Read Ebook: The American Missionary — Volume 54 No. 01 January 1900 by Various

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At a meeting of the representatives of the different benevolent societies of our Protestant denominations who are entering upon mission work in Porto Rico a committee was appointed to draw up a paper containing a greeting to these people. The paper was to be published in Spanish and English. The copies in English were to go especially to the missionaries to be scattered among English-speaking people. The Spanish translation was intended for the native Porto Ricans. This paper was signed by representatives of different denominations as will be seen. This broad, comprehensive and loving message from the Christians of America to the people of Porto Rico, who are now a part of our own country, must meet the approval of all those interested in the progress of the Kingdom of God rather than some narrow denominational victory. This greeting to the Porto Ricans is as follows:

"We rejoice that your beautiful island has become part of the United States. We take you by the hand as fellow-citizens of this Republic. We pray that you may share fully with us in all the blessings it has to give. We have come among you to show our interest in and our sympathy with you, and to do what we can to help you and your children toward the larger life that is possible to us all.

"We come to you as we have gone to all other parts of our beloved land--as messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Saviour. We have come as brethren in Christ, as joint-members of that spiritual body of which He is the head, to preach and teach among you, and thus in mutual helpfulness to build up the Kingdom of our common Lord and to answer His prayer 'that they all may be one,' and that His will may 'be done in earth as it is in heaven.'

"We are agreed in the great truths of our holy religion, and we will work together that they may produce in this historic island all the choicest fruits of Christian life and culture. We would teach the children the way of eternal life, and bring to the men and women--full of cares and burdens--the rest and comfort and hope that come through faith in the Saviour. And so shall they and we all be brethren and sisters in Christ.

"These are the common purposes that bring us hither. In the name of our common Master we pray you give us and our preachers welcome, and join your labors with ours that this island, so charming in its natural features, may more and more have the beauty of a pure and purifying religion. Then happy will be your homes and happy your people--as Holy Scriptures declare, 'Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.' Education will brighten the lives of the children; Christian morality will stand guard in every community against sin, and the peace which Christ promised to His people will rest upon us and ours.

"Praying for God's richest blessings upon you, beloved people of Porto Rico, and asking your co-operation with us, we are

Yours in Gospel of Jesus Christ,

C. L. THOMPSON,

T. J. MORGAN,

W. H. WARD."

PIONEERS IN PORTO RICO.

SECRETARY CHARLES. J. RYDER.

The opening of this new island territory for the Christian schools and the evangelistic work of the American Missionary Association is of great interest. Many questions are naturally asked by those who are in sympathetic touch with this new and important movement.

First, who have gone in this pioneer band of missionaries to Porto Rico?

The educational work is especially under the care and direction of Prof. Charles B. Scott and his wife. Prof Scott is a graduate of Rutgers College and of Oswego State Normal School. He is a teacher of many years' experience and thoroughly qualified for the establishment and direction of the educational work of the Association among this people. Mrs. Scott, a graduate of Michigan University, also takes an active part in this work. They are both devoted Christians, and the religious quickening and spiritual elevation of the people comprise an important part of their efforts.

Miss Julia D. Ferris goes from Saginaw, Michigan. She received her education at Wellesley College after leaving the High School of her own city. She has been a teacher for several years and has attained marked success in this work.

Miss Isabel French is a graduate of a classical school in New York City and pursued a post-graduate course at Barnard College. She has had large experience in teaching and in Christian and philanthropic work, which qualifies her for this mission field.

Miss Jennie L. Blowers has already had experience in the mission schools of the American Missionary Association, having taught in Chandler Normal School at Lexington, Ky. Her home is in Westfield, New York. She was reappointed to work in the South, but was ready to enter this more distant island field. She is well qualified for this new work.

Miss Katherine M. Rowley comes from Oberlin, Ohio, being a member of the First Congregational Church of that city. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and is cordially recommended for this missionary service by her professors and teachers.

Miss Mary L. Daniels is a member of Dr. Munger's church in New Haven, Conn. She has been a teacher in the public schools, where she has attained a high position as a very competent instructor. She takes with her the regard and confidence of a large circle of friends and there is every prospect of her abundant success.

All these teachers understand the Spanish language to some extent. This is essential, in order to do the work in Porto Rico.

Rev. John Edwards, a pastor from Ohio, has been sent out by the Association as an evangelist in this same field. The preaching of the gospel is greatly needed, and Mr. Edwards' circuit covers a large area in evangelistic services. He is in eastern Porto Rico, where there is scarcely any other missionary work.

And so this little band of eight devoted men and women have entered upon the pioneer work in opening up Porto Rico to an intelligent gospel. They have gone out with the prayers and sympathy of thousands of those who have been greatly interested in the important work in this island territory. The future promises large things in the building up of Christian character and the establishment of progressive Christian institutions.

"The schoolhouse opens on the street , where there is a constant stream of passers by. There is not an hour in the day that there are not spectators peering in at doors and windows with idle curiosity or eager interest. Sometimes there are not more than three or four, but often as many as eighteen or twenty. Let me tell you of the various persons who composed this outside audience, as I watched them one morning. A native policeman, a business man waiting for his car, three beggars, boys with large trays of bread, fruit and sweetmeats on their heads, a washerwoman with a huge basket of clothes poised securely on her head, the driver of an ox-cart, who stopped his team while we sang "America," three women going to market, a party of daintily dressed, sweet-faced senoritas with their chaperone, a dirty, wild-looking old hag who almost frightened me, a young mother carrying a naked baby in her arms, and boys--well, it was no use to count them. What do you think? Are we not being well advertised?"

Great care was taken in locating these schools. Rev. A. F. Beard, Senior Secretary of the A. M. A., and Rev. William H. Ward, D.D., a member of the Executive Committee, visited the island to examine the conditions and discover the best points for such work. Prof. Scott, after reaching the island, also made thorough investigation concerning the most important location. He wrote after reaching Porto Rico: "The railroad from Arecibo is impassable. I hired a pony and a boy to guide me and started for the town. The only way of traveling now, except on military roads, is by pony. I had never ridden two miles on horseback in my life, but it had to be done and I am still intact, and have ridden twenty to twenty-five miles to-day without even getting stiff. We reached Arecibo, having to ford or ferry streams five times. There were no bridges left.

"Friday I rode to Lares, eighteen miles over the roughest trail imaginable. Much of it is as steep as a stairway, with stones of all sizes replacing the steps. But I managed to stick to my pony. We reached Lares at eight o'clock, the eighteen miles taking nine hours, with three hours at noon waiting for the rain to cease."

Lares, a town of 3,000 population, is situated in the western part of the island. It was finally decided that this should be the place for the second school planted by the American Missionary Association. Prof. Scott writes also: "Lares is a very pleasant place, built around the top of a hill, the best residences at the top, with best possible drainage and supplied with excellent spring water. I had a letter to the Alcalde and to the leading doctor of the town, a very intelligent man, who speaks English. I examined several buildings and found one admirably adapted to our purpose. It is central, with a large room on the ground floor and five bedrooms, a dining room and kitchen for the teachers. Everything is in excellent order. The sanitary condition, with some changes, cannot be surpassed. The house seems just built for our purpose, and with a minimum expense can be enlarged to give two good-sized dormitories. All the people whom I saw were very much interested in our work. The city can do nothing. They have paid no salaries for months."

The schools at Lares and Santurce represent the present educational work of the Association in Porto Rico. Both schools are well under way and large numbers of eager pupils are in attendance. Prof. Scott wrote so urgently for reinforcements in order to meet the needs already pressing, that an additional missionary teacher was sent in January. Miss Johanna Blinka was selected for this important mission, as she was thoroughly acquainted with the Spanish language and had had large experience in educational and missionary work. This completes the force of eight teachers already engaged in the educational work under the American Missionary Association in the island of Porto Rico.

Rev. John Edwards has begun work in the eastern part of the island. There are few missionaries here and the opportunities for evangelistic work are pressing. The following interesting facts were received under recent date from Mr. Edwards: He writes from Fajardo, eastern Porto Rico, "There are many circumstances attending the work here that are very trying and require the greatest of patience. Still, on the whole, there is great encouragement. I have rented a building here at Fajardo, to occupy as the centre of missionary work in this region. I ordered a dozen benches with backs, to be used for public service. A little table stands at the end of the room, on which I place the Bible and use as a pulpit. It is my intention to develop fully the promising conditions both here at Fajardo and also at Humacao, where I have found a warm welcome.

"I understand the best time on Sunday for public worship is in the evening. The young men are most of them occupied during the day. Sunday is their busy market day until three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when the market and stores close and all are free to go whither they like. Some of the young men told me that a number would attend our meetings in the night, that could not come during the day. Of course, this is a condition unfavorable to such Christian work, and yet I hope to be able to gather considerable audiences and reach this needy people with the living gospel of Jesus Christ. I speak in Spanish with comparative ease. We held services Sunday morning, at which I preached. We then sang several hymns which the people are rapidly learning. We need hymn books to offer them for sale, that they may be used in our meetings."

From this letter it will be seen that work is opening hopefully before our evangelist. As the work develops it will demand a reinforcement of preachers capable of doing the same sort of earnest, evangelistic work. The demand in every department of this new island territory is pressing and imperative. Surely the churches of our Congregational fellowship will see to it, each one of them, that the work is fully and cordially supported.

Churches, expressing their views through resolutions of local conferences and associations, urged upon the A. M. A. to occupy this island field. This was another reason for going.

The appeal put before the churches in behalf of this important new work met with immediate and hopeful response. Ten thousand dollars are still demanded in order to put the work upon a proper and permanent foundation. Buildings should be erected for the schools, and this immediately. Also homes for the teachers, where model housekeeping can reinforce the instruction of the schoolroom and industrial class. Has not some friend, who reads these messages from Porto Rico, the ability and desire to send a check to our treasury at once, to put one of these mission schools in permanent quarters and thus greatly reinforce the present work and secure its permanency?

Little by little, as the evangelistic movements progress, chapels will be needed for the accommodation of audiences that gather for Christian worship. Here again is a large increase upon the demands of Christian people for this new work of the American Missionary Association.

Surely this little band of heroic Christian missionaries and teachers who have gone out from their homes and from our shores, responding at once to the call of the Master to enter this important and large field, will not be forgotten by Christian men and women in our churches. The work must not suffer. It should be reinforced promptly and largely. In God's providence, mysterious and incomprehensible, this island has become a part of our country. The call now comes to occupy the field, not with armies and military movements, but with the peaceful influences of Christianity. The intellectual and moral quickening of the youth and children through the Christian institutions planted among them, and the preaching of the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to this destitute people, create a responsibility which our Congregational churches must meet courageously and generously.

FISK UNIVERSITY.

J. G. MERRILL, D.D., DEAN.

There was romance in its birth. Regimental bands headed the procession; army officers, men of renown, North and South, gathered in the hospital barracks; thousands of ex-slaves, were there. One passion animated this dusky throng. To learn to read was the ambition of the bright colored boy, of his sedate but none the less eager sire, and of the veteran grandparent with white hair and with eyes that must learn the alphabet by the aid of spectacles.

It was a moment of inspiration. The man to appreciate the hour and give utterance to its meaning, was there. He had hardly surrendered his commission as chaplain in the army. He had fought to win the freedom of a race. To make that race true free men was a task much more vast than to emancipate them. The parting of the ways had come. An illiterate people must be taught. No longer should it be a crime to instruct them. The rather was he the criminal who should deny them an education. It was an hour for the voice of a prophet. With the ken of a seer, Chaplain Cravath, representing the American Missionary Association, Jan. 9th, 1866, made the proclamation, that the founding of the school inaugurated that day was the beginning of a great educational institution, that should give to the emancipated race the opportunities and advantages of education which had so long been furnished to the white race in their colleges and universities.

Gen. Fisk, the brilliant soldier and ardent philanthropist, lent invaluable aid and consented to have the institution, so problematical in its existence, bear his name. Governor Brownlow and the pioneer educator of colored youth, Professor John Ogden, added the weight of their words and helpful deeds, and Fisk had come into being.

ROMANCE ATTENDED THE EARLY LIFE OF THE UNIVERSITY.--Nearly four years had passed, when the Professor of music started out with a band of colored youth, who had been named the Jubilee Singers. That they could sing with incomparable sweetness he knew. That the songs they were to sing had incomparable pathos no one who heard them doubted. But nothing short of sublimest faith could have sent forth this band of friendless youth on their mission. They often were penniless as they went from town to town. They arrived at Oberlin and were permitted to sing before the National Council, then in session at that stronghold of the colored man. The tide turned. It rose with rapidity. Plymouth, Brooklyn, and other churches were opened to them. The entire North gave them welcome. They crossed the Atlantic; that gracious friend of humanity Queen Victoria, gave them audience. Her incomparable prime minister, Gladstone, made them his guests at Hawarden. Germany and France heard them. At the end of seven years they returned to Nashville and laid at the feet of the University the munificent sum of 0,000, a large part of which was devoted to the erection of Jubilee Hall and the remainder to the paying for the campus of thirty-five acres, once a slave plantation, now the most commanding location in the Athens of the South, as Nashville, the seat of four universities, is justly called.

THERE HAS BEEN ROMANCE IN ALL ITS LIFE. Never for a year has the hard work, the distasteful drudgery, the, at the time, apparently fruitless toil been undertaken on the basis of cold calculating judgment; from its birth to the present hour, ideals that to most men would have seemed dreams and wild fancies, have animated the leaders of this enterprise--such ideals as have underlain the world's greatest achievements and have given heart to the world's victors.

WISDOM AND PAINSTAKING ATTENTION to the material interests of the University, that have challenged the admiration of those who have watched its growth, have been coupled with all this romance. The ideal has been made actual. This has not been due to one man, nor one sex, nor one race. For a quarter of a century and more, have men and women, white and black, worked with an unanimity rarely equaled, with patience and self-sacrifice. As the outcome there is

FISK OF TO-DAY.

The building of Jubilee Hall set the pace for the progress of the institution. Thorough workmanship, good taste and belief in a large future, have prevented the erection of buildings which could be used only a short time and must be replaced by structures adapted to the work. Eight substantial buildings afford the facilities now needed and are so grouped that in the near future the Central and Music Halls can be erected, to complete the general plan. Already the large enrolment of pupils, coming, as they do, from more than a score of the states of our Union, is making the proposed buildings a necessity and affording other givers the opportunity to bless humanity that has been so handsomely met by those large-minded donors who have built the structures already erected.

THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF THE UNIVERSITY is first of all religious. With no cant, with the avoidance of undue emotion, with a constant appeal to Christian manhood and womanhood, men and women loyal to Jesus, seeking less their rights than to faithfully perform their duties, are being reared. For nine months in a year the faculty of Fisk, like those who in large cities man college settlements, day and night seek in every way and by all means to arouse and perpetuate the highest Christian ideals. Added to these are intellectual training, musical culture and a spirit of true gentility. The student body honors scholarship, awakens ambitions, cultivates good manners, frowns upon untidyness of appearance, while by firmly sustained legislation the faculty forbids any display of extravagance in attire. Patches and darns are expected; soiled or neglected garments the school will not permit. In a word, what one would expect to find in a Caucasian institution, composed of pupils of moderate means, with high ideals and gentle manners, are found at Fisk. The choicest of the recently emancipated race are here seeking a training. As always and everywhere, none reach the highest ideal. Some are found who fail to aspire to it; a few are intractable, but to one who recalls the life of the race and the treatment it has received before and since it was freed, life at Fisk is a constant miracle.

THE FISK IDEA is an expression often on the lips of its alumni. It may be summed up in this: The rudiments of learning for all, manual training for those that are adapted to it and will use it in their after life, the best of culture for those who are capable of receiving and employing it. In a word, capacity not color, Christianity not caste, is to decide the question as to the kind of education a youth is to receive, whether he dwell in the North or South, whether he be an Ethiopian or an Anglo-Saxon. Exceeding few in comparison with the vast multitude of their race will be those who receive their diploma at Fisk; but they are to be the leaders of a people sorely needing leadership. And Fisk's determination to rear such leaders is an abiding protest against the spirit which denies to any human being a chance, and a declaration that the Church, like its divine Master, is to minister especially to those who most need help.

FISK PRODUCTS are the test of its work. Each year it publishes to the world its list of graduates, and over against each name what he is doing for the world. It does not hesitate to compare this list with a like catalogue of any institution with equipment equal to its own. It has faith to believe that the demon of prejudice will not always hold its flaming sword to bar true manhood deserving success at the threshold of life. It would do its part to overcome this demon by producing self-respecting manhood, which in the eyes of all true men commands respect.

FISK'S NEEDS are great. It needs such an endowment as shall enable it to decline help from that truest foster mother--the A. M. A. Its chairs professorial and for instructors should be placed upon a permanent footing. In no other way can its fine plant be utilized. If Northern institutions of learning must rely upon endowments to pay from two-thirds to three-quarters of the cost of educating their students, certainly an institution educating the youth of a race scarcely forty years out of the house of bondage, and hence poor beyond all expression, needs vastly more the income of an endowment to supplement the meagre tuitions which its pupils pay. Here is an opportunity for the man of large means to bestow a princely gift, while the man of slender means none the less can invest in the same undertaking.

The man or men who shall thus endow Fisk, will have ever the favor of Him who has declared Himself the friend of the poor and needy.

Fisk's greatest need is an answer to the prayer of God's people for that constant indwelling of the divine Spirit which shall keep in stout heart those who, with personal self-sacrifice, are doing its work.

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