Various

“ I find 140 scholars, of whom 65 are boarders. I find enthusiasm and spring in these freshly gathered students. In this State the colored people are getting land faster than in any other: partly, for the reason that, from the beginning, there was here the least opposition to their doing so; and, partly, from the fact that Texas is a new and largely a Western State; and so, these more well-to-do parents are ready to avail themselves of the advantage of such a school. ”

“ I have not space nor time to tell of how we climbed the pylons and wandered through the dark mysterious chambers, and stood in admiration before those beautiful and ever varied pillars, and explored dark winding passages built in the walls themselves. One has an overwhelming sense of sublimity and awe as he stands under the shadow and in the profound hush of these sacred monuments of a departed glory. ”

“ Never was a civilized people so well prepared as our nation now is to meet this great emergency. The progress made in the science of education was never so great as it has been in recent years. The adaptation of methods of teaching to the varying necessities of pupils was never so well understood as now. Text-books and school apparatus, juvenile literature and helps for Biblical study were never so excellent as at present. The value of industrial training, even as an element in the most liberal culture, is receiving unwonted emphasis. ”

“ Of course, in our higher institutions there is less of such work to be done; but a still more responsible and difficult task takes its place——that of preparing college and normal students to perform this same arduous primary work as teachers and leaders of their own people. Never was such a mass of ignorance thrown so suddenly upon the educational resources of a civilized people. ”

“ The need of such institutes and of the steady, persistent work of a college to train teachers and preachers is most apparent, when it is considered that probably not more than one in ten of the blacks, in a State where they make about half of the population, can read so as to make the sense, and half of the voters of all colors are unable to read either God’s Law or the amendments to the Constitution. Some are teaching who have never been at school themselves. School-houses are few, and often without floor, or window, or fireplace; desks and school-books are scarce ”

“ The landscape, too, has presented a constantly varying panorama full of novelty, full of interest, full of beauty. We have called for a few moments at a number of villages to leave the mail. We have been peering through our glasses, as we sat under the awning on deck, at the natives along the banks in their varied costumes, and in almost no costume at all, at the high bluffs, which in some places rise abruptly from the river, and at the wonderful tombs with their hieroglyphic inscriptions cut out high up in the rocks. ”

“ Our institutions should be the best and do the best work of any in the South. We should be the first to discern the peculiar needs of Southern pupils and the first to introduce whatever is new and excellent in educational appliances. We ought, for instance, to have at once industrial departments connected with all our larger institutions. Every normal and college graduate should be able to use intelligently either the wood-working or the iron-working tools ”

“ Popular virtue is spasmodic. It was a spasm of public righteousness that overthrew Wm. M. Tweed in New York. But the spasm soon passed and New York was again misgoverned. Sudden uprisings of enthusiasm in the temperance cause have given us prohibitory and other stringent laws, but soon again the tides of intemperance have swept onward. In missionary as well as reformatory work is the evil of these spasms felt. ”

“ For the past two weeks there has been a great deal of religious interest among the students here. At the meetings, which have been held nearly every night during this time, twenty-nine persons have told us of their determination to serve God for the rest of their lives.
Many of those who have lately begun this new life are young people, who have a good deal of influence over their classmates and associates. We feel glad to know that now they are on the side of Truth and are ready to use whatever influence they may have in the best way. ”

“ Already our institutions are being visited by Southern teachers eager to witness the advanced methods of teaching already introduced. We should always be able to reward such visitors by showing them something which they have not seen before. Above all, we should send out from our institutions such noble specimens of young manhood and womanhood as shall prove a stimulus to the whole educational work in the South. ”

“ A parallel to this is found in the recent bill prohibiting Chinese immigration——an enactment injurious to this country, a wrong to China and a violation of the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence, and of the law of God. It is a shameful repudiation of our boast that this land is an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, and it is a cowardly acknowledgment that a hundred thousand inoffensive Chinamen can so excite and alarm a nation of fifty millions of people. ”

“ The President, besides teaching several classes, preaches on the Sabbath in the chapel, and also conducts a Sunday-school. He is welcomed to the pulpits of the city, and is on the friendliest terms with the first citizens. Rev. Dr. E. B. Wright, pastor of the Northern Presbyterian Church, is one of the trustees, and is greatly attentive to the interests of the Institute. Mrs. Brooks, an accomplished pianist, has twenty-eight colored pupils in piano music, which shows the zest for cultivation. Once a week a lecture is delivered before the students by teachers or prominent citizens. ”

“ A good steady breeze has followed the lull after the gale, and off we go. Now we enter scenery that in the deep shadows of the moonlight is grand and sublime in the extreme. The granite mountains tower up from the water’s edge close to us on either side. ”

“ Scarcely one is left among those who made their home here who has not been deeply affected, and who has not taken some steps in advance. We do not expect any reaction or falling away from the uplift which the whole school seems to have experienced.
INCREASE IN PRAYER MEETINGS.
The prayer meetings at Hampton are well sustained, and the religious feeling in the school is good. There has been a marked increase in our prayer meetings this year. We often have 200 in our Sunday morning meeting conducted by the students, where last year there were only thirty or forty. ”

“ On the last day of the old year, the married daughters must be at their husbands’ homes, and must not revisit the paternal roof till the New Year’s festival is over. The devotee rising very early on New Year’s morning, worships, first of all, the ancestors, burning incense, and red paper representing money, before the tablet, on each side of which candles have been lighted, and before which the offerings have been placed. Then the idols of the household are worshipped, and, next, those of the temple. ”

“ 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 toward the Indians. It has also a mission in Africa. ”

“ It is no ordinary school teaching that we have undertaken to carry on in the South. Our pupils bring to the class-room absolutely no inheritance of scholarly mind. Only two or three generations separate them from the heathenism of the most uncivilized continent in the world. ”

“ We are hoping and praying that the good, work which has been begun here may continue: that those who have started in the right way may have strength of character enough to keep in it, even when the prospect looks dark and they do not feel so full of enthusiasm as now. ”

“ A young lad who had found his way from the West coast of Africa to Atlanta University entered my class in entomology last October. Shortly after, when naming the teachers under whose instructions he came daily, he quaintly designated me as his “grasshopper teacher.”
In order to give some idea of the amount of enthusiasm the common grasshopper is capable of rousing in the mind of the average colored student, it may be interesting to give a brief explanation of the method of study pursued.
The pupils had no particular love for the troublesome insect ”

“ At my request, our teachers have given me some account of the way in which it was observed by our Christian Chinese in their respective localities.
Rev. Mr. Ostrom, of Oroville, who has served as a missionary in China and whose heart is still there, states the following “general facts”: “Their preparation for the New Year is commenced weeks before the close of the old. One of the first things is to plant the Narcissus——a water lily called by the Chinese ‘the water angel flower’——so that it may be in bloom on New Year’s Day. ”

“ Nineteen have given evidence of having been born by the Holy Spirit. They all have been added to our church. Besides these, one came by letter from another denomination. Others are anxiously inquiring the way of life. All these converts, with two exceptions, are from the Sunday School. Among these “new-born babes” one is the wife of a minister and one is the wife of a deacon. The two oldest children of the pastor are among those that professed a hope in Christ.
M’INTOSH, LIBERTY CO., GA.
Last Sabbath was a “high day” with us. We have been holding extra meetings about four weeks. ”

“ The clear, decided testimony of one bright little Sunday-school boy, eight years of age, who was converted in one of the Sunday-school prayer-meetings, would put to shame the half-way, timid professions of some older people. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” Sixteen members of our Sunday-school have joined our (Congregational) church. Twenty-two in all have united, of whom eight are heads of families, while eight or ten of the students have joined other churches, where their families are connected. ”

“ But with our Christian Chinese these days are holy days rather than holidays. The week is a week of prayer. In all their sociality their religion is remembered and their Saviour is recognized. If on their special reception-day, a minister is among the first to call, he will be likely to be asked to open the day’s enjoyment with prayer. Every day there are special religious services ”

“ A grand future is apparent for the Tillotson in this Empire of a Commonwealth. The only question is whether it can keep up with its opportunity and its demand. It gives us no time to rest. No sooner is it opened than it calls for more room. The growing brain makes room for itself, and so must this educational enterprise.
ALABAMA. TEACHERS’ INSTITUTE AT TALLADEGA. President, Henry S. DeForest.
Of late it has been the custom to end the spring term at Talladega College with a teachers’ institute, giving special training to those who are so soon to go out and teach. ”

“ We pass Debod, and then towards evening the wind goes down, and we have to make the bank and tie up. We do not remain here long, however. Our Reis, who is a fine fellow, ever on the alert, hears a rustling in the trees, a gale is upon us; the big sail is quickly flung out, and we start almost with a bound and strike a rock! ”

“ Let us be frank and add that even the great boon of freedom, so righteously conferred, has, by the very suddenness of its bestowal, unavoidably brought peculiar peril and damage to many of the freedmen. ”

“ In short, the accumulated wisdom of the latest and best century stands ready to serve us, if we only summon its aid. Much of it is in service already; but far more is needed than our present financial resources can command. ”

“ We pass some bold headlands, call, as yesterday, at many villages by the way, and witness many interesting and peculiar scenes. A fringe of “shadoofs,” with half naked men hard at work at them watering the crops, keep up a constant creaking. We notice also great numbers of birds of every size and shape. ”

“ The meetings have been well attended, in spite of some sickness and bad weather, and have been marked by an earnest attention to the truth and a fervent spirit of prayer. We have good reason to believe that many more than a score of souls have chosen the service of Christ, and they show a tenderness of devotion and a carefulness of demeanor which promise well for their stability. ”

“ The immediate future will demand all our resources, and more, to save these young people. In the more distant future, our success as influential leaders in education will depend largely upon the promptness with which our institutions are now put upon a substantial basis. Every consideration of past success and of present and future need enforces our plea that these endowments should be provided at once.
Rev. J. M. Williams, of the Mendi Mission, died at Freetown, February 21. Mr. Williams was a native of British Guiana, and born in 1828. ”

“ Fire-crackers are snapped by the priests in the temple, and by all the people at their homes and their places of business. If any one has married, or is successful in gambling or in business, he expresses his gratitude by these explosives. ”

“ On the proclamation of Emancipation, and the enactment of laws giving the ballot to the blacks, the popular enthusiasm knew no bounds. Liberal benefactions called into life the Freedmen’s Aid Societies and filled the treasury of this Association. ”

“ It is very hot, and the wind dying down. Over we go for a swim. We have passed a rock-temple, and another very good temple at Dakkeh. The flies are getting to be a perfect pest.
Sunday, Dec. 11.——The wind is lighter and our progress has been slower. However, we have gradually drawn away from the grand rocky mountains that rose up abruptly from the water’s edge on our left this morning, and now around us are the volcanic peaks that indicate the vicinity of Korosko. We reached Korosko at 4 P.M., having made remarkably good time from Assouan. ”