Part 2

“But whether this is so or not, the result of these brief years of Christian work must be regarded as a phenomenon in the history of the world. It is often said of the movements of our time that they are only history repeating itself; but if there is anything in history like this generous outpouring of effort and means to redeem a great mass of human merchandise, and lift it up out of its squalor and wretchedness to the level of our common Christian manhood, we exhort the friends of history to produce it.”

We gladly avail ourselves of this opportunity, to recognize the generous appreciation of our work which we have always received from our Methodist friends—indeed, some of them are “ourselves”—not the least valuable indication of which is the cordial and kindly tone of the article from which we have quoted above from their leading Review.

WHAT CAN THE WOMEN DO?

We are gratified with the evidence which is coming to us from various quarters, of an increasing interest in our Southern work on the part of our Christian women. A letter from Rhode Island inquires the cost of supporting a female missionary to work among the colored women of the South in their homes, after the plan mentioned in the January MISSIONARY. Another letter from Vermont asks, more generally, What can the women do? How can they best help the work by money and by goods? A word comes even from a missionary in Constantinople, endorsing Caucasian women’s work for Negro women in America.

In reply to such questions, we are happy to give all the light we can. A lady missionary, to devote herself to the work named above, can be sustained for from $350 to $450 a year, according to location; or, a lady teacher in one of our established schools, for $250. A student’s scholarship is from $70 to $80. We are, of course, glad to accept money for such special purposes, and to use it as we are instructed by the donors. One of the most pressing needs just now, in which we are sure of sympathy from the house-keeperly instincts of our good sisters, is that of bedding and table-linen for our Educational institutions. We hear from the matron of Tougaloo University, that the press of students is so great that she has used her last quilt, and may have to take up carpets to cover the students by night. Others are nearly as badly off. Perhaps the women of the North can do no better thing than to supply this want for the remainder of this winter, and more fully for another year.

We have no fear that we shall for a long time lack specialties of wants and pressing needs, which will appeal to all who have an ear to hear, and a heart to sympathize. Meanwhile, the great work goes on in all its length and breadth, in which the Christian women of the land may well join forces with the Christian men, as they have always done, and do their part to save and elevate a needy race.

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ITEMS FROM THE SCHOOLS.

TALLADEGA, ALA.—“There are five Sunday-school prayer-meetings every Sabbath afternoon, in which much feeling is manifested. In these meetings four have expressed the hope of a new life. Others are much interested.”

TOUGALOO, MISS.—“There is considerable religious interest. Several are inquiring, and a few profess conversion. We are running over with students. We have put up a bed in the north recitation-room of the primary building, and shall probably have to arrange another bed in the same room before this week closes. We know of others that are coming next week, and so on, and what are we going to do with them? We have concluded to purchase lumber at once and put up _barracks_ for twenty students, for the prospect is that we shall have that many more young men. We can accommodate six or eight young women in the Peoria room. The erection of barracks will involve an outlay of some three hundred dollars; but the lumber will all come in play when we build the new chapel, which we shall be obliged to have before the sessions of the next year begin. If the school continues to prosper we shall probably commence another year with a hundred boarders.”

NASHVILLE, TENN.—“We have a good school this year; about 270 in all. We hold a half-hour extra meeting in the boarding department. Some inquirers. About twenty conversions last term.”

ATLANTA, GA.—“School is full. We have more pupils than for several years before. There is some religious interest, though not so much as we wish. Our purpose and hope is to make you a big contribution toward the debt, by not asking you for any aid this year.”

NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.

MARION, ALA.—“We had an interesting day, yesterday, in our church. It was Communion. Four girls from twelve to sixteen years old, and one young man of twenty years, were received on profession. A Female Prayer-meeting has been commenced at the ‘Home,’ and promises well. The Teacher’s Meeting is also held in our parlor every Friday night. Our evening meetings are well attended. We enjoy singing the ‘Gospel Hymns.’ The people almost all sing, and are not afraid to hear their own voices. Last evening seven or eight of the brethren took part, and one woman felt constrained to say a few words. Perfect harmony and good-feeling seem to prevail in the church, and the prospects for the coming year are quite encouraging.”

MACON, GA.—“Our church is greatly blessed in connection with the Week of Prayer. Daily meetings have been held for three weeks, and the interest continues good. Several conversions have cheered our hearts.”

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We have been favored with a copy of the “_Minutes of the South-western Georgia Teachers’ Association (colored), held at Howard Normal School, December 1, 1877._”

The graduates and students of Atlanta University seem to be the leading spirits in this Association. The exercises were very much like those of similar associations or conventions, though without the set speeches of old wheel-horses, which are of doubtful advantage.

That parliamentary gymnastics were not entirely ignored is evident from the following quotation: “It was moved that the roll be called, for the purpose of members paying their dues. Thereupon quite a discussion arose, when the previous question was called for; the previous question was seconded, but the main question was lost.”

The report says of the address of the President: “He very graphically described the field in which we are to do the work that is to be done, and how it is to be done. He said that he felt sure that ‘the Great Disburser of Human Events’ held something good in store for the Negro. Teachers, you are the salt of the race; lose not your savor, but keep pushing on in this grand cause of education, and the heights may yet be reached in our day.”

The Committee on the Educational Condition of South-western Georgia gives the reins to its tropical imagination for a moment, when it says: “We are exceedingly sorry to find our people in some places _sleeping on Poverty’s bedstead, covered with the blanket of Ignorance_.”

Their statement that, in the eight counties reported, the public-school fund pays only from thirty-three and one-third to eighty cents a month per pupil, and that for three months only, would seem to indicate that the public-school system of Georgia is not very expensive or uniform in its operation. But it is to be hoped that this little plant, so cautiously set by the poverty-stricken farmer, may have a steady growth into a large and symmetrical tree.

We are glad to note the enterprise of our colored friends in sustaining and directing for themselves this Howard Normal School, and in holding these educational meetings, and we recognize in it one of the cheering results of our work.

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NEGRO NOTES.

HOME.

—A colored gentleman of high standing and great influence—a life-long resident of Philadelphia—was invited by Mrs. Hayes to “be seated and talk on the political situation,” when the following conversation took place: “It is very quiet now at the South, we learn?” “Yes, madam; it is the quietness of death to the colored people. My son is in jail for the crime of aiding in carrying the State of South Carolina for the President.”

—Senator Blaine, in a speech at Hot Springs, Ark., put the Southern question aptly thus: “Perfect peace in the South will everywhere follow perfect justice. There is no man in the country who desires strife for the sake of strife, but there will always be strife so long as there is wrong.”

—There is a quaint, straightforward way of putting things sometimes that strikes right at the root of things, an art which our colored friends of the South seem especially to understand. And here is what was sung recently at one of their meetings in Jacksonville:

If you see Peter asleep at de gate, Kase de night befo’ he was up so late, You needn’t ’spect, with your load ob sin, Dat you’ll slip past him and steal right in: De angels always acts on de squar’; Dey know you here, an’ dey’ll know you dar.

Such singing would not be in order in our churches. But, after all, isn’t there a bit of truth right here, and may not these lines be reflected on with considerable profit?

—A colored man, who very sensibly consulted President Hayes, before migrating to San Domingo, received a letter in reply, from which the following is extracted: “I have given some consideration to your question as to the emigration of colored people from Florida to San Domingo. I am not well informed as to the advantages offered by San Domingo to immigrants, but my impression is that your people should not be hasty in deciding to leave this country. The mere difference in climate is a very serious objection to removal. The first generation, in all such removals, suffer greatly. It is my opinion, also, that the evils which now affect you are likely steadily, and I hope rapidly, to diminish. My advice is, therefore, against the proposed emigration.”

FOREIGN.

—Stanley’s African expedition cost $115,000, and he discovered 15,000,000 uncovered Africans. The Worcester _Press_ says six heathen for five cents is very reasonable.

—The missionaries of the Church Missionary Society to Lake Victoria Nyanza have been cordially received by King Mtesa. When the passage was read in the Society’s letter, in which a reference is made to our Lord, the king ordered a salute to be fired, which was explained to be for joy at the mention of the name of Jesus. The king wished especially to know if the missionaries had brought the book—the Bible. He has himself since acted as interpreter to his people at the Sunday services.

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CHINESE NOTES.

—It is not often that the report of a minority of one is invested with so much importance or interest as that found, in an unfinished condition, among the papers of the late Senator Morton. We give a very brief synopsis of its main points:

A cardinal principle in our government is its openness to immigrants from all parts of the world; it is not limited in its statement by color, character or creed. While the Oriental nations have come on to our ground, it is proposed that we should go back to that which they have abandoned, and for the same reasons which they have given up—interference with trade and labor, and corruption of morals and religion.

The security of our nation depends not on material wealth nor general intelligence, but in devotion to the doctrines upon which the government was founded, “And the profound conviction in the minds of the people that the rights of man are not conferred by constitutions or written enactments, which may be altered or abolished, but are God-given to every human being born into the world, and cannot be violated by constitutions, enactments, or governments, without trampling upon natural and inalienable rights.” Growing out of these doctrines is the policy of free immigration, which we are at liberty to regulate, but not proscribe, as we may lay down the conditions of citizenship, but not consistently forbid it. Having given political rights to the negro, it is inconsistent to renew race prejudices, and exclude the Asiatics on the ground of color, civilization and religion. These are the actual grounds of the prejudice. But the question is not one of naturalization, but of permission to come into our country to work, to trade, and to acquire property, though the senator deemed it impossible that they should be protected, save as they should be allowed to become citizens, to vote and to be represented in the government. He refers to the fact that the Chinese take ship from a British port, and that our dealing in regard to their importation must be with the English Government. He brings important testimony to demonstrate the value of their labor in the construction of railroads and in the harvesting of crops. In these especially, by their freedom from combinations to control the price of labor, and as having brought wages to a level, which, though still higher than in other States, makes it possible for Californian manufacturers to compete with those of other States and countries. But for Chinese labor, he says, California would not have more than one-half or two-thirds of her present white population; it is indispensable to farming operations; their labor is as free as any other.

The majority report, in its concluding paragraphs, says that the question that now arises on the Pacific Coast will probably have to be met upon the banks of the Mississippi, and, perhaps, on the Ohio and Hudson. It is a standing menace to republican institutions and Christian civilization. Free institutions, founded upon free schools and intelligence, can only be maintained when based on intelligent and adequately paid labor. Adequate wages are needed to give self-respect to the laborer, and the means of education to his children. Family life is a great safeguard to our political institutions. Chinese immigration involves sordid wages, no public schools, and the absence of the family. They show few of the characteristics of a desirable population, and many to be deprecated by any patriot. This problem is too important to be treated with indifference. Congress should solve it, having due regard to any rights already accrued under existing treaties, and to humanity; but it must be solved, in the judgment of the committee, unless our Pacific possessions are to be ultimately given over to a race alien in all its tendencies, which will make of it practically provinces of China, rather than States of the Union. The committee recommend that measures be taken by the Executive, looking toward a modification of the existing treaty with China, confining it to strictly commercial purposes, and that Congress legislate to restrain the great influx of Asiatics to this country.

—The San Francisco “Workingmen” (?) have, under the lead of professional agitators, become more than ever threatening and incendiary in their language. It was given out that the Chinese passengers of the steamer Tokio would be attacked on their arrival. At this point the authorities interfered. The mayor appointed special police, and the two ringleaders were arrested for conspiracy and misdemeanor, and put under heavy bail. General McComb ordered the entire military force of the city to assemble at the armories, and General McDowell gave assurance that the United States troops would come to their aid if required. Under these conditions the city scum ceased coming to the surface, but settled quickly to the bottom, where it belongs.

—Mr. Luttrell, a democratic member from California, has moved in the House to amend the Steamboat Bill, so as to provide that no American vessel shall employ, in any capacity whatever, a Chinese or Mongolian.

—Treasury statistics show arrivals from China of 160,979 up to 1875. In 1875 the arrivals were 19,033; but in 1876 the immigration fell off to 16,879, owing to the April disturbance in that year in California. For the first quarter of 1877 the number was only 965, but it soon began to rise again, and on June 31 the total immigration was figured at 284,547.

—The figures of the Custom House in San Francisco have been collated to show that, out of a total of $6,692,000 paid for duties on imports of foreign goods introduced during the past year, the Chinese merchants paid $1,756,505, or over twenty-five per cent. During the same time the Chinese paid for rent and water privileges $223,000; for fire insurance, $96,000, and for marine insurance, $86,000; they also paid $100,000 in taxes into the city treasury.

—In 1875, of 7,643 arrests for drunkenness, not one was a Chinaman; of 3,263 paupers admitted to the almshouse, only six were Chinamen; of 83 murderers hanged during the last year in the United States only one was a Chinaman.

—Our antipathy is balanced to some extent by the appetite of Peru, which has 60,000 Chinamen now within its borders, and so eagerly desires more that an agent of the Peruvian Government is visiting San Francisco with inducements to divert Chinese immigration to that country.

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NO ROOM IN THE INN.

REV. A. K. SPENCE, FISK UNIVERSITY.

The occasion of the accompanying lines was this: While President Hayes’ Peace Policy was being applauded through the land, a young colored student, on his way to Fisk University, was detained overnight at a station, as the trains did not make connection. A hotel was near by, but he could not gain admission. He asked the privilege of remaining in the depot, but that was not granted; so he spent the whole night in the open air, pacing up and down to keep warm and pass the time away.

Ought there not to be in every hotel some comfortable place where a colored man can get food and shelter?

The weary stars went slowly westward to their rest, And others from the east climbed up the zenith’s crest, And chill winds smote him, shivering in the gloomy night. Turning his wistful gaze to catch the morning light, There, wrapped in sleep, on couches soft and warm, The slumberers dream sweet dreams, nor think of fear or harm. What has he done, with guilty hand and soul of sin, That thus he stalks about, nor seeks the cheerful inn?

His brow is dark, and dark the night, and dark his soul— A tripple sea of gloom, whose waters o’er him roll! And faith in man and God is low within his breast; With many a bitter thought his heart is sore oppressed. Like outlawed villain, stealing from the sight of men, He crouches down, as if to sleep, nor slumbers then! Athwart the darkness to his darker soul within, The tantalizing light comes from the inn!

But yesterday, huzzas came from a million throats, ’Mid cannon’s boom and beat of drum and bugle’s notes, And banners waved, and flowers were scattered by the fair, And songs of peace and joy were in the quivering air; And brothers, long estranged, clasped brothers once again, And swore eternal peace and equal rights to men— For him, though wrapped in clean attire, but sable skin, No hospitable room is offered at the inn!

Oh, brothers of this mighty land, from South to North, Grasp hands of greeting, pour your pæans forth! And ne’er by brother’s hand may brother’s blood be shed, With burning towns and trampled fields and mangled dead! Forget the past, nor let it rankle in your breast; Rejoice together of one glorious land possessed! But, oh! forget not him who, not for any sin, But for the thing God made him, is debarred the inn!

Oh, peaceful President of this great land, to thee All thanks for thy good words for old fraternity! Thy name shall be inscribed in gold on history’s page, And read by countless multitudes from age to age, If thou shalt teach a people, long in strife and feud, To dwell in unity and seek each other’s good; From prejudice of section, creed and race shalt win, So all of every name and hue shall share the inn!

Oh, brother of the sable brow, my brother, mine, The night is dark and long, and yet the sun shall shine; Patience be thine, and God-like charity and love, And eye of faith and hope that looks to One above. For scorn give benediction, and for insult prayer; And go to Bethlehem’s manger, and remember there Another was like thee, who, sinless, bore our sin! And there shall yet be room for Christ, and thee, within the inn!

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THE FREEDMEN.

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GEORGIA.

Atlanta University.

ITS ORGANIZATION.

REV. E. A. WARE, PRESIDENT.

The first term of Atlanta University began, under its charter granted in 1867, in Oct., 1869. The highest class, at that time, was the junior preparatory. By a natural and steady growth, there has come to be a regular college department, from which two classes, (nine students), have been graduated, and in which there are now twenty-four students; a scientific department, with four; a preparatory, with 37; a higher normal, from which have graduated five classes, (twenty-four students), and which numbers at present 68; and a lower normal, with 62 students. The higher normal begins with the usual high-school studies, and continues four years. The lower normal includes the grammar-school studies, and the first two years of the higher normal course. Instruction in theology was given, until the State aid was granted to the school; it has since been discontinued. The home and family feature of the school is made prominent. A lady has charge of the young men’s building, and, so far as possible, takes the place of mother, making the house a _home_, instead of a college barrack. The refining, elevating, and restraining influence of this family life is incalculable.

Every effort is put forth to make the Sabbath a power. The usual church service is held in the morning, Sunday-school in the afternoon, and prayer-meeting at night. The monthly missionary concert is observed. The contributions at this meeting, for the nine school months, amount to about fifty dollars. The church prayer-meeting is held on Wednesday evening; the school prayer-meeting for all the students on Friday afternoon. At this meeting, the school makes weekly offerings, by the envelope plan, toward the payment of the debt of the American Missionary Association.

The workers this year, including Pastor, Treasurer, Steward, Housekeeper and Matron, number twelve. Among them are representatives of Yale, Harvard, Amherst and Oberlin.

The institution owns sixty acres of land, about one mile from the centre of the city. That part of it occupied by the buildings, commands an extended view in all directions. The buildings are two plain, four-storied, brick dormitories, one for boys, the other for girls. These also afford rooms for teachers, and the basement and first floor of the boys’ building give space for chapel, schoolrooms, library and reading-room. Many of these rooms are entirely unfit for these uses, and are much needed for sleeping rooms. By an hour’s work each day, the students care for the buildings, cultivate the grounds, cut the wood, and do the house-work, except the cooking.

The Graves Library contains about four thousand volumes, and has an endowment of five thousand dollars. The library and reading-room are thoroughly used. Excepting for the library, the school has no endowment, but depends for support on the American Missionary Association, and the State of Georgia, which latter has appropriated to it $8,000 annually.