Part 5

Now and then there arises a small-boy with a gigantic intellect, and a degree of courage which marks him as a born leader of his race. It is the exceptional small-boy of this variety who heads expeditions against the Indians and organizes gangs of juvenile highwaymen. That these enterprises do not meet with success is due to forces beyond his control, but they display the greatness of his intellect and the boldness of his character. Of this type of small-boy is Master Jaggars, of North Meriden, Conn., who lately devised an ingenious and entirely novel scheme for arresting the flow of American copper coins toward the heathen pockets of juvenile India.

Some two months since, Master Jaggars, who had painfully accumulated the sum of twenty-five cents, with a view to an expected circus, was compelled to consecrate fifteen cents to the hated small-boys of India. It was this last of a long series of pecuniary outrages that determined him to take a bold stand against missionary assessments, and he, therefore, summoned a mass-meeting of small-boys on Saturday afternoon at Deacon Pratt’s barn, ostensibly with a view to rats, but really in order to propose a plan of defense against heathen encroachments.

Master Jaggars made a moving speech, in which he glowingly described the luxury in which the heathen small-boy wallows. “He ain’t washed, and he can wear just as little cloze as hesermineter. There ain’t no school for him, nor no Sunday, you bet. He can go swimmin’ every day, and can just lay off on the bank and see the crocodiles scoop in washerwomen and such. Then his back yard is chuck full of tigers and hipopomusses, and no end of snakes, and he can steal his dad’s gun and shoot ’em out of the back window. This is the chap that rakes in all our money, and I say its mor’n we ought to stand. Now, I move that we all turn heathen ourselves. The folks can’t make us wash and go to school if we’re heathen, and all the other boys will have to put up their money for us.” It is needless to say that this speech was received with tumultuous applause. Howls of execration went up as the luxuries of the hated heathen were described, and the proposal to adopt heathenism as a profession was unanimously supported. A slight temporary opposition was manifested by Master Sabin, who maintained that in order to become heathen they must first have their eyes put out—a theory which was based upon a misinterpretation of the hymn which speaks of “the heathen in his blindness.” The objector, however, was soon convinced of his error, and expressed thereupon a hearty desire to become a heathen.

The details of the scheme were all arranged by Master Jaggars. A plaster bust of Mr. S. J. Tilden was decided to be ugly enough to serve as an idol, and the amateur heathen placed it on an empty barrel in the barn, and bowed down to it with much gravity. They discarded all their clothing except a towel twisted around the waist, and blackened their entire bodies with burnt cork. There could be no doubt that they were very successful heathen in appearance, and, as it was late in the afternoon, they resolved to spend the night in the barn; to breakfast on the spoils of Deacon Pratt’s orchard, and to attend Sunday-school in a body, in order to collect tribute from the Christian boys. The Sunday-school opened as usual the next morning, although the absence of eleven boys created a good deal of remark. Soon after the exercises had begun, the teachers were astounded at the entrance of Master Jaggars and his ten associate heathen. It is only fair to say that the heathen behaved themselves with as much propriety as their professional duties would permit. Master Jaggars advanced to the Superintendent and remarked, “If you please, Sir, we’ve all turned heathen. There ain’t no foolin’ about it. We’ve got a first-class old idol, and we don’t believe in nothing no more. So, if you please, Sir, will you please tell them Christian boys to fork over half of all the money they’re got, and to remember how blessed it is to consecrate it to real genuine heathen.”

There is no instance on record in which a heathen has been converted as quickly as was Master Jaggars. The Superintendent held him by one ear, and at the tenth stroke of the cane Mister Jaggars renounced his heathenism and promised to smash his idol and return to the Christian faith without a moment’s delay. The other heathen, alarmed by the fate of their leader, fled to the barn, washed themselves, resumed their clothing, and went homeward with sober countenances, singing missionary hymns. The North Meriden revival of heathenism was a disastrous failure, but nevertheless the boldness and originality of the scheme devised by Master Jaggars must command our wonder and admiration.

RECEIPTS

FOR NOVEMBER, 1879.

MAINE, $173.33.

Bath. Ladies, _for a Teacher_ $8.50 Biddeford. Second Cong. Soc. 27.51 Cumberland Centre. Cong. Ch. and Soc. to const. OREN S. THOMAS, L. M. 33.00 Farmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 19.45 Foxcroft and Dover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.41 Fryeburg. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.46 Limerick. S. F. H., _for Raleigh, N. C._ 1.00 Litchfield. Ladies, Bbl. of C. Newcastle. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00 North Anson. ——. 10.00 Scarborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc., “A Friend” 33.00 Waterford. “A. D.” 5.00 Wilton. Cong. Ch. 7.00

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $158.31.

Auburn. “F. B.” 1.00 Candia. Jona. Martin 5.00 Dunbarton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.00 Durham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.50 East Alstead. Second Cong. Ch. $5.55; First Cong. Ch., $3.10 8.65 East Jaffrey. Mrs. D. 0.25 Hancock. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00 Harrisville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.85 Hinsdale. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $9.62; G. W., 51c. 10.13 Jaffrey. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00 Keene. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 28.37 Mason. Anna M. Hosmer, _for Wilmington, N. C._ 6.25 Pembroke. C. C. S. 0.51 Pittsfield. ——. 10.00 West Lebanon. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.80

VERMONT, $266.76.

Barnet. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) 7.75 Chester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.88 Danville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $20.50, and Sab. Sch. $10 30.50 Fayetteville. ESTATE of Sophia C. Miller, by Milon Davidson 75.00 Johnson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00 Island Pond. Cong. Ch. 13.00 Lower Waterford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.19 North Cambridge. M. K. 1.00 Pittsford. Mrs. Nancy P. Humphrey 10.00 Tunbridge. Cong. Ch. 2.07 Saint Johnsbury. Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Blodgett, to const. HERBERT W. BLODGETT, L. M. 30.00 Swanton. Harriet M. Stone 5.00 West Enosburgh. Henry Fassett 5.00 West Randolph. Mary A. and Susan E. Albin 6.00 West Westminster. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.96 —— —— 0.20 Woodstock. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 26.21

MASSACHUSETTS, $2,626.08.

Amherst. G. C. Munsell 2.00 Arlington Heights. Joseph C. Gibson 5.00 Ashby. Cong. Sab. Sch. _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 25.00 Barre. ESTATE of Phebe Barrett, by Thos. P. Root, Ex. 87.55 Berkshire Co. ESTATE of Lucy Young, by Lucy C. Lincoln, Executrix 100.00 Billerica. Orthodox Cong. Sab. Sch. 8.00 Boylston. Ladies’ Benev. Soc. $1.50 and B. of C. 1.50 Boston. Mt. Vernon Ch., “E. K. A.” $30, to const. MISS SARAH B. ALDEN, L. M.; C. H. N. $1 31.00 Bradford. Mrs. Sarah C. Boyd, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 15.00 Cambridgeport. Ladies’ Missionary Society of Pilgrim Ch. $30, to const. MRS. GEORGE R. LEAVITT, L. M.; Prospect St. Sab. Sch. $11.68 41.68 Canton. Evan. Cong. Ch. 22.68 Charlestown. Ivory Littlefield 50.00 Concord. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. _for Student Aid_ 26.00 Cunningham. “Friends.” 6.50 Dedham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $177.10, and Mon. Con. Coll. $15.63; E. P. B. 50c. 193.23 Dorchester. Miss E. Pierce 10.00 Easton. Evan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.50 Fairhaven. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 30.00 Florence. Florence Ch. 110.78 Grantville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.88 Hatfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 55.50 Harwich. Cong. Ch. 13.27 Holbrook. BEQUEST of “E. N. H.” 200.00 Holbrook. “E. E. H.” 25.00 Housatonic. Housatonic Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.36 Ipswich. First Ch., Bbl. of C. Jamaica Plain. Central Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch. _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 50.00 Lawrence. Lawrence St. Ch., Bbl. of C. Leverett. Cong. Sab. Sch. 2.75 Lexington. Hancock Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.01 Litchfield. First. Cong. Soc. to const. H. B. EGGLESTON, L. M. 40.50 Lowell. Eliot Ch. and Soc. 2.34 Marshfield. Ladies, by Miss Alden, $1.50, and B. of C. 1.50 Mattapoisett. A. C. 1.00 Medfield. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. $72.25, to const. REV. GEO. H. PRATT and MISS LYDIA A. DOW, L. M’s; Ladies of Second Cong. Ch., Bbl. of C. 72.25 Merrimac. John K. Sargent and Charles N. Sargent, $2 ea. 4.00 Middleton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.50 Millbury. M. D. Garfield, $5; —Cong. Ch., $2.20, _for Student Aid, Atlanta, U._ 7.20 Milton. First Evan. Cong. Sab. Sch. 16.00 Montville. Sylvester Jones 2.00 Natick. Cong. Ch. and Soc. ($50 of which from S. S.) 135.79 Newburyport. Freedmen’s Aid Soc., by Mrs. Mary E. Dimmick, $75 _for Lady Missionary, Macon, Ga._; —Whitefield Cong. Ch., $10.10; P. N., $1 86.10 Newton Center. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.94 North Brookfield. Miss Abby W. Johnson, _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 25.00 Norfolk. Cong. Sab. Sch. 10.17 Northampton. “A Friend,” $100; W. K. Wright, $30; First Cong. Ch. (ad’l) 75c.; —“Friend,” a New Single Harness, _for Talladega_ 130.75 Orleans. Cong. Sab. Sch. 10.00 Phillipston. Ladies’ Benev. Soc., Bbl. of C. Pittsfield. James H. Dunham 25.00 Reading. Rev. W. H. Willcox, Books, with cash for freight, _for Library, Talladega C._ 410.35 Roxbury. Bbl. of C. _for Mendi M._ by Miss E. E. Backup. South Boston. Phillips Cong. Ch. 78.55 Southampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 42.73 South Hadley. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 28.00 Spencer. Young Ladies’ Mission Circle, $7 and Bbl. of C. 7.00 Springfield. First Ch. $37.50; Mrs. Dr. Smith $3; Eight individuals, $1 each; Others, $2.75, _for Millers Station, Ga._ by Mrs. E. W. Douglass;—Wm H. Hale, $6 57.25 Taunton. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 100.00 Thorndike. James H. Learned, $10; Mrs. E. L. Learned, $2 12.00 Tewksbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 29.00 Townsend. Cong. Sab. Sch. 5.00 Watertown. Mrs. S. S. 60c; Mrs. E. S. P. 60c; W. R. 60c; Corban Soc. 2 Bbls of C. 1.80 Westborough. Freedman’s Miss. Ass’n. Bbl. of Bedding and C. _for Atlanta U._ West Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. _for Student Aid. Straight U._ 10.00 West Newton. J. H. P. 1.00 Worcester. Union Ch. $30; Salem St. Ch. and Soc. $36.99; Mrs. Mary F. Gough, Bbl. of C. 75.99

RHODE ISLAND, $390.10.

Central Falls. Cong. Ch. 89.75 Providence. Union Cong. Ch. and Soc., $192.00; —Young Ladies’ Soc. of Beneficent Ch., $100, _for Student Aid, Fisk U._;—Plymouth Cong. Ch., $7.75 300.35

CONNECTICUT, $2,188.92.

Ashford. Cong. Ch. 10.00 Berlin. “A Friend,” _for Student preparing for African M._ 50.00 Bristol. Mrs. P. L. Alcott 5.00 Colchester. Mrs. C. B. McCall, $10;—Rev. S. G. Willard, $10, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 20.00 Cornwall. ESTATE of Hannah D. Cole, by Geo. H. Cole, Ex. 50.00 Danbury. Second Cong. Ch. 3.00 Durham. Ladies’ Missionary Ass’n, $3, and Bbl. of C. by Mrs. Harriet C. Chesebrough, _for Talladega C._ 3.00 East Hampton. Talladega Soc., _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 12.50 Enfield. First Cong. Ch. 14.17 Glastenbury. First Cong. Ch. 140.00 Hadlyme. Cong. Ch. 11.24 Hampton. Cong. Ch. 22.90 Hanover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 40.00 Hartford. “A Friend,” $300; “Pearl Street Cong. Ch.” $91.90; Rev. E. E. R., $1.00 392.90 Harwinton. ESTATE of F. S. Catlin (ad’l), to const. VIRGIL R. BARKER and MRS. ELLEN M. BARKER, L. M’s 65.55 Litchfield. “L. M.” 3.00 New Canaan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.00 New Haven. Nelson Hall, $30; “A. T.” $25 55.00 New London. TRUST ESTATE of Henry P. Haven 50.00 New London. W. C. Crump, _for Fisk U._ 10.00 New Preston. Rev. Henry Upson 5.00 North Madison. Cong. Sab. Sch., Box of Books by J. M. Hill. Norfolk. Robbins Battell, _for Fisk U._ 50.00 Norwich. BEQUEST of Mrs. Daniel W. Coit, by Chas. W. Coit, Ex., _for the Freedmen_ 500.00 Norwich. Dea. Ed. Huntington 5.00 Plainfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. MRS. NELLIE ROBINSON, L. M. 38.45 Plainville. Cong. Ch. 57.04 Prospect. ESTATE of Andrew Smith, by David R. Williams, Ex. 200.00 Poquonock. Cong. Ch. 10.87 Rockville. George Maxwell, $100; Second Cong. Ch. $25, _for Fisk U._ 125.00 Southport. “A Friend,” _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 25.00 Stratford. Cong. Ch. 21.10 Thomaston. Cong. Ch. 26.70 Waterbury. “A Friend,” _for a young man preparing for African M._ 20.00 Westport. “A Friend” 5.00 Wolcottville. L. Wetmore 100.00 Woodbury. North Cong. Ch., $18.25; Sab. Sch. Class No. 13, $7; Friends, $1.25 26.50

NEW YORK, $1,589.08.

Brasher Falls. Elijah Wood, $15; Mrs. Oliver Bell, $5 20.00 Brooklyn. ESTATE of Mrs. Eli Merrill, by Eliza L. Thayer, Ex. 500.00 Brooklyn. Central Cong. Sab. Sch., $40, _for Lady Missionary, Charleston, S. C._, and to const. GEO. A. BELL, L. M.; JULIUS DAVENPORT, $30, to const. himself, L. M.; J. E., $1 71.00 Buffalo. W. G. Bancroft 200.00 Canandaigua. Hon. M. H. C. 1.00 Canastota. ESTATE of Mrs. Lezetta Mead, by Loring Fowler 300.00 Central Square. W. S. T. 0.51 Deansville. “L.” 5.00 Deer Park. Artemus W. Day 8.50 Evans Center. L. P. 0.50 Gaines. M. and B. H. 1.00 Gloversville. Alanson Judson, $25; Wm. A. Kasson, $5, _for Fisk U._ 30.00 Irvington. Mrs. R. W. Lambdin 5.00 Malone. First Cong. Ch., $34.37; Member First Cong. Ch., $2 36.37 Newburgh. John H. Corwin, to const. MISS LOUISE CORWIN, L. M. 50.00 New York. Rev. L. D. Bevan, D. D., $100;—A. Lester & Co., Carpet and C., _for Hampton N. and A. Inst._ 100.00 Oneida Co. “A Friend” 20.00 Oswego. First Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 30.00 Penn Yan. Chas. C. Sheppard 150.00 Pharsalia. “Friend” 0.15 Ransomville. John Powley 5.00 Seneca Falls. “A Friend” 50.00 Springville. Lawrence Weber 3.00 Troy. “Little Margaret” and Mary F. Cushman 2.00

NEW JERSEY, $180.14.

Jersey City. First Cong. Ch. 40.89 Mendham. Rev. I. N. Cochran, _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 25.00 Orange. Trinity Cong. Ch., $93.75; A. T. M., 50c 94.25 Red Bank. Mrs. R. R. Conover, Bbl. of Books. Salem. W. G. Tyler 20.00

PENNSYLVANIA, $2,416.38.

Alleghany. Plymouth Cong. Ch., _for Mission Work, Berea, Ky._ 34.38 Hillsdale. Miss Jane Wilson 2.00 Pittsburgh. B. Preston 25.00 Washington. ESTATE of Samuel McFarland, by Abel M. Evans, Ex. 2,343.00 West Alexander. Thomas McCleery 10.00 West Middletown. Mrs. Mary Mehaffey 2.00

OHIO, $238.74.

Andover. “A Friend” 10.00 Bellevue. Elvira Boise, $25; S. W. Boise, $20 45.00 Cardington. R. M. 1.00 Cleveland. G. A. R. 0.50 Edinburgh. Cong. Ch. 17.34 Geneva. First Cong. Ch., C. Talcott, $5; Mrs. G. F. Sadd, $5; Others, $20 30.00 Gustavus. Mrs. L. A. King, _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 2.00 Hudson. M. Messer 10.00 Huntsburgh. A. F. Millard, $5; Mrs. M. E. Millard, $5 10.00 Madison. “Friends,” _for Student Aid, Tougaloo U._ 9.25 Medina. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch. _for Chinese M._ 2.50 Oberlin. First Ch. Branch of Oberlin Freed Woman’s Aid Soc. by Mrs. W. G. Frost, Treas., $75, _for Lady Missionary, Atlanta, Ga._; —“A Friend,” $5, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 80.00 Painesville. E. E. J. 1.00 Radnor. Edward D. Jones 5.00 Talmadge. Miss Josephine Pierce 6.00 Wauseon. Cong. Ch. 4.00 Wayne. H. F. Giddings and wife ($1 of which _for Chinese M._) 2.00 Weymouth. Cong. Ch. _for Chinese M._ 2.15 Zanesville. Mrs. M. A. D. 1.00

ILLINOIS, $623.64.