American Missionary Association.
The next Annual Meeting of the Association will be held at Portland, Me., Oct. 25th to 27th. Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D., of Brooklyn, will preach the sermon. The friends in Portland have already begun preparations for the reception of the Association. Life Members, Delegates chosen by contributing churches, Local Conferences, State Associations and the National Council, constitute the Annual Meeting. So far as possible, the Portland churches will entertain those who attend. Those purposing to be present and wishing entertainment are requested to write to Rev. C. H. Daniels, Chairman of the Committee of Entertainment, or Rev. S. K. Perkins, Secretary, Portland, Me. Applications must be made before Oct. 1st. Special rates will be arranged at hotels for those who desire to pay their own way. Railroad and steamboat favors will be secured as far as possible, and notices of reductions and other matters will appear later in the magazine and in the religious press.
We face an unpleasant fact. Receipts in July last year were a little over $42,000. This was unprecedented. It was owing to the special collection taken by the churches July 4th for the debt. Nevertheless, it became a part of our year’s work, and those heavy receipts entered into the total. There are now but two months remaining. Shall our total receipts be allowed to fall behind those of last year? At the end of June we were just about even with last year. But the outlook for July is not encouraging. However, we know that our friends have the money, and we do not believe they are going to allow us to fall behind. We ask them favorably to consider our request that they make a special effort to lift the watermark of our treasury at least as high as it reached last year, and, if possible, lift it up just a little higher.
In conferring the degree of D.D. upon Rev. Henry Hopkins of Kansas City, and of LL.D. upon Gen. Sam’l C. Armstrong, Principal of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Williams College can hardly be said to have added any special distinction. The college honors itself fully as much as it does these, her honored sons, in thus receiving them within the circle of those marked by an expression of her distinctive regard. Both of them years before had justly won their spurs. The Christian public, a circle wider than any college, and not apt to be at fault in its judgment, either, has for years honored these men because of their works’ sake. We are glad, however, that Williams College, their Alma Mater, has been first to voice this wider public sentiment. The American Missionary Association congratulates the college in what it has done, because the one, Rev. Henry Hopkins, D.D., is an honored Vice President of the Association, and the other, Gen. Sam’l C. Armstrong, LL.D., is at the head of one of the schools founded and fostered by the Association, and still gloried in as a monumental evidence of the grand work in which it is engaged.
We call the attention of our readers to Rev. Mr. Pond’s article, “Imperium in Imperio.” It is certainly a pathetic appeal to the Christian women of America from the heathenism that has come to us from China. It gives a new glimpse into our Chinese mission work, and emphasizes its importance. We venture the suggestion that this article would furnish interesting reading at ladies’ missionary meetings.
Mr. Grady’s famous speech before the New England Society, if things keep going on at the South as they have been, is likely to become infamous. He asserted for substance that the South had come to recognize the fact that in the war the North was right, the South wrong, that the Negro has the fullest protection of our laws and the friendship of our people.
Recently, Rev. Leonard W. Bacon, who, strange to say, has been for some time pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Ga., preached to his people a patriotic sermon. He emphasized the importance of national patriotism. He eulogized Washington, Lincoln and Grant. He intimated that in the late unpleasantness the South was wrong. The result of all this was an excited congregation, an excited community, and the development of such hostility that Mr. Bacon will probably be forced to resign.
Just a little while before the above incident, a colored gentleman by the name of Council was refused permission to ride in a first-class car, though he had paid for and held a first-class ticket on the Georgia Central Railroad. Mr. Council laid his grievance before the Interstate Commerce Commissioners. Commissioner Bragg, of Alabama, happens to know the complainant, and this is the way he testified concerning him: “I know Council well. He is one of the brightest and best of our colored citizens. He is a stanch Democrat, and canvasses the State at every election for the Democratic ticket. He is not a man who desires to push himself forward because of any ambition to obtain social equality. He is modest and unassuming. He is a gentleman.” On another page, Field-Superintendent Ryder tells us of treatment received on a Georgia railroad by Rev. Wm. Sinclair, one of our missionaries. It is rather singular that these incidents happened in Georgia. Mr. Grady is the editor of the leading newspaper of that State. He ought to be able to testify as to its thought and feeling upon the great questions that grew out of the war. It seems to us that by this time he must begin to feel that his speech before the New England Society in New York was a most unfortunate affair. We shall be glad to find out what the New South is, but we shall not be willing to take Mr. Grady as an instructor. The question still remains: Is there a New South?
The Fifth Annual Convention of the Colored Teachers’ Association of Georgia was recently held in the House of Representatives Hall at Atlanta. Upwards of one hundred colored teachers formed what the local press called an “intelligent and decorous body.” The sessions continued for three days. The papers gave full reports of the proceedings. Much popular interest was taken. Many white people attended. The range of the discussions was wide. The science of teaching in all of its departments was introduced by papers and addresses, and evoked very general discussion. It was a convention of both interest and power. It was a demonstration, beyond all doubt, of the Negro’s intellectual capacity and of his willingness to use and improve it. One of our Atlanta teachers writing us about this convention says: “I wish our Northern friends could have attended it. I am sure, if they could have done so, those who are helping would want to help more, and those who never have helped would be stirred up to lend a hand in raising up a people, so many of whom have proven and are proving that they can be raised. Certainly those of us here on the field can but feel encouraged and strengthened to go on.”