Part 2

It seems to be a condition of every successful benevolent undertaking that there should be a constant recurrence to fundamental principles. The danger, in all mission enterprises, is that they will become perfunctory,--about so much to the society--rather than a contribution measured by the forces and the interests involved in its work.

It is only when we see the _reason_ of things, and apportion our gifts according to the significance and value of our work on the Kingdom of Christ, that we give intelligently, wisely, steadily for its promotion.

The friends of the American Missionary Association, we believe, will thank us if we recall to their minds certain fundamental things, of which the Association’s _work_ is only an expression.

_The Work_: Three historic heathen races are represented on these shores and engage the labors of the Association. These races number fully one-half of the human family, and, at least, three-fourths of the un-evangelized portions of the world. For eighteen centuries Christ has claimed them for his own, and long ere this would have received them for his inheritance had his people been obedient to his last command. But as we failed to go into all the world, he has sent the world to us, until the vast empire of heathendom pushes itself up to our very doors. Every day and every hour of the day we touch thousands and millions of China and Africa, and might, if we would, prepare them to be, respectively, the saviours of their country. It is not only possible, but it ought to be an easy thing to raise up out of the seven million blacks, out of the one hundred thousand Chinese, and out of the two hundred and seventy thousand Indians, teachers and preachers enough to give the gospel, with all its accompanying light and power, to the unnumbered myriads they represent still sitting in the shadow of death. The Chinese are returning homeward at the rate of thousands a year, and will all return, if they live, at their own charges. Who dare say it is not in our power to send them back with enough of the knowledge of Christ in their heads, and of his love in their hearts, to guide themselves and their countrymen to Heaven? Who dare say that we have not Christian power enough to bring every Indian in the land under the subduing influence of the Gospel: that we have not resources of _every_ kind adequate to preparing thousands and tens of thousands of the sons and daughters of Africa to be the regenerators of their country?

And yet we have been in contact with the Negro and the Indian since the landing of the Pilgrims; and with the Chinese since the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast, without perceiving that our hand was on the unsaved millions of the globe, and that we had the opportunity to move and master them for Christ.

Has blindness happened to our churches that they do not see the meaning of the presence of these races here, and that they look with such apparent indifference, not only upon questions of the gravest political import in connection with them, but questions involving the regeneration of continents? These populations are in our hands, and will be what we make them. We may train them to be the World’s teachers and leaders, or we may leave them and their races to the old night of heathenism. It is such an opportunity to do a magnificent Christian work for the human race as was never before offered to man. To take advantage of this opportunity is the special work of the American Missionary Association. And to no society in _this_ or in _any_ land is there entrusted a work broader in the possibilities of its influence, or mightier in the sources of its power.

C. L. WOODWORTH.

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PLYMOUTH CHURCH, MINNEAPOLIS, ONCE A BENEFICIARY OF THE A. M. A.

Dist. Sec. Roy, in his address before the General Association of Minnesota, at Minneapolis, reported from official documents the early beneficiary relation between the Plymouth Church of that city and this Association. It appears that the Church, having been organized in 1857, had Rev. Norman McLeod commissioned as acting pastor in 1858, with $200 a year pledged. Under him the first church edifice was erected. It was a frame structure, 32×62, that cost $2,300, of which $300 was furnished by the “Building Fund.” The Church had then fifty members. In 1860 Rev. H. M. Nichols was commissioned at the same rate for the same Church. During his first year of service that new meeting-house was burned by the incendiarism of the saloon interest. A young man from New England in three years had run down to delirium tremens. Mr. Nichols was with him at his death, and on the Sabbath, referring to this affair in a temperance sermon, charged the murder upon the liquor traffic of the town. The liquor sellers were present, and “were infuriated like mad hounds.” Fifty ladies of the town waited upon the rum-sellers, begging them to abandon their traffic. They were answered by a flow of free rum that fired the crowd to do their desperate work of burning the church by using kerosene and burning fluid for kindling. An indignation mass meeting was held and a vigilance committee of fifty was appointed to act. “The town,” says Mr. Nichols, “will be cleared of liquor.” A revival was also reported for that same year. But just as Mr. Nichols was about to start east to solicit aid in rebuilding, he and his two children and a brother-in-law, with his two children, were drowned in Lake Calhoun.

In 1861 Rev. W. B. Dada was commissioned. The A. M. A. report speaks of the place as an “important field,” and mentions another revival as enjoyed there. The first man labored eight months; the second, seven months; the third, nine. This has proven a good investment, as the contribution of this Church the last year to the A. M. A. was $508, and this is about the annual offering, and its total of church benefaction the last year was $35,263. In these years it has been a very mother of churches. It was this Church that, in 1873, entertained the meeting of the American Board, which had come to hold its anniversary upon the field of its first mission among the Sioux Indians.

At that time, 1860, there were also two other churches in Minnesota under the A. M. A., those of Traverse de Sioux and Brooklyn; and in the West there were _seventy_ white churches under the commission of this Association. Among them, those of Charlotte, Mich., Sandwich, Ill., and Waterloo, Iowa.

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We take the following from the Atlanta _Constitution_. We publish the whole of the article, from beginning to end, in order that there may be no opportunity for drawing wrong inferences. The _Constitution_ is edited by Mr. Grady. We consulted the editorial columns to see if any editorial remarks had been made upon the incident. We did not find any. Surely the man who made that famous speech at the New England Dinner recently in New York could not have been in his office. If he were, and allowed such an incident as this to go unnoticed, very ugly inferences indeed must be drawn in reference to that New England Dinner speech. Just what _is_ the New South, anyway?

“Something of a sensation was created at Tillman’s tent service, corner Hunter and Lloyd streets, yesterday afternoon. Early in the afternoon two white teachers in the Clark University entered the tent with eight or ten negro girls, who are students at the school, and seated themselves. Soon after the party entered the tent, ladies and gentlemen began arriving and in a short time the tent was crowded. Every seat except those reserved for the colored people was taken and many persons were standing up. One of the ushers, with a view to supplying seats for some who were standing, went to the negro girls and asked them to move to the seats set apart for their race. The girl to whom the usher spoke referred him to one of the teachers. Up to that time the usher did not know that the negroes and the two white women were together, but turning to one of them he asked her to have the negro women move to the seats provided for their race.

‘Why should they move?’ asked the teacher.

‘Because they are in seats reserved for the white ladies and gentlemen, and there are plenty of them standing. Those seats over there are for colored people and those women can take them.’

‘Well, I don’t know that there is any distinction as to color in a church and they won’t move,’ answered the teacher.

The usher seeing that a scene was probable if he insisted upon the negro women moving, sought Patrolman Whitley, who was near the tent, and telling him that the tent belonged to the Rev. Mr. Tillman, asked him to remove the women. The patrolman entered the tent and approaching the party, repeated the request.

‘Well, we are satisfied with these seats,’ said the teacher.

‘I can’t help that,’ said the patrolman, ‘this tent belongs to Mr. Tillman and he wants these seats. Over there are seats for those negro girls. You ladies can remain here, but they must move.’

‘What difference does color make?’ asked the teacher.

‘I don’t know, only I know they must move. Now if they don’t go I will have to take you all out, and if I take you out I’ll make cases in police court against you. I am sorry to disturb you, but it is my duty.’

The two teachers and the negro girls held a consultation in a low tone a few minutes, and then arising from their seats swept out. When outside the tent one of the teachers called Patrolman Whitley to her and said:

‘I was never treated so shamefully before. I never knew before that one’s color made any difference in a church before the Lord.’

‘I don’t know what it does before the Lord,’ answered the patrolman, ‘but down South here it makes a difference. In this section we have nothing like social equality, and never will, in church or out of church.’”

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THE SOUTH.

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NOTES IN THE SADDLE.

BY FIELD-SUPERINTENDENT C. J RYDER.

In the “Notes” of last month I spoke of the floods that threatened the destruction of plantations and villages in Western Mississippi. From Mississippi I passed over into Texas, and this was passing from flood to drought. In some sections of the latter State there have been only two showers in as many years. Cattle are dying by thousands on prairie ranches. Water is held at fabulous prices, and in some sections it is impossible to get it, even for gold. The reports of suffering which come from the Western part of the State are painful in the extreme. All Christian hearts are turning in agonizing prayer to Him “who holds the waters in His hand.” Special prayer services are held in many places, and every Sabbath petitions are offered in the pulpits for rain. It is a fearful experience through which Texas is passing just now, and unless relief comes speedily the loss of property will be enormous, and the lives of the settlers will be endangered.

I wonder if there be any occult logical connection between the want of water and the prohibition agitation? However that may be, Texas is stirred to its centre by this temperance movement.

Next August a prohibitory amendment to the State constitution is to be voted upon by the citizens. Churches, public halls and school houses are filled almost nightly with interested and excited audiences listening to the discussion of their political duties concerning this great moral question. The leading temperance advocates have confident hopes that this coming election will wheel the Lone Star State into line with the goodly number of prohibitory States. In the hotels, on the streets, in railway carriages, everywhere, prohibition is the absorbing question.

In the cars, as I journeyed from Paris to Dallas, two gentlemen sat just behind me. They were, of course, discussing this perplexing question of prohibition, although from their arguments I learned that they were both opposed to temperance legislation. One was a Georgian, the other a Texan. They both freely admitted that they “liked their bitters,” and neither believed in prohibition, “because, you see, it wouldn’t prohibit!” Said the Texan: “There always have been, and there always will be, certain besetting sins, and you cannot abolish them by law. People have kept getting drunk ever since Eve got drunk in the Garden of Eden, and I reckon they always will, and you can’t prohibit it by law.”

Poor old mother Eve! The apple must have had hard cider in it. This was the argument of a lawyer, and fairly averages the arguments urged throughout the State against prohibition. Agitation and fair discussion are all that are needed to convince every man that the thing to do with crime is to prohibit it. Every A. M. A. preacher and teacher was pronounced and energetic in his advocacy of this sound temperance principle. The influence of these Christian workers will be felt in the coming election. The colored vote is an important factor in the settlement of this question, and our A. M. A. workers will do their utmost to make it solid for prohibition.

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The Sunday laws in Texas are strict and well enforced. Even at the news counter at the hotels, cigars and tobacco are not sold. Congregational leaven, or some other moral force, has agitated society most healthfully. Texas is a worthy example to many of our older States in respect to Sunday observance. There is now before the Legislature a law prohibiting hunting on Sunday, and there is every reason to believe that it will pass.

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Tillotson Institute, the A. M. A. institution at the capital of the State, is demanding better facilities and larger accommodations. The school has outgrown its buildings. Its very prosperity makes additional expense necessary in order to do the work that is now pressing upon us. And there is every reason to expect still larger success for the school in the future under the management of its new president. It is the only institution which the A. M. A. has in the State, and it holds a commanding position. If it is largely and generously supported, its influence will be felt throughout the entire State.

A ride of forty miles across the lonely prairie, starting at midnight, was full of _possible_ romances and _imaginary_ dangers. The boy who drove got out of the buggy repeatedly “to feel for the road, sah.” As the track was so dim where other wagons had passed, and as there were no fences to mark the road, the only way to find it by night was to get down on one’s hands and knees and feel for it. Houses stood ten, twelve, and even eighteen miles apart. Wolves were all around us on the prairie. It would have been easy to have fancied that one was in danger, but there was no real danger, and when the light of the early morning came the ride was most delightful. The prairie was starred with flowers; thorny cactuses stood guard over more timid blossoms. Away back here on the prairie is Goliad, and in it an A. M. A. church and school. An old Mexican town, now in ruins, stands across a ravine a short distance from the present village. Here, in 1835, the terrible massacre of the American troops crimsoned the prairie grass. But it was the bloody baptism of freedom! The fetters of Mexican tyranny were broken. To-day this village is the centre of a large and exceedingly fertile farming region. The A. M. A. church is feeble, but full of hope and confidence. They own their meeting-house, and are thrifty and prosperous. They are pushing towards self-support. One of the church members teaches a day school. So in this out-of-the-way village on the prairies of Texas the A. M. A. is sowing the seed of a better Christian progress.

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The local papers of Alabama have changed the spelling of the name of that State, and write it now “Alaboomer.” It is an appropriate change, for the whole State is in a fever of excitement over the “booms” in real estate. This rise in the value of property means increased work for the A. M. A. Children of small farmers can be spared from cotton and corn field as their parents become more prosperous, and thus our schools will be more crowded, if this is possible.

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SENATOR SHERMAN AT FISK UNIVERSITY.

By invitation of the Republican members of the Tennessee Legislature, Senator John Sherman visited Nashville on his return to Ohio from Cuba, and on the night of the 24th of March delivered in the hall of the House of Representatives a public address on the issues of the day.

Dr. Theo. L. Cuyler said, a few mornings since, in addressing our students, that he had chosen to return home from New Orleans via Nashville in order to visit Fisk University, though he could spend only a few hours in the city; and that for a Northern man to come to Nashville and not see Fisk, would be like going to Washington and not seeing the Capitol.

The Mayor of Nashville followed the custom observed in the case of other distinguished visitors, in providing in the programme of the day for Senator Sherman and his party a visit to Fisk University. Under the escort of distinguished citizens of Nashville, during the present year we have had the honor of visits from Judge Kelly, of Philadelphia, “the Father of the House of Representatives,” and his traveling companions; Charles Dudley Warner and the Harper party, and others. These occasions are always full of interest, and the University becomes an object-lesson to teach and illustrate the possibilities of Negro education; but Senator Sherman’s visit was in every way so pleasant and significant that it will long be a fragrant memory and quickening inspiration to both faculty and students. The Senator’s party, largely increased in number by the addition of distinguished citizens of Nashville and of the State, and even of adjoining States, and under the escort of the Mayor of Nashville, arrived in carriages at Livingstone Hall at half-past eleven A.M. After a few moments had been spent in greetings and introductions in the President’s room, all repaired to the chapel, where the students had been assembled in the order observed at our usual chapel worship. The Senator, on his appearance with the president of the University at the head of the procession as the guests filed into the chapel and took seats upon the platform, was greeted with most hearty applause. The students then sang, accompanied by the piano, organ and orchestra, “The Red, White and Blue,” which called forth hearty applause from the platform.

President Cravath, in a few well-chosen words, then introduced Senator Sherman. The students rose to their feet and stood in silence with eager, upturned faces, until the Senator began his address. His words were reported by one of the students, and were full of the kindest sentiment and the soundest practical wisdom. At the close of the address the Jubilee song, “Good News! The Chariot’s Coming,” was sung.

At the request of Senator Sherman, Gen. Grosvenor, formerly Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and now member of Congress, was introduced. He began by referring to the gallantry and bravery of the colored soldiers under his command, who made the desperate charge on the Confederate works on Overton Hill during the second day of the battle of Nashville, and to the conviction expressed then that the descendants of such brave, heroic men would under freedom prove themselves worthy citizens of the country their fathers fought to save from disruption. The General made an excellent point in favor of higher education by an illustration drawn from the war. He said: “When we called upon the colored men to become soldiers, we put the best Springfield rifles into their hands, for being under greater disadvantages than white soldiers, they needed the best possible weapons. So for your success as leaders and guides of your people under freedom, you need the best weapons, and so the advantages of a higher education are provided for you, and you should arm yourselves with the best discipline, for you must fight your battles under unusual difficulties.”

Gen. Wheeler, a prominent citizen of Nashville, who fought on the Confederate side, was next introduced, and spoke a few words of most cordial greeting and congratulation.

The Mayor then tendered thanks in behalf of the party for the cordial reception that had been extended by the University, and announced that the limit of their time had been reached, so that they must ask leave to retire. The whole party then visited Jubilee Hall, and thus completed the inspection of the University. A quotation from the report of an interview with Senator Sherman, as published in the New York _Herald_ and quoted in the Nashville _Daily American_ of the 3d of April, will best convey the impression produced upon the Senator by his visit:

“Are the Southern Negroes devoting much attention to the matter of education? I never saw anything like it. Their thirst for knowledge has been greatly increased by the obstacles previously thrown in their way. There are several excellent colored universities in the South. Fisk University at Nashville is especially good. The young men and women attending it are bright and very intelligent. The young white people of the South must look well to their laurels or their black neighbors will soon lead them in the race for mental improvement.”

BY A TEACHER.

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REMARKS OF SENATOR SHERMAN.

STENOGRAPHIC REPORT BY A FISK STUDENT.

This seems to me a very impressive scene. Most of you have grown up, indeed most of you have been born, since the event that secured your citizenship took place.

I am familiar with the object of “Fisk,” and Howard University in Washington; both are engaged upon the same work and are a tower of knowledge to a race of people that were denied all those privileges now so dearly cherished and so valuable to everyone. It seems almost an act of the genii or the golden lamp, like the story of _The Arabian Nights_. The rapid changes that have occurred and now are occurring, and the attainment of citizenship to a race that was a short time ago denied these privileges, seem only to have been made possible by the magical power of the wonderful lamp.

You are all now entitled by the Constitution and laws of the United States to the privilege of citizenship. Thirty years ago this could not be said of you in any State in the Union. Now, so far as law is recognized, you have the same rights as the proudest man or woman in the country. You must fit yourselves to enjoy these privileges. I am now getting to be an old man. Let me give you a word of advice. You must be patient in the progress you are making. You must meet the prejudice of centuries. While you should assert your rights with dignity, you must be patient, endeavor to command the respect of those you meet, and you will see in the time near at hand that you will be given all your privileges. You must be guided and directed by the forces that govern all humanity, and, therefore, while you have the rights of American citizenship, you should do all that will materially help your race and those that are to come after you. You must be patient if sometimes you meet with difficulties and prejudice.

The Alumni of Fisk University will some day stand side by side with the graduates of Yale and Harvard. To help on this passage are the laws of education, the study of the sciences, the study of arts, and the study of the practical development and various resources you have at your command. It is this, young men and young women, that is to help you.

Now, with these simple remarks, with no desire to excite you, I again express the hope that the time will come when in the North, South, East and West you will be recognized as a race and as American citizens according as you behave yourselves and not according to your color and condition.

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