Part 1

VOL. XXXIV. NO. 9.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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SEPTEMBER, 1880.

_CONTENTS_:

EDITORIAL.

ANNUAL MEETING—PARAGRAPHS 257

ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF THE TIMES 260

HELP WITHOUT MONEY—THE TWO PARTIES AND THE CHINESE 261

INDIANS, RESERVATIONS AND RAILROADS 262

BETTER HOMES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE 264

GROWTH OF IDEAS AMONG THE NEGROES AND INDIANS 266

AFRICAN NOTES 268

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 270

THE FREEDMEN.

A JULY VACATION 271

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Lincoln Mission, Washington 272

ALABAMA—Florence and her People 273

LOUISIANA—Lady-Missionary’s Letter 274

TENNESSEE—Better Prospects of Memphis, &c. 275

TENNESSEE—Flower Mission and Care for the Sick 276

AFRICA.

MENDI MISSION—Good Hope Station 276

THE INDIANS.

LA POINTE AGENCY 277

THE CHINESE.

SERMONS BY OUR CHINESE HELPERS 278

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

TRIP UP THE YANG-TSE-KIANG 281

RECEIPTS 282

CONSTITUTION 286

AIM, STATISTICS, WANTS 287

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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.

Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.

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. ANDREW LESTER, Esq., N. Y. 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. J. Rev. EDWARD BEECHER, 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, D. D., 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, D. D., 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. 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. 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. E. A. GRAVES, Esq., N. J. Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ill. 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. Rev. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D., Ill. Rev. C. L. GOODELL, D. D., Mo. J. W. SCOVILLE, Esq., Ill. E. W. BLATCHFORD, Esq., Ill. C. D. TALCOTT, Esq., Ct. Rev. JOHN K. MCLEAN, D. D., Cal. Rev. RICHARD CORDLEY, D. D., Kansas.

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_.

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

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ALONZO S. BALL, A. S. BARNES, GEO. M. BOYNTON, WM. B. BROWN, C. T. CHRISTENSEN, CLINTON B. FISK, ADDISON P. FOSTER, S. B. HALLIDAY, SAMUEL HOLMES, CHARLES A. HULL, EDGAR KETCHUM, CHAS. L. MEAD, WM. T. PRATT, J. A. SHOUDY, JOHN H. WASHBURN, G. B. WILLCOX.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary,” to Rev. C. C. PAINTER, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 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.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XXXIV. SEPTEMBER, 1880. NO. 9.

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American Missionary Association.

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ANNUAL MEETING.

The next Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION will be held in Norwich, Ct., in the Broadway Church, commencing Tuesday, October 12. at 3 P. M. For particulars see 4th page of cover.

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_We are happy_ to say that encouraging responses have already been made to our note of warning that a debt is impending. Prompt and appropriate effort in this direction by our friends who have as yet only hoped, but have not acted, for the best, will, we trust, give us a clear balance sheet on the last of September.

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_A Farmer in New York_ writes: “Enclosed please find draft for $300 for work among the Freedmen in the South. I notice in the MISSIONARY that you need an increase of 20 per cent. over last year’s contribution. I have increased mine 33 per cent. If all felt the interest I do in this work, and would give in like proportion, there would soon be a school-house in every neighborhood. It seems to me that the life of our nation depends upon the education of these people. However much I desire that the Gospel shall be sent to Africa, for a few years longer, it seems to me, our efforts should be directed mostly to the South. All reports from the work are encouraging.”

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_In the State Courts of Fulton County, Ga._, of which Atlanta is the seat, no colored jurors have ever been empanelled; but the commissioners have recently placed upon the jury list about twenty of the most intelligent colored men, and it is hoped that some of them will be drawn at the next term of court, and thus another advance in the right direction be made by the Empire State of the South. For several years the United States court held in Atlanta has had a “mixed” jury, and no serious evil has resulted.

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_Our readers_ will anticipate with much interest a new book by Judge Tourgee—“Bricks Without Straw”—which is announced for September. It deals with the problem of negro education, and is by one who has made it a profound study.

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_The public sentiment_ of Virginia, in regard to free schools, as gathered from the reports of the county superintendents, may be summed up in the language of one of them as follows: “I might content myself by saying that most of the educated in my county are now decided advocates of the present system. At first, a large majority were hostile to it; but a few days ago, one of the first men of the county said to me that he tried hard to believe it a ‘Yankee innovation’ upon our good old Virginia plan, and as such it should be opposed by all true Virginians; but now he had become a decided advocate of it, and believed that the only hope of educating a large majority of our citizens, indeed, that our very existence, as a free and independent people, depended upon the preservation and extension of some good system of popular education.” An examination of one hundred and three such reports discovers the fact that in less than a dozen counties is there any very great opposition to the system. The reports show an almost uniform and decided growth of public sentiment in favor of it.

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_A Correspondent_ of the New Orleans _Times_ draws a discouraging picture of public school prospects in that city and State, and an editorial in the same issue adds: “It is, indeed, true, that our schools are in a very sad condition. What is more to be regretted is that the prospect of their improvement is by no means encouraging. Once we took pride in them, and gloried in the advantages which they offered to our children for obtaining an education. That pride appears to exist no longer. There is a sort of apathy about the schools, which justifies the inference that they have not the hold on popular favor that they once had. * * * If there were a prospect of a better condition of affairs next year, there would be, perhaps, no immediate occasion for discouraging forebodings. But there is not; there is no reason for believing that the provisions for the maintenance of the schools next year will be more ample than they are this year. There is one thing very certain, and that is that if we are to have efficient public schools in this city, the money to support them must be forthcoming.”

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_The Negro Bishop_ of Hayti, Theodore Holey, a native of the United States, and consecrated in Grace Church, New York City, who, during the recent gathering of the Bishops of the Anglican Church in London, was much honored by all his brethren, and who at the invitation of Dean Stanley preached in Westminster Abbey, on St. James Day, closed his address with the following eloquent words and remarkable prayer:

“And now, on the shores of old England, the cradle of that Anglo-Saxon Christianity by which I have been in part at least illuminated; standing beneath the vaulted roof of this monumental pile, redolent with the piety of by-gone generations during so many ages; in the presence of the

‘Storied urn and animated bust’

that hold the sacred ashes and commemorate the buried grandeur of so many illustrious personages—I catch a fresh inspiration and new impulse of the Divine missionary spirit of our common Christianity; and here in the presence of God, of angels, and of men, on this day sacred to the memory of an apostle whose blessed name was called over me at my baptism, and as I lift up my voice for the first, and perhaps only, time in any of England’s sainted shrines, I dedicate myself anew to the work of God, of the Gospel of Christ, and of the salvation of my fellow-men in the far distant isle of the Caribbean Sea, that has become the chosen field of my Gospel labors.

“O Thou Saviour Christ, Son of the living God, who when Thou wast spurned by the Jews of the race of Shem, and who, when delivered up without cause by the Romans of the race of Japheth, on the day of Thy crucifixion, hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to Golgotha’s summit on the stalwart shoulders of Simon, the Cyrenian, of the race of Ham; I pray Thee, O precious Saviour, remember that forlorn, despised, and rejected race, whose son thus bore Thy cross, when Thou shalt come in the power and majesty of Thy eternal kingdom to distribute Thy crowns of everlasting glory!

“And give to me, then, not a place at Thy right hand or at Thy left, but only the place of a gatekeeper at the entrance of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, that I may behold my redeemed brethren, the saved of the Lord, entering therein to be partakers with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of all the joys of Thy glorious and everlasting kingdom.”

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_Negro prejudice_ against negroes is likely to yield slowly, and will do so only for good reasons. The prejudices of the whites have so far given way that Atlanta has had its negro juror, who promptly joined in convicting a negro who was put on trial. But the next prisoner, who was also a negro, charged with murder, strenuously objected to having one of his own race on the jury. There was another such case in Virginia some time ago, when a colored prisoner made the same objection, on the ground that “niggers would hang a nigger just to see him kick.”

So against this we note the fact, that the Court of Appeals in Kentucky recently quashed an indictment against a negro, on the ground that the grand jury was composed entirely of white men, and that the law excluding all persons other than white men from serving on juries is unconstitutional.

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_Negro Teachers._—The author of “Other Fools, and Their Doings,” pays this somewhat rhetorical, but just tribute to the noble women who went forth to add value to the freedom, which, under stress of military necessity, the nation had given to the negro slave—a tribute which will appear more just as the history of our noble workers becomes better known:

“While from thousands of homes brave men came with flaunting flags, and beating drums, and booming cannons, singing as they marched,

‘We are coming, Father Abraham, Three hundred thousand more,’

from out those same homes stole a procession of women, not clandestinely, not timidly, but brave of soul and strong of heart and inflexible of purpose, though without ostentation. The Bible and spelling-book were their only weapons, and their song was of ‘the mercies of the Lord forever,’ and their ‘trust under the feathers of his wings!’ ‘Neither the terror by night,’ ‘the arrow by day,’ ‘the pestilence in darkness,’ nor ‘destruction at noon,’ nor the ‘thousands falling on their right hand, and on their left,’ could make them afraid; ‘because they had made the Lord their strength, even the Most High their refuge.’ They went forth to ‘tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon.’ Scorn, insult, slander, poverty, loneliness, sickness and death, they trampled under their feet; for ‘through the work of the Lord were they made glad,’ and they ‘triumphed in the work of His hands.’

“Away on in the Elysian fields of Heaven, when the cycles of eternity shall have encircled the universe, and rolled back upon their track in such repeated and intricate mazes as only the Infinite mind can trace, they shall receive from the lips of the ransomed of all nations, ‘the blessing of those once ready to perish;’ and the blessed assurance that the torch they lit in the Freedman’s hut, lit a beacon that illumined the world.

“If the South is saved to civilization, its chief human Saviour was ‘the nigger school-teacher.’”

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_Capt. Payne_, who was ejected from the Indian Territory, which he invaded last spring in defiance of the President’s proclamation, again defies the Government and the Courts, and has gone to the Territory with a company of men. Parties in St. Louis have purchased machinery and various kinds of goods for his colony, and the issue is made most unequivocally with the Administration. We anxiously await the action of President Hayes.

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_The Poncas_, of whose wrongs we spoke in the last number of the MISSIONARY, failing to receive justice at the hands of Congress, have commenced a suit to recover possession of their houses and lands now held by the Sioux, to whom the General Government has ceded them. The plaintiffs rely upon the fact that the Constitution of the United States makes a treaty a part of the supreme law of the land, and also extends the judicial power of the Government to all cases in law and equity arising under treaties; and they have in their favor established precedents by the courts for applying to the treaties with themselves this provision of the constitution. Judge Dundy has decided that an Indian is a _person_ within the meaning of the laws, and, therefore, discharged from the custody of Gen. Crook the Poncas whom he held for the purpose of forcibly returning them to the Indian Territory from which they had escaped. Thus it is decided that they may have the question judicially tested in the Federal courts whether they have been illegally restrained of liberty. This suit is to determine whether they may have not only their liberty, but their homes which have been forcibly taken from them in violation of solemn treaties.

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ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

(_From the Fisk Expositor._)

Few things can be more gratifying and cheering to those engaged in the grand work of educating the colored people in Tennessee, than the fact that those having charge of educational affairs in the various towns, named below, either have, within the past few years, organized graded schools for colored youth, or are now taking steps for organizing such schools: Clarksville, Trenton, Shelbyville, Brownsville, Jackson, Union City, Bolivar, Paris, Covington, Pulaski, Columbia, Fayetteville, Mason Station, and perhaps some other towns. Another thing that all who are engaged in the educational work in the State, ought to regard as a hopeful sign, is the fact that the last Legislature, in all its zeal for retrenchment, made no effort to reduce the income of the free school system. This, and the fact, that much complaint was uttered by the people all over the State, because of the suspension of schools consequent upon the postponement of the collection of taxes by the Legislature, show how deeply the system of the State has taken hold upon the affections of the masses.

Still another ground for hopefulness is found in the fact, that, whereas, year before last, not quite 39 per cent. of the colored children of the State were enrolled in the free schools, last year nearly 49 per cent. were so enrolled. And there are reasons for believing that the superintendent’s forthcoming report will show equally encouraging figures.

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HELP WITHOUT MONEY.

The Rev. H. E. Brown, of whose evangelistic work under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. of the South, and among the colored churches of the South, we have spoken, makes at once a suggestion and an appeal which must strike every one as exceedingly practical, common sense and valuable. His letter which is given below will explain itself. We urge, most earnestly, upon the Christian scholars of the North this opportunity, without cost of money, and with but little expenditure of time, for doing a most valuable work for the colored people. If men of acknowledged authority in their several departments of science and art would furnish such articles as are asked for, the result must prove highly beneficial to these people who so much need, and are so eagerly seeking, knowledge in regard to practical matters on which depends largely their welfare. The physician, the lawyer, the farmer, the political economist, the scientist, all these might with great profit to these people respond to this call. We trust that the mere suggestion of Mr. Brown will prove sufficient to call forth abundant answer:

“LANSING, MICH., July, 1880.

“DEAR SIR: An opportunity is now presented for leading scholars to afford substantial help toward the solution of the colored problem of our country. Colored editors of ten papers, chiefly for colored people, published in Washington, Charleston, Raleigh, New Orleans, St. Louis, and other Southern cities, request for publication a series of scientific articles, of about a column’s length, say a thousand words, such as would be, at once, helpful to ministers, teachers and students, and would stimulate future inquiries among all classes. I am aware that the preparation of such articles will cost valuable time which can scarcely be spared from pressing duties; but the promise of benefit to the colored race is so great in the elevation of tone of their papers, and in anticipating so-called infidel science, that I take the liberty to ask you to prepare, and send me, one or more such articles, that I may copygraph, and forward, gratis, to the several editors who desire them.

“Yours truly, “HENRY E. BROWN, _Secretary “for International Committee of Col. Dep’t., “Y. M. C. A._”

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THE TWO PARTIES AND THE CHINESE.

Ah Sin does not vote even once; Patrick O’Flannigan does as often as that, and is capable of doing even better if occasion should require. Ah Sin is, therefore, exposed to such kicks as Patrick may ask for at the hands, or rather the feet, of the politicians, while both parties vie with each other in throwing to Patrick such sops as may conciliate his good will. Under Democratic Government, a class which has neither chains upon, nor ballots in its hands, is an anomaly impossible to harmonize with its surroundings, as it is also defenceless against the assaults of its enemies; it has neither weapons for its own protection nor a reward to offer for that of others. What Pat, who votes, may ask for as against Ah Sin, who does not, the average politician is ready to promise, even when constitutionally prohibited from granting. And this promise has been made, it is humiliating to confess, not simply by sand-lot demagogues, but by aspirants for the highest offices under our Government.

The arrival on our Western coast, and the presence in our land, of less than a hundred thousand Chinamen is gravely spoken of as a fearful inundation which in some way must be arrested; but the tide that flows steadily in upon our Eastern coast from Ireland and other countries, is regarded as a blessing rather than a danger. If we seek for an explanation of this difference, it will be found to be at bottom simply this: Patrick does not like Ah Sin’s frugal, industrious, economical habits, which enable him to live and labor cheaply; so he nourishes his ballot over the head of the politician, and his shillalah over that of Ah Sin, and says that he must go, while all seekers for office either echo the demand, or more mildly assert that his coming must be regulated.

A candid examination of the testimony taken by the Committee of the United States House of Representatives last year in California, will leave the impression that the Chinese characteristics which give most offense to the sand-lotters, whose voice both great national parties have heard, and to which they have also made responses which ought to mantle our cheeks with shame, are just the ones above mentioned. Such men as the Mayor of San Francisco, indeed, complain that China Town is not much like Beacon Hill in beauty or cleanliness; that there are women among these people not so pure as they ought to be; that many of the men lie quietly in opium dens under the influence of that subtle drug instead of assisting, under the stimulus of whiskey, at primary meetings and at the polls, as good politicians should. Charges to this effect are made, but the evidence taken shows that the real ground of complaint is that the Chinaman is sober, industrious, reliable, and likely to be preferred as a laborer to Patrick and Bridget.