The American Missionary Vol. 48, No. 10, October, 1894 by Various
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Various >> The American Missionary Vol. 48, No. 10, October, 1894
The American Missionary
OCTOBER, 1894.
VOL. XLVIII. NO. 10.
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL.
ANNUAL MEETING, 345
LOWELL, 346
FINANCIAL STATEMENT, 347
CAPITAL AND LABOR, 348
THE ALASKA MISSION, 349
DEATH OF HON. A.C. BARSTOW AND OF REV. GEO. S. SMITH, 350
THE SOUTH.
THE WALDENSES AT VALDESE, N.C., 351
NOTES FROM THE MOUNTAINS, 354
"NOLICHUCKY JACK'S" DESCENDANTS, 355
PROMISING OPENINGS FOR SCHOOL AND CHURCH, 356
SOUTHERN FIELD NOTES, 357
CAPPAHOSIC'S SIXTH COMMENCEMENT, 359
PRAYERFUL AND INDUSTRIOUS FAMILY, 361
A VISIT TO UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, 362
THE INDIANS.
MISSION SERVICES AT TWO KETTLE VILLAGE, 363
INDIAN MISSION COLLECTIONS, 366
THE CHINESE.
THE PRESENT DISTRESS, 366
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
ANNUAL MEETING--A FEW WORDS TO BOYS, 368
WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS, 371
RECEIPTS, 373
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION,
Bible House, Ninth St. and Fourth Ave., New York.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter.
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT, MERRILL E. GATES, LL.D., MASS.
_Vice-Presidents._
Rev. F.A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.
Rev. A.J.F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. ALEX. McKENZIE, D.D., Mass.
Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., Mo.
Rev. HENRY A. STIMSON, D.D., N.Y.
_Corresponding Secretaries._
Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
Rev. A.F. BEARD, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
Rev. F.P. WOODBURY, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Assistant Corresponding Secretary._
Rev. C.J. RYDER, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Recording Secretary._
Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Treasurer._
H.W. HUBBARD, Esq., _Bible House, N.Y._
_Auditors._
PETER McCARTEE.
RICHARD S. BARNES.
_Executive Committee._
CHARLES L. MEAD, Chairman.
CHARLES A. HULL, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
CHARLES A. HULL,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
ALBERT J. LYMAN,
NEHEMIAH BOYNTON,
A.J.F. BEHRENDS.
_For Two Years._
SAMUEL HOLMES,
SAMUEL S. MARPLES,
CHARLES L. MEAD,
WILLIAM H. STRONG,
ELIJAH HORR.
_For One Year._
WILLIAM HAYES WARD,
JAMES W. COOPER,
LUCIEN C. WARNER,
JOSEPH H. TWICHELL,
CHARLES P. PEIRCE.
_District Secretaries._
REV. GEO. H. GUTTERSON, _21 Cong'l House, Boston, Mass._
Rev. JOS. E. ROY, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill._
Rev. W.E.C. WRIGHT, D.D., _Cong'l Rooms, Y.M.C.A. Building, Cleveland, Ohio._
_Secretary of Woman's Bureau._
Miss D.E. EMERSON, _Bible House, 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; letters relating to woman's work, to the Secretary of the
Woman's Bureau.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post office orders, may be
sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, Bible House, New York, or, when more
convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House,
Boston, Mass., 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill., or Congregational
Rooms, Y.M.C.A. Building, Cleveland, Ohio. A payment of thirty dollars
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 GIVE AND BEQUEATH, the sum of ---- dollars, to the 'American
Missionary Association,' incorporated by act of the Legislature of the
State of New York." The Will should be attested by three witnesses.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XLVIII. OCTOBER, 1894. No. 10
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
ANNUAL MEETING.
Our annual meeting at Lowell, Mass., October 23d to 25th, promises to be
an occasion of great interest. A large proportion of the addresses will
be from missionaries. The work throughout the year has been greatly
blessed, despite the difficulties it has had to meet from lack of
adequate means. The meeting opens at three o'clock, Tuesday afternoon,
and the annual sermon will be given by Rev. Charles H. Richards, D.D.,
of Philadelphia, in the evening, followed by the communion service.
* * * * *
ARRANGEMENTS FOR OUR ANNUAL MEETING.
A partial and tentative programme of our Annual Meeting has been
prepared. Times are provided for open discussion or the "free
parliament." But it is deemed necessary to secure some able writers and
speakers to prepare reports and deliver addresses on special and
important topics.
We are happy to announce that at this writing a number such have
promised attendance. Among these we may name the President of the
Association, Merrill E. Gates, LL.D., President of Amherst College; Rev.
Chas. M. Lamson, D.D., Hartford, Conn.; Rev. DeW. S. Clark, Salem,
Mass.; Rev. Dr. McKenzie, of Boston; Dr. Lyman Abbott, of New York; Hon.
Frederick Douglass, of Washington; and his Excellency, Governor
Greenhalge, of Massachusetts. Some others have been invited from whom
favorable answers are expected.
A marked feature of this meeting will be the unusual number of
missionaries and workers from the field, who will give living pictures
of things as they are. Following the happy precedent of other years,
each of the co-operative Congregational societies will be represented by
a speaker chosen by itself. These addresses will be brief, and will
manifest the feelings of harmony and comity existing between these
societies.
The meeting promises to be an interesting and valuable one. The topics
discussed are of vital importance to the work, and the addresses will be
worthy of the topics. Lowell is accessible, and its welcome will be
cordial.
* * * * *
LOWELL.
The city of Lowell has long enjoyed a national, even world-wide
reputation, as the leading center for the manufacture of cotton fabrics.
And, while this industry offers employment to something like 25,000 men,
women and children, there are also enterprises in great variety that do
not use cotton fibre in any way, yet find work for ten to fifteen
thousand more toilers. The principal corporations are the Lawrence,
Tremont and Suffolk, Merrimack, Boott, Massachusetts, Hamilton and
Appleton, beside the Middlesex, where shawls are made, and the carpet
mills, where the famous Lowell carpets are woven. While the city is a
veritable beehive of industry, yet the people find time for recreation,
and have wisely provided breathing places in different parts of the
city, where they can recuperate mind and body. The prominent pleasure
resorts are Fort Hill park, the North and South commons, Park Garden,
the boulevard--extending three miles along the bank of the Merrimack
River--and Lakeview, an attractive watering-place some five miles out
from the center. This latter place is reached by means of the Lowell and
Suburban Street Railway, an electric line, which also connects the
neighboring villages of North Chelmsford, Dracut, North Billerica and
Chelmsford Center. A ride to any one of these places costs but twenty
cents for the round trip, and the Lakeview line is especially
interesting at its terminal.
The city's moral and educational interests are also well provided for,
as evidenced by the following: 30 churches, 47 primary schools, 10
grammar and 1 high school, besides a training school for teachers, and a
manual training-school for boys; also a prospective State normal school.
We also have three or four hospitals, an old ladies' home, and a home
for young women and children. The police protection consists of a chief,
his deputies, captains and sergeants, and about one hundred patrolmen.
The fire system of the city is excelled by none in the country, and is
well worthy a careful inspection.
Lowell is not favored with a great many pretentious edifices on her
public streets, but the most prominent are the new City Hall, High
School, Memorial Building, State Armory, St. Anne's Church and the
Federal Building. The city is already furnished with a thorough water
system, but, desiring a better quality of water than that taken from the
Merrimack River, she has had a large number of artesian wells driven,
and they now furnish about 3,000,000 gallons of water per day. All the
principal streets are well lighted by electric lamps, and the
residential portion by gas.
The Merrimack River affords a means of enjoying aquatic sports, there
being rowing boats, canoes, sail boats and steamers in abundance. Two
very enchanting spots up the river are Tyng's Island and Harmony Grove,
and if one desire a longer trip by water he may ride to Nashua, N.H., by
steamer or other boat.
The population of Lowell is probably about 80,000, and excepting in
specially hard times there are few persons to be found in want of a
situation. These are only a few of Lowell's salient points, but enough
is here given to convey to the visitor a very fair idea of the city's
make-up.
* * * * *
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
We wish to present to the friends of the American Missionary Association
a full statement of its financial affairs, its debt, its retrenchments;
its still greater debt and the still greater retrenchments that will be
inevitable unless during the coming year its receipts can be greatly
increased. It is not our aim to make a startling cry for transient
relief, but for a steady increase of receipts to remove debt and insure
the stability of the work.
At the close of our last fiscal year, September 30th, 1893, we reported
a debt of $45,028.11. In that year we received aid from the Government
for Indian work. During the eleven months of this year we have received
no aid from the Government, but our receipts from other sources have
increased over those of last year, and we have cut down our
expenditures, so that if we had received the Government aid as last year
our debt on the eleven months of the current year would be only
$5,409.80, but with that loss the actual indebtedness of these eleven
months is $23,937.10, which added to that of the last year makes the
total debt August 31st $68,965.21. From present indications we can
hardly hope for any material reduction of this amount during the current
month, and hence the prospect is that this sum must be reported at our
annual meeting.
A grave contingency confronts us as we enter (October 1st) on the new
year. Our great work, which has lifted thousands of young men and women
from ignorance and poverty into hopeful and useful lives, and which has
brought cheer and help to multitudes of homes where poverty has reigned,
must be carried forward; and our debt, which has hung as a weight upon
this work, must be wiped out. A constantly increasing debt must be
avoided at any cost. The next six or eight months (the harvest months
for collections) must decide the question. If pastors of churches will
lay the matter to heart and secure regular and increased collections,
and if benevolent friends of these struggling races will bear them in
remembrance by special contributions, an uplift of hope and help will be
given where now they are threatened with discouragement in their great
conflict with poverty, ignorance and race prejudice.
* * * * *
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Capital and labor are twin brothers, but they have been alienated almost
from childhood, and the strife between them waxes warmer and warmer,
and, like all other vexed questions, will never be settled till it is
settled right.
There are various forms of these troubles--now in the coal mines, now on
the railroads, and now in the shops--but there are aspects of the
struggle which put on national traits and overthrow empires. The French
Revolution was a struggle between capital and labor. The capitalists
were the aristocracy, and they monopolized also intelligence and power.
With these advantages they ground down labor till patience was changed
to implacable rage, and the reaction brought forth the most serious and
terrible massacres recorded in history.
Our great civil war of 1861-65 developed one aspect of the conflict
between capital and labor. The slaveholders were the capitalists, and
with them also were the intelligence and power. These levers were used
to crush down the laborer into the severest form of slavery known among
men. Labor was patient, but large sympathy was developed in the North in
favor of the slave. This alone would not have brought on the war.
Southern capitalists gloried in their power, and, accustomed to absolute
domination over their slaves, assumed the same attitude of superiority
over their fellow-citizens of the North. They ruled in Congress,
dominated over the press and the pulpit, and, ambitious to extend their
dominion, demanded larger territory for the extension of the slave
system. When this was refused, they set up an independent standard and
brought on the war. The end was disastrous to the South. The capitalists
were well-nigh ruined and the slaves were set free.
On this same plain, growing out of the embers of that same conflict,
another and almost as threatening a struggle is rising up before us. The
white race in the South still largely controls capital, intelligence and
power, and these forces are again used to hinder the impoverished
laborer. The white man holds office, from which the black man is
excluded, who is denied opportunities and privileges which crush his
manhood. The contest is again unequal, and the outcome must take one of
two forms. Either the oppressed laborer will rise in rebellion--and
whatever may be the ultimate result the conflict will be dreadful--or,
on the other hand, the laborer, denied education, a comfortable home and
a chance to accumulate property, will sink into an utterly hopeless
degradation, a curse to himself and to the whole South.
What is the remedy for all this? There is a remedy, and if applied
promptly may save the nation from either of the catastrophes we have
named, and that is: Give the black man a chance to acquire property,
education and power equal to his white neighbor, and the elements of the
struggle are gone. This is the work the American Missionary Association
is attempting to do. It meddles not with theories, or parties, but aims
quietly to give the needed help to the Negro.
* * * * *
OUR ALASKA MISSION.
Letters received from Rev. Dr. Sheldon Jackson and Mr. Lopp give us the
gratifying assurance that the mission is by this time opened under
favorable auspices. Dr. Jackson found on reaching Alaska that Mr. Lopp
had visited the mission at Cape Prince of Wales this spring and
discovered that the buildings, furniture and supplies were in good
condition. Mr. Lopp, in response to our request, has consented to return
to the Cape and re-open the mission. He greatly regrets that an ordained
minister was not sent, and expresses the earnest hope that another
season this necessary addition will be made, but he consents to return
and do the best he can. He has little fear of violence from the natives,
finding them completely intimidated by the threats of the captain of the
revenue cutter "Bear."
The experiment of introducing the reindeer into Alaska is thus far very
encouraging. Mr. Lopp has had a herd under his care at Port Clarence,
and although the winter has been unusually severe one hundred and fifty
fawns were added to the herd. The Government has promised to our mission
at Cape Prince of Wales this season one hundred reindeer, and Mr. Lopp,
with adequate help, will have the care of them. The ultimate success of
this experiment with reindeer in Alaska is one of great promise. It
indicates a food and clothing supply for the natives, with increased
facilities for transportation, thus laying the foundation for growth in
population and in civilization.
It will be remembered that of the three men connected with the horrible
murder of Mr. Thornton, two were at once arrested by the natives and
shot. The third, Titalk, who was the leader, escaped for the time. Mr.
Lopp thus describes his death: "After the 'Bear' had left for the South,
Titalk came back to the cape, and his uncle, Te-ed-loo-na led him up on
the hillside near the grave of Mr. Thornton, and asked him how he should
put him to death, strangle him, stab him or shoot him. The boy preferred
to be shot, so he commanded him to hold his head down and then shot
him."
Mr. Lopp furnishes another evidence of the disposition on the part of
the leading natives to guard the interests and property of the mission:
"On one occasion during the winter Chief Eliguok heard that a boy had
broken into the school-house, and he announced his intention to kill the
boy, but upon investigation it was found to be a false report."
We trust that in the good providence of God, this mission will be made
prosperous and be greatly enlarged, that its missionaries will be
preserved in safety, that the natives will become more orderly, that the
influence of the school and mission may bring to them peaceable fruits
of civilization and Christianity.
* * * * *
HON. A.C. BARSTOW.
We record our tribute of sorrow at the death of Hon. A.C. Barstow, which
occurred September 5th. He was for many years intimately and usefully
connected with the growth and prosperity of the city of Providence,
R.I., which was his home and where he died. He was a man of wide
sympathies in Christian and patriotic work, having held responsible
offices in his native State, and was connected with other public
movements, like that of the Board of Indian Commissioners, of which for
a time he was president. He was a devoted Christian man, active in the
church of which he was a member, and deeply interested in the missionary
and benevolent boards of the Congregational churches. He was for a long
time a vice-president of our Association.
* * * * *
REV. GEORGE S. SMITH.
"Servant of God, well done!
Rest from thy loved employ!
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Master's joy!"
This may be fittingly said of Rev. G.S. Smith, who for thirteen years
was pastor of the Congregational Church at Raleigh and McLeansville,
N.C., and who entered into rest on the 12th of last August. Memorial
services were held on the 26th of August in the church where he had long
and faithfully conducted the worship of his people. Addresses were made
by those who had been intimately associated with him in his work, which
testified to the earnestness and success of his ministry. The best proof
of his work is to be seen in the intelligence and virtue of the
community in which he labored.
Our field missionary in a recent visit speaks in this way: "It is very
rare to find colored people under such discipline and so orderly and
intelligent in meetings. The faces of the old people are sunny and
sweet, they are so attentive and appreciative and so responsive. The
young people were at the meeting in large numbers. It will give you an
uplift from your work to spend a day or two with the people of this
place in meetings such as they now hold."
THE SOUTH.
* * * * *
THE WALDENSES AT VALDESE, N.C.
SECRETARY C.J. RYDER.
This new field of work, which was reported for the first time at our
annual meeting last year, is one of unique and especial interest. Two
years ago the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm arrived in New York with one
hundred and sixty-six Waldenses among her steerage passengers. These
people came from the Piedmont valley and mountain regions of Italy.
Their purpose in coming to America was to establish for themselves homes
in our own mountain region of the South. This little company that came
down from the deck of the Kaiser Wilhelm were the pioneers in the
establishment of their colonies in this new land. They were rather the
Pilgrim Fathers of this Waldensean movement. Before the actual colonists
had come, Rev. Chas. A. Tron, D.D., pastor of the Waldensean Church, and
member of the Board of Evangelization in Italy, had been to the mountain
regions of North Carolina, and after careful investigation had purchased
a tract of land for these Waldensean colonists.
Soon after the coming of these Waldenses, correspondence was opened with
them by the American Missionary Association. The colony was to be
planted in the midst of our great mountain field, and we had every
confidence that the coming of these conscientious and devoted Christian
colonists would be of real helpfulness in our work there. Rev. C.M.
Prochet, D.D., whose name is well known to the readers of this magazine,
and to the Christian public generally, came to look after the interests
of the Waldensean colony not long after their first settlement. In
conference with Drs. Tron and Prochet, and after learning thoroughly the
condition of their colony, an appropriation was voted by the Executive
Committee to assist them in the beginning of their work, as they were in
great need of such help.
These Waldenses have begun their settlement in America in a wise and
sensible way. Let us notice their business-like arrangement before
speaking of the interesting educational and religious work which has
developed among them with the assistance of the Association.
They have purchased five thousand acres of land. In dividing this land,
they first set aside a portion for a church and manse, together with a
small farm for the use of the pastor. Then they set aside a good,
commodious site for the school-house. After this a considerable portion
of the land, three thousand five hundred acres in extent, is divided
into farms of fifty acres each.
In addition to this first company who came on the Kaiser Wilhelm, others
have come at various times until there is a considerable colony there.
These people are poor. They come from the splendid stock of Waldenses
who have been so potent a factor in freeing thousands in France and
Italy from the degrading superstitions of Romanism. As all our readers
know, the Waldenses have stood for religious freedom from first to last
The fibre of their character has been tested through many a conflict.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale, who told the story of the Waldensean heroism
and devotion in the beautiful legend "In His Name," brings out the noble
features of their character in soft, yet bright colors. It is most
fitting that our Congregational churches through the Association should
welcome this new colony and extend to them the right hand of Christian
fellowship. This they have done.
As soon as the colony was established and the people were felling the
forests and building their humble homes, they applied to us for
assistance for the support of the pastor and teacher. The colonists
themselves made large sacrifices, and only asked us to assist them in
the support of their religious and educational leaders.
Rev. Enrico Vinay, a native of Italy, was their first pastor. Mr. M.A.
Jahier, was selected as their teacher. Mr. Jahier, together with Dr.
Tron, was in conference with us in New York, and the simple, Christian
character and progressive educational ideas of the Waldensean teacher
charmed and impressed us all. He went into the field and opened a school
and Sunday-school at Valdese, as the colonists call their mountain
village.
The Rev. Enrico Vinay remained with the people for nearly a year, being
in regular correspondence with the officers of this Association. He was
then called to another field, and Rev. B. Soulier was chosen as their
pastor. Mr. Soulier is also a native of Italy. He is a thoroughly
educated young man, and speaks English readily. He was educated in his
own school in Italy, and completed a course at Edinburgh University in
Scotland. His work is proving most successful.
Such is the interesting and providential beginning of our work in
conjunction with these Waldenses in this field. We have this new problem
upon our hearts and treasury. Who can say that God has not led us into
this work, and opened this opportunity for helpful and sympathetic
co-operation with these earnest Christian people who have settled in our
southern mountains?
In the reports which have been regularly received from this field, very
many items of great interest have been recorded. The Waldenses, above
everything else, are Christian patriots. They love the fatherland and
they love also America, the land of their adoption. In one of the
reports from Mr. Jahier, the following interesting information is given: