Book: American Missionary, Volume 43, No. 10, October, 1889
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Various >> American Missionary, Volume 43, No. 10, October, 1889
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We have just learned that Mr. A.J. Berger, formerly industrial teacher
at Macon, Georgia, died at Claremont, Virginia, September 2d, at the age
of sixty-six years.
* * * * *
News has also come to us of the death of Miss J.P. Bradshaw, a former
teacher at Tougaloo University, Miss. For five years she bravely battled
for life, but finally died of consumption.
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STUDENT'S LETTER.
* * * * *
A BIT OF EXPERIENCE.
BY A TALLADEGA STUDENT.
Not long since I was forcibly reminded of the work and worth of the
schools of the American Missionary Association by witnessing the
services in a church. In a room large enough to comfortably seat one
hundred were fully two hundred and fifty, and a large crowd hovering
about the door. There was abundance of singing and praying. The songs
were mostly on the solo and chorus style--not set to music, what we call
plantation or "made-up songs." While singing, the leader adds new words
to suit his fancy and emotional fervor; thus the song often undergoes
several changes of words in the course of a few months, all the time
retaining the same tune. This is what is meant by "made-up songs." Among
those of my people in whom the emotional tide runs high this kind of
singing is _very popular_.
In that meeting, while singing the last part of each song the audience
would rise and turn their backs toward the pulpit. One started the
prayers, but soon the multitude of voices made it impossible to know who
was leading or what was being said. The minister came in late. He slowly
turned the pages of the Bible until he found his text. With a murmuring
voice he read a few verses and began preaching. Moving off slowly, like
an express train, he soon gathered a rapid motion of body and a furious
rattling of words. With head down and the white of his eyes turned
upward he kept up a constant spitting and walking for forty or
forty-five minutes. All the while the hearers responded with thrilling
animation. The sermon over, the singing was started as before for a long
jubilee. A few nights ago, at such a meeting, not far from the writer's
church, a young woman so mutilated her head while going through a
muscular jubilation, that she had to go to the doctor to have her head
repaired.
Less than a quarter of a mile away was another audience, not one-fourth
as large as the one referred to above, with an educated preacher,
worshiping in the spirit with the propriety and with the gentleness of
the gospel. So unlike was the deportment and so different was the
character of the two audiences that but for their common color one might
have thought that they were composed of two distinct races. The question
may be asked, what makes the difference? They are the same people,
worshiping the same God out of the same Bible. Education and the lack of
it make the difference.
The conduct of audiences like the first here spoken of seems to vary
with the style of the speaker. I once preached to such a congregation.
Their behavior was orderly. During the sermon their responses were a few
amens. Knowing their habit in worship, I was somewhat annoyed with the
thought that I was muzzling their feelings and the sooner I got through
the gladder they would be. That class of people have a way of calling
the minister "Cold water preacher," if he does not preach them into
something like a spell of hallucination. Their composure led me to
believe that I would earn the title. Still I endured, and endeavored to
give the plain truth plainly and earnestly; having a strong feeling that
as I was in authority I must command in the right way. After dismission,
many said to me, "You gave us the pure word and we enjoyed it." "That's
what we need," said another. I was heartily invited to come again. I
find now I am welcome with that people.
"The fields are white already to harvest." Great is the opportunity of
the rich and enlightened churches. The helpfulness of our schools to my
people and to the country, is beyond calculation. Our missionary
schools are like so many lighthouses along this dark belt of the Union.
Their light is being reflected by thousands of colored youth who without
these schools would have grown up in gross ignorance.
This brings to mind an incident of my life, which now I believe was
providential. Seventeen years ago, when my education was very limited,
while working in a restaurant, I visited Talladega College and was
deeply impressed with the school, and the intelligence and advancement
of the boys. I decided that I would enter school immediately, and did
so, though my money was scarce and a few weeks before I had agreed to
continue work in the restaurant at twelve dollars per month, board and
bed furnished. That was good wages for a boy of my age, but I know now
that giving it up and going to school was a thousand times higher wages
for me. I felt my imperfections so keenly then I was ashamed to talk to
the boys in the college. The stimulation for an education, which I
received on that visit to Talladega College has never left me. I regard
it most fortunate for an ignorant young man to visit our best schools.
* * * * *
THE INDIANS
* * * * *
FORT YATES, DAKOTA.
MISS M.C. COLLINS.
During the recent measles epidemic a large number of children died on
the Agency. At this village, a little child had been conjured until they
thought it was dying, and then they sent for me. I found the poor little
one all bruised with the hands of the conjurer. I showed the mother how
to bathe it, and I poulticed the throat and sent Josephine over again to
change the poultice, and she reported the child as breathing quietly.
The next morning the swelling had gone down and the baby seemed much
better; all day it continued to improve, and the next day sat up and ate
rice soup which I carried it. The mother said, "She is well now!" I
said, "O, no, she is not; keep her in the house three days and I will
visit her, then she will be well perhaps." If an Indian is not in a
dying condition, they do not consider anything the matter. So, after I
left, she took her child out and walked about two miles. The child
caught cold, and that afternoon grew worse. They had an Indian to
conjure it, and it died immediately. They sent for me to come and pray
with them. Josephine went for Elias, and we went to the desolate home.
The baby had been dead an hour and was closed up in a box, the
grandfather singing a mourning song, the mother wailing, "O my daughter,
my daughter, I loved her and she has left me." Over and over again she
cried out in her sorrow. The grandmother had cut her flesh, and the
streams of blood running down from her hair over her face only made all
seem more desolate, and more weird and terrible. They were trying to be
Indians, and yet they had asked for me to come. I suppose it was to give
the child the full benefit of both religions, so that there should be no
mistake in the future world.
My Bible class now numbers ten; six of them are candidates for church
membership. One of them spoke very nicely at our last prayer meeting.
Among other things he said: "No man can kill God's Word. It will live
and his church will grow. We have tried to kill it in this village, but
look at it now. It has taken hold of us, and we who have fought against
it are now its followers. No man can kill God, because he alone is the
creator of life, and it is only foolish to try to stand upon his word
and keep it down. The Indian customs fall before the Word of God
wherever the Bible has gone. My friends, stop fighting against God,
believe on him and rejoice." This is Wakutemani (Walking Hunter) whom I
named Huntington Wolcott for Mr. Wolcott of Boston. Because he said he
wanted a long name and the name of a good man, I combined the two. He is
now ambitious to become a teacher. He will be ready for an out-station
whenever you are able to build one. He says they have already asked him
to come up on Oak Creek to teach them, and I gave him a Bible and hymn
books and primer, and he goes about reading and singing and praying for
Christ. May he be indeed the Walking Hunter, going about seeking souls.
God be with him to the end.
Nearly all of our Indians signed the bill to open the reservation. John
Grass took the lead. He is a very wise man, and a good one for an Indian
who represents the wild Indians. I attended all the sessions of the
Council except the last. I see by the papers that a Roman Catholic
priest on this Agency says he touched the pen first, and that caused all
the Indians to sign. Grass says he wants me to dispute that, that he
refused to sign last year because he did not like the bill. This year,
the Commissioners were men of brains and the bill was a better one, and
was so explained that the Indians understood it, and that they of their
own accord thought the best thing they could do was to sign it, that the
said priest had no power or influence over them whatever. He said, "Tell
our friends this for me, and tell them the Commissioners know that we
signed it of our own will because we believed it was for the good of our
people." I told him I would write it East.
* * * * *
The instability of the Indian.--It used to be a proverb among the
Indians that "The white man is very uncertain." The following brief
extract from the letter of a missionary among the Indians not only shows
that the Indian is unstable, but illustrates the difficulty of fixing
the Indians in a given locality and at steady work:
The Commissioner was at ---- the other day, and our Indians
had a chance to sign, and almost all of them did so, but
still to many of them the opening seems an evil. I am afraid
they are not going to maintain their places in the face of
settlement by the whites. Already six families have slipped
away to the Indian Territory, and I shall not be much
surprised if in the next two years a considerable majority
of them go; and still it is about as difficult to tell what
an Indian will do, as it is to forecast western weather. I
think they have never done so well in farming as this year,
but one case will illustrate how unstable they are. One man
sold three young horses for about half what they were worth.
He had about eight acres of wheat, twelve acres of corn, and
an acre of oats, all of which he abandoned to go South,
though all his crops were very fine and had been well worked
by _himself_.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
* * * * *
OUR CHINESE IN CHINA.
BY REV. W.C. POND, D.D.
This is an old theme, but it presents fresh aspects from time to time. I
am quite sure that the readers of the MISSIONARY will be interested in
these extracts from three comparatively recent letters:
"My DEAR PASTOR:
"Since I left for my home, I am perfectly well and safe. I am very glad
that I havn't got any persecution come to me. I told my parents the
first thing when I reached my home that I don't worship the idols and
the ancestors when I marry. They did not say anything except, 'Do what
you please,' and then I thought I could stop the bride to worship too.
They said, 'She couldn't,' [_i.e._ could not be prevented from
worshiping]. In the day I married, when the bride worship the ancestors
the spectators called me saying, 'Mr. Fung Jung, go, worship with the
bride.' My mother answered them, 'That is all right, he did worship.'
Two days after, the news that I did not worship the ancestors reached my
wife's parents. They immediately send a woman to me and asked me what
was the matter I did not worship the ancestor. I explained to her as
well as I could and then she went home. Though I stay very firm for
Jesus Christ, I am very sorry that I could not convert my family yet. Do
pray for me and for those who do not know Christ."
It may be remarked in explanation of this somewhat singular toleration
of Fung Jung's faith and conduct as a Christian, that he had been a
merchant for two or three years before he returned, and in comparison
with his relatives at home, and perhaps with the average of returning
Chinese, was a prosperous and somewhat well-to-do man. And it is often
remarked that if a son or a brother can get _good luck_ in California he
may have whatever religion he pleases. That is what Chinese religion is
_for_--its sole utility--to get for its patrons good luck, and if this
is gained, and the son or brother has money to divide, his religion will
be accepted as satisfactory, on the ground that it has worked well in
his case.
JOE JET IN SEARCH OF A MISSIONARY.
Joe Jet is the Christian merchant (once a helper in our mission) to whom
was entrusted by our brethren the task of inaugurating their missionary
work in the districts from which they came. The letter from him that I
am about to quote reached me some months ago. "I have crossed the stormy
ocean and safely reached my country. I have seen Tsing Ki, Fung Foo and
all my friends at Hong Kong. God protected me. And we talked about our
missionary society, how we should go on. Then we agree to try to have
one good Christian brother, his name Moo King Shing. He can both preach
and teach. We know he is belonging to the Presbyterian Church, but we
desired to employ him. Then I left Hong Kong and went home to see my
parents, wife and all my relatives. I stay home ten days, then take my
way, go to find where Moo Hing Shan is. I go through the chapel of Kong
Moon, then San Wao city, and then got to San Ching Fan and inquire how
to get my way to see Moo Hing Shan. The preacher at that chapel say,
he's in Nor Foo Market, and so, finally, I meet him there. I then talk
over the new story with him. He like very well to work in our society,
but he had teached and preached in that place seven years and all these
brethren and scholars cannot leave him. The missionary say he could not
let him leave, because he is a true Christian--not one to begin
believing and then stop. He cannot decide yet. He will think about it.
If he sure he cannot leave there, then we find another."
A third letter is from a brother who has recently returned from China.
It speaks of good news he has received from home--news of the baptism of
six persons--one man and five women. About some of these women our
brother knows something, and says: "One of the women was about sixty
years of age. Her brother was a Christian and a preacher, and through
her brother she gain to be a Christian. After this she encountered many
trials, especially with her son's wife. Her son was in California, and
his wife and two children lived with his mother. After she became a
Christian both the children died. Their mother quarrel with her because
she will not worship the idols. Then her brother, the preacher, died.
Then she herself was taken very sick. We miss her three Sabbath days.
That time no Chinese preacher was there, and only myself and, perhaps,
one or two Christian brothers with me at the chapel. So I ask one of
them to go with me to see for what cause she was absent. She lived about
five miles from my place. We reach the village, meet a young man outside
the village, ask him 'where is the Christian woman's house?' He said to
us, 'Follow me.' So we follow him straight to her house and that young
man live there. So I found she was sick. Three women were in the house,
one of them the son's wife. These women said to us, 'If she not be a
Christian you would not come to her.' My answer, 'Certainly not; if I
not a Christian myself I would not come here.' So I begin to have a
little talk to them and tell them who is the true God and how much God
love us all, and how Jesus died for us. After this I gave them a prayer.
They felt very much pleased to hear it. They gave me some present to
take home, and soon the woman got all well. Then she went with her
brother's widow to Hong Kong and leave her son's wife at home. Then she
also became a Christian woman, very faithful, although a great many
people make fun of her and use many bad words about her. She must be one
of the five baptized."
Another letter from a Chinese brother tells me, "My wife one time, with
the Chinese women, keep Sabbath day. So I am very glad. When I was at
home my wife say she too young to be Christian and afraid the people
would make fun of her. I told a Chinese preacher's wife in China to try
to get her. I hope she will be led the Christian way."
Surely the leaven, though little, is working in China, and though it be
hid in a great mass of meal, it will not cease its working till the
whole is leavened. "China for Christ!" this our motto, and this our
prayer.
* * * * *
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.
* * * * *
WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS
CO-OPERATING WITH THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
ME.--Woman's Aid to A.M.A.,
Chairman of Committee, Mrs. C.A. Woodbury, Woodfords, Me.
VT.--Woman's 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.E. Mossman, Fort Wayne, Ind.
ILL.--Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. C.H. Taintor, 151 Washington St., Chicago, Ill.
MINN.--Woman's Home Miss. Society,
Secretary, Miss Katharine Plant, 2651 Portland Avenue,
Minneapolis, Minn.
IOWA.--Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Miss Ella E. Marsh, Grinnell, Iowa.
KANSAS.--Woman's Home Miss. Society,
Secretary, Mrs. G.L. Epps, Topeka, Kan.
MICH.--Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. Mary. B. Warren, Lansing, Mich.
WIS.--Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. C. Matter, Brodhead, Wis.
NEB.--Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. L.F. Berry, 724 N. Broad St., Fremont, Neb.
COLORADO.--Woman's Home Miss. Union,
Secretary, Mrs. S.M. Packard, Pueblo, Colo.
SOUTH 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.
NORTH DAKOTA.--Woman's Home Miss. Society,
President, Mrs. A.J. Pike, Dwight;
Sec., Mrs. Silas Dagett, Harwood;
Treas., Mrs. J.M. Fisher, Fargo.
[Footnote 1: For the purpose of exact information, we note
that while the W.H.M.A. appears in the list as a State body
for Mass. and R.I., it has certain auxiliaries elsewhere.]
We would, suggest to all ladies connected with the auxiliaries of
State Missionary Unions, that funds for the American Missionary
Association be sent to us through the treasurers of the Union. Care,
however, should be taken to designate the money as for the American
Missionary Association, since _undesignated funds will not reach us_.
* * * * *
The Woman's meeting of the American Missionary Association will be held
in connection with the Annual Meeting, on Thursday afternoon, October
31st, in the New England Church, Chicago, Ill. Missionaries will be
present from the work among the colored people and the mountain whites
in the South, and also from the Indians, to give descriptions of their
life on their mission fields. We would again urge a full representation
of ladies from all the churches.
* * * * *
In connection also with the Annual Meeting of the American Missionary
Association, and by their invitation, there will be an all-day Mass
Meeting of Women's Home Missionary Unions in the New England Church,
Chicago, October 29th. Every State Union is urged to send
representatives.
* * * * *
GLIMPSES FROM THE FIELD.
SCHOOL LIFE.
I think you could not find a busier company of young people anywhere. As
soon as one task is accomplished, another is ready to be taken up, and
this goes on from early morn till time for retiring. Going into the
kitchen you will find a dozen or more girls, with bright and happy
faces, doing the homely work of dish-washing and preparing the
vegetables for dinner. In the laundry, you are greeted with as many more
smiling faces, some singing, others telling funny stories, but all busy
at their allotted work. The bell rings for school and you will see them
flying from every direction, perhaps having taken a moment to smooth the
hair, or arrange the dress. All out of breath they reach the school
room, ready for the five hours' work with books, which is the same as
any average school in the North. This work being accomplished, they are
off to the farm, shops, the sewing room and the cooking class. Here they
learn to prepare all substantial food which would be necessary for any
table, and become initiated into the intricacies of bread, pie and
cake-making.
Our Sabbaths are not idle days either, for with Sunday-school, church
service, and prayer meetings, our day is pretty well filled. Some of our
girls are doing real missionary work by going out into the neighborhood,
to relieve the sick, read to the old and infirm, and to carry food where
it is needed. This they seem to enjoy, and it will, perhaps, prepare
them for usefulness as they go out to work among their people.
HOME LIFE.
Perhaps, if I give you a glimpse into the home of one of our pupils, you
can more easily understand what we have to work against among these
people. In a miserable old hovel, of one small room, lives a family of
eleven, father, mother, five children, two pitiful little orphans, to
whom the mother out of the kindness of her heart has given shelter, and
a young man and a young woman as boarders. The mother toils hard each
day to furnish bread for the little ones, and does what she can to keep
her family respectable. The father is what is termed, "no 'count." He
has no regular employment, but, when so inclined, will chop wood, and
thus earn a few dimes. Their house is lighted by one small window, in
which bunches of rags and papers supply the absence of glass. The room
is heated by an old fire-place, which is crumbling to decay. The
furniture consists of two straw beds covered with ragged quilts, a
little pine table, and four broken chairs. I need not tell you of the
moral atmosphere which exists in such a home. Yet this is only a type of
the home we see too often when we are making our round of calls.
SACRIFICES FOR EDUCATION.
Our school refuses none on account of age. Pupils are there, from the
little three-year-old who attends the "Kinny-garten," as they call it,
to those who are forty and fifty years old. I have been exceedingly
interested in one woman who is now attending school in the primary room.
She said to me: "I done sent my daughters through school and now I
thought I would try and get a little education myself."
One of the good brothers well expressed this idea of sacrifice on the
part of the parents for the education of their children when he said, "I
only wants to be a stepping-stone for my children. If I can help them to
rise higher than I have got, that is all I ask."
One poor woman told me she spent less than a dollar per week for
provisions for a family of eight persons in order to save money to keep
her children in school.
The oldest pupil in my school, a man over thirty years of age, said to
me one day, "I wish I could have gone to school when I was young, for as
a fellow grows older, his remembrance comes shorter."
* * * * *
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
Two little girls, about eight and nine years old, have just been to my
room. The older one said, "This yere chile wants a dress to wear to
Sunday-school to-morrow, and her ma says if it don't fit she can cut it
off and make it over." I found among the contents of the last barrel a
pretty blue gingham that fitted. I am sure the one who sent the dress
would have felt happy if she could have seen the glad look of the child
as she received it. I found the older little girl was not attending any
day-school, and when I asked her what she did to help at home, she
replied, "I don't do nothing, but stay at home and tote wood and notice
the house."