I. EDITORIAL. November Missionary Meetings-Educational Economics in Japan-An Item of Con- II. THE CHURCH AT HOME. HOME MISSIONS.-Editorial Notes.- More Outside Help Wanted-Lake Mohonk PAGE 417-434 435-438 Special Contributions.-Begin at Jerusalem-Plea for Needy People, H. B. Foster, 439-441 Editorial Correspondence.-Student Laborers, Rev. T. L. Sexton-Minneapolis, Rev. R. N. Adams-Work in South Dakota, Rev. J. B. Pomeroy-Fargo, Rev. F. M. Wood, 441-444 Monthly Concert.-Our Missionaries and Missionary Teachers-Our Missionaries, . 444-447 News from the Field.-Juneau, Alaska, Rev. J. P. White-Indian School, Sitka, Alaska, W. A. Kelly, Supt.-Willmar, Minn., Rev. C. T. Burnley-Payson, Utah, Rev. W. A. Hough-South Chicago, Ill., Rev. T. H. Allen-Imperial, Neb., from a StudentMarble Hill, Mo., Rev. E. P. Keach-Le Roy, Minnesota, Rev. F. G. Weeks-Wood Gulch, Wash. Ter., Rev. James Thompson-Tacoma, Wash. Ter., Rev. P. C. StanupEustis, Fla., Rev. J. H. Potter-Portland, Oregon, Rev. W. Morrison-Idaho Springs, Col., Rev. É. P. Thompson-Winter Haven, Fla., Rev. M. Waldo-Wild Tribes in Indian Territory, by a Kiowa Indian-Volga, Dakota, Rev. A. M. Work-Another Church Dedicated, Rev. J. Reid, Jr.-Does it Pay? Rev. S. G. Clark—Henrietta, Texas, Rev. G. Pierson-Appointments for September, COLLEGES AND ACADEMIES.-A Credible Witness-Latest Word about Sumner Academy Scotland Academy-Endowments-Geneseo Collegiate Institute, PUBLICATION AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK.-Why should I Contribute?— Bear in Mind-Letters to Superintendent of Sabbath-school Work-Letter to Secretary -Difficulty of Missionary Work-"A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdom for a Horse," 461-464 CHURCH ERECTION.-Plan of $2000 Church-Shall the Manse Work End?-Words of Encouragement: Letters from Dr. Phraner, John Harvey, D. D. Ghormly, H. C. Bradbury and T. S. B., MINISTERIAL RELIEF.-Million-dollar Fund-Per Contra-Our Missionaries in the West, EDUCATION.-Effects of Scanty Funds-Unemployed Ministers-A Recommendation III. THE CHURCH ABROAD. FOREIGN MISSIONS.-Editorial Notes.-Peking Mission-Indian Schools-Mohonk 447-456 457-460 465-468 469-472 473-476 477-480 481-486, 513 Letters from the Field.-China: Rev. B. C. Henry, Canton; Rev. J. H. Laughlin, Wei AT HOME AND ABROAD. PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1887. EDITORIAL. THE NOVEMBER MISSIONARY MEETINGS. The General Assembly of 1886 appointed a Sabbath in November "for special instruction in foreign missions," and recommended that it "be also kept as a day of prayer for a new spirit of intelligence and zeal in connection with the kingdom of God." It is thankfully believed, by observant and thoughtful Christians, that a very signal blessing followed that day's observance, in manifest answer to those prayers. Certainly the revival of intelligent zeal for foreign missions in the youth from among whom the missionaries of the near future are to be called, and in the givers of the money by which missionaries must be supported, was evident and encouraging. In recognition of this, no doubt, the General Assembly at Omaha recommended That the first Lord's day in November be observed as a day of prayer and special effort to enlist the sympathy of all our churches, Sunday-schools and people in the work of foreign missions. That, so far as it is practicable, this day be followed by "Simultaneous Meetings," so popular in England, in centres of influence throughout each and every synod for a day and an evening; for which synodical and presbyterial committees shall be instructed to make preparation and give supervision as to place, speakers, and inviting the co-operation of the woman's boards, bands and Sunday-schools, scattering suitable literature to 29 1827 be furnished at the discretion of the boards, and to make these occasions, as far as possible, memorable for spiritual power and practical utility, in this centenary year of the General Assembly. For such meetings the Synod of New Jersey has made ample preparation. To such a course the Presbytery of Philadelphia North overtures the Assembly. How far it has been found practicable to arrange simultaneous meetings on the week thus indicated, "throughout each and every synod," and to make adequate and effective preparation for them, we are not advised. That the Sabbath indicated will be generally thus observed by pastors, sessions and people may well be expected, and nowhere should those whose hearts are moved to prayer and study be hindered by any needless questioning how generally others are uniting with them. It will, without question, be a union of many thoughtful and prayerful minds. In the Synod of New Jersey we have information of very thorough preparation for meetings to be held simultaneously during the week, November 13 to 19. This preparation was begun a good while before the last General Assembly, by brethren in that synod who had made a study of the February Simultaneous Meetings of the English Church Missionary Society, so well described in an article by Rev. W. H. Belden, in our April number, pages 300, 301. 417 The synod's preparation is set forth in their field, work and workers, to be participated circular as follows: The whole work is intrusted by synod to a committee of five of its members-the Rev. Messrs. Augustus Brodhead, D.D., of Bridgeton, Alfred Yeomans, D.D., of Orange, and William H. Belden, of Bridgeton; and Elders William Rankin, Treasurer of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and H. E. Simmons, 240 Broadway, N. Y. With these are associated thirty-two others, representing the several presbyteries of the synod which have also taken action in the same direction. in by all. Afternoon, separate meetings of Ladies' Foreign Mission Societies, Young People's Bands, Sunday-schools, etc. Evening, the main meeting, having at least two carefully-prepared addresses. The key-note for all meetings and addresses: "Our Risen Saviour's Last Command" (Foreign Missions in their Spiritual Aspect). This article is written on the day in which the beloved chairman of the committee above named, Rev. Augustus Brodhead, D.D., is borne to his burial. His decease is be found, at the meetings for which he has so zealously and ably labored to make preparation, that "he being dead yet speaketh"? Arrangements are making by this joint deeply felt by his colleagues, and will it not committee by which an all-day convention in behalf of the work of foreign missions will be held in every one of the 219 towns in the state of New Jersey where there is a Presbyterian church. The convention will not be held in every town on the same day; but all will fall within the one week, November 13 to 19, 1887. Fifty-eight of these places have been designated as "centres," to be provided with speakers (evening meeting) by synod's committee; but it is planned that an all-day convention on some one of the days of the Simultaneous Week shall be held in every We bespeak for these missionary meetings the diligent attendance of the people of New Jersey and their neighbors in adjacent states, and the fraternal prayers of their brethren throughout the land. Our brethren of the Methodist Episcopal Church in a part of New Jersey have made preparation for similar meetings a few days earlier, and we are assured that this is in no spirit of rivalry, but of most fraternal one of the 219 Presbyterian towns in New co-operation. The Presbyterian and MethJersey. These conventions will be on the same general plan everywhere, to wit: Morning, a prayer-meeting, followed by an open meeting for general discussion of the missionary odist committees are in perfect harmony in the endeavor to engage the people of both churches in united prayer for the coming of Christ's kingdom. EDUCATIONAL ECONOMICS IN JAPAN. The article on "Educational Economics" in our June number contained some thoughts which are recalled and illustrated by recent reading of the Tenth Annual Report of the Council of the United Missions in Japan, for the year 1886. It embraces a report of the Bancho school, which had its beginning with two pupils in the house of Mrs. Sakurai, in 1876, and "has since been steadily growing in numbers, interest and influence. The aim of its founder was to give a Christian education to Japanese girls, and this aim has been steadily pursued by her suc cessors." The school has now three foreign and five Japanese teachers, and has both a Japanese and an English department. The number of pupils is over one hundred and fifty. The following extract gives the illustration of educational economics to which we referred: Among the day-scholars are a number quite mature in years, some of them wives and mothers, a few of them teachers in government schools, all anxious to redeem the time and to have some share in the privileges of education so recently accorded to the daughters of Japan. They are among our most enthusiastic students, and succeed in regularity of attendance and in holding an honorable place in their classes, in spite of numerous and unavoidable hindrances to study. In addition to the divisions already mentioned, we have a kindergarten which numbers thirty-six pupils. In connection with it is a normal class for practical instruction in kindergarten teaching. Much time and thought have been given by both native and foreign teachers to the domestic department, which for many considerations has been felt to be of great importance in such a school as this. Among these considerations is the fact that some of the pupils, coming into the school as children and leaving it to assume the responsibilities of mistresses in houses of their own, have here their only opportunity for instruction in domestic economy and the practical part of housekeeping. Another consideration is the desirability of replacing the old disdain for manual labor by a respect for all honest work. Moreover, the beneficial effect of exercise upon the health, and the cogent influence of such household work in the formation of habits of promptness, self-reliance and a willingness to share in whatever is for the general welfare, have had great influence in leading us to give prominence to domestic work. All boarders in the school have an equal share in it. Each pupil devotes forty minutes a day to this kind of employment, and the work of the school and household is thus all done by the scholars themselves, under the direction of their teachers. To meet the desire of the day, some instruction has also been given in foreign housework and housekeeping. To foreign minds the perfect equality upon which girls from many different ranks and conditions meet and mingle in this department is not the least pleasing part of the arrangement. We have been glad to notice increased interest in this part of their education among the scholars themselves, and to find that indifference or aversion is giving way to appreciative and cheerful enthusiasm. A class of scholars in whom our interest is ever deepening, for whom we have increasing respect, and whose presence with us is felt to be an element of strength and helpfulness, consists of young women who, being desirous of an education and without the means of procuring it in the ordinary way, are willing to obtain it by their own efforts. The members of this class devote half of the day to some kind of remunerative employment, and thus are able to provide for their own support. Their remaining time is given to study. The number of them is limited by our lack of accommodation, but we would gladly see it increased. Whether any of the teachers in the Bancho school were educated at the Holyoke Seminary, or at either of those in Ohio or farther west, modelled after that admirable pattern, we are not informed; but certainly its economy of means and resources, the honor it puts upon manual labor, its wise utilizing of such labor for healthful bodily exercise, its cultivation of the spirit of selfhelp and of mutual helpfulness, remind us of those institutions, and of Park College, in which, as shown in our September number, the same principles and similar methods are applied for the benefit of pupils of both sexes. We are glad to see these principles and methods applied in the Sunrise Kingdom. They are just as applicable and just as commendable and valuable in the new institutions which our people are establishing in the West and in the South. Why should they not also be kept in use in the older and better-endowed institutions? There is need of care in bestowing these endowments and in managing them, that they may not discourage the spirit of self-help by discountenancing the lowly methods by which alone self-help is practicable. Dr. Haygood, a candid citizen of Georgia, writing of the recently-proposed legislation in that state, forcibly and justly says: The social fabric of Georgia is not in danger, it does not need to be buttressed by a new school law with a chain-gang penalty. Certainly "Georgia is not afraid of any body;" she will manage her affairs to suit herself no matter what the world says. But "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind" is neither weakness nor cowardice. Justice, to be educative, should economize penalties. If one of the parent teachers of one of these fourteen children should be chain-ganged for teaching his own child in his own colored school, what will justice do when crime is committed? A girl was once hung in England for stealing a ribbon. That execution did not make hanging for murder impressive. Considering the fact that no Negro children are in any white schools, that no white children are in any public schools for Negroes, and that only fourteen small white children are in certain private Negro schools, it seems to me that legislators do not vote for the chain-gang penalty because they are really afraid for the social fabric. Possibly the fear of being thought in favor of some sort of possible social equality leads men to vote for anything that is against it, whether it is needed or not. It seems to me, as I have often heretofore tried to teach, that the best interests of both races require them to keep their blood pure. There is no hope for either in miscegenation. There is a Georgia law against intermarriage a law more violated, ten to one, if not in the letter, in the reality and spirit of it, than the law against mixed schools. If now the legislature will give us a law placing the parents of mulatto children in the chain-gang, it would be worth while. mobbed in her own home by the brave people of that commonwealth, for the crime of teaching in her own home a colored school. The mention of a historic fact of that sort sounds like a note of something that must have happened a thousand years ago. Prudence Crandall, now eighty-four years old, lives in a quiet little village in Kansas, and is happy in the modest pension which the state of Connecticut gives her as some slight, though late, compensation for the loss inflicted by that riot of half a century ago. We cannot help regretting the prevalent tendency to speak of opposite sentiments toward the colored people as if they were sectional or geographical,-a northern sentiment and a southern sentiment. We know of no place, north or south, where the people are generally willing to treat colored persons as they treat white persons, altogether according to their merits, without any reference to color. We really are not aware of any difference in this respect between New York and St. Louis. We do not believe that there is as much difference between New Orleans and Boston as there is between Boston and London. In the very town in which was the home of William H. Seward, and in which is his grave, the trustees of the academy once deliberated upon the question of admitting to its privi leges a pupil qualified for admission, of good character and deportment, and wholly unobjectionable in every respect except that she had some African blood. One member of that board declared that he would no sooner vote to exclude such a person from the academy than from the church; and that he would do either no sooner than he would tie a mill-stone about his neck and The Advance, in Chicago, recalls an item jump into the sea. A few voted with him, of Connecticut history thus: It seems incredible, but it is true, the woman is living to-day who once, and that in the state of Connecticut, was actually but they were voted down. The girl was excluded. It is not probable that that would happen in Auburn now. In St. Louis, when street cars were |
