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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY

CONTENTS

• EDITORIAL.
  • Financial
  • Centennial
  • Congregationalism in Georgia
  • Notes from the South
  • Illuminated Spots
  • The Government and the Indians
  • Notes from New England
  • What the World Says
  • Paragraphs
  • Southern Echoes
  • Book Notice
• THE SOUTH.
  • The Georgia Congregational Association
  • Evangelistic Labors
  • Thomasville, Ga.
  • Death of Mrs. Bennett
• THE INDIANS.
  • Perils of Missionary Life
  • First Fruits
• THE CHINESE.
  • Los Angeles Congregational Chinese Mission
• BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
  • Woman's Home Missionary Association
  • Alabama Association
  • Three New Organizations in the South
• OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
  • How the Pennies Grew
• RECEIPTS

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American Missionary Association.

• PRESIDENT, Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., LL.D., N.Y.
• Vice-Presidents.
  • Rev. A.J.F. Behrends, D.D., N.Y.
  • Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.D., Mass.
  • Rev. F.A. Noble, D.D., Ill.
  • Rev. D.O. Mears, D.D., Mass.
  • Rev. Henry Hopkins, D.D., Mo.
• Corresponding Secretaries.
  • Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reads Street, N.Y.
  • Rev. A.F. Beard, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
• Recording Secretary.
  • Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
• Treasurer.
  • H.W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.
• Auditors.
  • Peter McCartee.
  • Chas. P. Peirce.
• Executive Committee.
  • John H. Washburn, Chairman.
  • Addison P. Foster, Secretary.
• • For Three Years.
    • J.E. Rankin,
    • Wm. H. Ward,
    • J.W. Cooper,
    • John H. Washburn,
    • Edmund L. Champlin.
  • For Two Years.
    • Lyman Abbott,
    • Chas. A. Hull,
    • Clinton B. Fisk,
    • Addison P. Foster.
  • For One Year.
    • S.B. Halliday,
    • Samuel Holmes,
    • Samuel S. Marples,
    • Charles L. Mead,
    • Elbert B. Monroe.
• District Secretaries.
  • Rev. C.J. Ryder, 21 Cong'l House, Boston.
  • Rev. J.E. Roy, D.D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.
• Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.
  • Rev. Chas. W. Shelton.
• Field Superintendents.
  • Rev. Frank E. Jenkins,
  • Prof. Edward S. Hall.
• Secretary Of Woman's Bureau.
  • Miss D.E. Emerson, 56 Reade St. N.Y.

COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to the Editor, at the New York Office; letters relating to the finances, to the Treasurer.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, 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 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—The date on the "address label," indicates the time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made afterward, the change on the label will appear a month later. Please send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and occasional papers may be correctly mailed.

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.

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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

FINANCIAL.

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY presents its greetings for the month of May. Six months of our fiscal year are now in the past. The half year which we anticipate includes the summer time, when many of the friends of the ignorant millions to whom we are sent, are absent from their churches. The months of May and June ought to swell the stream of love and service against the season when the demand will continue and income will be small.

We appealed last month for an increase of the contributions in church collections. We renew and emphasize that appeal, for these collections are the steady streams on which we rely to keep in motion the wheels of the large and ever enlarging work of the Association. We believe that the interest in this great work is on the increase. We rejoice that "the most prolific missionary field ever opened to any Christian people— right here at our doors," is gaining upon the interest and benevolence of the churches year by year. Never were the friends of the cause mote responsive; never was the work more hopeful. The work enlarges, and the people's faith enlarges. Their gifts to Christ for his poor were never freer.

We have been greatly favored with special gifts. Every one of them is needed. It is a blessed thing that one can plant his benevolences in some special institution or feature of work, and know that the influences are to follow on after the giver has gone to a higher world. But we do hope that the CHURCHES OF CHRIST, AS CHURCHES, will not fail to keep step with the providences of God in their church contributions.

It is also true that some fear that the day of LEGACIES is to come to an end. Indeed, there are those who take a solemn comfort in bewailing and fearing that everything is to come to an end. They mix a pound of forebodings with an ounce of faith. If, for some unseen reasons in the movements of life and death, legacies do not appear with the regularity of insurance tables, they think the day of legacies is dead. Nevertheless legacies will continue as long as Christians pass from earth to heaven. [122]There will always be faithful souls who will remember Christ and his cause in their wills. There will always be those who may not be able to divide their estates and to dispose of portions of them while they live, who will yet provide that they may see their works following them, when they shall look down from a world redeemed, to a world for whose redemption Christ lived and died. There will always be legacies, and the American Missionary Association, so long as it follows in the steps of Christ in such mission as it has, will not be forgotten. The legacies will come, because they ought to come. The people of God will remember this work in their wills because they ought to do this, and God will take care that what Christian stewards ought to do, shall be done.

We thank God for SPECIAL GIFTS. We thank God for LEGACIES. We also thank God for the ability and faith and sacrifices of those who cannot plant institutions or build or endow schools, but who live and give that which provides for the unceasing CURRENT EXPENSES. Almost every one can do a little more, and it is the many littles that make the difference between a debt with a crippled work, and freedom from debt with healthful growth. All along the lines, the calls for help are so urgent, that it is painful for us, in the name of the church, to be constantly saying "No!"

The churches can easily take this out of the way if they will. We believe that they will.

CENTENNIAL.

These pages will come before our readers amid the enthusiastic rejoicings of a great nation celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of its Constitution—a Constitution that has been tried and found worthy.

The greatest strain to which this great charter has been subjected in the past hundred years has been occasioned by slavery. The crisis cost untold blood and treasure. The great strain of the next hundred years will be what slavery has left behind it—a vast and growing black population, and an imbittered race prejudice.

There is but one way to meet this strain of the coming century, and that is by the education of the blacks. The task is great, but if the American people will awake to its urgency and put forth the needed effort, the crisis may be averted. We call upon all Christian people, and upon all patriots, to [123]begin this new century with the purpose to increase their contributions for this great object. We ask them to begin at once and to continue steadily—in church contributions, in personal gifts, and, not to forget the object in the making of wills.

CONGREGATIONALISM IN GEORGIA.

Our readers are aware that there are two Congregational Organizations in the State of Georgia. The Georgia Congregational Association was organized in 1878, and is composed of about a dozen colored churches, some of their pastors being white and some colored. The United Congregational Conference of Georgia was formed a little more than a year ago, is a much larger body, and is composed of white pastors and churches. With a view to a possible union of these two organizations, committees have been appointed by each, and, in another column, we lay before our readers the propositions to that end, made by the Committee of the Georgia Association. We cannot withhold our expression of satisfaction with the Christian spirit exhibited in this document, and the readiness to accept any possible alternative to secure the union. The Congregational Churches of the country will feel an interest in marking the progress of these negotiations, and will hail with delight a consummation that will relieve the denomination from the embarrassment of sanctioning two organizations in the same State that seem to be separated only by the color-line.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH.

BY SECRETARY A.F. BEARD.

Once more in Nashville. There is no question in my mind but that Nashville is the educational leader in the South. It is a city of hills which are crowned with institutions for white and black. These are the beginnings of greater and better days for this part of "our country." My duties have taken me to Fisk University. It is a college which has justly won very high praise. Jubilee and Livingstone Halls are significant names. One speaks of an historic event, and the other of an historic person, but the work that goes on in both these large buildings does no dishonor to one name or the other.

When Congressman Kelley, of Pennsylvania, was in Nashville, he visited Fisk University. He afterwards told me that he could not conceal his surprise at what he saw and heard and only with difficulty his emotion when he arose to address the students.

I have now visited Fisk several times. I am each time more impressed with the fidelity and quality of the work on the part of the students, and the [124]patient enthusiasm of the professors and of the teachers. If there were to be no other or greater results than those of the past and the present, all that has been done for Fisk University would be justified.

From Nashville to Sparta, Tenn., and then a rough, tough ride up the mountain side, "rattling the bones over the stones" until at length we have climbed the Cumberland Plateau. We arrive at no-where in particular, which is named Pleasant Hill. Here are a neat church, which is both church and school, and a sightly building of two stories with a third under the mansard roof, which will accommodate forty boys. A few houses are visible from the top of this building, but no one could guess where forty mountain boys and as many girls might be living. Nevertheless they have been discovered, and it was none too soon. Missionary Dodge did not locate in Pleasant Hill before the time. He realized this. He looked about him and looked up and down. He saw things which were invisible. He saw castles in the air. It must be confessed that the office at Reade Street, fearing lest it might "trust the churches" too much, had not the faith which could take hold of these castles in the air and anchor them to the soil of Pleasant Hill; but Brother Dodge got his grapples out and pulled down a church building from the heavens. Well done; now surely he should rest from his labors and give himself and us time to breathe. No; a visible church only stimulated his faith, it did not satisfy it. This church was a place in which he could read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews every Sunday. The result was the "Hall" for young men and for the teachers. Now we are in it and are glad. The Massachusetts Principal gave us welcome, the Oberlin Vice-Principal endorsed it, while the Matron materialized the spirit of welcome in a way calculated to excite gratitude, from the fact that missionaries cannot live absolutely on faith.

Next the young men were introduced. One of them was seized with undisguised curiosity to behold a minister whose theological system some institution had found it necessary to doctor. It is, perhaps, the first instance on record in modern times where these semi-lunar fardels have been looked upon with respect and curiosity. When "Brother Dodge" came, congratulations were in order over his Church, his School and his Hall, but he would have none of it. He was seeing another building floating in the clouds, and could only talk of the invisible. It will, however, soon be among things visible, for the missionary has his grapples out. It is to be a Boarding Hall and Industrial Home for girls who will come into it and learn to live and to be. "But, Pleasant Hill is not a town, it is not a village, it is only by courtesy a hamlet. Where are your pupils?" "The woods are full of them and they will come from near and from far," replies their young missionary of more than three score and ten years. On Sunday, the church was filled; on Monday, the school was full; and our heart was full of thanksgiving that God had come to these mountain people, that hope would enter their lives and their [125]cabins, and that these boys and girls would now step up in Christian manhood and womanhood.

One of the impressive thoughts which a visit to an institution like Fisk University is sure to excite, is the relation of all this work to the future. Apropos of this, the Rev. J.O.A. Clark, D.D., LL.D., of Macon, Ga., has just written a little tract of fifty pages on "The Future of the Races." He does not vote in New England, nor is he a Yankee; but he is a good and true witness. He says, that the Races are running races along the paths of knowledge and up the hills of science. These are his words (pages 19 and 20): "Have they" [the colored people] "availed themselves of the educational facilities? Have they profited by them? We answer that they have been incalculably benefited. They have shown not only that they can receive education, but education of a high order. Their improvement has been so astonishing as to silence doubt and caviling. Our Southern eyes have been opened to see it. Southern candor is free to admit it. There are none who do not admit it but the hopelessly prejudiced. I am persuaded that the average examinations in the colored schools are better than the average in the white schools, for teachableness is the basis of all education, and this universally distinguishes the negro." Dr. Clark is not saying that the white boy may not learn more easily and master more rapidly, but rather is telling how the hare came out second in the race with his competitor not so fleet of foot, but which had the gift of patient continuance in well-doing. Still he accentuates the fact that "their improvement is astonishing." I am sure that no one can visit Fisk University without having all his doubts dispersed as to the future of the negro race. It is to have a future.

This leads me to quote the closing words of Dr. Clark's significant pamphlet (page 52): "All Africa stretches out her hands to God; to the work of delivering her fatherland from heathenism. God is calling the blacks of these Southern States. They are to be the chief instruments in giving the Gospel of Christ to the benighted land of their fathers. Wherefore, let the work of Christian, and so sanctified, education go on."

All this is true, and it means that in our American Missionary Association the ministerial education must now be made more prominent. When white missionaries can say, as one whose bones are in the soil of the Dark Continent did say, "Let a thousand fall before Africa shall be given up," the children of Africa must respond, "Africa shall be evangelized by Africans." That is, we must have more and better theological schools for the Negro people. The demand for educated Negro ministers, who know what religion is, and what purity is, will be greater and greater.

The demand for missionaries of the negro race who can realize that "Christianity is a missionary religion," will be greater, also. We can scarcely expect that those who came out of Egypt will become missionaries to Egypt. The apprehension of missionary responsibility comes with a [126]developed Christianity. The missionary sense came to the Apostles themselves very slowly. It came to the Christian Church slowly. The African people in America, I trust, will seize upon it more rapidly, for they have a large emotional nature and great faith. What they now need is education and intellectual character, and those qualities which give shape, and tone, and persistence, to the forces which direct and control events.

Men who have been slaves may not take on this, and their children may not in great numbers. But their children's children are coming on multitudinously, and from them must go those who shall preach the Gospel to their own race in Africa. For psychological as well as physiological reasons this must be. Not only because they can live, and whites cannot, in Africa, but because, other things being equal, they can do this work better with their own race. Said Christ, "Go home to thy friends, and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee."

All of which says that the Fisk must now add to its great work a thorough theological school, and must urge its students to listen to the voice of God and to answer when God calls, "Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth." More and better ministers are needed both for Africa in the United States and Africa across the sea. He will give wisely who will give quickly for this.

ILLUMINATED SPOTS.

A Northern visitor in the South, writing in a recent number of The Advance speaks of the rapid improvement of the Negroes in that locality. He says that the Negro is prosperous; that commercially he is honest; that one house has had no less than thirteen hundred names of colored people on its books, each having a credit from a few dollars to forty or more; that the Negro respects education—even if he is unable to read himself, he wants, with all the determination of his soul, that his children shall be educated; that the merchants say that they are buying better and better goods, are learning the value of money, are exercising wiser judgment, are becoming farmers and mechanics, are becoming better men.

These items, taken from a long article, show the bright light glowing in that locality. Of course the writer gives some dark touches to the picture, and thus modified, it may be repeated of thousands of places throughout the South. Some of our friends, we fear, look too much upon the dark side. There is a dark side, and it is dense. But if we can only continue and enlarge the sphere of these bright spots, and kindle others in new localities, the time will come when the light will displace the darkness and the dawn of a new era will come. Friends of the Negro race, patriots and Christians! furnish the oil for these bright spots and help to multiply them.

[127]THE GOVERNMENT AND THE INDIANS.

1. That the appointment or retention of all officers and employés in the Indian service of the Government shall be on the sole ground of fitness—that ability, integrity and an interest in the welfare of the Indians, shall constitute the only required conditions. We are not ignorant of the difficulties involved in securing such persons, especially with the low salaries paid to some of these employés; and we shall be abundantly satisfied with the purpose of the Government to reach the nearest attainable success in this direction.

2. That the Government shall make adequate appropriations for the establishment and maintenance of suitable schools for the education of all Indian pupils—whether these schools be sustained and controlled wholly by the Government or in co-operation with missionary societies. The millions of dollars now due to the Indians by treaty stipulations, for educational purposes, should not be idle in the National Treasury, but should, as rapidly as possible, be devoted to their legitimate purposes, and they should be supplemented as far as need be by direct grants from the Government.

3. That the co-operation of the Government with the missionary societies in what are known as Contract schools should be continued and enlarged. We believe that no better teaching has been afforded to the Indians than that given in these Contract schools. The educational qualifications of the teachers, together with their disinterested and self-denying characters and their religious influence and instruction, render them pre-eminently fit for their places and successful in their work. The experience of the past and the testimony of all unprejudiced persons bear witness to this fact.

4. That compulsory education of Indian pupils be enforced, with liberty of choice to the parents in the selection of the schools to which their children shall be sent. The Indians are generally averse, or indifferent, to the education of their children. The withholding of rations in case of failure or neglect is usually an all-sufficient motive for prompt compliance. Then, too, the parent, if a Christian and intelligent, should be allowed to select the school for his child, and not be compelled to send it to a Government school simply because that may happen to be nearest.

5. The Government should adopt a liberal policy in regard to the use of the vernacular in the Indian schools. We are all agreed that the English language should be brought into use among the Indians at the earliest practicable period. But the experience of all the past, in Indian civilization [128]among the ruder tribes, has shown that Christian influences have been most successfully brought to bear by the use of the vernacular, in giving them the knowledge of the Word of God, in teaching them a practical morality, and in preparing them for civilized life. We ask, therefore, that no restrictions be placed upon Christian people in their efforts for this great object.

6. We ask that the Government exercise an absolute impartiality in dealing with the different denominations of Christians, in the distribution of appropriations, in the granting of lands for missionary uses, and in the appointment of officers, agents, teachers and employés. We ask no favors in these respects, and we desire that none shall be granted to others.

NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.

BY REV C.J. RYDER, DISTRICT SECRETARY.

"Miss ——:

"DEAR MADAM: I understand you have got the school, but I can't possibly board you, as social equality is not custom in this country. I don't think it would be pleasant for you nor for us, either. I wrote this in order for you to look out some other place. You need not depend on getting board with us.

"FEBRUARY 2, 1889."

This letter was written to a cultivated Northern young lady who had graduated at one of the best high schools in the country and held a special recommendation, besides her diploma, on account of her excellency as a student and practice teacher. She went South to help these people in their great need. It was for Christ's sake and in "His name" that she entered this field. She secured board of a white family, but when they learned that she was going to teach the blacks and seek to lead them to Christ, this letter was sent her. Every door was closed against this Christian woman because she was trying to save the poor and ignorant! And it is eighteen hundred and eighty-nine of the Christian era and in free America!

But this plucky Yankee girl did not so give up her school. She found a boarding place in the home of one of our missionaries, two miles away, and she tramps across these two miles twice a day, patiently putting in her best services, to bring light into the dense darkness of the very community whose doors were closed against her!

In connection with this incident of narrow prejudice read these words from Dr. Haygood's "Pleas for Progress." "In all truth and common sense there is no reason for discounting in any respect a white man or woman simply for teaching negroes. It is absurd. I believe it is sinful." These earnest words were spoken by the eloquent divine to his Southern brethren, August 2, 1883, six long years ago. If they only carried the conviction of the people to whom he appealed! How strangely they sound, standing so close [129]to this letter refusing board to a young lady because she is teaching these very negroes! "How long, O Lord, how long?"

The semi-annual meeting of the Woman's Home Missionary Association met in the Beneficent Congregational Church, or "Old Round Top," as the street car conductor called it, Providence, April 3d. The weather was extremely unfavorable, as New England weather has been lately, as a rule, but there was a good attendance and deep interest. All the missionary societies of the Congregational churches which do work in America were represented. The field work of the Woman's Association has passed into the control of the national societies. The future looks very bright for its increasing usefulness.

And now Pleasant Hill, Tenn., rejoices in the sweet music of one of the Smith organs. Mr. S.D. Smith is making many schools happy and adding greatly to their efficiency by his generous gifts of organs.

WHAT THE WORLD SAYS.

BLACK SAINTS AND WHITE.

Do colored folks retain their complexion when they go to heaven? This is a question of some importance to the members of the Diocesan Convention of the Protestant Episcopal churches of Charleston, S.C. Not long ago the Convention appointed a special committee to consider and report upon the subject of the admission of negro clergymen and laymen as members of that body. Their action was taken with the view of bringing the Charleston churches, if possible, into harmony with the other Episcopal congregations of the State. In 1887, the former had seceded in consequence of the adoption of a resolution which the Charleston brethren regarded as a virtual obliteration of the color-line.

Thursday, the report of the committee was made public. It proposes a separate convocation for the colored churches under the ministration of the bishop, and consents to the admission to the Convention of colored clergymen who have been associated with the church for twelve months prior to May, 1889. If the report is adopted, three negro ministers will sit as members, but no lay delegates will be eligible. The committee were willing to forego their prejudice out of deference to the holy office. They felt that the color of a clergyman's skin, although it was no doubt a very serious ground of objection when it happened to be black, should not overcome the respect due to the sanctity of his official calling. His cloth, so to speak, saved him, and what would have been denied to the man it was possible to concede to the priest.

Under these circumstances the gravity of the question, "Do colored folks retain their complexion when they go to heaven?" is obvious. The [130]concession which the committee of the Diocesan Convention make is but a re-affirmation of the Charleston brethren's aversion to anything that smacks of an approach to association of the two races on terms of equality. If there are colored saints in Paradise, it will be utterly impossible for the Charleston white saints of the Episcopal denomination to feel at home there. The only chance of reconciling them to a heaven so liberally disposed would depend on the adoption of some such plan as that recommended by the committee as a modus vivendi in the church on earth. That is to say, if the colored saints were corraled by themselves—if their convocations were separate from the convocations of the white saints—if they were not admitted to the white circles of celestial society as equal partakers of the privileges of the heavenly kingdom—the Caucasian angels from Charleston might be willing to pass their eternity in such a place.

It is very essential for them, therefore, to know whether there are in fact any colored saints in heaven; and, if there are, whether the divisions of the Father's house into "many mansions" admits of an arrangement whereby the angelic brunettes may occupy one set of quarters and the Charleston blondes another. Until these problems are solved to their satisfaction, we do not see how our Christian friends of the chief city of South Carolina can contemplate a future life with any degree of equanimity. Their faith may be equal to the removal of mountains and their virtues may entitle them to all the felicity of the spirits of just men made perfect, but if it is the rule of the "happy land, far, far away" that a black saint is just as good as a white one, how much more rational it would be for them to prefer annihilation to immortality.

PARAGRAPHS.

We would continue to remind pastors and churches of our Leaflets, which we will be happy to furnish, on application, to those taking collections for our Association.

The Daily Standard-Union, of Brooklyn, is a good judge. It says:

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY for April, published by the American Missionary Association, New York, is full of information useful and edifying to all interested in domestic missions.

The "Student's Letter" found on another page is worth attention. The writer, Rev. Spencer Snell, gives a modest and yet vivid picture of his struggles for an education, and he is now—we say it for him, as he does not—the able and acceptable pastor of our growing church in Birmingham, Alabama. We wish in a quiet way to suggest to our friends in the North that "it pays" to spend money to educate such men.

[131]Rev. James Wharton, the evangelist, who has been efficiently preaching to the American Missionary churches in the South this winter, has left this country for England, where he will remain until the first of October, when he will return again to his specific work in which the churches have been greatly blessed. The churches which he has visited, and which have added to their numbers through his ministration, are Louisville, Ky., Sherwood, Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., Athens, Florence, Mobile and Montgomery, Ala., Jackson and Tougaloo, Miss., and New Orleans, La.

Many prayers will go with him across the sea, and many welcomes will greet him on his return.

SOUTHERN ECHOES.

PRAYERS OF WOMEN AT THE MEETING OF FAREWELL TO A MISSIONARY.

"O! Lord, thou knowest how I love her. Thou knowest how I have run to her in every trouble, as a chicken does to its mother."

"O! Lord, you know what she has been to me in the greatest trouble I ever had. You know I think more of her than of any being in the whole world, except my husband. Will you please to be with her when she gets ready for the train, and when she goes from the house to the train, and on the train, and when she goes to the house from the train, and bless her all the time."

Mrs. W——, an old lady, said: "My old man ax me every night when he come from work if there be a meeting up yonder. He do like to go to meeting. He think a heap of that young preacher up yonder. Last Wednesday night after meeting, he say to me, 'Mary, I'll be good to you after this,' and I say the same to him. It do me a heap of good to go up yonder. I learn more than I ever knowed before. I knows what the texts means now."

SATISFACTORILY EXPLAINED.—A few days since, during a recitation in geography, a teacher was endeavoring to explain the subject of electricity in the lesson on "Thunder and lightning." It had been stated that when a flash of lightning darts to the earth it is said to strike. A precocious lad of twelve summers (winters included), raised his hand and upon recognition said: "Do people have any electricity?" Upon being informed that every one possessed the subtle force in a greater or less degree, his dusky, good-natured face lighted up, and he added, "Then is that the reason why some people always want to strike?"

[132]BOOK NOTICE

Pleas for Progress. By ATTICUS G. HAYGOOD, D.D. Publishing House of M.E. Church South, Nashville, Tenn. Price, $1.00.

Dr. Haygood is a Southern man who stands with his face toward sunrise and not sunset. As a writer, he is interesting and vigorous. He sometimes forgets to take off his "Titbottom spectacles" when he looks southward, but he puts in tremendous blows against the wrong which he sees. This volume before us contains papers and addresses delivered at various times and places, both North and South. It is a very valuable book for those who desire to learn what the really Christian people of the South think on these great National problems that the American Missionary Association is helping to solve.

The lecture on "The Education of the Negro," delivered at Monteagle, Tenn., and published in this volume, is a sample. Dr. Haygood states "four root objections" to negro education: 1—Ignorance; 2—Stinginess; 3—Prejudice; 4—Fear that education will "spoil the negro as a laborer" and bring him into "social equality" with the whites. The author shows the absurdity of all these objections.

The volume is full of statistics and will prove a valuable mine of facts. The discussions are clear and generally convincing. We commend the book highly.

THE SOUTH.

THE GEORGIA CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

Rev. S.C. McDaniel and others, Committee of the United Congregational Conference of Georgia.

DEAR BRETHREN.—Having been appointed by the Georgia Congregational Association as a committee to confer with you in reference to a union of the two bodies represented by you and us, we desire to express to you our gratification at the receipt of your request for such a conference, and our earnest desire that such a union should be consummated. With this end in view, we would respectfully submit for your consideration the following propositions:

1. We cordially invite the churches composing the United Congregational Conference to become members of the Georgia Congregational Association. Upon the acceptance of this invitation by the United Conference, we agree to recommend to the Association the passage of a vote immediately placing upon the roll of the Association the names of all the churches of the United Conference.

[133]2. In case the foregoing proposition should not be acceptable to you, we propose that each of the bodies represented by us should pass a vote disbanding its organization, with the understanding that all the churches of both bodies should then come together and form a new organization. Upon the agreement of your committee to recommend to the United Conference the adoption of this proposition, we agree to make a similar recommendation to the Association.

3. If neither of the foregoing propositions should be acceptable to you, we propose that the United Conference place upon its roll the names of all the churches and ministers of the Georgia Association. Upon the agreement of your committee to recommend such action to the United Conference, we agree to recommend to the Association the adoption of a vote declaring its organization disbanded as soon as the churches composing the same are received by the United Conference.

With reference to the foregoing propositions we would say further:

It is our conviction that any union between the organizations represented by our respective committees should be as comprehensive and thorough as possible, and that to this end the churches of the Georgia Association should be enrolled as members of the District Conferences, in fellowship with the United Conference within whose respective boundaries the Association churches may be located. And the foregoing propositions are made with the understanding that a vote shall be passed by the United Conference recommending the District Conferences to receive the Association churches as hereby suggested.

Of these three proposed methods of union, our own preference is for the first. As the Georgia Congregational Association is the older body and represents the historic Congregationalism of the State, going back not only to the early years succeeding the Civil War, but even, in the record of one of its churches, to the colonial period preceding the Revolution, we feel that a respect for the traditional usages of our polity would suggest the absorption of the newer churches by the Association as being the older State organization. But as in our opinion the result to be achieved is of more importance than the method by which it shall be achieved, we would not insist upon the method of our choice. If more acceptable to you, we should gladly form a union on the basis of either the second or the third proposition already stated. Our chief desire is for a complete and hearty union, in which, acknowledging the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, we may live and work together in the love of Christ, the Elder Brother of us all. That our Heavenly Father may graciously help us all in perfecting and maintaining such a union, is our earnest prayer.

Your brethren in Christ,

GEO. V. CLARK, HORACE BUMSTEAD, GEO. C. ROWE, L.B. MAXWELL, EVARTS KENT, FLOYD SNELSON, C.F. SARGENT.

[134]EVANGELISTIC LABORS.

REV. JAMES WHARTON.

You last heard of my work, I believe, from Memphis, Tenn., where God revealed his gracious power among the students of LeMoyne, and also at the Congregational church. Altogether, some one hundred and thirty-four professed a hope in Christ during my visit there. I then went to Jackson, Miss., to hold services in the new church there; a pretty little building, situated in a very central and prominent part of the city. For eleven nights, I preached to not a very large, but to an interesting congregation. Twelve professed conversion, their conversion proving a source of great joy, not only to themselves, but to their friends and acquaintances.

I also visited Tougaloo University and spoke to the students. Between fifty and sixty at the close of the address arose for prayer. I feel sure if I could have spent a few days with them, that most of them would have decided for Christ, but they remain under the good and wise instruction of the President, Rev. F.G. Woodworth. I hope to visit them again.

I then went to New Orleans, to find the Central Congregational Church recovering itself under the leading of the pastor, Rev. Geo. W. Henderson. We believe that it will steadily grow, and be a great influence for good in that large and wicked city. At Straight University, I found the religious interest going on quietly and steadily under the care of Professor Hitchcock and Rev. W.L. Tenney, some cases of conversion taking place during the week of prayer.

I came to Montgomery three weeks ago, and a revival there has surpassed any I have seen for the last thirteen years among the colored folks of the South. In fact, many of the old-time people say they never saw such a deep interest manifested in this city. The third night the church was filled to overflowing, and hundreds were outside the door who could not get in. The power of God came down upon the people in such a way that at the close of the preaching the seekers fairly ran to the front benches, taking them by storm. All around the front they sat or knelt. We placed chairs in rows on the platform, and the crowd was so thick I could scarcely get a place to stand. The pastor, Rev. R.C. Bedford, and the Christians, worked hard among the unconverted, and now at the close of the three weeks' services, more than two hundred are rejoicing in a new found hope.

One case was that of a young man, the son of a Methodist preacher, both deaf and dumb, who gave reasonable evidence of conversion as the love of God filled his heart, and another was a young man who had been a wild young fellow, who had at the time of his conversion a five barrel loaded revolver in his pocket, and which I now have. One whole family is now rejoicing that God has brought salvation to that house; father, mother, son and four daughters are among the converts. Another father rejoices over four of his sons and daughters converted. Husbands and wives have started together on the road to Zion. On the streets and wherever you go, the people [135]are talking about, and rejoicing over, the conversion of some of their friends or relations.

This finishes another winter's work among the dear colored people, which has been one of the happiest and most successful I have known for many years.

THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA.

The Connecticut Normal and Industrial School, Thomasville. Ga., closed its winter term, for a few days' vacation, on March 26th, with appropriate exercises. The Thomasville Daily Times says, "The growth and management of the school is very gratifying to our people, and everyone wishes it continued success and prosperity." The Thomasville Enterprise speaks of "the results of the seven sweet-faced patient lady teachers," and adds, "If yesterday's exhibition was a fair sample of what the pupils can do, the American Missionary Association, and the corps of teachers it has employed, have not labored in vain; that a great deal of hard, honest work has been done, was fully exemplified."

Again we are reminded that Thomasville is not Quitman, and also of the fact that Southern people are generally quite generous in their appreciation of the work and the methods of our Association.

MRS. LYDIA HERRICK BENNETT.

On Saturday, March 16, the great household at Fisk University was suddenly saddened by the announcement of the death of Mrs. Bennett, who, after an illness of four weeks, was called to her rest.

In 1867, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett gave up their work in a pleasant Northern parish, and came to Fisk University, where they have labored together for almost twenty-two years. During these years, Mrs. Bennett has been not only an efficient helper to her husband and a wise and tender mother to her children, but has contributed much to the work of the school. Her strong mind and fine intellectual tastes especially fitted her for life in an institution of learning. During the last few years, she gave much time and labor to the preparation of a botanical collection for the Scientific Department of the University.

Mrs. Bennett was also the warm personal friend of the young people. Since her death, many tender expressions from present and former students bear witness to appreciation of her quiet, earnest, Christian character, as manifested both in her own life, and in her ministry to others. Why such a life, apparently so indispensable to her husband and children, and so helpful to a large body of young people, should be thus suddenly terminated we cannot understand. We can only accept the dispensation of Him "Who doeth all things well."

[136]

STUDENT'S LETTER.

HOW I WAS EDUCATED, LED TO CHRIST AND INTO THE MINISTRY.

BY REV. SPENCER SNELL.

My first lessons from books I received in night school. At this time I was employed as dining-room servant by a family in Mobile. I did my work during the day, taking a little time here and there for study as best I could, and went to school at night. I was first employed at $3.50 per month. Fifty cents of this I took each month to pay tuition. The tuition in this school was one dollar per month, but I was receiving such small wages that a woman who was employed in the same yard, and who went to the same school, persuaded the teacher to let me go for fifty cents. I remained with this family about four years, and went to night school much of the time. I suppose they considered my services more and more valuable as I became more enlightened, for, during the four years, my wages were increased from $3.50 to $10 per month. As my wages increased, I had more tuition to pay also, for during my study in the night school I had several teachers and paid some of them as much as two dollars per month, and so anxious was I to acquire an education that I would have paid five dollars had it been required, even at a time when it would have taken all my wages to do so. While I was a student in one of these night schools, I chanced one day to see a newspaper which a colored man who knew me had thrown into the yard for me. In this paper I read an article telling about Emerson Institute, a school of the American Missionary Association, and the commencement exercises soon to occur there. The school had been in Mobile for several years, but I had heard nothing of it till now. As soon as I read of these exercises, I determined to see them, for I had never heard of such exercises before. When the time came, I went one night, accompanied by a few of my fellow night-school students. We were well pleased with what we saw, and I said to them that I meant to enter that school when it opened the next fall, and that I meant to be an educated man if I could. I soon began to carry out my purpose, for in a few weeks I left my employment in that family and went back into the country, from whence I had gone to Mobile, and took the examination and began teaching public school. By this means, I earned money enough to go back to Mobile and become a pupil of Emerson Institute, not in the fall of 1873, as I had hoped to do, but in the spring of 1874. I shall ever feel grateful to the man who threw over the fence for me the article from which I learned about that good school, for I am sure I am quite a different man to-day from what I would have been but for reading that article. Precious to me is the memory of those days during which I took tuition in the night-school, where the key was put into my hand and the door of knowledge was opened to me.

[137]Next to God I am grateful to the American Missionary Association for having received training in a Christian school, where I was led to Christ and felt called to the Christian ministry. When I lived on the plantation, before I went to Mobile and received instruction in the Christian school, I had heard the uneducated colored ministers preach and they had endeavored to lead me to Christ, but I could not accept Christ in the way they had presented Him to me. I remember well how they told us that in order to find Christ we must fast and pray for a number of days. I remember, too, the unsuccessful attempt which I made to give myself to Jesus in this way. I was a farm boy and was plowing hard every day, and it was hard work for a boy of my age to follow the mule all day in the tough grass, and I always felt like eating when meal time came, but still I tried to become a Christian by doing as the minister said I must, and so for a few days I ate no breakfast, no dinner, and no supper, though I worked on. They told us, also, that we must not go to bed at night, for if we did the wicked one would make us sleep all night and we would fail to pray through the night, and they said we must pray all night. For several nights I did not go to bed at all, but would lie down upon the doorstep that I might get up often through the night and go down the hill to pray, for we were instructed to "go down in the valley." Of course after a few days I became tired, sleepy and discouraged, and gave up. I did not make another attempt till I became a student in Emerson Institute. One of the lady teachers in that school became interested in my soul's salvation. She read the Bible to me, talked to me, and prayed for me, and made the way of life and salvation seem so plain and simple that it was not long before I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour.

My heart overflows with gratitude to that Christian lady whenever I think of my conversion. There is no favor which one person can do for another so great as that of leading him to Christ.

Soon after I was converted I felt inclined to enter the ministry, and was advised to go to Talladega College and there take a theological course. I wanted to go but did not see any way to get there, to say nothing of how I was to stay there, but a lady from the North had been visiting one of our lady teachers at Mobile, and heard me deliver an oration in a prize contest. She said she liked it, and after she went back home she sent me $25 to help me in my education. I had been praying that a way might open for me to go to Talladega, and I felt that the $25 came in answer to prayer. I used up the money in getting ready and in going to Talladega. I wrote Dr. G.W. Andrews, who has for a number of years been instructor in theology there, that I was anxious to go and enter his department, but I had no money, and he wrote me, if I had money enough to get there, to come on. Thank God that I went, and that a way was provided for me to stay there and finish the course of study; and now I am out in the ministry and trying to do something for Him who has so wonderfully led me and blessed me.

[138]THE INDIANS.

PERILS OF MISSIONARY LIFE.

Rev. T.L. Riggs, our missionary at Oahe, Dakota, thus describes the loss of a team and the peril of his fellow missionary, Rev. J.F. Cross:

"I wished to cross my team on the ice to the west side of the Missouri and keep it there for use during the breaking up of the river. Being very busy with some writing, I asked Mr. Cross to take my team over when he started to return to the White River, sending a man with him. Mr. Cross's team went over safely, but mine, which Mr. Cross himself was driving, broke through and were drowned, in spite of every effort of the two men. Mr. Cross had a narrow escape. He managed to save the wagon, but the horses went down with harness on as they were driven. Mr. Cross took the loss so to heart, that together with the strain and agony of the moment, it quite prostrated him. He started for White River in a day or two after, though I felt that he was hardly fit to go."

FIRST FRUITS.

REV. C.L. HALL, FORT BERTHOLD, DAK.

In the fall of 1879, a young Gros-Ventre Indian named Dahpitsishesh, "The Bear's Tooth," began to attend the day school at Fort Berthold, and although he was over twenty years old and not very quick to learn, he surpassed the younger pupils by his industry. He attended the day school, in the day time or in the evening, quite regularly during the winter, and became a help to the missionary in translating parts of Scripture into the Gros-Ventre language.

He wore his long hair braided behind, and banged and plastered with clay in front so that it stood upright, and he dressed in blanket, breech clout, leggings and moccasins, and the lower joints of several of his fingers were cut off in accordance with the Indian custom of mutilating themselves at the burial of a friend. His first appearance to a new teacher who came the following spring caused her no little trepidation, but she soon learned to prize him as her best pupil, and the next year the influence of God's word upon him was seen by his saying, after recounting some of his Gros-Ventre religious fables, in which his belief had been shaken; "I have been coming to school now more than a year. Since reading these books about God and angels I cannot sleep at night, but have had dreams. I think some harm will come to me. I am poor and cannot help myself, but I pray God to keep me from harm, and I want to trust him."

From that time on, we hoped he would take a decided stand for Christ. As yet, none among his people had been converted. A few passages of the Bible and a few words of song had been given to the Gros-Ventres in their own tongue, and every Sabbath there were attentive Indian listeners, but [139]would there ever be a Gros-Ventre convert? "The Bear's Tooth" continued to come to us, and learned to understand quite fully the requirements of our faith. He became a trusted helper in charge of the mission cattle and the milking, working regularly as few Indians would do at Berthold, and he soon had stock of his own in which he took great pleasure. He read the Bible on Sabbath afternoons with one who was soon called to her reward; it was almost her last prayer that he might be saved. He came in spite of dissuasions, jeers, and even persecutions from his people, and yet he took no stand for Christ. Three years after, there were Indian inquirers, and he helped to explain to them the demands of Christ, but they all felt that "the way was too hard for them" and "went away sorrowful."

Some of the young people who had been taken away to school and removed from the opposition of their people had confessed Christ, but there were none to face it here and say that they loved him. "The Bear's Tooth" took a wife in the Indian way, unwilling to marry, and removed, as it seemed, away from our influence, to a claim forty miles up the river from our mission station.

But God dealt with him and afflicted him in the loss of his babes, and of his stock, so that he said, "It seems as though I could acquire nothing. Explain it to me; the Indians say it is because I follow your teaching." I taught him from the book of Job, and the words of Christ. His soul was hungry, and when he came once in two weeks for his government rations, he sought the bread of life at the mission. Finally, after nearly eight years, one summer day he came and sat on a bench in the shade of the house in a little flower garden, and after we had talked awhile, he said to the missionary: "Good Voice, now I can; I will be faithful to my own wife, I will keep Sunday, I will pray and avoid the dances and other heathen customs; when you think best I will come down and be received into the church." That was a glad moment. To clasp the hand of the first Gros-Ventre brother in Christ, won through a strange tongue and from a people who had sat in darkness for eighteen hundred years since the great light shone in Galilee!

I said, "Bring your wife and friends with you to Christ." He went home but soon returned, saying sorrowfully: "My wife and my friends are none of them willing. If I join I think it must be alone." "Well," I said, "let it be so," and it was. His clothes were second-hand and old, and he had no natural attractiveness of appearance; but in a simple, manly, determined way, he made his confession and was baptized before an audience of Indians in the little mission chapel, (July, 1887), a poor Indian, but another Daniel standing alone.

Then, as the man of Gergesa, he went home to tell his neighbors what God had done for him. He had a Bible in Dakota, of which language he understood something, and a few Gros-Ventre translations in writing, and some attempts at hymns, and some pictures. With these he preached, in neighbors' houses, and then he would report to me of his reception, and [140]ask me questions about the Christian life. A veritable man "Friday" had come to me; I was no longer alone. Then why did his health fail, and he forty miles away where I could not see him? But so God willed. Soon they brought me the word: Your friend has gone. I gathered up his last words, questioning his wife and lame old father. He wanted to see his friend and tell him some things. He thought he did see him come in and then go out before he could speak. He said, "I thought it was difficult, but I joined with those who pray, and I find now it is only a short way. I am going above." With his last breath and his Bible open, he asked to be shown the way, that he might go in it.

The influence of a genuine life is strongest at home, and so it comes that the wife is seeking to follow her husband. There are other converts with us now, but we shall never forget this first Gros-Ventre "friend," (madakina); and although the story of his life is not a peculiar one to white men, nay for that very reason, we are glad to write this record of a once lowly, but now glorified, believer.

THE CHINESE.

LOS ANGELES CONGREGATIONAL CHINESE MISSION.

BY REV. ROBERT G. HUTCHINS.

Our First Church has recently enjoyed two peculiarly impressive occasions; one the anniversary on the 17th of last month, of the Chinese school, established by Dr. Pond; the other the reception, on the 3d instant, of six Chinese brethren to church membership. To appreciate the significance of these scenes, one must remember how contemptuous is the prejudice which prevails on this coast against these inoffensive strangers.

Nine or ten young Chinamen delivered addresses at the anniversary. They spoke with remarkable simplicity, perspicuity and accuracy of English pronunciation. In view of their perfect self-possession and propriety of manner in the presence of the crowded congregation, one could scarcely realize that nearly all of them were utterly inexperienced in public speaking. The success of these humble representatives gave a hint of the possibilities of a Christianized China. One of the speakers gave an account of the conversion, sickness, death and Christian burial of a member of the school, a youth of eighteen. The heathen relatives and friends had attributed the illness to the boy's desertion of the religion of his fathers, and had begged him to allow the burning of idolatrous incense. But he had calmly resisted their appeals, and, in an alien land, far from his father and mother, had pillowed his dying head on the breast of the Saviour of mankind.

Low Quong, who superintends the mission, and who is true-hearted, prudent and influential with his countrymen, showed with clearness, the relation between the conversion of the Chinese in California and the evangelization of China. It was news to many of his hearers that the Christian Chinese of America are supporting native missionaries of their own in China.

[141]The recitation by the school in concert of some of the sweetest and most familiar of the Psalms and Scriptural promises, melted the hearts of the hearers into sympathy. The old truths borrowed a new tenderness and emphasis from these voices accustomed to recite heathen prayers. The pupils sang in solo, in duet and in chorus. When "Over the Ocean Wave" was rendered, some of us queried in our minds on which side of the ocean wave God thinks the poor heathen live—the side from which these gentle friends have come, or the side where their countrymen receive such unchristian welcome?

Nothing could more effectually knock in the head mean prejudice than the grateful words and kind spirit which characterized this anniversary. Whatever may be the prospect of the Chinese over-running us, they certainly had us that Sunday evening. Mrs. Sheldon, who has had large experience in the work, and Miss Watson, are devoting themselves to the mission with a beautiful fidelity and consecration.

Dr. Pond, who conducted the anniversary service, closed with an address only too brief, but most felicitous and convincing. To the opponents of Chinese immigration he is accustomed to reply: "Can there be any better way of keeping the Chinese at home than to have it known among the fathers in China that their sons, if they come to this country, are likely to be Christianized?"

Nothing could be sweeter or more cordial than the spirit of welcome with which the six Chinese brethren were received into covenant. Not an officer or member breathed an objection to their reception. Had there been in any heart any lurking Phariseeism concerning them, it would have been rebuked, if not exorcised, by hearing them sing with us at the Lord's table, in broken accents, "Rock of Ages," by observing their devout bearing and by witnessing the affecting baptismal scene. These brethren came to the church approved by Dr. Pond, by the Chinese missionary, Low Quong, and by the vote of the Christian Association, and after an examination by the pastor.

BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.

MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.

WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS.

CO-OPERATING WITH THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

ME.—Woman's Aid to A.M.A.,
Chairman of Committee, Mrs. C.A. Woodbury, Woodfords, Me.

VT.—Woman's Aid to A.M.A.,
Chairman of Committee, Mrs. Henry Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury, Vt.

VT.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. Ellen Osgood, Montpelier, Vt.

CONN.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. S.M. Hotchkiss, 171 Capitol Ave., Hartford, Conn.

MASS. and R.I.—Woman's Home Miss. Association,
Secretary, Miss Natalie Lord, Boston, Mass.[1]

N.Y.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. William Spalding, Salmon Block, Syracuse, N.Y.

ALA.—Woman's Missionary Union,
Secretary, Miss. S.S. Evans, Birmingham, Ala.

MISS.—Woman's Miss. Union,
Secretary, Miss Sarah J. Humphrey. Tougaloo, Miss.

TENN. and ARK.—Woman's Missionary Union of Central South Conference,
[142] Secretary, Miss Anna M. Cahill, Nashville, Tenn.

LA.—Woman's Miss. Union,
Secretary, Miss Jennie Fyfe, 490 Canal St., New Orleans. La.

OHIO.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. Flora K. Regal, Oberlin, Ohio.

IND.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. W.E. Mossman, Fort Wayne, Ind.

ILL.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. C.H. Taintor, 151 Washington St., Chicago, Ill.

MINN.—Woman's Home Miss. Society,
Secretary, Miss Katharine Plant, 2651 Portland Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn.

IOWA.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Miss Ella E. Marsh, Grinnell, Iowa.

KANSAS.—Woman's Home Miss. Society,
Secretary, Mrs. G.L. Epps. Topeka, Kan.

MICH.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. Mary B. Warren, Lansing, Mich.

WIS.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. C. Matter, Brodhead, Wis.

NEB.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. L.F. Berry, 734 N Broad St., Fremont, Neb.

COLORADO.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. S.M. Packard, Pueblo, Colo.

DAKOTA—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
President, Mrs. T.M. Hills, Sioux Falls;
Secretary, Mrs. W.R. Dawes, Redfield;
Treasurer, Mrs. S.E. Fifield, Lake Preston.

We would suggest to all ladies connected with the auxiliaries of State Missionary Unions, that funds for the American Missionary Association be sent to us through the treasurers of the Union. Care, however, should be taken to designate the money as for the American Missionary Association, since undesignated funds will not reach us.

The Woman's Home Missionary Association, which has its office in the Congregational House in Boston, held its semi-annual meeting in Providence, April 3d, the first since it has come into co-operation with the American Missionary Association in its administration and with the other national benevolent societies. Rev. G.A. Hood represented the Congregational Union, Rev. Joshua Coit, the American Home Missionary Society, Rev. J.A. Hamilton, D.D., the College and Education Society, Rev. C.J. Ryder, the American Missionary Association, and the Rev. G.M. Boynton, D.D., the Congregational Sunday-school and Publishing Society. These all expressed their sympathy with the closer alliance of the Woman's Association with the national societies through which they have elected to work, and to which they have committed the administration of their benevolence in their respective fields. We cordially welcome the Woman's Home Missionary Association as the representative of the States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the sisterhood of co-operative societies.

At the meeting of the Woman's Missionary Association of Alabama, held in connection with the Congregational Conference at Mobile, April 1st, the Constitution was amended, enlarging the sphere of work to cover both home and foreign missions, and thus we have the "Woman's Missionary Union of the State of Alabama." The actual working of this woman's organization had already been varied. It was most interesting at their meeting to hear the reports of the auxiliaries. All reported aid to their respective churches and relief to the destitute in their parishes, and then their contributions took other directions—to the American Missionary Association for its Indian work; to the American Board for a girl in Smyrna; for a Hindoo girl; for work in South Africa; to the Home Missionary [143]Society for work in the West. Thus these churches in the South are being trained to a world-wide interest in missions.

THREE NEW ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SOUTH.

A Woman's Missionary Union for the State of Louisiana was organized in connection with the Congregational Association of the State. The meeting of ladies was well attended, and the interest was manifested in their hearty response in favor of joining the sisterhood of State Unions. The officers of the Union were selected from both the white and colored churches, the church at Hammond being thus represented.

At the annual meeting of the General Association of Congregational churches of Mississippi, which met at Tougaloo, March 28th, a Woman's Missionary Union was organized. Mrs. A.V. Whiting was chosen President, Miss Julia Sauntry, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Miss S.J. Humphrey, Secretary. Although it is but a small beginning, we hope the day is not far distant when Mississippi will take her place with other States in missionary work.

The Woman's Missionary Union of the Central South Conference was organized April 13th, at Knoxville, Tenn.; Secretary, Miss Anna M. Cahill, of Nashville.

OUR YOUNG FOLKS.

HOW THE PENNIES GREW.

Not the pennies that lay hidden away in the bank, nor the pennies that were spent for candy. O no; but the honest, hard-working pennies that had a work to do and the heart to do it.

These work-a-day pennies fell into the hands of a mission band called "Willing Workers." It was in the summer-time when they began to stir about and see what they could do for missions, and when winter came along there was a pleasant little festival, and the pennies came together, and brought just as many with them as they possibly could.

For these were "talent" pennies, and they had been invested for the Lord. One of the very pleasant features of the festival was the reading of little papers, telling how the pennies grew. And we are going to let the children see some of these very papers. For all this is exactly true, and took place in a pleasant village in the State of New York.

About ten dollars grew out of a little more than twenty pennies. We have not room to publish all the little papers, telling how the pennies grew into dollars, though all are of great interest. In some cases the original penny was invested, and then turned over and over. This is an instance:

"With the original cent I bought some darning-cotton and darned stockings, some for a cent a stocking, but most of them for a cent a hole. I then bought thread and crocheted some lace which I sold for 25 cents. I hemmed [144]two aprons for 5 cents apiece, and some towels for one cent apiece. Afterward, I bought another card of darning-cotton. After paying for the thread and cotton, I have left the sum of one dollar.— PHEBE."

"Rosie," who brought in $1.66, says nothing about her penny, but tells how she earned money, as: "Hitching up horse for grandpa, 10 cents; topping carrots, 12 cents; keeping the fowls off the wheat, 25 cents; sweeping, 17 cents," etc., all showing honest, hard work. But the penny started it all, perhaps.

Here is "Nellie's," with an idea in it:

"With my penny I bought a pen and holder, and sold it for 10 cents. I dug a pailful of potatoes for 3 cents, and mended a hole in grandpa's sock for one cent. I then bought a little chicken for 5 cents, and let it grow into a big chicken, and sold it for 36 cents, making a total of 50 cents."

Well done for Nellie!

Only one more of these charming little papers can we give in full, though we should love to have our little readers see every one of them.

"The first thing I did with my penny, I made some edging which I sold for 10 cents; then I sewed it on for 5 cents, which made 15. Then mamma said if I killed 15 flies she would give me a penny, and so I earned 14 cents in that way. Then I had 29 cents. I then took away 25 cents and bought some ice-cream, and sold it for 8 cents a dish, and received 48 cents for it. Now I had 52 cents. Then I took 8 cents away from it for some linen, and 4 cents for some braid, with which I made some lace and sold it for 70 cents, which leaves me $1.11. Then I sold some flowers for 14 cents, making $1.25. This is what I did with my penny.—LIBBIE."

"Freddie" and "Tusie," little brother and sister of Libbie, did well with their pennies. Tusie increased hers to 35 cents, while Freddie's grew to 48 cents. Each of these little people gathered all the string they could find and made it up into balls, which they sold.

"Meda" made a ruche for grandma, crocheted lace, and speculated in butter, gaining in all 66 cents.

"Davie," Meda's brother, found a generous customer in grandpa, who bought a pen-holder and then gave it back to be sold over again. Davie also speculated in tallow, and increased his penny to 50 cents.

"Helen" invested in a penny tablet, sold it for 3 cents, and crept up by degrees to the place where she could buy material for an apron which she sold for 35 cents. She made another apron and a tidy, and cleared 55 cents.

"Lulu" bought a penny rubber and sold it for 2 cents, bought darning cotton, pins, cloth for apron, etc., and increased her penny to 50 cents.

The pennies have been growing, and that is good. But love has been growing too, in these young hearts, and that is better!

May the "Willing Worker" bands multiply all over our great land!

[145]RECEIPTS FOR MARCH, 1889.