Читать книгу: «The American Missionary. Volume 44, No. 02, February, 1890», страница 2

Paragraphs

Dr. Rankin, the newly-elected President of Howard University, writes:

"Everything at the University begins very promisingly. We had a crowded preaching service on Sunday night, and are observing the week of prayer at 12:30 noon. The meetings are full and impressive."

"If a donor should give a great material gift to the University, I am sure I ought to write you. But the great Giver is giving us the choicest of spiritual gifts. Eight of the students, one of them a senior, this noon expressed a desire for prayers. We continue the daily meeting at noon."

The immigration into the United States is steadily declining, as appears by the figures reported in the papers, while the blending of the foreigners here is steadily and rapidly going forward, rendering them speedily one people. On the other hand, the colored population in the Southern States is steadily augmenting, while the alienation between the black and white races in the South is becoming more pronounced. The Southern problem is the more difficult of solution.

A clergyman in a Southern town who is connected with families of great influence, and who ministers to a large white church, is accustomed to preach every afternoon in a colored church under the care of this Association. He usually repeats to the colored church the sermon preached in the forenoon to his own people, and finds that those who hear it in the afternoon appreciate it fully. The two remarkable facts in this incident are that the gentleman should consent to do this gratuitous labor for the colored church, and that the colored church should understand and appreciate the sermon prepared for the cultured white congregation.

A Beautiful Gift

Mr. Silas M. Rideout, of Cumberland, Maine, has presented to the American Missionary Association, through the Boston office, a most beautiful box for keepsakes. It is about 6 inches in width, 9 in length and 4 in depth, made of inlaid woods of different colors very tastefully arranged, "American Missionary" being set in the cover. The inside is lined with plush. On a card in the box the following was written by a friend: "This box was presented to the American Missionary Association by a good man living in a small town in Maine, who, like that good fisherman of whom we have heard, gives such as he had. This dear brother of four-score and two years, made this box and presented it to the American Missionary Association, with its contents $10.25, which was contributed by such of his friends as desired to have a look at the skill of their aged brother in his work of love for the cause of Christ." It was intended by our venerable friend that this box should draw other contributions and finally be sold, the proceeds to be devoted to the work of the American Missionary Association in which Mr. Rideout has been so deeply interested for many years. A gentleman in Boston offers $12 for the box. Will not some one make a better offer, and in this way recognize the remarkable skill of this aged friend in his effort to increase the income of the Association to help the needy millions among whom our missionaries labor?

The Southern Situation

Some Suggestive Facts

First Fact. The condition of the colored man In the South is becoming more pitiable and precarious. Mr. Grady, in his last speech, announced the unalterable purpose of the Southern whites never to submit to Negro rule, and we read not long since of a "quiet election" held in a Southern city, because the colored people, duly warned, kept away from the polls. We know something, also, of the struggles of that people against almost insuperable difficulties in trying to obtain food, homes and education. In addition to all this, the public press keeps us informed with sad frequency of the repeated murders inflicted upon the defenceless colored people.

Second Fact. We learn with gratification that Southern people of high standing denounce these outrages. Governor Richardson, of South Carolina, assured a colored delegation that called upon him, that he had offered a reward for the apprehension of the Barnwell murderers, and pledged his sacred word that nothing would be undone on his part to bring the lynchers to condign punishment. Senator Wade Hampton is said to have endorsed the sentiments of the Governor, and leading Southern papers have censured in unmeasured terms this outrage.

But as yet these murderers have not been arrested, and we presume that no one expects they will be. The murderers of Mr. Clayton, of Arkansas, who presumed to run as an independent candidate for Congress, were denounced by the authorities of the State, and rewards were offered for their apprehension. But, though many months have elapsed, they have not been arrested, and no one, North or South, imagines that they will be punished. Kind words from Southern officials will not solve the great problem.

Third Fact. The colored people bear up well under all these trying circumstances. We should suppose they would be utterly discouraged, for they see little prospect of securing their rights as men and citizens, and even life and property are not safe. They are allured to a change of location by flaming handbills, making tempting but deceptive offers of better wages and better homes. They are hunted down and massacred, and yet their wrongs are unredressed.

But in spite of all this, they struggle on, constantly gaining property and homes, some of them acquiring wealth. If they are deceived on reaching some new Eldorado, losing their all in making the change, they do not give up, but strike in again. If they are not safe in some rural districts, they go to the cities. But best of all, their educated men are showing great wisdom and moderation, as witness the calm and dispassionate action of the Convention of the most intelligent and influential colored men in Charleston, S.C., after the Barnwell massacre. They passed resolutions of dignified condemnation of the wrong, yet urged their people to remain quiet, and let the proper authorities vindicate the law. The forbearance of that meeting has won the commendations of leading white men in the South.

And here let us say, that the white people of the South make no greater mistake, than when they imagine that it is a dangerous thing to educate the colored people. On the contrary, we believe that the facts make it manifest that it is by these educated men that their race will be guided wisely and safely through this great crisis, and that if a war of races is to be avoided, these educated colored men will be a grand factor in averting it.

Fourth Fact. It is conceded by all right-thinking people, that the education of the colored race is the only true solution of the Southern problem. This has been declared in Presidential messages, in the utterances of such candid men as Dr. Curry, Dr. Haygood and Colonel Keating, by writers in all the Northern religious papers, and is, we believe, the accepted and settled opinion of Christian people at the North. Everybody admits, also, that there is a crisis coming, and that what is done for Negro education must be done quickly. The North has a duty in this matter, and admits it. Our constituents have a special duty in the case, and they feel it. They have done nobly in the past, and have assumed great responsibilities which cannot now be neglected or deferred. But here is the strangest of all the facts in this series: With the urgency before them, our constituents do not make a corresponding increase in their donations.

We feel impelled to urge this upon the attention of pastors, churches and individuals. Brethren and friends, do not delay as in the case of slavery, till the conflict comes! Do not expect that everybody else is doing what is needed. The responsibility is personal and pressing, and each individual and church can meet it only by making larger gifts—not from an impulse, but from a deliberate purpose formed under a sense of obligation to the Negro, the Nation and to Christ.

Rev. W.W. Patton, D.D., LL.D

The sudden and unexpected death of Dr. Patton takes away a man who has made a shining mark in the various relations of pastor, secretary, editor and president of a university. All these responsible positions he has filled with great fidelity and success. It becomes us to speak especially of his relations to this Association, which have been intimate and special. He was one of the few men present at the formation of the American Missionary Association in Albany in 1846, encountering the obloquy and ostracism which was then attached to those who favored the new movement. In 1868 he became the Western Corresponding Secretary of the Association in Chicago, and held this position for about two years. In 1877 he accepted the Presidency of Howard University in Washington, D.C., the theological department of which is under the care of the Association, and in which Dr. Patton was a teacher. Thus from the founding of the Association till the time of his death, Dr. Patton had been connected with it, sometimes officially, and always with deep sympathy and earnest co-operation.

He was in usual health, with his wonted vigor of body and mind, till within a few hours of his death, and on the day on which that occurred, his Presidency of Howard University expired by the terms of his resignation. He seemed to be fitted for further usefulness, and had looked forward with the expectation of using his pen and voice in the interests of the Master whom he had so faithfully served, but the scene of his active enjoyment and services was by that Master transferred to the higher realm.