Various

“ Their achievements are the ample reward for their self-denying and useful labors and are found in neat homes, family purity, skilled industry in shop and on farm, in well-prepared teachers and in educated and pious ministers of the gospel. Their work is multiplied by the successful toil of hundreds and perhaps thousands who have been trained by them. May God bless these workers and the peoples among whom they toil—the Emancipated Slaves, the Indians on our Western border, the Highlanders on our Southern mountains, the Chinese on the Pacific Coast, and the heroic family in far-off Alaska. ”

“ COLORED MINISTERS OF THE BLACK BELT OF ALABAMA—EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS. BY REV. GEORGE W. ANDREWS, D.D.
The so-called Black Belt of Alabama is a wide tract of land extending across the central portion of the State, from east to west, embracing twenty counties, more or less. In general it is level, differing widely in this respect from the hilly and mountainous region lying directly north of it. It is the great cotton producing section of the State. The soil is either sandy or a black loam, and some of it is exceedingly fertile. ”

“ Again, previous to the time when the Christian missionary work began in the South, I cannot learn that there was more than one regularly ordained colored minister in the region under consideration, or that there were any regularly organized churches among them. At the present time there are at least sixteen hundred such churches in the twenty counties, and probably nearly as many ordained ministers—not to mention the five thousand licensed preachers, many of whom are hoping for ordination. These ministers and churches are working out a great problem. ”

“ The American Missionary Association was a pioneer in introducing industrial training and work among the freedmen of the South. In May, 1867, the Association purchased a tract of land on which the buildings at Hampton, Va., are now located, and agricultural and industrial pursuits were immediately inaugurated. In 1872 a charter was obtained and the property was turned over by the Association to a Board of Trustees, and Gen. Armstrong, with his remarkable enthusiasm and administrative skill, pushed the institution forward in its marvelous career. ”

“ It is doubtful whether any other section of Alabama has made more rapid progress along intellectual and moral lines the past twenty-five years than the Black Belt. Here multiplied schools and colleges and missionary efforts have been doing their utmost, and great has been the result. ”

“ These many schools could not fail to set in motion great changes affecting the homes, heads and hearts of the people. The ministers have powerfully felt their influence and in large numbers have been drawn into them or have been driven from the public leadership which they once had. The American Missionary Association schools and churches are at the foundation of all that has been accomplished. ”

“ These are the leaders of the unschooled thousands counted among the preachers of the gospel.
Other evidences of progress in learning and piety are such as these: All over the State, as well as in the Black Belt, the churches are calling loudly for a more intelligent ministry. Not a few churches have been rent asunder by this issue, the more progressive part going out to organize a new church and secure a more acceptable minister. Scarcely an important church can be found where the subject of a competent ministry has not been agitated. ”

“ Augustine, Fla., Miss McLane had taught in Fisk University, Tennessee, had been principal of a school at Anniston, Ala., for four years; was then transferred at her own request to Athens, Ala., where she was principal, and after three years service there was appointed as matron in the Teachers' Home of Emerson Institute, at Mobile, Ala. In a missionary service of more than ten years Miss McLane obtained a good report as a most faithful and earnest teacher, thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit and always actuated by a missionary purpose. ”

“ The recent discoveries on the Yukon River in Alaska are sending hundreds and thousands of people thither, and while Alaska may never become a California in population, yet a wonderful change is taking place, the end of which no one can predict. ”

“ This part of Alabama came to be called the Black Belt because into it were gathered so many people of African descent—about 400,000—to till the soil and harvest the crops. Some say the name originated [Pg 36] from the character of the soil. At the present time the ratio of colored people to white people varies in the different counties from two to six of the former to one of the latter. Averaging the twenty counties, the ratio is about three colored to one white, while the ratio in the State, as a whole, is about one to one. ”

“ Some of the causes and evidences of progress in the Black Belt, both of preachers and people, may well pass in review at this point.
In the first place, at the close of the war there were no schools for [Pg 37] colored people; now you will find at least twelve hundred common schools for them in the Black Belt alone, besides a goodly number of select and higher schools of different denominations, while just up out of the Belt, in a most beautiful and healthful region, is Talladega College, well patronized by the people of the lower and less healthful parts of the State. ”

“ The Black Belt is probably better provided with schools, churches and ministers than any other part of the State. The mining regions about Birmingham and in North Alabama are more destitute and the condition of the people quite as deplorable. There are hundreds of preachers and not a few ordained ministers who cannot read or write, and many more who know very little of God's Word. ”

“ On this large farm is carried forward every variety of agricultural industry in the preparation of the soil, in drainage and irrigation, rotation of crops and the raising of stock. An institute for farmers of the county is statedly held under the College auspices, and annual meetings of several days' length are conducted in three or four of the counties of the State. The varied industries of the shop are kept up with the home industries of cooking, laundry, sewing and nursing. A printing office publishes a little monthly which is very creditably printed. ”

“ There have also been erected within the past ten years a surprising number of new and greatly improved church edifices. Those whose "care of all the churches" has led them up and down through the Black Belt declare with emphasis that the quality of the preaching has greatly improved; that more books are bought and read; that the churches are better organized; that the conferences, associations and conventions of the ministers and churches [Pg 38] are immeasurably in advance of what they were even ten years ago ”

“ At Wilmington, Savannah, Thomasville, Athens, Marion, Mobile, Pleasant Hill and other normal, graded and common schools, the young women are trained in all things needed in making comfortable and pleasant homes.
In our Indian schools industries are taught and practiced. At the Santee Agency a tract of nearly 500 acres gives room that is well used for farming and stock-raising, and well-arranged shops give employment in carpentry, blacksmithing and printing and other avocations. ”

“ Where we can put one good minister into the field we need a score, and where one boy or girl is in school there should be a dozen. May the dear Father open our eyes to see His work and to know the joy of self-denying service for Him! ”

“ A well-appointed eight-room parsonage stands hard by the church, built by students of Atlanta University. The funds for the erection of the parsonage came in part from a benevolent Northern lady, but the greater part was contributed in pennies and nickels and dimes by the people themselves. The church building and parsonage are located in a community settled chiefly by white people. ”

“ We publish in this number of the magazine the annual list of our Field Workers. We take pleasure in presenting this list, believing that it will be valued, not only by the friends of these faithful workers, but by many others who will be glad to trace their names and locations. Our workers have been epoch makers. They entered upon the work during the first year of the war and followed the advance of the Union armies, and when at length the slaves became freemen, these teachers and preachers were their guides in the paths of industry, knowledge and piety. ”

“ There is a growing Christian Endeavor Society, a Working Men's Club for financial aid, a Woman's Aid Society for general church work, a Young Men's League for increasing the attendance at the Sunday evening services (printed bulletins of the services being distributed weekly) . The church issues the Parish Visitor, a monthly church paper which forms a bond of interest by unifying the various forces of the church.
The prayer meetings are well attended and the Sunday-school is thriving. New members are received at every communion. The week of prayer is followed by a large number of conversions. ”

“ The death of Deacon Samuel Holmes takes from active career in life one who has been prominent and useful in many forms of Christian work in the local church and in broader efforts for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. ”

“ We observed the day of prayer for schools and colleges, devoting the whole time to religious services. In the forenoon I preached from Eccl. 12:1, "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth," urging upon the students the importance of accepting Christ at the beginning of life. After the sermon we had a prayer and testimony meeting, in which a large number took part with great earnestness and deep feeling. At the close all but two of our boarding students rose either to indicate a desire to be given up more fully to Christ's service or to say that they wished to become Christians at once. ”

“ The "Word Carrier," a monthly publication, is not surpassed in neatness of printing by any paper that comes to this office. In other Indian schools various industries are taught, especially those that relate to the care and improvement of homes.
As evidence that this industrial work is pushed forward, we may mention that in our most recently established school in the South, that at Enfield, N. C., the farm of more than a thousand acres of land (the gift of a generous Christian lady of Brooklyn, N. Y.) , a large portion of which is under cultivation, gives ample employment to the student. ”

“ At Tougaloo, Miss., the Association purchased 500 acres of land in 1869 and subsequently added another tract, until now the whole domain embraces 650 acres. A great feature of the institution is its industrial work. Here has been developed the full range of farming industries, stock raising and the cultivation of the various crops adapted to the soil, together with shops for mechanical work, embracing [Pg 3] carpentry, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, steam-sawing, sewing and other branches of domestic economy. ”

“ With grief softened by joy, we count her among the "happy saints that dwell in light, and walk with Jesus in white."
[Pg 40]
RECEIPTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1897.
Note.—Where no name follows that of the town, the contribution is from the church and society of that place. Where a name follows, it is that of the contributing church or individual. S. means Sunday-school; C. means Church; C. E., the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor; S. A. means Student Aid.
CURRENT RECEIPTS.
[Pg 43]
RECEIPTS FOR DECEMBER, 1897. ”

“ All of the work on the building was done by colored men, and the neat, slate-covered brick structure, most appropriate in architectural design, is an ornament to that elegant portion of the city in which it is prominently located. ”

“ China, with her vast population, has stood almost unmoved for thousands of years. But now disintegration threatens, and the nations of Europe may yet divide that great country among themselves, and a new world may arise. ”

“ Cotton, corn, potatoes, and the products of the field, the garden and the orchard are cultivated, while in the shops the boys are taught in blacksmithing and in carpentry, and the girls in the various kinds of domestic work, sewing, cooking and housework. ”

“ Our normal schools at Memphis, Tenn., Macon, Ga., and Williamsburg, Ky., have carpentry, printing and other industrial training for young men, and training in the various arts of home life for the young women. ”

“ Scott, Rev. E. E., Shelby. 19.
Scott, Rev. J. J., Montgomery. 19.
Scott, Mr. Will C., Birmingham. 8.
Silsby, Mr. Edwin C., Talladega. 17.
Simmons, Rev. A., Birmingham. 19.
Simms, Rev. J. R., Talladega. 19.
Simms, Rev. Y. B., Talladega. 21.
Snell, Rev. Spencer, Talladega. 17.
Williams, Miss Annie B., Jacksonville. 14.
Wilson, Rev. L. L., Talladega. 19.
ALASKA.
Lopp, Rev. W. T.;
Lopp, Mrs. W. T., Cape Prince of Wales. 26.
[Pg 28] ARKANSAS.
Bryant, Miss M. Winifred, A.M., Rogers. 13.
CALIFORNIA.
Bradley, Miss Alma, Ventura. ”

“ J. R., Macon. 13. 15.
McLoud, Rev. C. H., Swainsboro. 17.
Montgomery, Rev. G. W., Portal. 16.
Morton, Miss Susie F., Athens. 15.
Murphy, Rev. J. A., Bartow. 16.
Nixon, Rev. T. M., Thomasville. 13.
Paris, Rev. S. A., Marietta. 15.
Payson, Rev. R. L., Endicott. 16.
Proctor, Rev. H. H., Atlanta. 14.
Richardson, Mrs. A. W., Marshallville. 15.
Sengstacke, Rev. J. H. H., Savannah. 15.
Shuman, Rev. J. S., Hagan. 16.
Smith, Rev. M. C., Hagan. 16.
Turner, Miss Mattie L., Covington. 15.
Williams, Rev. A. W., Kemp. 16.
Williams, Rev. H. H., Garfield. 16.
ILLINOIS.
Crane, Mrs. ”