Chapter I: Front Matter

VOL. XXXV. NO. 7.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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JULY, 1881.

_CONTENTS_:

EDITORIAL.

OUR ANNIVERSARY REPORTS 193
A BRIEF VIEW OF THE SITUATION—INTEMPERANCE IN THE
SOUTH 194
THE LAST MAN: Rev. C. P. Osborne 195
OUR BOSTON ANNIVERSARY 196
BENEFACTIONS 197
GENERAL NOTES—Africa, Indians, Chinese 198
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 201

THE FREEDMEN.

ANNIVERSARY REPORTS—D.C., Howard University 201
Va., Hampton Institute, Hampton 202
Tenn., Fisk University, Nashville 203
Miss., Tougaloo University, Tougaloo 205
La., Straight University, New Orleans 207
Tenn., Le Moyne Normal School, Memphis 208
Ala., Emerson Institute, Swayne School 209
Ga., Beach Institute, Byron 210
TALLADEGA COLLEGE—LAYING OF CORNER-STONE 210
NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE 211

AFRICA.

ORDINATION AT GOOD HOPE 212

THE CHINESE.

ANNIVERSARIES: Rev. W. C. Pond 214

WOMAN’S HOME MISS. ASSOC’N.

MONTHLY REPORT 216

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

STORY OF REBECCA 217

RECEIPTS 218

LIST OF OFFICERS 222

CONSTITUTION 223

AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS, ETC. 224

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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.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XXXV. JULY, 1881. NO. 7.

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_American Missionary Association._

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OUR ANNIVERSARY REPORTS.

We devote an unusual amount of space in this number to reports of the closing exercises of ten of our educational institutions at the South. Next month we purpose to add reports of others whose anniversaries occur too late for mention at this writing. It will be seen that the year has been an unusually prosperous one. The number of students, either of advanced grade or seeking for a higher education, has been larger, perhaps, than during any previous year. We note especially the large number of boarding students, and also the fact that the accommodations for them are by far too limited in many of our schools. The growing disposition of our students to continue their studies through as many months of the year as possible is a fact of much significance. It will be remembered that our missions have been richly blessed by outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and that a goodly number—sometimes whole classes—have indulged the hopes of a new life. Most of these will go forth to teach during the summer, and the rich experiences through which they have passed will prove of great value to them in their work. We know of no class of people needing the prayers of our patrons more than these. Perhaps the influence of our institutions upon the leading minds of the South, and especially upon those interested in popular education, was never so great. Governors of Southern States, mayors of cities, presidents of colleges, representatives of the pulpit, the bar and the press, attend our anniversary exercises, and enter heartily and with appreciation into the spirit of the work. We believe any one who will read the reports referred to will find much occasion for thanking God and taking courage.

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The reports of the exercises at Hampton, Va., and Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., were written by Virginians, and give a good idea of the drift of thought concerning our institutions among the better class of Southern people.

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A BRIEF VIEW OF THE SITUATION.

The gift of Mrs. Stone of $150,000 for new buildings at Fisk, Atlanta, Talladega, and New Orleans; the new educational institution at Austin, Texas, and our new churches organized the past year at the South, make additional demands upon our treasury. The churches should not be left to a feeble struggle for life, but be aided to a vigorous growth. The additional facilities at the schools mentioned, and the new institution in Texas, mean an increased number of students to be aided, and increased expense for teachers, for insurance, repairs and other incidentals. Our work among the Chinese in California calls urgently for enlargement; in fact, the continued existence of such a work means continued growth with increased expenditures.

A great pressure has been brought to bear upon us to do more for the education of Indian youth; but the work cannot be done without money. The success, however, at Carlisle and Hampton indicates clearly the hopefulness of doing much more. Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, England, has paid over £3,000, and British Christians have given a like amount, for a new mission on the Upper Nile, in East Central Africa; but the opening of the Arthington Mission will require $10,000 annually for its support.

It will be seen by these statements that the entrance to our different fields of labor has been thrown open more widely. We must settle the question as to whether we shall enter; but to enter means continued and efficient occupancy. “Occupy till I come” is the command of the Great Teacher. The gate is not open to a haven of rest, but to a field of labor, and additional labor calls for additional expense. Nothing short of an increase of 25 per cent. of the income of the Association will be adequate to meet the increased demands. The pastors and officers of the churches are our most effectual helpers in raising the amount required. Will they not come to our relief right early? The people will give of their means if the work and its wants are properly presented to them; and if God has set before us these open doors, surely He will add His blessing as we enter.

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INTEMPERANCE IN THE SOUTH.

One of the “decisive battles” to be fought by and in behalf of the colored people of the South is on the field of intemperance. Slavery made this vice impossible. Emancipation, with all its manifold blessings, opened the gates to its entrance, and these once opened, it now pours in like a flood.

The cannonading has already begun in some of the Southern States in regard to prohibition, local option and other legal safeguards; but in this, as in other battles, small arms and the hand-to-hand fight must win the victory. Man by man, must the victims of this vice be warned and rescued, and especially must the young, individual by individual, be instructed, warned, pledged to personal abstinence, and enlisted in the work of saving others. The schools of the American Missionary Association are the very citadels of drill and equipment in this warfare. Their students must be the vanguard in the onset, and the “old guard” that “never surrenders” in the hottest fight.

We rejoice to know that our schools and their students are alert and active in their duties in this respect. Temperance literature and the prayers of God’s people are invoked in their behalf.

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THE LAST MAN.

REV. C. P. OSBORNE.

The first man is named by sacred history. Scientific prophecy ventures to tell us who the last man is to be.

Prof. Alphonse de Candolle, son and successor of the great naturalist, wrote, a few years since, some interesting speculations on the probable future of the human race. This paper was deemed of sufficient value to be republished in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, for the year 1875. In the course of his discussion the eminent writer shows reason for believing that the last man is to be, not one man, but three. The future history of mankind, leaving out of the account any possible catastrophe that might suddenly extinguish the race, will be, in his view, somewhat as follows.

For an extended period the population of the globe, favored by improved methods of agriculture, by migration to unoccupied lands, by general prevalence of peace consequent upon higher morality, will increase until the world is stocked with inhabitants to its fullest capacity. Then, after a period, will begin a process of depopulation. The conditions of life in the colder regions will be greatly changed by growing scarcity of the fuel supply; the world’s stock of minerals will be gradually exhausted by rust and wear, which will bring an end of ships, railroads and commerce, and thus increase the difficulty of maintaining life; and the incessant action of water, ice and air will constantly diminish the land area of the globe, until only mountains will remain as islands above the surface of the sea. Under the combined action of these agencies, the principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest will come into play with decisive effect, and in the struggle for life the weaker races will one by one succumb and disappear. Three races, however, exhibit qualities which fit them to survive beyond all others.

1. The white race, as represented by Europeans and their American descendants, thanks to their intelligence and habitual bravery, skill, and the confidence they can place in each other, will sustain the struggle. 2. The negroes also will prevail, on account of their physical vigor, power to resist malaria and to flourish in tropical regions, where the white race rapidly deteriorates. 3. The yellow race, represented principally by the Chinese, will maintain their place, since they have great vigor of stock, a capacity to exist on small resources, and alone seem sufficiently intelligent and robust to struggle in all latitudes with both the other races.

The last man, then, is to be a white man, a negro and a Chinaman. But de Candolle seems to think that the negro may, after all, be the last man of this triumvirate. For the white man, occupying scattered islands in the colder regions, and deprived of fuel, might be exterminated by the more or less periodical invasions of ice from polar regions, while the black man could continue to subsist with little effort on the pulp of tropical melons.

Such is a brief outline of the curious speculations of this eminent savant. Of their value as science or prophecy, of their correspondence with Biblical views of the future of human history, let the reader make his own judgment. The writer simply asks attention to a few obvious suggestions.

1. It is a very significant fact that a man of recognized eminence as a scientist should, in a glance at the probable future of mankind, give so important a place to the despised African. It is a fact that more than justifies all the deep interest of the Christian and the philanthropist in that unfortunate race. Christians are not in any danger of giving undue attention to the claims of the negro upon their prayers and benefactions.

2. The conclusions of science, that the African race is fitted to persist among the latest inhabitants of the earth, are confirmed by the evidence of facts. The census of 1880 produced two genuine surprises. First, the fact that the largest relative increase of population in the United States during the last decade was in the former slave States. Second, that this result was due to the fact that while the increase of the whites of those States was some two per cent. below the average for the whole country, the increase of the blacks was more than three per cent. above that average.

It is thus demonstrated that negroes are not to be numbered with those races which, like Australians, Hawaiians and American Indians, fade away and disappear in the presence of more civilized races. The negro in warm latitudes has shown his ability, with less than a fair chance, to hold more than his own with the white man. We may no longer hope that the grave problems, social, political and religious, connected with his residence in our land, are to be solved by the gradual extinction of the race. The black man will not die; he must be instructed and evangelized.

3. If we are to have black men and yellow men for our neighbors to the end of time, it is for our interest to be on good terms with them. As a matter of policy it will be best for us to do all we can to make them comfortable—I may even say, companionable neighbors.

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OUR BOSTON ANNIVERSARY.

It will be remembered by our readers that during the last week in May the six co-operative Societies sustained largely by the Congregationalists, hold anniversary meetings in Boston. This year the meetings were held on Wednesday, the 25th. The day was bright and breezy, and the congregations throughout were larger than usual. The meeting of the American Missionary Association closed the morning session.

A report was made by Secretary Woodworth, reviewing, in brief, the several branches of the work carried on by the Association during the past nineteen years. Mr. Woodworth’s address was replete with facts and statistics, giving a comprehensive view of the importance, success and necessities of the Association.

Rev. J. F. Lovering, of Worcester, was the first speaker. During his address he mentioned the fact that a negro family of his acquaintance, in Massachusetts, found it difficult to rent a house on account of their color, and argued that if there be such prejudices still at the North, we ought not to be surprised if they yet exist at the South. He related several instances coming under his observation during the war, showing the religious nature of the colored people and their love for knowledge, closing his address with a graphic description of a company of colored women and children singing songs of thanksgiving to troops returning from the war.

Hon. J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, was the next speaker. He urged the work of saving the Freedmen as a duty upon us from a common-sense and statesmanlike view, as well as from a religious consideration. He said: “They will never vote safely until they vote intelligently. They will always be at the mercy of others until they can think for themselves. They are not like the Mexicans, who have not changed for a century, but they are eager for knowledge, plastic, and have already made astonishing advances. They spend their money freely, and if educated will like their homes tasteful and attractive. In so low a view as the commercial one, we should be deeply interested for these people. There are only about twenty-five colored lawyers and a hundred doctors among them. In the time of the yellow fever, one of the latter remained through it all and cared for the people. When his work was over, a large company of white citizens gratefully followed him to the depot with a band of music, showing that color is forgotten when there is ability and power.”

Mr. Gregory is now building a mission home and remodeling the school-house at Wilmington, N.C., at an expense of about $8,000. These buildings are in close proximity to the new church edifice also built by him, an account of which was given in the AMERICAN MISSIONARY for May.

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BENEFACTIONS.

—Yale and Hamilton Colleges are to receive $40,000 each from the estate of James Knox, of Knoxville, Ill.

—Dartmouth College receives a bequest of $5,000 from the late Hon. H. C. Burleigh, of Great Falls, N.H.

—Hon. E. B. Morgan, of Auburn, N.Y., has given Wells College, Aurora, $10,000, making his gifts to it upwards of $160,000.

—Col. Gardner A. Sage, of New York, has given $90,000 to the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America, situated at New Brunswick, N.J.

—Hon. J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass., has recently added to his gift to the A. M. A. of $3,600 for a church at Wilmington, N.C., $3,500 as the first installment for a school building to be erected in close proximity to the new church.

—A banker of Altenburg recently bequeathed $187,000 for endowments in the University of Jena. The government of Saxe-Altenburg, however, retained $54,000 of the amount as legal duty, thereby reducing the endowment to $133,000.

—Col. C. G. Hammond, of Chicago, has offered $20,000 towards establishing an endowment fund of $80,000 for the Congregational Theological Seminary of that city. Not long since Mr. Hammond contributed $25,000 for a library building to the same institution.

_The endowment of the young institutions for the education of colored people South, presents a fine field for the exercise of such wise charity as is shown in some of the liberal donations above._

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GENERAL NOTES.

AFRICA.

—Dr. Laws, of the Scotch Mission on Lake Nyassa, discovered two coal seams on the north-eastern end of the lake.

—The Akankoo Gold Mining Company has ordered the explorer Cameron to go to the Gold Coast to study the mineral ores of the grant which it holds.

—Dr. Lanz has exploded the theory of converting the Sahara into an ocean. He reports that the most depressed portion of El Juf, the body of the desert, is nearly five hundred feet above the level of the sea.

—M. Harold Tarry, a member of the French Sahara commission, has discovered, south of Wargla, the ruins of the large city of Cedradra buried under the shifting sands. A mosque and nine houses have been excavated containing columns, statuary and charred manuscripts.

—The village of Roumbeck contains a hundred _toukouls_ (cabins built upon piles to preserve them from the ravages of the white ants). This is the chief place of the province of Rohl. Here are collected ostrich plumes, caoutchouc, tamarinds and cotton, which are sent to Khartoum.

—The efforts of the French to find tracing for a railroad across the Great Desert to Timbuctoo have met with disaster. The great expedition under Col. Flanders, when nearly across the desert, was, according to most reliable reports, attacked by the hostile natives and destroyed.

—Dr. Oscar Lanz, the leader of the German expedition to Timbuctoo, has accomplished the object of his mission. He started from Morocco, taking a south-easterly course across the Great Desert. In returning he followed the route to the westward toward the Senegal river, arriving safely at St. Louis on the coast, after experiencing many delays and hardships. He went in the disguise of a Turkish physician, taking with him one Italian and five Arab servants.

—Timbuctoo is described as lying on the southern edge of the Sahara near the Niger, is five miles in circumference, and surrounded on all sides by plains of white sand. Its population has decreased, many of the houses are in ruins, but it is still the most important city in Central Africa and the great emporium for the slave trade of those regions.

—Dr. Holub is preparing to start for the Cape of Good Hope, from whence he will travel towards the interior of the continent, with the expectation of coming out at some point on the Mediterranean. Although his trip is essentially a scientific one, he will not neglect the commercial question. He is connected with important houses of Vienna, with which he will attempt to establish relations with the tribes of the interior of Africa.

—On his return from Bahr-el-Ghazal, Gessi found Khartoum very different from what he had seen it three years before. The European colony had transformed it. The Catholic mission had become the instructor of the population. The traders had imported all the products of European industry. Houses with magnificent stores had been erected, and one could obtain there all that was required for modern civilization. It had become a centre of exportation for the products of Soudan. To remedy the inconvenience of expensive voyages, they already thought of establishing in the neighborhood a permanent place for receiving the wax, rubber and ivory which they brought from the more central countries.

—The French missionaries who are in the Egyptian Soudan complain that the slave trade is more active than ever, and that far from taking measures to prevent it, the regular troops take part in the plunder in the neighborhood of the White Nile, where they capture thousands of slaves of both sexes and all ages. One of the missionaries saw at Fachoda a number of children taken to the slave market. Another reports that the mountains south of Kordufan are inhabited by a very beautiful race of negroes, who have resisted all efforts of the proselytizing Mussulman. These are sold at high prices, and the slave-hunters regard them as a favorite prey. This missionary also relates that a dozen valleys were recently ravaged by the Bagarahs.

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THE INDIANS.

—In British America, during the past 20 years, more than 13,000 Indians have been received into the Church of England.

—There is a church organization at Fort Wrangel, Alaska Territory, among the Stickenn tribe of Indians, with a membership of about forty. In connection with this, an industrial school and home for girls has been established.

—The Indians at present in close relations with the Presbyterian church number about 16,000, and may be divided as follows: Mohave, 838; Chimehneva, 200; Coahuila, 150; Cocopah, 180; Pima, 4,500; Maricopa, 500; Papago, 6,000; the San Carlos, White Mountain, Coyotero, Tonto, Chiricahua, Cochise, Ojo Caliente, Yuma and Mohave Apaches, 4,878; Hualapai, 620; Yuma, 930; Suppai, 75; and Quacharty’s, 400.

These are grouped into the three agencies of Colorado River, Pima and San Carlos. They number 2,218 children of school age. They had 7,700 acres of land under cultivation, and raised 43,333 bushels of wheat, 2,493 of corn, and 10,833 of barley and oats.

—Some poet at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., has set forth the merits of the Indian training-school at that point as follows:

“The Garrison, where tap of drum was rule,
Is now the famous Indian Training School.
In days of yore, the Soldiers there were taught
That RED MEN’S USE WAS ONLY TO BE FOUGHT.
But note the change! The reign of Peace is near,
The ploughshare conquers deadly sword and spear.
The cunning pen shall in their swarthy hand
A swifter missile be than burning brand.
Their only WATCH-FIRE shall be REASON’S LIGHT—
Their only WARFARE, BATTLING FOR THE RIGHT.”

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THE CHINESE.

—It is a significant fact that nearly all of the thirty men-of-war composing the fleet of the Chinese navy are commanded by European officers.

—The Young Men’s Christian Association at Tokio, Japan, consisting wholly of natives, has concluded to start a religious magazine.

—During the past eight years, which will measure the time of actual service of the Protestant missions in Japan, the work has been so far advanced that at present there are 160 missionaries, with 50 churches organized and a total membership of 8,000. There are also schools, dispensaries, colleges and publishing houses, which circulate the Scriptures and religious reading in all parts of the empire.

—It is reported, concerning the Chinese boarding-school for boys at Ningpo, that nothing has appeared for years that seems to so fully enlist the interest and co-operation of all the natives. Although the school is under native management, the foreign members of the Presbytery with which it is connected have a voice in its affairs. Contributions for its support have been given freely both by the converts and heathen people. It seems that the method pursued is similar to that carried on so generally in the A. M. A. schools South.

—Lai Tip, a Chinese laundryman, was recently murdered on Spring Street, New York, while returning from the Sunday-school of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. It appears he was set upon by two or three roughs, and while stooping to recover his hat, which had been knocked off, received from a knife fatal wounds from which he died on the third day. His funeral was attended by Rev. Drs. Hall and Crosby, and he was buried amid a large attendance of Chinamen at Machpelah Cemetery, Hoboken, N.J. The murder was most shameful and unprovoked.

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ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

FLATONIA, TEX.—“The box you spoke of in your letter was received last week. Maps are just what we need and will be a great help. Almost everything was of use, and I consider it a very valuable box, unusually so. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the donors if I knew them. Please do so for me. I know that those who keep up the supplies at home like to be assured that their gifts are appreciated.”

COLORED SUNDAY-SCHOOLS, N.C.—“Happy Greeting” Union Sunday-school is the name of one of eight schools organized during the last two months by a missionary of the American Sunday-school Union in North Carolina. “This name,” he writes, “was adopted by a cheerful crowd of colored people.” Another of these schools is called “Valley Home.” Very few among those people were able to read the Bible. In a class of twenty-five, only one could tell the name of the first book in it. Some said that Jacob built the ark. When asked how the Israelites expressed their joy after crossing the Red Sea in safety, one said: “I s’pose, sir, dey shot off big guns and holler’d!” and all present nodded their assent.

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THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOS. E. ROY, D.D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

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ANNIVERSARY REPORTS.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY.

Commencement Exercises of the Theological Department of Howard University were held in the Memorial Lutheran Church, Fourteenth Street and Vermont Avenue, Washington, D.C., Friday evening, May 6th, 1881, at 7.45 o’clock. A large audience of white and colored friends was present, including various U.S. Senators and other persons of influence.

ORDER OF EXERCISES.

Music; Prayer by Rev. W. W. Patton, D.D., Pres. Howard University; reading of the Scriptures by Rev. J. G. Butler, D.D.; Music; Addresses by Graduates; The Perpetuity of the Church, by Emory W. Williams, Prince George’s Co., Md.; Man, a Religious Being, by William A. Shannon, Washington, D.C.; Music; The Christian Minister, by George V. Clark, Atlanta, Ga.; Our Duty to Africa, by Jarrett E. Edwards, Columbia, S.C.; Music; Address to Graduates, by Rev. Charles A. Stark, D.D., Lutheran, Baltimore, Md.; Presentation of Bibles to the Graduates, in behalf of the Washington Bible Society, by Rev. A. W. Pitzer, D.D.; Conferring Certificates, by Rev. J. G. Craighead, D.D., Dean Theo. Dept. The addresses were of a creditable character and gave promise of future usefulness.

The following persons connected with the Congregational, Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations, having pursued studies in the Theological Department, now leave the University to engage in the work of the Ministry in their respective churches: George V. Clark, Atlanta, Ga.; Thomas H. Datcher, Washington, D.C.; Jarrett E. Edwards, Columbia, S.C.; John H. T. Gray, Prince George’s County, Md.; Thomas H. Jones, Baltimore, Md.; William A. Shannon. Washington, D.C.; Emory W. Williams, Prince George’s County, Md.

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HAMPTON INSTITUTE.

REPORTED BY JUDGE WATKINS, A VIRGINIAN.

Those whose good fortune it was to be present will “not willingly let die” the pleasant memories of the Commencement day at Hampton, Va., on the 19th May, 1881. Representatives of widely circulated journals have made public record of many good things said and done on this occasion. Some of the incidents will interest readers of the MISSIONARY.

The illness of Mrs. Garfield, regretted by all, prevented the President’s attendance. General Howard, Governor Holliday of Virginia, Rev. Dr. Potter, and other representative men and women, contributed largely to the pleasures of the day. The full and most interesting report to the corporation of Principal Armstrong gave satisfactory evidence of the God-blest success and continuing usefulness of this noble enterprise. A large edition of this valuable paper will be issued, and will, it is hoped, be widely circulated. No report of any year in Hampton’s history has been more satisfactory.

An account of the public exercises of the day for the MISSIONARY must necessarily be brief. At 8.30 a. m. the new Academic Hall was dedicated. Bishop Payne, of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, in most appropriate words and manner, offered the dedicatory prayer. General Howard followed in an address of marked ability, and of broad and liberal and most approved views, admirably presented, basing his brief and pertinent remarks upon the duties of the hour in reference to the negro on the editorial in the Memphis _Appeal_ reproduced in the May MISSIONARY. Governor Holliday, of Virginia, was introduced to General Howard. Both had lost an arm in battle. With their left hands in cordial grasp, they exchanged fraternal salutations. The incident gave unaffected pleasure to all who witnessed it.

The corner-stone of the Stone Memorial building, for colored girls’ industries (the generous donation of Mrs. Stone of Massachusetts), and the corner-stone of the Indian Girls’ building, were laid. The Rev. Dr. Strieby, president of the corporation, delivered the address in the first, and Rev. Dr. Potter, of New York, in the latter of the ceremonies. Both gentlemen performed the duty assigned them most acceptably to the friends of the institution.

The large and interested audience filled the chapel of Virginia Hall to its utmost capacity to hear the public addresses of six of the alumni. These performances were made in excellent taste, the elocution being exceptionally good, and the views were expressed in a style and range of thought above the average Commencement orator, and reflected honor on the _Alma Mater_ and her sons and daughters.

In appropriate terms General Armstrong introduced General Howard, Dr. Potter and Governor Holliday, of Virginia, whose words of wit and wisdom were enthusiastically received. His Excellency, who is a Christian gentleman of enlarged views and a broad-gauge statesman, gave cordial welcome to the strangers within the gates of the Old Dominion, and in fitting words of sincere and merited commendation approved and indorsed all that had been done and so well done at Hampton.

Much more might be said; less could not be said. God will, it is not doubted, continue to call from Hampton to His service Christian men and women, _workers_ in His vineyard, who will illustrate that

“Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than War.”

The Hampton Institute is becoming more known and appreciated in Virginia and the neighboring States. Its alumni are occupying positions of practical usefulness, and discharge the high duties of good citizens well and faithfully. Virginians believe that Principal Armstrong is emphatically the right man in the right place, and that, with General Marshall, Miss Mackie and others on his staff, he will push forward the good work in which they are engaged, and will continue to merit and receive the grateful appreciation of the people of the commonwealth. Above all, they invoke that blessing of God in the future which has been so signally manifested in the past.

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FISK UNIVERSITY.

PROF. C. C. PAINTER.

No one can properly appreciate or understand Fisk University who does not take into account the model school whose unique anniversary exercises occurred on Thursday p. m., preceding those of the University proper. The school is under the management of Miss Irene Gilbert, who is assisted by students from the Normal Department. The excellency of her work is not found alone in the perfection of drill which every exercise shows, but in the exquisite finish of whatever work is done. A recent graduate from Williston Seminary and of the Sheffield Scientific School, with whom I visited this school one day when it was not on exhibition, and examined the children’s work in map drawing, declared that he had never seen any work of the kind that compared with it. The exhibition given by these children made it easier to understand the uniformly excellent work apparent in all the classes of the higher grades witnessed during the three days’ examinations of the next week. Miss Gilbert trains up the child in the way he should go, and in the higher departments he does not depart from it.

The Baccalaureate sermon of President Cravath on Sunday afternoon, from Heb. xi. 27, “For he endured as seeing Him who is invisible,” was able and timely; well calculated to inspire his hearers with the faith and courage requisite for the great work which lies before them as leaders of their emancipated people through the wilderness which still surrounds and stretches out before them, after sixteen years of wanderings.

A rainy evening gave a much smaller audience to hear Dr. G. D. Pike’s missionary sermon than would otherwise have greeted him. He must be a laggard indeed who, hearing the Doctor on his favorite theme of missions, does not become inoculated with something of his divine enthusiasm.

Space cannot be given for even a full programme of the exercises, which filled to the full Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; examinations in the mornings until 1 p. m., and exhibitions in the evenings by the Normal School, the Literary Society and the College Preparatory Class; and it would be exceedingly common-place to say, what simple truth demands should be said, that they were all excellent. One of the visitors said at the close of the Normal School exhibition on Monday, that he did not expect to hear anything better even from the graduating class; but on Thursday candidly admitted his mistake, as there was just such advance as there ought to have been to mark the advanced grade of the pupils. Perhaps, instead of giving a programme of these exercises, it will prove more profitable to state impressions derived from them.

This was the first time the writer has had the privilege of attending the closing exercises of this or of any school for the education of these people. Brought up among them, and always accustomed to regard them as inferior, he shared until recently the feeling so prevalent that in their education nothing more should be attempted than a fair common school training. This is not the place in which to argue that there is urgent need that the leaders of 7,000,000 people, who are to be redeemed from ignorance and lifted into a plane where they shall command the respect of those who are now unjustly prejudiced against them, shall be thoroughly disciplined and broadly educated; but it is the time to express the opinion of the writer, and of several others who attended with great interest these exercises, with something of his prejudices, that these students showed conclusively that they are capable of taking on the same culture, and under it of reaching the same excellencies of thought and discipline, as the more favored whites attain under like training; and that an objection to their higher education must be based on other ground than their inability to receive it, or the need of their race for such leaders as this school is sending out from year to year.

A gentleman, native of Tennessee, who has recently been called from the presidency of a Southern College to the management of the educational work of the State, was present during the commencement exercises, and contrasted them with those of the graduating class of the first institution of the State for whites, in terms so complimentary to the negro students, that, out of deference to the whites, his language will be omitted.

This work is no longer tentative. Both the possibility and value of it have been fully demonstrated, and the urgent demand is that the University shall be fully equipped for it. The point has been reached, in the estimation of all who know anything of its history, needs and opportunities, when it must be enlarged or suffer irreparably. It was, therefore, with gladness of heart that a large number of its friends, white and black, from the city and from other States, gathered to lay the corner-stone of Livingstone Missionary Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Gen. Fisk presided most felicitously, and the address of Dr. Strieby was in every way happy and inspiring. It was a regular love feast, not simply because there was so much of the Methodist element in it, as represented by the General and his excellent lady, and Dr. McFerrin—“a rebel who fought on the last ten acres left for the rebellion to stand upon,” and who overcame great obstacles to get out to the exercises, despite attractions in other directions, and made a delightful speech, full of good feeling—but because there was such a flowing together of hearts and good-will from all classes as represented on the occasion. Dr. Strieby should be requested to print his speech in full and distribute it all over the land, and with it should go the eight or ten other excellent shorter speeches which followed, one of which was by the city’s treasurer, who came to represent the Historical Society.

There was a poem written for the occasion by Prof. Spence, and read by one of the pupils, Miss Allen, who has remarkable powers as a reader.

The address from Rev. C. H. Daniels, of Cincinnati, which followed the graduating addresses of the class, was able and timely. His theme was “The dignity and value of the individual man.” It was every way a manful presentation of a manly subject, and was a fitting _finale_ to the very able and manly addresses of the graduating class.

The diplomas were presented by Gen. Fisk in a brief address full of pathos and good sense, with happy allusions in each case to the theme of the recipient’s address. After this came the Alumni dinner, plain and substantial, and the speeches following, which were fully up to those of older and more pretentious societies.

And thus closed the fullest and most hopeful year in the history of this institution, which is beginning to excite the deepest interest among the people of the State, who are awakening to the fact that it is offering the only solution to many dark problems which to them seemed without an answer, or at least one that had anything of hope in it.

We cannot better close this article than by giving the following extract from an editorial from the _American_, the ablest and most influential paper of the State:

“In the proceedings at the Fisk University, yesterday, another step forward was taken in the way of providing material means for that moral and intellectual growth which is going on silently as a great institution grows and roots itself firmly in the society around it. Universities are not created in a day, nor at all by money, although money is a necessary agency. They grow. The Fisk is passing through with comparatively the early stages of growth, when we compare it with the ideal which finds place in the dreams of its enthusiastic laborers—dreams which enfold the future result. We doubt if the public, although it lend a hearty sympathy and approval, and expect good to flow from it, begins yet to realize the work this institution is to perform. We doubt if there is such appreciation anywhere existent or possible except in the dreams of its enthusiast laborers. These in some way comprehend its future. But the Fisk has had to adapt itself in more ways than one. At first it encountered, as a matter of course, but cold approval from the wealth and culture of Nashville—not hostility, but approval from a languid and cold judgment. But perhaps the hardest task has been to adapt itself to the negro himself. To secure the cold approval of intelligent judgment was apparently easy; to go a little further and secure aid, if it were necessary, would not be hard; but to lift the negro up to appreciate New England culture and conservatism and quiet labor, is like bringing him, in his early religious experience, to accept the calm conservatism and quiet demeanor of the Catholic, Presbyterian or Episcopal churches. In vain is he solicited to enter the intellectual stage of religious experience, when nature tells him that his stage is the emotional, if indeed it be beyond the sensuous. This is the task Fisk has set itself, and is performing, and performing well. It is encountering, and has encountered, a world of prejudice from the very race it seeks to elevate, and must content itself with working upon and with the _creme de la creme_ of the race in the South, while it cannot as yet reach the vast mass unless it let itself down, and we believe that so long as its present laborers are at the helm it will insist on drawing others up and never let itself down. It has a great and widening field, which it is worthily filling, and in the labor of regeneration of a race, no agency will have a higher, or indeed so high a place as this conservative school, which is filling so difficult a position.

“We are not unmindful also of the necessity for quite other laborers in the regeneration of this race. It is just as necessary in school as in church that this yet blind and emotional creature, ‘crying for the light with no language but a cry,’ shall have tendance suited to his condition and upon his own level.”

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TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.

The annual examinations in this institution began on Thursday, May 26th, continuing Friday and also Monday forenoon. Many friends of students were present from various parts of the State. The forenoon of Sunday was taken up with the Sunday-school, with its very instructive lessons from the parable of the talents, and immediately following this a temperance Bible reading, with its intensely practical and stirring appeals. The latter was especially timely, inasmuch as a large number of temperance tracts, pamphlets and papers had been distributed to all the members, just before, for circulation as they return this summer to their own homes, or go forth to engage in teaching. Supplied in this way, the students from this school are the means of disseminating through the State a great deal of good temperance literature, and are enabled to organize a multitude of little temperance societies.

It will not be amiss to note the fact, as illustrating the high value of just this sort of work, that besides these societies established by the students of this University, there is no kind of temperance organization among the colored people in the State. At the same time, the prevalence of drunkenness, and of the habit of drinking among all classes, is appalling. The following incident shows the crying need of a _reform movement_: A colored church not far from here had communion service, and when it was concluded, the pastor and deacons tarried, and following, as they believed, (?) the instruction of the Bible, where it says, “drink ye all of it,” consumed what was left of the generous supply of wine, and thus made themselves beastly drunk.

Sunday was filled up with impressive services. In the afternoon the Lord’s Supper was commemorated, and five of the students united with the church, receiving the rite of baptism. In the evening, Dr. Strieby preached a sermon from the text. “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Every word was listened to with closest attention.

On Monday evening the Preparatory School Exhibition, under the management of the teachers of the Primary and Preparatory departments, was held in the chapel, presenting to a crowded audience a varied programme, made up of recitations, declamations, songs, &c. A prominent feature of this exhibition was a strong and well appreciated temperance dialogue.

It was a manifest disappointment to all when Tuesday dawned cloudy and dark, with every prospect of a rainy time. The exercises of the day were accordingly held in the barn, instead of the grove, for which all arrangements had been made. The forenoon was taken up with the commencement exercises of the Normal department. The orations and essays were presented by members of the Middle and Junior Classes, with the single exception of an oration by the one graduate from the Normal course. As was said on that day, what the graduating class lacked in quantity was well made up in quality. We expect a very high order of work and Christian influence from Henry Lanier.

In the afternoon the interesting ceremony of laying the foundation of “Strieby Hall,” the new boy’s dormitory, was followed by a procession to the chapel again, where the annual address was given by Dr. Strieby. This was a stirring presentation of the reason why the American Missionary Association is to-day in the field of Southern Freedmen education, and of exactly what it is aiming to do for the colored race. It was shown how this Association was pioneer in the work, and how, gradually, the most prominent and cultured of Southern gentlemen have come to regard the higher education of the race as possible, and, now, as a necessity to the prosperity and the material advancement of the region.

Col. Power, who with other gentlemen from Jackson had been present through the day to witness the exercises, was then called upon to speak. He alluded to the exercises of the forenoon with appreciation of the orations and essays presented, referring to one of the former as “eloquent,” and added a glowing word of tribute to the sweet music rendered by the students. He assured all present that the white people of the State are now in hearty sympathy with the work of the education of the colored race. Immediately after the war, he frankly admitted, the people were not attracted by the idea, but now a better opinion prevails, and they see that education must be given to all, white and black.

H.

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STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY.

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

We come to the close of another school year with a profound sense of gratitude to God for His guiding Providence, and for His blessing upon the work undertaken in His name. We have had 328 names upon our rolls, with a large average attendance. There has been a marked advance in scholarship, and we are justified in saying with regard to all the pupils, “Our labor has not been in vain.” There have been years of decline, since the first burst of enthusiasm after the war, in education; but a better and more hopeful era has dawned, when interest in the general education of the people, and the higher grades of scholarship, is in the ascendant. From this time on, the demand for education among the colored people will be more intelligent and abiding.

THE EXAMINATIONS.

showed thoroughness of instruction, and aptness in learning and retaining what was taught. Many kind words of appreciation and pleasure were spoken by the visitors and trustees. One of our merchants who attended Professor Jewett’s examination of the class in botany said: “What would the planters up in Ouchita Parish say if they should happen in here now and hear a ‘nigger’ analyzing a Morning Glory?”

THEOLOGICAL ANNIVERSARY.

While the Theological department has been in existence for eleven years, we have never graduated a student till this year. The theological and literary attainments of the students would never have justified us in doing it. It is little less than a crime to confer an unmerited degree upon a young man. It would not only be a fraud, but a source of constant embarrassment to him. This year we had as a student Mr. A. E. P. Albert, who studied some time at Atlanta University, and who joined our senior class of the University and the Theological school in October. He is a regularly ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a young man of culture and ability. On Sunday night he delivered his address, taking as his subject, “Like Priest, Like People.” It was able, impressive, and appropriate for the time and the people. The President followed with a plea for an “Educated Ministry;” and then the degree of Bachelor of Divinity was conferred upon Mr. Albert. I trust all subsequent degrees will be as worthily bestowed.

LITERARY EXHIBITION.

In the afternoon of Commencement day, our University chapel was filled with an intelligent and interested audience. The exercises, consisting of orations, compositions and recitations, were entirely by the undergraduates. We furnished a pleasant entertainment to the citizens, and identified the entire school with Commencement day.

At night Central Church was packed in every part, pews, aisles, vestibule and gallery, with an eager, expectant audience, comprising the best element of the colored population of New Orleans. Such an assembly was never gathered in Central Church before. The audience itself was an inspiration and showed a deep and intelligent interest in the holy cause represented. A goodly number of our white friends were present, and were among the most enthusiastic in their congratulations.

Rev. H. M. Smith, D.D., editor of the _South-Western Presbyterian_, offered the prayer, in which he thanked God for the existence of Straight University and the good it had done.

The five young men composing the senior class, who made their salutations to the audience, represented three of the Southern States, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Their orations were well written and well delivered. One of the orations was solicited for publication by two of the New Orleans papers represented in the audience by their editors.

The music, both in the afternoon and evening, was exceptionally fine, and so pronounced by all. It was entirely under the direction of Professor J. M. McPherron, and reflected great credit upon his method and excellence of instruction.

STONE HALL.

The new dormitory for girls will be entirely finished by July 15th.

It must be furnished by the 1st of October. Milwaukee, Wis., West Newton, Mass., and Evansville, Ind., have already forwarded money to furnish and name a room. Others have the money partly raised. Dear friends, come to our help at once. Send $50, if you can. Send $25, or $10, or $5. Do the best you can and at once. It is God’s work, and we ask your aid in His name.

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LE MOYNE NORMAL INSTITUTE.

PROF. A. J. STEELE, MEMPHIS.

The passing months have again brought us to where we may look back over the entire work of the year. While we grieve over opportunities lost and efforts to all appearance fruitless, we can, too, rejoice that the “Master of the harvest” has given increase. The year has been one, on many accounts, unusually successful and satisfactory. Never before have we known our pupils so susceptible to all good influences and so ready to receive instruction and guidance from their teachers.

During the year past, the school has experienced a most precious revival, over forty of our young people professing conversion. In our closing prayer meeting for the year, it was found that there were but about a dozen students of the Normal department who had not accepted the Saviour.

In way of school work we have never before secured so satisfactory results as this year has shown. Our attendance has been more constant, and consequently our work more thorough.

A class of eight—five young men and three young ladies—this year complete the course of study, and go out to work at teaching in three different States, one taking a prominent place in the schools at Fort Smith, Ark.

We have for the entire year had the active sympathy and hearty encouragement of the best people of the city; Gen. Humes, a very prominent lawyer and formerly a major-general in the Confederate army, giving the annual address, and the daily papers making full reports of lectures, graduating exercises, &c.

Our industrial work has developed to our entire satisfaction, and by all our patrons and friends is now regarded as a very important and valuable feature of the school.

A class of girls has had careful instruction, with actual practice in the experimental kitchen, in the nature, relative values and healthful methods of cooking different articles of food, including vegetables, meats, breads, pastry, &c., &c. Classes in needlework, knitting, use of sewing machines, &c., have had daily lessons and practice.

We are confident that instruction of this nature can be given in connection with a day-school, without interfering with regular school-work, and at slight expense and small increase of teaching force. I am anxious to have a workshop fitted up where the boys and young men shall receive instruction in wood-working and the ordinary use of tools for that purpose.

We shall have a full and strong attendance for next year. We are having more students from the country, and usually they are those who put to good use the training and instruction they carry from here. Not less than seventy of our students will be teaching during vacation, those of former years with those going out from this year’s work. I should look upon our work as of little importance and value if our influence did not extend and multiply in this way.

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EMERSON INSTITUTE.

REV. O. D. CRAWFORD, MOBILE.

Three hundred and fifty pupils enrolled for the year, carries our numbers above any point reached since the boarding accommodations disappeared in the “Blue College” fire. Had we possessed boarding facilities and sufficient school-room, the number would have been as near 500 as 350.

Two days of this week were given to the final written examinations, and in some of the departments three days were so used. Thursday was devoted to oral examinations. About thirty visitors favored us—among them Rev. Dr. Burgett, whose name is becoming familiar to your readers as one that appreciates this work of the Association; another, the Rev. W. G. Strong, pastor of the largest colored church in the State. The common sentiment of these judges was that the pupils did remarkably well, and showed that they had received careful and thorough training.

Last night 800 people crowded the Third Baptist Church to witness the closing exhibition. Although the aisles were filled with people standing down to the middle of the house, many turned away from the door. Dr. Burgett offered the opening prayer, and Rev. Mr. Strong pronounced the benediction. All the exercises that came between astonished many, especially the white people present, and gave pleasure to all until the weariness of standing made many persons about the door restless and unduly communicative. The popular judgment is that much progress has been made during the year. Personally, we think many exhibitions at white schools would suffer in comparison with this one.

The future of this people is full of promise.

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SWAYNE SCHOOL.

REV. O. W. FAY, MONTGOMERY.

Prof. Martin and his efficient corps of assistants are deserving of commendation for their hard and thorough work at this point during the school-year just closed. The number in attendance has been unusually large, (the whole enrolment being 644 against 484 last year); but in thoroughness of teaching and in all that constitutes good discipline there has been a decided advance all along the line. Recognizing the fact that the school building has a seating capacity for only about 350, while the average attendance for a part of the year has been 450, the necessity for enlarged accommodations, as well as some of the difficulties encountered by the teachers, will be apparent.

On the principle that what is good for a part is good also for all, there was no favoritism shown in the assignment of parts in the closing exercises. All, “from the least to the greatest,” were given a _speech_. Although the average was somewhat reduced near the close of the term, yet, with the more than three hundred to take part, it will readily appear that the “Commencement Exercises” of Swayne College (as the patrons call it), could not all be crowded into a single day. Consequently, in order that a _good_ thing might last a good while, it was arranged to devote three evenings to the speaking. Friday evening, May 20th, was given to the exhibition of the Primary department; Friday evening, May 27th, to the Intermediate; and Tuesday evening, May 31st, to the Higher department. The Congregational church proving too small on the first night, the exhibition was held the second and third nights in the M. E. Zion church, with an audience on the last night, which, admitting all members of the school free, and charging an admittance fee of a nickel for adults, netted more than seventeen dollars.

These exercises, consisting of declamations, dialogues, solos, choruses, &c., were creditable entertainments, and gave evident satisfaction to the members of the City Board of Education and other white visitors in attendance, as well as to the patrons of the school.

Monday and Tuesday, May 30th and 31st, were occupied with the examinations of the several departments. These were entered into by the pupils with a good deal of genuine enthusiasm, and evidenced to the goodly number of visitors present that the efforts in “drill,” on the part of the teachers had not been in vain. The “Swayne” is doing good work.

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BEACH INSTITUTE, SAVANNAH.

The school was brought to a successful close to-day. The year has been one of interest and profit, although of trial, on account of severe and, in some cases, protracted sickness on the part of nearly all the workers in this field. The school has prospered, and the progress made by some of the pupils has been very marked. Differing degrees of attainment, as well as of ability to express their knowledge, was clearly shown in the examinations. The closing oratorical exercises this afternoon, in the presence of an audience which crowded the chapel, were interesting in every particular. Without any special expenditure of time and strength in preparing for these, the most creditable results were shown. There was almost no prompting. The original productions, chiefly having relation to some country and the people inhabiting it, were well conceived and well expressed. The reading was distinct. It is manifest that that form of public address is doomed, and will soon be heard no more among the colored people, which only “mouths” words, regardless of sense and of the listening ear. Such scenes as that at “Beach” to-day have only hope in them for our country and the colored race.