Part 2

Just to offset this story, which has doubtless had its counterpart in Southern as in Northern schools and villages, we give the story of one of our teachers in the State of South Carolina, as written to us by himself only a few months ago. Its simple, straight-forward truthfulness will, we think, make amends for its lack of the spiciness and crispness of expression, which give so delicate a literary flavor to the story of King David:

“I was born in Western New York, and, as all my friends continue to reside there, I still call it my home. I have been a member of the Household of Faith since 1859; I have been engaged in teaching the freedmen since the fall of 1866, and, for the greater part of the time, my salary has been quite small; but I love the work, and expect my reward hereafter.

“I came to this place in 1872, and organized a Normal school, and am still at its head. I met with much opposition, but I put my trust in God, and went on doing what I thought was right, and soon saw a change coming over the people. Students began to come in from neighboring counties, and those who had talked most against me now came to visit me. I organized the first temperance society for the colored people in this part of the State, and thus got quite a hold on the people. The organization is still continued, and is doing much good. Several of our students, who are out teaching, have organized similar societies, and I hear good reports from them.

“Early last fall, a couple of young men from another county, asked me if they could not stay in a vacant room in the building and do their own cooking. I, of course, gave them permission, and did what I could to assist them in preparing the room. I had some old lumber in the wood-shed, and from it we made a bedstead and table; had boxes for chairs and newspapers for window shades. It was soon reported that we had good accommodations for boarders, and, before winter had fairly set in, there were nineteen men living in the room, which measured 30 x 22. We had only enough lumber for four bedsteads, and on these the nineteen men slept for four months. A part of them would retire at 8 o’clock, and sleep till after midnight; then arise and let the others take their places. They all did their own cooking, and, as we had but one cooking vessel, they were all night doing their cooking for the next day. Those who sat up the fore-part of the night spent the time in cooking, and while they were asleep the others were cooking in the same room.

“Twenty-three of our students are teaching in three counties, and over 700 pupils are under their care. One of these closed his school for a week, and walked sixty miles, in order to be present at our closing exercises in June.

“We have a weekly prayer-meeting, which is well attended, and is very interesting. We also spend an hour and a half each Sabbath afternoon in reading and explaining the word of God.”

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GEN. O. O. HOWARD.

We wish to add our congratulations, to the many which have already been given, to Gen. Howard, upon his final release from the legal difficulties that have so long perplexed him. It is not easy to understand the reasons for the persecutions heaped upon Gen. Howard’s head. His Christian life, so kind in its spirit, and so efficient in its activities, should not, in this day, provoke enmity. His record as a soldier, making one among the bright pages in the history of our Civil War, and his recent campaign among the Indians, in which he was conspicuous for his active energy, as well as for his courtesy to a brother officer, do not find critical censors. It is in his connection with the Freedmen’s Bureau that the rock of offence is found. We claim to know something about that Bureau, and, therefore, speak the more freely. We believe that no appropriation made necessary by the results of the rebellion was more wise, nor has any trust under the Government been more conscientiously executed than that of Gen. Howard in its administration. So far as any part of the sum was used to relieve physical suffering, it was divided impartially; and, in the appropriation of the larger part of it to the education of the colored people, there was the clearest comprehension of their highest wants. The money was appropriated with just reference to the claims of the different religious bodies co-operating with the Government, and the educational institutions founded by it will be perennial sources of blessing to this people, and will bear their testimony more and more distinctly, as the years roll on, to the wisdom of the Government in its bestowment, and of Gen. Howard in its disbursement.

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NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.

RALEIGH, N. C.—“About twenty united with the church April 6th. Seven were members of the choir.”

WOODBRIDGE, N. C.—“A wave of the Gospel temperance revival has reached Woodbridge. Brother Peebles printed two large pledges, one for the ‘Band of Hope,’ and the other the ‘Murphy Pledge.’ He also promised to print all the names that would sign either pledge, and to-day there are upon the chapel walls the names of eighty under the Band of Hope pledge, and it is expected soon to have fifty names under the other. Already more than half that number have signed.”

MACON, GA.—The church and Lewis High School have, after an interval of a little more than a year since their buildings were burned, a home again, in a substantial brick building, together. The upper story is for the church. The hall will seat about 450 persons, and is neat and tasteful. It was dedicated a few weeks ago, with appropriate services. Rev. S. S. Ashley, of Atlanta, preached the sermon. A description of the lower part of the building, which is designed for the High School, we hope to furnish in our next issue.

SAVANNAH, GA.—Church building needs to be enlarged. One hundred and eighty scholars present in Sunday-school, and good teachers, “as faithful as Moses and as zealous as Peter,” always on hand in time.

EAST SAVANNAH, GA.—Will be recognized by council very soon. Three united with the church March 17th. Has eighty Sunday-school scholars.

WOODVILLE, GA.—“Still in the midst of a revival. Nine school children and four adults received to church membership April 7th. Six were baptized by immersion in the Savannah River—nearly 500 people were present; and one was baptized by sprinkling in the church—the edifice could not hold the people. All the persons baptized are members of Twichell School, held in the church.”

OGEECHEE, GA.—Received five members March 10th. Sunday-school doubled in last four months.

LOUISVILLE and BELMONT, GA.—Numbers and interest increasing.

MARION, ALA.—Mr. Hill writes: “The work is increasing in interest. Our Sunday-school has more than doubled since we came, numbering seventy-one. Twelve or fifteen had never been in a Sunday-school or church before. Last Sabbath I visited a mission organized, about a year since, by one of our church members, four miles from here. The average attendance is forty. I found an audience of seventy-five crowding the little school-house.”

ATHENS, ALA.—A larger number of scholars than heretofore is reported, and a deepening religious interest. Several have professed faith in Christ, and many more have been seeking the Lord.

SAND MOUNTAIN, ALA.—The church has no pastor, and only about a dozen members, but meets every Sunday, and a sermon is read by one of the members. The Sunday-school is also kept up.

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NOTES—FREEDMEN.

—There are in the State of Georgia 81,164 colored voters, who own 457,635 acres of land, valued on the tax list at $1,244,104, and city property valued at $1,790,525, and about $1,000,000 worth of horses, cattle, etc., and $2,100,000 on other property not enumerated.

—The Atlanta _Republican_ asserts that a Campbell county negro farmer raised, last year, seventeen bales of cotton and thirteen hundred bushels of corn on nine acres of land, his only help being a bob-tailed yearling.

—A Kentucky law orders the sale of certain convicts for a term of servitude to the highest bidder. A negro was sold for six months the other day at Hickman. It seems to many that the aim of the law is altogether at the colored people. Is it not a dangerous weapon, even if constitutional?

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in 1874, decided, after thorough discussion, to continue its Freedmen’s Committee, as then located and constituted, for five years (_i.e._, until 1879), “during which period its affairs shall be conducted with the view to the final merging of the Committee with the Board of Home Missions, the churches to be transferred as soon as possible to the Board.” During this fourth year of the proposed five, this last has been done; all the missionaries exclusively engaged in preaching, and their churches are thus transferred. Evangelical work is still retained by the Committee.

—The shrinkage in value of real estate has reduced the income of the Peabody Educational Fund from $100,000 in 1876, to $60,000 in 1877. It may be still less this year.

—The Congressional Committee on Education recommend that the proceeds of the sale of all public lands be set apart as a fund for school purposes, the income for the first ten years to be divided among the States on the basis of illiteracy.

—The Kentucky Legislature propose to make of their share an endowment for the State University, against which the colored teachers of Fayette County protest, as a gross injustice to the common-schools, in the following resolutions:

“WHEREAS, The _per capita_ for each colored child in this Commonwealth is only forty-five cents, while that of a white child is at least four times as great; and, whereas, the passage of the proposed education land bill by Congress presupposes the granting of equal school facilities to all; therefore, be it

”_Resolved_, That we regard the attempt, both of the Legislature of this State and the friends of Kentucky University, to maintain that institution at the expense of the colored common-school system of Kentucky, as an act unjust to the colored people of this Commonwealth, unworthy of the chivalry of the age, and as an act deserving the execration of a generous and magnanimous people.

“_Resolved_, That we urge the friends of humanity in Congress to defeat the bill now pending in the Senate of the United States, unless it can be so modified as to render futile all efforts of the enemies of the colored common-school system to misapply the aforesaid funds.”

—At a meeting held in Baltimore, March 3d, under the auspices of the P. E. Board of Missions, it was stated that there are in the South thirty-seven chapels for colored worshippers of that denomination, fifty-seven clergymen and teachers (five of whom are colored) and one colored evangelist.

—In this Assembly it was held that of the 5,000,000 colored people, one-third had, since the war, risen to a higher civilization and a higher life; one-third had gone down to a lower plane, and one-third were left victims of circumstances. If this last estimate be correct, the upper third will work more and more effectually upon the lower two-thirds to lift them to its level.

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INDIANS.

—General Howard testified the other day, as the result of his personal observation among the Indians, that “wherever there has been faithful teaching of the Scriptures, there have been most abundant and remunerative results in civilization.”

—The representatives of the Five Nations, in the Indian Territory, in their memorial to Congress, opposing the transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War Department, appeal to the history of the more than half century in which that department had complete control of the Indian affairs. After setting forth the evils connected with that period, they say, “May God spare us, and our race, from even the possibility of ever again witnessing the recurrence of such scenes.”

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THE PRESS.

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CONSECRATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS.

BY REV. JAMES POWELL.

Not long since, I spent a Sabbath in a well-known Ohio town, where are two of the largest Congregational Churches in the State. In one, the annual offering to the work of the American Missionary Association was made that day. But, before the contribution was taken, the pastor offered a prayer that both impressed and instructed me. It was a prayer of special consecration of the offerings that were about to be made. He prayed that the people might give thoughtfully and intelligently; that God’s blessing might rest upon the gifts, accompany them to the treasury, and out upon the mission field of the society. No mere formality was this petition, but a glowing, heartfelt prayer for the object in view. I am quite prepared to hear that many other pastors are equally thoughtful to publicly consecrate the benevolent contributions of their congregations, although my observation leads me to believe that such fidelity is exceptional. But why should it not be the rule? Indeed, when one comes to think of it, the wonder is that it is not. So large and important are the interests involved—interests connected with the extension of Christ’s kingdom; so sacred are many of the gifts—the devising of generous hearts and the fruits of self-denial—surely very tender should be the spirit of the occasion when the offering is made.

Yet not only on account of this should consecrating prayer be offered when church contributions are taken, but also on account of the money that is thoughtlessly, and often unwillingly, thrown into the contribution box. It would be an interesting revelation to have placed before us just what proportion of the so-called benevolent contributions is consciously given as an offering to the Lord. I fear it would be startlingly small. Now, all this money that is thrown into the Lord’s treasury, by givers who have no higher prompting than that which governs them when they toss a nickel to an organ-grinder on the street, needs to be consecrated. It is rather sarcastic to couple the word “benevolent” with such contributions; they sadly need prayer before they go out on their mission of benevolence.

Consecrating prayer would tend to correct this great evil by inspiring thoughtfulness. “How much owest thou thy Lord?” would have a recognized place in deciding the amount to be given. The Lord is a party in the transaction. In the persons of the poor and the perishing, He stands over against the treasury, and rightfully asks for evidence of loyalty to His cause. Are crumbs that fall from an over-supplied table, are drops that trickle from an overflowing cup, a sufficient evidence? Christ knows the heart. Think of what it is to bring to Him the mere waste of our plenty, and call that charity. There is a possibility of actual sin here, whose guilt is but increased by explanation. It was given thoughtlessly—no reference to the debt owed, no reference given to the needs of the cause to be aided—thoughtlessly! That is precisely where the Christian conscience should sting most keenly. For thoughtlessness in what is paid to Christ, is a most aggravated form of sin. Grocery bills, clothing bills, rent and taxes shall be paid with thoughtful reference to what is justly due, and the world shall label him dishonest who tries even to quibble about the point; but upon this transcendently higher plane of obligation, involving the question of what the soul owes its God and Saviour, many Christian men will do what, on the lower plane, they would scorn as highly dishonorable. Prayerful thoughtfulness will work reform in this respect, and develop a more genuinely benevolent Christian character.

The money, too, that comes from unwilling hands needs consecration. Many of the dimes and quarters that keep the deacons so long after the service laboriously counting, had they voices and permission to speak, would tell a story complimentary neither to the generosity nor benevolence of their donors. They would say: “We are here chiefly because the contribution box was passed, and our donors did not like to appear niggardly. The hand that dropped us was so held that the man passing the box could not see us had he wished to, but we made quite a noise as we clinked down into our places, and by our clatter produced an impression that there was a good deal more to us than there is.” The hypocrisy entering into this portion of the contribution needs casting out by prayer.

Another good would be secured by the offering of a consecrating prayer when benevolent offerings are made in the churches. The contribution box would be held in worthy esteem as a genuine means of grace. By many it is so held; it should be by all. It is no intruder in the sanctuary; it has the sanction of Divine appointment, and is the necessary outgrowth of “pure religion and undefiled” in the heart. Its visits to the pews should be hailed with delight, for it brings even a greater blessing to the giver than it carries away to the receiver. Still, it is not thus welcomed by every one. Indeed, such an aversion have some people to it that an announcement a week beforehand that it is to be used, is to make certain that Sunday will find them sick. The nature of the contribution-box sickness need not be particularly inquired into, but “indisposition” is a good-sounding word with which to designate it, and it is so elastic in meaning withal, that it can be made to stretch over into the domain of conscience. Yet a very serious sickness it is, and should be so regarded. Next to willingness and ability, is opportunity to do good. To turn away from the opportunity is to confess unwillingness; and such confession, the Apostle James unqualifiedly affirms, is denial of having love to God. Indisposition, therefore, means, on apostolic authority, that the love of God dwells not in the heart.

I desire to commend the example of the Ohio pastor to all pastors who desire to increase the benevolent contributions of their churches. Let the contributions be consecrated by special prayer. It interferes with no method that may be in use to take contributions. It will impart new power to all.—_Advance._

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THE FREEDMEN.

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TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY, MISSISSIPPI.

REV. G. STANLEY POPE.

General View.

This is one of the youngest of the A. M. A. schools. Some of our sister institutions have the advantage of us by four or five years. None have had such frequent changes in managers and instructors. At the commencement of the present year, there was almost an entire change in the workers. In the face of many discouragements, there is a remarkable degree of confidence on the part of the pupils. This is manifest in the increased attendance, which, in the Normal and Intermediate Departments, is sixty per cent. larger than last year, and this without special effort on our part. The ladies’ hall is full, and some are compelled to occupy a room in the mansion. The young men’s dormitories have been more than full, so that we have been obliged to put up some rough barracks, for the accommodation of twenty young men. Before the building could be finished, half the rooms were taken. Recitations are heard in Professor Miner’s office and private sitting-room, as well as in the public sitting-room at the ladies’ hall. Letters are continually coming in, asking for work with which to pay board. It seems more like the first two or three years after the surrender than anything I have since seen. One young man walked fifty miles, carrying his trunk on his back, to get here. There ought to be means furnished us to help all such “tramps.”

The school will accomplish the work intended by its founders, when it shall send out each year a class of well-trained teachers, who will build up good schools and churches. It is not proposed, at present, to enter upon a higher course of training than is given in our best Normal schools.

Our location could not well be bettered, being almost in the very centre of the State, and upon the great through line from New Orleans to Chicago. The place is both beautiful and healthful. The ground is high and rolling, and the great oaks, with their heavy hanging moss, lend a grandeur and charm to the place. There are only two schools of similar grade in the State open to colored people—Alcorn, in the extreme south-west, and Shaw University, in the extreme north. The field is before us. Mississippi, with her 350,000 souls, over sixteen years of age, who cannot read and write, is calling for our teachers. Chicago and New Orleans are ready to consume our berries and hay just as soon as we can produce them in sufficient quantity to ship. The farming community around us is calling for shoes and harnesses. But our buildings are entirely inadequate. The _immediate need_ is a plain, substantial three-story brick building, that will cost $12,000, the first floor for recitation rooms, and the second and third for dormitories for young men. We ought to have it before our opening next year. The ladies’ hall must also be enlarged, for we cannot put the young women into barracks as we have the young men. There is every indication of greatly increased attendance another year. We must not close our doors. Will the readers of the MISSIONARY give us the means to open them wide? The demand is for a forward movement. Shall the demand be met?

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The Farm.

PROF. D. I. MINER.

Since the present school year commenced it has been a matter of a good deal of study with us, who are now in charge of this institution, how to so employ the labor of the students as to have it a source of _some_ income to the school. During the past year, the farm brought in very little revenue, owing to drought and other unfortunate circumstances, and we have been compelled to purchase largely some things which the farm ought to produce in _excess_ of our needs.

We are expecting to cultivate seventy or eighty more acres than was attempted last year, and, with better cultivation and the blessing of God, it is hoped we shall produce as much corn, hay, potatoes and vegetables as we consume during the year, even if there should be no surplus to sell. On April 1st we had over sixty acres of corn planted.

During the winter term we have had forty-six young men working for half their board. The principal work in January and February was preparing wood for a year to come; but since the 1st of March, the farm and garden have taken all the labor. And this will be true for the remainder of this school year, which closes in June, when our heaviest crop (corn) will be “laid by.”

We are hoping gradually to work into crops which will occupy less ground, and still be more remunerative than corn and potatoes. To this end, last fall, we commenced in a small way with strawberries by setting some two thousand plants, which are doing remarkably well. From these, we expect to increase till we have several acres in strawberries. Being on the line of the Illinois Central and New Orleans Railroad, we have direct communication with a good Northern market for such fruit.

The prime want of the farm is fences. During the war, and the few years immediately succeeding, the fences in this part of the country were nearly annihilated, in consequence of which the plantations are almost all connected together, with no line of fences between them. We need at least four hundred rods of fence to divide this farm from neighboring plantations. If there was _rail timber_ on the place, we would soon have the fences; but such timber is scarce here, and lumber must be obtained for this purpose from the pine region, fifty or sixty miles south of us. Much is lost every year, in consequence of the exposed condition of our crops.

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Industrial Department for Girls.