Part 2

—Special meetings were held during the week of prayer at the Le Moyne Institute. Three persons have been hopefully converted, and others are inquiring the way of life. The church also has advanced to a better spiritual condition.

—This month has been characterized by a great awakening in Straight University, New Orleans. It is believed that ten of the young lady boarders have been hopefully converted. The good influence is widely felt throughout the school.

—Professor Francis writes from Atlanta University: “For some days past our school has been much moved by the presence of the Holy Spirit, who has brought quite a number to confess their need of a Saviour, and quickened greatly the zeal of many who had before borne the name of Christ. We are holding extra meetings, and the interest deepens from day to day, so that we have good reason to hope that a good harvest may be gathered in, if we exercise due fidelity and patience. The impressions of the gracious work we enjoyed last year have remained with us, and already quite a number have this year taken their stand for Christ, and we rejoice greatly at the good dealings of the Lord with us, and seek greater blessings.”

* * * * *

GENERAL NOTES.

AFRICA.

—A dispatch from Cairo announces the death of Mgr. Comboni, Apostolic Vicar of Central Africa.

—The colonies of Natal, discontented with their form of government, demand the institution of a parliamentary rule upon the model of that which has been granted the colony of the Cape.

—The Queen of Madagascar has named for the first time the ministers and secretaries of state, and at the same time given a law relative to their functions.

—A steamer with two helixes has been ordered by an English house for the civilizing station of the Portuguese which is to be established upon the Congo.

—A society is formed in Liberia, under the title of Liberia Interior Association, with a view of developing commerce with the interior, of seeking means of transportation and the employ of beasts in some parts of the country, and of bestowing attention upon the commercial, agricultural and political interests of the colony in the interior.

—The College of Liberia will be transferred into the country, where to classical studies will be joined instruction in manual labor, to teach the natives the use and practice of the instruments of European industry.

—P. Autunes, Professor at Braga, set out the 15th of October, with two assistants and three workmen, to establish at Hailla, near Humpata, where the Boers are, schools for the children of the colonists, the Boers and natives, under the direction of chosen teachers. He will also establish an industrial and professional school of arts and trades necessary for African life. The Portuguese government has granted lands to him, reserving to itself the approval of the rules which will regulate these different establishments.

MR. A. E. JACKSON, of the Mendi Mission, in appealing for supplies, says: “There are persons here who desire to unite in matrimony. They are just emerging from paganism, and any favor shown them by the Mission adds so much to its influence for good. They ought to have plain white dresses, white gloves, shoes or slippers, and a little underwear; and for encouragement, some bedding—sheets, pillow-cases, and such like. We have a young couple with us who were married this year, and Mrs. Jackson is now preparing clothing for another couple who will marry in about two weeks.”

* * * * *

THE INDIANS.

—The American Baptist Home Missionary Society reports 90 churches, with nearly 6,000 church members, among the Indians in the Indian Territory.

—Santiago Reino, an Indian from the Taos Pueblo, was recently baptized and received into the church at Cenecero, Colorado. So far as known, he is the first from that Pueblo to receive Christian baptism.

—Rev. Mr. Hicks, of McAllister, Indian Territory, has selected a site for a church, and reorganized a Sunday-school with 40 scholars. He hopes soon to reorganize a church with 20 members. Four infants have already received the rite of baptism.

—The presence of fifteen civilized Indians at the Presbytery of Idaho—one of them an ordained minister, four ruling elders, two licentiates, three applying for licensure, and all of them church members—speaking and singing the praises of God, was a grand testimony to the power and influence of the Christian religion.

* * * * *

THE CHINESE.

—China proper is said to be entirely open to the missionary and the Bible colporteur with the exception of Hunan.

—Miss H. Carter, a teacher among the Chinese in Boston, writes: It is not unusual to find a man who learns the alphabet and a few words in a single lesson. One pupil of more than twenty-five years learned to read so rapidly at his weekly lesson that he could study intelligently the Sunday-school Bible lesson in Isaiah lv. at the end of five months.

—A Chinese named Wang, aged sixty-two, applying for baptism said: “I should not like to die without having obeyed the commandment of the Lord Jesus.” When asked what name he intended to choose at his baptism, he said: “Lazarus was a poor man, just as I am a poor man; I should like therefore to be called by his name.” He was accordingly baptized by the name of Lazarus.

* * * * *

BENEFACTIONS.

—Mr. Haskell, editor of the Boston _Herald_, has subscribed $1,000 to Bates College.

—Mr. John P. Howard has given $28,000 to the University of Vermont, for rebuilding its main edifice.

—Amherst College is to receive about $50,000 for its library from the estate of the late Joel Stiles, of Boston.

—Mr. C. H. McCormick has added $50,000 to his already liberal gifts to the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest.

—The Boston University has come into possession of the $2,000,000 estate bequeathed to the institution ten years ago by Isaac Rich, of Boston.

—The will of the late Cornelius Sweetser bequeathed $10,000 to the Thomaston Academy, the income of $15,000 for public and school libraries, $5,000 for a Sweetser school fund, and $12,000 to the York Institute.

—St. Johnsbury Academy has received from Thaddeus Fairbanks an additional $40,000 as a permanent fund. To this a gift of $50,000 is added from the estate of Governor Erastus Fairbanks, making, with sums otherwise secured, an endowment fund of $100,000.

—_The Executive Committee of the A. M. A. reported at its annual meeting that $15,000 were needed for a Boy’s Dormitory at Straight University, New Orleans, La. One individual offers $5,000 of this amount on condition that the remaining $10,000 be secured._

* * * * *

A volume of 420 pages, entitled “Missionary Papers,” by Rev. John C. Lowrie, D.D., is the work of a man well qualified to write on a broad range of missionary topics. Dr. Lowrie was once a missionary in India, and for many years has been the senior Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. These papers are, therefore, the results of extended observation and of long and varied experience. They, like their author, are not sensational, but scholarly and practical. We subjoin a quotation from the paper on “Less Favored Races.”

“As to passing by the degraded, ignorant and uncivilized races, in order to reach those who are in some degree intelligent, polite and civilized—well, we do not so understand the example of the first Christians. The Apostle Peter might have made a splendid argument for the Hebrews as the main people to be first evangelized, pointing to their wonderful history, their unrivaled geographical position, their intellectual force, their widely-spread settlements in other countries; so the Apostle Paul might have spent a part of his unequaled eloquence in a plea for the Greeks as the people of culture, and of the Romans as full of energy. But how little do we find in the first missionary records of ethnographic, political, commercial, conventional ideas as motives for evangelizing labor. We ought to understand, moreover, the lesson of our own Anglo-Saxon history; where were men and women to be found who were less attractive than the early inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland? The same Gospel that brought them to their present standing can change the people of Africa and make them intelligent, cultured, devoted Christians.”

* * * * *

A BLIND SAMSON.

* * * * *

FROM ADDRESS OF REV. A. J. BIDDLE, AT WARSAW, N.Y.

* * * * *

Years ago, when the negro was a bondman, Longfellow thus spoke of him:

“There is a poor blind Samson in the land, Shorn of his strength and bound in bands of steel, Who may in some grim revel raise his hand And shake the pillars of the common weal. Till the vast temples of our liberties A shapeless mass of muck and rubbish lies.”

Well he is blind enough yet, poor enough, a Samson, too, and what is more, he is no longer bound. His locks are beginning to grow, and he is beginning to place his brawny hand upon the pillars of our common weal; not angrily, but ignorantly. We placed them there hoping that he would prove a support, and he will if we watch and direct him. But thus far he has been a menace to our liberties; not from malice, but because he is what he is. We have not dealt with him wisely; but from the fatal day over two hundred years ago, when that thrifty Dutchman landed the first negro on the hanks of the James River to this, we have blundered. Our treatment of him has been a mixture of stupidity and wickedness. We never should have brought him here, but we did.

It should have been our endeavor to raise him from his barbarism by careful education, but that was forbidden by law. We should have emancipated him gradually, but that we could not do. We should have fitted him for citizenship before giving him the ballot, but we did the opposite. When emancipated, we should have educated him, but that was too much trouble. So from the outset we have done those things we ought not to have done, and left undone those things we ought to have done. We can see it now, but it requires little wit to see our blunders after they are made, and we are suffering the consequences. But note three points:

1st. The negro is a part of our nation. One person in every eight of our population is of African descent. He is going to stay a permanent part of our population. You cannot colonize him. He will not die out. The exodus is but a ripple, and that from one part of the nation to another. In the South he will live and thrive. His race increases with frightful rapidity. It does no good to grumble about it. The problem we must solve is to build up a peaceful, prosperous nation with such a population as we have.

2d. They are citizens; they have the right to vote; they will vote; the votes will be counted. The time will soon come when they will hold the balance of power in every Southern State. Political parties will bid for their vote, cater to their wishes and prejudices, and shape legislation to catch their votes.

3d. They are as a class miserably poor, densely ignorant and low in their moral conception and practice. Seventeen years ago they were turned loose without a cent of their own or a letter of the alphabet. That they have done well in acquiring property and knowledge under the circumstances, is the testimony of all who know them. Many of them have little homes of their own, and those who can read and write are numbered now by the hundred thousand. Take them altogether, it is estimated that they own on an average above $11 worth of property. It is an encouraging fact that in seventeen years they have accumulated so much as that. But what poverty does that indicate, with $11 for each man, woman and child among them! Here we must not forget that they are six hundred years behind the white race in civilization. They as a rule must be separated from the whites. We cannot absorb them, as we do the German, or Irish. They will be clannish by the nature of the case. The more ignorant they remain the more clannish they will grow, and our only safety lies in making them feel that their interest is not separated from, but identical with the other citizens of the Republic. I tell you, friends, that the mightiest question of the nation yet, is what to do with that great mass of half civilized, impoverished, ignorant people that cover the South.

THE FREEDMEN.

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

* * * * *

TWENTY YEARS AFTER FREEDOM.

It is worthy of note that near where the first slaves disembarked in our country, bondmen were first disenthralled by the events of our civil war. Gen. Butler, in May, 1861, issued his famous proclamation, declaring the negroes about his camp in Hampton contrabands.

At that time, and later on, thousands of them gathered in near proximity to his headquarters, living for the most part in an improvised city, christened Slabtown. Twenty years have wrought many changes in the condition of these people. Slabtown has disappeared, and in its place and for miles around, cottages with garden plots, and even considerable farms, are found. A large number of these are owned by the freed people, who constitute a majority in Elizabeth City county, and form a quasi-negro republic.

The blacks are courteous in their deportment toward the white citizens, who in return display much kindness and good will. One of the negroes, when asked recently by a Northern gentleman how his people were treated by the whites, is reported to have said. “Oh, we are largely in the majority, and the white man knows how to keep his place.” They seem willing that the white people should hold the important offices, and the most cordial relations apparently exist between all classes. Not long after the recent election in Virginia, the black people about Fortress Monroe were observed to be intently reading the newspapers. A ministerial-looking colored man, of fifty or upward, was asked by the writer if there was any law forbidding the white people to read. “Why do you wish to know that?” he inquired. On being told that the colored people were seen reading the papers while the white laborers were standing idly about, he replied pertinently, “These white folks don’t like the way the election went much, but it just suited us.”

The improvements about Fortress Monroe and Hampton during the past twenty years have been considerable. New buildings have been constructed inside of the fort, and Mr. Harrison Phoebus has built near the government wharf a mammoth, hotel, the Hygeia, capable of accommodating a thousand visitors. The Soldier’s Home at Hampton has extensive grounds, and accommodations for over 600 people. A large and tasteful building has just been completed, with an audience room seating from six to eight hundred. The grounds and buildings connected with the Soldier’s Home are kept up with much care and expense.

The Hampton Institute, which has done much to work all the changes mentioned, is a village by itself, and Gen. Armstrong, its principal, has 704 students under his supervision. The village of Hampton, which was burned early in the war, has been rebuilt, and recently Newport News has come to the front in consequence of the extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad to that point. Already the company has constructed a pier said to be the largest in the United States, and land is held at $16,000 an acre at a point where scarcely a dozen houses can be seen. The harbor facilities at Newport News are unrivaled.

These varied developments have created a demand for labor and given to the negro, especially as he is the recognized laborer, a grand opportunity for securing property. A canvasser for a sewing machine company, who has spent three years in Eastern Virginia, testifies that the negroes have most of the money to be found in that country. He says they are prompt in paying their instalments, whereas when he sells to the poorer white people he fails to collect his money, for the reason that they have none.

The manners and customs of the people are still unique. It is no uncommon thing to see a heifer or a steer harnessed to a cart and driven by one or two women who bring supplies to market. Possibly one-half of the conveyances seen by a visitor during a month’s stay are of this fashion; but the proprietors do not seem to be unhappy. Indeed, a Wall street broker, who had been spending a month at the Hygeia hotel, and who was fond of the recreation afforded by visiting Hampton on market days, affirmed that these negroes were the happiest people he ever saw.

If twenty years of freedom can work such changes all over the land as are manifested here, where emancipation first dawned, surely the future is full of hope.

* * * * *

EMERSON INSTITUTE, MOBILE, ALA., BURNED.

Emerson Institute is lying in ruins. For the second time in her history she is smoldering in ashes, and we are in mourning for the destruction of our little church, made dear by so many sacred and hallowed associations, and our beautiful school building, in which so many happy hours of toil have been spent and labors of love performed. November 21 a vain attempt was made to burn the little Congregational church at Mobile, but the fire, being set at an early hour in the evening, was discovered and soon extinguished. The insurance company repaired damages at an expense of $30. Now, when our minds were relaxing this tension, and lapse of time was giving us a degree of security against further molestation, the enemy approaches again and applies the torch—this time with marvelous success.

The fire was discovered about two o’clock on the morning of January 23 by one of the teachers, who was startled by the crackling sound of the flames. Arousing her room-mate and looking out to make sure of the evidence, they discovered the flames and gave the alarm of “fire” to the household. It was set at the northwest corner of the church, facing toward the house, and when discovered the whole end was a sheet of flame. In an incredibly short space of time Mr. Crawford was throwing an acid stream from our “Babcock Extinguisher” into the devouring flames, but they had gained so great an advantage before discovery that the “Babcock” alone could not avail. The alarm boxes being out of order the tower bell could not be struck. The Hook and Ladder Company were early on hand, but had no fire buckets. When we found ourselves powerless to quench the consuming flames on the church, we turned our attention to the school building standing near. Danger to that did not seem great as the building was of brick, the night was still and damp and the engines had arrived. But thinking it better to err on the safe side, most of the movable furniture was carried out. Before this was fully accomplished, however, the cornice had caught and the flames rapidly spread over the roof, leaping higher and higher in mock derision of the little shower bath from the hose. Not until the roof had fallen and the flames had spread to all parts and our hopes were buried in despair, did the engines succeed in getting water enough to throw a respectable stream. Help delayed was unavailing. It seems almost incredible that our school building should burn down before our very eyes, under such circumstances. Was it an enemy did this foul deed? Who can tell? God only, who reads the hearts of men, can answer. The expressed sentiments of the best people of the city are in severe condemnation of the act, and a reward of $300 has been offered for the arrest and conviction of the incendiary.

The question which presented itself to us, even before the smoke had died away, was, “What shall we do?” For a time we felt constrained to utter the language of Gideon: “O, my Lord! if the Lord be with us, why, then, is all this befallen us?” The answer came clear and unmistakable: “Go, in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hands of the Midianites; have not I sent thee?” The way was made plain to us at once, when Rev. Mr. Owen, pastor of the Third Baptist Church (colored) threw wide open its doors and said: “We gladly make room for you here.” The offer was as thankfully received as it was generously given. Scholars, patrons and friends seem as anxious that the work should be continued without delay as we ourselves. So that we re-open school again on Monday, Jan. 30, with three departments, at the Third Baptist Church, about one mile from the “Home,” and two departments in the basement of Little Zion Church, about three blocks distant from the Home. Of course, the accommodations now will be in sad contrast to those enjoyed in our well-arranged and convenient school-room, and our labors will be much more arduous and trying; but the Lord has said, “As thy days so shall thy strength be,” and we go forward relying on His strength. Our school seemed in a most prosperous condition, over two hundred pupils enrolled, and everything moving on to the satisfaction of all. The Sunday-school has not had a larger attendance for three years than now. There seemed to be a constantly growing interest manifested, and the outlook was very encouraging.

Nothing at all was saved from the church. The cabinet organ, the Sunday-school library of over two hundred volumes, a valuable chart used by the primary department of the school, together with Bibles, singing-books, etc., all perished in the flames.

In our now pressing needs we cannot close this article without an appeal to the earnest, hopeful and sympathetic friends at the North. “Come over and help us.”

MISS EMMA CAUGHEY.

* * * * *

THE INDIANS

* * * * *

CHRISTMAS AT SPOKAN FALLS, W. T.—SCHOOL WORK, Etc.

_By Rev. H. T. Cowley._

Christmas is always the greatest occasion of the year with these Indians, and its recent recurrence was unusually enjoyed. The principal attraction is the opportunity to worship, hear anew the story of the Saviour’s birth, renew their consecration and participate in the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. A social festival follows all, tribal affairs are discussed and efforts are made to heal jealousies and alienations.

On this occasion there was a marked religious interest and a very visible improvement in outward condition. The school-house, which is as yet our only place of meeting, was densely crowded; many had come over twenty miles in sleds and on horseback.

Father Eells, their former missionary, was present and addressed them, renewing old associations. There were seven infant and one adult baptisms; and two others, a wife and husband, expressed a desire to unite with the church at our next communion. It was altogether a precious occasion, which we shall all long remember. The school now numbers sixteen scholars equally divided between the sexes, and is making reasonable progress considering the disadvantages we contend with. A day school among Indians, as a general rule, fails of the best results. The imperative demand is for a boarding and industrial department and a matron. I have been calling the attention of the Indian Department to this necessity for the past six years, but as the Spokans are a small tribe and peacefully inclined, Congress has overlooked them, while at the same time their country is being rapidly filled by white settlers and no adequate provision has been made for their permanent location or education. Commissioner Price has, however, recently informed me of his recommendation to secure an appropriation of $5,000 to enable Spokans who wish to avail themselves of the provisions of the Indian Homestead Act to pay the land fees and commissions.