THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY

American Missionary Association.

President, Hon. Wm. B. Washburn, LL.D., Mass.

COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; those relating to the collecting fields, to Rev. James Powell, D.D., or to the District Secretaries; letters for “The American Missionary,” to the Editor, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

In drafts, checks, registered letters or post office orders 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 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

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.

THE
American Missionary.

American Missionary Association.

OUR RECEIPTS FALLING BEHIND.

It is with great regret that we call the attention of our readers to our diminishing receipts. We have been cherishing the hope that we would be spared this necessity. But the receipts in February are so much below the receipts of the corresponding month of the previous year, that unless the loss is quickly retrieved we shall be embarrassed all the rest of the year. In February, a year ago, we received $21,897.74. Last February we received only $12,389.79. This is a loss of $9,507.95. Until February we were well ahead of last year. But the drop is so great that our total receipts up to the first of March are $3,438.16 less than they were at the same time the preceding year. In church collections and individual donations, we are behind $5,389.31! We earnestly ask the attention of all the friends of the American Missionary Association to these facts. What is the reason for so heavy a falling off? Are we failing to keep the necessities of our work before the churches? In our thought that the Association was getting nicely out of the woods, have we relaxed our efforts and allowed other things to slip in and crowd the Association out? Something has happened. That during the month of February—which ought to be one of the best months in the year—only a little over $12,000 should find its way into our treasury, is occasion for anxiety. We have had our bills to pay and we have borrowed the money and paid them. In so doing we have incurred a debt. We could not avoid it without leaving our missionaries unpaid. We must speedily be reimbursed, or else back again into the hated bondage and hindrance of financial embarrassment we inevitably fall. We appeal to our friends to spare us this humiliation and vexation. We ask this favor, namely: Will pastors and individual friends please take this question of our outlook upon their minds and hearts and make an earnest effort to increase contributions to our work from this time forward? Will they try, during this month and[Pg 98] the months intervening before summer vacation, to secure so much to our treasury that during the summer months we shall be spared the agony of special appeals and special efforts? “A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself.” We are urged to be prudent now by the very unpleasant memories of what we have been obliged to do every summer, for several years past. Will you join us in foreseeing the evil and help us to avoid it?

We are from time to time reminded that the old abolition friends of the A. M. A. are rapidly passing away. They will soon all be gone. There was something in their friendship that challenges our admiration. They gave the Association such a hearty support that there could be no question but that prayer and gifts went together. So also they have in many instances shown the wisdom of giving generously during life. The recent death of Mr. Lewis S. Swezey, of Rockford, Ill., gives emphasis to these thoughts. He helped organize the Liberty Party, and was one of a few who first voted in the town of Rockford for Birney for President. Though his whole estate did not amount to more than $10,000, he gave to the Association a one thousand dollar bond in 1885, and another amounting to seven hundred and fourteen dollars in 1886. At his death he left the Association a life policy of $2,000, and $500 in his will. He made the A. M. A. his residuary legatee, from which our treasury will probably realize about $5,000. His sympathy for the colored people may be seen in the fact that one of the last acts of his life was to give a poor old colored woman in Rockford a hundred dollars to repair her house. When dying he said to his wife, “This seems like crossing the river,” and in response to the question, “How does it look on the other side?” replied, “Very bright, very bright.” And no wonder. He had laid up his treasures where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Money given to the Lord during life is followed with no regrets at the dying hour. Were Christians thoroughly possessed of the conviction that such work as the A. M. A. is doing must be prosecuted and sustained as a religious duty, we believe their offerings would be far more generous than they are. A sense of duty as expressed in their gifts would be accompanied by a sense of delight. Our prayer is that the surviving old abolition friends may be long spared us, and that the places of those who have fallen may be speedily filled with worthy successors.

“It is with pleasure I assist you. I have made several of our young ladies life members during the past few years, to get them interested in the A. M. A. Anything I can do to help on the good work, be sure and call on me for, and I will do all I can for you.”

[Pg 99]

“I think the placing of the work of the Association before individual church members is productive of good results, as I find that only those well informed of the Society’s needs contribute regularly and liberally to its support.”

“We are to make a careful canvass of our congregation, with a view to increasing our missionary offerings, and securing a larger number of regular readers for our missionary magazine. Can you send us ten or a dozen copies of The American Missionary to be used by our district visitors?”

“My gifts to the A. M. A. have been necessarily reduced to meet my change in circumstances. I gave five dollars at our last collection, which was the price of a cushion in my pew. I believe that under the circumstances the hard side of a board will be softer than the soft side of a cushion. There is no special merit in it, but I feel that it is an encouragement to the workers to know that many in the churches are willing to give up little comforts for the sake of them and the cause.”

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

The new pastor of the Park Street Church, Boston, Rev. David Gregg, in his first sermon after installation, discussed the duties of the Pulpit and the Pews. One who heard it said at the close, “Well, that was a sermon that would please the secretaries of our benevolent societies as well as the rest of us.” Depend on it, that any sermon of which such testimony can be borne has two things characteristic of it: One is, it must be a gospel sermon, and another is, it must be interesting. It has been our privilege to read the sermon as reported in the Boston daily papers. It fills the bill. It is full of the gospel, and a thrill of interest runs all the way through it. Speaking for the Secretaries of the A. M. A., we can say they are pleased, intensely so. Here are two brief extracts that sufficiently justify their pleasure: “Is it the duty of Park Street pulpit to accept the service and co-operation of the Park Street pews? The pulpit here and now solemnly performs its duty, and declares its acceptance of co-operation and service. I have come among you for this very purpose. I come to beseech you to throw yourself for all you are worth into the work of the church, I come to command you in the name of the Lord that you love, not for yourselves. I greet your locked-up wealth, and ask it to come forth from the vaults of the bank to meet me and to join me in the work of Christ. I promise you to be the most liberal man in the world in dealing out your money from your pocket-books, and in accepting and in giving away your time. I am willing that every righteous and needy cause under the broad heavens shall call upon you for aid. I come among you to tell you that you have the same obligations before God to consecrate yourselves and all you have to the gospel that Jesus Christ had when he lived his sublime and devoted life. I put a gospel mortgage this day upon the pastor and[Pg 100] people of this church, and upon all that we have, by way of brain and heart power, and gold and trade, and time and business, and natural endowment and acquired attainment. Park Street pews, you can offer no good thing to the pulpit of this church, in order that you may glorify Christ and build up his cause here, that the pulpit will not take and publicly credit. This pulpit welcomes to the service of Christ every agency filled with the spirit of Christ.” * * * * * * *

“If we are to realize the possibilities open to us as pastor and people, we must keep a constant eye upon the land and age in which we live. Our age and our country speak to us to-day. Because our lot has been cast in them, they have a claim upon us, and their voice should be heard. Our age is an age telling of ages, and it commands us to meet the duties of the hour. No relations in life ought to be more helpful for this than our church relations. There is no place for mediæval fossils outside of a museum. The demand of the hour is for living men and living women. Our age is a pivotal age, a cardinal age, a burning age, a crucial age. Let us not forget that we are living under the westering sun of the 19th century, and that this lays us under obligations to be 19th century Christians.

“While we forget not the age, we must not forget the land in which we live, and which expects an outcome of good from our church relations. America is the land where the battles of the future are destined to be fought. In push of discovery and of civilization there is no land beyond this. The fields of America are the outer rim of the earth, and here the nations of the world, crowded out of the old lands, meet, and here all the great problems and questions of ages must be debated and settled. Our land cries for help, and we can help it. We can give it the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is what it needs above all things. The gospel alone carries in it the principles which can solve with safety and finality the social and political questions which are coming to America to stay.”

By treaty stipulations the Chinese in this country are guaranteed the same rights and privileges as are accorded the most favored nations. One Thomas Baldwin was arrested by a United States Marshal for driving out with force and violence a number of Chinese residents from the town of Nicolaus, California. The circuit court refused to discharge him upon a writ of habeas corpus. An appeal was taken to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court looked the matter through and found that while the United States Government has the power to provide for the punishment of those who deprive the Chinese of their treaty rights, there is no statute law by which it can exercise its power! The decision of the circuit court was therefore reversed. Justices Field and Harlan dissented. In a separate opinion, Justice Field held that if the Chinese could not be protected in their treaty rights, neither could the subjects or citizens of[Pg 101] any other nation. This is a beautiful attitude for the great United States to be placed in before the eyes of the world. Making treaties when it has not power to compel its own citizens to observe them! What a farce. Is it to be supposed that if this were understood nations would go to the trouble of making treaties with us? Were the questions at issue about the Chinese raised in regard to subjects of Great Britain or Germany or any of the first or even second-class powers of Europe, is it to be supposed that any such a decision would have been formulated and promulgated by our Supreme Court? We do not question the ability nor the integrity of our justices. The probability is that in the strict construction of the law they are right. But even judges, when put to it, can sometimes find such latitude in the field of interpretation as to warrant them in setting aside mere technicalities rather than to allow justice to be defeated.

That such eminent jurists as Field and Harlan found interpretations that justified them in dissenting; that the circuit court in California found reasons for refusing to release Baldwin from custody, would certainly indicate that the decision is fairly challengeable. It is a national humiliation. It ought to be so felt by the people. It would be so felt if regard for right and justice were supreme in the national heart and conscience. It is to be hoped that this matter will be brought by the proper authority, as soon as practicable, to the attention of Congress, and that the United States Government will speedily be clothed with statutory power to enforce its own treaties. If this decision shall have the effect of getting us out of the painful predicament that it reveals our Government to be in, we may reluctantly accept it as a means of grace. Meanwhile even China is on record as being far more Christian in her treatment of our people than Christian America is in its treatment of hers.

Money compensation is a very poor return as an offset to outrage. Congress passed the bill appropriating $147,750 to indemnify the Chinese sufferers from the Rock Springs riots. Hon. Wm. Walter Phelps, representative from New Jersey, spoke words upon its passage for which every Christian in the country must feel grateful. Said he:

“I want to pay this amount because the Chinese Government asked for that sum. The sum represents only the property destroyed. The Chinese Government knows that our Government never likes to pay a claim in full, so it wisely presents its bill only for the property destroyed, and says nothing of 28 men murdered—nothing of 15 men wounded—nothing of 700 Chinese hunted for ten days with club and rifle like rabbits, until they were dispersed into the wilderness and their village was made an ash heap.

“In the time when Great Britain was at war with China, an American citizen named Edwards was arrested by mistake as an Englishman, imprisoned from sunrise to sunset, and then released. The Chinese Government paid[Pg 102] $31,600 for the injury done to his person and to the dignity of the United States. There were 700 Chinese who suffered at Rock Springs—all of them more than this man. We hesitate to pay them $200 each. Recall the familiar story of heathen generosity—how China once gave us $700,000 and said: ‘Take it and pay the claims of your citizens.’ We took it; we paid the claims with twelve per cent. interest, and there was enough left to return $200,000 to the Chinese Government.

“If this seems ancient history, long after the Rock Springs massacre there was a riot in Ching King. The rabble destroyed property belonging to the American Methodist Missionary Society. The Chinese Government has already paid $25,000 for these losses; and also, since our discussion on this bill, a riot, under similar circumstances, at Shanghai, destroyed other missionary property. The Chinese Government has paid this bill too, $5,000.

“I have no heart to speak of the obligations founded in the international law. I don’t want even to refer to the treaty, where we pledged ourselves to exert all our powers to devise measures for the protection of Chinese subjects in this country. It is not on the ground of legal, but of the moral obligations that I prefer to rest this claim.”

Our treatment of the Indians is very much like the way a kindly parent allows his judgment to be at the mercy of the pranks of his mischievous boy. The boy takes a stick, and chasing a dog, pokes it and pounds it till the maddened brute turns upon his tormentor and bites him. This enrages the father, who forthwith takes his gun and shoots the dog. In strict justice he ought to have taken the stick and applied it to the back of the boy. The good man had no ill will whatever toward the dog, nor would he ever have thought of shooting it had the poor brute been let alone and not tantalized into biting the boy. But the dog having been enraged so as to become dangerous, there was nothing left but to destroy it. White men—some of them not even citizens of the United States—in violation of law enter the Indian reservation, steal the Indians’ ponies, drive off their cattle, shoot down a few of the Indians for resisting them, or perhaps for the mere fun of the thing. The Indians, maddened by the wrongs inflicted upon them, go on the war-path. The savage stirred with anger strikes back, and the innocent with the guilty—if indeed the guilty do not go scot free—are made to suffer. Had the Indian been let alone he would have remained peaceful and quiet and friendly. But by desperadoes he has been maddened to go on the war-path in vengeance, to retaliate for wrongs he has suffered. Then follow the blood-curdling stories of ambuscade and massacre. Popular indignation is roused. Extermination of the Indian is demanded. There is nothing left now for Uncle Sam to do but to send his army and put the Indian down. A pity that the chastisement cannot be inflicted on those whose wickedness started the mischief.

[Pg 103]

Bishop Whipple bears the following testimony to the good effect of making the Indians feel the responsibility of individual distinctive effort for themselves by vesting them with individual rights of property and by compelling them to live by their own labor:

“Twenty years ago we began with a small number of Indians at White Earth Reservation. They were wild folk, used only to savage life. Now there are 1,800 people living like civilized beings. They have houses built by themselves. They are self-supporting. It is an orderly, law-abiding, peaceful community. In religion they are about equally divided between the Episcopalian and Catholic churches. The laws are administered by an Indian police. This year they raised 40,000 bushels of wheat and 30,000 bushels of oats. They have a herd of 1,200 or 1,500 cattle, several hundred horses, swine, sheep and fowls. They are proud of their homes and of living in them like white people. They are as neat and orderly as old-fashioned Dutch housekeepers. They are excellent cooks, too; they never need to be shown twice how to cook anything. Their sewing is the most beautiful I ever saw; it is impossible to see the stitches. They have made all the carpets and bedding I have in my house. The contrast, therefore, between these White Earth people and the scattered bands of Chippewas shows plainly what can be accomplished with them by adopting right methods. The latter are utterly degraded.”

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

Such action on the part of the trustees could not be permitted to pass unnoticed. The Executive Committee of the Freedmen’s Aid Society called a meeting of the Board of Managers, and submitted for consideration the above-noted “whereases” and “resolution.” The whole subject[Pg 104] received full consideration. We have not space to publish the report in full, but it is all summed up in the last resolution, as follows:

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

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

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

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

THE END OF A DISTINGUISHED LIFE.

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

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

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

THE NEGRO ON THE NEGRO.

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

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

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

The System of Wages, Credit, etc. There is very general complaint of the credit system which prevails in most Southern communities. The most grievous shape this takes is the payment of wages in supplies, whereby an oppressive interest is exacted, and by the nature of the system generally made necessary. By such a system the thrifty are taxed to make up for the thriftlessness of the rest. It is at this point, in fact, that the industrial servitude which yet lingers as a relic of slavery obtrudes itself most oppressively. The abolition of this system is necessary for the material advancement of the South—of both races alike; necessary for the elevation of the laborer and for the promotion of his efficiency; necessary as a corollary to the Emancipation Proclamation; and necessary as a means of freeing the whole system of Southern labor (the[Pg 107] employer as well as the employee) from inefficiency. No conceivable amount of extraneous capital invested in the South would so add to material prosperity as the abolition of the credit and supply system. The labor problem there is to effect this emancipation. As for wages, they are low, but their lowness is not itself a cause of distress. It is the system which keeps them low and keeps labor inefficient and taxes thrift and skill, and puts a premium on thriftlessness and untrustworthiness, that does the damage. The gist of the whole problem is here.

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

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

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

“Civil Rights.”—There is a unanimous protest in these letters against[Pg 108] the discrimination made between the races on public thoroughfares, and at places of amusement. The desire of the colored people for the obliteration of the color-line in these places seems to be universal and is strong.

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

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

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

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

N. Y. INDEPENDENT.

RELIGIOUS DOGGEREL.

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

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

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

We were pleased in the perusal of these hymns to notice that the poet’s[Pg 110] theology took in apparently all men in its broad sweep. We said here is a man who does not recognize the color line in his thought of God’s redeeming love. It takes poetry to expand the soul above prejudice and caste—when lo, we stumbled across the following:

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

The above are samples of versification that we have selected from this Sweet Songster, that our readers may see for themselves the kind of Christian instruction some white people in certain portions of our country receive. These selections are certainly ludicrous, yet they have also a serious aspect—they point to duty. It would be useless to denounce such incompetent leadership as is here revealed. It would be folly to argue either with the leaders or the people whom they lead. We must plant schools and educate the children. Preach the Gospel in its simplicity, and let the people hear the truth. The light will destroy the darkness. It will reveal the deformity and ugliness of error. It will rebuke the assumptions of ignorance. It will lead the people in their soul-hunger to turn away from husks and to demand that in song and sermon their poets and preachers shall give them the bread of life or else keep silent. There is a wide field here to be cultivated. It lies open before us. We have entered it. Rich has been our harvesting so far as we have gone. Earnest and numerous are the invitations that come to us for more workers and enlarged efforts. These invitations are an appeal to the churches more[Pg 111] liberally to supply us with means, that we may be able to respond and go in to possess the land.

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

THE SOUTH.

NOTES IN THE SADDLE.

BY FIELD SUPERINTENDENT C. J. RYDER.

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

There are 447 of these Apache Indians held as prisoners of war in the old Spanish fort at St. Augustine, Florida. They are idle, and cannot be otherwise. They spend their time foolishly, or worse, as idle people always do. As I looked upon these men, women and children, crowded together like cattle in a pen, and remembered the stirring words of Prof. Whipple, prophetic of such grand possibilities for this people, I wondered if our Government were making the wisest use of these Apaches in holding them in this confinement, that must result in increased viciousness. A Christian lady, after looking at these Indians, said: “Why, the very sight makes me blush for my country!”

An extended trip through Florida brought to me most encouraging evidences of the prosperity of the work already entered upon by the A. M. A. in that State, and impressed the imperative need of more work. Doors are opening in many directions. Schools are crowded to their utmost capacity. At St. Augustine, in a school-room seating fifty pupils, ninety-six were packed together.

The flourishing little church at Orange Park is pushing energetically[Pg 112] towards the completion of its building. It now ranks in its membership the fourth Congregational church in Florida.

Are the colored people accumulating property? This is a question often asked by the interested friends of the A. M. A. work. Let two facts emphasize the affirmative to this question. In Oaks, N. C., the colored people have purchased more than five hundred acres of land and built their comfortable cottages around the A. M. A. school and church. When we remember that the average wages of a working man in that region is not above ten dollars a month, and that the average colored family is not fashionably small, the purchase of this real estate proves that they have carefully economized their scanty earnings. Take another fact: In Thomasville, Ga., the colored people paid taxes on three thousand one hundred dollars worth of property in 1880. In 1885, this same people paid taxes on ninety-five thousand six hundred and six dollars worth of property. In five years they had multiplied their taxable property more than thirty times. This represents no unhealthy “boom” in real estate, but an actual increase in the accumulations of the colored citizens of this flourishing and beautiful Southern city. The colored people have been given a fair chance in Thomasville, and this is the use they have made of it. The readers of this magazine will remember the generous gift of Judge H. W. Hopkins, Mayor of Thomasville, of a beautiful site for buildings of the Conn. Industrial School. A fine building has been erected upon this site and in a few weeks it will be ready for occupancy. There is intense interest in the community and surrounding neighborhood in this new school. It will doubtless be crowded as soon as opened. It is to be an industrial school for girls.

A trustworthy friend overheard the following remark, made by a lawyer in the office of a Southern hotel: “I have seen a miracle to-day,” said this lawyer. “I have actually seen a white man convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged for killing a nigger. I never expected to witness such a thing in this State.” What a fearful comment on the injustice of these courts of justice in the past! What horrible suggestiveness of unpunished crimes! But there is in it, too, hopefulness for the future.

At Lewis Normal Institute, Macon, and at Storrs School, in Atlanta, the number of pupils is limited only by the capacity of the school-rooms to hold them. In Macon, Bro. Wharton, whom I left in Savannah, when I pushed southward into Florida, was holding special services under the[Pg 113] direction of the pastor. God’s spirit was blessing his efforts and many were daily seeking the way of life. It has been a year of great religious awakening throughout our entire field.

A beautiful gold locket was put into my hands by an earnest Christian woman, a very saint of God, as her gift to the work of the A. M. A. Blindness had come upon her slowly, month after month, and she could no longer see the picture-faces in the locket, so she had them removed, and gives the locket into our treasury. Who will redeem it, that this touching sacrifice may accomplish for God’s poor that which she who made it prayed it might?

REVIVAL AT ATLANTA UNIVERSITY.

Not since 1881 have we enjoyed in this institution so thorough and satisfactory a work of grace as during the last few weeks. Indeed, on only one or two occasions in its history have so many been reached and been led to enter upon the better life. The special interest began during the week of prayer which was observed by holding a meeting each evening, and a spirit of inquiry was early manifested and a goodly number promptly confessed Christ as their Saviour.

Much personal work was done by teachers and older pupils and many who had been negligent and careless, made confession and renewed their covenant. Short meetings were continued for a few days longer, and the seed-sowing and the harvest went on together, and every day some gain was made, and one after another came to a decision, until nearly all the students in the family and many of the day pupils were deeply interested, while some who had withstood many good influences for a long time yielded to the claims of Christ and took up his service. There was a quiet and gentle influence manifested in all our meetings so that without noise and confusion and without protracted services, the work was done and the blessing came as the dew or the rain from Heaven. No strangers were called in to help, and no unusual means were employed, and only ten extra meetings of a general character, most of them of less than an hour’s duration, were held.

Thus far the new converts, over thirty in number, and representing about twenty-five different towns, have stood the test well, and most of them are proving by fidelity in daily duties the reality of their religious experience. Absent pupils have been reached by the same good influence, as well as some former students, and the scholars have been encouraged to write to parents and friends, and thus it will be easily seen how far a light kindled here may shine and how valuable and precious a reviving at this center may become. We hope that a few who resist may be softened, that the timid and halting may be brought in and the great company of day[Pg 114] pupils may be affected and the neighborhood toward which we are reaching out more than we have, will be blessed. We are very grateful for these blessings, to the giver of all good, and very humble in view of our unworthiness, and very hopeful for larger and continued gifts.

C. W. FRANCIS.

VISIT TO MT. HERMON UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY, MISS.

On Saturday, the 19th of February, President Pope set out to fill his regular monthly appointment to preach at Mt. Hermon Seminary for Young Ladies, whose head and founder, Miss Sarah A. Dickey, was a pioneer in this Mississippi work, and has passed through such trials and hardships as those who enter at this stage of the work will rarely, if ever, have to encounter, and who is now reaping a measure of the respect and honor she so richly deserves.

Clinton is twelve miles or so distant, and the windows of heaven were just being opened after a remarkably dry winter, so that when Mr. Pope said to one of the teachers who had not been at Mt. Hermon for four years and had only heard of the enlargement of the work there, “Will you go along?” she cried out, “What—in this rain?” but finally decided to venture.

Had not Mr. P. been belated an hour in starting, all would have been well, for they were within four miles of their destination when darkness and tempest settled round them so densely and drenchingly that the last third of the way consumed three hours of time, since it was frequently necessary to stop a few minutes and wait for a flash of lightning to reveal the road.

The faithful horse was bewildered, and persisted in veering to the right, as if to get nearer the driver. This finally led to the complete overthrow of the buggy, the right wheels running up a bank and striking a projecting root. Mr. Pope was out in an instant and at the horse’s head, his companion disentangling herself and scrambling out more slowly, stepping into several inches of soft clay and leaving an overshoe, which must be pawed for in the darkness, and, upon securing it, taking her place at the horse’s head. It was found necessary to take poor Rob out of the shafts, when he gave one or two scrambling leaps up the slippery bank and stood with his head close against Miss K.; all the time Mr. P. labored to right the buggy. And how it rained! ’Twas “sic a night” as “Tam O’Shanter” took the ride in.

While Mr. P. was tugging at the prostrate vehicle, with its two wheels in the air two men on mules were seen by a broad glare of light hurrying along the opposite high bank. In response to Mr. P.’s halloo for help, they called out, “Who are you?” and hastened on. The priest and the Levite having passed by on the other side, it was hoped that the good[Pg 115] Samaritan would appear next, but he had not done so, when Mr. P. succeeded, unaided, in getting the buggy up and the wet, muddy cushions, blankets and passengers into it and setting forward.

After a time the darkness seemed to thin a little and the rest of the way was passed without accident, though the water was deep in all the low places. How cheering were the light and warmth of the deep fireplace and the cordial welcome of the Christian teachers to these muddy, wet and supperless travelers when at last they reached Mt. Hermon!

The next morning, after Miss Dickey had conducted Sunday-school, as usual, Mr. Pope preached, making use of the preceding evening’s experience to help inquirers in the way; urging them to move forward, taking advanced ground with every flash or even glimmer of the light of truth in their minds and hearts, not waiting to see all the way mapped out before them, and pointing to the safe arrival at the heavenly home—the light, the welcome, the rest.

At their request, Mr. P. has organized a branch, or class, of the Tougaloo church in this school, and at the communion service in the afternoon two additional members were received. Then they turned homeward, and in retracing their course and observing where they had driven, in the unconsciousness of utter darkness, on narrow and washed-out ridges between ditches deep enough to make an upset dangerous, they could but be grateful that in their little experience of itinerating they had fared so well.

⁂

DEDICATION OF LINCOLN MEMORIAL CHURCH.

The Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church of Washington, D. C., was dedicated Sunday, January 2, with appropriate services. Secretary Beard preached an able and practical dedicatory sermon on “The Struggles of Life,” from the text, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things.” The dedicatory prayer was offered by the pastor.

In the afternoon another large audience gathered at the Young People’s Service, which was addressed by Rev. S. M. Newman, pastor of the First Congregational Church, and others. In the evening Rev. T. G. Steward, D. D., pastor of the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church, preached an able sermon on “The Strongholds of Faith.”

The church was organized a few years ago with only eleven members, including the first pastor, Rev. S. P. Smith. It now has an enrollment of over eighty and a flourishing Sunday-school. This was the second Congregational church organized at the National Capital in the midst of a large, needy and growing population; four other churches have been since organized, so that our polity is now represented by six churches.

The building, which is large and commodious and centrally located, has been altered and renovated, and now presents a very attractive appearance.[Pg 116] The repairs which were begun ten weeks ago have cost to date $1,300. Over eleven hundred dollars of this amount have been raised and expended. The lower floor consists of the audience room, which serves as chapel, with a seating capacity of six hundred and fifty, with spacious Sunday-school rooms adjoining, which will seat three hundred and fifty. The upper floor has been neatly fitted up for a parsonage and school-rooms.

In addition to the religious services, a sewing-school for girls, a night school and a kindergarten are carried on in the building.

The Women’s Missionary Society, music and the industrial work, are under the direction of Mrs. G. W. Moore. The dedicatory services were reported in all the Washington daily papers and several weeklies. The church has a large field of usefulness and a bright outlook.

GEORGE W. MOORE.

EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS.

The A. M. A. workers in the South have many discouragements. Our work is generally ignored by the whites, and often unappreciated by the blacks, but such letters as the following show that many fully appreciate the efforts that are made to purify and elevate the race. We have recently organized a “Social Purity Society,” and have already the names of over sixty women and girls on our “White Shield” pledge. After one of our meetings, at which earnest words of warning and advice were given by several of the teachers, the following letters were received from two of the mothers:

Miss ——: I will say sumthing a bout the subjeck it is to great for me to hold my peace I will call upon all the teachers poticler I belive they are chosen that the blessed lord has call to show the slave race the true way for me myself cannot say much but my deser are great I belive I can see your butful light and understand all your blessed words I will praye to the blessed lord to help all the blind race to see your white shell (shield) work and understand your butif words Mothers and fathers are cring about the disgrace the young race are bringing upon them I will beg you once more please don’t get werry weary I belive the blessed lord will help you.

Miss ——: I will take great plesure to write you a fee lines a boutt subject consern the miss acshon in riten them colar boys and the white men It was very great you cannot speak too much about that subjet that princlbum are a bout to cover the citty in that low degree with our colar girls please to study the stronges subjet that your brains can hold and tounge can utter I umbel beg for jeus sake I belive the lord will help you and bless the many words you speak this is my heart desirer I umbel beg all the teachrs to help this is a great subjet very much needen with the scool girls I will do all I can in the name of the blessed lord.

THE INDIANS.

OUR DEACON.

“Young men, never despair of the hardest case,” were the words which were spoken to some of us, while in Hartford Theological Seminary, more than fifteen years ago, by a missionary from Africa, and he gave us some illustrations to prove his point. I was forcibly reminded of this a few weeks ago as we elected two Indians to serve as deacons, the first Indians ever chosen to fill that place in the history of this church, for during the first eleven years of its existence there have been white men connected with it who have filled that office acceptably. Some time ago, however, the last one left us, and after waiting a while in vain to see if some other men would not come, who would serve in this capacity, we decided that it was best to choose Indians for the place.

One of these has had a remarkable history. About thirty years ago or more he was baptized a Catholic, but when, after a short stay, the Catholic priest left these Indians, not to return again, he, with the rest of these Indians, relapsed to their heathenish ways.

Twelve years ago he was noted for drinking and for the sly ways in which he could procure his liquor. In 1876 he had great trouble with his wife and wished to leave her, but the Agent would not allow it. A long trouble followed, in which the Agent and prominent Indians tried every way they could think of to make them live peaceably together. One day the Agent with two friendly Indians went to arrest him, but, with the help of his uncle, he knocked down the Agent, broke out a window and got away. He was pursued all day, but was not taken, and at night was helped off by his relations, and he ran a long way off. For this his relations were locked up in jail, which brought them to terms, and they induced him to return so that they could be let out, and he served six months in jail.

After that he secretly left his wife, took another, and went to another reservation, sixty miles distant, but in time, with the help of another Agent and two soldiers, he was again taken and conveyed to Fort Townsend, where he worked six months more, with a soldier and bayonet to compel him to do so.

A year or two afterwards he returned to Skokomish. He said that he had reformed, but was still a Catholic, and he held some Catholic services at his own house. For a year or two, however, they did not amount to much, as hardly anybody attended them. In 1881 affairs changed, and through the death of a prominent Indian, the Catholics became quite strong, mingling with their teachings spiritualistic revelations from the dying man, and he was their priest.

The next year another Indian professed to die, receive revelations, and[Pg 118] come to life again, and he originated a religion which was composed of Protestantism, Catholicism, spiritualism, the old Indian religion, and a nervous twitching, similar to the jerks prevalent in the Southern and Western States fifty years ago, and which gained for them the name of Shakers. For a few months they carried things with a high hand, and he was an acknowledged leader. The Catholic religion, however, grew to be a very small part of their services, while the shaking grew to be very large, so that their heads and hands were sometimes shaking night after night, six hours at a time. To save them from becoming crazy, with the advice of the physician, the Agent put a stop to this, but told them they might continue their Catholic services, if they wished, as he had no right to interfere with their religion as a religion. But they gave up everything, and asked me to teach them. I gladly did so, and a year afterwards, in the fall of 1884, he united with our church. Thus he has been by far the most troublesome Indian of any here, both to Church and Government. For more than two years he has done well in the church, and now, with my approval and with the unanimous consent of the members of the church, he has been chosen their deacon.

As I write, an Indian sits before me dressed in leggins with two blankets around him, and a comforter tied over his head. He has come to get his horses shod, and as the blacksmith is away, he has to wait. He has sat stolidly most of the day, his horses out in the cold—the thermometer is about 12 or 14 degrees below zero. As he has sat here without an expression of a single emotion passing over his face, he has occasionally drawn a deep sigh. He knows his life is wretched, and yet it would take almost a miracle to arouse him to activity enough to render his life comfortable. As I contrast him with my own boys and girls, with the emotions aroused by mental activity chasing each other over their faces, I feel that their lives will be happier and, I hope, better than his.

TEACHER AMONG THE PONCAS.

THE CHINESE.

Several articles savagely anti-Chinese having appeared in a Knights of Labor paper published in Marlboro, Mass., Rev. A. F. Newton sent to the editor the following vigorous reply:

“We understand the purpose of the laboring classes in their organizations and publications is to promote the best interests of our suffering fellow men. And this we do wherever we find a man who has fallen among thieves on the Jericho road. The fact that he has on the wooden shoes of Holland, or the queue of China, or the corduroy pants of Ireland,[Pg 119] does not prevent our performing our duty to him as a fellow man. And any one who abuses any man because of the land of his birth deserves severe censure from every right-minded man who labors with hand or head.

“Your inconsistency, Mr. Editor, appears when in one place you say of the Chinese, ‘This town is afflicted with but few of them, thank God, and the sooner they disappear the better.’ And in another column you say, ‘We are willing to do anything possible to aid in promoting charity, but if creed or nationality is to be considered in bestowing it, just count us out.’ What is your creed? The one in which you thank God this town is afflicted with only a few of one nationality, or the one in which you propose to be counted out unless charity shall be bestowed regardless of creed or nationality? The man who tries to ride two horses is apt to fall. Inconsistency always appears ridiculous. We hope the prayer in your ‘Thank God’ does not put you under the condemnation of Proverbs 28:9.

“In behalf of every nation in America, we protest against the abuse of any people, whether they come from the banks of the Shannon, or of the Rhine or the Po, the Danube or the Hoang Ho.

“It is urged against the Chinese in one of your columns that their great sin is in the fact ‘that California has been drained of over $200,000,000 during the last twenty-five years.’ This is an average of $800,000 per year. But surely this is not a great offence, for Mr. Michael Davitt, at Madison Square Garden, New York city, recently urged ‘that millions of dollars had been sent from this country to gladden the poor Irish peasants.’ Every true man will rejoice that the peasantry of Ireland and China and Germany can be gladdened with money honestly earned by their friends in America. The heart of one peasant is as precious in the sight of the Lord as the heart of any other peasant so far as we know.

“We have always held that it was mean for a great strong man to strike a small one. When we see this done we feel like saying, ‘Take a man of your size.’ On this principle we shall never admire the 17,000,000 laboring men attacking the 125,000 now in our country. We do not believe any one has correctly sensed the heart of true workmen when he tries to win their favor by abusing the few harmless industrious celestials.

“What are the charges you have to make against these Chinese? Are they disturbers of the peace, are they thieves, are they licentious, are they riotous or drunkards or paupers? Are they the burden of our courts? If there be anything I denounce it is national prejudice. Will you denounce an Irishman because he came from Ireland, or a Chinese because he came from China? I will not. My condemnation shall fall on him who violates law and is an unworthy citizen. And then my condemnation rests, not upon his nationality, but upon his guilt. So long as any man is a quiet, law-abiding citizen, he can count me his friend. When he sins, I shall preach to him repentance and reformation.

[Pg 120]

“I am aware that the problem of foreign immigration is gigantic. But what kind of a sieve shall be used to strain the stream that is flowing into America from the Old World? The men who weave the meshes of the strainer have a Herculean task. Your readers will find it very profitable to study the ‘evils incident to immigration’ in the North American Review for January, 1884.”

BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.

MISS D. E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.

HOW TO ORGANIZE AND CONDUCT A LADIES MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

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

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

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

[Pg 121]

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

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

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

They have the lodges, chapters, commanderies, and consistories of the Masonic order for colored men as well as for white. In Oddfellowship there are lodges for the men, and the Household of Ruth lodges for the women. There are the Knights of the Wise Men and the Sons and Daughters of Relief. The following are some of the lodges for men and women: Diamond Square, Beulah Temple, Blazing Star Temple, Daughters of Shiloh, Sisters of Charity, Sons and Daughters of Ham, and Willing Workers. There are Queen Esther’s Courts, and the United Sons and Daughters of Abraham, the Good Samaritans, the United Daughters of Zion, the Star Tabernacles, the Daughters of Union, the Tabernacle of Love and Charity, the Sons and Daughters of Moses, the Sons and Daughters of Honor, the Mothers and Daughters of Israel, the Eastern Star, the[Pg 122] United Brothers of Friendship, the Sons of the Mysterious Ten, and the Immaculates.

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

J. B. N.

FOR THE CHILDREN.

THE WAY TO DO IT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now they have enjoyed doing this so much, and they think it will be[Pg 123] so nice when they and their Badger are grown up, to feel that they had helped him to be a man, that they have asked me to recommend their plan to other boys and girls and to their parents, in Connecticut and other States also.

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

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

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

RECEIPTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1887.

H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer,
56 Reade St., N. Y.

[A] The following sums from Minnesota were received in January and included in the total amount of receipts for that month, but by an accident of the printer were omitted from the published statement: