We must not fail to mention the hospitality of the people of Selma, particularly of the Presbyterian Church. They received us most cordially, attended many of the exercises, expressing much interest in what they heard, and greatly cheered us by their Christian courtesy.
We have just returned from the Fifth Annual Conference of the Congregational Churches of Alabama and the first meeting of the State Sunday-school Association held at Selma.
This Association was organized only last year at Montgomery, so this was our first gathering. We had a glorious, a soul-stirring time. The Convention opened Friday evening, March 26th, with a sermon by President DeForest of Talladega.
I summarize reports as follows:
Thirteen schools were represented by delegates, four by written reports, one by letter; their aggregate shows over thirteen hundred teachers and scholars in attendance, seventeen hundred volumes in libraries, one hundred and eighty dollars raised, and one hundred conversions. This does not include the schools taught by our students through the summer, although they are really a part of our work. This brief sentence gives no idea of the interest with which these reports were given and received, or of the amusing or touching incidents connected with the giving.
Mission Schools.—It will not do to pass these by unnoticed. It is marvelously surprising how quickly the love of Christ, once received into their own hearts, inspires this people to go out and seek for others.
We have three such schools about Talladega. Selma and Mobile report one each. Childersburg has a county association.
The superintendent of the mission school at Selma gave an interesting account of his experience in organizing and conducting it. By the way, he is the young man recently mentioned in theAdvance, who refused a position, worth $25 per month, in a store, because whiskey was sold there, which he might sometimes have to handle. It takes moral backbone in this country to stand up for temperance. I learned something of this young man’s history. He is making every effort to educate himself and at the same time partially supports a widowed mother with her large family. He will make his mark in the world; moreover, what he is as to character is largely due to the faithful efforts of a patient teacher.
A large number of visitors were present; among them Rev. Mr. Woodsmall, Principal of the Baptist School at Selma, and others, many of whom favored us with short addresses, which were spirited, enthusiastic and pointed.
We feel that we may fairly call our first convention a success in numbers, exercises, interest and results.
It often seems as if our work grew upon our hands, so that we have no time to tell about it; with our nearly 400 pupils, with all the cases of discipline that must arise, with interviews with parents and visits to their homes, in addition to the full hours of school given to instruction; then the school prayer-meetings, the special meetings for Bible study, the Young Men’s Association of the school—a condition of membership of which is a pledge to abstain from the use of tobacco,—and the semi-monthly meeting of the Woman’s Missionary Society, which we have of late devoted to “Health-talks.”
At our last meeting I sent an invitation to the mothers of our pupils to come to the school-room on Monday at four o’clock. A large number responded, and we gave them such instruction as we could, regarding things they so much need to know for themselves, their children, and their homes. The women listened earnestly, and begged for another meeting of the kind.
We set apart a portion of the day of prayer for colleges for appropriate exercises, and had a solemn meeting. Since that day, some have been seeking Jesus. Our hearts are specially cheered with the evident sincerity of two promising young men, who, we trust, are now entering upon the new life.
We have a weekly school prayer-meeting, and meet on Tuesday nights such pupils as we think will be specially helped in a small social meeting.
I must tell you a little about “Aunt Ann,” a member of my Sunday-school class, who has just died. She was in many respects a remarkable woman. Of a giant frame, of strong practical common sense, an imperious will, a contentious and often a bitter spirit, her life full of tribulation, it was, indeed, a warfare. She was quite a politician, and very fond of public speaking, so that she was known throughout the city, by both the white and colored people, as “Major Ann.”
She had learned to read in her old age, and had a great love for the word of God. She always had her Bible by her in her market-stall, and never failed of being in her place in the class, with her lesson well learned, and at every Sunday-school concert or Christmas festival she must say her “speech.” During the last of the year I noticed with how much more of a tender and quiet spirit she enjoyed the truths of the lesson, especially those about Heaven. When visited during her long and painful sickness, she always called for the reading of the 5th chapter of Revelation, adding, “Read it right, for I shall know if you make one mistake.” That chapter and the repetition of the twenty-third Psalm were a sure comfort to her in her suffering, poverty, and loneliness.
Major Ann’s dying message to me was, “Meet me in glory; meet me at the first trump.”
A stranger passing through many portions of the mountains of Kentucky would probably regard it as a waste, howling wilderness, with no signs of habitation, save now and then the crow of a chicken or bark of a dog off in some hollow. This is owing to a custom the people have of settling away from the public roads. Then, too, the highways often follow a narrow ridge, or deep valley, where there would be but little room for building. The indication of a near residence is a path leading off from the road, or possibly you may see a corn-field on a distant hill-side. But the heavy timber and thick underbrush generally obstruct the view.
The people, as a class, take but little pride in good or comfortable houses. One often has to get quite near before he can see them, so small are they, and so much the color of the timber, being made of logs or poles. A person is regarded as “having a plenty” when he owns a good saddle-horse or two, a pistol, a milch cow, a few shoats, domestic fowls, and crop enough to last him through the year. The idea is that man lives but a short time; he should be satisfied with enough to eat and wear; that death, in a sense, destroys his individuality; that one star doesn’t differ from another in glory; that “in much wisdom is much grief,” and “what profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?” Be contented without knowledge, orchards and vineyards. What reason have we for improving on the condition of our parents? Of course, there are exceptions to those who hold these sentiments; and if their prophets and priests had not promulgated these ideas, to keep them from becoming wise above their instructors, probably none would have cherished them; for it would be hardto find a people with as little knowledge and culture, who are so honest, genial, frank, and ready to receive instruction as they are. The trouble is, they have been neglected. The Southern aristocracy have little sympathy, and do not know what it is to reach a helping hand to the needy, though they are regarded as very hospitable. The benevolent people of the North and East are absorbed in aiding the growing West.
But let us go to the church. There is no bell to ring, though a bell would sound beautifully among those hills and valleys. There is no time-piece but the sun, and often no church or school-house to enter; a private house or an arbor is sufficient, if there is a spring near by. It is surprising to see the number that gather when there are so few signs of habitations. All are very attentive, and seem anxious to learn, save a few roughs, who gather at a distance, provided with whiskey and pistols, ready to quell any fuss that may chance to arise. Those who read the Bible and Almanac at all generally read them very much, and are ready to quote Scripture, but are less gifted in its construction and application; and if they chance to get hold of any other reading, they are apt to become very familiar with it, reading it over several times. They are not afraid to sing loud, whether they know the song or not.
It is not one of their principles to give, unless it be a good meal of bread, hog-meat and gravy. Many are not able, and none have been taught, to give. Some hardly know how to account for the fact that other people give to them.
The people might be divided into two classes—either “in all things too religious,” or “full of fornication and drunkenness, with feet swift to shed blood.” The hills rock-ribbed, the quiet valleys with moss-covered stones, clear flowing brooks and running ivy, are not adapted to engender lukewarmness. A talented man is apt to be a preacher or desperado—sometimes both.
About four or five months ago I made my first visit to McKee, the county seat of Jackson Co., Ky. I found a small village having a court-house, jail, poor-house, two or three hotels, about the same number of stores, several dwellings, and a small school-house, but no church. It lies in a small basin-shaped hollow, with high hills on all sides. On public days, citizens may be seen pouring in from every valley until the streets are flooded with people, and some of the people flooded with whiskey.
On inquiry, I found they had no Sunday-school, and preaching, perhaps, only once in two or three months, when a circuit rider might chance to be passing. I immediately helped them to the organization of a Sunday-school, and made an appointment to preach there every other Saturday and Sunday through the winter. I have met the appointments, and we now have a Sunday-school with a membership of over seventy-five, with a good library and lesson papers. A Temperance Society has been organized with over five hundred members. The Saturday and Sunday meetings are regularly attended, and the people are now very anxious that a suitable building should be erected for school and church purposes. A subscription of over five hundred dollars has already been raised by the citizens of McKee, and as soon as a thousand dollars can be obtained from some benevolent source, we shall lay the foundation for something permanent.
Jos. Smith preached this morning a good plain sermon upon “The Way of Life.” He had to speak through an interpreter, but got along nicely. The congregation was a strange one. Only two of the women had hats. Most of them wore turbans made of striped handkerchiefs, wound around in artistic styles.
During the services a tithing-man passed around, a cane in hand, keeping the children in order, and waking up those inclined to drowsiness.
Avery Station.—This is rather a pleasant spot. The river makes three bends here, and the mission house is so placed, that from the front veranda we get a view about half a mile up and down the stream, of water, rocks and green, the thick growth of trees, bushes and vines, most of the way coming down to the water’s edge, and at some points dipping into it. The yard is surrounded by a low well-kept hedge, sprinkled with little pink blossoms. In front are cocoa-nut trees, with their clumps of yellowish green nuts encircling the trunks about twenty feet from the ground; an orange tree, a cinnamon tree with its dark green fragrant leaves, and several pretty shrubs of various kinds. Beyond the hedge, on a point sloping toward the river, is the coffee “farm” (of three acres) covered with trees about four feet high, looking very much like pear trees. In the rear is a clump of banana trees with a few bunches of unripe fruit. In the distance is the mill, whose irregular roof of bamboo is looked down upon from the veranda. Nearer by is the chapel, an unpretentious yellow structure with a school-room in the basement. The house is one-story, raised several feet above the ground, having a wide veranda on three sides, and containing six comfortable rooms, besides kitchen, &c.
Mr. Jackson is pastor of the church; Mr. Anthony, from Berea, has charge of the mill and farm; and Rev. Mr. Jowett, a native, educated at Sierra Leone, teaches the school, and acts as interpreter. In the family are ten little children who are just beginning to talk in English, and work about the house and grounds. The plateful or platefuls of rice the little things can put away is astonishing. The smallest one will eat as much as can be piled on a dining-plate.
[Editorial Note.—A son of the Mr. Jowett, referred to in the above letter, has just landed in this country, on his way to Fisk University. Believing that he is to figure in the future history of missions in Africa, we give a brief sketch of him, and a glimpse at life in an African village, prepared by himself. This will be found in the juvenile department. Just here we wish to say that Albert Miller shows his appreciation of a liberal education and also his devotion to his divine Master, two things very hopeful in a missionary. He found this young man helpful as a Christian, and useful as an interpreter, and believing he would make a good missionary, he has sent him to his Alma Mater, and authorized the Association to pay his expenses out of his own small salary. When such a spirit of self-denial and thorough consecration characterizes the church, we shall have no trouble either in getting or maintaining teachers and missionaries.
We wish also to say that this is a most hopeful movement; that of the emancipated Christian and cultured African, with a constitution which enables him to live there, going back with the blessings of the Gospel to his fatherland; and thatof the native, fully acquainted with the language of that people, rescued from paganism, to this country for Christian education. The meaning of slavery, under the Divine administration, is beginning to unfold itself.]
Mr. Hall’s account in the FebruaryMissionaryof the departure of his Fort Berthold boys for Hampton, was a vivid picture to us who welcomed them here. We could almost see them bidding a sad good-bye to their friends, waving their blankets from the deck of the boat, and sympathized with their consciousness that they had “a long way to go, and a long time to stay, and it would be hard.”
We wish the friends, who bade them good-bye that cold October morning, could see them to-day. If they could hear their quick and intelligent replies in the school-room, and watch them at their trades, we think they would recognize the record which the new thoughts and self-control of the year have left on their faces, and would feel that they have already gone a long way and a good one.
Almka (White Wolf), would show them the blue farm-cart of which he is rather shyly proud, because he made it, wheels and all, with his own hands. White Breast would lay down the doors of a new wardrobe, he is finishing neatly, and Karunach would come from mending shoes, to tell them about Hampton, till their ideas out-stripped their tongues, and the old Indian sign-language came to the rescue. I think E-cor-rup-ta-ha would stop a minute, with a nonchalant air, to polish lovingly the big Corliss engine, before he shook hands even with them. Laughing Face and Ka-what would tell them how much they have made of the new carriage-house, the Indians are building. Tom Smith would throw away his plane, and meet them with a joke and his merry boyish laugh; and little Ara-hotch-kish would look up from his painting, with a quick shy glance of welcome, going straight to the warmest place they have saved in their hearts. Most of our Indians have gained a sufficient command of English to receive any idea which can be put in simple words; and if any reader of theMissionaryis troubled with ennui or thinks of searching for a new sensation, I advise him to come to Hampton, and try telling the old children’s stories to Indians. Even Washington’s little worn-out hatchet gets a new sharp edge. Columbus on his voyage of discovery is followed with a slightly incredulous but intense interest, and all the Bible record reveals again a new force and fire.
Imagine telling the story of David and Goliath for the first time to a school full of Indian boys and girls. The room is breathlessly still. Only kindling eyes and fixed attention show that the courage of the shepherd boy for his unequal contest, his cool disregard of his brother’s scoffs, his disdain of Saul’s armor and spear, his dauntless confidence in God, are meeting, one by one, a hearty response in the minds of the boys, a more timid one from the girls. Scarcely a suppressed Indian grunt or guttural disturbs the narrative, till the first slung-stone lodges fairly in the giant’s forehead, when little Ta-ta-ton-ka-skah on the back seat forgets all traditions of Indian stoicism, jumps about a foot in the air, and claps his hands in an ecstasy of delight.
The bell rings, and the scholars must go to their classes, and fight their owngiants, strong ones, that will by no means down at the first blow. May God bless every one, and grant them His faith, and courage, and patience, till “little by little” their enemies shall be driven out.
President: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D.Vice-Presidents: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.Directors: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Howell, Rev. John Kimball, E. P. Sanford, Esq.Secretary: Rev. W. C. Pond.Treasurer: E. Palache, Esq.
President: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D.Vice-Presidents: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.
Directors: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Howell, Rev. John Kimball, E. P. Sanford, Esq.
Secretary: Rev. W. C. Pond.Treasurer: E. Palache, Esq.
Chinese New-Year’s.—Our Chinese brethren observed their national New-Year’s festival very happily, in their usual Christian way. With great pleasure do I remember my visit to the very comfortable head-quarters which our Oakland brethren have established. It is a two-story house, very neatly furnished with whatever is necessary to a Christian home, except that the male sex alone is represented there. It bears witness to the strength of thehome impulsein Chinese hearts, such of them, at least, as have been touched by the love of Christ, and shows how soon—if only these immigrants were treated as others are—Christian homes, in the full sense of that good word, would spring into existence among them. When I reached the house, the rooms were already full of Chinese, and their teachers and friends. After greetings were over and refreshments tasted, several hymns were sung, and then I spoke to them of the “new commandment” which our Saviour gave us, and led them in prayer. Just as I was leaving, Rev. Dr. McLean, their pastor, entered with other friends. Before I had gone far, I met Rev. Mr. Condit, a Presbyterian missionary among the Chinese, on his way to the same place. And thus with greetings and exhortations, and good counsel and prayer, the day passed away. At our Central Mission House and the Bethany Home in this city, similar exercises were held, at which the same duty of brotherly love—for us “the lesson of the hour”—was pressed on their attention, and made the object of earnest and united prayer—prayer to which I, at length, see the beginning of a glad response.
Of this same festival, as observed at Sacramento, Mrs. Carrington writes: “The rooms were very tastefully decorated, and called forth much praise from the many who called. The scholars began the week by holding prayer-meetings; and during the week, as friends called, much of the time was spent in prayer and song. At a union meeting on Thursday evening, Dr. Dwinell was present and spoke to them.” Similar reports come from Stockton, Santa Barbara, etc. This festival calls, of course, for a few days of vacation in the schools, and involves a temporary diminution in attendance, but, in my view, the religious uses to which it can be put, amply compensate for any inconveniences it may involve.
Additions to the Churches.—Two of our pupils at Santa Barbara were baptized and received to the Congregational Church in that city, at its lastcommunion. Three are expecting to be baptized and received to the Congregational Church at Sacramento, and seven to Bethany Church, San Francisco, at their April communions. Let me quote Mrs. Carrington once more: “I cannot tell you how my heart has sometimes been thrilled with joy at the faithfulness of those so recently brought out from darkness into the marvelous light. If people all through the land could know what devoted Christiana many of them are, they would feel condemned, as I do, for their own unfaithfulness.”
The Barnes School.—Dea. and Mrs. Simeon Hackley, who have so long and so usefully conducted the Barnes Mission School, have found that other cares, that cannot be thrown off, make it impossible for them longer to continue in the work. Both of them have been engaged in it steadily for nearly six years. Dea. H., a graduate of Hamilton College, having been forced by a disease of the eyes to suspend study at the Union Theological Seminary, and thus to give up his hope of becoming a foreign missionary, carried into secular life the missionary spirit. What he hoped for thus in youth, he found at length in this work, and to him and his like-minded wife have many souls been given as seals of their service here.
It is a real blessing that Mrs. C. A. Sheldon, who so successfully conducted the Bethany School for several years, has been restored to health, and, with the assistance of her daughter, is able to fill this vacant place. The school is growing in size and interest, and, we may hope, will be as useful in the future as it has been in the past.
Oroville Once More.—Miss Waterbury, from Oroville, gives an interesting account of some “great idol Masonic festival,” which occupied the last week of February in the Chinese quarter of that town. She says: “Crowds of people have come in from the country for miles around, dark and rough-looking, many of them. There were processions, day after day, in which I recognized some of our scholars walking. Some of the forms were tall and fine as you will ever see. They carried a huge monster, serpent or dragon of unearthly hideousness, designed to keep away the evil spirits. At their temple there was an unceasing din of cymbals and gongs, with the firing of crackers and bombs, and the outlandish shouts of a mob-like throng; and nearly opposite, across the narrow street, stands our humble mission-house, where on the three Sabbaths previous, Lee Haim had preached, at eleven o’clock, to a room-full of his countrymen. On the Saturday and Sunday evenings of this festival, the Chinese crowded in so that we dismissed school, and Lee Haim preached and sung to them in Chinese. Every seat and every standing-place was filled. They wanted to hear. I am sure some poor, dark minds got a little Gospel truth for the first time, and, with some of them, all they will ever hear until the revelations of the future world shall be made to their astonished vision. It was soul-inspiring to see the earnestness and energy with which he threw his whole soul into the work, and even more so, to see all the eyes, and ears, and mouths open to catch the new and strange things of which the preacher spoke. I could not understand a word, but I was refreshed in spirit and made stronger by it.” Of course, this crowd no longer hangs upon the word. In two or three days, most of them scattered to their little mining camps, and the school resumed its comparatively diminutive proportions. But God’s word will not return to Him void; and while we know not which shall prosper, either this or that, we know that “he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shalldoubtlessreturn again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
I was born, in 1860, in a little town called Mocolo. They have no houses there, but little mud huts covered with thatch. There are no roads, nor horses, nor cows. The people walk, or ride in little canoes on the rivers. Not much work is done. What little clothing they wear is made of native cloths. They have no cradles, and no clothing is needed for their children. My father was away in the country to buy rice for the Mendi Mission, and was taken prisoner a little before I was born. The town was destroyed and the inhabitants killed, but my father’s life was spared. He was redeemed by Mr. Burton, one of the missionaries, who paid twenty-five shillings, English money, for his release. My father moved to Good Hope when I was quite young, and I attended school and studied the English language.
Not far from the school-house there are groves of limes, pine-apples, plums, and bacon-fire, and the boys amuse themselves by battling each other with limes. The principal holidays are Christmas, New-Year’s and Good Friday. They celebrate Christmas by having a big dance out of doors, lasting all day and often all night. The music is made by beating drums, and by women who sing and clap their hands. The place was lighted through the night by an immense fire in the centre. Pots of rice are cooked, and a sauce made of palm-oil, rice and fish, is served with it. They always have rum and gin, which is supplied them very much more freely than the Gospel. We have no stoves in our country. The fires are built either out of doors or in the corner of the hut. As there are no chimneys, it is sometimes very smoky. The natives have no lamps, but use palm-oil in a dish. For a wick they wrap a piece of cloth around a stick. They have no tables, but sit down around a large mat and eat their food from wooden bowls, making one spoon do for the whole family. On funeral occasions they have a big dance, which they sometimes keep up two or three days. All the people of the village attend, and the nearest relative is expected to furnish all the rum he is able to pay for, and a liberal supply of food, but they have no religious ceremonies. When a big man marries, if he has sufficient money, he keeps up a dance for a week. The missionaries are welcomed, and are doing a great deal to break up these old customs. In 1877, the Rev. Mr. Snelson and two other Freedmen came to our mission, and it was under their instruction that I was urged to give my heart to the Saviour. When Mr. Snelson asked me to try and become a Christian, I told him I couldn’t do it.
He took me to his room and prayed with me, then he called my father, and we all knelt down and he prayed again. He told me to go up to my room and think over the matter. At first I did not know what to do; then I fell down on my knees and prayed; I went to bed and prayed nearly the whole night. The next day I went to see Mr. Snelson, and he spoke to me on the same subject; I told him I felt greatly relieved from the burden of sin, and he prayed with me again that evening. Soon after I connected myself with the church. After Mr. Snelson’s return to America, Rev. Albert Miller, a Freedman from the Fisk University, was my pastor.
Before leaving Africa I acted as interpreter for Mr. Miller, translating his sermons, as he delivered them, into the Mendi language. My father, who has been a native preacher for more than twenty years, is anxious to have missions planted far into the interior, where there are supposed to be two million Mendi people, occupying a country about 7 degrees north latitude. All he could do is to give me up to the work. Among this vast number, there is but one mission at present, and that is conducted by Freedmen from America.
After spending three years in this country, at the Fisk University, it is my purpose to return to Africa, and assist in establishing missions in large villages in the wooded country, far from the coast. I feel that I need your prayers. I have been treated very kindly since I left Africa, and I pray earnestly that I may not disappoint my friends who have assisted me in coming to this country, and who are anxious that I should prepare myself to be a successful missionary in my native land.
H. W. HUBBARD,Treas.,56 Reade St., N. Y.