Various

“ Some have said that we would have to be sent back to Africa or out West, or to South America. One man thinks that extermination will be the final thing to be resorted to. It may be a fault in my education, it may be that this American Missionary Association has not educated me all right—for I am a product of the Association,—but I have been taught to suppose that we Negroes were free, independent, American citizens, at liberty to choose where we will stay and how long we will stay. ”

“ Letter From A School Girl To Her Pastor In One Of Our Institutions.
"I am a Christian and I think I enjoy it better than being a sinner, and always doing something on earth to please myself and not trying to please my Saviour who died for me, that through him I might be saved. I am enjoying this week of prayer, and it seems to me we would have better Christians if we had more prayer. I feel as if I need your prayers both night and morning. It does seem so hard for me to overcome my trials and temptations which come to me so very often. ”

“ You may not be aware that late last school year I called together a dozen or two of our best young men and induced them to take the White Cross pledge—to treat all women with respect, to refrain from indecent jests and coarse language, to maintain that the law of personal purity is as binding on men as upon women, etc. At the meeting last Sunday night one after another gave his experience touching the White Cross movement. ”

“ That is true: and the Negro has done more in these last twenty-five years than any other people on whom money and time and labor has been expended. The American Missionary Association found out long ago what the Negro problem was. They established schools and sent teachers among us, and when they came to us, they came at once, assuming—not as Senator Eustis has done, that the Negroes have an inherent sense of inferiority, and that they should take an assigned place; not as Governor Lee has insisted, that the all-important thing for the white man to do is to keep the Negro down ”

“ I, myself, know a laborer on wages of less than twenty shillings a week, who by thrift has bought ten acres of the magnificent garden land between Fontainebleau and the Seine, worth many thousand pounds, on which grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and the famous dessert grapes; yet who, with all his wealth and abundance, denies himself and his two children meat on Sundays, and even a drink of the wine which he grows and makes for the market. ”

“ Just on the border of the district were two or three men, distillers in a small way and venders of the fiery liquid, who thought the enthusiasm of the Murphy movement was past, and took the necessary steps to have a poll opened on the liquor question, at the August election of 1888. But they had underrated the effect of these years of temperance education. Nearly all our students become signers of the pledge and workers in whatever field they may visit; and the people of the country immediately around us have been profiting by the teachings of these meetings. ”

“ You have given us colleges, normal schools, industrial training schools, and schools of common branches, and we have now young men and young women filling all the schools through the South. We can get good teachers for our schools in the remotest places, in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi, or anywhere else. So it is not a question as to what kind of teachers we will have. But the churches have not in their pulpits ministers well prepared to preach the gospel of Christ. They have not kept up with the young people in the work done by the schools. ”

“ He has not the energy of the Englishman, or the elastic spring of the American, but he is far more saving and much more provident. He 'wastes nothing, and spends little,' and thus, since his country comes next to England and America in natural resources and national energy, he has built up one of the strongest, most self-contained and most durable of modern peoples. ”

“ An envelope containing a gift of five dollars was dropped into the contribution bag recently among others, after an address concerning our work. It was from a faithful colored woman who had spent her life in domestic service, and represented as true and earnest self-denial as money could. Not all the heroism and self-sacrifice are in the field work, among the missionaries of our great Association, as true and earnest as they are. There is the same spirit of devotion to the Master in the collecting field. ”

“ The most of the remaining converts will unite with us at our next communion. A few of them will join elsewhere. Our church is getting well organized for work along all lines of Christian activity. The Endeavor Society among our young people, now the largest in number in the district, is a real power for good. The Sunday-school is taking on new life. There is before us in this city "an exceeding good land," but before full possession, many battles must be fought, spiritual and financial. But we have great reason to be thankful.
The White Cross League.
Prof. H.H. Wright, Fisk University. ”

“ But a still more serious and protracted evil will grow out of the conflict of the two races and the temptations to the Indians. If ever the friends of the Sioux Indians needed to bestir themselves, it is just now. The helping hand, the open school and the sanctifying Gospel, must forestall all bad influences. So far as the work of the American Missionary Association is concerned, the opening of this reservation to white settlement will necessitate the removal of five or six of its out-stations, occasioning spiritual loss and additional money appropriations. ”

“ That is not the way these teachers have come down to us. They have assumed that we are as capable as other people, that we have the same needs; and because they have come to us with this assumption to begin with, because they have received us in this way, we have made the progress that we have.
Now, of all things that are most needed to be done for us, we need a good theological seminary in the South, where the ministry can be educated among us. It is only an elevated Christian citizenship that will save us, and make us what other people are ”

“ A letter from Louisiana says, "I visited a Negro family the other day in a settlement where there is no school, and found the following condition of things: A white lady was boarding with them and giving instruction for her board. She is teaching them how to live. Eight months ago no one in this family could read. The father only could speak English. Now all speak some English. All except the youngest can read a little in the Bible. They sang a gospel hymn for me and repeated quite a number of Bible verses and the Lord's prayer. ”

“ Sometimes we break down under this constant strain of teaching. Many a time in Mississippi swamps I have waded up to my knees in water going to school, and many a time have I taught lying sick on my back; but the money had to be made. This is the way we get through, and not only the young men but the girls. ”

“ The colored mother I believe to be one of the smartest women in America. With the help of her children—the father spends all he gets for whiskey—she has built her house, supports her family, makes her own furniture, spins and weaves cloth from cotton she has raised, and has engaged this white lady to educate her and her children, she herself leading the class. The children are all very quick to learn. ”

“ The work at Tradd Street Mission in our city is carried on now in just the same way as since its organization. After Sunday-school is over at Plymouth Church, about 11 o'clock, a number of our young people, including the Pastor, Superintendent Herron and Miss Deas, who acts as organist, go immediately to the mission about a mile away, and conduct the Sunday-school there. We have eight classes, with an average attendance of eleven to a class. One class is composed of adults. ”

“ In the Mission Chapel, at the time of the night-school, Dr. Pond conducts the rehearsal and, on Sunday night, in the Tabernacle of the First Congregational Church, presides at the public service. The great assembly room is packed with interested listeners who soon become delighted. After opening devotions, conducted by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Voorhees, and his choir, the young brethren proceed with a prayer in the Chinese, then with the Lord's Prayer in concert, both in English and in Chinese. ”

“ It is estimated that thirty thousand Negroes have gone South and West from North Carolina since the exodus from this State began. Most of them are crowded out because of repeated crop failures in the eastern counties. Many of them have joined in the movement, with the hope of doing better, who were doing passably well at home. Many have been discouraged by the attitude of the State toward the colored people. ”

“ We do not of course advise the penuriousness of the miser, but the Negro is in little danger on that score. The grandest impulse, even in economy and in obtaining property, is found in a genuine Christian character. This is the work that our ministers and teachers are endeavoring to accomplish, but we are sure It will aid them to urge this practical saving of money, curtailing of needless expense, and the making of most determined efforts to become owners of their own homes. ”

“ Our school is on the whole in good condition. The teachers are earnest, efficient and united. The students are of a better average than ever before. There has been a healthful religious interest all the year. During the past two weeks there have been several conversions in every room, (unless, perhaps, in the primary) . Every room has had some religious services conducted by the teachers. A few union services were held, attended by those interested. These were mostly conducted by Miss B. In Miss S.'s room the conversions are very hopeful young men and women. ”

“ There are those even in the South who are willing to give us this recognition, and little by little they are getting over some of their prejudice and are inclined to recognize us so far as we have a right to their respect. ”

“ F.B. Perkins, of the Second Church, and by District Secretary Roy—the former declaring that that meeting alone was enough to repay all effort in that line; enough to remove all prejudice. Indeed, only this week, a former pastor of that church, Rev. J.B. Silcox, now of the East Oakland Church, told me that a similar anniversary held in that same Tabernacle a year ago, had melted down all prejudice. Indeed, it is now, as in the days of the primitive Christians: wheresoever it is seen that people of the despised classes have received the Holy Ghost, that is the end of caste distinction. ”

“ But we do want recognition, so far as we have those qualities that would cause the same thing to be granted to us if we were not Negroes. This is the only thing that we ask for, and this is what is withheld from us. ”

“ The French peasant has great virtues, but he has the defects of his virtues, and his home life is far from idyllic. He is laborious, shrewd, enduring, frugal, self-reliant, sober, honest and capable of intense self-control for a distant reward ”

“ Take him for all in all, he is a strong and noteworthy force in modern civilization. Though his country has not the vast mineral wealth of England, nor her gigantic development in manufactures and in commerce, he has made France one of the richest, most solid, most progressive countries on earth. ”

“ It seems that very eminent men are discussing the feasibility of sending us to Africa, and whether it is wise to go to the expense if it is thought best to send us there. Now, my friends, it does not seem to me that there is any question about it so far as we are concerned. The whites may go if they want to, but we are not going to budge! ”

“ Our ministers have not advanced to that degree where they can take up such work. In these little Congregational churches that have been planted, we have educated ministers, who are able thus to work, especially among young people. We do not have people at our hand as other churches have, but we are trying to get hold of them. In Fisk University there were last year, I believe, 510 students, of whom, perhaps, there were 100 Congregationalists. ”

“ The question is not, what are you going to do with the colored man, but what are you going to do for him? A great deal has been done, and it has been said that more has been done for the Negroes than for any other people. ”

“ So it seems to me as though the problem were being slowly yet truly solved, and by and by the Negroes will be lifted up on the same footing with other people. That is the only thing we want. We are not fighting for social equality, or this or that thing. ”

“ In the North, one of the pleasant things we find wherever we go, is that in all your churches there is something for the young people to do. You have Christian Endeavor Societies, and various organizations by which the young people may be reached. ”

“ It is by such representations, we are told, that the colored people in various parts of the South are tempted to leave their homes for new locations. The experience of those of their number who have made such migrations has not usually been encouraging, and we fear that thousands more will acquire a good deal of bitter knowledge learned in that same expensive school. ”

“ The industrial classes of boys and girls were never so large before, and among the girls the spirit of real work and helpfulness through work seems to be developing true womanly character. In the tool-room there are five classes of from eight to fourteen boys every day. ”