Over and over again sounded the weird melody, mingling with the strains of martial music that floated from the barracks opposite. Paulphemia seemed to appreciate better her own melody, with its accompaniment of heels knocking against the gate-post on which she sat, than the patriotic “Rally round the flag, boys,” of the musicians.
It was after the war and Paulphemia was free. Surely, she knew all this, for hadn’t her pa fallen in battle, bravely fighting? and hadn’t she fled with her dear widowed missus and little missuses in as great terror as they when the Union army entered the city? For she loved this mistress, and was only dimly sure that freedom was to be such a glorious thing. Surely no one knew better than Paulphemia that she was free, and yet where was the use in singing all day, “I’se free, thank de Lord,” or of falling on her knees periodically to shout and praise God, as “maw” did?
I have said that she seemed to appreciate better her own doleful melody than the martial music; in reality, though, her song was a kind of “Get thee behind me, Satan,” to the tempter urging her to run over to the barracks.
Indeed Paulphemia’s cup was one of mingled joy and pain, and therein, although as black as ebony, she was akin to us. True, she was free; that meant she had no more toting of missus’ babies. But when she lived with missus, she didn’t have to live with ma; and Paulphemia would have told you, “this ma ain’t my ma, ’cause my own dear ma done died,” and this ma had decreed that the child should not run loose hither and yon, and especially should not go over to the fort and barracks. Paulphemia almost envied the little dwarf, her neighbor, poor little Joe Morgan, whose body and limbs were so distorted and mixed up that he could scratch his ear or his little woolly head with his toes. For the amusement this accomplishment afforded the soldiers, he was welcome at any time, and in this way picked up many a penny.
“Paulphemie,” shouted an imperative voice, “I’se a gwine ter whip you, chile, if you darst go over to them quarters!” The old woman, with her threat and her stick for enforcing it, appeared most opportunely in the cabin door, for the child had slid from the gate-post and in another second would have rallied round the flag; but with a face expressive of innocence itself, she responded, “I’se jis a comin’, maw!” This meekness deceived the old woman and she changed her menacing tones. “Honey,” she said, “your pore ma’s done died, an’ nebber lived to see us free! Say, honey, reckon you’d like for to be a lady like ole missus?” “Dunno,” answered Paulphemia, for “Yankee Doodle” was just then driving her almost wild. “Say, honey, reckon you’d like for to go to the big paid school?”
At this the child opened wider her big eyes, for next to the barracks in point of mystery was the large school into which she had longed to penetrate. “You get learning, chile, an’ get religion, an’ sure ’nough you’se a lady like ole missus.” This was what the old woman told Paulphemia then, and afterward put her to school.
Years came and went as years will do, some three or four or five; and after a time the blue-coats vanished from the city, martial music was no more heard, and the forts crowning the beautiful hills and all the barracks about them became deserted and silent. Still the school in the hospital buildings continued and increased in prosperity, and still the years rolled on, fourteen of them, and even the hospital buildings became deserted, for the Freedmen’s school had long since outgrown its quarters, and from one of the beautiful hills it proudly and peacefully looks down upon the city, that proudly and in peace gazes up to it.
On a day when the Southern sunshine was brightest, one of the professors, on his way to the University, was stopped by an aged colored woman, bowed over on a walking-stick, and hobbling to meet him. “Howdy,” said she, “is you de teacher up yonder?” and she pointed to the stately hall. “Yes, auntie,” he replied with a smile. “Can I do anything for you?” “Reckon you don’t ’member Paulphemie Watkins?”—and as she spoke the name, her voice grew even more tremulous.
The professor regretfully said he did not recall her. “I ’spects you doesn’t,” added the old auntie. “Well, down yonder, sah, when dis yere school was a baby, you know, down yonder in de guv’ment buildings, my Paulphemie went to your paid school; she got religion thar, and—and (wiping slowly her eyes) she done got de choleray and done died, nigh on ter fourteen year ago now, sah. Praise de Lord! she got religion, and she gone home ter glory!” And then the poor old thing, after placing her walking-stick so that she could safely lean on it and have her hands free, removed from her bosom a handkerchief, and with trembling fingers untied a knot in one corner; then she placed in the professor’s hand, counting them out one by one, six silver dollars. “For my Paulphemie’s larnin’, sah. I couldn’t pay it sooner, sah; but, sure ’nough, its done laid like a stone right here all dese yere years,” she said, putting her hand on her heart. "I prayed de Lord an’ I said, O! good Lord, don’t lemme come home to glory till I done paid for Paulphemie’s larnin’! It’s a pretty day, sah; I lives a right smart o’ way yonder, an’ my ole feet don’t go fast, so good evening."[A] With those words she would have gone. The professor’s eyes were moist, and he had hardly spoken, so strange had been the scene, but now he followed her, begging her gently to keep the money. With pride and almost anger she refused, and after learning where her home was, he was obliged to let her go, contenting himself with a plan to fully make up to her in some way the sum she had left in his hands.
Walking slowly and thoughtfully toward the University, he seemed to hear not “the still, sad music of humanity;” for how could he dare to pity a soul so noble? But an angel’s plaudit spoke for her, “She hath done what she could.”
FOOTNOTE:
[A] This incident of the aged colored woman’s honesty is true, and occurred during the past winter.
| MAINE, $171.23. | |
| Bath. Central Ch. and Soc. | $15.00 |
| Portland. State St. Ch. | 150.00 |
| South Paris. Cong. Ch. | 6.23 |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE, $293.23. | |
| Centre Harbor. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 17.00 |
| Concord. South Cong. Ch. and Soc., $100.57, to const. Mrs. Sara H. Harrington, L. M.; Miss A. J. H. and Others, $2; “A Friend,” $1 | 103.57 |
| Fitzwilliam. Mrs. Louisa Hill, to const. herself L. M. | 30.00 |
| Henniker. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 25.00 |
| Hollis. Cong. Ch. | 5.20 |
| Reese. First Cong. Sab. Sch. | 39.00 |
| Milford. Cong. Ch. ($10 of wh. bal. to const. Andrew J. Hutchinson, L. M.) | 18.75 |
| Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 20.27 |
| New Ipswich. Cong. Ch. | 12.44 |
| Pembroke. “A. T.” | 5.00 |
| Short Falls. I. W. Chandler | 2.00 |
| Webster. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 15.00 |
| VERMONT, $1,181.45. | |
| Brownington & Barton Landing. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 20.83 |
| Johnson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 10.00 |
| Middlebury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 44.72 |
| Saint Albans. A. O. Brainerd | 25.00 |
| Sheldon. Cong. Ch. | 5.00 |
| Shoreham. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) | 0.51 |
| Springfield. A. Woolson | 200.00 |
| West Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $9.88; Mrs. Fannie C. Gaines, $5 | 14.88 |
| West Dover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 3.00 |
| Wilmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 5.26 |
| Windsor. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. Mrs. Lydia Wheeler, and Dea. C. D. Hazen, L. M’s | 52.25 |
| ———— | |
| 381.45 | |
| LEGACY. | |
| Springfield. Estate of Dea. Charles Haywood, by Geo. P. Haywood, Ex. | 800.00 |
| ———— | |
| 1,181.45 | |
| RHODE ISLAND, $1,035.00. | |
| Bristol. Mrs. M. De W. Rogers and Miss Charlotte De Wolf, for Fisk U. | 1,000.00 |
| Little Compton. United Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 21.00 |
| Little Compton. Cong. Sab. Sch., for rebuilding, Tougaloo U. | 14.00 |
| NEW YORK, $1,540.32. | |
| Binghamton. Chas. A. Beach | 25.00 |
| Brentwood. E. F. Richardson | 15.00 |
| Brooklyn. Central Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., Geo. A. Bell, Supt., for Missionaries at Ladies Island, S.C., and Fernandina, Fla. | 125.00 |
| Ithaca. Mrs. Lucy Thurber | 5.00 |
| Jamestown. Sab. Sch. and Cong. Ch., for school, Athens, Ala. | 12.50 |
| Marilla. “A Friend” | 1.00 |
| New York. S. T. Gordon, $200; N.Y. Colored Mission Sab. Sch., 135, West 30th St., $3.15 | 203.15 |
| Oswego. Cong. Ch. | 65.90 |
| Poughkeepsie. First Reformed Ch., $29.52; First Cong. Ch., $12 | 41.52 |
| Sing Sing. “Friends” | 5.00 |
| Spencerport. Sab. Sch. of First Cong. Ch. | 17.25 |
| Walton. “A Friend,” for Steamer “John Brown,” Mendi M. | 10.00 |
| West Camden. Miss N. Curtiss, $1.25; P. S. S., 75c. | 2.00 |
| West Groton. Cong. Ch. | 12.00 |
| ———— | |
| 540.32 | |
| LEGACY. | |
| Nineveh. Estate of Col. Reuben Lovejoy, by Mrs. Mary B. Lovejoy, Executrix | 1,000.00 |
| ———— | |
| 1,540.32 | |
| NEW JERSEY, $10.70. | |
| Newark. “A Friend” | 0.70 |
| Troy. Mrs. Jane Ford | 10.00 |
| PENNSYLVANIA, $15.00. | |
| Prentiss Vale. Rev. M. W. Strickland | 5.00 |
| West Alexander. —— | 10.00 |
| OHIO, $336.99. | |
| Andover. Cong. Ch. | 4.00 |
| Clarksfield. W. A. A. | 1.00 |
| Cleveland. Euclid Ave. Cong. Ch., $42.37, ($30 of which to const. J. W. Ellsworth, L. M.); R. B. Johns, $2.50 | 44.87 |
| Cuyahoga Falls. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 18.15 |
| Freedom. Cong. Ch., by Rev. Geo. Thompson | 8.00 |
| Garrettsville. Cong. Ch. | 13.00 |
| Hudson. Hiram Thompson | 5.00 |
| Lodi. Cong. Ch. | 20.00 |
| Madison. Mrs. James Dayton, Bbl. of Papers and $2.30 for freight, for Macon, Ga. | 2.30 |
| Oberlin. Second Cong. Ch., $17.46; W. G. B., 50c. | 17.96 |
| Oberlin. Rev. Geo. Thompson, for Mendi M. | 5.00 |
| Oberlin. Sab. Sch. in Farrer Neighborhood | 2.00 |
| Painesville. First Cong. Ch. | 39.24 |
| Randolph. W. J. Dickinson | 10.00 |
| Ravenna. Cong. Ch. | 41.18 |
| Savannah. James Lawson | 5.00 |
| Sharon Centre. Mrs. L. A. J. and Mrs. E. R., 50c. ea. | 1.00 |
| Springfield. First Cong. Ch. | 4.76 |
| Strongsville. Lyman H. Freeman, for furnishing a room, Strieby Hall, Tougaloo U., and bal. to const. Clara M. Howard, L. M. | 5.00 |
| Tallmadge. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 41.60 |
| Tallmadge. Cong. Sab. Sch., for S. S. work, Mobile, Ala. | 25.47 |
| West Andover. Cong. Ch. | 22.46 |
| INDIANA, $100.00. | |
| Michigan City. First Cong. Ch. | 100.00 |
| ILLINOIS, $1,004.09. | |
| Aurora. Mrs. Philena Johnson | 10.00 |
| Bondville. “A Friend” | 5.00 |
| Bunker Hill. Cong. Ch. | 15.00 |
| Canton. First Cong. Ch. | 28.00 |
| Chesterfield. Mrs. T. Dowland | 5.00 |
| Byron. Mrs. T. H. Read, $10; Cong. Ch., $8.53 | 18.53 |
| Chicago. Union Park Cong. Ch., $350.40; South Cong. Ch., $33.30; New England Cong. Ch. (Mon. Con.), $12; M. A., $1 | 396.70 |
| Chicago. Ladies’ Aid Soc. of Plymouth Cong. Ch., $50; Woman’s Miss. Soc. of South Cong. Ch., $8.75; Mrs. M. W. Mabbs, $5, for Lady Missionary, Mobile, Ala. | 63.75 |
| Downers Grove. Cong. Ch. | 5.00 |
| Earlville. Cong. Ch. ($30 of which to const. Miss Tillie Hart, L. M.) | 41.50 |
| Elgin. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., for Student Aid, Fisk U. | 50.00 |
| Elmhurst. Seth Wadhams | 25.00 |
| Elmwood. Cong. Ch. | 42.65 |
| Galena. Mrs. Anne Bean | 2.00 |
| Galesburg. Mrs. E. T. Parker, $30; Ladies’ Miss. Soc. of First Cong. Ch., $10 | 40.00 |
| Hutsonville. C. V. Newton, to const. himself, L. M. | 30.00 |
| Jacksonville. Cong. Sab. Sch., for rebuilding, Tougaloo, Miss. | 10.00 |
| Lamoille. Ladies of Cong. Soc., for Lady Missionary, Savannah, Ga. | 20.00 |
| Loda. Cong. Ch. (Decoration Day offering) | 13.34 |
| Lyonsville. Cong. Ch. | 16.89 |
| Malden. Cong. Ch. | 10.25 |
| Maple Park. J. G. Snow | 5.00 |
| Millburn. Cong. Ch. | 23.75 |
| Moline. Miss Etta M. Pitts | 10.00 |
| Northampton. R. W. Gilliam | 5.00 |
| Oak Park. Mrs. Lyman G. Holley | 5.00 |
| Port Byron. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. | 5.00 |
| Sycamore. Cong. Ch., $77.03; Henry Wood, $10 | 87.03 |
| Wayne. Cong. Ch. | 9.20 |
| Wilmette. Mrs. A. T. S. | 0.50 |
| Woodburn. Children’s Nickel Mite Soc., by Eula E. Carson, Treas. | 5.00 |
| IOWA, $510.89. | |
| Anamosa. Cong. Ch., $3.50, and Sab. Sch., $3.95 | 7.45 |
| Belle Plaine. J. P. Henry, $5; Mrs. C. M. Henry, $5; Freddie and Josie Henry, 50c. ea. | 11.00 |
| Cincinnati. Wm. T. Reynolds | 5.00 |
| Cresco. Cong. Ch. | 6.50 |
| Davenport. Rev. J. A. Reed, for Stone Hall, Talladega C. | 10.00 |
| Davenport. Rev. J. G. Merrill, for President’s House, Talladega, Ala. | 50.00 |
| Des Moines. Cong. Ch. (of which $100 from Hon. Saml. Merrill) | 173.28 |
| Dunlap. W. S. Preston, for furnishing a room in Stone Hall, Talladega C. | 35.00 |
| Grinnell. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 39.26 |
| Humboldt. Mrs. L. K. Lorbeer, $2; Mrs. L. A. W., $1 | 3.00 |
| Le Grand. L. M. Craig. for Tougaloo U. | 12.00 |
| Lyons. First Cong. Ch. | 24.00 |
| Monterey. Cong. S. S. Class, for Chinese M. | 0.50 |
| Muscatine. Cong. Ch. | 42.85 |
| Muscatine. Capt. W. A. Clark, for Stone Hall, Talladega C. | 5.00 |
| Osage. General Association of Iowa | 10.00 |
| Osage. Woman’s Missionary Soc., $4.50 for Student Aid, Fisk U., and $4 for Lady Missionary, New Orleans, La. | 8.50 |
| Tabor. Cong. Ch. | 63.00 |
| Wayne. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 4.55 |
| MISSOURI, $23.35. | |
| Holden. “Mrs. S. E. H.”, for ed. of Indians, Hampton N. and A. Inst. | 2.00 |
| Stewartsville. Cong. Ch. | 13.58 |
| Webster Groves. Cong. Ch. | 7.77 |
| WISCONSIN, $213.41. | |
| Bloomington. Cong. Ch. | 4.50 |
| Brandon. “Busy Bees.” for Student Aid, Tougaloo U. | 11.18 |
| Eau Claire. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 5.00 |
| Geneva. Woman’s Miss. Soc., for Lady Missionary, Talladega, Ala. | 10.00 |
| Geneva Lake. Presb. Ch. | 36.57 |
| Highland. Cong. Ch. | 15.00 |
| La Crosse. Boy’s prayer meeting, Cong. Ch. | 11.00 |
| Menominee. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 9.00 |
| Milton. Woman’s Miss. Soc., for Lady Missionary, Talladega, Ala. | 2.50 |
| Milwaukee. Spring St. Cong. Ch. Miss. Soc., for Lady Missionary, Talladega, Ala. | 10.00 |
| Monroe. “Our Family Missionary Box,” | 4.75 |
| New Richmond. First Cong. Ch. | 16.98 |
| Waupun. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (of which $5 for Chinese M., and $5 for Indian M.) $57.63; Cong. Sab Sch., $15 | 72.63 |
| West Salem. Mrs. Mary L. Clark, Box of Books and Papers, and $2.30 for freight, for Macon, Ga. | 2.30 |
| White Water. Woman’s Miss. Soc., for Lady Missionary, Talladega, Ala. | 2.00 |
| KANSAS, $5.25. | |
| Meriden. L. A. | 0.25 |
| Topeka. Justin Hillyer | 5.00 |
| MINNESOTA, $107.34. | |
| Austin. Cong. Ch. | 21.64 |
| Elk River. Cong. Ch. | 3.68 |
| Faribault. Cong. Ch. | 25.18 |
| Glyndon. Mrs. S. N. Millard | 3.66 |
| Hutchinson. Cong. Ch. | 2.00 |
| Minneapolis. Plymouth Cong. Ch., $30.20; “Cash,” $1 | 31.20 |
| Plainview. Woman’s Cent. Soc. | 7.50 |
| Red Wing. Mrs. J. B. N. | 0.50 |
| Saint Charles. Cong. Ch. | 6.98 |
| Saint Peter. Mrs. Jane A. Treadwell | 5.00 |
| NEBRASKA, $11.13. | |
| Crete. Cong. Ch. (of which $6.34 for Cal. Chinese M.) | 10.13 |
| Red Cloud. Cong. Ch. | 1.00 |
| DAKOTA TERRITORY, 50c. | |
| Bon Homme. Rev. D. B. N. | 0.50 |
| WASHINGTON TERRITORY, $18.75. | |
| New Tacoma. Mrs. E. T. | 1.00 |
| Skokomish. Cong. Mission Ch., for Indian M. | 17.75 |
| NORTH CAROLINA, $5.00. | |
| Wilmington. Cong. Ch. | 5.00 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA, $219.75. | |
| Charleston. Avery Inst., Tuition | 219.75 |
| TENNESSEE, $2.71. | |
| Chattanooga. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 1.71 |
| Nashville. E. P. G. | 1.00 |
| GEORGIA, $136.35. | |
| Atlanta. Atlanta U., Tuition, $37.50; Rent, $6.00 | 43.50 |
| Atlanta. Students and Teachers of Atlanta University, for Cal. Chinese M. | 85.00 |
| Macon. Cong. Ch., $5; Lewis High School, Tuition, 85c. | 5.85 |
| Woodville. Rev. J. H. H. Sengstacke, for Church building | 2.00 |
| ALABAMA, $39.11. | |
| Marion. Cong. Ch. | 3.00 |
| Selma. First Cong. Ch., $7.25; Woman’s Miss. Soc. of First Cong. Ch., $10 | 17.25 |
| Talladega. Talladega C., Tuition | 17.86 |
| Tuskegee. “Friends,” by Mrs. M., for Strieby Hall, Tougaloo U. | 1.00 |
| MISSISSIPPI, $2,022.95. | |
| Tougaloo. Tougaloo U., Tuition | 22.95 |
| Tougaloo. State Appropriation | 2,000.00 |
| TEXAS, $2.30. | |
| Corpus Christi. First Cong. Ch. | 2.30 |
| INCOME FUND, $1,266.78. | |
| Avery Fund | 711.41 |
| Graves Library Fund | 150.00 |
| Theological Endowment Fund | 404.37 |
| ————— | |
| Total | 21,112.60 |
| Total from Oct. 1st to July 31st | $190,824.79 |
| FOR TILLOTSON COLLEGIATE AND NORMAL INSTITUTE, AUSTIN, TEXAS. | |
| Goshen, Conn. Cong. Sab. Sch., for furnishing a room | $25.00 |
| Previously acknowledged from Oct. 1st to June 30th | 4,949.71 |
| ————— | |
| Total | $4,974.71 |
| FOR MISSIONS IN AFRICA. | |
| Rehoboth, Mass. “A young brother in Cong. Ch.” | $5.00 |
| Previously acknowledged from Oct. 1st to June 30th | 26,284.62 |
| ————— | |
| Total | $26,289.62 |
| ENDOWMENT FUND. | |
| Buda, Ill. By Mrs. A. M. Haley, in memory of Samuel Gordon Haley, for two Haley Scholarships in Fisk U. | $2,000.00 |
H. W. HUBBARD, Treas.,
56 Reade St., N.Y.
INCORPORATED JANUARY 30, 1849.
Art. I. This Society shall be called “The American Missionary Association.”
Art. II. The object of this Association shall be to conduct Christian missionary and educational operations, and diffuse a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures in our own and other countries which are destitute of them, or which present open and urgent fields of effort.
Art. III. Any person of evangelical sentiments,[A] who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not a slaveholder, or in the practice of other immoralities, and who contributes to the funds, may become a member of the Society; and by the payment of thirty dollars, a life member; provided that children and others who have not professed their faith may be constituted life members without the privilege of voting.
Art. IV. This Society shall meet annually, in the month of September, October or November, for the election of officers and the transaction of other business, at such time and place as shall be designated by the Executive Committee.
Art. V. The annual meeting shall be constituted of the regular officers and members of the Society at the time of such meeting, and of delegates from churches, local missionary societies, and other co-operating bodies, each body being entitled to one representative.
Art. VI. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice-Presidents, a Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretaries, Treasurer, two Auditors, and an Executive Committee of not less than twelve, of which the Corresponding Secretaries shall be advisory, and the Treasurer ex officio, members.
Art. VII. To the Executive Committee shall belong the collecting and disbursing of funds; the appointing, counseling, sustaining and dismissing (for just and sufficient reasons) missionaries and agents; the selection of missionary fields; and, in general, the transaction of all such business as usually appertains to the executive committees of missionary and other benevolent societies; the Committee to exercise no ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the missionaries; and its doings to be subject always to the revision of the annual meeting, which shall, by a reference mutually chosen, always entertain the complaints of any aggrieved agent or missionary; and the decision of such reference shall be final.
The Executive Committee shall have authority to fill all vacancies occurring among the officers between the regular annual meetings; to apply, if they see fit, to any State Legislature for acts of incorporation; to fix the compensation, where any is given, of all officers, agents, missionaries, or others in the employment of the Society; to make provision, if any, for disabled missionaries, and for the widows and children of such as are deceased; and to call, in all parts of the country, at their discretion, special and general conventions of the friends of missions, with a view to the diffusion of the missionary spirit, and the general and vigorous promotion of the missionary work.
Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for transacting business.
Art. VIII. This society, in collecting funds, in appointing officers, agents and missionaries, and in selecting fields of labor and conducting the missionary work, will endeavor particularly to discountenance slavery, by refusing to receive the known fruits of unrequited labor, or to welcome to its employment those who hold their fellow-beings as slaves.
Art. IX. Missionary bodies, churches or individuals agreeing to the principles of this society, and wishing to appoint and sustain missionaries of their own, shall be entitled to do so through the agency of the Executive Committee, on terms mutually agreed upon.
Art. X. No amendment shall be made to this Constitution without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present at a regular annual meeting; nor unless the proposed amendment has been submitted to a previous meeting, or to the Executive Committee in season to be published by them (as it shall be their duty to do, if so submitted) in the regular official notifications of the meeting.
FOOTNOTE:
[A] By evangelical sentiments, we understand, among others, a belief in the guilty and lost condition of all men without a Saviour; the Supreme Deity, Incarnation and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world; the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit; repentance, faith and holy obedience in order to salvation; the immortality of the soul; and the retributions of the judgment in the eternal punishment of the wicked, and salvation of the righteous.
To preach the Gospel to the poor. It originated in a sympathy with the almost friendless slaves. Since Emancipation it has devoted its main efforts to preparing the Freedmen for their duties as citizens and Christians in America and as missionaries in Africa. As closely related to this, it seeks to benefit the caste-persecuted Chinese in America, and to co-operate with the Government in its humane and Christian policy toward the Indians. It has also a mission in Africa.
Churches: In the South—In Virginia, 1; North Carolina, 6; South Carolina, 2; Georgia, 13; Kentucky, 6; Tennessee, 4; Alabama, 14; Louisiana, 17; Mississippi, 4; Texas, 6. Africa, 2. Among the Indians, 1. Total, 76.
Institutions Founded, Fostered or Sustained in the South.—Chartered: Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La.; and Austin, Texas—8. Graded or Normal Schools: at Wilmington, Raleigh, N.C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S.C.; Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Ga.; Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selma, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.—12. Other Schools, 31. Total, 51.
Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants.—Among the Freedmen, 284; among the Chinese, 22; among the Indians, 11; in Africa, 13. Total, 330. Students—In Theology, 102; Law, 23; in College Course, 75; in other studies, 7,852. Total, 8,052. Scholars taught by former pupils of our schools, estimated at 150,000. Indians under the care of the Association, 13,000.
1. A steady INCREASE of regular income to keep pace with the growing work. This increase can only be reached by regular and larger contributions from the churches, the feeble as well as the strong.
2. Additional Buildings for our higher educational institutions, to accommodate the increasing numbers of students; Meeting Houses for the new churches we are organizing; more Ministers, cultured and pious, for these churches.
3. Help for Young Men, to be educated as ministers here and missionaries to Africa—a pressing want.
Before sending boxes, always correspond with the nearest A. M. A. office as below:
New York H. W. Hubbard, Esq., Treasurer, 56 Reade Street.
Boston Rev. C. L. Woodworth, Dis’t Sec., Room 21 Congregational House.
Chicago Rev. Jas. Powell, Dis’t Sec., 112 West Washington Street.
This Magazine will be sent gratuitously, if desired, to the Missionaries of the Association; to Life Members; to all Clergymen who take up collections for the Association; to Superintendents of Sabbath-schools; to College Libraries; to Theological Seminaries; to Societies of Inquiry on Missions; and to every donor who does not prefer to take it as a subscriber, and contributes in a year not less than five dollars.
Those who wish to remember the American Missionary Association in their last Will and Testament are earnestly requested to use the following
“I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ‘American Missionary Association’ of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes.”
The Will should be attested by three witnesses (in some States three are required, in other States only two), who should write against their names their places of residence (if in cities, their street and number). The following form of attestation will answer for every State in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said (A. B.) as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some States it is required that the Will should be made at least two months before the death of the testator.