Part 4

Rev. Dr. Roy, of Atlanta, whom your own great State has recently given to the South for a Field Superintendent of the work among the colored people, preached a most effective opening sermon from the text, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and forever." We thank the Illinois churches for their gift, for Dr. Roy is evidently the right man in the right place. He is cordially and gladly welcomed, and will have a great work to do in looking after the present scattered flocks, and gathering new churches. The Conference was well officered by Rev. R. F. Markham, of Savannah, as Moderator, and Rev. J. H. H. Sengstacke, of Woodville, as Secretary; Rev. S. E. Lathrop, the newly-arrived pastor at Macon, was also chosen Statistical Secretary and Treasurer, with authority to publish the Minutes and other documents. The Macon church is a beautiful brick building, tastefully arranged, upon a commanding site which overlooks most of the city. The attendance of Macon citizens was not so large as it would have been but for a very exciting municipal election which was going on at the time, absorbing the enthusiasm of most of the people. But the Congregational church, with the "Lewis High School" in its basement, taught by two experienced lady teachers from New York, has gained the respect of the whole community by the steadiness of its members and the "sweet reasonableness" of its doctrines as handed down from past generations.

To those unaccustomed to deal with the Freedmen, one very noticeable thing was their intelligence, and especially their knowledge of parliamentary law as applied to deliberative bodies. They are thoroughly posted in all the intricate mazes of motions, amendments, substitutes and privileged questions, and everything must be done in a strictly parliamentary way. This is, perhaps, a characteristic of the whole Southern people, white or black. They have also a good knowledge of Congregational usages, and seem to be much attached to the ways of the Pilgrim Fathers.

One evening was devoted to a temperance meeting (a subject, by the way, which needs great attention in the South), with several earnest and spirited addresses by both white and colored speakers. The vice of drunkenness is very prevalent in this part of the country, both in the churches and out of them. The "fire-water" has its charms for the red, white and black races alike. Even among the colored preachers of some denominations, drunkenness is by no means uncommon.

Rev. Floyd Snelson, recently returned from the Mendi Mission, Africa, gave a very interesting sketch of the work among that people. Several of the (colored) churches of the city were supplied on Sunday by members of the Conference. There is little affiliation of the white churches. Mr. John R. McLean, a promising young man of pure negro blood, was ordained by a council as a closing exercise of the Conference--a very impressive service. Sermon by Rev. S. S. Ashley, of Atlanta; charge to the candidate, Rev. R. F. Markham, of Savannah; ordaining prayer, Rev. S. E. Lathrop, of Macon; right hand of fellowship, Rev. J. H. H. Sengstacke, of Woodville.

Congregationalism in the South is not a failure. The outlook is hopeful. The tendencies of our polity to induce intelligence and self-control are more and more observed, and the better classes of Southern people are coming out with more strongly pronounced words of commendation. Men and money, patience and prayer, wisdom and work, will elevate the black man to his proper place, surely, though it may be slowly.--_Advance._

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"There is Life in the Old Land Yet."

JOHN M^CINTOSH, JR., LIBERTY CO., GA.

I came to this place in October and undertook the work necessary to a successful beginning of my school duties. Several county free schools were in session on my arrival, and I deemed it wise to visit them and urge the patronage of my school, which I intended opening when the free schools were closed. I visited and witnessed the closing exercises of these schools, and was pleased with the progress made by some of them. The great scarcity of proper books and other school accommodations was quite manifest. Some of these schools had scholars sufficiently advanced for the Second or Third Readers, but did not have the means to purchase suitable books, and so the teachers kept them reading in the blue-back speller, and accomplished something.

I succeeded in getting pupils to come to my school from one to ten miles away. I began teaching under the auspices of the American Missionary Association immediately at the close of the free schools, and the number of pupils and the interest in education increased rapidly. The number enrolled has been large, and the average attendance good. A most decided improvement has been made in punctuality and the general observance of school regulations and requirements. Many have paid something toward the education of their children, and quite a number something toward procuring proper books for their children.

The school is prospering, the people are taking a proper view of things, and the workers are encouraged. May our sky continue bright.

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Home Life Among the Negroes--An Incident.

MRS. T. N. CHASE, ATLANTA.

The saddest reports of home life among the negroes are gained from conversation with our returned student teachers. One of our girls, a born lady, delicate and refined, who had always lived comfortably in the city, went out to teach for the first time this summer. Her first boarding-place was a log house of three rooms and twenty occupants. Each room contained a separate family. There were no windows or openings in the logs except the chimney and door, and of course the door must be shut at night to keep out animals. The father and mother have a bed; the children (boys and girls) all nestle together on a quilt spread on the floor, in the corner, sleeping in the same filthy garments they have worn through the day. Think of trying to sleep as she had to during the intense heat of last summer in a close room with twelve persons. The first morning she told the man of the house he must get a saw and make a place for a window. He protested; so did she; said she should sit up all night and not shut her eyes to sleep unless it was done; and it _was_ done. Need a missionary in Africa practice more self-denial than this exceedingly neat and delicate girl in Georgia? She took a lamp with her which was a great curiosity, as the children were not accustomed even to a candle. At dusk the door was filled with eager eyes waiting to see her "make a fire in that queer thing." She is an unusually sweet singer. It was remarkable how quickly her fine voice was recognized and appreciated by the musical intuitions of even that rude people. They came long distances to beg her "to sing one more time," and often remarked, "I'm shore the angels can't sing no better."

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ALABAMA.

Testimony as to Progress Already Made--The Situation and Equipment.

REV. F. BASCOM, D.D., MONTGOMERY.

I am much interested in my work and in my people. I see abundant proofs of the beneficent agency of your society here. Could its influence have been exerted in like manner among all our colored people of the South, the problem so perplexing to politicians and philanthropists, as to the future of this class in our country, would have been already solved. It seems to me that my neighbors here who have been under the influence of our school and church, for these few years past, are as well prepared for the duties and responsibilities of freemen and citizens as are the ordinary farmers and mechanics at the North. I am most happily disappointed in the intelligence of the men and the culture of the women, and in the neatness and comfort of their homes. But I see this elevation of the race is accomplished by the most laborious and exhausting efforts of your employés.

Dr. Bascom also writes to a friend, as appears in the _Advance_:

We greatly enjoy our situation and work in this place. The weather is charming. We should call it the perfection of our early autumn weather,--just cool enough for comfort with a nice fire in the grate, but bright and balmy through the day, making the shady side of the street preferable at mid-day. The frost has killed the elm and mulberry leaves, but the magnolia, mock orange and fig leaves are green as ever, and the hawthorn hedges and roses make the door-yards look almost like June. Their geraniums they are protecting with temporary board coverings, letting them remain out all winter.

Our Mission Home is a large and commodious mansion built by a slave-holder, whose fortunes went down with the lost cause, and it was purchased by the American Missionary Association. Our school, near by, has a building which compares favorably with some of the Chicago school-houses, two stories and a good basement, the whole accommodating from 300 to 400 pupils, with three noble white teachers and three colored, who have graduated from this school. I have just visited the school, and was greatly delighted. It is no disparagement to your excellent schools to say that, in point of order and apparent earnestness and successful work on the part of both teachers and pupils, these dusky boys and girls would not suffer in comparison.

Our church here is a neat, pleasant, wooden building, and our congregation appear fully to appreciate a preacher's best efforts. Their singing is, like ours, led by a good organist. Their prayer meetings are quiet and social, and very enjoyable. Our Sunday-school is flourishing, under a colored man for superintendent, who is teaching in the country. I enjoy my work, and hope to have a profitable winter.

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TENNESSEE.

Le Moyne Library--Sunday-school Work.

MISS LAURA A. PARMELEE, MEMPHIS.

There has been some work and much time spent upon the library in labeling and cataloguing the two hundred and thirty new volumes, and arranging the whole five hundred in classes.

We have nineteen popular books of science; twenty-five bright records of travel; forty-seven good histories, essays, stories, &c., of genuine worth. Many of them are already in circulation. I am confident this must gather to our support the best elements in the colored community.

Some of the public school-teachers have spoken to Mr. Steele about reciting to him at night. They say they wish to review the lower branches. The arrangements have not been perfected. And a request has come that a class be formed in theology, for the benefit of young men who are obliged to work, but wish to fit themselves for preaching.

Just at this time we are in a state of chaos, waiting for the holiday merry-makings to be over, that people may settle down to plans for another year. We hope for a good year in every sense of the word. As I sit by my stove writing, a substantial Baptist sister is warming her feet on the hearth and making arrangements with Miss Milton to hold a neighborhood prayer-meeting at her house Tuesday morning. I think the missionary work is broadening. The yellow fever fund you sent is helping to break down barriers.

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Generous Giving--Not Dying Out--Help Wanted.

REV. TEMPLE CUTLER, CHATTANOOGA.

During my seven months' absence from home the church managed to take care of itself with credit both to its zeal and its ability. Three months of the time it was ministered to by the Rev. G. W. Moore, a young preacher pursuing his studies at Fisk. Brother Moore gave himself most heartily to the work while here, and displayed qualities of mind and heart that give promise of great usefulness to his race. The church raised for him by its own contributions $50 per month, besides contributing nearly $50 to aid yellow fever sufferers in other cities in the early stage of the epidemic. The total amount of their contributions during my absence was $211.42. I do not think many of our Northern churches can show a better record, considering their income. It amounts to about $3.50 from each resident member. The income of our membership will not average $150 a year. Let these figures be compared with those of some of our city churches, and we will not blush. I sometimes get a little tried with the people when I see them waste their money on tobacco and a thousand little extravagances; but I immediately feel rebuked when I compare their extravagance with that of white people. If white people gave according to their income as these poor black people do, our debt would not hang like a millstone around our neck, and the Home Missionary Society would not still groan over $30,000.

I have heard it stated that the colored people are dying out. This is not the case among our people. I have been here two years and a half, and have not been called to attend a funeral of any member of our church. There have been but three deaths in the families, and two of them were yellow fever cases during my absence. Some of our members were sick, but none of them died. There were many, many cases of yellow fever among the colored people that were not reported. They held, perhaps, a superstitious notion--the doctors would say so, at least--that if they went to the hospital they would surely die; so they doctored themselves with herbs, and so far as I can learn not one so treated died.

We are in the midst of the trying season for these poor people. The cold weather is coming on; but thanks to the kind women of Yarmouth, Mass., and Skowhegan, Me., we have a good stock of garments for the most needy. Two barrels have come and their contents been distributed in part. The Lord bless the generous hearts and fingers that filled them.

I want to say to the friends of Tennie that she is making a grand record in school. I have another girl named Rosa for whom I bespeak an interest. If any Sunday-school or any body wants to take her off my hands, I will find another to take care of. Work done for these girls is good work.

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Freedom's Day.

The Band of Hope in Chattanooga observed the first day of January in celebrating the anniversary of the proclamation of Emancipation. The exercises were held in one of our largest halls, and were well attended. They consisted of speaking and singing, and the reading of the Proclamation. The principal address was given by Rev. Mr. Hurley, of the A. M. E. Church, and contained some excellent thoughts upon the situation of things in the South. After a brief introduction, in which he spoke of the propriety of the colored people's observing this day as the white people had been accustomed to observe the Fourth of July, as independence day, he proceeded to name some of the benefits that had come to the whole country, white and black, North and South--for we are one, and what really benefits one section, benefits all--from the emancipation of the slaves.

1. His first point related to the honor of the American name. For almost a century poets have sung and orators boasted of the national honor. The declaration of independence, "that all men are born free and equal," has been flaunted abroad as the pennant of the nation, while millions of our people were being born, living and dying in the worst form of slavery the world has ever known. In all those long years the nation lived a stupendous lie. Never was the declaration of independence true until Abraham Lincoln made it so the first day of January, 1863. It is a great benefit to the nation to be true to its professions; to have this great blot wiped out.

2. By the emancipation of the slaves, 5,000,000 pairs of hands were added to the wealth and defences of the nation--no small gift. We read of a time when a nation shall be born at once. It has come. What if the ex-slave has had to be nursed! All babes are nursed. Is not the babe a blessing to the household? Even its very helplessness is a blessing, educating the finest sensibilities of humanity. If the babe born January 1st, 1863, is nurtured aright, God alone can measure the benefits to the nation.

3. By the emancipation of the slave, a system of education was introduced to the South that insures a lasting blessing upon the whole people. The intelligence of a large portion of the white population before the war was not above that of the slave. If the slave had not been made free, there is no reason to suppose the condition of these poor whites would have been changed. Now a glance over the broad territory of these States, where school-houses have sprung up like magic, shows the immense advantage that has come to white and black alike; and with the increase of intelligence will come increase of prosperity and happiness to the whole nation. With the emancipation of the slave, the common-school system has been forced upon the South, until now, having tasted of its sweetness, we hope it is never to be abolished.

4. Another benefit resulting from the emancipation of the slave is the moral elevation of the people. Ah! we know too well the vices that sheltered themselves under that most accursed of all traffics. The slave was but a chattel; his level was the ox; he was like any other beast of burden, and his morals were not above his position. Great complaint is now made of the moral condition of the colored man. But low as it may be, every intelligent observer can perceive a vast improvement over the condition before the war. The wonder is that one virtuous, or truthful, or honest person could come out of 250 years of moral degradation like that of American slavery. But these dark days are gone. Now there is incentive enough for us to rise. The opportunity is before us to show to the world that the vices of the past are due to our education, and not to the inherent nature of the black man. We have only to recover a lost manhood. We want faith in one another. We must believe in the possibilities that are before us as a people, and aid each other to reach them, and God will give us the victory.

In closing, the speaker referred to some mistakes the colored man has made. One was too much confidence in the white man. Confidence begets dependence. Dependence is not good for those who would rise in the world. We must learn to trust God and our own exertions. We have always been dependent, and it is not strange that we have leaned upon our friends in the early days of our freedom; but now it is time for us to begin to act and think for ourselves. There is a destiny before us which we must achieve. Let us arise and work. Another mistake is the scheme of emigrating to some other land. This is our home as much as it is the white man's. It is our native land. The country and people that have witnessed our degradation should also witness our exaltation. After years of servitude shall we turn our backs upon glorious privileges that are now within our reach? No, my friends, we shall make a grand mistake if we follow to any extent the wild scheme of defeated politicians, projected in this African exodus. Let us be content to wait until we have redeemed ourselves from the evils of 250 years of servitude by the improvement of the advantages that God has so graciously brought to our door, before we venture into that dark continent from which our fathers were torn, to be ground under the iron heel of the slave-master. Until then, Africa will be no better for us, and we will be no better for Africa. We must learn to respect ourselves before we can command the respect of others. May God hasten the day when the colored man shall recognize in his brother the character which he would have all men recognize in himself.

I do not give this as a verbatim report, but the thoughts as nearly as I can recall them from a few notes taken at the time. Coming from a colored man, they show the sentiment of the more intelligent leaders among them. The address fits so exactly into the line of our work that I cannot refrain from giving this brief report. T. C.

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CHILDREN'S PAGE.

LAME JOE.

MISS M. WATERBURY, POLO, ILL.

We were teaching a Freedman's school in Mississippi, and boarding with a Northern family on a plantation, where a few years before were four hundred slaves. One Sabbath morning we were sitting on the back piazza, sorting Sunday-school papers for the school, which was that day to begin, when Joe made his appearance from the kitchen, coming along by the porch with a limping, shuffling gait; his only garments a shirt much too large for him and minus one sleeve, and a pair of pants hanging in tatters, the cast-off rags of an older brother. "Can you read, Joe?" said the teacher, passing him a paper full of pictures. "Not yit, ma'am; but brother Ben can read right smart, and he's gwine to teach me a heap o' larnin', and I reckon I'se goin' to read dis yere some time shore." Joe took his first lesson in learning by means of the word method, and limped off spelling the word "so," and picking out all the so's in his paper.

In a few days we took occasion to interview his mother and broach the subject of his going to school; but we soon found that the chances were against him; for being the youngest of ten children, there were so many to feed and clothe, as his mother expressed it, she "couldn't get to him," and he had to tote wood and water for her, while she cooked at the big house. After repeated attempts to get Joe started in his education, the Yankee school ma'am set about clothing her protégé, but was soon put to her wits' end to find a pattern for boys' pants; and as tailoring was not her forte, there were several obstacles to be overcome. Happily, a plan was hit upon, and Joe pulled off his dilapidated pants and went to bed, while his new clothes were cut by the use of the old ones for a pattern, and very soon the happiest boy of the Ethiopian race was a daily attendant at the school. A week or two of study passed, when the gentleman who had provided Joe with hat and book accosted him with, "How do you get on, Joe?" "Mighty well, Colonel; done got past the picture o' de ox; have shore done got past him!"

No pupil was more constant in attendance than our protégé, and with rapid strides he passed the boys of his age, learning well whatever he was permitted to study, and in four years from the time he learned his first word on the piazza, we left him doing examples in higher mathematics, before a large audience of parents and friends of education, who were delighted at his progress. Many of our pupils had come to the Good Shepherd, and with delight told of the joy in following their newly-found Saviour; but Joe was so engrossed with study, nothing seemed to move him, and we left him, a little saddened that he was, as he expressed it, "yet in the outstanding army."

This summer, while the yellow fever was prevailing, there came a postal from Joe, saying he had found Jesus, and taken Him for the captain of his salvation; and now he loved everybody, and his teachers better than ever, and amidst all the fears about the fever he never was afraid; he was well, though his father and mother were both sick; but he didn't have any fears for this world or the next.

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RECEIPTS

FOR DECEMBER, 1878.

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MAINE, $531.65.