In addition to the receipts above mentioned, we have received, towards the payment of our debt, to April 1st, $8,921.72, and also pledges, for the same purpose, of $6,950, the most of which is conditioned on the payment of the whole debt within the year. These figures encourage us to hope that our friends will go on, in the same quiet and inexpensive way, until our whole debt shall be entirely extinguished, and our hands unloosed for a more earnest grapple with the great task of lifting up the needy and ignorant, and yet hopeful races, for which we labor in America and in Africa.
Brethren, we may not be thought politic by all, but we believe in perfect frankness with our donors and the whole public. We have a diminishing debt, curtailed expenses, and an increasing revenue. What, then? Shall any one withhold a dollar designed for us on that account? By no means. Rather continue to endorse our policy of economy and thrift. You are showing your confidence; do not withhold it. And the need? The work is pressing on us from all sides. We have to plan continually how to make each dollar do the work of two.
The facts given in this number of the Missionary, and those of the past few months, show some of the wants which crowd upon us continually. A new and commodious building must be erected at Tougaloo, Miss., to accommodate the overflow of students, whose beds have crowded into recitation rooms and out-buildings, and who are now sheltered in temporary barracks of rough boards. A new building is greatly needed at Atlanta, to accommodate its enlarged work, and to meet the just expectations of the State Legislature, which has granted it $8,000 a year, for several years, for current expenses. The finishing of the church at Golding’s Grove, and the enlargement of the school building there, are absolute necessities. These are but specimens of the claims of this sort pressing upon us. Added to these, is the imperative demand for the extension of our church work in new and promising fields, stretching down to the farthest limits of Texas. The enlarged African work is making increasing demands upon our treasury. Besides all this, the three coming months will witness the return of our Southern workers, when the payment of their last bills and traveling expenses must be met. With such an outlook before us, we are compelled, while uttering our gratitude for the liberality of our friends, to entreat them not to forget the pressing wants near at hand.
OUR NEW CARTRIDGES.
We have prepared with much care, and have in hand, a series of pamphlets, to which we desire to attract the attention of our readers.
No. 1 is a brief history of the origin and growth of the A. M. A. It is contained in sixteen pages; shows the Providential opening up of the work on this side and on that, and serves to answer many questions—e.g., how we came to have a mission in Africa—many of our friends, even, being ignorant of the fact that this was our first work, and that we have a permanent fund set apart by its donor for this very purpose. The same is shown to be true, in part, as to the work among the Indians and Chinamen; while the demands of the freedmen, and the opportunities after emancipation, are their own vindication in the statement of the facts.
No. 2 is the African pamphlet, and contains (1) a history of the Mendi Mission, carefully compiled by Dr. Dana, now of Minnesota. It is much more full and detailed than that read by him at Syracuse, and printed in the December Missionary. The valuable suggestions at the close of the paper are repeated only in their headings. (2) A brief supplement brings the history down to the departure of the second party of colored missionaries, Feb. 23rd, 1878. Large extracts are given (3) from the sermon by Dr. Scudder, of Brooklyn, full of information, quaintly put, as to the land, its products and its people; (4) from an address by Dist. Sec. Pike, on “The Relation of the Freedmen to Tropical Africa”; (5) from Secretary Strieby’s address, before the National Council, on “America and Africa”; and (6) from a paper by Dr. Bevan, of the Brick Church, New York, on the “Relations of England and America to Africa”. The history, the present aspects, and many important relations of the African Mission, are set forth with great fulness in this pamphlet of forty-eight pages.
No. 3 contains the address by Rev. Joseph Cook, at the Annual Meeting in Syracuse, revised and corrected by him. Those who heard it will not need to be reminded how vividly, in his own inimitable way, he set forth the perils to the nation from the three despised races, if suffered, by neglect, to remain in ignorance and degradation.
No. 4 is on the educational work of the Association. Its contents are excerpts from various papers, sermons and addresses. (1) “The Negro and his Needs,” by Gen. S. C. Armstrong, of Hampton, Va.; (2) “Who are Affected?” by Rev. Dr. Brown, of Newark, N. J.; (3) “Can he Care for Himself?” by Dr. Noble, of New Haven, Ct.; (4) “The Weapons of our Warfare,” by Rev. Washington Gladden, of Springfield, Mass.; (5) “Southern Attitudes,” by Dr. Rankin, of Washington, D. C.; (6) “A Southerner’s Approbation,” by Col. Preston, of Virginia; (7) “Rome in the South,” by Dist. Secretary Powell, of Chicago; and (8) “The Special Needs of the A. M. A.,” by Secretary Strieby.