Part 1

VOL. XXXIII. No. 8.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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AUGUST, 1879.

_CONTENTS_:

EDITORIAL.

ANNUAL MEETING 225 PAINS OF RETRENCHMENT 225 FREEDMEN’S MISSIONS AID SOCIETY 227 MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA 228 EDUCATION OF FREEDMEN 229 CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE SOUTH--ITS RELATION TO THE AFRICAN RACE 230 DEATH OF A TEACHER 232 ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 232 GENERAL NOTES 233

THE FREEDMEN.

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY--Tenth Anniversary 235 TALLADEGA COLLEGE--College, Farm and Seminary 237 BEREA COLLEGE--Crowded Commencement 238 S. C., ORANGEBURG--School Closing--Religious Life 240 GEORGIA, MCINTOSH--Call for a Lady Missionary 240 GEORGIA, FORSYTHE--Temperance and Religion 241 ALABAMA, FLORENCE--Corner-Stone of a Church Laid 241 TENNESSEE--Teachers’ Institute 242 TENNESSEE--By-ways of Tennessee 243

AFRICA.

MENDI MISSION--Explorations--Industrial Work 245

THE CHINESE.

NOTES AND CLIPPINGS: Rev. W. C. Pond 246

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

MY HOME IN INDIAN TERRITORY 249

LETTERS TO THE TREASURER--Words of Cheer 250

RECEIPTS 251

WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &C. 254

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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.

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. Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis. Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass. Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me. Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct. WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I. Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., 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. 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., Minn. Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y. Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon. 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 THACHER, 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. PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass. Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, 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. Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ct. DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct. A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass. Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y. FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt. JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

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

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_. REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_. REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_. 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, ADDISON P. FOSTER, E. A. 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; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

should be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Ass’t Treasurer, No. 56 Reade Street, New York, or when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill.

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. XXXIII. AUGUST, 1879. No. 8.

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American Missionary Association.

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Our readers will see, on the last page of the cover, that the next Annual Meeting of the Association is to be held the last week of October, in the city of Chicago. We suggest to our Eastern friends, or those from the far West, who have in their plans a visit to that city within the next three months, that, if possible, they delay their going until that time, that they may prove to our friends of the interior their interest in the work, and add to it the impulse of their presence.

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THE PAINS OF RETRENCHMENT.

We do not propose a treatment of this topic in the abstract, to tell of the internal pressure for retrenchment from the collapsed condition of our treasury, or of the outcries which accompany the red line made by the surgical knife. We simply lay before our readers the facts in regard to our latest efforts in this direction.

We have had a school for fourteen years at Athens, Alabama. Miss M. F. Wells has been the principal from its beginning, and has been one of our most faithful and most successful teachers and missionaries. Miss Underwood has been her assistant for two years, and Rev. Horace Taylor has been pastor of the vigorous and enterprising church which has grown up by the side of, and indeed out of, the school. Some 150 scholars have been in attendance at the school, and its work has been more and more satisfactory year by year.

We had a building there which was, however, in bad repair: its walls had been propped up these last months, and it was becoming really unsafe, so that it must be abandoned or replaced. But to erect a suitable and permanent building would cost $5,000, and we had no such sum to expend; and the question came to be, Shall we build, or close the school and transfer the teachers to some other field? Reluctantly this latter decision was made:--indeed, we did not make it; it was made for us. We could not build, and the decision was sent on to Athens.

On the first of July, Miss Wells wrote from a sick bed, of the shock which this decision gave to her, though it had been intimated beforehand. She said:

We thank you cordially for the delay in the announcement of your decision, for had it come in the midst of our closing exercises, students and teachers would have been unfitted for the work upon them.

Our examinations continuing through four days were largely attended throughout, a crowded house greeting us every day.

The general voice of the people was: “Examinations grow better all the time;” “This is the best we have ever had;” “I will send _all_ my children the _first day_ next year, and not keep them out for _anything_;” “Bless the Lord for this school;” “It makes me cry for joy when I see what it has done for our people;” “We are _all_ going to help build a new house;” “Will start a brick-yard next week, if you say so, right in these grounds;” “_All_ will help;” “Even the idle boys on the street will gladly lend a hand;” etc., etc.

On the whole, our examinations and closing exercises were more satisfactory _to us_ this year than ever before. There has been a deeper earnestness in study, and a higher grade of scholarship has been reached.

On the day following, Miss Underwood wrote:

It is pitiful to witness the grief of the people. In the faces of young and old one seems to read, “A calamity has fallen upon us.” Some of them go silently about with bowed heads and spirits, “clothed in sackcloth and ashes.” Others say, “We will arise and build; surely the Lord will help those who help themselves.” The universal feeling is that the school _must_ not close and _Miss Wells must not go_. Without consulting her, they have called a mass meeting for to-morrow night, to see what can be done towards the erection of a new building. You will be promptly notified of results.

On the 4th of July, Mr. Taylor, pastor of the church, wrote as follows:

That night, at a lecture at the Court House, I read a note from Miss Wells announcing your decision. The people were much pained. The open rejoicing of many of the white people hurt the colored people more than anything else. They asked me, “Can nothing be done to prevent this?” I told them I thought not, for the orders were positive. “If we build the school-house, can Miss Wells stay and the school go on?” I said I didn’t know about that, and asked them if they knew what they were talking about; that a school-house such as ought to be put up there would cost $5,000? They said, “We can do it, and we will do it.” So I telegraphed you, “If people put up school building, will school be maintained?” That night, Wednesday, was our preparatory lecture. The people decided to hold a meeting Thursday night, and notice was given at preparatory lecture; so last night the church was filled by an earnest, quiet audience. Colored men were elected chairman and secretary. A committee of five colored men was appointed to draft resolutions, of which the following is a copy as nearly as I can remember:

“Whereas the maintenance of Trinity School is necessary for the education of the colored people of North Alabama, therefore be it

“_Resolved_, 1st. That we hear with deep sorrow the decision of the American Missionary Association to discontinue the school, sell the property, and send the teachers to other points. 2. That we earnestly request the American Missionary Association to reconsider this decision, and permit Miss Wells to remain at the head of the school. 3. In order to enable the school to be kept up, we propose to put up a good substantial school building, and as an assurance of our purpose and ability to do this we forward the following subscription list.”

The resolutions were immediately and unanimously adopted. Two men then spoke with trembling voices and tears in their eyes, and in thirty minutes names were taken with pledges to the amount of $2,196. We then checked the movement, and explained that $5,000 was necessary, but that we had raised the $2,000 we wished to raise there. A unanimous vote authorized me to make the report of the meeting to the American Missionary Association, and that they wished the house and lot to be held forever for the education of the colored people of North Alabama; that if the American Missionary Association would permit them to buy the land at a reasonable price they would do it; or the American Missionary Association might hold the land and the people the house, neither to sell out without the consent of the other. An old blind man said, “An old blind horse ain’t good for much, but when you get him into the tread-mill he is as good as any other; so when you get to making brick I will turn the crank to draw the water.” We got another $100 subscription and immediately adjourned. This morning I have received another subscription of $12, making in all $2,308. I ought to have mentioned that a committee of seven was appointed to solicit subscriptions on the streets. If you say so, the school-house shall be completed January 1st, 1880. I earnestly request that the petition be granted.

At the last meeting of our Executive Committee these letters were read. All were deeply moved, and the response was hearty and unanimous, _Let them arise and build_, and the funds needed for the continuance of the school shall be appropriated and paid. We cannot stop such a work. We cannot refuse such a plea. Why, the educating power of this movement upon the colored people of that place, and its effect, perhaps, upon the white population as well, is worth ten times the money involved in both the building and the school. And yet we are told that the blacks are becoming indifferent to education.

And now, dear friend, you who are thinking how the Lord has not prospered you quite as much as he did a few years ago, when you have read this, will you not put back that $100, or that $1, you were going to take from your usual gift to us, that such work as this may go on? It is your retrenchment that compels ours.

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FREEDMEN’S MISSIONS AID SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of our English Auxiliary took place at Union Chapel, Islington (Rev. Dr. Allon), June 6th. The Earl of Aberdeen presided. The Rev. Dr. O. H. White read the general report of work done in the United States and to be done in Africa. The Rev. J. Gwynne Jones presented the financial statement. The total receipts had been £5,270; £4,727 had been expended in direct mission work, and the balance in hand was £205. £3,000 had been promised by Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, towards the establishment of a mission in Central Africa. The American Missionary Association had fully considered the proposal and deemed it practicable, and they desired now to raise another £3,000 in this country, trusting that they would be able to command funds in America for carrying on the work, if its outfit should be substantially secured here.

Miss Jennie Jackson, of the Jubilee Singers, then sang one of their plaintive hymns, after which the presiding officer addressed the meeting, referring to his personal observation of the slave trade in Africa. The Rev. Dr. Moffat followed, saying that he had been the servant of Africa for sixty years. Since he went out as a missionary in 1816 he had been incessantly engaged in advancing the Redeemer’s kingdom in Africa. He had had many opportunities of witnessing what the Gospel could do in Africa, and he could testify that it was the salvation of every one that believed. Mr. J. B. Gough then spoke in his usual entertaining and forcible way.

On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Allon, seconded by the Rev. Dr. F. Billing, the following resolution was adopted:

That this meeting desires to express the deep sense it entertains of the favoring providence of God in connection with the education of the emancipated slaves of America, for teachers and missionaries to their own race, and also in connection with the mission work accomplished by some of the society’s students (ex-slaves) on the West Coast of Africa. And this meeting would renewedly record its conviction that in the Christian education of the Freedmen we are working in the line of a special providential arrangement for a native agency for the evangelization of Africa.

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MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

At the recent anniversary of the London Missionary Society, the Rev. W. F. Clarkson, B. A., of Birmingham, made the following remarks upon Missions in Central Africa:

“And now, turning to Central Africa, what a solemn responsibility has been thrown upon the Church of Christ in connection with that vast continent! True it is that the North of Africa has been connected with European history ever since Europe had a history, and Egypt, especially, is rich in associations of the most remote antiquity. South Africa has been colonized by modern European nations, and the East and the West Coasts have furnished the material for that iniquitous slave trade in which Christian nations have not been ashamed to join hands with Mohammedans in order to rob their fellow-men of their liberties.

“But all this has touched only the fringe of this vast continent, and the interior has been practically unknown. Look at the maps of a few years ago and you will see blank spaces, relieved only by imaginary rivers and unverified mountains, and the letterpress of the geography books was just as meagre and as unsatisfactory. I chanced to light upon a school geography, the other day, published in 1847, in which this was the description given: ‘The interior of Africa is little known. The climate is so bad that the few Europeans who travel there generally die before they return.’ And it concluded by saying: ‘Most of the inhabitants are negroes.’ I think that the young people of to-day may congratulate themselves that they have not to study the text-books of thirty years ago--at any rate, on this question. I need not remind this meeting how, by the labors of eminent geographers and explorers and, not the least, missionaries, this reproach has been rolled away, and Africa promises to be as widely known as is Asia. But it is more to the purpose of this meeting to express the admiration and the thankfulness with which we witness the Church of Christ, of divers denominations, taking up the solemn responsibilities thrown upon her, and addressing herself to the evangelization of Africa.

“The Church Missionary Society advancing to Lake Nyanza, the Scotch Church taking possession of Lake Nyassa, the Baptist Missionary Society establishing itself on the banks of the Congo; and, not to mention other kindred societies, our own London Missionary Society advancing to Lake Tanganyika--are so many distinct columns of the great invading army which has gone forth to rescue Africa from the power of the prince of this world, and to bring it into subjection unto Christ. Surely this is the dawning of the day which David Livingstone rejoiced to see and was glad. And I hope that I may take upon myself, in your name, respectfully to congratulate our venerable father and apostle, Dr. Moffat, upon the advent of a time so rich in promise, and so glowing with hope, for that Africa which he has so long and so lovingly served. The report has spoken to us in forcible terms of the anxieties of the directors concerning the establishment of this Central African Mission, and I think you will feel that nothing shows that anxiety more clearly than the action of the directors in regard to the offer of Dr. Mullens, that they should have accepted that offer and dispatched him, if not to the front, at any rate to the base of operations for this new campaign; and he will carry with him to Zanzibar our best wishes and our most earnest prayers in the enterprise which he has so promptly and so generously undertaken.

“I think nothing can exaggerate the seriousness of the enterprise to which we, as a society, have committed ourselves in connection with Central Africa. To have to travel 600 or 700 miles, every mile of it measured out by the weary tread of human feet, and to be accompanied by 200 or 300 porters, not simply to carry your luggage, but even to carry the very money with which you have to pay your way, is no holiday excursion; and to have to deal with native chiefs of difficult and capricious tempers, with differing and oftentimes opposing interests, demands qualities of the highest statesmanship. To establish a mission like that of Lake Tanganyika, the lake itself being of the length of the distance, say from London to Carlisle, and twenty miles broad, with all its shores lined with populous villages--to establish a mission in such a centre of such a district demands an energy and a zeal and a patience equal to those of the greatest missionaries that have ever lived; and to do this, with the certain loss of the comforts and conveniences of civilized life, and with the equally certain risk of losing life itself, demands a heroism equal to that of the ancient martyr. All honor to the brethren who have responded to the demands of Christ, and have given themselves to this sacred work. We sympathize with those that are living and working, and we shall never forget those that have laid down their lives in this blessed service. Dr. Black in the South, Lieut. Smith in the North, and our own J. B. Thomson, and others who have fallen with them in this warfare--shall not the Church of Christ register them, each one, in the roll of heroes and of martyrs, by whose immortal example she will seek to stimulate the generations to come?”

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THE EDUCATION OF FREEDMEN.

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has contributed two articles with the above title to the June and July numbers of the _North American Review_, tracing the history of this work, and giving a valuable summary of its present status.

We reprint a brief paragraph and the six general propositions, of which the facts given are offered as the proof:

“For years patriots, statesmen, conscientious and Christian men, had toiled and agonized over the inscrutable problem, _How_ could slavery be abolished without ruin to the country? Madison, Jefferson, Washington, all had their schemes--all based on the idea that after emancipation it would be impossible for the whites and the blacks to live harmoniously together. Sudden emancipation was spoken of as something involving danger, bloodshed and violence; and yet, as no one could propose a feasible system of preparation, the drift of the Southern mind had come to be toward indefinite perpetuation and extension.

“Our emancipation was forced upon us--it was sudden; it gave no time for preparation; and our national honor forced us to give not only emancipation, but the rights and defenses of citizenship. This was the position in which the war left us. We had four million new United States citizens in our Union, without property, without education, with such morals as may be inferred from the legal status in which they had been kept; they were surrounded by their former white owners, every way embittered toward them, and in no wise disposed to smooth their path to liberty and competence.

“That in such a sudden and astounding change there should have been struggle and conflict; that the reconstruction of former slave States, in such astonishingly new conditions of society, should have been with some difficulty, wrath and opposition; that there should have been contentions, mistakes, mismanagements, and plenty of undesirable events to make sensation articles for the daily press, was to be expected.

“But wherever upon God’s earth was such an unheard-of revolution in the state of human society accomplished with so little that was to be deprecated?

“For in this year, 1878, certain propositions of very great significance bear assertion, and can be maintained by ample proof:

“1. The cotton crop raised by free labor is the largest by some millions that ever has been raised in the United States. That settles the question as to the free-labor system.

“2. The legal status of the negro is universally conceded as a _finality_ by the leading minds of the South.