Читать книгу The American Missionary. Volume 42, No. 10, October, 1888 - Various - Страница 4

By our Constitution it will be observed that the following persons are entitled to vote at the annual meetings of this Association: Members of evangelical churches who have been constituted life members by the payment of $30 into its treasury, with the written declaration at the time or times of payment that the sum is to be applied to constitute a designated person a life member, such membership beginning sixty days after the payment; delegates chosen to attend the annual meeting by evangelical churches which have within a year contributed to the funds of the Association, such churches being entitled to send two delegates each. Each State Conference or Association is also entitled to send two delegates. Such delegates are members of the Association for the year for which they were appointed.

We sincerely urge our patrons to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded to participate in the management of the trusts of this Association, hoping that by so doing they will share more fully in the responsibility of its work and become more helpful in furthering its development in years to come.

We are happy to announce the return of Rev. Dr. Beard. He attended the London Missionary Conference, as the delegate of the American Missionary Association, and presented a paper on "History of Missions among the North American Indians." He was called by a telegram to Florence to the sick bed of two of his children, one of them very severely ill. Both recovered and he now returns to America, himself and family in excellent health. During his absence, he preached in his former pulpit in the American Church in Paris, and met many of his former parishioners. He had become greatly attached to that church and much interested in the very successful McAll Mission, to which he was greatly helpful. We welcome him once more to his chosen field in the work of the A.M.A., where he will find ample room for the exertion of his best energies.

The executive committee of the American Missionary Association has unanimously appointed the Rev. Frank E. Jenkins a Field Superintendent, to examine and report upon the work of our schools and churches in our Southern field. Mr. Jenkins is a graduate of Williams College, Massachusetts, and has had some years' experience as a principal of advanced schools. He is a graduate of Hartford Theological Seminary, and has been engaged successfully in our work in the South. Some parts of the field are already well known to him, and with others he will make immediate acquaintance. We commend him to our missionary teachers and preachers in the field, as a beloved Christian brother whose heart is in full sympathy with our work. We trust that the relationships which will be established, will be fruitful in helpfulness. His residence will be in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The prevalence of yellow fever at Jacksonville, Fla., and the danger of its spreading into the towns and cities of the southeast, will make it wise for us to delay for a time the opening of a few of our schools in that region. In former years some of our teachers, while at their posts, were caught by this malignant scourge and they faced the danger bravely—some of them laying down their lives and others permanently impairing their healths, by taking care of the smitten ones. Such heroism is demanded when the danger comes, but it does not seem best to seek the danger. A little delay in some places, we hope, will be all that is necessary.

By the time these pages reach our readers, most of our workers will have resumed their labors in the South. Many of the ministers and a few of the teachers have remained at their posts all summer, but the schools have been closed. Work in the cotton fields has called for the younger pupils, the summer schools have given employment to the older ones, while rest and a change of climate have been required by the white teachers from the North. But now activities will be resumed, and we contemplate the work with joy and hope.

These workers, and others like them, are the hope of the South. They go not arrayed and armed for bloody battle-fields; they go not as commercial travelers to sell the wares of the North; they go not as capitalists to start the whirling spindles or to kindle the fires in the smelting furnaces; they go not as politicians to speak for or against tariffs, nor to build up or break down parties. Their work is quieter and deeper than all this. They reach the mind and heart. As Christ aimed not so much at once to tear down or build up the outer, but to reach the inner springs of the soul, so these workers aim to make character, intelligent, pure, active, and thus to impel to all that is noble and honest in life, that stimulates to industry, economy, thrift—to making the home pure and all outer things prosperous and right. But, as Christ was misunderstood and rejected, so are these laborers ostracized. We rejoice to find a growing recognition of their worth and work, and trust that the day is coming when they will be fully appreciated and welcomed. In the meantime they toil on uncomplainingly, and for their sakes and for the work's sake we invoke, not perfunctorily but earnestly, the prayers of God's ministers and people in their behalf.

On another page will be found a review of two books by the well-known author, Edmund Kirke (J.R. Gilmore), who has made a special study of the white people of the Mountain regions of the South. Mr. Kirke has at our invitation prepared a paper to be read at our Annual Meeting, in connection with the Report on our Mountain Work. We have been permitted to read it. It is replete with racy incidents and delineations of quaint yet noble characters. If the tears and smiles which the reading of the paper drew from us are any test, then we can promise a treat to those who may hear it at the meeting in Providence.