Chapter 3

The avidity with which they receive education, and profit by it, is another indication of their capacity for advancement. True, there is still an appalling illiteracy among them, some 70 per cent. of them in the South being unable to write. But we must remember that hardly a quarter of a century ago it was a crime to teach one of them to read; they were sedulously kept in compulsory ignorance, and since the ban was removed, poverty, lack of schools and teachers, and other causes have prevented their advancement as rapidly as we may expect in future. But much has been done for them in this particular. Dr. Haygood estimates that about $50,000,000 has been spent for the education of the Negro since the war, nearly half of which has come from the benevolence of the North. Through the American Missionary Association alone some $10,000,000 has gone into the school and church work for the Negro, both alike educational. There are some 200 schools carried on in the South by different benevolent organizations, having over 28,000 colored youth in them. Of these, ninety are colleges or high schools, and furnish teachers and educated leaders for this race. Three-quarters of a million dollars a year flows southward from Northern generosity to this work. And besides this, is the work being done by the South itself for the colored youth in its public schools. A million Negroes are in the 15,000 colored schools of the South to-day, being taught by 15,000 teachers of their own color, the best of whom have been educated in these schools nurtured by Northern benevolence. And what is the result? The illiteracy in this race diminished 10 per cent. between 1870 and 1880, showing the eagerness of the people for improvement. It is estimated that two millions of the blacks can now read the Bible for themselves. And the universities for higher education find the Negro as susceptible to the best culture, as capable of receiving thorough discipline and of being highly educated as the white boys and girls in our Northern colleges. The time is not far distant when colored college graduates, instead of being reckoned by hundreds as now, will be numbered by thousands, and when we shall see some Mark Hopkins in ebony.

The time has gone by when intelligent men can talk about the inferiority of this race. When representative Southern men declare that they were mistaken in their former view, when such men as ex-Governor Brown, of Georgia, convinced by the examinations of our Atlanta University, publicly declares, "I was wrong; I am converted," that ought to be enough. But if not, the men of recognized ability and success among the blacks refute the old misrepresentation, now being revived in some quarters. When our Government sends its ministers abroad, Frederick Douglass and John M. Langston; when Senator Bruce and Representative Lynch are regarded as peers of their white brethren in the political arena; when college chairs are ably filled by such men as Professor Gregory, of Howard University; when colored delegates captivate a National council by their eloquence and ability; when Harvard University and Cornell University, by the choice of the students themselves, elect colored men to be their representative orators, surely it is much too late in the day to talk of the inferiority of the colored race. They are as well endowed by the Creator as any people in the world, and with training, culture, and a fair chance they will play their part in the world as well as any. It is such a people that we may predict will have a large share in adding to our National prosperity in the future.

Our first duty is to aid the Negro to attain more of moral power. Whatever he wins in the future he must secure because he deserves to. It will not come to him by favoritism nor by chance, but because he conquers the situation, and by his own ability and resolute endeavor fairly captures the prize of success. This the weak, degraded, untutored, semi-barbarous Negro can never do. He must develop a strong, clean manhood, equipped with the virtues to which success is fore-ordained, if he would be master of the future in a large way. Providence is helping him by the discipline of present exigences, making even the wrongs and hardships he is suffering a gymnastic to eliminate weakness and develop moral power. His ambition is chastened, his indolence is rebuked, his patience, courage, and persistence are being trained. But Providence waits for us to give him more direct assistance in this matter. We can re-enforce him in certain directions where he is now in great need of help. There are certain vices against which he needs to be armed and aided. In answer to the inquiry, What is the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the colored race? the answer comes promptly from several sources, "Drink." This is one of the new perils of his freedom, for in the old days of bondage it was a penal offense to sell liquor to a slave; but since the war, drunkenness has been a widespread curse among them, and to-day hangs like a mill-stone to the neck of many a Negro to prevent his rising. The sin of licentiousness prevails also to an alarming degree in many quarters. And wherever intemperance and social immorality abound, you find also the kindred vices of dishonesty, lying and laziness. No people can possibly have a great future in whose life these iniquities burn like a consuming fire. The manhood will be utterly burnt out of them before it can bear fruit in a large success. We need to send apostles of reform among them to turn them from their vices. We need to erect barriers of defense to protect them from temptation. Above all, we need to teach them a religion indissolubly joined with morality, a religion that means character and virtue, whose daily experience will mean the constant increase of moral power. The Negroes, like the Athenians of Paul's day, are very religious. They revel in camp meetings and fairly wallow in revivals. But too often their piety is the mere gush of emotion, and in hideous conjunction with gross evils. They need an intelligent piety and an educated ministry. As Dr. Powell said, they ought to have 7,000 educated ministers, when now in our sense of the word educated, they have hardly 500. The church work of this Association is a powerful aid to their moral upliftment.

Our next duty is to furnish the Negro plentifully with opportunities for education. An ignorant race can have no future, save one of degradation for themselves, and of increasing danger for the nation of which it is a part. The ignorant Negro must be abolished by the school-house. Training for the mind, training for the hand, the development and drill of all the powers of life are necessary to make the Negro no more a peril, but a factor of immense value in securing the future prosperity of this country. We must do far more in this direction than has ever yet been done. The South is still poor and cannot furnish adequately the means for doing this work as it should be done. The benevolence of the North must furnish still larger sums for education, that the colored race may be made safe for us and for themselves.

And, last but not least, we must secure to the Negro the full enjoyment of all his rights and privileges in church and State. He cannot attain the measure of success and usefulness toward which Providence points, if he is to be kept in a state of peonage. A black man is no better for being black, but he is none the less a man on that account. The simple thing to be insisted on is that he shall be treated as a man, entitled to the same rights as other men, and protected in his enjoyment of them. This is no time to relax our emphasis on this point, when the bitterness of the caste spirit is venting itself in violence, and in assertion that white supremacy must be maintained by illegal means if it cannot be by legal. We maintain that the only safety for the South, and the only way to its large prosperity, is by securing fair play to every man within its borders. There must not be one law for the white man and another for the black. There must not be one standard of legal protection in the North and another in the South. Anarchy in Chicago is not a whit worse nor more dangerous than anarchy in the South, that defies law and rules by the mob in order to gratify race prejudice. Conspiracy to murder in Chicago is not more outrageous and perilous than the conspiracy of men of one color in the South to get rid of obnoxious men of another color by the shot-gun. Injustice and wrong will always bring forth a harvest of disaster in any part of the country. Fair play for every man must be our motto. We must have no color-line in politics, no color-line in the church; but equal rights for all before the law, and in the church equal privileges of Christian brotherhood.

It is for us to clear the way thus for Providence to carry out its wise designs for this race. And if we fulfill our part of the work faithfully, what may not this people, educated and regenerated, add of blessing and benefit to our common country. If out of a race of slaves God in the old time could raise up a Moses, if out of a rude race of sea pirates and robber chiefs, who drank their mead from the skulls of their enemies, He could raise up a Shakespeare, what may He not develop out of this long despised and defrauded people? Let us furnish freely the channels through which God may work, that in His providence "the weak things of the world may become mighty" for good to our land.

* * * * *

BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.

MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.

The Iowa Woman's Union is working nobly toward the support of our school at Savannah, Ga., and the sympathetic bond between helpers North and helpers South shows that the money contributions open the way to warmer missionary impulse and more efficient service--the influence acting and re-acting, adding blessings both to him that gives and him that takes. One of their teachers writes:

"Never have we had a more prosperous year, if we are to take numbers into account. Every seat in school is taken, and we are obliged to dispose of about sixty more the best way we can. But these added numbers bring to us heavier cares and responsibilities, and as never before do we turn to you this year for the help of your praying and trustful workers. So many have come in who are professing Christians, and still it seems as though we had before us to teach them the rudiments of Christian living; and there are so many older ones with no knowledge of the _Way_, that the heart almost grows faint at the outlook. The work is before us, but we are longing for the baptism of _fire_. Will you not cheer us with some assurance that _you_ with us are uniting in this petition?"

* * * * *

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN HUMBLE LIFE.

The reports from our field work are not all made up of statistics. They sometimes touch the essence of genuine Christian experience and tell us how life is lived and death is met among the lowly. The little sketches given below are of this sort.

"We are grateful for the memories of some who were with us last year, thirsting for knowledge, whom we are permitted to think of now as before the throne of God, drinking from the 'living fountains of water.' One was Oliver, a man in the middle age of life, a bricklayer by trade, and a lay-preacher in the Baptist church. A part of two years he had been in school. His progress was slow, and he could read but indifferently in the Third Reader. His parting words to us at the close of last year were, 'I shall be at the starting of the school next year, and I will stay till I go through the course.' His death, after an illness of two days, was the first item of news carried to us from here after we had reached our Northern homes. We shall not soon forget how in the warm summer days, at the noon recess, he was wont to sit in the shade of the house with his open Bible in his hand. Often we would overhear him, with painstaking repetition, studying a psalm of David, or some passage from the 'Sermon on the Mount.' I heard him in the pulpit once when he preached a warning discourse, his theme that of John the Baptist, 'Repent, and be baptized!' He was not a 'shouter' or a 'ranter,' but spoke and acted in a quiet, manly way. His sincerity was such that he thoroughly won our respect, and we revere his memory.

"The next to go hence was little Isaiah, or Iser, as the children called him. He began school last year, and was so quick and bright that he was always first in his class. He never forgot anything that he was once told. Bible stories were his especial delight. Often he would beg to be allowed to have a Bible in his hands that he might read it for himself. He often asked to be permitted to read the last chapter of Revelation. One of the pictures on an old chart represented a lamb with feet bound lying on the ground, beside the altar of the temple, Jesus standing near with upraised hand, talking to the people. How radiant was little Iser's black face as he would tell the story in his own words, ending thus: 'He told them they need not kill the lambs any more, for He was come to die for the sins of the people.'

"His grandmother sits alone in her lowly cabin. She had hoped for a prop and stay in her advancing years. The little boy was always active, kind and helpful. Her tears fall as she speaks of her loss, yet with an upward glance she says: 'He's gone to a better worl'. There's nary night, nor sin, nor sickness. Pie use to read to me all about it, an' I'se gwine to see him fo' long, an' my three children thet's thar! Bress the Lawd!'"

* * * * *

WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS.

CO-OPERATING WITH THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

MAINE.

WOMAN'S AID TO A.M.A. Chairman of Committee--Mrs. C.A. Woodbury, Woodfords, Me.

VERMONT.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. A.B. Swift, 167 King St., Burlington. Secretary--Mrs. E.C. Osgood, 14 First Ave., Montpelier. Treasurer--Mrs. Wm. P. Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury.

MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND.

[1]WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. President--Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, Cambridge, Mass. Secretary--Miss Nathalie Lord, 32 Congregational House, Boston. Treasurer--Miss Ella A. Leland, 32 Congregational House, Boston.

[Footnote 1: For the purpose of exact Information, we note that while the W.H.M.A. appears in this list as a State body for Mass. and R.I., it has certain auxiliaries elsewhere.]

CONNECTICUT.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. Francis B. Cooley, Hartford. Secretary--Mrs. S.M. Hotchkiss, 171 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Treasurer--Mrs. W.W. Jacobs, 19 Spring St., Hartford.

NEW YORK.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. Wm. Kincaid, 483 Greene Ave., Brooklyn. Secretary--Mrs. Wm. Spalding, 6 Salmon Block, Syracuse. Treasurer--Mrs. L.H. Cobb, 59 Bible House, New York City.

OHIO.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. J.G.W. Cowles, 417 Sibley St., Cleveland. Secretary--Mrs. Flora K. Regal, Oberlin. Treasurer--Mrs. F.L. Fairchild, Box 932, Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

INDIANA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. C.B. Safford, Elkhart. Secretary--Mrs. W.E. Mossman, Fort Wayne. Treasurer--Mrs. C. Evans, Indianapolis.

ILLINOIS.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. B.F. Leavitt, 409 Orchard St., Chicago. Secretary--Mrs. C.H. Taintor, 151 Washington St., Chicago. Treasurer--Mrs. C.E. Maltby, Champaign.

IOWA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. T.O. Douglass, Grinnell. Secretary--Miss Ella E. Marsh, Box 232, Grinnell. Treasurer--Mrs. M.J. Nichoson, 1513 Main St., Dubuque.

MICHIGAN.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. George M. Lane, 47 Miami Ave., Detroit. Secretary--Mrs. Leroy Warren, Lansing. Treasurer--Mrs. E.F. Grabill, Greenville.

WISCONSIN.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. H.A. Miner, Madison. Secretary--Mrs. C. Matter, Brodhead. Treasurer--Mrs. C.C. Keller, Beloit.

MINNESOTA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. President--Mrs. E.S. Williams, Box 464, Minneapolis. Secretary--Miss Gertude A. Keith, 1350, Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis. Treasurer--Mrs. M.W. Skinner, Northfield.

NORTH DAKOTA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. President--Mrs. A.J. Pike, Dwight. Secretary--Mrs. Silas Daggett, Harwood. Treasurer--Mrs. J.M. Fisher, Fargo.

SOUTH DAKOTA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION.

President--Mrs. A.H. Robbins, Bowdle. Secretary--Mrs. T.M. Jeffris, Huron. Treasurer--Mrs. S.E. Fifield, Lake Preston.

NEBRASKA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. T.H. Leavitt, 1216 H. St., Lincoln. Secretary--Mrs. L.F. Berry, 724 No. Broad St., Fremont. Treasurer--Mrs. D.E. Perry, Crete.

MISSOURI.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. C.L. Goodell, 3006 Pine St., St. Louis. Secretary--Mrs. E.P. Bronson, 3100 Chestnut St., St. Louis. Treasurer--Mrs. A.E. Cook, 4145 Bell Ave., St. Louis.

KANSAS.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. President--Mrs. F.J. Storrs, Topeka. Secretary--Mrs. George L. Epps, Topeka. Treasurer--Mrs. J.G. Dougherty, Ottawa.

COLORADO AND WYOMING.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. J.W. Pickett, White Water, Colorado. Secretary--Miss Mary L. Martin, 106 Platte Aye., Colorado Springs, Colorado. Treasurer--Mrs. S.A. Sawyer, Boulder, Colorado. Treasurer--Mrs. W.L. Whipple, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. Elijah Cash, 927 Temple St., Los Angeles. Secretary--Mrs. H.K.W. Bent, Box 426, Pasadena. Treasurer--Mrs. H.W. Mills, So. Olive St., Los Angeles.

CALIFORNIA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. President--Mrs. H.L. Merritt, 686 34th St., Oakland. Secretary--Miss Grace E. Barnard, 677 21st. St., Oakland. Treasurer--Mrs. J.M. Havens, 1329 Harrison St., Oakland.

LOUISIANA.

WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. R.D. Hitchcock, New Orleans. Secretary--Miss Jennie Fyfe, 490 Canal St., New Orleans. Treasurer--Mrs. C.S. Shattuck, Hammond.

MISSISSIPPI.

WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. A.F. Whiting, Tougaloo. Secretary--Miss Sarah J. Humphrey, Tougaloo. Treasurer--Miss S.L. Emerson, Tougaloo.

ALABAMA.

WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. H.W. Andrews, Talladega. Secretary--Miss S.S. Evans, 2612 Fifth Ave., Birmingham. Treasurer--Mrs. E.J. Penney, Selma.

FLORIDA.

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION. President--Mrs. S.F. Gale, Jacksonville. Secretary--Mrs. Nathan Barrows, Winter Park. Treasurer--Mrs. L.C. Partridge, Longwood.

TENNESSEE AND ARKANSAS.

WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION OF THE CENTRAL SOUTH ASSOCIATION. President--Miss M.F. Wells, Athens, Ala. Secretary--Miss A.M. Cahill, Nashville, Tenn. Treasurer--Mrs. G.S. Pope, Grand View, Tenn.

NORTH CAROLINA.

WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION. President--Miss E. Plimpton, Chapel Hill. Secretary--Miss A.E. Farrington, Raleigh. Treasurer--Miss Lovey Mayo, Raleigh.

We would suggest to all ladies connected with the auxiliaries of State Missionary Unions, that funds for the American Missionary Association be sent to us through the treasurers of the Union. Care, however, should be taken to designate the money as for the American Missionary Association, since _undesignated funds will not reach us_.

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RECEIPTS FOR JANUARY, 1890.

THE DANIEL HAND FUND, _For the Education of Colored People._

FROM

Mr. DANIEL HAND, GUILFORD, CONN.

Income for January, 1890 ...$832.50

Income previously acknowledged ...960.00

Total ...$1,793.50

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CURRENT RECEIPTS.

MAINE, $1,173.21.

Andover. 2 Bbls. _for Raleigh, N.C._; 3.60, _for Freight_ ...3.60

Bangor. Central Cong. Ch., 50.; Hammond St. Ch. and Soc., 6 ...56.00

Bangor. Central Cong. Ch., 50; Dea. Wm. S. Dennett, 10; Rev. G.W. Field, 2; _for Girls' Hall, Pleasant Hill, Tenn._ ...62.00

Bangor. Hammond St. Ch., _for Pleasant Hill Academy, Tenn._ ...2.50

Bangor. Mrs. Coe, 7; Central Ch., 5, _for Oahe Indian M._ ...12.00

Bangor. Dr. Hanson, _for Tougaloo U._ ...5.00

Bangor. "Friends," Pkg. of C., _for Macon, Ga._

Bingham. Cong. Ch. ...1.25

Brunswick. Bbl. of C., _for Selma, Ala._

Calais. Bbl., 1.36, _for Freight, for Raleigh, N.C._ ...1.36

Castine. Sab. Sch. of Cong. Ch., 5; Rev. Alfred E. Ives, 2 ...7.00

Dennysville. Cong. Ch. ...10.36

East Sumner. Bbl., by Mrs. Hubbard; 2 _for Freight, for Raleigh, N.C._ ...2.00

Farmington. Bbl. of C., _for Selma, Ala._

Fryeburg. Mrs. J.E. Dinsmore, _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ ...4.00

Hallowell. Miss Annie F. Page ...30.00

Lewiston. High St. Cong. Ch. (100 _of which for Freedmen_, 85 _for Indian M._, _and_ 15 _for Chinese M._) ...301.90

Lewiston. Mrs. E.S. Davis ...1.00

Montville. Miss A.L. McDowell, _for Selma, Ala._ ...1.00

North Bridgton. Children's Mite Box, Sab. Sch. of First Cong. Ch. ...6.00

New Gloucester. Bbl. of C., _for Selma, Ala._ 2.80 _for Freight_ ...2.80

Orland. H.T. and S.E. Buck, 20; A Friend, 1 ...21.00

Orrington. Bbl.; 2. _for Freight, for Raleigh, N.C._ ...2.00

Portland. State St. Cong. Ch., 200; Williston Ch., 177.65; High St. Ch., 110.74; Second Cong. Ch. and Soc., 79.81 ...568.29

Portland. Mrs. L.R. Farrington's Class, Seamen's Bethel S.S., _for Indian M._ ...10.00

Portland. Williston Ch., Y.P.S.C.E., Bbl., 1.24 _for Freight, for Raleigh, N.C._ ...1.24

Portland. 2 Bbls. and Package, 1. _for Freight, for Raleigh, N.C._ ...1.00

Portland. Payson Memorial Ch., Box Bedding, _for Selma, Ala._

Portland. "Alpha Ten," Half-Bbl., _for Selma, Ala._

Pownal. Perez Chapin ...10.00

Saccarappa. Westbrook Cong. Ch. ...25.50

Sidney. Miss A. Sawtelle ...4.50

Skowhegan. 3 Bbls. of C., _for Selma, Ala._

Union. Bbl. of C., _for Selma, Ala._

Wells. B. Maxwell ...20.00

West Falmouth. Mrs. M.E. Hall, Pkg. Basted Work and Thread, _for Selma, Ala._

Woodfords. Mission Band, Box of C., _for Lexington, Ky._

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $703.57.

Amherst. First Cong. Ch. ...3.00

Bedford. Cong. Ch. ...5.37

Chester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. ...10.00

Concord. The Light Bearers, by Mrs. C.P. Bancroft, _for Student Aid, Williamsburg Academy, Ky._ ...21.00

Concord. Dea. F. Coffin's S.S. Class, _for Wilmington, N.C._ ...10.00

Concord. "Light Bearers" of South Ch., _for Santee Indian M._ ...5.00

Dublin. Mrs. R. Eaton ...15.00

Epping. Ladies of Cong. Ch., B. of C., _for Wilmington, N.C._

Farmington. Cong. Ch. ...9.14

Franklin. Cong. Ch. ...10.00

Great Falls. First Cong. Ch. ...20.00

Great Falls. Mrs. A.P. Dixon, _for Girls' Hall, Pleasant Hill, Tenn._ ...10.00

Great Falls. Home M. Soc., Bbl. of C., _for Atlanta, Ga._

Hampstead. Sab. Sch. of Cong. Ch., to const. REV. ALBERT WATSON L.M. ...32.50

Hancock. Cong. Ch. ...25.00

Harrisville. Mrs. L.B. Richardson ...10.00

Lebanon. Cong. Ch. and Soc. ...50.00

Lempster. Helen Bingham & Marianna Smith ...3.00

Londonderry. Chas. S. Pillsbury ...1.00

Keene. Miss M.A. Wheeler and Mrs. K.L. Wright's S.S. Classes, Second Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Indian Sch'p_ ...35.00

Keene. Second Cong. Ch. ...28.16

Manchester. Franklin St. Cong. Ch. ..188.60

Manchester. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Fort Berthold Indian Sch., North Dak._ ...70.00

Nashua. First Cong. Ch. ...22.14

Nashua. Y.P.S.C.E. of Plym. Ch., _for Indian Sch'p_ ...35.00

Nashua. Y.P.S.C.E., _for Charleston, S.C._ ...11.25

Nashua. "Friends," Bbl. of C., 1. _for Freight, for Greenwood, S.C._ ...1.00

New Ipswich. Cong. Ch. ...1.50

Northumberland (N.H.) & Guildhall (Vt.), Box of C., _for McIntosh, Ga._

Orford. John Pratt ...15.00

Pembroke. Cong. Ch., 13.66; Mrs. Mary W. Thompson, 5 ...18.66

Pembroke. Rev. A. Ward, _for Wilmington, N.C._ ...10.00

Penacook. Sab. Sch. of Cong. Ch. ...10.00

Penacook. Bbl. of C., etc, _for Macon, Ga._

Pittsfield. "Friends," by Miss Sue G. French, 2 Bbls. of C., etc., _for Marion, Ala._

Rindge. Ladies of Cong. Ch., Bbl. of C., 1.60 _for Freight, for Atlanta, Ga._ ...1.60

South Newmarket. Cong. Ch. and Soc. ...10.63