American Missionary | Page 4

whether
these people shall be herded together in rude homes, tilling the soil
without skill, and rearing their children in ignorance and vice. It is the
part of Christian wisdom and the duty of the Christian churches of this
land to see that the people in this densely-packed and fertile region
shall be promptly met with the means of Christian education. Our
school at Tougaloo should be enabled to meet in some degree the
opportunity it has to prepare and furnish preachers and teachers for this
growing population; and schools and churches should be multiplied to
meet the emergency.

* * * * *
NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.
BY DISTRICT SECRETARY C.J. RYDER.
Nothing stimulates to good deeds more effectively than good deeds
themselves. I copy the following notice, which was circulated on a
neatly printed sheet among the members of a certain church in Boston:
The "Felice" circle of "King's Daughters" will hold a sale for the
benefit of the Williamsburg Academy, established for the education of
the "Mountain Whites" in Kentucky, on Friday, March 21, from 8 to 10
P.M., and on Saturday, March 22, from 3 to 10 P.M., at Miss Maxwell's,
37 Allen Street, Boston. Admission 10 cents.
The enthusiastic leader of this circle of "King's Daughters" thought that
possibly she might raise $30 and so constitute one of their number a
Life Member of the American Missionary Association. Imagine our
surprise and delight when, as the result of this effort, $125 were
brought in, as their splendid offering to this work!
Take another fact of unusual interest in the religious life in New
England. Five leading pastors here in Boston chose a particular Sabbath,
upon which they would each preach upon the Negro Problem. Several
sermons were reported at length in our daily journals, and aroused
much interest and comment. One found its way down into the South,
and was commented upon by a Southern editor in true Southern style.
Hard words were used with the recklessness that characterizes Southern
editors, and often Northern as well. The funny thing about it was, that
two gentlemen of the same name, who are both ministers and reside in
Boston, were confused in this comment. The one, who had recently
been South, but who did not preach the sermon, was read a severe
lecture, because after partaking of the hospitality of the Southern
people, he had spoken in so severe terms of them. It was an amusing
blunder, but illustrates the fact that more and more even the Southern
editor is coming to feel the importance of Northern criticism. It is a
very hopeful sign. It is sometimes said that time will settle these
monstrous inequalities that prevail in the South, but time never settles
anything. Mischievous forces only increase in power, the longer they
are permitted to operate. There must be set in operation beneficent
forces, in order to make the element of time useful. Agitation is needed,
patriotic, prayerful agitation, and such united effort as was made in

these Boston pulpits, helps in this agitation.
The new book which comes from the pen of G.W. Cable, under the title
of "The Negro Question," puts old truth in a new dress, and renders it
more attractive and presentable. If any man has the right to write upon
this "Negro Question," it is Mr. Cable. If I had to prepare a liturgy for
the Congregational churches, I would put in it the following petition:
"From the superficial views and misleading statements of tourists
through the South, or those who reside in a single locality, good Lord,
deliver us!" Mr. Cable is not of either of these classes. He speaks from
an intimate acquaintance with, and a long residence in, the South;
better than this, he is familiar with the whole territory, and not with a
single locality simply. This little book ought to be in the hands of every
conscientious student of this Southern problem. Take a single
quotation:
"To be governed merely by instincts is pure savagery. All civilization is
the result of subordinating instinct to reason, and to the necessities of
peace, amity and righteousness. To surrender to instinct, would destroy
all civilization in three days. If, then, the color-line is the result of
natural instincts, the commonest daily needs of the merest civilization
require that we should ask ourselves, is it better or worse to repress or
cherish this instinct, and this color-line?" There are forces at work,
regenerative and ennobling, that will lead the Southern white people to
be ashamed of their attitude toward the Negroes, and not the least of
these are the life and works of Mr. Cable.
A letter came into my hand, when I was in the South, which is not only
a commentary, but also throws a ray of sunlight where