Part 1

Vol. XXXIII. No. 9.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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SEPTEMBER, 1879.

_CONTENTS_:

FORWARD: Rev. Eli Corwin 257

EDITORIAL.

PARAGRAPHS 258 LITERATURE OF OUR SOUTHERN WORK 259 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT 259 WINDING UP A HORSE 260 ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 264 GENERAL NOTES 265

THE FREEDMEN.

WINNING BY PASSIVE VIRTUE: Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D. 267 GEORGIA, WOODVILLE--Dying Scenes--Pressing Work 268 GEORGIA, CYPRESS SLASH--A New Field 269 ALABAMA, MONTGOMERY--Swayne School 270 TENNESSEE, MEMPHIS--Le Moyne School--Conversations 270 TENNESSEE--A Colored Girl’s Experience as a Teacher 270 MISSISSIPPI--Letter from a Tougaloo Student 271

AFRICA.

MENDI MISSION--Religious Progress at Avery--Travels into the Interior--The Heathen--The Country 273

THE CHINESE.

FALSE BRETHREN: Rev. W. C. Pond 278

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

CHILDREN’S INFLUENCE 281

RECEIPTS 282

CONSTITUTION 285

WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, &C. 286

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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. 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. SEPTEMBER, 1879. No. 9.

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American Missionary Association.

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FORWARD!

Dedicated to the American Missionary Association, by the Author,

REV. ELI CORWIN, D.D., JACKSONVILLE, ILLS.

_Strike_, valiant warrior, strike! Be foremost in the fight, And wield the battle-axe of truth With all a giant’s might; He ventures in no doubtful cause Who champions the right.

_Build_ for the ages, build! Lay the foundations strong, Through all the circling centuries Of wretchedness and wrong; The tribute of the after times May to this age belong.

_Work_, then, with courage, work! He labors not in vain, Who, leaning on the Mighty Arm, Counts every loss a gain; Since we may reach the glory goal Through pilgrimage of pain.

_Pray_, weary watcher, pray! Upon the promise rest; Faith seems to see a _rising_ sun Sink in the darkening west; And, in the morrow’s prophecy, Is comforted and blest.

We take from the columns of the _Christian Intelligencer_, the organ of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, the ingenious and suggestive article by Dr. Chamberlain, entitled “Winding up a Horse.” We are sure it will be read.

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There is good sound sense in the very practical contribution on Children’s Influence in Missions, or rather on interesting children in the work of Missions, on the Children’s page. The heart which is interested intelligently in such work in its youth will never be likely to grow too busy or too old to follow the progress of the years, and the hand which has learned early to drop its pennies into the Lord’s treasury will hardly be found clenched upon its dollars in riper years.

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Next month brings us around to another Annual Meeting. Our financial year ends with the last day of this month (September). Our books will be closed then for the year, and our balance will be struck. This is our reminder to all, either churches or individuals, who have intended to contribute to our work during the current year. Let your gifts be sent in speedily and as liberally as the Lord may have prospered you. Every cent received during the next thirty days helps this year’s showing. Do not let us go back of the standard maintained during the last three years! Our ambition is to report expenses all met and debt all gone.

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The report that the yellow fever has returned to Memphis has long before this reached the ears of our friends. We hope that the evil will not be so great as it was last year, and yet its immediate effect upon our work has been more suddenly felt than then. The people flee more eagerly from a scourge the severity of which they hold in horror enhanced by the recent memory of its infliction. The church at Memphis is scattered; pastor and people have left it; a faithful janitor is caring for its and the school property. The church at Chattanooga, too, has been largely deserted, and its attendants have fled to the mountains. Of course this is but a temporary interruption. The three or four hundred dollars which was sent to us last year for the relief of the colored sufferers accomplished an amount of physical relief, and indirectly of spiritual good, almost beyond belief. We shall be glad to superintend the disbursement of any like moneys which may be sent to relieve the poorest of the poor in this their special distress.

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“Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee, before the sons of men!”

As a father lays up for his children against a future need, so the psalmist felt that the Heavenly Parent had done for those that fear Him; so, in sight of the sons of men had He wrought such goodness for them. It is a great thing to realize the daily dispensing of such divine favor, but a greater to learn that Infinite Love has gone before to treasure up the riches of goodness. It was a marvel of blessing that God wrought before the sons of men in all the world for the American children of bondage in their emancipation. But more than this: He had laid up beforehand treasures of Christian anti-slavery sentiment and charity, to be disbursed among them in the lines of educational and Christianizing processes, and, with divine forethought. He had prepared a system for the administration of this relief. Distinguished among other provisions of this kind were the rise and the preparatory training in principle and method of the American Missionary Association. We know not which the more to admire, the wisdom or the goodness of such fore-ordaining. It is the privilege of its constituency to be the almoners of such bounty.

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THE LITERATURE OF OUR SOUTHERN WORK.

It makes no pretension. It has been a growth from nothing. And yet it is worthy of mention. The _Southern Workman_, the organ of Hampton Institute, is a monthly, well filled with matter historical, scientific and newsy, and well adapted to interest the Freedmen and their friends, as also the civilized Indians and their friends. The Hampton Health Tracts, in a series of a half dozen, treat of the great essentials of health and of physiology. It was a happy hit to give the late children of bondage these first lessons in civilization. This list of tractates has also not a little of instruction for many people who pass among the enlightened class. The _Fisk Expositor_ is an occasional issue that gathers up the history and progress of that University, which the Jubilee Singers have done so much to endow and to make famous. The _Southern Sentinel_ is a monthly, published at Talladega College, and designed, as is the _Southern Workman_, to interest the colored people in all matters pertaining to education, agriculture and mechanic arts. On both, the work of type-setting and printing is all done by the colored students, who have learned the process while in school, and who make this their means of support, besides the acquiring of a trade that will secure them a respectable livelihood. The young women make capital compositors. In both of these offices not a little of job work is also done. The mechanical work upon the _American Missionary_ was for a time done by the office at Hampton. The Straight University at New Orleans has also its occasional medium of communication with its constituency.

Eight chartered institutions issue their annual catalogues, which compare favorably with the current literature of the kind. It seems not a little strange, in these annual reports of schools among our fellow-citizens, the late slaves, to come across not only the lists of the Faculties and the long roll of students, but also the several departments, normal, scientific, classical, medical, legal and theological. Then of the six General Associations for our Southern churches, four have issued their annual “Minutes.” Those of the original one, the Central South, furnish quite a compendium of our church work. Those of Alabama are rich in records of discussions upon vital themes and of missionary activities. Those of Louisiana glow with revival reminiscences. The first of Georgia makes a dignified document that gives promise of not a little of church activity. Texas and North Carolina will soon come on to the dignity of printing the Minutes of their Associations.

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THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.

During the last few days, how to avoid breaking the tenth commandment has been a practical question for me.

It has been my privilege to visit the College and Agricultural School at Amherst, and their sister institutions at Northampton and South Hadley, if they can be called institutions when the students are absent.

As I strolled about the Amherst College grounds and buildings, and noticed its concrete walls and shaven lawns, with their trimmed edges that said to the grass, “Thus far and no farther;” and looked upon the Gymnasium, Walker Hall, and College Chapel, of solid granite and beautiful sandstone, with their numerous gables, towers and turrets; and walked about the Museum building, crowded with many rare and costly specimens, representing thousands upon thousands of dollars and years upon years of skilled and patient labor; and then strolled about the pleasant village, and saw the beauty and elegance and comfort of the professors’ residences: then, as I went into the field, and saw in the centre of a farm of 500 acres of level, fertile land, the Agricultural College buildings of brick and stone, erected for service, but not lacking in adornment; the extensive and beautiful conservatory, the fine barn and cattle, and various “new and improved” agricultural implements; then, as, after a ride of seven miles through the valley of the Connecticut, justly famed for its beauty, where deacons formerly raised profitable crops of tobacco while they were trying to solve the questions of ethics involved in this industry, I saw upon the “hill” in Northampton, Smith College, with its lovely grounds, its Gothic buildings of somewhat elaborate architecture, including a house for the president and cottages for the young ladies, its varnished floors, its fine furniture, and its art galleries, containing already a goodly collection from the pencil of the painter and the chisel of the sculptor, upon all of whose equipments seemed to be written, “Nothing mean or cheap can enter here;” then, as, after having flanked Mount Holyoke and got in his rear, I came upon the school of Mary Lyon, where formerly were educated all the sisters and “cousins” of the Amherst students, and, beginning at the kitchen, where are two stoves expressly devoted to the cooking of griddle-cakes, a broiler for beefsteaks, a marble slab for a “bread board,” and a stone slab for warming plates, and then passed on through the capacious dining-room and the carpeted chapel to the fire-proof library building filled with books, and then to the new Williston cabinet and art gallery, where our guide, an old pupil of Mary Lyon, pointed out a picture which she said, apparently with “bated breath,” cost $1,000.

As I saw all these evidences of growth and prosperity and tokens of the liberality of good men and women, there kept ringing in my ears a sentence from the catalogue of our poor Atlanta University: “It is hoped that the time is not far distant when funds will flow into the treasury of the Institution as freely as they do into those of colleges in other parts of the country.”

When one sees how New England is packed with seminaries, colleges, academies and high schools, he can hardly help believing that the Lord is willing that the colored people of the State of Georgia shall have one institution for thoroughly fitting teachers for the common schools of their race, and at least giving those who can and wish to obtain a college education the opportunity of doing this. And may we not have faith to believe that the example of Mrs. Stone, in giving one-sixth of the money to be distributed by her among the schools of the country to those in the South for the education of the colored race, will be followed by others, and that this provision for the more needy will but increase the devising of liberal things for these institutions of the North?

T. N. C.

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WINDING UP A HORSE.

Nineteen years ago I bought in Madras a peculiar kind of horse. He had to be wound up to make him go. It was not a machine, but a veritable live horse.

When breaking him to go in the carriage he had been injured. An accident occurred in starting him the first time and he was thrown and hurt and frightened. It made him timid; afraid to start. After he had once started he would never balk, until taken out of the carriage. He would start and stop and go on as many times as you pleased, but it was very difficult to get him started at first each time he was harnessed to the carriage.

He was all right under the saddle, an excellent riding horse, and would carry me long distances in my district work, so that I did not wish to dispose of him; but I could not afford to keep two, whatever I had must go in carriage as well as ride, and I determined that I would conquer.

How I have worked over that horse! At first it sometimes took me an hour to get him started from my door. At last, after trying everything I had ever heard of, I hit upon an expedient that worked.

I took a strong bamboo stick two feet long and over an inch thick. A stout cord loop was passed through a hole two inches from its end. This loop we would slip over his left ear down to the roots and turn the stick round and round and twist it up.

It is said that a horse can retain but one idea at a time in its small brain. Soon the twisting would begin to hurt. His attention would be abstracted to the pain in his ear. He would forget all about a carriage being hitched to him, bend down his head and walk off as quiet as a lamb. When he had gone a rod the horse boy would begin to untwist, soon off would come the cord, and the horse would be all right for the day. The remedy never failed.

After having it on two or three times he objected to the operation, and would spring about and rear and twitch and back; anything but start ahead, to keep it from being applied. We would have, two of us, to begin to pat and rub about his neck and head. He would not know which had the key. All at once it would be on his ear and winding up. The moment it began to tighten he would be quiet, stand and bear it as long as he could, and then off he would go. It never took thirty seconds to get him off with the key. It would take an hour without. After a little he ceased objecting to have it put on. He seemed to say to himself, “I have got to give in and may as well do it at once,” but he would not start without the key. In a few months he got so that, as soon as we got into the carriage, _he would bend down his head to have the key put on_, and one or two turns of the key would be enough.

Then the key became unnecessary. He would bend down his head, tipping his left ear to the horse boy, who would take it in his hand and twist it, and off he would go.

My native neighbors said, “That horse must be wound up or he cannot run.” And it did seem to be so.

When he got so that the “winding up” was nothing but a form, I tried to break him of that, but could not succeed. I would pat him and talk to him and give him a little salt or sugar or bread, and then step quietly into the carriage and tell him to go. “No.” Coax him. “No.” Whip him. “No.” Legs braced, every muscle tense for resistance. A genuine balk. Stop and keep quiet for an instant and he would hold down his head, bend over his ear and look around for the horse boy appealingly, saying very earnestly by his actions, “Do please wind me up. I _can’t_ go without, but I’ll go gladly if you will.” The moment his ear was touched and one twist given, off he would go as happy and contented as ever horse could be.

Many hearty laughs have we and our friends had over the winding up of that horse. If I were out on a tour for a month or two and he were not hitched to the carriage, or if he stood in the stable with no work for a week or two during the monsoon, a real winding up had to take place the first time he was put in. We kept him six years. The last week I owned him I had to wind him up. I sold the patent to the man that bought the horse, and learned from him that he had to use it as long as the horse lived.

I was thinking about that horse the other night when it was too hot to sleep, and I suddenly burst into a laugh as I said to myself, “I have again and again, in the membership of our churches at home, seen that horse that had to be wound up, in all matters of benevolence.”

I had often thought of that horse as I went through our churches at home, and imagined that I recognized him, but the whole thing came upon me with such peculiar force the other night that I must write out my thoughts.

There are some Christians (yes, I believe they are _Christians_) who have to be wound up by some external pressure before they will start off in any work of benevolence. Others will engage in some kinds of benevolence spontaneously, but will not touch other benevolent efforts unless specially wound up. Free under the saddle, but balky in carriage.

I knew of one good member of our church who would never give a cent to our Domestic Missionary Board unless he happened to hear of some missionary in the West who was actually without the necessaries of life, and then he would send in liberally. It took that to wind him up.

Another would never give to the Board for educating young men for the ministry unless he happened to become acquainted with some candidate who was being aided. Then his gifts would come in for helping that man.

Another would never give to the Bible Society unless he chanced to hear of some particular town out West where but two Bibles could be found in a population of five hundred, although he knew perfectly well that there were hundreds of such communities among whom the American Bible Society was daily endeavoring to introduce the Divine Word. He must be wound up by a special case.

But it was especially of my visits through the churches in connection with our foreign missionary work that I was thinking when I said that I had so often recognized my horse that had to be wound up, in all the different stages of his training.

Thank God, I found hosts of noble-hearted men and women all through the Church that needed no winding up; whose conversion and consecration had extended down to their pockets; who were always at the forefront in every good work; who required no spasmodic appeals. They gave from a deep set principle and an intelligent love for Christ and His cause; some even pinching themselves in the necessaries of life, as I know, to be able to give. It is on such that the security and continuance of our missions depend. We know that we can rely on them. They never fail us.

But there are others that have to be “wound up,” willing or unwillingly, before they will do anything in the missionary work. Some are very willing to be wound up.