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Preview The American Missionary Volume 37 No 5 May 1883 by Various

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Missionary -- Volume 37, No. 5, May, 1883, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: The American Missionary -- Volume 37, No. 5, May, 1883 Author: Various Release Date: November 24, 2019 [EBook #60775] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY, MAY 1883 *** Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, KarenD and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by Cornell University Digital Collections) MAY, 1883. VOL. XXXVII. NO. 5. The American Missionary The American Missionary CONTENTS Page. EDITORIAL. This Number—Bureau of Woman’s Work 129 Mozart Society of Fisk University 130 Committee on Constitution—General Notes 131 Benefactions 132 Anniversary Announcements 133 Alabama Conference 134 Louisiana Conference 135 BROADSIDE ON TEMPERANCE. Concert Exercise 136 Cut 139 Temperance Work in Churches 141 Hindrances 142 Temperance Outlook at Memphis 143 Temperance in Texas 144 Tougaloo and Temperance 145 Negro Cabins (cut) 146 Higher Law and Individual Right on Our Side 147 Notes at Ala. State S. S. Convention 148 Temperance Among our Chinese 149 Hoodlums at Street Corner (cut) 149 CHILDREN’S PAGE. Sequel to Ted’s Temperance Society 150 RECEIPTS 151 Proposed Constitution 156 NEW YORK. PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION, Rooms, 56 Reade Street. Price 50 Cents a Year, in Advance. Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter. THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. PRESIDENT. Hon. Wm. B. Washburn, LL.D., Mass. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. Rev. M. E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y. TREASURER. H. W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y. AUDITORS. M. F. Reading. Wm. A. Nash. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. John H. Washburn, Chairman; A. P. Foster, Secretary; Lyman Abbott, Alonzo S. Ball, A. S. Barnes, C. T. Christensen, Franklin Fairbanks, Clinton B. Fisk, S. B. Halliday, Samuel Holmes, Charles A. Hull, Samuel S. Marples, Charles L. Mead, Wm. H. Ward, A. L. Williston. DISTRICT SECRETARIES Rev. C. L. Woodworth, Boston. Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., New York. Rev. James Powell, Chicago. COMMUNICATIONS relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields, to the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary,” to Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., at the New York Office. DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member. FORM OF A BEQUEST. “I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars, in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ‘American Missionary Association’ of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes.” The Will should be attested by three witnesses. “I THINK I’D LIKE TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS WHEN I’M SIXTY.” The gentleman who made the above remark carries a $10,000 endowment policy in the STATE MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, of Worcester, Mass. That sum will be paid to him at “sixty,” or to his family if he dies before reaching that age. Thousands of men now living will need $10,000 when they become “sixty”—and their families will need it should they die before attaining that age. Both of these objects can be secured by the payment of a small sum each year to THE STATE MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE CO., OF WORCESTER, MASS., Which is one of the OLDEST, STRONGEST and BEST companies in the United States. This Company guarantees a CASH-SURRENDER value of every policy it issues after the second annual payment. EXAMP LE. 1. An ordinary life policy, issued at the age of 30 for $10,000, annual premium $226.30. (The second and all subsequent premiums will be reduced by dividends.) After ten annual premiums have been paid, the guaranteed cash-surrender value is $909.80; the paid-up value $2,387.70, or more than gross premiums paid. The net cost for the past ten years of all similar policies has been $1,692.77, which reduced the cost of the insurance to $7.83 per $1,000 for each year. This Company never disputes, or resists, an honest claim. It has been a party to only four suits in thirty-eight years—and in no case have the courts held a claim, resisted by the company, to be valid. For full explanations, please call on or address CC. W. ANDERSON, General Agent, 145 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. [129] THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY. Vol. XXXVII. MAY, 1883. No. 5. American Missionary Association. We place before our readers in this issue of our magazine a considerable number of communications on the subject of temperance. We believe, our missionaries are in the best possible position to reach not only the children but adults, and to train them in habits of virtue and sobriety. We have from the first put great stress on the importance of abstinence from the use of alcoholic drinks and tobacco, and the encouraging reports given herewith indicate the success we have achieved. We publish also a concert exercise relating chiefly to temperance work in the missions of the A. M. A. It is our purpose to issue this in an eight-page circular which will contain the recitations in full, and the words and music of the Jubilee song known as Rise and Shine. The circular will be illustrated with cuts. Further particulars are given in connection with the concert exercise on another page. BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK. It has become an axiom in missionary work that no race can be lifted out of ignorance and degradation except as its women are elevated. One of the marked features of this age in mission work is the clearness with which this is seen and the enthusiastic and successful efforts put forth by the noble women of the churches in this behalf. It is not merely the money which these efforts bring to the missionary societies, but the zeal for the conversion of the world infused by them into the church and the home. The Christian mother catches the enthusiasm, and the children feel its inspiration. Missionary education becomes the life-work in the family. The American Missionary Association has from the outset realized the indispensable need of the elevation of woman in its work in the South, among the Indians, and, as far as possible, among the Chinese at the West. Its workers, largely women, have been specially adapted to it. The lady teachers have reached not merely the girls in their schools, but the mothers in their homes. The lady missionaries have labored for the purification of the home through direct visits, in mothers’ meetings, in industrial work taught to the girls, in the Sunday-school, and in temperance work. We have become so impressed with the importance and success of this part of our work that we are constrained to give it a broader basis and a more thorough organization. Our aim is not only to do more work for woman, but to give the Christian ladies of the North and West more full information as to the way in which they can co-operate with us. We wish to show that not only in varied ways, but with small sums of money they can reach the women for whom we labor. To attain these results the Executive Committee of the A. M. A. has organized a Bureau of Woman’s Work. The object is: 1. To give information to the ladies in the churches of the variety of work now sustained by the Association, and to assist in devising plans of help. 2. To promote correspondence with churches, Sabbath-schools, missionary societies, or individuals, who will undertake work of a special character, such as the support of missionaries, aiding of students, supplying clothing, furnishing goods, and meeting other wants on mission ground. 3. To send to the Churches, Conferences or Associations desiring it some of our experienced and intelligent lady missionaries, who can address them giving fuller details of our methods. We believe that such a Bureau will meet a felt want and be welcomed by the earnest Christian women of the country. The selection of the head of the Bureau will be made and announced soon, and in the meantime inquiries can be addressed to Bureau of Woman’s Work, American Missionary Association, 56 Reade street, New York. [130] The Mozart Society of Fisk University tendered a complimentary concert to the members of the Tennessee Legislature. The invitation was accepted; and on the evening of March 15, the members with their ladies, and other friends to the number of three or four hundred, filled the University chapel. The concert was excellent, and the guests were deeply impressed. Complimentary speeches were made at the close by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate; and both houses afterwards passed a resolution of thanks. One member sought an introduction to President Cravath after the concert, saying, “This evening marks an era in my life. You have converted me on the negro question.” Much credit is due to the Mozart Society and to Prof. Spence for the manner in which the whole entertainment was rendered. [131] At our last annual meeting, held in Cleveland, a committee was appointed to report amendments to the Constitution of this Association. The Committee consisted of Hon. Wm. B. Washburn, Rev. G. M. Boynton, A. L. Williston, Esq., Rev. W. T. Eustis, D.D., Rev. A. H. Plumb, D.D., of Mass., Austin Abbott, Esq., John H. Washburn, Esq., of New York, Jacob L. Halsey, of New Jersey, Rev. L. W. Bacon, D.D., Rev. L. T. Chamberlain, D.D., of Conn., Rev. C. T. Collins, of Ohio, Rev. A. H. Ross, of Mich., Rev. F. A. Noble, D.D., of Illinois. Feb. 21, the above Committee met at the rooms of this Association, all the members being present except Drs. Noble and Chamberlain, who were detained by sickness in their households. After protracted discussion and the earnest advocacy of various views, the Committee unanimously agreed to report a draft of a Constitution, which we give elsewhere in this number of the Missionary. The Committee will submit the Proposed Constitution to the different State Conferences and Associations for action in accordance with the instructions given at the annual meeting. GENERAL NOTES. AFRICA. —There is thought of founding at Natal an industrial and agricultural school for the natives. —Efforts are being made for the erection of a machine for the manufacture of fire-water at Bailunda, West Central Africa. Christians! which shall the poor negro have first, strong drink or the gospel? —The missionaries of the Livingstone Inland Mission have multiplied their stations along the lower Congo. Invited by several chiefs along the left bank of the river, they have founded one at Kimorie, another upon the same river and on the other side of the Loukoungou. —Mr. C. Gregory has started to explore the regions east of Abyssinia. From Khartoum he went up upon the Abyssinian plateau, from whence he descended toward the territory inhabited by the Afars and traversed by the Gualima and the Melli rivers, flowing from the Haowasch. —A society has been established at London under the title of the Congo and Central African Company, with a capital of 250,000 livres sterling, to traffic along the western side of Africa, especially upon the Congo, using the road constructed by Stanley. —A letter from Cairo announces that Mr. Wissmann had arrived in that city the first of January. Between the lake Moucambe and Nyangoué, he passed through the territory of a tribe of dwarf negroes. From lake Tanganyika to Zanzibar, his journey was made without great difficulty, owing to the aid given by Mirambo. [132] THE CHINESE. —The Methodist Episcopal Church has founded a university at Japan, through the liberality of Rev. Mr. Goucher, of Baltimore. The Theological Seminary has been removed from Yokohama to Tokio, and incorporated with it. —The Presbyterian Board is about to open a new mission in China, in the province of Shautung. It will be located at Wei Hein, a city midway between Tsinan and Tungchon. There will be three laborers. There are now forty missionaries of all denominations in the province, among a population of 30,000,000. —An Anti-Opium Prayer Union has been formed in Great Britain, of which the members residing in different parts covenant to pray at least once a week, on Thursdays, for the overthrow of the appalling and accursed opium trade in China and elsewhere. —Of the Chinese students at Yale ordered home two years ago, Mum Yew Chung, who was coxswain of the crew of 1881, is in the office of the United States Consul-General at Shanghai; Wong is in partnership with Spencer Laisim, of the class of 1879, they having opened a translating agency; Chang, of the class of ’83, is at leisure, and desirous of returning to America; and Low, of the class of ’84, is married to a daughter of a merchant prince, and is likely to attain official honors. Tsoy Sin Kee is also married. THE INDIANS. —The rightful residents of the Indian Territory have forwarded to Washington a list of 2,400 names of intruders. —Martin B. Lewis, a missionary of the Sunday-School Union, writes that on a recent Sunday at the Sisseton Reservation, half of the children at the Sunday-school came without shoes, their feet being sewed up in cloth; yet they were happy. A woman walked four and a half miles when the mercury was ten degrees below zero to make arrangements about organizing a school at her house. She had been five years in a family of eight without hearing a sermon or a prayer, and asserted that she could no longer live as a heathen. BENEFACTIONS. The will of Mr. Peter Ballentine contains a bequest of $5,000 to Rutgers College. Alida V. R. Constable bequeathed $4,000 to Union Theological Seminary, New York. Miss Mary Blake, of Kingston, N.H., has made a bequest of $10,000 to Tufts College. Mr. A. E. Kent, of San Francisco, a member of the class of ’53, has given $60,000 to Yale College. Mr. Henry Winkley has added $10,000 to his previous gifts to Andover Theological Seminary, making $60,000 in all. Hon. Frederick Billings, of Woodstock, Vt., has given $75,000 to Vermont University for a library building. The late S. L. Crocker, of Taunton, Mass., bequeathed $5,000 to Brown University to endow a scholarship to be called “Caroline Crocker.” By the will of the late Henry Seybert, the University of Pennsylvania is to receive $120,000 for the endowment of a chair of mental and moral philosophy and the endowment of a ward in the wing for chronic diseases. The Committee on Education and Labor made a unanimous report last winter to Congress that the people of the Southern States are absolutely unable to provide the means necessary for sustaining sufficient public schools without assistance. The A. M. A. has long recognized this fact. Endowments for its schools and others similar to them, whose object is to raise up Christian teachers, would assure assistance of the most helpful and enduring character. [133] ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENTS. Berea College, Berea, Ky.—Baccalaureate Sermon, June 17; examination and anniversary exercises, June 14 to 20; Commencement, June 20. Hampton N. and A. Institute. Hampton, Va.—Examinations will be conducted May 21, 22, 23; Trustees’ Meeting, Wednesday, the 23d, and Anniversary, Thursday, the 24th. Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.—The annual examinations will be conducted by the State Board of Examiners, June 11, 12, 13; Commencement, June 14. Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.—Baccalaureate Sermon, May 20; examinations, May 21, 22, 23; Commencement exercises, May 24. Tougaloo University, Tougaloo, Miss.—Baccalaureate Sermon, May 27; examinations and Commencement exercises through the week. Straight University, New Orleans, La.—Baccalaureate Sermon, Sunday, May 27; Anniversary of Alumni, May 28; Commencement exercises, May 29. Talladega College, Talladega, Ala.—Baccalaureate Sermon by President H. S. DeForest, D.D., Sunday morning, May 27; missionary sermon, Sunday evening; examinations, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; address by Rev. C. L. Woodworth, of Boston, Wednesday afternoon; closing exercises, Thursday. Howard University, Washington, D.C.—The Theological Department will hold its Anniversary in the Fourth Presbyterian church on Ninth street, on Friday evening, May 4, when seven young men will graduate and make addresses, and will be addressed by Rev. William A. Bartlett, D.D. Le Moyne School, Memphis, Tenn.—Sermon, Sunday, May 20; Anniversary exercises, May 22, 23 and 24. Avery Institute, Charleston, S.C.—Sermon, Sunday, June 24, by Rev. A. G. Townsend, class of ’72; Monday, June 25, Children’s Day; Wednesday, June 27, Address by Rev. C. C. Scott, class of ’72; Friday, June 29, Graduating exercises. Beach Institute, Savannah, Ga.—Sermon, Sunday, May 27; Anniversary exercises from May 23 to May 30. Storrs School, Atlanta, Ga.—Examinations, June 12 and 13; Exhibition, Friday night, June 15. Wilmington, N.C.—Examinations, May 24, 25 and 28; closing exercises, Tuesday evening, May 29. Brewer Normal School, Greenwood, S.C.—Examinations, June 25, 26 and 27; closing exercises, Thursday, June 28. Emerson Institute, Mobile, Ala.—Examinations, May 8, 9, 10, 11; public oral examinations, May 23, 24, 25; closing exhibition, Friday evening, May 25. Lewis High School, Macon, Ga.—Annual Address to the students by Rev. J. W. Burke, of Macon, Tuesday evening, May 29; closing exhibition, Thursday afternoon, May 31; closing concert, Thursday evening, May 31. [134] ALABAMA CONFERENCE. BY PRES. H. S. DE FOREST, D.D. The Cong. S. S. Association held its fourth, and the State Conference its eighth, annual meeting in the chapel at Talladega from the 23d to the 28th of March. This body, hereafter to be known as the Congregational Association of Alabama, numbers thirteen Churches, two in the northern part of the State being associated with the Central South Conference of Tennessee. Seven of these fifteen Alabama churches have grown out of Talladega College. Naturally the desire to see the mother church was strong, and more than eighty delegates and guests were in attendance. From beyond the State, we had Supt. Roy, Rev. A. E. Dunning of Boston and Mrs. A. S. Steele of Chattanooga, to each of whom the Conference is indebted for efficient help. Sec. Dunning, the first of all our society secretaries to visit the body, preached a sermon before the Sunday-school Association good enough and fervid enough to direct much of the thought of the four days that followed. His theme was “The Holy Ghost the Source of Power,” and while much in these meetings was delightful, nothing gave such hallowed experiences or left such tender memories as the manifest presence of God. Some thought they were breathing a revival atmosphere, and one, it is hoped, who took that occasion to visit a daughter in college, will regard Talladega as the Damascus gate. Other sermons were by Rev. R. C. Bedford of Montgomery, by Rev. O. D. Crawford of Mobile, before the sacrament, and by Dr. Roy at the ordination of Rev. J. R. Sims of Shelby Iron Works, one of the sons of this theological department and Church. These sermons were spoken and not read. The aim of the preachers was evidently to do good on the spot and at that time. There was little talk about the new light, but a profound conviction that in these dark places there is need of the light of the Gospel. The programme had been prepared with a practical intent. Different phases of the Sunday-school work took the strength of the first day. One evening was given to the Sunday-school and Publishing Society and the American Missionary Association, when the speakers were Sec. Dunning and Dr. Roy. Another evening was devoted to missions, home and foreign. The addresses were by Rev. A. W. Curtis and Rev. C. B. Curtis, who have a brother in the foreign field, and one of whom was a home missionary before coming South. Such themes as Giving and Worship, Through what Societies—not less than seven it was claimed, Is our Worship too Formal and Unimpassioned, Temperance Economy and Industrial Education, were well presented and discussed. Prof. Ellis read a very suggestive paper on the Reciprocal Relation of the College to the Churches of Alabama. The recommendations of this paper were indorsed by special resolutions, and it is evident that Talladega College, first and foremost among the schools open to Freedmen in Alabama, was never more strongly intrenched in the love of the brethren than now. Two hundred and ninety pupils have been in attendance during the last year, and new buildings and appliances are called for. Many and tender references were made to Prof. Andrews, temporarily absent from ill-health, and he was a dull observer who could attend these meetings, look upon these ministers, delegates, students and graduates of the College, hear their words and drink their spirit, and not feel that work in these reconstructing States is as heroic, as hopeful, as imperative as any done in the great vineyard of the Lord. [135] LOUISIANA ASSOCIATION. Annual Meeting at New Iberia, La. BY REV. W. S. ALEXANDER, D.D. This is the seventh annual meeting of this association I have attended, and I am glad to be able to say that for sustained interest, for vigorous thought expressed in the discussions, and for wise planning for the future, the meeting of this year outranks the previous ones. This is as it should be. It shows a degree of study and fidelity on the part of the ministers which promises well for the churches. We are always glad to come to this beautiful Teche country. These broad prairies are fertile as a garden. The soil is so easy of cultivation, and yields such abundant harvests, and its market value is so low, that it is within the power of every industrious man to be a “proprietor of the soil,” and to own his homestead. That is what the colored people are doing in this garden district of the State, and it tells upon the character of the people and the respect which they claim from the community. It has been a year of quiet growth in most of the churches. Central Church of New Orleans reports the largest accession, 46, of whom 40 came on profession of faith—the ingathering of the revival of last winter. Some of the churches have been repaired and beautified; debts have been paid off, or greatly reduced; disturbing elements have been eliminated, and the way opened for a larger and more healthful growth in the coming year. One new church has been organized at Belle Place, near New Iberia, and by the timely help of the A. M. A. will soon put up a tasteful chapel, and will become, we hope, the center of religious influence for a large colored population. Mr. Samson, the white planter, encourages the enterprise by kind words and generous donations. There are other open doors which we should enter at once. We can hear the word of command: “Go up and possess the land.” How much good a little financial aid would do just now in the beginning of church enterprises, which, by God’s help, would grow into important centers of good for the race. I believe so thoroughly in the comity of churches, that where the field is already occupied by other churches, and vigorously cultivated by them, and the religious needs of the people are met, I would not favor the establishment of another church, though its creed and polity were more to our inclination. But the field is so broad, and the destitution so great, that there is room for the expenditure of the largest sympathy and the most vigorous effort toward church enlargement. This missionary spirit was felt by the Association, and the session of most tender interest was the last, when the broad subject of missions was presented by eight speakers selected by the business committee. The meeting had a glow to it that was refreshing. Every one seemed to catch the inspiration and to respond heartily to it. Our field agent, Dr. Roy, always welcome, and always charged with just the message which these churches and brethren need, brought to us again this year, vigorous words, wise counsels, and the kindest, most sympathetic spirit. Our association would hardly seem complete without him. Thus another year of effort, of struggle and of self-denial for Christ, has left its record upon the churches, and has, we trust, made a record in heaven, which we shall be willing to meet. [136]

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