THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.

A. Anderson, Printer, 28 Frankfort St.

American Missionary Association ,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

PRESIDENT.

Hon. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, 56 Reade Street, N. Y.

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his order as Assistant Treasurer .

A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

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THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

We desire to express our grateful appreciation of the kind notices with which “ The Missionary ” in its new form has been received, especially by the newspapers edited under Congregational auspices. Their relations to us have always been of the pleasantest, and their readiness to do us favors has been a constant help and encouragement. May their circulation never grow less!

We are daily receiving enclosures of twenty-five cents, as payment for the Missionary for 1878. We trust that the receipt of the January number, and the present form of the magazine, will monthly remind our friends that a quarter of a dollar only pays for half a year . Please send the other quarter, all who have made this mistake.

The Belleville Avenue Congregational Church of Newark, N. J., and the Congregational Church at Mount Carmel, Conn., have already accepted our proposition to send 100 copies of the Missionary for the year to one address for $30.00. Other churches and neighborhoods are canvassing for it; who will go and do likewise? We want readers, and those who pay something for the magazine will read it. A letter, enclosing his subscription, from a Presbyterian minister, says that he can secure the information he desires in regard to the Southern field and work from no other source.

We welcome with special pleasure to our table, the first number of the Fisk Expositor , published at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., from which we give an extract on another page. It is an additional witness to the devotion and enterprise, with which our professors and teachers are working in all directions, to extend their influence for the information and enlightenment of those among whom they labor. This is another of a group of such publications, among which are the Southern Workman , of Hampton, the Southern Sentinel , of Talladega, and the Straight Occasional , of New Orleans. They are full of information as to the work of these institutions, and of valuable discussions of topics of interest and importance to the colored people of the land.

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SMALL GIFTS.

We cited in the Missionary for January a number of large gifts from wealthy men and women, to relieve from debt the Missionary Boards of various churches, as worthy examples to some of the men of liberal heart and means who are in especial sympathy with our work for the lowly. We still have hope that such, alone or in combination, will do great things for us, and make us glad, in freeing us from accumulated but already diminishing indebtedness.

Meanwhile, to enable us to carry on our constantly increasing work, it may not be needless to address this word to those who cannot give large sums from a large store of good, but who, out of their moderate incomes and limited means, have been in the habit of sending us smaller amounts.

Dear friends, after all, it is on you that we depend. If you will look through our list of receipts from month to month, you will see how large a proportion of it all comes to us in little sums—a few dollars here and a few dollars there. You must not fail us, then. We cannot afford to give up the large contributors, perhaps; still less the small ones. Sometimes, when it has gone abroad that such an one has given his five, ten or twenty thousand dollars, the givers of five, ten or twenty dimes are checked for a while in the flowing of their generosity. Because there was a heavy rain yesterday, the dews will not form to-night. The suggestion of plenteous supplies goes abroad because of one large receipt, and the small sums seem so very small to the givers as they compare them with the large ones.

But, after all, good friends, a deluge of beneficence only comes once in a great while. Our bow of promise of unfailing resources is formed upon the drops of your steady giving. Forty days and forty nights the Deluge lasted; but, for forty years, each morning, “when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small, round thing...on the ground”—it was the daily bread of Israel. So your gifts—if they be only “small, round things,” the dimes and quarters, the ancestral dollars—are the gifts to which we look for the maintenance of the great host which we are trying to lead from the bondage of ignorance and sin to the liberty of intelligence and Christ.

There has been coming into our treasury during the last month a class of offerings for the debt, which have a peculiar and almost pathetic significance. They are the gifts from the Southern field—from the teachers and pupils in our institutions, from the pastors and people of our poor colored churches; one from a Band of Hope, one from a Sisters’ Benevolent Association. One Sunday-school agrees to take a monthly five-cent collection from its 200 members, and hopes to send $10.00 a month. The Avery Normal Institute at Charleston. S. C., and the Chattanooga Band of Hope gave each a holiday entertainment, and sent us, the one $38.60, and the other $50.00, for the debt, “as tokens of love and respect from a grateful people.” We believe the original suggestion was made by Rev. G. S. Pope, of Tougaloo, Mississippi. The amounts have varied from over one hundred to three dollars, and are accompanied with hearty expressions of kind and grateful feeling.

A missionary, who has devoted the last ten years to work among the freedmen, writes: “I think the story of these Christmas gifts from the South toward the A. M. A. debt, ought to bring ten-fold from the North. I tell you, boys and girls here have given their five cents, dimes, quarters and half-dollars, who have hardly decent or sufficient clothing to wear.”

One old and poor colored member of one of the churches said: “I will give a dollar for that, if I have to go without meat and bread for a week.” A teacher writes: [35] “Would that the history could be written of every dime and ‘nickel’ of this offering, which comes from old men and women, youths and maidens, and little children in their rags, to the A. M. A., which God has ordained as a channel of blessing to the colored race in the South and their fatherland.” Such gifts are sacred, by the sacrifices of which they are the fruits, and by the spirit of loving devotion to which they testify.

PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATIONS FOR AFRICAN EVANGELIZATION.

It is a significant fact that God moves His providences on parallel lines. One great event is made to match another. The supply and the demand spring up together, as the following circumstances, with many others, illustrate:

In 1855, Mr. Charles Avery gave $100,000 worth of property to this Association, to constitute a perpetual fund for charitable use, in sending the Gospel and the blessings of civilization to the colored people on the continent of Africa. Almost simultaneously, Burton and Speke made known to the world the fact that the heart of Africa, instead of being a wild waste, possessed a wonderful lake system, a most fertile country, and millions upon millions of vigorous and interesting people.

At a later day, Mr. Stanley visited these lakes, and made an appeal for missionary effort, which was answered by a response as liberal as the donation of Mr. Avery; and as a result, the Church Missionary Society of England is sustaining a mission at Uganda, in Mtesa’s Kingdom.

When Dr. Livingstone was in the heart of Africa, he wrote: “Come on, brethren, to the real heathen. You have no idea how brave you are till you try.” His words were caught up, and the story of his explorations, devoured with eagerness, resulted in the establishment of three missions at least, far in the interior. More than $60,000 was given for the establishment of Livingstonia, on the Nyassa Lake. A large amount was also given for the University’s Mission in the same vicinity, and $25,000 by Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, to the London Missionary Society, for the purpose of establishing a mission at Ujiji, on the shores of the Tanganyika.

To this latter amount was added a sum sufficient for sending forth a full corps of missionaries to that locality, and recent reports warrant the hope that they have already reached their destination.

Perhaps no more striking illustration of the parallelisms we have suggested has been exhibited, than the one recently brought to our knowledge by the report of Mr. Stanley’s explorations, and the doings of the Baptist Missionary Society of London.

Last May, this Society received a letter, stating, “There is a part of Africa on which I have long had my eye. It is the Congo country. There is not much knowledge of the Christian religion in the Congo. Only three or four of its inhabitants can read and write. The language of the coast is the original African. The old king has strongly expressed his hopes that some white men would come to them. It is, therefore, a great satisfaction, and a high and sacred favor to me, to offer £1,000 if the Baptist Missionary Society will undertake to teach these interesting people the words of eternal life. By and by, possibly, we may be able to extend the mission eastward, and carry the Gospel, as the way may open, as far as Nyangwe.”

While this letter was being penned, Mr. Stanley was pushing his way from Nyangwe, through a vast unexplored region, to the mouth of the Congo, having overcome the obstacles which had baffled Dr. Livingstone and Commander Cameron, who attempted the same explorations, from the same point of departure.

It is to be remembered, also, that there have been other forces affecting Africa, parallel to these gifts, and explorations and missions. Fervent prayers of faith have been [36] offered for its redemption, and many things indicate that these are being speedily answered.

“I go,” said Dr. Livingstone, in his last public utterance, before leaving England, “to open the door to Central Africa. It is probable I may die there; but, brethren, I pray you see to it that the door is never again closed.”

It requires no great reach of faith to apprehend that the time has fully come when the words of the risen Saviour may become our assurance respecting tropical Africa—“Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.”

LIFE OF EDWARD NORRIS KIRK, D. D.

The appearance of this biography renews our remembrance of the honored man whose life and work is chronicled so well by his former pupil and friend, Rev. David O. Mears. As the President of the American Missionary Association for nearly ten years—from 1865 until death sundered the relation—it is fitting that there should be a notice of this published record of his career in the organ of the Association.

Dr. Kirk was born in New York City, was graduated from Princeton College, and pursued legal studies for a year and a half, living a life which he characterizes as profligate. His conversion, after a severe struggle, was complete, and the purpose of his life was utterly changed. He immediately devoted himself to preparation for the ministry of the gospel.

Handsome, gifted and ardent, he at once took a leading position. His two pastorates, at Albany and in Boston, were full of fruitfulness. While yet a pastor, he did the work of an evangelist, with a power and success which has been seldom paralleled. He was a direct and pungent preacher, sometimes, as in Albany, stirring up opposition, and yet wonderfully tender and conciliating in his manner, and so gaining friends even from those who antagonized him.

He was always a reformer, but a radical only in the best sense. He spoke manfully of the slave, and of the possibilities of the African race, in 1820, when only in his eighteenth year, a student at Princeton. Not until much later was he in sentiment an Abolitionist. He was never a denunciator. In opposing a false system, he made all charitable allowance for those involved in it, and was careful to recognize the fact that there were slaveholders who became or continued such that they might protect and benefit the slave. In the summer of 1860 and in the spring of 1861, when the South was peculiarly sensitive, Dr. Kirk was traveling in Virginia, North Carolina and beyond, expressing his sentiments frankly, and yet so courteously and wisely that he was always met with kindness.

In 1865, when the emancipation of the slaves had opened to the A. M. A. the work of their instruction and Christianization, Dr. Kirk was chosen its President, as a man representing its aim and spirit most fully. His sympathy with its work was deep and earnest, and continued to the end.

But this was not a specialty. He was equally earnest in the cause of Foreign Missions, of work among the Roman Catholics, of Education (as shown by his interest in Amherst College and the Mount Holyoke Seminary), of Temperance, and of evangelistic work at home.

So far as the memoir reveals the secret of his power, it seems to have been a rare combination of fearlessness and tact—the courage which comes from deep conviction, and the tact which comes from a loving sympathy with men, and a real sweetness of disposition. But more than all, it shows him as a man who walked with God in reverential yet familiar intercourse—who realized that the Lord Jesus was indeed with him always, [37] and whose prayers were in accord with the resolution of his early life—“I intend hereafter, in my prayers, to converse with God, and not make speeches before Him.”

Such lives are powerful in their influence while they are with us, and profitable in their instruction when we have only the record of them to read.

NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.

Sand Mountain, Ala. —This church has no pastor. Sunday services kept up by the reading of sermons; does not sustain a prayer-meeting or Sunday-school. The church is composed of white people, all from the North. A day-school, numbering fifteen, is sustained in connection with the church.

Selma, Ala. —Rev. Fletcher Clark, pastor, reports the field as encouraging, with earnest workers in the church. The meetings are well attended. The church is very strong in favor of temperance, and against the use of tobacco, as compared with the other churches in vicinity. Sabbath-school flourishing. An earnest effort is making in behalf of the young men. A very encouraging feature of the work here is a Woman’s Prayer-meeting, which meets once a week.

Atlanta, First, Ga. —Rev. S. S. Ashley, pastor. Several additions during the year. Large proportion of the church, heads of families, also in the Sabbath-school, which numbers about 275. The church has adopted the plan of “Envelope Collections,” and finds it increases the amount of collections.

Byron, Ga. —This church has been supplied, during the year, by Bro. H. Watkins. The church holds its own, and still sustains the mission-school at Powersville.

Macon, Ga. —Rev. M. O. Harrington, pastor. This church has not been in a very good condition for two or three years past; their church and school building have been burned during the year past, and consequently they are much broken up. A new building is nearly completed, and much hope is felt that the church will take a “new departure” in Christian earnestness and godly living. The school sustained in connection with the church is in as prosperous a condition as could be expected under the circumstances.

Marietta, Ga. —Rev. T. N. Stewart, pastor. This church was organized February 8, 1877; now numbers 21. The Sabbath-school averages 20.

Chattanooga, First, Tenn. —Rev. T. Cutler, pastor. This church is in good condition, though the Young People’s Meeting has been given up. The Band of Hope prosperous; a Mother’s Meeting is held once a month; Sabbath-school, 175.

Nashville, Union, Tenn. —Rev. H. S. Bennett, pastor, is connected with Fisk University. The church is composed almost entirely of students. A hopeful feeling manifest.

Golding’s Grove, Ga. —“The condition of the church spiritually is pretty good. The presence of the good Spirit has been felt in our midst, and we have gathered some of the fruit. At our last communion season, which was on the last Sabbath in November, six joined with us, five by confession of faith. Three of these five were very old persons; one eighty odd years of age. The old man’s experience was full of useful lessons, and it seemed as though we could almost see the long, patient love of God toward sinners, as he sat and told of a wasted life, and, with tears in his eyes, sorrowed for his sins. There is much interest in our midst still.”

Savannah, Ga. — [38] “We received six new members into our church last week, two by letter and four by profession.”

Hampton, Va. —“We are still favored with the influences of God’s Spirit in the conversion of souls. These influences, with which we were so richly blessed the last school year, did not end with the year, but in some instances bore fruit unto life during the long summer vacation, and, since the beginning of the new school year, have been manifested in turning heavenward the thoughts and steps of one and another of our pupils. Four united with the church on the first Communion Sabbath of the year, and at least as many more are expecting to make a public profession of their faith in Christ on the coming Sabbath.

“Another item of interest is the increase of the missionary spirit, and we trust that the reflex influence of the one who has gone as a missionary to Africa, will be more and more richly blessed to those still in the school, quickening them to corresponding works of faith and love. Such certainly should be the result.”

THE CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE.

At the recent meeting of the Central South Congregational Conference, the minutes of which have just been laid on our table, the following resolutions were passed:

On the subject of Education, it was

In regard to Church Extension the following resolution was passed, viz.:

IS THE NEGRO DYING OUT?

—In the lull of political agitation over the colored people, the question is being discussed as to their continuance. Are they dying out? What are the ascertained facts?

—A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette , in Jackson, Miss., has taken the pains to collate the deaths of the white and colored people in the various Southern cities. In Washington, during the year 1875, 19.22 died out of every thousand whites and 47.60 out of every thousand blacks. In the succeeding year, the proportion was 26.53 whites and 49.29 blacks. In Baltimore, the rate for 1875 was 19.80 whites to 34.42 blacks. In Knoxville, during 1876, the mortality per thousand whites was 18; per thousand blacks 31.2. In Richmond, for the same year, the rate was 17.36 whites, and 28.13 blacks. In Mobile, during the previous year, the proportion was 12.1 to 23.1. In New Orleans, the rate for the same year was 25.45 whites to 39.69 blacks. In Charleston, during the ten months of the present year, 17.4 out of every thousand whites have died, and 38.7 out of every thousand blacks. In Memphis in 1876, there were 652 deaths among the white population, and 601 among the negroes: in other words, considering the proportion of white and colored inhabitants, the death-rate among the negroes was nearly four times as great as among the whites.

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—It has been suggested that these death-rates may not hold throughout the country places in the South, and that the cities whither the freedmen flocked after the close of the war have become peculiarly fatal to the race. In answer, the Charleston News and Courier states that the negroes of the rural parts of South Carolina are dying out even more rapidly than those in Charleston.

—The Scientific American deduces the following results, from the Surgeon-General’s report, as to comparative health and mortality in the army. For the year ending June 30, 1877, the army consisted of 23,284 white men and 2,075 colored men. Total cases of sickness of all kinds, 40,171; deaths, 260. Among colored troops, total sicknesses, 4,348; deaths, 32. The colored men’s sicknesses were 20 per cent. more than those of the whites; while in deaths, we find the proportion reversed, for only 7 per thousand of colored men died of disease, as against 8 per thousand of white men. In cases caused by wounds, accidents, or injuries, 8 per thousand negroes died, against 3 per thousand of white men. It thus appears that the negroes become diseased more easily than white men, and also recover more readily; but when actual bodily injury occurs, the death-rate is more than twice that of white men.

—The United States Census of 1860 showed the increase among the blacks in ten years to have been 25 per cent.; from 1860 to 1870 a little over 10 per cent., though these were years of war and want.

—In view of these statements, General Armstrong, of Hampton, Va., writes in the Southern Workman :

“Many close observers believe that the decrease is general, but equally good authorities assert the contrary. No conclusion is satisfactory; but we incline to the belief that the colored race will at least hold its own, because in the corresponding class of whites in all cities there is great mortality. It would be interesting to know the death-rate among the poor whites of Washington, Richmond and Charleston, whose dying out has never been hinted at. The negro is prolific. The phenomena of a dying race, such as one sees among the decaying Polynesian tribes are not seen among them. Children are abundant and healthy in city and country. The pickaninnies do not seem destined to die young. They are a numerous, frisky, healthy class, of unfailing humor and appetite, as unlike as anything can be the sore-spotted, scarce Hawaiian child, whose race is doomed.”

AFRICAN EMIGRATION.

—It appears that the “information from Liberia,” said to have been received by “the Department of State,” already widely circulated, was not in any sense an official publication, nor is the name or standing of the author given.

—Rev. Dr. George W. Samson, for forty years a resident of Washington, for twelve years President of Columbian College, and for sixteen years a member of the Executive Committee of the American Colonization Society, has written a weighty reply to these statements in the Boston Traveller . In it he shows the economical planting, the rapid progress, the fertility of the soil, the intelligence and educational facilities of the colony, by the testimony of U. S. naval officers and other distinguished witnesses.

—Fifty-two colored emigrants sailed for Liberia recently in the bark Liberia. They were forwarded by the American Colonization Society. Three clergymen were among the cabin passengers, one of whom goes to the Boporo Mission in the interior. The majority of those emigrating are mechanics and farmers. Many of them are [40] members of Christian churches. They are comfortably quartered on board, and have more conveniences than is usual on emigrant vessels. The American Colonization Society has made a contract with the agents of the vessel, who agree to carry adults for $50 and children for $25. This amount includes everything required during the voyage, and the Liberian Government insures their support for at least six months after their arrival. Each single immigrant receives ten acres of land, and the head of a family twenty-five acres. Ex-President Warner, recently elected Vice-President of the Republic, is the Society’s agent to receive the emigrants, and under his charge they will be kept until they can support themselves. The Society has sent many parties before this and reports the applications as so numerous that space cannot be found to accommodate them.

—A very different enterprise, apparently, is the Liberia Exodus Association, which failed to provide the steamship which was to be ready December 15th. Says Mr. Scarborough, an intelligent colored man connected with Wilberforce University:

—As bearing on the question of a general or large transportation of ignorant and untrained men to Liberia, were it possible, we quote from Prof. Blyden in a late number of the Methodist Quarterly Review . He, in speaking of unskilled labor, says:

When it is remembered that Prof. Blyden is a citizen of Liberia and knows whereof he speaks, there will be no reason to doubt the truth of the above statement.

—One of the workers in the Liberia movement met a wise, old colored man in Shreveport, La. He was describing the great benefits the negro would enjoy by emigrating, and told him that there the negro did not have to work; bread and sugar trees covered the forests, and bananas, cocoanuts, pine-apples, lemons, and all the tropical fruits, grew everywhere. “Dat’s ’nough of dat story,” said the old man; [41] “dat ain’t so, kase if it was, de white man would a went dar long ago, and the niggers neber would hah known nuffin ’bout it.”

—We notice now, as the most recent movement, that a State convention of the Mississippi Colonization Society, held a few weeks since, to consider the project of emigrating from the South, was attended by some 4,000 persons, including 300 delegates from other States than Mississippi. The proposition to emigrate to Africa was not looked upon with favor, but the proposition to emigrate to Arizona, New Mexico or Texas was approved. The following resolution was adopted:

A national convention is to be held in February next, at Corinth, Miss., in furtherance of this project.

INDIAN NOTES.

—Are the Indians dying out? Major S. N. Clark, of the Bureau of Education, has compiled these various estimates of their population as follows:

These figures are, however, in part conjectural, and all based upon varying data, and limited by varying boundaries. They do not show any constant movement of increase or decrease.

In regard to particular tribes, the Cherokees, since 1809, notwithstanding the depressing influences of removal, and loss by civil war, have increased from 12,395 to 21,072. The Seminoles have, since 1870, increased from 2,638 to 3,000. The Iroquois, 100 years ago numbering about 11,500, are now 13,668. Within forty years the Sioux are computed to have increased from 25,000 to 40,000.

A comparison of births and deaths for the last three years has been made, but it is too incomplete to be the basis of any conclusions.

Major Clark says, in summing up, that several years of study have convinced him that the usual theory that the Indian population is destined to decline and finally disappear, as a result of contact with white civilization, must be greatly modified—probably abandoned altogether.

—Missionaries Riggs and Williamson substantially agree that (1) the Indians, in their wild state, increase quite rapidly, unless disturbed by some violent agent, as war, famine, or pestilence; (2) the first effect of a change to civilized life is to diminish their numbers; (3) the final effect, however, is to a recovery and more rapid growth, even, than in their former state.

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—From the best official estimates, there are in the country about 275,000 Indians. Of this number, 56,630, or only about one-fifth, receive subsistence from the government. Perhaps a majority of the whole number are self-sustaining. The tribes in the Indian Territory are said to compare favorably in moral, social and material condition with many of the white communities in the neighboring States. Schools, courts, church organizations and local legislatures are among their cherished institutions.

—The only Congregational Church in Indian Territory was dedicated Sunday, December 2d. Its site is in the town of Caddo, on the line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. Having been begun in the year 1876, it is known as the “Centennial Church.”

—Official statistics lately published show that, for the past forty years, the military operations against the Indians by the United States have cost $12,000,000, on an average, each year. The wild Apaches, 10,000 in number, cost the government nearly $2,000,000 annually for the pay of the army that takes care of them; while the 60,000 Cherokees, who are civilized and quiet, cost us almost nothing.

—The governor and delegates of the Chickasaw nation, and the delegates of the Choctaw nation, have united in a memorial to the Senate, remonstrating against the passage of the bill to enable Indians to become citizens. They say:

—A bill to allow the civilized tribes of the Indian Territory to elect a delegate to Congress has been introduced in the House, and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. A sub-committee has been appointed to consider and report upon the bill. Their report is favorable, and will be made to the committee on the re-assembling of Congress. It will no doubt be adopted. It provides that a delegate, who shall be a member of some one of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, or Chickasaw tribes, shall be chosen at a general election, to be held under the supervision and direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and shall have all the rights, privileges and emoluments of a delegate from any of the regularly organized Territories. The report shows that it costs the natives upward of $60,000 yearly to send delegates here. Under the present system each tribe now sends from two to five or six delegates, at an expense of about six dollars a day each. One delegate for all, who shall have the privilege of the floor of Congress, would give the tribes much more influence with the government.

—The new Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Hayt, took the oath of office Dec. 18th, and received his commission.

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CHINESE NOTES.

—No one seems to fear lest the Chinaman will die out. To allay apprehensions as to their over-swarming, Prof. S. Wells Williams, LL.D., for forty years an honored resident in the Flowery Kingdom, says:

—Congressman Shelley, of Alabama, has introduced into the House a bill providing that, after January, 1879, all Chinamen coming here (except officially) from any country shall be taxed $250 per capita, or serve five years in the penitentiary!

—Over 300 Chinese have been received as members of the Protestant churches of California, and in addition there are 700 Chinamen in Christian associations for learning Christian doctrine; 750 Chinese attend the mission schools of San Francisco, and over 1,000 go to the Sunday-schools.

—Representative Page, in a letter to the President of the United States, writes:

—On the other hand, Mr. D. O. Miles, formerly of the Bank of California, says:

—The Attorney-General, by direction of the President, has given considerable attention to the question of protecting the Chinese in California. The Attorney-General finds that there is no authority for the United States to interfere unless the State should ask for aid, and is of opinion that this matter should be referred to Congress, and a special message from the President on the subject has been talked of. The President, and all members of his Cabinet, are anxious to use every means which they can constitutionally command to prevent the threatened outbreak. The class of people engaged in the attempt to create disorder is chiefly confined to the foreign laboring element, aided by roughs and the lower classes of San Francisco population. The fact that the Chinese have completely armed themselves has held the roughs in check; but matters are believed to be in a much worse condition than has been reported, and news at any time of horrible scenes in San Francisco would not create surprise in Washington.

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NEW APPOINTMENTS.

1877-1878.

The following list presents the names and post-office addresses of those who are under appointment in the Churches, Institutions and Schools, aided by the American Missionary Association, among the Freedmen in the South, the Chinese on the Pacific Coast, the Indians, and the Negroes in Western Africa. The Theological Department of Howard University is supported jointly by the Presbytery of Washington and the A. M. A. The Berea College and Hampton Institute are under the care of their own Boards of Trustees, but being either founded or fostered in the past by this Association, and representing the general work in which it is engaged, their teachers are included in this list.

THE SOUTHERN FIELD.

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AFRICA.

OUR NEW MISSIONARIES.

Arrival at Sherbro—A Hearty Welcome—First Impressions.

Our letters from the newly arrived band of missionaries at the Mendi Mission have been, of necessity, brief and hurried. We learn from them that the party arrived at Sierra Leone on the 19th of November, and landed the next morning.

In a letter dated Nov. 22, from Sierra Leone, Mr. White says:

“We had, as you know, fifty-seven days on our voyage. The sea is a bad road to ride. All of us were sick some, and Mr. and Mrs. Snelson, Mrs. James and Mrs. Pardoe’s little boy, we thought would not be able to make the voyage. The captain is a very fine man, indeed, and tried to do all for us that was in his power. We are very thankful to him for the kindness he showed toward us. We are very well pleased with Africa—that is, so far as we have seen, but we cannot compare Sherbro with this place, because the people here are not all native, and those at Sherbro are. The mission has [49] a house in Sierra Leone, in which we will stay till we go next week, by steamer, to our station. I want to visit some of the Industrial Schools here before I leave, so that we can tell how they are carried on.

“The people here are very kind to us. The place looks like some old towns in America, which are going to ruin. The houses are all built in the old style. Some of the people will compare with any of our people in the States, while others are far behind them—some of them dress very well, while some only wear a piece of cloth around their hips. You can tell the natives because all of them bear some kind of a mark, as all the tribes mark their children while they are small, to distinguish them from other people.”

From Rev. Mr. Snelson, under dates of Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, we learn that during the week while they were compelled to wait for the government steamer, they were the objects of many kind attentions from the ministers, Governor and leading gentlemen of Sierra Leone. Mr. Kirk met them on their arrival there.

Under the later date, Mr. Snelson writes from Bonthe:

“I am glad to inform you that we have arrived here safely. We left Freetown Thursday evening, taking deck passage on the governor’s steamer, as cabin passage cost three times as much, and reached here yesterday (Nov. 30) afternoon. I found Mrs. Mair here making ready for us. As the boat returns to-day, I shall not be able to make any report. I like the place so far very well. The people seem very anxious to receive us. I have asked Mr. Kirk to come down from Avery next week, that we may all consult together as to what it is best to do.”

Mr. Burton (now in this country and retired from missionary labor), who was for so many years in our service in Africa, writes to us:

“I am very glad to hear of the safe arrival of the missionary company in Africa. I have been for many years looking forward to the time when the mission should be carried on by laborers taken from among the freedmen, and I believe that God will use them to bless Africa.

“I received a letter from Mr. Gomer (a colored missionary of the United Brethren) a few days since. He had just returned from a visit to Avery, and spoke of it as being in a very flourishing condition. I seem to be there in spirit a great part of the time, and I do not know as it is strange, for a generation has grown up under my care, who seem almost to be my children. My prayer is that these freedmen may be God’s instruments to bring them to Christ.”

KAW MENDI, SHERBRO, W. AFRICA.

LETTER FROM REV. J. M. WILLIAMS.

Since I left Shengay, in May, I was directed by the providence of God, through chiefs Wm. and C. H. Tucker, to this, the first station of the Association. I opened a school, and commenced telling of Christ to the adults, in July, to the great joy of all who remembered the former missionaries who labored here. Chief C. H. Tucker has hitherto done nobly, in helping me in every way to prosecute my work. He defrays my traveling expenses, and, when his duties as a chief permit, he accompanies me, and interprets for me when I go to preach in the other towns and villages. I had up to last week twenty scholars, but one was sent home to be cured of a bad ulcer, and five others because their parents have not fulfilled their duties as promised—that is, to feed them while under our care. My plan is, that all who are able, pay something for the education of their children, or the children work to support themselves. Chief C. H. Tucker subscribes readily and largely to the support of the school. He is about erecting a large mission house, a children’s home for boys and girls, and a chapel and schoolhouse, all of country materials except the doors, [50] etc. I fear it will be too much for him, but he does not think so. He hopes to be able to have all ready at the commencement of the ensuing year, God willing. Chief Tucker is one of the most intelligent men about Sherbro, educated by your missionaries, Brooks and White. There is another, a Mr. King, that is an excellent interpreter, and is of help to me.

The children are progressing very fast. Though I cannot yet boast of converts to Christ, yet I am cheered by the fact that here and elsewhere, among those who have attended the preaching of the Gospel, many are inquiring after the way of salvation. Last Lord’s day, an adult attended our Sabbath-school. Our present place of worship here is too small to seat the congregation who meet to worship with us. Thus, while we are called to suffer hunger and other inconveniences often, yet the signs of a successful future inspire me with hope and confidence, and nerve me to go on.

Let me have your prayers. I shall be glad to communicate as regularly as I can with you. I regard this as the Association’s field of labor. As soon as the buildings and chapel are completed, I hope to be more comfortable, and to be able to work more efficiently.

I have named this institution, in honor of my ever-to-be-remembered friend, Lewis Tappan, “Tappan Literary and Industrial School, Brooklyn, near Kaw Mendi, Small Boom River, Sherbro, W. A.,” to which place please direct my American Missionary paper for the future, and all communications.

COMMUNICATIONS.

CHRIST IN THE PERSON OF THE POOR.

Matt. xxv. 40.—“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”

Jacksonville , Dec. 26, ’77.

REPLACING THE BURNED BUILDINGS.

The new building at Macon, Ga., which contains both chapel and schoolrooms is nearly completed. It is built substantially and plainly of brick, fully supplies the place of the two buildings burned, and in cost will come quite within the insurance money received. It will probably be ready for dedication about the first of February.

A lot, on which is a building for a teacher’s home, has been purchased at Mobile, Ala., and the rebuilding of the Emerson Institute will be begun at once. It will also be of brick, commodious and convenient in its proportions and arrangement.

At New Orleans we have met with delays from time to time, arising from the necessity of a change of location, and the customary vexations of real-estate transfers. We sympathize with the trials of our Straight University corps of teachers in the disadvantages under which they are working. We hope soon to have a desirable lot fully secured, and shall then press the building with all the speed [51] which is compatible with prudence and safety.

One of the teachers, in a personal letter, writes:

“As far as numbers make a school a success, Straight is a success. There must be now two hundred pupils, of which there are ninety-three enrolled in my department, with an average of eighty-seven.

“When you know the disadvantages under which the pupils labor, you will wonder, with us, at their constant attendance. More than half in my room sit in chairs in which their feet cannot touch the floor; and the other half are seated at old-fashioned wooden desks that are loose from the floor and often so nicely balanced that one child leaving his seat will cause the books, &c., of three others to come to grief. Think of ninety-three huddled together in a room twenty-five by twenty-five, with the only two windows on one side, the other three sides being dark, the only passage from this room to the street being through another, in which recitations are being heard through the entire day. This, of course, prevents any recess, so necessary in a primary or intermediate department.

“Quite unexpectedly the severe weather has come upon us, in which, because of the unsuitable clothing of the children as well as lack of conveniences for heating the rooms, the children suffer with the cold. Last Friday the gentlemen teachers kept their winter overcoats on all day, and shivered at that. With the exception of severe colds, the teachers are well, and at their posts. The accession of new pupils each month somewhat retards school work. What to do with any more in my department is beyond my ability to answer at present. But if wishes could lay a brick or drive a nail, the new building would be well toward completion.”

CAMPAIGN IN MASSACHUSETTS.

DIST. SEC’Y POWELL, OF CHICAGO.

Thanksgiving week ended, we began our campaign in Massachusetts, at Sheffield, Monday afternoon, December 3d. Very unfavorable were the circumstances attending our first meeting. The brutal murder of an old man and woman on Thanksgiving-Day, had thrown the quiet town into an unusual state of excitement. Evidence pointed strongly to a negro as the murderer; and only the determined resistance of the sheriff at the time of arrest, had saved the town from the disgraceful presence of Judge Lynch. A murder committed by a white man would not, I think, have affected unfavorably a meeting in behalf of home missions; rather, such an event would have given it special point and interest; but a black man being the criminal, the result was different. The meeting was small, and yet I should not be surprised if that meeting at Sheffield should prove to be the most fruitful in results of any held. That murder ought to lead the “sober second thought” of the community to a very hearty endorsement of the American Missionary Association, and I believe it will.

The uniform heartiness with which the ministers of Connecticut received us was emulated by our Massachusetts brethren. Wherever we came, a cordial welcome awaited us, and when we left, an equally cordial God-speed accompanied us. Our meetings were held almost entirely in the western part of the State. Hampshire, Hampden and Berkshire counties were the field, and forty-two different churches were visited. Just here I might as well make note of the delightful weather we had all through our Massachusetts campaign—only one unpleasant evening during the time, and that not sufficiently so to keep the people at home. Very fortunate we were that evening in Lee—the well-known go-to-meeting habits of the people gave us a large audience, compared with some other places visited on pleasant evenings; and in connection with the weather, how can I forbear mention of the country—its native beauty, striking grandeur, and historic interest—who that knows New England can be ignorant of these? Valleys where poets might go crazy in the vain attempt to sing their glory, New England’s sturdy sons have turned into factories of wealth. The Mountains Holyoke, Sugar Loaf, Tom and Toby, seeming to keep perpetual [52] watch of the busy life in the valleys below, and then the stories of Indian romance that, lingering still, encircle some spots with their own weird interest; the houses of such as Edwards, Field and Bellamy, open up historic trains of thought which lead to the fountain-head of those intellectual and moral forces which have made not only Western Massachusetts, but all New England such an influential power in the best development of our country. These “sceptred dead,” from whom not yet has the realm of empire departed! What with pleasant weather, beautiful scenery, romantic tales and historic reminiscence, the fatigue of travel and wear of speaking, were considerably lightened.

In many cases, the afternoon meetings proved, both in point of numbers and interest, the best. People who leave their homes and business in the afternoon, riding in some cases four or five miles to attend a meeting, bring with them an inspiration which a speaker cannot fail to feel; and after he has gone, his words remain to be thought over and acted upon. What a difference between an audience pleased only when the speaker entertains them, and one that is gathered because of already awakened interest in the cause of missions! Well, we had both kinds, but our afternoon audiences were chiefly of the latter. Buckland, Ashfield, Lee, Amherst and Chicopee, are especially worthy of mention for the large audiences given us, while, with the exception of two places, which I will not mention, all the others accorded us a generous hearing, larger indeed than, under the circumstances, could have been expected.

A little episode occurred during the first week, that broke up our speaking force for a few days, but added at the same time to the value of the campaign. The Worcester Central Missionary Society held its Fifty-Third Annual Meeting, December 6th, in Worcester, to which meeting Mr. Woodworth and myself repaired, and occupied a full hour kindly given us, to set forth the claims of the American Missionary Association; while Mr. Cutler, reinforced by Mr. Pike, kept on, and filled the appointments in their original order. There were two things about this Worcester meeting I wish to mention. First , it indicated the growing interest of the churches in the subject of missions. This Society was organized fifty-two years ago as auxiliary to the American Board, and, during these intervening years, has preserved this exclusive relation. This year the Society voted to change its constitution, in order that hereafter all the Missionary causes may have recognition in its deliberations and benefactions. Secondly , this meeting indicated that a whole day can be profitably given by the churches in convention assembled, to the consideration of missions. From the beginning the power of the meeting increased, and the evening session, at which there was a mingling of stirring pleas for the Education Society, the Board Home Missions, and the Missionary Association, was the crowning interest of the day.

Brethren, let us move for a “Missionary Day” in our conferences, and put the Missionary Societies under requisition for the very best material they can furnish to kindle a fire of missionary enthusiasm in our churches. The Sabbath following this Worcester meeting was spent by Mr. Woodworth in Worcester, Mr. Cutler in Gardner in the morning, and with his former charge in Athol, in the evening; while I went to Keene, New Hampshire, and spent the day with my old Seminary class-mate, Rev. Cyrus Richardson. His sensitive regard for my physical well-being, led him to let me off with three preaching services, at all of which I had to talk A. M. A. and all the time. The evening meeting was a crowded union service, Rev. Mr. Leech coming over with his people in full force, showing that the churches of Keene have a warm place in their hearts for missionary work among the despised races in America.

By previous arrangement, we were to again unite our forces at Buckland, near Sherburne Falls, on Monday afternoon; but

“The best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft agley.”

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Mr. Woodworth failed to start, Mr. Cutler missed his train, and I found myself dumped at a station, marked Buckland in the railway guide, three miles away from the town, and the only living creature I discovered, from which to get directions what to do and where to go, was a poor little cat that came bounding to my side, purring out as plainly as anything could be said—“I am glad to see you.” After a brief interchange of the compliments of the season, I buttoned my overcoat, adjusted my satchel, and started up the only road it was possible to take, and in the only direction possible—for the road terminated at a river, on the bank of which stood the depot. It proved to be the right way. How easy it would be to get along if the right way was the only way in which we could go! As I drew near the village, the cheery notes of the church bell rung out their merry call, while well-filled carriages, whirling along in the direction of the church, told me that the people were evidently interested in missions. I was on hand, and in time. A fine audience had gathered; but my brethren, where were they? Well, they did not come; that was all I knew, and in their absence I did the best I could. The gift of continuance was given me in copious plenteousness, and the time was exhausted before I was. I failed to notice, however, whether my audience was not also exhausted. The next day the disjecta membra came together again at Sherburne Falls, and henceforth to the close kept together.

And now as I review this entire series of meetings, the question comes—have they been profitable? Others, I presume, will ask the same question, and therefore I take a brief space to answer it as I may be able. The object we had in view was, first , to impart information concerning the work of the American Missionary Association, and to discuss its claims upon the churches, to the end that the receipts of its treasury might be increased, and its work correspondingly strengthened; and, secondly , that the distinctive missionary nature of our work might have a more prominent place in the religious thought of the churches, and thus become a factor in the development of such Christian life as has a tender regard for those who are despised and poor and oppressed. So far, then, as our object is concerned, we must wait for time to bring an answer, but the meetings themselves developed certain data out of which we can construct an answer. The data are these: First , while no contributions were asked for or taken from the congregation, individuals, self-moved, have handed to us considerable money that otherwise would not have come into our treasury, while pledges have been made of amounts far more than sufficient to meet the expense of both campaigns. Secondly , I took occasion to ask nearly all the ministers, and, so far as I could, the leading men attending the meetings, the question—“In your judgment has it paid for us three men to come here and hold this meeting?” And without exception the answer has been, “ Yes ,” and in the majority of cases the additional remark, “I wish it were so you could come again.” With this testimony, and personal knowledge of the general interest of the meetings, I can only answer the question raised in the affirmative, with the strong conviction that time will confirm its correctness.

[ From the Fisk Expositor. ]

AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

Great honor is due George Peabody, because he donated to the South, for the purposes of general education, upwards of three millions of dollars, the interest of which is to be appropriated to the work of developing the school systems of the various States.

But the American Missionary Association of New York City, the almoner of funds received from the Congregational churches of the United States, has already, since the war, disbursed more money in the South for educational purposes than the entire gift of George Peabody, and is expending for the prosecution of the same work, every year, more than twice as much as the interest of the Peabody Fund.

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In this statement no intention exists to depreciate the munificence of Mr. Peabody’s gift, but to call attention to the fact that the South owes a debt of gratitude to the American Missionary Association, which it should not be slow to recognize.

The Association was organized in 1846, for the purpose of “carrying the Gospel to the poor.” The first school for colored children was opened at Hampton, Virginia, in 1861. Since that time it has expended between $3,500,000 and $4,000,000, ninety per cent. of which has been appropriated to the support of its work in the South.

THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.

AN EXAMPLE FOR THE BOYS.

I have wanted to do something for the freedmen. I am a little boy seven years old. Last spring grandpapa gave me a little plot of ground for my vegetable garden, consisting of corn, pop-corn, beans, summer squashes, Hubbard squashes, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbages, watermelons. I took most of the care of the garden myself; only when I went on a sail my grandma picked the squashes. I sold the products of my garden to my grandma, and she paid me in money, amounting to a dollar and a half , with which I cheerfully send to you for the freedmen.

Amasa Day Chaffee.

Modus, Conn. , Nov. 29, 1877 .

SIX COMPOSITIONS.

“VA.

“ Dear Teacher :—On returning from my school this afternoon, I thought I would write and let you hear of my sojourning. To-day is Friday (the last day in school week), and, after a review of the week’s studies, the children are requested to write short compositions. I send you six, copied just as they were written:

‘ Sunday School.

‘Sunday school is a good place to go. To keep out of badness. And learn the words of god good boys and girls goes to sunday school every sunday when they can. Everybody ought to go to sunday school; and hear the Bible because it tell them what is right and wrong. M. F. Hancock.’

‘Sunday school are the place that people ought to go, and learn to read about god and his diciples, and of him to learn good and not bad like Biley done to day killed a little sparrow, where will never do him no harm in the world, and he put the bird to death. Poor bird. Peter S. Hancock.’

‘Sunday School is a good place that all bad children ought to go to. And some of the members do not come to the Sunday School. And this School is a very emportant one. And the people ought make their children come where gods work are going on. And if they fuse to come whip them. I do not fuse to come where the Lord work is. Jerry Chappell.’

‘Sunday School are a place that people ought to go to learn something about the scripture Sunday School are a very pretty place to go to learn and to spell and to read People ought to be have there Selves. Emily Farmer.’

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‘Sunday School is a very useful thing; though I don’t go to it but I hope every body will go if I dont go. Sunday School is a place where every body ought to go to learn sense, and read the scripture and hear the word of God. Ellen Coles.’

“These were written by the Fourth Reader class. My school numbers fifty-one pupils. I have no little task to undergo. Besides worrying with the children all the week, I have the responsibility of head Deacon and Clerk of the church. I sometimes despair; but when I look and see that there is no one in our midst more competent than I am for either position, I look to the ‘Great I Am’ and do the best I can.

“Ere this, you are somewhat experienced in the movements of our race. They suit quite well to begin with, but the end, alas! how different from the beginning! Our people are quick of apprehension, but do not continue in it.

“Very respectfully,

“Your once pupil and scholar,

“H.”

RECEIPTS

FOR DECEMBER, 1877.

H. W. HUBBARD,

Ass’t Treas.

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Constitution of the American Missionary Association.

INCORPORATED JANUARY 30, 1849.

Art. I. This Society shall be called “ The American Missionary Association .”

Art. II. The object of this Association shall be to conduct Christian missionary and educational operations, and diffuse a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures in our own and other countries which are destitute of them, or which present open and urgent fields of effort.

Art. III. Any person of evangelical sentiments, [A] who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not a slaveholder, or in the practice of other immoralities, and who contributes to the funds, may become a member of the Society; and by the payment of thirty dollars, a life member; provided, that children and others who have not professed their faith may be constituted life members without the privilege of voting.

Art. IV. This Society shall meet annually, in the month of September, October or November, for the election of officers and the transaction of other business at such time and place as shall be designated by the Executive Committee.

Art. V. The annual meeting shall be constituted of the regular officers and members of the Society at the time of such meeting, and of delegates from churches, local missionary societies, and other co-operating bodies—each body being entitled to one representative.

Art. VI. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice Presidents, a Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretaries, Treasurer, two Auditors, and an Executive Committee of not less than twelve, of which the Corresponding Secretaries shall be advisory, and the Treasurer ex-officio, members.

Art. VII. To the Executive Committee shall belong the collecting and disbursing of funds; the appointing, counselling, sustaining and dismissing (for just and sufficient reasons) missionaries and agents; the selection of missionary fields; and, in general, the transaction of all such business as usually appertains to the executive committees of missionary and other benevolent societies; the Committee to exercise no ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the missionaries; and its doings to be subject always to the revision of the annual meeting, which shall, by a reference mutually chosen, always entertain the complaints of any aggrieved agent or missionary; and the decision of such reference shall be final.

The Executive Committee shall have authority to fill all vacancies occurring among the officers between the regular annual meetings; to apply, if they see fit, to any State Legislature for acts of incorporation; to fix the compensation, where any is given, of all officers, agents, missionaries, or others in the employment of the Society: to make provision, if any, for disabled missionaries, and for the widows and children of such as are deceased; and to call, in all parts of the country, at their discretion, special and general conventions of the friends of missions, with a view to the diffusion of the missionary spirit, and the general and vigorous promotion of the missionary work.

Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for transacting business.

Art. VIII. This society, in collecting funds, in appointing officers, agents and missionaries, and in selecting fields of labor, and conducting the missionary work, will endeavor particularly to discountenance slavery, by refusing to receive the known fruits of unrequited labor, or to welcome to its employment those who hold their fellow-beings as slaves.

Art. IX. Missionary bodies, churches or individuals agreeing to the principles of this Society, and wishing to appoint and sustain missionaries of their own, shall be entitled to do so through the agency of the Executive Committee, on terms mutually agreed upon.

Art. X. No amendment shall be made in this Constitution without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present at a regular annual meeting; nor unless the proposed amendment has been submitted to a previous meeting, or to the Executive Committee in season to be published by them (as it shall be their duty to do, if so submitted) in the regular official notifications of the meeting.

FOOTNOTE:

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The American Missionary Association.

AIM AND WORK.

To preach the Gospel to the poor. It originated in a sympathy with the almost friendless slaves. Since Emancipation it has devoted its main efforts to preparing the Freedmen for their duties as citizens and Christians in America and as missionaries in Africa. As closely related to this, it seeks to benefit the caste-persecuted Chinese in America, and to co-operate with the Government in its humane and Christian policy towards the Indians . It has also a mission in Africa .

STATISTICS.

Churches : In the South —In Va., 1; N. C., 5; S. C., 2; Ga., 11; Ky., 5; Tenn., 4; Ala., 12; La., 12; Miss., 1; Kansas, 2; Texas, 4. Africa , 1. Among the Indians , 2. Total, 62.

Institutions Founded, Fostered or Sustained in the South. Chartered : Hampton, Va.; Berea, Ky.; Talladega, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn., Tougaloo, Miss.; New Orleans, La.; and Austin, Texas, 8; Graded or Normal Schools : at Wilmington, Raleigh, N. C.; Charleston, Greenwood, S. C.; Macon, Atlanta, Ga.; Montgomery, Mobile, Athens, Selma, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.; 11; Other Schools , 7. Total, 26.

Teachers, Missionaries and Assistants —Among the Freedmen, 209; among the Chinese, 17; among the Indians, 16; in foreign lands, 10. Total, 252. Students —In Theology, 74; Law, 8; in College Course, 79; in other studies, 5,243. Total, 5,404. Scholars taught by former pupils of our schools, estimated at 100,000. Indians under the care of the Association, 13,000.

WANTS.

1. A steady Increase of regular income to keep pace with the growing work in the South. This increase can only be reached by regular and larger contributions from the churches—the feeble as well as the strong.

2. Additional Buildings for our higher educational institutions, to accommodate the increasing numbers of students; Meeting Houses , for the new churches we are organizing; More Ministers , cultured and pious, for these churches.

3. Help for Young Men , to be educated as ministers here and missionaries to Africa—a pressing want.

Before sending boxes, always correspond with the nearest A. M. A. office, as below.

MAGAZINE.

This magazine will be sent, gratuitously, if desired, to the Missionaries of the Association; To Life members; to all clergymen who take up collection for the Association; to Superintendents of Sabbath Schools; to College Libraries; to Theological Seminaries; to Societies of Inquiry on Missions; and to every donor who does not prefer to take it as a subscriber, and contributes in a year no less than five dollars.

Those who wish to remember the American Missionary Association in their last Will and Testament, are earnestly requested to use the following

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

“I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars in trust, to pay the same in —— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the “American Missionary Association,” 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 [in some States three are required—in other States only two], who should write against their names, their places of residence [if in cities, their street and number]. The following form of attestation will answer for every State in the Union: “Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said [A. B.] as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who, at the request of the said A. B., and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.” In some States, it is required that the Will should be made at least two months before the death of the testator.

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Educational Publishers.

TEACHERS are requested to send for our Descriptive Catalogue of 400 Text Books and Professional Manuals.

A. S. B. & Co., also publish

Dale’s Lectures on Preaching:

As delivered at Yale College, 1877. Contents: Perils of Young Preachers; The Intellect in Relation to Preaching; Reading; Preparation of Sermons; Extemporaneous Preaching and Style; Evangelistic Preaching; Pastoral Preaching; The Conduct of Public Worship. Price, postpaid, $1.50.

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PRICES REDUCED. —In accordance with decreased cost of manufacture, we HAVE REDUCED CATALOGUE PRICES $10 to $50 EACH on almost all styles. Five-Octave, Double-Reed Organs , $99 and upwards; with nine stops , $108 and upwards. Sold also for installments, or rented until rent pays for the Organ. Dealers often recommend and urge the sale of inferior organs, because they get larger discounts or commissions for selling them.

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FOR

MARKS’

PATENT

First Premium Artificial Limbs.

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The official report of judges and award by the United States Centennial Commission of the International Exhibition, Philadelphia, and also by the American Institute for 1876 and 1877, and for many previous years; all of which, together with full description of the Limbs, recommendatory letters from eminent surgeons and patrons, illustrations of important cases pertaining to the superior merits of these historical, simple, substantial and always reliable substitutes for lost Limbs, will be found in my 112-page Pamphlet, of SPECIAL INTEREST TO DISABLED SOLDIERS AND SEAMEN OF ALL RANKS.

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COPIES SENT FREE.

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ADDRESS

A. A. MARKS,

575 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Spelling and punctuation were changed only where the error appears to be a printing error. The punctuation changes are too numerous to list; the others are as follows:

Ditto marks in tables were replaced by the text they represent.

“last” changed to “Last” on page 54. ( Last spring )

“accomodate” changed to “accommodate” on page 60. ( accommodate the increasing numbers of students )