Various

“ It makes a peculiar impression upon one to see persons fifty, sixty, seventy, and sometimes eighty years of age, whom slavery has worn out, sitting in their Sunday-school classes, with white heads and bent over bodies, with their dim, sunken eyes fixed on the teachers, and sometimes lips and throat moving as if to swallow every word. ”

“ There is work to be done which only such a worker can do—a work in the homes of the people, with the women, young and old. We are not reaching the women as we should. A man cannot do the needed work. The women of the North want to do something for their colored sisters of the South. Here is an opportunity for them. The homes of these people must be reached. As many of them are, morality is well-nigh impossible. The vice that is engendered in them is frightful. Do, my brother, give me a missionary. Do beg the Christian women of the North to help in this matter. ”

“ Poor, awkward, and dressed out of missionary barrels, often the recipient of student aid, sometimes well-nigh disheartened, but always pressing on; once bought off by Mr. Spence for the sum of ten dollars, when his father wanted him to work in the field, he toiled slowly on, step by step, winning honor and respect, and loved by his teachers as, perhaps, few students of Fisk University were ever loved. ”

“ I am sure that if the representations that Christ and His disciples gave of the Christian life be true, there must be a much greater and deeper work among the people here before the Spirit of God can make them His. I have thought and said often, and I say it yet, that the work of the A. M. A., or a work of the same kind, is the only thing that will save the people of the South. Nine out of every ten know but little or nothing of what it is to live an upright life, and, therefore, they have no real communion with God, such as all His true children do have. ”

“ That is precisely where the Christian conscience should sting most keenly. For thoughtlessness in what is paid to Christ, is a most aggravated form of sin. Grocery bills, clothing bills, rent and taxes shall be paid with thoughtful reference to what is justly due, and the world shall label him dishonest who tries even to quibble about the point; but upon this transcendently higher plane of obligation, involving the question of what the soul owes its God and Saviour, many Christian men will do what, on the lower plane, they would scorn as highly dishonorable. ”

“ The ground is high and rolling, and the great oaks, with their heavy hanging moss, lend a grandeur and charm to the place. There are only two schools of similar grade in the State open to colored people—Alcorn, in the extreme south-west, and Shaw University, in the extreme north. The field is before us. Mississippi, with her 350,000 souls, over sixteen years of age, who cannot read and write, is calling for our teachers. ”

“ It is a matter of far less moment to us to be credited than to be copied. What we want is, to have the minds of the American people filled with the facts which may lead them to appreciate the importance of the work in which we are engaged. ”

“ We have a very faithful and efficient class of teachers—twelve in number. They are scarcely ever absent. We as much expect to see all our teachers in their places each Sabbath morning as to see the minister in the pulpit, and we are almost never disappointed. And their hearts are evidently in the work. We suggest the example (not boastingly) as worthy of imitation by some schools at the North, where the superintendents must, every Sunday, apply to the Bible-classes for substitutes to fill the places of absent teachers.
Last Sunday evening the school gave a temperance concert. ”

“ He tried the experiment of offering work to the idle blacks, but with little success. And now a Northern carpet-bagging politician, of the baser sort, came into his vicinity, and finding him an honest man, with some influence over the poor freedmen, set himself to overthrow it by offers of whiskey and promises of power. And poor David, innocent, and ignorant of human nature, makes weak and ineffectual fight with him, as he had before with haughty planters and ignorant negroes, yields the ground and goes home again, baffled and discouraged. ”

“ The Negroes in the South are more accessible to the Gospel than any other people on earth; they welcome it; they are near us, speak our language, their fervency will add a warmer element to our piety, and they seem called of God to carry the Gospel to the land of their fathers. Have Christians no duties to them?
—The American Missionary Association bears to these caste-oppressed races the help they need in education, practical morality and piety. It has founded or fostered permanent educational institutions for training ministers and teachers. ”

“ These figures encourage us to hope that our friends will go on, in the same quiet and inexpensive way, until our whole debt shall be entirely extinguished, and our hands unloosed for a more earnest grapple with the great task of lifting up the needy and ignorant, and yet hopeful races, for which we labor in America and in Africa.
Brethren, we may not be thought politic by all, but we believe in perfect frankness with our donors and the whole public. ”

“ Each day brings to us fresh grounds of hope, and enlarged prospects for usefulness. At no other time since its organization has Berea College had so hopeful a prospect as now. Once or twice we have had as many pupils, but at no other time so many of high moral worth and social influence. Daily, the prejudice against a school of colored and white pupils is subsiding; and young men and young women of good habits and character are coming in, and such as appreciate an education, in connection with just and righteous sentiments. ”

“ No one for a moment believes them so reckless as to mob a Christian church. It is only another one of those little bluff games, for which political anti-Coolieites have become famous, and in which they propose to frighten somebody into their way of thinking. We greatly mistake the callibre of Mr. Pond if he is not more than a match for the whole mob. We agree with the great body of intelligent people on this coast that “the Chinese must go,” but the course proposed by this club will only tend to prolong their stay in this country. ”

“ It may give the impression that King David is a fair sample of the Northern teachers in the South, and that his ill-success is the record or the prophecy of their general disaster and defeat. The true lesson of the story, and that which may have been, if any, in the writer’s mind, is only this: That this David was no Solomon. That goodness, unsupported [134] by wisdom, is not sufficient capital for educational work. That a man who is a failure at home, amid favorable surroundings, will not be likely to succeed abroad, alone, with everything against him. ”

“ If the people here could be made to see the wrong there is in rum, and to put it down, there would be some hope for them; but so long as rum takes their labor, their money, their brains, and their God from them, there is no hope for them, and but little chance of doing them good. ”

“ The people are coming up to their church duties with much zeal, and becoming more and more attached to their minister, and he is doing a good work among them. Our Sabbath-school, also, has been re-organized, and, with four teachers added, has an average of twenty-three or more scholars in each class. We have for the first time introduced the International Sunday-school Lessons, and all seem to be very much delighted with them. ”

“ A new and commodious building must be erected at Tougaloo, Miss., to accommodate the overflow of students, whose beds have crowded into recitation rooms and out-buildings, and who are now sheltered in temporary barracks of rough boards. A new building is greatly needed at Atlanta, to accommodate its enlarged work, and to meet the just expectations of the State Legislature, which has granted it $8,000 a year, for several years, for current expenses. The finishing of the church at Golding’s Grove, and the enlargement of the school building there, are absolute necessities. ”

“ Indeed, when one comes to think of it, the wonder is that it is not. So large and important are the interests involved—interests connected with the extension of Christ’s kingdom; so sacred are many of the gifts—the devising of generous hearts and the fruits of self-denial—surely very tender should be the spirit of the occasion when the offering is made.
Yet not only on account of this should consecrating prayer be offered when church contributions are taken, but also on account of the money that is thoughtlessly, and often unwillingly, thrown into the contribution box. ”

“ But without instruction they will not achieve much domestic improvement. In fact, they need instruction in every direction—in house-building, in road-making, in agriculture, in domestic economy, in the improvement of time, in business, as well as in schools and churches. A missionary to this people should be an Oberlin. An Oberlin’s work will pay richly. The whole field is accessible to missionary labor. Very many desire instruction. They listen eagerly to kind, plain, Christian advice, and will travel many miles for the privilege. ”

“ So our house and laundry work is nearly all done by the girls, their work being changed every month, as for example: a girl who was last month in the laundry is in the sewing-room this month, the next is sweeping and dusting, the next washing dishes, etc. Our sewing department has only been in existence a part of the year, and we can hardly tell how it will pay financially. The girls have made some bedding and done other sewing that was needed; have made and sold some shirts. If materials are donated for sewing, I know we can accomplish very much. ”

“ If some person would be so kind as to send out a quantity of cheap cloth, to be made up for clothing, it will prove a blessing to many a suffering one.
The disadvantages and sufferings through which this people have to pass are indescribable. I have had many calls for Bibles, but regret to say I have been unable to honor any. We have a very flourishing Sabbath-school, and are in great need of Sabbath-school papers and tracts. ”

“ Next to willingness and ability, is opportunity to do good. To turn away from the opportunity is to confess unwillingness; and such confession, the Apostle James unqualifiedly affirms, is denial of having love to God. Indisposition, therefore, means, on apostolic authority, that the love of God dwells not in the heart.
I desire to commend the example of the Ohio pastor to all pastors who desire to increase the benevolent contributions of their churches. Let the contributions be consecrated by special prayer. It interferes with no method that may be in use to take contributions. ”

“ If there is no other way to perpetuate Christianity in this country but through the medium of the Chinese, why, let Christianity slide; if you cannot get a society of your own race and kind to support you, without the help of Chinamen, quit the business you are at, and try something else. Do not think we have signaled out your especial case. Other similar Chinese Christian factories will receive their full share of attention in due time in their own districts. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Added to these, is the imperative demand for the extension of our church work in new and promising fields, stretching down to the farthest limits of Texas. The enlarged African work is making increasing demands upon our treasury. Besides all this, the three coming months will witness the return of our Southern workers, when the payment of their last bills and traveling expenses must be met. With such an outlook before us, we are compelled, while uttering our gratitude for the liberality of our friends, to entreat them not to forget the pressing wants near at hand. ”

“ To expel the Chinese from our shores is a duty we owe to ourselves and to posterity, and we will not relent one particle until that end is attained; and, in our struggle to attain that end, we have a right to expect the sympathy of all. ”

“ Andrew Jackson, one of the missionaries, then spoke, and gave a very interesting account of their call to the work, and of the great increase of the missionary spirit in Fisk University during the year, and of the great self-denial on the part of the colored parents and of pupils, that larger numbers may get an education, and so be prepared for a greater usefulness among their own benighted people. ”

“ None of them can read, and it is quite amusing at times to watch them trying to recall the kings of Judah in their order, telling who the good ones were, and naming some of the good things they did. The joy and satisfaction which one shares, in being an instrument in God’s hands for the revealing of His Word unto such babes, are inestimable. ”