Chapter I: Front Matter

VOL. XXXIII. No. 11.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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NOVEMBER, 1879.

_CONTENTS:_

EDITORIAL.

OUR ANNUAL MEETING 321
DEATH OF REV. WM. PATTON, D. D. 321
PARAGRAPHS 322
NO DEBT—NO DEFICIT 323
MISSIONARY MASS CONVENTIONS—OUR NEW
MEN 324
THE MENDI MISSION 325
THE ARTHINGTON MISSION 326
SELF-PROTECTION: Extract from address of
REV. ALBERT H. HEATH 326
SUNDAY-SCHOOL LETTERS 329
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 329
GENERAL NOTES 331

THE FREEDMEN.

PART OF A TOUR THROUGH THE CAROLINAS 334
CONTRASTS 335
GEORGIA, ATLANTA: Economical Industrial
Department 337
GEORGIA, SAVANNAH: Revival—Work and Results 338
ALABAMA, FLORENCE: New Church Building 339
ALABAMA, TALLADEGA: Protracted Meetings 339

AFRICA.

MENDI MISSION—Annual Meeting of the Missionaries 339

THE INDIANS.

A TOUR AMONG THE CLALLAM INDIANS 342

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

CABIN PRAYER-MEETINGS—Which was the
Hero? 344

RECEIPTS 346

CONSTITUTION 349

WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 350

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NEW YORK:

Published by the American Missionary Association,

ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.

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Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.

Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.

_American Missionary Association_,

56 READE STREET. N. Y.

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PRESIDENT.

HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio.
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ct.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.

EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
H. W. HUBBARD. ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
EDWARD BEECHER,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
E. A. GRAVES,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAM’L HOLMES,
S. S. JOCELYN,
ANDREW LESTER,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

should be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Ass’t Treasurer, No. 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.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XXXIII. NOVEMBER, 1879. No. 11.

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_American Missionary Association._

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OUR ANNUAL MEETING.

The Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association will be held in the First Congregational Church (Rev. Dr. Goodwin’s), Chicago, Illinois, commencing October 28th, at 3 p. m. The Annual Sermon will be preached by Rev. R. S. Storrs, D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., service commencing at half-past seven in the evening. A paper on the Chinese question will be presented by Rev. J. H. Twichell, of Hartford, Connecticut; one on the Necessity of the Protection of Law for the Indians, by Gen. J. B. Leake, United States District Attorney, Chicago, Illinois; one on the Providential Significance of the Negro in America, by Pres. E. H. Merrell, of Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin. Addresses may be expected from Rev. Drs. Goodell, Roy, Corwin, Dana, Ellsworth and other able speakers on timely and important topics. For reductions in Railroad fares and other important items, see fourth page of cover.

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We are called to record the death of another venerable friend of the Association, Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., who died suddenly at his home in New Haven, only a few days after his return from a trip to Europe, on Saturday, the 6th of September. He had been a Vice-President of the Association for fifteen years, and always a warm and generous friend of the colored people. He was the father of President Patton of Howard University.

Educated at Middlebury College and at Princeton Seminary, he was the first pastor of the Broome Street, now the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, in New York. Since 1862 he has resided in New Haven, Conn. He has labored much and written much, and died at the good old age of 81, beloved and honored. He remembered the Association in his will with a bequest of $500.

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In our issue of last month, the article “North and South” stated that we have a common interest in the glory of our Revolution. This assertion finds confirmation in the fact that a Southern _Centennial_ is now under process of arrangement. It is to occur on the 7th of October, 1880, at King’s Mountain, North Carolina, to commemorate the battle that was fought at that place Oct. 7, 1780. In July a meeting was held at that same mountain to make preparation. The States of Georgia and of North and South Carolina were represented. Three thousand people were present. Patriotic speeches were made. In these, and in the several resolutions adopted, as reported in the _Atlanta Constitution_, not one word was used in reflection upon the American Union. All the other States were invited to participate. Besides the States represented, those of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee were to be memorialized, through their Legislatures, to make such appropriations as would be necessary to the proper consummation of the celebration. The ladies of those several States were invited to co-operate. The committee of arrangements were to secure a collection of the historic relics of the battle ground and to apply for troops to illustrate the plan of the battle.

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Secretary Powell has recently made an earnest plea in the _Advance_ for printing-presses, greatly needed at Fisk, Straight and Tougaloo Universities. He says: “About $1,000 are needed for each press, with its accompaniments of type, rules and leads. But there is a firm in this city that for presses going into this work will discount fifty per cent. Only five hundred dollars, therefore, are needed for each press and accompaniments. And in what direction could five hundred dollars be better used for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom and the safety of the land?”

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Incidental testimony from pure sources of high authority to the value of a work is often more gratifying to those engaged in it than purposed compliments. A recognition of its value before an outside audience is also of special importance. We are glad, therefore, to call attention to the fact that Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, in his recent political address at Worcester, referring to the interest of the Northern people in everything that would promote the true interests of the South, speaks of Captain Eads’ jetties, “making one long harbor of the Southern Mississippi,” as a great boon to its material prosperity, and points to “the magnificent work of the American Missionary Association” as in a higher sphere a source of sincere rejoicing to all good men of the North.

We notice, also, in the report of the Peabody Educational Fund, the following reference to our work: “Much good has been accomplished for the colored schools by the universities and other endowed institutions with normal departments maintained by different Christian denominations. One association has already sent out from its numerous institutions 5,267 teachers, by whom about 100,000 pupils have been instructed. A large proportion of the graduates of all these institutions become teachers.”

The following tribute to the Hampton Normal Institute is also paid by the Superintendent of Public Schools in South Carolina: “The agent of the Peabody Fund has placed at my disposal ten fifty-dollar scholarships in the Normal and Agricultural Institute, at Hampton, Va. A visit to the Institute, and observation of the manner in which it is conducted, convince me that it is doing exactly what it professes to do.”

Whether our work needs testimonials to its value or not, we are always glad to find such as these, which were not intended either for the ears of our teachers or officers, or even constituency. If we needed to be assured at all, such witnesses would give us deeper confidence than ever in its real need and real efficiency.

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Dr. O. H. White, Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society, writes from London:

The recent death of Dr. Mullens and four others connected with the effort of the London Missionary Society to reach Central Africa, has turned the thought of this people to our plans and work for Africa as never before. They begin to believe that, as Dr. Moffat said, “Africans must go to teach and save Africans; it is the Divine plan.” And the more I speak upon this idea, and the more I see of the people, the more I am persuaded that this view will prevail in the future, and we shall have all we can do to furnish the colored missionaries for all the missionary societies of Europe working in Africa.

If our colored missionaries show to the world that they can live in Africa and can manage the affairs of a mission as well as white men, then the demand for them by the missionary societies of this country will be large enough for all we can supply from America in many years. And the ministers here tell me that if my mission to the country should result in nothing else, it will more than pay for all the time, work and expense which I am giving to this effort.

Were it not for the earnest commendation of many of the most prominent ministers and laymen in England and Scotland of my sermons and addresses on the subject of the evangelization of Africa by the Freedmen, I should give up at once in these hard times of dreadful depression in business; but the Lord has evidently given me the ear and the heart of the people with reference to the future redemption of that vast continent of Africa by the emancipated slaves.

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NO DEBT—NO DEFICIT.

From time to time during the year our readers have been told the condition of our treasury. Occasionally it has been only a place to put money in, a great vacuity. It has been with us a year of anxiety and frequent change, of falling and of rising tides. And now we have just closed the books which contain the record of another financial period. And by the arrival of the date which this number of the MISSIONARY bears, and which we have to anticipate for printing and mailing to our remotest subscribers, we shall have made its full statement to the annual meeting.

It is with profound gratitude to Almighty God, and with renewed confidence in Him and in His people, that we write its record.

_First._ We have fully met all the expenses of the year from the year’s income. We have kept in active operation all our institutions and churches. No one has been suspended or stopped for lack of funds. We do not by any means intend to say that all have been fully equipped and carried on to the best advantage, for we have not dared by any means to do with them all that could have been done. They have all been run in the most economical manner consistent with the accomplishment of their main intent. The salaries have been small, the services have been great, the self-denials have been many, of our pastors and teachers; still, in the year, which only at its close has begun to show signs of returning commercial prosperity, we are glad to record an undiminished work all paid for.

_Secondly._ We have fully paid the debt. The $37,389.79 of indebtedness reported at the last annual meeting has absolutely disappeared. Every cent of it has been paid, to the last of the seventy-nine. The great work undertaken three years ago is finished, and we are free. We have been for a long time like Lot’s wife, looking back and fearing lest perchance the past might overwhelm us; but God has only rained down riches out of Heaven and buried our burden beneath His gracious gifts; and we are free now to look and to press forward.

But such a statement brings a weight of grave responsibility. We say of the treasury of the Association gladly and gratefully, No debt—no deficit. But we must remember, in all humility, we do ever owe the debt to love our fellow-men and show it by our works of Christian charity, and our deficit is what we have been lacking in filling up the full measure of our opportunity for serving Christ in the person of His poor.

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MISSIONARY MASS CONVENTIONS.

At the late State Conference of Ohio, a Committee on Missions was appointed, of which Prof. Judson Smith, D. D., is chairman, and Rev. C. C. Creegan, of Wakeman, secretary. It is proposed to hold a series of mass conventions, at central points, and every member of every Congregational church in the State will be invited to attend at least one of these meetings. Rev. James Powell will represent the A. M. A.

The following schedule has been prepared:

Marietta, Oct. 31st,
Cincinnati, Nov. 4th,
Mansfield, Nov. 5th,
Toledo, Nov. 6th,
Wauseon, Nov. 7th,
Sandusky, Nov. 8th,
Norwalk, Nov. 10th,
Wakeman, Nov. 11th,
Elyria, Nov. 12th,
Wellington, Nov. 13th,
Medina, Nov. 14th,
Cleveland, Nov. 15th,
Burton, Nov. 18th,
Painesville, Nov. 19th,
Ashtabula, Nov. 20th,
Jefferson, Nov. 21st,
N. Bloomfield, Nov. 22d,
Youngstown (Welsh Conference), Nov. 23d,
Windham, Nov. 24th,
Ravenna, Nov. 25th,
Mt. Vernon, Nov. 28th,
Newark (Welsh Conference), Nov. 29th,
Columbus, Nov. 30th.

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OUR NEW MEN.

We are delighted with our new men. Scarcely ever in the history of the Association have we had so large a number of recruits for important places in our service, of such proved quality, and more and more we find ourselves able to retain the services of our best men, who have served the cause of education and religion with us in years past. It is to us a gratifying indication of the growing sense among our Christian ministers and teachers of the importance and dignity of the work, and of their appreciation of it, as founded and established beyond all question, and for all time (as we measure things), that such men are willing to commit themselves to it, and to remain in it year after year.

We accept the congratulations of _The Congregationalist_ as expressed in the following paragraph:

The Association is to be congratulated upon new accessories to its working force. Rev. Henry S. DeForest of Iowa has accepted the Presidency of Talladega College, and is already upon the ground. Rev. S. D. Gaylord, a highly commended schoolman of the West, has taken the principalship of the Avery Institute at Charleston, S. C. The late principal, Prof. A. W. Farnham, is proposed as an occupant of a chair in one of the colleges of the A. M. A.; Rev. C. W. Hawley, pastor of the Second Church at Amherst, Mass., is to enter upon the pastorate of the First Congregational Church of Atlanta, which was resigned by Rev. S. S. Ashley, that he might take a season of respite after his fourteen years of invaluable Southern service. Rev. O. W. Fay accepts the call to the pastoral charge in Montgomery, Ala.; Rev. O. D. Crawford of West Bloomfield, N. Y., goes down to serve as pastor of the church and superintendent of the Emerson Institute at Mobile; Prof. J. K. Cole is transferred from New Orleans to the principalship of the Beach Institute at Savannah, Ga.; while Prof. McPherron is promoted to be Principal of the Normal Department of Straight University.

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THE MENDI MISSION.

We call attention to the summary on another page of the Second Annual Meeting of our Missionaries on the West Coast of Africa. There seems to have been in it a careful review of the work of the year and a study of the means at hand for carrying it in the future, and a reasonable view of its needs and possibilities.

It will be seen that the report of church and evangelizing work indicates not only earnest effort but substantial results. The missionaries are planning—and the plan has resulted from their own experience and observation—a more free use of native helpers as it shall become possible. All Missions have come or are coming to this. It needs but a simple knowledge of the love of God and the redemption of the world by the Lord Jesus Christ, to fit a man to go home and tell his neighbors the good news which has come to him. That is the work of evangelization. And if these native Christians, carrying to their own people only that portion of the Gospel which they have known and certified by their experience, can come into frequent contact with the missionaries educated and established in the faith, they will be kept from wandering off into error, and grow in grace and knowledge by using the grace and knowledge they have already received and acquired.

The missionaries have, to some extent, upon the basis of the year’s experience, re-arranged themselves so that they think (and we agree with them) that they can work to better advantage than the past year.

One of the schools, that at Good Hope, seems to have been very successful and to have reached a large number of native children. The other, at Avery, has been more confined to the training of children, who are taken into the home to be under continuous influence, in the hope that by industrial and religious, as well as mental training, they may in time be fitted to be important helpers in the work.

Mr. Anthony, who joined the Mission in March last, to take especial charge of the mill and other industrial work at Avery, has already proved to be a valuable addition to the band. And the Committee have just commissioned and sent out another recruit to strengthen the hands, we trust, of those already in the field. His name is Nathaniel Nurse. He was born in the island of Barbadoes, West Indies; immigrated to Liberia, Africa, where he spent five years; came to the United States; spent nearly two years in the cities of New York and Boston; was converted to Christ in the latter city nine years ago. He returned to Barbadoes, visiting also various other West Indian islands. In 1875 he went to England, visiting Liverpool, and spending a year in London. While in the latter city he was engaged in missionary work.

He was sent, about two years ago, by the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society, of London, assisted by Belmont Church, Aberdeen, Scotland, and several individual Christians, to Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., where he has been studying with a view to devoting himself to missionary work in Africa.

These young men are in a very trying position, and need the prayers of all good people that they may have wisdom and grace and patience from the Giver of all good and perfect gifts.

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THE ARTHINGTON MISSION.

Let it not be thought by any of the friends of the Association, because we have not had more to say in the MISSIONARY, that we have given up the hope of yet being able to accept the noble offer of Mr. Robert Arthington, and of establishing and sustaining the Mission proposed by him. We have already fully and formally recognized the importance of the work, the accessibility of the field and its peculiar claims upon our body. Equatorial Africa is our sphere. It is in that that we have labored for over thirty years, and to that that we desire to confine ourselves. This Eastern Mission will be a proper balance and complement to the Mendi Mission on the Western coast. But we have tried to make haste slowly.

The condition precedent made by Mr. Arthington, that the debt of the Association should be extinguished, is now fully and fairly met. That is an obstacle out of the way. The only other condition is one on our part of prudent anticipation. It will take a large amount—though it has been more often over than underestimated—to provide the men and the outfit and to put them on the ground. It will require at least an amount annually equal to that we are expending on the Western Mission to sustain this in the East. And the Executive Committee have thought it wise to assure themselves of $50,000, which they would have in hand to devote to this work as it might be required, before they should take the first step towards beginning it.

There are several things within our horizon to-day which conspire to give us hope of a speedy realization of this plan. Mr. Arthington’s offer still holds good. There is $15,000 for the work to begin with. Dr. O. H. White, the indefatigable Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society in Great Britain, is enthusiastic on the subject of this Mission, and reports to us that the interest of the English and Scotch people in it is deep and deepening. Already he has secured considerable sums to be devoted to this work. Recently he has written us asking for a definite agreement on the part of the Association as to what it will do in the way of providing from this country a portion of the fund deemed necessary to the inception of the Mission, if he shall raise from the mother country a second $15,000. The Committee has answered him that they will agree to provide the $20,000 to make the needed $50,000 for the start, and will then, “with the blessing of God and the assistance of the friends of the African race in Great Britain and America, perpetually maintain the Mission.”

The Committee felt free to make this pledge, in the present financial condition of the Association, and especially as final receipts from the Avery estate have recently come to hand, amounting to a considerable part of this sum, and which are devoted by the donor to the evangelization of the African race in Africa.

It is a great step for us to take; but we have felt that it would be a great mistake, a great failure in duty, for us not to take it. God bless Robert Arthington, of Leeds! God bless Dr. White in his efforts to raise this second fund! God bless every man and woman on either side the sea who shall join hands and put together their resources to carry the light of the gospel of love and liberty into the thick darkness of Eastern Equatorial Africa! Who will help us on this side the water?

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SELF-PROTECTION.

[We extract from the valuable address given at the Boston
anniversary, by the Rev. Albert H. Heath, of New Bedford, Mass.,
his second division (all we can find room for), in which he
treats forcibly of one most important aspect of our home work.
In other portions of the address he spoke at length of our
special obligations to these people and of the work in the light
of a genuine Christian philanthropy. We commend these strong
words to careful reading and thought.]

Self-protection is to be taken into consideration in this work. What effect, we may well inquire, is it going to have upon the beloved institutions of our land if these races are not Christianly educated? It is possible that many will feel that the Indian, whatever our treatment of him, can never offer any serious menace to our civil life; we may safely let him go, as his fathers have gone before him, marching before our fixed bayonets toward the setting sun. And if this military policy is to prevail, we shall all be glad when he has made his last trail across the plain and echoed his last shrill war-whoop amid the mountains’ fastnesses. But, after all, friends, it may be there is a God in Heaven who will remember and avenge the red man’s wrong. “They that take the sword shall perish with the sword,” is not alone to be found in Scripture. It is written in our constitutions; it is a fundamental law of our being; and history bears abundant testimony that it is no dead letter. We ought to remember this law as we press the Indian from his God-given right. It may be that we, the children of the Pilgrims, may yet find ourselves driven from our Eastern homes and the institutions which the century has helped us to build, while the red hand of Nihilism holds sway over the graves of our fathers, and crowds us, as we are to-day crowding the Indian, into the track of the setting sun.

But whatever may be the result of our treatment of the Indian, there can be no doubt what will be the effect if the Negro and the Chinaman are left uneducated and unchristianized. Already do we feel the hand of the black man in our politics; our ears have distinctly heard the low rumbling, and we have felt the shudder beneath our feet which betokens an eruption. Before we know it Vesuvius may be belching forth its fiery flood, darkening the sky and spreading far and wide its river of death. Nor will the exodus greatly change the matter. The demagogue and the office-seeker are a genus that thrives in all climes. They may be more poisonous at the South, as most reptiles are that breed under a tropical sun; but the frosts of the North do not kill them any more than they kill the larvæ of the insects which every April sun hatches into life. It only needs the warmth of an election to quicken them and bring them in buzzing swarms around your ears. There will be corrupt politicians in Kansas who will rob them of their political rights as readily as those in the South. It matters little where they dwell; even in New York or Boston they would find themselves still in the reign of demoniacal possession. While they remain an ignorant class they will be a dangerous class. To be shot and intimidated may not be, after all, their worst political fate; to be corrupted with bribery would be equally bad. The electioneering purse, in the hand of the Northern office-seeker, might prove as potent in robbing them of their rights as the pistol which Southern chivalry may point at their devoted heads. Let us not, therefore, cheer ourselves, nor encourage these, our colored friends, that there is any holy land in these United States to which they may go in solemn exodus and be safe. Wherever they may be, ignorance is their greatest curse; nothing but education and Christianization will dispel this shadow that is darkening their lives, and lift this yoke of bondage that is now galling their necks, and in no other way can they be converted into useful citizens. They are an element of danger to the Republic, until, like our Northern children, they grow up under the shadow of the school-house. It is possible that all are not aware how great is the weight of this ignorance, which is like loose ballast in the ship of State, ready at any sudden lurch to change sides and carry us to the bottom. We and our legislators have been most thoughtless in our treatment of this question. In a single day, by legislative enactment, we put the ballot into the hand of a million men, not one of whom knew a letter of the alphabet. A more suicidal blow has seldom been aimed at the heart of this Republic. We have given, almost indiscriminately, the right of suffrage to these Southern States, and yet in sixteen of them seventy-five out of every hundred of the population, according to the census of 1870, are growing up entirely without school advantages. At the present moment a majority of the voters in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina are without the ability either to read or write. In either of these States, or in all of them, any election can be carried by sheer weight of ignorance. Seventeen hundred thousand men, according to a statistical report which has been put into my hands, at the last national election cast the ballot which they could neither read nor write. No wonder we were plunged into confusion. Had not a kindly Providence been on our side we should have been plunged into anarchy. And this scene waits to repeat itself in 1880. The next President of these States will be elected to his high position by sheer force of ignorance—ignorance manipulated and controlled by men whose hearts are as black with treason to-day as they were in ’61. No thoughtful man can look upon these facts and not tremble for the safety of his country.

So, also, is the ignorant and unchristianized Chinaman making himself felt in our politics. He casts no ballot, he holds no office. He does not come to the polls to drink and smoke and sell himself to the highest bidder on election day; and yet his political influence already is as wide as the continent; his unwelcome ghost stalks through the halls of Congress, and broods over every political or religious convention that is holden between the two oceans. Already have we seen one sovereign State changing the terms of its constitution and revolutionizing its laws out of pure regard for the Chinaman. And, still more significant, we have seen our great National Congress voting to change the very genius of the Government, and to shut the doors that have for a hundred years stood open, and which we mean shall not be closed for a hundred years to come; and we will write over these open doors in letters of fire, so that the most distant islands of the sea may read: “This is the world’s asylum, free to the oppressed of all nations.” Now, I doubt not there are evils connected with the coming of the heathen Chinaman. There is oppression and sorrow brought home to many hearts. I feel that there must be more or less of pollution in his touch. I pity the State into which this old world sewerage empties itself. But the remedy is not in building walls, though they be heaven-high, on our Chinaward side. This evil can be handled and neutralized only by the Christian virtue that is in us. Can we convert this heathen material—permeate it with Christian thought? Can we assimilate it and weave it into the civil fabric we are making? If so, it will do us no harm; otherwise it will rankle like poison in our blood, and possibly work our destruction in the end. This question should not be settled in the political arena. It is a moral, a religious question. The forces that are needed now are those that lie in the hand of the Christian church. We must permeate this festering mass with the leaven of Christ, and we must do it speedily. The evil is growing. Politicians are beginning to treat it, and therefore it is rapidly growing worse. It cannot be cured by legislative enactment. Legislation knows of no instrumentality, save that the civil statute ultimately seeks support in the bayonet. Before we know it, this question may be baptized in blood. Those western shores are far away. The Rocky Mountain wall lifts up a tremendous barrier to separate us and make us twain; only one little thread of iron binds us together and makes us one. Let us not wait until the whole Pacific slope bristles with rebellion as the South did in ’61; but let us pour the strains of our Christian influence over the mountains. If we can Christianize this heathen mass, then the trouble is over, the danger passed. Self-protection, then, affords a most powerful motive in the prosecution of this work.

ALBERT H. HEATH.

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SUNDAY-SCHOOL LETTERS.

The interest of the Sunday-schools in our Southern work has been increasing during the past year. The concert exercise has taken well, and many schools have sent us their first contributions.

How many of the schools connected with our churches understand clearly our offer in regard to correspondence from the field, we do not know. It is this: any Sunday-school which contributes ten dollars or more annually to the work of the A. M. A., if they request it, is entitled to a quarterly letter from one of our missionaries.

The “Children’s Page” of this number of the MISSIONARY contains such a letter. It is bright and interesting to both teachers and scholars. The following letter from a superintendent tells of the interest excited by such letters in his school.

Besides the good done by the money given, is it not well worth while to train up our children to give, and to educate them in the missionary spirit? This letter is in response to a Sunday-school letter from Miss Barr:

MISS L. E. B.

DEAR SISTER IN CHRIST: Your kind letter of the 11th inst. came to hand by due course of mail, and your very valuable epistle to our Sabbath-school, of the 2d, came last Saturday. Accept my sincere thanks for the same, in behalf of the Sunday-school and myself. I think if you could have seen the eager faces and deep interest manifested by all while I read it to the school last Sabbath, you would be satisfied that at least one missionary of the A. M. A. would be mentioned by our praying ones in their petitions at the Throne of Grace for some time, and that all of us have so much of a missionary spirit kindled in our hearts, and so much interest awakened in you personally, that your next letter will be looked for so eagerly that it will seem a good while to wait. I think you must have a very earnest-working church in Atlanta, and that the Master will bless them and you is my prayer. I have no doubt but “Aunt Lucy” will have many prayers offered for a blessing upon her.

I am glad to know that your present field of labor in the vineyard is so pleasant; and that the Master will give you health and strength to labor for Him in it, and that you may be the means in His hands of gathering in many precious sheaves from it to the heavenly garners, is the sincere prayer of

Your humble fellow-servant,

R. H.,

_Superintendent Congregational Sabbath-school_.

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ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

ANNISTON, ALA.—Rev. P. J. McEntosh writes: “My field is increasing in interest greatly. I have just closed a series of meetings in our church. The Lord hath once more visited this part of His vineyard. There have been twenty-two conversions in our meetings. Seventeen of these have cast their lot among us—seven strong, settled men, four settled wives, six promising young ladies. Others are still asking what they must do to be saved, and if I can induce them to take Jesus at His word and believe on Him, they too shall be saved. Pray for us, that I may lead them on in the paths of peace, and that they may learn from experience that ‘The path of the just is as a shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.’”

TALLADEGA, ALA.—Our first word from the new President of the College, Rev. H. S. DeForest: I came sound and dusty this p. m., having seen many things of interest to me at Hampton and Atlanta. The first look here more than meets my expectations. The buildings, grounds and scenery are very pleasant, and the possibilities certainly are grand.

ATLANTA, GA.—The Fall term of the University opened October 1st. The first week gives promise of a very full school. There are already thirty girl boarders, and the indications are that their Hall will be as badly crowded as last year. The reports of the Summer work of the students, in all parts of the State, are very cheering. There is an increasing desire for education. The white people are taking a deeper and more kindly interest in the education of the colored children and in the University.

Dr. Orr, State School Commissioner of Georgia, has, with the approval of Dr. Sears, established fourteen Peabody scholarships, each paying $72, in the Normal department of Atlanta University. The award is to be determined by competitive examinations.

The Storrs School is running over full.

CYPRESS SLASH, GA.—Brother Snelson writes: Last Sunday, 14th, I spent with Brother Headen at Cypress Slash. Gave the communion there, and received three new members. They have made a pretty good pole-house, about 28×20 feet, in which they hold school and meeting.

FLATONIA, TEXAS.—We are holding a protracted meeting, and last Sunday was our communion. There seems to be more interest in the church, and the prospect is fair for doing good. Last night seventeen persons rose for prayer. Brother Church has been here since last Thursday, and will remain a few days longer.

AUSTIN, TEXAS.—Mr. A. J. Turner writes: I was in Austin last week and visited Mrs. Garland’s school. She had just returned from the North and started her school. She has a full Sabbath-school. I visited with her the site of the new building, the walls of which are rising. It will be a beautiful place. I rejoice that Northern people are doing so much for our people.

GOLIAD, TEXAS.—“There is an increasing desire among our people to carry the Gospel beyond the bounds of our churches, and so far as it has been done, our polity and purity have attracted favorable attention. There is a growing dissatisfaction with the worship and moralities of the older churches on the part of some of their members and others who would join but for these. The young people, in their plays, imitate the ‘shouting’ to perfection. It is fine sport to them to see the church members perform. They laugh at the claim of Divine help to do what they can so easily do without that help. The young men, on this account, are increasingly more difficult to reach with the Gospel. Education, property and morality are cast aside as of little worth; stealing and shooting among themselves are not uncommon. Only a pure Gospel can save these young men from dissipation and crime; yet they see the grossest immoralities in church members, and the wildest fanaticism in their modes of worship. A wide door is open here for Christian workers, and as promising as any other to those of great patience and self-denial.”

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GENERAL NOTES.

The Freedmen.

—THE PEABODY EDUCATIONAL FUND—REPORTS OF THE GENERAL AGENT AND THE TREASURER.—The annual meeting of the trustees of the Peabody Educational Fund was held October 1st, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The chairman addressed the meeting, and in the course of his remarks mentioned with regret the shrinkage in the income from the investments, and expressed the hope that from other sources the funds would be rendered adequate to the work laid out.

The thirteenth annual report was presented by Dr. Sears, the general agent. He said that the work had made satisfactory progress during the past year. The difficulties arising from the poverty of the South, he continued, are now increased by the pressure of the State debts. The necessity of aid from the Federal Government is now greater than ever before. The evils that are certain to grow out of popular ignorance, if the public schools are suffered to languish, or if they reach only a part of the population, will not be limited to the States where they first appear, but will cast their blight over the whole country.

It might be thought best to limit the assistance to the colored population, if any should be granted. By an act of the General Government the right of suffrage has been extended to them. A large proportion of them are confessedly unqualified for a judicious exercise of this power. If the colored people are the “wards of the nation,” in what way can the nation so well perform the duties of its trust as by qualifying them for citizenship?

Of the two grand objects of this fund, the first, the promotion of common school education, has been thoroughly established, and the chief attention should be henceforth given to the second, the professional training of teachers. In some of the States that stand most in need of efficient normal schools, it would be impossible to provide at once the requisite funds for their establishment.

Though there are very few normal schools of a high character besides our own in the States with which we are concerned, there are several of different grades of excellence, either maintained or aided by public authority. Some of the former, and all of the latter, are for colored teachers. Much good has been accomplished for the colored schools by the universities and other endowed institutions with normal departments, maintained by different Christian denominations. One association has already sent out from its numerous institutions 5,267 teachers, by whom about 100,000 pupils have been instructed. A large proportion of the graduates of all these institutions become teachers.

The report by States shows the following facts: In Virginia less than half the children of the State attended the public schools last year. In the colored schools there was a loss of 3,271, compared with the year before. Over $250,000 of the school money has been diverted to other purposes; but in the future three-fourths of the appropriation are secure.

In North Carolina the attendance is less than one-half. Difficulty has been found in this State to induce young men of character and talent to prepare for the business of teaching, as the pay is uncertain and but little more than the wages of a common laborer.

The school attendance in South Carolina has increased 13,843 during the year. For several years the system of public instruction was in a disordered condition; but, during the last year, a better state of things has been manifest. But the want of normal schools and of more funds is painfully felt. Such, at least, are the views of the State Superintendent. In regard to scholarships he says: “The agent of the Peabody Fund has placed at my disposal ten fifty-dollar scholarships in the Normal and Agricultural Institute at Hampton, Va. A visit to the Institute and observation of the manner in which it is conducted convince me that it is doing exactly what it professes to do.” He adds: “There are dangers before us which it will require the highest patriotism and the wisest statesmanship to avoid. Nearly 57 per cent. of the voting population of the State are unable to read the ballots which they cast.”

In Georgia, notwithstanding the increase of nearly 40,000 in the school population, the number of the illiterate is diminished 20,614. Great encouragement is felt regarding the educational prospects in the State.

In Florida education is advancing rapidly. Two-fifths of the children attend school, and there are applicants promised for all the Normal College scholarships that can be allowed to that State.

Opposition to the public free school system is disappearing in Mississippi, and a healthy condition is reported. A normal institute has been established. One-third of the school population attend in Louisiana. In the Colored Normal School we have had twenty scholarships of $50 each. This arrangement is the result of an extended correspondence with the State Superintendent.

In Tennessee, never since the first year of the present school system has so much money been raised for its support; never has the school tax been paid more cheerfully. Speaking of the use made of Mr. Peabody’s gift, the Superintendent says: “The encouragement given by the wise disposition of this fund has always proved an invaluable accessory in the arduous work of organizing and sustaining the cause of popular education in this State and in the South.”

The State Superintendent of West Virginia says of the aid received from the Peabody Fund for the Normal Institutes: “It is of the highest value to the cause of education, and contributes more, perhaps, in general advantage than an equal expenditure in any other direction could do.”

The appropriations from the fund for the last year were: Virginia, $9,850; North Carolina, $6,700; South Carolina, $4,250; Georgia, $6,500; Florida, $3,000; Alabama, $3,600; Mississippi, $4,000; Louisiana, $7,650; Texas, $7,700; Arkansas, $5,600; Tennessee, $12,000; West Virginia, $4,000; total, $74,850.

The Treasurer’s report showed a balance of about $83,000 available for expenditure during the coming year. In former years the income has amounted at times to as much as $110,000, but there has been some shrinkage since the 6 per cent. bonds, in which much of the fund was invested, have been called in, the new investments being in 4 per cent. bonds.

The officers of the Board, who have been continued from year to year, are Robert Winthrop, Chairman; G. Peabody Russell, Secretary; Samuel Wetmore, Treasurer; the Rev. Barnas Sears, General Agent.

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The Indians.

—In the coming fall, twenty more girls will be added to the number of Indian students at Hampton. Their due proportion is regarded as essential to the success and value of the effort. When the Indian prisoners from St. Augustine returned to the Territory, and their wives and families turned out to welcome them home with rejoicing, the long dreamed of meeting proved such a shock to the reconstructed braves that some of them broke from the company and ran away to the woods, refusing to have anything more to do with their affectionate but very dirty squaws. The situation was humorous but tragic, and withal very natural. How could they walk “the white man’s road” in such companionship? And how could they walk it alone? The co-education of the Indian boys and girls, with its lessons of mutual respect and helpfulness in the class-rooms and work-rooms, is the hope, and the only hope, of permanent Indian civilization.

—The Secretary of War has turned over to the Department of the Interior the U. S. Army barracks at Carlisle, Penn., to be used for the purpose of Indian education, under charge of Capt. R. H. Pratt, who has been sent West to collect 100 Indian youths for his school, as well as the girls for Hampton. Captain Pratt’s wise, Christian philanthropy toward the Indian prisoners at St. Augustine was the origin of the present movement for Indian education, and has demonstrated his eminent qualifications for the work.

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Africa.

—Mr. Mackay gives most interesting accounts of his intercourse with Mtesa and his chiefs. Every Sunday, after Wilson left, he conducted service at the palace for the king and chiefs, speaking in Suahili without an interpreter, and Mtesa interpreting into the Uganda language for the benefit of those who did not understand Suahili. On Christmas day a special service was held, all the chiefs being in “extra dress,” when Mackay explained the great event of the day. He regards Mtesa as most intelligent, and quite inclined to listen to the word of God. Gratifying instances are mentioned of the influence already exerted upon him. Some Arab traders arrived to buy slaves, offering cloth in exchange, and saying they had come from the Sultan of Zanzibar. Mackay vigorously opposed them, informed the king of the Sultan’s decrees against the slave traffic, and of the cruelties perpetrated upon its victims. Then he gave a lecture on physiology, and asked why such an organism as a human body, which no man could make, should be sold for a rag of cloth which any man could make in a day. The result was not only the rejection of the Arabs’ demand, but a decree forbidding any person in Uganda to sell a slave on pain of death! By another decree Mtesa has forbidden all Sunday labor, and the question of the evils of polygamy has been seriously discussed by him and the chiefs. He was on capital terms with the chiefs, and was teaching numbers of people to read, having made large alphabet sheets for the purpose. He describes the Arab traders as most bitter against the Mission. They are distilling ardent spirits from the plantain, and drunkenness is spreading in consequence.

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THE FREEDMEN.

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

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

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PART OF A TOUR THROUGH THE CAROLINAS.

A new administration was to be inaugurated in the Avery Institute. The way was found open, and the new Principal, Rev. S. D. Gaylord, one of the foremost educational managers of the interior, was greeted on the first day, the 29th of September, with an attendance of 258, which was an advance of 40 or 50 upon former opening days. The prospect was for a continued accession through the month. The _News and Courier_ gave a handsome notice. I found that the Avery was an occasion of city pride, not only on the part of colored but of white citizens. The authorities of Claflin University, at Orangeburg, S. C., have visited and complimented the institute, seeking to pattern after some of the methods. Prof. A. W. Farnham, who has been at the head of the Avery for four years, bringing it up to its high standard, will do a like work on a more general scale in the Normal department of Atlanta University. The Plymouth church, during the Summer, under the care of the pastor’s assistant, Rev. Mr. Birney, a former fellow-servant with the members, had been prospering. Under the lead of Rev. Temple Cutler, the church will enter upon a career of enlargement. The new principal and the Field Superintendent preached in the Centennial M. E. and the Zion Southern Presbyterian churches, the largest for the colored people of the city, as well as in the Plymouth. These three churches form the bulk of the constituency of the Avery.

At Orangeburg a repeated visit and a preaching service prepared the way for the coming of the new pastor, Rev. T. T. Benson, a graduate of the Talladega theological department. A pleasant church and a rallying people were ready to greet him.

On the way I stopped off at Chester, S. C., to visit my seminary classmate, Rev. Samuel Loomis, who, in ten and a half years, has gotten under way his “Brainerd Institute,” and has helped to plant nine Presbyterian churches within that county. Blessed is the man who is permitted to lay foundations in that way. At Charlotte, N. C., I ran out to visit the Biddle University, which is the principal collegiate and theological institution of our Northern Presbyterian brethren in the South. Rev. D. S. Mattoon, the president, is supported by Rev. Messrs. R. M. Hall and S. J. Beatty. Rev. Thomas Lawrence, of Penn., is to take the place of Rev. Dr. John H. Shedd, who has returned to his mission work among the Nestorians. The current catalogue shows eight students in theology, twenty-one in the college classes, and a total of 155. This institution is for males alone. Its mate, for females, is Scotia Seminary, at Concord. The glory of the Biddle is, that in these ten years it has planted a whole Presbytery of thirty churches in the region round about, besides raising up teachers and preachers for the regions beyond.

In the back country of Randolph County, N. C., twenty-five miles away from the railroad, I looked up Rev. Islay Walden, a former slave in that region, a recent graduate of New Brunswick Seminary, N. J., who had been ordained by the classis of New Brunswick. The A. M. A. had sent him down to make a field in his native State. The Field Superintendent assisted him in organizing a Congregational Church of thirty members. The ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper were administered. This is in the neighborhood of one of the churches of our antebellum missionary, Rev. Daniel Worth, whom all our colored friends and some of the whites remembered affectionately. His church, a former Wesleyan, has been taken up by the M. E. Church, so that they are well cared for.

We were waited upon by two committees, one from Hill Town, seven miles away, and one from Troy, the county seat of Montgomery, thirty miles off. The former had one man to offer three acres of land and timber in the tree for all the lumber needed for a church school-house, and that man was an ex-slave. The latter committee consisted of three men, who were the trustees of the “Peabody Academy,” whose erection they had secured at Troy. They wanted a teacher and a preacher. Living twelve or eighteen miles away from Troy, they intended to send in their children and have them cared for in a boarding club by an “Aunty.” In token of their good faith, all of them interesting men, they united with our new church, intending to transfer their membership to their own localities when we get ready to organize there. Who could forbid that their requests should be granted? So we organized a circuit for Brother Walden, one Sabbath at Troy, and the other at Salem Church and Hill Town, with one sermon at each place. The Quakers promise a school at Salem. A public school will serve Hill Town for the present, and a competent teacher must be secured for the Academy. It was a delight to witness the pride of the people in their educated _fellow-servant_. Even the old master gloated over the diploma of his “boy.”

Running into McLeansville early this Monday morning, thinking to make it a minister’s rest-day, with only this article and other letters and a sermon for the night on hand, I found the church at the opening of a protracted meeting with the visiting preacher announced for forenoon, afternoon and evening; house crowded all day, with two hundred people in it by count; all remaining with lunch in hand, between the first and second services, and many holding over between the second and third. And this is the habit of the people at such a time. All unnecessary work is put aside and the entire time given up to religious service. This habit they take from that of the white churches, with the exception that the colored people have added the third service. Pastor Connet had held a similar meeting in another part of his field this fall, and yesterday, as a result of it, twelve members were added to this church. One of those converts, an old man, testified, bearing himself with the air of a conqueror: “I have fought the devil, and I’ve got the victory. Jesus helped me. I have fought the devil, and I’ve got the victory.” The meetings are orderly and solemn—congregational, only warmed up by the African glow. The membership now numbers one hundred and fifty-six. Pastor Connet is also superintendent of the school, which is doing a good work in raising up teachers.

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CONTRASTS.

The Past and the Present.