women improving in cooking, and tidiness of home management; the men drawn to an interest in building better houses; the family to have an ambition for doors and windows and bedsteads, and cups and saucers and tables, and cupboards made of old boxes with calico curtains. But chiefly is it gain to get through such work the confidence and the hearts of the people, that we may lead them to Christ; and if yeast will set the leaven at work by which we may leaven the whole lump, we say, _Amen_!

Flowers.

We have not limited ourselves to yeast. On Friday afternoons we have given the children who attended regularly, a good meal at a table, with all the accessories of a Christian board, including grace. Other little means of attracting the people to higher things have been beautiful clusters of scarlet blossoms, blooming all the season on the fence, and handsome dahlias and zinnias and four o’clocks, by the house. Groups of little Indians stand open-mouthed before them, or some old woman, with her willow-basket full of corn or squashes on her back, is attracted and cheered by these beauties—gifts of God’s love. That they do notice the flowers at all is a hopeful sign. Early in the spring, I picked a bluebell, and spoke of its beauty to an Indian man who was helping me set fence posts. He said, with a scornful expression at my ignorance: “That isn’t anything, it isn’t good to eat.”

Farming.

Then they study our garden, with its variety of different vegetables and roots, and its young trees. They are doing well at agriculture—better than most Indians in the territory of Dakota. This year their crops of corn, potatoes, squashes and beans are large and fine; but they raise nothing else; and they have not learned to care for stock, to milk, to make butter, and grow feed for cattle. They do not put up hay for their ponies, but let them grow poor during the winter, on such dried grass, and corn-stalks, and cotton-wood bark as they can pick up on the prairie or the bottoms by the Missouri. They are not of much value in harness, but are one with their rider, and endure fatigue and hunger with him marvellously. They think I ought to keep a horse. I tell them my cow gives milk and butter, and their horses don’t. So they look on at our methods of life, and see their superiority; and gradually want to copy them.

Death.

We have striven to open the way for the Gospel by sympathy with, and help for, the sick and dying. One young man among the Mandans died last year as I stood beside him. Before he grew unconscious, he had said to his friend that the white people were coming for him, and he was going. Perhaps some revelation of heaven and God’s love came to him in that shape. There was a woman once who touched only the hem of a garment. There is One who does not quench the smoking flax. Another poor consumptive died this spring, telling her people not to believe what bad Indians said about our malign influences; that we were good; that if she got well she would come to church; that father and mother must not grieve for her, but, if they felt sad, go to us to be comforted. God has been teaching us how to comfort bereaved parents and friends by taking away our own baby, Harry, to the home over there. An atmosphere of sorrow is about all our Dakota mission-stations. Mrs. Thomas Riggs has been suddenly taken from a useful, active life, near Fort Sully, D. T., and lies buried on her field of work; and Mrs. Renville is taken from the Flandreau people, and Miss Williamson from the Yankton people. But “sorrow is the atmosphere that ripens hearts for heaven,” and, ripe for heaven, they are best for earthly usefulness also.

Conversions.

The white employés and white men living among the Indians were all interested this spring, and we hope there were several conversions and much good influence at work. One young man, born of missionary parents in the South Seas, who had wandered here from England and from the Lord, we trust has gone back home to live a better life. One man, with a half-breed family, said: “The white people have been teaching the Indians better ways of living; then you have had school, a good school, and now we are going to have church and religion, and do better.” God grant it, but we have to sow and wait, and wait. Our seasons are short, our spiritual zone northern. Yet God will conquer!

From Devil’s Lake three or four days’ hard travel across the prairies to the north-east, there came a word of cheer in the early summer. Some, especially one man who had been under missionary influence in the Southern part of our Territory, but apparently cared for none of these things, came to see us, and to sympathize with us in our loss (he had lost children), and to get what help he could from us in understanding his Bible, and teaching his friends to read. He went away with the urgent request that we come to Devil’s Lake and preach to them.

Devil’s Lake is a Roman Catholic agency, and they do not preach to them in their own tongue. One thing is certain: if the sons are to talk English to us, we must preach in the Indian tongue to the fathers.

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LAKE SUPERIOR AGENCY.