American Missionary | Page 6

Fé, New Mexico. To these Normal Schools, we may add the six normal departments in our colleges with their superior normal instruction. From nearly all of these, strong appeals for enlargement have come to meet the demands of a healthy growth. We have cut, trimmed and denied, with a resolution that has been painful both in the office and in the field, and yet the growth is upon us. Without pushing our work, it is pushing us.
While ignorant millions need the truth and knowledge which we have, and there are resources in the hands of the disciples of Christ enough for this vast and increasingly urgent work, the necessity of denying the provisions for the development of success becomes well-nigh oppressive.
AT PLEASANT HILL, TENN., an important centre in our Mountain work, we have now, in addition to the new church, a school building unequalled in that region. A second building for a dormitory and boarding hall is nearly completed.
THE GRAND VIEW ACADEMY in the Mountain region, has also increased its school accommodations, and the look forward is to a large institution with far-reaching influence in the valley of the Cumberland and on the plateau. If we are to hold this region, we must take possession now.
We have also reassumed charge of a school at Beaufort, N.C. The people are already appealing to us in the accents of their own sacrifices for its immediate enlargement.
Providentially, and without our solicitation, a generous giver, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who had already added to many large benevolences in the South, the fine building known as Ballard Hall and the excellent shops for industrial training at Tougaloo, made a proffer of $11,500 to erect at Macon, Ga., a school building of brick, capable of accommodating six hundred pupils. This successful school had grown until it had taken possession of the church building for school purposes. This noble gift, bestowed after a personal inspection on the part of Mr. Ballard, and upon personal conviction of its immediate necessity, could not be refused, and the substantial and spacious building, with its furnishings, is now nearly ready for occupancy. It will call for increased contributions from the churches.
DORCHESTER ACADEMY, at McIntosh, Ga., is in a rice region remote from civilization and educational privileges, among thousands of Negro people very ignorant and poor. It cannot receive the pupils who beg for admission. Children are punctual at school from a distance of eight miles, lest they shall lose their privileges by tardiness or absence. Africa itself could scarcely send out a cry of greater need. We had decided to increase the capacity of this school, but are compelled to wait.
AT GREENWOOD, S.C., the interests are so great and the appeals were so reasonable, that it was voted to enlarge the facilities for the growing institution; but at the last we could not do this, and the laborers there continue their prayers and their hopes.
THE LINCOLN NORMAL INSTITUTE at Marion, Ala., was established in the year 1868, by the A.M.A. In the year 1874, the State of Alabama asked to assume the school, which had won a good name, and to increase its facilities for the education of the Negro. This was done. Last year, the work was deserted by the State and came anew into our hands. This, also, is an enlargement upon our schedule of work.
At LEXINGTON, KY., our Normal School has grown to such a degree that even the vestibules and halls of our insufficient building were crowded with eager pupils. Teachers were teaching, and pupils were studying, in conditions that none but missionary teachers would accept. For lack of room, industrial training has been impossible. The locality, meanwhile, has been surrounded by saloons, and houses that are worse. A benevolent lady who became acquainted with these facts offered $2,000 to purchase four acres of land for school and industrial purposes, and to give money sufficient for a new brick edifice with eight large school-rooms and all needful appointments and furnishings; the gift amounting to $15,000.
We believe that we were not wrong in accepting this trust in your behalf, even though it means more teachers and increased expenditures. We are confident that your Christian faith would not decline this Christian benevolence. Hence the plans for Chandler School are in the hands of the builders. Could some like-minded wealthy steward of the grace of God visit Williamsburg, Ky., in our Mountain White work, we might be compelled to face another such dilemma.
AT MERIDIAN, MISS., where Christian parents have besought us for years, past to open a missionary school, through which their children might be saved to morality and integrity of character during the formative periods of their lives, we have at last seen our way to answer their pathetic appeal in part. A day school with an industrial department is