“The present Commissioner of Indian Affairs is an able man, of large business experience, and, moreover, (as chairman of the Purchasing Committee of the Board of Indian Commissioners for two or three years, and up to within a few months of entering this office), of large experience in Indian affairs. There is no man in the country whom corrupt contractors have more learned to fear and to hate; and, in my opinion, they are the men who are fanning this flame of excitement, and who are exerting all their influence to turn the administration of Indian affairs over to the War Department. They are pinched by the present policy, and desire change. They cannot suffer by this or any change, and may be benefited—hence, their noisy zeal. I am sorry that any good man has for a moment been led to believe that the Secretary of the Interior is open to the influence of this class of men. I think the public may safely quiet their fears upon this point. Whatever else may be said of him, he is not a ‘bird of that feather.’ From what I have seen, I think the public may look for an administration of his department not only honest but able, and may also be assured that the policy of President Hayes toward the Indians will be eminently humane and Christian.”
—The educational work among the Indians may be summed up from the Commissioner’s report for 1877, as follows: There are 251,000 Indians, and 28,000 half-breeds, exclusive of Alaska. Among them are 330 schools, of which 60 are boarding-schools, with 437 teachers; and 11,515 pupils have attended at least one mouth. Largest monthly average, 4,774; average for the year, 3,598; expense to the government, $255,379; to Tribal funds, $81,989; to the religious societies, $33,950; in all, $371,318; 40,397, of whom 23,196 are adults, can read; 1,206 learned to read last year.
—The religious items, drawn from the same source, show 207 church buildings on the reservations; 126 missionaries, not included among teachers; expended by religious societies, $36,164; 27,215 are members of the mission churches of all denominations. We question whether the $36,000 reported as expended by the religious societies, represents, even approximately, the full amount given from this source, since the A. B. C. F. M. and the Presbyterian Board, together, expend annually nearly this amount. We claim that, considering all the disadvantages of his condition, and the fewness of the laborers, the results are gratifying and hopeful.
—The House Committee on Education and Labor made a report, February 25th, on the Chinese question, of which we give the following abstract: Since the first treaty with China, in July, 1844, the migration has been on the steady increase for the last twenty years—from 1855 to 1859, it was 4,530; 1860 to 1864, it was 6,600; from 1865 to 1870, it was 9,311; from 1871 to 1874, it was 13,000. —— The lowest estimate of Chinamen in California is 150,000. From the density of population in China, and the lowness of wages, from their migratory disposition, and the attractions of our congenial climate, high wages and liberal government, and the cheapness and safety of the voyage hither, an increasing rate of immigration is prophesied. —— While the Chinaman is desirable merely as a laborer, he has neither home, self-respect, nor underclothes, and lives on rice, tea and dried fish. He has low ideas of religion, labor, women and virtue. —— He does not assimilate with the American people, and is unchanged by contact. He does not mean to stay, and will not even contribute his dead body to our national welfare. He cannot be made into a soldier, or even a juryman. —— He is proud of Confucius, and vainly boasts of China as the central nation of the world. He is, and will remain, distinct “in color, size, features, dress, language, customs, habits and social peculiarities.”
The joint resolution relative to Chinese immigration is as follows:
“Whereas, It appears that the great majority of Chinese immigrants are unwilling to conform to our institutions, to become permanent residents of our country, and accept rights and assume responsibilities of citizenship; and,
”Whereas, They have indicated no capacity to assimilate with our people; therefore,
“Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to open correspondence immediately with the Governments of China and Great Britain, with the view of securing a change or abrogation of all stipulations in existing treaties which permit unlimited immigration of Chinese to the United States.”
—Cheap labor, whether by machine or by man-power, has always been resisted by those whom it has displaced. But it always pushes the more intelligent laborers up and not down. It has been so in California. Men are now foremen who were only fruit-pickers, and engineers who were only miners before Chinese labor came in.
—Race unions, to keep prices of labor up, and to put competition down, are no better than other unions for these purposes. All such combinations are both short-sighted and selfish.
—In the San Francisco Bulletin, we find the following schedule of labor rates in that city: Carpenters, from $3 to $3.50 a day; bricklayers, $4 to $5; painters, $3; plasterers, $3.50; hod-carriers,$3; stone-cutters, $4; machinists, $3 to $4; brass-founders, $4.50; common laborers, $2; woolen mills, $2.50 to $3.50; domestics, $25 to $30 a month—not more than two children allowed in an employer’s family at that. It can be seen at a glance that these wages are twice those paid in the Eastern States for corresponding work. Does Chinese competition keep these prices up, or does California need less homeopathic doses of “China” to bring her prices somewhere near the level of her sister States?
—By the statistics of the arrivals and departures for 1877, it appears that 9,906 passengers arrived from China and Japan, and 7,852 returned, showing an excess of 2,054 arrivals, not all of whom, indeed, were Mongolians; while the deaths of Chinese exceeded 2,054. It would seem that our Christian statesmen of San Francisco might repress their morbid solicitude, in view of these encouraging facts.
We trust our readers will notice carefully the accounts of our various educational institutions as they appear in order from month to month. These articles are intended to give a view of the peculiar work, and appliances for work, of these schools and colleges. Next month, we expect to publish an article on Tougaloo University, Mississippi; and, in June, one on Straight University, Louisiana. Others will follow in such order as their special circumstances may determine.
We find that we are at liberty to say to our readers, that the touching little poem entitled “Christ in the Person of the Poor,” which appeared in our February Missionary, was from the pen of the Rev. Eli Corwin, D. D., of Jacksonville, Illinois.
The heroes of the anti-slavery struggle are passing away. The Tappans, Joshua Leavitt and others finished their course in the last few years, and now we record the death of two others of their compeers.
Rev. Wm. Goodell was born in Chenango County, N. Y., Oct. 25th, 1792. In his earlier years he acquired a practical knowledge of business affairs, but it was as a thinker, writer and reformer that he has made his mark in the world. He will be remembered as an editor and author, devoted earnestly and successfully to promoting reform in many directions, but especially in relation to intemperance and slavery. Mr. Goodell was present at the Convention in Albany, N. Y., at which this Association was formed, and took a prominent and effective part in its proceedings, preparing and reporting the elaborate address to the Christian public, which was adopted and sent forth as embodying the views on which the Convention based the new organization. From that time to the close of his life, his sympathy for our work was constant and earnest.
Rev. J. S. Green died at his home in Makawao, Sandwich Islands, Jan. 5th, 1878, in the 82d year of his age. Mr. Green went out as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands in 1828, in company with Andrews, Gulick and others, and shared in effecting the wonderful transformation in those Islands. In 1842 Mr. Green resigned his connection with the American Board, and from that time until his death was a pastor, depending for his support upon his own labor and the contributions of his people. His strong anti-slavery sympathies led him to seek a connection, yet without salary, with the Union Missionary Society and subsequently with this Association, when that Society was merged into it. His name appeared for years in our list of foreign missionaries, and his reports were full and interesting. His ready pen, not satisfied with mere reports, was prolific in contributions on missionary subjects, and earnest in its denunciations of the evils of slavery in his native land. He was a man of deep and earnest piety, and his memory will be cherished in the warm regard of those who knew his worth and his useful career.
The painful intelligence has reached us of the death, on February 17th, of typhoid fever, after a four weeks’ illness, of Mr. Marmaduke C. Kimber, of Germantown, Pa., aged nearly twenty-four years. The son of one of the valued friends and trustees of Hampton Institute, Mr. Kimber, when just out of college in 1872, gave his services to the school for two years as a volunteer teacher. Since then he has been professor in a Western college, and after a year of travel in Europe, he took charge of the Friends’ Academy in Germantown, which position he held at the time of his death. He is remembered with sincerest esteem by the officers of the school and teachers who were associated with him at Hampton, and the students who were under his instruction.—Southern Workman.
Mrs. Alicia S. (Blood) Brown died at Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 26th of February. Mrs. Brown was for some years a teacher under this Association at Monticello, Florida, and her many friends there will remember the faithful instruction she gave and the kindnesses she bestowed. Her illness was long and severe, but when she did not look for the Messenger, he came and took her away. In the midst of her sufferings, she could cheerfully say, that she wanted to “bear and suffer all His will.”
REV. E. P. LORD, PRESIDENT.
Almost in the very centre of Alabama, the great Allegheny range makes a last and only partially successful effort at rearing mountains, before losing itself in the low, flat black belt. Thus the pure and exhilarating atmosphere of more Northern latitudes is brought to the very border of the almost tropical country that belts the Gulf. Overlooking the rich, populous, and somewhat unwholesome low-lands, breathing the pure mountain air, is situated Talladega, seeming to have been Providentially placed as a city of refuge for the colored people of Alabama. The beauty of the surrounding landscape is a perpetual inspiration to teachers and students. The location of the college, in a quiet country village of two thousand inhabitants, invites the young people from the cities, and less favored localities, to an atmosphere as pure and healthful morally as it is physically.
But one other Southern State, if any, has so large a colored population as Alabama. A half million are now in the State, and the number is continually increasing. Of these, three-fifths cannot read. There are about two hundred thousand children of school age, and only one in ten of these was in school last year. Eighty-three cents only was expended upon the education of each of those who did attend. One would hardly judge that this could afford a liberal education.
In a State needing moral and educational efforts so greatly, the A. M. A. has opened schools and organized churches in Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, Marion, Athens, and a few other places. In 1870 the Association established Talladega College, as the key-stone of the arch, or the centre of its system of educational and religious work in Alabama. The college is closely connected with the other points of the Association’s work in this State by means of the intimate social relations between the faculty of the college and the workers in those places.
The various departments designated by the name Talladega College, are so closely interwoven that any distinct mention of the workings of one must contain facts closely related to the others. For convenience I will speak of (1) the Literary Department; (2) the Industrial Department; (3) the Theological Department; (4) the Church Work.
This includes the various grades, from the elementary to the higher Normal course, the latter requiring three years for its completion. The studies pursued include in mathematics, University Algebra and Geometry; in science, Physical Geography, Physiology, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, English Literature, Mental and Moral Philosophy, etc., with the theory and practice of teaching. Its students have accomplished much in teaching throughout the State. In seven years, according to their reports to the principal, these students have taught about five hundred day-schools, with fifteen thousand scholars. At the same time they have organized Sabbath-schools, and taught in them over twenty thousand scholars. These numbers fairly represent the power these young people have exerted for the moral and intellectual elevation of their people in this and other States. There are in the department seventy pupils. Next year a large number will be admitted from the intermediate grade, which now numbers one hundred, though, in our present poverty, it has had but one teacher the greater part of the year.
There are in attendance this year two hundred and fifty students, a much larger number than ever before, and there is every indication of an increase the coming year. During the last vacation the principal and the music teacher, with a company of students, visited many of the larger places of the State, lecturing, giving concerts, and stirring up the people generally on the subject of education. The Christian zeal and deportment of the students, and the information diffused, awakened a desire for education, and a public sentiment in favor of Talladega College never before known. The last commencement exhibited and also increased the new love and enthusiasm for the college. They gathered from the country for twenty miles around, on foot, on mules, in ox-carts and wagons. All the examinations were largely attended; many who could not read taking the liveliest interest in “two unknown quantities,” and experiments in philosophy. An instructive address by Rev. Dr. Brown, of Newark, N. J., the prize declamations and essays by fourteen of the Normal students, the graduating exercises of three young men from the Theological Department, the concert by the Musical Union, and other interesting exercises, furnished the only means for comprehending a liberal education, which hundreds of the great crowds in attendance had ever enjoyed.
The students, also, are taking a personal pride in bringing back the best scholars from their summer schools. One young man, having failed to collect any funds from his summer school in Georgia, started with his most advanced pupil on foot, their satchels upon their backs. Walking, riding in chance carts, and helped on by railroad conductors, who were evidently influenced to surprising kindness by the spirit of the Master, they reached this place. Incited by the enthusiasm of this young man, three more have followed him from his distant field of labor. From Mississippi, another young man brought back two. They walked about one hundred miles, and are now paying their way in school by labor on the college farm.
Both have begun earnest Christian lives, and are soon to unite with the church.
All the young men of the college are organized into a battalion of cadets for physical culture. Their government is conducted by means of this organization, its officers being held responsible for the conduct of the members, and being expected to set an example of manliness and courteous deportment. We find this to be one of the most potent factors of their moral as well as physical development.
At the close of the last school year, the Industrial Department was decided upon. One of the professors, with the approval of the Association, immediately proceeded to lay the matter before friends in the North; and the teachers gathered from all sources whatever they could secure, with which to begin the work. About three thousand dollars have already been received, and work in the following branches begun:
A printing press was secured, with which to bring our wants before the people of the North, and our influence to bear upon the intelligent colored people. Six students have learned a useful trade, and by its means are paying their way in school. In August they began the publication of the Southern Sentinel, a small eight-page paper, of which five hundred copies are issued monthly. Should any one doubt its usefulness, a year’s subscription (one dollar) would be an excellent test. Six hundred copies of the Sabbath-school Lesson papers, prepared with reference to the peculiar needs of our Sabbath-schools, are also printed, together with a large quantity of other matter.
Work upon the farm was begun in September. In October one hundred and sixty acres were bought, in addition to the thirty acres already owned by the college. The citizens of the place, both white and colored, have become deeply interested in the success of the enterprise. Gifts of all kinds, from a little girl’s pet chicken, to a fine eighteen dollar plow from a merchant of the town, and from an old auntie’s half-peck of potatoes to a fine cow and calf from one of the deacons of the college church, and varying in amounts from five cents to fifty dollars, have been given. Our most intelligent citizens say that no other enterprise for the benefit of the colored people has ever aroused so much interest among them as the Agricultural Department.
In the Girls’ Industrial School, sixteen young women are earning, wholly or in part, their board and tuition; while, at the same time, learning ways and methods which will make hundreds of homes brighter and happier.
In mechanical work, five hundred dollars’ worth of building and repairing has been done, under the direction of an excellent carpenter.
In these different departments of labor, the students have already received about fifteen hundred dollars as wages, in board and tuition.
If the colored people are to be elevated, in no class is education more necessary than in the ministry. One of the leading Baptist ministers in the State, being asked how many of the young ministers educated in their schools were now in the ministry in this State, replied “One, and we expect soon another.” Yet this church includes by far the largest number of the colored people. To meet this great want, a Theological Department was organized in connection with the college in 1872. Four young men constituted the first class, three of whom are now in the ministry. The number of pupils last year was twenty-seven; at present it is nineteen. The decrease is owing to the requirement of a higher standard in literary training. The colored people are naturally theologians and Bible students. Three distinct lines of study are pursued, all of which have special reference to practical, Christian work. (1) To make the pupils familiar with the facts of the Bible. (2) To establish them in a system of Christian theology. (3) To acquaint them with the best methods of Christian work. Twenty-five Sabbath-schools are carried on by the students. Six of these have grown into churches, the young men acting as their pastors. Sabbath-school Conventions, and various other kinds of Christian work, are conducted by the students, often assisted by teachers from the college. This department has a library of over eight hundred volumes.
We doubt if anywhere else in the South the Church and School are both so strong and so closely united as here. The Congregational Church of Talladega was organized in 1868. There are at present one hundred and forty-nine members, with a Sabbath-school of three hundred. Of course the larger part are students, but a goodly number are citizens, heads of families, having good homes, and being comparatively prosperous. Not only the members of this church, but of the other churches in the village, are thoroughly interested in whatever affects the college. In all the church services citizens and students mingle, with always a sprinkling of members from other churches. In the social gatherings of the students, the members of the church are always welcomed, and enter heartily into their pleasures. Thus the college is anchored by means of the church in the hearts of the people themselves. Many colleges are held in their present location by the force of gravity, or by the adhesive force of brick and mortar alone; but Talladega College, were her buildings burned to the ground, or blown aloft into the air, would remain firmly fixed in the hearts and affections of the people.
“A mighty still religion.” “Good Christians is Peaceable.”
MISS MARTHA MOORE, WILMINGTON.
With a larger working force this year, we are able to do more outside work, and we find in our visits among the people plenty of poverty, misery and sin. We almost wonder if any power is sufficient to raise them from their degradation. Yet, the many noble exceptions bring to view the possibilities of the race, and encourage us to labor on.
To show how the old heathenish idea of religion seems to those who have received more light, I will copy a letter from one who, only a year ago, was led to embrace the truth and to join our church. She writes from her old home in the country, where she is spending the winter with her father. She has, as you will see, a very limited education. She writes:
“Dear Friends: I arrieved home safe found All injoying helth I went with Brother to the Sunday School But Could not Injoy it; Some had their spelling Books And Some their testaments and speled And read the lessons over and out to play. then the Church gather in to Class and in a half hour every bodys mouth was open and their was nothing to be heard But I have been redeemb. I stod aside and look at them till at last one of them Caime to me saying sister what are you doing havent you got the Spirit on yet? why, your religeon dead why what sort of Still thing is this. ha you must be up And a doing let the world no that you got the spirit on Show your light and let them see. Well I says I think that a very poor way to show the Christian light. O well if you say this a poor way you got no religeon honey; what Church you belong to. I tole them, why I never heard of that before well if they are like you I don’t no how it is but its mighty still religeon well I says Im Sorry that you all think that unless you Make a loud noise the world wont see your Light. I believe in showing the light in our walk And Conversation home and abroad not wait to go To the Church; But they say you must get the Spirit on, so you see its imposible for me to injoy their worship. I hope you will all pray for my deliverence for I do not think the lord intend to keep Me in this purgatory.
“Yours, L. S.”
We have in our night-school some who are making great efforts to improve in knowledge. It requires no little resolution, after working hard all day, to walk a mile or two and study two or three hours. A stranger came a few weeks ago, wishing, as he said, “to cultivate his brain.” There was evidently need of it, and we were glad to learn that his recent conversion had awakened him to the importance of knowing how to read for himself. He also expressed a wish to come here to church, as he had become acquainted with one of our members, who, as he said, “seemed to be a good, civil sort of Christian,” and he thought he would come and see what kind of meetings produced that effect. He had attended another church, but said he “didn’t like there, for they had some crossness, and good Christians is peaceable; they can’t help being peaceable”;—a good lesson for all who bear the Christian name.
Our Sunday-school averages about 130, and the truth seems to be gaining a firmer hold in the minds of some of the older pupils. The day-school is prospering. One of the little ones of the primary department, a bright little fellow, was yesterday laid in his grave.
Debt-Raising in a Colored Church.
REV. CHARLES NOBLE, MONTGOMERY
At the annual meeting of the church, in December, it was found that of the $100 pledged to the pastor’s salary, only $25 had been paid; and that an old debt for sexton’s services remained, amounting to $34. In the extra effort made to pay for the painting and repair of the church, and other expenses in spring and summer, these things had been neglected. It was a surprise, and, of course, a disagreeable one to many of the church; but there was a decided feeling that the amount ought to be raised at once, and not left to be a burden on the church any longer. A debt of $109 is as much to this people as some of the $50,000 debts, which Mr. Kimball has been helping churches North to clear away, are to them. Therefore, it seemed to me that the matter was one to be carefully and prayerfully managed. I appointed a meeting for the consideration of the matter, and opened it by reading Chaps, viii. and ix. of 2d Cor., and briefly explaining their teachings. Then we spent half an hour in prayer, the brethren bringing the burden right to the Lord in the simplest and most touching language, expressing their sorrow and self-reproach at having failed to make good their promises, and asking forgiveness and help. Then they talked the matter over, and decided to raise the amount at once by subscription. A fair was suggested, but the decision was against it, on the ground that it wasn’t quite honorable to call in outside help to make good their own delinquency; and, moreover, that a fair involved a great deal of unprofitable labor and excitement, and was a fruitful mother of dissensions. These points they made themselves, and in view of them they decided to raise the amount by voluntary offerings. The subscription began at once, and the matter being presented to the church for two successive Sundays, the whole amount was raised by voluntary pledges. I am certain that the brethren who so cheerfully and promptly pledged, and paid, $7.50 and $6 and $5, gave as abundantly, in proportion to their means, as those who pledged $5,000 and $2,000 at Providence. The spirit in which it was done was the most beautiful part of it. It was more than willingly done. The gifts were brought forward thankfully, joyously, and I never saw happier people in my life than those who joined in thanksgiving to God, when the whole amount was raised. We observed the week of prayer, with meetings every evening, and there was real evidence of the presence of the Spirit. One who has long been in the dark was brought out into the light; and it seemed to us that we must go forward. We had meetings for two weeks with good attendance, and very tender feeling. Quite a number of people rose for prayers, and we hope that four at least have found the Saviour. The church has certainly been quickened and strengthened very much.
Revival News—“Pray for My Child!”—Older Converts—Romanists Reached.
MRS. T. N. CHASE, NEW ORLEANS.
You will rejoice to hear of the good work in the Central Congregational Church of New Orleans. The interest has been sufficient to bring an unusual number every night for four weeks to our prayer-meeting. One evening, after the pastor had taken nearly the usual time, he called for brief testimony from Christians. Fifty-three responded in the limited half hour.
The fruit to be gathered in was from among the older students of the school, who were not already professing Christians. This was what would be expected by those who know their faithful, Christian teachers. All teachers know the thrilling interest that clusters around the conversion of young persons under their tuition. So, as I have heard our teachers talk of this scholarly young man, and that promising young woman, coming over to the Lord’s side, I knew very well what a burden of prayer and effort was lifted from their hearts and hands.
The third week of our meetings a younger class seemed interested. One evening a widow begged us to pray for her daughter, in tones that would have melted a heart of stone. As she passed out of the door, at the close of the meeting, I overheard her saying to one and another, “Pray for my child! pray for my child!” An earnest mother, I thought; who can doubt the reality of her religion? On my way home I learned that her husband had been a devoted member of our church, and a wealthy, intelligent, respected colored citizen. I am happy to find such men are not rare in New Orleans. The next evening the mother, with the same pleading earnestness, begged us to pray for her child. Since her husband’s death her property had gone, other dear ones had passed on, and it seemed as though she could not be denied the conversion of her child. The grandmother was present, too, and gave us a soul-stirring testimony of her long pilgrimage. When those who wished our prayers were requested to come forward, several responded. All were strangers to me; but when a certain little girl went forward just behind the others, a tide of emotion almost overcame me. She was as much a stranger to me as the others, and I, for a moment, wondered at my tears. Then it flashed upon me that she must be the widow’s child, and my emotion was caused by the flood of sympathy that was involuntarily surging from heart to heart for that praying mother. On inquiry, I found I was not mistaken. You can imagine, better than I can describe, the scene, when mother and grandmother gathered about the child, pleading with her to yield to Jesus, as we all knelt to commend the lost lambs to a loving Shepherd.
Now, the older people are being reached. Friday evening a man came in late to escort his wife home. Saturday he came early, and at the very first opportunity was on his feet, saying, “For forty years I hadn’t thought I had a soul till I came in here last night. Help me to find Jesus.” He went forward, fell upon his knees, and was so penitent it did not seem strange that that very night the publican’s God sent him “to his house justified.” As he met our pastor the next morning at church, he exclaimed, “Mr. Alexander, you convinced me, but Jesus saved me.” It would do a stoic good to look upon his beaming face and see what grace has done for that man.
It seems to me that the most interesting feature of the A. M. A. work in New Orleans is its leavening influence upon Roman Catholicism. I was talking, after service one evening, with a beautiful girl who had been forward for prayers, and whose face wore a genuine look of deep contrition. On asking her if she attended church here regularly, she replied, “No; I go to the Catholic Church.” Another girl was sitting beside a member of our family one evening, when a boy behind whispered to her, “Don’t you ask for prayers! if you do, I’ll tell the priest!” I hear that a large number in the school are professed Catholics, but are allowed to attend on account of the superior instruction.
Le Moyne Normal School.
Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 16th, 1878.
The Le Moyne teachers, last year, organized among themselves a reading circle for their own pleasure and improvement. Each Thursday evening was devoted to the study of an author. After a while, other friends were invited to join them for a single reading. The custom was continued after the long vacation, and became a part of the family life.
So much interest was manifested among the occasional guests, that some of them proposed that the circle be enlarged to include all the colored teachers of the city. The proposal was favorably received, and the new literary society has superseded the original. The character of exercises has been changed to meet the demands of this wider and different element. The programme this week was as follows:
Historical: “Benjamin Franklin—his public life; his private life.” Poetical: “Longfellow—sketch of his life; selections from his writings.” Debate: “Resolved, that the Crusades were a benefit to the world.” “Humorous Reading.” Scientific: “Cell Life.” “Budget.”
Music is interspersed, and discussions upon different topics are presented. Ten minutes is the utmost time allowed each participant. The only drawback is the lack of books of reference. Our small library furnishes some assistance, and the additions made to it from time to time help us in our preparations for the literary society.
Friday evenings are devoted to an equally interesting and well-attended gathering of a more devotional character. The Sabbath-school teachers, who use the International Lessons, meet in one of the school-rooms for studying the next Sabbath’s lesson. It is one of the most enjoyable hours of the week.
The first suggestion of united study came from the superintendent of the leading Methodist Sabbath-school. Others at once acceded to the proposal, and heartily join in the exercises. Topics are assigned to members of various schools, so that special preparation is previously made, and very little time is wasted during the meeting.
Methodist, Baptist and Congregational superintendents succeed one another in leading the meetings. Denominational lines are forgotten in seeking to learn the truths of the Bible, and in considering the best methods of presenting those truths to classes. The ten minutes of devotion, at the beginning of each meeting, include the discussion of a practical subject. “How to secure the influence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our scholars,” “Best methods of conducting Infant Classes,” “Opening and closing exercises of the school,” are a few of the topics considered.
MISS HATTIE MILTON, MEMPHIS.
My mission, thus far, has been mostly to the lowly. The first step was to become acquainted with the people and secure their confidence, which had to be accomplished in various ways; sometimes by taking a great interest in the children, lending them books, giving them pictures, candy, toys, etc., or by giving the mother a little assistance or advice about her work. Sickness affords a good opportunity. I visited one family where the mother had been helpless for some time from a beating given her by her husband. I dressed her wounds, made clothing for her infant, washed and dressed it, set the neighbors to work, and thus secured the confidence of the whole neighborhood; now I am welcomed into homes where before I was treated with coldness and suspicion. I reach a great many through my sick ones.
Some little Sabbath-school girls in Crete, Ill., sent us a box of bedding and clothing, which has been a great help in my work; also, my friends at Romeo, Mich., sent a box of clothing, toys, books, and material for my sewing-school, all of which has been a God-send to me, as I find some very destitute families. The city does nothing for the poor colored people, so my opportunity is all the greater for doing good.
I find many who cannot read and who are very glad to hear the Bible read. Some have even offered to pay me for reading to them, at the same time saying, “You must need it, you dear child, if you have left your friends and home to come and work for the poor colored people.”
It is astonishing how little these people know about the Bible, although they have attended church for years. Those who cannot read find it so hard to understand the preaching, and those who could read a little to them ‘could not give the understanding,’ as they say. When I had finished my Bible reading with one family, they said: “Please, ma’am, come every Sabbath, we get so much more satisfaction from hearing you read than we do anywhere else.” I endeavor to visit them at such hours as not to interfere with their work, and often read and explain the Bible to a woman while she proceeds with her sewing or ironing; however, some insist on laying aside work, saying, “We must give our whole attention to the word of God when we do have a chance to hear it”; and it is quite affecting to have them thank the kind heavenly Father for sending some one to teach them ways they knew not of, and pray to become better women for having received the instruction.
The missionary and those who send her do not lack for prayers from the colored people. I have a Mothers’ Meeting once a week, where I endeavor to teach them from the Bible their duties as mothers and wives; also a sewing-school, where we teach the girls how to cut and make garments, which they buy, when finished, at a low price. I have had so much to do in this part of the work, that one of the teachers has kindly assisted me.
I have over fifty families on my visiting list, and have called on several others and am received cordially by nearly all. I am well pleased with the work, and ought never to cease being thankful for the good and wonderful way in which the Lord has opened this field of labor for me.
Not long since, one of the girls from the senior class came and told me she would like to become a missionary sometime, and asked me to tell her what she could do now, as she wishes to begin to work for Jesus while she is young. She asked me to take her with me on some of my visits among the people, which I shall be glad to do. I think one of the good results of this work is that it tends to set the colored people to work for themselves, as they are glad to do, but did not know how to go to work; they need instruction in this as in everything else.
Berea College.
While the echoes of Merry Christmas are ringing in our ears, and good dinners and joyous family greetings are still bright spots in our memories, it may be interesting to hear of a Gospel Feast in Berea, Ky. Our good steward, of the Boarding Hall, conceived the plan of going out into our highways and hedges and inviting those most destitute to dine with him. Over the hills and the valleys went the joyful tidings into many a log-hut—“Mr. H. done ’vite us to a big dinner at de Hall.”
Aside from teachers and their wives, no white folks were admitted within those doors as guests. At an early hour, the large parlor began to fill. To those of us who were late, it required no little moral courage to enter a room so well filled, and go through the ordeal of hand-shaking. The walls were lined with people, and from their sober, dignified looks, one could easily imagine it a funeral occasion. They seemed conscious of the dignity of the hour, and were prepared to maintain it at any cost. Men sat modestly far away from the women. The costumes would have driven “Worth” distracted. Surely, never could he have devised so many ways of “doing up” the female form. Bits of ribbon, faded and old, stray pieces of lace pinned here and there in charming abundance, and with a lofty indifference to such minor matters as harmony or usefulness. One large figured gown of prominent yellow shades, made conspicuous the form of an old woman, who seemed, like her gown, to have awakened out of a Rip Van Winkle sleep, or been unearthed from some old ruin. It reminded us of the days of Dolly Varden, and was not very unlike the Chinese and Japanese cloths which to-day we try to think pretty. But it would be impossible to attempt a description of the toilettes. Necessity made a virtue of all sorts of combinations; and if they were not beautiful, they seemed to give the wearers the feeling of being dressed—a feeling not always accomplished under happier circumstances.
As we went from one to another, it certainly relieved the monotony to hear them say, “Ki, yi! dars Miss Lizzie,” “How d’ye, honey,” and so on. From the men came the stiffest bows and politest concern for our health. Knowing but few in the party, we hastily found a seat, where we could talk to one about gardens. To another, the never-failing question of babies proved interesting; and thinking of the little black ones, I thought in God’s sight they might be as fair as my own. It took so long for one old dame to tell of her “rheumatiz” and general “misery,” that our sympathy, which was real, almost cooled before the lengthy recital was ended. During all that long hour not a loud laugh was heard from those laughter-loving people.
At length, to the relief of us all, the great doors opened, and the eager old children could contain themselves no longer, and almost broke ranks and ran; husbands and wives apart, evidently fearing, as they hurried to their seats, there would not be room for all. Not till the guests were seated did the teachers scatter here and there, glad for once at least to yield the first seat.
What a meal was provided! Of all good things that could be brought from farm or store, there was no lack. The blessing asked, eagerly they began to enjoy what was to them the principal event of the day. Glancing about us, we saw our steward (a man of deeds rather than of words), upon whom all the expense of this feast came, looking around, with beaming eye, over the great company whose hearts he had made glad. We thought of the wife who had stood by his side so many years, helping in every good work, and who would have been there if God had not called her higher. The flushed face of our good housekeeper, who is never too weary or too busy to do a little more, if she can make hearts happy thereby, shone upon us, and we knew her hands had been full for many days. Though her feet were tired, they obeyed the loving heart, and she flew among us like a spirit, watching on all sides that no one should fail to enjoy the dinner.
Looking up the table, our hearts ached, as one face after another brought up the old slave days. Some there were who had risen above every discouragement, and in the face of poverty, low wages and many another hindrance, had proved themselves men, gladly denying themselves the comforts of life, that their children’s days might be brighter than their own. We saw there old men, grown grey in their “massa’s” service, turned out without a dollar, to pinch the rest of their lives to keep from suffering. Women, married in the Lord and in the honesty of their own hearts, considered only as so much property, to be abused or neglected as their masters chose. Beauty was a fearful gift to the race, and many of our colored women do not lack the gift.
One woman we must speak of, who, having neither riches nor sweetness of temper, made it all good in the wealth of names, which can only be equalled in the royal family. I give a few: “Carrie Lee, Bessie Fee, who but she—Bernaugh.” “Isabel, rise and tell, the glories of Immanuel—Bernaugh.” “Raphael Rogers, Alfred Hart, ’Postle Paul, Caleb after all—Bernaugh.” How she abbreviated these names I know not.
The dinner over, the music room quickly filled. Some of our pianists gave sweet music, but so far above a part of the assembly that I’ve no doubt they longed for their “fiddles and banjoes.” By request, they struck up a wailing sound, which rose and fell, with words somewhat after this style:
This was so sad, that something joyful was called for, and again the strain rung out; old men and women moving their bodies to keep their own time, which each one seemed to do regardless of his neighbor, closing up each line, and almost each word, with such hemi-demi-semi-quavers as would have puzzled some of our best singers. Poor things! the elements of joy had not entered into their religious life. The minor strain swept over all their heart experiences, and in spite of the words of their hymns, their music gave us the echo of their days of bondage, and helped us to thank God that a brighter life had been ours. To them seemed to come no middle ground between the “double-shuffle” and the saddest songs for Christ.
After many a hand-shake and parting blessing to us all, the people wended their way back to their homes, some to their rude cabins, saying to one another, “Dis de best day of my life,” “Tank de Lord for dis good day.”
To our steward we gave the conventional good-bye, but in our hearts we knew that there was one blessed passage of Scripture applicable to him, and we doubt not he will hear it some day: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
This is one picture. I shall be glad soon to show the other side, and give the contrast between some of those who were gathered at this feast, and their children, who have enjoyed the privileges of the school at Berea. L. R.
MRS. E. SPENCE.[A]