Chapter II: Part 2

This religious body held its autumn meeting with the Second Congregational Church, Memphis, Tenn. Delegates representing the Churches in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, were present. The following programme illustrates the orderly way and the practical character of the brethren engaged in our church work South:--“Annual Sermon,” Rev. Wm. H. Ash, Florence, Ala.; “Church Extension,” Rev. Jos. E. Smith, Chattanooga; “Education,” Rev. G. W. Moore, Nashville; “Missions,” Professor H. S. Bennett, Fisk University; “How to Develop the Benevolence of the Churches,” Professor A. K. Spence, Fisk University; “Absolute Necessity of Education for the Colored People,” President Magoun, of Iowa College.

In addition to the foregoing exercises, the Conference examined and licensed for one year Mr. B. F. Foster, of Arkansas, a former student of the Theological department of Fisk University. It also renewed the licensure of Rev. W. H. Fuller, a student of the Theological department of Talladega College. During the session a council was organized for the examination of Mr. B. A. Imes, a graduate of Oberlin College and Theological Seminary, with reference to his ordination and installation as pastor of the church in which the Conference was convened. Rev. Dr. Roy was Moderator of the Council, and the examination was very thorough and satisfactory. Dr. Magoun, whose daughter is the accomplished teacher of music in the Le Moyne Institute, was present to preach the ordination sermon, and Rev. G. Stanley Pope, of Tougaloo University, to give the charge to the pastor. This young conference, which already numbers twelve churches, possesses the elements of a steady and helpful growth, indicative of a better era for pure religion at the South.

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ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

WILMINGTON, N. C.--Pressure for admission to the lower classes still continues. The school is crowded and there already is an overflow room. Others are knocking morning, noon and night for admittance.

MACON, GA.--School opens unusually full, but better than that is the fact that we have a good school. I can truly say that I feel we are doing well in every part of the work.

MARIETTA, GA.--Our work here is decidedly encouraging. No new members yet, but three or four candidates are waiting to be admitted whenever we deem it proper to receive them. One of these is a man who brings a nice family to our Congregation; he has six very bright children, five of whom are old enough to attend our Sunday-school. I have been laboring in a quiet way, spending much of my time in visiting the people, and with better acquaintance with them I hope to do good work here. Sunday-school is already showing an increase. Our monthly and quarterly concerts are doing much good. Our choir meetings are helpful; in connection with the practice of songs for the Sabbath we teach vocal music, and allow all who wish to attend; thus far the plan has worked well. Our organ is our greatest present burden, but we hope to be able to pay for it at the stipulated time.

ANNISTON, ALA.--Last Sabbath was our regular communion day, and a very precious day it was to us. We were gathering up the fragments of our protracted services. There were seventeen conversions during the revival, and thirteen of the converts united with us. The church has been quickened by the Spirit and backsliders restored.

TALLADEGA, ALA.--Our opening this fall was most favorable. The first day saw Foster Hall nearly full, and Swayne Hall well occupied. If the pupils continue to come, we shall soon be compelled to ask what we shall do with them. Both pastors of the colored churches here enter the normal department, and one the theological.

MOBILE, ALA.--I feel constrained, by the reports of the coming applicants, to request an additional teacher. Yesterday and to-day we have turned away thirty or more applicants, nearly one half of whom wish to enter the B intermediate department, and nearly one half are former pupils. Some went away crying because there was no room for them.

SELMA, ALA.--Our new missionary, supported by the ladies of Maine, writes as follows: “Have been here one month, and am prepared to say that I like the work and find ample opportunity for doing good. I have already called upon every member of our church. A good degree of interest is shown by the Sunday-school, also an increased interest in the church is seen and felt by all. We are hoping and praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and trust that we are remembered by our Northern friends in this respect as well as others. I am rejoiced that I am permitted to labor in this cause; encouragements far out-weigh discouragements, and when the people of the North fully realize the amount of good accomplished by the A. M. A. they will be more ready to sustain it than they have yet been.”

MEMPHIS, TENN.--School opened most hopefully. We now register over one hundred and forty pupils, and I have already refused children for the primary and intermediate rooms. I expect every seat will be taken in the normal room by the end of this month. Our entire work has never before opened so hopefully as this year.

PARIS, TEXAS.--Rev. J. W. Roberts writes: Enclosed please find $1, a collection which my Sunday-school sends for “Mendi Mission.” I gave them a missionary talk yesterday on the work the A. M. A. was carrying on in Africa, and urged them to aid her in sending the Gospel to that land. The Sunday-school voted unanimously to do it. Thus they send this as a beginning.

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THE FREEDMEN.

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

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

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GLEANINGS.

L. A. P.

Letters from student-teachers often furnish truer insight to the homes and sentiments of the people than can be learned in the higher schools. Ten miles from a leading city a young lady writes: “This is such a wicked place that out of ninety day scholars I can get only forty to come to Sabbath-school. I begin school at eight, and close at half-past five in the evening. Parents think the children are not learning anything unless they stay in school as long as the field hands work.”

A young man, whose recitations in class are always excellent, says: “I have professed a hope in Christ, and joined the church. The letter you wrote me two or three years ago concerning religion was in my mind all the time before I professed hope. Please tell me where in the Bible I can find the place where a woman once cooked a Bible in a loaf of bread to keep it from being destroyed.”

This question aptly illustrates the lack of general intelligence in the community. It is quite possible for young people to leave school with fair knowledge of the text-books, yet profoundly ignorant of everything else, unless access to libraries and thorough Bible training accompany the regular school work, and are made a part of it.

Another young man reads books and papers, and induces his patrons to provide themselves with good reading matter. Under the same date as the foregoing letter, he writes: “I have an enrolment of 120 in day school. Sabbath-school numbers 143. I wish you could step into my school-room, and see how busy and earnest all seem to be. You cannot imagine how the colored people of this vicinity are grasping after education. I lectured to a large audience last Monday night. My subject was ‘Education in the South.’”

Another student records his experience thus: “The school had no black-board, no writing desks--well, in fact, it was not provided with anything. I now have a black-board, 8 ft. by 4; also very good writing desks. The children were very much surprised at the black-board, as they had never seen one before.”

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GEORGIA.

Extracts from the Report of the Board of Visitors to the Atlanta University.

For three days we listened to examinations of the scholars conducted orally by the teachers, and written examination work from the higher classes was laid before us. We were also present at the anniversary exercises of the Institution. It is with pleasure that we bear testimony in behalf of the accuracy and thoroughness manifested both by the teachers and scholars. We have never seen stronger proof of careful and successful teaching, and the discipline and government cannot be surpassed in any Institution.

The scholars were neat in appearance, orderly in deportment, and serious in application. The teachers were remarkably proficient in their several departments, and the scholars seemed to be impressed with a deep-seated earnestness, calculated not only to advance the intellectual status of the colored race, but also to make of them better men and women.

The practical sciences are not neglected. A visit to the culinary department showed us that the female students had been thoroughly taught the art of cooking good dinners, without which even the intellect would pine and languish. Calisthenics, also, constitute a part of the training.

We found the buildings and grounds in the best of order, evidencing the same watchful eyes which overlooked the entire Institution.

The school-rooms and furniture were entirely free from defacements of any kind, showing a marked difference in this respect between the Atlanta University and most other colleges.

An interesting feature is the Library, composed of a collection of about five thousand volumes, selected wisely for the purpose of interesting as well as instructing the scholars. To the library there have been added during the past year, three hundred new books of recent publication.

In connection with the library is a reading room, in which can be found the leading magazines and daily papers.

The future of the University seems truly bright, and a better opportunity can never be given our colored citizens for a thorough education.

We commend the entire corps of instructors, and must express the confidence which we feel in the capacity of the president, Mr. Ware, and in his fitness for the position which he occupies.

In conclusion, we think it proper to dwell for a moment upon the fact that the Atlanta University, besides the influence which it wields directly upon its scholars, reaches, through the many who pass out from its walls as teachers, almost the entire colored population of our State. While the mental man is being developed, the moral man is carefully trained, and temperance and religion are important parts of the instruction given.

From this College, Georgia is sending out missionaries for the amelioration of a large class of her citizens. Who can doubt the wisdom of continuing the appropriation?

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ALABAMA.

Church, School, and Brick-making.

MISS M. F. WELLS, ATHENS.

I reached Athens on Saturday, Oct. 2d, found very little advance on the brick-yard, the kiln of 118,000 being completed but not burned, everybody discouraged, young people and children scattered to the cotton fields, trying to earn enough money to buy their winter shoes. Of course words of cheer and encouragement in view of the _great work_ (for them the making of 200,000 brick _is_ a great work, however small it may seem to those who do not know their poverty, and the great sacrifice this has cost them) already accomplished, made their heavy hearts lighter, and in the three weeks since Oct. 1st a great change has come over the aspect of things.

Men and boys are in the woods cutting wood to burn the kiln made this season; women and girls are contributing their dimes, nickels, half dollars and dollars to raise a fund to haul the wood, and the prospect is that the brick will be burned before Christmas. But you will not wonder that down in my secret soul there is sometimes almost a moan. How long, O Lord, how long before the completion of the school-house?

During the summer the church has kept up the public worship once a day; a Cumberland Presbyterian Minister (colored) has generally preached. When he was not well enough to preach a prayer meeting was held.

The Sunday-school has been pretty well attended, and is now very enthusiastic. We are going over a short course of Bible History and Chronology, in addition to the regular lessons of the International course. We are to have an examination for promotions at Christmas and all are striving to complete the course. Our prayer meetings are increasing in interest and numbers, but we need a minister, indeed we must have one.

Two delegates have been appointed by the church to attend the Conference at Memphis. It would be a pleasure to me, as one of the appointees, to represent the church at that meeting, but there seems no possibility of my going, as the school is filling up rapidly, and the wood-cutters have to be provided with dinner, and it requires eternal vigilance to look after all the interests in such a way as to keep the “ark a moverin.” I should have written sooner, but every day has brought some unexpected emergency--so mixing church and school and brick-making, that no line of thought or action was marked with sufficient distinctness to express itself on paper. But now, things are more settled, all the interests seem harmonized, and the chaos has given place to order. We are all happy and busy day and night, bright faces and glad, earnest spirits inspire hope in the teacher’s heart, and give vigor to every effort to move forward.

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MISSISSIPPI.

Patient Work.

REV G. S. POPE, TOUGALOO.

Sometimes we hear of incidents in the lives of our students plainly showing that what we have said to them about hard, patient work hasn’t ended with talk.

One of the graduating class last June spoke to us of “Labor.” A letter just received by one of the teachers tells how his school-house was so uncomfortable that he thought something must be done. He had a public entertainment to raise money to get lumber for ceiling. He did not realize enough and footed the bill himself. When the lumber arrived he asked the people to come together to do the work, but they did not respond and he ceiled the house himself.

Four of our girls taught near each other, their schools over 40 miles from the railroad. One of them had taught before 14 months in the same neighborhood. The people failed to pay her. At one time she needed some money and persuaded a man who was owing her to kill a hog and let her have it. She put it in a sack and started on horseback to peddle it out. She has an invalid mother and one or two brothers and sisters nearly dependent upon her. She is anxious to educate herself, but the outlook is pretty dark.

Two of them started together for their new field; went to B---- by railroad, paid a man $5 to take them 20 miles, reached town about dark and tried four places before finding any one who could keep them over night. The old woman who took them in was not able to give them anything to eat, but made a cup of coffee for each. One of them had a little lunch with her. They ate part of it and put the rest aside. The next morning one woman who had refused to keep them over night called and invited them around to see her; they took dinner there and went back to the old woman’s house to stay over night again, as they could not find any one to take them further before the Sabbath. They were going to finish their lunch for supper, but the ants had finished it for them, so they had nothing more to eat until about noon, the next day. A man charged them $7 to take them 22 miles. The Lord sent them some lunch through the same woman who fed them the day before. One of them only obtained a two months’ school. She received $36, and had to spend $13 in traveling expenses and $12 for board. She thinks she will have hard work to get through the year on what remains.

In one church there were three ministers and only one Testament. These girls induced them to buy several Bibles.

They wrote for the fourth one to come. She went as far as B----and had to wait two weeks for her trunk. She then went half-way to her school with the mail carrier and waited there another week before she could get any conveyance to her school. She taught two months, and after purchasing what clothing she absolutely needed, and settling board bills, only had about five dollars. She has just written me that she is picking cotton now, hoping to get a bale to sell, so she can return to school. We have enough such incidents to make a book.

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LOUISIANA.

Indications of Good in School and Church--Revival Meetings.

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

We watch with peculiar interest the indications of the first month of church and school work, in their relation to the general results of the year. The first month has passed, and we have abundant reason to take courage and press forward. Never did a year begin with fairer prospects of success. Never before, perhaps, have so many students reported on the opening day of the University.

The completed roll of the Academic, Law, and Theological Departments would show nearly, if not quite 200 names. Many students are detained upon the plantations--new scholars are on the way, and we expect by the holidays to have all we can well provide for.

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STONE HALL.

The new dormitory, which will bear the name of our generous benefactress, Mrs. Stone, of Malden, Mass., will soon be a reality. The plans and specifications have been completed, bids have been invited, and we shall soon hear the click of the mason’s trowel, and the welcome sound of the saw and hammer. If Prof. Chase, who will supervise the construction of the building, had any doubt of our joy at his coming, he has not the perception with which we credit him. Our most grateful thanks go out to Mrs. Stone for her large-hearted benevolence. The blessings of thousands of God’s poor people whom we are trying to serve will be part of her reward.

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THE LAW DEPARTMENT

Numbers already 23 students, only four of whom are colored. This department is entirely self-sustaining, and a fee of $56 per year is exacted as compensation for the four able professors. It is a source of great regret to us that more colored young men, in whose interests the department was organized, do not avail themselves of its advantages. It is conducted with rare ability. One of the professors has been upon the Supreme Bench of this State.

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CENTRAL CHURCH.

This church has paid all its expenses during the summer. The pulpit has been supplied by a young man of ability, Mr. Albert, formerly a student at Atlanta, and at present a member of our senior class. I found the church in a good spiritual state, the congregation somewhat scattered, but they soon rallied, and we have now fair and increasing audiences.

The one desire and prayer of the church is to witness an earnest and extended revival, and I am grateful to be able to say that this hope seems about to be realized. Three years ago, Mr. James Wharton, of Barrow-in-Furness, England, visited this city to engage in evangelistic work, if Providence should open the way, among the colored people. He is a business man, but an earnest Christian, endowed with fine gifts as a persuasive speaker.

He wrote to me in the summer asking if the way would be open for him to conduct revival services in Central Church if he should visit New Orleans in October. I lost no time in sending him a cordial invitation to come, and promised him our hearty co-operation. He has arrived in the city accompanied by Mr. Richard Irving, a man of kindred spirit, and next Sunday, Nov. 7th, they will begin a series of meetings which will be continued indefinitely, so long as souls can be gathered into the Kingdom. Printed notices of the meetings have been widely circulated, and earnest workers are canvassing, going from house to house, and entreating the people to come to this Gospel feast. Dear friends in the North, pray for us, and the success of this movement. As Bro. Wharton wrote me from England, “Pray mightily for us.” I pray God I may have glad tidings to send you soon. These dear brethren come at their own charges, and ask only the privilege of preaching a _free_ Gospel to the needy and perishing.

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TENNESSEE.

Fisk University.

REV. E. M. CRAVATH, NASHVILLE.

The sixteenth scholastic year of Fisk University has begun under very favorable conditions and with very encouraging prospects.

1. The number of pupils in attendance for the first two months of this year is greatly increased over that of last, although that of last year was larger than any previous year since the occupancy of Jubilee Hall. The number from outside the city of Nashville is thirty per cent. greater than at the same time one year ago.

The result is that the limit of our boarding accommodations has been already nearly reached, and the anxious inquiry is forcing itself upon us, What shall we do with the large number of students who desire, and are planning, to come during the next three months?

2. The grade of scholarship in the case of new students is considerably advanced over that of former years. There have been no additions to the regular college classes, but four have entered the senior, three the middle, and six the junior college preparatory classes. As advanced students are the ones desired in such an institution as this, it is a source of great encouragement that the number of such is steadily increasing year by year.

3. There is on the part of the students a growing comprehension of the value and of the necessity of a thorough education, and consequently a very much stronger desire and purpose to take long courses of study. This is one of the most hopeful facts connected with our work. It required a wonderful amount of determination and patience on the part of both professors and students to engineer the first classes through a college course of study. There was no public sentiment in the community, and no sentiment among parents or friends of the students, to encourage and stimulate to long courses of study. But a great change for the better has been wrought. The steady, persistent work of the past fifteen years, which has resulted in the graduation of five small classes from the college department, has created an atmosphere and established conditions which stimulate the desire for a liberal education, and foster the purpose of those who undertake to secure it.

The educating power of a considerable body of advanced, carefully disciplined and well-read students, is marked upon all the lower grades, and especially upon those who come to Fisk University for the first time. The present senior preparatory class promises to enter college in May twenty strong. This is double the number of the largest class that has ever before been entered.

4. The influence and power of the work done by our students while absent from the University during vacation or after completing their studies, become more and more manifest. The reports brought back by the students themselves, the testimony of Trustees and County Superintendents, the new students brought here through their influence, all reveal to us as we have not realized it before, the greatness of the service the University is rendering to the cause of education, morality, religion and social life throughout the great Southwest. Our students are our epistles; and becoming known and being read by the people wherever they go, are turning the thoughts and hearts of others to the University. It is largely because of the faithfulness and loyalty of our students that the steady growth in numbers continues from year to year.

We have, therefore, abundant reason to thank God and take courage. The great concern we have about the future is that our friends in the North will not be ready to meet the growing demands of this great work of uplifting the millions of recently emancipated people in the South, by a sufficiently large and constant giving. With the experience of the last fifteen years in mind, we can say with the full assurance of conviction that the call for the enlargement and strengthening of the University is in some vital respects more imperative now than ever before. Endowments are needed to adequately sustain the departments of study already established, and to found professional schools to meet the growing demands of a struggling and rising people.

These must come, or the best results of the labor already done, and the money already expended, will not be attained.

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Mother and Daughter Gone.--Memorial Services at Fisk University.

The Sabbath services at this Institution, Oct. 24th, were hallowed by the touching and appropriate tributes to the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Spence, mother of Prof. A. K. Spence, and of her daughter, Mrs. Julia Spence Chase, wife of Prof. F. A. Chase. Mrs. Spence had been boarding in the Institution four years, spending her last days with her children. She possessed a mind of unusual strength and vigor, and was somewhat distinguished as an author. Only a few days before her death, when eighty-three years of age, she composed a poem on the occasion of the Nashville Centennial Exposition, which was published. This mother of missionaries was born in Scotland, and in her girlhood was made familiar with the missionary endeavors of the London Missionary Society through an auxiliary which held its regular meetings at her mother’s house. She was a woman of much prayer, great faith and a sweet and beautiful charity.

Just eleven weeks from the day Mrs. Spence died, writes Miss Henrietta Matson, of Fisk University, Mrs. Chase followed her mother to the fairer country above. Her death was sudden, and a heavy blow to her sorely stricken family. She died on Kelley’s Island, Lake Erie, where the family had gone for summer rest. Mrs. Chase, with her husband, had been in Fisk University eight years; a part of the time in the earlier years had been an instructor, particularly in music, in which she was especially gifted and accomplished.

Her death was peaceful and beautiful. She sent loving messages to all her friends, to the teachers and especially to the students, whom she loved and for whom she had labored. With perfect calmness she bade each of her dear ones good-bye, and then passed from their sight, leaning upon the strong arm, and catching glimpses of the glory beyond, even while treading the dark valley.

At her own request, her remains were brought to Nashville, her heart seeming to turn to the very last to those with whom she had been associated, and to the people for whom she had labored. So we laid her to rest till the resurrection morn on the beautiful hillside, with southern skies bending above her, and not far from the earthly home of her own dear ones.

The message brought to us who remain, in the death of those who have been of us is, “The night cometh, when no man can work.”

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THE INDIANS.

INDIAN EDUCATION IN THE EAST.

AN ADDRESS BY GEN. S. C. ARMSTRONG.

It is now two and a half years since Indian students were enrolled at the Hampton Institute; but I never saw a more radical change of life than appears in these men. They represent the worst stock in the Indian territory: the class that the West declares can’t be elevated any more than the buffalo. If the West knows anything, it knows that you can’t improve the prairie Indian.

Crossing the continent twice, of late, I found the universal creed to be “There is no good Indian but a dead one,” which has been adopted by over half the intelligent people of the East.

Capt. Pratt writes as follows from Carlisle, Pa.: “Of the Florida boys who were formerly at Hampton, five have died; three,--Bear’s Heart, Etahdleuh and Roman Nose--are still East: the two last being here render valuable assistance to me by example and effort. The others have all returned to their tribes, and, with the exception of Tounkeuh, are reported us doing well for themselves and for their people. Several are mentioned as specially useful.

“We have 139 boys and 57 girls, 196 in all. The readiness of children to come is in advance of the willingness of parents to send at Miles’ Agency, and probably at the Kiowa too; but there is in general such desire for education that I believe no great difficulty would be experienced in getting nearly all the children in the schools from most of the tribes.”

The Carlisle School was established by an act of Congress, accompanied by an official report from which I extract as follows:

“Experience has shown that Indian children do not differ from white children of similar status and surroundings, in aptitude or capacity for acquiring knowledge; and opposition or indifference to education on the part of parents decreases yearly: so that the question of Indian education resolves itself mainly into a question of school facilities.”

Sons of Indian Chiefs, at Carlisle, are now making a portion of the shoes, harnesses, wagons, tin-ware and other supplies needed by the Department of Indian Affairs.

Indians think. Their wise ones know that there is no hope for them but in taking the white man’s road. But there is also a stubborn, unyielding class. There are progressives and conservatives, as among all thinking people.

The braves will not fight the people who are educating their children. Every Indian child at school is a hostage.

I recently met an army officer who told me that in the summers of 1877 and 1878, five hundred thousand dollars had passed through his hands, as Quartermaster, in payment of Oregon settlers, for supplies and services in Indian wars; and that the past summer they had been trying to get up another war for the sake of another five hundred thousand.

Our system of treaties, annuities and rations is an acknowledged failure. Distribution is without regard to merit, and encourages idleness among the one hundred and fifty thousand beneficiaries of the Government.

The Indians are grown-up children; we are a thousand years ahead of them in the line of development. Progress is measured by development. Education is not progress but is a means of it. A brain full of book knowledge, whose physical basis is the product of centuries of barbarism, is an absurdity that we do not half realize, from our excessive traditional reverence for school and college training. We forget that knowledge is not power unless it is digested and assimilated. Savages have good memories; they acquire but do not comprehend.

Indians are easily taught, for their minds are quick; their bodies are a greater care than their brains; but morals are the chief concern of their teachers. Hence their education should be first for the heart, then for health, and last for the mind, reversing the custom of placing mind before physique and character. This is the Hampton idea of education.

Apply sanctified common sense to the Indian problem and you will save them in spite of the steam engine and the threats of fate.

The Indian question has been put wrong end first. It points to us, not to them.

The possibilities of sound educational methods are not dreamed of. The power of mind over matter is everywhere seen, but the power of mind over mind, of man over man, is little shown in all our proud progress. That three years’ work of Captain Pratt at Fort Marion, Florida, is the best illustration of it I know of. Yet he never had over two years’ schooling, and went from his workshop to the war. Work for the ex-captives was so encouraging, the need of educated Indian girls so obvious, that resolving to push our effort further, Mr. Schurz was interviewed, entered heartily into the scheme, and sent Capt. Pratt to Dakota Territory, whence he brought to Hampton in Nov., 1878, forty boys and nine girls, since increased to twenty-two girls and forty-eight boys. Indian girls lead a slavish life, do all the drudgery, and parents have hated to spare them. Boys do nothing till they can fight. “I would send a hundred boys, but not one girl,” said a chief to Capt. Pratt. But now one agency alone, Yankton, would fill our school with Sioux girls. Agent Miles says he could enroll Cheyenne children from the Indian Territory for eastern schools as fast as he could write their names.

Co-education of the sexes will succeed with Indians as well as with colored people in the six largest institutions for negroes, in which for ten years it has been tried with the best results.

The death rate at Hampton has been serious but not discouraging. Out of ninety-six, in twenty-two months seven have died at school and three since returning home. The tribe, gathered as they are in unnatural conditions at the agencies, away from the chase and the fight, without action or buffalo beef, fed on government rations, weaken.

Indian students have in almost all cases died of diseases implanted before leaving home; their friends have not been surprised or discouraged.

Chief Wizi, on hearing of the death of his adopted son at Hampton, called his tribe together and said: “If only one of our children returns to us with knowledge, we shall be repaid for the loss of all the others.”

While this eastern work at Carlisle and Hampton is incidental to the general educational effort which must be made at the West, it is, more than anything else, pushing the Indian question to a proper settlement by creating public sentiment. For a Congressman to see an Indian hoeing corn, does more good than piles of documentary evidence. The hundreds of clear-headed, hard-handed young red-skins who will, ere long, be settled among the tribes, will, we think, be strong enough to sustain each other and to teach the rest. They will not return home scared by our great guns and arsenals, but stimulated by contact with the spirit that lies at the bottom of our progress. They must see civilization to comprehend it.

What is given for them will come back with usury. Not the least return to us may be the educational methods which, inspired by exigencies and unchecked by tradition, shall be worked out to meet the emergencies thrust upon the country by the destruction of the buffalo, which has brought the Indian to face the issue of civilization or destruction.

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THE CHINESE.

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“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.

DIRECTORS: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, Rev. John Kimball.

SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.

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A CHAPTER OF GOOD THINGS.

REV. W. C. POND.

_Our Annual Meeting._--It was a very diminutive affair, compared with that which, at the same time, was going on so grandly at Lowell; or with the one which, just now, as I am writing, is--I trust--in successful progress at Norwich. What a privilege and a joy I should feel it to be if I were there, instead of here! That is denied me, so far as bodily presence is concerned; but I am free to be there in thought, and, in the solitude of my study, to mingle my prayers with yours. They meet before one throne of grace. _Our_ annual meeting is one of the features of the annual convocation of our Congregational churches in California, which was held this year with the First Church in Oakland. The time assigned us in the programme was from 10:45 to 12:30 on Thursday, Oct. 7th. I should think that 250 persons were present. Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D., pastor of that church, and President of our Mission, occupied the chair. After a hymn and prayer, the reports of the Treasurer and of the Board of Directors were presented. The principal facts set forth in these reports have been laid before the Association at its meeting now going on, and need not be re-stated here. There was, however, a novel feature in the Treasurer’s report--novel to us, however it may be to others--which stirred some of our friends not a little. We have always had more work at hand than we could possibly do with the means at our command; but we have tried to “cut the garment according to the cloth,” and have so far succeeded as never to report a _deficit_, in current expenses till this year. This was our novelty. Our friends did not like its looks any better than we did. The President took it in hand and shook it, at an expense to himself of $10. Rev. Dr. Mooar followed with another shake, at the same cost to his exchequer. Then good Dea. S. S. Smith, and minister after minister, followed in quick succession, till not a shred of it remained, and we find ourselves now with every bill paid, and a balance of $24.25, which we transfer to our Barnes Mission House Building Fund. Cold water was never more refreshing to a thirsty soul than was this spontaneous and unexpected offering--whether considered with reference to its _personelle_ or its results--to the heart of your Superintendent. We don’t mean to give our friends an opportunity to repeat the operation; but we shall remember it with gratitude and pleasure as long as we live. Following this were volunteer speeches, containing earnest expressions of good will and sympathy, and crowding one upon another in such a way that the time allotted proved to be all too short, and the only regret with which we closed the meeting was that so many who wished to speak, and whom we earnestly wished to hear, failed to have that opportunity.

_The Chinese Fishing Villages._--It is several years since I first visited a village of Chinese fishermen. I cannot say that the mere pleasure of the thing would prompt me to repeat the visit very frequently. There is nothing in the character of the dwellings, the appearance of their denizens, or the odors rising from their work, to tempt one to a protracted stay. But I thank God that I cannot go through even such a rude and motley and ill-odored settlement, without seeing the immortal souls of which these ill-kept bodies are the habitations, or without beginning to query if some way cannot be opened to pour in upon them the healing light of that world which needs no sun.

A few days ago a message came from one of them, by a Providence so marked that I ventured to think it a Macedonian Call, and to read in it God’s _promise_ of success. This village is on a little cape jutting out into San Francisco Bay and known as Point San Pedro. Mr. Charles W. Otis, my warm personal friend,--whom, with his excellent wife, it was my privilege many years ago, while pastor at Petaluma, to welcome to the fellowship of saints--has recently been placed in charge of the “ranch” of which this Point San Pedro is a part, and is thus brought into business relations with the Chinese who are tenants upon it. His heart is stirred for them, and he asked me if something could not be done to save them. I sent Wah Yene, our devoted helper at Petaluma, to explore, and he brings me, not only his own favorable testimony, but the following message from Mr. Otis: “Wah Yene has been here a few days canvassing in the Chinese school. He will report the prospects. That there is a field here for work among the more than 400, there is no doubt. We will furnish a house free, and I think I can get lumber from some building for furniture, seats, &c. My wife and I will assist all we can, though I shall be busy much of the time, but I can add something that, will help the good work along. * * * “I know so little of the ways and means and plans of the Chinese Mission that I am unable to say more than to promise a hearty co-operation in every possible way. We are very much pleased with Wah Yene, and Mrs. Otis is ready to ‘adopt’ him, and says she would feel safe with him near when I am compelled to be absent, as I shall be two or three times each week.” Mr. Otis goes on to intimate that he could give employment to Wah Yene for a part of each day, and assume a proportionate part of his support if we desire; or if we want him to devote his whole time to missionary service, he will provide him a room comfortably furnished, free of charge. And so Wah Yene starts to-day for a month’s trial of the work; and we, on our part, will do our best to make the trial a success.

* * * * *

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

* * * * *

A SLAVE-GIRL’S FAITH.

A TRUE STORY.

“Chillen, git on de bo’de,
Chillen, git on de bo’de,
Chillen, git on de bo’de, bo’de, bo’de,
Dere’s room for many a mo’,”--

were the words that came in high but not unmusical tones from the depths of the kitchen, where I knew Jule was struggling with the week’s ironing.

After puzzling over them for some time I cried, “What _does_ she mean, auntie?”

Auntie laughed. “Oh, you Yankee! Will you never learn negro talk? Do they never sing about the ‘gospel ship’ in Boston? That is what Jule means.”

“Oh, is that it?” I replied, laughing in my turn. “I couldn’t imagine how she was going to ‘get on a board’ with her two hundred pounds of flesh.

“I’m tired of sewing: I guess I’ll go down and talk to her a little while.”

Jule welcomed me to her snug kitchen, with a smile which disclosed her shining white teeth; and I seated myself by her ironing-table, and begged her to tell me of the days “befo’ de wah.”

“Tell me how you became free,” I said, as she resumed her work. “Were you set free, or did you run away?” hoping secretly that the latter was the case.

Her black eyes sparkled, and she tossed her gayly turbaned head, as she answered--

“’Deed, miss, I just runned away.”

“You did, Jule? How did you do it? Weren’t you frightened?”

“Well, honey, de good Lord just done helped me.”

“The Lord helped you? How?”

“Ah, chile, de Lord just as powerful now as when He showed de chillen of Isr’el de way to de promus land!”

“Of course,” I replied; “but He doesn’t interpose in the affairs of men as He did then. We have no pillars of fire, and no parting of the sea.”

“‘Deed, miss, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout your ’posing, and we didn’t have no pillow of fire; but de Lord done helped me hisself.”

“Well, tell me all about it, please.”

“You see, miss, we lived just outside dis yere city. One night somehow de cullud people hearn tell that Pres’dent Linkum was gwine to set all de niggahs in de District free, and ole mars was gwine to run us all down South to git clar ob de proclamashun. David, de dining-room boy, was a likely fellar; he had been about with young mars, and could read and write; so he heard de talk, and made up his mind to run away to Washington dat very night. Any one who wanted to could go ’long. Well, most of ’em was ready to go, my mammy among ’em. She said I could go too: but we didn’t know how I was to git away; fur, you see, miss, I was nurse to young mars’ chillen, and slept with dem in a room that you couldn’t git out’en ’thout gwine through his and Mis’ Virginny’s room. De do’ that went out into the hall was right at de head of their bed, and creaked mighty loud. I asked mammy what I should do, and she said, ‘Trus’ de Lord.’

“Well, we niggers went to bed same as ever, and de house was shut up. I didn’t go to sleep, but tried to trus’ de Lord. De chillen was sleeping sound, and so was young mars and Mis’ Virginny, when I heard a little tap on de winder, and knew it was de signal. I got on my knees in de bed, and I prayed hard, and I prayed strong. Then I took my shoes in my hand, and crep’ frou de do’ into young mars’ room, and round to de hall-do’, and put my hand on de knob. ’Deed, miss, but my heart was a-beatin’; for, if de do’ should creak, we were lost. ‘Good Lord, don’t let it creak,’ I whispered, and turned de knob. Bress yo’ heart, honey! that do’ opened jest as soft as a white baby’s bref,--that do’ that had always screeched like a nigger when he’s hurt. I stepped into de hall, shet de do’ behind me, went down stairs, an’ out by de smoke-house, an’ dare they all were; but, if de good Lord hadn’t helped me, I shouldn’t have been among ’em. Bress de Lord! Hallelujah!”

“But what did you do after you got to the smoke-house?” I asked.

“Oh, I was de las’ one; so we started right off. It was snowing, and I couldn’t stop to put on my shoes; but I was a stout girl, gwine on fo’teen, and didn’t mind de cold, for I was gwine to be free.”

“Weren’t you pursued?”

“Oh, yes, miss! By and by we heard horses come pounding along. We were nigh de cross-roads where de woods was thick; so we crep’ under de branches of de fir-trees. Pretty soon young mars and de overseer come ’long, and stopped to wonder which road we had taken. They swore and cussed right smart for a while, and then took de aqueduct road to Georgetown. When they had been gone a little while, we crep’ out, and took de other road that led all ’round ’cross de creek to Washington. ’Bout morning we saw de Yankee tents, and at noon we was free, bress de Lord!”

“Well, Jule, I’m much obliged for your story,” I said, rising to go, for auntie was calling me.

“‘Deed, honey, you’s welcome. Always put yo’ trus’ in de Lord, chile, He’ll keep de do’ from creaking.’”

As I went up stairs, she began to sing in a high key and with great fervor,--

“I’ll lub my Jesus till I die,
_Hal_lelujah!
He leaned from out de hebbenly sky,
_Hal_lelujah!”

--_Well-Spring._

* * * * *

RECEIPTS

FOR OCTOBER, 1880.

MAINE, $227.79.

Bangor. First Cong. Ch. $38.90
Blue Hill. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Bridgeton. Mrs. Rebecca Hale 4.00
Brownville. ---- 6.00
Cumberland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. to const. SILAS
M. RIDEOUT L. M. 30.00
East Madison. Eliza Bicknell 5.00
Eastport. Central Ch. Sab. Sch. 5.00
Gardiner. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.89
Garland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00
Hallowell. Fannie A. Davis, _Stu. Aid, Fisk U._ 25.00
Houlton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
Lewiston. C. C. Cobb, for Talladega, Ala. 10.00
Portland. Williston Ch. and Soc., to const
REV. FRANK E. CLARK. L. M. 40.00
Thomaston. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Woolwich. John Percy 2.00
------
217.79
Legacies, Hallowell--Mrs. Julia Talpey, by L.
D. Emerson, Ex. 10.00
------
227.79

NEW HAMPSHIRE $316.75.

Amherst. L. and L. K. Melendy, $20; Miss Lucy
Blunt, $10, _for Chapel, Wilmington, N. C._ 30.00
Antrim. “A Friend” 5.00
Candia Village. Jona Martin 5.00
Charlestown. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00
Dover. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 97.36
Greenville. E. G. Heald 6.00
Hancock. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00
Hanover. Dartmouth Religious Soc. 24.45
Hinsdale. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.53
Hollis. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.89
Merrimac. Cong. Ch. (ad’l) 5.00
Milford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.36
Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.15
New Boston. Pres. Ch. and Soc. 4.00
New Ipswich. Proceeds of Children’s Fair 13.00
Peterborough. M. R. 1.00
Pittsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.01
Temple. Cong. Sab. Sch. 16.00

VERMONT, $615.17.

Barnet. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.30
Barton Landing. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.75
Benson. Bale of C. _for Refugees_, by Rev. G.
Lyon.
Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. 26.58
Burlington. Mrs. F. S. 1.00
Danville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 27.00
Holland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.32
Londonderry. Mrs. Hepsibah H. Stowell 400.00
Ludlow. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.10
McIndoe’s Falls. Dea. Monteith 5.00
Newport. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.35
Norwich. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00
Saxton’s River. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.00
Saint Albans. A. O. Brainerd 20.00
Saint Johnsbury. North Cong. Sab. Sch. 25.00
Townshend. Mrs. N. D. Batchelder 2.00
West Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.77

MASSACHUSETTS, $3,815.00.

Agawam. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.17
Amherst. North Cong. Ch. and Soc., $60, to
const. MISS MARY D. FIELD and FRANK W.
HARRINGTON, L. M’s;--First Ch., $25. 85.00
Barnstable Co. “A Minister’s Widow” _to
furnish a room, Atlanta U._ 25.00
Bernardston. Orthodox Cong. Ch. 2.00
Bridgewater. Sarah L. Alden, $10.; Mrs. M. S.
Dunham, $2 12.00
Boston. “Teacher of A. M. A.” 2.00
Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.00
Brocton. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00
Brookline. W. H. White 10.00
Chelsea. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 109.57
Chicopee. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.34
Concord. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 39.00
Dorchester. Village Ch. and Soc. 32.87
Dorchester. Sab. Sch. of Second Cong. Ch.,
_for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 10.00
East Charlemont. Dea. P. Field 9.00
East Hampton. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$84.85; Cong. Sab. Sch., $25. 109.85
Essex Co. “Howard,” _for Brick Jacket for
Chapel, Wilmington, N. C._ 500.00
Gardner. J. B. Drury, to const. MRS. SARAH
JANE DRURY, L. M. 30.00
Hanson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.00
Harvard. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 32.78
Haverhill. North Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
Holyoke. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $15; Second
Cong. Ch. and Soc., $8.74. 23.74
Ipswich. First Cong. Ch., Bbl. of C.
Jamaica Plain. Central Cong. Ch. 817.00
Lancaster. Evan. Cong. Sab. Sch. 18.00
Lanesborough. “A Friend” 1.00
Littleton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.50
Long Meadow. Gents’ Benev. Soc. 28.75
Lynn. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc., $20.06;
North Cong. Ch. and Soc., $2.21 22.27
Middleborough. Miss E. P. K. 0.55
Natick. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 118.18
Newburyport. North Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.18
Newton. Eliot Cong. Ch. and Soc. 125.00
North Brookfield. Miss A. W. Johnson, _for
Student Aid, Fisk U._ 5.00
North Falmouth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00
North Leominster. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.50
North Reading. Miss E. F. E. 1.00
Norwood. Mrs. H. M. F., _for Indian M._ 1.00
Oxford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 34.00
Paxton. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch., to const.
REV. JOHN E. DODGE, L. M. 30.00
Palmer. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.46
Peabody. Joseph Anderson 10.00
Pepperell. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.17
Phillipston. Ladies’ Benev. Assn., Bbl of C.
Plainfield. Mrs. Albert Dyer, _for Student Aid_ 5.00
Plimpton. Carrie, Alice and Nellie Titcomb 3.00
Pittsfield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $37.50;
Second Cong. Sab. Sch., $5 42.50
Quincy. Evan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 72.00
Rehoboth. Cong. Ch. 5.00
Somerset. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00
South Hadley. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 31.00
South Middleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to
const. REV. EPHRAIM W. ALLEN, L. M. 30.00
South Weymouth. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. of Second
Cong. Ch. 19.00
South Walpole. J. F. W. 1.00
Spencer. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $132.60;
Young Ladies’ Miss. Circle, $12.35; Young
Ladies’ Soc. Bbl. of C. 144.95
Springfield. South Cong. Ch. and Soc., $43.25;
First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $39.10; Mrs.
Bowdoin, $10; Ira Merrill, $5; Mrs. Ira
Merrill, $5 102.35
Topsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.00
Townsend. “A Friend” 4.00
Wakefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. ($15 _of which
for Indian M_) 66.86
Walpole. E. P. Stetson, $50; Cong. Ch. and
Soc., $28.75 78.75
Westborough. Freedmen’s Mission Assn., 2 Bbls.
of C., _for Savannah and Atlanta, Ga._
West Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.35
Westfield. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 44.93
West Hampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.57
Weymouth. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.02
Whitinsville. Mrs. J. C. Whitin, _for Student
Aid, Talladega, Ala._ 30.00
Worcester. Piedmont Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$313.90, to const. THOMAS H. HODGE, JOHN B.
GOUGH, ANSON BANGS, C. M. DYER, DEA. E. T.
MARBLE, MRS. SARA PARTRIDGE, DEA. LYMAN
DRURY, DEA. F. B. KNOWLES, ARTHUR M. STONE
and E. C. CRANE L. M’s; Central Cong. Ch.
and Soc., $165.75; Salem St. Cong. Ch. and
Soc., $84.28; Old South Cong. Ch. and Soc.,
$58.91 622.84