THE WORK OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.
The great work done by this benevolent society of the Church among the colored people of the South deserves emphatic mention in connection with these tables of results which we have been giving. It will be impossible to tabulate perfectly statistical results among the colored people, as the work done has been for the populations of the South, regardless of color, and has so interpenetrated that it would be impossible to say that this was done for one race, and this for another. We may mention, however, the publication of the Good Tidings and its gratuitous distribution among the Sunday-schools of the colored people in the South. During the year 1888 the Sunday-school Union, in connection with the Tract Society, sent the Good Tidings to 2,536 Sunday-schools in 807 different charges in the Southern States. The weekly average of Good Tidings distributed was 37,134; total number of copies distributed during the year, 1,994,000; total number of pages, 7,976,000. No one can possibly estimate the great good which has been accomplished by the circulation of this excellent publication. Besides this, the Union has sent grants of Sunday-school libraries, music-books, catechisms, and Sunday-school periodicals of every possible description to all parts of the South, calling into existence new schools, and inspiring discouraged schools with new life. Possibly the most helpful work accomplished by this society has been its personal visitation in the person of its efficient agents in all parts of the South. Almost every section of the country has been touched. Extensive campaigns of work have been conducted. Weary and disheartened pastors have been encouraged; new schools have been organized, which have already grown into commanding churches; new and better methods of work have been taught a people who knew so little how to work; and because of this “hand-to-hand” effort immense good has been accomplished, and the Sunday-school Union stands well to the front among the benevolent societies of the Church, contributing to the growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church among the colored people of the South.
In addition to this official work for the Sunday-schools of the South, there were in several places organized efforts to collect and distribute second-hand books in needy localities. From Cincinnati many boxes of these were forwarded, that useful reading matter and school-books might be supplied by the proper agents to those who had not the means to purchase for themselves. These went largely into the cabins and cottages of the freedmen; and the first lessons in reading were learned by many who had no other teachers than those in the Sunday-schools. A single book served ofttimes for an entire family. Father, mother, and children were alike ignorant, and alike needed instruction.
THE FREEDMEN’S AID AND SOUTHERN EDUCATION SOCIETY.
Institutions among Colored People.
| 1. Collegiate. | Teachers | Students |
| Centenary Biblical Institute, Baltimore, Md. | 12 | 223 |
| Central Tennessee College, Nashville, Tenn. | 22 | 545 |
| Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C. | 23 | 946 |
| Clark University, Atlanta, Ga. | 23 | 340 |
| New Orleans University, New Orleans, La. | 15 | 266 |
| Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Ark. | 12 | 185 |
| Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss. | 10 | 355 |
| Wiley University, Marshall, Texas | 17 | 230 |
| 2. Theological. | | |
| Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga. | 4 | 71 |
| 3. Biblical Departments. | | |
| Baker Institute, Claflin University | 6 | 10 |
| Centenary Biblical Institute (correspondence 6) | 3 | 31 |
| Central Tennessee College (correspondence 62) | 2 | 102 |
| Gilbert Haven School of Theology, New Orleans | 3 | 15 |
| 4. Medical and Dental. | | |
| Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn. | 11 | 55 |
| Medical Department New Orleans University (just organized) | 5 | |
| Meharry Dental College, Nashville, Tenn. | 8 | 11 |
| 5. Legal. | | |
| School, Central Tennessee College | 6 | 6 |