Chapter 2

It is saddening, it is not surprising, to know that some noble men and women teaching in negro schools in the South are discouraged. This is natural, but nevertheless perilous, as well as distressing. One teacher, long in the service, speaks thus: "Some are much discouraged; we have expected by this time to see results more permanent in the negro character; we thought it would be somewhat as we have seen it in our Western colleges after a few years."

Such a basis of comparison is very unjust to the negro and very hurtful to his teacher. We must not forget heredity; we must compare the negro as to education in schools in 1884 with 1864. The white man has behind him a thousand years of the influences that enter into our best education. Yet how much he has to learn! How much easier for white pupils to learn books than virtue--how much easier to acquire knowledge than wisdom! Let us have patience with each other. Let us also settle down to steady work, steady giving and constant praying. This is a work for the next hundred years--and more.--_The Advance._

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The feeling is too prevalent, even among Christians, that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." If parents would put into the hands of their children reports of our missionaries, so they could see what is being done for the Indians, instead of letting them get their opinions of the Indian race from newspaper articles and from books of Indian wars, in which the rifle and scalping knife were the only arguments used, much prejudice would be removed and the missions among Indians would be better sustained. Further, if parents themselves would take the above advice, it would be time and money well spent, as some grown-up children might learn as well.--_Correspondent in St. Louis Evangelist._

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Bishop H. M. Turner, of the M. E. Church South, is said to be the first colored man who has ever received the degrees of D. D. and LL. D. He educated himself at night among the cotton fields of South Carolina, and was the first colored chaplain in the United States Army.

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It is said by the _Journal of Education_ that the colored people of the country now edit over 100 newspapers, teach 18,000 public schools with 900,000 pupils, raise annually 150,000,000 bushels of cereals and 2,700,000,000 pounds of cotton.

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THE CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN CHINESE.

Out of our missions in California has sprung the Congregational Association of Christian Chinese. What is its object? "Mutual watch and care; arrangement for special seasons of worship in connection with the missions, the appointment of brethren to preach at stated times and places, and a certain measure of mutual aid and relief." A grand object, surely. The Central Association, with three branches, is in San Francisco. In other parts of the State there are nine branches. The total membership is 378. Jee Gam, whom many of our readers will remember in connection with his visit East four years ago, is the Secretary.

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The new catalogue of Straight University, by an error of the printer, is made to say that the first building on Esplanade street was erected and destroyed in 1870. This strikes out seven of the most important years of the University's history. The date of destruction should have been 1877. As many of our friends in visiting the International Exposition at New Orleans took occasion to visit Straight University, and may have received catalogues of the same, we deem it proper to call attention to this mistake.

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THE SOUTH.

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BEREA COLLEGE, KY.

The Berea College Commencement was held June 17-24. There was present a number of distinguished men from abroad, among whom may be mentioned Roswell Smith, of the _Century Magazine_, New York; Geo. W. Cable, the well-known author; Rev. Washington Gladden, D. D., Rev. Robert West, of the Chicago _Advance_; Hon. Cassius M. Clay, and Judge Beckner, of Kentucky. Roswell Smith made a gift of $5,000 to the institution. We make the following extract from the baccalaureate sermon of Prof. Wright, in which he ably discusses the question of caste:

"However long this state of things may continue, do not despairingly conclude that it is never to be broken down. The stars in their courses fight against injustice and folly. The very stones of the field are in league with those who are on the side of equity and fairness. Any region, small or large, that persists in a separation of races in its hotels, railroads, schools and churches, dooms itself to an inferior rank in all the departments of its life--in its business as effectively as in its intelligence and its piety.

"It costs more to keep up two sets of hotels than one. It costs more to build railroad stations with separate waiting-rooms for two races than to build them with accommodations for ladies and gentlemen without regard to race. It costs more to run trains, if separate passenger cars must be provided for two races on every train. This cost will delay the building of railroads in the first place, and this can only be met by higher rates of fare, which will impede business progress.

"It costs more to maintain a double system of public schools than to provide for all the children under a single system. This increases taxes, while at the same time the schools cannot be as efficient, and this diminishes intelligence. For in scattered farming communities, the districts must be so large under the double system that many families are out of reach of the school. And the number of towns that can have graded schools is greatly reduced by the requirement that no school shall receive pupils of more than one race. Normal schools are also made more difficult to maintain, and teachers' institutes rendered less efficient. A lower average of intelligence is as inevitable under such adverse conditions in the educational machinery of a State, as slower speed in a racehorse is inevitable when he carries heavy weight.

"Similar things may be said of churches. Any community that insists on separate churches for different races dooms itself to a lower grade of spiritual experience and a lower degree of Christian activity. How must every good work be retarded if, in addition to the separation of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and others which we find nearly everywhere, there must also be a further separation of these by races; if in every neighborhood, however scattered the population, there must be a white Methodist church with its white Methodist preacher, and also a colored Methodist church with its colored Methodist preacher, a white Baptist church and preacher, and also a colored Baptist church and preacher, a white Presbyterian church and preacher, and so on through the list. In many cases such churches have service only once in a month, and the members attend no other in the meantime. It is plain that of two regions alike in other respects, the one that insists on race distinctions in the worship of the one God and Father of us all, and will not allow men of different races to stand side by side in doing Christian work, must maintain its religious institutions at greater cost and with less efficiency because of this race separation.

"The region that treats all men impartially in its churches will have the advantage in religion and morals. The region that knows no race distinctions in its schools will have the advantage in intelligence. The region that is color-blind on its public conveyances and in its places of business, will have the advantage in business, for it can equip and run steamboats and railroads more economically and conduct factories at lower cost, while its higher average intelligence will make it a producer of better goods. All these elements will conspire to give the impartial community precedence in wealth, in literature, in art, in social attractiveness, as well as in a high average intelligence; in orderly habits, and in both the power and the will to achieve noble things. Power is coming into the hands of those who choose righteousness. Let all the commonwealths in our broad land know that only by treating all men with impartiality can they put themselves in alliance with the silent but irresistible forces of social and political economy. There is no future for caste-practicing communities but decadence and increasing inferiority."

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ANNIVERSARY AT TALLADEGA.

Talladega College, chartered in 1869, had its fifteenth anniversary from June 14 to 18. The Cassedy school gave an exhibition full of interest, and indicative of the good work done there, on the preceding Friday evening. The college chapel was well filled at all these exercises, and sometimes was too strait for the audience. The attendance from town, especially of our white friends, was exceptionally large, and we have never heard so many and so appreciative words of commendation before. Rev. Dr. Worrell, principal of a boys' school in Talladega, who taught in our Swayne Hall before the War, when it was a Baptist College, was present, leading us in a prayer memorable for its sympathy and fervency. Certainly the work of Talladega College was never so strongly intrenched in the regard of the people of Alabama as now.

The full course of exercises for commencement was enacted in good order, including an able Baccalaureate by Dr. Strieby, Missionary sermon by Rev. J. W. Roberts, Dallas, Texas, one of our theological graduates, and an address by Dr. Roy, exercises of our two literary societies, prize speaking and essays, public examinations, orations and essays on Commencement Day, and ending with a reception at the President's house. Others can judge better of the worth of some of these parts than the writer and his associates, but to us they seemed good. We were greatly encouraged, and feel that our friends and patrons would have been pleased had they been present.

The Alumni Association, formed three years ago, was represented on Commencement Day by Mrs. L. L. Wilson, who read an essay on "Homes and How to Make Them," and by Rev. J. W. Roberts, whose theme was "Exceptional Greatness." That afternoon the Alumni held a meeting in the college chapel, when representatives from States as far away as Arkansas and Texas were present, and others were heard from by letter.

At the business meeting it was determined to begin an Alumni fund, in aid either of members of the Association or the College.

The Exhibition of Industrial Work, both of the boys and girls, attracted much attention and warm commendation. The Slater Shop, with its facilities for instruction in much wood, little iron and some paint, made its first annual display, and those who believe in little other education for the child of the late slave, and those who differ from them, all agreed in the great advantages of this industrial training. The work exhibited was good; some of it very choice.

We feel that the College never had a better anniversary; take it all in all, never as good; but with continued help such as we need, by the favor of God this may well be dwarfed by the greater result of the near future. We are looking for that help with increasing confidence.

H. S. DEFOREST.

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TOUGALOO COMMENCEMENT.

The unsurpassed wealth of our roses had just left their vanishing fragrance on the air, only the Cherokees being left in profusion to lend their peculiar charm to our closing exercises, but the grand old oaks standing like guardian sentinels around the grounds, in all the freshness of their early leafage and festooned with the Spanish moss, ever faithful to all seasons, gave to the place a patriarchal appearance, and an air of seclusion from temptation. The healthful cedar boughs and buds bestowed their fragrance like a closing benediction.

Sec. Powell came to us with his strong earnest words of cheer and a lecture on Slave Music, which our young people could illustrate and well appreciate. Gov. Lowry expressed a hearty commendation of the exhibition of work from the industrial department, as well as the orations, essays, dialogue, and declamation. The colloquy on our reading-room indicated that good use had been made of that room, even if the number of volunteers for furnishing news items after dinner had not always been as numerous as might be desired. Supt. Smith told us that many of the best teachers in the State come from this school. Dr. Galloway and the city fathers of Jackson showed their appreciation of the sentiments expressed by the young people, and we heartily wished that the dear, good, noble-hearted workers of the North could have been present, who have so generously opened their purses to educate and fit "our brother in black" for leading his race from a darkness more than "skin deep" to noble citizenship. We wish you could realize, as you only can by seeing it, what a stimulus every such work is to the white people of the South, for as Dr. Haygood stated in his closing address, "though Northern money generously erected these buildings and pays a large share of the salaries here, yet the State pays the young men and women who go out from this school to teach in the country schools."

Dear friends, your investments are bringing in grand returns, but the needs of this race are very great yet. It is sad to see the number who come to this institution with means to pay their expenses for _only a part of the year_, hoping to come back another year, and trusting that in some way they may be able to continue their studies.

A students' aid fund is much needed to assist worthy pupils. Aspirations are aroused that cannot be quenched. The daily lessons in keeping rooms tidy, in personal habits, in doing thoroughly whatever is undertaken, cannot be lost, even if pupils remain but a short time. The sentiment, that to work is an honor, to be idle a disgrace, is so infused into their daily life that we fully believe greater progress will be seen in the coming years than has been seen in the past. The spirit of those who have labored with these ardent aspirants for higher, better, nobler things has so entered into and permeated their very being, that it cannot lie dormant. Arouse and cultivate the best there is in this race, and you have something worth making a sacrifice for. God is showing us, by the way, that this is His own blessed work. We do not have to wait long years to reap; the sheaves are abundant every year. In one of our late prayer-meetings special causes for thanksgiving was the topic. There were many expressions of gratitude "for the Christian influence of our school." One young man said: "I am just as thankful for what I have learned in the workshop as in the school-room." After hearing of the 700,000 one-room log-cabins of the South, and the need there is of skilled workmen, we felt like singing an added song of praise as we looked through the work exhibited in wood, tin, iron, and _cloth_, and saw the promise of better things. Surely the young men who can exhibit such work will not allow their mothers, wives, and sisters to live in cabins through whose open roofs the stars are visible when they shine.

You would travel far to find a more temptingly spread table than the girls of Tougaloo are taught to prepare--all the eatables of their own make, even the delicious butter. Nowhere in New England need you look for a nicer-kept cabin and yard than some of those on the little homesteads lately purchased by President Pope, for one of his ideas of missionary work is to help the colored man _get a home_, having for corner-stones "Industry, Economy, Temperance, and Family Virtue."

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TILLOTSON INSTITUTE, AUSTIN, TEXAS.

The third of June witnessed the close of another year of successful work at Tillotson Institute. Written examinations were held May 26-29. The results of this work, in a shape convenient for inspection, were placed in the reading room, and attracted no little attention. Oral public examinations were held June 1 and 2. These showed faithful work on the part of both teachers and pupils. The classes in United States history and geometry deserve special mention. The excitement of the occasion was a little too much for some of the young people, leading one to say that Riel was the Governor-General of Canada, while another remarked that Florida, being discovered on Easter Sunday, and being a land of flowers, was named the "Mayflower." These blunders, however, were speedily corrected by the pupils themselves.

The rhetorical exercises of Tuesday evening called out a very fine audience. The chapel was filled to overflowing. The exercises consisted of the usual programme of choruses, quartets, recitations, declamations, essays, etc. Mr. Edward Wilson's rendering of his translation of Cicero's First Oration against Catiline is deserving of special notice, though all the parts were given without a single break or failure of memory. We observe our students have great capacity for "rising to occasions."

In the midst of the programme we were most agreeably surprised by the appearance of Secretary Powell, who happily closed the entertainment by a brief but stirring address.

The anniversary exercises of Wednesday morning made a fitting climax for the series of meetings. Though not a "commencement" occasion, yet it was distinguished from other days of the closing week, and from previous anniversaries, by the presentation of "certificates" to two young men who have completed the "Elementary Normal Course." These young men remain with us to pursue a further course of study. The address of one of them, Mr. A. S. Terrell, on the subject "Our Duty," is especially worthy of notice. The subject was considered from the stand-point of the advantages afforded colored people. "It is true," he said, "we must bear many hard things, but let us look on the bright side. Let us consider and improve our opportunities. Let us accept the good, from whatever source it comes. To join with Communists, labor-unions, and other discontented classes, in a chorus of fault-finding and censure, because we cannot have everything we want, is to take the sure road to the defeat of our most cherished objects." These are timely words, and they reveal a state of feeling among colored people which finds all too fertile a soil in the tendency to ignore, or discriminate, or, at best, grant but a supercilious recognition, which still in great measure controls Southern sentiment. The colored people are naturally loyal and conservative. It is possible, now, so to develop these qualities, that they shall be national bulwarks. Some time it may be too late, and if reaction comes it will be terrible.

The attitude of many representative men of the South, however, is most encouraging. Our anniversary exercises were honored by the presence of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the County Superintendent of Travis Co., Hon. B. M. Baker and Judge Fullmore. In their addresses at the conclusion of our programme, both gentlemen spoke with enthusiasm of the great progress in educational matters that has been made in Texas during the past five years, among both white and colored. The magnificent school fund of Texas, as rapidly as it becomes available, is devoted to the interests of both races without discrimination. Mr. Baker emphasized the fact that notwithstanding the liberal provision for a State system of schools, it would be many years before they could dispense with the schools maintained by benevolent societies. The latter must be the main agency for the training of teachers. For the present, the State must devote her energies to the building of school-houses, and the establishment and maintenance of common schools, without attempting very much in the line of higher education.

Both gentlemen spoke in high praise of Tillotson, and of the ability and trustworthy character of the teachers she has sent out.

Secretary Powell made the concluding address, and brought the meeting to its highest point of enthusiasm. The presence of these men representing educational interests, which not long ago seemed to have nothing whatever in common, their interchange of courtesies, and their expression of mutual dependence each upon the other, made the occasion both memorable and very full of suggestion.

J. H. PARR.

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ANNIVERSARY WEEK AT AVERY INSTITUTE.

The closing exercises of the twentieth anniversary of Avery Normal Institute, Charleston, S. C., occupied four days of the last week of June.

The week opened on Sunday, June 21, with a sermon to the graduating class, by the Rev. E. T. Hooker, pastor of our A. M. A. church.

The morning hours of Wednesday and Thursday were devoted to oral examinations in all the departments. A fine display of maps, drawing books, object drawings and original designs found scores of admirers. The sewing done by the industrial classes made a creditable exhibit, and the garments found ready purchasers. The remainder of the school hours of each day were given to rhetorical exercises in the chapel of the institution.

On Wednesday, P. M., the sub-normal grades entertained their friends. Promptly at 12 m., they filed into the chapel to a march from the piano. Music, recitations, gesture and sewing songs pleasantly filled an hour and a half. A composition, "The New Colony," weaving in, in a humming fashion, the surnames of some of the teachers and pupils, was highly appreciated by the crowded house of parents and friends.

Thursday, P. M., the "Normals" held the Fort. The aim had not been to foster theatrical tastes, nor to produce startling dramatic effects, but to render in a natural and easy manner, historic, patriotic and practical selections, both of poetry and prose. Music, vocal and instrumental, lent its charm to the general enjoyment.

Friday was wholly devoted to those whom Avery each year "delighteth to honor." A galaxy of twenty-two formed the class of '85. Beginning promptly at 10 A. M., seventeen earnest, womanly young women and five faithful young men, expressed their opinions on their chosen subjects, in the form of essay or oration. From salutatory to valedictory, the quiet of the packed room attested the interest taken in the evolution of each theme. The colored people of Charleston are, intellectually, in advance of those of most other Southern cities. Before the "slight misunderstanding," their native city was called the "Athens of the South," and, breathing the same air as the more favored race, they naturally imbibed some of its cultured modes of thought. The presentation of diplomas by the Principal, Prof. Wm. M. Bristoll, the singing of the Class Song and the congratulations of friends closed the happy day.

ANNA M. NICHOLAS.

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BREWER NORMAL SCHOOL.

The Thirteenth Anniversary Exercises of the Brewer Normal School took place at Greenwood, S. C., on Thursday, June 25. The annual address was delivered at eleven o'clock A. M., by the Rev. T. E. McDonald, of Columbia, to an unusually large audience, and enlisted earnest attention. It will, we trust, be long remembered by those who heard it. It was followed by a short, earnest talk from the Rev. H. M. Young, presiding elder of this district in the A. M. E. Church. The singing was by the entire school and was loudly applauded. This was followed by an intermission of an hour and a half, during which time friends held fellowship with friends and betook themselves to the contents of abundantly laden refreshment baskets.