The Project Gutenberg eBook of The American Missionary -- Volume 33, No. 6, June, 1879, by Various.

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York Office.

should be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Ass’t Treasurer, No. 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

Vol. XXXIII.

JUNE, 1879.

No. 6.

American Missionary Association.

We are in receipt of several communications suggesting that we, as an Association, should do something for the relief of the negro emigrants to Kansas. We are compelled to say to this, however, that 1. We cannot divert funds from our overdrawn treasury from the work to which we are pledged and the responsibilities we have definitely assumed. 2. Our legitimate work is with the Freedmen in the South, where our schools and churches are, and where the mass of the people will be for a very long time yet. 3. That assistance to reach their destination has been given to them from many sources, and that their greatest need of help for a time will be after reaching Kansas, in securing and settling upon lands. 4. That we cherish the deepest interest in the suffering multitudes who have already left their homes, and will cheerfully transmit, for friends who may prefer to send through us, such moneys as may be designed for this specific object, and will use our utmost diligence to see that they accomplish the end for which they are set apart.

MONEY WHICH COSTS MONEY.

It is unfortunate, perhaps, that the agents of the beneficence of the churches and Christian people of the land should be compelled so often to “rise and explain,” but the necessity will in all probability continue so long as there is a possibility of misunderstanding facts and figures. We are all creatures of association, and things which are coupled together are apt to make unwarranted impressions on our minds.

For instance, the name of the American Missionary Association has been of late passing the rounds of the public press in connection with large sums of money. $150,000 to four of its institutions from the Stone estate; $20,000 for Fisk University from the Graves legacy; $20,000 from the estate of Deacon James Smith, of Philadelphia; $12,000 announced last month from the Avery estate, and which is to be increased to about $18,000; $15,000 from Mr. Arthington, of Leeds. All this sounds very rich and prosperous, and our contributors say: “They are rich and increased in goods. For a time, at least, they will do well. Let us thank God for their prosperity, and turn to those whose wants are more pressing than theirs can be.”

Just here is where the explanation must be made. First, then, almost none of[162] these bequests are in our hands as yet. The largest of all is coupled with conditions which we hope to be able to meet, but of which, until we shall have met them, we have no right to be sure.

But secondly, and what is of more consequence, with one possible exception, the way in which all this money is to be expended is determined before it reaches our treasury. The donors have examined the field, or parts of it, for themselves, and have given their gifts, not to us, but only through us, to certain definite fields and uses. Most of this, which is for home use, is to build buildings, and must go for that purpose. But it will cost us money to see these buildings built; the oversight, the correspondence, and the co-operation of all sorts will be a drain upon our time and treasury; and when the much needed buildings shall have been erected, the enlarged work to which they lead will increase very considerably the annual expense for which we must provide. Other of these funds are for a new mission field, of which the founding is only an item, but the carrying on from year to year will demand larger resources than the past has ever furnished.

Dear friends, we recognize the call of God in these large gifts to go forward, trusting in Him and in His people to supply our needs. We do not wait until our work shall be fully provided for before we enter on it; we do not shrink from the advance which may be needed; but we do want you all to know that while, on the one hand, the equipment and the opportunity for larger work are thrust upon us, the outfit for the journey is insufficient, and the officers are embarrassed already to carry on the work in hand.

Even with special gifts to help the current work, our receipts are $10,595.85 less than last year at this time (May 12th), through the falling off in legacies. Enlarging work and a shrinking purse—this is our quandary.

Is our explanation clear? We want money day by day—more money day by day. Not millions, though we could use millions so that they would help on the cause of our Divine Redeemer in the world; but moderate gifts—yes, mites even, as they come with prayer and love for Christ; but more in number and with greater frequency; above all, the steady supply of constantly recurring and increasing needs, to carry on the work in hand. It costs money to spend money; that is our most pressing need to-day, and our new gifts will need more money. Will you plan to supply it? Or must we say to those who would entrust us with the administration of their beneficence, “We cannot afford to administer the trust”?

RAILROADS AND RIVERS.

There are railroads and there are rivers. The first are laid out after careful survey of the country, and follow the most direct lines of communication possible or politic between two given points. They tunnel mountains and bridge gorges; they cut through hills and level up valleys. They are made. But the rivers—we, at least, do not make them; we only find them, follow them, and use them. They do not run exactly in parallels of longitude, nor flow exactly south or west. They do not take the shortest courses to the sea; they yield to circumstances, and gracefully circle round the obstacles which they cannot surmount. Somehow, they always reach their destination, and leave a path of life and beauty as they go. You may divert them for a little to serve other than their main uses, but still they flow on unwasted to the larger waters, into which they pour their steady streams.

There are two theories of missionary work, and especially of the work of missionary[163] societies. One, which sets out to do one definite thing, and to reach it by the shortest surveyed and graded road; another which seeks an end with no less purpose and persistency, but seeks it with more pliability—does not make the country over to fit its needs. Now, our Association is not a railroad, but a river. It was not made by man to serve one fixed and changeless end. It was born of an emergency, and it has been adapting itself to the changing needs of successive years for the third of a century of its existence. We need not recapitulate its history. Its early work was peculiar, and in part transient. Enough that since the war the claims of millions of Freedmen, enfranchised but in ignorance, has seemed its greatest work. It has stretched out a hand more warm than full to the Chinamen on the Western coast. It has not forgotten the wrongs or the needs of the poor Indian. Intrusted with a fund for African evangelization, it has sought to exercise that trust with all fidelity. Of late the foreign work, by new offers, has claimed new attention, and the possibility of opening a new mission in that field has been considered. A little help was sent through it to the poorest class of sufferers by the scourge of pestilence; a little aid seeks by it to reach the needy thousands who have just sought asylum in Kansas; and some of our old friends, perhaps, have come to fear lest we were in peril of being diverted from what they and we consider to be still our great and most important work.

We write this to assure such friends that they need not be anxious on this score. There are no such anchors as institutions whose foundations are laid deep in the soil. Many men talk with less swelling pride than a few years ago of owning real estate, when the plain truth is that real estate owns them. So we are held, if by no other bond, to the educational and church work among the colored people of the South. But far more we are, and shall be, kept true to this as our main work by our ever-growing sense of its importance to the race so long oppressed, and to the interests of Christian civilization in our land.

The river will flow on southward still. It may bend a little to the east or to the west, as Providence may determine; there may be eddies along its banks, and now and then a dam along the stream to concentrate its power; it may open, as does our own Mississippi, through more mouths than one into the Gulf; but its course for a generation to come is fixed, not by human resolution, but by the Providence which makes the water-sheds and water-courses both. To educate the colored people of the South and lift them to the elevation of a worthy Christian citizenship is our great work.

So let the springs among the hills of New England, and the streams which water the prairies of the West, not fear to flow in as aforetime, only with a larger flowing, and we will pledge them that the work to which they are devoted shall go on till the end be reached. Meanwhile, let us not try to be a railroad, but a river—one of the rivers of God’s earth which flow into the sea of His great universal love and peace.

We call special attention to the account in Mr. Alexander’s letter of the work of grace which accompanied and followed the recent meeting of the South-western Conference, at New Iberia, La. Such records are rarer than they ought to be, and ecclesiastical bodies are often more careful to be “not slothful in business” than “fervent in spirit.” Pastor Butler, of the church in that place, writes that already fifty-seven persons have offered themselves for reception to its membership, and still more are coming.

[164]

CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE SOUTH.

3. Its Obligations.

DIST. SEC. C. L. WOODWORTH, BOSTON.

It ought to be clear by this time that Congregationalism is under bonds to do its best to fit the Freedmen for their new condition and duties. They are freemen and citizens largely through the influence of the Congregational churches. No small part of the anti-slavery sentiment of the country which gripped the conscience and put into the word “right” an almost omnipotent meaning can be traced to the teaching of our pulpits. They were behind no others in preparing the people to carry into their political action what they thought in their hearts and uttered in their closets. But with every gain to freedom in the Northern mind a new pang was wrung out of the heart of the slave. The laws became more severe, the punishments more cruel, the tasks more exacting. The two sections were being driven asunder with a repulsive force which could only end in war. The South saw it and threatened; but the Northern conscience, quickened by the principles of religion and of the “higher law,” would concede nothing. The people said, “No more slave States; no more slave territory. If we must have war, let it come; but slavery shall not be national.” This stern resolution carried a million and a half of men to our battle-fields, and held them there till the slave was free! It is not claimed that the convictions of equality and right which swayed the Northern mind were the result of Congregational teaching alone, but only that Congregationalism marched abreast of those moral forces which made the North equal to the work and sacrifice to which it was called. The responsibility, nevertheless, is the same as if our churches alone had taught the doctrines which brought freedom to the slave.

This, however, is only the first step in the work they did for the negro. No sooner was he made free than they insisted that he should be invested with all the dignities and rights of citizenship. They urged this upon the Government when nothing but the direst necessity could justify it in putting the ballot into the hands of a million ignorant voters. The change in the negro’s condition was so radical—so above his capacity and education—that the highest moral obligation rested upon those who brought it about, to see that he was fitted for its duties. This was so clear to the Southern people that they have said, with as much force as logic: “We were ready to take care of the negro as a slave, in our way; but the North took him out of our hands by violence, and now let it take care of him in its way.” And why not? Especially, why should not the Congregational churches, foremost in arousing the conscience of the North against slavery, and in spurring the Government to smite the system and enfranchise the slave, now come to the front and lead him into the better future?

But if we had not assumed these obligations by forcing upon the negro the condition and duties of an American citizen, he would lay them upon us by all the wrongs he has suffered at our hands; by all the gains we have made from his unpaid toil; by all the aid he rendered us upon the field, and by his fidelity to us through all the years of the struggle. How he served our living, nursed our sick, fought our battles, watches by the graves of our fallen, will be the unequaled theme of the future historian.

As he alone in the South showed us sympathy and offered us aid, so now he alone is ready to receive learning and religion from the lips of Northern instructors. And is not this reason enough why our churches should improve the opportunity to fill his mind and heart with those principles which are so fraught[165] with human weal, and are working so powerfully for the regeneration of the world? For every interest of the South as well as of the country at large, Congregationalism is summoned to put in its best work for the colored people. Only thus can we lay to rest the passions which have reddened the South with innocent blood, and bring to the land the reign of peace and love.

THE WORK STOPPED, BUT THE RECOMPENSE CONTINUED.

BY A DISABLED TEACHER.

To The American Missionary:

Dear Friend: Ever since our first acquaintance, fourteen years ago, at old “61 John St.,” you have never failed to make me your monthly visits, when we could talk over our work with all its encouragements and discouragements, giving our own personal experience. That experience has not at all times been very cheering, but it certainly was inspiring, for we always separated with more of zeal and determination in our hearts to do our part in the great work which we love so well. During the long months in which I wait for health and strength to come back to me, your coming, with fresh reports of our work, is eagerly looked for, and your visits are often “times of refreshing” to me.

Since you, in January, spoke of “the abundant recompense” which all your workers in the field have, I have been thinking whether those who have fallen from the ranks have any, and I feel sure that we, too, have a goodly share of it, and I want to tell you something about mine.

In the years when I was engaged in the work, pious souls often assured me that I would have my reward in the future, both of this life and that which is to come. I replied: “I get so much reward from day to day as I work, I don’t see how there can be any left for the future.” But I was mistaken; those workers who have been laid aside from active service find that the reward continues after the work is done.

It comes to us in various ways—this “abundant recompense.” We often thank the Master that when health and strength were ours He led us into the Southern field, and gave us so much to do there that self could not always have our first or best efforts. The consciousness that all the best years of our lives have not been wasted ones is worth a great deal to us, and as we think of the work, and plan and pray for it, even now our souls grow stronger, braver and truer. There has come into our lives a recompense in the Christian sympathy and love of noble souls who have toiled with us, and of those who have helped us over many a hard place with their money, and stayed our hands with their prayers and words of cheer. I hold in sweet and grateful remembrance many who have opened their purses in response to my importunate and oft-repeated calls, some of whom have entered upon their eternal reward.

Up from the Southland comes many a word to cheer and comfort the heart. From the pen of one who has long labored there comes the precious, but forgotten promises of the 41st Psalm. How the heart thrills with thankfulness and gladness, and, it may be, with a little pride, when a present worker assures us that some of those pupils in whom we are most interested, and for whom we have long worked and prayed, are growing in true manhood and womanhood, fitting themselves to go out into the harvest field to take up the work that has fallen from the tired hands of their teachers. Of those pupils who are already teachers many are carrying the light and truth received at school into the gross darkness which[166] hangs over their people. From the rice fields of Ogeechee, where two of us began the work and labored from 1865–’67, comes a good report from one who has since, and in other places, been our pupil, and I have your assurance that he and his wife, also a former pupil of mine, are doing good work there. In that “School of the Prophets,” the theological department at Talladega, are some who manfully struggled through common fractions under my instruction. To them it was a fiery ordeal, but it proved what manner of stuff was in them, and when they get out into the conflict of life, fighting against the powers of darkness, I shall look for victory.

One who nearly twelve years ago was taught to read in the old boat-house on that beautiful sea-girt isle, is moved to preach the Gospel. He writes me that his greatest desire is to go to Talladega to prepare for the ministry, and will do any kind of work to pay his expenses.

The hearts of my old aunties send up many a “God bless her dear soul!” One writes, “I have been studying about you a great deal. I have been praying for you, and if it is God’s will, you will get well.” Another says, “Tell her I pray for her every day.” Oh, how rich the prayers of these poor children of the King make one feel!

All these things which make up our “abundant recompense” are riches which cannot “take to themselves wings,” but are as enduring as the eternal ages. And who can tell what work for God has branched off and is now spreading over the South, from the little that we, the worn-out ones, have done.

N. T.

Augusta, Me., March 12, 1879.

ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.

Atlanta, Ga.—The new catalogue of Atlanta University gives a total of 245 in attendance, a number exceeding any previous year. These have come from ten different States, and those from Georgia from forty-seven counties. They are classified as follows: College course, 27; preparatory course, 44; higher Normal course, 59; and Normal course, 115.

A new and interesting feature has been introduced during the year. The young women who graduate from the higher Normal course are taught “Household Science,” embracing plain sewing, cookery, house-cleaning, nursing the sick, &c. These branches are taught both by familiar lectures and by practice in those arts.

Macon, Ga.—The Lewis High School is prospering under its competent teachers, Misses Gilbert and Phelps. It has been favored by the gifts of friends. Recently a fine Smith American organ was donated, and more recently another Northern friend has given six of Warren’s fine geographical wall charts, which are of great assistance in teaching geography. A number of text books have also been donated. Daily instruction in vocal music is given, besides all the ordinary branches, and there are weekly rhetorical exercises. The three rooms have in all 750 square feet of good wall blackboard, and the best school furniture.

Talladega, Ala.—Seven were received into the Talladega church, May 4th, which, with those received two months ago, make thirty-seven in all as the gathered fruits of the revival last winter. The meetings continue to be full of interest.

Selma, Ala.—We are happy to learn that the Rev. H. E. Brown, of Michigan, who a few years since was in the employ of this Association, has been sent out[167] under the auspices of the International Committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association as a visitor to the colored young men of the South, and has been very successfully conducting a series of Bible readings and Union Gospel meetings in Selma, Ala.

Helena, Texas.—On the last communion day two adults and nine children were baptized. The church and Sunday-school are prosperous, the latter numbering over sixty.

Goliad, Texas.—The quarterly meeting was a day of unusual interest. The church house was furnished with a new pulpit, and the teacher presented the church with two lamps for the same. One person was converted on that day and four children were baptized.

GENERAL NOTES.

The Freedmen.

—The Mississippi Valley Labor Convention met, May 6th, at Vicksburg. It was composed of both white and colored delegates; the latter, however, by their own choice, not voting, but hearing what there was to say to them. The resolutions which were adopted refer to many causes for the exodus to Kansas, among which they do not name extortionate and oppressive contracts, and express wonder at the credulity of the negroes. The practical suggestions are: 1. A system of contracts which shall be of mutual benefit. 2. Absolute political equality. 3. Free and fair elections. 4. A limitation of liens on expected crops. 5. Contradiction of false reports about Kansas. 6. The unrestricted right to emigrate. Governor Foote offered a substitute intimating that the true causes had not been given, and suggesting local committees to investigate grievances and protect the rights of the Freedmen, which was voted down.

—The Refugee Relief Committee of St. Louis reports that over six thousand of the emigrants have passed through that city. About two thousand of these were able to pay their fares to Kansas. The others were sheltered, fed and partly clothed while there, and had their passage paid to the same destination.

Africa.

—A letter dated Demidris, Jan. 1, to Gordon (Pasha), Governor-General of Southern Egypt, from one of his officers who was sent to break up the slave depots in the neighborhood of Bahr el Gazal, in the Province of Kordofan, reports an engagement with Suleiman, one of the chief slave-traders and owner of 25 depots, in which it is stated that the women alone, waiting importation into Egypt, number 10,000. The Egyptian forces numbered 3,000, and were intrenched, a part of them being armed with Remington rifles. On the morning of the 28th of December, Suleiman, with 11,000 men, attacked the intrenchments. After numerous assaults, in which the Arabs, under the personal lead of Suleiman, fought with desperate courage, the attack was completely defeated, and the assailants fled in disorder, leaving 1,087 dead on the field. The Egyptians lost 20 men. A special dispatch from Alexandria says: “On the day after the battle between the Egyptians and Arabs, under the lead of Suleiman, 5,000 deserters came over to the Egyptian camp. The Egyptians followed the retiring enemy, killed ten chiefs and 2,000 more men, and were still in pursuit at last advices. The capture of all the slave depots is considered certain.”[168]

—A telegram dated London, May 5, says: Conflicts between the Egyptian troops and the slave-dealers on the 13th and 14th of January, in Upper Egypt, resulted in the complete defeat of the latter, with the loss of six thousand killed and wounded and prisoners. The Egyptian troops lost two hundred men.

—A telegraph line is now proposed from Cairo up the Nile southward to Gondokoro; thence to Mtesa’s capital; thence to Unyanyembe; thence to Ujiji west and Zanzibar east, from Bagamoyo to Lake Nyassa, and to meet a line from Cape Colony to Pretoria, in the Transvaal at Pretoria. This is said to be no more difficult than was similar work accomplished in Australia and India.

—The Methodist Missionary Society have made arrangements for missionary work in the interior of Africa. Mr. Osgood, who is now in Africa, will locate a mission post somewhere in the interior, and Miss Mary A. Sharp will soon leave this country for work there.—Christian Union, April 2.

—A letter from Zanzibar announces the arrival of Henry M. Stanley, the African explorer, with M. Dutalis, the officer in command of the Belgian expedition in Africa. It is stated that Mr. Stanley will act as guide and interpreter to the Belgian exploring expedition under M. Dutalis.

—An interesting discussion is begun as to the likeness between Lake Tanganyika and the Dead Sea. No outlet of the lake has been discovered, but the exploration has hardly yet been sufficiently thorough to make the negative a proof. The freshness of its waters is in striking contrast with the saltness of the Dead Sea, and, so far, against the theory proposed. We wait for further light.

The Indians.

—Two new projects for a wholesale intrusion into the Indian Territory have come to light: one promoted by certain railroads who claim land grants there, and another expedition of several hundred emigrants, under the lead of C. C. Carpenter, who led the Black Hills expedition into the Sioux country several years ago. In view of these illegal purposes, the President has issued a proclamation, in which he says: “I do further warn and notify any and all such persons who may so offend that they will be speedily and immediately removed therefrom by the agent, according to the laws made and provided; and, if necessary, the aid and assistance of the military forces of the United States will be invoked to carry into proper execution the laws of the United States herein referred to.”

The Chinese.

—Eleven young Chinese, nine males and two females, were recently received into a Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.

—The following card is furnished for publication by the Chinese Six Companies: “The Chinese Six Companies are daily in receipt of applications for laborers to go to Southern States, notably Mississippi and Louisiana, to take the place of the negro labor now emigrating. The officers of these companies wish it to be expressly understood that they have no control over their people’s labor, and have never brought or caused to be brought one of their countrymen here; and have never contracted their labor or collected their wages in any manner whatsoever, the press of California to the contrary notwithstanding.”

—It has been very well said recently: “In America if a man is black, we enslave him; if he is red, we steal his lands and massacre his wife and children; and if he is yellow, we won’t let him come here at all.”[169]

—The Sunday School Times, in commenting on the fact that eight Chinamen were recently received into a church at Sacramento, asks whether it wouldn’t be a good plan for Congress to pass a law that not more than fifteen Chinese converts should join any Christian church the same Sunday.

OUR QUERY COLUMN.

1. What English pronouncing dictionary is the standard in England?

2. What is the authorized pronunciation of Khedive?

3. Should Beaufort (N. C.), be pronounced as is Beaufort (S. C.)?

4. Ought A. M. A. teachers to make special effort to have their pupils sign the temperance pledge?

5. Can any teacher afford (or can his pupils afford to have him) do without an educational publication?

THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

A TOUR OF A MONTH THROUGH THE SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES.

[We omit the mention of the Midway Church and School and the organization of the church at Cypress Slash, as an account of them is given elsewhere by Rev. Floyd Snelson.]

At Savannah, the Beach Institute and the mother church, with her four or five daughters settled in the suburbs, were found to be in a prosperous condition. Pastor Markham and Principal Koons, with their corps of lady teachers, are making a decided impression upon that city.

Thence to Orangeburgh, S. C., where Rev. W. L. Johnson is pastor, and also principal of a large school, in which his wife is assistant. Mr. Johnson had been trained up at the North, in the Dutch Reformed way, as a protégé of the Rev. Dr. E. P. Rodgers of New York. The visitor gave from his big map a lesson upon the geography of our country. As a guest of Rev. Dr. Cooke, President of the Claflin University, he had an opportunity to become acquainted and favorably impressed with that fine institution of our Methodist brethren. In Charleston, a Sabbath was given to the Plymouth Church, now happy under the new pastorate of Rev. Temple Cutler, and one day to the Avery Institute, under Prof. A. W. Farnham, who is reproducing the style of his own Alma Mater, the Oswego Normal. It was a delight to witness the orderliness and accuracy of that training. It is only common fame that this Institute stands ahead of every other in the city. It has a corps of six teachers, and scholars enough to work them hard. Our lady missionary, Miss H. E. Wells, I found getting hold of her peculiar work quite hopefully; as also Miss Douglass, at Miller’s Station, Ga. I think this arm of our service will prove equal to the anticipation of its friends.

In North Carolina, I went first to Wilmington, where is the nourishing Williston Normal School, with its consort church, and all under the management of Rev. D. D. Dodge and his wife, and Misses Warner, Fitts, Goodwin and Phelps. Besides the several young teachers under training here, there is also a class of preachers in the old time churches who are getting brushed up. Two nights had to be given to talks before the school and congregation. Thence up to Dudley, where Rev. David Peebles and his wife, lately Miss Anna[170] M. Day, of the Washington School at Raleigh, have charge of the church and school in the large and comely structure which serves a double purpose. Besides a half dozen candidates for the teaching profession, one young man is pursuing Latin with reference to a full classical course. This church numbers seventy-five members, and makes a specialty of temperance and music. It has to meet in the community a theological coloring taken from the Hard-shell Baptists and the Quakers. In the Ku-Klux times a good many Freedmen came in here for safety.

At Beaufort I found the church and school making headway under Mr. Michael Jerkins, a graduate of the Theological Department of Howard University. At Morehead City, a town once of great expectations, now blighted, our school and the city lie dead side by side.

At Woodbridge our school is under the care of Mr. W. H. Ellis, a graduate of Williams, who was recently licensed to preach by Mr. Peebles’ church, of Dudley. Last year, in this school, under the excellent Miss Waugh, a revival was enjoyed which enlisted more than a score of the scholars as disciples of the Great Master. Mr. Ellis ministers the word on the Lord’s day, and a church fellowship must soon be gathered here. At this place, at North River near Beaufort, and at Dudley, some years ago, the A. M. A., with funds specially provided, purchased several hundred acres of land to be sold to the Freedmen. Not all of this has yet been taken up. The highest ideal of such an investment has not been realized at these points. Nevertheless, I find that the Freedmen almost everywhere are making advance in securing homes and farms.

At Goldsboro’, a fine railway centre, we found an urgent call for a church and school movement, which must soon be set forward. Chapel Hill, the location of the State University, offers a similar opening.

Heretofore the churches of this State have been unassociated. Feeling the need of such fellowship, they have now secured it. In the North Carolina Conference, which was organized at Raleigh on May 2d, holding over a Sabbath, the five churches at Wilmington, Dudley, Beaufort, Raleigh and McLeansville, with their ministers, were thus united. The pastor of the church, Rev. G. S. Smith, a graduate of Atlanta, was made the moderator of the Conference, and Rev. David Peebles secretary. It was a rich and glowing meeting. The several parts and methods of a regular Conference came together as naturally as though this were an experienced ecclesiastical body. The entertaining church was greatly comforted, and some special services were to follow, Rev. David Peebles remaining to assist. The next meeting is to be at Dudley, beginning on the first Friday of May, 1880.

By letters missive from the church at Beaufort, an Ecclesiastical Council was convened at Raleigh, during the session of the Conference, to examine and ordain Mr. Michael Jerkins. The Council being well satisfied with the examination, proceeded on Sabbath evening to the appropriate public services. Sermon and prayer of ordination by Supt. Roy; right hand of fellowship by Rev. David Peebles; charge by Rev. Geo. B. Smith. Rev. Dr. H. M. Tupper, President of Shaw University (Baptist), participated in the services.

The Washington School of Raleigh, these many years under the formative influence of Miss E. P. Hayes, now assisted by the pastor’s wife and Miss Hettie Minton, has here, as with our schools everywhere else, been the great feeder of the church. It has prepared not a few school-teachers and started some young men on the way to the ministry. The Sabbath-school held in the Washington school-house, also under the superintendence of Miss Hayes, has[171] been complimented by one of the white pastors as the best Sunday-school in the city. Its teachers are all from among the former pupils of the school, except the pastor and his wife, who have large classes of adults. It ordinarily numbers from two to three hundred. It is gratifying indeed to hear the young people, who from these schools have come on to be teachers and preachers, publicly express their profound appreciation of these godly women who have led them along the path of education and of character. It is characteristic of these students in general that they delight to put honor upon their lady teachers. They are not too proud to own that they came up under the tutelage of women.

On the home stretch I visited, inspected and addressed the church and school at McLeansville, N. C., under the care of Rev. Alfred Connet and his daughter, and also the Brewer Normal School at Greenwood, S. C., under Principal Backenstose. Since going to his field last summer, Pastor Connet has shared with his people in a gracious revival and in the building of a parsonage. The structure serving for church and school use is comely and convenient.

This tour through the old North State has greatly increased my appreciation of its material resources, its people of both colors, its recuperative process, and its public institutions.

TENNESSEE.

Students’ Day at Le Moyne.

April 23d was Students’ day at Le Moyne. This interesting day was a complete success in every respect. The school was under such excellent discipline that there was no hesitancy in surrendering it entirely to the students for a day’s experience. The faculty were chosen by the school with a great deal of judgment, and on Wednesday morning they took their places upon the platform.

The new principal is a man of a great deal of promise—the principal of the intermediate department, a young man Who is an earnest student and who has already had some experience in teaching. Other teachers were equally well chosen.

The lower schools came up as usual, marching to the music of the piano. After appropriate devotional exercises, the pupils re-passed to their school-rooms below, and the other classes to their respective duties. The work in the classes was as usual, and the order and attention were remarkable. The teachers deported themselves with much dignity, and seemed anxious to avoid an assuming, overbearing manner, which might have been expected from the newness of the positions.

Many visitors were in and out during the day, and remarked upon the order and good feeling manifested. The influence of these days upon the school is most excellent. We can but feel that being thrown upon their own resources in this way, their executive ability and devotion to work is tested to the utmost; and it requires no small moral culture to avoid temptations to disorder that might come to those whose hearts are not thoroughly in the work.

Our year has been greatly broken by the time lost at the beginning of the year by the epidemic, yet the school never seemed to be in a more prosperous condition. Both the normal and intermediate departments are filled to overflowing. Our horizon seems brightening more and more, and we hope at the close of the year not only to have gained in popularity, but to have extended the influence of the school for good.

GEORGIA.

Perils of Young Converts—An Open House—Temperance.

Since I wrote last we have had a series of meetings during the evenings of one week. Every Friday evening there is a meeting for prayer and religious[172] instruction, attended by all the scholars. This has been greatly blessed. Twenty of the scholars profess to have been converted. As soon as their parents knew that they were interested about their souls’ welfare, many of them were put under the instruction of ignorant godfathers or godmothers, to be “brought through” by a course of dreams and other superstitions. How far this has turned them away from simple trust in Jesus we cannot tell. We can only teach them the right way, and leave them with the Master. One thing I have learned—that these teachers are never satisfied with their pupils till they obtain a promise to join their church. Four joined us at our communion season in March. One, an old white-headed man; three, children. These children are exposed to persecution because they did not “come through” the right way. They are told that they are no Christians, for they “hav’n’t dun prayed yet.” One little boy, who has been a member of the church a year, and of whose life all speak well, could not partake with us. He sat and looked on sadly as long as he could endure it, and then went out and wept bitterly. He did not go to his godfather for guidance, and he has now persuaded the boy’s mother to forbid his communing. I found him weeping after meeting, but still trusting in Jesus. He said, “I know I love Him, and try every day to do what He wants me to.”

This course of “travel” in dreams is what they call “praying.” Though most of those converted will join other churches, yet they will continue in our Sunday-school, being absent only when there is preaching in their churches. Thus we hope to lead them to take the Bible for their guide.

Notwithstanding the house is so open that we have to hold our papers tightly, or put a weight on what we lay down (for the wind always blows there), yet my school at Cross Roads is increasing in numbers and interest. Last Sabbath the wind was breaking trees and throwing down fences, and twice during our school here burst open the door and blew over benches, so that all said, “You cannot go to Cross Roads; you will get killed by falling branches.” After asking guidance, I thought I ought to go. As I passed under swaying limbs, and was enveloped in a cloud of sand, I saw how impossible it would be to teach in that open house; but I thought, God can calm the wind. I asked Him, and almost immediately there was a comparative calm, and I went on comfortably.

I find many in my walks who have once been church members, but “fell out.” Often, too, I meet those who show very plainly that they frequent the whiskey shops, of which there are no less than six within two miles of the Cross Roads church. A young man, one of my former pupils, told me, as I tried to show him his danger even in taking a little, “The ministers and church members use it; how then can it be so bad?” This is true, and some say they cannot pray and sing well till they get enough to make them feel well. Wherever I find those who can read I give tracts, and to others I read of the evils of tobacco and strong drink. To all I read the Bible, and try to make them see that, the Bible way is the only safe way, and the road to happiness here and hereafter.

If Christians could only realize the terrible heathenism of the ignorant masses, and the danger to our free institutions from this ignorance, coming under Romish influence and the lead of unprincipled men, I am sure your treasury would be so filled that the number of teachers and missionaries would be multiplied a hundred fold, as they need to be if we are saved.

Midway Church—Dorchester Academy—New Church at Cypress Slash.

I have been quite silent since my return from Africa and resumed my work[173] here; not altogether because there was nothing of interest to write, but because I thought it more important to keep the sword in hand until the victory was gained than to stop in the heat of the battle to report progress. Notwithstanding the unpleasant situation of a church worshiping in a house unfinished and unprovided with heaters in the month of January, we determined to observe the week of prayer. Some religious interest was manifested among the young people, which was encouraged in every way possible, and one after another gave himself to the Lord, until March 23d on our communion season, when nineteen, hopefully converted, united with the church. Rev. R. F. Markham, who is now in charge of the work of the A. M. A. in and around Savannah, came out by invitation on the 21st and remained until Monday the 24th; delivered the preparatory lecture on Saturday, preached Sunday morning, assisted in the other duties pertaining to the communion, and in the afternoon delivered a very interesting lecture on the work of the A. M. A. This was listened to with great interest by about 700 people in the house and about 300 outside who could not possibly get in. I would like much to give you a short account of the candidates’ confessions, but it would make my letter too long. Their ages range from 10 to 60 years.

I have had the work of building a new school-house, nicely furnished and very conveniently arranged, and have also been working up a church in a new field. The new building was built with means furnished by the A. M. A., and with such help as the people here could give, at a cost of $1,100. It is called the Dorchester Academy, from its Puritan history. First, the Pilgrim Fathers planted Dorchester in Massachusetts; then Dorchester, South Carolina; then Dorchester, Liberty, Georgia; and lastly, Dorchester Academy at Snelsonville, four miles on the Sunberry Road, from No. 3 A. & G. R. R. This was dedicated April 13 by Dr. J. E. Roy, Field Superintendent of the A. M. A. The address was rich and full of instruction. He dwelt principally upon the blessings of the family institution of home; the duties of the three divisions of the family in the relation which each sustains to the other. $50 was pledged toward the debt of $100 which was due on the new building. Judge E. Fulton (white) promised $5 of the $50, and made a very encouraging speech to the people.

On Monday night Dr. Roy delivered at our church a lecture on “Our Country,” illustrated by his large map. This was a grand treat to all. The whites present expressed themselves as being highly pleased.

Tuesday morning, the 15th, it began to rain, but ceased about 7 o’clock. Very soon ten buggies and one-horse wagons, well loaded with ministers, delegates and spectators, were seen on their way to a council of churches which was called to meet 14 miles N. W. of us to consider the expediency of organizing a church at Cypress Slash. The roads are quite level all the way, pretty much through a pine forest. All were highly pleased with the trip. Three churches were represented in the council—the Midway, Ogeechee and Savannah churches. Dr. Roy represented the A. M. A.; Rev. J. R. McLean was chosen scribe, and Rev. F. Snelson moderator. In reply to inquiries it was said that the community generally would look upon the movement with favor. They wished as soon as possible to have an intelligent minister sent to them, such as the A. M. A. would recommend, and they pledged to do all they could to support him. Fifteen persons were then baptized, 20 were received by confession, 28 from other churches—48 in all. A sermon was preached by Dr. Roy, from Rev. xxii 17: “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” Scripture read by Mr. J. McIntosh. The ordinance of baptism administered[174] and the prayer offered by Rev. F. Snelson. Rev. J. R. McLean gave a short address and the right hand of fellowship. Rev. R. F. Markham gave the address to the church, and Dr. Roy extended a cordial welcome to the fellowship of all the Congregational churches in America. Five deacons were then ordained, Mr. Markham offering the ordaining prayer of consecration. Several whites were present; one white lady, who assisted largely in providing dinner for our company. I must acknowledge this to be the first place in the South where I have ever seen a white man ask for prayer among the colored people and at their meeting. This was done by a man of about 60 years, while I was trying to gather the nucleus which formed this church. Another important Congregational seed is planted; pray that its growth may be a success.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Plymouth Church—Home and Sunday-School Work—Avery Institute—Social Recognition.

We came here from Chattanooga about the first of March. We have not had time to do much more than to look about us and take the lay of the land. There seems to be no reason why we may not build up, in this city, a strong church upon the true foundation of the Apostles. The church here (Plymouth) is largely an offshoot from the old Circular, Independent, or Congregational church, one of the oldest in this city. In an old plan of the city, giving the location of the principal buildings in 1704, the White Meeting House occupies a conspicuous position, and probably gave its name to the street on which it stood, which is now the principal street. This church was established by Presbyterians, Congregationalists and French Protestant refugees. It afterwards passed into the hands of Congregationalists, and then suffered, as many of our Congregational churches did, by a division, a part forming themselves into a Unitarian congregation. Not far from 120 members from this old Independent church have joined Plymouth church since its organization. We do not have to contend, therefore, with the prejudice against a new form of government and worship, as we do in some parts of the South. Besides this, there are Presbyterian churches among the colored people here whose mode of worship is so like ours that the people have been educated into sympathy with our government and worship. Notwithstanding all this, from one cause and another, Plymouth church has had a stormy life, and is now struggling for existence. What will be the outcome of our effort it is not best to predict; only this: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” I remember a Christian worker once made the remark, that “If we have God on our side, we are in the majority, let who will be on the other.” This is the encouragement we have. If we can succeed in getting the membership decidedly and firmly on the Lord’s side, the end is secured. But the obstacles and hindrances are not few. What we need, and what alone can save us, is a baptism of power from on high. Some of our good friends at the North are in mortal fear of the doctrine of a higher Christian life. If they will come down here, we will show them some of the phases of the lower Christian life, until they will be willing to accept anything that will tend to make Christians holy and love one another. I don’t propose to say much about the church at present, only this: that we need greatly a revival of pure religion.

Miss Wells, our missionary, is getting into the homes of the people, and we already see the good results of her work. She has organized a Sunday-school in the out-skirts of the city, at which she has secured many more promises than[175] attendants. Still she is working on, and will eventually succeed in her enterprise. The readiness of the colored people to promise is wonderful, but the fulfilment is exceedingly doubtful. If you question their fulfilling their pledge, they reply, “Oh, yes, Missus, we coming shuah; you may look for we.” Sure enough we do look, but seldom find. Our home Sunday-school is increasing in efficiency and numbers, and we hope before long to report a prosperous condition.

Avery Institute is one of the finest schools in the South; I don’t know as there is a superior to it anywhere. A gentleman in the city was speaking of the receptivity of the colored children in comparison with the whites, to the disparagement of the former, when another gentleman, prominent in democratic politics, said there was no disparagement on that side. “You just go over to that Avery school, and hear the examinations, and listen to their literary exercises; why, it is glorious, perfectly wonderful—magnificent!” This is not undeserved praise. Every visitor expresses himself highly pleased with the appearance of the school. Prof. Farnham deserves the praise which he receives for the high character of his school. After the anniversary exercises, just before Easter, the students and graduates of the school presented Avery with a beautiful flag of blue bunting with a palmetto in white worked in the centre, and Avery Institute in large letters above and below. It is the first time the flag of the State was ever presented to a school supported by Northern philanthropists for the benefit of the colored people.

I would say in regard to social recognition, that the principal objection to us workers here is, that we are Northerners. I do not think any class regards it such a terrible disgrace to do something for the elevation of the negroes. Charleston is far in advance of other cities of the South in this respect. It is the only city that I have seen where a real Christian conception, or rather perception, of duty seems to be felt. The city has built some of its finest school buildings for the colored children; in one of which there are 25 white teachers, all Southern born. In another school, under the care of Rev. Mr. Adams, a colored man, as principal, there are three or four white ladies from some of the most respected families in the South. Several of the colored churches are ministered to by white men. In antebellum days, Dr. Jeredeaux (Presbyterian) had a church of colored people, where the whites had to take the gallery, while the blacks held the pews below. The building was one of the largest in the city and used to be thronged. Since he left, his congregation has become a good deal scattered. He had a singular power over his people. He thought as much of his “niggers” as he did of his white congregation, if not more. He would not let any man preach to his colored church. He was pastor of a white church at the same time, and many of his white congregation would go to hear him at Zion church, but they had to take the gallery. I do not mean to say, by any means, that every thing is pleasant and sweet between the two races, but there are things to commend. The things to be condemned, we hope, will soon pass away, and we shall not have to think of some things which we leave unsaid. It is certainly pleasant to labor in a community where you are not constantly reminded that you are despised by Christian people, and some of them from the North, too, because you are doing what your conscience and every sentiment of our holy religion commends. If anything will stir up all the depths of righteous indignation, and sorely tempt one to go a little over the bounds of the term righteous, it is to be brought in contact with that phase of Christianity which prevails almost universally in the[176] South; and the fact that letters are not filled with burning words of scathing criticism of this spirit, is a standing proof that our workers exercise the largest spirit of charity. And they are right. We are not here to seek the applause of men, and I presume it is altogether better for us and the people among whom we labor, that the white people do not welcome us to this field. I can easily see the snare that popular favor would be to us. I have long since come to the conclusion that God knows best how to have His work accomplished. If some misconstrue our motives in coming into this work, it is no more than the men in Christ’s day did in regard to his motive. It is sufficient if the servant be as his Lord. Oh, for grace, grace, grace, to do our Master’s will.

ALABAMA.

The State Conference of Congregational Churches.

The fourth annual meeting of the Conference opened with a sermon by Rev. Dr. Bascom, for the last winter pastor of the church. He spoke from the words, “Ye are the salt of the earth,” impressing us with the valuable estate of the Christian.

Saturday was held our first morning prayer meeting, when “Blest be the tie that binds” was the sentiment of every heart. Thanksgivings for revivals of God’s grace in the churches and in individual hearts arose like holy incense. At other meetings of this kind, numerous and interesting accounts were given of special visitations of the Spirit; at Anniston, the Cove, and Childersburg; at Talladega, Selma, Marion and Montgomery; the last two not resulting in any extensive work of grace. We felt how sweet that there are no desert places in God’s love.

The first paper noticed on the programme was “Our Mission Work,” by Rev. G. W. Andrews, Talladega—an inspiration from his experience of nearly nine years in the service, instructive and profitable. After the rest and refreshment at the “Home” of two hours’ “nooning,” we listened to the discussion of the question, “How shall we interest the church of Christ, North and South, in our work?” Some of the replies: By doing it with all our might, thus showing that it interests us; by showing that it is a specific work, placed in the hands of the Christian church by the marked Providence of God; by combining the efforts of women, North and South, for special missionary work; by not only arousing men, but raising money to carry it on to successful completion.

Right here came in most appropriately the presentation of “The duty of economy and industry,” so as to increase our giving, by Rev. D. L. Hickok, Mobile. Full of fresh and vigorous thought, the most prominent was that of saving to spend.

At the announcement, “Examination of candidates for the ministry,” nine young men came forward. The young men were not only questioned by their leader, Rev. Mr. Andrews, but by many others on the general range of questions in systematic theology, followed by personal Christian experience in their calls to the ministry, until all present were convinced of their thorough preparation for their work. The evening was given to an address by the Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D.: “How are the Freedmen getting on?”—a graphic picture of their condition then (at the surrender) and now.

A little time being left, “How to win souls,” by Rev. O. W. Fay, of Illinois, lately arrived, was impressively treated. First, make it your business; then, in successfully prosecuting this business, come into personal contact with him you would win. Sabbath morning we were disappointed by the absence of Prof. J. C. Silsby, of Selma, who was[177] to have conducted the Sabbath-school quarterly review. After a short review of the quarter’s lessons, brief addresses were made, and the time profitably spent. The sermon Sabbath morning, by Mr. J. D. Smith, of Shelby, from the text, “Can ye not watch with me one hour?” was a touching picture of the heavy-laden disciple and a Saviour’s yearning for sympathy. At 3 P. M. a children’s meeting, addressed chiefly by Prof. E. P. Lord, of Talladega, was said to be very interesting and instructive. The writer was unable to be present. Monday morning a business meeting closed the session of Conference proper and opened

THE THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

The first paper, “The History and necessity of a new Revision of the Bible,” by Rev. C. B. Curtis, was a most thorough treatise upon the subject, for which he expressed himself partly indebted to the Sunday-School World. We admired the caution with which he handled the sacred subject, lest some poor wayfaring man should hear to his hurt. At the end we were left to anticipate with joy the new, complete and pure revision, which, after all, will not contain one single change vital to Christian faith.

The second paper, “The Relation of Theological Education to the Church of Christ,” was by Mr. J. D. Smith, of Shelby, showing that a pure religion is conserved by an educated ministry; and without it, the tendency is to superstition and heathenism. Following this, a study of the 110th Psalm, conducted by Mr. Y. B. Sims, of the theological class, brought us all under his tutelage and sharp questioning for half an hour. I noticed some of the Doctors of Divinity scratching their heads previous to answering, while “the smile went round.” At night we listened to a sermon on the “First Commandment,” by Rev. D. L. Hickok. Power, pathos and eloquence were combined in it. Plans of sermons by Revs. P. J. McEntosh, Horace Taylor, Alfred Jones, and Revs. Andrews and Bascom, closed the Institute.

THE SABBATH-SCHOOL CONVENTION,

the third section of the Conference, opened on Tuesday with an address by Rev. D. L. Hickok, of Mobile, on “The Field and the Workers.” Other topics of this interesting day were: “The Best Methods of Conducting Teachers’ Meetings,” Rev. G. W. Andrews; “Necessity of Pointed Teaching,” Rev. P. J. McEntosh; “How to Cultivate the Spirit of Giving in Sunday-schools, and How to Dispose of Moneys Collected,” Mr. J. D. Smith; “S. S. Music—How to keep up with the mass of New Music,” Rev. C. B. Curtis. Reports of Sabbath-schools. At night the S. S. Convention closed with a multitude of speeches on as many topics.

THE WOMAN’S MISSIONARY MEETING

was held in the afternoon. We could not have foregone the good we gained by that excellent meeting. I have regretted that I did not reserve my time for an exclusive report of it, as it was one of so much interest; I will only note its general features, however, as full minutes will be published in connection with the minutes of the Conference. After the usual devotional exercises and reports, we listened to an address by Rev. Dr. Roy, which was so thoroughly appreciated, that a unanimous vote of thanks was given at its close. Then came the following papers: “The Opportunities afforded to the Women of the Colored Race for Education and Moral Improvement,” Miss M. J. Adams, Montgomery; “Present Encouragements to further prosecute Special Missionary Work for our Colored Women and Girls,” Mrs. H. W. Andrews, Talladega; “The Industrial School, a Means of Success in Training our Young Women for Future Usefulness,” S. Ida Allen, Talladega.

The Conference with its triple object closed, we were ready to enjoy the best[178] wine, which, after the example in Cana, had been reserved till the last. The interesting

EXAMINATION AND ORDINATION SERVICES

of Mr. J. D. Smith, Shelby, took place on Wednesday; examination conducted by Rev. O. W. Fay, the new pastor at Montgomery. Searching questions were put, and grew more and more so as the candidate showed abundant ability to answer. An examination of two hours was well sustained. The leading examiner said he had never listened to a better examination, and had attended all the important ones about Chicago. One reply I must give you, showing the firm convictions of Mr. Smith on the subject of emotional religion: Ques.—Do you think it necessary, when under conviction, that a man should be thrown on to the floor and go through various contortions of body before he can become a Christian? Ans.—No, sir; I do not think when God knocks at the door of a man’s heart, that he “knocks down the man.” This reply evidently met with hearty approval. The ordination exercises were conducted in the evening; sermon by Rev. Wm. H. Ash, Florence, an earnest setting forth of ministerial duties. The impressive ordaining prayer by Rev. Dr. Bascom, and charge to pastor and right hand of fellowship by Revs. Taylor and Andrews. The doxology, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,” closed what to us had seemed like a “feast of weeks.”

SOUTH-WESTERN CONFERENCE.

Annual Meeting at New Iberia, La.

Our Annual Conference met at New Iberia, April 2–6, and on account of the deep interest and spiritual results directly attending it, marks an important era in the history of the Congregational churches of Louisiana. The very delightful meeting of the Conference in 1878, at the same place, prepared us for the recurrence of like scenes this year. But the Lord had greater and better things in store for us, and the Conference of 1879 stands alone in the marvellous tenderness and earnestness which characterized all its sessions, and in the precious baptism of the Holy Spirit, resulting in the conversion of fifty souls, and in the quickening and reviving of all the churches represented.

Of the 16 churches connected with the Conference, 14 were represented. Two large churches, one at Gretna, (Rev. W. P. Ward, pastor,) numbering 250 members, and the one at Algiers, (Rev. James Craig, pastor,) numbering 121 members, which left the Conference seven years ago, and have since been independent, were very cordially re-admitted. The brethren on the ground understand the great importance of this step. The re-admission of these large churches will be an element of strength in many directions. Their temporary withdrawal was the result of a misunderstanding which should never have occurred.

Two new churches were received—the church at Harangville, in Lafourche parish, with a membership of 30, and the church at Little Pecan, in Iberia parish, eight miles from the city of New Iberia. Rev. P. P. Proctor will take charge of this church.

The year has been one of growth. Revivals were reported in several of the churches, especially in the Central Church of New Orleans and in Terrebonne.

The membership of the churches numbers 1,303. During the year ending April 1st, 1879, there have been admitted to the churches 213, of whom 190 were received on profession of their faith. Number in Sabbath-school, 670. Adult baptisms, 146; infant baptisms, 122.

Our Northern friends will be startled to know that 119 have been excommunicated during the year. But after all it is a hopeful sign. It is a process of[179] purification painful, but necessary. The church cannot afford to shelter unworthy people. I wrote to one of the pastors who had sent his report to me, and asked him if it was true that 37 had been excommunicated from his church the past year. “Yes, sir,” he wrote me, “it is all right; they were not walking in Christ.”

DISCUSSIONS.

The subjects considered were practical and the addresses were earnest and to the point. The topics of “Church Extension,” “Education,” “Temperance,” and the “Moral Character of Ministers and Church Members,” came prominently before the Conference. The sentiments expressed, in which there was entire agreement among the brethren, were pure in tone, and placed our churches upon the broad platform of moral purity and intelligence. I shall be pardoned if I particularize. Social and domestic relations among the colored people in the dark days of slavery, in a great many instances, do not bear inspection. The necessities of those days call for a charitable judgment, but do not justify a continuance of the evil. There is but one sentiment in the Congregational churches of Louisiana on this subject: legal marriage is insisted on in all cases. No exception is allowed on any plea. Said one of our pastors while this discussion was pending, “Individuals living unlawfully can remain members of my church only so long as it takes to call a church meeting to turn them out.” The pastors agreed that they could afford to preside over small churches, but not over impure churches. I desire to emphasize this fact, that our friends may know that we are building upon a good foundation, and that our work, whatever the rate of its progress, is in accord with the Gospel of Christ.

The discussion on the topic of “Education” called forth the deep convictions of the brethren that the churches need and must have educated pastors, and that the colored people must demand the highest benefits of education that can be obtained. The first eager, enthusiastic desire for education which followed in the wake of emancipation has been succeeded by a calm, intelligent, determined conviction that the future of the race in America depends upon the thorough education of the people.

CHURCH EXTENSION.

A question which occupied the serious attention of the brethren was the extension of our work in the State,—how may our churches be strengthened and their usefulness extended, and how may new fields be occupied and cultivated? It was represented to the Conference that several churches occupying virtually an independent position were prepared to join our ranks, and that “all things were ready” to organize churches in many communities where the people were in sympathy with our spirit and polity. To meet this demand, and to gather a harvest already ripe, the Conference decided, and I think wisely, to appoint from their own number four missionaries, who should go through the Southern parishes to preach the Word, to instruct and encourage the people, and, wherever the opportunity offered, organize believers into churches, and minister to them till stated preaching and pastoral care could be provided. The brethren appointed were Rev. W. P. Ward, of Gretna, Rev. James Craig, of Algiers, Rev. Homer Jones, of Lake Peigneur, and Rev. Samuel Smith, of Terrebonne.

I have great confidence that these brethren will bring good tidings to the Conference in 1880.

ORDINATION.

The church at Terrebonne asked that Samuel Smith, who had for several years exercised his gifts as a preacher, and who was known to the brethren as a thoroughly good man, be ordained to the Gospel ministry. The church at Lafourche Crossing presented the name[180] of William Reed, who had supplied their pulpit for one year; and Thomas E. Hillson, of New Orleans, who was licensed two years ago, applied in his own name for ordination. The examination of the candidates was faithful and searching, and was well sustained. It was unanimously approved, and the public services of ordination took place on Saturday night, in the presence of a very large and deeply interested audience.

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I have reserved till now the narrative of one of the most wonderful and precious revivals it has been my privilege to witness. Occurring in connection with the sessions of the Conference, it seemed like the Divine benediction upon our work.

The pastor, Rev. Wm. Butler, said to me on my arrival, “We want revival services every night. I have announced them, and the people expect them.”

No special services had been held, and no conversions had occurred; but the people were anticipating the Conference with great expectations of good. The first night the church was filled. As Moderator I preached the annual sermon to an attentive and tender audience. At the conclusion of my sermon the pastor said to me, “Call out the mourners.” I said, “No; wait until to-morrow night.” In my heart I did not expect a revival to begin the first night.

The early morning prayer meeting was a rich spiritual feast; the discussions during the day were marked by perfect harmony. At night the church was packed. The spirit of God was manifestly present. Mr. Hall and Mr. Ward preached effectively. Those desiring to become Christians were invited forward to the “mourner’s seat.” Thirteen responded. The good work had begun, and we had only to “wait and see the salvation of God.”

An inquiry meeting was held in connection with the morning prayer meeting. Those who came proved by their words and manner how deeply God had convicted them of sin, and their need of a Saviour. Night came again, and with it an eager, crowded assembly. Mr. James preached earnestly, and the number of inquirers was increased to twenty.

The next night, Saturday, was to be the last of our Conference, and my anxiety was almost painful. I was appointed to preach the ordination sermon for the three brethren to be set apart to the ministry, and in my selection and treatment of a subject I had but one desire and thought—to deepen the impression already made, and to persuade sinners to make their peace with God. I said to the brethren, “We will change the usual order of services, and the sermon will come last to-night.” God helped me to preach. I felt that His word went home to many hearts. The church could not nearly contain the throngs who came. The door-ways were crowded, and numbers stood beneath all the windows. The appeal to rise and come to Jesus was responded to by 40, half of whom were men. None could doubt the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. The tidal wave was moving on, but had not yet reached its height. On Sunday morning I took a 5 o’clock breakfast and started for two distant churches, the one 15 miles away and the other 25 miles distant from New Iberia, leaving St. Paul’s church in the care of the pastors who had remained over the Conference. As I was passing the house of one of the brethren I was called in to see the most prominent man in the community among the colored people, formerly State senator, who was under the deepest and most agonizing conviction of sin. He had risen from his bed two hours before the break of day, and had come to this house to beg the brethren to pray for him. The household were aroused, a prayer circle was formed around him, and they interceded for him with heartfelt earnestness. When[181] I went in he was pacing the room, his tears were flowing like summer rain, and cries of agony broke from his lips. “What does this mean, Mr. Alexander?” he said to me. I replied, “It means, my dear friend, that God is speaking to you, and entreating you to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” We knelt together. I prayed for him; and he then and there offered up to God the prayer of a contrite, heart-broken man. I shall always remember one or two expressions in that prayer. “O God! Thou hast always been kind and good to me. Thou hast crowned my life with blessings, and I have been Thine enemy. O God! spare me and save me. My poor little babes who are in heaven, go to Jesus and ask Him to forgive me. All Christians in heaven, go to the Saviour and intercede for me.”

I was obliged to leave him to meet my appointments. I returned on Monday. The pastor and people met me and said, “You cannot go to New Orleans to-day; you must preach to-night.” I gladly consented. Never did I feel myself so completely in God’s hands. It was an unspeakable joy to preach the precious Gospel that night. I again appealed to all who felt their need of forgiveness to come forward and begin a Christian life. As though moved by one impulse, SIXTY at once came forward and fell upon their knees. I saw before me 30 men from 18 to 70 years of age, and as many women. With prayer and song and exhortation the meeting continued till nearly midnight. We could not close it a moment sooner. Eight or ten found peace in believing in Jesus on their knees that night.

I was compelled to return to New Orleans on Tuesday. It was God’s work, and He carried it forward gloriously. About 50 have already joined the church, including the man of whom I have particularly spoken. His confession of Christ in the church was manly and thrilling. I am in almost daily receipt of letters from the young converts. Their joy is deep, peaceful and intelligent. I feel how inadequately I have described this wonderful work of grace. I have left much for our friends to infer; but even then they can hardly conceive the warmth, the depth and the glory of this work of God.

I am profoundly grateful for the Conference of 1879, and desire to say to our friends that the “signs of promise” for our small band of Congregational churches in Louisiana were never so bright as to-day. Let those who have ever been the friends of the colored people take fresh heart and courage, and push forward the work, till brighter, richer, grander results are attained.

THE INDIANS.

THE SPICE OF MISSIONARY LIFE.

This frontier life among the Indians has its romance, some things being pleasant and some not so pleasant. The white people in the region where I travel are generally as kind as they can be; the Indians seldom do a favor without wishing pay for it, though that is not always so; but the elements are sometimes antagonistic.

At one time I was returning from Seabeck in a canoe, thirty miles distant, after preaching, with two Indians. We live three miles above the mouth of the S’kokomish River, but everywhere around its mouth are mud flats, which are very troublesome at low tide. At nine o’clock at night we reached the mouth of the river, with the tide low and still running out. The Indians thought that they could find the channel, but in[182] the darkness they made a mistake and ran on to the flats, where we remained until the tide turned. It was chilly, as a November night generally is. We had an overcoat and pair of blankets which kept us somewhat comfortable, but it was four o’clock in the morning before we reached home.

Again, I started with eight canoes from Port Gamble for Seabeck, twenty miles, but a strong head wind arose. The Indians worked hard for five hours, when nearly all gave out, having traveled only ten miles, and we camped on the beach. It rained also, and the wind blew stronger, so that the trees were constantly falling around us. I had only a pair of blankets, an overcoat and a mat with me, but having obtained another mat of the Indians, I made a slight roof over me with it, and went to sleep. About two o’clock in the morning I was aroused by the Indians, when I learned that a very high tide had come and drowned them out. My bed was on higher ground than theirs, but in fifteen minutes that ground was three or four inches under water. We waded around, put our things in the canoes, and soon, wet and cold, in the middle of February, we started. There was still some rain and wind, and rowing by turns in order to keep from suffering, it took us four hours to reach our destination.

I started from Dunginess for Elkwa, a distance of twenty-five miles, on horseback, but after proceeding ten miles the horse became so lame that he could go no farther. I could not well get another one, so I was obliged to travel on foot; but soon I reached Morse Creek, and could find no way of crossing. The stream was quite swift, having been swollen by recent rains. The best way seemed to be to ford it; so after taking off some of my clothes, I started in. It was only about three feet deep, but so swift that it was difficult to stand, and cold as December; but with a stick to feel my way, I crossed, and it only remained for me to get warm, which I soon did by climbing a high hill.

Coming from Elkwa on a previous trip, on horseback, with a friend, we were obliged to travel on the beach for eight miles, as there was no other road. The tide was quite high, the wind was blowing and the waves came in very roughly. There were many trees lying on the beach, around which we were obliged to canter as fast as we could when the waves were out. But one time my friend who was ahead just passed safely, while I was caught by the wave, which came up to my side, and a part of which went over my head. It was very fortunate that my horse was not carried off his feet.

Another of our experiences, which is very unpleasant, is with the vermin, especially the fleas, which dwell constantly with the Indians and with some of the whites. I stood one evening and preached in one of their houses, when I am satisfied that I scratched every half minute during the service; for, although I stood them as long as I could, I could not help it. I would quietly take up one foot and rub it against the other leg; put my hand in my pocket or behind my back, and treat the creatures as gently as I could, and the like.

Once in a while I am obliged to stay over night in one of their houses in the winter, a thing I seldom do unless there is no white man’s house near; even in summer they are afraid the panthers will eat me up if I sleep outside; but between the fleas, rats and smoke (for they often keep the house full of smoke all night), sleep is not very refreshing, and the next morning I feel more like a piece of bacon than a minister.

But Indian houses are not the only unpleasant ones. Here we are at a hotel, the best in a milling town of four or five hundred people; but the bar-room is filled with tobacco smoke almost as thick as the smoke from the fires which often fills an Indian house.[183] Here about fifty men spend a great portion of the night (some of them all night) in drinking, gambling and smoking. The house is used to it, for the rooms directly over the bar-room are saturated with the smoke, and I am assigned to one of these rooms. Before I get to sleep the smoke has so filled my nostrils that I cannot breathe through them, and at midnight I wake up with a headache so severe that I can scarcely hold up my head for the next twenty-four hours. It is not so bad, however, but that I can do a little thinking on this wise: Who are the lowest, the Indians or these whites? The smoke in each of their houses is of about equal thickness; that of the Indians, however, is clean smoke from wood; that of the whites filthy from tobacco. The Indian has sense enough to make holes in the roof where some of it may escape; the white man does not even that much. The Indian sits or lies on or near the ground, beneath a great portion of it; the white man puts a portion of his guests and his ladies’ parlor in rooms directly over it. Sleeping in the Indian smoke, I come out well, though feeling like smoked bacon, and a thorough wash cures it; but sleeping in the white man’s smoke I come out sick, and the brain has to be washed.

But these are the sharp spice. There is another side, more like currant jelly. The people are generally as kind as they can be. “We will give you the best we have,” is what is often told me, and they do it. Here are houses, where I occasionally stop a week at a time, and the people will take nothing for it. Here is a region for forty miles, where a man’s company is supposed to pay for his lodgings at any house. Now I meet a man who offers to go home, half a mile, on purpose to get me a dinner; or a girl, with whose family I am very slightly acquainted, stands on the porch as I pass and says, “Mister, have you been to dinner? You had better stop and have some.” Here is a hotel-keeper, who has sold whiskey for fifteen years, who puts me in his best room, one fitted up for private use, and will take nothing for it. Now I am invited into the home of the superintendent of a large mill, and during the two years and a half that I have occasionally preached at the place I have spent seven weeks in his family, yet he will never take anything for it, and hardly allow me to thank him. Again, here is a steamer, which has always carried me free whenever myself or family wished to travel on it, and which during two years and a half has actually given me sixty or seventy-five dollars’ worth of travel. Then there is another which runs irregularly, but whose captain says, “Whenever you or your family or your Indian and canoe wish to travel where I am going, I will take you all free,” and who has actually made extra effort with his steamer in order to help me.

Indians, too, are not wholly devoid of gratitude. Now it is a funeral. They are often accustomed to make presents at such times to their friends who attend. “Take this money,” they say to me, as they give me two or three dollars; “do not refuse; it is our custom, for you come to comfort us with Christ’s words.” Again, I am at a great festival, and am there on purpose to protect them from drunkenness and other evils equally bad; so they hand me seven dollars and a half, saying, “You have come a long distance to help us; we cannot give you food as we do these Indians, as you do not eat with us,” (and generally I do not, if I can avoid it); “take this money, it will help to pay your board.” Or, again, they carry me nearly a hundred miles free, in order that I may teach them and dedicate a church for them.

God is good to put these kind thoughts into the hearts of the people, and not the least good thing He has put in the Bible is that verse about the giving of a cup of cold water.

THE CHINESE.

“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

President: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. Vice-Presidents: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.

Directors: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, Rev. John Kimball, E. P. Sanford, Esq.

THE “CONGREGATIONAL WAY” IN MISSION WORK.

There are two methods of dealing with converts from heathenism, whether in our own land or that from which they come. One is that which treats them as children to be provided for and controlled; the other is that which welcomes them at once as co-workers—as brethren, having only one Master, and that our Master, even Christ. According to the one, the missionary lays the plans, and the converts work by it, if at all; to consult them would puff them up and make them presumptuous. According to the other,—while, of course, those who are responsible for the use of funds must control in regard to expenditures, and, consequently, must retain a veto power as to almost all projects for concerted work,—still suggestions from the brethren are cordially welcomed and carefully considered, and they are encouraged to work for Christ, with earnest prayer for His guidance, each in the way Christ points out specially to him. The one is apt to say, “Do as you see us do, accepting our standard and walking by our rules;” the other inculcates principles—faith, hope, charity, and believes that with these in the heart the young disciple may become a law unto himself. I scarcely need say which of these two is the “Congregational way.”

There are various objections made to this way; one, and the chief, is that it is not adapted to these undeveloped Christians—babes in Christ. They are but children, and must be treated as such. It is urged on foreign missionary fields with greater show of reason possibly, but it is the same objection which for so many years hindered the planting of Congregational churches in our new settlements at the West. We were told that Congregationalism was good for New England, but not stout enough for the rough-and-tumble, heterogeneous communities in the younger States. It is the same which is now urged against Congregationalism in the South. The negro race, we are assured, is too emotional, too ignorant, too easily carried away by every wind of doctrine or of feeling, to be entrusted with self-government.

If you work upon this scheme among converts from heathenism, it is certain that you will find trouble. If you work upon the other, you will find trouble also. No good work in this evil world ever went forward without trouble. But this “Congregational way,” it is supposed by some, opens the door specially wide to all sorts of dissatisfaction and dissension. False brethren, unawares brought in, will scatter seeds of heresy and lead off into all sorts of back-slidings. Time will be wasted in disputes that had better be given to study and prayer. Ill-considered and impossible projects will be pressed upon you, and you will find the exercise of your veto power involving you in ungracious, even hostile, criticism. Thus your influence will be weakened, and your usefulness impaired.

These objections are plausible, and[185] address themselves to principles in human nature which the new birth, and even a missionary’s consecration, do not at once supplant. If we are not mistaken, they have gone far to determine the method in much of the missionary work of the world.

But if we have read the New Testament correctly, the method against which these objections may be urged, is the one under which the first Christian missions were conducted—the one to which the teachings of the Master point, and which the example of his Apostles has endorsed. And the heathen among whom these primitive missions were conducted were just such as we find in the world to-day, only, if possible, more corrupt—a less promising material for a self-governing church.

It is certain, furthermore, that those primitive churches, organized on this scheme of Christian liberty, did get into difficulties—into just such difficulties as these objections suggest. The epistles give mournful evidence of this. The hearts of the Apostles were often heavy on account of it. And yet no other scheme was substituted for it until long after the Apostles’ day, and liberty, with all its dangers and all its inconveniences, was preferred to any yoke of bondage, however well contrived.

I believe that the Apostles were right in this, and that we do well to follow in their steps. It may be that we shall have trouble which, under a less democratic régime, we might have escaped; but these troubles, if the hearts that are exercised by them are really renewed, may be made means of grace; while, if there be lurking hypocrisy, it will be, by the same means, brought to light. And, then, the smothered discontent under a system of churchly government in distinction from Christian fellowship, may be more poisonous than even open disputes can be. Encourage the free and frank expression of what lies troublesome within; thus often a few words of explanation remove the cause of friction, or, possibly, the very effort to express one’s discontent reveals its futility and unreason. Furthermore, let me add, out of oft-repeated experiences, the suggestions of these brethren who have come out of the depths of heathenism, and know it as no words could possibly portray it, are often very wise. The superintendent of mission work, no matter how well schooled he be in the language and literature, the history, philosophy and laws of the people for whom he labors, can never know their heathenism as they know it themselves. A system which invites such suggestions, which encourages the idea that the work is not mine only, but theirs also, which thus nurtures frankness and freedom of utterance, has advantages which no system of constraint and repression can possibly secure.

And, then, it is only under conditions of liberty that the educating process can go on to best advantage. Men learn to swim, not by hearing lectures on the art, but by swimming; and men are educated up to manhood in Christ, to self-denial and self-control, only as they have it thrown upon them to control themselves. Men learn their weak points by being put to the test; and the weak are strengthened best by well-timed, well-measured exercise. And Christ has organized His churches with reference to this; not for the smoothest possible working of Gospel machinery, but for the highest possible attainment in faith and hope and love by each individual soul.

I venture to throw out these hints as indicating the principle on which our Chinese mission is conducted; and now I wish to testify, after so many years, that if it were possible to begin again, we could choose no other one than that, the underlying principle of the[186] “Congregational way.”

GOLDEN WEDDING GIFTS.

From our Treasurer’s correspondence this month, we copy the two following items:

“We send you the accompanying draft. It is our Golden Wedding gift, April 1, 1879, which is the fiftieth anniversary of our married life. We want you to use it for the Christian and educational elevation of the poor Freedmen as you think best. We talked the subject over, and concluded to make you this gift in behalf of them, instead of making a fashionable golden wedding party for the entertainment of our fifty-year-old friends or our own personal benefit. With it you shall have our daily prayers for the ultimate success of so worthy a cause.”

“Enclosed please find my check for $——, donation of my “Lady Friends” at my Golden Wedding.”

MAINE, $175.49.
Bath. M. F. Gannett	$10.00
Bethel. F. B. and H. C. B.	1.00
Blanchard. “A Friend.”	5.00
Brewer. First Cong. Ch., $10.83; First Cong. Sab. Sch., $3.52, bal. to const. Mrs. Rev. C. A. Beckwith, L. M.	14.35
Brunswick. First Cong. Soc.	19.65
Falmouth. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc.	9.20
Foxcroft and Dover. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	36.28
Gorham. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	31.85
Hallowell. South Cong. Sab. Sch., for Tougaloo U.	15.00
Hampden. L. H.	0.50
Lewiston. Rev. G. S. Dickerman	20.00
North Waterford. S. E. H.	1.00
Orono. First Cong. Ch.	1.56
St. Albans. First Cong. Ch.	1.60
Sweden. Cong. Ch.	5.00
Waterford. “H. E. and C. M. D.” $3 and box of C.; Mrs. C. D. 50c	3.50

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $619.08.
Bristol. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	2.07
Chichester. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	8.76
Colebrook. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	6.12
Deerfield. Estate of Mrs. Merriam F. Brown, by Joseph T. Brown, Ex.	347.81
Great Falls. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	40.00
Hanover. Dartmouth College Ch.	16.73
Lancaster. H. F. H.	1.00
Littleton. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $19.43; Mrs. A. J. C., 50c	19.93
Orfordville. D. T. H.	1.00
Marlborough. Ladies’ Aid Soc., box of C.
Mason. Cong. Ch.	5.00
Milford. Cong. Ch. to const. Lovel Harris, L. M.	34.31
Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	29.26
Newport. Cong. Ch.	39.73
Peterborough. Cong. Ch., $24.29; Mrs. E. C. H., 51c	24.80
Pittsfield. “A Friend.”	10.00
South Amherst. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	10.56
Temple. Cong. Sab. Sch.	17.00
Wentworth. Ephraim Cook	5.00

VERMONT, $394.85.
Brookfield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	15.00
Cambridge. Madison Safford	44.94
Clarendon. Rev. G. H. Morss, $5; “A Friend,” $5; Mrs. J. N. P., $1	11.00
Danville. Cong. Sab. Sch.	11.00
Fair Haven. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	32.74
Newbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	5.00
Saint Albans. Mrs. F. S. Stranahan, $42.71; First Cong. Ch., Class in Sab. Sch., $25; H. M. Stevens, $10, for Student Aid, Fisk U.	77.71
Saint Johnsbury. North Cong. Ch.	125.75
Shelburne. James D. Duncan, to const. Hoyt G. Post, L. M.	30.00
West Fairlee. Cong. Sab. Sch.	12.00
West Randolph. Miss Betsy Nichols	2.00
Williamstown. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	13.71
Windham. Cong. Ch. for Student Aid, Fisk U.	4.00
—— “A Friend,”	10.00

MASSACHUSETTS, $3,688.37.
Amherst. Mrs. R. A. Lester	50.00
Andover. Theo. Sem. Individuals by Edgar J. Penney, $30 to const. Estella Crosby, L. M.;—Ladies’ Soc. of Free Ch., $1.51 for Straight U.	31.51
Andover. West Parish Cong. Ch.	50.00
Attleborough. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc.	65.00
Ayer. Mrs. C. A. Spaulding, for Student Aid	25.00
Barre. Mrs. Edwin Wood, $1 and bbl. of C.	1.00
Bedford. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. Rev. Geo. E. Lovejoy, L. M.	30.00
Belchertown. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	40.50
Blackstone. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	13.63
Boston. E. B. P.	1.00
Boxford. A. E. S.	1.00
Brookline. Harvard Cong. Ch.	68.96
Cambridgeport. Pilgrim Ch., $10.11;—Cash, $5 for Chinese M.;—N. C. 50c	15.61
Cambridge. Mrs. J. S. S.	1.00
Clinton. “A. E. F.” $10; Ladies’ Benev. Soc of Cong. Ch., bbl. of C. and $2.50 for Freight, for City Mission Work, Nashville, Tenn.	12.50
Concord. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	20.41
Conway. Mrs. Wm. Tilton	2.00
Dedham. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	183.61
East Hawley. “A Friend,”	2.00
Enfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	22.07
Florence. Florence Ch.	107.66
Fitchburgh. Ladies’ Benev. Soc. of Rollstone Ch., Bbl of Bedding and C. for Atlanta U.;—W. L. B. $1	1.00
Foxborough. D. Carpenter, $40.; Orth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) 75c	40.75
Gardener. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $10; Mrs. Knowlton, $1.50; Dea. H. B., 50c	12.00
Granby. Cong. Ch. $14.17;—Mrs. John Church’s Sab. Sch. Class, for Chinese M. $6	20.17
Great Barrington. L. M. P.	1.00
Greenfield. Ladies’ Miss. Soc., bbl of bedding and C., for Atlanta U.[187]
Holliston. John Batchelder	25.00
Housatonic. Dea. A. D. W.	1.00
Hyde Park. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	17.38
Ipswich. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	20.00
Lee. Cong. Sab. Sch.	75.00
Malden. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	40.85
Marlborough. Ladies’ Aid Soc., for Freight	1.00
Melrose. Orth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l)	0.50
Millbury. Estate of Hannah W. Stockwell, by Geo. W. Rice, Ex.	207.49
Mittineaque. Luke Bliss, $50, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.;—Cong. Ch. $12.37	62.37
Monson. Cong. Ch.	15.72
Newburyport. Miss S. N. B.	0.50
Newton. Eliot Ch. (in part)	125.00
Newton Centre. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., $52.61;—Mrs. Furber’s Bible Class, $40, for Student Aid. Atlanta U.	92.61
Newton Lower Falls. Mrs. H. H. Lord, box of books and papers, for Raleigh, N. C.
North Abington. “Friends,” $25, for City Mission Work, Nashville, Tenn.	25.00
Northampton. Estate of J. P. Williston, by A. L. Williston, Ex.	637.60
Northampton. First Cong. Ch.	65.44
Northborough. Box of C.
North Brookfield. First Cong. Ch., $50;—Miss A. W. Johnson, trunk of C., for Fisk U.	50.00
North Middleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	15.33
Oxford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	27.91
Peabody. Thomas Stimpson	100.00
Plympton. Cong. Ch.	1.00
Prescott. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	6.00
Princeton. Ladies, by Anna H. Whitteker	2.00
Quincy. Cong. Sab. Sch., for Student Aid, Talladega C.	13.00
Reading. Rev. W. H. Willcox, $58 for Student Aid, Atlanta U.; $100 for Student Aid, Fisk U.; $50 for Girls’ Ind. Sch., Talladega C., and $15 for a Map for Straight U.	223.00
Reading. Mrs. Wm. W.	1.00
Royalston. H. M. Estabrook, to const. Joseph Estabrook, L. M.	30.00
Rutland. First Cong. Ch., $16; Rev. G. S. Dodge, $1.50	17.50
Somerville. Franklin St. Ch. and Soc.	130.00
South Braintree. A. P. W.	1.00
Springfield. South Cong. Ch., $25.02; C. H. B., 25c	25.27
Templeton. Trin. Sab. Sch. Concert	3.09
Townsend. Mary B. Burnap	10.00
Upton. L. L. L.	1.00
Wakefield. Henry L. Haskell, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.	5.00
Walpole. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	22.27
Ware. East Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. Wm. F. Coney, Silas A. Spooner, Mrs. H. M. Coney, Mary Blood and Susie Bond, L. M.’s	384.50
Westfield. Cong. Ch., Mrs. Elizabeth F. Strong, $12 for Student Aid, and $18 for furnishing a Dormitory, Straight U. and to const. Miss Josephine E. Strong, L. M.	30.00
West Hampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	17.00
Westminster. R. Merriam, for Bibles	2.00
West Newton. Miss Ann Miller	20.00
Whitinsville. Estate of E. W. Fletcher, by Chas P. Whitin, Ex.	100.00
Williamsburgh. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	14.31
Williamstown. First Cong. Ch.	11.35
Wilmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	43.00
Worcester. Central Cong. Ch.	150.00

CONNECTICUT, $2,851.25.
Ansonia. Cong. Ch.	18.09
Avon. N. L. C.	1.00
Berlin. Second Cong. Ch.	25.00
Bethel. Samuel B. Kyle, to const. H. H. Baird, L. M.	30.00
Canaan. First Cong. Ch.	6.50
Colebrook. Cong. Ch.	8.50
Columbia. Cong Ch. and Soc.	18.48
Cornwall Hollow. Mrs. H. S.	0.50
Coventry. Second Cong. Ch.	26.25
Falls Village. Cong. Ch.	6.50
Farmington. Cong. Ch.	60.47
Hartford. Mrs. S. M. Dewing, $50; Asylum Hill Cong. Ch. $10	60.00
Mansfield. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc.	7.98
Middletown. Individuals by E. M. Williams	1.50
New Britain. John B. and L. E. Smith, for Fisk U.	15.00
New Haven. First Cong. Ch. (of which $20 from Rev. W. Patton, D. D. for Howard U.)	278.21
New Haven. Howard Ave. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	25.63
New Preston. First Ch. of Christ, $129.76; Miss H. P. B., $1	130.76
North Haven. Cong. Ch. $48, and Sab. Sch. $20, to const. Robert W. Smith and Charles B. Smith, L. M.’s.	68.00
North Madison. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	7.00
Norwich. Broadway Cong. Ch.	200.00
Plainville. Dea. Lucas Carter, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.	50.00
Plantsville. Cong. Ch.	204.01
Plantsville. Mrs. Mary Hotchkiss, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.	5.00
Pomfret. First Cong. Ch., for Straight U.	52.50
Prospect. Cong. Ch.	7.00
Simsbury. “A few Friends,” by Mrs. Nettie H. Eno. $15;—Box of C., by Mrs. McLean, for Atlanta U.	15.00
Somers. Mrs. S. C. P.	1.00
Somerville. Cong. Ch.	40.00
South Manchester. E. T.	1.00
Stamford. Cong. Ch. (of which $28.80 for Student Aid, Atlanta U.)	53.75
Thomaston. Cong. Ch.	74.91
Thompson. Sab. Sch., for Student Aid, Tougaloo U.	8.98
West Brook. Cong. Sab. Sch., $20; Mrs. R. S., $1; Mrs. J. R. S., $1; Mrs. D., $1; Mrs. E. S., $1; Mrs. W. D., $1; Mrs. D. S., $1; Mrs. E. A. P., $1	27.00
West Hartford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (of which $70 for Student Aid.)	200.00
West Meriden. First Cong. Sab. Sch.	33.00
Windham. Cong. Ch. and Soc.	7.56
Windsor Locks. Cong. Ch., $53.17; “A Friend,” $2	55.17
——“A Friend,” for Fisk U.	1000.00
——“A Friend.”	20.00

EDITORIAL.
Paragraph—Money which Costs Money	161
Railroads and Rivers	162
Congregationalism in the South	164
Work Stopped, but the Recompense Continued	165
Items from the Field	166
General Notes	167
Our Query Column	169
THE FREEDMEN.
A Tour of a Month through the South Atlantic States: Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D.	169
Tennessee, Memphis—Students’ Day at Le Moyne	171
Georgia—No. 1 Miller Station—Perils of Young Converts—An Open House	171
Georgia—Midway Church—Dorchester Academy—New Church at Cypress Slash	172
South Carolina, Charleston—Plymouth Church and Avery Institute	174
Alabama—State Conference	176
Louisiana—South-Western Conference—Revivals and Conversions	178
THE INDIANS.
Spice of Missionary Life	181
THE CHINESE.
The “Congregational Way” in Mission Work: Rev. Wm. C. Pond	184
Golden Wedding Gifts	186
RECEIPTS	186
Work, Statistics, Wants, &c.	190

NEW YORK, $978.30.
Albion. L. S.	1.00
Amsterdam. C. Bartlett	10.00
Brooklyn. Plymouth Church	226.53
Brooklyn. Mrs. Lucy Thurber, $5; Church of the Covenant, $2.50; Mrs. H. Dickinson, $2	9.50
Canandaigua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.	65.00
Champion. Mr. and Mrs. Joel A. Hubbard	50.00
Churchville. Union Cong. Ch. and Soc.	29.37
Clarkson. Fanny M. Palmer	2.00
Crown Point. Estate of Tryphena Walker, by Juba Howe, Ex., to const. Rev. A. E. Clarke, L. M.	50.00
Essex Co. “A Friend,”	50.00
Franklin. Mrs. I. H. Penfield	3.00
Harlem. Cong. Sab. Sch., 2 packages Sab. Sch. books
Homer. Cong. Ch., Miss Nancy Knight	5.00
Honeoye. Miss Hannah Pitts	20.00
Little Genesee. Rev. Thomas B. Brown	5.00
Little York. Augusta Arnold, $4.50; F. F. P., 50c	5.00
Moravia. Estate of Matilda S. Rogers, by S. Edwin Day	200.00
New York. Mrs. James Stokes, $100, for Livingstone Missionary Hall, Nashville, Tenn. Charles J. Martin, $25, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.	125.00
Penn Yan. M. Hamlin	60.00
Rome. John B. Jervis	25.00
Steuben. First Welsh Cong. Ch.	7.00
Syracuse. Mrs. Clara C. Clarke, $6.90; Miss F. A. C., 50c.; W. H., $1; A. B., $1	9.40[188]
Tompkinsville. Mrs. M. S.	0.50
Union Falls. Margaret B. Duncan	10.00
Utica. Miss Cornelia Hurlburt	10.00

PENNSYLVANIA, $28.11.
Gibson. L. G., $1; Miss B. C., 61c	1.61
Philadelphia. M. A. L., $1; Rev. H. L. P., 50c	1.50
Sewickley. Miss Lucy Bittinger	25.00

NEW JERSEY, $5.50.
Jersey City. Miss S. E. Hawley	5.00
Rahway. E. Y. M.	0.50

OHIO, $403.33.
Akron. Cong. Ch.	94.55
Barnes. G. McF.	1.00
Chardon. “Old Member of Cong. Ch. of Hampden,” (weekly contributions)	6.00
Clarksfield. Bbl. of C. and $5 for Freight, for Selma, Ala.	5.00
Cleveland. Euclid Ave. Cong. Ch., $17.50; Mrs. J. A. L., $1; Mrs. S. H. E., $1	19.50
Fredericktown. A. H. Royce	10.00
Grand Rapids. E. W. Ball	20.00
Huntsburgh. Cong. Ch., for Emerson Inst.	3.00
Kent. Cong. Ch.	8.11
Lexington. Cong. Ch.	7.00
Lorain. Cong. Ch.	4.03
Madison. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc.,$60;—“Friends,” $13, for Student Aid, Tougaloo U.; “Friends,” $2; Dr. Ensign, $2, for Tougaloo;—Bbl. of C. and $2 for Freight for Selma, Ala.	79.00
Marysville. R. S. Wilcox, $21; Cong. Sab. Sch., $10, for Student Aid, Selma, Ala.;—R. S. W., $1—Bbl. of C. and books for Selma. Ala.;	32.00
Mecca. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch., for Tougaloo	5.90
Oberlin. Mrs. E. C. C.	1.00
Paddy’s Run. Cong. Ch.	20.30
Painesville. First Cong. Ch.	13.13
Ravenna. Ira B. Cutts, to const. Rev. A. M. Hills, L. M.	25.00
Ruggles. Cong. Sab. Sch.	25.00
Saybrook. “Friends,” $2; “Friends,” bbl. of C., for Tougaloo	2.00
Salem. Asa W. Allen	2.00
Sullivan. Mrs. M. McC.	1.00
Tallmadge. H. W. C.	0.44
Toledo. Edson Allen, for Raleigh, N.C.	3.00
Twinsburg. Cong. Sab. Sch.	12.00
Washington. Cong. Ch.	3.37

INDIANA, $20.
New Corydon. Geo. Stolz	5.00
Indianapolis. Plymouth Ch.	15.00

ILLINOIS $1,182.69.
Alton. Cong. Ch.	60.00
Bondville. “A Friend.”	5.00
Chicago. Lincoln Park Ch., $34.10; Bethany Ch., $12.45	44.55
Earlville. Cong. Ch., to const. Rev H. D. Wiard, L. M.	37.75
Galesburg. Cong. Ch.	83.93
Glencoe. Cong. Ch. (ad’l)	0.25
Jacksonville. T. W. Melendy, H. L. Melendy and M. C. Melendy	30.00
Kewanee. Ladies’ Miss. Soc., for Student Aid, Tougaloo U.	10.00
Kirtland. Cong. Ch.	8.00
Knoxville. W. A., $1; W. H. H., $1; Mrs. A. B., $1	3.00
Lake Forest. Mrs. W. A. Nichols, $25; Mrs. W. H. Ferry, $25, for Student Aid, Fisk U.	50.00
Lisbon. Cong. Ch.	10.35
Morris. Cong. Ch.	28.00
Ontario. Cong. Ch.	22.25
Payson. Cong. Ch.	15.00
Polo. Robert Smith	500.00
Shirland. Cong. Ch.	6.60
Stillman Valley. Cong. Ch.	7.01
Streator. Samuel Plumb	250.00
Sycamore. ——.	1.00
——. “A Stranger,”	10.00

MICHIGAN, $223.45.
Almont. “A few Ladies of Cong. Ch.” by Mrs. E. F. Fairfield, $10, for Lady Missionary, Memphis, Tenn.;—Cong. Ch., $10	20.00
Amsden. Mrs. A. M. Spencer	2.00
Bay City. Cong. Ch.	9.51
Blackman. “A Friend.” to const. Mrs. Emily E. Moffet, L. M.	32.00
Churches Corner. A. W. Douglass	5.00
Covert. Ladies’ Miss. Soc. of Cong. Ch., for Student Aid, Nashville, Tenn.	10.00
Detroit. First Cong. Ch., for Lady Missionary, Memphis, Tenn.	5.00
East Saginaw. First Cong. Ch.	23.25
Grand Rapids. T. B. W.	0.50
Greenville. Mrs. R. L. Ellsworth, for Student Aid, Fisk U.	5.00
Hancock. Cong. Sab. Sch.	7.64
Hersey. Cong. Sab. Sch., $2, for Lady Missionary, Memphis, Tenn., incorrectly acknowledged in May number.
Homer. J. R. Blake	10.00
Hopkins. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., for Student Aid, Nashville, Tenn.	2.00
Kalamo. Cong. Ch.	7.00
Romeo. “The Little Sunbeams,” $10; Mrs. E. F. Fairfield, $5; Mrs. H. O. Smith, $2; Mrs. Wilder’s S. S. Class, $1; H. G., J. C., Dr. L., Mrs. H. G., Mrs. J. R., Mrs. J. T., Mrs. M. A. G., $1. ea. for Lady Missionary, Memphis, Tenn.	25.00
Royal Oak. Young Ladies’ Soc., $2; Mrs. Rev. C. S. Cady, $1.75; Ladies’ Soc. 80c. for Lady Missionary, Memphis, Tenn.	4.55
Saint Clair. F. Moore, $10; F. Moore and Others, $3	13.00
Warren. Rev. J. L. Beebe	5.00
Wayne. First Cong. Ch.	13.00
Union City. Cong. Ch.	24.00

WISCONSIN, $605.
Bloomington. Cong. Ch.	5.61
Fort Atkinson. Cong. Sab. Sch.	4.92
Geneva Lake. Presb. Ch.	9.28
Hartford. First Cong. Ch.	6.45
Madison. First Cong. Ch.	50.00
Milwaukee. Spring St. Cong. Ch., $28.35, and Sab. Sch., $10	38.35
Racine. Mrs. J. B.	3.20
River Falls. S. Wales, for Student Aid, Talladega C.	5.00
Rosendale. Cong. Sab. Sch.	6.70
Wauwatosa. Estate of Richard Gilbert, by J. F. McMullen	469.49
Waukesha. Vernon Tichenor	5.00

IOWA $1,236.25.
Chester. Cong. Ch.	25.25
Cincinnati. Wm. T. Raynolds	2.00
College Springs. Cong. Ch.	8.45
Denmark. Cong. Ch.	33.00
Eldora. Woman’s Cent. Soc.	1.80
Grinnell. Estate of Charles F. Dike, part of a residuary legacy, by Mrs. C. F. Dike, Ex.	1000.00
Hampton. Mrs. M. P. Boutin	2.00
Keokuk. “M. A. B.”	5.00
Lemars. Cong. Ch.	13.00
McGregor. Woman’s Miss. Soc.	17.86
New Hampton. Woman’s Cent. Soc.	1.55
Newton. Cong. Ch., $7.62., and Sab. Sch. $5.62	13.24
Osage. Woman’s Miss. Soc.	5.00
Oscaloosa. Rev. Asa Turner and Wife, for Tougaloo U.	20.00
Riceville. Mrs. A. B. C.	1.00
Stuart. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch.	7.10
Tabor. Cong. Ch., $70;—Prof A. S. McPherron, $5 for Student Aid, Straight U.	75.00
Vinton. Joseph Young	5.00

RHODE ISLAND, $1.
Providence. L. M. W.	1.00

MISSOURI, $5.75.
Holden. M. J. Ellison	2.00
Warrensburgh. Rent	3.75[189]

NEBRASKA, $3.30.
Beaver Crossing. Mrs. E. Taylor	1.30
Steele City. Cong. Ch.	2.00

CALIFORNIA, $0.50.
San Jose. M. E. B. N.	0.50

KANSAS, $72.03.
Burlington. John Morris	1.60
Hiawatha. Cong. Ch.	7.63
Junction City. Isaac Jacobus	5.00
Manhattan. Cong. Ch., $7, and Sab. Sch., $10	17.00
Topeka. Cong. Ch., $16.30, and Sab. Sch., $15	31.30
Wabaunsee. First Ch. of Christ	9.50

MINNESOTA, $131.78.
Austin. Cong. Ch.	15.02
Minneapolis. Plymouth Ch.	23.95
Rushford. Cong. Ch.	5.00
Spring Valley. Cong. Ch.	10.00
Winona. Cong. Ch., $74.91, to const. Henry Stevens, Rev. J. H. Morley and J. C. Blake, L. M’s;—First Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., $2.90 for Student Aid, Nashville, Tenn.	77.81

COLORADO, $39.40.
Denver. First Cong. Ch., $24.40, and Sab. Sch., $10	34.40
Longmont. Mrs. J. B. Thompson	5.00

WASHINGTON TERRITORY, $6.75.
S’kokomish. J. F. P.	0.50
White River. Cong. Ch.	6.25

VIRGINIA, $27.65.
Hampton. Bethesda Chapel	26.65
Chase City. Mrs. A. W.	1.00

DELAWARE, $8.50.
Milford. Rev. C. F. Boynton	5.00
Felton. Talmon Dewey, $2.50; Mrs. C. F. B., $1	3.50

TENNESSEE, $407.70.
Nashville. Fisk University	236.85
Nashville. “Mrs. E. S.,” for City Mission Work, Nashville, Tenn.	2.00
Memphis. Le Moyne Sch.	163.85

NORTH CAROLINA, $152.98.
Raleigh. Washington School	52.00
Wilmington. Normal Sch., $94.44; Cong. Ch., $6.54	100.98

GEORGIA, $614.55.
Athens. W. W. King, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.	25.00
Atlanta. Storrs Sch., $244.55; Atlanta U., $137	381.55
Brunswick. S. B. Morse, (Student A. U.), $6;—Risley School, $1, for Mendi M.	7.00
Macon. Lewis High Sch.	65.55
Savannah. Beach Inst.	123.45
Sparta. Richard H. Carter, for Student Aid, Atlanta U.	12.00

ALABAMA, $431.38.
Athens. Trinity Sch.	30.80
Childersburg. Rev. A. J.	1.00
Marion. Cong. Ch.	5.05
Mobile. Emerson Inst., $116.35; Cong. Ch., $3	119.35
Montgomery. Pub. Fund	175.00
Talladega. Talladega College	100.18

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 06, June, 1879

THEAMERICAN MISSIONARY.

CONTENTS:

American Missionary Association,