Part 5

The “era of good feeling” towards the Chinese, is, doubtless, nearer now than it was eight months ago. I affirm this _by faith_, and not because I can see, as yet, even the first streaks of its dawning. It seems as though the out-cries, “Down with the Chinese!” “The Chinamen must go, peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must,” would have become, by this time, monotonous and wearisome, but every Monday’s morning paper reports a gathering of from 3,000 to 6,000 people standing on a sand-lot near our new City Hall, in the midst often of wind and rain, and listening for an hour or two, while Kearney and Willock repeat their barbarous refrain. We cannot prevent a depressing effect of this upon our work. Christians get afraid of it. One of our pastors, entering upon temporary service with an inland church, wrote me as follows a few days since: “On my first Sabbath here, a poor Chinaman came to church to hear me. The next day I found him out, and he is a Christian. He is hungering and thirsting for the word of life, and I thought—what a splendid nucleus that would be for a class. I sought the officers of the church for their consent and approval to such an organization. Then came swiftly the ominous shake of the head, which I now so well know, and I was told that ‘public sentiment would not bear it.’ My heart aches for them, and I pray fervently to know my duty.” I am utterly at a loss to know how such church officers read the Great Commission. I understand what the _plain English_ of it is: I think I could study it out in the Greek. Does anybody know of any rendering of it, according to which the Chinese are left out? It not, how is it that we have so many of these head-shaking Christians all over California?

Furthermore, prejudice breeds prejudice, and the heathen Chinese are beginning even to hate the language thus abused to curse and slander them. They have no longer any appetite for the bait with which we have been fishing for their souls. But if our schools are thus unavoidably less attractive to them, and some of the seats get empty, we try to do the better work with such as remain. And the gracious Spirit adds His blessing still. Five were received to the First Congregational Church in Oakland at its last communion. This week two from the Barnes school have been reported to me as persuaded to be Christians, and desirous of joining the Association. What I have several times before said is still true, I think—that no month passes in which I do not hear from some one or more of our schools, of souls coming out of darkness into light. The consequence is that hearty Christians once fairly engaged in this work become enthusiastic in it. One teacher writes: “To try to prepare the way for the enlightenment of these darkened minds has been the highest privilege of my life. I do not forget the blessedness of leading my own children and other young people to Jesus, but in the offices of mother and teacher, this work has come to me as a matter of course, while the other is the realization of one of my earliest and most fondly cherished desires. I have found it pleasant, even when I could get no word or sign that the faintest shadow of my meaning was comprehended, for I felt that I might be starting thought and opening the way for truth to come in by and by; but when, in some instances, there has been a sudden interest manifested, and such half-incredulous, half-delighted responses come as ‘What! Jesus died for me?’ ‘What! Jesus Christ my best friend!’ ‘Yes, I will love Him!’ I have felt one such moment a complete compensation for a whole lifetime of sorrow and toil.”

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LETTER FROM AH JAM.

SANTA BARBARA, _January 12th_.

MR. POND:

_Dear Sir_—How is your health? I should be glad to have you to write me another report about you school. If you find any interest chapter I shall enjoy it if you will let me know. I cannot explain it which is the best of all [i.e. cannot tell which chapters are the best]. It seems to me very hard to understood the Bible. I wish I had more leisure for my study, or to follow you while I shall learn a great deal. I was very much troubled when I stayed on board ship; she had four Chinese besides me. There was nobody instructed in anything like the gospel. They thought it was dreadful to believe in Christ. It makes them swear, grumble, and smoke opium. They are walking in the way of destruction. I felt very sorry for them. I told them several times what we ought to do in this world while we live. They said they would never be afraid when they die where the soul would go. I presume they will do all things as they please. I left my place, and came on shore two weeks since. But I cannot find any situation yet, because it is very dull. Perhaps I will go to the city next year, and then I shall see you again. We do remember you when we pray; we would like you pray for us, too, if you please. Your sincerely,

AH JAM, AND THE OTHERS.

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THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.

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A SICK BOY’S LETTER TO HIS TEACHER.

I thank you for the beautiful papers that you sent me. I read a piece in one they call “Glad Tidings.” It was about the dissipated father and the dying child. He was a bad man, and used bad _languish_, and cause his whole family to be miserable; and his little son would go to him and crawl up on his knee and tell him about the good God, and the tears would gush from his eye. The little boy said to his father: “Father, you are crying; what is the matter?” “I am afraid, my son, I am going to lose you—you are going to die.” “Well, father, I know I am going to die, but I am not afraid to die, for I will go to Jesus.”

I read that piece, and my little heart did feel so warm. I am trying to be a good boy, and pray to God that I may be a good boy. I am trying to be a better boy every day.

From your dear scholar,

M.T.

MONTGOMERY, ALA.

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LIVE IN GOD’S SUNSHINE.

“Well, Aunt Polly, here you are again on the doorsteps. It seems to me you almost live on them.”

Old Polly raised her faded eyes to the face of her friend, and, laughing, said:

“Yes, dear, dat’s jus’ so! Jim says ‘We mought build a house all doo’ steps and nothin’ else, fo’ granny, ’cause she lives dar an’ nowhar else.’”

“I suppose you like to see the people, and to hear the children prattle as they go by to school,” said the lady.

“Well, yes, I likes to see folks, ’cause my Fader up dar made ’em all; but it’s most fo’ de sunshine dat I stays out here. O, God’s sunshine’s a powerful blessin’, dear. When I’s cold I comes out and sits in it, and I grows warm; when I’s hungry, and Jim’s wife’s got nothin’ to eat, I comes out here and ’pears like I’d had my dinner; when I’s in pain, and ’scruciated all over wid de rheumatiz, I comes out into the sunshine, and de pain skulks off; when Jim don’t be good and ’pears like he was goin’ to ’struction, and my heart is bustin’ like, I comes out and sits in God’s sunshine, and peace comes through His beam into my soul; when old Death comes an’ star’s in my face, and say, ‘I comin’ arter ye soon, to take ye into de dark grave,’ den I comes out into God’s sunshine, and dares him to frighten my soul! Says I to him, ‘Ye hasn’t power in ye to throw one shadow on to my pillow; for my blessed Jesus, de Sun of Righteousness, He been down dar before me, and He left it full, heaped up and runnin’ over wid God’s sunshine. I shall rest sweet in dat warm place, for de eternal sunshine dat shall magnify and glorify all as loves de shinin’ Jesus.”

“Auntie,” said her friend, who always felt that she could sit at the feet of this humble saint and learn of Jesus, “that is very lovely. But there come days when there is no sunshine—when the clouds gather, and the rains fall, and the snows come, and the winds blow. What do you do then?”

“O la, honey, by de time de storms come, I’ve got my soul so full ob sunshine dat it lasts a heap o’ time. Dem times Jim scolds, and his poor wife’s ’scouraged, and de child’n are cross, and de stove smokes and de kittle won’t bile; but I never knows it. God’s sunshine is in my soul, and I tries to spread it round, and sometimes Jim’s wife feels it, and she says—oh, she’s a good daughter-in-law—‘Long’s I keeps close to granny, ’pears like my heart’s held up.’

“Well, well, dear, you can teach me somethin’, and ye can fetch me nice things to make mo’ sunshine; but I can teach you what ye never thought on—dat God’s sunshine’s ’nough for rich and poor, and dem dat thank Him for it, and sit in it, or work in it, and let it into dar heart, will soon go whar it’s all sunshine. Try to make folks live in God’s sunshine, and get it into dar hearts, honey.”—_Intelligencer._

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RECEIPTS

FOR FEBRUARY, 1878.

MAINE, $491.13.

Andover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 Augusta. So. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 31.50 Bethel. A few Ladies of First Cong. Ch. 11.00 Blanchard. Daniel Blanchard 5.00 Dennysville. Mrs. Samuel Eastman 5.00 Gilead. Rev. H. R. 0.50 Holden. “A Friend” 1.00 Orland. Mrs. Buck and daughter 30.00 Portland. State St. Cong. Ch. $302.13; Second Cong. Ch. and Soc $40; Seamen’s Bethel Church $15; Mrs. David Patten $5. 362.13 Salem. A. P. 0.50 Searsport. J. Y. B. 1.00 Weld. D. D. Tappan 2.00 Wells. First Cong. Ch. ($30 of which from Mrs. B. A. Maxwell to const. MRS. W. S. KIMBALL, L. M.) 36.00 Winthrop. Mrs. E. S. B. 0.50

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $367.34.

Bedford. Presb. Ch. $12.50; Mrs. S. S. F. $1, _for Wilmington, N. C._ 13.50 Dover. M. E. L. 0.50 Francestown. Mrs. R. R. F. $1; W. B. 50c. 1.50 Franconia. Mrs. Geo. A. Beckwith 2.00 Greenville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.84 Hanover. Prof. T. W. D. W. 0.50 Hillsborough. Mrs. D. T. W. and others 1.51 Hillsboro Centre. John Adams 10.00 Hollis. Cong. Ch. and Soc., _for Wilmington, N. C._ 13.18 Keene. “A Friend” 128.12 Lisbon. Mrs. A. P. 1.00 Londonderry. C. S. P. 1.00 Lyme. T. L. Gilbert 2.00 Manchester. First Ch. 85.44 Mason. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. $2 and bbl of C., _for Wilmington, N. C._ 2.00 Merrimac. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.30 Nashua. “A Friend” 20.00 New Boston. “Willing Workers,” _for Wilmington, N. C._ 12.00 New Ipswich. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $8.50; Cong. Ch. Mon. Coll. $4.45; Levitt Lincoln $10; “A Friend” $1.50; W. W. J. $1; Mrs. S. T. 50c.; “A Friend” $6; Subscribers _for Mag._ $2.50 34.45 Pittsfield. John L. Thorndike 10.00 Troy. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) 1.50 Windham, C. Packard, pkg of C.

VERMONT, $1,434.42.

Barre. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.00 Brookfield. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.12 Burlington. ESTATE of Mrs. R. S. Nichols, by B. S. Nichols, Ex., _for Fisk U._ 100.00 Chester Depot. J. L. Fisher 15.00 Dummerston. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.00 East Hardwick. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 26.00 Essex. Mrs. Dr. L. C. B. 1.00 Morrisville. Dea. C. F. 0.50 Newbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 53.09 North Bennington. Cong. Ch. 10.06 Northfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.45 North Thetford. Mrs. E. G. Baxter 3.00 Randolph. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00 St. Albans. First. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 52.81 St. Johnsbury. North Cong. Ch. $392.59, and Sab. Sch. 65.40; W. W. T. $1 458.99 Salisbury. J. F. 1.00 Townshend. Mrs. Mary B. Burnap $10; Mrs. S. R. 50c. 10.50 Waterford. Cong. Sab. Sch. $4; S. E. Potter $3. 7.00 West Fairlee. Mrs. C. M. H. 0.50 Westminster. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., _for Talladega C._, and to const. PORTER F. PAGE, L. M. 90.70 West Newbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.75 West Randolph. Betsey Nichols $2; Mrs. S. A. W. $1. 3.00 Williston. ESTATE of Dea. Ezbon Sanford, by Geo. Lawton, Ex. 500.00 Windsor. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.95

MASSACHUSETTS, $3,363.53.

Andover. Rev. Joseph Emerson 50.00 Ashby. Rev. G. S. S. 0.50 Barre. Evan Cong. Sab. Sch., to const. MRS. J. F. BROOKS, L. M. 30.00 Bedford. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. WALLACE G. WEBBER, L. M. 30.00 Boston. Cash $10; G. E. S. Kinney $1.50 11.50 Boston Highlands. Miss. E. Davis 25.00 Brimfield. Ladies’ Benev. Soc. $15; S. H. 51c. 15.51 Boxford. Individuals, by M. L. Sawyer 2.50 Brocton. Bbl. of C. Cambridge. Mrs. J. H. Stone 2.00 Cambridgeport. Geo. F. Kendall 10.00 Charlestown. First Cong. Ch., to const. REV. HENRY L. KENDALL, L. M. 50.00 Chelsea. Ladies of First Ch. 2 bbls. of Clothing and roll of Carpeting, _for Marion, Ala._ Centreville. Marv A. Crosby 8.00 Clinton. First Evan. Ch. and Soc. 34.24 Conway. C. Batchelder 2.50 Cotuit. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.05 Dedham. Rev. C. M. Southgate, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 25.00 Dover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 2.00 Dudley. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 East Braintree. Miss R. A. Faxon, _for purchase of books_ 7.00 East Hampton. ESTATE of Samuel Williston, by E. H. Sawyer, Ex. 1,200.00 East Medway. Circle of Industry, 2 bbl’s of C. Val. $27. Foxborough. C. N. M. 0.10 Granville. C. H. 0.25 Greenfield. Ladies’ Miss. Society, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 18.00 Goshen. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.07 Groton. “Mother and Daughter” 20.00 Hadley. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 13.00 Hanover. C. C. 1.00 Harvard. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 20.00 Harwichport. Capt. Leonard Robbins 10.00 Haverhill. C. E. C. and B. F. E. 1.00 Holden. Mrs. L. B. B. 0.50 Hubbardston. Evan. Ch. and Soc. 22.00 Jamaica Plain, Central Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 50.00 Lawrence. Central Cong. Ch. to const MISS JOSEPHINE CUMMINGS, L. M. 60.00 Leicester. Ladies’ Benev. Soc. $3, and bbl. of C., _for Wilmington, N. C._ 3.00 Lynn. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.10 Medford. Dea. Galen James 300.00 Milford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 57.71 Millbury. Tyler Waters. $5; H. G. $1 6.00 Natick. “Thank Offering” to const. MRS. MARY S. WIGHT, L. M. 30.00 Newton Centre. “Friends,” by Mrs. Furber, $50, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._,—J. W. 50c. 50.50 Northampton. “A Friend” 240.00 North Andover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00 North Brookfield. First Ch. and Soc. 50.00 North Somerville. W. H. A. 0.50 Oakham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. to const. MRS. LAURA E. MORTON and MISS LOUISA A. AYRES, L. M.’s. 70.35 Palmer. Box of C. Peabody. South Cong. Ch. and Soc. 77.00 Peru. G. W. 1.00 Plymouth. Mrs. C. H. P. 0.50 Reading. Mrs. B. P. W. 0.50 Rockland. ——. 25.00 Sherborn. Pilgrim Sab. Sch. 15.00 Southbridge. “A Friend” 1.00 Southborough. Evan. Ch. and Soc. 22.66 South Deerfield. Mrs. M. C. Tilton 2.00 South Hadley. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 30.00 South Wilbraham. W. V. S. 1.00 Springfield. Class in Hope Ch. Sab. Sch., by Mrs. Homer Merriam $3; Mrs. A. C. Hunt $1.10; Mrs. R. K. $1 5.10 Sunderland. Cong. Sab. Sch. 33.17 Taunton. W. H. 1.00 Tewksbury. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Hampton, Va._ 30.00 Townsend. Cong. Sab. Sch. 15.00 Upton. Mrs. M. P. J., Miss M. E. C. and Mrs. M. F. C. $1 ea. 3.00 Waverly. Cong. Ch. and Soc., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 20.00 Wellesley. L. B. H. and C. E. S. 1.00 Westborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 167.70 West Brookfield. A. S. F. 0.50 Westford. Rev. E. H. 1.00 West Medway. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.50 West Springfield. H. A. Southworth 50.00 Williamsburgh. H. H. T. and Mrs. M. E. G. $1; J. L. $1 2.00 Williamstown. C. F. 0.50 Wilmington. J. Skelton 10.00 Winchendon. Mrs. E. B. 0.50 Woburn. Mrs. G. A. B. 0.25 Worcester. Salem St. Ch. and Soc. $82.50; Union Ch. $70; Old South Cong. Ch. $48.47.—Ladies’ Benev. Soc. $5., by Mrs. C. A. Lincoln, _for Ind. Sch., for Talladega C._—A. E. W. 80c. 206.77

RHODE ISLAND, $131.

Pawtucket. Cong. Ch. and Soc $115 (of which $25 from “A Friend”); J. G. 50c. 115.50 Providence. Geo. W. Davison $15; Miss McB. 50c. 15.50

CONNECTICUT, $1,411.45.