Part 1

VOL. XXXII. No. 5.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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MAY, 1878.

_CONTENTS_:

EDITORIAL.

PARAGRAPHS 129 IN A NUT-SHELL—OUR FINANCES 130 OUR NEW CARTRIDGES 131 THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS 132 KING DAVID AND KING SOLOMON 133 GEN. O. O. HOWARD 134 NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES 135 NOTES: FREEDMEN 136 INDIANS 137 THE PRESS. CONSECRATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS. Rev. James Powell 137

THE FREEDMEN.

TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY, MISSISSIPPI 139 VIRGINIA: The Church and School at Franklin—Beginnings and Results 140 GEORGIA: A Large Sunday School—Faithful Teachers—A Temperance S. S. Concert.—The Old Midway Church—Returning Courage and Prosperity.—Interest in Church and Sunday-School.—Needs of this Field.—Ogeechee 141 ALABAMA: The Alabama Conference—Science and Religion 143 LOUISIANA: Part of a Day Among the Poor 145 KENTUCKY: Temperance and Evangelistic Work 146

THE AFRICAN MISSIONARIES.

THE FREEDMEN’S MISSIONS AID SOCIETY—A Public Meeting in Liverpool 147 WANTED—Cloth, Bibles and School-books 148

THE INDIANS.

S’KOKOMISH AGENCY, W. T.: Sunday-School Progress—An Indian Festival—Temperance and Order 148 GREEN BAY AGENCY: Education Among the Menomonee Indians 149

THE CHINESE.

A REBUKE AND A RESPONSE 150

THE CHILDREN’S PAGE 151

RECEIPTS 152

WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &c. 156

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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.

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A. Anderson, Printer, 23 to 27 Vandewater St.

_American Missionary Association_,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

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PRESIDENT.

HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

VICE PRESIDENTS.

Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio. Rev. JONATHAN BLANCHARD, Ill. Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis. Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass. Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me. Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct. Rev. SILAS MCKEEN, D. D., Vt. WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I. Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, Mass. Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I. Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I. Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y. Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill. Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C. Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La. Rev. D. M. GRAHAM, D. D., Mich. HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich. Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H. Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct. DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio. Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt. SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y. Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Ct. Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y. Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon. Rev. EDWARD L. CLARK, N. Y. Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa. Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill. EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H. DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J. Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct. Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct. A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y. Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio. Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn. Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn. Rev. GEORGE THATCHER, LL. D., Iowa. Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California. Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon. Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C. Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis. S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass. Rev. H. M. PARSONS, N. Y. PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass. Dea. JOHN WHITING, Mass. Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct. Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa. Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct. Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct. Sir PETER COATS, Scotland. Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng. WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y. J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _56 Reade Street, N. Y._

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_. REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_. REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago, Ill._

EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._ H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._ REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ALONZO S. BALL, A. S. BARNES, EDWARD BEECHER, GEO. M. BOYNTON, WM. B. BROWN, CLINTON B. FISK, A. P. FOSTER, AUGUSTUS E. GRAVES, S. B. HALLIDAY, SAM’L HOLMES, S. S. JOCELYN, ANDREW LESTER, CHAS. L. MEAD, JOHN H. WASHBURN, G. B. WILLCOX.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his order as _Assistant Treasurer_.

A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XXXII. MAY, 1878. No. 5.

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_American Missionary Association._

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We are glad to recognize in the columns of papers friendly to our work, articles, items and condensations from the pages of the MISSIONARY. It is a matter of far less moment to us to be credited than to be copied. What we want is, to have the minds of the American people filled with the facts which may lead them to appreciate the importance of the work in which we are engaged. Further than that, we shall be glad to have them use the A. M. A. as the almoner of their charities, so far as they may prefer this channel. But, above all, we want the general work to be known and prosecuted. Use us, then, friends—use us freely—we feel no cuts, even of sharpest scissors, if you insert us into your own circulation. Only, when it will serve your ends, as well as ours and the common good, add at the end: “For particulars, see AMERICAN MISSIONARY.”

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One of our missionaries in the South, who has had long experience in the work, and has made close observations, writes thus in respect to the need of a female missionary:

“BROTHER STRIEBY: I feel that it is necessary to have a female missionary in this city. There is work to be done which only such a worker can do—a work in the homes of the people, with the _women_, young and old. We are not reaching the women as we should. A man cannot do the needed work. The women of the North want to do something for their colored sisters of the South. Here is an opportunity for them. The homes of these people must be reached. As many of them are, morality is well-nigh impossible. The vice that is engendered in them is frightful. Do, my brother, give me a missionary. Do beg the Christian women of the North to help in this matter. Oh, the fearful degradation and ruin that stream from some of the homes of these people!”

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Rev. Mr. Cutler, of Chattanooga, Tenn., desires to acknowledge, through us, the receipt of one dollar, from “Tennie’s Yankee Friend,” West Medway, Mass. Mr. C. has received from various sources, in response to his plea for this poor girl, sums amounting to about seventy-five dollars.

While temperance revivals, under various auspices—of men and women, of ribbons red and blue—are noted through the land, our Southern field is not neglected. Our readers will see, in a majority of the communications from our schools and churches in this number, references to the increase of a temperance sentiment, and an abstinence practice; here in a church, and there in a school; here in the reformation of dissipated lives, and there in the preoccupation of the minds of the young. Intemperance is a giant evil South, as well as North, among the colored people and the Indians, as well as with the whites. Thank God for every victory. Pray God for wisdom and patience with which to withstand, and then to stand.

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IN A NUT-SHELL.

The only caste-oppressed races in America are the Negroes, Indians and Chinamen.

—The quarrels of the white people in America over the negro have caused more bloodshed, and wasted more treasure, than all other causes combined, and we are not yet at peace among ourselves about him.

The South contains a little more than one-third of the population of the country. It has 3,550,425 persons over ten years old who cannot read; the West has only 409,175. The South has 1,137,303 _voters_ who cannot read their ballots; the West has only 217,403. Have _patriots_ no duties here?

The Negroes in the South are more accessible to the Gospel than any other people on earth; they welcome it; they are near us, speak our language, their fervency will add a warmer element to our piety, and they seem called of God to carry the Gospel to the land of their fathers. Have _Christians_ no duties to them?

—The American Missionary Association bears to these caste-oppressed races the help they need in education, practical morality and piety. It has founded or fostered permanent educational institutions for training ministers and teachers. In its forty-five schools are 6,962 scholars, and its former students are now teaching 100,000 pupils.

Its church work lays sure foundations. Sixty-two churches are under its care, with 4,127 members—an average of sixty-six—nearly all the growth of fifteen years. It has seventy-four theological students in training; has prepared many ministers of the colored race, and has sent out nine colored missionaries to Africa.

Seldom, if ever, has so much been accomplished in so short a time at so small a cost.

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OUR FINANCES.

We have reached the half-way station in our annual journey. The statement of receipts, in this number of the MISSIONARY, is the sixth since the last annual meeting. Our friends and patrons naturally desire to know how we have weathered the stormy seas, and what the prospect is of reaching port in good condition, and we desire to tell them frankly and fully. We might refer them to the monthly report, but we know that many of them are too busy to keep accounts for us, their agents.

We know too well how the financial pressure of the year has crippled one and another of them. Their letters—not empty, either—have told us, in confidence, from time to time, of their losses, and we know that their gifts this year have testified to unusual self-denials, and to deepening convictions of the greatness of their work through us. And the best of it all is, that these gifts have not diminished from either of the classes from which our work is supported, the living or the dead. For the ability to make this statement, and in times like these, we thank you, generous friends, and we thank Him whose money you are permitted to administer. We take courage, and congratulate the poor for whom we labor, and whose hope is in your remembrance of them.

In addition to the receipts above mentioned, we have received, towards the payment of our debt, to April 1st, $8,921.72, and also pledges, for the same purpose, of $6,950, the most of which is conditioned on the payment of the whole debt within the year. These figures encourage us to hope that our friends will go on, in the same quiet and inexpensive way, until our whole debt shall be entirely extinguished, and our hands unloosed for a more earnest grapple with the great task of lifting up the needy and ignorant, and yet hopeful races, for which we labor in America and in Africa.

Brethren, we may not be thought politic by all, but we believe in perfect frankness with our donors and the whole public. We have a diminishing debt, curtailed expenses, and an increasing revenue. What, then? Shall any one withhold a dollar designed for us on that account? By no means. Rather continue to endorse our policy of economy and thrift. You are showing your confidence; do not withhold it. And the need? The work is pressing on us from all sides. We have to plan continually how to make each dollar do the work of two.

The facts given in this number of the MISSIONARY, and those of the past few months, show some of the wants which crowd upon us continually. A new and commodious building must be erected at Tougaloo, Miss., to accommodate the overflow of students, whose beds have crowded into recitation rooms and out-buildings, and who are now sheltered in temporary barracks of rough boards. A new building is greatly needed at Atlanta, to accommodate its enlarged work, and to meet the just expectations of the State Legislature, which has granted it $8,000 a year, for several years, for current expenses. The finishing of the church at Golding’s Grove, and the enlargement of the school building there, are absolute necessities. These are but specimens of the claims of this sort pressing upon us. Added to these, is the imperative demand for the extension of our church work in new and promising fields, stretching down to the farthest limits of Texas. The enlarged African work is making increasing demands upon our treasury. Besides all this, the three coming months will witness the return of our Southern workers, when the payment of their last bills and traveling expenses must be met. With such an outlook before us, we are compelled, while uttering our gratitude for the liberality of our friends, to entreat them not to forget the pressing wants near at hand.

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OUR NEW CARTRIDGES.

We have prepared with much care, and have in hand, a series of pamphlets, to which we desire to attract the attention of our readers.

No. 1 is a brief history of the origin and growth of the A. M. A. It is contained in sixteen pages; shows the Providential opening up of the work on this side and on that, and serves to answer many questions—_e.g._, how we came to have a mission in Africa—many of our friends, even, being ignorant of the fact that this was our first work, and that we have a permanent fund set apart by its donor for this very purpose. The same is shown to be true, in part, as to the work among the Indians and Chinamen; while the demands of the freedmen, and the opportunities after emancipation, are their own vindication in the statement of the facts.

No. 2 is the African pamphlet, and contains (1) a history of the Mendi Mission, carefully compiled by Dr. Dana, now of Minnesota. It is much more full and detailed than that read by him at Syracuse, and printed in the December MISSIONARY. The valuable suggestions at the close of the paper are repeated only in their headings. (2) A brief supplement brings the history down to the departure of the second party of colored missionaries, Feb. 23rd, 1878. Large extracts are given (3) from the sermon by Dr. Scudder, of Brooklyn, full of information, quaintly put, as to the land, its products and its people; (4) from an address by Dist. Sec. Pike, on “The Relation of the Freedmen to Tropical Africa”; (5) from Secretary Strieby’s address, before the National Council, on “America and Africa”; and (6) from a paper by Dr. Bevan, of the Brick Church, New York, on the “Relations of England and America to Africa”. The history, the present aspects, and many important relations of the African Mission, are set forth with great fulness in this pamphlet of forty-eight pages.

No. 3 contains the address by Rev. Joseph Cook, at the Annual Meeting in Syracuse, revised and corrected by him. Those who heard it will not need to be reminded how vividly, in his own inimitable way, he set forth the perils to the nation from the three despised races, if suffered, by neglect, to remain in ignorance and degradation.

No. 4 is on the educational work of the Association. Its contents are excerpts from various papers, sermons and addresses. (1) “The Negro and his Needs,” by Gen. S. C. Armstrong, of Hampton, Va.; (2) “Who are Affected?” by Rev. Dr. Brown, of Newark, N. J.; (3) “Can he Care for Himself?” by Dr. Noble, of New Haven, Ct.; (4) “The Weapons of our Warfare,” by Rev. Washington Gladden, of Springfield, Mass.; (5) “Southern Attitudes,” by Dr. Rankin, of Washington, D. C.; (6) “A Southerner’s Approbation,” by Col. Preston, of Virginia; (7) “Rome in the South,” by Dist. Secretary Powell, of Chicago; and (8) “The Special Needs of the A. M. A.,” by Secretary Strieby.

These four pamphlets are not intended for indiscriminate distribution, nor for a temporary need. Rather, we have prepared them to serve as fixed ammunition, to be drawn upon by requisition, according to need. They are cartridges which will fit any gun, anywhere. If sent to individuals from our office, it will be always with a purpose, and for an end. But they will be most gladly sent in answer to requests from pastors, or from friends who may be seeking information on the special departments of our work. If we find these useful, and in demand, we may hasten the publication of other four, which are in process of preparation; on (5) The Church Work in the South; (6) The Chinese Work; (7) The Indian Work; and (8) Systematic Beneficence.

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THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

The Ninth Report of the Board of Indian Commissioners is full of condensed information and valuable suggestion.

The tabulated results of the peace policy during nine years appeared in the MISSIONARY for March. In view of these figures, the Report says:—

“These results in industry, education, and Christianity in the short space of nine years confirm our belief, often expressed in former reports, that the peace policy is the only right policy, and there should be no longer any doubt as to its continuance as the permanent policy of the government. And yet every year the proposal is renewed to recommit the management of Indian affairs to the War Department, and abandon the work of civilization so well begun. The grounds upon which the transfer is urged, namely, greater economy, a more honest purchase and distribution of Indian supplies, more complete protection of the frontier settlers from Indian massacres, and a more effectual prevention of Indian wars—these are repeated year after year, in Congress and in the public press, and as often patiently answered and fully refuted.”

As to economy, a tabular comparison is published, which shows that “supplies contracted for and furnished to military posts have cost much more—in some cases thirty-eight to seventy-eight per cent. more—than at the neighboring Indian agencies.”

It is asserted that the quality of goods supplied, as well as the prices paid, command the approval of all competent and disinterested judges, while the vigilance exercised over the transportation and delivery of these supplies has been productive of most satisfactory results in securing for the benefit of the Indians the appropriations made in their behalf.

The Report refers to the conclusion of the wars with Sitting Bull and Joseph, and calls attention to the fact that, though it may have appeared as though the disturbances had been quite general, in fact only a few hundreds, even of the Dakotas and Nez Perces, have been engaged in them. The wars of the last nine years (of the peace policy) have been more limited, and have cost far less than in any other equal period of our history as a nation. During the forty years preceding 1868, the direct cost of the Indian wars averaged twelve and a half millions a year. Even the war with Joseph demonstrated the effect of civilizing agencies, in its freedom from the barbarities to women and children, which have attended such outbreaks in former years.

Civilization and ultimate absorption into the body politic should be the one purpose steadily pursued. Military means cannot accomplish it. “Civilizing agencies must come from civil life.” The testimony is that the influence of military posts in or near Indian reservations is generally prejudicial to good morals, good order, and progress in civilization. To teach Indian children to read and write, or Indian men to sow and reap, are emphatically civil and not military occupations.

The summary of recommendations, which are not new, but none the less worthy of consideration on that account, is as follows:

1st. Government of Indians by law. 2d. Division of reservation lands and homestead rights. 3d. Larger appropriations for the support of schools. 4th. Consolidation of agencies, and reduction of expense. 5th. Gradation of salaries on an equitable basis.

In view of the excellent results, and the greater promise _of the peace policy_, and of the imminent danger of the speedy transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the War Department, it behooves every friend of the red man, who hopes for his ultimate civilization and citizenship, to bring every legitimate influence to bear upon our legislators to prevent the consummation of this scheme.

Reader, do you know the mind of your senator and representative upon this subject? If you do not, will you not find it out, and do all that you can to make him a minister of peace, and not of war, to these poor people?

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KING DAVID AND KING SOLOMON.

The fourth article in _Scribner’s_, for April, is entitled “King David.” That regal personage proves to be only David King—a long, lank, awkward, shy, near-sighted Yankee, who, up among the New Hampshire hills, felt an inward call to go South and teach the blacks. He was a man not much missed from his old home, and not warmly welcomed at his new one. He was good, but not wise nor practical. The blacks came to him, young and old, in flocks, to learn to read, and he taught them morning, noon and night. But all the while the white planters “regarded the schoolmaster as an interloper, a fanatic, a knave or a fool, according to their various degrees of bitterness.” He tried the experiment of offering work to the idle blacks, but with little success. And now a Northern carpet-bagging politician, of the baser sort, came into his vicinity, and finding him an honest man, with some influence over the poor freedmen, set himself to overthrow it by offers of whiskey and promises of power. And poor David, innocent, and ignorant of human nature, makes weak and ineffectual fight with him, as he had before with haughty planters and ignorant negroes, yields the ground and goes home again, baffled and discouraged.

This charmingly told story has but one fault, and that, probably, is without intention. It may give the impression that King David is a fair sample of the Northern teachers in the South, and that his ill-success is the record or the prophecy of their general disaster and defeat. The true lesson of the story, and that which may have been, if any, in the writer’s mind, is only this: That this David was no Solomon. That goodness, unsupported by wisdom, is not sufficient capital for educational work. That a man who is a failure at home, amid favorable surroundings, will not be likely to succeed abroad, alone, with everything against him. That the lame, the halt and the blind do not make good recruits for the war against ignorance and sin.