Part 4

HOW TO ORGANIZE AND CONDUCT A LADIES MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

The Home Land Circle, Park St. Church, Boston, was organized a little more than two years ago. Three public meetings are held during the year. Funds are divided among the Am. Miss. Asso’n, the A. H. M. S. and the N. W. E. C., in such proportions as the ladies decide at one of these meetings. The names of the ladies in the church and society are taken, a band of collectors is appointed, and each lady is called upon, and offered the privilege of contributing. By mentioning the wish to the collector, any contributor can have the whole of her gift go to the specified society. Membership is constituted by an annual contribution, no amount specified. The meetings, we are informed, have been made very interesting by means of letters from the workers of the societies aided.

Referring to the value of these letters in mission circles, one lady writes: “While once we felt ourselves to be working blindly, with little idea of the work that was being done or of the manner in which we could best help, we seem now to have a personal and friendly interest, as well as an increased sense of our own responsibility.”

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THE COLORED PEOPLE are crazily fond of organization. Women and men alike are caught in the whirl. Offices with high-sounding names, processions, regalia and show, have a wonderful charm before which go down their better judgment. The evils of the Lodge, our missionaries meet on every hand. In the home and in the church, this insidious foe to piety and thrift is encountered. The love of organization may be utilized and turned to good account. Our teachers endeavor to impress upon their pupils the value of co-operation in doing good. The outcome of such instruction appears in one of our schools where the girls of their own accord, and without aid from their teachers, organized themselves into the Helping Hand Society, in which the members pledge, (1) Not to tell lies, (2) Not to steal, (3) Not to be selfish, (4) Not to quarrel, (5) Not to talk about the boys when together, and (6) To try and help every one they can.

On the other hand, the vice of “Secret Orders” may be seen in the following, written by one of our teachers:

A colored man with the title of Elder, recently visited this place and organized a secret society called the Universal Brotherhood. He had left one church with stains upon his moral character, but, as is too often the case, another fold had an open door for sheep, goat, or wolf, and, as he could operate better inside a church than out, he went in. The initiation fee to the society is one dollar, and the monthly dues are twenty cents. Small as this amount is, it is much to those who have families to provide for upon very small wages. If all the promises made by the organizer could be believed, membership in the society of Universal Brotherhood would be better than forty acres and a mule. All who are sick are to receive aid. When a member dies, his family will receive a thousand dollars. If any one of the family dies before the member insured does, twenty-five dollars will be furnished for funeral expenses. Heavy fines are imposed for absence from the meetings, which are held weekly. The name might lead one to suppose that this lodge is for men only, but it is composed of men and women. They have oaths and pass-words and secrecy, but one who is too wise to join such an organization says the great secret which they will never find out is _where the money goes_.

The idea of some one to help in time of sickness, and of property left to one’s children, is enough to draw the final dime from a colored person’s pocket, and stimulates parents who are not able to patronize a school to invest in a lodge. A colored woman who does well to send one of her six children to school said to me last week, “I am just as much opposed to the lodge as I can be. A good many women have to work hard to support their families, for it takes all their husbands can make to keep up the lodges. They pay four dollars a month for the rent of a hall to meet in, and they can’t pay the rent for a shelter for their families, so their wives have to attend to that.” The poor woman had the eloquence of truth and earnestness. She had had enough experience to know what she was talking about.

They have the lodges, chapters, commanderies, and consistories of the Masonic order for colored men as well as for white. In Oddfellowship there are lodges for the men, and the Household of Ruth lodges for the women. There are the Knights of the Wise Men and the Sons and Daughters of Relief. The following are some of the lodges for men and women: Diamond Square, Beulah Temple, Blazing Star Temple, Daughters of Shiloh, Sisters of Charity, Sons and Daughters of Ham, and Willing Workers. There are Queen Esther’s Courts, and the United Sons and Daughters of Abraham, the Good Samaritans, the United Daughters of Zion, the Star Tabernacles, the Daughters of Union, the Tabernacle of Love and Charity, the Sons and Daughters of Moses, the Sons and Daughters of Honor, the Mothers and Daughters of Israel, the Eastern Star, the United Brothers of Friendship, the Sons of the Mysterious Ten, and the Immaculates.

In our little town there are but two surviving secret societies amongst the colored people, but in my opinion there are too many by two. They rob the home, the church and the school, and are obstacles in the way of all who seek to promote the best interests of the people. Yours for the right and the light.

J. B. N.

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FOR THE CHILDREN.

THE WAY TO DO IT.

REV. C. L. HALL, FORT BERTHOLD, DAKOTA.

We have a Badger in our house. He begins with a capital B, and he is a capital little chap. He can throw his bean-bags into the hole every time, and he does well in school, too. A year ago his relatives wanted him to come to our school, but as he could not live in the ground and grow his own coat as other badgers do, we had to wait till this fall. I said he could not live in the ground. He did live on it though last winter, for there was no floor in his house and the sides and roof were made of logs and mud, and he had a tin cup, and sometimes a tin plate, perhaps, and that was all there was to supplement his fingers. Some forked sticks in the ground, on which a board or two were supported, and a dirty quilt and an old blanket made his bed. The bed made itself, without any neat housekeeper’s help.

Corn, pounded up in a wooden mortar and boiled in water, and dried venison and berries, were the principal diet of our Badger.

Now, he is just like a boy––a white boy––and he is learning to talk English fast, and he tries to sing Sunday-school hymns and gets the tune quite well. Pretty good for a Badger just out of his native hole, isn’t it?

Well, he has woolen shirts, knee-pants, stockings, mittens, and shoes and cap, etc.; everything suitable for a boy seven years old. You would not know him from a boy if he did not sometimes get down on all fours and rub his stockings through at the knees; but we hope he will grow out of this badgerly habit in time.

Now, there are some boys and girls called the “Torrington Valley Gleaners,” who like pets so well that they are taking care of this little Badger. They call him Edward.

They send him clothes and send money to buy his food. They held a fair, and the boys brought in pumpkins, turnips, celery, pop-corn, etc., not for the Badger to eat, but to sell, so that they might have money to help him. The girls made fancy articles for the same purpose.

Now they have enjoyed doing this so much, and they think it will be so nice when they and their Badger are grown up, to feel that they had helped him to be a man, that they have asked me to recommend their plan to other boys and girls and to their parents, in Connecticut and other States also.

We can say that we have a variety of pets for them––ducks, bears, weasels, cows and other animals, to whom we give Christian names and Christian training, so far as Christian friends help us to do so.

Nine of these Indian boys have just gone off in the twilight with their lady teacher, in a big sled, to get the mail, and a dozen little girls are making rag dolls, etc., for they all like a little play after school is out and their work is done. So they have both work and play and are not dull.

May there be many to pray for them and help them that they may become good servants of Jesus Christ.

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RECEIPTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1887.

MAINE, $266.43.

Andover. “Friend,” _for Debt_ $9.50 Augusta. Joel Spalding to const. MRS. JOEL SPALDING, MRS. ARTHUR F. SKEELE, and MARY B. SPALDING, L. M.’s 100.00 Augusta. “Two Friends,” _for Debt_ 10.00 Bangor. First Parish Sab. Sch., 19.29; Central Ch. 12.60, _for Oahe Indian M._ 31.89 Bingham. Cong. Ch. 2.60 East Otisfield. Susan Lovell, 5; Rev. J. Loring, 3; Mrs. M. Knight, 2; Mrs. Morton, 1; Susan Knight, 1; Augusta Lovewell, 1 13.00 Farmington. Three Classes Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Tougaloo U._ 13.00 Gorham. “Helping Hand Soc.,” _for Talladega C._ 3.00 Hampden. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.10 North Edgecomb. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.34 Orland. “A Friend,” 1.00 Portland. State St. Cong. Ch., 15; Second Parish Y. P. S. C. E., 5 20.00 Portland. High St. Ch. Sab. Sch., _for Oahe Indian M._ 7.00 Skowhegan. Cong. Ch., Bbl. C., _for Selma, Ala._ South Bridgton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.00 South Paris. Pkg. work, _for Selma, Ala._ West Falmouth. Sab. Sch. of Second Ch. 10; Second Ch. Bbl. C.; Mrs. M. E. Hall, Bbl. C. and for Freight, 1, _for Selma, Ala._ 11.00 –––––– 251.43

LEGACY.

Bethel. Estate of Sarah J. Chapman, by A. W. Valentine, Ex. 15.00 –––––– 266.43

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $368.77.

Bedford. “Thurston Mission Band,” _for Talladega C._ 2.10 Candia. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 19.50 Chester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00 Chichester. Elvira L. Sanborn, 2; Maria Sanborn, 1. 3.00 Colebrook. Ladies of Cong. Soc. 5.25 and Rev. G. A. Curtiss, 1, _for debt_ 6.25 Concord. “A Friend,” 1.00 East Derry. First Ch. and Soc. 9.46 East Jaffrey. Eliza A. Parker 10.00 Franklin. Cong. Ch. 30.00 Gilmanton. Rev. and Mrs. S. S. N. Greeley 5.00 Goffstown. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 12.00 Hancock. “Cheerful Workers,” by Mrs. L. M. Tuttle, _for Freight_ 1.00 Lebanon. Ladies, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 35.00 Lebanon. Lewis C. Pattee, _for Straight U._ 10.00 Littleton. “The Hillside Gleaners,” by Mrs. C. L. Clay, _for Oahe Indian M._ 35.00 Manchester. Hanover St. Cong. Ch. 71.76 Manchester. Miss’y Soc., Bbl. C., _Val._ 50, _for Tougaloo U._ Newport. Cong. Ch. 23.25 Pembroke. “Friends of Pembroke Academy,” _for Charleston, S. C._ 5.60 Portsmouth. “Cong. Sab. Sch.”, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 17.00 Salisbury. Cong. Ch. 2.85 South Merrimack. “A Friend,” 5.00 Walpole. First Cong. Ch. 24.00 West Lebanon. Mission Band of Cong. Ch., _for Storrs School, Atlanta, Ga._ 20.00

VERMONT, $200.33.

Alburg Springs. Box C., _for McIntosh, Ga._ Bethel. Bbl. C. 2, _for Freight, for McIntosh, Ga._ 2.00 Burlington. Ladies of First Cong. Ch. _for McIntosh, Ga._, by Mrs. L. A. Dewey 40.00 Cornwall. For Freight, for _McIntosh, Ga._ 2.00 Danville. Cong. Sab. Sch. 11.00 Dorset. Result of Dime Collection, Ladies of Dorset, _for McIntosh, Ga._, by Mrs. Henry Fairbanks 6.00 East Corinth. Mrs. Ruth Bayley to const. MRS. H. P. JAMES, L. M. 30.00 East Corinth. Three Bbls. C., _for Atlanta, Ga._ Essex Center. Ladies, _for McIntosh, Ga._ by Mrs. Ellen D. Wild 2.00 Jericho Center. Sab. Sch. Class of Boys, _for McIntosh, Ga._, by Mrs. Henry Fairbanks 1.38 Johnson. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for McIntosh, Ga._, by Mrs. Ellen D. Wild 17.45 Marshfield. Lyman Clark 15.00 Montpelier. Bethany Sab. Sch., 10; Ladies of Bethany Ch., Box of Goods, val. 50. by Mrs. Ellen J. Howe, _for McIntosh, Ga._ 10.00 Montpelier. Bbl. C., _for Atlanta, Ga._ Morgan. Miss Lucy Little 50 Northfield. Mrs. D. J. Allen 5.00 Norwich. Mrs. B. B. Newton 5.00 Peru. Dea. Edmund Batchelder. 3; Rev. A. B. Peffers, 2 5.00 Sudbury. “A Friend,” 2.00 Strafford. Cong. Ch. 25.00 West Brattleboro. Ladies of Cong. Ch. by Miss A. L. Grout, _for McIntosh, Ga._ 18.00 West Randolph. “An Old Lady,” 1.00 West Westminster, Bbl. C. and _for Freight_, 2; _for McIntosh, Ga._ 2.00

MASSACHUSETTS, $2,989.73.

Amesbury. E. P. Elliott 2.00 Amherst. Mrs. Elijah Ayres, Bdl. Basted Garments, _for Macon, Ga._ Andover. Ladies of South Cong. Ch. _for Freight_ 2.00 Andover. Ladies Soc. of Free Christian Ch., 2 Bbls. of C., value 72.27, _for Macon, Ga._ Ashburnham. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. to const. REV. RUFUS B. TOBEY, and Miss GENEVIEVE R. GIFFORD, L. M’s 74.00 Attleboro. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.05 Boston. South Boston, Phillips Ch., 114.57; “Friend, for the debt due from the North to Colored Race in the South,” 50; Mount Vernon Ch., adl., 5; –– Charlestown, Sewing Circle of Winthrop Ch., _for Woman’s Work_, 20; –– Jamaica Plain, Central Cong. Ch. and Soc., 50 239.57 Boylston. Cong. Ch. 1.52 Braintree. South Cong. Ch. 20.00 Brookfield. Bible Sch. of Evan. Cong. Ch., _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 50.00 Brookline. “S. A. C.” 10.00 Campello. Miss Drucilla W. Pettengill, 10; Miss Mary C. Pettengill, 5; _for Indian M._ 15.00 Campello. Ira. A. Leach 50 Clinton. Mrs. Neil Walker, 2; Mrs. A. C. Dakin, 2; _for Talladega C._ 4.00 Conway. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch. 24.50 Dunstable. Bbl. C., _for Thomasville, Ga._ Eddyville. “A Friend.” 5.00 Fall River. Central Cong. Ch. 59.00 Fitchburg. Cal. Cong. Ch., 20; Mrs. E. M. Dickinson of C. C. Ch., 8 28.00 Greenfield. Miss Jeanette Thompson 5.00 Hadley. First Ch. Sab. Sch. 11.68 Hatfield. Box Christmas gifts, _for Selma, Ala._ Haverhill. Center Ch. Sab. Sch., _for Talladega C._ 25.00 Holyoke. Ladies of Second Cong. Ch., adl., _for Debt_ 2.00 Hopkinton. Cong. Ch. 3.72 Lakeville. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for Debt_ 2.00 Lowell. Highland Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 21.60 Medfield. Second Cong. Ch., _for Freight_ 3.00 Medway. E. F. Richardson, Box C., etc., 1.15, _for Freight, for Macon, Ga._ 1.15 Middleboro. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 8.85 New Salem. Rev. A. R. Plumer, to const. MRS. L. A. G. PLUMER, L. M. 30.00 Norfolk. Cong. Ch. 4.58 Northampton. Mrs. C. L. Williston 100.00 Northampton. Edwards Ch. Sab. Sch., 44.88; Miss Hattie G. Day, 20, Miss Caroline A. Yale, 5; “Friend,” 1; G. E. Parsons, 25c., _for Indian M._ 71.13 Northampton. “A Friend,” _for Indian M._ 10.00 Pittsfield. “Young Ladies Alosha Soc.,” Bbl. C., _for Tougaloo U._ Norton. Trin. Cong. Ch. 55.00 Reading. Cong. Ch. 17.50 Salem. Tabernacle Ch., _for Santee Indian M._ 50.00 Shelburne Falls. L. A. Soc., _for Fisk U._ 12.00 Sherborn. “A Friend.” 600.00 Southbridge. “A Friend.” 50 South Deerfield. Miss L. E. Williams, _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 5.00 South Hadley Falls. “A Friend,” 2; –––– 1.50, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 3.50 South Weymouth. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 48.00 Stockbridge. Alice Byington, Bdl. Patchwork, etc., _for Macon, Ga._ Walpole. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 Waltham. Trin. Cong. Ch. 31.76 Ware. “A Friend” (10 of which _for Mountain White Work_) 13.68 Westboro. Bbl. C., etc., _for Straight U._ West Brookfield. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Santee Indian M._ 5.00 West Dennis. Miss S. S. Crowell (1.50 of which _for debt_) 3.00 Westford. Ladies of Cong. Ch., Bdl. Bedding, etc., _for Atlanta, Ga._ Whitman. Cong. Ch. and Soc., 40.55; “A Friend.” 30 to const. ERNEST L. BELL, L. M. 70.55 Worcester. Summer St. Cong. Ch., 44.27; Old South Ch., 26.12 70.39 Worcester. “Friends,” _for Talladega C._ 23.00 Worcester. “Lady Member Main St. Bapt. Ch.,” _for Hampton, N. and A. Inst._ 10.00 Worcester. “Mite Band” of Plymouth Ch., by Lillian M. Crawford, _for Tougaloo U._ 9.62 Worcester. “Friends,” for Rosebud Indian M. 70 By Charles Marsh, Treas. Hampden Benev. Ass’n: Agawam, _for Indian M._ 3.50 East Long Meadow 5.00 Ludlow 19.14 Springfield. Olivet, _for Hampton N. and A. Inst._ 20.00 West Springfield. Park St. 15.00 ––––– 62.64 ––––, “A Friend” 1.00 –––––––– 1,945.69

LEGACIES.

Enfield. Estate of J. B. Woods, by R. M. Woods, Trustee 40.00 Lancaster. Estate of Miss Sophia Stearns, by W. W. Wyman, Ex. 4.04 Salem. Estate of Elizabeth B. Mansfield, by N. B. Mansfield and John C. Osgood, Ex’rs 1,000.00 –––––––– 2,989.73

CLOTHING, ETC., RECEIVED AT BOSTON OFFICE.

Andover. Ladies Charitable Soc., Bbl. _for Tougaloo U._ East Cambridge. Miss Mary F. Aiken, Box, _for Marietta, Ga._ Medfield. Second Cong. Ch., Bbl. _for Marietta, Ga._ Taunton. Ladies Sew. Soc. of Broadway Cong. Ch., Bbl., Val. $38.66, _for Fisk U._ Yarmouth. Ladies Sew. Circle of Cong. Ch., Bbl., _for Oaks, N. C._

RHODE ISLAND, $401.97.

East Providence. Samuel Belden, to const. MISS NELLIE E. FRENCH, MISS HATTIE A. FRENCH, MRS. CHARLES MATTOON, MRS. MONICA RICHARDS MATTOON, L. M’s 200.00 Central Falls. Cong. Ch. 102.00 Little Compton. United Cong. Ch. 20.00 Newport. United Cong. Ch., _for Indian M._ 69.97 Newport. “A Friend” 10.00

CONNECTICUT, $1,905.94.