Part 2

In the February MISSIONARY we commented on the causes which had led the Executive Committee of the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to direct the Trustees of the Chattanooga University to ask Professor Caulkins for his resignation. This the Trustees refused to do, and, in view of a current expectation that colored students would again seek admission, they have passed a series of “whereases” affirming that the University was designed for white pupils, and not intended to be a mixed school; that well-equipped schools for colored pupils were easily accessible; that to admit colored students would injure the school, defeat the object for which it was established, alienate the races and prove especially detrimental to the interests of the colored people; that the General Conference had declared the question of mixed schools to be one of expediency “to be left to the choice and administration of those on the ground, and more immediately concerned,” and then wound up with a resolution declaring that they deemed it inexpedient to admit colored students to the University, and instructed the Faculty to administer accordingly.

Such action on the part of the trustees could not be permitted to pass unnoticed. The Executive Committee of the Freedmen’s Aid Society called a meeting of the Board of Managers, and submitted for consideration the above-noted “_whereases_” and “_resolution_.” The whole subject received full consideration. We have not space to publish the report in full, but it is all summed up in the last resolution, as follows:

“_Resolved_, That if the Chattanooga University fail to secure the resignation of Prof. Wilford Caulkins, to take effect at a date not later than the close of the present school term, and to so modify its action as not to exclude from instruction in that institution students on account of race or color; _i. e._, if the said university fail in either of these particulars, we hereby instruct our Executive Committee to secure, by agreement, if possible, with the Trustees of said University, the immediate termination of the contract between the Chattanooga University and the Freedmen’s Aid Society; and, in case a termination of said contract be not secured by mutual agreement, in either of the contingencies named above, to notify the Trustees of the Chattanooga University, within sixty days from this 24th day of February, 1887, of the termination of the contract as provided in the same.”

This brings matters to an issue. We congratulate the Board of Managers of the Freedmen’s Aid Society upon the stand taken.

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WRITES a teacher in Georgia: “With the close of 1886 many left our school, some to teach in the public schools and others to engage in any work that they could find. Over thirty schools have been supplied with acceptable teachers from our schools.” We have here an illustration of what is taking place more or less in connection with all our schools. We are supplying teachers for the public schools of the South. Reports that tell only of what our missionaries are doing among those whom they personally reach, fall far short of that larger work, which, through their scholars, they are doing all over the South. Think of the difference between a school taught by a Christian teacher and one under the care of a godless teacher. The A. M. A. is sending out Christian teachers.

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The Charleston _News and Courier_ is authority for the statement that one thousand and fifty-seven colored people of that city have deposits in the local savings banks amounting to $124,936. The person who has the largest deposit, $6,747, to his credit, is a pure-blooded African, but a born financier. He has recently bought a valuable plantation for $10,000, and has paid $7,000 of the purchase-money. The _News and Courier_ adds: “There are thousands of active and thrifty colored men in the State who have bought land since the war, and who are steadily collecting about them the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Comparatively few of the colored people entertain decided notions of economy or have any faith in Government savings banks, but the wealth they have hidden away in old stockings and the money they are investing from year to year in lands and houses, if it could be rightly estimated, would prove a pleasing revelation.”

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THE END OF A DISTINGUISHED LIFE.

The death of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher has evoked a widespread expression of interest. His funeral was more like that of some distinguished statesman, over whose bier all political and religious differences are forgotten and only the good connected with his life remembered. It was certainly a most remarkable demonstration.

And why all this? Because he had worked himself into the popular thought as the faithful champion of reforms and measures that touched the popular heart. His pulpit power, as an orator, made Brooklyn famous the world over. His splendid victory in turning the tide of British opinion on the side of the Union as against secession by his marvelous speeches in England, challenged and won the admiration of his countrymen who were loyal to the integrity of the republic. But what more than anything else created an affection that his death has resurrected, and that will make his name famous so long as its memory remains, was his fearless and uncompromising Abolitionism. Plymouth pulpit was a battery whose shot and shell made continuous breaches in the defenses of slavery during the days preceding the great conflict, and when the conflict came, it was heard as a voice in trumpet tones calling the people to battle and steadying them in courage and determination. The preacher saw with prophetic eye not only the preservation of the Union as the issue, but the emancipation and enfranchisement of the slaves. Mr. Beecher was, therefore, always the friend of the American Missionary Association. For eleven years he was one of its vice-presidents. At Lawrence, Mass., in 1870, he preached its annual sermon. Its representatives have always been welcome to his pulpit, and its work has always been sustained by the contributions of his people. It was fitting that the same man who had been the undertaker for John Brown and Owen Lovejoy should perform the same service, as he did, for Mr. Beecher. It was fitting that a Virginia Confederate general and former slave-holder, and a Massachusetts colored commander of the William Lloyd Garrison Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, should march arm in arm, as they did, at the head of the procession when the body was carried to Plymouth Church under escort of the 13th N. Y. Regiment, of which Mr. Beecher was the chaplain. It was fitting that the last letter Mr. Beecher wrote, and which he left unfinished, should be, as it is, about a colored man and the word of God.

And it is fitting that THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY should join, as it does, with the tens of thousands who testify to the wonderful power, the marvelous achievements, the great value of the varied ministrations of this justly distinguished and remarkable man, and who thank God that the transcendent wealth of his great mind, and tender, sympathetic heart was consecrated to the service of the loving Father, who bestowed it, in behalf of liberty, justice, equity and right.

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THE NEGRO ON THE NEGRO.

The New York _Independent_, always on the alert for information concerning the colored people, and fearless in its championship of those people’s rights, has published under the above caption seven most interesting articles.

A circular was sent to two hundred representative intelligent colored men and women in the several Southern States, “to ascertain the prevailing opinions and feelings of the colored people themselves about the relation of the races and the outlook of the colored race.” The seventh article, which is a summary of the answers received, we take great pleasure in publishing:

“_Material Prosperity and Ambition of the Negro._––There is a practically unanimous opinion (the dissenting opinions coming from a few communities which have abnormal hindrances) that the colored people are becoming home owners with great rapidity. The proportion of families who own their own homes is variously estimated, and no estimate is trustworthy for statistical uses. But all the correspondents report an ambition to accumulate property, and the accumulation of more and more every year. The great mass of the blacks are not real estate owners. The great mass of black families are yet tenants; but the progress making in the acquisition of land seems to be satisfactory. In most Southern communities, land is yet very cheap, and the mere ownership of land does not argue material prosperity to any great extent; but the ownership of homes does argue a social advancement that is exceedingly significant. There is reported from some communities a lingering opposition by the whites to the disposition of land to Negroes. But this has had the natural effect to make the Negroes the more ambitious to become land-owners. In most communities this opposition seems to have disappeared, or at least to have taken the modified shape of opposition to the Negroes’ acquisition of the most desirable land for residences. The race is indisputably laying the foundation for all healthful progress.

_The System of Wages, Credit, etc._ There is very general complaint of the credit system which prevails in most Southern communities. The most grievous shape this takes is the payment of wages in supplies, whereby an oppressive interest is exacted, and by the nature of the system generally made necessary. By such a system the thrifty are taxed to make up for the thriftlessness of the rest. It is at this point, in fact, that the industrial servitude which yet lingers as a relic of slavery obtrudes itself most oppressively. The abolition of this system is necessary for the material advancement of the South––of both races alike; necessary for the elevation of the laborer and for the promotion of his efficiency; necessary as a corollary to the Emancipation Proclamation; and necessary as a means of freeing the whole system of Southern labor (the employer as well as the employee) from inefficiency. No conceivable amount of extraneous capital invested in the South would so add to material prosperity as the abolition of the credit and supply system. The labor problem there is to effect this emancipation. As for wages, they are low, but their lowness is not itself a cause of distress. It is the system which keeps them low and keeps labor inefficient and taxes thrift and skill, and puts a premium on thriftlessness and untrustworthiness, that does the damage. The gist of the whole problem is here.

_The Races and the Laws._––The statutes of the Southern States are not a matter of complaint, except the bastardy and marriage laws; but there is a very general opinion that in the execution of the law, race prejudice appears. One correspondent lays great stress on a fact which several others mention, that many ignorant blacks often fancy that they are the victims of injustice when they are not. The opinion of the colored practitioners of law is practically unanimous that a Negro tried for certain crimes is more likely to be convicted than a white man for the same crimes, and likely to pay a heavier penalty where the penalty is discretionary with the court or jury. The marriage and bastardy laws of several Southern States at least concentrate the pressure to crime at the weakest social point, and do not give the Negro woman a fair chance, nor the same protection or reparation that the white woman has.

_Schools and Churches._––In the answers to the inquiry whether the Negroes themselves prefer separate or mixed schools and churches, a peculiar state of feeling was made plain in this regard––that “union” or “mixed” schools were opposed by the colored teachers because the white teachers would then have a monopoly of the business of teaching. This implies a belief that the Southern whites would teach Negro schools if it were made profitable. The dominant sentiment of the colored people is decidedly in favor of the present system of separate schools and churches; but they prefer them because mixed schools and churches would emphasize and provoke the race prejudice. As an independent question, apart from the difficulty of readjusting a plan now almost universally adopted, they would prefer mixed schools and union churches. The most intelligent of these correspondents, even as things are, favor mixed congregations and schools as a means of eradicating race prejudice.

It is worthy of notice that several correspondents declare that the separation of the congregations of the same creed on the color line has had much to do toward causing the blacks to doubt the sincerity of the religion of those who, though they teach that their religion is universal in its application, allow it to yield to race feeling. This is a significant confession for colored men to make; and it is worthy of the attention of the Southern churches.

“_Civil Rights._”––There is a unanimous protest in these letters against the discrimination made between the races on public thoroughfares, and at places of amusement. The desire of the colored people for the obliteration of the color-line in these places seems to be universal and is strong.

_The Most Pressing Need._––In answer to the inquiry, “What is the greatest hindrance, and the most pressing need of the race?” the Negro’s appreciation of instruction, and his ambition to be educated, were forcibly expressed. “Education is the greatest need,” is the answer in substance of every correspondent. In the replies it was made plain that the race is prepared for an important prohibition movement. Drink is thought to be the greatest hindrance by a large number of the colored lawyers and teachers, as well as preachers. This points to a probably early agitation of prohibition over a wide Southern area. The colored man himself appreciates, too, the necessity of practical instruction, instruction in the trades.

_Morality and the Mixture of Races._––A general moral improvement is what the Negro himself believes his race is making; and this belief is in itself strong evidence that this judgment is sound. But the dominant opinion is that the black race is already perceptibly disappearing. Colored men are everywhere reported to prefer light-colored women. There is a race pride on the Negro’s side as well as on the white man’s against intermarriage. But the Negro has, nevertheless, reached the conclusion, if these letters are representative of the race’s opinion, as they are believed to be, that the pure African will become rare in a very few generations, and that he is doomed to extinction.

It remains to be said that the letters which have been received in answer to these inquiries show not a little mature thought. They show, too, a profound interest in all phases of the subject. The Negro is at least seriously thinking over the problems that his presence presents. Many of these correspondents have expressed great interest in this investigation, and have put themselves to no little trouble to make it full and fair. The sincerity and frankness of these letters have spoken for themselves. A deep moral purpose pervades most of them that is impressive. They emphasize the conviction that the race is making an heroic struggle, according to its opportunities for advancement. That the Negro is true to his race, moreover, is a fact of some importance. The educated are working to educate the rest.

It is noteworthy, moreover, that out of all the answers received only two displayed bitterness of race feeling. The Negro’s temper, as shown in this correspondence, is the temper of a patient, charitable worker for a great purpose. And, above all, the Negro has faith in the Negro. It has not occurred to a single correspondent to express doubt of the continued advancement of the whole race.”

N. Y. INDEPENDENT.

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RELIGIOUS DOGGEREL.

_The Sweet Songster_ is the name of a little hymn book published in Catlettsburg, Ky. It contains verses composed, compiled, altered or amended, according to the sweet pleasure of one Edward W. Billups, D.D. There are some old familiar hymns scattered through the book, but often sadly marred by omission, alteration or addition. Some of the original effusions are ludicrous in the extreme. The poet shows his estimate of education as he describes the Christians of old:

Small learning they had, and wanted no more; Not many could read, but all could adore. No help from the college or school they received, Content with his knowledge in whom they believed.

Calvinism has to take it hot and heavy. The sweet singer lets sweetness take a vacation, while he pours forth his wrath in song:

There is a reprobated plan, Say how did it arise? By the predestinated clan Of horrid cruelties. The plan is this––they hold a few Who are ordained for heaven, They hold the rest a cursed crew That cannot be forgiven.

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If all things were fore-ordained, Or finally decreed, I would like to know why mortal man Is responsible for his deeds? If Calvinism thus be true, And all things fore-decreed, The Lord has been very kind Unto the devil indeed.

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But we do say God’s Holy Word Doth no such doctrine teach, For if it do, then why do you Attempt His word to preach? For if God has fore-ordained All things to be just so, Then we do say, all cease to pray, And to a-fishing go; But, my friends, all on you I call To mind this doctrine well, It has its birth, not on this earth, But in the pit of hell.

A vision of the judgment day swept the poet’s high-strung sensibilities and the fires of Parnassus caused him to warble:

I dreamed I was out to the east––cast mine eye–– The atmosphere calm, and serene was the sky, So calm, still and awful––tremendous the sight–– I thought the last judgment was drawing to light.

The dead all arose immediately then, And covered the earth with both women and men All standing together––’tis hard to indite The aspect most shocking––surprising the sight.

A pavement of blue from the cloud did go forth, Extensively reaching from South to the North, On which holy angels stood almost complete, And glorified spirits in harmony sweet.

The next I heard Jesus say come you up here, When all the blessed nations up gently did steer, And quitting the globe with sweet pleasure did sing A song that had never before tuned a string.

Then in the sweet transport my feet left the ground, Without any motion of body or sound; My joys were unspeakably full of delight, So loud was the music it wakened me quite.

We were pleased in the perusal of these hymns to notice that the poet’s theology took in apparently all men in its broad sweep. We said here is a man who does not recognize the color line in his thought of God’s redeeming love. It takes poetry to expand the soul above prejudice and caste––when lo, we stumbled across the following:

Roll forward, dear Saviour, roll forward the day When all shall submit and rejoice in thy sway, When _white_ men and Indians, united in praise, One vast hallelujah triumphant shall raise.

We were mistaken. The colored brother has no recognition. White men and Indians are to have a monopoly in the vast hallelujah! How the wings of our poet drooped as he essayed this loftiest of flights. We are thankful, however, that he did let the Indian come in for a part in the hallelujah. The war-whoop would not at all be out of harmony in his _kind_ of a hallelujah chorus! That this “sweet singer in Israel” D.D. should make some of his songs take on the form of Scripture exposition is what we might expect, as witness:

There was a man in ancient times, The Scriptures doth inform us, Whose pomp and grandeur and whose crimes Were great and very numerous. The man fared sumptuously each day In purple and fine linen; He ate and drank, but seemed to pray–– Spent all his time in sinning.

Poor Lazarus lying at his gate, To help himself unable, Did for the fragments humbly wait That fell from his rich table, But not one mite would he bestow, Would the rich worldling give him; The dogs took pity––licked his sores–– More ready to relieve him.

At length death came, the poor man died, By angel hands attended; Away to Abra’ms bosom hied, Where his sorrows all are ended. The rich man died––was buried, too–– But, O! his dreadful station; With heaven and Lazarus in view, He landed in damnation.

The above are samples of versification that we have selected from this _Sweet Songster_, that our readers may see for themselves the kind of Christian instruction some _white_ people in certain portions of our country receive. These selections are certainly ludicrous, yet they have also a serious aspect––they point to duty. It would be useless to denounce such incompetent leadership as is here revealed. It would be folly to argue either with the leaders or the people whom they lead. We must plant schools and educate the children. Preach the Gospel in its simplicity, and let the people hear the truth. The light will destroy the darkness. It will reveal the deformity and ugliness of error. It will rebuke the assumptions of ignorance. It will lead the people in their soul-hunger to turn away from husks and to demand that in song and sermon their poets and preachers shall give them the bread of life or else keep silent. There is a wide field here to be cultivated. It lies open before us. We have entered it. Rich has been our harvesting so far as we have gone. Earnest and numerous are the invitations that come to us for more workers and enlarged efforts. These invitations are an appeal to the churches more liberally to supply us with means, that we may be able to respond and go in to possess the land.

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THE SECOND VOLUME of Ben. Perley Poore’s Reminiscences, published by Hubbard Bros., Philadelphia, is out. The Reminiscences are brought down to the Cleveland administration. The colloquial style in Mr. Poore’s writing makes the volume like its predecessor, interesting reading. With the men of prominence at Washington, Ben. Perley Poore has been brought in contact, and concerning them all he has something to say. A carefully prepared index is contained in the second volume, which adds to the value of the work for reference.

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THE SOUTH.

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NOTES IN THE SADDLE.

BY FIELD SUPERINTENDENT C. J. RYDER.

The following word reached me recently from a part of the field that I have not yet been able to visit since mounting into the saddle of the A. M. A. Superintendency. It comes from Romona Indian School in Santa Fé, N. M. The writer has been a teacher in New England for many years. He writes: “Perhaps I shall not be believed if I state the case too strongly, but it is a fact that the Indian girls of the Apache tribes are very bright and are more docile and make more rapid progress than any equal number of white children I have ever seen in the course of more than twenty years’ experience in teaching.”