Part 2

Motives, springing from the highest spiritual insight and experience, are good and always in order, but they are not essential to a fair judgment nor to proper action in this matter. A man may have much less than John’s spirituality or Paul’s experience to decide that there is a glaring inconsistency in praying for the building up of God’s kingdom on the earth, and then withholding the means necessary to that end; in praying that the Gospel may fly to earth’s remotest bound, and then refusing to contribute to the amount of a single wing feather to help its flight.

It does not take a great deal of spiritual insight to see that we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time in our churches with advantage, any more than we can in our own hearts, and that if the Judas of worldliness carries the bag, there is going to be a betrayal of the Master some day. The most common of common sense judgment is all that is needed for so simple a conclusion.

And it is not necessarily any high revelation required, but only an appreciation and approval of square dealing, to convince us that a church must so raise its money, and to such amounts, that it will be able to do its share towards carrying on the great work of evangelizing the world.

In these days of missionary spirit every church is to broaden out its parish lines until they meet only at the antipodes. All the dark places of the earth belong to us to do something for, to do what we can for, and we are not to raise our money nor use it so that this part of the work is neglected. To cheat the heathen out of his portion of the Gospel is an immorality. To help carry the Gospel to the heathen in the uttermost parts of the earth must be accepted by every church as a part of its moral obligation. This may make it necessary to put less expense into church choirs, into adornments and improvements—that the minister and the sexton shall receive smaller salaries. So be it; let the whole field be looked over, and let each receive the share adapted to him. This is good morals in this matter.

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BENEFACTIONS.

—Hamilton College receives $5,000 from Lemuel Brooks, of Churchville, N. Y.

—Henry Villiard has given to the Oregon State University $70,000 to relieve its indebtedness.

—D. O. Mills has given to the University of California $75,000 to endow a chair of intellectual and moral philosophy.

—William H. Vanderbilt proposes to add to his previous gifts one-half or two-thirds enough to erect and equip suitable buildings for the Nashville Female College.

—Mr. George B. Babcock, of Plainfield, N. J., has recently given $30,000 to Alfred University, and still later $10,000 to Wilson College at Wilson, Wisconsin.

—The will of the widow of the late ex-President Millard Fillmore leaves public bequests to the amount of $50,000, among which is one of $20,000 to the University of Rochester.

—Matthew Vassar, following in the good work of his uncle, bequeathed to the college which bears the family name the handsome sum of $130,000; to the Vassar Brothers Home for Aged Men, $15,000; and to the Vassar Brothers Hospital, $85,000. These contributions are to be largely increased by some residuary legacies.

—The following table shows the increase of endowments of the New England colleges during the past year: Harvard, $500,000; Yale, $250,000; Amherst, $75,000; Tufts, $120,000; Smith, $43,000; Dartmouth, $110,000; University of Vermont, $50,000; Wesleyan, $100,000; Colby, $30,000; total, $1,278,000.

—_Talladega College, Talladega, Ala., is erecting Stone Hall, by the gift of Mrs. Stone—the fourth College building. Endowments now are the great necessity. $25,000 will provide for a Professorship, and there are four such needing endowment, one of these a Theological Professorship._

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GENERAL NOTES.

AFRICA.

—Forty light-houses of great range have been established in the Red Sea, to render navigation less dangerous during the night.

—Dr. Schweinfurth has returned to Suez after a month’s exploration in the Island of Socotora, where he found a very abundant flora. The forests constitute the principal riches of the isle.

—Following the massacre of the expedition Giulietti, two Italian vessels have been sent to Assab, to be stationed there during the inquest that the Egyptian Government has ordered, with a view of discovering the murderers and punishing them. They will be supported by an English vessel.

—Dr. Southern, of the London Missionary Society, has been laboring for more than a year at Urambo, the capital of the noted chief Mirambo. He has been received with much cordiality, and is able to report results of his work in terms which are suggestive of a bright future for that station.

—The Governor of the Gold Coast has placed, as a condition to the conclusion of a treaty with the King of Achantis, the abolition of human sacrifices in the states of the latter. The king having demanded that a representative of the Governor should visit him, M. Maloney, the Colonial Secretary, has accompanied Prince Buaki, who has returned to Coomassie.

—The necessary materials for the construction of the railroad of the Senegal have been transported over the upper river, the King of Foutah guaranteeing the security of the passage. There is still some difficulty with the King of Cayor on the subject of the passage of the road over his territory, but they hope for a satisfactory solution.

—A business house in Hamburg has sent out an agent to attempt the culture of coffee in the region of the Ogove. A clearing has been made near Corisco bay, where several thousand coffee trees have been planted, promising an abundant harvest this year. The American Presbyterians have a mission some hundreds of miles up the Ogove river, and the project is on foot to open a route this way to Stanley Pool on the Congo.

—The Universities Mission to Central Africa, which was first undertaken in 1860 through the influence of Dr. Livingstone, and afterwards suspended, has recently entered upon a very hopeful career. Bishop Steere has now a well equipped staff of thirty-one European missionaries, of whom seven are ladies. He already understands the language of the tribes among whom he labors. The present work of the mission is threefold: First, that on the island of Zanzibar, which is now of a comprehensive character, including many agencies; secondly, the work at Magila and its surroundings, some forty miles from Pangani, on the main land to the north of Zanzibar; and thirdly, the missions on the main land to the south in the Rovuma district.

—The _Missionary Herald_ for August, the organ of the Baptist Missionary Society of London, contains an admirable map of the Congo from its mouth to Stanley Pool. This Society already has a mission at San Salvador, south of the Congo, between one hundred and two hundred miles from the coast. It recently sent two of its missionaries, Mr. H. E. Crudgington and Mr. W. H. Bentley, on an exploring tour to Stanley Pool for the purpose of fixing a site for a mission at the latter point. The report of their exploration is given almost entire in the _Herald_, and constitutes one of the most interesting and profitable narratives of perseverance and heroism that has been given to the public in the annals of missions.

—The C. M. S. of London has established a new mission at Uyui, a collection of villages under the control of a governor appointed by the Sultan of Zanzibar. It is described as a very large town for Africa. Mr. Copplestone, one of the early missionaries for Mtesa’s kingdom, took up his abode at Uyui in 1879, and in June 1880 was joined by Mr. Litchfield, who came south from Uganda for the benefit of his health. Mr. Copplestone, who has learned the Unyamnezi language, has built a school-room where he teaches the natives. He is assisted by one of the Frere Town African Christians.

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THE INDIANS.

—The Baptist Home Missionary Society has established at Tahiequah, Indian Territory, the “Indian University,” and at present conducts a school in their mission buildings. The society is out with an appeal for buildings and endowments.

—The Board of Publication of the Presbyterian Church supports a Book, Tract and Sunday-school missionary in the Indian Territory. Meetings are held, families visited, and a large amount of religious literature is scattered broadcast. The work is reported to be quite encouraging.

—Mr. Townsend, Special Agent of the Indian Department, has organized an Indian police force among the Pimas. His squad consists of fifteen men under the command of Captain Maichu, a very competent and trustworthy Indian. The primary object of the force is to maintain order in a quiet way, and to educate the tribe in the principles and practices of civilization.

—Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., to whom the country is so much indebted for his admirable work on Alaska, is now on a visit to that territory, superintending the building of two mission chapels, besides attending to other duties. A recent gift of $1,000 from a lady in Zanesville, Ohio, in aid of the one at Chileat, is mentioned as an important factor in the movement.

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THE CHINESE.

—The chief official at the custom house near Bangkok, Siam, is a negro. The position is a very responsible one, and was given to him on account of his education, honesty and capacity. He is said to discharge his duties with much efficiency and satisfaction to the government.

—Mr. S. A. Butler, a pure negro, at one time a protégé of Anson Burlingame, is in charge of one of the most important departments of the Chinese Steamship Company. He is a natural organizer, and when employed by the company, systematized the business, brought order out of chaos, introduced economy, enforced discipline, and rivaled the Europeans in their steamship service. The result is that after two years’ work this Chinese Steamship Company, instead of running at a loss, has earned over $1,000,000 net profit.

—Some gentlemanly Chinese laborers in Chicago gave a banquet to about two hundred of their American Christian friends, not long since, in the rooms of the Young Men’s Christian Association. The sons of the Flowery Kingdom were in full bloom, quiet, radiant and attentive. The tables were beautifully adorned and sumptuously loaded. Speeches were made by Rev. James Powell, Franklin Fisk and Ah Sing Get. The entertainment was enlivened by the singing of a number of “Moody and Sankey” songs, which lost nothing by the slight Chinese brogue with which they were so earnestly rendered.

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ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

WOODBRIDGE, N. C.—Rev. W. H. Ellis reports a very interesting and precious revival among the children growing out of the Band of Hope temperance work.

BEAUFORT, N. C.—One of the colored bishops testified to a brother that the church at Beaufort, though small, was a power for good that could not be estimated.

MCINTOSH, LIBERTY CO., GA.—We feel especially thankful for the beautiful organ presented to us by the Smith American Organ Company; also for articles of clothing sent by the Ladies’ Benevolent Society, 2d Church, Keene, N. H., and the ladies of Framingham, Mass., to distribute among the needy ones around us. A blind father, who has a one-armed wife and seven children to care for, is just leaving us with his quota.

WOODVILLE, GA.—Pilgrim church was crowded last night to witness the reception of nine persons to the church. During the revival, still going on, seven persons professed conversion, and two backsliders returned home. Next Sunday night a thanksgiving service will be held and a collection will be taken up to help rebuild three churches that were blown down by the recent storm.

SAVANNAH, GA.—Special meetings were held in this church in the summer. Rev. S. N. Brown, temporary supply, was aided by Rev. John McLean, of Miller’s Station. More than a score of souls were hopefully joined to Christ.

HELENA, TEXAS.—Rev. M. Thompson, pastor, rejoices over a revival in his church. Nearly every unconverted person in the community was moved, and not a few to a final reconciliation.

MEMPHIS, TENN.—Pastor Imes had his people come in upon him by way of a surprise party, August 30th, to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Many useful presents, of no small value, were the tokens of love.

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THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOSEPH E. ROY, D. D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

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KENTUCKY.

THE WORK AT BEREA.

Nestling in a charming “glade,” overshadowed by the North-western foot-hills of the mighty Appalachian mountain world, is Berea College. It is not exclusively a school for teachers, but includes the entire organization of popular education from an effective primary school up to a solid university class of twenty-five, with a normal course for instruction in methods of teaching. Its pupils are of both sexes and colors, and another year may possibly witness the white, negro and Indian quietly at work in the same class-rooms, with no rivalry except the honest pride to excel in good scholarship and manly or womanly character. But in this, for the South, exceptional feature, there comes in the most interesting peculiarity of this most “peculiar institution.” With a few exceptions from the North and the blue-grass region of Kentucky, the white students come from the great mountain country that overlooks the college campus. This region, in Kentucky, includes a country as extensive as the whole State of New Hampshire, and not unlike it in shape. Here, in a mountain world, divided into thirty counties, out of hearing of the railroad whistle, in many parts traversed only on horseback, with no village containing five thousand and very few one thousand people, dwells a population of nearly two hundred thousand, more thoroughly isolated from the New America than the settlers in Oregon or the latest hamlet in Dakota. Living almost entirely from the land, in the narrowest way, on narrow means, with few tolerable schools and a good deal of intolerable preaching, with an almost total destitution of books, newspapers and ordinary means of cultivation, completely shut off from social contact with the ruling class of the State, this people is peculiar in many ways.

Out from this interesting region come the majority of the white students of Berea. Few of them are able even to meet the yearly sum of seventy-five dollars, for which their education is given them. Many of them, even the girls, walk from their homes, and come in with nothing but a stout suit of clothes, a good head and a brave heart, paying their way as they go by such work as turns up, and the small wages of mountain school-keeping in the long summer vacations. They have no leisure to discuss the vexed topic of co-education that worries grave professors and doubting students at Yale and Harvard; indeed, the young fellow not unfrequently brings in his sister, cousin and prospective “annex” to sit down at the same table of knowledge. He is more anxious to lift his own end of a problem than to quarrel with the colored boy who is tugging at the other end. Indeed, at Berea one seems to be in that ideal university where an overpowering desire for study lifts the entire body of students above a whole class of questions that even yet convulse politicians and people, schoolmen and churches, South and North. They live together; the girls, of course, under careful supervision; study, work, recite, play and worship together; students and teachers, children and grown men and women, in one family. Probably no American school of three hundred and seventy students goes through the year with so little disturbance, is so easily governed, or so generally absorbed in the work in hand. This year the faculty consists of thirteen professors and teachers under President E. H. Fairchild, and three hundred and sixty-nine students, of whom nine are in the college classical and twenty-five in the literary course, forty-five in the normal, and the remainder in the preparatory department. The average age is sixteen. Two hundred and forty-nine are colored and one hundred and twenty are white; two hundred and six males and one hundred and sixty-three females.

The instruction is excellent, probably equal in quality to any school in the State; and the proficiency of the pupils remarkable, considering their previous estate. The primary school-room contains twenty stout fellows ranging from eighteen to twenty-five years of age; but it is not uncommon for one of these boys to go forth as a tolerable school-master among the colored people after two years’ hard work at Berea. Indeed, if one were to look for signs of mental power, he need not go outside the beautiful campus of this school. We positively never witnessed such progress in learning as is the common talk among these teachers. These stalwart young men and resolute maidens from the mountains buckle to their books with a will that knows no discouragement. They go back to their homes to become the pride of their friends and the hope of their neighborhood. Nearly every student is a member of the church and the temperance society, and the carrying of arms is cause of expulsion. All classes of the Southern people are good listeners. We never addressed an audience of three hundred people that put us more decisively on our mettle than the crowd of students and villagers that did us the favor to crowd the chapel on four unpleasant nights to listen to our talks on education.

We do not propose to defend Berea against any objector. A school with such tough Kentucky roots as Fee, Hanson, and their compeers; with a history so romantic in its heroic past and so startling in its recent growth; with a foundation on three hundred acres of “sacred soil,” two hundred thousand dollars worth of excellent buildings, in a situation unrivaled in beauty; a faculty representing the best culture and character of the North-west, with the rising ability of the South; and a population of five hundred friendly people within sound of chapel bells; can be trusted to plead its own cause against all comers. It is already commending itself to many of the best people of Kentucky, receiving students from families of highest respectability in the neighborhood, and on commencement days the great tabernacle is crammed with three thousand people, from the humblest to the highest in the proud old State. Berea is a great American fact, comprehensible only to a man who has read, pondered and inwardly digested the Sermon on the Mount and its corollary, the Constitution of the United States. If no similar college should ever exist, this will live in its own place in American history, a splendid evidence of the power of a consecrated education to bind together all sorts and conditions of good women and earnest men.—_Dr. Mayo in Journal of Education._

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SOWING IN TEARS AND REAPING IN JOY—BEREA COLLEGE.

REV. J. A. R. ROGERS.

The rule is that a long time must elapse between the sowing and the reaping. Abraham’s patience in Canaan for long years seemed destined to be fruitless in those things which God had promised him; not a foot of Canaan did he own, and he was still childless; his faith was tried to the uttermost, and only by a great struggle was he kept from despair. After centuries, that sowing began to produce a harvest, not yet but partially reaped. The recent addition of $50,000 to the endowment of Berea College calls to mind the long, weary days of struggle and almost despair in its early history. The apparent success for a time, to be followed by every sort of discouragement, was not the least of the trials of those whose labors were the occasion for Berea College. Churches were formed, and many seemed heartily in favor of the Gospel of Christ, which commands and secures love; and then persecutions would arise, and such a perfect torrent of public opinion against the “abolitionists,” that large numbers would succumb to the adverse influences, and the love of many would wax cold. Again, such persecutions would arise, that for a time only women were regarded as safe in attending the preaching services of Mr. Fee and others. After the school was started in 1858, which culminated in Berea College, there were still those great alternations of prosperity and apparent defeat which are so hard to bear. One term, large numbers of students would come, including the children of slaveholders, and the next, only those would apply for admission who could endure the reproach of being called “_nigger lovers_.” Even after the war, when two or three colored children entered the primary department, there was such a stampede from every department, that the principal, in sorrow, said to the few that timidly remained, “Will ye also go away?”

Those years from ’55 to ’66 were years of sowing in great sorrow. The missionaries of the A. M. A. were very poor; their salaries were $400 per year, and some of that sum must be expended for those still poorer. They lived in almost constant terror of their lives. If for any cause they were north of the Ohio River for a few weeks, they breathed such a free atmosphere that it seemed almost like getting into Heaven. By many they were regarded with suspicion and contempt. The writer remembers what cringing of the nerves he often had to endure, in walking the streets of one of the central towns of Kentucky. People would stare at him as if he were a hyena let loose. It is not easy to describe what were the sorrows of those years, the greatest of which was that so many professed friends fell away in time of danger, and that so many bearing the name of Christ at those times were ready to deny their faith.

But this sowing has in some respects given way to reaping, even in the lifetime of those who watered the ground with their tears. Now at Berea is a college in some respects unlike any other in the land. Here, three hundred in all, are seen white and colored students in about equal numbers. Here is a sort of Mecca for the colored people of the State, and a door of hope for many in the mountain region, who, though white, have had but few religious and educational privileges. Here is a college ably manned, with the confidence of the North, and growing in the regard of the South, sending forth its streams of blessing in every direction. If the tears of sorrow were many, the tears of joy and thanksgiving to God have been much more abundant.

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TENNESSEE.

MISS ALICE E. CARTER, NASHVILLE.

Among the men of Tennessee, the great and crying need seems to be the very practical knowledge of some trade; the range of their individual usefulness is so often limited to gardening, grooming, rock-beating and shoveling.

The talent for gardening is a dormant one in winter; rock-beating cannot be followed in the coldest weather, and it is easy to see that the other ranks may at times be filled to overflowing, and those not fortunate enough to get in, are out of employment.

What a noble enterprise for someone to found an industrial school for colored boys, which shall draw in the bright-eyed ragged boys, now lounging on the street corners or quarreling in the alleys, learning nothing except evil, daily!

To help a few such boys, though temporarily, I hold in my room, one evening in the week, a little reception. Good stories, earnest conversation, plenty of books and papers to look over while here, are the means put forth to help those who come. When they go away they carry with them text-cards and old numbers of _St. Nicholas_ from my very primitive “circulating library.”