Читать книгу: «The American Missionary. Volume 43, No. 06, June, 1889», страница 6

A NEGRO GIRL'S PROSE POEM

In attendance at one of the ward schools of Indianapolis is a little colored girl nine years old. She is miserable, indeed, for at home she is ill treated, and the shoes she wears, and often the clothes, are supplied by the teachers or some of her classmates. There is a tender, poetic vein in her make-up, and it found vent in a composition. The teacher took a little pansy plant to school one day and told the pupils of the flower. Two days after, she asked them to write a story of it, and gave them the privilege of having the pansy talk and tell the story, and this is what the little colored girl wrote, the word pansy in the copy being the only one dignified with a capital:

"I am only a Pansy, my home is in a little brown house. I sleep in my little brown house all winter, and I am now going to open my eyes and look about. 'give me some rain sky, I want to look out of my window and see what is going on,' I asked, so the sky gave me some water and I began to clime to the window, at last I got up there and open my eyes, oh what a wonderful world I seen when birds sang songs to me, and grasshoppers kissed me, and dance with me, and creakets smiled at me, and I had a pretty green dress. there was trees that grow over me and the wind faned me. the sun smiled at me, and little children smelled me. one bright morning me and the grasshoppers had a party he wood play with me and a naughty boy pick me up and tore me up and I died and that was the last of Pansy."—

Exchange.

THE INDIANS

ONE DAY'S MISSIONARY WORK

REV. T.L. RIGGS, OAHE, DAKOTA

Early in the winter, I had a pleasant day of work regarding which I want to write you. It was the day appointed for the observance of the Lord's Supper at the out-station about ten miles from home, and as the river had not frozen over thoroughly, I thought it better to go down in the saddle rather than drive the cart. This made it impossible for Mrs. Riggs to accompany me as she sometimes does.

I brought out my saddle camp-pouches (small square cases that strap to the horn of the saddle) and emptied them of their camp furniture, and in these were placed the bread and wine and also the service for the communion. My pouches are so small that I could take but one glass and a little china pitcher for our service. Usually I am able to take a china plate as well, but this time there was no room.

I went early in the day, and after some little difficulty the river was safely crossed, though my poor horse, not being shod, fell upon the ice more than once. He was not hurt, however, and I followed the river shore down to the out-station which is on the west side of the river.

I found the people gathered, and we had a morning session of nearly two hours. It was rather a preparatory service, and I talked familiarly with those present, individually as well as collectively. There were three men and their wives who wished to be married. Seven applied for admission to church membership, and there were also several infants to be baptized.

After dismissing the morning gathering, I arranged for communion service. I had no plate, so I sent a boy to his home to get one. He returned saying they had none, and I sent him to another house, from which he returned saying he could not get in. Then I decided to use the best I had, which was the card-board back broken from a hymn book. This I covered with a napkin and it answered very nicely. I had not prepared for any applications for baptism and had to send for a bowl, instead of which a tin cup was brought just as we were ready to begin service.

After the opening of service, I first married the three couples, (one of these consisted of an old man and woman nearly seventy years old, both of them gray-headed). The applicants for Christian fellowship were asked to give some public expression of their faith and were received into membership and baptized together with the infants. We, also, at the close of the service elected a deacon, who holds office for two years, and then I talked to them regarding the duties of another year. When dismissed, all went to their homes. I, too, went to a house near by and drank some coffee, for by this time I was quite faint. After this I rode home, reaching there just as the family were separating from the tea-table.

It seems odd to speak of men and their wives coming to be married—it is meant that they are husbands and wives after the Dakota custom. When they come to understand Christian marriage, and especially if they desire to unite with the church, they ask to have the marriage solemnized in a Christian manner. Sometimes a man and woman who have several children, perhaps a baby in arms, present themselves for marriage.

It is required of married candidates for admission to the church, that they be married in a Christian way. This sometimes seems hard, as in a case which has been before our Oahe church for some time. A woman of fine character whom we believe to be a sincere Christian, desires to unite with the church. Her husband, who is a veritable heathen, refuses to marry her. He says he never has had another wife and does not intend to take one, but he is a Dakota and does not wish to adopt white people's ways. They have a large family of children, and the wife does not feel that it is best to separate from her husband, though she really desires to do her whole Christian duty. In such cases, this regulation seems hard, but in the early days of the Dakota Mission, anything else brought confusion and trouble into the church, and this method of action was decided upon.

WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT IT?

MISS M.C. COLLINS, FORT YATES, DAK

There is a time in our work, if it progresses as we would like, when it seems to go beyond us. The work here now is at that point. When I came here the people were beggars. Their acquaintance with the Agency people and the Army people had been such as to cause them to think that white people were all wealthy, and that one had only to ask for a thing to receive it. I have labored diligently to induce them to earn what they have. It is very seldom now that any one begs, but I am over-run with applications for work. Each individual is jealous of another, if I give one work and refuse another. If I hire a woman to wash, I must hire another to iron, another to bring in my wood, another to wash the floor and still another to clean up my yard. If I hire a man to make some repairs, I must hire another to cut wood, another to haul water or ice, and so it is. This is very expensive, and yet I see no way to avoid it. I cannot say to a man, "It is a disgrace to beg bread for your hungry child," and then refuse to give him work. Now, let some of your wise people in the East who are friends of the Indian try to remedy this great difficulty. Let a part of the Indian money be spent in educating the Indian in his home to work and to earn something. The church or the Government ought to devise some plan by which Indians at their homes can earn money. I do all I can, but the expense is more than I can bear. There is no market for the Indian, and no work to be done by which he can earn anything, and no man can become self-supporting until he is provided with a way to support himself. What can we do about it?

THE CHINESE

METHOD OF CONDUCTING CHINESE SUNDAY-SCHOOLS

REV. W.C. POND, D.D

I have been requested to give in the columns of the MISSIONARY, some hints as to the opening and conducting of Chinese Sunday-schools. I wonder that I have waited for such a request, and did not long ago take this good method of replying to letters of inquiry, which, attempting to answer one by one, I have been obliged to respond to briefly, hurriedly, and unsatisfactorily.

1. First, "Catch your hare"—get the Chinese to come. This is less difficult, I fancy, in our Eastern cities, than in those of California. And yet, even there, it may require repeated and persistent invitations. I would not despair even though the teachers came several times at the hour appointed, and found that the expected pupils had broken their promises and failed to appear. You will at length prove to them that you are in earnest and have something for them worth their consideration.

2. When they come, do not undertake any opening exercises, but as soon as the first one appears, let the teaching begin. They are generally so situated, that to exact strict punctuality, is to require the impossible. Give them a reading lesson in whatever book they bring; or, if they bring none, in any primer you may have at hand, Chinese who have made no beginning in English, need to have each one his own teacher. This may not be possible always, but it is very desirable. It is exceedingly important that as much as possible be learned of English in the first few lessons, in order to prepossess the pupils favorably and get them interested in the school. Those who have already learned to read can, of course, be put into Bible classes, but beginners ought to be at liberty to take, each one his own pace, and get on as fast as possible; and for this a teacher for each pupil is needed.

3. From the beginning, let each class or each pupil have one and the same teacher. This is of almost vital importance. The establishment of a personal relationship and the development of a special personal friendship, are almost indispensable, if we would lead such dark souls into light. General exercises will not do this fast enough to meet the emergency. It needs personal contact; careful "hand-picking."

4. That which seems to me the best text-book for Chinese schools is "Jacobs' Reader." It was prepared originally for the deaf and dumb; and thus suits well those who are to us—as we to them—virtually deaf and dumb. Its object words are all represented in pictures. Its lessons are so arranged that the advance involves a perpetual review, and thus fastens in the memory what has been acquired. This is particularly desirable in the case of the Chinese, because the methods of teaching in China are so utterly diverse from ours. Teaching that turns back is in no favor with the average Chinaman. He wants you to pronounce the words and let him pronounce them after you as fast as possible. Go over it two or three times, very much as if you were teaching a parrot to speak, and then let him try himself. He is impatient of protracted explanations. What he wants is sounds; the more of them the better. After he has got the sounds, he will be willing to take the meaning they convey. One beauty of this book is, that it conveys the meaning through the eye, and keeps pupils reviewing without their knowing it. The teacher is in danger of becoming impatient with this Chinese method, for we know that our way of teaching is better. But remember that the end you have in view is not the most effective instruction in English, but the leading of the soul to Christ; and you can be content with a poorer method of doing the former, if thereby you can keep within reach that lost, but blood-bought soul. Another good point in this little book is, that there is just about enough in it concerning God and Christ to give the teacher an occasional opportunity to preach Jesus, without frightening the pupil away by too abrupt a "setting forth of strange gods." And, finally, this one Reader well studied will place the pupil where you can safely commend to him the New Testament as the cheapest and the best book to take next.

5. Instead of opening exercises have closing ones, as extended and as interesting as possible. Have pictures selected from the Sunday-school rolls, and, at each session, make one of these the subject of a little gospel-talk. Ask the pupil best versed in English to be your interpreter, and use such English as he can understand. And, even though you have no interpreter, five minutes given to a Bible story will not be lost, if you have a picture that is apt and suggestive.

Then sing the gospel to them, asking them to read the verse after you, word by word, and then sing it with you. I will gladly supply, at bare cost, Song Rolls in Chinese, containing familiar gospel hymns translated into Chinese and so conformed in metre to the English original that the time remains unchanged, and the teachers can sing the English words, if desirable, while the Chinese use their own. There is no more effective preaching of the gospel than that in song.

6. The Sunday-school, at its best, needs to be supplemented by some sort of week-day work. The Chinese Sunday-schools of California, though started with great éclat, would long ago have perished utterly, but for the mission schools whose work knows no cessation. Our Christian Chinese are now so widely scattered that it seems as though there could scarcely be anywhere Eastward a city of considerable size without at least one of them. If there is one, he will hear of your Sunday-school and will be there. Utilize him to the utmost. Make a missionary out of him. And it seems to me that the evangelistic work which we have been doing—imperfectly as yet—in California, ought to be extended to the Eastern cities, and that among our Christian Chinese some ought to be appointed to this work, spending (say) a month in each city where any considerable number of Chinese are found, endeavoring to reap the harvests that are ready, and to organize for Christian work whatever converted Chinese he may find. Already, without any such special agency, our "Congregational Association of Christian Chinese" reports one "branch" with sixteen members, in Brooklyn. I am sure it would be well, if the same thing, or something similar, were organized elsewhere.