American Missionary Association.
The Advance will please accept our thanks. In a recent issue it quotes almost the entire financial article published in the May American Missionary, and then editorially comments as follows:
“The Advance seconds the motion for a movement all along the line to save the American Missionary Association from the calamity of a threatened debt. May and June are magnificent months for doing good things. The whole world opens out in beauty. Blossoms, songs, abounding life, are everywhere. What a hint to close-clasped pocket-books to come out from their hiding places and join with the lilacs and apple trees and the birds and the forests and the fields in making everybody happy with their generous outflow. The New West is out of debt; the Home Missionary Society is out of debt. Let ministers and churches and sympathetic friends see to it that when the financial year ends the American Missionary Association can join in the same glad refrain—out of debt!”
The prime object we have in view in urging our appeal for increased contributions at the present time is that, if possible, we may obtain relief from threatening financial embarrassment before the summer months are upon us. When the ministers are in their own pulpits, and when the people are in their own pews, then is the time to make an effort. Unfortunately for some years past, we have been obliged to make special appeals during the summer months. We had no option. It was appeal or suffer. We have always felt the disadvantage. We were obliged to call, and yet we were conscious that those who ought to hear did not hear, and that many who heard felt constrained to do more than they really could afford. Many a time we would have gladly returned donations to friends who made altogether too great sacrifice in giving what they did. Cannot this evil be remedied? That is the question we wish to press during the few weeks that are now passing. Brethren and friends, before the vacation days come, can you not so roll up on your gifts to the treasury of the A. M. A. that when the summer is fairly here and you are gone to the mountains, to the seaside, across the ocean, or elsewhere, our anxieties shall be allayed and the danger of our being obliged to make special appeals shall be averted? “’Tis a consummation most devoutly to be wished.”
Our Treasurer frequently receives gifts in the form of cherished keepsakes. These keepsakes are associated with the memory of loved ones now dead, and they represent much more than any money value can measure. A widow, to whom a watch was the chief material reminder of her husband, heard the appeal of the American Missionary Association, and having no money to give, sends that watch that it may be sold in the market and the money go into our work. A friend of hers, who sent the watch to us, writes: “Favored with but few of this world’s goods, yet not daring to plead this as an excuse for not giving, she felt heavenly drawings to give to the Lord this cherished memento of the dear departed one. Having known her for many years as a Dorcas in the church, I cheerfully write these few words, not because of the intrinsic value of the gift, but because it is indeed the widow’s mite, and in God’s sight the widow’s mite may be more than the costly offerings of the wealthy.” Such gifts greatly encourage us, because they tell of affection and devotion and sacrifice.
We wish to guard our work and friends from imposition. Not necessarily imposition in the bad sense. It is to shield them from making donations to objects that in themselves may be worthy, under the impression that they are giving to the work of the A. M. A., when they are doing no such thing. There are a great many schools, of one kind and another, that have been started at the South among the colored people by private parties, on a purely independent basis. Complaint comes to us frequently that circulars and letters begging for funds with which to carry on these independent enterprises are being continually received, and that funds are diverted from our treasury on that account. Many contribute in response to these appeals under the impression that they are giving to the A. M. A. These independent ventures differ from our work in one very important respect. All our institutions are under supervision and are held to a strict responsibility and scrutiny. These others to which we refer are irresponsible and not supervised. Many of them are carried on with what we should consider a great lack of economy, and some of them are in the field because those that control them were uncomfortable under supervision. They knew too much to be counseled with and would not be advised. We ask our friends to be careful in the confidence they give to every applicant, who, taking the files of the American Missionary, uses the United States post-office as a means of gaining entrance to their homes and charity. We have no right to dictate to our friends where they shall spend their money. That is their own business. But we feel that it is our duty to advise them of the complaints that come to us, and to put them on their guard against imposition from every quarter.
The Color Line in Art.—The Art Students’ League of New York recently admitted to its membership Mr. Geo. Alex. Bickles, a colored youth of nineteen years. He is the first colored student ever admitted to the League. A few of the students were inclined to be angry because he was admitted. They wanted to draw the color line. They tried to work up a feeling of antagonism against the management. They called a meeting of the students, introduced a series of resolutions against the admission of colored students, but they were ingloriously defeated. To add to their chagrin, they were informed that even had their resolutions passed, the management would have taken no notice of them. Mr. Bickles is a bright young man, who until recently was a stable boy at Islip, L.I. He has a remarkable talent for drawing and painting, and his sketches are to be found in many a home in that Long Island village. Several prominent Brooklyn gentlemen having summer residences at Islip, recognized the young man’s ability and urged him to quit the stable and study art. This is the reason why he is now a student of the Art League, and there is this to his credit, that he has been admitted to its membership upon the merit of his work. In addition to being a good painter, he is also a fine musician.
A German, who owned a large plantation and many slaves near Savannah, Ga., at his death manumitted his slaves. Some of them were his own children. Two of his boys he sent to Germany and had them thoroughly educated. It was the design of the planter to have his property go to his freed children, as they were the only children he had. The war came and the State confiscated the property. One of the boys has been for many years a missionary of the A. M. A. He spends half an hour daily teaching German to the daughter of a prominent white citizen. Our missionary writes: “Yesterday, while busy teaching this little one, a visitor looked in and asked the mother in German, ‘What are you doing?’ She replied, ‘My little daughter is taking lessons.’ Visitor said something about ‘nigger.’ The lady held up her hand, as the stranger drew back in the next room, and said to him, ‘That is the German translator.’ The visitor answered, ‘Is that the one?’ The conversation was now carried on in an undertone. Whenever I go to discharge my duty at the above mentioned house, I am kindly treated. Whenever I call on the German Lutheran minister, Dr. Bowman, of Savannah, he treats me with kindness and respect. The language of the visitor made little impression on me, for in Germany I have been taught to respect an honest man, not his color. The United States is a strange place.”
A Child’s Faith.—A little colored boy was in the room where his old grandmother was lying, suffering intense pain from rheumatism. It was in the evening. As he was leaving and said good-night to the old woman, she said: “Lewis, won’t you ask God in your prayers to-night to make grandma better?” “Oh, yes, I will, and God will make you better.” He went right away, and offered up his child’s prayer that God might take away his grandma’s pains and make her well. His mother, not knowing what had happened, incidentally asked him if he had prayed for his grandma. The little fellow, thinking that his mother knew all about it, replied: “Oh, yes, I did; but God hasn’t done so yet. I guess he is seeing about it, but he’ll do it.” Next morning he hastened to ask his grandma how she was. “I am better, thank God, this morning,” came the answer. At once he jumped about the room, clapping his hands, and cried out: “Didn’t I tell you God was seeing about it, and I am so glad that he did it! I knew he would!”
An educated Christian Chinaman, thoroughly acquainted with the teachings of Confucius, made the following comparison between Confucius and Jesus:
“They are like two bridges; they are both noble structures. You admire the strength of the timbers and the way in which they are framed together, forming the solid foundation and the graceful arch rising about it. You walk on the bridge of Confucius; it is all right till you come to the River of Death—there you see the black waters rolling before you, and there is no plank on which you may cross to the shore beyond. Jesus Christ is a completed bridge, over which you may safely pass to the Heavenly Home and to the mansion he has prepared for your eternal habitation.”
STANLEY AS A MISSIONARY.
In a recent interview between Mr. Stanley and a newspaper correspondent, the distinguished explorer said: “I have been in Africa for seventeen years, and I have never met a man who would kill me if I folded my hands. What I wanted, and what I have been endeavoring to ask for the poor Africans, has been the good offices of Christians, ever since Livingstone taught me during those four months that I was with him. In 1871 I went to him as prejudiced as the biggest atheist in London. I was out there, away from a worldly world. I saw this solitary old man there, and asked myself, ‘Why on earth does he stop here?’ For months after we met I found myself listening to him and wondering at the old man’s carrying out all that was said in the Bible. Little by little his sympathy for others became contagious; mine was awakened; seeing his pity, his gentleness, his zeal, his earnestness, and how he went quietly about his business, I was converted by him, although he had not tried to do it. How sad that the good old man died so soon! How joyful he would have been if he could have seen what has since happened there!”
And thus have these great explorers demonstrated the power of sympathy and kindness even upon the most degraded of people.