Part 4

This church has paid all its expenses during the summer. The pulpit has been supplied by a young man of ability, Mr. Albert, formerly a student at Atlanta, and at present a member of our senior class. I found the church in a good spiritual state, the congregation somewhat scattered, but they soon rallied, and we have now fair and increasing audiences.

The one desire and prayer of the church is to witness an earnest and extended revival, and I am grateful to be able to say that this hope seems about to be realized. Three years ago, Mr. James Wharton, of Barrow-in-Furness, England, visited this city to engage in evangelistic work, if Providence should open the way, among the colored people. He is a business man, but an earnest Christian, endowed with fine gifts as a persuasive speaker.

He wrote to me in the summer asking if the way would be open for him to conduct revival services in Central Church if he should visit New Orleans in October. I lost no time in sending him a cordial invitation to come, and promised him our hearty co-operation. He has arrived in the city accompanied by Mr. Richard Irving, a man of kindred spirit, and next Sunday, Nov. 7th, they will begin a series of meetings which will be continued indefinitely, so long as souls can be gathered into the Kingdom. Printed notices of the meetings have been widely circulated, and earnest workers are canvassing, going from house to house, and entreating the people to come to this Gospel feast. Dear friends in the North, pray for us, and the success of this movement. As Bro. Wharton wrote me from England, “Pray mightily for us.” I pray God I may have glad tidings to send you soon. These dear brethren come at their own charges, and ask only the privilege of preaching a _free_ Gospel to the needy and perishing.

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TENNESSEE.

Fisk University.

REV. E. M. CRAVATH, NASHVILLE.

The sixteenth scholastic year of Fisk University has begun under very favorable conditions and with very encouraging prospects.

1. The number of pupils in attendance for the first two months of this year is greatly increased over that of last, although that of last year was larger than any previous year since the occupancy of Jubilee Hall. The number from outside the city of Nashville is thirty per cent. greater than at the same time one year ago.

The result is that the limit of our boarding accommodations has been already nearly reached, and the anxious inquiry is forcing itself upon us, What shall we do with the large number of students who desire, and are planning, to come during the next three months?

2. The grade of scholarship in the case of new students is considerably advanced over that of former years. There have been no additions to the regular college classes, but four have entered the senior, three the middle, and six the junior college preparatory classes. As advanced students are the ones desired in such an institution as this, it is a source of great encouragement that the number of such is steadily increasing year by year.

3. There is on the part of the students a growing comprehension of the value and of the necessity of a thorough education, and consequently a very much stronger desire and purpose to take long courses of study. This is one of the most hopeful facts connected with our work. It required a wonderful amount of determination and patience on the part of both professors and students to engineer the first classes through a college course of study. There was no public sentiment in the community, and no sentiment among parents or friends of the students, to encourage and stimulate to long courses of study. But a great change for the better has been wrought. The steady, persistent work of the past fifteen years, which has resulted in the graduation of five small classes from the college department, has created an atmosphere and established conditions which stimulate the desire for a liberal education, and foster the purpose of those who undertake to secure it.

The educating power of a considerable body of advanced, carefully disciplined and well-read students, is marked upon all the lower grades, and especially upon those who come to Fisk University for the first time. The present senior preparatory class promises to enter college in May twenty strong. This is double the number of the largest class that has ever before been entered.

4. The influence and power of the work done by our students while absent from the University during vacation or after completing their studies, become more and more manifest. The reports brought back by the students themselves, the testimony of Trustees and County Superintendents, the new students brought here through their influence, all reveal to us as we have not realized it before, the greatness of the service the University is rendering to the cause of education, morality, religion and social life throughout the great Southwest. Our students are our epistles; and becoming known and being read by the people wherever they go, are turning the thoughts and hearts of others to the University. It is largely because of the faithfulness and loyalty of our students that the steady growth in numbers continues from year to year.

We have, therefore, abundant reason to thank God and take courage. The great concern we have about the future is that our friends in the North will not be ready to meet the growing demands of this great work of uplifting the millions of recently emancipated people in the South, by a sufficiently large and constant giving. With the experience of the last fifteen years in mind, we can say with the full assurance of conviction that the call for the enlargement and strengthening of the University is in some vital respects more imperative now than ever before. Endowments are needed to adequately sustain the departments of study already established, and to found professional schools to meet the growing demands of a struggling and rising people.

These must come, or the best results of the labor already done, and the money already expended, will not be attained.

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Mother and Daughter Gone.--Memorial Services at Fisk University.

The Sabbath services at this Institution, Oct. 24th, were hallowed by the touching and appropriate tributes to the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Spence, mother of Prof. A. K. Spence, and of her daughter, Mrs. Julia Spence Chase, wife of Prof. F. A. Chase. Mrs. Spence had been boarding in the Institution four years, spending her last days with her children. She possessed a mind of unusual strength and vigor, and was somewhat distinguished as an author. Only a few days before her death, when eighty-three years of age, she composed a poem on the occasion of the Nashville Centennial Exposition, which was published. This mother of missionaries was born in Scotland, and in her girlhood was made familiar with the missionary endeavors of the London Missionary Society through an auxiliary which held its regular meetings at her mother’s house. She was a woman of much prayer, great faith and a sweet and beautiful charity.

Just eleven weeks from the day Mrs. Spence died, writes Miss Henrietta Matson, of Fisk University, Mrs. Chase followed her mother to the fairer country above. Her death was sudden, and a heavy blow to her sorely stricken family. She died on Kelley’s Island, Lake Erie, where the family had gone for summer rest. Mrs. Chase, with her husband, had been in Fisk University eight years; a part of the time in the earlier years had been an instructor, particularly in music, in which she was especially gifted and accomplished.

Her death was peaceful and beautiful. She sent loving messages to all her friends, to the teachers and especially to the students, whom she loved and for whom she had labored. With perfect calmness she bade each of her dear ones good-bye, and then passed from their sight, leaning upon the strong arm, and catching glimpses of the glory beyond, even while treading the dark valley.

At her own request, her remains were brought to Nashville, her heart seeming to turn to the very last to those with whom she had been associated, and to the people for whom she had labored. So we laid her to rest till the resurrection morn on the beautiful hillside, with southern skies bending above her, and not far from the earthly home of her own dear ones.

The message brought to us who remain, in the death of those who have been of us is, “The night cometh, when no man can work.”

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THE INDIANS.

INDIAN EDUCATION IN THE EAST.

AN ADDRESS BY GEN. S. C. ARMSTRONG.

It is now two and a half years since Indian students were enrolled at the Hampton Institute; but I never saw a more radical change of life than appears in these men. They represent the worst stock in the Indian territory: the class that the West declares can’t be elevated any more than the buffalo. If the West knows anything, it knows that you can’t improve the prairie Indian.

Crossing the continent twice, of late, I found the universal creed to be “There is no good Indian but a dead one,” which has been adopted by over half the intelligent people of the East.

Capt. Pratt writes as follows from Carlisle, Pa.: “Of the Florida boys who were formerly at Hampton, five have died; three,--Bear’s Heart, Etahdleuh and Roman Nose--are still East: the two last being here render valuable assistance to me by example and effort. The others have all returned to their tribes, and, with the exception of Tounkeuh, are reported us doing well for themselves and for their people. Several are mentioned as specially useful.

“We have 139 boys and 57 girls, 196 in all. The readiness of children to come is in advance of the willingness of parents to send at Miles’ Agency, and probably at the Kiowa too; but there is in general such desire for education that I believe no great difficulty would be experienced in getting nearly all the children in the schools from most of the tribes.”

The Carlisle School was established by an act of Congress, accompanied by an official report from which I extract as follows:

“Experience has shown that Indian children do not differ from white children of similar status and surroundings, in aptitude or capacity for acquiring knowledge; and opposition or indifference to education on the part of parents decreases yearly: so that the question of Indian education resolves itself mainly into a question of school facilities.”

Sons of Indian Chiefs, at Carlisle, are now making a portion of the shoes, harnesses, wagons, tin-ware and other supplies needed by the Department of Indian Affairs.

Indians think. Their wise ones know that there is no hope for them but in taking the white man’s road. But there is also a stubborn, unyielding class. There are progressives and conservatives, as among all thinking people.

The braves will not fight the people who are educating their children. Every Indian child at school is a hostage.

I recently met an army officer who told me that in the summers of 1877 and 1878, five hundred thousand dollars had passed through his hands, as Quartermaster, in payment of Oregon settlers, for supplies and services in Indian wars; and that the past summer they had been trying to get up another war for the sake of another five hundred thousand.

Our system of treaties, annuities and rations is an acknowledged failure. Distribution is without regard to merit, and encourages idleness among the one hundred and fifty thousand beneficiaries of the Government.

The Indians are grown-up children; we are a thousand years ahead of them in the line of development. Progress is measured by development. Education is not progress but is a means of it. A brain full of book knowledge, whose physical basis is the product of centuries of barbarism, is an absurdity that we do not half realize, from our excessive traditional reverence for school and college training. We forget that knowledge is not power unless it is digested and assimilated. Savages have good memories; they acquire but do not comprehend.

Indians are easily taught, for their minds are quick; their bodies are a greater care than their brains; but morals are the chief concern of their teachers. Hence their education should be first for the heart, then for health, and last for the mind, reversing the custom of placing mind before physique and character. This is the Hampton idea of education.

Apply sanctified common sense to the Indian problem and you will save them in spite of the steam engine and the threats of fate.

The Indian question has been put wrong end first. It points to us, not to them.

The possibilities of sound educational methods are not dreamed of. The power of mind over matter is everywhere seen, but the power of mind over mind, of man over man, is little shown in all our proud progress. That three years’ work of Captain Pratt at Fort Marion, Florida, is the best illustration of it I know of. Yet he never had over two years’ schooling, and went from his workshop to the war. Work for the ex-captives was so encouraging, the need of educated Indian girls so obvious, that resolving to push our effort further, Mr. Schurz was interviewed, entered heartily into the scheme, and sent Capt. Pratt to Dakota Territory, whence he brought to Hampton in Nov., 1878, forty boys and nine girls, since increased to twenty-two girls and forty-eight boys. Indian girls lead a slavish life, do all the drudgery, and parents have hated to spare them. Boys do nothing till they can fight. “I would send a hundred boys, but not one girl,” said a chief to Capt. Pratt. But now one agency alone, Yankton, would fill our school with Sioux girls. Agent Miles says he could enroll Cheyenne children from the Indian Territory for eastern schools as fast as he could write their names.

Co-education of the sexes will succeed with Indians as well as with colored people in the six largest institutions for negroes, in which for ten years it has been tried with the best results.

The death rate at Hampton has been serious but not discouraging. Out of ninety-six, in twenty-two months seven have died at school and three since returning home. The tribe, gathered as they are in unnatural conditions at the agencies, away from the chase and the fight, without action or buffalo beef, fed on government rations, weaken.

Indian students have in almost all cases died of diseases implanted before leaving home; their friends have not been surprised or discouraged.

Chief Wizi, on hearing of the death of his adopted son at Hampton, called his tribe together and said: “If only one of our children returns to us with knowledge, we shall be repaid for the loss of all the others.”

While this eastern work at Carlisle and Hampton is incidental to the general educational effort which must be made at the West, it is, more than anything else, pushing the Indian question to a proper settlement by creating public sentiment. For a Congressman to see an Indian hoeing corn, does more good than piles of documentary evidence. The hundreds of clear-headed, hard-handed young red-skins who will, ere long, be settled among the tribes, will, we think, be strong enough to sustain each other and to teach the rest. They will not return home scared by our great guns and arsenals, but stimulated by contact with the spirit that lies at the bottom of our progress. They must see civilization to comprehend it.

What is given for them will come back with usury. Not the least return to us may be the educational methods which, inspired by exigencies and unchecked by tradition, shall be worked out to meet the emergencies thrust upon the country by the destruction of the buffalo, which has brought the Indian to face the issue of civilization or destruction.

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THE CHINESE.

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“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.

DIRECTORS: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, Rev. John Kimball.

SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.

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A CHAPTER OF GOOD THINGS.

REV. W. C. POND.

_Our Annual Meeting._--It was a very diminutive affair, compared with that which, at the same time, was going on so grandly at Lowell; or with the one which, just now, as I am writing, is--I trust--in successful progress at Norwich. What a privilege and a joy I should feel it to be if I were there, instead of here! That is denied me, so far as bodily presence is concerned; but I am free to be there in thought, and, in the solitude of my study, to mingle my prayers with yours. They meet before one throne of grace. _Our_ annual meeting is one of the features of the annual convocation of our Congregational churches in California, which was held this year with the First Church in Oakland. The time assigned us in the programme was from 10:45 to 12:30 on Thursday, Oct. 7th. I should think that 250 persons were present. Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D., pastor of that church, and President of our Mission, occupied the chair. After a hymn and prayer, the reports of the Treasurer and of the Board of Directors were presented. The principal facts set forth in these reports have been laid before the Association at its meeting now going on, and need not be re-stated here. There was, however, a novel feature in the Treasurer’s report--novel to us, however it may be to others--which stirred some of our friends not a little. We have always had more work at hand than we could possibly do with the means at our command; but we have tried to “cut the garment according to the cloth,” and have so far succeeded as never to report a _deficit_, in current expenses till this year. This was our novelty. Our friends did not like its looks any better than we did. The President took it in hand and shook it, at an expense to himself of $10. Rev. Dr. Mooar followed with another shake, at the same cost to his exchequer. Then good Dea. S. S. Smith, and minister after minister, followed in quick succession, till not a shred of it remained, and we find ourselves now with every bill paid, and a balance of $24.25, which we transfer to our Barnes Mission House Building Fund. Cold water was never more refreshing to a thirsty soul than was this spontaneous and unexpected offering--whether considered with reference to its _personelle_ or its results--to the heart of your Superintendent. We don’t mean to give our friends an opportunity to repeat the operation; but we shall remember it with gratitude and pleasure as long as we live. Following this were volunteer speeches, containing earnest expressions of good will and sympathy, and crowding one upon another in such a way that the time allotted proved to be all too short, and the only regret with which we closed the meeting was that so many who wished to speak, and whom we earnestly wished to hear, failed to have that opportunity.

_The Chinese Fishing Villages._--It is several years since I first visited a village of Chinese fishermen. I cannot say that the mere pleasure of the thing would prompt me to repeat the visit very frequently. There is nothing in the character of the dwellings, the appearance of their denizens, or the odors rising from their work, to tempt one to a protracted stay. But I thank God that I cannot go through even such a rude and motley and ill-odored settlement, without seeing the immortal souls of which these ill-kept bodies are the habitations, or without beginning to query if some way cannot be opened to pour in upon them the healing light of that world which needs no sun.

A few days ago a message came from one of them, by a Providence so marked that I ventured to think it a Macedonian Call, and to read in it God’s _promise_ of success. This village is on a little cape jutting out into San Francisco Bay and known as Point San Pedro. Mr. Charles W. Otis, my warm personal friend,--whom, with his excellent wife, it was my privilege many years ago, while pastor at Petaluma, to welcome to the fellowship of saints--has recently been placed in charge of the “ranch” of which this Point San Pedro is a part, and is thus brought into business relations with the Chinese who are tenants upon it. His heart is stirred for them, and he asked me if something could not be done to save them. I sent Wah Yene, our devoted helper at Petaluma, to explore, and he brings me, not only his own favorable testimony, but the following message from Mr. Otis: “Wah Yene has been here a few days canvassing in the Chinese school. He will report the prospects. That there is a field here for work among the more than 400, there is no doubt. We will furnish a house free, and I think I can get lumber from some building for furniture, seats, &c. My wife and I will assist all we can, though I shall be busy much of the time, but I can add something that, will help the good work along. * * * “I know so little of the ways and means and plans of the Chinese Mission that I am unable to say more than to promise a hearty co-operation in every possible way. We are very much pleased with Wah Yene, and Mrs. Otis is ready to ‘adopt’ him, and says she would feel safe with him near when I am compelled to be absent, as I shall be two or three times each week.” Mr. Otis goes on to intimate that he could give employment to Wah Yene for a part of each day, and assume a proportionate part of his support if we desire; or if we want him to devote his whole time to missionary service, he will provide him a room comfortably furnished, free of charge. And so Wah Yene starts to-day for a month’s trial of the work; and we, on our part, will do our best to make the trial a success.

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CHILDREN’S PAGE.

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A SLAVE-GIRL’S FAITH.

A TRUE STORY.

“Chillen, git on de bo’de, Chillen, git on de bo’de, Chillen, git on de bo’de, bo’de, bo’de, Dere’s room for many a mo’,”--

were the words that came in high but not unmusical tones from the depths of the kitchen, where I knew Jule was struggling with the week’s ironing.

After puzzling over them for some time I cried, “What _does_ she mean, auntie?”

Auntie laughed. “Oh, you Yankee! Will you never learn negro talk? Do they never sing about the ‘gospel ship’ in Boston? That is what Jule means.”

“Oh, is that it?” I replied, laughing in my turn. “I couldn’t imagine how she was going to ‘get on a board’ with her two hundred pounds of flesh.

“I’m tired of sewing: I guess I’ll go down and talk to her a little while.”

Jule welcomed me to her snug kitchen, with a smile which disclosed her shining white teeth; and I seated myself by her ironing-table, and begged her to tell me of the days “befo’ de wah.”

“Tell me how you became free,” I said, as she resumed her work. “Were you set free, or did you run away?” hoping secretly that the latter was the case.

Her black eyes sparkled, and she tossed her gayly turbaned head, as she answered--

“’Deed, miss, I just runned away.”

“You did, Jule? How did you do it? Weren’t you frightened?”

“Well, honey, de good Lord just done helped me.”

“The Lord helped you? How?”

“Ah, chile, de Lord just as powerful now as when He showed de chillen of Isr’el de way to de promus land!”

“Of course,” I replied; “but He doesn’t interpose in the affairs of men as He did then. We have no pillars of fire, and no parting of the sea.”

“‘Deed, miss, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout your ’posing, and we didn’t have no pillow of fire; but de Lord done helped me hisself.”

“Well, tell me all about it, please.”