Chapter I: Front Matter

VOL. XXXIII. No. 12.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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DECEMBER, 1879.

_CONTENTS_:

THE ANNUAL MEETING.

PARAGRAPHS 353
THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK 354
PROCEEDINGS 355
GENERAL SURVEY 356
REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE 368

THE FREEDMEN.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL WORK 368
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHURCH WORK 370
PROVIDENTIAL CALLS: Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D. 372
THE NEGRO IN AMERICA: Prest. R. H. Merrell, D. D. 378
CHURCH WORK IN THE SOUTH: Rev. C. L. Woodworth 384

AFRICA.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 388
THE MENDI COUNTRY: Rev. G. D. Pike 390

THE INDIANS.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 394
THE INDIAN QUESTION: Rev. H. A. Stimson 395

THE CHINESE.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 401
AMERICA AND CHINA: Rev. J. H. Twichell 402

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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.
ANDREW LESTER, Esq., N. Y.
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. J.
Rev. EDWARD BEECHER, 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, D. D., 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, D. D., 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. 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.
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.
E. A. GRAVES, Esq., N. J.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill.
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.
Rev. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D., Ill.
Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo.
J. W. SCOVILLE, Esq., Ill.
E. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill.
C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct.
Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal.
Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.

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_.

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

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
CHARLES A. HULL,
EDGAR KETCHUM,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
WM. T. PRATT,
J. A. SHOUDY,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILCOX.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary,” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, 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.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XXXIII. DECEMBER, 1879. No. 12.

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American Missionary Association.

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It is a real source of regret to us that all our news from the field must be omitted for this month. Next month we shall be flooded with good tidings, we hope, from all quarters.

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Friends sending us remittances will please address H. W. Hubbard, Esq., Treasurer, he having been promoted from the Assistant and Acting Treasurership on the retirement of Edgar Ketchum, Esq. Mr. Ketchum still remains on the Executive Committee.

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By a mistake at the Chicago newspaper offices, the name of Mr. Samuel Holmes was omitted from the list of our Executive Committee as printed by them, and that of Mr. Andrew Lester retained. The facts are just the other way. Mr. Lester having resigned, was made a Vice-President, and Mr. Holmes is still a member of the Committee.

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The MISSIONARY is this month devoted to the reproduction of the Annual Meeting. We wish all our readers could have been there to learn of our work, our situation and our prospects, and to gain those enlarged views of the duty and the opportunity which lie before us in all directions. This grouping of proceedings and papers is the best substitute we can offer.

We print the annual survey of the Executive Committee nearly in full, rather than in abstract, as heretofore, as giving that general view of the work, without which it cannot be appreciated in its extent and variety. Instead of covering several pages with the formal minutes of the Annual Meeting, we condense them into a shorter compass, as giving equal information in a more readable form. The Annual Report, when published in full, will, of course, contain these as well as the reports of the Committees in detail. We have maintained our general division of the field, prefixing the reports of the several committees to the papers and addresses on the cognate subjects, by this classification making the whole more valuable for reference and use. We thus propose to send the annual meeting to those who could not go to it, regretting still that the enthusiasms and impressions of a great assembly cannot be transmitted by types and ink.

We regret the necessity which has compelled us to abridge somewhat almost all the reports and papers following, but the limits of a double number are easily reached with so much material at hand. We have omitted entirely the valuable paper by General Leake, on “Protection of Law for the Indians,” because it has been printed in full in both the _Inter-Ocean_ and the _Advance_, and because it is so long and yet so compact that it cannot be condensed. It is well worth most careful study.

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We are under obligations to our denominational newspapers for their full and faithful reports of our meeting. The _Advance_, in its regular edition and in an extra, gave full copies of the most important documents and papers read, for which we have secured a wide circulation; while the _Congregationalist_, through its editorial correspondent, devoted a large part of its first page to the report of the meeting, printed the larger part of the annual report on its third page, and in its leading editorial spoke good words of commendation for the Association, and of exhortation to its friends.

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THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.

Our work has, in the successful termination of the year, reached an important crisis. We should be sorry to have any one think, because the debt and the expenses of the year have been met, that we are, therefore, about to retire from business and rest from our labors. On the other hand, we are just ready to go to work. It has taken a good share of our strength to carry this back-load; and we have been crippled at the front by the insufficiency of the buildings for our largest institutions. We have been walking as men walk on the ice, holding back lest we should venture too far and make some bad slip.

But that is all, we trust, of the past. God has been good to us. We have prayed for deliverance and we have worked to be free, and prayers and alms have come up together before God, and prayer is always effectual when accompanied with such proofs of sincerity. Now we are free to work. Our feet are on the solid rock of solvency. The Lord has established our goings. The way is open before us and the work lies ready to our hand. Our schools in the South of all grades are opening this year fuller than ever. Several churches are waiting to be recognized and put upon the pilgrim foundation. The completion of the new building in Austin, Texas, and of the four we hope soon to build at other points, will give increased and much needed accommodations. Those who met at Chicago urged us to enlarge the missionary schools among the Chinese on the Pacific Coast; and the new departure in attempting the education of Indian youths at our negro schools offers us opportunities of more permanent influence in that direction than we can hope for in any other way, while the tribes are subject to be moved at will from one reservation to another. The African Missions, new and old, are both calling upon us for attention and expense.

What is the financial outlook for all this? Shall we be able to meet these various calls with anything like adequate efficiency? We answer, with a look of inquiry, Friends, it depends on you. But our expression of inquiry turns to one of confidence as we remember what you have done. We expect to do this larger work; for evidently God calls us to it, and His friends have never failed us yet.

We are encouraged, too, by the beginnings of the year. Our receipts for the month of October and the beginning of November are larger than a year ago. But, do not forget, they need to be so all through the year. We will be as wise and saving in the expenditure as we can; but we can be far more wisely economical on an income which is reasonably adequate to the needs of the work, than on a very scanty one. “The destruction of the poor is their poverty,” says the wise man. Keep us in mind then and in heart, we pray you, that we may all realize that God has brought us out into this liberty that we may serve Him and our generation better.

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PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.

The meeting place was the spacious First Congregational Church of Chicago. At 3 p. m. of Tuesday, October 28th, President Tobey assumed the chair, and Dr. W. H. Bidwell, of New York, conducted the opening devotional services. Rev. J. G. Merrill, of Iowa, and Rev. George C. Adams, of Illinois, were elected Secretaries.

The Annual Report was read by Rev. George M. Boynton, and the Treasurer’s Report by H. W. Hubbard, Esq. In grateful response to their cheering character the congregation rising sang, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.” The hour following was observed as a concert of prayer with the pastors and teachers in the Southern field.

In the evening Dr. R. S. Storrs, of New York, preached a grand discourse from Psalm cxviii. 23, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” President Strong, of Minnesota, and Dr. Robbins, of Iowa, conducted the other services.

During the evening the following greeting was received by telegram and read by Secretary Strieby: “The Prudential Committee and the Executive Officers of the A. B. C. F. M. congratulate the A. M. A. upon the successful termination of their year’s labor, and bid them God-speed in their work for the coming year.”

ALPHEUS HARDY, _Chairman_.

On the next morning the following response was adopted by a rising vote: “The A. M. A., assembled at its thirty-third anniversary, receive with grateful appreciation the congratulations of the Prudential Committee and Executive Officers of the venerable American Board, and with thanks to God for the recent enlargement granted to the Board, pray for the continued Divine blessing on its glorious and expanding work.”