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The American Missionary – Volume 44, No. 04, April, 1890

American Missionary Association

Removal

The Rooms of the American Missionary Association are now in the Bible House, New York City. Correspondents will please address us accordingly.

Visitors will find our Rooms on the sixth floor of the Bible House, corner Ninth Street and Fourth Avenue; entrance by elevator on Ninth Street.

Rev. Frank P. Woodbury, D.D.

It gives us great pleasure to announce the acceptance by Rev. Frank P. Woodbury, D.D., of the position of Corresponding Secretary of this Association. Since the death of our dear Brother Powell, with the large increase of special resources and the general expansion of our work, an addition to our administrative force has become an absolute necessity. Dr. Woodbury brings to his new position special qualifications. His eighteen years of successful work in his pastorate at Rockford, Ill., and his very effective two years' service in Minneapolis, have made him acquainted with the work of a pastor and the needs of the churches. In these pastorates, and in other services for the general interests of the church, he has shown exceptional administrative gifts. These will find ample range for activity in the Secretaryship. His public address at several of our own Annual Meetings and on many other similar occasions, attest his power as a platform speaker. He will meet with a warm welcome to the duties of this office, and we are confident that he will receive an equally cordial greeting in the churches, Conferences and Associations.

Indian Civilization—Now For A Push Forward

The time has come for new vigor in the Indian service. Gen. Morgan has been confirmed as Indian Commissioner, and his broad and well-matured plans are ready to be put into operation. We hope that Congress will make the necessary appropriations, and that nothing will hinder the multiplication of Indian schools and the ingathering of pupils. With the Sioux Indians, a great crisis has come. Their reservation is severed, and a broad belt is opened in it for the incoming of the white man. There will, of course, be the rush and confusion of new settlers, with the almost inevitable demoralization of the Indians. But a still more serious and protracted evil will grow out of the conflict of the two races and the temptations to the Indians. If ever the friends of the Sioux Indians needed to bestir themselves, it is just now. The helping hand, the open school and the sanctifying Gospel, must forestall all bad influences. So far as the work of the American Missionary Association is concerned, the opening of this reservation to white settlement will necessitate the removal of five or six of its out-stations, occasioning spiritual loss and additional money appropriations.

While we hail with satisfaction the inauguration of Gen. Morgan's broad plans, we feel that there should not be the least relaxation on the part of the churches, in the "contract schools" and in the preaching of the gospel. From John Eliot down, the gospel has been the great civilizing power among the Indians, and it will be a fatal mistake to withhold it. If the new Government policy is successful, the gospel is its essential adjunct, and if there should be hindrances in carrying out that policy, the steady stream of gospel influences will be all the more necessary.

Emigration Of Colored People

We have seen a large map of a Southern railroad, on one side of which were some highly-colored pictures. The first showed the tumble-down cabin of a colored man, himself, wife and boy carrying from it their few belongings to the favored land of promise. The next picture shows him and his family in the woods in his new location, getting ready to build his house. The third picture represents a fine log house, with green fields well fenced, a mule and pigs and chickens in the yard; and the last picture presents a large frame house with a veranda, in which the colored man is seated in a large arm-chair, reading a magazine, and his wife sitting by his side in a rocking chair, while near at hand is the capacious barn, with mules grazing in the adjacent lot.

By the side of each picture is a running comment, supposed to be made by the colored man himself, describing his hard lot 'where he first lived, then telling of his purchase in the new land of promise, stating the price and the terms of purchase; then follows his happy rejoicing over his new location, and finally his triumphant joy in his wealth and fine mansion.

It is by such representations, we are told, that the colored people in various parts of the South are tempted to leave their homes for new locations. The experience of those of their number who have made such migrations has not usually been encouraging, and we fear that thousands more will acquire a good deal of bitter knowledge learned in that same expensive school.

A Comparison

The French and the Negro

A writer in the March number of The Forum has drawn a vivid picture of France in its poverty, misery and tyranny in 1789, and contrasted with this the thrift, the improved land culture, and the better clothing, food, home and intelligence of the French peasantry of 1889. The Revolution of 1789 broke the tyranny of the old crushing regime and opened the way for the new world that brightens and gladdens the France of to-day. But the Revolution did not itself make the great change; it simply made it possible.

Two factors developed in French character were the practical forces in the new prosperity—economy and the desire for ownership of lands and homes. That economy was pushed, in many cases, almost to the extreme of miserly hoarding. We give below a few brief extracts illustrating the point in question:

"The life led by a comfortable English or American farmer would represent wicked waste and shameful indulgence to a much richer French peasant. I, myself, know a laborer on wages of less than twenty shillings a week, who by thrift has bought ten acres of the magnificent garden land between Fontainebleau and the Seine, worth many thousand pounds, on which grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and the famous dessert grapes; yet who, with all his wealth and abundance, denies himself and his two children meat on Sundays, and even a drink of the wine which he grows and makes for the market."

"The French peasant has great virtues, but he has the defects of his virtues, and his home life is far from idyllic. He is laborious, shrewd, enduring, frugal, self-reliant, sober, honest and capable of intense self-control for a distant reward; but that reward is property in land, in pursuit of which he may become as pitiless as a bloodhound."

"Take him for all in all, he is a strong and noteworthy force in modern civilization. Though his country has not the vast mineral wealth of England, nor her gigantic development in manufactures and in commerce, he has made France one of the richest, most solid, most progressive countries on earth. He is quite as frugal and patient as the German, and is far more ingenious and skillful. He has not the energy of the Englishman, or the elastic spring of the American, but he is far more saving and much more provident. He 'wastes nothing, and spends little,' and thus, since his country comes next to England and America in natural resources and national energy, he has built up one of the strongest, most self-contained and most durable of modern peoples."

A very significant parallel is presented in these two pictures to one that may be drawn between the Negro of 1861 and the Negro of 1961. The Civil War corresponded to the Revolution in France. It broke the fetters of the slave, and made his future a possibility. If, now, the Negro will fill out the beautiful picture in imitation of the French peasant, he must imitate him in rigid economy and in the ambition to own his own land and his own home. We do not of course advise the penuriousness of the miser, but the Negro is in little danger on that score. The grandest impulse, even in economy and in obtaining property, is found in a genuine Christian character. This is the work that our ministers and teachers are endeavoring to accomplish, but we are sure It will aid them to urge this practical saving of money, curtailing of needless expense, and the making of most determined efforts to become owners of their own homes.

The Stereopticon In New England

Rev. Stanley E. Lathrop, Sherwood, Tenn.

Secretary Roy of Chicago started an excellent thing when he arranged the Stereopticon pictures to illustrate the great work of our Association. After two months spent in traveling with these pictures and giving explanatory lectures concerning them, the writer desires to testify to their usefulness, and to express his thanks to the good people of New England for the interest they have shown, and the cordial reception they have given him in his travels. Evidently the work of the Association is "on a boom" in New England. Everywhere a great many questions were asked, and great many expressions of hearty interest manifested. During eight weeks, the audiences averaged over four hundred in number, in spite of "la grippe" and the rainy, sloppy weather that prevailed. In this time we traveled over five thousand miles, giving the Stereopticon lecture in forty-three different places, and making twenty-three other addresses upon the work, to audiences numbering in several cases nearly a thousand, and a total aggregate of over twenty-five thousand people. The descendants of the Pilgrims are thoroughly interested in our missionary work. The pictures of the people, buildings, etc., among the ten millions of people among whom our work is going on, in the West and South, were greatly enjoyed, with an evident increase of interest and of contribution. In view of all my past experiences, of four years of military service in the South, and my twelve years of missionary work in that region, this two months of travel and intercourse with so many intelligent friends and helpers of our Association has been a privilege and an enjoyment. God bless the good people of New England, and the grand work of our American Missionary Association!

Mrs. Jane Twichell Ware

The early and honored workers under the American Missionary Association in the South are passing away. But the sharp sorrow of parting from them is relieved by the memory of their self-denying and useful work, and especially where these dear friends threw over those dark days and trying experiences the halo of personal excellence, sweetness of disposition and a manner full of cheerful vivacity.

Such an one was Mrs. Ware. She entered the service among the Freedmen in the autumn of 1865, and in Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia, cast the radiance of her bright countenance and cheerful spirits over her serious and most successful work. She was a joy in the circle of her associates and an inspiration to her pupils.

In 1869, the year in which the Atlanta University was founded, she was united in marriage to Rev. E.A. Ware, its President, and they with others gave the moulding touch to the University, and won for it the confidence of the friends at the North, and an annual appropriation from the State of Georgia. In her own pleasant home and in various services to the institution, she made herself useful. In 1885 her husband died suddenly from heart failure, and from that time onward she was left to face alone the serious pulmonary trouble which two years before had fastened itself upon her. Bravely and in hope did she battle with the adversary, until at length in the home of her brother, Rev. Jos. H. Twichell, of Hartford, she passed away February 17, 1890, in the forty-sixth year of her age, and her remains were laid to rest among her kindred in the village burying ground at Plantsville, Connecticut. A bright light has faded out from earth, a brighter one has dawned in Heaven.

Paragraphs

The mention of the fact, in the last number of the MISSIONARY, that Dr. Patton was one of the members of the Convention in Albany that formed the American Missionary Association, suggests the inquiry as to how many of those then present are now alive? If those who know the facts, either by their personal presence on that occasion or otherwise, will send to us the names of such survivors, we will be greatly obliged.

An envelope containing a gift of five dollars was dropped into the contribution bag recently among others, after an address concerning our work. It was from a faithful colored woman who had spent her life in domestic service, and represented as true and earnest self-denial as money could. Not all the heroism and self-sacrifice are in the field work, among the missionaries of our great Association, as true and earnest as they are. There is the same spirit of devotion to the Master in the collecting field. We thank God for it, and take courage to go forward in this work of saving these destitute millions in our land.

"I enclose a draft for fifty dollars to be used by the American Missionary Association in such way as they think wilt do the most good. I am in my ninety-first year but when I read of the doings of the Association in Chicago, it made me feel almost young. My prayer to God is that he will continue his blessing on the Association."

In the February number of the MISSIONARY, mention is made of a beautiful box, the workmanship of a friend of the Association, fourscore and two years old. It was the wish of this venerable brother that the box should be sold and the proceeds devoted to our work. A gentleman in Boston offered twelve dollars for the box. We have since received an offer of twenty dollars from a friend, with permission, however, to hold the matter open a little longer for a still higher bid. Who speaks next?

"You will be interested to learn that E.A. Johnson, of Raleigh, N.C., has just been admitted to the bar here. He passed a very good examination, the only colored man among twenty-four whites. It made some of them quite vexed to have him promptly answer questions on which they failed, but when he received his license, the Judge commended him, and the young men all congratulated him."

It is said that the colored pupils fail when they reach mathematics. A scholar in one of our Southern institutions made an original demonstration of an intricate problem in geometry, in a method different from any known previously by his teacher, an accomplished scholar, and it was correct.

From Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tennessee: Not a week passes that we do not have to turn away earnest applicants from the school for want of room. Fully two hundred such applicants have gone sadly away from our door during the past months.

A colored minister in the South applying for a position as a preacher, says, "I feel to say woe be under me if I preach not."

Rev. A.W. Curtis writes from Raleigh, N.C.: "It is estimated that thirty thousand Negroes have gone South and West from North Carolina since the exodus from this State began. Most of them are crowded out because of repeated crop failures in the eastern counties. Many of them have joined in the movement, with the hope of doing better, who were doing passably well at home. Many have been discouraged by the attitude of the State toward the colored people."

Rev. J.W. Freeman, of Dudley, N.C., writes: "The emigration casts a great depression on all our spiritual work among the colored people now In this locality."

An Enterprising Woman

A letter from Louisiana says, "I visited a Negro family the other day in a settlement where there is no school, and found the following condition of things: A white lady was boarding with them and giving instruction for her board. She is teaching them how to live. Eight months ago no one in this family could read. The father only could speak English. Now all speak some English. All except the youngest can read a little in the Bible. They sang a gospel hymn for me and repeated quite a number of Bible verses and the Lord's prayer. The colored mother I believe to be one of the smartest women in America. With the help of her children—the father spends all he gets for whiskey—she has built her house, supports her family, makes her own furniture, spins and weaves cloth from cotton she has raised, and has engaged this white lady to educate her and her children, she herself leading the class. The children are all very quick to learn. The home was tidy and well-kept. The children were clean and neat. I shall look to see something grand come from that family."

Letter From A School Girl To Her Pastor In One Of Our Institutions

"I am a Christian and I think I enjoy it better than being a sinner, and always doing something on earth to please myself and not trying to please my Saviour who died for me, that through him I might be saved. I am enjoying this week of prayer, and it seems to me we would have better Christians if we had more prayer. I feel as if I need your prayers both night and morning. It does seem so hard for me to overcome my trials and temptations which come to me so very often. I hope you will join in earnest prayers to help me overcome my temptations."

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