To meet this want, the societies themselves are increasingly informing their constituency that there is other work being done than that they do themselves. “The work of other societies” is becoming a familiar heading. Even this, however, does not answer the full demands—and that the day has come for missionary periodicals, which are edited and circulated upon the same basis as those which deal with scientific or material progress, shows that the broader interests of the coming kingdom are taking more fully their appropriate place in the hearts and minds of Christian men and women. The Missionary Review, which has been published for more than two years from Princeton, New Jersey, and which as an unsparing critic of existing missionary societies, is adapted to promote great circumspection in those who administer them, is re-enforced in this general field by The Gospel in all Lands, edited by Rev. Albert B. Simpson, and published by Randolph, which will give itself to the broader aspects and principles of missionary work, and to a compilation of fresh intelligence from all quarters. We rejoice in all such methods for the diffusion of knowledge, and the stimulation of interest, in carrying out “the great commission.”
“Through the Light Continent” is a comely octavo in elegant type, from the London press, giving the observations of William Saunders on a tour taken through our country in 1877–8. In a chapter upon “Education in Atlanta,” after speaking of the Public Schools, he says: “One of the most interesting institutions of Atlanta is the University for the education of colored persons, under the superintendence of Professor Ware. The Atlanta University has 175 students (the last catalogue made them 244), half of whom pay the fees and cost of board. Many young negroes have worked, and saved up $200 or $300 in order to come to the University. It will thus be seen that the energy which the negroes are manifesting to obtain education is not confined to the ordinary work of the Board of Schools, but extends to the higher branches of learning. About 75 of the students are girls, and their progress is regarded as universally satisfactory.
Professor and Mrs. Ware, who have devoted their lives to this work with true missionary zeal, are now much cheered to find their labors recognized and encouraged in quarters from which persistent opposition was formerly experienced. When they came to Atlanta, any manifestation of regard for the blacks was looked upon as an act of hostility to the whites; but a great change has taken place in public opinion, and it is now generally felt that national advancement requires the elevation of the negro race, and those who undertake their education are no longer regarded with disfavor.
There are many societies in the Northern States for promoting numerous enterprises amongst the negroes. Before reaching Atlanta, I noticed a large crowd of negroes at one of the wayside stations, and found the occasion to be the leaving of a missionary, who had been working amongst them for two or three years, and was then changing his station. The respect and regard paid to him and to his wife were pleasant to see; the missionary was a most intelligent travelling companion, evidently devoted to his work in the genuine spirit of Christianity.”
TWENTY PER CENT.
The enthusiasm evinced at the last Annual Meeting, our freedom from the long-borne burden of our debt, the general interest which seemed to be renewed in the welfare of the Freedmen, and the commencing and anticipated prosperity in the financial world, all conspired to encourage us to plan and prepare for an enlarged work and more abundant results. In carrying out these purposes, the Executive Committee have appropriated about twenty per cent. more than in the previous year to the Southern field.
The total receipts thus far have been very gratifying,—and yet, when we come to analyze them, we find that they are, in a larger measure than formerly, sent to us to be appropriated to special departments of the work, or more often to special work not included in our estimates. This is both gratifying and embarrassing: gratifying, because it indicates an increasing familiarity with the details of our work, and special sympathy with this or that portion of the whole; but embarrassing, because it cannot fail to be a diversion of funds which have been anticipated by us to meet the appropriations already made to new fields, and often to create, instead of covering, expense.