VIRGINIA.
Pastor’s Testimony.
REV. H. B. FRISSELL, HAMPTON.
I have very pleasant meetings with the Indians here. I let them read the verses from the English Bible and then explain them. When I first came I used to read myself, but I found that they liked better to take a part in the services. Then we sing together from Dr. Robinson’s Songs of the Sanctuary. After that I give the meeting into their hands. They suggest their favorite hymns and lead in prayer, usually in their own language. They all seem attentive and devout. It is very pleasant to see their faces light up as they get some new thought from God’s word. I have seldom seen men more earnest in the study of the Scriptures. One of those who united with the church at the last communion has been confined to the house with sickness. The nurse tells me that he often sits for two or three hours at a time patiently spelling out the words of the English Bible, and asking her the meaning of that which he cannot understand. I am pleased to see that they are interested to work for one another. I found the other day that one of the older boys, Jas. Murrie, had been accustomed to get a number of the others who were not Christians together, and read the Bible and pray with them. Excellent work, isn’t it, for a young chief who will soon go back to take charge of his own tribe? They have a meeting of their own on Wednesday evening, of which they take charge themselves. I could give you instances of how these Indian boys have resisted temptation in a way which seems to me really remarkable.
My work among the colored students progresses very pleasantly. It is hard to get out of their minds wrong conceptions as to what a Christian life is. They expect to see visions and dream dreams when they enter upon it, and seem to look upon the entering as the all important part. They haven’t been used to thinking of the Christian life as a struggle against sin. It is a real pleasure to preach to them, and they are earnest to know the truth.
I am trying to make the Christian boys and girls feel their responsibility more. I am trying to make them work for others. We have started a Missionary Association for work in the country about. On Sunday afternoon twenty-five go out into the cottages to read the Bible and pray with the poor families. Many of them work in the Sunday-schools in Hampton. One goes out to the poor-house, another to the prison. They all make the reports of their work to me. We are talking of starting a Sunday-school in the Butler School House. We think we could get in many who do not now attend, and it would give our students a chance for work. I am anxious to make them feel that they are not merely to be recipients. There is a good interest in our meetings, and although I don’t feel at all contented with what is being done, and look for much greater things, yet I am thankful for the evidences of God’s favor which I see.