Part 4

The time for forwarding my report for your anniversary came when this deep, dark gulf of difficulty first opened to my view, and the letter that I then wrote, but did not send, had scarcely a gleam of hope for these savages. I am glad it was not sent. Since then, I have been laboring to overcome the difficulties, and I believe it is possible to do what I then thought was impossible. I have just come in from visiting our school of 40 Indian boys and girls, in the new schoolhouse we have built this summer. It was a pleasant sight. Miss Briggs has care of the Arickarees, and Miss Calhoun, Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., has care of the Grosventres and Mandans, both excellent Christian young ladies, who guarantee success. Not far away is a new building for Indian supplies, 120×20; and at the new agency a barn 400×22, just completed. And near by is a pile of superior brick, which the Indians have aided in manufacturing, in the face of obstacles to overcome in the clay, probably unprecedented in the history of brick making.

While I am writing, “Son of the Star,” chief of the Arickarees, an intelligent, sensible man, comes in and gives me the shake of his friendly hand—one of the great majority of all the tribes who now look up to me with confidence as their friend and “chief.” All this assures me that the Indian can be civilized and Christianized.

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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 Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E. Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford, Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.

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

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THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.

REV. W. C. POND, SAN FRANCISCO.

By virtue of a tacit understanding, a place is given, year by year, in the course of the meetings of our General Association, for the Anniversary of “The California Chinese Mission.” This meeting was accordingly held this year at Sacramento, October 12th. It shared with the American Home Missionary Society the evening service. A large congregation was present. Rev. J. K. McLean, D.D., president of the mission, occupied the chair, and conducted the devotional exercises. The reports of the Treasurer and of the Directors, (some of the main points of which may be found in the Annual Report of the A. M. A.), were read by the Secretary, and stirring addresses were made by our helper, Mr. Fung Affoo, and by Rev. Joseph Lanman, of Woodland, and Rev. Martin Post, of Stockton. A very satisfactory token of the interest of the meeting appeared in the goodly number and generous amount of the offerings received.

THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION ON THE CHINESE QUESTION.

The action of our General Association on the Chinese question has excited attention and surprise among our Eastern friends. I am not prepared to defend it, and do not believe that it is defensible. Yet it was not so bad as to the spirit that prompted it, nor so bad in itself as to our Eastern friends it will naturally seem to be. The mistake was in meddling with a question on which we could scarcely speak at all without being misunderstood. The resolutions adopted were three: the first, in emphatic terms, rebuked lawlessness and riot; the second, in terms equally emphatic, endorsed the missionary work among the Chinese; the third set forth the perils attending Chinese immigration, and urged some modification of the Burlingame treaty and the adoption of any other just measures which may restrict this immigration. The fault and the danger is, not so much in what was really said, as in what will naturally and easily be inferred. For the first two resolutions will be taken as practically meaningless;—designed simply to smooth the way for the last: while the last will be interpreted as a surrender on the part of Christian people to the hoodlum element; a cowardly backsliding of Congregationalists in California from the position as up-holders of the liberties and rights of men, which our churches here and elsewhere held so bravely in the years gone by. The following extracts from a paragraph in the _Pacific_, truthfully represents, as I believe, the real sentiments of the Association:

“Christians in all parts of our land have long felt that, if any ‘_just_’ method could be found of restricting immigration, whether European or Mongolian, our country’s future would be less full of peril. But they have not felt that, for this purpose, it could be safe to violate the inalienable rights of men, or contradict those truths which our forefathers declared to be _self-evident_, and which constitute the very vitals of our body politic. And in this view, as we humbly believe, our General Association would be found in unanimous accord with Christian people elsewhere in our land.”

THE WORK.

The story of hindrance from cruel race-antipathies has been so often told of late, that to continue it would be tedious. But the hindrance still exists, and what with the meetings of so-called “workingmen,” held every evening to nurse a mob-spirit, and the perpetual droppings of venom from our daily press, we cannot tell when it will be removed. “Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal: The Lord knoweth them that are His.” And while the attendance on our schools is diminished, and one of them is for the time suspended, still the Spirit finds and saves His own. At our next communion in Bethany Church, we are expecting to baptize and welcome to membership five Chinese; and several others, as I understand, will soon present their names to the First Church in Oakland. We do not hasten this step. All who are thus received, have been on probation in the Association of Christian Chinese, for six months or more, and they come before the church only when recommended by vote of their brethren. Meanwhile, others are listening; and we hope to reap our harvests even in the midst of the storm. Mrs. Denton, writing from Sacramento, says: “Our school has been one of unusual interest this past month (October). ‘He leadeth me,’ seems to be the choice song of my pupils. After singing it last evening, I explained it to them:—how God leads us by his word and love, through care, sickness, sorrow, death, on towards heaven. All were _so attentive_, that I felt sorry to see the hour-hand pointing to nine. The harvest truly is ripe.” Another teacher writes: “To those engaged in the work, every week gives fresh proof of the power of the simple truths of the Bible to reach the heart, and elevate and purify the life. They say, ‘I hear about God’s love for us all—how Jesus came to die to save us—that is something new. Then when I hear He with us all the time, ready to hear and help us, I think it much better to pray to Him than to idols; and now I pray to Jesus; I _know_ He helps me.’ It is the unanimous testimony, when asked what they pray for, ‘I pray Jesus help me do right—to know more about the right way.’ So we are not disheartened, for surely they that be with us are more than they that be against us.”

Words of cheer from other quarters might be cited, but I fear that I have trespassed already too much upon your space.

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COMMUNICATIONS.

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PROTECTION BY DEVELOPMENT.

BY REV. C. H. RICHARDS.

There are two methods of protection against dangers that threaten from without. One is the artificial method that builds up walls of defence on the outside. The other is the vital and Divine method that develops inward power enough to ensure safety. God braces the oak against the storms, not by outward props, but by growth of inward strength. He gives a man successful life, not by providing a nurse to carry and feed him half a century, but by teaching him the art of self-development, which makes him capable and masterly.

In the great problem of Southern reconstruction, which is so slowly being solved, two parties feel themselves in danger. The colored man finds himself at an immense disadvantage amid the prejudices, the ambitions, the wider experience, the superior knowledge and skill of the whites. The old yoke is removed, but his new life is oppressed with a thousand petty exactions, which the strong are always able to make upon the weak. With the ballot thrust into his hands, he hardly knows how to use it wisely, and suspects that it may be snatched from him again.

Now this outward guardianship of law and force has been needed; just as the transplanted flower needs special shelter and the upholding aid of the stick to which it is tied, _until_ its vital power can build it into independent strength. It is still necessary, to a certain degree, though God’s providence is fast showing us that law and force can do but a transient work for the race, and must soon be superseded by something better; and that something better is the development of the colored man himself into wisdom, and capability, and moral power.

The only permanent safety for the blacks is in their intellectual and religious education. A weak race, helpless in its ignorance and corrupted by immorality, will always be kept down. The ambitious and intense desires of those who are wiser and stronger will take advantage of its weakness, and will crowd it to the wall. No legislation can prevent the working of this natural law in the struggle for prosperity. But a strong race, with vigorous, well-disciplined minds, balanced with virtue, will always hold its own in the world. Cobden used to say that he must see a Turkish ship, wholly built, equipt and manned by Turks, sailing from a Turkish port, and freighted with genuine products of Turkish manufactures; and then, and not till then, would he believe in Palmerston’s dream of Turkish regeneration. So when the colored man shows by his deeds that he is able to do all that a white man can do, he will hold his footing of equality secure. The race is to be tested by results.

The political safety and social elevation of the negro race depend on the resolution, patience and enterprise with which it takes up this work of self-development. And the only way the friends of the black man can permanently protect him, is to help him gain this inward power. The primer and the Testament, well used, will be a better paladium than Congressional enactments. The grammar schools and colleges, the industrial and theological schools, and the churches, where a more reasonable and sober religion may be taught them, will do more to secure their rights as freemen than a standing army can do.

The other party, looking out for “rocks ahead,” is the nation itself. Victorious in the struggle for its very existence, it has been ever since in constant perplexity as to the way of readjustment which would make its future safe. For a dozen years the Southern question has been one of commanding interest and momentous importance. The wisdom of our statesmen has been taxed to the utmost to avert calamities continually impending. But although time, and the steady purpose of the North to have equal rights for all recognized and enforced everywhere, and the new policy of pacification, have done much to change the perilous condition of things, and bring quiet, the danger is by no means gone. It has changed its complexion, but it lurks there still. The dense ignorance, the wide spread immorality, the pride of blood, the antagonism of races, the prevalence of mischievous notions about capital and labor, the indolence and “shiftlessness” of great numbers of the working class, the ambitions that will seize and manipulate these diverse elements with shrewdness and trained skill, still exist all over the great South, and are likely to make it a turbulent caldron of contentious elements for years to come. Race conflicts and class feuds are likely to arise, and sectional hatreds are ready to break out again, with new danger to the whole country.

How can the nation protect itself against such dangers? Only by this method of self-development. The South must become homogeneous in itself, and harmonious with the North by the spread of intelligence and right principles. Education and a reasonable religion will bring all up to a higher level, break down walls of difference, give broader and better ideas. They would so change the whole structure of Southern society, and unify its various elements, that the causes of dissension that now exist would exist no longer.

The American Missionary Association, then, is giving to the colored race its best and only permanent protection. It helps the black man to develop his inward power, so that his defence shall be in himself. And its work is the nation’s safeguard, for by promoting intelligence, integrity and moral power throughout the South, it increases the elements that alone make a Republic safe. Every motive of philanthropy and patriotism urges us to push forward its work more earnestly.

MADISON, WIS.

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EDUCABILITY OF THE BLACKS.

BY A VIRGINIA COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT.

The great mistake most people make, in regard to the education of the negro, is that too much is expected in a short time. Education in its broad sense is by no means confined to the study of text-books, however well these may be learned. It takes a generation to correct evil tendencies and predilections, and the fruits of a systematic course of instruction do not appear at once. It takes time to do this; and not only is this true of the negro race, but of all other races as well. The entire history of our foreign missionary efforts goes to prove this. It would be folly to argue that no effort should be made to enlighten and Christianize the heathen, because the fruits were not apparent in a few years. This is just the case with the negroes among us. Although they have been in contact (in a certain sense) with the white race for a considerable period, yet no systematic or general effort has been made for instructing their minds or educating them in morals.

Having for the past six or eight years had abundant opportunity to compare the relative advantages of our system of public education on the white and colored races, I am free to say that, considering the advantages of the former over the latter, I am as much encouraged to go on with the effort to instruct the blacks as the whites. It is true that where intellect is concerned, the white greatly excels, but it is not so with regard to memory. The colored pupil memorizes as rapidly as the white, but lacks the faculty of applying the things learned to everyday life; and I am of opinion that this will remain so for a considerable time—till habits of thought and individuality of ideas are educated. A great deal depends upon home influences; and here the colored pupil is decidedly at a disadvantage, and must remain so till home influence is changed to a great extent. These are general rules, to which there are noticeable and valuable exceptions. Take, for instance, the graduates of Hampton Normal School, and they make not only better men and women in a general sense, but better for every special calling in after-life. This, however, is due in a great degree to the constant drill, the daily systematic exercises, the thoroughly qualified instructors, and to their separation for the time from associations with the vulgar.

It is gravely contended by some, whose opinions are worth a good deal, that the negro is below the white man because of deficiency of cerebral matter, and that an examination of the brain will demonstrate this average deficiency by weight or cubic inches. I do not know whether this is true or not, but this I have observed, and have had abundant evidence of, that the average colored pupil will, and does, keep pace in learning with the average white, _if the white associations are the same as the colored_, i.e., if the parents and kinsfolk or acquaintances of the white are as ignorant and ill-bred as the black. All things being equal, the black will outstrip the white in acquiring knowledge and applying it. I have noticed a greater facility for rising above caste in the colored youth than in the white. R. W. P.

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CAMPAIGN IN CONNECTICUT.

DIST. SEC’Y, POWELL OF CHICAGO.

Perhaps it may interest some of the “MISSIONARY’S” readers to learn a little concerning the speaking campaign in which Rev. G. D. Pike, Rev. Temple Cutler, of Chattanooga, and myself, have been engaged the past few weeks in Connecticut. For the gratification of such I send you the following sketch:

Our first meeting was a convention—Greenwich the place, and the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 30, the time. We met in the church; the audience was small but representative, and as our object was to talk to people whose _weight_ rather than number was to be taken into the account, we had no reason to complain of our send-off. Four churches greeted us in this meeting. Rev. Chas. R. Treat, son of the late revered Secretary of the American Board, gave us cordial welcome, and spoke words of hearty endorsement of our work and mission. At Norwalk we held a convention similar in character, and, so far as appearances went, similar in results. Rev. Messrs. Hamilton, Dunning and Bradford were present, and despite a rain storm that had set in with violence and long continuing determination, we had a good audience. “Come again,” said the brethren, “and you shall have a rousing reception”—a remark which in substance we heard at many other places, and a remark which I interpret to mean—“You can count on us as co-workers with you in your grand work.” There is inspiration in such interpretation, and with such co-workers as Norwalk and South Norwalk contain, we can rightfully jot down our visit to Norwalk as a success.

Our next meeting was in Danbury, the home of the “News-Man.” We did not notice that he was present, and, for that matter, we could hardly see that there was any other man. Nobody was to blame. The _dryness_ of the news-man’s jokes, I presume, has had such an effect upon the citizens of Danbury that they have not even the ordinary love of mortals for wet weather; but, were it otherwise, they were excusable for not coming out “to hear about missions” on that particular night. Noah’s Deluge was distantly suggested by that terrible and incessant down-pour of rain. We went through with our meeting, however, and it did seem as though Brother Cutler, extracting courage out of desperation, was bound to do his very best. The memory of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, beneath whose frowning battlements stands his home at Chattanooga, must have been vivid, for “he carried the night.” Rev. Mr. Hough, just home from Detroit and Syracuse, weary from the long journey, and suffering from a severe cold, ought to have stayed at home, but his determination to give us at least an audience of _one_ brought him out, even at the peril of his health.

Our first Sabbath was spent in New Haven. At nine o’clock in the morning we met the students of the Theological Seminary. Had I remained silent and Mr. Pike taken all the time, the students would have had occasion to be under obligation to me. He was in good trim, full of his subject, and effective in speech. Africa was his theme, and he handled it in such a way as to hold the continuous attention of the young men. During the day we spoke in several of the pulpits, and in the evening held a “Union Meeting” in the Center Church, which was well attended. The venerable Dr. Bacon was in his chair in the pulpit, as the “Emeritus” pastor of the church; Rev. Dr. Noble, the present pastor, and Rev. Dr. Hawes, of the North Church, were also on the platform, while the presence of Rev. Messrs. Todd, Williams and other ministers in the audience, showed that it was really a union meeting. The work, needs and claims of the A. M. A., I think, were clearly presented and discussed; though, judging from a report in one of the Monday papers, things were rather mixed; for example, one of us was represented as saying that “the colored people are going down to eternity, and if nothing is done by the people in the North they will drag the white people with them”—a very alarming statement surely, and well calculated to fire the popular heart, but I cannot find that either of my companions acknowledges its authorship, and I don’t quite like to assume it myself. The reporter must have been experimenting with a telephone. On Monday, the ministers very kindly accorded us a hearing.

We were indulging the hope that at last we had entered upon the favorable time for our meetings. New Haven had furnished us something of a field day, and strong desire, stimulated by encouragement, was shooting out into confidence; but that “one swallow does not make a summer”—a trite old adage we are in danger of forgetting just when we should remember it, was forcefully brought to our minds as we went to New Milford. The storm king came out in full force, with wind and rain, to give us welcome, and right pitilessly did he continue to rage all the night long. We hastily took back all we had thought and said about Danbury. There we had merely a distant suggestion of Noah’s Deluge—here we had an advance section of the genuine thing; yet so thoroughly had Rev. Mr. Bonar advertised our coming, and so strongly urged his people to attend, that we had a goodly number out to hear us.

We struck Waterbury on election day; still the union of the two churches, under the lead of Rev. Messrs. Beckwith and Anderson, furnished us with a fine congregation and a profitable meeting. These brethren are both in special sympathy with the work of our Association. At Norfolk, elevated thirteen hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea, we encountered the opposition of a minstrel troupe, which paraded the town with a brass band just about the time our meeting was to commence. It affected our audience very little, however, as the church-going people in that region are not given to such things. A well filled house greeted us, and with the aid of Pastor Gleason, whose earnest words gave us welcome and introduction, we had what appeared to be a very interesting meeting.

Winsted favored us with another rainy reception, but a fair audience, while a well trained choir was present, which, by the excellent rendering of an introductory anthem, as one of the newspapers facetiously put it, “gave tone to the meeting.”