Various

“ A person is regarded as “having a plenty” when he owns a good saddle-horse or two, a pistol, a milch cow, a few shoats, domestic fowls, and crop enough to last him through the year. The idea is that man lives but a short time; he should be satisfied with enough to eat and wear; that death, in a sense, destroys his individuality; that one star doesn’t differ from another in glory; that “in much wisdom is much grief,” and “what profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?” ”

“ While he was speaking, his words were so full of sympathy and love that he held the attention of the rudest class of boys in the city for more than an hour. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice—even the lambs. We know that he loves our nation, because he built us this synagogue, and we love him because he loves us. He is, indeed, a true philanthropist. ”

“ Judge Tourgee, if he is the author of that remarkable book, “A Fool’s Errand,” which every citizen of the Union should not only read, but profoundly study, puts the case in a nut-shell when, in answer to his old teacher’s question, “But what can be done for their (the Negroes’) elevation and relief, or to prevent the establishment of a mediæval barbarism in our midst?” he says:
“The remedy is one that must be applied from the outside. The remedy for darkness is light; for ignorance, knowledge; for wrong, righteousness. The nation nourished and protected slavery. ”

“ Your desolate ride has hardly prepared you for the pleasing aspect of the town that greets you. Comfortable houses, some of them tasteful, with abundant flower-yards, and, now and then, the familiar green turf, preserved with a good deal of pains; the county buildings, numerous and large stores, some of them doing a business of 136 two or three hundred thousand a year, assure you that here, too, are homes and American enterprise. ”

“ Not far from the school-house there are groves of limes, pine-apples, plums, and bacon-fire, and the boys amuse themselves by battling each other with limes. The principal holidays are Christmas, New-Year’s and Good Friday. They celebrate Christmas by having a big dance out of doors, lasting all day and often all night. The music is made by beating drums, and by women who sing and clap their hands. The place was lighted through the night by an immense fire in the centre. Pots of rice are cooked, and a sauce made of palm-oil, rice and fish, is served with it. ”

“ Just here we wish to say that Albert Miller shows his appreciation of a liberal education and also his devotion to his divine Master, two things very hopeful in a missionary. He found this young man helpful as a Christian, and useful as an interpreter, and believing he would make a good missionary, he has sent him to his Alma Mater, and authorized the Association to pay his expenses out of his own small salary. When such a spirit of self-denial and thorough consecration characterizes the church, we shall have no trouble either in getting or maintaining teachers and missionaries. ”

“ The low places, the valleys, have got to be exalted, the mountains have got to be brought down, and men have got to mix and coalesce. In other words, the day has got to come when that simple sentence, a million times repeated, and a million times not understood, shall be fulfilled, and love to God and love to man shall be the law of the universe, and of universal conditions. We have got to come to it first or last.—Christian Union. ”

“ Pastors, Sunday-school superintendents and teachers, it is not a difficult thing to do, but a most easy, and as blessed as easy, to enlist your young people in this beneficent work; beneficent not alone in relation to the ignorant negroes, but to your own young people. The needs of our work are great, but the need that our Sunday-school children and young people be educated out of narrow, selfish views of life, is even more urgent. ”

“ There is no time-piece but the sun, and often no church or school-house to enter; a private house or an arbor is sufficient, if there is a spring near by. It is surprising to see the number that gather when there are so few signs of habitations. All are very attentive, and seem anxious to learn, save a few roughs, who gather at a distance, provided with whiskey and pistols, ready to quell any fuss that may chance to arise. Those who read the Bible and Almanac at all generally read them very much, and are ready to quote Scripture, but are less gifted in its construction and application ”

“ Only kindling eyes and fixed attention show that the courage of the shepherd boy for his unequal contest, his cool disregard of his brother’s scoffs, his disdain of Saul’s armor and spear, his dauntless confidence in God, are meeting, one by one, a hearty response in the minds of the boys, a more timid one from the girls. ”

“ Let the nation educate the colored man and the poor white man, because the nation held them in bondage, and is responsible for their education; educate the voter, because the nation cannot afford that he should be ignorant. Honest ignorance in the masses is more to be dreaded than malevolent intelligence in the few. ”

“ If they could hear their quick and intelligent replies in the school-room, and watch them at their trades, we think they would recognize the record which the new thoughts and self-control of the year have left on their faces, and would feel that they have already gone a long way and a good one. ”

“ It often seems as if our work grew upon our hands, so that we have no time to tell about it; with our nearly 400 pupils, with all the cases of discipline that must arise, with interviews with parents and visits to their homes, in addition to the full hours of school given to instruction; then the school prayer-meetings, the special meetings for Bible study, the Young Men’s Association of the school—a condition of membership of which is a pledge to abstain from the use of tobacco,—and the semi-monthly meeting of the Woman’s Missionary Society, which we have of late devoted to “Health-talks.” ”

“ A talented man is apt to be a preacher or desperado—sometimes both.
About four or five months ago I made my first visit to McKee, the county seat of Jackson Co., Ky. I found a small village having a court-house, jail, poor-house, two or three hotels, about the same number of stores, several dwellings, and a small school-house, but no church. It lies in a small basin-shaped hollow, with high hills on all sides. On public days, citizens may be seen pouring in from every valley until the streets are flooded with people, and some of the people flooded with whiskey. ”

“ The third annual meeting of the Woman’s Missionary Association, conducted by Miss Adams, of Montgomery, was one of exceeding interest. Reports from Selma, Marion, Montgomery, Mobile, and Talladega told of lively working societies of the women and girls. The work was much the same in all. Mothers’ meetings, Bible readings, visitations of the sick, sewing-schools for the girls, all are helps in this work of lifting up the women of the South. Miss Hardy’s paper on “The word as a means of success in our work,” by its apt quotations and earnest Christian spirit, touched all hearts. ”

“ It is an assurance full of sweet comfort, especially to the poor, that One sits over against the treasury who estimates at its full value the widow’s mite, knowing as He does out of what love and self-denial it comes. ”

“ On the Saturday and Sunday evenings of this festival, the Chinese crowded in so that we dismissed school, and Lee Haim preached and sung to them in Chinese. Every seat and every standing-place was filled. They wanted to hear. I am sure some poor, dark minds got a little Gospel truth for the first time, and, with some of them, all they will ever hear until the revelations of the future world shall be made to their astonished vision. ”

“ We set apart a portion of the day of prayer for colleges for appropriate exercises, and had a solemn meeting. Since that day, some have been seeking Jesus. Our hearts are specially cheered with the evident sincerity of two promising young men, who, we trust, are now entering upon the new life.
We have a weekly school prayer-meeting, and meet on Tuesday nights such pupils as we think will be specially helped in a small social meeting.
I must tell you a little about “Aunt Ann,” a member of my Sunday-school class, who has just died. She was in many respects a remarkable woman. ”

“ The trouble is, they have been neglected. The Southern aristocracy have little sympathy, and do not know what it is to reach a helping hand to the needy, though they are regarded as very hospitable. The benevolent people of the North and East are absorbed in aiding the growing West.
But let us go to the church. There is no bell to ring, though a bell would sound beautifully among those hills and valleys. ”

“ And who, ten years ago, could have foreseen the remarkable energy and wonderful success—then latent, but now active—displayed by the Christian women of this land in the several denominations in co-operation with the great Missionary Boards? But while we cannot prophesy of the future of this new society, yet the success of those we have mentioned encourages us to anticipate for it a glorious career. There certainly is room in this our land, among the women and children of less favored portions and races, for the widest and most hopeful endeavors that can be put forth ”

“ Facts are facts positeevely, as Dr. John Brown’s Scotch beadle would say, and will assert and establish themselves if we can only have patience in well-doing. The professor of Greek in one of the State Colleges of the South said to us, some months since: “I spent a day in Fisk University, and as I am, and have been all my life, a teacher of Greek, was curious to see what the negro could do with that language; and, sir, I should be most proud and happy if I had twenty boys in my College who could recite Greek as I heard that number of boys and girls reciting it in that school.” ”

“ There is much need of a lady missionary here to teach the mothers of these children how to make homes happy.
It is said that there are about sixty thousand colored people in the city, and from the appearance of loiterers standing on the streets, there must be twenty thousand out of employment. Idleness is the mother of mischief, and what an opportunity such people have to enter into temptation! ”

“ Not much work is done. What little clothing they wear is made of native cloths. They have no cradles, and no clothing is needed for their children. My father was away in the country to buy rice for the Mendi Mission, and was taken prisoner a little before I was born. The town was destroyed and the inhabitants killed, but my father’s life was spared. He was redeemed by Mr. Burton, one of the missionaries, who paid twenty-five shillings, English money, for his release. My father moved to Good Hope when I was quite young, and I attended school and studied the English language. ”

“ These children are very poorly dressed; they scarcely have sufficient clothing to keep them warm. We hold prayer-meeting with them every Wednesday evening, and we find it very difficult to keep them away from the stove. This seems to indicate that they have but little fire at home. We are always glad to have it cold on Wednesday evenings, for, then, we are sure of a good audience; and we can tell them about the words of eternal life. Many desire to be prayed for, and we believe that some of them love the Lord Jesus. ”

“ A Temperance Society has been organized with over five hundred members. The Saturday and Sunday meetings are regularly attended, and the people are now very anxious that a suitable building should be erected for school and church purposes. A subscription of over five hundred dollars has already been raised by the citizens of McKee, and as soon as a thousand dollars can be obtained from some benevolent source, we shall lay the foundation for something permanent. ”

“ This new organization originated entirely with the ladies themselves, and, as far as we can judge, has been inaugurated and will be carried forward with great wisdom and efficiency, and with no spirit of rivalry, but with the utmost Christian consideration and love towards other similar boards. It is hard to predict the future of a new benevolent organization. Who could have conjectured in 1810 the grand reach of Christian labor achieved by the ever-to-be-honored American Board? ”

“ Scarcely a suppressed Indian grunt or guttural disturbs the narrative, till the first slung-stone lodges fairly in the giant’s forehead, when little Ta-ta-ton-ka-skah on the back seat forgets all traditions of Indian stoicism, jumps about a foot in the air, and claps his hands in an ecstasy of delight. ”

“ You can bear to watch, for once, the scenery that looks so painfully uninviting it is positively entertaining: light land, scattered pines, and here and there, the so-called villages, of which you might say, ‘enough of them—such as they are.’ No bright green sward ”