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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.

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.

"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 receipts of the Association for the eight months to May 31, 1889, are: from donations, $134,993.37; from estates, $26,530.09; income, $6,479.21; tuition, $26,084.21; U.S. Gov't, $9,540.87, total, $203,627.75. Expenditures for the eight months, $229,422.82. Debtor balance, $25,795.07.

The debtor balance reported in the last MISSIONARY for the seven months ending April 30th, was $28,328.14. The showing, therefore, is favorable, and we appeal to our friends to make their contributions so generous that at the end of the fiscal year we may report entire freedom from debt.

At the recent meeting of the American Home Missionary Society, held in Saratoga (June 6th), the question of the future relations of the newly formed Congregational Conference of Georgia to that Society, and to the earlier Congregational Association of that State, was fully discussed, and resulted in the following action:

We are in full and hearty agreement with the general spirit of these utterances. In the hope that the churches of the Georgia Conference are in [182]accord with the principles of Congregationalism, which do not discriminate against men because of caste or color, we are prepared to welcome them heartily. That Conference has already published its Articles of Faith and of Church Government, and these have assured us of its adherence to the general principles of the Congregational faith and order. The only question still open is as to the readiness of that body to unite with the Congregational churches already existing in that State in the practical recognition of the broad Christian and Congregational principles in the fellowship of all churches irrespective of caste distinctions.

The second resolution quoted above rejoices in the effort now making to unite the two Congregational bodies in Georgia on that basis. We trust that effort may be successful, for we believe that such a union is essential to recognition by the National Council and to the cordial fellowship of the Congregational churches. The Georgia Association, ever since its organization in 1878, has been recognized and represented in every subsequent meeting of the National Council, and we cannot see how the Council can consistently welcome another organization, covering the same State, that is kept separate from the older body by the line of race or color; nor do we believe that the Congregational churches of this country will fellowship both organizations thus held apart. We are confirmed in the correctness of this impression from the decided and independent utterances of the influential religious papers which so largely represent the sentiments of the Congregational churches of this country.

We present below some extracts from such of these papers published since the Saratoga meeting as have come to hand before the MISSIONARY goes to press, while in another portion of our pages we give more at length the prior utterances of these journals on the same general subject. We deem the question to be so important that we wish to lay it fully before our readers.

We have nothing but satisfaction to express with this action. It would be absurd to imagine that Congregationalists could forget their spotless record, and could now, for the pride of the addition of fifty or a hundred churches, consent to help a movement that should put colored brothers in a separate fellowship by themselves. This they will never do. They will hold out a warm hand of welcome to all comers, and warmest to those who come to them from the South, white and black: but they want them to come together, not apart.

This, we are confident, was the proper attitude for the Society to assume. No one wanted to grieve or irritate the Southern brethren, by clauses in the resolutions, which might seem uncalled for, or at all distrustful of their explicit utterances. At the same time it should be distinctly understood that [183]the unanimous action taken means that the Congregational churches stand exactly where the Presbyterians do, in not abating one hair of their principles, and in forever demanding that color shall prove no barrier to Christian fellowship in its truest, deepest intent. This journal has taken this position repeatedly, and it re-asserts it. Sooner or later, but as surely as the sun-rise, it will prevail, because it is right, and our grandchildren, if not our children, will wonder that any of our generation ever hesitated about it.

Then, the question as to the color-line in the churches, as known to exist in the South, could not be ignored. Our Congregational churches and their two great Home Missionary Societies, the American Home Missionary Society and the American Missionary Association, hold to certain principles respecting the universal brotherhood of believers in Christ, and for which they stand before the world as witnesses, historically, conspicuously, always and everywhere. Do these newly constituted Congregational churches in the South stand with us on this point? To ask this question implies not the slightest suspicion or distrust. Not to have asked it would have been to betray a great responsibility.

For one thing, the Home Missionary Society could not afford to even seem to be indifferent to a matter of this kind. And if there is to be this close fellowship and co-operation and mutual assistance, there should obviously be, from the beginning, the most perfect frankness. The best way to insure permanence of happy mutual relations is to begin right.

The State officials of Georgia are disposed, perhaps it might be said they desire, to renew the gift of eight thousand dollars to the Atlanta University, insisting, however, upon compliance with the color-line requisition. To this, the University cannot yield. The controversy on that subject was not of its seeking. The children of the professors had for years attended the classes, and the State Examiners had known this all the time and had made no objections. The demand for the exclusion of these pupils from the classes was suddenly made by an outside pressure, and was not provoked in any way by word or deed of the teachers. To surrender now is simply to yield a principle for money.

Some of the officials of the State express the wish that a compromise may be effected, but others of their number—the large majority, we believe—regard this as impossible, and hence both parties—the State and the University—must pursue their independent lines of action. Under these circumstances, the Trustees of the University have deemed it wise to resume relations of co-operation with the American Missionary Association. This question was fully discussed at the recent meeting of the Board of Trustees, [184]May 29th, two of the members, Drs. Beard and Strieby, being present and presenting, in behalf of the Executive Committee of the Association, some overtures for co-operation. One of these was accepted, and is now the basis of the relations existing between the Association and the University. It stipulates that the Trustees of the University shall elect six of the sixteen members of the Board, on the nomination of the Executive Committee of the Association, as vacancies may exist, and that the Association shall (after the present fiscal year) contribute $3,000 per annum towards defraying the current expenses of the University.

Four vacancies were found to exist in the Board, and, in accordance with the vote, they were filled by the unanimous choice of Rev. Drs. Twichell of Hartford, Llewellyn Pratt of Norwich, Cooper of New Britain, and Brand of Oberlin. These honored brethren, friends alike of the Association and of the University, will, if they accept, add to the efficiency of the school and to the confidence of the public in it. We believe there is a bright future before the University. It will pursue its work quietly, having no controversy with the State, and will continue its noble efforts for the education of the colored race, thus benefiting both the State of Georgia and the Nation.

In replacing the burned portion of our building at Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn., the work was done by colored men. The Principal of the Institute says that, "though the job was far from simple, not a single error or mistake has occurred from beginning to end to mar our satisfaction at its successful completion."

The architect who drew the plan expressed considerable anxiety lest a colored mechanic with all colored assistants should not prove equal to so large and important an undertaking. The result shows how unfounded were his forebodings.

The job is done, and well done, and with so much expedition that in sixty days after the fire they were moving into the reconstructed and improved building. Every one who has had any hand in the work has seemed personally interested and anxious to expedite the work, from the architect and lumber dealer to the commonest laborer.

Superintendent Hall writes:

Testimony as to the working power and will of the Negro is to be had on all sides whenever a person speaks honestly.

A professional gentleman in Andersonville operates five large plantations without any white overseer except himself, and is making money from the land. He states his principle to be: "I make a short, clear contract with the Negroes and do exactly what I promise, and I require the same execution of their side of the bargain. And I pay them just what I agree to pay them. [185]They work six days every week. I give them a chance to attend a funeral or church service if they keep up the work."

A prominent contractor, builder and brick-maker in Thomasville, Ga., employs from one hundred to three hundred Negroes constantly in all branches of his business. He says: "They are a patient, reliable class of workers. If a man will be fair with them and do as he agrees, he will never have trouble. They are not cranky as some white workmen. They do the finest part of mason's and carpenter's work well."

These two men are native Southerners, whose parents were large slave owners.

Fault is found with the Negro on the coast line, wherever the turpentine business exists, because he will not work on the plantations. The turpentine work with its "boxing," "scraping," "gathering" and "distilling," is all piece-work, paid in cash. The Negroes are among the trees before daylight and work till dark. By so doing they earn 75c., $1.00 or $1.25 per day. The plantations pay "rations"—a peck of common meal and four pounds of bacon per week, and 35c. to 50c. per day, the latter mostly in promises.

A lady in New Orleans who keeps a popular boarding house for tourists said, when Straight University was mentioned, "Just as soon as a colored girl goes to school she is good for nothing afterward. She won't work. I've lost several bright, likely girls that way." Inquiry shows that the lady pays five dollars per month and requires the help to sleep at home. A constant demand is made on our Normal Department for teachers for from twenty to forty dollars per month. Strange that educated colored young men and women will not "work!"

Dr. Roy, in his lantern lectures, sometimes meets with pleasant incidents. Recently, at East Saginaw, before the General Association of Michigan, coming to Fisk University on his programme, he had brought on his canvas pictures of the Jubilee Singers, Jubilee and Livingstone Halls and of Jowett, one of the students, and when he came to present Mr. Ousley and his wife, a venerable man jumped up and remarked, "We received Mr. Ousley and his wife at the Zulu Mission on their way to East Central Africa. So also Miss Jones. Within two weeks I have received from Mr. Ousley his photograph." This man was Rev. Dr. Rood, for forty years a missionary among the Zulus, just now back to this country. After the lecture, Mr. Rood told Dr. Roy that Mr. Ousley was one of the most level-headed men in the mission, and so had been made the treasurer of the mission—a good tribute to one of Fisk's graduates.

Our readers will remember an account in our last month's magazine of a communion service held by Rev. T.L. Riggs at one of the out-stations [186]where he was obliged to use the back of a hymnbook covered with a napkin for a plate, and a tin cup for a baptismal bowl. It gives us pleasure to say that Mr. Riggs has received from Mrs. Farnam of New Haven, a beautiful and complete traveling communion service closely packed in a small morocco case, with the needful linen, which also goes in the case. One piece fits into another in such a way that the whole service takes up scarcely more room than is required for the largest piece. Mrs. Farnam also sent suitable bags for the different pieces, so that Mr. Riggs, when he goes on horse-back can carry them in his saddle pouches. This is certainly the right gift in the right place.

The New York Sun says: The merchants of Chinatown have heard of the Johnstown disaster and have contributed their share to the relief of the survivors. Tom Lee explained the matter to them, and at a mass meeting at the Chinese municipal hall on Tuesday a subscription was opened. Here is a list of some of the subscribers: Tuck High, $15; Tom Lee, $50; Sang Chong, $15; Sinn Quong On, $15; Kwong Hing Lung, $15; Kwong Chin Cheong, $15; Yuet Sing, $10; Yuen Kee, $10; Wo Kee, $15; Ju Young Keau, $2; Wong Chin Foo, $3; Wing Wah Chong, $15; Jow Shing Pong, $3; Ham Lum Chin, $3; Mai Li Wa, $2; Kwong Yin Lung, $15; Quong Lung Yuen, $15 and Ung Wah, $10.

The New York Tribune says: It appears from a report made to the Presbyterian Assembly that the mountain districts of North Carolina, Southwest Virginia, Southern and Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee contain a population of about 2,000,000 white people, largely of Scotch Irish descent, of whom 70 per cent, can neither read nor write. This statement suggests the reflection that if there is one thing which is more essential than the education of the Southern Negroes it is the education of the Southern whites.

The Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association will be held in Chicago, Ill., commencing October 29. Rev. R.R. Meredith, D.D., of Brooklyn, N.Y., will preach the sermon.

We would still call attention to our Leaflets for distribution in the pews on the taking of collections for our Association. We shall be happy to furnish them to those making application.

The New York Tribune says: "The Rev. Joseph Jordan, who was ordained in Philadelphia on Sunday, is the first colored man to enter the ministry of the Universalist Church. He is to engage in mission work in the South."

If report be true, the South Carolina Episcopalians have compromised their difficulty in the matter of color in a manner which is not likely to be permanently satisfactory. A portion of the diocesan convention had seceded because the bishop declared that he could not exclude a regularly ordained minister who was black. The canon law now has been amended so as to exclude henceforth all other black men, and the seceders have returned, consenting to make the best of the one obnoxious colored man, but indignant because he has not been ejected. Whether the General Convention will endorse or repudiate this compromise remains to be seen. In either case the Episcopal branch of the church might as well abandon its efforts to make headway among the colored race in that State. So far as we can see, the bishop has made a manly stand, however, and deserves commendation and sympathy. But the seceders have shown a sad lack of the true spirit of Christ.

There have been in Georgia for ten or more years a number of Congregational churches and a State Congregational Association. This included, along with the pastors of colored churches, the President and some of the Professors in Atlanta University. Last year, when that interesting body of churches hitherto known as Congregational Methodists, saw fit to take measures for becoming in name as well as in fact Congregationalists, a "Georgia Congregational Conference" was formed, a committee was also appointed to confer with the previously existing Congregational Association, with a view to the right adjustment of relations between the members of the two organizations. We publish on another page the reply recently addressed by the "Association" to the "Conference," with a view to unity on terms that would be in themselves Christian and agreeable to both the parties interested, as well as acceptable to Congregationalists everywhere. All of our churches have an interest in a matter of such significance, as they would also be sensitive to the reproach of there being two distinct Congregational Associations in the same State, separated from each other on the un-Christian caste line of race and color. With the temper and spirit manifest in the communication referred to, it would seem that the way is now open for a happy consummation of Congregational fellowship in the State of Georgia, on terms which not only Congregationalists but Christians of every name at the North will warmly approve and applaud.

The members of the Presbyterian General Assembly can go home from New York assured that they have vindicated truth and righteousness. The one vital, vicious fault in the report of the Conference Committee of the Northern and Southern Presbyterian Churches on Co-operation was amended out of it and as it now stands adopted it gives not even by implication any support to the unchristian doctrine of separate presbyteries and synods for black and half-white Presbyterians.

When the General Assembly met a year ago the Church had been somewhat stirred up, though the leaders and editors generally seemed so anxious for a proud reunion that they were ready to forget the wrong proposed to the colored brothers. Indeed, a volunteer commission of editors and managers had gone all through the South visiting the synods of the Northern Church where the Negroes were in the majority, persuading them that it would be better for them to go by themselves and [188]get their share of the honors. Not willing to be an obstacle, the Negroes had very generally yielded to the persuasions of their kind visitors.

But there were a number of earnest men who were not willing to yield the principle, and who would make a fight. It was the Centennial year, and the two Assemblies were meeting at the same time and in neighboring cities, ready to consummate the union if desired. But the previous discussion had stirred up the Southerners also, and they had discovered that the temper of the North was not all that had been represented. They were not at all sure that the color-line could be peacefully drawn. They had decided, therefore, not to unite. The report of the Committee of Conference was accordingly withdrawn, and the matter referred to another committee, which praised the fidelity of the Committee, declared it premature to act on their report, and approved "the general principles enumerated in the replies of the Committee," and recommended that the committee of thirteen be enlarged by the addition of five more men, and continued to devise methods of co-operation with the Southern Church. In fear of acrimonious discussion this was railroaded through in two minutes.

Well, the General Assembly has met again and the action taken by an overwhelming majority of the Assembly fills us with gratitude to God. The ticklish part of the report on co-operation was that, of course, on colored evangelization. Here the report first stated what had been the policy of the Southern Church for a separate Negro denomination, and then gave that of the Northern Church:

"The Northern Assembly, on the other hand, has pronounced itself as not in favor of setting off its colored members into a separate, independent organization; while by conceding the existing situation, it approves the policy of separate churches, presbyteries and synods, subject to the choice of the colored people themselves."

Only one of the seventeen, Elder S.M. Breckinridge, of St. Louis, signed a minority report.

It was fully expected that this report, so overwhelmingly recommended, would go through with a rush. The managers had so planned. The ex-Moderators, Smith, Crosby and Thompson, were in its favor. Dr. Crosby said he would as soon be in the Southern Church as in the Northern. All the prestige of good fellowship was in favor of the report as it was presented, and the Southern Assembly had adopted it by a large majority the day before.

The Rev. John Fox, of Allegheny, Penn., opened the opposition, opposing the report generally, and supporting Elder Breckinridge's minority report. It was a useful speech, and, though the sentiment of the Assembly was plainly opposed, it stemmed the tide awhile and prepared the way for what was to follow. Ex-Moderator Smith, of Baltimore, Chairman of the Northern Assembly's Committee, then defended his report and showed how much the Southern Assembly had yielded in accepting it. Then came the event of the day. The Rev. M. Woolsey Stryker, of Chicago, a young man of thirty-five, whom our readers will remember as one of our correspondents, arose and denounced that portion of the report which in the paragraph given above we have put in italics, and moved its omission. He denied that the Church ever had "approved the policy of separate churches, presbyteries and synods," and he declared such a policy to be utterly unchristian. It instantly appeared that he had the sympathy of the Assembly, if not of its leaders. Dr. Niccolls, of St. Louis, supported him vigorously, but briefly, for speakers had been shut down to five minute speeches. Dr. McCulloch, of Alton Presbytery, Ill., defended the report and asked, "Do you mean to tell me that if the colored people themselves prefer separate churches, presbyteries and synods, you would deny them the right to have them?" "Yes, by all means," shouted Mr. Stryker, whose clear head and bold answer was rewarded with loud approval. Dr. Crosby said he [189]understood that the Negroes had last year indicated their desire for separation; but Mr. Sanders, the colored editor of The Africo-American Presbyterian, of North Carolina, arose, and said they had many of them consented to it last year rather than seem to stand in the way of re-union, but that this year there was no reason for such a sacrifice, that they did not wish it, and that while the presbytery of which he was a member had no white ministers in it, they would be glad to welcome them if they would come. After other addresses, the motion of Mr. Stryker for the excision of the paragraph favoring separation of the races was put and carried by an overwhelming majority, not less than three to one, and the report, with this amendment, adopted.

It was a glorious victory, due to the conscience of the rank and file of the Assembly, a victory of the Christian heart of fellowship with the humblest over the pride and ambition of greatness and power. The Assembly has done its duty by its colored members, and every colored member's face was radiant with delight. We have never doubted that if the subject once came fairly up for discussion, the Conference Committee would learn something they did not know before about their denomination. Encouraged by the indorsement given by the Presbyterian Assembly to the position we have maintained against the separation of Christians in the Church of Christ, we shall not neglect the same conflict going on among the Congregationalists and Episcopalians.

The question whether the Church of Christ shall recognize the color line is coming up to vex in turn each one of the great Protestant denominations in the North. We say Protestant denominations advisedly; for we do not believe that the Roman Catholic Church would for a moment entertain the notion of excluding a man either from its sacraments, its worshiping assemblies, or its priesthood, on the ground of color, or would recognize in its worshiping assemblies any distinction except the broad one between clergy and laity. To do so would be to violate all its traditions and history.

In the Protestant denominations of the North, the question is complicated by two considerations: a strong anti-caste prejudice in the Northern constituency, on which the missionary organizations are dependent for their support, and a strong ecclesiastical ambition and spiritual desire, commingled in various proportions, to push on the work of church extension in the South, where it cannot, apparently, be pushed forward with early success, if caste is ignored and colored Christians are admitted to white churches, and colored clergymen to white ecclesiastical assemblies, on equal terms with their white brethren. In the Diocesan Episcopal Convention of South Carolina it is, therefore, proposed to amend the diocesan constitution so as to provide for two Conventions, a white and a colored. In the Presbyterian Church the difference of opinion on this subject constitutes one bar to a union between the Northern and Southern churches, or even to co-operation between them. This has been for the time removed by a sort of concordat by which the relations of the colored and the white members in the two churches respectively are allowed to remain in statu quo, and the settlement of the problem is relegated to the future. In the Congregational denomination, the question is likely to come up before the meeting of the American Home Missionary Society at Saratoga early in June, and again before the National Council at Worcester in October. In the State of Georgia, there has been for some time an Association of Congregational churches mainly composed of colored people, and largely under the fostering care of the American Missionary Association. A Congregational work has latterly been started among the whites under the fostering care of the American Home Missionary Society. And [190]recently a body of independent Methodists, really Congregational in the principles of their government, and having a considerable number of churches in Georgia, and some in other Southern States, has become also Congregational in name. Both bodies will have representatives, presumably, at Saratoga, certainly at the meeting of the National Council at Worcester in October, and the latter body, if not the former, will have to determine whether it will recognize two Congregational Associations in one State, the sole difference between them being that one Association is composed wholly of white people, and the other chiefly of colored people; unless, indeed—and of this there is some hope—the Congregational Associations of Georgia solve the problem by coming together and forming one body. There have been some correspondence and conferences to consider the possibility of such a union.

We find ourselves on this subject occupying a position midway between the radicals on the one side and the conservatives on the other. In some parts of the South, the whites and Negroes must for many years to come be educated in separate schools and worship in separate churches. They need, to some extent, a different education; they desire, to a large extent, a different kind of religious worship and instruction. The preaching which appeals to the Anglo-Saxon race appears cold and unmeaning to the warm-blooded Negro; the preaching which arouses in him a real religious fervor appears to his cold-blooded neighbor imaginative, passionate, unintelligent. To attempt to force the two races into a fellowship distasteful to both, to attempt to require the two to listen to the same type of sermon and join in the same forms of worship, is a "reform against nature." Even if the erection and maintenance of two churches where one would suffice for the worshipers of both classes involves some additional expense, the expense may not be greater than the resultant spiritual advantage.

But to close the doors of any church on any Christian is in so far to make it an unchristian church. To go into the South to establish white churches from which, whether by a formal law or by an unwritten but self-enforcing edict, men are excluded because God made them black, is to deny one of the fundamental tenets of Christ: All ye are brethren. It is to introduce into a church already divided by sectarian strifes a new division. It is to rend afresh the seamless robe. To say to any man asking for Christian fellowship on the simple ground of faith in Christ, "Stand back: for I am whiter than thou," is simply a new and indefensible form of Pharisaism. The church exists to proclaim certain truths, among which the brotherhood of man stands pre-eminent. It is difficult to see with what consistency a Christian minister can preach on the parable of the Good Samaritan if his church refuses to recognize a Christian brother in one of another race because he belongs to another race. There is no reason for an attempt to corral all men of all races in one inclosure; but for any church, especially for a church of the Puritans, to enter upon missionary work in the South, and initiate it by refusing to admit to its fellowship a black man because he is black, is to apostatize from the faith in order to get a chance to preach the faith. To assert equality and brotherhood at the polls, to reaffirm it in a public school system, to reassert it by courts of law in the hotel and the railroad train, and then deny it in the church, would be indeed a singular incongruity, and would make the Nation more Christian than the church.

The principle, then, by which the color-line question is to be settled is very simple, though its application may in some cases present some difficulties. The whites and Negroes are not to be coerced or bribed into uniting in one and the same church organizations. If they prefer to worship and to work separately, they must be allowed so to do. This is within their Christian liberty. But it is not within their Christian liberty to refuse the fullest and most perfect Christian fellowship to each other. The doors of every Christian church must stand wide open to men of [191]every race and color. The only reason of exclusion must be in moral or spiritual character. And in the higher representative bodies these churches must be one. To organize, for example, in the State of Georgia two Congregational bodies, one white and the other colored, would be to organize a church to perpetuate divisions which the church should aim to obliterate. It were far better that the Northern Church should not go with its missionary work into the South at all, than that it should go with a mission which strengthens the infidelity that denies that God made of one blood all the nations of the earth for to dwell together.

I have found the man of iron. In one short day, he travelled one hundred miles by rail, walked twelve miles over a steep and rocky mountain, rode fourteen miles horseback through a pouring and drenching rain, and at nightfall preached an earnest, telling sermon to an audience of railroad employees, besides performing the duties of organist and janitor. The next morning he was up at four o'clock and away for other tasks of similar sort. One who watches Brother Pope, must do it on the run. One of the fairest spots on the Cumberland Plateau is Grand View. Here the American Missionary Association holds a strategic position. The wild, magnificent scenery and the cool, bracing air, tingling with ozone, make it an ideal spot for a great religious and educational centre. Already eyes are turning upward from the surrounding valleys to this mountain school. The first words I heard on landing at Spring City, six miles away, were in its praise: "They've got a mighty good school up thar." Such is the fact. What is needed now to balance things is a "mighty good school" building. If the insignificant frame structures which are hidden among the trees, and only half supply the needs of the institution, could be exchanged for a good, roomy, handsome edifice, placed on the summit of the mountain, where it would be visible for miles along the line of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, besides being a benefaction to the cause, it would be the best, cheapest and most attractive advertisement of our mountain work, conceivable. It is to be hoped that someone will visit this beautiful spot ere long whose enthusiasm will not all run to words.

Within easy reach of Grand View are various churches flanked by their educational departments, which will one day become tributary to the great central institution. At one of these points, Deer Lodge, a fine church building is just nearing completion. The community is all loyal to the American Missionary Association, whose help it has received and appreciated. A good many Northerners are coming into this section, induced by climate, whose co-operation in his work Mr. Pope is very prompt in securing.

Glen Mary is a mining settlement hidden in the oak forest about a mile [192]from the above mentioned railroad. Here, Mr. Pope recently found a small Sunday-school battling against great odds. Intemperance and profanity were rife, and the demand for gospel labor was very urgent. Meetings were held with blessed results, so that shortly ago a church was organized, now one of the strongest in this region. One consecrated young man is at the bottom of the whole movement. Two years ago, he started a Sunday-school with no assistance. At first, he met his pupils in the colored people's meeting house, but was obliged to change after a time, because of the prejudices of color which started among the blacks! He then took an axe and cleared a spot in the woods to which he invited his school. Here Mr. Pope found him. After the interest began to grow, a subscription was started among the miners, resulting in money sufficient (including help from the mining company) to erect a comfortable little church edifice. This building has recently been enlarged by one-third, to accommodate the crowds. The membership of the church is less than forty, and yet it has raised one collection for the American Missionary Association amounting to twenty-four dollars!

These people have no pastor. They are dependent on the scattering ministrations of two or three of our overworked missionaries from other points, who have undertaken to supply them by turns. There are one hundred and fifty families in the community, fifty being colored, without pastoral training. I am assured that it would not be hard to raise money enough in the community to nearly, if not quite, support a minister. The people are hungering and thirsting for teaching in spiritual things. After repeated and urgent invitations your pilgrim was prevailed upon to suspend his trip for a day or two, that he might tell these people of the "good news" of Jesus Christ. It was evidently of the Lord, for last night at the first exhortation, eight persons, two men and six women, gave themselves to the Master. The entire congregation seemed to hear the word with gladness. It is a great field. And so it is in many places, I am told. Glen Mary is anxious for a resident minister and a Christian teacher. The influence of an educated, godly woman is sorely needed in these homes. The gospel has already done much for the place, but there is still a great work to do. Thank God for such tireless, self-forgetful men as Mr. Pope. With the brain of a general and the zeal of an apostle, he is planting the cross of Christ so firmly on this plateau, and in such commanding positions, that it cannot be dislodged, but will shed its saving influence far and wide forever. After preaching once more I hope to move on to Nashville in time for the commencement.

In this land where the people live by their crops, it was most encouraging to see the number of older boys who remained in school till the last [193]of the term. Two of our boys remain with us during vacation, to do the needed work. They are earnest Christians and faithful workers, and appreciate the home influences here.

Many of the girls tell me that their fathers used to be "moonshiners," and they say that at that time they thought it all right; did not realize the evils of alcohol until taught about it in the school. We believe, however, that the morals of this part of Kentucky are steadily improving, and feel confident of it in our own little town.

Last week I visited a country school house about four miles from town. It was made of logs. Three small holes were cut in the logs for windows. The benches were split logs, and the floor was the earth. The great stone chimney, (the only spacious thing about the building,) was beginning to crumble away. This is a typical log school house of the past, but much better ones are going up all over the country, giving brighter hopes for the future.

With the better school buildings through the country, our Academy will be ready to furnish them with better teachers than they have had in the past. Our hope for the future among the Mountain Whites is great.

Our school is very large, there being enrolled two hundred. Our great trouble is a lack of teachers. There are only three of us.

New facts regarding the people among whom we work are brought to us constantly. Yesterday four pupils entered school who were perfect wonders. The oldest of them is seventeen years of age, and the youngest perhaps ten. The oldest has been to church three times during her life, the others have never been. They have never been to Sabbath-school, and know nothing about Christ and God. They have never in their lives heard the word Bible. The oldest one has seen a preacher three times—the same man each time. They made their first visit to town, and beheld the first railroad car yesterday. They do not know who made them! Ever since their arrival I have been saying over and over, "Surely we have Africa at our very door." I cannot realize it. The responsibility is so great that it makes me tremble.

Many of our pupils have little or no religious training at home. We have a good many pupils whose parents are "Hard Shell Baptists," and do not allow them to go to Sabbath-school, and teach them not to pray for forgiveness of sins. A few afternoons ago, the pupils were all asked what they desired to be. One little boy raised his hand to say that he was going to be a "Hard Shell" minister, for they were already saved, and had no praying to do. This answer was a result of his training at home.

We have many features of encouragement connected with our work [194]here. Especially are we pleased with the work that is being done by a class of our advanced boys and girls. There are ten of them out in the wooded country, teaching for three months those who cannot find their way to our school. Every two weeks, these pupils come in to give a report of their work. It is understood by them that it is a part of their duty to tell us just what work they do and how they do it. We supply them with reading matter for their pupils—especially are we careful to let them have Sunday-school books, etc. These pupils will be out of school three months, and will then return to their school work. Every one who is out is a Christian, and we feel that their influence for good is very great. It is a joy to us to feel that our little school here in this town is spreading its influence out into darker portions of the State. Each one of these pupils has no less than forty pupils in his school, so that the work of the school here at Marshallville reaches over six hundred souls! This is indeed a dark portion of the field, but God's loving care is about us, and we are content to labor here.

Our school is overrun with pupils this school year. I was compelled to turn away a large number because I didn't have room for them.

The people on their part are manifesting a deep interest in education They are trying to take advantage of the opportunity as it is given them. Many are going hungry to get a chance to send their children to school.

This last week has been one of profit in this part of the State. The people have been made to see their duty to the colored man more plainly by the lectures delivered by Dr. Lansay and others in the Georgia Chautauqua. There were some fine speeches made in behalf of the Negro.

Judge Hook was down one day and visited our school, and said that he was surprised and glad to see the rapid progress we had made here.

A densely packed church of white and colored people witnessed the closing exercises of the Gregory Institute, a school of high grade for colored people founded and supported by the American Missionary Association, and aided by Mr. Gregory. This school has been in operation some eighteen or twenty years, and has done a most excellent work among the people it was designed to benefit. The writer of this article has attended public exercises of the Institute three times, and has been each time impressed with the dignified and self-respecting deportment of the scholars and visitors.

The neat programme called for graduating essays from six girls—there were no boys in the class—and there were six songs rendered by the whole school, or by the class, and every one present agreed with Dr. Pritchard when in his address he declared that such was the musical and literary excellence [195]of the occasion that it would have done credit to any institution of learning in North Carolina.

The address of Dr. Pritchard was humorous, practical and highly complimentary to the school, and was received with much favor by the audience. After the conferring of the diplomas by Mr. Woodard, the pleasant occasion came to an end. The Institute is an honor to the city, and certainly reflects great credit on the officers who conduct it.—Morning Star.

The Senior class of the present year is the largest graduated from the school, numbering eleven members, seven young ladies and four young men.

Tennessee is the native State of all but one, who was born in Virginia.

The youngest is seventeen years old, the oldest twenty-eight; average age, twenty and one-half years.

The tallest member of the class is five feet, eight and one-half inches in height, the shortest in stature measures five feet; average height, five feet, six inches.

The heaviest weight turns the scale at one hundred and sixty-five pounds, and the lightest at one hundred and twenty; average weight, one hundred and thirty-seven pounds.

The longest attendance at this school is ten years and the shortest, four; average term in school, six and one-half years.

We have received No. 1, Vol. 1, of the Academy Student, published and printed by the students of the Williamsburg Academy, Williamsburg, Ky. The little paper is large with promise. It is as bright as a new dollar.

A teacher asked her class in geography where the Turks live. The remarkable reply was, "In the woods." Thinking the pupil had confounded the Orientals with the Aborigines, the answer was pronounced to be "incorrect." The pupil rejoined, "Well, I have seen them there roosting in the trees."

The following extract is from a composition on "The Blacksmith."

"Man in his state of incarnation has various ways of making money to supply himself with nutriment so that the body may be able to exhiliarate its immortal tenant, 'the soul.' The one about which I shall speak is the Smith. This trade is of momentous importance.... It is quite amusing to hear him when he is mending a piece of malleable work; he has a way of striking the iron that makes it sound harmonious to the ear, and children very often stop to hear him."

[196]

We started Thursday morning, going about seven miles above the Mission to cross the river. We took dinner at the house of a white man who has an Indian wife, and then started out on the long drive. Our direction was almost due west, a little south toward the Cheyenne River. We reached an out-station on the Cheyenne about dark, where James Brown, a Santee Indian, is stationed. Two of our Santee school-girls are here, and it was encouraging to see their neat dress, and hear them use their English, though they so seldom see any one with whom they have occasion to use it that it is not easy for them. The next morning, the girls had classes in reading and writing. Some of the children were ragged and dirty, with faces unwashed, and hair uncombed, one little boy with both knees coming through his trousers, but their faces were, almost without exception, bright and intelligent, with the intelligence of childhood, which would inevitably change to the stolid indifference of ignorance, were it not for the influence which this Christian household among them may exert. To be sure, the girls are young and inexperienced, but that they do their best means a great deal. Two young men were learning to read the Dakota Bible. Soon after eleven, we were on our way again, keeping the Cheyenne River in sight. We stopped at one of the villages on the Cheyenne, where a Frenchman with an Indian wife has built up quite a little colony, all related to one another. Several of our pupils come from here, and the mode of life at their home has been modified by their influence.

We reached Plum Creek, where Edwin Phelps is stationed, about dark, and after two long days' ride I was glad when bed time came. Ellen Kitto and Elizabeth Winyan had come up from the Cheyenne, and I felt sure that Elizabeth had given up her bed for me. The next morning I asked Ellen if we could go out to some of the houses, but she said the people were all on the other side of the river, that there was a dance there. This was a disappointment to me, as I wanted to see the homes of the people, but after dinner Edwin offered to take Elizabeth, Ellen and me across the river to Cherry Creek, so that I gained rather than lost.

[197]

As we drew near the dance-house I could hear the monotonous yet rythmic beat of the drum, and get glimpses through the door-way of the feathered heads moving in time to the music. Outside there was a crowd of women, girls, and young men, the young men wrapped in white sheets under which they carry off, and make love to, the dusky maidens. This is the way a Titon "makes love." As a recent writer describes this dance, bringing before one only its poetry, and that which may be perhaps really beautiful, it does not seem shocking or revolting in the least; but the reality is simply dreadful. Not so much in itself, perhaps, though that is bad enough, as in its influence, its consequences, all that it means and all that it leads to.

Just beyond the dance house is the mission station where Clarence Ward and his wife are; a civilized Christian family in the midst of this heathenism.

Sunday was to be the eventful day, and as early as half past nine the congregation began to arrive. When the bell rang for service, the school-room was filled almost immediately. Everything possible was utilized for seats; trunks, boxes, wagon-seats, kegs, and those who could not be provided with seats sat on the floor. There were probably a hundred in all. The weight of so many people on the floor was too much for the sleepers. Some of them gave way, and the floor settled somewhat, but the audience was not "nervous" and was only amused. As I sat at the organ, a group outside the door attracted my attention; several bright faced girls, their shawls drawn over their heads with a grace a white girl might envy, but could not hope to attain, and beyond them a face that would pass on the most perfectly appointed stage for one of Macbeth's witches, without being "made-up." The faces of some of the men were as wooden and expressionless as the figures in front of a tobacco shop, but these are they into whose lives the power of the Gospel of the Son of God has not come. After this service came the church meeting, and a Cheyenne River branch church was established which still has connection with the mother church at Oahe.

The school-room being too small for the afternoon communion service, this was held out of doors. There must have been a hundred and fifty present, perhaps more. First came a marriage ceremony, then the admission of four new members, and the baptism of two children. Probably four-fifths of the congregation had been drawn thither merely from curiosity, and on the faces of many of these were the traces of yesterday's paint. The simple service, which the new communion set made perfect, could not fail to impress them that there is something better than they have known. At its close, Edwin Phelps's scholars stood and sang "Whiter than Snow," in Dakota. Have not those girls gained a great moral victory, when in native dress, with their shawls worn after the native fashion, they stand up among [198]their own people and proclaim themselves on the side of right? It was a day full of new experiences and new impressions for me. The contrast between this scene and the one of the day before, presented itself to me over and over again.

The next morning we started out for the return to Oahe. The day was warm and pleasant and uneventful. I was comfortable and happy, and as we stopped for lunch when we got hungry, I began to wonder where the hardships of my journey were coming in, but people who are never so happy as when they are uncomfortable, ought to get their just deserts. I got mine. After we started from James Brown's, the wind rose. It rose and it rose. It kept rising. How that wind did blow! It blew us up hill and threw us down hill. It fairly hurled us along. It blew Mr. Riggs's hat off and we chased it for half a mile. It blew my hat off; it blew my hair down; we put into a ravine for repairs. We went through long stretches of burned prairie, and clouds of fire-black dust were flying. We hoped when we got down into the ravine it would not be so bad. Vain hope. It was worse. The dust was blacker and thicker and more dusty. The gravel stung our faces and blinded our eyes. For the entire distance of thirty-five miles, that wind howled and raved and tore. It almost took the ponies off their feet. I have not exaggerated it one bit. It would be impossible to exaggerate. When we reached the house where we had taken dinner going up, we found the dirt blown from the roof, likewise the tar-paper, leaving great cracks through which the dirt rattled. Everything was an inch deep in dirt, but we were welcomed to the shelter of the four walls, and what was left of the roof. The dirt did not matter. We were already done in charcoal. Mr. Collins was here, caught by the wind, and before dark the Agency farmer came. It was impossible to cross the river in such a gale, and here I knew we must stay.

The next morning was still and clear and beautiful. It was difficult to realize that the elements had been on such a tear the day before, so after breakfast we embarked for home, going the seven miles by water this time, and I reached the mission a gladder and a wiser woman.

This glimpse of out-station work is something I have long wanted, and anyone who does not believe in Indian education should see the results of it as they appear here. In the audience on Sunday, were three young women former students, one at Hampton, one at Santee, one at Oahe. Their dress, the expression of their faces, their whole appearance proclaimed the power of Christian education, and it is only in the faces of the Christian Indians that there is any expression of gladness. There is no gladness in their life outside of this. Oh, that the work at these stations may be blessed! There are hundreds and hundreds, yes, thousands of Indians who will never be reached by Hampton, Carlisle, Santee, by all the Indian schools put [199]together, and who will never be Christianized or civilized by "edict from Washington." Christ must be taken to them, lived among them in such a way that his true loveliness may be made apparent to them. Without this, all else goes for naught; with this, life and light must come, and darkness and ignorance and superstition must flee away.—Word-Carrier.

I never read any report of this, without feeling both humiliated and inspired. Humiliated, because I have regarded the field so unpromising; inspired, because such glimpses of gracious possibilities and achievements are caught. We have been so incredulous as to certain alien races, that we have only partially and feebly brought to bear upon them the saving influences of the Gospel. We are not, indeed, responsible for the presence of these Orientals in our land. Ours is a different responsibility; it is for their evangelization, now that they have been led to our shores. This work is laid upon us, and never was it more urgent or hopeful than at this hour. It was one of the methods of our Lord to arouse men to noblest service by reminding them of the obligations imposed upon them by their circumstances and opportunities.

Whether the call came to them from a promising or unpromising field, on them rested the duty of responding. In the great Sermon on the Mount, our Lord, after finishing with his gentle and sweet benedictions, abruptly turned and, with changed tone and impressive words, said to his disciples, "Ye are the salt of the earth." On you rests the obligation of becoming the conservative element in society. Confronting as they did a decadent civilization and a vanishing religious faith and a general heart-despair, they were to be the saviors of men. Pungent and preservative as salt, are ye to be in the midst of a putrid age. Few, too, as they were in numbers, and without honor as well, yet they were to be the light of the world. On their luminousness depended their power to influence. The radiancy of their life and teaching was to penetrate the surrounding gloom. Later on follows the divine imperative to "Go forth and disciple all nations."

However unfavorable the outlook, however inadequate they seemed for the undertaking, they were to attempt what was enjoined. It lifted them to an altitude never before reached, and made them conscious of a power never before possessed.

This is the principle which we need to apply to the emergencies in which we are called to act. We get from others what we tell them we expect. There is something in human nature that likes to be trusted with responsibility; something in us that responds to great occasions. You remember [200]when Nelson fought that pivotal naval engagement at Trafalgar against the combined fleets of France and Spain, he gave to his command as a motto to inspire them to do their best, "England expects every man to do his duty." That brought every soldier and sailor under the eyes of the country whose interests they were upholding, and nerved each one to deeds of valor. It awakened a sense of responsibility and called forth their noblest service. So our Lord seems to be saying to American churches and to the constituency of this Society, "'Ye are the light of the world.' On you depends the evangelization of these despised Chinese. Treating them now contemptuously and now even brutally, ye are called to be salt to them, thus saving them from moral deterioration, and inoculating them with the spirit of the Gospel. Ye are to illuminate them with the light you have to shed as followers of Christ, and the responsibility is laid upon you to carry to them the principles of that faith which has given to us whatever excellence we have as a Nation. I expect you to Christianize these representatives of the Orient, to convert them to the worship of the God of the Bible." In this expectation of the Master, lies at once our obligation and our privilege. Much is laid upon us, but the trust brings with it honor, and inspires to grandest service.

The progress already made in this work, the cheering tokens of success that are reported by all laborers in this field, ought to awaken a far greater sympathy for those in whose behalf we are called to make our Christ-like expenditures. It is time we rose above the mean political enmities which have embarrassed not a little this imperative evangelism. Our treatment of these people is but another chapter in our history on which other and larger hearted generations will look with shame and sorrow. In the animosities born of our commercial greed, we have acted as if our religion had made us neither in life nor doctrine better than they. Eager to send the Gospel to distant heathen, we have been reluctant to exemplify, and slow to practically apply, to the heathen in our midst the teaching of Christianity. Now has come a new era, and the evangelistic efforts among the Chinese are assuming greater proportions than ever, and are engirt with every sign of gracious success. We have yet to learn to respect the manhood in these emigrants from the great kingdom beyond the Pacific. It is said of our Lord, when he came across the Publican Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, that "he saw a man," and it was oftentimes the lowly, the shunned, the socially despised he called to become his disciples. It is a great art, this of seeing in a man the ideal, the possible man. When Jesus Christ looks upon a man, he looks him into a nobler manhood. We need to rise above class distinctions, to regard no one common or unclean, to speak of no one as hopeless or worthless.

One word as to opportunity. God always matches opportunity with ability, and when we stand face to face with opportunity, we must go forward or be recreant to every trust.

Here is this man—the Chinaman—on our coast, for whom we are doing exactly the same work that this Society has been urging us to do for the [201]black race, in raising up preachers amongst them to go back to the homes in their own country and there become the proper evangels to their own people. When we realize that this is our work, and this is the opportunity before us, we shall talk of the Chinese question with more seriousness.

We are like the two American boys. One says to the other: "My father is a Christian; is your father a Christian?" The other boy replies, not wishing to be outdone, "Oh, yes, my father is a Christian, but he is not working much at it just now." That is about the way with this nation, nominally a Christian nation; we are not working much at it in the way we are treating the Indian, Chinese and colored man. We want the nation to act out the principles it believes in.

Mr. Gladstone said he divided the English nation into classes and masses. The masses, he added, have as little regard for the doctrines of the Gospel, as the upper classes have for its precepts. Now we have not only to give the precepts of the Gospel to the Chinaman, but we must inculcate its principles in the heart beyond all danger of eradication. If we do not do this, we shall act little better than the Chinese do themselves. A man was once asked how much he weighed. He replied, "I weigh 160, but when I am mad I weigh a ton." We need the madness born of a great zeal, the enthusiasm kindled by the Gospel, then shall we be able to lift up all classes and conditions of men.

When we get anointed for this work, and carry the Gospel with all the earnestness of our faith, and all the patience born of the example of Christ, then we shall realize our fondest hopes for the Christianization of the Chinese and of other races in our country.

We have only a few thousands of Chinese in our country, and whenever one of these becomes a Christian he is much like a Christian in apostolic days. He is raised above his former life, loses largely the sympathy of his own people, and is regarded as an apostate from his ancestral faith. It costs, therefore, a great deal to become a Christian under such circumstances, yet there are joyous, devoted Chinese Christians preaching, with signal power, the Gospel to their brethren, and living so as to be Christian luminaries among their idolatrous kindred.

I consider it no inferior part of this Association's work that it is expending its efforts among the Chinese now resident on the coast. We have, however, only made a beginning; much, very much, remains to be done. We have to conquer political prejudices, and invite to our faith with warmest welcomes those for whom Christianity has such priceless boons. If we raise up amongst them missionaries to go back to the crowded Mongolian Empire, this society will become an institution not only for Christianizing the conscience of our nation, but also an agency for training up and sending forth missionaries for the neediest of lands. Let it be ours to evince a friendly fellowship and true devotion to the despised, and kindle a manlier faith and larger Christian service.

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,
Secretary, Miss Anna M. Cahill, Nashville, Tenn.

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

FLA.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. Nathan Barrows, Winter Park, Fla.

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

IND.—Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. W.B. 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, 724 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 meeting of the officers of the Home Missionary Unions of the Congregational Churches held at Saratoga, June 4th, was well attended. Twelve States were there represented, and the occasion was one of great interest and of encouragement to the cause of missions. The suggestive and forceful papers presented, indicate that our ladies are in earnest for the evangelization of our country, and that they will give their best effort toward extending the influence of our National Societies by the financial help which they will endeavor to render.

The next meeting of these State organizations will be held in Chicago, Ill., at the time of the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association the latter part of next October.

A little of our industrial work of this first year I would like to present to you. Our girls, on the closing day, exhibited fourteen pieced quilts all completed, and twenty were well along toward completion. Twenty garments [203]have been finished and disposed of. All of the material has been sent from Northern friends and homes, and some of the girls have learned the first things of needlework, having learned to use needle, thread and thimble. One little girl when first given a needle said, "O see! there is a hole in one end of it." One old lady learned to knit.

We feel happy in the thought of the spiritual growth in our school. Several young men and some of our girls have openly expressed themselves as desirous of being Christians, and have started, I am sure, to follow Jesus. Another hopeful thing is the zeal with which they attend to the duties of the Band of Hope. Our young people who are to teach in the country are quite determined to organize bands and to fight for "God and home and native land," on the line of temperance. We have given all the instruction and illustrations we could, and the little ones are becoming leaders of the older members in the families. One little boy urged his old grandmother to stop using snuff, and she has given it up after using it more than twoscore years. She said he used to say, "Don't chew, grandma; the teachers say it is poison." Some mothers who have been in the habit of using ruinous alcohol medicines for their children, assured me they would stop it, after seeing the amount of alcohol contained, as was shown by our little experiments in evaporating and burning. One young man of twenty years old passed an examination in the country, and obtained a second grade certificate, and at sixteen years of age he did not know his letters. Are there many boys at the North who can show a better record in four years?

I am sure you want to hear about the closing exercises of our cooking class. The teacher had given the seven girls comprising the class the privilege of getting a dinner and each one inviting a guest. One of the lovely things about the affair was that the guests were the mothers and teachers of the girls. So at three o'clock one day a company of eighteen sat down to a dinner that was all cooked and served by these girls. The white, puffy biscuits, well-cooked meat and vegetables, and the quiet lady-like serving, all testified to the excellence of the instruction received. Prouder mothers I never saw than those who then partook of their daughter's cookery. I was told that every Saturday it had been the custom for the girls at home to repeat in their own kitchens the work of the day previous, as it had been done under their teacher's instructions.

We hope next year with our boarding pupils to do more than we could with only day pupils. Our sewing classes are this week finishing their work for the year. There has been sewing in five rooms. The primaries have pieced blocks for outsides for two quilts, over-hand work. The next grade has put together four outsides (running). The upper classes have made fifty pillow-cases, twelve sheets, forty aprons, hemstitched three tray cloths, outlined one tidy and made three night-dresses. Darning, button-hole making [204]and hem-stitching were taught in one class. The girls in another room have tied six comfortables. The boys in the carpenter shop are doing excellent work, and they like it very much. One class of five or six come every morning at seven o'clock, and they do this to get more instruction. Most of this class are country boys who cannot stay at school all of the year. In one of the primary rooms, we have the kitchen-garden material. There, with the twenty-four sets of toy dishes, the little ones are taught how to set and clear off table, and a great many useful things in reference to table manners and customs.

Our general school work goes on like clock-work. The children and young people are growing in their power of concentration and self-control, and we feel greatly encouraged, as we look into the future for them, to hope that at no very distant day a well ordered home, where three meals a day shall be served in a refined, orderly manner, shall not be so rare a thing as it now is. We are more and more convinced that the home life of these people must be changed, if they are ever to be what we want them to be, and what, for the interests of our country and for the coming of Christ's kingdom on earth, they must be.

And now I will close in the usual way by telling you some of our needs.

For the new boarding department, we shall need bedding of all kinds. I especially want that each mattress shall be furnished with a quilted or padded cover—that is, something as large as the mattress on top. Towels, table linen and such things as are needed in every house are always acceptable. If any one wants to furnish carpets for teacher's rooms, we do not say them nay.

I have spent nearly five years in teaching the little colored children in this Southland. In my department there are over ninety bright, enthusiastic little folks between the ages of five and thirteen. I have often wished that the anxious inquirers as to whether the colored children were as bright and smart intellectually as white ones, could visit my room, and the little people would answer the question themselves.

My pupils, with one exception, being day scholars, I have had an excellent opportunity to know the colored people. I go to their homes; some I find as cosy and prettily fitted up as the average home at the North, while others are miserable apologies for the name.

I often, Sunday afternoons, take a bundle of papers and go through some of the streets where I find boys playing ball or marbles, and flying kites. When I ask why they haven't been to Sunday-school, or at home reading, [205]they tell me they have no clothes, and that they have nothing to read at home; as I distribute the papers, they lay down bat and ball and eagerly devour the stories and study the pictures.

I find some very bright little fellows among them. I asked one little boy, "Won't you come to my Sunday-school?" He replied at once, "Oh yes." I said, "Do you know where I teach?" The ready answer came at once, "Up at the big college yonder," The next Sunday, as I went in, the first child I saw was Dan. He sat with eyes and mouth wide open as we talked about Joseph, sung our little hymns and repeated the commandments— things he had never heard before. The next Sabbath he was there as interested and eager as on the first, his bare feet hanging from the chair; but the third Sunday as I went out the gate, there stood Dan, forlorn enough. I said, "Aren't you going to Sunday-School?" He said, "I can't go; my sister is married, my mother has gone crazy, and I haven't a clean shirt." It would have melted the stoutest heart to have heard his sorrowful tale. I found him soon after, and through the kindness of a Northern friend in paying his tuition, I had him in my school, where he proved himself bright and interesting.

I might cite many such instances that have come within my observation, if time and space would permit. I long for much that is wasted at the North to help many such bright, interesting, needy little children.