Part 4

The Indian can be rescued from a sad fate only by personal devotion; that has, under God, created the great results of missionary work throughout the world in recent years. The labors of the Riggses, Williamsons and of Bishop Whipple and others during the past half century, in the western wilderness, has been a seed-sowing of which the results are now appearing. The men they have touched and taught are those who are now breaking from the old superstitions and asking for light, while official dealings have scarcely a moral result to show for armies of agents and vast annuities. Only the light of Christian truth and example steadily shining can lift men up. Mission work among the Cherokees and others, and for the Sioux at Sisseton and Fort Sully and Santee agencies in Dakota, where wild Indians are settled on so peaceful prosperous homes that “a stranger traveling through the country would not believe that he was on an Indian Reservation,” attest the complete success of the Congregational, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian societies. Peoria Bottom, which I visited in 1881, is a charming village of twenty Christian families, on thrifty homes, the result of the efforts of the Rev. Thos. L. Riggs. “In proportion to the aid and means employed no missions since the apostolic age have been more successful than those to the American Aborigines,” declares one of these bodies. There have been, however, weak and disappointing missions.

Such work cannot be inspired from Washington, though it may supply many of the conditions of it. A purified civil service would do more for the Indian than for any class in the country. Good agents would create a _morale_, like a favoring tide, for the Christian teacher.

The “gist” of the Indian question I believe to be honesty and capacity in dealing with them. Given these and the rest will work itself out.

* * * * *

THE CHINESE.

REV. W. C. POND, SUPERINTENDENT.

* * * * *

HUMBLINGS.

BY REV. W. C. POND.

I had finished the preparation of the last annual report of our Mission. I had read it at the annual meeting. It was ready for the printer, and had even been placed in his hands. It was a report instinct throughout with good cheer. It could not be otherwise. It recorded the work of a prosperous year. No previous year of our whole history had approached this one, as to the numbers gathered into our schools and brought within reach of the invitations of the Gospel. Perhaps I was in danger of being “exalted above measure.” And, so, humblings were prepared for me.

It may be the dictate of expediency, but certainly it is not that of frankness and honesty, to speak to our benefactors only smooth things. There _are_ shades as well as lights in missionary work. The tide is not always rising. The sun is not always at noon. And if possible, those who sustain the work ought to be made able to see the shadows and to understand the disappointments; ought to be admitted to acquaintanceship with even the mistakes which we, the workers, make. Daylight throughout our operations is essential. Without this, there are bred “bureau distempers,” petty falsities, self-seekings and the whole brood of faults into which even renewed natures get sometimes betrayed. One of the chief beauties and glories of the statements presented this year, both at Portland and at Cleveland, was their manifest frankness—the pains evidently taken to set before the people _all_ the facts so far as the opportunity allowed.

But I am making a long preface. “What humblings have been prepared for you?” my readers are asking. One of our Chinese brethren, converted as we believed, and baptised some years ago—a young man in some respects specially capable and specially pleasing, who knows the way of life well, and can explain it clearly to his less instructed countrymen, is found to have been gambling on (for them) a large scale, and, at first, with rare success. Rumor has it that not less than $3,000 had flowed from the depleted purses of his countrymen into his own; but that blind to the fact that the tide might turn, he had continued his sin until it left him stranded and wrecked. Inquiry shows this rumor to be founded on facts. We are made to blush at the congratulations the heathen Chinese have been proffering over the good-luck of the gambling Christian. We get the heart-ache as we see how sin breeds sin, how falsehood and profanity follow in the train of these dishonest gains. The heart-ache deepens as we see some others of our brethren swept away by sympathy or friendship, or possibly by some less amiable consideration into partial complicity with his wrong. It transpires that with several others as with this brother, there has been a forgetfulness of the assembling of themselves together, a self-assertion and self-trust, a disposition to debate but not to pray, a cooling of brotherly love and Christian zeal, all of which fore-shadowed like dishonors to be heaped upon the name of Christ, unless a breath of God’s dear spirit should soon inspire in them a freshened life.

Thank God, these humblings have not come alone. If the great body of our Chinese Christians had been insensible to them, if there had been no movement, or if only a ripple on the surface of an otherwise stagnant sentiment, I should have been discouraged indeed. But there was an immediate movement, a deep sense of shame, an almost too speedy discipline. And now, taking counsel together, we have undertaken, with the help of God, to withstand more faithfully those beginnings of evil; to make the first symptoms of coldness and inattention and wandering the signal for more earnest prayer and for kindly and cautious, but effective, watch and care.

In connection with this our schools in San Francisco propose to undertake something more general and more generous in the way of giving. Certainly the sum total of expenditures made by our Chinese brethren, in connection with their Christian work, is creditable already. When we consider their circumstances it is not a little thing that in this last year their offerings, one way and another, should reach a total of $2,000. But a scrutiny of the sources from which this amount had come showed that in some quarters the grace of giving had not been as generally cultivated or as fruitful in results as it might have been. And a recovery of lost ground in this regard, an advance beyond anything heretofore attempted is fully resolved upon. Plans are being laid, the mutual exhortations have begun, and it is believed that by the 1st of December they will show us definite and practical returns. One of the helpers writes me as follows: “Last night I have been spoken to the scholars and brethren about the gifts of the money for the missionary work and about the gas that you are going to put up instead of the oil lamps. They were so pleased to help. I can hardly know how to tell you how glad they feel to pay the gas and water bills and to help you pay the rent. I was surprised that I should receive a large sum of gifts last evening so soon as when I get through my sayings, and I expect another sum this evening, because great many have not any money with them last evening.” This same good spirit seems to pervade all the schools and I am greatly comforted by it.

Other encouragements are not wanting. Even now I am awaiting in my study the arrival of five Chinese who, with the approval and recommendation of our brethren, offer themselves as candidates for baptism and reception to our Bethany Church. Scarcely a month has passed without tidings of some one turning to the light and avowing himself a disciple of Christ. But I have been made specially glad this month by the news from two of our youngest and smallest schools. Mrs. Willett, of Santa Cruz, reporting for the first time two of her pupils as giving evidence of conversion, adds: “I am very hopeful concerning the spiritual interests of four of my boys. Eight of them already own and study the New Testament. I give them Bible instruction two whole evenings each week, and they enjoy it.” And Miss Fulton, of Berkeley says: “In reporting that two of the pupils give evidence of conversion, I do not say that they have confessed it by word; but they attend so regularly to school, and to Sunday school, listen to all religious instruction so earnestly, and join in the Lord’s Prayer so heartily, that I feel assured they are earnestly seeking the truth.”

And so God has mingled encouragements with humblings, and not suffered us to be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

* * * * *

WASHEE WASHEE.

* * * * *

BY JOAQUIN MILLER.

* * * * *

Brown John he bends above his tub In cellar, alley, anywhere Where dirt is found, why John is there; And rub and rub and rub and rub. The hoodlum hisses in his ear: “Git out of here, you yeller scrub!” He is at work, he cannot hear; He smiles that smile that knows no fear; And rub and rub and rub and rub, He calmly keeps on washing.

The politicians bawl and crow To every idle chiv. and blood, And hurl their two hands full of mud: “The dirty Chinaman must go!” But John still bends above his tub, And rub and rub and rub and rub; He wrestles in his snowy suds These dirty politicians’ duds; He calmly keeps on washing.

“Git out o’ here! ye haythin, git! Me Frinch ancisthors fought an’ blid Fur this same freedom, so they did, An’ I’ll presarve it, ye can bit! Phwat honest man can boss a town? Or burn anither Pittsburgh down? Or beg? Or sthrike? Or labor shirk Phwile yez are here an’ want ter work? Git out, I say! ye haythin git!” And Silver Jimmy shied a brick That should have made that heathen sick; But John, he kept on washing.

Then mighty Congress shook with fear At this queer, silent little man, And cried as only Congress can: “Stop washing and git out of here!” The small brown man, he ceased to rub, And raised his little shaven head Above the steaming, sudsy tub, And unto this great Congress said, Straightforward, business-like, and true: “Two bittee dozen washee _you_!” Then calmly went on washing.

Oh! honest, faithful little John, If you will lay aside your duds And take a sea of soap and suds And wash out dirty Washington; If you will be the Hercules To cleanse our stables clean of these That all such follies fatten on, There’s fifty million souls to-day To bid you welcome, bid you stay And calmly keep on washing.

—_The Independent._

* * * * *

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

* * * * *

THE LITTLE DINING-ROOM.

BY MRS. T. N. CHASE.

Often just before breakfast I hear a tripping step in our hall, then a light tap at the door, and our little John exclaims, “You’re ’vited, mamma.” As I answer the knock, happy Hennie’s voice rings out the welcome words, “You and Mr. Chase are invited to breakfast in the little dining-room.” Now, as the “big dining-room” is filled with about 150 students and teachers, and as board is eight dollars per month, the little dining room offers the most quiet, to say nothing of the superior variety and quality of the food.

Well, now, there has of late been rapidly growing what some of us staid teachers think is an industrial craze. I suppose any day the girls at the North may have to give up one of their studies for the old-fashioned patchwork. Oh! I don’t mean _old_-fashioned. Isn’t it funny that old-fashioned things are the newest-fashioned things? I suppose, too, any day our grandmother’s beautiful samplers may again take their æsthetic places in the schoolroom to teach “marking stitch” from “sure enough” antique letters, and the boys may march into a recitation room, where they will learn to drive nails and shoe pegs. Well, this is a great question, and none but a parent can be more interested than the faithful teacher that the best methods should be used in developing their precious charge.

About two years ago the matron of Atlanta University selected two little dormitory rooms that opened into each other, and turned them into dining-room and kitchen. An old Stewart cook stove used in the big kitchen long ago, before the range was a necessity, was a large part of the little kitchen’s outfit. The clothes press was easily changed to cupboard, and an old flower stand was made into a tidy closet for pots and kettles. In the dining-room the floor was stained in alternate strips of dark and light color; a fly screen put in the window, a few pictures and a rough shelf covered with a pretty lambrequin brightened the walls; and, best of all, while this revolution was going on, an old friend happened to drop in, on her way to Florida. She was so delighted with the matron’s idea that she filled the China closet of the little dining-room with such pretty things that the dainty tea table at once put on airs in its new home. Well, in these two little rooms the two highest classes of girls are honored with practice in household arts, with the matron for their teacher. At first gatherings in the little dining-room were quite rare. The birthdays of the senior class were celebrated there, and guests sometimes entertained, but the girls are so proud of their housekeeping that now they are allowed all the practice they have time for. Absent graduates must remember the room with pleasure, as they send beautiful bouquets for the table. The senior girls take turns in being responsible for the breakfasts and teas, and in presiding at table. In addition to the two girls who preside, there is room for about a third of the teachers. So, as we cannot all go, there can be no general invitations, but each visit there has all the charm of a special invitation out to breakfast or tea. But the best of it all is the encouragement it gives the girls to practice the too often neglected art of good cooking.

So now you see why we are proud of the little dining-room, and why Hennie trips through the halls so merrily as she carries from door to door the coveted invitation.

* * * * *

RECEIPTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1882.

* * * * *

MAINE, $71.05.

Farmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $26.19 Foxcroft. Mrs. D. Blanchard 5.00 Machias. Mrs. C. F. Stone, two bbls. of C., _for Lady Missionary, Wilmington, N.C._ North Bridgton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 South Paris. W. D. B., _for Tillotson C. and N. Inst. (Building)_ 1.00 Waterville. _For Tillotson C. and N. Inst. (Building)_ 0.10 Woolwich. Cong. Ch., 11.50; “Family Gift,” 2; J. P. T., 1; T. M., 1. 15.50 York. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.26

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $260.49.

Amherst. Mr. and Mrs. Melendy, 25; Ladies’ Union Miss’y Soc., 25, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 50.00 Amherst. Cong. Ch., 10.98; Miss L. W. B., 50c. 11.48 Auburn. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00 Boscawen. Mrs. E. G. W., _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 1.00 Chester. Mrs. Mary E. Hidden 10.00 Dover. First Cong. Ch., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 40.00 Dunbarton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00 East Jaffrey. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 21.05 Francestown. Joseph Kingsbury 30.00 Kensington. “Friend,” _for Wilmington, N.C._ 2.50 Lyme. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.00 Manchester. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 27.46 New Ipswich. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 25.00 Short Falls. J. W. C. 1.00 Temple. Mrs. W. K. 1.00 —— “Friends” 8.00

VERMONT, $479.14.

Barton Landing and Brownington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 22.56 Bellows Falls. Vermont Farm Machine Co., Champion Creamery, Val. 52, Swing Churn, Val. 12. _for Atlanta U._ Danville. Sab. Sch. Cong. Ch. 10.00 Grand Isle. Mrs. Rev. Chas. Fay 5.00 Plainfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.75 Randolph. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 4.00 Rochester. Cong Ch. and Soc. 20.00 Rutland. Mrs. J. B. Paige, _for Freight_ 1.20 Salisbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 17.44 Saint Johnsbury. “Colored Man” 2.00 Wallingford. Miss L. H. A. 0.50 West Randolph. Susan E. Albin and Sarah J. Washburn 7.00 Woodstock. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 39.26 Worcester. Cong. Ch. 4.43 ------ $139.14

LEGACIES.

Bratleborough. Estate of Mrs. H. M. Linsley, by C. F. Thompson 70.00 Cabot. Estate of Fanny Putnam, by Rev. H. A. Russell 50.00 Chelsea. Estate of Dea. Samuel Douglass, by Edward Douglass, Ex. 220.00 ------ $479.14

MASSACHUSETTS, $2,447.79.