The American Missionary Volume 37 No 5 May 1883 by Various

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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 ***

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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]