We send forth this appeal under a deep sense of responsibility. We know that business is still depressed and that many of the friends to whom we make this plea have responded generously to the calls of sister missionary societies. But we feel that it is a duty we owe to God and to the needy peoples for whom we labor to attempt the relief of this Association in its embarrassing and hindering liabilities. We confidently believe that many of the churches and generous individuals to whom we make this plea, feel as we do, a sense of duty and responsibility in this important matter. Some to whom this may come may be able to respond at once with a pledge of one or more shares. But to those who cannot, we urge that they lay by in store as God may prosper them the means for as prompt a response as possible to our call.
Share, $50.$100,000
THE JUBILEE YEAR FUND
of the
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
I hereby take ...... shares (Fifty Dollars each) in the Jubilee Year Fund of the American Missionary Association, to be paid before the close of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, 1896.
Name ......................................................
P. O. Address .........................................
ARREST OF OUR TEACHERS IN ORANGE PARK, FLORIDA.
Rev. T. S. Perry, of Limerick, Me.; Mr. O. S. Dickinson, of West Granville, Mass.; Principal B. D. Rowlee, of East Woodstock, Conn.; Mrs. B. D. Rowlee; Miss Edith M. Robinson, of Battle Creek, Mich.; Miss H. S. Loveland, of Newark Valley, N. Y.; and Miss Margaret Ball, of Orange Park, Fla., with two patrons of the school (white) residing in Orange Park, were all arrested by the Sheriff at Orange Park, Fla., on Friday the 10th of April, charged with the crime of teaching young people of two races under the same roof. They were not taken to jail, but were given until Monday—the intervening days of Saturday and Sunday—to procure bail. This esteemed pastor of the Congregational Church in Orange Park, the most worthy teachers and the patrons are awaiting trial for this crime! and are only saved from jail by the bail which has been procured for them. This is as far as the State of Florida has descended in its shame at present.
This enactment, which we have been careful not to call a law, was pronounced by the National Council to be "not only repugnant to Christian principles, but also opposed to the civil rights guaranteed by our Constitution," and the Association was called to persistently resist it with all legal measures.
Senator Hoar of Massachusetts writes of it: "I am amazed that even in Florida such things can be done. I think that this cannot stand a moment before the Courts of the United States."