The American Missionary. Volume 44, No. 06, June, 1890

In the Industrial Department nearly two hundred and fifty girls sew from a half hour to an hour every day. Excellent work is being done and they are very much interested, some of them begging for the privilege of sewing at other times than those designated for that purpose. The industrial teacher finds difficulty in keeping the supply of work equal to the demand.

Friends have kindly sent us donations of work, and much more will be acceptable. Sheets, pillow cases, underclothing or patchwork, basted ready for sewing, will be very thankfully received. The work in the sewing classes includes patchwork, the making of dresses, all kinds of other garments, and quilting.—From the Ballard Record.

A DREARY PICTURE OF PLACE AND PEOPLE

BY AN A.M.A. WORKER

The country is low and flat, with here and there a small elevation on which is a house or log cabin. For miles and miles the country is dreary and monotonous. The swamps have a funereal aspect as one looks upon the live-oak and cypress, hung with long Spanish moss swaying to and fro in the gentle breeze.

Back in these pine woods are hundreds who have never seen the railroad, a boat, carriage, or even a mail-bag. Sometimes a few will go to the little obscure station on Saturdays and stand gazing at the train as it goes thundering by, and many comical remarks are made, as: "Dat am de train 'pon which no darkies nor crackers kin ride; dat am all de heben dat dem buckra want and am gwine ter git."

Most of the people own their homes, which are poorly constructed of pine poles with clapboards to cover the cracks, through which the dampness and cold winds make it uncomfortable for the occupants, who are seated before a clay chimney and a great lightwood fire. Very few of the houses have any windows. A lightwood torch furnishes the light by day and by night. Some of them are improving each year, but the most of them are satisfied with a roof, and a few acres under cultivation.

The country people seem to be naturally religious, as they are all church members, are so from childhood, and are great believers in the "sperit," which must be the evil one. They are not denominational in the sense in which enlightened people are. The church which allows the greatest number of privileges, and the minister who will just be preacher and make the most noise and have the greatest number of "big meetings," are the most popular. They have a burial service, and several months or a year after, they have a funeral service, which is always a big time.

Cæsar is considered the best preacher that has ever been in –. He comes once a month, and cannot read a chapter; "nor need you expect me to get the one-thousandth part of the ingrejience out of this text," is his introduction to every sermon, but he can get up steam enough to be heard half a mile. One of the preachers wanting to be known as a licentiate, said in meeting: "I want you to know that I am a licentious preacher,"—which is the truth.

Our work has done an amount of good, even among those outside, and our schools and the two churches have done more good in the country than all other work combined. The recent fanaticism in the county did not get one believer from our church.

REPORT FROM MOUNTAIN SCHOOLS

Our year's work is rapidly drawing to an end. The older scholars are doing well and are remaining with us through the year. They certainly are gaining in this direction. They become very restless as soon as it is "put in crap time." They sigh for the fields and "shovel plow," and often look from the school-room windows with a longing for the log cabin and the ground surrounding it. In many cases we have to be very persuasive to have them remain, yet they seem thankful for the advice and remain. The older scholars seem to manifest an earnest ambition to obtain situations through the summer, so that they may procure clothing and help pay their tuition. We try as far as possible to obtain situations for our girls. The better class of the people will come to us for help, feeling that our girls have been educated in the home and kitchen.

In our temperance meeting last Friday, I asked the question, "What would you do if you were forced to take whiskey?" A little girl rose and said, "My father asked me to take some and said 'you must.' I said, 'I can't. God would not be pleased.' He said, 'Well, I 'lows how you're 'bout right." What a happy girl she was. She knows if she will keep on refusing, he will give up strong drink. Our greatest hope is in the children.

A poor woman had some articles of clothing to take home with her. I offered to wrap her parcel in newspaper. She said, "If you don't care, I would like to have that ar paper." She never has a piece except what is given her by some kind person. She utterly refused to have the parcel wrapped. The people use the papers to keep the cold out. I have seen pieces of paper four inches square and parts of letters pasted on the boards. We save all the papers we receive, and have assisted in making many poor homes comfortable.

There is a good Sunday-school in a neighboring town. The people listen very attentively, and seem to be thankful for the Sunday-school and church services. The average attendance for the last five Sundays has been forty-two. The thought of leaving this school during the summer is a cross. There are fathers and mothers who are present every Sabbath. The children show the need of a good school.

FROM MISS M.A. BYE

Our Christian Endeavor Society interests me very much, as I have given more time and thought to that than to anything else outside of school work. It has increased in numbers, and the members have for the most part gained a great deal in interest and courage, and this term quite a number of associate members have become Christians. We are working now to send a delegate to the St. Louis Convention, and I anticipate great pleasure in watching the effect upon our delegate of the enthusiasm of the Convention and the sight of the city, and think it will be worth the year's work to be with him, for we hope to send one of the boarding boys.

THE KING'S DAUGHTERS SOCIETY

About a year ago, ten or fifteen girls might have been seen sitting in their teacher's room, at Tougaloo University, while she spoke to them of forming a society. The members of this society, she said, were to do all the good they could in every way they could.

Now, of course, we want a name for our society. If we are going to do all the good we can, we are worthy to be called followers of Christ, and as he is a King, we call ourselves "King's Daughters." When our society began, we had but eight or ten members, but at almost every meeting there was some one who wanted to join. The meetings were carried on every Sunday evening, and some one of the members was appointed to lead the next meeting. During the week we try in every way to do something definite to please our King; to go to no place in which we would be ashamed to have our King see us, and to keep no company with which we would be ashamed to have him see us. Our society continued to grow and prosper, and finally the young men concluded to organize a King's Sons Society. During the summer the two societies held joint meetings. New members were continually joining. As the meetings were new to us when we first began, they were not as interesting as they grew to be at a later date; but generally the time was all occupied. Some one would read a portion of Scripture and offer prayer, after which a story would be read or told by one of the members, who had prepared it during the week. Then we would tell how we had kept our pledge, or in what way we had been helped by being King's Daughters. Sometimes, when we had broken our pledge, we would leave off our badge for a week.

The first Sunday in every month we have what we call our consecration meeting. The President calls the roll and each one answers by giving a verse of Scripture, or her experience as a King's Daughter. The third Sunday in every month we elect the officers who are to serve during the next month. These consist of President, Vice-President, Secretary, a sick committee, whose business it is to visit and help any who are sick, and a committee on invitation, whose business it is to find out who would like to join our society. They report the names at the next meeting. Sometimes we have a question-box into which we put questions regarding the society. These are written on small slips of paper and read by one of the members. If they are directed to a particular one, that person answers them; but if not, any one in the Society answers them.

During the school year of 1888, we made a box of clothing to send to the Indian mission school in Dakota. We would meet every Saturday evening and sew until we had made enough to fill our box. Whenever one of us finished a piece we would write our name and pin it on. One of our girls wanted to sew a little on every article, so as to have her name on all of them. Well, when we had finished our box of presents, we each wrote a letter and put into it. We intended to make this a Christmas present, but severe snow-storms prevented it from reaching its destination in time. They received it about a month after Christmas, and the things were divided among the Indian girls. Some of them wrote to us, thanking us for the presents which they had received. After our society grew to about twenty or thirty, we were divided into tens. Each ten had a name given it, such as the Truthful Ten, the Judge Not Ten, the Do Without Ten and the Polite Ten. Most of us find it hardest to be Judge Not Tens and Truthful Tens.—From the Tougaloo Quarterly.

THE INDIANS

OUR S'KOKOMISH MISSION

BY DISTRICT SECRETARY J.E. ROY

The S'kokomish Reservation is at the extreme southwestern corner of the Puget Sound, where the S'kokomish River empties in, and is three miles square, with five thousand acres, embracing rich bottom land and mountain timber land, the river and the sound furnishing the best means of transportation to the market. On the place I measured the stumps of red cedar that were eight, ten and twelve feet in diameter. The waters at hand are of the best for fishing. As we—Mrs. Roy was with me—were going up from the river where we had been set across after a ten-mile mountain drive from Shelton, we saw a Mr. Lo lugging a three-foot salmon into the missionary home; and at Olympia, the capital, and another point on the sound, the fishmonger told us they did not sell such fish by the pound, but by the piece, twenty-five cents each. When, in 1855, this reservation was set apart by the treaty, it was for the three bands of this tribe and for the Clallams up at the entrance of the Sound, who, because of variance with one of the other bands, never left their ancestral habitation to go to the selected spot. The people belonging to the Reservation now number about six hundred and twenty.

The handling of the Indians here was one of the first fruits of President Grant's Peace Policy, by which the agencies were assigned to the several missionary societies, which were to nominate their respective agents. This was one of those which were assigned to the American Missionary Association. In 1871 the Association nominated to this Agency Edwin Eells, Esq., the eldest son of Rev. Gushing Eells, D.D., who was one of the mission band that crossed the Rocky Mountains in 1838, under commission of the American Board, to be associated with Dr. Marcus Whitman's series of Indian Missions. Here is an illustration of the wisdom of that policy, which has secured a highly successful management in all the secular, educational and religious affairs of the Agency, and one that has been continued on through the changes of governmental administration, and also one that has resulted in repeated promotions, until now Agent Eells has charge of five of the seven distinct Reservations in the State of Washington. His present headquarters are at the Puyallup Agency, near Tacoma, where he has just completed an eight thousand dollar building to displace an old one, for the Government Boarding School. In all these five reservations, lands have been secured in severalty to the Indians, and largely through his persistent devotion to their welfare. For two or three years his father had care of the S'kokomish Mission under the American Missionary Association, and in 1874, his brother, Rev. Myron Eells, was appointed to the same work, in which he still abides. Besides the preaching, the care of the Sunday-school and the prayer meetings and the pastoral work, in which he gets around among his people as often as once in a month, he has also the charge of the Indian Church among the Clallams, near New Dunginess, the brethren of that station, in the pastor's absence, maintaining stated worship. The people at S'kokomish have gotten beyond Government payments; they live on their own allotted lands, in cabins or frame houses, wearing citizens' dress, and doing business as white men do it. One of Pastor Eells's first Sundays at the mission was noted for the celebration of Christian marriage on the part of seven or eight couples who had been living together under their heathen way of taking up. So they have been shuffling off their polygamy. While we were there, a man of middle life came to the pastor's house with his first wife, to be married to her after the Christian form, having made a satisfactory pecuniary arrangement with the second, who was a sister of the first. In this case there were no children to complicate settlement. After I had addressed the church upon their duty of doing more for the support of their pastor, even as I had betimes had to do before in white home missionary churches, the several responses were as decorous and assuring as could be desired.

As another advantage of this Grant plan, the Government School and the Mission are found to be in entire harmony, the principal, Mr. Foster, and his assistants and the industrial teacher all being Christians and caring for the moral advancement of their pupils. Nor does the missionary administration come in any way to overlie the governmental. From the herd of cows kept for the service of the boarding school, neither is one set aside for the pastor's family, nor is he allowed to buy their milk. He gets his supply from outside. Nor does the preacher use from Uncle Sam's wood pile. He buys from the Indians.

Some may wonder how a man in such a field can keep from drying up. Come with me into this missionary study. The first thing that strikes you is a growth of English ivy, from its root in the earth outside creeping through a crack in the siding and climbing up one corner and then around the upper corners of the four sides of the room. That evergreen wreath is a symbol of the fresh intellectual life in that study, which has all the air and fix of a workshop. On the shelves, besides the ordinary outfit, there is an extensive geological collection, which in its classification and nomenclature shows scientific investigation. Then there is a fine cabinet of Indian relics and curios, appropriate to the calling of the incumbent: and there is a supply of Indian literature, historic and scientific, out of which this student is transmuting the essential elements of the Indian problem of the Pacific Northwest. And so it is a small library of his own that has thus been elaborated. The first is a "History of Indian Missions on the Pacific Coast," published by the American Sunday-school Union; and the second is "Ten Years at S'kokomish,"—1874-1884—published by our own Congregational Sunday-school and Publishing Society. These books would make an enrichment of any Sunday-school library, giving the very essence of romance and of heroism along with Christian instruction. The others are monographs, among them the following:

"Marcus Whitman, M.D.: Proofs of his Work in Saving Oregon to the United States, and in promoting the immigration of 1843;" "Justice to the Indian;" "Indian Traditions as to Religion;" "Hand of God in the History of the Pacific Coast;" "Papers on the Anthropology of the Indians of Washington," as published in the Smithsonian Report of 1886-7. Another such monograph he now has ready for the press—"God's Hand in the Missions to the Indians beyond the Rocky Mountains," a paper read at the recent fiftieth anniversary of the organizing of Dr. Whitman's church. And beyond all this literary work is the occasional supply of destitute white congregations round about, and service as a Trustee of the Pacific University in Oregon, and of the Whitman College, at Walla Walla, Washington. Surely in literary work, to the names of Jonathan Edwards among his Stockbridge Indians, and John Eliot among his Naticks, and S.R. Riggs among the Dakotas, and not a few others, maybe added this of Myron Eells among the S'kokomish.

THE CHINESE

JOTTINGS

BY REV. W.C. POND, D.D

If I were to attempt to place before the readers of the MISSIONARY, in such setting as would be needed for a comprehension of them, all the interesting minor facts and scenes that pass under my observation in our work, there would be no room on its pages for anything else. Let me give a few examples of these.

A young Chinaman is being examined with reference to baptism, and is asked why he decided to turn from the worship of idols. "God is true" is the reply, a very simple reason,—a trite one possibly; but there was something in the tone and emphasis of it which thrilled me. I saw the emptyness of heathen worship at a point from which I had never looked at it before. A God that is true, that can be absolutely trusted! Where will you find one in any heathen Pantheon? Conceive now a thoughtful, honest man passing from the timorous worship of such gods to the rest and comfort and courage which come from knowing and trusting Him who is true, and you will begin to realize what that simple answer meant.

"What are your people making such a noise for?" was asked of a Chinese brother at Ventura, during the Chinese New Year's Festival. "To scare away the evil spirits," was the reply. "And why don't you scare them away?" was the next question, for all was quiet at our little mission house, "Evil spirits stay away when Holy Spirit comes," was the reply. I am not confident that I recall the exact words, but I have certainly given the idea, and it meant emancipation for the man that uttered it, an entrance into the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free.

"When I get discouraged, as I often do," writes a teacher, "I think of the five who are studying the Testament, and of a remark one of them made to me, 'I love Jesus more all the time when I read about him.'" This brother took his religion with him to China, and brought it back unharmed.

One of the brethren worked in a hotel where to specially toilsome service was added a treatment far from kind. He said to his teacher that he remembered how much Jesus had to bear and so he "had patient." The wages received he spoke of as the "hardest money" he had earned since coming to California, and so he took part of it to buy a nice Bible. An American said scoffingly to him: "Are you one of the Christian Chinamen?" "Yes," he replied. "I love Jesus; I am not ashamed that I love Jesus."

One of our Santa Barbara brethren rents quite a tract of land, much of which he devotes to the culture of small fruits. On a visit to his place a year or two ago, friends saw strawberry plants heavily laden with luscious looking fruit so arranged in front of our brother's door as to spell out this sentence, "God loves the earth."

"It seems," said Jee Gam once, "as though I could recall his very words, and hear the tones of his voice as he prayed for the conversion of his countrymen." It was the closing prayer of a gospel service among the Chinese in Oakland. The brother who offered it was a Chinese merchant of that city. Two days afterwards he was shot in his own store by a Chinaman because he refused to submit to blackmail. A policeman hastened to the spot and saw him die, and testified in court that his last words were those of prayer to our true God; this testimony, though given probably by an ungodly man, being such as to draw tears from many who listened. Yet some say there are no real Christian Chinamen; that you can't convert a Chinaman; that they are throughout a race of hypocrites.

It may not be safe to say every month without exception, though that is the impression made upon me, but it is certainly safe to say almost every month brings some report to me of pupils beginning to believe in Jesus and professing their faith in him. This extract from a letter will serve as an example: "I have some very good news for you concerning my scholars. Two of them have promised to join the Association [i.e. of Christian Chinese] next week. One of them I have been praying for especially, for nearly a year.... There are three more who, I trust, are born of God, but are not yet brave enough to take a stand for him. One says his brother will kill him if he joins in Christ's name." And here is a word from another teacher: "Five of the brethren unite with the church at the coming communion. I do not feel that this is through my effort, as I have not known how to work individually. It is the Lord that 'giveth the increase.' Two of them have been ready to come into the church for a long time. The others show their conversion by face and manner as well as by testimony and prayer."

I fear that I have exhausted my space, though I am far from the end of possible "jottings." I will close with a few sentences from a letter received from a Chinese Christian living at a roadside tavern beyond Oroville. "Since I am determined to be a Christian, has very much surprised my elder brother. When he heard about I join the Association he make a great deal of trouble to me. Then I ask our brothers to pray for that matter, till one day I go and entreat him; also, tell him all about the gospel of Christ how good for us and redeem us from our sins. Then he said, 'Do not talk such things to me; we are Chinese; must keep our customs.' I say, 'I cannot keep anything wrong; idol worship is against God. Four thousand years ago our Chinese population have no idol to worship. Don't you search a thing before you keep it?' Then he answer: 'If good then you keep it,' and then I received baptism; then do no more persecution to me afterwards." This extract merely hints at facts which, if related, would show that for our Chinese Christians at least, the days that try men's souls are not yet past.

BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK

MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY

The thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union of Alabama met with the Congregational Church in Marion, March 31. This Union has contributed during the year to the A.M.A. for Indian work, to the A.H.M.S. for Bohemian work, besides aiding a missionary in China, and one in South Africa. All the auxiliaries have also done good work in aiding the churches and the poor in their respective localities. The meeting was pleasant and profitable, and the Union starts upon another year with the prospect of adding greatly to its strength and efficiency.

The first Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Missionary Union, held at New Orleans, April 3, was also full of encouragement. The new interest awakened, simply by the gathering together to report the progress of the year, indicates how much can be accomplished. Not only will the missionary cause receive direct benefit, but there will be a reflex, healthful influence upon the churches thus represented.

The first Annual Meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union of the Central South Association, held in Nashville, Tennessee, April 5, was in all respects encouraging. One of the peculiar features of these Southern Unions is that the State Association is always likely to meet at a school centre, as in this case at Nashville, Tennessee, and the older students thus are enthused and stimulated to missionary purpose and activity, whether in the ordinary experiences of church life at home, or as special missionaries.

There was a good representation of auxiliaries, and encouraging word of new ones soon to be received. The interest in the meeting was intense, and the reports from the different societies showed a deep and heartfelt sympathy with the cause of missions. It was very interesting to note how anxiously some of those who represent a people burdened with poverty, planned for the work of the coming year, taking for their field—the world. Considering that this Union is only a year old, its growth seems remarkable.

The question is sometimes asked, whether the Mountain girls appreciate the opportunity of education that is now afforded them. We reply by giving extracts from the letter of a pupil obliged to leave school. The letter was written to a school-mate, and is but one of many instances of the kind.

"My Dearest Friend:—I would have written sooner, but I thought I might get a chance to go to school, and that is why I have delayed so long. It is impossible for me to go now, the boys are preparing 'for to make a crap,' and I can see how much they are needed at home. We have but one horse, and I cannot go alone. Oh! how glad I would be to see my teacher. I know I shall never be able to reward her for her kindness to me, but the Lord will reward her. I never have met the people who were so kind to me as those people. I still have a desire to get an education; sometimes I think I will not get to go to school any more, but where there is a will, there is a way, and I know I have a good will. My sisters all married before they were twenty. I am twenty-two now. I want an education more than I want to marry. My folks tell me I have enough education, but I think I know better than they. To be sure, I can read and write a little, but that don't satisfy me, I have a hope yet that I may still get higher, that is if the Lord is willing. We cannot do anything unless the Lord is willing and will help us. Give my love to all the girls. Please write and tell me about the school. Remember me in your prayers.