AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

We devote the greater part of this number of the Missionary to the Indian problem. Communications will be found from Capt. Pratt, Gen. Armstrong, Hon. Carl Schurz and Prof. Riggs. These gentlemen have made the condition of the Indian a study for some years, and, by experience in public service, in the army, and by educational and religious endeavors, have had rare opportunities to test their theories and principles by practical efforts in behalf of the Indians. We know of no men more competent to speak on the subject or more worthy of the confidence of the public. Statistics relating to our Indian work, including that recently transferred to us by the American Board, are given. As we now are charged with the entire work done by the Congregationalists for the American aborigines, we trust we shall have the prayers and help needful for doing it efficiently.

FINANCIAL.

Our receipts show a falling off. Five months of the fiscal year are ended, and the receipts from donations are $20,774.39 less than for the corresponding months of last year; from legacies only $17,471.44 more. The decrease is in the contributions of living donors, and upon these rather than upon legacies, which are fluctuating and uncertain, must the Association rely for its regular support. Its work was never more successful or needed. The kind of schools and churches it establishes, and the preachers and teachers it sends forth, are becoming more fully appreciated. We are urgently invited to enter new and unusually promising openings for an enlarged church work. The valuable service rendered by our increased corps of lady missionaries makes a strong demand for large additions to their number. The Indian work received by the Association from the American Board will add about $20,000 to the expenditures of the year, without the enlargement which it so greatly needs. The Chinese work makes a strong appeal for additional accommodations for the increasing number of pupils in the schools.

Without an increase of receipts, or the creation of a debt, the Association cannot enlarge its work, or even sustain it in its present condition. Our Executive Committee feel themselves pledged against a debt by their promises to the public and by their own deep convictions of duty. But they confidently believe that the conscientious donors who have stood by the Association so faithfully in the past will promptly render such efficient assistance as will not only save it from debt or curtailment, but will authorize enlargement.

MUST HAVES.

The following “must haves” sent us in a private letter from President Ware, of Atlanta, illustrate the urgency of the appeals that constantly come to us from our different workers South. Mr. Ware says: “We must have buildings; we must have endowments for running expenses; we must or go to the wall; we must have building for grade B; for model school building, $8,000; we must have cottage in girls’ lot for housekeeping instruction, $5,000; we must have new hall for girls, $25,000, that will give room for 100 girls; we must have shop for industries, carpenter, etc., and endowment for support of man in that department, about $50,000 for both;” a batch, it will be seen, of $88,000, with no estimate of the amount needed for general endowment. We believe that it has been found so far by those who have put their money into Atlanta University that it has yielded “some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold.” The stock is not all taken. We invite investors to examine the “points” in this venture, and trust that the merits of the security will warrant a speedy absorption of the entire amount called for.

We are cheered by many kind words relating to the American Missionary, and believe that those interested in the nation’s welfare, and especially in the redemption of the South, find in it much to encourage them to hope and to give in behalf of the people for whom we labor. Nothing, however, gives more evidence of appreciation than the steady response to our appeals for paid subscriptions. So far this year these have been very gratifying. The price is fifty cents, and we hope there will be no abatement of interest on the part of our friends in helping us place the magazine on a paying basis.

In the list of the teachers at Hampton, as reported in the February Missionary, the name of Miss Waldron should have been put as Miss M. M. Waldron, M.D., School Physician.

DEATH OF MRS. G. S. POPE.

After an illness of ten days, terminating in malarial pneumonia, Mrs. Pope died Feb. 2, at Tougaloo University, Tougaloo, Miss. For the past fifteen years she had been engaged in missionary work under the A. M. A., laboring in Montgomery, Louisville, Selma, Talladega and Tougaloo. Mrs. Pope brought into her work rare qualities of mind and heart. Her good judgment, her readiness in emergencies and her kindly interest in every one was an inspiration to all. Her death will be sorely felt, not only by her husband and two little boys, but by the large corps of workers, and the pupils with whom she has been associated for so many years.

The conventions held in Connecticut by the Congregational benevolent societies during February were well attended. One hundred and eleven churches were invited and eighty-eight represented. The meetings for April will be held in the following order: Tuesday, the 3d, Thomaston, morning and afternoon; Wednesday, the 4th, Waterbury, 2d church, morning and afternoon; Thursday, the 5th, New Britain, afternoon and evening; Tuesday, the 10th, New Haven, Davenport Church, afternoon and evening; Wednesday, the 11th, Rockville, 1st church, morning and afternoon; Thursday, the 12th, Putnam, morning and afternoon; Tuesday, the 17th, Norfolk, morning and afternoon; Wednesday, the 18th, Torrington, 3d church, morning and afternoon; Thursday, the 19th, West Winsted, morning and afternoon; Tuesday, the 24th, Danielsonville, morning and afternoon; Wednesday, the 25th, Norwich, 2d church, morning and afternoon; Thursday, the 26th, New London, 1st church, morning and afternoon; Friday, the 27th, New Haven, Fair Haven, 1st church, morning and afternoon.

“Sermons and Speeches,” by Rev. Atticus G. Haygood, D.D., is the title of a neat volume issued by the Southern Methodist Publishing House, Nashville. It contains 428 pages, and is offered at the low price of $1.25. The sermon likely to attract the most attention is on “The New South, Gratitude, Amendment, Hope.” It was preached on Thanksgiving Day, 1880, and circulated extensively in pamphlet form. “A Christian Citizen,” another sermon, is perhaps of equal merit, and especially pertinent to the condition of affairs South. The addresses of special interest to the general reader relate to “The Negro—A Citizen” and “The New South from a Southern Standpoint.” These addresses are comprehensive, catholic and kindly in spirit. Dr. Haygood convinces his readers of his sincerity, and charms them by the vigor and freshness of his style. Every word he utters indicates his purpose to do good. The circulation of these sermons and speeches will do much to create better feeling between well-disposed people North and South. We wish the book the success it merits.

Pursuant to the action taken at our last Annual Meeting relating to a petition requesting a report on the policy of the Association in regard to race or color prejudice in the support of schools or churches, our Executive Committee, to whom the matter was referred, have passed the following minutes.

I. That in accordance with the New Testament doctrine upon which the Association was founded, and by which it has from the beginning been governed, that God has made of one blood all the nations of men, we reiterate the rule, which we believe that fidelity to Christ requires, that all our churches and schools shall open their doors impartially to persons of every class, race and color.

II. That in obedience to the same New Testament doctrine, we shall require that all churches aided by us shall unite with neighboring churches of the same faith and order in Christian fellowship in the same conferences or associations, and in other usual means of fraternity and fellowship, making no distinctions on account of race or color.

III. That this Association will not enter upon any new church work in any city or town where the American Home Missionary Society has already established a church work, without previous conference with the officers of its sister Society.

Minutes similar in purport to the above have been passed by the Home Missionary Society.

BENEFACTIONS.

Mr. William Backnell, of Philadelphia, has given $60,000 to the University of Lewisburg, Pa., for endowment purposes.

Westminster College is to receive $2,000 from the estate of Miss Jane A. Thompson, of Missouri.

The late Mr. Samuel Willets gave $100,000 to Swarthmore College, a Quaker institution, near Philadelphia.

Dartmouth College is to receive $50,000 from the estate of the late George T. Wilson, of Providence, R.I.

It is reported that Wm. H. Vanderbilt has recently given $100,000 to Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn.

Mrs. Mary Young has given $500,000 to Fall River, Mass., for the establishment of a school of high rank. The gift is made in memory of an only son.

Washburn College received a Christmas gift of $1,000 from Mrs. Emily G. Williston, of East Hampton, Mass., and a New Year’s offering of $1,000 from Hon. Wm. Hyde, of Ware, Mass.

By the will of the late Wm. E. Dodge, of New York, the Syrian Protestant College is to receive $20,000; Lincoln University, $10,000; Howard University, Atlanta University and Hampton Institute, $5,000 each.

Miss Baxter has given $50,000 to provide a laboratory for a college at Dundee, Scotland, which was founded by herself and her cousin, Dr. Baxter, some years ago, at an expense of $750,000.

Mrs. Adeline Smith, of Oak Park, Ill., recently gave $11,000 for the founding of a Philander Smith chair in the University of Little Rock, Ark., to be a perpetual memorial of her husband, who died about a year ago.

Permanent endowments are needed in order that the institutions of the American Missionary Association may achieve that larger success which is rightly expected of them. Every consideration of the past, of the present and of the future, enforces the demand that these endowments should be provided at once.

GENERAL NOTES.

AFRICA.

—The German Reichstag has voted an appropriation of one million marks to defray the expenses of an expedition now being fitted out for the exploration of Central Africa.

—The Church Missionary Society have received tidings from their Uganda Mission at Mtesa’s capital that five young men have been baptized, the first fruits of the mission.

—Notwithstanding the presence of General Matthews with the troops of the Sultan of Zanzibar, a brisk trade in slaves is going on at Mombassa. General Matthews is now fighting with a rebel chieftain who has a settlement not far from Mombassa where he receives runaway slaves.

—The Church Missionary Society of England is about to begin missionary operations in Egypt. It is to be under the care of Rev. F. A. Klein, an able Arabic scholar. The same society had a station at Cairo in the beginning of this century, but abandoned it in 1824.

—The English Baptists have established a station at Stanley Pool. The new missionary ship “Peace” is now ready to be shipped to the Congo. Mr. Stanley is about to publish an account of the results of his explorations. The French government has recently appropriated about $300,000 to defray the expenses of De Brassa’s expedition.

—The famous work of Miss Whately, daughter of Archbishop Whately, who for years carried on her work at Cairo, at her own charges, is a very interesting branch of Egyptian missions. The Khedive presented Miss Whately with land for her buildings, and her Cairo schools number 300 boys and 200 girls, more than two-thirds of the girls and half the boys being Moslems. She has a branch school of ninety pupils at Damietta.

THE CHINESE.

—There are now between three and four hundred Christian schools in China, containing over six thousand pupils.

—It is pointed out as a significant fact that the missions in Japan, which have been so prosperous, were started by a contribution sent by Christian converts of the Hawaiian Islands.

—There are in New York City and vicinity 500 Chinese laundries, managed by about 2,000 Chinamen. No foreigners are more industrious, more peaceable, or more anxious to conform to the laws of the land. None are so reliable in their business arrangements or so desirous for instruction in mission schools.

—There are at present in connection with Protestant missions in China more than 600 stations and out stations; more than 300 organized churches, a goodly number of them self-supporting, and some 20,000 communicants.