The American Missionary. Volume 42, No. 12, December, 1888. Various
for their relief. Its work is now so manifestly beneficial that it is welcomed by both the blacks and the whites in the South.
At the date of the founding of this society, a Northern man in the prime of life was carrying on a prosperous mercantile business in a Southern city. He had already been in that city nearly thirty years and was honored and trusted. When the war came his property was jeopardized, but was afterwards returned to him in full. And now comes the Providential compensation. That wealth earned in the South, lost and then restored, is given back to the South to educate and assist the emancipated slaves. The giver, now in the 88th year of his age, finds it the joy and crown of his life to be thus not only a benefactor to the poor blacks, but to furnish a marked illustration of the fraternal feeling which the North cherishes towards the South. And may we not add that Providence in guiding this noble man to select this once persecuted society as the almoner of his bounty, is giving it a token of the Divine approbation for its faithfulness to the oppressed slave.
A Message to the Colored People.
It is due to Mr. Hand to say that he is much more interested in the good that shall be done to the colored people by his gift, than he is in any public notices of himself. His letters to us discourage such notices, but he writes most warmly urging us to press upon the colored people the all-controlling thought, that they must be the chief and most efficient agents in the great work of their own advancement in industry, temperance and civilization; that they should not become office seekers, and should abandon at once and forever, the expectation of aid for them as colored people, and that above all, that which is most vital to them for this world and the next, is love to God and man, and that the Bible is the best source of light and the foundation of their surest hopes.
These are wise counsels and we shall endeavor to press them upon all, and especially upon those whom we shall aid out of this fund. We believe that Mr. Hand would deplore it as the greatest calamity that could befall his gift, if it should in any way pauperize the colored people or take from them their sense of the need—the essential need of self-reliance and self-help—if it should tempt them to an idle life, to seeking after office or to become beggars for help from Government or from any other source. This gift, in the intention of the donor, and in that of the Association that is to administer it, is that it may be a stimulus and encouragement to personal energy and enterprise.
PILGRIM'S LETTERS
Bits of History.
Rev. Joseph E. Roy, D.D., author of the neatly printed volume bearing this title, is a man of quick and accurate observation. In the days when "Missionary Campaigns" were in vogue, and the representatives of the several Congregational Societies held missionary meetings from town to town, Dr. Roy, in an hour or two after our arrival at a place, would contrive to pick up so many facts about the history of the town, its distinguished men of the past, its ancient church edifices, etc., etc., as to surprise and perhaps enlighten the pastor and some of the people, as he skillfully introduced these facts into the opening of his address. Dr. Roy had an equal facility in writing down his observations in graphic and vigorous English. What some other men would labor in penning with frequent hesitation and erasures, he would dash off currente calamo. It has fallen to the lot of Dr. Roy to have had another advantage. He has been a pastor for several years, and subsequently a Secretary alternately of the A.M.A. and the A.H.M.S. for nearly thirty years. His duties have called him into all parts of the United States, and especially into the West and South. In all his journeys he has jotted down his rapid and yet careful observations, and the Letters of Pilgrim in the Congregationalist, the Independent and the Advance, have become as familiar as household words in the pastor's study, and the homes of Congregationalists throughout the land. The thoughtful care and deft fingers of Pilgrim's wife have clipped out these letters and pasted them into suitable blank books until they became almost a library. The topics covered by these letters are as varied as the place in which they were written. They begin as far back as 1857, and describe events in the Border war of Kansas, the great Rebellion, the steps of Reconstruction as well as the more peaceful but no less interesting proceedings of National Councils, great Missionary Anniversaries and the quiet, yet lifelike scenes gathered from pastors' lives, and the homes of the people settling in the far West, or of the negroes in their new life as Freedmen.
This volume contains the gems gathered out of this great casket. The reader must not expect to find in it consecutive history or full details on every topic, but he will be surprised, we think, at finding so much and such accurate information on so many interesting items in regard to the events that have transpired in the Nation, and especially in the Congregational Churches, during the last thirty years. It is, as the second title indicates, bits of history.
Dr. Roy was very much beloved in the South, by preachers, teachers, and the people. No Superintendent or other worker of the A.M.A., from the North, ever had so many negro children named for him. Indeed we are told that one family were so ardent in their attachment that they had their boy christened with the names and titles in full—Reverend Joseph E. Roy, D.D.
By the generous gifts of a few gentlemen who appreciate Dr. Roy's life-long work we are enabled to send 100 copies of the volume to some of these friends, who would greatly value the book, but are not able to pay for it.
The executive committee of the American Missionary Association has unanimously appointed Prof. Edward S. Hall a Field Superintendent, to examine and report upon the work of our schools and churches in our Southern field. Prof. Hall is a graduate of Amherst College, has had several years' experience as a principal of High Schools, and of late years has been a successful Superintendent of Schools in one of the cities of Connecticut. He brings to this work a large and immediate acquaintance with educational methods, and a personal practical experience.
We commend him to our missionary workers in the field as a Christian brother, prepared in sympathy and in experience to assist them in the various phases of their work.
We have received 350 copies of a volume, very neatly printed and bound, entitled, "The 'Come' and 'Go' Family Text Book, containing 'Come' and 'Go' Texts for every day in the year." And accompanying the generous gift is this note: "A friend of the colored race takes pleasure in furnishing these books for the workers and advanced pupils in the schools under the care of the American Missionary Association." We thank the donor in behalf of those who will gladly welcome and diligently use the gift.
Back numbers of the "American Missionary."—During the last ten years we have had frequent applications from public libraries and from colleges for back numbers of our Magazine to make up complete sets. Our supply has been exhausted and we have been obliged to decline. An appeal now comes from the Professor of Church History in Oberlin Theological Seminary, in these words: "As the Association is closely connected with the history of Oberlin, I wish to put my classes in American Church History on the history of the Association." The Oberlin library contains nothing complete till 1880.
Can any of our subscribers supply the want to a college so long and so closely identified with the early struggles of the Association? If so, please address Prof. F.H. Foster, Oberlin, Ohio.
FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION
The Forty-second Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association convened in the Union Congregational Church, Providence, R.I., on Tuesday, October 23d, 1888, at 3 P.M.
In the absence of the President, the Association was called to order by the Senior Secretary, who invited E.B. Monroe, Esq., of New York, to take the chair until the arrival of the President, Rev. William M. Taylor, D.D., of New York.
Rev. M. McG. Dana, D.D., of Massachusetts, read the Scriptures and led in prayers.
Rev. Henry A. Hazen, of Massachusetts, was elected Secretary and Rev. James H. Ross, of Massachusetts, Assistant Secretary.
Secretary Beard read the portion of the Constitution relating to life membership and delegates, and the roll of the Association and Visitors was prepared, as follows:
ROLL
State Associations.
Rev.