THE
American Missionary

Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter.

THE

American Missionary.

1882.

We welcome the advent of the new year with praise and thanksgiving. The toils and burdens of 1881 are past. The husbandman has garnered his sheaves. The sower has cast in his seed, and awaits the spring time. We greet our friends with hope and gladness. The prosperity of the past is significant. We have a fuller experience, enlarged facilities for work, and a place in the confidence and esteem of the church and the nation that brings with it not only cheer and courage but an added weight of responsibility.

We are, doubtless, on the eve of great events in the world of missions. He who has taught all Christendom of every sect and every age to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” has never decreed such immense strides in the material world as our eyes have seen, without a purpose to overmatch them all by spiritual achievements.

The current of events does not tarry; it rushes on more mightily than ever. We may pray expectantly. We may accustom ourselves to meditate upon vast plans for enlarged work in fields already occupied, and for new and fruitful enterprises in regions beyond. Such gifts from the living as have been bestowed by Mrs. Stone and Mr. Seney, such legacies for missions as were left by Mr. Otis, reveal to us what floods may come when all things are ready, while such revival waves as have swept over Madagascar and the Telagoo people in India are earnests of the power of the Holy Spirit to subdue speedily islands and continents to Himself.

Girt with the promises, and armed with all prayer and faith, we shall go forth to conquer. The day is dawning, the morning star is piercing the twilight, and dark night will shortly be rolled away. Over the continents, over the islands, over the seas, victory is watching and waiting to come; but tarry it will, tarry it must, till we, or such as we ought to be, win the battle in God’s appointed way.

Heaven grant that the day of its coming be hastened gloriously, as never before, by the efforts and events of 1882.

[2]

Our Annual Report for 1881 will soon be off the press and ready for distribution. We shall be happy to forward it to any of our friends who will send us their name and address, signifying their wish to have it.

We are happy to give our readers in this number of the Missionary copious extracts from the Journal of Superintendent Ladd, who, at last reports, was at Cairo, Egypt, in company with Dr. Snow, awaiting passage to Souakim, on the Red Sea. The reception they received in Egypt was very encouraging.

The Gospel in All Lands is to be published as a weekly, commencing with January, 1882. It will contain one-third of its present number of pages, but will undergo no other change. The appearance of an illustrated missionary weekly, relying upon its subscription list for support, will mark a new and cheering departure in the missionary literature of the times. We bid the enterprise Godspeed.

Our annual meeting discouraged, for the present at least, a movement for the establishment of a mission in China, under the auspices of this Association, and in this it accorded with the recommendations of the Executive Committee. But something may ultimately be done in this direction, and that our friends may know more at length the facts in the case we publish in this Missionary, Brother Pond’s earnest plea in its behalf.

A GOOD WAY TO DO IT.

A few months since, the cause of this Association was presented to a church in Central New York, after which the minister in charge addressed the congregation substantially as follows: “Every family belonging to this church must wish to give, according to its ability, to the cause which has been so clearly and ably presented. In order that this may be brought about, I have placed a slip of paper in each pew, and desire that each family present subscribe the amount it will give, and state when the money will be ready. At the close of the service I will gather the slips, and compare them with the church-roll. If any families have not responded, I will take a carriage, if need be, and, before the close of the week, call on those whose names have not been handed in, so no one shall fail to have an opportunity for assisting in the great work of advancing the Redeemer’s Kingdom.” The result was a cheerful and liberal donation, made up probably from all the families in the church. The clergyman who adopted this thorough and self-denying plan was a pastor from Nebraska, on an exchange for a few months with an Eastern brother. It fell out that he had trained his Western church in the method described above, until all its members cheerfully rejoiced in it, and put it into practice on all occasions when money was to be raised for either home or[3] foreign objects. So that, although his church numbered but eighty-five, its contributions to benevolent objects exceeded those of any other Congregational church in the State. Moreover, this was not brought about by neglect of things needful at home. A new organ was purchased at a cost of $1,000, the money being raised by the same method. The blessing of Heaven was not withheld; seasons of revival strengthened the church, and its membership at present is over a hundred. The perseverance and fidelity of the pastor were not overlooked. Where every one was schooled to give, it was an easy matter to gather what was wanted to purchase a beautiful gold watch as a Christmas present for the minister. The appreciation of pastor and people was mutual—so much so that the church was able to retain its minister, though he was repeatedly called to other places, where a larger salary was offered.

We commend the example of this clergyman and his people to the large number of devoted pastors who are always prayerfully seeking for—“A good way to do it.”

JOHN BROWN MEMORIAL STEAMER.

We call attention once more to the John Brown steamer. Scarcely a day passes that we do not receive contributions for it, and yet, as the sums are small, it will require much more to furnish the amount needed. As to the value of the steamer we give below a letter from the Rev. Geo. Thompson. No man in the world is a better judge than he of its necessity for the use of the mission. He was for many years a missionary at the Mendi Mission, was indefatigable in his labors, made wide explorations in the regions round-about, exerted a vast and wholesome influence over the people, exposed himself to the dangers of the climate, and only gave up the work on which his heart was so much set after the failure of the health of his family. His gift, so large in his circumstances, for the John Brown steamer is as strong an attestation of his appreciation of its worth, as his earnest and eloquent words. Read his letter and help us to complete the amount.

In order that old and young may have a part in this work, we have arranged to issue four grades of shares, as follows: First Grade, $100; Second Grade, $10; Third Grade, $5; Fourth Grade, $1.

All donations for this purpose should be forwarded to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer of the American Missionary Association, 56 Reade St., New York.

BENEFACTIONS.

—The late George G. Fogg bequeathed $5,000 to Dartmouth College.

—Mr. Reed, of Boston, has given $10,000 to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute.

—The will of John Amory Lowell contains bequests to Harvard College amounting to $40,000.

—William Bicknell, of Philadelphia, has given $50,000 to the University at Lewisburg, Pa.

—Wells College, Aurora, N.Y., receives a bequest of $100,000 from the estate of Col. E. B. Morgan.

—Mrs. Jennie McGraw Fiske has left to Cornell University $290,000 for library fund, building and other purposes.

—The University of Sydney has received a gift of $25,000 for the endowment of scholarships.

—Hon. John Evans, Ex-Governor of Colorado, has given $40,000 to the University of Denver since the beginning of the enterprise.

—Howard University is to receive $5,000 from the estate of Francis P. Schoals of New York City, which amount is to be paid at the death of his widow.

—Mrs. Noah Wood, of Bangor, Maine, has left $5,000 to Bowdoin College to found the Blake scholarship in memory of her son.

—Kenyon College has received $15,000 for scholarships from Mr. H. B. Curtis, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

—Col. Charles H. Northam bequeathed $75,000 to the general fund of[5] Trinity College, Hartford, Ct., and $50,000 for the endowment of a professorship.

“If there is any place in this world where a great deal of money, wisely used, can work incalculable good, even tested by the simplest maxims of political economy and cent per cent, the endowment of the Christian schools for the Freedmen is that opportunity.”—A. D. Mayo, D.D.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

Orangeburg, S.C.—The people here are rejoicing in a new $50 bell bought by themselves. They have also put up a bell tower.

Tuskegee, Ala.—Mr. B. T. Washington writes: “Please allow me space to express the thanks of this school to the Smith American Organ Company, of Boston, for the donation of one of their superior cabinet organs. It is a valuable addition to our school.”

Athens, Ala.—Rev. H. S. Williams writes of a union effort in the churches at this place, which has proved a success. Twenty-seven conversions are reported as the result.

Savannah, Ga.—The Sabbath-school has begun to yield excellent fruit. Having $30 in the treasury they voted to send one of their number to Atlanta University for a year. After a spirited contest on the part of several members of the school to win the prize the decision was finally favorable to Palmer Lloyd, a boy of about 15 years. He went to Atlanta in time for the opening of the term. Fifty dollars in all were needed to insure him a year’s study. To raise the remaining $20 the Sabbath school gave a musical entertainment and ice-cream supper and were successful in raising the amount needed.

First Impressions of a New Teacher.—After nearly two months’ work I feel that I am more interested than when I came, which I thought would be impossible. The work is more vast and awful in its importance. I do not wonder, as I did at first, at the careworn faces of the teachers who have been long in the work. The possibilities for good or ill of the race are to be contemplated by us only with fear and trembling, unless God works through and by us. I enjoy the work heartily. It consists, more than I could before understand, in laying foundations.

Impressions of a Teacher of Long Experience South.—I am sure, in our busy and crowded life, most of us teachers especially fail to realize how broad and comprehensive our work at the South is; how what we do, well or poorly, is to affect the whole educational interest at the South where everything is in a transition state. Should we not, in view of what our work and influence have accomplished in the past, and in view of our greater and growing opportunities for the future, should we not be aroused to a sense of these things that we may make the most of our chances in this direction?

[6]

INDIAN GIRLS AT HAMPTON.

From Harper’s Monthly.

The accompanying cuts were published in Harper’s Monthly, April, 1881. The improvement made in the appearance of Indian students, boys and girls, by a three years’ course of study at Hampton has convinced more than one observer from the Western frontier that there is something better to do for the red man than to shoot him on sight. Miss Helen W. Ludlow, one of their teachers, says of the two older girls that appear in the picture: “They have been among the farmers of Berkshire County, Mass., working for their board, sharing the home life and improving in health, English and general tone; they have won a good report from the families which have taken them, even better this year than last, and have done much to increase public sympathy for their race. The Indian girls’ improvement has been as marked as the boys’. Their early inuring to[7] labor has its compensation in a better physical condition apparently, and their uplifting may prove the most important of factors in the salvation of their race.”

GENERAL NOTES.

THE INDIANS.

—The Indian Bureau reports that the number of self-supporting Indians cannot be precisely stated, but gives the following as a fair estimate: Wholly or almost entirely self-supporting, 105,939; partially self-supporting, 44,119; wholly dependent on government rations, 50,882; these figures do not include the five civilized tribes in the Indian Territory, numbering 59,187. At Crow Creek Agency, Dakota, 60,000 of the 500,000[8] acres of reservation land had been taken up by 235 out of 325 neighboring families, of whom 208 had broken ground, cultivating an average of five acres apiece. Their title is a certificate from the Secretary of the Interior, and can be made valid only by an act of Congress.

—Rev. A. J. Biddle, in speaking of the American Indian, gives the following incident with which he was personally acquainted, as a typical case: An Indian and his wife left their tribe in the state of Oregon, came among the white settlers upon an excellent farm, built their cabin, assumed the garb of civilization, and were exceedingly earnest in their endeavors to be as their neighbors. The wife eagerly sought instruction from her white sisters in housekeeping. The husband was as eager to know how to farm. They were succeeding nicely, contented and happy in their new home and new civilization. One day two white men came along, saw this farm; it was fertile and well improved; they coveted it; asked the Indian to sell it; he refused. They determined to have it; so, a few days later, they returned when no white witnesses were present, shot the Indian in his own door-yard, drove the frightened wife away and took possession of the property. Nor were they ever molested. No one saw the crime but the Indian wife. No court would listen to her story, so the matter ended, with the pleasant home desolated, the murderers eating the fruit of their crime.

AFRICA.

—The whole Bible has been translated into eight African tongues, and portions of it into 24 others, making 32 in all.

—According to the Agence Reuter, M. Roger will set out with the Belgian expedition and 135 natives to rejoin Stanley upon the Congo.

—Three Roman missionaries, of Ouroundi, have been massacred in their houses, near Tanganyika. Three others escaped. The last letters of the missionaries tell of the perils which they run on the part of the blacks from the calumnies of the Arab merchants in regard to those who endeavor to abolish the treaty.

—The Livingstonia Central African Company has established a factory at Inhamissengo, at the mouth of the Zambeze. It found there already two European companies, one Portuguese and the other French.

—Messrs. Creux and Berthond, of the Swiss mission at the north of Transvaal, are attempting to open a direct route from Valdezia to the Delogoa Bay.

—A company has been formed in Transvaal, with a capital of 200,000 livres, to explore the silver mines of Tati.

—The London Missionary Society’s mission on Lake Tanganyika has been carried on since its commencement, in 1876, at an expense of $100,000. There have been three deaths, and three have been obliged to retire on[9] account of ill health. The society proposes to send out five new men in the Spring to recruit the mission.

—Mr. Adam McCall, leader of the Livingstone inland mission on the Congo, died at Madeira on November 24.

—Direct communication was to be established by submarine cable between Calle and Bizerte early in October.

—A scientific French mission at Thebes has discovered recently 36 sarcophagi of kings and queens inclosing mummies, rolls of papyrus, thousands of jewels and talismans, from which much may be learned of importance in the history of ancient Egypt.

—M. Ledoux, Consul-General of France at Zanzibar, reports a great famine in equatorial Africa. The tribes, in despair, have pillaged the caravans.

—M. Succi, delegate of the Italian Society of Commerce with Africa, has returned to Milan after a voyage to Madagascar and the Comores. The sovereign of one of these islands has granted to him a concession very advantageous for the Italian Society.

—In an exploration of Quango three great cascades have been discovered, to which the names of the emperors of Germany and Austria and the king of Portugal have been given.

—The military French administration has placed forty kilometres of railroading of the Decanville system from Sousse in the direction of Kaironan.

—After having been dangerously ill of bilious fever, Stanley has recovered sufficiently to go to Manyanga, and from there to Stanley Pool.

THE CHINESE.

—The American Board has rendered good service to the cause of missions by issuing a large map of China, suitable for use at monthly concerts and other meetings.

—The Chinese merchants of San Francisco have received from the Emperor of China an elaborate and beautiful scroll, in recognition of their liberal gifts for the relief of sufferers from the famine in China three years ago.

—“I love money first and God second,” was the confession of a Chinaman in Boston, who was quite ready to argue that his was the best way, as he was giving an account of his nephew’s preparation for a public profession of religion.

—The Chinese Sunday-school, held in the chapel of the Mount Vernon Church, Boston, had an average attendance last year of 48 pupils, the largest number present at any one time being 71. The total number of Chinese in Boston is said to be about 300.

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TRAINING GIRLS FOR HOME LIFE.

By Miss Mary L. Sawyer, Boxford, Mass.

You all know of the degradation of the colored women in the South. You are ready to believe in their dirty, comfortless huts, yet I could take you into many a pleasant home among the colored people, where neatness and order reign supreme, where man’s industry and woman’s taste have combined with charming result, and where it would be hard to say which was exerting the greater or better influence—the earnest Christian man, or his equally earnest wife. Tasteful pictures on the walls, books of standard authors on the table, shades at the shining windows, a clean, white bed, a clock, perhaps a cabinet organ, would meet your wondering gaze. With keen insight the women and girls recognize the primary cause of such a home and the influence that has molded its founders. So, in ever-increasing numbers, ignorant, uncouth girls, apply for admission to the missionary school, which, in some mysterious way, is to transform them; and their poverty-stricken mothers give of their scanty store all that can be spared, and more, and wait with joyful anticipation for the time when the daughters may become the teachers from whom they in turn may learn the more excellent way. To us, then, comes the work of educating them, not out of their positions in life, but for them; to train them in such habits that they may look upon uncleanliness, either physical or moral, with utter loathing, and yet to implant that Christlike spirit which shall lead them to count no home too repulsive, no work degrading, if only it is the Lord’s place and work for them.

With such an end in view, school work means much. Not only is the dormant intellect to be awakened and the knowledge of books imparted, but also that practical knowledge of every-day life in which, strange to say, they may be even more deficient. Nor do they always come with that keen thirst for improvement that insures success. How can they, when the consciousness of their own shortcomings has not yet dawned upon them? Their acquaintances are as ignorant as themselves; their own bare home is as good as their neighbors’. Not until they have mingled in the school life with companions far beyond themselves in attainment do they realise their own need, and begin to climb. Personal neatness is to be inculcated; dress, deportment, speech, expression, manner, must be watched and toned by careful teachers. A sense of honor must be cultivated, and, above all, conscience aroused and trained, that the end of all our labor may be attained and Christ be found in them.

Much of their future usefulness depends on the industrial training which is becoming more and more a feature of our schools. The difficulty of uniting this branch of instruction with the regular school duties was long ago recognized by so eminent a teacher as Mary Lyon; and what was hard in New England is even harder in Georgia and Alabama. But the need is greater, too; and on missionary ground the question cannot be, “Is it difficult?” but only “Is it best?” and, since there could be but one answer, all over the South, this work in many forms is being carried on to-day. Due attention is paid both to theory and practice. Lectures on cooking, for instance, are followed by conversations on the subject, where questions can be freely asked and difficulties explained, after which the[11] pupils are required to test their knowledge by making bread, cooking meals and the like. This practice is repeated day by day, and the examinations are as rigid as in any other department. Sewing is as carefully taught, a part of each day being devoted to it. Darning and patching become an art, until some specimens of their skill in this line could be ranked almost as ornamental needlework. Not only sewing, but the cutting of garments, is taught; and this affords good opportunity for those wise counsels on economy, simplicity and kindred subjects which these girls need so much.

Housekeeping in its minutest details receives careful attention, and here, as everywhere else, precept follows precept and theory is supplemented by practice.

Another and no less important branch is that of nursing the sick. The ignorance of the very simplest remedies and of hygienic laws on the part of many of the colored people is appalling. The treatment of a cold, or a slight accident, is as much beyond their knowledge as the most complicated disease would be, while a sudden emergency, as a case of poisoning, would paralyze them with fear. Medicine to them is simply medicine, and one kind as good as another. “I didn’t have no sugar,” said the mother of a sick baby to the missionary who was attending to its needs, “and so I put a spoonful of the medicine that didn’t want sweetening into a spoonful of the medicine that did want sweetening and it seemed to do him good.” That this ignorance was not unusual may be inferred from the estimate that in the city where this mother lives the death rate among the negroes is three times that of the whites.

The method of imparting this knowledge of nursing varies in different schools. In every case opportunity for practice is abundant; sometimes in their own homes, sometimes among the poor of the city or in the women’s wards of the hospital. A prominent physician of Memphis, noting the examination questions required of the girls of Le Moyne School, said: “If your girls answered those questions, they ought not only to make safe nurses, but also fair physicians.” The object, however, is not to make physicians, but to give a thorough acquaintance with the details of nursing, including all those little thoughtful attentions to the sick which Northern girls learn from the lips and the practice of gentle, efficient mothers, but of which the colored women seem as ignorant as their daughters.

You can hardly imagine a more desolate scene than a case of sickness in a cabin home. There is no isolation—all family work performed in sight of the patient, the glaring light falling full on the bed, water either for drinking or bathing seeming an unknown luxury, and noise everywhere. Into such homes these eager girls penetrate, adapting their knowledge to the surroundings with wonderful tact, hanging an old quilt or shawl to give isolation, shading the light, preparing with neatness and dispatch some tempting morsel of food, and administering with their own hands that thorough bathing which is often the most potent medicine. No wonder that after such treatment one poor old creature should ejaculate, “Thank the Lord, when we get to Heaven we shall all get on clean clothes.” Alas, that in so many homes the inmates seem perfectly content to wait till that time for the delightful sensation!

Of course cleanliness and other hygienic laws are placed first in importance, and just here we are finding one answer to the question so near our hearts, “How can we make the homes better.” The lessons learned by the daughters at school are duly repeated to the mothers at home, who are the more ready to receive new ideas of house-keeping from the young teachers who have first revealed to them the secrets of health-keeping. It is idle to hope to accomplish the greatest good for these girls unless for a time they are wholly under our control. Evil influences cannot be forgotten or overcome in a month or a term. They must come into our boarding-schools[12] for a term of years, and the money to keep them there must come in part from you. By the industrial system, they can be helped to some extent and the idle and careless sifted out; but after all is done, the last hard-earned penny paid over, the last work tried, there is still need.

But there are so many calls, and you are so busy. Yes, so was one of old, and you remember, “As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.”

Just so will it be here. The work for these girls must be done now. If we do not help them, there is no help for them, and instead of life and light there is nothing but blackness of darkness before them. Their influence will widen and deepen just the same, only instead of a blessing it will bring a curse, until the old sentence may be repeated for us, and our lives go for their lives and our people for their people.

THE RELATION OF THE FAMILY TO THE NATION’S WELFARE

By Miss E. B. Emery, Gorham, Me.

The materialist boldly tells us that physical law is the only law, and that there is no sin but the violation of the laws of our physical being, and that if these were understood and obeyed by all, there would be no sorrow, suffering or disorder in the world. But with a deeper insight, we do not need to live long on earth to learn that violation of moral law for a time will bring into fearful disorder, and actually subvert, physical law. If any truth in this world is manifest, it is that a nation is well balanced and secure just in proportion to the observance of the moral law respecting the family; that a commonwealth is prosperous and invincible, in its material as well as spiritual interests, exactly in proportion to the strength and purity of its homes, even to the humblest. Naught can bring such dire confusion and destruction as laxity of family relations; what, then, can you expect of those for whom the family was obliterated, and that by legal statute, for many generations? The freed people are by no means the only sufferers, for in obedience to the divine principle just referred to, precisely to that degree that the colored woman refuses to recognize marriage and a home, just so far is the whole region demoralized; and this obliquity over wide extent threatens the very vitals of our great republic. Educate, Christianize, inspire the young colored woman, and you save and elevate not only the entire colored race, but you brace up the white people of the South to moral standards far from universal now; you save all, in all their interests, temporal and eternal. The domestic relations are the deepest in life; they dictate and control all others. Make the home pure and powerful, and the soil will yield, and demand and supply will adjust themselves; cities will rise, and laws will protect, and schools will flourish, and the church will grow apace, and there is work and education and salvation for all. This is no idle picture; every one of us knows the reality of it. And it is because the home is the basis and centre of all earthly life—and who makes the home? Mainly, it is the woman. Therefore, save the woman; build her up hour by hour; feed her with wisdom of every kind; regulate her passion and emotion, discipline her reason, fortify her will, nerve her with principle, fire her with enthusiasm, and make her tender with Christ’s own love. In every mighty movement on earth, woman is at the bottom, and the problem which more than any other agitates this whole country to-day, is because of woman. She can wreck this nation, and she can deliver it. Man fought to save it; woman prays, teaches, suffers and sacrifices to save it.

One day at the South, while on a solitary walk, I stepped through the crazy paling, and spoke to a jolly black woman who was getting dinner in the yard just[13] before the front door. She was about forty-five, with a superb physique, quite unfettered by fashion, for she wore but one garment, which did not hang in flounces, but in strings. The fire, or rather smoke, for I saw no fire, puffed up from a little heap of sticks, and over this swung a broken kettle, which, apart from the gourds lying about, was the only dish of the household. Into this kettle she had put a piece of grimy salt pork, with a share of bristles remaining on it, making a firm rind, and with it turnip-tops and cabbage-stumps, and she was then washing sweet potatoes; and such a nest of children in every stage of dirt and nakedness and hunger, and every one in densest ignorance and heathenism! The little hut couldn’t hold them, so they were ranged inside the paling, all in a row, forming a kind of animated hedge, their little bare, shining bodies flashing as they whisked in the sun, their big, round eyes gleaming with curiosity, and every single body of them poised to turn a somersault or two and ask me for a penny. The woman made a low courtesy, and a graceful one it was, and as I greeted the children the whole batch of them squealed and cackled, stood on their heads and came right side up with the wildest kind of a grin, in my very face.

“How many children have you,” I asked. “These are not all yours?”

“Yis, ma’am, dey is ebery one mine. I’se got fourteen.”

“Is your husband at home?” I inquired. I thought I spied a man in the cabin.

“He’s sick mos’ times,” she replied, “a’nt good for not’in’ but eat; he kin eat mo’n any nigger in all Car’line, though he don’ git de luck berry offen, dere’s so many ob us,” and she gave a chuckle.

“But how do you take care of so many?” was my question, as the vision of more than one overworked mother at the North, with her solitary child, flashed across me.

Such a loud, musical laugh!

“Why, bress yer soul, honey, I don’ car’ ob dem, dey takes car’ ob demselves,” and she leaned back and again she sang and rippled and rolled at the absurd idea of a mother’s taking care of her children.

I ask you to-day, what do you expect those children will do and become? It is for you to say.

Destitution and ignorance like this may be found all through the South, but just such families have been reached and redeemed by our missionaries, and if all are not reached, it is simply because we do not send the missionaries, for allowing every discouragement that exists the fact still remains that there is no missionary work on the earth so hopeful and so rich and so rapid in its results as work among the colored people South.

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THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOSEPH E. ROY, D.D., Field Superintendent, Atlanta, Ga.

TENNESSEE.

INTERESTING EXERCISE IN FISK UNIVERSITY.

By Rev. H. S. Bennett, Nashville.

The first Friday night of the term we listened to reports from those of the students who had taught school during the vacation. It was expected that those who spoke would give as correct an idea as possible of the colored people, their interest in education, the condition of the crops, whether the people were getting possession of land, and all other items of interest relating to their work.

President Cravath read a letter from a county superintendent in Mississippi, who bore the strongest testimony to the honesty, morality and efficiency of the teachers who had gone out from Fisk University.

Mr. Mitchell, a new student, had taught in one neighborhood for two years, in De Soto, Miss. He had succeeded in building up a successful Sunday-school. He had in his school about 150 pupils and three assistant teachers. The citizens encouraged the education of the colored people and took great interest in his school.

Miss Murray had taught in Mississippi for five months. The people were very poor and the children were poorly clad. She taught in the Sunday-school very successfully; she did not think that the people had bought much land, but they had stock and wagons.

Geo. McLelland did not wish to exaggerate, but desired to tell the truth. He taught just above Vicksburg, Miss.; here there is little civilization. In their homes, the large majority of the people are virtually slaves; they pay $9 per acre, or 90 pounds of lint cotton for their lands; they raise nothing but cotton and corn, and often come out in debt; they buy their goods at the store on account, on fall time. In most cases last year they came out behind; in this condition they must give a lien on the next year’s work; some do better than this, but the majority are in this wretched condition. Government land is sold at 25 cents per acre, but the colored people do not buy it to any extent; this year they have done something of this, and have secured forty acres of good land. Saturday night the people go to the store and drink up an acre of government land at the rate of 25 cents a glass.

One church represents all. They worship in a very blind, ignorant, superstitious way. In the church he attended two out of five could read a little. One elder, in telling how we were to get to Heaven, said that after we were dead we must first go to hell and search all around, and if we did not find our names there we were to go to Heaven.

D. Donnel taught in southwestern Arkansas. He had much opposition, but he had, by persevering, found out that there was “a little man in him.” The people are getting homes and becoming owners of land. They had never been aroused before. They were all religious, but they all drank whisky, from the least to the greatest.

The white people did not believe in getting a good teacher from abroad, because he carried the money out of the country.

Queenie V. Moore taught in Illinois and had high ideas of the colored people, but she found them not nearly so well off as the colored people of the South. The young people spent their time near the taverns, smoking and drinking. She had a model school-house, which was also used as a church. The people were from all the Southern States. She tried to inspire the young people with a higher purpose than to wear fine dresses or smoke cigars, and succeeded in getting them into Sunday-school. The white people were very cordial and friendly.

Prof. J. D. Burrus tried to look upon the bright side at Murfreesboro, where he[15] visited, and was surprised to find the colored people so prosperous in getting farms, houses and in educating their children. One man had paid $1,100 for his house and $1,100 for his shop. Within a radius of a few miles he counted up 30 families that owned their own homesteads.

H. C. Gray taught in Texas; was Superintendent of the Sunday-school. He had studied the land system of Texas. A man buys a piece of land and pays a little down and 10 per cent. interest on the notes. Many of them are in debt. The school law is such that each child may ask the judge to set aside his pro-rata for him to go to school upon, so that each child gets his chance to be educated.

GEORGIA.

STORRS SCHOOL.

By Miss Amy Williams, Atlanta.

During the summer the city of Atlanta erected a beautiful eight room colored school building not more than sixty rods from the Storrs School. We all said, surely the number attending our school will be greatly diminished by this new free school; consequently, only four teachers were summoned to be on the ground ready for the opening of school on September 5; but as 280 pupils filed into the school building, we saw that we had underestimated the force needed, and our fifth teacher was called in, and before the expiration of two weeks the sixth one was installed in her old place, and we are now hard at work with 350 pupils enrolled, and new ones are being admitted almost every day.

This new colored school, which we can see so plainly from our home, is a constant inspiration for us to work on with new courage, for its eight faithful teachers, with one exception, have been first trained at Storrs School and afterward at Atlanta University.

This good work loses none of its fascination for us; we only mourn that time and strength are not given us to accomplish more.

Mr. Kent, our new pastor, comes with perfect health, and is brim-full of enthusiasm and earnest desire to do the people good. His earnestness, supplemented by the experience and good judgment of Miss Stevenson, the city missionary, must tell upon the church and people generally.

MISSISSIPPI.

DEDICATION OF STRIEBY HALL.

By Mrs. M. E. H. Pope, Tougaloo.

Thanksgiving Day, 1881.

One year ago to-day we gathered in the old chapel of Washington Hall to recount the mercies of the year which God had crowned with goodness.

How little did we anticipate the changes which one year more would bring to us. We were trying to make the best of the (dis) comforts and (in) conveniences of the old building; but it could not hold half of the young men, and it seemed to us that the old rooms over the shop and wood-house, and the temporary barracks, had served their day and generation, and we needed—yes, there was no doubt of it—we needed a new building. We asked the Lord for one, and the beginning of the answer to our prayer was the sweeping away by the flames, in one short hour, of our main school building, which included chapel and boys’ dormitories. But, though cast down, we were not destroyed utterly, for we had a large new barn, out of which we turned the cattle; dubbed it “Ayrshire Hall,” and moved in. We were sure the Lord Jesus would not forget that His birthplace was a manger, and would glorify this refuge with His presence; and so He did.

Our numbers were larger than ever, and it was a wonder to us sometimes where they were all stowed away; but we were always able to find a place for “one more,” and so the year went on and ended. The boarding hall had been enlarged during the last half of the year by the addition of a wing and another story, so it could accommodate more than twice as many girls as before. And[16] now followed a busy summer, during which the boarding hall was finished off and a substantial three story brick building erected. A good many buildings have been put up at various places by legacies and named for the dead, but we thought it right to give honor to the living as well, and by request of the Faculty, the Executive Committee voted to name this building after the Association’s representative man, Dr. M. E. Strieby. And so a tablet over the main entrance bears the words “Strieby Hall.” The work upon this building has been entirely done by colored men, except a few days work by the traditional “plumber.”

To-day we met to keep our Thanksgiving feast and to dedicate this building to the cause of Christian education. Oh, such gladness and thankfulness as filled our hearts, and was voiced by the choir in the opening anthem, “Praise the Lord!” After the opening exercises voluntary expressions of thanksgiving were called for. Mr. Hartsfield, our head carpenter, said he could not help comparing the present with twenty-five years ago, when he little dreamed of ever participating in such exercises as these, and said his heart was so full of thankfulness he could not express it. Others spoke of their gratitude for the blessings of the year and of this day. Mr. H. W. Hubbard, our genial Treasurer, who was with us, told the young people where the money to furnish them these advantages comes from.

An address was then delivered by Rev. B. A. Imes, of Memphis, which will be long remembered by us all, but especially by our students, to whom it has already proved a real inspiration. Dr. Roy followed in a wonderfully appropriate dedicatory prayer.

The day seemed all too short to express the joy and thanksgiving that filled our hearts. Truly He has brought “the blind by a way that they knew not.” We finished up the day with a lecture at night from Dr. Roy, who always has something good for us.

Our new building has, besides chapel and recitation rooms, family rooms now occupied by Prof. Hatch and wife, who have charge of the young men, and dormitories for sixty-eight young men.

And what will you say when I tell you that there are seventy-five here now, with a prospect for a much larger number after the holidays?

WORK IN THE SOUTH.

During my visit North last summer a friend asked: “Haven’t you had enough of life and work in the South? Aren’t you ready to come back and take hold of the Home Missionary work again?” The friend looked so incredulous at my expressions of satisfaction, and even of desire to get back into the work again as soon as the extreme heat was over, it occurs to me that a little glimpse of the past few days of life and labor in this especial corner of the great field might convince a good many that the work is not only very hopeful, but also exceedingly interesting. Previous to my restful vacation North, I had not been able to visit our people in their homes, but now, with renewed strength, I ventured a long, rough walk, leaning on my husband’s arm, to the home of one of our women, who was very sick. Down a steep, long hill, over deep ravines worn by swift-running brooks, with slender poles thrown over to serve for bridges, up the long hill beyond, and we had reached the little house where the sick one lay. We cheered her as best we could with sympathy and comforting words, spreading out the little delicacies we had brought to tempt her appetite, admired the new baby, and won the hearts of the other little people standing shyly back with the gingersnaps we had brought for their special comfort.

Just as we were leaving we noticed a young girl crouching near the door. “My sister Mag,” said the sick one. We shook hands cordially, said a few pleasant words to her, then came back to our home tired, so very tired, that the rest of[17] that day and the next, which was the Sabbath, was full of weariness and pain.

Did it pay? Yes, a hundred-fold! Early Monday morning there was a tap at the door, and there stood “Mag,” neatly dressed, with a smiling face, and a basket of vegetables for me. It flashed instantly over my mind what I had heard concerning her. She had once been a Christian, was still a member of our little church, but for a long time past had seemed possessed with every evil spirit of sin and mischief that could possibly find lodgment in her heart. Nothing could induce her to set her foot inside the church door. She invariably vanished whenever the minister tried to see her, and she had long ago been given up as an utterly hopeless case.

With a swift thought of prayer to Heaven for wisdom, I greeted her most cordially, made her feel quite at ease, then led her on carefully step by step, until, before she knew it, she was actually confessing her sins to me, and I was talking kindly but most faithfully to her. Still she stayed on, with a wistful look in her eyes, and the thought came: “God surely sent her to me! I’ll do all I can for her!”

Rising suddenly I closed the door, went directly to her and said, “Mag, I want to pray with you.” I put my arm around her, drew her to her knees beside me, and poured out my whole soul in prayer for that poor child of sin.

When we rose from our knees her eyes were tender and full of tears. She clasped my hand tightly for a moment and was gone.

I sought out other homes that very day, where God permitted me to carry little gleams of comfort and strength to sad hearts.

Yesterday was the Sabbath. At four o’clock a white flag was fluttering at our gate. Five minutes after, fifty young people and children suddenly appeared, as if by magic, from the lovely grove near by, and came pouring into my largest room, filling every chair and bench, finally taking seats on the floor in the small space left about my chair. They were such a bright, eager looking company—at least a third of them young men and young ladies, ranging down to half a dozen little fellows at my feet.

How I blessed the Master for the gift of story-telling when I saw the eager faces, the almost breathless interest with which every one, from the oldest down to the least of all, listened to me as I carefully blended story and lesson with all the grace and power I possessed, until I had the joy of seeing the bright eyes grow tender and moist, and knew the dear Saviour was with us, laying big hands in blessing upon us all. Then all stood with bowed heads while I commended them to God’s mercy and loving care in an earnest petition in which all could join. After this, I sat down to the organ—a poor, wheezy little thing—which is, nevertheless, a great comfort and help. They gathered close about me while we sang together a beautiful new song, then went quietly away to their homes.

To-day the little white flag again fluttered at the gate, and one by one, or in little groups, the mothers came. I knew how tired they would be, what effort it must cost them to leave their work on Monday, to come to a meeting like this; so all day I had been asking the Lord for some specially helpful, comforting message for them. It would be simply impossible to describe the tender spirit that brooded over us. The Saviour was so manifestly with us that the room seemed the very gate of Heaven.

The Scripture lesson I had chosen grew so, unfolded itself with such hidden strength and sweetness, it was like a new revelation. The prayers that followed were wonderful to hear, coming as some of them did from lips untutored, ignorant in book lore, but wise in the hidden wisdom taught them by God himself. Beautiful prayers, full of deep feeling, of humble confession, of earnest pleading.

There were two strangers with us for[18] the first time, who knelt with us in prayer, and manifested the deepest interest in all that was said. After the meeting there were hearty handshakings, kindly greetings to the new comers, who promised to come again; then they went away with shining faces, with hearts uplifted and strengthened for their hard, toilsome life.

Alone in the twilight, I returned thanks from a full heart to the dear Lord, who had honored our little gathering with His presence and blessing.

Does it pay? Yes, a thousand-fold!

AFRICA.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL OF REV. H. M. LADD.

Thursday, October 20.—Land! Egypt land! The lighthouse was the first object in sight this morning, then the low coast and the domes and minarets of the City of Alexandria, and last, but not least, Pompey’s Pillar. After taking our pilot on board we slowly rounded the long breakwater on which the lighthouse stands, and steamed into harbor. Before we had fairly drawn up alongside the quay a crowd of boatmen were on board.

We selected the Hotel Abbatmen, and were soon off with them in a small boat. We passed the Customs without the slightest difficulty and were driven to our hotel. Here we had our lunch, and then, as we intended to go right on to Cairo by the early morning train, we improved what little time we had during the afternoon by visiting Pompey’s Pillar, the gardens of the Khedive, the Rosetta gate, the Bazaars, etc.

Friday, October 21.—At 8 A.M. we took the cars for Cairo. Arriving at the station, we found a large omnibus waiting for us, and we were driven to Shepard’s Hotel, where we have been assigned very pleasant rooms. This is a very fine hotel for this part of the world. In front and around it is a garden filled with tropical trees and shrubs. Two fountains dash their cooling spray high into the air, and there is a small menagerie, from which the table is often supplied.

Here, as on the Galata Bridge, in Constantinople, the past and the present, the east and the west, flow together. The latest fashions from Paris, and the garb of the time of Abraham, the luxuriance of Oriental wealth and splendor, and the miserable poverty and nakedness of the oppressed “fellahin,” all pass before one like the shifting figures of a kaleidoscope. It is a most interesting and absorbing scene, to be found nowhere else in the world.

Saturday, October 22.—Called at the American Consulate the first thing this morning, but found it closed. We were bothered with a host of dragomans and donkey-boys, but they are finding out that people who speak Turkish and Greek and French as well as English, and a few words of other languages, are “one too many” for them! We took a little walk alone about the European portion of the city, to get the hang of the place. Some of the residences and public buildings are very fine. In some places you quite forget that you are not in Paris. To-day, our Consul-General, Hon. Simon Wolf, has been formally presented to the Khedive in great pomp. The Khedive always makes a great display on these occasions, and presents the new Consul with a fine Arabian horse. We called again at the Consulate, and were glad to receive our letters from home. We talked up our contemplated trip with some of the officials, and gained valuable information.

Sunday, Oct. 23.—Judge Farman, from the United States, called early this morning. He is very kind, and is doing all in his power to pave the way for us to the favor of the officials here. As he was to leave on Monday for Alexandria, he asked us to go with him to the Consulate, where he told them what he wanted done for us. A number of Arabic interpreters have been recommended to us for our trip, but we take our time in the choice of a proper man. We find that it will be necessary to take an Arabic interpreter and a cook from here.

[19]

CAIRO.

[20]

We attended the Mission Church, under the care of the United Presbyterians this morning, and greatly enjoyed being among our own people again. I presented my letter of introduction to Drs. Lansing and Watson, and found them to be very agreeable gentlemen, and at once greatly interested in our work.

Monday, October 24.—Called at the Consulate again this morning, and had an interview with our Consul-General, Mr. Wolf. We found him to be a very pleasant man, bright and energetic, and anxious to promote our interests in every way possible. He proposed to present us to the Khedive and to introduce us to Sir Edward Malet, the English Consul, to whom we have letters from the British Foreign Office, and to General Stone, who is in a position where he can help us greatly.

October 25.—I’m trying to pick up Arabic, but I find a donkey-boy better help than a book. We tried this method this morning, and started for the bazaars. I rode “Yankee Doodle,” a very smart little donkey, and Doctor rode “Champagne Charley.” We went through the gold and silver bazaars and the Turkish bazaars and the shoe bazaars, and various other departments. Here I aired my Turkish and my Greek. Everywhere we went there was a gentle murmur in our ears, “Bakhshish,” “Bakhshish.” We have got accustomed to it now, and rather like it; in fact, we feel quite lost without it.

Wednesday, October 26.—We went this morning to call upon Sir Edward Malet, K. C. B., with our Consul. I presented our letter from the Foreign Office, and we were very cordially received. He gave us some good advice and considerable information, and promised to get us the necessary letters. He also requested us to report to him the state of the slave trade on our return. We find that we have to move very cautiously. The slave trade is a touchy question in some quarters, and proselytism is another. In order to obtain any favor, we are obliged to emphasize the educational part of the work proposed.

Thursday, October 27.—Dr. Lansing called again this evening. He has a man he wants to send with us as far as Khartoum selling the Scriptures. He also thinks that there are some from among the tribes we hope to reach in their schools now who will work in with us in time.

Friday, October 28.—In the P.M. we went with Dr. Lansing and a party of friends to see, or rather hear, the Howling Dervishes. It was something unearthly, devilish, and never to be forgotten. Doctor and I began to calculate our chances if their religious enthusiasm and fanaticism should lead them to turn upon us. There has been a great revival of Mohammedanism lately and fanaticism. After this we went to the old synagogue, where there is a manuscript of the law written by Ezra. This is actually the case Dr. Lansing affirms. He intends to examine it more thoroughly some day, but it is very carefully guarded. Then we visited the old Roman gates of New Babylon and also attempted another church, but found it closed; we finished up with a drive on the fine Shubra avenue. There we saw the Khedive and a vast turnout of handsome carriages and handsomer occupants.

Sunday, October 30.—Attended the mission church and heard Mr. Helditch on Psalm cxxxix. 18. Met some Americans there who expressed great interest in our work. Remained quietly in our rooms the rest of the day.

Monday, October 31.—Wrote nearly all day. Received our circular letters from the Government to the authorities in Soudan and the Equatorial Provinces. Had a very friendly call from Sir Edward Malet, K. C. B., who offered himself for any further services he could render.

[21]

Tuesday, November 1.—Called at the Consulate. Our baggage, which we sent overland by express, has not come yet, but we are told to give it time—everything needs plenty of time. In the afternoon we called by appointment at the Consul’s residence. Here we met several gentlemen who knew all about the Soudan; one had been there, and another was an intimate friend of the Pasha, the Governor-General. The Consul then took us around and introduced us to Gen. Stone. In his position of Commander-in-Chief he can do more for us than any one else, and he knows more than any one else about Soudan and the Nile. He received us very cordially and seemed eager to do what he could for us. With maps before us he gave us much valuable information in regard to positions and healthfulness. He also put us in the way of transportation across the desert at the least expense of time and money. He strongly advises us to have headquarters at Berber, and in establishing our stations not to stop at the Sobat, but to go on to Fatiko. He is also going to furnish us letters to the Governors. We dined this afternoon at the American Mission House with Mr. and Mrs. Harvey, and spent a very pleasant evening with the teachers. I conducted prayers in the girls’ department, and saw there several children who had been brought down as slaves from the very tribes to which we are going. They seemed to be very bright and intelligent. If we find as good material as that we shall have no cause to complain.

Wednesday, November 2.—Called at Consulate and received letters. We had the clerk translate the telegram which General Stone wrote for us to send to Souakim, with reference to transportation, into Arabic, and then we were advised to get General Stone’s seal to it.

Thursday, November 3.—We have found and engaged a good interpreter at a moderate price. We called on General Stone and obtained his seal to the telegram.

Friday, November 4.—Called at the Consulate. Sent telegram of General Stone to Marquette, at Souakim. It will take some days to get an answer from it. We are told to-day that the English steamer we intended to take down the Red Sea has been delayed for about ten days. It is better to pass our Quarantine here than at Souakim. This is our only consolation, for we are very anxious to be off now, although they all tell us that we are early yet.

Saturday, November 6.—We hope this week to see at least the beginning of the end of our waiting here. Much will depend on the answer to our telegram; some will depend on the letters from General Stone: much more will depend on the movements of that English steamer on the Red Sea.

It is not always possible to make circumstances.

THE CHINESE.

CALIFORNIA AND CHINA.

By Rev. W. C. Pond.

The new fiscal year opens most hopefully. It began September 1, and the statistics for September which I have just compiled show a larger enrolment and a larger average attendance than was ever before reported in the whole history of our work. The figures are these: 15 schools; 661 pupils enrolled; average attendance, 332. Among these pupils are 200 who are reported as having ceased from idol-worship, and 137 who give evidence of conversion. There are other hopeful features—a good band of teachers and helpers, numbering 27, not one among them now whom I would like to have resign, and a spreading and deepening interest in this work among our churches, and peace in all our borders. The hoodlum element is measurably quiet, and we work without[22] molestation, except as now and then the heathen cousins or uncles of some of our young converts try what virtue there is in stripes to exorcise from them the Christian devil. The boldness and the constancy which some who are still children—scarcely in their teens—have shown, declaring to their persecutors when dragged before an idol, “I will not worship it, though you kill me,” remind one of the legends of primitive Christianity.

But I turn from all points of interest in our work here to press once more on the members and friends of the Association the opportunity there is and the need there is for its commencing a

WORK IN CHINA.

I will venture to assume that much of what I myself have written before about this, and what Jee Gam wrote nearly a year ago, is still remembered. I am glad to say that in the populous districts from which our Chinese come there is now one American missionary—Rev. D.D. Jones—American, though born in Wales. Bro. Jones as a layman at Cheyenne, Wy. Ter., had his heart stirred for the Chinese in that place. Commencing a mission among them, he afterwards went to Chicago to do like work there, and then to Boston on a similar errand. At length he sought ordination, and went forth, appointed by no society, to become a self-sustaining missionary in China. It is a comfort to me to give to each of our returning Chinese a letter to him, though probably in many instances the probability of their seeing him is very small.

Is it asked: “What would we do by our mission, if we had it established?” We would, first of all, give a cordial Christian greeting at Hong Kong to every Christian Chinese returning from California: we would bring them off ship into an atmosphere warm with Christian love; we would bring them into meetings for prayer; and would then let them go out to their old heathen homes, baptized with the Holy Ghost. In the same spirit we would meet them as they come back on their return to California, calling for reports of their experiences, the temptations they have met, the testimony they have borne, and the results which have followed their words. Then, we would make our mission house at Hong Kong a rendezvous and training school for such of our Chinese as may be fitted or could become fitted for evangelistic work among their countrymen. We ought to raise up many such through our work in California. The wise word, “Africans for Africa,” has double wisdom when you read it “Chinese for the conquest of China for Christ!” They have the hard language already; they know from childhood the ways of the people; they know from personal experience the darkness, the fear, the soul-hunger and the woe of heathenism. It would not be wise to send them forth with no American supervision; but evidently here is a great force at present little used, that, properly directed, might be wielded for the salvation of multitudes, and the Christianization of the greatest empire of darkness the world now knows; perhaps has ever known.

“But isn’t the ground already occupied? How many missionary societies are already operating in and around Canton? Why add one more?” I have no statistics at hand, and speaking thus from general knowledge alone I must keep far within the truth; but I am surely safe in saying that of competent missionaries, either Chinese or foreign, there are not in the provinces of South China one to 100,000 people; I know that I am safe in saying that, in the districts from which our Chinese come there is not more than one to 350,000. I risk nothing, I think, in affirming that Central Africa has to-day more missionaries in proportion to its population than these districts of China to which I have referred. Certainly many a helper might be added before any society now on the ground could possibly find itself jostled by neighbors.

[23]

Besides, we should have our own special methods and our own special field, growing naturally out of the relationship between the mission here and the mission there; such that while we should largely enter into the labors of brethren who have preceded us; using the books that they have prepared; availing ourselves of various conveniences that they have contrived, we should in turn supplement and extend their work and multiply their joys. We should be then, not as competitors, but as co-workers—one in spirit and mutually helpful.

“But wouldn’t it cost too much?” Too much for what? Too much for the souls that would be saved? More that these souls are worth? Not one of our readers thinks this. But this is the question: Would it not cost too much for our treasury to bear, loaded as it already is with such heavy responsibilities? I reply that it would not be very costly. Two American missionaries, a little property in Hong Kong, a rented chapel here and there in the larger villages and the small stipends of the Chinese evangelists; this would be all. It would not call for a larger sum unless, in the good providence and by the dear Spirit of God, it came to be, by virtue of its own success, a large work; and then contributions would flow in for it, so that by means of it the treasury would be enriched rather than depleted. I seldom prophesy; but I will venture to say this, that when the American Missionary Association has once taken hold of this work, and adopted as one of its mottoes: “China for Christ,” it will take but a brief period—a very few years—to give it such a place in all our hearts that we would sooner think of cutting off our right hands than of relaxing our grasp on that land as ours to be won for Christ.

CHILDREN’S PAGE

HOW A STRAIN OF MUSIC CALLED A WANDERER HOME.

(Toronto Evening News, October 10.)

They were two young girls, and both were inmates of a gilded palace of sin in the city. One was hardened in her sin—the other had waded only ankle deep into the black moat which circles the walls of perdition. The other night they went to hear the Jubilee Singers, and sat unnoticed in the gallery. The sweet, tender music, so touching and true to nature, entered like a limpid stream into the soul of the younger girl, and filled her whole heart. She leaned forward and caught every word, with her eyes shining and her red lips trembling. People turned round and wondered at the fair face, and watched her soul shining through her great eyes, but they never suspected who she was or whence she had come. There she sat, still and immobile, with her small gloved hands tightly clenched, and every nerve in her little body strung to an almost painful tension. All was still in the pavilion. The very gas lights held themselves motionless, as if afraid to make a sound. The great audience was hushed. And then a note sweet and tender, but full and rich as moonlight, swelled and rose like a sea, and then, like a shower of pearls falling through the sounding waters, a woman’s voice sang:

The girl in the gallery gave a great, shuddering sob. The singer looked up and went on:

Again the girl in the gallery uttered a long, shuddering sob, and hid her white stricken face in her trembling hands.[24] But still the music fluttered about her like the rustling of an angel’s wings:

She sat still and heard till the last cadence of the music had wandered out into the moonlight, where the angels, who wished to learn it off by heart, caught it up, and bore it in triumph into Heaven.

“I must go from here,” said the girl hoarsely. “Let me go, don’t follow me—I will be better soon.”

Her comrade reasoned with her, but she kept saying hoarsely. “Let me go—I will be better soon.”

She hurried out and fled like a frightened deer. She was mad! Her eyes were hot and dry—her brain was bursting, and all the while a wondrous choir was singing in her ears:

She fled like a hunted thing till the lights of the city were far behind and she was alone on a country road. She stopped to rest a moment, but the chorus went onward through the sky and she could not stop, for the words were beckoning to her:

Tireless she followed on, on, on, the long, long night. The moon went down and she got blind and staggered and groped upon her way, but still she said hoarsely, “I must go on. I’ll be better soon.”

In the morning a farmer threw open his door and saw lying on the steps the soiled figure of a girl. He picked her up and laid her on his own bed, and his wife laid the wild, pleading face against her warm bosom. A stream of music reached the ears of the dying girl.

She sank back with a weak, pleased smile. “Rock me, mother, that’s it—oh! how nice—how nice it is. Oh, rock me, rock me—rock me, mother. I am too tired to say my prayers to-night, mother. Let me sleep, mother, and kiss me, but let me sleep—sleep—sleep!”

And she closed her eyes and slept, and the choir in Paradise, lest they might wake her, sang softly:

MISSIONARY VEGETABLES—A GOOD EXAMPLE.

By C. H. Kellogg.

Last Spring, our Sabbath-school having become greatly interested in the work of Atlanta University, one of the lady teachers proposed to the superintendent that the boys in the school be asked to raise as their own during the season, corn, potatoes, cabbages, squashes, etc., these to be called “missionary vegetables;” and the girls were asked to make fancy articles, and in the Fall a fair held called a harvest festival. The boys and girls entered heartily into the enterprise, and last week we held the fair, which resulted in the raising of $80 for Atlanta University; this is to go toward supporting some worthy student. The money will be placed at the disposal of Miss Emma Beaman, one of the teachers, who was instrumental in awakening an interest here by giving us a talk in regard to her work at Atlanta. Is not this a good example for other schools to imitate next Summer?

North Amherst, Mass., Oct. 17, 1881.

[25]

RECEIPTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1881.

Constitution of the American Missionary Association.

INCORPORATED JANUARY 30, 1849.

Art. I. This Society shall be called “The American Missionary Association.”

Art. II. The object of this Association shall be to conduct Christian missionary and educational operations, and diffuse a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures in our own and other countries which are destitute of them, or which present open and urgent fields of effort.

Art. III. Any person of evangelical sentiments,[A] who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not a slaveholder, or in the practice of other immoralities, and who contributes to the funds, may become a member of the Society; and by the payment of thirty dollars, a life member; provided, that children and others who have not professed their faith may be constituted life members without the privilege of voting.

Art. IV. This Society shall meet annually, in the month of September, October or November, for the election of officers and the transaction of other business, at such time and place as shall be designated by the Executive Committee.

Art. V. The annual meeting shall be constituted of the regular officers and members of the Society at the time of such meeting, and of delegates from churches, local missionary societies, and other co-operating bodies, each body being entitled to one representative.

Art. VI. The officers of the Association shall be a President, Vice-Presidents, Corresponding Secretaries (who shall also keep the records of the Association), Treasurer, Auditors, and an Executive Committee of not less than twelve members.

Art. VII. To the Executive Committee shall belong the collecting and disbursing of funds; the appointing, counseling, sustaining and dismissing missionaries and agents; the selection of missionary fields; and, in general, the transaction of all such business as usually appertains to the executive committees of missionary and other benevolent societies; the Committee to exercise no ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the missionaries; and its doings to be subject always to the revision of the annual meeting, which shall, by a reference mutually chosen, always entertain the complaints of any aggrieved agent or missionary; and the decision of such reference shall be final.

The Executive Committee shall have authority to fill all vacancies occurring among the officers between the regular annual meetings; to apply, if they see fit, to any State Legislature for acts of incorporation; to fix the compensation, where any is given, of all officers, agents, missionaries, or others in the employment of the Society; to make provision, if any, for disabled missionaries, and for the widows and children of such as are deceased; and to call, in all parts of the country, at their discretion, special and general conventions of the friends of missions, with a view to the diffusion of the missionary spirit, and the general and vigorous promotion of the missionary work.

Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for transacting business.

Art. VIII. Missionary bodies, churches or individuals agreeing to the principles of this Society, and wishing to appoint and sustain missionaries of their own, shall be entitled to do so through the agency of the Executive Committee, on terms mutually agreed upon.

Art. IX. No amendment shall be made to this Constitution without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present at a regular annual meeting; nor unless the proposed amendment has been submitted to a previous meeting, or to the Executive Committee in season to be published by them (as it shall be their duty to do, if so submitted) in the regular official notifications of the meeting.

FOOTNOTE:

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

AIM AND WORK.

To preach the Gospel to the poor. It originated in a sympathy with the almost friendless slaves. Since Emancipation it has devoted its main efforts to preparing the Freedmen for their duties as citizens and Christians in America, and as missionaries in Africa. As closely related to this, it seeks to benefit the caste-persecuted Chinese in America, and to co-operate with the Government in its humane and Christian policy toward the Indians. It has also a mission in Africa.

STATISTICS.

Churches: In the South—In District of Columbia, 1; Virginia, 1; North Carolina, 6; South Carolina, 2; Georgia, 18; Kentucky, 7; Tennessee, 4; Alabama, 14; Kansas, 1; Arkansas, 1; Louisiana, 18; Mississippi, 4; Texas, 6. Africa, 3. Among the Indians, 1. Total, 82.

Institutions Founded, Fostered or Sustained in the South.—Chartered: Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La., and Austin, Tex.—8. Graded or Normal Schools: Wilmington, N.C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S.C.; Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Ga.; Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selma, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.—11. Other Schools, 35. Total, 54.

Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants.—Among the Freedmen, 319; among the Chinese, 28; among the Indians, 9; in Africa, 13. Total, 369. Students.—In theology, 104; law, 20; in college course, 91; in other studies, 8,884. Total, 9,108. Scholars taught by former pupils of our schools, estimated at 150,000. Indians under the care of the Association, 13,000.

WANTS.

1. A steady INCREASE of regular income to keep pace with the growing work. This increase can only be reached by regular and larger contributions from the churches, the feeble as well as the strong.

2. Additional Buildings for our higher educational institutions, to accommodate the increasing numbers of students; Meeting Houses for the new churches we are organizing; more Ministers, cultured and pious, for these churches.

3. Help for Young Men, to be educated as ministers here and missionaries to Africa—a pressing want.

Before sending boxes, always correspond with the nearest A. M. A. office as below:

MAGAZINE.

This Magazine will be sent gratuitously, if desired, to the Missionaries of the Association; to Life Members; to all Clergymen who take up collections for the Association; to Superintendents of Sabbath-schools; to College Libraries; to Theological Seminaries; to Societies of Inquiry on Missions; and to every donor who does not prefer to take it as a subscriber, and contributes in a year not less than five dollars.

Those who wish to remember the American Missionary Association in their last Will and Testament are earnestly requested to use the following

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

“I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars, in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ‘American Missionary Association’ of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes.”

The Will should be attested by three witnesses (in some States three are required, in other States only two), who should write against their names their places of residence (if in cities, their street and number). The following form of attestation will answer for every State in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said (A. B.) as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some States it is required that the Will should be made at least two months before the death of the testator.

American Missionary Association,

56 READE STREET, NEW YORK.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields, to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary,” to the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Obvious printer’s punctuation errors and omissions corrected.

Changed “Tongaloo” to “Tougaloo” on page 15. (By Mrs. M. E. H. Pope, Tougaloo)

Missing “C” added in the Salem entry on page 26. (for Washington, D.C.)

Missing “u” added in the Salisbury entry on page 26. (Salisbury. “G. B. B.,”)

Missing “s” added in the Westport entry on page 27. (Westport. Cong. Ch.)

Missing “s” added in the Crown Point entry on page 27. (Miss A. McDonald)

“CAMES” changed to “GAMES” on page 31. (SPORTS AND GAMES)